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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
from $ he s ^ poe degree impartiality 3 $ d , % pplic ^ tio » i- —Opinions , then , ck * not fall within the province of legislation " T : he allurements and the meoaces of power are alike incapable of establishing opinions in the mind , or eradicating those which are already there . They may
draw hypocritical professions from avarice and ambition , or extort verbal renunciations from fear and feebleness ; but this is all they cau accomplish . The way to alter belie f is uot to address motives to
the will , but arguments to the intellect . To do otherwise , to apply rewards and punishments to opinions , is as absurd as tp raise men to the peerage for their ruddy complexions , to whip them for the gout , and hang them for the scrofula . "P . 70 .
The Essayist distinguishes , at the same time , between the innocence of the man and the harmlessness of his yievya , and between holding opinions and expressing them : the expression of opinions is always a voluntary act , and , being neutral in itself , may be
commendable or reprehensible according to the circumstances in which it takes place . The author treats , in Section VIII ., * ' On the Evil Consequences of the common Errors on this Subject . " One of its most obvious effects has been
to draw mankind from an attention to moral conduct , and to lead them to regard the belief of certain tenets as f « r more * ' deserving of approbation than a course of the most consistent virtue :
" The error under consideration has also produced much secret misery , by loading the minds of the timid and conscientious with the imaginary guilt of holding opinions which they regarded with horror while they could not avoid them , What is still worse , it has frequently alarmed the inquirer into an
abandonment of . the pursuit of truth . Under a confused supposition of ciinrin . al ) ty . in the belief of particular doctrines , men have with reasou been deterred from examining evidence , lest it should irresistibly lead them to views which it might be culpabie to entertain . If it is really true , indeed , that the least deviation
from a given line of opinion will be attended with guilt , the only safe course is to exclude all examination , to shun eyery research which might , by possibility , termiuate hi any such result . When ir i f already % ed and , determined , that aft ™ YfRation must et ^ d hi ^ prescribed
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viW » ptjherwiae t | $ ijmuire * wil | be in , voiced in criminality , all inquiry becomes not only useless tyit foolisH . This apprehen § ipn of the consequences of research , once extended even to natural philosophy ; and there is little doubt that it may
be justly charged by moral science with much of the slowness of its progress . If the former has long since emancipated itself fro 91 this error , the latter still confessedly labours under its oppression . The intellect is still intimidated into a
desertion of every track which appears to lead to conclusions at variance with the prescribed modes of thinking : " Men grow pale Lest their own judgments should become too bright , And their free thoughts be crimes , and earth have too much light . " Pp . 74 , 75 .
The same error ^ as probably been one principal cause of requiring subscriptions to a , long list of abstruse , complex , and often unintelligible doctrines , in order to qualify the aspirant not only for ecclesiastical , but even for civil and military offices . The
most fa l lal consequence of the error has been the attempt to regulate rnen ' a creeds by the application of intimidation and punishment . All religious persecutors have been more or less actuated by the mischievous principle . Even the victims themselves appear ,
in many instances , not to have called in question the right of persecution , but only the propriety of its exercise on their own persons . In reading the history of intolerance , our pity for the
sufferers is often neutralized by a detestation of their principles , by a knowledge that they would have inflicted equal tortures on their adversaries had they had equal power ; and all that is left for us to do is to mourn
over the degradation of our common nature . Other causes may have mingled tjieir influence in persecution . There seeing to be a principle inherent in the nature of man that leads him to
seek for the approbation of his fellowcreatures , not only in his actions but in his modes o £ thinking . Hence he is uneasy under dissent and disagreement . He resents not only the opposition to his doctrines , but the presumption of the opponent , and grows eager tp chastise it . Those men in gcueraJL ^ r th& leas t hurt at opposition who , naviBff u < jleiar dispexn # * eiM ; 0 *
Untitled Article
$$$ jjfait& . r-JPwm W f * ¥ Fwny $ m $ * & frtmfititm -tf . O ption * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1822, page 556, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2516/page/36/
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