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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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Letters between Rev . Jos . Cornish , of Coition , and Mr . T . Williams , prosecuted in 1798 , for selling Paine * s " Age of Reason . " ( Communicated by Mr . Cornish . )
No . I . Mr . Cornish to Mr . T . Williams * Sir , Colt / ton , Sept . 1798 . THOUGH an utter stranger to your person , my feelings at your treatment are most indignant . Firmly believing the Christian revelation to
be the best gift of the great Father of mercies , and that the evidences of its divine original must prove irresistible on a candid examination , unless to minds very peculiarly disposed , all attempts to " stifle objections appear to me not only unwise , but directly contrary to its spirit and design .
The blessed Jesus and those who were commissioned by Lira , appealed to the reason and understandings of men ; the Sacred Scriptures also repeatedly commend attentive hearers and diligent inquirers . Scoffers are sharply rebuked , and awful threats
denounced against them ; but the New Testament in no place countenances the infliction of penalties , by the civil power , on any who should reject or deride its teachings , leaving men entirely , as to belief and profession , to God and their own consciences .
* What , " said St . Paul , " have I to do with those who are without ? Those who are without , God judgeth . " The regulations of a Christian Society had nothing to do with Jews or Heathens . Concerning your ideas on religion , I
am as much a stranger as to your person . If you have not already attended to the subject , Lord Lyttelton on the Conversion of St . Paul , Dr . Doddridg £ ' s three sermons on the Evidences of Christianity , price 6 d ., not to mention innumerable other
brief and valuable publications , would probably remove all doubt and create a firm belief in truths which yield the most effectual support under every worldl y sorrow . Dr , Iceland ' s Advantages "dud Necessity of the Christian
Revelation , besides being" highly entertaining and interesting , carries conviction in each important page , and richly deserves the attentive and frequent perusal of all who think religion an object worthy of serious consideration *
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""A cheap edition of it would -prove a public 1 > en ^ tiiF . / I Not , however , to intrude oh your time , your acceptance is requested of five guineas , as a small help under the expenses of a prosecution so
injudiciously , some think wickedl y , encouraged by political religionists , —the worst enemies , ancl in general the greatest strangers , to the religion of the heart .
Public wisdom , for which many profess a wonderful reverence , is , to adopt the language of the admired Dr . Jortin , * ' a mere Proteus , and , not to consider it in Pagan or Mahomuiedan countries , it was once the wisdom of
Ahab and Jezebel , and afterwards of Annas and Caiaphas ; and in Christian countries it hath appeared in a hundred shapes . It sets out with a great show of religion : it begins with the Oospel according to St . Matthew , and it often ends in the Gospel according to Mr . Hobbes . "
This gospel according to Mr . Hobbes , who teaches , " that religion is merely what the civil power in any country hath decreed to be so named , " is the gospel of too many politicians , and it is to be feared of not a few
priests in every establishment now existing on the face of the earth . The gospel of real Christians is that of the blessed Jesus , " whose kingdom is not of this world , " therefore , its true subjects in defending it will employ no worldly arts or weapons .
The times are now so difficult , that the generous find it necessary to set bounds to their exertions , very painful to their feelings , and the friends of liberty particularly have been called
¦• > » i "w * to repeated pecuniary aids . It may , however , be hoped , that a sufficient number of genuine Christians , or , to use Mr . Wilberforce ' s expression , friends to " vital Christianity / ' will be
found disposed to manifest their regards to the gO 3 pel , which they value more than their own lives , by effectually expressing their abhorrence of a prosecution so disgraceful to all who took a part in it .
If they were actuated by a zeal for God , it was not uceording to knowledge , and ^ no way becomiuff the disciples of the meek and holy Jesus , who came to promqte peace on earth and good-will to ward * men . dearly ,
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586 Letters between Rev . Joseph Cornish , of Colt / ten ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 586, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/2/
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