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Index Ep&purgatorius * or catalogue of prohibited books * was published at Madrid under the sanction of the Inquisition . It consisted of 900 pages
closely printed . The framers of the Index condemned , either wholly or in part , not only works on religion , but those relating- to polite literature and science . Of all translations of the
Bible , whether printed or in manuscript , they forbade the use . On the works of reputed heretics , and on all they mi g ht in future compose , was passed the same unqualified censure . Some of Erasmus ' s writings , however , these gloomy persecutors allowed to be published , with the words " Erasmi Roterodami , auctoris daninatL"
inscribed in the title-page , annexing the following note : Opera omnia Erasmi , caute legenda , tarn rnulta enim insunt correctione digna , ut vix omnia expurgari possuit . " Here , then , was a systematic attempt to perpetuate ignorance and superstition , to corrupt the sources of truth , and to disseminate error and falsehood . Should it be
asked , Why now declaim against the Iuqnisition ? It may be answered , Because its frightful decrees substantially exist in every country where the Press is stiH under any restrictions not essential to the maintenance of
civil liberty ; . and because twelve millions of my fellow-subjects in the Madras Presidency are actually under a Censor of Heretical Pravity . This officer has lately prevented the printing in Tamul of the Prayer-Book of the Unitarians—a sect of all others
the most likely to introduce Christianity in the , East . In like manner , Censor Wood might suppress the religious works of the Roman Catholics , the Methodists , Presbyterians , or other sects differiug with that infallible judge of orthodox y ^
The Reformation vindicated political as well as religious rights , because it destroyed superstition , which is the root of despotism . A militia of 600 , 000 highly-disciplined priests , backed by myriads of bigots , were baffled by a rnomk and , th 6 assertere of reason . The Press enabled the first
Reformers to give a . wide circulation to their thoughts '; which , but for such an advantage , had been confined to the pla ^ e where their , principles had teen first inculcated . JVl&y not simi-
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lar results be fairly expected to appear in'Indostan , through the medium of Education , of a Free Press , and the preachings of Missionaries and native Reformers ?
Be it asserted that Pagan Christianity has no resemblance to the superstition that now prevails in Indostan . I contend , on the contrary , that all superstitions resemble each other in their origin and influence . They are all founded in error , and promote despotism . Whereas the prominent
features of most religions resemble each other as being founded in reason—in the belief of God , and the inculcation of virtue , which is the essence of liberty . The Hindoo religion , in its uncorrupted state , approaches to a system of pure theism . The mos £ learned Brahmins are Unitarians , ac * &
cording to the doctrine of Kreeshna ; but they so far comply with the prejudices of the vulgar as outwardly to perform all the ceremonies prescribed by the Vieds . The great bulk of the
Hindoos , on the contrary , are sunk into gross superstition , and , instead of limiting their belief " to one unknown ^ true Being-, the Creator , Preserver and Destroyer of the universe , " they have enlisted Three Hundred and
Thirty Millions of Gods into their service . Mahomedanism is a compound of Judaism and Christianity , joined to the belief of certain absurd tales and pretensions added by Mahomet . The
Wahaubees have overrun Arabia , Syria , and Persia , for the purpose of restoring the simple Unitarianism of the Koran . We are , in fact , obliged to the Mahomedans for the destruction
of Idolatry aa < l Paganism in many parts of the world . Their great crime is that of endeavouring to enforce their creed by the sword . Mahmoud vowed to convert by force of arms the whole Hindoo race to
M&homedanism . In twenty years he invaded Indostan twelve timea , and spared neither age nor sex . Tippoo boasts that he threw down 8000 idol temples . He subdued Coorg , and drove 70 , 000 of its inhabitants like cattle to Seringa ^
patam , forced them to profess Mahomedanism , and then sent them back to serve as slaves under his Zemindars . This was not a course calculated to reform < or to convert thfc Hindods * who , for upwards of tfclee thou ^ u *
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730 Free Press in India .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1822, page 730, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2519/page/10/
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