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not being able to become ' wise , are not willing to become charitable and
modest . " His second rule is good , but in explaining it , he seems to concede , and perhaps , in the circumstances of the preacher , the concession might be prudent , that religious opinions may be fit objects of legislative notice . Is not this admission dangerous to religious
liberty I On this subject we beg to quote a passage from one of Mr . Fox ' s speeches , delivered in the House of Commons , May 8 , 1789 ; and this is 3 we know , an authority which the patriotic preacher respects . " No proposition could , he contended , prove
more consonant to common sense , to reason and to justice , than that inen should be tried by their actions and not by their opinions ; their actions ought to be waited for , and not guessed at , as the probable consequence of the sentiments which they were known to entertain and profess . If the reverse of this doctrine were ever
adopted , as a maxim of government , if the actions of men were to be prejudged from their opinions , it would sow the seeds of jealousy and distrust , it would give scope to private malice , it would sharpen the minds of men
against one another , incite each man to divine the private opinions of his neighbours , to deduce mischievous consequences from them , and thence to prove that he ought to incur disabilities , and be fettered with
restricir tions . This , if true with respect to political , was more peculiarly so with regard to religious opinions ; and from the mischievous principle which he
had described flowed every species of party-zeal , every system of political in , tolerance , every extravagance of religious hate . " [ The whole passage may be seen , Mon . Repos . X . 607 , 608 . j
c A second rule which 1 offer to your attention and for your observation , my brethren , is this—All privations and incapacities imposed upon a sect in consequence of their religious opinions , is a subject not of exultation but of regret , and e \ ery good Christian ought to wish them removed as soon as the reasons
and necessity for their continuance have ceased . It is very possible that a sect of Christians may profess moral tenets so pernicious , or indulge in practices so > blameabk , that it may bo necessary to
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subject thena to civil incapacities and degradations ; but it is a painful duty for a fellow Christian who imposes these duties , not a triumph . I may be glad that evil is prevented , but I must not exult that a fellow-christian , who differs from my interpretation of the Scriptures , is
subjected to pain and degradation . The necessity may exist , but the necessity is mournful . Religious liberty is a blessing which those who possess it ought to be desirous of extending as far as public welfare will permit . It is melancholy to reflect that the honest opinions of any
description of Christians involve errors so dangerous , that it is not safe to admit them to an equal participation of civil rights . However necessary it maybe to do this , there can be in it no more
subject for joy and exultation than when a criminal is led out for execution . Every man is glad that the laws are upheld , but sorry that the frailties of human nature will not suffer them to be upheld by punishments less severe . It would be the
highest exultation to us all to learn that the accused person about to suffer such a punishment had completely established his innocence . We should all be glad if it could be proved to us that the interests of mankind could be protected , and our bad passions restrained , without the
puuishment of death . Many may reason wrongly on such subjects , but almost all feel as they ought to do . The deep consciousness of the importance of human life cures every little jealous and monopolizing feeliug , and makes us all generous , humane and just . "
In pursuing this part of the subject , the preacher asks , in reference to the toleration of opinions supposed to be wrong , " Why may not man wait , if God waits ?" The third rule is admirable :
• Another canon of religious charity is , to revise , at long intervals , the bad opinions we have been compelled , or rather the bad opinions which our forefathers have been compelled , to form of other Christian sects—to see whether
the different bias of the age , the more general diffusion of intelligence , do not render those tenets less pernicious , and , therefore , less the objects of legislative enactment and legislative suspicion—to see whether there is any circumstance which will enable us , consistently with
prudence , to extend that religious liberty to others on which we ourselves place so just and so high a value . It is not so much what sects pretend to we are to notice , as " 'the probability there may be or realizing those pretensions . The best cure for extravagant pretensions 5 s silent
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614 Jleview . —Sydney Smith ' s and Bird ' s Sermons .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 614, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/38/
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