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negte ^ t ; active interference only stops them in their passage to oblivion . That which might prove a very great evil , under other circumstances and in other times , may , however weak and erroneous , be harmless in these times and under these circumstances . It is the
reasonable expectation of future evil at no very distant period , which alone can justify the abridgement of religious liberty . We must beware , too , that we do not mistake recollections for apprehensions , and confound together what has passed with what . is to come , history with futurity . The dangers to which our
forefathers were exposed , is the justification for the religious incapacities and privations which have been extended to our times : our justification for continuing such laws must be , that the dangers would recur again without them . If they are wise laws at all , they are laws not of revenge but of precaution .
" It would be religiously charitable , also , to consider whether the objectionable tenets which different sects profess are iu their hearts as well as in their books . There is , unfortunately , so much pride where there ought to be so much
humility , that it is difficult , if not almost impossible , to make religious sects abjure or recant the doctrines they have once professed . It is not in this manner , I fear , that even the best and purest churches are ever reformed : but the
doctrine gradually becomes obsolete ; and , though not disowned , ceases , in fact , to be a distinguishing characteristic of the sect which professes it . These modes of reformation , this silent antiquation of doctrines , this real improvement , which
the parties themselves are too wise not to feel , though not wise enough to own , must , I am afraid , be generally conceded to human infirmity : they are indulgences not unnecessary to many sects of Christians . The more generous method would l > e , to admit error where error exists :
to say , ( where the fact is so , ) * These were the tenets and interpretations of dark and ignorant ages ; wider inquiry , fresh discussion , superior intelligence , have conviuced us we are wrong ; we act , in future , upon better and wiser principles . * This is what men do in laws , arts
and sciences ; and happy for them would u be , if they used the same modest docility in the highest of alt concerns ; but u is , 1 fear , more than experience will allow us to expect , and therefore the
Wildest and most charitable method is , to allow religious sects silently to improve , without reminding them of , and hunting them with , the improvementwithout bringing them to the humiliation of formal disavowal , or the still more
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pernicious practice of defending what they know to be indefensible . Such Enumphs as these are not what they pretend to be , the triumphs of religion , but the triumphs of personal vanity . The object is not to extinguish dangerous error with
as little pain and degradation as possible to him who has fallen into the error , but to exalt ourselves , and depreciate our theological opponents as much as possible , at any expense to God ' s service , and to the real interests of truth and religion . "
Having thus exposed the rakin g up of obsolete opinions to fix them upon present sects , the preacher observes , " There is another practice not less common , and equally uncharitable , and that is , to represent the opinions of the most ' violent and eager persons that can be met with as the common and received
opinions of the whole sect . There are , I apprehend , in every body of Christians , individuals by whose opinions , or by whose conduct , the great body would very reluctantly be judged . Some men
aim at attracting notice by singularit )' , some are deficient in temper , some in learning , some push every principle to the extreme , distort , overstate , pervert , fill every one to whom their cause is dear with concern that it should have
been committed to such rash and internperate advocates . If you wish to gaiu a victory over your antagonists , these are the men whose writings you should study , whose opinions you should dwell ou , and carefully biing forward into notice ; but , if you wish , as the elect of God , to put on kindness and humbleness , meekness
and long-suffering , to forbear and to forgive , it will then occur to you that you should seek the true opinions of any sect from those only who are approved of and reverenced by that sect , to whose authority that sect defer , and by whose arguments they consider their tenets to be properly defended . This may not
suit your purpose , it you are combating for victory ; but it is your duty , if you are combating for truth : it is the safe , honest , and splendid conduct of him who never writes or speaks on religious subjects , but that he may diffuse the real
blessings of religion among his fellowcreatures , and restrain the bitterness of controversy by the feelings of Christian charity and forbearance . Ask yourselves , also , my brethren , ( allow me to say , ) when you are sitting iu severe judgment on the faults and follies and errors of
other Christian sucty , whether it is not barely possible that we ourselves have fallen into some of these mistakes and misinterpretations . Ask whether we are
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Review .- ^ -Sydney Smith ' s ttnd BircPs Sermons . 615
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 615, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/39/
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