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judgment , ( of a year ' s imprisonment hi Oakham Gaol , and subsequent securities to keep the peace , ) thought it necessary to adopt the same justification . People might argue against . Christianity , but it became an offence if it were done in a way to revolt instead of persuading ; with this further qualification too , if it were done before an improper audience . This is a new postulate for the crime of blasphemy .
But we wish to ask Mr . Justice Bailey why ( if he concedes , as he must do , that Christianity may be attacked ) he is entitled to assume the truth and blessings of Christianity in a Christian ' s view , as an aggravation of the defendant ' s guilt ? It is granted that the denial of Christianity is not in itself an offence , that the crime lies in the jest and the audience ; then what have the merits of
the matter denied to do in fair justice and impartiality with the defendant ' s case , except to create a prejudice against him , and prevent a cool examination of what becomes a mere matter of fact ; namely , has he or has he not attacked in an improper way what all may attack , if they have the wit to do it cleverly and in a way likely to produce the most permanent effect ?
Mr . Justice Bailey observed , " The law of this land I take to be liberal in principle in this respect beyond the example of all other countries . It suffers every man , freely , soberly , and quietly , to enter into the discussion of the most sacred and awful truths , and to judge for himself whether they be true or not . Nor , as in some countries , is the book kept from the eyes of the public at large ,
but every individual has the power of having it in his own possession , and of judging for himself . He has the power of canvassing the foundation on which the religion of the country is based , and of entertaining that belief which a careful examination of the subject is fitted to produce . I blame no man — the law blames no man , for not coming to the conclusion to which the established
religion of the country comes . It may be said , that a man cannot controul his own belief—God alone may be able to influence him in that respect ; but no man has a right by sarcasm and sophistry to endeavour to shake the faith of
others . Sober and careful discussion would choose its proper place and its proper audience , who would be persons of talent , able to appreciate honest , fair atid legitimate discussion ; but where you are to push arguments beyond the level of the capacity of those to whom they
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are addressed—in many instances , I Aa not say in all—the offence is aggravated . There maybe some men , grown up , who have examined the subject ; but when I find from the evidence there are children there , of ten , twelve , and fourteen years of age , women , and many other persons , —are they , I would ask , those to whom such discussion can with safety be addressed ? I would ask , what are the sanctions of human life ? What makes
a man free from vice ? What makes him endeavour to be innocent , to controul his passions , and to do every thing calculated to prevent his being mischievous to society , aud wanting in his duty to his God ? It is his belief in religion . Destroy the Christian religion , and what is man ?—Destroy the principle
which religion inculcates , and every man is to make a religion for himself . In doing this you destroy all the bonds of society , you take away from , the weak the reverence which religion inspires , you expose the podr to the oppression of the rich , and annihilate all that a due and proper sense of religion is calculated to afford . It is with that view—and that view only—that punishment is to be inflicted . "
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Corporation and Test Acts . This subject has , since the last session , acquired great and increasing interest . The policy of having deferred all these important questions at the moment when a spark of liberal feeling was glimmering , has , by recent events , been rendered more and more doubtful ; and we see not how the Whig leaders , arguing for liberal measures , will avoid the ready answer which they will receive from those who have succeeded to
their influence , that it is absurd to ask from those who have always been opposed to such concessions , what they themselves were most active in persuading all men to keep back , when they were in a position to have taken the responsibility of such innovations .
The Corporation of London has set the example of almost unanimously agreeing to a petition in favour of the repeal of the penal laws . The Corporation on the last great occasion of discussing the topic , took an active part in the other direction . It has now come back to the sounder discretion which it exercised a century ago .
On the 25 th of January , the General Body of Deputies met , but agreed to postpone , until a special meeting , the consideration of their petition to Parlia-
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Intelligence . ?—Corporation and Test Acts . 201
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 201, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/57/
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