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explained chiefly by the habit and the facility , which so long subsisted , and even yet subsist , of upholding theological tenets by secular authority * Disunite church and state : let the magistrate ' s dominion be merely civil ; and all sorts and measures of public , general persecution are at an end ; though the spirit of bigotry may still shew itself , unavoidably , in private life , and be considerably annoying .
Surely Lardner ' s language would have been less unguarded , had lie not indulged in that warm hostility to a complete toleration of Roman Catholics , which was more natural and becoming in our forefathers than it has been in some of their descendants . Perhaps there is scarcely a society of men respecting which we may not venture to affirm , " Lenior et melior fis accedente senecta . "
If we associate the idea of intolerance with any class of religious sentiments , there may be danger of our justifying or exercising practical intolerance towards the professors of those sentiments—and this by way of precaution and self-defence . Such a use of his reasoning Lardner , we know , would have been the first to deprecate ; yet that this would be a natural application of it , seems perfectly clear . We offer no apology for these animadversions on one among our most favourite ( such is our own attachment to him)—certainly , our most valuable —divines . Truth is the object we have in view ; and our aim is to be the
advocates of it , with deep respect , indeed , for the judgment of such men as Lardner , yet with a " freedom from the implicit reception of opinions delivered by writers of high and merited authority . Possibly , we may be accused of having digressed from a notice of the pages of the Letter of the " Resident Member . " Be it , however , recollected that something which fell from him occasioned our remarks on Toleration , and that , in our suggestions as to the method of our securing it , we have pleaded a cause which , manifestly , he has much at heart .
The remainder of his pamphlet claims our most unqualified approbation . More particularly , we share in his astonishment , " that those who have religious scruples against the Relief Bill , have never petitioned against the annual parliamentary grant to Maynooth College . " That grant , so far as it goes , is establishment , is a direct and open encouragement ; not more exceptionable , however , than a regium donum to Irish and to English Protestant Nonconformists ! Auspicious , indeed , will be the era , when the voluntary efforts of men shall be the only source whence the means of Public Worship and Instruction are supplied !
" A government , " observes this writer , " is justified in not tolerating doctrines positively and plainly repugnant to morality . " For doctrines he should have said practices ; and then not a single dissentient to his remark could have been found . Immoral acts , if they be overt , are criminal acts , and come under the cognizance of the magistrate ; though even here a wise Legislator will be cautious not to make his jurisdiction very extensive or very discretionary . As to the expediency of employing the civil power for putting down the self-immolation of widows in India , we have at least our doubts : we do not look at the thing abstractedly ; in that view , the decision might be easy ; but perhaps the worst , or nearly the worst , of evils springing from erroneous systems of religion , are best obviated and corrected by the slow yet sure operation of views more enlightened and humane . Here , as on some other topics , we differ from the respectable correspondent of the
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47 i Church-of-England Men and Catholic CUitni ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 472, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/24/
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