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Untitled Article
And they prove , not that the lowest classes were worse , but that the classes above them were better ; not that these were more depraved , but that those were more thoughtful , charitable , and energetic . There is , too , increasing light as to the true principles of morality ; a sure concomitant of increasing consistency in its practice . So far as the influence of the late King ' s
example extended , it was indeed any thing but propitious to purity of manners * How circumscribed that influence was , and how directly opposed to the opinions and feelings of the community , is sufficiently manifest in the severity with which it has been animadverted upon ; a severity most conspicuous in that portion of the public press which is notorious for never committing itself to the defence of an unpopular truth , nor ever grappling with a common
prejudice-In the reign of George IV . the science of government has advanced . The true principles of legislation have been illustrated , and the power of public opinion has been developed . The philosophy of politics is of modern growth . It is only of late that much skill and accuracy have been shewn in the analysis of a nation ' s interests . Half a century ago , what ignorance , what mystification , what prejudice , what delusion by cant words and phrases , prevailed in the minds of the most highly-gifted statesmen ! How much has
the increase of political knowledge demolished of the credit , the power , the very existence of the factions which used to absorb all other interests in their struggles for ascendancy \ Party is now but a vain prop for power . Whatever men may nominally possess it , a series of events has shewn that one thing must be done to retain it ; they must , in some degree , conform to the light and spirit of the age . Hence the ameliorations of the criminal code ; bence the abolition of various restraints upon commercial intercourse ; hence
some progress towards a better system of taxation , and a more economical expenditure . And hence too the progress of Religious Liberty ; the repeal of the Test Act , and the Emancipation of the Catholics ; events which constitute the paramount glory of the late reign . Those splendid acts of right and justice , the latter of them especially , must render that reign an era in our annals . Religious equality is now the law of the land ; and the sectarian ascendancy and privilege which remain are an anomaly whose doom is sealed though its execution may be long delayed .
Religion has advanced . There has been growing attention to the subject through all ranks . That attention may have fixed upon erroneous forms ; but better that than utter indifference . Better that men think erroneously than not think at all . A sense of religion must be better than no sense of religion , though it may be mingled with the faith of many absurd doctrines . Amongst Dissenters new zeal has been excited for illustrating and disseminating the principles of Nonconformity . In the Establishment there has
been a strong and growing perception , in various directions and degrees , of the polluting influence of temporalities upon the gospel . There are gropings after religious reformation , which are ominous of future good , though their object be as yet not very distinctly defined . Nor have the friends of pure Christianity any reason to shrink from the comparison of the present state of their cause with what it was ten years ago . They are not less numerous ;
they are more united ; their position as to public opinion and feeling is more influential ; there has been much of encouragement both at home and abroad ; nor have there been wanting indications of that gradual modification of prevalent creeds by which it is probable that great bodies of religionists will approximate to the truth rather than by direct and sudden proselytism-Our retrospect , then , suggests feelings of complacency , gratitude , and
Untitled Article
510 On the Reign of George the Fourth .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 510, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/6/
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