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Untitled Article
They imply that one class of men have a right , natural or divine , to tolerate others ; and of course , if they have a right to tolerate , they have also the right not to tolerate , as often as they please . Have any body or class of men this right ? No ! God be thanked ! no ! We are accountable to none but God . Then how is the word Toleration retained in the English language ? By a perversion of ideas . How did this perversion of ideas originate ? In the vain attempt of one body of men to make an entire nation think as they did themselves . What motives led to this attempt ?
In some it doubtless was mistaken sincerity , which led them to compel others to think as they did ; in others it arose perhaps from selfishness combined with ignorance and the grossest folly ; but in the great majority it arose from pure cunning and craftiness , in order to live in splendour on the credulity of the people . '
Like a jeweller investigating or exhibiting the qualities of a precious stone , holding it up to the light , turning it this way and that , and presenting all its reflecting and refracting powers to the eye , our independent displays his principles under a rich variety of forms or aspects . We have them in the garb of a catechism , a creed , a prayer , a king ' s speech , and a series of maxims . This is a very good process with those elementary truths which require little more than enunciation , when once the mind is in a state to attend to them . With the axioms of politics , as with those of geometry , the teacher ' s task is rather to obtain attention and induce clear comprehension ,, than to parade a host of arguments . People see at once , if they see at all . The chief thing is to try
them with different lights , till that be found which is to them the true light . After some doubt , whether to favour our readers with the * Creed , ' or the * King ' s Speech / each excellent in its way , we take the 'Maxims' as more comprehensive than either , though not perhaps so striking .
4 The following are my theoretical opinions . Of course the practicability and wisdom of some of them is controvertible . 1 . That there is a great and good God , who is the Creator and Friend of the human race . 2 . That all men are in his sight 4 < free and equal ,, " having no precedence one above the other . 3 . That the human race is gradually and firmly advancing , year after year , in wisdom and knowledge .
4 . That the science of government , like every other science , is becoming every day more clearly and distinctly understood . 5 . That old governments ought to be all re-modelled , and adapted to the altered and continually altering state of society . 6 . That all government is intended for the good of the people , and not for the pleasure of the governors .
7 . That all governors are the servants of those whom they govern , and responsible to them for their conduct .
Untitled Article
780 An Indejiendtnl hi Church and State .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 780, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/48/
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