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Untitled Article
religion ; all discussion upon which , as stated in a note at the commencement , is eschewed . The study of history , and the contemplation of things as they are , cannot fail to convince every candid mind of the truth of the following proposition : —No bod y of men , considered officially , and as a body , lias been equally distinguished with the clergy for opposition to the progress of reason and p hilosophy ;—none , startling as it may sound , so completely the
enemy of religion . The priests were the principal agents m effecting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ , and , from the period of that momentous event to the present time , the stoutest champions against innovation , the most resolute antagonists to all changes , moral , political , or scientific , have been furnished by the clergy . In the middle ages , the high and palmy days of the Roman Church , the priests appear in the character of monopolisers of learning , such as then existed , without an
effort towards disseminating their knowledge to ameliorate the degraded and ignorant condition of the mass of mankind . On the contrary , their superior science was applied to the purposes of imposture and delusion . * We behold them the possessors
of gigantic political power , and , by their spiritual and moral influence , wielding an engine of vast physical force in the blinded and kniorant warriors they contrive to enlist—wielding it to their own aggrandizement , and the maintenance of their own supremacy , a supremacy to be secured at any cost , —no matter if the blood of millions , and the slavery and degradation of the whole human race . We behold them uniting with frantic intolerance to oppose , not alone heretical
inquiries into theological dogmas , not alone attacks upon the power and sanctity of their order , but simple discoveries in physical science . Not only must man receive from them the articles of religious faith , and consign his soul to their keeping , not only must his conduct be regulated by their decrees on pain of temporal and eternal punishment , but intelligent beings must likewise be contented with the parsimonious dole of
knowledge which they may think fit to mete out to them . They must view nature only through the medium interposed by the clergy between the vision and the object , — -their chymistry must be the chymistry of the priests , their astronomy gathered through a priestly telescope . Thought indeed is free , but woe
to the sacrilegious one who shall dare to enlighten his fellowcreatures with the result of his speculations , should it disagree with what the infallibles have pronounced orthodox and certain They settle that the world stands still . Impious wretch ! hast ttiou the temerity to floubt , and even to assert that it
• The reader is referred to Lord Bacon ' * work " On the advancement of Learning , " wherein the philosopher calmly examines and refutes the i > b ^* c tioa » advmaced by divipea and politicians ag « i »» t Knowledge .
Untitled Article
$ 66 Cursory Remarks on Prejudice .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/38/
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