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moves ? Do they pronounce colour inherent in the object I and shall any profane one dare suppose it to be but an anpar rition of the motion or alteration which the object worketn t * the brain ? Think but for a moment for an example of prie&tljr opposition to science and philosophy , and the case of Galileo rises in the memory . The murder , too , of Peter Ram us during the massacre of St . Bai-tholomew ' a day is a crime justly to be charged against infuriate and priest-created bigotry . A
p riest-ridden populace is the most reckless and savage . But it is hateful to enumerate instances of the tyrannic cruelty of men whose professions are those of mercy and loving kindness , of oppression by the professors of meekness and charity , and of conservation of ignorance b y those from whom we should expect the amelioration of the human race . " There is not a fact on the face of history more conspicuous than this—that no order of men has ever clung to the service of its caste , or ba * fulfilled its purposes , however desperate or infamously cruel they might be , with the same fiery and unflinching zeal at priests . ' * +
Sueh things have been : they are now amending . Afte * centuries of slavish ignorance the mind of civilized man i « rending indignantly asunder the cords bound round it by selfish and brutal despotism . The hair of Sampson is beginning to grow , and ere long , the might of human intellect will assert itself . Still , the political and social influence of the clergy U great : it is interwoven with the constitution of governments , and clings with tenacity to the domestic hearths of families : it is embedded deeply in the fears , the superstitions , and prejudices of men , and has even yet a strong hold on their affection and veneration . But it has lessened ; it will lessen still .
The acts of priests have not been represented with the view of showing that they proceeded from prejudice ; ( though many individuals belonging to that order have , doubtless , nonestlj believed the system of which they formed a part to be necessary , just , and sacred : it would be absurd and unjust to suppose
• ViceeimuB Knox , a learnod and elegant writer , whose work * evince a virtuous liberality of sentiment struggling with many educational and conventional prejudices , whilst enumerating- certain pood qunlitips of divines , mentions , I think , their superior learning . Wonderful , indeed , would it have been , when , until compara * tively lately , education was principally confined to that body ¦ > and when still gifted with extensive influence in all matters relating to the education of youth , it has the power of directing both the nature and manner of studies , if the clergy had not trained a reputation for erudition . But Dr . Knox , himself a scholar , and oue of th « be # t specimen * of a Christian clergyman , must have confessed an equal number , at least , of 1 &arned men and philosophers to have arisen from the laity . Bacon , Locke , Nevtton / Milton , Kaleigh , Hobbes , Gibbon , Porson ! It would be difficult to eclipse the iplendour of thes « names by any equal number selected from the parsons . Tha church can , it is true , boast of uisuiy learned meu , but it is equally true , tfcat tha pulpit displays < Jf many more , are specimens of intense ignorance and stupidity . Tb * r # is still a sufficiency of Parson Trullibers . t i / owitt ' f &M * ry of Priestcraft , p . 11 , Uhtditioru
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Cunwy Rttnarki on Prejudice * $ 67
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 367, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/39/
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