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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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tfje far Meri ^ rls ^^ onffof laws xxtm ^^^^^^^ S ^^^?^^^ ^ se ^ urity a ^ -HfeR' ^ a ^ p ^ x ^ iito ^ y ^ t nat entity ^^ i ^^ i 9 ^ fe ^ 3 ^ diCTicy af civil * i ^^ ii # ^ iW ^^»» ai r ^ iattemfrion and rej&H 8 Gti ^ Of
due teg&rd ^ WMi ^ k ^ Met ^ 0 ^ m this nature ^ sWaft &S fed ! to * hink ( wtrary t < fr tfce c |> ipl © & # > & yo&r f ingenious Correspondent * Mfr-Biitt ^ > pp , i 408 ?^ 411 , ) that the ma ^ psti&tfe does n ^> faltogether stje |> put ioftofe prOdnce wheft , within certain ; limits , tie undertakes the
cure of souls * I Certato it is ,, that he can do but little in this way , and this may be a reason Why he should do all he can , and also why he should hot attempt motfe thaii he cam do , lest he defeat his ownjsurpose . It is a truly Christian restraint which Mr . Belshanr imposes on himself when
he feels excited to greats indignation by the malignity and ribaldiy of the infidel writers in question . A similar restraint will often be felt to be necessary by the liberal controversialist , when- he has to oppose what he deems to be absurdity enforced by arrogant intolerance .
This , if I mistake not , is the fit occasion for the exej-eise of that forbearance and mildness on which Mr . B . lays so proper a stress j but tKe magistrate , from the very relation in which he stands to the offender , can hardly
have occasion for exerting this kind of self-command . If to the usual feelings of humanity he joins the virtue of Christian charity , he will pity and pray for the unfortunate object against whom he is obliged , for the sake of the community , to award the sentence
of the law . The bitter and contemptuous expressions which the late Mr . Gilbert Wakefield app ^ ipd to Paine , in a pamphlet written against him , appear to me to breathe more of an unchristian spirit than can be found in the sentence of a judicial tribunal
, dooming the delinquent author or publisher to an imprisonment , in which he ™* y , if he chooses , so fcnprove his time and correct his way of thinking , a " ? U 5 ^ mo * e tjianjbo compensate for the
uyury , 8 ustaihed Jn Ibis person and property from swell ft VisitfetiQn . To ^ ' ^ ^ mjers ' tQ \ mmmm ^» that ™** **^ ii Hm » - $ fcttte& * Mad * »» ^^ m ^ t ^ e ^ m ^^ ar , to pply w on * 'W ^« P # « iS ||^| ij , hun&n \« m ,
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ia the genxrine ! naarit lof > t * ediettw ^ Jtei ^ -svTOra ' ito-sp ^^^^ paS ^ ji )
i in eitnor tne revered inOtM € lualfWtoam Ito n 0 W , ^ « n * ivt ^ , ^^^^ g of W opposing ^ tor ^ i 0 ij ^ fe ^ ^ Mp ^ ill im ^^^ at ^ ^ pte ^^ j |^ to say , I mean , in ti ^ jsBg ^ t ^ t * d 0 &H& to allude . to > him , ^ M fe / w 3 bat ^ v 0 ii |^ gree it may be applicable to < Hl ^| j ^ p am well aware tha ^ in the waft £ § M ^
troversy , recmnuia ; tion is ^ i ^ jmtS which it is far better to lay a ^ ide thj ^ to employ - > but 1 ui&y , perhaps , i&e allowed \ to regard with same little suspicion his pretensions , the ^ xereisefof whose Christian forbearance and charity is confined to those Who violate the laws , and is withholden from those who execute them : who makes no
allowances for the errors and excesses of persons in authority , and , at the same time , with extraordinary warmth and eagerness , pleads the cause of indigence or cupidity openly opposiog the civil institutions of his country , aim his own most valuable interests mid
dearest hopes , and supposes thjs direction of his conduct and feelings to be conformable to the rule , whatsoever ye would that men > should dp unto you , do ye even so to them ; and who applies the morality that may be truly called evangelical to such delinquents as want
power , and seek it per fas et riefas * and excludes altogether from his cha ritable regards and candid allowances such as possess it , and , from that possession , are expos ^ to temptations , perhaps more difficult jto withstand than those which assail the inferior classes of mankind .
Mr . Belsham thinks that adoetrme leading by plain and direct inferene £ to injurious consequences cannot posr sibly be true . Mr . Hume hasi sup * ported the reverse of this position , | Je says , \ JS * saysr III- 137 , J ^ opo . J ^ % 3 ^ When any opinion leads into ab ^ jcditjes , it is certainly f ^ e s b ^ UdttNM
Certain that an opinion A . | M ^ r . |^ H R ^ \ % is of dangerous consequenee > f ^ | n this I cannot help as ^ ntiogf to ^ tr . Hume , , -ftiifi . t > assent thie ^ ore reMdily because Ms i ^ llllctipiM ^ li ^ ilsfe ^ i ^ sists . qs&iihmfiw ^^ mmmws m ^^^^ -m ^ 00
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taiimn On the Right of the Magistrate to pitnish Unbelievers . ( $ 39
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1820, page 539, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2492/page/39/
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