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    influential manner , ^ auy topic of religion you pieasq £ kut tfc $ ii ^ npent you . di ^ cu&s it with ^ evHy ^ tf ifbsddFy , that is , la »« krh a manner as to be sure to offend the common sen ^ e of mankind , and there * fore deprire you of really acquiring any serious proselytes , then the law takes cognizance of your conduct , and makes

    your imbecility penal . " ( Hear . ) Was not this a . glaring inconsistency ? The law allowed the greater evil , the serious and substantial principle of discussion ; and \ % denounced the Jesser , which , after admitting the first , it ought to have

    tolerated ; anq yet his honourable friend ( Mr . Wijberfprce ) had by hi $ argument justified and supported so singular a course . There was one passage of this petition \ yhich was very forcible , and to which he called the attention of his

    honourable friend , it was this : —* The reviler of Christianity appears to your petitioners to be the least formidable of its eneinies ; because his scoifd can rarely fail of arousing against him public opinion , than which nothing more is wanted to defeat his end . Between freedom of

    discussion and absolute persecution there is no assignable medium / ' When this subject was last before the House , unless his memory deceived him , he had heard singular opinions propounded by gentlemen who took a different view of this subject from himself : he thought that he had heard it avowed , that the

    religion which ought to be established in , a state , was uoX that which the majority said they believed , but that whose doctrines were pue . He had heard an observation like that fall from a very respectable quarter . It was very

    difficult to argue with any body entertaining such an opinion , for where was the test by which such an argument could be tried ? ( Hear . ) There was not in polemics , as in astronomy , one unerring criterion to which the common credence

    of mankind bowed—it was not like the rising sun , ox % ny oi the other phenomena of nature , which were bound by indissoluble and indisputable laws ; but , oa the contrary , a subject open to conflicting opinions . Who , then , was to decide upon the truth—who was authorized to

    say , cc My optmen is right , yours is w « ong 2 * If this were impossible , Jiow was the test tp foe decided ? ( Hear . ) How , for instance , in such a country as Ireland ( and to that he alluded in his observation ) tr * the question of the truth

    of what ought to he the religion of the state , against the opinions of the majority of the people ? ( Hear . ) How would , upon that test , the stability of the Protertaat religion in , Ireland be secured 3 Or if It was sectored there , nraredy because the tniim&ty thought it

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    the trite religion , &w same reason , aQ ^ the same duty , would authorize the exl tension of the principle to India ; and why not supplant Mahometanism to establish the doctrines of the Beformatjon I Into this wide field did the gen tlemen enter who embarked in such fauciful notions . He begged to be understood

    as having argued this question from beginning to end as the friend of free discussion ; he knew the delicacy of the subject , and was anxious to guard himself against being supposed to entertain opinions obnoxious to the bulk of mankind : he repeated that he only

    contended for the general right of sclfopiuion , and for the unfettered liberty of discussion , and hoped that while doing so , he should not have , as his honourable friend ( Mr , Hume ) had last night , certain opinions fixed upon him which he did not entertain , and which it was

    quite unnecessary for him to countenance , in supporting the line of argument which the subject suggested to him , and which his reason approved . ( Hear . ) Mr . Horace Twiss contended that the Honourable Members who supported this petition were erroneous , when they supposed that that law was severe and

    arbitrary against which they protested ; on the contrary , he was prepared to shew that the law originated in the besi time of the constitution , and was that which the great Lord Somers had suggested to that constitutional Sovereign , King William . The honourable and learned gentleman then quoted the address of the House of Commons to that

    Monarch , in the year 1697 , and his Majesty ' s answer , which , in obedience to the desire of the House , recommended the adoption of additional measures for the suppression of profane and immoral writings , and for putting down publications which had a tendency to subvert or disparage the Christian religion . He then proceeded to argue , that it was a mistake to say that the law was levelled

    at mere opinions , while on the contrary it was directed against overt acts , which attacked the public peace and security by atcikiag at the roots © f the existence of civil society . ( Hear , hear . ) There was a wide distinction between matters of belief Ik politics and in religion : in the latter the belief was the substance , and could not safely be dispensed with . Be with

    begged to be understood as agreeing those wiia thought that hasty prosecutions on suich topics were * impolitic , and tended to aggravate the evil ; b » t < " <* £ follow tJbtat he was prepared to abolisa the exercise of ^ prudent discretion ** setecHjte « ttfjM ^ T 3 | F * frdh prosecutions , and tiat he - > $ ^\} &-4 iufio to etfoneW * fwwn all legal , tf&Mftft&ibUfcy , « yery 0 arlf

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    4 $ g lftietttge # c $ . A -& ? € hri * tian& Peiitmi a ^^ mst ^ n 0 / UnheVxeve ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1823, page 492, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1787/page/60/