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    rarely , indeed is it that the Unbeliever points his artillery at them . But these primary truths are in the prevailing systems of Christianity , so mixed up

    with errpj ? and absurdity , that the Unbeliever regards , or pretends to regard them as inseparable : and as one part cannot be true > he pretends that the whole is false . And he attacks

    Christianity through the corruptions which are blended with it , and often with too much success . When , therefore , a bold Infidel declaims against the Christian religion , and represents it as a system of delusion and fraud , instead of burning his books and throwing the hapless author into prison , and then pretending to answer his work by

    returning reviling for reviling , the proper though not altogether the easiest method would be , to inquire how far the charges are just—to separate the gold from the dross , Christianity from its corruptions , what is defensible from what is indefensible , and thus

    to shew that true Christianity is a gem of unspeakable value : that it contains nothing unreasonable , nothing mean , nothing contemptible ; but that it is a doctrine of great moral importance , which every wise and good man must at least wish to be true .

    Had Fame ' s Age of Reason been treated in this manner , I am fully convinced that it would not have done a tenth part of the mischief of which it is now said to have been productive . And Hylas must pardon me if I dissent from him in attributing much of the Infidelity of the French nation , and

    the miseries of the late Revolution , to the restraint imposed upon freedom of inquiry . The fact is , that so many persons seriously believe the gross errors which are mixed up with the Christian doctrine , and so many more are interested in supporting them , that it is found much easier to ruin the

    author than to reply to his arguments . Poor Bishop Smallridge ' s exclamation , y I dare not inquire , J dare not inquire , " is the true principle o £ the generality of those who would rather persecute thaijL reason , I&- France the publications of Infidels were connived at . But

    had a Protestant advocate attempted a repl y , and shewi how utterly inapplicable theii ? objections were to genuine Christianity , though unanswerable as applied to its gross corruptions , he would have t > eea seat to the galleys .

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    Finally : if persectttiott is < mt& allowed , it is impossible to let dfefimite limits jtoi its progress . * . iir this Hylaa agrees with me , and caodiddy aeknoww ledges " the objection * to be unanswer able . ^ Nor da I think he has

    stteeeeded happily in eluding ? its force When I consider the malignant cavils , the low scurrility of some laite ? ih&dei writers , I confess I feel very indignant , and am ready to call out for the arm

    of the law to restrain , riot argument * but abuse and ribaldry . But I cheek myself . None but writers of the lowest order can indulge themselves in these base attacks , and none but readers of the worst character caa be

    affected by them . , And they are easily repelled . But once allow that a man may justly be punished for reviling the Christian religion , and you open- as wide a door to persecution as the grand Inquisitor himself can wish . For as every bigot includes his own

    absurdities among the essentials of Christianity , and the more absurd the more essential , every attack upon even the grossest of the corruptions of Christianity would , in its turn , be exclaimed against as blasphemy against Christianity itself and an iniquity to

    be punished by the judge . Upon t&is principle to call transubstantiation impious would be blasphemy ,, to say that purgatory is a fraud would be blasphemy , and to call Athanasianism nonsense would be blasphemy . Hylas ' s doctrine , therefore , of the right of

    magistrates to punish Unbelievers , appears to me to assume too much : and I conclude , that a doctrine which by plain and direct inference . leads to such injurious consequences cannot possibly be true .

    T . BELSHAM . P . S . Some of your worthy Correspondents , whose zeal seems to outrun their information , appear to be desperately angry with me for having presumed to assert that Christianity might be benefited by the liberal and

    judicious support of the civil poorer r and with true polemic logic they havfe * argued , or rather declaimed , as M 1 had maintained , that because the-iftftftr- * ference of . the civil power may ^ bG ^ &fcw

    pedient in some forms and in a limited degree ,, it is , therefore , justifiable m ' etfejfry , form and in ev&ry xfegree . To * a ; triumphJ so obtained they are WelcOnOteL In the mean time x it fe no mconsiclera

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    Mr . Belsham , in Reply to Hplas , on the Pumshmtim of Unbelievers . 3 ^ f

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 347, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/23/