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    ON THE SPIRIT OF SECTS.

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    THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY AND REVIEW . NEW SERIES , No . XXIV .

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    DECEMBER , 1828 .

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    Epicurus , inquis , dixit : quid tibi cum alieuo?—quod verum est , meum est . Perseverabo Epicurum tibi ingerere : ut isti , quum in verba jurant , nee quid dicatur , sestimant , sed a quo , sciant , quse optima sunt , esse communia . Seneca , Epist ., 12 . Sects are the natural result of a general toleration of opinions in an advancing state of knowledge and intelligence . In their more striking features they do not , we may hope , exhibit the state in which society will permanently remain , but merely constitute the process of its transition to

    something better : to the friends of humanity they afford a gratifying spectaclenot so much in what they are , as in what they indicate , and in what they announce . They excite that ferment in society which always accompanies a conflict of opinions : but such conflict necessarily precedes the discovery of truth ; for , " opinion in good men , " to apply the forcible language of Milton , " is but knowledge in the making . "

    The worst evils of sects cannot be charged upon liberty of conscience , and furnish no pretext for abridging it . They may be traced to an imperfect development and limited application of the principle which produces sects ; to the want of unfettered freedom of intellect , and the denial of total liberty of conscience . If education had completed her task and all men thought for themselves , the old maxim " quot homines tot sententiae" would indeed be verified , since it is hardly possible that a subject so vast , so complicated as religion , " ¦ 1 *» * •• . » 1 * 1 .. * % . % . t % % ^ B m m

    should appear in precisely the same li g ht to any two minds that freely yielded to the impulse of their own convictions : as it is , there are only as many opinions as there are sects , and the conflict , too generally exhibited in the world , is not between mind and mind , in the pursuit of a common objecttruth—but between party and party , for the ascendancy of their respective influence and name . Did each individual stand on perfectly independent ground , the difficulty experienced in fixing his opinions on many topics , and his general consciousness of liability to error , would infallibly teach him moderation and candour in judging others , especially if he found , as every ¦ ¦¦

    i - i -.. ,.- . .-. l — — >| T | ilMn * Areopagitica . Works I . p . 322 .

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    VOL . II . 3 L

    On The Spirit Of Sects.

    ON THE SPIRIT OF SECTS .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/1/