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    sentiment united with bigotry of practice—a punctilious attachment to forms , joined to feebleness of convictior * and carelessness about principles ; in the spirit of the-latter , we are reminded of the younger Pliny , sacrificing with equal complacency and indifference at the altars of a thousand gods , and yet calmly consigning to the torture the unswerving integrity of the Christian martyrs ; in the former , we recognize the spirit of Paul , fierce and misguided

    in his zeal , persecuting the church of God unto death , yet conscious of rectitude and accessible to conviction , and transferring to the cause which he subsequently espoused , the same ardour and intrepidity of soul which had prompted him to seek its destruction . In addition to all the causes hitherto alleged of sectarian feeling , there is

    a latent pride in human nature , which is wounded by the denial of any principles which have been adopted as true and acted upon with confidence . We do not like to have our judgment even indirectly called in question . The best men find it difficult to preserve their equanimity , when they are forced upon the defence of opinions which they have long cherished in

    uivdisturbed repose . Where certain opinions are professed by a large majority of mankind , where they enjoy the sanction of the Jaws , are made the title to civil rank and privilege , and have , in consequence , a certain degree of worldly respectability associated with them , they unavoidably produce in the community professing them a corporation spirit , which is as unfavourable to

    their moral influence as it is injurious to the cause of truth . It must be acknowledged with regret , that , in the present state of society , Christianity itself—the purest of all principles—the most important of all interests—is too generally defended in the spirit of a corporation . The only way in which it ought to be offered to the reception of mankind , is under the promise of additional benefit and happiness , as a blessing for which its professors are deeply thankful , and which they would fain participate with alltheir fellow-creatures . If it were represented as a means , supernaturally ordained by God , of attaining those great moral ends , that summum bonum of existence , which all good men agree in acknowledging

    as supremely important , the chief question remaining for discussion betweeri the lovers of truth and virtue would then be , whether Christianity , taken in the wide extent of her doctrines and evidences , in the purity and tenderness of her influences , in the perfection of her moral standard , and the awfulpess of her heavenly sanctions ; whether Christianity thus contemplated , or those systems of religion and morals which have occasionally been offered in its

    stead , could be considered as possessing the strongest claims to attention , and as conducing most effectually to the end proposed . For it is z , self- ' evident proposition , that no good man can desire the destruction pf all religion , though he may very sincerely , however erroneously , prefer one form of it to another . Would to God Christianity were entirely delivered from the contamination of human laws ! that she were left to take her lot with those other great truths which have become the imperishable heritage pf mankind , a # 4 whi ch gather new lustre and influence as they pass from age to ags ! that she wsre allowed to be her own advocate , ^ nd not compelled , by the offieiousnes * of

    her votaries , to assume the degrading attitude of a sect I A compliance witfr the mjer ^ ul invitations of the ga&pe ) , wistetuj of being urged iri a jsjpirit of ineekrie ^ s % M rjet ^ iia 6 iyeix eg $ froni the bensvplept wish that Wen rag !^ is tPP frequently exacted as a concession to the aiithorfyy of those who fire invested with # 11 the privileges of a chartered monopoly , and who fiercely assert thpir right U >

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    # 06 On the Spirit of Sects .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 806, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/6/