D 
 
Ft> 
 
 Constitutional &ematus 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 UPON THE SUBJECT OP THE LATE 
 
 TRIAL OF RICHARD CARLILE, 
 
 TOR 
 
 REPUBLISHING PAINE'S AGE OF REASON. 
 
 IN SIX PARTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 A MEMBER OF GRAYS INN. 
 
 c: 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD AND SON, 
 190, OPPOSITB ALBANY, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1819. 
 
S.Goeoell, Water, Littk Queta Street, London. 
 
F^°{ 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 In an age like the present, ever teeming with 
 new and important incident to strike and agi- 
 tate the public mind ; — in an age when factious 
 and desperate schemes require that the arm of 
 authority should be nerved with more than or- 
 dinary vigour, that the press should be untaint- 
 ed by the profligate and revolutionary notions of 
 the day, and above all, that the best principled 
 part of the community should be preserved from 
 delusion by the most pathetic and forcible argu- 
 ment ; — in such an age can it be inconsistent 
 with my duty as a Christian and a Student in 
 the Law, though young and most humble in my 
 pretensions, to stand forth in vindication of the 
 religion and constitution of my country ? 
 
 It is natural that such a trial as that of Ri- 
 chard Carlile should in any nation excite an ex- 
 traordinary sensation. The happiness of mankind 
 
 a 2 
 
 IV!3420fvi 
 
at large is too deeply involved in the subject of 
 it to permit of apathy, or cool expression of opi- 
 nion ; much more then in such a land as ours, 
 where, without ungoverned license, we enjoy the 
 purest liberty, it was to have been expected, 
 that the most intense feelings would be awaken- 
 ed, and fresh and anxious speculations excited. 
 
 Can it be, is it not a dream, that in the year 
 1819, we are called upon to support even the 
 foundation-stone of our holy faith? I am con- 
 vinced, from what I myself heard fall from the 
 lips of this bold oppugner, that there is reason 
 in the appeal I am about to make. For though, 
 amongst the more enlightened of those who are 
 inclined to be sceptical in their opinions, the 
 grossness of this man's attack upon the Scrip- 
 tures, must have created disgust rather than 
 conviction, yet I fear, and I think I may use 
 stronger epithets, I have no doubt, that amidst 
 the crowded Court, there were many unhappy 
 individuals, who may have imbibed the poison 
 he was attempting to disseminate, and many 
 more who have not -been able to divest their 
 minds of very painful, though indefinable, im- 
 
pressions. Yet we cannot admit, that any fresh 
 discoveries have been made by Carlile, or his 
 coadjutors, which can invalidate the Scriptures. 
 They will stand impregnable as their great Au- 
 thor, The objections of Carlile are stale as infi- 
 delity itself. Nor is it for a moment to be ima- 
 gined that it is regard to morality and the ho- 
 nour of the Deity that influences Carlile. He 
 seems to dwell with peculiar emphasis upon this 
 idea: but what can be more futile? Is not this 
 attempt but a branch, a mere ligature, of that 
 plotting and mischievous spirit which has so 
 long distracted the country? — Deism and Fanati- 
 cism, for they are about on a par, have usually 
 paved the way for, and gone hand in hand with, 
 insurrection and rebellion. 
 
 a 3 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 Microsoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/constitutionalredOfoxfrich 
 
Constitutional Remarks* 
 
 &c. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Revealed Religion considered in itself, and 
 distinct from State Authority. 
 
 I must premise, that it is not my intention, in 
 any respect, to controvert the objections of Car- 
 lile to divine Revelation, these having been long 
 since answered : I shall, therefore, content my- 
 self with simply referring my readers to the 
 great and conclusive authorities in the note 
 subjoined *« But I felt that I could not, with 
 propriety, have entered upon the subject in 
 
 * Paley's Evidences ; Gisborne's Natural Theology; 
 Graves on the Pentateuch ; Gregory's Letters on the Evi- 
 dences of the Christian Religion; Chalmers's Evidences; 
 Harmer's Observations; Burder's Oriental Customs; 
 Dwight's Discourses; Watson's Apology for the Bible; 
 Hall's Sermon on Infidelity ; Pensees de Pascal ; Recherches 
 Philosophiques sur les Preuves du Christianisme, par C. 
 Bonnet ; Grotius de Veritate Christianas Religioni*; Boyle'* 
 Lectures, &c. &Cr 
 
 A 4 
 
8 
 
 question, without a few preliminary remarks 
 upon that revelation of the will of God, which 
 is, and ever will be, the foundation of the Chris- 
 tian s hope and the Christian's triumph. Rer 
 vealed religion must always be a stumbling- 
 block, so long as it is contemplated on the side of 
 passion and prejudice alone. Its opponents pre- 
 tend to prove its weakness, on the ground of 
 its irrationality: but let reason be applied to 
 revelation, as it would be applied to science T 
 What geometrician, from specious appear- 
 ances alone, would assume the truth of his 
 problem? He never, would anticipate conclu- 
 sions which his figure refused to admit; he 
 meets with difficulties ; his scheme is disjointed ; 
 he does not, upon this, presume that his lines 
 and his circles were unmeaning, and his object 
 unattainable. Because his mind is embarrassed, 
 does it prove that the science, or any branch of 
 it, is false ? Apply the same argument to re- 
 vealed religion, and it can require no other 
 test. 
 
 It is to deny the omniscience and omniprer 
 sence of the Deity; to question his regard to 
 small things as well as great ; to doubt his in- 
 terference with the affairs of earth as well as 
 those of heaven : and if the earth, as a whole, 
 can lay claim to the sovereignty of God, can 
 any part of this whole be excluded ? This would 
 
be contrary to the first principles of science. 
 Then is it not equally inconsistent to question 
 the wisdom of that kind and degree of inter- 
 ference which God has selected for our govern- 
 in ent, merely on account of its occasional diffi- 
 culty? As fresh discoveries are continually eli- 
 cited in science, so confirmatory evidence of 
 Scripture is ever gathering upon us, particularly 
 with reference to the known customs of oriental 
 nations in the present day. 
 
 If there were any thing abstractedly absurd 
 and unnatural in Revelation, as its opponents 
 contend, it would then become questionable 
 whether we should receive it. But the reverse 
 of this is the fact. That stale and tortured ar- 
 gument of Deism, That it is inconsistent with 
 the mercy of the Creator to visit all mankind 
 with a curse for the simple transgression of our 
 first parent, in eating the forbidden fKiit, even 
 confutes itself. It is not the order or species 
 of offence which has incurred the displeasure of 
 Heaven. Our first parents were endowed with 
 superior intelligence, yea even blessed with the 
 visitations of the Almighty. They were warned 
 of the conditions upon which they held their 
 happiness. There was but one restriction. It 
 is apart from the question what that restriction 
 might be; they burst the only restraint imposed 
 upon them, and entailed the fatal consequences 
 
10 
 
 upon their posterity. Do we not see every day 
 in common life the misery which the father of 
 a family may by one single act of transgression 
 transmit to his innocent offspring * ? Then, as 
 the descendants of an imprudent parent, in 
 common life, have frequently to endure the 
 consequent reproach of mankind, so the whole 
 earth is that family in the view of God which 
 has incurred eternal shame, by the sin of the 
 forefather. But mark the issue : men seldom 
 remember to be gracious. Time, indeed, may 
 assuage the fiercest passions ; and time may en- 
 tomb the blackest crimes. But the ways of 
 God are not as the ways of men. He is not 
 wrought upon by lapse of time ; but in the very 
 moment of judgment he remembers mercy; and 
 the same voice which expelled our first parents 
 from Eden, gave tokens of pardon in the pro- 
 mise of a Redeemer. 
 
 r v 
 
 It may perhaps be allowable here to digress 
 for a moment upon one or two of the specious 
 and sapient arguments made use of by Car- 
 lile in the course of his defence. This bold 
 blasphemer seems to prove greatly to his own sa- 
 tisfaction, that two hands have been employed 
 in the composition of the two first chapters of 
 
 * I do not here allude to the case of illegitimate chil- 
 dren, though that indeed may bear pretty strongly upon my 
 argument. 
 
11 
 
 Genesis, viz. that throughout the whole of the 
 first chapter, and the three first verses of the 
 second chapter, whenever the Almighty is 
 named, he is introduced by the single epithet 
 " God;" but that the remainder of the second 
 chapter ever uses the phrase " Lord God." This 
 is singularly the fact. But is such an incident, 
 unaccompanied with other circumstances, suf- 
 ficiently strong to overthrow our faith? No- 
 thing can be more fallacious. We must look at 
 the Bible, though a composition grand and 
 beautiful, yet peculiarly stamped with sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 In composing a letter to a friend, or a 
 work of taste, we are at liberty to launch into 
 the regions of fancy ; and where we are obliged 
 frequently to recur to the same epithet, it is 
 customary to vary it, occasionally substituting 
 one for another. This is more pleasing to the 
 ear. But in all statements of important af- 
 fairs, acts of Parliament, deeds, &c. we may 
 observe that the word first chosen is generally 
 preserved to express the same idea throughout. 
 And as to the change here objected to, begin- 
 ning at the fourth verse of the second chapter, 
 what is more natural than to suppose the in- 
 spired writer reposed at the end of the third 
 verse (or at least that portion of the Scripture 
 winch we call the third verse, for -the division 
 
12 
 
 into chapter and verse is of subsequent intro- 
 duction) ; and at another period of time, when 
 he renewed his labours, he arbitrarily used a 
 different phrase as influenced by the Spirit of 
 God, and in the same simplicity of style conti- 
 nued to use that epithet which, when once 
 written, became more striking to the mind ? 
 
 Carlile has also laid great stress upon the 
 style in which the creation is mentioned by 
 Moses, where such consequence is given to our 
 earth and its appendages, and the formation of 
 the sublimer works of the universe is specified 
 but, as it were, collaterally. This modern Ga- 
 lileo contends, that our received notions of 
 astronomy prove this to be absolutely false. 
 But I fear his vision is as clouded here as on 
 most other occasions : for we must consider that 
 Moses is inspired to write the history of the 
 world for the inhabitants of earth. If he had 
 been deputed to dispense this knowledge in any 
 other sphere, we may presume it would have 
 been differently couched ; but in giving a re- 
 velation intended for man, is it not natural 
 that it should be so constituted as to prepossess 
 him in favour of that state to which he is des- 
 tined ? is not this consonant to the goodness of 
 God? The history unfolds every thing in a 
 manner perfectly simple, but is delivered m 
 that style which is most calculated to impress 
 
13 
 
 mankind, and gratify the best and highest feel- 
 ings — that the sun, moon, and stars were 
 created for the benefit of man ; but does it ever 
 state for his benefit exclusively ? We have no 
 reason to doubt, but that our earth holds the 
 same relative connexion with the rest of the 
 universe that any other planet does to the 
 earth. And we have reason to think, that 
 any dispensation from God to another sphere, 
 would be transmitted in terms in some degree 
 analogous to that vouchsafed to our own. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow this philosopher 
 any farther in his researches. He must now 
 join the antiquarian fishermen at the Tiber, if he 
 would seek fresh evidence to support his opi- 
 nions ; for his own bags of literature have served 
 but to confound his flimsy speculations. 
 « 
 
 It does not come within the province of my 
 undertaking to defend every step of holy ground 
 from the rude and scurrilous attacks of infi- 
 delity. I wish simply to set before a people 
 professing Christianity, a reason of the hope 
 that is in them. What, then, is there in this 
 insulted volume of which its adversaries so bit- 
 terly complain ? They only publish their own 
 infamy by objecting to its impurity. Where 
 are to be found lessons of more refined mo- 
 rality? Their fastidious feelings cannot endure 
 
14 
 
 to hear that the favourites of Heaven too often 
 displayed the frailty of their nature. They 
 could not blacken the hero of a romance with 
 such instances of criminality as degraded the 
 characters of David and Solomon. But let it 
 be remembered that these are melancholy facts 
 of history : and to draw inferences against the 
 Scriptures from these circumstances, is the 
 deepest ingratitude : for are they not given as 
 beacons for our avoidance in every instance 
 where the frailty of the ancient worthies is de- 
 scribed? We are also told of the fruits of 
 their disobedience in their personal sufferings. 
 And to evince the wrath of the Almighty 
 against sin, we not unfrequently observe even 
 empires involved in the consequences of indi- 
 vidual transgression. 
 
 There can be no greater strength in the 
 objection to Revelation, on the ground of the 
 selection of the Hebrews as a favoured and pe- 
 culiar people, whilst the rest of mankind lived 
 without a special dispensation, than may be 
 raised on account of diversity of talent, rank, 
 or opulence. In this respect, it was the same 
 under the Jewish as the Christian dispensation. 
 The great distinction was to be made in a fu- 
 ture state; and if the Jews enjoyed higher 
 privileges than their neighbours, their graces 
 were expected to be brighter. There is not a 
 
 5 
 
15 
 
 more established principle in our faith, than that 
 we are to be judged according to the talents 
 bestowed upon us. We no where find that the 
 souls of men are to be forfeited for never 
 having heard of the sound of the Gospel. It is 
 for hearing, and denying credence to this in- 
 viting voice, that the awful penalty is to be 
 paid *. It must be allowed there are great 
 difficulties in this point, which I will not pre- 
 tend to elucidate : it is one of the mysteries of 
 our religion. 
 
 To touch now more particularly upon the 
 Christian economy : I think conviction upon 
 this subject must advance with rapid strides if 
 we studiously search the Scriptures. It is im- 
 possible any where to find a work so divided, 
 and yet so deeply connected, as the Bible. — It 
 is one grand and sublime whole : it commences 
 with the history of a peculiar people; throughout 
 the books of the Old Testament numerous pas- 
 sages are interspersed which give the promise of 
 a Redeemer. These specify his character with- 
 out the least semblance of contradiction ; they 
 
 * " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had 
 not had sin, bat now they have no cloak for their sin. If I 
 had not done among them the work which none other man 
 did, they had not had sin ; but now they have both seen and 
 hated both me and my Father." J5th St. John's Gospel, 
 22 and 24. 
 
16 
 
 describe his lofty attributes; they even portray 
 the awful circumstances of his death and burial. 
 Allusions, types, and visions, prefigured the ad- 
 vent of our Saviour : his appearance justified 
 every prophecy, and though conversion was 
 more partial under his own ministration than 
 that of his followers, yet this only confirms our 
 argument, for his atonement was the watch- 
 word of universal peace, and good will to men. 
 Sir Isaac Newton, and others, have reconciled 
 almost every instance of chronological difficulty 
 respecting the Scriptures. If sceptics will not 
 bow to heavenly authority, the tongue of their 
 own darling philosophy, at any rate, should 
 silence them. 
 
 It is the great peculiarity of the Christian 
 faith, that it has flourished independent of 
 worldly support : — nay, like the Hebrews in 
 Egypt, it has triumphed in persecution ; and, as 
 a mighty torrent, bursting from its puny bound- 
 aries, it has driven before it every object of 
 base, and cruel, and malevolent opposition. 
 
17 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Revealed Religion considered under the Aus- 
 pices of civil Government, and particularly 
 that of Great Britain, 
 
 It is not pretended that the Christain faith 
 has, in the abstract, gained greater strength 
 and influence from the support of civil establish- 
 ments; but we have this remarkable attesta- 
 tion to its truth, that every religious imposture 
 has been invented by the ruler for the pur- 
 pose of degrading and fettering the mind of his 
 vassal ; whereas, our religion aimed only at the 
 happiness of our race, took its rise from the 
 manger of Bethlehem, and has been marching 
 on progressively, till it has reposed, with some 
 diversity of character, on every throne of Eu- 
 rope. A religion which peculiarly addressed 
 itself to the poor and the despised ; which re- 
 pelled with scorn every worldly fascination, and 
 pointed its persecuted professors to a future 
 happiness indefinable and invisible ; was, in its 
 infancy, little calculated to win the mighty, the 
 proud, the selfish, and the dissipated. 
 
 The more intelligent Romans, during the 
 •mpire of the Caesars, were much confounded 
 
 b 
 
IB 
 
 by the spread of this new schism, as they con- 
 sidered it; and Pliny's letter* to Trajan upon 
 the subject, displays a very natural state of 
 mind under such a dilemma. His kindness of 
 disposition recoiled at the idea of persecution in 
 a case of such harmless secession; but the 
 deserted temples, and the extinguished fires 
 upon the altars of Paganism, made him tremble 
 for the fate of his national deities. 
 
 We have every reason to presume, from the 
 writings of the ancient fathers, that, in the 
 earlier ages of the church, when the fires of 
 martyrdom were kindled in every region which 
 acknowledged the name of Christ, the influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit was experienced to a 
 much greater degree than at any subsequent 
 period, and by that means the victims of per- 
 secution were enabled to support their sufferings 
 with a constancy which is now unknown. This 
 is quite consonant to the usual procedure of 
 God ; according to the exigence, so are the 
 means he provides. As the church advanced in 
 influence, it was gradually deprived of this 
 special interference. 
 
 A very good evidence to the truth of Chris- 
 tianity may be deduced from the circumstance 
 
 * Letter XCVII. 
 
19 
 
 of the Bible being so generally addressed to the 
 poor and illiterate; for, although it is alike pro* 
 fessedly received by the great, the opulent, and 
 the learned ; yet it is a known fact iii Christian 
 experience, that there is no period of life when 
 the Gospel promises yield such rich consolation 
 as they do in the bitter hour of tribulation. 
 
 The Bishop of Rome, in his original institu- 
 tion, exercised a legitimate authority* It was 
 one of the most important of the apostolic func- 
 tions to appoint proper bishops and deacons 
 over those districts which acknowledged the 
 Christian faith ; but so strenuously did our Sa- 
 viour and his disciples discountenance an as- 
 sumption of secular jurisdiction, it may well 
 confound the unenlightened, that the minds, 
 as well as the persons and property of so many 
 myriads of beings should so long have been 
 fettered by the Popes, those most unrighteous 
 descendants of St. Peter. — * Render unto 
 Caesar the things which are Caesar's,*' were 
 the self-denying and unassuming words of 
 the Redeemer. There is nothing in the as- 
 sumption of Papal authority which can in any 
 degree invalidate the sacred writings; on the 
 contrary, it goes in furtherance of their es- 
 tablishment. There is the same reason for 
 concluding that this usurped hierarchy is fore- 
 told in the Scripture, as are the divisions and 
 bickerings amongst less presumptuous and cor- 
 
 b 2 
 
20 
 
 rupted Christians, both of which are alike fore- 
 shown in Scripture prophecy. I most readily 
 concede we have no authority tor erecting the 
 priesthood, as such, into arbitrary proprietors 
 of the liberties and property of mankind. The 
 Jewish people are no precedent — they were a 
 theocracy, set apart by God himself for a special 
 purpose, viz. that, as repositories, in the midst 
 of a debased and profligate world, they might 
 preserve the spirit of religion from being lost in 
 the polytheism of the age. Our Saviour came 
 professedly to draw all nations to himself; to 
 throw down the wall of partition between Jew 
 and Gentile: and no other power than that 
 which erected the Hebrew government can es- 
 tablish an exclusive hierarchy, combining priestly 
 and secular dominion, to enchain mankind. 
 
 Suppose, in a particular age of the world, 
 an extraordinary superstructure is to be raised 
 for some great purpose, applicable only to that 
 age, the fact of certain columns and marbles 
 being used in its elevation, and for that purpose 
 alone, never would be a precedent for their ap- 
 plication on any common occasion. Their use, 
 in the one instance, was special ; the same cir- 
 cumstance would never occur again; and there- 
 fore all argument deducible from their applica- 
 tion, in that single instance, must fall to the 
 ground. Let this simile be applied to the Jew- 
 
 3 
 
21 
 
 ish theocracy, as shadowing forth the Christian 
 dispensation. * 
 
 The Infidel, indeed, should pause before he 
 founds an objection upon the basis of Judaism. 
 If he be a physiognomist, let him analyze the 
 countenance of any descendant of the Hebrew 
 nation, and he may there trace the deep lines of 
 the curse inscribed in indelible characters. If 
 he be a traveller, let him explore the northern, 
 the southern, the eastern, or the western he- 
 mispheres, and in their scattered tribes he will 
 ever find fresh attestation to the fulfilment of 
 Scripture prophecy in reference to this devoted 
 people. 
 
 It is the pride and glory of Great Britain, 
 that she, through the blessing of the Almighty, 
 has been able to extricate herself from the over- 
 whelming difficulties by which she was once sur- 
 rounded in matters of religion, and that she has 
 been enabled to plant the standard of her faith on 
 a pedestal so firm, that we ardently hope and 
 trust no open storms of persecution, or secret 
 mappings of infidelity, will be able to destroy. 
 
 It is needless to search into the ancient his- 
 tory of our country for evidences of our faith. 
 The thick cloud of ignorance which pervaded 
 the land before the invention of printing, is al- 
 
 b3 
 
22 
 
 most a sufficient answer to any questions of this 
 kind ; and the Legates and other Popish agents, 
 so long as they maintained their influence among 
 us, too well conducted the ambitious schemes 
 of their ghostly master, to permit the genuine 
 lustre of Revelation to break upon this benighted 
 land. Translations of the Scriptures were un- 
 known, or at least their dissemination was so 
 severely restricted, that it would constitute only 
 an exception to my rule. Those who were ac- 
 quainted with the Bible had not imbibed its 
 spirit ; for we cannot find in it a doctrine more 
 peremptorily enforced than that of extensive 
 dispersion, 
 
 The Reformation, then, is the point from 
 which our conclusions must be deduced, as to 
 the influence of religion in this country. 
 
 There is nothing more humbling to the mind 
 of man, than the consideration that his best 
 and noblest works have frequently taken their 
 rise, not from purity of intention and vast- 
 ness of design, but from what appears to us 
 mere accident, even sometimes from the effects 
 of sin and folly. This was most singularly in- 
 stanced in Henry the Eighth. His family feuds 
 called down the Papal anathemas, and paved 
 the way for the commencement of that great 
 work, which was so happily completed in the- 
 reign of Elizabeth. 
 
23 
 
 I am not going into a defence of the right of 
 Kings, Lords, and Commons, to legislate. I 
 assume this as a known and established principle 
 of the constitution. I know this to be a day of 
 disaffection and scepticism ; but let those who 
 are loudest in their objections bring forward a 
 system even approximating to the purity of our 
 own, and I may perhaps yield my allegiance ; 
 but, until that is done, I shall consider those law- 
 less and profligate men who run through the 
 country to disseminate their unhallowed opi- 
 nions, as pirates against our religion and consti- 
 tution. 
 
 It may be contended, that if the three 
 estates have power to enact one law, they are 
 without restriction as to another. This, sceptics 
 may admit, will hold in civil affairs, but cannot 
 extend to matters of religion. Now, it is the 
 very liberty onr constitution allows us, which 
 gives rise to the question. Our forefathers, in 
 more arbitrary times, doubted not the propriety 
 of the obligation which the State imposed upon 
 them to receive as infallible the dogmas of the 
 Romish church. To have questioned it, would 
 have brought upon them all the horrors of ex- 
 communication. — But, in fact, the cases are not 
 parallel ; for, with the destruction of Papal do- 
 minion, this country has also been freed from 
 all alarm on account of inquisitorial vengeance. 
 
 b 4 
 
24 
 
 Our national faith has been tried by ordeals of 
 every kind and degree : it has surmounted the 
 flames of persecution ; it has confounded opposi- 
 tion; it has neutralized or converted argument; 
 it has endured the hardy test of criticism ; besides 
 which, it has been divested of the frippery and 
 impurity, in which the ambitious and self-inter- 
 ested had arrayed it : and with all this, no in- 
 telligent mind will dispute the right which the 
 Government has to establish it for the rule of 
 our conduct. But on what terms is it imposed? 
 Is it with an arbitrary and a cruel hand ? Cer- 
 tainly not. It was necessary, at the first dawn 
 of reformation in this country, that unlimited 
 toleration should not be licensed. So extraor- 
 dinary a change would, in the hands of design- 
 ing men, have ruined the cause it was intended 
 to serve; but the great work proceeded pro- 
 gressively, until it attained its present solidity. 
 
 I shall here advert to a few of the laws by 
 which the Papal tyranny was at length finally 
 destroyed in this country. 
 
 After King John had so infamously resigned 
 his crown to Pope Innocent the Third, the king- 
 dom was absolutely held, for many years, as a 
 fee of the Papacy. To our English Justinian, 
 Edward the First, we are indebted for first 
 disputing the yoke, by disregarding the me- 
 
25 
 
 naces and Bulls of His Holiness, and in va- 
 rious other ways setting him at defiance. By 
 several Statutes, in the 25th, 27th, 38th, and 
 40th of Edward the Third, fresh limitations 
 were imposed upon the Papal authority, by which 
 the Holy Father, and his zealous adherents, 
 were denied all power of interference with the 
 presentations and collations to the bishoprics 
 and livings of England ; and it was enacted that 
 the degrading cession of King John was abso- 
 lutely void. In the reign of Richard the Second, 
 several Statutes of the same tenour were passed; 
 and by the 2d of Henry the Fourth, c. 3, all 
 persons accepting exemptions from canonical 
 obedience to their proper ordinary are subjected 
 to the penalties of a praemunire *. 
 
 By those Statutes, and a few others, the 
 Pope was deprived of all substantial power in 
 
 * This word in its origin means the offence of creating 
 imperium in imperio, or introducing a foreign power into 
 the land, though subsequently extended to other abuses, 
 and by the 16th of Richard II. c. 5, renders the party liable 
 to be put out of the King's protection, and his lands and te- 
 nements, goods and chattels, forfeited to the King, and to be 
 attached by his body if he may be found, and brought before 
 the King and his Council, there to answer to the cases afore- 
 said. It has been determined that the whole penalties of a 
 praemunire need not be exacted, but only such of them as the 
 Court may think fit. — 2d Lord Raymond, 1361 ; the King t\ 
 Carwood, Stra. 472. 
 
26 
 
 these realms, and finally by several Statutes 
 passed in the 24th and 25th of Henry the Eighth, 
 the following offences subjected the offenders to 
 a praemunire, viz. appealing or suing to Rome 
 for any license or dispensation, or paying obe- 
 dience to process from thence, or refusal by 
 Dean and Chapter to elect the person nomi- 
 nated by the King, or by an Archbishop or Bi- 
 shop to confirm or consecrate him. And by 
 three other Statutes passed in the 5th, 13th, 
 and 27th of Queen Elizabeth, the same penal- 
 ties are incurred by all persons refusing the oath 
 of supremacy, defending the Papal authority in 
 this realm ; importing superstitious mummery, 
 mass books ; assisting towards the maintenance 
 of Popish seminaries beyond sea, or any Popish 
 priest in England. 
 
 > Thus the Reformation in this country was 
 by no means so sudden, as is frequently sup- 
 posed. These several enactments had gradually 
 paved the way for the great event. It has, we 
 trust, been " going on unto perfection." The 
 religious establishment has been settled by the 
 consent of the nation; and were there no other 
 argument, this might be brought forward ; for 
 in barbarous countries, where human sacrifice 
 and immolation are practised, we should expect 
 to hear many a mournful voice exclaiming 
 against the established idolatry; but where a 
 
27 
 
 system is pure and holy in itself, and can far- 
 ther recommend itself — and here is its glorious 
 pre-eminence — by the influence it has ever 
 had in society, by the universal charity it in- 
 culcates, and the consolation it affords in the 
 hour of death ; surely, then, to refuse assent 
 betrays obdurate scepticism. 
 
 - The divisions of Christians in this country, 
 or any other, into parties and sects, can prove 
 nothing against the authority of our faith. 
 
 In arithmetical calculations there may be 
 one proper, simple, and explicit mode of obtain- 
 ing a balance ; but there are many persons, who, 
 from education, studied preference, or mere 
 whim, may proceed by other less common tracks, 
 and all arrive at the same conclusion ; so, in 
 religion, there are many matters of minor im- 
 portance upon which Christians cannot agree ; 
 and in deference to these conscientious scruples, 
 the Legislature, with its accustomed leniency, 
 has, at different times, passed several Statutes 
 for the relief of various denominations of sece- 
 ders from the Established Church *. 
 
 * Vide 1 W. & M. c. 8 ; 10 Ann, c. 2; 19 G. III. c. 44 ; 
 
 for the relief of Protestant Dissenters acknowledging the 
 Trinity, and many other statutes passed for various purposes, 
 wherein certain conscientious scruples of the Society of 
 Friends are incidentally recognised. 
 
28 
 
 It is good evidence of the stability of the 
 English Constitution, and at the same time of 
 the religion it has recognised, that without re- 
 straining its professors to one common unde- 
 viating rule, they have liberty to branch them- 
 selves into various divisions, and yet without 
 doing injury to Church, State, or individual. 
 
 If we were ruled by an arbitrary priesthood, 
 we know from dreadful experience that free 
 exercise of opinion would be the prerogative of 
 an Englishman no more. And if we were in 
 the enjoyment of our civil constitution, with all 
 its privileges, and religion were not engrafted 
 into the system, our civil advantages might 
 then be our greatest curse. We might be 
 placed in this distressing dilemma ; we must 
 either offend our God by paying obedience to 
 the State, or incur the appellation of ingrates 
 by breaking the laws of our country in seeking 
 the favour of an offended Deity. 
 
 But, as it is, they are so incorporated that 
 they go hand in hand, and distribute to every 
 individual his portion of happiness. 
 
 Which is the most rational, the most happy 
 state of society — that mode which we are at 
 present in the enjoyment of; or, having discarded 
 
29 
 
 religion from our island, to take up with a 
 cold, selfish, and desperate infidelity ? 
 
 Looking on the other side for a moment ; 
 what could we as a nation, or as individuals, 
 gain by the exchange ? I will consider it in 
 both lights. But I must premise, it is my firm 
 persuasion that little distinction can be made 
 between Deism and absolute Atheism; for, if we 
 part from divine revelation, we destroy the only 
 clue whereby to " find out the Almighty ;" and 
 as we must ever be in a state of morbid dark- 
 ness with respect to his character and his attri- 
 butes, we should then have no certain rule 
 whereby to order or control our conduct, and 
 consequently our inclination would in almost 
 every instance be our sole director. For I ap- 
 peal to the consciences of my readers, whether 
 in the moment of great temptation to sin they 
 have not been withheld by the clear threatenings 
 held out in the Scriptures, and by those alone ; 
 and whether, if, in that awful moment they could 
 have had the certain assurance they were false, 
 they would have resisted the temptation upon 
 the vague idea that a God existed, but without 
 being able to form one Clear conception of his 
 attributes? 
 
 To consider a state of national Deism, the 
 memben of our Senate having no certain rule 
 
30 
 
 to influence them, no stimulus to honour ex- 
 cepting the insufficient check of public opinion, 
 might concur to enact such laws as would en- 
 noble and enrich themselves, or their own class. 
 For, in the present happy state of things, it is 
 almost impossible for many men to co-operate 
 in a bad cause ; for, as every corrupt man fears 
 that his neighbour holds those great principles 
 in esteem which are so generally diffused, he 
 dare not trust his evil machinations to the wind 
 — he would fear that every breath might be 
 treacherous; but when all his neighbours ac- 
 knowledge the same wild nonentity, he can- 
 not but argue with himself that his friends 
 can have no stronger check. Courts of justice 
 would be opened almost in vain ; for what is to 
 bind the witness to his word ? his sense of the 
 omniscience of God? As his ideas upon this 
 subject must be utterly indefinable, that cannot 
 be. — His honour? Impossible! Would the master 
 suffer the labourer to repose one day in seven 
 from his wearying occupation, in order that he 
 might recruit his exhausted strength and spirits? 
 or even if he did permit it, masters could never 
 agree upon which day it should be. This would 
 be decided by casualty; the convenience, and 
 caprice, of cruel lordship. There would never 
 be a day of general repose, and thus the poor 
 man would be deprived of half his happiness ; 
 for, whilst he was exempted, his friend with 
 
3i 
 
 whom he took sweet counsel on the sabbath, 
 would be labouring for the goods that perish ; 
 no Sunday or charity schools would then be 
 known ; for, as the Bible was disavowed, what 
 would induce the philanthropist to search out 
 the children of the poor, and instruct them in 
 the rudiments of knowledge ? 
 
 To touch now upon individual Deism: I 
 think we must assume, that this would not pro- 
 duce results more beneficial. A man of rank 
 and opulence, who has many servants and de- 
 pendants at his command, if that voice is still 
 which once cried, " Charity suffereth long," 
 what would teach him to endure their little fail- 
 ings ? Animal passion would be his guide, and the 
 cruel lash would ever be substituted for the mild 
 reproof. The opulent would never distribute 
 alms from a sense of duty; and I much fear that 
 what the wretched lost in that way, would not 
 be recompensed under the influence of vain 
 glory alone. — But above all, where would the 
 outcast, the afflicted, and the dying, look for 
 consolation? every earthly support has failed, 
 and they are left a prey to reckless despair. 
 The Bible once afforded solace, for none were 
 so abject but they could obtain a Bible. This 
 holy charter of their celestial inheritance was 
 dispensed " without money, and without price ;" 
 but now it is declared a fallacy 5 their only prop 
 3 
 
32 
 
 is taken from them, and heartless suicide is 
 their sole resource. — Shall we ever live to wit- 
 ness this awful picture ? Heaven forbid ! Britain 
 is a Christian land ; and whilst a heart shall 
 vibrate upon these free shores, I trust the Gos- 
 pel revelation will still go on u conquering and 
 to conquer.'* 
 
33 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Evidences in Proof of the Legality of Carlile's 
 Indictment. 
 
 It has been commonly affirmed, that the State 
 has no right to interfere with, or circumscribe, 
 the religious opinions of any man. As I have 
 attempted to show, in the foregoing division of 
 the subject, the Christian faith is deeply in- 
 grafted on the constitution; yet the law respect- 
 ing it has been so modified and adjusted, as 
 to allow every latitude to the exercise of private 
 judgment, provided the main principles of that 
 belief are not thereby endangered. But if the 
 evidences of religion are clear and indisputable, 
 and, being so, are as much sanctioned and esta- 
 blished by the Legislature, as any civil ordi- 
 nance ; and further, have been long approved of, 
 and trusted in, by all classes of men, however 
 they may differ upon political points ; then how 
 comes it to be a question, whether the Govern- 
 ment has a right to protect this mighty bulwark 
 of a nation's hopes ? 
 
 The argument our opponents would use is 
 this, that though they are bound as members of 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 society by any law which their representatives in 
 Parliament may enact, in respect of civil obli- 
 gation, yet that all laws bearing reference to a 
 future state, and tending to fetter the mind, 
 must be nugatory ; as these are encroachments 
 on the special prerogative of Deity. This may 
 be specious in appearance, yet it is in effect 
 totally inconclusive. 
 
 But even suppose the anomalous case of a 
 conscientious Deist, of what privileges is he ac- 
 tually deprived? If he can keep his pestilential 
 opinions to himself, no law can impede the pro- 
 gress of his thoughts, however tainted they may 
 be. He enjoys the same civil rights as his neigh- 
 bour : and though his income may be slightly 
 curtailed in supporting a religion he does not 
 acknowledge ; yet this is but a trivial penalty. 
 But when a man can so far insult the Legislature 
 of his country, as to disperse those sentiments 
 abroad, which the nation at large, by the voice 
 of its representatives, has declared to be erro- 
 neous, and destructive to happiness; then it 
 surely is time for the magistrate to interpose, 
 and crush the fatal error in its earliest stage. 
 
 It is monstrous to argue that silent con- 
 tempt, in such a case, is the only proper confuta- 
 tion : this mode may be very commendable in 
 instances of common imposition, when the ob- 
 
35 
 
 ject of excitement is remarkable only for lt$ 
 novelty, or its absurdity. But where the enemy 
 strikes at the very root of that faith which our 
 forefathers have shed their best blood to esta- 
 blish, other weapons must be resorted to. We 
 must not wait till every villager in the realm has 
 partaken of the bitter potion which may involve 
 him in eternal misery. 
 
 For though it is to argument we are invited, 
 yet latter Deists have banished fair argument 
 from the question, and wisely, for it could not 
 support its scrutiny ; but they have substituted 
 in its stead, horrid blasphemy, unproved asseve- 
 ration, and loud unmeaning contention. 
 
 The secret sneer and the treacherous insi- 
 nuation of a Gibbon, or a Hume, may, indeed, 
 have been fatally pernicious to certain classes in 
 society, and not the less so from the fascinating 
 colours in which they have arrayed their opi- 
 nions ; but it is to be lamented, that such sys- 
 tems of attack must ever be left to the exclusive 
 judgments of the Almighty : for; until some de- 
 finable overt act of aggression, no human tribu- 
 nal can interfere. 
 
 Though I very much doubt the assumption 
 of some of our great divines, that, were the 
 Church establishment overturned, the State must 
 
 c2 
 
'36 
 
 necessarily fall ; indeed, I am clearly of opinion 
 that our constitution is firm enough to bear such 
 a disunion — yet, on the other hand, I am as 
 decided, that the fact of having an Esta- 
 blishment, founded on a basis so solidly and 
 wisely constituted, is the very means of pre- 
 serving our religion from the more frequent and 
 outrageous attacks of infidelity. For, if it were 
 a positive rule of our government, that no exclu- 
 sive cognizance should be taken of any parti- 
 cular mode of belief, I must affirm, it .would be 
 found extremely difficult, for all the contending 
 parties, professing Christianity, to come to an 
 understanding, by the voice of their represent- 
 atives, as to what limitations should be put to 
 the exercise, or expression, of licentious opi- 
 nion. But the Established Church, by its ex- 
 tensive influence in the nation, and weighty 
 voice in the Senate, has been able to accomplish 
 this important object. No severity or intole- 
 rance has been exercised ; for what could not al- 
 together be effected at the early stages of the 
 Reformation, has been since accomplished. 
 
 The Legislature has at various times relieved 
 the consciences of the scrupulous upon disputed 
 points. But how has that relief been granted ? 
 Not by virtue of virulent and insulting abuse 
 of the established government or religion, but 
 by cool calculation, by solid argument and deep 
 
37 
 conviction. And are not these the criteria, by 
 which proposed alterations of importance are to 
 be estimated? 
 
 Though it may be contended, that it were 
 vain for an individual to attempt to introduce an 
 enactment without previously winning the co- 
 operation of some powerful champions ; (and 
 how is that to be effected without trying the sense 
 of the nation by a free circulation of opinion?) 
 yet as all men are presumed to have received, 
 from nature, or education, a notion of what is 
 in itself, or by the rules of civilized society, 
 right and wrong, the law would not so far insult 
 the understanding of any man as to suppose hirn 
 incapable of judging between what would be 
 commendable or prudent, and what would be 
 indecorous or highly heinous, to bring forward 
 for public discussion. 
 
 No man, by the laws of this country, or of any 
 civilized community, has a right to disseminate 
 sentiments which tend to bring into contempt, 
 or abrogate, its most sacred institutions. An 
 individual in this dilemma can have, ought 
 to have, but two alternatives ; either to confine 
 his opinions to his own breast, where they will 
 necessarily be unmolested, or, if he unhappily 
 considers these sentiments indispensable to the 
 well-being of mankind, to present them accord- 
 
 c3 
 
38 
 
 ing to the accustomed forms before the Legisla-* 
 ture for its sanction or approval. If he has no 
 influence he cannot complain: so far as regards 
 the argument, he is in no worse' situation than 
 thousands of his countrymen, who, in a better 
 cause, have conceived mighty projects which un- 
 toward circumstances have blasted. If he has 
 influence, he has nothing to do but to submit 
 his wonderful discoveries to those, whose united 
 intelligence will give the most satisfactory de- 
 cision. 
 
 But this philosophic inquirer knows, that he 
 has every thing to fear from the wisdom and the 
 integrity of such a tribunal ; for, though here and 
 there a solitary sceptic may be found, who will 
 wreck his fairest hopes upon the quicksands of a 
 bewildered and prostituted reason ; yet the good- 
 ness of the Almighty has too deeply engraven 
 upon the hearts of mankind at large, the great 
 principles of eternal truth, to leave room for an 
 anxious thought that they will ever be sacrificed 
 at the shrine of a perverted imagination. 
 
 If I have carried conviction but upon one of 
 the foregoing arguments^ I trust, I am not pre- 
 sumptuous, in pronouncing Richard Carlile 
 guilty of a high misdemeanor against the State. 
 
 The " Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine, was 
 a proscribed volume — a volume composed with 
 
39 
 
 the clear and express intention of undermining 
 the Christian religion ; and the Christian reli- 
 gion being part of the law of Great Britain, con- 
 sequently, of setting that law at defiance. 
 
 Its republication must be as illegal as the 
 original offence, because the question is not, 
 who first broached certain ideas couched in 
 certain language, — but who has committed the 
 offence of uttering and dispersing those opinions, 
 which, ipso facto, have incurred the just penalty 
 of the law. 
 
 Carlile's plea of " Not Guilty" was founded, 
 not upon the grounds of disowning the repub- 
 lication, but upon matter irrelevant to the pro- 
 secution. 
 
 So incorporated is the Christian religion with 
 the Constitution, that no question has ever been 
 entertained, but that our courts of judicature 
 could, by virtue of the common law, and inde- 
 pendent of Parliamentary enactments, take cog- 
 nizance of offences against its sacred institu- 
 tions. 
 
 The ecclesiastical courts have indeed gene- 
 rally claimed jurisdiction over spiritual offences; 
 but as tho$e courts derive their existence, and 
 
 * c 4 
 
40 
 
 their institutions, from the civil law, and exer- 
 cise their prerogatives merely by sufferance, and 
 indeed to carry their judgments into effect, are 
 generally compelled to resort to the civil power; 
 consequently, their native strength would be 
 quite incompetent to restrain the licentiousness 
 of the people. The common law has, there- 
 fore, generally interposed in cases of extremity, 
 not for the purpose of robbing, or defrauding, 
 the proper courts of their privileges; but merely 
 to perfect that portion of the executive govern- 
 ment, which would otherwise have been defi- 
 cient. 
 
 Carlile was, therefore, clearly indictable, 
 and, in fact, several offenders have been con* 
 victed on similar grounds, by the common law. 
 
 An affirmative statute never deprives the 
 common law of its jurisdiction ; it merely de- 
 fines, and renders indubitable, that which was, 
 in some respects, discretionary. 
 
 The Attorney General was, of course, there- 
 fore, at liberty to proceed at common law, as 
 in fact he did, or under the statute of 9 and 10 
 of William III. c. 32, which, so far as regards the 
 present subject, runs as follows : If any person 
 educated in, or having made profession of, MM 
 
 2 
 
ft 
 
 Christian religion, shall be convicted in any of 
 the Courts of Westminster, or at the assizes, of 
 denying any one of the Persons of the Holy 
 Trinity to be God, or of maintaining that there 
 are more Gods than one, or of denying the truth 
 of the Christian religion, or the divine authority 
 of the Holy Scriptures, he shall be subject to 
 the penalties therein mentioned. 
 
 Now, this is a public statute, unrepealed in 
 any instance (excepting that of impugning the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, which, as I shall after- 
 wards have occasion to remark upon, has been 
 relieved against), and is clear and intelligible, 
 not even leaving an offender the plea of igno- 
 rance, as by the most distant possibility he 
 might otherwise, perhaps, have brought for- 
 ward. 
 
 It cannot be contended that Carlile, before 
 he was served with the process, should have 
 been warned by the Attorney General of his 
 danger, and given time and opportunity for re- 
 paration. For aught I know to the contrary, 
 this may have been done, but whether it were, or 
 not, is apart from the question; for no man has 
 a right, with his eyes open, to violate the most 
 sacred institutions of his country ; and then, in- 
 stead of paying the forfeited penalty, expect a 
 
 c5 
 
42 
 
 formal warning, and dismissal, upon promise of 
 amendment. 
 
 According to such a doctrine, this deep rea- 
 soner would require impunity for every first 
 offence, and therefore, to suit his case, would 
 approve that foolish legal doctrine of claiming 
 the benefit of clergy, which upon any other oc- 
 casion, this very individual would be the first to 
 ridicule. 
 
 However, Carlile has not fallen into this 
 error ; for I believe up to the time, and during 
 the progress, of his trial, he, or his friends, 
 have been dispersing this infamous publication 
 throughout the country. 
 
 It may be contended, that the character of 
 that religion which has been so foully aspersed, 
 disclaims every exercise of severity in support of 
 its doctrines, and that our opponents are fur- 
 nished with an argument in favour of its fallacy, 
 if it can in any way connive at, what they are 
 pleased to call, persecution. But though the 
 prosecutors, not the persecutors, of this arch 
 offender, may have a deep impression on their 
 minds of the spirit of patient forbearance, which 
 the Scriptures inculcate, and that, however 
 shocked and disgusted they may be, at the hor- 
 rid blasphemies poured upon the revelation of 
 
43 
 
 God, it is their duty, as Christians, to leave 
 final retribution to the work of Heaven : yet let 
 these specious objectors consider, that there are 
 also duties which men in authority owe to so- 
 ciety ; and that it is in discharge of those duties, 
 and of those duties alone, this prosecution has 
 been conducted. 
 
 The injunction of our Saviour, " Render unto 
 Caesar the things which are Caesar s," clearly re- 
 cognises the respective duties of the magistrate 
 and the subject ; and if the introduction of any 
 glaring error into a state threatens to dissolve 
 the connexions of that community, it surely be- 
 comes a binding obligation upon the magistrate, 
 and his officers, to punish the offender. That 
 case has unhappily been realized ; and the go- 
 vernment of Great Britain, with the same spirit 
 of magnanimity which has so long distinguished 
 it amongst the nations, has subjected the offence 
 to public and impartial scrutiny, and now exacts 
 of its perpetrator the forfeited penalty. 
 
 c 6 
 
44 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 An Examination of the Mode of Defence resorted 
 to by Carlile upon his Trial. 
 
 Having now, I hope, satisfactorily established 
 the legality of this man s indictment, I will pro- 
 ceed to offer some remarks upon that line of 
 conduct which he prescribed for himself upon 
 his trial. The Learned Judge, who presided, 
 with such infinite honour to himself, and 
 satisfaction to the country, was placed in a most 
 painful situation. On the one hand, the strict 
 rule of law might have prompted him to confine 
 the Defendant to the mere issue in question — 
 whether or not he had infringed the established 
 law, by republishing a work calculated to bring 
 the Holy Scriptures into disrepute ; but, on the 
 other hand, a desire to give the Defendant that 
 latitude which his ungrateful impertinence ill 
 requited, led him to pursue the course which he 
 ultimately chose. 
 
 No doubt it would have been a serious dis- 
 appointment to this zealous opinionist to have 
 had his eloquence blunted at the outset : after 
 having groped in all the caverns of literature, in 
 search of evidence to support his positions, it 
 would have been cruel in the extreme to hare 
 
45 
 
 toppled him down headlong from the first step of 
 the eminence he aspired to attain. By a most 
 liberal and unusual extension of that rule which 
 authorizes the Judge to stand counsel for the 
 prisoner, the Defendant was allowed to deviate 
 from the mere issue in question, and to go into 
 extraneous evidence. The republication and 
 sale of the " Age of Reason " were proved, and 
 certain select passages from the work were read, 
 as specified in the indictment. These through 
 the public journals have been in every body s 
 hands, by which I am relieved from the neces- 
 sity of a disgusting repetition. 
 
 The Defendant, upon hearing the murmur of 
 horror which followed this exhibition, instead of 
 falling on his knees, and humbly asking the 
 pardon of an insulted Judge and Jury, and crav- 
 ing their intercession on his behalf, with an of- 
 fended God, proceeded with unblushing effron- 
 tery to justify his conduct. 
 
 One or two of his sapient arguments, found- 
 ed upon the Book of Genesis, I have introduced 
 into the first division of my subject, and there- 
 fore need not specifically advert to them again. 
 
 An Act of Parliament was passed in the 53d 
 year of the present reign (c. 160), for the relief 
 of Unitarian Dissenters, whereby so much of the 
 
46 
 
 Act of William III. recited in my last division, 
 as respects the doctrine of the Trinity, was re- 
 pealed. This partial repeal Carlile appears to 
 have reposed on as a main pillar in his defence : 
 but a more extraordinary application of reason- 
 ing cannot be instanced. 
 
 Carlile, I apprehend, would be equally for- 
 ward with ourselves to allow that a part is not a 
 whole — that a partial repeal is not an entire re- 
 peal : but then he asserts, that the Christian re- 
 ligion, being founded on the doctrine of the Tri- 
 nity, must either stand or fall with it ; and by 
 the partial abrogation before mentioned, the 
 whole evidence of Christianity is invalidated. I 
 am here neither arguing for or against Unitari- 
 anism ; but, as a humble individual, I declare 
 myself to be no Unitarian, lest I should be 
 thought to be involved in that question. It 
 would be as much out of character in me to 
 enter upon such a disputation here, as it was 
 impertinent in Carlile to introduce it into a 
 court of justice. 
 
 There are several distinct clauses in the Act 
 of William, and a transgression against any one 
 of which, would, primarily, render the party 
 liable to the penalties of the Act. If, then, he 
 impugns the doctrine of the Trinity, and upon 
 prosecud6n pleads the Unitarian Act, he is ac- 
 
47 
 
 quitted : but if he reviles or blasphemes the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, I believe no candid Uni- 
 tarian would wish to see him absolved. Now 
 let that clause of the Act of William be out of 
 the question, for a moment, and he still has 
 trampled upon both the spirit and letter of the 
 Act, by " denying the truth of the Christian re- 
 ligion," and the j" divine authority of the Holy 
 Scriptures ;" nay, he has done more, for he has 
 reviled and blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and 
 consequently the doctrine of the Trinity, which 
 the Unitarian Act was never meant to sanction. 
 
 Thus do abandoned and ungrateful men 
 take advantage of the lenient toleration of our 
 laws. 
 
 The impudence of Carlile was remarkably 
 instanced in his summoning several distinguish- 
 ed characters of different parties, for the pur- 
 pose of confusing their testimony: but if the 
 Court had sanctioned such a procedure, where 
 would have been the triumph of Deism ? Would 
 a smile from the spectators have confounded an 
 upright and intelligent Jury ? And, supposing a 
 Christian and a Jew had been confronted, what 
 would have been the result ? If the arguments 
 of one Christian had failed to convince one Jew, 
 and vice versd, yet the Bible would still remain, 
 and the commentaries would still retain their 
 
48 
 
 value. We had never agreed to venture our 
 heaven-born faith upon the single combat of two 
 or more individuals, whom infidelity had selected. 
 If the contest had been between a Musselman 
 and a Hindoo, the case would be the same : for 
 though one of them had told ns we were after 
 death to enjoy a sensual paradise ; or the other, 
 that the destructive insect must be carefully 
 preserved, because the human soul would inha- 
 bit it ; yet the Christian faith would not have 
 suffered from such a controversy ; on the con- 
 trary, it would have come off victorious ; for, by 
 a comparison with every other system, its purity, 
 its intelligence, and its attractiveness, would 
 have risen from the ordeal in glorious array. 
 
 But, further, this champion of Deism appears 
 to have attached peculiar importance to the per- 
 secutions which have in different ages of the 
 church been carried on against those coming 
 under the unhappy denomination of heretics: 
 and for this purpose he amused his auditors with 
 a tedious recitation from a tract called " The 
 History of the Bible," circulated by the Tract 
 Society, and other works equally edifying and 
 proper in any place but a court of justice. And 
 what does all this prove? Do we pretend to 
 deny that unhappy schisms and disunions have 
 taken place in the church ? We admit all this ; 
 and, further, we allow that persecutions of the 
 
49 
 
 most awful and unrelenting character have been 
 carried on : but we do not concede that they 
 were conducted by Christians against Christians. 
 Though Carlile is not an old man, or we might 
 utterly despair of him ; yet I think he must 
 have had sufficient experience to know, that 
 men are not always to be estimated by the names 
 or dignities they assume. If I may form an 
 opinion of his political, by his religious creed, 
 he is a man who would be for divesting his bet- 
 ters of every surplusage, and judging of them 
 in their natural state. Then let him be at least 
 as candid in passing a decision upon clerical 
 persecution — a name is not a substance. If 
 certain men have persecuted, they were not 
 Christians. Too often in common life we are 
 obliged to doubt the self-commendation of men, 
 upon presumption alone, and without positive 
 proof of their dishonour. Then we surely can 
 find no difficulty in unmasking and disclaim- 
 ing those who by demonstrable and unequivocal 
 acts, have so foully abused the doctrine of the 
 cross. 
 
 It is natural for a man, when he is making 
 bold asseverations, and drawing certain unte- 
 nable conclusions from them, to infer, if he is 
 unanswered by those who surround him, that 
 his victory is complete, and he has nothing to 
 do but to claim his reward. This, I have no 
 
50 
 
 doubt, was the flattering feeling of Oarlile during' 
 the progress of his cause. His arguments were 
 for the most part beneath the notice of the Judge, 
 and indifferent to the Jury, and consequently he 
 had liberty to pursue his strain of eloquence ta 
 its highest climax, without much interruption : 
 but in fact he was following a phantom all the 
 time ; he talked like a king's fool, but by suf- 
 ferance, and when his harangue was concluded 
 had gained nothing but great exhaustion of bo- 
 dily strength and spirits. Yet I cannot but 
 think he won particular regard and respect for 
 the Learned Judge and the Jury who convicted 
 him. No plea can ever be urged that he had 
 not the fairest, the most patient hearing. The 
 latitude allowed him was free and voluntary on 
 the part of the Judge, though the delinquent 
 impertinently claimed it as his right. 
 
 A question might perhaps have been raised 
 as to the propriety of dispersing the trial through 
 the kingdom, at least until certain passages had 
 been expunged : for the matter laid in the in- 
 dictment, and some of the comments upon the 
 Scripture by Carlile, in the course of the trial, 
 are in themselves so revolting, as to be ill 
 adapted for superficial readers, who, receiving 
 only the bane, have neither means nor opportu- 
 nity to apply the antidote. But Carlile, like 
 rnany men of his own stamp, though he has not 
 
51 
 
 hit his point, has, we have reason to congratu- 
 late ourselves, shot so far beyond it, as for the 
 most part to confute his own arguments ; and 
 this, coupled with the spirited addresses of the 
 Attorney General and Mr. Gurney, and more 
 particularly the Christian and benignant charge 
 of the Learned Judge, we have reason to hope 
 will in some degree counteract the effects of 
 such contagious opinions. 
 
 Carlile in the progress of his trial took fre- 
 quent occasion, with apparent politeness, but 
 real sarcasm, to apologize for the present Attor- 
 ney General, on account of his procedure in the 
 prosecution, from the circumstance of the in- 
 dictment having been prepared by Sir Samuel 
 Shepherd, his predecessor. Now 1 am convinced 
 the Attorney General would reject such an apo- 
 logy with disdain ; for it ii the absolute duty of 
 a centinel planted on a watch-tower, to guard 
 with indefatigable vigilance eveiy approach to 
 the unconscious citadel. Carlile, or any other 
 man placed in Carlile's situation, has as much 
 reason to complain of the Learned Judge who 
 gives the sentence, or the Jury who convict, as 
 of the Attorney General who indicts : they are 
 all equally instruments in the hands of the con- 
 stitution. When a man has violated the law, it 
 is as much the duty of the Attorney. General to 
 prosecute, as it is of the Judge and Jury to take 
 
 d 2 
 
52 
 
 their respective places in the trial : they are all 
 part of one system ; and the same power that 
 vests the liberty of the subject in the hands of 
 twelve indifferent citizens, viz. the law of the 
 land, has also commanded its legal officer to 
 take cognizance of offences imperatively calling 
 for their scrutiny. 
 
 It is quite consistent with the other parts of 
 his conduct, for Carlile to complain of vindic- 
 tiveness in the Attorney General, and even in 
 the Judge : it is a cant phrase. The binding 
 official duties of the Attorney General answer 
 one part of the objection ; and the extraordinary 
 license allowed to the delinquent is in ample 
 satisfaction of the other part. 
 
 The verdict of the Jury against him was, 
 perhaps, unexpected, on the part of this un- 
 happy man ; but he should have deeply consi- 
 dered before he risqued his principles upon the 
 determination of twelve intelligent Christians, 
 that without any feeling of sympathy in his 
 favour, the point in issue was totally uncon- 
 nected with any political question, whatever 
 might be its general bearing : that it involved 
 this momentous inquiry, whether the bulwark 
 of our country, the Christian religion, was still 
 to retain its lofty pre-eminence ; or whether the 
 floodgates of infidelity were to Jbe unbarred 4 and 
 
53 
 
 these once happy realms left as a beacon to sur- 
 rounding nations, a prey to desolation. May 
 the blessing of Heaven rest upon them for the 
 verdict they have given ! 
 
 As to the infatuated man himself, I pity his 
 desperate case; and I fervently wish his sen- 
 tence may be as lenient as is consistent with the 
 enormity of the offence ; and if these pages 
 should ever meet his eye, let him know that 
 their writer has uttered his sentiments without 
 one feeling of vindictiveness : that it is his 
 most anxious hope, that Carlile will, in some 
 degree, atone for his fatal errors, by an open 
 recantation, by a patient resignation to the pu- 
 nishments of a violated law ; and above all, that, 
 having shed the bitter tears of repentance, he 
 may be received into the favour of his merciful 
 Creator. 
 
 d 3 
 
54 
 
 PART V. 
 
 On the Effect which this Prosecution ought to 
 have upon the public Mind. 
 
 My undertaking would be very incomplete, if I 
 did not avail myself of this opportunity to make 
 a few observations upon the immediate tendency 
 of a subject which has so fully engrossed the 
 public attention. I know there are many persons, 
 perhaps, the greatest proportion of the populace 
 in this country, who consider the trial of Richard 
 Carlile, but as a link in the great confederation 
 for " radical reform," a step towards the attain- 
 ment of their mischievous schemes ; and a 
 more proper foundation-stone could not be con- 
 stituted. 
 
 When France had been thoroughly deluged 
 by the licentious opinions of her deistical writers, 
 she was more easily moulded to the bloody 
 plans of Robespierre. 
 
 A discontented people dare not seize with 
 violence on the prerogatives of royalty, whilst 
 they remember the sacred n ess of their oaths of 
 allegiance, either actually or virtually pledged ; 
 whilst they retain any reverence for the Holy 
 2 
 
55 
 
 Volume, which points out the only path to that 
 God, by whom " kings reign, and princes de- 
 cree justice/' But if they can once lay aside their 
 respect for revelation, as they have then dis- 
 owned any knowledge of those injunctions 
 which command them to " honour the King," 
 not to " covet their neighbour s goods," and to 
 observe the enumerations of the Decalogue, 
 what is to restrain an ungrateful, a discontented 
 people from a state of total anarchy ? Will the 
 vague idea of an unknown, an incomprehensible 
 God, be sufficient to guide and steady the fabric? 
 
 If a traveller were to tell his wondering 
 countrymen of an extraordinary temple that 
 reared its lofty dome upon some distant conti- 
 nent, but gave no description of its figure, there 
 are not two individuals who, upon a comparison 
 of sentiments, would have conceived exactly the 
 same idea of this temple, and who would have 
 drawn two corresponding plans of it: so, if we 
 part with the Bible, which has hitherto illumined 
 our minds, we shall have no standard whereby 
 to judge of the attributes of Deity. One man 
 will, in his vaiu imagination, designate mercy 
 as the prominent perfection in the divine nature, 
 and will, consequently, argue, that whatever 
 crimes human passions may lead to, yet after 
 death one act of gracious oblivion will sweep 
 away their remembrance. Another, that the 
 
 P 4 
 
56 
 
 Almighty is indifferent to the concerns of earth, 
 and, therefore, whether oui% actions are virtuous 
 or ignoble, is to him equally unimportant ; and 
 that, after death, the human and the brute crea- 
 tion are alike consigned to eternal nonentity. 
 A third, perhaps, like the untutored idolater, 
 will worship him as an evil spirit, and deprecate 
 his wrathful interference with the affairs of men. 
 A fourth may by chance be found amidst this 
 Babel of ideas, who, embracing purer notions, 
 has maintained his moral integrity, and has in- 
 culcated his principles into the minds of his 
 children. But what security has he for the well- 
 being either of himself or his offspring? His 
 property is liable to the outrages of those who will 
 reason upon the original equality of mankind. 
 He will fear to trust his bosom friend, because, 
 as there is no standard by which they can measure 
 their minds, the man whom he has confided with 
 his dearest interests, may think it his duty, from 
 some unaccountable vagary, to betray him. 
 
 One individual, who professes a great rever- 
 ence for the ancients, may think it proper to 
 introduce a law, that a man may rob his neigh- 
 bour, provided he does it cleverly ; because Ly- 
 curgus had done so before him. Another may 
 like to ordain that crippled or unhealthy chil- 
 dren should be drowned in the Thames; because 
 the enlightened Romans exercised that species of 
 
57 
 
 cruelty in the Tiber. There is no absurdity ia 
 such suppositions ; for if there were no divine 
 injunction to the contrary, what would withhold 
 mankind from such proceedings ? The light of 
 nature ? Impossible ! Why did not the same ray 
 break in upon nations acknowledged to be equal 
 to ourselves in native principle? But a man who 
 takes the Bible, and consults it as his tutor, will 
 at once steer clear of all these mighty difficul- 
 ties. It is adapted equally for the study of all 
 classes of men, the governor and the governed. 
 It does not simply set before us the state of mind 
 we should cultivate for private and public devo- 
 tion — or for the solemnity of a dying hour ; but it 
 also points out encouragements for our support 
 amidst the common avocations of life ; it in- 
 structs us in the happiest modes of imbibing and 
 distributing cheerfulness ; its infinite variety is 
 ever presenting new objects of attraction, and 
 the poetic beauty of its imagery fixes the admi- 
 ration of the man of letters and the scholar. 
 And yet this is the volume which has been re- 
 viled and blasphemed, not in the solitary cham- 
 ber, not over the table of drunken ribaldry, but 
 in the principal court of judicature in the metro- 
 polis of England. 
 
 I myself heard in the court, from individuals 
 standing around, something like an expression 
 of approbation of Carlile's demeanour. But 
 
58 
 
 let these deluded persons consider, that a tacit 
 or acknowledged approval of such sentiments is, 
 to all intents, a participation in the crime. Per- 
 haps it is the ability Carlile has displayed which 
 fascinates them ! But a question may arise 
 whether much credit is due to the talent of this 
 individual — his eloquence is not Ciceronian ; 
 and there is very fair reason for presuming that 
 he may have had some learned friends in the 
 shade, who have spread their comforting wings 
 around him. At a late trial, a minister, profess- 
 ing the holy Gospel, thought it not beneath the 
 sanctity of his calling, to counsel and assist, in 
 open court, the publisher of a shameless parody. 
 
 Yet, suppose Carlile has evinced the greatest 
 talent, what does that prove? Though we have 
 reason to presume that progress in intellec- 
 tual knowledge is to constitute one of the main 
 ingredients in future happiness, yet we are told 
 that " God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
 world to confound the wise * :" and one of the 
 attributes of Satan is extensive knowledge — 
 ? the serpent was more subtle than any beast of 
 the field which the Lord had made -f\" 
 
 From the faint picture I have endeavoured 
 to draw of the state of a deistical country, I 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 27, f Gen. iii. 1. 
 
59 
 
 trust it will not appear very inviting' ; yet there 
 is in the British character such a spirit of in- 
 quiry, such an ardent desire to grasp at every 
 novel event, and expatiate upon it, that I doubt 
 not the trial in question will for some time oc- 
 cupy a considerable portion of the public inte- 
 rest. 
 
 It would seem as if there were nothing at-* 
 tractive in peace and tranquillity to the mind of 
 a Briton: for it is a known fact, that the public 
 rejoicings at the close of the last war were tran- 
 sient and lifeless; whereas, at the announcement 
 of a victory, every eye beamed with unnatural 
 fire — every sparkling mansion proclaimed the 
 elation of its inmates. Far be it from me to 
 damp this spirit of excitement: it is an object of 
 proud contemplation, if properly directed ; but 
 let it be remembered that the brightest talents 
 and the most dauntless bravery are but as u tink^ 
 ling cymbals " if employed in a despicable cause. 
 
 The spirit of insurrection which now aims at 
 the vitals of the country, surely stamps no ho- 
 nour upon Britain. Let those whom political 
 fervour may have carried beyond what decorum 
 will sanction, look round upon the neighbouring 
 nations, and select a government where their 
 privileges would be enlarged. The French are 
 a versatile people: they waded through oceans 
 
60 
 
 of blood in search of a chimera : they sought 
 liberty, and won a despot. It is true that thou- 
 sands of this extraordinary people loved their 
 chains ; but this is no example for a free-born 
 Briton : their fetters were dear to them, because 
 the dynasty under which they existed sanctioned 
 every species of pillage, and flattered them with 
 golden chains. France, at the time of its revo- 
 lution, was professedly a deistical nation ; may 
 we not, then, without being charged with fana- 
 ticism, entertain the very probable idea, that 
 the subsequent miseries she has endured were 
 entailed upon her as the fruits of divine indig- 
 nation ? But Britons could never tolerate na- 
 tional greatness at the sacrifice of national or 
 individual honour. 
 
 Those deluded people of this countiy, who 
 are repeatedly attending in tumultuary herds, at 
 the artful requisition of their leaders, perhaps 
 consider the motives of those leaders as altoge- 
 ther disinterested. But let them weigh every 
 side of the question before they take any preci- 
 pitate step. These specious pretenders are not 
 the men they would have us believe. To raise for 
 themselves a name, though founded on infamy — 
 to conciliate the unwary for the purpose of be- 
 traying and defrauding — to use their constitu- 
 ents as the mere tools and step-ladders of their 
 aggrandizement : these are the sum of their 
 motives 
 
61 
 
 We are aware it is not their intention to lead 
 their forces in armed array to our dismember- 
 ment ; but they would seek to undermine us : 
 they would sap that noble constitution which 
 they cannot grind to powder. It is impossible 
 to lay a more solid basis for their treacherous 
 attack, than by banishing from our shores reli- 
 gion and morality : but still as they are to be 
 statesmen, they must not put in practice one 
 scheme to the exclusion of another, when they 
 might be co-operating. Therefore, whilst Car- 
 lile is spreading impiety through the land, and 
 the metropolis in particular, other zealous re- 
 formers are instilling revolutionary principles 
 into every county in the kingdom, in order that 
 in a few years our representatives in Parliament 
 may consist only of such as their radical consti- 
 tuents may be able to sway. Can any Briton, 
 who sincerely loves his country a take pleasure 
 in such a prospect? 
 
 There is nothing more deceptive than the 
 fluctuations of commerce and manufactures in 
 this country, which are frequently ascribed to 
 the ill conduct of Government ; whereas their 
 elevation and depression are to. be traced to 
 causes totally distinct. 
 
 Our governors surely have a greater interest 
 in the preservation of the state than any of us. 
 
62 
 
 The great landholders in the realm have a 
 deeper interest in the constitution than the im- 
 poverished mechanic. Instead, therefore, of 
 being the first to dismember the constitution, 
 even supposing- them to act upon the most self- 
 ish principle, they have, of all others, the most 
 powerful inducements to support and uphold it. 
 
 So long as any government exists, it will, 
 perhaps, be difficult to divest the governed of 
 the notion that kings and ministers are the ty- 
 rants of the people. But the prevalence of this 
 false sentiment carries with it a conviction that 
 a nation which prides itself on its intellectuality, 
 should not admit and apply it without indisput- 
 able evidence. 
 
 It is astonishing how differently we view ob- 
 jects, according to our relative situation. I be- 
 lieve few leaders in the Opposition who have 
 been raised from the ranks have been able to 
 discover those glaring errors in Ministry which 
 once struck their tender nerves like a shock in 
 electricity. Let men, in imagination, place them- 
 selves in the situation of those they oppugn, 
 and then impartially weigh the offensive act. If 
 this examination can be carried on with can- 
 dour, ninety-nine grievances in a hundred might 
 be dismissed with commendation. I allude to 
 no special cases, my remarks are general : and 
 
63 
 
 let men carefully weigh all the actions of their 
 lives, and particularly those bearing reference 
 to their accustomed worldly avocations ; and 
 compare them with the same species of acts, of 
 which, in their superiors, they are apt so loudly 
 to complain ; and that vast disparity which they 
 once discovered, will be greatly diminished. 
 
 It must be admitted, that an error in go- 
 vernment may produce greater evils than any 
 individual transgression, and, therefore, in the 
 former case a severer scrutiny may be admis- 
 sible : but as ministers of state are influenced by 
 the same passions which operate upon other 
 men, a harsher standard should not be resorted 
 to, than those who sit in judgment would wish 
 to be erected if they themselves were precisely 
 in the same predicament. 
 
 Let us not increase our national or indivi- 
 dual distresses, by neglecting our affairs to join 
 in tumultuary assemblies. Our harvest has been 
 plentiful, and we are at liberty to indulge in the 
 fairest expectations. But, let us not dash our 
 rising hopes to the ground. Let us not crush 
 them in the bud. Above all, let us with inces- 
 sant watchfulness guard our national religion 
 from the attacks of infidelity. By that we must 
 expect to stand or fall. For, after we have for- 
 feited all interest in the promises of God, the 
 
54 
 
 glory of Britain will depart, and be heard of no 
 more, but as we hear of, and tread over, the 
 tombs of our ancestors, dwell on their sepul- 
 chral honours, and recount their glorious deeds: 
 nay, this dear luxury will not be left us ; for, as 
 we mark the plough in its progress across her de- 
 solated cities, we shall ever revert to this bitter 
 reflection, that Britain " was raised to heaven 
 in privileges, but cast herself down to hell in the 
 abuse of them." 
 
65 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 I have now closed the animadversions which I 
 proposed to make upon this remarkable trial ; 
 but I cannot reconcile it to my mind wholly to 
 dismiss the subject without taking a cursory 
 review of the preceding observations, for the pur- 
 pose of presenting them to the reader as one 
 connected whole. 
 
 Having introduced my remarks by a general 
 allusion to the ferment now existing in the 
 public mind, how the trial in question was cal- 
 culated to induce fresh excitement, and, with 
 deference, having hazarded an opinion as to the 
 result it was likely to produce upon different 
 classes of the community; it has been then 
 attempted, under the first division of the inquiry 
 — Revealed Religion in general — to expose the 
 absurdity and injustice of applying severer cri- 
 teria in estimating religion, than are resorted to 
 in the elucidation of science. It has been endea- 
 voured to be proved, that the mysteries in reve- 
 lation should have no greater effect in under- 
 mining our faith, than would the same species of 
 difficulty in geometric speculation. A further 
 
60 
 
 argument has been founded upon the strict ratio- 
 nality of God's procedure in trusting* the happi- 
 ness of all mankind in the hands of one indivi- 
 dual, by assimilating it to the case of a father of 
 a family in common life ; and some specimens of 
 Carlile's mode of confuting the Scriptures were 
 then brought under review — viz. his proof that 
 the Book of Genesis was composed by two per- 
 sons, from the circumstance of two of its chapters 
 respectively using the word " God," and then 
 " Lord God " successively throughout, and his 
 doubt founded upon the apparent inconsistency 
 of the Mosaic account, and our modern astro- 
 nomical notions of the creation of the universe ; 
 both of which, it is hoped, have been satisfac- 
 torily accounted for. The Sacred Writings have 
 been, then, exculpated from that foul and im- 
 pudent calumny which is sometimes brought 
 against them on the ground of immorality ; it 
 being shown, that those unhappy instances of 
 turpitude in the children of God are exposed 
 for our avoidance, and not for our imitation or 
 approval. The objection to revelation was fur- 
 ther combated on account of the peculiar fa- 
 vours bestowed upon the Hebrews, by setting 
 forth the reason of their selection, and that the 
 great and real distinction was reserved for the 
 judgment-day. The remarks on that head were 
 then wound up by stating the evidences of the 
 Christian dispensation, and in conclusion, that 
 
67 
 
 the atonement was the central point of the Gen- 
 tile's hopes. 
 
 The second division of the inquiry — Revealed 
 Religion under the Auspices of civil Govern- 
 ment, and especially that of Great Britain — was 
 opened hy comparing our religion with other 
 systems of belief, it being alleged, that its sim- 
 plicity and humility were the causes of its ge- 
 neral rejection, but that, notwithstanding the 
 obstacles raised to impede its progress, it still 
 advanced, and in times of greatest extremity, its 
 professors were supported by the extraordinary 
 interposition of the Holy Spirit, which was gra- 
 dually withdrawn as the necessity for it abated. 
 That vexed a qucestio was then raised, of the un- 
 justifiable doctrine of Papal supremacy, and it 
 was contended on the ground of prophecy, that 
 there was nothing in such an assumption tend- 
 ing to invalidate revelation, the fallacy being 
 shown at the same time, of drawing any infer- 
 ences upon that head from the Jewish theo- 
 cracy; and the general impropriety of adverting 
 for such a purpose, to a nation now labouring 
 under the eurse, was incidentally remarked. An 
 examination was then proceeded in, of the state 
 of religion in former times, in our own country ; 
 and it was observed, that the Reformation is 
 the point from which our conclusions must be 
 deduced. That the Legislature having as much 
 
 e 2 
 
68 
 
 right to introduce one law as another, had, in 
 fact, from a deep conviction of its truth, engrafted 
 Christianity into the constitution; and that it 
 formed an absolute part of the law of the land. 
 The several enactments were then enumerated 
 which had passed at various times for the pur- 
 pose of breaking down, and finally abolishing, 
 the Papal authority in these realms ; and hence 
 the natural inference was drawn, that the eccle- 
 siastical establishment had been settled by 
 common consent. It was then undertaken to be 
 proved, that the differences amongst Christians 
 themselves could not, in any degree, invalidate 
 the authority of the Scriptures, and that evi- 
 dence was furnished of the consistency both of 
 our religion and our government, from the cir- 
 cumstance of toleration being allowed, without 
 endangering either Church or State. It was 
 lastly considered what would be our situation 
 under an open profession of Deism— first, as a 
 nation, and then as individuals ; both being illus- 
 trated by examples; it having been premised, 
 that there was little real distinction between 
 Deism and Atheism. 
 
 Under the third division — The Proof of the 
 Legality of Carlile's Indictment — the folly of 
 those was exposed who contend that a State has 
 no right to impose a religion (even allowing the 
 latitude ours does), upon the same principle as it 
 
69 
 
 would impose a civil obligation. It was shown 
 that the Deist might remain unmolested, if he 
 were peaceable ; and if he were otherwise, it was 
 consistent with the strictest reason, he should be 
 punishable: that public retribution, and not 
 silent contempt, is necessary in such a case ; 
 but that some overt act must precede a prose- 
 cution. Reasons were then given for thinking 
 our Established Church a great mean of preserv- 
 ing us from infidelity; and, addressing the Deist, 
 the only prudent and proper path for his proce- 
 dure was pointed out, and at the same time the 
 certain failure of his mischievous attempts was 
 presented to him. From these general reflec- 
 tions the consideration of the trial was proceeded 
 in. It was shown that the offence which Car- 
 lile had committed, was originally and exclu- 
 sively cognizable at common law ; the ecclesi- 
 astical courts, though, perhaps, possessing con- 
 current jurisdiction, yet not having power to 
 carry their judgments into execution. It was 
 further observed, that Carlile was indicted at 
 common law, though equally liable under the 
 Act of William, and it was argued that one sub- 
 stantive transgression immediately incurred and 
 merited the penalty, without the necessity of 
 any previous admonition. The case was sup- 
 posed, that our opponents might raise an argu- 
 ment against Christianity from the fact of such 
 a prosecution being carried on, as contrary to 
 
70 
 
 its spirit and character; and the division was 
 concluded by controverting that position, upon 
 the clear ground of the civil obligation which 
 impelled it. 
 
 Under the fourth head — The Defence of the 
 Delinquent — occasion was taken to remark, that, 
 from extreme liberality, he was suffered to di- 
 verge from the strict issue at law, and to enter 
 into extraneous matter, and that that matter was 
 of the most objectionable description: that he had 
 founded an argument in his own favour from the 
 Unitarian Act, when, in fact, it was irrelevant ; 
 and that, even supposing that Act could have 
 been primarily pleaded in his favour, yet that 
 his blasphemy would have destroyed the plea. 
 The folly of the Defendant was next reflected 
 upon in summoning witnesses of various religious 
 denominations ; and it was shown that their con- 
 tradictory testimony would in no way have inva- 
 lidated the truth of Christianity. The anxiety be- 
 trayed by Carlile, was then adverted to, to esta- 
 blish the fact of persecutions and schisms having 
 distracted the church ; and that being admitted, 
 the obvious inference was drawn, that these per- 
 secutors were not real Christians, and that there- 
 fore all his proof upon that score amounted to 
 this: that men professing one character had acted 
 another. It was further attempted to remove 
 the vulgar idea of the necessary vindictiveness of 
 
71 
 
 the Attorney General, it being shown, that a 
 Judge or Jury were equally liable to the charge. 
 The fourth division was then closed with a re- 
 flection upon the greatness of the question, and 
 an appeal to the best feelings of the unhappy 
 delinquent. 
 
 The fifth division— The Effect which the Pro- 
 secution should have on the public Mind — was 
 entered upon, by stating the connexion between 
 political discontents and deistical opinions. It 
 was then attempted to prove the impossibility 
 of entertaining correct notions of God without 
 a revelation. This was elucidated by sketching 
 a variety of vague opinions respecting the Al- 
 mighty, which Deism would necessarily intro- 
 duce. It was further attempted to display the 
 miseries which a state of irreligion would bring 
 upon us, by reviving the forgotten immoralities 
 of Rome and Sparta, Occasion was then taken 
 to descant upon the privileges and exemptions 
 of our government, as compared with surround- 
 ing nations, and particularly France; and a 
 train of reflections was naturally introduced 
 upon the present state of public affairs ; the little 
 reason there generally is in the complaints 
 which are raised against the government of our 
 country; and finally, the urgent necessity for 
 guarding our religion against the attacks of infi- 
 delity. 
 
72 
 
 I now consign these pages to a liberal and 
 enlightened public. I am aware that the poli- 
 tical sentiments here advanced will be depre- 
 cated by many of my readers. If I have uttered 
 them with asperity, I calmly stand committed : 
 but if I have only breathed those sentiments of 
 admiration for our excellent constitution, which 
 every true Briton should imbibe with the ear- 
 liest dawn of reason, I shall have nothing to 
 fear from the severest attacks of criticism ; I 
 disavow all attachment to party ; I have been 
 defending the Christian religion from the assaults 
 of infidelity, that religion being incorporated 
 with the constitution ; I have incidentally pub- 
 lished my political views, and only incidentally. 
 May the blessing of God follow this humble 
 effort to defend his great name from insult; and 
 if these remarks should convey peace and con- 
 viction to one unsettled and wavering spirit, I 
 shall retire to my privacy with that calm satis- 
 faction which must ever accompany the hum- 
 blest effort of Christian philanthropy. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Pii«t*d by S. Gosnell, Little Queen Sheet, London. 
 
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