The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1855-02-09

! grsater and stronger; hat a COM d.
SChoOls nhljiplied religions bisotry Noui.
increase; and that IS the bensfts u equa
government and fee inssiations were pro. pro
lying 70 be the best legacy that=couid- be
left to posterity, narrow aud prosecuting
doctrines would seek to limit these bene.
6lsto peculiar classes ofindiyiduals. Above
all he could not for a moment have
believed that the soil Of Virginia would
ever be cursed with secret political par,
fty pledged to insult his memory by tramp!
ling upon his sacredprineiples. We value
these bis counse's, however, all the more
gratefully because they come to us in q
q dark hour with healing upon theiirr' wings. iin
And And there is no true American no matter
how far descended and misledinto the re-
cesses oil the new secret order, who win
not see, in the act Of the Immortal Jeffer-
sen, that which is both a rcbuke tointoler-
ance and an incentive to patriotism.
an ACT, for essaRiiskiag religious fri tiy,e.- .
dom, passed in ate x4sseasJly of Vayoiin.
sain The beginning Of Me year 1885,
Well aware that Almighty God hath
created the mind free; that all attempts to
inauenceit by temporal punishments or
burdens, or by civil interpretations, tend
only to beget habits of hypocrisy and
meanness, and are a departure from the
plan Of the Holy Author of our religion,
who, being Lord both Of body and Of
mind, yet chose not TO propagate by
coercions on either, as was in his almighty
power. 10 do; that tho impious presnmp.
zion of legislatures and rulers. civil as well
as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves
but fallible and uninspired men, have as
sumed dominion over the faith of others,
setting up their own opinions and modes
of thinking as the only true and inallible,
and as such endeayoiing 10 impose them
upon others; hath established and main-
tained false religions over the greatest part
OF the world, and through all lime; that
to compel man to furnish contributions.
of meney for the propagation of opinions
which he disbelieyes, is sinful and tyrani-
cal that even the forcing him to support
this or that teacher of his own religious
persuasion is dcpriying him OF the com
Portable liberty Of giving his contributions
to the particular pastor whose words he
would make his pattern, and whose pow
ers he feels most persuasive to righteous
ness, and iswithdrawing from the ministry
those temporal rewards, which, proceeding
from an appreciation Of their personal con.
duct, are an additional Indictment to ear
nest and unremitting labors for the insuuc-
ton OF mankind; that our civil rights have
no dependence on our religious opinions
more than our opinions in physics or ge-
ometry; that, therefore, the prescribing of
any citizen as unworthy the public conf !
dence by laying upon him an incapacity of
being called to the Offices of trust and
amolument; unless he profess or renounce
this or that religious opinion, is depriying
him injuriously Of those privileges and
advantages to.which, in common with his |
he has a natural right; that
it tends also to corrupt the principles of the
very religion it is meant to encourage, by
bribing, with monopoly of wordIy y hon
ors, those who will externally profess and I
conform to it: that though, indeed, those
IRE criminal who do not withstand such
yet neither are those innocent
Who lay the bait in their way; that to suf.
er the civil magistrate to intrude his DOW
RS into the field of opinion, and to res
rain the profession or propagation of prin-
iples, on the supposition of their i'll ten
lency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at
nee destroysall religious liberty, because,
le being of course judge of that tcnden-
y, will make hisopinions the rule of judg.
nent, and approve or condemn the SEMI.
nents of others only as they shall square
With, or differ from, his own; that tits time
'ncugh, for the rightful purposes of civil
government, for its officers to interfere
when principles break out into overt acts
Igainst peace and good order; and; final
y, that truth is great, and will prevail if
eft to herself, that she is the proper and
antagonist Of error, and has moth. I
ng to fear from the conflict, unless by
luman interposition disarmed of her nat
lral weapons, free argument and debate,
'rrors ceasing to be dangerous when it is
permitted freely to combat them. 20 aaj
BE Il, therefore enacted By tie general
That no man shall be compell-
ID to frequent or support any religious
Worship, place, or ministry, whatsoever.
lor shall he be enforced restrained, mo-
ested, or burdened in ms body Of goods,
Tor shall lie otherwise suffer on account of
lis religious opinions orbelicf, but that all
men shall be free to profess, and by ar
,ument to maintain, their opinions in mat
ers of religion, and that the same shall in
10 wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their
:iyil capacities. ? .7;a es' e', s
And though we well know this Assem-.
'ly, elected by the people for tie ordinary
purposes of legislation only. have no pow
II to restrain the acts of succeeding as
emblies, constituted with powers equal to
'ur own; and that, therefore, to declare
his act irrevocable would be of no effec.
n law; yet we are free to declare, and do
lecare, that the tights hereby asserted are {
! the natural rights Of mankind, and thai {
fany act shall be hereafter passed to re- I