St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1862-04-03
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"The error seems net suliciensiy eradi-
,ated that the operations Of the mind. as
we'll as the acts of the body, are subject to
he coercion Of the laws But our rulers
,an have no authority ever suck natural
rights, only ss We have Submitted them
The rights Of consciencs we never submit
ted, We could not submit. We are an
swsrable for them to our God. The le-
gitimatc powers Of government extend to
such acts only As are injurious to others.
But it docs me no Injury for my neighbor
to say there are twenty geds, or no God.
It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my
leg. Constraint may make him worse BY
making him hypocrite, but it will never
make him truer man. II may fix him
obstinately in his errors, but will not cure
them. Reason and free inquiry are the
only effcctual agents against error, Give
. loose scope to them. they will support
the true religion by bringing every false
one to their Investigation. They are the
natural enemies of error only.
''Were the government to prescribe to
Us our medicine and diet, our bodies would
be in such keeping as our souls are now.
Thus in France the emeiic was once for
biddcn as medicine. and the potato as
an article of food. Government is just as
fallible, too. when il fxes systems in phys
ics. Calico was sent to the Inquisition
for affirming that the earth was sphere
the government had declared it to be as fat
as trencher,. and Galilec was oblige. to
adjure his error. This error, however,
at length prevailed, and the earth became
globe and Discartes declared it was
whirled round its axis by votex. The
government in which he lived was wise
enough to see that this was no question Of
ciyil Jurisdiction or We should all have
been involved by authority in yortices.-
In fact the vortices hawe-- beAn-ox fiadedp >
aud the NcwtoniaI principle Of gravitation
is now more firmly established, in the ba-
sis of reason, than it would were the gov
crnment to step in, and to make j, an ar
ticle Of necessary faith.
'Reason and experiments have been
INDUCED, and error has hcd before them.
It is error alone which needs the support
of government. Truth can stand BY it
self. Subject opinion to coercion whom
will you make your inqusitors. Faliible
men men governed by passions. by pri-
vatc as we'll as public reasons. And why
subject it ia coercion? To produce uni
formity. But is uniformity Of opinion de-
sirable No more than of face or stature.
Introduce the bed of Procrustcs, then
and a. there is danger that the large men
may beat the small. make Us all of size,
BY looping the former and stretching the
latter. Is uniformity attainable =? Mil
lions Of innocent men. women and chill
dren. since the introduction Of Christiani-
ty. have been burnt. tortured. fined, i'm
prisoued; yet We have not advanced an inch
towards uniformity, What has been the
effect Of coercion To make one half of
the earth fools, and the other half hypo-
critics. To support error all over the earth.
Let us reflect that it is Inhabited BY n
thousand millions Of people. That these
profess probably thousand different sys-
TENS Of religion. That ours il but one of
that thousand. That If there is but one right,
and ours thst one, We should wish to SEQ
the $50 wandering sects gather into the
fold Of truth. But against such ma jori-
ty We cannot effect this By force. Reason
and persuasion are the only practicable in
struments. To mske way for these. free
inquiry must be indulgcd and how can
VIC wish others in indulging it, while We
refuse it ourselves? u? But every State,
says On inquisitor, has established some
yeligion. No two, say I. have established
the same. Is this proof of the infallibil-
ity Of establishments
..Our sister States. Pennsylvania and
New York, however. have long subsistsd
without any establishment at all. The
experiment was new and doubtful when
they made il. 1t answered beyond con-.
eeption. They flourish infinitely. They
do not hang more malefactors than we do.
They are not disturbed more with religi-
Gus dissen,ion than We are. On the con-
trary, their harmony is unparalleled. and
can be ascribed to. nothing but their
unbounded tolerance. because there is no
ether circumstance in which they differ
from every other nation on earth. They
have made the bapPy discovery that the
way to silence religious disputes. is to take
$50 notice of them. Let u. too, give this
experiment fair play. aud get rid.. while
we may. Of those tyrannical laws -"-LTer-
sa'is ''-Sutes on Firyiaia."