{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40212/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40212","id":"gutenberg_40212","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40212","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809. Age of reason","Society for the Suppression of Vice (London, England)"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\nA LETTER\n\nTo The Society for the Suppression of Vice, ON THEIR Malignant Efforts\nTO PREVENT A FREE ENQUIRY After TRUTH AND REASON\n\n\nBy R. Carlile\n\n\nLONDON\n\n1819\n\n\n\n\nLETTER\n\n\n\nAssociated Persecutors,\n\n\n\nThat envenomed and malign spirit which you have so prominently\ndisplayed, during the short time since you have turned your attentions\ntowards my publications, precludes the necessity of my offering any\napology for addressing you in a public letter.\n\nHaving immured me within the walls of a prison, methinks I see\na demoniac smile glide over your several cheeks with the glowing\nexpression; of \"we have now crushed him.\"--Be not too sanguine; feeble\nas my efforts may be to propagate those principles, on which, (according\nto my humble conceptions,) the basis of true morality and virtue must be\nfounded, nor the fear of imprisonment, nor the fear of death shall deter\nme from a perseverance. What is the religion that you profess, that you\nare so much alarmed at every attempt to investigate its merits? What is\nthe basis of your pretended morality and virtue, when you betray a\nfear of being left naked as the breeze leaves the stem of the woolly\ndandelion? What is that chimerical faith in which you pretend to centre\nyour future hopes, if you fear the result of your fellow mortal's\nenquiry into it? On what ground must the established and dissenting\ncodes of religion, of which you boast, (and express your determination\nto support, by imprisonments and punishments of such persons as shall\nattempt to inspect its foundation,) be raised, when a small volume of\nenquiry into its origin shakes its very centre, and threatens a total\nannihilation? Pause! ye deluded and deluding hypocrites, and I will\ncompromise the matter with you. But how? Shall it be an instance of that\nnature where many individuals whom you have laid under the charge of\nvending, what both you and I consider obscene and objectionable books\nand prints, have more than once satisfied your virtuous scruples by a\nfee? Pray, would my paying all the expences you have incurred in this\nprosecution, satiate that appetite which feeds on virtue whilst it\nfalsely affects to destroy vice? Is your answer--yes? I disdain it.\nNothing but a fair exposition of both our views shall induce me to\ncompromise this important question; rendered the more important, because\na sycophantic and hypocritical society--a refined banditti attempts to\ncrush it in its bud. No, the compromise I will make with you shall be,\neither, that you shall renounce those persecutions you have instituted\nagainst me, or I will expose your object in all its hideous features.\nAlthough, like the assassin, you endeavour to conceal both your names\nand intentions, and make a hungry Lawyer* your instrument, yet the\ncommunity at large; who have been more injured than amended by your\nfalse pretences, will assist me in depicting your banditti in its real\ncolours.\n\n     * Prichard, of Essex-street, in the Strand, whose clerks and\n     inmates are used as informers to this Society.\n\nBy every exertion and enquiry that I could make, I have not been able\nto obtain a list of your names, and am given to understand that no such\nthing has been published for many years past. It appears, that in the\nearlier part of your institution, you regularly published, your\nnames, but that the infamy which has, of late, been attached to your\nproceedings, has deterred you from continuing it. As the best proof of\nvirtue arises when it is exposed to the fangs of vice, I challenge\nyou to proceed in your persecutions. But let us here examine how the\nquestion stands between us. I have published a book, the contents of\nwhich you charge to be impious blasphemous, and profane, tending to\nbring into disrepute the Christian Religion. I reply, that this book\ndoes not merit the charge instituted against it, nor has it any other\ntendency than that of bringing into disrepute the religions that are not\nsupported by human reason, or divine authority.\n\nDid any thing but vindictive malice guide your councils, you would have\nwaited the time when I should have been placed before a jury of my own\ncountrymen, and there receive the reward, or punishment consequent on\ntheir verdict. But no! the Society for the Suppression of Vice cannot\nsuppress their appetite for rancorous punishment, but seize their\nvictim, tear him from a fond and agonized family, and within two hours\nlodge him within the walls of Newgate. For what? for doing that,\nwhich, whether it is-an offence or not, is but matter of opinion, the\npublication can injure no one but those panders who prey on the vitals\nof their country. The publication, I admit, may be offensive to some,\nbut not to the virtuous and well meaning part of the community; it is\noffensive to those persons only who are interested in supporting the\ncorruptions and abuses of the system we live under.\n\nYou appear to be following the course which the Attorney General\n(Shepherd) followed towards me in 1817, in regard to the Parodies*;\nthat is, you have no hopes of being able to obtain the verdict of a\njury against the work, and you are anxious to glut your vengeance with\npunishment before trial.\n\n     * The writer of this letter was eighteen weeks in the King's\n     Bench Prison for re-publishing the Parodies, and was never\n     brought to trial; it was he who challenged the Attorney\n     General to bring the Parodies before a jury, which led to so\n     grand and noble a result.\n\nI doubt whether any of you who have instigated these Prosecutions have\never read the Theological Writings of Thomas Paine, for if you had read\nthem, And had possessed the least conception of vice and virtue, you\nwould have found nothing of a vicious tendency in them, you would have\nfound nothing that came within the province of your professions to\nprosecute for.\n\nHave you no priests in your Society? Why do you not set them to write a\nvolume of the same size to refute the arguments and assertions of Paine?\nI will pledge myself to sell it with the other, Is there not a Bishop\namongst you that can again attempt to do what Watson has vainly\nattempted? For shame! do not attempt to destroy by the sword of\nperverted law what so many bishops and clergy are so well qualified\nto destroy by argument and reason. For what do they receive so many\nthousands of the public money? For what have we universities and\ncolleges, and so many thousand priests who have to boast of collegiate\neducation? unless it is to support by argument, intellectual reasoning,\nand controversial disputation, the several doctrines and dogmas which\nthey profess to teach, and wish us to believe. For shame! I say again,\nspur them on, and do not let their professions be set at 'nought by\na few untutored minds. They must either do this, or raise again the\nblood-stained standard of the cross, and again enforce their doctrines\nby the sword.\n\nChristianity, like the material world, has had its rise, its progress,\nand is now experiencing its decay, but differs in this point, that there\nis no hope of its regenerating or revivifying. And vain will be the\nattempt to oppose it to human reason. The press, that dreadful park of\nartillery, will continue to open its destructive fire on superstition,\nbigotry, and religious and civil despotism; and what shall check its\ncareer?\n\nHear, ye promoters of theological dissensions, and tremble, whilst I\ntell you, that you possess the same dispositions as your ancestors, who\nkindled the flames in Smithfield. Would public opinion tolerate it, you\nwould pursue me to the stake with the same satisfaction you have pursued\nme to a prison. Reserving for a better opportunity any further opinions\nand observations on your character, conduct, and views as a Society,\nI would beg leave to call your attention to a work lately published in\nLondon, entitled the Principles of Nature, by Elihu Palmer, the first\nchapter of which I will here insert as a specimen, which is strictly\napplicable to our relative situations, with the exception of a few of\nthe first sentences.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCIPLES OF NATURE, by Elihu Palmer\n\n\"CHAPTER I.\n\n\"The Power of Intellect, its Duty, and the Obstacles that oppose its\nProgress.\n\n\"The sources of hope and consolation to the human race are to be sought\nfor in the energy of intellectual powers. To these, every specific\namelioration must bear a constant and invariable reference; and whatever\nopposes the progress of such a power, is unquestionably in most pointed\nopposition to the best and most important interest of our species. The\norganic construction of man induces a strong conclusion that no limits\ncan possibly be assigned to his moral and scientific improvements. The\nquestion relative to the nature and substance of the human mind, is of\nmuch less consequence than that which relates to the extent of force\nand capacity, and the diversified modes of beneficial application. The\nstrength of the human understanding is incalculable, its keenness of\ndiscernment would ultimately penetrate into every part of nature, were\nit permitted to operate with uncontrolled and unqualified freedom. It is\nbecause this sublime principle of man has been constantly the object\nof the most scurrilous abuse, and the most detestable invective from\nsuperstition, that his moral existence has been buried in the gulf of\nignorance, and his intellectual powers tarnished by the ferocious and\nimpure hand of fanaticism. Although we are made capable of sublime\nreflections, it has hitherto been deemed a crime to think, and a still\ngreater crime to speak our thoughts after they have been conceived. The\ndespotism of the universe had waged war against the power of the human\nunderstanding, and for many ages successfully combated, his efforts,\nbut the natural energy of this immortal property of human existence\nwas incapable of being controlled by such, extraneous and degrading\nrestraints. It burst the walls of its prison, explored the earth,\ndiscovered the properties of its component parts, analyzed their\nnatures, and gave to them specific classification and arrangement. Not\ncontent with terrestrial researches, intellect abandoned the earth, and\ntravelled in quest of science through the celestial regions. The heavens\nwere explored, the stars were counted, and the revolutions of the\nplanets subjected to mathematical calculation. All nature became the\ntheatre of human action, and man in his unbounded and ardent desire\nattempted to embrace the universe. Such was the nature of his powers,\nsuch their strength and fervour, that hopes and anticipations were\nunqualified and unlimited. The subordinate objects in the great mass of\nexistence were decompounded, and the essential peculiarities of their\ndifferent natures delineated with astonishing accuracy and wonderful\nprecision. Situated in the midst of a world of physical wonders and\nhaving made some progress in the analytical decomposition of material\nsubstances, and the relative position of revolving orbs, man began to\nturn his powers to the nice disquisitions of the subtle properties of\nhis mental existence. Here the force of his faculties was opposed by the\ndarkness and difficulties of the subject; and superstition, ever ready\nto arrest and destroy moral improvement, cast innumerable difficulties\nin the way, and the bewildered mind found this part of the system of\nnature less accessible than the physical universe, whose prominent\ndisparities struck the understanding and presented clear discrimination.\nThe ignorance and barbarism of former ages, it is said, furnish an\nawful intimation of the imbecility of our mental powers and the hopeless\ncondition of the human race. If thought be reflected back for the\npurpose of recognizing through a long night of time the miseries and\nignorance of the species, there will be found, no doubt, powerful causes\nof lamentation; but courage will be resuscitated when the energy of\nintellect is displayed, and the improvement of the world, which has\nalready been made, shall be clearly exhibited to view. It is not\nsufficient that man acknowledge the possession of his intellectual\npowers, it is also necessary that these powers should be developed,\nand their force directed to the discovery of correct principle, and the\nuseful application of it to social life; errors, evils, and vices\nevery where exist, and by these the world has been rendered continually\nwretched; and the history of mankind furnishes the dreadful lessons,\nand shocks the sensibility of every human being. The ravage ferocity of,\ndespotism has destroyed the harmony of society; the unrelenting cruelty\nof superstition has cut asunder the finest fibres that ever concreted\nthe hearts of intelligent beings. It has buried beneath its gloomy vale\nall the moral properties of our existence, and entombed in the grave\nof ignorance and terror the most sublime, energies, and the purest\naffections of the human mind. An important duty is therefore imposed\nupon intellect, and a departure from its faithful performance should\nbe ranked among the crimes which bate most disgraced and injured the\nfelicity of the world. If the few philanthropists who have embarked\nin the cause of humanity, have not been adequately rewarded, it is,\nnevertheless, true, that the principle and force of duty remain the\nsame, unbroken and incapable of being abrogated. It is the discovery\nand propagation of truth which ought to engage the attention of man, and\ncall forth the powerful activity of his mind.\n\n\"The nature of ancient institutions, instead of forming a reason against\nthe activity of mind, should be considered as constituting a double\nstimulus; these institutions are such a complete abandonment of every\njust and correct principle; they have been so destructive in their\noperation and effects, that nothing but the strong and energetic\nmovement of, the human understanding will be capable of subverting\nthem. The whole earth has been made the wretched abode of ignorance\nand misery--and to priests and tyrants these dreadful effects are to be\nattributed. These are the priviledged monsters who have subjugated the\nearth, destroyed the peace and industry of society, and committed the\nmost atrocious of all robberies--that have robbed human nature of its\nintellectual property, leaving all in a state of waste and barrenness.\nMoses, Zoroaster, Jesus, and Mahomet, are names celebrated in history;\nbut what are they celebrated for? Have their institutions softened\nthe savage ferocity of man? Have they developed a clear system of\nprinciples, either moral, scientific, or philosophical? Have they\nencouraged the free and unqualified operation of intellect, or rather\nby their institutions, has not a gloom been thrown oyer the clearest\nsubjects, and their examination prohibited under the severest\npenalties? The successors and followers of these men have adhered to the\ndestructive lessons of their masters with undeviating tenacity. This\nhas formed one of the most powerful obstacles to the progress of\nimprovement, and still threatens with eternal _damnation_ that man who\nshall call in question the truth of their _dogmas_, or the divinity of\ntheir systems.\n\n\"The political tyranny of the earth coalesced with this phalanx of\nreligious despots, and the love of science and of virtue was nearly\nbanished from the world. Twelve centuries of moral and political\ndarkness, in which Europe was involved, had nearly completed the\ndestruction of human dignity, and every thing valuable or ornamental in\nthe character of man. During this long and doleful night of ignorance,\nslavery, and superstition, Christianity reigned triumphant; its\ndoctrines and divinity were not called in question. The power of\nthe Pope, the Clergy, and the Church, were omnipotent; nothing could\nrestrain their phrenzy, nothing could controul the cruelty of their\nfanaticism; with mad enthusiasm they set on foot the most bloody and\nterrific crusades, the object of which was to recover from infidels the\n_Holy Land_. Seven hundred thousand men are said to have perished in the\ntwo first expeditions, which had been thus commenced and carried on by\nthe pious zeal of the Christian church, and in the total amount,\nseveral millions were found numbered with the dead--the awful effects of\nreligious fanaticism presuming upon the aid of heaven. It was then that\nman lost all his dignity, and sunk to the condition of a brute; it\nwas then that intellect received a deadly blow, from which it did not\nrecover till the fifteenth century. From that time to the present, the\nprogress of knowledge has been constantly accelerated; independence\nof mind has been asserted, and opposing obstacles have been gradually\ndiminished; The church has resigned a part of her power, the better to\nretain the remainder; civil tyranny has been shaken to its centre in\nboth hemispheres; the malignity of superstition is abating, and every\nspecies of _quackery_, imposture, and imposition, are yielding to the\nlight and power of science. An awful contest has commenced, which must\nterminate in the destruction of thrones and civil despotism--in the\nannihilation of ecclesiastical pride and domination; or, on the other\nhand, intellect, science, and manly virtue will be crushed in one\ngeneral ruin, and the world will retrograde towards a state of\nignorance, barbarism, and misery. The latter, however, is an event\nrendered almost impossible by the discovery of the art of printing, by\nthe expansion of mind, and the general augmentation of knowledge.\nChurch and State may unite to form an insurmountable barrier against the\nextension of thought, the moral progress of nations, and the felicity\nof nature; but let it be recollected, that the guarantee for moral and\npolitical emancipation is already deposited in the archives of every\nschool and college, and in the mind of every cultivated and enlightened\nman of all countries. It will henceforth be a vain and fruitless attempt\nto reduce the earth to that state of slavery of which the history\nof former ages has furnished such an awful picture. The crimes of\necclesiastical despots are still corroding upon the very vitals of human\nsociety; the severities of civil power will never be forgotten. The\ndestructive influence of ancient institutions will teach us to seek\nin nature and the knowledge of her laws, for the discovery of those\nprinciples whose operation alone can emancipate the world from dreadful\nbondage. If in the succeeding chapters we shall be able to destroy any\nconsiderable portion of human errors, and establish some solid truths,\nour labours will bear a relation to the progressive improvement of the\nhuman race, which, to intelligent minds, is of all considerations the\nmost beneficial and important.\"\n\nI presume, Gentlemen, since you have attempted to suppress certain\ncreeds as well as vice, that each of you are in duty bound to peruse\nthis work, of which this is part and specimen, it is a work which I hold\nin estimation, and consequently requires your attention.\n\nI hope I shall have the pleasure of selling a few copies of this work\nto your Honourable Society, whether for the purpose of a prosecution or\nnot, I am quite indifferent, as I hold Paine's opinion to be good, that\nunder a bad government it is well to have a good work prosecuted.\n\nI am, Gentlemen,\n\nYour firm opponent,\n\nR. CARLILE.\n\n\n\n\nCOPY OF WARRANT.\n\nNewgate, Feb. 13th, 1819.\n\nEngland, (to wit).--Whereas it appeareth unto me by the affidavit of\nGeorge Prichard, and the affidavit of Thomas Fair, that an indictment\nwas found by the Grand Jury for the city of London, against Richard\nCarlile, late of London, bookseller, for selling a certain blasphemous\nlibel, intitled \"Paine's Age of Reason,\" which indictment has been\nremoved and filed in his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, and to\nwhich the said Richard Carlile appeared in the said Court, and gave\nrecognizance to plead thereto within the first eight days of the next\nEaster Term. And that since the said Richard Carlile, hath entered into\nthe said recognizance, he hath sold another copy of the said libel to\nthe said Thomas Fair, for which said last mentioned offence, the said\nGeorge Prichard intends to prosecute the said Richard Carlile in the\nsaid Court of King's Bench. These are therefore to will and require, and\nin his Majesty's name, strictly to charge and command you, and every of\nyou on sight hereof, to apprehend and take the body of the said Richard,\nand bring him before me or one other of the said Judges of his Majesty's\nCourt of King's Bench, if taken in or near the cities of London and\nMiddlesex, if elsewhere, before some Justice of the Peace near to the\nplace where he shall be herewith taken. To the end that he the said\nRichard Carlile may become bound to the King's Majesty in the sum of\n\u00a3200, together with two sufficient sureties in the sum of \u00a3100 each,\nfor the appearance of the said Richard Carlile in his Majesty's Court of\nKing's Bench, on the first day of next Easter Term, to answer to all and\nsingular indictments against him, for publishing the said libel, and\nto appear from day to day in the said Court, and not depart until\ndischarged by the said Court. Hereof fail not at your peril. Given under\nmy hand and seal the eleventh day of February, 1819.\n\n(L. S.) C. ABBOTT.\n\nTo Thomas Gibbons, gentleman, my tipstaff, or any other tipstaff of his\nMajesty's Court of King's Bench,\n\nand to all chief and petty constables, headboroughs, tything men, and\nall others whom these may concern.\n\n\n\n\nCOPY OF COMMITTAL\n\nThe within named Richard Carlile having been brought before me this day,\nby virtue of the within warrant, and not having sufficient sureties to\nanswer to the offence in the within mentioned warrant, is committed to\nthe custody of the Keeper of his Majesty's gaol of Newgate, being the\ncommon gaol of the city of London, where the said Richard Carlile was\napprehended upon the said warrant.\n\nReceive the body of the within named Richard Carlile into your\ncustody, and him safely keep until he the said Richard Carlile shall be\ndischarged by due course of law.\n\nDated the 11th of February, 1819.\n\nG. S. HOLROYD.\n\nTo Mr. William Robert Henry Brown, Keeper of his Majesty's gaol of\nNewgate.","title":"A Letter to the Society for the Suppression of Vice, on Their Malignant Efforts to Prevent a Free Enquiry After Truth and Reason","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3681}