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John Wesley called for a world in which no one was forced to go against his conscience or to serve against his will.
In Thoughts on Slavery (1774), Church of England clergyman John Wesley made an impassioned appeal for liberty. Of course his primary goal was to secure the release of those held in captivity as slaves; but his vision went beyond that, to a world in which no one forced others to do anything against their conscience and their will.
Posted November 23 2021
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It should never be labelled ‘dangerous’ to subject Government policy to calm and honest criticism.
IN 1792, the Libel Act gave the jury, not the judge, the right to decide who was guilty of libel. It was soon put to the test, when the Government charged The Morning Chronicle with libel for reproducing the Society for Political Information’s scathing critique of William Pitt’s policies. The jury acquitted the defendants, vindicating the Society’s feisty defence of free speech, reproduced below.
Posted November 23 2021
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Simonides always believed that a man with a trade was wealthier than a man with a full purse.
The following Fable, from the collection of first-century Roman poet Phaedrus, concerns Simonides (?556-468 BC), a Greek lyric poet remembered among the ancients for his miraculous escapes, his long career composing songs flattering the rich and celebrated, and his eager love of money.
Posted November 21 2021
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John Wesley wondered how those involved in the slave trade would feel if the tables were ever turned on them.
In 1774, Church of England clergyman John Wesley published Thoughts on Slavery, in which he joined the chorus (or choir, since it was overwhelmingly a Christian fellowship) of those demanding an end to the trade in slaves between Africa and Great Britain’s American colonies. His song was a simple one: Do as you would be done by; and he recalled an occasion when it had touched one heart in Liverpool.
Posted November 18 2021
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Sydney Smith warned ordinary Americans that encouraging the hawks in Washington would cost them more than blood.
In 1820, Sydney Smith interrupted his review of a recent book on the US economy to reflect on the price of military adventure. America had clashed with Britain in the War of 1812, and some in Washington were eager to renew hostilities against their old colonial master. Smith urged ‘brother Jonathan’ (the ordinary American, counterpart to John Bull) to think hard about what it would mean.
Posted November 17 2021
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The Bishop of Myra’s ceaseless toil to put an end to the worship of Artemis made him some dangerous enemies.
By the 320s, Christians in the Roman Empire were no longer discriminated against, but that did not mean life was easy. As this story shows, the warm-hearted yet combative Bishop of Myra (now Demre in Turkey) made himself some dangerous enemies by continuing to insist that there was one God and one Truth, and that the popular and profitable religions of Rome were the delusions of a dark power.
Posted November 15 2021