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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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I . Religious Liberty . I . Have not all reasonable beings and moral agents a right to chuse their ownre-Jigion , according to the best of their judgments , and the clearest lights they can procure ? And can any men , whether Christians , Jews , or Gentiles , Heretics , or
Infidels , Mahomedans , or Gentoos , be justly debarred the exercise of this right s as long as they ramain quiet and peaceable members of the State , and use no violence to those who differ from them ? 3 If each individual hath a right to chuse for himself , as above described ,
hath he not a right also to associate with such others whose opinions he shall app rove of , as being similar , or nearly similar , to his ' own . ? Or can he possibly W deprived of the exercise of this right , consistently with , granting him the for * mer ?
3 . If several conscientious individuals should form a religious Society , ( alias a Church , ) on such a plan , have they not a right to declare their public approbation of this union and comprehension by words
' ut full length , or J > y certain propositions agreed upon between them , and expressed in writing ? And has any man or any set of men a right to complain of , much less a right to prevent or impede the peaceable exercise of their private judgments in these respects ?
4 . If thus far should be admitted and allowed , doth it not inevitably follow , that creeds , articles , and subscriptions in some shape , by some denominations , or under some form or other , are so far from being usurpations on liberty t > f conscience , that the rights of conscience
and the practical use of private judgment an society cannot be carried on without them ? And is the abu . se of a thing a just ugument against the right use of it ? especially when it shall appear that it is impossible to do without it , or without something that is equivalent to it .
5 . Were the present toleration to Dis'e / itcrs of a certain class to be so far extended as to comprehend all peaceable ¦^ isicfltersj all' sects and sectaries whatso-
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ever , Papists as well as Protestants , Heathens as well as Christians ? Whafc further religious extension would be wanting ? Nay indeed , what further could be- ' practised * consistently with thp rights and properties , and the religious liberty of other men ?
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( 307 )
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£ XJERIES RELATING TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND CllimCfi ESTABLISHMENTS , SUBMITTED TO THE CANDOR OF ROBERT TtOBINSON , TIJE LEARNED AND INGENIOUS TRANSLATOR OF SAURIN ' S SERMONS * . UY » EAN TUCKER . ( NEVER BEFORE PUBLISH EP ) .
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* See his Preface to vol . 3 . pp . ii , ia .
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II . Religious , alias Church , Establishments . 1 . Hath not each individual in civil society a right to dispose of his own property according to the best of his judgment , and in the manner he shall think fit—provided he doth no injury to another , or to the state under which he lives , in the disposal of if . ?
3 . If this be allowed , hath he not a . right to dispose of tbe whole , or of some part of it , whether in his life-time , or after his decease , towards the promotion or propagation of what shall appear to >
him to be true religion and sound morality ? Or are true religion and sound morality the only things , towards the encouragement of which a man ought not to be suffered to give any part of his substance .
3 . If an individual should be permitted to dedicate a part of his substance for such ( supposed and intended ) pious uses ; ougbc the public , or the magistrate , who represents the public , to be restrained
from doing the like ? And why have not the prince , the magistrate , the legislature , or the public , the right and privi-Jcge of judging for themselves , and of following the dictates of their consciences in matters of religion , as well as
private persons . 4 . If donations of money , houses , lands or tithes , or of any other profits and emoluments , should be given for such uses by those who have a ju ^ t right to give them , are not these things in deed
and in truth so many settlements or establishment ? formed and erected accordingto the will of the donor , in favour of some one particular religious system , and in preference to others ? And if the true idea of a Church Establishment , Le it great
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/5/
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