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Untitled Article
clothed with political authority and armed with civil power , than it began to persecute . This , with all lovers of religious liberty , will ever be an unconquerable objection to ecclesiastical establishments . Their history is the history of persecution , written with the blood of the innocent , which vet
crieth to heaven for vengeance . There never was a religious establishment 'which did not persecute . Heathenism , and Judaism , and Christianity , and Popery , and Protestantism , and
JLuthei anism and Calvinism , and Episcopalianisin , andPresbyteriauism , have all persecuted in their turn , when established by law and armed with political power .
We are now speaking of what establishments have been , not of what they may be . They have been losing their intolerant spirit because in their old age they have lost their strength ,
and we can confidently predict that the time is not far distant , when every sect will be , it not equally endowed , at least equally legalized with the established sect .
The aspect of the present times is interesting to those who value the rights of conscience , and excites at once their gratitude and their hope . They can now turn their view from the rise and progress of ecclesiastical tyranny to its decline and fall . The cause of religious liberty is gaining
new triumphs and receiving fresh accessions of strength . Public opinion is coming in with a growing stream : it has already reached the seat of legislation and caused the whole fabric of intolerance to shake . Legislators are now convinced that the sacred
rights of conscience must be respected , and have removed some unjust , disgraceful and oppressive statutes from the statute-book . There are no denominations of Christians in the British empire that are not now tolerated Even those who have been most
obnoxious to persecution , are now put upon the level of other Dissenters . They can now meet for worship with , out acting illegally , and may publicly impugn the doctrine of the Trinity
without danger of fine or imprisonment . A few months ago the sword was suspended over their heads : now they are covered with the shield of Jegal protection * It is not merely on our owii account tjh&t we are called to rejoice in the
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growing success of the cause of reli gious liberty . Our benevo lence fe awakened as well as our gratitud We would have other nations enJv the privileges of our own . and the * fore hail with joy every act of British legislation , that holds out to other states an example of justice and
liberality . The abolition of the slay e-tTade by this country will probably effect its abolition over all the world- and the annihilation of persecution in this nation , may be the means of terminating its existence in all the nations of Europe . This would crown us with greater glory than all the . triumphs of fleets and armies .
Such glorj-, however , is not yet merited . Much , it is true , has been done , but much yet remains to be accomplished . Lollard ' s tower has been dismantled , but it ought to be entirely demolished . Dissenters are permitted to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience ,
without incurring fine or imprisonment , yet still they are only tolerated * . The liberty they enjoy is still considered as a privilege granted , and not as their inalienable birthright : they do not hold it by the original charter of heaven , but by a grant of usurped prerogative . What heir to an estate would
be content to enjoy his inheritance by the sufferance of that usurped authority which wrested from him his original legal title ? If we were content to hold our liberty of worship and profession by such a tenure , it could
never be considered as sure to us or to posterity . The right to give , implies the right to . take away or withhold : the gift may be recalled or discontinued ; and though leg islators of the present day may not be disposed to exercise this authority , we ^ A _ i . ^ K . ^ H ¦ ^ 1 . ^ 0 i tt 1 J ouiersw
* have no certain pledge that »« not . Thus , while under the Act of Toleration we hold our rights only as privileges , and we hold our privileges by no certain tenure—by no sure title . We are as the Israelites in Egyp t when the old king lived to-whom Joseph was minister , it was well wn them—but when another king arose who knew not Joseph , they , were stripped of their privileges and »** to groan with bondage and
oppres-, .. . The precariousuess of their rehgi ° «* liberty is not the only g nevall ? | . which Dissenters have yet to comp ^ 111
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$ 9 $ Substance of a Discourse on the Trinity Bill
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/28/
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