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ted ! It was , > indeed , a rebellion , for it has been nnsuecessftd ; but surely every Englishman and every Protestant must allow that in its beginning aud before its character was altered by foreign interference , it , was
a rightful resistance to tyranny and superstition . The " glorious Revolution of 1688 / ' in tngluid , w ^ s in r eality less calied for «¦* - * 'a ** ¦ ¦'* -- jii ^ tili ; - ble than the late Iiiv ^; iu > i- i va ^ < j . On this side of the eh . uuitl it is not
vet unsafe to utter mis opinion . Tin ; passage concerning the Unitarianstpp- ^ 3—16 ) has been already copied into this volume ( pp . 305—308 ) . The design of it cannot be mistaken , but the bishop is obliged for the sake of common justice to . distinguish real from pretended Unitarians and to concede that Unitarians may
be conscientious . To readers of discernment the passage is innoxious . The statement which it contains is , however , contrary to historic truth ; unbelievers have not joined themselves to the Unitarians ; they unite with bishops in misrepresenting them j Mr . Cobbett and Dr . Burgess are
coadjutors in their opposition to this sect ; it is not merely that Unitarians have too little faith for the one and too much for the other , but that their faith is built upon reason , a
foundation which is decried equally by such as reject revealed religion and such as explain revealed religion by canons of Councils and Convocations and by Acts of Parliament . On what does
the Bishop of London rest his strange assertions ? How has he made his notable discovery ? The charge , as far as it regards the Unitarians , is singularly ridiculous ; but the wildest accusations may , if uncontradicted , tend to establish a persuasion of guilt , and therefore we rejoice that Mr . Belsham has , as we shall hereafter see ,
answered his lordship , we dare say to his satisfaction , In several places the Bishop sounds the alarm of the clanger of the Church . "The Enemy" is the phrase by which dissenters are designated . " Theevil " he says , ( p . jg ) « to" he reasonably
a pprehended is a gradual diminution ° { attachment to the national church . " Whe ther this be an evil is matter of ° Pmion , but of the fact there not only ^ y he reasonable apprehension , there c be no doubt . The proof stares ev one in the face ; meeting-houses
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and chapels are rising up into view daily throughout every part of the kingdom ; by whom are these erected and filled V—HecoHecVing ai : O apparently lamenting r < i' . - ? iimoiuh ' s memorable defeat bv «« » U ; l nx of sects , his lordship discover ^ u formidable alliance between the Nonconforihists for the subversion of the
Establishment ; such is tne object , he a Hedges v p . IS ) " of that promiscuous multitude of confederated sectaries who have imbibed the spirit of malignant dissent , which iu ihe prosecution of hostilities against the established faith forgets its attachment to a particular
creed . " Where is this body of maliynants to be found r We know but of one feeling of malignity which is common to nearly ail the sects , including the sect established by law , and that is a feeling of malignity against the Unitarians ; although " we
must be so just to the soi-disant orthodox Dissenters as to say , that we believe , that they love religious liberty next to orthodoxy , and that if any bigoted statesman should renew the attempt to put fetters upon conscience , they would cordially join
even with Unitarians , in asserting with a voice that would make itself heard , Nolumus leges Christi mutari ! We do not blame the Bishop for recommending to his clergy ( pp . 21 , 22 ) the patronage of the falsely-called National Schools , falsely so called bev
cause the Common Prayer Book excludes from them above one half of the population of the empire ; education is so great a blessing , that in any form and with any restrictions , its promotion is an object near to the heart of every philanthropist : nor
shall we animadvert upon the oratorical representation of the importance and dignity of the Clergy of the Church of England , in the concluding sentence of the Charge , where it is said that the " high interests" of religion have been " confided by the
Redeemer , as a precious deposit , to their especial protection and care ;' this may pass for eloquence : but there is an invidious alternative proposed in the sentence preceding , which we cannot avoid saying that Dissenting teachers do not feel themselves
condemned to accept ; they are not in their own estimation or in the liberal judgment of the community at large divided into " corrupt or illiterate i » -
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Review . —Bishop of London ? s Charge . 5 W
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1815, page 577, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1764/page/45/
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