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men with arrogance and pride ; but , far from inculcating a jealous and unwarrantable distrust of others , encouraged Us professors in a charitable adherence to the rule that , where they could not discern vice , it became
them to give credit for the existence of virtue . Toleratiou judged mankind more by their actions than by their doctrines . Adhering to the sage and candid maxim in the scripture , the advocates for toleration formed
their idea of the tree , in consequence of an attention to the nature of the fruit , persuaded that all other methods of decision were liable to continual error .
26 . Merits of Dissenters . ( March % 1790 . ) Thus much for supposed demerits ; and , as to merits , he did not want to avail himself of their enumeration in a cause the reasoning for the deserved success of which arose upon a stronger principle : yet , as reflexions , injurious to the characters of the
Dissenters , had been industriously circulated , it seemed at least fair , if not necessary , to repel them with such decisive refutations as might easily be collected from an inquiry respecting their highly laudable behaviour and
procedures , amidst some of the most critical and trying situations of this country . Plots had been meditated , combinations formed , and insurrections raised against the state , for the purpose of undermining the ecclesiastical and civil foundations of the
Constitution ; yet of the violence of these attempts , the Dissenters manifested their full abhorrence . In the year 1 7 15 , when the flames of rebellion broke out in the North , and one of the exiled branches of the Stuart
family aspired to the throne ; when the members of the Established Church , terrified at the approaches of his army , sought a protection in the united power and resistance of men of all persuasion *; and when it was apprehended that numbers of their countrymen were secretly
preparing to range themselves under the banners of the invader , the Dissenters gallantly assembled , declared their willingness to risk their lives and fortunes in the defence of government , and drew their swords for the protection of a State in danger ; of that State the law * of which enacted that the
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very moment of their coming forward in any military array , was to operate as an extinction of their civil life Their exertions ,- at this alarming juncture , and during the similar insurrections and invasions in 1745 C ontributed to the maintenance of the
Constitution , ana to the firmest settlement of the Brunswick family upon the throne of Great Britain . At these periods , as at present , they were incapacitated from holding commissions , either civil or military , in the service of their country . Far from pleading
the incapacitation , they , at an emergency of such importance , and in the striking moment of national alarm , with equal bravery and patriotism , committed what they justly deemed a requisite transgression against those laws to the hard penalties of which they were obnoxious . To what
excessive limits did the government of their country , in the defence of which the Dissenters had so actively united , and the religious and civil liberties of which they had contributed to save , carry the generous extension of their remuneration I They took care to secure them from punishment ! From
punishment , for the enormous guilt of having fought , victoriously , the battles of their invaded nation . But at this vast gratuity , they thought it not illiberal to stop ; and thenceforward all the laws framed upon the
monstrous spirit of persecution , resumed their shortly-interrupted force . An act of indemnity just sheltered th « offenders in the first moments of their return from having gloriously triumphed over the enemies of their
country ; and then they fell under their former subjection , in certain cases , to disabilities ^ to incapacities , to fines , imprisonments and outlawries . Who could seriousl y contend
that in ttris case an act of indemnity was a reward ? To describe it in the true light , it was little better than degrading them into the shamefu and absurd necessity of being obliged to receive mercy for the heinous crime which they committed by having done the State good service I How ditterent was the conduct of the Iri « & The House of Commons in that kingdom when appealed to upon thw occasion , voted with an anl ™? tl 0 l Jh ! t virtuous as it was truly polifi < * in whosoever should bring a P roS € CU ' upon the Test Act , against * 9 rr
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B 1 a Charles James Fox .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 610, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/10/
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