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fo oppose what appear to me prevailing errors , it affords me pure pleasure to reflect , that you never heard me speak in the least degrading terms of those who maintain them , or pronounce respecting persons who cannot
subscribe to my creed , that " they would without doubt perish everlastingly . " Excellence of ch ; -racier ought to be estimated , in my opinion , not by the articles of faith a man professes , but bv the pious ? md amhbJe qualities
he displays . When I see these in any class of Christians , they have my sincere esteem and respect , whether they attend my ministry or not ; whether they belong to the established Church , or any denomination of
Dissenters . " By their fruits , " says our common master , " ye shall know them , and a good tree bringeth forth good fruit . " The reason you allege for leaving my ministry , which you have
attended from your earliest days , is your disapprobation of the principles I advance in the pulpit . Whatever concern I feel at losing so respectable a member of my society , it gives me Teal satisfaction to think , that it has
proceeded from my having faithfully discharged my duty , in avowing without disguise , what appeared to myself to be the pure doctrines of the Christian revelation . Had you thought
proper to let me know , whilst an attendant on my ministry , what were the principles to which you objected , and the grounds of your objections , I would readilv have done all that
laid in nay power to afford you satisfaction . I would more especially have recommended to your serious and diligent perusal , before you had joined the established church , the admirable
letters , on the subject , of the late venerable advocate for the rights of conscience the Rev . Micaiah Towgood , whose memory must be ever dear to the friends of religious freedom . *
* Since writing tliis letter , two sermons have been published , the one entitled , " The Principles of Protestant Disinters j stated and vindicated , " by the &ev . Dr . Rees ; the other on " The Reasons of the Protestant Religion" by the
R Dr . Pye Smith . If I thought that the respectable author of that popular Work of fancy , " The Velvet Cushion , " ** as in the habit of reading- the Monthly * tepositovy and would reg-ard the advice
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Some , I am aware , think it incumbent on them to attend the service of the established church , merely because it is the established religion of the country in which they live . I know not whether it is on this principle , that you have left the Dissenters . If it he , consider , my dear Madam , what is the fair deduction from
it On this ground , how is it justifiable in any individuals to attempt introducing the gospel itself among a people , with whom an establishment of any religious system and mode of worship , previously subsisted ! Is it not also putting Christianity , the pure revelation of the Divine will , and the charter of our best hopes , on the . same foot ing / with every other established religion however absurd and idolatrous ? Perhaps you think the obligation to conformity arises from its being a Christian , not a Heathen or Mahomedan establishment . How then does the case stand on this
supposition , eyen without extending our views beyond his Majesty ' s dominions ! A person is born in England , and while he resides here , is bound to attend the episcopal esta ^ blished church . Circumstances , however , render it expedient for him to leave South Britain and live in Scotland . On the principle we have assumed , he must join the Kirk , the established church there , and become
a Presbyterian . After some years , urgent affairs suppose , call him to cross the Atlantic and settle in Canada , in North America , still in his Majesty ' s
of a Unitarian minister , I would humbly recommend to his perusal these two Discourses ( together with " A Vindication of Religious Liberty : " a Sermon by the R , ev . R . Ashland ) before he published another edition . He might then be led to admit , that some reasons of apparent weight ara advanced , in favour of the li ^ -ht of private
judgment in matters of religion , and of worshiping * God according * to the dictates of conscience , and as a necessary inference , the right of distinct Christian societies to choose their" own ministers : positions these to which the well-meaning * Vicar in u The Velvet . Cushion ' objects , though the one is the leading principle of Protestantism , without which the reformation from Popery cannot be justified , and the other a fair dc due lion from it . lie is generally supposed to express the real sentiments of the author 1 the present Vic ^ r ef Harrow ,
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Letter on Conformity to the Established Church . 689
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VOL . X . 4 V
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/25/
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