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dominions , where it has been thought expedient by our government to establish the Catholic faith . Not disposed to countenance schism by dissenting from the established religion of the land , he renounces
Protestantism , professes himself a Roman Catholic , makes confession of his sins to the priest , and conforms to all those rites and ceremonies , which he had before deemed to be siJIy and superstitious . One year rapidly succeeds
another , and brings on old age with its increasing infirmities- lie sighs for his native country , and wishes his remains , when the vital spark is extinguished , to find a grave in the land which stive him birth . He returns to
this happy island , the most favoured spot in the known habitable globe , again becomes a Protestant , and expires in the bosom of the established Church of England ^ Thus according to his local situation , he must be in the course of a few years , on the
principle laid down , ( and which many respectable writers have endeavoured to vindicate , ) an English Episcopalian , n Scotch Presbyterian , a Canadian Roman Catholic , and then again a sound member of the Church as by law established among us .
If such be the necessary operation ( and I think it must be admitted ) of the principle of conformity to the established religion of the state , because it is established , I am surprised that any enlightened Christian , who has the least regard for * ' the truth as it
is in Jesus , " can otherwise than perceive and feel the futility of it . Is it , my dear Madam , too much for me to presume , that you admit this to be a principle , which when carried to its just conclusion , you find will not stand the test of impartial examination ?
Methinks I hear you exclaim , I join the Church of England , Sir , on account of its own intrinsic merits , as superior to any other system of faith and worship I know . These indeed form the proper standard by which the established church ought to be tried . In the observations 1 think myself called on to make on this occasion ,
whatever be my opinion of its constitution , its creeds and articles , its rites and ceremonies , and its forms of demotion , I would by no means cast any ii ngencrous reflections on the integrity of those who do not feel those scruples in coiiforprin s' to it , wliich I do , "To
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their own master they stand or fall . " Among them are certainly many enlightened , pious , liberal , conscience tious men , who would do honour to any community , and for some of its
members personally I feel sincere respect and cordial regard . This is not inconsistent with my having serious objections to their system of faith and mode of worship , to some of which [ beg leave to call your attention . Consider then , my dear Madam , what our
blessed Lord declared before Pilate , the Roman Governor , " My kingdom is not of this world . " But can this be said of the Church of England ? Is is not merely a civil establishment , a creature of the State > To the State
it owes its existence , by the State it subsists , on the State it depends for all its power , authority and emoluments . The clergy , it cannot be denied , are as much officers of the State as those who are commissioned to
vindicate its supposed rights and fight its battles either by sea or land . The King , at present in his name the Prince Regent , or when a woman is seated in the British throne , the Queen , is the supreme head of the Church , " vested with all power to exercise all manner of ecclesiastical jurisdiction . " *
* Archbishop V / ake observes , that " tht Prince is not obliged to confirm whatever the Clergy shall think fit to determine , but has a power of annulling and rejecting * what they have clone , to alter or improve , to add or take from it . " Wake's
" Authority of Princes , " p . 130 , as quoted by " Towg-ood in his Letters to White , " p . 256 , 6 th edition . Harry Vllltli , of persecuting * and liceutious memory ? deprived the Pope of Home of being- the Head of the English Church , and vested
that power in himself , which has descended to his successors to the British throne . This was exercised by Queen Anne , in the case of Wbiston . " The Bishops and Clergy in convocation had solemnly decreed his books on the Trinity to be dangerous
and heretical" They applied to the Queen to sanction their proceeding's , which sh « declined 5 and this refusal of a woman had more weight and authority than the grave decisions of the learned and venerable body . While , however , the assertor of the right of Princes , and the advocate for priestly claims to decide in controversies of faith , and to lord it over the conscience * of their fellow-mortals , are disputing the point with each other , the enlig htened , corwuptoat Christian iwlfUy * tcfl * both . !«•
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690 Letter on Conformity to the Established Church *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 690, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/26/
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