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all children , whose parent * are ^ liable to guppart then ) , from the parental care , to seclude them in workhouses , or to refliove them to a distance among strange nurses , and , of course , either to neglect their religious instruction , or to educate them in the tene'ts of the Established Church .
On the principles of political economy , the measure watf indefensible . It would rather encourage than repress a redundant and wretched population . The parents who loved their children ought not to be deprived of the objects of their love ; and those who loved them t * ot 9 would hail the measure as a bounty and reward . He therefore hoped , that when it should be
read a second time , or be committed , some friend to humanity , some real patriot , some advocate for the rights of Dissenters and df conscience , would unrtiask € he visage , expose the deformity , develops the ba . neful effects , and prevent the poor laws from becoming an additional aourcs of civil and religious oppression to those whom they were intended to relieve . fAppfause . J
Since their last meeting * also an attempt had been made in the name of the Universities , and «> f the King ' s printer , to prevent the circulation of all Commentaries on the Scriptures unsanctiotied by them . Little tvtong-s men too patiently endure * , but at length even the timid become desperate . Self-defence induced the booksellers to
associate and to resist . From their Committee a report inigfht be speedily expected ; and every frietid to scriptural kftowJed ^ t ? and to free inquiry , must wish them success . ( Cheers . J Under the circumstances which he had developed , he wished to inquire what measures the Dissenters shduld adopt ? He did not hesitate to state they were too
congregational and independent . They did not sufficiently sympathize . County associations should be formed . Religious liberty should be one object of their union * By local connexions they would become better prepared for simultaneous effort ; and something- g-reajter and better inigfat be done , than merely to sit and sigh , or pass ohwavd unconcerned . A measure to sefctire
exemption from turnpike tolls was one object to be desired . Another 6-bjfcct ardently to be sought w « s some act relieving our places of Worship from the rates for the poor , and our ministers and cong-regations from the contumely and degradation which lie had exposed . Another grand
measure was , that emancipation from test and covpoiration la \ vs > which , whilst they cbfrtinufed , remained as a brand of vassalage an Acknowledgment of inferiority ^ a prostitution of the sacraments of religion , to which tio mfcto who understood liberty , who respected the hietAbry tff * er"N b ^ t *« - formisfs , who elwrishod * elf-Wf € feth , who
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loved hi * obildnert , br * fa& bttftttire * Mb God $ could tranquilly subtnit . fLouti cheer * . J [ ' / ^ - ¦ ' ' - : ' . ¦'¦'¦ i He knew that some good persons thought of liberty too much might be said . * Biit such wad not the © pinion which the wisest or best men cherished , © r which history confirmed . " Above all things liberty ^* was the exclamation of Selden . A&& who
was oeweii ? An ardent yobth , a w * rtt » enthusiast ? Crrofitrs said , . *< Selden is tffcfe honour of England . " Lord Clarendon , the Tory historian , pronounced him to be a man whom it Was not possible excessively to praise . And if civil liberty |* ives to We its value , to man his nobleness , to nations their pre-eminence , how mttdfe
more dear must be religious freedojflfi ? That was the liberty which every man who deserves the name of Ha an or Christian , should bind-around his bro % aiid place closest ta his heart . ( Cheers . J Nov should tribes be disregarded . But nothing-connected -with priticiples was trifling . S ^ reasoned the most immortal men . the
benefactors of the globe . Twenty shillings was the whole amount of the ship money that Hampcten refused to pay : he reftssed , and the Stuarts were ex pel led . ( Cheers . ) How tri&ing the demand for indulgences , which Luther by principle was induced to resist , and so produced the Reformation ? and so relieved the world . ( Ckeers . j
On the subjects to whtcli he had adverted , let Dissenters then apply to Partfanietit ; and ahhouj » - ^ they inay be at first rejected , yet let them ren ^ w , renew , renew ^ their applications , atid reason and truth and religious liberty must at length prevail . fJLoud cheers . J
Every circumstance seems to demand speedy exertion * The nation was at p ^ ace . The persecution of the Dissenters did not decrease . Every possible means was adopted by the members of the Established Church , to increase and consolidate their powers 1 ft a recent publication , intitled , u Cfravatnina Ecclesies , ^ the Rev . Mr . Dennis , Prebendary of Exeter , protested
ag-aittst every concession Dissenters had obtained . If they advanced , and Dissenters still would retrograde * the distance would be greater , and relief more difficult . (" Cheers , J Hie trusted that was a determination not hastily or fmprtidentty addpted , and that Dissenters would meet with those , competent and willing to undertake in Parliament their catise . All must
remember with affection , the ardour ami the favourable zeal with which Mr . Pox devoted his great talents to the furtherance of those views . But be was lost . All tr > o would recollect that great and good man « o recently departed ; and the tttode of whose dfep&t-turc so iqjirch intrreased our anguish tit the lo ^ ss . Those wfro rtetnemberfed htfw he advocated the caus « of tfhts
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Int 9 lligence . * - ~ Prote $ tant Sfadtty : Mr . Wilhs * SWecA . 389
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/45/
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