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    difficulty ; but we may , perhaps , by a careful analysis catch the spirit of the several prominent parties of which it is composed . The ( Mutch of Eiigldtid , considered either numerically or politically , is enfttled to * the first p lace' m our estimate . We * mean , however , the Church as it exists in the minds of its members , not as it is " by law established . " Its legal and political form has been nearly the same from the period of the Restoration ; but under an " uniform Outward' exterior it has been inwardly

    changing , and is now perhaps fh 4 ts actual state at a greater distance from its condition in 1662 , than from that of any one of the present denominations of seceders from its communion . Only "here and there an individual can now be found entertaining the notions of ecclesiastical policy which a century and a half ago were common . The * divine right ^ ' of both kings and bishops , and the mortal sin of schism , must be sought after to be discovered as matters

    of actual faith : they may be detected occasionally in some dignitary who has grown grey upon a country benefice , some rural esquire who learned sixty years ago , as the traditional belief of his family , that the disturbers of a neighbourhood are poachers and sectaries , or some venerable lady in the condition of " single blessedness , " who abhors schismatics , because she Jias heard vicar after vicar give them hard names , and has always understood that they

    are ' enemies to whist , wimbut wmehshe Ms net idea that wmter evenings can be endured . These are rare specimens of a race hastening to extinction , arid valuable to the speculator on humati nature fbr their ferity . 'They are individuals , and not representatives of a class , like Addisotfs Fdxhu 6 ter , who shuddered as he surveyed from- the Monument the foofs of the " vrar ^ oases in 1 Ldndofa , believing them to be the coverings of conventicles , Aid whose highest eulogiiftfc , in his Mfidest moments , on a favourite dog 'was , that the -cur had once worried aWesfoyterian paftdn .

    F 6 rmerly , the GhurchandtheMob Were in alliance , arid during ttie reigns v pf the two first Georges this alliance was rriore strictj ' and of greater' Influence upon the public peace , than that between Church and State . It Was only for ecclesiastics and petty magistrates '^ to giVe the signal , ^ iid the streets were * rio longer ^ afe to Nonconformists , and meetihg-faoi&es were rijfczed io the ground , 'the Birmingham Riots Were the last act of this long ^ nd disgusting ' fragedy . Whitfield and Wesle y , Joseph Lancaster and the French ' -Revolu-- ' tio ' n , have changed the character of the populace . 'They have ceased to be

    ' the Leviathan , the wild beast which Hobbes'described them , prdhe to violence atid enable of being wrought up to fury at the will of a master . They are no loiiger , as others Were wont to represent them , blind puppets , to be tndv ^ d exactly as toe £ hoSfl y finger pulls the wires . They ask for reasons befefre they act . They suspect ihat they have been hitherto used f 6 r other ends than their own and the general good . Reason begins to sway -them more

    than passion . Many ecclesiastical abuses'have been exposed before their eVes , and some religious WbYs have been refuted to their satisfaction , and tney J sc 6 rn to be " | !) art dhd pafrcelof theGhurch , as retainers to a patron 6 r Vassals to a lord . The mass of the people that ate hot avowed Dissenters can scarcely be said to ^ e bf ' the Ghurch . They t ^ are little for'its services , exceptas corihected With certain holidays , atidnvfffi ch ^ istbhirigs , ' mSrria ^ es and biifials . ' Their syttipathies , ^ for as 'they Ratif y any , are with reformers . TMeir reading , narrow as ^ is jits' range , teaehesth ^ m ' sbitie of'thegteki principles of triith and justice , and fftey have obtained'knowledge from other sources th&n reading . They have learned that religion subsists and flmftishes in countries where one-fifth of the surface of the earth is uot fenced off for the support of ^ ts ^ mihfefers ; and they see by daily observation that men may

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    2 On the State of Religious Parties in England .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/2/