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    increased some think to be equally obvious * Such bodies , unless they lead and direct , must retard exertion . They should act , not wait to be acted upon . The panic about new ideas is over ; they are , in fact , the fashion again . All Europe talks of religious , whatever it does about political liberty ; yet England , and even the friends of freedom in England ,

    are silent on the subject . The hearts which led the noble struggles made a generation ago , have most of them ceased to beat ; the tongues , which were then eloquent in the cause , are mute in death ; and as yet no one has been stimulated to take up the neglected theme . The

    question , even as a political one , has ceased to be talked of or understood , and many a struggle must probably be fought through , and many a defeat patiently borne , before we shall stand even in the position where our last advocates left us . Melancholy , however , as the prospect must at times be to the excellent

    Chairman of the Deputation , when he finds himself bereft of those supporters from among the great and excellent spirits of the country who once surrounded him , we hope still to see him gathering new friends around the good cause in which his younger days delighted , and in which we know his heart is still warm with the energy of youth .

    To direct a popular effort requires zeal , and that degree of energy in which new institutions more peculiarly abound . Old institutions , for whatever purpose formed , gather , from many causes , the rust of inactivity , and find difficulties which those that spring out of immediate popular excitement cast aside . Perhaps the Deputies will find that some

    revival , some infusion of new force , will be expedient to enable them to rouse and direct that sort of effort which a popular cause requires in its advocates . They have of late been sometimes energetic in resolutions , but tardy in execution . The spirit seems to have been willing , but the machinery weak . They are , moreover , divided in opinion on the very principle involved . They are afraid to take the broad ground , the only ground

    in fact on which their parliamentary friends will ever consent to support them . They have not all made up their minds to grant to others what they ask for themselves , and so far they are behind even the Catholics whom they dread , inactivity has had a soporific operation , and many , especially of the more orthodox Diasenterp , ( with some noble exceptions , ) have strangely iost or forgotten that zeal for political liberty

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    which their ancestors prized as the best safeguard of religious freedom and moral purity . For effective action an union with country Deputations will perhaps again be necessary , and we are inclined to think , that this would bring among

    them a good deal more of the old and honourable leaven of liberty and zeal than is to be found among some of the leaders in town . They must be less anxious about immediate success than watchful for that steady progress which constant discussion will effect in

    Parliament , and , through Parliament , in the country . No great point in humanity or freedom has been carried without repeated exertion : exertion has met with temporary defeats , but the defeats themselves have , iu the end , ensured the victory . The maxim , that " they also serve who wait , " is one rather of consolation for individuals than of encouragement or imitation for bodies with whom no bar

    exists to active exertion . Like the vis inertia of physics , it may operate as a resistance to the impulse of error , but can give no onward movement to truth . We have heard some alterations suggested in the organization of the Deputies , and they seem to us worthy of consideration . It has been asked , Whether a yearly subscription , required from each

    congregation , might not be better than the preservation of a large permanent fund ? Annual calls bring annual inquiries . —Inquiries imply interest in the proceedings on the part of the inquirers , and a sense of responsibility in the questioned . Again , might not renewed and

    renewing vigour be infused into the body , if congregations frequently changed their Deputies , or , at all events , combined activity with prudence , by sending one of their younger members by the side of a graver elder ? Finally , might not the exclusive title of "The Three

    Denominations" be dropped , aud the Society be opened to every Protestant Dissenter ? It is notorious that some of the congregations sending Deputies are not properly described by either of the terms Presbyterian , Independent , or Baptist , and that , in fact , there are few who answer to those titles in their primary and

    Strict senses . Many congregations return Deputies who take their seats under false colours , and thus the Society , which , in fact , admits every one , has an appearance and a name , which do not reajly belong to it , of exclusiveness . The consequences of adherence to a partial title have been division and weakness . The Deputies , ostensibly at least , did not provide for the exigencies of any bu

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    134 Intelligence . — Proceedings of the Deputies

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 134, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/54/