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The Commons . —Yes ; but a real Commons , —the representative of the community , — of every one who has a common stake in that country , great or little ; often greatest when it seems least , for then it is a man ' s all . But there is no need
of dwelling upon this at present . The Established Church . —Yes ; but far more Christianized : far more like its rarest
and best members ( we acknowledge their existence with pleasure , and love them ) , and far , very far less resembling a thing of force and state , an exacter , a " striker , " a lover of " filthy lucre , " a brawler not undipped in blood . That is not the general character of the Church ,
we allow . It is not the character of any church now-a-days ; for Christianity has outgrown it , and the English Church has even helped the out-growth . But there is a worldliness
sometimes taking place of bigotry , which does not disdain to recur to its rusty weapons during fits of anger . It must be a church ( and begin to be such
forthwith ) which gradually opens its doors to all other churches , at once merging and refining them into the only true and universal Christian
Church , that of charity ; which , if it were not the only flower and consummation of all Christian doctrine , then Christianity itself were worse than nothing , and a lie and a snare to its own
spirit . " Behold a new commandmant give I unto you , JLove one another . " " In this
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ye fulfil the law and the prophets . " We hope the day is not very far distant , in the lapse of generations , when the beautiful old churches in green England ( never may they perish !) will echo with none but the
mild voices of a charity-perfected Christian faith , good alike for all , and perplexing to nobody ;—and if we desire that this day , like daylight itself , may come gradually , and with no noise , or violence , or the
least alarm , not the less do we desire , and expect , that it may give unceasing proofs of its coming ; displacing , with its angelic fingers , darkness after darkness , and opening every one ' s eyes to what is sweetest and cheerfullest in the
visitation of heaven . In short , — From the Throne the Reformers ^ expect a loving performance of what it promises , — a heading of the irresistible advancement of the age , for its own sake as will as theirs .
In the Lords , such a modification of the institution as shall prevent its being able to obstruct the wishes of Throne and People . In the Church , a gradual but unceasing development of
the fruits of Christianity , not the perpetual thorns and husks of it ;—a dispensation , daily growing wider and more charitable , with excluding forms . No conscience-hurting subscriptions to articles . No Church
Rates . No Tithes . The Commons it is the Reformers' own business to im-
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Lord Durham end the Reformers . 79
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1837, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1834/page/7/
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