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Ret iezv . —Hints oh Evangelical Preachingi 50 $
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Scenting spirit of an exclusive national establishment will walk abroad ; and a gospel ministry in the church will leave few in the ranks of dissent besides Unitarians * Is this prospect cheering ? We admit , not . But still as Chris * tians ^ as freemen , we say , " Let
the people have their way *—Let them become Methodists , or if they will , Roman Catholics- —Let us see only that they do not as they grow stronger convert men by menaces or force . —And let us anticipate by whatever precaution may be judged expedient any political project they may possibly indulge /'
We believe that at present , no express design of new * modelling the church of England is entertained by the Evangelical party , and that they have not even a wish oi reforming it at any time by violence . When they become , as in a few years they will , the majority of the nation , they will ( if they think proper ) be entitled to demand a reformation . They will have no right at the same time
to burn heretics , but we fear their power will not be always exerted according to the rule of right : though it should be acknowledged that many of the dissenters , calling themselves Evangelical , are strenuousl y attached to religious liberty , and would not sacrifice it even if with it should perish the Socinians .
The political influence of this € < new spiritual power , " unknown in some measure at present , per * haps to themselves , is already seen and felt . It strengthened the hands of the Pitt and Addington ministry ; it only did not directly oppose Mr . Fox ' s administration ; and it brought in the
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present No Popery faction with triumph . It may be reckoned on as an appendage lp the powers that be $ provided they be not friendly to liberty . We regard it as one of the most operative causes in bringing on what Mr . Hume pre * diets as the true Euthanasia , the easiest death of the British
Constitution Absolute Monarchy . Stillj on political as well as religious stibjects every Englishman is entitled to choose his own creed and however , we may lament the course of public opinion , there is no way , when argument fails , to stop it .
We therefore disapprove wholly of the Barrister ' s c appeal to the Legislature . * He disavows the wish to persecute , but he should know that whatever the Legislature does by way of restricting the progress of mere opinion is persecution . And if the Legislature interfere , their first object
will naturally be to suppress all preaching and publications which impugn the 39 articles , and Jthen what will become of the Barris * ter ' s Hints ? It is easier to arouse than to allay the spirit of persecu * tion—it is a capricious as well as furious monster - —and he that awakens it may be the first victim to its vengeance .
IV . In the associations of the Evangelical body for special pur * poses , the Barrister ( never departing from his profession ) imagines he has discovered itneon ** stitutional combinations . How they can be unconstitutional if
they embrace , ns appears from the Barrister himself , no other objects than are allowed by the Toleration Act , is to us incon - ceivable . A man is not tolerated in his opinion if he is not allowed
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1808, page 505, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2396/page/49/
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