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    . THE CHRISTIANS' PETITION . : , y [ From the JMmrnwg Cbronich . ] , Presented to the House of Commons , by Samuel Whitbread * Isq . on Friday * Tune 8 , i 8 io «

    To the honourable the Commons of this-United Kingdom , in Parliament assembled , the humble petition of the undersigned Christians ,. in behalf of themselves , and others , who agree -with them in considering absolute liberty of conscience respecting religion to be the unalienable right of all men , sheweth , That it is the duty of all men , to

    examine as diligently as jnay be in their power the doctrines of religion ; and , after sueh diligent examination , toadopt and to profess what may appear , tq them to be the truth ; and that , in perfornaance of that duty , men ought not to be obstructed , or discouraged , or otherwise tempted to act hypocritically , t > y any law , tending to bias them in the course of such examination of the doctrines of

    religion , by subjecting them , in the case of their dissenting from the doctrines of any established church , to suffer death by burning or otherwj . se ; or to slifFer any corporai or pecun iary :

    punishment , or be injured in thejr reputation ^ by any disability , more or less disgraceful . That , your petitjopers acknowl edge , withhigh . satisfaction , that , in the present reign , Considerable progress has been made towards the full

    restoration of the rights of conscience , by the wisdom of Parliament and the benignity of the ting , rescinding various laws , in whole or in part , which were violations of those rights : yet , since other penal laws , not less injurious to those ri g hps , remain unre pealed ; since sonie of these laws , subject to corporal punishments or pecuniary penalties , others , as in the case of the Test Laws ,

    passed in the reign of Charles II . subject to disgrace , disability , and privation of civjjt rights , persons whose only offence it is , . that * in conformity with ; their duty , they have examineither doctrines of religion , and by such examination have been induced to embrace and to

    profess' religious opinions different from the doctrines , of the established church 5 your petitioners' feel it to be their duty humbly , but earnestly , to remonstrate against the longer continuance of any of these intolerant laws ; and they do , in conformity with the premises , expressly petition this Honourable House , that Wry such unjust law may be repealed .

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    that the rights of conscience may thus be restored to all the subjects of this United Kingdom : at the same time , they declare to this Honourable House , th at * if the . Legislature of our countryshall not feel themselves convinced , as your petitioners do , that every trace of intolerance ought to be immediately expunged from our statutes , yet , if the

    repeal or modification of any of our intolerant laws should now take place , particularly if the Test Laws , as far as they affect our m ilitary force by sea and land , should now ha repealed ; your petitioners would view with sincere gra * titude any such measure , as a still farther advance towards the complete restoration of the rights of conscience , and at this crisis would consider it as

    having a salutary tendency to ailay religious animosities , and to unite the great mass of the community , in a zealous defence of khe empire , against the meditated attack of our gigantic and all-graspingenemy . And yotlr petitioners shall ever pray .

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    ( 311 >

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    To the Christian ' s petition for liberty of conscience , the signatures annexed , by Roman Catholics , members of the church of England , and Protestant Dissenters , which are contained in sixteen duplicates , amount to , viz .

    Names , In the duplicate from Sheffield 7 $ In that from Richmond . 68 Newcastle . » . 40 Hull . . . . 49 JLeeds . • • xjf Derby . . . . 183

    JLoughborough • • 60 York and Wakefield • % 9 JStocktop . • ¦ . 40 Nottingham "« ( . 190 London ' . . « 117 Exeter * . . 109 Taunton . • 84 Gloucester . . . . 6 z Birntirigham : - ¦ : ¦ - k . -130 Norwich , . 170

    The total amount of 16 duplicates 1560 N « B . A duplicate from Manchester , containing 9 $ signatures , on account of informality , has been kept back .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1810, page 311, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2405/page/39/