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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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TOtERATlOK ACT .
It cannot be unknown to our readers , that Lord Sidmouth has lately agitated the subject of the increase of th& Dissenters Jn the House of Lords . By returns moved for and obtained b y him , it appears , that from the beginning of the year 1760 to the end of the year" i $ o 8 , there have been 13 , 161 places registered
for dissenting worship , arid ^ 67 » preachers licensed . : These numbers will by no means exhibit a correct account either of places or jpreachers * Some houses have been registered in which , preaching has been long discontinued ; and some congregations have , in a course of years , occupied
various places which have been all registered in succession . In some instances , rooms for Sunday-schools have been entered for security as meeting-houses . We . may , therefore , reduce the Return of places at least one half ; but this will leave a number sufficient to show
that the increase of dissent in the present reign has been great beyond all example . H the number of prea&hers seem not to correspond to the amount of the number of places , it should be considered that
there are many dissenting ministers who have never taken the oaths ; some , perhaps , from scruples of conscience , but more from inadvertence , or from the Inconvenience in some particular situations attendant upon qualifying .
It was matter of wonder to indifferent observers , and of anxious expectation to Dissenters , what use would be made of the Returns when obtained . Lord Sidmouth has candidly explained his views . He professes to revere the Toleration Act , a » the palladium of our
religious liberties , and declares that his only wish is to prevent the abuse of the privileges which it confers ; which , he thinks , must be considered equally injurious to the DiasepterB themselves , to the established church , and to the State . In the next Session , he means to pursue titc matter , and his object appears to be
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M ISCtfX I * AN BOTJS .
We cannot avoid noticing the ingenuity of Mr * John Morison , near Brooke SJtreefc , Holborn , who , having lost bath fds arms by the erpWaibn of a cannon , foaa invented for himself a pair of artificial arms , adapted in a good measure to supply the place of those of which he has been bereaved * Hi * success in one instance has induced him to make his plan generally known , and he oifc r *
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threefold , first , to restrict the right of qualifying to actual ministers of congregations ; secondly , to restrict it further to persons arrived at years o ? discretion ; and . thirdly , ' to require persons
demanding qua ' ification to produce certificates , signed by two or three qualified ministers oFtlieir own denomination , of their character , ability and , we suppose , of their coming within -the meaning of the aforesaid regulations .
There has , no doubt , been much abuse of the Toleration Act amongst the various orders of Methodists ; and every real friend to religious liberty must wish to see such abuse prevented for the future . Perkaps , it would be sufficient for this
purpose to confine the exemptions from parochial offices and military duties to pastors of churches and students for the ministry , not engaged in trade * Itinerant preachers might be left to be protected by the liberality of their respective denominations .
The project of certificates and of limiting licenses to persons of age , we think decidedly objectionable ; and , as far as we have hitherto considered the matter , we would rather that all privileges should be withdrawn from dissenting teachersand that they should be
, on a level with the other subjects of the realm , than that they should hold immunities on terms which will degrade and cripple the next generation of preachers .
But the plan of the noble mover is yet in embryo . Before it is fully disclosed , it may be shaped to the liking of the general body of Dissenters . At any rate , we hope our brethren throughout the kingdom will keep a steady eye upon the subject : and be ready to unite , if
necessary , in petitions to the Legislature and the throne , for the preserving entire of that glorious fabric of . relig ious freedom which has been , and we trust ever will be , the noblest monument of British wisdom .
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his assistance to persons , who may , f 1 om similar misfortune ^ , stand in need of artificial arms , irgs , &c . The society for the encouragement p £ arts ,, manufactures and commerce , has examined the merits of his invention , and , upon the fullest ; deliberation , . have a ^ pidg ^ d him their silver medal and a presaium of forty guinea *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1810, page 312, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2405/page/40/
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