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public manner , that every man should be at liberty . to profess and to defend his religious opinions ; and that this liberty ought not to be solicited as a matter of favour , but demanded as an act of justice . In circumstances so serious , when even the lowest idea of
toleration is abandoned , and while the enemies of dissenters are endeavouring to separate , upon the * © logical questions , men who have other great interests in common ,
we feel it as a duty we owe to our constituents ^ to press on their attention the necessity of an union among themselves , and a cordial intercourse with all the friends
of religious liberty of every de . scription . We have understood , with much satisfaction , that our brethren , in several counties , have raised subscriptions send appointed committees to circulate small
tracts in support of religious liberty > and we earnestly recommend the example to the imitation of the Dissenters in general . As we believe that the influence of knowledge must at last be superior to til the opposition of ignorance and
prejudice , it will be our ardent desire under every present discouragement , to scatter the seeds of instruction ; and , whether the harvest arise in our days or those ° f our posterity , we cannot lose fee honour and the satisfaction of having laboured in the field .
And here we remark , with pleasure , some appearances favourable to our cause , in the spirit of justice and reason , manifested in the wa itings of some distinguished characters of the Church of England , and in the ttnti naents publicly expressed by ftan y respectable members of
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both Houses of Parliament : at the same time , we are persuaded that a considerable number of clergy and laity in the established church are equally desirous thai
the religious community , to which they belong , may be delivered from such weak and disgraceful supports as restricting laws , which , aggrandize one body of citizens at the expence of another ; and penal statutes on subjects of religion , by which man arrogates to himself the prerogative of his Creator ,
and affects to say to the human intellect , ** Hitherto shaU thou go , but no farther . ' While we contemplate these appearances which inspire hope amidst various discouragements ,
and especially when we observe , that the public mind is now directed to questions of general policy and subjects most important to man as a member of society , — we think the period is advancing , when it will no longer be inquired , respecting the candidate for civil employment , what he believes oh a theological subject , but what are his abilities for the service of his
country . Yet , however these hopes maybe disappointed , and our possession of just and equal liberty be
deferred , we are now chiefly solicitous that our rights may be generally understood , as an important step towards the attainment of them ; and that the
Protestant Dissenters , who ( like all men that think for themselves ) must be divided by a variety of opinions , may be ever united as the friends of civil and religious liberty , the firm supporters of just government , the patrons of useful knowledge , and the benefactors of mankind * M . DODSON , Chairman .
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Address of the Deputies , 1792 . 417
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™ i- vi . 3 «
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1811, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2418/page/33/
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