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Untitled Article
nonconformist forefathers are entitled-to our veneration * But although the rei&tion between Protestant dissent and dissent from whatever is criminal , frivolous , and of hurtful tendency in the customs of the world , con *
sists in religious principle , it ought to be shewn in what manner religious principle operates to produce and aid both . Nonconformity to an ecclesiastical establishment is . or should
be , a religious act . It is a case in which we render unto God the things that we owe to God . Nothing political , nothing civil , invites us to dissent . Such
considerations cannot govern those who voluntarily support Iheir own forms of worship , while they also contribute to the support of modes of faith and prayer which have the exclusive patronage of the state * Protestant dissenters separate themselves from the mass of the
people , that they may offer what they look upon as a purer homage , that they may attend with greater effect to subjects which concern their everlasting peace : they separate themselves through a rational
fear that religion will be corrupted and deeply injured by the interference of human authority with its solemn requisitions . If their nonconformity then do not engage them to be strictly religious , that is . if it do not render them in a
just sense nonconformists to the world , they are chargeable with gross inconsistency ; and the sincerity of their avowed principles will be suspected , even if the falsehood of them cannot be
demonstrated . , Here it may be asked , Are there no instances of what we might call hereditary dissent ? None
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of families ami individuals qotu fjniiing to secede from a church established by :. ' tev ? , hepause j ^ m fathers thus seceded before them ? I shall not deny , that there roay be some examples of the kind : h ^ bit has always a roigfity and . often an
unfelt dominion Qvejr men . But where every temporal * mptive is thrown into one . 8 $ alp * ^ 4 where nothing but the ¦ < force pf cu ^ tpm weighs in the p tk £ fy ,-. f ! b £ / QrQwr , as facts may teach us , . will . usually
prevail . t , , J Protestant dussp&fc £ a # pofc fee maintained where it is enjijr £ ly *> i in a high degreeu ^ accpropani ^ d by the spirit of yifca ) ^ fe < rve £ tf , & ) d active religion * -If M b& ~ only Jk >»
minal , it kwiU qiiicjdy , sink e $# r in ah indifference to iJJ reJigious principles ^ or jn vnn un reflecting , perhaps a bigoted cQ # formi ( y { o established jpr ^ tice * , dM teii ^ s . Devotion * teenGyjoSenGp , , i « 4 mfyf zeal must uphQl 4 tW Jt » VSf M nonconformity , .. \ * J 3 t& ptiAcy ^ s
on which it re 3 is , Upweycr U ^ c and important * must jjot t > € ^ c ^ - rished as ine ^ ly ^ pje ^ a ^ iy : ^ pWpositions . .. ' ., * . A life of strict TjeUg ^ u * A « happiest which a man can ho 4 i
was the life of our nQnconfpnD ^ t forefathers ; this , tb ^ ^ Qquisiti (? n which they Bought £ od ^ gaipeQ * If we follow their ^ xaipple f we shall not simply advance ow dearest personal interests , h ^} shall secure and extenjdtb ^ Ai ^ &fc of tfee dissent which th ^ ey testi ^ ,
and of which thejjr . post ^ n % y 9 & may be presumed , ate 4 e $ ir 0 U £ 9 f being considered as ^ tb * ^ lifc ^** ? d patjrons . l ^ t 4 bW ., fc * P&T ante rank am <^ g th ^ Jhpn ^ W ^ P band of npiiConCo ^ nwiia , t <> w world ; by theic p ^ a ^ itj ^ ^^ cret prayer , in family wofsbipf JR
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708 Essay m Protestant Nonconformity .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 708, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/16/
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