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On fwsiiisiii ^ the history mankind , We find that such has been the »¦ reign has there opeii ^ y appeared , in those who . immediately surround his person ; a
< j £ spositibn to persecute on account of religious differences ; which may fairly be asertbed to the antipathy of his mind to every thing like religioufe persecution . But it has Wot been nnobmmon for those who served
tindei * Him at a distance , and who were not ftiemselves aware of the purity of his mind , to misconceive his wishes , and to imagine that * they should render a service to the stjite by vilifying and by injuring those who follow a religion different from the religion
of the * tate . It has been thought * also , that they were secretly instigated by men high jn power . - Hence arose , in some parts of England , subsequent tp the riots of Birmingham , a dispositign to exclude from all public works those Dissenters whom hotheaded Churchmen have marked as
obnoxious . Commissioners and ofcher state-agents have been known , who have actually refused to admit to the public works any person who avowed dissenting principles ; certainly through a most unaccountably mistaken id *< a , that , because they were . mot of the
Established Church , they were not the friends o / government . In the Dock-yards it is usual for the shipwrights and other workmen to have apprentices under them , who are brought up to their work within the
yard . These apprentices must be approved by the commissioner , and must produce certificates of their baptism , in order that their age -may be ascertained . In one of ouri . dock * -yards ,, in a subsequent year , all the youths were refused admittance into « the
vaucd ^ wsho ( could not . bring a certificate of bapt&m from ike Established Church . This occasioned great alarm in , a town , , a consi-^ grable ^ portion of ^ rhdse _ population are JXsaenters } It beean ^ e necessairyy therefore , T ^ % ar ^* a * Mj * . V ___ 1 _ _ __ a * _^_ _ _ _ j ^_ _ . i ^ . *_ a . __ . _ to mafce to to
. ^ ^ ^ application government remedy tnisdhifrl £ » ievance ;; and Mr . William Smith very kindly utidextpQk to do so , JJp $ n * statement of th ] & fa&ts b ? ing niadk' by him to Lord \ MeJviiie , | 180 i ) - hte lor ^ sjbip assured Mr . Sniitfo that Government woald action no such partiality , and tJiat ( he Commissioner should be immediatel y written to . He was fo ^ hwith' directed to uUW , in
every Tespe ^ t , the same advantages to Dis-• e ^ ers of j . every denomination « a * t < y the ^ rofe ^ e 4 members of tl | J ^ ataVlwkbine ©^ J ^ P ^^ rged to tnak&isQ distinction amongst oh ittajestys subjec ^ on account 9 ^ efl ^ i ^ . opworis . % TBnt init ^ sf natnrally eyi ^ y ^ in tu $ ittinds of parents , who fare dewdns of-Pj ^ g their children fprwar 4 w the worlds j ^ W « U e ^ the decision of th £ ministers , could o ^ ^ cr <) wds of boy s of aft ages under Poteen , flocwd to l | i # bta * rW ar < 2 i « -, m < mitri ^ i ^ firf ^| s ^ fc bkkisk , to ^ ^ atifieJE f ftM ? EAnSlfe ^ ih ^ himiiiier and
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u $ ual course of eventfc ^ Peraecutifl ^ n , of whatever kind , has chilled the ertergies of the friend a of truth , and with * held many from uniting to promote it * But , in a little time , the storm has passed over , and has left behind it the fertilizing means of vigour * of * animation and of increase .
Amongst the many who stififeTed ir * consequence of the violence of partyspirit at that period , was the friend whose memory we are now willing to consecrate . Residing at Taunton , in Somersetshire , he was at this time
evilmtreated , reviled and persecuted ; and , together with a highly esteemed medical friend , * a man as up right and as rignteous -as himself , he could seldom pass through the streets without insult j-f—while to keep company with
the adze in the dock-yard of - - ^; and it is not a little amusing to think , that the clergyman * receive'd copies of registers from dissenting chapels and made them his ., owxu And so much has this circumstance weighed on their minds since that period , thaiDifc * senters generally , and avowed Unitarians amongst the number , have formed a sort of habit of taking their children to receive
baptism by the hand of a clergymali ~ of the Establishment . If these latter have any serious views of Unitarian principles , it maybe questioned how they can , consistently with the principles of conscience , thus introduce their children into life by making a
solemn mockery of a religious rite . Xf , to them , baptism be a rite of no essential inipbrtance , and if they think it should be dis- * continued , it were better to use no baptism at all , and to avow themselves Anti-baptists . Bot if it be with thern a dtity , or if they wish to have their children registered in * *
place to which they may at any time apply for a copy df it , it ought not to be altogether indifferent whether it is done in -a manner consistent with their Christian principle , or in a manner which to them must appeal " ridiculous and absurd , if not impious . pisseiiters are not perhaps generall y aware , that * fhe registers of a chapel are legal docuriients : ' mid that there is a place in
in'Ix > nddn ( Dr . 'Wliliani ^ s Xabrary Redcross-street ) wlrere reglstefs of'the birth of Dissenters' children are kept , A copy of the register fvonv this deposit , although H is n 6 t regarded as a legal instnunent , yet ' i ^ , always received in our courts of law , and taken as vdMd evidence . 1 ft Mm , ¥ Vw * . *
+ tf During this fiery period of persecu-f tion he experience ^ nnf emitte d insult and misrepresentatidh . Atoti ^ thne Pain e , was burnt in efl ^ gy before his door , and but for the interference and remonstrance of parti-
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PubK € ( Shar&cter < & the late Rev . Joshua Toulmm , D . D . Ig 7
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VOL . XI . 2 D
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1816, page 197, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2451/page/9/
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