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improper to be included in the toleration it extended to Protestant Dissenters ; and this clause , therefore , appears to g-ive-extremely strong" countenance to the opinion that those who originated the institution intended , at least , that those doctrines should not be taught which impug-ned the
doctrine of the Trinity . With respect to tfoe power given to the trustees to make orders aud regulations ^ I think they cannot be considered to be thereby empowered to change the whole purpose of the institution by diverting it -to the maintenance of a different sort of doctrines—as different indeed as if it should be considered that
it gave them a power to change it from a place of Dissenting worship to that of the Church of England ; for it seems to me that it is just as contrary to the intent of the founders to change it from one mode of Dissenting * worship to another , as to that of the Established Church . As to the clause which it was supposed affected . Mr . Maunder ' * character of trustee , from his having- withdrawn , I apprehend that if . the parties meant to divert the oharity by teaching such doctrines as the bill charges ,
this Court would never have discharged a trustee under that plause , because it woulri ^ have considered him as guardingthe trust according to the intent of the founders . Anot ! er part of the trust is settled by the deed of 1720 , for the benefit of the
minister for the time being , and not as in the former deed ; and then it is provided that if the Toleration Act should be repealed , and the congregation prevented by law from assembling , ( observing- in passing that it is extraordinary that they should provide against that Act beingrepealed , if they knew they were establishing- doctrines which were exempted from the benefit of that Act , or that they should at any rate not have added to these
provisions , " in case that Act should be held not to extend to their class of worship , and they should be prevented assembling in conseqnence " , ) then the estate was to be sold for the benefit of the then minister . Then arises the question whether the minister can be appointed for three years
only , and that must depend upon the usage , whether the one gives and the other accepts such nomination . It appears highly probable that the person who gave that part of the fund contemplated a provision for the minister for life , and yet it may certainly be shewn and turn out to be the usage of the congregatiou to do
otherwise . As to the power of appointing trustees , it is provided that if trustees die , desert the congregation , or become of any other religion or doctrine whatever ( and I would observe on these words , that if the question came before the Court whether a trustee
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had or had not become of a different persuasion , it would then be necessary for the Court to inquire what was the religion intended , not for the purpose of making observations upon this or that religion , but to inquire into that religion , in order
to determine whether such person could be duly removed on account of that new class of opinions or religion to which he had addicted himself , and that with reference to civil rights only , except in very special cases indeed ) , it is provided that if the
trustees did not keep up the number , the minister might appoint them . This trust , in 1792 ,. became vested iu Maunder and eleven others , including a person who never acted , it is said . It is alleged in the information that Maunder is now to be
considered as the only trustee , or that if the defendants have any part of the legal estate vested in them , that they are introducing a doctrine directly contrary to the intent of the founders . Jf the defendants are not duly elected , then Maunder is certainly the surviving- and only trustee 5 and
defendants admit that the legal estate in one-fifth part of some of the property and one-sixth of another part has not ^ vassed to them 3 but that Maunder , not having acfed , ought now to act as the majority direct .
With respect to the intent of the donors ; on these questions the defendants by their answer state that they cannot say whether the meeting was originally built by Trinitarians , ai \ d whether aad how long such principles were professed , save that iu 1780 some of the congregation were Trinitarians , and others professed different
sentiments : they deny that the trust was intended to promote a belief in , the Trinity . And they charge that the trust was for the worship and service of Almighty God , without any mention of Trinitarian ism or any other doctrine , and that-the funds have accordingly been so applied . They cannot say of thejr own knowledge whether the former ministers were or were not Trinita-r
rians , or what v they were : they do not believe the intend of the founder was to promote a belief in the Holy Trinity ; but they believe the intent w ^ as to promote tbe worship of God as Protestant Dissenters generally . They admit having * been in possession of the meeting-house , and that the doctrine of the Trinity has not been
taught , except by the plaintiff , Mr . Steward , who , having taught Unitarianism three years , has lately begun to preach Trinitarian ism - , and they say they are not all of the same opinions , but that they all
believe in God , and the propriety of worshiping- and serving- God ; that they consider peculiar opinions irrelevant , and that the intent was for the servicesf God , without regard to any particular tenets . They seem to have gone on harmoniously
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44 O Intelligen ce * — Proceedings in Chwncery regarding Unitarians .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 440, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/64/
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