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i « any other point of view to confine the object of the trust further ttiari the parties liave declared it ? Who wodld be injured by the chapel being held , as it was founded , by Protestant Dissenters , who ex vi termini are the
only persons to choose and vary their own form of doctrine and worship ? Whom would you benefit by turning them out ? Fur some Dissenting en * dowments , if the strict rule of identity is to be thus enforced , I am afraid
there would be no occupants to be found . If the principle of keeping all these foundations strictly to every iota of the faith of the founders , where it can be made out , be established , it will apply to other branches of Dissenters . The old Presbyterian places are many of them in the hands of orthodox
Independents , to whom the same measure must be meted . 1 have in my hands the documents of a cause which was agitated , but never finally decided by the court , thirty years ago , in which the meeting had been founded explicitly , and the trust in the deeds was
declared to be for Presbyterian worship , a much stronger case than perhaps could be shewn any where against us . The congregation , however , altered their opinions as to church government , and became Independents , and they in that capacity retain it to this day ; the court which tried
the question having very properly manifested the greatest dislike to entering into questions of difference between Dissenters , and conceiving it did enough by confirming the place to Dissenting worship , leaving the parties to settle those matters among themselves . This occurred not far
from the neighbourhood of the Kev . gentlemen above alluded to , and surely they will be the first to advise their brthodox brethren to set us the example of restoring the trust to the faith of the founders , which , 1 believe they will say , would be to shut up the place .
I should then , urge the formation of an association which would have nothing more imposed upon it than to meet pccasionall y and provide , when necessary , proper advice arid support to those vrho may chance to need it . There are besides several
very important points to be cousidefied by such an association , with r&atibpiib the civil rights of Atoti-¦¦¦¦ ¦
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trinitarians . What subj ect can require more immediate attention than tfe £ situation in which we are to consider ourselves as left by . the Repeal of tl * e Trinity Laws ? Are we really benefited by it , or have we exchanged a determinate definition of the offence
for the beautiful uncertainty of libel law , and the definite punishment that awaited it for the mitigation , or rather more probably , the augmentation it might probabJy receive from the tender mercies of an enlightened judge ?
Again , are we or are we not mere tenants , at the will of our orthodox brethren , of our chapels and endowments , arid is or can tfiere be legall y everi at this day , any foundation for Unitarian worship , notwithstanding the repeal of the penal law , a point
on which we know the greatest lawyers have expressed their doubts > Surely these are questions which it is worth while to ask , especially as there seems little doubt that a remedy may easily be obtained , if we choose to seek it , for the evil , in case it shall be found to exist .
Last year furnished two instances in which the legality of Anti-trinitarian preaching and of Anti-trinitarian foundations was questioned by great legal authorities . How many more may occur we know not , to be left for individuals to struggle through
as well as they can—but s 6 me there will be . Before this appears , I can , I believe , confidently state that at least one more will have been agitated in one of our courts , and several others are threatened in no very obscure terms . The truth of the matter
is , that every Anti-trinitarian chapel and foundation is at the mercy of any one who chooses to be at the trouble of filing an information , for his expenses are almost sure to be paid out of the chanty .
As to the plan of such an association ; that could be easily arranged : perhaps the best plan Would be , that each Anti-trinitarian congregation in the . neighbourhood of London should choose one or two deputies , the
country congregations being at liberty to send -tip deputies if they wished , or as there should be occasion . The expenses would most , likely not be very considerable , and might be supplied by a trifling annual subscription
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On the Wolverhampton Case . , 97
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vbif e-jttif : ¦ " " ¦ - * ¦• ' o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1818, page 97, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2473/page/17/
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