On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Synagogues in London , than whom there was not a more respectable class of men in the world , had taken up the cause , judging * t ° f tne highest importance , not only as related to this case , but as a genera ! question . They had done well in
taking it up , us an important question would be thereby solemnly decided , for it should be remembered , that this Act of the 36 th George III . gave the Lord Chancellor the full power of deciding the ease . There was also another branch of the Charity he must allude to , viz . the alms-houses , and in that instance it was ordered by the
founder , that the poor old men and women should attend some place of religious instruetion on Sundays . Now it was , in his opinion , very difficult to shew how this could exclude Jews ; for , were their synagogues uot to be held places of religious worship ? To profess some religious
principles was necessary , but the qeed did not say , that because a man belonged to this ev that class of religious professors , he was disqualified from being * an inmate . A certificate of conduct was required , and a reward given to those who excelled in good conduct ; but then that certificate was merely relative to the discbarg-e of
moral duties , and had no reference whatever to religious duties , nor the forms of religious worship . On what principle the manager 8 of the Charity had chosen to deviate from their former practice , and adopt & system so illiberal , he was at a loss to
know . In this country > thank God , every man bad . the liberty of worshiping his Creator according to the dictates of conscience , none daring to make him afraid . And was he to be told , that because the Jewish nation adhered to the faith and
worship of their ancestors , a system of worship venerable from its origin and antiquity , the members of that persuasion were to be excluded from public charities ? The doctrine was monstrous , it was disgusting to hear it in this enlightened ag * e . Whether Jew or Christian , every man had a right to approach the Deity as he thought
proper , and no man ought , no man should be the victim of oppression or obloquy on that account . The trustees 00 mplained of the increase of Jews and foreigners in that town . If they were afraid of the funds of the Charity being enjoyed by such persons , let them apply to die legislature for an extension of the time which it is necessary
fora householder to live in the town , before be claims the right of applying for the Charity ; hut let them not by their own meaner establish a « intolerant system which Hfe ^ rol , rational mindfi must he disgusted with . Mr , Mell followed on the &anae side , and was at * loot to know whet 1 * 0 coo-HI say *»* the BuHj « et , jmi he was quite astonished to ta&r 4 t fcrofegtit fbi *** ril . No eas * , 4 tatt
Untitled Article
be knew , was to he fount } in the law books to correspond with this . Lord Hardwreke had indeed held , that this court could BOt protect a school solely for the education of Jewish children in that faith , but that did not apply here . Intolerance had been justly branded with the reproach of every liberal mind , and it was monstrous to say , that relief was not to be afforded to one
who differed from us in religious opinions . The highest authority known by Christians had taught the contrary , and in one of his sublimest and most admirable parables , liad proved that religious differences should not operate at all 011 the mind . The Solicitor-General wished merely to
remind Mr . Bell , that the warden and masters of New College were visitors of the school , and of course the question now was , had they a ri ght to visit this Charity , and see how it was applied , and what were the regulations they had made ? This was the point .
The Lord Chancellor .- —Suppose the visitors order the children to be taught the New Testament ; how are we to do in that case with Jewish children ? Mr . Bell thought that would "be a matter \ eft solely to conscience * He did not see why a Jew uiiglit not read the New Testament as well as a Christian , though the former did not view it in the same sacred
light as the latter did . A Jew might read the Greek Testament with as much regard to conscience as Sir William Jones , or any similar person , might read the sacred books , however absurd in his opinion , of a heathen nation . As to the provision in the will of the founder , which required the candidates for the bounty to give their Christian name and surnames , he did not
conceive that at all militated against the Jews 5 for if it did , then , on the very same principle , might Anabaptists be excluded who did not baptize till they were adults . Besides , to bind a man , and deprive him of pubJic charitable benefits , was absurd , for what would be thought , for example ! of persons being * excluded from such
advantages , because they did not go the whole length of St Athaiiasitts ^ s Creed ? That creed was not adhered to by even some of the Bench of Bishops ^ who wished several of its <* bjecti © nable clauses to be expunged . The exclusion of Jews from Christian charities would be setting" an
example of intolerance , which had not been practised by the former , for it would be recollectedj that Mr . Goldsmidt had given a very large sum of money to the Jews' Hospital , a charity , the benefits of which were not confined to that nation , i > nt extended to a very larje number of Christians .
The Lord Chancellorwished to Jcnow wtyetfccr tfie ijrtiftbittmto of the tpvrjt of Bedford , belonging to the Jewish ptnraa-
Untitled Article
lntelligetice . —~ Right of the Jews to English Charities . 587
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 587, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/51/
-