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tl $ r Review . —Case of the Old Meeting House , Wolverhampton ^
Untitled Article
their attempts to destroy them , by the patronage which protects them •—in these circumstances , when strong * in the confidence that knowledge is preparing the purest pleasure for every man who loves his species , for every Christian who loves
his Saviour , religious men are fixing their attention on its free advances , and wish for nothing , but its unchecked circulationat such a time as this , for ministers of the New Testament to exhibit their cause in
connexion with legislative prohibitions and common law proscriptions , is a spectacle strange and unholy , and calculated to excite only one feeling in every generous mind , that of entire abhorrence . " Pp . 15—18 .
It is perfectly obvious that the rule contended for by the patrons of the Wolverhampton Case , would proscribe even the most " orthodox" of Nonconformists . If the Christianity maintained in the Church of England , is the common law of the land , who will escape ?
< c Will these advocates for the common law he pleased to tell us who is the expounder of its religious , doctrines ? Who are the persons charg-ed with the official duties of explaining- the theology of the common law ? I should like much to know
the tenets of religion , which they would approve . They might maintain the doctrine of the Trinity , but would they hold it in connexion with an Evangelical creed ? The doctrine of the Trinity is , we well know , received by thousands who are most hostile to the mode of preaching practised
by the patrons of the Case , and who think a Calvinistic creed most dangerous to the interests of mankind , as they assert it to be contrary to the truth of Christianity . Suppose the interpretation of the common law theology to he committed to persons of this description , with power to indict and punish those whom they might pronounce
offenders against the common law , we might perhaps bar *; Bishop Tomline ' s 1 Refutation of Calvinism * provided as the test of orthodoxy ; and how would the nine ministers relish the application of the common law in tiiis way to themselves ? What would they gain hy setting up the common law as tlie test of doctrine ? Their assent
might be required to other tenets than the doctrine of the Trinity by their judges , who , trere they even agreed with them on this topic , might still find enough in their profession to charge them with opinions not ac
cording- to common law > but indictable hy it . < c They who make laws to restrain one class of religious professors , can make laws to restrain another : nothing ; is wanting for ibis purpose but the possession of political power *"«* &p . 19 , 20 .
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u These nine ministers have proposed their case as * , ' a great and good undertakings' and as * a valuable precedent . ' Yes : 4 d valuable precedent f The doctrine of the Trinity as part of the law of England , the Christianity of the common law , is it seems to be applied to all Pro ** testant Dissenting congregations in th $ king'dom , and the societies that shall be found to have deviated from this standard
of doctrine , are to be deprived by law of the meeting-houses in which they now assemble . In like manner , all Dissenting congregations are to be examined ; and should it be found that any departure from , the tenets and practice originally professed in them has been introduced- they must
make their exit or be expelled by law ! These measures will create offices among ns , very much resembling the Holy Office , ' for which , doubtless , candidates are already provided . It is a fair demand , that those who propose any measure as * a valuable precedent . should comply with
all the terms included in their own propositions . Let the ministers , then , who propose the case of Wolverhampton MeetiBg * - house , as a valuable precedent , ' undergo their examination , and prove their own qualifications , ere they appear in our
societies , * to cast out all things that offend . ' Will they subscribe , ex animo the Nicene and Athanasiaa deeds , and with these in their hands , examine the ministers and hearers in every place of worship , provided 4 for the service and worship of God , ' And 6 for the use of Protestant Dissenters V' If
it should be decided , that ' baptismal regeneration' is part of the Christianity of the common law , will they profess their belief of it , and pronounce all contrary doctrine in Dissenting congregations illegal J And who are these nine Dissenting ministers , that propose t © ' try the spirits / by the maxims of the common law ? I should
have thought that men in their situation , would have for ever remembered the outrages committed against the ' illegal" * professors of Unitarianism in 1791 , and with the "fiery beacons , and the desolations of their neighbourhood , admonishing * them of the consequences of attaching an obnoxious character to men on account of their
religious opinions , would have eternally abstained from tampering with intolerant laws . "—Pp . $ 2—24 . Mr . Robertson then enters warmly into his defence against the appalling accusation brought against hiih , of
being " a bigot to laxness , " one " who would have no checks and precaution to hinder a religious society from running into error "—who ejjremed inclined , in short , ** to gii > e thfc same advantages to the cuu $€ of Christ &U < 1
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1818, page 712, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2482/page/48/
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