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Antichrist . " The employment of political checks , if this is what is meant , he of course protests against most strongly : — " And are not moral means ^ which are the only proper means for religionists to use in support of their principles and practice , the same to all , equally accessible to Trinitarians and Unitarians ? If the
former can preach , so can the latter . It the one can write and publish , so ean the other . Nothing can be more evident than that moral means are the same to all parties , the only difference which it is possible to consider as existing between them , being the essential difference of truth from error . c Give advantages to the cause of Christ , ' and what advantages would they give it ? They would have it placed under the
protection of secular courts , they would have themselves as its friends , to walk abroad and breathe at large under the guardian care of the laws of England 5 and they would have impugners of the doctrine of
the Trinity , and i such as have removed to the greatest distance from the truth , ' of which deviation they must , to be sure , be the judges , made indictable at common law . These are their advantages . " This giving of advantages , however , fcliey should have considered may happen to be in other hands than theirs . If moral
means be abandoned as strictly and exclusively the proper ones for checking and preventing a religious society from running into error ; or , which is the same thing , for recovering them from error , then they who have most advantages to give , may flourish and prosper most . And it is very easy to see the effects of thus attempting to check and controul what has been regarded on the one hand as the cause
of Christ , and on the other as the cause of Antichrist . Charlemagne was giving advantages to the cause of Christ , certainly so he thought , when he forced the Saxons , under pain of death , to submit to baptism . Henry the Eighth was giving advantages
to the cause of Chri » t , of which he was styled the defender , when he enacted the six bloody articles , —Cranmer when he put Joan Bocher to death , —and Mary when she sent Cranmer to the flames . "Pp . 25—27 .
Our Author then proceeds to re * lpiark upon the conduct of Mr . Steward , the person held up as " a proper object of the generosity of the evangelical public . a The authors of the * Reply * are mighty boasterii of their regard to truth and justice . , We have already seen how they regard these . Now follows another specimen of thoir attachment to the latter . VOJU XUL 4 T
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They avow c a stern , inflexible support of the cause of justice , whosoever may suffer , or whatever interests may he overturned . And that this avowal may he duly noticed , it is marked by the emphatics of the press . Well , let us examine their heroic integrity .
" Mr . Steward was invited by the con- * gregation at Wol verb amp ton , to , become their minister for a stated time fixed \> y them . He was then an avowed Unitarian , the congregation too was Unitarian , and
on the mutual cognizance of Unitarian ism as the religious profession of the parties , the limited invitation was gvven and accepted . On his change of sentiment , had Mr . Steward anv other alternative than to
declare it and resign his situation ? Would not a man who felt the claims of Christian integrity , have quitted a station which he could no longer consistently retain ? Mr . Steward , however , did not adopt this course ; he continued to hold his situation , and when
the congregation , on ascertaining * that ht had adopted other sentiments than those which they approved , and which they made the condition of his being minister of the place , gave him his dismissal—Did he remove ? No : he united himself with
an opponent of the congregation , he seized the property , he asserts his right to it to the exclusion of the society 5 and he puts himself forward , as the legal opponent on religious grounds , of the very persons with whom he stipulated that his service should be dependent on their will , and now represents them as obnoxious to the law on
account of their religious profession , which was so lately his own . And in this most dishonourable conduct he is sanctioned by these * stern , inflexible supporters of the cause of justice , * the nine subscribing ministers , who represent the attempt to secure his life-interest in the estate as ' a
great and good undertaking ! This is their * stern , inflexible support of the cause of justice . ^ In vindication of this support given to Mr . Steward , they alleg * e tlie improper conduct of the congregation towards him during the three months allowed him by the courtesy of its managers .
Granted , that the congregation treated Mr , Steward improperly , could that alter the previous obligations of honour and duty , and vacate the principles by which Mr . Steward ' s resignation and removal were rendered imperative ? Are our obligations
to acts of justice annulled by the opposition , the erroneous , or even the mischievous conduct of other men ? In what school of morals have these patrons of Mr . Steward studied ? Where have they acquired this tone of feeling , and learned this magnanimity of justice ? " —Pp . 29 , 30 . Mr . R . then makes some very judi * cioua observations upon the clause ia
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* Review . —Cu $ e of the Old Meeting House , Wolverhamptm * 713
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1818, page 713, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2482/page/49/
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