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tbey are to be utterly rejected . Such persons have no claim . They have forfeited all right of appealing to the public : all compensation to them on account of such proceeding's , it is every man ' s bounden duty to resist . Let the whole of the expenses in all cases of this kind , be defrayed
by the parties themselves , who can so iar outrage the principles of the Scriptures , the lights of human conscience , and the decencies and charities of life , as to maintain that any persons on account of their Teliffious opinions are indictable at
common law . Let no part of them be liquidated by the public , and especially let the evangelical part of the community not suffer themselves to be betrayed into the support of anti-evangelical proceeding's , though a Congregational Board should recommend the measure . "—P . 53 .
A * question is then asked of the Congregational Board , which does , to be sure , most obviously appear proper to be resolved by gentlemen who are thus advocating the propriety of pinning down congregations to every jot and tittle of the creeds of their forefathers : —
u What rig ^ ht of interference could a Board of { Congregational ministers have with a place of worship originally Presbyterian / They should have taken time to think on the subjects included in their support of the Case , before they passed ^ their resolution respecting" it . If , as they
decide , Unitarians cannot possess the place , because Trinitarians built it , let them make us acquainted with the reasons why some of the Members of the Congregational Board hold possession of places built by Presbyterians . " - —P . 56 .
A strong feature of the Wolverhampton Case , was the attempt made by its supporters , ' to set aside that fcontroul of Dissenting societies over their ministers , which is the vital principle of their constitution . 1 '
c < By what honour can they be guided ? Is this their * stern , inflexible support of the cause of justice —to urge in court , that the ministers of Dissenting- congr # ~ gfations slioiild be prevented from beingdependent on the people , and then to apply to these very people , whose unquestionable rights they have been attempting to
abolish , for money to liquidate the expenses attending * the application against their interest ? Let Dissenting congregations look around them . It has always been their righteous boast , ^ . hat they possess the sole and-exclusive right of choosing- their own Hitmsters—of judging of their qualification *—raa-d *> f determining- the circum-
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stances by which the relation of minister and people shall be limited in their societies - hut this power , it is now alleged , they oug-ht to possess or exercise—ought to be restrained from exercising ' . If so , there is then an end to Protestant Bis .
senters . Religious liberty is a mere name , a mockery , and a priestly dominion is at once established . If the ministers of congregations among * Dissenters are to be released from the contreul of the societies that elect them , if they are to hold their situations by any other tenure than their wiH ,
then are all the principles of their constitution subverted ; and it requires no very extensive acquaintance with the history of religion , as the means of providing our sagacity with a true guide to its anticipations , to enable us to predict their overthrow , and the greatest mischiefs to the cause of Christianity , as the consequences
of such a violation . Christian societies , it is true , are not to act capriciously ; they are to be guided in their conduct towards their ministers by sound discretion ; but as they possess the right of electing them , they also have full and independent authority to dismiss them : the one is as essential to their purity and prosperity as the other .
u It is with pain that I again advert to the resolution of the Congregational Board , but I cannot avoid the inquiry which arises from the foregoing exposition of our principles—how could the members of that Board recommend to congregations of Protestant Dissenters , a case hostile to the very essentials of their constitution ? What right ( for
they speak of right ) has Mr . Steward to the occupation of the Meeting-bouse at WolverhamptoB ? The congregation that chose him , exercised their indubitable rig-lit of dismissing him . He became their minister on their own invitation , and he ceased from being- such on their intimation that they did not mean to retain Kim . He
refuses , however , to quit tlie situation , and in violation of all duty , of all deoency , adopts a legal process to eject the society because they are Unitarians , what he Jtnew them to be when he made his engagement with them , and i « which very character he stipulated with them for a limited time of service . Having * himself , at the expiration
of that period , avowed a change of sentiment , which , on the declaration of the society that they 110 kHiger required his services , necessitated Aiis withdrawro-ent , he holds possession ,, and goes into a court of law , to charge the congregation with maintaining illegal opinions , and to claim the place with all its appendages as his
own life-estate . "—Pp . 57—59 . u only reason , ' * says Mr . Hobertson , in conclusion , " for entering upon the consideration of this extraordinary eu * e 9 is . my abhorrence of persecution , and oi
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1 716 Review Case of the Old Meeting House , Wolverhampton .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1818, page 716, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2482/page/52/
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