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appear to settle this point . Nor can it be conceded that the example of the church in early ages is inapplicable to the question 5 for though Mr . Belsham may have shewn that great corruptions had taken place before the era of Con * stantine , and that the superior purity of those times has been too much .
insisted on ; and though something niay be due to the consideration urged by Mr . Belsham , that the tradition of the miraculous powers of the apostolic age was recent , and the impression on the minds of believers more fresh and vivid
than it can be to us in the 19 th century ; yet let it be remembered , that we see even in our own times a zeal in the diffusion of the gospel worthy of the primitive church itself ; witness the pious labours of a Wesley ; witness the missionaries who are now
traversing the world to propagate Christian truth , or what they conceive to be such , among the Heathen . And similar zeal will produce similar effects in the 18 th or 19 th , as in the 2 nd or 3 rd centurv .
If , then , there is no proof from history that Christianity cannot stand without the support of the civil power , but rather every presumption to the contrary , surely the strong objections to the interference of government , which Mr . Belsham himself has so
fairly stated , ought to be decisive against it ; for let it not be forgotten , that it is not what governments might do , or ought to do , but what they are likely to do , that is the question . If they meddle with religion at all , they are almost sure to make it an engine
of state policy , than which nothing can be more at variance with the design and intention of him who said , " My kingdom is not of this world /' I know that governments are as little likely to abolish existing religious establishments , as they are to establish
Christianity without distinction of sect or opinion , on Mr . Belsham's liberal basis . Let it not , however , be thought that this controversy is of no practical importance either way . Remove tlie objection which Dissenters in general
feel to the interference of government with their religious concerns , and you take away one of the main pillars of Dissent . Admit the principle of interference , and the question of the plus and minus will be easily settled . There are so many inconveniences in dissent ,
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and so many , temptations J to < confpri mity , that unless men set a high v $ hl $ on perfect independence , they \^| i j $ h conciie their minds , without difficulty , to submit to what is established , on
the plea that it is better government should interfere too much , than not at all ; and though they find many things to disapprove , Xhey will silently acqui esce in what they cannot hope to change .
Let Mr . Belsham consider how far such a time-serving spirit is likely to promote Christian truth , or reformation from Anti-Christian error . In this country it is amongst the Dissenters only that those just and rational views of scripture doctrine , which it
has been a main object of his life % o explain and enforce , have any sensible effect . He , then , should be one of the last to say any thing calculated to weaken the force of Dissenting
principles ; and while Tnnitarianism is enshrined and consecrated by every established church in Christendom , I would beg respectfull y to hint to the learned and able Unitarian advocate , that such texts as " He is the minister
of God unto thee for good , " and , * ' Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake , " * may not be in his case the most appropriate topics of discourse , and to suggest to
him the following as preferable : — " Stand fast , therefore , in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free , and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage . " f A DISSENTER .
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Sir , AMONG the various communications with which the prosecution of Mr . Carlile has induced your correspondents to favour the public , through the medium of your Repository , I have been most struck by the letter of Hylas , in the number for April , ( p . 208 , ) and that signed a Nonconformist , in the number for May ( p . 2 77 % A greater contrast both in manner and spirit can scarcely be imagined , but it is not my present object to settle their comparative merits . On first reading the letter of Hylas ,
* ¦ > , . * The texts of tiya of Mr . B / s Three Sermons , t Gal . v . 1 .
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On the Controversy relating to the Ptinishmgntof . Unbelievers * 6 | j #
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1820, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2494/page/29/
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