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to a prescribed scate amongst the resident and working felergy , and that Uthea and other church-claims should be vviiolly abolished . This is rational and equitable enough , thoug h , we fear the clergy will meet the proposal with
the cry of sacrilege 1 With tithes , JMr . Sturch would sweep away the Regiura Bonum , ( as it is improperly called—being in reality an annual grant of Pkrliameat , ) constituting the
national endowment of Presbyterian places of vvorship . For this he suggests no substitute : will not therefore the several Presbyteries cry out as loudly as the clergy against such a reform ?
On the general subject of Emancipation we are tempted to extract one admirable passage , and we are sorry that we cannot extract more : " That six parts out of seven in any country should be absolutely shut out from all ehance of the occupation of the
higher offices in the state , and should continue , duriug two centuries , to be excluded fropa being eligible to represent any . part of the community in Parliament , besides being subject to a variety of other iucouvepiences and disabilities ,
for no other reason than their differing in some of their religious opinions from the seventh part , which seventh part , be it remembered ^ are infinitely divided in opinion amougst themselves , is , surely , a state of things which would excite the utmost astonishment if related for the
first time to any persons accustomed to the use of reason . But that these insulting , degrading , and discouraging disabilities should be suffered to continue in force against so vast a majority of the
inhabitants of that country ,, and should be obstinately defended as just and necessary , after their ' peaceable and loyal demeanour" had been publicly acknowledged by the legislature , and stated as a reason why * it is fit that those many restraints and disabilities to which other
subjects * of the realm are not liable \ shall be discontinued , ' a ? nd after they had given , and professed themselves c still ready to give every pledge that can be devised for their peaceable demeanour and
unconditional submission JO ythe laws > is an enormity that would exceed all belief , if it were not perfectly notorious and indisputable .
" That any people so unjustly and ignominiously treated should be perfectly contented , is impossible . That the whole of * o large a body should , under these circumstances , continue to be uniformly peaceable and loyal . 13 not to be expect-
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ed . Dangerous insurrections have accordingly arisen , a&d it i $ greatly to be feared , that if justice shall continue to be pertinaciously denied * rebellions of a more alarming character wiH succeed , accompanied with ail those horrors at which I have slightly hinted in the beginning of this tetter .
cc But 1 feel ashamed of attempting to terrify my countrryi&ea into an act of justice . I would much rather appeal to the nobler feelings of their hearts . \ would call their attention to the right that every man possesses by Nature , a rignt uncoutroulable by human laws , to
worship God according to the dictates of his conscience ; and the injustice of interfering with the exercise or that right , by civil disabilities and privations . I would remind them tfe&t the Iranian mind ought to be free as air in the investigation of truth , in the acquisition of every kind of
knowledge , and in the application of it , by every individual , to bis own use and benefit , and in the diffusion of it , for the benefit of others . In a word , I would urge my fellow-suhjects to the practical assertion of religious liberty in its most perfect form .
^ For 1 wish it to be clearly understood , that it is upon this ground alone , and not from any partiality to the Romish faith , that 1 advocate the cause of Catholic Emancipation . If the question were about religious truth , I should
certainly lift up my voice against the religion of Rome , as a corruption of the best and purest religion that the world Bave ever known . I find it difficult to believe that Newspaper report , in which
you , Sir , are made to say , in the House of Commons , that * all religions are good ; ' but if you did say so , you probably meant , that in every form of religion there is something good , and in that
sense the assertion may perhaps be trtie ; for it would certainly require great ingenuity to teach religion , and above all the Christian religion , in any form , so as entirely to leave out that which is the great end , the sum and substance of all
religious , the moral precepts ; and whatever of these are retained must be good . But no religion can be said to be good , the very ground and leading principle ( A which ia bad . The religion of the worshipers of Juggernaut , which teaches its unhappy votaries to destroy their bodies
f © r the salvation of their souls , cannot be good . And the religion of Rome , which lays it down as a first principle , that all men must be iu communion with its bishop , and must believe all its doctrines , without presuming to inquire whether they are true or false , on pain of eternal damnation to all who shaji dissent , caa-
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] 14 Review . —Sturch \ s Grievances of Ireland .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/50/
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