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Untitled Article
ap lJfe'te $ favy . and peritvaaetit sottftfe of pplttical l ; tib # ledge knd taleiiit , awd of rc ' fitigitient afld elevation of character *; of feeling , and of manners . And in this view no men can be more imposing or more interesting than the high-minded noblemen and gentlemen of England . *
But , in this imperfect world , we cannot enjoy at the same time all possible advantages . And those which result from the hereditary elevation of one small class of society ^ must produce in all the noble qualities which distinguish independent freemen , a corresponding depression of the great mass of the
community . And can we for a moment hesitate which state of society to prefer ? No . It is the glorious characteristic of our admirable polity , that the power , and the property , and the happiness , which in the old nations of the world
are confined to the few , are distributed among the -many ; that the liveliness and content which pervade the humblest classes among us , are not the mere result of that buoyancy of animal spirits which nature seems to have kindly infused into our frame , and which man
shares with the beast that sports in the iield or courses over the plain—but a sober sentiment of independence , nurtured by the consciousness that > in natural rights and original political power , all are equal . The obedience , therefore
which fear in a great measure extorts from the mass of the people of other countries , is here the voluntary offering of a contented and happy , because , in the . broadest sense of the terin—a free people . "—Pp . 12—14 .
The Bishop , with all his exultation , in this view of his country , declares himself iQ more at home ' on another : " It is the religious freedom of my country that constitutes , in my view , one of her proudest boasts . Protected as religion is by the state , which finds in her precepts and spirit and sanctions ., the best security for social happiness and order , she is left free to exert her legitimate powers , uninfluenced and
unrestrained by any worldly authority whatsoever . And the happy effect is seen in the zeal with which her institutions are supported , as far as the ability of an infant country , and a spreading , and in many-cases spare and humble population , will admit ; in the prevalence of those
* " And yet dissipation and unbounded devotion to pleasure , the consequences of idleness - and wealth , often contaminate tJKi higher ranks , and produce corresponding cflfects upon the lower , "
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Kibor 3 d 'atid socialTirtues' tft&fr - # r € f > atfK > t > her best fruits i and * &b © Ve ail , in u » ss much less of that hostility to her divine origin and character , -whkh in other countries her unhallowed perversion to political purposes inspires and cherishes *• —Pp . 14 , 15 . This is a valuable testimony to the happy religious and moral effects of perfect and equal liberty of conscience ; the right of every man to which , our pages have assetted and reasserted until we are apt to think our readers must be weary of the
topic . Our American bishop talks a 3 freely as any English bishop of " blasphemous heresies ; " but the phrase is
harmless in a land where the law protects all heresies , that is to say , all opinions and all sects , which are in turn all heretical and all orthodox , with regard to one another .
We are not called upon to animadvert on the good bishop ' s admiration , almost to idolatry , of episcopacy , nor to shew the inconsistency of his eulogy with his censure of the Church of England ; our object already
explained is somewhat higher . Let it at the same time be observed , that Dr . Hobart makes a distinction ( p . 29 , note ) between episcopacy and episcopal government : in the former , the Churcli of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in America are identified , but not in the latter . " It is
correct , " he says , though so say not we , " to speak of the divine institution of Episcopacy ; but not , as is done by some writers , of the divine institution of Episcopal Government which , on many points is of human arrangement and varies in different Episcopal Churches . "
The Bishop thus compares , we might almost say contrasts , the two churches , and the reader will observe that where he seems to approach intolerance , it is for the sake of more effectually guarding ecclesiastical liberty :
" Look at the most important relation which the Church can constitute , that v / hich connects the pastor with his flock . In the Church of England , this connexion is absolute property . The livings ave " » the gift of individuals , of the government or corporate bodies ; and can be , » are , bought and sold like other property . Hence , like other property , they are uscu
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1826, page 544, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2552/page/36/
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