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    proper religious instruction , and an adequate security against the returii of idolatry and barbarism . Some persons regard the state of religion amongst the Dissenters , the comparatively poor , provision for the education and maintenance of their clergy , their inadequate instruction in some branches of learning , the meanness and poverty of their institutions , and their liability to run into

    enthusiasm and extravagance , and all the extremities of papular politics , as sufficient indication of the wisdom and expediency of establishments * But such persons forget that most of these evils are the indirect effects of the establishment itself . The wealth of the country is absorbed by the national church , and the funds appropriated to public education are most unjustly monopolized by it ; so that the Dissenters have nothing but their own resources to depend upon , and must raise the funds for the accomplishment of their particular

    objects in addition to all the other heavy claims upon their purse . But , were the privileges of the established sect taken away , and all religions placed on precisely the same footing , it is not to be supposed , as some persons seem to apprehend , that the religious world would exhibit one universal chaos of fanaticism and illiterate zeal , but the same social feeling which draws men together in philanthropic and political associations , and places ample funds at their disposal , would not fail to operate on behalf of religion ; and we

    should -find them voluntarily associating and organizing plans , and incorporating themselves into societies , and building churches and endowing colleges ; and all such institutions , -originating in the suggestions of public opinion , and being entirely dependent on it for their support , would be animated with a constant life and vigour , and instead of being centuries behind the spirit t ) f the age , would adapt their course of instruction and mode or operation to the demands and impulses of public opinion . The offensive

    peculiarities of theological and political sentiment would gradually die away ; and as the cultivation of knowledge and reason advanced , men would cordially meet each other on the common ground of truth and public utility . Jhe ministers of religion would adapt the subject and form of their instructions to the wants of their hearers ; they would keep pace wkh the intelligence of their age , and be dispersed over the face of the country , in numbers proportionate to the demand for their labours , and in situations

    correspondent to their talents and means of usefulness . By their learning , abilities , and eloquence , they would be enabled in no small degree to lead and influence public opinion , and having no temptation to check its progress , would be naturally disposed to guide it , under the mild influence of gospel motives , to the wise and beneficent ends for which God has instituted society . Heaven and earth would be more closely connected , and a larger infusion of the spirit of Christianity would mingle itself with the concerns

    of the great and busy world . Unhappily this is an imaginary state of things , but if there be any class of persons who have the means of accelerating its approach , it is the Dissenters . Unrestrained by creeds , free to partake at will of the generous and improving spirit of the age , the cause of religious truth and of moral advancement is peculiarly in their hands . Let them not neglect the high duties devolved upon them , nor be discouraged in their honourable career by those inconveniences and difficulties by which God is pleased jto enhance the merit of devotedness to the service of mankind . F , ¦ . . • . . j ' ' ' ' i

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    20 Spirit And Tendency of Religious Establishment ? .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/20/