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Untitled Article
Both those who would uphold , and those who disapprove of the Church of England as at present constituted , supported , and administered , seem to anticipate that her day of trial is at hand . The materials of inculpation and of defence are thickly accumulating . The Reform Bill may be regarded as the preparation of a purified jury list , by which a fair and
competent tribunal will be created to sit in judgment on this great cause . Such a tribunal cannot and shall not long exist before the Church Establishment is summoned to its bar . We only require , and in the name of Christianity and our country we have a right to require , that this ecclesiastical corporation should be judged according to its works , and be dealt with according to its deserts . The most enthusiastic admirers , and the most devoted children
of the Church of England ought not to think of shielding her from that scrutiny to which all institutions supported from the public purse must be subjected when the legislature shall adequately represent the people , and only seek the security of their rights and the promotion of their interests . When the Reform Bill shall have received the Royal assent , and its
provisions shall have been carried into actual operation , and the Commons of England shall possess the Commons House of Parliament , this great question will , of course , occupy our attention , as it will that of the country at large , nor shall our best endeavours be wanting to bring it to such a conclusion as patriotism , humanity , truth , and the gospel , may require . Our present purpose is merely to give an account of the pamphlet before us , which deserves atttention , not for the sake of any peculiar novelty in the facts which it
states , or eloquence or originality in the arguments which it employs , but because it is evidently the production of an industrious , clear-headed , wellprincipled man , who writes calmly and convincingly , on a subject which he thoroughly comprehends , and who is therefore entitled to the patient hearing and serious consideration of all parties . He has strictly adhered to the determination expressed near the commencement of his work :
" While , however , we pursue the proposition of our title-page , and attempt its demonstration , we hope we shall not be chargeable with that mode of argument , which avails itself of either low invective or unfounded assertion . Although these are among the unmanly weapons with which some
persons have thought fit to attack the body of which the writer forms an humble member , it is our intention to treat the subject with that gravity and candour which it merits , remembering that , in the communion of the Church of England , there is a large body of truly learned , pious , and devoted ministers of the Gospel , who , of course , differ from us in opinion ; and knowing *
* The Church Establishment Founded in Error . By a Layman . London : E . Wilson . 8 vo , pp . 219 . 1831 .
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 517, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/13/
