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    reform could not much longer be withheld . An engine had been set at work , which corruption , which inter esty which nothing could stop . PnbBc opinion , so long kept dor * mant , had been roused from its lethargy , and had already gained

    Gatholic—emancipat-iony-the-ouHtpost of the works of corruption—it had gained the key of the enemies' possessions , reform in parliament , and had thus given the people a strong hold from which they could assail successfully every other abuse which existed . The church establishment

    could not remain in its present position * because it was founded upon injustice , putting its hand into the pockets of its neighbours , \ vho received no advantage from it ; , he * cause it did not give truth fair play ,

    but supplied factitious support to error by its being a fashionable sect , and by the emoluments which it held out to its professors , — -because it placed politics where " religion should be ; , and religion where politics should be . If he were asked what he would

    do with the church , he would avow himself an out-and-out reformer . He would do with the church what bad been done with the rotten boroughs— -put all its evils into schedule A , and as to the re 3 t , let church people do with their own church what they liked . Lst them have bishops appointed by the king , atid ministers

    appointed by tKe'Mi ( 6 p'i . ' ^^ Xf '' tM ^'' would have them , let them support them . All political changes oiig-hfc to be gradual ; but all that was wanted with regard to the church was that it should not call upon people to pay for a thing which they did not receive .- He- could- see-no dangerift

    saying to a man , * You will not have to ^ -pay any more money to the . cnuroh / The great difficulty to him a ^ peanjd to be the lay impropriations . Mr . May concluded by expressing Ins opinion that if the church was to cease to be an establishment , and to possess any emoluments beiyoad those raised- by its own weople ,

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    it would become essentially a missionaUy ditirch , and would go forth as a = pioneer preparing the public mind for the reception : of Christian truth or Unitarianism ( for the terms to him were synonymous ) , whose missionaries , coming afterwards , ^ would-reap ^ an ^ abiinjianLharvest ,

    The chairman expressed his concurrence in the remarks of Mr . May * and said another question arose , viz ., * What is to be done with the tithes ? What were they left for ? Unquestionably the spiritual educa * tion of the nation at large . Did the church educate the nation 1 If the

    church did not educate the whole community , had it a right to the pro * perty left for the education of the \ vhple community ? No . What should be done witli it ? A national education was now most imperiously required in this kingdom , and to that object ( which was quite in accordance with the intentions of

    the donors of chufeh "property )^ might be applied . Mo church re * form would be sufficient that did not provide for a general registration of births throughout the kingdom * Dissenting ministers should possess

    the right of celebrating * in their own congregations , the marriages of their own people / The Rev . Wiliiam Johns said , that the presbyterian dissenters had , xfiOtfe ! th&n a hundred years ago , arrived at what he" considered * the

    true theory on this subject , by disclaiming every connexion with church and state , with the prtffeission of religion in the secular concerns of mert . He waa Opposed to all establishments in religion , as being liable to the _ enactment $ ., oi .. ft . . civil

    power . He should , however , wish the changes to be effected in the church to be gradual- ^ lie should wish all the present incumbents to possess their present income s * but the nation need not introduce into

    any place , where objections existed , Tie w parsons to receive these Salaries and emoluments .. Fifty yeai' 3 \ » f <> >

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    ( 10 UNITARIAN CHRONICLE .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 1, 1833, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2605/page/10/