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    to : he understdotlrto say ^ -what $ ydul& we wish to ^ be dcmfevi ^ ith it I It was very different to legislate for an entirely new community , and for one in which , old ; institutions had grown up , blending themselves with all its interests . The people of . this country were not in the first position : they wire in ~ n&Ke ^~ lecond 7 ^ "rf ~ "he were

    asked , what he would do in a new state , he would say , let religion be entirely free- — -uncOnneeted in every way with the state ; but he feared that , if the established church of this

    country w . ere at once levelled to the ground ( which he himself aimed at as an ultimate object ) ,, that a moral chaos would ensue , because there would be nothing of sufficient value to substitute in its stead ; If what

    was meant by . the church being de * stroyed , was , that the present incumbents should be ejected , or ,, what was the same thing , deprived of the property on which they subsis _ t , he lAU& t ^^ nj ^ Su ^^ JbisJL ^ g ^ IS ^ SSSl doubts of the utility of such a plan . If it were , meant that the church

    should be destroyed as an establishment , —^ as a 4 pminant sect , then he entirely concurred in the sentiment , It appeared to him that its . evils grew out of i $ s being a dominant sect . Because it was dominant j it was persecuting ,- ^ its aimed at , preventing the progress of free inquiry

    and real religion , and it spread afeTQffiiJjjJ&j ^ It was less useful thaaifr should be * because a dQminant ; , and , therefore , in a very great d egree ,, an , arrogant and self-satisfied sect . Wfrat ought to lie ajmed at ,, supposing it were conclude ^ that the church ought , to

    be destroyed as an establishment ? It ^ appeared"t ^ jiiijarrithiairth ^ fpiiiiia ! - " tion of | he establj ^ hment lay in the king's supremacy ^ Y ^' th ^ ^ hujpgh ,-- ^ that was thQ connecting . ljnk which kxfit the church with . tjbe state * Mr > Beard then reverted to the period of the pppe ' s , spiritual supremacy in Jthese realms , and-to the Reformation , . wto . thftt supremacy was jir ^ ii ^

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    lerred to the crowh ^ r-GrOmwelt wa $ the vice-regent in ecclesiastical matters of Henry VIII . The speai ? e > r next glahced at the Court of Hi gh Commission in the reign of Elizabeth , the power of issuing writs of conge d'elire and . various other

    proofs- of the supremacy of the Mng ; froinrwhteMre ^ thTDiighirirpT ^ ¦ bable that the king could change the established religion of the state if he chose , by means of his prerogative . What ought to be aimed at , should be , to take away this prero * gatiye in regard to the church . Im * mediately therewith the bishops would

    cease to exist as participators m the government . Writers who had written with freedom on the churcji establishment - —though themselves chnrehmen ^— -had shown - the gr eat evils connected with the bishops being in the House of Lords ^ Mr ; Beard referred to the opinion of Bishop Watson on this subject , and * ° Jffi ^ E § ffifil ! isi _ 9 i-JQ ^\ JBs 5 fey . There was another crying evil noticed by writers on church reform- ^ - that its patronage was mainly pos * - sessed by the aristocracy . There were precedents for . removing the bishops from the upper house , for in the reign of Henry VIII ., twentyw

    eight mitred abbots ( whp very much resembled bishops ) were removed from the legislature ,.. The parliament was competent to remove them > th ^ j fovereign was competent to re > . move them , for Siizabetfi Had threa * . tened to send the bishops in her time to look after their cures . All the

    changes . in the church had been made , not by the will of the people , but , sometimes against that wilJ , by kings , lords , and commons ; and , therefor . erthese ^ chapges wereineffi * cient . The church Qyvedi its present condition to its impatience of change ; but now ,, in cpnsequence of its ren fusing minor ejianges , a mighty change was about to tajse pl&cfe .

    The Rev . JVTr . May , of 3 tand , near jyTancheeter , ihpught , looking at the , state of , pqbiic f eeJiug ,, ; tiiAt .. churc ^

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    UNlrTARLAN CHflOmCI , £ . ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 1, 1833, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2605/page/9/