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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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feet . With feelings the most exv pansive to all our fellow-creatures , and the most firm as regards our own principles , let us drink ' Civil and religious liberty all the world over / In proposing the next toast , he said he should lead their
attentention to the celebration of the amTivefsafy" ^ of thlT ~~ efecfiuir ^ of ^ & building which the founders intended as a temple of religion and charity—an intention which he hoped time had not disappointed . In mixing with persons to whom we are not known , I am often thought an
odd sort of a minister , because I do not affect the airs generally assumed by priests . On such occasions I might answer , that I have to do with an odd sort of a congregation : a congregation distinguished by peculiarities similar to . my own . I will advert to a' few of these peculiarities for the sake of our friends who are
present , and because it is desirable ive should , as often , as may be , place before ourselves those principles which we hold , and which in our several spheres , it is our duty to diffuse as widely as possible . We , as well as the Roman Catholics , are Christians ; but we differ from them in that we do not tolerate the
existence amongst us of an order of men vested with special authority : we acknowledge no privileged priesthood ; our consciences allow of no domination and no interposition ; we are all brethren , and upon equal terms . Like the members of the
established church , we are Protestants ; but we differ from them in that we do not put our hands into other people ' s pockets , and we endeavour that others shall not put their hands into ours . We build our own chapels , and pay our own
ministers . Let others clothe same ; and let us take care , as far as we can , that they do not plunder us . We are Protestant Dissenters ; but we differ from others who bear that name , because we hold that freedom in religious opinion should be esta-
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blished internally as well as externally . Whilst rejecting , in common with them , the imposition of dogmas by the authority of the magistrate ,
we do not jset up a form of belief to be received amongst ourselves ; the majority do not impose their creed upon the minority ; we hold that ' religiou ^ ribertyi ^^^ ad-thmg in' -the church as well as out of it . We
have actually no creed which we are cramming down others' throats , at the very time that we are exclaiming against the magistrate or the priest for serving us in the same way . You have proved that upon these principles it is possible for a society to flourish . We are ; increasing in numbers and in the means of
usefulness . Our prospects are brighter for the future , and we may fairly anticipate the realization of the wish we express in drinking * Prosperity to the Finsbury Unitarian Congregation . '
Mr . Peacock , after saying that it was hardly " possible to find a Unitarian who is not a " reformer , g aye the following toast : ' The Reformed Parliament , and may they firmly and indefatigably carry on the work of reform . '
The Chairman , in calling on Mr . Davison for a toast , said , that church and state was a common expression , and it was one of their heresies to reverse its order . The last toast related tp the state , and he would now call on Mr . Davison , from his known attachment to that corporation , to give a toast relating to the church .
The Rev . Mr . Davison , after expressing his gratitude to them for their kindness , in allowing the ministers of other congregations to come amongst them , and see their harmony and their attachment to their own
minister , sa * d , that the Chairman , amongst all his protestations against creeds , had himself given them a creed , which was perhaps no bad one \ viz . that we ought to profess no creed at all . If , however , a church and a . mode of belief ever
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b 4 UNITARIAN CHRONICLE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1, 1833, page 84, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2609/page/20/
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