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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), January 1834, Edition 1 of 1, Page 69

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      bishop of London , who is more enlightened on such matters than many , has stated several times in Parliament , that the Dissenters compose onefourth of the people ; and the expectation has been that the mind would pass to the conclusion , that the remaining- three-fourths were Churchmen . But such a conclusion is inadmissible . It appears by other evidence

      from the same quarter , that in the returns from one diocese , which may be taken as an average specimen , there were 110 , 000 persons composing the population ; and that out of these only 19 , 069 were attendants at church , and only 4 , 134 attended the communion . This gives only about one-seventh as going to church , and about one in thirty-eight as using the sacrament of the Lord's Supper . This would give , then , for the nation at large , scarcely 350 , 000 persons as in communion with the

      Church ; and taking the proportion of attendants not at one-seventh but at one-sixth , it would give , in a population of 12 , 000 , 000 , only 2 , 000 , 000 ; while , by the bishop of London ' s low estimate , ( which we are far from allowing , ) the proportion of Dissenters is 3 , 000 , 000 . But suppose it is insisted , that the gross numbers of the people must be made to tell on this question ; then , my lord , I boldly affirm , if it were submitted to the sense of the whole nation , whether the Episcopal Church

      should stand on its own merits , or be supported by the present State endowments , that the large majority would determine against a civil establishment of religion . And if this would be the issue when an expenditure of some 5 , 000 , 000 / . annually in the United Kingdom is silently employing its amazing influence in favour of an Establishment , what would be the size of the majority , if the nation were left to a disinterested and conscientious opinion ?—pp . 57 , 58 .

      The above assertion is , we have no doubt , not more bold than accurate . But then ,, what is to become of the ' State endowments , ' as they are called , after the present recipients shall have died out ? Is this magnificent Instruction Fund to be set up for a game at / catch as catch can V Simply to abolish tithe would be to endow the landed Aristocracy ! To apply its proceeds to

      Government purposes , would chiefly have the effect of increasing Ministerial patronage , lightening only in a comparatively small proportion the burdens of the people . Besides , only the most urgent necessity could palliate such an appropriation . Its legitimate application is obvious . The public duty is plain . Universal and efficient instruction , for children and adults , is the

      great national want ; and here is a great national provision , which is not only fairly applicable to that purpose , but which cannot rightly be applied to any other purpose . The plan marked out in our last number would involve the settlement of all just Dissenting : claims in the most satisfactory manner . It would

      terminate the great sectarian conflict . And its adoption would tend to raise this country to such a pitch of civilization , as no nation upon earth has ever yet attained . Would that we could persuade the Dissenters to look further than to their own relative position xis religious denominations . Why will they not merge the separate in the general question , the class right and interest in the national right and interest ? Why will they not petition , at once ,

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      Case of the Dissenters . 69

  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1834, page 69, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2629/page/71/