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    liberty Which uses bribes and threats instead of argumentswhich , if not infallible , is never wrong—and would rather break all the laws of charity than allow the idea that its doctrines are not equally pure and true with the Scriptures themselves ? No : in the past thou hast used persecution instead of persuasion—in the present , thou dost use what varies but in name and

    degreewhat shows that thou wantest ratner the power than the disposition to persecute again ;—thou dost use disqualification . Alas ! the land is ill at ease because of thy narrow spirit . Society is broken into jarring portions—these honoured , those dishonoured ; these borne easily onward and upward to places of honour and emolument—those pressed down by a weight of disqualification ; amerced in their good name , their rank , their usefulness- —not for moral delinquencies—not for civil misdemeanours—but for a .

    diversity of sentiment . They have had vigour of mind to think , and strength of principle to avow their convictions ; and this is their fault . O ! when shall these practical hallucinations cease ? When shall thought be unshackled , unbribed ? When shall honesty be no longer punished ? When shall truth have fair play ? When shall human society be unimpeded in the exercise of the mental faculties ? When shall he be the greatest who is the best * man ?—Not till a Church has perished , which , forgetful of its own true interests , seeks , at whatever cost of obstruction

    and animosity to the nation , —seeks to retain an ill-gotten opulence , by the bonds of creeds and disqualifications . 'I know not why , of the equally deserving , some should be honoured above others . I know not why a portion of my people should possess a monopoly in the Church , and a predominance in the State . I know not why any one set of religious functionaries should bear their heads proudly above all others , and should entwine themselves with the essential elements of the

    Constitution , to their own aggrandisement , and the exclusion of others at least equally worthy . If a reason for thy supremacy ever existed , thou hast parted with it in allowing , by thy apathy and corruption , one half of the nation to quit thy pale , and provide spiritual instruction for themselves . Why shouldst thou retain the whole of thy pay , when thou dost but half of the work ? Why should the nation be compelled to support thee in opulence , and almost uselessness , and another system of spiritual instruction , which

    proves itself valuable and efficient ? Why both ? And if one may be removed , —which ? The useful or the useless ? That ' of the people ' s choice and formation , or that of which some care little , others nothing , and which most dislike , if not detest ? What hast thou to say in bar of the sentence long thought of—in mercy delayed—yet tarrying in hope thou wilt reform thyself : — " Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? " Canst thou expect the nation much longer to end are the sight of privilege on tfce one side , and exclusion on the other ?—of consequent

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    Question between the Nation arid the Church . 101

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1832, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1806/page/29/