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    6 £ 8 Toleration in Hanger . *

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    u Constitution in Danger * ' at the lat . vr * n <^ of the reign of James the Second , the cry of the Tolrr-? ' \ v- 'ii n Danger * ' ar the close of Qi ,-n Anne ' s reicn , the cry of * !¦ iu !( st ; in ¦ . \< n ~) in Dan ^ M ' * in th <* \•?¦*>»< . 1 ? ' 5 and 1745 , the crv i tj > Lilofv in j ; a /) o < r' * c ' iiii n ^ Mi . Pif : N t ;< (\\ e ; t aiispenhoh < f th ^ Fiobfi-r Corpus Act ,

    —each < -t ilu ^ c cries will be surel y allowed to have not been fanatical , but to have bespoken a Jum sense c , i liberty . If the late civ v \ ere n » t as wt Unfounded as these , it is at least easy to bhevv tl *« . r it whs not as unreasonable or wicker , as the for -mentioned Qrit s , to which it is so uncanditlly Jfkened .

    1 . It \^ as not a political cry ^ like that of" No I ' opery , " raised by one faction in the state , for the purpose of oust . mr . another from th < lr . lucrative places . No Parliamentary or courtly rlemagogue set up the cry to engage a party in his own ambitious views ; iiwas raised at once by a whole people , wilhou : instigator or leader : a divided denomination were instantaneous !) impelled to united action by a common sense of danger . - ~ In Lord Sidmouth ' s eye > however , the Dissenters' late cry would seem to be applauded by a comparison of it with the cry that brought the present ministers into office , which cry his Lordship did not discount ! nance .

    5 . It was not an interested crv , as far as interest relates to gain , like that of " Great is Diana of the Ephesians . ' * Nonconformity is an unprofitable profession . This craft is a p «» or one for this world . The Dissenting laity can rarely get , but are generally sure to lose by their religion , and the ministry have no other art or mys «

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    tery than that of living contented ly upon an income on which others would starve . The-cry comp lained of was raised equally b y bold classes of Dissenters , and demand , ed not die . acquisition of new , Dor

    the retention of old profits and emoluments , but simply the liber , ty of speaking what ami where and when conscience dictates . 3 . It was not an intoltrant cry , like that of the " Church is it ! Danger , '' which has always beeu the war-whoop * of persecution , and has ended- consistentl y with the pu'ling down of meeting-houses and the burning of Presbyterian parsons in effigy . The Dissenters cried out for religious liberty only , and for that liberty uhich had been guaranteed to them by the

    most solemn sanctions ; and no one set of resolutions was pub . liihed by thenft , which did not commence with asserting , what the NYYslevan Methodists , in their

    correspondence with Lord Sidrnouth so significantly call Tub High Natural Rights of Conscience . " What they claimed for . themselves , they claimed for others ; and this it was that made the good old Lord Stanhope cry out , upon seeing and handling the petitions , Eureka ! I have found an enlightened , a sp iritei public .

    In truth , therefore , no comparison could be more unjust thajn this which I am considering ; and ray respect for the author ol it , induces me to hope that i » c error into which I think he ha » fallen , was only one of those lapses to which the must trusty oens are liable .

    Even had the Dissenters been over-hasty and extravagan t , *« the late aflair , their fault was on ihe side of a love of liberty , M *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1811, page 528, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2420/page/16/