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    power within the narrowest ; limits , VtfhileNhey allow of any the least encouragement of Christianity by ^ public immunities * manifestlyagree in principle with those who ? would support tile most splendid establishments ; they only differ upon the question of plus ana minus . / V

    There is a comparatively very small , but very respectable body of Christians who profess to regard all interference of the civil jower to encourage and support the Christian religion by public grants or immunities , as inexpedient and unjust , ajid as an injurious

    infringement upon the rights of others . This has of late been called , but very erroneously , the "• great principle of Protestant dissent / ' But the fact is , that every class of Protestant Dissenters , when they have been in power , have been willing enough to avail themselves of the means which it

    afforded for the encouragement of what they believed to be truth . At any rate , no person who holds the princi p le stated above , can consistently , or with a safe conscience , accept either bounty

    or privilege from the civil power ; for what it is unjust in the donor to give , it must be equally unjust in the recipient , who is persuaded of the injustice , to accept . *

    The principle of dissent from an established church' , rests upon a much firmer ground than the gratuitous * To use a homely proverb , " receiver is as bad as the thief ; " perhaps , in this case , even worse , because the

    donor is not aware of his injustice , but the recipient is . It ought , indeed , in charity to be added , however extraordinary it may appear , that the recipient is commonly quite unconscious of his inconsistency . I have known scores of Dissenting Ministers , men of the most upright characters ,

    who would have abhorred the thought of any thing like equivocation or deceit , who have loudly exclaimed against all interference of the qivil power in the concerns of religion , as unauthorized and unjust , but ^ whb at th $ same time have gladly accepted of a share in parliamentary grants and in civil immunities . The truth is ,

    tjiey V have misunderstood their proper principles , and' their coiiduct has been tn ^ re correct than their theory . It is not t | e denial of civil interference , but the assertion of the right of private judgment , which is the true principle of Protestant SENtascMttC ^ iz v w > .. ¦ ¦ . , ¦ faAtu -- ¦¦

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    every kind- and ^ degree of inteWeVeiicfe t of thk cMl \ power Jinx the business c $ religion ; it stands upon the broad and solid foundation of the inbb ^ s ^ j ^ bight which every reasonable creature possesses of judging and acting for himself in the concerns of conscience upon that glorious ri « ht which " justil ftes the Protestants Church in dissenting from the Church of Rome , which iu ^

    tifies the Church of England in dissenting from all other Protestant ehurcfies which justifies every denomination of Protestant Nonconformists in dissenting from the Church of England and from each other ; and , finally , which justifies every individual , of every ^

    nomination , in forming his ov ^ n religious mmation , in iorming his ov ^ n religious opinions , in professing his own creed , and in acting upon his own principles * so far as his profession and conduct do not interfere with the rights of others . I have been accused , forsooth , of having abandoned the principles of Nonconformity because I think that in

    some cases the cause of truth and virtue may be aided and supported by the civil power . I trust I have now said enough to satisfy the most zealous Nonconformist that the accusation is unfounded , and that I have fully Established my claim to a title which , in

    my estimation , is more honourable than any which royalty can confer , that of a Protestant Unitarian Dissenter . After having in the Three Discourses so distinctly stated my opinion that civil patronage , to a reasonable degree , should be extended to Christianity at large , and to Christians without

    distinction , I am surprised—no , lam not much surprised — that the system I have proposed should be branded by any polemic as a system offavouritism , as though I had recommended the exclusive patronage of Unitarianism . in B

    If any thing could be wonderful theological controversy , it might apptear wonderful that my opponents sefem totally to forget that I am as strenuous an advocate as themselves for religious liberty in its utmost extent , and tnat that I in

    have earnestly laboured to prove no one ought . to suffe ^ either his person , hia'pjwpfiiljS" ^ or civil privileges ^ on atecbttiit ' Of anjr speculative opmitoas wMdk * 4 wf m&f entertain rapriffiBNf . K •< .- > ^ f * * ** - * ' **^ An ovrivv $ M > rsSB ^ miM Om ^ ^

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    W Mr . Belslmm ^^ mj ^ 0 ^^^^ M ^^^ 0 ^ punish Unbeliever * ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1820, page 576, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2493/page/12/