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    tioi * , * o WPi 4 & risque tut incurring it . ** ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ' ^ -- ' ' f " ¦ ' ' ¦ ' " "' '¦' ¦ ' I will aot , as J said above , take upon me to dstetTaiffe for aitotftelf ; biit I apprehend tile foUowihg considerations deserve to be weired hf one whom Providence calls to

    determine forhimself . But I must first premise , that I here go on the supposition , that the person deliberating has a previous persuasion that there is nothing absolutely unlawful in communicating with the Established Church ; and yet that it is not generally eligible , and so little so , that he has hot thought fit , at least of lfete . to do it , when no such

    occasion as its being a qualification for an office has occurred : for I suppose that if the contrary were either way the case , there would be now no such consultation about it . It must therefore be considered jut the present ease , whether the

    advantageous consequences attending a compliance , will cdunterb ^ lance the inconvenience which ipay probably result frbm it : X mean , not simply frota taking the communion at the Established Churdli , but taking it as a test . On the side of a compliance , 1 think

    thejmiH > ij > &lkrj ^ mentd kre these- 1 , The suppdrt whic ^ -tnay be gjvfen by this means on the one hand to the present Government , and on the other to the Dissenting icwse , wjii ^ h may be by rtiis more powerfully supported ^ 2 . The m 6 re effecttrai sunnrexsion of

    profaneness and immorality , by the authority to be thus acquired . I do not mention as a 3 rd argument the promoting of mutual caiidbiir between the Church and the Dissenters ; be * -

    cause , so f ^ r as I can observe , the churc h people are exasperated rather than conciliated by ' siucn compliances , and speak more tespectfully of those that decline them , than of those who

    gQ thus far , and no farther . On the other hand there are opposite aspects to be considered , whicli are of such weight that I confess they would etRictually discourage me , though I pretend not to mjake wy Tiews a standard for others in this case or any other . But it is necessary here to

    consider , and so far as may be to coin pute ,. V , Theinftuence that a com-Prance may have on countenancing , and so perpetuating , this grievous test vol

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    : which bears so hard oft t « ttder con-^ t ' « f ^ nee ^ , and beyond * 11 cctottoter » f tends do much to the dishtmour of fisMgwn . In proportion to the ^ € j ? w ^ hi which I c # um ¦ wfeh td he rfjte to repeat it , I okigfit to b * 6 totfeu ^ * o ^ I encourage it . Notlmf ^ s ^ enas so likdy ^ way to break it as a rfe ^ lut © resistance : had the Dissenters lo a

    man refused to act urideiit , I befie * 0 the ministry would Ion ^ since have seen it necessary , everi for their owa security , to have abolished it . If it be said ; the number of plaees which woifld be affected one way or another is $ o small , as to be beneath th ^ no * tice of a ministry ; 'tis obvious to

    answer , that this overthrows the chief argument in favour of a compliance . Ministers of state can compute our comparative importance to them , bet * ter than we : and rf they think us df

    less importance than we really are ^ and by despisitig us huH ; th ^ mselires ^ as 3 ir Robert Walpole evidently did ^ they must thank themselves . Blessed be God , ttoe throne is not like to

    fall with any set of lpiaisters , and their ' successors may be wiser . Our fronds must consider , 2 , Tbe reproach which may be brought on the Dissenters by a supposed interested com * pliance one way ; as well as by an uinreasonable stiffness , the athet . P ^ -

    ple vrtll say , that it either does or does not violate consciences to cotnrtiiihtcatettritK the Established Church : if it does , wh y do we ever dolt ? If ifc does not , why do we keep up a separatiop ? Ai ^ d few will be intelHgetit or candid eriotigli to enter iijto the distinction between doing it occasionally

    and constantly ; or , knowing the meanness of the motives by wliich they themselves are governed , to believe ours to be so ndble and se pure as we pretend . 3 . The degree ia which a compliance may eiabolden some Dissenters or othsr ^ , t *> Ap ~

    proach the sacred ordinance in question merely on secular views , and to act as if they thought that what is sacred in it were annihilated when it is thus used . When I Iiave seen how readily perhaps a little place ha ^ brought some to that table at church , wlien ^ though in judgmeiit tl ^ y wiere Dissenters , no ednsitte ^ tion ; could

    prevail upon them t 6 enter into church coinmuittoii amongst us ; I oyvn I a ^ m inclined to lay no small str ^ on this ,

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    Dissenters taking th ^ Sacramental Tes t . &B&

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    . xx . 2 z

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 353, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/29/