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    Catholics or Protestant Dissenters , who are exehwfed from civil offices in consequence of their religious opinions . His Lordship does , indeed , expressly de # yy that the clergy have amy desire to exclude their Roman Catholic brethren from cirai offices merely ^ on account of their re&gion , because he aeterits that the desire must lae foanded on a denial of the plainest of all

    Bateai rights , the right of every man to worship God according * to his conscience , a right which it is both cruel and unjust to punish him for exercising . We BatucaJky inquire , then , by what ingenious process of reasoning thz fact of exclusion is reconciled with the admission of this abstract right ; and , as we are ourselves unable to solve the difficulty , we give his Lordship ' s own words ,:

    " We admit , that speculative opinions , which have no tendency to disturb the welfare qftfte Sfate , ane unfit subjects for the interference of the State . But , while the maxim itself is admitted to be true , we must remember that a true maxim may be fefeely applied . Wbea we argue that a religious ' opinion should aot be made the ground of a civil restriction , because the State has no concern with speculative opinions , we must prove that suck opinion-h merely speculative , ice must prove that it has no tendency to influence the actions of men , or we shall not be warranted in drawing the conclusion , that the State has no right to interfere withlL I ask ,, then ,, whether it can be proved , that the doctrine of Transubstantiation , or the Invocation of Saints , or the

    Sacrifice of the Mass , have no influence on the actions of those who believe in those doctrines /"'—Pp . 7 , B . We request the reader ' s attention to the passages market ! in italics , because ? upon * the slightest reflection , it is quite evident that the qualifications of the general principle conveyed in those passages do virtually annul the princi p le itself * Who is to be the judge whether an opinion is merely speculative or not ? What would become of the liberties of men , if the State were authorized to decide upon the tendency of their opinions ? Every

    man , b y openly professing , an , opinion , may be considered as implying his own belief in its truth and its good tendency . If the State chooses to d <* ubt the fact , instead of refusing to admit him into its favour till it can he proved that such opinion has no had tendency , it is : bound to take him at his . word , till it can prove the contrary ; aad of the tendency of opinions , there can be no proof put in the actions which they produce * Actions alone furnish definite and palpable ground for civil regulations ; and it is upon these , and not on the opinions supposed tQ precede them , that the magistrate , under any circumstances , is entitled to lay his hand . This distinction is so clear ,

    and has been so often and so forcibly illustrated , that nothing but great anxiety to uphold a system coutd have led an acute and powerful mind to confoqnd it . But the danger to be apprehended fern Catholic emancipation does . not arise * according to the IjJishopof Peterborough , ( Charge , p » 8 , ) from the speculative doctrines iheaxsetves , just enumerated , but from their connexion with others which are practical , such as that of obedience to the Pope * Admitting this to be the case , the question obviously occurs , why aypfy a religious teat to avoid a political danger 2 The following is the Right Reverend Prelate ' s answer :

    " A religious test being founded on articles of faith is less easily evaded than , a political test . It > & adopted , therefore * as ap additional security , though the real object is to guaid , mt against the reli g ious doctrine itself , but against practical principles connected with that doctrine . "—P . 9 . We have already shewn the injustice of the principle assumed in . this answer , the injustice , viz . of punishing men for the supposed , tendency of

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    244 Review . ' ~~ Bishopof Peterboroughs Cfutrge .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 244, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/28/