The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-16 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

Thad suspended the answer which I was about
to give the DISSENTER, until the promised repli-
cation of PERTINAX should come forth. With
all the matters I have in hand, it suited my con-
venience to kill two birds with one stone ; espe-
cially, as though PERTINAX affects to build in the
belts y, I cannot help suspecting them both to
hatch in the same schismatical nest.

A professed " Dissenter" may be allowed to
think the Established Church less orthodox the!,
his own' society ; though I scarcely-admit the
decency of his saying it, in return for the soffei-
ance which has been .accordcd him of differing
from her ritual. That he is friendly to Tolera-
tion, because Toleration has been friendly to him,
is 'a
conclusion somewhat too non sequiturist for
my intellect, hut which 1 shall not at present
stop to discuss.

Between the Sectary and the Churchman, I
am finely off. The one will not allow me to he
either Christian or Gentleman ; I thank his lihc•
rality, and admire his-politeness. The other de-
nies me Christianity too, and moreover, suspects
me for a Papist ; I leave him to settle with those
gentry. the concurrent imputation; and %% ii! merely
tell him, that I have contended against Popery
with more diligence, and perhaps snore effect
than all his Churclimanship can ever arrive at.

‘Vhat is the '' place" of this If it
be in the Church, I cannot 'seek it : for alas ! I
am a Layman. Yet I cannot help wishing that

his ecclesiastical post were occupied by some
clerical person, less disposed toward the prefer-
able piety of the Sectarians, and less involved in
the confidence of their opinioni, Flis senti-
ments, however, are of more importance its our
present question than is his office.

If PERTINAX means to approve of eirApeling on
the Thames, becouge there is no szjicient church,
room on shore, and really desires none other doe.

trines to be taught !here,
.and none other forms
to bet used than those of the Established Chnreh;
his zeal shall remain uninlyugued by me. But, if
he be a half-way Churchman, oscillating toward
Sect arism, and squinting Off trout his original
crerd—l must tell him, as 1 told his comrade

AntsTinns, that the ESTABLISHED Cuunctr bath

an ASCPNDANT and EXCLUSIVE CLAIM ON TUE
STATE, both by her purity and her legality ; that
if her barriers had never been opened, her Indic,
had never been endangered; and that the ortho.-
doxy which prohibited dissent, wonld, a fortiori,
have prevcorA infidelity. God tovh;tl that I
should not dist ingui,h between the lesser :tml the
greater evil ; I merely 'insist, that if the proper
authority hod been used to keep down the le!ser,
the greater could never have arisen.
The " DISSENTER " 10110WS the customary as-
sumptions of his Sect, which centeri in itself all
Because I have blamed the style of
Brother INNYS, and exclaimed against his " light-
ness," his " flippancy," and his " irreverence,"
I am accused of the very faults which I objected
to the smug seceder. While vindicating the ma-
jesty of the Christian Religion, I am herded with
its revilers; and PAINE and CARLILE, who decried
the Saviour, are not more atheistical than I 'am,
who merely questioned the decency of a Dissent-
ing Preacher. It I revolt from' the saucy fami-
liarity which ''throws out a rope" to our blessed
Redeemer; if I think its " flippancy " dangerous,
as affording a pretext to the scoffer, and an of-
fence to the humble believer ; I must be denoun-
ced for a Radical, an Infidel—nay, for "
Papist "—because I presume to handle Mr. IN-
NYS with almost as much " irreverence " as he
handles the most sacred attributes. If leannot
comprehend the Oriental term " Bethel," to be
more edifying than the English expressiouw God's
Honse," I nnist he set down for a " Foreigner."
An Englishman a Foreigner because he does nut un-
derstand Hebrew !

Were I to refer PERTINAX to the " flippant "
RABELAIS, for his description of the Island of
Cu Ers APH, the worthy Churchman would be rather
puzzled, perhaps. But wilco, he is told that
CIIENAPII is Hebrew for Hypocrisy, he will
find hintstlf not so far from home in the plait)
English.
Sectarians, I know, cannot abide establish-
ments, whether of things or of words ; and long
past antiquity carries with them the charm of in-
novation. What nobody remembers, is almost as
good as ►chat nobody has seen. I wonder how
they condescend to pray in English nt all I and
why they do not make their " Pilgrim's Progress"
back into Mesopotamia, and insist upon calling
the Church—KANAL-41t olICe were as rea-
sonable, surely, as the Bakis, and Zoars, and
Ebcneters, which the " Anti-Cathedralist " is so
fond of. Sail I not rightly, that there is more
Pointy in this outlandish nou►cnclature than care-
less people. are aware of ?‘
The Reader has hy.this time understood, that
I offer not any objection to prayers on the water•,
or to floating places of worship. I only desire,
that the prayers may be such as the Establiih.
ment prescribes, and the place of worship fairly
►n►d at once a Church. The Churchman PERTItTAX
will—of course—join me it► this wish. I have no
local objections. 1 like regular worship any
where, and irregular fanaticism nowhere.
If the " DISSENTER" resists this opinion, I
shall not call him an hypocrite. Both my anta-
gonists, however, must bear to be told, that cant
is not religion, nor rudeness argument. lam not
to be Hebuniztd out of the Establishment, nor
snuffled into Sectarianism. As little am I to be
scolded into silence, or metphored into convic-
tion.

Dec. 7, 1819.

TENAX.