The Sun.
London, England, 1816-07-04 00:00:00

I PRICE srAinwpraccro.

rItLIGIOUS TOLERATION.

,‘ Come, this CoNsctiNcc is a, conrenient seire-cr9w ;
It guards the fruit which Naints and wise men taste,
Wlm never set it Up to fright themseirei ;

They know 'tis rapt, 40 ether in the faccon't ;

Igilf-starr'd sliallo. daws thru' 'fear. Are honest.

Why were laws made, but that wtei.e.rugues by nature

CuaNcit:Ncv: 'tis our coin, we tire putting with it;
And he thrives best; that has the most to sparer'

. • SHAKSPLARE.
, t TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. ,
, have, long been a reader of your intent
resting Paper ;, and, believe me, no paragr.lplt
ever gave me more satisfaction, than the one which.
read in THE SIIN of Thursday last,. relative to
the continued. tephrg which the house Of. Com-
mons has bent subjected to throughent the Session
by Evangelical. Saints and Hypocrites. But .1
think, Sir, that you do not treat the subject in a
sufficiently ierions manner : it is too obvious, tb,t
a party now exists, the only object of which is, to
• bring the venerable Church Establishment of the
country into dis-esteem, and eventually, endeavour
to subvert it. I need nor simplify the assertion
better than by noticing, that upon all -question*
of g, conscience". and clisciptine, there is a perpe,
tuahlifference amongst the saints and: methodists
but let-any topic he started, by the discussion of
which the Established Church Can, he attacked,
ainlyon behold the dissenters of every persuitaiod
and stamp soever--,be they Kilhamites, Ituntiog,
tonians,.or MaggletOnians-sally forth. from their
sanhelltine* unite:in-One " band pf brother.
hoed," and conimence operations upon it front
Masked' ba'tter'ies; raised by hypocrisy and Minuted.
by dissimulation.
An instance occurred some time Ago in this
neighboUrbood, which deserves.. publicity :
Grosvenor lately gave directions to.his Agents, a
leis exiens.ive mines, 'near ilolywell, to insist that
the. workmen S.huuld on - every Sunday attend
some place of religions worship, at the same titan
notifying, that' alrequenting of:the ChnrCh would.
LI be highly satisfactory to his Lordship. On 114,
communication' being titade, the, Saint!, about
200 in. number, were suddenly in a state of strong
!..tuetinionious ,c,lfervestence-4their conseieneel
•
were terribly tortured at the thought-Of Wor.
shipping God in, a church-!-which, by the bye,
was not commanded--;-and thirty-two " conscience.
sake° saints voluntarily left their work, Owing td
the pungency 'of their feelings on this intelerable
persecution ! Two delegates ‘tere dispatched to
Chester-- contributions were raised in all the
=chapels, to line the pockets of the taffcrets, anti
carry on the " Italy war'' ' againft the church !
The group of Liberates which atsenibled at the
first rollcall in the chapel of the lelsli Sumpers,
watt truly curious, .manifesting a cordial Onion of
the spirit : an. Unitarian took, the chair—a calvi-
nist preacher ~was appointed secretary---four
-apostles of Methodi.ftn harangued ; and there only
wanted a Catholic and a Jeth, to malts, tip the
motley. crew of " FRIENDS- OF RELIOIOUS
BERTY state these circumstauees merely td
shew, that, 'notwithstanding the warfare whica
i'xists among thernielveS on all points of beget-.
the contemptuous pity, and the ideal,." 1 ant
holier than thou"- ,the charity with which all the
elected Calvinists consign all unbelievers to eter4
nal fire ;---that all these chequered 'religionists
unite at the signal, againstthe,great citadel of
our notional faith forsooth, they call Re-
ligious Toleratioil ; and it appears that the t cid°
may be construed ad libitum to the purposes of the
chosen fear. Hence it is, that Religiout Toleraticil
is always the watch-werd in the mouth of a Dissen-
ter ; the doctrinal observation of a thnrchmatt to
idtmediaiely construed into attack upon th'
" conseience•sake" gefitry. 'Mit let its look, at
ReligiOns'Toleration in its literal meaning. the
Dissenter loudly preaches its necessity, and Very
properly :argues; that a man has u right td
chOose bit own > road to Heaven-- and who cart
doubt it x Yet it will be univ€t sally fnillicl, tint
these very advocatea for religious toleration, anti.
-liberty of ,conseience, are, always the first to
pose the enjoyment of this privilege by the
tholic. So mach, then-, for this conittuctiun tit
religions toleratioh
trust, Sir; that, in future; e 3 yon.haVe
to done on all Occasions, • yon will step torWartt
manfully to the support ot that Religion which.
was founded by the wisdom of oar ancestors anct
ntoistened with the Wood of martin:lord,
evident that the DiNsenters are attempting to he in
the vign of George_ 111. what they were in that.
of Charles I, Iridifference nine overthiewk
the 'Cons'titution', and brunghu a. good but weak
'Monarch to. she scaffold. Apathy may acentn4
plish in the nineteenth ccuturyi what irolitterence
/lid in the seventeenli.
♦ Chester, June

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