The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-09

caly, in the United States, its drones and idlers
would be turned out of the hive, its imbeciles |
md rotten branches would be weeded out and
opped off and its pastors like those Of the
churches OF the United States, would be inter-
Bsted in the preservation and advancement Of the
liberty of opinion, in the greater intelligence Of
the people, and In the attachment and respect Of
their focks, only to be obtained for the Church
by diligence, duty, earnestness, and desert, on
the part Of its officers.
1t is worthy of remark that, from the London
Times, down through the list Of bishops rectors,
curates, lords, dukes M P.'s, and church papers,
who and which have joined in this No Popery'
cry, not one appears to have that liberality and
confidence in the eternal justice Of their cause,
which will permit the other side to state Us cause.
ln all their public meetings amendments Of mod
Grafton and appeals by Roman Catholics for
hearing have been uniformly voted down, while
garbled reports Of all said or done on the Roman
side. have been invariably published by the TINES,
which though claiming to be the "best Of all pos
sible instructors has thus led the way in un-
and intolerance
Were the Church of England alone engaged
in this crusade against religious liberty for such
it is there might be an apology for its conduct.
80 contrary to the truly Christian spirit of the
age in which we live But, unfortunately Meth
odists, Presbyterians, Baptists, &c, have Joined
the hue and cry, overlooking the important fact
that the present agitation concerns rival hierar-
chies alone and affects dissenters only in so far as
it may promote thar principles Of ecclesiastical
polty. Thus, in their terror of Popery, the Dis
sentcrs of the Kingdom have lent themselves TO
the propagation of the tenets Of the Roman
Catholic Church, il there be truth in the axiom
that "the blood Of the martyrs is the seed Of the
church." They have literally strengthened u
deadly enemy who Is powerful, in opposing an
other, whom their better judgments must surely
tell them is utterly powerless, in England at
least and in so doing have also given the lie TO
their faith in the soundness of their own opin-
ions and the power Of truth. They have aban-
doned their usual implements of spiritual war
fsre-reason and principle-for passion and ia
naticism, and have proved that those are mistaken
who imagined that England had indeed attained
to any practical proficiency in the science of civil
and religious liberty. They show that England
fails to understand the constitutional doctrines
il processes; that it is really without any exalted
appreciation of the great Protestant principle of
the right of private judgment. In fine, that she
has reached no higher point in the science of free.
dom, than that which produces intolerance rather
than liberation, and aliases the right Of free in
-
quiry.
But may not include all England in this crti-
cism for, as far as can perceive the Unitarians
protest against this crusade. rs being djrer3p iy
the teeth OF the principle OF religious freedom
which England carries on her shield if not in her
hearts And may say for the lsboring masses Of
the Island, for those who work with their hands
from sun to sun, that they have not yet spoken on
either side Indeed may also except the radical
political leaders Of the kingdom, but few of whom
have addressed the public on the subject and
those few have condemned the violence Of the
friends of the liberties of England" as they who
would now repeal all laws enfranchising their
Roman Catholic brethren. falsely term themselves
Unfortunately, the classes which except above
do not enjoy a 1.-THE Of the political weight at
home to which they are justly entitled. More
favored but less worthy classes comprise Eng
land % for the most part, in political sense, as
they govern the foreign and domestic policy of the
realm. am justified in holding England re-
sponsibe for these acts. Thus, this mania aalicts
churchwardens, overseers, beades and indeed,
all who are within the sphere of the noxious in.
fuence of clerical infection. 1t has also seized
on the weak minds Of the classes desiring to see
their names in print, "whose name is legion
there, as here where we have hundreds of thou
sands who systematically court popularity by
|
class, the dissenting clergy have, however, lent
themselves to strengthen the church establishment
after this fashion with great unanimity striving
manfully to swell the torrent of fudge, and to
bloat the pride of intolerance which the "hghly
respectable of the kingdom is now manifesting
They are playing lickspittle to the church. crook
ing the pregnant hinges of the soul by way of
winning patronizing smile from rector, or to
achieve a cheering yell from the fox-hunting
Christians Of county meeting, to use the pungent
expression of an English Liberslist.
No thinking and ris ht-minded man can watch
the doings Of the country Dissenting parsons, In
this matter, without inwardly concluding thai
they neither understand nor practice their own
principles, nor, indeed are they worthy of them
The "religion of the State" has as little to feal
from them as true spiritual independence to hope
| What If these Barebones and Poundtexts do figure
at the meetings Of the anti-State Church Associ-
alton, deliver lectures against that system which
compels the payment of burial fees to "the
Church, on body not inferred within the
Churchs graveyard, which, when it had a soul in
it, acknowledged no allegiance to the Church, and
on no occasion placed itself within the Church's
| guidance-pastoral care
What if their names are periodically adver-
tised, in huge posters to discourse in Ebenezer
Chapel Weigh-House Meeting House, Brick
Lane Brapch, or Iion's Chapel, upon the enor-
nifty of the churchs exaction OF tithes from non
conformists? Does not their conduct in this first
right severe trial occurring in the last half GEN.
fury, prove that they are the sycophants of power
whenever power condescends to use them-part-
ing thus with their opinions for the cheers of the
| church and its supporters They ask but a
hear! hear!D to induce them TO make common
cause with common oppressors Of opinion, to crush
their own fellow-sutferers under the neither mill
stone of an establishment They forget the fact
that the Queen is, spiritually, as foreign to them
as Plus TX and that the law courts of the King
dom have repeatedly decided that they are enti-
tied to all rights and privileges of English cti.
zensbip, though treating the Queen as being
foreign to them in such matters. In her charac-
ter Of head Of the Anglican church, they utterly
repudate her authority. They ignore her doc.
trine, discipline, Offices, and mandates She is
enthusiastically land legally SOL of no account what
ever to the Freeburgher, the Baptist, the Presby-
terrain, the Romanist the General Assembly of
the Church OF Scotland, &c. Indeed, whenever
she crosses the Scottish border she Is, by the
lays Of England herself, but non-confor mist
TO all non-conformsts, the Patriarch of the Greek
Church or the Mahometan Father Of the Faithful
is not more foreign potentate than is the Queen
Of England enthusiastically and spiritually. True,
she parcels out her territory enthusiastically among
her archbishops and bishops, but al non-conform-
lists within their respective doceses utterly deny
their orders and repudiate their dominion. They
are, In truth, but prelates on suferance on the
oleration only Of such as in their private cspaci-
ty, Of their own free will, edhere to the Anglican
sect. "The Church Is indeed S,ae establish
msa as regards temporalities as | shall presently
show yet il is but a voluntary church as regards
spirtuas; for, as before remarked, the highest
law court Of the Kingdom has on more than one
occasion pronounced mon. con formityn in all Its
rights and immuDties, TO be part and parcel Of
the law Of the land Thus can perceive no diff
ference between her right as q spiritual superior
to spportion out the Kingdom enthusiastically, and
that Of the Pontif Of Rome. WHY, under these
circumstances, may not the latter spiritually NOM
al aIich daaira N