6 CHAP. V. OF SOME MODERN DOCTRINES CONCERNING THE CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION. N O man of the flighteft obfervation or The malcontented with tents difcon the prefent of the confidence, with which the malcontents establishment. of the hour inveigh against the ecclefiaftical and civil establishment of our prefent conftitutional polity; infifting upon the absolute fubverfion of the one, and a general reformation and alteration of the other. But it is an . obvious question, Who are these malcontents? They are not only compofed of the remains of fome of the old fets of diffenters from the eftablifhed church, fuch as anabaptifts, puritans, independants, &c. but more generally of the various fets of modern fubdiffenting improvers upon their ancient masters, whom Dr. Price feems, with unbounded affection and zeal, to have admitted as his worthy affociates and fellow labourers in the good common cause of diffent from the principles, and refiftance against the establishment of the national church. Of these Mr. Burke speaks, Dr. Price's entouragement to diffent. with his ufual elegant and nervous poignancy, * « If the noble feekers fhould find nothing to fatisfy their pious fancies, in the old staple of the national church, or in all the rich variety to be found in the well-afforted ware houfes of the diffenting congregations, Dr. Price advises them to improve upon nonconformity, and to fet up, each of them, a feparate meeting-houfe; upon his own particular principles t. It is fomewhat remarkable, that this reverend divine fhould be fo earnest for setting up new churches, and fo perfectly indifferent concerning the doctrines which may be taught in them. His zeal is of a curious character. It is not for the propagation of his own opinions, but of any opinions. It is not for the diffusion of truth, but for the fpreading of contradiction. Let the noble teachers but diffent, it is no matter from whom or from what. This great point once fecured, it is taken for granted their re * Reflections on the Revolution in France, p. 14, and 15. t "Those who dislike that mode of worship, which is prescribed by public authority, ought, if they can find no worship out of the church, which they approve, to fet up a feparate worship for themselves; and by doing this, and giving an example of a rational and manly worship, men of weight, from their rank and literature, may do the greatest service to fociety, and the world." P. 18, Dr. Price's Sermen. It ligion will be rational and manly. I doubt whether religion would reap all the benefits which the calculating divine computes, from this great company of great preachers. would certainly be a valuable addition of non-defcripts to the ample collection of known claffes, genera, and fpecies, which at present beautify the bortus ficcus of diffent." Whenever, in the course of this work, I shall have occafion to mention any fets of perfons known by a common description or appellation of religious focieties, or fectaries diffenting from the established church, I do not mean even to hint at the religious or theological tenets, doctrines, or principles, by which they differ from it or from each other. Polemical difcuffion is not my province. And I have no other motive nor reafon to refer to or animadvert upon the tenets, doctrines, or principles of any fuch focieties or fectaries, but inasmuch as they contradict or counteract those general and fundamental principles of civil government, upon which the system of our prefent conftitution and government is formed and preferved. The inhabitants of this island certainly form one entire community, to whom it is fully competent to model and establish that conftitution and system of government, which they fhall chuse; and from The author's difcufs the po intention is to ciples only of litical prin diffenters. The right of the Community to check and punifh refractory members. Dr. Priestley's doctrine's about mined. from this competency arises the indefeasible By examining the doctrines of Dr. Priestley, refiftance exa- upon this very important fubject, the application of the principles, which I have already laid down, as clearly appear. admitted by all, will more *«In examining the right of the civil magiftrate to establish any mode of religion, or that of the fubject to oppofe it, the goodness of the religion, or of the mode of it, is not to be taken into the question; but only the propriety (which is the fame with the utility) of the civil magiftrate, as fuch, interfering in the business. For what the magistrate may think to be very juft, and even conducive * Dr. Priestley's Effay on the first Principles of Government, p. 141. to to the good of fociety, the subject may think to be wrong and hurtful to it." If Dr. Priestley here means, by the term magistrate, the fupreme legislative power of the state, from what has already been said, it will clearly appear, that the subject is bound and concluded by the act of his own trustees and delegates; and fuch are the three estates of our legislature, as I fhall hereafter more particularly obferve. It is not poffible, therefore, in the present system of the British conftitution, for the fubject (if by the term fubett is meant the majority of the community) to think that wrong and hurtful, which the representatives of the community, who must be supposed to speak the language of the real majority, think to be juft and conducive to the good of the fociety. But although the minority of the community should think so differently of the act of the majority, their disapprobation or confideration of the meafure will neither invalidate the act, nor justify any refiftance against it, when it has once acquired the force of a law: for "every law is a direct emanation of the fovereignty of the people," confequently must be taken for the act of the majority. |