the inveteracy against me through the town in general, owing to the most atrocious calumnies and misrepresentations, is rather increased than diminished, and that my return would both be hazardous to myself, and augment their hostility.*

It is evident, therefore, that we have now nothing to expect either from the clergy or laity of the town and neighbourhood of Birmingham, but must look to the general government of the country; and we hope it will be found that thence we do not look for justice, activity, or energy, in

vain.

Had the bishop of the diocese sent a proper pastoral letter to the clergy of Birmingham, lamenting the effects of partyIspirit, and especially that any attempts should have been made to support a Christian church, by such unchristian means as had been employed on that pretence; had he advised an immediate reparation of the wrongs of the Dissenters, and the doing every thing that was in the power of the . members of the Church of England to restore the peace of the town, the instigators of the Riot would before this time have been made ashamed of their conduct, and greater harmony than ever might have taken place between the members of the Established Church and the Dissenters. But though many of his flock have behaved like wolves, their conduct has not been reproved by their pastor, at least in that public manner which the nature of the case required. Considering the part that many of the lower clergy have acted in this business, the eyes of the country are now upon the bishops; and their silence will be construed into approbation; especially since much of the bigotry of the present times is by many ascribed to their frequent and inflammatory charges against the Dissenters, and especially the Unitarians, not without plain allusions to myself in particular.

In the reigns of King William and Queen Anne, the bigotry of the inferior clergy was constantly checked by the greater liberality of the bishops; the lower house of convocation being controlled by the upper house.† But in this reign the high-church spirit has descended from the superior to the inferior clergy.

If the spirit of persecution proceed as it has begun, un

In order to see the different spirit that actuates Dissenting Ministers, and the generality of the Clergy, with respect to the late Riots, I would refer my reader to Mr. Scholefield's truly Christian Discourse on loving our Enemies, and his spirited and excellent Preface to it. (P.) On Mr. Scholefield, see Vol. I. Memoirs, 34, 155. † On this "contest between the two Houses," see Burnet, Q. T. (1702), II. p. 345.

checked by the superior clergy of the Church of England, I shall not scruple to say of it, as of mystical Babylon in the Revelation, (xviii. 4,) "Come out of her my people, lest ye be partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." But I hope, and I know, better things of many of them, and I have great expectations from their interference.

Of the two parties in whose names the outrages at Birmingham were committed, viz. the church and the king, the latter has, in a great measure, exculpated himself, by his proclamation to apprehend and punish the Rioters. But the former, the boasted ally of the state, (and which, like Cardinal Wolsey, always names herself before her king,) has not hitherto done any thing in concurrence with her ally, but has taken another coadjutor. Henceforth, therefore, the cry should be, not church and king, but church and mob.

SECTION VI.

Of the principal Use of an Established Religion.

I CANNOT help observing on this occasion, that if the state be at the expense of providing the country with religion, it should be chiefly for the benefit of those who stand in the most need of it, and who would not provide any for themselves. The better sort of people, as we call them, will behave orderly and peaceably, which is the great end of civil government, without it. But with us the lower classes of the community are nearly in the same condition as if there were no established religion at all. If the inefficacy of an established religion to correct the disorders of the lower orders of the people, as manifested in the Riots at Birmingham, does not open the eyes of this country to the true nature and use of church establishments, it will be difficult to say what will, and so great and serious a lesson will have been given us in vain.

In consequence of the too general neglect of the lower classes of people by the ministers of the Established Church, their profaneness, brutality, and licentiousness, exceed that of the same class of people in any other country whatever, civilized or uncivilized. For those whom we call savages have infinitely more regard to decency, equity, and civility, in their conduct, than the untaught vulgar with us. What these learn from a state of society, are the vices to which it gives occasion, and they are such as have no place in what

we call the uncivilized part of the world, because, in their circumstances, there is no temptation to them.

If, therefore, there must be a state-religion, and the object of this religion be not the emolument of the teachers of it, or the power of the governors in disposing of those emoluments, but to inspire the people with a sense of their obligations to God and man, the most express provision should be made for the instruction of the lower orders of the people, in preference to that of all others. The clergy should know them all, and instruct them all. But with us, too little of this kind is done, nor does there appear much disposition towards it.

The greatest part of the real advantage which this country derives from the religion of the lower orders of the people costs it nothing at all, being that which accrues to it from the labours of the Dissenters and Methodists, who have been the means of civilizing and christianizing some of those for whose instruction principally the established clergy are paid, but who are too generally neglected by them, and are as sheep without a shepherd. The country will sooner or later consider the cui bono of this establishment, as well as of every thing else in the system for which it furnishes the expense.

The only thing that has of late years been done in favour of this greatly-neglected part of the community, is the institution of Sunday-schools, which was the happy thought of Mr. Raikes of Gloucester, a member of the Church of England, and which was immediately patronized by the clergy, and the members of the Church of England in general. But because many of the Dissenters took them up with more zeal than they, and made better provision for instructing and rewarding Sunday-scholars, (so that their schools came into greater repute than those of the establishment,) several of the clergy have taken umbrage at them.

Who has been mentioned with deserved respect, Vol. XV, p. 878, Note *. Mr. R. died in 1811, aged 75. See a Memoir in Mon. Repos. VI. pp. 577-585. Mr. Thomas Christie, in his “Hints respecting the State and Education of the People," published in 1789, says, "Since these remarks were first written, a grand and extensive plan has been set on foot in England, by Mr. Raikes of Gloucester, for the education of the common people. It will easily be understood that I allude to the institution of Sunday-schools. It is with infinite satisfaction that I find so many eminent and excellent persons have now engaged in promoting these, and that the good effects flowing from them are already beyond all expectation. Excellent Mr. Raikes! May thy benevolent example be universally followed. Thou hast raised the depressed human mind, and given light to those who sat in darkness. The blessing of them that were ready to perish shall come upon thee; and the people who were destroyed for lack of knowledge, shall celebrate thy name!" Miscellanies, I. pp. 214, 215. See, on Sir W. Petty, supra, p. 304, Note.

Some of them have endeavoured to compel the Dissenters to drop, or reduce, their Sunday-schools, and others who pretend to more sagacity than the rest, now say that they never approved of the scheme, because they foresaw that it would be the means of adding to the number of the Dissenters, a thing which they evidently consider as a greater evil than that shameful ignorance and profligacy of the poor, which this excellent scheme is calculated to remove.*

In this case it should be considered, out of what class of the community the addition to the Dissenters is made. Is it not out of that which, previous to this measure, had no religion at all? The clergy in general are far from adopting this unchristian maxim, and in some places they act in concert with the Dissenters, in a scheme the object of which is common Christianity and common utility.

When an account shall be taken of the advantages and disadvantages of civil establishments of religion, every injury done by persecution should be placed on the per-contra side. For the different sects of Dissenters in this country, where there is an establishment, and the different religious denominations in North America, where there is none, never molest one another, but live in good neighbourhood and friendship. It is when one sect enjoys temporal advantages from which the rest are excluded, that a bone of contention is thrown among them; and then the envy of the depressed party, but much more the jealousy and spirit of domination, the natural offspring of power, in the party that is favoured, may do infinite mischief. For the spirit of church establishments, which is ever jealous and vindictive, is not peculiar to them. It is the spirit not of religion in particular, but of all monopolies. Nor are the clergy so much to be complained of. Men in general are the same. They are systems and institutions that corrupt mankind.

In all those who have possession of power, there too easily arises the idea, that what cannot be accomplished by argument in favour of their system, may be effected with much more ease and certainty by external force. Hence, instead of answering our books, the members of the Church of England at Birmingham have burned them, together with our houses and places of public worship. If such a proceeding as this either breaks the spirit or lessens the number of Dissenters, it will be the first experiment of the kind that has succeeded. But the heroic actors in this business

* See Dr. Tatham's Letters. (P.)

probably never heard that any such experiment had ever been tried before.

I shall conclude this article with observing, that it is usual to praise every existing reign, as great and glorious, and to ascribe every thing that the age produces to the prince upon the throne. But whatever other advantages have accrued to this country during the present reign, I will venture to say that, if the despicable spirit of bigotry and intolerance continue to prevail, unchecked by government, as it has done of late years, it will (considering the increasing light of the age in every other country in Europe) be one of the most disgraceful in the annals of Britain. There was something plausible in the persecution of Christians by Heathens, and in that of Protestants by Catholics, because they introduced great innovations, and great and unknown consequences were dreaded from them. They were religions of yesterday overturning establishments of the remotest antiquity. But the persecution of one sect of Protestants by another, all equally novelties, and very much resembling one another, is nothing better than the mutual persecution of the Sonnites and Shiites in Mahomedan countries, or than that of the Littleendians of Lilliput by the Bigendians.

A great number of the clergy, however, are men of other minds. They are sensible of the abuses of their system, and earnestly wish for a reform. They respect the Dissenters, and are always ready to act in concert with them, wherever humanity or common Christianity is concerned. These are generally called low churchmen, while those of the high-church party, which is certainly greatly increased of late years, are strenuous advocates for continuing every thing as it is, and opposing all innovation, that is, every reform. They hate and they dread all Dissenters, except the quietest among them, who neither speak nor write any thing on the subject of their dissent, and who, like all other Dissenters, generally pay them better, and more cheerfully, than their other parishioners. Such Dissenters as these they might not be very sorry to see increase.

SECTION VII.

Of the Importance of a good Police in a well-constituted

State.

WE may learn from the late Riots in Birmingham, as well. as from those in London, in 1780, the necessity of having