Mr. S.—But how many great and good men have been Dissenters?
Mr. C.—Yes,—men who would not own you. Do you think that Watts, and Doddridge, and Matthew Henry would have joined with the noisy, factious Dissenters of our day? Would they have given “the right hand of fellowship” to men, who, in railing against the Church and the State, expose their own folly and irreligion?
Mr. S.—Be that as it may, I say, that I ought not to support a Church to which I do not belong.
Mr. C.—And does your saying it make it either law or gospel?
Mr. S.—I say, that oppression is contrary both to the Law, and to the Gospel.
Mr. C.—And so say I.
Mr. S.—Why, then, do you wonder at my making a stir, when I am an oppressed and persecuted man?
Mr. C.—Many, who pay the least, often complain the most; and though you feel yourself so grievously persecuted, I dare say that your Church-rate has never been more than two or three shillings a-year.
Mr. S.—I do not care whether I pay two shillings or two pence. I say, that I ought not to pay to the Church-rate, and support a religion to which I do not belong.
Mr. C.—Nothing is more common than to hear a Dissenter say “I ought not to pay to a religion to which I do not belong.” It sounds very plausible, but there is no truth in it. The fact is, that you do not pay the Church-rate as a Dissenter, nor do I as a Churchman.