Mr. S.—How do you make that out?
Mr. C.—Ages ago, and long before there was a Dissenter in this or any other town in England, the property we occupy was made liable to the various expenses of the Church; and the annual charge is on the property we occupy, and has therefore nothing to do with the religious opinions of those who occupy it.
Mr. S.—I should very much like to know, when Church-rates began?
Mr. C.—And so should I; but this tribute has been paid to the Church from such an early period, that no one can tell when it began. All I can tell you, is this, that the first record we have of its being levied, is in the reign of Edward III., more than five hundred years ago. [6]
Mr. S.—If the payment is so ancient, and a charge on the property we occupy; having, therefore, nothing to do with the religious opinions of those who occupy it, how is it, then, that so many persons are opposed to the Church-rate?
Mr. C.—Men of hasty spirits—little knowledge—and less judgment—are too often led away by those who ought to teach them better. Your teachers know, as well as I do, that the Church-rate being charged on the property, the payment of it can affect no religious principle. As I said before, “it has nothing to do with either your religion or mine;” and if the churchwardens, in days like the present, had to stop and inquire at every door, before they knocked, what is this man’s religion?—or, has he any at all?—they need have nothing else to do. Nor is that all; a Protestant Church would be turned into a Popish Inquisition, and churchwardens into inquisitors!
Mr. S.—But, Mr. Churchman, how should you like to be compelled to pay a rate every year to our Meeting? You could not pay to it as a Dissenter, and you would not like to pay to it as a Churchman.
Mr. C.—If a law should be passed to-morrow, charging my house in common with those of my neighbours, with the repair, &c., of your meeting, I should pay the charge, I hope, as a Christian, submitting “to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter, i. 13).
Mr. S.—But would it not be an act of oppression to levy an annual payment on property, which had always before been bought or rented free from such a charge?
Mr. C.—Though I could not but regard it as very different to a Church-rate, which has existed from time immemorial, and subject to which all property is purchased or rented; and though I might also consider it unreasonable to pay to one sect of Dissenters rather than another; yet, I hope I should be one of the last men in the world to resist a charge made by the law of the land, though made unjustly, “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully” (1 Pet. ii. 19).