As to the principle, the Committee, at an early stage of their deliberations, came to the resolution, that although all well-regulated societies, and denominations of Christians, will exercise their own rules for the admission of public or private teachers among themselves, yet it is the unalienable right of every man to worship God agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience; and that he has a right to HEAR and to TEACH those Christian truths which he conscientiously believes, without any restraint or judicial interference from the civil magistrate, provided he do not thereby disturb the peace of the community, and that on no account whatever would the Committee concede this fundamental principle.
You will see at once, that it is only on this legitimate principle, that the various members of our Societies, and indeed mankind in general, have any right to teach and instruct one another. It was on this leading principle, that we drew up and submitted a Bill to the late Mr. Perceval, qualified however with those provisions which made our religious worship known, and laid it open for the inspection of all; and left our teachers subject to be called upon to take the usual obligations of allegiance &c. which no good man could object to; and which by the Constitution, no subject can lawfully refuse; but at the same time provision was made, that those oaths were not to be taken as an antecedent qualification, but when required, they were to be taken with the least possible inconvenience, by going before one neighbouring magistrate, instead of the Quarter Sessions. A Bill founded on such principles, and with such views, the Committee trusted would at once secure the rights of conscience, and give every needful pledge to the State, for the fulfilment of our duties as good subjects. And although they did not attempt to amend the Act of Toleration, which had now become so uncertain in its construction, but only suggested a new Act, adapted to the present state of religious Society, yet they did not wish to remove the Old Toleration Act, or lessen any of the benefits to be derived from it, by any class of Christians.
On these principles, and with a view to establish them in practice, the correspondence with the Earl of Liverpool was conducted, and we have the great satisfaction to say, that from a just sense of the high importance of those principles, which have been so powerful in the establishment and support of the Protestant Church, and the preservation of civil order in this country; and which are so congenial with every dictate of sound policy, and pure religion, his Lordship and his Majesty’s Ministers prepared a Bill, which having now passed into a law, will be found to carry into effect what the Committee deemed so essential, in any measure designed to meet the situation of the Methodist Societies, and other denominations of Christians. To a short sketch of this Act, we have now to request your attention; but for full information we must refer you to the Act itself.
The new Act absolutely repeals the Five Mile and the Conventicle Acts, and another Act of a most offensive kind, which affected a highly respectable body, the Quakers. It then proceeds to relieve from the Penalties of the several Acts mentioned in the Toleration Act, or any amendment of the same, all Protestants who resort to a congregation allowed by the Acts there referred to: and you will not fail to observe, that while it meets the situation of the Dissenters, how liberally it treats the condition of our Societies. It is not now necessary that a person should be obliged to relinquish his attachment to the established Church, in order to bring himself under the protection afforded by this Act; and on the other hand if he be a Dissenter he is protected by this Act. The simple condition of protection is, that a Protestant do resort to some place of worship, which if not the only way, is at least the usual and overt manner of shewing our belief in the existence of the Deity, and in a future state of retribution; without which, there is no security for the peace and happiness of Society. To our Societies, this feature of the Act is of great importance, because it allows our members to continue their attachment to the established Church, without relinquishing the privileges which the christian communion of our Societies, so largely affords. As under the Toleration Act, so under this Act, all places of worship must be certified to the proper Court; but under this Act, a Preacher need not wait till the place be registered before he preaches. By the former Acts only five persons could meet together, besides a man’s own family, without having the place registered; by this Act, the number is extended to twenty persons who may meet without certifying the place of meeting. By the former Act, no person could preach till he had taken the Oaths; by this Act, any person may preach without having taken the Oaths; and is merely liable to be called on once to take them afterwards, if required in writing by one Justice. By the Toleration Acts, persons were obliged to go to the Quarter Sessions to take the Oaths; by this Act any person may take them before one Justice only; and in no case, is such person compellable to travel above five miles for that purpose: so that it will be perfectly unnecessary for any of our Preachers or Teachers to take the Oaths until they are required by a Justice, unless our travelling Preachers, who carry on no business, and intend to claim exemption from civil and military duties. By the new construction of the Toleration Act, it appeared that only particular persons could insist upon taking the Oaths, &c. by this Act any Protestant, whether preacher or otherwise, whether a Dissenter or a Member of the Church of England, may require a Justice to administer the Oaths, &c. and grant a Certificate.
As to the exemption from civil and military duties, they are about the same, as to Preachers carrying on no business, except that the Toleration Act extended only to Dissenters, and this Act exempts all Preachers as they were by the Toleration and new Militia Acts, whether Dissenters or not. By the Toleration Act, so by this, the doors of all places of worship are to be unlocked. In this Act you will observe a great and most beneficial alteration for the protection of religious assemblies. The Toleration Act did not provide for the punishment of riotous persons who did not come into the house, by which means many of our congregations were greatly disturbed by noises made on the outside: but by this Act, any person who shall wilfully and maliciously disturb a Congregation, (whether by coming into or being on the outside of the house) shall incur a penalty of £40. which penalty is double the amount of that imposed for the same offence by the Toleration Act. There is also another important advantage in this Act, which is, that the writ of Certiorari is not taken away, by which means, Proceedings may be removed into the Court of King’s Bench.
Thus have we endeavoured to give you an outline of this important Act of the Legislature: an Act which, we trust, you and our friends will consider as clearly recognizing in practice, those great principles which are the basis of religious freedom, and that its operation will not only enable our Societies to exercise under the protection of the law, those privileges which they have ever considered the most sacred and invaluable, and which, under the Divine blessing, have contributed to the consolation of thousands; but it will serve for the extension of piety and virtue amongst all denominations, by promoting christian fellowship, the dissemination[dissemination] of Divine truth, and the interchange of religious instruction. And whilst it amply extends the circle of religious liberty to those who dissent from, or who only partially or occasionally conform to the established Church, as well as to strict members of her communion, who wish to enjoy religious meetings, it will excite attachment to, and encrease the security of that church, which has produced so many champions for the verities of our holy religion, and in which indeed, our Societies have been founded.
Nor should it be forgotten, (especially in times like the present) that this Act is of peculiar excellency, from the effect it will have upon the happiness of the religious poor. They value exceedingly the liberty of associating for mutual religious instruction and consolation. It is the exercise of that privilege which soothes them under poverty and distress, and, by the grace of God, makes them content under the apparently adverse dispensations of Divine providence; and teaches them to wait with patience for the “inheritance which is incorruptible.” This Act by removing all restraint from the performance of the great duty of “exhorting one another,” may be considered as having the well-disposed and pious poor for its object, and great will be their gratitude and gladness, that they can, under the protection of this Law, worship God in their own way, and instruct each other, as well as hear those Ministers whose labours they esteem. And while it has this effect upon their individual happiness, it will make them value the Constitution of the Country, through which they derive such benefits. In short, the Committee cannot but contemplate this important extention of Religious Freedom, with the highest satisfaction and delight; and they cannot doubt, that in proportion to the apparent excellency of this Act of Parliament, will be the magnitude of the benefits which the nation at large will derive from it.
In the accomplishment of this salutary measure, the Committee have necessarily had much correspondence with the Prime Minister, the right honorable the Earl of Liverpool; and it is a duty they owe to his Majesty’s Government, and to that noble Lord in particular, to express with pleasure and gratitude the high sense of the obligations they feel themselves under, for the patient attention which his Lordship has given to the many and necessary representations of the Committee, as well as the readiness manifested to meet fully, the situation of our Societies, and of other religious denominations; and for the cordiality with which his Lordship matured and supported the Bill in Parliament, which appears to be commensurate to the present necessities and wishes of our Societies.
The Committee are also under considerable obligations to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, for his polite attention to the subject, and for the liberal sentiments expressed by his Grace, on various occasions: And we cannot but feel great gratitude to all the right Reverend Prelates who concurred in the Bill, without whose concurrence, it must have met with considerable difficulties in its progress through Parliament.
It is also the duty of the Committee, to express their humble thanks to the rest of the Cabinet Ministers, for the support which this measure has received from them, and particularly to the right honourable, The Lord High Chancellor, for his Lordship’s candid and liberal attention to the Bill, in the House of Lords; and also to the right honourable Viscount Castlereah, for the labour of conducting it in the House of Commons. In these sentiments of respect and gratitude, we are sure we shall be joined by you, and our Societies universally.