ence of Christianity in Rome before it
became the established religion of the empire, or the existence of
religion in a country so distant and so unlike our own, in all its
circumstances, as the United states of North America. That, my lords, is
the opinion I entertain, and therefore I will no longer occupy your
lordships by any further discussion on this subject. I belong to the
church of England, and am a friend of that church, from feeling and from
conviction. I do not say that I have examined all her doctrines, or that
I am master of all the grounds upon which her rites and ceremonies
stand--I do not say that I am able to discuss with my noble friend those
one thousand questions, which Bishop Law said arose out of the
thirty-nine articles, but I believe her doctrines to be scriptural, and
I know her principles to be tolerant. But, my lords, I beg leave to say,
that I adopt those doctrines upon another ground, which perhaps may
expose me, with some in the present day, to censure. My lords, I espouse
those doctrines because they are the mode of faith delivered down to me
by my forefathers; and because they are the mode of faith which I find
established in my country. I am not prepared to remove the basis upon
which is founded (though it may be apart from) the structure of the
religion of my country. I do not think that such is the wish of the
majority of the dissenters; but, at all events, it seems to me a course
calculated to lead only to a state of general scepticism and universal
suspension of religion among the people. But while I say this for
myself--while I claim to found my attachment to my religion upon
principle, it is necessary that I should say precisely the same thing
for that great body of men who may be called the dissenters of England.
Their consent is rarely contemporaneous with the establishment of the
church of England herself. The dissenters from the church of England are
those who thought that the Reformation did not proceed far enough. Their
dissent did not show itself against the established church when in power
and prosperity; but the dissenters from that church grew up first when
the Roman Catholic religion was dominant in this country, and when both
the members of the new church of England and the dissenters were alike
suffering under persecution; therefore, it is a dissent founded on
principle. Considering the weight which dissent has in this country, and
considering the extent to which it prev