of the same heavenly father-the time is yet to come, when Acts of Toleration shall every where give place to Bills of RIGHT! But, though much is yet wanting to complete and perfect the blessings of THE REVOLUTION, 1688, yet we cannot but review the Act of Toleration as a great point gained, as a noble effort towards the free emancipation of CONSCIENCE! The preceding periods had been only those of oppression and thraldom. The exertions of any to procure release from severe laws were rather attempts to gain the power of tyrannising over conscience into their own hands, that they themselves might be free, and all other parties remain slaves, than liberal endeavours to ascertain and secure to every one security and peace, in following the judgment of his own mind. The PRECEDING AGES exhibit a series of severe statutes following each other—from passing the Act for burning of Heretics, in the reign of Henry the Fourth, to the enacting of that of UNIFORMITY, and of the Oxford Conventicle Acts, in the reign of Charles the Second. At the commencement of the REFORMATION we have seen that, on the one hand, they who could not admit from religious reverence to the Pope's authority the supremacy of THE KING, and, on the other, they who discarded any of the six Articles which he formed into a standard of faith, were alike doomed to the sentence of DEATH!

"In the reign of Edward the Sixth the pious

and amiable Hooper, for refusing to wear a particular dress, was imprisoned, and Joan Bocher, who religiously read and dispersed the New Testament, was burnt at the stake! Intolerant statutes marked the government of Queen Elizabeth. PERSECUTION in various forms, by laws and by prerogative, stigmatised the successive reigns of the Stuarts. In the interval, during the suspension of their power, a severe ordinance against heresy was passed, the livings of the episcopal clergy were sequestered, those ministers suffered under severe apprehensions, and PRESBYTERIANISM was found to be not more friendly to the rights of CONSCIENCE, or averse from intolerance, than had been the fallen hierarchy! Amongst two despised sects, hated and persecuted by all parties, THE BAPTISTS and THE QUAKERS, amongst almost them only, the principles of liberty had found able and generous advocatestheir writings placed the rights of CONSCIENCE on a broad and liberal bottom! But they could support them by the pen only, they were never in power, and, consequently, had never in this country an opportunity to carry their principles into practice, and to show that they could rule according to the maxims, for which, when oppressed, they could forcibly plead. It is said in this country, for when the forming of the government of PENNSYLVANIA and RHODE ISLAND, in America, rested, the latter with the Baptists, and the former with the Quakers, to their honour it should be said, their conduct was con

sistent with the arguments they had advanced, and Liberty of Conscience, on an extensive and liberal scale, was a leading feature of each constitution.

"This having been the state of things-the Act of Toleration, the consequence of THE REVOLUTION of 1688, was a great acquisition. It was the first legal sanction given to the claims of CONSCIENCE it was the first charter of religious freedom-it was a valuable, important, and permanent security to the dissenting subject. It opened to him the temple of peace, and afforded the long-wished for asylum! To adopt the language of high authority (Lord Mansfield,) "The TOLERATION ACT rendered that which was illegal before, now legal-the dissenting way of worship is permitted and allowed by that act-it is not only exempted from punishment, but rendered innocent and lawfulit is ESTABLISHED it is put under the protection, and is not merely the connivance of the law." It hath been followed with an universal good effect and happy influence-it hath been the basis of THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY enjoyed ever since that period; and with respect to the state of freedom and religious inquiry in these kingdoms, it was as it were a NEW CREATION! Before that period, darkness in a manner hung over the spacious field of knowledge and divine truth, and the path to it was guarded by a flaming sword. That Act said-LET THERE BE LIGHT, and LIGHT THERE WAS! The bounds of Free inquiry, were enlarged—the VOLUME in which are the words of eternal life, was laid open

to examination. And the state of knowledge and liberty has been ever since progressive and improving."

It has been recently observed, with equal truth and beauty, that " He who should interpose between the Creator and the creature, erects himself into an authority greater than that of the Almighty-he had, and could have no credentials from man—he had, and could have no credentials from God! Here it was that ALL MEN were and ought to be equally free. CONSCIENCE could no more be restrained than the wind—it was the wind of Heaven -the breath of purity! The God of Hosts and of Armies hath planted it in the breast of his beings, and the God of Hosts and of Armies only could touch or constrain it*."

In a word, the immortal JOHN LOCKE, writing to Limborch, on the Continent, has these memorable expressions—

"I doubt not before this you have heard that TOLERATION is at last established here by law. Not indeed with that latitude that you and other Christians like you, unambitious and unprejudiced, and lovers of truth, might wish. But it is a great point to proceed so far. In these beginnings I hope are laid those foundations of LIBERTY and PEAce, on which the Church of Christ will be finally established."

And now let us contrast our own condition with the condition of our PIOUS and PERSECUTED ANCESTORS. This retrospective view will generate *Grattan's Speech in the House of Commons, May 3, 1819.

admiration and gratitude. Could our harassed Forefathers look down from heaven upon us their descendants, they would hail us with gratulations of joy! Such a contemplation of the advance of CHRISTIAN FREEDOM among the disciples of Christ, might augment the happiness of the blessed. Assimilated to the progress of yonder sun, it is hastening to the full blaze of perfect day!

Time was that OUR RELIGION Could not be openly professed-and even our places of worship were erected in the obscure parts of the Metropolis, to avoid the notice of informers. Time was when our ministers were silenced-our temples closed-and our persons insulted, for the mere assertion of our religious principles. Time was, that not daring to appear in public, for the worship of their Maker, OUR ANCESTORS, with their families, quitted their beloved country, and emigrated across the pathless ocean to the wilderness of AMERICA, for the enjoyment of religious freedom. Blessed be God-these frightful eras are no more! BRITONS are become more enlightened than they were in former days. Legislators perceive that different creeds do not impair the obedience of the subject, nor produce, in civil matters, an alienation of the heart. It is an edifying sight to behold, in our day, sects and denominations so far melted down by the kindly influence of brotherly love, as to make up the wholesome mass of the community.

INTOLERANCE is become one of the most odious things in the world. The name of persecutor in