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PREFACE.

FEW persons who have addressed the public have ever been in circumstances which made it so difficult to give satisfaction to their different readers as I now am, owing to their different opinions and prepossessions with respect to the subject of this Appeal. Those who have already formed their opinion as to the facts, will conclude that every account which represents them as having been different from what they have conceived them to be, is certainly false, if not from design, yet from misapprehension. They who are agreed with respect to the facts, will draw different conclusions from them; and even they who agree both with respect to the facts and the conclusions, will think very differently of the temper and manner in which they should be spoken of, especially by myself, who am so much a party concerned.

With respect to my enemies, do what I will, I shall be equally censured. With them all my facts will be falsehoods, the language of just indignation will be insolence, and that of Christian meekness, either meanness or hypocrisy. I shall, therefore, make myself perfectly easy as to what they may say of me. Where there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to fear.

My friends, whose feelings are as different as their constitutions, will expect that, writing, as it were, in a common cause, I should express their precise sentiments and feelings; but this being evidently impossible, I can only exculpate them by declaring, that both the sentiments and the language of this work are solely my own, and such as arose from my feelings at the time of writing, which was presently after my arrival in London, while the scenes that I have described were fresh in my mind, with a very few alterations and additions occasioned by subsequent accounts.

I make no apology for the severity with which I have occasionally condemned the conduct of my adversaries; for what greater crimes can men commit with respect to society, than those which they have either committed, or intended, and in which they now exult? But this implies no malice or ill-will towards them. I sincerely pray for them in the language of the Liturgy, for which they pretend to have so nobly

exerted themselves, that, as my "enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, God would forgive them, and turn their hearts." As to the doctrine of Christian meekness, forgiveness of injuries, and love of our enemies, it should be interpreted by our Saviour's own conduct. For it will not be said that he felt otherwise than he ought to have done with respect to his enemies; and, certainly, his language is invariably that of the strongest indignation and reproof. The same was that of Paul, and of all the apostles, towards those who, in their opinion, corrupted the gospel and opposed their ministry.

A strong sense of the impropriety of men's sentiments and conduct naturally expresses itself in indignant language, though, when coming from a Christian, it will always be accompanied with the most sincere compassion for the state and depravity into which malignity of mind necessarily sinks men; and all that Christianity can do is, earnestly to wish and pray that our adversaries may be brought to a better state of mind, in order to their being entitled to our complacency and forgiveness, in the proper sense of the word.

With respect to the high-church party in this country; we may be considered as in a state of open war. I utterly dislike their principles and maxims, as they do mine; and I scruple not to take any fair opportunity of expressing this dislike in the most unequivocal language. Let them do the same with respect to my principles; but let us observe the rules of honourable war. If, however, they choose to proceed as they have begun to do at Birmingham, I do not wish to follow their example. They will find in time, that to conquer in that manner is ho victory. To conciliate these persons I consider as a thing absolutely impossible, and therefore not worth attempting. Whatever tends most completely to my justification, will only irritate them the more; as was the case with my "Letter to the Inhabitants of Birmingham."* They are parties against whom I plead; and those that I wish to conciliate are our common judges, our countrymen in general, the world at large, and especially posterity.

Whatever has been my indignation against my enemies, I have never forgotten, and I hope never shall forget, that their conduct forms a part of the plan of a wise and just Providence; that they, as well as myself, have a proper place in the general system, the great scope of which is general and infinite good, of which they also, in due time, will partake; though I rejoice, and am truly thankful, that

See Appendix No. IX.

their place is not mine. On this occasion I shall take the liberty to quote what I wrote long ago in the Dedication of my Treatise on Philosophical Necessity to the late excellent Dr. Jebb:

"You and I, Sir, rejoice in the belief, that the whole human race are under the same wholesome discipline, and that they will all derive the most valuable advantages from it, though in different degrees, in different ways, and at different periods; that even the persecutors are only giving the precedence to the persecuted, and advancing them to a much higher degree of perfection and happiness; and that they must themselves, for the same benevolent purpose, undergo a more severe discipline than that which they are the means of administering to others.

With this persuasion we cannot but consider every being and every thing in a favourable light. Every person with whom we have any connexion is a friend, and every event in life is a benefit, while God is equally the father. and the friend of the whole creation."*

Feeling myself to be a publicly injured person, I cannot abandon the sense of dignity, peculiar to that character, or not feel the superiority which it gives me over my injurers, and which will necessarily influence the language in which I speak of them.

If I be asked whom I consider as my enemies, as holding principles most opposite to mine, (which has been the true cause of their animosity towards me,) I answer without hesitation, all those, of the clergy and laity, who are the avowed advocates for every thing continuing as it now is, in church and state. Their genuine sentiments may be seen in the late Address of the Town of Birmingham to the King,† in which they say, that " they will oppose with their lives and fortunes, every attempt at innovation."

Those who dislike this language, who are a great number, even among the clergy, I am far from considering in the light of adversaries. They are friends, engaged in the same cause, though occupying different posts. We equally wish that the world and every thing in it, should improve. We think there are things both in church and state that require reformation, and that in every country pretending to freedom, there should be full liberty to point these out, and make them the subject of a free discussion.

From this love that we bear to our country, and even to

See Vol. III. pp. 450, 451. VOL. XIX.

2 A

+ See Appendix, No, XV.

our enemies in it, we think it our duty to point out whatever we think to be defective in its constitution; and we shall do it with the more freedom and energy, from considering the dreadful evils which have lately arisen from these defects, at Birmingham. What was there worse than this that took place during the great Revolution in France, which I and many others consider as having issued in a most glorious state of liberty and happiness? Whereas, all that we yet see at Birmingham, is the mad triumph of bigotry, and such as was seldom exhibited even in ages of acknowledged barbarism.*

I trust, however, that though nothing but evil appears at present, much good will in due time arise from it, if not to this country, in which the spectacle is exhibited, yet to Europe, and the world at large. To every reflecting mind, the Riots in Birmingham. must set in a peculiarly strong light the baneful nature of bigotry, and the evils to which men are exposed in a country destitute of a good police. Even the laws of this country, whose great boast it has been that it is the only seat of true liberty, are in a great degree intolerant ; but the spirit of the people, if not that of the government, appears to be much more so, and the world will soon see to what this leads.

If it be to good, it will be a new thing in this old world of ours, viz. that persecution, and that by a mob, legislating, judging, and punishing, in the instant, is favourable to truth, and consequently to virtue and happiness. But if, which is most to be apprehended, this business, which certainly was evil in itself, should lead to farther evil, it will be another, and I wish it may be the last, instance of the baneful effects of intolerance, and will also shew in a striking light the evils that arise from a civil establishment of Christianity. If this be the case, and the world should take warning by it, I shall not think our sufferings, great as they have been, a subject of lamentation; considering myself, and my fellowsufferers, as the instructors and benefactors of mankind.

Some parts of this Appeal, I am well aware, will expose

• How different are the spectacles that are now exhibited in France and in England! Here bigotry has been fostered, and has acquired new strength. There it is almost extinct. Here the friends of the establishment are burning the meeting-houses of the Dissenters, with all the rage of Crusaders; while in Paris one of the churches has been procured by the Protestants. It was opened by one of their ministers to a crowded audience, among whom were many Catholics, all in tears of joy for the happy change. The preacher's text was, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." Here we must rather preach from Isa. Ix. 2, " Behold darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the people." (P.)

me to the charge of vanity, especially the addresses which I have thought proper to subjoin to it.* But they were in a great measure necessary to the narrative part of the work, particularly those of my late congregation, and that of Leeds, as they will shew that, notwithstanding my other pursuits, I did not, in their opinion, neglect the proper duties of my profession. The address from the Academy of Sciences at Paris, will shew in what light the Riots at Birmingham are considered by scientifical persons in a neighbouring and highly enlightened country; and that from Great Yarmouth, how they are thought of by Dissenters of different denominations at home.† I may likewise add in my justification, that persecution and calumny more than once extorted selfpraise from an apostle.

It will, however, be a gratification to my adversaries to be informed, that, except in one instance, viz. the address from the Philosophical Society at Derby, I have received no address from any set of persons in this country who have not professedly separated themselves from the rest on the princi

⚫ These are now reserved to form part of a general Collection of Addresses. + As some persons may wish to see an account of all the Addresses I have hitherto received to this time, Nov. 1, 1791, I shall briefly mention them with their dates.

From the Academy of Sciences at Paris, July 30, 1791.

From the Friends of the Constitution at Lyons, August 6.

From the Friends of the Constitution at Nantes, August 9.

From the Friends of the Constitution at Marmande on the Garonne, August 26. From the Friends of the Constitution at the Jacobins' Rue St. Honoré, Paris, August 16.

From the Friends of the Constitution at Clermont, August 20.

From the Friends of the Constitution at Toulouse, September 21.

From the Ministers and Members of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dissenters in Great Yarmouth, July 29.

From the Ministers and Members of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dissenters in Maidstone, August 8.

From the Society of the Old Meeting in Birmingham, August 21.
From the Protestant Dissenters of Mill-Hill Chapel, Leeds, August 24.

From the Committee of Protestant Dissenting Laymen and Ministers of the Three Denominations in the West Riding of the county of York, September 1, at their Quarterly Meeting.

From the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations at Llechryd, South Wales, August 25.

From the Philosophical Society at Derby, September 3.

From the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of Exeter, September 7, at their Halfyearly Meeting.

From the Revolution Society at Norwich, September 8.

From the Constitutional Society at Manchester, September 13.

From the Students at the New College, Hackney, September 21.

From the Protestant Dissenters belonging to several congregations in the Southern and Western parts of the county of Somerset, at their Annual Meeting, Sept. 28. From several Protestant Dissenting Ministers in the neighbourhood of Bolton, ancashire.

From the Protestant Dissenters of the cities of Bristol and Bath.
From the Revolution Society at London. (P.)

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