Excerpt from A Calm Inquiry Into All the Objections Made to the Educational Provisions of the Factory Bill: Exhibiting the Nature, Tendency, and Object of the New Principles by Which the Dissenting Bodies Stand Opposed Thereto This Is exactly that fair and candid mode of testing the question now at issue which an opponent would desire. It neither embroils the question with objection to any peculiar teaching of the Christian religion, nor does it partially confine its scope, to a preference for any religious system adopted by man; it puts matters on that beautiful level of equality, which can be chargeable with no intolerance by any member of the human race on the face of the globe. Happily for the non-cosmopolites of this nation, they can claim a country as their own; that country is England, and that country has already, ages past, professed, by its own choice, its faith in the Christian religion: and to this, as a profession, to the present day it publicly adheres. Accordingly, the Head of the nation, by authority of the national sanction, punishes any person who shall dishonour God by publicly denying Him, or Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. We therefore at once see, how much is involved in the predominance and enforcement of such new principles. The issue is all-important to the kingdom, and involves nothing less, in the extent and latitude to which the whole Dissenting Body are now carrying them, than the unchristianizing of the land. If there is any thing more than a name in being a Christian country, if the inheritance is an advantage which we would wish to leave to our children, we must oppose this current, and prevent such principles from gaining a universal sanction; and the more so because it is declared by combined meetings of these Bodies "That it is the imperative duty of every friend of civil and religious liberty to urge on the present movement, for the purpose of confirming and enlarging to the latest generation the rights and privileges of British citizens;" i. e. to have freedom from any national acknowledgment of Christianity, as well as choice, individually, to oppose it. The following is a resolution of the Dissenters in Southwark, passed since the amended Clauses to the Bill had been published: - "That no modification of the Educational Clauses in the Factory Bill can render them worthy of adoption; their total rejection ought to be sought by every constitutional means; and that it is the imperative duty of every friend of civil and religious liberty to resist to the utmost this retrograde movement in legislation, if they desire to see the sacred rights and privileges of the British People transmitted, not merely unimpaired, but complete and enlarged, to the latest generation." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.