Mr. C.—Yes,—men who would not own you. Do you think that Watts, and Doddridge, and Matthew Henry would have joined with the noisy, factious Dissenters of our day? Would they have given “the right hand of fellowship” to men, who, in railing against the Church and the State, expose their own folly and irreligion? Mr. S.—Be that as it may, I say, that I ought not to support a Church to which I do not belong. Mr. C.—And does your saying it make it either law or gospel? Mr. S.—I say, that oppression is contrary both to the Law, and to the Gospel. Mr. C.—And so say I. Mr. S.—Why, then, do you wonder at my making a stir, when I am an oppressed and persecuted man? Mr. C.—Many, who pay _the least_, often complain _the most_; and though you feel yourself so grievously persecuted, I dare say that your Church-rate has never been more than two or three shillings a-year. Mr. S.—I do not care whether I pay two shillings or two pence. I say, that I ought not to pay to the Church-rate, and support a religion to which I do not belong. Mr. C.—Nothing is more common than to hear a Dissenter say “I ought not to pay to a religion to which I do not belong.” It sounds very plausible, but there is no truth in it. The fact is, that you do not pay the Church-rate as a Dissenter, nor do I as a Churchman. Mr. S.—How do you make that out? Mr. C.—Ages ago, and long before there was a Dissenter in this or any other town in England, the property we occupy was made liable to the various expenses of the Church; and the annual charge is on the property we occupy, and has therefore nothing to do with the religious opinions of those who occupy it. Mr. S.—I should very much like to know, when Church-rates began? Mr. C.—And so should I; but this tribute has been paid to the Church from such an early period, that no one can tell when it began. All I can tell you, is this, that the first record we have of its being levied, is in the reign of Edward III., more than five hundred years ago. {6} Mr. S.—If the payment is so ancient, and a charge on the property we occupy; having, therefore, nothing to do with the religious opinions of those who occupy it, how is it, then, that so many persons are opposed to the Church-rate? Mr. C.—Men of hasty spirits—little knowledge—and less judgment—are too often led away by those who ought to teach them better. Your teachers know, as well as I do, that the Church-rate being charged on the property, the payment of it can affect no religious principle. As I said before, “it has nothing to do with either your religion or mine;” and if the churchwardens, in days like the present, had to stop and inquire at every door, before they knocked, what is this man’s religion?—or, has he any at all?—they need have nothing else to do. Nor is that all; a Protestant Church would be turned into a Popish Inquisition, and churchwardens into inquisitors!