Note 108b — Chapter IV

It can hardly be doubted that if prudence had permitted, they would have done so at an earlier period, without any scruple as to the lawfulness of such a proceeding. They had, indeed, as Mr. Harmer suggests, “this to plead for themselves, among other things, that they entered not actually into these associations till the whole legal frame of the episcopal church was dissolved by the extinction of monarchy, and men left to follow their own light in these matters by the then public authority.” But to attach any importance to such an argument, would betray the advocate of religious liberty into a surrender of his great principle,—a principle clearly stated in a quotation occurring in connexion with the above language: “As freedom is the birthright of mankind, any number of persons may voluntarily unite themselves for such purposes, and under such regulations, as appear useful and convenient to them, provided they do not encroach on the rules of justice, and the rights of others. And if they may unite for other purposes, much more may they unite for the purposes of religion, and the service of their common Lord and Master.”—Harmer’s Misc. Works, 147, 149.