JB/005/083/002

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Church Reform

force the zeal necessary to produce activity
detached from the antipathy animosity and resentment
which stimulate exasperate and fortify opposition, [and
give birth to a large measure of collateral
mischiefs unnecssary to the attainment of
the good in view,] requires such a measure
of coolness and foresight and moderation,
as nothing but less than a large fund of experience
and a long-continued habit of reflection
can produce.

These The following considerations which
obvious as they may appear seem never hitherto
to have been uniformly kept in mind in
any great system of reform, would if duly
attended to and profited from have kept the
change clear not only of a great part nearly the whole of
the mischiefs that have resulted from it, but of
a great part of the opposition which it has
found its way.

1. That the public is composed of nothing but individuals:
and that therefore the public society can not never be
shewn to have profited be likely to profit in any respect, any
farther than this can be shewn to be the case
with some of its members.

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Church Reform

2. That one every man forms as large a share part of
the public as every any other, consequently that
by taking a given burthen off the shoulders
of A any one man and setting it down to bear
with equal weight upon the shoulders of one B
other man nothing is gained to the public
in point of clear advantage.

3. That on the contrary a considerable loss
is sustained if the case be as it generally
is that A's shoulders are were used to the burden
and B's unused to it.

This being the case, where the grievance
consists in coercion, the first object ought
to be not to shift the coercion from one set
of men upon to another, but to substitute pure liberty
to coercion as far as may be.

To apply these principles to the case particularly
before us.

In all changes respecting religious observances
the change ought to be not compulsory but
optional. If the old establishment in any part
seems defective reprehensible, propose a new one such as
shall appear clear from its the defects: of the old one but have
the body of the people as free as they possibly
can be to take their choice. The opinion of the
people

Identifier: | JB/005/083/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 5.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	005	Main Headings	church of englandism
Folio number	083	Info in main headings field	church reform
Image	002	Titles
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	4
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f1 / f2 / f3 / f4
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	[[watermarks::gr [crown motif] [lion with crown motif]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	2500
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