The British Zion: Congregationalism, Politics, and Empire, 1790-1850

5. Church, State, and Dissenting Politics in the Age of Reform

97 5 Church, State, and Dissenting Politics in the Age of Reform The constitutional sea change of the reform era produced the next dramatic shift in the scope and character of evangelical dissenting politics. The repeal of the Test Acts, parliamentary reform, and the reconstruction of municipal governments made participation in the political life of the nation accessible to Dissenters in unprecedented numbers. Celebrating the passing of the Reform Bill, the nonconformist weekly the Patriot noted that Dissenters would no longer be forced to select between candidates “whose political sentiments were dramatically opposed to their own,” the Tories, and the Whigs, who although allies in the fight for religious liberty held religious beliefs of which “they could not approve.” In the future, Dissenters could elect “whom they please[d]” to represent them in Parliament.1 All the same, the revolution in Britain’s constitution between 1828 and 1835 created concerns for numerous evangelical Dissenters who were reluctant to take up the title of “political dissenters.” Dissenting publications , institutions, and prominent ministers all expressed concerns, lest the increase in “political spirit” should injure “the vitality of Christian ministration .”2 In the years following the agitation against Sidmouth’s bill, evangelical Dissenters had conducted their political activity primarily upon the basis of defending religious liberty and advancing civil equality through parliamentary petitions and organizations like the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty. Scripture provided evidence to justify these positions in both domestic and colonial politics, as John Philip noted in the preface to the Researches in South Africa. 98 The British Zion If it is the duty of Englishmen to claim the protection of the laws of their country; if the Apostle Paul was in the exercise of his duty when he claimed the privileges of a Roman citizen, and appealed from the judgement of Festus to the tribunal of Caesar,—it is to be hoped that the friends of humanity and of religion in England, will see it to be their duty to petition the British throne and the British parliament, that the natives of South Africa may have those rights secured to them, which have become necessary to the preservation and extension of religion among them.3 The robust political activity of evangelical Dissenters in the 1810s and 1820s was concentrated upon the principled assertion and defense of their rights against infringements by the established church or the state, and thus somewhat defensive in character. Christian Citizenship and the Politics of Disestablishment The changed landscape of postreform British politics necessitated some reconfiguration of the political dissenting ideology, partly in response to the increased accusations by Anglicans of Dissenters’ worldly political interests and failure to respect “the powers . . . ordained of God.”4 One central feature of this process was the sacrilizing of political activity through the reinterpretation of the apostle Paul and his identity as a Roman citizen. Leading ministers, such as the Congregationalist John D. Harris, recast the apostle, who had admonished his followers to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority,”5 into an active and Christian citizen. These ideas expanded upon the conception of Paul as a citizen defending his rights— see the example of Philip’s assertion above—formulating a new model of the apostle used to justify more earnest participation in politics. Paul, according to Harris, was a Roman citizen “who gloried in the distinction” and whose patriotism informed his life as an active Christian. From this, Harris encouraged Dissenters to become “Christian Citizens” themselves, with a concern for the social and spiritual improvement of the nation. “The golden law of love commands us, by legitimate means,” he asserted, “to break the fetters of the slave, to watch over the interests of the social body, and to act as the anointed guardians of truth and freedom.” True Christianity , Harris concluded, “accompanies the tradesman to the place of business , takes its seat by the judge, and to the Christian patriot it says daily, ‘Be the citizen, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.’”6 During the 1830s these sentiments, combined with the increased access of Dissenters Church, State, and Dissenting Politics 99 to political office, helped to give birth to a new and more militant style of dissenting politics.7 In 1830 John Wilks, secretary of the Protestant Society, encouraged nonconformists to take up the struggle against the remaining “grievances” that continued to mark their unequal status relative...