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Is a name which can scarcely fail to be familiar to every one who has taken the slightest interest in the history of Protestant Dissenters, as borne by a distinguished champion of their cause; to whom they owe one of the ablest and most satisfactory vindications, not only of their secession from the church of England, but of the grounds on which they disapprove of all civil establishments of religion, whatever may be their constitution, principles, or tenets.
His celebrated ‘Dissenting Gentleman's Letters’ have received, and continue to enjoy, a well-deserved popularity; and have, perhaps, done more than any other single work to promote just views of this subject, and to enable the Nonconformists of later times to give a reason for their separation, which might repel objections, satisfy their own minds, and maintain them steady in the public profession of their principles, notwithstanding the many temptations to fall away to a more fashionable religion.
But
Mr. Towgood has other and not less considerable claims on our respectful remembrance.
He knew how not only to assert but to exercise the privilege of enlightened impartial inquiry; and in his search after Christian truth he never forgot to cultivate Christian charity, and to make the principles he professed the means of forming and purifying the best affections of the heart.
These views and feelings he carried into all the relations
