Printed copy of the resolutions passed at a “General Meeting of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers, of the Three Denominations, in the County of Worcester, and of Deputies from the Congregations, held in the city of Worcester, June 24, 1789,” Joseph Gummer, Chair.

Twelve resolutions were passed.  The delegates are thankful that “the Principles of Freedom and Liberality are spreading so fast and so wide in our enlightened and favoured Country.  And they will, we doubt not, continue to make greater and more rapid Advances, so as to ensure to us, and to all Men, in the End, those just rights, and that equal Liberty, to which all have a natural and unalienable Title.” They will continue to press for the removal of the Test Acts, which they term “unjust, absurd, and impolitic” and “contradictory to a leading Principle of our excellent Constitution, which forbids that any Man should suffer, who has done no Wrong.” They stress how the Dissenters have always demonstrated their loyalty to the Crown and the Constitution, and view these Acts as “Infringements of our natural and civil Rights.” They wish that “Associations of the three Denominations of Dissenters should be formed in every County, in order to strengthen their Union, and to give Efficacy to any Measures which may contribute to the general Welfare of the Body.”

Text: Test Acts Papers, no. 17, Unitarian Collection, UCC 3/6/6, John Rylands University Library of Manchester.