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    Dr . Whately is not like many of the divines of the church of Kngland , who are horrified at the Romish claim of infallibility , and yet , practically , assume the same attribute for their church , by denying that any reform ever has been , is , or will be , necessary * Dr . Whately is friendly to reform ; and when he proves to us that his church is as candid as himself , —when he gives us evidence of

    her readiness to correct anything that shall be proved at variance with scripture or with reason , ' we shall discuss these matters with as much pleasure with her as with himself . But who is permitted to offer the proof he speaks of , and by whom is it to be admitted ? Such proof has been offered a thousand times , by living and breathing men , and it remains on their tongues and in their books ; but the church is an impersonality , and cannot be reached ; and thus the invitation to a discussion becomes a mere taunt . It

    is as if a ghost should impose commands , and inflict penalties , and levy supplies , and claim allegiance ; and , in answer to our complaints , should offer an insulting challenge to combat . If Dr . Whately offers himself as a representative of this abstract power ^ well and good . We will fight with him , con amove , if he will only promise not to take refuge under the wing of his invisible sovereign , as soon as we get the better of him .

    We are reminded at every page of the next chapter , on Persecution , of these our objections to an establishment . Our author reasons well on what persecution is and whence it arises , in order to guard against a sin to which human nature is peculiarly prone ; but he overlooks the fact , that wherever an organized church is connected with the state , there must be indirect , if not direct persecution . Wherever there is a prescribed faith with which are

    connected secular advantages of any kind , honest men who cannot subscribe to this faith are precluded from these advantages , i . e . are persecuted ; for there is none but an arbitrary connexion between the religious faith and the secular advantages . A case in point is the exclusion of Dissenters from our universities , or their honours , because they cannot subscribe the articles of the church . There is no more real connexion between the studies of the university and

    the faith of the church , than between the weaving of broadcloth and belief in the thirty-nine articles ; and it would be just as liberal to make subscription a condition of apprenticeship to that art as of studying science and the classics in our universities . There is no explaining away this matter . It matters not that other universities may be established on a more liberal principle for the use of

    Dissenters . It matters not what apprehensions any son of the church may have of the eflect of mixing heretics with true believers in the train of philosophy and science . It is no matter who founded these universities , and who are willing or unwilling that this restriction should be maintained . Our complaint is against the church which has imposed bonds on conscience and set up differences between man and man , which the gospel does

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    Rqmanism and Episcopacy * 38 $

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/29/