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    on the young , respect towards the aged ; on children , reverence for their parents ; and on all men profound veneration for the gods , and the institutions of religion . The beneficial effects of this respect to the wisdom and experience of age , of this deference to parental authority , and this devout homage to the powers of heaven , were long seen and felt . "

    I never read a more extraordinary paragraph than this—The beneficial effects of a profound veneration of the gods !—of devout homage to the powers of heaven !—Is this the language of a minister of the gospel ? and of a worshipper of the one true and living God ? who hath solemnly pronounced

    v Thou shalt have no other gods beside me ! " Or is it the cant of some pensioned priest , some hireling advocate of a corrupt establishment , heathen or Christian , no matter which , but which must at any rate be supported , because it is established . — " The beneficial effects" of a , profound veneration for the gods * of Greece and Rome V Yes verily . 3

    these effects " were long seen and felt' while they existed : and are not wholly forgotten at this distance of time . Who were more distinguished for their piety to the gods than the heroes of the Iliad ? and how exemplary their character ! How beneficial the devotion of the inhabitants of Cyprus to their celebrated goddess ? The piety of Athens is blazoned in the blood of the wisest of her philosophers .

    We all know the zeal of the Ephesians for their great Diana , and the blessed effect which it produced . How edifying was the piety of ancient Rome , in driving a nail into the capitol to expiate the anger of the Gods , in seasons of great public calamity ! And how just the punishment of that

    impious commander , who when the holy chickens refused their food , ordered them to be thrown into the sea , that they might drink if they would not eat ; in consequence of which he lost the victory and his life . This extraordinary ebullition of charity in my esteemed . friend , to the obsolete idolatries of Greece and Rome , reminds me of the

    traveller who pulled off his hat to the statue of Jupiter , hoping that if his godship ever came into fashion again , he would be pleased to remember that he had shewn him respect when nobody else did . The worthy author having , it should seem , exhausted hia stock of charity upon Calvinists , Papfsts , and Idolaters , has but little left for the unfortuuate Unitarians , against whom &e brings a very serious charge in the page which follow *

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    Mr . JBelsharn ' s- Strictures on Carpenters Lectures . 307

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1807, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2381/page/19/