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    tion . They need not , for the most part , any exhortations to keep aloof from the Unitarians , the principle of repulsion being , with the great majority , far more powerful thai ) the principle of attraction .

    We now speak , not merely from probability and conjecture , but from observation and experience . We question whether , throughout all the Unitarian congregations iu London and its neighbourhood , half a doaen are to be found who have come from the other side of the

    Tweed . What proportion of Scotchmen resident in London have become infidels —have been converted from the school of Calvin to that of Paine , we have not the means of ascertaining . Whether here also Mr . Irving has not been guilty of great exaggeration , by looking through the distorting and discolouring medium of passion and prejudice , may , we think ,

    be made a question . Still it can hardly be doubted that a great many of the Scotch are , to say the least , sceptically inclined . For this inclination the Author of this Pastoral Epistle assigns various reasons ; but in his enumeration of the causes that are at work to produce this effect , he has omitted one which to us appears among the most active and

    efficient , viz . the existence and profession of opinions and doctrines at war with reason , with common sense , and the better feelings of the human heart . " Our young mechanics , " says Mr . Irving , " the most ingenious in their

    several arts ; with our young tradesmen , the most prosperous in their several crafts ; are , to an extent which we fear to characterize , possessed by the spirit of infidelity , and being men of understanding , are used by Satan as his most successful agents for diffusing the poison abroad in a thousand unseen directions /*

    Now if the spirit of infidelity be so widely diffused among ihe " men of understanding" from Scotland as is here intimated , the remedy prescribed by Mr . Irving of studying the orthodox faith , as exhibited iu the " larger and shorter " catechisms of his church , will be found to be any thing but efficacious . Teach ineu to read and think , give them the

    power of exercing their reason and understanding , put them in possession of this legitimate sourceof intellectual health iind strength , and you will , in vain , attempt to secure the belief of doctrines agahist which " reason stands aghast , an «| faith heraelf » half confounded . " Cahfiiusm cannot long abide the presence of ught and knowledge . With the prografts of information , of free inquiry and

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    discussion , of manly and independent thinking , it is almost every where losing its hold on the human mind . In Hoilaud , in Germany , in France , and in America , it is vanishing before that powerful and searching spirit of investiga-r tion which has there gone forth . As Joug as Christianity , and Calvinism , and

    Triuitananism , are confounded and identified , the one will too often share the fate af the other . Let this union be dissolved , let a separation be proclaimed between them , shew that Christianity is a reasonable system , and worthy the acceptation of reasonable men , of those who think most freely and dispassionately , and the ranks of infidelity will

    soon be thinned . Religion , to have an enduring possession of the mind of man , must be built upon the foundation of knowledge , and be made to harmonize with the clear deductions of enlightened and instructed reason . Aud he is the best friend to Christianity who does her

    this good service , who shews that faith and reason are in union and harmony with each other , and that the word and the works of God , when rightly contemplated , concur in the same testimony , and co-operate to one and the same issue . We lament that Mr . Irving ' s talents and powers are not employed in this direction .

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    Atr . IX . —A Letter to Sir Thomas D . A eland , Bart ., M . P ., on the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts , and on the Imposition of any new Test Oath . This pamphlet comes opportunely for the discussion of the several plans which have been suggested as to the mode of granting relief to Dissenters .

    Concurring fully in the opinions of the author as to the impolicy aud impropriety of imposing any obligation , having any relation , however remote , to religious or ecclesiastical considerations , it doesuot appear to us impossible , as he suggests , to frame some declaration to which , if the church thinks it worth while to stipulate for it , a Dissenter need not feel much , if any , practical objection .

    The establishment , in common with many other institutions , has property and privileges which exist under the sanction of actual law . To commit aggressions on such institutions , while so protected and enforced , seems no part either of the duty or practice of any sober citizen , and no man probably would feel

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    Critical Notices . 267

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    v 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 267, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/51/