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    try as we hope ere long it will be , abandoned his original intention in favour of a pamphlet ; and we have no doubt that in this form the known talents of the writer , and the acknowledged importance of the subjeet , will insure it a very general perusal amongst the Protestants of Ireland who are more immediately interested in its contents , whether in the church or out of the church .

    The first of these Letters having already appeared in the Repository , all that we need say of it at present is , that it lays before us the cause of the publication , maintains the utility of discussion and the right of private judgment , and that the word of God is the only judge in religious controversy . We refer our readers to No . XIX . pp . 433—438 , to refresh their recollection of its contents . We are quite sure from what they have already seen that they will be anxious to see more of so interesting a discussion , and we shall therefore proceed to make as copious extracts as the nature of our work will permit .

    The second Letter kindly furnishes Lord Mountcashell with some useful information on a point of which we suspect others of the nobility besides his Lordship are wanting in grace , wisdom , and understanding ; namely , the difference between Unitarianism and Socinianism , which information , if they are as wise as they would appear to be , they will do well to avail themselves of in future orations and harangues . "That some of my numerous antagonists should call me hard names , misrepresent my principles , and impute to me a belief in doctrines on which I

    have expressed no opinion , or which I altogether discredit , gives me neither surprise nor concern . There are Shimeis in every age , and all animals will follow the instincts of their nature . But you , my Lord , are of more exalted kind . You are not of the ignobile vulgus , but a Feer of the realm , and , as I am most willing to believe , a philanthropist and patriot . I therefore own , that I felt some degree of astonishment that your Lordship should deign to join the rank of those who explode their theological hatred in nick-namesthat a nobleman , who should be the flower of courtesy , should stoop so low as to place himself on the platform with vituperative polemics . Your Lordship

    recollects that * be courteous / is the precept of an inspired apostle . But , perhaps , your Lordship thinks the duty recommended by the precept , should extend only to those whom you recognize as your own ' household of faith . ' The same apostle , however , admonishes us to ' honour all men / and I cannot find that the religion of Christ makes any exception of those who worship the Father in spirit and in truth , i . e . Unitarians . You have no right nor authority , my Lord , to call me a Sacinian , more than I to call your Lordship an idolater . I avow myself to be a Bible , or Unitarian Christian , and he who calls me by any name deduced from that of an uninspired mortal , gives me a

    name which I reject and disavow . " —Pp . 7 , 8 . But though the term Socinian is very properly objected to when applied to Unitarians as a body , it is contended that as a reformer , a scholar , and a man , few stood higher than Faustus Socinus , and Dr . Drummond employs several pages in , a defence of his character , and an exposition of his opinions and those of his followers , concluding thus :

    " Another great error of the Sociniaas , for which in the judgment of some who have climbed to the apex of orthodoxy , they deserved not only temporal , but everlasting burnings , was their assumption of the exercise of reason in the interpretation of Scripture . How any one pretending to the name of Protestant can utter a syllable against the use of this faculty in the consideration of those very subjects in which it is most required , I ana at a loss to comprehend . The instant they lay it aside , they are felled prostrate by the

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    Dr . Drummotid ' s Letters to Lord MounteetsJiell . 703

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 703, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/47/