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    flogging Churchiuanship out of his tendency to prance over people ' s fences ; not allowing Wit to waste his mettle in unprofitable capers ; and * by dint of whip and reins making them all keep the ji oa 4 and drag his articles to market in the best ; order , and just in the nick of time . What can be mere seasonable than

    this fifth of November sermon ? . It is , indeed , an improvement of the day , and a very great improvement too * . Amply sufficient for that day has been the evil thereof ; and it may almost admit of doubt whether the homilies against Popery which have been preached upon it , of late years , have not done as much mischief by the bigotry and bad passions which they have nourished , and the

    system of misrule tending to oppression and bloodshed to which they have been sub * seirient , as if the conspirators , had actually succeeded in their-design to " blow up King am } Parliament "—the King and Parliament , that is , of that day , such as they were ; and with all those tendencies which produced two revolutions , one civil war , one royal execu- * tion . a change of dynasty , parliamentary

    corruption in England , and Protestant ascendancy in Ireland . The nation was noj ; saved-from hating a Popish King and a Protestant rebellion . And the ChuLcJi of England , with such consistency as belongs to a church which is dependent upon state-patronage , blends its devout thankfulness for the providential preservation of the Stuart dynasty , with its equally devout thankfulness for our being well rid of that dynasty , altogether and for ever .

    We put it down , therefore , to the Churchman portion of Sydney Smith , when he tells us , that " it is a comely and Christian sight to see the magistrates and high authorities of the land obedient to the ordinances of the Church , &c . ;" an < i , also , when he Jauds the Church for " that it discourages vain and idle ceremonies , unmeaning observances , and

    hypocritical pomp ; au $ encourages freedom in thinking upon religion , arid simplicity in religious forms ; " unless , indeed , we must understand this laat sentence rather as the banter of the Wit , than as the puff of the Prebendary . To this we can have no objection : at any rate , the priest , ia responsible for the strange concision in

    p . 13 , that errors atiput ** doctrines w ^ eh influence practice" " may , perhaps be fajr objects ol hnmm iutejflfersncs $ " fMppec §»» sipji which virtually aban 4 oi ) H tb $ n principle of reiligiouft liberty v and by allowjing $ he civil power tp judge of tendency , sanctions , tjie worst excesses of . » pir " vti *

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    despotism ; nor ( and this is the last exception we shall take ) do we know what to make of the declaration to his headers , that ( supposing the various charitable directions of : the preacher have ; beftti obeyed ) , " if you choose to perpetuate tlje restrictions upon your fellow-creatures ,

    nojone has a right to call you bigdtedt" - ! - « P . 21 . If he has rightly expounded the " Rules of Christian charity , " the restrictions alluded to can only have been imposed and continued by the very spirit of bigotry . The sermon is , if not ostensibly , yet very distinctly , a reduction to the dilemma of Violate the

    " Rules , " or relinquish the restrictions . " Ye cannot serve two masters . " If the man who would make , or keep his fellow-man a slave , on account of his religion , be not a bigot , we should like to be told where we can find one ? Had we met with the sentence quoted above , in the Edinburgh Review , we should have taken it for a hoax on the

    clergy—a sort of practical joke . We should have imagined the writer smiling in his sleeve at some simple-hearted reverend brother , of the No-popery faction , delighted at the idea of oppressing the Catholics , and yet no one having a right to call him bigoted ; schooling himself , with all his might , into Christian charity , in order to satisfy at once his conscience and his cupidity ; and when he had made the acquirement , finding , to

    his astonishment , that he had no longer any disposition to oppress them ; but had nothing left for it save to sign a petition ( in spiteof Protestant Ascendancy , Church and State , Gunpowder Plot , Divided Allegiance , Bloody Queen Mary , and all the rest ) for their immediate and unconditional emancipation * But such a trick as this does not accord with the gravity of a sermon , even though it be a sermou by Sydney Smith .

    We shall not make any analysis of this discourse * because we intend to quote the author's own summary of his arguments . It is right to remark , that , with the exceptions just made , every part of it is good , much of it excellent ; such as to command , not only our assent , but our admiration . The various " canons of

    religious charity" are laid down with clearness and precision , and most perfiuasively ano \ powerfully recommended U > adoption * It Is ft most opportune , honourable , and Christian effort to calm < Jovyn the passions which hawe , of l $ fo , fyjaen 1 sq violently excited ; and , call people Jwcktothe <« plain radiment *} £ fcQm ~ in ^ chari ty and common sense . " Would that they could be brought to hear and

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    Critical Notices . 851

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 851, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/51/