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    evitfeiice have been wanting in the , numerous sermons ^ wTOli he composed ? The \ yri $ tig 6 f sennops was the gceaj businie ^ bf A& 1 b ^ t ! per ^ d 6 f lijs fiffe ; it w $ s tb 6 bebup ^ tion in which jie felt most pleasure , , 1 ? it not probable , then , that His , tfofopoMtions for the pulpit contain all that he deemed essential to salvation ,

    and a complete exposition of his matured sentiments on religion ? Was there any inducement to prevent this ? The inducement lay in an opposite direction . The way to church preferment lay in the beaten track of orthodoxy . Interest would . admonish him , if not to say more , at least to say all that he believed in

    favour of established dogmas . And if there is not only a studious avoidance of popular phraseology x but the use of language decidedly adverse to orthodox sentiments—if this is found , notwithr standing every inducement to an opposite course , we are constrained to conclude that he could not pronounce the Shibboleth of established creeds . There was

    the more necessity for an open avowal of orthodox sentiments , because he was suspected of a taint of heresy , a suspicion against which his great works on the Evidences and on Morals had at first to labour . To remove this suspicion no attempt is made ; bat by his silence he gives a warrant to prevalent impressions .

    Nor is this ail . At the University , Dr . Jebb , an avowed Unitarian , and the Rev . E . Wilson , whose rise is said to have been limited by some doubts of his orthodoxy , were his intimate friends and associates ; and from Dr . Law , the Unitarian bishop of Carlisle , he received his first and his best patronage . In his

    dedication to Dr . Law , of his work on Moral and Political philosophy , there is a passage which is no less striking as an evidence of his religious sentiments than beautiful for its truth and simplicity : fS You ? Lordship ' sresearches" ( he says , ) * ' have , never lost sight of pne purpose , namely , to recover the simplicity of the

    gospel , from beneath the load of unauthorized additions , which the ignorance of some ages , and the learning of gthersthe superstition of tfte meek and tlie < craft of designing nien- ^ -haye unhappily for its interest heaped upon it . , And this purpose I am , cojttvincedl was dictated by tfce prest i » 0 # i $ ¥ ;» % n \ afc < J 4 # !*> JV W * opinion , that whatever renders religion mow Vauojnai Jpnn&fa l fy } vwe ' tipim \ e ; that He Wpp , )^ j : # ) dti % ^^ k ^ ; faHh ^ Pul ex . aiaitta 0 nof 4 ^ misaea from jj ^ ay ^ i ^^ u ^ r ^^ e ^ : ^^ contradicts the apprehension , the expe-

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    rience or the reasoning of mankind , does more towards recommending the belief , and with the belief the influence , of Christianity , to the understandings and consciences of serious inquirers , and through them to universal reception and authority , than can be effected by a thousand contenders for creeds and ordinances of

    human establishment . This is not the manner in which Trinitarians are wont to address Unitarian reformers ; aud can hardly fail , one would imagine , to prove that Paley approximated in opinion more nearly to * the Bishop of Carlisle than to

    the champions of orthodoxy . Nor is it a little remarkable , that in the list of books which Paley recommended to probationers for the clerical office , the best Unitarian works of the day are foundsfor instance , Law ' s Life of Christ .. Jebb ' s

    Jftarmony , Locke on the Epistles , Taylor on the Romans , &c . Haw can all these concurring facts be accounted for without admitting the heterodoxy of Paley ' s sentiments ? Ah Arian he may have been ; high or low we know not whether ; a Trinitarian he certainly could not be . And after the evidence that has been

    brought forward , I deem myself warranted in applying to the friend of Jebb , the disciple of Tucker , and the prote ' ge' of Law , the words which were used of the Bishop of Carlisle—Paley ' s " theological opinions fell greatly below the established standard of orthodoxy . " In

    perusing his works , it is impossible not to be charmed with the liberal spirit which Jfervades them . Paley thought as one who was , conscious qf faculties given him jfor the express pu rpose of enabling him to learnj mark , and inwardly digest 5 and he wrote as one who was desirous of infusing into the fcreast of

    every man a similar sense of his own dignity and power . Yet though conscious of intellectual vigour , he was fully aware of . the numerous ; causes of mental error which attach to our common nature .

    Accprdingly , you never hear him < Jog-. niatize-7-you never find him self-opinionated . ' With a man ' s strength he had a chiid ' p mefsknes ^ 5 and while he exer-^ flj ea tfe ' right of t | iiuUing for himself , lie did not usuip the function of thinking " f or otjiprs . \ iie was \ at pnce $ iary of Jiis own and tender of ' , php privileges of m ^ flpiW ^ lK % < & * . wa » , . good , : PfM . ^ 4 mh * . AwArr ^ *<> , ^ or . jrugtion—to . a pejrwnaciQUfl . maintenance of < explede ^ observances and antiquated wmm ?^ Jh * .. « rwp& # »> ° t in ^ ' pmt * Lfl ^ niembers of ; , society an ^ l \ yorshlpeis of Godi-j-tb , theae things , and to

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    888 OccasionalCorrespondence .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 858, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/58/