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    who believe themselves to have obtained the hi g hest hc : pes that can be obtained by mortals ? And from the top of that pinnacle to which they have raised them selves , they look down w ith pi'y , mingled with contempt , on all tho r e they have left frelow : but in this new character

    there is neither charity nor humility , the most certa n marks of the disciples of ihe meek and lowly Jesus . " But , in the second place , whit must be the condition of those ^ wko after embracing this faith , and after the most serious application and diligence , have not been able fo ' raise themselves to this

    high distinction : and are too honest to put in their pretensions ? Is not this tempting many of them ! ofeign feelings which they never felt , and to put on the appearance of joys , which they never experienced ? £ nd thus they surrender

    their integrity to preserve their consistency . But , if in the general tenor of their lives , ^ re do not see more honesty , more disinterestedness ; , &c . than in other men , we may infer , that the gifts , which they have received , are not very powerful , and come from a source not

    very pure . "It is certainly , not easy to believe , that some of the most abandoned of mankind ( for the more abominable they are , the fitter subjects for this experiment ) after passing-, for a few days , through these operations , should come out perfectly transformed in heart and life , and

    become angels of light . We have nothing in nature that we can compare With this . It resembles most the transformation which the fteathen poet has ffcighed ; and ii has more the appearance OT inagic , than an operation pf rational religion , trottestanis ridicule the

    pardons , sold and purchased in the Romish church , and the easy admission that ! they thus gain into the gates of heaven : but this new mode surpasses every thing which that church ever invented , for cheapness and e pedition .

    *< Dr . Middlc ' ton , in his celebrated Letter from Rome , demonstrates the exact conformity between Popery and Paganism , establishing it , that modern Rome lias borrowed a great number of its religious ceremonies from that ancient

    mistress of the worl 4 , But will it not jWrise , the Protejstant world Jt , o learn , tpat these wonderful transformations are nearly a copy of the ancient Pagan my ** tcries , practised in Greece , and m other parts of the heathen world ? I will not

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    say they are borrowed > the resemblance may be purely accidental ; for the s / perstiiionsof all countries are nearly reiaied . The historian in giving an account o € the terrible ceremonies by which the initiated were received into their sacred mysteries , ' A mechanical operation , * says he , * was played off at proper intervals , duriner the course of the

    celebration . Towards the e-nd , the whole scene is terrible ; all is trembling , stiuddering , sweat and astonishment . Strange cries and bowlings are uttered . Light succeeds Hark ness , various holy phantasies enchant the sight . Melodious notes ire heard from afar , with all the sublime symphony of the sacred hymns . The pupil now becomes free , is admitted to bear a part in the sacred rites ; and then declared a perfect man . ' i

    ( It requires a firm miud to pass through such scenes with the perfect ; use of the faculties . The mind is required to be in continual exertion , by night and by day , and upon subjects often the most horrible . cThe deluded converts are labouring to believe aad adopt , what they are t <* ld they must feeL They are forbidden to enjoy any of the common innocent amusements of

    society , as a relief to the distressed souL They are kept- constantly on the rack , and fixed on such exercises only , as are too powerful for weak minds . It is not to be wondered , then , that the spirit * , from this unnatural igiration , should smk down iu confirmed . melancholy , or burst out in outrageous madness .. Those

    have the best chance p f escaping , who are the least in earliest in these operations . An eminent physician , in a late Treatise upon , Insanity ^ in enumerating the causes of this unhappy malady , founded upon principles taken from the

    register of Bedlam , from J ' 772 to 1787 , assigns go cases , in that period , to the effects of false religion .- and it is t ^ he observed , that this is a larger number , than from any other cause , excepting t 6 fever he gives l lo , and 115 to hereditary tendency , " ( pp . 145- *—15 & . )

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    Review . —The Christian Advocate s Publication for 1811 . 179

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    Art . II . —Two Discourses , preachedrbefore tJie University ofCam-m bridge ^ on the Doctrine of a Particular Providence , and qn Modern Unitarianism : with ' JNctee , referring to some recent . Opinions and Publications on

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1812, page 179, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1746/page/43/