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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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falsifies ) the Monthly Repdshory for December last , in order to raise a pious horror against Unitarians , as if they were Infidels or the patrons of Infidels ! ( See a note to this Letter , p . 15 . ) Before he again talks so pompously of " the honour of the Protestant Dissenters , " ( p . 7 , ) let him determine for his own guidance the question , whether there be not certain arts which are almost as
criminal as dissenting from Mr . Ivimey ' s opinions , and even as turning with disgust from the spirit which breathes in these miserable pages .
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Art . X . —A Sermon on Occasion of the Death of the Rev . John Yates , preached on Sunday , Nov . 19 , 1826 , in Paradise-Street Chapel . By the Rev . William Shepherd . 8 vo . pp . 28 . Liverpool , Willmer ; London , R . Hunter .
We do not take up this valuable Sermon in order to make any addition to the biography of the excellent man to whom it relates , which was given in our last Number , pp . 66—70 : pleasing as the subject is , our correspondent has left nothing of moment to be supplied .
But whilst we have great satisfaction in recommending Mr . Shepherd ' s Sermon generally , we are particularly desirous of quoting a passage which appears to us to contain sound sense upon a delicate topic , on which every one must have heard very unwise and somewhat mischievous speeches .
"By the event of his marriage our departed friend was raised from a state of limited circumstances , within which , however , his honourable prudence caused him to circumscribe his wants , to a condition of comparative affluence ; and when he found himself in process of
time surrounded by a numerous family , he availed himself of the opportunities which presented themselves to his just judgment , of increasing his property , and it is generally believed that in this respect his efforts were successful . I mix sufficiently with the world to be well aware to what hacknied and invidious
remarks a minister of the gospel is liable whose substance increases in the land . But no dread of commonplace flippancy shall make me shrink from this topic ; and on this point I confidently advance these principles : that it is the duty of a parent , if it be in his power , so to provide for his children as to enable them to maintain that station in society to which , by the incidents of his life , he
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has been led to habituate them ; arid that the possession and accumulation of wealth constitute no offence , provided that it is acquired with integrity , that in its pursuit no duty is neglected , and that its use is guided by the dictates of virtuous feeling . "—Pp . 20 , 21 .
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Art . XI . — Man responsible for his Belief Two Sermons , in answer to Mr . Brougham s Inaugural Discourse delivered at Glasgow . By the Rev . Ralph Wardlaw , D , D ,
1826 . It is not our intention to enter in this place into the discussion to which these discourses relate , between Mr . Brougham and Dr . Wardlaw . We give the title of the pamphlet for the purpose of recording in an extract an opinion on the subject of religious liberty , which we are glad to receive from a theologian of Dr . Wardlaw ' s school .
" It is a truth that men ought no longer to be led , and it would be a joyful truth , if truth it were , that they are resolved no longer to be led blindfold in ignorance . It is a truth that the principle which leads men to judge and treat each other , not according to the intrinsic merit of their actions , but according to the accidental and involuntary coincidence of their opinions , is a vile principle . It is a truth , that man should not render account to man for his belief . And in as
far as this is meant to express the grand principle of universal toleration , there is no length to which I would not cheerfully go along with its eloquent and powerful advocate : the very word toleration , seeing a right to tolerate supposes the existence of a corresponding right to
restrain and coerce , being a term which , in such an application of it , no language ought to retain . Men should be free to think as they are free to breathe . I make no exceptions . Let truth defend herself , and defend herself by her own legitimate means . She is well able to do so . Nor does she stand in need of
any auxiliary methods beyond those of fair argument and rational persuasion . Give her an open field and the free use of her weapons , and she will stand her ground . Legal restraint and suppression have invariably had the effect of
giving tenfold prevalence to the dreaded error ; and measures of coercion , whilst they have made hypocrites by thousands , have never made , and never can make , ontt genuine convert to her cause . "
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122 Critical Notices
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 122, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/42/
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