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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

• Citation
  • 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/