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    ported by us or any other Christians . " " The fairest way of investigating the subject now under discussi on , " says Vcritas , 4 > is to consider the effect which a general assent to this opinion would most probably produce ^ among the yarious sects professing Christianity . " I had always thought that the scriptures were primarily the criterion whereby we were to

    judge of the truth of any religious opinion , and that its practical tendency was to be decided by the conduct of those who hold such opinion ; buj it seems that Veritas has discovered a new , and what he conceives to be ^ a fairer criterion to judge of the practical tendency of a doctrine ^ by

    producing instead of its real genuine fruits , some hypothetical fruits . Facts were against our opponent he had therefore , recourse to hypothesis , and what is the result ? He is obliged to suppose that a number of persons could

    embrace a certain opinion without its producing its usual effects on their ** habits < ind modes of thinking , " These effects must be better know ^ i to those who have felt them , than to one , who denies the existence of the " inward light" by which they are pro

    duced ; and I am inclined to think that the whole of the reasoning of Veritas , with regard to this divine light , pay possibl y arise from his inattention to the effect of Us operations on the mind . Instead

    or making man presumptuous and confident in himself , " it makes him absolutel y dppencjent on a superjpr power for fivery goo ^ l and perfect gift , —for this divine light * s not corisidweil as something )\)<'\ t m , an' has at his own com-

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    mand , or much he craft appropriate to himself ; but as a free gift imparted to him through Christ , lor his deliverance from the evil and darkness of his fallen nature , and which only illuminates his

    understanding in proportion to his obedience to its dictates . Lot us how compare this sentiment with that which is adopted by those who consider themselves the advocates for human reason :-they ascribe to this faculty , not only an ability , independent of divine influence , to comprehend the spiritual truth revealed in the scriptures , but also consider themselves

    authorized to reject any doctrine contained in the scriptures , that their reason cannot fathom ^ or that does not square with their pre-conceived notions , wheteby they would make the revealed will of the infallible God bow to the decision of the fallible unenlightened reason of man . It re « quires bu { little considerafiop to determine which of these two bp

    posite opinions ascribes the most to God n and the least to the creature , and consequently which of the two is not likely to cherish pride and self-confidence , ( tfie genuine parent of religious asperity and of ^ persecution ) and if it

    were necessary , this might be il * lustrated not by hypothetical , but by real facts , ( ascribe to a want of a perfect knowledge pf what we believe , with respect to the diyine light m man , tjie assertion of y eriiastnaf its u power and in ^ uence on the

    human rnind , must of necessity ovej ^ pome all opposition and ifti - » p reis upon ^ irr ^ e heart of every individual one simple and uniform trutfci ** tor we do not believe that it consists with thp scheme q $

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    O ? i ihe inward L / ght , in Reply to T iritai . 319

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1808, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2393/page/27/