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assurances of revelation , the immortality of the soul could never have been ascertained ; nay , perhaps might have been reasonably doubted . "—P . 479 . We fear we have entered too full y into the general question to admit of any quotations from the different
works , the particular subject of our review . Of Mr . Lawrence ' s volumes , we cannot sufficiently express our praise of the scientific knowledge and love of truth which everflows every page ; and it is lamentable that the deadly poison of bigotry should have been employed against the works of an author , which bid fair to redeem
our character in Comparative Anatomy and Physiology . The lectures on the natural history of man are of course more interesting to the general reader . Mr . Rennell may term the following sentence Atheism , from p . 30 of the two Introductory Lectures , but we do not : " From the modifications of
structure , and its constant relation to the wants , habits and powers of animals , there arises the strongest evidence of final purposes , and therefore the strongest proof of an Intelligent First Cause . " We shall not ,
however , reflect on the understanding of our readers by further quoting numerous sentences on " that Exalted Power and Wisdom , in testimony of which all nature cries aloud , " ( to use the words of Mr . Lawrence , p . 52 of his Physiology , ) and repeated in language too fervid , pious and eloquent to admit a doubt of his sincerity . He has no where , in matter , that we can
discover , impugned the truth of revelation and whatever may be his opinions , ( and they are certainly of comparative insi gnificancy to the subject of his works , ) we are sure Mr . Lawrence has
too much common sense to believe that Christianity can be disposed of in a parenthesis . We certainly can discov <* a detestation of priestcraft , which , w hatever may be the policy or propriety <> f disseminating it through the medium of his Lectures , does honour t (> him in an age where talent and political prostitution are such saleable
commodities in the market of corruption . IJm we do confess we are somewhat puzzled to discover the relevancy 111 , uote on tbe Game Laws , which Mr Luwreiufe introduces as an alter-? V . the subject ; unless , indeed , it ™< l been a short biographical notice
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of some of those unfortunate youbg gentlemen who are occasionally introduced to his anatomical inquisition by steel traps , spring guns , and the sentences of Mr . Justice Best . Mr . Lawrence also occasionally volunteers a remark on the comparative anatomy of the American and English
governments ; and we shrewdly suspect that this effluvia of civil liberty has offended the olfactory nerves of the Quarterly Review and its patrons . We conceive these zealous Immaterialists are just as much interested for religion as the faculty of a northern metropolis , who so memorably opposed the election of Leslie to their mathematical chair on
the ground of his Materialism , and have since preferred a candidate for the lectureship of Moral Philosophy , reputed to have made a cock-pit of his drawing-room , parodies on the words of Scripture , and a living by the editorship of Blaekwood's Magazine . Such is the physical reward of * ' plastic
natures / ' ' and of those who uphold the natures / and of those who uphold the policy of the " social" system , in thinning his Majesty ' s redundant population at Tyburn Gate ! " Religion—Politics—there ' s a couple of topics for you , no more like one another than oil and vinegar ; and yet , these two , beaten together by a state cook , make sauce for the whole nation . " *
Of the part which Mr . Abernethy has written and acted , we cannot give unqualified approbation , highly as we estimate his strong and original talent , and the obligations due to him for his advancement of surgical science . But
as a philosopher , he should have supported Mr . Lawrence in maintaining the independence of the chair , however he might have differed from him in opinion . We give Mr . Abernethy credit for sincere motives in a wish to
secureas he conceived , the religious principles of the students ; but we think he ought rather to have shewn the insignificancy of the dispute as far as concerned religion , on that beautiful
sentiment of the pious and philosophical Bonnet , so often quoted by Dr . Priest ^ ley and others : " Si quelqu * un d&-montreroit jamais que £ ' t ime est mat £ - rielle , loin tie s en enlarmcry il faudroii admirer la puissance qui auroit donnS ct la ma litre la capacity de penserS * * Congreve ' s Love for Love .
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tfeview . —Recent Controversy on Materialism . 17 ?
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VOL . XVII . O A
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 177, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/49/
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