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    Dr . PuiEiSTLE y , when he ^ mblisheA hia " great work ; in two rdlii&ies ^ entitled The Corruptions of Christianiigr , sent the Historian a copy , begging

    his perusal of it , and invitingMax to the examination of Revealeji Religion . Enraged at the present , he indignantly refused to enter the lists , arid took his revenue by consigning over the intrepid , but honest , Divine to the notice of the civil and ecclesiastical

    constitutions of his country 5 pointing to two passages in his works , at one of which he saifl , " the priest / ' and at the other , " the magistrate , may tremble . " This was cowar < ily > and savoured of the blackest malignity . * But Dr . Watson , the late Bishop of Llandaff , met with better treatment . He addressed an able series of letters

    to Mr . Gibbon , entitled An Apology for Christianity y most strangely considering the Historian as a believery who had incautiously expressed himself on the subject . This was gratifying to his vanity , and accordingly a very complimentary letter was returned the Prelate on " the presentation of a copy of his work . f But , alas ! this

    * The first of these obnoxious passages simply predicted the fall of all antichristian establishments , and the other , awfully portentous to the infidel and worldly ecclesiastic , runs thus , concluding with a prayer for the arrival of the Millennium , in which the devout ' i > f every denomination might join throughout Christendom :

    * ' It is nothing but the alliance of the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of this world , ( an alliance which our Lord expressly disclaimed , ) that supports the grossest corruptions of Christianity ; and perhaps we must wait for the fall of the civil powers before this most unnatural alliance be broken . Calamitous ^ no doubt , will that time be . But what convulsions

    in the political world ought to be a subject of lamentation if it be attended with so desirable an event ? May the kingdom of God and of Christ ( that which I conceive intended in the Lord ' s Prayer ) truly and fully come , though all the kingdoms of the world be removed in order to make way for it !"

    + Waving the discussion of the subject , he artfully remarks in the note , * ' Mr . Gibbon entirely coincides in opi-^ ijon with Dr . Watson , that as their different sentiments on a very important point of history arc now submitted to the public , they both may employ their time in a manner m $ ch more useful as

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    courteous effort to yeclaito thzgseutfo-Mliever ' vr ifli eir t ^^»^ ^ Bws ^ WKf : ;¦ He obnoxious passages of his m&fory of the Decline and Fall of the Moman Empire remained unrectified , &nd he sunk still deeper iato the mire of infidelity .

    Now mark the attempts to recover Lord ByRO !* - They indeed were of a iaore private nature , but equally ujijtv ^ ulin ^ futyfl both attended with a nearly similar treatment . These s tatements are drawn from authentic sources , and shall be

    transcribed with scarcely &riy note or comment . They speak for themselves , and will , I trust , generate an useful impression upon the minds of the rising generation . * R . C . Paulas , Esq ., has just published Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from the Year 1808 to the End of 1814 , in which the following expostulatory

    letter occurs , addressed to his Lordship respecting his infidelity : " I compare such philosophers as yoti and Hume and Gibbon ( I have put you into company that you are ndt ashamed of ) to mariners wrecked at sea , buffetting the waves for life , and at last carried by a current towards land , where , meeting with rugged and perpendicular rocks , they

    well as agreeable , than they can possibly do by exhibiting a single combat in the amphitheatre of controversy . " Bishon Hurd did not like the Apology for C tianity—not savouring- of the scu of the Warburtonian school—saying of it , " It was well enough , if th& ^ uthor was in earnest . * ' But there coufi |^ g . no doubt of Dr . Watson's sincerity . F ^ treating his opponent as a believer , w&s the only exceptionable circumstance — every thing else did equal credit to his head and heart .

    * The writer here begs leave to recommend to his young friends two excellent little manuals—^ Lectures on Natural and Revealed Jteligion , by the Rev . Lawrence Holden , of Tenterden ; , and Illustrations of the Evidences of Christianity , by Mrs .

    Maria Hack , of Chichester . There is also an anoi > ymous paniphlet well worth perusal , entitled An Address to Deists y said to have been written by the Rey . Mr . Grosser , Particular Baptist Minister at Maidstone . See a late number of the

    New Evangelical Magaziney where its merits were duly appreciated ; whilst by the Old Baptist Magazine it had the honour of being reprobated .

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    2 Dr . Evans on Lo $ A Byron ' s Infidelity .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1825, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2532/page/2/