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    and defended and that which is inwardly , though perhaps carelessly and indifferently , entertained . It is a harsh thing to say of an establishment in many respects so learned and respectable as our own , that it fosters infidelity ; and yet , if we consider the language and conduct enforced upon its ministers by the requirements of its creeds and articles , it is hardly possible to deny the fact .

    The majority of mankind will , it is to be feared , for some time to come , continue to gather their notions of Christianity from what is publicly taught and established ; so that while the mind is encouraged to think freely on all other subjects , and is opened to new views of moral and political truth , on the subject of religion alone it is oftentimes a perfect blank ; because , to inquiries urged in the spirit , and to doubts and difficulties founded on the knowledge and intelligence , of the nineteenth century , answers are frequently knowledge and intelligence , of the nineteenth century , answers are frequently

    returned and solutions offered worthy only of the superstitious notions and mysterious creeds of gothic barbarism and ignorance . Too many of our established clergy , by a confusion of ideas , natural enough to men in their situation , identify the cause of the Church of England with the cause of Christianity ; and thus all the zeal , and learning , and ability , with which many of her sons are so eminently endowed , and by which , were they left free to follow the course of their own unbiassed minds , they might become

    such formidable champions of the truth , are diverted from their proper objects , and employed in maintaining the cause to which their interests attach them , against the growing light and powerful questionings of the age . Under such circumstances truth has no chance . Every thing is calculated for the meridian of an age long past . It is almost useless to look for any fresh theological information in the productions which issue from the press of the most orthodox of our two universities ; for , under the promise of some

    contribution to the stock of religious knowledge , we are constantly mocked with an ill-concealed apology for the doctrine of the Church of England , From the same cause arises that unmeasured hostility , which is poured out by the zealous sons of the church , upon all those inquirers after truth , however learned , and candid , and ingenuous , whose researches have terminated in conclusions widely at variance with established creeds and articles . With

    some it is the quick and instinctive perception of the tendency of such researches to undermine the authority of those doctrines with which the existence of the establishment is identified ; with many , no doubt , it originates in a better , though still very erroneous , state of mind—in that confusion of ideas , which leads them to regard an attack upon the church in the same light with ^ an attack upon Christianity , and to respect the Prayer-book and the Gospel as of equal authority .

    Such are the certain consequences of making the religious opinions of any particular age a standard for the faith and worshi p of future generations . When we consider what a powerful attraction of interest operates for the upholding of an established system , and in what various and unseen ways interest influences the judgments of men , we may estimate the number and magnitude of the obstacles that are thus thrown in the way of discovering the

    truth , and the bias b y which the best and purest minds may be almost unconsciously swayed . These evils would exist to a degree under every form of an establishment ; but they are felt with peculiar force in England . He , whose purity of heart and simplicity of taste might resist the attractions which wealth and splendour throw around the hierarchy , finds himself assailed b y temptations of a more dangerous , because of a less obvious kind , which derive their force from some of the most amiable and valuable qualities of our na-

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    16 Spirit and Tendency of Religious Establishments .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/16/