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    if M . 0 e Felice were better acquainted w 4 th America , and especially with the increasing influence of *• Unitarians anS Universalists , " he would be inclined to retract something from the warmth of hid encomium . With

    regard to the Evangelical party in our House of Commons , too , M . Felice is most widely mistaken if , on the ground of their profession , he thinks they obtain influence . We cannot conceive of a more injudicious and obstructing course that can be taken by a Member of Parliament , or by his friends for him , than when he assumes the post of the representative , on all occasions , little and great , of religion in such an assembly . There is immense presumption in ah almost beardless youth rising to call men of

    practical worth and wisdom , men whose lives have been given up to the service of their race in the most conscientious manner , to account for the omission of a word , or the casual utterance of an unguarded expression . When Lord Althorp , on a recent occasion , so wisely , so nobly , and so gently , entreated one of our youthful senators of this party to forbear , who did not

    feel that the unprofessing minister was right , the lofty professor wrong > Who did not feel that the spirit of Christianity was in alliance with the former , rather than the latter ? Who did not long that the respectful entreaty of the first might have its effect upon the last , and impress upon his heart a deeper sense of the sacredness of the things which he no doubt considered it his duty thus to bring into discussion , and expose , by his own

    rashness , to the attacks of the light-minded ? M . Felice is wrong . These men do not always ** captivate the spirit by that noble ascendancy which human eloquence sometimes usurps , but virtue always commands . " On the contrary , we believe that many good Christians behold them rise to speak with fear and trembling , and dread lest the cause of suffering humanity should be injured by their imprudence . With regard to " the general views of this pamphlet , however , we have no fault to find ; our cordial approbation , our hearty sympathy , on the contrary , are with the author . As truly as he , do wef admit that religion aloile can make a nation free , that it is not ' in governments to confer the blessings

    of real liberty , which must be wrought out by individuals for themselves . As heartily do we pray for the increase of the divine spirit of the gospel in the councils of the French government , and among the people at large . As confidently , also , do we believe that mere instruction and increase of worldl y knowledge will not cure the degeneracy of a nation . It is a

    pleasure to find that , ip a formal nation , he does not propose to renovate the people by means of forms . There is no proposal for building more churches , for endowing more clergymen , for making regulations about the observance of the Sabbath . He seems to feel that this is beginning at the wrong end ; and there is not a word in the pamphlet which can encourage the notion of making a people , disinclined to religion , religious through such means , ft is , as it should be , an address to men capable of feeling that an increase

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    vol . v . 3 k

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    On Christianity in its Relation to the present State of Europe . 7 f 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 773, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/49/