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    tion , &c , b ^ rri ^ jr against ^ eqtari ^ ispi ^^ , ^| i f l 4 nfi 4 ddUty |;! &C /; in all which they are probably as sincere sl $ in ^ ny other of their speculative ^ piniomsj , ^ iwJ , r i ^ s mucji so as they ar < & aapat ^ e of being , in any creed , or world-theory , or abstract prir ^ eiple . In spite of which , what , philosophically considered , do all these assurances , so perpetually repeated , mean , except that by the reckoning of him who keeps the ship ' s log , it still wants some minutes to the dreaded hour ?

    Lord Melbourne , however , did not merely say that he was an adherent of the Church of England : he even said why . In the first place , he did not pretend to understand all the doctrines of the Church of England , but so far as he did understand them he thought them true . This , however , was not all : * He would say

    further , though he was well aware that he should expose himself to the censure of some persons by . making the declaration—he would say further , that he was attached to the Church of England , and would support it to the best of his power , because it was the religion of his forefathers , and because it was the religion of his country . '—( Loud cheers from the Opposition benches . )

    We consider this declaration as quite invaluable . It is a naive statement of what an average English gentleman really feels . They believe in their religion , not as any thing involving truth or falsehood , or in which their own eternal welfare , or that of mankind , are concerned ; but as part of the duty they owe to their country , as English gentlemen , to uphold what they find in existence . That the sentiment found a ready echo in aristocratic

    breasts , was testified , not only by the ' loud cheers' already alluded to , but by the speech of the succeeding orator , Lord Caernarvon , ( better known as Lord Porchester the poet , ) who expressed his warm approbation of the reason which the noble lord had given for being of the Church of England , and his regret that a sentiment in every respect so worthy of that ( the Tory ) side of the house , should not have been delivered from it .

    What a reason for being of a religion ! It was the religion of his forefathers , meaning his father and grandmother , ( omitting the forty generations of Catholics , and the forty times forty of pagans ;) and it was the religion of his country , meaning about half , or less than half of the people of his country . Are these such reasons as any one would assign for believing any thing which he cared about the truth of ? Would he believe in geometry because it was the geometry of his forefathers , or in history because it was

    ^ e history of his country ? If a religion were to be believed because of its truth , who would ground his belief of it upou a consideration which militates so much more strongly in , favour of Brahma or of Fo ? But when belief is made a matter of femily affection , or social obligation , the case is altered ^ Then , as the Englishman or tfre ( Chinese are required by patriotism to serve diflerent countries , % o they may be bound by religion to wor-

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    Lord Melbpiirne ' fi Reatonjor hi * Religion . 657

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/53/