tending little book of the American clergyman who assumes the garb of a philosopher to pass the grossest errors upon the unsuspecting minds of parents, otherwise well inclined to give their children an education above the common routine—may be delayed. Not so the practical suggestion which I wish to be communicated through you, according to your judgment, to such friends as may be able to give it effect if it should meet with their approbation. But to the point.—An Advertisement in the Christian Teacher has made me acquainted with the existence of a Lancashire and Cheshire Presbyterian Association, established upon a principle so superior to every declaration ever made in England (at least to my knowledge) upon a similar occasion, that I should cease to be myself, if I could let it pass as a mere matter of form, or take a merely passive interest in its working. The principle to which I allude is excellently expressed in these words:

"The society is an association of English Presbyterians and other Protestant Dissenters, holding the right of the free and unlimited exercise of private judgment in matters of religion, and of full Christian communion, on the great principle of the divine mission of our Lord, without any other doctrinal test whatever.”

Now, that the originators of that noble declaration are fully aware both of its truth, and of the extent of its application, I have no reason to doubt. What I certainly question is, the probability of its being fully understood by all, or even the greatest part of those who feel a real sympathy with the sentiment it conveys. To express myself more clearly no one will subscribe to the Association, unless impelled by a feeling of the mental oppression still so generally practised by the supporters of Creeds and Articles;

but it is one thing to perceive that we are wronged, and another to have a clear and definite idea of the nature and extent of the rights which an old tyranny has invaded. Yet, unless the mass of friends to religious liberty possess this positive knowledge, their co-operation cannot be effectual in the work of deposing that invisible tyrant, that spi ritual Pope, who seems to be omnipresent among Protestants, spreading ill-will and dissension, encouraging dissimulation and hypocrisy, filling the tender consciences with anxiety, tearing asunder the ties of nature and friendship, and disuniting the good and honest, that the selfish and designing may, with little or no opposition, enlist and keep under the banners of Orthodoxy a blind multitude, always ready to support their interest and power. The enemies of religious liberty have at present an immense advantage over us: they have a clear and tangible point of union; ours is still of a negative nature; for most, at least, of those who appear in our ranks. The Churchman, the Baptist, the Methodist, all know the colours under which they are engaged to contend against us. The individual has no occasion for thought in those bodies; others have thought for him long since; the truth has been found, and it is possessed by every one who takes the name of the religious body to which the secret of Salvation belongs by inheritBut the very reverse of this picture applies to the mass of our friends. It is true that they are convinced that none of those religious bodies are in possession of the pretended secret which, in the shape of metaphysical propositions, can open the gates of heaven; but are all convinced upon clear and distinct grounds that nothing of that kind is requisite for spiritual safety? Does not the notion exist that some kind of faith, or blind assent to things which are not

ance.

capable of argumentative or documentary proof above a certain-perhaps a slight-degree of probability, is the very essence of Christianity? And what means has a Minister, who knows the full extent of his Christian liberty, to satisfy this craving? Must not he borrow some fragment of a Creed from the Orthodox, and, by the imperfect and unsatisfactory use of it, promote the mental tendency which (till Christians have totally renounced what may be called the doctrinal or metaphysical superstition which for ages has supplanted the Gospel,) must continue to make the very best minds and hearts waste their aspirations, and misemploy their moral and intellectual strength in the vain search of some final infallibility?

And what remedy (you will naturally ask) do you mean to recommend at the end of this long prelude? I must answer by another question. Do you know any remedy for error but well-directed thought and reflection? Is there any better means of exciting and directing thought but reasoning conveyed in words? Has not Printing given to language somewhat like a supernatural power? Why, then, is there any Association for moral and intellectual purposes thought of, without engaging the regular services of the Press to assist it? Observe that, because Steam is found to communicate impulse to any extent required for mechanical purposes, Steam-engines of all sizes are employed, as a matter of course, wherever motion is wanted; and the time is at hand when this newly-discovered agent will be forced to assist us for the most trivial objects. But we are yet sparing in the analogous use of the Press; we frequently form Associations with a view to the production of a certain moral and intellectual impulse, but seldom think of having a proper engine to create it.

To drop figure at once; the Lancashire and Cheshire Association should have a monthly Periodical entirely devoted to its object. I am well aware that it is not equally easy to purchase a Steam-engine, and to make the Press work in the direction in which we want mental impulse. The invisible agent which, in the latter case, is to put the Press into proper motion, is difficult to be obtained. But here we ought to consider, that we waste whatever other means we employ in its absence. The liberal subscriptions which I see already on the list of Members, and others which we may hope will swell the funds, may fee the lawyers in the case of a trial, such as that which was lately decided against us; * but they would not, even if they amounted to half a million, prepare the public mind to condemn with proper indignation the spirit of the laws from which that decision sprung. What we want is the diffusion of light, upon subjects which lie as yet under a thick cloud of superstition. But that cloud cannot be dispelled by occasional sermons, or pamphlets, or even periodicals which are made up of chance Articles. The very best of the Unitarian Journals (so far, at least, as I am acquainted with them) are conducted without any very definite plan. What I propose is a Periodical scientifically directed, in all its parts, against the notion of Orthodoxy.The attack on this bulwark of all Priesthoods should not be conducted only in the shape of controversy; light should be drawn in a more pleasing manner from mental philosophy and history. Literature should be employed to dislodge gradually the grotesque images with which an educationexclusively conducted for the promotion of the fragments of

[* In the Lady Hewley Case.]

scholasticism, upon which Divines still erect their inquisitorial thrones,-crowds the minds of children.—I repeat it, my dear friend; whatever the Association may do, in the absence of this intellectual engine, is nearly thrown away and wasted. Our union itself will be, without it, more nominal than real: the Unitarians do not yet fully understand the principle of their separation from other Churches. The very resolution, which I have quoted with due praise, allows a variety of construction, which must greatly injure the compactness of our moral and intellectual union. I will not enter more explicitly upon this point, because it would be doing little justice to a very important subject, just to propose a startling problem, and drop it before I could even indicate the way to work it. What I only wish for is your assistance in suggesting the necessity of having a periodical in direct connection with the Association. The distracted condition of the Christian world, owing to the extraneous Influences which constantly interfere with the Study of Christianity, requires from all who love it, that the formation of a nucleus of Light and Liberty should be attempted.

The chief among these disturbing and perverting Influences is that of despotic Education. An almost infinite variety of individuals, disagreeing with others in religious views, or rather vehemently condemning each other upon those points, have become unanimous upon this—that each has an unquestionable right to treat the opening minds of their respective children in a manner that, as far as in them lies, those minds shall be disabled to see the subject of religion in any other light but that of their own parents and teachers. It is astonishing with what eagerness, with what passionate obstinacy, the most discordant Religionists maintain this unqualified right of parents-a right which