"The allurements and the menaces of power are alike incapable of establishing opinions in the mind, or eradicating those which are already there. They may draw hypocritical professions from avarice and ambition, or extort verbal renunciations from fear and feebleness; but this is all they can accomplish. The way to alter belief is not to address motives to the will, but arguments to the intellect. To do otherwise, to apply rewards and punishments to opinions, is as absurd as to raise men to the peerage for their ruddy complexions, to whip them for the gout, and hang them for the scrofula."P. 70. The Essayist distinguishes, at the same time, between the innocence of the man and the harmlessness of his views, and between holding opinions and expressing them: the expression of opinions is always a voluntary act, and, being neutral in itself, may be commendable or reprehensible according to the circumstances in which it takes place. The author treats, in Section VIII., "On the Evil Consequences of the common Errors on this Subject." One of its most obvious effects has been to draw mankind from an attention to moral conduct, and to lead them to regard the belief of certain tenets as far more deserving of approbation than a course of the most consistent virtue : "The error under consideration has also produced much secret misery, by loading the minds of the timid and conscientious with the imaginary guilt of holding opinions which they regarded with horror while they could not avoid them. What is still worse, it has frequently alarmed the inquirer into an abandonment of the pursuit of truth. Under a confused supposition of criminality in the belief of particular doctriues, men have with reason been deterred from examining evidence, lest it should irresistibly lead them to views which it might be culpable to entertain. If it is really true, indeed, that the least deviation from a given line of opinion will be attended with guilt, the only safe course is to exclude all examination, to shun every research which might, by possibility, terminate in any such result. When it is already fixed and determined, that an investigation must end in a prescribed way, otherwise the inquirer will be in volved in criminality, all inquiry becomes not only useless but foolish. This appre hension of the consequences of research once extended even to natural philosophy; and there is little doubt that it may be justly charged by moral science with inuch of the slowness of its progress. If the former has long since emancipated itself from this error, the latter still confessedly labours under its oppression. The intellect is still intimidated into a desertion of every track which appears to lead to conclusions at variance with the prescribed modes of thinking: "Men grow pale Lest their own judgments should become too bright, And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light." Pp. 74, 75. The same error has probably beca one principal cause of requiring subscriptions to a long list of abstruse, complex, and often unintelligible doctrines, in order to qualify the aspirant not only for ecclesiastical, but even for civil and military offices. The most fatal consequence of the error has been the attempt to regulate men's reeds by the application of intimida tion and punishment. All religions persecutors have been more or less acEven the victims themselves appear, tuated by the mischievous principle. in question the right of persecution, in many instances, not to have called but only the propriety of its exercise on their own persons. In reading the history of intolerance, our pity for the sufferers is often neutralized by a detestation of their principles, by a knowledge that they would have insaries had they had equal power; and flicted equal tortures on their adverall that is left for us to do is to mourn over the degradation of our common nature. Other causes may have mingled their influence in persecution. There seems to be a principle inherent in the nature of man that leads him to seek for the approbation of his fellowcreatures, not only in his actions but in his modes of thinking. Hence he is uneasy under dissent and disagreement. He resents not only the opposition to his doctrines, but the presumption of the opponent, and grows eager to chastise it. Those men in general are the least hurt at opposition who, having a clear discernment of Review.-Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions. the foundation of their tenets, least require the support of other people's approbation. The state of doubt is, indeed, a state of trouble, to which every one will be averse in proportion as he is unaccustomed to intellectual exertion and candid inquiry. Hence, whoever takes his opinions on trust has a thorough repugnance to be disturbed by contrary arguments. In a note on this place the author makes an observation well worthy of attention : "It is a curious fact, which, I think, may be observed in the history of persecution, that men are generally more inclined to punish those who believe less than they themselves do, than those who believe more. We pity rather than condemn the extravagancies of fanaticism, and the absurdities of superstition; but are apt to grow angry at the speculations of scepticism. If any one superadds something to the established creed, his conduct is viewed with tolerable composure; it is when he attempts to subtract from it, that he provokes indignation. Is it that we feel a sort of superiority at pereeiving the absurdity of what others believe, and, on the other hand, are mortified when any body else appears to arrogate the same superiority over our selves ?"P. 87. More fixed and steady sources of intolerance may be found in the connexion often subsisting between men's permanent interests or favourite objects, and the maintenance of certain doctrines. In concluding this Essay the author glances at the inquiry, how far these causes of intolerance continue in action, in the present day, and in our own country. As far as they are placed in the passions of mankind, we can only look for a mitigation in proportion as the passions are weakened, or placed under stricter controul: and the spirits of men are evidently softened by the improvement of the age, and the sympathies of mankind constrain that bigotry to be contented with reproach and invective, which in a former age would have had recourse to more formidable weapons. The advancement of knowledge also lessens the intolerance which is founded in ignorance and error, though it has not yet accomplished its destruction. There is still a boundary in speculation beyond which no one is allowed to proceed; at which innocence ter 557 minates and guilt commences; a boundary not fixed and determinate, but varying with the creed of every party. "Although the advanced civilization of the age rejects the palpably absurd application of torture and death, it is not to be concealed, that, amongst a numerous class, there is an analogous, though less barbarons persecution, of all who depart from received doctrines-the persecution of private antipathy and public odium. They are looked upon as a species of criminals, and their deviations from established opinions, or, if any one prefers the phrase, their speculative errors, are regarded by many with as much horror as flagrant violations of morality. In the ordinary ranks of men, where exploded prejudices often linger for ages, this is scarcely to be wondered at; but it is painful, and on a first view unaccountable, to witness the prevalence of the same spirit in the republic of letters; to see mistakes in speculation pursued with all the warmth of moral indignation and reproach. He who believes an opinion on the authority of others, who has taken no pains to investigate its claims to credibility, nor weighed the objections to the evidence on which it rests, is lauded for his acquiescence, while obloquy from every side is too often heaped on the man, who has minutely searched into the subject, and been led to an opposite conclusion. There are few things more disgusting to an enlightened mind than to see a number of men, a mob, whether learned or illiterate, who have never scrutinized the foundation of their opinions, assailing with contumely an individual, who, after the labour of research and reflection, has adopted different sentiments from theirs, and pluming themselves on the notion of superior virtue because their understandings have been tenacious of prejudice. 1 "This conduct is the more remarkable, as on every side we meet with the admission, that belief is not dependent on the will; and yet the same men, by whom this admission is readily made, will argue and inveigh on the virtual assumption of the contrary. "This is a striking proof, amongst a multitude of others, of what the thinking mind must have frequently observed, that a principle is often retained in its applications, long after it has been discarded as an abstract proposition. In a subject hoves intelligent men to be rigidly conof so much importance, however, it besistent. If our opinions are not voluntary, but independent of the will, the contrary doctrine and all its consequences ought to be practically abandoned; they ought to be weeded from the sentiments, We shall return in the next number to this very able and truly pleasing writer. Our apology for dwelling so long upon the first Essay is the great practical importance of the subject. The influence of the truth which the Essayist seeks to establish is, in our judgment, incalculably beneficial. "It often happens," as he well observes in the Preface, pp. vii. viii., that an important principle is vaguely apprehended, and incidentally expressed, long before it is reduced to a definite form, or fixed by regular proof: but while it floats in this state on the surface of men's understandings it is only of casual and limited utility; it is sometimes forgotten and sometimes abandoned, seldom pursued to its consequences, and frequently denied in its modifications. It is only after it has been clearly established by an indisputable process of reasoning, explored in its bearings, and exhibited in all its force, that it becomes of uniform and essential service; it is only then that it can be decisively appealed to both in controversy and in practice, and that it exerts the whole extent of its influence on private manners and public institutions." ART II.-Plain and Familiar Lectures MR. 68. R. HOLDEN has been for many years the acceptable and highly esteemed pastor of the Presbyterian or Unitarian congregation at Tenterden, in Kent. He has, we are informed, become more abundant in labours, as he has advanced in age. This volume is an evidence of his activity in the pastoral care; it consists of addresses to the youth of his flock, at whose request it has been published, accompanied with a faithful portrait of the worthy author. The following are the contents of the Lectures: I. On the various Faculties of the Human Mind. II. On the Existence of God. III. On the Providential and Moral Government of God. IV. The Probability of a Divine Revelation, under the already stated Views of the all-directing Providence and Government of God. V. The Divine Original of the Mosaic Dispensation. VI. The Old Testament considered in the Light of History and Prophecy. VII. The Divine Original of Christianity. VIII. The Christian Religion considered in the Light of History. IX. The Christian Religion considered in the Light of Prophecy. X. Proofs of the Divine Original of Christianity, from the Characters and Circumstances of the First Disciples. XI. The Conversion of the Apostle Paul attended to, in Proof of the Truth of the Christian Religion. XII. The Truths and Purposes of Divine Revelation in correspondence with its Miraculous Attestations. XIII. The Morality of Revelation considered, in Correspondence with its Divine Original. XIV. General Application. The prevalence of infidelity led Mr. Holden to instruct the younger members of his congregation in the principles of their faith; but he does not join in the undistinguishing clamour against unbelievers, as if they were not men, or not worthy to live. He says, (Pref. p. vi.,) "In any occasional observations on the arguments and objections of unbelievers which may be met with in the course of the following Lectures, the author would persuade himself that nothing will be found to have escaped from him disrespectful, uncandid, or inconsistent with the benignant and charitable spirit of our holy religion; assuredly nothing of this nature is intended; nor would he for a moment attempt to justify an appeal to the strong arm of the law to check or put a stop to their writings. Let them write, and let them be answered. Justly as he condemns the misrepresentations and partial quotations of these writers, and much as he has been at other times disgusted with their sarcastic mockery and profaneness, he considers reason and argument as better weapons than force; and that, if divine revelation cannot be supported by its own evidences, it should fall. His own decisive conviction of the firm foundations upon which it rests, is connected with a corresponding assurance Review.-Moore on Social Worship. that sooner or later all opposition must fall before it." Nothing, indeed, is more pleasing in these Lectures than the unassuming tone of the preacher, and the free and manly spirit which he encourages in his hearers. At the close of the IVth, he thus addresses his juvenile flock: "The free exercise of the understand. ing, upon this and every other subject which is at all interesting, must be ever delightful. The observations here offered to your attention, are not urged upon you with a tone of authority, as though commanding your abject and blind submission. My greatest pleasure is in meeting you from time to time, fully prepared to judge upon all subjects for yourselves. Yet, my young friends, I am so well satisfied myself, of the firmness of the ground on which I stand, that I have no fear or apprehension, when calling into free and full exercise the highest and best capacities of your nature: convinced, that if no unhappy bias takes place in your minds, from sin and from the world, religion, whether natural or revealed, the more fully it is inquired into, the more decisive will appear the firm foundations upon which it rests."-Pp. 66, 67. Mr. Holden is sparing of critical remarks upon sceptical writers; but he naturally introduces the name of Hume in the Lecture (the VIIIth) on the Historic Testimony in favour of Christianity, and smartly confutes the favourite argument of this renowned sceptic by an argumentum ad homi nem. "Mr. Hume, who in some of his writings thus attempted to destroy all faith in history, and to plunge the mind into all the uncertainty and unhappiness of universal scepticism, himself wrote a History of England. But did he expect his readers to question whether there ever were such kings of England as Alfred, or John, or Henry the Eighth ? Or did he expect that in remote ages it should be questioned whether such a person or writer as Hume ever existed?-Pp. 126, 127. The dilemma in which serious and candid Deists are placed, is properly urged by the Lecturer : "Many unbelievers have admitted the excellence and greatly comprehensive nature of the gospel morality; as also the 559 purity and excellence of the character of the Founder of this holy religion. But what can we say of the morality of the gospel, if it was a system of fraud? Or, what can we say of the purity and excellence of the character of Christ, if he knew that he had no just pretensions to a divine commission ?"-P. 134. We are much pleased with a remark or two in the introduction to Lect. XIII. on "the Morality of Revelation:" "By a system of morals, I do not mean to assert that it presents itself in these writings in the particular form of a system; but that they contain it. Much less when I use the term system of mosacred sanction of divine authority; for rals, is it my intention to exclude the they here present themselves also in the form of laws; or in all cases connected with and expressive of the will of that all-perfect Being under whose government bation our everlasting happiness will be we live; and on whose favour and approfound to depend."-Pp. 215, 216. The Lectures almost bear the character of paternal counsels. The benevolent spirit of the gospel pervades them all. And though not aspiring to originality, nor distinguished by ingenuity, and though written without the ordinary anxieties of authors in regard to style, they insinuate themselves by the good feeling which they express into the affections of the reader, and are in fact better suited than some works of higher pretension to attract, persuade, convince and improve the greater number of youthful inquirers. ART. III.-An Inquiry into the Scrip tural Authority for Social Worship; with Observations on its Reasonableness and Utility; and an Account of the Manner in which the Religious Services of the Temple at Jerusalem, and of the Synagogue, trere conducted in the Time of Christ. By Thomas Moore. 12mo. pp. 156. Hunter and Eaton. 1821. SOME late attempts to disparage the author of this tract (see his "Adthe authority of social worship led vertisement") to preach several Sermons in defence of the practice, which, by the advice of some friends, he has given to the public in the present form. A small work of this kind was much wanted, and we have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Moore's "Inquiry," as a judicious and satisfactory argument for common or joint prayer. The " Inquiry" consists of three chapters. In the first, the author alleges Arguments from Reason in favour of Social Worship." Of its reasonableness he thinks "the universal practice of Christians" a presumption, and for its utility he appeals to experience. The second Chapter is a discussion of "the Degree of Encouragement given to Social Prayer by the Scriptures of the Old Testament." Here, the practice of the Jews is fully inquired into, and the author expresses the result of the inquiry in the following terms: "From the instances which have been selected, then, it is perfectly manifest that the Israelites were always accustomed to public social worship, consisting of both prayer and praise; and it is observable that of these instances some consist of thanksgiving and adoration; some of confession of siu; others of petition; and in others all these are united. Should it be said that part of them took place on extraordinary occasions, and are therefore no proofs of the common practice of the Jews, it is obvious to reply that they are such instances only of which the historian would take any notice; the usual and every-day services of religion would, of course, be passed over in silence, just as days of public thanksgiving, or any solemn act of national worship on some singular occasion, might be mentioned by historians of the present day, whilst the regular worship of the Sunday would not form a subject sufficiently remarkable to be adverted to. The whole of these instances, however, together with the Psalms composed expressly for the Temple service, and the officers appointed to conduct it, prove incontestably that social worship was the constant and stated practice of the Jews, and that it was always connected with the observance of the Mosaic rites. "It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the first edition of Mr. Wakefield's pamphlet against public worship, which at the time excited considerable attention, he says expressly, I find no circumstances in the Scriptures, concerning this people, the Hebrews, that wear any aspect of public worship, as we conduct it; but in his second edition he abandoned this topic of argument, in consequence of the satisfactory answers to it, and allows himself to have been mistaken. He adds, however, that the Jewish public worship is nothing to the purpose; † in which he appears to us to have been equally mista ken: and, among other reasons, because, services of the Jews appears to have been in the first place, this part of the religious sanctioned by the personal attendance of Christ and his apostles; and, secondly, the universal prevalence of social prayer and praise among this people, accounts satisfactorily for no command occurring in the New Testament for the observance of this custom. To this it may be added, that social prayer is a duty altogether independent of the Mosaic institutes; but by its connexion with them it may be considered as receiving an additional divine sanction."-Pp. 42-44. The author next describes from Vitringa, Buxtorf, Lightfoot and others, "the religious services of the Temple in the time of Christ," and, after stating a variety of particulars, thus concludes this part of the "Inquiry:" "From the whole of this account, then, it is evident that the entire service of the Temple was not only public, but of the whole people, conducted by officers as social as possible. It was the service appointed for this purpose. "The mode of prayer, it is true, was probably different from that in use among Christians. There is no proof that they had any minister to conduct this part of the services, and Prideaux says, that every one repeated what prayers he ceptions, referring to the instance of the thought proper according to his own conPharisee and Publican, as mentioned by Christ. It appears, however, from Lightfoot's and other accounts of these ser vices, on the best authority, that they had forms, and of these several have been given. The comment moreover upon the Talmad says expressly, § that these were the prayers of the people; and Maimonides || observes that their prayers were |