Excerpt from The General Repository and Review, 1812, Vol. 1

Sisal govern-entod sndafutureswe; suchuonsfsrinstance as lord Herbert of Cherberry. To this it may be re plied, in the first place, that such instances are very rare; and that the reception of what we regard as the doctrines of revela tion is something very unfrequently to be met with, disconnect ed from the reception of revelation itself. Lord Herbert was indeed an extraordinary man, a man forced off and driven away from Christianity by what we consider as the corruptions, by which in his time it was surrounded. If however there be any man, who has honestly sought after the truth without finding it, and who, relying upon natural religion alone, has devoted himulf to the love and service 01 God, and trusts in his mercy, and looks forward to immortality; if there be any such man, we are not so solicitous, as some may think we ought to be, to point out distinctions between him and ourselves for the pur pose of chewing, that he has less reason than we have to hope for the mercy of our common Father. But we do not mean to dismiss the objection with this answer. That there is no difi'ercnce between a liberal Christian and an unbeliever is one of those loose and undefined propositions, whose want of truth may not be perceived by him, who urges it on account of its indistinctness of meaning. If it he meant that there is no dif ference in respect to moral goodness, and that the rejection of the peculiar doctrines of our opponents is as culpable as the rejection of Christianity; we may assent to this, when we are convinced, first, that these doctrines are true; next, that their evidence is as clear and satisfactory as that of revelation itself 3 and lastly, that they are in the highest degree important, so as to make the obligation as strong upon all those, who doubt, to examine their evidence, as to examine that of revelation. If it be meant, that an unbeliever may receive what we consider the great principles of religion with such an assent as to pro duce in him as strong dispositions to perform his duty to God and man as in any liberal Christian; we answer, that in the present state of light and knowledge we do not think it a prob able case; but if it be a supposable one, it is likewise snippet able, that such an unbeliever should in this respect be on an equality with an orthodox Christian; and that for ourselves, to dike the example, which my be brought against us, we do.

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