28 MARCH 1835, Page 18

Spiritual Despotism, by the author of " The Natural History

of Enthusiasm," is not so much a work of facts or arguments, as of opinions ; those opinions, moreover, being so enveloped in elegant and well-sounding phrases, and the writer finding so much to say on both sides, that it is not easy to get at his actual meaning. He appears, however, to be decidedly opposed to the Voluntary principle; which seems to him to give rise to a "Spiritual Despotism," especially over the pocket. His theory is in favour of an endowed church; and if not admiring the union of Church and State, he would at least maintain it since it is established.