the Rev. W. Turner , Jun. , MA., Lives of the eminent Unitarians

[351] honourable distinction we deem it) on the part of Unitarian Dissenters, that their academies, at the same time that they have commonly aimed at as high a literary character as circumstances enabled them to obtain, have uniformly rejected these unworthy fetters, and have not sought to throw any additional artificial temptations in the way of the honest, enlightened inquirer after truth. Such is the unavoidable influence of personal connexions, of early prepossessions, of the example of those by whose advice and instruction we are necessarily guided before we are able to form a conclusion or opinion which can be called really our own, that it is rarely possible for any one to come to the examination of the most important of all questions perfectly free from all bias or prejudice; and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that the majority of the young men who resort to these institutions are found to espouse the prevailing sentiments of the place; but it has commonly been our object, so to frame their constitution, and so to regulate the plan of study and instruction pursued in them, as to counteract, and not to give increased and unnecessary strength to these misleading influences. And there is good reason to believe, that in these endeavours the excellent persons to whom the education of our young divines has been committed, have not been altogether unsuccessful. They have not only refrained from attempting to exercise any undue influence over their pupils, but have endeavoured, while communicating instruction, to preserve their own minds in the desirable attitude of seekers after truth; not bound by the trammels of any sect or system, but ready to follow her