In the estimation of Mr. Stevens, who was educated within the pale of the Church of England, and who had imbibed from his parents an intolerant spirit, the Dissenters were unworthy of the toleration which had been granted to them; as he believed they were decidedly inimical not only to the religious, but the political constitution of the state. Hence he often blamed the government for granting them so much religious liberty. And even after he had felt the spiritual change, which forms the great line of distinction in the human character, he retained, for a long time, too many of his old prejudices against them. But, becoming an active agent of the Bible Society, he was unexpectedly brought into contact with some whom he found to be men of sense, of piety, of zeal, and of candour; more disposed to disseminate the pure faith of Christianity, than propagate their own peculiar tenets. He now rose superior to his long indulged antipathies; and though he still gave a decided preference to the church of which he was a member, yet he felt convinced that there were many wise and good men belonging to other religious communities. As he was by nature of an open and generous disposition, the spirit of liberality found in his heart a congenial soil for its growth and expansion. He would often repeat, with peculiar warmth of expression, the following verses:-- "Be that bigotry far from our breast, Which would Christian from Christian divide; Which by blind party zeal is caress'd, The offspring of folly and pride. "Names, parties, and sects disappear, With their separate int'rests and laws, No name, but of Christ, would we bear, No int'rest but that of his cause." Happily for him, and for the neighbourhood in which he lived, his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Ingleby, was a man of a most catholic spirit, who viewed the circumstantial differences which prevail among Christians as of little consequence, in comparison with the more important truths on which they are agreed. _He felt a stronger attachment to the Redeemer_ than to the formula of the church of which he was a minister; and though he was a man of order, and conscientious in the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, yet he thought that the Word of God ought not to be bound by human restrictions.