of regeneration could have made him a Christian,
according to the gospel of Dr Kennedy.

Lord Byron had but loose feelings in religion--scarcely any. His
sensibility and a slight constitutional leaning towards superstition
and omens showed that the sense of devotion was, however, alive and
awake within him; but with him religion was a sentiment, and the
convictions of the understanding had nothing whatever to do with his
creed. That he was deeply imbued with the essence of natural piety;
that he often felt the power and being of a God thrilling in all his
frame, and glowing in his bosom, I declare my thorough persuasion;
and that he believed in some of the tenets and in the philosophy of
Christianity, as they influence the spirit and conduct of men, I am
as little disposed to doubt; especially if those portions of his
works which only trend towards the subject, and which bear the
impression of fervour and earnestness, may be admitted as evidence.
But he was not a member of any particular church, and, without a
reconstruction of his mind and temperament, I venture to say, he
could not have become such; not in consequence, as too many have
represented, of any predilection, either of feeling or principle,
against Christianity, but entirely owing to an organic peculiarity of
mind. He reasoned on every topic by instinct, rather than by
induction or any process of logic; and could never be so convinced of
the truth or falsehood of an abstract proposition, as to feel it
affect the current of his actions. He may have assented to
arguments, without being sensible of their truth; merely because they
were not objectionable to his feelings at the time. And, in the same
manner, he may have disputed even fair inferences, from admitted
premises, if the state of his feelings happened to be indisposed to
the subject. I am persuaded, nevertheless, that to class him among
absolute infidels were to do injustice to his memory, and that he has
suffered uncharitably in the opinion of "the rigidly righteous," who,
because he had not attached himself to any particular sect or
congregation, assumed that he was an adversary to religion. To claim
for him any credit, as a pious man, would be absurd; but to suppose
he had not as deep an interest as other men "in his soul's health"
and welfare, was to impute to him a nature which cannot exist.
Being, altogether, a creature of impulses, he certainly could not be
ever employed in doxologies, o