The history of Unitarianism, or Anti-trinitarianism in America, so far as it appears as a marked and distinctive form of christian belief, begins within the first half of the eighteenth century. There can be little doubt, that previous to the great revival under Whitefield, who began his labors in New England, in the latter part of the year 1740, the doctrine of the Trinity had remained undisputed: and as little, that among the results of that revival, was the firm establishment of Arian in opposition to Trinitarian views of the person of Christ, and of Arminian in opposition to Calvinistic views upon the subjects of freewill, predestination and grace, in the minds of a large number of the New England clergy. In the year 1815, some leading men in New England, of the orthodox school, republished a portion of the memoirs of Lindsey by Mr. Belsham with a very remarkable preface, and entitled the pamphlet "American Unitarianism." The object of the entire pamphlet, but especially of the preface, was to throw reproach upon the Unitarian body in this country. One of the gentlemen, well-known to have been at least active in circulating the pamphlet, sent a copy to the venerable Ex-President Adams. This elicited from him a note which bears date at Quinsey, Mass. May, 15, 1845, addressed to the Rev. Dr. Morse, then an orthodox congregational minister in Charlestown,Mass. After thanking him for the pamphlet, Mr. Adams says, "In the preface, Unitarianism is represented as only thirty years old in New England. I can testify as a witness to its old age. Sixty-five years ago, my own minister, the Rev. Samuel Bryant; Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, of the West Church in Boston; the Rev. Mr. Shute, of Hingham; the Rev. John Brown, of Cohasset; and perhaps, equal to all, if not above all, the Rev. Mr. Gay, of Hingham, were Unitarians. Among the laity how many could I name, lawyers, physicians, tradesmen, farmers! But at present I will name only one, Richard Cranch, (1) a man who had studied divinity, and Jewish and/Christian Antiquities, more than any clergyman now existing in New England."

It is not, however, to be understood, that Unitarianism was openly avowed or preached to any great extent before the American Revolution. The llev. Dr. Mayhew, named in Pres. Adam's letter to Dr. Morse, is justly regarded as the first preacher of Unitarianism in Boston, and his society is virtually the first Unitarian Church in America. His daughter, Mrs. Wainwright, in a letter to the late Rev. Dr. Freeman, says, "Respecting my father, there is no doubt that the clearest evidence may be given of his having asserted the unity of God in the most unequivocal and plain manner, as early as the year 1753. I have many sermons, from which it appears to me, no one could for a moment question his belief." The re-publication of Emlyn's Inquiry into the Scripture account of Jesus Christ, so early as 1756, and which is known to have excited unsual interest at its appearance, is mainly attributable to him.

After the Revolution, the avowal of Unitarian sentiments becomes most distinct. King's Chapel in Boston, the first Episcopal Church in New England, had been deserted by its Rector, who left with the British Troops when they evacuated the town in March, 1776. His assistant continued to conduct its services until the following November; when the congregation, which was chiefly composed of adherents to the royal government, was dispersed, the services suspended, and the Chapel closed. In the summer of 1782, the proprietors of the chapel took measures for re-occupying it for their own worship, and on the 21st of April, 1783, at the Easter meeting, Mr. James Freeman was chosen rector, he having officiated as reader during the preceding six months. Public worship was thenceforward observed in the chapel, according to the book of Common Prayer, altered in such particulars only as the change in the political state of the country required. This continued until the year 1785; when the proprietors appointed a committee to report, after consultation with Mr. Freeman, such further alterations as together they might deem necessary in the liturgy of the church. The opinions of Mr. Freeman had undergone such changes, that he had resolved not to read any longer, certain portions of the liturgy, which he now believed unscriptural in their meaning and character.

He preached a course of doctrinal sermons, setting forth his views upon this great subject in full, and so well directed were his efforts, that on the 19th of June of that year, after several adjourned meetings, at which the report of the committee, and the whole matter had been amply considered, the proprietors voted, "that the Common Prayer, as it now stands amended, be adopted by this church, as the form of prayer to be used in future by this church and congregation." The alterations corresponded with those made by Dr. Samuel Clarke in his Revision of the Liturgy of the church of England; consisting chiefly in the exclusion of all passages or expressions, which implied a belief in the doctrines of the trinity and Deity of Christ. (2) Thus this church became the first avowed Unitarian Church in America; the first on this Continent which openly proclaimed to the world, its express denial and rejection of the dogmas just named, as being contrary to the revealed word of God.

Notwithstanding all this, the congregation seem to have desired, and to have thought it possible, to remain within the pale of the Episcopal Church. Accordingly they applied by letter to Bishop Provost of New York, enquiring " whether ordination for the Rev. Mr. Freeman, can be obtained on terms agreeable to him and to the proprietors of this church." The bishop replied, declining to decide so important a question; but said that it should be referred to the next general Convention. Few things are more striking, than the promptness and independence with which the church and their minister acted on this occasion. The Bishop's reply bears date ) 3th August, 1787; and upon its receipt, the congregation decided at once to ordain Mr. Freeman themselves, without asking the countenance or aid of any other church. The plan of ordination previously agreed on, was carried out on Sunday, the 18th of November, in the same year, when he was in accordance therewith, publicly ordained. After the usual evening service had been read, the wardens took their places with the candidate in the reading desk, and the senior warden made a short address to the congregation, assigning the reasons for the present procedure. The candidate then read the first ordaining prayer. The senior warden next read the ordaining Vote; and having called for the assent of the proprietors of the chapel, they signified it by holding up their right hands. Mr. Freeman being then called upon by the senior warden, to declare his acceptance of the office, read aloud as follows: "To the Wardens, Vestry, Proprietors, and Congregation of the Chapel or First Episcopal Church in Boston. Brethren, with cheerfulness and gratitude I accept your election and ordination, which I believe to be valid and apostolick. And I pray God to enable me to preach the word, and to administer the ordinances of religion in such a manner, as that I may promote his glory, the honor of the Redeemer, and your spiritual edification." This declaration signed by himself, was then exchanged with the wardens for the ordaining vote signed by them; when the senior warden laying his hand on Mr. Freeman, said, " I do then, as senior warden of this church, by virtue of the authority delegated to me, in the presence of Almighty God, and before these witnesses, declare you, the Rev. James Freeman, to be the Rector, Minister, Priest, Pastor, Public Teacher, and Teaching Elder of this Episcopal Church; in testimony whereof I deliver you this book, (delivering him a Bible) containing the holy oracles of Almighty God, enjoining a due observance of all the precepts contained therein, particularly those which respect the duty and office of a minister of Jesus Christ.—And the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and give you peace now and for evermore!" The whole Assembly, says the Record, as one man, spontaneously and emphatically pronounced Amen. Mr. Freeman then read the second ordaining prayer; the choir sung an anthem; he preached on the office and duties of the Christian Ministry; and another anthem closed the simple, but solemn and affecting service.

Here was consummated the first practical triumph of liberal views of Christianity in America, by this " public exercise of a long dormant night, which every Society, civil and religious, has, to elect and ordain their own officers." Thus it was described by the Rev. Dr. Belknap, then the minister of Federal Street Church, in Boston; who replied with admirable pleasantry and power, to the abuse which was heaped upon Mr. Freeman and his congregrtion for their proceedings, by the newspaper press. The wardens of the church triumphantly refuted the protest which was put in by some of the former proprietors of the church; and when four Episcopal clergymen circulated a bull of excommunication against Mr. Freeman and his church, all the notice which, with characteristic good sense, he took of it, well aware that the intended blow would only recoil upon themselves, was to request the editor of the Columbian Centinel, then published in Boston, to give a copy of the paper a place in his columns.

It is very certain, that up to this time, the great body of the New England Churches, having been from the first settlement of the country remarkably unfettered by creeds, forms, or ecclesiastical tribunals, had been gradually preparing for the advent of a liberal theology. Almost imperceptibly therefore by themselves, many were becoming or had become Unitarians in fact, without thinking of or adopting the name. The universal reverence for and reading of the scriptures, the prevalent disposition to abide by their teachings as the ultimate authority, the numerous instances in which intelligent laymen devoted themselves to theological study and inquiry, at once liberalizing and commending it, helped forward this good result. The great questions which have since been in controversy, were then chiefly matters of discussion in private circles. With no " observable show," with no efforts at proselytism, with no engines of secret cabal or conspiracy at work, the cause of truth advanced silently to its issues. Before the close of the century, some open demonstrations were made at two points at least in Maine, which though early checked, were doubtless the form of what has since proved a vigorous growth. Dr. Belknap in Boston, had published a collection of Hymns for public worship, from which all Trinitarian and Calvinistic expressions were rigidly excluded, and which rapidly supplanted in many churches in Massachusetts, and elsewhere in New England, that of Watts, which had been so universal. Dr. Bentley had distinctly preached Unitarian views in Salem. Boston and its immediate vicinity, and the Southern counties of the State, had become most familiar with them. Beyond Worcester in the west, in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, they were little known. And leaving New England, the only spots perhaps in which they had lodgments, were in Pennsylvania; and this through the influence and zeal of Dr. Priestley, who having arrived in this country in 1794, soon established himself at Northumberland, about 130 miles north-west of Philadelphia. He preached regularly for some years, to a small assembly at Northumberland, and in the years 1796 and 1797, returned and preached in Philadelphia.

Until the year I815, things continued much as before. It has been stated, indeed, that at the opening of the century, all the ten Congregational ministers of Boston were Unitarians, in the sense at least in which the term is commonly used in America, that is, as denoting a denial both of the trinity and the supreme deity of Christ, without regard to the question of his pre-existence. While liberal views were thus silently but surely gaining ground, their opponents started in the year I805 a periodical publication in Boston, called "the Panoplist," with the evident purpose of checking their advance; nothing, however, occurred to produce a direct onset upon the growing heresy, until 1808, when the publication of a collection of hymns, by the Rev. Mr. Buckminster, of Brattle Street Church, for the use of his own flock, drew forth from that journal a review full of unfairness and asperity. The main ground of attack was a false charge of mutilating the hymns of Watts and others, for the set purpose of concealing the great doctrines of the gospel, under the authority of their names. The truth was, that the collection was made on the avowed principle of introducing no expressions or sentiments into hymns for public worship, which should prevent any conscientious believer from uniting in their use, and the special hymns complained of were taken, without alteration, from the collection of Dr. Kippis, and without any reference to the originals.

Public attention had also been engaged by the difficulties which occurred in the efforts to elect a successor to the Hollis Professorship of Divinity in Harvard University, Cambridge. The Professorship had remained vacant nearly two years. On the 5th of February, 1805, after strenuous opposition, the corporation elected the Rev. Henry Ware, then pastor of a church at Hingham, Mass., and a known Unitarian. The election came before the Board of Overseers during the same month for concurrence, when the same opposition'manifested itself. It was insisted on in both Boards, that the founder of the Professorship in requiring " soundness and orthodoxy" in the incumbent, intended and made it necessary that he should be a Calvinist; and that inquiry into the religious faith of the candidate, became the imperative duty of those on whom the choice devolved. To this it was replied, that Hollis, though in some things agreeing with Calvinists, was not himself a calvinist; and that in his statutes, drawn up with the nicest care, he had prescribed only the Holy Scriptures, and not the Assembly's catechism and confession, as the rule of his professor's faith. Other collateral grounds were urged, but after long and patient discussion, the Overseers concurred in the election; and on the 14th of May following, Mr. "Ware was inducted into the Professorship.

About this time, Dr. Kendall of Plymouth, published a sermon delivered at the ordination of Mr. Williams at Lexington, Mass.. in which he protested against creeds as conditions of communion,which provoked another article of like spirit from the Panoplist. While it is very remarkable, that '' Bible News," then just published, and which has been well described as "the first American book in which the doctrine of the trinity was 'looked in the face' and protested against," was unnoticed. It would seem that the champions of orthodoxy at that time felt, that the first part of this work, in which the trinity-specially was impugned,was unanswerable, for not even the Panoplist stirred. And to make this the more striking, the second part, containing the author's theory concerning the Son of God, which of course, whether vulnerable or not, could not affect the previous part, was attacked by a neighbour of the author. The author of " Bible News" was the Rev. Noah Worcester, then Pastor of a church at Thornton, New Hampshire, and of whom we shall have occasion again to speak.

In 1815, the pamphlet to which allusion has already been made, * entitled "American Unitarianism," made its appearance, and was immediately followed by a review of it in the Panoplist by the editor. In this review the writer appealed to the most violent and bigoted sentiments of the community. He charged the clergy of Boston and the vicinity, and the great body of liberal christians, with holding the lowest possible views of Jesus Christ, and of his mission, which could venture to take the name of christian; with a hypocritical concealment of their real sentiments, and with base, cowardly, and deceptive behaviour, in respect to the whole subject. And he finished by conjuring all that were sound in the faith, to come out and separate themselves from them, and to refuse them all christian communion. This was the signal for the beginning of the great controversy, which immediately began, and continued at short intervals to agitate the religious community for several successive years; until at last those lines of separation between persons who claimed to be orthodox and the Unitarians, were drawn,which remain to this day.

Dr. Channing, in a pamphlet of more than thirty pages, in the form of a letter to the Rev. S. C. Thacher, bearing date June 20, 1815, warmly and well repelled the charges put forth by the Panoplist against himself and his brethren. He takes up each of the charges in succession. The first, which attempts to make the Unitarians of Boston and the vicinity, responsible for all the peculiarities of Mr. Belsham's views, as being their own also, he unequivocally denies; and shows conclusively, that what united them was Unitarianism as opposed to Trinitarianism; the belief that God is one person, and not three persons. "The word Unitarianism," he says, '' as denoting this opposition to Trinitarianism, undoubtedly expresses the character of a considerable part of the ministers of this town and its vicinity, and the commonwealth." The second charge, of operating in secret, hypocritical concealment of their sentiments, and base and hypocritical conduct, he also denied; and showed in detail how utterly unfounded it was, and by what unfair use of the materials furnished by the pamphlet reviewed, it had been attempted to sustain them. The charge in large part was thus made to recoil on the reviewer.—To the third charge of heresy, and the accompanying demand that the orthodox "come out and be separate," he replies in a tone of just indignation as to the charge, and of earnest and affecting protest as to the demand. The first was most unjust, and the last most unchristian. That strong love of liberty, which so eminently characterised Dr. Channing through life, never found more fitting or eloquent expression than in some passages of this letter. And there is visible throughout, the same beautiful spirit of charity for the errors and the wrong-doings of others, which is every where conspicuous in his writings. To this letter, Dr. S. Worcester, of Salem, replied, and the controversy comprised three pamphlets from each party, the friends and adherents of each claiming the victory.

The point mainly involved in the controversy so far, and which Dr. Channing had obviously opened as the chief subject for consideration, was religious liberty; the freedom of every Christian and every denomination to judge for itself upon all matters of faith. And although his opponent was thought not to have met him fairly and fully there, this really was the chief thing at issue between the great parties whom they respectively represented. The first result was to break up, in great measure, the custom of exchanging pulpits between the liberal and the orthodox clergy. The next was, to agitate the question of 'the right to change the constitution of the Congregational Churches.' This was the subject of an elaborate and very able pamphlet, written by the Hon. John Lowell, called forth by the renewal of an effort which had more than once before been made by the exclusive portions of the congregational body, but which derived a fresh impulse now from the progress of Unitarianism. The object was so to unite the churches into some great ecclesiastical organization, that there should be tribunals of easy resort, with full ecclesiastical jurisdiction in all cases of heresy and apostacy. The effort had always failed, and it again failed more signally than ever.

In the midst of the excitement which these things had created, unitarianism had lifted its head in Baltimore. On the 5th of May, 1819, the Rev. Jared Sparks, since so well and honourably known in the literary world as one of the best writers of our country, was ordained to the pastoral care of the first independent church of that city; and on this occasion Dr. Channing preached upon the distinguishing doctrines of Unitarians. This, which was one of his most elaborate and able discourses, embraced a statement and discussion of the principles of interpreting the Scriptures, and of the views of God, of Christ, of Christ's mediation, and the purposes of his mission, and of the nature of Christian virtue or true holiness, adopted by them. Thus the whole field of controversy was laid open again. The orthodox views were assailed at every point; and they who held them felt that the duty of defending them could not be put aside. Professor Stuart of Andover, addressed letters to the author of the sermon, in defence of the doctrine of the trinity, and the proper deity of Christ; and these were reviewed and replied to by Professor Norton, of CanVoridge, in the Christian Examiner. This article of Professor Norton is the basis of his invaluable volume since published, entitled 'A Statement of Reasons for not believing the doctrines of Trinitarians, concerning the nature of God, and the person of Christ.' Dr. Woods, of Andover, took up the defence of Calvinism, in his Letters to Unitarians; which were answered by Dr. Ware, of Harward University, Cambridge, in his Letters to Trinitarians. Rejoinders and replies followed. Both branches of the controversy were conducted with distinguished ability.

From this time the controversy seems in great measure to have subsided. Mr. Sparks engaged Dr. Miller, of Princeton, N.J., in a discussion upon the 'Comparative moral tendency of Trinitarian and Unitarian Doctrines,' on account of ' unjust and severe remarks on Unitarians,' made by the latter in a sermon preached by him in Baltimore, at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Kevins. This was in 1821. The Congregational Body was now effectually severed in two. In Massachusetts there is an annual congregational Convention, in which both parties meet. The chief object of this- is to provide for the pecuniary relief of the widows and children of deceased congregational ministers of that State, who are left indigent. On the second day of its session the Convention attends divine service, and makes a collection after service in aid of its charity. The Massachusetts Congregational Charitable Society, which is an institution incorporated for promoting the same charity, and to a certain extent co-operates therefore with the Convention, holds large funds, and annually appropriates about two thousand dollars to its objects. The officers of the Convention are chosen from the two parties of which it is composed. At one time the sermon was preached by a preacher chosen alternately from each of those parties; but latterly it is more rare that a sufficient number of votes is cast for any Unitarian minister to elect him. As the majority of the orthodox members increased, and party lines became more and more sharply defined, the prerogative of power has been the more constantly asserted.

We proceed now to give an exposition of Unitarianism, as held by those who avow it as a distinctive faith in the United States; and who are there known by the name of Unitarian Congregationalists, inasmuch as the form of church government and order which they usually adopt, is that of strict Congregationalism. And here we cannot do better than adopt a portion of a recent tract of the American Unitarian Association, written for the express purpose, by the Rev. Alvan Lamson, D.D., of Dedham, Mass.(4)

"Unitarianism takes its name from its distinguishing tenet, the strict personal unity of God, which Unitarians hold in opposition to the doctrine which teaches that God exists in three persons. Unitarians maintain that God is one mind, one person, one individual being; that the Father alone is entitled to be called God in the highest sense; that lie alone possesses the attribute of Infinite, underived Divinity, and is the only proper object of supreme worship and love. They believe that Jesus Christ is a distinct being from Him, and possesses only derived attributes; that he is not the supreme God himself, but his Son, and the medium through which he has chosen to impart the richest blessings of his love to a sinning world.

"This may be called the great leading doctrine, the distinguishing, and, properly speaking, the only distinguishing feature of Unitarianism.

Unitarians hold the supremacy of the Father, and the inferior and derived nature of the Son. This is their sole discriminating article of faith.

"On several other points they differ more or less among themselves. Professing little reverence for human creeds, having no common standard but the Bible, and allowing in the fullest extent freedom of thought and the liberty of every Christian to interpret the records of divine Revelation for himself, they look for diversity of opinion as the necessary result. They see not how this is to be avoided without a violation of the grand Protestant principle of individual faith and liberty. They claim to be thorough and consistent Protestants.

"There are certain general views, however, in which they are mostly agreed, which they regard as flowing from the great discriminating article of faith above-named, or intimately connected with it, or which they feel compelled to adopt on a diligent examination of the sacred volume. Of the more important of these views, as they are commonly received by Unitarian Congregationalists of the United States, I may be expected to give some account, though I feel that it will be impossible, without exceeding due limits, to do any thing like justice to the subject.

"I begin with the character of God. Unitarians, as I said, hold His strict personal unity. They are accustomed, too, to dwell with peculiar emphasis on his moral perfections, his equity, his holiness, and especially his paternal love and mercy. They regard it as one of the chief glories of Christianity that it contains a clear assertion and full illustration of the doctrine that God is our Father. They give to this doctrine a prominence in their teachings, as one peculiarly dear to their hearts, one intimately interwoven with their conceptions of a true, cheerful, and elevating piety, and the obligations and encouragements to repentance, prayer, and an obedient life. It is the office of religion, as they view it, to purify the soul of man, to enkindle in it holy desires and affections, and become to it a source of light, strength, comfort, peace; and the paternal character of God, his infinite love, tenderness, pity, united with the holiness of his nature, is the great idea which must lie at the foundation of all such religion in the soul.

"They believe that the mercy of God is not confined to a few arbitrarily chosen out of the great mass of beings equally sinful in his sight; but that he yearns with a father's tenderness and pity towards the whole offspring of Adam. They believe that he earnestly desires their repentance and holiness; that his infinite overflowing love led him miraculously to raise up and send Jesus to be their spiritual deliverer, to purify their souls from sin, to restore them to communion with himself, and fit them for pardon and everlasting life in his presence; in a word, to reconcile man to God and earth to heaven.

"They believe that the Gospel of Jesus thus originated in the exhaustless and unbought love of the Father; that it is intended to operate on man, and not on God; that the only obstacle which exists, or which ever has existed on the part of God, to the forgiveness of the sinner, is found in the heart of the sinner himself; that the life, teachings, sufferings, and resurrection of Jesus become an instrument of pardon, as they are the appointed means of turning man from sin to holiness, of breathing into his soul new moral and spiritual life, and elevating it to a union with the Father. They believe that the cross of Christ was not needed to render God merciful; that Jesus suffered, not as a victim of God's wrath, or to satisfy his justice. They think that this view obscures the glory of the divine character, is repugnant to God's equity, veils his loveliest attributes, and is injurious to a spirit of filial, trusting piety. Thus all, in their view, is to be referred primarily to the boundless and unpurchased love of the Father, whose wisdom chose this method of bringing man within reach of his pardoning mercy, by redeeming him from the power of sin, and establishing in his heart his kingdom of righteousness and peace.

"I now proceed to speak of Jesus Christ. As before said, Unitarians believe him to be a distinct being from God and subordinate to him. The following may serve as a specimen of the processes of thought, views, and impressions through which they arrive at this conclusion. I state them, it will be observed, not by way of argument. I shall use no more of argument, I repeat, than is necessary to explain fully what Unitarianism is, and how it sustains itself,—in other words, on what foundation it professes to rest.

"Unitarians do not rely exclusively, or chiefly, on what they conceive to be the intrinsic incredibility of the doctrine to which they stand opposed. They take the Bible in their hands, as they say, and sitting down to read it, as plain, unlettered Christians, and with prayer for divine illumination, they find that the general tenor of its language either distinctly asserts, or necessarily implies, the supremacy of the Father, and teaches the inferior and derived nature of the Son. In proof of this they appeal to such passages as the following: 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent;' John xvii. 3. 'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus:' 1 Tim. ii. 5. 'My Father is greater than I:' John xiv. 28. 'My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me:' John vii. 16. 'I speak not of myself:' John xiv. 10. 'I can of mine own self do nothing:' John v. 30. 'The Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works:' John xiv. 10- 'God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ:' Acts ii. 36. 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour:' Acts v. 31.

"They appeal to such passages, and generally to all those in which Jesus Christ is called, not God himself, but the Son of God; in which he is spoken of as sent, and the Father as sending, appointing him a kingdom, 'giving' him authority, giving him to be head over all things to the church. Such passages, they contend, show derived power and authority.

"Again, when the Son is represented as praying to the Father, and the Father as hearing and granting his prayer, how, ask they, can the plain, serious reader resist the conviction that he who prays is a different being from Him to whom he prays? Does a being pray to himself?

"Unitarians urge that passages like those above referred to, occurring promiscuously, are fair specimens of the language in which Jesus is spoken of in the New Testament; that such is the common language of the Bible, and that it is wholly irreconcileable with the idea that Jesus was regarded by those with whom he lived and conversed, as the Infinite and Supreme God, or that the Bible was meant to teach any such doctrine. They do not find, they say, that the deportment of the disciples and of the multitude towards Jesus, the questions they asked him, and the character of their intercourse with him, indicated any such belief on their part, or any suspicion that he was the Infinite Jehovah. We meet, say they, with no marks of the surprise and astonishment which they must have expressed, on being first made acquainted with the doctrine,—on being first told that he who stood before them, who ate and drank with them, who slept and waked, who was capable of fatigue and sensible to pain, was, in truth, the Infinite and Immutable One, the Preserver and Governor of nature.

"They contend that the passages generally adduced to prove the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ, fail of their object; that without violence they will receive a different construction; that such construction is often absolutely required by the language itself, or the connection in which it stands; that most of those passages, carefully examined, far from disproving, clearly show the distinct nature and inferiority of the Son. They notice the fact as a remarkable one, that of all the proof texts of the Trinity, as they are called, there is not one on which eminent Trinitarian critics have not put a Unitarian construction, and thus they say that Unitarianism may be proved from the concessions of Trinitarians themselves. It is certainly a very extraordinary fact, that there is not a single text of Scripture commonly adduced as proving the Trinity, which distinguished Trinitarian critics have not abandoned to the Unitarians.

"Unitarians find difficulties of another sort in the way of believing in a tri-personal Deity. They object, the inherent incredibility of the doctrine in itself considered. They say, that they cannot receive the doctrine, because in asserting that there are three persons in the Deity, it teaches, according to any conception they can form of the subject, that there are three beings, three minds, three conscious agents, and thus it makes three Gods, and to assert that these three are one, is a manifest contradiction.

"So too with regard to the Saviour,—to affirm that the same being is both finite and infinite, man and God, they say, appears to them to be a contradiction and an absurdity. If Jesus Christ possessed two natures, two wills, two minds, a finite and an infinite, they maintain that he must be two persons, two beings.

"Unitarian Christians of the present day, so far as I know, do not think it lawful directly to address Christ in prayer. They think that his own example, the direction he gave to his disciples,—' when ye pray, say, Our Father,'—and such expressions as the following: 'In that day,' that is, when I am withdrawn from you into heaven, 'ye shall ask me nothing; verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,' not only authorize, but absolutely require prayer to be addressed directly to the Father. To prove that the ancient Christians were accustomed thus to address their prayers, they allege the authority of Origen, who lived in the former part of the third century, was eminent for piety and talents, and in learning surpassed all the Christians of his day. 'If we understand what prayer is,' says Origen, 'it will appear that it is never to be offered to any originated being, not to Christ himself, but only to the God and Father of all; to whom our Saviour himself prayed and taught us to pray.'

"In regard to his metaphysical nature and rank, and the time at which his existence commenced, Unitarians undoubtedly differ in opinion. Somc hold his pre-existence, and others suppose that his existence commenced at the time of his entrance into the world. The question of his nature they do not consider as important. Some take this view. They think that the testimony of the apostles, the original witnesses, to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of him, bears only on his birth, miracles, teachings, life, death, resurrection and ascension, that is, on his character and offices, and that beyond these we need not go; that these are all which it is important that we should know or believe, that the rest is speculation, hypothesis, with which, as practical Christians, we have no concern; that neither our comfort, our hope, nor our security of pardon and eternal life depend upon our knowledge or belief of it.

"At the same time, all entertain exalted views of his character and offices. In a reverence for these, they profess to yield to no class of Christians. The divinity which others ascribe to his person they think may with more propriety be referred to these. 'We believe firmly,' says one of the most eminent writers of the sect, ' in the divinity of Christ's mission and office, that he spoke with divine authority, and was a bright image of the divine perfections. We believe that God dwelt in him, manifested himself through him, taught men by him, and communicated to him his spirit without measure. We believe that Jesus Christ was the most glorious display, expression, and representative of God to mankind, so that in seeing and knowing him, we see and know the invisible Father so that when Christ came, God visited the world and dwelt with men more conspicuously than at any former period. In Christ's words we hear God speaking; in his miracles, we behold God acting; in his character and life, we see an unsullied image of God's purity and love. We believe, then, in the divinity of Christ, as this term is often and properly used.' .

"Unitarians do not think that they thus detract from the true glory of the Sun. They regard him as one with God in affection, will, and purpose. This union, they think, is explained by the words of the Saviour himself. 'Be ye also one,' says he to his disciples, 'even as I and my Father are one;' one not in nature, but in purpose,'affection, and act. Through him Christians are brought near to the Father, and their hearts are penetrated with divine love. By union with him as the true vine, they are nurtured in the spiritual life. In his teachings they find revelations of holy truth. They ascribe peculiar power and significance to his cross. To that emblem of self-sacrificing love, they turn with emotions which language is too poor to express.

"The cross is connected in the minds of Christians with the Atonement. On this subject Unitarians feel constrained to differ from some of their fellow Christians. They do not reject the Atonement in what they conceive to be the scriptural meaning of the term. While, however, they gratefully acknowledge the mediation of Christ, and believe that through the channel of his gospel are conveyed to them the most precious blessings of a Father's mercy, they object strongly to the views frequently expressed, of the connection of the death of Christ with the forgiveness of sin. They do not believe that the sufferings of Christ were penal—designed to satisfy a principle of stern justice, for justice, say they, does not inflict suffering on the innocent that the guilty may go free. And besides, they believe that God's justice is in perfect harmony with his mercy, that to separate them, even in thought, is greatly to dishonour him. They believe that however the cross stands connected with the forgiveness of sin, that connection, as before said, is to be explained by the effects wrought on man, and not on God.

"They believe that in thus teaching they do not rob the cross of its power, nor take away from the sinner ground of hope. To the objection, that sin requires an infinite atonement, and that none but an infinite being can make that atonement, they reply by saying, that they find in their Bibles not one word of this infinite atonement, and besides, that no act of a finite being, a frail, sinning child of dust, can possess a character of infinity, or merit an infinite punishment, that it is an abuse of language so to speak; and further, that if an infinite sufferer were necessary to make due atonement for sin, no such atonement could ever be made, for infinite cannot suffer; that God is unchangeable, and it is both absurd and impious to impute suffering to him; God cannot die; and admitting Jesus to have been God as well as man, only his human nature suffered; that there was no infinite sufferer in the case; that thus the theory of the infinite atonement proves a fallacy, and the whole fabric falls to the ground. Still is not the sinner left without hope, because he leans on the original and unchanging love and compassion of the Father, to whom as the primary fountain we trace back all gospel means and influences, and who is ever ready to pardon those who, through Christ and his cross, are brought to repentance for sin and holiness of heart and life.

"Further, the Unitarian replies, that whatever mysterious efficacy the cross of Chtist may be supposed to possess, beyond its natural power to affect the heart, it must owe that efficacy wholly to the divine appointment, and thus the nature and rank of the instrument become of no importance, since the omnipotence of God can endow the weakest instrument with power to produce any effect he designs to accomplish by it. They quote Bishop Watson, a Trinitarian writer, as saying that' all depends on the appointment of God'; that it will not do for us to question the propriety of any 'means his goodness has appointed, merely because we cannot see how it is fitted to attain the end;' that neither the Arian nor the Humanitarian hypothesis necessarily preclude 'atonement by the death of Jesus.'— (Charge delivered in 1795.)

"By the Holy Spirit, Unitarians suppose is meant not a person, but an influence, and hence it is spoken of as 'poured out,' 'given,' and we hear of the ' anointing' with the holy spirit, phrases which, they contend, preclude the idea of a person. It was given miraculously to the first disciples, and gently as the gathering dews of evening, distils upon the hearts of the followers of Jesus in all ages, helping their infirmity, ministering to their renewal, and ever strengthening and comforting them. It is given in answer to prayer. As Christ said, ' If ye being evil,' imperfect beings, 'know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him:' Luke xi. 13."

"Unitarians believe that salvation through the gospel is offered to all, on such terms as all, by God's help, which he will never withhold from any who earnestly strive to know and do his will, and lead a pure, humble, and benevolent life, have power to accept. They reject the doctrine of native total depravity, but they assert that man is born weak and in possession of appetites and propensities, by the abuse of which all become actual sinners, and they believe in the necessity of what is figuratively expressed by the 'new birth,' that is, the becoming spiritual and holy, being led by that spirit of truth and love which Jesus came to introduce into the souls of his followers. This change is significantly called the coming of the kingdom of heaven in the heart, without which, as they teach, the pardon of sin, were it possible, would confer no happiness, and the songs of paradise would fall with harsh dissonance on the year.

"While they earnestly inculcate the necessity of a holy heart and a pure and benevolent life, they deny that man is to be saved by his own merit, or works, except as a condition to which the mercy of God has been pleased to annex the gift of everlasting life and felicity.

"Unitarian Congregationalists believe firmly in a future retribution for sin and holiness. They think the language of the scriptures on this subject too plain to be misunderstood. This language, they believe, teaches as explicitly as language can, that suffering for sin does not cease with the present life,—that the sinner who leaves the world impenitent is subjected to the fearful judgments of conscience and of God in a future, unexplored state of being. They think that the teachings of the Bible on this subject, are in harmony with all that is at present known of the capacities and affections of the soul, and the laws of its spiritual nature. However impossible they may find it to reconcile the doctrine of endless torment, inflicted for the sins of this frail and finite life, with their conceptions of God's infinite paternal compassion and love,—compelled, as they are, to reject this doctrine, as unworthy of God, and unauthorised by scripture representations and metaphors, they believe that right views of the declarations of the Saviour, and of the nature of sin and holiness as habits of the soul, afford no hope of future impunity to the impure and sinful spirit. They believe that the language of the Bible relating to the future condition of the wicked, of those who go out of life with souls stained by the pollution of sin and burdened with depraved affections, have a meaning, a significance, aye, a terrible significance. They believe that the consequences of present character and conduct will be felt through every stage of an endless existence. But on a subject necessarily so obscure, involving the meaning of the highly figurative expressions and bold oriental imagery found in the records of Divine Revelation, they are unwilling to dogmatize, or attempt to be more precise than the Scriptures. While, therefore, they hold tenaciously the doctrine of a future momentous retribution for sin, they would leave each one to adopt those views of the circumstances and manners of this retribution which appear to him most accordant with truth or probability.

"There is nothing peculiar in the sentiments which Unitarians, as a body, entertain of the Bible, which distinguishes them from other sects. They go to it as the fountain of inspired truth. They regard the several books which compose the volume, as the records of a Divine Revelation. They make it their standard, their rule of faith and life, interpreting it as they think consistency and the principles of a sound and approved criticism require. In proof of their veneration for the scriptures they appeal to the fact, that several of the best defences of Christianity against the attacks of infidels, have come from the hands of Unitarians,—a fact which no one acquainted with the theological literature of modern times, from the Reformation down to the present day, will call in question.

"They make use of the common, or King James's version, as it is called, but like all well informed Christians, they think that a reverence for truth, and a desire to ascertain the will of God, justify and require them, whenever there is any doubt about the meaning, to appeal to the original, or to compare other versions. In doing this, they say, they do not fear that they shall be condemned by any intelligent Christian. There is no greater slander than that which is frequently propagated from pulpits, in the streets, and from house to house, that they have ' another Bible,' as it is expressed. This slander often originates in ignorance, but is sometimes countenanced, if not uttered, by those who know, or should know better. May God forgive them this wrong.

"Unitarians have been accused of unduly exalting human reason. To this they reply, that the Bible is addressed to us as reasonable beings; that reverence for its records, and respect for the natures which God has bestowed on us, make it our duty to use our understandings, and the best lights which are afforded us, for ascertaining its meaning; that God cannot contradict in one way what he reveals in another: that his word and works must utter a consistent language; that if the Bible be his gift, it cannot be at war with nature and human reason; that if we discard reason in its interpretation there is no absurdity we may not deduce from it; that we cannot do it greater dishonor than to admit that it will not stand the scrutiny of reason; that if our faculties are not worthy of trust, if they are so distempered by the fall, that we can no longer repose any confidence in their veracity, then revelation itself cannot benefit us, for we have no means left of judging of its evidences or import, and are reduced at once to a state of utter scepticism.

"Unitarians sometimes speak of reverence for human nature,—of reverence for the soul. They reverence it as God's work, formed for undying growth and improvement. They believe that it possesses powers capable of receiving the highest truths. They believe that God, in various ways, makes revelations of truth and duty to the human soul; that in various ways he quickens it; kindles it in holy thoughts and aspirations, and inspires it by his life-giving presence. They believe that however darkened and degraded, it is capable of being regenerated, renewed, by the means and influences which he provides. They believe that it is not so darkened by the fall but that some good, some power, some capacity of spiritual life, is left in it. But they acknowledge that it has need of help; that it has need to be breathed upon by the divine spirit. They believe that there is nothing in their peculiar mode of viewing Christianity, which encourages presumption, encourages pride and self-exaltation. They believe that the heart which knows itself will be ever humble. They feel that they must perpetually look to God for aid. They teach the necessity of prayer, and a diligent use of the means of devout culture. They do not then teach reverence for human nature in any such sense, they urge, as would countenance the idea that man is sufficient to save himself without God. They pray to Him fur illumination; pray that he will more and more communicate of himself to their souls.—They teach the blighting consequences of sin. They believe that in the universe which God has formed, this is the only essential and lasting evil, and that to rescue the human soul from its power, to win it back to the love of God, of truth and right, and to obedience to a principle of enlarged benevolence, which embraces every fellow being as a brother, is the noblest work which religion can achieve, and worth all the blood and tears which were poured out by Jesus in the days of his humiliation.

"Such, omitting minor differences, are the leading views of the Unitarian Congregationalists of the United States. They do not claim to hold all these views as peculiar to themselves. Several of them they share in common with other classes of Christians, or with individuals of other denominations."

On the 25th of May, 1825, the American Unitarian Association was formed at Boston. It is worth remarking, that on the same day, without any concert, and with the same general object in view, the British and Foreign Unitarian Association was formed at London. It was at the season when the Anniversaries of a large number of Religious and Philanthropic Societies, belonging to various denominations of christians, are usually held in the metropolis of New England. The meeting was called at a very short notice, and was therefore a small one, but it included gentlemen from various sections of the country; and it was fully agreed, that the time had arrived for more efficient connexion and co-operation of Unitarian Christians throughout the United States. In a circular which was immediately sent forth by the Executive Committee first chosen, the immediate purposes of the Association were thus enumerated:

"1. To collect and diffuse information respecting the state of Unitarian christianity in our country.

"2. To produce union, sympathy, and co-operation among liberal christians.

"3. To publish and distribute books and tracts inculcating correct views of religion, in such form and at such price as shall afford all an opportunity of being acquainted with christian truth.

"4r To supply missionaries, especially in such parts of our country as are destitute of a stated ministry.

"5. To adopt whatever other measures may hereafter seem expedient, such as contributions in behalf of clergymen with insufficient salaries, or in aid of building churches, &c., &c."

The formation of the Association readily commended itself to the great majority of our churches, notwithstanding the general reluctance amongst us to assume a sectarian attitude. It was thought, with very few exceptions, that the times and the cause of pure and simple christianity imperiously demanded it. Accordingly the circular of the Executive Committee was promptly responded to. Annual and life-subscriptions were obtained to a considerable amount; congregations made their pastors members for life; donations were made to the funds; tracts were forthwith published and circulated; and auxiliary Associations formed in parishes, towns, or neighbourhoods.

The chief management of the concerns of the Association, is in the hands of the Executive Committee, consisting of six directors, two of whom must be laymen; the treasurer, the general and assistant secretaries, all chosen at the annual meeting in May. The general secretary has "the care of all the business and interests of the Association under the care of the Executive Committee;" keeps the records of the Association and of the Executive Committee; conducts the correspondence both foreign and domestic; makes arrangement for all the meetings of the Association; superintends the publication of tracts; interests himself in the formation and strengthening of auxiliary Associations; and in general, devotes himself by correspondence, occasionally preaching, and travelling, to the promotion of the knowledge and diffusion of christian truth throughout the land. He is therefore the chief centre of communication for the Unitarian body in all parts of the union. He is supported in part by annual subscriptions, and in part by the income of a fund. The office was created in the year 1832. The first incumbent, the Rev. Jason Whitman, entered on his duties in April, 1833, but resigned at the annual meeting in May, 1834; when the Rev. Charles Briggs was elected, and has held the office to this day. At the last annual meeting in May, the Executive Committee were authorised and directed to appoint a missionary agent. This step will probably in a great measure have the effect to bring the missionary funds and operations hereafter spoken of, more directly within the control of the Association, and thus secure greater efficiency and permanency to this department of christian effort in the Unitarian body.

The tracts of the Association are issued monthly, and already comprise eighteen volumes 12mo., of very valuable controversial expository, devotional, and practical treatises. The annual publication has reached seventy thousand copies; and the receipts of the Association are constantly increasing. The whole number of members is about 6000, of whom more than 400 are members for life. One dollar paid annually constitutes membership, and entitles the payer to a copy of each tract published during the year; members for life pay thirty dollars. The annual Meeting is held in Boston, on the evening of the Tuesday preceding the last Wednesday in May, at which, after the choice of officers, the annual report is presented and addresses made. The occasion is usually one of great interest. At the late annual meeting, the Rev. Orville Dewey, D. D., of New York, was elected president.

An important aid to one part of the operations of the Unitarian Association, is found in the Book and Pamphlet Society, which has for its object the gratuitous distribution of books and tracts. It keeps an open depository in Boston, which is largely supplied from the tracts of the Association, 20,000 of which, besides a large number of books, it has circulated in a single year.

The Unitarians of the United States have in general confined their attention in this regard, to the destitute portions of their own country. On the 4th of November, 1807, the Evangelical Missionary Society of Massachusetts was formed. This was of course before sectarian lines were so nicely drawn, as in a short time afterwards. The Society, however, was established by, and derived its patronage from the liberal portion of the community; and had for its object, to send, as far as the means would allow, preachers of t]ie gospel into remote places which had not the stated ministrations of religion; 'to reside there, with the aid, if possible, of some of the inhabitants; in the hope that their labours might be so blessed, and so acceptable, that at length they should have around them regular societies, which should support them without assistance. When this should take place, the same means might be used in accomplishing a similar work elsewhere, and thus church after church be gatherered.' A part of the plan was, " to obtain for those preachers the office of instructors of youth, and thus to extend, as far as possible, the improvement of education, together with the lessons of religion."(5)

This society, though operating with comparatively small means, has been of great utility in the sphere of duty it has taken to itself. This was at first limited to certain portions of the state of Massachusetts; but in 1823, it extended its care into places beyond the state, and now renders aid, wherever needed, as far as its ability allows, in various parts of the union. Its funds amount to about 800dls ; and in the year ending with May, 1843, it had appropriated about 1,400 dls. per annum to its objects, it having besides the income of its funds some annual receipts.

In 1841, the attention of the Unitarian body was awakened afresh, and directed with new zeal to the subject of domestic missions. Meetings were held in the spring of that year in Boston, to consider the best mode of procedure, and the result was a determination to raise ten thousand dollars per annum, for five consecutive years, to be appropriated according to the direction of the donors, to the relief of needy churches in New England, the support of missionaries at the west, or the aid of theological students. At a meeting held in April, 1842, an organisation took place, by which a committee of fifty, now enlarged to eighty, was appointed from various places, to present the subject to the public, and collect subscriptions. At the same time an Executive Missionary Board, consisting of nine members, was elected, composed as follows, viz.:—two members of the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Missionary Society, two of . the Executive Committee of the Society for promoting Theological Education, two of the Executive Committee of the American Unitarian Association, and three chosen at large. This missionary Board distribute or expend annually the funds collected by the large committee; dividing between the three Societies just named, in certain proportions, those sums subscribed which are not by the subscribers appropriated to any special object; paying to either of said Societies whatever is subscribed expressly for it; applying the sums specifically directed to any other objects, accordingly; and at their discretion, sums expressly placed by the donors at the disposal of the Board, to be by them expended. The first financial year ended with May, 1844. The amount collected a little exceeded 10,000 dls., and was distributed in conformity to the above plan; 5,817 dls. 22 c. having been appropriated specifically by the donors, and the balance, after deducting expenses, being divided by the Board between the three before-named Associations. The collections towards the fund for the second year amount to more than 12,000 dls.; and there is no reason to doubt that at least the entire sum contemplated will be realised each year of the term. Meanwhile the Board has appointed Mr. George G. Channing, brother of the late Dr. Channing, missionary agent for the current year 1845, that by correspondence with ministers and churches on the subject of holding meetings by appointment, wherever it may seem advisable to present the subject distinctly to the people, and in general devoting himself to the work of increasing the interest felt in the cause, the cause itself may be helped forward. Thus far his efforts have been eminently successful, and the best results are confidently anticipated for the future.

The chief periodicals which have been the organs of the Unitarian body for communicating with the public in the United States, are the following :—" The General Repository and Review," quarterly, was commenced in 1812, at Cambridge, under the editorial charge of Mr., since Professor, Norton, and extended to four volumes, 8vo. It was a work of distinguished ability and learning. In 1821, Mr. Sparks began at Baltimore "The Unitarian Miscellany," a monthly in 12mo., which was continued by the late Dr. Greenwood, and extended to six volumes, ending with Dec. 1824. "The Unitarian Advocate," also a monthly in 12mo., was started at Boston in 1828, with Rev. E. Q. Sewall as editor, and continued till Dec. 1832, embracing ten volumes. At present the leading journal of the denomination, is "The Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany," which was originally commenced at Boston, as a monthly publication in 8vo., with the late Dr. N. Worcester as editor. In its original form, with the name of "The Christian Disciple," and as an instrument, not so much of defending any particular theological views, as of 'spreading the candid, tolerant, and philanthropic spirit of the gospel,' it continued till the close of the year 1818, when Dr. Worcester relinquished its charge. Thence- forward, with the same name, it continued under the care of an association of gentlemen, who announced, at the outset of their labours, their purpose of making it a vehicle for the 'defence of controverted religious truth.' This series ended with the year 1823. The title was then changed to the "Christian Examiner and Theological Review," and so continued to the close of the year 1828, when a new series was begun, each number being issued once in two months, forming two vols. annually, under the title of the "Christian Examiner and General Review." This continued to the year 1835, when in September of that year, a third series commenced under the same title, and so continued to the close of the year 1843. From that time it has taken the title of "The Christian Ex- aminer and Religious Miscellany," having united with itself the "Monthly Miscellany of Religion and Letters." In this form it is a journal of great interest and value, and indeed it ever has been. It is edited by the Rev. Dr. Lamson of Dedham, Mass., and the Rev. Dr. Gannett, of Boston. It is now in the 38th vol. of the entire work. The "Monthly Miscellany" just named, was commenced at Boston in April, 1839, and extended through Dec. 1843, forming nine vols. 8vo., under the editorial charge of Dr. Gannet. It has been succeeded, since its union with the "Examiner," by the "Monthly Religious Magazine," in 12mo., which is now in its second year of publication, edited by the Rev. F. D. Huntington. Two weekly newspapers are also published at Boston, devoted to the cause of Unitarianism. The first was commenced in 1822, and is entitled the. "Christian Register;" the second in 1843, called the "Christian World:" Rev. C. W. Upham, of Salem, edits the former, and Mr. George G. Channing, of Boston, the latter. It is in contemplation by the churches in New York and Brooklyn, to establish a third paper, to be published in the former city.

There are few Unitarian congregations in the United States which are without a Sunday-school; and as a general fact it may be stated, that they are composed of children connected with the several congregations. They arc usually organised with a superintendent, and sometimes an assistant superintendent, treasurer, librarian and secretary, male and female teachers. The teachers volunteer their services, and elect the other officers. In some instances, pupils are introduced from the poorer classes, who have no regular place of worship, and would be to a much greater extent, were it not for the sectarian prejudices which extend even among them, and for the efforts of the Church of Rome, which everywhere, as far as possible, interposes to keep the children of its devotees from all Protestant influences. The Hancock, Franklin, and Howard Sunday schools, in Boston, the latter connected now, as we have seen, with the Pitts-street chapel of the ministry at large, were all originally designed for the reception of children whose parents do not attend any particular church.

As far back as April, 1818, we find a Sunday-school established in the church at Portsmouth, N. H., under the pastoral care of the late Dr. Parker. It was a parish school,(6) and began with about 50 children. In 1822, it numbered 102 girls, and 83 boys, with three associate superintendents, seventeen female, and twelve male teachers.

The first Sunday-school in Boston, probably in New England, was established in October, 1812, by a lady, ( 7) who was a member of the west church, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Lowell. It was a charity school, and the teachers were ladies of that church. This was the germ of the Sunday-school now belonging to that church, which was formed in 1822, by the transfer of the above-mentioned school, and enlarging it with children of the parish. After this latter date, they began to be established in various places. In April, 1827, the superintendent and teachers of the several schools in the city of Boston, with other persons friendly to the institution, associated together under the name of "The Sunday School Society," with the view of mutual encouragement and aid, and to give greater efficiency and wiser direction to the work. Within the first year of its operations, it had established correspondence with 30 schools beyond the city; and within the third, 1829, with 58; 24 of which were commenced in the spring of that year, and 28 of which had not before been heard from. Forty of the whole number had been instituted since the Society was formed. These 58 schools reported an aggregate of 5,585 children, and 890 teachers; while the schools in Boston reported an aggregate of 1,224 children, and 232 teachers; making a total, in Dec. 1829, of 6,809 pupils, and 1,122 teachers. Only five of all these schools were without libraries; in the rest, their libraries ranged from 100 to 800 volumes, giving a total amount of about 11,000 volumes.

The Society has published no 'tabular view' of our Sunday schools since 1835. There were then 135 schools in correspondence with the Society, containing 2,338 teachers, and 13,795 pupils. But as the number of our churches in the United States is now known to approach 300, the items above put down must only be taken as furnishing the means for a proportional estimate of the schools not heard from. These 105 schools were furnished with libraries, containing an aggregate of 31,661 volumes.

In the winter of 1834-5, the Society requested the Rev. Mr. Gannett, of Boston, to deliver a course of public lectures on Christian morals, for the benefit especially of Sunday School Teachers. He readily complied. The course consisted of six lectures, delivered in the large lecture room of the Masonic Temple to crowded assemblies; and were heard with the closest attention.

In the month of February, 1839, a course of four lectures on the subject of Sunday school instruction, was delivered in Dr. Channing's church in Boston, at the request of the Directors of the Sunday School Society, by the Eev. Messrs, Walker, Thompson, Gannett, and Upham. These lectures attracted large and attentive audiences, and increased the general interest felt in the subject.

In the year 1842, the Directors appointed eight associate agents, three of whom were clergymen, who immediately proceeded to give public notice of their readiness to visit and address any school which might desire it. They go free of all compensation, without regard to distance or expense; and have proved thus far both useful and acceptable to the schools. In the year ending May, 1844, they had visited 48 towns in five of the six New England States. They reported the number of visits which they had made, to be 81; number of teachers in the schools visited, 1,392; number of pupils, 8,094; pupils, teachers, and parents addressed, 22,879; miles travelled, 3,488; addresses delivered, 100 ; whole expense of travelling, 105 dls. 72 c.; whole expense of the agency, 181 dls. 47 c. In their visits they distributed during the year, 8,700 tracts, comprising 115,200 pages; exceeding the distribution of the previous year by 1,102 tracts. An edition of a new tract of 4,000 copies was also published.

The course of instruction in the Sunday schools varies; and much is left to the discretion of each teacher. For some time, the teaching was confined very much to an illustration of the history, geography, and precepts of the New Testament, and occasionally of the Old. A wider range is now taken, and there is a growing impression that the children should be taught the leading doctrines of the Christian religion. Various catechisms have at different times been prepared for the use of the pupils, an excellent one by the late Dr. Channing, for young children; another by a Committee of the Worcester Co. Ministerial Association for those more advanced. Rev. Mr. Allen of Northborough, Mass., has arranged three series of Questions on the Gospels and Acts, severally adapted to as many different ages. The third part of the Geneva Catechism has been a good deal used. Several service books, with addresses to the school, comprising a liturgy and hymns, have been prepared, the most complete of which, and one rapidly getting into general use, was published about a year ago, by the Hon. S. C. Phillips, of Salem, Mass., for many years and still the superintendent of the Sunday school in the church in Burton square, in that city. Instruction in a few schools n given to infant classes, children under five years of age; this, of course, of a very simple kind. In many schools, the more advanced classes are taught in Natural Theology, the Evidences of Christianity, Christian Ethics, and the formation of the Christian character. Mr. Gallaudet's Book of the Soul has been found a good manual for children from seven to ten years of age; and teachers value very highly the Commentary of the Rev. Mr. Livermore, of Keene, N. H., three volumes of which, covering the Gospels and Acts, are already published, and the rest in progress.

The number of known Unitarian congregational churches in the United States is about 300. At the time the American Unitarian Association was established, in 1825, the whole number in Massachusetts was about 100; it is now 165. Boston alone has 22 Unitarian churches. There were, in 1825, six in Maine; there are now 21. There were then six in New Hampshire; there are now 25. There was then one in Rhode Island; there are now three. Out of New England there were then eight; there are now 44. West of the Alleghany Mountains there was then but one; there are now 23. In the American Almanac for 1845, the number of members of our communion is put down at 30,000, which is much below the actual number.

By the aid of the Rev. G. G. Channing, the proprietor of the Christian World and Domestic Missionary of the American Unitarian Association, the following facts have been ascertained :—

Number of churches regularly organized .... 240

„ „ in an incipient or feeble state - 60

The average attendance on Sunday at church - 75,000

Whole number of persons, adults and children, is not less than 300,000

Whole number of communicants - 18,000

Whole number of Sunday school scholars - 27,000

Whole number of Sunday school teachers - 4,800

But very few of our churches have permanent funds. The general expenses of maintaining public worship are defrayed either by voluntary contribution, or by taxes voted by the members, and assessed pro rata upon the appraised value of the pews.

Many of our churches have libraries attached to them, but it is not considered as a necessary appurtenance to the church. Some of them, though not large, are valuable; among the most so are those belonging to the First Church in Salem, Mass.; the church at Philadelphia; the Church of the Messiah, New York, and the Federal-street church in Boston.

Properly speaking, there is no Unitarian college in the United States, and the only literary institution in which Unitarians can be said to possess any weight or influence, is that of Harvard University, at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This institution, the oldest and best endowed of its kind in the country, was founded so early as 1636, sixteen years only after the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth rock, and ten years only after the settlement of Salem, the second town planted in what is now the state of Massachusetts. The first general Court of Massachusetts Bay, established by its vote the College, with a grant of four hundred pounds, on the 8th of September of that year. The name of Harvard was given to it in grateful remembrance of the Rev. John Harvard, 'a dissenting clergyman of England, resident at Charlestown,' who died in 1638, and by will gave one half of his property, and his entire library, to the Institution. His bequest 'was equal to, if not double, that which the colony had ventured even to promise; and besides, was capable of being applied at once to the object." It led to the immediate commencement of the seminary, and the acknowledgment of Harvard as its founder. (8)

From the earliest period, this Institution has been distinguished by its liberal character and tendencies. Its first "constitution," framed in 1642, detailing the objects of its foundation, says, 'for the instituting, guiding, and furthering of the said College, and the several members thereof, from time to time, in piety, morality, and learning.' The 'Charter of 1650' declares its objects to be, among other things, 'the education of the English and Indian youth of this country in knowledge and godliness.' 'The only terms,' says President Quincy, 'used in either of these charters connecting this Institution with the religious principle, are 'piety' and 'godliness,' terms of all others the least susceptible of being wrested to projects merely sectarian.' The sectarian controversies which agitated the Province in the times of the Mathers, during the latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, and which reached the Corporation and the College, left the latter on the liberal side, notwithstanding every effort to the contrary. The provincial charter of William and Mary of 1692, making property, instead of church-membership, the qualification for the enjoyment of civil rights, opened the way for the introduction of influences upon the government and instruction of the College, entirely adverse to the views of the exclusive and high-toned Calvinistic party among the Congregationalists. These, finding it impossible to secure the Institution from the growing changes in religious opinions, styled by them 'apostasy, and 'heresies,' readily united with their brethren of ' the stricter sect' in Connecticut, to found a new 'school of the prophets' there; and, accordingly, while Harvard held on its way unshackled by creeds and confessions, (9) either as conditions of holding office, or of enjoying its privileges, the College at New Haven was designed and regarded as the 'stronghold' of those opinions, which it was hoped would be imbibed and confirmed by requiring that ' the students should be established in the principles of religion, according to the Assembly's Catechism, Dr. Ames's ' Medulla' and 'Cases of Conscience,' and should not be suffered to be instructed in any different principles or doctrines.'* The statutes of Hollis for the Professorship of Divinity, which he founded at Cambridge, in 1721, simply required that the Professor be 'in communion with some Christian Church, of one of the three denominations, Congregational, Presbyterian, or Baptist;' and that at his inauguration 'he declare it as his belief, that the Bibls is the only and most perfect rule of faith and practice; and that he promise to explain and open the Scriptures to his pupils with integrity and faithfulness, according to the best light that God shall give him.' While at New Haven, in 1753, the President and Fellows of Yale College, besides declaring, that 'all exposition of Scripture pretending to deduce any doctrines or positions contrary to' the Assembly's Catechism and Confession, 'are wrong and erroneous,' proceeded to require 'that every President, Fellow, Professor of Divinity, or Tutor in said College, shall, before he enter upon the execution of his office, publicly consent to the said Catechism and Confession of Faith, as containing a just summary of the Christian religion, and renounce all doctrines and principles contrary thereto; and shall pass through such examination as the Corporation shall think proper, in order to their being fully satisfied that he should do it truly, and without any evasion or equivocation, (10)

The liberal spirit which seems thus identical with the formation and history of Harvard University, has always made it an object of jealousy with the 'orthodox;' and especially since division-lines between the two parties in the Congregational Church have been so sharply drawn. Men of liberal sentiments have been as naturally attracted towards it. Accordingly, though it is not, and never can be, a professedly Unitarian institution, it has been within the last fifty years almost exclusively indebted to the munificence of Unitarians, for large accessions to its funds, and the establishment of its various literary and scientific foundations. Its entire theological Faculty, and the great majority of the members of its other learned Faculties, and of its officers of government and instruction, have been and are Unitarians. Its Theological Schools have sent forth, with few exceptions, Unitarian preachers. Its Corporation, consisting of the President, Treasurer, and five Fellows, in perpetual succession, with power to fill the vacancies which from time to time occur at the Board, is wholly composed of Unitarians. The Board of Overseers, which consists of the Governor, Lieutenant, Council, Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the State, and the President of the University, ex-officio, with fifteen ministers of Congregational churches, and fifteen laymen, all inhabitants of the State, elected by the Board, has a current vote with the Corporation. The Board of Overseers at this time contains a majority of Unitarians, or at least of men of liberal views in Theology, but recent events appear to show a determination on the part of the orthodox to change, this state of things. At the last meeting of the Board a proposition was introduced, to the effect of providing, that in filling all vacancies in the clerical portion of the Board, care shall hereafter be taken to prevent a majority being given to any one religious denomination. The proposition was, however, negatived by a vote of 33 to 19. (11)

In 1840, the amount of funds belonging to the University, for its unreserved use, was 156,126 dls. 26 c.; while there were held by it, including a fund in reversion for 20,000 dls., funds in trust for various purposes, pledged to the Law and Theological Departments, to the support of special professorships, salaries, &c., according to the directions of donors, amounting to 490,108 dls. 91 c., making a total of 446,235 dls. 17 c. The portion of the above, pledged to the Theological Department, was 47,842 dls. 79 c.

The Theological, as a distinct department of Harvard University, dates its origin at a comparatively recent period, and since the University has come so much within the patronage of the Unitarian body.

Previous to 1811, students in Theology had resided at the University pursuing their studies much in their own way, with occasional aid from the Hollis Professor of Divinity. In the autumn of 1811, the Hollis Professor commenced a systematic course of exercises, with sixteen resident Divinity Students.

In 1810, the College had received a bequest of 5,000dls. by the will of the Hon. Samuel Dexter, of Mendon, Massachusetts, for the promotion of "a critical knowledge of the Holy Scriptures." No addition to the Theological funds was made after this until 1814, when Samuel Parkman, Esq., of Boston, conveyed to the College a township of land in Maine, "for the support of a Professor of Theology." In 1815, active measures, set on foot by the Corporation, resulted in raising by subscription 27,300dls.; and tile subscribers formed themselves into a " Society for promoting Theological education in Harvard University," which for some years limited its efforts to the pecuniary aid of theological students. In 1819, the Hollis Professor of Divinity, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew, and the Alford Professor of Natural Religion and Moral Philosophy, were allowed to assist in the special instruction of the divinity students; and Mr. Norton, who had already given lectures on the Dexter foundation, was appointed Dexter Professor of Sacred Literature. This arrangemant was a step in advance; but in 1824 a new organization took place, by which, with the concurrence of the Corporation and the "Society" above named, a Board of Directors was constituted under the name of "the Society for the promotion of Theological education in Harvard University." This Board at once undertook the chief management of the affairs of the Divinity School, subject to the control of the Corporation and Overseers of the University. The Society was incorporated in 1826; and under its care a new edifice expressly for the accommodation of students in theology was erected, and publicly dedicated to its uses in August of that year, by the name of Divinity Hall, a discourse being delivered by Dr. Channing. The cost of the building, with furniture and appurtenances, was about 37,000dls.; the amount raised by subscription towards the object exceeding 19,000dls.; and the balance being paid from the Theological Trust Fund in charge of the College.

The organization of the School and the constitution of a proper Theolological Faculty, was perfected in 1830. The late Rev. Henry Ware, Jun., had been appointed to the Professorship of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care, and in that year entered on its duties. In September of that year, Mr. Norton having resigned the Dexter Professorship, the President of the University, the Professors of Divinity, of Biblical Literature, and of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care, were constituted the Faculty of Theology. They were empowered to make and enforce all proper laws for their own department; and one of the Professors was to be appointed by the Corporation, Dean of the Faculty. Thus the duties, till then performed by the Directors of the 'Society for the promotion of Theological education in Harvard University,' were devolved on the Faculty of Theology; the connexion between the Society and the University by mutual consent dissolved; and the funds of the former transferred to the corporation of the latter, subject to the uses for which they had always been held. This is the present organization of the Faculty of the Theological School at Cambridge.

The Rev. Convers Francis, D.D., Parkman (12) Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care, and the Rev. George R. Noyes, D.D., Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages, and Dexter Lecturer on Biblical Literature, are at present its only Professors; the Hollis Professorship of Divinity being vacant.

There is a Theological Library in Divinity Hall, for the use of the Divinity School; consisting of about 3,000 volumes, principally of modern theology, with some of the early Fathers in the original: means are provided for adding valuable modern theological and ethical works, as published. The Divinity Students have free access to and use of the University Library, comprising about 46,000 volumes, and embracing a large and valuable collection in Theology.

No theological tests are required of any Student entering this school. The funds for the aid of those who seek its advantages, and are in need, are fully appropriated to all, without the slightest reference to their theological preferences. These funds have been found adequate to defray all expenses hitherto incurred by such students as have resorted there with insufficient means of their own. Since 18I8, two hundred and thirteen clergymen have been educated at the Institution, of whom one hundred and ninety are living, and of whom all but four are Unitarians. The School now contains in its three classes, the course of study occupying three years, an aggregate of thirty eight students. The instruction comprises Lectures, Recitations, and other exercises, on all the subjects usually included in a system of Theological Education;—Hebrew, the Criticism and Interpretation of the Scriptures, Natural Religion, Evidences of Revealed Religion, Systematic Theology, Christian Ethics, Church History, Church Polity, the Composition and Delivery of Sermons, and the Duties of the Pastoral Office. The members of the two upper classes have a weekly exercise in the practice of extemporaneous speaking, and the members of the senior class preach in the village church during the summer term.

Students are entitled to receive instruction from the Instructor in the German Language, and to be present at all public lectures of the University.

In the middle of the month of July of each year, are held the anniversaries of the Institution. On the Sunday evening previous to the Annual Visitation of the School, a sermon is preached to the Graduating Class, by some Clergymen appointed by themselves. On the following Friday, the Visitation of the School takes place, when the Graduating Class read dissertations upon subjects assigned by the Faculty. In the afternoon of that day, having dined together in the College Halls, the Association of the Alumni of the School hold a meeting in the Chapel of the University, and choose Officers, and a First, or Second Speaker, or both, as the case may require, for the next anniversary. They then proceed to the Village Church, to hear the annual address by the speaker appointed the previous year. All persons educated at the Divinity School are members, and other clergymen may be elected.

The Meadville Theological School is a new institution, which has originated in the special demand of the Western portion of the Union for an educated liberal clergy; and in the fact that the Divinity School at Cambridge had been unable to furnish a sufficient supply of ministers for the Churches which were springing up in remoter sections of the country. It was found also that throughout the West there were many "zealous, and in the main effective preachers," who, freed from the trammels of human creeds, craved a better and more ample theological knowledge, and would be glad to profit by the advantages which such an institution offered. These are mostly of the "Christian" denomination; and a number of these at once proposed to reside at Meadville for this purpose.

In the year 1844, H. J. Huidekoper, Esq. purchased and presented to the proposed Institution a substantial brick built building 60 by 40 feet, which had been a Church. It has been so altered, as to furnish a chapel capable of seating about 200 persons, and two large rooms for recitations and class exercises. A Library of 500 volumes-has been provided, and the students will have access to private theological libraries containing 2000 volumes. Text books are furnished gratuitously for the use of the students while at the School; and a full course of theological study, covering three years, for the three classes is arranged. The tuition is gratuitous. The Institution was opened on the 1st of October, 1844, under the care of Rev. R. P. Stebbins, last Pastor of the Church, at Leominster, Massachusetts, Principal and Professor of Hebrew Literature, Systematic Theology, and Sacred Rhetoric; Rev. G. W. Hosmer of Buffalo, New York, Professor of Pastoral Care, who will visit the school and give Lectures; and Rev. F. Huidekoper, Professor of Hermeneutics, New Testament Interpretation and Literature, and Ecclesiastical History. Professor Stebbins also becomes the Pastor of the Unitarian Church at Meadville. The expenses of attending this School will be much less than those at Cambridge. Five students entered with the opening of the School, and were in less than a month joined by four more. The number is still on the increase, and reasonably expected to be doubled at least at the beginning of the second year.

Though the course of study embraces three full years, students are admitted for a shorter term. In the prospectus of the School, it is said, 'Persons wishing to know the religious sentiments of the School, are informed that it has been established by the united efforts of the Christian and Unitarian denominations. To such as are ignorant how far these denominations acknowledge the right of private judgment, we would farther say, that students of all persuasions are entitled to equal privileges, and will receive like attention."

For the general supervision of the affairs of the Institution, there is a Visiting Committee of twelve members, six Christians and six Unitarians.

There are no special funds for the support of the Professors; but liberal contributions towards the establishment and maintenance of the School, have been made by Unitarians in New England and New York.

The annual commencement is on the 2nd Monday of September.

The establishment of the Ministry at Large, in Boston, dates back to the year 1826; on the 5th of November of which year, the Rev. Dr. Tuckerman having recently dissolved his connexion with the church at Chelsea, of which he had been for 25 years the Pastor, entered on the duties of what he called 'the mission to the poor' in Boston. He found that the moral claims of the poor had not been entirely neglected in that city, but had already engaged the attention of the 'Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor,' which had employed missionaries in the work, one of whom, a young man, was then in the field, though soon after removed to the charge of a congregation in the country. With the aid of two friends,(13) one of whom afterwards became his co-adjutor in the ministry, Dr. T. connected himself with fifty families as their minister, within the first quarter of the year; with more than 90 families within the second quarter: and at the end of the year with 170families; having made during that time I,900 visits. In six months more, he had 250 families in his pastoral charge. He had, though in feeble health, once a week, besides, visited the House of Correction belonging to the city, and occasionally preached there. When he had been engaged about five weeks in the service, an association of young men belonging to our churches in the city, engaged an upper chamber of a building in Portland Street, for Sunday evening religious services, which were regularly thereafter held, and where he preached to large assemblies, being aided occasionally in other parts of the exercises; and for' a time lectured on Thursday afternoons to about 100 children mostly boys from ten to fourteen years of age, on natural history. The families which were thus brought under his influence, were, to use his own words, 'as far from being poor, as from being rich,' at least in many instances. Many of course were very poor; but there were embraced in his ministrations, operatives in every branch of art and industry, men 'to whom, in any exigency of danger, we should all look for the bone and sinew of our strength.' This class were not connected with any of the organized congregations of the city; they thought themselves unable to purchase or hire seats in any church, and were unwilling to occupy the free seats as they are called, that being to them no 'less revolting' than poverty itself. Besides the aid rendered to Dr. T. by the Association alluded to, benevolent individuals, and 'sewing circles' of ladies in our churches, supplied his 'Poor's Purse' for the relief of pressing want at his discretion.

A more commodious place for worship had been erected by subscription) called the 'Friend Street Chapel,' the charge of the ministry having been assumed at Dr. Tuckerman's desire by the American Unitarian Association; but his health had so declined by devotion to his labours, that in his seventh semi-annual report in 1831, to the Executive Committee, he was compelled to declare his inability to preach. In his Report in May, 1832, after he had during the year before been twice 'admonished by sudden and severe illness of the feeble tenure by which he held life,' he urges the appointment of an assistant. This was furnished him by the appointment in August of that year, of Rev. Charles T. Barnard, who had previously for some months officiated at the Chapel. In October following, Mr. F. T. Gray offered to share their labors, and his offer was accepted. During a large part of the following summer, the active duties of the ministry devolved on Mr. Barnard, Dr. Tuckerman having accepted the 'kindly and providential' offer of a friend to accompany him to Europe for his health, and Mr. Gray having retired to pursue his theological studies.

In the month of October, 1833, Mr. Gray returned to labour with Mr. Barnard; and they divided the city between them, the latter taking especial charge of the 'south end.' The chapel had been thoroughly repaired, and was re-opened with a crowded audience. A morning service was arranged specially for the children, which, however, the parents were also invited to attend; and afternoon and evening services for all, on each Sunday. The Howard Sunday school, which was established in 1826, by a few ladies and gentlemen, for the same class of children as frequented the chapel, was removed there, and united with the Sunday school of the chapel. In October, 1833, Mr. Barnard reported the school to be flourishing, and its numbers quite full. During his labours at the 'south end,' he found many children belonging to no Sunday school, and at once formed one for them; while a second chapel in that part of the city was contemplated.

Dr. Tuckerman returned from Europe in 1834, with his health somewhat improved, but not sufficiently to enable him to resume his full share of the duties of the ministry. In the autumn of that year, and a little while before he reached home, the American Unitarian Association, being convinced that the interests of the Ministry at Large demanded some more reliable support, resigned its charge to the 'Benevolent Fraternity of Churches,' which had been formed for the purpose, and with whom it remains to this day. The Fraternity consists of subscribers in most of the Unitarian congregations of Boston; those of each congregation being a branch of the Fraternity, and represented at a central board; which board manages the financial concerns and general interests of the whole by an Executive Committee. The Fraternity soon became an incorporated institution. New life and efficiency were at once given by its formation to the Ministry at Large.

In 1836, through the liberality of friends of the ministry, a spacious building of brick, comprising a chapel, lecture and school-rooms, and private apartments for the residence of Mr. Barnard, was erected in Warren street. This was under the auspices of the Fraternity. Until within a short time after the dedication of the building, Mr. Barnard having become specially engaged in improving the character and condition of the young, and declaring his purpose of devoting himself chiefly to this object, the connection of himself and his chapel with the Fraternity was dissolved. An 'Association' was formed 'for the support of the Warren street chapel.' Mr. Barnard has been most faithful to his work, and the institution is among the most interesting and valuable in the city. He has stated Sunday services, with a liturgy prepared for the chapel by the late Dr. Greenwood, and chanting by the children. The Sunday school contains about 500 pupils. There is an evening school for boys twice a week, and a sewing school for girls once a week. The congregation on Sundays is chiefly composed of about 600 children, accompanied, in many cases, by their parents or other friends. There is a cabinet of Natural History, and a valuable library, which is much used. Courses of lectures, one a week, during the winter, at a low price of admission; a series of tracts for the particular benefit of the frequenters of the chapel; and excursions into the country with their teachers, increase the value and attractiveness of the institution. Mr. Barnard adds to all, great fidelity in visiting the families to which the children belong, and performing to them all the duties of a minister at Large.

During the same year, a spacious brick chapel was erected by the Fraternity in Pitts-street; the old chapel in Friend-street was vacated, and the congregation removed to the new house, under the special pastoral charge of Mr. Gray. In 1837, Rev. J. T. Sargent, and Rev. R. C. Waterston, were appointed Ministers at Large, and the latter succeeded Mr. Gray in the care of Pitts-street chapel, when he became pastor of the Bulfinch-gtreet church. Mr. Sargent found his field of labour at the southern section of the city. On the 23rd of May, 1838, the comer stone of the Suffolk-street chapel, in his district, a plain and commodious structure of granite, was laid; and the building, when completed, placed in his charge. Libraries and sewing schools are attached to these chapels; meetings, besides the Sunday services, and the Sunday schools, for religious improvement and social culture, are held; the families are visited, and physical suffering alleviated, while wholesome counsel and the consolations of the gospel are applied. In 1843, the library of Pitts-street chapel contained more than 500 volumes, and 1,325 applications for books were answered. The Sunday school had 368 pupils; with 24 male and 23 female teachers. In fourteen years, 2,541 pupils had received its instructions. There were 50 pupils in the school, advanced in age, who, divided into Bible classes, formed 'one of the most interesting features of the school.' More than 200 families were connected with this chapel, and about half that number with that in Suffolk street. The latter is in a more remote and thinly peopled part of the city, although in these respects rapidly changing.

The Rev. Dr. Tuckerman lived to see the ministry to which he had so largely contributed to give form and character, placed on a firm, and, we may trust, permanent footing, with young, active, devoted labourers engaged in the work. He passed the winter of 1836-7 in the island of St. Croix for his health, but obtained, as the event proved, only a brief respite of the life which had been long held by a very feeble tenure. In the autumn of 1839, he was advised to try the climate of Cuba; he arrived at Havana, accompanied by a most devoted daughter, and repaired to the interior of the island. The frame so repeatedly attacked soon proved to be exhausted; having lingered through the winter, he returned to Havana, and after a few days of intense suffering, died in that city, on the 20th of April. 1840, in his 63rd year. His remains were brought to the United States, and buried at the Mount Auburn cemetery, near Boston, where, though too long delayed, a monument is about to be erected to his memory.

A prouder and a more blessed monument than one of granite or marble, is found in this ministry to which he devoted all his energies for so many years. He was not, in the strictest sense, though often called so, the founder of that ministry: for we have already seen, that he met on entering upon the work in 1826, at least one labourer in the field. The Association in whose employ that young missionary then was, had so early as 1822, provided religious services on Sunday evenings for those who were connected with no religious society; and still another Association had employed a minister to visit and preach to the poor.(14) But Dr. Tuckerman's merit consists in giving a new and distinct form to this ministry; in infusing into it a new and more comprehensive spirit; in calling out and directing other energies than his own merely to the work; in elevating it to a high rank among the philanthropic institutions of the age, and enlisting for it the warm interest and affections of the religious community. The ready co-operation of the Executive Committee of the Unitarian Association, and the existence, heartiness, and liberality of the Fraternity of Churches are justly traceable, in a great degree, to the perseverance, discretion, foresight, and thorough faithfulness of this excellent man.

Within a few months, Rev. Warren Burton, and Rev. A. Bigelow, D.D., have been appointed to the Ministry at Large, and have entered on its duties. Rev. Mr. Sargent has recently resigned his ministry; Rev. Mr. Waterston has accepted a call to become the pastor of a newly-organised Unitarian society in Boston, which has taken the name of the ' Church of the Saviour:' and Rev. T. B. Fox has engaged in the work of gathering an adult congregation in the Warren-street chapel, and relieving Mr. Barnard of a part of his labours.

The whole expense of the Ministry at Large between its first establishment in 1826 and 1843, had amounted to 60,000 dls. This included, of course, the erection of the chapels. A debt had also been created. At the tenth annual meeting of the 'Fraternity of Churches' on the 4th April, 1844, the Report stated that the permanent debt of more than 7,000 dls., incurred mainly in the erection of the Pitts-street chapel, and a floating debt of 1,100 dls., arising from excess of annual expenditures over the receipts, had, by the sale of the Old Friend street chapel, by the proceeds of a Fair conducted by ladies of the church under the care of Rev. Mr. Young, in Boston, amounting to 2,250 dls., and by a subscription in sums chiefly of 100 dls., amounting to 2,570 dls., for this particular purpose, been discharged. The Fraternity therefore began the year now nearly ended free from debt. The two chapel estates are valued at about 30,000 dls. The annual expense of the ministry is now between 4,000 and 5,000 dls.

The example of Unitarians in Boston has been followed elsewhere. In New York, a ministry at Large was established by the two Unitarian churches of that city in 1833, and maintained for a few years under the charge of Rev. Mr. Arnold. The two churches in Providence, R. I., support a ministry at Large, established in 1842; Rev. Mr. Harrington, now of Albany, was the first minister, and his successor is Mr. W. G. Babcock, a recent graduate of the Divinity School at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Rev. C. H. A. Dall, after successfully opening the ministry at St. Louis, Missouri, has been engaged with great zeal and disinterestedness in the work for the past two years, in the city of Baltimore, his native place, sustained by 'the liberality of a few of its merchants,' and other friends of the cause. That which he began at St. Louis, continues to be conducted by Mr. M. De Lange, under the patronage of Rev. Mr. Eliot's church. The church at Lowell, Massachusetts, have employed within a few months the Rev. H. Wood, in the same work. And Mr. W. H. Farmer completed the first year of this ministry, in May last, in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, supported by Rev. Mr. Hey wood's church. The want of public day schools in our western cities, has burdened the Ministry at Large established there with the additional labour and expense of day schools for the children of the poor.

New England,(15) and particularly Massachusetts, being the part of the country in which Unitarians are found in the greatest numbers, we are naturally to look there for the names of those of their faith who have been distinguished in the various walks of life. Taking Massachusetts for example, in which, especially, they are numerous, it is no exaggeration to say, that in early days the liberal party in theology, and in later times since the lines were more distinctly drawn, and the Unitarian body has formed a well-known and distinct portion of the religious community, they have furnished a remarkably large part of our distinguished statesmen, magistrates, and public men; of those who have adorned and dignified the senate, the bench, and the bar; of those who have elevated the medical profession: of devoted and learned pastors of churches; of historians, poets, and chief writers of the day; of eminent public benefactors and philanthropists. And going thence, wherever Unitarians are found in any considerable numbers collected together, the like statement will hold comparatively true. Probably no single denomination, in proportion to its numbers, can boast a more brilliant constellation of great and good names, than has adorned, and continues to adorn, the American Unitarian church.

It is impossible, in the compass of an essay like this, to mention, much less to commemorate all. But a few may be taken in part proof at least of the assertion above made. Among the divines of the older time, was the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, D.D., of Boston, who died on the 8th of July, 1766. (16) Of him it has been said, that 'no American author ever obtained a higher reputation. He would have done honour to any country by his character and writings.' The author of Hollis' Memoirs, says of Dr. Mayhew's work on Episcopacy, which was republished in England, that 'it is, perhaps, the most masterly performance that a subject of that kind would admit of.' The late President Adams remarked, that 'to draw the character of Dr. Mayhew would be to transcribe a dozen volumes. This transcendent genius threw all the weight of his great fame into the scale of his country in 1761, and ' maintained it there with zeal and ardour till his death.' His hostility to Episcopacy was most decided. He engaged in controversy respecting the doings of the British Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and managed his share of it so powerfully that he drew out Archbishop Seeker in defence of the Society. Dr. Mayhew's rejoinder to the Archbishop was deemed a very remarkable production for its inherent power, its acute argumentation, and its ready wit. He received his doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.

The Rev. Charles Chauncy, D.D., of Boston, who died 10th February, 1787, was also very famous for his learning, and his strong attachment to civil and religious liberty. He was one of the most formidable opponents of the excesses under Whitefield; and ably combated the renowned Edwards upon the subject of the final damnation of the wicked. His Seasonable Thoughts,' published in Boston in 1743, in the midst of the Great Revival, was read with the greatest avidity and satisfaction at the time, and had a remarkable influence in dissipating the delusions to which that had given rise.

The names of John Clarke, Jeremy Belknap, John Eliot, Simeon Howard, all doctors of divinity, and pastors of churches in Boston, and contemporaries of Chauncy, though living beyond him into the present century, are names of high honour and sainted memory amongst us, with a host of others of their day. When we come to a more modern period, the catalogue is still bright.

First we mention Buckminster, 'that youthful marvel, the hope of the Church, the oracle of divinity, full of all faculties, of all studies, of all learning.'(17) kirkland's memoir of Buckminster, p.28 The Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, was born May 26, 1784, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; graduated at Harvard University in 1800; was ordained to the ministry of Brattle St. Church, Boston, on the 20th January, 1805; and died on the 9th June, 1812, at the early age of twenty eight years. In him was the rarest union of personal, intellectual, moral and professional attractions. 'His limbs were well-proportioned and regular. His head resembled the finest models of the antique; and his features presented an almost faultless combination of dignity, sweetness, and intelligence.' (18) He had a mind of the highest order, and perfectly balanced. To the richest gifts of fancy, he united all the more sober and practical faculties, and above all, in a most remarkable degree, judgment. He was a diligent and most successful student, and, says his biographer, his acquisitions were, for his years, pre-eminently great. Besides the studies peculiar to theology, his reading was very extensive in metaphysics, morals, biography, and particularly literary history; and whatever he had once read, his memory made for ever his own.' In Biblical criticism, his attainments were very rich; and to his ardent desire to promote Biblical studies, and his personal effort and example, is attributable, in a great degree, the impulse given to them among our theologians. His eloquence was, by general report, of the most splendid and fascinating kind; his look, his voice, his gesture, his entire manner, all wondrously combining to give effect to sermons in which was the rarest union of seriousness and earnestness, of rationality and warmest devotion, of gentle rebuke and the boldest and freest expostulation. Two printed volumes of these sermons have been given to the world; and from all that his contemporaries tell of him, and from this rich legacy of his too brief labours in the cause of spiritual freedom, truth, and piety, we can easily believe, as has been said, 'that he introduced a new era in preaching.' His entire life seems to have been 'baptized into a holy spirit.' The old, as well as the young, while attracted to him with the truest affection, felt towards him an unwonted reverence. And 'the magic influence' which kept around him while alive a circle of devoted friends, many of them of the highest order of minds, after his death, and even to this day, has clustered about his memory 'the fondest recollections and regrets.'

To go into any full and detailed account of the distinguished divines who have done honour to the Unitarian faith in the United States, would extend this essay too far. The names of Eliot, and Belknap, and Howard; of Freeman, the distinguished instrument for revolutionising the First Episcopal Church in new England (19); of Holley, far-famed for his splendid eloquence, once pastor of Hollis St.'Church, Boston, and afterwards President of Transylvania University, Kentucky; of Kirkland, who left the ministry at Church Green, Boston, for the Presidency of Harvard University, of whose preaching one of the acutest and profoundest minds declared, that 'he put more thought into one sermon than other ministers did into five;' (20) and speaking of whose presidency his biographer says, 'no man ever did so much for Harvard University ;' of Thacher and Greenwood (21):, his successors in the ministry; and to mention no others in Boston, of Channing, 'nomen praeclarum,' whose fame is too wide-spread to need further notice here; these are all names cherished with reverence and delight to this day, in the city where they ministered, andin the churches which they served. Out of that city, the venerable Barnard, and Prince, of Salem, Abbott of Beverly, Porter of Roxbury, Ripley of Concord, Thayer of Lancaster, and Bancroft of Worcester, with Parker of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a model man and minister, these have left behind them most precious remembrances.

To the bench and the Bar, our faith has given some of the profoundest and most accomplished judges and lawyers, and the most eloquent advocates; the late Chief Justices Parsons and Parker, of Massachusetts, and Eddy of Rhodes Island—all remarkably learned and profound; Dane, of Salem, author of the Digest of American Law, in nine vols. large 8vo., and of a celebrated ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, north west of the Ohio river, so ably drawn, that it was adopted by Congress unaltered in the slightest particular, and of which Mr. Webster said that it 'laid an interdict against personal servitude, in original compact, not only deeper than all local law, but deeper, also, than all local constitutions (22):'—Samuel Dexter, of Boston, whose fame at the bar wag unrivalled; and William Prescott whose fame was scarcely less, and whose long life, extended to eighty-two years, was one of remarkable purity and active usefulness: these are specimens of noble men who adorned our religious communion. At this very moment, the legal profession has its full proportion of able men from our denomination :—Mr. Chief Justice Shaw, of the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts; Mr. Justice Story, and Mr. Justice Wayne, two of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Bench of the United States; and Mr. Chief Justice Cranch, of the United States Circuit Court for the district of Columbia, all are Unitarians. Mr. Webster, second to no man either at the bar or in the senate, and who has shown himself equal to the profoundest questions in diplomacy, and the highest duties in the national cabinet, is a communicant at Brattle Square Church, in Boston. Other names have been as well known in public life as politicians and statesmen. 'The elder Adams,' who was the immediate successor of Washington in the Presidency of this Union; Christopher Gore, who, under Washington's administration, was appointed, in 1796, one of the Commissioners under Jay's treaty to settle the claims of the United States upon the British Government; and at a later period was Governor of Massachusetts; and the Hon. Richard Cranch, of whom some notice was taken on a previous page (23), belong to this list; while the venerable ExPresident, John Quincy Adams, of Quincy, Massachusetts, and two American ministers plenipotentiary at this moment, Edward Everett (24), at the Court of Great Britain, and Henry Wheaton, at that of Prussia, are of the same faith.

Of men of science, of literary men, scholars, authors, who have done honor to the country, the Unitarian body has furnished its full share. The name of Bowditch, the translator of La Place, a work of itself enough to make his fame immortal, and the author of the Practical Navigation; to whom the distinguished French astronomer, Lacroix, acknowledged himself indebted, 'for communicating many errors in his works (25),' is as well known abroad as at home. In the department of History and Biography, Belknap, Thacher, Bradford, President Quincy, Tudor, Sparks, Prescott, and Bancroft; of Poetry, Bryant, Longfellow, Pierpont, Sprague, Tuckerman, Lowell, and Mrs. Seba Smith; of Mechanical Philosophy, the late Dr. Prince, of Salem, Massachusetts; of polite learning and criticism, the editors and chief writers of the North American Review, and of the Christian Examiner, from the beginning; such as, E. Everett, A. H. Everett, Sparks, Channing, J.G. Palfrey, O. Dewey, Walker, Greenwood, Lamson, H. Ware Junr., Sabin, Hillard, Bowen, W. B. O. Peabody; Hedge; in Jurisprudence and Politics, Fisher Ames, Nathan Dane, Judge Story, W. Phillips. A large list of female writers might be added, prefaced by the names of Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Follen, Mrs. Lee, and Miss Fuller.

The contributions of American Unitarians to Theology, aside of the sermons of Buckminster, Thacher, Freeman, Colman, N. Parker, Channing, Dewey, J. E. Abbot, Palfrey, and others, are among the most valuable which the country has seen: in controversial divinity, Dr. N. Worcester's Bible News; Dr. Ware's (sen.), Letters to Trinitarians; Professor Norton's Statement of Reasons; Mr. Sparks' Letters to Dr. Miller, on the Comparative Tendency of Unitarian and Calvinistic Views, and his Letters to Dr. Wyatt on the Episcopal Church; Upham's Letters on the Logos; B. Whitman's Letters to a Universalist; Mr. Burnap's Lectures on Unitarianism, and his Expository Lectures; Mr. A. P. Peabody's Lectures on Unitarianism: in Biblical criticism and literature, Professor Norton's great work on the Genuineness of the Gospels; Professor Noyes' translations of the Hebrew prophets, the Psalms, and Job, with introductions and notes; Mr. Livermore's commentary on the Gospels and Acts; Professor Palfrey's Lectures on the Jewish Scripture and Antiquties; Mr. Furness's Jesus and his biographers. The entire series of the Christian Examiner is a standing monument, to say nothing of the subordinate religious journals of the denomination, of the ability, learning, and piety, of the Unitarian clergy of the United States

In all works and plans of philanthropy, American Unitarians have been active and conspicuous. Dr. Noah Worcester obtained the name of the Apostle of Peace, by his early, indefatigable, long continued labours in behalf of that great cause. 'He gave birth to Peace Societies,' says Dr. Channing; and he adds, 'it may well he doubted, whether any man who ever lived, contributed more than he to spread just sentiments on the subject of war, and to hasten the era of universal peace.' His 'Solemn Review of the Custom of War' was republished in England, and translated into many foreign languages on the continent of Europe. The first public organized effort in behalf of the temperance reformation, was made by an association in Boston, the head quarters of Unitarianism; and a majority of those who started it were Unitarians. We have seen already that the ministry at Large for the poor in cities, took its first distinct and effective form with the labours of Dr. Tuckerman, and the aid of the American Unitarian Association. And among the most zealous, faithful, and able friends of the slave, and oppugners of the institution of domestic slavery, and labourers for its extinction in the country, Unitarians have been from the first. As a true philanthropist, in the broadest sense, the late John Vaughan, of Philadelphia, one of the originators of the Church of our faith in that city, deserves most honorable notice. Every leading benevolent institution in that city he helped to establish or sustain, and 'of the institution for the instruction of the blind,' says Mr. Furness, his friend and pastor, 'he was emphatically the founder.' The spirit of Howard seems revived in the person of Miss Dix, who is devoting all the energies of a rare and accomplished mind, and a warm and noble heart, to the amelioration of the condition of the prisoner, and the reform and improvement of our prisons. She is engaged in a personal inspection of the various prisons of the country; and by her elaborate reports, and eloquent appeals to the community and to the legislature, has already opened the way for great and most beneficent results. She has given special regard to the case of the insane; and has awakened in various places a public feeling upon the care and treatment of this most unfortunate class of human beings, which will be satisfied with nothing but the amplest and wisest provision for their relief.

Boston is full of benevolent institutions, many of which have always owed, and to this day owe, a large part of their success and usefulness to the bounty and care of Unitarians; while their munificence there and elsewhere in the cause of popular education, and everything connected with the arts and sciences, is proverbial in the land. During the single presidency of Dr. Kirkland, a period of eighteen years only, Harvard University was the object of Unitarian liberality to the amount of more than 300,000 dls.; and since that time has continued to receive noble benefactions from the same source. The Boston Athenaeum has been largely indebted, from its origin, which was with Unitarians, for its brilliant success and its rich endowments to its 'merchant princes,' a very large proportion of whom are of this faith. The names of Eliot, and Gore, and Smith, and Thorndike, and Lyman, of the Perkinses and the Parkmans, of Munson, and Parker, of the Lawrences, and of Lowell, will go down to posterity among those of the truest and most generous friends and patrons of education and learning. The last, John Lowell, jnn., of Boston, who died at Bombay, at the early age of 37, bequeathed by his will property to the amount of 250,000 dls., the income to be appropriated to the expense of public free courses of lectures in his native city; the lectures to be of the highest grade, and upon every branch of science, philosophy, ethics, and the evidences of natural and revealed religion. These lectures were commenced in the winter of 1839-40, and are regularly continued with the recurrence of the cold season.

The condition and prospects of Unitarianism in the United States were never more encouraging. Our oldest churches have gained strength, not only in the increased numbers of their members, but in their character and efficiency, and new churches are constantly springing up in various and remote parts of the country. With all this it must be allowed, that the relative increase of the denomination, compared with that of the great orthodox body, has not been all we could wish. Still it may have, as we believe it has, realised a large positive increase of strength ; not only by the additions to old congregations, and the starting up of new ones, but in the revival of a more earnest and energetic spirit. There have been some elements of disunion stirred up among us within the lost two or three years, by what has been called the transcendental movement, and by the utterance of views upon the foundations of Christian faith which go directly to depreciate Christianity as a divine revelation. But on the other hand, there has been a spiritual movement among us of great and blessed promise. A deeper religious feeling, a warmer religious sympathy, more engagedness in the subject of personal religion, a higher devotional tone, greater interest in missions, and a more earnest and active purpose to extend what we believe the truth of the Gospel, have been realised. And all the while, the unity of the denomination has been remarkably preserved, not by prescription or priestly craft, but by a consistent recognition of the right of private judgment, and of the fact, that avowed differences upon some points, while always to be expected, are by no means incompatible with substantial agreement. With no creeds, with no nicelyadjusted church polity, with no tendency or desire to dogmatise, we have found union and strength, where others have found discord and weakness. Every day, and every thing around us, satisfies us more and more, that wherever Unitarian principles are faithfully applied and carried out, identical as we believe them to be with primitive Christianity, they are mighty to the pulling down of the strong-holds of infidelity and sin, and to the great preparation of the soul for 'the world to come.' Never more than now, were devotedness and fidelity to the cause of truth and holiness among us needed. But never also were there more numerous signs of encouragement to be devoted and faithful. The late religious anniversaries of our denomination brought together an unusual number of the clergy and laity. Within the city of Boston (26) alone, 'the city of our solemnities,' four new congregations have been very recently organised; and in several of the neighbouring towns, additions are making to the number of those already in existence. Enquiry is everywhere more earnest in regard to our views of the gospel, and orthodoxy itself is becoming essentially modified to the loss of some of its harsher features of intolerance and exclusiveness, by the increasing strength and prevalence of a more liberal and rational faith. It has even been supposed that one of the chief things to be apprehended in our efforts to spread wider the knowledge of that faith, and establish new churches, is to be found in many places in this very fact. If it prove so, the greater will be the stimulus to sacrifice and labour in behalf of that faith, until it shall resume its true place in the family estimation of the Christian world, as the simple, primitive, apostolic, religion.(27)

 

Christians, or christian connexion in the United States.

Within about about one half century, a very considerable body of religionists have arisen in the United States, who, rejecting all names, appellations, and badges of distinctive party among the followers of Christ, simply call themselves Christians. Sometimes, in speaking of themselves as a body, they use the term Christian Connexion. In many parts of the United States this people have become numerous; and as their origin and progress have been marked with some rather singular coincidents, this article will present a few of them in brief detail.

Most of the Protestant sects owe their origin to some individual reformer, such as a Luther, a Calvin, a Fox, or a Wesley. The Christians never had any such leader, nor do they owe their origin to the labours of any one man. They rose nearly simultaneously in different sections of our country, remote from each other, without any preconcerted plan, or even knowledge of each other's movements. After the lapse of several years, the three branches obtained some information of each other, and upon opening a correspondence, were surprised to find that all had embraced nearly the same principles, and were engaged in carrying forward the same system of reform. This singular coincidence is regarded by them as evidence that they are a people raised up by the immediate direction and overruling providence of God; and that the ground they have assumed is the one which will finally swallow up all party distinctions in the gospel church.

While the American Revolution hurled a deathblow at political domination, it also diffused a spirit of liberty into the church. The Methodists had spread to some considerable extent in the United States, especially south of the Potomac. Previous to this time they had been considered a branch of the Church of England, and were dependent on English Episcopacy for the regular administration of the ordinances. But as the revolution had wrested the States from British control, it also left the American Methodists free to transact their own affairs. Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury, and others, set about establishing an Episcopal form of church government for the Methodists in America. Some of the preachers, however, had drank too deeply of the spirit of the times to tamely submit to lordly power, whether in judicial vestments, or clad in the gown of a prelate. Their form of church government became a subject of spirited discussion in several successive conferences. James O'Kelly, of North Carolina, and several other preachers of that state and of Virginia, pleaded for a congregational system, and that the New Testament should be their only creed and discipline. The weight of influence, however, turned on the side of Episcopacy and a human creed. Francis Asbury was elected and ordained bishop; Mr. O'Kelly, several other preachers, and a large number of brethren, seceding from the dominant party. This final separation from the Episcopal Methodists took place, voluntarily, at Manakin Town, North Carolina, December 25th, 1793. At first they took the name of 'Republican Methodists,' but at a subsequent conference resolved to be known as Christians only, to acknowledge no head over the church but Christ, and no creed or discipline but the Bible.

Near the close of the eighteenth century, Dr. Abner Jones, of Hartland, Vermont, then a member of a regular Baptist Church, had a peculiar difficulty of mind in relation to sectarian names and human creeds. The first, he regarded as an evil, because they were so many badges of distinct separation among the followers of Christ. The second, served as so many lines or walls of separation to keep the disciples of Christ apart; he thought that sectarian names and human creeds should be abandoned, and that true piety alone, and not the externals of it, should be the test of Christian fellowship and communion. Making the Bible the only source from whence he drew the doctrine he taught, Dr. Jones commenced propagating his sentiments with zeal, though at that time he did not know of another individual who thought like himself. In September, 1800, he had the pleasure of seeing a church of about 25 members gathered in Lyndon, Vermont, embracing these principles. In 1802 he gathered another church in Bradford, Vermont, and in March, 1803, another in Piermont, New Hampshire. About this time, Elias Smith, then a Baptist minister, was preaching with great success in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Falling in with Dr. Jones's views, the church under his care was led into the same principles. Up to this time Dr. Jones had laboured as a preacher nearly, if not quite, single-handed; but several preachers from the regular Baptists and Freewill Baptists, now rallied to the standard he had unfurled. Preachers were also raised up in the different churches now organised, several of whom travelled extensively, preaching with great zeal and success. Churches of the order were soon planted in all the New England states, the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and more recently in New Jersey and Michigan. A large number of churches have also been planted in the Canadas, and the province of New Brunswick.

A very extraordinary revival of religion was experienced among the Presbyterian's in Kentucky and Tennessee, during the years 1800 and 1801. Several Presbyterian ministers heartily entered into the work, and laboured with a fervour and zeal which they had never before manifested. Others either stood aloof from it, or opposed its progress. The preachers who entered the work, broke loose from the shackles of a Calvinistic creed, and preached the gospel of free salvation. The creed of the church now appeared in jeopardy. Presbyteries, and finally the Synod of Kentucky, interposed their authority to stop what they were pleased to call a torrent of Arminianism. Barton W. Stone, of Kentucky, a learned and eloquent minister, with four other ministers, withdrew from the Synod of Kentucky. As well might be expected, a large number of Presbyterian members, with most of the converts in this great revival, rallied round these men who had laboured go faithfully, and hud been so signally blessed in their labours. As they had already felt the scourge of a human creed, the churches then under their control, with such others as they organised, agreed to take the Holy Scriptures as their only written rule of faith and practice. At first they organised themselves into what was called the 'Springfield Presbytery;' but in 1803, they abandoned that name, and agreed to be known as Christians only. Preachers were now added to their numbers and raised up in their ranks. As they had taken the scriptures for their guide, pedobaptism was renounced, and believers' baptism by immersion substituted in its room. On a certain occasion one minister baptized another minister, and then he who had been baptized immersed the others. From the very beginning, this branch spread with surprising rapidity, and now extends through all the western states.

From this brief sketch it will be perceived that this people originated from the three principal Protestant sects in America. The branch at the south, from the Methodists; the one at the north, from the Baptists, and the one at the west, from the Presbyterians. The three branches rose within the space of eight years, in sections remote and unknown to each other, until some years afterwards. Probably no other religious body ever had a similar origin.

The adopting of the Holy Scriptures as their only system of faith, has led them to the study of shaping their belief by the language of the sacred oracles. A doctrine, which cannot be expressed in the language of inspiration, they do not hold themselves obligated to believe. Hence, with very few exceptions, they are not Trinitarians, averring that they can neither find the word nor the doctrine in the Bible. They believe ' the Lord our Jehovah is one Lord,' and purely one. That 'Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God;' that the Holy Ghost is that divine unction with which our Saviour was anointed, (Acts x. 38,) the effusion that was poured out on the day of Pentecost; and that it is a divine emanation of God, by which he exerts an energy or influence on rational minds. While they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, they are not Socinians or Humanitarians. Their prevailing belief is that Jesus Christ existed with the Father before all worlds. (See MUlard's ' True Messiah,' Morgridge's 'True Believer's Defence,' and Kinkade's ' Bible Doctrine.')

Although the Christians do not contend for entire uniformity in belief, yet in addition to the foregoing, nearly, if not quite all of them, would agree in the following sentiments: 1. That God is the rightful arbiter of the universe; the source and foundation of all good. 2. That all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 3. That with God there is forgiveness; but that sincere repentance and reformation are indispensable to the forgiveness of sins. 4. That man is constituted a free moral agent, and made capable of obeying the gospel. 5. That through the agency of the Holy Spirit, souls, in the use of means, are converted, regenerated, and made new creatures. 6. That Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification; that through his example, doctrine, death, resurrection and intercession, he has made salvation possible to every one, and is the only Saviour of lost sinners. 7. That baptism and the Lord's supper are ordinances to be observed by all true believers; and that baptism is the immersing of the candidate in water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 8. That a life of watchfulness and prayer only will keep Christians from falling, enable them to live in a justified state, and ultimately secure to them the crown of eternal life. 9. That there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. 10. That God has ordained Jesus Christ judge of the quick and dead at the last day; and at the judgment, the wicked will go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.

In the Christian Connexion, churches are independent bodies, authorised to govern themselves and transact their own affairs. They have a large number of associations called Conferences. Each conference meets annually, sometimes oftener, and is composed of ministers and messengers from churches within its bounds. At such conferences candidates for the ministry are examined, received and commended. Once a year, in conference, the character and standing of each minister is examined, that purity in the ministry may be carefully maintained. Such other objects are discussed and measures adopted, as have a direct bearing on the welfare of the body at large.

They have a book concern located at Union Mills, New York, called 'The Christian General Book Association.' At the same place they issue a semi-monthly periodical called the 'Christian Palladium.' They also publish a weekly paper at Exeter, New Hampshire, called the ' Christian Herald;' and another semi-monthly periodical is about to be issued in the state of Ohio, to be called the ' Gospel Herald.' They have also three institutions of learning; one located at Durham, New Hampshire, one in North Carolina, and the other at Starkey, Yates county, New York.

Although several of their preachers are defective in education, yet there are among them some good scholars and eloquent speakers; several of whom have distinguished themselves as writers. Education is fast rising in their body. While their motto has ever been, 'Let him that understands the gospel, teach it,' they are also convinced that Christianity never has been, and never will be, indebted to palpable ignorance. Their sermons are most generally delivered extempore, and energy and zeal are considered important traits in a minister for usefulness.

The statistics of the connexion, though imperfect, may probably be computed, at the present time, (1844,) as follows: the number of preachers about 1500, and 500 licentiates; communicants about 325,000; number of churches about 1,500. There are probably not less than 500,000 persons in this country who have adopted their general views, and attend upon their ministry.

 

 

The Society of Friends originated in England about the middle of the 17th century. The chief instrument in the divine hand for the gathering and establishment of this religious body was George Fox. He was born in the year 1624. He was carefully educated according to the received views of religion, and in conformity with the established mode of worship. His natural endowments of mind, although they derived but little advantage from the aid of art, were evidently of a very superior order. The character of this extraordinary man it will not, however, be necessary here to describe with critical minuteness. The reader, who may be desirous of acquiring more exact information on this head, is referred to the journal of his life, an interesting piece of autobiography, written in a simple and unembellished style, and containing a plain and unstudied narration of facts. By this it appears, that in very early life he indulged a vein of thoughtfulness and a deep tone of religious feeling, which, increasing with his years, were the means of preserving him, in a remarkable degree, free from the contamination of evil example by which he was surrounded. The period in which he lived was distinguised by a spirit of anxious inquiry, and a great appearance of zeal, on the subject of religion. The manners of the age were nevertheless deeply tinctured with licentiousness, which pervaded all classes of society, not excepting professors of religion. Under these circumstances, George Fox soon became dissatisfied with the mode of worship in which he had been educated. Withdrawing, therefore, from the public communion, he devoted himself to retirement, to inward meditation, and the study of the scriptures. While thus engaged in an earnest pursuit of divine knowledge, his mind became gradually enlightened to discover the nature of true religion; that it consisted not in outward profession, nor in external forms and ceremonies, but in purity of heart, and an upright walking before God. He was instructed to comprehend, that the means by which those necessary characteristics of true devotion were to be acquired were not of a secondary or remote nature; that the Supreme Being still condescended, as in former days, to communicate his will immediately to the soul of man, through the medium of his own Holy Spirit; and that obedience to the dictates of this inward and heavenly monitor constituted the basis of true piety, and the only certain ground of divine favour and acceptance. The convictions, thus produced in his own mind, he did not hesitate openly to avow. In defiance of clerical weight and influence, he denounced all human usurpation and interference in matters of religion, and boldly proclaimed that' God was come to teach the people himself.' The novelty of his views attracted general attention, and exposed him to much obloquy; but his honesty and uprightness won him the esteem and approbation of the more candid and discerning. Persevering, through every obstacle, in a faithful testimony to the simplicity of the truth, he found many persons who, entertaining kindred impresssions with himself, were fully prepared not only to adopt his views, but publicly to advocate them. The violent persecution which they encountered, served only to invigorate their zeal and multiply the number of their converts. United on a common ground of inward conviction, endeared still more to each other by a participation of suffering, and aware of the benefits to be derived from systematic co-operation, George Fox and his friends soon became embodied in independent religious communion.

Such is a brief history of the rise of the people called Quakers; to which I will only add, that the society continued to increase rapidly till near the end of the seventeenth century, through a most cruel and widely-extended persecution. Between the years 1650 and 1689, about fourteen thousand of this people suffered by fine and imprisonment, of which number more than three hundred died in jail; not to mention cruel mockings, buffetings, scourgings, and afflictions innumerable. All these things they bore with exemplary patience and fortitude, not returning evil for evil, but breathing the prayer, in the expressive language of conduct, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!' The testimonies for which they principally suffered, were those against a hireling priesthood, tithes and oaths; against doing homage to man with ' cap and knee;' and using flattering titles and compliments, and the plural number to a single person.

I am next to speak of their religious principles, which are found embodied in their testimonies.

The Society of Friends has never formed a creed after the manner of other religious denominations. We view Christianity essentially as a practical and not a theoretical system; and hence to be exemplified and recognised in the lives and conduct of its professors. We also hold that belief, in this connexion, does not consist in a mere assent of the natural understanding, but in a clear conviction wrought by the Divine Spirit in the soul. (1 John v. 10.) For that which here challenges our belief involves a knowledge God; and no man knoweth the things of God but by the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. ii. 11.) Again, religion is a progressive work: 'There is first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear.' (Mark iv. 28.) 'And some there are who have need of milk, and not of strong meat; and every one that useth milk is unskilful in the work of righteousness: for he is a babe.' (Heb. v. 12, 13.)

Seeing, therefore, that there are different growths and degress of knowledge in the members of the body, we cannot but view the practice of requiring them to subscribe to the same creed, or articles of faith, as a pernicious excrescence on the Christian system. And hence we prefer judging of our members by their fruits, and leaving them to be taught in the school of Christ, under the tuition of an infallible teacher, free from the shackles imposed by the wisdom or contrivance of man.

Our testimony to the light of Christ within,—We believe a knowledge of the gospel to be founded on immediate revelation. (Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, 12; John xiv. 26.) Being the antitype of the legal dispensation, it is spiritual as its author, and as the soul which it purifies and redeems. (Rom. i. 16.) Under the gospel dispensation, the temple, (1 Cor. v. 19; Acts vii. 48,) altar, (Heb. xiii. 10,) sacrifices, (1 Pet. ii. 5.) the flesh and blood, (John vi. 58—63,) water and fire, (John vii. 37, 38; iv. 14; Matt. iii. 11,) cleansing and worship, (John iv. 23, 24,) are all spiritual. (28) Instituted by the second Adam, the gospel restores to us the privileges and blessings enjoyed by the first; the same pure, spiritual worship, the same union and communion with our Maker. (John xvii. 21.) Such are our views of the Christian religion; a religion freely offered to the whole human race, (Heb. viii. 10, 11,) requiring neither priest nor book to administer or to illustrate it, (1 John ii. 27; Rom. x. 6, 7, 8); for all outward rites and ceremonials are, to this religion, but clogs or cumbrous appendages, God himself being its author, its voucher, and its teacher. (John xiv. 26; 1 Cor. ii. 9—12.) These are not speculations or notions, for we speak of what we do know, 'and our hands have handled of the word of life.' (1 John i. 1.) Such is a summary of the religion held and taught by the primitive 'Quakers;' from which I descend to a few particulars, as a further exposition of their and our principles.

The message which they received is the same given to the apostles, that 'God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.' (1 John i. 6, 7); and their great fundamental principle to which they bear testimony is, that God hath given to every man coming into the world, and placed within him, a measure or manifestation of this divine light, grace, or spirit, which, if obeyed, is all-sufficient to redeem or save him. (John iii. 19, 20; i. 9; Tit. ii. 11; I Cor. xii. 7.) It is referred to and illustrated in the scriptures, by the prophets, and by Jesus Christ and his disciples and apostles, under various names and similitudes. But the thing we believe to be one, even as God is one and his purpose one and the same in all, viz. repentance, regeneration, and final redemption. It is called light—of which the light of the natural sun is a beautiful and instructive emblem; for this divine light, like the natural, enables us to distinguish with indubitable clearness all that concerns us in the works of salvation, and its blessings are as impartially, freely and universally dispensed to the spiritual, as the other is to the outward creation. It is called grace, and grace of God, because freely bestowed on us by his bounty and enduring love. (John xiv. 16, 26.)

It is called truth, as being the substance of all types and shadows, and imparting to man a true sense and view of his condition, as it is in the divine sight. It is called Christ (Rom. viii. 10; x. 6, 7, 8); Christ within, the hope of glory (Col. i. 27); the kingdom of God within (Luke xvii. 21); the word of God (Heb. iv. 12, 13); a manifestation of the Spirit, given to every man to profit withal (1 Cor. xii. 7); the seed (Luke viii. 11); a still small voice (I Kings xix. 12); because most certainly heard in a state of retirement, but drowned by the excitement of the passions, the rovings of the imagination, and the eager pursuits of worldly objects. 'And thine ear shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it—when ye turn to the right, and when ye turn to the left.'

It is compared to a 'grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds,' being at first little in appearance; but, as it is obeyed, growing and extending like that plant, until it occupies the whole ground of the heart, and thus expands into and sets up the kingdom of God in the soul. (Luke xiii. 19.) For the like reason it is compared to 'a little leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened,' or brought into its own nature. (Luke xiii. 21.)

This unspeakable gift, through the infinite wisdom and goodness of the divine economy, speaks to every man's condition, supplies all his spiritual need, and is a present and all-sufficient help in every emergency and trial. To the obedient it proves a 'comforter,' under temptation a 'monitor,' and a ' swift witness' against the transgressor. It is a 'quickening spirit' to rouse the indifferent; 'like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, purifying the unclean;' and as a 'hammer' to the heart of the obdurate sinner; and in all, an infallible teacher, and guide to virtue and holiness. (29)

And as there are diversities of operations and administrations, so also there are diversities of gifts bestowed on the members of the body (1 Cor. xii. 3—12): 'The Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will,' in order that every office and service in the church militant may be performed, to preserve its health, strength, and purity. And thus by one and the 'self same spirit,' 'we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and all are made to drink into one spirit.' (1 Cor. xii. 13.)

Divine internal light is often confounded with conscience, and thus inferences are drawn against the truth of the doctrine. But this principle is as distinct from that natural faculty as the light of the sun is distinct from the eye on which it operates.. From a wrong education, and from habitual transgression, the judgment becomes perverted or darkened, and often 'calls evil good and good evil;' and conscience being swayed by the judgment responds to its decisions, and accuses or excuses accordingly. In this manner conscience becomes corrupted and defiled. Now it is our belief that, if the discoveries made and monitions given by divine light to the mind, were strictly attended to, it would correct and reform the erring conscience and judgment, and dissipate the darkness in which the mind becomes involved.

Such is our testimony to the great fundamental principle in religion, as we believe and understand it. We exclude speculative opinions. If the reader be dissatisfied with our impersonal form of expression, let him change it, and it will be a change of name only. We dispute not about names.

We believe in the divinity of Christ—not of the outward body, but of the spirit which dwelt within it—a divinity not self-existing and independent, but derived from the Father, being the Holy Spirit, or God in Christ. 'The Son can do nothing of himself,' said Christ; and again, 'I can of mine own self do nothing' (John v. 19, 30); and in another place, 'The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the work' (John xiv. 10); 'As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things' (John viii. 28); 'Even as the Father said unto me, so I speak' (John xii. 50). (30)

We reject the common doctrines of the Trinity and Satisfaction, as contrary to reason and revelation, and for a more full expression of our views on these subjects, we refer the inquiring reader to the works below cited. (31) We are equally far from owning the doctrine of 'imputed righteousness,' in the manner and form in which it is held. We believe there must be a true righteousness of heart and life, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, or Christ within; in which work we impute all to him, for of ourselves we can do nothing. Neither do we admit that the sins of Adam are, in any sense, imputed to his posterity; but we believe that no one incurs the guilt of sin, until he transgresses the law of God in his own person. (Deut. i. 39; Ezek. xvii. 10—24; Matt. xxi. 16; Mark x. 14, 15, 16; Rom. ix. 11). In that fallen state, the love and mercy of God are ever extended for his regeneration and redemption. God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, in that prepared body, under the former dispensation, for the salvation of men. And it is through the same redeeming love, and for the same purpose that, under the ' new covenant,' he now sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, a mediator and intercessor, to reconcile us, and render us obedient to the holy will and righteous law of God. We believe that all that is to be savingly known of God, is made manifest or revealed in man by his Spirit (Rom, i. 19); and if mankind had been satisfied to rest here, and had practised on the knowledge thus communicated, there would never have existed a controversy about religion, and no materials could now have been found for the work, of which this essay forms a part. (Deut. xxviii. 15, 29.)

Our testimony concerning the Scriptures.—We believe that the scriptures have proceeded from the revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints; and this belief is founded on evidence furnished by the same Spirit to our minds. We experience them to be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. But as they are a declaration from the fountain only, and not the fountain itself, they bear the same inscription as the sun-dial: 'Non sine famine'—useless, or a dead letter, without light; (32) because the right interpretation, authority and certainty of them, and, consequently, their usefulness, depend on the assurance and evidence of the same Spirit by which they are dictated, given to the mind of the reader. (2 Cor. iii. 6.) For, although we believe that we may be helped and strengthened by outward means, such as the scriptures, and an authorised gospel ministry; yet it is only by the Spirit that we can come to the true knowledge of God, and be led ' into all truth.' Under these several considerations, we cannot accept these writings as the foundation and ground of all religious knowledge, nor as the primary rule of faith and practice; since these high attributes belong to the divine Spirit alone, by which the scriptures themselves are tested. Neither do we confound cause and effect by styling them the 'Word of God,' which title belongs to Christ alone, the fountain from which they proceeded. (Eph. vi. 17; Heb. iv. 12; Rev. xix. 13.)

Our testimony on Divine Worship, the Ministry, &.—We believe that they that worship the Father aright, must worship him in spirit and in truth, and not in a formal manner. (John iv. 24.) Hence, when we meet together for public worship, we do not hasten into outward performances. (1 Pet. iv. 11.) For, as we believe that of ourselves, and by our own natural reason, we can perform no act that will be acceptable to God, or available to our own advancement in righteousness, without the sensible influence of his good Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 3): much less can we, without this divine aid, be useful to others, or minister at set times, seeing that this essential requisite is not at our command. Therefore it is our practice, when thus met together, to sit in silence, and withdraw our minds from outward things, to wait upon God, and 'feel after him, if haply we may find him.' (Psalm xlvi. 10.) And in these silent opportunities we are often strengthened and refreshed together by his heavenly presence. (Matt, xviii. 20.) This manner of worship we believe to be more acceptable to our great Head, 'who seeth in secret,' than set forms of prayer or praise, however specious, performed in the will of man. (1 Cor. ii. 13; Luke xii. 12.) Yet we do not exclude the use of a rightly qualified ministry, but believe it to be a great blessing to the church. Nor do we exclude vocal prayer, when properly authorized; though we bear testimony against the custom of appointing times and persons for this solemn service by human authority; believing that without the immediate operation of the divine power, 'we know not what we should pray for as we ought.' (Rom. viii. 26.)

I have before stated it as our belief, that outward rites and ceremonies have no place under the Christian dispensat:on, which we regard as a purely spiritual administration. Hence we hold that the means of initiation into the church of Christ does not consist in the water-baptism of John, which decreasing rite has vanished (John iii. 30); but in Christ's baptism, (Matt. iii. 11,) or that of the Holy Spirit; the fruits of which are repentance and the new birth. Neither do we believe that spiritual communion can be maintained between Christ and his church, by the use of the outward ' elements' of bread and wine, called the 'supper,' which is the type or shadow only; but that the true communion is that alluded to in the Revelations: 'Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.'

A hireling ministry, or the practice of taking money for preaching, we testify against, as contrary to the plain precept and command of Christ, "Freely ye have received, feeely give." Further, we hold that to constitute a minister of Christ requires a special gift, call, and qualification from the blessed Master, and that neither scholastic divinity, philosophy, nor the forms of ordination, confer in any degree either ability or authority to engage in this service of Christ, (1 Cor. ii. 4, 5, I3.) who has forewarned us that without him we can do nothing for ourselves. (John xv. 5.) As we believe that gifts in the ministry are bestowed by the Head of the Church, so we presume not to limit him in the dispensation of them, to any condition of life, or to one sex alone; seeing that male and female are all one in Christ. And this liberty we look upon as a fulfilment of prophecy, having received abundant evidence of its salutary influence in the church. (Acts ii. 16, 17; xxi. 9.)

Our testimonies against war, slavery, and oaths are generally well known, and have their rise in the convictions of the Spirit of truth in our minds, amply confirmed by the precepts and commands of Christ and his Apostles, to which we refer the reader.

We condemn frivolous and vain amusements, and changeable fashions and superfluities in dress and furniture, shows of rejoicing and mourning, and public diversions. They are a waste of that time given us for nobler purposes, and are incompatible with the simplicity, gravity, and dignity that should adorn the Christian character.

We refrain from the use of the plural number to a single person, and of compliments in our intercourse with men, as having their origin in flattery, and tending to nourish a principle, the antagonist of that humility and meekness, which, after the example of Christ, ought to attach to his disciples. We also decline giving the common names to the months and days, which have been bestowed on them in honour of the heroes and false gods of antiquity, thus originating from superstition and idolatry.

We inculcate submission to the laws in all cases where the ' rights of conscience' are not thereby violated. But as Christ's kingdom is not of this world, we hold that the civil power is limited to the maintenance of external peace and good order, and therefore has no right whatever to interfere in religious matters.

The Yearly Meetings of New York, Genessee, Baltimore, Ohio, and Indiana, hold an epistolary correspondence with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, according to ancient practice. But the Yearly Meeting of London has declined this intercourse since the separation in 1827.

The writer here alludes to a controversy which arose in the body of Friends, from an attempt made by a party in it, who had become imbued with the prevalent love of a dogmatical religion, to bring the members under the yoke of what is termed 'Evangelical Religion.' This attempt which was entered on simultaneously in Europe, and in America, was strenuously resisted in many quarters, and met in the United States with so much dislike and opposition, as to lead to a schism, in which each of the two separating parties contended for the honour and advantages of being the ancient, recognized, and legal body of Friends. To one of these two, the title of Hicksitc Quakers was given; from the name of a venerable man, Elias Hicks, who stood prominently forward to assert the true doctrine! of Gospel liberty, and what he considered the essential principles of the primitive Friends. But these principles and that doctrine led to, if they did not rather involve, the denial of the humanly-devised creeds of semi-barbarous ages, and, inconsequence, the great tenet of Athanasian Christianity. For this use of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, they were disowned, and even persecuted, by those of their brethren who thought that salvation by faith meant ssilvation by holding their exact opinions. The account now given is to be understood as emanating from those who claim to represent the old established principles and laws of the body.

 

Universalists in the United States.

 

Universalits is the general and approved name of that denomination of Christians, which is distinguished for believing that God will finally save all mankind from sin and death, and make all intelligences holy and happy by and through the mediation of Jesus-Christ, the Saviour of the world. The great general sentiment of the final, universal salvation of all moral beings from sin and death, in which this denomination is united, and by which it is distinguished, is termed Universalism; or, sometimes, by way of varying the phraseology, 'the Abrahamic faith,' because it is the gospel that was declared to Abraham—or, sometimes, 'the Restitution,' or, ' the Restitution of all things," &c.

The first intimation of God's purpose to destroy the cause of moral evil, and restore man to purity and happiness, is contained in the promise, that the serpent, (which represents the origin and cause of sin,) after bruising man's heel, (a curable injury of the most inferior portion of humanity,) should have its head bruised by the woman's seed. (Genesis iii. 15.) A bruise of the head is death to the serpent, (and to what that reptile represents;) and the destruction being effected by the Seed of the woman, shows man's final and complete deliverance from, and triumph over, all evil. In acordance with the idea conveyed by representing man's heel only as being bruised, is the limitation of the punishment divinely pronounced on the first pair of transgressors, to the duration of their earthly lives—(Gen. iii. 17, 19) —and the total absence of everything like even a hint, that God would punish Cain, or Lamech, or the antediluvians, with an infinite or endless penalty —and the institution of temporal punishment only, in the law given by Moses. And the intimation of the final, total destruction of the very cause of moral evil, and of all its works or effects, (or of sin,) is further explained and confirmed by later and more conclusive testimony, in which it is stated that Jesus would destroy death and the devil, the devil and all his works; and that the grave (Hades, or Hell) and its victory, and death and its sting, (which is sin) would exist no more after the resurrection of the dead. (Sec Heb, ii. I4; I John iii. 8 ; and 1 Cor. xv. 54-57.)

This brief intimation of the ultimate destruction of evil, and man's salvation therefrom, grew into that divine promise to Abraham and his descendants, which the apostle Paul expressly calls 'the Gospel,' viz., that in Abraham and his seed, (which seed is Jesus Christ,) 'shall all the families,' 'all the nations,' and 'all kindreds of the earth be blessed'—by being 'turned away every one from iniquity,' and by being 'justified (i. e. made just) by faith.' (Compare Genesis xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii. 18, and xxvi. 4, with Acts iii. '25, 26, and Galatians iii. 8.) Christ being a spiritual Prince, and a spiritual Saviour only, and this Gospel being a spiritual promise; of course the blessings promised to all, in Christ, will be spiritual also, and not merely temporal. For all that are blessed in Christ, are to be new creatures. (2 Cor. v. 17.) Accordingly we find this solemn, oath-confirmed promise of God—this 'gospel preached before due time to Abraham'—made the basis and subject of almost every prophecy relating to the ultimate prevalence, and universal, endless triumph of God's moral dominion under the mediatorial reign of Jesus Christ.

But if we would obtain a more perfect understanding of those prophetic promises, we must examine them in connexion with the expositions given of their meaning, by the Saviour and his apostles, in the New Testament. One or two examples are all that can be given here. The subjugation of all things to the dominion of man, (Ps. viii. 5, 6,) is expressly applied to the spiritual subjugation of all souls to Jesus, by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who declares it a universal subjection; ('for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him;') and that it is not the present physical or external subjection, but the prospectively final, spiritual and internal subjection that is meant—'for we see not yet all things put under him,' &c. (Heb. ii. 8, 9.) And in 1 Cor. xv. 24-28, this subjection is represented as taking place after all opposing powers are put down, and the last enemy is destroyed—and it is connected with the subjection of all alike unto Jesus, and of Jesus unto God, and is declared to be, that God may be all that is in all:—thus most emphatically and conclusively showing that nothing but a thorough, spiritual subjection of the whole soul to God can be intended. And that it is to be strictly universal, is evident, also, from the 27th verse, where God is expressly named as the only being in the universe who will not be subjected to the moral dominion of Jesus—thus agreeing with the testimony of Hebrews ii. 8, before quoted. Again: the promise of universal blessedness in the gospel, under the figure of a feast for all people, made on Mount Zion, and the swallowing up of death in victory, recorded in Isaiah xxv. 6-8, is very positively applied by the Apostle Paul to the resurrection of all men to immortality—thus showing its universality, its spirituality, and its endlessness. (See 1 Cor. xv. 54.) And again: in Isaiah Iv. 10, 11, God gives a pledge that his word will more certainly accomplish all it is sent to perform, than will his natural agents perform their mission. In Isa. xlv. 22-24, he informs us that the mission of his word is, to make every knee bow, and every tongue swear allegiance, and surely say that in the Lord each one has righteousness and strength. The Apostle to the Gentiles, in speaking of the flesh-embodied Word of God, Jesus of Nazareth, in a very emphatic manner confirmed the absolute universality of this promise, by declaring that it included all in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth, in its promise of final salvation, by gathering them into Christ. (See Phil. ii. 9-11.) This acknowledgment of Jesus, as universal Lord or owner, is to be made by the influence of the Holy Spirit—(1 Cor. xii. 3; and Rom. xiv. 8, 9, compared with John vi. 37-39, .and Phil. iii. 21)—and-is called reconciliation, without which, indeed, it could not be a true spiritual subjection and allegiance. (Col. i. 19, 20; and Eph. i. 8-10.)

We have very briefly traced the rise and gradual development of the doctrine of universal salvation, from its first intimation down to its full and clear exposition ;—thus proving that it is, indeed, 'the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouths of all his holy prophets, since the world began'—(Acts iii. 21)—and the gospel which God 'hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things.' This gospel of the great salvation, so abundantly testified to by the apostles of the Saviour, was undoubtedly the faith of the primitive churches. True, other matters more directly engaged the preaching and controversies of the early teachers; for both Jews and Gentiles denied that Jesus was a divinely commisioned teacher, and that he rose from the dead after his crucifixion and burial—and many also denied the resurrection of the dead in general. But it is a fact clearly stated on the page of ecclesiastical history, and proved by the writings of the early Fathers themselves, that the doctrine of universal salvation was held, without any directly counter sentiment being taught, until the days of Tertullian, in A. D. 204 ; and that Tertullian himself was the first Christian writer ever known, who asserted the doctrine of the absolute eternity of hell-torments, or, that the punishment of the wicked and the happiness of the saints were equal in duration. Nor was there any opposition to the doctrine of universal salvation, until long after the days of Origen, (about A. D. 394,)—nor was it ever declared a heresy by the Church in general, until as late as the year 553, when the fifth General Council thus declared it false. But that the reader may have names and dates, we will here name a few of the most eminent Fathers, with the date of their greatest fame, who openly avowed and publicly taught the doctrine of Universalism.

A. D.140, the authors of the Sibylline Oracles; 190, Clement, President of the Catechetical School at Alexandrai, the most learned and illustrious man before Origen; 185, Origin, the light of the Church in his day, whose reputation for learning and sanctity gave rise to many followers, and finally a great party, in the Christian Church, the most of whom (if not all) were decided believers and advocates of Universalism. Among these we will merely name, (for we have no room for remarks,) Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, and Titus, Bishop of Bostra; A. D. 300, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople; 380, Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and Fabius Manus Victorinus; A. D. 390, the Origenists, the Gnostics, and the Manicheans generally held it about this time, and many eminent fathers whom we have not room to particularize. Those we have named quoted the same texts, and used many of the arguments in proof of the doctrine that are now urged by Universalists. And it is a remark-worthy fact, that the Greek Fathers who wrote against endless misery, and in favour of Universalism, nevertheless used the Greek word aion and its derivatives, (rendered ever, for ever, everlasting, and eternal, in our common English version of the Bible,) to express the duration of punishment, which they stated to be limited — thus proving that the ancient meaning of these words was not endless duration when applied to sin and suffering. For instances with reference to author and page, see the 'Ancient History of Universalism, by the Rev. H. Ballou, 2d,' from which the following very condensed statement is extracted.

After existing unmolested, in fact, after being the prevailing sentiment of the Christian Church, for nearly 500 years—especially of that portion of the Church nearest Judea, and therefore most under the influence imparted by the personal disciples of the Lord Jesus,—Universalism was at last put down, as its Great Teacher had been before it, by human force and authority. From the fifth General Council, in A. D. 553, we may trace the rapid decline of pure Christianity. During all the dark ages of rapine, blood and cruelty, Universalism was unknown in theory as it was in practice ; and the doctrine of ceaseless sin and suffering prevailed without a rival. But no sooner was the Reformation commenced, and arts and learning began to revive, and the scriptures to be read and obeyed, than Universalism again found advocates, and began to spread in Christendom. The Anabaptists of Germany and of England openly embraced it—many eminent men of worth, talents and learning, embraced and defended it— and it formed the hope and solace of hundreds of pious men and women of various denominations. Among many others who embraced and taught Universalism, we have room only to name Winstanley, Earbury, Coppin; Samuel Richardson, author of 'Eternal Hell Torments Overthrown;' Jeremy White, Chaplain to Cromwell, and author of' The Restoration of all Things ;' Dr. Henry More, Archbishop Tillotson, Dr. Thomas Burnct, Wm. Winston, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. George Cheyne, Chevalier Ramsay, John Win. Peterson, Neil Douglas, James Purves, Dr. Hartley, author of 'Observations on man;' Bishop Newton, Sir George Stonehouse, Rev. R. Barbauld, and his wife, Anna Letitia Barbauld, the Authoress; many of the General Baptists, in England; the English Unitarians, almost universally—especially Drs. Priestley, Lindsey, Belsham, and others—and many eminent men in Holland, France, and Germany. In the latter named country, the sentiment has spread most generally, and is now held by a vast majority of both the evangelical and the rationalist Christians: so much so, that Professor Sears has styled it ' the orthodoxy of Germany;' and Mr. Dwight declares that there are few eminent theologians in that country but what believe it. In the United States the sentiment is held, with more or less publicity, among sects whose public profession of faith is at least not favourable to it: as among the Moravians, the German Baptists of several kinds, a portion of the Unitarians, a few Protestant Methodists, and even among the Congregationalists and Presbyterians, according to Professor Stuart's statement. And it will undoubtedly continue to spread silently and unseen, among the more benevolent and affectionate portions of all sects, as rapidly as true scriptural knowledge enlightens their minds; until their prayers for the salvation of the lost shall find an answering support in their hopes and their faith, and the modern, like the primitive Church, shall hold in its purity the doctrine of universal salvation from sin and suffering.

As a denomination, Universalists began their organization in England, about I750, under the preaching of the Rev. John Relly, who gathered the first church of believers in that sentiment, in the city of London. Mr. Relly, and his congregations generally, held to a modified form of the doctrine of the Trinity; this has given a character accordingly to Universalism in Great Britain, which it does not possess in the United States. The Unitarians of Great Britain being very generally Universalists, also in sentiment and preaching, all who embrace Universalism in connection with the doctrine of the divine unity, join the Unitarians; and hence it is, that the denomination does not increase as rapidly in Great Britain as it does in this country, though the doctrine is spreading there extensively, and also on the continent. Universalism was introduced into the United States, as a distinctive doctrine, by John Murray. Mr. Murray had been converted from Methodism by the preaching of Mr. Relly, and emigrated to this country in 1770, and soon after commenced preaching his peculiar views in various places in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and thus became the principal founder of the denomination. For a very interesting biography of Mr. Murray, we refer the reader to his Life; and for a fuller history of the sentiment and denomination generally, and especially of Universalism in America, than my limits will allow me to furnish, I refer the reader to the 'Modern History of Universalism, by Rev. Thomas Whitmore.' This, with the 'Ancient History of Universalism," before referred to, will give a continuous history of the doctrine, from the day of the apostles down to A. D. 1830.

In the United States, to which we now confine our very brief sketch, Universalism had been occasionally advocated, from pulpit and press, before the arrival of Murray. Dr. George De Benneville, of Germantown, Pa., a learned and pious man, was a believer, and probably published the edition of Siegvolk's 'Everlasting Gospel,' a Universalist work which appeared there in 1753. The Rev. Richard Clarke, an Episcopalian, openly proclaimed it while Rector of St. Philip's Church, in Charleston, S. C., from 1754 to 1759. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, Congregationalist, of Boston, preached and published a sermon in its favour in 1762. Besides, the Tunkers (or German Baptists), and Mennonists generally, and some among the Moravians, (including Count Zinzendorf, who visited this country), held it, though it is believed they did not often publicly preach itBut Mr. Murray was the first to whose preaching the formation of the denomination can be traced. After itinerating several years, he located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where the first Universalist society in this country was organized in 1779; and the first meeting-house, excepting Potter's, in New Jersey, was erected there by the same, in 1780. Shortly previous to this, other preachers of the doctrine arose in various parts of New England, among whom were Adam Streeter, Caleb Rich, and Thomas Barnes—and organized a few societies as early as 1780. Elhanan Winchester, celebrated as a preacher among the Calvinistic Baptists, and, next to Murray, the most efficient early preacher of Universalism, was converted at Philadelphia, in 1781. The most of these early preachers, thus almost simultaneously raised up of God, probably differed considerably from Mr. Murray, and from each other, on various doctrinal points, while they held fellowship with each other as believers in the common salvation; and thus was probably laid the foundation of that heavenly liberality of feeling among Universalists in this country, which led them to tolerate a diversity of religious opinions in their denomination, almost as great as can be found in all the opposing sects united; and causes them to hold fellowship as Christians, with all who bear that name and sustain that character; and as Universalists, with all Christians who believe in universal salvation from sin and death.

From this feeble commencement we date the rise of the Universalist denomination on this continent. Simultaneous with it, persecutions dark and fierce were waged against it by the religious world. Legal prosecutions were commenced against our members in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, to compel them to support the established sects, and to render illegal the ministerial acts of our preachers, as marriage, &c. For several years they were thus persecuted, insulted, and subjected to vexatious and expensive lawsuits, and denied the Christian name and sympathies, until they were compelled, in self-defence, to assume a denominational name and form, and at last even to publish to the world a written Profession of Faith: not to trammel the minds or bind the consciences of their members, but to comply with a legal requisition, and inform the world what they did believe and practise as a Christian people. The first meeting of delegates (from probably less than ten societies) for this purpose, was held in Oxford, Massachusetts, September 14th, 1785. They took the name of 'The Independent Christian Universalists.' Their societies were to be styled, 'The Independent Christian Society in , commonly called Universalists.'

They united in a 'Charter of Compact,' from which we make the following brief extract, ai expressing the views and feelings of the denomination to this day.

'As Christians, we acknowledge no master but Christ Jesus ; and as disciples, we profess to follow no guide in spiritual matters, but his word and spirit; as dwellers in this world, we hold ourselves bound to yield obedience to every ordinance of man for God's sake, and we will be obedient subjects to the powers that are ordained of God in all civil cases: but as subjects of that King whose kingdom is not of this world, we cannot acknowledge the right of any authority to make laws for the regulation of our consciences in spiritual matters. Thus, as a true independent Church of Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we mutually agree to walk together in Christian fellowship, building up each other in our most holy faith, rejoicing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and determining by his grace no more to be entangled by any yoke of bondage.'

On this broad foundation (Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone) of freedom of opinion and conscience—this liberality and toleration of widely differing views and practices, in non-essentials—and this world-wide, heavenly charity to the brotherhood, and to all mankind—the denomination was then based; on that foundation it has thus far been builded up a holy temple to the Lord; and on that foundation of Christian liberty, love, and truth, may it ever continue, until every soul God has created is brought into it as a lively spiritual stone of the universal building.

'The General Convention of the New England States and others,'which was recommended by the meeting of delegates above noticed, held its first, session in Boston, in 1786, and met annually thereafter. In 1833 it was changed into the present 'United States' Convention,' with advisory powers only, and constituted by a delegation of four ministers and six laymen, from each state convention in its fellowship. Rev. Hosea Ballou (yet living in a green old age, and actively engaged in preaching and writing in defence of the Restitution) was converted from the Baptists in 1791. His 'treatise on the atonement,' published in 1805, was probably the first book ever published in this country that advocated the strict unity of God, and other views accordant therewith. That and his other writings, and his constant pulpit labours, probably have changed the theological views of the public, and moulded those of his own denomination into a consistent system to a greater extent than those of any other man of his age, and in this country. In 1803, as before stated, the General Convention, during its session in Winchester, N. H., was compelled to frame and publish the following Profession of Faith. 11 is the only one that has ever been adopted and published by that body.

'I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character and will of God, and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind.

'II. We believe there is one God, whose nature is love; revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

'III. We believe lhat holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected; and that believers ought to maintain order, and practise good works, for these things are good and profitable unto men.'

In the unity of this General Profession of Faith, the entire denomination remained without any disturbance, until in 1827; when an effort commenced to create a division on the grounds of limited punishment after death, and no punishment after death. It finally resulted in a partial division of a few brethren in Massachusetts, who held to punishment after death, from the main body, and the formation by them of 'the Massachusetts Association of Restorationists.' But the great body of brethren agreeing with these few in sentiment, refusing to separate from the denomination, and the few who did secede being nearly all gradually absorbed into the Christian ( or Freewill Baptist) and Unitarian denominations, or coming back to the main body, the Bestorationist Association became extinct, and the division has ceased, except in the case of two or three preachers, and probably as many societies, which yet retain their distinctive existence in Massachusetts alone. Besides these, there are one or two societies in the United States, and peahaps as many preachers, who refused to place themselves under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical bodies of the denomination, yet profess a full and hearty fellowship for our faith and general principles.

The principles of Christian freedom of opinion and of conscience, and liberal toleration in all non-essentials, adopted by the founders of the denomination, are practised by Universalists at the present day. In religious faith they have but one Father and one Master, and the Bible, the Bible, is their only acknowledged creed-book. But to satisfy inquirers who are not accustomed to the liberal toleration induced by a free exercise of tho right of private judgment, it becomes necessary to state in other than scripture language, our peculiar views on theological subjects. The General Profession of Faith adopted in 1803, and given above, truly expresses the faith of all Universalists. In that, the denomination is united.

The first preachers of their doctrine in the United States were converts from various denominations, and brought with them, to the belief of Universalism, many of their previous opinions, besides some which they picked up by the way. Murray held to the Sabellian view of the divine existence, and that man, being wholly punished in the person of the Saviour, by union with him, suffered no other punishment than what is the mere consequence of unbelief. Winchester was a Trinitarian of the' orthodox' stamp, and held to penal sufferings. Both were Calvinistic in their views of human agency and both believed in suffering after death. Mr. Ballou was Arian, in his views of God's mode of subsistence; but gradually abandoned the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ, and became convinced that sin and suffering begin and end their existence in the flesh. Others, probably, differed somewhat in these and other particulars from these three brethren. But, very generally, Universalists have come to entertain, what are commonly called, Unitarian views of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of Atonement, at least there appears to be a very general similarity between us and the English Unitarians, not only on those subjects, but also on the nature and duration of punishment, on the subject of the devil, and demoniacal agency, and on the final salvation of all moral beings. The Rev. Walter Balfour, a convert from the Congregationalist ministry, in Massachusetts, by his 'Enquiries into the meaning of the original words rendered hell, devil, Satan, for ever, everlasting, damnation, &c., &c..'and more especially by his 'Letters on the Immortality of the Soul,' led some to adopt the opinion that the soul fell asleep at death, and remained dormant until the resurrection, when it was awakened, and raised in the immortal, glorious and heavenly image. But all, or very nearly all Universalists agree in the opinion, that all sin and suffering terminate at the resurrection of the dead to immortality, when Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed; and sin, the sting of death, be no more; and Hades (hell or the grave) will give up its victory to the Reconciler of all things in heaven, earth, and under the earth, unto God; and God be all that is in all. (See 1 Cor. xv.)

But, as before stated, they keep fellowship as Universalists with all Christians who believe in the final salvation of all intelligences from sin and death, whether, in other respects, they are Trinitarian or Unitarian; Calvinistic or Arminian; whether they hold to baptism by immersion, sprinkling or pouring of water, or to the baptism of the Spirit only; whether they use or reject forms; and whether they believe in punishment after death or not. In short, nearly all the differences of opinion which have rent the rest of Christendom into hundreds of opposing sects, exist in the Universalist denomination, without exciting any division or even strife; yea, they seldom cause even any controversy. Such is the harmonizing influence of the doctrine of one Father, one Saviour, one interest, and one final destiny for the whole human family! Universalists require, as the great evidence and only test that a professing Christian is what he pretends to be, the manifestation of the spirit of Jesus in his daily walk and conversation—practical proofs that he loves God and man—that he has the spirit of Christ dwelling in his soul, as well as the light of truth in his understanding. 'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have love one to another,' said Jesus; and the only certain way to know that a man has such love, is to see it in his life and actions. No professions, no forms, or ceremonies, can ever so well evince this love, as living it.

With differences in minor points which must exist among persons, who are faithful to the true Protestant principle of the indubitable right of private judgment, all ministers are said, every where and always, to proclaim the following doctrines.

I. God is one and indivisable, without a rival or an equal, and is alone to be worshipped with supreme adoration.

II. Jesus Christ is a created and dependent being, deriving his existence and all his power from God, who is his Father, and the Father of all.

III. The object of Christ's mission and death was not to placate the the wrath or satisfy the justice of God, but to commend God's love to the world, to give a perfect example for man to follow, to reveal the true character of the Eternal Father, and bring life and immortality to light.

IV. God has so established the principles of his government, and the order of his providence, that punishment follows guilt by a natural and inevitable law, so that all sin must receive an adequate punishment.

V. All punishment is disciplinary and remedial, and will end in the good of those on whom it is inflicted.

VI. All created Intelligencies shall ultimately be made holy, and consequently happy in the knowledge and service of God.

During the month of September, 1845, a General Convention of the Universalists of the United States met in Boston. It was the largest meeting of the kind ever held before. There were more than two hundred clergymen, besides the lay delegates, present on the occasion. The number of Universalists in Boston, during the two days of the Convention proper, is said to have exceeded ten thousand. The nature of the topics discussed was highly interesting and important—calculated to elevate the character and augment the usefulness of the denomination generally. The proceedings of the Convention were marked with earnestness, harmony and charity. A very eloquent discourse was delivered in the School Street Room, by the Rev. E. H. Chapin, and repeated by request in the Warren Street Church. In this discourse the preacher urged the necessity of an educated ministry. A considerable share of the discussions of the body was connected with education; and there was also an acknowledged necessity for a more perfect organization of churches and societies, which received a good deal of attention. So great were the numbers in attendance that meetings were held in three or four churches at the same time. The occasion was one of great congratulation among the members of the denomination, not only because of the numerous attendance, but also on account of the business transacted and the spirit which prevailed. The official document states 'it was the largest and happiest meeting of their General Convention.'

The Universalist body in the United States are not only increasing in numbers but likewise elevating the standard of their aims; the fonner is well—the latter is better.—The following are the statistics of the denomination :—

 

 

Among the Meeting-Houses are several built in union with and partly owned by other denominations. The other institutions of this body are—1 General Convention. I. U. S. Historical Society, 18 State Conventions, 79 Associations, (beside 4 Sunday School Associations), 1 State Missionary Society, 2 Sectional do., 1 State Tract Society, and one or two less Associations for similar purposes, 22 Periodicals, most of them issued weekly, and 6 or 8 High Schools. The net gain of the last year is 4 Conventions, 9 Associations, 44 Societies, and 22 Meeting-Houses.

Of the number of persons composing the Societies here mentioned, there is no accurate knowledge. A well informed minister of the Denomination states that 300 persons entertaining the views of the Universalists, and directly or indirectly connected with each Society, would be a low estimate. One of their periodicals has a circulation of 5000. Their books and papers are widely circulated and eagerly read, and all over the widely extended territory of the United States are persons who hold their sentiment, but are not organized in Societies. These are thought to equal in number, if they do not exceed, those who form Churches and Societies.

Three appellations, 'Societies,' 'Churches,' 'Meeting-Houses,' are employed by Universalists in speaking of their separate Communities. The exact import of these terms may be thus explained. In several of the United States there is a general act of incorporation, prescribing the manner in which a religious body shall be organized, in order to have a legal existence, and be capable of holding property. In many places Universalists are organised merely according to law, and then are called Societies. In others, there is besides the legal, a further organization, with a confession of faith, church covenant, &c. These are called Churches in distinction from Societies. It oftens happens, indeed it is generally the case, that a Church and a Society exist in the same congregation, some being legal members of the Society, contributors to its funds, and voting in all its affairs, who are not members of the organization called the Church. Meeting-House is synonymous with 'Chapel' among the Dissenters of England. The legal title of the Meeting-House, lands, and other property, is vested in the Society not in the Church.

The Ecclesiastical organisation partakes of the nature of the civil government. The Societies are strictly independent. Those which are found in a single town, or in several towns or counties, form an Association, and elect their representatives to its annual Sessions. The Associations are represented in a State Convention, and then again in the General Convention of the United States.

Those who wish to obtain more full and definite information respecting this body, are referred to the following works, viz.: Ballou on Atonement; Ballou on the Parables; Whittemore on the Parables ; Whittemore's Guide to Universalism: O. A. Skinner's Universalism Illustrated and defended; Pro and Con of Universalism; Williamson's Argument for Christianity; Williamson's Exposition and Defence of Universalism; Ely and Thomas's Discussion; D. Skinner's Letters to Aikin and Lansing; Smith's Divine Government; Winchester's Dialogues; Siegvolk's Everlasting Gospel; Petitpierre on Divine Goodness; (these four, and several other good works, are published in the first ten numbers of the 'Select Theological Library,' by Gihon, Fairchild, & Co., Philadelphia); Streeter's Familiar Conversations; Balfour's Enquiry; Balfour's Second Enquiry; Balfour's Letters to Professor Stuart; Paige's Selections from Eminent Commentators; Paige's Commentary on the New Testament: Sawyer's Review of Hatfield's 'Universalism as It Is;' Asher Moore's Universalist Belief; or any of our numerous periodicals, pamphlets, &c.

 

(1) He was the father of the Hon. William Cranch, the present Chief Justice of the United States Circuit Court for the district of Columbia, himself a distinguished Unitarian. Richard Cranchwas born at Kingsbridge, England, Oct. 1720', and died at Quinscy, Mass., Oct. 16, 1811, at 85 years. He frequently represented tlic United parishes of Braintree in the provincial assembly; after the Revolution, he was repeatedly elected a Senator of the State of Massachusetts; and was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Suffolk.

(2) This Liturgy is used to this day at that church, having passed through five editions. Some further though not very important alterations have been made; with the addition of occasional and family services and prayers, and hymns for private and domestic use. The fifth and most complete edition, is that of 1841 ; and bears on its title page as editor, the name of the last minister of the church, the late lamented F. W. P. Greenwood, D.D.

(3) Page 1.

 
(4) "Tracts of the A. U. A., 1st series, No. 202: May, 18+4, p. 5 ct seq, 

(5) Address of the Trustees in 1823.

(6) The word 'Parish' is not restricted here as in England. It is often used as synonymous with ' Religious Society.'

(7) Miss Lydia K. Adams.—Dr. Lowell, in a note to Dr. Gannett, dated Sept . 28,1831, lays that Miss Adams was prompted to the work, by learning that some ladies in Beverley, Mass., had been engaged for some time 'in giving religious instruction to poor children on the Sabbath.' In a P.S. he adds: 'I do not know that any Sunday school was taught in New England before the year 1812, unless it were the one in Beverley, which was the occasion of that in the west Parish.'

(8) President Quincy's History of Harvard University, vol. l,pp, 9, 10.

(9) President Clay's History of Vale College, p. 75, as cited by President Quincy. ii. 71.

(10) President Clay's History of Yale College, p. 75, as cited by President Quincy, ii. 71.

(11) When we say that Harvard is not professedly a Unitarian Univertity, we only mran to be understood as saying, that it is not such in the sense of requiring a declaration either of belief in, or of a purpose to uphold and propagate Unitarian views of the Gospel. No sectarian test is demanded cilher of officer, instructor, or pupil, in any faculty or department . It is, as the facts of the case show, in Unitarian hands, and for the sakc of that freedom both in science and religion, which seems to us so precious, (God grant it long may be so!)

(12) In 1840, Rev Francis Parkman, D.D. of Boston, added 5.OOOdls., to the bequest ol his father, to complete the foundation of this Professorship.

(13)Moses, Grant, Esq. and Rev. T. Gray.

(14)Rev. Dr. Jonks, afterwards Pastor of the Green Street Congregational church, Boston.

(15) New England includes the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

(16) Page 2, where Dr. Mayhew is called 'the first preacher of Unitarianism in Boston.'

(17) Rev. A Young's Disc. on President Kirkland, p.69.

(18) kirkland's memoir of Buckminster, p.28.

(19) Page 2-1..

(20) Chief Justice Parsons, cited by Rev A. Young; Discourse on President Kirkland, page 22.

(21) Dr. Greenwood died Minister of Kind's Chapel.

(22) Mr. Dane founded a Professorship of Law at Harvard University, which is now filled by Judge Story.

(23) Page 1, and note.

(24) The lapse of a few months since this Essay was written, has removed Mr. Everett from his office of Ambassador at the Court of Great Britain, as well as produced some other changes. It was, however, judged desirable to leave the Essay in the exact condition in which it proceeded from the hands of the author.—Note by the Editor.

(25) The Rev. A. Young's Disc, on Dr. Bowditch, p. 41.

(26) From the Unitarian Annual Register' (1846), we learn that in Boston there are 28 Anti-Trinitarian Societies; namely, 21 Unitarian, 6 Universalist, 1 Christian; forming more than one third of the entire number (81) of Christian congregations in the city.—Ed.

In New York a place of worship ('The Church of the Divine Unity,') has recently been opened, the cost of which is 85,000 dls. On this occasion no fewer than twenty Unitarian ministers were present.

The progress of events amcug our Unitarian brethren of the United States is rapid.

Whilst this volume is passing through the press, we have received intelligence of an important step taken in New York for the advancement of a pure Christianity. This intelligence is contained in an ' Address to Unitarians by the Unitarian A ssociation in the city of New York, Jan. 1st, 1846, together with the Constitution of the Association. The ensuing is taken from the Boston Christian Register for Jan. 2lth, 1846.

The cause of Liberal Christianity has reached an important crisis in this community. After a struggle of more than twenty years, Unitarianism has effected a permanent lodgment in this region, and now takes its place among the acknowledged and prominent Christian denominations of this metropolis. Until this time, contending with prejudice and overwhelnung numbers on a ground pre-occupied by other, and widely contrasted sects, it has been busy in securing its uncertain position, and in laying deep its foundations. It now first finds itself in a situation to look about it, and survey the field of labor.

'It is believed that the influence of our opinions in this vicinity has been immensely disproportioned to our numbers and apparent sphere, and that the invisible and iudirect consequences of our labors have been of more importance than the palpable or designed results. We cannot agree with those who think that the societies established here are the proper measure of our growth, or that any merely statistical account of our numbers and of our temples of worship, is a full account of Unitarian progress. Yet, that in this thoroughfare of our whole country, and upon ground so strongly pre-occupied, we have been able to build, in its most central and public places, three beautiful and conspicuous churches of our faith, known and read of all men, as the signs of our prosperous and permanent existence here, giving respectability, interest, importance, and dissemination to our opinions, is a triumph which, under the circumstances of the case, calls for our most grateful and devout acknowledgments, and will be depreciated only by those who despise all outward evidences of success and means of influence.

'Nor has liberal Christianity been to completely occupied with its denominational interests, as wholly to forget its duties as a Christian body to the community in which it has found a residence. Notwithstanding the very great difficulties already hinted at, which hindered any strong associate action or concerted efforts, aside from those which concerned its own planting and support, yet snch efforts have been made, and with great zeal and great sacrifices. Liberal Christianity, wherever it exists, manifests a peculiar watchfulness over the great interests of man, and especially the condition and claims of the poor. Wherever its numbers have any considerable proportion of the community at large, there institutions of learning, of mercy, of moral reform, of charity, are sure to abound. The religion which makes practical goodness its only end and its only test of the Christian character, ought to bear such fruits; and it does so. Having no waste for its zeal in foreign missionary enterprise, in sectarian chivalry, or in endeavours to relieve an anxiety artificially created by unscriptural opinions, which pronounce the whole human under sentence of everlasting death, it finds a channel for its Christian earnestness, in the more benignant and practical labors of philanthropy. Without undervaluing the benevolence of other Christian bodies, it is believed that the Unitarians as a denomination, have, in proportion to their numbers, done more than any other sect for the general institutions of learning, of charity; in ministries to the poor, in establishments having the good of universal man for their object.'

We are pleased to find that the plan of a Unitarian Association for the State of New York is proposed. The formation of such local organizations, in the several districts of the country, will draw out the latent strength of liberal principles, and secure a more efficient action of the American Unitarian Association enfolding, them all in its bosom, and deriving warmth and sustenance from them all. They propose also a daily publication, combining the features of a religious and secular newspaper, neutral in politics, and devoted to the interests of Unitarian Christianity. It is further in contemplation

'That an Association be formed among individuals in the Societies in New York and Brooklyn, to hire the Hall over the entrance to the Church of the Divine Unity, for the purposes of a Reading Room and Exchange, the head quarters of our cause in this city and state. That the newspapers, secular and religious, and reviews of the day, a theological library (of which the foundation is already broadly laid) and religious tracts for distribution should be collected there, the use of which should be enjoyed by all those paying a small annual subscription toward the support of the room. That this should be opened to all strangers of our faith, or to those seeking information in regard to Liberal Christianity, and especially to all young men coming to the city from Unitarian parishes, and desirous to unite themselves with our body here. That a central spot, where the Pastors of our Societies might meet at a certain hour of the day all persons having business with them appertaining to their office, would be thus had. That the social and religious interests of young men resorting here in the evening would thus be subserved, and the great interests of our cause and of Christianity, of religion and morality, all be materially advanced.'

The Address gives the following information.

'It may be interesting information to many, that at least eleven congregations of our ailh exist in the state of New York at this moment; two in New York, one in Brooklyn, Fishkill, Albany, Troy, Trenton, Syracuse, Vernon, Rochester, Buffalo. It is hoped that the Societies out of this city (of which we deem Brooklyn a part,) will immediately cooperate with us, and that as soon as may be, 'The Unitarian Association of the State of New York' will have a meeting in which every Society shall be fully represented.'—Ed.

(27) One of the most encouraging signs for the furtherance of a pure Gospel in North America, is the disposition which is growingly manifest on the part of the different bodies of Anti-Trinitarians, to act in concert on behalf of great common objects. Tt would be easy to give many pleasing instances of this tendency to brotherly co-operation—we limit ourselves to one. We refer to the Protest against American slavery, which was put forth in the autumn of 1845, signed by 170 Unitarian Ministers of the United States —a plain, earnest, argumentative, Christian document, which excited considerable attention throughout the American Union. This most laudable proceeding called forth expressions of opinion to the same effect from the Universalist and Christian AntiTrinitarians of the United States.

The entire movement which exhibits ' the liberal Christians' of the Union in a light so satisfactory to the philanthropic mind, may be at least, in part, traced to an Address, signed by 195 Unitarian Ministers of Great Britain, designed to urge on their American brethren the injustice and iniquity of slavery, and calling on them to take that position which so many of them have now happily taken—a position of active hostility to a great national sin. May the co-operation which these facts imply become more frequent, and equally useful for the service of man and the honour of Christ.— Editor.

(28) Vid. Christian Quaker, Phila. édition, 1824, p. 52. I. Pennington, vol. i. p. 360; vol. ii. pp. 115, 116,281,282. Whitehead's Light and Life of Christ, pp. 48, 49.

(29) For a further exposition of this fundamental principle of the Society of Friends, the reader ii' referred to the following works; Barclay, pp. 78, 81, 82; George Fox, "Great Myrtery," pp. 140, 142, 188, 217, 245; Christian Quaker, Phila. edition, 1824, pp. 198, 200; Ib. pp. 5 to 55; George Fox's Journal, passim; Stephen Crisp's Sermon at Grace Church Street, May 24, 1688.

(30) See also John iii. 34; v. 26, 36; vi. 38, 57; vii. 16; viii. 28, 42; xii. 49; I. Penington, vol. iii. pp. 61, 62, 236; Whitehead's Light and Life of Christ, p. 35; Thomas Zachary, p. 6; Win. Penn, vol. ii. pp. 65, 66; Edward Borough, p. 637! Wm. Baily, pp. 158; Stephen Crisp, pp. 75, 76.

(31) Wm. Penn's ' Sandy Foundation Shaken,' passim; I. Pennington, vol. ii. pp. 115, 116, 427; vol. iii. pp. 32,34,54,61,62,135,226, 236: Job Scott's'Salvation by Christ,' pp. 16, 22,24,25,29, 30,35; Christian Quaker, pp. 34,135,199,262, 276,350, 354, 369, 405 ; Wm. Penn's Works, fol. ed. vol. ii. pp. 65, 66, 420, 421; vol. v. p. 385; Wm. Baily, pp. 157, 158; T. Story's Journal, p. 385: Fox's Doctrinals. pp. 644, 646, 66l, 1085.

(32) Phipp's 'Original and Present State of Man.'

 

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