rites of Unitarian worship. sume to judge for another.

But I would not preThere may possibly be

am told they have not yet done it. Should they get a popular Minister, I have no doubt there will be a large society: the disposition of the peo ple for attending public worship being such, that I expect all their Meet ings will be well attended. In the old part of the town the streets are narrow and crooked, but are much improved and improving in that respect. Formerly they were much exposed to depredations from fire, the houses being mostly built of wood. The danger from this quarter is lessening daily, as no buildings higher than fourteen feet are permitted to be erected of wood now. The town stands on a peninsula, joining to the main land only by a narrow neck on the south. They were, therefore, obliged to make use of boats to get to and from town. But since the war, five bridges have been built over the different waters that surround Boston and Charlestown, which are a vast convenience to the inhabitants. These bridges are all built of wood, and some of them are above a mile in length. The Ministers of Boston and that vicinity discover considerable accuracy and taste in their compositions, and generally speaking, may be considered as well furnished divines. Dr. O. is a man of very strong powers of mind; and though he distinguishes himself upon all public occasions, and especially those of a political nature, his general manner of preaching is very pious and edifying. The Clergy are invited to a great many good dinners. A Boston merchant would hardly think of making a dinner for his friends without inviting three or four Clergymen. Some that I once knew, I believe injured their health and shortened their days by eating and drinking too much Those now on the stage, do not give into any excess." For this long, but curious and interesting extract, I trust that the reader will require no apology. I will only add two brief reflections: First, that the Ministers of the Church of England are not the only persons who dislike itinerent intruders into parishes which are served by regular Ciergymen. The spirit of all establishments is the same, whether the favoured sect be Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Congregational. Secondly, may it be permitted to put the question without offence: Can it upon the common principles of human nature be reasonably expected of a body of Clergy, nursed in the lap of ease and affluence and placed in a station of such high secular consideration and comfort as that of the Ministers of Boston, that they should come forward and by an open profession of unpopular truth voluntarily risk the loss of all their temporal dignity and comfort, and incur the contempt and enmity of many who are now their warmest admirers and friends? I say not this by way of disparagement to the present body of Ministers in Boston and its neighbourhood. Some of these I have the pleasure to call my friends, and know them to be possessed of talents the most distinguished, of piety the most fervent, and of benevolence and zeal the most ardent, active and laudable; and of the rest I have heard a most favourable character. It is the situation, not the men, which excites my apprehensions. And who will venture to say of himself, that his virtue would be equal to the trial? Yet still it cannot reasonably be hoped that truth will make any visible and rapid progress, till her advocates rise above the fear of man and the love of ease, and are willing with the apostles of Christ and the reformers of every age, to forsake all and to sacrifice their dearest interests in her glorious cause. The encouragement and success which such faithful confessors would meet with in that populous and opulent city, would, I doubt not, be very great. The harvest truly is plenteous, it is ripe and ready to be gathered in Highly honoured will that servant be to whom the great Master of the feld shall communicate a portion of his energetic spirit, and shall say "Put in thy sickle and reap."

reasons for caution which do not occur to me, and of which I am not competent to judge. The time must however come, perhaps it is near, when truth will no longer endure confinement, but will burst forth in all her glory. The dull hollow rumbling at the bottomr of the sea, which is scarcely noticed by the inattentive traveller who is gliding carelessly over the solid plate of ice which encrusts the surface, is, to the wary and experienced observer, a sure presage of the speedy and sudden explosion of the immense superincumbent mass, and of the restoration of the imprisoned waves to their native freedom, to the consternation and often to the utter destruction of those who refuse to listen to the friendly premonition.*

See the interesting narrative of the very narrow escape of two Moravian Missionaries in travelling over the ice, in consequence of neglecting the advice of some friendly Esquimaux, in the history of the Mission of the United Brethren to Labrador.

APPENDIX.

From WILLIAM WELLS, Esq. of Boston, in NewEngland, to the Author.

My Dear Sir,

BOSTON, MARCH 21, 1812.

I AM glad to hear you received the Sermons safe. About six weeks ago I forwarded to Mr. Freme a parcel for you, containing the first No. of "The General Repository and Review." For this you are indebted to Mr. B. I think a letter from him accompanied the Review, but am not sure, as I took no memorandum of the contents of the parcel. A second number will shortly appear, which shall be forwarded by the earliest opportunity. I believe I mentioned in my last the name of the Editor, Mr. Norton, an excellent young man. Of his abilities you will be able to judge. I think the first article, and the Review of the Horsleian and Priestleian controversy display a soundness of judgment which at his age is A number of young men who have taken their bachelor's degree now reside at Cambridge as theological students. Several of them are the sons of men of fortune, some, as far as I can judge, of superior talents; and all are pursuing their professional studies with a zeal which is well directed by the very worthy and learned Dr. Ware, professor of divinity, and Dr. Kirkland the president, and an honesty which is entirely unfettered and unbiassed by any system whatever. We have to contend here, as you in England, for the first principles of protestantism, but I see no reason to fear that the ensuing generation will be destitute of able champions for the right of private judgment.

rare.

With regard to the progress of Unitarianism, 1 have but little to say. Its tenets have spread very extensively in New-England, but I believe there is on

ly one Church professedly Unitarian. The Churches at Portland and Saco, of which you speak, hardly ever saw the light, and exist no longer. The Mr. Thatcher who was formerly a Member of Congress, and the Judge T. whom Mr. Merrick mentions, are the same. He is one of the Judges of our Supreme Court, an excellent man and most zealous Unitarian. He is now on the circuit in this town, and tells me he is obliged on Sunday to stay at home, or to hear a Calvinist Minister. He is no relation to our friend.

Most of our Boston Clergy and respectable laymen (of whom we have many enlightened theologians) are Unitarian. Nor do they think it at all necessary to conceal their sentiments upon these subjects, but express them without the least hesitation when they judge it proper. I may safely say, the general habit of thinking and speaking upon this question in Boston, is Unitarian. At the same time the controversy is seldom or never introduced into the pulpit. I except the Chapel Church. If publications make their appearance attacking Unitarian sentiments, they are commonly answered with spirit and ability; but the majority of those who are Unitarian are perhaps of these sentiments, without any distinct consciousness of being so. Like the first Christians, finding no sentiments but those in the N. T. and not accustomed to hear the language of the N. T. strained and warped by theological system-makers, they adopt naturally a just mode of thinking. This state of things appears to me so favourable to the dissemination of correct sentiments, that I should perhaps regret a great degree of excitement in the public mind upon these subjects. The majority would eventually be against us. The ignorant, the violent, the ambitious and the cunning, would carry the multitude with them in religion as they do in politics. One Dr. M. in a contest for spreading his own sentiments among the great body of the people, would, at least for a time, beat ten Priestleys. Not to dwell upon the consideration, that Unitarianism consists rather in not believing;

and that it is more easy to gain proselites to absurd opinions, than to make them zealous in refusing to believe. With what arms, when the moλλ are the judges, can virtue and learning and honour contend with craft and cunning and equivocation and falsehood and intolerant zeal? Learning is worse than useless, virtue is often diffident of her own conelusions, and, at any rate, more anxious to render men good Christians, than to make them Christians of her own denomination; and that self-respect, which is the companion of virtue, disdains to meet the low cunning of her adversaries, or to flatter the low prejudices of ber judges. I think then it must be assumed as an axiom, that a persevering controversy upon this question, would render the multitude bigoted and persecuting Calvinists. Then come systems and cathechisms in abundance. Every conceited deacon, every parishoner who has, or thinks he has, a smattering in theology, becomes the inquisitor of his pastor. In such circumstances learning and good sense have no chance. They cannot be heard.

The violent party here have chosen to meet their opponents upon very unfavourable ground. Instead of making it a cause of orthodoxy against heresy, they have very unwisely preferred to insist upon a subscription to articles of faith. This has given great offence to many who are disposed to be in favour of their creed, and thrown them into the opposite scale. Dr. Osgood is really orthodox in sentiment, but a noble and determined supporter of the right of private judgment, and on the best possible terms with our Boston friends. This is also the case with the venerable Dr. Lathrop of West-Springfield, Mr. Palmer's friend, and many others. In short we are now contending for the liberty of being Protestants. If we can persuade the people (and we stand upon advantageous ground) that we have the right to think upon religious subjects as our consciences and the scriptores direct, things will go on well. Learning, good sense, and virtue, will then produce their natural ef