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Being myself a friend to ingenuousness and candour, I could wish to see all who are truly Unitarians

would satisfy my son but I must, whilst in Boston, have my picture drawn: this cut up my time so very much, that I could not attend so many of their private meetings as I otherwise should. It was the General Election for the State; the Democrats gained the ascendancy. I heard the Election Sermon preached by Dr. P. a very warm Federalist. He made it his business to expose the nefarious proceedings of the opposite party, in truth a most copious subject; and was heard by the people in the galleries with high approbation, and almost clapping. The Convention Sermon (i. e. the Sermon preached before the General Assembly of Ministers) was preached by Dr. Porter. Full two hundred Ministers were in town. Their public business is transacted in the Court-House. The Convention has no ecclesiastical authority. Their proceedings and resolutions are merely advisory, but are not without considerable effect. The principal thing that came before them was a complaint against some Missionaries for going into parishes where there were settled Ministers, holding meetings without their knowledge, and even in opposition to their advice. The conduct of the Missionaries was highly disapproved. The Monday after the General Election for the State, there is always a Sermon preached to the Artillery Company. Mr. L. I was informed, gave them an excellent discourse, but I did not hear it. I went to the Meeting door, but the crowd was so great that I did not go in. The two Legislative Bodies, the Governor, and a number of the principal gentlemen and clergy, after the service was over, dined at Faneuil-Hall, a large building over the Market-House, where they have their town meetings and transact their town business. Mr. Jackson, the late British Minister, was there. I was invited to dine with them, but declined it. I was, however, introduced to Mr. Jackson at his lodgings, and once dined with him at Mr. B's. Mrs. Jackson with four other ladies were there, the rest of the party were gentlemen, about thirty in all. We had a splendid entertainment. Two courses of all the delicacies money could procure. Among the rest a dish of green peas, the first brought to market, which, the papers said, cost four dollars a bushel. The Bostonians paid Mr. Jackson great attention, and were much pleased with his behaviour while among them. I preached for Dr. E. Mr. B. Mr. L. and Mr. F. at the Stone Chapel. The last mentioned gentleman was never episcopally ordained; of course, the Mi nisters who have been so, never exchange with him. In his place the Governor used to worship, when the State was a British colony. It is a large stone building, just like an English church The other three are large and costly buildings, and have numerous assemblies meet in them. The galleries were designed principally for Negroes; but there is now a Meeting built for the Africans to worship in by themselves. A Mulatto Minister preaches to them. There are said to be eleven or twelve hundred people of colour in the town. It was communion-day at Mr. B.'s; there were about one hundred and fifty communicants. At Dr. E.'s there must have been two hundred. Never did I see such a display of plate on the communion-table. At Dr. E.'s there were five or six flagons which held from three to four quarts each; six tankards, each containing a full quart; two dozen of cups of various sizes and forms, with six large plates for the bread; all handsome, and as bright as silver can be made. No person of a grain of sense can suppose these things to be of any impor tance. But as many of these people display great opulence in their own houses, I see nothing improper in their expending a portion of their su perfluous wealth upon the house of God. A Charity Sermon is preached once a quarter for the benefit of the poor belonging to the Congregational

openly such, and to teach the doctrine of the simple indivisible Unity of God, as well as to practice the

Societies in this town. The Ministers of that denomination preach it in their turns, and the money is equally divided among the societies for distribution. About fourteen hundred dollars are collected in this way in the year. Mr. C. preached an excellent discourse, and is in truth a charming preacher; being remarkably serious and sensible, and universally liked. The place was quite full, though it will accommodate upwards of two thousand people. There is always a collection at the Convention Sermon for the relief of poor Ministers and their families. About six hundred dollars were collected on that occasion.-Though the people in Boston have lost much of their ancient rigidity respecting the Sabbath, great attention is paid to that day. Few resort into the country, and those who do, go early in the morning that they may not be noticed. Ve ry few visit on that day, and but few are to be seen in the streets, except when going to or from public worship, and then the streets are crowded. At sun-set their Sabbath is considered as ended; the gentlemen often visit their friends, and the ladies sometimes take their work. In religious families the Saturday evenings are observed with strictness; but some, as might be expected, under pretence of keeping Saturday evening in preference to the other, keep neither. It is customary in the gayest, and even the most profligate, to connect themselves with some religious so ciety, so far as to contribute to its support, and occasionally to attend. This is necessary if they would be thought of any consequence in society, and even to preserve themselves from ridicule and reproach. Dr. E. who has been a Minister at Boston above thirty years, tells me, he never knew a greater regard paid to religion in that town than now, nor does he think there ever was in his time more real goodness among them. On Election day, I dined with about thirty gentlemen at Mr. P.'s one of the Deacons of Dr. E.'s church. We had a most sumptuous entertainment. Wher they had drank two or three glasses of wine after dinner the company dispersed. This I find is a pretty general practice, and thus all temptation to drink to excess is avoided. Their graces before and after meals are generally longe: than with you. That office is assigned to the Minister of the host, or to the oldest Minister present. Episcopalianism is at most only upon a level with other denominations. The Bostonians are very commendable for keeping very much to their own places of worship, and for speaking of their own Minister as one of the best preachers in the town. The Clergy seem to be comfortably supported, their salaries being from 1500 to 2000 doilars a year; and they are constantly receiving handsome presents. They very generally wear in the summer a silk gown and cassock, with a band; in the winter a cloth one; and altogether their worship is kept up in a splendid style. The pulpits throughout the country will hold from four to six ministers; and in Boston their rich cushions and curtains, or Venetian blinds, ornamented pillars and splendid chandeliers, give their Meetings a magnificent appearance. I think those which have been lately built are too large; a Minister must have a good voice to fill them. Boston is said to contain 30,000 people, and is increasing very fast. The ground on which the town stands is greatly elevated on the south-west. It makes a noble appearance from the country. The StateHouse on Beacon-hill is a magnificent structure. All their Meetings have steeples with one bell. That to the new Meeting in Park-Street is very lofty, and one of the handsomest I ever saw. It stands on high ground at the top of the Mall, is seen all round the country, and indeed beyond the Light-house far into Massachusetts bay. The High Calvinists who built this Meeting expected to have lessoned the other congregations, but I

rites of Unitarian worship. But I would not presume to judge for another. There 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 people for attending public worship being such, that I expect all their Meetings 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 les sening 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 Clergymen. 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 pos sessed 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 field 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 bottom 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, inconsequence of neglecting the advice of some friendly Esquimaux, in the history of the Mission of the United Brethre to Labrador.

APPENDIX.

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

BOSTON, MARCH 21, 1812.

My Dear Sir,

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 rare. 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.

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

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