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that we have for our pattern, ' him who spake as never man spake,' and who, in his longest discourse, has dropped not a word about a trinity, or inborn corruption, or special and electing grace; and still more, we seriously doubt whether our preaching could with propriety be called moral, did we urge these doctrines, especially the two last; for however warmly they may be defended by honest men, they seem to us to border on immorality; that is, to dishonor God, to weaken the sense of responsibility, to break the spirit, and to loosen the restraints on guilty passion.

5. Another objection urged against us, is, that our system does not produce as much zeal, seriousness, and piety as other views of religion. This objection it is difficult to repel, except by language which will seem to be a boasting of ourselves. When expressed in plain language, it amounts to this;- We Trinitarians and Calvinists are better and more pious than you Unitarians, and consequently our system is more scriptural than yours.' Now assertions of this kind do not strike us as very modest and humble, and we believe that truth does not require us to defend it by setting up our piety above that of our neighbours.-This, however, we would say, that if our zeal and devotion are faint, the fault is our own, not that of our doctrine. We are sure that our views of the Supreme Being are incomparably more affecting and attractive, than those which we oppose. It is the great excellence of our system, that it exalts God, vindicates his paternal attributes, and appeals powerfully to the ingenuous principles of love, gratitude, and veneration; and when we compare it with the doctrines which are spread around us, we feel that of all men we are most inexcusable, if a filial piety do not spring up and grow strong in our hearts.

Perhaps it may not be difficult to suggest some causes for the charge, that our views do not favor seriousness and zeal. One reason probably is, that we interpret with much rigor those precepts of Christ, which forbid ostentation, and enjoin modesty and retirement in devotion. We dread a showy religion. We are disgusted with pretensions to superior sanctity, that stale and vulgar way of building up a sect. We believe that true religion speaks in actions more than in words, and manifests itself chiefly in the common temper and life; in giving up the passions to God's authority, in inflexible uprightness and truth, in active and modest charity, in candid judgment, and in patience under trials and injuries. We think it no part of piety to publish its fervors, but prefer a delicacy in regard to these secrets of the soul; and hence, to those persons, who think religion is to be worn conspicuously and spoken of passionately, we

may seem cold and dead, when perhaps, were the heart uncovered, it might be seen to be alive to God,' as truly as their own.

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Again, it is one of our principles, flowing necessarily from our views of God, that religion is cheerful; that where its natural tendency is not obstructed by false theology, or a melancholy temperament, it opens the heart to every pure and innocent pleasure. We do not think that piety disfigures its face, or wraps itself in a funeral pall as its appropriate garb. Now too many conceive of religion as something gloomy, and never to be named but with an altered tone and countenance; and where they miss these imagined signs of piety, they can hardly believe that a sense of God dwells in the heart.

Another cause of the error in question we believe to be this. Our religious system excludes, or at least does not favor, those overwhelming terrors and transports, which many think essential to piety. We do not believe in shaking and disordering men's understandings by excessive fear, as a preparation for supernatural grace and immediate conversion. This we regard as a dreadful corruption and degradation of religion. Religion, we believe, is a gradual and rational work, beginning sometimes in sudden impressions, but confirmed by reflection, growing by the regular use of christian means, and advancing silently to perfection. Now, because we specify no time when we were overpowered and created anew by irresistible impulse; because we relate no agonies of despair succeeded by miraculous light and joy, we are thought by some to be strangers to piety;-how reasonably let the judicious determine.

Once more; we are thought to want zeal, because our principles forbid us to use many methods for spreading them, which are common with other Christians. Whilst we value highly our peculiar views, and look to them for the best fruits of piety, we still consider ourselves as bound to think charitably of those who doubt or deny them; and with this conviction, we cannot enforce them with that vehemence, positiveness, and style of menace, which constitute much of the zeal of certain denominations;-and we freely confess that we would on no account exchange our charity for their zeal; and we trust that the time is near, when he who holds what he deems truth with lenity and forbearance, will be accounted more pious than he who compasseth sea and land to make proselytes to his sect, and shuts the gates of mercy' on all who will not bow their understandings to his creed.-We fear, that in these remarks we may have been unconsciously betrayed into a self-exalting

its licentiousness, forges chains for itself and for the community. The right of free discussion is not the right of uttering what we please. Let nothing be spoken or written but truth. The influence of the press is exceedingly diminished by its gross and frequent misrepresentations. Each party listens with distrust to the statements of the other, and the consequence is that the progress of truth is slow, and sometimes wholly obstructed. Whilst we encourage the free expression of opinion, let us unite in fixing the brand of infamy on falsehood and slander, wherever they originate, whatever be the cause they are designed to maintain.

But it is not enough that truth be told. It should be told for a good end; not to irritate, but to convince; not to inflame the bad passions, but to sway the judgment and to awaken sentiments of patriotism. Unhappily the press seems now to be chiefly prized as an instrument of exasperation. Those who have embraced error are hardened in their principles, by the reproachful epithets heaped on them by their adversaries. I do not mean by this, that political discussion is to be conducted tamely, that no sensibility is to be expressed, no indignation to be poured forth on wicked men and wicked deeds. But this I mean,-that we should deliberately inquire, whether indignation be deserved, before we express it; and the object of expressing it should ever be, not to infuse ill will, rancor, and fury into the minds of men, but to excite an enlightened and conscientious opposition to injurious measures.

Every good man must mourn, that so much is continually published among us, for no other apparent end, than to gratify the malevolence of one party, by wounding the feelings of the opposite. The consequence is, that an alarming degree of irritation exists in our country. Fellow citizens burn with mutual hatred, and some are evidently ripe for outrage and violence. In this feverish state of the public mind we are not to relinquish free discussion, but every man should feel the duty of speaking and writing with deliberation. It is the time to be firm without passion. No menace should be employed to provoke opponents, no defiance hurled, no language used which will, in any measure, justify the ferocious in appealing to force.

The sum of my remarks is this. It is your duty to hold fast and to assert with firmness those truths and principles on which the welfare of your country seems to depend; but do this with calmness, with a love of peace, without ill will and revenge. Use every opportunity of allaying animosities. Discourage, in decided and open language, that rancor, malignity, and unfeeling abuse, which

so often find their way into our public prints. Remember, that in proportion as a people become enslaved to their passions, they fall into the hands of the aspiring and unprincipled; and that a corrupt government, which has an interest in deceiving the people, can desire nothing more favorable to their purposes, than a frenzied state of the public mind.

My friends, in this day of discord, let us cherish and breathe around us the benevolent spirit of Christianity. Let us reserve to ourselves this consolation, that we have added no fuel to the flames, no violence to the storms, which threaten to desolate our country. Though dishonored, though endangered, it is still our country. Let us not forsake it in this evil day. Let us hold fast the inheritance of our civil and religious liberties, which we have received from our fathers, sealed and hallowed by their blood. That these blessings may not be lost, let us labor to improve public sentiment, and to exalt men of wisdom and virtue to power. Let it be our labor to establish in ourselves and in our fellow citizens the empire of true religion. Let us remember that there is no foundation of public liberty but public virtue, that there is no method of obtaining God's protection but adherence to his laws.

Let us not despair of our country. If all that we wish cannot be done for the state, still something may be done. In the good principles, in the love of order and liberty, by which so many of our citizens are distinguished; in the tried virtue, deliberate prudence, and unshaken firmness of the chief magistrate, whom God in his great goodness has given to this Commonwealth; in the value of the blessings which are at stake; in the peculiar kindness which God has manifested towards our fathers and ourselves; we have motives, encouragements, and solemn obligations to resolute, persevering exertion in our different spheres, and according to our different capacities, for the public good. Thus faithful to ourselves and our country, and using vigorously every righteous means for restoring peace and confirming freedom, we may confidently leave the issue to the wise and holy providence of Him who cannot err, and who, we are assured, will accept and reward every conscientious effort for his own glory and the good of mankind.

EXTRACTS FROM A SERMON DELIVERED SEPT. 18, 1814, WHEN AN INVASION BY THE BRITISH FORCES WAS APPREHENDED AT BOSTON.

Ar such a moment as the present, when every mind is fixing a fearful attention on the state of the country, it is impossible that a religious instructer should escape participation in the common feeling. His sacred calling does not require him to separate himself from the community, to forget that he is a citizen, to put off the feelings of a man. The religion which he teaches inculcates public spirit, and a strong and tender concern for all by whom he 13 surrounded. He would be unworthy his sacred function, were he not to love his country, and to sympathise with its prosperous and adverse fortunes. The religion, which it is his duty to dispense, regards men in all their relations, and affords instructions suited to every condition whether of individuals or communities. You will not then consider me as leaving the province of a religious teacher, if I speak to you of the dangers, and claims of our country, if I address you as citizens, and attempt to point out your duties at the present solemn period.

The present is indeed a solemn period. The sad reverse which this country exhibits astonishes as well as depresses us. But a few years ago, we stood on the height of prosperity. Amidst the storms which desolated nations, we were at peace, and the very storms seemed freighted with blessings for our tranquil shores.-And is it true, that from this height we have sunk so low, that our commerce is swept from the ocean, that industry has forsaken our cities, that the husbandman has resigned the ploughshare for the sword, that our confidence is changed into fear, that the tumult of business has given place to the din of arms, that some of our citizens are perishing in foreign prisons, and others shedding their blood on a foreign soil, that hostile fleets scatter terror through our coasts, and flames through our cities, that no man feels secure, that the thought of invasion and slaughter mingles with the labors of the day, and disturbs the slumbers of the night, and that our national government, empoverished, and inefficient, can afford us no protection from such imminent danger? Yes-this is true; we need no reasoning to convince us of its truth. We see it in the anxious countenance, in the departing family, in the care which removes our possessions, in the obstructions and perplexities of business, and in the events which every day brings to our ears. At such a mo

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