sure, therefore, to learn that two ministers, one in the county of Plymouth, and the other in the county of Barnstable, have lately come forward and openly opposed the doctrine of the Trinity. Their preaching has made a deep impression, and converts have been multiplied. In Barnstable county in particular, there is a very large body of Unitarians."

This letter was written not long after the worthy writer had received intelligence of Mr. Lindsey's resignation of the pastoral office, on account, not of deelining health, but of advanced age; and I cannot deny myself the gratification of transcribing Dr. Freeman's excellent and judicious reflections upon that occasion. "I fervently pray, dear sir, that your health may long be preserved, and that your old age may be as happy as the meridian of your life has been active and useful. You now enjoy the fruits of your labours. You have reclaimed many from the errors of idolatry and superstition. You have diffused knowledge and truth not only in England but America. But what is most to your honour, though you have displayed all the zeal of a reformer, yet you have possessed none of that bitterness of spirit with which reformers are too often infected. In your numerous works I find no harsh expressions or malignant censures. I contemplate this part of your character with peculiar pleasure; and though I am conscious I am frequently more angry with error and bigotry than a Christian ought to be, yet I ardently desire to imitate your candour and mildness of temper. Excuse this praise; it is suggested to me by your two last excellent discourses." This is a high and at the same time a discriminating and justly merited eulogy, and must no doubt have been gratifying to the venerable person to whom it was addressed; whose great humility would, however, lead him to disclaim in part, at least, his title to it.

In a letter dated May 24th, 1796, the amiable and candid writer expresses some little doubt, whether his zeal may not have induced him inadvertently to ex

aggerate the success of Unitarian principles in the United States; and he endeavours to give a correct account of the actual state of the public mind upon this subject. As this is the last of Dr. Freeman's letters upon the state of Unitarianism in America, which is in my possession, and as it contains a more general view of the case than he had before exhibited, I shall make no apology for the length of the extract :

men of

"I consider it," says this intelligent correspondent to his venerable friend, as one of the most happy effects which have resulted from my feeble exertions in the Unitarian cause, that they have introduced me to the knowledge and friendship of some of the most valuable characters of the present age; enlightened heads, of pious and benevolent hearts; quibuscum vivere amem, quibuscum obire libens. "Though it is a standing article of most of our social libraries, that nothing of a controversial nature should be purchased, yet any book which is presented is freely accepted. I have found means, therefore, of introducing into them some of the Unitarian Tracts with which you have kindly furnished me. There are few persons who have not read them with avidity; and when read, they cannot fail to make an impression upon the minds of many. From these and other causes, the Unitarian doctrine appears to be still upon the increase. I am acquainted with a number of ministers, particularly in the southern part of this state, who avow and publicly preach this sentiment. There are others more cautious, who content themselves with leading their hearers, by a course of ra tional but prudent sermons, gradually and insensibly to embrace it. Though this latter mode is not what I entirely approve, yet it produces good effects. For the people are thus kept out of the reach of false opinions, and are prepared for the impressions which will be made on them by more bold and ardent successors, who will probably be raised up when these timid characters are removed off the stage. In the eastern part of this State, or what is called the District of

Maine, the Unitarian doctrine also makes progress, as I have just been informed by a worthy and judici, ous minister from that quarter. The Clergy are generally the first who begin to speculate: but the people soon follow, where they are so much accustomed to read and enquire.

"In the accounts which I give you of the state of religious opinions in this country, I always endeavour not to exaggerate, sensible that every zealous man (and I confess that I am zealous) is naturally disposed to rate his own party as highly as he can. It is possible that Unitarianism may be losing ground in one quarter while it is gaining it in another, and that I may not perceive or may not attend to the former. Indeed, I confess and lament that the opinion is scarcely known in the largest part of this vast Republie. It flourishes chiefly in New-England; but not much in Connecticut, Rhode-Island, New. Hamp shire, and the western counties of Massachusetts. A few seeds have been sown in Vermont, and an abundant harvest has been produced in the vicinity of Boston and the counties directly south of it. In Pennsylvania, much may be expected from the labours of Dr. Priestley."-It is now upwards of fifteen years since this letter was written; and though it cannot reasonably be doubted that the important doctrines of the unrivalled supremacy and sole worship of the Father, and of the proper humanity of Jesus Christ, have during that period been gradually advancing in a country so favourable to freedom of enquiry; yet it may justly be questioned whether the progress of truth has been quite so rapid, visible, or extensive, as the zeal of this ingenuous and ardent lover of truth prompted him to expect. Dr. Priestley's personal ministry in the United States was attended with very little apparent success. In Northumberland, where he resided, he collected but few proselytes; and in Philadelphia, where the chapel in which he preached was at first crowded with the principal characters in the United States, he was afterwards for some reason

or other almost deserted. Yet here his labours were not wholly ineffectual. Since Dr. Priestley's decease a small, but highly respectable congregation, has been formed, in which, till a regular minister can be proeured, a few of the most intelligent and best informed members conduct the service by turns; and the society, upon the whole, is increasing, though some who once professed zeal in the cause have turned their backs upon it. The Unitarians in Philadelphia are now erecting a chapel for religious worship, to which many of different persuasions have contributed liberally.

Another Unitarian congregation has been formed at Oldenbarneveld, a new settlement in the back Country of the state of New-York, under the patronage of Col. Mappa, a gentleman of a truly respectable character, and of considerable property and influence in that district, aided by the exertions of the Rev. Frederick Adrian Vanderkemp, a learned and pious emigrant from Holland, whose zeal for the doctrine of the Divine Unity has exposed him to many difficulties and privations. This church was, for a few years, under the pastoral inspection of the Rev. John Sherman, who in the year 1805 was dismissed, on account of his Unitarian principles, from his office as minister of the first church at Mansfield in Connecticut, where he had officiated upwards of eight years with great and increasing acceptance and suceess. Of the circumstances which led to this separation, and of the inquisitorial spirit which was exerted against him by the bigoted clergy in his neighbourhood, he published a plain and affecting account, a copy of which now lies before me. And if some expressions of irritation have escaped him, which it would perhaps have been better to omit, it requires but little charity to make allowance for them where the provocation was so great and unmerited.

This gentleman, in consequence of an attentive perusal of the works of Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, became a sincere and zealous convert to the doctrine

of the proper Unity and Sole Supremacy of God, to the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, and to the appropriation of religious worship to the Father only. A doctrine of such high importance, and so materially dif fering from the popular creed, he justly conceived it to be his duty to avow and teach. And in the first

* This worthy confessor's plain and artless narrative of the feelings of his mind upon this occasion, is well deserving of being here transcribed, and may it make a due impression upon all who are placed in similar circumstances, and called out to similar trials!

"Settled," says he," in the sentiment that God is one person only, and that Jesus Christ is a being distinct from God, dependent upon him for his existence and all his powers, I was involved in much trial and perplexity of mind with respect to the course which duty required me to pursue. I was aware of the prejudices of my brethren in the ministry, and foresaw that, should my sentiments be made public, they would certainly exert themselves to destroy my ministerial and Christian standing; that my standing with the people of my charge, whose confidence I was so happy as to possess, would be endangered, if not by their own prejudices, yet by the influence and exertions of others; and considering the state of the American churches, that I could hardly expect an invitation to minister to any people on this side of the Atlantic. Poverty, a diminution of my usefulness, and the unhappy condition of my beloved family, stared me in the face, and conjured me to be silent respecting my opinions.

"On the other hand, I considered that, having avowed different sentiments at my ordination, it could not be reconciled to a frank and open honesty to allow the world to be deceived as to my real belief;-that it is the duty of the minister of the Gospel to instruct men in the knowledge of its important doctrines ;-that I was accountable to God for my conduct in this matter, who requires of stewards that a man be found faithful, and who certainly must desire his people to be acquainted with the truth, or he would never have revealed it ;-that no refor mation from prevailing errors could take place, if those who are acquainted with the truth should, through the fear of persecution, conceal it from public view;-and finally, that it is base and unbecoming the dignity of man, in this nineteenth century of the Christian æra, in this land of liberty and free inquiry, to bow down to popular absurdities and superstitions, and quietly to abandon the unalienable right of private judgment. These considerations determined me to put all temporal things at hazard, and to place my trust in that wise Providence which