.T. Z3.'C1 $rom f0e fetfirarg of (professor Wifftdm JE) enr 2 v:v- __^\a v RELIGION IN AMERICA; OR. AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS, RELATION TO THE STATE, AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH NOTICES OF THE UNEVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS AUTHOR OP 'L'UNION DE L'EGLISE AVEC L'ETAT DANS LA NOUVELLE ANGLETERRE." NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS. No. 8 2 Cliff-Street. 18 45. ■ ' Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by Hakper & Brothers, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE REV. DRS. DAVID WELSH, WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, AND ROBERT BUCHANAN. Having had an opportunity of perusing a considerable portion of the following work while it was passing through the press, we have no hesitation in complying with a re- quest made to us by the publishers, to recommend it to the attention of the British public. The author is an esteemed minister of the American Presbyterian Church, and has had full access to the best and most authentic sources of information on the various subjects which he discusses, while his personal acquaintance with the state of religion and the condition of the churches, both in Britain and on the Continent, has afforded him peculiar advantages in selecting the materials with regard to the state of religion, and the efforts made for its promotion in America, which it might be most in- teresting and useful for the British churches to possess and to examine. The work contains a very large amount of interesting and valuable information with regard to the origin and the history of the different religious bodies in the United States, and their doctrines, constitution, organization, and agency, their relations with each other, and the character and results of the efforts they are making to promote religion in their own country and in other lands. It supplies a larger amount of information upon all these important topics than any work with which we are acquainted ; and there can be no reasonable doubt that the information it contains is well fitted to encourage the efforts of all churches which are similarly situated to those in America, and to afford some important practical lessons in the prosecution of those great objects which all Christian churches, in every variety of external circumstances, are bound to aim at. We do not agree in all the opinions which the esteemed author has expressed, but we admire the judicious, benevolent, candid, and catholic spirit by which the work is per- vaded. We regard the publication of this work in our own country as a boon conferred upon the British churches, not merely because it gives a fuller view than could any- where else be obtained of " Religion in America," but also because it is well fitted to promote a spirit of love and kindness among the churches of Christ, and to diffuse more widely the benefits which may be derived from a judicious use of the experience of the American churches, in the peculiar circumstances in which, in providence, they have been placed, and in connexion with the peculiar way in which the Head of the Church has been pleased to make them instrumental in accomplishing his gracious purposes. Whatever diversities of opinion may prevail in this country on some important points connected with the condition and prospects of religion in America, no candid man will deny that religion has there been placed in circumstances, and has appeared in aspects, which are well worthy of serious consideration, and from a judicious investigation of which, important practical lessons are to be learned. And on this ground we hail with much satisfaction the publication of a work which contains a very large amount of in- formation upon this interesting and important subject, and cordially recommend it to the perusal of British Christians. David Welsh, William Cunningham, Robert Buchanan. Edinburgh, September, 1843. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. The reader will learn from the preface to the English edition of this work, that it was originally intended to meet the wishes of Christians on the Conti- nent. Valued friends in Great Britain having, however, expressed the belief that it might be useful in that country, it was published there in the month of September last, being introduced to the Christian public by the very kind and flattering recommendation of the Rev. Drs. Welsh, Buchanan, and Cunning- ham, of Edinburgh. Upon his return to this country in November, the en- terprising publishers who present this work to the American public having expressed their willingness to undertake its publication, the author at once ap- plied himself to the task of giving it a thorough revision, in order to make it as useful as possible in this country. In doing so, he has availed himself of the aid of many excellent men of almost all our evangelical denominations, in order to give not only the most exact, but also the most recent information respecting our churches. And although the well-informed American reader will see many things in this book with which he is already familiar, yet it is presumed he will find some things, especially taken in the connexion in which they are presented, that may both interest and profit him. There is no work among us that goes over the whole ground which the author has attempted to survey and de- scribe in this book. At first he thought of abridging certain portions, especially the first, fourth, and fifth books ; but he was dissuaded from this by the publishers, who pre- ferred to give it entire, and to put it at a price which would place it within the reach of all who might wish to have it. The reader will perceive that the work throughout, even in its American dress, bears the stamp of being written, as it really was, for the perusal, and the author would fain hope the benefit, of Europeans. To have altered this would have required the remodelling of the whole plan of the work ; nor was it necessary, inasmuch as the information is just as well conveyed in the one form as in the other. In writing this work, the author, if he has not been self-deceived, has simply aimed at giving a faithful picture of the religious and moral state of his coun- try. He has endeavoured to write in strict accordance with fact and truth. He trusts that in doing so he has not violated that Christian charity which ought to regulate our opinions as well as our actions in relation to others. It has given him great pleasure to speak of the zeal and the prosperity of all the evangelical denominations in our land ; and if he has said anything which vi PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. may not be entirely acceptable to them, he begs that it may be ascribed to inadvertence or want of correct information. Of those which are, in his opinion, not evangelical, he has tried to say what he deems to be the truth, in no unkindness of spirit. He felt compelled, however, to follow what he believed to be the clear demands of truth. It is probable that many readers will not agree with the author in all his statements and computations, especially those which are contained in the Conclusion of the work. He only requests such persons to take the pains which he has done to examine into the facts of the case ; and then, if they differ from him, he can have no reason to complain. But he is of the opinion that but few people have taken the trouble necessary to form a correct judg- ment respecting either the present state or the past progress of evangelical religion among us. In what he has written on this subject, he has endeav- oured to state only what appeared to him to be true. It is due to candour, however, to say, that it is possible a strong feeling of patriotism — he hopes a Christian patriotism — may have led him to take a more favourable view of some things than others may be able to do. He is aware that on some subjects he has incurred the danger of those who would walk over hidden fires ; but he trusts to that " charity" which will believe that he has tried to discuss these matters in an impartial spirit. The work in its American form is that from which the translation is to be made into French, and probably into German and one or two other langua- ges on the Continent. The author has, therefore, made it more full on some points, and especially in its summary statements in the Conclusion, than it is in the English edition. Such as it is, he commends it to the blessing of God, and bespeaks for it a candid consideration on the part of his countrymen and fellow-Christians New-York, January, 1844. PREFACE. A few words respecting the circumstances which have led to the prep- aration and publication of the work now submitted to the reader seem to be required by way of preface. In the year 1835, at the instance of several distinguished Christian gentle- men of his native land, the author visited the Continent of Europe for the prosecution of certain religious and philanthropic objects, and in this pursuit he has been employed during the eight years that have since elapsed. He has had occasion, in the course of that period, to visit repeatedly almost every country on the Continent, and has been led, also, to spend some time, more than once, in England and in Scotland, from the latter of which two countries his forefathers were compelled, by persecution, to emigrate two hundred years ago. In the course of his Continental journies, his engagements introduced him to the acquaintance of a goodly number of distinguished individuals, belong- ing to almost all professions and stations in society. Among these are many who rank high in their respective countries for enlightened piety, zeal, and usefulness in their several spheres. From such persons the author has had innumerable inquiries addressed to him, in all the places he has visited, some- times by letter, but oftener in conversation, respecting his native country, and especially respecting its religious institutions. To satisfy such inquiries when addressed to him by an illustrious individual,* whom God has called from the scene of her activity in this world to Himself, he wrote a small work on the Origin and Progress of Unitarianism in the United States, f But that little work, while it so far satisfied curiosity on one subject, seemed but to augment it with regard to others ; so that, without neglecting what was by his friends as well as himself deemed a manifest duty, the author had no alternative but to accede to the earnest request of some distinguished friends in Ger- many, Sweden, France, and Switzerland, that he would write a work as extensive as the subject might require, on the origin, history, economy, ac- tion, and influence of religion in the United States. This task he has en- deavoured to accomplish in the course of the summer and autumn that have just elapsed, and which he has been permitted to spend in this ancient city, whose institutions, and the influence of whose great Reformer, have, through their bearings on the history of England and Scotland, so greatly affected * The late Duchess de Broglie. t This work was published in Paris in 1837, under the title, "L'Union de TEglise et de PEtat dans la Nouvelle Angleterre." viii PREFACE. the colonization, political government, and religious character of the greater part of North America. His aim throughout this work has been, neither to construct a theory on any controverted point in the economy of the Church, or its relations to the State in any European country, nor to defend the political organizations of his own, or the conduct of its government, on any measure, properly political, whether of foreign or domestic policy. His sole and simple object has been to delineate the religious doctrines and institutions of the United States, and to trace their influence, from their first appearance in the country down to the present time, with as little reference as possible to any other. The author has mingled freely with his Protestant brethren in all the coun- tries of Europe where Protestants are to be found, whatever might be their political sentiments, and whatever the religious communions to which they belonged. He has received nothing but kindness from them all. And while it would be the merest affectation of impartiality, and most unbecoming in him as a Christian, to profess having formed no opinion on the various ques- tions so warmly discussed among them, and especially on the relations which do, or ought to, subsist between the Church and the State — a question so much agitated at the present moment in some countries, and which seems destined, ere long, to be so in many others — yet he can most conscientiously say that he has not allowed himself to be involved in any of them, nor is he aware of having written a sentence in the present work with the view either of supporting or opposing any of them. He has endeavoured to confine him- self throughout to a faithful exhibition of the religious institutions of his native country — their nature, their origin, their action, and their effects. His first desire has been to satisfy the reasonable curiosity of those at whose request he writes ; his second and most strenuous endeavour has been to promote the extension of the Messiah's kingdom in the world, by communicating some in- formation respecting measures which, through God's blessing, have proved useful in America without having anything to adapt them to that country more than to any other. The more that the author has seen of the Christian world, the more has he been impressed with the conviction that, whatever relations the churches maintain with the civil powers, whatever their exterior forms or even their internal discipline, nothing in these respects can compensate for the want of soundness of doctrine and vital piety. Not that, as some seem to do, he would treat those things as matters of indifference ; for he firmly believes the main- tenance and promotion of true religion to be much affected by them ; but it is not in them that we are to look for that panacea for all evils which many hope to find in them, or any substitute for the agency which God has ap- pointed for securing the effectual reception of his glorious salvation. That agency, he humbly conceives, is the presentation of the Gospel in all its ful- ness, in all proper ways, and on all suitable occasions, by a spiritually-minded ministry, ordained and set apart to that work, combined with holy living, faithful co-operation in their proper spheres, and earnest prayer on the part of the members, in general, of the churches. The parts of his work, accord- PREFACE. ix ino-ly, that relate to this agency and its results in the experience of the church- es in the United States, are those in which he himself feels most interest, and to which he would specially direct the attention of the reader. The author has divided his work into eight Books. The First is devoted to preliminary remarks intended to throw light on various points, so that readers the least conversant with American history and society may, without difficulty, understand what follows. Some of these preliminary remarks may be thought at first not very pertinent to the subject in hand, but reasons will probably be found for changing this opinion before the reader comes to the end of the volume. The Second Book treats of the early colonization of the country now form- ing the United States ; the religious character of the first European colonists — their ecclesiastical institutions — and the state of the churches when the Revolution took place by which the colonies became independent of the mother-country. The Third treats of the changes involved in and consequent upon that event — the influence of those changes — the character of the civil governments of the States — and the relations subsisting between those governments and the churches. The Fourth exhibits the operations of the voluntary system in the United States, and the extent of its influence. The Fifth treats of the discipline of the churches — the character of Ameri- can preaching — and the subject of revivals. The Sixth is occupied with brief notices of the evangelical denominations in the United States — their ecclesiastical polity and discipline — the doctrines peculiar to each — their history and prospects. The Seventh treats in like manner of the unevangelical sects. The Eighth shows what the churches are doing in the way of sending the Gospel to other lands. From the very nature of such a work, it was requisite that the author should consult many authorities. In order to procure the requisite materials, he visited his native country last year, and so abundantly was he supplied with what he needed, that, in the actual execution of his task, he found himself in want of only one or two books and documents, and these of no essential im- portance. But he would be guilty of great injustice were he not to acknowledge his obligations to many distinguished friends in America for their kind co-opera- tion and aid. Without naming all who have anywise assisted him by furnish- ing necessary documents, or in communicating important facts, he cannot forbear to mention the names of the Rev. Drs. Dewitt, Hodge, Goodrich, Bacon, Anderson, Durbin, Emerson, and Schmucker, and the Rev. Messrs. Tracy, Berg, and Allen.* To the secretaries of almost all the Religious So- cieties and Institutions in the country he is also greatly indebted for the Re- * These gentlemen belong to the Reformed Dutch, Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist, Lutheran, German Reformed, and Baptist churches, and are among the most distinguished ministers in the United States. x PREFACE. ports, and in many cases, also, for the valuable hints they have furnished. Nor can he omit to acknowledge the kindness of Dr. Howe, Principal of the Institute for the Blind at Boston, the Rev. Mr. Weld, Principal of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Hartford, in Connecticut, and Dr. Woodward, Director of the Hospital for the Insane at Worcester, Massachusetts. For the invaluable chapter on Revivals, the reader, as well as the author, is indebted to the Rev. C. A. Goodrich, D.D., who has long been a distin- guished professor in Yale College, at New-Haven, in Connecticut, than whom no man in the United States is more capable of treating that subject in a ju- dicious and philosophical manner. Nor should the names of the Honourable Henry Wheaton, the Minister for the United States of America at the court of Prussia, and of Robert Walsh, Esq., now residing in Paris, be omitted. Among other obligations, to the former of these gentlemen, the author is indebted for some views which the reader will find in the Third Book; and he has to thank the latter for many important suggestions which he has found much reason to appreciate in the course of his work. He makes this acknowledgment with the more pleasure, because Mr. Walsh is a Roman Catholic, and yet, with a kindness and liber- ality in every way remarkable, he tendered his assistance with the full knowl- edge that the author is a decided Protestant, and that his work, however liberal the spirit in which it is written, was to be of a thoroughly Protestant character. One word more to the English reader. The author deems it right to say that his work was originally designed and primarily written for Germany and other countries on the Continent of Europe. Accordingly, it is fuller on some points than was absolutely requisite for British readers, these being, no doubt, better acquainted with the United States than are the inhabitants of the Continent. Deeply sensible that the work is far from perfect, he commends it, never- theless, to the blessing of Him without whose favour nothing that is good can be accomplished. Geneva (Switzerland), September, 1843. CONTENTS. BOOK I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. p Chap. I. — General Notice of North America . 9 Chap. II. — The Aborigines of North America . 11 Chap. III. — Discovery of that Part of North America which is comprised in the Limits of the United States. — The early and unsuc- cessful Attempts to Colonize it . .15 Chap. IV. — The Colonization of the Territo- ries now constituting the United States at length accomplished 17 Chap. V. — Interior Colonization of the Country 20 Chap. VI. — Peculiar Qualifications of the An- glo-Saxon Race for the Work of Coloniza- tion 23 Chap. VII —On the alleged Want of National Character in America 25 Chap. VIII.— The Royal Charters ... 27 Chap. IX. — How a correct Knowledge of the American People, the Nature of their Gov- ernment, and of their National Character may best be attained 29 Chap. X. — How to obtain a correct View of the Spirit and Character of the Religious Institu- tions of the United States . . . .31 Chap. XI. — A brief Notice of the Form of Gov- ernment in America 33 Chap. XII. — A brief Geographical Notice of the United States 35 Chap. XIII. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System in supporting Religion has had to en- counter in America: 1. From the erroneous Opinions on the Subject of Religious Econo- my which the Colonists brought with them . 37 Chap. XIV. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in America : 2. From the Newness of the Country, the Thin- ness of the Population, and the unsettled state of Society 39 Chap. XV. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in America : 3. From Slavery 40 Chap. XVI. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in America : 4. From the vast Emigration from Foreign Coun- tries 42 BOOK II. THE COLONIAL ERA. Chap. I. — Religious Character of the early Col- onists. — Founders of New-England . . 44 Chap. II. — Religious Character of the Founders of New-England. — Plymouth Colony . . 47 Chap. III. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New-England. — Col- ony of Massachusetts Bay . . . .51 Chap. IV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New-England, — Col- onies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New- Hampshire, and Maine. — General Remarks . 56 Chap. V. — Religious Character of the early Colonists.— Founders of the Southern States 60 Chap. VI. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Colonists of New-York . . 64 Chap. VII. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New-Jersey . . 66 Chap. VIII. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of Delaware, at first called New Sweden 68 Chap. IX. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of Pennsylvania . . 69 Chap. X. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from Wales . .71 Page Chap. XI. — Religious Character of the early Colonists of America. — Emigrants from Scot- land and Ireland 71 Chap. XII. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Huguenots from France . . 75 Chap. XIII.— Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from Germany . . 80 Chap. XIV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from Poland . . 81 Chap. XV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from the Vallies of Piedmont 82 Chap. XVI. — Summary 82 Chap. XVII. — Relations between the Churches and the Civil Power in the Colonies of Amer- ica. — 1. In New-England . . . .84 Chap. XVIII. — Relations between the Church and the Civil Power in the Colonies. — 2. In the Southern and Middle Provinces . . 88 Chap. XIX. — The Influences of the Union of Church and State, as it formerly existed in America. — 1. In New-England . . .91 Chap. XX. — The Influences of the Union of Church and State. — 2. In the Southern and Middle States 96 Chap. XXI. — State of Religion during the Co- lonial Era 99 BOOK III. THE NATIONAL ERA. Chap. I. — Effects of the Revolution upon Reli- gion. — Changes to which it necessarily gave rise 102 Chap. II. — The Dissolution of the Union of Church and State not effected by the General Government, nor did it take place immediately 104 Chap. III.— Dissolution of the Union of Church and State in America, when and how effected 105 Chap. IV. — Effects of the Dissolution of the Union of Church and State in the several States in which it once subsisted . . . 112 Chap. V. — Whether the General Government of the United States has the Power to pro- mote Religion 116 Chap. VI. — Whether the Government of the United States may justly be called Infidel or Atheistical 118 Chap. VII. — The Government of the United States shown to be Christian by its Acts . 120 Chap. VIII. — The Governments of the Individ- ual States organized on the basis of Christi- anity 122 Chap. IX. — The Legislation of the States shown to be in favour of Christianity . . 124 Chap. X. — The Legislation of the States often bears favourably, though incidentally, on the cause of Religion 126 Chap. XI. — In what cases the action of the Civil Authority may be directed in reference to Religion 127 Chap. XII. — Review of the ground which we have gone over 129 BOOK IV. the voluntary principle in America; its action and influence. Chap. I. — The Voluntary Principle the great Alternative. — The Nature and Vastness of its Mission 129 Chap. II. — Foundation of the Voluntary Princi- ple to be sought for in the Character and Habits of the People of the United States . 131 xli CONTENTS. Chap. III. — How Church Edifices are built in the Cities and large Towns . , . .132 Chaf. IV.— How Church Edifices are built in the New Settlements 134 Chap. V. — The Voluntary Principle developed. — How the Salaries of the Pastors are raised 136 Chap. VI. — How Ministers of the Gospel are brought forward, and how they become set- tled Pastors 138 Chap. VII. — The Voluntary Principle developed in Home Missions. — American Home Mission- ary Society 140 Chap. VIII. — Presbyterian Board of Domestic Missions, under the Direction of the General Assembly 142 Chap. IX. — Home Missions of the Episcopal, Baptist, and Reformed Dutch Churches . 144 Chap. X. — Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church 145 Chap. XI. — The Voluntary Principle developed. — Influence of the Voluntary Principle on Ed- ucation. — Of Primary Schools . . . 146 Chap. XII. — Grammar-schools and Academies 143 Chap. XIII. — Colleges and Universities . . 150 Chap. XIV. — Sunday-schools. — American Sun- day-school Union, and other Sunday-school Societies 152 Chap. XV.— Bible-classes . . . .156 Chap. XVI.— Maternal Societies . . .156 Ckap. XVII. — Education Societies . . . 157 Chap. XVIII.— Theological Seminaries . . 159 Chap. XIX. — Efforts to diffuse the Sacred Scriptures 166 Chap. XX. — Associations for the Circulation and Publication of Religious Tracts and Books 167 Chap. XXI. — The Religious Literature of the United States 169 Chap. XXII. — Efforts to promote the Religious and Temporal Interests of Seamen . . 172 Chap. XXIII.— Of the Influence of the Volunta- ry Principle in reforming existing Evils. — Temperance Societies 172 Chap. XXIV. — The American Prison Discipline Society 174 Chap. XXV. — Sundry other Associations . 176 Chap. XXVI. — Influence of the Voluntary Prin- ciple on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country 177 Chap. XXVII. — Influence of the Voluntary- Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylums for the Insane . . . 178 Chap. XXV11I. — Influence of the Voluntary Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb . 179 Chap. XXIX. — Influence of the Voluntary Prin- ciple on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylums for the Blind . . . 180 Chap. XXX. — Concluding Remarks on the Development of the Voluntary Principle . 181 BOOK V. THE CHURCH AND THE PULPIT IN AMERICA. Chap. I. — Importance of this Part of the Sub- ject 183 Chap. II. — The Evangelical Churches in the United States maintain Discipline . . . 183 Chap. III. — The Way in which Membership in our Churches is obtained .... 185 Chap. IV. — The Relations which unconverted Men hold to the Church . . . .187 Chap. V. — The Administration of Discipline . 189 Chap. VI. — Character of American Preaching 189 Chap. VII.— Revivals of Religion . . .196 Chap. VIII. — Supplementary Remarks on Re- vivals of Religion . . ... 213 Chap. IX. — Alleged Abuses in Revivals of Re- ligion 214 Paga Chap. X. — Concluding Remarks on the Church and the Pulpit in America .... 218 BOOK VI. THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN AMERICA. Chap. I. — Preliminary Remarks in reference to this Subject 219 Chap. II. — The Protestant Episcopal Church . 220 Chap. III. — The Congregational Churches . 223 Chap. IV.— The Regular Baptist Churches . 229 Chap. V. — The Presbyterian Church . . 233 Chap. VI.— The Methodist Episcopal Church . 245 Chap. VII.— The Moravian Church . . . 250 Chap. VIII. — Smaller Baptist Denominations . 251 Chap. IX. — Smaller Presbyterian Churches. — Cumberland Presbyterians .... 252 Chap. X. — Smaller Presbyterian Churches. — Reformed Dutch Church .... 253 Chap. XI. — Smaller Presbyterian Churches. — The Associate Church. — The Associate Re- formed Church, and the Reformed Presbyte- rian Church 255 Chap. XII. — Smaller Presbyterian Churches. — The Lutheran Church 257 Chap. XIII. — Smaller Presbyterian Churches. — The German Reformed Church . . . 260 Chap. XIV.— Smaller German Sects . . 261 Chap. XV. — Smaller Meti.jdist Denominations 262 Chap. XVI.— The Friend* or Quakers . . 263 Chap. XVII.— The Summary . . . .264 Chap. XVIII.— Number of Evangelical Sects . 266 Chap. XIX. — Alleged Want of Harmony among the Evangelical Christians of the United States 267 BOOK VII. UNEVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS IN AMERICA. Chap. I. — Introductory Remarks . . . 269 Chap. II. — The Roman Catholic Church . . 270 Chap. III. — Unitarianism 272 Chap. IV. — The Chnst-ian Connexion . . 280 Chap. V. — The Universalists .... 281 Chap. VI. Swedenborgians and Tunkers . . 282 Chap. VII.— The Jews 283 Chap. VIII. — Rappists, Shakers, Mormons, &c. 283 Chap. IX. — Atheists, Deists, Socialists, Four- rierists, &c 286 Chap. X. — General Remarks on the State of Theological Opinion in America . . . 287 BOOK VIII. EFFORTS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCHES FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. Chap. I. — Introductory Remarks . . . 292 Chap. II. — Earlier Efforts to convert the Abori- gines 293 Chap. III. — American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ..... 299 Chap. IV. — Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church 307 Chap. V. — Missions of the Baptist Churches . 309 Chap. VI. — Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church 310 Chap. VII. — Board of Missions of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church 311 Chap. VIII. — Foreign Missions of other Denom- inations 312 Chap. IX. — American Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews .... 313 Chap. X. — Foreign Evangelical Society of the United States . . . . . . .313 Chap. XI. — American Colonization Society . 314 Chap. XII— Summary 317 Conclusion . . . . . . . 318 RELIGION IN AMERICA. BOOK I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL NOTICE OF NORTH AMERICA. The configuration of the Continent of North America, at first view, presents sev- eral remarkable features. Spreading out like a partially open fan, with its apex to- Avards the south, its coasts, in advancing northward, recede from each other with considerable regularity of proportion and correspondence, until, from being separa- ted by only sixty miles at the Isthmus of Darien, they diverge to the extent of 4500 miles ; the east coast pursuing a northeast- ern, and the west a nothwestern direction. Parallel to these coasts, and at almost equal distances from them, there are two ranges of mountains. The eastern range, called the Alleghany, or Appalachian, runs from southwest to northeast, at an average distance of 150 miles from the Atlantic. Its length is usually estimated at 900 miles.* Its greatest width, which is in Virginia and Pennsylvania, is about 120 miles. Rather a system, than a range, of mountains, it is composed of parallel ridges, generally maintaining a northeast and southwest di- rection. But as it advances towards its northern extremity, and passes through the New-England States, it loses much of its continuity, and gradually runs off into a chain of nearly isolated mountains. The southern extremity gradually sinks down into the hills of Georgia, unless, indeed, we may consider it as disappearing in the low, central line of the peninsula of Flori- da. The northeastern end terminates in the ridges of Nova Scotia. The whole of this range is within the limits of the Uni- ted States, excepting that part of it which stretches into the British Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We may re- mark, in passing, that although this mount- ain range apparently separates the waters which flow into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, such is not really the * This is the length of the chain considered as a continuous range, from the northern parts of Geor- gia and Alabama to the State of New -York. Taken in the extensive sense in which it is spoken of in the text, the entire range exceeds 1500 English miles. case. These mountains simply stand, as it were, on the plateau or elevated plain on which those waters have their origin. Ri- sing in the immediate vicinity of each other, and often interlocking, these streams are not in the least affected in their course by the mountains, the gaps and valleys of which seem to have been made to accommodate them, instead of their accommodating themselves to the shape and position of the mountains. In a part of its northern ex- tension, this range of mountains seems to detach itself entirely from the plain where those streams have their source, and lies quite east of it, so that the streams that fall into the Atlantic, in making their way to the southeast, as it were, cut through the mountain range, in its entire width. When first discovered by Europeans, and for a century and more afterward, the long and comparatively narrow strip of country between the Alleghany range and the At- lantic Ocean was covered with an unbro- ken forest. The mountains, likewise, up to their very summits, and the valleys that lay between them, were clad with wood. Nothing deserving the name of a field, or a prairie, was anywhere to be seen. On the western side of the continent, as has been stated, another range of mount- ains runs parallel to the coast of the Pa- cific Ocean. This range is a part of the im- mense system of mountains running from Cape Horn throughout the entire length of the continent, and seems as if intended, like the backbone in large animals, to give it unity and strength. It is by far the long- est in the world ;* and bearing different names in different parts of its extent, it is the Andes in South America, the Cordille- ras in Guatimala and Mexico, and th^ Rocky Mountain sf in the north. The long, and, in many parts, wide strip of land between the Oregon Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, is claimed, on the * The entire length of this range is estimated to be 9000 English miles. t The proper name of this portion of the range is Oregon, a word of Indian origin, and which, whatev- er may be its original signification, is a much better name than that which it has so long borne, and which has nothing distinctive about it, for all mountains are rocky. 10 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. north, by Russia ; on the south, by Mexico ; and in the middle, by England and the Uni- ted States. Between these two ranges of mountains — the Alleghany on the east and the Ore- gon on the west — lies the immense Cen- tral Valley of North America, wider in the north than towards the south, and reaching from the Northern Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most extensive valley in the world, and is composed of two vast sections, separated by a zigzag line of table-land. This ridge, which is of no great elevation, and which commences near the 4*2° of north latitude on one side, while it terminates near the 49° on the other, stretches across from the Alleghany sys- tem to the Oregon, and thus separates. also, the waters that flow southward into the Gulf of Mexico, from those flowing in the opposite direction into the northern seas. Thus the one section of this great valley inclines to the south, the other gen- tly, nay, almost imperceptibly, descends to- wards the north. The former is drained mainly by one great river and its numerous branches, called, in the pompous language of the Aborigines of the country, the Mis- sissippi, or Father of Waters. The latter is drained by the St. Lawrence, falling into the Northern Atlantic ; the Albany and oth- er streams falling into Hudson's Bay ; and by M'Kenzie's River, which falls into the Arctic Ocean. These great sections of this immense valley differ much in character. The north- ern possesses a considerable extent of com- paratively elevated and very fertile land in its southern part ; while towards the north it subsides to a low, monotonous, swampy plain, little elevated above the level of the ocean, and, by reason of its marshes, bogs, and inhospitable climate, is almost as unin- habitable as it is incapable of cultivation. The southern section — more commonly called the Valley of the Mississippi — termi- nates on the low, marshy coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; but, with the exception of the part of it which lies on the upper streams of the Red River and La Platte, it eve- rywhere abounds in fertile land, covered, for the most part, even yet, with noble for- ests, or adorned with beautiful prairies. The St. Lawrence is the great river of the northern section or basin, though not with- out a rival in the M'Kenzie's River ; while its southern rival, the Mississippi, flows al- most alone in its vast domain. There are, however, the Alabama and a few small rivers on its left, and the Sabine, the Bra- zos, and some others of lesser note on its right. The St. Lawrence boasts a length of more than 2000 miles. That of the Mississippi exceeds 2500 ; and if the Mis- souri be considered the main upper branch, as it ought to be, then it may fairly claim the honour of dragging its vast length, with many a fold, through more than 4000 miles. But, though exceeded by the Mississippi in length, the St. Lawrence clearly has the advantage in depth and noble expansion towards its mouth, being navigable for the largest ships of war as high as Quebec, 340 miles ; and for large merchant vessels to- Montreal, 180 miles farther; whereas the Mississippi does not reach the medium width of a mile, nor a depth in the shallow places of the central channel, when the stream runs low, of more than fifteen feet ; so that, excepting when in flood, it is not navigable by ships of 500 tons for more than 300 miles. The St. Lawrence, and all the other considerable rivers of the northern basin, pass through a succession of lakes, some of vast extent, by which the floods caused by melting snows and heavy rains, which otherwise, by rushing down in the spring, and accumulating vast masses of ice in the yet unopened channel of its low- er and northern course, would spread dev- astation and ruin over the banks, are col- lected in huge reservoirs, and permitted to flow off gradually during the summer months. Wonderful display of wisdom and beneficence in the arrangements of Divine creation and providence ! But the Missis- sippi, as it flows into the warmer regions of the south, needs no such provision ; and hence, with the exception of a few small lakes connected with the head streams of the Upper Mississippi in the west, and one or two connected with the Alleghany, a branch of the Ohio, in the east, no lake occurs in the whole of the southern basin. Owing to this difference in these rivers, a sudden rise of three feet in the waters of the St. Lawrence would be more surpri- sing than a rise of thirty feet in the Missis- sippi. But in order that the country which borders upon the latter may not be too much exposed to great and destructive in- undation, the Creator has, in his wisdom, given to it a peculiar configuration. The inclined plane which slopes down from the Oregon Mountains towards the east is much wider than that sloping from the mountains on the opposite side. Hence the rivers from the western side of the val- ley have a much greater distance to trav- erse than those that drain the eastern slope, and the floods which they roll down in the spring are, of course, proportionally later in reaching the Lower Mississippi. In fact, just as the floods of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio, have subsided, those of the Arkansas, the Missouri, and Upper Mississippi begin to appear. If these all came down at once, the Lower Mississippi, as the common outlet, by swelling to such an extent as to overflow its banks, would spread destruction far and wide over the whole Delta. Such a calam- ity, or, rather, something approaching to it, does occasionally occur ; but at long in- chap. II.] GENERAL NOTICE OF NORTH AMERICA. 11 tervals, to teach men their dependance on [ a few straggling Indians are occasionally Divine Providence, as well as to punish . seen upon its outskirts. With these ex- them for their sins. ceptions, the whole portion of North Amer- Of the slope between the Oregon Mount- i ica which is now either occupied or claim- ains and the Pacific, the northern part, ed by the people of the United States, was, occupied by Russia, is cold, and little of when first visited by Europeans, and for it fit for cultivation ; the middle, claimed by the United States and Great Britain, is said to be a fine country in many parts ; while that occupied by Mexico has very great natural advantages. The country bordering on the Gulf of California is surpassed by none in North America for pleasantness of climate and fertility of soil. On both sides of the Upper Mississippi, as well as on both sides of the Missouri, there are extensive prairies,* as the French, who first explored that country, called them ; that is, in many places there are districts, some of them very extensive, in- cluding hundreds, and even thousands of acres of land ; others smaller, and resem- bling a field or meadow, which are covered in the summer with tall grass and a great variety of flowers, but on which scarcely anything in the shape of a tree is to be found. Many of these prairies possess a fertile soil ; but others produce only a sort of stunted grass and short weeds ; and be- tween the upper streams of the Red River and the La Platte, towards the Oregon Mountains, there lies an extensive tract which has been called the Great American Desert. The country there is covered with sand and detached rocks, or boul- ders, which have evidently come from the Oregon Mountains, and is thinly clothed with a species of vegetation called buffalo grass. The prickly pear may often be seen spreading its huge leaves over the ground. Not a tree, and scarcely a bush, is to be met with in many places for miles. Herds of buffalo sometimes traverse it. and * Much has been said and written on the origin of the prairies of North America; but, after all, no perfectly satisfactory theory has yet been invented. The Indians know nothing on the subject. As to the barren prairies between the upper streams of the Red River and the Platte, mentioned in the text un- der the name of the Great American Desert, the same cause produced them which produced the Great Sa- hara in Africa, the utter sterility of the soil. But as it relates to those fertile prairies which one finds in the States of Illinois and Missouri, and in the Ter- ritories of Wisconsin and Iowa, the case is very dif- ferent. In some respects, the theory that they owe their existence to the annual burning of the dry, de- cayed grass, and other vegetable matter, in the au- tumnal months, seems plausible. It accounts well enough for the perpetuation of these prairies, but it fails to account for their origin. How is it that the same cause did not produce prairies in those parts of North America where none have ever existed ? which yet have been, as far as we can learn, occu- pied by the Aborigines as long as those in which the prairies are found. It is very likely that fire was one of the causes of their origin ; but there may have been others not less efficient, as well as various con- curring circumstances, with respect to which we are wholly in the dark. more than a century afterward, one vast wilderness. The luxuriant vegetation with which it had been clothed year after year, for ages, was destined only to decay and enrich the soil. Thus did the work of pre- paring it to be the abode of millions of civ- ilized men go silently and steadily on ; the earth gathering strength, during this long repose, for the sustentation of nations which were to be born in the distant fu- ture. One vast and almost unbroken for- est covered the whole continent, unbo- soming in its sombre shadows alike the meandering streamlet and the mighty riv- er, the retired bay and the beautiful and tranquil lake. A profound and solemn si- lence reigned everywhere, save when in- terrupted by the songs of the birds which sported amid the trees, the natural cries of the beasts which roamed beneath, the ar- ticulate sounds of the savage tribes around their wigwams, or their shouts in the chase or in the battle. The work of God, in all its simplicity, and freshness, and grandeur, was seen everywhere ; that of man almost nowhere ; universal nature rested, and, as it were, kept Sabbath. Two hundred years more pass away, and how widely different is the scene ! Along the coasts, far and wide, tall ships pass and repass. The white sails of brig and sloop are seen in every bay, cove, and estuary. The rivers are covered with boats of every size, propelled by sail or oar. And in every water the steamboat, heedless alike of wind and tide, pursues its resistless way, vomiting forth steam and flame. Commerce flourishes along every stream. Cities are rising in all di- rections. The forests are giving way to cultivated fields or verdant meadows. Sav- age life, with its wigwams, its blanket-cov- ering, its poverty, and its misery, yields on every side to the arts, the comforts, and even the luxuries of civilization. CHAPTER II. THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. North America, when discovered by Europeans, was in the occupancy of a great number of uncivilized tribes ; some large, but most of them small ; and, al- though differing in some respects from one another, yet exhibiting indubitable evi- dence of a common origin. Under the be- lief that the country was a part, of the East Indies, to reach which, by pursuing a west- erly course, had been the object of their 12 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. voyage, the companions of Columbus gave the name of Indians to those nations of the Aborigines which they first saw. Sub- sequent and more extensive exploration of the coasts of America convinced them of their mistake, but the name thus given to the indigenous tribes has adhered to them to this day. A striking similarity of organization per- vades the tribes of North America.* All have the same dull vermilion, or cinna- mon complexion, differing wholly from the white, the olive, and the black vari- eties of the human family ; all have the same dark, glossy hair, coarse, but uni- formly straight. Their beards are gen- erally of feeble growth, and instead of be- ing permitted to become long, are almost universally eradicated. The eye is elonga- ted, and has an orbit inclined to a quadran- gular shape. The cheek-bones are prom- inent ; the nose broad ; the jaws project- ing ; the lips large and thick, though far less so than those of the Ethiopic race. Yet there are not wanting considerable varieties in the organization and complex- ion of the Aborigines of North America. Some nations are fairer skinned, some taller and more slender than others ; and even in the same tribe there are often striking contrasts. Their limbs, unre- strained in childhood and youth by the appliances which civilization has invented, are generally better formed than those of the white men. The persons of the males are more erect, but this is not so with the females ; these have become bowed down with the heavy burdens which, as slaves, they are habitually compelled to bear. Their manner of life, when first discov- ered, was in the highest degree barbarous. They had nothing that deserved the name of houses. Rude huts, mostly for tempo- rary use, of various forms, but generally circular, were made by erecting a pole to support others which leaned upon it as a centre, and which were covered with leaves and bark, while the interior was lined with skins of the buffalo, the deer, the bear, &c. A hole at the top permitted the escape of the smoke ; a large opening in the side answered the purpose of a door, a window, and sometimes of a chimney. The skins of animals formed almost the whole cov- ering of the body. Moccasins, and some- times a sort of boot, made of the skins of the animals slain in the chase, were the * This may be said also of all the aboriginal tribes of America entire, from the shores of the Northern Ocean to the island of Terra del Fuego. But there was a vast difference in regard to civilization. The inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, when those coun- tries were visited and conquered by Cortes and Pi- •zarro, were far more civilized than the tribes of the portion of North America which we are considering. No remains of antiquity among the latter can be for a moment compared with those of the kingdom of Montezuma. only protection to their feet and legs in the coldest weather. The head was adorn- ed with feathers and the beaks and claws of birds, the neck with strings of shells, and that of the warrior with the scalps of enemies slain in battle or in ambush. Nothing like agriculture was known among them, save the planting of small patches of a species of corn which takes its name from them, and which, when parched, or when pounded and made into paste and baked, is both palatable and nu- tritious. Having no herds, the use of milk was unknown. They depended mainly on the chase and on fishing for a precarious subsistence, not having the skill to fur- nish themselves with suitable instruments for the prosecution of either with much success ; and when successful, as they had no salt, they could preserve an abun- dant supply of game only by smoking it. Hence the frequent famines among them, during the long, cold months of winter. Poets have sung of the happiness of the natural, in other words, uncivilized life. But all who know anything of the abori- ginal tribes of North America, even in the present times, when those that border upon the abodes of civilized men live far more comfortably than did their ances- tors three hundred years ago, are well aware that their existence is a miserable one. During the excitements of the chase, there is an appearance of enjoyment ; but such seasons are not long, and the utter want of occupation, and the consequent tedium of other periods, make the men in many cases wretched. Add to this the want of resources for domestic happiness ; the evils resulting from polygamy ; the de- pression naturally caused by the sickness of friends and relatives, without the means of alleviation ; the gloomy apprehensions of death ; and we cannot wonder that the " red man" should be miserable, and seek gratification in games of chance, the revel- ries of drunkenness, or the excitements of war. I have seen various tribes of Indians ; I have travelled among them ; I have slept in their poor abodes, and never have I seen them, under any circumstances, with- out being deeply impressed with the con- viction of the misery of those especially who are not yet civilized. They are not without some notions of a Supreme Power which governs the world, and of an Evil Spirit who is the enemy of mankind. But their theogony and their theology are alike crude and incoherent. They have no notion of a future resurrec- tion of the body. Like children, they can- not divest themselves of the idea that the spirit, of the deceased still keeps company with the body in the grave, or that it wan- ders in the immediate vicinity. Some, however, seem to have a confused impres- sion that there is a sort of elysium for the Chap. I] THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 13 departed brave, where they will forever enjoy the pleasures of the chase and of war. Even of their own origin they have nothing but a confused tradition, not ex- tending back beyond three or four genera- tions. As they have no calendars, and reckon their years only by the return of certain seasons, so they have no record of time past. Though hospitable and kind to strangers to a remarkable degree, they are capable of the most diabolical cruelty to their ene- mies. The well-authenticated accounts of the manner in which they sometimes treat their prisoners would almost make us doubt whether they can belong to the human species. And yet we have only to recall to our minds scenes which have taken place in highly-civilized countries, and almost within our own day, when Christian men have been put to death in its most horrible forms by those who pro- fessed to be Christians themselves, to be convinced that, when not restrained by the grace and providence of God, there is no- thing too devilish for man to do. Some remains of the law, written origi- nally on the heart of man by his Creator, are to be found even among the Indian tribes. Certain actions are considered criminal and deserving of punishment ; others are reckoned meritorious. The catalogue, it is true, of accredited virtues and vices is not extensive. Among the men, nothing can atone for the want of courage and fortitude. The captive war- rior can laugh to scorn all the tortures of his enemies, and sing in the very agonies of a death inflicted in the most cruel man- ner, what may be termed a song of triumph, rather than of death ! The narrations which the Jesuit (French) missionaries, who knew the Indian character better, perhaps, than any other white men that have ever writ- ten of them, have left of what they them- selves saw, are such as no civilized man can read without being perfectly appalled.* Roman fortitude never surpassed that dis- played in innumerable instances by cap- tured Indian warriors. In fact, nothing can be compared with it except that said to have been exhibited by the Scandinavians, in their early wars with one another and with foreign enemies ; and of which we have many accounts in their Elder and Younger Eddas, and in their Sagas. * The reader is referred to the work entitled " Re- lation de ce qui s'est passe en la Nouvelle France," in 1632, and the years following, down till 1660. Also to the work of Creuxius, and the Journal of Marest. Much is to be found on the same horrible subject in Charlevoix's " Histoire de la Nouvelle France ;" Lepage Dupratz's " Histoire de la Louisi- ane ;" Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia;" "Transac- tions of the American Philosophical Society," vol. i. ; and the volumes of the late excellent Heckewelder, who was for forty years a missionary among the Delaware Indians, and whom the author of this work had the happiness of knowing intimately. Very many of the tribes speak dialects, rather than languages, distinct from those* of their neighbours. East of the Missis- sippi River, and within the bounds of wha* is now the United States, when the coloni- zation of the country by Europeans com- menced, there were eight races, or families of tribes, each comprehending those most alike in language and customs, and who constantly recognised each other as rela- tives. These were, 1. The Algonquins, consisting of many tribes, scattered over the whole of the New-England States, the southern part of New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir- ginia, and what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illi- nois, and Michigan. Being the most nu- merous of all the tribes, they occupied about half the territory east of the Missis- sippi and south of the St. Lawrence and the lakes. 2. The Sioux, or Dacotas, liv- ing between Lake Superior and the Missis- sippi. These were a small branch of the great tribe of the same name, to be found about the higher streams of that river, and between them and the Oregon Mountains. 3. The Hukon-Iroquois nations, who occu- pied all the northern and western parts of what is now the State of New- York, and a part of Upper Canada. The most impor- tant of these tribes were the Five Nations, as they were long called, viz. , the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Sene- cas. These were afterward joined 'by the Tuscaroras from the Carolinas, a branch of the same great family, and then they took the name of the Six Nations, by which title they are better known to history. 4. The Catawbas, who lived chiefly in what is now South Carolina. 5. The Cherokees, who lived in the mountainous parts of the two Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama. Their country lay in the south- ern extreme of the Alleghany Mountains, and abounded in ridges and valleys. 6. The Uchees, who resided in Georgia, in the vicinity of the site occupied at present by the city of Augusta. 7. The Natchez, so famous for their tragical end, who lived on the banks of the Mississippi, in the neighbourhood of the present city of Nat- chez. 8. The Mobilian tribes, or, as Mr. Gallatin calls them, the Muskhogee-Choc- ta, who occupied the country which com- prises now the States of Alabama and Mississippi, and the Territory of Florida. The tribes which composed this family, or nation, are well known by the name of the Creeks, the Chickasas, the Choctas, and the Seminoles ; to whom may be added the Yamasses, who formerly lived on the Savannah River, but exist no longer as a separate tribe. The languages of these eight families of tribes are very different, and yet they arc marked by strong grammatical affinities. It is most probable that the people who 14 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book h first settled America, come whence they I might, spoke different, though remotely re- \ lated languages. All the languages of the | Aborigines of America are exceedingly complicated, regular in the forms of verbs, irregular in those of nouns, and admitting of changes by modifications of final sylla- bles, initial syllables, and even, in the case j of verbs, by the insertion of particles, in a j way unknown to the languages of Western Europe. They exhibit demonstrative proof that they are not the invention of those who use them, and that they who use them have never been a highly-civilized people. Synthesis, or the habit of compounding words with words, prevails, instead of the more simple method of analysis, which a highly cultivated use of language always displays.* The old English was much more clumsy than the modern. The same thing is true of the French and German ; indeed, of every cultivated language. The languages of the tribes bordering upon the frontier settlements of the United States begin to exhibit visible evidences of the effect of contact with civilization. The half-breeds are also introducing modifica- tions, which show that the civilized mind tends to simplify language ; and the labours of the missionaries, who have introduced letters among several tribes, are also pro- ducing great results, and leading to decided improvements. A great deal has been said and written about the gradual wasting and disappear- ance of the tribes which once occupied the territories of the United States. It is not intended to deny that several tribes which figure in the history of the first settlement of the country by Europe- ans are extinct, and that several more are nearly so. Nor is it denied that this has been partly occasioned by wars waged with them by the white or European popula- tion ; si ill more by the introduction of drunkenness and other vices of civilized men, and by the diseases incident to those vices. But while this may be all true, still the correctness of a good deal that has been said on this subject may well be questioned. Nothing can be more certain than that the tribes which once occupied the country now comprised within the Uni- ted States, were, at the epoch of the first settlement of Europeans on its shores, gradually wasting away, and had long been so ; from the destructive wars waged with each other ; from the frequent recurrence of famine, and sometimes from cold ; and from, diseases and pestilences, against * The reader who desires, may see much on the Indian languages in Humboldt's Voyages ; Vater's Mithradates, vol. iii. ; Baron Will. Humboldt ; Pub- lications of the Berlin Academy, vol. xliv. ; Gallatin's Analysis ; Du ponceau's Notes on Zeisberger ; Amer- ican Quarterly Review, vol. iii. ; Heckevvelder's two works respecting Indian manners, customs, etc. ; and Mr. Schoolcraft's publications. which they knew not how to protect them- selves. If the Europeans introduced some diseases, it is no less certain that they found some formidable ones among the natives. A year or two before the Pilgrim Fathers reached the coast of New-Eng- land, the very territory on which they set- tled was swept of almost its entire pop- ulation by a pestilence. Several of the tribes which existed when the colonists arrived from Europe were but the rem- nants, as they themselves asserted, of once powerful tribes, that had been almost an- nihilated by war or by disease. This, as is believed, was the case with the Catawbas, the Uchees, and the Natchez. Many of the branches of the Algonquin race, and. some of the Huron-Iroquois, used to speak of the renowned days of their forefathers, when they were a powerful people. It is not easy, indeed, to estimate what was the probable number of the Indians who occupi- ed, at the time of its discovery, the country east of the Mississippi and south of the St, Lawrence, comprising very nearly what may be called the settled portion of the United States ; and from which the Indian race has disappeared, in consequence of emigration or other causes. But I am in- clined to think, with Mr. Bancroft, an Amer- ican author who deserves the highest praise for the diligent research he has displayed in his admirable work on the United States, and to whom I am greatly indebted on this subject, as well as many others which are treated in this work, that there may have been in all not far from one hundred and eighty thousand souls.* That a con- siderable number were slain in the numer- ous wars carried on between them and the French and English during our colo- nial days, and in our wars with them after our independence, and that ardent spir- its, also, have destroyed many thousands, cannot be doubted. But the most fruitful source of destruction to these poor " chil- dren of the wood" has been the occasional prevalence of contagious and epidemic dis- eases, such as the smallpox, which some years since cut off, in a few months, al- most the whole tribe of the Mandans, on the Missouri. Of the Algonquin race, whose numbers, two hundred years ago, were estimated at ninety thousand souls, only a few small tribes, and remnants of tribes, remain, probably not exceeding 20,000 persons. Of the Huron-Iroquois, not more probably than two or three thousand remain within the limits of the United States. The great- er part who survive are to be found in Canada. The Sioux have not diminished. The Cherokees have increased. The Ca- tawbas are nearly extinct as a nation. The remains of the Uchees and Natchez have * Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. IQT p. 253. Chap. III.] DISCOVERY OF THE UNITED STATES. id been absorbed among the Creeks and Choctas ; and, indeed, it is certain, that not only straggling individuals, but also large portions of tribes, have united with other tribes, and so exist in a commingled state with them. It has happened that an entire conquered tribe has been compelled to submit to absorption among the conquer- ors. And, finally, the Mobilian or Musk- hogee-Chocta tribes, taken as a whole, have decidedly increased, it is believed, within the last twenty-five years. They, with the Cherokees, and the remains of several tribes of the Algonquin race, are almost all collected together, in the district of country assigned to them by the Gen- eral Government, west of the States of Ar- kansas and Missouri. Respecting this plan, as well as touching the general policy of the government of the United States to- wards the Indians, I shall speak fully in another place. It is difficult to estimate, with anything like absolute precision, the number of In- dians that now remain as the descendants of the tribes which once occupied the coun- try of which we have spoken. Without pretending to reckon those who have sought refuge with tribes far in the West, we may safely put it down at one hundred and fif- teen or twenty thousand souls. Of what is doing to save them from physical and moral ruin, I shall speak hereafter. The most plausible opinion respecting the origin of the Aborigines of America is, that they are of the Mongolian race ; and that they came to America from Asia, ei- ther by way of the Polynesian world,* or by Behring's Straits, or by the Aleutian Islands, Mednoi Island, and the Behring group. Facts well attested prove this to have been practicable. That the resem- blance between the Aborigines of America and the Mongolian race is most striking, every one will testify who has seen both. " Universally and substantially," says the American traveller, Ledyard, respecting the Mongolians, " they resemble the Abo- rigines of America." CHAPTER III. DISCOVERY OF THAT PART OF NORTH AMER- ICA WHICH IS COMPRISED IN THE LIMITS OF THE UNITED STATES. THE EARLY AND UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO COLONIZE IT. As the American hemisphere had been discovered by expeditions sent out by Spain, that country claimed the erUre con- tinent, as well as the adjohi'.g islands; and to it a pope, as the vicegerent of God, undertook to cede the .vnole. But other * Lang's View of the Polynesian Nations. Ban- croft's History of the United States, vol. iii., p. 315-18. countries having caught the spirit of dis- tant adventure in quest of gold, these soon entered into competition with the nation whose sovereign had won the title of Most Catholic Majesty; and as all Christendom at that day bowed its neck to the spiritual do- minion of the Vicar of Christ, as the Bishop of Rome claimed to be, they could not be r.e fused a portion from the " holy father,''' on showing that they were entitled to it. On the ground that Spain could not justly appropriate to herself any part of the Amer- ican Continent which she had not actually discovered, by coasting along it, by mark- ing its boundaries, and by landing upon it, they created for themselves a chance of. obtaining no inconsiderable share. England was the first to follow in the' career of discovery. Under her auspices, the continent itself was first discovered,* June 24, 1497, by the Cabots, John and Se- bastian, father and son, the latter of whom was a native o£that country, and the for- mer a merchant adventurer from Venice, but at the time residing in England, and engaged in the service of Henry VII. By this event, a very large and important part- of the coast of North America was secured to a country which, within less than half a century, was to begin to throw oft" the shackles of Rome, and to become, in due time, the most powerful of all Protestant kingdoms. He who "hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath deter- mined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation," had resolved in this manner to prepare a place to which, in ages then drawing near, those who should be persecuted for Christ's sake might flee and find protection, and thus found a great Protestant empire. And yet how near, if we may so speak, was this mighty plan to being defeated 1 A Spanish discov- erer, a year or two before, was diverted, by some apparently trivial circumstance, from directing his course from Cuba to» the very coast which the Cabots after- ward sailed along. Had he done so, how different, in some momentous respects, might have been the state of the world at this day ! We have here another illustra- tion of the littleness of causes with which the very greatest of human events are often connected, and of that superintend- ing Providence which rules in all things. Spain, however, far from at once relin- quishing her pretensions to a country thus discovered by England, insisted on claim- ing a large part of it, and for a long time extended the name of the comparatively insignificant peninsula of Florida, with which she was compelled to be contented at last, over the whole tract reaching as fai * Columbus had not at that epoch touched the continent, but had only discovered the West India Islands. 16 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book \. north as the Chesapeake Bay, if not farther. France, on the other hand, was not likely, under so intelligent and ambitious a mon- arch as Francis I., to remain an inactive spectator of maritime discoveries made by the nations on both sides of her. Under her auspices, Verrazzani, in 1524, and Car- tier ten years afterward, made voyages in search of new lands, so that soon she, too, had claims in America to prosecute. As the result of the former of those two en- terprises, she claimed the coast lying to the south of North Carolina, and extending, as was truly asserted, beyond the farthest point reached by the Cabots. Still more important were the results of Cartier's voyage. Having gone up the River St. Lawrence as far as the island on which Montreal now stands, he and Roberval made an ineffectual attempt to found a colony, composed of thieves, murderers, debtors, and other inmates of the prisons in France, on the spot now occupied by Quebec. Two other unsuccessful attempts at colonization in America were made by France, the one in 1598, under the Marquis de la Roche ; the other in 1600, under Chau- vin. At length, in 1605, a French colony •was permanently established, under De Monts, a Protestant, at the place now call- ed Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, but not un- til after having made an abortive attempt within the boundaries of the present State of Maine. Quebec was founded in 1608, under the conduct of Champlain, who be- came the father of all the French settle- ments in North America. From that point the French colonists penetrated farther and farther up the St. Lawrence, until at length parties of their hunters and trappers, ac- companied by Jesuit missionaries, reached the great lakes, passed beyond them, and descending the Valley of the Mississippi, established themselves at Fort Du Quesne, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and various other places. Thus the greater part of the im- mense Central Valley of North America fell, for a time, into the hands of the French. Nor was it only in the North that that na- tion sought to plant colonies. The failure of the French Protestants in all their efforts to secure for themselves mere toleration from their own government, naturally sug- gested the idea of expatriation, as the sole means that remained to them of procuring liberty to worship God according to his own Word. Even the Prince of Conde, though of royal blood, nobly proposed to set the ex- ample of withdrawing from France, rather than be the occasion, by remaining in it, of perpetual civil war with the obstinate partisans of Rome; and in 1562, under the auspices of the brave and good Coligny, to whom, also, the idea of-expatriation was familiar, two attempts were made by the Huguenots to establish themselves on the southern coast of North America. The first of these took place on the confines of South Carolina, and seems at once to have failed. The second, which was on the River St. John's in Florida, survived but a few years. In 1565, it was attacked by the Spaniards, under Melendez, that nation claiming the country in right of discovery, in conse- quence of Ponce de Leon having landed upon it in 1512; and as religious bigotry was added to national jealousy in the as- sailants, they put almost all the Huguenots to death in the most cruel manner, " not as Frenchmen," they alleged, "but as Luther- ans." For this atrocity the Spaniards were severely punished three years afterward, when Dominic de Gourgues, a Gascon, having captured two of their forts, hanged his prisoners upon trees, not far from the spot where his countrymen had suffered, and placed over their bodies this inscrip- tion : " I do not this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers, and murderers." With a view to encourage the coloniza- tion of those parts of North America that were claimed by England, several patents were granted by the crown of that country before the close of the sixteenth century. The enterprises, however, to which these led, universally failed. The most famous was that made in North Carolina, under a patent to Sir Walter Raleigh and others ; it was continued from 1584 to 15H8 ; but even the splendid talents and energy of its chief could not save his colony from final ruin. Though the details of this unsuccessful enterprise fill many a page in the history of the United States, strange to say, we are in absolute ignorance of the fate of the few remaining colonists that were left on the banks of the Roanoke : the most prob- able conjecture being that they were mas- sacred by the natives, though some affirm that they were incorporated into one of the Indian tribes. Two monuments of that memorable expedition remain to this day ; first, the name of Virginia, given to the entire coast by the courtier, in honour of his royal mistress, though afterward re- stricted to a single province ; and, next, the use of tobacco in Europe, Sir Walter hav- ing successfully laboured to make it an article of commerce between the two con- tinents. Some of the voyages made from Eng- land to America in that century for the mere purpose of traffic were not unprofit- able to the adventurers, but it was not until the following that any attempt at coloniza- tion met with success. In this no one who loves to mark the hand of God in the af- fairs of men, and who has studied well the history of those times, can fail to be struck with the display it presents of the Divine wisdom and goodness. For be it observed, that England was not yet ripe for the work Chap. IV.] COLONIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 of colonization, and could not then have planted the noble provinces of which she was to be the mother-country afterward. The mass of her population continued, until far on in the sixteenth century, to be at- tached to Rome ; her glorious Constitution was not half formed until the century that followed. The Reformation, together with the persecutions, the discussions, and the conflicts that followed in its train, were all required, in order that minds and hearts might be created for the founding of a free empire, and that the principles and the forms of the government of England might in any sense be fit for the imitation of her colonies. Though England, when she first discover- ed America, thought only, as other nations had done, of enriching herself from mines of the precious metals and gems ; on being undeceived by time, she indulged for a while the passion that followed for traffick- ing with the natives. But the commercial, as well as the golden age, if we may so speak, had to pass away, before men could be found who should establish themselves on that great continent with a view to agri- culture as well as commerce, and who should look to the promotion of Christiani- ty no less than to their secular interests. To this great and benevolent end God was rapidly shaping events in the Old World. CHAPTER IV. COLONIZATION OF THE TERRITORIES NOW CON- STITUTING THE UNITED STATES AT LENGTH ACCOMPLISHED. The first permanent colony planted by the English in America was Virginia. Even in that instance, what was projected was a factory for trading with the natives, rather than a fixed settlement for persons expatriating themselves with an eye to the future advantage of their offspring, and looking for interests which might recon- cile them to it as their home. It was founded in 1607, by a Company of noble- men, gentlemen, and merchants in London, by whom it was regarded as an affair of business, prosecuted with a view to pecu- niary profit, not from any regard to the welfare of the colonists. These, consist- ing of forty-eight gentlemen, twelve labour- ers, and a few mechanics, reached the Chesapeake Bay in April, 1607, and having landed, on the 13th of May, on a peninsula in the James River, there they planted their first settlement, and called it James Town. There had been bestowed upon the com- pany by royal charter a zone of land, ex- tending from the thirty-fourth to the thirty- eighth degree of north latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, together with ample powers for administering the affairs of the colony, but reserving to the B king the legislative authority, and a con- trol over appointments ; a species of doub- le government, under which few political privileges were enjoyed by the colonists. What from the wilderness state of the country, the unfriendliness of the Abori- gines, the insalubrity of the climate, the ar- bitrary conduct of the company, and the un- fitness of most of the settlers for their task, the infant colony had to contend with many difficulties. Yet not only did it gain a per- manent footing in the country, but, not- withstanding the disastrous wars with the Indians, insurrectionary attempts on the part of turbulent colonists, misunderstand- ings with the adjacent colony of Maryland, changes in its own charter, and other unto- ward circumstances, it had become a power- ful province long before the establishment of American Independence. By a second char- ter granted in 1609, all the powers that had been reserved by the first to the king were surrendered to the company ; but in 1624 that second charter was recalled, the com- pany dissolved, and the government of the colony assumed by the crown, which con- tinued thereafter to administer it in a gen- eral way, though the internal legislation of the colony was left, for the most part, to its own Legislature. Massachusetts was settled next in the order of time, and owed its rise to more than one original colony. The first plant- ed within the province was that of New- Plymouth, founded on the west coast of Massachusetts Bay, in 1620 ; but although it spread by degrees into the adjacent dis- trict, yet it never acquired much extent. It originated in a grant of land from the Plymouth Company in England, an incor- poration of noblemen, gentlemen, and bur- gesses, on which King James had bestowed by charter all the territories included with- in the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. That company having undergone important modifications, much more numerous settlements were made under its auspices, in 1628 at Salem, and in 1630 at Boston, from which two points colonization spread extensively into the surrounding country, and the province soon became populous and powerful. A colony was planted in New-Hampshire in 1631, and some settlements had been made in Maine a year or two earlier ; but for a long time the progress of all these was slow. In 1636, the celebrated Roger Williams, being banished from Massachu- setts, retired to Narragansett Bay, and by founding there, in 1638, the city of Prov- idence, led to the plantation of a new province, now forming the State of Rhode Island. In 1635, the Rev. Thomas Hooker and John Haynes having led a colony into Connecticut, settled at the spot where the city of Hartford now stands, and rescued 18 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. the Valley of Connecticut from the Dutch, who, having invaded it from their province of New Netherlands, had erected the fort called Good Hope on the right bank of the river. Three years thereafter, the colony of New-Haven was planted by two Puritan Nonconformists, the Rev. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, who had first re- tired to Holland on account of their reli- gious principles, and then left that country for Boston, in 1637. Thus, with the ex- ception of Vermont, which originated in a settlement of much later date, drawn chiefly from Massachusetts and New- Hampshire, we see the foundation of all the New-England States laid within twenty years from the arrival of the Pilgrim Fa- thers at Plymouth. Meanwhile, Maryland, so called in hon- our of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and wife of Charles I., had been colonized. The territory forming the present state of that name, though inclu- ded in the first charter of Virginia, upon that being cancelled and the company be- ing dissolved, reverted to the king, and he, to gratify his feelings of personal regard, bestowed the absolute proprietorship of the whole upon Sir Charles Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, and his legal heirs in succession. Never was there a more lib- eral charter. The statutes of the colony were to be made Avith the concurrence of the colonists, thus securing to the people a legislative government of their own. Sir Charles was a Roman Catholic, but his colony was founded on principles of the fullest toleration ; and though he died before the charter in his favour had passed the great seal of the kingdom, yet all the royal engagements being made good to his son Cecil, who succeeded to the title and estates, the latter sent out a colony of about two hundred persons, most of whom were Roman Catholics, and many of them gentlemen, accompanied by his brother Leonard. Maryland, though subjected to many vicissitudes, proved prosperous upon the whole. Though the Roman Catholics formed at first the decided majority, the Protestants became by far the more nu- merous body in the end, and, with shame be it said, enacted laws depriving the Ro- man Catholics of all political influence in the colony, and tending to prevent their increase. The first colony in the State of New- York was that planted by the Dutch, about the year 1614, on the southern point, it is supposed, of the island where the city of New-York now stands. The illustrious English navigator Hudson, having been in the employment of the Dutch at the time of his discovering the river that bears his name, Holland claimed the country bor- dering upon it, and gradually formed set- tlements there, the first of which was situate on an island immediately below the present city of Albany. Hudson being supposed to have been the first European that sailed up the Delaware, the Dutch claimed the banks of that river also. But their progress as colonists in America was slow. Though Holland was nominally a republic, yet she did not abound in the ma- terials proper for making good colonists. The country presenting but a limited scope for agriculture, the people were mostly en- gaged in trade or in the arts. Pursuing in the New World the same selfish principles which made the Dutch mercantile aristocracy the worst enemies of their country in the Old, the New Neth- erlands colonists were allowed little or no share in the government, and accord- ingly, notwithstanding the greatest nat- ural advantages, the progress of the colony was very slow. New Amsterdam, which, in consequence of such advantages, might have been expected even to outstrip the mother-city, as she has since done under the name of New-York, remained but an inconsiderable village. The vicinity of New-England provoked comparisons that could not fail to make the Dutch colonists discontented with their institutions. At length, in 1664, the English took posses- sion of all the Dutch colonies in North America, which by that time, in addition to their settlements on the Hudson, ex- tended to the eastern part of New-Jersey, Staten Island, and the western extremity of Long Island, besides a detached settle- ment on the banks of the Delaware, with a population not exceeding in all ten thou- sand souls. New Netherlands was granted by Charles II. to his brother the Duke of York, from whom the colony and its cap- ital took the name of New-York. The voice of the people was now, for the first time, heard in its Legislature ; it began thenceforth to advance rapidly in popula- tion, and, notwithstanding occasional sea- sons of trial and depression, gave early promise of what it was one day to become. New-Jersey was likewise granted to the Duke of York, who, in 1664, handed it over to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, both proprietors of Carolina. Difficulties, however, having arisen be- tween the colonists and the lords superior with regard to the quit-rents payable by the former, that province was gladly sur- rendered by the latter, upon certain con- ditions, to the crown, and was for some time attached to New- York, within twenty years after all the Dutch possessions had fallen into the hands of the English. West Jersey was afterward purchased by a company of Friends, or Quakers, and a few years later, in 1680, William Penn, previous to his undertaking to plant a col- ony on a larger scale in Pennsylvania, purchased East Jersey, with the view of Chap. IV.] COLONIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 making it an asylum for his persecuted co-religionists. Finally, East and West Jersey being united as one province un- der the direct control of the crown, ob- tained a Legislature of its own, and enjoyed a gradual and steady prosperity down to the Revolution by which the colonies were severed from England. Pennsylvania, as is indicated by its name, was founded by the distinguished philanthropist we have just mentioned, but he was not the first to colonize it. This was done by a mixture of Swedes, Dutch, and English, who had for years before oc- cupied the right bank of the Delaware, both above the point where Philadelphia now stands, and many miles below. The char- ter obtained by William Penn from Charles II. dates from 1681. On the 27th of Octo- ber in the following year, the father of the new colony having landed on his vast do- main in America, immediately set about the framing of a constitution, and began to found a capital, which was destined to be- come one of the finest cities in the Western hemisphere. The government, like that established by the Quakers in New-Jersey, was altogether popular. The people were to have their own Legislature, whose acts, however, were not to conflict with the just claims of the proprietor, and were to be subject to the approval of the crown alone. The colony soon became prosperous. The true principles of peace, principles that form so conspicuous a part of the Quaker doctrines, distinguished every transaction in which the Aborigines were concerned. It is the glory of Pennsylvania that it nev- er did an act of injustice to the Indians. The territory belonging to the State of Delaware was claimed by Penn and his successors, as included in the domain de- scribed in their charter, and for a time formed a part of Pennsylvania, under the title of the Three Lower Counties. But the mixed population of Swedes, Dutch, and English by which it was occupied, were never reconciled to this arrange- ment, and having at last obtained a gov- ernment of its own, Delaware became a separate province. The settlement of the two Carolinas be- gan with straggling emigrants from Vir- ginia, who sought to better their fortunes in regions farther south, and were after- ward joined by others from New-England, and also from Europe. At length, in 1663, the entire region lying between the thirty- sixth degree of north latitude and the Riv- er St. John's in Florida, was granted to a proprietary company in England, which was invested with most extraordinary pow- ers. The proprietors, eight in number, were Lord Ashley Cooper, better known as the Earl of Shaftesbury, Clarendon, Monk, Lord Craven, Sir John Colleton, Lord John and Sir William Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret. Their grand object was gain, yet the celebrated John Locke„ at once a philosopher and a Christian, was engaged to make " Constitutions," or a form of government, for an empire that was to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific. The result of the philosophical law- giver's labours was such as the world had; never seen the like of before. The pro- prietors were to form a close corporation ; the territory was to be partitioned out into counties of vast extent, each of which was. to have an Earl or Landgrave, and two Bar- ons or Caciques, who, as lords of manors, were to have judicial authority within their respective estates. Tenants of ten acres were to be attached as serfs to the soil' r to* be subject to the jurisdiction of their lords without appeal, and their children were tc* continue in the same degradation forever E The possession of at. least fifty acres of land was to be required in order to the en- joyment of the elective franchise ; and of five hundred acres in order to a man's be- ing eligible as a member of the colonial Parliament or Legislature. These " Con- stitutions," into the farther details of which: we cannot enter, were attempted to be in- troduced, but were soon rejected in North. Carolina ; and after a few years' struggle, were thrown aside also in South Carolina, which had been separated from the Nor- thern province. The colonists adopted for themselves forms of government analo- gous to those of the other colonies ; the proprietary company was after a while dissolved ; the Carolinas fell under the di- rect control of the crown, but were gov- erned by their own legislatures. Their prosperity was slow, having been frequent- ly interrupted by serious wars with the native tribes, particularly the Tuscaroras, which, as it was the most powerful, was for a long time also the most hostile. Last of all the original thirteen provin- ces, in the order of time, came Georgia, which was settled as late as 1732, by the brave and humane Oglethorpe. The col- onists were of mixed origin, but the Eng- lish race predominated. Although it had! difficulties to encounter almost from the first, yet, notwithstanding wars with the Spaniards in Florida, hostile attacks froza the Indians, and internal divisions, Geor- gia acquired, by degrees, a considerable, amount of strength. Such is a brief notice of the thirteen! original North American provinces, which*, by the Revolution of 1775-1783, were trans- formed into as many states. They all touch more or less on the Atlantic, and stretch to a greater or less distance into the interior. Virginia, Georgia, Pennsyl- vania, and North Carolina are the largest;. Rhode Island and Delaware are the small- est. In 1803, the French colony of Louisiana^ 20 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. now the state of that name, together with the territories since comprised in the States of Arkansas and Missouri, and an almost indefinite tract lying westward of these last two, was purchased by the Uni- ted States for fifteen millions of dollars. And in 1821, the Spanish colony of Flori- da, comprising the peninsula which used to be called East Florida, and a narrow strip of land on the Gulf of Mexico, called West Florida, was purchased by the same government for five millions of dollars. Both purchases now form, of course, part of the great North American Republic. CHAPTER V. INTERIOR COLONIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. After the short account we have given of the first planting of the thirteen original provinces, by successive arrivals of colo- nists from Europe, on the seacoast and the banks of the larger streams, we pro- ceed to say something of the progress of colonization in the interior of the country. A hundred and twenty-five years, it will be observed, elapsed between the found- ation of the first and the last of these provinces ; also, that, with the exception of New- York and Delaware, which receiv- ed their first European inhabitants from Holland and Sweden, they were all origi- nally English ; but that, eventually, these two were likewise included in English pat- ents, and their Dutch and Swedish inhabi- tants merged among the English. All these colonies were of slow growth, ten, and even twenty years being required, in several instances, before they could be regarded as permanently established. That of Virginia, the earliest, was more than once on the point of being broken up. Indeed, we may well be surprised that, when the colonists that survived the ravages of dis- ease and attacks from the Indians were still farther reduced in their number by the return of a part of them to England, the remainder did not become disheartened and abandon the country in despair. The Plymouth colonists lost, upon the very spot where they settled, half their number within six months after their arrival ; and terrible, indeed, must have been the sor- rows of the dreary winter of 1620-21, as endured by those desolate yet persevering exiles. But they had a firm faith in God's goodness ; they looked to the future ; they felt that they had a great and a glorious task to accomplish, and that, although they themselves might perish in attempting it, yet their children would enjoy the prom- ised land. Stout hearts were required for such en- terprises. Few of the colonists were wealthy persons, and as those were not the days of fine packets, or of large and well-appointed merchant vessels, the voy- ages had to be made in small and crowded ships. The inconveniences, to say nothing of the sickness that attended them, were but ill calculated to nerve the heart for coming trials ; and as the colonists ap- proached the coast, the boundless and sol- emn forests that stretched before them, the strangeness of every object that filled the scene, the absence of all tillage and cultivation, and of a village or house to give them shelter, and the uncouth and even frightful aspect of the savage inhabi- tants, must have damped the boldest spir- its. In the case of Plymouth and some others, the settlers arrived during winter, when all nature wore her gloomiest attire. The rudest hovels were the only abodes that could be immediately prepared for their reception, and for weeks together there might only be a few days of such weather as would permit their proceeding with the operations required for their com- fort. Not only conveniences and luxuries, such as the poorest in the mother-country enjoyed, but even the necessaries of life, were often wanting. Years had to be passed before any considerable part of the forest could be cleared, comfortable dwell- ings erected, and pleasant gardens plant- ed. Meanwhile, disease and death would enter every family ; dear friends and com- panions in the toils and cares of the enter- prise would be borne, one after another, to the grave. To these causes of depression there were often added the horrors of sav- age warfare, by which some of the colo- nies were repeatedly decimated, and du- ring which the poor settler, for weeks and months together, could not know, on reti- ring to rest, whether he should not be awakened by the heart-quailing war-whoop of the savages around his house, or by find- ing the house itself in flames. Ah, what pen can describe the horror that fell upon many a family, in almost all the colonies, not once, but often, when aroused by false or real alarms ! Who can depict the scenes in which a father, before he received the fatal blow himself, was compelled to see his wife and children fall by the tomahawk before his eyes, or be dragged into a cap- tivity worse than death ' With such de- pressing circumstances to try the hearts of the colonists — circumstances that can be fully understood by those only who have passed through them, or who have heard them related with the minute fideli- ty of an eyewitness — who can wonder that the colonists advanced but slowly? Still, as I have said, they gradually gain- ed strength. At the Revolution in England of 1688, that is, eighty-one years after the first settlement of Virginia, and sixty-eight after that of Plymouth, the population of the colonies, then twelve in number, waa Chap. V.] INTERIOR COLONIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. 21 estimated at about two hundred thousand, which might be distributed thus : Massa- chusetts, including- Plymouth and Maine, may have had forty-four thousand ; New- Hampshire and Rhode Island, including Providence, six thousand each ; Connecti- cut, from seventeen to twenty thousand ; making up seventy-five thousand for all New-England : New- York, not less than twenty thousand ; New-Jersey, ten thou- sand ; Pennsylvania and Delaware, twelve thousand ; Maryland, twenty-five thou- sand ; Virginia, fifty thousand ; and the two Carolinas, which then included Geor- gia, probably not fewer than eight thou- sand souls. After having confined their settlements for many years within a short distance, comparatively speaking, from the coast, the colonists began to penetrate the inland forests, and to settle at different points in the interior of the country, in proportion as they considered themselves strong enough to occupy them safely. Where hostility on the part of the Aborigines was dreaded, these settlers kept together as much as possible, and established them- selves in villages. This was particularly the case in New-England, where, from the soil being less favourable to agriculture, colonization naturally assumed the com- pact form required for the pursuits of trade and the useful arts, as well as for mutual assistance when exposed to attack. As the New-England colonists had all along devoted themselves much to the fisheries and other branches of commerce, their set- tlements were for a long time to be found chiefly on the coast, and at points affording convenient harbours. But it was much otherwise in the South. In Virginia, in particular, the colonists were induced to settle along the banks of rivers to very considerable distances, their main occu- pation being the planting of tobacco and trading to some extent with the Indians. In the Carolinas, again, most hands being employed in the manufacture of tar, tur- pentine, and rosin, or in the cultivation of rice, indigo, and, eventually, of cotton, the colonial settlements took a considerable range whenever there was peace with the Indians in their vicinity. Where there was little or no commerce, and agricultu- ral pursuits of different kinds were the chief occupation of the people, there could be few towns of much importance ; and so much does this hold at the present day, that there is not a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants in all the five South- ern Atlantic States, with the exception of Baltimore, in Maryland, and Charleston, in South Carolina. Even at the commencement of the war of the Revolution, in 1775, the colonies had scarcely penetrated to the Alleghany or Appalachian Mountains in any of the provinces that reach thus far, and their whole population was confined to the strip of land interposed between those mount- ains and the Atlantic Ocean. It is true, that immediately after the treaty of Paris, in 1763, by which England acquired the Canadas and the Valley of the Mississippi — excepting Louisiana, which remained with France, or, rather, was temporarily ceded to Spain— a few adventurers began to pass beyond the mountains, and this emigration westward continued during the war of the Revolution. But when peace came, in 1783, I much doubt if there were twen- ty thousand Anglo-Americans in West- ern Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, Ken- tucky, and Tennessee. These were but the advanced posts of the immense host about to follow, and, for many years after the peace, the colonization of the interior was slower than might be supposed. The pop- ulation of the thirteen provinces at the commencement of the Revolution is not positively known, but it certainly did not exceed three millions and a half, slaves in- cluded. No doubt the population of the seaboard increased with considerable ra- pidity, and Vermont was not long in be- ing added to the original thirteen states, making fourteen in all upon the Atlan- tic slope. They amount now to fifteen, Maine, which was long a sort of province to Massachusetts, having become a sep- arate state in 1820. After the establish- ment of Independence, danger from the Aborigines ceased to be apprehended throughout the whole country situated be- tween the Alleghany Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The remains of the nu- merous tribes, its former inhabitants, had. with some exceptions in New-England, New- York, and the Carolinas, retired to the West, and there they either existed apart, or had become merged in other and kindred tribes. But it was far otherwise in the great re- gion to the west of the Appalachian range. There, many of the Indian tribes occupied the country in all their pristine force, and were the more to be dreaded by settlers from the Eastern States, inasmuch as they were supposed to be greatly under the influence of the British government in Canada, and as unkindly feelings long sub- sisted between the Americans and their English neighbours, each charging the oth- er, probably not without justice, with exci- ting the Indians, by means of their respect- ive agents and hunters, to commit acts of violence. Excepting in some parts of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ten- nessee, there was little security for Amer- ican settlers in the West from 1783 until 1795. The first emigrants to Ohio suffered greatly from the Indians ; two armies sent against them, in the western part of that state, under Generals Harmer and St. Clair* 22 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. were defeated and shockingly cut to pie- ces ; and not until they had received a dreadful defeat from General Wayne, on the River Miami-of-the-lake,* was there anything like permanent peace established. But, as a prelude to the war between the United States and Great Britain, which commenced in 1812 and ended in 1815, the Indian tribes again became troublesome, particularly in Indiana and in the southeast- ern part of the Valley of the Mississippi, forming now the State of Alabama. The 'Creeks, a powerful tribe of the Muskho- „gee race, then occupied that country, and it was not until defeated in many battles and skirmishes that they were reduced ■to peace. In point of fact, perfect secu- rity from Indian hostilities has prevailed throughout the West only since 1815; since that there have been the insignifi- cant war with Black Hawk, a Sioux chief, which took place a few years ago, and the still more recent war with the Seminoles in Florida — exceptions not worth special notice, as they in nowise affected the coun- try at large. It is now (1844) about sixty years since the tide of emigration from the Atlantic States set fairly into the Valley of the Mississippi, and though no great influx took place in any one year during the first thirty-five of that period, it has wonder- fully increased during the last twenty-five. When this emigration westward first com- menced, all the necessaries that the emi- grants required to take with them from the East had to be carried on horseback, no roads for wheeled carriages having been opened through the mountains. On arri- ving at the last ridge overlooking the plains to the west, a boundless forest lay stretched out before those pioneers of civ- ilization, like an ocean of living green. Into the depths of that forest they had to plunge. Often long years of toil and suf- fering rolled away before they could es- tablish themselves in comfortable abodes. The climate and the diseases peculiar to the different localities were unknown. Hence, fevers of a stubborn type cut many of them off. They were but partially ac- quainted with the mighty rivers of that vast region, beyond knowing that their common outlet was in the possession of foreigners, who imposed vexatious reg- ulations upon their infant trade. The navigation of those rivers could be car- ried on only in flat-bottomed boats, keels, and barges. To descend them was not unattended with danger, but to ascend by means of sweeps and oars, by poling, warping, bush-whacking,^ and so forth, * Or the River Miami which flows into Lake Erie, and so called to distinguish it from the Miami that falls into the Ohio. t The word bush-whacking is of Western origin, and signifies a peculiar mode of propelling a boat up was laborious and tedious beyond concep- tion. Far different are the circumstances of those colonists now! The mountains, at various points, are traversed by substan- tial highways ; and, still farther to aug- ment the facilities for intercourse with the vast Western Valley, canals and railroads are in progress. It is accessible, also, from the south, by vessels from the Gulf of Mexico, as well as from the north by the lakes, on whose waters from fifty to a hun- dred steamboats now pursue their foaming way.* As for the navigable streams of the Valley itself, besides boats of all kinds of ordinary construction, nearly, if not quite, four hundred steamboats ply upon their waters. And now, instead of being a boundless forest uninhabited by civilized men, as it was sixty years ago, the West contains no fewer than eleven • regular- ly-constituted states, and two territories which will soon be admitted as states into the Union, the population having, mean- while, advanced from ten or twenty thou- sand Anglo-American inhabitants to above six millions. t Generally speaking, the various sections of the Valley of the Mississippi maybe said to have been colonized from the parts of the Atlantic coast which correspond with them as nearly as possible in point of lati- tude. This is easily accounted for : emi- grants from the East to the West naturally wish to keep as much as they can within the climate which birth and early life have the Mississippi, Ohio, or any other river in that re gion, when the water is very high. It is this : in stead of keeping in the middle of the stream, the boat is made to go along close to one of the banks, and the men who guide it, by catching hold of the boughs of the trees which overhang the water, are enabled to drag the boat along. It is an expedient resorted to more by way of change than anything else. Sometimes it is possible, at certain stages of the rivers, to go along for miles in this way. Even to this day the greater portion of the banks of the rivers of the West are covered with almost uninter- rupted forests. * There are more than sixty on Lake Erie alone. i It may be worth while to give the names of these states and territories, their extent in English square miles, and their population according to the census of 1840. They are as follows : STATES. Sq. miles. Pop. in 1840. Ohio 40,260 1,519,467 Indiana 36,500 685,868 Michigan .... 59,700 212,267 Illinois 57,900 476,183 Kentucky .... 40,500 779,828 Tennessee .... 40,200 829,210 Missouri .... 63,800 383,702 Arkansas .... 60,700 97,574 Alabama .... 52,900 590,756 Mississippi .... 47,680 375,651 Louisiana .... 49,300 352,411 TERRITORIES. Wisconsin .... 30,945 Iowa 43,112 Total .... 6,376,972 Chap. VI.] ANGLO-SAXON QUALIFICATIONS FOR COLONIZATION. 23 rendered familiar and agreeable, though a regard to their health may compel some of them to seek a change by passing to the south or north of their original latitude. The New-England tide of emigration, in its westward course, penetrated and settled the northern and western parts of the State of New-York, and advancing still farther in the direction of the setting sun, entered the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- nois, extended over the whole of Michigan, and is now stretching into the Territory of Wisconsin. That from the southern counties of New- York, from New-Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania, first occupied Western Pennsylvania, and then extended into the central districts of Ohio and Indi- ana. The Maryland and Virginia column colonized Western Virginia and Kentucky, and then dispersed itself over the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois ; while that from North Carolina, after having colonized Tennessee, is reaching into Missouri and Iowa. The South Carolina column, mingling with that of Georgia, after having covered Alabama and a great part of the State of Mississippi, is now ex- tending itself into Arkansas. This account of the progress of coloni- zation westward, as a general statement, is remarkably correct, and it furnishes a bet- ter key to the political, moral, and religious character of the West, than any other that could be given. The West, in fact, may be regarded as the counterpart of the East, after allowing for the exaggeration, if I may so speak, which a life in the wilderness tends to communicate for a time to man- ners and character, and even to religion, but which disappears as the population increases, and the country acquires the stamp of an older civilization. Strag- glers may, indeed, be found in all parts of the West, from almost all parts of the East ; and many emigrants from Europe, too, Germans especially, enter by New- Orleans, and from that city find their way by steamboats into Indiana, Illinois, Mis- souri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. But all these form exceptions that hardly invalidate the general statement. CHAPTER VI. PECULIAR QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ANGLO- SAXON RACE FOR THE WORK OF COLONIZA- TION. Apart altogether from considerations of a moral and religious character, and the in- fluence of external circumstances, we may remark, that the Anglo-Saxon race possess- es qualities peculiarly adapted for success- ful colonization. The characteristic per- severance, the spirit of personal freedom and independence, that have ever distin- guished that race, admirably fit a man for the labour and isolation necessarily to be endured before he can be a successful colonist. Now, New-England, together with the States of New- York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the ex- ception of Dutch and Swedish elements, which were too inconsiderable to affect the general' result, were all colonized by peo- ple of Anglo-Saxon origin. And assuredly they have displayed qualities fitting them for their task such as the world has never witnessed before. No sooner have the relations between the colonies and the Aborigines permitted it to be done with safety (and sometimes even before), than we find individuals and families ready to penetrate the wilderness, there to choose, each for himself or themselves, some fer- tile spot for a permanent settlement. If friends could be found to accompany him and settle near him, so much the better; but if not, the bold emigrant would venture alone far into the trackless forest, and sur- mount every obstacle single-handed, like a fisherman committing himself to the deep and passing the livelong day at a distance from the shore. Such was the experience of many of the first colonists of New-Eng- land ; such that of the earliest settlers in New- York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania; such in our own day has been the case with many of the living oc- cupants of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- gan, Wisconsin, and Iowa ; and thus is colonization advancing in all those states and territories at the present moment. Living on the lands which they cultivate, the agricultural inhabitants of the New- England and Middle States are very much dispersed ; the country, far and wide, is dotted over with the dwellings of the land- holders and those who assist them in the cultivation of the soil. For almost every landowner tills his property himself, as- sisted by his sons, by young men hired for that purpose, or by tenants who rent from him a cottage and a few acres. Field work in all those states is performed by men alone ; a woman is never seen hand- ling the plough, the hoe, the axe, the sickle, or the scythe, unless in the case of foreign emigrants who have not yet adopted American usages in this respect. Now it is in this isolated and independent mode of life that our men best fitted to penetrate and settle in the wilderness are trained ; and from this what may be em- phatically called our frontier race has sprung, and is recruited from time to time. Take the following case as an illustra- tion of the process that is continually going on in the frontier settlements. A man re- moves to the West, he purchases a piece of ground, builds a house, and devotes himself to the clearing and tillage of his forest acres. Ere lone he has rescued a 2-i RELIGION IN AMERICA [Book I. farm from the wilderness, and has reared a family upon it. He then divides his land among his sons, if there be enough for a farm to each of them ; if not, each receives money enough to buy one as he comes of age. Some may settle on lands bestowed on them by their father ; others, preferring a change, may dispose of their portion and proceed, most commonly unmarried, to "the new country," as it is called, that is, to those parts of the West where the pub- lic lands are not yet sold. There he chooses out as much as he can convenient- ly pay for, receiving a title to it from the District Land Office, and proceeds to make for himself a home. This is likely to be in the spring. Having selected a spot for his dwelling, generally near some fountain, or where water may be had by digging a well, he goes round and makes the acquaint- ance of his neighbours, residing within the distance, it may be, of several miles. A time is fixed for building him a house, upon which those neighbours come and render him such efficient help, that in a single day he will find a log-house con- structed, and perhaps covered with clap- boards, and having apertures cut out for the doors, windows, and chimney. He makes his floor at once of rough boards riven from the abundant timber of the sur- rounding forest, constructs his doors, and erects a chimney. Occupying himself, while interrupted in out-door work by rainy weather, in completing his house, he finds it in a few weeks tolerably comfort- able, and during fair weather he clears the underwood from some ten or fifteen acres, kills the large trees by notching them round so as to arrest the rise of the sap, and plants the ground with Indian corn, or maize, as it is called in Europe. He can easily make, buy, or hire a plough, a har- row, and a hoe or two. If he finds time, he surrounds his field with a fence. At length, after prolonging his stay until his crop is beyond the risk of serious injury from squirrels and birds, or from the growth of weeds, he shuts up his house, commits it to the care of some neighbour, living perhaps one or two miles distant, and re- turns to his paternal home, which may be from one to three hundred miles distant from his new settlement. There he stays until the month of September, then mar- ries, and with his young wife, a wagon and pair of horses to carry their effects, a few cattle or sheep, or none, according to circumstances, sets out to settle for life in the wilderness. On arriving at his farm, he sows wheat or rye among his standing In- dian corn, then gathers in this last, and prepares for the winter. His wife shares all the cares incident to this humble begin- ning. Accustomed to every kind of house- hold work, she strives by the diligence of her fingers to avoid the necessity of going to the merchant, who has opened his store at some village among the trees, perhaps some miles off, and there laying out the little money they may have left. With economy and health, they gradually be- come prosperous. The primitive log-house gives place to a far better mansion, con- structed of hewn logs, or of boards, or of brick or stone. Extensive and well-fenced fields spread around, ample barns stored with grain, stalls filled with horses and cat- tle, flocks of sheep, and herds of hogs, all attest the increasing wealth of the owners. Their children grow up, perhaps to pursue the same course, or, as their inclinations may lead, to choose some other occupa- tion, or to enter one of the learned profes- sions. This sketch will give the reader some idea of the mode in which colonization advances among the Anglo-Saxon race of the Middle and New-England States of America. Less Anglo-Saxon in their ori- gin, and having institutions and customs modified by slavery, the Southern States exhibit colonization advancing in a very different style. When an emigrant from those states removes to the " Far West," he takes with him his wagons, his cattle, his little ones, and a troop of slaves, so as to resemble Abraham when he moved from place to place in Canaan. When he set- tles in the forest he clears and cultivates the ground with the labour of his slaves. Everything goes on heavily. Slaves are too stupid and improvident to make good colonists. The country, under these dis- advantages, never assumes the garden-like appearance that it already wears in the New-England and Middle States, and which is to be seen in the northern parts of the great Central Valley. Slavery, in fact, seems to blight whatever it touches. Next to the Anglo-Saxon race from the British shores, the Scotch make the best settlers in the great American forests. The Irish are not so good ; they know not how to use the plough, or how to manage the horse and the ox, having had but little experience of either in their native land. None can handle the spade better, nor are they wanting in industry. But when they first arrive they are irresolute, dread the forest, and hang too much about the large towns, looking around for such work as their previous mode of life has not disquali- fied them for. Such of them as have been bred to meehanical trades might find suffi- cient employment if they would let ardent spirits alone, but good colonists for the for- ests they will never be. Their children may do better in that career. The few Welsh to be found in America are much better fitted than the Irish for the life and pursuits of a farmer. The perseverance and frugality of the German, joined to other good qualities Chap. VII.] WANT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER IN AMERICA. 25 which he has in common with the Anglo- Saxon race, enable hiin to succeed tolera- bly well even in the forest, but he finds it more to his advantage to settle on a farm bought at. second-hand and partially culti- vated. The Swiss are much the same with the Germans. The French and Italians, on the other hand, are totally unfit for planting colonies in the woods. Nothing could possibly be more alien to the usual habits of a Frenchman. The population of France is almost universally collected in cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, and thus, from early habit as well as constitu- tional disposition, Frenchmen love socie- ty, and cannot endure the loneliness and isolation of the settlements we have de- scribed. When they attempt to form colo- nies, it is by grouping together in villages, as may be seen along the banks of the St. Lawrence and of the Lower Mississippi. Hence their settlements are seldom either extensive or vigorous. They find them- selves happier in the cities and large towns. If resolved to establish themselves in the country, they should go to comparatively well-settled neighbourhoods, not to the for- ests of the Far West. CHAPTER VII. ON THE ALLEGED WANT OF NATIONAL CHAR- ACTER IN AMERICA. Foreigners who have written about the United States have often asserted that it is a country without a national character. Were this the mere statement of an opin- ion, it might be suffered to pass unnoticed, like many other things emanating from authors who undertake to speak about countries which they have had only very partial, and hence very imperfect, opportu- nities of knowing. But as the allegation has been made with an air of considerable pretension, it becomes necessary that we should submit it to the test of truth. If oneness of origin be essential to the formation of national character, it is clear that the people of the United States can make no pretensions to it. No civilrzed nation was ever composed of inhabitants derived from such a variety of sources ; for in the United States we find the de- scendants of English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Poles, French, Italians, and Span- iards ; and there is even a numerous and distinguished family in which it is admitted, with pride, that the blood of an Indian prin- cess mingles with that of the haughty Nor- man or Norman-Saxon. Many other na- tions are of mixed descent, but where shall we find one derived from so many distinct races 1 Neither, if national character depends upon the existence of but one language,, can the citizens of the United States make any claim to it ; for the colonists from whom they are descended brought with them the languages of the different coun- tries from which they came, and these are retained in some instances to the present day. At least eleven of the different lan- guages of Europe have been spoken by settlers in the United States. But let us examine these two points somewhat more minutely, and we cannot fail to be struck with the facts which will be presented to our view. And in the first, never has there been witnessed so rapid a blending of people from different countries, and speaking dif- ferent languages, as may be seen in the United States. Within the last two hun- dred years, people have been arriving from some eleven or twelve different countries, and distinguished by as many different tongues, yet so singular a fusion has ta- ken place, that in many localities, where population is at all compact, it would puz- zle a stranger to determine the national origin of the people from any peculiarity of physiognomy or dialect, far less of lan- guage. Who can distinguish in New-York the mass of persons of Dutch descent from those of Anglo-Saxon origin, unless, per- haps, by their retaining Dutch family names 1 W 7 here discover, by the indices of language, features, or manners, the de- scendants of the Swedes, the Welsh, with a few exceptions the Poles, the Norwe- gians, the Danes, or the great body of French Huguenots'? Almost the only ex- ceptions to this universal amalgamation and loss of original languages are to be found in the Germans and French ; and even in regard to these, had it not been for com- paratively recent arrivals of emigrants caused by the French Revolution, the St. Domingo massacres, and various events in Germany, both the French, and German languages would have been extinct ere now in the United States. The former is spo- ken only by a few thousands in the large cities, and some tens of thousands in Loui siana. In the cities, English as well as- French is spoken by most of the French ; and in Louisiana, the only portion of the Union which the French language has ever ventured to claim for itself, it is fast giving place to English. German, also, spoken although it be by many thousands of emi- grants arriving yearly from Europe, is fast disappearing from trie older settlements. The children of these Germans almost uni- versally acquire the English tongue in their infancy, and where located, as generally*'' happens, in the neighbourhood of settlers who speak English as their mother tongue, learn to speak it well. Indeed, over nearly the whole vast extent of the United States, English is spoken among the well-educa- 26 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. ted, with a degree of purity to which there is no parallel in the British realm. There, on a space not much larger than a sixth part of the United States territory, no fewer than three or four languages are spoken ; and in England alone, I know not how many dia- lects are to be found which a person unac- customed to them can hardly at all com- prehend, however familiar he may be with pure English. As for France, with its Gas- con, Breton, and I know not how many other remains of the languages spoken by the ancient races which were once scat- tered over its territory, the case is still worse.* Nor does either Germany or Ita- ly present the uniformity of speech that distinguishes the millions of the United States, with the exception of the newly-ar- rived foreigners ; a uniformity which ex- tends even to pronunciation, and the ab- sence of provincial accent and phraseology. A well-educated American who has seen much of his country may, indeed, distin- guish the Southern from the Northern modes of pronouncing certain vowels ; he may recognise by certain shades of sound, if 1 may so express myself, the Northern or Southern origin of his countrymen ; but these differences are too slight to be read- ily perceived by a foreigner. Generally speaking, the pronunciation of well-educated Americans is precisely that given in the best orthoepical authori- ties of England, and our best speakers adopt the w ell-established changes in pro- nunciation that from time to time gain ground there. A few words, however, are universally pronounced in a manner differ- ent from what prevails in England. Either and neither, for example, are pronounced eether and neelher, not Ither and rather, nor will our lawyers probably ever learn to say lien for lien. There is a very perceptible difference of accent between the English and Americans, particularly those of the Eastern or New-England States. There is also a difference of tone ; in some of the states there is more of a nasal inflexion of the voice than one hears in England. English literature has an immense cir- culation in America ; a circumstance which may be an advantage in one sense, and a disadvantage in another. We are not want- ing, however, in authors of unquestion- able merit in almost every branch of liter- ature, art, and science. Still, if a litera- ture of our own creation be indispensable to the possession of a national character, we must abandon all claim to it. It may be added, that we have no fash- ions of our own. We follow the modes of Paris. But in this Germans, Russians, Italians, and English, without any abate- * I have been informed that there are twelve dis- tinct lauguages and patois spoken in France, and that interpreters are needed in courts of justice with- in a hundred rrales of Paris ! ment of their claims to national character, do the same. Amalgamation takes place, also, by in- termarriages to an extent quite unexam- pled anywhere else ; for though the Anglo- Saxon race has an almost undisputed pos- session of the soil in New-England, peo- ple are everywhere else to be met with in whose veins flows the mingled blood of English, Dutch, Germans, Irish, and French. Nor has the assimilation of races and languages been greater than that of man- ners, customs, religion, and political prin- ciples. The manners of the people, in some places less, in others more refined, are essentially characterized by simplicity, sincerity, frankness, and kindness. The religion of the overwhelming majority, and which may therefore be called national, is, in all essential points, what was taught by the great Protestant Reformers of the six- teenth century. With respect to politics, with whatever warmth we may discuss the measures of the government, but one feel- ing prevails with regard to our political institutions themselves. We are no prop- agandists : we hold it to be our duty to avoid meddling with the governments of other countries ; and though we prefer our own political forms, would by no means insist on others doing so too. That gov- ernment we believe to be the best for any people under which they live most happi- ly, and are best protected in their rights of person, property, and conscience ; and we would have every nation to judge for itself what form of government is best suited to secure for it these great ends. Assuredly no country possesses a press more free, or where, notwithstanding, pub- lic opinion is more powerful ; but on these points we shall have more to say in an- other part of this work. The American people, taken as a whole, are mainly characterized by perseverance, earnestness, kindness, hospitality, and self- reliance, that is, by a disposition to depend upon their own exertions to the utmost, rather than look to the government for as- sistance. Hence, there is no country where the government does less, or the people more. In a word, our national character is that of the Anglo-Saxon race, which still predominates among us in conse- quence of its original preponderancy in the colonization of the country, and of the energy which forms its characteristic dis- tinction. Has the reader ever heard Haydn's cel- ebrated oratorio of the Creation perform- ed by a full orchestra \ If so, he cannot have forgotten how chaos is represented at the commencement, by all the instru- ments being sounded together without the least attempt at concord. By-and-by, how- ever, something like order begins, and Chap. VIII.] THE ROYAL CHARTERS. at length the clear notes of the clarionet are heard over all the others, controlling them into harmony. Something like this has been the influence in America of the Anglo-Saxon lruiguage, laws, institutions, CHARACTER. But if, when it is alleged that we have no national character, it be meant that we have not originated any for ourselves, it may be asked, What nation has ? All owe much to those from whom they have sprung ; this, too, has been our case, al- though what we have inherited from our remote ancestors has unquestionably been much modified by the operation of politi- cal institutions which we have been led to adopt by new circumstances, and which, probably, were never contemplated by the founders of our country. • CHAPTER VIII. THE ROYAL CHARTERS. Few points in the colonial history of the United States are more interesting to the curious inquirer than the royal charters, under which the settlement of the country first took place. These charters were granted by James I., Charles I., Charles II., James II., Will- iam and Mary, and George I. They were very diverse, both in form and substance. Some were granted to companies, some to single persons, others to the colonists themselves. Most of them preceded the foundation of the colonies to which they referred ; but in the cases of Rhode Island and Connecticut, the territories were set- tled first ; while Plymouth colony had no crown charter at all, and not even a grant from the Plymouth Company in England, until the year after its foundation. The ordinary reader can be interested only in the charters granted by the crown of England ; those from proprietary com- panies and individuals, to whom whole provinces had first been granted by the crown, can interest those readers only who would study the innumerable lawsuits to which they gave occasion. Such in those days was the utter disregard for the correct laying down of boundaries, that the same district of country was often cov- ered with two or more grants, made by the same proprietors, to different individuals ; thus furnishing matter for litigations which lasted in some colonies more than a cen- tury, and sometimes giving rise to lawsuits even at the present day. The royal charters give us an amusing idea of the notions with respect to North American geography entertained in those days by the sovereigns of England, or by those who acted for them. The charter of Virginia not only included those vast regions now comprised in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, but the northern and southern bounding lines, if extended according to the terms of the charter, would have terminated, the one in the Pacific Ocean, and the other in Hud- son's Bay ; yet by the same charter, they were both to terminate at the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was then called. The North Carolina and Georgia char- ters conveyed to the colonists provinces that were to extend westward to the South Sea. The Massachusetts and Connecticut charters made these colonies also reach to the South Sea, it never appearing to have entered the royal head that they must thus have interfered with the claims of Virginia. New- York, which they must also have traversed, seems not to have been thought of, though claimed and occupied at the time by the Dutch. Indeed, con- sidering the descriptions contained in their charters, it is marvellous that the colonies ever ascertained their boundaries. Look- ing at the charter of Massachusetts, for example, and comparing it with that state as laid down on our maps, we are amazed to think by what possible ingenuity it should have come to have its existing boundaries, especially that on the north- east. Still more confounding does it seem that Massachusetts should have success- fully claimed the territory of Maine, and yet have had to relinquish that of New- Hampshire. The charter granted to William Penn for Pennsylvania was the clearest of all, yet it was long matter of dispute whether or not it included Delaware. On the oth- er hand, Delaware was claimed by Mary- land, and with justice, if the charter of the latter province were to be construed lit- erally. Still, Maryland did not obtain Delaware. Such charters, it will be readily sup- posed, must have led to serious and pro- tracted disputes between the colonies themselves. Many of these disputes were still undetermined at the commencement of the war of the Revolution ; several re- mained unadjustified long after the achieve- ment of the national independence ; and it was only a few years ago that the last ot the boundary questions was brought to a final issue before the Supreme Court of the United States. After the Revolution, immense difficul- ties attended the settlement of the various claims preferred by the Atlantic States to those parts of the West which they be- lieved to have been conveyed to them by their old charters, and into which the tide of emigration was then beginning to flow. Had Virginia successfully asserted her claims, she would have had an empire in the Valley of the Mississippi sufficient, at some future day, to counterbalance almost 28 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. all the other states put together. North Carolina and Georgia also laid claim to territories of vast extent. The claims of Connecticut and Massachusetts directly conflicted with those of Virginia. Hence it required a great deal of wisdom and pa- tience to settle all these claims, without endangering the peace and safety of the confederacy. All, at length, were adjusted except that of Georgia, and it, too, was ar- ranged at a later date. Virginia magnan- imously relinquished all her claims in the West ; a spontaneous act, which immedi- ately led to the establishment of the State of Kentucky, followed in due time by the foundation of those of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, in what was long called the Northwestern Territory. The relinquishment by North Carolina of her claims west of the Alleghany Mountains led to the creation of the State of Tennes- see. But Connecticut refused to abandon her claim to the northeastern part of Ohio, often called to this day New Connecticut, without receiving from the General Gov- ernment a handsome equivalent in money, which has been safely invested, and forms the basis of a large capital, set apart for the support of the common schools of the state.* Georgia also ceded her claims in the West to the General Government, on the condition that it should obtain for her from the Indians a title to their territory lying to the east of the Chattahoochee River, now the western boundary of that state. Out of the cession thus made by Georgia have been formed the States of Alabama and Mississippi. The United States have had to struggle with still more serious difficulties, origina- ting in the old royal charters. Little re- gard was paid to the prior claims of the Indians in the extensive grants made by those charters, directly or indirectly, to the colonists. The pope had set the ex- ample of giving away the Aborigines with the lands they occupied, or, rather, of giv- ing away the land from under them ; and although in all the colonies founded by our English ancestors in America there was a kind of feeling that the Indians had some claims on the ground of prior occu- pation, yet these, it was thought, ought to give place to the rights conferred by the royal charters. The colonists were sub- ject to the same blinding influence of selfishness that affects other men, and to this we are to ascribe the importunity with which they urged the removal of the Indi- ans from the land conveyed by the royal charters, and which they had long been wont to consider and to call their own. In no case, indeed, did the new-comers seize upon the lands of the aboriginal oc- cupants without some kind of purchase ; * Amounting to 2,040,228 dollars. yet unjustifiable means Avere often em- ployed to induce the latter to cede their claims to the former, such as excessive importunity, the bribery of the chiefs, and sometimes even threats. Thus, although, with the exception of lands obtained by right of conquest in war, I do not believe that any whatever was obtained without something being given in exchange for it, yet I fear that the golden rule of " doing to others as we would that they should do unto us," was sadly neglected in many of those transactions. In Pennsylvania and New-England, unquestionably, greater fair- nes was shown than in most, if not all the other colonies ; yet even there, full justice, according to the above rule, was not always practised. Indeed, in many cases it was difficult to say what exact justice implied. To savages roaming over vast tracts of land which they did not cultivate, and which, even for the purposes of the chase, were often more extensive than necessary, to part with hundreds, or even thousands of square miles, coulu not be thought a matter of much importance, and thus con- science was quieted. But although our forefathers may not have done full justice to the poor Indians, it is by no means cer- tain that others in the same circumstances would have done better. The impatience of the colonists to ob- tain possession of lands which their char- ters, or arrangements consequent thereon, led them to regard as their own, has at times thrown the General Government into much embarrassment and difficulty. Thus, in the conflict between it and the State of Georgia, a few short years ago, Congress had agreed to buy the claims of the Indi- ans still remaining within that state, and to provide for their removal beyond its lim- its, in return for the relinquishment of its claims in the West. But this removal of the Indians, it had been expressly stipula- ted, was to be effected peaceably, and with their own consent. Time rolled on, the population of Georgia increased, the set- tlements of the white men had begun to touch those of the red men, and the latter were urged to sell their lands and to retire farther to the west. But to this they would not consent. Thereupon the Gen- eral Government was called on to fulfil its engagement. It exerted itself to the ut- most to persuade the Indians to sell their lands ; but neither would it employ force itself, nor allow Georgia to do so, though much was done by the colonists, and some- thing, too, by the state indirectly, to worry the Indians into terms. The chiefs, how- ever, long held back. But at length the lands were sold at a great price, and their occupants received others west of the Mississippi, and have removed to these. There, I doubt not, they will do bettei than in their former abode. Chap.IX.] A KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, ETC. 29 To rid itself of such embarrassments created by the old charters, the General Government, at the instance of great and good men, adopted, some years ago, the plan of collecting all the tribes still to be found within the confines of any of the states, upon an extensive district to the west of Arkansas and Missouri, claimed by no state, and, therefore, considered as part of the public domain. There it has already collected the Cherokees, the Choctas, the Chickasas, the Creeks, and several smaller tribes. Soon the territories of all the states will be cleared of them, except in so far as they may choose to remain and become citizens. Nor can I avoid cherishing the hope that the great Indian community now forming, as I have said, west of Missouri and Arkansas, will one day become a state itself, and have its proper representatives in the great council of the nation. I may conclude these remarks by observing, that the late painful dispute between the Uni- ted States and Great Britain, now so hap- pily terminated, relative to the boundaries between the State of Maine on the one hand, and Lower Canada and New-Bruns- wick on the other, originated in the geo- graphical obscurity of certain limits, de- scribed in one of these old charters. CHAPTER IX. HOW A CORRECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMER- ICAN PEOPLE, THE NATURE OF THEIR GOV- ERNMENT, AND OF THEIR NATIONAL CHARAC- TER, MAY BEST BE ATTAINED. He who would obtain a thorough knowl- edge of the people of the United States, their national character, the nature of their gov- ernment, and the spirit of their laws, must go back to the earliest ages of the history of England, and study the character of the various races that from early times have settled there. He must carefully mark the influences they exerted on each other, and upon the civil and political institutions of that country. He must study the Sax- on Conquest, followed by the introduction of Saxon institutions, and Saxon laws and usages ; the trial of an accused person by his peers ; the subdivision of the country into small districts, called townships or hundreds ; the political influence of that arrangement ; and the establishment of seven or eight petty kingdoms, in which the authority of the king was shared by the people, without whose consent no laws of importance could be made, and who often met for legislation in the open fields, or beneath the shade of some wide-spreading forest, as their Scandinavian kinsmen met, at a much later period, round the Mora stone.* He must next study the modifi- * On the plains of Upsala in Sweden. The mora ttone signifies the stone on the moor. cations afterward introduced during the subjugation of the Saxons by the North- men or Danes, lasting through 261 years,* and which, though both partial in its ex- tent, and interrupted in its continuance, left not a few monuments of its existence, and gave a name to one of the orders of the English nobility. f But, above all, he must study the influence of the Norman Conquest, which was com- pleted within twenty years from the battle of Hastings, fought A.D. 1066. Without extirpating all the Saxon institutions, that event reduced the Anglo-Saxons of Eng- land to the condition of serfs ; gave their lands to sixty thousand warriors, compo- sing the conqueror's army ; established an absolute monarchy, surrounded by a pow- erful landed aristocracy ; and thus intro- duced an order of things wholly new to the country, and foreign to its habits. He must attentively mark the influence exercised by the Anglo-Saxon and Nor- man races upon each other, during the pe- riod that has since elapsed, of nearly eight hundred years; and he will there find a clew to many transactions which appear wholly unintelligible in the common histo- ries of England. The reciprocal hatred of the two races will explain the quarrel of Becket, the first archbishop of the Saxon race after the Conquest, and Henry II., the fifth of the Norman kings ; that nation- al animosity leading Becket to resist the demands of the king, as calculated to ex- tend the tyranny of a hated race of con- querors, and the king to humble the con- quered by crushing their haughty represent- ative. That this, and not the diminution of the power of the pope, as is commonly believed, was Henry's object, may be seen from the fact of his being no less earnest in calling for assistance from Rome, than Becket was in invoking her protection. He will perceive this mutual animosity manifesting itself in innumerable instances and in apparently contradictory conduct. At one time the Anglo-Saxons sided with the nobility against the monarch, as in the wars between the barons and King John, and also Henry III. , not because they loved the barons, who were of the same detest- ed Norman race, but because they dread- ed the consequences to themselves of an- other conquest, by a king who had invited over the Poitevins, the Aquitains, and the Provencals, to help him against his own subjects in England. At other times they sided with the king against the barons, when they saw that the triumph of the lat- ter was likely to augment their burdens. And although, as M. Thierry remarks^ * From A.D. 787 to A.D. 1048. t That of Earl, from the Danish and Norwegian Jarl, who was at once the civil and military govern- or of a province. t " Conquete de PAngleterre," vol. iv.,p. 366-3G8, Brussels edition. 30 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. the bitter hostility which had lasted for four centuries seemed to become extinct in the fifteenth, when the wars between the Hous- es of York and Lancaster ranged the two races promiscuously on each side, yet tra- ces of their distinct existence are to be found at this day, in the language, in the customs, and in the institutions of England. Although the monarch no longer employs the ancient formula, as it occurs in royal ordinances and proclamations for four hun- dred years after the Conquest, such as " Henry V., Henry VII. of that name since the conquest,"* yet to this day a Norman phraseology is sometimes employed by the monarch, as, for instance, le roy le veult ; le roy s'advisera' ; le roy mercie ses loyaux su- jets.\ To this day the nobility of England, though recruited from time to time from the rich, the talented, and the ambitious com- moners of Saxon blood, remains essential- ly Norman in spirit and in character. The same may be said of the gentry, or propri- etors of landed estates : whereas the great bulk of the remaining population is of An- glo-Saxon origin. t In Wales, and in Ire- land, the races of the conquerors and the conquered appear still more distinct, and in the latter mutual antipathy is far from having ceased. In Scotland, there is com- paratively little Norman blood, the Nor- mans never having conquered that coun- try.^ To the resistance of the Anglo-Saxon race in England to the domination of the Norman aristocracy that kingdom was ul- timately indebted for the free institutions it now enjoys. The oppressions of the nobility and of the crown were checked by the cities and boroughs, in which the Anglo-Saxon commons became more and more concentrated, with the advance of civilization and population. The nobles themselves, on occasions when they, too, had to contend for their rights and privi- leges against the sovereign, gave a help- ing hand to the people ; and in later times especially, after the people had established the power of their Commons, or third es- tate, on an immovable foundation, aided the sovereign against alleged encroach- * Henry VIII. was the last monarch who used this formula in his proclamations, and styled himself Hen- ry, Eighth of the name since the Conquest. f " The king wills ;" " the king will take coun- sel ;" " the king thanks his loyal subjects." % Even in our day, the language of the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester holds true in no inconsiderable degree in regard to the population of England : " The folk of Normandie Among us woneth yet, and shalleth evermore. Of Normans beth these high men that beth in this land, And the low men of Saxons." § In fact, there is not a little Norman blood in Scotland; but what of it is to be found in the aris- tocracy came by intermarriages, or by Normans who recommended themselves by their talents and cour- age to the favour of the Scottish monarchs, not by conquest. ments on the part of the people. Thus the cause of liberty gained ground both among the nobility and the commonalty. With the progress of the Reformation, the strife between the two races became exasperated ; the nobility and gentry de- siring little more than the abatement or rejection of the papal usurpation ; the Sax- on race, led by men whose hearts were more deeply interested in the subject, de- siring to see the Church rid of error and superstition of every form. From the dis- cussion of the rights of conscience, the latter went on to examine the nature and foundations of civil government, and being met with violent opposition, they proceed- ed to lengths they never dreamed of when they first set out. In the fearful struggle that followed, both the National Church and the monarchy were for a time com- pletely overthrown. It was just as this grand opposition of sentiment was drawing on to a direct col- lision, and when men's minds were en- grossed with the important questions that it pressed upon them, that the two colo- nies destined to exercise a predominant influence in America left the British shore. The first of the two in point of date sought the coasts of Southern, the second sailed to those of Northern Virginia, as the whole Atlantic slope was then called. The one settled on James River, in the present state of Virginia, and became, in a sense, the ruling colony of the South ; the other established itself in New-England, there to become the mother of the six Northern States. Both, however, have long since made their influence to be felt far beyond the coasts of the Atlantic, and are contin- uing to extend it towards the Pacific, in parallel and cleary-defined lines ; and both retain to this day the characteristic fea- tures that marked their founders when they left their native land. If not purely Norman in blood, the South- ern colony was entirely Norman in spirit ; whereas the Northern was Anglo-Saxon in character and in the institutions which it took to the New World. Both loved freedom and free institutions, but they dif- fered as to the extent to which the people slKnild enjoy them. The one had sprung from the ranks of those in England who pleaded for the prerogatives of the crown and the privileges of the nobility ; the oth- er, from the great party that was contend- ing for popular rights. The one origina- ted with the friends of the Church as left by Queen Elizabeth : the other, with those who desired to see it purified from what they deemed the corruptions of antiquity, and shorn of the exorbitant pretensions of its hierarchy. The one, composed of a company of gentlemen, attended by a few mechanics or labourers, contemplated an extensive traffic with the natives ; the oth- Chap.X.] RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND CHARACTER. 31 er, composed, with a few exceptions, of substantial farmers of moderate means and industrious artisans, contemplated the cul- tivation of the ground, and the establish- ment of a state of society in which they might serve God according to his Word. The one had no popular government for some years after its foundation ; the other was self-organized and self-governed be- fore it disembarked upon the shores that were to be the scene of its future prosperi- ty. Finally, the religion of the one, though doubtless sincere, and, so far as it went, beneficial in its influence, was a religion that clung to forms, and to an imposing ritual ; the religion of the other was at the farthest possible remove from the Church of Rome, both in form and spirit, and pro- fessed to be guided by the Scriptures alone. Such was American colonization in its grand origin. But widely different has been the subsequent histories of those English colonies from that of England her- self. The former carried out to their le- gitimate extent the great principles of civ- il and religious liberty, which they had learned in England, in the school of op- pression and of long and fierce discussion. The latter, after rushing on for a time in the same career, carried those principles to such a length as to subvert the govern- ment, and plunge the country into all the horrors of revolution and misrule, ending, at last, in the despotism of a military chief. The former went on gradually improving the forms of popular government which they had originally adopted, in the face of all the efforts of the crown of England to destroy them. The latter provoked, by the wildest excesses, a revulsion, from which, even after the lapse of two cen- turies, she is still suffering. The former, although never were there subjects more loyal to a crown, or a people more sin- cerely attached to their fatherland, were compelled, as they believed, by the unkind and almost unnatural course pursued by that fatherland, to sever the bonds that bound them to it, and to establish an inde- pendent government of their own. The latter has had to fight the battles of liberty over and over again, and has not even yet obtained for the people all the rights which are considered, in America, their proper inheritance from the hand of their Cre- ator. I speak not here of the form of govern- ment. The founders of the American col- onies, and their descendants for several generations, were monarchists, as they would doubtless have been to this day, had they not been compelled, while strug- gling against injustice and oppression, to dissolve their political connexion with the mother-country. In all essential points, colonial freedom differed not from that which an independent existence has given them ; and the people of the United States- enjoy little more liberty at present than what the fathers of the Revolution main- tained that they ought to have enjoyed under the British Constitution and crown. CHAPTER X. HOW TO OBTAIN A CORRECT VIEW OF THE SPIRIT AND CHARACTER OF THE RELIGIOUS- INSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. Thus, too, if we would have a thorough knowledge of the spirit and character of the Religion of the United States, we must study the history of religion in England first, and then in those other countries whose religious institutions must have con- siderably influenced those of America, in consequence of the numerous emigrants from them that have settled there. In- deed, it is very certain that the religious institutions of America have been hardly less affected than the political, by colonists from Holland, France, and other parts of the Continent of Europe, as well as from Scotland and Ireland. Men of speculative habits may indulge many plausible a priori reasonings on the kind of religion likely to find favour with a people of Democratic feelings and institu- tions, but their conclusions will probably be found very much at variance with facts. M. de Tocqueville presents a striking in- stance of this in the first few chapters of his second work on Democracy in Ameri- ca.* A purely abstract argument, or, rath- er, a mere fanciful conjecture, might, in this case, interest by its ingenuity, and even be believed as true, in the absence of facts. But when he proceeds to estab- lish an hypothesis by an appeal to facts, it is hard to say whether he is oftener right or wrong. Take one or two paragraphs. " In the United States," says he, " the ma- jority undertakes to furnish individuals * Both of M. de Tocqueville's works, entitled " De- mocracy in America," unquestionably possess great merit; the earlier publication, however, is much su- perior to the later. But the author's great fault is, that he puts his theory uniformly before his facts, in- stead of deducing, according to the principles of ths Baconian philosophy, his theory from his facts. The consequence of this fatal mistake is, that, having ad- vanced a theory, and shown by argument its plausi- bility, he immediately goes to work to support it by facts, and, in doing so, often distorts them sadly. For the object for which he wrote, that of arresting the progress of Democracy in Europe, by reading lectures from American Democracy as from a text- book, his works certainly correspond to his purpose. But, however able they may be, it is absurd to say that his volumes give a just view of American insti- tutions on all points. On many subjects he has said some excellent things ; and, indeed, no other foreign- er has come so near to comprehending the spirit of our institutions. But no man ever will, no man ever can, understand them perfectly, unless he has imbi- bed their spirit, as it were, with his mother's milk. 32 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. with a multitude of ready-made opinions, and thus to relieve them of the necessity of forming their own. There are many theories in philosophy, morals, and poli- tics, which every one there adopts with- out examination, upon the faith of public opinion ; and, upon a closer inspection, it will be found that religion itself reigns there much less as a doctrine of revelation than as a commonly-admitted opinion."* Now, Democratic as America may be, it would be impossible to find a country in which the last assertion in the above para- graph is less true, for nowhere do people demand reasons for everything more fre- quently or more universally ; nowhere are the preachers of the Gospel more called upon to set forth, in all their variety and force, the arguments by which the Divine revelation of Christianity is established. Again, he says, " In the United States the Christian sects are infinitely various, and incessantly undergoing modifications : but Christianity itself is an established and irresistible fact, Avhich no one undertakes either to attack or to defend." Again : " The Americans, having ad- mitted without examination the main dog- mas of the Christian religion, are obliged, in like manner, to receive a great num- ber of truths flowing from and having rela- tion to it."f Now hardly any assertions concerning his country could surprise a well-inform- ed American more than those contained in these paragraphs, nor could M. de Tocque- ville have made them, had he not been carried away by certain theories with re- spect to the influence of Democratic insti- tutions upon religion. M. de Tocqueville does not forget that religion gave birth to Anglo-American so- ciety, but he does forget for the moment what sort of religion it was ; that it was not a religion that repels investigation, or that would have men receive anything as Truth, where such momentous concerns are in- volved, upon mere trust in public opinion. * " Aux Etats-Unis, la majorite se charge de four- nir aux individus une foule d'opinions toutes faites, et les soulage ainsi de l'obligation de s'en former qui leur soient propres. II y a un grand nombre de the- ories en matiere de philosophie, de morale, ou de po- litique que chacun y adopte ainsi sans examen, sur la foi du public ; et si Ton regarde de tres-pres on verra que la religion elle meme y regne bien moins comme doctrine revelee que comme opinion com- mune." — Dimocratie en Amerique, Seconde Partie, tome i., chapitre ii. t " Aux Etats-Unis, les sectes chretiennes vari- ent a l'mrim et se modifient sans cesse ; mais le Christianisme lui-meme est un fait etabli et irresisti- ble qu'on n'entreprend point d'attaquer ni de defen- dre." "Les Americains, ayant admis sans examen les principaux dogmes de la religion chretienne, sont obliges de recevoir de la meme maniere un grand nombre deveritesqui endecoulent et qui y tiennent." — Dimocratie en Amerique, Seconde Partie, tome i., chapitre i. Such has never been the character of Prot- estantism, rightly so called, in any age. Nor is this distinguished author nearer the truth when, giving way to the same speculative tendency, he asserts that " the human mind in Democratic countries must tend to pantheism."* But enough : all that I have wished to show in referring to M. de Tocqueville's work, in many respects an admirable one, is, that the religious phenomena of the United States are not to be explained by reasonings a priori, how- ever plausible and ingenious. No : we must go back to the times when, and the influences under which, the reli- gious character of the first colonists from England was formed, and then trace their effects upon the institutions that were es- tablished bv those colonists in the New World. It is interesting to investigate the histo- ry of Christianity in England from the earliest ages ; its propagation by mission- aries from Asia Minor; its reception by the Celtic races ; the resistance made by the British Christians, N in common with those of Ireland and France, to the claims of Rome ; the conquest of England by the Saxons, and the advantage taken of that event, by Rome, to subdue the native Christians, whom it accused of heresy ; the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, and their subsequent dissatis- faction with the Romish hierarchy ; the Norman Conquest, and the efforts of the popes to take advantage of that also, in seeking to establish a complete ascendency over the British and Irish Christians ; the witnesses to the Truth raised up by God from the ancient Anglo-Saxon churches ; the influence of Wicliffe and other oppo- nents of Rome ; and, finally, the dawn of the Reformation. That event, there can be no doubt, was connected, in the provi- dence of God, with the long-continued and faithful resistance of the ancient churches of England to Error. Some remains of Truth had doubtless lain concealed, like unextinguished embers beneath the ashes, but the clearing away of the accumulated rubbish of ages, and the contact of God's Word, sufficed to revive and make it spread anew throughout the nation. But the grand means employed by God in preparing a people who should lay the foundation of a Christian empire in the New World was the Reformation. To their religion the New-England colonists, owed all their best qualities. Even their political freedom they owed to the contest they had waged in England for religious liberty, and in which, long and painful as it was, nothing but their Faith could have sustained them. Religion led them to aban- * " Democratic en Amerique," Seconde Partie tome i., chapitre vii. Chap. XL] THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 33 don their country, rather than submit to a tyranny that threatened to enslave their im- mortal minds, and made them seek in the New World the freedom of conscience that was denied to them in the Old. They have been justly accused, indeed, of not immediately carrying out their prin- ciples to their legitimate results, and of be- ing intolerant to each other. Still, be it remembered to their honour, that both in theory and in practice, they were in these respects far in advance of all their con- temporaries ; still more, that their descend- ants have maintained this advanced posi- tion ; so that the people of the United States of America now enjoy liberty of conscience to an extent unknown in any other country. Persecution led the Puri- tan colonists to examine the great subject of human rights, the nature and just extent of civil government, and the boundaries at which obedience ceases to be a duty. What Sir James Mackintosh has said of John Bunyan might be applied to them : " The severities to which he had been sub- jected had led him to revolve in his own mind the principles of religious freedom, until he had acquired the ability of baf- fling, in the conflict of argument," the most acute and learned among his persecutors." The clear convictions of their own minds on this subject they transmitted to their posterity, nor was the inheritance neglect- ed or forgotten. The political institutions of the Puritan colonies of New-England are to be traced to their religion, not their religion to their political institutions, and this remark ap- plies to other colonies also. Now, if the reader would know what the religious character of those Puritans was, let him peruse the following eloquent eulogy upon them, from a source which will not be sus- pected of partiality to their religion, what- ever opinions may be attributed to it in re- lation to their political principles. " The Puritans were men whose minds had derived a peculiar character from the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal interests. Not content with ac- knowledging in general terms an overru- ling Providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute. To know Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him, was with them the great end of existence. They rejected with contempt the ceremo- nious homage which other sects substitu- ted for the pure worship of the soul. In- stead of catching occasional glimpses of the Deity through an obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze full on the intolerable brightness, and to commune with Him face to face. Hence originated their contempt of earthly distinctions. The difference between the greatest and meanest of man- C kind seemed to vanish, when compared with the boundless interval which separa- ted the whole race from Him on whom their own eyes were constantly fixed. They recognised no title to superiority but His favour ; and, confident of that, they despised all the accomplishments and ail the dignities of the world. If their names were not found in the registers of heralds, they felt assured that they were recorded in the Book of Life. If their steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of menials, legions of ministering angels had charge over them. Their palaces were houses not made with hands ; their dia- dems, crowns of glory which should never fade away. Qn the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt; for they esteemed them- selves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language ; nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged ; on whose slightest action the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest ; who had been destined, before the heavens and the earth were created, to enjoy a fe- licity which should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away. Events, which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been or- dained on his account. For his sake em- pires had risen, and flourished, and decay- ed. For his sake the Almighty had pro- claimed his will, by the pen of the evange- list, and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common Deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all na- ture had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God."* CHAPTER XI. A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE FORM OF GOVERN- MENT IN AMERICA. Some knowledge of the civil and politi- cal structure of the government is almost indispensable to a correct investigation of the religious economy of the United States ; for although there is no longer a union there between Church and State, still the interests of religion come into contact, in many ways, with the political organizations of the General and State Governments. The Government of the United States must appear extremely complicated to a * Edinburgh Review, vol. xlii., 339. 34 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book i. foreigner accustomed to the unity that distinguishes most monarchical polities, and complicated it is in fact. We will en- deavour to describe its leading features as briefly as possible. The whole country, then, is subject to what is called the National or General Government, composed of three branches : I. The Executive ; II. The Legislative ; III. The Judicial. The executive power is lodged in one man, the President ; who is appointed for four years, by electors chosen for that purpose, each state being allowed as many as it has members of Congress. These are chosen differently in different states, but generally by districts, each district choosing one elector, and that for the sole purpose of electing the President and Vice- President. The latter presides over the Senate, but his office is almost nominal : should the President die, the Vice-Presi- dent immediately steps into his place. The President appoints the secretaries of state, or ministers of the various depart- ments of the administration, such as the treasury, navy, war office, &c, and, direct- ly or indirectly, he appoints to all offices in the National or General Government ; in the case of the more important ones, however, only with the consent and appro- bation of the Senate. The legislation of the National Govern- ment is committed to the Congress, and that has two branches, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of two persons from each state in the Union, chosen by the legislatures of the states respectively, and for the period of six years. The House of Rep- resentatives is chosen by the people of the states, generally by districts, and for the period of two years.* Their number is, from time to time, determined by law. The House of Representatives represents the people ; the Senate represents the states. No act of Congress has the force of law without the President's signature, unless when two thirds of each House has voted in favour of an act which he refuses to sign. All matters falling within the legis- lative jurisdiction of the Congress are spe- cified in the Constitution of the United States : such as are not specifically men- tioned there, are reserved for the legisla- tion of the individual states. The judicial power is vested in a Su- preme Court, consisting at present of nine judges, appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. They can be removed only by impeachment before the Senate, and hold a yearly winter session at Washington, the capital of the United States. When not thus united there, they * By a recent law, the members of the House of Representatives are hereafter to be chosen by dis- tricts. hold circuit courts in different parts of the country. The whole country is divided, also, into districts, each having a judge ap- pointed by the President, for the decision of causes that fall within the cognizance of the United States' courts, and from whose decisions an appeal lies to the Su- preme Court. That court decides how far the laws passed by the National Con- gress, or by the legislatures of the differ- ent states, are consistent with the Consti- tution ; also, all questions between indi- vidual states, or between the United States and an individual state, and questions ari- sing between a foreigner and either the United States or any one state. The government of the states individu- ally, closely resembles that of the Confed- eration, the jurisdiction of each being con- fined, of course, to its own territory. Each has its own governor and its own Legisla- ture ; the latter, in all cases but one,* con- sists of a Senate and House of Representa- tives, besides a supreme law court, with subordinate district and county courts. The Legislature of each state embraces a vast variety of subjects, falling within the compass of its own internal interests. The different states vary materially on several points, such as the term during which the governor holds office, and the extent of his power ; the terms for which the senators and representatives are elected, and for which the judges are appointed ; the sala- ries of those functionaries, and so forth. With the exception of South Corolina and Louisiana, in which the territorial di- visions are called districts, all the states are subdivided into counties, having courts of justice attached to each, and officers, likewise, for a great many local objects, such as maintaining the roads, providing for the poor, &c, &c. These counties are subdivided into what are called townships, averaging six or eight miles square, in New- England, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, and most of the states in the Valley of the Mississippi ; in Delaware they are called Hundreds, and in Louisiana Parish- es, while in Maryland, Virginia,! tne tw0) Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ten- nessee, the counties form the smallest terri- torial divisions. In the Territories, the sub- division into townships has been adopted. These townships form important politi- cal and civil districts and corporations ; the inhabitants meet once a year, or oftener, for local purposes, and for the appoint- ment of local officers and committees. At these primary assemblies the people ac- quire habits of transacting public business, which are of the greatest importance in fit- * Vermont has but one House in its Legislature. t In the eastern part of Virginia, and a great part of Maryland, the parochial subdivisions that existed previous to the Revolution are still retained for many local purposes, and are even recognised by the law. Chap. XII.] GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 ting- them for legislation and government both in national and local affairs. As for the larger towns, they are incorporated as cities and boroughs, and have municipal governments of a threefold kind : legisla- tive, executive, and judicial. The separation of the colonies from Great Britain, and the reorganization of their re- spective governments, produced changes less essential than at first view might be sup- posed. The King, Parliament, and Justicia- ry of England were superseded by the Pres- ident, Congress, and Supreme Court of the United States, the nature of the government remaining essentially the same. For a he- reditary sovereign, we have a President, chosen once in four years ; for a hereditary House of Peers, a Senate, the members of which are chosen for six years ; the powers of the President and Senate being almost identical in most things with those of the corresponding branches of the British Con- stitution. As for the several colonies, these the Revolution transformed into states, and the old royal charters were su- perseded by constitutions. Beyond this there was no essential change, and but lit- tle alteration even in forms. Instead of being appointed by the British crown, or by proprietary companies or individuals, the governors are chosen by the people them- selves. The legislative and judicial branch- es underwent very little modification. There are now in the American Union twenty-six organized states, three territo- ries, and one district. The territories are under the government of the President and Congress of the United States, but will be- come states as soon as the amount of their population entitles them, in the opin- ion of Congress, to be represented in the National Legislature. They have a Legis- lature of their own, but their governors are appointed by the President. Two, namely, Wisconsin and Iowa, will soon have a suf- ficient population to entitle them to a place among the states. And when these are ad- mitted, Florida will probably be so too. Under the impression that the National Government should be removed from the immediate influence of any one state, the District of Columbia, ten miles square, was taken from Virginia and Maryland, and set apart as the seat of the National Govern- ment, and to it, that is, to the President, Congress, and Supreme Court, it is imme- diately subject. Experience has hardly approved of this measure as either wise or necessary. No part of the country is worse governed, Congress being too much occu- pied with other matters to pay much atten- tion to so insignificant a territory. The preceding-outline will suffice to give the reader some idea of the government of the United States, and prepare him for understanding many things which might otherwise be obscure in the farther course of this work. CHAPTER XII. A BRIEF GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE UN1TEB STATES. In like manner, a short account of the physical character and resources of the United States will be found useful to the reader. The United States lie between the par- allels of 24° 27' and 54° 40' north latitude, and G6° 50' and 125° west longitude from Greenwich, and are bounded as follows : On the east, by the Atlantic and the Brit- ish Province of New-Brunswick ; on tPie south, by the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and the Republic of Mexico ; on the west, by the Pacific Ocean ; and on the north, by the British possessions, from which they are separated partly by the River St. Law- rence and the great chain of lakes that flow into, or, rather, that form a series of ex- pansions of that river, and partly by a con- ventional line west of the Oregon Mount- ains, which line has not been determined. The United States' government claims up to latitude 54° 40', but this is resisted by England. The 49° degree of north latitude will most probably be agreed to, that being- the latitude of the boundary eastward of those mountains to the Lake of the Woods, after which it pursues a southeast direction through some small lakes, and across an in- tervening portage to Lake Superior, which. is the uppermost of the chain of lakes through which the St. Lawrence flows. A glance at the map will show that this vast territory consists of three grand sec- tions, the Atlantic slope, the Pacific slope, and the intermediate Valley of the Missis- sippi. The whole is computed by Mr. Tan- ner, a distinguished American geographer, to contain 2,037,165 square miles. The outlines of the entire territory may be given as follows : BIHes, On the north, from the mouth of the St. Croix River to the Oregon Mountains . . 300© From the Oregon Mountains to the Pacific Ocean 600 Along the Pacific, from lat. 54° 40' to lat. 42° 806. Along the Mexican and Texan territories, from the Pacific to the mouth of the Sabine River 2300) Along the Gulf of Mexico to Florida Point . 110O Along the Atlantic Ocean 1800 Making a total outline of . . 96G5> Of the 2,037,165 square miles, constitu- ting, according to Mr. Tanner, the area of the United States, about 400,000 are found on the Atlantic slope, including East Florida; 1,341,649 in the Valley of the Mississippi,* and 295,516 on the Pacific slope. Hence it appears that nearly two thirds of the whole territory of the United! States lie in the Valley of the Mississippi, a fact which shows the vast relative impor- tance of that section of the country. * According to Mr. Darby's estimate, the Valley of the Mississippi contains 1,341,649. 36 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. Upon a survey of the whole of this ter- ritory, it will be found to possess physical advantages such as few other countries enjoy. While, with the exception of Flor- ida, all parts of it comprise a large pro- portion of excellent soil, many exhibit the most astonishing fertility. It abounds in the most valuable minerals. Iron is found in several states in great abundance. At various points, but particularly in the Mid- dle States, there are vast deposites of coal, which is easily conveyed by water carriage to other parts of the country. Even gold is found in considerable quantities in the western parts of North Carolina, and the adjacent parts of South Carolina and Geor- gia, and some in Virginia and Tennessee. The almost boundless forests of the inte- rior furnish timber suited to all purposes. Navigable rivers everywhere present fa- cilities for trade. On the Atlantic slope, beginning from the east and advancing southwest, we find in succession the Pe- nobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac, the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the Rap- pahannock, the James River, the Roanoke, the Neuse, the Fear, the Pedee, the San- tee, the Savannah, the Altamaha, and the St. John's, without reckoning many small- er but important streams, navigable by common boats and small steamers. Many of these rivers, such as the Delaware, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the James, and the Roanoke, expand into noble estua- ries before they fall into the ocean ; and the coast is indented, also, with many bays, unrivalled in point of extent and beauty. Beginning from the east, we have Portland or Casco Bay, Portsmouth Bay, Newbury - port Bay, Massachusetts Bay, Buzzard's Bay, Narragansett Bay, New- York Bay, Amboy Bay, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, into which twelve wide-mouthed riv- ers fall, Wilmington Bay, Charleston Bay, &c, &c. With the exception of part of the eastern coast of Connecticut, a chain of islands, some inhabited, many not, runs parallel to the shore, beginning at Passamaquoddy Bay, and extending to the southern ex- tremity of Florida, and thence round into the Gulf of Mexico, and along its coast, to beyond the western limit of the United States. Thus are formed some of the finest channels for an extensive coasting trade, such as Long Island Sound, Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, and many others. To increase these facilities, canals and rail- roads have been extended along the coast from Portland in Maine, to Charleston in South Carolina, and even farther. Immediately on the seacoast of the west- ern part of New-Jersey, there commences a belt of sand, which extends along the whole margin of the Southern States, covered with an almost uninterrupted forest of pines, and enlarging, as it advances southward, from twenty to nearly a hundred miles broad, the latter being its width in the state of North Carolina. Between this sandy tract and the Alleghany Mountains the land is generally fertile, and produces various crops, according to the climate, such as fine wheat and the other cereal grains in New- Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- gia ; in which last two states tobacco is also largely cultivated, cotton in the Caro- linas and in Georgia ; and on the rich bot- tom lands along the bays and streams of the sandy tract, rice and indigo. As we advance northward along this fertile tract intervening between the sand and the mountains, we gradually leave the region of transition and secondary rocks, and enter on that of granite, so that before reaching the State of Maine, primitive rocks abound everywhere, even on the sur- face of the ground. But in point of fertility the Atlantic slope bears no comparison with the Valley of the Mississippi, embracing a territory about six times as large as that of France, and likely, ere long, to be the abode of many millions of the human race. Fifty years ago it con- tained little more than a hundred thousand inhabitants ; the population of the settled part of it amounted, as we have seen, in 1840,* to above six millions, and this, it is calculated from the data supplied in the last forty years, will have increased, in thirty-five years hence, to not much under thirty millions. By the end of the present century it will probably be not less than fifty or sixty millions. The tabular view on page 22 shows the immense size of the eleven states and two territories already organized in this vast valley ; let us now look for a moment to their natural resources. Ohio, lying between the beautiful river of that name and Lake Erie, comprises 40,260 square miles, and a population of above a million and a half. As England and Wales have 57,929 square miles, and 15,906,829 inhabitants, Ohio, at the same ratio, would have 11,055,066. With the exception of a part of it in the southeast, on the Hockhocking River, there is little poor land in the state. Vast forests cover the greater part of it to this day. Lake Erie on the north, the River Ohio on the south, and several navigable streams flow- ing from the interior, both to the north and south, give it great natural advantages for commerce ; in addition to which, two im- portant artificial lines of communication, made at great expense, traverse it from * The exact population of the eleven states and two territories of the Valley of the Mississippi was, without including Western Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Flordia, in 1840, 6,376,972; in 1830 it was 3,342,630; in 1820 it was 2,237,454; in 1810 it was 1,099,180 ; in 1800 it was 385.647 ; in 1790 it was only 109,888. Chap. XIII] THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 37 Lake Erie to the Ohio. Cincinnati, its commercial capital, has a population of not less than fifty thousand inhabitants. Indiana and Illinois are scarcely, if at all, inferior to Ohio in natural advantages ; and considering its proportion of first-rate land, Michigan is, perhaps, the best state in the Union. Kentucky and Tennessee abound both in good land and in mineral resources. Missouri, one of the largest states in the Union, possesses a vast extent of excellent land, besides rich mines of iron and of lead. The two territories, Iowa and Wisconsin, lying northward of Missouri and Illinois, the former on the west, and the latter oh the east of the Upper Mississippi, are large and fertile districts of country, abounding also in lead mines. Both are evidently destined to become great states. Arkan- sas having a great deal of inferior, as well as of fertile land, is considered one of the poorest states on the Mississippi. The large State of Alabama, with the exception of a small part in the south, about Mobile, and another part in the north, near the Ten- nessee River, was. in 1815. in the occupan- cy of the Creek, Chocta, and Chickasa In- dians, chiefly the first of those tribes, but is now rapidly increasing in population. The State of Mississippi has also much land of the very best quality, and although its financial affairs are at present in a de- plorable condition, from bad legislation, it may be expected, in a few years, to emerge from its embarrassments. Humanly speak- ing, it must be so, for its natural resources are great. And as for Louisiana, the rich alluvial soil of the banks of its rivers, and its advantages for commerce, derived from its position in the lowest part of the great Valley of the Mississippi, must eventually make it a rich and powerful state. But it would require the perseverance shown in similar circumstances by the people of Holland, to defend with dikes the south- ern portion of the Delta of the Mississippi, and to make the whole the valuable coun- try into which it might be converted. An immense tract of almost unexplored country lies to the northwest of the State of Missouri and the Territories of Iowa and Wisconsin, much of which is believed to be fertile. What new states may yet be formed there, time alone will show. Nearly the whole of this vast valley is drained by one great river and its branch- es, of which no fewer than fifty-seven are navigable for steamboats. Indeed, the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Red River, and the White River, flowing from the west, and the Illinois, the Ohio, the Cum- berland, and the Tennessee, from the north and east, are themselves great rivers. On the north the great lakes, and on the south the Gulf of Mexico, form openings into this vast region for the commerce of the world. But besides these two great inlets from the north and south, communication with the Atlantic slope has been opened up at various points of the Alleghany chain, by means of substantial roads of the ordi- nary construction, and also by canals and railways. Thus a railway, above six hun- dred miles in length, unites the town of Buffalo on Lake Erie with Boston ; a ca- nal unites it with Albany, and from that point the Hudson River connects it with New- York. Buffalo communicates, again, with all the northern parts of Ohio, Indi- ana, Michigan, and Illinois, and with the eastern side of the Wisconsin Territory, by fifty steamboats which ply between it and the ports of those regions. To all these advantages we must ascribe the rap- id appearance of so many large cities in this great Western Valley, such as New- Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, to say nothing of smaller towns on spots which, with the exception of New-Orleans, may be said to have been covered by the forest only fifty years ago. I conclude this chapter by remarking for a moment on the kind and wise Provi- dence which kept the great Valley of the Mississippi from the possession, and al- most from the knowledge of the colonists of the United States, for more than one hundred and fifty years. By that time, they had so far occupied and reduced to cultivation the less fertile hills of the At- lantic slope, and there had acquired that hardy, industrious, and virtuous character, which better fitted them to carry civiliza- tion and religion into the vast plains of the West. So that, at this day, the New-Eng- land and other Atlantic States, while in- creasing in population themselves, serve, at the same time, as nurseries from which the West derives many of the best plants that are transferred to its noble soil. CHAPTER XIII. OBSTACLES WHICH THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM IN SUPPORTING RELIGION HAS HAD TO EN- COUNTER IN AMERICA: 1. FROM THE ERRO- NEOUS OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF RE- LIGIOUS ECONOMY WHICH THE COLONISTS BROUGHT WITH THEM. Some persons in Europe entertain the idea, that if the " American plan" of sup- porting religion, by relying, under God's blessing, upon the efforts of the people, rather than upon the help of the govern- ment, has succeeded in that country, it has been owing, in a great measure, to the fact that the country presented an open field for the experiment ; that everything was new there ; that no old establishments had to be pulled down ; no deep-rooted preju- dices to be eradicated ; no time-honoured 38 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. institutions to be modified ; but that all was favourable for attempting something new under the sun. Now it is hardly possible to entertain an idea more remote from the truth than this. What follows will demonstrate that, so far from committing religion to the spon- taneous support of persons cordially inter- ested in its progress, the opposite course was pursued from the first almost, in all the colonies. In the greater number of the colonies, in fact, men looked to the civil government for the support of the Chris- tian ministry and worship. Now what we have here to consider is not the question whether they were right or wrong in doing so, but the simple fact that they actually did so ; and, accordingly, that, so far from what has been called the Voluntary Prin- ciple having had an open field in America, in those very parts of the country which now, perhaps, best illustrate its efficiency, it had long to struggle with establishments founded on the opposite system, and with strong prepossessions in their favour. In all such parts of the country many obstacles were opposed to the abandon- ment of the old system. Good and great men made no secret of their fears that the cause of religion would thus be ruined ; that the churches would be forsaken by the people, whose unaided efforts would prove unequal to the expense of maintaining them, and that they could never be induced to attempt it. In fact, as they had never been accustomed to rely upon their own exertions in that matter, and were not aware how much they could do, they were at first timid and discouraged. Another obstacle lay in the unwillingness of those who had enjoyed the influence and ascend- ency conferred by the old system, to sur- render those advantages. Such persons were prone to believe, and naturally sought to impress others with the conviction, no doubt very sincerely, that their resistance to the proposed change was the legitimate fruit of their zeal for the cause of God, and of their dread lest that cause should suffer. Other obstacles, and those not inconsid- erable, had to be encountered, all resulting directly or indirectly from the old system. It will be shown, in due time, that some of the worst heresies in the United States were originated and propagated by meas- ures arising out of the old system. What I mean to say is, that Truth has there en- countered powerful obstacles, Avhich we have every reason to believe would not have existed but for that union. Other evils there might have been in the absence of any such union ; but, be that as it may, with the obstacles to which I refer, it could not be said that the field was entirely new, far less that it was open. Still more : some of the greatest obsta- cles which the " American plan" of sup- porting religion had to overcome arose from the erroneous views of the colonists on the subject of religious liberty. The voluntary system rests on the grand basis of perfect religious freedom. I mean a freedom of conscience for all ; for those who believe Christianity to be true, and for those who do not ; for those who prefer one form of worship, and for those who prefer another. This is all implied, or, rather, it is fully avowed, at the first step in supporting religion upon this plan. Now it so happened — nor ought we to wonder at it, for it would have been a miracle had it been otherwise — that very many of the best colonists who settled in America had not yet attained to correct ideas on the subject of religious toleration and the rights of conscience. It required persecution, and that thorough discussion of the subject which persecution brought in its train, both in the colonies and in England and other European countries, to make them understand the subject. And, in point of fact, those who first understood it had learned it in the school of persecution. Such was Roger Williams ; such were Lord Baltimore and the Roman Catholics who settled in Maryland; such was William Penn. Accordingly, the three colonies that they founded, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, including Delaware, were the first communities, either in the New or the Old World, that enjoyed reli- gious liberty in the fullest extent. I am sure, indeed, that, as I have already said, the founders of the first American col- onies, and those of New-England in par- ticular, did as much for freedom of con- science as could have been expected, and were in that respect in advance of the age in which they lived. If they were intol- erant, so were others. If they would not allow Roman Catholics to live among them, the most dreadful examples, be it remem- bered, of Roman Catholic intolerance were forced upon their attention, and that their policy was merciful in the extreme com- pared with that of Roman Catholic coun- tries in those days. They merely refused to receive them or to allow them to remain among them, whereas the poor Huguenots of France were not permitted so much as to retire from amid their enemies. If, in some of the colonies, Quakers Avere treat- ed with great harshness and shocking in- justice, what treatment did the members of that sect receive at the same period in England ? If the colonists burned witches, was not that done also in Scotland, Eng- land, and other countries 1 I may therefore repeat, that the colonists were in advance of their contemporaries in their views of almost all questions rela- ting to human rights, and that they main- tained this advance is attested by the insti- €hap. XIV.] THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 39 tutions that arose among them. But the intolerance with which these were charge- able at first, may be traced to their opin- ions with regard to the relations which the Church ought to sustain towards the State. And their erroneous views on that subject created obstacles which were with difficul- ty overcome by the principle of leaving re- ligion, not to the support as well as protec- tion of the State, but to the hearts and hands of persons who have truly received, and are willing to sustain it. These remarks will suffice to show that the field was not so open to that principle in America as some have thought. CHAPTER XIV. OBSTACLES WHICH THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM HAS HAD TO ENCOUNTER IN AMERICA . 2. FROM THE NEWNESS OF THE COUNTRY, THE THINNESS OF THE POPULATION, AND THE UN- SETTLED STATE OF SOCIETY. A second class of obstacles which the voluntary system, or, I should rather say, which religion in general has had to en- counter in America, comprehends such as are inseparable from its condition as a new country. From its very nature, the life of a colo- nist presents manifold temptations to neg- lect the interests of the soul. There is the separation of himself and his family, if he has one, from old associations and influ- ences ; and the removal, if not from abun- dant means of grace, at least from the force of that public opinion which often power- fully restrains from the commission of open sin. Now though many of the Amer- ican colonists fled from persecution and from abounding iniquity, such was not the case with all. Then, there is the entering into new and untried situations ; the forming of new acquaintances, not always of the best kind ; and even that engrossment with the cares and labours attending a man's re- moval into a new country, especially in the case of the many who have to earn their bread by their own strenuous exertions. All these things hinder the growth of pie- ty in the soul, and form real obstacles to its promotion in a community. And if such hinderances had a baneful effect at the outset, they have never ceased to operate injuriously down to this day. To say nothing of the foreigners who come, year after year, to the American shores on their way to the Far West, thou- sands of the natives of the Atlantic slope annually leave their houses to settle amid the forests of that vast Western region. In their case there is peculiar exposure to evil ; their removal almost always with- draws them from the powerful influence of neighbourhoods where true religion more or less flourishes. Such of them as are not decidedly religious in heart and life, greatly risk losing any good impres- sions they may have brought with them, amid the engrossing cares and manifold temptations of their new circumstances ; circumstances in which even the estab- lished Christian will find much need of re- doubled vigilance and prayer. The comparative thinness, also, of the population in the United States now is, and must long continue to be, a great ob- stacle to the progress of religion in that country. I have already stated, that the area of all the territory claimed by its gov- ernment is somewhat more than 2,000,000 of square miles. Now, leaving out of view the vast region on the Upper Missouri and Mississippi rivers, west and north of Iowa and Wisconsin, and reaching to the Ore- gon Mountains ; leaving out of view also the Pacific slope, and looking only to the twenty-six states, three territories, and one district, we have a country of some- what more than 1,000,000 of square miles, over which the Anglo-American race has more or less diffused itself. But the whole population, including the African race among us, in 1840, was just 17,068,666. That is, upon an average, about seventeen souls to the square mile. If this population were equally diffused over the entire sur- face of the organized states and territories, even then it would be difficult enough to establish and maintain churches and other religious institutions among so sparse a population. Still, perhaps, it could be done. A parish of thirty-six square miles, which would be large enough in point of extent, would contain 612 souls. One twice as large would contain 1224 souls. But al- though a country would be considered well supplied if it had a pastor for every 1224 souls, still the dispersion of these over seventy-two square miles would necessa- rily very much curtail the pastor's oppor- tunity for doing good, and prevent the souls under his charge from enjoying the full influence of the Gospel. But the popula- tion of the United States is far from being thus equally distributed. Some of the old- er states are pretty densely settled ; not more, however, than is necessary for the easy maintenance of churches, and of a regular and settled ministry. Massachu- setts, the most densely settled of them all, has 102 souls to the square mile ; some others, such as Connecticut and Rhode Isl- and, have from seventy to eighty ; oth- ers, such as New-Jersey, Delaware, Mary- land, and New- York, will average from forty to fifty. Taking the whole Atlantic slope, with the exception of Florida, which is but little inhabited, the average is twen- ty-eight, while in the eleven states and two territories in the Valley of the Mississippi, it is less than ten souls to the square mile. 40 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. It is manifest, therefore, that while the population of a large proportion of the At- lantic States, and of parts of the older ones in the West, is hardly dense enough to render the support of Gospel ordinances easy, the difficulty of effecting this is im- mensely increased in many quarters, but especially in the West, by the inhabitants being much more widely scattered. I shall show in another place how this difficulty is, in a good measure, at least, overcome ; here it is enough that I point to its existence. Personal experience alone can give any one a correct idea of the difficulties attend- ing the planting and supporting of church- es and pastors in that vast frontier coun- try in the West, where the population, treading on the heels of the Indians, is, year after year, advancing into the forests. A few scattered families, at wide intervals, are engaged in cutting down the huge trees, and clearing what at first are but little patches of ground. In a year or two the number is doubled. In five or six years the country begins to have the ap- pearance of being inhabited by civilized men. But years more must roll away be- fore the population will be dense enough to support churches at convenient distan- ces from each other, and to have ministers of the Gospel to preach in them every Sab- bath. Yet this work must be done, and it is doing to an extent which will surprise many into whose hands this book may fall. But if the thinness of the population be an obstacle, how great must be that of its rapid increase in the aggregate 1 I say in the aggregate, for it is manifest that its in- crease in the thinly-settled districts must so far be an advantage. But with this in- crease diffusing itself into new settlements. we have a double difficulty to contend with — the increase itself demanding a great augmentation of churches and ministers, and its continued dispersion rendering it difficult to build the one and support the other, even were a sufficiency of pastors to be found. This difficulty would be quite appalling, if long contemplated apart from the vast efforts made to meet and overcome it. The population of the United States was, in 1790,3,929,8-27 ; in 1800, 5,305,925 ; in 1810, 7,239,814 ; in 1820, 9,638,131 ; in 1830, 12,866,920 ; and in 1840, 17,068,666.* The reader may calculate for himself the average annual increase during each of the five decades which have elapsed since 1790. But it is not so easy to ascertain the pre- cise yearly increase. From 1830 to 1840 it was 4,201,746, being at the average rate of 420,174 souls per annum. During the decade from 1840 to 1850, it will unques- * Including seamen in the government service, not included in the enumerations commonly published. Hence the difference between the statements in the text and those the reader may meet with elsewhere. But the difference is only 6100. tionably much exceed an average of 500,000 per annum, unless checked by some great calamity, of which there is no prospect. Now to provide churches and pastors for such an increase as this is no very easy matter, yet it must either be done, or, sooner or later, the great bulk of the na- tion, as some have predicted, will sink into heathenism. How far this is likely, judg- ing from what has been done and is now doing, we shall see in another place. Here I simply state the magnitude of the diffi- culty. Finally, the constant emigration from the old states to the new, and even from the older to the newer settlements in the lat- ter, is a great obstacle to the progress of religion in all places from which a part of the population is thus withdrawn. It occa- sionally happens in one or other of the At- lantic States, that a church is almost broken up by the departure, for the Western States, of families on whom it mainly de- pended for support. Most commonly, however, this emigration is so gradual, that the church has time to recruit itself from other families, who arrive and take the place of those who have gone away. Thus, unless where a church loses persons of great influence, the loss is soon repaired. In the cities of the East, and their suburban quarters especially, from the population being of so floating a character, this evil is felt quite as much as in the country. But it must not be forgotten, that what is an evil in the East, by withdrawing val- uable support from the churches there, proves a great blessing to the West, by transferring thither Christian families, to originate and support new churches in that quarter. CHAPTER XV. OBSTACLES WHICH THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM HAS HAD TO ENCOUNTER IN AMERICA : 3. FROM SLAVERY. That the coexistence in one country of two such different races as the Caucas- ian and the African, standing to each other in the relation of masters and slaves, should retard the progress of true religion there, it requires but little knowledge of human nature to believe. Slavery has been a curse in all past time, and by no possibility can it be other- wise. It fosters a proud, arrogant, and un- feeling spirit in the master, and naturally leads to servility and meanness, to deceit- fulness and dishonesty, in the slave. Either way it is disastrous to true religion. But I have no intention to speak here of the nature of slavery, its past history, present condition, or future prospects in. Chap. XV.] THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. ■11 the United States. My object is simply to show how it operates as one of the great- est obstacles to the promotion of religion; and, as such, militates against the success of the voluntary system there. Slavery, indeed, may easily be shown to be pecu- liarly an obstacle to that system. I might mention, that the reluctance of slaves to worship in the same congregation with their masters is unfavourable to the interests of true piety. That there is such a reluctance, every one knows who has had much to do with the institution of sla- very. It often shows itself in the hesita- tion of slaves to come to the family altar, even in families which are known to treat them with kindness. This fact is easily accounted for. Hu- man nature, however degraded, and whether wearing a black or a white skin, has still some remains of pride, or, rather, some consciousness of what is due to itself, and it is' not wonderful that it avoids as much as possible coming into contact with persons, however worthy and kind they may be, to whom it feels itself placed in ignoble subjection. Therefore it is that the negro of our Southern States prefers going to a church composed of people of his own colour, and where no whites appear. Slaves, also, sometimes prefer places of worship where greater latitude is allowed for noisy excitement, to whatever denom- ination of Christians they may belong, than would be tolerated in the religious assem- blies of white people. I am not aware that I have exaggerated, as some may think, the repugnance of the slaves to join in religious worship with their masters. One thing is certain : that, whether from such repugnance, or some other cause, the slaves like better to meet by themselves, wherever allowed to do so. That the separation of the two classes thus occasioned is injurious to the spiritual interests of both, must be evident from a moment's consideration. So long as sla- very exists in the world, the Gospel enjoins their appropriate duties upon both masters and slaves, and they should be made to hear of those duties in each other's presence. This should be done kindly, but also faith- fully. And no Christian master can excuse himself from doing the duty which he owes to his slave, in relation to his spiritual and immortal interests, by saying that he per- mits him to go he hardly knows whither, and to be taught those things which con- cern his highest happiness by he knows not whom. Where, indeed, the master him- self is wholly indifferent to the subject of religion, as, alas ! is too often the case, it is well that the slave is allowed and disposed to seek religious instruction anywhere. But one of the greatest evils of slavery, as respects the maintenance of Christian institutions, is, that it creates a state of society extremely unfavourable to the pro- viding of a sufficient number of churches and pastors for the spiritual wants of all classes — rich and poor, slaves and free. This holds especially in the case of large landed estates, with many hundred slaves in the possession of a small number of rich proprietors. In such circumstances, a church capable of containing one or two hundred persons might, perhaps, accom- modate all the masters and their families within the compass of a very large parish, whereas an immense edifice would be re- quired for the accommodation of all their slaves. Now, where this is the state of things, there is danger that the landowners, being few in number, may grudge the ex- pense of maintaining a church and pastor at all, however well able to do so ; or that, with horses and. carriages at their com- mand, all the rich within one vast district will join in having public worship at some central point, where few, comparatively, of the slaves and labouring white popula- tion will find it possible to attend. Where even a few of the rich proprietors are re- ligious men, there is no difficulty in having the Gospel brought, not only to their own doors, but also to those of their slaves and other dependants. But where they are in- different, or opposed to religion, then not only does the Gospel not reach them, but if it reaches their slaves, it must be with great difficulty, and often very irregularly. For, be it remembered, that a slave popu- lation is generally too poor to contribute anything worth mentioning for the support of the Gospel. Blessed be God, there is a way, as I shall show hereafter, by which some of the evils here spoken of may be mitigated ; and that is by the system of itinerant preaching employed in the United States, so extensively, and so usefully, by the Methodists. Contemplating these difficulties, we shall come to the conclusion that if, in any part of the United States, the support of the Gospel by taxation enforced by law is bet- ter adapted to the circumstances of the people than the voluntary plan, it is in the seaboard counties of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Still, it will be found that even there the voluntary system has not been wholly inefficient, but that, through the ministry either of fixed or itinerant preachers of righteousness, it has carried the Gospel to the inhabitants of all classes, to an extent which, under such adverse circumstances, might seem impracticable. It must be noted, that while such are the difficulties that oppose the maintenance of * a Christian ministry in the slaveholding states, there is a special necessity for the preaching of the Gospel there. It is em- phatically by the " hearing" of the Word that the slaves can be expected to come to 42 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book I. the knowledge of salvation. A most un- wise and iniquitous legislation has, in most of those states, forbidden the teaching of the slaves to read ! And although, doubt- less, this law is not universally obeyed, and here and there a good many slaves do both read and teach others to do so pri- vately, yet it is from the voice of the living teacher that the great bulk of that class in the United States must receive instruction in divine things. Thanks be to God! no Legislature in any state has forbidden the preaching of the Gospel to those who are in the bonds of slavery ; and many thou- sands of them, it is believed, have not heard it in vain. I conclude by stating that slavery exists in thirteen states — those which form the southern half of the Union — and in one territory, that of Florida. It does not exist in the other thirteen, nor in the two important Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. The states in which it exists are Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Car- olina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. CHAPTER XVI. OBSTACLES WHICH THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM HAS HAD TO ENCOUNTER IN AMERICA : 4. FROM THE VAST IMMIGRATION FROM FOR- EIGN COUNTRIES. It is superfluous to say that the immigra- tion from Europe of such excellent persons as many of those were who founded the American colonies, or who joined them in the days of their infancy, could not fail to be a blessing to the country. But the emigra- tion to the United States at the present day is of a very different character. Whatever violent persecution there may have been in Europe during the last seventy years has been limited in extent, and of short duration, so that the emigration from the Old World -to America, during that period, must be re- ferred to worldly considerations, not to the force of religious convictions leading men •to seek for the enjoyment of religious lib- erty. In fact, to improve their worldly condition, to provide a home for their chil- dren in a thriving country, to rejoin friends who had gone before them, or to escape from what they deemed civil oppression in Europe — such, generally, have been the motives that have prompted the recent emigrations to America. To these we must add a different class — that of men who have left their country, as has been said, " for their country's good ;" nor is the number of such inconsiderable. It is difficult to discover to what extent emigrants have poured into the United .States since the Revolution, and especially since the close of the second war with Great Britain, in 1815. Our custom-house books do not sufficiently distinguish be- tween emigrants properly so called, and American citizens returning from abroad. Again, many of the emigrants enter the United States by way of Canada, those es- pecially who come from the British isl- ands, and no exact enumeration of these, it is believed, is kept on the frontier. Sixty thousand foreigners, it has been supposed, have annually entered the United States for several years past with the view of settling there. According to the report of the Secretary of State, 70,509 foreigners arrived in 1839, of whom 34,213 were from Great Britain, and 30,014 from the Conti- nent of Europe ; the remainder were from South America, Texas, the West Indies, &c. This is probably too low an estimate. From tables published in England, it ap- pears that from 1825 to 1837 inclusive, no fewer than 300,259 left Great Britain and Ireland for the United States, and also that the number had increased every year until 1836, when it reached 37,774. In 1837 the number was 36,770. It is quite certain, I think, that the emi- grants from the Continent of Europe, con- sisting almost entirely of Germans, from Germany proper and Alsace, Swiss, and French, are nearly if not quite as numer- ous as those from the British islands ; and if so, the total number of emigrants to the United States, from all quarters, must be nearer 70,000 than 60,000. It must not be supposed, however, that all the foreigners who come to the United States are emigrants. Many come only to make a longer or shorter stay, as mer- chants and traders, and some, after having arrived with the intention of remaining, become dissatisfied, and return to their na- tive country. In short, it is impossible to discover, with any degree of accuracy, the real yearly augmentation of the population of the United States arising from immigra- tion. I am inclined to believe that it is sometimes greatly overrated, and that it does not much exceed 60,000, or, at most, 70,000. Now, although among these emigrants there are many respectable people, and some who bring with them no inconsider- able amount of property, duty compels me to say, that very many of them are not only very poor, but ignorant, also, and de- praved. Of those from Ireland, very many are intemperate, and ill qualified to succeed in a new country. Should the Temperance cause, indeed, continue to prosper in Ire- land as it has done for some years past under Father Matthew's efforts, we may hope for an improvement in the " Irish im- portation." Of the Germans, likewise, a great many are poor, and some are of im- provident and depraved habits ; although, €hap. XVI.] THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. in the mass, they are much superior to the Irish in point of frugality and sobriety. Many of the Germans have of late years brought with them considerable sums of money, and though a good many are Ro- man Catholics, yet the majority are Prot- estants. A large proportion of them now come from the kingdoms of Wurtemberg and Bavaria, and from the Duchy of Baden ; whereas, in former times, they came chief- ly from the eastern and northern parts of Germany. Now, although, no doubt, the mortality among these emigrants from Europe, caus- ed by exposure, anxiety, fatigue, and dis- eases incident to a strange climate, is far greater than among native Americans, yet the yearly accession of so many people, ignorant in a degree of the nature of our institutions, about half of them unable to speak English, and nearly half of them, also, Roman Catholics, must impose a heavy responsibility, and a great amount of la- bour upon the churches in order to provide them with the means of grace. Everything possible must be done for the adults among them, but hope can be entertained chiefly for the young. These grow up speaking the language and breathing the spirit of their adopted country, and thus the process of assimilation goes steadily on. In a thousand ways the emigrants who are, as it were, cast upon our shores, are brought into contact with a better religious influ- ence than that to which many of them have been accustomed in the Old World. Every year some of them are gathered into our churches, while, as I have said, their children grow up Americans in their feelings and habits. All this is especially true of the emigrants who, meaning to make the country their home, strive to identify themselves with it. There are others, however, and particularly those who, having come to make their fortunes as merchants and traders, calculate upon returning to Europe, that never become American in feeling and spirit. From such no aid is to be expected in the benevolent efforts made by Christians to promote good objects among us. I have been struck with the fact that, generally speaking, our religious societies receive their most steady support from our Anglo-American citizens. The emigrants from the British realm, English, Welsh, Scotch, and Irish, rank next in the interest they take in our benevolent enterprises, and in readiness to contribute to their sup- port. The Germans rank next, the Swiss next, and the French last. There is most infidelity among the French, yet it prevails also, to a considerable degree, among the Swiss and Germans, among the better-in- formed classes of whom it is, alas ! too oft- en to be found. There is no want of infi- delity and indifference to religion among emigrants from the British islands, but they are chiefly to be found among the lowest class of them. Thus, as I remarked before, while the emigration from Europe to the United States brings us no inconsiderable number of worthy people, it introduces also a large amount of ignorance, poverty, and vice. Besides this, it is difficult to supply with religious institutions, and it takes long to Americanise, if I may use the expression, in feeling, conduct, and language, those multitudes from the Continent of Europe who cannot understand or speak English. Many of the Germans, in particular, in con- sequence of the impossibility of finding a sufficient number of fit men to preach in German, were at one time sadly destitute of the means of grace in their dispersion over the country. But within the last fifteen years a brighter prospect has opened upon that part of our population, as I shall have to show in its place. I have not charged upon the ordinary emigration to the shores of America the great amount of crime in the United States, which may be traced to the escape thither of criminals from Europe ; for these can- not, with propriety, be regarded as consti- tuting a part of that emigration. Never- theless, it is the case that much of the crime committed in America, from that of the honourable merchant who scruples not to defraud the custom-house, if he can, down to the outrages of the man who dis- turbs the streets with his riots, is the work of foreigners. It maybe said, I am sure, with the strict- est truth, that in no country is a foreigner who deserves well treated with more re- spect and kindness than in America; in no country will he find less difference be- tween the native and the adopted citizen ; in no country do men become more readily assimilated in principle and feeling to the great body of the people, or more fully re- alize the fact that they form a constituent part of the nation. I have now finished the notice which I intended to take of some of the obstacles which the voluntary system has had to en- counter in the United States. I might men- tion others were it necessary ; but I have said enough to show that it is a mistake to suppose that it has had an open field and an easy course there. I am far from say- ing that if the experiment were to be made in an old country, where the population is established and almost stationary — where it is homogeneous and indigenous — there would not be other obstacles to encounter, greater, perhaps, than those to be found among us, and in some respects peculiar to America. I only wish these difficul- ties not to be lost sight of as we advance in this work, and that they should be ap- preciated at their just value when we u RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. come to speak of subjects upon which they bear. Such are some of the topics which I thought it of consequence to treat before- hand, that the reader might be prepared for a better comprehension of the grand sub- ject of this work. Upon the direct consid- eration of that subject we are now ready- to enter. BOOK II. THE COLONIAL ERA. CHAPTER I. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-ENGLAND. I have already remarked, that if we would understand the civil and political institu- tions of the United States of America, we must trace them from their earliest origin in Anglo-Saxon times, through their vari- ous developments in succeeding ages, until they reached their present condition in our own days. In like manner, if we would thoroughly understand the religious condition and economy of the United States, we must begin with an attentive survey of the char- acter of the early colonists, and of the causes which brought them to America. Besides, as has been well observed,* a striking analogy may be traced between natural bodies and bodies politic. Both re- tain in manhood and old age more or less of the characteristic traits of their infancy and youth. All nations bear some marks of their origin, the circumstances amid which they were born, and which favoured their early development, and left an im- pression that stamps their whole future existence. We begin our inquiry, therefore, into the religious history and condition of the Uni- ted States, by portraying, as briefly as possible, the religious character of the first colonists, who may be regarded as the founders of that commonwealth. In doing this, we shall follow neither the chronolo- gical nor the geographical order, but shall first speak of the colonists of New-England ; next, of those of the South ; and, finally, of those of the Middle States. This gives us the advantage at once of grouping and of contrast. How wonderful are the events that some- times flow from causes apparently the most inadequate, and even insignificant ! The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, in 1453, seemed to be only one of the ordi- nary events of war, and yet it led to the revival of letters among the higher classes of society throughout Europe. The inven- * See M. de Tocqueville, " Democratic en Ame- rique," Premiere Partie, tome i., chap. i. Also Lang's " Religion and Education in America," chap. i., page 11. tion of the art of printing by an obscure German, two years later, gave immense facilities for the diffusion of knowledge among all classes of people. The discov- ery of America by a Genoese adventurer, towards the close of the same century (A.D. 1492), produced a revolution in the commerce of the world. A poor monk in Germany, preaching (A.D. 1517) against indulgences, emancipated whole nations from the domination of Rome. And the fortuitous arrival of a young French law- yer who had embraced the Faith of the Reformation at an inconsiderable city in Switzerland, situated on the banks of the Rhone, followed by his settling there, and organizing its ecclesiastical and civil insti- tutions, was connected, in the mysterious providence of Him who knows the end from the beginning, and who employs all events to advance His mighty purposes, with the establishment of free institutions in England, their diffusion in America, and their triumph in other lands. The way had long been preparing for the Reformation in England by the opinions avowed by Wicliffe and his followers, and by the resistance of the government to the claims and encroachments of the ecclesi- astical authorities. The light, too, which had begun to appear in Germany, cast its rays across the North Sea, and men were ere long to be found in Britain secretly cherishing the doctrines maintained by Lu- ther. At length an energetic, but corrupt and tyrannical prince, after having been rewarded for writing against Luther, by receiving from the pope the title of " De- fender of the Faith," thought fit to revenge the refusal of a divorce from his first wife by abolishing the papal supremacy in his kingdom, and transferring the headship of the Church, as well as of the State, to him- self. But Henry VIII. desired to have no reformation either in the doctrines or the worship of the Church ; and in his last years he revoked the general permission which he had granted for the reading of the Scriptures, being all that he had ever done in favour of the Reformation among the people, and confined that privilege to the nobles and merchants. A tyrant at once in spiritual and temporal matters, he pun- ished every deviation from the ancient Chap. I.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 45 usages of the Church, and every act of non-compliance with his own arbitrary ordinances. The reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) forms a most important era in the histo- ry of England. Partly through the influ- ence of the writings of Calvin, which had been circulated to a considerable extent in that country ; partly through that of his public instructions, which had been fre- quented at Geneva by many young English students of divinity ; but still more by the lectures of those two eminent Continental divines, Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer, who had been invited to England, and made professors of theology at Oxford and Cam- bridge, many persons had been prepared for that reformation in the Church which then actually took place under the auspi- ces of Cranmer, and was carried to the length, in all essential points, at which it is now established by law. Hooper, and many other excellent men, were appointed to the most influential offices in the Church, and much progress was made in resuscita- ting true piety among both the clergy and the people. But the Protestants of England soon be- came divided into two parties. One, head- ed by Cranmer, then Archbishop of Can- terbury, consisted of such as were op- posed to great changes in the discipline and government of the Church, and wished to retain, to a certain degree, the ancient forms and ceremonies, hoping thereby to conciliate the people to the Protestant faith. To all the forms of the Romish Church the other party bore an implacable hatred, and insisted upon the rejection of even a cere- mony or a vestment that was not clearly enjoined by the Word of God. Wishing to see the Church purified from every human invention, they were therefore called Puri- tans, a name given in reproach, but by which, in course of time, they were not averse to being distinguished. With them the Bible was the sole standard, alike for doctrines and for ceremonies, and with it they would allow no decision of the hierar- chy, or ordinance of the king, or law of Par- liament, to interfere. On that great found- ation they planted their feet, and were en- couraged in so doing by Bucer, Peter Mar- tyr, and Calvin himself.* The Church- men, as their opponents were called, de- sired, on the other hand, to differ as little as possible from the ancient forms, and readily adopted things indifferent ; but the Puritans could never sever themselves too widely from every usage of the Romish Church. For them the surplice and the square cap were things of importance, for they were the livery of superstition, and tokens of the triumph of prescription over * Strype's Memorials, vol. ii., chap, xxviii. Hal- lam's Constitutional History of England, vol. i., p. 140 the Word of God — of human over divine authority ; and though then but a small mi- nority, even thus early there was evidently a growing attachment to their doctrines in the popular mind.* During the bloody reign of Edward VI. 's successor, Mary, that is, from 1553 to 1558, both parties of Protestants were exposed to danger, but especially the Puritans. Thousands fled to the Continent, and found refuge chiefly in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Emden, Wesel, Basel, Marburg, Strasburg, and Geneva. At Frankfort the dispute be- tween the two parties was renewed with great keenness ; even Calvin in vain at- tempted to allay it. In the end, most of the Puritans left that city and retired to Geneva, where they found the doctrine, worship, and discipline of the Church to ac- cord with their sentiments. While resi- ding there, they adopted for their own use a liturgy upon the plan suggested by the great Genevese reformer, and there also they translated the Bible into English. f Persecution, meanwhile, prevailed in Eng- land. Cranmer, to whom the queen in her early years had owed her life, Hooper, Rogers, and other distinguished servants of Christ, suffered death. Many of the clergy again submitted to the Roman See. On the death of Queen Mary, many of the exiled Puritans returned, with their hatred to the ceremonies and vestments inflamed by associating them with the cru- elties freshly committed at home, and by what they had seen of the simple worship of the Reformed Churches abroad. But they struggled in vain to effect any sub- stantial change. Elizabeth, who succeed- ed her sister Mary in 1558, would hear of no modifications of any importance in doc- trine, discipline, or worship, so that in all points the Church was almost identically the same as it had been under Edward VI. While Elizabeth desired to conciliate the Romanists, the Puritans denounced all con- cessions to them, even in things indifferent. * The Puritans have been often and severely blamed for what some have been pleased to call their obstinacy in regard to things comparatively indiffer- ent. But it has been well remarked by President Quincy, in his Centennial Address at Boston, that " the wisdom of zeal for any object is not to be measured by the particular nature of that object, but by the nature of the principle, which the circumstan- ces of the times, or of society, have identified with such object." t This version was first published in 1560. So highly was it esteemed, particularly on account of its notes, that it passed through thirty editions. To both the translation and notes King James had a special dislike, alleging that the latter were full of il traitorous conceits." In the conference at Hampton Court, "he professed that he could never yet see a Bible well translated in English, but worst of all his majesty thought the Geneva to be. " This version was the one chiefly used by the first emigrants to New-England, for that of King James, published in 1611, had not then passed into general use. — Strype's Annals. Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court. 46 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. Though by profession a Protestant, she was much attached to many of the distin- guishing doctrines and practices of the pa- pacy, and she bore a special hatred to the Puritans, not only because of their differ- ing so much from her in their religious views, but also because of the sentiments they hesitated not to avow on the subject of civil liberty. The oppression of the government was driving them, in fact, to scrutinize the nature and limits of civil and ecclesiastical authority, and to ques- tion the right of carrying it to the extent to which the queen and the bishops were determined to push it. The popular voice was becoming decidedly opposed to a rig- orous exaction of conformity with the roy- al ordinances respecting the ceremonies. Parliament itself became imbued with the same spirit, and showed an evident dis- position to befriend the Puritans, whose cause began to be associated with that of civil and religious liberty. The bishops, however, and most of the other dignified clergy, supported the views of the queen. Whitgift, in particular, who was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1583, vigor- ously enforced conformity. The Court of High Commission compelled many of the best ministers of the Established Church to relinquish their benefices, and to hold private meetings for worship as they best could, very inferior and worthless men be- ing generally put into their places. Still; the suppression of the Puritans was found a vain attempt. During Elizabeth's long reign their numbers steadily increas- ed. The services they rendered to the country may be estimated by the verdict of an historian who has been justly char- ged with lying in wait, through the whole course of his history, for an opportunity of throwing discredit upon the cause of both religion and liberty, and who bore to the Puritans a special dislike. Mr. Hume says, " The precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone."* As a body, the Puritans studiously avoid- ed separation from the Established Church. What they desired was reform, not schism. But towards the middle of Elizabeth's reign, a party arose among them that went to an extreme in their opposition to the " Churchmen," and refused to hold com- munion with a Church whose ceremonies and government they condemned. These were the Independents, or Brownists, as they were long improperly called, from the name of one who was a leading person among them for a time, but who afterward left them and ended his days in the Estab- lished Church. The congregation which Brown had gathered, after sharing his ex- ile, was broken up and utterly dispersed. Hume's History of England, vol. iii., p. 76. But the principles which, for a time, he had boldly advocated, were destined to sur- vive his abandonment of them in England, as well as to flourish in a far-distant re- gion, at that time almost unknown. From that time forward the Puritans be- came permanently divided into two bodies — the Nonconformists, constituting a large majority of the body, and the Separatists. The former saw evils in the Established Church, and refused to comply with them, but, at the same time, acknowledged its merits, and desired its reform ; the latter denounced it as an idolatrous institution, false to Truth and to Christianity, and, as such, fit only to be destroyed. Eventually the two parties became bitterly opposed to each other ; the former reproached the latter with precipitancy ; the latter retorted the charge of a base want of courage. The accession of King James gave new hopes to the Puritans, but these were soon completely disappointed. That monarch, though brought up in Presbyterian princi- ples in Scotland, no sooner crossed the border than he became an admirer of the prelacy, and, although a professed Calvin- ist, allowed himself to become the easy tool of the latitudinarian sycophants who surrounded him. Having deceived the Pu- ritans, he soon learned to hate both them and their doctrines. His pedantry having sought a conference with their leaders at Hampton Court, scenes took place there which were as amusing for their display of the dialectics of the monarch as they were unsatisfactory to the Puritans in their results. " I will have none of that liberty as to ceremonies ; I will have one doc- trine, one discipline, one religion in sub- stance and in ceremony. Never speak more on that point, how far you are bound to obey."* And verily it was a point on which such a monarch as James I. did not wish to hear anything said. The confer- ence lasted three days. The king would bear no contradiction. He spoke much, and was greatly applauded by his flatter- ers. The aged Whitgift said, " Your maj- esty speaks by the special assistance of God's Spirit." And Bishop Bancroft ex- claimed, on his knees, that his heart melt- ed for joy " because God had given Eng- land such a king as, since Christ's time, has not been."f The Parliament was becoming more and more favourable to the doctrines of the Pu- ritans ; but the hierarchy maintained its own views, and was subservient to the * In the second day's conference his majesty spoke of the Puritans with little ceremony. "1 will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land, or else worse." " Only burn them, that's all." — Barlow's Sam and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court, p. 71, 83. f Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court, p. 93, 94. Lingard, ix., p. 32. Neal's History of the Puritans, iii., p. 45. Chap. II.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 47 wishes of the monarch. Conformity was rigidly enforced by Whitgift's successor, Bancroft. In 1604, three hundred Puritan ministers are said to have been silenced, imprisoned, or exiled. But nothing could check the growth of their principles. The Puritan clergy and the people became ar- rayed against the Established Church and the King. The latter triumphed during that reign, but very different was to be the issue in the following. So hateful to the court were the people called Brownists, Separatists, or Independents, that efforts were made, with great success, to root them out of the country. Some remains of them, however, outlived for years the persecutions by which they were assault- ed. In the latter years of Elizabeth, a scat- tered flock of these Separatists began to be formed in some towns and villages of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and the ad- jacent borders of Yorkshire, under the pas- toral care of John Robinson, a man who has left behind him a name admitted, even by his bitterest enemies, to be without re- proach. This little church was watched and beset day and night by the agents of the court, and could with difficulty find op- portunities of meeting in safety. They met here or there, as they best could, on the Sabbath, and thus strove to keep alive the spirit of piety which united them. They had become " enlightened in the Word of God," and were led to see, not only that " the beggarly ceremonies were monuments of idolatry," but also " that the lordly power of the prelates ought not to be submitted to." Such being their sen- timents, no efforts, of course, would be spared to make their lives miserable, and, if possible, to extirpate them. At last, seeing no prospect of peace in their native land, they resolved to pass over to Holland, a country which, after having successfully struggled for its own independence and for the maintenance of the Protestant faith, now presented an asylum for persons of all nations when persecuted on account of their religion. After many difficulties and delays, a pain- fully interesting account of which may be found in their annals, they reached Am- sterdam in 1608. There they found many of their brethren who had left England for the same cause with themselves. The oldest part of these exiled Independents was the church under the pastoral care of Francis Johnson. It had emigrated from London about the year 1592. There was also a fresh accession composed of a Mr. Smith's people. Risk of collision with these induced Mr. Robinson and his flock to retire to Leyden, and there they estab- lished themselves. CHAPTER II. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE FOUNDERS OF NEW-ENGLAND. PLYMOUTH COLONY. The arrival of Mr. Robinson's flock in Holland was destined to be the beginning Only of their wanderings. " They knew that they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."* " They saw many goodly and fortified cities, strongly walled and guarded with troops and armed men. Also, they heard a strange and uncouth language, and beheld the different man- ners and customs of the people, with strange fashions and attires ; all so far differing from that of their plain country villages, wherein they were bred and born, and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come into a new world. But those were not the things they much looked on, or that long took up their thoughts ; for they had other work in hand," and " saw before long poverty coming on them like an armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter, and from whom they could not fly. But they were armed with faith and patience against him and all his encounters ; though they were some- times foiled, yet by God's assistance they prevailed and got the victory." On their removal to Leyden, as they had no opportunity of pursuing the agricultu- ral life they had led in England, they were compelled to learn such trades as they could best earn a livelihood by for them- selves and their families. Brewster, a man of some distinction, who had been chosen their ruling elder, became a print- er. Bradford, afterward their governor in America, and their historian, acquired the art of dying silk. All had to learn some handicraft or other. But, notwith- standing these difficulties, after two or three years of embarrassment and toil, they " at length came to raise a compe- tent and comfortable living, and continued many years in a comfortable condition, en- joying much sweet and delightful society, and spiritual comfort together in the ways of God, under the able ministry and pru- dent government of Mr. John Robinson and Mr. William Brewster, who was an as- sistant unto him in the place of an elder, unto which he was now called and chosen by the church ; so that they grew in knowl- edge, and other gifts and graces of the Spir- it of God ; and lived together in peace, and love, and holiness. And many came unto them from divers parts of England, so as they grew a great congregation."! As for * See Governor Bradford's History of Plymouth Colony. t Governor Bradford's History of New-England. It has been calculated from data to be found in oth- er histories of. that colony, that so much had Mr. 48 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. Mr. Robinson, we are told that the people had a great affection for him, and that " his love was great towards them, and his care was always bent for their best good, both for soul and body. For, besides his singu- lar abilities in divine things, wherein he excelled, he was able also to give direc- tion in civil affairs, and to foresee dangers and inconveniences ; by which means he was every way as a common father unto them." Not only so ; besides writing sev- eral books and preachiug thrice a week to his own flock, Mr. Robinson entered warm- ly into the Arminian controversy, which was raging during his residence at Leyden, and disputed often with Episcopius and oth- er champions of the Arminian side.* Although they had begun to enjoy some degree of comfort in Holland, still they did not feel themselves at home there. Accordingly, they began to agitate the question of removing to some part of America. Their reasons for thinking of such a step, as stated in the words of their own historian, gives us new proof of the extraordinary character of this sim- ple-hearted and excellent flock. I. " And, first, they found, and saw by experience, the hardness of the place and country to be such, as few in comparison would come to them, and fewer that would bide it out and continue with them. For many that came to them could not endure the great labour and hard fare, with other inconveniences which they underwent and were contented with. But though they loved their persons, and approved their cause, and honoured their sufferings, yet they left them, as it were, weeping, as Or- pah did her mother-in-law Naomi ; or as those Romans did Cato in Utica, who de- sired to be excused and borne with, though they could not all be Catos.f For many, though they desired to enjoy the ordinan- ces of God in their purity, and the liberty of the Gospel with them, yet, alas ! they admitted of bondage with danger of con- science, rather than endure those hard- ships ; yea, some preferred and chose pris- ons in England rather than liberty in Hol- land, with those afflictions. But it was thought that if a better and easier place of living could be had, it would draw many, and take away these discouragements ; yea, their pastor would often say that many of those that both writ and preach- ed against them, if they were in a place Robinson's church increased, that it had three hun- dred " communicants" before any of them embarked for America. * Besides the testimony of Winslow in his " Brief Narrative," which might be suspected of being par- tial, we have that of the celebrated Professor Horn- beck, in his " Summa Controversiarum Religionis," respecting Mr. Robinson, whom he calls " Vir ille (Johannes Robinsonus), gratus nostris, dum vixit, fuit, ettheologis Leidensibusfamiliarisethonoratus." t See Plutarch's Life of Cato the Younger. where they might have liberty and live comfortably, they would then practise as as they did. If. " They saw that, although the people generally bore all their difficulties very cheerfully and with a resolute courage, be- ing in the best of their strength, yet old age began to come on some of them ; and their great and continual labours, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it be- fore the time ; so as it was not only prob- ably thought, but apparently seen, that within a few years more they were in dan- ger to scatter by necessity pressing them, or sink under their burdens, or both ; and, therefore, according to the divine proverb, that ' a wise man seeth the plague when it cometh, and hideth himself,'* so they, like skilful and beaten soldiers, were fearful ei- ther to be entrapped or surrounded by their enemies, so as they should neither be able to fight nor fly ; and, therefore, thought it better to dislodge betimes to some place of better advantage and less danger, if any could be found. III. "As necessity was a taskmaster over them, so they were forced to be such not only to their servants, but, in a sort, to their dearest children ; the which, as it did a little wound the tender hearts of many a loving father and mother, so it produced, also, many sad and sorrowful effects. For many of their children, that were of best dispositions and gracious inclinations, hav- ing learned to bear the yoke in their youth, and willing to bear part of their parents' burden, were oftentimes so oppressed with their heavy labours, that although their minds were free and willing, r yet their bod- ies bow T ed under the weight of the same, and became decrepit in their early youth ; the vigour of nature being consumed in the very bud, as it were. But that which was more lamentable, and of all sorrows most heavy to be borne, was, that many of their children, by these occasions, and the great licentiousness of the youth in the country, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawn away by evil examples into ex- travagant and dangerous courses, getting the reins on their necks, and departing from their parents. Some became soldiers, oth- ers took them upon far voyages by sea, and others some worse courses, tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of their parents and dis- honour of God; so that they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted. IV. "Lastly (and which was not the least), a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ in these remote * Quoted from the Geneva version. Chap. II.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 49 parts of the world ; yea, though they should be but as stepping-stones unto others for performing of so great a work." Besides these reasons, mentioned by Governor Bradford in his History of Plym- outh Colony, the three following are ad- duced by Edward Winslow, who also was one of its founders : 1. Their desire to live, under the protection of England, and to retain the language and the name of Eng- lishmen. 2. Their inability to give their children such an education as they had themselves received. And, 3. Their grief at the profanation of the Sabbath in Hol- land. Such were the considerations that indu- ced the Pilgrims to send over to England a deputation, with the view of ascertaining what kind of reception their project might meet with from the king, and whether the London Company, or, as it was most com- monly called, the Virginia Company, would sanction their settling as a colony on any part of its possessions in America. With all his detestation of the Independents, the king felt rather gratified than otherwise at the prospect of extending colonization, that being an object in which he had long felt an interest. Many years before this he had encouraged colonization in the Highlands and Western Islands of Scot- land, and the North of Ireland has long been indebted for a prosperity and securi- ty, such as no other part of that island has enjoyed, to the English and Scotch planta- tions which he had been at great pains to form on lands laid waste during the deso- lating warfare of his predecessor, Eliza- beth, with certain Irish chieftains in those parts.* To extend the dominions of Eng- land he allowed to be " a good and honest motion." On his inquiring what trade they expected to find in the northern part of Virginia,! being that in which they thought of settling, they answered, " Fishing ;" to which the monarch replied, with his usual asseveration, " So God have my soul, 'tis an honest trade ; 'twas the apostles' own calling.''^ But as the king wished to con- sult the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, the delegates were rec- ommended not to press the matter, but to trust to his connivance rather than to look for his formal consent. This they resolv- ed to do, rightly concluding that, " should there be a purpose to wrong us, though we had a seal as broad as the house-floor, there would be found means enough to recall it." The Virginia Company showed the most favourable dispositions. They said "the thing was of God," and granted a large patent, which, however, proved of no use. * See Robertson's History of Scotland, chap. viii. | The reader will remember that the whole Atlan- tic i.oast was then called Virginia by the English. ± Edward Winslow's Brief Narrative. D One of them, to help the undertaking, lent the sum of .£300, without interest, for three years, and this was afterward repaid. This advance must have been a seasonable encouragement, for a hard bargain had to be struck with some London merchants, or " adventurers," as they are called by the colonial historians, in order to raise what farther money was required. At length two ships, the Speedwell of sixty, and the Mayflower of a hundred and eighty tons, were engaged, and everything else arran- ged for the departure of as many as the ships could accommodate. Those went who first offered themselves, and Brewster, the ruling elder, was chosen their spiritual guide. The other leading men were John Carver, William Bradford, Miles Standish, and Edward Winslow. • Mr. Robinson stay- ed behind, along with the greater part of the flock, with the intention of joining those who first went at some future time, should such be the will of God. A solemn fast was observed. Their beloved pastor afterward delivered a farewell charge, which must be regarded as a remarkable production for those times.* * This charge is related in Edward Winslow's " Brief Narrative." It is here subjoined in the lan- guage in which it is given by that author, from whom alone it became known to the world : " We are now ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether ever he should live to see our faces again. But whether the Lord had appoint- ed it or not, he charged us before God and his bless- ed angels to follow him no farther than he followed Christ ; and if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of His, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any truth by his min- istry ; for he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word. He took occasion, also, miserably to bewail the state and condition of the Reformed Churches, who were come to a period in religion, and would no farther go than the instruments of their reformation. As, for example, the Lutherans, they could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; for whatever part of God's will He had farther imparted and revealed unto Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And so also, saith he, you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them, a misery much to be la- mented ; for though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God hath not revealed his whole will to them ; and were they now living, saith he, they would be as ready and willing to embrace far- ther light as that they had received. Here, also, he put us in mind of our church covenant, at least that part of it whereby we promise and covenant with God and one another, to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from his written Word ; but, withal, exhorted us to take heed what we received for truth, and well to examine and compare it, and weigh it with other scriptures of truth before we received it. For saith he, it is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. " Another thing he commended to us was, that we should use all means to avoid and shake off the name of Brownist, being a mere nickname and brand to make religion odious, and the professors of it, to the Christian world. And to that end, said he, I should be glad if some godly minister would go over with you before my coming ; for, said he, there will be no difference between the unconformable [nonconform- 50 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IL All things being now ready, the emigrants, after being " feasted at the pastor's house. for it was large," by those who were to remain behind, and having been " refreshed after their tears by the singing of psalms," set out for Delft-haven, where the ships then lay. There they were again " feast- ed," and prayer having been made, they were accompanied on board by their friends, but " were not able to speak to one another for the abundance of sorrow to part." The wind being favourable, they were soon on their way. They left Holland on the 22d of July, 1620, followed by the respect of the peo- ple among whom they had lived. Wins- low tells us that the Dutch, on learning that they were about to leave their coun- try, urged them much to settle in Zealand, or, if they preferred America, to seek a home for themselves on the Hudson, with- in the territory discovered by the naviga- tor who gave his name to that river while in their service, and which they therefore claimed, and had resolved to colonize. But the liberal inducements then offered to the emigrants could not alter their purpose of settling in a country which should be un- der the government of their native land. A few days brought them safely to South- ampton, in England. On learning that the captain of the smaller of the two vessels was unwilling to prosecute so long a voy- age in her, after having put back, first to Dartmouth and then to Plymouth, they were compelled to send the Speedwell, with part of the company, to London, and it was not until the 6th of September that the Mayflower finally sailed with a hun- dred passengers. The voyage proved long and boisterous. One person died and a child was born, so that the original num- ber reached the coast of America. On the 11th of November they entered the har- bour of Cape Cod, and after having spent fully a month in looking about for a place that seemed suitable for a settlement, they ing, but who had not actually separated from the Church] ministers and you, when they come to the practice of the ordinances out of the kingdom. And so advised us by all means to endeavour to close with the godly party of the kingdom of England, and rath- er to study union than division, viz., how near we might possibly, without sin, close with them, than in the least measure to effect division or separation from them. And be not loath to take another pastor or teacher, saith he ; for that flock that hath two shep- herds is not endangered, but secured by it. " Such is the remarkable farewell address, as report- ed by Winslow. " Words," says Prince in his " An- nals," speaking of it, "almost astonishing in that are of low and universal bigotry which then prevailed in the English nation ; wherein this truly great and learned man seemed to be the only divine who was capable of rising into a noble freedom of thinking and practising in religious matters, and even of ur- ging such an equal liberty on his own people. He labours to take them off from their attachment to him, that they might be more entirely free to search and follow the Scriptures." fixed, at last, on the spot now bearing the name of the town where they had received the last hospitalities of England. There they landed on the 11th of December, old style, or the 22d of December, according to the new ; and to this day the very rock on which they first planted their feet at landing is shown to the passing stranger as a cherished memorial of that interesting event. On that rock commenced the col- onization of New-England. On the day of the arrival of the May- flower in Cape Cod harbour, the following document was signed by all the male heads of families, and unmarried men not attach- ed to families represented by their respect- ive heads. " In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Brit- ain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c, having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutu- ally, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine, ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and fur- therance of the ends aforesaid, and by vir- tue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the col- ony ; unto which we promise all due sub- mission and obedience. In witness where- of, we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of Novem- ber, in the year of the reign of our sover- eign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scot- land the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620." Here may be said to have been the first attempt made by an American colony to frame a constitution or fundamental law — the seminal principle, as it were, of all that wonderful series of efforts which have been put forth in the New World towards fixing the foundations of independent, vol- untary self-government. John Carver was chosen governor of the colony, and to as- sist him in administering its affairs, a coun- cil of five, afterward increased to seven members, was appointed. After selecting what they considered to be the best spot for a settlement, as the ship's boat could not come close to the water's edge, they suffered much in their health by having to wade ashore. The few intervals of good weather they could catch, between snow and rain, they spent in erecting houses ; but before the first sum- mer came round, nearly half their number Chap. III.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 51 had fallen victims to consumptions and fe- vers, the natural effects of the hardships to which they had been exposed. What must have been the distress they suffered during that long winter, passed beneath unknown skies, with a gloomy, unbroken forest on the one hand, and the dreary ocean on the other ! But with the return of spring came health, and hope, and courage. The colo- ny took root. The ground it occupied had been cleared for it by the previous destruc- tion, by pestilence, of the tribe of Indians which had occupied it. Of course, the col- onists could not buy land which there was nobody to sell. They soon made the ac- quaintance of the neighbouring tribes, ac- quired their friendship, and entered into treaty with them. Their numbers were in course of time increased by successive ar- rivals of emigrants, until, in 1630. they ex- ceeded 300. After the second year they raised grain not only to supply all their own wants, but with a surplus for exportation.* They soon had a number of vessels em- ployed at the fisheries. They even planted a colony on the Kennebec, in Maine, and extended their trade to the Connecticut River, before the close of the first ten years of their settlement, and before any other English colony had been formed on the coast of Northern Virginia, or New-Eng- land, the name given it by Captain Smith in 1614, and by which it was ever after to be distinguished. The governor and council were chosen every year. At first, and for above eigh- teen years, " the people" met, as in Athens of old, for the discussion and adoption of laws. But as the colony extended, and towns and villages rose along the coasts and in the interior, the " Democratic" form of government gave place to the " Republi- can," by two delegates being chosen from each township to form "the General Court," or Legislature of the commonwealth. For some time they had no pastor or preaching elder, but Mr. Brewster led their * During the first two or three years they suffered greatly at times for want of food. Sometimes they subsisted on half allowance for months. They were once saved from famishing by the benevolence of some fishermen off the coast. " I have seen men," says Winslow, " stagger by reason of faintness for want of food." " Tradition declares, that at one time the colonists were reduced to a pint of corn, which, being parched and distributed, gave to each individual only five kernels: but tradition falls far short of reality ; for three or four months together they had no corn whatever. When a few of their old friends arrived to join them, a lobster, or a piece of fish, without bread or anything else but a cup of fair spring water, was the best dish which the hos- pitality of the whole colony could afford. Neat cat- tle were not introduced till the fourth year of the settlement. Yet, during all this season of self-deni- al and suffering, the cheerful confidence of the Pil- grims in the mercies of Providence remained unsha- ken." — Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i., p. 315. public devotions until they came to have a regular minister. Their affairs as a church were conducted with the same system and order that marked their civil economy. Such is a brief account of the founding of Plymouth Colony, the earliest of all that were planted in New-England. Placed on a sandy and but moderately productive part of the coast, and commanding a very lim- ited extent of inland territory from which to derive the materials of commerce and wealth, it could not be expected to be- come a great and important colony, like others of which I have yet to speak. But it was excelled by none in the moral worth of its founders. All professing god- liness, they almost without exception, as far as we know, did honour to that profes- sion. True religion was with them the first of all possessions. They feared God, and He walked among them, and dwelt among them, and His blessing rested upon them. The anniversary of their disembar- cation at Plymouth has long been regular- ly celebrated upon the yearly return of the 22d of December, in prose and in verse, in oration and in poem : a patriotic and reli- gious duty, to which have been consecrated the highest efforts of many of the noblest and purest minds ever produced by the country to whose colonization they led the way. CHAPTER HI. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-ENGLAND. COL- ONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. The first English settlements in America arose, it will be remembered,* from James I.'s investing two Companies, the one form- ed at London, the other at Bristol and oth- er towns in the West of England, each with a belt of territory extending from the At- lantic to the Pacific Ocean ; the one lying between the 34th and 38th, the other be- tween the 41st and 48th degrees of north latitude. Both Companies were formed in a purely commercial spirit ; each was to have its own council, but the Royal Coun- cil was to have the superintendence of their whole colonial system. The London Com- pany was dissolved, we have seen, after an existence of eighteen years. The other accomplished nothing beyond giving en- couragement to sundry trading voyages to the coast of the country made over to it by its charter. At length, at the repeated instance of Captain Smith, the Western Company sought a renewal of their patent, with ad- ditional powers, similar to those of the London Company's second charter in 1609, * Book i., chap. iv. 52 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. with the view of attempting an extensive plan of colonization ; and, notwithstanding opposition from the Parliament and the country at large, they succeeded in their request. On November 3d, 1G20, the king granted a charter to forty of his subjects, among whom were members of his house- hold and government, and some of the wealthiest and most powerful of the Eng- lish nobility, convejdng to them in abso- lute property, to be disposed of and admin- istered as they might think proper, the whole of that part of North America which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between the 40th and 48th degrees of north latitude, under the title of " The Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing New-England, in America." Under the auspices of a vast trading corpo- ration, invested with such despotic powers, the colonization of New-England com- menced. While this charter was in course of being granted, the Pilgrims were fast approaching the American coast. No val- id title had given them, as yet, any legal right to set their feet upon it, but this they obtained a few years after from the newly- formed Plymouth Company. From its very commencement the new company began to lavish away grants of the immense territory which had been conveyed to it, so that during the fifteen years of its existence it covered with its patents the whole country now com- prising Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, Maine, and the vast region westward of these as far as the Pacific Ocean. Such ■was the utter disregard shown in those grants for anything like clear and precise boundaries, that we cannot so much won- der at the number of lawsuits that arose from them, as that these were ever termi- nated. To Mason and Gorges were grant- ed the territories now forming the States of New-Hampshire and Maine ; to Sir William Alexander, the country between the River St. Croix and the mouth of the St. Lawrence, notwithstanding that it was all well known to be claimed by the French, who had even planted a colony upon it, called by them Acadie,but ultimately des- tined to receive the name of Nova Scotia. But the most important grant made by the Plymouth Company, often called in history the Council for New-England, was one conveying the Massachusetts territory to a body organized in England in 1628, for the purpose of at once providing an asy- lum for persons suffering for conscience' sake in the Old World, and of extending the kingdom of Christ in the New, by founding a colony on a large scale. With this view, six Dorchester gentlemen bought from the company a belt of land stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between three miles south of Charles River and Massachusetts Bay, and three miles north of every part of the River Merrimac. Of these six, three, namely, Humphrey, Endi- cot, and Whetcomb, retained their shares ; while the other three sold theirs to Win- throp, Dudley, Johnson, Pynchon, Eaton, Saltonstall, and Bellingham, so famous in colonial history, besides many others, men of fortune and friends to colonial enter- prise. Thus strengthened, this new com- pany sent out two hundred colonists under Endicot, a man every way fitted for such an enterprise — courageous, cheerful, and having firmness of purpose and warmth of temper, softened by an austere benevo- lence. These arrived in Massachusetts Bay in September, 1628, and settled at Sa- lem, where several members of the Plym- outh colony had already established them- selves. The news of this event still farther aug- mented the now growing interest felt in England on the subject of colonizing Amer- ica. In the painful circumstances in which the Puritans were placed, they could not fail to have their attention drawn to the continued prosperity of the Plymouth set- tlement, and naturally rejoiced to hear of a land towards the setting sun where they might enjoy a tranquillity to which they had long been strangers in the land of their fathers. Such was the interest felt through- out the kingdom, that not only in London, Bristol, and Plymouth, but at Boston, and other inland towns, influential persons were found ready to risk their fortunes in the cause. Efforts were made to procure the royal sanction for the patent granted by the Plymouth Company to that of Massa- chusetts, and a royal charter in favour of the latter, after much trouble and expense, passed the seals on the 4th of March, 1629. This charter, bearing the signature of Charles I., was evidently granted under the idea that the persons whom it incorpo- rated were to be rather a trading commu- nity than a civil government. They were constituted a body politic, by the name of " The Governor and Company of Massa- chusetts Bay in New-England." The ad- ministration of its affairs was committed to a governor, deputy-governor, and thir- teen assistants, elected by the sharehold- ers. The freemen were to meet four times a year, or oftener if necessary, and were empowered to pass laws for the reg- ulation of their affairs, without any provis- ion rendering the royal assent indispensa- ble to the validity of their acts. Strictly considered, the patent simply conferred the rights of English subjects, without any enlargement of religious liberty. It em- powered, but did not require the governor to administer the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. The persons in whose favour it was granted were still members of the Church of England — not Independents or Chap. III.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 53 Separatists — and probably neither the gov- ernment, nor the first patentees, foresaw how wide a departure from the economy of that Church would result from the emi- gration that was about to take place under its provisions. It is surprising that a charter which con- ferred unlimited powers on the corpora- tion, and secured no rights to the colonists, should have become the means of estab- lishing the freest of all the colonies. This was partly owing to its empowering the corporation to fix what terms it pleased for the admission of new members. The corporation could increase or change its members with its own consent, and not being obliged to hold its meetings in Eng- land, it was possible for it to emigrate, and thus to identify itself with the colo- ny which it was its main object to found. This was actually done. As the corpora- tion was entirely composed of Puritans, it was not difficult, by means of resignations and new elections, to choose the govern- or, deputy-governor, and assistants, from among such as were willing to leave Eng- land as colonists. The first object of the new company, on obtaining a royal charter, was to re-enforce the party which had gone out with Endi- cot and settled at Salem. The re-enforce- ment consisted of 200 emigrants, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Francis Hig- ginson, an eminent Nonconformist minis- ter, who was delighted to accept of the in- vitation to undertake that charge. By their arrival, which happened in June, the colony at Salem was increased to 300 per- sons ; but diseases and the hardships inci- dent to new settlements cut off, during the following winter, eighty of that number, who died only lamenting that they were not allowed to see the future glories of the colony. Among these was their beloved pastor, Mr Higginson, whose death was a great loss to the little community. The year following, namely, 1G30, was a glorious one for the colonization of New- England. Having first taken every pre- paratory measure required for self-trans- portation, the corporation itself embark- ed, accompanied by a body of from 800 to 900 emigrants, among whom were sev- eral persons of large property and high standing in society. John Winthrop, one of the purest characters in England, had been chosen governor. Taken as a whole, it is thought that no single colony could ever be compared with them. One may form some idea of the elevated piety that pervaded the higher classes among the Pu- ritans of that day from the language of the younger Winthrop : " I shall call that my country," said he to his father, "where I may most glorify God, and enjoy the pres- ence of my dearest friends. Therefore herein I submit myself to God's will and yours, and dedicate myself to God and the company with the whole endeavours both of body and mind. The ' Conclusions' which you sent down are unanswerable ; and it cannot but. be a prosperous action which is so well allowed by the judgments of God's prophets, undertaken by so religious and wise worthies in Israel, and indented to God's glory in so special a service."* Governor Winthrop had a fine estate which he sacrificed. Many others sacri- ficed what were considered good estates in England in those days. One of the richest of the colonists was Isaac Johnson, " the father of Boston." As a proof of his being a man of wealth, it may be men- tioned that, by his will, his funeral expen- ses were limited to £-250. His wife, the Lady Arabella, was a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. In her devotedness to the cause of Christ, " she came from a para- dise of plenty into a wilderness of wants. "f They were almost without exception god- ly people, and when they embarked for America were members of the Church of England, being that in which they had been born and brought up. Though of the par- ty that were opposed to what they consid- ered Romish superstitions and errors, still cleaving in their conscientious convictions to the National Church ; and though they could not in all points conform to it, yet they had not separated from it, but sought the welfare of their souls in its ministra- tions, whenever they possibly could hope to find it there. They lamented what they regarded as its defects, but not in a spirit of bitter hostility. This very plainly ap- pears from the following letter addressed to the members of the Church of England, by Governor Winthrop and others, imme- diately after their embarcation, and when they were about to bid a long farewell to their native shores. It is conceived in a noble spirit : " The humble request of his majesty's loyal subjects, the Governor and the Com- pany, late gone for New-England, to the rest of their brethren in the Church of England. " Reverend Fathers and Brethren — The general rumour of this solemn enterprise, wherein ourselves, with others, through the providence of the Almighty, are engaged, as it may spare us the labour of imparting our occasion unto you, so it gives us the more encouragement to strengthen our- selves by the procurement of the prayers and blessings of the Lord's faithful ser- vants ; for which end we are bold to have recourse unto you, as those whom God hath placed nearest his throne of mercy, which, as it affords you the more oppor- tunity, so it imposeth the greater bond upon you to intercede for his people in all their * Wmthrop's Journal, i., p. 359, 3G0. t Judge Story's Centennial Discourse. 54 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. straits ; we beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of the Lord Jesus, to consider us as your brethren, standing in very great need of your help, and earnestly imploring it. And howsoever your charity may have met with some occasion of discourage- ment, through the misreport of our inten- tions, or through the disaffection or indis- cretion of some of us, or, rather, among us — for we are not of those that dream of perfection in this world — yet we -desire you would be pleased to take notice of the principles and body of our company, as those who esteem it our honour to call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our dear mother, and cannot part from our native country, where she specially resi- deth, without much sadness of heart, and many tears in our eyes ; ever acknowl- edging that such hope and part as we have obtained in the common salvation, we have received in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts ; we leave it not, therefore, as loathing that milk wherewith we were nourished there, but, blessing God for the parentage and education, as members of the same body, shall always rejoice in her good, and unfeignedly grieve for any sor- row that shall ever betide her; and while we have breath, sincerely desire and en- deavour the continuance and abundance of her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the kingdom of Christ Jesus. " Be pleased, therefore, fathers and brethren, to help forward this work now in hand, which, if it prosper, you shall be the more glorious ; howsoever, your judgment is with the Lord, and your reward with your God. It is a usual and laudable ex- ercise of your charity to commend to the prayers of your congregations the neces- sities and straits of your private neigh- bours : do the like for a church springing out of your own bowels. We conceive much hope that this remembrance of us, if it be frequent and fervent, will be a most prosperous gale in our sails, and provide such a passage and welcome for us from the God of the whole earth, as both we which shall find it, and yourselves, with the rest of our friends who shall hear of it, shall be much enlarged to bring in such daily returns of thanksgivings as the speci- alities of His providence and goodness may justly challenge at all our hands. You are not ignorant that the Spirit of God stirred up the Apostle Paul to make con- tinual mention of the Church of Philippi (which was a colony from Rome) ; let the same Spirit, we beseech you, put you in mind, that are the Lord's remembrancers, to pray for us without ceasing (who are a weak colony from yourselves), making continual request for us to God in all your prayers. " What we entreat of you that are the ministers of God. that we also crave at the hands of all the rest of our brethren, that they would at no time forget us in their private solicitations at the throne of grace. " If any there be who, through want of clear intelligence of our course, or tender- ness of affection towards us, cannot con- ceive so well of our way as we could desire, we would entreat such not to despise us ; nor to desert us in their prayers and affec- tions, but to consider rather that they are so much the more bound to express the bowels of their compassion towards us, re- membering always that both nature and grace doth ever bind us to relieve and res- cue with our utmost and speediest power such as are dear to us, when we conceive them to be running uncomfortable hazards. " What goodness you shall extend to us on this or any other Christian kindness, we, your brethren in Christ Jesus, shall labour to repay in what duty we are or shall be able to perform, promising, so far as God shall enable us, to give Him no rest on your behalf, wishing our heads and hearts may be as fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we shall be in our poor cot- tages in the wilderness, overshadowed with the spirit of supplication, through the mani- fold necessities and tribulations which may not altogether unexpectedly, nor, we hope, unprofitably befall us. And so commend- ing you to the grace of God in Christ, we shall ever rest." The ships that bore Winthrop and his companions across the Atlantic reached Massachusetts Bay in the following June and July. After having consoled the dis- tresses and relieved the wants of the Salem colonists, the newly-arrived emigrants set about choosing a suitable place for a settle- ment ; a task which occupied the less time, as the bay had been well explored by pre- ceding visiters. The first landing was made at the spot where Charlestown now stands. A party having gone from that place up the Charles River to Watertown, there some of them resolved to settle ; others preferred Dorchester; but the greater num- ber resolved to occupy the peninsula upon which Boston now stands, the settlement receiving that name from part of the colo- nists having come from Boston in England. For a while they were lodged in cloth tents and wretched huts, and had to endure all kinds of hardship. To complete their tri- als, disease made its attacks, and carried off 200 of them at least before December. About a hundred lost heart, and went back to England. Many who had been accus- tomed in their native land to ease and plenty, and to all the refinements and lux- uries of cultivated life, were now compelled to struggle with unforeseen wants and dif- ficulties. Among those who sank under such hardships, and died, was the Lady Arabella Johnson. Her husband, too, " the Chap. III.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 55 greatest furtherer of the plantation," was carried off by disease ; but " he died will- ingly and in sweet peace," making " a most godly end."* These trials and afflictions were borne with a calm reliance on the goodness of God, nor was there a doubt felt but that in the end all would go well. They were sustained by a profound belief that God was with them, and by bearing in mind the object of their coming to that wilderness. Amid all this gloom, light began to break in at last. Health returned, and the blanks caused by death were filled up by partial arrivals of new emigrants from England in the course of the two following years. The colony becoming a little settled, meas- ures were taken to introduce a more popu- lar government, by extending the privile- ges of the charter, which had established a sort of close corporation. By it all funda- mental laws were to be enacted by general meetings of the freemen, or members of the company. One of the first steps, ac- cordingly, was to convene a General Court at Boston, and admit above a hundred of the older colonists to the privileges of the corporation ; and from that they gradually went on, until, instead of an aristocratic government conducted by a governor, dep- uty-governor, and assistants, holding office for an indefinite period, these functionaries were elected annually, and the powers of legislation were transferred from general courts of all the freemen joined with the assistants, to a new legislature, or " general court," consisting of two branches, the as- sistants constituting the upper, and deputies from all the " towns" forming the lower branch. Within five years from the found- ation of the colony, a Constitution was drawn up, which was to serve as a sort of Magna Charta, embracing all the funda- mental principles of just government ; and in fourteen years the colonial government was organized upon the same footing as that on which it rests at the present day. But with these colonists the claims of religion took precedence of all other con- cerns of public interest. The New- Eng- land Fathers began with God, sought his blessing, and desired, first of all, to pro- mote his worship. Immediately after landing they appointed a day for solemn fasting and prayer. The worship of God was commenced by them not in temples built with hands, but beneath the wide- spreading forest. The Rev. Mr. Wilson, the Rev. Mr. Philips, and other faithful ministers, had come out with them ; and for these, as soon as the affairs of the col- ony became a little settled, a suitable pro- vision was made. In the third year of the settlement there •came out, among other fresh emigrants, Governor Winthrop's Journal. two spiritual teachers, who were after- ward to exercise a most extensive and beneficial influence in the colonies. One of these was the eminently pious and zeal- ous Cotton, a man profoundly learned in the Holy Scriptures, as well as in the wri- tings of the fathers and the schoolmen ; in the pulpit rather persuasive than eloquent, and having a wonderful command over the judgments and hearts of his hearers. The other was Hooker, a man of vast endow- ments, untiring energy, and singular be- nevolence ; the equal of the Reformers, though of less harsh a spirit than that which marked most of those great men. These and other devoted servants of God were highly appreciated, not only for their works' sake, but also for their great per- sonal excellences. Before long the colony began to extend, in all directions, from Boston as a centre and capital ; and as new settlements were made, additional churches were also plant- ed ; for the New-England fathers felt that nothing could be really and permanently prosperous without religion.* Within five years a considerable population was to be found scattered over Dorchester, Roxbu- ry, Watertown, Cambridge, Chaiiestown, Lynn, and other settlements. Trade was spreading wide its sails ; emigrants were arriving from Europe ; brotherly inter- course was opened up with the Plymouth colony, by the visits of Governor Win- throp and the Rev. Mr. Wilson. Friendly treaties were made not only with the neighbouring Indian tribes, the Nipmucks and Narragansetts, but also with the more distant Mohigans and the Pequods in Con- necticut. God was emphatically honoured by the great bulk of the people, and every- thing bore the aspect of prosperity and happiness. Such was the origin of the colony of Massachusetts Bay — a colony destined to exercise a controlling influence over all the other New-England Planta- tions. * Several of these new and feeble churches actu- ally supported two ministers, one called the " Pas- tor," and the other the " Teacher." The distinction between these offices is not very easily expressed, and must have been more difficult to maintain in practice. Thomas Hooker, in his " Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline," &c, declares the scope of the pastor's office to be " to work upon the will and the affections ;" that of the doctor or teach- er, ' ; to iuforme the judgment, and to help forward the work of illumination in the minde and under- standing, and thereby to make way for the truth, that it may be settled and fastened on the heart." The former was to " wooe and win the soul to the love and practice of the doctrine which is according to godlinesse ;" the latter, to dispense " a word of knowledge." I need hardly say that this duplicate of the ministerial office, though much liked by the early colonists, did not long survive their day. 56 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. CHAPTER IV. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-ENGLAND. COL- ONIES OF CONNECTICUT, RHODE ISLAND, NEW-HAMPSHIRE, AND MAINE. GENERAL REMARKS. Plymouth* colony had been planted only three years when it began to have off- shoots, one of which, hi 1623, settled at Windsor, on the rich alluvial lands of the Connecticut, led thither, however, more by the advantages of the spot as a station for trading in fur, than by the nature of the soil. The report of its fertility having, at length, reached England, the Earl of War- wick bought from the Council for New- England, as we have seen that the Plym- outh Company was sometimes called, the whole Valley of the Connecticut, which purchase was, the year following, trans- ferred to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke, and John Hampden. Two years later, the Dutch, who, in right of discovery, claimed the whole of the Connecticut ter- ritory, sent an expedition from their set- tlement at Manhattan up the River Con- necticut, and attempted to make good their claim by erecting a blockhouse, called Good Hope, at Hartford. In 1635, the younger Winthrop, the future benefactor of Connecticut, came from England with a commission from the proprietors to build a fort at the mouth of the river, and this he did soon after. Yet, even before his arrival, settlers from the neighbourhood of Boston had established themselves at Hartford, Windsor, and Weathersfield. Late in the fall of that year, a party of sixty persons, men, women, and children, set out for the Connecticut, and suffered much from the inclement weather of the winter that followed. In the following June, another party, amounting to about a hundred in number, including some of the best of the Massachusetts Bay settlers, left Boston for the Valley of the Connecticut. They were under the superintendence of Hayes, who had been one year governor of Boston, and of Hooker, who, as a preacher, was rivalled in the New World by none but Cotton, and even Cotton he excelled in force of character, kindliness of disposition, and magnanimity. Settling at the spot where Hartford now stands, they founded the colony of Connecticut. They, too, carried the ark of the Lord with them, and made religion the basis of their institutions. Three years sufficed for the framing of their political government. First, as had been done by the Plymouth * Plymouth in America is often called New Plymouth by early writers, in speaking of New-Eng- land. I prefer the name by which exclusively the town is now known. The context will always en- able the reader to distinguish it from Plymouth in England. colony, they subscribed a solemn compact, and then drew up a Constitution on the most liberal principles. The magistrates and Legislature were to be chosen every year by ballot, the "towns'" were to return representatives in proportion to their pop- ulation, and all members of the " towns," on taking the oath of allegiance to the commonwealth, were to be allowed to vote at elections. Two centuries have since passed away, but Connecticut still rejoices in the same principles of civil polity. But before this colony had time to com- plete its organization, the colonists had to defend themselves and all that was dear to them against their neighbours, the Pe- quods. This was the first war that broke out between the New- England settlers and the native tribes, and it must be allowed to have been a just one on the part of the former, if war can ever be so. The Pe- quods brought it upon themselves by the commission of repeated murders. In less than six weeks, hostilities were brought to a close by the annihilation of the tribe. Two hundred only were left alive, and these were either reduced to servitude by the colonists, or incorporated among the Mohigans and Narragansetts. The colony of New-Haven was founded in 1638 by a body of Puritans, who, like all the rest, were of the school of Calvin, and whose religious teacher was the Rev. John Davenport. The excellent Theoph- ilus Eaton was their first governor, and continued to be annually elected to that office for twenty years. Their first Sab- bath, in the yet cool month of April, was spent under a branching oak, and there their pastor discoursed to them on the Sa- viour's " temptation in the wilderness." After spending a day in fasting and pray- er, they laid the foundation of their civil government by simply covenanting that " all of them would be ordered by the rules which the Scriptures held forth to them." A title to their lands was purchased from 1 the Indians. The following year, these disciples of " Him who was cradled in a manger" held their first Constituent As- sembly in a barn. Having solemnly come to the conclusion that the Scriptures con- tain a perfect pattern of a commonwealth, according to that they aimed at construct- ing theirs. Purity of religious doctrine and discipline, freedom of religious worship, and the service and glory of God, were proclaimed as the great ends of the enter- prise. God smiled upon it, so that in a few years the colony could show flourish- ing settlements rising along the Sound, and on the opposite shores of Long Isl- and. While the colonization of Connecticut was in progress, that of Rhode Island com*- menced. Roger Williams, a Puritan min- ister, had arrived in Boston the year ira- Chap. IV.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 57 mediately following its settlement by Win- throp and his companions ; but he soon advanced doctrines on the rights of con- science, and the nature and limits of hu- man government, which were unaccepta- ble to the civil and religious authorities of the colony. For two years he avoided coming into collision with his opponents by residing at Plymouth ; but having been invited to become pastor of a church in Salem, where he had preached for some time after his first coming to America, lie was ordered, at last, to return to Eng- land ; whereupon, instead of complying, he sought refuge among the Narragansett Indians, then occupying a large part of the present State of Rhode Island. Having ever been the steady friend of the Indians, and defender of their rights, he was kind- ly received by the aged chief, Canonicus, and there, in ( 1636, he founded the city and plantation of Providence. Two years af- terward, the beautiful island called Rhode Island, in Narragansett Bay, was bought from the Indians, by John Clarke, William Coddington, and their friends, when obli- ged to leave the Massachusetts colony, in consequence of the part which they had taken in the " Antinomian controversy," as it was called, and of which we shall have occasion to speak. These two colonies of Providence and Rhode Island, both founded on the principle of absolute religious free- dom, naturally presented an asylum to all who disliked the rigid laws and practices of the Massachusetts colony in religious matters ; but many, it must be added, fled thither only out of hatred to the stern mo- rality of the other colonies. Hence Rhode Island, to this day, has a more mixed pop- ulation, as respects religious opinions and practices, than any other part of New-Eng- land. There is, however, no inconsidera- ble amount of sincere piety in the state, but the forms in which it manifests itself are numerous. As early as 1623, small settlements were made, under the grant to Mason, on the banks of the Piscataqua, in New-Hamp- shire; and, in point of date, both Ports- mouth and Dover take precedence of Bos- ton. Most of the New-Hampshire settlers came direct from England ; some from the Plymouth colony. Exeter owed its found- ation to the abandonment of Massachusetts by the Rev. Mr. Wheelwright and his im- mediate friends, on the occasion of the " Antinomian controversy." The first permanent settlements made on " the Maine," as the continental part of the country was called, to distinguish it from the islands — and hence the name of the state — date as early, it would appear, as 1626. The settlers were from Plym- outh, and no doubt carried with them the religious institutions cherished in that ear- liest of all the New-England colonies. Within twenty years from the planting of the colony at Plymouth, all the other chief colonies of New-England were founded, their governments organized, and the coast of the Atlantic, from the Kennebec River in Maine almost to the Hudson in New- York, marked by their various settlements. Off- shoots from these original stocks gradually appeared, both at intervening points near the ocean, and at such spots in the interior as attracted settlers by superior fertility of soil or other physical advantages. From time to time, little bands of adventurers left the older homesteads, and wandered forth in search of new abodes. Carrying their substance. with them in wagons, and driving before them their cattle, sheep, and hogs, these simple groups wended through the tangled forest, crossed swamps and rivers, and traversed hill and dale, un- til some suitable resting-place appeared ; the silence of the wilderness, meanwhile, was broken by the lowing of their cattle and the bleating of their sheep, as well as by the songs of Zion, with which the pil- grims beguiled the fatigues of the way. Everywhere nature had erected bethels for them, and from beneath the overshad- owing oak, morning and night, their ori- sons ascended to the God of their salva- tion. Hope of future comfort sustained them amid present toils. They were cheered by the thought that the extension of their settlements was promoting also the extension of the kingdom of Christ This rapid advance of the New-England settlements, during the first twenty years of their existence, must be ascribed, in a great measure, to the troubled condition and lowering prospects of the mother- country during the same period. The de- spotic principles of Charles I. as a mon- arch, still more, perhaps, the religious in- tolerance of Archbishop Laud and his par- tisans, so fatally abetted by the king, drove thousands from England to the colonies, and hurried on the Revolution that soon fol- lowed at home. The same oppressive and bigoted policy, indeed, that was convulsing Great Britain, threatened the colonies also ; but in 1639, just as they were on the eve of an open collision, the government of that country found itself so beset with dif- ficulties at home, that New-England, hap- pily for its own sake, was forgotten. Nor does the prosperity of the colonial settlements, during those twenty years, seem less remarkable than their multipli- cation and extension over the country. The huts in which the emigrants first found shelter gave place to well-built houses. Commerce made rapid advances. Large'' quantities of the country's natural produc- tions, such as furs and lumber, were ex- ported ; grain was shipped to the West Indies, and fishing employed many hands. Ship-building was carried to such an ex- 58 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. tent, that, within twenty-five years from the first settlement of New-England, ves- sels of 400 tons were constructed there. Several kinds of manufactures, even, be- gan to take root in the colonies. It is calculated that 21,200 emigrants had arrived in New-England alone before the Long Parliament met. " One hundred and ninety-eight ships had borne them across the Atlantic, and the whole cost of the plantations had been 1,000,000 of dollars ; a great expenditure and a great emigration for that age ; yet, in 1832, more than 50,000 persons arrived at the single port of Quebec in one summer, bringing with them a capital exceeding 3,000,000 of dollars."* A great change, in this respect, took place during the next twenty years, em- bracing the period of the civil war, and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell and his son. Not only were there few arri- vals of emigrants during that interval, but some fiery spirits in the colonies returned to the mother-country, eager to take part in the contest waging there. This, indeed, some of the leading men in New-England were earnestly pressed to do by letters from both houses of Parliament, but they were unwilling to abandon the duties of the posts they occupied in the New World. Upon the whole, from 1640 to 1660 the population of New-England rather dimin- ised than augmented. But while such, during the early years of their existence, was the temporal pros- perity of these colonies, not less was their spiritual. In 1647, New-England had for- ty-three churches united in one commu- nion ; in 1650, the number of churches was fifty-eight, that of communicants 7750 ; and in 1674, there were more than eighty English churches of Christ, composed of known pious and faithful professors only, dispersed through the wilderness. Of these, twelve or thirteen were in Plymouth col- ony, forty-seven in Massachusetts and the province of New-Hampshire, nineteen in Connecticut, three in Long Island, and one in Martha's Vineyard. f Well might one of her pious historians say, " It con- cerneth New-England always to remem- ber that she is a religious plantation, and not a plantation of trade. The profession of purity of doctrine, worship, and disci- pline, is written upon her forehead. "J The New-England colonists may have been " the poorest of the people of God in the whole world," and they settled in a rugged country, the poorest, in fact, in natural resources of all the United States' territories ; nevertheless, their industry * Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i., p. 415. t Prince's Christian History. Emerson's History of the First Church. $ Prince, in his Christian History, p. 66. and other virtues made them increase in wealth, and transformed their hills and valleys into a delightful land. Their com- merce soon showed itself in all seas ; their manufactures gradually gained ground, notwithstanding the obstacles created by the jealousy of England, and, with the in- crease of their population, they overspread a large extent of the space included in their charters. Many, indeed, affect to sneer at the founders of New-England ; but the sneers of ignorance and prejudice cannot detract from their real merits. Not that we would claim the praise of absolute wisdom for all that was done by the " New-England Fathers." Some of their penal laws were unreasonably and unjustly severe, some were frivolous ; some were even ridicu- lous.* Some of their usages were dicta- ted by false views of propriety. Nor can it be denied that they were intolerant to those who differed from them in religion ; that they persecuted Quakers and Baptists, and abhorred Roman Catholics. But all this grew out of the erroneous views which they, in common with almost all the world at that time, entertained on the rights of human conscience and the duties of civil government, in cases where those rights are concerned. We shall see, likewise, that they committed some most serious mistakes, resulting from the same errone- ous views, in the civil establishments of religion adopted in most of the colonies. Notwithstanding all this, they will be found to have been far in advance of other na- tions of their day. With respect to their treatment of the native tribes, they were led into measures which appear harsh and unjust by the fact of their laws being modelled upon those of the Jews. Such, for example, was their making slaves of those Indians whom they made prisoners in war. There were cases, also, of individual wrong done to the In- dians. Yet never, I believe, since the world began, have colonies from civilized nations been planted among barbarous tribes with so little injustice being perpe trated upon the whole. The land, in al most all cases where tribes remained to dispose of it, was taken only on indemni- fication being given, as they fully recog- nised the right of the natives to the soil. The only exceptions, and these were but * A great deal of misrepresentation and falsehood has been published by ignorant and prejudiced per- sons at the expense of the New-England Puritans. For example, pretended specimens of what are call- ed " the Blue Laws of Connecticut" have appeared in the journals of certain European travellers, and have been received by credulous transatlantic readers as perfectly authentic. Yet the greater part of these so-called " laws" are the sheerest fabrications ever palmed upon the world, as is shown by Professor Kingsley in a note appended to his Centennial Dis- course, delivered at New-Haven a few years ago. Chap. IV.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 59 few, were the cases in which the hazards of war put them in possession of some Indian territory. Nor were they indiffer- ent to the spiritual interests of those poor people. We shall yet see that for these they did far more than was done by any other colonies on the whole American con- tinent, and I shall explain why they did not do more. Let us now, in conclusion, contemplate for a moment the great features that mark the religious character of the founders of New-England, leaving our remarks on their religious economy to be introduced at an- other place. First, then, theirs was a religion that made much of the Bible ; I should rather say, that to them the Bible was every- thing. They not only drew their religious principles from it, but according to it, in a great degree, they fashioned their civil laws. They were disposed to refer every- thing " to the Law and to the Testimony." And although they did not always interpret the Scriptures aright, yet no people ever revered them more, or studied them more carefully. With them the famous motto of Chillingworth had a real meaning and application : The Bible is the religion of Protestants. Second. The religion of the founders of New-England was friendly to the diffusion of knowledge, and set a high value on learning. Many of their pastors, especial- ly, were men of great attainments. Not a few of them had been educated at the Uni- versities of Oxford and Cambridge, in Eng- land, and some had brought with them a European reputation. John Cotton, John Wilson, Thomas Hooker, Dunster, and Chauncey, which last two were Presidents of the University at Cambridge, Thomas Thatcher, Samuel Whiting, John Sherman, John Elliot, and several more of the early ministers, were men of great learning. All were well instructed in theology, and thor- oughly versed in Hebrew, as well as in Greek and Latin. Some, too, such as Sherman, of Watertown, were fine mathe- matical scholars. They were the friends and correspondents of Baxter, and Howe, and Selden, and Milton, and other lumina- ries among the Puritans of England. Their regard for useful learning they amply pro- ved, by the establishment of schools and academies for all the youth of the colonies, as well as for their own children. Only eight years after the first settlement of Massa- chusetts colony, they founded, at a great expense for men in their circumstances, the University of Harvard, at Cambridge, near Boston, an institution at which, for a period of more than sixty years, the most distinguished men of New-England receiv- ed their academical education. Third. Their religion was eminently fit- ted to enlarge men's views of the duty of living for God and promoting his kingdom in the world. They felt that Christianity was the greatest boon that mankind can possess ; a blessing which they were bound to do their utmost to secure to their pos- terity. In going to a new continent they were influenced by a double hope, the en- largement of Christ's kingdom by the con- version of heathen tribes, and the found- ing of an empire for their own children, in which His religion should gloriously prevail. Their eyes seemed to catch some glimpses of Messiah's universal reign, when " all nations shall be blessed in him, and call him blessed." Fourth. Their religion prompted to great examples of self-denial. Filled with the idea of an empire in which true religion might live and flourish, and satisfied from what they had seen of the Old World that the Truth was in bondage there, they sigh- ed for a land in which they might serve God according to his blessed Word. To secure such a privilege to themselves and their children, they were willing to go into a wilderness, and to toil and die. This was something worth making sacrifices for, and much did they sacrifice to obtain it. Though poor in comparison with many others, still they belonged to good families, and might have lived very comfortably in England ; but they preferred exile and hardship, in the hope of securing spiritual advantages to themselves and their posterity. Fifth. There was a noble patriotism in their religion. Some of them had long been exiled from England ; others had found their mother-country a very unkind- ly home, and yet England was still dear to them. With them it was not " Farewell, Babylon! farewell, Rome!" but, "Fare- well, dear England !"* Though contemp- tuously treated by James I. and Charles I., yet they spoke of being desirous of " en- larging his majesty's dominions." The Plymouth settlers did not wish to remain in Holland, because " their posterity would in a few generations become Dutch, and lose their interest in the English nation ; they being desirous to enlarge his majes- ty's dominions, and to live under their nat- ural prince." And much as they had suf- fered from the prelacy of the Established Church, unnatural stepmother as she had been to them, nothing could extinguish the love that they felt for her, and for the many dear children of God whom she retained in her communion. Sixth, and last. Their religion was fa- vourable to liberty of conscience. Not that they were all sufficiently enlightened to bring their laws and institutions into perfect accordance with that principle at the outset ; but even then they were, in this respect, in advance of the age in which See Mather's Magnalia, b. iii., c. i., s. 12. 60 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. they lived, and the spirit of that religion which had made them and their fathers, in England, the defenders of the rights of the people, and their tribunes, as it were, against the domination of the throne and the altar, caused them, at last, to admit the claims of conscience in their full extent. The Fathers of New-England were no mean men, whether we look to themselves or to those with whom they were associ- ated in England — the Lightfoots, the Gales, the Seldens, the Miltons, the Bunyans, the Baxters, the Bates, the Howes, the Char- nocks, the Flavels, and others of scarcely inferior standing among the two thousand who had laboured in the pulpits of the Es- tablished Church, but whom the Restora- tion cast out. Such were the men who founded the New-England colonies, and their spirit still survives, in a good measure, in their de- scendants after six generations. With the exception of a few thousands of recently- arrived Irish and Germans in Boston, and other towns on the seaboard, and of the descendants of those of the Huguenots who settled in New-England, that country is wholly occupied by the progeny of the English Puritans who first colonized it. But these are not the whole of their de- scendants in America ; for besides the 2,234,202 souls forming the population of the six New-England States in 1840, it is supposed that an equal, if not a still greater number, have emigrated to New- York, the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- nois, and into all parts of Michigan and "Wisconsin, carrying with them, in a large measure, the spirit and the institutions of their glorious ancestors. Descendants of the Puritans are also to be found scattered over all parts of the United States, and many of them prove a great blessing to the neighbourhoods in which they reside. How wonderful, then, was the mission of the founders of New-England ! How gloriously accomplished ! How rich in its results ! CHAPTER V. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COL- ONISTS. FOUNDERS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. Widely different in character, I have al- ready remarked, were the early colonists of the Southern from those of the Northern States. If New-England may be regarded as colonized by the Anglo-Saxon race, with its simpler manners, its equal insti- tutions, and its love of liberty, the South may be said to have been colonized by men very much Norman in blood, aristo- cractic in feeling and spirit, and pretend- ing to superior dignity of demeanour and elegance of manners. Nor has time yet effaced this original diversity. On the con- trary, it has been increased and confirmed by the continuance of slavery in the South, which never prevailed much at any time in the North, but has immensely influenced the tone of feeling and the customs of the Southern States. If the New-England colonies are charge- able with having allowed their feelings to become alienated from a throne from which they had often been contemptu- ously spurned, with equal truth might those of the South be accused of going to the opposite extreme, in their attachment to a line of monarchs alike undeserving of their love, and incapable of appreciating their generous loyalty. We might carry the contrast still farther. If New-England was the favourite asylum of the Puritan Roundhead, the South became, in its turn, the retreat of the " Cavalier," upon the joint subversion of the altar and the throne in his native land. And if the re- ligion of the one was strict, serious, in the regard of its enemies unfriendly to innocent amusements, and even morose, the other was the religion of the court, and of fash- ionable life, and did not require so uncom- promising a resistance " to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Not that from this parallelism, which is necessarily general, the reader is to infer that the Northern colonies had exclusive claims to be considered as possessing a truly religious character. All that is meant is to give a general idea of the different aspects which religion bore in the one and the other. Virginia was the first in point of date, as we have already stated, of all the colonies. Among its neighbours in the South it was what Massachusetts was in the North — the mother, in some sense, of the rest, and the dominant colony. Not that the others were planted chiefly from it, but be- cause, from the prominence of its posi- tion, the amount of its population, and their intelligence and wealth, it acquired from the first a preponderating influence which it retains as a state to this day. The records of Virginia furnish indubita- ble evidence that it was meant to be a Christian colony. The charter enjoined that the mode of worship should conform to that of the Established Church of Eng- land. In 1619, for the first time, Virginia had a Legislature chosen by the people ; and by an act of that body, the Episcopal Church was, properly speaking, establish- ed. In the following year the number of boroughs erected into parishes was eleven, and the number of pastors five, the popula- tion at the time being considerably under 3000. In 1621-22, it was enacted that the clergy should receive from their parishion- Chap. V.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 61 ers 1500 pounds of tobacco and sixteen barrels of corn each as their yearly salary, estimated to be worth, in all, £200. Every male colonist of the age of sixteen or up- ward was required to pay ten pounds of tobacco and one bushel of corn. The Company under whose auspices Vir- ginia was colonized seems to have been influenced by a sincere desire to make the plantation a means of propagating the knowledge of the Gospel among the Indi- ans. A iew years after the first settlement was made, in the body of their instructions they particularly urged upon the governor and Assembly "the using of all probable means of bringing over the natives to a iove of civilization, and to the love of God and his true religion." They recommend- ed the colonists to hire the natives as la- bourers, with the view of familiarizing them to civilized life, and thus to bring them gradually to the knowledge of Christianity, that they might be employed as instru- ments " in the general conversion of their countrymen, so much desired/' It was likewise recommended "that each town, borough, and hundred should procure, by just means, a certain number of Indian children, to be brought up in the first ele- ments of literature ; that the most toward- ly of these should be fitted for the college, in building of which they purposed to pro- ceed as soon as any profit arose from the estate appropriated to that use ; and they earnestly required their earnest help and furtherance in that pious and important work, not doubting the particular blessing of God upon the colony, and being assured of the love of all good men upon that ac- count."* Even the first charter assigns as one of the reasons for the grant, that the contem- plated undertaking was " a work which may, by the providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty, in the propagating of the Chris- tian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God."f The Company seem early to have felt the importance of promoting education in the colony. Probably at their solicita- tion, the king issued letters to the bishops throughout England, directing collections to be made for building a college in Vir- ginia. The object was at first stated to be " the training up and educating infidel (hea- then) children in the true knowledge of God. "J Nearly £1500 had already been collected, and Henrico had been selected as the best situation for the building, when, * Burk's " History of Virginia," p. 225, 226. t 1 Charter. — 1. Hazzard's State Papers, 51. This work of the late Mr. H. contains all the charters granted by the sovereigns of England for promoting colonization in America. X Stith's "History of Virginia," p. 162. 163. at the instance of their treasurer, Sir Ed- win Sandys, the Company granted 10,000 acres to be laid off for the new " Univer- sity of Henrico ;" the original design being at the same time extended, by its being re- solved that the institution should be for the education of the English as well as the Indians. Much interest was felt through- out England in the success of this under- taking. The Bishop of London gave £1000 towards its accomplishment, and an anon- ymous contributor £500 exclusively for the education of the Indian youth. It had warm friends in Virginia also. The min- ister of Henrico, the Rev. Mr. Bargave, gave his library, and the inhabitants of the place subscribed £1500 to build a hostel- ry for the entertainment of strangers and visiters.* Preparatory to the college or university, it was proposed that a school should be established at St. Charles's City, to be called the East India School, from the first donation towards its endowment having been contributed by the master and crew of an East Indiaman on its return to England. But the whole project received its death- blow by the frightful massacre perpetrated by the Indians on the 22d of March, 1622, when, in one hour, 347 men, women, and children were slaughtered, without distinc- tion of sex or age, and at a time, too, when the Indians professed perfect friendship. For four years, nevertheless, they had been maturing their plan, had enlisted thir- ty tribes in a plot to extirpate the English, and might have succeeded in doing so but for the fidelity of a converted Indian named Chanco. The minds of the colonists were still farther estranged from the idea of providing a college for the Indian youth by the long and disastrous war that followed. At a much later date a college for the ed- ucation of the colonial youth was estab- lished at Williamsburg, which was for a long time the capital of the colony. f * Holmes's Annals, p. 173. t This was the College of William and Mary, es- tablished in 1693, and, in the order of time, the sec- ond that was founded in the colonies. It owed its existence, under God, to the great and long-contin- ued exertions of the Rev. Dr. Blair. It ought to be mentioned, that in the former part of the last centu- ry a number of Indian youths were educated at it. The celebrated Robert Boyle presented it with a sum of money to be applied to the education of the Indian tribes. At first, efforts were made to procure for this purpose children who had been taken in war by some victorious tribe ; but during the admin- istration of Sir Alexander Spottswood, which com- menced in 1710, that plan was relinquished for a far better. The governor went in person to the tribes in the interior to engage them to send their children to the school, and had the gratification of seeing some arrive from a distance of four hundred miles in compliance with his request. He also, at his own expense, established and supported a preparatory school on the frontiers, at which Indian lads might be prepared for the college without being too far re- moved from their parents. — See Beverly's " History of Virginia." 62 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IL In proportion as the population began to spread along the large and beautiful streams that flow from the Alleghany Mountains into the Chesapeake Bay, more parishes were legally constituted, so that in 1722 there were fifty-four, some very large, others of moderate extent, in the twenty-nine counties of the colony. Their size depended much on the number of titheable inhabitants within a certain dis- trict. Each parish had a convenient church built of stone, brick, or wood, and many of the larger ones had also chapels of ease, so that the places of public wor- ship were not less than seventy in all. To each parish church there was a parsonage attached, and likewise, in almost all cases, a glebe of 250 acres and a small stock of cattle. But not more than about half, probably, of these established churches were provided with ministers ; in the rest the services were conducted by lay read- ers, or occasionally by neighbouring cler- gymen. When the war of the Revolution commenced there were ninety-five parish- es, and at least a hundred clergymen of the Established Church. We shall yet have occasion to speak of the Church establishment in Virginia, and its influence upon the interests of reli- gion, as well as of the character of the clergy there during the colonial period. I cannot, however, forbear saying, that al- though the greater number of the estab- lished ministers seem, at that epoch, to have been very poorly qualified for their great work, others were an ornament to their calling. I may mention as belong- ing to early times the names of the Rev. Robert Hunt and the Rev. Alexander Whit- aker. The former of these accompanied the first settlers, preached the first Eng- lish sermon ever heard on the American continent, and by his calm and judicious counsels, his exemplary conduct, and his faithful ministrations, rendered most im- portant services to the infant colony. The latter was justly styled " the Apostle of Virginia." At a later period, we find, among other worthies, the Rev. James Blair, whose indefatigable exertions in the cause of religion and education rank him among the greatest benefactors of Ameri- ca. Nor were there laymen wanting among those who had the cause of God at heart. Morgan Morgan, in particular, was greatly blessed in his endeavours to sus- tain the spirit of piety, by founding church- es and otherwise, more especially in the northern part of the Great Valley. In la- ter times Virginia has produced many illus- trious men, not only in the Episcopal, but in almost every other denomination of Christians. In point of intolerance, the Legislature of Virginia equalled, if it did not exceed, that of Massachusetts. Attendance at parish worship was at one time required under severe penalties ; nay, even the sacrament- al services of the Church were rendered obligatory by law. Dissenters, Quakers, and Roman Catholics were prohibited from settling in the province. People of every name entering the colony, without having been Christians in the countries they came from, were condemned to sla- very. Shocking barbarity ! the reader will justly exclaim ; yet these very laws prove how deep and strong, though turbid and dark, ran the tide of religious feeling among the people. As has been justly remarked, " If they were not wise Christians, they wereat least strenuous religionists." I have said enough to show that, in the colonization of Virginia, religion was far from being considered as a matter of no importance ; its influence, on the contrary, was deemed essential to national as well as individual prosperity and happiness. Maryland, we have seen, though origi- nally a part of Virginia, was planted by Lord Baltimore, as a refuge for persecu- ted Roman Catholics. When the first of its colonists landed in 1634, under the gui- dance of Leonard Calvert, son of that no- bleman, on an island in the Potomac, they took possession of the province " for their Saviour," as well as for " their lord the king." They planted their colony on the broad basis of toleration for all Christian sects, and in this noble spirit the govern- ment was conducted for fifty years. Think what we may of their creed, and very dif- ferent as was this policy from what Ro- manism elsewhere might have led us to expect, Ave cannot refuse to Lord Balti- more's colony the praise of having estab- lished the first government in modern times, in which entire toleration was granted to all denominations of Chris- tians ; this too, at a time when the New- England Puritans could hardly bear with one another, much less with " papists ;" when the zealots of Virginia held both " papists" and " Dissenters" in nearly equal abhorrence ; and when, in fact, toleration was not considered in any part of the Prot- estant world to be due to Roman Catholics. After being thus avowed at the outset, tol- eration was renewed in 1649, when, by the death of Charles I., the government in England was about to pass into the hands of the extreme opponents of the Roman Catholics. " And whereas the enforcing of the conscience in matters of religion," such is the language of their statute, " hath frequently fallen out to be of dan- gerous consequence in those common- wealths where it has been practised, and for the more quiet and peaceable govern- ment of this province, and the better to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no person within this province professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall Chap. V] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLON I S TS. 63 be any way troubled, molested, or discoun- tenanced for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof." Meanwhile, Prot- estant sects increased so much, that the political power of the state passed, at length, entirely out of the hands of its founders, and before the war of the Rev- olution, many churches had been planted in it by Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Baptists. North Carolina was first colonized by stragglers from Virginia settling on the rivers that flow into Albemarle Sound, and among these were a good many Qua- kers, driven out of Virginia by the intoler- ance of its laws. This was about the mid- dle of the seventeenth century. Puritans from New-England, and emigrants from Barbadoes, followed in succession ; but the Dissenters from Virginia predomina- ted. Religion for a long while seems to have received but little attention. Will- iam Edmunson and George Fox visited their Quaker friends among the pine groves of Albemarle in 1672, and found a " tender people." A Quarterly Meeting was es- tablished, and thenceforward that religious body may be said to have organized a spir- itual government in the colony. But it was long before any other made much progress. No Episcopal minister was settled in it until 1703, and no church built until 1705. The Proprietaries, it is true, who obtain- ed North as well as South Carolina from Charles II., professed to be actuated by a "laudable and pious zeal for the propaga- tion of the Gospel ;" but they did nothing to vindicate their claim to such praise. In their " Constitutions" they maintained, that religion and the profession of it were in- dispensable to the well-being of the state and privileges of citizenship ; vain words, as long as no measures were taken to pro- mote what they thus lauded. But we shall yet see that, little as true religion owed in North Carolina to the first settlers, or to the Proprietaries, that state eventually ob- tained a large population of a truly reli- gious character, partly from the emigra- tion of Christians from France and Scot- land, partly from the increase of Puritans from New-England. South Carolina began to be colonized in 1670 by settlers shipped to the province by the Proprietaries, and from that time for- ward it received a considerable accession of emigrants almost every year. Its cli- mate was represented as being the finest in the world : under its almost tropical sun flowers were said to blossom every month of the year : orange groves were to supplant those of cedar, silk-worms were to be fed on mulberry-trees intro- duced from the south of France, and the choicest wines were to be produced. Ships arrived with Dutch settlers from New-York, as well as with emigrants from England. The Earl of Shaftesbury, when committed to the Tower in 1681, begged for leave to exile himself to Car- olina. Nor were they Churchmen only who emigrated thither from England. Many Dissenters, disgusted with the unfavoura- ble state of things in that country, went out also, carrying with them intelligence, industry, and sobriety. Joseph Blake, in particular, brother of the gallant admiral of that name, having inherited his broth- ers fortune, devoted it to transporting his persecuted brethren to America, and con- ducted thither a company of them from Somersetshire. Thus the booty taken from New Spain helped to people South Carolina.* A colony from Ireland, also, went over, and were soon merged among the other colonists. Such was the character of what might be called the substratum of the popula- tion in South Carolina. The colonists were of various origin, but many of them had carried thither the love of true reli- gion, and the number of such soon in- creased. Georgia, of all the original thirteen col- onies, ranks latest in point of date. The good Oglethorpe, one of the finest speci- mens of a Christian gentleman of the Cav- alier school, one who loved his king and his Church, led over a mixed people to settle on the banks of the Savannah. Poor debtors, taken from the prisons of England, formed a strange medley with godly Mo- ravians from Herrnhut in Germany, and brave Highlanders from Scotland. To Georgia, also, were directed the youthful steps of those two wonderful men, John and Charles Wesley, and the still more el- oquent Whitefield, who made the pine for- ests that stretch from the Savannah to the Altamaha resound with the tones of their fervid piety. In Georgia, too, was built the " Orphan House," for the erection of which so much eloquence was poured forth, both in England and in the Atlantic cities of her American colonies, by the last-named herald of the Gospel, but which was not destined to fulfil the expectations of its good and great founder. Thus we find that religion was not the predominating motive that led to the col- onization of the Southern States, as was the case with New-England; and yet it cannot be said to have been altogether wanting. It is remarkable, that in every charter granted to the Southern colonies, "the propagation of the Gospel" is men- tioned as one of the reasons for the plant- ing of them being undertaken. And we shall see that that essential element of a people's prosperity ultimately received a * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 172, 173. -64 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. vast accession of strength from the emi- grants whom God was preparing to send from the Old World to those parts of the New. CHAPTER VI. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-YORK. We now proceed to give some account of the intermediate states between New- England and those in the South, compri- sing New- York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. W T e begin with New- York, which, as we "have seen, was first colonized by the Dutch. " The spirit of the age," says an eloquent author,* to whom we have oflen referred, " was present when the foundations of New- York were laid. Every great European event affected the fortunes of America. Did a state prosper, it sought an increase of wealth by plantations in the West: Was a sect persecuted, it escaped to the New World. The Reformation, followed by col- lisions between English Dissenters and the Anglican hierarchy, colonized New-Eng- land. The Reformation, emancipating the United Provinces, led to European settle- ments on the Hudson. The Netherlands divide with England the glory of having planted the first colonies in the United States : they also divide the glory of hav- ing set the example of public freedom. If England gave our fathers the idea of a pop- ular representation, Holland originated for them the principle of federal union." It was the Dutch, we remarked, who first discovered the Rivers Hudson and Connec- ticut, and probably the Delaware also. In 1614, five years after Henry Hudson had sailed up the first of those streams, and to which he gave his name, they erected a few huts upon Manhattan Island, where now stands the city of New-York. The first attempts to establish trading stations, for they hardly could be called settlements, were made by the merchants of Amsterdam. But when the Dutch W T est India Company was formed, in 1621, it ob- tained a monopoly of the trade with all parts of the Atlantic coast claimed by Hol- land in North America. Colonization on the Hudson River does not appear to have been the main object of that Company. The territory of New Netherlands was not even named in the charter, nor did the States-General guaranty its possession and protection. Trade with the natives in skins and furs was, in fact, the primary and almost exclusive object. But in a few years, as the families of the Company's factors increased, what was at * Mr. Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 256. first a mere station for traders, gradually bore the appearance of a regular plantation; and New Amsterdam, on Manhattan Isl- and, began to look like some thriving town, with its little fleet of Dutch ships almost continually lying at its wharves. Settle- ments were also made at the west end of Long Island, on Staten Island, along the North River up to Albany, and even be- yond that, as well as at Bergen, at various points on the Hackensack, and on the Rar- itah, in what was afterward New-Jersey. Harmony at this time subsisted between the Dutch and their Puritan neighbours, not- withstanding the dispute about their respec- tive boundaries. In 1627, we find the Gov- ernor of New Netherlands, or New Belgium, as the country was sometimes called, pay- ing a visit of courtesy and friendship to the Plymouth colony, by which he was receiv- ed with " the noise of trumpets." A treaty of friendship and commerce was proposed. " Our children after us," said the Pilgrims, " shall never forget the good and courte- ous entreaty which we found in your coun- try, and shall desire your prosperity for- ever." The colony, as it extended, gradually penetrated into the interior of East Jersey, and along the shores of the Delaware. Still, receiving neither protection nor en- couragement from the fatherland, and aban- doned to the tender mercies of a low-mind- ed commercial corporation, its progress was not what might have been expected. It had not always wise governors. The infamous Kieft, neglecting to conciliate the Indians, allowed the settlers on Staten Isl- and to be destroyed by the savages of New- Jersey ; and having, in a most wanton at- tack upon a tribe of the friendly Algon- quins, massacred many of them in cold blood, the colony lay for two whole years (1643-1645) exposed to attack at all points, and was threatened with absolute ruin. From the banks of the Raritan to the bor- ders of the Connecticut, not a " bowery" (farm) was safe. " Mine eyes," says an eyewitness, "saw the flames of their towns, and the flights and hurries of men, women, and children, the present removal of all that could to Holland !" In this war the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, one of the most extraordinary women of her age, was murdered by the Indians, together with all her family, with but one exception. Next to this disastrous war, the colony was most retarded by the want of a popu- lar form of government, and by the deter- mination of the West India Company not to concede one. The first founders of New Netherlands were men of a bold and enterprising turn, whose chief motive in leaving Holland was, no doubt, the acquisition of wealth. But educated in the National Dutch Church, they brought with them a strong attach- Chap. VI.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 65 merit to its doctrines, worship, and govern- ment ; and however deeply interested in their secular pursuits, they unquestionably took early measures to have the Gospel preached purely among them, and to have the religious institutions of their fatherland planted and maintained in their adopted country. A church was organized at New Amsterdam, now New-York, not later, probably, than 1619 ; and there was one at Albany as early, if not earlier. The first minister of the Gospel settled at New- York was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus. The Dutch language was exclusively used in the Dutch churches until 1764, be- ing exactly a century after the colony had fallen into the hands of the English. As soon as that event took place, the new gov- ernor made great efforts to introduce the language of his own country, by opening schools in which it was taught. This, to- gether with the introduction of the English Episcopal Church, and the encouragement it received from Governor Fletcher, in 1693, made the new language come rapidly into use. The younger colonists began to urge that, for a part of the day at least, English should be used in the churches ; or that new churches should be built for those who commonly spoke that tongue. At length, after much opposition from some who dreaded lest, together with the language of their fathers, their good old doctrines, lit- urgy, catechisms, and all should disappear, the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, a distinguished Scotch minister who had been settled in an Eng- lish Presbyterian church at Flushing, in Holland, connected with the Reformed Dutch Church, was invited to New- York, in order to commence Divine service there in English. Having accepted this call, he was, in 1764, transferred to that city, and in his new charge his labours were long and greatly blessed. From that time the Dutch language gradually disappeared, so that hardly a vestige of it now remains. The population of New Netherlands, when it fell into the hands of the English, is supposed to have been about ten thou- sand, or half as many as that of New- England at the same date. There has been a slight emigration to it from Holland ever since, too small, however, to be regarded as of any importance. But all the emi- grants from Dutch ports to America were not Hollanders. The Reformation had made the Dutch an independent nation, and the long and bitter experience they had had of oppression led them to offer an asylum to the persecuted Protestants of England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Germany.* * This has often been made an occasion of re- proach and ridicule by men of more wit than grace or sense. Beaumont and Fletcher, in their " Maid of the Inn," introduce one of their characters as saying, " I am a schoolmaster, sir, and would faiu E Among others who thus came by way of Holland to America was Robert Living- ston, ancestor of the numerous and distin- guished family of that name to be found in various parts of America, but particularly in the State of New-York, and son of that pious and celebrated minister, the Rev. John Livingston, of Scotland, who, after being eminently blessed in his labours in his native country, was, in 1663, driven by persecution into Holland, where he spent the remainder of his life as minister of the Scotch Church at Rotterdam. Several causes retarded the progress of religion among the Dutch colonists in America. One was the unsettled state of the country, caused by actual or dreaded hostilities with the Indians ; another lay in the churches being long unnecessarily de- pendant for their pastors on the classis, or presbytery, of Amsterdam ; a body which, however well disposed, was at too remote a distance to exercise a proper judgment in selecting such ministers as the circum- stances of the country and the people re- quired ; a third is to be found in the lateness of the introduction of the English tongue into the public services of the churches ; it ought to have occurred at least fifty years sooner. Notwithstanding these hinderances, the blessed Gospel was widely and success- fully preached and maintained in the colo- ny, both when under the government of Holland and afterward. Its beneficial in- fluence was seen in the strict and whole- some morals that characterized the com- munity, and in the progress of education among all classes, especially after the adoption of a more popular form of govern- ment. Many faithful pastors were either sent over from Holland, or raised up at later periods in the colony, and sent over to Holland for instruction in theology. Among the former I may mention the Rev. T. J. Frelinghuysen, who came from Holland in 1720, and settled on the Raritan. As an able, evangelical, and eminently suc- cessful preacher, he proved a great bless- ing to the Reformed Dutch Church in America. He left five sons, all ministers, and two daughters, who were married to ministers.* In confirmation of this state- ment, we may add the testimony of the Confer with you about erecting four New sects of religion at Amsterdam." . And Andrew Marvell, in his " Character of Hol- land," writes : " Sure, when religion did itself embark, And from the East would westward steer its bark, It struck ; and splitting on this unknown ground. Each one thence pillaged the first piece he found. Hence Amsterdam, Turk, Christian, Pagan, Jew, Staple of sects, and mint of schism, grew ; That bank of conscience, where not one so strange Opinion, but finds credit and exchange. In vain for Catholics ourselves we bear ; The Universal Church is only there." * Christian Magazine, quoted in Dr. Gunn's Me- moirs of Dr. Livingston, p. 87. CO RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IT. Rev. Gilbert Tennent, who, in a letter to Mr. Prince, of Boston, says, " The labours of Mr. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch minister, were much blessed to the people of New- Brunswick and places adjacent, especially about the time of his coming among them. When I came, which was about seven years after, I had the pleasure of seeing much of the fruits of his ministry : divers of his hearers, with whom I had opportu- nity of conversing, appeared to be con- verted persons, by their soundness in prin- ciple, Christian experience, and pious prac- tice ; and these persons declared that his ministrations were the means thereof."* Among the latter was the late J. H. Liv- ingston, D.D., who died in 1825, after being for a long time one of the most distin- guished ministers in the United States. On his return from Holland, he was for many years a pastor in New- York, and thereafter divinity professor in the Theo- logical Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church at New-Brunswick, in the State of New-Jersey. He was one of those who, though born to fill a large space in the his- tory of the Church, yet spend their lives in the calm and unostentatious discharge of the duties of their calling. The impress of his labours and character will long be felt in the Church of which he was so distin- guished an ornament. The descendants of the Dutch are nu- merous, and widely dispersed in America. They constitute a large proportion of the inhabitants of the southern part of the State of New- York and eastern part of New- Jersey, besides forming a very consider- able body in the north and west of the former of these states. But they are to be found also in larger or smaller numbers in all parts of the confederacy. Though often made the butts of ridicule for their simplicity,! slowness of movement, and * Prince's Christian History. I may add, that the Mr. Frelinghuysen spoken of in the text was the ancestor of three brothers of the same name, who have adorned the profession of the law in the present generation, one of whom, the Hon. Theodore Fre- linghuysen, was for several years a distinguished member of the Senate of the United States, and is now Chancellor of the University of New-York. t Their Yankee neighbours, as the New-England people are called, tell a thousand stories showing the simplicity of the Dutch. One of the best which I have heard is that respecting a wealthy Dutch farmer, in the State of New- York, who had erected a church in his neighbourhood at his own expense, and was advised (probably by some very sensible Yankee) to attach a lightning-rod to it. But he re- ceived the suggestion with displeasure, as if God would set fire to his own house ! Another is as fol- lows : Shortly after the arrival of the Rev. Dr. Laid- lie, and the commencement of his labours, he was thus accosted by some excellent old people, at the close of a prayer-meeting one evening, in which he had most fervently addressed the throne of grace : " Ah, Domine ! (the title which the Dutch, in their affec- tion, give to their pastors) we offered up many an earnest prayer in Dutch for your coming among us ; and truly the Lord has heard us in English, and sent you to us." dislike to innovation of every kind, yet, taken as a whole, they have been uniformly a religious and virtuous people, and consti- tute a most valuable part of the American nation. Some of them have found a place among our most illustrious statesmen. Emigrants from the country of Grotius and John De Witt have furnished one President and three Vice-presidents to the Republic which they have done so much to establish and maintain. They have preserved to this day the Church planted by their fore- fathers in America ; but although a very respectable part of them still adhere to it, a greater number have joined the Episcopal Church, and many belong to other denom- inations. CHAPTER VII. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-JERSEY. Hollanders from New Amsterdam were the first European inhabitants of New-Jer- sey, and, during the continuance of the Dutch dominion in America, it formed part of New Netherlands. The first settlement was at Bergen, but the plantations extended afterward to the Hackensack, the Passaic, and the Raritan. It is probable that a few families had settled even on the Delaware, opposite Newcastle, before the cession of the country to the English in 1664. But the Dutch were not the only colonists of New-Jersey. A company of the same race of English Puritans that had colonized New-England left the eastern end of Long Island in 1664, and established themselves at Elizabethtown. They must have been few in number, for four houses only were found there the following year, on the ar- rival of Philip Carteret, as governor of the province. Woodbridge, Middletown, and Shrewsbury were founded about the same time by settlers from Long Island and Connecticut. Newark was founded in 1667 or 1668, by a colony of about thirty fami- lies, chiefly from Brandon in Connecticut. Colonists from New-Haven bought land on both sides of the Delaware, and fifty families were sent to occupy it, but their trading establishments were broken up, and the colony dispersed, in consequence of the Dutch claiming the country. There are extant memorials, however, in the rec- ords of Cumberland and Cape May coun- ties, that colonies from New-England es- tablished themselves in these, not very long after the province changed its masters. The middle parts were gradually occupied by Dutch and New-England settlers in their progress westward, and also by a consider- able number of Scotch and Irish emigrants — all Protestants, and most of them Pres- byterians. Chap. VII.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 67 It will be remembered that, by the gift of his brother, Charles II., the Duke of York became " Proprietary" of all that part of America ceded by the Dutch to the English in 1664. That same year the duke sold New-Jersey to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, in honour of the former of whom it took the name that it bears to this day. They immediately appointed a gov- ernor, and gave the colonists a popular form of government. The Legislature, however, soon became the organ of popular disaf- fection : few were willing to purchase a title to the soil from the Indians, and to pay quit-rents to the proprietaries besides. After some years of severe struggles be- tween the colonists and their governors, Lord Berkeley became tired of the strife, and in 167-1 sold the moiety of New- Jer- sey to Quakers for £1000, John Fenwick acting as agent in the transaction for Ed- ward Byllinge and his assigns. Fenwick left England the following year, accompa- nied by a great many families of that per- secuted sect, and formed the settlement of Salem, on the Delaware. Lands in West Jersey were now offered for sale by the Quaker company, and hundreds of colonists soon settled upon them. In 1676 they ob- tained from Carteret the right, so far as he was concerned, to institute a government of their own in West Jersey, and proceeded, the year following, to lay the groundwork in the " Concessions," as their fundamental deed was called. Its main feature was, that " it put the power in the people." Forthwith great numbers of English Qua- kers flocked to West Jersey, with the view of permanently settling there. A title to the lands was purchased from the Indians, at a council held under the shade of the forest, at the spot where the town of Bur- lington now stands ; there the tawny chil- dren of the wood conveyed to the men of peace the domain which they desired. " You are our brothers," said the sachems, " and we will live like brothers with you. We will make a broad path for you and us to walk in. If an Englishman falls asleep in this path, the Indian shall pass him by and say, He is an Englishman ; he is asleep ; let him alone. The path shall be plain ; there shall not be in it a stump to hurt the feet."* And they kept their word. In November, 1681, Jennings, who act- ed as governor for the Proprietaries, con- vened the first Quaker Legislature ever known to have met. The year following, by obtaining the choice of their own chief ruler, the colonists completed the meas- ure of their self-government. In the year following that, again, William Penn and eleven others bought East New-Jersey from Carteret's heirs, and from that time a Quaker emigration set into that division of the province, but never to such a de- * Smith's " History of New-Jersey." gree as to change the general character of the inhabitants. The population, upon the whole, remained decidedly Puritan, though combining the elements of a Scotch, Dutch, and New-England Presbyterianism. It was much otherwise with West New- Jersey. With the exception of a few churches planted here and there by other denominations, and standing like islands in this sea of the religion of George Fox, Salem, Gloucester, and Burlington coun- ties were peopled almost entirely with Quakers, and their religion flourishes there to this day. After about twelve years of embarrass- ment, commencing with the Revolution of 1688 in England, the Proprietaries of both East and West New-Jersey surren- dered " their pretended right of govern- ment" to the British crown, and in 1702, both provinces, united into one, were pla- ced for a time under the Governor of New- York, retaining, however, their own Legis- lature. The population, notwithstanding the difficulties and irritation caused by po- litical disputes intimately affecting their interests, steadily increased. Taken as a whole, few parts of America have been colonized by a people more decidedly re- ligious in principle, or more intelligent and virtuous ; and such, in the main, are their descendants at the present day. No- where in the United States have the church- es been supplied with a more faithful or an abler ministry. New-Jersey was the scene of the excellent David Brainerd's labours among the Indians, during the lat- ter years of his short but useful life. There, too, laboured the celebrated William Ten- nent, and those other faithful servants of God in whose society W T hitefield found so much enjoyment, and whose ministrations were so much blessed. There, and par- ticularly in the eastern section of the prov- ince, many have been witnesses of those outpourings of the Holy Spirit, which we shall have occasion in another place to speak of. And, lastly, in New-Jersey was planted the fourth, in point of date, of the American colleges, commonly called Nas- sau Hall, but more properly the College of New-Jersey. That college has had for its presidents some of the greatest divines that have ever lived in America, Dickin- son, Burr, the elder Edwards, Finley, With- erspoon, Smith, Green, &c, and it is still as flourishing as ever, although a sister in- stitution has arisen at New-Brunswick, to co-operate in diffusing blessings through- out the state. I may add, that no state in the American Union has more decidedly proved the importance of having a good original population, nor has any state done more, in proportion to its population and resources, to sustain the honour and pro- mote the best interests of the American nation. 68 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. CHAPTER VIII. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF DELAWARE, AT FIRST CALLED NEW SWEDEN. Though of all the states Delaware has the smallest population, and is the least but one in territorial extent, yet its history is far from uninteresting. Fairly included within the limits of Maryland, it never submitted to the rule of Lord Baltimore's colony ; subjected for a time to the domin- ion of the Quaker province of William Penn, from that it emancipated itself in time to be justly ranked among the origi- nal Thirteen States, which so nobly achiev- ed their independence. This small province was claimed by the Dutch in right of discovery, as well as the country on the other side of Delaware River and Bay ; and in 1631, a colony un- der De Vries actually left the Texel for the south shore of that bay, and settled near the present site of Lewestown, on lands acquired the year before by Godyn and his associates, Van Rensellaer, Bloe- mart, and De Lact. That colony, consisting of above thirty souls, was, in the absence of De Vries, utterly destroyed by the In- dians towards the close of the following year ; yet its priority in point of date saved it from being included in Lord Baltimore's charter, and secured for subsequent set- tlers the benefits of a separate colony and independent state. Before, however, it could be rescued from the Indians, and col- onized a second time by the Dutch, it fell to the possession of a Scandinavian prince. Gustavus Adolphus, justly pronounced the most accomplished prince of modern times, and the greatest benefactor of hu- manity in the line of Swedish kings, had ■early comprehended the advantages of for- eign commerce and distant colonization. Accordingly, in 1626, he instituted a com- mercial company, with exclusive privile- ges to trade beyond the Straits of Gibral- tar, and with the right of planting colonies. The stock was open to all Europe. The king himself pledged 400,000 dollars from the royal treasury ; the chief seat of busi- ness was Gottenburg, the second city in the kingdom, and the best situated for com- merce in the open seas. The government of the future colonies was committed to a royal council, and emigrants were to be invited from all Europe. The New World was described as a paradise, and the hope of better fortunes on its distant shores was strongly excited in the Scandinavian mind. The colony proposed to be planted there was to be a place where " the honour of the wives and daughters" of those whom wars and bigotry had made fugitives might be safe ; a blessing to the " common man," as well as to the " whole Protestant world."* * Argonautica Gustaviana, p. 11, 16. As opening an asylum for persecuted Prot- estants of all nations, the projeci was well worthy of the great champion of Protest- ant rights. But Gustavus Adolphus did not live to carry his favourite scheme into effect. When the Protestant princes of Germany were compelled to defend their violated religious privileges by taking up arms against the emperor, they made the first offer of the command of their armies to Christian IV., of Denmark ; but that prince proving unequal to the task, they turned their regards to the youthful King of Swe- den, who hesitated not to accept their summons. Crossing the Baltic with his small army of 15,000 faithful Swedes, Finns, and Scotch, he put himself at the head of the confederate troops, and with- in eighteen months gained the series of splendid victories that have placed him in the highest rank of warrior-princes. Hav- ing driven the imperial troops from the walls of Leipsic to the southern extremity of Germany, he fell at last on the plains of Liitzen, on the 16th of October, 1632, victory even there crowning his efforts, while his body, covered with wounds, lay undistinguished among the slain. Yet even the toils and horrors of that war could not make the brave young monarch forget his favourite project. A few days before that last fatal battle, where it has been beautifully said that "humanity won one of her most glorious victories, and lost one of her ablest defenders," he recom- mended to the people of Germany the co- lonial project, which he still continued to regard as " the jewel of his kingdom."* The enterprise, however, which his pre- mature death prevented Gustavus Adol- phus from carrying into effect, fell into the hands of his minister Oxenstiern, the ablest statesman of that age. Emigrants for Delaware Bay, furnished with provis- ions for themselves, and with merchandise for traffic with the Indians, accompanied also by a religious teacher, left Sweden in 1638, in two ships, the Key of Calmar and the Griffin. Upon their arrival, they bought the lands on the Delaware from its mouth up to the falls where Trenton now stands ; and near the mouth of Christiana Creek they built a fort, to which they gave that name, in honour of their youthful queen. Tidings of their safe arrival, and encour- aging accounts of the country, were soon carried back to Scandinavia, and naturally inspired many of the peasantry of Sweden and Finland with a wish to exchange their rocky, unproductive soil for the banks of the Delaware. More bands of emigrants soon went thither, and many who would fain have gone were prevented only by the difficulty of finding a passage. The * Bancroft's "History of the United States," voL ii., p. 285. Chap. IX] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 69 plantations gradually extended along the Delaware, from the site of Wilmington to that of Philadelphia. A fort constructed of huge hemlock logs, on an island a few miles below Philadelphia, defended the Swedish settlements, and became the head- quarters of Printz, their governor. The whole country, as above described, was called New Sweden, and the few families of emigrants from New-England that hap- pened to be within its boundaries, either submitted to the Swedish government, or lse withdrew and established themselves elsewhere. Meanwhile the Dutch reasserted their old claims to the country, planted a fort at Newcastle, and ultimately reduced New Sweden under their dominion by means of an expedition of six hundred men, under the famous Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherlands. Thus terminated, in 1655, the power of Sweden on the Ameri- can continent, after it had lasted above seventeen years. The Swedish colonists, probably, did not much exceed seven hun- dred, and as their descendants, in the course of some generations, became wide- ly scattered, and blended with emigrants of a different lineage, they are supposed to constitute one part in 200 of the pres- ent population of the United States.* Interesting as this colony is from its early history, it becomes still more so be- cause of its practical worth. The colo- nists were invariably amiable and peace- able in their deportment ; they maintained the best terms with the Indians ; they were frugal and industrious ; they were attentive to the education of their children, notwithstanding the want of schools and the difficulty of procuring books in their mother tongue ; and, above all, they were careful in upholding religious institutions and ordinances. Lutherans, as their kin- dred in Sweden are to this day, they long preserved their national liturgy and disci- pline, besides keeping up a most affection- ate intercourse with the churches in their mother-country ; and from these they often received aid in Bibles and other religious books, as well as in money. Having es- tablished themselves in the southern sub- urbs of Philadelphia, previously to the colo- nization of Pennsylvania by William Penn, they have always had a church there, known as the " Swedes' Church" to this day, and which, with two or three more in Delaware and Pennsylvania, now belongs to the Protestant Episcopal communion. The late Dr. Colin was the last of the long line of Swedish pastors. Taken possession of by the Dutch in 1655, New Sweden was, nine years after that, ceded by them to the English. It was then placed for some time under the Bancroft's " History of the United States/ administration of the Governor of New- York ; was afterward attached to Penn- sylvania, but ultimately became first a separate colony, and then an independent state. Meanwhile, its population, composed of the descendants of Swedes, of Quakers who accompanied William Penn, of set- tlers from New-England, and of Scotch, Irish, and a few emigrants from other parts of Europe, steadily increased. Re- ligion has ever had a happy, and not an in- considerable influence, in this little com- monwealth. It would, no doubt, have been greater still had slavery never existed in it. But though Delaware is a slavehold- ing state, it scarcely deserves the name, from the number of slaves being so small. CHAPTER IX. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. FOUNDERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. The history of William Penn, the Qua- ker philosopher and lawgiver, is very gen- erally known. The son of a distinguished English admiral, heir to a fortune consid- ered large in those days, accustomed from his youth to mingle in the highest circles, educated at the University of Oxford, rich in the experience and observation of man- kind acquired by much travel, and versed in his country's laws, he seemed fitted for a very different course from that which he considered to be marked out for him in af- ter life. He inherited from his parents a rooted aversion to the despotism of a hie- rarchy, and having, when a student at Ox- ford, ventured to attend the preaching of George Fox, he was for this offence ex- pelled from the university. After his ex- pulsion, from a desire to make himself ac- quainted with the doctrines and spirit of the French Reformed churches, he spent some time at Saumur, one of their chief seats of learning, and there he attended the prelections of the gifted and benevo- lent A myrault. From that time he return- ed to England, and in 1666 visited Ire- land, where he heard Thomas Loe preach on " the faith that overcomes the world," whereupon he was immediately filled with peace, and decided upon following out his future plans of benevolence. In the au- tumn of that year he was imprisoned for conscience' sake. " Religion," said he to the Irish viceroy, " is my crime and my innocence ; it makes me a prisoner to mal- ice, but my own free man." On returning to England, he became the butt of unmeas- ured ridicule from the witlings of the court, which was that of one of the most disso- lute monarchs that ever lived. Driven penniless from his father's house, he found compassion where it takes up its last abode, if it ever leaves this world, in a 70 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. mother's heart. Her bounty kept him above want, while he was preparing, in God's providence, to become an author, and a preacher of the doctrines of peace to prin- ces, priests, and people. Experience of persecution had prepared him for the great mission of succouring those who suffer from the same cause. He could truly say, " Haud ignarus mali miseris succurrere disco." He had become a member of the ever- " suffering kingdom" of righteousness. William Penn's personal interests,' in the course of Providence, coincided with his benevolent views in leading him to think of founding the colony to which he at length so assiduously devoted himself. His father having a large sum due to him from the crown, this not very hopeful debt he left as a legacy to his son. But the son pro- posed to his royal debtor an easy mode of paying it : the king had only to make him a grant of waste land in the New World ; and the suggestion was favourably receiv- ed, for the profuse and profligate Charles II. had been his father's friend. On the 5th of March, 1681, he received a title to a territory which was to extend from the Delaware River five degrees of longitude westward, and from the 39° to the 42° N. latitude. The whole of this, with the ex- ception of a few previous grants, of no great extent, made by the Duke of York, was to be his ; and thus all that remained of the territory claimed by the Dutch, but which they had been compelled to cede to the English, became not a place of refuge merely, but the absolute property and sure abode of a sect which had probably been loaded with as much contempt and ridicule as had ever fallen to the lot of any portion of the human race. Their peculiar dress and modes of speech, no doubt, so far invi- ted this treatment, while their principles secured impunity to such as meanly chose to attack with such weapons what they deemed absurdity and fanaticism. Nor was it only for the persecuted " Friends" in England that William Penn founded his colony ; it was to be open also to members of the same society in Ameri- ca. Incredible as it may appear, they were persecuted in New-England by the very men who themselves had been driven thither by persecution. Twelve Quakers were banished from Massachusetts by or- der of the General Court in 1C56, and four of these, who had returned, were actually executed in 1669. That same year an act was passed by the Legislature of Virginia, to the effect " that any commander of any shipp, or vessell, bringing into the collonie any person or persons called Quakers, is to be fined £100 ; and all Quakers appre- hended in the collonie are to be imprisoned till they abjure this countrie, or give secu- ritie to depart from it forthwith. If they return a third time, they are to be punished as felons."* After making all necessary arrange- ments, Penn left England for his ample domain in America, and arrived there on the 27th of October, 1682. Having landed at Newcastle, he went from that to Ches- ter, and thence, by boat, up the Delaware, to the spot where now stands the city of Philadelphia. His first care was to ac- quire, by fair purchase, a title from the In- dians to as much land, at least, as might be required for his projected colony, and this transaction took place at a famous council, held under a large elm-tree at Shakamaxon, on the northern edge of Philadelphia. There the hearts of the congregated chiefs of the Algonquin race were captivated by the simplicity and sin- cerity of Penn's manners, and by the lan- guage of Christian affection in which he addressed them. " We will live," said they, in reply to his proposals, " in love with William Penn and his children, and with his children's children, as long as the moon and sun endure." The year following was devoted by the philosopher to the founding of a city, to be called Philadelphia, between the Delaware and the Schuylkill Rivers, and to the estab- lishing of a government for his people. Hardly could a pleasanter situation have anywhere been found than that which he selected for his capital, which was destined to become one of the largest and finest cities in America, and to be the birthplace of national independence, and where union among the liberated colonies was to be se- cured by the framing of a Federal Consti- tution for the whole. Nothing could have been more popular than the constitution laid down for his own colony, with the ex- ception of his veto as Proprietary — which he could hardly have abandoned — and an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the English crown and government. Council, assembly, judges, and petty magistrates — all were to be appointed by the colonists themselves. The first emigrants to Pennsylvania were, for the most part, Quakers ; but the principle of unlimited toleration, upon which it was established, made it a resort for people of all creeds and of none. Swedes, Dutch, and New-Englanders had previously established themselves within its limits, and not many years had elapsed Avhen the Quakers, whom Penn had spe- cially contemplated as the future citizens of his colony, were found to be a minority among the inhabitants. This, however, has not marred the harmony and tranquillity of the province. No act of persecution or in- tolerance has ever disgraced its statute- book. The rights of the Indians were al- * Herring's Collection of the Laws of Virginia. €hap. XI.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 71 ways respected ; their friendship was hard- ly ever interrupted. Friends' meeting-houses, and churches of other denominations, soon increased with the population, which spread by de- grees into the interior, and reached the most western limits of the colony within a century from its commencement. It were superfluous in me to pronounce any eulogium on the morality of the Qua- kers. The foundations of the colony of William Penn were laid in the religion of the Bible, and to the blessed influence of that religion it is unquestionably indebted for much of the remarkable prosperity which it has enjoyed. But the Quaker population now forms only a small minor- ity in the State of Pennsylvania, especially in its central and western parts. I shall yet have occasion to show what was the religious character of the emigrants who constituted the early population of those parts. Thus have I completed the notice of the religious character of all the original colo- nies, which, by settling on the Atlantic slope, may be said to have founded the nation, by founding its civil and religious institutions ; or, rather, I should say, I have spoken of the colonies that had territorial limits as such, and were established under charters from the crown of England. I have spoken of the bases — the lowest strata, so to speak — of the colonization of the United States. I have yet to speak of the superadded colonies, which dispersed themselves over the others, without hav- ing any territorial limits marked out to them by charters, but which settled here or there as individuals or groups might prefer. It will be seen that this secondary, but still early colonization, exerted an im- mense influence upon the religious char- acter of the country, and in many cases, through the wonderful providence of God, supplied what was wanting in the religious condition of the primary or territorial col- onization. CHAPTER X. BELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. EMIGRANTS FROM WALES. Presbyterianism is said to have had many zealous adherents in Wales in the time of the Commonwealth, or from 1648 to 1660 ; and when the Restoration came, many Welsh Presbyterians, including both pastors and people, sought a refuge from the persecution that ensued by emigrating to America. On reaching the New World, many of these wandered over the country, and were glad to avail themselves of a resting-place wherever it could be found. But a natural predilection for their own people, language, and customs, led others to keep together and settle on the same spots ; a course almost indispensable in the case of those who could neither under- stand nor speak English. Hence we find that towards the close of the seventeenth century no fewer than six townships on the left bank of the Schuylkill were in the occupation of Welsh colonists.* The success of those earlier emigra- tions led to a steady and even copious transference of the inhabitants of the Prin- cipality to America, long after open perse- cution had ceased to drive them from their native hills and valleys. About the begin- ning of the present century a colony from Wales settled in the mountains of Penn- sylvania, on a large tract of land which they had bought before they left home, and gave the name Cambria, the ancient ap- pellation of Wales, to a whole county. A pretty large part of their settlement lies on a kind of table-land, in the centre of the Alleghany Mountains, and the chief villa- ges are Armagh and Ebensburg, the lat- ter of which is the seat of justice for the county. Two or three faithful pastors ac- companied them from Wales, and to this day, I believe, they conduct their religious services in Welsh. There are several congregations, likewise, of Welsh Baptists in the State of New- York, and throughout the United States not fewer than twenty- five churches of Calvinistic Welsh Meth- odists. I have no means of knowing how ex- tensive the emigrations from Wales, from first to last, have been ; doubtless they have been far from unimportant in point of numbers. What, however, is of most consequence is, that they have been good in point of character, and have already given to America many distinguished men. The Rev. Mr. Davies, of whom I shall have some notice to give hereafter, probably the most eloquent preacher in America in. his day, and, at his death, president of the College of New-Jersey, was, if I mistake not, of Welsh ancestry. The Morris fam- ily, so numerous, and in many of its mem- bers so distinguished, is of Welsh origin. So, also, are the Morgans. Besides these, we find many persons of the name of Jones, Owen, Griffiths, Evans, &c, all of Welsh descent, several of whom have ris- en to eminence in the Church and State. I may add that Roger Williams, the found- er of Rhode Island, whom I have had oc- casion already to notice, was a native of Wales. CHAPTER XI. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO NISTS OF AMERICA. EMIGRANTS FROM SCOT LAND AND IRELAND. Next to the Puritans of England we Proud's " History of Pennsylvania," vol. i., p. 221. 72 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book H. must unquestionably rank the Scotch, as having largely contributed to form the re- ligious character of the United States. A few words, then, as to the causes that have, at different times, led so many of the natives of Scotland to pass over to America, will not be out of place, and will prepare the reader for the remarks to be made on the religious character of emi- grants from that part of the united king- dom. James I., before he left Scotland, when called to the throne of England in 1G03, as- sured his countrymen of his love to their Church, and of his determination to sup- port it ; but no sooner had he crossed the Tweed than he manifested a predilection for Prelacy, and a decided aversion to Presbyter}-, as being of an essentially re- publican tendency. Flattered and caress- ed by the aged Whitgift, by Bancroft, and other bishops, he soon learned to hate the Presbyterians of Scotland, as well as to despise the Puritans of England ; nor was it long before he showed a fixed purpose to change, if possible, the ecclesiastical government of his northern kingdom, not- withstanding that prudence and natural timidity deterred him from abrupt meas- ures. It was otherwise with his unfortunate son. Charles I. resolved to snatch at re- sults to which caution and cunning might. in time, have conducted his arbitrary, but timid father. He began with ordering the publication of a Book of Canons, essential- ly altering the constitution of the Church of Scotland, and these he tried to enforce by his own authority. He next caused a liturgy to be drawn up and published, cop- ied, in a great measure, from that of the Church of England, but brought by Laud into a closer agreement with the Romish Missal ; and this he commanded all the Scotch ministers to use on pain of suspen- sion. These proceedings led, at last, to open resistance on political as well as re- ligious grounds ; for they involved an as- sumption of powers denied to the king by the Scottish Constitution, and it was seen and felt that if he could introduce the Eng- lish Liturgy, he might, at some future time, force upon them the Romish Mass. The wrong attempted in Scotland roused the sympathy of England, and the upshot was, as Hallam remarks, " the liberties of Eng- land were preserved, but her monarchy was overthrown." But Charles II. behaved a great deal worse than his father had done. When that father was beheaded the son was a friendless fugitive. The Scotch offered to receive him as their king, and to assist him in recovering the throne of England, on his pledging himself, by oath, to main- tain their Presbyterian form of Church government. This he engaged to do, and, on his arriving among them, he subscribed the Covenant. The Scotch, thereupon, took up arms in his cause, but were de- feated by Cromwell, so that Charles was driven a second time to the Continent. When restored, in 1660, to the crown of England, he voluntarily renewed his for- mer promise to the Scotch, to whom he was greatly indebted for his restoration ; but no sooner was he seated on the throne than his oaths and promises were all for- gotten. Presbyterianism was almost im- mediately abolished, and Episcopacy es- tablished in Scotland ; and that, too, in the most repulsive form. The bishops were invested by royal mandate with the ut- most plenitude of prelatical power, and a new law forbade speaking against the king's ecclesiastical supremacy, or the gov- ernment of the Church by bishops and archbishops. A court of High Commis- sion, partly composed of prelates, and arm- ed with inquisitorial powers, was set up r and was followed by scenes of persecu- tion and oppression, unparalleled except by the worst doings of Rome. Numbers of learned and pious ministers were eject- ed, and though their places were filled, for the most part, by ignorant and ungodly men,* the people were compelled, under * The author would not be understood, for a mo- ment, to place in the same category all the prelates, and all the parish clergy, introduced into the Scot- tish Established Church by the measures mentioned in the text. He is well aware that among the for- mer there was a Robert Leighton, who was forced, however, by the atrocities of his associates, to relin- quish an office which his gentle spirit would no longer suffer him to hold, and a Henry Scougal among the latter. Such beautiful characters were enough to redeem, if that were possible, the worth- lessness of a whole generation, composed of such men as the greater number of the intruded clergy are known to have been. The author could not avoid referring to the arbitrary principles and horri- ble cruelties of the Scottish prelates, and of the statesmen who patronised them, and he has not done so with the intention of casting odium on Episco- pacy in general ; the odium being due to the men and their principles, not to their office. Should it be supposed that stronger terms than the truth of history will warrant have been employed in speak- ing of those men and their doings, let the reader consult Burnet's " History of his own Times ;'' Dr. Cook's " History of the Church of Scotland ;" or Mr. Hallam's " Constitutional History of England." Let two short extracts from the last of these authorities suffice : " The enormities of this detestable government are far too numerous, even in species, to be enu- merated in this slight sketch, and, of course, most instances of cruelty have not been recorded. The privy council was accustomed to extort confessions by torture ; that grim divan of bishops, lawyers, and peers, sucking the groans of each undaunted enthu- siast, in the hope that some imperfect avowal might lead to the sacrifice of other victims, or at least war- rant the execution of the present." And again : "It was very possible that Episcopacy might be of apos- tolical institution ; but for this institution houses had been burned and fields laid waste, and the Gos- pel had been preached in the wilderness, and its ministers had been shot in their prayers, and hus- bands had been murdered before their wives, and CHAP. XI.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 73 severe penalties, to attend their worthless ministrations. The ejected ministers were not allowed to preach, even in the fields, under pain of death. They might pray in their own houses, but none of their neigh- bours were allowed to attend. Even the nearest relations were forbidden to afford shelter to the denounced, or in any way to succour them. All land-owners were re- quired to give bonds that neither they nor their dependants should attend " conven- ticles," as the forbidden meetings were called. The laws were enforced by muti- lation, torture, fines, imprisonment, ban- ishment, and death. Soldiers were quar- tered upon defenceless families, and allow- ed to harass them as they pleased ; men were hunted down like wild beasts, and shot or gibbeted upon the highways ; and this dreadful state of- things lasted nearly thirty years, for the sole object of forcing upon the Scotch a form of Church gov- ernment which they conscientiously dis- liked. Can we wonder that the Scotch Presbyterians of that day detested Prel- acy, as not the occasion only, but the cause of their sufferings \ In their experience it was identified with despotism, superstition, and irreligion, whereas Presbyterianism was associated with the love of liberty and Truth. The Scottish Parliament being then so constituted and regulated as to be a very imperfect exponent of the will, and a very feeble advocate of the rights of the nation, it was the General Assembly of the Church, therefore, which the people re- garded as the best guardian of their dear- est interests and privileges. In the sup- pression of free Assemblies, the body of the nation probably felt themselves more grievously wronged than had Parliament itself been suppressed ; and such, upon the whole, was the state of the law, and the oppressive maimer in which it was admin- istered, that none can reasonably wonder that the most loyal people to be found any- where should have attempted to rid them- selves of their oppressors by rising against them. The attempts of this kind, how- ever, whether made in England or Scot- land, led only to the sacrifice of some val- uable lives ; nor was it until by the Revo- lution of 1688, so bloodless, yet so com- plete, that the Stuarts were again removed from the throne, and a better era dawned upon both kingdoms. virgins had been defiled, and many had died by the executioner, and by massacre, and in imprisonment, and in exile, and slavery ; and women had been tied to stakes on the seashore till the tide rose to over- flow them, and some had been tortured and mutila- ted ; it was a religion of the boots and the thumb- screw, which a good man must be very cold-blooded indeed if he did not hate, and reject from the hands which offered it. For, after all, it is much more cer- tain that the Supreme Being abhors cruelty and persecution, than that he has set up bishops to have superiority over presbyters." — Const. Hist., vol. iii., p. 435, 442. Such was the severity, however, of the nation's griefs while they lasted, that it seems strange that the Scotch Presbyteri- ans did not abandon their country en masse. But they were withheld by the hope of better times — a hope that even sometimes arrested plans of extensive emigration. Thus, after a company of thirty-six noble- men and gentlemen had contracted for a large tract of land in the Carolinas, as an asylum for their persecuted countrymen, the project was relinquished, in hopes of the success of the abortive attempt for which Russel and Sidney suffered in Eng- land. Many, nevertheless, went over from Scotland into Ireland — many emigrated to America ; and a large proportion of the former, or of their descendants, subsequent- ly sought a resting-place in the New World. This emigration from Scotland and Ireland, after it had thus commenced in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., was contin- ued, from other causes, down to the Amer- ican Revolution, and consisted, almost ex- clusively, of Presbyterians. It was not until a later epoch that the emigration of Roman Catholics from Ireland to America properly commenced ; at least, until then it was too inconsiderable to merit notice. Let us now see to what parts of Ameri- ca this emigration was directed, and which have enjoyed most of the happy effects of its moral influence. New-England did not, on many accounts, present the most attractions to Scotch em- igrants. Not only were its best districts already occupied, but in almost all its col- onies a Church was established, between which and the Presbyterian there might not be all the harmony that was to be desired. Some, nevertheless, did go to New-Eng- land, and received a kind welcome there. According to Cotton Mather, even previous to 1640, 4000 Presbyterians had arrived in that province, but what proportion of these came from Scotland and Ireland we have no means of ascertaining. At a later pe- riod, Londonderry, in New-Hampshire, was founded by a hundred families of Irish Pres- byterians, who, having brought their pastor with them, organized a Presbyterian church there. Another church of that denomina- tion was formed at Boston in 17-29, and such it remained until 1786, when it became Congregational. Other Presbyterians set- tled at Pelham and Palmer. Neither was New- York, for some time at least, an inviting quarter to Presbyterian emigrants ; the establishment of the Epis- copal Church in that colony towards the close of the seventeenth century, and the,, intolerance to which it led, would naturally deter them from making it their choice. Some, indeed, had arrived previously to that epoch, and many Scotch and Irish set- tled in the province in the following cen* tury, particularly as the American Revolu- 74 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. tion was drawing on. Between 400 and 500 emigrants from Scotland alone arrived at New-York in 1737, and, twenty years later, Scotch and Irish colonists established themselves in Ulster county, and also at Orange and Albany. In 1682, William Penn, and eleven other Quakers, having bought the claims of Lord Carteret's heirs, associated with them- selves twelve other persons, a large pro- portion of whom were Scotch, with the view of securing as extensive an emigra- tion as possible from Scotland, as well as other places. Nor were they disappoint- ed ; many were induced to leave that coun- try and the North of Ireland, and settle in East New-Jersey, from the favourable ac- counts they heard of that colony. " It is judged the interest of the government," said George Scot, of Pitlochie, a Scotch- man of rank and influence, " to suppress Presbyterian principles altogether ; the whole force of the law of this kingdom is levelled at the effectual bearing of them down. The rigorous putting of these laws in execution has, in a great part, ruined many of those who, notwithstanding here- of, find themselves in conscience obliged to retain their principles. A retreat, where by law a toleration is allowed, doth at pres- ent offer itself in America, and is nowhere else to be found in his majesty's domin- ions."* " This is the era," says Mr. Ban- croft, " at which East New-Jersey, till now chiefly colonized from New-England, be- came the asylum of Scottish Presbyteri- ans." " Is it strange," asks that author, " that many Scottish Presbyterians, of vir- tue, education, and courage, blending a love of popular liberty with religious enthusi- asm, came to East New-Jersey in such numbers as to give to the rising common- wealth a character which a century and a half has not effaced ]"f Many of the more wealthy of these emigrants brought with them a great number of servants, and, in some instances, transported whole families of poor labourers, whom they placed on their lands. J And in speaking of the town of Freehold, in Monmouth county, one of the earliest settlements in New-Jersey, the Rev. William Tennent, long pastor of the Presbyterian church in that place, ob- serves, " The settling of that place with a Gospel ministry was owing, under God, to the agency of some Scotch people that came to it ; among whom there were none so painstaking in this blessed work as one Walter Ker, who in 1685, for his faithful and conscientious adherence to God and His Truth, as professed by the Church of Scotland, was there apprehended and sent to this country under a sentence of perpet- ual banishment. By which it appears that * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 411. t Ibid., vol. ii., p. 414. X Gordon's " History of New-Jersey," p 51. the devil and his instruments lost their aim in sending him from home, where it is un- likely he could ever have been so service- able to Christ's kingdom as he has been here. He is yet (1744) alive ; and, blessed be God, flourishing in his old age, being in his 88th year."* But it was to Pennsylvania that the lar- gest emigrations of Scotch and Irish, par- ticularly of the latter, though at a later period, took place. About the commence- ment of last century they began to arrive in large numbers. It is said that nearly 6000 Irish arrived in 1729 ; and that up to the middle of the century as many as 12,000 came over every year. Speaking of that period, Proud, in his History of Pennsyl- vania, says, " They have flowed in of late years from the North of Ireland in very large numbers." They settled in the east- ern and middle parts of the state, the only parts then inhabited by white men. Cum- berland county was filled with them. From Pennsylvania they emigrated in great numbers into the western parts of Maryland, the central portions of Virginia, and the western counties of North Caroli- na. A thousand families are said to have left the northern colonies for the last of these provinces in the single year of 1764. There their descendants now constitute a dense homogeneous population, occupying the whole western section of the state, and distinguished by the strict morality and unbending principles of their forefathers. Five or six hundred Scotch settled near Fayetteville, N. C, in 1749, and there was a second arrival from the same country in 1754, after which a steady yearly immigra- tion of the same hardy and industrious people was kept up for a long period.f But, besides the emigration of Scotch and Irish colonists from Pennsylvania into Ma- ryland, the latter province received emi- grants direct from Scotland and Ireland. Colonel Ninian Beall, a native of Fifeshire, who had been implicated in some of the disturbances in his native country, fled first to Barbadoes, and removed thence to Mary- land, where he bought an immense estate, including much of the ground now occupied by Washington and Georgetown. About 200 of his friends and neighbours joined him at his request about the year 1690, and brought along with them the Rev. Nathan- iel Taylor, their pastor. In 1684, a small colony of persecuted * The Rev. William Tennent, quoted by Dr. Hodge in his " Constitutional History of the Presbyterian- Church in the United States." t The Scotch settlers near Fayetteville, in North Carolina, are said to have been, almost without ex- ception, from the Highlands. Gaelic is still spoken by some of the old colonists, and I understand that it is used in some of the churches in that quarter for public worship, which, 1 may add, is in every respect conducted as in Scotland. — See Dr. Hodge's " Con- stitutional History of the Presbyterian Church," vol. i., p. 66. Chap. XII.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 75 Scotch settled, under Lord Cardross, in South Carolina.* In 1737, multitudes of husbandmen and labourers from Ireland embarked for that province,! and within three years before 1773 no fewer than 1G00 emigrants from the North of Ireland settled there. Indeed, of a.11 European countries, Ireland furnished South Carolina with the greatest number of inhabitants ;| they not only settled in the interior, but also on Edisto and the other islands on the coast. Georgia, too, was partly colonized by Scotch and Irish, who emigrated south- westward from Pennsylvania, across Ma- ryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, be- sides receiving no small proportion of its first settlers directly from the Highlands of Scotland. Thus it is manifest that Presbyterians from Scotland and the North of Ireland have largely contributed to form the reli- gious character of the United States ; par- ticularly in the middle and southern parts of the country, and, by consequence, the cor- responding parts of the Valley of the Mis- sissippi, which have been colonized from them. As the early emigrants from Scot- land and Ireland were not only Protestants, but decidedly religious people, they did much to give a religious tone to the dis- tricts in which they established themselves, being those precisely that most stood in need of such an influence. So that in this we have another instance of the Divine in- terposition in behalf of a country, whose whole history is a continued illustration of the mercy and the goodness of God. I may add, in concluding this chapter, that America owes to the early emigrations from Scotland and Ireland not a few of the men who have risen to the highest emi- nence both in Church and State. The Tennents, the Blairs, the Allisons were of Scotch-Irish origin ; Dr. Witherspoon, one of the most valuable men in America of his day, both as a divine and as a states- man, Dr. Nisbet, and many others, were from Scotland. The son of a poor Irish emigrant, who had settled in North Carolina, has been President of the United States. $ The son of a Scotch-Irish emigrant who had settled first in Pennsylvania and removed after- ward to South Carolina, has been Vice- President. || CHAPTER XII. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. HUGUENOTS FROM FRANCE. Next to the English Puritans and Scotch Presbyteria ns we must rank the exiled Hu- * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 173. t Holmes's Annals, vol. ii., p. 145. % Ramsay's " History of South Carolina," vol. i., p. 20 ; vol. ii., p. 23, 548. § General Andrew Jackson. II Hon. John C. Calhoun. guenots, or French Reformed, as having done most to form the religious character of the United States. The Reformation found its way into France in the reign of Francis I., but was hated by that monarch on a double account. First, it placed man at once before his Creator and his Judge, without the inter- vention of human proxies, or the possibil- ity of standing there on the ground of hu- man merit. It placed the sinner at once in presence of the God against whom he had sinned. Second, because, in Calvin's hands, the natural development of his principles threatened the questioning of the rights of despotic power. Hence, although the king's love of literature, and lhs patronage of learned men, led him for a time to de- fend the chiefs of the Reformation in France on account of the interest they showed in the revival of letters, and his hatred of the scholastic and fanatical theologians of the Sorbonne, Francis distinguished him- self by being almost the first ruler that put a Protestant to death. His successors but too closely followed his example. Perse- cution, though intermitted at times, owing to the pressure of circumstances, was re- sumed when that pressure ceased, until 1598, when Henry IV. granted the Edict of Nantes — a measure which was far from according the full measure of Protestant rights, but which was sacredly observed during the remainder of that monarch's reign. But during that of his successor, Louis XIII., and the early years of Louis XIV., that famous ordinance was no bet- ter than an ill-observed truce. Louis XIV., after having come to the crown in his minority, was now approach- ing his fiftieth year, and had begun to feel the decline of passions which he had long indulged without regard for the re- straints of religion and morality, beyond an habitual compliance with the outward forms of the Romish Church, and occasion- al fits of remorse, that were soon forgot- ten amid the excitement of new pleasures. In proportion as his relish for a voluptu- ous life became blunted by increasing age and satiety, he became more and more anxious to atone in some way for long years of sinful indulgence by acts of extra- ordinary devotion, without altogether sac- rificing, however, either his love of pleas- ure or the pursuit of glory. He was thus in a state of mind admirably calculated to make him the tool of an order of men who have acquired the highest celebrity for their profound knowledge of the human heart, and their consummate skill in ma- king alike its strength and its weakness subserve the advancement of their power, more especially in the case of persons placed in stations of authority and influ- ence. A Jesuit skilled in casuistry, and a fascinating and ambitious woman, were TO RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. bent, the one on making the king, who had been brought up in moderate sentiments to- wards the Reformed, and had long pro- voked their enemies by his respect for the Edict of Nantes, become the instrument of Rome in utterly suppressing the Reforma- tion in France, and, if possible, throughout Europe ; the other, on making herself the widowed monarch's wife. To attain these ends, they played into each other's hands, with an unrivalled mastery of all the arts usually employed on such occasions. The confessor used his influence in confirming the favourite's ascendency in the king's af- fections — the favourite, though educated a Protestant, and under early and deep obli- gations to a Protestant relation, sacrificed her friends, and perhaps her convictions, by professing an extravagant zeal for the universal reign of the Roman Catholic re- ligion, and by suggesting that in no way could the king better atone for his past ir- regularities, or promote his own glory, than by labouring " for the conversion of here- tics." Both succeeded, but not to the full measure of their desires. Madame de Maintenon was privately married to Louis XIV., but never became the acknowledged queen of France. The Edict of Nantes was revoked, but the Reformation survives in the French dominions to this day. The king had come under too many solemn obligations to observe that Edict, and had a conscience too little sophistica- ted by Jesuit morality in early life, to be brought into a direct revocation of Prot- estant privileges. The mode by which his scruples were overcome was exceedingly ingenious. His consent was first obtained to a multitude of indirect methods of di- minishing the numbers of the Reformed ; much violence and fraud unknown to him were mingled with the execution of those measures, and he was then persuaded that the Edict of Nantes was unnecessary, since those in whose favour it had been granted had ceased to exist, in his dominions. Fa- vours of every kind were promisd to those who would recant the alleged errors trans- mitted to them from their ancestors, or embraced by themselves ; offices were held out as the reward of such meritorious recan- tations, while, on the other hand, all hope of public employment, and even of public fa- vour in any form, was denied to such as re- fused to be converted. Not only were they excluded from every post of honour or place of trust, but even the guilds and trades' cor- porations were closed against them. No Protestant was to be allowed to marry a Ro- man Catholic. Bribery was also employed, and converts were purchased for gold. Proselytism, nevertheless, went on slow- ly, and death threatened to overtake the illustrious apostle before he should see his subjects united again under the crosier of the successor of Peter the fisherman. The enterprise must needs be hastened for- ward. The sacredness of the family sanc- tuary is next invaded. Children of seven years of age are invited to abjure the faith of their parents. Protestant ministers be- gin to be tormented in every way : Protest- ant chapels are pulled down, or confisca- ted to other uses ; Protestant schools are shut up ; Protestant funds are seized and diverted from their legitimate ends ; those that attempt to fly are forbidden to leave France, under pain of being sent to the galleys. Vain attempt ! The conversions stdl proceed very slowly. Next come scenes of violence. Instead of Jesuit missionaries, or, rather, along with those missionaries, dragoons are sent into the Protestant districts, to be quarter- ed on the inhabitants, and to worry them into conversion. Ferocity and lust are let loose under every roof, and escape is hope- less. At length the Edict of Nantes was for- mally revoked. All public worship among the Protestants was suppressed ; their places of public worship existed no more for them at least. The old Chancellor Le Tellier could exclaim, "Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," and the royal dupe believed that he had united all dissenters with the Roman Church. But what pen can describe the results of this pretended union 1 Property plundered, books destroyed, children torn from their parents, faithful pastors who would not abandon their flocks broken on the wheel, the bodies of all who died unreconciled to the Church thrown to the beasts, estates given up to relations who conformed to the Romish Church, and protracted tortures employed to extort recantations of Protest- antism ! Men were even roasted at slow fires, plunged into wells, and wounded with knives and red-hot pincers. The loss of life cannot now be computed, but it has been asserted that ten thousand persons perished at the stake alone, or on the gib- bet and the wheel.* In consequence of these proceedings, it is believed that no fewer than half a mill- ion of Protestants left France. It was in vain that the frontiers were guarded. De- spair was more ingenious in devising means of evasion than bigotry was in its endeavours to prevent it. Another half million, unable to escape, remained in France, yet could not be reduced to abso- lute conformity with the established creed and worship. Fanaticism grew weary in hunting down its victims, and found nothing harder to subdue than the human mind, when once disenthralled by Truth. Those Huguenots that escaped sought refuge in all the Protestant countries of Europe, at the Cape of Good Hope, and De Rulhiere, (Euvres, v., p. 221. Chap. XII.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 77 in America, carrying with them the useful arts wherever they went, and founding many new manufactures in Germany, Hol- land, and the British islands. An entire suburb of London came to be inhabited by French mechanics, and they had six church- es at one time in that city. The Prince of Orange took whole regiments of brave refugees into his service, and retained them after he became William III. of England. Most affecting narratives have come down to our times from the actors in those scenes, and yet filial piety has not been so diligent as it ought to have been in col- lecting and preserving them. " In our American colonies," says the eloquent historian to whom I have been so often indebted, " they were welcome every- where. The religious sympathies of New- England were awakened. Did any arrive in poverty, having barely escaped with life ? the towns of Massachusetts contributed liberally to their support, and provided them with lands ; others repaired to New- York ; but a warmer climate was more in- viting to the exiles of Languedoc, and South Carolina became the chief resort of the Huguenots. What though the attempt to emigrate was, by the law of France, a felony ! in spite of every precaution of the police, 500,000 souls escaped from the country. The unfortunate were more wakeful to fly than the ministers of tyran- ny to restrain. " ' We quitted home by night, leaving the soldiers in their beds, and abandoning the house with its furniture,' said Judith, the young wife of Pierre Manigault ; ' we con- trived to hide ourselves for ten days at Romans, in Dauphiny, while a search was made for us; but our faithful hostess would not betray us.' Nor could they escape to the seaboard except by a circuitous jour- ney through Germany and Holland, and thence to England, in the depths of winter. ' Having embarked at London, we were sadly off. The spotted fever appeared on board, and many died of the disease ; among these, our aged mother. We touched at Bermuda, where the vessel was seized. Our money was all spent ; with great dif- ficulty we procured a passage in another vessel. After our arrival in Carolina, we suffered every kind of evil. In eighteen months, our eldest brother, unaccustomed to the hard labour which we were obliged to undergo, died of a fever. Since our leaving France we had experienced every sort of affliction — disease, pestilence, fam- ine, poverty, hard labour. I have been six months without tasting bread, working like a slave ; and I have passed three or four years without having it when I wanted it. And yet,' adds the excellent woman, in the spirit of grateful resignation, ' God has done great things for us in enabling us to bear up under so many trials.' " This family was but one of many that found a shelter in Carolina, the general asylum of the Calvinist refugees. Esca- ping from a land where the profession of their religion was a felony, where their es- tates were liable to become confiscated in favour of the apostate, where the preach- ing of their faith was a crime to be expiated on the wheel, where their children might be torn from them to be subjected to their nearest Catholic relation — the fugitives from Languedoc, on the Mediterranean, from Rochelle, and Saintonge, and Bor- deaux, the Provinces on the Bay of Biscay, from St. Quentin, Poictiers, and the beau- tiful valley of Tours, from St. Lo, and Dieppe, men who had the virtues of the Eng- lish Puritans without their bigotry, came to the land to which the tolerant benevo- lence of Shaftesbury* had invited the be- liever of every creed. From a land that had suffered its king in wanton bigotry to drive half a million of its best citizens into exile, they came to the land which was the hospitable refuge of the oppressed ; where superstition and fanaticism, infidelity and faith, cold speculation and animated zeal, were alike admitted without question, and where the fires of religious persecution were never to be kindled. There they ob- tained an assignment of lands, and soon had tenements ; there they might safely make the woods the scene of their devo- tions, and join the simple incense of their psalms to the melodies of the winds among the ancient groves. Their church was in Charleston, and thither on every Lord's day, gathering from the plantations on the banks of the Cooper, and taking advantage of the ebb and flow of the tide, they might all regularly be seen, the parents with their children, whom no bigot could wrest from them, making their way in light skiffs, through scenes so tranquil that silence was broken only by the rippling of the oars, and the hum of the flourishing village at the confluence of the rivers. " Other Huguenot emigrants established themselves on the south bank of the Santee, in a region which has since been celebrated for affluence and refined hospitality. " The United States are full of monu- ments of the emigrations from France. When the struggle for independence ar- rived, the son of Judith Manigault intrusted the vast fortune he had acquired to the ser- vice of the country that had adopted his mother ; the hall in Boston, where the eloquence of New-England rocked the in- fant Spirit of Independence, was the gift of the son of a Huguenot ; when the treaty * The " Constitutions" which Mr. Locke prepared for Carolina, and to which Mr. Bancroft alludes, promised, not equal rights, but "toleration" to " Jews, heathens, and other dissenters," to " men of any re- ligion." The Episcopal Church was to be established by law. to RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. of Paris, for the independence of our coun- try, was framing, the grandson of a Hugue- not, acquainted from childhood with the wrongs 'of his ancestors, would not allow his jealousies of France to be lulled, and exerted a powerful influence in stretching the boundary of the States to the Missis- sippi. In our northeastern frontier state, the name of the oldest college bears wit- ness to the wise liberality of a descendant of the Huguenots. The children of the Calvinists of France have reason to respect the memory of their ancestors."* The emigration of the Huguenots to America is an exceedingly interesting event in the history of that country. It commenced earlier, and was more exten- sive than is generally supposed. Even previously to the massacre of St. Bartholo- mew's day, some of the Protestant leaders, as we have seen, whether from feeling their position to be even then intolerable, or from their anticipations of a still darker futurity, proposed to establish a colony and a mis- sion in Brazil — the mission being the first ever projected by Protestants. The Ad- miral of France, the brave Coligny, who was afterward a victim in the above mas- sacre, entered warmly into the undertaking, and Calvin urged it on with all his might, and selected three excellent ministers, who had been trained under his own eye at Geneva, to accompany the emigrants. The expedition set out in 1556, but proved pe- culiarly disastrous. The commander re- lapsed to the Roman Catholic faith, and having put the three ministers to death, returned to France, leaving the remains of the colony to be massacred by the Portu- guese ! Nor did better success attend two attempts made by the good admiral to plant colonies in North America, the one in South Carolina, the other in Florida. It seemed as if the time had not yet come for the planting of good colonies, and that nei- ther religion nor persecution had as yet sufficiently ripened the Protestants for the enterprise. From the time of the siege of Rochelle to that of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there had been a continual emi- gration of French Protestants to the Eng- lish colonies in America, which, after the latter of these two events, was greatly aug- mented, as is abundantly proved by the public acts of those colonies. The first notice of the kind to be found is an act of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1662, to this effect, " that John Touton, a French doctor and inhabitant of Rochelle, made application to the General Court of Massa- chusetts, in behalf of himself and other Protestants, expelled from their habitations on account of their religion, that they might have liberty to live there, which was read- * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. 11., p. 180-183. ily granted to them."* In 1686, a grant of 11,000 acres was made to another com- pany of French Protestants who had set- tled at Oxford, in the same colony. f In that year, too, a French Protestant Church was erected at Boston, which, ten years after, had the Rev. Mr. Daille for its pas- tor. A century later, when the French Protestants had ceased to use the French language, and had become merged in other churches, their place of worship fell into the hands of some Roman Catholic refu- gees from France. In 1666, an act for the naturalization of French Protestants was passed by the Legislature of Maryland : acts to the like effect were passed in Virginia in 1671 ; in the Carolinas in 1696, and in New- York in 1703. 1 New- York became an asylum for the Huguenots at a very early date, for even before it was surrendered to England, namely, about 1656, they were so numer- ous there that the public documents of the colony had to be published in French as well as in Dutch ;§ and in 1708, Smith, the historian of that colony, says, that next to the Dutch, they were the most numerous and wealthiest class of the population. From an early period they had in that city a church, wliich exists at the present day. It has long been attached to the Protest- ant Episcopal Church, and has a French- man for its rector. New-Rochelle, about twenty miles above the city of New- York, on the East River,, or Sound, as it is more commonly called, was settled solely by Huguenots from Ro- chelle, in France, and the French tongue, both in public worship and common par- lance, was in use even until after the Amer- ican Revolution. There are many of the descendants of French Huguenots in Ul- ster and Dutchess counties in the State of New- York. The Rev. Dr. Miller, professor of Church History in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New-Jersey, had the following interesting facts, respecting the early in- habitants of New-Rochelle, communicated to him : " When the Huguenots first set- tled hi that neighbourhood, their only place of worship was in the city of New- York. They had taken lands on terms that requi- red the utmost exertions of men, women, and children among them to render tillable. They were, therefore, in the habit of work- ing hard till Saturday night, spending the * Holmes's " American Annals" for that year. t Ibid. t Huguenots had long been settled in both the Carolinas and New-York before they were natural- ized. This arose solely from internal difficulties, which rendered their naturalization, for the moment, impossible, not from any unwillingness to receive them. $ Bancroft's " History of the United States," voL ii., p. 302. Chap. XII.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. ?a night in trudging down on foot to the city, attending worship twice the next day, and walking home the same night to be ready for work in the morning. Amid all these hardships, they wrote to France to tell what great privileges they enjoyed."* In 1679, Charles II. sent, at his own ex- pense, in two ships, a company of Hugue- nots to South Carolina, in order that they might there cultivate the vine, the olive, &c, and from that time there was an ex- tensive emigration of French Protestants to the colonies. Collections were made for them in England in the reign of James II., and the English Parliament at one time aided them with a grant of £15,000. f In 1690, William III. sent a large colony of them to Virginia ; in addition to which, that colony received 300 families in 1699, followed successively by 200 and afterward by 100 families more. In 1752, no fewer than 1600 foreign Protestants, chiefly French, settled in South Carolina, and above 200 more in 1764. In 1733, 370 Swiss Protestant families settled in South Carolina, under the ^con- duct of Jean Pierre Pury, of Neuchatel ; the British government granting them 40,000 acres of land, and £400 sterling for every hundred adult emigrants landed in the colony.J In some of the colonies where an Es- tablished Church was supported by a tax, special acts were passed for relieving French Protestants of that burden, and for granting them liberty of worship. Thus, in 1700, the colony of Virginia enacted as follows : " Whereas, a considerable num- ber of French Protestant refugees have been lately imported into his majesty's colony and dominion, and several of which refugees have seated themselves above the fall of James's River, at or near the place commonly called and known by the name of the Monacan towns, &c, the said settle- ment be erected into a parish, not liable to other parochial assessments." This ex- emption was to last for seven years, and was afterward renewed for seven more.fy These Huguenots, wherever sufficiently numerous, at first used their own language in public worship, and had churches of their own, until, with one or two exceptions, and those only for a time, they fell into either the Presbyterian or Episcopal denomina- tion. This must be taken as a general statement, for their descendants may now be found in almost all communions, as well as in all parts of the United States. Many members, too, of the Dutch Reform- ed churches are descended from Hugue- * " History of the Evangelical Churches of New- York." + Holmes's " American Annals." J Ibid. (j Ibid,, p. 432, 472, 492. Hening's " Statutes," p. 201. Dr. Hawks's " Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 79. nots, who had first taken refuge in Holland, and afterward emigrated to America. Nor must we forget the descendants of Hugue- nots who found their first asylum in Eng- land and Scotland. Among these was the late excellent Divie Bethune, whose an- cestors came originally from the town of Bethune, not far from Calais. On looking over the roll of the Presby- terian churches of Charleston, South Car- olina, there may be found the Huguenot names of Dupre, Du Bosse, Quillin, Lan- neau, Legare, Rosamond, Dana, Cousac, Lequeux, Bores, Hamet, Rechon, Bize, Be- noist, Berbant, Marchant, Mallard, Belville, Molyneux, Chevalier, Bayard, Sayre, De Saint Croix, Boudinot, Le Roy, Ogier, Jan- vier, Gillet, Purviance, Guiteau, Boyer, Si- mon, &c, &c* As the entire population of the American colonies amounted only to about 200,000 souls in 1701,f more than forty years after the commencement of the Huguenot emi- grations, a large proportion of that number must have been French Protestants, and Huguenot blood accordingly must be ex- tensively diffused among the citizens of the United States at the present day. J It is very obvious that so large an accession of people, whose very presence in Ameri- ca proved the consistency of their reli- gious character, and who were generally distinguished by simple and sincere piety, must have been a great blessing to the land of their adoption, especially to the South- ern States, where it was most required. Their coming to America, on the other hand, has been blest, under God, to them and their descendants. Many of the first families in New- York, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, as well as other states, are to be found among them, as may be seen in many cases from their names, al- though these have often been lost through intermarriages, or can with difficulty be recognised, owing to their being spelt as they are pronounced by Anglo-Americans. Some of the most eminent persons that have ever adorned the United States were of Huguenot descent. Such were no few- er than three out of the seven presidents of Congress, and, in a sense, of the whole nation, during the war of the Revolution, namely, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Elias Boudinot — all excellent men. I conclude this chapter in the words of a distinguished clergyman of the Episco- pal Church in America. § " And never, probably, did any people better repay the hospitable kindness of the land which af- forded them a refuge. Many of their de- * Lang's " Religion and Education in America," p. 24. t Holmes's " Annals." t Lang's " Religion and Education in America," p. 22, 23. t) Rev. Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia." 90 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. scendants are still left in New- York, Vir- ginia, the Carolinas, and other parts of our country ; and among the brightest orna- ments of the state, in the halls of legisla- tion and of justice, as well as in the sacred office, may be found the names of some of the French refugees. No man in Ameri- ca need ever blush to own himself one of their descendants ; for the observation has more than once been made, and it is believ- ed to be true, that among their descend- ants the instances have been rare indeed of individuals who have been arraigned for crime before the courts of the country." CHAPTER XIII. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- - NISTS. — EMIGRANTS FROM GERMANY. Germans began to emigrate to America in the latter part of the seventeenth centu- ry, and the first comers were probably suf- ferers in the devastations committed by the French under Turenne in the Upper Palat- inate, a country lying on both sides of the Rhine, having Manheim for its capital, and including a portion of the territory which has since been transferred from the Ger- man Empire to France. In 1674 the whole of it was rendered almost utterly desolate by the troops of Louis XIV., who had no better motive for perpetrating such atrocities than that the invaded province was part of the empire with which he was then at war, and, next, that its inhabi- tants were almost all Protestants. So ef- fectually did these troops do their master's bidding, that the Elector Palatine could at one time see, from his palace at Manheim, two cities and twenty-five villages in flames ! In this work of horror Turenne, no doubt, proved to his royal masters sat- isfaction the sincerity of his conversion from Protestantism to Romanism, but he forever tarnished by it his own great name. As persecution continued what war and rapine had begun, on the Palatinate falling under the government of a bigot, many German Protestants emigrated to the Eng- lish colonies in America ; and it may be remarked, that previously to the Ameri- can Revolution, the German emigration, though not always confined to the Palati- nate, and though many of the emigrants came from the northwest of Germany, continued to be almost purely Protestant. About 2700 " Palatines," as they were called, who had sought refuge in England, were sent out by the British government un- der Colonel Hunter in 1710, when that offi- cer was transferred from the governorship of Virginia to that of New- York ; and Ger- man settlements were formed about that time, and some years following, on the " German Flats," and in some other parts of the latter province. In Pennsylvania this immigration is said to have commenced in 1682 or 1683, when Germantown,near Philadelphia, was found- ed ; and in subsequent years, such was the influx of those emigrants, that they and their descendants were estimated, in 1772, at a third of the whole population of that province, then amounting to between 200,000 and 300,000.* In a letter dated October 14th, 1730, Mr. Andrews says : " There is besides in this province a vast number of Palatines, and they come in still every year. Those that have come of late are mostly Presbyterians, or, as they call themselves, Reformed ; the Pa- latinate being about three fifths of that sort of people." There were, however, many Lutherans mixed with them, as Mr. A. afterward remarks, while he adds : " In other parts of the country they are chiefly Reformed, so that, I suppose, the Presby- terian party are as numerous as the Qua- kers, or near it."f In the year 1749, 12,000 Germans arrived in that colony, and for several years thereafter nearly the same number came. J From Pennsylvania they spread into Maryland and Virginia. "The year 1713 was rendered memorable by an act of kindness shown to certain emigrants, sim- ilar to that which had been manifested towards the French refugees. It seems that a small body of Germans had settled above the falls of the Rappahannock, on the southern branch of the river, in the county of Essex. This was at that period the frontier of civilization ; and, therefore, it was alike the suggestion of interest and humanity to afford protection and encour- agement to these foreigners. According- ly, they were exempted, as the French had been, from all ordinary taxes for the term of seven years, and were formed into the " Parish of St. George," with power to employ their own minister and upon their own terms. "§ Many Germans emigrated to the Caro- linas also. In 1709 above 600 arrived, and from the name of their settlement, New- bern, they are supposed to have been Swiss-Germans from the canton of Berne.|| From 1730 to 1750, South Carolina receiv- ed large accessions from Switzerland, Hol- land, and Germany, and a great many " Pal- atines" arrived every year.off In 1764, 500 * Proud's " History of Pennsylvania," vol. ii., p. 273. t Dr. Hodge's " Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church," vol. i., p. 50. t Proud's " History of Pennsylvania," vol. ii., p. 273, 274. ^ Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 81. I! Williamson's " History of North Carolina," vol, i., p. 184. IT Ramsay's " History of South Carolina," vol. i., p. 11. Chap. XIV.] CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 81 or 600 were sent over from London, and had a township set apart for them.* Some years later a considerable number of Ger- man families, after having settled in Maine, left that province to join their countrymen at Londonderry in South Carolina, but most of these repented having taken that step, and returned to Maine, where their descend- ants are to be found at this dayf. Georgia had Germans among its very first colonists. A band of these were led thither by Colonel Oglethorpe, and re-en- forcements from time to time arrived from Europe. The Germans who emigrated to Ameri- ca during the colonial era, being almost all Protestants, organized upon their arri- val two Communions or Churches, upon the great doctrinal principles which had divided them into two denominations in Germany — the Reformed, or the Calvin- ists, and the Church of the Augsburg Confession, or Lutherans. The history of these churches down to the present day will fall under our notice elsewhere. But although difference of language com- pelled them in the first instance to have churches of their own, many of their de- scendants, partly from having adopted the English tongue, partly from their wide dispersion over the country, are now members of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, and Baptist Churches. Among the Germans who settled in America were two small, but interesting portions of the ancient Sclavonic churches of Bohemia, as if to show that even the great Eastern branch of the Christian Church was to have its representatives also in the New World, and to contribute to lay the foundations of a Christian empire there. These were the United Brethren, or Moravians, as they are more commonly called, and some members of the church- es of Bohemia. The Moravians came di- rectly from Herrnhut,the mother city of the whole fraternity that adopt the renovating system, received by some of the remains of the ancient race from Count Zinzen- dorf, in the early part of the last century. The Bohemians came in a dispersed state by way of Holland, but not having organ- ized themselves as a distinct commu- nion, these children of John Huss and Je- rome of Prague were soon merged in the Protestant churches of the land of their adoption. Not so with the United Breth- * Holmes's "American Annals," vol. if, p. 268. + There is an interesting account of this colony in the American Quarterly Register for Nov., 1840. It was commenced, it would seem, in 1739, and received several accessions from Germany, but never became very strong. It suffered much in its early days Jrom the Indians, and also from lawsuits about the titles to the lands occupied by the emigrants. The chief place in the colony is called Waldobor- ough, where there is a church and a pastor, but the German language is now disused. ren, who preserve their own organization and peculiar institutions to this day. Be- sides a few churches in such large cities as Philadelphia and New- York, and some scattered throughout the interior, they are chiefly to be found in the three settlements of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz in Penn- sylvania, and Salem in North Carolina. But I shall speak of their history and pres- ent number in another part of this work. Previous to the Revolution, the German emigration was not only extensive, but also, to a considerable degree at least, pure. The emigrants had left Europe on account of their religion, and brought with them into America the simple and tranquil habits, and the frugal industry that char- acterize the nation from which they came. Not only was their general standard of morality high, but there was not wanting among them a goodly number of sincere Christians, distinguished for the cultiva- tion of all the Christian virtues. But ever since the Revolution, and especially during the last thirty years, a very numerous em- igration from Germany to the United States has taken place, consisting both of Protest- ants and Roman Catholics, influenced in expatriating themselves chiefly by worldly considerations, and much inferior in point of religious character to those godly emi- grants of the same race who had been driven to our shores by persecution and oppression at home. The descendants of German settlers are very numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the other Southern States, as well as in New-York, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- nois, Michigan, Missouri, and the Territo- ries of Wisconsin and Iowa. Indeed, they are by far the most numerous of all the emigrants to America that are not of the British stock. But their influence on the religious character of the nation has not been equal to that of the Puritans, the Scotch, or the Huguenots. The first Bi- ble printed in America was Luther's ver- sion. CHAPTER XIV. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. EMIGRANTS FROM POLAND. Even Poland was called upon to furnish her contingent towards the colonization of America, and sent over some excellent people, whose descendants are now dis- persed over the country. I know not whether the fact I am about to mention stands recorded in any history, but it may, without hesitation, be received as true in all material points. I received it myself from some excellent ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, who are personally acquainted with a considerable number of the descendants of the colonists 82 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IL to whom it relates. They state that in the early part of the 18th century, a Count So- bieski, a lineal descendant of the famous John Sobieski III., who routed the Turks at the battle of Choczin in 1673, and cha- sed them from the walls of Vienna in 1683, led a colony of about 200 Protestants from Poland to the shores of America, there to enjoy a religious freedom which was not to be found in their native country. In this tradition there is nothing strange. The doctrines of the Reformation made a considerable progress for a time in Poland, and one or two of the kings of that coun- try were well disposed towards it. Stipu- lations somewhat like the Edict of Nantes were even made, for securing liberty of conscience and of worship to the Protest- ants. But these were afterward disregard- ed, the Protestants persecuted, and their doctrines so effectually suppressed, that a Protestant Pole is hardly to be found now in the whole kingdom ; for those Protest- ants whom one meets with there are of the German, not of the Polish race. Thus there is nothing incredible in Poland, too, being represented in a country where the persecuted of every land have found a home. This Polish colony settled in the valleys of the Passaic and Karitan Rivers in New- Jersey, where there are some of their de- scendants at the present day, while others are dispersed over various parts of the country. The name of Sobieski, corrupt- ed into that of Zabriskie, is retained by a highly respectable family, some members of which are to be found in one district of New-Jersey, and others in the city of New- York. How wonderful are the ways of God ! Poland chose to cleave to Romanism and rejected the Protestant Reformation, and how has Romanism served her in her re- cent dreadful struggle for national inde- pendence ? This question is best answered by the pope's bull,* addressed to the bish- ops of the kingdom in relation to that war. CHAPTER XV. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- NISTS. EMIGRANTS FROM THE VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT. While even Bohemia, Moravia, and Po- land thus sent forth their little bands of faithful men to America, it is not sur- prising that we should find some wit- nesses to the Truth proceeding from the valleys of Piedmont, to place themselves in the ranks of those whom God was thus calling from so many nations to take part in peopling the New World with profes- sors of the pure Gospel. It was most fit- * This bull is given at length in the work of the Abbe de la Mennais entitled " Rome." ting that among those there should be some r at least, to represent that martyr-people, veritable living relics of those churches in the north of Italy and southwest of France, which had remained faithful to the Truth during long ages of apostacy, and whose preservation was so appropriately symbol- ized by " the bush unconsumed in the midst of the flames." These had heard, in the recesses of their valleys, of the wonderful movement of the Reformation in Germany and France. They sent a deputation to Basel to learn from CEcolampadius what were the senti- ments of the Reformers, and what those doctrines which were turning the world upside down. They heard with joy that the faith of the Reformers was the same as their own, and hastened, accordingly, to unite themselves to the general body of faithful men, who, through much tribula- tion, were casting off the yoke of that spiritual Babylon, drunk with the blood of saints, which had been endeavouring for so many ages to crush their forefathers. But before long the persecution, which was to fall upon the whole Protestant body, reached them also, and with fresh violence. Neither the seclusion of their valleys, nor the insignificance of their num- bers, could save them from this stroke. Then it was that the voice of Cromwell spoke for them with a power which even the Emperor of Germany dared not disre- gard. And then the pen of England's great- est poet was no less ready to teach a per- secuting prince the duty that he owed to suffering humanity, than it was " to assert eternal providence, and justify the ways of God to man." Those valleys contain enduring monuments of British benevo- lence ; the fund contributed at that time by the Christians of England has aided the- preaching of the Gospel to their poor in- habitants ever since. But those who had fled from persecution before the voice of Britain was thus lifted up, had to be pro- vided with an asylum, and for this they were indebted to the city of Amsterdam, which offered them a free passage to America. There the few hundreds that embraced the offer found a welcome re- ception awaiting them.* CHAPTER XVI. SUMMARY. Such, as respects the religious charac- ter of the colonists, was the early coloniza- tion of the United States; and well may it excite our wonder as altogether without a * "Albany Records," vol. iv., p. 223. Lambrecht- sten, p. 65, without quoting his authority, says 600 came over. Mr. Bancroft, vol. ii., p. 322, thinks this an over-statement. A second emigration was pro- posed in 1663, but the project failed. Chap. XVI.l CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLONISTS. 83 parallel in the history of the world. What were the colonies of Egypt, of Phoenicia, of Greece, and Rome 1 what the colonies of Spain and Portugal, when compared with those we have been considering? Before leaving the subject, let us take a general survey of their character. 1. They were not composed of the rich, the voluptuous, the idle, the effeminate, and the profligate, neither were they, generally speaking, composed of poor, spiritless, de- pendant, and helpless persons. They rath- er came from that middle class of socie- ty, which is placed in the happy medium between sordid poverty and overgrown wealth. They knew that whatever com- fort or enjoyment they could look for in the New World, was only to be attained by the blessing of God upon their indus- try, frugality, and temperance. 2. They were not an ignorant rabble, such as many ancient and some modern states have been obliged to expel from their borders. Taken in the mass, they were well informed — many of them re- markably so for the age in which they lived — and which in the case of none of them was an age of darkness. Letters had revived ; the art of printing had dif- fused a great amount of valuable knowl- edge among the middle ranks of society, and was fast carrying it down to the low- est. With few exceptions, they had ac- quired the elements of a good education. There were few persons in any of the col- onies that could not read. They were, moreover, a thinking people, and very un- fit to be the slaves of despotic power. 3. They were a virtuous people ; not a vicious herd, such as used to be sent out by ancient states, and such as chiefly col- onized South America and Mexico, men of unbridled passions and slaves to the ba- sest lusts. The morality of the early col- onists of the United States was unrivalled in any community of equal extent, and has been lauded by almost all who have writ- ten about them, as well as by those who governed them. 4. They were religious men. They be- lieved and felt that Christianity is no vain fancy— a fact that holds true even as re- spects those of them with whom religious motives were not the chief inducement for expatriating themselves. The overwhelm- ing majority stood acquitted of the slight- est approach to infidelity. Neither were they what are called " philosophers," at- tempting to propagate certain new theo- ries respecting human society, and sug- gesting new methods for rendering it per- fect. By far the greater number of them were simple Christians, who knew of no way by which men can be good or happy but that pointed out by God in his Word. There was not a single St. Simon or Owen to be found among them. Some of them, indeed, were irreligious men ; some were? even openly wicked, and opposed to all that is good. But these, in most of the? colonies, formed a very small minority. Nor was their religion inoperative, ft produced the fruits of righteousness. They have been blamed for their conduct to the Indians, but not with so much justice as has been supposed. No doubt there were instances of individual wrong, but they can- not be charged with any general want of justice or kindness to the Aborigines. Ira almost every case they bought from those- prior occupants the lands on which they settled. But on this, and some other points of a general nature, I shall have more to say in another place. 5. With few exceptions, the first colo- nists were Protestants ; indeed, Lord Bal- timore's was the only Roman Catholic col- ony, and even in it the Romanists formed only a small minority long before the Rev- olution of 1775. The great mass had sacri- ficed much, some their all, for the Protest- ant faith. They were Protestants in the sense of men who took the Bible for their guide, who believed what it taught, not what human authority put in its place, "What saith the Lord'!" this was what they desired first of all, and above all, to know. And it was the study of the Bible that opened their eyes to truths which: bore upon every possible relation of life, and upon every duty. There they learned to look upon all men as children of the- same heavenly Father, as redeemed by the same Saviour, as going to the same bar of judgment, before which all must stands stripped of the factitious distinctions of this world. They saw no reason, there- fore, why one man should lord it over an- other, since all " are of one flesh," and if Christians, brethren in Christ. And they learned from the Bible that obedience is due to rulers, not because they are differ- ent in blood or rank from other men, but because government is " an ordinance of God." Obedience to God secured their obedience to civil rulers. As God cannot command what is wrong, no ruler can be justified in doing so, nor can expect obe- dience if he does. And while they learned: from the Bible what were their duties, so they learned there also what were their rights. This led them at once to do the former and to demand the latter. 6. The great majority of them had suf- fered much oppression and persecution* and in that severe but effectual school had learned lessons not to be acquired in any other. It led them to question many- things to which otherwise their thoughts might never have been directed, and it gave them irresistible power of argument in favour of the right of the human rrrincli to freedom of thought. Indeed, it is re- markable how large a proportion of th4 Q4 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. early colonists of the United States were driven from Europe by oppression. Al- though Virginia and the Carolinas were not expressly established as asylums for the wronged, yet during the Common- wealth in England they afforded a refuge to the " Cavalier" and the " Churchman," as they did afterward to the Huguenot and German Protestant. Georgia was colo- nized as an asylum for the imprisoned and ' ; persecuted Protestants ;" Maryland, as the home of persecuted Roman Catholics ; and the colony of Gustavus Adolphus was to be a general blessing to the " whole Protestant world," by offering a shelter to all who stood in need of one. Even New- York, though founded by Dutch merchants, with an eye to trade alone, opened its arms to the persecuted Bohemian, and to the in- habitant of the Italian valleys. So that, in fact, all these colonies were originally peopled more or less, and some of them exclusively, by the victims of oppression and persecution ; hence the remark of one of our historians is no less just than elo- quent, that " tyranny and injustice peopled America with men nurtured in suffering and adversity. The history of our colo- nization is the history of the crimes of Europe."* 7. Though incapable as yet of emanci- pating themselves from all the prejudices and errors of past ages, with respect to the rights of conscience, they were at least in advance of the rest of the world on these points, and founded an empire in which religious liberty is at this day more fully enjoyed than anywhere else — in short, is in every respect perfect. 8. Lastly, of the greater number of the early colonists it may be said, that they ex- patriated themselves from the Old World, not merely to find liberty of conscience in the forests of the New, but that they might extend the kingdom of Christ, by founding states where the Truth should not be im- peded by the hinderances that opposed its progress elsewhere. This was remarka- bly the case with the Puritans of New- England ; but a like spirit animated the pi- ous men who settled in other parts of the country. They looked to futurity, and caught glimpses of the glorious progress which the Gospel was to make among their children and children's children. This comforted them in sorrow, and sustained ihem under trials. They lived by faith, and their hope was not disappointed. CHAPTER XVII. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCHES AND THE CIVIL POWER IN THE COLONIES OF AMERICA. 1. IN NEW-ENGLAND. In treating of the religious character of * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. LL, p. 251. the early Anglo-American colonies, I have spoken incidentally only respecting their forms of Church government, and even now proceed to consider these only in so far as is required for a right understanding of the established relations between their Churches and the civil government. I shall elsewhere treat of the various reli- gious communions in the United States, or, rather, of the diverse forms in which the Church presents itself to the world, and the doctrines peculiar to each. We have here to do only with the relations which the State bore in the different colo- nies to the Church ; and where these two bodies were united, we shall see what were the nature and extent of that union. Many persons whom I have met with in Europe seem to have been altogether una- ware of the existence of any such union in any part of the United States, and, still more, have had no correct idea of what the nature of that union was in the different parts of the country where it was to be found. To both these classes I desire to give all the information they may require. If we consider for a moment what was the state of the Christian world when these colonies were first planted, in the early part of the seventeenth century, we must see that the mass of the colonists would be very little disposed to have the Church completely separated from the State in their infant settlements, and the former deriving no support from the latter. The Church and the State were at that time in- timately united in all the countries of Eu- rope ; and the opinion was almost univer- sally entertained that the one could not safely exist without the direct counte- nance of the other. It is not even certain that England, or any other country, would have granted charters for the founding of permanent colonies, unless upon the con- dition expressed, or well understood, that religion was to receive the public sanction and support. Assuredly, James 1., at least, was not likely to consent to anything else. Be that as it may, the first colonists themselves had no idea of abolishing the connexion which they saw everywhere established between the civil powers and the Church of Christ. To begin with New- England, nothing can be more certain than that its Puritan colonists, whether we look to their declarations or their acts, never contemplated the founding of communities in which the Church should have no alli- ance with the State. Their object, and it was one that was dearer to them than life itself, was to found such civil communities as should be most favourable to the cause of pure religion. They had left England in order to escape from a government which, in their view, hindered the progress of divine truth, oppressed the conscience, and was inexpressibly injurious to the im- Chap. XVII.] THE CHURCHES AND THE CIVIL POWER. 85 mortal interests of men's souls. " They had seen in their native country the entire subjection of the Church to the supreme civil power ; reformation beginning and ending according to the caprices of the hereditary sovereign ; the Church neither purified from superstition, ignorance, and scandal, nor permitted to purify itself; ambitious, time-serving, tyrannical men, the minions of the court, appointed to the high places of prelacy ; and faithful, skil- ful, and laborious preachers of the Word of God silenced, imprisoned, and deprived of all means of subsistence, according to the interests and aims of him or her who, by the law of inheritance, happened to be at the head of the kingdom. All this seemed to them not only preposterous, but intolerable ; and, therefore, to escape from such a state of things, and to be where they could freely practise ' Church Ref- ormation,' they emigrated."* In the formation, likewise, of their civil institutions in the New World, they deter- mined that, whatever else might be sacri- ficed, the purity and liberty of their church- es should be inviolate. Bearing this in mind, they founded commonwealths in which the churches were not to be subordinate to the state. Not that they were " Fifth mon- archy men ;" they had no wish that the Church should engross to itself the powers of the State, and so rule in civil as well as in ecclesiastical matters. But they thought it better that the State should be accom- modated to the Church, than the Church to the State. " It is better," said Mr. Cot- ton, " that the commonwealth be fashioned to the setting forth of God's house, which is his Church, than to accommodate the Church frame to the civil state. "f With this in view, they sought to avail themselves of all the lights furnished by the experience of ancient as well as mod- ern states, and looking especially to the Constitution of England as it then stood, they framed civil governments in which, as they hoped, not only the temporal, but, still more, the spiritual interests of mankind might best be promoted. They considered that they had a right to do so, and held opinions on this point directly at variance with those of the age in which they lived. The fashion then was to deduce all author- ity from the divine right of kings, and the theory of civil power was that of uninter- rupted hereditary succession. But the Pu- ritan founders of New-England thought that " they were free to cast themselves into that mould and form of commonwealth which appeared best for them," in reference * Bacon's " Historical Discourses on the Comple- tion of 200 Years from the beginning of the first Church in New-Haven," p. 17, 18. t Cotton's " Letter to Lord Say and Seal, in Hutchinson's History of New-England," vol. i., p. 497. to their grand purpose ; nor did they doubt that a government thus originating in vol- untary compact would have equal right to the exercise of civil authority with that of any earthly potentate whatever. Whatever were the details of their poli- cy, and whatever the results of some parts" of it, it is most certain that they intended that the Church should in no sense be sub- ject to the State. They held the great and glorious doctrine that Christ is the only- Head and Ruler of the Church, and that no human legislation has a right to inter- fere with His. It has been said that they took the Hebrew commonwealth for their model in civil politics, and this is so far true. But it holds as to their penal code more than with respect to the forms of their civil governments. With the excep- tion of the first few years of the Massachu- setts Bay and New-Haven colonies, there was no such blending of civil and religious authority as existed in the Jewish Republic. There was much, however, in the Hebrew commonwealth and laws that seemed adapted to the circumstances of men who had just exchanged what they considered a worse than Egyptian bondage for a Canaan inhabited by the " heathen," whom they were soon to be compelled " to drive out." The two cases were more alike than at first strikes a superficial observer.* There were * " The laws of Moses were given to a communi- ty emigrating from their native country to a land which they were to acquire and occupy for the great purpose of maintaining in simplicity and purity the worship of the one true God. The founders of this colony came hither for the self-same purpose. Their emigration from their native country was a religious emigration. Every other interest of their communi- ty was held subordinate to the purity of their reli- gious faith and practice. So far, then, as this point of comparison is concerned, the laws which were givers to Israel in the wilderness may have been suited to the wants of a religious colony planting itself in America. " The laws of Moses were given to a people who were to live not only surrounded by heathen tribes on every frontier save the seaboard, but also with the heathen inhabitants, worshippers of the devil, inter- mixed among them, not fellow-citizens, but men of an- other and barbarous race; and the laws were therefore framed with a special reference to the corrupting in- fluence of such neighbourhood and intercourse. Sinv ilar to this was the condition of our fathers. The Ca- naanite was in the land, with his barbarian vices, with his heathenish and hideous superstitions ; and their servants and children were to be guarded against the contamination of intercourse with beings so degraded. " The laws of the Hebrews were designed for a free people. Under those laws, so unlike all the in stitutions of Oriental despotism, there was no abso lute power, and, with the exception of the hereditary priesthood, whose privileges, as a class, were well balanced by their labours and disabilities, no pnvi leged classes. The aim of those laws was ' equal and exact justice ;' and equal and exact justice is the only freedom. Equal and exact justice, in the laws and in the administration of the laws, infuses free- dom into the being of a people, secures the widest and most useful distribution of the means of enjoy- ment, and affords scope for the activity and health- ful stimulus to the affections of every individual. The people whose habits and sentiments are formed •86 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. parts of the Mosaic law, excluding, of course, all that was typical, ceremonial, and local, which the colonists thought they might do well to adopt, until, in the course of time, they should find reasons tor chan- ging to something better. Had it been the laws of Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, or Alfred that they adopted, some who now ridicule would perhaps have applauded them, as if Moses were inferior to any of those law- givers. There are men who know more of the laws of Solon, and even of Minos, than about Moses, and who, in their ignorance, talk of the Jews of the days of Moses as if almost, if not altogether, savages ; not knowing that they were quite as much civ- ilized as any of their contemporaries, and had institutions prescribed to them by the Supreme Ruler and Lawgiver. It is remarkable that, with the exception of the Plymouth settlers, all the first New- England colonists — all who founded Mas- sachusetts Bay, New-Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, New-Haven, Providence, and Rhode Island — up to their leaving England, were members of the Established Church. The Plymouth people alone were Inde- pendents,* had had their church organized on that principle for years, and were such even before they went to Holland. If any of the other original colonists of New-Eng- land had been thrust out from the Estab- lished Church of the mother-country, they nad not organized themselves on any other principle ; and, however opposed to the spirit of its rulers and to some of its cere- monies and usages, that they were attached to the Church itself, as well as to many of those whom they had left within its pale, is 3nanifest from the letter of Governor Win- throp and his associates, just after embark- ing for America. But on arriving there they immediately proceeded to the founding of an ecclesias- tical economy upon the Independent plan, having for its essential principles, " That, according to the Scriptures, every church ought to be confined within the limits of a ^single congregation, and that the govern- ment should be democratical ; that church- es should be constituted by such as desired to be members, making a confession of their faith in the presence of each other, and signing a covenant ; that the whole power of admitting and excluding mem- under such an administration of justice will he a free people." — Baco/i's " Historical Discourses," p. .30,31. * They were not, properly speaking, Separatists, in the distinctive sense in which that word was used at that epoch, viz., those who not only refused to liave any sort of communion with the Established Church, but denounced all who did. The Separa- tists were exceedingly bitter in their hostility to eve- rything which bore the name of the Established Church of England. The farewell address of John Robinson, to the Pilgrims who left Leyden to plant the colony at Plymouth, breathed a very different spirit. bers, with the deciding of all controversies, was in the brotherhood ; that church-offi- cers, for preaching the Word and taking care of the poor, were to be chosen by the free suffrages of the brethren ; that in church censures, there should be an entire separation of the ecclesiastical from the civil sword ; that Christ is the Head of the Church ; that a liturgy is not necessary ; and that all ceremonies not prescribed by the Scriptures are to be rejected." But how are we to account for a change in their views so sudden and so great? Even when Winthrop left England in 1630, neither the Presbyterian nor the Independ- ent doctrines as to Church government had made that progress in public opinion which they had made when the Long Parliament, and Cromwell and his army, began to play their parts. It is quite possible, or, rather, all but certain, that several of the ministers in the Massachusetts Bay colony were low Episcopalians, and friends of Archbishop Usher's scheme ; but if all of the leading colonists were as much inclined to Presby- terianism as has been thought by some, it is hard to imagine why they did not estab- lish that form of government. It is diffi- cult to make out, on the other hand, why they diverged so widely, and at once, from the Episcopal economy, as to adopt Inde- pendency, which is almost antipodal. This, it appears to me, may be referred to two or three causes. First, it is natural that, on quitting England, where they had suffered so much from Prelacy, they should renounce an ecclesiastical system that con- ferred upon any men powers so capable of being abused ; nor can it be thought surpri- sing that in such circumstances they should run to the opposite extreme, and prefer an ecclesiastical government of the most dem- ocratical sort. Another, and much more powerful reason, for their rejecting Epis- copacy would be, that they might escape the jurisdiction of the bishops, which would otherwise unquestionably have followed them. And, lastly, there can be no doubt that they were much influenced by what they saw and heard of the Plymouth colo- ny. It will be remembered that the first division of the Massachusetts Bay settlers, under Endicott, reached Salem in 1628, and that the main body, under Winthrop, fol- lowed in 1630, and founded Boston. It would seem that the Rev. Mr. Higginson, the distinguished minister in Endicott's col- ony, led the way in effecting the change, he having, upon his arrival at Salem, or soon afterward, introduced the Independ- ent plan among his people, though not with- out much difficulty, being opposed by the two Brownes, John and Samuel, who, in •consequence of this opposition, had to re- turn to England. Mr. Higginson was dis- posed to receive very favourably the ac- counts transmitted from the Plymouth col- Chaf. XYIL] the churches and the civil power. 87 ony on the other side of the bay. It is true that Edward Winslow, in his " Brief Nar- rative," as well as Cotton, in his " Way," &c, undertake to prove that Plymouth did not exert the influence that has been as- cribed to it, and which has even by Gorton and his accomplices been charged against it as a crime. But I think it clear that they admit the substance of the charge.* The Church, then, that was established in all the New-England colonies, with the exception of Providence and Rhode Isl- and,! was what is termed in the United States, Congregational, and in England, Independent ; though there is some differ- ence between the Congregational churches in the former of these countries, and the Independent in the latter, as I shall show in another part of this work. I speak here of the form of government. As for doc- trines, they were essentially those of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng- land ; in other words, Calvinistic. Let us now see what were the relations between the Church and the State, or " Commonwealth," in New-England. In every colony there, except the two above mentioned, the object of one of the first acts of civil legislation was to provide for the support of public worship, and other laws followed from time to time to the same effect, as circumstances required. Without going into unnecessary details, suffice it to say, that parishes or " towns" of a convenient size were ordered to be laid out, and the people were directed to levy taxes by the proper authorities of their respective towns, for erecting and keeping in due repair a suitable " meeting- * Winslow says, " It is true, I confess, that some of the chief of them," referring to the colony of Mas- sachusetts Bay, " advised with us how they should do to fall upon a right platform of worship, and de- sired to that end, since God had honoured us to lay -the foundation of a commonwealth, and to settle a church in it, to show them whereupon our practice was grounded ; and if they found, upon due search, it was built upon the Word of God, they would be willing to take up what was from God." He then goes on to say, that they of Plymouth showed them the warrant for their government in the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Gospels ; and that their friends, the other colonists, were well pleased there- with, and also agreed to walk in the same way, so far as God should reveal his will to them, from time to time, in his Word. As for Cotton, he says, "Thedis- suader is much mistaken when he saith, ' The con- gregation of Plymouth did incontinently leaven all the vicinity,' seeing for many years there was no vi- cinity to be leavened. And Salem itself, that was gathered into church order seven or eight years after them, was above forty miles distant from them. And though it be very likely that some of the first-comers (meaning Endicott and Higginson) might help their theory by hearing and discerning their practice at Plymouth, yet therein is theScripture fulfilled, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a wom- an took and hid in three measures of meal till all was . leavened.' " t And it too may be called Congregational, for it avas founded by Baptists, whose churches are essen- tially independent in form of government. house," for the maintenance of a pastor or minister, and for all other necessary ex- penses connected with public worship. I am not aware of any exemption from this law being allowed for a long time after the colonies were founded. Such was the fun- damental union of Church and State in the colonies that now form the States of Mas- sachusetts, Connecticut, New-Hampshire, and Maine. The next law adopted in the Massachu- setts Bay colony dates from 1631, the year after the arrival of Winthrop and his com- pany, and, as we shall hereafter see, it was pregnant at once with evil and with good. It ran thus : " To the end that the body of the commons may be preserved of honest and good men, it is ordered and agreed, that for the time to come, no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same."* In other words, no one was to vote at elections, or could be chosen to any office in the commonwealth, without being a member of one of the churches. This law was long in force in Massachu- setts and in Maine, which, until 1820, was a part of that state ; but it never prevailed, I believe, in New-Hampshire, and was un- known, of course, in Rhode Island. But a like law existed from the first in New- Haven, and when that colony was united, in 1662, with Connecticut, where this had not been the case, it became, I believe, part of the legislation of the united colony. Thus we find two fundamental laws on this subject prevailing in New-England — the one universal, with the exception of Rhode Island ; the other confined to Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. In re- stricting the exercise of political power to men who, as members of the Church, were presumed to be loyal to the grand princi- ple of the colony to which they belonged, namely, the maintenance of purity of doc- trine and liberty of worship, as the first consideration, and of free political govern- ment as necessary to it, the authors of that law doubtless contemplated rather the protection of their colonists from appre- hended dangers than the direct promotion of piety. This principle, in fact, down to the found- ing of these colonies, seems to have been adopted substantially by all nations, Popish and Protestant, Mohammedan and Hea- then ; so much so that Davenport said, " These very Indians, that worship the devil," acted on the same principle, so that, in his judgment, "it seemed to be a prin- ciple imprinted in the minds and hearts of all men in the equity of it."f We need * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. i., p. 360. t " Discourse about Civil Goverment," p. 24, as quoted in Bacon's " Historical Discourses." 83 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. hardly remind the reader that this allegi- ance to the Christian Faith was, until very lately, indispensable to the holding of any office under the crown in England, and that receiving the sacrament in the Es- tablished Church was the legal test of a man's possessing it. In conclusion, I ought to state, that in the New-England colonies the ministers of the Gospel had no part, as such, in the civil government. They were confined to their proper office and work. Yet no men had more influence, even in affairs of state. As a body of enlightened patriots, whose opinion it was important to obtain, they were consulted by the political authorities in every hour of difficulty ; and although cases might be found in which the leading men among them, at least, did not advise their fellow-citizens wisely, it was much otherwise in the great majority of instan- ces. Such was the state of things through- out the whole colonial age ; and to this day, in no other country is the legitimate influence of the clergy in public affairs — an influence derived from their intelli- gence, united with religion, virtue, and public spirit — more manifest, or more sal- utary, than in New-England. If these col- onies might be compared, in their earlier periods, to the Hebrew commonwealth, it is certain that, wherever there was a Mo- ses, there was also an Aaron ; and the in- fluence of Winthrop, and Haynes, and Bradford, and Eaton, was not greater or happier than that of their compeers and coadjutors, the Rev. Messrs. Cotton, and Hooker, and Brewster, and Davenport. CHAPTER XVIII. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE CIVIL POWER IN THE COLONIES. 2. THE SOUTHERN AND MIDDLE PROVINCES. Virginia, too, like New-England, was first colonized by members of the Church of England ; but there was a vast differ- ence between the views of the admirers of the English Prelacy of that time and those of the Puritans. The Established Church was then composed, in fact, of two great divisions, which in spirit, at least, have more or less existed ever since, and were represented in the colonization of America by the High Churchmen and Cav- aliers of the South, on the one hand, and the Puritans of the North on the other. While the latter left England in order to escape from the oppressions inflicted on them by the Prelacy, abetted by the Crown, the former had no complaint against either, but carried with them a cordial attach- ment to both. In the original charter of James I. to Virginia, it was specially enjoined that re- ligion should be established according to the doctrines and rites of the Church of England ; every emigrant was bound to allegiance to the king, and to conformity with the royal creed.* Still, it does not appear that any provision was made for the clergy until 1619, that is, twelve years after the commencement of the colony. A Legislative Assembly, elected by tho colonists, met that year for the first time, and passed laws for the formation of par- ishes and the regular maintenance of the clergy ; accordingly, the establishment of the Episcopal Church dates formally, if not really, from that year. Previously to this, however, and during the governorship of Sir Thomas Dale, the London Company sent over to Virginia a set of " laws, divine, moral, and martial," being, apparently, the first fruits of Sir Thomas Smith's legislation ; and from their Draconian character, they give us some idea of the notions entertained in those times of the ways whereby religion might be promoted by the civil power. They were so bad, it is true, as to be little, if at all enforced. In short, they soon fell into complete desuetude, and were dis- claimed, at length, by the company, with- out whose sanction they seem to have been prepared and sent. Yet there is ample ev- idence to prove that they breathed very much the spirit of the times that produced them, and of the party in the Church of England to which their author belonged — a spirit which, thank God ! has long since ceased to exist in that or any other portion of the Church of Christ in that country. The first of those laws that bears upon religion enjoins on the officers of the col- ony, of every description, to have a care that " the Almightie God bee duly and dai- ly served," that the people "heare ser- mons," that they themselves set a good example therein, and that they punish such as shall be often and wilfully absent, "ac- cording to martial law in the case provi- ded." The second law forbids, upon pain of death, speaking against the sacred Trinity, or any Person of the same, or against the known articles of the Christian Faith. The third law forbids blasphemy of God's holy name, upon pain of death ; and the use of all unlawful oaths, upon severe pun- ishment for the first offence, the boring of the tongue with a bodkin for the second, and death for the third. The fourth law forbids speaking disre- spectfully of the Word of God, upon pain of death, as well as the treating of minis- ters of the Gospel with disrespect; and en- joins the " holding of them in all reverent regard and dutiful entreatie," under penal- ty of being whipped three times, and of * Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. i., p. 123. Chap. XVIII.] THE CHURCHES AND THE CIVIL POWER. 89- " asking forgiveness in the assembly of the congregation three severall Saboth daies." The fifth law enjoins upon all to attend morning and evening, every week-day, in the church for service, at the tolling of the bell, upon pain of losing their daily al- lowance* for the first omission, to be whip- ped for the second, sent to the galleys for six months for the third. It also forbids all violation of the Sabbath by gaming, and commands the people to prepare them- selves by private prayer for the proper at- tendance upon the public worship, fore- noon and afternoon, upon pain of losing their week's allowance for the first omis- sion, the same and a whipping for the sec- ond, and death for the third. The sixth enjoins upon every minister within the colony to preach every Sabbath morning, and catechise in the afternoon ; to have a service morning and evening every day, and preach on Wednesday ; " to chuse unto him foure of the most religious and better disposed" to maintain a sort of spir- itual police, and to see that the church be kept in a good and decent state, and that he keep a register of births, deaths, bap- tisms, &c, " upon the burthen of a neglect- full conscience, and upon paine of losing their entertainment." The seventh law commands " all who were then in the colony, or who shall thenceforth arrive, to repair to the minis- ter, that he may know, by conference had, their religious knowledge ; and if any be deficient, they are enjoined to go to him, at times which he shall appoint, to receive farther instruction, which, if they refuse to do, the governor, upon representation of the fact, shall order the delinquent to be whipped once for the first omission, twice for the second, and every day till acknowl- edgment be made and forgiveness asked for the third ; and also commands every man to answer, when catechised respect- ing his faith and knowledge upon the Sab- bath, upon pain of the same peril. "f Such was Sir Thomas Smith's code, and truly it may be said to promote religion with a vengeance. To the credit of the governor and council, it seems never to have been enforced. Previously to the dissolution of the com- pany, in 1624, the Colonial Legislature passed a number of laws relating to the Church ; three of the most important were as follows : 1. That in every plantation where the * For some time after the colony of Virginia was planted, all provisions were served out from the com- mon storehouse. It was not long, however, before this plan of having all things in common gave place to the " individual principle" of each having what he could gain by his personal exertions. t These laws must be considered far more intol- erant and abhorrent to the spirit of Christianity than any of the statutes taken by the New-England Puri- tans from those of the Hebrew Commonwealth. people were wont to meet for the worship of God, there should be a house or room set. apart for that purpose, and not convert- ed to any temporal use whatsoever ; and that a place should be impaled and seques- tered only for the burial of the dead. 2. That whosoever should absent him- self from Divine service any Sunday, with- out an allowable excuse, should forfeit a pound of tobacco ; and that he who absent- ed himself a month, should forfeit fifty pounds of tobacco.* 3. That there should be a uniformity in the Church as near as might be, both in substance and circumstance, to the canons of the Church of England ; and that all persons should yield a ready obedience to them upon pain of censure. f Upon the company being dissolved, the colony fell under the immediate govern- ment of the crown, which thenceforth ap- pointed the governors, as well as decided, in the last instance, upon all laws passed by the Assembly, the Council, and the gov- ernor. And from about the year 1629, the- laws requiring conformity to the Estab- lished Church were strictly enforced, and infractions of them visited with severe pen- alties. During the period of the " Grand Rebel- lion" in England, and while the Common- wealth lasted, Virginia sympathized strong- ly with the cause of the tottering, and r eventually, fallen throne and altar, and many of the friends of both found refuge there during Cromwell's Protectorate. It may be remarked, however, that the colony did not meet, with such a recompense from the restored royal house as its loyalty just- ly merited. In 1662, in obedience to instructions from the crown, the Virginia Legislature enact- ed several laws for the more effectual sup- port of the Established Church, the promo- tion of the education of youth generally, and of candidates for the ministry in partic- ular. But it was long before the " college" contemplated by these laws was actually established. Early in the eighteenth century, if not even sooner, the laws of Virginia, requi- ring strict conformity to the Established Church, must either have been modified, or had begun to fall into neglect, there be- ing positive evidence that Presbyterian meetings were held for public worship in 1722. From that period until the Revolu- * Tobacco was the chief article of traffic which the country produced at that time, and was often, used as a substitute for a monetary circulating me- dium. f It will be seen, from these laws, that the actual' legislation of the more liberal " Cavaliers" of the South was not a whit more tolerant than that of the bigoted " Roundheads" of New-England. So it ever is ; the religion of the world, with all its vaunt- ed liberality, is found to be more intolerant, wherever it has a chance, than serious, earnest, evangelical' piety. ■90 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. lion, avowed dissenters increased steadily and rapidly, and previously to 1775 there were many Baptist, Presbyterian, Luther- .an, and Quaker churches within the colo- ny. Still, the Episcopal Church predomi- nated, and it alone was supported by law. Maryland, founded by Roman Catholics, had no union of Church and State, no legal provision for any religious sect, and toler- ated all until 1692,* when Protestant Epis- copacy was established by law, the coun- try divided into parishes, and the clergy, as in Virginia, supported by a tax upon the inhabitants. This was one of the results of the Revolution of 1688 in England, and of the wide-spread abhorrence of popery which prevailed at that time, and long af- terward, both in the mother-country and her colonies. Gradually, and not without encountering many obstacles, the Episco- pal Church advanced in the number of its parishes and clergy until the American Revolution, and though all other sects had ever been tolerated, was the only one sup- ported by the State. Of the good and bad effects of that establishment we shall speak hereafter. In South Carolina, all sects were at first protected by the Proprietaries. In 1704, however, the friends of the Episcopal Church having, by the arts of Nathaniel Moore, obtained a majority of one in the Representative Assembly of a colony two thirds of whose inhabitants were not Epis- copalians, abruptly disfranchised all but themselves, and gave the Church of Eng- land a monopoly of political power. But the dissenters having appealed to the House of Lords in England, the acts com- plained of were annulled by the crown, and, consequently, repealed by the Colonial As- sembly, two years afterward. Neverthe- less, although the dissenters were tolera- ted, and admitted to a share in the civil government, the Church of England re- mained the Established Church of the prov- ince until the Revolution.! In the same year, 1704, influenced by zeal or bigotry, the Proprietaries forced a Church Establishment upon the people of North Carolina, though presenting at that time an assemblage of almost all religious denominations — Quakers. Lutherans, Pres- byterians, Independents, &c. But, accord- ing to the royalists, the majority were " Quakers, Atheists, Deists, and other evil- * Strictly speaking, it might be said that this statement is not quite exact. For when Cromwell's commissioners came into possession of the colony, an 1654, the Legislature, which was wholly subservi- ent to Clayborne, a tool of the Protector, passed a law suppressing public worship among Roman Cath- olics and Episcopalians. And four years afterward, Fendall, acting as governor, at first in the name of the Proprietaries, and afterward by his own usurpa- tion, undertook to persecute the Quakers. But both these exceptions were of short duration. t Bancroft's " History of the United States," vol. iii., p. 18, 19. disposed persons." From that time glebes and a clergy began to be spoken of, and churches were ordered to be erected at the public cost. But we shall see that the Established Church made slow progress in North Carolina. As long as New- York was under the Dutch government, the churches of that colony supported their pastors by volun- tary contributions, and there was no union of Church and State.* But on its falling into the hands of the English, as the royal governors and other officers sent over to administer public affairs were all admirers of the Established Church of England, they very naturally wished to see it supersede the Dutch Church, while, at the same time, the English tongue supplanted the Dutch as the language of the colony. Governor Fletcher, accordingly, in 1693, prevailed on the Legislature to pass an act for the estab- lishment of certain churches and ministers, reserving the right of presentation to the vestrymen and church-wardens. This act was so construed, two years after, that Episcopal ministers alone received the benefit of it, although this does not appear to have been the expectation or the inten- tion of the Legislature. From that period till the Revolution, the Episcopal was the Established Church, although, at the time of its becoming so, it was reckoned that nine tenths of the population belonged to other communions. East and West New-Jersey, united into one province, and placed under the admin- istration of the crown in 170-2, had its future government laid down in the commission and instructions to Lord Cornbury. Toler- ation being allowed by these to all but pa- pists, and special " favour" invoked for the Church of England, that church was so far established there, seventy-three years be- fore the American Revolution. In Penn- sylvania there never was any union of Church and State, nor, so far as I know, any attempt to bring it about. Delaware was separated from Pennsylvania in 1691, and from that time had its own governors, under the immediate control of the crown. But in Delaware, as well as in New-Jersey and in Georgia, the colony of the good cavalier, James Oglethorpe, who loved " the King and the Church," there can hard- ly be said to have been an establishment, as the " favour" shown to the Episcopal Church secured a maintenance for a very * It cannot be said, I fear, that the early Dutch colonists, or, rather, their colonial governors, were very tolerant. Though there was no union of the Church and State, they were very jealous of allow- ing any other than the Reformed Dutch Church to exist among them. A little band of Lutherans, who joined the colony almost at its commencement, were not allowed to hold their worship publicly until the countrv passed into the hands of the English. — Pro- fessor Schmiicker's " Retrospect of Lutheranism in the United States," p. 6. Chap. XIX.] UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 91 small number of ministers only, and that more for the benefit and gratification of the officers connected with the government, and their families, than with the view of reaching the bulk of the people, who pre- ferred other m Chap. XIX.] UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 95 the unconverted, as well as of edification to " believers," or converted persons. Not that this was enjoined on the church- es as a law of the state. But it was the natural and almost inevitable, though indi- rect, consequence of the law adjudging all baptized persons who " renewed the cov- enant" to be considered members of the Church, and entitled to the civil privileges attached to that relation. It is easy to see what would follow. The former measure filled the churches with baptized people who owned the covenant ; the latter prac- tice filled the churches with unconverted communicants. In the course of a few generations the standard of religious truth and practice fell lower and lower. This decline necessarily bore upon the charac- ter of the pastors, for upon the occurrence of a vacancy, the choice, in too many cases, was sure to fall upon a pastor equally low in point of religious character with the par- ties by whom he was chosen. Such a state of things opened the way effectually for the admission of false doctrine, and the more so, inasmuch as there was no effect- ual control beyond and above what was to be found in each individual church. But this subject I may dismiss for the present, as I shall have occasion to recur to it when we come to consider the rise and progress of Unitarianism in the United States. So much for the ill consequences flow- ing from two of the measures by which the New-England Fathers endeavoured to carry into operation their ideas on the subject of the union that should subsist between the Church and the State ; let us now look at the mischief produced by a third measure — that, namely, requiring each " town" to maintain public worship by levying a tax on all the inhabitants. 3. As the people were invested by law with an absolute control over the applica- tion of the money so raised, no great evil seemed, at first sight, likely to arise from such a mode of supporting the Church ; and it may readily be supposed that at the out- set, when the colonists formed a homo- geneous society, and were all either mem- bers of the established churches, or cor- dial friends and admirers of their system of doctrine and church polity, this assess- ment for their support would be submitted to without reluctance. But in process of time, when, whether from the accession of fresh emigrants, or from the growing up into manhood of the children of the origi- nal colonists, there happened to be found in any particular town a considerable number of inhabitants who either disliked the services of the parish church, or were indifferent to religion altogether, it is clear that such a law would be considered both burdensome and unjust. Men can never be made to feel that they can with equity be required to pay taxes, in any shape, to support a church which they dislike, and to which they may have conscientious ob- jections. Hence serious difficulties, ag- gravated afterward when the Legislature was compelled, by the progress of true principles of legislation, to extend the rights of citizenship, and permission to have a worship of their own, to persons of all sects. It seemed unjust that these, while supporting their own churches, should be compelled, in addition, to contribute to- wards the maintenance of the parish, or town churches, which for a long time they were called upon to do. A law, however, was passed at length, not exempting those who did not attend the parish church from all taxation, but al- lowing them to appropriate their propor- tion to the support of public worship ac- cording to their own wishes. Fair as this seemed, it proved most disastrous in its consequences to the interests of true reli- gion. The haters of evangelical Christi- anity could now say, " Well, since we must be taxed in support of religion, we will have what suits us," and in many places societies, for it would be improper to call them churches, of Universalists* and Unitarians began to be formed, and false preachers found support where, but for this law, no such societies or preach- ers would ever have existed. It is im- possible to describe the mischiefs that have flowed from this unfortunate meas- ure, not only and particularly in Massachu- setts, but likewise in Connecticut, Maine, and, I believe, in New-Hampshire also. With the aid of such a law, thousands, who are now indifferent to truth or error, might easily be driven into Universalism, or some other dangerous heresy, in any part of the United States, or, rather, in any part of the world where religious opinion is unrestrained. 4. Only one farther measure was re^ quired in order to make this law for the support of public worship as fatal as possi- ble to the interests of true religion in Mas- sachusetts. This was a decision of the Supreme Court of that state, pronounced some twenty or twenty-five years ago, by which the distinction which had previously existed between the " Church" and the " town," or " parish," was destroyed in the view of the law ; and the " town," that is, the body of the people who were taxed for the support of the parish church, was al- lowed to exercise a control in the calling of a pastor, and in everything else. There then ensued great distress in not a few parishes. In every instance in which the majority of the " town" were opposed to * By Universalists I mean those professed Chris- tians in America who, with many shades of difference on the subject, agree in holding that eventually all men will be saved. I shall have to speak of them more at large in another place. 96 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. evangelical religion, they had it in their power, by stopping his salary, to turn away a faithful pastor, and to choose a Univer- salis! or Unitarian in his place.* This ac- tually took place in numerous instances, and the church, or at least the faithful part of it, which was often the majority, was compelled to abandon the edifice in which their fathers had worshipped, with what- ever endowments it might have, and to build for themselves a new place of wor- ship, call a pastor, and support him on the voluntary plan. The evil, however, which might have gone to still greater lengths, was arrested in Massachusetts in 1833, by the final dissolution of the union between Church and State, in a way hereafter to be described. Such is a simple, brief, and, I trust, com- prehensible view of the chief consequen- ces resulting in New-England from the union of Church and State, long maintain- ed in that part of America. The reader will draw his own conclusions from this ex- hibition of facts, in all essential points un- questionably correct. That some of these consequences -were beneficial, none will deny ; but that these were more than coun- terbalanced by others of an opposite ten- dency, is, I think, no less manifest.! — - CHAPTER XX. THE INFLUENCES OF THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 2. IN THE SOUTHERN AND MID- DLE STATES. Having seen what a Church establish- ment did for Congregationalism in New- England, we have now to see what it did for Episcopacy in other provinces, and particularly in the South. In the case of the latter, as. in the former, the nature of the connexion between Church and State, and the kind of Church establishment, were very different in different colonies. That connexion was closest, and the support given to religion most effective, in Virgin- ia ; next to it in these respects comes Ma- ryland, and New- York occupies the third place. In Virginia, we find that the three main laws connecting the Church and the State were substantially the same as those of * In many cases there was no great difficulty in get- ting such a majority, by persuading the Universalists and others, who might have ceased for years to allow themselves to be considered to belong to the parish, or congregation, or society, worshipping at the par- ish church, to return at least for a year or so, since by so doing, and paying again the assessment lor the parish church, they could vote at its meetings. t The reader will find in the " Spirit of the Pil- grims," vol. i. (a work published in Boston in 1826- 1833), the fullest details on this subject that have ap- peared as yet in any one publication. Massachusetts at a later date. 1. The country was divided into parishes, the in- habitants of which were required to build, furnish, and uphold churches, and maintain a pastor, by an assessment proportioned to their respective means, these being esti- mated by the quantity of tobacco that they raised, that being the chief article of their commerce and of their wealth. 2. The people were required to attend the estab- lished churches, which were for a long time the only ones that existed, or that were permitted to exist in the colony. 3. The rights of citizenship were confined to members of the Episcopal Church. Now, it is beyond dispute that the divis- ion of the country into parishes, the erec- tion of churches, and the providing of glebes for the rectors and ministers, was useful both in Virginia and Maryland. The picture presented by Dr. Hawks, in his in- teresting and valuable sketches of the Epis- copal Church in those colonies, is delight- ful as far as relates to these outward and material matters. Besides, there was a special necessity for some such legislation in Episcopalian colonies of the High Church party, if I may so designate them, as was the case with Virginia ; for, although it would be unfair to tax them with a total, or almost total, want of true living piety, they certainly had not the fervent zeal, the devoted enthusiasm in the cause of reli- gion, which mingled with all the proceed- ings of the Puritans. If, in fact, in any part of America, the union of Church and State was beneficial, or even indispensable in securing the formation of parishes and the building of churches, it was in the Southern colonies, planted as these were by the friends of Prelacy par excellence, men afraid of fanaticism in religion, what- ever they might think of it in some other things. These advantages were, in pro- cess of time, secured at intervals along the banks of the noble rivers of Virginia, until, at the commencement of the Revolution, that colony could boast of ninety-seven parishes, more than that number of church- es, if we include chapels of ease, and above a hundred ministers. This is the chief, or, rather, the only benefit conferred on Virginia by the con- nexion of the Church with the State ; for the maintenance of the clergy, as Dr. Hawks remarks, can hardly be reckoned one, inasmuch as that was nearly, if not altogether, voluntary on the part of the parishioners, and was by no means en- forced as the law contemplated. During a large part of the colonial period, too, the want of ministers greatly diminished the advantages that might have accrued from having parishes marked out and churches built in them. Thus, in 1619, there were eleven parishes and only five ministers ; and in 1661, the parishes in Virginia were Chap. XX.] UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 97 about fifty, and the ministers only about a fifth part of that number.* But granting that the support secured by law to Episcopacy was ample, which in Virginia it was not, let us notice some of the evils attending on this union of Church and State, and see whether they did not counterbalance all the admitted good. The first of these, and it was no trifling one, was the antipathy which such compulsory measures created towards the favoured Church. Men were displeased, and felt aggrieved at being taxed for the support of a church whose services they did not fre- quent, but to which they might otherwise Have felt no hostility, nay, to which they might by a different course have been Avon. This was particularly the case in those colonies where the favour shown to the Episcopal Church did not exclude the toleration of other religious bodies, that is, in all in which Episcopacy was established except Virginia. Episcopacy, in fact, be- came influential and powerful, in most ca- ses, long after the colonies were founded, and owed its pre-eminence purely to the favour of the state, as we have seen in the colonies of Maryland,, the Carolinas, New- York, New-Jersey, &c. In all these, tax- es for the support of a dominant church, representing in some instances but a mere fraction of the population, were extremely offensive to those who were members of other churches or of none, and proved hurtful, in the end, to the Episcopal Church itself. It attached a stigma to it which it took a long time to efface; the more so as, when the Revolution was drawing on, it began to be viewed as the Church favoured of the mother-country, with which the col- onists were about to enter into a war for what they deemed to be their rights. Thus the cause of that Church became identified so far with that of the enemies of the country, as they were called. This twofold animosity long prevailed in the very states where the Episcopal Church was once predominant, and no doubt con- tributed to retard its progress in later times, so that any former favours received from the state may be regarded as having been very dearly purchased. 2. As respects Virginia at least, the inter- ests of true religion and of the Episcopal Church were seriously injured by the com- pulsory attendance upon the services of the churches, &c, noticed in a former chapter. In the justness of the following remarks every well-informed man must heartily concur : " To coerce men into the outward exercise of religious acts by penal laws is indeed possible ; but to make them love either the religion which is thus enforced, or those who enforce it, is beyond the reach of human power. There is an in man power. There is an in- * Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church Vircrinin." n. 64. a herent principle of resistance to oppres- sion seated in the very constitution of most men, which disposes them to rebel against the arbitrary exercise of violence seeking to give direction to opinions ; and it is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that one sanguinary law to compel men to live piously should beget the necessity for more."* 3. Another evil resulting from the union between Church and State in the Southern colonies, and particularly in Virginia and Maryland, is to be found in the almost inces- sant disputes that long prevailed between the colonial governors and the parish ves- tries respecting the right of presentation, which was claimed by botli parties. In this contest the Virginia vestries were, upon the whole, successful ; still, as the governor claimed the right of inducting, there were often serious collisions. In order to evade the force of that principle in English law, which gives a minister, when once install- ed as pastor, a sort of freehold interest in the parish, and renders his ejectment al- most impossible, unless by deposition from the sacred office altogether, in conse- quence of his being found guilty of some flagrant enormity, instead of presenting a minister, the vestries often preferred em- ploying him from year to year, so as to have it in their power to dismiss him when they thought fit ; and this refusal to present involved, of course, an inability on the governors part to induct. In Mary- land the governors long insisted on exer- cising the right of presentation, a right that put it into their power to thrust very unworthy pastors into the Church. But the case was not much better when left to the vestries, these being often composed of men by no means fit to decide upon the qualifications of a pastor. In no case does it appear that the Church itself, that is, the body of the communicants, possessed the privilege of choosing a pastor for them- selves. 4. A fourth evil resulting from the union of Church and State in the colonies where the Episcopal Church was established, lay in this, that the ministers required from time to time by the churches behooved to come from England, or, if Americans by birth, to receive ordination from some bish- op in England, generally the Bishop of Lon- don, to whose superintendence and gov- ernment the Episcopal Church in America seems to have been intrusted. As there was no bishop in America during the whole colonial period, this disadvantage contin- ued down to the Revolution. No doubt, many worthy men, endued with the true spirit of their calling and of- fice, were sent over by the bishops who successively occupied the See of London, in Virginia," p * Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 49. OS RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. some of whom took a deep interest in the Colonial Church. Still, it is no less true that many of a very different stamp were sent over, or came of their own ac- cord, and these, after being once inducted into a parish, it was found almost impos- sible to remove. At a distance from Eng- land, and beyond the immediate inspection of the only bishop that seemed to have any authority over them, they generally contrived to secure impunity, not only for the neglect of their duties, but even for flagrant crimes. Some cases of the most shocking delinquency and open sin occur- red both in Virginia and Maryland, with- out the possibility, it would seem, of their being reached and punished. All that could be done by persons commissioned by the Bishop of London to act for him, under the name of commissaries, was done by such men as Drs. Blair and Bray, and their successors, but the evil was too deep to be effectually extirpated by anything short of the exercise of full Episcopal authority on the spot. Besides traditional evidence of the immoralities of some of the established clergy in Virginia and Maryland, we learn their existence and character from indu- bitable histories written by Episcopalians themselves, and they were such as even to call for the interference of the colonial legislatures. The General Assembly of Virginia, in 1631, enacted that " Mynisters shall not give themselves to excess in drinkinge or riott, spendinge theire tyme idellye by day or night, etc."* The fact is, that worthless and incapable men in every profession were wont to leave the mother-country for the colonies, where they thought they might succeed better than in England ; and such of them as be- longed to the clerical profession very nat- urally supposed that they might find com- fortable " livings" in those colonies, where their own church was established, and where they heard that there was so great a deficiency of clergymen. f 5. And, lastly, one of the greatest evils of the Establishment we are speaking of, is to be found in the shameful acts of in- tolerance and oppression to which it led. Although the Quakers were in no instance j * Hening's " Laws of Virginia," 7th Car., i. At a much later period, Sir William Berkeley, governor j of Virginia, in reply to this inquiry from the Lords of Plantations, " What provision is there made for the paying of your ministers?" stated, "We have forty-eight parishes, and our ministers are well paid. But as of all other commodities, so of this, the worst are sent to us." — See "Appendix to Hening's Collec- tion. " t Even so late as 1751, the Bishop of London, in a letter to the well-known Dr. Doddridge, says upon this subject, " Of those that are sent from hence, a great part are of the Scotch-Irish, who can get no employment at home, and enter into the ser- vice more out of necessity than choice. Some oth- ers are willing to go abroad to retrieve either lost fortunes or lost character." — See Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review for April, 1840." put to death in Virginia, yet they were subjected to much persecution and annoy- ance, and were glad in many cases to es- cape into North Carolina. The Puritans, too, were much disliked, and severe laws were passed " to prevent the infection from reaching the country."* Archbishop Laud's authority stood as high in Virginia as in England. An offender against that author- ity, of the name of Reek, was, in 1642, pil- loried for two hours, with a label on his back setting forth his offence, then fined j£50, and imprisoned during the pleasure of the governor.! It would appear, however, either that all this vigilance could not keep out the Puritans, or else that some of the Virgini- ans themselves had become so disgusted with their own as to wish for Puritan preachers. Be that as it may, certain it is that in 1642 there was transmitted to Boston from certain persons in Virginia an application for preachers, and that two actually went from Massachusetts and one from Connecticut, but were dismissed by the governor. Governor Winthrop, speak- ing of this affair in his Journal, says that, though the state did silence the ministers, because they would not conform to the order of England, yet the people resorted to them in private houses to hear them. J In fact, it was not until the lapse of a century after those times that toleration was established in Virginia, through the persevering efforts of the Presbyterians and other non-established denominations, whose friends and partisans had by that time greatly increased, partly in conse- quence of this very intolerance on the part of the government, but chiefly by immi- gration, so far as to outnumber the Epis- copalians of the province when the war of the Revolution commenced. As for Maryland, although the Quakers were greatly harassed in that colony for some time, and Roman Catholics were treated with grievous injustice, yet there never was the same intolerance manifest- ed towards those who were called Dissent- ers, as had been shown in Virginia. The Protestant Episcopal Church was estab- lished there by law in 1692, but not in fact until 1702. But in no colony in which Episcopacy became established by law was there more intolerance displayed than in New- York. That establishment was effected in 1693 by Governor Fletcher, who soundly rated the Legislature because not disposed to- comply with all his wishes. But in zeal for Episcopacy he was outdone by one of his successors, Lord Cornbury, a descend- ant of Lord Clarendon, who would fain * Hening's " Virginia Statutes," 223. + Ibid., 552. X Savage's Winthrop, p. 92. Hubbard's " History of New-England," p. 141. Chap. XXI.] RELIGION DURING THE COLONIAL ERA. have deprived the Dutch of their privile- ges, and forced them into the Episcopal Church. He had orders from the govern- ment at home li to give all countenance and encouragement to the exercise of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, as far as conveniently might be in the province ; that no schoolmaster be henceforward permitted to come from this kingdom, and keep a school in that our said province, without the license of our said Lord Bishop of London."* In what has been said of the intolerance manifested in several of the colonies in which the Protestant Episcopal Church was established, I would not be under- stood as charging such intolerance upon that Church. No doubt men of an intol- erant spirit were to be found in it, but, alas ! true religious liberty, and an enlarged spir- it of toleration, were far from being gen- eral in those days ; but it had members also of a most catholic spirit, who neither could nor did approve of such acts as the above. The intolerance was rather that of the colonial governments, and to them properly belongs the credit or discredit at- tached to it. In conclusion, I cannot but think that the union of the Episcopal Church with the State in some colonies, and of the Congre- gational Church with the civil power in oth- ers, was, upon the whole, far more mis- chievous than beneficial ; an opinion in which I feel persuaded that the great body alike of the Episcopal and Congregational ministers concur. Had the founders of the Episcopal Church in Virginia and Ma- ryland, excellent men as I believe they were, gone to work in reliance on the blessing of God upon their efforts, and en- deavoured to raise up a faithful native min- istry, trusting to the willingness of the people to provide for their support, I doubt not that they would have succeeded far better in building up the Episcopal Church than they did with all the advantages of the State alliance which they enjoyed. They would doubtless have had to encoun- ter many difficulties, but they would have laid a surer foundation also for ultimate success. Dr. Hawks gives a painfully in- teresting narrative of the struggles which the established clergy of Virginia and Ma- ryland had to sustain with their parishion- ers about their salaries ; the one party stri- ving to obtain what the law assigned to them ; the other, aided even at times by legislative enactments, availing themselves of every stratagem in order to evade the legal claims of the clergy. The time and anxiety, the wearing out of mind and body, which these disputes cost faithful minis- ters, not to mention the sacrifice of influ- ence, would have been laid out better and Yorn. " History of the Evangelical Churches of New- more pleasantly in the unembarrassed work of their calling ; nor were they like- ly to have been worse off in respect of this world's blessings than the faithful among them really were. Assuredly the Episcopal Church in the United States at the present day furnish- es decisive proof that Episcopacy can ex- ist and flourish without aid from the civil government. Dr. Hawks thinks that it has even peculiar advantages for self-sus- tentation, proved, as he conceives, by the experience of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, and that of the Syrian Churches in India, as well as the history of that Church in the United States. Without ex- pressing an opinion on that point, I hesi- tate not to say that the Episcopal Church, with all the advantage of having the peo- ple enlisted on her side in several of the colonies at the outset, and sustained as she was by the prestige of the National Church of the mother-country, would have done far better had she relied on her own re- sources under God, in the faithful minis- tration of his Word, and of the ordinances of His House, than in trusting to the arm of the State in the colonies in which sh& endeavoured to plant herself. CHAPTER XXI. | STATE OF RELIGION DURING THE COLONIAL ERA- Before quitting the Colonial Era in the history of the United States, let us take a general view of the state of religion throughout all the colonies during the pe- riod of 168 years, from 1607 to the com- mencement of the war of the Revolution in 1775. As communities, the Anglo-American colonies, from their earliest days, were pervaded by religious influence, not equal- ly powerful, yet real and salutary in alL This was especially true of New-England,, whose first settlers openly declared to th& world that they left their native land not so much to promote individual religion as. to form Christian societies. They could have maintained silent, personal, individu- al communion with their heavenly Father in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, or in Hol- land, as did some recluses in the monastic institutions of the earlier and Middle Ages. But they had no such purpose. Their Christianity was of a diffusive kind; their hearts yearned for opportunities of extend- ing it. Religion with them was not only a concern between man and God, but one in which society at large had a deep inter- est. Hence some fruits of this high and holy principle might be expected in the 1 communities which they founded, and we- not unreasonably desire to know how far 100 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II. the result corresponded with such excel- lent intentions. It were unfair, however, to expect much in this way, considering the circumstances of the colonists, settling in a remote wilderness, amid fierce and cruel savages, and exposed to all the fa- tigues and sicknesses incident to such a settlement, and to the anxieties and diffi- culties attending the organization of their governments, collisions with the mother- country, and participation in all that coun- try's wars. The colonial era may, for the sake of convenience, be divided into four periods. The first of these, extending from the ear- liest settlement of Virginia in 1607 to 1660, was one in which religion greatly flour- ished, notwithstanding the trials incident to settlements amid the forests, and the troubles attending the establishment of the colonial governments. Peace with the Aborigines suffered few interruptions, the only Avars worth mentioning being that with the Pequods in Connecticut, in 1637 ; that between the Dutch and the Algon- quins, in 1643 ; and those that broke out in Virginia in 1622 and 1644, which were at once the first and the last, and by far the most disastrous of that period. But these wars were soon over, and a few years suf- ficed to repair whatever loss they occa- sioned to the colonists. This was the period in which those ex- cellent men who either came over with the first colonies, or soon afterward joined them, laboured long, and very successfully, for the salvation of souls. Among these were Wilson, and Cotton, and Shepard, and Mather (Richard), and Philips, and Higginson, and Skelton, in the colony of Massachusetts Bay; Brewster in Plym- outh ; Hooker in Connecticut ; Davenport in New-Haven ; and Hunt and Whitaker in Virginia. Several of the contemporary magistrates, also, were distinguished for their piety and zeal ; such as the governors Winthrop of Massachusetts, Bradford and Winslow of Plymouth, Haynes of Con- necticut, and Eaton of New-Haven. To these we must add Roger Williams, who was pastor, and, for a time, governor in Providence. This was the golden Age of the colonial cycle. God poured out his Spirit in many places. Precious seasons were enjoyed by the churches in Boston, in Salem, in Plym- outh, in Hartford, and in New-Haven. Nor were the labours of faithful men in Virginia without a rich blessing. Days of fasting and prayer were frequently and faithfully observed. God was entreated to dwell among the people. Religion was felt to be the most important of blessings, both for the individual man and for the State. Re- vivals were highly prized, and earnestly sought ; nor were they sought in vain. The journals of Governor Winthrop, and other good men of that day, present most interesting details in proof of this. Amer- ica has seen more extensive, but never more unequivocal, works of grace, or more indubitable operations of the Spirit. Nor were the aboriginal heathen around the colonies forgotten in those days. El- liot and others laboured with great suc- cess among the Indians in 4;he vicinity o? Boston. Several thousand souls were con verted. The Bible was translated into their tongue. Nor was it in Massacln> setts alone that men cared for the souls of the " Salvages,'' as they were called. In Virginia, an Indian princess, Pocahontas, received the Gospel, was baptized, and be- came a consistent member of a Christian Church. Another convert, Chanco, was the instrument, under God, of saving the colony from entire extirpation. The commencement of the colonization of America Avas certainly auspicious for the cause of true religion. The second period is one of sixty years, from 1660 to 1720. This might be called the brazen age of the colonies. Almost all of them experienced times of trouble. Massachusetts suffered in 1675 from a most disastrous war with " King Philip," the chief of the Pokanokets, and with other tribes which afterward joined in a general endeavour to expel or exterminate the colonists. Violent dis- putes arose with the government of Eng- land respecting the rights of the colony, and to these were added internal dissen- sions about witchcraft, and other exciting subjects, chiefly of a local nature. In Vir- ginia, in 1675-76, there were a serious In- dian war and a " Grand Rebellion," which threatened ruin to the colony. And in the Carolinas a desolating war with the Tus- caroras broke out in 1711-12. Besides these greater causes of trouble and excitement, there were others which it is not necessary to indicate. The influ- ence of growing prosperity may, however, be mentioned. The colonies had now ta- ken permanent root. They might be sha- ken, but could not be eradicated or over- thrown by the rude blasts of misfortune. Their wealth was increasing ; their com- merce was already considerable, and at- tracted many youth to the seas. Every war which England had with France or Spain agitated her colonies also. These causes concurring with the disas- trous consequences of the union of Church and State already described, led to a great decline of vital Christianity, and although partial revivals took place, the all-perva- ding piety that characterized the first gen- eration suffered a great diminution. The light of holiness grew faint and dim, and morality, in general, degenerated in a like degree. The Fathers had gone to the tomb, and were succeeded, upon the whole, Chap. XXL] RELIGION DURING THE COLONIAL ERA. 101 by inferior men. The second Governor Winthrop, it is true, showed himself, in the administration of the united colonies of Connecticut, to be a great and good man, and a father alike to the Church and the State. Among the ministers, too, there was a considerable number of distinguished men ; but their labours were not equally blessed with those of the Fathers. Among the best known were the Mathers, Increase and Cotton, father and son, the latter more distinguished for the extent and variety of his acquirements than for soundness of judgment ;* Norton and others in Massa- chusetts ; Pierpont in Connecticut ; Dr. Blair, who for a long time was the Bishop of London's commissary in Virginia ; Dr. Bray, who held the same office in Maryland, two persons to whom the Episcopal Church in those colonies was much indebted for its prosperity. The faithful pastors in New-England re- ceived an accession to their number, in the early part of this period, by the arrival from England of some of the two thousand min- isters who were ejected there for non-con- formity, soon after the accession of Charles II. The third period, comprehending the thir- ty years from 1720 to 1750, was distinguish- ed by extensive revivals of religion, and this, notwithstanding the agitation produced in the colonies, by the share they had in the war between France and England to- wards the close of that period, and other unfavourable circumstances besides. The Great Awakening,! as it has been called, infused a new life into the churches, more especially in New-England, in certain parts of New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, and some other colonies, and its effects were visible long afterward in many places. It is true that fanatical teachers did much mischief in several quarters by associating themselves with the work of God, and in- troducing their own unwarrantable meas- ures, so as to rob it, in the end, of much of the glorious character that distinguished it at first. Yet it cannot be denied that it was a great blessing to the churches. Some * Cotton Mather's acquirements were really pro- digious, considering the age and the circumstances in which he lived. His publications amounted to no fewer than 382, several of which, such as his " Mag- nalia,orthe Ecclesiastical History of New-England," were large works. He displayed, however, such a mixture of credulity, pedantry, and bad taste, that he was not appreciated as he deserved. The part which he took in the affair of the witches, though greatly misrepresented by some writers, did him vast injury. He was singularly given to believe all sorts of mar- vellous stories. t For a full and able account of this great work of grace, as well as of other revivals of religion, of un- usual power and extent in America, see a work pub- lished at Boston in 1842, entitled the " Great Awa- kening," by the Rev. Joseph Tracy. It is by far the fullest account of the early revivals in America that has yet appeared, and being derived from au- thentic sources, is worthy of entire credence. important, though painful lessons, were learned, in regard to the economy of the Spirit, which have not been wholly forgot- ten to this day. This was the period in which Edwards and Prince, Frelinghuysen, Dickinson, Fin- ley, and the Tennents, laboured in the Northern and the Middle States ; Davies, and others of kindred spirit, in Virginia ; the Wesleys for a while in Georgia ; while Whitfield, like the angel symbolized in the Apocalypse as flying through the heavens, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to the nations, traversed colony after colony in his repeated visits to the New World, and was made an instrument of blessing to multitudes. The fourth and concluding period of the Colonial Era comprehends the twenty-five years from 1750 to 1775, and was one of great public agitation. In the early part of it the colonies aided England with all their might in another war with France, ending in the conquest of the Canadas, which were secured to the conquerors by the treaty of Paris in 1763. In the latter part of it men's minds became universally engrossed with the disputes between the colonies and the mother-country, and when all prospect of having these brought to an amicable settlement seemed desperate, preparation began to be made for that dreadful alternative — war. Such a state of things could not fail to have an untoward influence on religion. Yet most of those distinguished men whom I have spoken of as labouring in the latter part of the imme- diately preceding period, were spared to continue their work in the beginning of this. Whitfield renewed from time to time his angel visits, and the Spirit was not grieved quite away from the churches by the commotions of the people. Still, no such glorious scenes were beheld during this period as had been witnessed in the last ; on the contrary, that declension in spiritual life, and spiritual effort, which war ever occasions, was now everywhere visi- ble, even before hostilities had actually commenced. Such is the very cursory and imperfect review which the limits of this work per- mit us to take of the religious vicissitudes of the United States during their colonial days. That period of 168 years was, com- paratively speaking, one of decline, and even deadness, in the greater part of Prot- estant Europe ; indeed, the latter part may be regarded as having been so universally. Yet, during the same period, I feel very certain that a minute examination of the history of the American Protestant church- es would show that in no other part of Christendom, in proportion to the popula- tion, was there a greater amount of true knowledge of the Gospel, and of practical godliness, among both ministers and their 102 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. flocks. No doubt there Were long intervals of coldness, or, rather, of deadness, as to spiritual things, during which both pastors and people became too much engrossed with the " cares of life." But, blessed be God, he did not abandon us forever. Though he visited our transgressions with a rod, and chastised us for our sins, yet he re- membered the covenant which he made with our fathers, and the Word of his prom- ise wherein he had caused them to trust. And though our unworthiness and our un- profitableness had been great, he did not cast us away from his sight, but deigned to hear us when we called upon him in the dark and gloomy hour, and saved us with a great salvation. And this he did "be- cause his mercy endureth forever " BOOK III. THE NATIONAL ERA. CHAPTER I. EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION UPON RELIGION. CHANGES TO WHICH IT NECESSARILY GAVE RISE. From the Colonial we now proceed to the National period in the history of the United States. The first twenty-five years of the national existence of the States were fraught with evil to the cause of religion. First came the war of the Revolution, which literally engrossed all men's minds. The popula- tion of the country at its commencement scarcely, if at all, exceeded 3,500,000 ; and for a people so few and so scattered, divided into thirteen colonies, quite independent, at the outset, of each other, having no national treasury, no central government or power, nothing, in short, to unite them but one common feeling of patriotism, it was a gi- gantic undertaking. The war was followed by a long period of prostration. Connex- ion with England having been dissolved, the colonies had to assume the form of states, their governments had to be reorganized, and a general, or federal government, insti- tuted. The infant nation, now severed from the mother- country, had to begin an existence of its own, at the cost of years of anxiety and agitation. Dangers threat- ened it on every side, and scarcely had the General Government been organized, and the states learned to know their places a little in the federal economy, when the French Revolution burst forth like a volca- no, and threatened to sweep the United States into its fiery stream. In the end it led them to declare war against France for their national honour, or, rather, for their national existence. That war was happily brought to an end by Napoleon, on his be- coming First Consul, and thus was the in- fant country allowed to enjoy a little longer repose, as far as depended on foreign na- tions. Unfavourable to the promotion of religion as were the whole twenty-five years from 1775 to 1800, the first eight, spent in hos- tilities with England, were pre-eminently so. The effects of war on the churches of all communions were extensively and va- riously disastrous. To say nothing of the distraction of the mind from the subject of salvation, its more palpable influences were seen and felt everywhere. Young men were called away from the seclusion and protection of the parental roof, and from the vicinity of the oracle of God, to the de- moralizing atmosphere of a camp ; congre- gations were sometimes entirely broken up ; churches were burned, or converted into barracks or hospitals, by one or other of the belligerant armies, often by both successively ; in more than one instance pastors were murdered ; the usual minis- terial intercourse w r as interrupted ; efforts for the dissemination of the Gospel were, in a great measure, suspended ; colleges and other seminaries of learning were closed for want of students and professors ; and the public morals in various respects, and in almost all possible ways, deterio- rated. Christianity is a religion of peace, and the tempest of war never fails to blast and scatter the leaves of the Tree which was planted for the healing of the nations. A single passage from a letter, written by a distinguished and most excellent Ger- man clergyman,* will give the reader some idea of the state of things during that war. It was written not long after its commence- ment. The perusal of it cannot fail to im- press the mind of every Christian with the duty of praying that the peace which now so happily reigns among the nations may evermore continue : " Throughout the whole country great preparations are making for the war, and almost every person is under arms. The * The Rev. Dr. Helmuth, formerly pastor in Phil- adelphia. The letter from which the extract given in the text is taken is found in the " Hallische Nach richten," p. 13G7-8, and quoted by Professor Schmuck- er in his " Retrospect of Lutheranism in the United States." €hap. I.] EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 103 ardour manifested in these melancholy cir- cumstances is indescribable. If a hundred men are required, many more immediately offer, and are dissatisfied when they are not accepted. I know of no similar case in history. Neighbourhoods, concerning •which it would have been expected that years would be requisite to induce them voluntarily to take up arms, became strong- ly inclined for war as soon as the battle of Lexington was known. Quakers and Men- nonists take part in the military exercises, and in great numbers renounce their former religious principles. The hoarse din of war is hourly heard in our streets. The present disturbances inflict no small injury on religion. Everybody is constantly on the alert, anxious, like the ancient Athe- nians, to hear the news, and, amid the mass of news, the hearts of men are, alas ! closed against the good word of God. The Lord is chastising the people, but they do not feel it. Those who appear to be distant from danger are unconcerned ; and those whom calamity has overtaken are enraged, and meditating vengeance. In the Ameri- can army there are many clergymen, who serve both as chaplains and as officers. I myself know two, one of whom is a colonel, and the other a captain. The whole coun- try is in perfect enthusiasm for liberty. The whole population, from New-England to Georgia, is of one mind, and determined to risk life and all things in defence of liberty. The few who think differently are not permitted to utter their sentiments. In Philadelphia the English and German students are formed into military com- panies, wear uniforms, and are exercised like regular troops. Would to God that men would become as zealous and unani- mous in asserting their spiritual liberty as they are in vindicating their political free- dom." It required some time for the churches to recover from the demoralizing effects of a war which had drawn the whole na- tion into its circle, and lasted for eight long years. But the times immediately follow- ing the Revolution were, as I have remark- ed, far from being favourable to the re- suscitation of true religion, and to the res- toration of the churches, even to the con- dition, unsatisfactory as it was, in which they stood previously to the contest. Through God's blessing, however, they not only shared in the returning tranquilli- ty of the country, but from that time to this, with some short periods of interrup- tion, have steadily grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength. It is not easy to ascertain what was the exact number of ministers and churches in the United States when these became sev- ered from England, but the following esti- mate cannot be very wide of the truth. The Episcopal clergymen may be reckon- ed at about 250 at most ; the churches at about 300.* In 1788, the Presbyterians had exactly 177 ministers, and 417 congrega- tions.! As the Lutherans had eleven min- isters in 1748, and forty churches three years after, the former could hardly have exceeded twenty-five, and the latter sixty, at the commencement of the Revolution — judging by the statistics of the directo- ry for worship (Kirchenagende), published in 1786. J The German Reformed church- es were not more numerous. The Dutch Reformed churches had thirty ministers and eighty-two congregations in 1784. fy In 1776, the Associate Church had thirteen ministers, and perhaps twenty churches. The Moravians had probably twelve min- isters and six or eight churches. The New- England Congregationalists could not, at the commencement of the Revolution, have had above 700 churches and 575 pastors. The Baptists, in 1784, had 424 ministers, and 471 churches or congregations. || The Methodists, at the time of the Revolution, did not exist as a body distinct from the Established Episcopal Church, and had no ordained ministers. As for the Roman Catholics, according to Bishop England's estimate, their priests did not exceed twen- ty-six in number when the war of the Revolution commenced, but their congre- gations were at least twice as numerous.^ These statements, though far from pre- cise, are from the best sources, and suffice to give a tolerably correct view of the num- bers of the clergy and churches at the com- mencement of the national existence of the country, and for the first ten years af- ter the breaking out of hostilities with Eng- land. From the best estimate I can make, it seems very certain that in 1775 the total number of ministers of the Gospel in the United States did not exceed 1441, nor the congregations 1940. Indeed, I am convin- ced that this is rather too large an esti- mate.** The population of the thirteen * The number of the clergy and churches in the Episcopal Church, given in the text, has been esti- mated from various historical sketches and docu- ments. t "History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States," by Dr. Hodge, part ii., p. 504. t Dr. Schmucker's "Retrospect of Lutheranism in the United States." § See the Historical sketch of the Reformed Dutch Church in another part of this work. II View of the Baptist churches in America, given in the " American Quarterly Register," vols. xiii. and xiv. Tf Letter from Bishop England, of Charleston, to the Central Council of the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Faith, at Lyons, published in the " Annates de la Propagation de la Foi," for the month of May, 1838, vol. x. ** The most exact approximation which I make is as follows : Episcopalians 250 Baptists 350 Churches. 300 380 104 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. colonies at that epoch did not exceed 3,500,000, of whom about 500,000 were slaves. If we assume the number of ministers to have been 1441, and the population 3,500,000 in 1775, then we have one minister of the Gospel, on an average, for every 2429 souls, which, I apprehend, is not far from the exact truth. At that epoch there was no bishop in either the Protestant Episcopal or Roman Catholic Church. There were at that time nine colleges and two medical schools, but no schools of law or theology. The changes that took place in the gen- eral and local government of the thirteen original colonies, on their achieving their independence, have been already noticed. Religion, as well as every other interest, shared in the change of relations that en- sued. Henceforth it was with Congress and the State Legislatures, or, rather, with the National and State Governments, that the churches had to do, so far as they had any political relations to sustain at all. It will be my object in this book to point out the changes that took place in the re- lations of the churches to the civil power, and to show their actual position with re- gard to it at the present moment. This I will try to do with all the brevity consist- ent with a lucid treatment of the subject. We have now to see by what means that union of Church and State, which con- nected the Congregational Church in the North and the Episcopal Church in the Middle and South, with the civil govern- ment, was dissolved ; what were the re- sults of that dissolution ; and what the po- sition in which the churches now stand to the civil power, whether as represented by the General Government or the indi- vidual States. CHAPTER II. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE NOT EFFECTED BV THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT, NOR DID IT TAKE PLACE IM- MEDIATELY. More than one erroneous idea prevails, Ministers. Churches. Congregationalists* . . . 575 700 Presbyterians 140 300 Lutherans 25 60 German Reformed .... 25 60 Reformed Dutch .... 25 60 Associate 13 20 Moravians 12 8 Roman Catholics .... 26 52 1441 1940 * The number of Congregational ministers in New-Eng- land (and there were few or none in other parts of the country) was estimated by Dr. Stiles to be, in 1760, 530 ; in the fifteen years which followed they probably increased to 575, as given in the text. I apprehend, in Europe, with respect to the dissolution of the union of Church and State in the United States. First, many seem to think that it was a natural and in- evitable result of the separation of the col- onies from the mother-country, and of the independent position which they had as- sumed. But that union connected the es- tablished churches of America, not with the mother-country, but with the colonial governments ; so that, when the colonies became states, the alliance that had sub- sisted between them and certain church- es was not necessarily affected. These churches, in fact, l'emained, as before, part and parcel of the states, and upon these they continued to be as dependant as ever. They never had any ties with England, beyond falling incidentally, as did the col- onies themselves, under the operation of English laws. Again, many imagine that the union of Church and State in America was dissolv- ed by an act of Congress ; that is, by an act of the General Government. But this was not the case. An article of the Con- stitution, it is true, restrains Congress from establishing any particular religion : but this restriction is not in the original draught of the Constitution; it forms one of certain amendments adopted soon after, and runs as follows : " Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That is to say, the General Government shall not make any law for the support of any particular church, or of all the churches. But neither this, nor any other article in the Constitution of the United States, pro- hibits individual states from making such laws. The Constitution simply declares what shall be the powers of the General Government, leaving to the State govern- ments such powers as it does not give to the General Government. This, in refer- ence to the subject in hand, is manifest from the fact that " the establishment of religion," as we shall presently see, sur- vived for many years, in some states, their adhesion to the Constitution of the United States. Lastly, many persons in Europe seem to be under the impression that the union of Church and State was annihilated at the Revolution, or, at all events, ceased upon the organization of the State govern- ments being completed. This, however, was not so in all cases. The connexion between the civil power in all the states in which Episcopacy had been established in the colonial period was dissolved, very soon after the Revolution, by acts of their respective Legislatures. But the Congre- gational Church in New-England contin- ued to be united with the State, and to be supported by it, long after the Revolution. Indeed, it was not until 1833 that the last Chap. III.] DISSOLUTION OF UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. tie that bound the Church to the State in Massachusetts was severed. CHAPTER III. DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION OF CHURCH AND . STATE IN AMERICA. WHEN AND HOW EF- ) FECTED. The first State that dissolved its connex- ion with the Church was Virginia, a cir- cumstance that seems surprising at first sight, inasmuch as its early colonists were all sincere friends of its established Epis- copal Church, and for a long period were joined by few persons of different senti- ments. Indeed, for more than a century dissent Avas scarcely, if at all, allowed to exist within the commonwealth, even in the most secret manner. Two causes, however, concurred in pro- ducing an alteration of these feelings to- wards the Established Church. First, many whose attachment to it had been owing to their birth, education, and early preposses- sions, became disgusted with the irreli- gious lives of many of the clergy, and the greediness with which, notwithstanding that most of their time was spent in fox- hunting and other sports, in company with the most dissolute of their parishioners, they were ready to contend for the last pound of tobacco allowed them as their le- gal salary. Such, indeed, was the charac- ter of those clergymen, that any one who makes himself minutely acquainted with their doings, must feel amazed that the church which they dishonoured should have retained its hold upon the respect of the Virginian colonists as long as it did. "What attachment to it remained, must be ascribed to its having at all times had some faithful and excellent ministers who mourned over these scandals, and by their personal worth redeemed in some meas- ure the body to which they belonged from the infamy brought upon it by their repro- bate fellow-clergymen, or " parsons," as they were oftener called. These excep- tions, however, did not prevent multitudes from abandoning the Church of their fa- thers, around which their earliest and ten- derest associations still clustered. " Had the doctrines of the Gospel," says one who became an honoured instrument of much good in Virginia, and probably the most eloquent preacher of his day in America, " been solemnly and faithfully preached in the Established Church, I am persuaded there would have been but few Dissenters in these parts of Virginia ; for their first objections were not against the peculiar rites and ceremonies of that Church, much less against her excellent articles, but against the general strain of the doctrines delivered from the pulpit, in which those 105 articles were opposed, or (which was more common) not mentioned at all ; so that, at first, they were not properly dissenters from the original constitution of the Church of England, but the most strict adherents of it, and only dissented from those who had forsaken it."* Prior to 1740, there was only one Pres- byterian congregation, it is believed, in Eastern Virginia, though the Scotch and Irish emigrants from Pennsylvania must have introduced several into the Valley. f There were also a few Quaker societies, some small German congregations, and a considerable number of Baptist churches, which, though small and scattered, em- braced, perhaps, a larger number of per- sons, upon the whole, than all the other dissenting bodies put together. It was about this time that a Mr. Samuel Morris, a layman, who had been brought to the knowledge of salvation by the reading of the Scriptures, and by the perusal of Flavel's works, and Luther on the Gala- tians, began to invite his neighbours, who, like himself, had been living in great igno- rance of the Gospel, to come to his house on the Sabbath, and hear him read his fa- vourite authors. Such were the crowds that attended, that a house had soon to be built of size sufficient to contain them. To Flavel and Luther there was added a vol- ume of Whitfield's sermons, as furnishing spiritual food for these hungry souls. They were visited in 1743 by the Rev. Mr. Robin- son, a Presbyterian sent from New-Jersey on a missionary tour to the South. His preaching was greatly blessed to " the Readers. "J He taught them to conduct their worship in the Presbyterian way, and was followed by other ministers of the same denomination. Though they were often fined for not attending the services of the Established Church, these simple- hearted and excellent people continued their meetings. In 1747, the Rev. Mr. Da- vies, mentioned above, was sent to them by the Presbytery of Newcastle, in Dela- ware ; and, with the exception of some months spent on a visit to England, he la- boured among them until 1759, when he was chosen President of the College of * The Rev. Samuel Davies, in his " Narrative on the State of Religion among Dissenters in Virginia." t The " Valley of Virginia" is a fine district of country which lies west of the first ridge of the Al- leghany Mountains, and between that ridge and others which lie still farther to the west. It reaches quite across the state, from northeast to southwest, and is considered the best part of it for fertility of soil. It is a part of the same valley which extends across Maryland into Pennsylvania. In the latter state it is called Cumberland Valley. ^ % A counterpart to these worthy inquirers after divine knowledge is found at the present day in the northern parts of Sweden and in Norway, where groups of persons meet on the Sabbath after church service, which in too many cases furnishes but poor spiritual nourishment, to read the Bible and other good books. 106 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. New-Jersey. He succeeded in building up seven churches, and from that time Pres- byterianism made very considerable prog- ress in Eastern Virginia ; so that, when the war of the Revolution began, the Pres- bytery of Hanover in that colony was a numerous body, and comprehended some very able and eloquent ministers. The Scotch and Irish Presbyterians were at the same time increasing in the western part of the province. The Baptist congrega- tions increased even more rapidly. Still, it was not always easy to avoid suffering from the interference of the civil authori- ties. The Act of Toleration, passed in England on the 28th of June, 1687, extended unquestionably to the colonies, yet not a few obstacles continued to be thrown in the way of dissenters, almost down to the open- ing scenes of the Revolutionary drama. When the Revolution came at last, the Baptists and Presbyterians were, almost to a man, in its favour ; and many of these, but especially of the former, whose preach- ers had suffered by far the most from the civil authorities in the earlier part of the century, at the instigation, as they believed, whether justly or unjustly, of the clergy of the Established Church, were not a little influenced in the course they then adopted by the hope of seeing the success of the Revolution lead to the overthrow of an es- tablishment which they regarded with feel- ings of repugnance, and even of hostility. In these circumstances, it was to be ex- pected that before the Revolution had made much progress, an assault would be made on the Established Church ; such an as- sault was made, and not without success. As the history of this matter is not a lit- tle interesting, and almost quite unknown in Europe, I may enter upon it at some length. A very general impression prevails in England, and perhaps elsewhere, that the entire separation of Church and State in America was the work of Mr. Jefferson, the third President of the United States, who took a distinguished part in the strug- gle, and who, upon being charged with drawing up the Declaration of Independ- ence, executed the task so much to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. Now none of Mr. Jefferson's admirers will con- sider it slanderous to assert that he was a very bitter enemy to Christianity, and we may even assume that he wished to see not only the Episcopal Church separated from the State in Virginia, but the utter overthrow of everything in the shape of a church throughout the country. Still, it was not Jefferson that induced the State of Virginia to pass the Act of Separation. That must be ascribed to the petitions and other efforts of the Presbyterians and Baptists. No sooner was war declared than the Synod of New- York and Philadelphia, the highest ecclesiastical body among the Pres- byterians of America at that time, address- ed to their churches a very judicious and patriotic letter, which, while it displayed a firm spirit of loyalty towards the govern- ment of England, evidently and naturally sympathized with the contest then begun — a contest which it was thought could not be abandoned without the sacrifice of their dearest rights. Few persons supposed at that time that the struggle was to end in a separation from the mother-country. But when, in the following year, the Congress issued its Declaration of Independence, the whole face of matters was changed, and ministers of the Gospel had to make their election — whether they would recognise and obey the act of the Congress, or still adhere to the sovereignty of England. Then it was that the first body of clergy of any denomination in America that openly recognised that act, and thereby identified themselves with the cause of freedom and independence, was the comparatively nu- merous and very influential Presbytery of Hanover in Virginia. At its first meeting after the appearance of the Declaration, that body addressed the Virginia House of Assembly in a memorial, recommending the separation of Church and State, and. the leaving of the support of the Gospel to the voluntary efforts of its friends. The memorial runs as follows : " To the Honourable the General Assem- bly of Virginia. The memorial of the Presbytery of Hanover humbly represents : That your memorialists are governed by the same sentiments which have inspired the United States of America, and are de- termined that nothing in our power and in- fluence shall be wanting to give success to their common cause. We would also represent that dissenters from the Church of England in this country have ever been desirous to conduct themselves as peace- able members of the civil government, for which reason they have hitherto submitted to various ecclesiastical burdens and re- strictions that are inconsistent with equal liberty. But now, when the many and grievous oppressions of our mother-coun try have laid this Continent under the ne- cessity of casting off the yoke of tyranny, and of forming independent governments upon equitable and liberal foundations, we flatter ourselves that we shall be freed from all the encumbrances which a spirit of domination, prejudice, or bigotry has in- terwoven with most other political sys- tems. This we are the more strongly en- couraged to expect by the Declaration of Rights, so universally applauded for that dignity, firmness, and precision with which it delineates and asserts the privileges of society, and the prerogatives of human nature ; and which we embrace as the Chap.III.] dissolution of union of church and state. 107 Magna Charta of our commonwealth, that can never be violated without endangering the grand superstructure it was designed to sustain. Therefore, we rely upon this Declaration, as well as the justice of our honourable Legislature, to secure us the free exercise of religion according to the ctates of our consciences ; and we should fall short in our duty to ourselves, and the many and numerous congregations under our care, were we, upon this occasion, to neglect laying before you a statement of the religious grievances under which we have hitherto laboured, that they may no longer, be continued in our present form of government. " It is well known that in the frontier counties, which are justly supposed to con- tain a fifth part of the inhabitants of Vir- ginia, the dissenters have borne the heavy burdens of purchasing glebes, building churches, and supporting the established clergy, where there are very few Episco- palians, either to assist in bearing the ex- pense, or to reap the advantage ; and that throughout the other parts of the country there are also many thousands of zealous friends and defenders of our State, who, besides the invidious and disadvantageous restrictions to which they have been sub- jected, annually pay large taxes to support an Establishment from which their con- sciences and principles oblige them to dis- sent ; all which are confessedly so many violations of their natural rights, and, in their consequences, 'a restraint upon free- dom of inquiry and private judgment. " In this enlightened age, and in a land where all of every denomination are united in the most strenuous efforts to be free, we hope and expect that our representatives will cheerfully concur in removing every species of religious as well as civil bond- age. Certain it is, that every argument for civil liberty gains additional strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of reli- gion ; and there is no argument in favour of establishing the Christian religion but may be pleaded, with equal propriety, for establishing the tenets of Mohammed by those who believe the Alcoran ; or, if this be not true, it is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of prefer- ence among the various sects that profess the Christian faith, without erecting a claim to infallibility, which would lead us back to the Church of Rome. " We beg leave farther to represent, that religious establishments are highly injuri- ous to the temporal interests of any com- munity. Without insisting upon the am- bition and the arbitrary practices of those who are favoured by government, or the intriguing, seditious spirit which is com- monly excited by this, as well as by every other kind of oppression, such establish- ments greatly retard population, and, con- sequently, the progress of arts, sciences, and manufactures. Witness the rapid growth and improvement of the Northern provinces compared with this. No one can deny that the more early settlement, and the many superior advantages of our country, would have invited multitudes of artificers, mechanics, and other useful members of society, to fix their habitation among us, who have either remained in their place of nativity, or preferred worse civil governments, and a more barren soil, where they might enjoy the rights of con- science more fully than they had a pros- pect o/ doing in this. From which we in- fer that Virginia might have now been the capital of America, and a match for the British arms, without depending on others for the necessaries of war, had it not been prevented by her religious establishment. " Neither can it be made to appear that the Gospel needs any such civil aid. We rather conceive that, when our blessed Saviour declares his kingdom is not of this world, he renounces all dependance upon state power ; and as his weapons are spir- itual, and were only designed to have in- fluence on the judgment and heart of man, we are persuaded that if mankind were left in the quiet possession of their inalien- able religious privileges, Christianity, as in the days of the Apostles, would con- tinue to prevail and flourish in the great- est purity by its own native excellence, and under the all-disposing providence of God. " We would also humbly represent, that the only proper objects of civil govern- ment are the happiness and protection of men in the present state of existence ; the security of the life, liberty, and property of the citizens, and to restrain the vicious and encourage the virtuous by wholesome laws, equally extending to every individ- ual ; but that the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of dischar- ging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, and is nowhere cognizable but at the tribunal of the universal Judge. " Therefore, we ask no ecclesiastical es- tablishments for ourselves ; neither can we approve of them when granted to oth- ers. This, indeed, would be giving exclu- sive or separate emoluments or privileges to one set of men, without any special public services, to the common reproach and injury of every other denomination. And, for the reasons recited, we are in- duced earnestly to entreat that all laws now in force in this commonwealth, which countenance religious domination, may be speedily repealed; that all, of every reli- gious sect, may be protected in the full exercise of their several modes of wor- ship ; exempted from all taxes for the sup- port of any Church whatsoever, farther than what may be agreeable to their own 108 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. private choice or voluntary obligation. This being done, all partial and invidious distinctions will be abolished, to the great honour and interest of the State, and every one be left to stand or fall according to his merit, which can never be the case so long as any one denomination is established in preference to others. " That the great Sovereign of the uni- verse may inspire you with unanimity, wisdom, and resolution, and bring you to a just determination on all the important concerns before you, is the fervent prayer of your memorialists.'" Besides this petition from the Presbytery of Hanover, there were others from the Baptists and Quakers. The Baptists had suffered more than any other class of dis- senters, and the remembrance of their wrongs, now that their day of power had come, stimulated them to an uninterrupted opposition of seven- and -twenty years to the Established Church. Indeed, they now took the lead in opposing its claims. In 1775 they presented to the General As- sembly an address, composed by members who had spontaneously convened, in which they petitioned, " that they might be al- lowed to worship God in their own way, without interruption ; to maintain their own ministers, separate from others ; and to be married, buried, &c, without paying the clergy of other denominations."* To this the Assembly returned a complimentary answer, and an order was made that the sectarian clergy should have the privilege of performing Divine service to their re- spective adherents in the army, equally with the regular chaplains of the Estab- lished Church.f The above memorial from the Presby- terians, and petitions from the Baptists, Quakers, and others opposed to the Estab- lished Church, were met by counter-me- morials from the Episcopalians and Meth- odists, appealing on behalf of the Estab- lishment to the principles of justice, wis- dom, and policy. Public faith, it was said, required that the State should abide by its engagements ; and that a system of such old standing, and which involved so many interests on the part of persons who had staked their all upon its continued exist- ence, possessed the nature of a vested right, and ought to be maintained inviolate. The wisdom of this course was argued from the past, experience of all Christian lands,! and from the influence of religious establishments in giving stability to virtue and the public happiness. Policy required it, for it was insisted that, were there to * Semple's " History of the Baptists in Virginia," p. 25-27, 62. t Burk's " History of Virginia," p. 59. j This was not difficult, for church establishments had existed throughout Christendom since the days tif Constantine. be no establishment, the peace of the com- munity would be destroyed by the jealou- sies and contentions of rival sects. And, finally, the memorialists prayed that the matter might be referred, in the last resort, to the people at large, as they had the best of reasons for believing that a majority of the citizens would be in favour of continu- ing the establishment. From this it would seem that, in the conviction of these memorialists, a major- ity of the population of Virginia were Epis- copalians ; yet it was confidently main- tained in other quarters that two thirds of the people were at that time dissenters. I am inclined to think that the greater part professed, or favoured Episcopacy, but that a decided majority was opposed to its civil establishment. The memorials led to a long and earnest discussion. The Church had for her champions Messrs. Pendleton and R. C. Nicolas, and for her great oppo- nent Mr. Jefferson, who speaks of the con- test as the severest in which he was ever engaged.* After discussing the subject for nearly two months, the Assembly repealed all the colonial laws attaching criminality to the profession of any particular reli- gious opinions, requiring attendance at the parish churches, and forbidding attendance elsewhere, with the penalties attached thereto. Dissenters were to be exempted in future from compulsory contributions in support of the Episcopal Church. The clergy, however, were to have their sti- pends continued until' the first day in the ensuing year, and had all arrears secured to them. The churches, chapels, glebes, books, plate, &c, belonging to the Epis- copal Church, were to remain in its pos- session.! This law was passed on the 5th of December, 1776. The question of hav- ing a general assessment for the support of religion was at the same time discussed, but the determination of it was put off to a future day. In the course of 1777 and 1778, petitions and counter-petitions continued to be ad- dressed to the Legislature on the subject of religion. Some of the petitions prayed for the preservation of all that remained of the Establishment ; others advocated a general assessment for the support of all denominations ; others opposed that sug- gestion. Some, again, called for the sup- pression by law of the irregularities of the " sectaries," such as their holding meet- ings by night, and craved that none but " licensed preachers" should be allowed to conduct the public worship of God. Among the memorials was one from the Pres- bytery of Hanover, opposing the plan of a general assessment. After reverting to the principles laid down in their first peti- tion, and insisting that the only proper ob- * Jefferson's Works, vol. i, p. 32. f Hening's " Statutes of Virginia," p. 34. Chap. III.] DISSOLUTION OF UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. jects of civil governments are the happi- ness and protection of men in their present state of existence ; the security of the life, liberty, and property of the citizens ; the restraint of the vicious, and the encourage- ment of the virtuous, by wholesome laws, equally extending to every individual ; and that the duty which men owe to their Cre- ator, and the manner of discharging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, and is nowhere cognizable but at the tribu- nal of the universal Judge, the presbytery express themselves as follows : '• To illustrate and confirm these asser- tions, we beg leave to observe, that to judge for ourselves, and to engage in the exercise of religion agreeably to the dic- tates of our own consciences, is an inal- ienable right, which, upon the principles on which the Gospel was first propagated, and the Reformation from Popery carried on, can never be transferred to another. Neither does the Church of Christ stand in need of a general assessment for its support ; and most certain we are that it would be of no advantage, but an injury to the Society to Which we belong ; and as every good Christian believes that Christ has ordained a complete system of laws for the government of His kingdom, so we are persuaded that by His providence He will support it to its final consummation. In the fixed belief of this principle, that the kingdom of Christ and the concerns of religion are beyond the limits of civil control, we should act a dishonest, incon- sistent part, were we to receive any emol- uments from human establishments for the support of the Gospel. " These things being considered, we hope that we shall be excused for remonstra- ting against a general assessment for any religious purpose. As the maxims have long been approved, that every servant is to obey his master, and that the hireling is accountable for his conduct to him from whom he receives his wages ; in like man- ner, if the Legislature has any rightful au- thority over the ministers of the Gospel in the exercise of their sacred office, and if it is their duty to levy a maintenance for them as such, then it will follow that they may revive the old Establishment in its former extent, or ordain a new one for any sect that they may think proper ; they are invested with a power not only to de- termine, but it is incumbent on them to declare who shall preach, what they shall preach, to whom, when, and in what places they shall preach ; or to impose any reg- ulations and restrictions upon religious so- cieties that they may judge expedient. These consequences are so plain as not to be denied, and they are so entirely sub- versive of religious liberty, that if they should take place in Virginia, we should be reduced to the melancholy necessity of 109 saying with the apostles in like cases, ' Judge ye whether it is best to obey God or men,' and also of acting as they acted. " Therefore, as it is contrary to our prin- ciples and interest, and, as we think, sub- versive of religious liberty, we do again most earnestly entreat that our Legisla- ture would never extend any assessment for religious purposes to us, or to the con- gregations under our care." This memorial, and probably still more, the strenuous efforts of the Baptists, led, in 1779, to the abandonment of the pro- posed "general assessment," after a bill to that effect had been ordered a third reading. With the return of peace, the Legisla- ture of Virginia resumed the subject of legislating in behalf of religion ; and in the sessions of 1784 two important matters were much debated. One was to provide by law for the incorporation of " all soci- eties of the Christian religion which may apply for the same ;" the other was the old project of a general assessment for the support of religion. The celebrated Patrick Henry* was the great advocate * This gentleman, one of the most eloquent men that America has ever produced, was for many years a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and govern- or, also, for several terms. He distinguished him- self in opposing the taxation of the colonies by Eng- land without their consent, and in the course of a very animated speech on that subject hi the Legisla- ture of Virginia, said, in his emphatic manner, " Cae- sar had a Brutus, Charles I. had a Cromwell, and George III." — here he was interrupted by cries of " Treason ! treason !" — " and George III.," he repeat- ed, " should profit by their example ; if this be trea- son, gentlemen, you may make the most of it." It has been said that in his younger days Mr. Hen- ry was inclined to infidelity. But this is not true ; he was a firm believer in Christianity, and for many years before his death a devout Christian. " He ever had a great abhorrence of infidelity," says a private letter from a member of Mr. Henry's family, given in Dr. Hawks's " Ecclesiastical History of the Epis- copal Church in Virginia," p. 160, 161, "and actu- ally wrote an answer to ' Paine's Age of Reason,' but destroyed it before his death. He received the communion as often as an opportunity offered ; and on such occasions always fasted until after he had re- ceived the sacrament, and spent the day in the great- est retirement. This he did both while he was gov- ernor and afterward." The following affecting anecdote is related of him. When very old, he was induced to be a candidate for the House of Delegates, in a time of great politi- cal excitement. " On the day of the election," says Mr. Wirt, in his Life of Patrick Henry, p. 408, " as soon as he appeared on the ground, he was sur- rounded by the admiring and adoring crowd, and whithersoever he moved the concourse followed him. A preacher of the Baptist Church, whose pie- ty was wounded by this homage paid to a mortal, asked the people aloud, why they thus followed Mr. Henry. 'Mr. Henry,' said he, 'is not a god.' 'No!' said Mr. Henry, deeply affected, both by the scene and the remark : ' no, indeed, my friend ; I am a poor worm of the dust, as fleeting and as unsub- stantial as the shadow of the cloud that flies over your fields, and is remembered no more.' The tone with which this was uttered, and the look which ac- companied, affected every heart and silenced every voice." 110 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IIL of both measures. The Hanover Pres- bytery soon reappeared upon the field, and opposed the latter of these proposals, al- though it would have proved as favoura- ble to the Presbyterian Church as any oth- er. But on this occasion there was an ev- ident wavering on the part of the presby- tery, probably owing to an expectation that the measure would be sure to be adopt- ed, and from their desire to secure the least injurious plan of giving it effect. It has also been alleged as one cause of the temporary abatement of their zeal, that Mr. Henry had won over to his opinions the Rev. Dr. John B. Smith, one of the ablest members of the presbytery. Cer- tain it is, that an act to incorporate the churches passed by a large vote, and a bill in favour of a general assessment pass- ed two readings, was ordered to be read a third time, and was then sent forth to be submitted to the people for their opinion before being passed into a law. On the same day, likewise, on which an act was passed for the incorporation of such church- es as might apply for the same, leave was granted to introduce a bill for the incorpo- ration of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr. Henry introduced the bill. It had for its. object the securing to that church all the property that it had ever had, both in those parishes which had churches in use, and in the still greater number which had no ministers, and not even vestries, and where the church edifices had become di- lapidated during the war of the Revolu- tion. This bill was approved by the Le- gislature, and promised permanent peace and protection to the Episcopal Church. But the prospect was not of long contin- uance. The incorporation of the Episco- pal clergy was strongly opposed in a me- morial from the Presbytery of Hanover, under the influence of which the Legisla- ture delayed farther proceedings, in order that public opinion might have time to ex- press itself. Meanwhile, petitions against the measure were sent in. from all parts of Virginia, signed by no fewer than 10,000 persons. Still, as the Legislature seemed disposed to pass the bill in question, the Presbyterian churches held a convention, at which another memorial was drawn up, and the Rev. Dr. John B. Smith, who had now become more confirmed in his oppo- sition to the contemplated measure, was appointed to accompany the presentation of the memorial with his personal advo- cacy at the bar of the Assembly, and was heard there for three successive days. This decided the matter ; the whole scheme was abandoned. Thus, it was mainly owing to the exer- tions of the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Quakers that the union of Church and State in Virginia was dissolved, and the scheme of having a general assessment for the support of all Protestant denomi- nations defeated.* Mr. Jefferson, it is true, when a member of the Assembly in 1776, rendered all the aid in his power, and would have been very well pleased to have had such parties to co-operate with him in some other schemes, if he could. But they, not he, began the movement in this case, and they persevered in their endeavours to render the churches altogether independ- ent of the civil power, and to have all placed precisely on the same footing, as respect- ed the civil government. Mr. Jefferson's grand achievement, in the line of legislating about religious rights, was the famous act " for establishing reli- gious freedom," drawn up by him, and adopted by the Legislature of Virginia in 1785. f That act in itself, however, con- * A general assessment bill would have done in- finite mischief. It never could have been confined to the Evangelical Churches, and would have end- ed in building up Unitarianism, Universalism, &c, in Virginia, just as a similar measure did afterward in New-England. t As the reader may wish to see this famous or- dinance, which Mr. Jefferson challenged so much credit to himself for having written and advocated, we give it in this note : " Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free ; that all attempts to in- fluence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who, be ing Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his al- mighty power to do ; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiasti- cal, who, being themselves but fallible and unin- spired men, have assumed dominion over the faitli of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath estab- lished or maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time ; that to com- pel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sin- ful and tyrannical ; that even the forcing him to sup- port this or that preacher of his own religious per- suasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those tempo- ral rewards, which, proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incite- ment to earnest and unremitting labours for the in- struction of mankind ; that our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than on our opinions in physic and geometry ; that there- fore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy of the public confidence, by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privi- leges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right ; that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments those who will externally profess or conform to it ; that though, in- deed, those are criminal who do not withstand such, temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way ; that to suffer the civil magis- trate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of prin- ciples on suspicion of their ill-tendency, is a danger- Chap. III.] DISSOLUTION OF UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. tains nothing to which a friend of full and equal liberty of conscience would perhaps object ; but it gave its author great satis- faction, not because it imbodied the prin- ciples of eternal justice, but because, by putting all religious sects on an equality, it seemed to degrade Christianity, and " to comprehend," to use his own words, " with- in the mantle of protection the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Moham- medan, the Hindoo and infidel of every de- nomination." It was this that made the arch-infidel chuckle with satisfaction— not, we repeat, that the great principles im- bodied in the measure were right. I have now gone through the history of the dissolution of the union of Church and State in Virginia* — a dissolution effected, in reality, by the act of the 6th of Decem- ber, 1776, which repealed all former acts relating to that union. What followed had no necessary connexion with that act, but bore only upon certain measures, designed to guard against what was deemed by the majority to be an injurious legislation for promoting the interests of religion. This early discussion of the propriety of ous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious lib- erty ; because, he being, of course, judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judg- ment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own : that it is time enough, for the rightful pur- poses of civil government, for its officers to inter- fere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order: and, finally, that Truth is great, and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons — free argument and debate — errors ceasing to be danger- ous when it is permitted freely to contradict them. " Be it therefore enacted by the General Assem- bly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever ; nor shall be enforced, restrained, mo- lested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in mat- ters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. " And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law ; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural right of man- kind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right." * I might have gone into an ampler detail of the measures pursued by the opponents of the Episcopal Church in Virginia to annul the law incorporating the clergy of that church, and of those, also, which were followed up, in 1802, by the sale of the glebes ; but such details have no proper connexion with the subject in hand. The law ordaining the sale of the glebes was, I think, unconstitutional, and would have been pronounced to be so had it been brought to a fair and full decision before the proper tribunal. The opposition to the Episcopal Church towards the end was marked by a cruelty which admits of no apology. Ill dissolving the union of Church and State in Virginia, after the war of the Revolution had broken out, had some effect, probably, on other states placed in similar circum- stances. Such, at least, is the prevailing impression in the absence of authentic documentary proof. After the Declaration of Independence, measures to the same effect were very promptly taken in Mary- land. On the 3d of November, 1776, the Legislature of that state put forth a Decla- ration of Rights similar to that made by Virginia in the early part of the same year, and imbodying principles directly subver- sive of the union of Church and State. The Episcopal Church, nevertheless, was se- cured in the possession of the glebes and all other church property, and it was de- cided that the stipends of all the incum- bents who should remain at their posts should be paid up to the first day of the month in which said Declaration was made. This righteous decision was not departed from, and Maryland, accordingly, was spa- red those tedious and wretched disputes about the property of the Church that had once been established ; disputes that did much harm to religion in Virginia,- and were little reputable to the authors of them. In the Maryland" Declaration of Rights," it was declared, " that as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such a man- ner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons professing the Christian reli- gion are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty ; wherefore no per- son ought by any law to be molested in his person or estate on account of his re- ligious persuasion or profession, or for his religious practice, unless, under colour of religion, any man shall disturb the good order, peace, or safety of the state, or shall infringe the laws of morality, or injure others in their natural, civil, or religious rights." It was farther declared that no one ought to be compelled to frequent or maintain the religious worship of any de- nomination ; but, at the same time, it was affirmed that the Legislature might, in its discretion, impose a common and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion in general ; in such case, however, every individual paying the tax was held to pos- sess the right of designating the religious denomination to the support of which it was to be applied ; or he might resolve this legislative support of Christianity in gen- eral into mere almsgiving, and direct his tax to be applied to the maintenance of the poor.* The union of Church and State was dis- solved in like manner, by acts of their re- spective legislatures, in New- York, South Carolina, and all the other colonies in which the Protestant Episcopal Church * See Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church of Maryland," p. 288. 112 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. was predominant. But it is unnecessary to trace the steps by which this dissolution was accomplished in all cases. There was nothing particularly important, in so far as I am aware, in these details. Enough to know that the dissolution did take place at no distant periods after the Revolution. Let us now return to New-England, where the principle of religious establish- ments was most firmly rooted, and most difficult to be eradicated. It was not until about forty years subse- quent to the separation of Church and State m Virginia that the example was follow- ed by Connecticut. It will be recollected that' in the latter state the Established Church was the Congregational. In 1816, shortly after the close of the last war be- tween the United States and Great Britain, all parties that differed from it — Episcopa- lians, Baptists, Methodists, Universalists, &c. — combined to effect its overthrow. These various parties having succeeded in gaining a majority in the Legislature, pro- ceeded to abolish the legal assessment for the parish churches, and by a new law left it optional to the rate-payers to support either the parish church, or any other, as each thought fit. The same system was adopted by New-Hampshire and Maine. Vermont, I believe, has at all times had essentially the voluntary scheme ; that is, the people of each township have support- ed such churches within their respective boundaries, and in such a measure, as they have thought proper. Of all the states in which there had ever been any connexion between the Church and the Civil Power, Massachusetts was the last to come under the operation of the voluntary principle. The fathers of that colony, in the indulgence of their theocrat- ic principles and ideas, had ever prided themselves on the union made by the vine of the Lord's planting and the State. They had with great satisfaction reposed under the shadow of both, and discoursed of the happy fruits of such a union. Cotton Ma- ther, for example, in a style peculiarly his own, talks not only of the advantage, but of the honour, likewise, of a religious es- tablishment. " Ministers of the Gospel," says he, " would have a poor time of it, if they must rely on a free contribution of the people for their maintenance." And again : •• The laws of the province (of Massachu- setts) having had the royal approbation to ratify them, they are the king's laws. T5y these laws it is enacted that there shall be a public worship of God in every plan- tation ; that the person elected by the ma- jority of the inhabitants to be so, shall be looked upon as the minister of the place : and that the salary for him, which they shall agree upon, shall be levied by a rate upon all the inhabitants. In consequence of this, the minister thus chosen by the people is (not only Christ's, but also), in reality, the king's minister; and the salary raised for him is raised in the king's name, and is the king's allowance unto him."* Before the Revolution took place, the Episcopalians had been relieved, by a spe- cial act of the Legislature, from contribu- ting to the support of the parish churches, and their congregations had been erected into incorporated societies, or poll-parish- es ; that is, parishes comprising only indi- viduals, and not marked by geographical limits. But though the Constitution of 1780, which maintained the old assessment for religious worship, allowed every per- son to appropriate his taxes to whatever society he pleased, it was still held by the courts of that state, until the year 1811, that a member of a territorial parish (which is a corporation) could not divert the tax- es imposed on him for the support of reli- gious worship to the maintenance of a teacher of an unincorporated society.! By the statute of 1811, amended in 1823, a duly-attested certificate of membership in any other religious society, whether incor- porated or not, sufficed to relieve the hold- er of it from all taxes for the support of the parish church ; but it was still the law and practice of Massachusetts to regard all persons, in any town or parish, who be- longed to no religious society whatever, as regular members of the parish or congre- gational church, and taxable for the sup- port of its clergy. I have elsewhere spoken of the accu- mulated evils which grew out of the con- nexion between the Church and the State in Massachusetts. Those evils became so great, that the friends of evangelical reli- gion, in other words, of the orthodox faith of every name, resolved to unite in urging an amendment of the Constitution of the state, by which some better results might be obtained. Their efforts were crowned with success. The amendment having been voted by the Legislature in three successive sessions, 1831-33, became part of the organic law of the state, and the union of Church and State was brought to a close. CHAPTER IV. EFFECTS OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE IN THE SEVERAL STATES IN WHICH IT ONCE EXISTED. It will readilv be believed that the union * " Ratio Discipline ; or, Faithful Account of the Discipline professed and practised in the Churches of New-England," p. 20. t For a brief and clear view of the laws of Massa- chusetts on this subject, the reader is referred to a sermon of the Rev. "William Cogswell, D.D., on Re- ligious Liberty, preached on the day of the annual Fast in Massachusetts, April 3d, 1828, and published in Boston. Chap. IV.] DISSOLUTION OF UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 113 of Church and State, in any country where it has once existed, cannot be dissolved without some attendant inconvenience. If such has been the nature of the connexion that the Church has been wholly depend- ant on the State for its support, for the keeping of its places of worship in repair, the maintenance of its pastors, and the in- cidental expenses of public worship, very serious embarrassments must inevitably attend a sudden dissolution of such a union. Such was unquestionably the case in some of the States of America. In others, again, in which the connexion had been one of no long duration, had never been very close, and had not been carried out to a great extent, that result was attended with little and not very lasting evil. Nowhere were the ill consequences of the disestablishment of the Church felt more seriously than in Virginia, and this may be ascribed to several causes. The worthless character of many of the clergymen sent over from England had bred in many places, from the very first, great indifference to the Church and its services. The people had become tired of compulsory payments for the support of a form of worship which they had ceased to love or respect. Thus many became in- different to religious worship of every kind, and others went off to the " dissenters" — the Presbyterians, Baptists, &c, when there were churches of these denomina- tions in their neighbourhoods. However deplorable it might be that the venerable edifices in which their fathers had worship- ped should be almost deserted from such a cause, it was nevertheless inevitable. Not that this representation applies to every parish ; in many cases, the faithful and consistent lives of the pastors kept their Hocks, under God, in a state of prosperity. In the second place, a large majority, some say rather more than two thirds of the Episcopal clergy* in Virginia were op- posed to the Revolution, and most of these returned to England. Nor are they to be blamed without mercy for so doing. Many of them, it must be remembered, were Eng- lishmen by birth, and England was the land of all their early associations. They had never suffered oppression, but had ever been of the party in favour with the monarch. Thus nothing could be more natural than that even good men among them should be Tories. Others there were, doubtless, who saw that the independence of the country would be likely so to alter the state of things as to make it impossible for them to continue their delinquencies with impu- nity, which they had enjoyed when respon- sible only to a bishop 3000 miles off. But this loyalty to the British crown was not likely to find much forbearance among a * Dr. HawksV History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 136. H people, so many of whom were republican in sentiment, and hostile for the time to the mother-country; and the Episcopal Church could not fail to suffer from the sympathy shown by many of its clergy for those who were considered the country's enemies. This was, no doubt, counter- acted so far by there being in the minority of the clergy such stanch republicans and avowed partisans of the colonies as the Rev. Dr. Madison, afterward bishop of the state, Drs. Griffith and Bracken, Messrs. Bu- chanan, Jarratt, and others ;* while as re- gards the laity, no men in all the colonies entered more warmly into the Revolution than did the Episcopalians of Virginia.! In the third place, Virginia was the im- mediate theatre of no small part of the war, and was repeatedly overrun by the armies of both sides. Now, without at- tributing too much to wantonness, though much, no doubt, was owing to that, it may readily be supposed that the Episcopal Churches, the best in the colony, would be sure to be used as barracks, store- houses, hospitals, &c, thus losing at once their sacred character, and suffering much in their furnishings. Partly, indeed, from accident, partly, it is believed, from design, not a few were destroyed by fire and other causes. In the fourth place, so engrossed were all men's minds with the war, that the time was very unfavourable for doing good. Many of the ministers who re- mained in the province found great diffi- culty in collecting the people together, or obtaining for themselves the means of subsistence. Some betook themselves to teaching schools, but even to that the times were unfavourable. Many mere boys shouldered the musket and went to the war, returning no more to thWir homes until hostilities had ceased, if death did not prevent them from returning at all. Bearing these things in mind, the state of the Episcopal ChurchesJ in Virginia * In one instance, an Episcopal clergyman of Vir- ginia, the Rev. Mr. Muhlenburg, relinquished his charge, accepted a commission as colonel in the American army, raised a regiment among his own par- ishioners, served through the whole war, and retired from the service at its close with the rank of a brig- adier-general. The last sermon that he ever preach- ed to his people before he left for the camp, was de- livered in military dress. — Thatcher's " Military Jour- nal," p. 152. The Rev. Mr. Thurston, of Frederic County, in the same state, also bore arms as a colo- nel in the service of the country. f Such as General Washington, Patrick Henry (of whom we have spoken in the last chapter), Rich- ard Henry Lee, the mover of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, his brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee, one of the signers, George Mason, Edmund Pendleton, Peter Lyons, Paul Carrington, William Fleming, William Grayson, with the families of the Nelsons, Meades, Mercers, Harrisons, Randolphs, and hun- dreds of other names deservedly dear to Virginia. — Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Vir- ginia" p. 137. % Not that the damage done by the war to othe. 114 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. may be supposed to have been deplorable enough on the return of peace, and that they little needed the aggravation of be- ing thrown for their support entirely upon their own members, when these were im- poverished by the length of the war, and rendered by it incapable of doing much for the Church, however well disposed to make sacrifices in her cause. But an ex- tract from the distinguished author to whom I have so often had occasion to refer, will give a clearer idea of the state of things than I can : " On the 19th of April, 1783, precisely e.^ht years after the first effusion of blood at Lexington, peace was proclaimed to the American army by order of the com- mander-in-chief. Time was now afforded to men to direct their attention to the permanent establishment of such institu- tions, civil and religious, as might com- port with their desires or views of duty. Much was to be done ; and rejoicing with thankfulness, as now we may, in the pres- ent prosperity of the Church in Virginia, it is well to look back on its condition as it emerged from the Revolution, and by a contemplation of the difficulties which stood in the way of its resuscitation, be moved to the exercise of gratitude. When the colonies first resorted to arms, Virgin- ia in her sixty-one counties, contained nine- ty-five parishes, 104 churches and chapels, and ninety-one clergymen. When the contest was over, she came out of the war with a large number of her churches de- stroyed or injured irreparably, with twen- ty-three of her ninety-five parishes extinct or forsaken, and of the remaining seventy- two, thirty-four were destitute of ministe- rial services ; while of her ninety-one cler- gymen, twenty-eight only remained, who had lived through the storm, and these, with eight others who came into the state soon after the struggle terminated, sup- plied thirty-six of the parishes. Of these twenty-eight, fifteen only had been enabled to continue in the churches which they supplied prior to the commencement of hostilities ; and thirteen had been driven from their cures by violence or want, to seek safety or comfort in some one of the many vacant parishes, where they might hope to find, for a time at least, exemption from the extremity of suffering."* This is a dark enough picture, but it must be borne in mind that the evils it rep- resents were almost wholly owing to the Revolutionary war and its consequences, and could not have been much alleviated had the Church Establishment, instead of denominations was inconsiderable. The Presbyte- lians probably suffered more in their church edifices, from being far more obnoxious to the resentment of the enemy, as the English were considered to be at the time. * Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 153, >54. being arrested in 1776, been continued un- til 17S3. But in the gloomy years that followed the Revolution, the Episcopal Church continued prostrate, and felt the loss of her establishment most severely. Then did it seem as if nothing short of her utter ruin would satisfy the resent- ment of her enemies. She had, indeed, in the day of her power, been exclusive, domineering, and persecuting; her own sins had brought upon her this severe vis- itation. From her case, as well as from all past experience, persecuting churches should learn that a Church that oppresses, will one day be herself oppressed, and most likely by those on whose neck she had placed her foot. But let us turn to a brighter page. " The Lord, after he hath afflicted, delighteth to heal." So it was with the Episcopal Church in Virginia. He had some good thing in reserve for her, and had been preparing her for it by the discipline of His rod. She gradually emerged from her difficul- ties. Her people learned by degrees to trust in themselves, or, rather, in God, and began to look to their own exertions rath- er than to a tobacco-tax for the support of their churches and pastors. Faithful min- isters multiplied ; an excellent bishop was elected and consecrated ; benevolent soci- eties began to spring up ; a theological school was planted within her borders, where many youths of talent and piety have been trained under excellent professors to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. And although the ministers and parishes are not now so numerous as we have sta- ted them to have been at the commence- ment of the war of the Revolution, yet their number is considerable, and constant- ly increasing. There are ninety-five min- isters, and more than one hundred churches. But, above all, I do not think it possible to find a body of ministers of equal number, in any denomination, who, in point of theological education, prudent zeal, sim- ple and effective eloquence, general use- fulness, and the esteem in which they are held by the people, can be regarded as superior to the Episcopal clergy of the present day in Virginia.* What a change ! How wonderfully has all been overruled by God for good ! Instead of perpetual * This eulogy will not be thought extravagant by any one that has had opportunities of knowing them. I have had the privilege, as well as the happiness, of making the acquaintance of many of them, and have known many more by character through sources wor- thy of entire confidence. The late excellent Bishop Moore was beloved by all who knew him. The pres ent bishop, Dr. Meade, enjoys the confidence and esteem both of Christians and the world, in a higher degree than perhaps any other minister of the Gos- pel in America. The assistant bishop, Dr. Johns, is a distinguished and excellent man. The profess- ors in the diocesan Theological Seminary, the Rev. Drs. Lippitt and Sparrow, are widely known and highly esteemed by all who know them. Chap. IV.] DISSOLUTION OF UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 115 wrangling with their parishioners and the law officers about the taxes on tobacco levied for their support, as was formerly the case, they are supported in a way hereafter to be detailed ; I do not say ex- travagantly or abundantly, but in general comfortably, by the contributions of their congregations. And instead of being dis- liked, to use no harsher term, I have rea- son to believe that they are universally respected, and even beloved, by the mem- bers of other churches. In Maryland as well as Virginia, though in a much less degree, the dissolution of the union of Church and State produced serious embarrassments and long-contin- ued difficulty. In none of the colonies had the established clergy received such an ample maintenance as in Maryland. Their stipends were in many cases most liberal and ample for those days, so that lo throw them at once on the voluntary support of their parishioners was a haz- ardous step, and for the time led to many eases of hardship. When the Revolution broke out, there were twenty parishes on the eastern shore of the province, and twenty-four on the western ; in all, forty- four. Each of these had an incumbent, " though not always of the purest charac- ter,"* and at the close of the war in 1783, there were about eighteen or twenty re- maining.f But if this diminution were owing at all to the dissolution of the union of Church and State, it was so in but a small degree. The fact is, that about two thirds of the established clergy were op- posed to the war from its commencement, and refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new government, so that the great- er part of them left the country. On the return of peace, the Episcopal Church grad- ually recovered from its depression, and ever since it has made pretty steady prog- ress, and been decidedly prosperous. The late Dr. Clagget was appointed its first bish- op in 1792, its Convention was organized, and canons established, by which proper discipline was secured. The clergy were for a long time less numerous than before the Revolution ;' not so much, however, for want of the means of supporting them, as for want of suitable men. Some minis- ters did, indeed, leave their parishes, and the state itself, just after the war of the Revolution, and even so late as 1822, for want of support ; but this was either be- fore the churches had been sufficiently trained to the work of raising a mainte- nance for their ministers, or it arose from the churches being really too weak for the burden. Maryland had fifty Episcopal cler- gymen in 1827 ; this number had risen to seventy-two in 1838, and a considerable proportion of the churches were still with- * Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Maryland." t Ibid., p. 301. out ministers. At no period of its establish- ment by the State was the Episcopal Church of Maryland so prosperous as du- ring some years back. Not that in all cases the clergy are supported as they ought to be, or as they were during the union of Church and State ; but in point of talents and sound learning, combined with piety and other ministerial gifts, they are immeasurably superior to their predeces- sors before the Revolution. In North and South Carolina, and in New- York, though the disestablishment of the Episcopal Church produced, as in other cases, a kind of syncope for a time, from this it ere long recovered, and its prosperity is now incomparably greater than it ever was when it was supported by the state. In the State of New- York it may be said to have entered on its present career of extraordinary prosperity with the election and consecration of the late Rev. Dr. John Henry Hobart, as bishop of the diocese, previous to which its churches and ministers were few in number com- pared with the present time. Seldom has a Church owed more to the energy and perseverance of one man. But in no part of the United States was the proposal to disestablish the Church re- ceived with more serious apprehension than in New-England. The language in which the celebrated Dr. Dwight, president of Yale College, and author of a very valu- able system of theology, as well as other distinguished men of that state, deprecated the measure, is still extant in pamphlets and in journals, and these have often been quoted in England by the friends, in oppo- sition to the opponents, of the Church Es- tablishment there. But it ought to be known that not a single surviver at this day, of all who once wrote against the separation of Church and State m Connec- ticut, has not long since seen that he was mistaken, and has not now found to be a blessing what he once regarded as a ca- lamity. And had not Dr. Dwight died just as the change came into operation, no doubt he, too, would have changed his opinion.* Twenty-seven years have now elapsed since that time, and although I have been much in Connecticut during the last fifteen years, know many of the clergy, and have conversed much with them on the subject, out of the 200 or 300 once es- tablished ministers of that state, I am not * The author has often conversed on this subject with the Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D., who, when the change took place, was pastor of a church in Con- necticut, but is now professor in a theological semi- nary at Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Beecher was as much opposed to the dissolution as Dr. Dwight was, and both preached and wrote against it. But with char- acteristic candour, he hesitates not now to confess that his apprehensions were quite unfounded. Few men rank higher in the United States than Dr. Beecher, whether as a preacher or as a writer. 116 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. aware of there being more than one Con- gregational minister in the state who would like to see the union of Church and State restored in it. Indeed, the exception re- ferred to is probably the only one in the United States, among the Protestant min- isters at least. Any others are most likely foreigners, who have not yet entered large- ly into the spirit of our institutions and our people. On no point, I am confident, are the evangelical clergy of the United States, of all churches, more fully agreed than in holding that a union of Church and State would prove one of the greatest calamities that could be inflicted on us, whatever it may prove in other countries. This is the very language I have heard a thousand times from our best and ablest men when speaking on the subject. In Massachusetts, which was the last of the states to abolish the union of the Church and the Civil Power, the change was adopted from a conviction of the evils, on the one side, resulting from the union in that state, and of the advantages, on the other side, that would accrue from its dis- solution : a conviction that led all the evan- gelical denominations to combine for its overthrow. In fine, after twelve years' experience of the change, I apprehend not a single person of influence in all their ranks will be found to regret it. And now, throughout the whole of the United States, Truth stands on its own im- mutable vantage ground. So far as the Civil Power is concerned, there is not the slightest interference with the rights of conscience or with the religious worship of any one. Religious liberty,, fettered by no state enactment, is as perfect as it can be. Nor is any sect or denomination of Christians favoured more ihan another. All depend, under God, for their support, on the willing hearts and active hands of their friends, while the civil government, re- lieved from the ten thousand difficulties and embarrassments which a union of Church and State would involve, has only to mete out justice with even scales to all the citi- zens, whatever may be their religious opin- ions and preferences. CHAPTER V WHETHER THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS THE POWER TO PRO- MOTE RELIGION. It seems to be inferred by some that be- cause the Constitution declares that " Con- gress shall make no law respecting an es- tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"* the General Gov- ernment can do nothing whatever to pro- mote religion. This is certainly a mistake. A great variety of opinions has been ex- * First of the Amendments to the Constitution. pressed by writers on public and political law on the question, How far any govern- ment has a right to interfere in religious matters ; but that such a right exists to a certain extent, is admitted by all of them. Nor can it be otherwise so long as religion shall be thought necessary to the well-being of society, and to the stability of govern- ment itself. It is essential to the interests of men, even in this world, that they should be neither ignorant of, nor indifferent to, the existence, attributes, and providence of one Almighty God, the Ruler of the universe ; and, above all, a people that be- lieve in Christianity can never consent that the government they live under should be indifferent to its promotion, since public as well as private virtue is connected indis- solubly with a proper knowledge of its na- ture and its claims, and as the everlasting happiness of men depend upon its cordial reception. On this subject it may be interesting to know the opinions of one of the most dis- tinguished jurists in the United States, Mr. Justice Story, one of the judges of the Su- preme Court : " The real difficulty lies in ascertaining the limits to which government may right- fully go in fostering and encouraging reli- gion. Three cases may easily be supposed. One, where a government affords aid to a particular religion, leaving all persons free to adopt any other ; another, where it cre- ates an ecclesiastical establishment for the propagation of the doctrines of a particular sect of that religion, leaving a like freedom to all others ; and a third, where it creates such an establishment, and excludes all persons not belonging to it, either wholly or in part, from any participation in the public honours, trusts, emoluments, privi- leges, and immunities of the State. For instance, a government may simply declare that the Christian religion shall be the re- ligion of the State, and shall be aided and encouraged in all the varieties of sects be- longing to it ; or it may declare that the Catholic or Protestant religion shall be the religion of the State, leaving every man to the free enjoyment of his own religious opinions ; or it may establish the doctrines of a particular sect, as of Episcopalians, as the religion of the State, with a like free- dom ; or it may establish the doctrines of a particular sect, as exclusively the religion of the State, tolerating others to a limited extent, or excluding all not belonging to it from all public honours, trusts, emolu- ments, privileges, and immunities. " Now there will probably be found few persons in this, or any other Christian country, who would deliberately contend that it was unreasonable or unjust to fos- ter and encourage the Christian religion generally as a matter of sound policy, as well as of revealed truth. In fact, every Chap. V] RELIGIOUS POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 117 American colony, from its foundation down to the Revolution, with the exception of Rhode Island (if, indeed, that state be an exception), did openly, by the whole course of its laws and institutions, support and sustain, in some form, the Christian reli- gion, and almost invariably gave a pecu- liar sanction to some of its fundamental doctrines. And this has continued to be the case in some states down to the pres- ent period, without the slightest suspicion that it was against the principles of public law or Republican liberty.* Indeed, in a republic, there would seem to be a pecu- liar propriety in viewing the Christian re- ligion as the great basis on which it must rest for its support and permanence, if it be, what it has ever been deemed by its truest friends to be, the religion of liberty. Montesquieu has remarked, that the Chris- tian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently rec- ommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage with which a prince punishes his subjects, and exercises him- self in cruelty.f He has gone even far- ther, and affirmed, that the Protestant re- ligion is far more congenial with the spirit of political freedom than the Catholic. ' When,' says he, ' the Christian religion, two centuries ago, became unhappily divi- ded into Catholic and Protestant, the peo- ple of the North [of Europe] embraced the Protestant, and those of the South still ad- hered to the Catholic. The reason is plain. The people of the North have, and ever will have, a spirit of liberty and independence which the people of the South have not ; and, therefore, a religion which has no visible head is more agreeable to the inde- pendency of climate than that which has one. 'J Without stopping to inquire wheth- er this remark be well founded, it is cer- tainly true that the parent country has act- ed upon it with a severe and vigilant zeal ; and in most of the colonies the same rigid jealousy has been maintained almost down to our own times. Massachusetts, while she has promulgated, in her Bill of Rights, the importance and necessity of the public support of religion, and the worship of God, has authorized the Legislature to re- quire it only for Protestantism. The lan- guage of that Bill of Rights is remarkable for its pointed affirmation of the duty of government to support Christianity, and the reasons for it. ' As,' says the third article, ' the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil gov- ernment, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these can- not be generally diffused through the com- munity but by the institution of the public * Kent's " Commentaries," sect, xxxiv., p. 35-37. Rawle " On the Constitution," chap, x., p. 121, 122. t Montesquieu, " Spint of Laws," b. xxiv., c. iii. t Ibid., chap. v. worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion, and morality, therefore, to promote their happiness, and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this common- wealth have a right to invest their Legisla- ture with power to authorize and require, and the Legislature shall from time to time authorize and require the several towns, parishes, &c, &c, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases where such pro- vision shall not be made voluntarily.' Af- terward there follow provisions prohibit- ing any superiority of one sect over an- other, and securing to all citizens the free exercise of religion. " Probably, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the amendment to it now under consideration, the general, if not the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive en- couragement from the State, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship. An attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation. " It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free govern- ment can be permanent where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the State in any assignable shape. The future experience of Christendom, and chiefly of the American States, must set- tle this problem, as yet new in the history of the world, abundant as it has been in experiments in the theory of government. " But the duty of supporting religion, and especially the Christian religion, is very different from the right to force the consciences of other men, or to punish them for worshipping God in the manner which they believe their accountability to Him requires. It has been truly said, that ' religion, or the duty we owe to our Crea- tor, and the manner of discharging it, can be dictated only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.'* Mr. Locke himself, who did not doubt the right of government to interfere in matters of reli- gion, and especially to encourage Christi- anity, at the same time has expressed his opinion of the right of private judgment, and liberty of conscience, in a manner be- coming his character as a sincere friend of civil and religious liberty. ' No man, or society of men,' says he, ' have any au- thority to impose their opinions or inter- * Virginia Bill of Rights. 1 Tucker's Blackstone's Commentaries, Appendix, p. 290. 118 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. pretations on any other, the meanest Chris- tian; since, in matters of religion, every man must know, and believe, and give an account of himself.* The rights of con- science are, indeed, beyond the just reach of any human power. They are given by God, and cannot be encroached upon by human authority without a criminal dis- obedience of the precepts of natural as well as of revealed religion. " The real object of this amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or Infideli- ty, by prostrating Christianity, but to ex- clude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hie- rarchy the exclusive patronage of the na- tional government. It thus cuts off the means of religious persecution (the vice and pest of former ages), and of the sub- version of the rights of conscience in mat- ters of religion, which had been trampled upon almost from the days of the apostles to the present age.f The history of the parent country had afforded the most sol- emn warnings and melancholy instructions on this head ;| and even New-England, the land of the persecuted Puritans, as well as other colonies where the Church of England had maintained its superiority, would furnish out a chapter as full of the darkest bigotry and intolerance as any which could be found to disgrace the pages of foreign annals. Apostacy, heresy, and nonconformity had been standard crimes for public appeals to kindle the flames of persecution, and apologize for the most atrocious triumphs over innocence and virtue. " It was under a solemn consciousness of the dangers from ecclesiastical ambi- tion, the bigotry of spiritual pride, and the intolerance of sects, thus exemplified in our domestic as well as foreign annals, that it was deemed advisable to exclude from the national government all power to act upon the subject. $ The situation, too, of different states equally proclaimed the policy, as well as the necessity, of such an exclusion. In some of the states Episcopalians constituted the predominant sect ; in others, Presbyterians ; in others, Congregationalists ; in others, Quakers ; and in others, again, there was a close nu- merical rivalry among contending sects. It was impossible that there should not arise perpetual strife and perpetual jeal- ousy on the subject of ecclesiastical as- cendency, if the National Government were left free to create a religious estab- * Lord King's Life of John Locke, p. 373. t 2 Lloyd's Debates, p. 195. I % 4 Blackstone's Commentaries, p. 41-59. % 2 Lloyd's Debates, p. 195-197. " The sectarian j spirit," said the late Dr. Corrie, " is uniformly selfish, proud, and unfeeling." — Edinburgh Review, April, 1832, p. 135. lishment. The only security was in ex- tirpating the power. But this alone would have been an imperfect security, if it had not been followed up by a declaration of the right of the free exercise of religion, and a prohibition (as we have seen) of all religious tests. Thus the whole power over the subject of religion is left exclu- sively to the State governments, to be act- ed upon according to their own sense of justice and the State Constitutions ; and the Catholic and the Protestant, the Cal- vinist and the Arminian, the Jew and the Infidel, may sit down at the common tabic of the national councils, without any in-, quisition into their faith or mode of wor ship."* The preceding extracts from the learn ed commentator on the Constitution of the United States are sufficient to show that the General Government is not restrained from promoting religion, though not allow- ed to make any religious establishment, or to do anything for the purpose of ag- grandizing one denomination of Christians more than another. There is also a manifest difference be- tween legislating directly for religion as an end of jurisdiction, and keeping it re- spectfully in view while legislating for other ends, the legitimacy of which is not questioned ; so that if we admit that the States alone could do the former, the Gen- eral Government might, at least, be com- petent to the latter, and in this way the harmony of the whole might be preserved. But this restricted view of the case is not necessary. All that the Constitution does is to restrain Congress from making any law " respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of the same." Everything that has no ten- dency to bring about an establishment of religion, or to interfere with the free ex- ercise of religion, Congress may do. And we shall see, hereafter, that this is the view of the subject taken by the proper authorities of the country. CHAPTER VI. WHETHER THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES MAY JUSTLY BE CALLED INFIDEL OR ATHEISTICAL. Because no mention of the Supreme Be- ing, or of the Christian religion, is to be found in the Constitution of the United States, some have pronounced it infidel, others atheistical. But that neither opin- ion is correct will appear from a moment's consideration of the case. Most certainly, the^ Convention which * See Kent's Commentaries, Lecture xxiv. Rawle on the Constitution, chap, x., p. 121, 122. 2 Lloyd's Debates, p. 195. Chap. VI.] CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 119 framed the Constitution in 1787, under the presidency of the immortal Washington, was neither infidel nor atheistical in its character. All the leading men in it were believers in Christianity, and Washington, as all the world knows, was a Christian. Several of the more prominent members were well known to be members of church- es, and to live consistently with their pro- fession. Even Franklin, who never avow- ed his religious sentiments, and cannot be said with certainty to have been an infidel, proposed, at a time of great difficulty in the course of their proceedings, that a minister of the Gospel should be invited to open their proceedings with prayer. Many members of the Convention had been members also of the Continental Con- gress, which carried on the national gov- ernment from the commencement of the Revolution until the Constitution went into effect. Now the religious views of that Congress we shall presently see from their acts. The framers of that Constitution seem, in fact, to have felt the necessity of leav- ing the subject of religion, as they left many things besides, to the governments of the several states composing the Union. It was a subject on which these states had legislated from the very first. In many of them the Christian religion had been, and in some it still continued to be, supported by law ; in all, it had been the acknowl- edged basis of their liberty and well-being, and its institutions had been protected by legal enactments. Nothing, accordingly, could be more natural in the Convention than to deem the introduction of the sub- ject unnecessary. There is yet another view of the subject. " On this head," says an able writer, 11 as on others, the Federal Constitution was a compromise. Religion could not well be introduced into it for any purpose of positive regulation. There was no • choice but to tolerate all Christian denom- inations, and to forbear entering into the particular views of any. Religion was likely to fare best in this way. Men who loved it better than we do nowadays, felt bound in prudence to leave it at once un- aided and unencumbered by constitutional provisions, save one or two of a negative character. And they acted thus, not that it might be trodden under foot, the pearl among swine, but to the very end of its greater ultimate prevalence, its more last- ing sway among the people."* There is truth, unquestionably, in these remarks ; still I am of opinion that the Convention, while sensible that it was un- wise to make religion a subject of legisla- tion for the General Government, thought that this, or even any mention of the thing * " An Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Char- acter of the American Government," p. 72. at all, was unnecessary. The Constitu- tion was not intended for a people that had no religion, or that needed any legislation on the subject from the proposed General or National Government ; it was to be for a people already Christian, and whose ex- isting laws, emanating from the most ap- propriate, or, to say the least, the most convenient sources, gave ample evidence of their being favourable to religion. Their doing nothing positive on the subject seems, accordingly, to speak more loudly than if they had expressed themselves in the most solemn formulas on the existence of the Deity and the truth of Christianity. These were clearly assumed, being, as it were, so well known and fully acknowl- edged as to need no specification in an in- strument of a general nature, and design- ed for general objects. The Bible does not begin with an argument to prove the existence of God, but assumes the fact, as one the truth of which it needs no attempt to establish. This view is confirmed by what is to be found in the Constitution itself. From the reference to the Sabbath, in article I., sec- tion vii., it is manifest that the framers of it believed that they were drawing up a Constitution for a Christian people : a peo- ple who valued and cherished a day asso- ciated, if I may so speak, with so large a portion of Christianity. Regarding the sub- ject in connexion with the circumstances that belong to it, I do not think that the government of the United States can just- ly be called either infidel or atheistical, on account of its Federal Constitution. The authors of that Constitution never dream- ed that they were to be regarded as treat- ing Christianity with contempt, because they did not formally mention it as the law of the land, which it was already, much less that it should be excluded from the government. If the latter was intended, we shall presently see that their acts, from the very organization of the government, belied any such intention. Should any one, after all, regret that the Constitution does not contain something more explicit on the subject, I cannot but say that I participate in that regret. Sure I am that, had the excellent men who fra- med the Constitution foreseen the infer- ences that have been drawn from the omis- sion, they would have recognised, in a proper formula, the existence of God, and the truth and the importance of the Chris- tian religion. I conclude this chapter in the language of one who has ably treated this question. " Consistent with themselves, the people of 1787 meant by the federal arrangement nothing but a new and larger organization of government on principles already fa- miliar to the country. The state govern- ments were not broad enough for national RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book II purposes, and the old Confederation was deficient in central power. It was only to remedy these two defects, not of prin- ciple, but of distributive adjustment, that the public mind addressed itself: innova- tion, to any other end, was never thought of; least of all in reference to religion, a thing utterly apart from the whole de- sign. So that, admitting that the Consti- tution framed on that occasion does not in terms proclaim itself a Christian document, what then? Does it proclaim itself un- christian ? For if it is merely silent in the matter, law and reason both tell us that its religious character is to be looked for by interpretation among the people that fash- ioned it ; a people, Christian by profession and by genealogy ; what is more, by deeds of fundamental legislation that cannot de- ceive."* CHAPTER VII. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWN TO BE CHRISTIAN BY ITS ACTS. Any doubts that the Constitution of the United States may suggest as to the Chris- tian! character of the National Govern- ment will be dissipated by a statement of facts. In the first place, in transacting the af- fairs of the government, the Sabbath is recognised, and respect for it enjoined ; not only so, but it is observed to a degree rarely witnessed in other countries. All public business is suspended, unless in cases of extreme necessity. Congress ad- journs over the Sabbath ;J the courts do not sit ; the custom-houses, and all other pub- lic offices, are shut, not only for a few hours, or a part of it, but during the whole day. In the second place, the Christian char- acter of the government is seen in the proclamations that have been made from time to time, calling on the people to ob- serve days of fasting and prayer in times of national distress, and of thanksgiving for national or general mercies. Not a * " An Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Char- acter of the American Government," p. 84, 85. f When I speak of the Christian character of the government of the United States, I mean that it is so far regulated by the Christian religion as to par- take of its spirit, and that is not infidel or opposed to Christianity— Christian as those of England and other parts of Christendom are Christian — not that every act of the government is truly conformable to the requirements of Christianity. Alas ! where shall we find a government whose acts are fully conform- ed to these ? % When the day for the adjournment of Congress falls on Saturday, it sometimes happens that, on ac- count of the accumulation of business, the session is protracted through the night into the early morning of the Sabbath ; for doing which they fail not to be severely censured, as they deserve, by the religious, and even by some of the secular journals. year passed during the war of the Revolu- tion without the observance of such days. At the commencement of that war, the Congress, in one of these proclamations, expressed its desire " to have the people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God's superintend- ing providence, and of their duty to rely in all their lawful enterprises on his aid and direction." The objects of a general fast are set forth : "that they may with united hearts confess and bewail their manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life appease his righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ ob- tain his pardon and forgiveness." A few months later we find the following lan- guage : " The Congress do also, in the most earnest manner, recommend to all the members of the United States, and par- ticularly the officers, civil and military, under them, the exercise of repentance and reformation ; and farther require of them the strict observance of the articles which forbid profane swearing and all im- moralities." And in 1777, Congress called upon the nation " that with one heart and voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and con- secrate themselves to the service of their divine Benefactor ; and that, together with their sincere acknowledgments and offer- ings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they have forfeited every favour, and their earnest sup- plication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance ; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessing on the governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole ; to inspire our com- manders both by land and by sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and forti- tude which may render them fit instru- ments, under the government of Almighty God, to secure to these United States the greatest of all blessings — independence and peace ; that it may please Him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people, - and the labour of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase ; to take schools* and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liber- ty, virtue, and piety, under His nurturing hand ; and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." In 1779, among other objects for which they call on the people to pray, we find the following : " That God would grant to his Church the plentiful effusions of divin© grace, and pour out his Holy Spirit on a£ ministers of the Gospel ; that he would bless and prosper the means of education, Chap. VII. J CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT. :ei and spread the light of Christian knowl- edge through the remotest corners of the earth." Similar language is found in the procla- mations of 1780, 1781, and 1782. Such was the spirit which actuated the councils of the nation in the Revolution. And after the Constitution had gone into effect, we find, in the earlier period of its reign, that days of fasting and prayer for similar bless- ings were observed upon the invitation of Congress. In 1812, when the last war with England broke out, we find Congress using the following language : " It being a duty peculiarly incumbent in a time of public calamity and war, humbly and de- voutly to acknowledge our dependance on Almighty God, and to implore his aid and protection, therefore resolved, that a joint committee of both houses wait on the President, and request him to recommend a day of public humiliation and prayer, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity, and the of- fering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety of these States, and the speedy restoration of peace." And when the peace arrived, the same branch of the government called, in like manner, for a day of thanksgiving, which President Madison did not hesitate to recommend. And though President Jackson, I regret to say, had, as Mr. Jefferson had, scruples as to how far he was empowered by the Consti- tution to appoint, or, rather, to recommend such days of fasting and prayer, and refu- sed, accordingly, to do so at a time when it was loudly called for by the circumstances of the nation, the present president, Mr. Tyler, hesitated not for a moment to call upon the people to observe such a day upon the death of the lamented President Harri- son. And seldom has such a day been so re- markably observed in any country, the peo- ple flocking to their respective churches, and listening with profound attention to dis- courses suited to the affecting occasion. It was marked, in short, with the solemnity of a Sabbath. The nation felt that God, who had stricken down the man whom they had elevated so lately, and with such enthusiasm, to the presidency, was loudly calling upon them not to trust in " man, whose breath is in his nostrils." The ap- pointment of that fast was manifestly ac- ceptable to the nation at large. In the third place, the General Govern- ment has at various times authorized the employment of chaplains in the army and navy, and at this moment there are such in all larger vessels of war, and at twenty of the chief fortresses and military sta- tions.* There is also a chaplain at the gov- * I cannot avoid remarking, however, that the ap- pointment of some twenty-five chaplains in the navy very strikingly illustrates the incompetency of the civil power to manage spiritual matters. Most eminent military school at West Point, for the training of young officers. Moreover, the Congress testifies to its interest in the Christian religion, and to its sense of its importance, by employing two chaplains, one for the Senate and the other for the House of Representatives, to open the sit- tings of these bodies every day with prayer, and who alternately preach every Sabbath to the two houses, convened in the Hall of the Representatives, at twelve o'clock. In the fourth place, the policy of the General Government may be considered as Christian, inasmuch as it is directed, in a large measure, by a Christian spirit. As a people, we have preferred peace to war ; we have endeavoured to act with simple integrity and good faith to foreign nations. With few exceptions, the General Govern- ment has acted fairly to the Indians on our borders ; and in the instances in which it has been blamed, it is not easy to see how it could have acted otherwise. To avoid a civil war, it has once or twice, perhaps, failed to act with sufficient promptitude in protecting them from their ruthless white invaders. But, generally speaking, its con- duct towards the Indians has been mild and benevolent. From the times of Washing- ton it has ever willingly lent its aid in pro- moting the introduction among them of the arts of civilized life ; it has expended much money in doing so ; and at this moment it is co-operating with our missionary socie- ties, by giving them indirect but effectual aid in that quarter. But I shall have occa- sion to speak elsewhere of the conduct of the General Government with respect to this subject. of the chaplains in the United States navy, with the exception of a few comparatively recent appoint- ments, have been little qualified for labouring lor the salvation of from 400 to 1200 men on board a ship of war. A secretary of the navy is seldom fitted to make the best selection for such a post. It would be better done if committed to some of the missionary societies, or to them in conjunction with the secre- tary. For more than twenty years after the last war with England we had no chaplains in our little army, but within four or five years the government, at the instance of many of the officers, has appointed twen- ty chaplains for as many of the chief posts. The chaplains are chosen by the senior officers of each, post — as good an arrangement, probably, as could be devised. When there were no chaplains employed by the government, the ministers in the vicinity of our forts and garrisons, and the missionary societies, at- tended to the spiritual interests of the officers and men. The officers and men of a regiment, in some cases, raised a sufficient sum among themselves for the employment of a missionary, for the greater part, or the whole of his time, to preach the Gospel to them. Almost all our forts and garrisons are often visited by ministers who volunteer to preach at cer- tain stated times to the military stationed in them. Thus is the Word of Life made known to men who'* have devoted themselves to their country's service. It must be borne in mind that the national army, in times of peace, has seldom numbered more than 6000 or 8000 men. It is an interesting fact, that a very considerable proportion of the officers are pious men, and do much good by holding religious meet- ings in their respective regiments and companies. 122 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. In the fifth place, the same spirit appears in what takes place in judicial affairs. As, first, the rejection of the oath of an atheist ; second, the requiring of a belief in a future state of rewards and punishments, in order to the validity of a man's testimony ; and, lastly, the administering of oaths on the Bible. In the sixth place, this appears from the readiness shown by Congress in making large grants of valuable public lands for the support of seminaries of learning, asylums for the deaf and dumb, and for hospitals, although aware that the institutions thus endowed were under the direction of de- cided Christians, who would give a promi- nent place in them to their religious views. This I could show by many facts, were it necessary. But I have said enough, I trust, to prove that though the promotion of religion does not directly belong to the General Govern- ment, but to the States, the former is nei- ther hostile nor indifferent to the religious interests of the country. This, indeed, is not likely to be the case, so long, at least, as a large proportion of our public men en- tertain the respect they now show for re- ligion. Such respect is the more interest- ing, as it can only flow from the spontane- ous feelings of the heart. They are not tempted by any religious establishment to become the partisans of religion. Religion stands on its own basis, and seeks, not in- effectually, to win the respect and affec- tions of all men by its own simple merits. Many of the national legislators are either members of the churches, or their warm supporters ; while few among them are not believers in Christianity, or do not attend some sanctuary of the Most High on the Sabbath. CHAPTER VIII. THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES ORGANIZED ON THE BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY. After considering the claims of the General Government to be regarded as Christian in character, let us inquire how far the individual States, and particularly the original Thirteen, are entitled to the same distinction, confining ourselves in this chapter to the evidence supplied by their earliest constitutions or fundamental laws, which were mostly made during, or shortly after, the Revolution. Virginia was unquestionably a Christian state, but her Constitution is silent on the subject. It was drawn up under the eye of one of the greatest enemies that Christian- ity has ever had to contend with in Amer- ica; but although he had influence enough to prevent the religion which he hated from being mentioned in the Constitution of Virginia, he could not obliterate all traces of it from her laws. Connecticut and Rhode Island had adopt- ed no constitutions of their own when that of the United States was framed. The latter of these two states has been gov- erned almost to this day by the charter granted by Charles II. Both states were of Puritan origin, and the charters of both were based on Christian principles. The first Constitution of New- York dates from 1777. It strongly guarded the rights of conscience and religious worship. It excluded the clergy from public offices of a secular nature, on the express ground that " by their profession they were dedica- ted to the service of God and to the cure of souls," and " ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions." The Constitution of New- Jersey, as origi- nally framed in 1776, besides guarantying to every one the " inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own con- science," declared that " all persons pro- fessing a belief in the faith of any Protest- ant sect, and who should demean them- selves peaceably under the government, should be capable of being members of ei- ther branch of the Legislature, and should fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity enjoyed by others, their fellow- citizens." Whatever may be thought of the style of this instrument, it cannot be denied that it favoured the professors of Protestant Christianity. The Constitution of New-Hampshire, af- ter laying it down that " every individual has a natural and inalienable right to wor- ship God according to the dictates of his conscience and his reason," says, " that morality and piety, rightly grounded on evangelical principles, would give the best and greatest security to government, and would lay in the hearts of men the strong- est obligations to due subjection ;" and again, " that the knowledge of these was most likely to be propagated by the insti- tution of the public worship of the Deity, and public instruction in morality and re- ligion;" therefore, to promote these impor- tant purposes, " the towns" are empowered to adopt measures for the support and maintenance of " public Protestant teach- ers of piety, religion, and morality." Al- though the towns are still authorized to take measures for the support of public worship, that is no longer accomplished by a general assessment. The first Constitution of Massachusetts was framed in 1780. In it we find the following language : " That as the hap- piness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essen- tially depend upon piety, religion, and morality ; and as these cannot be gener- ally diffused through a community but by Chap. VIII.] GOVERNMENTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES. the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instruction in piety, religion, and morality : therefore, to promote their happiness, and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their Legislature with power to authorize and require, and the Legislature shall from time to time authorize and re- quire the several towns, parishes, pre- cincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the sup- port and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily ; and the people of this commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their Legislature with au- thority to enjoin upon all the subjects an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers as aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any one whose instructions they can conscientious- ly attend." It was also ordained, that *' because a frequent recurrence to the fun- damental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty and to maintain a free government, the people ought consequently to have a particular re- gard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives ; and they have a right to require of their lawgivers and magistrates an exact and constant ob- servance of them in the formation and ex- ecution of all laws necessary for the good administration of the commonwealth." And, lastly, it was prescribed that every person " chosen governor, lieutenant-gov- ernor, senator, or representative, and ac- cepting the trust," shall subscribe a sol- emn profession " that he believes the Chris- tian religion, and has a firm persuasion of its truth." The Constitution of Maryland, made in 1776, empowers the Legislature " to lay a general tax for the support of the Chris- tian religion," and declares " that all per- sons professing the Christian religion are equally entitled to protection in their re- ligious liberty." All tests are disallowed, excepting these : an oath of office ; an oath of allegiance ; " and a declaration of a be- lief in the Christian religion." The first Constitution of Pennsylvania, made in the same year, requires that every member of the Legislature shall make this solemn declaration : " I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the uni- verse, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked ; and I do acknowl- edge the Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- tament to be given by Divine inspiration." 123 The Constitution of Delaware, made at the same period, premises, " That all men have a natural and inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences and understand- ings ;" and declares, " that all persons pro- fessing the Christian religion ought for- ever to enjoy equal rights and privileges." In relation to the members of the Legisla- ture, it enjoins, that every citizen who shall be chosen a member of either house of the Legislature, or appointed to any other public office, shall be required to subscribe the following declaration: "I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore ; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration." The Constitution of North Carolina, made about the same period, declares ex- pressly, " That no person who should den)'- the being of God, or the truth of the Prot- estant religion, or the Divine authority of either the Old or New Testament, or who should hold religious principles incompat- ible with the freedom and safety of the State, should be capable of holding any office or place of trust in the civil govern- ment of the State." But the Constitution of South Carolina, made in 1778, was the most remarkable of all. It directs the Legislature, at its regular meeting, to " choose by ballot from among themselves, or from the people at large, a governor and commander-in-chief, a lieu- tenant-governor and privy council, all of the Protestant religion." It prescribes that no man shall be eligible to either the Senate or House of Representatives, " un- less he be of the Protestant religion." And in a word, it ordains " that the Chris- tian religion be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the estab- lished religion of the land." Provision was also made for the incor- poration, maintenance, and government of such " societies of Christian Protestants" as choose to avail themselves of laws for the purpose, and required that every such society should first agree to, and subscribe in a book the five following articles : " First, That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punish- ments. " Second, That God is publicly to be worshipped. "Third, That the Christian religion is the true religion. " Fourth, That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are of Divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice. " Fifth, That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto called by those who govern, to bear witness to the truth." 124 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. Even more than this : the Conscript Fa- thers who made the Constitution of South Carolina went on to declare, " That to give the state sufficient security for the dis- charge of the pastoral office, no person shall officiate as a minister of any established church who shall not have been chosen by a majority of the society to which he shall minister, nor until he shall have made and subscribed the following declaration, over and above the aforesaid five articles ; viz., ' That he is determined, by God's grace, out of the Holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which he shall be persuaded maybe concluded and proved from the Scriptures ; that he will use both public and private admonitions, as well to the sick as to the whole, within his cure, as need shall require and occasion be giv- en ; that he will be diligent in prayers and in reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same ; that he will be diligent to frame and fashion his own self and his family ac- cording to the doctrine of Christ, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him lies, wholesome examples and pat- terns of the flock of Christ ; that he will maintain and set forward, as much as he can, quietness, peace, and love, among all people, and especially among those com- mitted to his charge." Who does not recognise in this Consti- tution the spirit of the old Huguenot Con- fession of Faith, and of the Synods' of France, which those who had been perse- cuted in the Gallican kingdom had carried with them to the New World 1 The Constitution of Georgia, made in 1777, says : " Every officer of the state shall be liable to be called to account by the House of Assembly," and that all the members of that house " shall be of the Protestant religion." Such was the character of the State Constitutions in the opening scenes of our national existence. Of all the thirteen ori- ginal states, the organic laws of one alone did not expressly enjoin the Christian re- ligion, and almost without exception, the Protestant form of Christianity. But even Virginia was, in fact, as much Christian as any of them. From all this, the reader will see how the nation set out on its career. It was, in every proper sense of the word, a Chris- tian nation. And though the constitutions of the old states have since been deprived of what was exclusive in regard to re- ligion, and the political privileges of the Protestants are extended to the Roman Catholics, without any exception that I am aware of, yet the legislative action of those states, as well as that of the new, is still founded on Christianity, and is as favour- able as ever to the promotion of the Chris- tian religion. I am not sure whether the Jew has equal privileges with the profess- or of Christianity in every state, but these he certainly has in most of them, and he has everywhere the right to worship God publicly, according to the rites of his re- ligion. In some states he holds offices of trust and influence, the law opening to him as well as others access to such of- fices. Thus, in the city of New- York, at this moment, a descendant of Abraham,, who was formerly sheriff of that city, is a judge of one of the courts, and discharges its duties faithfully and acceptably. Jews form but a small body in America, and as they hold what may be called the basis of the Christian religion, worship God accord- ing to the Old Testament, and believe in a future state of rewards and punishments, such a modification of the laws as should place them on the same footing with Chris- tians, as respects political privileges, was not deemed too latitudiharian or unsafe. They surely have as good a claim to be considered fit to become members of a government founded on the religion of the Bible, as Unitarians can pretend to, and hold safer principles than the Universal- ists. I conclude by repeating, in few words, that the state governments were founded on Christianity, and almost without excep- tion, on Protestant Christianity. In the progress of opinion on the subject of re- ligious liberty, everything that looked like an interference with the rights of con- science in any sect was laid aside, and all men whose religious principles were not thought subversive of the great moral principles of Christianity were admitted to a full participation in civil privileges and immunities. This is the present position of the governments of the several states in the American Union. Their legislation,, while it avoids oppressing the conscience of any sect of religionists, is still decided- ly favourable, in general, to the interests of Christianity ; the unchristian element, if I may so term it, is too insignificant, taking the country as a whole, to exert an influence of any importance on the nation- al legislation. CHAPTER IX. THE LEGISLATION OF THE STATES SHOWN TO BE IN FAVOUR OF CHRISTIANITY. We have said that the organic laws of the state governments have been so far modified as to extend political rights to citizens of all shades of religious opinions ; that in every state the rights of conscience are guarantied to all men ; and in these respects, the whole twenty-six states and three territories composing the American Chap. IX.] LEGISLATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES. 125 Union are as one. But we must not be understood as meaning thereby, that irre- ligion and licentiousness are also guaran- tied by the organic laws, or by any laws whatever. This would be absurd. Rights of conscience are religious rights, that is, rights to entertain and utter religious opin- ions, and to enjoy public religious worship. Now this expression, even in its widest ac- ceptation, cannot include irreligion ; opin- ions contrary to the nature of religion, sub- versive of the reverence, love, and service due to God, of virtue, morality, and good manners. What rights of conscience can atheism, irreligion, or licentiousness pre- tend to ? It may not be prudent to disturb them in their private haunts and secret re- tirements. There let them remain and hold their peace. But they have no right, by any law in the United States that I am aware of, to come to propagate opinions and proselytize. Such attempts, on the contrary, are everywhere opposed by the laws, and if, at times, these laws are eva- ded, or their enforcement intentionally in- termitted, this does not proceed from any question of their being just, but from a conviction that, in some circumstances, it is the less of two evils not to enforce them. It is sometimes the best way to silence a noisy, brainless lecturer on atheism, to let him alone, and the immoral conduct of some preachers of unrighteousness is the best refutation of their impious doctrines. At times, however, another course must -be pursued. The publication of licentious books and pictures, profane swearing, blas- phemy, obscenity, the interruption of pub- lic worship, and such like offences, are punishable by the laws of every state in the American Union. Now, whence had these laws their origin, or where do we find their sanction 1 Take the laws against profane swearing. Where did men learn that that is an offence against which the laws should level its denunciations ] Sure- ly from the Bible, and nowhere else. Not more than one state, if even one, is supposed to have no laws for the due ob- servance of the Sabbath. But whence came such regulations'? From the light of Nature 1 from the conclusions of hu- man wisdom 1 Has philosophy ever dis- covered that one day in seven should be consecrated to God 1 lam aware that expe- rience, and a right knowledge of the animal economy, show that the law setting apart one day in seven is good, favourable to hu- man happiness, and merciful to the beasts of burden. But the Sabbath is of God ; and putting aside some dim traditions and cus- toms among nations near the spot where the Divine command respecting it was first given to Moses, or of the people in whose •code it afterward held a permanent place, we find it only in the Bible. But it is not only by the statute law of the United States that such offences are forbidden ; they are punishable likewise under the common law, which has force in those states as well as in England. Of this admirable part of the civil economy, Christianity is not merely an inherent, it is a constituent part. This, though denied by Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Cooper, and others, has been so decided by many of the ablest judges in the land. For it has been held, that while the abolition of religious estab- lishments in the United States necessari- ly abolishes that part of the common law which attaches to them in England, it does nothing more, and thus many offences still remain obnoxious to it, on the ground of their being contrary to the Christian re- ligion. A person was indicted at New- York, in 1811, for aspersing the character of Jesus Christ, and denying the legitimacy of his birth. He was tried, condemned, fined, and imprisoned. On that trial, Chief-justice Kent, still living, and believed to be sec- ond to none in the country in point of legal knowledge, expressed himself as follows : " The people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity as the rule of their faith and practice ; and to scandalize the Author of these doctrines is not only, in a religious point of view, ex- tremely impious, but, even in respect to the obligations due to society, is a gross violation of decency and good order. No- thing could be more offensive to the virtu- ous part of the community, or more inju- rious to the tender morals of the young, than to declare such profanity lawful. It would go to confound all distinction be- tween things sacred and profane." "No government," he maintained, " among any of the polished nations of antiquity, and none of the institutions of modern Europe (a single monitory case excepted), ever hazarded such a bold experiment upon the solidity of the public morals as to permit with impunity, and under the sanction of their tribunals, the general religion of the community to be openly insulted and de- famed." " True," he adds, " the Constitu- tion has discarded religious establishments. It does not. forbid judicial cognizance of those offences against religion and moral- ity which have no reference to any such establishment, or to any particular form of government, but are punishable because they strike at the root of moral obligation, and weaken the security of the social ties. To construe it as breaking down the com- mon law barriers against licentious, wan- ton, and impious attacks upon Christiani- ty itself, would be an enormous perversion of its meaning."* These just opinions were fully sustain- * Johnson's " Reports," p. 290. 126 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. ed by the decision pronounced in Penn- sylvania, at the trial of a man indicted for blasphemy, not against God directly, but against the Bible ; the design charged upon him being that of " contriving and intend- ing to scandalize and bring into disrepute and vilify the Christian religion and the Scriptures of truth." On that occasion, the late Judge Duncan said, that " even if Christianity were not a part of the law of the land, it is the popular religion of the country ; an insult to which would be in- dictable, as tending to disturb the public peace ;" and added, " that no society can tolerate a wilful and despiteful attempt to subvert its religion."* The application of the common law, by the courts of Pennsylvania, to the protec- tion of clergymen living in the discharge of their official duties, confirms all that has been said respecting the light in which Christianity is regarded by the state gov- ernments. Farther, every state has laws for the protection of all religious meetings from disturbance, and these are enforced when occasion requires. Indeed, I am not aware of any offence that is more promptly pun- ished by the police than interfering with religious worship, whether held in a church, in a private house, or even in the forest. All the states have laws for the regula- tion of church property, and of that devo- ted to religious uses. In some states, ev- ery religious body, immediately on being organized, is pronounced de facto incorpo- rated ; and in none, generally, is there any difficulty in procuring an act of incorpora- tion, either for churches or benevolent so- cieties. No state allows the oath of an atheist to be received in a court of justice, and in one only, in so far as I am aware, is that of a disbeliever in a future state of rewards and punishments received as evidence. That state is New- York, where the law requires simply the belief in a state of rewards and punishments ; in other words, if a man believes that there is a God who punishes men for evil actions, and rewards them for their good ones, whether in this world or in that which is to come, his oath will be received in a court of justice. Of course, the man who believes neither in the exist- ence of God, nor in any sort of divine pun- ishment, cannot be sworn, nor his testimo- ny be allowed, in a court in that state. CHAPTER X. THE LEGISLATION OF THE STATES OFTEN BEARS FAVOURABLY, THOUGH INCIDENTAL- LY, ON THE CAUSE OF RELIGION. If there be no Established Church in any of the states at the present time, it is * 11 Sergeant and Rawle's Reports, p. 394. not, as we have shown, from any want of power in the states to create such an es- tablishment, but because it has been found inexpedient to attempt promoting religion in that way. Experience has shown that with us all such establishments have been,, upon the whole, more injurious than bene- ficial. They have been renounced because, from the nature of the case, they conld never be made to operate in such a way as not to do some injustice to one portion or other of the citizens. To this general conviction we must as- cribe what appears at first sight to be an anomaly ; the power to aid religion by le- gal enactment expressly conferred in the Constitutions of some of the states,* and yet that power suffered to lie dormant, nor is there the least prospect of its ever being exercised again. But although the states have thought it best for the interests of re- ligion itself, as well as most equitable to all classes of the inhabitants, to relinquish all attempts to promote religion by what is called an establishment, yet they have deemed it neither unwise nor unjust to pursue the same end indirectly. Several instances of this kind have been stated al- ready ; we may notice a few more. The states do much to promote educa- tion in all its stages, though in doing so they often assist the cause of religion, in what might be considered nearly the most direct manner possible. For instance, they aid colleges directed by religious men, and that, too, without stipulating for the slight- est control over these institutions. On this we shall yet have occasion to speak more at large, and we introduce it here merely to indicate what the states are thus doing for Christianity in the way of concurrence with other bodies. Some states have giv- en considerable sums to endow colleges at the outset. Others contribute annually to their support, and this while well aware that the colleges aided by such grants are under a decided religious influence. So is it also with the academies, of which there are several even in the smallest states, and many in the largest. Young men are in- structed in the classics and mathematics at these, preparatory to being sent to col- lege, and as many of them are conducted by ministers of the Gospel and other reli- gious men, they are nurseries of vast im- portance both for the Church and the State. Again, by promoting primary schools, the states co-operate in promoting reli- gion ; for mere intellectual knowlege, al- though not religion, greatly facilitates its diffusion by means of books. In the six New-England States, it is long since pro- vision was first, made by law for the good education of every child whose parents choose to avail themselves of it ; and, ac- * Maryland, New-Hampshire, and South Carolina. Chap. XL] LEGISLATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES. 127 cordingly, hardly is there an adult native of those states to be found who cannot read. Some uneducated persons there are, especially in Maine, New-Hampshire, and Rhode Island, but they are few compared with what may be found in other lands. In all the six states, except Connecticut, each " town" is required to assess itself for as many schools as it may need. Connec- ticut has a school fund of above 2,000,000 dollars, yielding an annual revenue of above 112,000 dollars, and this maintains schools, a part of the year at least, in every school district of the state. In New- York, Penn- sylvania, and Ohio, there are efficient pri- mary school systems in operation, sup- ported by law, and capable of supplying all the youth with education. The state sup- port consists partly of the interest of per- manent state funds set apart for the pur- pose, partly of money raised in each of the townships by assessment. The systems pursued in New-Jersey and Delaware, though less efficient, are highly useful. Efforts are making in several of the West- ern States to introduce a like provision, and a good deal is done in the Southern States to educate the children of the poor, by means of funds set apart for that purpose. The instruction given in the primary schools of the United States depends for its character upon the teachers. Where these are pious, they find no difficulty in giving a great deal of religious instruction ; where they are not so, but little instruc- tion is given that can be called religious. The Bible is read in most of the schools. Several of the states have liberally con- tributed to the establishment of asylums for the deaf and dumb, and for the blind, almost all of which institutions are under a decidedly religious influence. The gov- ernments of several states containing large cities, have done much in aid of the efforts of philanthropic individuals and associa- tions for establishing Retreats or Houses of Refuge, where young offenders who have not gone hopelessly astray may be placed for reformation. These institutions have been greatly blessed. Before concluding my remarks on the indirect bearing of the State legislation in America upon religion, I have a few words to say on one or two subjects connected with religion, but different from those al- ready mentioned. One is marriage, which, Avith us, is in a great degree a civil institu- tion, regulated by the laws of each state, prescribing how it should be performed. In so far as it is a contract between the parties, under proper circumstances of age, consent of friends, sufficient number of witnesses, &c, it has, with us, no neces- sary connexion with religion. In all of the states it may take place, if the parties choose, before a regularly ordained minis- ter of the Gospel, and be accompanied with religious services. The civil power de- cides within what degrees of consanguin- ity and affinity it may take place. On this point, and this mainly, can any collision take place between the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. For instance, the Gen- eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church has lately decided, or, rather, repeated a de- cision given indirectly some years ago, that a man may not marry his deceased wife's sister, and pronounced all such mar- riages to be contrary to the Scriptures, and incestuous. Such marriages, on the other hand, are expressly allowed by the laws of Connecticut, and are not forbidden by those of any other state excepting Virgin- ia. In all cases of this kind, a man must make his election as to which he will obey — the Church or the State. As condem- nation by the former subjects a man tc* no civil penalties, all that he can suffer is excommunication. As for divorces, they are wholly regula- ted by the civil government, and fall within the jurisdiction of the States. In some they are allowed for very few cau- ses ; much more looseness of practice pre- vails in others. In South Carolina, I un- derstand that no divorce has been granted since it became a state. In some states it belongs to the legislatures to grant di- vorces, and in others to the courts of law. What are called mixed marriages, or marriages between Protestants and Roman Catholics, which have given rise to so much trouble of late in some countries of. Europe, occasion no difficulty with us. Marriage, by our laws, being a civil con- tract, is held valid at common law when- ever the consent of the parties, supposing there is no legal impediment, is expressed in a way that admits of proof. The refu- sal of a priest to grant the nuptial benedic- tion, or the sacrament of marriage, except upon conditions to which the parties might not be willing to agree, would be of little consequence. They have only to go to the civil magistrate, and they will be mar- ried without the slightest difficulty. No Roman Catholic priest, or Protestant min- ister in the United States, would dare to refuse to perform the ceremony of mar- riage, unless for most justifiable reasons ; for if he did, he would soon hear of it through the press, which is with us an instrument for correcting any little instances of tyr- anny or injustice with which any man, no matter who, may think fit to annoy per- sons placed in any sense under his au- thority. CHAPTER XI. IN WHAT CASES THE ACTION OF THE CIVIL AU- THORITY MAY BE DIRECTED IN REFERENCE TO RELIGION. Besides the incidental bearing which the 128 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book III. legislation of the individual states has upon religion, and which sometimes comes not a little to its help, there are cases in which the civil authority intervenes more directly, not in settling points of doctrine, but in determining questions of property ; and these are by no means of rare occur- rence where there are conflicting claims in individual churches. This, indeed, has happened twice at least, in reference to property held by large religious denomina- tions. The first of these cases occurred in New-Jersey, and on that occasion the courts decided upon the claims to certain property, urged by the Orthodox and the Hicksites, two bodies into which the So- ciety of Friends, or Quakers, has been di- vided throughout the United States. And although the trial took place on a local cause, or, rather, for a local claim, yet the principle upon which it was decided affect- ed all the property held by Quaker socie- ties in the state. The second case occurred recently in Pennsylvania, where the Supreme Court had to decide upon the claims of the Old and New School, to certain property be- longing to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, on its being divided into two separate bodies, each of which assumed the name of the Presbyterian Church. Here the court had of necessity to decide which of the two ought by law to be considered the true representative and successor of the Presbyterian Church before its division. The decision, how- ever, did not rest on doctrinal grounds, but wholly on the acts of the bodies them- selves, the court refusing to take up the question of doctrines at all, as not being within their province. Not so in the case of the Quakers just referred to. There the court, considered the question of doc- trine, in order to determine which body was the true Society of Friends. I apprehend that I have now said enough to place the nature of the mutual relations between Church and State in America fairly before the reader, and will dismiss the subject by giving some extracts from a communication which the Hon. Henry Wheaton, ambassador from the United States to the Court of Berlin, has had the goodness to address to me, and which pre- sents, in some respects, a resume, or sum- mary of what may be said on this subject : " In answer to your first query, I should say that the State does not view the Chris- tian Church as a rival or an enemy, but rather as an assistant or co-worker in the religious and moral instruction of the peo- ple, which is one of the most important duties of civil government. " It is not true that the Church is treated as a stranger by the state. " There are ample laws in all the states of the American Union for the observance of the Sabbath, the securing of Church property, and the undisturbed tranquillity of public worship by every variety of Chris- tian sects. The law makes no distinction among these sects, and gives to no one the predominance over the others. It pro- tects all equally, and gives no political privileges to the adherent of one over those of another sect. " The laws of the several states author- ize the acquisition and holding of church property, under certain limitations as to value, either by making a special corpora- tion for that purpose, or through the agen- cy of trustees empowered under general regulations for that purpose. Without go- ing into detail on this subject, it is enough to say that they proceed upon the princi- ple of allowing the church to hold a suffi- cient amount of real and personal property to enable it to perform its appropriate func- tions, and, at the same time, to guard against abuse, by allowing too great an amount of wealth to be perpetually locked up in mort- main by grants and testamentary disposi- tions ad pios usus. In some of the states of the Union, the English statute of mort- main has been introduced, by which reli- gious corporations are disabled from ac- quiring real property unless by special license of the government. In others, the capacity to acquire it is regulated and lim- ited by the special acts of legislation in- corporating religious societies. The ec- clesiastical corporations existing before the Revolution, which separated the United States from the parent country, continue to enjoy the rights and property which they had previously held under acts of Par- liament, or of the provincial Legislatures. " Blasphemy is punished as a criminal offence by the laws of the several states. " Perjury is, in like manner, punished as a crime ; the form of administering the oath being accommodated to the conscien- tious views of different religious sects. The Quakers are allowed to affirm solemn- ly ; the Jews swear upon the scriptures of the Old Testament only ; and certain Chris- tian sects with the uplifted hand. " There has been much discussion among our jurists as to how the oaths of infidels ought to be considered in courts of justice. But, so far as I recollect, the general re- sult is to reject the oath of such persons only as deny the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, without absolutely requiring a belief in revealed religion. " The laws regulating marriage with us are founded on the precepts of Christian- ity ; hence polygamy is absolutely forbid- den, and punished as a crime under the de- nomination of bigamy. Marriages between relations by blood in the ascending or de- scending lines, and between collaterals in the first degree, are absolutely forbidden in Chap. I.] THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE. 129 all the states ; and in some, all marriages within the Levitical degrees are also for- bidden. " The common law of England, which requires consent merely, without any par- ticular form of solemnization, to render a marriage legally valid, is adopted in those states of the American Union which have not enacted special legislative statutes on the subject. In some of the states mar- riage is required to be solemnized in the presence of a clergyman or magistrate. " All our distinguished men, so far as I know, are Christians of one denomination or other. A great reaction has taken place Within the last thirty years against the tor- rent of infidelity let in by the superficial philosophy of the eighteenth century. " I believe the separation of Church and State is, with us, considered almost, if not universally, as a blessing." With these extracts, which give the views of one of the most distinguished statesmen and diplomatists of America, and which confirm the positions we have advanced on all the points to which they refer, we close our remarks on the exist- ing relations between the Church and State in that country. CHAPTER XII. REVIEW OF THE GROUND WHICH WE HAVE GONE OVER. We have now arrived at the close of the Third Book of this work. We have traced the religious character of the early colonists who settled in Amer- ica ; the religious establishments which they planted ; the happy and the unhappy influences of those establishments ; their overthrow and its consequences ; and, final- ly, the relations which have subsisted be- tween the churches and the civil govern- ments since the Revolution. We are now about to enter upon the consideration of the resources which the churches have developed since they have been compelled to look, in dependance upon God's bless- ing, to their own exertions, instead of rely- ing on the arm of the state. A review of the ground which we have gone over may be given almost in the very words of an able author, to whom we have been repeatedly indebted. 1. " The first'settlers of the United States went to it as Christians, and with strong intent to occupy the country in that char- acter. 2. " The lives they lived there, and the institutions they set up, were signalized by the spirit and doctrine of the religion they professed. 3. " The same doctrine and spirit, de- scending upon the patriots of the federal era, entered largely into the primary State Constitutions of the Republic, and, if anal- ogy can be trusted, into the constructive meaning of the Federal Charter itself. 4. " Christianity is still the popular reli- gion of the country. 5. " And, finally, notwithstanding some untoward acts of individual rulers, it is to this day, though without establishments, and with equal liberty to men's conscien- ces, the religion of the laws and of the government. If records tell the truth — if annals and documents can outweigh the flippant rhetoric of licentious debate, our public institutions carry still the stamp of their origin : the memory of better times is come down to us in solid remains ; the monuments of the fathers are yet standing ; and, blessed be God, the national edifice continues visibly to rest upon them."* BOOK IV. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE IN AMERICA; ITS ACTION AND INFLUENCE. CHAPTER I. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE THE GREAT AL- TERNATIVE. THE NATURE AND VASTNESS OF ITS MISSION. The reader has remarked the progress of Religious Liberty in the United States from the first colonization of the country until the present time, and traced the effects of its successive developments in modifying the relations between the churches and the state. He has seen that when that country be- gan to be settled by European emigrants, in the beginning of the seventeenth cen- tury, freedom of conscience and the rights of the immortal mind were but little un- derstood in the Old World. Those even who fled to the New, to enjoy this greatest of all earthly blessings, had but an imper- fect apprehension of the subject and its bearings. That which they so highly pri- zed for themselves, and for the attainment of which they had made such sacrifices, they were unwilling to accord to others. Not that men were not allowed, in ev- * " An Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Char- acter of the American Government," p. 139, 140. 130 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. ery colony, to entertain whatever opinions they chose on the subject of religion, if they did not endeavour to propagate them when contrary to those of the Established Church, where one existed. In the colo- nies where the greatest intolerance exist- ed, men were compelled to attend the Na- tional Church, but they were not required, in order to be allowed a residence, to make a profession of the established faith. This was the lowest amount possible of reli- gious liberty. Low as it is, however, it is not yet enjoyed by the native inhabitants of Italy, and some other Roman Catholic countries. But it was not long before a step in ad- vance was made by Virginia and Massa- chusetts, of all the colonies the most rigid in their views of the requirements of a Church Establishment. Private meetings of dissenters for the enjoyment of their own modes of worship began to be tolerated. A second step was to grant to such dis- senters express permission to hold public meetings for worship, without releasing them, however, from their share of the taxes to support the Established Church. The third step which religious freedom made consisted in relieving dissenters from the burden of contributing in any way to the support of the Established Church. And, finally, the fourth and great step was to abolish altogether the support of any church by the state, and place all, of every name, on the same footing before the law, leaving each church to support itself by its own proper exertions. Such is the state of things at present, and such it will remain. In every state, liberty of conscience and liberty of worship are complete. The government extends protection to all. Any set of men who wish to have a church or place of worship of their own, can have it, if they choose to erect or hire a building at their own charges. Nothing is required but to com- ply with the terms which the law prescribes in relation to holding property for public uses. The proper civil authorities have nothing to do with the creed of those who open such a place of worship. They can- not offer the smallest obstruction to the opening of a place of worship anywhere, if those who choose to undertake it comply with the simple terms of the law in relation to such property. Nor can the police authorities interfere to break up a meeting, unless it can be proved to be a nuisance to the neighbour- hood by the disturbance which it occasions, or on account of the immoral practices which may be committed in it ; not on ac- count of the particular religious faith which may be there taught. All improper med- dling with a religious meeting, no matter whether it is held in a church or in a pri- vate house, would not be tolerated. On the other hand, as we have shown, neither the General Government nor that of the States does anything directly for the maintenance of public worship. Religion is protected, and indirectly aided, as has been proved, by both ; but nowhere does the civil power defray the expenses of the churches, or pay the salaries of ministers of the Gospel, excepting in the case of a few chaplains connected with the public service. Upon what, then, must Religion rely 1 Only, under God, upon the efforts of its friends, acting from their own free will, in- fluenced by that variety of considerations which is ordinarily comprehended under the title of a desire to do good. This, in America, is the. grand and only alternative. To this principle must the country look for all those efforts which must be made for its religious instruction. To the consideration of its action, and the development of its resources, the book upon which we now enter is devoted. Let us look for a moment at the work which, under God's blessing, must be ac- complished by this instrumentality. The population of the United States in 1840 was, by the census, ascertained to be 17,068,606 souls. At present (January, 1844) it surpasses 18,500,000. Upon the voluntary principle alone depends the reli- gious instruction of this entire population, embracing the thousands of churches and ministers of the Gospel, colleges, theologi- cal seminaries, Sunday-schools, missionary societies, and all the other instrumentalities that are employed to promote the knowl- edge of the Gospel fronl one end of the country to the other. Upon the mere un- constrained good-will of the people, and especially of those among them who love the Saviour and profess His name, does this vast superstructure rest. Those may tremble for the result who do not know what the human heart is capable of doing when left to its own energies, moved and sustained by the grace and the love of God. Still more : not only must all the good that is now doing in that vast country, and amid more than 18,500,000 of souls, be con- tinued by the voluntary principle, but the increasing demands of a population aug- menting in a ratio to which the history of the world furnishes no parallel, must be met and supplied. And what this will re- quire may be conceived when we state the fact that the annual increase of the popu- lation during the decade from 1840 to 1850 cannot be short of 500,000 upon an aver- age ! From 1790 to 1800, the average an- nual increase of the inhabitants of the country was 137,609 ; from 1800 to 1810 it was 193,388 ; from 1810 to 1820 it was 239,831 ; from 1820 to 1830 it was 322,878 J from 1830 to 1840 it was 420,174. At this rate the annual increase from 1840 to 1850 Chap. II.] THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE. 131 will, upon an average of the years, exceed 500,000. And the whole increase of the ten years will exceed 5,000,000 of souls. To augment the number of ministers of the Gospel, churches, &c, so as adequately to meet this annual demand, will require great exertion. At the first sight of this statistical view of the case, some of my readers will be ready to exclaim that the prospect is hope- less. Others will say, Wo to the cause of religion if the government does not put its shoulders to the wheel ! But I answer, not only in my own name, but dare to do it in that of every well-informed American Christian, " No ! we want no more aid from the government than we receive, and what it so cheerfully gives. The prospect is not desperate so long as Christians do their duty in humble and heartfelt reliance upon God." If we allow that 80,000 of this half a million of souls which constitutes the annual increase of the population are under five years of age, and therefore need not be taken into account in calculating the re- quired increase of church accommodation which must be annually made, as being too young to be taken to the sanctuary, we have 420,000 persons to provide for. This would require annually the building or opening of 420 churches, holding 1000 persons each, and an increase of 420 ministers of the Gospel ; or, what would be much more probable, 840 churches, each holding on an average 500 persons ; and a sufficient num- ber of preachers to occupy them. That that number should be 840 would certainly be desirable ; and yet a smaller number could suffice ; for in many cases one minis- ter must, in order to find his support, preach to two or more congregations. So, if 840 churches be not built every year, something equal to this in point of accommodation must be either built or found in some way or other. Sometimes schoolhouses answer the purpose in the new settlements ; some- times private houses, or some public build- ing, can make up for the want of a church. Now we shall see in the sequel to what extent facts show that provision is actually made to meet this vast demand. For the present, all that I contemplate in giving this statistical view of the subject is, to en- able the reader to form some idea of the work to be accomplished on the voluntary principle in America, if religion is to keep progress with the increase of the popula- tion. CHAPTER II. FOUNDATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE TO BE SOUGHT FOR IN THE CHARACTER AND HABITS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. Some minuteness of detail will be found necessary in order to give the reader a proper idea of the manifestations of what has been called the voluntary principle in the United States, and to trace it through- out all its many ramifications there. But, before entering upon this, I would fain give him a right conception of the charac- ter of the people, as being that to which the principle referred to mainly owes its success. Enough has been said in former^parts of this work to show, that whether we look to the earlier or later emigrations to Amer- ica, no small energy of character must have been required in the emigrants before venturing on such a step : and with regard to the first settlers in particular, that no- thing but the force of religious principle could have nerved them to encounter the difficulties of all kinds that beset them. But if great energy, self-reliance, and en- terprise be the natural attributes of the original emigrant, as he quits all the en- dearments of home, and the comforts and luxuries of states far advanced in civiliza- tion, for a life in the woods, amid wild beasts, and sometimes wilder men, pesti- lential marshes, and privations innumera- ble, the same qualities are very much called forth by colonial life, after the first obstacles have been overcome. It accus- toms men to disregard trifling difficulties, to surmount by their own efforts obstacles which, in other states of society, would repel all such attempts, and themselves to do many things which, in different circum- stances, they would expect others to do for them. Moreover, the colonies were thrown very much on their own resources from the first. England expended very little upon them. Beyond maintaining a few regiments from time to time, in scattered companies, at widely-separated points, and supplying some cannon and small arms, she did al- most nothing even for the defence of the country. In almost every war with the Indians, the colonial troops alone carried on the contest. Instead of England helping them, they actually helped her incompara- bly more in her wars against the French, in the Canadas, and in the provinces of New- Brunswick and Cape Breton, when they not only furnished men, but bore almost the whole charge of maintaining them. Then came the war of the Revolution, which, in calling forth all the nation's en- ergies during eight long years, went far to cherish that vigour and independence of character which had so remarkably distin- guished the first colonists. And although in some of the colonies the Church and State were united from the first, the law did little more than pre- scribe how the churches were to be main- tained. It made some men give grudging- ly, who would otherwise have given little 132 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. or nothing ; while, at the same time, it lim- ited others to a certain fixed amount, who, if left to themselves, would perhaps have given more. With the exception of a few thousand pounds for building some of the earliest colleges, and a few more, chiefly from Scotland, for the support of missionaries, most of whom laboured among the Indians, I am not aware of any aid received from the mether-country, or from any other part of Europe, for religious purposes in our colonial days. I do not state this by way of reproach, but as a simple fact. The Christians, not only of Great Britain, but of Holland and Germany also, were ever willing to aid the cause of religion in the colonies ; they did what they could, or, rather, what the case seemed to require, and the monuments of their piety and lib- erality remain to this day. Still, the col- onists, as was their duty,depended mainly on their own efforts. In several of the colonies there was from the first no Church Establishment ; in two of those which pro- fessed to have one, the state never did anything worth mention for the support of the churches ; and in all cases the dissent- ers had to rely on their own exertions. In process of time, as we have seen, the union of Church and State came gradually to an end throughout the whole country, and all religious bodies were left to their own resources. Thus have the Americans been trained vO exercise the same energy, self-reliance, and enterprise in the cause of religion which they exhibit in other affairs. Thus, as we shall see, when a new church is called for, the people first inquire whether they cannot build it at their own cost, and ask help from others only after having done all they think practicable among themselves ; a course which often leads them to find that they can accomplish by their own efforts what, at first, they hard- ly dared to hope for. Besides, there has grown up among the truly American part of the population a feeling that religion is necessary even to the temporal well-being of society, so that many contribute to its promotion, though not themselves members of any of the churches. This sentiment may be found in all parts of the United States, and es- pecially among the descendants of the first Puritan colonists of New-England. 1 shall have occasion hereafter to give an illus- tration of it. These remarks point the reader to the true secret of the success of the voluntary plan in America. The people feel that they can help themselves, and that it is at once a duty and a privilege to do so. Should a church steeple come to the ground, or the roof be blown away, or any other such accident happen, instead of looking to some government official for the means of needful repair, a few of them put their hands into their pockets, and supply these themselves, without delay or the risk of vexatious refusals from public functiona ries. CHAPTER III. HOW CHURCH EDIFICES ARE BUILT IN TH& CITIES AND LARGE TOWNS. The question has often been proposed to me during my residence in Europe, " How do you build your churches in America, since the government gives no aid V Different measures are pursued in differ- ent places. I shall speak first of those commonly adopted in the cities and large towns. There a new church is built by what is called " colonizing :" that is, the pastor and other officers of a large church, which cannot accommodate all its mem- bers, after much conference, on being sat- isfied that a new church is called for, pro- pose that a commencement be made by certain families going out as a colony, to carry the enterprise into effect, and engage to assist them with their prayers and coun- sels, and, if need be, also with their purses. Upon this, such as are willing to engage in the undertaking go to work. Some- times individuals or families from two or more churches of the same denomination coalesce in the design. Or a few gentlemen, interested in reli- gion, whether all or any of them are mem- bers of a church or not, after conferring on the importance of having another church in some part of the city where an increase of the population seems to require it, resolve that one shall be built. Each then subscribes what he thinks he can afford, and subscrip- tions may afterward be solicited from oili- er gentlemen of property and liberality in the place, likely to aid such an undertaking. Enough may thus be obtained to justify a commencement ; a committee is appointed to purchase a site for a building, and to su- perintend its erection. When finished, it is opened for public worship, a pastor is called, and then the pews, which are gen- erally large enough to accommodate a fam- ily each, are disposed of at a sort of auc- tion to the highest bidder. In this way, the sum which may be required, in addition to the original subscriptions, is at once made up. The total cost, indeed, is some- times met by the sums received for the pews, but much depends upon the situation and comfort of the building, and the popu- larity of the preacher. The pews are always sold under the condition of punctual payment of the sums to be levied upon them annually, for the pastor's support and other expenses ; fail- Chap. III.] CHURCHES IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 133 ing which, after allowing a reasonable time, they are resold to other persons. But if all the required conditions be fulfilled, they become absolutely the purchaser's, and may be bequeathed or sold like any other property. Instead of being sold in fee-simple, the pews are sometimes merely rented from year to year. This prevails more in large towns and villages than in cities, and in such cases the churches must be built sole- ly by " subscription," as it is called, that is, by sums contributed for that special ob- ject. Should these prove, in the first in- stance, insufficient, a second, and perhaps a third subscription follows, after a longer or shorter interval. The seats in some churches, even of our largest cities, are free to all. Such is the case with all the Quaker, and most of the Methodist meeting-houses ; these are oc- cupied on what is called the " free-seat" plan, and have the advantage of being at- tended with less restraint, especially by strangers or persons who may not have the means to pay for seats. But there are disadvantages also in this plan. Families •who regularly attend, and who may bear the expense of the church, have no certain place where all may sit together, and in case of being delayed a little longer than usual, may find it difficult to get seats at all. The Methodist churches, according- ly, are coming more and more into the other plan in our large cities. Where they have not done so, and also in the Quaker meeting-houses, the males occupy one half of the house, the females the other ; a rule, however, observed more constantly in the latter than in the former body. Church edifices, or meeting-houses, on the free- seat plan, must, of course, be built by sub- scription alone. A more common practice in forming new congregations, and erecting church edifices, is this : The families who engage in the undertaking first obtain some place for temporary service — the lecture-room attached to some other church, a court- house, a schoolroom, or some other such building* — and there they commence their * In Philadelphia there is a building called the Academy, built for Mr. Whitfield's meetings, the upper part of which is now divided into two rooms, each capable of containing 400 or 500 people, and both constantly used as places of worship, one per- manently by the Methodists. The other has been occupied temporarily by colonies, which have grown into churches, and then gone off to houses which they have built for themselves. In this way that one room, as I have often been told, has been the birth- place, as it were, of more than twenty different churches. It is rented to those who wish to occupy it by the corporation, to which it belongs. In the lower story there are schools held throughout the week. The chapel of the University of New-York is used for the same purpose ; and the Court-houses through- out all the land, and even some of the State-houses — that is, those in which the Legislatures of the several regular Sabbath services at the usual hours. After announcing their intention by public advertisement, they proceed to organize a church, that is, a body of believers, accord- ing to the rules of the communion to which they belong. If Presbyterians, the Pres- bytery appoints a committee to organize the church according to the Book of Dis- cipline, by the appointment and consecra- tion to office of ruling elders, after which it falls under the care of the Presbytery. A pastor is next called and regularly in- ducted. Meanwhile, the congregation may be supposed to be increasing, until strong enough to exchange their temporary for a permanent place of worship. In this way new swarms are every year leaving the old hives, if 1 may so speak, in our large cities, and new church edifices are rising in various localities where the population is extending. The church edifices in the chief towns and cities are, generally speaking, large and substantial buildings, especially in the more densely-settled districts. Those in the suburbs are often smaller, and not ex- pected to be more than temporary, as they give place to larger and better structures in a few years. In the cities and larger towns, whether on the Atlantic slope or in the Valley of the Mississippi, they are, in nine cases out of ten, built of brick ; a few are of stone ; and in the New-England cities and towns of second and third rate size, they are often built of wood. As for the cost of church edifices, it is difficult to speak precisely where the coun- try is so extensive. In the suburbs of our large cities on the seaboard, from Port- land, in Maine, to New-Orleans, some may not have cost more than from 5000 to 10,000 dollars ; but in the older and more densely- peopled parts of those cities, they generally cost 20,000 dollars and upward. Some have cost 60,000 or 80,000, and yet are compara- tively plain, though very chaste and sub- stantial buildings. A few have cost above 100,000,* without including such as Trinity Church at New- York, belonging to the Epis- copalians, or the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Baltimore, for these very elegant and ex- pensive buildings have cost at least 300,000, if not more. | There may have been, in States assemble — are allowed to be used as places of worship on the Sabbath in a case of exigency. * The church in which the late eloquent Dr. Ma- son was last settled as a minister in New- York, cost, I believe, rather more than 100,000 dollars. It was an excellent, large, tasteful, substantial, brick build- ing. Yet it, and some others in the lower parts of the city, whence business is driving the people to the upper part, have been torn down, and their sites are covered with shops and counting-rooms. The congregations have mainly emigrated to about a mile and a half, or two miles northward. So matters go in our London. t Trinity Church is not yet finished. It is a re- markably fine specimen of Gothic architecture. I have not heard what the cost will be, but, including 134 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. some cases, a useless expenditure of mon- ey on interior decorations, but in general, the churches, even in our largest cities, are neat and rather plain buildings exter- nally, but exceedingly comfortable within. The village churches of New-England are, for the most part, constructed of wood ; that is, of beams framed together and cov- ered with boards : and being almost univer- sally painted white and surmounted with steeples, they have a beautiful appearance. The church-going bell every Sabbath sends forth its notes far and wide amid the hills and dales of that interesting country. In other parts of the Atlantic States, though often of wood, like those of New-England, they are still oftener of brick or stone, or of unpainted frames and boards, which is especially the case in the South. Any one may be satisfied, by careful in- quiry, that even our cities and large towns, as respects churches, may well bear a com- parison with the best supplied in any part of Europe. Boston, for instance, in 18-10, had fifty-eight churches, many of which could accommodate from 1000 to 1500 per- sons, and that for a population of about 88,000 souls. New- York had that year 159 churches for about 310,000 inhabitants ; namely, forty-one Presbyterian, of all shades ; fourteen Reformed Dutch ; twen- ty-seven Episcopal ; eighteen Methodist ; eighteen Baptist ; eight Roman Catholic ; nine African (Methodist, Episcopal, Bap- tist, and Presbyterian) ; five Friends' meet- ing-houses ; three Lutheran ; three Mora- vian ; three synagogues (there are now five or six) ; two Unitarian ; three Univer- salist ; four Welsh and smaller denomina- tions ; and two Mariners' churches. This is from a published statement which may be depended upon as rather within the truth. The church accommodation of the Protestant population is in much higher proportion to their numbers than that of the Roman Catholics to theirs, partly ow- ing, no doubt, to the liturgical services of the latter requiring less church accommo- dation than the " sermon preaching" of the former. Philadelphia is better supplied with churches than New- York. Those of all the leading denominations there have greatly increased during the last few years. The Methodists, I learn from one of their best- informed ministers, have, in the course of the last fifteen years, built in the city and suburbs above twenty churches, most of which are capacious buildings ; and the Episcopalians and Presbyterians have in- creased the number of theirs nearly in the same proportion. But our second and third rate cities and large towns are far better supplied than either of these two places. Salem, in Massachusetts, for a population the value of the ground, I should think it cannot be less than 300,000 dollars, and may amount to 500,000. of 16,000 souls, has fifteen churches ; New- Haven, for about 14,000 souls, has thirteen, many of which are of large size ; Pough- keepsie, on the Hudson, has 9000 inhabi- tants and twelve churches ; Troy had, in 1840, a population of 25,000 souls, and fif- teen churches, and several of those very large. Newark, in New-Jersey, has about 20,000 inhabitants and seventeen churches; Rochester 22,000 inhabitants and twenty- two churchers. On this head the reader is referred to the works of Drs. Reed and Matheson, and to that of Dr. Lang, as containing much ac- curate information with respect to church accommodation in the United States. CHAPTER IV. HOW CHURCHES ARE BUILT IN THE NEW SET- TLEMENTS. But it is in the building of places of wor- ship in the new settlements of the Western States, and in the villages that are spring- ing up in the more recently-peopled parts of those bordering on the Atlantic, that we see the most remarkable development of the voluntary principle. Let me illus- trate by a particular case what is daily occurring in both these divisions of the country. Let us suppose a settlement commen- ced in the forest, in the northern part of Indiana, and that in the course of three or four years a considerable number of emi- grants have established themselves within a mile or two of each other, in the woods. Each clears away by degrees a part of the surrounding forest, and fences in his new fields, in the midst of which the deadened trees still stand very thickly. By little and little the country shows signs of occu- pation by civilized man. In the centre of the settlement a little village begins to form around a tavern and a blacksmith's shop. A carpenter places himself there as at a convenient centre. So do the tailor, the shoemaker, the wag- on-maker, and the hatter. Nor is the son of iEsculapius wanting; perhaps he is most of all needed ; and it will be well if two or three of his brethren do not soon join him. The merchant, of course, opens his maga- zine there. And if there be any prospect of the rising village, though the deadened trees stand quite in the vicinity of the streets, becoming the seat of justice for a new county, there will soon be half a dozen young expounders of the law to in- crease the population, and offer their ser- vices to those who have suffered or com- mitted some injustice. Things will hardly have reached this point before some one amid this hetero- geneous population, come from different Chap. IV.] CHURCHES IN NEW SETTLEMENTS. 135 points of the older states, intermixed with wanderers from Europe — Irish, Scotch, or German — proposes that they should think of having a church, or, at least, some place of worship. It is ten chances to one if there be not one or more pious women, or some pious man with his family, who sigh for the privileges of the sanctuary, as once enjoyed by them in the distant East. What is to be done ] Some one proposes that they should build a good large school- house, which may serve also for holding re- ligious meetings, and this is scarcely soon- er proposed than accomplished. Though possibly made of mere logs and very plain, it will answer the purpose for a few years. Being intended for the meetings of all de- nominations of Christians, and open to all preachers who may be passing, word is sent to the nearest in the neighbourhood. Ere long some Baptist preacher, in pass- ing, preaches in the evening, and is follow- ed by a Presbyterian and a Methodist. By-and-by the last of these arranges his circuit labours so as to preach there once in a fortnight, and the minister of some Presbyterian congregation, ten or fifteen miles off, agrees to come and preach once a month. Meanwhile, from the increase of the in- habitants, the congregations, on the Sab- bath particularly, become too large for the schoolhouse. A church is then built of framed beams and boards, forming no mean ornament to the village, and capable of accommodating some 200 or 300 people. Erected for the public good, it is used by all the sects in the place, and by others besides. For were a Swedenborgian min- ister to come and have notice given that he would preach, he might be sure of find- ing a congregation, though, as the sect is small in America, and by many hardly so much as heard of, he might not have a single hearer that assents to his views. But it will not be long before the Presby- terians, Methodists, or Baptists feel that they must have a minister on whose ser- vices they can count with more certainty, and hence a church, also, for themselves. .And at last the house, which was a joint- stock affair at first, falls into the hands of some one of the denominations and is abandoned by the others, who have mostly provided each one for itself. Or it may remain for the occasional service of some passing Roman Catholic priest, or Uni- versalist preacher.* Such is the process continually going on in the West, and, indeed, something of * In some places in the Southwestern States, the primitive and temporary churches built for all de- nominations, in the new villages or settlements, are called " Republican churches ;" that is, churches for the accommodation of the public rather than for any one sect. Large schoolhouses, also, erected for the double purpose of teaching and preaching, are called Republican meeting-houses. a like kind is taking place every year, in hundreds of instances, throughout all the states. Settlers of one denomination are sometimes sufficiently numerous in one place to build a church for themselves at the outset, but in most cases they hold their first meetings for worship in schoolrooms or private houses. The rapid increase of the population in some of the new villages and towns of the West, when favourably situated for trade, is astonishing, and strikes one particularly in its early stages. Thus, when in the State of Alabama in February, 1831, I vis- ited the town of Montgomery in company with a worthy Baptist minister, in the course of an extensive tour through the Western States in behalf of one of our benevolent societies. It was then hardly more than a large village. On the night of the second of the two days we spent in it, we preached in a large schoolhouse, which, if I remember rightly, was the only place for holding religious meetings exist- ing there at the time. We had a good congregation, though a circus was held hard by. Just three years after, when re- peating the same tour, I spent a Sabbath and one or two days more at the same spot, but under amazingly different circum- stances. In the morning I preached in a Presbyterian church built of frames and covered with boards, and every way com- fortable, to at least 600 persons. The church, which reckoned 100 members, had got a young man as pastor, to whom they gave a yearly stipend of $1000. At night I preached in a Baptist church, built of brick, but not quite finished, which could hold 300 persons at least. Besides these, there were one Methodist Episcopal and one Protestant Methodist church, each, in so far as I can recollect, as large as the Baptist church. Then there was an Epis- copal church, not less in size, though prob- ably with a smaller congregation, than the Baptist church. And, withal, there was a Roman Catholic church, though not a large one, I believe. All this after an interval of only three years ! Eventful years they had been. A revival of religion, which took place during one of them, had brought many souls to the knowledge of salvation. This was, it is true, an extraordinary case, yet something very similar in kind, although not in degree, is going on at a great many points in the West. I know not what reverses the town of Montgom- ery may have since undergone, but what I have stated occurred, I know, between the years 1831 and 1834. On the Genesee River, a few miles above its entrance into Lake Ontario, in the State of New- York, stands a town, incorporated as a city, called Rochester. The place is famous for the vast quantity of flour made at its mills. Twenty-five years ago, it 136 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. could show but a few houses scattered here and there, where now there is a well-built and flourishing city, containing, when I was there about two years ago, 22,000 in- habitants, and twenty-two churches, many of which were large and fine buildings, capable of accommodating congregations of from 1000 to 1200 persons each. Among these churches there were two for Ger- mans, and another, I learned, was soon to be erected for French and Swiss. Churches and church property of every description are held, in the United States, by trustees chosen by the congregation to which they belong. The laws of almost every state provide for this. These trus- tees, who may be two, three, or more in number, are authorized to act for the con- gregation, to whom they report, from time to time, the state of the common funds. They are charged, in most cases, with the collection of the pastor's salary, as well as with the general collection and outlay of money for the congregation. Without their consent the church edifice cannot be given to any other than the ordinary reli- gious services of the sanctuary. In some cases, several, if not all of the churches in a city, belonging to a particu- lar communion, are held by a common board of trustees. All the Methodist Epis- copal churches of New- York are so held. One corporation has the proprietorship of four of the Reformed Dutch churches in that city, and another holds Trinity Church, and perhaps some others belonging to the Protestant Episcopal denomination. In all denominations, according to general prac- tice, each particular church and congrega- tion has its own trustees, and manages its own " temporal" affairs, being such as re- late to the church edifice, the ground on which it stands, and any other property or stocks belonging to it ; and it is only on questions of right to property that the Civil Courts, or even the State Legislatures, or Congress itself, can ever meddle with the affairs of the churches. CHAPTER V. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE DEVELOPED. HOW THE SALARIES OF THE PASTORS ARE RAISED. Under this head we find different meas- ures adopted by different churches, and in different parts of the country. Universally where the seats and pews are the property of individuals or families, and generally where they are rented by the year, the salaries of the pastors, and some- times all the incidental expenses, are raised by a certain yearly, half-yearly, or quarterly rate upon each pew. The proportion for each pew is fixed by the trustees, or by the elders, or by a committee appointed for that special purpose, but in most cases by the trustees, where there are such. Where the seats are free, as is the case with very many churches of all denominations in the interior of the country, the minister's sal- ary is raised by yearly subscription. In the Methodist Episcopal churches, with few exceptions, the ministers are supported by collections among the members, quarterly public collections, &c. Sometimes, also, recourse is partially had to subscriptions, especially where there are " stationed" or non-itinerating ministers. Among the Protestant denominations, the amount of the pastor's salary is deter- mined, in most cases, by the churches themselves. In the Methodist churches, the amount is fixed by the General Confer- ence. In ordinary cases, he receives so much for himself, a like sum for his wife, and so much for each of his children, ac- cording to their ages, with certain perqui- sites besides, such as a family dwelling- house, a horse, &c, making up altogether a comfortable maintenance for himself and his household. The collections of each " circuit" are expected, generally speaking, to suffice for the salaries of the ministers who occupy them, any deficiency being made up from funds which the Conference may have in hand for meeting such contin- gencies. The clergy of all evangelical denominations, with two exceptions, re- ceive fixed salaries from their people, and are expected to devote themselves to their proper vocation, and to " live by the altar." The exceptions are a part of the ministers of the Baptist Church, and all the Quaker preachers. These support themselves by their labour, or from other sources, and preach on the Sabbath. The Baptists agree with the Methodists in not considering a college education, or an acquaintance with the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew tongues, or the natural and moral sciences, indispensable for a preacher of the Gospel ; hence by far the greater number of them have had only an English education, together with Such theological knowledge, derived from English sources, as has qualified them, in the opinion of the authorities in their churches, for underta- king to preach the Gospel. In both these denominations, however, there are not a few truly learned men, who have passed through the curriculum of some college, and have diligently added to the acquire- ments of their preparatory course. The regular itinerating ministers of the Metho- dist churches receive salaries, and devote themselves wholly to their ministerial call- ing ; whereas very many of the Baptist ministers, as has been already stated, es- pecially in the Southern and Western, and to a certain extent in the Middle States, receive no salaries at all, or none of any consequence, so that they must support themselves in some other way. Chap. V.] SALARIES OF THE PASTORS. 137 The preachers among the Friends, who, as the reader is probably aware, may be women as well as men, receive no regular salaries ; but those of them who, under the belief that they have a call from the Spirit to give themselves wholly to the work, travel through the country, visiting the Friends' " meetings," and preaching in other places, generally, nay, always, if their own means are not abundant, receive consider- able presents. It is not easy to give any very satisfac- tory answer to the question, Whether the ministers of the Gospel are well supported in the United States 1 Using that phrase in the sense which many attach to it, I should say, in giving a general reply to the question, that they are not. That is to say, few, if any, of them receive salaries that would enable them to live in the style in which the wealthiest of their parishion- ers live. Their incomes are not equal to those of the greater number of lawyers and physicians, though these are men of no better education or higher talents than great numbers of the clergy possess. None of the ministers of the Gospel in the United States derive such revenues from their offi- cial stations as many of the parochial cler- gy of England have, to say nothing of the higher dignitaries of the Church in that country. There are few, if any, of them who, with economy, can do more than live upon their salaries ; to grow rich upon them is out of the question.* Yet, on the other hand, the greater num- ber of the salaried ministers in the United States are able, with economy, to live com- fortably and respectably. This holds true especially as respects the pastors of the Atlantic, and even of the older parts of the Western States. In New-England, if we except Boston, the salaries of the Congre- gational, Episcopal, and Baptist pastors are, in the largest towns, such as Provi- dence, Portland, Salem, Hartford, New- Haven, &c, from 800 to 1200 dollars; in the villages and country churches they vary from 300 or 400 to 700 or 800, besides which the minister sometimes has a " par- sonage" and " glebe," that is, a house and a few acres of land, and, in addition to all, * The statements made by foreigners, in writing about the United States, are sometimes sufficiently ludicrous. For instance, M. Beaumont, in his " Ma- rie, ou Esclavage aux Etats-Unis," accounts for the great number of churches there by the great number of ministers of the Gospel. He says that the minis- try is not only very honourable, but very lucrative also ; that most of the preachers make a fortune in a few years, and then retire from the ministry, which is the cause of there being so few old men in the pul- pits of that country. Anything more absurd on such a subject I cannot imagine. But I will do M. Beau- mont the justice to say, that I do not blame him so much as the stupid creatures who gave him such in- formation. The gay Frenchman probably did not set his foot in more than half a dozen churches when in America, and of these not one, it is likely, was Protestant. he receives a good many presents. His marriage fees are of some amount. In other parts of the country, and especially in the West, the clergy are not so well provided for. The practice in New-England of giving them presents, whether casually or regularly, and at some set time, does not prevail elsewhere to the same degree. The salaries of the clergy in the largest and wealthiest churches of the principal cities are handsome, though generally no more than adequate.* Fifteen hundred dollars, 1800, 2000, 2500, are the sums com- monly given, and, in a few cases, 3000, 3500, and even 4000. The Presbyterian Church in New-Orleans, I believe, gives its pastor 5000, and the highest of all is that of one of the bishops in the Episcopal Church, which, I have been told, is 6000.f Some churches have permanent funds, which go far towards the pastor's support. The corporation of the collegiate churches of the Reformed Dutch Church in New- York, four in number at present, has enough from this source to pay the sala- ries of the four pastors. The corporation of Trinity Church (Episcopal) possesses vast funds, the income from which has en- abled the trustees to contribute largely towards the building of churches in the State of New- York. Three of the Pres- byterian churches in Newark, New- Jersey, which is nine miles from New- York, and contains 20,000 inhabitants, have perma- nent funds sufficient for the support of their public services. But, generally speaking, a permanent fund is found to be rather injurious than ben- eficial to the churches in the United States. If out of debt, that is, if they owe nothing for their church edifices, lecture-rooms, vestry-rooms, &c, they need no endow- ment ; the hearts of the people will do the rest. I speak of the churches in the old- er parts of the country. The measures we take for the support of churches in the new settlements, and which are weak as yet, I shall show hereafter. It often happens that ministers are not * The clergy are expected to be examples of hos- pitality and benevolence. They entertain a great deal of company at their houses. Nothing is more common than for ministers of the Gospel, when visiting any place, whether in town or country, to stay with their brethren ; and no men among us give so much, in proportion to their means, to all the re- ligious and philanthropic enterprises, as our pastors of every denomination. + I refer to the Bishop of New- York, who, if he has to pay for a suffragan to take his place as pastor of a church, or co-pastor with others in two or three churches, as well as bear his travelling expenses- when visiting his diocese — as I doubt not is the' y case — will not have more than is necessary to sup- port a large family in so expensive a city as New- York. As for New-Orleans, it is the most expensive city for supporting a family in the whole Union, and 5000 dollars there would in that respect be not more than half the sum in Philadelphia. 138 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. so amply or punctually provided for as they ought to be, through their own fault, and that of the ecclesiastical body to which they belong. Were the duty of support- ing well the ministry, preached as often and as plainly as it should be, they would be better provided for. As it is, they are enabled to live, with great economy, in comfort, and a faithful pastor will nowhere be allowed to starve. It is a great matter, too, that in no country in the world are ministers of the Gospel more respected by the people. A great many of them are well-educated men, and, with few excep- tions, possess agreeable manners. Many of them belong to families of the first rank in the country ;* and as they can at least give their children a good education, with the advantages of which, as well as of a good character, and the good name of their fathers, they are almost invariably pros- perous, and often form alliances with the wealthiest and most distinguished families in the country. CHAPTER VI. HOW MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ARE BROUGHT FORWARD, AND HOW THEY BECOME SETTLED PASTORS. All denominations of evangelical Chris- tians in the United States hold it to be of the highest and most solemn importance, that no man should enter the holy minis- try without well-founded scriptural evi- dence to his own mind and conscience, that he is " called of the Holy Ghost" to take that office upon him ; nor is he admit- ted to it until he has satisfied the proper authorities of the church to which he be- longs of the manifestation of that " call," and of his possessing, in addition to an un- blemished character, the talents and ac- quirements necessary to his being a com- petent expounder of God's Word. For a man to take upon him this sacred and responsible office merely that he may obtain an honourable place in society, or gain a decent livelihood, would be held in the highest degree wrong, dangerous to his own soul, and ruinous to the spiritual inter- ests of all who might be committed to his charge. Evangelical Christians may dif- * I could mention, were it proper, many instances of this. One or two I may state without violating the rules of propriety. No man stood higher in Amer ican society than the late General Van Rensselaer of Albany. One of his sons is labouring as a faithful minister in New-Jersey. The late Hon. Samuel L Southard, of New-Jersey, was a man of distinguished talents, who had raised himself to the highest offices in the government of his native state, as well as in that of the Union, and died Vice-President of the same. One of his sons is a most worthy rector of an Episcopal church in New-Jersey. Mr. Southard, I judge from the name, which is common in France, was of Huguenot origin. fer somewhat as to the nature and amount of the required evidence of conversion, but all agree as to the necessity of having a truly regenerated ministry ; it being obvi- ous, that none should preach the Gospel who have not tasted its power, and sub- mitted their hearts and lives to its trans- forming influence. How shall a man who does not possess " repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," explain the nature of these to his fellow-men ? And how can he who has not been made to exclaim, " Wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel !" discharge the office of a preacher with that earnest de- sire for the glory of God his Saviour, and for the eternal welfare of men, which alone can be approved in heaven, or be success- ful on earth 1 A regenerated and devoted ministry must be the first of ali earthly blessings to a church, and it is the only instrument that can effectually secure the morals of a community, and the stability of a government. In these sentiments I feel assured all evangelical Christians in the United States will concur. No great- er curse could, in their opinion, befall a church, next to the abandonment of the true Gospel, than to have an unconverted ministry thrust upon it ; and, indeed, the latter evil would soon be followed by the former. Pious youths are brought forward to the ministry in various ways. Such persons are sometimes found in the situation of apprentices to mechanical trades, or of clerks, or shopmen, or following the plough on their father's farm. The pastor, or some member of the church to which they belong, having discovered their talents, may think these might be employed to ad- vantage in the ministry, instead of being buried in such engagements. But their own desires should first be ascertained, and should they be found longing to pro- claim a crucified Saviour to the world, they ought to be encouraged, while cher- ishing this feeling, to put themselves into a position for finding and following the will of God. It is probably at the prayer-meeting, the Sabbath-school, or the Bible-class, of which I shall have occasion to speak at large here- after, that the character and abilities of such young persons oftenest show them- selves ; and from these nurseries of the Church have come forth great numbers of men who are now engaged in the minis- try throughout the United States. Many young men, also, who have entered our col- leges with other views, become converted there, and are called to preach the Gospel. When a pious youth of promising talents, and with a strong bent to the ministry, is found without the requisite education, or the means of obtaining it, he is recom mended to the Education Societies, which Chap. VI.] SETTLEMENT OF PASTORS. 130 have proved a great blessing to our church- es ; and when approved of, he is carried through the course of instruction which the church to which he belongs requires in all who would enter the ranks of its ministers. The process is much shorter in those churches which, without exacting a course of classical and scientific education at col- lege, or the regular divinity course of a theological school, require only a well- grounded knowledge of the Scriptures in the English tongue, and of the doctrines which they contain. After a suitable ex- amination on the part of the proper church authorities, the candidate is permitted to exercise his gifts for a season, in order to ascertain whether he is likely to prove an acceptable and useful preacher ; and if the result be favourable, he receives full ordi- nation from the proper quarter. Among the Methodists, the preachers spring from the Classes, as they are called. At the meetings of these companies of professed believers and inquirers, the gra- ces and gifts of pious young men are most ■commonly discovered. In due time they are brought forward to the quarterly meet- ing of all the classes of the district. They are there recommended to the notice of the presiding elder, and by him are au- thorized to teach and preach for a time, but not to administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. After- ward they receive ordination from the hands of the bishop, first as deacons, and subsequently as presbyters or priests, and are employed to preach the Gospel, either as travelling or stationed ministers. In the Congregational Churches, young men are consecrated to the ministry by a council of ministers, commonly called an " asso- ciation ;" among the Presbyterians, by a presbytery ; among the Episcopalians, by a bishop. In all the churches of the United States, except the Methodists and Roman Catho- lics, the pastors are chosen by the people to whom they preach. Among the Metho- dists they are appointed by the Annual Con- ference, at Avhich a bishop presides, regard being had to the wishes which may be ex- pressed by the people in favour of certain ministers, as peculiarly fitted, in point of character and talents, for specific localities. The appointment of the priests to their re- spective churches among the Roman Cath- olics rests wholly with the bishops. When a church belonging to any of the other denominations loses its pastor, by his death or removal to some other place, inquiry is first made for some one not yet settled, or who, if settled, would not ob- ject to change his charge, and who, it is thought, would prove acceptable to the flock. The person fixed upon is invited to preach a few times, and should he give satisfaction, the congregation agree to call him to be their pastor, in doing which they must proceed according to the established rules of the religious body to which they belong. Thus, in the Presbyterian Church, no call to become pastor of a vacant church can be presented to any one without the consent of the Presbytery within whose bounds the vacancy has taken place ; nor can it be accepted without the consent of the Presbytery to which the minister who has received it belongs. In the Congregational churches of New- England, the practice in calling a pastor has been for the church or body of the communicants to make out a call, and for this to be followed by another from the whole congregation, or, rather, from the males who contribute towards the support of public worship, the amount of the prof- fered salary being stated in the latter call. In the Presbyterian, and most other church- es, each pewholder, or each head of a fam- ily who subscribes towards the pastor's sal- ary for himself and household, and others who subscribe only for themselves, are al- lowed a voice in the call. Such is the more common practice, and yet there are Presbyterian churches in which none but members that are communicants can vote in calling a pastor. If the people are to be allowed a voice in calling their pas- tors, it will be found difficult to withhold that right from those who, though not communicants, contribute as much, and perhaps more, than those who are. Nor in a church and congregation in which the people have been well instructed in the truth, and where religion prospers, does any evil of much consequence commonly result from such an extension of the right of voting on such occasions. For when men have been faithfully instructed in the Gospel, it is found that even the uncon- verted will readily join in calling an effi- cient minister, even although he be not only orthodox, but very zealous and faith- ful. Such men have sufficient discrimina- tion to know, and often they will say it, that if ever they are to become the reli- gious men they hope one day to be, they need a faithful pastor to secure that great blessing. Such .men have sense enough to know that a light-minded, worldly, cold preacher of the Gospel is not likely to prove a blessing to them or their families. But when church and congregation have long been hearing " another Gospel," have become hardened in error, and strongly at- tached to damnable heresies, it were ab- surd to expect the unconverted to prefer and seek for a faithful minister. Such a state of things should not be allowed to occur. And then, with respect to all de- nominations that have a government en- compassing and controlling the churches connected with them, there is, in the last 140 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. resort, a power to prevent the settlement of unworthy ministers in the churches un- der their care. CHAPTER VII. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE DEVELOPED IN HOME MISSIONS. AMERICAN HOME MISSION- ARY SOCIETY. Thus much has the voluntary principle done for the longest-settled and most densely-peopled parts of the country. Let us now see what it does for new and thin- ly-peopled regions, where hundreds of new congregations are rising annually, without the means of maintaining the institutions of the Gospel by their own efforts. Such churches are to be found not only in the new settlements of the Far West, but also in the growing villages of the East. This inability to support the public preaching of the Gospel often arises from the number of sects to be found in new settlements, and even in some districts of the older states. In this respect diversity of sects sometimes causes a serious though temporary evil, not to be compared with the advantage resulting from it in the long run. It is an evil, too, which generally becomes less and less every year in any given place ; the little churches, however weak at first, gradually becoming, through the increase of population, strong and in- dependent, and what is now an evil disap- pearing, or, rather, as I hope to prove, be- ing converted into a blessing. The most obvious way of aiding such feeble churches is, to form societies for this express object among the older and more flourishing churches in the Atlantic States. This has been done, and in this the voluntary principle has beautifully de- veloped itself, particularly during the last fifteen years. It began with some denom- inations not long after the Revolution ; and early in this century we find missionary societies formed among the Congregation- al churches of Massachusetts and Connec- ticut, for the purpose of sending ministers to " the West," that is, the western part of the State of New- York.* The " Far West" to them was the northern part of Ohio, which was then beginning to be the resort of emigrants. The faithful men sent by these societies into the wilderness were greatly blessed in their labours, and to them, under God, many of the now flour- ishing churches of those regions owe their existence. Missionary societies were sub- sequently formed in the other New-Eng- land States, for supplying destitute places * I have seen the maps which some of these pio- neer missionaries made of the portions of the State of New-York which lie west of Albany, in the years 1796-97. What is now a densely-settled country was then almost a terra incognita. At present, the West, or frontier country, is about a thousand miles west of Albany, instead of lying just beyond it. within their own bounds with the preach- ing of the Gospel, as w r ell as to help in send- ing it to other parts of the country. Two societies were formed, likewise, for the same object, among the Presbyterians and Reformed Dutch in the city of New- York, about the year 1819, and these sup- ported a goodly number of missionaries, chiefly in the new and feeble churches in the state of that name. In 1826 they were united into one body, and now form the American Home Missionary Society.* This society, from its very outset, has advanced with great vigour, and been di- rected with singular zeal and energy. At its first meeting in 1827, it reported that in the course of the year that had closed it had employed 169 ministers, who had laboured in 196 congregations and mission- ary districts. Its receipts for the same period amounted to 20,031 dollars. This auspicious commencement must be as- cribed to its having assumed all the en- gagements of the Donv stic Missionary So- ciety, out of which it sprang. The Society soon drew into affiliation with it all the State Domestic Missionary Societies of New-England, some of which, such as those of Massachusetts and Connecticut, were of long standing and well estab- lished.! It would be interesting to trace the his- tory of an institution which has been so much blessed to a vast number of new and poor churches throughout all the states and territories of the American Confedera- cy. But we can only present a summary of its operations at two epochs, during the sixteen years that it has been distributing blessings with a liberal hand. In the year ending May 1st, 1835, the * The epithet American, employed by this society and others, which do not comprise all the religious denominations, has been greatly objected to as sa- vouring of arrogance, and as if intimating that the whole of America belonged to them exclusively as a field of labour. Such an idea probably never enter- ed the minds of those who use the word in the de- nomination of their societies. All that they mean in employing it is, to signify that the field to which their attention is directed is not a single state, or a few states, but the whole country. The American Home Missionary Society embraces the orthodox Congregational churches in New-England and out of it, the New School Presbyterians, and, to some extent, the Reformed Dutch, Lutheran, and German Reformed Churches. t These societies, in a great degree, manage their own affairs, appoint and support the missionaries who labour within their bounds, and pay over the surplus of their collections, if they have any, to the American Home Missionary Society. If they need help from that society at any time, they receive it. In the year 1843 the Maine Missionary Society em- ployed sixty-eight missionaries (four fifths of all the Congregational churches in that state were planted by this society) ; that of New-Hampshire, forty-sev- en ■: that of Vermont, fifty-three ; that of Massachu- setts, seventy-eight ; that of Connecticut, thirty-nine ; and that of Rhode Island, three ; making, in all, 289 missionaries sustained in young and feeble churches- in the six New-England States. Chap. VII.] HOME MISSIONS. 141 society employed 719 agents and mission- aries. Of these, 481 were settled as pas- tors, or employed as " stated supplies," in single congregations ; 185 extended their labours to two or three congregations each, and fifty were employed on larger districts. In all, 1050 congregations, mis- sionary districts, and fields of agency, were thus supplied in whole or in part. The persons added to the churches under the care of the Society's missionaries that year were estimated at 5000 ; namely, 1700 by letters of recommendation from other churches, and 3300 by examination on profession of their faith. Several of the churches were reported to have been blessed with seasons of more than ordina- ry interest in religion ; in the Sunday- schools attached to them there were about 40,000 scholars, and about 12,000 persons attended the Bible-classes. The number of persons who had joined the temperance associations had reached 70,000. The ex- penditure amounted to 83,394 dollars ; the receipts to 88,863. Let us now turn to what was done by the Society in the year ending 1st May, 1843. During that year it had 848 mis- sionaries and agents, of whom 623 had been in its service the preceding year, and 225 were employed for the first time. These men laboured in all the States and Terri- tories of the Union ; a few, also, in Cana- da, and one in Texas. The number of Pres- byterian and Congregational churches in Iowa and Wisconsin* had been greatly aug- mented in the course of the year by the Society's means. The number of congre- gations and missionary stations occupied was 1047, and the Sunday-schools and Bi- ble-classes, under the direction of the mis- sionaries, were attended by 68,400 persons. In 308 congregations the sum of 13,000 dollars had been collected for religious and benevolent societies, and many of the feeble churches had contributed largely for them, in aid of missions to the heathen. There had been revivals in 233 churches, and 6858 conversions were reported as their fruits. And it was estimated that there were 146,000 members of temperance so- cieties in the fields of the Society's opera- tions. The disbursements of the society were 107,823 dollars ; the receipts 100,804. The plan pursued by this society, and by all the other societies and boards es- tablished for the promotion of home mis- sions, is never to support a missionary at its sole charges, if it can be avoided ; but to give 100, or 150, or 200 dollars, rarely more than 100 or 120, to a young and fee- ble church, or two congregations near to each other, on condition of their making * In the autumn of the year which is just termi- nated (1843), this society sent thirty-eight young and •well-educated ministers of the Gospel into the Ter- ritories of Wisconsin and Iowa. up the deficiency in the missionary's sala- ry. Thus they are stimulated and encour- aged to help themselves, and as soon as they can walk alone, if I may use the ex- pression, the Society leaves them for oth- ers which have been just organized, and which need assistance. In this way hun- dreds of congregations have been built up, and hundreds are at this moment emerging from the weakness of childhood into the vigour of youth and manhood. In no case, however, does the Society do anything to- wards the erection of church edifices. The people must find these for themselves, and this they willingly do. The cheapness of materials in the new settlements, and in the villages of the interior, renders it easy to erect such houses as will suffice until the flock gathers strength, and can do something more. The Society engages, in some cases, men of talent and experience to travel over a given district, and to ascertain at what points the people attached to one or other of the denominations which it represents might, with proper efforts, be formed into congregations. The labours of such agents are of the utmost importance, and they necessarily receive their whole salaries from the Society. It is a beautiful feature in our institu- tions for domestic missions, that while en- couraging and stimulating new and feeble congregations to do their utmost to secure for themselves the regular enjoyment of Gospel ordinances,* they cultivate the kind- ly feelings of churches in the older parts of the country, and more favourably situa- ted. Many of the latter support one mis- sionary, and some of them several each, in the new and destitute settlements, through the agency of the American Home Mission Society. Nay, there are juvenile societies in the Sunday-schools that support each of them one, and some even two or three missionaries, if not more. Individuals are to be found in the Atlantic States who support a missionary each, and thus preach the Gospel, as they say, " by proxy." Still more, there are persons in New- York and other cities, who have each paid the entire salary and travelling expenses of an agent labouring in a large district. One of these, with whom I have long been acquainted, a hatter, of by no means great fortune, who works with his hands at the trade, gave 600 dollars for years to support one such labourer in Ohio. Beautiful as this is, it is perhaps a finer sight still to see churches and congregations, which were aided by the Society in their day, now in their turn bearing a part, if not the whole expense of a missionary labouring in a congrega- tion not yet emerged from the feeble state * Jt is believed that the churches aided by the Society raise, in one way and another, nearly three times as much as they receive ! 142 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. which they once were in themselves. And there are now many such throughout the United States. In 1805 there was scarcely a Presby- terian or Congregational church in the dis- trict now covered by the seventeen most westerly counties of New- York. A few missionaries were sent thither at different limes, but the increase was small until the Agency for Home Missions, now in con- nexion with the American Home Mission- ary Society, was established there in 1826. Now there are on this field 380 Presbyte- rian and Congregational churches, contain- ing, it is supposed, 30,000 communicants. During the fifteen years of its operations, the American Home Missionary Society has aided 264 of those churches, and nearly 100 of them are now able to sustain the Gospel without assistance. The churches have nearly doubled since 1826, and the communicants have probably trebled. Such is the wonderful work God has wrought in this section of the state. Such has been the triumph of the Gospel. It is indeed the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Passing by other facts showing the col- lateral good accomplished by this effort to plant the Gospel in Western New- York, we mention, that many of the foreign mis- sionaries are the sons of those churches. One of them is now pastor of a church at the Sandwich Islands of 7000 members, prin- cipally gathered through the blessing of God on his labours. Besides repaying the parent society more than $60,000 expend- ed on this field, those churches have given $40,000 to send the Gospel to the more destitute beyond them. Nor is this all ; they have been most generous helpers of every good cause. In 1839, this small part of a state, where home missions have been vigorously sustained, paid to the American Board of Foreign Missions $14,000. We conclude our notice of this society by giving the following extract from its Fourteenth Annual Report : " The results, indeed, of that mysterious and wonder-working influence which a God of grace exerts through the ministry of reconciliation, and which he connects with the missionary enterprise, all surpass finite comprehension. While the missionaries are preaching Christ and Him crucified to the living, they are laying broad and deep the foundations of many generations ; they are setting in motion trains of moral influ- ences, which will not cease when they are dead ; they are kindling up lights in Zion, which will shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Churches, that were near unto death, are quickened, and become able of themselves to sustain the Gospel, and to hand down its blessings to those who shall come after them. New churches are or- ganized, to throw open their portals to the fathers, and the children, and the children's children, through many generations, and to send out their influences to the ends of the world. The organization, or resuscitation of a church — Heaven's own institution — that may stand through all coming time, and bring its multitudes of redeemed ones to glory, is a great event. And to plant such churches, wherever there are souls to be gathered into them, our country over, and nurture them till they no longer need our aid, but become our most efficient fel- low-labourers in hastening forward the uni- versal reign of the Son of God, is surely a great work ! And yet, this is the work in which infinite condescension and mercy permits us, as friends of home missions, to engage, and some of which it is our privilege here to record." CHAPTER VIII. PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF DOMESTIC MISSIONS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Presbyterianism owes its foundation in the United States chiefly to persons who had been exiled from Scotland on account of their religious principles, and to Presby- terian emigrants from the north of Ireland. These were joined in many places by set- tlers from New-England, who had no ob- jections to unite with them in forming congregations on Presbyterian principles. Presbyterians of Scottish and Irish origin coalesced in other places with Huguenots from France, and with colonists originally of the Dutch or German Reformed Church- es. Thus did Presbyterian congregations begin to be formed towards the close of the seventeenth century. The first preachers were from Scotland, Ireland, and New- England. They were few in number at first, and were often invited to preach in neighbourhoods where some resident Pres- byterians might desire to hear the Gospel preached by men of the same religious principles with themselves. The first presbytery was constituted in 1705. and the first synod in 1716. After that the work of home missions began to acquire greater consistency. Ministers were sent out on preaching tours among the small Presbyterian flocks, or, rather, scattered groups of Presbyterian families, particularly in the Middle and Southern provinces. In 1741, the synod was divided into two bodies, one retaining the old name of Synod of Philadelphia, the other calling itself the Synod of New- York. The for- mer, soon after being constituted, had its at- tention drawn, " not only to the wants of the people within their immediate bounds, but to those also of the emigrants who were rapidly extending themselves through Chap. VIII.] HOME MISSIONS. 143 Virginia and North Carolina." They wrote, accordingly, to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, asking for minis- ters to preach in these colonies, and for assistance in establishing a seminary for the education of suitable young men for the ministry. A letter was also addressed to the deputies of the Synods of North and South Holland, in which they expressed their willingness to unite with the Calvin- istic Dutch churches in promoting the common interests of religion. At the first meeting of the Synod of New- York in 1745, the circumstances of the people of Virginia were brought before them, and the opinion unanimously ex- pressed that Mr. Robinson* was the proper person to visit that colony. He visited it accordingly, and on that, as well as on a former visit, was the instrument of doing much good. He was followed by the Rev. Samuel Davies, formerly mentioned. In 1758, the two synods were merged in the one Synod of New- York and Phila- delphia, and from that time domestic mis- sions began to receive considerable atten- tion, and collections for that object were ordered to be made in the churches. In 1767, or 1768, the synod had an overture, or proposal, sent from the Presbytery of New- York, " that there should be an annu- al collection in every congregation ; that every presbytery should appoint a treasu- rer to receive and transmit the funds thus obtained ; that the synod should appoint a general treasurer, to whom all these pres- byterial collections should be sent ; and that every year a full account of the re- ceipts and disbursements should be printed and sent down to the churches." This was the germe of the present Board of Mis- sions. In the same year petitions for " supplies" were received from twenty-one places in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Collections were thenceforward made in the churches. In 1772, it was ordered that a part of these moneys should be appropri- ated to the purchase and distribution of use- ful religious books, and to the promotion of the Gospel among the Indians. Two years afterward, it was seriously contem- plated to send missionaries to Africa ; but on the war of the Revolution breaking out in the following year, the project fell to the ground. Even during the war there was a considerable demand for ministers from destitute congregations, and to meet this many faithful ministers made missionary * This Mr. Robinson was a remarkable man. His manners were plain, his eloquence simple, animated, and attractive. He had but one eye, and was from that circumstance called " one-eyed Robinson." The Rev. Dr. Alexander, professor in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New-Jersey, says, that it was no uncommon thing for people to go twenty, thirty, and even forty miles, to hear him preach a single sermon. tours, at no small personal hazard from the dangers of war. Measures were taken in 1788 for forming the General Assembly, which was organized in 1789, and at its very first meeting much attention was paid to the subject of missions. " It is believed," says one of the most distinguished living ministers of the Pres- byterian Church, " that at this time (1789) there was not in the United States another religious denomination, besides the Presby- terian, that prosecuted any domestic mis- sionary enterprise, except that then, as since, the Methodists sent forth their cir- cuit-preachers in all directions."* In the year 1800, the Rev. Mr. Chapman was appointed a missionary in the western part of the State of New- York, and to his labours we must so far ascribe the great diffusion of Presbyterianism in that impor- tant section of the country. In 1802, the General Assembly appointed a " standing committee," to attend to the greatly-in- creased interests of the missionary cause — a measure which led to a farther extension of the work. A correspondence was com- menced with all the known missionary so- cieties of Europe. The committee gave much of its attention to the coloured popu- lation, a class among whom the late John Holt Rice, D.D., one of the most distin- guished ministers that the Presbyterian Church in the United States has ever pos- sessed, laboured as a missionary during seven years. In 1816, the General Assembly enlarged the powers of the standing committee, and gave it the title of " the Board of Missions, acting under the authority of the General Assembly." Many missionaries went forth under its auspices, to labour among the destitute Presbyterian congregations that were continually forming in the Southern and Western States. Meanwhile, many local societies, under the direction of syn- ods, presbyteries, and other bodies, had sprung up, and were separately prosecuting the same objects to a considerable extent. The General Assembly again took up the subject of missions in 1828, and farther en- larged the powers of the Board, fully au- thorizing it to establish missions, not only in destitute parts of the United States, but among the heathen abroad. Such, how- ever, was the demand for labourers at home, especially in the Western States and Territories, that nothing of importance could be done for foreign lands. It was found, besides, that home and foreign mis- sions could not well be united under one board, so that in the course of a few years the latter were committed to the charge of another board, appointed for that purpose by the Assembly. Of its operations we shall have occasion to speak elsewhere. * " History of the Missions of the Presbyterian Church," by the Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D 144 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. The cause of domestic missions in the Presbyterian Church now went on with fresh vigour, and the synodical and pres- byterial societies becoming either merged in the Assembly's board, or affiliated with it, the whole assumed a more consolidated form and greater consistency. From 1828 to 1843, the missionaries increased from 31 to 296. The Report for the latter year presents a summary of 296 missionaries employed ; 900 Sunday-schools, attended by at least 30,000 scholars, connected with the churches under their care ; 4800 mem- bers added to the churches, of whom 3600 upon examination of their faith, and 1200 upon letters of recommendation from other churches ; the receipts were about 35,000 dollars, and the expenditures exceeded 31,000. The average expense of each mis- sionary is 130 dollars. The Board pursues the wise course of simply helping congre- gations that as yet are unable to maintain pastors, by granting them so much on their undertaking to make up the deficiency. Such is a brief notice of the operations of the Home Missions of the General As- sembly of that branch of the Presbyterian Church commonly called the Old School, to distinguish it from another branch call- ed the New School. The Board has been instrumental, under God, in giving a per- manent existence to some hundreds of churches. The divine blessing has been remarkably vouchsafed to its efforts. Its affairs are managed with great wisdom and energy, and the Church is much in- debted to the Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., for the deep interest which, during a long life, he has felt in this cause, and for the devotedness with which he has laboured to promote it. Nor can it fail to be a great consolation to him, in his declining days, to see his love and zeal for this enterprise crowned with abundant success. CHAPTER IX. HOME MISSIONS OF THE EPISCOPAL, BAPTIST, AND REFORMED DUTCH CHURCHES. A society was formed in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, for the promotion of Home and Foreign Missions, in the year 1822. During the first thirteen years of its existence, that is, up to 1835, it had employed fifty-nine la- bourers in its home missions, occupying stations in various parts of the Union, but chiefly in the West. The society was re- organized in 1835, and, as now constituted, is under the direction of a Board of thirty members, appointed by the General Con- vention of the Church. The bishops, to- gether with such persons as had become patrons of the society previously to the meeting of the Convention in 1829, are members of the Board, and to it is com- mitted the whole subject of missions. But the better to expedite the business intrust- ed to it, the Home and Foreign depart- ments are directed, respectively, by two committees, each consisting of four cler- gymen and four laymen, under the presi- dency of the bishop of the diocess in which the committee resides, and both commit- tees are ex officio members of the Board. It is only since 1835 that the home mis- sions of the society have been prosecuted with much vigour, but every year now bears witness to the increasing interest felt by the Episcopal churches of the Uni- ted States in the work of building up churches in the new settlements, and oth- er places where none of that communion had before existed. During the year ending 21st June, 1843, the Board had employed ninety-four mis- sionaries, and that they did not labour without effecting much good, is apparent even from the imperfect statements of the Report. The number of communicants in 84 out of the 180 places to which the mis- sionaries had extended their labours was 2190 ; and that of the children under cate- chetical instruction was 2014. The income for the home missions, collected through- out the thirty diocesses into which the coun- try is divided, was $38,835. From 1822 to 1841, 186 stations had been adopted as fields of special, permanent, and, as far as practi- cable, regular labour. During the same pe- riod eighty church edifices had been erect- ed in those stations, and the number of these once aided, but no longer requiring assistance, was forty-four. From this it will be seen that this soci- ety has not laboured in vain, but that it, likewise, is an instrument by which church- es that have long been favoured with the Gospel, and highly prize it, are enabled to assist others, until they, too, have grown up into a vigorous independence of foreign aid. " Freely ye have received ; freely give ;" this admonition and command should never be forgotten. It is the true basis of the whole Voluntary System. We shall only add, that the missionaries employed by the Board of the Episcopal Church are chiefly confined to the Western States and Territories. The American Baptist Home Missionary Society was instituted in 1832, and has been eminently useful since in building up churches of that denomination, both in the West and in many of the Atlantic States, where the assistance of such an institu- tion was required, as well as in establish- ing Sunday-schools and Bible-classes. Its great field of labour, however, like that of all the other Societies and Boards for do- mestic missions, has been the " Valley of the Mississippi." It has numerous branch- es and auxiliaries in all parts of the United Chap. X.] HOME MISSIONS. 145 States ; and during the year ending in May, 1843, had ninety-three agents and mis- sionaries in its own immediate service, and 275 in that of its auxiliaries, making a total of 3G8, all of whom were ministers of the Gospel, and believed to be faithful and ca- pable labourers. They preached statedly at 762 stations, and had travelled 175.035 miles ! They reported 4920 conversions and baptisms, the organization of fifty churches, and the ordination of twenty- three ministers. By their instrumentality 6520 persons had been induced to join the temperance societies; 11,742 young per- sons had been gathered into Sunday-schools and Bible-classes, taught by about 1500 teachers. The receipts of the parent soci- ety and its auxiliaries amounted to $40,583. In addition to what the regular Baptists are doing for home missions, it ought to be stated that the Free-Will Baptists have a Home Missionary Society, which em- ploys some six or eight men. The General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church has a Board of Domestic Missions, which is now prosecuting, with zeal and wisdom, the work of gathering together new congregations, and fostering them during their infancy, wherever it can find openings for so doing. For several years past it has been extending its oper- ations, and during that ending in June, 1843, it aided forty-seven new or feeble churches and two stations. Five of these were in the Western States, and in these five missionaries were occupied in preach- ing the Gospel. The receipts for that pe- riod amounted to $5127. If the truth is to be carried into every hamlet and neighbourhood of the United States, it can only be by all denominations of evangelical Christians taking part in the enterprise ; and it is delightful to trace the proofs of this conviction being widely and deeply felt. All are actually engaged in the good work, and send forth and support missionaries in some portion or other of the country. CHAPTER X. HOME MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. It has been said, with truth, that the Methodist Church is in its very struc- ture emphatically missionary, and it is an inexpressible blessing that it is so, as the United States strikingly prove. The whole country is embraced by one General Con- ference ; it is again subdivided into thirty- two Annual Conferences, each including a large extent of country, and divided into districts. Each district comprehends sev- eral circuits, and within each circuit there are from five or six to above twenty preach- ing places. K Ordinarily, as often as once in the fort- night, a circuit-preacher conducts a regu- lar service at each of these preaching pla- ces, whether it be a church, schoolroom, or a dwelling-house. In the largest towns and villages such services are held on the Sabbath, and on a week-day or evening in other places, and thus the Gospel is carried into thousands of remote spots, in which it never would be preached upon the plan of having a permanent clergy, planted in particular districts and parishes. It was a remark, I believe, of the cele- brated Dr. Witherspoon, that " he needed no other evidence that the Rev. John Wes- ley was a great man, than what the system of itinerating preaching presented to his mind, and of which that wonderful man was the author." The observation was a just one. It is a system of vast importance in every point of view ; but that from which we are at present to contemplate it is, its rilling up a void which must else remain empty. Of its other advantages we shall have to speak in another place. But, capable as the system is of being made to send its ramifications into almost every corner of the country, and to carry the glad tidings of salvation into the most remote and secluded settlements, as well as to the more accessible and populous towns and neighbourhoods, many places were found, particularly in the South and West, so situated as to be beyond the reach of adequate supply from itinerant la- bourers ; a fact which led to the formation of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1819. This society, like that of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was formed for the double object of promoting missions at home and abroad. Reserving the latter for future notice, I turn at present to the former. According to the twenty-fourth annual report, being that for 1843, I find that it employed 210 missionaries within the limits of the United States, exclusive of those labouring among the Indians, whether within or immediately beyond those limits. The churches enjoying the services of these missionaries comprised above 30,000 members, and many of them had flourishing Bible-classes and Sunday- schools. The report also states, that among the members of the Society's mis- sionary churches, there were not fewer than 13,320 coloured people. Perhaps of all the fields cultivated by this society, the two most interesting, and, in some respects, most important, are those presented by the slaves in the ex- treme Southern States, and by the German emigrants found in great numbers in our chief cities. The missions among the for- mer were commenced in 1828,* and origi- * I speak here of missions technically so called, for, in their ordinary labours, the Methodists, from 146 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IT. nated in a proposal made by the Hon. Charles C. Pinckney, a distinguished Chris- tian layman of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, and which has been car- ried into effect with much success, the slaveholders themselves, in many places, if not all, being pleased to have the mis- sionaries preach the Gospel to their people. The following paragraph from the report of 1841 will give the reader some idea of the hazardous nature of this work : " In the Southern and Southwestern Conferen- ces, it will be seen, under the head of do- mestic missions, that, with commendable zeal and devotion, our missionaries are still labouring in the service of the slaves upon the rice-fields, sugar and cotton plant- ations, multitudes of whom, though des- tined to toil and bondage during their earth- ly pilgrimage, have by their instrumental- ity been brought to enjoy the liberty of the Gospel, and are happily rejoicing in the blessings of God's salvation. In no por- tion of our work are our missionaries call- ed to endure greater privations, or make greater sacrifices of health and life, than in these missions among the slaves, many of which are located in sections of the Southern country which are proverbially sickly, and under the fatal influence of a climate which few white men are capable of enduring, even for a single year. And yet, notwithstanding so many valuable mis- sionaries have fallen martyrs to their toils in these missions, year after year there are found others to take their places, who fall likewise in their work, ' ceasing at once to work and to live.' Nor have our superin- tendents any difficulty in finding missiona- ries ready to fill up the ranks which death has thinned in these sections of the work, for the love of Christ, and the love of the souls of these poor Africans in bonds, con- strain our brethren in the itinerant work of the Southern conferences to exclaim, ' Here are we, send us !' The Lord be praised for the zeal and success of our brethren in this self-denying and self-sac- rificing work." Not less interesting are the Society's missions among the Germans resident in the chief towns and cities of the Valley of the Mississippi. Beginning at Pittsburgh and Alleghany Town, on the right bank of the Alleghany, opposite Pittsburgh, it has missionaries among these foreigners in many of the chief towns on the Ohio, such as Wheeling, Marietta, Portsmouth, Mays- ville, Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg, New Al- bany, &c, as well as in towns remote from the river, such as Dayton and Chillicothe. the first, have had much to do with the slaves in the South, as well as with the free negroes of the North. In fact, no other body of Christians, perhaps, has done so much good to the unfortunate children of Africa in the United States as the followers of John Wesley. It has a mission, also, at St. Louis, on the Upper Mississippi. The churches gathered by the Society's missionaries from among the Germans in those places had no fewer than 1366 members in 1843, and of these more than 200 had been Roman Catholics. Yet this work had commenced only a few years before. Twenty missionaries were engaged in it, and several of these were men of considerable talent and learning, as well as zeal. One of them, the Rev. Mr. Nast, at Cincinnati, conducts a religious paper with a circulation of above 1500 copies, and which seems to be doing good. The Society has a mission, likewise, among the Germans, reckoned at 30,000 at least, in the city of New- York. The income of this excellent and efficient soci- ety, for the year ending April 20th, 1843, amounted to 109,452 dollars, and its ex- penditure, including both its foreign and domestic missions, was 145,035. Here I close these brief notices of the home missions of the chief evangelical churches in the United States. They will give the reader some idea of the mode in which new and feeble congregations are aided by the oider and stronger until able to maintain the institutions of religion themselves. The societies which we have passed under review in these four chap- ters supported, in all, nearly 1900 ministers of the Gospel, in the year 1843, in new, and, as yet, feeble churches and flocks. Year after year many of these cease to re- quire assistance, and then others are taken up in their turn. Be it remembered, that the work has been systematically prosecu- ted for no long course of time. Twenty years ago, in fact, the most powerful and extensive of these societies did not exist ; others were but commencing their opera- tions. It is an enterprise with respect to which the churches have as yet but par- tially developed their energies and resour- ces ; still, they have accomplished enough to demonstrate how much may be done by the voluntary principle towards the calling into existence of churches and congrega- tions in the settlements rapidly forming, whether in the new or the old states. CHAPTER XI. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE DEVELOPED. IN- FLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE ON EDUCATION. OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS. We have seen how the voluntary prin- ciple operates in America in relation to the building of churches, and also the sup- port of ministers of the Gospel in the new settlements forming every year, more or less, in all quarters. We now come to consider its influence on education. Hun- dreds of ministers, it will be perceived, are Chap. XL] PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 147 required to meet the demands of the rap- idly-augmenting population. Where are these to come from 1 Besides, in a coun- try where the right of suffrage is almost universal, and where so much of the order, peace, and happiness, that are the true ob- jects of all good government, depend on officers chosen in the directest manner from among themselves, these must be in- structed before they can become intelli- gent, virtuous, and capable citizens. Igno- rance is incompatible with the acquisition or preservation of any freedom worth pos- sessing; and, above all, such a republic as that of the United States must depend for its very existence on the wide diffusion of sound knowledge and religious principles among all classes of the people. Let us, therefore, trace the bearings of the volun- tary principle upon education, in all its forms, among the various ranks of society in the United States. We shall begin with primary schools. It may well be imagined that emigrants to the New World, who fled from the Old with the hope of enjoying that religious freedom which they so much desired, would not be indifferent to the education of their children. Especially might we expect to find that the Protestant colo- nists, who had forsaken all for this boon, would not fail to make early provision for the instruction of their children, hi order that they might be able to read that Book which is the "religion of Protestants." And such we find to have been the fact. Scarcely had the Puritans been settled half a dozen years in the colony of Massachu- setts before they began to make provision for public primary schools, to be supported by a tax assessed upon all the inhabitants.* And such provision was actually made, not only in Massachusetts, but in every New- England colony. And such provision ex- ists to this day in all the six New-England States. Schools are maintained in every school district, during the whole or part of every year, by law. With the exception of the State of Con- necticut, where all the public schools are maintained upon the interest of a large school fund, primary instruction is provi- ded for by an annual assessment — a school * The small colony of Plymouth, as soon as it was in some measure settled, set about providing schools for the children, and this was several years before the colony of Massachusetts Bay was planted. But if the New-England Puritans were zealous in the cause of education and learning, the Virginia colonists seem not to have had any such spirit, for one of their governors, Sir William Berkeley, in 1670, in replying to the inquiries addressed to him by the Lords of Plantations, says, " I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!" — Hen- ing'x Laws of Virginia, Appendix. being taught, in every school district, by a master for the older youth during winter, and by a mistress for the little children during summer. Wherever we find the descendants of the Puritans in America,, we find a people who value education as the first of all earthly blessings ; and when a colony from New-England plants itself, whether amid the forests of Ohio, or on the prairies of Illinois, two things are ever considered as indispensable alike to their temporal and to their spiritual and their eternal welfare — a church and a school- house. Nor was this thirst for education con- fined to the New-England Puritans ■ it pre- vailed to no small degree among the Scotch? and Irish Presbyterians, the Huguenots,, the early German emigrants ; among all, in fact, who had fled from Europe for the sake of their religion. It is owing to this that primary education has been diffused so widely throughout the United States,, and that no less effective legal provision has been made at length for the support of common schools in New- York, Penn- sylvania, and in Ohio, than in the New- England States, and to a considerable ex- tent, also, in New-Jersey and Delaware, while in all the others it has led to the adoption of measures for the education of the children of the poor, and to the crea- tion of school funds, which, taken together with other means, promise one day to be available for the education of all classes. The white population of the United States amounted in 1840 to 14,189,218, of which number it was ascertained that 549,693 per- sons, above twenty years of age, could neither read nor write. A large propor- tion of these must have been foreigners — Irish, Germans, Swiss, and French — as is evident from 13,041 of them being found in? the six New-England States, where educa- tion is nearly as universal as can well be imagined. That a native of either sex, irt short, above the age of twenty, may be found in Connecticut or Massachusetts who cannot read, is not denied ; but that there should be 520 such persons in the former of these states, and 4448 in the lat- ter, cannot be believed by any one who' knows the condition of the people there~ The greater number were not native Amer- icans, and of those that remained the mar jority were idiots. By the census of 1840, it appears that the number of primary or common schools amounted to 47,209, attended by 1,845,245 scholars ; of whom 468,264 were taught at the public charge, the remainder at that of their parents and friends. From this it will be seen that education in America de- pends very much on the Voluntary Princi- ple. But though primary schools were Hk all parts of the country originated and sus- tained at first, as in most of the states it 148 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV r . continues to be, by the people themselves, or, rather, by the friends of education, state after state is beginning to be induced by the efforts of these to make a legal provis- ion, to a certain extent at least, for the in- struction of all who may choose to avail themselves of it, for in this they do not see that they violate any rights of conscience. The right of giving instruction is, in the United States, universal. Even where there is an all-pervading system of public schools, any number of families may join together, and employ any teacher for their children whom they may prefer. Nor has that teacher to. procure any license or " brevet of instruction" before entering on the duties of his office. His employers are the sole judges of his capacity, and should lie prove incapable or inefficient, the remedy is in their own hands. The teachers employed by the state pass an examination before a proper committee. In all the states where there is a legal pro- vision for primary schools, there is a year- ly report from each to a committee of the township, from which, again, there is a re- port to a county committee, and that, in its turn, sends a report to the Secretary or School Commissioner of the state. In most cases, a pious and judicious teacher, if he will only confine himself to the great doctrines and precepts of the Gospel, in which all who hold the funda- mental truths of the Bible are agreed, can easily give as much religious instruction as he chooses. Where the teacher him- self is not decidedly religious, much reli- gious instructien cannot be expected ; nor should any but religious teachers attempt to give anything more than general moral instruction, and make the scholars read portions of the Scriptures, and of other good books. The Bible is very generally used as a reading book in our primary schools, though in some places, as at St. Louis, the Roman Catholics have succeeded in excluding it, and they have been striving to do the same in the city of New- York. In so far as re- lates to public schools, I see no other course but that of leaving the question to the people themselves ; the majority deci- ding, and leaving the minority the alterna- tive of supporting a school of their own. This will generally be done by Protestants rather than give up the Bible. In most parts of the United States, it has been found extremely difficult to procure good teachers, few men being willing to devote their lives to that occupation in a country so full of openings in more lucra- tive and inviting professions and employ- ments. Hence very incompetent teach- ers — not a few from Ireland and other parts of the British dominions — are all that can be found. This is particularly the case in the Middle, Southern, and West- ern States. But it is an evil which dimin- ishes with the increase of population, and, besides, much attention has of late been paid to the training of teachers. A very laudable effort is now making in New- England, and also in New- York, and some other states, to attach a library of suitable books to each school. The plan is excel- lent, and promises much good. Primary instruction in the United States owes almost everything to Religion, as the most efficient of all the principles that prompts to its promotion. Not that the Protestants of that country interest them- selves in the primary schools for the pur- pose of proselytizing children to their views, but rather that at these schools the youth of the nation may be qualified for receiving religious instruction effectually elsewhere, and for the due discharge of their future duties as citizens. And, how- ever much they may wish to see religious instruction given at the common schools, they will not for a moment give in to the opinion that all is lost where this cannot be accomplished. Primary instruction, even when not accompanied with any re- ligious instruction, is better than none ; and in such cases, they that love the Gos- pel have other resources — in the pulpit, the family altar, the Bible-class, and the Sabbath-school. CHAPTER XII. GRAMMAR-SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. But if Primary Schools in the United States owe much to religion, Grammar- schools and Academies, which may be call- ed secondary institutions, owe still more. In 1647, only twenty-seven years after the settlement of the Puritans in New- England, we find the colony of Massachu- setts Bay making a legal provision, not only for primary, but for secondary schools also. " It being one chief project of Sa- tan," says the statute, " to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures by dis- suading from the use of tongues ; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers in Church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavours ; therefore be it enacted, that every township, after the Lord hath in- creased them to the number of fifty house- holders, shall appoint one to teach all chil- dren to write and read ; and where any town shall increase to the number of 100 families, they shall set up a grammar- school, the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university." Such was the origin of the grammar-schools of New-England, and now they are so numerous that not only has almost every county one, but Chap. XII.] GRAMMAR-SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. 149 many of the more populous and wealthy possess several. Not only so ; all the other states have incorporated academies and grammar- schools in very considerable numbers. Some, by a single act, have made an ap- propriation for the establishment of one such institution in every county within their jurisdiction. Thus, in Pennsylvania, many years ago, 2000 dollars were granted for the erection of a building for a gram- mar-school, at the seat of justice for each county, and a board of trustees, with pow- er to fill up vacancies as they might occur in their numbers, was appointed for each. These buildings are now occupied by mas- ters who teach the higher branches of an English education, and, in most cases, also the Latin and Greek languages, besides such instruction in the mathematics, and other studies, as may qualify the pupils for entering college. Like provisions have been made by other states, and even the newest of them in the West are continual- ly encouraging learning by passing such acts. In no case, however, does a state endow such an institution. A grant is made at the outset for the edifice that may be required ; in most cases, this is all that is done by the state, after which the insti- tution has to depend upon the fees paid by the scholars for the support of the master or masters employed. In some instances, as in the State of New- York, the grammar- school has a yearly subsidy from the state ; in which case, there is usually some con- dition attached to the grant, such as the giving of gratis instruction to a certain number of poor lads, or of youths intend- ing to become teachers of primary schools. But in most, even of the cases in which they have been aided by the state, these institutions have not only been privately commenced and carried to a certain point previously to such assistance, but owe much more afterward to the spontaneous support of their friends. Indeed, in all parts of the country, grammar-schools, and some of these the very best, may be found which owe their existence purely to indi- vidual or associated efforts. Such is the " Burr Seminary," in the town of Man- chester, in the Stale of Vermont, which originated in a legacy of 10,000 dollars, left by a gentleman of the name of Joseph Burr,* for the education of poor and pious young men for the ministry. By the terms * Mr. Burr had been for many years a resident at Manchester, in Vermont. By patient industry and upright dealings, he acquired a fortune estimated at 150,000 dollars at the time of his death. A large part of this sum he bequeathed to the American Bi- ble Society, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, American Home Missionary Soci- ety, and American Education Society, besides en- dowing a professorship in one college, and contribu- ting largely to the same object in another. And in addition to all this, by the above bequest of 10,000 dollars he founded the Seminary that bears his name. of his will, in case of an equal sum being raised by the citizens of the place for the erection of a suitable building, the purchase of apparatus, library, &c, then his legacy of 10,000 dollars might be invested as a perma- nent fund, the interest of which was to be applied to paying for the education of such young men as he should designate. This was done even beyond the extent required by the testator. A large and commodious edifice was erected, containing rooms for the recitation of lessons, lectures, library, philosophical apparatus, &c. The school was opened on the 15th of May, 1833, and the number of scholars for the first term was 146; many of whom were pious youths, devoting themselves to study with a view to the ministry. The institution still flour- ishes under the instructions of excellent men ; and being situated in a secluded and moral village in the midst of the Green Mountains, where living is cheap, it is at- tended by choice youths, some thirty or forty of whom are educated gratuitously. Such, again, is " Philips' Academy," at Andover, in Massachusetts, about twenty miles north of Boston. Founded in 1778, by the joint liberality of two brothers, the Hon. Samuel Philips, of Andover, and the Hon. John Philips, of Exeter, New-Hamp- shire, it, two years afterward, received a charter of incorporation from the state. The fund supplied by these two brothers was afterward augmented by the bequest of a third, the Hon. William Philips, of Boston. This Academy, which is one of the best endowed in the United States, has been truly a blessing to the cause of Religion and Learning. By the terms prescribed by its pious founders, it is open to all youth of good character, but they have placed it under the control of Protestants, and the religious instruction given must be ortho- dox in the true sense of the word. In- struction is required to be given in the English, Latin, and Greek languages ; in writing, arithmetic, and music ; in the art of speaking; also in practical geometry, logic ; and any other of the liberal arts, sciences, or languages, as opportunity and ability may from time to time admit, and the trustees shall direct. As the educa- tion of suitable young men for the minis- try was a leading consideration with the founders, so has the institution been, in this respect, abundantly blessed. Many such youths have here pursued their preparato- ry studies ; and in 1808, availing them- selves of a provision contained in the plan marked out by the founders, the trustees ingrafted on the institution, or, rather, es- tablished in the same village, and under the same direction, a Theological Seminary, which has become one of the most distin- guished of the kind in the United States, and will call for more ample notice hereafter. 150 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. A large proportion of the grammar- schools and academies in the United States, whether incorporated or not, are under the direction and instruction of min- isters of the Gospel of different evangeli- cal denominations. These ministers, in some cases, devote their whole time to the work of academical instruction ; in other cases, they have also the charge of a church or congregation, and as they have to perform the double duties of pastor and head of a grammar-school, they have usu- ally an assistant teacher in the latter. The teachers in these academies are often pi- ous young men, of small pecuniary re- sources, who, after completing their stud- ies at college, betake themselves to this employment for a few years, in order to find the means of supporting themselves while attending a theological school. But whether ministers of the Gospel, or grad- uates fresh from college, such teachers generally communicate instruction of a de- cidedly religious character. The Scrip- tures are daily read ; the school is usually opened and closed with prayer ; and in many cases, a Bible-class, comprising all the pupils, meets on the Sabbath after- noon, or morning, for the study of the Sa- cred Volume. Thus, by the favour of God resting on these institutions, and making them effectual to the converting of many of the youths that attend them, they prove blessings to the Church of Christ, as well as to the State. I may add, that within the last ten or twenty years, a great many excellent in- stitutions for the education of young ladies liave sprung up in different parts of the United States, through associated or indi- vidual efforts. The course of instruction at these is excellent and extensive, embra- cing all branches of valuable knowledge proper for the sex. Upon many of these, also, God has caused his blessing to de- scend, and has brought not a few of the young persons attending them to the knowledge of Himself. They are gener- ally conducted by ladies ; but the teachers in some cases are gentlemen, clergymen especially, assisted by pious ladies. In no other country, probably, has the higher ed- ucation of females made greater progress than in the United States during the last few years. The Christian community there begins to feel that mothers have, in a great measure, the formation of the na- tional character in their hands. According to the census of 1840, the Grammar-schools and Academies for both sexes in the United States amounted to 3242, attended by 164,159 pupils. CHAPTER XIII. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. In the census of the United States for 1840, the number of universities and col- leges is put down at 173, and that of stu- dents at 16,233. This, however, includes not only the Theological, Medical, and Law schools, but several other institutions im- properly called colleges. A more accu- rate list makes the colleges amount to 103, and the students to 9607. But even this estimate includes several institutions, which, though incorporated as colleges, are scarcely so far organized as to be entitled to the name. In some cases, too, the stu- dents in the preparatory departments are reckoned along with the under-graduates, properly so called, that is, the students in the four regular classes of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, into which the students of our colleges are divided. It would be absurd to compare the col- leges of America with the great universi- ties of Europe. The course of studies is widely different. For while sufficiently comprehensive in almost all the colleges that deserve that name, it is not to be com- pared, in general, as respects depth and ex- tent of investigation in particular branch- es, with that of the older universities of Europe. But, upon the whole, the educa- tion to be had at one of our colleges bet- ter capacitates a man for the work that is likely to await him in America than would that which the universities of Europe could give him, if one may be allowed to judge from experience. In almost all instances, the colleges in the United States have been founded by religious men. The common course in es- tablishing them is as follows : A company is organized, a subscription list opened, and certain men of influence in the neigh- bourhood consent to act as trustees. A charter is then asked from the Legislature of the state within which the projected in- stitution is to be placed, and a grant in aid of the funds at the same time solicited. The charter is obtained, and with it a few thousand dollars, perhaps, by way of assistance. What else is required for the purchase of a site, erecting buildings, pro- viding a library, apparatus, &c, &c, must be made up by those interested in the proj- ect. Thus have vast sums been raised, particularly during the last twenty years, for founding colleges in all parts of the country, especially in the West. A great portion of these sums have been subscribed by persons in the neighbourhood, and more directly interested in the success of the undertakings subscribed for ; but in many cases, money to a large amount has been obtained from the churches along the At- lantic coast. Sixty-two of the 103 colleges in the Chap. XIII.] COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 151 United States have been opened within the last twenty-five years. Many of these are, of course, in their infancy, and not very well organized. Without reckoning grants made by the states, it would be difficult to find one that has not cost its founders above 10,000 dollars, and many have cost them twice that sum. Several* have cost even 50,000 dollars, if not more, while, at the same time, several of the older colleges, such as Yale, New-Jersey, Rutgers, Will- iams, Hamilton, &c, have raised large sums by voluntary effort among their re- spective friends, for the purpose of aug- menting the advantages they offer to the students that attend them. Upon the whole, I consider that it were not too much to say, that from 1,500,000 to -2,000,000 dollars have been raised by voluntary subscrip- tions and donations for the erection and en- dowment of colleges, since the year 1816. I have said that the state gives some aid to many such enterprises. But, except- ing the Universities of Virginia, Alabama, Michigan, and those of Ohio and Miami, both in the State of Ohio, and Jefferson College in Mississippi, and Jefferson Col- lege in Louisiana, I am not aware of any in the country that can be said to have been wholly endowed by the government of any state. The Universities of North Caroli- na and Georgia, and Columbia College in South Carolina, may possibly be so far aid- ed by the states in which they are respect- ively situated, as to have something like an endowment, but the aid so rendered, I apprehend, is far from sufficient. So, also, Congress has aided from time to time Xl Columbian College," situated near Wash- ington City, and within the District of Co- lumbia,! but the aid so received has never been at all adequate to the purposes for which it was required. There are not above six or seven col- leges or universities in the United States over which the civil or political govern- ments can exercise any direct control. It is well that it is so. A State Legislature, or Congress itself, would be found very unfit to direct the affairs of a college or univer- sity. Wherever, in fact, they have re- served such power to themselves in the charters they have granted, they have sooner or later nearly, if not altogether, * For instance, Pennsylvania College, at Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania; Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky ; Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois ; Western Reserve College, Ohio ; to say nothing of some of the Roman Catholic colleges, which have not cost much less, from first to last, than 50,000 dollars ; Amherst College, in Massachusetts, has cost more than that sum, probably; while the Universi- ty of New- York has cost three or four times that amount. t This college comes properly within the sphere of the legislation of Congress, and is the only one that does so. All the others come under the juris- diction of the several states within whose territories they stand. ruined the institutions on which they have laid their unhallowed hands. A college or university is no place for party politics, and so well is this understood, that the Legislatures of the several states hesitate not to grant a college charter to a body of respectable citizens, and to appoint at once the persons recommended as trustees or directors, with power to fill up the vacan- cies that may occur; after which, these office-bearers, having sworn to do nothing in that capacity contrary to the laws and Constitution of the country, are empow- ered to manage and govern the proposed college according to their own best judg- ment, and the regulations they may lay down to that effect. While acting within the limits prescribed by the charter and their oath, that charter must remain invio- late. So it has been determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. I have said that almost every college ex- isting in the country may be traced to re- ligious motives, and how true this is, will appear from the fact, that of the 103 col- leges now in operation, twelve are under the influence of the Protestant Episcopal Church, eleven under that of the Metho- dists, twelve under that of the Baptists, forty-two under that of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists ; one is Lutheran, one German Reformed, two Dutch Re- formed, two Cumberland Presbyterian ; eleven are Roman Catholic, one Univer- salist, one Unitarian, and the religious character of seven of thein I do not know. In this calculation I place each institution under the church to which its president belongs. This rule is the best that I know, and although it does not hold in every case, the exceptions are few ; and, without any exception, it indicates the general faith by which the institution is influenced. Thus we see that of these 103 universi- ties and colleges, eighty-three are under de- cided evangelical and orthodox influence. Their presidents, and, I may add, many of their professors, are known to be religious men, and sound in the faith ; all of the for- mer, with three or four exceptions, are ministers of the Gospel, and many of them men of great eminence in the Church. The seven colleges whose religious char- acter I do not know, are probably under evangelical influence ; all of the seven, I have reason to believe, are Protestant. I need not say how much cause for grati- tude to God we have, that so many young men of the first families, and possessing fine talents, should be educated in colleges that are under the influence of evangelical principles. In many of them the Bible is studied by the students every Sabbath, un- der the guidance of their teachers. In all they receive a great deal of religious in- struction, and are daily assembled for prayers. God has often visited some ®f 152 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book Iv. them with the outpourings of his Spirit. Not that this religious instruction is intend- ed to proselytize from one Protestant and evangelical church to another. In that re- spect, a Presbyterian father might with all safety commit his son to an Episcopalian, Methodist, or Lutheran college. Here I speak from facts that I myself have known. Several of the most distinguished dignita- ries of the Episcopal Church were educa- ted at Princeton College, New-Jersey, a Presbyterian institution, and founded by Presbyterians. Some of them received their first religious convictions there, and yet, I believe, they can testify that no office- bearer of that college ever attempted to bring them over to the Presbyterian Church. Any advice of that kind, on the contrary, would have been that they should join the church in which they were born, that is, the Episcopal.* As none of the universities but that of Harvard, situated in the town of Cam- bridge, not far from Boston, have all the four faculties of literature, law, medicine, and theology, with that exception they ought rather to be called colleges. The theology at Harvard is Unitarian. Several of the other universities have faculties of medicine attached to them. On the other hand, Yale College, at New-Haven, in Con- necticut, ought rather to be called a uni- versity, for it has all the four faculties, and is attended by far more students than go to Harvard. I may add, that Harvard University was the first literary institution established in the United States. It was founded in 1638, eight years after Massachusetts Bay, and eighteen after Plymouth was first colo- nized ; so that there were not many more than 5000 settlers at the time in all New- England. Hardly had the forests been cleared away for the streets of their settle- ments, when they began to project a col- lege or university. And yet these were the Puritans now so much vilified and slan- dered ! Great were the efforts made by those exiles to attain their object. The General Court granted for the erection of a proper edifice a sum equal to a year's rate of the whole colony. John Harvard, who had come to the New World only to die, bequeathed to the college half his es- tate, and all his library. Plymouth and Con- necticut often sent their little offerings, as did the eastern towns within the bounda- ries of the present State of Maine. The rent of a ferry was made over to it. All the families in the Puritan settlements each gave once a donation of at least twelve * The Rev. Dr. M'llvaine, the distinguished Bish- op of Ohio, and the no less excellent, though per- haps less known assistant Bishop of Virginia, the Rev. Dr. Johns, were both educated and converted at Princeton College. The late Bishop Hobart, of New- York, was educated in that institution, and was for some time a tutor there. pence, or a peck of corn, while larger gifts were made by the magistrates and wealth- ier citizens. It was for a long time the only college in New-England, and in its halls the great men of the country were educated. For a century and a half it was a precious fountain of living waters for the Church of God. But, alas ! for the last half century, or nearly so, it has been in the hands of men who hold " another gos- pel" than that held by its pious founders.* The second college founded in the Uni- ted States was that of William and Mary, at Williamsburg, in Virginia, in 1693. The third was Yale College above mentioned, founded in 1700. The fourth was Prince- ton College, New-Jersey, founded in 1746. The University of Pennsylvania dates from 1755 ; Columbia College, in New- York, from 1754 ; Brown University, from 1764 ; Rutgers and Dartmouth Colleges, from 1770. These were all that were founded previously to the Revolution. CHAPTER XIV. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION AND OTHER SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCI- ETIES. One of the most efficient, as well as the simplest instruments of doing good, is the Sunday-school ; an institution, the history of which is too well known to require any detail in this work. Mr. Robert Raikes,. of Gloucester, in England, towards the close of the last century, established the first that was ever conducted upon any- thing like the plan now generally pursued, and the excellence of which has been pro- ved by long experience. The first attempt to introduce Sunday- schools into the United States was made by the Methodists in 1790, but from some cause or other it failed. A society was soon after formed at Philadelphia, with the late Bishop White at its head, and a few schools were established for the ben- efit of the poor, taught by persons who re- ceived a certain compensation for their trouble. Early in the present century, schools began to be established in vari- ous places under voluntary and gratuitous teachers, and gradually becoming better known and appreciated, the number was found very considerable in 1816. Associ- ations for promoting them more extensive- ly began then to be formed in Philadelphia, New- York, and other cities, and the publi- cation of spelling and hymn books, scrip- tural catechisms, &c, for the children was commenced. Some persons also did much to advance this good work by their indi- vidual efforts. f * A voluminous and interesting history of this university, by its present president, Josiah Quincy, L.L.D., has lately been published. ■f Among whom may be mentioned the late Divie- Chap. XIV.] SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 153 Measures were taken in 1823 for the forming of a national society which should extend the benefit of Sunday-schools to all parts of the country ; and, accordingly, the American Sunday-school Union was insti- tuted ; an association composed of excel- lent men of all evangelical denominations, but in which no particular denomination is represented as such. It has now been diffu- sing its blessings for more than nineteen years. The board of managers is com- posed of intelligent and zealous laymen of the various evangelical denominations, the greater part residing in Philadelphia and its vicinity, as that is the centre of the socie- ty's operations. Its grand object is twofold : to promote the establishment of Sunday-schools where required, and to prepare and publish suita- ble books, some to be employed as manu- als in the schools, and others for libraries, intended to furnish the children with suit- able reading at home. In both depart- ments much good has been done. In the former, Sunday-school missionaries, com- monly ministers of the Gospel, and some- times capable laymen, have been employed in visiting almost all parts of the country. They hold public meetings in every dis- trict or neighbourhood where they have any prospect of success, endeavour to in- terest the people in the subject, and to es- tablish a school. Time and care are re- quired for such a work. The nature of a Sunday-school must be well explained ; fit persons must be engaged as teachers ; these must have their duties pointed out to them, and the motives that ought to prompt them to undertake the office pre- sented and enforced ; and money must be collected for the purchase of books. In 1830, the society resolved to estab- lish a Sunday-school in every neighbour- hood that was without one, throughout the Western States or Valley of the Missis- sippi, wherever practicable. Three years thereafter it adopted a like resolution with respect to the Southern States. Both, but particularly the former of these resolu- tions, called forth much effort. Large sums were collected, and a great many schools were established. Every year since its commencement the society has employed a number of agents and mission- aries ; in some years as many as twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty such. These traverse the country throughout its vast extent, resuscitate decaying schools, es- tablish new ones, and encourage all. In its other department the society has rendered great services to the cause of re- ligion, and, I may add, to that of literature also. Exclusive of the Scriptures, spelling- books, primers, catechisms, maps, cards for Bethune, Esq., who published at his own expense a number of little books for the instruction of youth in Sunday-schools. infant schools, &c, it has published about 450 volumes of books for libraries, a com- plete set of which, well bound, costs sev- enty-five dollars. It has published, like- wise, a selection from these as a library for common schools. Among its publica- tions may be mentioned its admirable man- uals or aids for studying the Bible ; name- ly, a Geography of the Bible, Natural His- tory of the Bible, Dictionary of the Bible, Antiquities of the Bible, Scriptural Biog- raphies, Maps of the Holy Land, and Books of Questions, in several volumes, on al- most all parts of the Bible, for the use of children and teachers. While all these publications are thoroughly Protestant in their character, they contain nothing re- pugnant to the doctrines of any of the evangelical denominations, so that there is nothing to forbid their being used in the Sunday-schools of any of the Protestant churches. This is a great advantage, and enables the society to establish hundreds of schools in places where various reli- gious bodies intermingle, and where none of them is strong enough to support a school by itself. The society publishes also a very valuable journal, which appears once in a fortnight. It is replete with in- teresting and instructive matter, and adapt- ed alike to scholars, teachers, and parents. It also publishes small monthly magazines and gazettes for children. But besides this great society, which stands ready to promote the cause any- where, and on the most catholic principles, there are other Sunday-school societies, not less efficient in their respective spheres. The Episcopalians have theirs, the Bap- tists theirs, the Episcopal Methodists theirs, the Lutherans theirs, and so forth. The Presbyterians, strictly speaking, have no Sunday-school society of their own, but by their Publication Board they publish books for Sunday-school libraries. Indeed, all the denominational Sunday-school so- cieties publish books for their own schools, and in these they set forth and defend the peculiar views they hold respectively, on points of doctrine or discipline, to such an extent as they deem proper. This is not unnatural, for each school is mainly attend- ed by the children of parents attached to churches of the same denomination with that of the society that supports the school. Not that all the publications of a denomi- national Sunday-school society are of what may be termed a sectarian character. This is by no means the case, and, besides, these more limited societies buy from the Amer- ican Sunday-school Union whatever books, upon its list they may think proper to add to their own. It is impossible to calculate the extent to which the Sunday-school libraries, com- posed as they are of most interesting books on almost all subjects of a moral and reli- 154 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. gious character, are fostering a taste for reading among the rising youth, and the adult population, also, of the country. The scholars receive from them one or two volumes each, according to the size, ev- ery Sabbath, to read in the course of the week, and return on the Sabbath follow- ing, and these volumes thus pass into the hands of older brothers and sisters, parents, and other members of the household. The proceeds of the sales of books by the Amer- ican Sunday-school Union amounted last year (1843) to $55,895. If we add to this ihe value of those sold by the denomina- tional Sunday-school societies, we should find it rise to at least $100,000. And if we farther add the cost of Sunday-school books purchased from the booksellers, we shall have a total far exceeding the last amount as the value of books bought in one year for the use of Sunday-schools, and mainly for the libraries attached to them. Besides the series of 450 volumes pub- lished by the American Sunday-school Union, a far greater number have been published by the denominational societies.* Neither pains nor money have been spared in the preparation, improvement, and pub- lication of these volumes, and in this re- spect, I am inclined to think that the Amer- ican Sunday-school Union has outstripped every similar institution in other countries. Much, notwithstanding, remains to be done in order to render these Sunday-school books all that they ought to be. It is no easy task to write books for children well. Much talent has been bestowed upon it of late years in the United States, and such has been the demand for children's books, created by the Sunday-schools, that the booksellers have found it for their ad- vantage to publish such books for those schools. Many of these are good,, but many, too, are worthless enough, as may readily be supposed where there is no in- telligent committee rigorously to examine them previous to publication, and to de- termine what should go forth to the public and what should not. Sunday-schools are held in various pla- ces ; sometimes in churches, or in the lec- ture-rooms attached to many of our large churches, or in rooms fitted up expressly for the purpose in the basement story of many of our city churches ; sometimes in the schoolhouses, which are very numer- ous ; and, especially in the new settle- ments, in private houses. In summer they sometimes meet in barns ; and I once su- perintended a Sunday-school myself which met for many months in a large kitchen * The series published by the Methodist " Book Concern" exceeds 250 ; that of the American Bap- tist Publication and Sunday-school Society 170; while those of the Protestant Episcopal, the Prot- estant Methodist, the Lutheran, the Free-Will Bap- tists, and several local societies, are considerable. attached to a farmhouse in the State of New-Jersey. The hours of meeting are very various. In the cities and large towns they com- monly meet twice in the day ; at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, according to the season, and at two o'clock in the after- noon, for about an hour and a half each time. Ih the villages and country church- es they usually meet for two hours, once a day, immediately before, or immediately after, the public services. In some cases I have known a pastor, with a parish ex- tending many miles in all directions from the church, meet, during an hour before his public service, with nearly all the adult part of his flock in a Bible-class, and go over with them the portion of Scripture given out to his Sunday-schools for that day ; and then, instead of having service in the afternoon, he would in the latter part of the day visit one or other, in their order, of the ten or twelve schools held by his people in as many different neighbour- hoods. On these occasions he would ad- dress, not only the children and teachers, but also the parents and others who crowd- ed to hear him. And how could a pastor instruct his people more effectually 1 ?* A word or two may not be amiss on the manner of conducting our Sunday-schools. Each is under a superintendent — a gentle- man where there are scholars of both sex- es, but usually a lady where there are only girls. The scholars are divided into class- es, according to their age and capacity. All the reading classes learn the same part of Scripture, going through a certain book in N order. Suppose, for instance, the fif- teenth chapter of Luke, from the eleventh verse to the end. It is the parable of the prodigal son. As soon as the school is opened the scholars take their places. The service begins with prayer by the superin- tendent or some other person. Each class — composed usually of six or eight per- sons — has its teacher, to whom the schol- ars repeat the lesson in the Scriptures for the day. When that is done the teacher takes the book of Bible Questions (a copy of which each scholar should have), and asks the questions in it relating to the pas- sage which the class, in common with the others, have learned. The answers to these questions the pupils must find out through their own efforts, or with help from their parents, during the week. The teacher asks, also, such other questions as he may think useful, and calculated to lead to a more perfect understanding of the sub- ject. An hour, perhaps, is spent in this exercise. After that the scholars return the books which they had received from the librarian on the preceding Sabbath, * In some of the large cities Sunday-schools are held at night, especially for the benefit of the colour- ed people. Chap. XIV.] SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 155 and obtain others. Then the superintend- ent, or pastor, if he be present, addresses a few words to the whole school on the passage which they have learned, and en- deavours to impress upon their minds the importance of the truths which it teaches. A hymn is sung, and a prayer offered up, and the school closes. If there be any children that cannot read, they are arranged in classes by themselves, and taught that important acquirement. In many of the schools there is a consid- able number of such, and persons beyond the years of childhood, who have had no opportunities of learning to read before, sometimes make the attainment in the course of a few months at a Sunday-school. In all the free states, and in such of the slaveholding ones as permit the slaves to be taught, there are Sunday-schools for the coloured people.* In these schools thou- sands and tens of thousands of them have learned to read the sacred Scriptures, and have made much progress in divine knowl- edge. The superintendents of the Sunday- schools are sometimes elders and deacons of the churches ; sometimes they are pi- ous lawyers, and other intelligent gentle- men ; and in the vicinity of our colleges and theological seminaries they are often stu- dents of religious character, who may be prosecuting their studies with a view to the ministry. The teachers are, for the most part, young people of both sexes be- longing to the churches and congregations. Wherever truly pious persons can be found willing to be thus employed, they are pre- ferred ; but where this is not the case, se- riously-disposed and moral persons, who desire to be engaged in this benevolent work, are taken, and almost invariably it happens that, in teaching others, they them- selves become instructed out of the " law of God." It is to be regretted that most of the ladies, after they become wives and mothers, have too many domestic cares and duties to allow them to continue as teachers in the Sabbath-school. Some, however, there are who persevere in this blessed employment, their zeal triumphing over every obstacle. As to gentlemen, many more of them may continue in the work after they have become heads of families. Hence we oft- en find men of age and experience among Sunday-school teachers, encouraging and * There are Sunday-schools held by some pious slaveholders in Georgia, South Carolina, and per- haps some other states, in which portions of Scrip- ture are often repeated to the assembled slaves, and remarked upon until they have committed much of them to memory. Prayer and singing are added to these exercises. Such schools no laws can well hinder, no more than they can the preaching of the Gospel to the slaves. These schools have only been commenced within a few years, and are spreading in several places. aiding them in their toils. And it is not uncommon to find some of those who hold the very highest offices in the State or General Government, spending a portion of their Sabbaths in giving instruction to a class of young persons in a Sunday- school. I have known several governors and their ladies, members of Congress, and of the Legislatures of the states, judges, eminent lawyers, mayors of cities, &c, who were, and who are at the present time, Sabbath-school teachers, and who have felt it no degradation to be thus employed. The present distinguished Chancellor of the University of New- York was the su- perintendent of a Sunday-school, even when he held the office of attorney-gen- eral of his native State, and afterward, when he was a senator in the Congress of the United States ; he is a Sabbath-school teacher still, and delights to associate him- self with the youngest teachers engaged in that heavenly employment. The Hon. Benjamin F. Butler was a Sabbath-school teacher, even while hold- ing the distinguished office of attorney- general to the United States. The late Chief-justice Marshall, and the late Judge Washington, both of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the former of whom, it is admitted, was the most distin- guished jurist the country has ever pro- duced, were warm friends and patrons of Sunday-schools. Both were, in their day, vice-presidents of the American Sabbath- school Union. Within five years of his death, I saw Chief-justice Marshall march through the city of Richmond, in Virginia, where he resided, at the head of the Sun- day-schools on the occasion of a celebra- tion. And, finally, the late President Har- rison, who in his youth had been a rough and far from religious soldier, but towards the close of his life became interested in the things that concerned his everlasting peace, taught for several years a class of young persons in an humble Sunday-school on the banks of the Ohio ; and the Sab- bath before he left his home for Washing- ton, there to become his country's Chiet Magistrate — and, alas ! within a month thereafter to die — he met, as usual, his Bible-class. I have dwelt the longer on this subject because of its great importance. A Sab- bath-school is so simple an affair that it may be begun wherever two or three per- sons are found disposed to undertake it. I have known even a single individual keep one himself, and spend several hours every Sabbath in instructing some dozen or twen- ty poor youth, who came around him to learn to read and understand the Word of God. I have known a lady, who, as her health did not permit her to go to a Sun- day-school, received a class of young ladies in her parlour every Sabbath for years. 156 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. Why, then, should not Sabbath-schools be established in every city, town, hamlet, and neighbourhood, where there are only two or three persons with hearts to love the kingdom of God, and hands to promote it 1 Were such a spirit to prevail in all lands professedly Christian, how soon would they show a very different aspect from what they do at present 1 It is impossible to state with accuracy the present number of Sunday-schools in the United States. They were reckoned seven years ago at 16,000; the teachers at 130,000 or 140,000 ; and the scholars, com- prising, it was supposed, 100,000 adults, at 1,000,000! These numbers must be much greater now. Who can estimate the amount of good resulting from 1,000,000 of minds being brought into contact every Sabbath with the word of Him who hath said that His " word shall not return unto him void ?" Thousands and tens of thousands, both teachers and scholars, are known to have become enlightened and saved, by means of the lessons given and received at Sunday- schools. But a whole volume would not suffice to unfold all the benefits conferred by this blessed institution, to which may be emphatically applied the words of the celebrated Adam Smith, in speaking of popular education in general, that it is " the cheap defence of nations." HAPTER XV. BIBLE-CLASSES. Akin to Sunday-schools are Bible-class- es. Indeed, the former, conducted as at present in America, are little more than an assemblage of the latter. What are commonly called Bible-classes are composed of a comparatively large number of persons, all taught by the pastor of the church, or some other individual whom he engages to act for him. To pre- side over a Bible-class of from twenty to some hundreds of persons, the greater number, if not all, of whom are adults, and some of them, perhaps, remarkably intelli- gent and well informed, requires far higher qualifications than simply to teach a small class in a Sunday-school. These Bible-classes are generally con- ducted by the pastors, and so highly are they valued as a means and occasion of good, that few settled ministers have not one or more among their flocks. In some cases, one for each sex is held once in the week — that for gentlemen in the evening, that for ladies during the day. They meet according to circumstances, in the church, lecture-room, vestry-room, schoolroom, or in some private house. The pastor some- times devotes his Sabbath nights to a Bib- lical service, for the benefit of all who can attend ; a practice feasible only where the population is compact, and the flock within an easy distance of the place of meeting. In country churches, these classes often hold their meetings in church before the regular service commences, or in the inter- val between the morning and afternoon services. This is convenient, but is apt to produce fatigue. I have known pastors in country church- es who had no fewer than 500 persons in one Bible-class, if I can call it so, which met in the afternoon instead of the regular service ; and others, whose Bible-classes included the whole adult part of their flocks, and met previous to the forenoon service, or in the interval between that and the afternoon service. In conducting these classes, the common method is to go through some particular book of the sacred volume in course, and some system of Bible questions is general- ly pursued. Upon this plan, all who have time and inclination f r the task, prepare themselves, by reading and study, for an- swering the questions to be found in the book of questions that is used.* But it is not the practice of any well-informed pas- tor to confine himself to the questions con- tained in the book. These he employs as he sees fit ; by the questions he puts he assists in sustaining the attention of the people ; and he takes occasion to give a great amount of scriptural instruction. To conduct a Bible-class in a manner at once interesting and profitable requires no little preparation ; and, when well done, few methods of instruction are more edify- ing, either to the people or to the minister himself. The divine blessing has rested most remarkably upon it. Nor could we expect that it should be otherwise. What more likely to secure the divine benediction than to bring the mind to the study of that which God himself hath spoken 1 " The entrance of thy words giveth light ; it giv- eth understanding to the simple." " Sanc- tify them by thy truth ; thy word is truth." CHAPTER XVI. MATERNAL SOCIETIES. I must not omit, among the means which there is reason to believe that God has greatly blessed to the advancing of his kingdom in the United States, the Maternal Societies — institutions that have not been * Several excellent clergymen of the United States have written systems of Bible Questions, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. Drs. M'Dow- ell, Tyng, Barnes, Professor Holdich, and the Rev. Messrs. Covel, J. Longking, and Newcomb. The Bi- ble Questions published by the American Sunday- school Union are good, as are, also, several of those printed by the denominational Sunday-school socie- ties. Chap. XVII.] EDUCATION SOCIETIES. 157 of many years' standing among us, but which have existed long enough to produce much good. These societies are composed of pious mothers, who meet in parties, not incon- veniently numerous, once in the week, fortnight, or month, for the purpose of conversing on the subject of bringing up their children for the Lord, listening to the reading of valuable remarks and hints on the best means of discharging this great duty, and mingling their prayers before the throne of grace in behalf of themselves and their beloved offspring. These little meetings prove very precious seasons to many an anxious, perplexed, and disheart- ened mother, by communicating grace, and strength, and support, and light, for ena- bling her to fulfil her fearfully responsible part. God has greatly blessed them. For the benefit of mothers, some excellent periodicals have been published in the United States during several years past. Among these let me mention " The Mother's Magazine," issued in New- York, and re- published in London. It appears once a month, is neatly printed, and costs only a dollar a year. It has a very extensive cir- culation, and furnishes much admirable mat- ter for reading at the Maternal Societies' meetings, as well as in the family circle. Another valuable periodical is published at Utica, in the central part of the State of New- York, and is read in several thousands of families. It is conducted by a talented lady of the Baptist Church. A similar journal has been commenced at Boston ; while all our religious newspapers contain many articles on the same subject. On the other hand, several publications appear once a month, or once in two months, for the benefit of fathers and of entire families. One such is published in the city of New-York, and is entitled " The Christian Family Magazine, or Parents' and Children's Journal." It is said to have an extensive circulation. Other journals of like character, and having the same ob- ject, are published in other pai*ts of the country. Moreover, almost all the reli- gious newspapers, now very numerous, and some one or more of which are read in almost every Christian family, contain much that bears upon the religious educa- tion of children, and the whole economy of a Christian household. The subject is one of vast moment. The world has never yet seen the full re- sults of the Christian education of children. Parents have much to learn in this respect, and need all the helps and appliances possi- ble, to enable them rightly to discharge their important duties. Were all fathers and mothers in a nation such as they ought to be, how mighty would be the influence of the Gospel upon it ! Were the fathers and mothers in the Church of Christ such as they ought to be, how different would it soon become from what we see it now ! A praying, devoted, holy mother ! What an interesting being! Such was the mother of Samuel, of Timothy, and of thousands besides, who have been eminently useful in the world. I have known Christian fathers who met once a week for years to pray togeth- er for their children, and their meetings have been eminently useful and happy. I have seen another kind of meeting which I wish were more common — a quarterly prayer-meeting specially for parents and children. It was affecting to see parents, the unconverted as well as the converted, bringing with them their children, dear to them as life itself, into the sanctuary on such occasions, that they might share in the earnestly-sought blessing. CHAPTER XVII EDUCATION SOCIETIES. One of the most interesting develop- ments of the voluntary principle in promo- ting religion in the United States, is seen in the Education Societies ; institutions of comparatively recent date, and having for their object the granting of assistance to pious youths of promising talents but small means, in preparing for the ministry. One of the first of these was the Amer- ican Education Society, formed at Boston in 1816. Hence it has been in existence for twenty-eight years, and rarely has any society been the instrument of more good.* In all denominations of evangelical Chris- tians in the United States, there are to be found among those classes of society whose means are too limited to give their sons a college education, young men of talent, to whom God has been pleased to impart the knowledge of his grace, and in whose hearts he implants a strong desire to preach the Gospel. Now, before the Education Societies appeared upon the field, such youths used to find it very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to obtain such an education as was required by the rules of the church in whose ministry they wish- ed to place themselves. Some, indeed, might succeed by their own exertions ; by dint of industry and economy they might lay up enough to enable them to com- * This society published from the year 1827 to 1843 a valuable periodical, entitled " The American Quarterly Register." It was originated by the late Rev. Dr. Cornelius and the Rev. B. B. Edwards, the secretaries of the society at the first-named epoch, and continued by the latter gentleman to 1S43, aided for several years by the Rev. Dr. Cogswell, succes- sor of Dr. Cornelius ; and afterward by the Rev. Mr. Riddel, who has taken the place of Dr. Cogswell. Mr. Edwards is a professor in the theological semi- nary at Andover. 158 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. mence a course of study at college. By interrupting their college studies occasion- ally, in order to recruit their finances by teaching a school, they might, after long delays, be able to complete the requisite course at last ; and then, by similar efforts, carry themselves through the required the- ological course at a seminary. Others, more fortunate, might be so far assisted by a church or some wealthy and benev- olent patron or friend.* But the greater number, in despair of success, were likely to renounce all expectation of being able to preach the Gospel, and to resign them- selves to the necessity of spending their lives in the ordinary pursuits of business, not in making known the " unsearchable riches" of Christ to their fellow-men. These remarks, it will be perceived, ap- ply to such youths only as conscientious- ly cleave to those churches which require a college education, as preliminary to a theological one, in all aspirants to the sa- cred ministry. This is the rule, except in very extraordinary cases, with the whole of the Presbyterian churches, excepting the " Cumberland Presbyterians ;" with the Episcopalians, and with the Congre- gationalists. The Baptists and the Meth- odists, as we have seen, are less strict, and are satisfied with a common English education, and a competent knowledge of theology. But even among these, great and laudable efforts are now put forth in or- der to give a higher education to as many of their candidates for the ministry as possi- ble ; and it is on this account, as well as for more general objects, that they have established so many colleges within the last few years. God is granting his rich blessing to their efforts in this great cause ; of this every year furnishes cheering evi- dence. To meet the demands of the churches for a vastly-augmented number of ministers of the Gospel, and to help those young men who desire to respond to this demand, the American Education Society was formed on the broad basis of rendering its aid to all pious young men, of suitable talents, who appear to be called to preach Christ, and who belong to any of the evangelical de- nominations. The only conditions imposed upon the recipients of its bounty are an en- * Several of the colleges possess funds bequeathed to them for the express purpose of educating poor and pious young men for the ministry. The Rev. Dr. Green, in his historical notices of the College of New-Jersey, relates that, more than half a century since, a pious young man of the name of Leslie was educated at that institution for the ministry of the Gospel ; but, fearing to assume the responsibility of that office, he devoted himself to teaching a school of a high order, in which employment he was emi- nently successful. At his death he bequeathed to the college the sum of 15,000 dollars, the interest of which was to be devoted to the education of poor young men for the ministry. This fund has already educated a large number of excellent ministers. gagement, 1. To go through a full course of collegiate and theological education in some approved college and seminary; and, 2. To refund the sums advanced to aid them, should the providence of God, in af- ter life, give them the means of doing so. Such are, in few words, its principles. A rigid supervision is maintained over those Avho accept its patronage. And set- ting out in its admirable career with a few young men, it has gone on, under the fa- vour of God, diffusing its blessings far and wide. It has rendered aid to young men belonging to eight different Evangelical Churches. At one period, some three or four years ago, the number of persons whom it was aiding exceeded 1100! Du- ring the year ending May 1st, 1843, the number aided was 468. These were pur- suing their education at institutions in dif- ferent parts of the country ; some in acad- emies and grammar-schools, some in col- leges, and the rest in theological schools. And the whole number of those who had been aided, up to that time, was 3182. The receipts for that year were 33,789 dol- lars, and the expenditure 29,290. The amount refunded that year by beneficiaries who had completed their course of educa- tion was 2157 dollars. The earnings of the young men under the patronage of the society, chiefly from teaching schools du- ring their vacations, have some years amounted to no less a sum than 20,000 dollars.* The sums granted by this society to those who are admitted to its benefits vary from forty-eight to seventy-five dollars a year, the latter sum being rarely exceed- ed. Its funds have been liberally aug- mented by bequests from devoted Chris- tian friends who loved it during life, and remembered it in death. Its first presi- dent gave it 1000 dollars during his life- time, and left it a legacy of 5000. Mr. Burr, whom we have already had occasion to speak of, also left it a handsome legacy. The late Dr. Porter, for many years a dis- tinguished professor in the Theological Seminary at Andover, though far from be- ing a man of much wealth, bequeathed to it 15,000 dollars. Many of its friends have given proof of large and enlightened views by the patronage they have given it. It has assisted a great number of most valu- able ministers of the Gospel in the course of their education, and to these we have to add no fewer than sixty of the mission- aries supported in foreign lands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, one of the largest and oldest foreign missionary societies in the United States. Of late years, however, the number of young men as sisted by this Society has . * This society has permanent funds to the amount of 73,000 dollars. Chap. XVIII.] THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 159 greatly diminished ; partly owing to the very difficult times through which the country has passed ; partly because of higher requirements in the department of preliminary studies ; and partly from most of the evangelical communions having now education societies of their own. Thus the " Old School" Presbyterians have a Board of Education under the direction of their General Assembly, which prosecutes its work most wisely and efficiently. It had 350 beneficiaries during the year end- ing 1st May, 1843, and had assisted 1330 young men in all. Its receipts for that year amounted to 30,000 dollars.* A number of devoted clergymen and lay- men of the Protestant Episcopal Church, having met at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of an Episcopal church, were providentially led to talk of the im- portance of having a plan for aiding pious but indigent youths, of suitable talents, in preparing for the ministry. The result was the formation, in 1818, of the Protest- ant Episcopal Education Society. It has proved a great blessing to the Church and to the world. It may be said to have originated the Episcopal theological school near Alexandria, in the District of Colum- bia ; and nearly a tenth part of the clergy of the church to which it belongs have been more or less assisted by it. A sixth part of the present clergy in Ohio, an eighth of those in Pennsylvania, a fifth of those in Maryland, and a large proportion of those in Virginia, have been aided from its funds ; and it is now assisting a seventh of all the students in the several theological schools of that church in the United States. f I do not know the precise number of its pres- ent beneficiaries, but believe it exceeds eighty. There are also several Education Soci- eties among the Baptists, which have aid- ed a large number of young men. J That * The American churches have long been im- pressed with the importance of having a competent and sufficiently numerous ministry. The friends of the American Education Society observe the last Thursday of February yearly as a day of special prayer for colleges, academies, and other institutions of learning, that God may be pleased to pour out his Spirit upon them, bring many of the students to a saving knowledge of his Gospel, and incline their hearts to preach it. The General Assembly of the "Old School" Presbyterian Church recommended last year, to all the churches under their care, to ob- serve the first Sabbath of November as a day of spe- cial prayer to the Lord of the harvest, " that he would send more labourers into his harvest." They recommended the subject also to the daily interces- sions of Christians, in view of the vast demand for ministers of the Gospel. t Dr. Hawks's " History of the Episcopal Church in Virginia," p. 261. + In particular, " The Northern Baptist Education Society," and " The Baptist Education Society of New-York." The former of these was instituted in 1814, and has the seat of its operations in Boston. Du- of the Reformed Dutch Church supported twenty-four last year. A Methodist Edu- cation Society has also been formed at Boston. These statements will give the reader some idea of our Education Societies. Though of recent origin, they are exerci- sing an immense influence in training up a more thoroughly-educated ministry. In the absence of precise information, the young men now receiving assistance from them may be moderately estimated at 1600 in all, and of these at least 250 annu- ally finish their studies, and enter on the work of preaching the Gospel. CHAPTER XVIII. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. I have spoken of the various literary institutions, in their several gradations, through which our youth may pass in pre- paring for the professional course with which they usually close their studies. I have noticed also the education societies for assisting poor but pious young men, of suitable capacity, in their preparations for the ministry. And 1 now come to speak of the theological schools, in which a very large number of our candidates for the ministry complete their studies for the sa- cred office. Formerly the young men who sought to enter the ministry among the denomina- tions which require, in those who occupy their pulpits, a college and theological ed- ucation — I use the term in a technical sense, and mean nothing invidious — were compelled to study theology, more or less immediately under some individual pas- tor, and it was common for six or eight of them to place themselves under this, and a few under that other, distinguished divine. They often resided in the house of their spiritual teacher; sometimes they boarded in families near his house ; they availed themselves of his library, and were direct- ed by him in their studies. But this was obviously a very imperfect method. Few pastors could afford time to do their pupils justice ; fewer still possess- ed such a range of learning as to fit them for conducting others to the acquisitions, in various branches of knowledge, required in order to a competent preparation for the ministry. To the late Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, of New- York, one of the most eminent divines ring the eight years from 1831 to 1839 it had aided. 279 young men in preparing for the ministry, and supported 134 in 1840. It was mainly owing to its efforts that the Baptist Theological Seminary at Newton was founded in 1827. The latter society was founded in 1817, and has maintained many stu- dents at the Hamilton Literary and Theological In stitution, founded in 1820. 160 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. that America has ever produced, we owe the first attempt to establish anything that could be called a theological school. He collected in Europe an extensive and valu- able theological library, and commenced a course of instruction in various branches of theological study about the beginning of the present century. For3'ears he carried it on almost single-handed, and many young men heard at his feet the masterly instruc- tions that he was so capable of giving them. The theological seminary at Andover was founded in 1808, and being the first, on a complete plan, founded in the United States, and the most celebrated, I shall no- tice it more amply than the rest. The college buildings are beautifully sit- uated on elevated ground near the village of Andover, about twenty miles to the north of Boston. They consist of two large edi- fices for the residence of the students, and a central building, in which are the chapel, the library, lecture-rooms, &c. At a due distance behind these stand the refectory and steward's house. The grounds in front are tastefully laid out, and their walks and avenues adorned with various sorts of for- est trees. Facing the seminary buildings, and forming one side of a street which bor- ders the grounds in front, stands a row of houses where most of the professors re- side. The grounds are very ample, the situation salubrious, and the buildings re- markably convenient. This seminary forms a branch, as we have elsewhere stated, of Phillips' Acad- emy, which stands in the immediate vicin- ity, though the two institutions are no far- ther connected than by being both under the same board of trustees. The history of the Andover Seminary may be given in a few words. It origina- ted in a growing conviction of the need there was for a higher standard of qual- ification in the clergy, and in the obvious necessity of having something to take the place of the University of Harvard on its defection from the Faith. Farther, the good providence of God was manifested in the undertaking, by his giving both the necessary means and the heart to four or five enterprising merchants to lay the foundation. One of these was the aged Samuel Ab- bot, of Andover, who had already executed a will bequeathing funds to a large amount for the support of professors and indigent students of theology in Harvard Universi- ty. But having lived to witness the new movements there, and to be convinced of the danger of trusting a legacy to an insti- tution which, in his view, had perverted the funds left by Mr. Hollis* for the support * Thomas Hollis, Esq., a highly-esteemed Chris- tian merchant, was born in England in 1659, and died in 1731. He founded the professorships of theology and mathematics in Harvard University, and pre- of an orthodox professorship of divinity, he was led to unite with Mrs. Phillips, widow of the late Hon. Samuel Phillips, one of the founders of Phillips' Academy, and her son, in a plan for connecting with that academy the erection of buildings, and the appropriation of certain funds for the sup- port of a theological professor, and of indi- gent students of theology. Meanwhile, a similar plan for another seminary was formed by the late Rev. Sam- uel Spring, D.D., of Newburyport, and the Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., of West New- bury, now a professor in the Seminary at Andover, and funds were pledged for its endowment by Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Brown, two parishioners of Dr. Spring, and by Mr. Norris, of Salem — all at the solicitation of Dr. Spring, who was the author of this scheme. Dr. Woods, in whose parish the institution was to be placed, was to be pro- fessor, and a colleague was to be appointed to assist him in his pastoral duties. Thus far had the parties proceeded, not only without concert, but although living within the compass of twenty miles, and several of them having friendly intercourse with each other, without being cognizant of one another's plans. This seems to indicate the intervention of a kind omnis- cient Providence, and may have been a link in the chain of causes which cordially uni- ted, in the end, the two parties into which the orthodox Congregationalists of New- England were then divided, and to the adoption of a better creed for the seminary than it might have had otherwise. These parties were, on the one hand, the so-called moderate Calvinists, moderate both in action and speculation, and, on the other hand, the Hopkinsians, the keen- sighted, active, fervid, pungent, and per- haps rather ultra men of their time. Now, to have continued and widened the separa- tion of these parties by their having con- tiguous and rival seminaries, would have been no less disastrous than their union was desirable, both for the nearer approx- imation of both to exact truth, and for its common defence against the advance of Unitarianism ; and nothing could well have been imagined more likely to produce prompt and effectual union, than their being led to co-operate in establishing a common seminary. But it seems very doubtful how far they would ever have thus combined their efforts, had not certain members of each been led, in the providence of God, by ways that they knew not, and for a high end which they never contemplated, each to advance thus far in their projects. The evil sure to result from there being two such seminaries was obvious ; the benefits to be derived from their being united in one were appreciated, at least to a certain ex- sented to it a philosophical apparatus and many books. Chap. XVIII.] THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 161 tent. ; yet this union of the two institutions, and the adjustment of principles common to both, cost nearly two years of anxious and incessant labour, during which the negotia- tions were more than once wellnigh bro- ken oft", and at one time quite abandoned. " No one," says the Rev. Dr. Woods, "who did not himself act a leading part in these interesting transactions, can ever have an adequate conception of the unnumbered dif- ficulties which the principal agents had to encounter, or of the amount of solicitude, and of effort, which fell to- their lot, or of the variety of dangers to which the great object was from time to time exposed."* The greatest difficulty in the way of the union was the adjustment of a common creed, to be subscribed by the professors of the seminary. The founders of Phillips' Academy had already adopted the West- minster Assembly's Shorter Catechism. To this Dr. Spring, with the advice and support of his friend, the Rev. Dr. Emmons, strenuously objected, because some parts of it were widely understood to imply what he did not believe, and, partly, because he thought that more definite and extended statements on several points of doctrine were desirable. He and his friends, also, wished for additional barriers against her- esy, and particularly for a Board of Vis- iters, professing the same creed, and with ample powers for tne correction of errors. These difficulties were adjusted at last by the institution of such a board, and by the adoption of a new creed, drawn up by a committee from both parties, and couched very much in the language of the cate- chism, but with some omissions and some additions. And this creed is to be solemn- ly repeated and subscribed in the presence of the trustees of the academy, by every professor and every visiter, on his induc- tion into office ; and the same is to be re- peated, in like manner, by each of them, once every five years, during his continu- ance in office. In this adjustment the Hopkinsians gain- ed their main object, but, at the same time, sacrificed some favourite points which they would gladly have introduced into a semi- nary of a more sectarian character. Some, indeed, a few of whom are still to be found, persisted in their objections to the semina- ry on this account ; but nearly the whole orthodox community of New-England have cordially acquiesced in it, so that the ar- rangement has most happily, though silent- ly, become a virtual bond of union among them. Foreign missions, and other great benevolent enterprises to which the semi- nary soon gave birth, hastened and con- firmed this coalescence by bringing the two parties more frequently to pray, sym- * Manuscript History of the Theological Semina- ry at Andover, from which much of the information here given was derived. pathize, and act together. These results are matters of devout astonishment to many a beholder of what God has wrought amid the movements of our times. The opposition, in various forms, to or- thodoxy was considerable, but was of little avail in retarding its progress. Fears were at one time entertained lest a majority of the trustees of Phillips' Academy, under whose guardianship the seminary is placed, should ultimately be found men of lax opin- ions ; but, as most of the suspected parties died or resigned their seats within -a few years, those fears gradually subsided on the vacancies being filled up by others who were unquestionably sound in the faith.* Anxiety on this head led to a greater so- licitude about creating a Board of Visiters, and the quinquennial renewal of subscrip- tion by the professors and visiters, though this could not be extended to the trustees, no provision to that effect having been made at the institution of that board. With all these guards, and looking to the present character of the boards, the friends of the institution consider that there is none in the country more com- pletely guarded against perversion. At the same time, the most perfect freedom of inquiry is allowed, and even encouraged among the students, in order that their faith may rest on conviction, not on hu- man authority or constraint. No subscrip- tion to a creed is required of them, nor can any one who gives to the professors satisfactory evidence of Christian charac- ter be debarred from entering the semina- ry, or dismissed from it on the ground of his belief. This condition was required by the State Legislature on their enlarging the powers of the trustees, so as to enable them to hold the additional funds required for the establishment of the seminary. And although its expediency has by some been doubted, it seems as yet to have had no bad consequences. It has been thought unreasonable to require a minute profes- sion of faith from students who go to the institution for the very purpose of learning what is truth, as well as how to teach it. The seminary was opened in the autumn of 1808. For several years there were only three professors, but now there are five, one of whom acts as president of the institution. Each member of the faculty has a salary of 1500 dollars per annum, to- gether with the use of a family dwelling- house, and is debarred from receiving any compensation for preaching abroad. The departments of the professors are, Sacred Literature, including the Greek and * It must be kept in mind that Phillips' Academy was founded in 1778, when Unitarianjsm had not yet developed itself in the United States, though the er- rors which led to it were to be found in Boston and its neighbourhood. When it did develop itself, it was not strange that the Board of Phillips' Acade- my should have been infected with it. 1G2 RELIGION IN AMERICA. Hebrew Scriptures, chiefly during the first year; Christian Theology, chiefly during the second year ; and Sacred Rhetoric, Ec- clesiastical History, and Pastoral Theolo- gy during the third year. The instruction is given partly by written lectures and partly by the use of text-books, which are recited in substance by the students, and accompanied with remarks by the profes- sors. The students are not allowed to preach, nor are they required to write sermons till their senior or last year. Each may then be called on to preach in the chapel, and is also allowed to preach abroad for six Sab- baths in his last term, within certain limits as to distance, so as to avoid being absent from any of the lectures. The remainder of the preaching in the chapel is chiefly performed by the professors in rotation. Most of the students are graduates of colleges, and all are admitted on examina- tion in regard to their attainments, evi- dence of piety, &c. During the first year they attend two lectures a day ; afterward, usually but one. Great attention is required of the pro- fessors in the cultivation of piety among the students, which has ever been regard- ed by them, as well as by the founders and guardians, as a grand object of the institu- tion. For this purpose, they meet the students for a devotional exercise every Wednesday evening. The students also hold many conferences and prayer-meet- ings by themselves. Indigent students, of whom there are many, receive half the price of their board in commons gratuitously. No charge is in any case made for tuition, and but a small one for the use of the library, and for rooms and furniture. As the design of the seminary is to furnish an able as well as a pious clergy, and as its privileges are, to a great extent, gratuitous, each student is required, at his matriculation, to promise to complete a regular three years' course of study, " un- less prevented by some unforeseen and unavoidable necessity," which is to be judged of by the faculty. This is a much longer course than had commonly been pursued under the guidance of private p'as- tors, and it has been found very difficult thus far to elevate the views of the community, and fully to reconcile the feelings of the students to this requisition. Indeed, the rule itself was not ipade for a considerable number of the first years. As this is the oldest theological semina- ry in the country, it has had to make its own way, unaided by previous experience ; and very many are the changes, mostly for the better, it is believed, which have been made from time to time in its ar- rangements. There were not many students for some [Book IV. years at first, but they have gradually in- creased from about thirty to about 150, which has been not far from the number on the list for many years. Any farther increase has been prevented by the mul- tiplication of kindred seminaries since us reaching that number. The whole that have been admitted from the first amount to about 1500, though, partly from deaths, partly from many having failed to com- plete their course, or gone to other institu- tions, not more than 950 of these have graduated. Nearly 100 have devoted them- selves to foreign, and many more to do- mestic missions. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions were indebted to this seminary for all their mis- sionaries but one for the first ten years ; and many of its students have lived to be- come presidents and professors of colleges and theological schools, and secretaries and agents of benevolent societies. It possesses peculiar advantages for the training of missionaries. The " Society of Inquiry on Missions," of which almost all the students are members, is nearly coeval with it. It has a valuable library and museum, and exerts a very salutary influence on the spirit and piety of the in- stitution. The doctrine is taught at this, as at most of the other theological semina- ries in the United States, that every pastor should be a missionary at heart, and that every student should be willing to go whithersoever God may call him. There are great facilities at Andover for having early intelligence from the American mis- sionaries, by constant correspondence, by visits of returned members, and by inter- course with the secretaries and other offi- cers of the American Board. The " Porter Rhetorical Society," so named from its founder, the late Rev. Dr. Porter, the first president of the seminary, has an excellent library, and exercises much influence. The library of the seminary itself is thought to be one of the best in the coun- try. It was selected for the purpose, contains 14,000 volumes, and has a fund to provide for its constant augmentation.' Some of the large number of German books contained in it being of a neological character, it was at one time feared by many that these might do mischief; but such apprehensions have now yielded, in the minds of those who felt them, to the consideration of the importance of having such books in an institution where men are to be trained to face an enemy, not to flee from him. The institution is under strict discipline. Monitors' bills are kept ; all are required to attend to their studies, and to be pres- ent at the lectures of the professors, at the morning and evening chapel prayers, and at Divine service on the Sabbath.' Chap. XVIII.] THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 163 There are instances of students being dis- missed for irregularity of conduct. The total sums that have been given for the erection of the seminary buildings, the endowing of professorships, the support of indigent students, the library, &c, cannot be precisely ascertained, but they proba- bly exceed 400,000 dollars. Mr. Bartlett, the most munificent of the donors, is sup- posed to have given 100,000 dollars, be- sides a legacy of 50,000 dollars. He is said never to have told any one how much some of the buildings that were erected at his instance cost him. Mr. Abbot gave about 120,000 dollars. Mr. Brown and Mr. Norris also gave large sums. No general solicitation has ever been made in behalf of the institution, though it has received from individuals many benefactions of from 500 to 5000 dollars. Connected with the seminary is a print- ing establishment, known as the Codman press, from its having a fount of Oriental types presented to it by the Rev. Dr. Cod- man, of Dorchester. Few institutions have ever been more blessed than the AndoverTheological Sem- inary. It has been intimately associated with the origin and progress of foreign missions, and had much influence in origi- nating the Bible, Colonization, Tract, and Temperance Societies, through the exer- tions of the lamented Mills* and his coad- jutors, who were students at it. I have spoken of it more in detail, not only be- cause of its being the oldest, the most richly endowed, and the most frequented of our theological schools, but also be- cause it has been, in some sense, a model for the rest.f The General Assembly of the Presbyte- rian Church established a theological sem- inary at Princeton, in New-Jersey, in 1812, being the second of the kind in the United States. Although far from being richly endowed like that of Andover, and has often been greatly embarrassed for want of adequate pecuniary support, it has at- * The Rev. Samuel J. Mills, a very zealous and able young man, who took, a leading part in the form- ation of several of the great benevolent societies of America, and died on the coast of Africa when look- ing for a place where a colony of negroes might be founded. t The Andover Faculty consists of the Rev. Drs. Woods and Emerson, and the Rev. Messrs. Stuart, B. B. Edwards, and Park, professors. Professor Stuart is well known for his Commenta- ries on the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews, as well as for his Hebrew grammar and other writings. Dr. Woods has published some valuable small works on baptism, inspiration of the Scriptures, &c. Dr. Emerson has not yet published much. Mr. B. B. Edwards has written much and ably for periodical publications, and is the author, besides, of several ■valuable works relating to missions ; among these is a missionary gazetteer. He published the life of Dr. Cornelius ; and in 1839 took a joint part with Pro- fessor Park in giving to the world an interesting vol- ume of translated selections from German authors. tained a great and well-merited celebrity by the distinguished talents of its profes- sors, as well as the excellent course of its studies. It has for several years had an annual attendance of from 125 to 140 stu- dents, and has educated, in all, above 1200. The missionary spirit has prevailed in it to a gratifying degree, almost from its first establishment, and a large number of its alumni have gone to carry the Gospel to heathen lands. There is a flourishing" Soci- ety of Inquiry on Missions," with a valuable collection of books relating to that subject. The Princeton course comprises for the first year, Hebrew, the Exegesis of the Original Language of the New Testament, Sacred Geography, Sacred Chronology, Jewish Antiquities, and the Connexion of Sacred and Profane History ; for the sec- ond year, Biblical Criticism, Church His- tory, and Didactic Theology ; for the third year, Polemic Theology, Church History, Church Government, Pastoral Theology, the Composition and Delivery of Sermons. Instruction is given both by lectures and text-books, and the entire course requires the study of many authors. The students must read essays of their own composition at least once every four weeks, and are ex- pected, also, to deliver short addresses be- fore the professors and their fellow-stu- dents at least once in the month. One evening in the week is devoted to the discussion of important theological ques- tions. Every Sabbath forenoon a sermon is delivered in the chapel by one of the professors. In the afternoon, the students assemble for a " conference" on some sub- ject in casuistical divinity, their professors presiding and closing the discussion with their remarks, and the services commen- cing and concluding with singing and pray- er. Questions such as the following are discussed : What constitutes a call to the ministry and the evidences of it? What is proper preparation for the Lord's Sup- per ? What is repentance 1 What is faith ? What is true, preparation for death"! These, and a hundred such subjects, are seriously and faithfully discussed, and none of the other exercises, probably, is so in- structive or so important to the students. It is there that the deep knowledge in spir- itual things of their venerated and excel- lent professors most fully manifests itself. God has greatly blessed these heart-search- ing services to the students, and much is it to be wished that such exercises, and such fidelity on the part of the professors who conduct them, were to be found in every theological seminary and theological de- partment of a university in the world. It is matter for devout thanksgiving that the venerable professors* appointed to the Princeton Seminary in its earliest years, * The Rev. Drs. Alexander and Miller, both of . whom have earned an extensive reputation by their 164 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. are still spared to labour for its good. Both they and their younger colleagues rank high among the American divines, and have great weight in the Church to which they belong. The General Convention of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church opened a theological institution at New- York in 1817, which, though removed next year to New-Haven, was soon after re-established at New- York. It originated in the efforts of the late John Henry Hobart, long bishop of the diocess of New- York, and has five professors, who are eminent and influential men, both in their own church and in the community at large. Its prosperity has been almost unin- terrupted. The number of students is usu- ally about seventy-five or eighty. In 1822, . the diocesses of Virginia and Maryland es- tablished another Episcopal seminary in Fairfax county, Virginia, a few miles from the city of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia. This seminary has four valuable professors, and from forty to fifty students. It has been a great blessing to the Episco- pal Church and to the country. A Baptist theological seminary, estab- lished at Newton, a town about six miles from Boston, in 1825, has been a source of much good, and has sent forth a consid- erable number of excellent preachers. It has three able professors, and usually from thirty to forty students. The Baptists also established a Literary and Theologi- cal Institute at Hamilton, in the State of New-York, in 1820. It has above 150 stu- dents in all, and in the theological depart- ment upward of thirty, under four profes- sors, who give instructions in the other de- partment also. A Lutheran theological seminary was established in 182fi at Gettysburg, in Penn- sylvania, very much through the exertions of the Rev. S. S. Schmucker, D.D.,who is its professor of theology. It has three professors, with from thirty to forty stu- dents in all, and has proved a rich blessing to the Lutheran Church. Dr. Schmucker is well known in the churches of the United States by his various writings, and his praiseworthy endeavours to bring about a union of feeling and action among the sev- eral branches of the Protestant denomina- tions. The Reformed Dutch Church has an able theological faculty in its seminary at New- Brunswick, in the State of New-Jersey. The foundation dates from 1784, but it was for a long time unoccupied. It now has three professors and about forty students. Such are the utmost details that the lim- its of this work will permit. Let me sim- ply add, that, since the opening of the Rev. Dr. Mason's theological school, about the beginning of the century, these institutions have amazingly increased. Most of them, like those at Andover and Princeton, are quite distinct from any college or univer- sity ; some, under the title of Theological Departments, are connected with literary institutions, but have their own professors, and, in reality, are very distinct. The fol- lowing table, presenting a summary of the whole, will probably be found interesting. Denominations. Congrega- tionalists. 1. 2. 3. 1. 5. .6. Old School 2 - Presbyteri- < 3 ans. I f 1 ' New School | 2. Presbyteri- ^ 3. ans. I 4 K5 Episcopali- ans. i: Name and locality of the institution. Andover Bangor Gilmanton Theological Department of Yale College Theological Institute of Connecticut, at East Windsor Theological Department of the Oberlin Institute . Theological Seminary at Princeton Western Theological Seminary at Alleghany town, ) near Pittsburgh > Union Theological Seminary Southern Theological Seminar}' at Columbia Indiana Theological Seminary at New- Albany New-York Theological Seminary, in New-York city Theological Seminary at Auburn .... Theological Department of Western Reserve College Lane Seminary at Cincinnati Southwestern Theological Seminary at Maryville . General Theological Seminary of the Protestant ) Episcopal Church, New-York . . . . 5 Theological Seminary, Fairfax county . State in which it is •?^r c u I Z lr § situated. v 4 .a £•! J 3fi = £.' H = S3 >.£* ftP, Z5S Massachusetts. 1808 5 153 Maine. 1820 3 44 New-Hampshire 1835 3 26 Connecticut. 1822 4 72 Connecticut. 1833 3 29 Ohio. 4 54 New-Jersey. 1812 4 110 Pennsylvania. 1828 3 29 Virginia. 1821 3 20 South Carolina. 1832 3 18 Indiana. 1829 2 10 New-York. 1836 3 90 New-York. 1821 4 69 Ohio. 3 14 Ohio. 1832 3 31 Tennessee. 2 24 New-York. 1817 5 74 Virginia. 3 43 public lectures as well as by their writings. The younger professors are the Rev. Dr. Hodge and the Rev. J. A. Alexander, the former well known in Eu- rope for his excellent work on the Epistle to the Ro- mans, and the .latter author of many articles in the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, an able quarterly publication which has been conducted for twenty years by the professors of the seminary, and of the College of New-Jersey, both situated in the village of Princeton. * I give the number of students for 1840, from the American Quarterly Register for that year. The list is understated, the number being that at a given epoch in the year, not that of all who attended during the course of it. For instance, were the number of students in the Princeton Seminary taken in the winter of 1839-40, it might have been J 20, yet by adding the students who joined in the summer ses- sion, the number for the academic year might have been 130. Chap. X HI!.] THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 165 Denominations. Name and locality of the institution. Episcopali- i 3. Theological Seminary of the Diocess of Ohio, ans. ( Gambia 1. Thomaston Theological Institute . 2. Theological Institution at Newton . 3. Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute, Hamilton Baptists. ■{ 4. Virginia Baptist Seminary at Richmond 5. Furman Theological Seminary at High Hills 6. Literary and Theological Seminary at Eaton 7. Theological Department in Granville College 8. Alton Theological Seminary .... Ref. Dutch. Theological Seminary, New-Brunswick {1. Hartwick Seminary 2. Theological Seminary at Gettysburg 3. Theological Seminary at Lexington 4. Theological Seminary at Columbus German Ref. Theological Seminary at Mercersberg Assoc. Chur. Theological Department in Jefferson College Assoc. Ref. < 1. Theological Seminary at Newburgh Church. \ 2. Theological Seminary at Alleghany-town State in which it is situated. f|S *; 1 If* ££& Ki K«J 1 Ohio. 1828 3 10 Maine. 1837 2 23 Massachusetts. 1825 3 33 > New-York. Virginia. 1820 4 27 1832 3 67 South Carolina. 1838 2 30 Georgia. 1834 2 10 Ohio. 1832 2 8 Illinois. New-Jersey. 3 36 New- York. 2 15 Pennsylvania. 1826 3 26 South Carolina. 1835 2 10 Ohio. 1 10 Pennsylvania. 1825 2 20 Pennsylvania. . 2 22 New-York. 1836 3 11 Pennsylvania. 1828 1 19 The Reformed Presbyterians (Covenant- ers) have a theological school at Allegha- ny-town, and the Moravians have one at Nazareth, in Pennsylvania : the former has two professors and 14 or 15 students, the latter one professor and 5 or 6 students. The reader will remark that the number of students in the theological seminaries contained in the preceding table is that for the year 1840, which is the latest complete statement I have seen. It must not be considered as a present census of these institutions. With the exception of the Seminary at Andover, and, perhaps, two or three others, the number of students at present (the commencement of 1844) is much greater than it was in 1840. In some seminaries it is almost twice as great as it was then. The whole number of students in these seminaries may fairly be put down as greater by one fourth part at present than it was when the above-given list was made. The above enumeration comprises the orthodox evangelical denominations of Protestants only. The Unitarians have a theological department at Harvard Univer- sity, which had two professors and twen- ty-seven students in 1840. The Roman Catholic theological semi- naries, according to the Catholic Almanac, stood as follows in 1840 : That at Philadelphia had 22 students. Baltimore 16 Einmetsburg 20 Frederick 20 Charleston, South Carolina. Parish of Assumption in Louisiana. .. 9 Bardstown and St. Rose, in Kentucky Cincinnati Vincennes 9 Barrens 12 M i ssouri St. Louis In all, twelve institutions and 114 stu- dents. But this list was probably incom- plete, as we learn from the same authority that in 1842 there were twenty-one eccle- siastical institutions, and 180 clerical stu- dents. At present there are 261. I shall conclude by stating that the en- tire number of theological schools and fac- ulties belonging to the orthodox Protestant Churches is thirty-eight,* with about 105 professors, and nearly, if not quite, 1800 students at the present time. The great- er number of these institutions are in their infancy. Where they are connected with colleges, the theological professor gener- ally gives lectures in the literary depart- ment also, on moral philosophy, meta- physics, logic, &c. Many of the profes- sors in the new and smaller seminaries are pastors of churches in the neighbour- hood, and all that are not preach much in vacant churches, or on extraordinary oc- casions, such as before benevolent or lit- erary societies and bodies, ecclesiastical assemblies, &c. Many of them, too, are expected to employ their leisure moments in giving instruction through the press. Though the number of professors seems large when compared with that of the stu- dents. I can assure the reader that few men have more to do, or, in point of fact, do more for the cause of Christ. There are to be found among them many of the first ministers of the churches to which they respectively belong. If not quite equal in point of science to some of the great professors in the Old World, they are all, God be praised, believed to be con- verted, and are devoted, faithful men. Their grand object is to train up a pious as well as a learned ministry. I am not aware that there is one of them that does not open every meeting of his class with ear- nest prayer, in which he is joined by his pupils — a striking contrast to what one * At the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, theological lectures are given to a class in divinity, and possibly this is done also in some of the other Methodist colleges. 166 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. sees, alas! at too many of the theological lectures in the universities of Europe. CHAPTER XIX. EFFORTS TO DIFFUSE THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. Much has been done in the United States to place the Sacred Scriptures in the hands of all who can read them, and in this endeavour there is a delightful co-op- eration of good men of every name. Even statesmen, though they may not be deci- dedly religious, or, by outward profession, members of any church, lend their aid in this endeavour; and it is not uncommon to hear men of the first rank in the political circles, some occupying high places in the council of the nation, advocate at Bible Society anniversaries the claims of the Word of God. The impression prevails among our statesmen that the Bible is em- phatically the foundation of our hopes as a people. Nothing but the Bible can make men the willing subjects of law ; they must first acquiesce with submission in the gov- ernment of God, before they can yield a willing obedience to the requirements of human governments, however just these may be. It is the religion of the Bible only that can render the population of any coun- try honest, industrious, peaceable, quiet, contented, happy. It is twenty-six years since the Ameri- can Bible Society was instituted, and it now has branches in all parts of the coun- try. It has sent out. in all, 3,269,678 cop- ies of the Bible, or of the New Testament, from its depository.* Last year alone 216,605 copies went forth to bless the na- tion. In the years 1829 and 1830, great and systematic efforts were made to place a Bible in every family that was without one throughout the whole land. Much was accomplished, yet so rapid is the in- crease of the population, that these efforts must be repeated from year to year ; and the work can only be done by dividing the country into small districts, and engaging active and zealous persons to visit every house from time to time, ascertain what families are destitute of the Scriptures, and supply them by selling or giving away copies, according to circumstances. Great efforts are also made at New- York, and * As some Bible societies are not auxiliary to the American Bible Society — such was until lately the Philadelphia Bible Society, and such is at present the American and Foreign Bible Society — we must not suppose that the number of copies of the Scrip- tures mentioned as having left the depository of the American Bible Society includes the whole which have been circulated by societies in the United States. Besides, the American Sunday-school Union, and the Methodist Book Concern, for a time published the Bible. other seaports, to supply foreign emigrants as they arrive on our shores. It is a remarkable fact that what has been done by Bible societies seems not to have interfered with the business of the booksellers ; for these sell more copies of the Holy Scriptures than they did before the Bible societies existed. The more the Bi- ble is known, the more it is appreciated ; in many a family the entrance of a single copy begets a desire to possess several ; besides which, the Bible Society distributions great- ly augment the demand for Biblical com- mentaries and expositions, and thus aug- ment the trade of the booksellers, who pub- lish and put into circulation immense edi- tions of such works. There is a great de- mand for the Scriptures, also, both in week- day and Sabbath-schools, and great num- bers of these are furnished by the book-trade. Nor does the American Bible Society confine its efforts to the United States. It has for many years associated itself with those societies which, by prosecuting the same work in foreign lands, are labouring to hasten the coming of that day when " the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth. '-' The receipts of the society for the last year amounted to 126,348 dollars, of which 15,516 were appropriated to the work abroad. The society has published the New Tes- tament and some parts of the Old in " raised characters," for the use of the blind, and is now engaged in printing the remainder for that unfortunate class of the population. In the year 1837, a Bible society was formed among the members of the Bap- tist churches, entitled the "American and Foreign Bible Society." It was formed with special reference to the circulation of translations in the course of being made by that body of Christians. Some, at least, of these translations the American Bible Society thought it could not, consistently with its constitution, aid in publishing, be- cause the original words baptize and bap- tism have been translated into words equivalent to immerse and immersion. How- ever much it may be regretted that these words, about the meaning of. which there has been so much philological disputation, are not permitted to remain untranslated, so that all denominations might be put upon the same footing, and be enabled to continue united in the work of Bible circu- lation, the issue will, it is likely, prove that in this, as in many similar cases, God is about to make an apparent obstacle might- ily subserve the advancement of his king- dom. The new society has taken up the work of foreign publication with great zeal, and doubtless it will serve to devel- op the energies of the large and powerful body of Christians who sustain it, to an extent to which they never would have gone but for its formation. The receipts Chap. XX.] RELIGIOUS TRACTS AND BOOKS. 167 last year, being the sixth of its existence, were 20,691 dollars ; the expenditure 21,068 dollars. Meanwhile, the resources of the American Bible Society have increased in- stead of having diminished. CHAPTER XX. ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE PUBLICATION AND CIR- CULATION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS AND BOOKS. No branch of religious enterprise has been more vigorously prosecuted in the United States than that of preparing, pub- lishing, and circulating moral and religious writings in various forms. The wide dif- fusion of education, at least among the white part of the population, makes it ob- vious that powerful advantage may be ta- ken of the press in promoting the truth. Associations of various kinds are enga- ged in this good work. We have seen that the Sunday-school societies are doing much for supplying the youth of the coun- try with moral and religious reading ; we ■have now to speak of other societies which aim at benefiting adults, not, however, to the exclusion of the young. First among these associations may be ranked the American Tract Society, which, like most others of a general and national character, has its seat in the city of New- York. It was instituted in 1825, and hence has been eighteen years in existence. It is founded on the broad principle of uniting in its support Christians of all evangelical denominations of Protestants, so far as they may be disposed to co-operate in its objects ; its Committee of Publication is composed of ministers of the Gospel of the different orthodox communions ; and its publications themselves convey those great truths and doctrines in which all of these communions can agree. The operations of no society in Ameri- ca seem to have been prosecuted with greater vigour or more wisdom. Its Re- port for 1843 states that, since its com- mencement, it has sent forth 1069 different publications, of which 131 form volumes of various sizes by themselves, and the remainder are, with few exceptions, what are called tracts, each consisting of four pages and upward, but requiring more than one to make a volume. It has pub- lished some broad-sheets and hand bills for posting up in public places or otherwise. And besides these 1069 publications issued at home, it has aided in the publication of 1850 in foreign lands. The copies of its publications printed last year amounted to 4,156,500, of which 174,500 were vol- umes. During the same period 4,155,806, including 157,478 volumes, actually issued from its depository. Among the volumes were several thousand sets of the Evan- gelical Family Library, of fifteen volumes each, and of the Christian Library, of for- ty-five volumes each. Many thousands of separate volumes, also, of these sets were sold, and 77,000 copies of the Christian Al- manac for the United States. From 100,000 to 150,000 of some of the smaller tracts were distributed ; and the total sent into circulation during eighteen years has been 1,300,896,847 pages, or about 80,806,460 of tracts and volumes. The receipts for the year 1843 amounted to 42,433 dollars from donations, and 49,904 from sales ; in all, 96,240 dollars. Fifteen thousand dollars were sent to foreign countries in aid of the tract cause abroad. The Society is assisted by auxiliary as- sociations in all parts of the United States, both in the collection of funds, and in dis- seminating its publications. Some of these local societies, such as those at New-York, Boston, and Philadelphia, are large and ef- ficient. The Society is zealously prosecuting two grand measures, into which I shall enter the more fully, inasmuch as they are of the utmost importance to the reli- gious well-being of the country, and also more or less practicable in other lands. The first of these is the publication of vol- umes of approved excellence, such as Bun- yan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and their distribution throughout the coun- try. It proposes to place not only one volume at least, as was resolved some years ago, but even a whole copy of its Evangelical Family Library, of fifteen vol- umes, or its Christian Library, of forty- five volumes, in as many households as are willing to buy them ; and in seeking to accomplish this end, it employs able men, ministers of the Gospel and laymen, as agents. These visit towns and cities, preach in the churches, raise funds to sup- ply the poor with books, organize commit- tees who are to visit all the families in their respective districts, and engage all who are able to buy one book or more, and to supply such as are too poor to pur- chase. Another set of agents consists of plain, but sensible, pious, and zealous col- porteurs, or hawkers, generally laymen, who are sent into the " Far West" to car- ry books and tracts to the frontier people, engaged in felling the forests on their ever- onward course towards the setting sun, as well as into the mountainous districts, and the thinly-settled belt of sandy country which stretches along the ocean in the Middle and Southern States. The num- ber of these colporteurs is at present sixty. Though in operation but a few years, this enterprise had in 1842 placed 1,800,000 volumes in the hands of families, compri- sing at least 4,000,000 of souls. Who can calculate the amount of good which such 163 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. a work must, with God's blessing, accom- plish ! I ought to add, that not only is care taken that both books and tracts shall be printed with good type, and on excellent paper, but that the books are substantially bound, and the tracts covered, for the most part, with handsome paper coverings. In these respects they form a marked contrast with the publications of some societies of the same kind on the Continent of Europe. It is rightly thought to be a false economy which, for the sake of saving a [ew hun- dred dollars, would fail to render attractive in appearance, as well as readable and du- rable, publications which are intended to interest, instruct, and save men, many of whom are wholly indifferent to religion, and might be repelled from reading them were they to appear in a mean and shabby dress. Besides its publications in English, the Society has sent out a considerable num- ber of tracts in French, German, Spanish, and other languages, for the various emi- grants that arrive in the United States. The other measure referred to is the systematic periodical distribution of tracts in cities, towns, villages, and even rural districts, though this cannot be done di- rectly by the Society, so much as by the numerous auxiliaries which it endeavours heartily to engage in carrying it through. The object is to place a tract, at least once in the month, in every family willing to receive one, and, where practicable, to ac- company it with religious conversation, especially where ignorance of the Gospel or family affliction renders it peculiarly called for. In pursuing this design, the city, town, or village is divided into small geographical districts, each containing a certain number of families, and assigning to each a sufficiency of zealous, intelligent, and prudent Christians to make monthly visits to every family, and leave the tract selected for the month. Some will require more than one visit, particularly the sick and the destitute ; but houses where the inmates persist in refusing tracts, in spite of every effort to overcome their reluc- tance, are passed by. This plan, wherever justice has been done to it in practice, has been found eminently beneficial. Cases of poverty and disease are discovered and made known to associ- ations and individuals likely to attend to them. Many persons, living in the con- stant neglect of public worship, are in- duced to attend the preaching of the Gos- pel. The churches in the neighbourhood are pointed out to them, and they are ex- horted to go to such as they may prefer. Such is the procedure in many places throughout the United States. In the city of New- York it has been in operation for five or six years, and with abundance of blessed results. According to 'municipal regulations, the city, which now has above 320,000 inhabitants, is divided into wards, and to each of these, when practicable, there is appointed what is called a super- intendent, generally a minister of the Gos- pel, a young man who devotes himself wholly to the work. The superintendents divide their wards into districts, find a dis- tributer of either sex for each, hold fre- quent meetings with their distributers, pro- vide them with tracts for distribution, re- ceive their reports, draw up a general one for the monthly meeting of the City Tract' Society, under whose auspices the work proceeds, and read their reports at those meetings. Withal, they hold prayer meet- ings in their respective wards almost every night in the week, and engage competent persons to hold others which they cannot themselves attend. The distributers la- bour gratuitously. The superintendents receive usually 600 dollars each as his sal- ary. A few years ago these sixteen su- perintendents were supported by the same number of liberal Christian merchants and mechanics in that city, who rejoiced to be instrumental in maintaining this good work. I shall conclude by giving the summary of what was accomplished in New-York during the year ending on the 1st of De- cember 1843, as presented at the regular annual public meeting, held in one of the churches of that city. 1,050 average number of visiters (or distributers). 732,155 tracts distributed, containing 3,425,781 pages. 936 Bibles and 558 Testaments received from the New- York Bible Society, and supplied to the destitute .- 4,496 volumes lent from the ward libraries. 2,200 children gathered into Sabbath-schools. 315 children gathered into public schools. 131 persons gathered into Bible-classes. 904 persons induced to attend church. 705 temperance pledges obtained. 1,433 district prayer-meetings held. 43 backsliders reclaimed. 396 persons hopefully converted. 342 converts united with evangelical churches. Such is the tabular view presented by one year's labour in the field of Tract dis- tribution in one city. Besides the American Tract Society, which may be regarded as a vast reservoir of common truth — of doctrines about which all evangelical Protestants are agreed — > there are other societies that publish reli- gious tracts and books ; and among these I may mention, as distinguished for the ener- gy of its management and the extent of its operations, the " Book Concern" of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This institu- tion is situated in New- York, under the con- trol of the General Conference, which, every four years, appoints a committee to direct its operations. Two able agents are intrust- ed with the management, and are required to make full returns to the Bishops and to the General Conference. It must not be thought that all its numerous publications are stamped with the peculiarities of the Chap. XXI.] RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. 169 Methodist doctrines ; not a few of them are the same in character with those pub- lished by the American Tract Society — such, for instance, as the " Saints' Rest." The sales are not confined to the main de- pository at New-York, and the branches established at some other great centres of trade ; its publications are retailed by all the travelling ministers of that extensive body, and thus find their way into the most remote log-cabins of the West. And who can calculate the good that may re- sult from reading the biographical and di- dactic volumes thus put into circulation ? Who can tell what, triumphs over sin, what penitential tears, what hopes made to spring up in despairing hearts, what holy resolu- tions, owe their existence, under God, to these books 1 The amount of the sales of this institution and its branches was, last year, fully 125,000 dollars. The Old School Presbyterians have also a Board of Publication, which has put forth not only a considerable number of doctri- nal tracts in which the distinctive views of that body are ably maintained, but many books also of solid worth, which are gain- ing an extensive circulation among its own members, and the professors of the Calvin- istic system generally. The receipts of this Board were, last year, 18.160 dollars, and its expenditures 18,409 dollars. The regular Baptists, too, have their Tract and Book Society earnestly engaged in the good work of supplying their people with publications addressed both to the con- verted and the unconverted. The receipts of that Board were last year 9906 dollars, and its expenditures 9869. The Episcopalians, Free-Will Baptists, the Quakers or Friends, the Lutherans, and the Protestant Metho- dists, have all their own Tract Societies ; the last two have their " Publication Com- mittees 1 ' and their Book Establishments. Other denominations, also, may possibly have theirs. The amount of evangelical tracts and books put into circulation by all these " societies," " boards," and " com- mittees," put together, cannot be exactly ascertained. Their value in money, I mean 'for what they are sold, can hardly be less than 300,000 dollars. They all help tg swell the great stream of Truth, as it rolls its health-giving waters through the land. May God grant that these efforts may go on continually increasing from year to year, until every family shall be blessed with a well-stored library of sound reli- gious books. CHAPTER XXI. THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF THE UNITED STATES. While it would be very foreign to the object of this work to enter upon any dis- cussion as to the value and extent of the general literature of the United States, it is not out of place to say something respect- ing that part of it which falls under the head of Religion. And first, let me advert to that which, without reference to its origin, includes all the literature of a religious kind now cir- culating through the country. In this sense, our religious literature is by far the most extensive in the world, with the single ex- ception of that of Great Britain. We have a population of 18,500,000; and, even inclu- ding the African race among us, and regard- ing the country as a whole, we have a lar- ger proportion of readers than can be found in most other nations. Indeed, 1 am not aware of any whole kingdom or nation that has more. Deducting the coloured popu- lation, we have 15,500,000 of people who, whatever may have been their origin, are Anglo-American in character, and to a great extent speak and read the English language. Not only so, but of these a very large proportion are religious in their char- acters and habits, as we shall show in an* other place ; and, among the rest, there is a widely prevalent respect for Christi- anity, and a disposition to make themselves acquainted with it. To meet the demand created by so large a body of religious and serious readers, we have a vast number of publications in every department of Christian theology, and these are derived from various sources. Some have been translated from German and French ; some from the Latin'of more or less ancient times ; some from the Greek ; while many of our learned men, and particularly of our divines, read some or all these languages, and would think their libraries very deficient in the litera- ture with which they ought to be familiar, did they not contain a good stock of such books imported from distant Europe. Again, we have either republished or im- ported a great many of the best English religious works, both of the present times and of two or three centuries back. Such as seem adapted for popular use, and as many of a more learned cast as seem likely to justify their republication, are reprinted ; while not a few copies of many more are ordered from Europe through the book- sellers. Some American reprints of English reli- gious books, particularly of works of a practical character, have had an immense circulation. The commentaries of Scott, Henry, Doddridge, Adam Clarke, and Gill, have been extensively sold, and some booksellers owe a large part of their for- tunes to the success of the American edi- tions. All the sterling English writers on religious subjects, of the seventeenth cen- tury, as well as of later times, are familiar to our Christian readers ; and the smaller 170 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. practical treatises of Flavel, Baxter, Bos- ton, Doddridge, and others, have been very widely disseminated. Bates, Charnock, Flavel, Howe, the Henrys, &c, are well known among us, as are also Jeremy Tay- lor, Barrow, Bishops Hall and Wilson (of Sodor and Man), and many more whom I need not name. As for more modern times, the names of Thomas Scott and Adam Clarke are household words, and Chalmers is known to hundreds of thou- sands who will never see his face in this world. There are many others in Eng- land and Scotland with whose names we have been familiar from our youth. In English systematic theology no names are more known or esteemed than the late An- drew Fuller and Thomas Watson. And although it cannot be said that every good "religious work that appears in Great Brit- ain is republished in the United States, a large proportion of the best certainly are, especially such as are of a catholic nature, and many of them, I am assured, have a wider circulation in the United States than in England itself. The United States have sometimes been reproached by foreigners as a country without any literature of native growth. M. de Tocqueville, arguing from general principles, and, as he supposes, philosophi- cally, seems to think that, from the nature of things, the country, because a republic, never can have much literature of its own. He forgets that even the purest democrat- ical government that the world has ever seen, that of Athens, produced in its day more distinguished poets, orators, histori- ans, philosophers, as well as painters and sculptors, than any other city or country of the same population in the world. He full well knows, however, that the govern- ment of the United States is not an unmixed democracy, and that in everything that bears upon the higher branches of learning, our institutions are as much above the con- trol of a democracy as those of any other country. The grand disadvantage, accord- ing to M. de Tocqueville, under which our literature labours is, that authors are not encouraged by pensions from the govern- ment. But are these so absolutely indis- pensable 1 Have such encouragements accomplished all that has been expected from them] Are they not often shame- fully abused, and merely made to gratify the personal predilections of ministers of state 1 Besides, it is notorious that in England at least, where the government professes, I understand, to patronise liter- ature, the most distinguished authors, in all its various departments, owe nothing to that source. As for the patronage of asso- ciations and wealthy individuals, it may exist just as well in the United States as anywhere else, and, in fact, is not unknown there. But our literature, it is said, is not known beyond the country itself; and this is to some extent true. But that few, compara- tively, even of the distinguished authors of any country, are known beyond its limits, might easily be shown in the case of France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Italy. With the exception of the corps of literary men, even the well informed among the English are little acquainted with the literature of those countries, and but for what they learn through the medium of the Reviews, would hardly know so much as the names of some of their most distin- guished authors. No doubt the literature of every civilized nation greatly influences that of all others ; not, however, by its having a general circulation in those coun- tries, but because of the master minds who first familiarize themselves with it, and then transfer all of it that is most valuable into their own, just as Milton appropriated the beauties of Homer, Virgil, and Tasso. The United States have unquestionably produced a considerable number of authors in every branch of literature, who, to say the least, are respectable in point of emi- nence.* Their being unknown- to those who make use of the fact as a reproach to the country, may possibly be owing to something else than the want of real merit on their part ; and if, upon the whole, they present only what appears to foreigners nothing beyond a respectable mediocrity, * It would not be difficult to make out a tolerably long list of authors who must be pronounced, by those who know anything of them, to be such as would be a disgrace to no country ; and many of them are not unknown in Europe. Among living writers on law in its various branches, we have Kent, Story, Webster, Wheaton ; in medicine, Mott, War- ren, Beck, Ray, Jackson, and many others; in theol- ogy and Biblical science, Stuart, Miller, Woods, the Alexanders, Hodge, Wayland, Robinson, Conant, Barnes^Stowe, Beecher, Schmucker, Hawks, the Ab- bots, &c. ; in belles-lettres and history, Irving, Pres- cott, Anthon, Bancroft, Walsh, Cooper, Paulding ; in. science, Silliman, Hitchcock, Henrv, Davies; and po- litical economy, Carey, Vethake, Biddle, Raymond. These are but a few, selected chiefly with reference to their being known to some extent, at any rate, in Europe. Among the distinguished dead, we have Marshall, Livingston, Madison, Jefferson, Jay; Rush, Dorsey, Wistar, Dewees, Godman; the Edwardses, Davies, Dwight, Smith, Mason, Emmons, Channing, Griffin, Rice ; Wirt, Noah Webster, Ramsay ; Frank- lin, Ewing, and Hamilton. In the fine arts, we have had a West, an Alston, and have now a Greenough, a Powers, a Crawford ; while in the useful arts, as they are called, we have not been without men of some renown, as the names of Fulton, Whitney, and oth- ers attest. Nor are American books unknown in Great Brit- ain, the only country in Europe in which they could be extensively read. In " Bent's London Catalogue" we find the names of 68 American works on theolo- gy, 66 in fiction, 56 of juvenile literature, 52 of trav- els, 41 on education, 26 on biography, 22 on history, 12 on poetry, 11 on metaphysics, 10 on philosophy, 9 on science, and 9 on law — in all, 382, which have been republished in England within the last ten years. Besides these, a good many books published in America are imported every year into Great Britain. Chap. XXI.] RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. 171 this may readily be accounted for by other causes besides any hopeless peculiarity al- leged to exist in the people or their govern- ment. The country is still comparatively new. Much has yet to be done in felling the for- est and clearing it for the habitations of civilized man. But a small part of our territory bears evidence of having been long settled. Our people have passed through exciting scenes that left but little leisure for writing. Few families possess much wealth. The greater number of our institutions of learning are of recent origin. None of them have such ancient founda- tions as are to be found in many European universities ; our colleges have no fellow- ships ; our professors have their time much occupied in giving instruction ; our pastors, lawyers, and physicians find but little lei- sure, amid their professional labours, for the cultivation of literature. We have no sinecures — no pensions — for learned men. There is too much public life and excite- ment to allow the rich to find pleasure in Sybaritic enjoyments ; and they have other sources of happiness than the extensive possession of paintings and statues, though even for these the taste is gaining ground. But to return to our proper subject, the religious literature of the United States : the number of our authors in this depart- ment is by no means small. Many valua- ble works, the productions of native minds, issue year after year from the press, a very large proportion of which are of a practical kind, and unquestionably exert a most salu- tary influence. They meet with an exten- sive sale, for the taste for such reading is widely diffused, fostered as it is by the es- tablishment of Sunday-schools and the li- braries attached to them.* To the religious literature of books must be added that of periodical works — news- papers, magazines, reviews — and nowhere else, perhaps, is this literature so extensive or so efficient. More than sixty evangeli- cal religious newspapers are published once a week. The Methodists publish eight, in- cluding one in the German tongue, and all under the direction of their Conferences. The Episcopalians have twelve ; the Bap- tists twenty ; the Presbyterians of all classes, including the Congregationalists, Dutch and German Reformed, Lutherans, &c, about twenty more. This estimate in- cludes evangelical Protestant papers only. In all, they cannot have fewer than 250,000 subscribers. The Christian Advocate (Meth- odist), published at New- York, has about 26,000 ; a few years ago it had 30,000, but the number diminished in consequence of the establishment of other Methodist pa- * I need not repeat here what has been said of the immense circulation of books by the Sunday-school and the Tract and Book societies, including the " Book Concern" of the Methodists. pers. The New-York Observer has 16,000 subscribers, and several of the rest have a circulation of from 5000 to 10,000 each. They comprise a vast amount of religious intelligence, as well as valuable selections from pamphlets and books ; and though it may be the case that religious newspapers sometimes prevent more substantial read- ing, yet it must be confessed, I think, that they are doing great good, and are perused by many who would otherwise read little or nothing at all of a religious character. Besides these newspapers, there is a large number of religious monthly and semi- monthly magazines, and several quarterly reviews, in which valuable essays on sub- jects of importance may be found from time to time.* The political papersf in the United States, though often extremely violent in party politics, are in many instances aux- iliary to the cause of religion. While the editors of some, happily not many, are op- posed to everything that savours of reli- gion, and even allow it to be outraged in their columns, an overwhelming majority often give excellent articles, and publish a large amount of religious intelligence. In this respect there has evidently been a remarkable improvement within the last twenty years. Many of the political jour- nals have rendered immense service in * Two of these quarterlies are published under the auspices of the Presbyterians of the Old and New Schools ; the " Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review," at Princeton, New-Jersey, which is the organ of the former, and the "American Biblical Repository," at New- York. The " Methodist Maga- zine and Quarterly Review," and the " Christian Re- view," conducted by the Baptists, are both valuable periodicals ; and all four contain able reviews and essays. The " Christian Register" is published monthly ; it is the organ of the Unitarians, and is conducted with much ability. t In the year 1839, according to the statistics fur- nished by the Postmaster-general, the number of " newspapers and other periodical journals in the United States" was 1555, of which 116 were pub- lished daily (the Sabbath excepted), fourteen three times a week, thirty-nine twice a week, and 991 once a week. The remainder, which were issued twice a month, monthly, or quarterly, were principally magazines and reviews. Of the newspapers, thirty- eight were in the German language, four in French, one in Spanish, and the rest in English. Several of the New- Orleans papers are published both in French and English. The circulation of these newspapers and other periodicals is immense. Of the newspa- pers alone the subscriptions are at least 1,000,000. And though the number is too great by one half or three fourths, and though many are conducted by men who are but poorly qualified for the responsible and difficult task of an editor, yet there is no deny- ing that even the poorest of them carry a vast amount of information to readers in the most secluded and distant settlements, as well as to the inhabitants of the most populous districts. And if we take the editors in the mass, it must be acknowledged that they are very ready to lend their columns to the pub- lication of religious articles, of a suitable character and length, when requested by good men. And did Christians feel as they ought on this subject, and do what they might, the " press" would be far more useful to the cause of religion that it is. 172 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. the Temperance cause, as well as in every other involving the alleviation of human suffering. Some of the literary and political Re- views of native origin are very respectable works of the kind ; the North American Review, in particular, which has now ex- isted more than a quarter of a century. There are also several valuable monthly Reviews. Besides these, the leading Re- views published in Britain, such as the Edinburgh, the London Quarterly, West- minster, Foreign Quarterly, Dublin, &c, are all republished among us. CHAPTER XXII. EFFORTS TO PROMOTE THE RELIGIOUS AND TEMPORAL INTERESTS OF SEAMEN. We have spoken of the endeavours made to send the Gospel to the destitute settle- ments of the United States, both in the West and in the East, but we must not forget that the population of that country includes 100,000 men whose home is on the deep, and " who do business in the great wa- ters," a number which must be almost doubled if we include those who navigate the rivers and lakes in steamboats, sailing vessels, and other craft. The first systematic efforts made on a large scale, in the United States, for the salvation of seamen, commenced in 1812, at Boston. Since then much interest in the subject has been awakened at almost every port along the seaboard ; and within the last few years a great deal has been done for boatmen and sailors on the rivers and lakes. The American Seaman's Friend Society was instituted at New- York in 1827, and is now the chief association engaged in this benevolent enterprise. It serves, in some sense, as a central point to local so- cieties formed in the other leading sea- ports, as well as those on the Western riv- ers, though they are not, in general, con- nected with it nominally.* By a monthly publication, called the Sailor's Magazine, it communicates to pious seamen much interesting information regarding the prog- ress of truth among that class of men, with details of its own proceedings, and those of other associations of the same kind. Chapels have now been opened for sea- men, and public worship maintained on their account in almost all the principal seaports from the northeast to the south- west, chaplains being engaged for the pur- pose, and supported chiefly by local socie- ties. Those in the service of the central * There are no fewer than fifty of these local as- sociations for the promotion of the spiritual and tem- poral welfare of seamen and rivermen in the United States. society are, with few exceptions, stationed at foreign ports, such as Havre, in France, Canton, in China, Sydney, in New South Wales, Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, and Cronstadt, in Russia. It had chaplains at one time, also, at Rio Janeiro, Marseilles, and some other places. Besides promoting the establishment of public worship under chaplains at sea- ports, the society has strongly and suc- cessfully recommended the opening of good boarding-houses and reading-rooms for seamen when on shore, and the promo- tion of their temporal comfort in every way possible. The efforts of the different associations for seamen have been greatly blessed. Last year, in particular, was marked by special mercies. In no fewer than ten or twelve ports there were manifest outpour- ings of the Holy Spirit on the meetings for religious instruction. A hundred and fifty sailors were reported by one of the chaplains at Philadelphia as having been converted under his ministry, and among these was an old man, ninety-nine years of age, who had been, from time to time, a drunkard for more than seventy years. There are supposed to be 600 pious cap- tains in the United States' mercantile navy. There are also several decidedly religious officers in the national marine, who exer- cise a happy influence on the service. The pious seamen belonging to the United States are now reckoned at about 6000 ; a most gratifying contrast to the state of things twenty-five years ago, when a pious seaman, of any class, was rarely to be met with. The income of the society for the last year was $12,992, without including the receipts of the local associations, which' must have been considerable. Its expen- ditures were $13,785. CHAPTER XXIII. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRIN- CIPLE IN REFORMING EXISTING EVILS. TEM- PERANCE SOCIETIES. We have contemplated the Voluntary Principle as the main support of religion and its institutions in the United States. We have now to consider its powers of correcting, or rather overcoming, some of the evils that prevail in society. And first, let us see how it has contended with In- temperance, one of the greatest evils that have ever afflicted the human race. It is not easy to depict in a few words the ravages of drunkenness in the United States. The early wars of the Colonial age, the long war of the Revolution, and, finally, that of 1812-15 with England, all contributed to promote this tremendous Chap. XXIII.] TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 173 evil. The very abundance of God's gifts became, by their perversion, a means of augmenting- it. The country being fertile, nearly through its whole extent, and pro- ducing immense quantities of wheat, rye, and corn,* the last two of which were de- voted lo the" manufacture of whiskey, there seemed no feasible check, or conceivable limit to the ever-growing evil, especially as the government had no such pressure on its finances as might justify the laying on of a tax that would prevent or diminish the manufacture of ardent spirits. More- over, the idea had become almost univer- sally prevalent that the use of such stimu- lants, at least in moderate quantities, was not only beneficial, but almost indispensa- ble for health, as well as for enabling men to bear up under toil and fatigue. The mischief spread from year to year. It pervaded all classes of society. The courts of justice, the administration of gov- ernment, the very pulpit itself, felt its dire- ful influence. The intellect of the physi- cian, and the hand of the surgeon, were too often paralyzed by it ; and it might be said, that what some thought to be ordain- ed unto life, was found to produce death. Poverty, disease, crime, punishment, mis- ery, were the natural fruits which it brought forth abundantly. Society was afflicted in almost all its ranks ; nearly every family throughout the land beheld the plague in one or more of its members. Yet for a long time, while all saw and lamented the evil, none stood up against it. But there were those that mourned, and wept, and prayed over the subject, and the God of our fathers, who had been with them on the ocean and amid the dreary wilderness, to watch over them and to protect them, heard those prayers. In the year 1812, a considerable effort was made to arouse the attention of Chris- tians to the growing evils of intemperance, and a day of fasting and of prayer was ob- served by some religious bodies. In the following year, the Massachusetts Soci- ety for the Suppression of Intemperance was formed, and its labours were mani- festly useful. Still. " the plague was not stayed." The subject, however, was not allowed to drop. It was seen that the So- ciety had not gone far enough, and that it would not do to admit of ardent spirits be- ing taken, even in moderation. The evil of wile-spread drunkenness never could be exterminated by such half-way measures. It was proposed, accordingly, in 1826, to proceed upon the principle of entire absti- nence from the use of ardent or distilled spirits as a beverage, and that same year saw the formation at Boston of the Ameri- can Temperance Society. The press was * The wonl com is almost invariably employed in America to designate the grain commonly called maize in England, and Ble de Turqvie in France. soon set in motion to make its objects known, and able agents were employed in advocating its principles. Great was the success that followed. In the course of a few years societies were to be found in all parts of the country, and were joined, not by thousands only, but by hundreds of thousands. People of all classes and ages entered zealously into so noble an under- taking. Ministers of the Gospel, lawyers, and judges, legislators, physicians, took a prominent part in urging it on. What need is there of words 1 The cause continues advancing to this day. To reach the poor, as well as to remove temptation from the rich, the rules of the Temperance societies within the last six or seven years have included " all intoxicating drinks." Upon this principle, wines of all descrip- tions have generally been abandoned, both on account of their being mostly impure with us — being imported, and all more or less intoxicating — and because they are not found necessary to persons in health, but, on the contrary, injurious ; besides which, it was of consequence that an ex- ample of self-denial should be given by those who could afford to buy wine, for the sake of the poor, who could not. But, in the progress of the Temperance reformation, little was done to reclaim men who had already become drunkards. And yet, at the lowest estimate, there were 300,000 such in the United States ; many even reckoned them at 500,000 at the com- mencement of the Temperance movement. No hope seemed to be entertained with re- spect to these. To prevent such as had not yet become confirmed drunkards from acquiring that fatal habit, was the utmost ihat any one dared to expect. A few drunk- ards, indeed, were here and there re- claimed ; but the mass remained unaffected by all the cogent arguments and affecting appeals that were resounding through the country. At length God, in his wonderful provi- dence, revealed the way by which these miserable persons might be reached. And how simple ! A few hard drinkers in the city of Baltimore, who were in the habit of meeting in a low tavern for the purpose of revelry, and had been drunkards for years, met one night as usual. All hap- pened to be sober. Apparently by acci- dent, the conversation fell upon the mis- eries of their life. One after another re- counted his wretched history. All were deeply affected with the pictures of their own degradation thus held up to their minds. Some one proposed that they should stop in their career of folly and wickedness, and form themselves into a Temperance association. They did so. Rules were written and signed on the spot. They met again the next night, related their histories, wept together over their 174 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. past delusions, and strengthened each oth- er's resolutions. They continued to meet almost every night — not, however, at a tavern. They invited their companions in sin to join them. These were affected and won. The fire was kindled, and soon it spread. In a few weeks four hundred such persons joined the society. In a few months no fewer than 2000 drunkards in the city of Baltimore were reclaimed. Then the movement came to light. The newspapers spread the wonderful news. The whole country was astonished. Chris- tians lifted up their hearts in thankfulness to God, and took courage. Benevolent men rallied around these reformed persons, and encouraged them to perseverance. The society of reclaimed drunkards in Baltimore was invited to send delegates to other cities ; and soon the "apostles of Tem- perance," as these men were called, went forth to every city in the land.- Great was their success. Hundreds and thousands were reclaimed in New-York, Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and from these cities, as from great centres, other delegations of reformed drunkards went forth into almost every village and district in the land. This movement commenced on the 6th of April, 1840 ; and it is now estimated that 100,000 drunkards have already been re- claimed. But it may be said that they will relapse. No doubt some will. Hitherto, however, but few comparatively have done so. And the secret of this is to be found in the immense support which the esprit du corps gives them. There is everywhere a considerable band of such. They meet often to encourage each other. Good men are ev- erywhere ready to encourage and befriend them. Never has the world seen anything like it. What an encouragement to every good effort ! What confidence does it not inspire in the influence of well-concert- ed action in behalf of virtue and religion ! God has smiled wonderfully on this move- ment. Already many who have been thus reclaimed from intemperance, and led to frequent the House of God, have been con- verted by the Spirit of the Lord, and are now " sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in their right mind." To go farther into detail would not con- sist with the nature of this work. A large proportion of the population of the Uni- ted States are now under the happy influ- ence of total abstinence from all intoxi- cating, drinks. In 1826, when the temper- ance reform commenced, it was estimated that at least 60,000,000 gallons of whiskey were manufactured and consumed annual- ly in the United States, without including the imported brandies, rum. &c. This es- timate was unquestionably a very low one. In 1840, that is, fourteen years after- ward, the census stated that the number of gallons distilled during that year was 36,343,336, showing a falling off of more than 23,000,000 gallons ; and yet, within the same period, the population had augmented by more than 5,000,000 souls ! And all this reformation has been brought about solely through the operation of voluntary associa- tions, without the slightest direct aid from the government, with the exception of its having abolished the daily ration of whis- key formerly given to the officers and men in the army. Could anything in the world show more conclusively the resources which right principles possess in them- selves for overcoming, under God's bless- ing, the evils which are in the world, and even those which derive most power from the depraved appetites of man ? CHAPTER XXIV. THE AMERICAN PRISON DISCIPLINE SOCIETY. The Prison Discipline Society was insti- tuted in 1824. It had for its object an in- vestigation into the best methods of treat- ment for convicts and other prisoners, with a view to their health, proper degree of comfort, and, above all, their moral and re- ligious reformation. Previous to the establishment of this So- ciety, the prisons in the United States were all conducted according to the old practice of herding the prisoners together in large numbers, without any due regard to their health, and with the inevitable certainty of their corrupting one another. In most cases, there was little regular religious in- struction ; in some, none at all. The pris- oners were generally left idle, so that their maintenance, instead of being so far de- frayed by the proceeds of their work, fell entirely on the public, and involved a heavy expense. But a great reformation has now been effected. The Society's able, enlightened, and zealous secretary, the only agent, I believe, in its service, has devoted nearly his whole time and energies to the subject for nearly twenty years. During that pe- riod he has examined the prisons in all parts of the country, has studied whatever was defective or wrong in each, has de- vised improvements in the construction of prison buildings, has visited the Legisla- tures of the several states, and delivered lectures to them on the subject, besides giving to the world, in the eighteen Re- ports that have come from his pen, such a mass of well-digested information as is probably nowhere else to be found in any language. The l-esults have been wonder- ful. New penitentiaries, upon the most improved plans, have been erected in al- most all states by their respective govern- ments, and in many cases at a great ex- pense. These institutions are very gen- Chap. XXIV.] PRISON DISCIPLINE SOCIETY. 175 erally under the direction of decidedly re- ligious men. Judicious and faithful preach- ers have been appointed as chaplains in many of them ; and in the others, neigh- bouring pastors have been invited to preach the Gospel, and visit the inmates as often as they can. Bible-classes and Sunday-schools have been established in several instances ; and in all, pains are ta- ken to teach prisoners to read where they have yet to learn, so that they may be able to peruse the Word of God. A great blessing has rested upon these efforts. In many prisons very hopeful reformations have taken place ; and in many cases, it is believed, after long and careful examination and trial, that con- victs, who were hardened in their sins, have submitted their hearts to that adora- ble Saviour who died to save the very chief of sinners. Taken as a whole, in no other country in the world, probably, are the penitentiaries and prisons brought under a better moral and religious disci- pline. This great result has been brought about, first, by the erection of new and more convenient buildings, and, secondly, by committing their direction so generally to decided and zealous Christians. This has brought pure Christianity into contact with the minds of convicts to an extent un- known in former times in America, and still too little known in many other lands.* * It may not be generally known that two differ- ent systems of discipline are to be found in the pris- ons of the United States, each having its ardent ad- mirers. There is, first, the Philadelphia system, ac- cording to which the prisoners are entirely separated day and night, so that they are unknown to each other, and live in separate chambers or cells. And •next there is trie Auburn system, so called because adopted in the prison for the State of New-York, at Auburn, a town in the central part of that state. According to it, the prisoners are separated from each other at night, but work together in companies during the day, under the eye of overseers and guards, but are not allowed to speak to each other. They are assembled, also, morning and evening, for prayers ; and on the Sabbath they meet in the chapel for pub-' lie worship, conducted by a chaplain or some other minister of the Gospel. Each system has its advan- tages and disadvantages. For health, facility in communicating religious instruction, and the saving of expense through the avails of the labour of the prisoners, the latter, in my opinion, has evidently the advantage. The former furnishes greater security, enables the prisoners to remain unknown to their fel- lows on leaving the prison, and more effectually breaks down the spirit of the most hardened criminals. But the difference in point of expense is immense : nor are the moral results of the more expensive plan so decidedly superior as to compensate for this disad- vantage. It is a singular fact, that the Auburn sys- tem has been decidedly preferred by the Prison Disci- pline Society, and by our citizens generally, for it has been adopted by. all but four of the penitentiaries* in the country ; whereas the Philadelphia plan has been preferred by the commissioners sent from France, England, and Prussia, to examine our prisons. For myself, I apprehend that sufficient time has not been allowed for a due estimate of their comparative merits. After paying considerable attention to the * And even one of these has abandoned it for the Auburn system. Besides effecting this great reformation in the State penitentiaries and prisons, the Society has directed much of its attention to the Asylums for the Insane, and to county or district prisons for persons com- mitted for trial, for convicts sentenced to short terms of imprisonment, and for debt- ors, in states where the law still allows imprisonment for debt. In all these various establishments the American Prison Disci- pline Society is exerting much influence, and gradually effecting the most important ameliorations. It has also discussed in a very able manner many questions in crim- inal legislation ; such as those of impris- onment for debt, capital punishments, &c, and its labours in this department have not been in vain. Yet the Society has but one agent — its excellent secretary, who devotes, as I have said, all his time and energies to the cause — and its whole re- ceipts scarcely exceed 3000 dollars. With these limited means, it has accomplished an immense amount of good. I know nothing that more fully demon- strates how favourably disposed our Gov- ernment is to Religion, and to all good ob- jects, than the fact that the Legislatures of so many of our states, as well as Con- gress itself, have been so ready to second every feasible plan for ameliorating the condition of mankind by moral and reli- gious means, as far as they can do so con- sistently with their constitutional powers. Indeed, they are ever ready to adopt meas- ures suggested by good and judicious men, as' likely to benefit the public interests and to promote Religion, provided they fall within their sphere of action. I may conclude this chapter by refer- ring to the encouraging fact, stated by the secretary in his yearly Report, presented at the public meeting in May, 1842 : That crime has been for some years decreasing in the country, at the rate of from two to three per cent. j»er annum. This statement, from one whose position and means of in- formation constitute him the highest possi- ble authority on the subject, is the more encouraging, when we consider how many difficulties have to be encountered in a new country, and what a mighty stream of em- igration from foreign lands is continually subject, as far as 1 am able to judge, I should say that, with the right sort of men to manage a prison — - religious men of great judgment and self-control — the Auburn plan is the better. But if such men cannot be had, the Philadelphia system is safer. The former demands extraordinary qualities in the keep- ers, and especially in the superintendent, whose powers, as they must be great, are capable, also, cf being sadly abused. Much, indeed, depends on the keepers under either system. 1 may add, that for the ignorant, the rude, the sensual, the Auburn system is far more salutary than that of Philadelphia ; for to such, entire solitary confinement is sadly destructive to health and happiness. On the other hand, the Philadelphia system is more tolerable and useful to the better educated and the more intellectual classes. 176 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. bringing over new settlers who have had little proper moral culture, and not a few of whom are almost desperately depraved. Nor is it less gratifying to think that this occurs by a process in which brute force is superseded to such an extent in the re- pression of vice and crime by means essen- tially moral. CHAPTER XXV. SUNDRY OTHER ASSOCIATIONS. I shall now include in one chapter a notice of two or three other instances, in which the variety and energy of action possessed by the Voluntary Principle are remarkably illustrated. Societies for the Promotion of a better Ob- servance of the Sabbath. Although the Sab- bath is recognised, and its observance en- joined by the laws of every state in the Union, and although that sacred day is observed in the United States in a manner that strikingly contrasts with its neglect in Europe, and particularly on the Conti- nent, yet in certain quarters, and especial- ly in places that are in some sense thor- oughfares, the violation of it is distressing, nay, alarming to a Christian mind. Hence the formation of societies for the better observance of that day. These are sometimes of a local and lim- ited nature ; sometimes they embrace a wider sphere of operation. By publishing and circulating well-written addresses and tracts — still more by the powerful appeals of the pulpit, they succeed in greatly di- minishing the evil, if not in removing it al- together. By such measures they strength- en the hands of the officers of justice, and give a sounder tone and better direction to public opinion, greatly to the diminu- tion, if not to the entire remedy, of the evil sought to be cured. What is best of all, this result is obtained most commonly by the moral influence of Truth — by kindly remonstrance, and arguments drawn from the Word of God and right reason. I may state that I have myself seen the happiest influence exerted by these associations. Anti-slavery Societies. And so with re- spect to slavery, an evil which afflicted all the thirteen original colonies at the epoch of their declaration of independence, and which still exists in half of the twenty-six states, as well as in the District of Colum- bia and the Territory of Florida, though no longer to be found in the six New-Eng- land States, or in New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- gan, and the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. With a view to its extirpation in the states to which it still adheres, many of the inhabitants of the Northern, or non- slaveholding states, have associated them- selves in what are called anti-slavery so- cieties, and have been endeavouring, for several years past, to awaken the public to a sense of the enormity and danger of slavery, and to the disgrnce which it entails on the whole country. By means of the press, by tracts and books, and by the voice of living agents, they aim at the destruction of this — the greatest of all the evils that lie heavy on our institutions. I say nothing at present of the wisdom of their plans, or of the spirit in which these plans have been prosecuted. I only men- tion these societies as a farther proof of the wide application of the Voluntary Prin- ciple, and of the manner in which it leads to associated efforts for the correction of existing evils.* Peace Societies. And so in relation to the evils of war, and for the purpose of pre- serving good men especially, and all men, if possible, from thinking lightly of them, Peace Societies be^an to be formed as early as the year 1816, and a national so- ciety was organized in 1827. The object must be admitted to be humane and Chris- tian. By the diffusion of well-written tracts, by offering handsome premiums for essays on the subject, and their subsequent publication, and, above all, by short and pointed articles in the newspapers, a great deal has been done to cause the prayer to ascend with more fervency from the heart of many a Christian, " Give peace in our time, O Lord," and to inspire a just dread of the awful curse of war. To many, such efforts may appear ridiculous, but not so to the man who can estimate the value of even one just principle, when once estab- lished in the heart of any individual, how- ever humble. Who can tell how much such efforts in the United States, and other countries, may have contributed, in God"s holy providence, which oftei\ avails itself of the humblest means for the accomplish- ment of the greatest purposes, to prolong that happy general peace which has held Europe, and all the civilized world, in its embrace during more than a quarter of a century 1 ? The American Peace Society employed four agents last year, and issued 5000 cop- ies of its periodical. Its receipts were 3000 dollars.! * The receipts of the American Anti-slavery So- ciety for last year were about 10,000 dollars ; those of the American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society were probably greater, but I have not seen the amount stated. A few years ago, before the division took place in the American Anti-slavery Society which led to the formation of the American and For- eign Anti-slavery Society, its income was 40,000 dol- lars, and the number of its agents was forty or filty. t The late William Ladd, Esq., of the State of Maine, was the founder of the American Peace So- ciety, and for many vears its worthy president. He was an excellent Christian. His heart was absorbed in the objects of the society over which he presided. Through his exertions a prize of 1000 dollars was Chap. XXVI.] BENEFICENT INSTITUTIONS. 177 CHAPTER XXVI. INFLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE ON THE BENEFICENT INSTITUTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. Nor is the voluntary principle less op- erative in the formation and support of beneficent institutions than of associations for attacking and vanquishing existing evils. But these present too wide a field to be fully gone over in this work ; besides, they do not come properly within its scope. I shall therefore glance only at a few points, showing how the voluntary principle op- erates in this direction for the furtherance of the Gospel. In efforts to relieve the temporal wants and sufferings of mankind, as well as in all other good undertakings, Christians, and those, too, with few exceptions, evan- gelical in their faith, almost invariably take the lead. Whenever there is a call for the vigorous exercise of benevolence, proceeding from whatever cause, Chris- tians immediately go to work, and endeav- our to meet the exigency by their own ex- ertions, if possible ; but should the nature and extent of the relief required properly demand co-operation on the part of muni- cipal and state authorities, they bring the case before these authorities, and invoke their aid. It naturally follows that, when this is given, it should be applied through the hands of those who were the first to stir in the matter ; and this wisely, too, since who can be supposed so fit to ad- minister the charities of the civil govern- ment as those who have first had the heart to make sacrifices for the same object themselves 1 Such alone are likely to have the experience that in such affairs is necessary. All this I might illustrate by adducing many instances, were it necessary. In this chapter, however, I shall notice a few, and take these collectively. There is not a city or large town, I may say, hardly a village, in all the country, which has not its voluntary associations of good men and women for the relief of poverty, especially where its sufferings are aggravated by disease. These efforts, in countless instances, may not be exten- offered for the best essay on the subject of A Con- gress of Nations, for the termination of national dis- putes. Four or five excellent dissertations were presented, and the premium was divided among the authors by the judges appointed to make the award ; one of whom was the Hon. John Quincy Adams, formerly President of the United States. The evils of war can hardly be exaggerated. " In peace," said Croesus to Cyrus, " children bury their fathers ; but in war, fathers bury their children." " War makes thieves," says Machiavelli, " and peace brings them to the gallows." " May we never see another war," said Franklin, in a letter which he addressed to a friend, just after signing the treaty of peace at the close of the American Revolution, " for in my opin- ion there never was a good ivar or a bad peace." M sive, only because there is no extensive call for their being made. Created by cir- cumstances, when these disappear, the as- sociations also cease to exist. But where the sufferings to be relieved are perpetu- ally recurring, as well as too extensive to be alleviated by individual effort, these benevolent associations become perma- nent. Their objects are accomplished, in most instances, by the unaided exertions of the benevolent, who voluntarily associ- ate for the purpose ; but if these prove in- sufficient, municipal or state assistance is sought, and never sought in vain. Ac- cordingly, the stranger who visits the Uni- ted States will find hospitals for the sick, almshouses for the poor, and dispensaries for furnishing the indigent with medicines gratuitously, in all the large cities where they are required.* There is a legal pro- vision in all the states for the poor, not such, however, as to do aAvay with the ne- cessity of individual or associated effort to meet extraordinary cases of want, es- pecially when it comes on suddenly, and in the train of disease. The rapid and wide-spreading attacks of epidemics may demand, and will assuredly find benevo- lent individuals ready to associate them- selves for meeting such exigencies, before the measures provided by law can be brought to bear upon tliem.f It is with great pleasure that I have to state that the Gospel finds admittance into the establishments for the relief of pover- * The manner of providing for the poor differs greatly in different states. In the West, where there is but little extreme poverty, the inhabitants of each township generally look after their poor in such a way as best suits them. Money is raised, and by a "commissioner of the poor," appropriated to the support of such as need it. Those who have fami- lies live in houses hired for them ; single persons board with others who are willing to take them for the stipulated sum. In the Atlantic States, where there are more poor who need assistance, the same course is pursued in many cases. In others, " poor- houses" are erected in such counties as choose to have such establishments, and to these the townships send their quota of paupers, and pay for their board, clothing, &c. In the cities on the seaboard, the municipal authorities make abundant provision for the poor who need aid, a great proportion of whom are foreigners. t There were many illustrations of the expansive nature of individual and associated charity during the prevalence of the cholera. In all our large cit- ies, associations, comprising the very best Christians in them, were formed with the utmost promptitude, and zealously sustained as long as needed. I saw myself, and often attended their meetings, an asso- ciation of Christian ladies formed in Philadelphia, as soon as the pestilence commenced its ravages in that city. They hired a house, converted it into a hospital, gathered into it all the children whom the plague had orphanized, both white and black, whom they could find, and day after day, and week after week, washed, dressed, and took care of those chil- dren with their own hands, and defrayed all the ex- penses of the establishment. Two of the children died of the cholera in their arms ! These ladies be longed, many of them, to some of the first families ia that city in point of respectability. 178 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. ty and disease, which have been created and maintained by the municipal and state authorities ; and that I have never heard of any case in which the directors have opposed the endeavours of judicious Chris- tians to make known to the inmates the blessings of religion. Prudent and zeal- ous Christians, both ministers and laymen, are allowed to visit, and ministers to preach to the occupants of such establishments ; and in several of our cities, one or more excellent ministers of the Gospel are em- ployed to preach regularly in them as well as in the prisons. With rare exceptions, they are in the hands of Protestants, though Roman Catholic priests are nowhere for- bidden to enter and teach all who desire their ministrations. • Of all the beneficent institutions of our large cities, there are none more interesting than those intended for the benefit of chil- dren. Orphan asylums, well established and properly conducted, are to be found in every city of any consideration through- out the Union. Nor are these asylums for white children only ; they are also for the coloured. Indeed, it cannot be said with truth that the poor and the sick of the African race, in our cities and large towns, are less cared for than those of the white race. Nor are those children only who have lost both parents thus provided for. In some of our cities, asylums are in the course of being provided for what are called half-orphans — that is, who have still one parent or both, but are not sup- ported by them. I may state it, however, as a fact of which I am perfectly certain, that there is not a single Foundling Hos- pital in the United States. In some of our cities we have admirable institutions, called Houses of Refuge, for neglected children, and such as are en- couraged by their parents to live a vaga- bond life, or are disposed of themselves to lead such a life. In these establish- ments they not only receive the elements of a good English education, but are in- structed also in the mechanical arts ; and with these religious instruction is faith- fully and successfully combined. All of these institutions were commenced, and are carried on by the voluntary efforts of Christians, though they have been greatly assisted by appropriations in their favour, in the shape of endowments or annuities from some of the state governments.* * One of the best conducted of these establish- ments is at Philadelphia. It stands at the distance of one mile from the city, occupies a beautiful site, and has a number of acres of ground attached to it. There are here usually between 100 and 200 youth of both sexes, who occupy different apartments, and are under the care of excellent teachers. The ma- gistrates of the city have the power to send vagrant, idle, and neglected children to it. Very many youths have left this institution greatly benefited by their residence in it. It has fallen to the lot of the writer Nor are the aged poor neglected. Asy- lums for widows are to be met with in all our large towns, where they are, in fact, most needed ; and old and infirm men are also provided for. At the same time, that " charity which seeketh not her own," but the good of all others, no matter what may have been their character or what their crimes, has not forgotten those unfortunate females who have been the victims of the faith- lessness of men. Magdalen asylums have been founded in all our chief cities, espe- cially on the seaboard, where they are most needed, and have been the means of doing much good. It is only to be regret- ted that this branch of Christian kindness and effort has not been far more extensive- ly prosecuted. Nevertheless, there are many hearts that are interested in it, and in the institutions which they have erected the glorious Gospel of him who said to the penitent woman in Simon's house, " Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace," is not only preached, but also received into hearts- which the Spirit of God has touched and broken. CHAPTER XXVII. INFLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE ON THE BENEFICENT INSTITUTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. ASYLUMS FOR THE INSANE. The utmost attention is now paid in the United States to a class of the unfor- tunate which, of all others, presents the strongest claims on our sympathy — I al- lude to the insane. For these very much has been done in the course of the last twenty years, by the establishment of suit- able places for their reception, instead of confining them, as formerly, in the com- mon prisons of the country. In this the Prison Discipline Society has exerted a most extensive and happy influence, never having ceased, in its Annual Reports, to urge upon the governments of the states the duty of providing proper receptacles, to which persons discovered to be insane might be conveyed as promptly as possi- ble, with a view to their proper treatment. The Society showed this to be an impera- tive duty on the part of the states, and its voice has not. been heard in vain. There are now twelve asylums support- ed by the states, and some of these are on a large scale. That near Utica will con- to preach often to its inmates, and never has he seen a more affecting sight. If a man wishes to leam the importance of the parental relation, and the bless- ings which flow from a faithful fulfilment of its du- ties, let him visit such an institution, and inquire into the history of each youth whom it contains. The " Farm Schools" for orphans and for neglected chil- dren, in the neighbourhoods of Boston and New- York, are excellent, and have been the means of do- ing much good. Chap. XXVIII] ASYLUMS FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. 179 sist, when completed, of four buildings, each 446 feet long by 48 wide, and placed one on each side of a beautiful quadrilat- eral area, which assumes an octagonal form by the intersection of its corners, with verandahs of open lattice-work. It is intended for the insane poor of the State of New-York, which state is at the sole expense of its erection, and the cost upon the completion of the whole will amount, it is supposed, to about $1,000,000. It is calculated to receive 1000 patients. Besides the twelve State Asylums, there are two belonging to cities, namely, those at Boston and New- York ; six to incorpo- rated bodies, and one is the property of an individual,* making in all twenty-one. One or more state asylums may possibly have been opened since the publication of the interesting work to which I am indebted for my information on the subject. f Nearly all of these asylums are con- structed on the most approved plans. Al- most all are beautifully situated, have a light and cheerful aspect, and are surround- ed with ample grounds, tastefully laid out in fields and meadows, pleasant gardens, and delightful walks. After visiting many such institutions in Europe, I can truly say that I have seen none more pleasant- ly situated, or better kept, than the Massa- chusetts State Asylum, at Worcester, the Retreat at Hartford, in Connecticut, and the Asylum on Blackwell's Island, near New-York. I would particularly call attention to the fact that religious worship is kept up in all of these twenty-one institutions but four. Some have regular chaplains attach- ed to them ; in others, Divine worship is conducted for the inmates by clergymen or laymen in the neighbourhood, who vol- unteer their services in performing this im- portant and interesting duty. In almost every case it is done by men of evangel- ical sentiments. Nor is their labour in vain, ample experience having demonstra- ted that such services, when performed by judicious, calm, and truly spiritual men, exert a highly beneficial influence on the insane. The Gospel, when presented in the spirit of its blessed Author, is admira- bly fitted to soothe the mental excitement of the poor deranged lunatic. " Regular religious teaching," says Dr. Woodward, the superintendent of the asy- lum for the insane at Worcester, Massa- chusetts, " is as necessary and beneficial to the insane as to the rational mind; in a large proportion of the cases it will have equal influence. They as well know their * Dr. White's, at Hudson, in the State of New- York. t " A Visit to thirteen Asylums for the Insane in Europe, &c., to which is subjoined a brief Notice of similar Institutions in the United States," by Pliny Earle, M.D. Published at Philadelphia in 1841. imperfections, if they will not admit their delusions ; and they feel the importance of good conduct to secure the confidence and esteem of those whose good opinion they value." According to Dr. Earle's statements, the deaths in the European institutions for the insane vary from thirteen to forty per cent. ; while in the American asylums none ex- ceed ten per cent.* While the State governments have been; doing so much for the establishment off- hospitals and asylums for the insane, much has also been done by individual munifi- cence. Even some of the State institutions have been assisted by donations from pri- vate citizens. Thus two benevolent gen- tlemen in the State of Maine have given $10,000 each towards founding the asylum for that state. CHAPTER XXVIII. INFLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE OK THE BENEFICENT INSTITUTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. ASYLUMS FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. Our asylums for the deaf and dumb owe their existence to a series of efforts on the part-of a few Christian friends. The late Dr. Cogswell, a pious and ex- cellent physician in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, had a beloved daughter who was deaf and dumb. For her sake he pro- posed to a devoted young minister of the Gospel, the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet, to go to Europe, and there to learn, at the best in- stitutions, the most approved methods of teaching this unfortunate class of people. The mission was cheerfully undertaken. Mr. Gallaudet returned in 1816, after hav- ing spent above a year in Paris, where he studied the methods of instruction pursued at the Royal Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, under the Abbe Sicard, the pupil and friend of the Abbe l'Epee. Thereupon an effort was imme- diately made to found an institution at Hartford. An act of incorporation was obtained in 1816, a large sum was contrib- uted by the people of Hartford for the erec- tion of the requisite buildings, and Con- gress granted a township from the national, lands, consisting of 23,040 acres, towards- the endowment of the institution. It was; opened, ere long, for the reception of pu- pils, and from that time to this has been going on most prosperously. It is the oldest establishment for the purpose in the * The number of the insane in the asylums in the United States is about 2500 ; in 1840, the whole number of the insane in the country, of all ages andi conditions, was, according to the census, 17,434,. being about one to every 979 inhabitants. Of these 17,434 insane persons, 5162 were maintained at the. public expense, and 12,272 at that of their friends. 180 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. United States, and is called " The Ameri- can Asylum for the Education and Instruc- tion of the Deaf and Dumb." So far, in- deed, it is a national institution. It was endowed to a considerable amount by Con- gress ; it is open to pupils from all the states, and it does, in fact, receive them from the South as well as from the North. It is peculiarly, however, the deaf and dumb institution of New-England, five of the states of which support within its walls, at the expense of their treasuries, a cer- tain number of pupils every year. The number at the asylum is usually between 140 and 150. The course of study lasts four years. Mechanical arts are taught to the young men at certain hours daily, while the young women learn such things as become their sex and situation in life. Since 1816 five other institutions for the deaf and dumb have been established in the United States, all on the model of that at Hartford. They are as follows : 1. That at New- York. It has about 150 pupils, and is mainly supported by the State Legislature. 2. The Pennsylvania Institution, at Phil- adelphia. It has from 100 to 120 pupils, most of whom are maintained there at the expense of that and the neighbouring states. 3. The Ohio Asylum at Columbus, a prosperous institution, with about seventy pupils, and mainly supported by the Legis- lature of Ohio. 4. The Asylum for Kentucky, at Dan- ville, which is chiefly, if not entirely, sup- ported by funds arising from the sale of lands granted to it by the Congress of the United States. It has, perhaps, twenty- five or thirty pupils, but has not been very prosperous. 5. The Virginia Asylum, at Staunton, an institution of very recent date. It has about twenty-five pupils, and is mainly de- pendant upon that state for its support. These five, as well as that at Hartford, receive paying pupils from families which have the means of defraying the expense of educating their own children. But the number of such pupils probably does not exceed one sixth of the whole. The number of pupils in these six asy- lums ranges from 510 to 545, and as the fifteen or sixteen states by which they are supported have both the means and the disposition to do so, they will doubtless furnish instruction to the deaf and dumb of the other states, which have resolved to send them thither until they can have asylums of their own. There will, indeed, be but a partial provision for some time for the indigent deaf and dumb of the new states ; yet the known enterprise and be- nevolence of their inhabitants warrant us to believe that as soon as their population shall have become sufficiently numerous, and they shall have established those more general and important institutions that lie at the basis of an enlightened society, the whole of the confederated states will be found ready to make provision for con- ducting their deaf and dumb, by means of a suitable education, to usefulness and happiness. For this it is not requisite that each state should have an asylum for itself ; it would be found enough that two or more should unite, as at present, in having one in common. The number of deaf and dumb persons throughout the United States in 1840 was 7659, or about one to every 2227 of the entire population ; but the proportion of proper age for being placed in an asylum, to receive the usual instruction there, is hardly above a fourth of the entire number. It is delightful to contemplate how much has been done for this interesting part of the community within the last few years, and especially delightful to the Christian, to know that all the six asylums above mentioned are under the direction of deci- dedly religious men, and that the course of instruction pursued in them is entirely evangelical. The Bible is made the text- book of their religious studies. Every morning and evening they are assem- bled for prayers, and then a portion of Scripture is written on a large slate, about ten feet by four. Some pertinent remarks are addressed to them, followed by prayer, both the remarks and the prayer being performed, by the principal or one of the professors of the institution, by signs. In the same way, upon the Sabbath, a ser- mon is preached and other religious ser- vices held. God has greatly blessed these instructions. Many of the pupils in these several asylums have become, from time to time, as their lives attest, truly pious persons ; and in some instances these in- stitutions have richly shared in the revi- vals that have occurred in the places where they are established. CHAPTER XXIX. INFLUENCE OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE ON THE BENEFICENT INSTITUTIONS OF THE COUNTRV. ASYLUMS FOR THE BLIND. In the year 1832 the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind was founded, as follows : Thomas H. Perkins, Esq., of the city of Boston, gave his valuable house and grounds, with out-buildings thereon, esti- mated to be worth 50,000 dollars, for an asylum for the blind, provided the sum re- quired for founding one should be raised in New-England. Fifty thousand dollars having been speedily collected, and the Legislature of Massachusetts having voted Chap.XXX.] REMARKS ON THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. a large annual grant to give permanency to the projected institution, the corpora- tion entered vigorously upon the work, and opened a school for the blind, which has now been for ten years in successful operation. As the property, so munificent- ly given by Mr. Perkins, was found not in all respects suitable, it was exchanged in 1839 for Mount Washington House and grounds, in South Boston, beautifully situ- ated near the bay which spreads out to the east of the city, and in every way adapted for the purpose. The institution is under the direction of Dr. Samuel G. Howe, a man of remarkable qualifications for the post. The number of pupils is about sev- enty, and they are reported to be making excellent progress, and remarkably happy. There are four other institutions for the blind in the United States. New- York has one, which had last year about sixty-five pupils ; Philadelphia one, which had sixty- two pupils ; Columbus, in Ohio, one, which had fifty-eight pupils ; and in the same es- tablishment with the asylum for the deaf and dumb at Staunton, in Virginia, there is a department for the blind, with about five- and-twenty pupils. All these four have sprung up since the establishment of that at Boston in 1832, and they are all flourish- ing. The number of pupils in the whole five was, last year, about 270. The whole number of the blind in the United States in 1840 was 6916. A few years ago, a Mr. Will, of Philadel- phia, bequeathed a sum to be laid out in establishing a hospital for the blind, but the institution that has arisen out of this be- quest is not a school, but a retreat, where the aged and infirm blind may pass their remaining days in comfort. Although these institutions are aided by the Legislatures of the states within which they are established, most of them, never- theless, may be traced to the benevolence of Christian citizens, acting individually or together. Few establishments can be con- templated by the eye of Christian sympa- thy with greater interest than these quiet retreats. There the blind not only learn the elements of a common education,* and such an expertness in some of the mechan- ical arts as enables them, even while un- der tuition, to contribute towards their own support, but cultivate music also, by which many an hour sweetly passes away, and * Joseph B. Smith, a pupil of the Perkins Insti- tution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, pur- sued the study of Latin, Greek, and the other branch- es of a preparatory course with success, and entered Harvard University in the autumn of 1839, where he has made respectable progress. He gets his les- sons with the help of his companion, who carefully reads them over to him, and seeks out in the lexicon the meaning of words he does not understand. In geometry, when the diagram is too complicated for him to retain a clear conception of it, he causes it to be " embossed" upon thick paper, that he may ex- amine it with his fingers. 161 for which many of them show remarkable aptitude. Nor is our literature for the blind incon- sidei'able, when it is borne in mind that it is not ten years since printing in " raised" characters for their use was first intro- duced among us. Above thirty volumes have been published at Boston, and about half that number at Philadelphia, compri- sing several of the most interesting reli- gious works in the English language, and the perusal of which has already proved a blessing to many of the blind.* It is grat- ifying to think that these institutions have all along been, to a great extent, in the hands of good men, so that this benevolent enterprise has taken a happy direction from the first. The Report of the Boston institution for 1811 gives us the history of a child who had been four years a pupil there, and whose case is more interesting, probably, than any other that has ever been known. Laura Bridgman, born in 1829, had lost, when twenty months old, the faculties of sight, hearing, and speech, and partially that of smell. At the age of nine she was placed at the institution. There she learned to read and write, and has made very consid- erable progress in knowledge. The details of the manner in which she acquired these arts are exceedingly curious, but to give them does not fall within the scope of this work. CHAPTER XXX. CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. We here close our notice of the devel- opment of the voluntary principle in the United States ; the results will appear more appropriately in another part of this work. If it is thought that I have dealt too much in details, I can only say that these seemed necessary for obvious reasons. There be- ing no longer a union of Church and State in any part of the country, so that religion * The books published by the institution at Bos- ton are, the New Testament; Parts of the Old Testament ; Lardner's Universal History ; Selec- tions from Old English Authors ; Selections from Modern English Authors ; Howe's Geography for the Blind ; Howe's General Atlas ; Howe's Atlas of the United States; Blind Child's First Book ; Blind Child's Second Book; the Dairyman's Daughter; the Harvey Boys ; Blind Child's Spelling Book ; Blind Child's English Grammar ; the Pilgrim's Prog- ress ; Baxter's Call ; Sixpenny Glass of Wine ; Life of Melancthon ; Book of Sacred Hymns ; Viri Roma? ; Pierce's Geometry, with Diagrams, illustrative of Natural Philosophy ; Political Class Book ; Blind Child's Manual. The Pennsylvania Institute, besides printing por- tions of the Old Testament, has published a Guide to Spelling; Select Library; Student's Magazine; French Verbs ; a Grammar ; and two or three books in the German language. 182 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book IV. must depend, under God, for its temporal support wholly upon the voluntary princi- ple, it seemed of much consequence to show how vigorously, and how extensive- ly, that principle has brought the influence of the Gospel to bear in every direction upon the objects within its legitimate sphere. In doing this, I have aimed at answering a multitude of questions pro- posed to me during my residence in Eu- rope. Thus I have shown how, and by what means, funds are raised for the erection of church edifices, for the support of pastors, and for providing destitute places with the preaching of the Gospel — this last involv- ing the whole subject of our home mission- ary efforts. And as ministers must be pro- vided for the settlements forming apace in the West, as well as for the constantly increasing population to be found in the "villages, towns, and cities of the East, I entered somewhat at length into the sub- ject of education, from the primary schools up to the theological seminaries and facul- ties. It was next of importance to show how the press is made subservient to the cause of the Gospel and the extension of the kingdom of God ; then, how the voluntary principle can grapple with existing evils in society, such as intemperance, Sabbath breaking, slavery, and war, by means of -diverse associations formed for their re- pression or removal ; and, finally, I have re- viewed the beneficent and humane institu- tions of the country, and shown how much the voluntary principle has had to do with their origin and progress. The reader who has had the patience to follow me thus far, must have been struck with the vast versatility, if I may so speak, of this great principle. Not an exigency occurs in which its application is called for, but forthwith those who have the heart, the hand, and the purse to meet the case, combine their efforts. Thus the prin- ciple seems to extend itself in every direc- tion with an all-powerful influence. Adapt- ing itself to every variety of circumstan- ces, it acts wherever the Gospel is to be preached, wherever vice is to be attacked, and wherever suffering humanity is to be relieved.* * There is one field on which the voluntary prin- ciple is accomplishing perhaps as great triumphs, and diffusing as happy an influence as on any other, but which I have not yet noticed. I refer to that presented by the numerous manufacturing establish- ments which have been springing up during the last five-and-tweaty years in the Middle and Northern States. Large factories in the Old World are prover- bial for ignorance and vice. But if a man would like to see religion flourishing in manufacturing towns and among " operatives," let him visit some of those towns in New-England in which cotton, woollen, or other factories have grown up, and where hundreds, in some instances thousands, of men and women are collected together under circumstances in which Nor is this principle less beneficial to those whom it enlists in the various enter- prises of Christian philanthropy than to those who are its express objects. The very activity, energy, and self-reliance which it calls forth, are great blessings to the individual who exercises these quali- ties, as well as to those for whose sake they are put forth, and to the community at large. Men are so constituted as to derive happiness from the cultivation of an inde- pendent, energetic, and benevolent spirit, in being co-workers with God in promo- ting his glory, and the true welfare of their fellow-men. they are apt to exercise a most corrupting influence on one another. Let him there observe the pains ta- ken by bands of devoted Christians, pastors, and members of their flocks, to gather these into Bible- classes and Sunday-schools, to induce them to at- tend church, to provide libraries of good books for them, to open public lectures on scientific and gen- eral as well as religious subjects ; above all, let him mark the earnestness with which faithful ministers preach the Gospel to them, and the assiduity with which they watch for their souls ; and he will per- ceive how much may be done, even under very un- favourable circumstances, for saving men's souls from ruin. I have never visited more virtuous com- munities than I have seen in some of those villages, or any in which the Gospel has triumphed more sig- nally over all obstacles. No manufacturing town in the United States has grown up more rapidly than Lowell, near the Merri- mac River, about thirty miles northwest of Boston. It was but a small village not many years ago, and in 1827 had only 3500 inhabitants. But in 1840 these had increased to 20,000. As it derives great advantages for cotton, woollen, and other factories, from the vast water-power it possesses, several com- panies have built large mills, and employ a great number of people, mostly young women above fifteen years of age, who have been led to leave other parts of New-England by the inducement of higher wages than they could command at home. This is an ob- ject with some, in order that they may help their poor parents ; with others, that they may find means to prosecute their education ; and with a third and numerous class, who, being betrothed to young men in their native districts, come to earn for themselves a little " outfit" for the married life. Let us see what opportunities for religious instruction are pre- sented to these young persons. In 1840 there were fifteen or sixteen churches in Lowell, in the Sunday-schools attached to ten of which there were 493G scholars and 433 teachers ; in all, 5369. About three fourths of the scholars are girls, a large proportion of whom are above fifteen years of age. More than 500 became hopefully pious in 1839, yet that year was not more remarkable than others in regard to religion. Including the Sunday- schools attached to the other five or six churches, the whole number of scholars and teachers for 1840 considerably exceeded 6000, and nearly equalled a third of the population. Nearly 1000 of the factory girls had funds in the savings banks, amounting, in all, to 100,000 dollars. A decided taste for reading prevails among them. When in Lowell in the sum- mer of 1841, 1 found that two monthly magazines of handsome appearance were publishing there. One of these was the " Operatives' Magazine," and the other the " Lowell Offering." Both were of 8vo form, the one containing sixteen pages, the other thirty-two. Both displayed very considerable talent, and the Offering was filled with original articles, written solely by the female operatives. A third pe- riodical has since been established, conducted by the same class of people. Chap. II.] MAINTENANCE OF BISCIPLINE. 183 We now take leave of this part of our [ as preparatory — I mean the direct work of work, to enter on that for which all that bringing men to the knowledge and pos- has hitherto been said must be considered [ session of salvation. BOOK V. THE CHURCH AND THE PULPIT IN AMERICA, CHAPTER I. IMPORTANCE OF THIS PART OF THE SUBJECT. We now come to that part of our sub- ject which more immediately bears upon the salvation of men's souls, and the im- portance of .which will be readily owned, therefore, by all who rightly appreciate the nature and value of that salvation. It is interesting to mark the influence of Christian institutions on society — the re- pose of the Sabbath — the civilizing effect of the people assembling in their churches — and the great amount of knowledge communicated in the numerous discourses of a well-instructed ministry. Apart from higher considerations, the benefits indi- rectly conferred upon a community by an evangelical ministry are well worth all that it costs. It softens and refines man- ners, promotes health, by promoting atten- tion to cleanliness and the frequent change of apparel ; it diffuses information, and rouses minds that might otherwise remain ignorant, inert, and stupid. But what is this compared with the preparation of the immortal spirit for its everlasting destiny 1 This world, after all, is but the place of our education for a better; of how much moment, then, that the period of our pupil- age should be rightly spent ! The Church, with its institutions, is of Divine ordination. It was appointed by its great Author to be the depositary of the economy of salvation as far as human co- operation is concerned, and is designed to combine all the human agencies which God, in infinite wisdom, has resolved to employ in the accomplishment of that sal- vation. How important, then, that the Church should meet the design of its Di- vine Founder, not only as regards its prop- er character, but also in the development and right employment of the influences which it was constituted to put forth for the salvation of the world ! As the Church on earth is but preparatory to the Church in heaven, it was obviously intended to bear some resemblance to the celestial state. As the depositary to which God has committed the custody of his re- vealed truth, and as his chosen instrument for its diffusion among mankind, it ought obviously to be kept as pure as is possible for an institution placed in the hands of imperfect creatures at the best, from every- thing which would impede the discharge of its high functions. But we must not misapprehend the Church's office. She has received no power of original legislation. She is nothing but an agent. Christ is the Lawgiver and the Head of the Church. He has given her the revelation of his will, and clearly defined her sphere of action. Nor can she justly expect his blessing if she goes beyond the boundaries of her duty. By a holy life on the part of her mem- bers ; by a conversation such as becometh saints ; by well-directed efforts to make known the Gospel to dying men every- where, whether by the faithful proclama- tion of it on the part of the ministry whom God hath appointed, or by more familiar instruction in the Sunday-school and the Bible-class, or around the family altar, or by the distribution of the Scriptures and other religious books, united with constant, fervent, and believing prayer, that the Holy Spirit may render all these means success- ful, the Church is required to exert her in- fluence in saving the world. It is thus that she becomes " the light of the world ;" it is thus that she proves herself to be " the salt of the earth." But, in order to fulfil this high mission, she ought to be as nearly as possible what the Saviour of men intended her to be — a company of saints redeemed by his blood, renewed by his Spirit, and devoted to his service — ever bearing the cross, that she may wear the crown, and preparing for that day when she shall be presented to her Lord, " not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "holy and without blemish," for she is " his body." CHAPTER II. THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN THE UNITEl* STATES MAINTAIN DISCIPLINE. This is a point of inexpressible impor- tance to the prosperity of a church ; and I rejoice to say that such is the light in which it is viewed by Christians of all the evan- gelical denominations in the United States, almost without exception. I do not suppose that there is a single evangelical church in the country that does not keep a record of its members ; I mean of those whom it has received according to 184 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. some regular form or other as members, and who, as such, are entitled to come to the Lord's Supper. As this whole subject is not only important, but by some readers may not be easily comprehended, I may venture upon some detail. 1. There is no evangelical church in the United States, that is, no organized body of believers worshipping in one place, that does not hold a creed comprehending the following points, at least : the existence of one God, in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the same substance, and equal in all the attributes of their na- ture ; the depravity, guilt, condemnation, and misery of all mankind ; an all-sufficient and only atonement by the Son of God, who assumed human nature, and thus be- came both God and man in one person, and by his obedience, suffering, death, and in- tercession, has procured salvation for men ; regeneration by the Holy Ghost, by which repentance and faith are made to spring up in the soul ; the final judgment, of all men ; and a state of everlasting misery for the "wicked, and of blessedness for the righte- ous. On these doctrines, in their substan- tial and real meaning, there is no difference among the evangelical churches in the United States. 2. Neither is there any evangelical church in America that does not hold the necessity of a moral life — of a life against which no charge inconsistent with a Chris- tian profession can be brought — in order to a man's being a proper member of a church of Jesus Christ ; or which would not promptly exclude an immoral person, on being sufficiently proved to be such, from its membership. No doubt there are im- moral persons among the members of the churches. They are persons whose guilt cannot always be established by such proof as the laws of Christ's house require, but their number, it is believed, is com- paratively small. 3. There are few, if any, evangelical churches in which the profession of a mere general or " historical belief," as it is called, in the great doctrines above stated, accom- panied even by an outwardly moral life, would be considered sufficient to render a man fit to be admitted to the Lord's Sup- per. Nineteen twentieths of all the evan- gelical churches in this country believe that there is such a thing as being " born again," " born of the Spirit." And very few, indeed, admit the doctrine that a man who is not " converted," that is, " renewed by the Spirit," may come without sin to that holy ordinance. There may be difference of opinion among truly evangelical Christians re- specting the amount of evidence of conver- sion necessary in the case. But I may unhesitatingly affirm that, with few excep- tions, all expect some evidence in every candidate for admission to the Church and participation in its most precious privileges ; and such evidence, too, as induces the be- lief that, as the Scriptures express it, he has " passed from death unto life." The belief is almost universal that the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper was appointed for the converted or regenerated, and should, as far as possible, be administered only to such. The number of those who hold a different opinion is small. Accord- ingly, it would be found, upon inquiry, that all the pastors of our evangelical churches are very careful to explain with what dis- positions of the heart and will, as well as with what views of the understanding, one should come to the Lord's Supper, and that these are truly such as no unregenerate person can possess. This holy sacrament is rarely dispensed in our churches without being preceded by a discourse on the na- ture of the preparation required in order to a right " communicating," or receiving of this ordinance ; and all irreligious persons — in fact, all persons, be their lives out- wardly what they may — who have not the testimony of their consciences that they possess, so far as they honestly perceive the state of their hearts, the qualifications described, are solemnly warned of the sin, and consequent danger to their souls, in- curred by unworthily partaking of that holy supper. It is, indeed, too true that, with all this care, unworthy persons do come to the Lord's table. Many, no doubt, gain admis- sion to the churches who are, after all, not converted. To say that many do so from base, hypocritical motives, would imply a very mistaken view of the case, for with us there is no visible inducement to such a course. No civil privilege hangs on a man's being a member of the Church and receiving the sacrament, as is the case in some countries in Europe,* nor is it reck- oned dishonourable for a man not to belong to some church. None among us presumes for a moment that a man must have com- mitted a crime, and on that account been excluded, if he be not seen going twice or thrice a year, at least — on the great festi- vals, for instance — to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. No such idea is known in the United States. Our pastors and other church officers, whose duty it is to govern the churches, do not profess to be infallible. They cannot know the heart. They can only judge according to the evi- dence presented to them. They very nat- urally lean to the side of charity ; and with every desire on their part to do their duty, there are many, doubtless, admitted in every church without being truly convert- * In Sweden, for instance, a man cannot give his testimony in a court of justice who has not taken the sacrament of the Lord's Supper within the year im- mediately preceding ! Chap. III.] MEMBERSHIP IN CHURCHES. 195 ed, and when once admitted remain mem- bers, unless they withdraw of their own choice, or go to some other part of the country, or are excluded on account of some open immorality. But while we cannot hope that even in the evangelical churches which are most rigorously strict in their admission to mem- bership, and to the communion of the Lord's Supper, all the members are con- verted persons, yet the number of such as are of scandalous lives is small. Nor are such persons suffered long to continue when their characters become known. On this subject our churches form a very striking contrast with some which I have seen in other parts of the world. Nor have we many persons who come in crowds to the Lord's Supper on some great festival, such as Easter or Christmas, and stay away from it during the rest of the year. Still less will there be seen, what I have been told sometimes occurs in Protestant churches which I have visited in other lands, not a few persons waiting outside the church, on such occasions, until the communion service commences, who then make their way in, approach the commu- nion-table or altar, receive the emblems of the Saviour's body and blood, and as soon as possible hasten out and depart ! As if there were any virtue in such horrible mockery and profaneness ! I bless God that we have nothing that even approaches to this in point of impiety ; and yet we have to mourn over the fact that many of the members of our churches do not mani- fest that spirituality, devotion, and zeal which they ought to possess. But were there no discipline in our churches, and were all the world, whatever might be their character, permitted to come to the Lord's Supper, the state of things would be in every respect infinitely worse. We do make an effort to separate the Church from the world, and to make it manifest that there is a difference, and that not a small one, between those who belong to the former, and those who seek their hap- piness in the latter, and have their desires bounded by it. CHAPTER III. THE WAY IN WHICH MEMBERSHIP IN OUR CHURCHES IS OBTAINED. Often has the question been addressed to me, " How do people become members of your churches in America ?" This has been said to me particularly on the Conti- nent, where, in too many countries, disci- pline seems to be almost unknown, and where, I have been assured, there are many churches in which all who choose may come to the Lord's Supper, and that this alone is requisite in order to a man's mem- bership in a church. This, too, it is said, often takes place without saying a word to the pastor, or any other officer of the church. Widely different is the practice which obtains in the evangelical churches of the United States. I will describe it in few words. Every faithful pastor, who preaches reg- ularly in any particular place for a year or two, is supposed to become pretty well ac- quainted with the people of his charge. In most cases, he not only comes to know the families that compose his flock, but also, more or less, nearly every individual, es- pecially of the adult population. This is almost certain to be the case where the flock is not very numerous. This general acquaintance gives him some knowledge of the character of almost every individual. With most, if not all, he endeavours to have some conversation, more or less directly, on the subject of salvation, and the hopes of eternal life which they may be enter- taining. In addition to this, his Bible-classes and Sunday-schools bring him into frequent contact with the more juvenile part of the people over whom the Holy Ghost has made him overseer. He finds frequent opportunities of speaking with them about their souls. Besides, he is not alone. The elders, deacons, or other officers of his church, assist him much with their co-op- eration. Through these, as well as through zealous, judicious, and faithful private mem- bers of his church, he learns continually the state of mind of most, if not of all the people in his congregation. This knowl- edge is of the greatest consequence when persons come to converse with him re- specting their salvation. In our revivals, as will appear presently, it is common for the pastor to appoint a time for meeting at his house, or at some other convenient place, those who are awakened to a sense of the importance of religion. On these occasions he converses with each individ- ual if it be possible, gives such directions as they may need, and prays with the whole. When they are too many for him, to speak to all of them, he makes use of the assistance of some of the most experi- enced of the officers of his church. Some- times a neighbouring minister will come and help him. I have seen twenty, fifty, a hundred, and even as many as three hundred persons, all, with few exceptions, adults, come together in deep distress of soul, on such occasions. In such little meetings the pastor learns iv the progress of religion in the souls of his people. But when there is no special " se- riousness," as we say, or uncommon atten- tion to religion among his people, then it may be that the number of those who come from time to time to speak to him respect- 186 RELIGION IN AMERICA. ing their salvation will he small. And if he ceases to be faithful in preaching the Gospel, and his church becomes cold in its zeal, in its faith, and in its prayers, then it may happen that for a while he may not have any. In many of our churches the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered once in three months, in many once in two, and in others once a month. Some time be- fore, the pastor gives notice that he will meet at a certain time and place all such as wish to join the church on that occasion, and receive the communion for the first time. He meets with them, converses with them, and learns the state of their minds, as far as it is possible for man to judge. In many cases the persons come to him re- peatedly to lay open their hearts, and re- ceive his counsels. If he believes that they have met with the change of heart of which the Saviour speaks in his interview with Nicodemus, he encourages them in the resolution to join the church. If he thinks that they are not prepared for this important step, he advises them to defer it for a season, that they may become so. In some cases, as in that of the Presbyterians universally, the pastor reports the matter to the session of the church, and the can- didates have generally to appear before that body, which consists of the pastor and the elders, who may be from two to twelve in number. In the Congregational and Bap- tist churches, it is the " church," that is, the body of the members of the church, who hear the candidates relate the history of the work of grace in their hearts, and give their reasons for believing that they have become " new creatures in Christ Jesus." If the person who applies to be received as a member of the church is a stranger, or one of whose deep serious- ness the pastor and the brethren of the church had been ignorant, then he is ex- amined more fully upon his " experience," or the work of God in his soul. He is asked to tell when and how he became concerned for his salvation, the nature and depth of his repentance, his views of sin, his faith in Christ, his hopes of eternal life, <&c, &c. These examinations are some- times long, and in the highest degree in- teresting. Solemn, and yet, to the faithful pastor, joyful work, to deal with souls in these important seasons ! But the faithful pastor is always engaged in guiding the souls of his people in the way that leads to life. The day arrives for administering the Lord's Supper ; the preparatory services, including a sermon, are gone through ; the moment comes for commencing those which relate to this sacred ordinance. Be- fore he commences them, the pastor, in many churches, calls upon all those who are now about to join the church to come [Book V. forward and take their places before the pulpit. He reads their names aloud, and baptizes those of them who have not been baptized before. He then puts certain questions to the adults, imbodying the chief articles of the church's creed, and to these they answer in the affirmative. This is sometimes followed by his reading out the form of a covenant, which they must give their assent to and engage to keep.* * As the reader may be desirous of seeing one of these summaries of faith and covenant, I here give the following one, selected from among the many which I have seen. The pastor addresses the candidates standing in the midst of the church in the following language : FAITH. " In the presence of God and this assembly you do now appear, desiring publicly and solemnly to enter into covenant with Him and his Church according to the Gospel, professing your full assent to the follow- ing summary of faith. •' Art. 1. You solemnly and publicly profess your belief in one God, the Almighty Maker of heaven and. earth, who upholds all things, and orders all events according to his own pleasure, and for his own glory. " Art. 2. You believe that this glorious Being ex- ists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and that these three are one, being the same in substance, equal in power and glory. " Art. 3. You believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are our only rule of faith and practice. " Art. 4. You believe that God at first created man upright, and in his own image ; that our first pa- rents fell from their original uprightness, and involved themselves and their posterity in a state of sin and misery. " Art. 5. You believe that all men since the fall are by nature depraved, having no conformity of heart to God, and being destitute of all moral excel- lence. " Art. 6. You believe that Jesus Christ is the Sav- iour of sinners, and the only Mediator between God and man. " Art. 7. You believe in the necessity of the renew- ing and sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit, and that to be happy you must be holy. " Art. 8. You believe that sinners are justified by faith alone, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. " Art. 9. You believe that the saints will be kept by the almighty power of God from the dominion of sin, and from final condemnation, and that at the last day they will be raised incorruptible, and be forever happy. " Art. 10. You believe that the finally impenitent will be punished ' with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.' "Thus you believe in your hearts, and thus you confess before men." COVENANT. " You do now, under this belief of the Christian religion as held in this church, publicly and solemn- ly avouch the eternal Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be your God and the God of yours, engaging to devote yourselves to his fear and service, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments. With an humble reliance on his Spirit, you engage to live answerably to the profession you now make, submitting yourselves to the laws of Christ's king- dom, and to that discipline which he has appointed to be administered in his Church. That you may ob- tain the assistance you need, you engage diligently to attend, and carefully to improve all the ordinances he has instituted. Chap. IV.] UNCONVERTED MEN. 187 The forms in which all this is done vary in different churches and denominations, but the substance is the same. It also takes place sometimes at the public servi- ces on Saturday, preparatory to the cele- bration of the communion on the Sabbath following. I may add that many, particularly of the Presbyterian churches in the interior, still retain the old practice of the communi- cants taking their seats at a long table in the principal aisle of the church, the bread and wine being handed round, accompa- nied with prayer and a brief exhortation. In the cities and large towns the commu- nicants occupy certain pews assigned to them, either in the middle of the church, or in the end next to the pulpit. In the Episcopal Church, the communicants re- ceive the sacrament kneeling round the altar. Though the administration of this sacrament most commonly takes place im- mediately after the forenoon sermon, it is now celebrated in many churches in the afternoon, preceded by a short sermon or address. In a Presbyterian church in Washington City, it used, a few years ago, to be celebrated at night, and may be so still. The effect was solemn, and not un- pleasant, and it had the advantage, in the eyes of those who attach importance to such matters, of coinciding with the hour of its first institution. But a more impor- tant advantage, in my opinion, lay in its ad- mitting of the communicants being joined by many from other churches, on an oc- casion so well calculated to unite the hearts of all in Christian sympathy and love. Let me farther add, that in almost all our churches those who are not members usually remain and witness the solemn ceremony : a most proper and profitable custom, for the very occasion speaks in most affecting language to the unconverted heart, and affords an admirable opportunity for the faithful and skilful messenger of " Thus you covenant, promise, and engage, in the fear of God, and by the help of his Spirit. " In consequence of these professions and promises, •we affectionately recognise you as members of this church, and in the name of Christ declare you enti- tled to all its visible privileges. We welcome you to this fellowship with us in the blessings of the Gos- pel, and on our part engage to watch over you, and to seek your edification as long as you shall continue among us. " May the Lord support and guide you through a transitory life, and after this warfare is accomplished, receive you to His blessed Church above, where our love shall be forever perfect, and our joy forever full. Amen." In some churches the summary of faith used on these occasions, and the covenant, accompanied by a short and pertinent address to the members of the church, is printed in a little book, which also con- tains a list of all their names, and their residences if in a city, a copy of which is possessed by each mem- ber. It is a convenient manual, as well as a solemn remembrancer, which it is profitable to consult fre- ■qiently. God to appeal to such on behalf of Him whose sorrows are so touchingly set forth in an ordinance which may truly be called an epitome of the Gospel. CHAPTER IV. THE RELATIONS WHICH UNCONVERTED MEN HOLD TO THE CHURCH. I have known many persons in different parts of Europe who, after listening to statements such as the above, seemed at a loss to comprehend the position held, with respect to the Church, by those who are not its members, and they have asked again and again for explanations on the subject. I have told them, in reply, that such of those persons as are the children of pious parents, hold towards the Church a very interesting relation, which, though invisible, if I may so speak, is real ; and that such of them as have been baptized in infancy, in my opinion, maintain an im- portant relation to it, which ought to be made much more of than is usual among the Psedobaptist branches of the Protestant Church, We are very faulty on this point in the United States, but not more so, I apprehend, than are our Protestant breth- ren in other lands. Very affecting appeals, nevertheless, are often made by our faith- ful ministers to such of their hearers as are not converted, yet who have knelt by the side of a devout mother, have felt her hand resting on their youthful heads, and who, when in the arms of a pious parent, received the symbol of that " washing of regeneration," without which none can serve God acceptably, either on earth or in heaven. Nor are such appeals in vain.* But the question has often been propo- sed to me, " Are men who are not allow- ed to come to the Lord's Supper willing to attend your churches V Most certainly they are. They are too well instructed in religion not to be aware that admission to that ordinance would do them anything but good as long as they remain unrecon- ciled to God through Jesus Christ. f Many * Some very interesting investigations have been made in the churches in New-England, the portion of the United States where the Gospel has been longest, most extensively, and most faithfully preach- ed, taken as a whole, which have shown in the most decisive manner that the "children of the Church," that is, the children of believers, who have been ded- icated to God, many of them in baptism, have shared most largely in the blessing of God's grace ; and that nothing can be more completely unfounded than the reproach that "the children of Christians, and es- pecially those of ministers and deacons, do worse than those of other people." The very reverse has been demonstrated by a widely-extended and care- fully-prosecuted inquiry. Indeed, what other result could a man who believes God have expected ? f Foreigners sometimes commit great mistakes from not being aware of our customs in this respect. A Spanish gentleman once called on the late Rev. 189 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. of them, indeed, would recoil with horror were a minister to propose such a thing. Yet they value the privilege of going to the sanctuary. They have been taught from their childhood that the preaching of the Gospel is the great instrumentality ap- pointed by God for the salvation of men. They go in the hope of one day finding that which they know to be essential to their happiness even in this life. Others may be influenced by the force of educa- tion, or by that of habit, by fashion, by the desire of seeing others and being seen, by the charms of the preacher's eloquence, and so forth. In no other part of the world, perhaps, do the inhabitants attend church in a larger proportion than in the United States ; certainly no part of the Continent of Europe can compare with them in that respect. The contrast be- tween the two must strike any one who, after having travelled much in the one, comes to see any of the cities of the other, with the single exception of New-Orleans, which is hardly, as yet, an American city, and even it, in point of church attendance, is far better than Paris, Rome, Vienna, Hamburg, or Copenhagen. Not only do persons who have not yet become members, by formal admission as such, attend our churches ; they form a very large part of our congregations. In many cases they constitute two thirds, three fourths, or even more ; this depend- ing much on the length of the period du- ring which the congregation has been or- ganized, and hardly ever less than a half, even in the most highly-favoured church- es. Nor do they attend only ; they are cheerful supporters of the public worship, and are often found as liberal in contribu- ting of their substance for the promotion of good objects, as the members of the church themselves, with whom they are intimately connected by the ordinary busi- ness af life, and by family ties. Multitudes of them are like the young man whom Jesus loved, but who still "lacked one thing." They attend from year to year, as did the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, nor do they attend in vain.* It Sylvester Lamed, of New-Orleans, one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of his day, to say that he wished to join his church, and to receive the sacra- ment of the Supper, " for," said he, with an oath, " you are the most eloquent man I have ever heard !" Mr. Larned spent an hour with him in explaining what was required in order to his becoming a mem- ber of his church ; in other words, what it is to be a true Christian, and the Spaniard went away with a heavy heart, to reflect on a subject which had never been presented to his mind in the same light before. * In the State of Connecticut a series of most in- teresting inquiries have been prosecuted, during the last few years, under the auspices, I believe, of the General Association of the Congregational Church- es ; one of which relates to the influence which the faithful preaching of the Gospel in a community — a parish, for instance — exerts upon the mass who hear pleases God to make the faithful preaching of his Word instrumental to the salvation now of one, now of another ; and some- times, by a special outpouring of his Spirit, He brings many at the same time into his kingdom. The non-professing hearers of the Word, then, are to be considered as simply what we call them, members of the congrega- tion, not of the church. We can look, as I have said, for their assistance in many, if not all good undertakings, as well as in the ordinary support of the Gospel. Many, in the character of trustees, are faithful guardians of the property of the church and congregation. Many teach in our Sunday- schools, and find instruction themselves in their endeavours to instruct others. One great advantage in this is, that un- converted men, who know themselves to be such, occupy their proper place. No law, no false custom, compels them to be members of the church. Hence their po- sition is less dangerou-; in several respects. They are less tempted to indulge self-de- lusion, and are more open to the direct, unimpeded shafts of the truth. Their po- sition, too, tends to give them a remark- able simplicity and frankness of character. The term " Christian" generally signify- ing with us, not a mere believer in Chris- tianity, but one who professes to be a dis- ciple of Christ, and is known as such, nine persons out of ten of those who make no profession of religion would, on being ask- ed, "Are you a Christian 1" promptly re- ply, " No, I am sorry to say I am not ;'* meaning thereby that he was sorry to say that he is not a truly religious man, or what the word Christian ought to signify,, and is with us so often employed to ex- press. This is obviously better for uncon- verted persons — better for their own con- sciences — than to be involved in a church relation, and yet be without religion. It is every way better, also, for the pastor and the church ; and the prospect of the Word of God gaining an entrance into the heart of the unrenewed is many times more en- couraging than if they were members of the church, and had " a name to live" while in reality " dead in trespasses and sins." it for a long period of time. The results are most striking, and clearly demonstrate the blessing of having the stated and regular use of the means of grace. It has been found that, of those who habitu- ally attend churches where the Gospel is faithfully preached, the number who, sooner or later, are made to experience its saving power is surprisingly great \. and, on the contrary, the number of those who die without giving any evidence of possessing true piety is small. The investigation has been made in all parts of the State, and has everywhere conducted to- the same important and delightful conclusion. I know not whether this inquiry has ever been pros- ecuted so thoroughly and extensively in any other part of the world. Chap. VI.] CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PREACHING. 189 CHAPTER V. THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. I have been often asked in Europe, What measures are adopted by our churches in enforcing discipline — how unworthy per- sons, for instance, are prevented from com- ing to the Lord's Table 1 The very ques- tion indicates familiarity with a state of things very different from what prevails in the United States — with a state of things in which the decisions of the ecclesiastical authority are enforced by the civil. Church discipline with us, though whol- ly moral, is thought quite sufficient. The case must be rare, indeed, of any one, not a member of some recognised church, com- ing forward to receive the sacrament in an evangelical church. He hears the qual- ifications necessary to a worthy participa- tion in the ordinance ; he knows that none but Christians of good repute in other evan- gelical churches are invited to join the members of that particular church on the solemn occasion ; and if he belongs to nei- ther of these categories, he is not likely to nnite himself to the Lord's people. But if he should, he does so on his own respon- sibility before God ; the Church is not to be blamed for his conduct. Even were a per- son who had been excommunicated for open immorality, and universally known to be so, to take his seat among the mem- bers of the church, its office-bearers, in carrying round the symbols of the Sav- iour's body and blood, would probably pass him by ; or, if that could not he done, they would rather allow the matter to take its course than risk confusion at so solemn a moment, in the conviction that the Church, having done her previous duty to the un- happy man, she is not to blame for his un- authorized intrusion. I know of one soli- tary occasion in which one of the office- bearers whispered in the ear of a person who ought not to have been among the communicants, that it would be better for his own soul, as well as due to the church, that he should retire, and he did so. But this was unobserved by most of those im- mediately around, or, if observed, they did not know the cause of his retiring. I nev- er knew or heard of another case in which such a step was necessary. No difficulty whatever, I repeat, can arise on this subject. Our discipline is moral, and the people are too well in- structed on the subject of their duties not to know what they should do, and what to abstain from doing. We have no gens d'armes, or other police agents, to enforce our discipline, and if such functionaries are ever seen about our churches in any char- acter but that of worshippers, it is on ex- traordinary occasions, to keep order at the door ; and their services are not often needed even for that purpose. In regard to church members who sub- ject themselves to censure for open sin, or gross neglect of duty, they are dealt with according to the established discipline of the body to which they belong ; and that, in all our evangelical churches, is founded upon the simple and clear directions given by our Lord and his Apostles. Unworthy members, after having been dealt with ac- cording to Scriptural rule, are excluded until they give evidence of sincere contri- tion for their sin. Where the case is fla- grant, and the sin persisted in, after all at- tempts to reclaim the offender have failed, he is openly excommunicated before the church and congregation. A less open declaration of the offence and punishment takes place in other cases. But whatever be the course pursued, unworthy men are excluded in all our evangelical churches as soon as their offence can be properly taken up by the church. I state this as a general fact. Once excluded, the world does not long remain ignorant of what has taken place, and the church thus avoids the charge of retaining persons of scandalous lives in her communion.* Any defect in our administration of church discipline does not lie, I conceive, generally speaking, in its being harsh and impatient ; while, on the other hand, there is nothing in the institu- tions of the country, or in the opinions and habits of the people, to prevent its being as rigid as the legislation of the great Head of the Church demands. If there be failure anywhere, it is chargeable to want of fidel- ity on the part of those who are intrusted with the exercise of it. CHAPTER VI. CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PREACHING. In order adequately to describe American preaching, one should be intimately ac- quainted with the churches of the country throughout its vast extent ; but this knowl- edge it falls to the lot of few to possess. Foreign writers on the subject have been either travellers, whose books betray a very limited acquaintance with the church- es and their ministers, or untravelled au- thors, whose judgment has been formed upon such specimens as they could find in printed discourses, or hear from the lips of preachers from the United States during visits to Europe. In either case, whatever may have been the impartiality of the judges, the data for forming a sound opin- * The deposition of a minisler of the Gospel, when it occurs, which, when we consider how numerous the ministry is, cannot be thought frequent, is com- monly announced in the religious and other journals, in order that the churches may be duly guarded against the admission of the deposed person into their pulpits, through ignorance of his character and present position. 190 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. ion upon the subject have been manifestly insufficient. Few persons in Europe have read enough of American sermons to form an accurate judgment respecting the vari- ous qualities of American preaching, for few preachers, comparatively, in America have published volumes of sermons, or even isolated and occasional discourses. Some of the most effective preachers have published very little, and many nothing at all. And as for those preachers from the United States who have visited Europe, not a dozen have been able to preach in any language but the English ; and any other language, with all but one or two of these, has been German. Except in Great Britain and Ireland, then, and to a very limited extent in Germany, American preaching is unknown, except from books and the reports of persons who have visited the country. As for the American preach- ers who have visited Europe, they have been few in comparison with the whole body, and have been confined for the most part to those of three or four denomina- tions. Many of them have crossed the Atlantic as invalids for the recovery of their health ; others have come with some object to accomplish, Avhich left little time for preaching. Under such circumstances they could hardly be expected to preach as well as at home ; and yet there have been some who, while in Europe, reflected no discredit on themselves or their country as pulpit orators.* Preaching in the United States varies exceedingly both in manner and in substance, but most in manner. The clergy in the Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal, Reformed Dutch, Lutheran, German Re- formed, Moravian, Reformed Presbyteri- an, Associate, and Associate Reformed churches, have, with few exceptions, pass- ed through a regular course of education * Among the American preachers whose visits are still remembered with interest in Great Britain (and some of them on the Continent also), but who are no longer with us, may be mentioned the Rev. Drs. Mason, Romeyn, Bruen, Henry, Hobart, Emory, Fisk, and Clark, who were certainly no mean men. Of those who have visited Europe within the last few years, and who are still permitted to prosecute their work among us, the Rev. Drs. Spring, Humphrey, Cox, M'Auley, Codman, Sprague, Breckinridge. Pat- ton, and Rev. Mr. Kirk, of the Presbyterian and Con- gregational Churches ; the Rev. Drs. Bethune and Ferris, of the Reformed Dutch ; the Rev. Drs. Mil- nor, M'llvaine (bishop of Ohio), Meade (bishop of Virginia), Hawks, and Tyng, of the Episcopal ; the Rev. Drs. Olin, Capers, President Durbin, and Bishop Soule, of the Methodist ; the Rev. Drs. Wayland, Stowe, Sears, and M'Murray, of the Baptist ; and the Rev. Dr. Kurtz and the Rev. Mr. Riley of the Lu- theran and German Reformed Churches, are widely known in Great Britain, and some of them on the Continent. The last-named two were kindly re- ceived in Germany, and heard with attention, both when they spoke of the infant seminaries for which they pleaded, as well as when they proclaimed "that Name which is above every name," and which is " like ointment poured forth." in Latin, Greek, the Natural and Moral Sciences, and Theology, such as is now pursued at our colleges and theological seminaries, or what is tantamount to it. Many, especially the younger men, have some knowledge of Hebrew. As for the Baptist ministers, it is not easy to say how many have gone through a similar course — certainly not half, perhaps not a fourth of them. A still smaller proportion of the Methodist preachers have had that advan- tage, though, upon the whole, they are probably as well informed as the Baptist ministers are. Ministerial education among the Cumberland Presbyterians is much in the same state as among the Methodists. The clergy of certain denominations, who have not passed through a collegiate course, are often spoken of, but very un- justly, as "uneducated,'' " unlearned," "il- literate," and so forth. Very many such have, by great application, made most re- spectable attainments. Some have ac- quired a considerable knowledge of the Latin and Greek classics, and a far greater number have, by the diligent perusal of valuable works in English, stored their minds with a large amount of sound learn- ing, which they use with much effect in preaching. Nor is this surprising. A man may acquire an immense fund of knowledge through the sole medium of the English tongue. Benjamin Franklin knew nothing of the ancient languages, and not much of any of the modern, beyond his mother tongue and French ; yet few men of his day were better informed, or wrote their mother tongue with equal purity. So, also, witli Washington. And who ever used the English language with greater propriety and effect than Bunyan ; or where in that language shall we find a sounder or abler theological writer than Andrew Fuller 1 Yet neither Bunyan nor Fuller was ever at a college. It is a great, though a common mistake, to suppose that Methodist ministers, when " on the circuit," read nothing. There being generally two on each circuit, each has a good deal of time, especially in the older portions of the country, for making up his reports, carrying on his correspondence, and prosecuting his studies ; and that this last is done to some good purpose is clearly shown by the preaching of the great majority. Those who are labouring on the " circuits" in the frontier and thinly-set- tled districts, have much less time for read- ing and study. Those who are stationed in the cities and large towns have as much time for study as other ministers similarly situated. Many Baptist ministers, also, who have never attended college, are close students, and carefully prepare for the pul- pit ; while others, of whom so much can- not be said, give themselves much to the reading of certain favourite authors. Chap. VI.] CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PREACHING. 191 Nearly all the Episcopal and Congrega- tional clergy write their sermons, and read more or less closely when delivering them. So do many of the Presbyterian and Re- formed Dutch, and some, also, of the Bap- tist ministers. A large proportion of the Presbyterian clergy, the great majority of the Baptist, and nearly all the ministers of the Methodist, Cumberland Presbyterian, and some other evangelical denominations, neither write their sermons in full, nor read any considerable part of them. Few, how- ever, of any church commit their sermons to memory ; the great majority of such as do not write out their discourses, carefully study the subjects of them, and generally note down the principal heads to be used in the pulpit, as taste or habit may incline. The delivery of the ministers among us who read is not, in general, very animated ; still, it is sufficiently attractive in most instances to interest hearers endued with any capacity for distinguishing between sound and sense, and who prefer a well- reasoned, well-expressed, and instructive discourse to mere animated declamation, accompanied with much less, commonly, of these qualities. Good reading, though in all countries much more rare than at- tractive and effective speaking, will gen- erally be preferred, nevertheless, by hear- ers of high intellectual acquirements. Ministers of all denominations who do not read their discourses, possess a much more animated delivery, and generally dis- play more of what may be called " orato- ry" in their manner, than their brethren who read. But their sermons can hardly have the same order, clearness, and free- dom from repetition. Still, they need not be defective in instructiveness, and they have greatly the advantage in point of fervour, and in those direct and powerful appeals which owe their effect almost as much to look, tone, and manner, as to the truths which the speaker expresses. Not that such appeals can be of much avail if no truth be conveyed by them, but truth may become much more effective when pressed upon the attention in an at- tractive and impressive manner. Those of the clergy of the evangelical churches in the United States who have passed through a regular classical and the- ological course of education, and who in point of numbers may be estimated at about 7000, taken as a whole, would be pronounced less animated than the most celebrated preachers in Great Britain and Ireland, France and Germany, and, I may add, Denmark and Sweden. Not a few of them, however, are not wanting in fervour, and even fire in their delivery. But this is not the case with those of our ministers who have had a less complete education, and have been very differently trained. Our Methodist ministers have a certain course of reading prescribed to them for the four probationary years preceding their being ordained elders or presbyters. Du- ring that time they have their circuit la- bours to perform ; what they learn is put to instant use, and incorporated, as it were, with their very being. Now, this preparatory course has no tendency to keep down the eagerness for energetic preaching, so much felt by men who re- gard themselves as called by God to preach his Gospel, but which is so much restrain- ed by the precise knowledge and artificial rules of eloquence taught in colleges. Be- sides, as they generally preach to moder- ate assemblages, and these, in many cases, mainly composed of the plainer classes, they are far less apt to feel embarrassed than youths who, having first spent sever- al years at a college, and then several more at a theological seminary, have ac- quired so fastidious a taste, and have be- come so nervously sensible to the slightest deviations from the strictest rules of gram- mar and rhetoric, that they almost dread to speak at all, lest they should offend against both. But the grand advantage pos- sessed by the Methodist itinerant preach- er, and one which, if he has any talent at all, he cannot fail to profit by, is, that he may preach sooner or later in many or all of the eight, ten, or more places in his cir- cuit, the discourse with which he sets out, and which he has been preparing during the intervals of repose which he enjoys. This frequent repetition of the same ser- mon is an inestimable means of improve- ment. Each repetition admits of some modification, as the discourse is not writ- ten out, and enables the preacher to im- prove what seemed faulty, and to supply what seemed deficient in the preceding effort. No men, accordingly, with us be- come readier or more effective speakers. Their diction, indeed, may not always be as pure as that of men who have spent several years in the schools ; yet it is sur- prising with what propriety vast numbers of them express themselves, while in point of forcible and effective delivery they far surpass, upon the whole, preachers who have passed through the colleges. What has been said of the Methodists applies to the Cumberland Presbyterians, a body of Christians which we shall give some account of hereafter, and which is to be found exclusively in the West and in Texas. Like the Methodists, they have circuit or itinerant preachers, and about an equal proportion of their ministers have never pursued a course of study at col- lege. It may be applied, also, but not to the same extent, to what is called, neither with strict propriety, nor always in kind- liness of feeling, the " uneducated" por- tion of Baptist preachers. They have not the advantages of the itineracy, and many 192 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. of them are too much occupied with their secular pursuits to have much time to spare for study. Still, among them, also, there will be found a great deal of ener- getic eloquence — rather homely at times, yet often highly effective — and flowing from a mind more intent upon its concep- tions than upon the language in which they are to be clothed, and more desirous of producing a lasting effect on the under- standing and hearts of the hearers than of exciting admiration for the graces of a fine style and elegant delivery. Some of the tourists from abroad who have visited the United States have affect- ed to despise our " uneducated" and " ig- norant" ministers, and have thought what they call the " ranting" of such men a fit subject of diversion for themselves and their readers. Such authors know little of the real worth and valuable labours of these humble, and, in comparison with such as have studied at colleges and universi- ties, unlettered men. Their plain preach- ing, in fact, is often far more likely to ben- efit their usual hearers* than would that of a learned doctor of divinity issuing from some great university. Their language, though not always refined, is intelligible to those to whom it is addressed. Their il- lustrations may not be classical, but they will probably be drawn either from the Bible or from the scenes amid which their hearers move, and the events with which they are familiar ; nor would the critical knowledge of a Porson, or the vast learn- ing of a Parr, be likely to make them more successful in their work. I have often heard most solemn and edifying dis- courses from such men. I have met with them in all parts of the United States ; and though some, doubtless, bring discredit upon the ministry by their ignorance, their eccentricities, or their incapacity, and do more harm than good to the cause of reli- gion, yet, taken as a whole, they are a great blessing to the country. A Euro- pean who should denounce the United States as uncivilized, and the inhabitants as wretched, because he does not every- where find the luxuries and refinements of London and Paris, would display no more ignorance of the world, nor a greater want of common sense, than were he to despise the plain preaching of a man who enters the pulpit with a mind replete with Scrip- tural knowledge, obtained by frequent pe- * Let me not be misunderstood. I would not for a moment convey the idea that the people who at- tend the preaching of the non-classically educated Methodist and Baptist ministers consist only of the poor and uneducated. On the contrary, in many places, both in the North and in the South, they have a fair share of the most intelligent and respect- able part of the population among their hearers. At the same time, it has ever been the peculiar glory of the former, indeed, of both, that through their labours " the poor have the Gospel preached to them." rusal of the Bible, and the assistance of valuable commentaries, besides being gen- erally well informed, and with a heart full of love to God and concern for men's souls, even although he may never have fre- quented the groves of an academy, or studied the nicer graces of oratory. To the labours of such men more than 20,000 neighbourhoods in the United States are indebted for their general good order, tran- quillity, and happiness, as well as for the humble but sincere piety that reigns in many a heart, and around many a fireside. To them the country owes much of its conservative character, for no men have inculcated more effectively those doctrines which promote obedience to law, respect for magistracy, and the maintenance of civil government ; and never more than within the last year or two, during which they have had to resist the anarchical principles of self-styled reformers, both religious and political. No men are more hated and reviled by these demagogues, whose projects, I rejoice to say, find com- paratively but a smail and decreasing num- ber of friends and advocates. To the in- fluence of the pulpit, and that of the reli- gious and sound part of the political press, we owe a return of better sentiments in several states, in relation to capital punish- ments in the case of murder in its highest degree, and the more frequent condemna- tion and execution of those who commit it. And in a late insurrectionary move- ment in Rhode Island, the leading journals of that state attest that the clergy of all denominations exerted a highly salutary influence.* But the subject of preaching ought to be viewed in its highest and most important aspect — that of the salvation of souls. The first characteristic of American preaching, I should say, is simplicity. It is simple in the form of discourse or ser- mon, usually adopted by the better-educa- ted part of the ministry. The most natu- ral and obvious view of a subject is pre- ferred to the far-fetched, the philosophical, it may be, and the striking. The grand aim of our preachers, taken as a body, is to present the true meaning of a text rath- er than to produce what is called effect. Again, preaching in the United States is simple in point of language, the plain and familiar being preferred to the ornate and rhetorical. Such of our preachers as wish to be perfectly intelligible, prefer words of Saxon to those of Latin origin, as being better understood by the people. Vigour, too, is preferred to beauty, and perspicuity to embellishment. Not that we have no preachers whose com position is ornate, * "Nothing," says the Providence Journal of July, 1812, "has filled the enemies of law and order wilh greater rage than the high and noble stand taken by the clergy against their insurrectionary doctrines." •Chap. VI.] CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PREACHING. 193 and even elegant, but I speak of the mass. Lastly, our preaching is simple in point of delivery. The manner of our preachers, their gestures, and their intonation, must be allowed to be extremely simple. There is little of the rhetorician's art in it, little that is studied and theatrical. There may be animation, and in some cases even vehe- mence, accompanied with a loud and pow- erful utterance, but the manner remains simple — the hearer's attention is not di- verted from what is said to him that says it. Truth, accordingly, has a better chance, so to speak, of making its way to the hearts of the audience, than when announced with all the fascinations of a splendid address and captivating manner. Not that elo- quence is unknown or undervalued, but that simplicity of delivery predominates over show, and the preacher would rather carry truth home to his hearers' hearts than extort their applause. Nor do our ministers affect a peculiar manner or into- nation of voice,* as is the case in some countries, but every good preacher endeav- ours to take with him into the pulpit what is natural and habitual to him in that re- spect. The second grand characteristic of American preaching lies in its being seri- ous and earnest. Thanks be to God, the preachers of our evangelical churches seem, in general, to be truly converted men, and preach as if they felt the infinite importance of what they say. " We be- lieve, and therefore speak," seems to be the mainspring of all their^ endeavours, and to give the tone to all their preaching. They feel it to be a serious office to speak to dying men of the interests of their im- mortal souls, and help them to prepare for death, judgment, and eternity. They would recoil from the task under an over- whelming sense of its awfulness, were it not that they believe themselves called to it by the Holy Ghost. " Wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel," are words that oft- en address themselves to their hearts, and urge them to the faithful discharge of their vows. Can we wonder that the preaching of such men is serious and earnest 1 A third characteristic of American preach- ing is its dwelling much upon immediate rec- onciliation with God, by sincere repentance towards Him, and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation with God ! that is the great duty urged by the Gospel, and the doing of that duty " now," " to-day," while it is " the accepted time," and " the * Many of the Methodist and Baptist preachers have more of what may be called English intonation than those of other denominations. This may doubtless be ascribed to the influence of some leading English preachers, such as Bishops Coke and Asbury among the former, and the late Dr. Staughton and others among the latter. This I mention not by way of disparagement, but solely because 1 wish to state what appears to me to be a real peculiarity. N day of salvation," not its postponement un- til to-morrow, or a " more convenient sea- son," is what is mainly urged by our evan- gelical ministers generally, so as to form a prominent characteristic of their preach- ing. This it is which communicates to their preaching so much of Richard Bax- ter's style, as exhibited in his writings. No excuse, no delay on the part of the unconverted sinner can be accepted ; the solemn call to repent and seek now the salvation of his never-dying soul is made to sound in his ear, and no peace is given until he has not only heard, but obeyed it. A fourth characteristic of American preaching is found in its being highly doc- trinal. This is particularly the case with such of our ministers as have passed through a regular course of classical and theological studies ; and of these, those who write and read their discourses in- dulge rather more, perhaps, than those who speak from premeditation merely, in what may be called a dogmatic style, using the word in its original signification. And al- though with those who have not pursued such a regular course of study, the practi- cal and hortatory style may prevail over the doctrinal and exegetical, yet the latter has unquestionably a very considerable place in their sermons, as all will admit who have regularly attended such preach- ing for a sufficient time to enable them to judge satisfactorily on the subject. Many of our pastors expound certain portions of the Bible in order, but this the most difficult, and yet, when happily done, most profita- ble of all methods of presenting truth, is not, I am sorry to say, so common as it ought to be. The Bible-classes may, perhaps, be considered so far as a substitute for it, and if a substitute can be admitted at all, they are certainly the best that can be named. A fifth characteristic of our preaching lies in its being systematic or consecutive ; words which make farther explanation ne- cessary, as neither of them expresses the idea which I wish to convey. What I mean is, that the best preaching in our evangeli- cal churches maintains a proper connexion among the discourses successively deliv- ered from the same pulpit, instead of each presenting a separate or isolated state- ment of truth, a sermon one Sabbath be- ing given on one particular subject, on the Sabbath following another sermon on a totally distinct subject, and so on through- out the year. A preacher ought, indeed, to change his topics according to the cir- cumstances and characters of his hearers. But there is such a thing as dwelling on one subject in all its bearings, in succes- sive discourses, so as to make it more thoroughly understood, and convey a deep- er impression than could otherwise be done. And there is such a thing, also, as presenting all the subjects which should 194 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. constitute the themes of a preacher's dis- courses in their proper connexion with, and relation to, one another. Preaching on isolated subjects, without any connect- ing link, and of which no better account can be given than that the preacher finds certain topics and texts easy to preach upon, is not likely to do much good. This is not what men do when they would produce a deep and effectual impression on any other subject. They strive, by all possible means, to present it in all its as- pects and bearings, and do not quit one point until they have well established it. They make every succeeding statement and argument bear upon and strengthen that which preceded, and in this way they make it manifest that they are steadily tending to a great final result, from which nothing, not even want of systematic pro- cess in argumentation, must be allowed for a moment to divert them. " It is line upon line, line upon line ; precept upon precept, precept upon precept," with them ; and as the blacksmith can expect to make an impression upon the heated iron only by directing his hammer to the same point and its immediate vicinity in many suc- cessive blows, so the minister does not hope for success in opening the eyes of. blind sinners, or rightly guiding those who are scarcely more than half awake, but by oft-repeated and faithful presentation of the same truths in all their bearings. This characteristic can hardly be called a pre- vailing one, for, alas ! with a good deal of systematic preaching, we have still too much, even among our settled clergy, of that sort which, with more propriety of idea than accuracy of expression, has been called scattering. A sixth characteristic of American preaching is the extent to which it may be called philosophical. By philosophical I mean, founded on a knowledge of the faculties and powers of the human mind, and of the principles which govern its oper- ations. Though not universal, this charac- teristic distinguishes the evangelical cler- gy of New-England in particular, and oth- ers who have devoted much of their time to theology as a study. Much that, is true, and much, also, that is absurd, has been said against introducing philosophy into religion. True philosophy, in its proper place, is a valuable auxiliary or handmaid, rather than an enemy to theology ; but when she ceases to be a servant and as- sumes the mastery, undertaking that for which she is incompetent, she fails in do- ing the good she might otherwise have done, and becomes purely mischievous.* A seventh characteristic of American preaching is its directness. This distin- guishes our preaching so generally, that it were hard to say which of the evangelical denominations has most of it. You every- where find it the preacher's object, first of all, to be perfectly understood, and then to preach to the heart and conscience, as well as to the understanding. In doing this great plainness of speech is used, and care taken to avoid everything by which the barbed dart may be arrested be- fore it reaches the heart at which it is aimed. An eighth characteristic of American preaching is its faithfulness. I know not how often I have been asked in Europe whether our ministers are not intimidated by the rich and influential in their congre- gations who may dislike the truth. The question has not a little surprised me, for 1 never dreamed that the courage of evan- * "I think," says M. de Tocqueville, "that in no country in the civilized world is less attention paid to philosophy than in the United States. The Americans have no philosophical school of their own ; and they care but little for all the schools into which Europe is divided, the very names of which are scarcely known to them. Nevertheless, it is easy to perceive that almost all the inhabitants of the United States conduct their understanding in the same manner, and govern it by the same rules ; that is to say, that without ever having taken the trouble to define the rules of a philosophical method, they are in possession of one, common to the whole peo- ple." I do not know when I ever read anything with more unmingled astonishment than I did these opinions, which are faithfully transferred from the author's original. Certainly, one rarely finds such, an acknowledgment of a widely-existing effect, for which the proper and only possible cause is denied. The fact is, that in few countries in the civilized, world is philosophy, in the sense in which this word is used on the Continent, viz., metaphysical or psy- chological science, more pursued, at least to all prac- tical and valuable ends, than in the United States- There is scarcely a college — at least a Protestant one, and there are upward of eighty such — in which it is not studied with no little care by the students in the last year of the course. In addition to read- ing such authors as Locke, Reid, Dugald Stewart, Brown, &c, the professor of that department gives lectures or explanations of the text-book employed. Thus do the thousands of young collegians make considerable proficiency in this science, especially in its more popular and practical aspects. And thus do our public men, our professional men, all, in a word, who have passed through college (and they are the men, with few exceptions, that most influ- ence the public mind), become acquainted with the principles that guide the operations of the human mind. There is not a country in the world, not even excepting Scotland itself, where metaphysics have so much influence upon preaching as in New-Eng- land, where, indeed, they have sometimes had too much influence. We have not in the United States great professors who occupy themselves with no- thing but philosophy, and who have rivalled Kant, and Hegel, and Schelling, in the nature of their speculations ; nor is it likely that we ever shall have such. The nature of our Anglo-Saxon mind hardly admits of the thing. Besides, we have too much public life, and too much to engross our attention, to allow us to prosecute extensively impractical spec- ulations, if I may use the expression. Nevertheless, we have a few men, such as Mr. Ralph W. Emer- son, of Boston, who equal Mr. Carlyle himself in ad- miration of the German transcendentalists, and have, probably, come quite as near to understanding them. — Democracy in America, part ii., chap. i. (Reeves's, translation), p. 1. Chap. VI] CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PREACHING. 195 gelical ministers in preaching the Gospel could be doubted. Certainly no man could have such a doubt after witnessing what it has been my lot to witness in all parts of the United States. The dependence of our ministers upon their flocks for their sala- ries seems not to affect in the least their faithfulness in preaching " repentance to- wards God," and " faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." The relation that subsists between pastor and people is certainly more intimate and kindly, and calls for more mutual forbearance, than where the law makes the former wholly independent of the latter. But the very kindness, tender- ness of feeling, and respect which it cre- ates, are only additional motives to ren- der a good minister faithful to the souls of those with whom he maintains such an in- teresting relation, and who show him so many proofs of affection as a faithful pas- tor is very sure to receive among us. Most certainly facts do not establish the supe- rior faithfulness of ministers who are in- dependent of their flocks, taken as a body. On the contrary, this very independence often leads to indolence, neglect, and, sometimes, even to insolence, qualities which it ill becomes a minister of Christ to display, and which are utterly incon- sistent with the Gospel. And it may safe- ly be affirmed that, with us, the great ma- jority of men who have been brought up under evangelical preaching, but who have not yet been converted, would rather have a faithful than an unfaithful pastor. They know that religion, though they profess it not, is of vast importance, and they know well the difference between him that preaches " smooth things," and him that faithfully declares the " counsel of the Lord." Not only does their conscience ap- prove of the former, and not the latter, but they feel that there is far more prospect of their salvation under the ministry of the one than of the other. Besides, other things being equal, a man who preaches faithfully " Christ crucified" is sure to prove, in the end, a more attractive preach- er than he who does not. For what theme can ever be compared with that of the love of God towards sinners of mankind, and the gift of his Son to redeem them from destruction ? Therefore, if a man wishes to be esteemed and supported by his peo- ple, let him be faithful ; that is, in the sense in which Paul was faithful, who was, also, neither rash nor unfeeling, but, on the contrary, prudent and mild, and strove to commend himself, " in love," to all to whom he preached the " unsearchable rich- es of the Gospel." The ninth characteristic of American preaching is, that it is eminently practical. Not only are the unconverted urged to " acquaint themselves with God, and be at peace, that thereby good may come to them," and believers exhorted to " grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ," but the latter are also urged, from the moment of their conversion, to commence living for God, and for the sal- vation of men. The doctrine has of late years been more and more preached, that every Christian, be his sphere in life what it may, is under obligation to live for the salvation of others ; and that by his con- versation, by his holy example, as well as by personal sacrifices, he should do all that he can to promote this salvation far and near. Blessed be God, this style of preach- ing is not without effect. It is the cause, under God's blessing, of the annually in- creasing efforts made by Christians of that land, for the building up of Christ's king- dom, both at home and abroad. The tenth and last characteristic of American preaching is, that it speaks much of the ivork of the Spirit. I know of no one idea that has been so much a dominant one in the American churches for the last fifty years, or, rather, for the last 100 years, as that of the importance of the office and work of the Holy Spirit. The need in which the world lies of the operations of this holy Agent, the indispensableness of his co-operation with the preaching of the Gospel, and the use of all other means to> effect the salvation of men, together with the gracious promise of this great ascension gift of the crucified and exalted Saviour, are themes on which the ministry of the evangelical churches in America often dwells, and not in vain. I have now said what I have deemed ne- cessary respecting the character of Amer- ican preaching. The limits of this work have not permitted me to dwell on these topics, nor is it necessary. All that I have aimed at has been to give the reader what I deem some just conceptions on a subject in which I supposed he might be interested. We come now to the consideration of the question of revivals of religion in America, a subject of the greatest importance, and, at the same time, attended with no ordinaiy difficulties in the minds, perhaps, of some into whose hands this book may fall. I would, however, most respectfully call the attention of such, and, indeed, of all who may read this volume, to the chapter which follows. Though long, it will well reward them for any attention they may bestow upon it. I know not where the whole sub- ject has been so well presented in any language, and cannot but hope that, with God's blessing, it will prove eminently use- ful. It confirms the opinions respecting; American preaching which I have given in the preceding pages. The distinguished friend and professor to whom I am indebt- ed for it, and of whom I have spoken in the introduction, is better qualified by his po- sition, and by his experience, to write such 196 an article than any other man I know of in the United States. God grant that the day may speedily arrive when the dispensation of the Spirit will be better understood and appreciated in all parts of Christendom than it is at present ; and when the abun- dant gift of this blessed Agent will fill the churches with light, and life, and holiness. Nowhere, as it seems to me, is the Holy Spirit honoured as he ought to be, and must be, before the world will be converted. This is true of even the best portions of the Prot- estant churches ; while as to some of the rest, as well as the Roman Catholics in mass, it would seem as if they had not yet "heard whether there be any Holy Spirit." CHAPTER VII. REVIVALS OF RELIGION. Extraordinary seasons of religious inter- est, denominated Revivals of Religion, have existed in the American churches from a very early period of their history. The cause of this peculiarity in the dispensation of divine grace may be traced, in part, to the peculiar character and circumstances of the first settlers of the country. They were English Puritans, who had suffered the severest persecution for their princi- ples in their native land, and who fled into the wilderness to enjoy those principles unmolested, and to carry them out in their full extent. The leading point in controversy between our fathers and the English government was freedom of worship ; the right to have the Gospel preached among them, in its most searching application to the con- science and the heart, " without human mixtures or impositions." To secure this privilege, they willingly " endured the loss of all things," and it was therefore natural that they should prize it highly. Accord- ingly, the attachment of the first settlers of New-England to the ordinances of public worship, and especially the reliance they placed on " the preaching of the word" as the chief instrument, under God, for the conversion of their children and depend- ants, were among the most striking traits in their character. Strict as they were, even to sternness, in family discipline ; lit- erally as they obeyed the injunction, " Thou shalt teach these things diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walk- est in the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up," they still felt that it is the truth pre-eminently, as dis- pensed in " the great congregation," under the combined influence of awakened sym- pathy and awe of the divine presence, which is made by the Holy Spirit " the power of God unto salvation." This feel- RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. ing modified all their habits and institu- tions as a people. It made them settle in villages around their places of worship, and not, like their Southern neighbours, upon scattered plantations ; it led them to sup- port two religious teachers for each of their infant churches ; it founded colleges for the preparation of a ministry adequate to these high duties ; it established week-day lec- tures, on which those who lived in the out- er settlements, at the distance of six or eight miles, felt it a privilege and a duty regularly to attend ; it pervaded, in short, all the arrangements of society, and gave a prominence to preaching, a disposition to multiply religious meetings, and a reliance upon this mode of urging truth upon the conscience, greater, perhaps, than has ever existed among any other people. Another trait in the character of the first settlers of New-England, in common with their brethren at home, was a strong faith and expectation of special answers to pray- er. The English Puritans never regarded prayer as a mere means of grace, but (what it truly is) as a means of moving God, of inducing him to grant what he could not otherwise be expected to bestow. Nor did they stop here. They did not expect mere- ly the blessing of God in general on the re- quests they made, but direct and specific answers, according to their need, in every pressing emergency. This strong faith in the efficacy of prayer the first settlers of New-England carried with them when they fled into the wilderness. It was their sup- port and consolation under all the trials of famine, pestilence, and savage warfare. They felt that special and extraordinary answers were often vouchsafed them when they cried to God ; that there were periods in their history when his arm was made bare for their deliverance, in a manner scarcely less remarkable than if He had in- terposed by direct miracle ; and the result was, that the spirit of the early New-Eng- land Christians was emphatically a spirit of prayer ; which led them to the throne of grace, with the highest confidence of being heard, on every occasion of especial inter- est to themselves, their families, and the Church. To see the connexion of these two traits of character with the spirit of revivals, we have only to consider the influence they would naturally exert at one of the most interesting crises which can ever happen to a minister and his church — I mean the com- mencement of increased thoughtfulness among the unconverted part of the con- gregation. Such seasons exist, at times, in every place where the Gospel is faithful- ly preached. Some alarming providence, some general calamity which weakens for a time the fascination of worldly things, some impressive sermon, some instances of sudden conversion, may strike upon the Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 197 consciences of considerable numbers at once, and awaken up tbat latent sense of guilt and danger, which it is impossible for the most thoughtless wholly to suppress. At such a period, how has many a pastor felt, both in Europe and America, that if he could then enjoy the hearty co-operation and fervent prayers of the whole body of his church ; if he could draw the impenitent around him in more frequent meetings, and hold their minds fixed in the steady and prolonged contemplation of divine truth, while the world was shut out from view, and the seriousness of one might spread by contact till it reached the hearts of many ; how has he felt, that, by the blessing of God, this interest in religion might extend throughout the whole congregation ; might rise to deep anxiety and pungent convic- tion ; that the Holy Spirit might be present to renew the hearts of many ; and that more might be done for the salvation of his people in a few weeks or months, than, un- der ordinary circumstances, in as many years ! And what would this be, if his de- sires were realized, but a revival of religion, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as a re- sult of the prayers and efforts of the people of God? Now I need not say how entirely the early settlers of New-England were prepared, by the traits of character described above, to enter at once on this very course of action. Prayer and preach- ing were the living principle of their insti- tutions ; special prayer upon special emer- gencies, with the confident expectation of direct and specific answers ; preaching, the most plain and pungent, enforcing those peculiar doctrines of grace which humble man and exalt God, and which have in every age been made powerful to the "pul- ling down of strongholds." There was much, also, in the state of their infant settle- ments to favour the desired result. They were a world within themselves, cut off by their distance and poverty from most of the alluring objects which seize on the hearts of the unconverted in a more advanced state of society. They were all of one faith; there was none among them to ques- tion or deny the necessity of a work of the Spirit ; and the minds of their children were prepared, by their early religious training, to bow submissive under the sa- cred influence. In these circumstances, how natural was it to multiply the means of grace upon any appearance of increased seriousness ; to press with redoubled zeal and frequency to the throne of God in pray- er ; to urge their children and dependants, with all the fervour of Christian affection, to seize the golden opportunity, and make their " calling and election sure ;" to re- move, as far as possible, every obstacle of business or amusement out of the way; and to concentrate the entire interest of their little communities on the one object of the soul's salvation ! How natural that these labours and prayers should be bless- ed of God ; that the truth preached under these circumstances should be made, like " the fire and the hammer, to break in pie- ces the flinty rock ;" that extraordinary ef- fusions of the Holy Spirit should be grant- ed ; that there should be an " awakening," as it was then called, or, in modern lan- guage, a REVIVAL OF RELIGION ! That such was actually the result in nu- merous instances we have the fullest evi- dence. The celebrated Jonathan Edwards, author of the " Treatise on the Will," states that his grandfather, who preceded him as pastor of the church in Northampton, Mas- sachusetts, was favoured during his minis- try with five seasons of this kind, which he called his "harvests," occurring at various intervals during the space of forty years. His father, he also says, had four or five similar periods of " refreshing from on high" among the people of his charge ; and he adds, that such had been the case with many other of the early ministers ; that no one could tell when awakenings commenced in New-England ; that they must have been very nearly coeval with its first settlement. Some of the States farther South were settled, to a limited extent, by Presbyteri- ans from the west of Scotland and the north of Ireland, who had also suffered persecu- tion. Many of these had the same general traits of character, and especially the same absorbing interest in religion, with their New-England brethren. In addition to this, they had brought with them the cherished tradition of several remarkable outpourings of the Holy Spirit in their native land, at Kilsyth, at Stewarton, at Irvine, at the Kirk of Shotts, and in the county of Antrim, which led them to pray for and expect sim- ilar dispensations of the Spirit to their in- fant churches. These, at a later period, shared largely in the influences of divine grace, and handed down the spirit of revi- vals to their descendants. The early awakenings, mentioned above, seem to have been generally of a calm and silent character ; and it rarely happen- ed that two congregations in the same neighbourhood were visited at the same time. In the year 1735, a remarkable change took place in this respect. An in- creased power, and wider extent, were given to the dispensation of the Spirit : a large tract of country became in this and the following year the seat of numerous awakenings, which about this time took the name of revivals. As this forms an important epoch in the history of our revi- vals, I shall dwell upon it somewhat at large, and then trace more briefly the prog- ress of these works of grace down to the present time. The revival of 1735 commenced at North- 198 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. ampton, Massachusetts, under the preach- ing of Jonathan Edwards, mentioned above. The town, at an earlier period, had enjoy- ed five awakenings ; but at this time reli- gion had suffered a very great decline, not only in Northampton, but in New-England at large. A pernicious practice had been gradually introduced of admitting persons to full communion in the Church on the ground of a blameless external deportment, •without strict inquiry into their religious experience, or decisive evidence of renew- ing grace. The disastrous consequences •were soon felt. The tone of spiritual feel- ing was lowered in the churches by the admission of many who had a " name to live, but were dead." Prayer and effort for the salvation of the impenitent had greatly decreased ; and, as a natural consequence, there had been for more than thirty years a very marked suspension of divine influ- ence throughout New-England. The preaching of Mr. Edwards which gave rise to this revival, like all preaching ■which prepares the way for extensive ref- ormations, was doctrinal in its chai'acter. He dwelt with great force of argument and closeness of application on the leading doctrines of grace — which had begun to lose their power in the prevailing declen- sion — justification by faith alone, the neces- sity of the Spirit's influences, and kindred topics. Under such preaching, in connexion with a sudden and alarming providence, in the beginning of 1735, a solemn, and very soon an overwhelming interest in religious truth, pervaded the whole town. For the space of six months, the revival went on with a power and extent never before known. Hardly a family could be found in the place in which there were not one or more under conviction of sin, or rejoicing in hope. So entire was the absorption in the interests of the soul, that a report went abroad that the people of Northampton had abandoned all worldly employments, and given them- selves wholly up to the pursuit of eternal ' life ; and though this was an exaggeration, it is true that Mr. Edwards found it neces- sary to remind some of his flock that their secular duties were not to be neglected. The enlightened character of the popula- tion, all of whom were well educated (all, even the poorest, being taught in the same schools at the public expense), guarded them effectually against fanaticism ; while, at the same time, the strength of emotion which prevailed, the distress under a sense of sin, and the joy in giving the heart to God, were, in most cases, far greater than in the early awakenings. The work was confined to no class or age. Ten persons above ninety, and more than fifty above forty years of age ; nearly thirty between ten and fourteen, and one of only four, be- came, in the view of Mr. Edwards, subjects of renewing grace. More than 300 were added to the Church as the fruits of this revival, making the whole number of com- municants about 620, being nearly the en- tire adult population of the town, which consisted of 200 families. I will only add, that Mr. Edwards's well-known principles on the subject led him to guard his peo- ple, throughout the revival, with the most watchful care, against hasty and delusive hopes of having experienced renewing grace. He conversed with each individual separately, not only while under conviction of sin, but in repeated instances after the supposed change of heart took place ; pointing out the evidences and nature of true piety ; warning them against self-de- ception, and leading them to the strictest examination into their spiritual state. Such has been the course pursued in the New- England churches generally, down to the present day ; and the consequence has been, that neither in that revival, nor in most of our well-conducted revivals, has there been reason to suppose that more persons were self-deceived than in the ordinary accessions to the Church at times of no prevailing religious concern. The scenes presented in this work of grace were so striking and wonderful as to awaken the liveliest interest in the whole country round. Many flocked to North- ampton from the impulse of curiosity, or even worse motives ; not a few of whom, struck with the order, solemnity, and strength of feeling which they everywhere witnessed, and cut to the heart by the powerful appeals of Mr. Edwards in the meetings they attended, were themselves brought under conviction of sin. Many of these gave evidence of genuine repentance after they returned home, and did much to extend the work into the places where they belonged. Members of the neighbour- ing churches, also, and ministers of the Gospel from parts more remote, resorted thither to witness the triumphs of redeem- ing grace ; to catch the spirit of the revival, and bear it — a spirit of hope, and prayer, and fervent effort — to the towns where they resided. The blessing of God, in many instances, went with them ; the work spread from place to place, until, in less than a year, ten of the adjacent towns in Massachusetts, and seventeen in Connec- ticut, lying directly south of them, were favoured with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit ; and some remote places were vis- ited in other states, where settlements had been made by emigrants from New-Eng- land, or by the Scottish Presbyterians spo- ken of above. Many thousands gave evi- dence in their subsequent lives of having experienced a genuine conversion in this work of grace. In 1740, revivals commenced anew at Northampton, Boston, and many other pla- Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 199 ces, very nearly at the same time, and spread within eighteen months throughout all the English colonies. For some time, this appears to have been, to an unusual degree, a silent, powerful, and glorious work of the Spirit of God. An eyewitness states, under date of May, 1741, that from Philadelphia to the remotest settlements beyond Boston, a distance of nearly 500 miles, there was in most places more or less concern for the soul. " Whole col- leges are under conviction, and many sa- vingly converted. Our minister (Mr. Pem- berton, of New-York), being sent for to Yale College on account of the many dis- tressed persons there, in his going and coming preached twice a day on the road, and even children followed him to his lodgings, weeping and anxiously concerned about the salvation of their souls." At a later period, however, some were unhap- pily betrayed into intemperate zeal, which called forth opposition, and produced great excitement, and contention. Mr. Edwards came forward with his usual ability to de- fend the work, and, at the same time, re- press undue excesses. One hundred and sixty of the most respectable ministers of New-England, New- York, and New-Jer- sey, joined in a public attestation to its genuineness and purity in most places, while they united with Mr. Edwards in condemning the improprieties which had occurred in too many instances. But a spirit of jealousy and strife was engen- dered, which is always fatal to the progress of a revival. It therefore terminated in the year 1743. Notwithstanding these un- fortunate admixtures of human imperfec- tion, the work, as a whole, was most evi- dently shown by its results to have been of God. Those who had the best means of judging, estimated the number of true converts, as proved by their subsequent lives, at 30,000 in New-England alone, at a time when the whole population was but 300,000 ; besides many thousands more among the Presbyterians of New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the more southern settlements. It will interest the reader to know, that about this time there was an outpouring of the Spirit upon one of our Indian tribes, corresponding exactly in its character and effects to the widely-extended work of grace among the whites. In June, 1745, David Brainard, who has been so extensively known for his piety and missionary zeal, began to labour among a small collection of Indians in New-Jer- sey. For the first six weeks, they mani- fested such entire indifference and stupid unconcern, that he was about to leave them, in despair, when he was somewhat encouraged by the conversion of his inter- preter. The interest with which this man now entered into the subject, and the warmth and unction with which he trans- lated Mr. Brainard's discourses, struck the Indians with surprise, and arrested their attention. " On the eighth of August," says Mr. Brainard in his journal (which I slightly abridge), " I preached to the Indi- ans, now about sixty-five in number. There was much visible concern among them when I discoursed publicly ; but afterward, when I spoke to one and another particu- larly, the power of God seemed to descend upon them like ' a mighty rushing wind.' Almost all persons, of all ages, were bowed down with concern together, and were scarcely able to withstand the shock. Old men and women, who had been drunken wretches for many years, and some chil- dren, appeared in distress for their souls. One who had been a murderer, a poivow or conjurer, and a notorious drunkard, was brought to cry for mercy w r ith many tears. A young Indian woman, who, I believe, never before knew that she had a soul, had come to see what was the matter. She called on me on her way, and when I told her that I meant presently to preach to the Indians, she laughed, and seemed to mock. I had not proceeded far in my public dis- course when she felt effectually that she had a soul ; and before the discourse closed, was so distressed with concern for her soul's salvation, that she seemed like one pierced through with a dart." Such scenes were repeated in a number of instances during the following eight weeks. Some months after, in reviewing the events of this revival, he says, " This surprising concern was never excited by any ha- rangues of terror, but always appeared most remarkable when I insisted on the com- passion of a dying Saviour, the plentiful provisions of the Gospel, and the free offer of divine grace to needy sinners. The ef- fects have been very remarkable. I doubt not that many of these people have gained more doctrinal knowledge of divine truth since I visited them in June last, than could have been instilled into their minds by the most diligent use of proper and in- structive means for whole years together without such a divine influence. They seem generally divorced from their drunk- enness, which is ' the sin that easily besets them.' A principle of honesty and justice appears among them, and they seem con- cerned to discharge their old debts, which they have neglected, and, perhaps, scarcely thought of for years. Love seems to reign among them, especially those who have given evidence of having passed through a saving change. Their consolations do not incline them to lightness, but, on the con- trary, are attended with solemnity, and often with tears and apparent brokenness of heart." After some months of proba- tion, he baptized forty-seven out of less than 100, who composed the settlement. 200 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. Surely we may unite with him in saying, " I think there are here all the evidences of a remarkable work of grace among the Indians which can reasonably be expect- ed." The fifty years that followed were years of war and civil commotion ; first in a con- flict of nearly twenty years between the English and French for ascendency in North America, and afterward in a strug- gle of the colonies for independence, and the formation of a Federal Government. During this long period the country was kept in a state of perpetual agitation, under the influence of passions hostile to the prog- ress of spiritual religion in any form, and peculiarly hostile to the prevalence of any extended work of grace. Revivals, how- ever, did not wholly cease, as might rea- sonably have been expected. On the con- trary, I have been struck with surprise, in looking over the accounts of that wide- spread work of grace which soon after commenced, to see in how many instances they point back to some preceding season of spiritual refreshing during those fifty years of war and civil strife. The period just referred to, of increased influence from on high, commenced at the close of the last century, and has often been styled the era of modern revivals. Ow- ing to its importance in this character, I shall dwell upon it somewhat more fully, and shall then turn to other topics which demand our attention. It was preceded by a spirit of fervent prayer and deep so- licitude among Christians, on account of the growing tendency in our country to in- fidel principles. For this a preparation had been made by the crimes and vices of a long-protracted war ; and the breaking out of the French Revolution had given to the enemies of religion the most confident expectations of a speedy triumph. The minds of multitudes had become unsettled. Wild and vague expectations were every- where entertained, especially among the young, of a new order of things about to commence, in which Christianity would be laid aside as an obsolete system. The people of God, under these circumstances, were driven to the throne of grace with redoubled fervour of supplication, that while the enemy came in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord would lift up a standard against him. Another subject of solici- tude was the religious wants of our new settlements, which began at this time to spread abroad in the wilderness, to an un- paralleled extent. There was every reason to fear that, if left to themselves, in the rapidity of their progress, they would leave behind them the institutions of the Gospel. This gave rise to a missionary spirit in the older states, which has been the salvation of that growing part of our country. Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut, especially, from which emigrants by tens of thousands were going forth every year, entered into this cause with the liveliest interest. Large contributions were made from time to time by the churches ; and as regular mission- aries could not be procured in sufficient numbers, many of the settled clergy were induced, by the exigency of the case, to leave their flocks under the care of the neighbouring pastors, and perform long tours of missionary labour in the new states. The spirit thus awakened of more fer- vent prayer to God, and more active zeal in his service, was followed by the divine blessing. A number of churches in the in- terior of Connecticut and Massachusetts were favoured, in 1797, with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which gradually spread into many of the neighbouring towns. The utmost care was taken to guard, from the first, against any recurrence of that spirit of intemperate zeal which had brought re- proach, to some extent, on the revival of 1740. These efforts, most happily, were attended with complete success. Rarely, if ever, has there been a series of revivals in our country more calm, more pure, more lasting and salutary in their effects. As one means of extending the work, ministers who had enjoyed the presence of God among their own people, were se- lected by some ecclesiastical body, and sent forth, generally two together, on preaching tours among the neighbouring churches. The expectation of their com- ing drew large audiences wherever they preached. They came with that fervour of spirit, and that close and direct dealing with the consciences of men, which a preacher gains during the progress of a re- vival, and which he rarely gains to an equal degree under any other circumstances. The churches which they visited being, in most cases, prepared to receive them by a previous season of fasting and prayer, and animated by their presence and labours to redoubled fervour of supplication, were, in many cases, favoured with an immediate outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Under these and similar influences, the work of God spread into more than one hundred towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and into a still greater number of places in the new settlements of Vermont, New- Hampshire, Maine, and New- York, which had but recently formed a wide-spread field of missionary labour. In the mean time , our Presbyterian breth- ren, already mentioned, entered into the work with equal zeal and effect, and carried the spirit of revivals west of the Alleghany Mountains. In Kentucky, lying in the centre of these new states of the West, a revival commenced in the year 1801, which spread over the whole state, and within the two following years extended to the Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 201 North and South, throughout a tract of country 600 miles in length. Owing to the rude state of society in those new settle- ments, there occurred in these revivals some irregularities, which threw a sus- picion upon them for a time in the views of Christians in the Eastern States. Some, undoubtedly, of the vast multitudes who were then awakened were wrought upon merely by the excitement of the occasion. But as to the character of the work in general, we have the following testimony from one of the most enlightened Presby- terian clergymen of Virginia, who visited the scene of those revivals, for the sake of forming for himself a deliberate judg- ment on the subject. " Upon the whole, I think the revival in Kentucky among the most extraordinary that have ever visited the Church of Christ ; and, all things con- sidered, it was peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of the country into which it came. Infidelity was triumphant, and religion on the point of expiring. Some- thing extraordinary seemed necessary to arrest the attention of a giddy people, who were ready to conclude that Christianity was a fable, and futurity a delusion. This revival has done it. It has confounded in- fidelity, and brought numbers beyond cal- culation under serious impressions." In the year 1802, in answer to long- continued and fervent prayer, the Holy Spirit was poured out in a remarkable manner on Yale College, then under the presidency of the Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D. As a work of this kind, in a seat of learning, will naturally be regarded with peculiar interest, I shall here transcribe (with some slight abridgment) an account of this revival, drawn up at the request of the writer by the Rev. Noah Porter, D.D., who was then a member of the institution. " The grace which some of the students had witnessed, and of which they were all informed, in churches abroad, they longed to see in the college. That God would pour out his Spirit upon it was an object of distinct and earnest desire, and of their fervent and united prayers. For many months they were accustomed to meet weekly ' in an upper room,' and ' with one accord,' for prayer and supplication. Those meetings are still remembered by survivers who attended them, as seasons of unwonted tenderness of heart, freedom of communication, and wrestling with God. Early in the spring of 1802, indications of a gracious answer to their prayers began to appear. It soon became obvious that quite a number were especially impressed with divine truth ; that a new state of things had commenced in the seminary ; that God had indeed come to it in the plen- itude and power of his grace. Some who, not knowing that there were any to sym- pathize with them, had concealed their con- victions, were now encouraged to speak out, and others, anxious to share in the blessing, joined them ; so that in the last ten days of the college term, not less than fifty were numbered as serious inquirers, and several, daily, and almost hourly, were found apparently submitting themselves to God. These were truly memorable days. Such triumphs of grace none, whose priv- ilege it was to witness them, had ever be- fore seen. So sudden and so great was the change in individuals, and in the gen- eral aspect of the college, that those who had been waiting for it were filled with wonder as well as joy, and those who knew not ' what it meant' were awe-struck and amazed. Wherever students were found. — in their rooms, in the chapel, in the hall, in the college yard, in their walks about the city — the reigning impression was, ' surely God is in this place.' The sal- vation of the soul was the great subject of thought, of conversation, of absorbing in- terest. The convictions of many were pungent and overwhelming, and the peace in believing which succeeded was not less strongly marked. Yet, amid these over- powering impressions, there was no one, except a single individual (who, having re- sisted former convictions, yielded for a time to dangerous temptations), in whose conduct anything of a wild or irrational character appeared. But the vacation came, and they were to be separated. This was anticipated with dread. It was to be feared that their dispersion, and the new scenes and intercourse attendant on their going home, would efface the incipient im- pressions of the serious, and break up the hopeful purposes of the inquiring and anx- ious. Such, however, was not the result. It may even be doubted whether the num- ber of sound conversions was not greater, as well as more good done to the cause of the Redeemer generally, than would other- wise have been the case. Wherever they went, they carried the tidings of what God was doing for this venerated seat of learn- ing; they engaged simultaneously the prayers and thanksgiving of the Church in its behalf ; and many of them came di- rectly under the guidance and counsel of deeply-affected parents, ministers, or other Christian acquaintances. By epistolary communications and personal visits to each other, also, as had been agreed on at their separation, special means were employed to sustain the feelings which had been ex- cited, and to conduct them to a happy re- sult ; and it was so ordered by God that, when they again assembled, the revival' immediately resumed its former interest, and proceeded with uninterrupted success. It was generally understood at the time, that out of 230 students then in college, about one third, in the course of this re- vival, were hopefully converted to God.' r 302 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. During the forty years which have since elapsed, there have been fifteen similar works of grace in the institution, one of them more extensive, and the others less so, than the one here described. At a later period, Princeton College, which belongs to the Presbyterians, was favoured with one of the most extraordinary effusions of the Holy Spirit ever experienced by any of our seats of learning. The younger col- leges have also shared richly in these vis- itations of divine grace. The consequence has been, that the number of pious students has been very greatly increased. In Yale College, not long before the revival of 1802, there were only four members of the church among the under-graduates ; for some years past they have exceeded 200, being more than half the entire number. In other col- leges there has been a correspondent in- crease ; though in all these cases it is to be ascribed, in no small degree, to the gen- eral advance of spiritual religion in our churches. From the period we have now reached it is unnecessary, and, indeed, impossible, to trace distinctly the progress of our re- vivals. They have become, if I may so speak, a constituent part of the religious system of our country. Not a year has passed without numerous instances of their occurrence, though at some periods they have been more powerful and prevalent than at others. They have the entire con- fidence of the great body of evangelical Christians throughout our country. There exists, indeed, a diversity of opinion as to the proper means of promoting them, some regarding one set of measures, and some another, as best adapted to this end. But, while these differences exist as to what constitutes a well-conducted revival, all, or nearly all, agree that such a revival •is an inestimable blessing : so that he who should oppose himself to revivals, as such, would be regarded by most of our evangel- ical Christians as, ipso facto, an enemy to spiritual religion itself. In the foregoing sketch of the rise and progress of our revivals, I have confined myself chiefly to the Congregational and Presbyterian churches (which are substan- tially one), and have described these works of grace, particularly as they exist in New had a longer experience on this subject than any other ; they have enjoyed more revivals in proportion to their numbers ; and, what I deem of the highest impor- tance is, that they have uniformly kept them under the guidance and control of a learn- ed ministry, whose habits and principles led them to repress all undue excitement, to check everything extravagant, coarse, or disorderly, and to guard the supposed sub- jects of the work, by the severest tests, against self-deception. Nearly all the ob- jections against revivals, which have any show of reason, have been occasioned by a want of caution in these respects. The things to which they apply are mere ad- juncts and excrescences, forming no part of a genuine revival. They are passing away just in proportion as the ministry where they exist become more thoroughly educated, which, I rejoice to say, is con- tinually more and more the case. The view of revivals which we have now taken, limited and imperfect as it is, sug- gests many interesting topics of inquiry and remark. I have time, however, to touch on only two. First, What mode of presenting truth, in these seasons of reli- gious interest, has been found most effect- ual to the conviction and conversion of sinners 1 Secondly, What is the advantage of such seasons ? What is there in the fact that many are awakened at once, and are pressing together into the kingdom of God, which is peculiarly adapted (under the di- vine blessing) to secure the desired result"! In entering upon the first of these sub- jects, I would remark, that the ordinary strain of preaching in the Congregational churches of New-England, where revivals have prevailed with great frequency, is, to an uncommon degree, doctrinal in its character. A preparation is thus made to give the Gospel its full effect whenever a season of religious interest arrives. The mind is preoccupied with clear and discrim- inating views of divine truth. The argu- ment, upon every point, has been gone over again and again in its full extent. Those humbling doctrines, especially, which men so love to misrepresent and abuse, are dwelt upon much, explained fully, and argued out at large ; and great pains are taken so to state them as to show their England. I have done so because, having ! perfect consistency with the dictates of their origin in those churches, it was prop. er to trace them forward in the line where they commenced ; and because I was best acquainted with their history, and the char- acter they assumed, in the communion to right reason and the consciousness of ev- ery honest mind. In seasons of revival, the most effective preaching is of the same general character, though, of course, more fervid and urgent. It does not consist, to which I belong. It is of such revivals that any great extent, in exhortation, in any I shall continue to speak, and, without dis- ! appeals, however forcible or just, to mere paragement to others, I may be permitted | excited sensibility or feeling. Its object to express my preference for that mode of | still is to pour truth upon the sinner's mind ; conducting revivals which has generally I to make him see, under his new circum- prevailed in the Congregational churches j stances of awakened interest, the evidence of New-England. These churches have | of those doctrines which he has admitted, Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 203 perhaps, in speculation, all his life, and yet never once truly believed ; to anticipate all his objections ; to strip him of every plea and pretence for delay ; to fill and oc- cupy his wholo soul with reasons for im- mediate right aqlion, and thus shut him up to " the obedience of the truth." Such preaching, though it be plain, and even homely, if it flows from a full heart and large experience, is ordinarily much bless- ed of God in seasons of revival. The leading doctrine at such seasons is that of " the new birth" — of the sinner's entire dependance, for a change of heart, on the direct interposition of God. And yet, for this very reason, the other doc- trine implied above, of duty, of obligation to immediate right action, is urged with redoubled force. Without feeling this, the sinner cannot feel his guilt, for there is no guilt, except in the violation of duty ; and where guilt is not felt, the influences of the Spirit are not given to renew the heart. And here, at this precise point, is the great difficulty in dealing with the impenitent. They do not believe that God requires them, in their present state, to become in- stantly holy. It is not possible, they think, that he should command them to do that very thing without the influences of his Spirit, which, if ever done, will be the re- sult of those influences. They therefore feel that there must be, somewhere at this stage of their progress, a kind of neutral ground — a resting-place, where, having done their part in " awaking out of sleep," they are allowed to " wait God's time" (in the customary phrase), until He has done his part, and renewed their souls. Nor are these views confined to the impeni- tent. They have been openly avowed by some theological writers, and have exert- ed a secret but most powerful influence upon far greater numbers who never main- tained them in form. There has been, ex- tensively, a feeling that all which the un- converted are bound to do is diligently to use the means of grace ; that if they do this, it would be hard in God to withhold the renewing influence of his Spirit ; and that He has promised that influence to their prayers and exertions if sincere — meaning, of course, a kind of sincerity in which there is no true holiness. These views prevailed in New-England previous to the revival of 1735, and were one cause of the great decline in religion which pre- ceded that event. Mr. Edwards was there- fore called upon, when that work com- menced, to take his ground on this sub- ject, and the principles which guided him in that revival have been the great con- trolling principles in all our revivals ever since. They are thus stated by his biog- rapher : " To urge repentance on every sinner as his immediate duty ; to insist that God is under no obligation to any unre- newed man ; and that a man can challenge nothing, either in absolute justice or by free promise, on account of anything he does before he repents and believes." The celebrated Whitefield, when he first visited America, in 1740, was much struck with the power imparted to our preaching by these principles. " How can they possi- bly stand," says he in a letter to an Eng- lish friend, " who were never brought to see, and heartily confess, that after they had done all, God might, notwithstanding, deny them mercy ! It is for preaching in this manner that I like Messrs. Tennents. They wound deeply before they heal. They know there is no promise made but to him that believeth, and, therefore, they are careful not to comfort overmuch those that are convicted. I fear I have been too in- cautious in this respect, and often given comfort too soon. The Lord pardon me for what is past, and teach me more right- ly to divide the word of life in future." Against this disposition to " comfort too soon" — to allow the impenitent some rest- ing-place short of instant submission, the following very pointed cautions were once given by Dr. Nettleton, who has had great experience in the conduct of revivals. "Now, what do you mean by tins'? Do you mean to encourage the sinner in his sins, and take his part against God? You are attempting to ease and soothe him while he is in rebellion against God. When the sinner is in this distress, there are two things that press heavily upon him — a sense of his obligation to repent, and a fearful apprehension that he never will re- pent. Now, if you tell him to ' wait God's time,' and the like, you take off this obli- gation at once. You remove all anxiety, and most probably cause him to sink down into a state of stupidity and indifference on the subject. You take away the ap- prehension also ; and the danger is that he will sink down into a state of stupidity, or mistake the relief he feels for a change of heart. Now, instead of quieting him in his sins by such language, you should en- deavour to increase his distress as much as possible. You should press him down, and tell him he must submit to God, and generally he will. I know some have been brought out truly regenerated after all this flattery, but it was not in consequence, but in spite of it. Again, you say, ' Look to the promises.' Now, there is no promise to the impenitent, and how can you expect him to look to the promises while he is in his sins ! I distinguish between promises and invitations. Men are invited to repent, but there is no promise to them till they do repent." Such has been the uniform mode of exhibiting this subject. The prom- ises of God are a part of his covenant, and the indispensable conditions of the cove- nant are repentance and faith. 204 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. But the impenitent, when thus pressed with the duty of at once giving their hearts to God, are extremely apt to say (or at least to feel), " I cannot; Christ has decla- red it to be beyond my power. It cannot, therefore, be my immediate duty; I am authorized to wait till power is given me from on high." Here, as in the former case, the New-England clergy are guided by the principles of Edwards. They ap- ply that familiar distinction of common life which he made so clear and palpable in theological science, the distinction be- tween natural and moral ability and inabil- ity. You are not unable in the sense you claim. You have all the faculties which constitute a moral being. He who is capacitated to do wrong, must, from the nature of the case, be capacitated to do right. Your cannot, therefore, is only will not. Christ, who has spoken of the inabil- ity you plead, has explained its nature : " Ye ivill not come unto me that ye might have life." "Oh! Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children to- gether, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." These views have formed the basis of New-Eng- land preaching for nearly a century. Dr. Dwight, speaking of this subject, says, " The nature of this inability to obey the law of God is, in my view, completely in- dicated by the word indisposition, or the word disinclination. A child is equally un- able to obey a parent, against whom his will is as much opposed, as to obey God. In both cases this inability, I apprehend, is of exactly the same nature. Indisposition to come to Christ, therefore, is the true and the only difficulty which lies in our way."* Nor are these views confined to New-England. A distinguished Scottish divine, Dr. Witherspoon, afterward presi- dent of Princeton College, speaking of the alleged impossibility, says, " Now consid- er, I pray, what sort of impossibility this is. It is not natural, but moral. It is not want of power, but want of inclination.''''] I am far from saying that no preacher is favoured with revivals of religion who does not thus explicitly assert man's pow- er as a moral agent to give his heart to God. Men see their way with very differ- ent degrees of clearness and confidence, through the numerous questions that arise out of such a statement. I only say, that the views of Dwight and Witherspoon, giv- en above, prevail universally among the New-England clergy, and to a great extent in the Presbyterian Church ; and that those who maintain them consider these views as lying at the foundation of all their suc- cessful efforts to promote revivals. When they can go to the impenitent sinner and treat him (after the manner of Dr. Dwight) * Theology, Sermon cxxxiii; t Works, -vol. 11., p. 279. just as they would treat a child in rebellion against an earthly parent, and can make him feel that the whole difficulty in his case is a mere reluctance to duty, they find the great impediment removed out of the way. They feel an unembarrassed freedom in pressing obligation, and a power of fasten- ing conviction of sin upon the conscience, which they never possessed before. A writer of great experience in revivals has remarked, " Whatever may be the specu- lative opinions of ministers with regard to the nature of depravity, inability, regener- ation, &c, it is a fact, that where their ministry is successful, as it is in revivals, they preach to sinners as if they believed them to be possessed of all the powers of moral agency, capable of turning to God, and on tlds account, and no other, inexcu- sable for not doing so. Some have seen these points more clearly, and have ex- plained them more philosophically, and more scripturally than others, but there has always been a substantial agreement in their mode of preaching among those who have been blessed in turning sinners to righteousness."* But it may be said, granting (as, indeed, we must on some ground) the duty of the unconverted to turn instantly to God, still they will never succeed in doing it with- out an influence from on high. Why, then, press them so urgently to the act 1 Why multiply motives, as if you expected to pro- duce the change by the force of moral sua- sion? Is it not true, after all, that both you and they must "wait God's time?" It would be enough to answer, that God himself has set us the example : " Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die ?" Christ and his apostles urged to repentance by argument and persuasion, just as they did to any of the ordinary acts of life. The whole Bible is filled with warnings, expostulations, and entreaties, pressing a lost race, with every motive that two worlds can offer, to immediate right action. Nor is it difficult to see, at least, some of the reasons. First : Let the sin- ner really put himself to the act of giving his heart to God, and he will learn, as he can never learn in any other way, the depth of his depravity, the utter and hopeless des- titution of all spiritual sensibility within him. Nothing can so effectually crush his pride and self-reliance. This practical dem- onstration of his entire helplessness, in him- self considered, may be just the thing that was necessary to bring him to that point where alone it would be proper for God to grant him the renewing influences of his grace. Secondly : The Spirit, in sanctify- ing, operates " through the truth ;" and the presence of that truth upon the mind as an instrumental cause is, therefore, just as ne- * Views and Feelings requisite to Success in the Gospel Ministry. By W. G. Walton. Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 205 cessary to the result (at least in the case of adults) as the renewing influence itself. While it was the uniform doctrine of the Apostle Paul that the redeemed are " be- gotten of God," he thought it no arrogance to say, " / have begotten you through the Gospel." Without affirming that the influ- ences of the Spirit are granted in exact proportion to the wisdom and power with which truth is urged upon the conscience, we may safely say that such, to a very great and prevailing extent, is the fact. It is, at least, all that man can do ; and if the doctrines of the sinner's dependence leads us to do this with one particle of diminish- ed force, if we do not ply him with truth and motive just as earnestly as if we ex- pected to convert him by our own efforts alone, it is a serious question whether our orthodoxy has not lost its true balance. Is there not reason to fear that very ex- cellent men sometimes err on this subject from the best of motives, the desire to ex- alt the grace of God I " How often," says a writer quoted above, (W. G. Walton), " do we hear the preaching of the word compared to the blowing of rams' horns around the walls of Jericho ! The man who preaches has certainly, in himself con- sidered, no more power to convert the souls of his hearers, than was possessed by the Jewish priests to demolish the bulwarks of that city. But are the instruments used in the two cases equally impotent 1 Are the truths of the Gospel no more adapted to the conversion of the soul than the blast of a horn to the destruction of a city?" No honour is done to the Holy Spirit by exalt- ing His influences in conversion, at the ex- pense of the truth which He has himself revealed. It is the glory of that blessed Agent, that in turning the soul to God, He does it in strict accordance with the laws of our moral constitution. " Sanctify them through thy truth," was the prayer of Christ himself; and I believe it will be found that the most successful preachers are those who have the most exalted views of the power of divine truth in turning the soul to God. Such views give a peculiar so- lemnity, and earnestness, and authority in preaching, by which attention is secured, and conviction wrought in the minds of the hearers. Thirdly : The result produced by renewing grace is right action. " God," says Edwards, " produces all, and we act all. For that is what he produces, viz., our own acts." — {Efficacious Grace, sec. 64.) Is it not, therefore, most reasonable to suppose that this grace (if bestowed at all) will be granted to those who are putting them- selves to the act of giving their hearts to God, who " strive to enter in at the strait gate ;" and not to those who remain in the attitude of mere passive recipients ! Ac- count for it as we will, there is no fact which our revivals have taught us more fully than this, the great success which attends the urging of sinners to turn immedi- ately to God, as though we expected them to do it at once and upon the spot. Among the numerous cases in point Avhich occur at once to my mind, I will briefly mention one. A young man, soon after joining one of our colleges, called on a friend one even- ing, and stated that he had always been taught to regard religion as the highest in- terest of life, but had ever shrunk from ma- king it a personal concern; that his change of residence, separation from friends, and sense of loneliness, had made him desirous to seek salvation, and that he now wished to learn the way. A long conversation ensued, in which the object was, not so much to point out what he should do when he returned to his room, as to lead him (if such were the will of God) to embrace the Saviour at once, even before the conver- sation closed. With this view, the char- acter of God and Christ was dwelt upon at large ; their treatment of him during his years of past rebellion, and his treatment of them under the continued invitations of their mercy ; with examples taken from the case of those whose absence had pro- duced this unwonted tenderness, of un- wearied assiduity and kindness on their part, requited with insult, ingratitude, and rebellion on his. The design was to show him, in this familiar way, the exact state of mind into which he was required to come ; the ingenuous sorrow, heartfelt confidence, and grateful love, whose nature and reasonableness he could so perfectly understand in respect to an earthly parent I have thus dwelt for a moment on the in - structions given, for the sake of remark- ing how extremely simple and elementary it has been found necessary to make them. Such is the case even with those who, like this young man, have been most religious- ly educated. As these views of the sub- ject were seen to open his mind with con- tinually deepening interest and solemnity, under the prolonged exhibition of divine truth, the question was at length proposed, " Can there ever be a more favourable moment than the present for attempting to put forth the feelings now described'? You will not do it, indeed, without an in- fluence from on high. That influence may justly be withheld, but it may, also, be granted : ' Peradventure, God may give you repentance.' Will you, then, go with me to the throne of grace, not to gain more conviction, not to do any preparato- ry work (for this will defeat the object), but to put yourself at once, as I go before you in prayer, to the exercise of this in- genuous sorrow for sin, and grateful trust in the blood of Christ ?" They knelt down together to perform this duty, and closed with a solemn dedication of the soul to God. They rose and read over the fifty- 206 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. first Psalm, the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, and other appropriate passages, and went again, with increased solemnity, to the throne of grace. Four hours were thus spent, and they separated for the night. They met in the morning, and the young man said, " I hope I have given my heart to God ; I think I did it before we parted last evening." That hope he has never relinquished, and during a number of years which have since elapsed, the uniform tenour of his life, as an active and devoted member of the Church of Christ, has given satisfactory evidence that he was not de- ceived. This, then, is the point to which all my observations are directed — the union of these two doctrines of activity and depend- ence, which are so commonly felt to be subversive of each other ; the bringing of both to bear with undiminished force on the minds of the impenitent. Establish one of these doctrines to the exclusion or weakening of the other, and just to the same extent is the Gospel robbed of its power. Inculcate dependence without pressing to the act of instantly giving up the heart to Christ, and the sinner sits down quietly to " wait God's time." Urge him to duty on the ground of his possess- ing all the requisite power, while (with the Pelagians) you do away his depend- ence, and his reluctant heart will lead him to take his own time, and that is never. Address him on the Arminian scheme of gracious aid, which is always ready at his call (except in cases of extreme contu- macy), and how strongly is he tempted to put off to a more " convenient season" what he feels may at any time be done ! But place him under the pressure of both these doctrines — the necessity of action on his part in coming to God, the weighty obligations which urge him to it, the crush- ing sense of guilt every moment he de- lays, the momentous interests which seem to be crowded into the decision of the passing hour, the encouragement to " strive as in an agony" afforded by the gift of the Spirit's influences to others around him (an encouragement peculiarly great in sea- sons of revival, and giving them so much of their power), the feeling that God may justly withhold those influences, and that every moment of delay increases the dan- ger of this fearful doom — and have we not here, most perfectly combined, all the ele- ments of that system of grace which is emphatically the power of God unto sal- vation 1 I will conclude my remarks on this part of the subject in the words of the late Rev. Dr. Griffin, formerly a professor at Ando- ver, and afterward president of Williams College, Massachusetts. Being requested to account for the prevalence of revivals in this country, he gave the following as the principal reason : " It is found in the distinct, apprehensions which prevail in New-England about the instantaneousness of regeneration, the sinfulness of every moral exercise up to that moment, and the duty of immediate submission. Such a view of things leads the preacher to di- vide his audience into two classes, and to run a strong and affecting line of demar- cation between them. When one feels that the moral, sober, prayerful, unregen- erate part of his audience are doing pretty well, and can afford to wait a little longer before they submit, he will not be so press- ing, nor fall with such a tremendous weight upon their conscience. When he feels that they cannot do much more than they do, but must wait God's time, he will not annoy and weary them, and make them sick of waiting, and compel them to come in. But when one enters the pulpit under a solemn sense, that every unregenerate man before him, however awakened, is an enemy to God, is resisting with all his heart, and will continue to resist till he submits ; that he must be ' born again' be- fore he is any better than an enemy, or has made any approaches towards holiness ; when one looks round upon the unregen- erate part of his audience, and sees that they are under indispensable obligations to yield at once, that they have no man- ner of excuse for delaying ; that they de- serve eternal reprobation for postponing an hour ; when one feels from the bottom of his heart that there is nothing short of regeneration that can answer any purpose, and that he cannot leave his dear charge to be turned from enemies of God to friends ten years hence ; delivered from condem- nation ten years hence ; but must see it now, oh ! how will he pray and preach \ He will give God no rest, and he will give sinners no rest ; and he will bring down their immediate, pressing, boundless obli- gations upon them with the weight of a world. Under such preaching sinners must either turn to God or be miserable. There is no chance for them to remain at ease this side of infidelity itself." We pass now to consider the second question proposed, viz., What is there in the fact that many are awakened at once, and are pressing together into the kingdom of God, which is peculiarly adapted (un- der the divine blessing) to secure the de- sired result ? This question has been vir- tually answered in the facts stated or im- plied in the preceding part of this chap- ter. I will, however, briefly advert to them again, and present in a single view some of those influences which unite to give extraordinary power to a well-con- ducted revival of religion. As far as human instrumentality is con- cerned, the conversion of sinners depends on two things— the clear and vivid pres- Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 207 sentation of divine truth to their minds, and importunate prayer, on the part of Chris- tians, for the influences of the Holy Spirit to give that truth effect. I am, therefore, to show what there is in these seasons of concentrated religious interest, which is peculiarly adapted both to animate the prayers and efforts of the people of God, and to give the Gospel readier access to the hearts of the impenitent, and superior efficacy in bringing them to " the obedi- ence of the truth." In doing so, I shall point to certain original principles of our mental constitution which have confess- edly very great power in moving the minds of men, and shall endeavour to show that revivals appeal to these principles or springs of human action, with a force and effect altogether greater than can ever be realized under any other circumstances. I shall thus give what may not improperly be termed a theory of revivals, and shall show that they are not seasons of mere excitement and fanaticism, but might rea- sonably be expected, from their consisten- cy with the laws of human action, to pro- duce those great and lasting reformations with which they have actually blessed the American churches. In pursuing the sub- ject, I hope I shall not be suspected of losing sight for one moment of the fact, that the Holy Spirit is the author of all the good produced in this case, both in the hearts of Christians and impenitent sinners. But it is the glory of that bless- ed Agent, that, in dispensing his sanctify- ing influences, he does not set aside or de- stroy the established laws of human agen- cy ; and it is not, therefore, detracting from these influences, but rather doing them honour, to point out their perfect consist- ency with the great principles of our men- tal constitution. 1. The first of these principles to which I shall now advert, and which relates par- ticularly to Christians, is strongly-awaken- ed desire. The scenes presented in a revival are eminently adapted to create those strong spiritual desires which are only another name for fervent prayer, and are indispen- sable to all successful Christian effort. Let any church, in its ordinary state of feel- ing, hear that the Holy Spirit is poured out on a neighbouring town ; let some of its members visit the spot, and bring back a report of what is passing there ; that the people of God are animated with all the zeal of their first love, fervent in pray- ers and labours for the salvation of sin- ners, full of joy and hope ; let them tell of the crowded assemblies, the deathlike stillness, the solemnity and awe depicted on every countenance ; of some who but a few days before were thoughtless and even abandoned to sin, now bowed down under a sense of guilt, and of others re- joicing in the hope of having found the Saviour, and reconciliation through his blood ; let it appear that there is nothing disorderly or extravagant in this move- ment, nothing but the natural and appro- priate effect of divine truth applied to the conscience by the Spirit of God ; and what is there that can appeal more strongly to- all the sensibilities of a Christian heart I What more natural, under the impulse of the fervent desires thus awakened, than to- " put away all their idols," to bow before God in deep self-abasement for their past backslidings, to mourn over the multi- tudes around them who are in danger of perishing in their sins, and to pour out the prayer of the prophet from overflowing hearts, " O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known ; in wrath remember mercy." And if, through the grace of God, a similar dispensation of the Spirit is grant- ed in answer to their prayers, how much more fervent and absorbing do those de- sires become as the blessing is brought home to their own doors ! How do we see parents pleading for their children, wives for their husbands, friend for friend, with all the importunity of the patriarch of old, " I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." How is all reserve laid aside — all the ordinary backwardness of Chris- tians to speak and act openly on the side of the Redeemer, and every feeling ab- sorbed amid these triumphs of divine grace, in the one great question, li Lord, what wilt thou have me to do" for the ad- vancement of thy cause 1 Faint and fee- ble, indeed, when compared with these, are the spiritual desires which are found to prevail in any ordinary state of the Church. 2. The second of these principles, now to be mentioned, is expectation. If I were asked why revivals are so fre- quent in America, and so rare in Europe, my first answer would be, that Christians on one side of the Atlantic expect them, and on the other they do not expect them. These seasons of " refreshing from on high" are a part of the blessing that rested on our fathers ; and the events of the last forty years, especially, have taught us, that if we seek their continuance in the spirit of those with whom they commenced, we shall never seek in vain. Nor is there anything to confine them within our own borders. They have been carried by our missionaries to a number of Indian tribes. Our stations in Ceylon have been repeat- edly visited with the effusions of the Holy Spirit, and the Sandwich Islands, within the last three years, have been favoured with one of the most glorious dispensa- tions of divine grace which the world has ever witnessed. Similar periods of " re- freshing from on high" existed formerly in Scotland ; and there are cheering indica- 208 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. tions in recent events, that God may even now be ready to bring down again the blessing of their fathers upon the churches in that country. In all the evangelical churches of Europe, indeed, where the Gospel is preached with plainness and power, there are seasons of more than ordinary religious interest, which, if not revivals in our sense of the term (and they sometimes are), would undoubtedly become revivals if the same expectation of this result could only pervade those churches which animates their brethren of America under similar circumstances. But, leaving this more general view of the subject, it is obvious that nothing is more calculated to fill the hearts of Chris- tians with courage, and expectation, and hope, than the feeling that God is in the midst of them with the peculiar dispensa- tion of his grace. One must witness the scene, indeed, to have any just conception of the power of a revival in this respect — of the multiplied appeals which it makes to this most essential element in all the successful efforts of men. ' ; God is pour- ing out his Spirit in a neighbouring town !" In how many hundreds of instances has this thought, and the encouragement it af- forded, been the starting-point of those ex- ertions, which resulted, under the divine blessing, in the commencement of one re- vival more ! " God is here with the effu- sions of his Spirit !" Who does not feel the thrill of joy, of hope, of confidence, which pervades the heart of every spiritu- ally-minded Christian 1 What can be more suited to revive the decaying graces of backsliders, and to bring the whole Church to harmonious action, to fervent prayer, and strenuous efforts ? When the confi- dence thus inspired has been high, and yet humble, resting on the mighty power of the Spirit and the efficacy of divine truth, when has God ever failed to bestow a sig- nal blessing 1 ? On the contrary, if the work of grace has not gone forward, as was hoped, how uniformly do we find that the people of God either became faint- hearted in consequence of some difficulty or delay, and did not expect to succeed ; or that their confidence was misplaced, that they rested on some favourite instrument or system of measures, and not on the arm of the Most High ! Nor is the influence of which I speak confined to Christians. It acts on the minds of the impenitent in va- rious ways, and with great power. " God is calling some of my companions into his kingdom !" This thought strikes upon the' hearts of many who have been religiously educated, who have always intended at some time to seek eternal life, and who are induced by what is passing around them to do it now, because they are en- couraged to hope they shall succeed. " God is renewing the hearts of many others, why may he not renew mine V This thought to the awakened sinner, writhing under conviction of sin, crushed by a sense of his utterly helpless condition in himself considered, tempted, under repeated fail- ures, to give up all in despair — this thought affords him an encouragement which is worth to him more than worlds besides ; and, as I before remarked, it is an encour- agement which especially abounds in a season of revival. " God is causing the stout-hearted to fall before him !" This thought often awakens in the impenitent another kind of expectation, mingled with dread, as a revival goes forward ; it is, that they loill be compelled to yield ; that they cannot stand before it. Sometimes it dis- arms opposition, and sometimes it makes men flee. An instance occurs to me, which I will briefly mention. A student in one of our colleges, during a powerful work of grace, struggled for a time to ward off conviction by argument and ridicule, and finding that he could not succeed, framed a plausible excuse, and obtained liberty to return home. As he drove into his native village, at the close of the day, rejoicing at the thought of having escaped from the revival, he saw large numbers of people returning from the house of God. " What has happened 1 What is going on?" was his first inquiry when he alighted at his father's door. " A revival of religion has just commenced," was the reply; and one and another of his most thoughtless companions were mentioned as under con- viction of sin. He felt, like one of old, that it was in vain to flee from the pres- ence of God. All his former convictions revived at once, aggravated by a sense of his guilt in striving to suppress them. He gave himself to the pursuit of eternal life, and, through the grace of God (as he hoped), within a few days found the Sav- iour from whom he had attempted to flee. He returned at once to college, called im- mediately on those whom he had deterred from seriousness by his influence and ex- ample, and invited them to his room that evening, telling them that he had a story to relate. When they met, he gave them a full account of the efforts he had made to resist the strivings of the Spirit, and the conclusion to which (through the grace of God) he had come, and ended with the ex- hortation, " Go ye and do likewise." Such are some of the ways in which revivals appeal to this powerful principle of our nature with a force never to be expected at a period of no general interest in reli- gion. 3. A third principle intimately connect- ed with this subject is sympathy. God, in establishing public worship, has deci- ded that the social and sympathetic feel- ings of our nature ought to be enlisted in the cause of religion. It would be strange, Chai\ VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 209 indeed, if it were otherwise; if that pow- erful principle which binds man to his fel- low were yielded up to Satan for the de- struction of unnumbered millions who " fol- low a multitude to do evil," and were nev- er employed by the Holy Spirit in bringing those who act in masses on every other subject, to act, at least, sometimes togeth- er in coming to the " obedience of the truth." That strong tendency of our na- ture to be moved and excited because we see others excited around us, is not of ne- cessity a blind and headlong impulse ; it may be guided by reason, and made sub- servient to the best ends of our intellectual and moral existence. In respect to every subject but religion, this is conceded by all ; and he would be thought superlatively weak who should refuse the aid of sympa- thy in any other enterprise for the well- being of man. But what is there so mys- terious or unreasonable in the fact, that when the Holy Spirit has impressed one mind with a sense of its responsibilities and violated obligations, and awakened within it correspondent feelings of fear, shame, and self-condemnation, these views •and feelings should spread by contact into other minds ; thatthis blessed Agent should make use of sympathy as well as attention, memory, and various other principles of our nature, in bringing men to a knowl- edge of 'God 1 That he docs so operate Avhere revivals are wholly unknown, that the awakening of one individual is fre- quently made the occasion of arresting the attention of a number of his associates, and fastening conviction on their minds, is matter of familiar observation in every re- ligious community. When such cases be- come numerous, and other influences unite with this to deepen the impression of di- ■vine truth, that is, when there is a revival, this principle operates with still greater power and much wider extent. Hundreds are drawn to religious meetings at first, simply because the current sets that way. When there, they are led by the awe and solemnity which pervade the place to lis- ten, perhaps for the first time in their lives, with fixed attention and impartial self-application to the Avord dispensed. Their incipient conviction of sin is height- ened by the emotion which prevails around them, and by conversation with those who have felt longer and more deeply than themselves. They are led to " strive as in an agony," to " enter in at the strait gate," and thus " the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." As the strong images I have used, so perfectly descriptive of the state of things in a revival, are borrowed from the language employed by our Saviour himself, with evident approbation, in de- scribing similar scenes in his own day, it Is certain there is nothing inconsistent O with perfect soundness of mind, or the presence of the sanctifying Spirit, in a season of simultaneous and highly-awa- kened interest on the subject of the soul's salvation. That such seasons are liable to be abused, and have, in some instances, actually degenerated, under the guidance of weak and rash men, into scenes of dis- order or mere animal excitement, is no more an argument against them, than a similar abuse of any of the great powers of nature, or principles of our mental con- stitution, is an argument against their le- gitimate and well-directed use. We should remember, too, that if there is danger on one side, there is danger also on the other. Men may die of palsy as well as fever. And when so many millions are sunk in the anticipated slumbers of the second death, we ought not to be too timid or fas- tidious as to the means employed in awa- kening them to the extremity of their dan- ger. The fact, however, is (as mbre and more fully shown in our revivals), there can be in very powerful operation what may be called moral sympathy, that is, the action of one mind upon another in sober, calm, but very deep emotion, under just views of divine truth, without any of that animal excitement or nervous agitation which leads to strong and sometimes dis- orderly exhibitions of feeling. In this re- spect a very important change has taken place in our New-England revivals in the progress of a century. During the re- markable work of grace in 1735, persons were often so agitated under the powerful preaching of the word, as to groan and cry out in the midst of religious worship, under the anguish of their spirit. The clergy did not encourage these strong ex- pressions of feeling, but they thought them, to some extent, perhaps unavoidable, and, therefore, to be tolerated. In the progress of the next great, revival, in 1710-3, this practice became still more prevalent, and was connected, to a certain extent, with other forms of bodily excitement, such as trances, &c, which produced great con- tention, and created a prejudice, in the minds of many, against the entire work. This led our Congregational clergy, when revivals recommenced on a broad scale at the close of the last century, to unite from the first to discountenance this practice ; to repress mere animal excitement of every kind ; to make their religious meet- ings, especially in the evening, short (not generally exceeding an hour or an hour and a half), in order to prevent exhaustion and nervous agitation ; and to impress upon their people that the presence of the Holy Spirit ought to be recognised in silence and awe, not with noise and confusion. So complete was their success, that, al- though I have been much conversant with revivals for more than thirty years, I have 210 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. never, but in one instance, and that a very- slight one and for a moment, witnessed any audible expression of emotion in a re- ligious assembly. All our experience has shown that it is wholly unnecessary, and from what we see in some sects where it prevails to some extent, we are constrain- ed to feel that it is injurious, not only as creating prejudices against revivals, but as leading many to mistake nervous excite- ment for the influence of the Holy Spirit. 4. A fourth of these principles is the spirit of inquiry awakened among the thoughtless and prejudiced by the striking scenes of a revival. When crowds are seen flocking to the house of God, many persons are drawn thither by the impulse of mere curiosity, and when thus brought under the power of divine truth, are often taught of the Spirit ; like the Athenians assembled by the same impulse around Paul on Mars Hill, who, we are told, " clave unto him and believed." Others, who have always doubted or denied the doctrines of grace, are led, by what is going on around them, to enter into the argument for the first time with candour and attention ; until, struck by the blaze of evidence, not only from the word preached, but from the lives and conversation of Christians in their revived state, like the man described in the Epistle to the Corin- thians, they are " convinced of all, are judged of all, and so falling down on the face, shall worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." Others still, who were wholly skeptical as to the ex- istence of any inward principle of spiritual life, when they witness the amazing change produced in the character of many around them, are compelled to exclaim, " This is indeed the finger of God." Many, too, who went to religious meetings purposely to find occasion to cavil and blaspheme, have had the scales fall from their eyes in the midst of their iniquity, and been led to cry out with the persecutor of old, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Thus the notoriety given to religion by the scenes of a revival is turned with great effect to the furtherance of the Gospel. 5. As a fifth of these principles, I may mention the influence of that prolonged and exclusive attention to divine truth which pre- vails in a revival. The power of fixed and continuous at- tention in deepening the impressions of any subject is one of the most familiar principles of mental science. To nothing, however, does it apply with so much force as religion, whose objects are at once so vast, so remote, and so repulsive to the natural heart. Men must look at their condition and ponder it deeply, before they can feel the extremity of their wretched- ness and guilt. It is the first step in turn- ing to God ; and one reason, no doubt, why so many sit from year to year under the ordinary preaching of the word, moved and affected, in some degree, almost every Sabbath, and yet making no progress in divine things, is, that the impressions pro- duced are not followed up and deepened du- ring the subsequent week. On the con- trary, even when a person feels but slightly moved, if his mind can be held to the sub- ject in steady and prolonged attention, while every object is excluded that can divert his thoughts, and the whole field of vision is filled with clear and vivid exhi- bitions of divine truth, it is surprising to see how rapid, in many cases, the progress of conviction becomes. An instance has already been mentioned (and many others might be adduced) of a young man who appeared to be brought in this way, through divine grace, into the kingdom of God, in a conversation of a few hours. The pe- riod was still shorter in the days of the Apostles ; and whether it be the will of God to make it long or short, the best means certainly that a man can use is, to | hold the mind fixed in the solemn con- i templation of divine truth. But the impenitent, to a great extent, are | very imperfectly qualified for such a task. [ Their minds are so wandering, so unused I to dwell on spiritual objects, so estranged from the throne of grace, so entirely in the j dark as to the nature of those feelings with | which they must come to God, that most j of the time they give to contemplation is ! wasted in chaotic thought ; and they are | often led to relinquish the attempt in de- : spair. It is not, therefore, sufficient, when their attention is awakened, to send them j to their Bibles and their closets. In addi- I tion to this, they need, at every step, the I assistance of an experienced mind to hold them to the subject, to remove obstacles out I of the way, and throw light on the path before them. Here, then, is the great principle of revivals. At certain seasons which seem peculiarly to promise a divine blessing, an extraordinary effort is made (such as cannot from its nature last many months) to bring the impenitent complete- ly under the power of divine truth. Re- ligious meetings are made so frequent, as not, on the one hand, to weary and distract the mind, nor, on the other, to leave the impression made at one meeting to be ef- faced or much weakened before the next arrives ; but to keep the impenitent con- stantly, as it were, in an atmosphere of di- vine truth, brightening continually around them, and bringing their minds more and more perfectly under " the power of the world to come." There is preaching, per- haps, an hour every evening, but the sub- ject is not left there. At the close of the service, all who are willing to be considered as serious inquirers are invited to remain for a half hour longer, to receive more fa- Chap. VII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 211 miliar and direct instruction suited to their case ; while the members of the church withdraw to the vestry, or some other convenient room, to implore the influences of the Holy Spirit on the meeting to be continued under these new and more in- teresting circumstances. There is much to awaken deep emotion in the separation thus made; as parent and child, husband and wife, friend and friend, part from each other, the one to be prayed for and the other to pray. The great object of the meeting with inquirers, as thus continued, is to bring them at once to the point ; to anticipate and remove objections ; to draw them off from resting in any mere prepar- atory work ; to set before them the great objects in view of which, if at all, they will (through divine grace) exercise right affections, and then call them lo do it; lead- ing them to the throne of grace in the fer- vent expression of repentance for sin, faith in Christ, and deliberate consecration to the service of God. The inquirers are then invited to assemble again at some conve- nient hour the next day — or the next even- ing, if there is preaching only every other night — at what is called the meeting for inquiry. Here the pastor converses for a few moments with each individual sep- arately as to the peculiar state of his feel- ings, and then addresses them collectively, as before, on the one great subject of coming at once to Christ. An hour is also appointed at which he will meet those who are desirous to see him alone. Those who entertain hopes are strictly examined, formed into praying associations, encour- aged to judicious effort for the salvation of others, and frequently assembled as a body to receive instruction in the eviden- ces of genuine piety. The members of the church, in the mean time, if they do their duty, are actively engaged, according to their ability, in similar labours in their own families and neighbourhoods. Their efforts, if well directed, present religion in a new and striking form. It is brought home to " the business and bosoms of men," as it can never be by mere preach- ing. Thus, in a great variety of ways, divine truth is made to bear on the impeni- tent during the progress of a revival, with a directness, force, and continuity of im- pression, which can never be attained under any other circumstances ; while the people of God are pleading before him to give that truth effect, with a fervour of supplication corresponding to the interest Of the scene around them. 6. Another principle involved in revivals is, the removal of many causes which prevent the access of divine truth to the mind under ordinary circumstances. I can barely glance at a few of these. In a season of general religious interest, much of that reserve is laid aside which ordinarily prevails in respect to close conversation on personal religion, and which forms so effectual a guard for backsliding Christians and impenitent sinners, against the intru- sion of this unwelcome subject. Men are expected, at such times, to speak freely ; and if they do it with kindness and a little tact, they can converse with almost any one on the state of his spiritual concerns without wounding his pride or awakening his resentment. The sense of shame, the reluctance to ie singular — one of the strongest impediments (especially with the young) to entering on a religious course — loses, at such times, al- most all its power. In an extensive revi- val, the singularity lies on the other side. Those changes in business or family ar- rangements, which must often be made as the result of becoming religious, are re- garded at such seasons with diminished dread and repugnance. Is a man engaged in some dishonourable or sinful employ- ment, as, for instance, the making or vend- ing of ardent spirits 1 The sacrifice is less when he is only one among many who are called to make it. Has the subject of family prayer been an impediment to his entering on a religious course 1 Such are the habits and feelings of our churches, that no one can be recognised as a con- sistent Christian who refuses to lead his household statedly to the throne of grace. Has a feeling of diffidence or awkwardness as to commencing this duty been one rea- son for shrinking from the service of Christ I How entirely does this obstacle disappear when so many around are erect- ing the family altar, when, as I once knew in a single small neighbourhood, twelve plain and uneducated men in one week are seen entering on the duty of family wor- ship ! The ordinary amusements of life, whichr interest the feelings and divert the atten- tion, are at such periods wholly laid aside among those who are friendly to revivals. The concerns of business are made to- yield on such occasions to the higher in- terests of eternity. The people of God will find or make time for the numerous seasons of prayer and preaching which demand their presence ; and will so ar- range that their children and dependents shall enjoy every facility that is requisite to the effectual pursuit of eternal life. Such, without dwelling farther on the subject, are some of the ways in which im- pediments to the progress of the Gospel are removed out of the way, by extraordi- nary seasons of attention to religion. 7. The next principle which I shall men- tion is, the tendency of revivals to bring men to a decision, and to make them decide right on the subject of religion. " Hell," says an old English writer, " is paved with good intentions" — intentions 212 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. never carried into effect, because the time for their execution never quite arrived. On these dreams of the future a revival breaks in with startling power, and calls men to instant decision : " Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." Those who beiicve in religion at all, believe and know that they can never enjoy a more favour- able season to secure the salvation of their souls. Everything, at such a time, presses upon them with united force to make them .decide at once, and decide right. The well-known shortness of such a season, to them, perhaps, the end of their day of grace — the uncommon clearness and pun- gency with which the truth is preached — the solicitude of Christian friends — the im- portunity of young converts who have just "tasted that the Lord is gracious'' — the impulse of the mass of mind around them, moving in one direction, with all the mul- tiplied influences that concentre in a re- vival, unite to impress the truth with irre- sistible force, " Noiv is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." In the mean time, one step prepares the way for an- other; a decision on one point braces up the mind for farther and more important decisions in the onward progress. " Shall I yield to the urgency of my friends, and regularly attend religious meetings'?" The effort costs perhaps but little. " Shall I remain after the service closes, and thus acknowledge myself an inquirer V The struggle is far greater, but if the victory is gained over his backwardness and pride, lie is still more likely to go on. " Shall I attend the meeting for inquiry !" " Shall I go to my pastor, lay open my heart, and tell him of the world of iniquity which I find within V In addition to the other happy consequences of taking such a step, the strength of purpose gained by the effort is one security against his going back : he is now committed, and a sense of consist- ency unites with higher motives to urge him forward. Thus the multiplied exer- cises of a revival bring the sinner continu- ally to the trial ; press him to instantane- ous decision ; and prepare the way, through divine grace, for his entering into the king- dom of God. 8. Another principle involved in revivals is the tendency of that lively joy which pre- vails among Christians, and especially young converts, to render religion attractive to the unconverted. At ordinary seasons, a life of piety too often appears to the impenitent, and espe- cially to the young, under a forbidding as- pect. Christians find but little in the state of things around them to call forth their affections, before the unconverted, in lively expressions of spiritual joy. I f they do not decline in the warmth of their feelings (as they too often do), they arc apt at least to retire within themselves, and to seek their chief enjoyment in secret communion with God. But in times of revival everything is changed. Their hearts naturally flow forth in warm expressions of thankfulness and joy, as they witness again the triumphs of divine grace. They renew the fervours of their first love. In their intercourse with the unconverted, they naturally as- sume an unwonted tenderness of manner, as they seek to bring them by their faith- ful admonitions to the cross of Christ. The effect is often most striking. The im- penitent look at religion under a new as- pect, as they see the kindness and solici- tude of so many around them for their spiritual good. A lady, during a recent revival, as she entered the shop of a trades- man of infidel principles, recollected that, though she had dealt with him for some years, she had never spoken to him on the subject of religion. She alluded at once to the scenes which were then passing in the town ; to the surprising changes that had taken place in some of her acquaintance ; and inquired whether any of those whom he employed were interested in the work. The man was deeply affected as the con- versation went on, and at last, wiping his eyes, he said, with much emotion, " I know not why it is that the ladies who deal with me are so anxious for my good. A num- ber have spoken to me on the subject be- fore, and one or two have conversed with some of my workmen. Religion must be something very different from what I had supposed." But the effect on the impenitent is still more striking, when they witness the joy which is manifested in the countenance and conversation of the new converts to religion. Every natural man bears in his bosom a testimony that he is in the wrong. He has, too, a sense of want, an insatiable desire of some good which he has never yet obtained; and when he sees multitudes around him who have found that good, where he knows it can alone exist, in the favour of God, how strong is the appeal to one of the deepest principles of our na- ture, especially in the case of those w r ho are already somewhat convinced of sin, and of the unsatisfying nature of all worldly enjoyment ! It is the very appeal so beau- tifully set forth in the parable of the prodi- gal son. It was the reflection that there was bread enough and to spare in his father's house, while he perished with hunger, that made him exclaim, " I will arise and go unto my father!" Some years ago. two young ladies, under deep conviction of sin, went, after an evening meeting, to the house of their pastor for farther instruction. As the preacher conversed with them much at large, and was urging them, by motives drawn from the love of Christ, instantly to accept the offered salvation, one of them was observed to rest her head upon her Chap. VIII.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 213 hand, as in deep abstraction, till her face sank at last on the table, in solemn and overpowering emotion. After a few mo- ments of entire silence, she looked np with a countenance of serene joy, dropped upon one knee before her companion, and said, with the simplicity of a child, " Julia, do love Christ. He is so beautiful. Do come with me and love him !" This led Julia to the reflection, " She has entered in while I remain out." " One shall be taken and another left." It was this which seemed to be the means (under God) of bringing her also to Christ before she laid her head that night upon her pillow. 9. The last of these principles to which I shall advert is, the solemnity and awe in~ spired by a sense of the peculiar presence of God, the sanctifying Spirit. The feeling of the supernatural is one of the strongest and most subduing emo- tions of the human heart. It has been used by the adversary of souls to convert unnumbered millions into bond-slaves of the most degrading superstition ; and it is worthy of being employed by the Spirit of all grace, as an instrument of bringing the chosen of God to that liberty wherewith Christ shall make them free. It is the great distinctive sentiment of a revival of religion. " How dreadful is this place : it is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven." Such is the feeling with which those who believe in the reality of divine influence move amid the scenes which are hallowed by the especial pres- ence of the sanctifying Spirit. In the chil- dren of God, as they are employed in bear- ing forward the triumphs of his grace, it awakens that mingled awe and delight which we may imagine filled the breasts of those who bore before the armies of Israel the ark of the covenant, on which rested the Shechinah of the Most High. To the en- emies of God it comes with a solemnity of appeal second only to that of the bed of death and the scenes of approaching judg- ment, as they see around them the striking manifestations of his presence who " will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." " Grieve not the Spirit," is the admonition continu- ally impressed upon them by the messen- gers of the Most High. " Grieve not the Spirit," is the argument urged especially by those who have recently tasted the sweet- ness of his renovating grace. " Grieve not the Spirit," is the admonition which comes to them at times from those who feel that they have wasted their day of grace. A striking instance of this kind occurred within my own knowledge. A lady who had passed unsubdued through more than one of these seasons of visita- tion from on high, and who had deliber- ately stifled her convictions and delayed repentance, was lying on the bed of death when another revival commenced. When entreated to avail herself of this last period (to her) of the Spirit's influences, she re- plied that it was utterly in vain ; that she had deliberately resisted his grace, and now felt that the curse of abandonment was upon her. Nothing could change her views. She went down to the grave with the admonition continually upon her lips, to those who stood around her bedside, " Grieve not the Spirit." These were the last words she uttered as she entered the eternal world. Thus have I given a brief sketch of the rise and progress of our revivals ; of the mode of presenting divine truth which has been found most effectual at such periods; and of those principles in our mental con- stitution which are appealed to with pecu- liar power by these seasons of concentra- ted religious interest. As the limits as- signed me have already been exceeded, I must here leave the subject, commending the very imperfect exhibition which has now been made to the candour and prayers of the Christian reader." CHAPTER VIII. SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION. I will add only a few words to the full and able discussion of the subject of reli- gious revivals contained in the preceding chapter. The reader will have perceived that it treats particularly of the revivals which have taken place in New-England, that being the part of the United States with which its author is most intimately ac- quainted. But as it has fallen to my lot to be conversant with the different evan- gelical denominations of all parts of the country, during several years devoted to religious and philanthropic enterprises be- fore my going to Europe, it may not be amiss that I should give the result of that' experience. I should say, then, that the same blessed influences of the Spirit, which have been so signally manifested in the churches and many of the literary institutions of New- England, have been experienced, and per- haps in no less a measure, in the evangel- ical churches of all denominations through- out the United States. I have been my- self a witness to these blessed movements in almost every one of those States, at one time or another, and have ever found their effects to be, in all ossential respects, the same. It may be fairly remarked, I think, that under a permanent, well-instructed minis- ter, revivals are usually less alloyed with unnecessary, and, on the whole, injurious 214 accompaniments, such as great physical excitement, manifesting itself in sobbing, or crying, or ineffectual efforts to retain one's composure. Still, it is not the case that a preacher has it in his power to re- press all such agitation. Much depends on the kind of people he has to do with. Among the rude and uneducated, who are accustomed to boisterous expressions of feeling, there will always be found more visible and irrepressible excitement than in other cases, as any one who is acquaint- ed with such classes, in any country, will readily acknowledge. Judicious preachers will certainly endeavour to suppress all undue excitement and agitation, as inter- rupting the services, and preventing the more composed from profiting by them. It is not very wonderful, however, when a considerable number of persons who have been living all their lives in rebellion against God, and in the neglect of their souls, become, as it were, suddenly awa- kened out of a profound sleep, that in the distress into which they are thrown by a view of the jeopardy in which they stand, they should be ready, like Saul of Tarsus, to exclaim, " Lord ! what wilt thou have me to do ?'.' No man can be more a friend of order than I am, yet I have seen times when, under the preaching of the Gospel, such pungent distress has been produced by pressing the truth on plain and com- paratively ignorant minds, that it was im- possible to maintain the calmness that might be found in a congregation of better- educated and more refined persons, among whom, nevertheless, there might be quite as much real contrition of heart for sin. That some excellent men, who have been eminently useful in the ministry, are not sufficiently careful in repressing un- necessary manifestations of feeling is cer- tain, and they are to be found in all denom- inations. Some, even, are so much want- ing in prudence as rather to encourage such outbursts of feeling. But among so many ministers, widely different from each other in education, intellectual acquire- ments, and modes of thinking on almost every subject, entire agreement as to the best ways of conducting a revival, so far as human agency is concerned, is not to be expected. It is delightful to think that revivals of religion have really occurred, and do ev- ery year occur, to a greater or less extent, in all our States, and among all the evan- gelical denominations. And although they may not always be so quietly and judi- ciously conducted as might be desired, in the newer parts of the country, and where the population is somewhat rude, yet they have certainly exerted a happy influence upon the churches and upon society, wher- ever they have occurred. RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. CHAPTER IX. ALLEGED ABUSES IN REVIVALS OF RELIGION. It was my first intention not to add any- thing to what has been said in the chapter on revivals respecting the abuses alleged to have been connected with them, but, on farther reflection, I consider that a few words more on that point would not be amiss. No man, certainly, who is at all acquaint- ed with human nature, should be surprised to hear that the greatest blessings bestowed on mankind are liable to be abused, and even the purest and noblest qualities to be counterfeited. Where, then, is there any matter of astonishment should we find that abuses mingle with religious revivals, through man's imprudence and the malig- nity of the great Adversary, or should we even discover some revivals which deserve to be called spurious ! I ought, however, to premise that, what- ever abuses may have at any time taken place in the revivals in America, or what- ever spurious ones may have occurred, it cannot be disputed that our truly zealous, intelligent, and devoted Christians, what- ever be their denomination, not only be- lieve in the reality of revivals, but consid- er that, when wisely promoted, they are the greatest and most desirable blessings that can be bestowed upon the churches. There are, I admit, persons among us who oppose religious revivals, and it would be sad evidence against them if there were not. There are the openly wicked, the profane, Sabbath-breakers, enemies of pure religion in every form, and avowed or se- cret infidels. These form the first catego- ry, and it is not a very small one. They may be found in our cities and large towns, and sometimes in our villages, and are the very persons whom strangers are most likely to meet with about our hotels and taverns. Next, there are Roman Catholics, Unitarians, Universalists, and others whose Christianity is greatly marred with errors and heresies. These, too, almost with- out exception, hate revivals, nor can we wonder that they should. A third class consists of those members of our evangel- ical churches who conform too much to the opinions and practices of the world; are so much afraid of what they call en- thusiasm and fanaticism as to do nothing, or nothing worthy of mention, for the pro- motion of the Gospel ; and would never be known to be Christians, either by the world or by their fellow-Christians, were they not occasionally seen to take their places at the communion-table. Some such there are in all our evangelical churches, and in one or two of those whose discipline is lax- er than it should be, they constitute a con- siderable party. Now it is natural that European travel- Chap. IX.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 215 lers in the United States, when not deci- dedly religious themselves, should chiefly associate with one or all of these three classes ; and that, taking up their notions from them, they should have their note- books and journals filled with all sorts of misrepresentations with respect to our re- ligious revivals. Hence many, who have never visited America, owe all their ideas on that subject to writers whose own in- formation was partial and incorrect, and who, as their very books show, know no- thing of true religion, and would never have touched upon the subject, but that they wished to give piquancy to their pages by working up for the wonder and amusement of their readers every false and exaggera- ted statement, and foolish anecdote, which on that subject had been poured into their ears. But serious and worthy people in Europe, and particularly in Great Britain, have been prejudiced against revivals in another way. They have too readily allowed themselves to be influenced by what has been written by excellent men among us, who, appre- hending much danger to the cause of revi- vals from the measures taken to promote them by some zealous, but, in their opinion, imprudent men, and perceiving the mis- chievous results of such measures, have faithfully exposed them, and warned the churches to be upon their guard ; and this they have done in the columns of our reli- gious journals, in pamphlets, and in books. Their endeavours met with much success against the Enemy, who, on failing to pre- vent, had been seeking to pervert these blessed manifestations of divine mercy ; but, as was natural, the strong language in which they had been prompted to indulge by the actual view of some evils, and the apprehension of worse, impressed foreign- ers with very exaggerated ideas of those evils. This result was perhaps unavoida- ble, yet it is much to be deplored ; for in- jury has thus been done to the cause abroad by men who would be the last to intend it. It is an infelicity to which all endeav- ours for good are subject in this evil world, that they are liable to be marred by prof- fered aid from men who, notwithstanding the fairest professions, prove, at length, to have been more actuated by their own mis- erable ambition than by a true zeal for God's glory and man's salvation. Such false friends did no small injury to the great revi- val of religion in 1740-43, already mention- ed ; and so, likewise, did the successive revivals that took place in the West in 1801-3 suffer much from the imprudence of some who desired to be leaders in the work of God. This was the case partic- ularly in Kentucky. And within the last few years, after a blessed period marked by revivals in many parts of the country, the same Adversary who, when " the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord," seldom fails to obtrude himself among them, and who can on such occa- sions assume the garb, as it were, " of an angel of light," contrived for a while to do no little damage to the work. Some good men, as we still consider the greater num- ber of them to have been, not content with the more quiet and prudent character which had hitherto marked the revivals, attempted to precipitate matters by measures deem- ed unwise and mischievous by many wor- thy and experienced persons, both minis- ters and laymen. The passions, instead of the judgment and the conscience, were too much appealed to ; too much stress was laid on the sinner's natural ability, and not enough on the needed influence of the Holy Spirit ; too superficial a view was presented of the nature and evidences of conversion ; in a word, the Gospel was held forth in such a way as not to lead to that self-abasement which becomes a sin- ner saved wholly by grace. One of the reprehended measures was the practice of earnestly pressing those who were somewhat awakened to a sense of their sin and danger, to come, at the close of the sermon, to seats immediately before the pulpit, called "anxious seats," or seats for such as were anxious to be saved, in order that they might be specially prayed for, and receive some special coun- sels. This, though comparatively harm- less, perhaps, when adopted by prudent men among certain classes of people, was much the reverse when attempted in large congregations by men not gifted with ex- traordinary wisdom. It proved a poor substitute for the simpler and quieter meth- od of meeting such as chose to remain af- ter the public services were over, in order to receive such advice as their case might require, or for the good old practice of having special meetings at the pastor's house, or in the church vestry or lecture- room, for such as were " inquiring the way to Zion." Another measure, hardly deserving to be called new, for it has long existed in substance in the Presbyterian churches of the interior, and at one time, I understand, in Scotland also, that of having public ser- vices during three or four days on sacra- mental occasions, was found hurtful, when carried to the extent encouraged by some, at what are called " protracted meetings." These, when transferred from the West to the East, and when they began to be more frequent with us, were called " four days' meetings" or " three days' meetings," from the length of time during which they were held. But when prolonged, as they were in some places — I know not how long, sometimes, I believe, for a month or forty days — the practice was regarded as an abuse, and as such it was resisted. 216 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. No one, perhaps, would condemn such meetings when called for by particular cir- cumstances ; but when people seem in- clined to rely more on them than on the ordinary services of the sanctuary, and to think that without, them there can be no revivals and no conversions, it is time they were abolished, or at least restored to their proper use. But what was thought worst of all was the proposal, for it hardly went farther, of having an order of " revival preachers," who should go through the churches, spending a few weeks here and a few there, for the sole object of promoting re- vivals. This was justly opposed as sub- versive of the regular ministry, for it is easy to see that such men, going about with a few well-prepared discourses on ex- citing topics, and recommended, perhaps, by a popular delivery, would throw the pastors in the background, give the peo- ple " itching ears," and in a few weeks do more harm than good. No one would deny that " evangelists" might be very useful in the new settlements, where a regular clergy cannot be at once establish- ed, and even in building up churches in the older parts of the country, or preach- ing to churches without pastors. Few, likewise, would deny that some zealous, able, and judicious ministers might render important services in going from church to church at the special request of the pastors for their assistance. Such men should have an eminently humble, kind, and prudent spirit, and an overruling de- sire'to seek the interests of their brethren rather than to promote their own, and some such we have had who were widely use- ful. But should it be thought that the churches require such men, they ought to be placed under the special control of the ecclesiastical bodies to which they belong, and without whose express and continued approbation they ought not to undertake or continue such engagements. Nothing could be more dangerous to the peace of the churches than that every man, who may fancy himself a " revivalist," or " re- vival preacher," should be allowed to go wherever people desire to have him, with or without the consent of their pastors. Accordingly, the institution of any such order was opposed, and the preachers who had been thus employed were urged each to settle at some one spot, which they did ; and thus the churches hear no more of " revival preachers," or " revival ma- kers," as some deserved to be called. I have said more on this subject than I intended, but not more, perhaps, than was required. Yet, should any of my readers have been led to suppose that the abuses I have described affected our churches generally, he is mistaken. They began to manifest themselves about the year 1828, and lasted about ten years, without, however, having ever prevailed widely ; and in some extensive districts they have been altogether unknown. Of the twice ten thousand churches of all denominations among us, in which " the truth as it is in Jesus" is preached, only a few hundreds are believed to have been affected by them, and even these have now become pretty well rid both of the abuses and their con- sequences. During the last four years our churches have been more extensively blessed with revivals than at any time be- fore, and all well-informed persons, whom I have consulted, agree that those blessed seasons have never, probably, been more- free from whatever could offend a judicious Christian. For these things we are glad ; they demonstrably prove that, though our sins be great, the God of our fathers has not forsaken us. Before closing the subject of the abuses attending religious revivals, although there be no special connexion between them, I may say something about camp-meetings, respecting which I have had many ques- tions put to me in some parts of Europe. Most foreigners owe their notions of these meetings to the same sources from which they have taken their ideas of revivals — the pages of tourists, who have raked up and woven into episodes for their travels, all the stories they have chanced to meet with, and some of whom, possibly, have even gone to the outskirts of one of these assemblages, and looked on with all the wonder natural to persons who had never entered into the spirit of such scenes, so far as either to comprehend their nature or ascertain their results. Camp-meetings, as they are called, ori- ginated in sheer necessity among the- Presbyterians of Kentucky in the year 1801, during that great religious revival, which, after commencing in the west- ern part of North Carolina, penetrated into Tennessee, and spread over all the then settled parts of the West. It so hap- pened that, on one occasion, in the ear- ly part of that revival, so many people had come from a distance to the adminis- tration of the Lord's Supper at a particu- lar church, that accommodation could no- where be found in the neighbourhood for all. during the successive days and nights which they wished to spend at the place. This induced as many as could to procure tents, and form something like a military encampment, where, as provisions were easily to be had, they might stay till the meetings closed. Such was the origin of camp- meetings. They were afterward held at various points during that extraor- dinary season of religious solicitude. The country was still very thinly settled, and as a proof of the deep and wide-spread feelings that prevailed on the subject of Chap. IX.] REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 217 religion, many persons attended from dis- tances of thirty, forty, and fifty miles ; nay, on one occasion, some came from a dis- tance of even one hundred miles. It is not surprising that the meetings should have lasted for a period of several days, for many who attended them had few oppor- tunities of attending public worship and of hearing the Gospel in the wilderness in which they lived. They were held, when the weather per- mitted, in the midst, of the noble forest. Seats were made of logs and plank, the under rubbish having been cleared away ; a pulpit was erected in front of the rows of seats ; and there, in the forenoon, after- noon, and evening, the ministers of the Gospel made known the "words of eternal life." Public prayer was also held at the same spot early in the morning, and at the close of the services at night. Around, at proper distances, were placed the tents, looking to the seated area prepared for the great congregation. Lamps were sus- pended at night from the boughs of the trees, and torches blazed from stakes some eight or ten feet high, in front of each tent. In the rear of the tents, in the mornings and evenings, such simple cooking opera- tions went on as were necessary. Each tent was occupied by one or two families, intimate friends and neighbours sometimes sharing in one tent, when their families were not too large. A horn or trumpet announced the hour for the commencement of the public services. Such was a primitive camp-meeting in the sombre forests of Kentucky forty years ago. Solemn scenes occurred at them, such as might well have caused many who scoffed to tremble. Such, also, both as re- pects their arrangements, and in many pla- ces, also, as respects the spirit that has pre- dominated at them, have been the camp- meetings held since. They were confined for years to the frontier settlements, as they ought, perhaps, always to have been, for there they were in some measure necessa- ry. I have attended them in such circum- stances, have been struck with the order that prevailed at them, and seen them be- come the means of doing unquestionable good. They served to bring together, to the profit of immortal souls, a population scattered far and wide, and remaining some- times for years remote from any regular place of worship. The reader must not suppose that all who come to these meetings encamp at them. Only families from a great distance do so. Those within a circuit even of five miles, generally go home at night and re- turn in the morning, bringing something to eat during the interval of public worship. In the remote settlements of the Far West, the utility of camp-meetings seems to be admitted by all who know anything about them; but in densely- settled neigh- bourhoods, and especially near cities and large towns, whether in the West or the East, they are apt to give rise to disorder. The idle rabble are sure to flock to them, especially on the Sabbath, and there they drink and create disturbance, not so much at the camp itself, for the police would prevent them, but at taverns and temporary booths for the sale of beer and ardent spir- its in the neighbourhood. It is true that, since Temperance societies have made such progress, these evils have much dimin- ished ; and even in more populous places good is undoubtedly done at these meet- ings ; the thoughtless, who go to them from mere curiosity, being made to hear truths that they never can forget. Nor are these meetings blessed only to the lower classes, as they are called. A young man of the finest talents, once my class-fellow at col- lege, and afterward my intimate friend, having gone to one of them from mere cu- riosity, was awakened by a faithful sermon to a sense of his need of salvation ; his convictions never left him until he found peace by "believing in the Son of God." He lived to become a most popular and el- oquent minister of the Gospel.* Camp-meetings are occasionally held in the Far West by the Presbyterians, espe- cially by the Cumberland Presbyterians, as also by some of the Baptists, possibly, but for a longtime they have been held mainly by the Methodists ; and I understand that many among these have the impression that, except in the frontier and new settle- ments, they had better give place to " Pro- tracted Meetings," which is the course, L believe, they are now taking. Such is the account I have to give of camp-meetings. Wicked men have some- times taken advantage of them for their own bad purposes, and such abuses have been trumpeted through the world with the view of bringing discredit on the religion of the country. Without having ever been a great admirer of such meetings, I must say, after having attended several, and careful- ly observed the whole proceedings, that I am satisfied that the mischiefs alleged to^ arise from them have been greatly exagger- ated, while there has been no proper ac- knowledgment of the good that they have done. In some parts of the West there is a practice, familiar to me in early life, and of which I still retain very tender and pleas- ing recollections. It consists in hold- ing the services of the sanctuary in a for- est during summer, both to accommodate a greater number of people, and also for * The late Rev. Joseph S. Christmas, some time pastor of a Presbyterian church at Montreal in Cana- da, and afterward settled in New- York, where he died a few years ago. An interesting Memoir of him has been published. 218 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book V. the sake of the refreshing shade afforded by the trees. Seats are prepared in rows before a temporary pulpit made of boards, and there, from a temple made by God him- self, prayer and praise ascend unto Him " who dwelleth not in temples made with hands," and who is ever present where contrite and believing hearts are engaged in worshipping Him. In such scenes, too, it is now common, in almost all parts of the United States, for Sabbath-schools to assemble on the Fourth of July, if the weather be good ; for the purpose of hearing appropriate address- es, far more religious than political ; of uniting in prayer for the blessing of God upon the country, and the country's hope, the rising generation ; and of praising Him from whom all our privileges, civil and re- ligious, have been received. Temperance meetings on the same occasion are now held in our beautiful forests, and some- thing better is heard than the boastful and unchristian self-adulation, to say nothing of the profaneness and ribaldry which too often characterized such scenes in the " olden time," when Temperance societies and Sunday-schools were unknown. CHAPTER X. CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE CHURCH AND THE PULPIT IN AMERICA. A stranger, upon visiting extensively our evangelical churches of all denomina- tions, would be struck, I am sure, with the order that prevails in them ; and this ap- plies equally to the smaller prayer-meet- ings to be found in every parish and con- gregation that has any life in it, and to the greater assemblies that meet for public worship. Foreigners seem impressed with the idea, if I may judge from what I have often heard hinted rather than expressed, that there is a great deal of disorder and lawlessness in the United States, and they infer that there must be no less insubordi- nation in the religious commonwealth than they ascribe to the civil. But both opin- ions are totally unfounded. It does not follow, because of a few disturbances, ari- sing from the disgraceful opposition made in some places to abolitionists, and the resentment of an exasperated populace against gangs of gamblers in others, that the whole country is a scene of continual commotion. In no part of the world have there been so few dreadful riots, attended ■with loss of life, as in the United States, during these last sixty years. There are bad men among us, and there are crimes, but, after all, life is quite as safe among us as in any country I have ever visited, and I have been in most of those that are con- sidered civilized. As for the Church, a regard for law and order reigns to a degree not surpassed in any other country. There is no confusion of the respective rights of the ministry and people. The duties of both are well under- stood everywhere. Most of the churches, such as the Presbyterian and the Episco- palian in all their branches, possess and maintain a strong ecclesiastical govern- ment, and even the Congregational, how- ever democratic in theory, have a govern- ment that exercises a hardly less powerful control. How seldom do we hear of dis- order occurring at the little meetings of Christians held for prayer and the read- ing of the Word of God — meetings so nu- merous, and almost always conducted by pious laymen ! How seldom do private church members encroach by word or deed, at meetings of any kind, on the proper sphere of those who hold office in the churches! Indeed, on no one point are our churches more perfectly united in opin- ion than with respect to the necessity of maintaining due order and subordination. The ministry enjoys its full share of influ- ence. No one ever hears of unauthorized, unlicensed persons being allowed to speak in our meetings for public worship. Those levelling doctrines, now spreading in other countries — doctrines which would reduce the ministry to nothing, and encourage lay brethren to take it upon them to preach or teach in the churches — I dare affirm, will not make much progress among us. At- tempts to introduce something of this sort have often been made, but in vain. We have, indeed, our meetings in which debate is allowed, and there the laity may even take the lead, but these meetings are about the temporal affairs of the church, or the' calling of a pastor, not for the public wor- ship of God. Experience has also taught us the ne- cessity of maintaining order at meetings held during revivals — occasions on which, in consequence of the strong excitement of the most powerful feelings of the human heart, there is a special call for watchful- ness in this respect. It is a sad mistake to multiply meetings unnecessarily during revivals, or to prolong them to unseason- able hours at night, to the exhaustion of strength, the loss of needed repose, and the unnatural and dangerous irritation of the nervous system. Yet these are the points in which the inexperienced are most liable to err. They begin a meeting, say at seven o'clock in the evening. The preacher feels deeply, and the people are much interested. Instead of preaching for an hour, he is tempted, by the manifest at- tention of his hearers, to go on for an hour and a half or two hours, and instead of send- ing them home at half past eight o'clock, or at nine at the farthest, so that they may have time for meditation and secret prayer, in which, after all, the sinner is most like- Chap. X.] EVANGELICAL CHURCHES. 219 ly to give his heart unto God, he dismisses them at ten or eleven o'clock, fatigued, yet excited, and altogether unfit for the ex- ercises of the closet. This is sometimes done under the ilea that the people would lose their serious impressions were the service to be short. But here there is often a temptation of the Adversary. No revival ever suffered by evening meetings being confined to a moderate length. Let the people be almost compelled to leave the house rather than unduly protract such meetings. One of the most important and difficult duties of a minister in a revival is rightly to direct awakened souls. Alas! how often are even good men found to fail in this. Many ministers, whom I have known, seem to me to excel in addressing unawakened sinners, and yet to fail when called to give clear, intelligible, and scriptural directions to those who are awakened. Many, too, fail in judging of the evidences of conver- sion, and " heal the hurt of the people softly." But on no point, I am convinced, from what I have seen in America, is there a greater call for the exercise of a sound pru- dence than in receiving into the Church persons who entertain the belief that they have " passed from death unto life." While they may possibly be kept back too long, the great error lies on the other side. The new convert naturally desires to join him- self to those whom he now considers to be the children of God. He thinks that it is his duty to do so, and he may possibly be right. But the office-bearers in the Church, whose duty it is to see to the admission of none but proper persons into it, are no less clearly bound to see that the candidate for membership gives such evidences of piety as, on scriptural grounds, shall be deemed satisfactory. The one may be perfectly right in desiring to enter, and in coming to them for admission ; the others may be no less justified in refusing until they have had satisfactory evidence of the applicant's piety. No harm can result from this temporary conflict of duty, if I may call it so. Both seek to do what is right, and both will soon find their way clear. 1 consider hasty admissions to our church- es to be the greatest of all the evils con- nected with revivals in some parts of the country, and among some denominations in particular. But this evil is not peculiar to revivals. It is quite as likely to occur when there is no revival as when there is. With all possible care it is difficult to keep a church pure, in a reasonable sense of that word. How absurd, then, to expect it when the doors are thrown wide open to admit hastily all that profess to be con- verted ! Experience shows the necessity of decided views on this subject, and of firmness in enforcing them. On this point, as well as on all others relating to the dis- cipline and government of the Church, too much care cannot be taken to avoid latitu- dinarian practices. The Church must be kept a living body of believers — a compa- ny of persons who have come out from the world, and are determined to adorn the profession which they have made. In their organization and action, order, which is said to be " heaven's first law," must be maintained. In this opinion, I am sure, Christians of all denominations in the Uni- ted States sincerely and entirely concur. BOOK VI. THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN AMERICA. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS IN REFERENCE TO THIS SUBJECT. This part of our work we propose to de- vote to a brief notice of the doctrines, or- ganization, and history of each of the evan- gelical denominations in the United States, nothing beyond a sketch of these being consistent with our limits. We shall en- deavour, of course, to confine ourselves as much as possible to what is important, omitting what is least essential or neces- sary. We begin with the five most numerous evangelical denominations in the United States. These, in the order of their rise, are the Episcopalians, the Congregational- ists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Methodists, and in that order we shall proceed to notice them. We shall then consider as briefly as possible the smaller orthodox denominations, such as the Mora- vians, the Lutherans, the German Reform- ed, and other German sects, the Reformed Dutch Church, the Cumberland Presbyte- rians, the Protestant or Reformed Metho- dists, the Reformed Presbyterians or Cov- enanters, the Associate Church, the Asso- ciate Reformed, the Quakers, &c. Numerous as are the evangelical denom- inations in the United States, yet when grouped in reference to doctrine on the one hand, or church government on the other, it is surprising into how small a number they may be reduced. In doctrine we have but two great divisions — the Calvinistic and the Arminian schools ; the former, 220 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book Vj. with its various peculiarities, comprehend- ing the Presbyterians, usually so called, the evangelical Baptists, the Episcopalians (though they generally consider them- selves as intermediate between the two), the Congregationalists. the German Re- formed, the Dutch Reformed, the Cove- nanters, the Associate, and the Associate Reformed Churches ; the latter, with its variations, comprehending the Methodists of all branches, the Lutherans, the Cum- berland Presbyterians, the United Brethren or Moravians, and some other small bodies. Considered in reference to their forms of church government, they all range them- selves in three great families. The Epis- copal, comprehending the Protestant Epis- copal Church, the Methodist Episcopal, and the Moravians ; the Presbyterian, in- cluding the Presbyterians usually so called, the Dutch Reformed, the German Re- formed, the Lutherans, the Cumberland Presbyterians, the Protestant Methodists, the Covenanters, the Associate, and the Associate Reformed ; the Congregational (or Independent, as it is more commonly called in England), embracing the Congre- gationalists and the Baptists. But when viewed in relation to the great doctrines which are universally conceded by Protestants to be fundamental and ne- cessary to salvation, then they all form but one body, recognising Christ as their com- mon Head. They then resemble the differ- ent parts of a great temple, all constituting but one whole ; or the various corps of an army, which, though ranged in various divisions, and each division having an or- ganization perfect in itself, yet form but one great host, and are under the command of one chief. This suggests the observation that on no one point are all these churches more completely united, or more firmly estab- lished, than on the doctrine of the suprem- acy of Christ in his Church, and the unlaw- fulness of any interference with its doc- trine, discipline, and government, on the part of the civil magistrate. There is not a single evangelical church in the United States that does not assert and maintain the glorious doctrine of the Headship of Christ in his Church, and that from Him alone comes all just and lawful authority in the same. On this point they hold unanimously the great doctrine which the Church of Scotland has been so nobly con- tending for. If the civil power has ever referred for a moment to the doctrine and discipline of the Church, it has only been in courts of justice, and that solely "for the purpose of determining which of two par- ties has a legal title to be considered as the church in question. For example : A church divides ; the parties into which it is divided contend for the property that be- longed to it when entire ; and the court before which they come for a decision of their claims, is compelled to look to points of doctrine and discipline in order to settle this question as to property. Thus it was in the great Quaker case, formerly referred to. CHAPTER II. THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States derives its origin from the Church of England, of which it is not only an offshoot, but to which it is " indebted, under God, for a long continuance of nur- sing care and protection."* It agrees with that Church in doctrine ; and its ritual and formularies, with some variations intro- duced after the Revolution by which the Colonies became independent States, are the same. Unlike the mother-church, however, it is in no way connected with the State, nor do its Li shops, in virtue of their office, enjoy any civil powers, im- munities, or emoluments. The chief particulars in which the Ser- vice Book differs from that of the Church of England are as follows : 1. A shorter form of absolution is allowed to be used instead of the English, which is, however, retained, and frequently used in the public service. 2. The Athanasian creed is omit- ted. 3. In the administration of baptism, the sign of the cross may be dispensed with, if requested. 4. The marriage ser- vice has been considerably abridged. 5. In the funeral service, some expressions, con- sidered as liable to misconstruction, have been altered or omitted. 6. There has been a change, of course, in the prayers for rulers. 7. It is allowed to omit in communion service the prayer called the " Oblation," and the Invocation. 8. It is permitted to change the words " He de- scended into hell," which occur in the Apostles' Creed, into " He descended into the world of departed spirits," or words equivalent. The other modifications, being of less importance and chiefly verbal, need not be specified. As in the parent church in England, there are three ranks or orders in the ministry, and these are believed, by its friends, to be of apostolical institution, viz., bishops, priests, and deacons. Ordination is peformed solely by the bishops. The churches choose their own pastors, but their installation, or induction, requires the consent of the bishop of the diocess.f The * Preface to the American Book of Common: Prayer. t When the bishop is unable to preside at the in- stallation or institution of a minister as rector or pastor of a church, he appoints a committee of neigh- bouring presbyters to act as institutors on the occa- sion. So, also, in diocesses that have no bishops, if Chap. II.] PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 221 regulation of the temporal affairs of each church is confided to a board of church- wardens, and vestry, the former of which are chosen by the communicants, the lat- ter by the members of the parish general- ly. The spiritual rule rests mainly with the pastor, or rector, as he is more com- monly called. The increase and wide diffusion of the Episcopal Church in the United States has led, I understand, to the determination that each state shall constitute a diocess, ex- cept when its extent, and the number of churches in it, may require its being divi- ded, like that of New-York, into two dio- cesses. In some instances, however, as in Virginia, where the state is extensive, and the churches not very numerous, and especially where the principal or senior bishop does not enjoy robust health, an assistant bishop has been appointed. Each diocess has its affairs directed by an Annual Convention, composed of the diocesan clergy and one or more lay dele- gates from each parish, elected by the peo- ple, or appointed by the wardens and ves- try ; the clergy and laity forming one body, but voting separately whenever this is de- manded, the clergy forming one house and the laity another. The bishop presides, should there be one ; if not, a president is chosen in his place. A concurrent vote of both orders, when voting separately, is necessary before any measure or law can pass. Every three years a General Convention is held ; the last always appointing the place of meeting for the next after. This body is composed of clerical and lay dele- gates from each state or diocesan conven- tion, who form the house of delegates, and of the bishops, who form the house of bishops. When any proposed act has passed one house, it is sent to the other for its concur- rence, the consent of both houses being requisite to its having the force of law. The Episcopal Church, throughout the country, is governed by the canons of the General Convention. These canons regu- late the election of bishops, declare the qualifications necessary for obtaining the orders of deacon and priest, the studies to be previously pursued, the examinations to be undergone, and the age which candidates must have attained before they can be ad- mitted to the three grades of the ministry. The age of twenty-one is required for deacon's orders, twenty-four for those of priest, and before a man can be ordained a bishop he must have completed his thir- tieth year. Candidates for ordination do not, as in the Church of England, subscribe the Thir- ty-nine Articles, but simply the following the services of a neighbouring prelate cannot be ob- tained, a self-constituted committee of neighbouring presbyters may give institution. declaration : " I do believe the Holy Scrip- tures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation ; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doc- trines and worship of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in these United States." These doctrines are understood to be con- tained in the articles of religion printed with the Book of Common Prayer, and implied in the liturgy of the Church. The fall of man, the Trinity of divine persons in the Godhead, the proper Deity and hu- manity of the Saviour, the atonement through his sufferings and death, the re- generating and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, the general judgment, the everlasting reward of the righteous and punishment of the wicked — or, in other words, what are called the doctrines of the Reformation — are fully taught in these formularies, and are in reality professed by those who subscribe the above decla- ration. The Episcopal was the first Protestant Church planted on the American Conti- nent, and the reader has seen how it was the favoured Church in Virginia from the earliest settlement of that state until the Revolution ; also, how it came to be estab- lished in the colonies of Maryland, New- York, and the Carolinas. But, notwith- standing all the aid which it received from the civil government, its prosperity was far from commensurate with its external advantages. When the Revolution com- menced it had not more than eighty min- isters in the colonies north and east of Maryland, and even these, with the excep- tion of such as were settled in Philadel- phia, New- York, Newport, Boston, and a few other of the most important cities and towns, were supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; while in the colonies south of Vir- ginia, viz., the Carolinas and Georgia, all the clergy taken together were but few. The number in Virginia and Maryland, amounting to about 150, greatly exceeded that of all the other colonies. The causes of this ill success during the colonial era lay, as we have stated, in the Church being dependant upon England al- together for Episcopal supervision, and, in a great degree, for its ministers ; in the unfitness, for the colonies, of many that were sent over by the Bishop of London, to whose diocess the Episcopal churches in America were then attached ; and the great difficulties attending the raising up of a na- tive clergy, and sending them to England for consecration, though this had been done to a very great extent in the colony of Connecticut, and it was in that colony that the Episcopal Church had made by far the greatest advance. We have also seen how disastrous were the Revolution 222 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VL and the changes it effected on the Episco- pal Church in all the colonies, and particu- larly in Virginia, and that it was many years before it could rise from the pros- tration in which the return of peace in 1783 found it. One of the first measures attempted after that event was the formation of an eccle- siastical constitution, by a special conven- tion of the clergy from several of the states, held in Philadelphia in 1785, for the purpose of uniting all the Episcopal churches in one body. Another important measure was the ordination of American bishops. For this purpose, the above con- vention, which was the first that was held, opened a correspondence with the Arch- bishops of Canterbury and York. This was followed by the British Parliament passing an act authorizing the English prel- ates to consecrate bishops for America. The Rev. Drs. White and Provoost, the former of Philadelphia, and the latter of New- York, were thereupon sent over to England, and received ordination to the Episcopal office from the hands of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Bath and Wells and of Peterborough assisting. Upon their return to America, Bishops White and Pro- voost entered upon the discharge of their Episcopal duties in their respective dio- cesses. A short time before the consecration of Bishops White and Provoost, the Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., had gone over to England for consecration to the Episcopal office. But having abandoned all hope of success from that quarter, he went to Scot- land, and was consecrated by three of the non-juring bishops of that kingdom. Upon his return he became Bishop of Connecti- cut. In the Convention of 1789, it being proposed to ordain another bishop, that body requested Bishops White and Pro- voost to unite with Bishop Seabury in per- forming that act, the presence of three bishops being necessary. But Bishop White having some doubts whether it was consistent with the faith understood to have been pledged to the English bishops, not to proceed to an act of consecration without having first obtained from them the number held in their church to be ca- nonically necessary to such an act, the dif- ficulty was terminated by sending the Rev. James Madison, D.D., of Virginia, to Eng- land, and his consecration there. At the next triennial convention, held in the city of New-York in 1792, the four bishops, Drs. White, Provoost, Madison, and Sea- bury, ordained the Rev. Dr. Thomas John Clagget to the Episcopal office in the dio- cess of Maryland. About that epoch the Church may be said to have passed its apogee of depres- sion, occasioned by the Revolution and its effects. Its subsequent history has been, marked by an ever-increasing prosperity. I have not the means of knowing what was the precise number of its clergy in 1792, but I am sure that it could not have exceeded 200, and its bishops were four. Just forty years later, in 1832, according to the Journal of the General Convention held in New- York in October of that year, the number of the bishops had increased to fifteen, and that of the clergy to 583. Twelve years later still, in 1844, we find the number of bishops augmented to twen- ty-three, the clergy to 1176,* while the churches probably exceed 1200. Nor has the spiritual prosperity of this church been less remarkable than its ex- ternal. It possesses a degree of life and energy throughout all its extent, and an amount of vital piety in its ministers and members, such as it never had in its colo- nial days. It is blessed with precious re- vivals, and flourishes like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And in no por- tions of the country does it possess more spiritual health than in the States of Vir- ginia and Maryland, where, in the ante- revolutionary era, it was in a deplorable state as regards piety, both in its ministry and its laity. Happier days have dawned upon it in those states, and, indeed, every- where else. Even while writing this chap- ter, I have received a letter from an excel- lent young Episcopal minister set! led in a country parish in the centre of Virginia, who informs me that the last winter and spring were seasons of remarkable bless- ing to the Episcopal Church in that state. He states that about 100 persons have been added to the church at Norfolk ; near- ly as many to that of Petersburg ; while at Richmond,! so interesting was the state of things, that the rectors of the churches there (three or four in number) did not feel it to be their duty to leave their flocks in order to attend the Convention of the Diocess which had just taken place. I have already spoken of the societies which have sprung up in the Episcopal Church for the promotion of domestic mis- sions, Sunday-schools, the education of poor and pious young men for the minis- try, and the publication of religious tracts and books. I have also taken some notice of the theological schools or seminaries connect- ed with it, viz., one at New-York, another in Fairfax county, Virginia, a few miles from Alexandria, in the District of Colum- bia, and a third at Gambier, Ohio, in con- nexion with Kenyon College. These insti- tutions have already sent forth a large * Swords's Pocket Almanac for 1844. The pres- ent number of bishops in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America is twenty-three, including the bishop elect of New-Hampshire. t These three are the largest cities in the state. Chap. III-l CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 223 number of young men into the ministry, and some 140 or 150 are at this moment pursuing their theological studies at them, under the instruction of able professors. The clergy of the Episcopal Church in America, like those of the Established Church in England, are divided into two classes, one called " high church" and the other "low." Sometimes these parties are called "evangelical" and "non-evan- gelical," but not with accuracy, for not a few of the high-churchmen, that is, men charged with carrying their preference for Episcopacy to an extravagant length, are entirely evangelical in their doctrines and preaching. But a part of these high- churchmen are not considered evangelical — not so much because of what they do preach, as because of what they do not preach. Their sermons are of too nega- tive a character; an efficacy unknown to the Scriptures is ascribed to ceremonies and forms ; neither are the sinner's sin and danger as fully and earnestly set forth as they should be, nor is the glorious suffi- ciency of Christ unfolded, and salvation by faith alone fully and clearly presented. Their preaching, consequently, does not reach the hearts of their hearers as does that of their evangelical brethren, nor does it lead the members of their churches to renounce the " world, its pomps and its vanities," to as great an extent as they should do. Yet they are not to be classed with the fox-hunting, theatre-going, ball- frequenting, and card-playing clergy of some other countries. They are an infi- nitely better class of men and ministers. I know not the comparative numbers of the evangelical and non-evangelical cler- gy, but infer, from the statements of the Rev. Dr. Tyng,* in his speech in London before the Church Missionary Society, in May, 1842, that they are in the proportion of about two thirds of the former to one third of the latter. Of the twenty-three bishops, fourteen or fifteen are considered, I believe, entirely evangelical, while seven or eight cannot properly be placed in that category. But all are laboriously occu- pied in their official work ; and I believe it would be difficult to find an Episcopal body of equal number, in any other country, sur- passing them in talents, zeal, and piety. To be a bishop with us is quite a different thing from holding that office where bish- ops live in palaces and have princely rev- enues. Our bishops are frequently parish priests also, and can find time to visit their diocesses only by employing an assistant preacher, or rector, to fill their places when they are engaged in their visitations. Their revenues do not much exceed, in some instances do not equal, those of many of their clergy. * Dr. Tyng is one of the most distinguished of the Episcopal ministers in the United States. As for the Puseyite or Tractarian doc- trines, or whatever they may be called, three, or perhaps four, of the high-church bishops are supposed to have embraced them, or at least to be favourable to them, as understood in America. But there is not one who adopts the notions recently put forth by the " British Critic," the advocate of this party in England, and but one who has ever declined the name of Protestant. Among the inferior clergy it has been feared that these sentiments have made considerable progress ; but those whose sit- uation enables them to judge with a good deal of accuracy, say that it is much less than has been supposed. Among the laity there is scarcely any sympathy with these semi-popish doctrines, and 1 cannot be- lieve that they will make much way in the country at large. The prospects of the Episcopal Church in the United States are certainly very en- couraging. The friend of a learned and able ministry, to form which she has found- ed colleges and theological institutions,* she sees among her clergy not a few men of the highest distinction for talents, for learning, for eloquence, and for piety and zeal. A large number of the most respect- able people in all parts of the country are among her friends and her members, es- pecially in the cities and large towns. Under such circumstances, if she be true to herself and her proper interests, with God's blessing she cannot but continue to prosper and extend her borders. CHAPTER III. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. The faith of the Congregational church- es of America is common to the evangeli- cal churches of both hemispheres, but their organization and discipline are, to a con- siderable extent, peculiar to themselves. A large and most respectable body of dis- senters in Great Britain, formerly known as Independents, have of late preferred the name of Congregational, but the differences between American Congregationalism and that which bears the same name in Eng- land are, in some respects, highly impor- tant. Some of these differences, as well as the points of agreement, will appear in the statements which follow. New-England is the principal seat of the Congregational churches in America. This is the region which the Puritans planted in the first half of the seventeenth centu- ry ; and here they have left upon the struc- * The founding of the Theological Seminary of this Church, at the city of New-York, was greatly pro- moted by the princely gift of 60,000 dollars (above £12,000) by a Mr. Jacob Sherred. Such beneficence- deserves to be most gratefully commemorated. 224 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. ture and institutions of society, and upon the opinions and manners of the people, the deepest impression of their peculiar character. In all these states, with the exception of Rhode Island, the Congrega- tionalists are more numerous than any- other sect, and in Massachusetts and Con- necticut they are probably more numerous than all others united. Out of New-England the Congregation- alists have never been zealous to propa- gate their own peculiar forms and institu- tions. Of the vast multitudes of emigrants from New-England into other states, the great majority have chosen to unite with churches of the Presbyterian connexion rather than to maintain their own peculi- arities at the expense of increased division in the household of faith. In so doing, they have followed the advice and fallen in with the arrangements of the associated bodies of Congregational pastors in New- England. Yet in the States of New- York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, many congrega- tions retain the forms of administration which have descended to them from the New-England fathers, and refuse to come into connexion with any of the Presbyte- rian judicatories. Since the recent division in the Presbyterian Church, the number of such congregations is increasing. The whole number of Congregational churches in the United States is probably not far from 1500, of which more than 1000 are in New-England. The number of min- isters is about 1350, and the members or communicants may be stated at 180,000. This estimate does not include those churches originally or nominally Congre- gational, which have rejected what are called the doctrines of the Reformation. These churches are better known by their distinctive title, Unitarian. The churches of this description are nearly all in Massa- chusetts ; a few are in Maine, two or three in New-Hampshire, one or more in Ver- mont, as many in Rhode Island, and one, in a state of suspended animation, in Con- necticut. Out of New-England there are perhaps from six to ten churches of the same kind, differing very little in their principles, or in their forms, from the Uni- tarians of England. The " Pilgrims," as they are called — the little band of exiles who, having fled from England into Holland, afterward, in 1620, migrated from Holland to America, and formed at Plymouth the first settlement in New-England — were separatists from the Church of England,* and for the crime of attempting to set up religious institutions not established by law, they were com- * In what sense they were Separatists the reader will have perceived from what was said in chapter iv. of book ii. He will also perceive in what sense they were not Separatists. ' pelled to flee from their native country, embarking by stealth and at night as fugi- tives from justice, as we have related in detail elsewhere.* But those bodies of emigrants, far more numerous and far bet- ter prepared and furnished, which, from 1628 onward, planted Salem and Boston, Hartford, and New-Haven — the emigra- ting Puritans, who were the actual found- ers of New-England, and whose character gave direction to its destiny — were men who considered themselves as belonging to the Church of England till their emi- gration into the American wilderness dis- solved the tie. They were Puritans in England, it is true, but the Puritans were a party within the Church contending for a purer and more thorough renovation, and not a dissenting body, with institutions of their own, out of the Church. The minis- ters who accompanied the Puritan emi- grants, or, rather, who led them into the wilderness, and who were the first, pastors of the churches in New-England, were, be- fore their emigration, almost/ without ex- ception, ministers of the Church of Eng- land, educated at the universities, episco- pally ordained, regularly inducted into liv- ings ; Nonconformists, it is true, as refu- sing to wear the white surplice, to baptize with the sign of the cross, or to use other ceremonies which seemed to them super- stitious, but yet exercising their ministry as well as they could under many disabili- ties and annoyances. Cotton and Wilson, of Boston, Hooker and Stone, of Hartford, Davenport and Hooke, of New-Haven — not to extend the catalogue — were all ben- ficed clergymen before their emigration. These men having emigrated to what were then called " the ends of the earth," and supposing that their expatriation had made them free from that ecclesiastical bondage to which they had been " subjected unwill- ingly," set themselves to study, with their Bibles in their hands, the Scriptural model of church order and discipline, and to form their churches after the pattern thus dis- covered. The result was Congregational- ism — a system which differed as much from Brownism on the one hand, as it did from Presbyterianism on the other. After the Puritans in America had set up their church order, the Puritans in England, having become a majority in Parliament, attempted to reduce the Established Church of that nation to the Presbyterian form ; and it was not till a still later period that Congregationalism, or, as it was more gen- erally called there, Independency, began to make a figure under the favour of Cromwell. Thus it appears that Congregationalism in America, instead of being an offset from that in England, is the parent stock. No * See book ii., chap. L €hap. Ill] CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 225 Congregational church in England, it is believed, dates its existence so far back as the Act of Uniformity in 1662 ; but many of the New- England churches have records of more than 200 years. It may also be remarked that American Congregationalists are not " dissenters," and never were. In New-England the Congregational churches were for a long time the ecclesiastical establishment of the country, as much as the Presbyterian Church is now in Scotland. The whole economy of the civil state was arranged ■with reference to the welfare of these churches ; for the state existed, and the country had been redeemed from the wil- derness, for this very purpose. At first no dissenting assembly, not even if adopting the ritual and order of the Church of Eng- land, was tolerated. Afterward dissenters of various names were permitted to wor- ship as they pleased, and were not only released from the obligation to contribute towards the support of the established re- ligion, but so incorporated by law that each congregation was empowered to tax its own members for the support of its own religious ministrations. But still, till the principle was adopted that the support of religion is not among the duties of civil government, the Congregationalists main- tained this precedence — that every man who did not prefer to contribute to the sup- port of public worship in some other form, was liable to be taxed as a Congregation- alist. Thus, though some of the members of one denomination in New-England some- times affect to speak of the Congregation- alists around them as " dissenters," those who do so only expose themselves to ridi- cule. Every man sees that if there is such a thing as " dissent" in New-England, the Episcopalians, with the Baptists and the Methodists, and all the other sects who have at different times separated them- selves from the ecclesiastical order origi- nally established on the soil, and still flour- ishing there, are the dissenters. The Congregationalists differ from most other communions, in that they have no common authoritative standards of Faith and Order, other than the Holy Scriptures. Yet their system is well known among themselves, and from the beginning they have spared no reasonable pains to make it known to others. John Cotton, the first teacher of the first church in Boston, was the author of a book on " the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven," published as early as 1644, which, in its time, was highly es- teemed, not only as a controversial defence of Congregationalism, but also as a practi- cal exposition of its principles. John Norton, too, teacher of the church in Ips- wich, and afterward settled in Boston, gave to the Reformed churches of Europe in 1646 a full account of the ecclesiastical order of New-England, in a Latin epistle to Apollonius, a Dutch minister, who, in the name of the divines of Zealand, had written to America for information on that subject. In 1648, a synod of pastors and churches, called together at Cambridge (a town near Boston) by the invitation of the civil authorities of Massachusetts, drew up a scheme of church discipline, which, from the place at which the synod met, was called the " Cambridge Platform." This platform, however, though highly ap- proved at the time, and still quoted with great deference, was never an authorita- tive rule ; and at this day some of its prin- ciples have become entirely obsolete. In 1708, a synod, or council, representing the pastors and churches of Connecticut, was assembled at Saybrook by the invitation of the Legislature of that colony. By this Connecticut synod a system was formed, differing in some respects from the Cam- bridge Platform, and designed to supply what was deemed the deficiencies of that older system. The Saybrook Platform was adopted by the churches of Connecti- cut, and was for many years in that colony a sort of standard recognised by law. Its application was gradually modified, and its stringency relaxed or increased by various local rules and usages, and by successive acts of the Legislature ; and at the present time this Platform alone is a very inade- quate account of the ecclesiastical order of Connecticut. The following outline, it is believed, will give the reader some idea of the system of New-England Congregationalism as it is at this day. 1. The Congregational system recog- nises no church as an organized body poli- tic, other than a congregation of believers statedly assembling for worship and reli- gious communion. It falls back upon the original meaning of the Greek word iKKk-qaia, and of the Latin coitus. Popery claims that all Christians consti- tute one visible, organized body, having its officers, its centre, and its head on earth. The first reformers seem to have supposed that each national church has its own in- dependent existence, and is to be consid- ered as one organic body, which has some- where within itself, in the clergy, or in the people, or in the civil government of the nation, a power to regulate and govern all the parts. Congregationalism rejects both the universal church of the Papists, and the national churches which the Reformation established in England, in Scotland, in cer- tain States of Germany and Switzerland, and attempted to establish in France. Hence the name Congregational. Each congregation of believers is a church ; and exists not as a subordinate part, or as under the sovereignty of a national church, nor as a part, or under the sovereignty of 226 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. an organized universal church, but sub- stantively and independently. Other religions communions in America are organized under the form of national churches, and are named accordingly. Thus we have " the Presbyterian Church in the United States,"' " the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States," " the Metho- dist Episcopal Church in the United States ;" but no intelligent person ever speaks of the Congregational Church in the United States, or of the American Congregational Church. Congregationalists always speak of the churches of America, or of New-Eng- land, or of Massachusetts, except when, in courtesy to other denominations, they use their forms of speech in speaking of them and of their affairs. In like manner, the Apostles speak of the churches of Mace- donia, Galatia, or Judea, but never of Church national or Church provincial. 2. A church exists by the consent, ex- pressed or implied, of its members to walk together in obedience to the principles of the Gospel, and the institutions of Christ. In other words, a church does not derive its existence and rights from some char- ter conceded to it by another church, or by some higher ecclesiastical judicatory. When any competent number of believers meet together in the name of Christ, and agree, either expressly or by some impli- cation, to commune together statedly in Christian worship, and in the observance of Christ's ordinances, and to perform to- wards each other the mutual duties of such Christian fellowship, Christ himself is pres- ent with them (Matt., xviii., 20), and they receive from Him all the powers and priv- ileges which belong to a church of Christ. At the orderly formation of a church, the neighbouring churches are ordinarily invi- ted to be present by their pastors and del- egates, as witnesses of the Faith and Order of those engaged in the transaction, and that they may extend the " right hand of fellowship," recognising the new church as one of the sisterhood of churches. The neglect of this, though it might be deemed a breach of courtesy and order, would not, of itself, so vitiate the proceedings as to prevent the new church from being recog- nised ultimately by the churches of the neighbourhood. 3. The officers of a church are of two sorts — elders and deacons. When the Con- gregational churches of New-England were first organized, two centuries ago, the plan was that each church should have two or more elders — one a pastor — another char- ged with similar duties under the title of a teacher — the third ordained to his office like the other two, a ruling elder, who, with his colleagues, presided over the dis- cipline and order of the church, but took no part in the official authoritative preach- ing of the word, or in the administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Thus it was intended that each church should have within itself a presbytery, or clerical body, perpetuating itself by the ordination of those who should be elected to fill suc- cessive vacancies. This plan, however, soon fell into disuse ; and now, except in the rare cases of colleagues in office, all the powers and duties of the eldership de- volve upon one whose ordinary official title is pastor. The office of deacons, of whom there are from two to six in each church, is to serve at the Lord's Table, and to re- ceive, keep, and apply the contributions which the church makes at each commu- nion for the expenses of the Table, and for the poor among its own members. Ori- ginally, the deacons, as in the primitive churches, received on each Lord's Day the contributions of the whole congregation, which were applied by them for the sup- port of the ministers, and for all other ec- clesiastical uses. But at an early period other arrangements were adopted, as more convenient. 4. Admission to membership in the church takes place as follows. The per- son desiring to unite himself with the church makes known his wishes to the pastor. The pastor (or in some churches the pastor and deacons, or in others, the pastor and a committee appointed for the purpose), having conversed with the can- didate, and having obtained by conversa- tion and inquiry satisfactory evidence of his having that spiritual renovation — that inward living piety which is considered as the condition of membership, he is pub- licly proposed in the congregation, on the Lord's Day, as a candidate, so that if there be any objection in any quarter, it may be seasonably made known. One, two, three,, or four weeks afterward, according to the particular rule or usage of the church, a vote of the " brotherhood" (or male mem- bers) is taken on thequestion, " Shall this person be admitted to membership in the church j" After this, the candidate ap- pears before the congregation, and gives his assent to a formal profession of the Christian faith read to him by the pastor, and to a form of covenant, by which he en- gages to give himself up to God as a child and servant, and to Christ as a redeemed sinner, and binds himself to the church conscientiously to perform all the duties of Christian communion and brotherhood. 5. The censures of the church are pro- nounced by the pastor in accordance with a previous vote or determination of the broth- erhood. The directions given by Christ in regard to the treatment of an offending brother (Matt., xviii., 15-17) are, in most churches, literally and directly adhered to in all cases. First, one brother alone con- fers with the brother offending or supposed to offend, and this is the first admonition. Chap. Ill 1 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 227 Then, if satisfaction has not been obtained, the same brother takes with him one or two others, and the effort is repeated : this is the second admonition. If this effort is ineffectual, the whole case is reported to the church, i. e., the brotherhood ; and if the church do not obtain satisfaction, in other words, if they find him guilty of the offence alleged against him, and do not find him at the same time penitent and ready to confess his fault, they, as a body, ad- monish him, and wait for his repentance. If he refuses to hear the church, that is, if the admonition, after due forbearance, is unsuccessful, the brethren by a vote ex- clude him from their fellowship, and the pastor, as Christ's minister, pronounces a public sentence of excommunication. In some churches a public and notorious scandal is sometimes taken up by the church as a body, without waiting for the first and second admonition in private. Yet, in such cases, the church commonly acts by a com- mittee, who follow the method just descri- bed ; first one, and next two or more confer with the offender privately, and then they report to the church what they have done, and with what success. Some churches have a " standing com- mittee," who, with the pastor, prepare all business of this nature for the action of the church. Every complaint or accusation against a brother is brought first to this committee, and an attempt is made by them to adjust the difficulty, and to remove the offence without bringing the matter to the church. If that attempt is unsuccessful, the committee, having investigated the case, having heard the parties and the witnesses, report to the church the facts of the case, with their own opinion as to what ought to be done. The committee are never invest- ed with the power of inflicting any church censures. 6. The arrangements among the Congre- gationalists of New-England for the sup- port of public worship are in some points peculiar. The church, of which we have thus far spoken exclusively, is entirely a spiritual association. But it exists in an amicable connexion with a civil corpora- tion called the parish, or the ecclesiastical society, which includes the congregation at large, or, more accurately, those adult mem- bers of the congregation who consent to be a civil society for the support of public wor- ship. This civil corporation is the propri- etor of the house of worship, of the par- sonage,* if there be one, and sometimes of other endowments, consisting of gifts and legacies which have from time to time been made for the uses for which the society ex- ists. It can raise funds either by volunta- ry subscription, or by the sale or rent of the pews in its house of worship, or by assess- * Or manse, Scotland. as it is more commonly called in ing a tax upon the estates of its members, in which last case the funds raised can be applied only to the current expenses of the society. It enters into a civil contract with the pastor, and becomes bound in law to render him for his services such compensa- tion as is agreed on between him and them. A stranger may not easily understand the difference between the church and the society, and the relations of each to the other, without some farther explanation. The church, then, is designed to be a pure- ly spiritual body. The society is a secu- lar body. The church consists only of such as profess to have some experience of spiritual religion. The society consists of all who are willing to unite in the sup- port of public worship — it being understood only, that no person can thrust himself into its ranks, and obtain a voice in the ad- ministration of its affairs, without the ex- press or implied consent of those who are already members. The church watches over the deportment of its members, they being all bound to help each other in the duties of the Christian life ; and on proper occasions it censures or absolves from cen- sure those under its care. The society has nothing to do with church censures. To the church belong the ordinances of Bap- tism and the Lord's Supper. The society has no concern with the administration of either ordinance. The church has no prop- erty except its records, and its sacrament- al vessels, and the eleemosynary contri- butions received and dispensed by its dea- cons. The society is a body incorporated by law for the purpose of holding and man- aging any property necessary for the sup- port of public worship, or designated by donors for that use. The church has its pastor and deacons, and sometimes its com- mittees, for the management of particular departments of the church business. The society has its clerk, its treasurer, and its prudential committee, elected every year ; and the pastor of the church is also the minister and religious teacher of the so- ciety ; and every family of the congre- gation is considered as belonging to his charge. The great advantage of this part of the system is, that it gives to every member of the congregation an interest in its pros- perity, and a voice in the management of its affairs, while at the same time it gives to the church every desirable facility for keeping itself pure in doctrine and in prac- tice. There is nothing to secularize the church ; no temptation to admit irreligious or unconverted men as members for the sake of causing them to take an interest in the support of public worship ; and no temptation inducing such men to seek ad- mission to the church. The pastor and the place of worship are as much theirs as if they were communicants. 228 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. The pastor, it has been already remark- ed, is not only the president or bishop of the church, but also the religious teacher and minister of the society. Of course he is elected by a concurrent vote of the two bodies. In this the church generally takes the lead. The candidate is to some extent known to the people, for he has already preached to them on probation. His fitness for the place has been the subject of col- loquial discussion in families and among neighbours. The church meets, under the presidency of a neighbouring minister, or perhaps of one of its own deacons, and decides, sometimes by ballot, and some- times by the lifting up of hands (x £L P OTOvl - a ), to call him to the pastoral office, if the so- ciety shall concur. The society, in like manner, meet, and by a vote express their agreement with the church in calling this candidate to take the pastoral charge of the church and society. After this the society determines by vote what salary shall be offered to the candidate on the condition of his accepting the call, and to propose any other stipulations as part of the contract between the people and their pastor. Committees are appointed by the church and by the society to confer with the pastor elect, and to report his answer ; and then, if his answer is favourable, to make arrangements for his public induc- tion into office. Sometimes the society leads in the call of a pastor, and the church concurs. If either of these two bodies does not concur with the other — which very rarely happens — the election fails, of course, and they wait till another candi- date shall unite them. 7. The pastors of neighbouring churches form themselves into bodies for mutual advice and aid in the work of the ministry. This body is called an association. It has its stated meetings at the house of each member in rotation. At every meeting each member is called upon to report the state of his own flock, and to propose any question on which he may desire counsel from his brethren. In these meetings every question which relates to the work of the ministry, or the interest of . the churches, is freely discussed. The asso- ciations of each state meet annually by their delegates in a General Association. But the most important part of the duties of the association is to examine those who desire to be introduced to the work of the ministry. This is on the principle that, as lawyers are to determine who shall be admitted to practice at the bar, and as phy- sicians determine who shall be received into the ranks of their profession, so min- isters are the fittest judges of the qualifi- cations of candidates for the ministry. The candidate, therefore, who has passed through the usual course of studies, liberal* * By the word " liberal," as applied to education, and theological, cannot begin to preach — will not be recognised by any church as a candidate — till he has received from some association a certificate of approbation, recommending him to the churches, which is his license to preach the Gospel on trial. Such a certificate is not granted without his having passed a close examination, particularly in respect to his piety, his soundness in the faith, and his acquaintance willi the system of Christian doctrines. 8. The fathers of the New-England churches seem to have acknowledged no minister of the Gospel other than the pas- tor or teacher of some particular church. In their zeal against a hierarchy, they found no place for any minister of Christ not elected by some organized assembly of believers to the work of ruling and teach- ing in that congregation. The evangelist was thought by them to be, like the apostle, only for the primitive age of Christianity. Accordingly, the pastor, when dismissed from his pastoral charge, was no longer a minister of Christ, or competent to per- form anywhere any function of the minis- try. In connexion with this view, it was also held that the power of ordination, as well as of election to office, resides exclu- sively in the church, and that if the church has no elders in office, this power of ordina- tion may be exercised either by a commit- tee of the brethren, or by some neighbour- ing elders, appointed to that function by the church, and acting in its name. But these views were very early superseded. The distinction is now recognised between a minister of the Gospel having a pastoral charge, and a minister who sustains no office in any church. The man ordained to the pastoral office is, of course, ordained to the work of the ministry ; and if cir- cumstances occur which make it expedi- ent for him to lay down his office of pastor, he does not, of course, lay down the work of the ministry to which he was set apart at his ordination. Sometimes a man, having no call from any church to take the office of a pastor, is set apart to the work of the ministry, that he may be a mission- ary to the heathen, or that he may labour among the destitute at home, or that he may perform some other evangelical la- bour for the churches at large. Such or- dinations are rare, except in the case of foreign missionaries, or of missionaries to some new region of the country where churches are not yet organized. Ministers, therefore, whether pastors or evangelists, are now ordained only by the laying on of the hands of those who are before them in the ministry ; for though it belongs to the church to make a pastor, it belongs to ministers to make a minister. is meant that which is obtained in making the curric ulum of a college. It is synonymous with " clas sical." Chap. IV.] REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCHES. 9. The reader has already learned that the American Congregational churches disavow the name Independent. From the beginning they have held and practised the communion of churches. Continually, and by various acts of affection and intercourse, they recognise each other as churches of Christ, as bound to render to each other, on all proper occasions, an account of their doings. They receive each other's mem- bers to occasional communion in ordinan- ces. Members of one church, removing their residence to another church, take from the one a letter of dismission and recommendation, and without that are not received to membership in the other. The principle that, in matters which concern not one church alone, but all the churches of the vicinity, no one church ought to act alone, is continually regarded in practice. The ordination or installation of a pastor, and in like manner his dismission from his office even by the mutual consent of him and his flock, never takes place without the intervention of a council of pastors and delegates from neighbouring churches. When any act of a church is grevious to a portion of its members — when any conten- tion or difficulty has arisen within a church which cannot otherwise be adjusted — when a member excommunicated deems himself unjustly treated, a council of the neighbouring churches is called to examine the case, and to give advice ; and the ad- vice thus given is rarely, if ever, disregard- ed. If a church is deemed guilty of any gross dereliction of the faith, or of Chris- tian discipline, any neighbouring church may expostulate with it as one brother ex- postulates with another, and when expos- tulation proves insufficient, a council of the neighbouring churches is called to ex- amine the matter ; ' and from the church which obstinately refuses to listen to the advice given by such a council, the neigh- bouring churches withdraw their commu- nion. In Connecticut the communion of the churches has been practised for about 130 years in " consociations," or voluntary confederations of from six to twenty con- tiguous churches, binding themselves to call upon each other in all cases of diffi- culty which require a council. Elsewhere councils of churches, though ordinarily selected from the immediate vicinity, are selected at the discretion of the church by which the council is convened. Under this ecclesiastical system the churches of New-England have, it is be- lieved by many, enjoyed for more than two centuries a more continued purity of doc- trine, and fidelity of discipline, and a more constant prosperity of spiritual religion, than has been enjoyed by any equal body of churches, for so long a time, since the days of the Apostles. No religious com- munion in America has done more for re- ligion and morals among its own people, more for the advancement of learning and general education, or more for the diffusion of the Gospel at home and abroad. None has been more characterized by that large and manly spirit which values the common Christianity of all who " hold the Head," more than the peculiar forms and institu- tions of its own sect. The highest ecclesiastical bodies by which the Congregational churches in the United States are, in a sense, united or as- sociated, are, the General Associations of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hamp- shire, and New-York ; the General Con- vention of Vermont, the General Conso- ciation of Rhode Island, and the General Conference of Maine. These bodies meet annually, and they maintain the " bond of fellowship" by sending delegates to each other. It must not be understood that all the evangelical Congregational churches in the states just named are " associated," that is, connected with the inferior asso- ciations, and through them with the " gen- eral association," " general convention," " general consociation," or " general con- ference" of the state in which they are situated. But the number not thus united with their sister churches is not great. The Congregational churches in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa are not yet sufficient- ly numerous to render the organization of general associations convenient, or else other causes have prevented this measure from being adopted. The Congregationalists in New-England have eight colleges, five theological semi- naries and faculties, and about 300 stu- dents in theology. In the other states where they exist, they give their aid to the Presbyterian literary and theological in- stitutions. CHAPTER IV. THE REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCHES. Next to the Episcopalians and the Con- gregationalists, the Baptists are the oldest of the various branches of the Christian Church in the United States. And if we were to include under this name all who hold that immersion is the true and only Scriptural mode of baptism, without refer- ence to the orthodoxy of their faith, we should probably find that they are also the largest denomination in this country. But if we separate from them a portion at least of those minor bodies which, though agreeing with them on that point, differ from them on important, and, in some cases, fundamental doctrines, we shall find that they are not equal in number to the Methodists. 230 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. In their church government the Baptists of all denominations are Independents, that is, each church is wholly independent, as respects its interior government, even of those other churches with which it may be associated in ecclesiastical union. Each separate church possesses and exercises the right of licensing or granting permis- sion to preach the Gospel, and of ordaining elders or presbyters clothed with all the functions of the ministerial office. This is the old ground at first maintained by the Independents. The Congregationalists, spoken of in the last chapter, seem to be Independents in theory, but in spirit and practice they are very nearly Presbyteri- ans, and have often been called Congrega- tional Presbyterians. Delegates from different Baptist church- es hold public meetings for purposes of mutual counsel and improvement, but not for the general government of the whole body, all right of interference in the con- cerns of individual churches being dis- claimed by these ecclesiastical assemblies. A very large majority of our evangelical Baptist churches are associated by their pastors in District Associations and State Conventions, which meet every year for promoting missions, education, and other benevolent objects. A general convention, called the Baptist General Convention of the United States, meets likewise every three years, the last always appointing the place of meeting for the next after. The General Convention is restricted by its constitution to the promotion of foreign missions. It held its first meeting in 1814. But within the last ten years a Home Mis- sionary Society, a General Tract Society, a Bible Society, and several societies for the education of poor and pious youths having talents adapted for the ministry, have sprung up in the Baptist body, and already exert a wide and happy influence. The Baptists, like the Congregational- ists, make it a fundamental principle to adopt the Bible as their only confession of faith. Yet most, if not all, of the evan- gelical churches that bear the name, find it convenient in practice to have a creed or summary of doctrine, and these creeds, although they may vary in expression, all agree in the main, and, with few excep- tions, among the Regular and Associated Baptists are decidedly Calvinistic. A few years ago, the Baptist Convention of the State of New-Hampshire adopted a Declaration of Faith, consisting of sixteen articles, and a form of church covenant, which they recommended to the Baptist churches of that state, and which are sup- posed to express, with little variation, the general sentiments of the whole body of orthodox Baptists in the United States. The subjects of these articles are : The Scriptures ; the true God ; the fall of man ; the way of salvation ; justification ; the freeness of salvation ; grace in regenera- tion ; God's purpose of grace ; perseve- rance of saints ; harmony of the law and Gospel ; a Gospel church ; Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; the Christian Sabbath ; civil government ; the righteous and the wicked ; the world to come. On all these subjects, excepting Baptism, these articles express the doctrines held by the Calvinistic churches of all denomi- nations. The Bible is pronounced to have been " written by men divinely inspired" — " has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of er- ror, for its matter" — " is the true centre of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried." The " true God," it is affirmed, is "revealed under the per- sonal and relative distinctions of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; equal in every divine perfection, and executing dis- tinct and harmonious offices in the great work of redemption." " The salvation of sinners" is taught to be " whoiiy of grace, through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who took upon Him our nature, yet without sin ; honoured the law by his personal obedience, and made atonement for our sins by his death ; being risen from the dead, he is now enthroned in heaven ; and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfec- tions, is every way qualified to be a suit- able, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Saviour." " Justification," it is affirmed, " consists in the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life," and " is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righ- teousness which we have done, but solely of His (Christ's) own redemption and righ- teousness." On the freeness of salvation it is taught " that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel ; that it is the im- mediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial and obedient faith ; and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sin- ner on earth, except his own voluntary re- fusal to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ ; ■ which refusal will subject him to an ag- gravated condemnation." " Regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind, and is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the Holy Spirit, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel ; and its proper evidence is found in the holy fruit which we bring forth to the glory of God." On the subject of God's purpose of grace it is stated, " That election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners" — is " consistent with the free agency of man" — " comprehends all the means in connexion with the end" — "is a most Chap. IV] REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCHES. 231 gracious display of God's sovereign good- ness" — " utterly excludes boasting, and pro- motes humility, prayer, praise, trust in God" — " encourages the use of means in the highest, degree" — " is ascertained in its effects in all who believe"^-" is the found- ation of Christian assurance" — and that *' to ascertain it with regard to ourselves, demands and deserves our utmost dili- gence." On the subject of the perseverance of the saints, it is affirmed, " That such only are real believers as endure unto the end ; that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors ; that a special providence watches over their wel- fare ; and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." According to this Confession of Faith, " a visible Church of Christ is a congrega- tion of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ ; governed by his laws ; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word ; that its only proper officers are bishops or pastors, and dea- cons, whose qualifications, claims, and du- ties are defined in the Epistles of Timothy and Titus." And " Christian Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; to show forth a solemn and beau- tiful emblem of our faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its purifying power," and " is a prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation." The " Christian Sabbath is the first day of the week," and " is to be kept sacred to religious purposes ;" " civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of society ; and that magis- trates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the con- science, and Prince of the kings of the earth." And finally, on the subject of the world to come, it. is taught, " That the end of this world is approaching ; that at the last day Christ will descend from heaven, and raise the dead from the grave to final retribu- tion ; that a solemn separation will then take place ; that the wicked will be ad- judged to endless punishment, and the righteous to endless joy ; and that this judgment will fix forever the final state of men in heaven or hell on principles of righteousness." The covenant which follows this decla- ration of faith expresses in a few brief articles the determination of those who enter it : " to walk in brotherly love ;" " to exercise a mutual care, as members one of another, to promote the growth of the whole body in Christian knowledge, holi- ness, and comfort ;" " to uphold the public worship of God, and the ordinances of his house ;" " not to omit closet and family religion," nor the " training up of children and those under their care ;" to " walk cir- cumspectly in the world," and be as the " light of the world, and the salt of the earth ;" and, finally, to " exhort" and " ad- monish one another." Such, in substance, is the " Declaration of Faith and Covenant," adopted, as I have said, by the Baptist Convention of New- Hampshire a few years ago, and no doubt substantially exhibiting the doctrines held by the great body of the Regular and As- sociated Baptists throughout the United States. It will be perceived that it is mod- erately Calvinistic, and, indeed, to one or other shade of Calvinism all the Regular Baptists in America adhere. Part of their body, particularly in the Southern and Southwestern States, are regarded as Cal- vinists of the highest school. Their doc- trinal views probably coincide with those of Dr. Gill more than those of any other writer. But a far greater number of their ministers follow in the main the views of Andrew Fuller; views which, take them all in all, form one of the best systems of the- ology to be found in the English language. The Baptist churches have increased in the United States with great rapidity, par- ticularly within the last fifty or sixty years. For although they commenced their ex- istence in the days' of Roger Williams,* formerly mentioned,! who, having chan- ged his sentiments on the subject of Bap- tism a few years after his arrival in Massa- chusetts Bay, was the first Baptist preach- er, and founded the first Baptist church in America, at Providence, in 1639 ; it was long before this denomination made much progress beyond Rhode Island. This arose, it would appear, from their being violent- ly opposed in most of the other colonies, both in the North and in the South. In Massachusetts they were at first "fined," " whipped," and " imprisoned." And though they afterward obtained liberty of worship there, they had but eighteen churches at the commencement of the Revolutionary war. In Virginia, where they also met with much opposition and bitter persecu- tion,! they had scarcely, at that epoch, ob- tained any footing at all. In fact, with the exception of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, * The reader must not inter, from what is stated above, that Roger Williams is to be considered as the author or founder of the Baptist Churches in Amer- ica. His influence was mainly confined to Rhode Island. The greater part of the Baptist churches with us owe their origin to the labours of Baptist ministers who came such directly from England. t Book ii., chap', iv. j It happened often in that colony that their preach- ers were cast into prison for preaching the Gospel. And often they were to be seen addressing from th« jail windows the people assembled outside ! 232 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VL and Delaware, they almost no where en- joyed perfect freedom from molestation until the country had achieved its inde- pendence by a struggle in which the Bap- tists, to say the least, in proportion to their numbers, took as prominent a part as any other religious body in the land. But slow as was their progress before the Revolution, it has been much otherwise since. This will be seen from the follow- ing statement taken from the very com- plete " View of the Baptist Interest in the United States, 7 ' prepared by the Rev. Ru- fus Babcock, D.D., of Poughkeepsie, New- York, and published in the American Quar- terly Register, in the years 1840 and 1841. The number of Baptist ministers, church- es, and members, at five different epochs, are stated there as follows : Churches. In 1784 . . 47] 1790-92 . 891 1810-12 . 2164 1832 . . 5320 1840 . . 7766 Ministers. Memhers. 424 35,101 1150 65,345 1605 172,972 3618 384,920 5204 570,758 Dr. Babcock estimates the superannua- ted ministers and others who, from vari- ous causes, are not actively engaged in the ministry, at about a seventh of the number in the above table. Deducting these, and another seventh for the licen- tiates, who also are included, we shall have 3717 ordained ministers actually em- ployed in 1840 ; which is, upon an aver- age, less than one minister for two church- es. Including the licentiates, who almost all preach more or less regularly, and many of them in vacant churches, the number of preachers for that year was 4460. In the " Almanac and Baptist Register" for 1844, the number of the Regular Bap- tist churches in 1843 is stated to have been 8482, the ordained and licensed ministers 5650, and the communicants or members 637,477. It is believed, however, that had the returns been complete, the last-men- tioned number would have been at least 700,000. According to Dr. Babcock's mode of estimating them, the ordained and active ministers were, in that year, 4036. Dr. Babcock makes a curious estimate of the probable proportion of the inhabi- tants in each state, supposed to be direct- ly under the influence of Baptist preach- ing. Without going unnecessarily into his details, we find, as the result of his re- searches, that in 1840 these amounted to a fifth of the population in Massachusetts, and to a fourth in Virginia, being the two provinces in which the Baptists were most persecuted ; whereas in Rhode Island, which was their asylum, the proportion rises to two fifths, or nearly a half. In this enumeration Dr. Babcock in- cludes some of the smaller Baptist sects, such as those of the Six Principles, who hold as their creed the six principles men- tioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap, vi., ver. 1, 2). These, in 1841, had sixteen churches, ten ministers, and 2017 mem- bers. But the shades of difference in doc- trine are not of much consequence, so far as regards the vital interests of the truth. Above 3,500,000 of souls, being between a fifth and a sixth of the entire population of the United States, and embracing a re- spectable share of the wealth, talent, learn- ing, and influence of the country, are sup- posed to be connected with the Regular Baptists. A large and important part of their churches lies in the Southern States, and includes many slaves and slave-own- ers. With the exception of the Methodists, they form by far the most numerous and influential body of Christians in that sec- tion of the country. A strong prejudice against learning in the ministry unhappily prevailed at one time in this body, particularly in the South- ern States, and this we might ascribe to sev- eral causes. In the religious denomination, which in Virginia, and the other Southern colonies, they considered their greatest en- emy, learning was too often associated with want of piety, and sometimes with open irreligion. The effects of this preju- dice have been very injurious, and are felt to this day in the Baptist churches through- out the Southern and Southwestern, and to a considerable extent even in the Middle States. But a brighter day has dawned. Great efforts have been made by zealous and devoted men among them to establish colleges and theological seminaries, with what success we have stated elsewhere. I know not how many young men are pre- paring for the ministry in theological and other institutions, but ten years ago they were estimated at 300 in New-England, and about twice that number in other parts of the United States. We have already spoken of the efforts of the Baptists in the Bible, Tract, Sunday- school, and Home Missionary causes, and shall have yet to speak of what they are doing in the department of Foreign Mis- sions. We shall conclude by remarking that, although not a third, perhaps, of the minis- ters of this denomination of Christians have been educated at colleges and theo- logical seminaries, it comprehends, never- theless, a body of men who, in point of talent, learning, and eloquence, as well as devoted piety, have no superiors in the country. And even among those who can make no pretensions to profound learning, not a few are men of respectable general attainments, and much efficiency in their Master's work. Notices will be given of the smaller Bap- tist denominations in their proper place, and they will afterward be grouped to- gether, when we come to arrange in fam- Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 232 ilies the various religious bodies constitu- ting the great " household of faith" in the United States. CHAPTER V. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. In speaking of the Congregational church- es, we entered into a full analysis of their organization, because they comprise most of the great features of all the churches founded on what are called Independent principles, forming the basis of the church- es of several other denominations, partic- ularly the Baptists. For a like reason, in speaking of the Presbyterian Church, we shall go into considerable detail in speak- ing of its principles and church organiza- tion, so as to save repetition when we come to notice other churches having the same principles and essentially the same organization. The Presbyterian Church is so called because it is governed by presbyters, and not by prelates. The name, therefore, ap- plies to any church organized and govern- ed on that principle. Usage, however, has confined it in America to one of sev- eral churches, who agree in believing that the government of the Church belongs to its elders or presbyters. The Dutch Re- formed Church, the German Reformed, the Scotch Secession churches, are as truly Presbyterian as that denomination to which the name is now, among us, almost exclu- sively applied. Presbyterians believe that the Apostles, in organizing the Church, were accustom- ed, in every city or place where a congre- gation was gathered, to appoint a number of officers for the instruction and spiritual government of the people, and for the care of the sick and poor. The former class of these officers were called presbyters, the latter deacons. Of these presbyters, some laboured in word and doctrine, others in the oversight and discipline of the flock, according to their gifts, or to their desig- nation when ordained. As the terms bish- op and presbyter were indiscriminately used to designate the spiritual instructers and governors of the congregation, in eve- ry church there came to be three classes of officers, which are denominated the bishops or pastors, or teaching presbyters, the ruling presbyters, and the deacons. The Presbyterian churches with us are organized on this plan. Each congrega- tion has its bishop or pastor, its ruling el- ders, and its deacons, except in cases where the duties of the last-mentioned class are assumed by the elders. The duty of the pastor is to preach the word, to administer the sacraments, to superin- tend the religious instruction of the young. and to have the general oversight of his flock as to their spiritual concerns. He is always chosen by the people over whom he is to exercise his office. It will appear, however, from the following account of the method pursued in the selection and installation of a pastor, that the choice of the people is subject to several important limitations. When a congregation is va- cant, the people assemble, alter due no- tice, to choose a pastor. This meeting must be presided over by an ordained min- ister invited for that purpose, who must endorse the minutes of their proceedings, and certify their regularity. If a majority of the qualified members of the congrega- tion, i. e., of those who contribute to the support of the minister, agree upon a can- didate, a call is made out in the following terms, viz. : " The congregation of A. B. being, on sufficient grounds, well satisfied of the ministerial qualifications of you, C. D., and having hopes, from our past experience of your labours, that your ministrations in the Gospel will be profitable to our spiritual interests, do earnestly call and desire you to undertake the pastoral office in the said congregation ; promising you, in the dis- charge of your duty, all proper supprt, en- couragement, and obedience in the Lord. And that you may be free from worldly cares and avocations, we hereby promise and oblige ourselves to pay to you the sum of in regular quarterly payments, du- ring the time of your being and continuing the pastor of this church. In testimony whereof we have respectively subscribed our names." This call is taken to the Presbytery un- der whose care the congregation is placed, and the Presbytery decide whether it shall be presented to the person to whom it is addressed. If, in their judgment, there exists any sufficient reason for withhold- ing it, it is returned to the people, who must then proceed to a new election. If the person called belongs to the same Pres- bytery to which the congregation is at- tached, or is a licentiate under their care, they put the call into his hands and wait for his answer to it. But if he belongs to a different Presbytery, they give the con- gregation leave to prosecute it before that body, who have the right to decide wheth- er it shall be presented to the candidate or not. It thus appears that no man can be- come the pastor of a congregation under the care of a Presbytery whom they do not deem to be a sound and competent minister of the Gospel. And in order to enable them to judge intelligently on this point, before proceeding to his ordination they examine him " as to his acquaintance with experimental religion, as to his knowl- edge of philosophy, theology, ecclesiasti- 234 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. cal history, the Greek and Hebrew lan- guages, and such other branches of learn- ing as to the Presbytery may appear requi- site, and as to his knowledge of the con- stitution, the rules, and discipline of the church." Should the candidate be found deficient in any of these particulars, it is the right and duty of the Presbytery to re- ject him. But if they are satisfied with his ministerial qualifications, they appoint a time for his ordination in the presence of the people. When the time appointed has arrived, and the Presbytery convened, a member appointed for the purpose preach- es a sermon suitable for the occasion, and then proposes to the candidate the follow- ing questions, viz. : " Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice ? " Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this Church as con- taining the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures ? " Do you approve of the government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United States ? " Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord? " Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God, and a sincere desire to promote his glory in the Gospel of his Son? " Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel, and the purity and peace of the Church, whatever persecution or opposi- tion may arise unto you on that account ? " Do you engage to be faithful and dili- gent in the exercise of all private and per- sonal duties which become you as a Chris- tian and as a minister of the Gospel, as well as in all relative duties, and the pub- lic duties of your office ; endeavouring to adorn the profession of the Gospel by your conversation, and walking with exemplary piety before the flock over which God has made you overseer ? " Are you now willing to take the charge of this congregation, agreeably to your declaration at accepting their call ? And do you promise to discharge the du- ties of a pastor to them as God shall give you strength !" The presiding minister then puts the following questions to the congregation : " Do you, the people of this congrega- tion, continue to profess your readiness to receive , whom you have called to be your minister ? " Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love, and to submit to him in the due -vercise of discipline ? " Do you promise to encourage him in his arduous labours, and to assist his en- deavours for your instruction and spiritual edification'! "And do you engage to continue to him, while he is your pastor, that compe- tent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and whatever else you may see needful for the honour of religion and his comfort among you'?" These questions being answered in the affirmative, the Presbytery proceed to or- dain the candidate with prayer and the laying on of hands. The elders are regarded as the repre- sentatives of the people, and are chosen by them for the discipline of the church in connexion with the pastor. They must be male members of the church in full communion, and, when elected, are requi- red to profess their faith in the Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, their adoption of the Westmin- ster Confession as containing the system of doctrine, and their approbation of the government and discipline of the Presby- terian Church ; and the members of the church are called upon publicly to ac- knowledge and receive them as ruling elders, and to promise to yield them all that honour, encouragement, and obedience in the Lord, to which their office, accord- ing to the Word of God and the constitu- tion of the church, entitles them. The pastor and elders constitute what is called the Session, which is the governing body in each congregation. They are authorized to inquire into the knowledge and Chris- tian conduct of the members of the church ; to admit to the sacraments those whom, upon examination, they find to possess the requisite knowledge and piety ; to call be- fore them offenders, being members of their own church ; to decide cases of dis- cipline ; and to suspend or excommunicate those who are judged deserving of such censure. It is their duty, also, to keep a register of marriages, of baptisms, of those admitted to the Lord's Supper, and of the death or removal of church members. All the proceedings of the Session are subject to the review of the Presbytery, and may be brought before that body in several different ways. The Session is required to keep a record of their official acts, and this record is laid before the Presbytery, for examination, twice every year. Should anything appear on the rec- ord which, in the judgment of the Presby- tery, is irregular, inexpedient, or unjust, they have authority to see the matter rec- tified. Or if any one feels himself ag- grieved by a decision of the Session, he has the right of appeal to the Presbytery, where the case may be reviewed. Or if any member or members of the inferior court, or any one affected by their decis- ion, consider their action irregular or un- Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 235 just, he or they have the right of com- plaint, which subjects the whole matter to a revision in the higher judicatory. The deacons are not members of the Session, and, consequently, have no part in the government of the church. It is their duty to take charge of the poor, to receive and appropriate the moneys col- lected for the support or relief of the sick or needy. A Presbyterian church, or congregation, has thus a complete organization within itself, but it is not an independent body. It is part of an extended whole, living un- der the same ecclesiastical constitution, and, therefore, subject to the inspection and control of the Presbytery, whose busi- ness it is to see that the standards of doc- trine and rules of discipline are adhered to by all the separate churches under its care. This superior body, the Presbytery, con- sists of all the pastors, or ordained minis- ters, and one elder from each Session, within certain geographical limits. There must be at least three ministers to consti- tute a Presbytery, but the maximum is not fixed. Hence our Presbyteries vary from three to sixty or eighty members. It is the bond of union between the ministers and churches within it limits. Among its most important duties is the examination and ordination of candidates for the holy ministry. Every such candidate is requi- red to place himself under the care of that Presbytery within whose bounds he ordi- narily resides. He must produce satis- factory testimonials of his good moral character, and of his being in full commu- nion with the church. It is made the duty of the Presbytery to examine him as to his experimental knowledge of religion, and as to his motives in seeking the sacred office. And it is recommended that the candidate be required to produce a diplo- ma of the degree of bachelor or master of arts, from some college or university, or at least authentic testimonials of his hav- ing gone through a regular course of aca- demic instruction. The Presbytery itself, however, is required to examine him as to his knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and on the subjects embraced in the usual course of study pur- sued in our colleges. He must also pre- sent a Latin exercise on some point in the- ology ; a critical exposition of a passage of Scripture, as a test of his ability to ex- pound the original text ; a lecture or homi- letic exposition of some portion of the Word of God ; and a popular sermon. If these exercises and examinations are pass- ed to the satisfaction of the Presbytery, the candidate is required to answer affirm- atively the following questions, viz. : " Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice ? " Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures 1 " Do you promise to study the peace, purity, and unity of the Church ? " Do you promise to submit yourself, in the Lord, to the government of this Pres- bytery, or of any other Presbytery in the bounds of which you may be called ?" The Presbytery then proceed to his li- censure in the following words, viz. : " In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that authority which he has given to his Church for its edification, we do license you to preach the Gospel wherever God, in his providence, may call you, and for this purpose, may the blessing of God rest upon you, and the Spirit of Christ fill your heart. Amen." This licensure does not confer the min- isterial office, or give authority either to administer the sacraments, or to take part in the government of the Church. It is merely a declaration that the recipient, in the judgment of the Presbytery, is qualified to preach the Gospel and to become a pas- tor. It is from this class of probationers that the congregations select and call their ministers ; and when a licentiate receives a call to a particular church, he is renew- edly examined on all the subjects above specified before he is ordained. It is by means of these examinations, and by requiring assent to the Confession of Faith, that the Presbyterian Church in America has endeavoured to secure com- petent learning and orthodoxy in its min- istry ; and it is a historical fact, which ought to be gratefully acknowledged, that since the organization of the Church in this country, a century and a half ago, the great body of its ministers have been lib- erally-educated men ; and it is also a fact that no man who has avowedly rejected the Calvinistic system of doctrine, has been allowed to retain his standing as a minister of that Church. Its history con- tains not the record of even one Arminian or Pelagian, much less Socinian, as an ap- proved or recognised minister in its con- nexion. Some few instances have occur- red of the avowal of such sentiments, but they have uniformly been followed by the ejection from the ministry of those who entertained them. And more recently, the promulgation by a part of its ministers of doctrines supposed to be at variance with its standards, though those doctrines were not considered by their advocates as involving a rejection of the Calvinistic system, was one of the principal causes of the separation of the body into two dis- tinct organizations. So also with regard to learning, when a portion of the Church 236 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. in the western, and then more recently-set- tled parts of the country, insisted on intro- ducing into the ministry men who had not received a liberal education, they were re- quired to separate and form a denomina- tion of their own. From their peculiar circumstances, such separations involve no civil penalties or forfeitures. If any set of men think that the interests of religion can be better promoted by an imperfectly educated and more numerous ministry, than by a smaller body of better-educated men, nothing prevents them from acting on their convictions and organizing on their own principles. By so doing, however, they of necessity separate from a church which makes a liberal education a requi- site for admission into the sacred office. In like manner, if any man or set of men renounce the doctrines of the Westminster Confession, they are at perfect liberty to preach what they believe to be true, but they must not expect to remain ministers of a church in which that Confession is the standard of doctrine. External union has, indeed, been sacrificed by acting on this principle, but spiritual fellowship has been rather promoted than violated there- by, as neither party, in such cases, have excommunicated the other. And there is no hardship or injustice in the course above indicated, since the church is in one sense a voluntary society, whose terms of min- isterial communion are known to the world ; and those who disapprove of its doc- trines need not, and in general do not, seek admission to its ministry. There are other denominations within whose pale they can minister without objection or difficulty. It follows, from what has been said, that it is the duty of the Presbytery to exercise a watch and care over its own members. Every minister, at his ordination, promises subjection to his brethren in the Lord ; that is, he promises to recognise the au- thority of the Presbytery, and the other ecclesiastical bodies, as exercised agree- ably to the constitution of the Church, and to submit to their decisions. He receives his office from the hands of the Presbytery, and it is in the power of that body, on suf- ficient grounds, and after a fair trial, to suspend or depose him. It is, however, provided that no charge shall be received against a minister of the Gospel, unless on the responsibility of some competent ac- cuser, or on the ground of public scandal. When a minister is accused, either of er- ror in doctrine or immorality of conduct, he is regularly cited to answer the charge ; he is informed of the witnesses who are to appear against him, and full time is allow- ed for the preparation of his defence. In short, all the formalities which are the safeguards of justice are scrupulously re- garded, so as to secure a fair trial to any accused member. The Presbytery, then, is the court of re- view and control over all the Sessions of the several churches within its bounds. It is the supervising body, bound to see that the pastors are faithful in the discharge of their duty ; having also authority to exam- ine, license, and ordain candidates for the ministry ; to instal them over the congre- gations to which they may be called ; to exercise discipline over its own members ; and, in general, to order whatever relates to the spiritual welfare of the congrega- tions under its care. With the Presbytery the organization of a Presbyterian church is complete. So long as the number of ministers and churches is so small that they can conveniently meet at the same time and place, there is no need of any superior body. The formation of Synods and a General Assembly be- comes necessary only when the Church is too large to be comprised under one Pres- bytery. It is desirable that the governing body should meet at least twice annually. This cannot be done when the members of that body are very numerous, and scat- tered over a great extent of country. To remedy this inconvenience, instead of one presbytery embracing all the ministers and churches, several are formed, each exer- cising its functions within prescribed lim- its, and all meeting annually as a Synod. A Synod is, therefore, nothing but a larger Presbytery. Agreeably to this system, it must be composed of at least three Pres- byteries. All the ministers within its bounds, and one elder from each Session, have a right to act as members. From 1705 to 1716 there was but one Presbytery. The number of ministers and churches had, at the latter date, so increased that three Presbyteries were formed, which contin- ued to meet as a Synod until 1787, when convenience suggested the division of the body into four Synods, under a represent- ative assembly, composed of delegates from all the Presbyteries. Under the pres- ent system, the Synod is a body that inter- venes between the Presbytery and Gen- eral Assembly. It has power to receive and determine all appeals regularly brought up from the Presbyteries ; to decide all references made to them ; to review the records of Presbyteries, and to approve or censure them ; to redress whatever has been done by the Presbyteries contrary to order; to take effectual care that Pres- byteries observe the constitution of the Church ; to erect new presbyteries, and unite or divide those which were before erected ; and, generally, to take such order with respect to the Presbyteries, Sessions, and people under their care, as may be in conformity with the Word of God and the established rules, and which tend to promote the edification of the Church ; and, finally, to propose to the General As- Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 237 sembly, for its adoption, such measures as may be of common advantage to the whole Church. The General Assembly is the highest ju- dicatory of the Presbyterian Church, and the bond of union between its several parts. It is composed of an equal delegation of ministers and elders from each presbytery. Every presbytery sends at least one min- ister and one elder ; if it consists of more than twenty-four members, it sends two ministers and two elders, and so on in like proportion. The Assembly has power to determine all appeals and references regularly brought before it from inferior judicatories ; to re- view the records of the several synods ; to give its advice and instructions in all cases submitted to it ; and constitutes the bond of union, peace, correspondence, and mu- tual confidence among all the churches un- der its care. To it also belongs to decide all controversies respecting doctrines and discipline ; to reprove, warn, or bear tes- timony against error in doctrine or immo- rality in practice ; to erect new synods ; to superintend the whole church ; to cor- respond with foreign churches ; to sup- press schismatical contentions and dispu- tations ; and, in general, to recommend and attempt reformation of manners, and the promotion of charity, truth, and holiness through all the churches under its care. So long as all the ministers of the church were united in one synod, that body had a right to make rules which had the force of constitutional regulations obligatory on all the presbyteries. This was reasonable and safe as long as the whole church met in one body, as its rules were the voluntarily imposed conditions of membership. But since the formation of the General Assem- bly, composed not of all the ministers, but of a comparatively small delegation from each presbytery, this power no longer be- longs to this highest judicatory. The As- sembly cannot alter the constitution of the church. Every proposition, involving such change, must first be sent down to the pres- byteries, and receive the sanction of a ma- jority of them, before it becomes obligatory on the churches. Having given this brief exhibition of the principles of church government adopted by Presbyterians in the United States, it is necessary to advert to their doctrinal standards. The Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms prepa- red by the Assembly of Divines at West- minster were, as is well known, adopted by the Church of Scotland, and the same symbols have from the beginning constitu- ted the creed of the Presbyterian Church in this country. The formal adopting act was passed by the Synod in 1729. In that act we find the following language, viz.: " We do agree that all the ministers of this synod, or that shall hereafter be admitted into this synod, shall declare their agree- ment in, and approbation of, the Confes- sion of Fatih, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, as being, in all necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine ; and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the confession of our faith." On the same page of the records is found the fol- lowing minute, viz.: "All the members of the Synod now present, except one who declared himself not prepared (but who at a subsequent meeting gave in his adhe- sion), after proposing all the scruples that any of them had to make against any of the articles or expressions in the Confes- sion of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Cat- echisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, have unanimously agreed in the solution of those scruples, and in de- claring the said Confessions and Cate- chisms to be the confession of their faith ; except only some clauses in the twenti- eth and twenty-third chapters, concerning which the Synod do unanimously declare that they do not receive those articles in any such sense as to suppose the civil magis- trate hath a controlling power over synods, with respect to the exercise of their min- isterial authority, or power to persecute any for their religion, or in any sense con- trary to the Protestant succession to the throne of Great Britain. The Synod, ob- serving unanimity, peace, and unity in all their consultations and deliberations in the affair of the Confession, did unanimously agree in solemn prayer and praise." It appears that some doubt arose wheth- er the expression, " essential and necessa- ry articles" in the above acts, was to be understood of articles essential to the sys- tem of doctrine contained in the Confes- sion of Faith, or of articles essential to Christianity. To remove this ambiguity, the Synod, the following year, unanimously adopted the following minute, viz.: " Where- as some persons have been dissatisfied with the manner of wording our last year's agree- ment about the Confession, supposing some expressions not sufficiently obligatory upon intrants ; overtured that the Synod do now declare that they understand those clauses which respect the admission of intrants, in such a sense as to oblige them to receive and adopt the Confession and Catechisms, at their admission, in the same manner and as fully as the members of the Synod who were then present ;" that is, they were to adopt it without exception, save the clauses relating to the powers of civil magistrates in matters of religion. When the General Assembly was formed in 1787, the Confession of Faith and Cat- echisms were revised, and those parts which relate to the power of the magis- 238 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. trates modified, and ever since it has with- out alteration been the standard of doctrine in the Presbyterian Church, and every min- ister, as already stated, is required at his ordination to declare that he " sincerely re- ceives and adopts the Confession of Faith of this Church as containing the system of doctrines taught in the Holy Scriptures." We have elsewhere stated how church property is held ; how churches are erect- ed ; how the salaries of ministers are raised ; and how feeble churches are aided by home missionary societies, boards of missions, &c. We shall now proceed to give a brief sketch of the history of the Presbyterian Church in the United Slates. The first Presbytery, consisting of seven ministers, and representing about the same number of churches, was organized in Philadel- phia in 1705; at present, the number of ministers exceeds 2600, and that of the churches more than 3500. This extraor- dinary increase can only be explained by a reference to the settlement of the coun- try. The New-England States were set- tled by English Puritans, many of whom, especially those who arrived about the commencement of the civil war, as well as those who came after the Restoration, were Presbyterians ; New- York was set- tled by the Dutch, who were also Presby- terians ; but these classes have retained their own separate ecclesiastical organi- zation, though both have contributed large- ly to the increase of the Presbyterian Church. The Germans, also, who settled in great numbers in Pennsylvania, and in the northern portions of Virginia, have in like manner formed extended churches of their own ; yet they also have, in many cases, contributed to swell the number of Amer- ican Presbyterians. The French emigrants, who came to this country towards the close of the seventeenth century, were almost all Protestants and Presbyterians. These are the collateral sources whence the Presby- terian Church in America derived the ma- terials of its growth. From the beginning of the last century to the Declaration of Independence, there was a constant cur- rent of emigration of Presbyterians from Scotland, and still more from the north of Ireland. These emigrants settled princi- pally in New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, in the central portions of Virginia, and in North and South Carolina. Since the commence- ment of the present century, the same pro- cess has been going on. The central and western portions of the State of New- York, forty years ago, was a wilderness ; it has now a population of more than 1,000,000 of people of European descent. The Western States in the Valley of the Mississippi, then in the almost exclusive possession of the Indians, have now a like population of more than 6,000,000. The progress of the Presbyterian Church, there- fore, although rapid, has not been out of proportion to the progress of the country. On the contrary, the widely-extended de- nominations of the Methodists and Baptists are, to a great extent, composed of per- sons whose ancestors belonged to Presby- terian churches. It will easily be believed that the Pres- byterian Church, in the midst of a popu- lation which doubles itself every twenty- four years, felt that her first and most urgent duty was to supply this growing population with the preaching of the Gos- pel. It has been a missionary church from the beginning. Its first pastors, though set- tled over particular congregations, spent much of their time in travelling and preach- ing to the destitute ; and as soon as their numbers began to increase, they adopted a regular system of missions. The Synod, at its annual meetings, appointed missionaries to go to the destitute portions of the coun- try, and sustained them by the contribu- tions of the churches. Soon after the formation of the General Assembly, that body appointed a standing committee of missions, whose duty it was to collect in- formation as to the wants of the church, to appoint missionaries, to designate their field of labour, to make provisions for their maintenance, and to report annually to the General Assembly. In 1816, this committee was enlarged, and constituted the Board of Missions, and has ever since been engaged in the benevolent work of sending the Gos- pel to the destitute parts of the church. For some years past the number of mis- sionaries sent out by this Board has ranged from 200 to 300, and its income from 20,000 to 35,000 dollars, as has been shown in another part of this work.* As many members of the Presbyterian Church prefer voluntary societies to ec- clesiastical boards for conducting mission- ary and other benevolent operations ; and as they wished different evangelical de- nominations to unite in this work ; as, moreover, there was an evident necessity of doing more than had yet been done to meet the constantly increasing demands for missionary labour, they determined to form a society to be called the American Home Missionary Society, already spoken of elsewhere.f This society has received the support of full one half of the Presby- terian Church, of the whole body of the Congregational Churches (one of the most efficient bodies in the country), and, to some extent, of the Dutch Reformed churches. It has, therefore, been exten- sively useful. Its income has varied of late years from 60,000 to 100,000 dollars, and its missionaries from 400 to more than 800. * Book iv., chap. viii. t Ibid., chap. vii. Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 23& It is in this way that the Presbyterian Church has endeavoured, in some meas- ure, to keep pace with the demands of the country for ministerial labour. These ex- ertions have not, indeed, been adequate to the necessity, and yet the fact that, fifty years ago, this church had less than 200 ministers, and now has nearer 3000 than 2000, shows that it has not been entirely wanting in its duty. It is obvious that this great demand for ministerial labour must lead the church to look anxiously around for the means of obtaining an adequate supply of educated men. In the first instance, the attention of its members was naturally directed to the mother-country. The necessities of the numerous settlements were frequently urged on the Presbyteries of Scotland and Ireland, and on similar bodies in England. From these sources a large proportion of our early ministers were obtained ; indeed, as far as can be ascertained, all the minis- ters connected with the Presbyterian Church, from 1705 to 1716, with two or three exceptions, were from Great Britain or Ireland. The older provinces of New- England subsequently furnished many able and faithful men, who aided efficiently in building up the Presbyterian Church. But the supply from these sources was precari- ous and inadequate. From an early period, therefore, measures were adopted to secure the education of ministers at home. About the year 1717, the Reverend William Ten- nent, who had been a presbyter of the Episcopal Church in Ireland, opened a classical academy in Pennsylvania, which was familiarly known as the " Log Col- lege," where many of the most distin- guished of the early native ministers re- ceived their education. .Similar institu- tions were soon after established in various other places ; and in 1738, the Synod, in order to secure a properly-educated minis : try, passed an act to the following effect, viz : " That all the presbyteries require that every candidate, before being taken on trial, should be furnished with a diploma from some European or New-England college ; or, in case he had not enjoyed the advan- tage of a college education, he should be examined by a committee of the Synod, who should give him a certificate of com- petent scholarship when they found him to merit it." In 1739, the Synod determined to take measures to establish a seminary of learn- ing, under its own care ; but the circum- stances of the country, and of the church itself, prevented anything being done until 1744. In that year it was agreed, 1. That there should be a school kept open, where all persons who pleased may send their children, and have them taught gratis, in the languages, philosophy, and divinity. 2. In order to carry on this design, that ' every congregation under the care of the Synod be applied to for yearly contribu- tions. 3. That whatever sum of money could be spared from what was necessary to support a master and tutor, should be devoted to the purchase of books. This was the origin of what is now the college at Newark, in the State of Delaware. At this period of our history there were two synods, the old Synod of Philadelphia, and the Synod of New- York, which was formed in 1745. The former, at this time, directed their efforts to the support of the Newark academy, and of the academy in Philadelphia, out of which has sprung the University of Pennsylvania ; the latter raised and sustained the College of New- Jersey, at Princeton ; and after the union of the two synods in 1758, the united body concentrated their efforts in the support of the last-mentioned institution. Though the college at Princeton owes its origin to the Synod of New- York, and sprang from the desire of furnishing a supply of edu- cated men for the ministry of the Presby- terian Church, it has always been open to the youth of all denominations. The num- ber of its alumni is more than 2500, of whom about 500 became preachers of the Gospel. Since the establishment of the college at Princeton, more than forty similar institu- tions have been formed in different parts of the country, which are more or less intimately connected with the Presbyte- rian Church; that is, their trustees, offi- cers, and patrons, are either exclusively or principally Presbyterians.* For a long time, however, after the or- ganization of the Presbyterian Church, there was no public provision for the the- ological education of candidates for the sacred office. After completing their aca- demical studies, such candidates were ac- customed to place themselves under the direction of some experienced pastor, who superintended their studies, and assisted them in preparing for their examinations before the Presbytery. Sometimes a pas- tor whose taste or acquirements peculiarly fitted him for the task, would, have a class of such pupils constantly under his care. As early, however, as 1760, a proposition was introduced into the Synod for the ap- pointment and support of a regular profes- sor of theology ; and a few years after- ward the trustees of the college of New- Jersey having appointed such a professor, the Synod took measures to aid in sustain- ing him. The General Assembly, however, in 1811, determined to establish a separate institu- tion for the theological education of candi- dates for the ministry ; and in 1812 the in- * The whole number under the influence of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists is forty-one. 240 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. stitution was located at Princeton, New- Jersey, and went into immediate operation. This seminary is under the immediate supervision of a board of directors, who meet semi-annually to examine the stu- dents, and superintend its affairs. This board is appointed by the General Assem- bly, and to the latter body also it belongs to elect the professors, determine their duties and salaries. Having already spo- ken of this seminary, as well as all the others which are under the control of the Presbyterians, when giving an account of the theological seminaries in the United States,* we say no more respecting it in this place. In a former part of this work, when de- scribing the development and influence of the voluntary principle (Book iv.), we gave an account of the American Education So- ciety, and the Board of Education of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church : institutions which have done so much' to increase the number of the minis- ters of the Gospel in this denomination. We spoke, also, of the Board of Publica- tion, which the Assembly of one of the great divisions of the Presbyterian Church has established, and the good which it is doing. We therefore pass over these operations, which have so intimate a con- nexion with the history of this church. We also say nothing at present respecting the foreign missions of this church, inas- much as we shall have occasion to speak of these hereafter. It has been our object in this chapter to give our readers, in the first place, a dis- tinct idea of the organization of the Pres- byterian Church ; of the manner in which its several congregations are formed and governed; what provision is made to se- cure the orthodoxy, learning, and fidelity of their pastors ; and, in the second place, briefly to state the means adopted to extend the church, and, in general, to promote the cause of religion. There is still one gen- eral subject which should not be passed over : it is, What has been the result of this organization, and of these means 1 or, What has been the character of the Pres- byterian Church in the United States 1 Has it been a pure, enlightened, laborious, and harmonious body ? Materials for an answer to this question may, in a measure, be found in the preceding pages ; we shall therefore say but little in reply to it. Purity in a church may be understood either in reference to orthodoxy, or adhe- rence to the truth of God as revealed in His Word ; or in reference to the manner of life of its ministers or members. In reference to the former of these views, we think it may safely be asserted that the Presbyterian Church has, by the grace of * Book iv., chapter xviii. I God, been preserved pure to a very un- common degree. The correctness of this statement is to be found, not so much in the early adoption of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the requisition of an assent to that Confession on the part of all candidates for ordination, as in the fact that there has never been any open avowal of Pelagian or Arminian doctrines in the bosom of our church. Cases have occurred of ministers being censured, or suspended from office, for teaching such doctrines, but no case has occurred of a Presbyterian minister who avowedly re- jected the Calvinistic system, and yet re- tained his standing in the church as one of its authorized preachers. Of late years, indeed, there has been much discussion on doctrinal subjects, and many sentiments have been advanced, which many excellent men considered as virtually, if not formal- ly implying the rejection of the Calvinistic doctrines of original sin, election, and effi- cacious grace. With regard to these con- troversies, however, there are two re- marks to be made. The first is, that the advocates of these sentiments strenuously denied that they were inconsistent with the doctrines just mentioned ; and the sec- ond is, that the opposition made to the ex- ercise of discipline on account of these sentiments, was the principal cause of the division of the Presbyterian Church into two portions of nearly equal size. It there- fore remains true, as stated in a preceding page, that no Presbyterian minister has avowed himself either a Pelagian or Ar- minian, and yet been allowed to retain his standing as one of the accredited teachers of the church. This, indeed, may be con- sidered by many as great bigotry. But the very thing which its friends glory in is the fact that the Presbyterian Church in America, having a Calvinistic creed, has been faithful in adhering to it. As to the other application of the word pure, it may also be safely asserted, that although painful cases of immorality in ministers have occurred, yet we know of no case in which it has been overlooked ; we know no case in which either drunken- ness, licentiousness, or any similar offence, has been proved against any minister, or been notoriously true with regard to him, without leading to his suspension or depo- sition from office. If such instances have ever occurred, they have been exceedingly rare. We do not mention this as anything peculiar to the Presbyterian Church ; the same remark, as far as we know, might be made, with equal justice, of any of the evangelical denominations in the country. As it regards the private members of the church, since much depends upon the fidel- ity of the several Sessions, we can only say that, according to the rules of disci- pline, no person chargeable with immoral Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 241 conduct can be properly retained in com- munion with the church ; and that public sentiment is in accordance with these rules. The cases are certainly rare in which any such offence as falsehood, drunkenness, fornication, or adultery are tolerated in any church member. Disci- pline is so far preserved in our churches, that it would be a matter of general re- proach if any congregation allowed the name of any man of known immoral char- acter to remain upon its list of communi- cants. In asserting the claim of the Presbyteri- an Church in America to the character of an enlightened body, all that is meant is, that she has successfully endeavoured to maintain as high a standard of literary qualifications in her ministry as other Christian denominations in the United States, or as the circumstances of the country rendered 'expedient or possible. From the beginning she insisted on the necessity of learning in those who intend- ed to enter the sacred office, and early en- deavoured to establish institutions for their suitable education. Even when the demand for ministers was so great as to present a strong temptation to relax her requisitions, she constantly refused. The proposition was more than once introduced into the old Synod, that in view of the pressing necessity for ministerial labour, the presbyteries might be permitted to li- cense men to preach the Gospel who had not received a liberal education ; but it was uniformly rejected. It has already been stated that the constitution of the church requires that every candidate should pass repeated examinations before he is admitted to ordination ; that he must give satisfactory evidence of possessing a com- petent knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages ; of his acquaintance with the subjects usually studied in our colleges ; and he must, after completing his academical studies, spend at least two years in the study of theology under some approved teacher. These requisitions have been enforced with a good degree of fidel- ity. For a long time, a knowledge of He- brew was not generally insisted upon, on account of the difficulty of obtaining com- petent teachers ; but since the establish- ment of theological seminaries, a knowl- edge of that language has become with the Presbyterian ministers (and many oth- ers also) an almost uniform attainment. In answer to the question, Whether the Presbyterian Church has been a laborious and active body of men? it may be said that, if in this respect she has fallen behind some of her sister churches, she has kept in advance of others. The rapid increase of the church since its organization in 1705; the efforts she has made to found acade- mies, colleges, and theological seminaries ; Q the labour and money contributed to the support of foreign and domestic missions, show that, although she has come far short of her duty, she has not been entirely un- mindful of her high vocation. With regard to the last question pro- posed, viz., Whether the Presbyterian Church has been a harmonious body 1 the answer may not appear so favourable. The existence of parties seems to be an unavoidable incident of freedom. In other words, liberty gives occasion for the man- ifestation of that diversity of opinion, feel- ing, and interest, which never fails to ex- ist in all large communities, whether civil or religious. The expression of this di- versity may be prevented by the hand of power, or concealed from the force of coun- teracting motives ; but where no power exists to forbid its manifestation, or where no interests are endangered by its avowal, it will not be slow in making its existence known. In the Romish Church all expres- sion of difference of opinion, on certain subjects, is forbidden ; in all others, where there is liberty, there is conflict. In richly-endowed and established churches there is so much to be sacrificed by the avowal of dissent, that conformity must ever be expected to be more general than sincere. Nothing out of the analogy of history, therefore, has happened to the Presbyterian Church in the occasional conflicts through which she has passed. As this church was composed of men sincerely attached to the doctrines of the Reformed Churches, it was not disturbed by any doctrinal con- troversy for more than 100 years after its organization. Before the middle of the last century, there arose a great religious excitement both in Great Britain and in America. In England this excitement was produced principally by the instru- mentality of Wesley ; and in this country by that of Whitefield, Edwards, the Ten- nents, Blairs, and other distinguished preachers of that day. In Scotland, it either increased or occasioned the seces- sions from the national church which still exist in that country. In England it led to the formation of the great and inde- pendent body of the Methodists. In New- England it gave rise to great controversy, and to separations from the established churches ; and in the Presbyterian Church it caused a division of the Synod of Phila- delphia, which was its highest ecclesiasti- cal body, into two independent bodies, which continued separate from each other from 1741 to 1758. To any one who ex- amines this period of its history, it will appear that it was not difference of opinion as to the nature of religion, or as to its doctrines, nor as to church government, nor as to the necessity of learning in the ministry, which led to this separation, but 242 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. the difference of opinion as to the revival then in progress, and to the disorders, mutual criminations, and consequent alien- ation of feeling which are so apt to attend seasons of great and general excitement. The terms of union adopted by the two synods in 1758 expressly recognise the harmony of the two bodies on all the points above specified,* and declare their purpose to bury all remembrance of their differences respecting the revival. From the time of the union just men- tioned, in 1758, until within a few years, the Presbyterian Church in America was as harmonious and united a body of min- isters and members as could be found in this or any other country. The causes of the recent unhappy division are numerous, many of them of long standing and gradual operation ; and all of them difficult of ap- preciation by those who are not familiarly acquainted with the history of that church. It has already been stated, that before the commencement of the present century, the Presbyterian Church was in a great measure composed of those European Presbyterians and their decendants who were settled in the Middle and Southern States. Since the year 1800, there has been going on a constant and very great emigration from the New-England States to the central and western parts of New- York, and to the Northwestern States of the Union. These emigrants had, in gen- eral, been accustomed to the Congrega- tional form of church government preva- lent in New-England. As they met, how- ever, in their new locations with many Presbyterians, and as their ministers gen- erally preferred the Presbyterian form of government, they united with them in the formation of churches and ecclesiastical judicatories. In 1801, the General As- sembly and the General Association of Connecticut agreed upon what was called " The plan of union between Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the new settle- ments." Under this plan, which purports to be a temporary expedient, a great num- ber of churches and presbyteries, and even several synods, were formed, composed partly of Presbyterians and partly of Con- gregationalists. Though this plan seems to have operated beneficially for a number of years, yet, as it was extended far beyond its original intention, as it gave Congre- gationalists, who had never adopted the standards of doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, and who were avowedly opposed to its form of government, as much influ- ence and authority in the government of the church as an equal number of Presby- * There was, indeed, some difference of opinion on the subject of the nature of the evidence of a proper call to the ministry which the presbyteries should require ; one party held higher views on this subject than the other. terians, it naturally gave rise to dissatis- faction as soon as the facts of the case came to be generally known, and as soon as questions of discipline and policy arose, in the decision of which the influence of these Congregationalists was sensibly felt. In addition to this source of uneasiness, was that which arose out of diversity of opinions in points of doctrine. Certain peculiarities of doctrine had become prev- alent among the Calvinists of New-Eng- land, which naturally spread into those portions of the Presbyterian Church settled by New-England men. These peculiari- ties were not regarded, on either side, as sufficient to justify any interruption of ministerial communion, or to call for the exercise of discipline, but they were suffi- cient to give rise to the formation of two parties, which received the appellations of Old and New School. Within the last ten or twelve years, however, opinions have been advanced by some of the New-Eng- land clergy, which all the Old School, and a large portion of the New School party in the Presbyterian Church, considered as- involving a virtual denial of the doctrines of original sin, election, and efficacious grace, and which were regarded as incon- sistent with ministerial standing in the body. Several attempts were made to subject the Presbyterian advocates of these opinions to ecclesiastical discipline. These attempts failed, partly on account of de- ficiency of proof, partly from irregularity in the mode of proceeding, and partly from other causes. To these sources of uneasiness was ad- ded the diversity of opinion as to the best mode of conducting certain benevolent operations. The Old School, as a party, were in favour of the church, in her eccle- siastical capacity, by means of Boards of her appointment and under her own con- trol, conducting the work of domestic and foreign missions, and the education of can- didates for the ministry. The other party, as generally preferred voluntary societies, disconnected with church courts, and em- bracing different religious denominations, for these purposes. It might seem, at first view, that this was a subject on which the members of the church might differ with- out inconvenience or collision. But it was soon found that these societies or boards must indirectly exert a great, if not a con- trolling influence on the church. The men who could direct the education of candi- dates for the sacred office, and the location of the hundreds of domestic missionaries, must, sooner or later, give character to the church. On this account, this question was regarded as one of great practical impor- tance. It was in the midst of the differences and alienations arising from these various sources, that the General Assembly met Chap. V.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 243 in 1837. Both parties had come to the conclusion that a separation was desirable ; but though they agreed as to the terms of the separation, they could not agree as to the mode in which it should be effected. The General Assembly, therefore, resolved to put an end to the existing difficulties in another way. It first abolished the plan of union, above mentioned, formed in 1801 ; and then passed several acts, the purport and effect of which were to declare that no Congregational church should hereaf- ter be represented in any Presbyterian ju- dicatory ; and that no Presbytery or Syn- od, composed partly of Presbyterians and partly of Congregationalists, should here- after be considered as a constituent por- tion of the Presbyterian Church. These acts were defended on the ground that they were nothing more than the legiti- mate exercise of the executive authority of the General Assembly, requiring that the constitution of the church should be conformed to by all its constituent parts. Had the synods and other judicatories affected by these acts seen fit to separate from the Congregationalists, with whom they had been united, and to organize themselves as purely Presbyterian bodies, the General Assembly would have been bound by its own acts to recognise them as constituent parts of the church. But those brethren having assembled in con- vention at Auburn, in the State of New- York, unanimously resolved that they would consider the plan of union as still in force, its abrogation by the General As- sembly to the contrary notwithstanding ; and that they would not separate from their Congregational brethren. Accord- ingly, in 1838, the delegates from the Pres- byteries included in these synods attend- ed the General Assembly, and claimed their seats as members. As this was not im- mediately granted (though it was not re- fused), they rose, nominated a moderator and clerk, and being joined by those mem- bers who sympathized with them, they declared themselves the true General As- sembly, and withdrew from the house. A suit was immediately brought by them before the Supreme Court of Pennsylva- nia, to decide which Assembly was to be regarded as the true one, or which had the right to appoint the professors, and administer the funds belonging to the the- ological seminaries under the care of " The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." The decision of the judge and jury was in their favour ; but when the cause was ta- ken before the court in bank, that is, be- fore the court with all the judges present, that decision was reversed, and the way left open for the New School Assembly to renew the suit if they should think proper. There the matter now rests, leaving what is called the Old School Assembly in pos- session of the succession, and in the man- agement of the seminaries. It may be remarked that this decision has given to that Assembly very little more than what was admitted to be their due by the oppo- site party ; that is, in the terms of separa- tion, agreed upon by the two parties in 1837, but which were not acted upon, it was admitted that the seminaries and funds, having, in fact, been founded and chiefly sustained by them, should be under the control of the Old School body ; and these funds constitute almost the whole sum held in trust by the General Assembly. For the preceding account I am indebted to a very distinguished and excellent minis- ter in one of the bodies into which the Presbyterian Church was divided in 1S38. To one who takes no part in the ques- tion, and looks at it dispassionately, certain positions, I conceive, must appear mani- festly just. In the first place, the com- pact, between the General Assembly and the General Association of Connecticut in 1801, though made with the best inten- tions, was decidedly contrary to the con- stitution of the former body. It was a measure which can only be ascribed to the desire of its authors to accomplish a present apparent good, Avithout taking suf- ficient time or pains to examine all its probable bearings. Its immediate result was the building up of a large number of churches of a mixed character, and with- out that bench of ruling elders which is essentia] to the interior organization of a Presbyterian church. But granting this, and I do not see how it can well be de- nied, the measures consequent upon the dissolution of this " Plan of Union," by the Assembly of 1837, seem to have been abrupt. Time should have been allowed for the churches affected by it to adopt the Presbyterian polity in its whole ex- tent, if they had a mind to do so, before having recourse to so severe a measure. It is obvious, in the second place, that the Presbyterian Church from the first, or nearly so, was composed of diverse ele- ments, which could not be easily assim- ilated. This diversity had been increas- ing every year, especially within the last half century. Look at the different races that from time to time have entered into the composition of the Presbyterian Church. A large proportion of its ministers, on the one hand, are either from Presbyterian churches in Scotland and Ireland, or are descended from Scotch and Irish Presbyte- rians, and these naturally feel much at- tached to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and to the catechisms and form of government with which they have been fa- miliar from their childhood. Another large proportion of its ministers are, on the oth- er hand, from New-England, where they 244 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. received all their early impressions from the Congregational churches ; so that, how- ever much they may have respected the Presbyterian Church on entering it, and however that respect may have increased since, they cannot, from the nature of things, feel as much attachment to all the details of its doctrines and government as others who, if I may so speak, were born Presbyterians. Hence the latter have been more readily disposed to be satisfied with a general conformity with its doctrines and government. This led to a variation, if not in doctrines, at least in statements of doc- trine, perfectly tolerable in Congregation- al churches, where extended creeds are un- known, and to less strictness in ecclesias- tical administration ; both of which were incompatible with the precision of a church whose standards are so full on every point, and with a discipline the rules of which are laid down with so much minuteness. In the third place, the doctrinal differ- ence lay more in philosophy than in any- thing else. It originated in the attempt, not at all improper in itself, to reply to the objections which the enemies of Cal- vinism have ever made to its distinctive features, so repugnant to the natural heart. In these explanations of certain points, views were expressed which were deemed to be at variance with the doctrines of man's depravity, of election, efficacious grace, &c, as they had usually been held. Nor do I think it is to be denied that some of these speculations were pushed too far, and expressed in a manner calcu- lated to excite alarm. There was, in some cases, a needless departure from the usual theological phraseology, and this ex- cited concern and suspicion, even when at bottom there was no real diversity of doc- trine. On the other hand, a proper dispo- sition was not always shown to estimate unessential shades of opinion, and even of doctrine, at their just value; and conse- quences, even when denied on one side, were too strenuously alleged on the other. Thus were differences in some cases mag- nified, until what was philosophical in the explanation of a doctrine, and did not change the doctrine itself, was thought sub- versive of it, and fraught, of course, with imminent danger to the cause of truth. In the fourth place, as to the mode of conducting the benevolent undertakings of the church, whether by boards appointed by the General Assembly or through vol- untary societies (and this, after all, was the question that helped most to produce the division), it seems clear to me that the brethren and churches that preferred the former of these methods ought at once to have been allowed that preference, and that it was a mistake to shut them up to the support of what they did not think the safest or most scriptural modes of pro- moting the extension of the Messiah's kingdom at home and abroad. Faults, in short, there were on both sides, and, as happens so often in such cases, there was not a little of man, in a matter in which nothing should have been allowed to influence a single decision but a regard for the glory of God and the interests of his Church. But the division has taken place, and whatever of strife or agitation attended it is passing away. A better spirit is un- questionably prevailing, and these two powerful bodies are engaged in the only rivalry worthy of them — that of striving which shall do most for the cause of Christ throughout the world. In this each of them is now free to adopt the method it may think best. The Old School, as they are called, have their own boards of missions, domestic and foreign, of education and of publica- tion. The New School combine their ef- forts with the Congregationalists of New- England, and some other and smaller de- nominations, in supporting the American Home Missionary Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions, and the American Education Socie- ty. Both zealously support the American Bible, Tract, and Seamen's Societies, and others of a like general kind. In fact, the unwieldy bulk to which the Presbyterian Church had grown, as well as the coexistence in it of two great ele- ments, too dissimilar to admit of harmoni- ous action, had long made it evident to many that it must be divided ; and the di- vision that has taken place is about as for- tunate a one as well could have occurred. Although it must be referred, in a consid- erable degree, to sectional, doctrinal, and economical questions, yet none of these have in all cases determined the present position of the parties concerned. Thus, in the New School Church we find Scotch and Irish ministers, and the descendants of emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, while New-England men may be found in the Old. In the former there are men who hold the old views of Calvinistic doc- trine ; in the latter, there are some who hold the New-England modifications of those views. Finally, the New School is not without adherents who prefer ecclesi- astical boards for benevolent operations, while the Old School has some who re- main attached to voluntary societies. The division, however, coincides more, if I may use the expression, with the natural line of demarcation, in the last-named particu- lar, than in the others, and for a reason al- ready mentioned. The relative proportions of the two bod- ies will appear from the following state- ment. In May last (1843), the Old School had under its care, Chap. VI.] METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 245 19 Synods,* 105 Presbyteries, 2,092 Churches, 1,434 Ordained Ministers, 183 Licentiates, 314 Candidates,! 159,137 Communicants. At the same date, according to their minutes, the New School had under their care, 19 Synods, 101 Presbyteries, 1,496 Churches, 1.263 Ministers, 120,645 Communicants. The number of licentiates and candi- dates is not given, but- probably bears the same proportion to that of the churches and pastors as those of the Old School do to theirs. Thus it appears that the two together, and in almost all respects they may be considered as one body, have 3,584 Churches, 2,672 Ordained Ministers, probably 900 Licentiates and Candidates, and 279,782 Communicants. Regarding them as one whole, it were difficult to find in any part of Christendom a branch of the kingdom of Christ better educated, or more distinguished for gen- eral learning, zeal, enterprise, liberality, and soundness in all essential doctrine. Their ministers present a body of 2672 men, almost without exception liberally educated, who, after all their debates, and final separation into two, are more thor- oughly sound Calvinists in point of doc- trine than any equally numerous ministry to be found in any other country. The question is often asked, Whether they will ever unite again \ That is by no means improbable ; but whether they do or not seems to me of little consequence. In their separate state they will accom- plish more than if united. There will soon be the most perfect intercourse between their churches and pastors. The energies of both find free and ample scope, which was never the case before with either, but particularly with the Old School, who nev- er felt at ease, or assured of the future. The New School will probably ally them- selves more closely than ever with the Con- gregationalists, and maintaining a some- what less rigid economy than the Old School, in regard to the organization of churches in regions abounding with New- England Congregational emigrants, they cannot but increase rapidly, the more espe- * In the above statistical view the foreign mis- sionaries belonging to this body are included. If we would give the exact number of Synods, Presbyter- ies, &c, of this Church in the United States, we must subtract these. There would then remain 18 Synods, 102 Presbyteries, 2088 churches, and 1409 ministers. t That is, students of theology who have not yet been licensed to preach. cially as New-England will act on the Mid- dle, the Southern, and still more, on the Northwestern States, chiefly through them. In conclusion, let me add, that the Gen- eral Assembly of the New School, in its session in May, 1840, proposed to the pres- byteries under its care certain important changes in its constitution, which have since been adopted. One is, that the Gen- eral Assembly shall be held triennially in- stead of annually. Another is, that all ap- peals from the decisions of a Church Ses- sion shall not, in the case of lay-members, be carried beyond the Presbytery, or in the case of ministers, beyond the Synod. By these modifications they have made the business of their General Assembly much more simple and easy, and given more time to that body to deliberate on meas- ures for the promotion of the best interests of the Church. *» CHAPTER VI. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. This large and influential body holds the doctrinal opinions of the Wesleyan Meth- odists of England, and its ecclesiastical economy is, in all important points, iden- tical with theirs. It took its rise in 1766, when a Mr. Philip Embury, who had been a local preacher in some of Mr. Wesley's societies in the north of Ireland, and had come over to America with a few other pious persons of the same connexion, be- gan to hold meetings for exhortation and prayer in his own house at New- York. A considerable society was gradually form- ed in that city, which at that time, it would appear, could reckon on but a small num- ber, comparatively, of living and zealous Christians among its inhabitants. In a few months it was found necessary to fit up a large hired room as a place of worship, and the congregation was farther aug- mented by the preaching of a Captain Webb of the British army, Avho, having been converted under the preaching of Mr. Wesley in England, and being now sta- tioned at Albany, paid frequent visits to the little flock at New-York. It was not long, however, before similar meetings began to be held in several pla- ces on Long Island, in Philadelphia, and at other points. In 1768 a large place of worship was erected in New- York, being the first Methodist church ever built in the United States. Next year, Mr. Wes- ley being requested to send over two of his preachers, Messrs. Richard Boardman and Joseph Pillmore came to New- York, and about the same time, Mr. Robert Strawbridge, another local preacher from Ireland, came over and settled in Frederick county, Maryland, where he held meetings at his own house, and at those of other 246 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. pious persons in the neighbourhood. This extension of the Methodists into the South was farther promoted by a visit from Mr. Pillmore into Virginia and North Caro- lina. Pressing representations of the need of help having been made to Mr. Wesley, Mr. Francis Asbury and Mr. Richard Wright were sent over from England in 1771, and under the labours, particularly of the for- mer, the work went on increasing, year after year, until the commencement of the Revolution. That event greatly retarded the progress of Methodism in some places, not only by the ever untowardly influence of present war on such undertakings, but also by the suspicions attached by the revolutionists to Mr. Asbury, and several of his fellow-preachers, as being native Englishmen, who had been too short a pe- riod in the country to have its interests truly at heart. At length, with peace came independ- ence, and thus, greatly to the encourage- ment of Mr. Asbury and his fellow-labour- ers, a wide and effectual door for the preaching of the Gospel Avas opened to them. Hitherto this attempt to revive true godliness had been confined entirely to laymen of the Episcopal Church, and with it their efforts are more connected than with any other, inasmuch as none of them had at first any intention of separa- ting from its communion. But worthy ministers of that church being hard to be found in some places, while none were to be had at all in others, both before the Revolution broke out and during its prog- ress, Mr. Wesley was urged to send over ordained ministers, who might administer the ordinances to his followers. To this he was greatly opposed at first, but when the Revolution was over, considering that, from the change of circumstances, he might now lawfully do what he had refused do- ing while the colonies were under the gov- ernment of England, he sent over, as su- perintendent of the Methodist churches in America, the Rev. Dr. Coke, a presbyter of regular standing in the Established Church of England. He was accompa- nied by Mr. Richard Whatcoat and Mr. Thomas Vasey, whom Mr. Wesley, assist- ed by Dr. Coke and the Rev. Mr. Creigh- ton, had ordained presbyters -or priests, just before the sailing of the three from Bristol in September, 1784. These breth- ren were the bearers of a letter from Mr. Wesley to the Methodist preachers and societies in America, stating his reasons for considering himself now at liberty to accede to their requests, and informing them that he had appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury to be joint superintendents of all the societies in that country founded upon his rules, and Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey to act as elders among them, by baptizing and administering the Lord's Supper. On the arrival of these delegates, a con- ference of the preachers was immediately convened at Baltimore. It was opened on the 25th of December, 1784, and was at- tended by sixty out of the eighty preach- ers then in the country. One of its first acts was the unanimous election of Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury as superintendents, thereby confirming Mr. Wesley's appoint- ment. Dr. Coke and the other two pres- byters then ordained Mr. Asbury, first a deacon, next a presbyter, and, finally, a su- perintendent. Thereupon the two super- intendents, or bishops, as they soon began to be called, and as their successors are styled to this day, ordained twelve of the preachers then present to the office of presbyters or elders. Thus was the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States organized sixty years ago. From that epoch they formed a new and independent religious denomination, which was soon vastly to outnumber that from which they had sprung. At that " their day of small things," their ministers and lay preach- ers, including Dr. Coke and his co-dele- gates from England, amounted to eighty- six, and the members, in all, to 14,986. But small as was this beginning, great and glorious has been their increase since. The proceedings of that conference were highly important. Twenty-five articles were adopted as the Confession of Faith for the infant church. We will give first, the titles of the whole, and then a few of them at large. The titles are as follows : Of faith in the Holy Trinity ; of the Word, or Son of God, who was made very man ; of the resurrection of Christ ; of the Holy Ghost ; of the sufficiency of the Holy Scrip- tures for salvation ; of the Old Testament ; of original sin; of free-will; of the justifica- tion of man ; of good works ; of works of supererogation ; of sin after justification ; of the Church ; of purgatory ; of speaking in the congregation in such a tongue as the people understand ; of the sacraments ; of Baptism ; of the Lord's Supper ; of both kinds ;* of the one oblation of Christ, fin- ished upon the cross ; of the marriage of ministers ; of the rites and ceremonies of the churches ; of the rulers of the United States of America ; of Christian men's goods ; of a Christian man's oath. On almost all these subjects the arti- cles express doctrines held by every en- lightened Protestant. In fact, they are a selection from the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, with some ver- bal changes, and the omission of some words and parts of sentences. The sev- e nt e enth article of the Church of Eng- * Or elements — bread and wine — both to be ad- ministered to the people. Chap. VI.] METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 247 land (on predestination and election) is, of course, omitted, the doctrine therein taught not being held by the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Nor do we find that of the certain perseverance of saints, for neither do they hold this. But on all the great doctrines essential to salvation, no- thing can be more clear, or more consist- ent with the Word of God, than the sense of these articles. For instance, on origi- nal sin — what more Scriptural than the seventh article, which says, " Original sin standeth not in following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the cor- ruption of the nature of every man ; that is, naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own na- ture inclined to evil, and that continually. 1 ' On the subject of free-will, it is said, " That the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and works to faith, and calling upon God ; whereupon we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ pre- venting us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will." So in respect to justification by faith, good works, works of supererogation, the sacraments, and other subjects, the same doctrines are held as by the Reformers of blessed memory. Besides these twenty-five articles, the General Conference have adopted a sys- tem of polity* in thirty-five sections, which treat of the entire economy of their church, the manner of life becoming its ministers and private members, the proper style of preaching, &c. In giving directions as to the manner of treating the doctrine of per- fection, the twenty-second section runs as follows : " Let us strongly and explicitly exhort all believers to go on to perfection. That we may all speak the same thing, we ask, once for all, Shall we defend this per- fection, or give it up? We all agree to defend it, meaning thereby (as we did from the beginning), salvation from all sin by the love of God and man filling the heart. The Papists say, ' This cannot be attained till we have been refined by the fire of purgatory.' Some professors say, ' Nay, it will be attained as soon as the soul and body part.' Others say, ' It may be at- tained before we die ; a moment after is too late.' Is it not so 1 We are all agreed we may be saved from all sin, properly so called, before death, i. e., sinful tempers ; but Ave cannot always speak, or think, or act aright, as dwelling in houses of clay. The substance, then, is settled ; but as to the circumstances, is the change gradual or * These rules, originally drawn up by Mr. Wes- ley, were considerably modified in America. instantaneous 1 It is both the one and the other. ' But should we, in preaching, in- sist both on one and the other V Certainly we should insist on the gradual change ; and that earnestly and continually. And are there not reasons why we should insist on the instantaneous change 1 If there be such a blessed change before death, should we not encourage all believers to expect it 1 And the rather, because constant ex- perience shows, the more earnestly they expect this, the more swiftly and steadily does the gradual work of God go on in their souls ; the more careful are they to grow in grace ; the more zealous of good works ; and the more punctual in their at- tendance on all the ordinances of God (whereas just the contrary effects are ob- served whenever this expectation ceases). They are saved by hope — by this hope of a total change, with a gradually-increas- ing salvation. Destroy this hope, and that salvation stands still, or, rather, decreases daily. Therefore, whoever will advance the gradual change in believers, should strongly insist on the instantaneous." For a more thorough acquaintance with the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, I may refer to Mr. Wesley's four volumes of Sermons, and his Notes on the New Testament, where all the peculiar views of that body are fully exhibited, and which may be regarded as its real Confes- sion of Faith. Its Discipline comprehends the " Articles of Religion," the " General Rules" relating to practice, the " System of Government," and the " Formularies," all of which, except the Articles of Reli- gion, may, under certain circumstances and restrictions, be modified and enlarged from time to time by various enactments of the General Conference. We shall at- tempt a summary of it from the very clear and succinct statements of the Rev. Dr. Bangs, in his " History of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in the United States,"* a work to which, in preparing this chapter, we have been greatly indebt- ed on other points. We begin with the " societies" and " classes," which are the primary bodies of believers in this exten- sive, well-adjusted, and most efficient ec- clesiastical system. 1. In the first place, there is what is called the society, which includes all the members of the church residing in any particular place, or connected with it. 2. Every society comprises one or more classes, each consisting of from twelve to * Vol. i., p. 245-250. This Work, in 4 vols., by the Rev. Nathan Bangs, D.D., brings the history of the Methodist Church down to the close of the General Conference held in 1840. It is an invaluable work, written in a truly Calm and Christian spirit, and dis- plays a sincere desire to present every subject which it treats in an impartial manner. It contains a com- plete history of the Methodist Church in America from the first. 248 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. twenty or more individuals, who meet once a week for mutual edification. These classes are the real normal schools, if we may so speak, of the Methodist Church. 3. The minister, under whose pastoral care the classes in a society are placed, appoints a leader to each, whose duty is to see every member of his class once a week, to inquire how their souls prosper, and to receive what they are willing to give for the support of the church and the poor. 4. Stewards are appointed in each soci- ety by the Quarterly Conference, on the nomination of the ruling preacher. These have charge of all the moneys collected for the support of the ministry, the poor, and for sacramental occasions, and dis- burse it as the Discipline directs. 5. There are trustees, who have charge of the church property, and hold it in trust for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. These are elected by the congregation in those states where the laws so provide ; in other places they are appointed as the Dis- cipline directs. 6. There are, in most societies, exhorters, who receive their license from the preach- er in charge ; but this license cannot be renewed except by a vote of the Quarterly Meeting Conference ; they have the privi- lege of holding meetings for exhortation and prayer. 7. A preacher is one who holds a license to preach, but may not administer the sac- raments. He may be a travelling or a local preacher. The former devotes his whole time to the ministry, and is support- ed by those among whom he labours ; the latter generally supports himself by some secular employment, and preaches on the Sabbath, as well as occasionally at other times, but without temporal emolument. Both receive a license, signed by a presi- ding elder, from a Quarterly Meeting Con- ference, after being recommended each by his respective class, or by a leader's meet- ing. Thus the people, in those nurseries of the Church — the " classes" and " lead- ers' meetings" — have the initiative in bring- ing forward those who are to preach the Gospel. After this license from a Quar- terly Meeting Conference, they may be taken into the travelling service by an An- nual Conference ; after two years spent in which, and pursuing at the same time a prescribed course of reading and study, they may be ordained as deacons. Then, after two years' circuit travelling as dea- cons, and pursuing a farther course of reading and study, they may be ordained presbyters or elders. Such is the training for the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and it is much more efficient than persons not well acquainted witli it would suppose. 8. A deacon holds a parchment of ordi- nation from a bishop, and besides his du- ties as a preacher, he is authorized to solemnize marriages, to administer Bap- tism, and to assist the elder or presbyter in the administration of the Lord's Supper. 9. An elder, in addition to these func- tions, is authorized to administer all the ordinances of God's house. 10. A presiding elder has the charge of several circuits, collectively called a dis- trict. It is his duty to visit each circuit once a quarter, to preach and administer the ordinances, to convene the travelling and local preachers, exhorters, stewards, and leaders of the circuit for a Quarterly Conference, and in the absence of a bishop, to receive, try, suspend, or expel preach- ers, as the Discipline directs. He is ap- pointed to his charge by the bishop, who may, for the time being, have a special oversight of the Annual Conference in which he is placed. This office arose from the necessity of always having some one to administer the ordinances through- out the circuits, for it often happens that the travelling preachers, from their not having received ordination as elders, can- not administer the Lord's Supper ; nor even Baptism, if they are not deacons. 11. A bishop is elected by the General Conference, to which body he is amenable for his official and moral conduct. It is his duty to travel through the country, to superintend the spiritual and temporal af- fairs of the Church, to preside in the Annual and the General Conference, to ordain such as are elected by an Annual Conference to the office of deacons and elders, and to appoint the preachers to their stations. As there are several bish- ops, they usually divide the country among them, each having his own field, and all meeting at the General Conference. The episcopacy in this church is, however, an office, not an order. 12. A leaders' 1 meeting is composed of all the class leaders in any one circuit or sta- tion, under the presidency of the preacher placed in charge of that circuit or station. Here the weekly class collections are paid into the hands of the stewards, and inquiry is made into the state of the classes, delin- quents reported, and inquiries made as to the sick and poor. 13. A quarterly meeting conference is com- posed of all the travelling and local preach- ers, exhorters, stewards, and leaders be- longing to any particular station or circuit, under the presidency of the circuit elder, or, in his absence, of the preacher who takes charge in his place. Here local preachers are licensed, the licenses of exhorters an- nually renewed, and preachers recommend- ed to an Annual Conference to be received into the travelling ministry ; appeals are likewise heard from any dissatisfied mem- ber against the decision of a committee of the society to which he belongs. This Chap. VI.] METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 249 body performs, therefore, a most important part, in the whole system. 14. An annual conference is composed of all the travelling preachers, deacons, and elders within a specified district of coun- try. These are the executive and judicial bodies, acting under rules prescribed to them by the General Conference. Here the characters and conduct of all the trav- elling preachers within the bounds of the conference are examined yearly ; appli- cants for admission into the travelling min- istry, if accounted worthy, are received, continued on trial, or dropped, as the case may be ; appeals from local preachers, which may be presented, are heard and decided ; and persons fit for ordination, as deacons or elders, are elected. An annual conference possesses original jurisdiction over all its members, and may therefore try, acquit, suspend, expel, or locate any of them, as the Discipline in such cases provides. 15. The General Conference assembles once in four years, and is composed of a certain number of delegates, elected by the annual conferences. It has the pow- er to revise any part of the Discipline not prohibited by restrictive regulations ; to elect the book agents and editors, and the bishops ; to hear and determine appeals of preachers from the decision of annual con- ferences ; to review the acts of those con- ferences generally ; to examine into the general administration of the bishops for the four preceding years ; and to try, cen- sure, acquit, or condemn a bishop if ac- cused. This is the highest judicatory of the church. 16. A love-feast is a meeting of the mem- bers of a society, held occasionally, in which they partake of a simple repast of bread and water, during an hour, at which such as are disposed relate what God has done for their souls. These meetings were instituted by Mr. Wesley, as a sort of resuscitation of the Ayanat, (Agapae) of the ancient church. Their object is to make the members better acquainted with each other, and promote brotherly love and mutual edification. 17. The salaries of the ministers are raised by various collections in the socie- ties, and also in public meetings. Provis- ion is made for aged and infirm ministers who have continued to exercise the duties of the ministry until incapable of farther service. Omitting unnecessary details, I need only say that each travelling minister receives at present 100 dollars a year for himself, the same sum for his wife, if he has one, sixteen dollars a year for each child under seven years of age, and twen- ty-four for those above that and under four- teen years. Besides, the stewards of each circuit and station are directed to provide a " parsonage," or house of residence, for the family of each married preacher on their circuit or station, and also to grant an allowance for their fuel and table ex- penses, which is estimated by a commit- tee appointed by the Quarterly Meeting Conference. In these respects there is no difference between the preachers, deacons, elders, presiding elders, and bishops — all receive the same salaries ; all have their travelling expenses. The widows of all the ministers receive 100 dollars each. The above is the provision fixed by the General Conference ; but we believe that in many circuits the collections, &c, do not fully meet it. Such is an outline of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in the United States, and it is as minute as a work like this could ad- mit. Since its organization in 1784, though not without its share of difficulties, its ca- reer, upon the whole, has been remarkably prosperous, and God has enabled it to over- come every hinderance with wonderful suc- cess. We have seen the numerical amount of its ministers and members sixty years ago ; in 1843 it was as follows: 6 Bishops, 32 annual conferences. 3,988 Travelling ministers, who devote themselves en- tirely to the ministry. 7,730 Local preachers, assisting the regular travelling ministers with frequent preaching. 1,068,525 Communicants. And the probable proportion of the com- munity under the influence of this church's ministry, that is, who attend its preaching, as stated by Bishop Soule before the Brit- ish Conference in August,1842, is 5,000,000. Surely we may well exclaim, " What hath God wrought !" It covers the whole land with its network system of stations and circuits, and carries the Gospel into thou- sands of the most remote as well as the most secluded and thinly-peopled neigh- bourhoods. This denomination has made great exer- tions to increase the number of its church edifices within the last few years. But its itinerating ministers preach in thousands of places where ho such buildings are yet erected, or at least none belonging to that denomination. In these cases they hold their meetings in schoolhouses, courthou- ses, and private houses. No American Christian who takes a com- prehensive view of the progress of religion in his country, and considers how wonder- fully the means and instrumentalities em- ployed are adapted to the extent and the wants of that country, can hesitate for a moment to bless God for having, in his mercy, provided them all. Nor will he fail to recognise in the Methodist economy, as, well as in the zeal, the devoted piety, and the efficiency of its ministry, one of the most powerful elements in the religious prosperity of the United States, as well as one of the firmest pillars of their civil and political institutions. 250 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. We have already spoken of the Home Missions, the Tract, Book,* and Sunday- school operations of this church. In an- other place we shall have occasion to say what it is doing in the cause* of Foreign Missions. The Methodist Episcopal Church was long reproached with neglecting to pro- mote learning among its ministers, and it was charged even with having no wish that its ministry should he learned. There was, apparently, some truth in this ; for, though its influential and enlightened mem- bers were never opposed to learning, they had a well-founded dread of a learned but unconverted ministry. Yet they attempted even, at an early period of their Church's history, to found seminaries for education. Among these there was a college in Mary- land, which flourished from 1787 to 1795, when the building was burned down. A second was attempted at Baltimore ; but there, too, the college building was burned, and a church that adjoined it shared the same fate. These calamities, involving a loss of about 90,000 dollars, had a discour- aging effect for a time ; but for some years past the Episcopal Methodists have shown a noble desire to promote the education of young men for the ministry, and other walks of life in which they may advance the cause of Christ. In order to this, they have founded no fewer than twenty-one academic institutions, besides eleven col- leges, two of which are called universities, and these fountains of knowledge God is blessing by shedding upon them the influ- ence of his grace. No fewer than four religious newspapers are published under the auspices of the General Conference, and four more under those of annual conferences, besides oth- ers that are edited and owned by individu- als of that body. These journals must have a vast circulation in the aggregate. Having concluded our notices of the five larger evangelical denominations, we shall now proceed with the smaller in the same order, and thus associate them with the respective families of churches to which they more properly belong. CHAPTER VII. THE MORAVIAN CHURCH. The United Brethren, or, as they are more familiarly called, the Moravians, form the only one of the smaller evangel- ical denominations in the United States * The " Book Concern" of this church is estab- lished in New- York, and is carried on by agents and editors appointed by the General Conference. It is conducted with great energy. that is Episcopal, in the usual acceptation of that word. They claim descent, as is well known, from the ancient churches of Moravia and Bulgaria, founded by Metho- dus and Cyrillus, two Greek monks. Not- withstanding repeated persecutions from the Roman Cathohcs, some remains of these churches survived in Bohemia and Moravia as late as 1722, when a party of them fled for refuge from continued vexa- tion in Moravia to the estates of Nicholas Lewis, Count of Zinzendorf, in Upper Lu- satia, and there they founded Herrnhut. Their protector, some years after that, be- came one of their bishops, and laboured most zealously for more than twenty years in the cause of God, by forming societies of the United Brethren. While on a visit to America, in 1741, he took part in found- ing a mission among the Indians, and greatly contributed to the establishment of several settlements for those of the Brethren who might choose to emigrate thither. Such was the origin of the pleas- ant villages of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Litiz, in Pennsylvania, and Salem in North Carolina. Moravian families, meanwhile, settled, and formed societies in Philadel- phia, New- York, and several other places. The peculiar economy of the United Brethren is too widely known to require any notice of it here. Their settlements in America are the same abodes of order, provident regard for the morals of the young, and for the comfort of the aged, of cheerful industry, and pleasant social life, enlivened by the sweet strains of music, and, withal, of that deep interest in mis- sions, which characterize their settlements in the Old World. It maybe said, perhaps, that too much worldly prosperity has been to them, as to many other Christians, a hinderance to their piety. They maintain flourishing boarding- schools for girls at Bethlehem, Litiz, and Salem, and one for boys at Nazareth, where, also, their young men preparing for the ministry commonly pursue their stud- ies. The Moravian missions among the Indi- ans within the boundaries of the United States are mainly supported, as well as di- rected, by their congregations in that coun- try.* Their doctrines coincide, in the main, with those of the Augsburg Confes- sion. The number of their churches and congregations in the United States is twen- ty-three : of their ministers, twenty-seven : of their communicants, about 3000 ; and the entire population under their instruction is about 12,000 souls. * An interesting historical sketch of these missions will be found in Mr. J. C. Latrobe's " Rambles in North America." Chap. VIII.] SMALLER BAPTIST DENOMINATIONS. 251 CHAPTER VIII. SMALLER BAPTIST DENOMINATIONS. There are a few Baptist denominations in the United States not usually included with the Regular baptists noticed in Chap- ter IV. They are as follows : 1. The Seventh Day Baptists — who have fifty-nine churches, forty-six ordained ministers, twenty-three licentiates, and 6077 members. The population under their instruction and influence is reckoned at about 35,000. They are quite evangelical in the doctrines that relate to the way of salvation, and are in good repute for piety and zeal. They differ from the Regular Baptists as to the day to be observed as the Christian Sabbath, maintaining, in opposi- tion to these, that the seventh day was not only the Sabbath originally appointed by the Creator, but that that appointment re- mains unrepealed. Their churches are widely scattered throughout the States. There are four in New-Jersey,* twenty-nine in New- York, six in Ohio, eight in Rhode Island, and four in Virginia, and eight in other parts of the country. They observe Saturday with great strictness as their Sabbath, have Sun- day-schools, and one religious newspaper. They have recently formed a Tract Soci- ety, a Missionary Society, and a Society for the Conversion of the Jews. They have four Associations, and a General Confer- ence — all meet annually. Altogether they are a very worthy people. 2. Free-Will Baptists. This body dates in America from 1780, when its first church was formed in New-Hamphsire. In doc- trine they hold a general atonement, and reject election and the other Calvinistic points. On the subject of the Trinity, justi- fication by faith alone, regeneration, and sanctification, they are, with some excep- tions, sound. Starting with the wrong principle that, dispensing with written creeds, covenants, rules of discipline, or articles of organiza- tion, they would make the Bible serve for all these, they were soon in great danger from Arians and Socinians creeping in among them. But of late years they have separated from the Christ-ians (a heretical sect we have yet to notice, and likewise opposed to creeds), and are, consequently, * In New-Jersey, and I doubt not in other States also, there are special laws in their favour. This dis- position on the part of the civil power in the United States not to coerce the consciences of any religious community, however small, strikingly contrasts with the legislation of France in a like case. In the win- ter of 1840-1, when the factory-children's-labour-bill was before the Chamber of Deputies, it was asked whether there ought not to be a clause for the pro- tection of Jewish children in the observance of their Sabbath. " No," said the committee upon the bill, " they are too few to make that necessary." To this M. Fould, the banker, himself a Jew, assented, say- ing that the Jews were only 300,000 in the kingdom ! endeavouring to regain a sound orthodox position. Some of them have come to see that creeds are unavoidable, and had better be definitely expressed in writing than mere- ly understood. They have accordingly in- troduced creeds, and, in some instances, even written articles in the form of a con- stitution. This augurs well. Their church government, like that of all the Regular Baptists, is vested prima- rily in the churches, or assemblages of be- lievers convened for worship. These send delegates to quarterly meetings, the quar- terly meetings to the yearly meetings, and these, again, to the general conference. The office-bearers in their churches are el- ders and deacons. The former are ordain- ed jointly by the church to which they be- long, and by the quarterly meeting acting by a council. Each quarterly and yearly meeting has an elders' conference, which, with the general conference, regulates the affairs of the ministry as far as the Pres- bytery is concerned. Thus they depart from the principle of a pure Independency. Within the last ten years they have entered on the work of sending the Gospel to the heathen, and there can be no better sign than this. They have also a Home Mis- sionary Society, a Tract Society, and an Education Society. Many of their church- es have Sunday-schools and various char- itable institutions. A religious paper, also, is published under their auspices at Dover, New-Hampshire. Until a few years ago, these Arminian Baptists took but little interest in the edu- cation of young men for the ministry ; but they now have six academies. They have this year (1844) 1165 church- es and 771 ordained ministers, 250 licen- tiates and 61,372 communicants.* 3. Disciples of Christ, or Reformers, as they call themselves, or Campbellites, as they are most commonly called by oth- ers. It is with much hesitation that, by placing these in this Book, I rank them among evangelical Christians. I do so be- cause their creed, taken as it stands in writ- ten terms, is not heterodox. Not only do they not deny, but in words their creed affirms the doctrine of the Trinity, of sal- vation by the merits of Christ, and the ne- cessity of the regenerating and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Yet I un- derstand that there is much about their preaching that seems to indicate that all that they consider necessary to salvation is little if any thing more than a specula- tive, philosophical faith, in connexion with immersion as the only proper mode of bap- tism ; so that there is little, after all, of that "repentance towards God," and "faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," which are the indispensable terms of the Gospel. * The Free- Will Baptist Register for 1844. 252 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. The founder of this sect is a Mr. Alex- ander Campbell, a Scotchman, who, togeth- er with his father, left the Presbyterian Church in 1812, and became Baptists. Soon after this change he began to broach doctrines that can hardly be called new, for the Christ-ians, now, though not always, a heretical sect, had advanced them before his time. His views seem to be substanti- ally as follows : " All sects and parties of the Christian world have departed, in great- er or less degrees, from the simplicity of faith and manners of the first Christians." "This defection" Mr. Campbell and his followers " attribute to the great varieties of speculation, and metaphysical dogma- tism of countless creeds, formularies, litur- gies, and books of discipline, adopted and inculcated as bonds of union and platforms of communion in all the parties which have sprung from the Lutheran Reforma- tion." All this has led, as they suppose, to the displacing of the style of the living oracles, and the affixing to the sacred dic- tion ideas wholly unknown to the Apostles. And Avhat does Mr. Campbell propose to do ? Simply " to ascertain from the Holy Scriptures, according to commonly-receiv- ed and well-established rules of interpreta- tion, the ideas attached to the leading terms and sentences found in the Holy Scriptures, and then use the words of the Holy Spirit In the apostolic acceptation of them !" But let us hear him farther : " By thus expressing the ideas communicated by the Holy Spirit, in the terms and phrases learned from the Apostles, and by avoiding the artificial and technical language of scholastic theology, they propose to restore a pure speech to the household of faith." And in this way they expect to put an end to all divisions and disputes, and promote the sanctification of the faithful. And all this is proposed by those who reject all creeds for churches ; excepting, indeed, that which consists in making the Bible speak theirs ! However plausible it may be to talk in this way, all church his- tory has shown that there is no more cer- tain way of introducing all manner of her- esy than by dispensing with all written creeds and formularies of doctrine, and al- lowing all who profess to believe in the Bi- ble, though attaching any meaning to it they please, to become members of the church. For a while, possibly, this scheme may seem to work well ; but, before half a century has passed, all manner of error will be found to have entered and nestled in the house of God. " Every one who believes what the Evan- gelists and Apostles have testified concern- ing Jesus of Nazareth, and who is willing to obey him, is a proper subject for immer- sion." And this is the sum and substance of what Mr. Campbell says respecting the way in which a sinner is to attain salva- tion. This is all well enough if faith be truly explained, and the sinner really does come to Christ with that godly sorrow for sin from which saving faith is never dis- severed. But if a mere general belief in what the Evangelists and Apostles have said, together with immersion, be all that is required, it is not difficult to see that churches may soon be gathered in which there will be but little true religion. It is on this account that evangelical Christians in America, Baptists as well as Paedobaptists, have many fears about Mr. Campbell and his followers. It is believed, however, that, as yet, there are not a few sincerely pious people among his congre- gations, who have been led away by his plausible representations respecting the evil of creeds. Time can only show the issue. Two or three religious papers are published by ministers of this denomina- tion, and are almost entirely devoted to the propagation of the peculiar tenets of the sect. The churches in its connexion are constituted purely on Independent prin- ciples. Its statistics are not well ascer- tained. Mr. Campbell says that it now embraces from 150,000 to 200,000 persons. As for the churches and ministers, I have never seen their number stated. CHAPTER IX. SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. The origin of the Cumberland Presbyte- rians was as follows : In the extensive and, in some respects, wonderful revival of religion that took place in Kentucky during the years 1801-1803, the call for Presbyterian ministers was far beyond what could be satisfied, and in this exigen- cy it was proposed by some of the minis- ters that pious laymen of promising abili- ties, and who seemed to have a talent for public speaking, should be encouraged to make the best preparations in their power for the ministry, and thereafter be licensed to preach. This suggestion was carried into effect. Several such persons were licensed by the Presbytery of Transylvania ; and a new presbytery, which had been formed in the southern part of the State in 1803, and was called the Cumberland Presbytery, admit- ted and ordained those licentiates, and took on trial others of similar characters and attainments. These proceedings were considered dis- orderly by the Synod of Kentucky, and a commission was therefore appointed to examine them, and to inquire what were the doctrines held by persons thus admit- ted into the ministry, in a way so foreign Chap. X.] SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 253 to the rules and practice of the Presbyte- rian Church. The upshot was, that the. course pursued by the Cumberland Pres- bytery was condemned, and this sentence having been confirmed by the General As- sembly of the whole Presbyterian Church, before which it had been brought by ap- peal, the censured Presbytery withdrew from that body, and constituted itself an independent church in 1810, which has ever since been called the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Its doctrines occupy a sort of middle ground between Calvinism and Arminian- ism. It holds that the atonement was made for all mankind ; it rejects the doc- trine of eternal reprobation ; holds a mod- ified view of election ; and maintains the perseverance of the saints ; but on the other points is essentially Calvinistic. In its ecclesiastical polity it is Presby- terian ; the Session, Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly are all constituted in the manner described at length in our notice of the Presbyterian Church. It dif- fers, however, in one point, from all other Presbyterian churches, by having adopted the itinerating system of the Methodists. By that system of circuits and stations, its ministers have been able to reach al- most all parts of the Valley of the Missis- sippi, that being the great scene of their labours. But their church is not confined to the Western States and Territories of the American Union — it reaches into Tex- as, where it has a number of churches. The General Assembly has under its su- perintendence twelve synods, forty-five presbyteries, about 550 churches, and the same number of ministers, and about 70,000 communicants. Several religious newspapers are published under its auspi- ces. For the education of its youth, it has one flourishing college at Princeton, in Kentucky, and has lately opened another in the State of Ohio. Among its preach- ers there are several men of highly re- spectable talents and acquirements. CHAPTER X. SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES : REFORM- ED DUTCH CHURCH. We have elsewhere stated that the coun- try embracing what are now the States of New- York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, was at one time claimed by the Dutch in right of discovery. A trading post was established by them in 1614, at the spot now occupied by the city of New- York, but it was not until 1624 that any families from Holland settled there. A few years after, the Rev. Everardus Bo- gardus was sent over to preach to the colonists, and was the first Dutch pastor that settled in America.* He was suc- ceeded by John and Samuel Megapolensis, the latter of whom was one of the com- missioners appointed by General Stuyve- sant to settle the terms on which the colony was surrendered to the English in 1664. The colony having been planted and maintained by the Dutch West India Com- pany, to it the colonists applied from time to time for ministers, as new churches were formed or the older ones became vacant ; and the seat of the company being at Amsterdam, the directors naturally ap- plied to the Classis of that city to choose and ordain the persons that were to be sent out. Hence that Classis and the Synod of North Holland, with which it was connected, came, by the tacit consent of the other classes and synods of the. Dutch National Church, as well as by the submission of the churches in the colonies, to have an influence over the latter, which, in the course of time, proved a source of no little trouble to the parties concerned.! To such an extent was it carried that the colonial churches were not thought entitled to take a single step towards the regula- tion of their own affairs. How far the West India Company aided the congregations that were gradually formed in its American colonies is not now known, but it is supposed to have done something for their support. J Some of its governors were decided friends and members of the church, and certain it is that those congregations in New Nether- lands were considered as branches of the Established Church of Holland. The English took possession of the col- ony in 1664, and guarantied to the inhabi- tants all their religious rights. Nothing of any consequence to the churches took place for about thirty years, for there being but few English in the colony, they were attended by nearly the whole population. But in 1693, on Colonel Samuel Fletcher becoming governor, he succeeded, as we have elsewhere noticed, by artifice and perseverance, in having the Episcopal Church established in the city of New- York and four of the principal counties of the province ; so that from that time all classes were taxed for the support of * This excellent man left the colony to return to Holland in 1647, and is supposed to have been lost at sea in the same vessel with Governor Kieft. t The Classis of Amsterdam and the Synod of North Holland retain to this day the charge of the churches in the colonies in the East Indies, and other parts of the world, belonging to the kingdom of the Netherlands. % It would seem that it was a considerable time before any church edifice of respectable appearance was erected in New Amsterdam, as New- York was then called'; for De Vries, in the account of his voy- age to New Netherlands, relates that he remarked to Governor Kieft in 1641, " that it was a shame that the English should pass there, and see only a mean barn in which we performed our worship." 254 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. Episcopacy, though its partisans formed but a small minority of the colonists. But the inconvenience of having no ec- clesiastical authority in America higher than a Consistory could not fail to be felt by the Reformed Dutch Church, and ac- cordingly, in 1738, some of its ministers proposed having an association of the clergy, called a ccetus, but which was to have no power either to ordain pastors or to determine ecclesiastical disputes. In- nocent as well as inadequate as was this measure, the concurrence of the Classis of Amsterdam could not be obtained till 1746 or 1747. But it Avas soon found that no- thing short of having a regular classis of their own could meet the wants of the churches. Not only was there the heavy expense and delay attending getting minis- ters from Holland, or sending young men thither to be educated, but, worse than all, the churches had no power of choosing ministers likely to suit them. Urged by such considerations, the coetus resolved in 1754 to propose a change of its constitution to that of a regular classis, and a plan to that effect was transmitted to the congregations for their approval. But the project was opposed by a powerful party, mainly form- ed of those who had been sent over from Holland, and called the Conference. Amid the distraction and confusion caused by this opposition of parties, religion made little progress, and many influential fami- lies left the Dutch Church, and joined the Episcopal. All difficulties were at length adjusted through the prudent mediation of the late Rev. John H. Livingston, D.D.,* then a young man. Having gone to Holland for the prosecution of his studies, in 1760, the Synod of Holland and Classis of Amster- dam were led by his representations to de- vise a plan, which, after Mr. Livingston's return to America in 1770, was submitted to a meeting held in New- York in October, 1771, and attended by nearly all the minis- ters, and by lay delegates from nearly all the congregations. After a full discussion, having been unanimously adopted, it was carried into effect the following year. The whole Church was divided into five classes, three in the Province of New-Jersey, and two in that of New- York ; and a delega- tion of two ministers and two elders from each classis constituted the General Synod, which was to meet once a year. * Few men have ever lived in America who have been more useful or respected than Dr. John H. Liv- ingston. For many years he was a pastor in New- York city ; but the latter part of his life was spent in New-Brunswick, in the State of New-Jersey, where he was professor of theology in the seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church. He died in the year 1825, revered by all of every denomination who knew him. He has left an abiding impression of his character upon the church of which he was so distinguished an ornament. The prosperity of the Dutch Church, particularly in the city of New- York, was retarded by another cause, namely, the long-continued opposition to preaching in English. The Dutch tongue having been gradually disappearing ever since the con- quest of the colony in 1664, many of the youth had grown up almost in utter igno- rance of it, and had gone off to the Epis- copal and Presbyterian churches, especial- ly the former, for the latter had as yet but a merely tolerated and feeble existence. At length the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, a Scotch minister, was invited from Holland, and commenced preaching in English in 1764, from which time Dutch fell still more rap- idly into disuse. The last Dutch sermon was preached in the collegiate churches in the city of New- York in 1804, though in some of the churches in the country it was used some years longer. But it is now quite abandoned in the pulpit throughout the United States. The Revolutionary war, also, proved dis- astrous to the Dutch Church, particularly in the city of New- York. One of the church-edifices there was used as a hospi- tal, another as a cavalry riding-school, during the occupation of the place by a British force from 1776 to 1783. But with the return of peace, prosperity returned to this as well as other evangelical commu- nions, and it has been steadily advancing ever since. In all the States it had only eighty-two congregations and thirty minis- ters in 1784 ; but the former have now risen to 267, and the latter to 259. The communicants are 29,322.* A college was founded by the Reformed Dutch at New-Brunswick, in New-Jersey, in 1770, which, after various vicissitudes, has now been open for many years, and is firmly established and flourishing. It is called Rutger's College. Connected with it there is a theological seminary, with three able professors, and between thirty and forty students. The Dutch Church is doing much for Sunday-schools, home missions, and the education of young men for the ministry. It has a society, also, for foreign missions, auxiliary to the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, and now maintaining some six or eight missionaries with their wives at two or three stations in Borneo. The church is at present organized in a general synod, two particular synods, and nineteen classes. Its standards are those of the Reformed Church of Holland, viz., the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Cat- echism, the Canons of the Synod of Dort, &c. Its doctrines are in all respects purely Calvinistic. From the first it has been * The number of families reported as belonging to this denomination in 1843 was 21,569 ; and the num- ber of individuals under its instruction was 96,302. Chap. XL] SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 255- favoured with an able, learned, and godly- ministry. In its earlier days the labours of such men as the Rev. Theodorus J. Frelinghuysen, Drs. Laidlie and Westerlo, and others of like character, were greatly blessed. In our own times many of its ministers stand in the first rank among our distinguished American divines, and many of its congregations have enjoyed very precious religious revivals. For the edifi- cation of the people, one of the most in- structive and best-conducted religious pa- pers, called the Christian Intelligencer, is published weekly in the city of New- York. CHAPTER XI. SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES : THE AS- SOCIATE CHURCH THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH AND THE REFORMED PRESBYTERI- AN CHURCH. These are often called the " Scottish Secession churches." They were origi- nally established by immigrants from Scot- land and Ireland, and are mainly composed, to this day, of Scotch and Irish immigrants and their descendants. The first and last of the three were, in their origin, branches of similar churches in Scotland, and out of an unsuccessful attempt made in America to unite them sprang the second. In the year 1733, as is well known, the Rev. Messrs. Ebenezer Erskine, Alexan- der Moncrieff, William Wilson, and James Fisher, by a protest addressed to the Com- mission of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, seceded from the pre- vailing party in the judicatories of that church. The ground of this separation was not a disagreement with the doctrines, order, or discipline of that church, but dis- satisfaction with what the dissenters con- sidered to be an inadequate maintenance of those doctrines, and enforcing of that order and discipline. These seceders, join- ed afterward by many others, organized the Associate* Presbytery, and soon became a numerous and important branch of the kingdom of Christ in Scotland. Seventeen years after this secession a number of persons, chiefly Scotch immi- grants, sent a petition from Pennsylvania to the Associate (Antiburgherf) Synod in Scotland, praying that ministers might be sent from that body to break unto them the bread of life. Two ministers were ac- cordingly sent over in 1753 or 1754, with power to form churches, ordain elders, and constitute a presbytery. The labours * They took this name from the circumstance of their congregations not lying near each other, and therefore forming an association of churches rather than a territorial presbytery. t The Secession became divided into Burghers and Antiburghers, by a controversy on the lawful- ness of what was called the Burgess oath. of these brethren were crowned with suc- cess ; several congregations were soon or- ganized, and a presbytery formed in the eastern part of Pennsylvania ; and as oth- er ministers were sent over from Scotland from time to time, there were about eight or ten in all before the breaking out of the Revolution. But in 1782, the presbytery was reduced to the original number of two ministers, in consequence of one or two being deposed, and others joining several ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, or Covenanters, in forming the Associate Reformed Church. Notwithstanding these untoward circum- stances, the two ministers, with the congre- gations adhering to them, persevered, and their numbers being speedily recruited from Scotland, such, at last, was their success in training young men among themselves, that in 1801 they had four presbyteries, which that year, by a delegation from their ranks, formed the Associate Synod of North America, a body which meets an- nually. The presbyteries have now been quadrupled, I believe, and extend over the Middle, Southern, and Western States. Ac- cording to the most recent statement which I have seen, this denomination has more than one hundred ministers, upward of two hundred churches, most of which are small, and about 15,000 communicants. For a long time the energies of this church, like those of many others, were directed to the building up of churches in the West and South. Of late years it has turned its attention to the foreign field, and has sent two missionaries to the island of Trinidad. They have a theological school, with two able professors and some 20 or 25 students, in connexion with Jefferson College, situa- ted at Canonsburg, in the western part of Pennsylvania, eighteen miles from Pitts- burgh. For their organ they publish a val- uable monthly journal called the " Reli- gious Monitor." The doctrines of the As- sociate Church are thoroughly Calvinistic ; its polity completely Presbyterian. It has enjoyed the labours of many able ministers. This small denomination, like some oth- ers, have been at strife among themselves, which has led to a separation. The lar- ger party ejected the smaller. The eject- ed ministers are fifteen in number, and the members of their churches are estimated at about two thousand. It is not known that there exists any difference in their doctrinal views, and the smaller party have retained their original organization; so that there are now two Associate Synods of North America, as well as two General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Associate Reformed Church. — This body, as we have seen, owes its existence to an ' attempt made in 1782 to unite in one body the few Associate and Reformed Presbyte- 256 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. rian churches then to be found in the Uni- ted States. But as the success of the at- tempt was only partial, the coalition being refused by certain members of both church- es, both survive to this day, and thus a proj- ect for merging two denominations in one, resulted in the creation of a third. The Associate Reformed Church has rapidly increased. Starting with a small number of ministers and churches in 1782, it has now no fewer than 20 presbyteries and 4 synods ; the one in the State of New- York is the largest. It has a theological seminary at Newburgh in the same state, with three professors, and some fifteen or twenty students. The Western Synod has a seminary at Alleghany-town, near Pitts- burgh, with one professor and about twenty students. The doctrines of this church are Cal- vinistic, and its polity Presbyterian ; points on which it hardly at all differs from the As- sociate and Reformed Presbyterian synods. All three maintain a state of strict isola- tion from other communions, and in their church psalmody confine themselves ex- clusively to Rouse's version of the Psalms of the Bible. They also strenuously con- tinue the custom of having fast and thanks- giving days to precede and follow the ad- ministration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; and in the administration of that ordinance, the communicants sit around a table. The churches of the Associate Reformed are more than 300, their ministers 165, and their communicants 20,000. About twenty years ago, part of this communion joined the Presbyterian Church, but the greater part preferred maintaining their independ- ent position. They have a considerable number of able ministers. The late Dr. John M. Mason was for the greater part of his life one of their most distinguished members, but he joined, a few years before his death, the Presbyterian Church. The Christian Magazine, a monthly periodical, is published under the auspices of the As- sociate Reformed. Each synod has a Domestic Missionary Society, the object of which is to aid small congregations and plant new ones in des- titute places, especially in the Western frontier states. In regard to foreign missions, the Asso- ciate Reformed Church acts in concert with the Presbyterian Board of the Gener- al Assembly, and contributes to the sup- port of the missionaries sent out by that Board. The monthly concert of prayer is observed in their churches generally, and collections taken at each meeting to aid the cause of missions. Reformed Presbyterian Church. — Re- formed Presbyterians (or, as they are sometimes called, Covenanters) are the descendants of the persecuted Presbyteri- ans in Scotland who refused to accede to the Erastian settlement of religion at the Revolution of 1688, and still maintain a practical dissent from both Church and State on account of existing evils. They are distinguished from other Pres- byterians chiefly by their rigid adherence to the whole doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, Larger and Shorter ; to the Scotch Covenants — maintaining that the obligations of the " Na- tional Covenant" and " Solemn League" extend to all represented in the taking of them, though removed to this or any other part of the world, in so far as these cove- nants bind to duties not peculiar to the Church in the British Isles, but are of uni- versal application. They also contend that nations enjoying the light of Divine revelation are bound to frame their gov- ernment according to it ; and where the Bible is known they refuse to swear alle- giance to any system of civil government which does not acknowledge the Lord Je- sus Christ as King, and recognise the Bi- ble as the supreme law of the land. As early as 1752 some Reformed Pres- byterian congregations had been formed in North America ; but, owing to the defec- tion of some of the ministers, the distance of the congregations from each other, and the troubles connected with the Revolu- tion, the church did not assume a regular organization until, in 1798, the Reformed Presbytery of the United States of North America was constituted, in the city of Philadelphia. It may be supposed that the descendants of the followers of " Cargill, Renwick, and Cameron," who had suffered so much in the cause of civil and religious liberty, and who had voluntarily resigned the privilege of citizenship in the land of their nativity, rather than acknowledge the corrupt sys- tem established at the Revolution to be God's ordinance of civil government, would examine carefully the Constitution of their adopted country. They did so, and found (as they believed) evils so great incorpo- rated in that instrument as rendered it necessary for them to refuse allegiance to the whole system. " In this remarkable instrument," say they, " there is contained no acknowledgment of the being or au- thority of God. There is no acknowledg- ment of the Christian religion, or profess- ed submission to the kingdom of Messiah. It gives support to the enemies of the Re- deemer, and admits to its honours and emoluments Jews, Mohammedans, Deists, and Atheists. It establishes that system of robbery by which men are held in slavery, despoiled of liberty, property, and pro- tection. It violates the principles of rep- resentation, by bestowing upon the domes- tic tyrant, who holds hundreds of his fel- low-creatures in bondage, an influence in Chap. XII.] LUTHERAN CHURCH. 25* making laws for freemen proportioned to the number of his own slaves. This Con- stitution is, notwithstanding its numerous excellences, in many instances inconsist- ent, oppressive, and impious."* Their op- position to the Constitution, however, has been the opposition of reason and piety. The weapons of their warfare are argu- ments and prayers. They consider them- selves bound to live peaceably with men, to advance the good of society, conform to its order in everything consistent with righteousness, and submit to every burden which God, in his providence, calls them to ■bear. During the late war with Great Britain, no portion of the citizens were more forward in defence of the country than Reformed Presbyterians. In 1807 they published a doctrinal Tes- timony, containing a brief statement of the principles which they hold, and a testimo- ny against opposing errors, with special reference to the evils existing in the na- tional Constitution, and the constitutions of the churches around them. They con- tinued united in the maintenance of this testimony, neither holding communion with other churches, nor offices in the State, nor voting at elections for civil of- ficers, nor admitting any slaveholder to their communion till about 1830, when, their number being considerably increased, several ministers began to entertain opin- ions different from those which were for- merly held by the body on several points relating to doctrine, order, and discipline. These men were led to modify their views on the subject of acknowledging the gov- ernment of the country, and avowing alle- giance to it. This introduced what has been called the New Light controversy, which has since agitated all departments of the Presbyterian family, and resulted in a division of the Synod, and the organi- zation of a rival synod in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, which still maintains a separate existence. At present, howev- er, they are endeavouring to form a union with the Associate Presbyterian Church, and their efforts promise success, as the articles of union are nearly concluded. This controversy greatly distressed the church, and so weakened the old Synod that she has not been able to establish any foreign mission. The members of the church generally retained their attach- ment to the subordinate standards, and, in consequence, many congregations were left without pastors. The Theological Seminary for a time suspended its opera- tions, so that labourers for a foreign field could not be obtained ; but home missions, especially in the West, have been prose- cuted with considerable zeal. A more prosperous season has returned. The * Historical Testimony, page 152. R Theological Seminary in Alleghany Town, Pennsylvania, has been revived. It has two professors, Rev. James R. Willson, D.D. , and Rev. Thomas Sproull ; four- teen students were in attendance last ses- sion ; a considerable library for the Semi- nary has been collected, and the Synod pro- poses to establish a mission in 1844, in the West Indies, making St. Thomas the cen- tre of operation. There are thirty-three ministers, five licentiates, fifty organized congregations, with numerous small so- cieties, and nearly 6000 communicants. With this Synod the Reformed Presbyte- rian Synods in Scotland and Ireland main- tain fraternal intercourse. On the other hand, the New Synod has now twenty-four ordained ministers, five licentiates, eight students in theology, for- ty-four organized churches, and 4500 com- municants. It has five presbyteries, and sustains, in connexion with the Board of Foreign Missions of the Old School Gen- eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, two missionaries in India. Besides sup- porting these two missionaries, the Board of Missions of this Synod sustains a school containing twenty-eight children, in con- nexion with their Indian mission. They have been active, also, in prosecuting the work of domestic missions, and, thus, of building up churches in the West and other parts of the country. The receipts of their Board of Missions average about $2800 annually. The entire body of the Reformed Pres- byterians in the United States embraces, therefore, fifty-seven ordained ministers, ten licentiates, about twenty students of theology, ninety-four organized congrega- tions, and 10,500 communicants. This small body has not been deficient in men distinguished for ministerial gifts and extensive learning. The late Alex- ander M'Leod, D.D., ranked in his day with Mason, Griffin, Dwight, and other giants of the land. CHAPTER XII. SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES : THE LU- THERAN CHURCH. The first Lutherans that emigrated to America came from Holland, and settled at New- York about the year 1626, that is, two years after the regular settlement of New Netherlands by the Dutch. But they were few in number, and as long as the Dutch held the country, they worshipped in private houses only. But on the col- ony being transferred to the English, in 1664, they obtained leave to open a place of public worship, and had for their first minister Jacob Fabricius, who arrived in 1669. 258 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. Next among the Lutherans came the Swedish colony that settled on the Dela- ware in 1636. It flourished for a while, but receiving no new-comers from Swe- den, the colonists gradually fell into the use of the English tongue, and as there were no Lutheran clergymen who could preach in English, on losing their Swedish pastors they went to the English Episco- pal Church for religious teachers, and be- came ultimately merged in that denomi- nation. Nevertheless, by their charter they are still styled Swedish Lutheran churches.* The third Lutheran emigration to the United States was that of the Germans. The first settlements were in Pennsylva- nia, soon after the grant of that province to William Penn, in 1680, whence they spread, by degrees, not only through Penn- sylvania, but also into Maryland, Virginia, the interior of New- York, and, since the Revolution, over the Western States. Em- igration from Germany may be said to have fairly commenced on a large scale in 1710. Its primary cause lay in the persecution of the Protestants in the Palatinate. It has continued from that time to this day, adding tens of thousands almost every year to the population of the country. The western, northern, and southern parts of Germany, and the German parts of Swit- zerland, together with Alsace, in France, have, from first to last, sent immense mul- titudes to America in quest of homes. The first emigrants brought no pastors with them, but they had pious schoolmas- ters who held meetings on the Sabbath, and read the Scriptures, Arndt's True Christianity, and other religious books. The Swedish ministers, too, of those early times visited the small scattered groups of faithful souls, and administered to them the ordinances of religion. Among the first German ministers in America were the Rev. Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau, who laboured in a colony from Saltzburg, in the south of Germany. These emigrants had been driven from their native country by persecution, and had settled in Georgia. Other emigrants from Germany settled about the same time in the Carolinas, where a considerable number of Lutheran churches are to be found at this day. In 1742, the Rev. Hen- ry Melchior Muhlenberg, an eminently learned, zealous, and successful minister, arrived, and, during a course of fifty years, was the honoured instrument of greatly promoting religion among the German pop- ulation. He was one of the founders, in fact, of the Lutheran Church in America, which, by repeated arrivals of other dis- tinguished men from Germany, had be- come widely extended before the com- * " Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware," by the Rev. J. C. Clay, p. 3, 4, 161, &c. mencement of the Revolutionary war. But it, as well as other churches, suffered much from that war. Many of the German col- onists took up arms in defence of their adopted country. The early wars with the Indians, also, proved very prejudicial to the Lutheran churches on the frontiers. The rapid progress made by this Church since the Revolution, and particularly since the constitution of its General Synod in 1820, may be seen from the following suc- cinct summary, taken from the Lutheran Almanac for 1843, and fully to be relied on. The number of Ministers and Licentiates is 423 Congregations 1,371 Communicants 146,303 Besides one General Synod, there are nineteen District Synods, twelve of which are united with the General Synod. There are four theological seminaries, one col- lege, and four classical schools, one or- phan house, an education society, a for- eign missionary society, and a book es- tablishment. During the year 1841, the Lutheran ministry received an accession of fifty-eight new members ; 9022 new members were added to the churches by confirmation, and 9000 by emigration : — 17,776 children and adults were baptized. Three new synods were formed in 1841, seventy-six new churches built, and eigh- ty-eight new congregations organized. These results do, indeed, call for heart- felt thanks to the Giver of all good. I know not a single circumstance more promising in regard to true religion in America, than its rapid progress among the vast German population of the United States, as exhibited in the Lutheran and German Reformed Churches. Wonderful, indeed, has been the change during the last twenty years. The establishment of Pennsylvania Col- lege, at Gettysburg, under the auspices of the General Synod, has been a great bless- ing. This college, which has been liber- ally assisted by the Legislature of Penn- sylvania, and receives $1000 a year from that state, has a president, five able pro- fessors, and about 150 students. The Gen- eral Synod's theological seminary, which, also, is placed at Gettysburg, has three distinguished professors, and usually from twenty-five to thirty students. It began in 1826, with one professor, the Rev. Sam- uel S. Schmucker, D.D., to whom, under God, it mainly owes its existence; since which time it has educated upward of 150 young men for the ministry. The in- stitution is most pleasantly situated, and has a well-selected library, great part of which, together with a considerable amount of funds for the founding of the seminary, was obtained in Germany through the ef- forts of the Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, D.D. The Lutherans have three other theological schools, one at Hartwick, in New- York, Ch-ap'.XII.] LUTHERAN CHURCH. 259 another at Lexington, in South Carolina, and a third at Columbus, Ohio. Sixty-one young men were prosecuting their studies at these in 1841, and 115 more were en- gaged in preparatory studies at academies and colleges. These simple facts exhibit an extraordinary change in the state of this church from what it was twenty-five years ago. Among its distinguished men we may mention the Rev. Messrs. Bolzius, Gronau, H. M. Muhlenburg, Kunze, Schmidt, Kurtz, another Muhlenburg, Helmuth, Melshei- mer, Lochman, Schseffer, Shober, Geissen- hainer, Schmucker (father of the profes- sor), all men of great influence in their day. Several of its living ministers, also, are men of acknowledged talents, learn- ing, piety, and usefulness. Many of the earlier ministers were educated at Franke's Institute at Halle, which, indeed, may be regarded as the mother of the Lutheran Church throughout a large part of the Uni- ted States.* The same doctrines are held as in the evangelical Lutheran churches in the vari- ous countries of Europe, with some differ- ences which we shall presently notice. They comprehend the following points : " The Trinity of persons in one Godhead ;" " the proper and eternal divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ;" "the universal de- pravity .of our race ;" " the vicarious na- ture and unlimited extent of the atone- ment ;" " that men are justified gratuitous- ly, for Christ's sake, through faith ;" " the word and sacraments means of grace ;" " a future judgment, and the award of eter- nal life and happiness to the righteous, and eternal misery to the wicked." On the sub- ject of election, predestination, &c, they are well known to be rather Arminian than Calvinistic. The Lutheran Church in America has a short but excellent liturgy, while her min- isters are at the same time allowed a dis- cretionary power with regard to its use. It observes a few of the chief festivals, such as Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Day, and Whitsunday. Like the Episcopal and the German Re- formed churches, it administers the rite of confirmation to baptized persons after their arriving at years of discretion, and going through a course of catechetical and bibli- cal instruction. It deserves notice that the Lutheran Church in the United States, as those who are intimately acquainted with it will acknowledge, differs from what it once was, and from some of its sister churches in Europe, in regard to a few such points * Nor have the churches in America ceased to feel a warm interest in the Alma Mater of so many of their pastors. When she suffered so much from the French in 1814, collections were promptly made t»y them, and forwarded to the amount of $2334. as the following : First, it entirely rejects the authority of the fathers in ecclesiastical contro- versy. The Reformers relied too much upon them. Secondly, it no longer re- quires assent to the doctrine of the real or bodily presence of the Saviour in the Eucha- rist. In other words, it has renounced the doctrine of consubstantiation, and holds that of our Lord's spiritual presence, as understood by other evangelical Protest- ants. Again, it has rejected the remnant of private confession which it at first retained. Fourth, it has abolished the remains of Pa- pal superstition in the abjuration of evil spirits at baptism. Fifth, it has made a more systematic adjustment of its doc- trines. Sixth, it has adopted a more reg- ular and a stricter system of church disci- pline. This, as respects individual church- es, is essentially Presbyterian. The Syn- ods, in their organization and powers, re- semble Presbyteries, but with fewer for- malities, and their decisions are couched more in the form of recommendations ; while the General Synod is altogether ad- visory, and resembles the General Asso- ciations of the Congregational churches of New-England. Conferences of sever- al neighbouring ministers, and protracted meetings, are held, with preaching, for the benefit of their congregations. And, lastly, its ministers are no longer bound to all the minute points of an extended human creed. All that is required of them is a belief in the Bible, and in the Augsburg Confession as a substantially correct expression of Bible doctrines. The American Lutheran Church thinks that a written creed should be short, comprehending, like that of the apostles, which was for a long time the only creed in the primitive churches, the doctrines necessary to salvation. So much for its doctrines, order, and discipline.* I have only to add, that this church takes a deep and increasing interest every year in the religious and benevolent un- dertakings of our times. Sunday-schools and Bible-classes are very generally to be found in her congregations. She has had an Education Society, with numerous branches, since 1835, Avhich has assisted above 100 young men in preparing for the ministry. We shall speak hereafter of her Foreign Missionary Society, founded in 1837. Finally, two valuable religious pa- pers, one in English, and the other in Ger- man, extensively diffuse among the peo- ple intelligence relating to the progress of the Redeemer's kingdom on the earth. * In making this statement, I have been greatly indebted to Professor Schmucker's " Portraiture of Lutheranism," and his "Retrospect of Lutheranism in the United States," both published at the request of the General Synod of the Church. . 260 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. CHAPTER XIII. SMALLER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES : THE GER- MAN REFORMED CHURCH. This offshoot from the Church, hearing the same name in Germany, is, like it, Presbyterian in its government, and Cal- vinistic in its doctrinal standards. The " Reformed" being mingled with the Lutherans in the early German emi- grations, societies of the former soon ap- peared, particularly in Pennsylvania, and spread, ere long, to the south and west of that province. These, though long exist- ing apart, were at last united in 174G, by the Rev. Mr. Schlatter, who, having been sent from Europe for the purpose, suc- ceeded in giving a better organization as well as more union to their churches. Their increase since has given them an important place among American Presby- terians. It is a singular fact, that the first mission- aries to the German Reformed in Ameri- ca were sent, out by the Classis of Am- sterdam and the Synod of North Holland, through which channel their churches con- tinued to receive their ministerial supplies, and to which they were kept, down to the year 1792, in the same subordination as the Dutch churches in America used to be. Mr. Schlatter, the pioneer in this good cause, was soon followed by other men sent over by the said classis and synod.* The dependance of the Reformed Ger- man Church in the United States on the Dutch Church in Europe was brought to a close in 1792, in consequence of the dif- ficulty of maintaining the previous rela- tions of America with Holland after the conquest of the latter by the French. An independent constitution was according- ly adopted, constituting a Synod, consist- ing of clerical and lay delegates ; but it was not until 1819 that the synod was di- vided into classes or presbyteries, and based upon a representation of the classes by clerical and lay delegates. The church being now left to its own resources, the training of young men for the ministry was for many years intrusted to such pas- tors as were willing to receive students of theology into their families ; still the want of proper institutions for that pur- pose was deeply felt. At length, in 1824, the synod resolved that they would have a theological seminary, and this resolution took effect the following year, by the open- ing of an institution at Carlisle, a pleasant town in Central Pennsylvania. Dr. Mayer was appointed the first professor, and con- tinued in the discharge of that office until 1839, when his resignation was tendered * Among these were Weiber, Steiner, Otterbein, Hendel, Helfenstein, Helfrich, Gebbard, Dallicker, Blumer, Faber, Becker, and Herman. and accepted. During this period the sem- inary was removed from Carlisle to York, and from that to Mercersburg in the same state, about fifty miles from Carlisle, and there it is now permanently established. Marshall College was opened in connex- ion with it in 1837, and the Rev. Dr. Rauch, who had been president of the preparatory department of the seminary at York, was chosen president. Under that distinguish- ed scholar and excellent minister it soon enjoyed an enviable reputation; but in the spring of 1840 the church was called to lament his premature decease. The pres- ent theological professor, Dr. Nevin, is a man of distinguished abilities and deep pi- ety. There are about twenty-five students of theology, and the academical classes have an attendance of from eighty to 100 youths. The German Reformed Church seems to have experienced a crisis in 1841, that year having been appointed to be celebra- ted as a centenary jubilee for all its con- gregations. A century having elapsed since its first organization in America, such an acknowledgment of God's mer- cies was deemed eminently becoming; and that the occasion might be turned to the best account, it was resolved that an ef- fort should be made to raise sufficient funds for the endowment of the seminary and college at Mercersburg. The result must have fully realized the expectations of the church's most sanguine friends, for at a late meeting of its synod upward of 80,000 dollars were ascertained to have been subscribed, and to a large amount actually collected, while the contributions of more than half of the congregations had yet to be reported. Assurances have since been received that more than 100,000 dol- lars, the amount originally specified, will be obtained. The field which this church has to oc- cupy is very extensive. Besides the large German population in the Atlantic States, the Great West — the Valley of the Mis- sissippi — over which German immigrants are now settling in vast numbers, cries to this and to the Lutheran Church for help ; and it is hoped that in a few years a host of labourers from both will be raised up for the harvest, which is ripe for the sickle. The German Reformed Synod has now in its connexion about 180 ministers, dis- tributed thus : 112 in Pennsylvania; thir- ty-seven in Ohio ; three in Indiana and Illinois ; ten in Maryland ; ten in Virginia and North Carolina ; and three in New- York. It is supposed to have about 600 congregations, and from 75,000 to 100,000 communicants. It may be said with truth that its congregations are rapidly increas- ing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and from present indications, w r e hail the period Chap. XIV.] SMALLER GERMAN SECTS. 261 as not far distant when, instead of being reckoned, as they have long been, among the least of the tribes of Israel, they will be found occupying a place in the very van of the sacramental host of the Lord. In home missionary, educational, and for- eign missionary efforts, they are taking a deeper and deeper interest every year, uniting with the Congregational and New School Presbyterian churches in support- ing the American Home Missionary Soci- ety, the American Education Society, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. CHAPTER XIV. SMALLER GERMAN SECTS. There are some smaller bodies of Ger- man Christians in the United States, which may be classed, though not, perhaps, in all cases without qualification, among the evangelical denominations. The Moravi- ans might have been placed here, but we have put them in a separate chapter, part- ly because they are Episcopal, partly be- cause they are no longer purely German either in blood or language. First, then, there is a body called the "United Brethren in Christ." This is a Methodist sect, which began to rise as early as 1770, and gradually attained an organization in the year 1800. The found- ers of it were the Rev. Messrs. Otterbein, Boehm, Geeting, and other German min- isters, who had once belonged to the Ger- man Reformed, the Mennonists, and the Lutherans. Their first Annual Conference was held in the year 1800. From that epoch this denomination has continued to increase among the Germans and German descendants in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and other portions of the Union, until they have at present one General Conference (which meets once in four years), nine Annual Conferences, four bishops, six hundred ministers, of whom 250 are itinerant, and 350 are lo- cal preachers. The number of places, churches, schoolhouses, private houses, etc., where they preach, is supposed to ex- ceed two thousand. Many of their congre- gations are small. The number of their members or communicants is reported to be more than 50,000. This body, which is in all essential points the same, as it regards doctrines and modes of worship, as the Episcopal Methodist Church, has been becoming more thoroughly organized from the first. "Within a few years successful efforts have been made to introduce discipline and or- der into their churches, and to require from the preachers regular and accurate reports of the number of communicants, etc. This looks well, and shows that this body has attained a good degree of organization and efficiency. 2. The "Evangelical Association." This denomination, also a sect of German Me- thodists, was founded in the year 1800. The founder was the Rev. Jacob Albright. His associates were the Rev. John Walker, George Miller, and others. With regard to doctrine and church government, there is some similarity with the Methodist Epis- copal Church. This Association has at present two bishops and four annual con- ferences, viz., those of East and West Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois. It also has churches and stations in Maryland, Virginia, New- York, Indiana, Missouri, and the Territory of Iowa. The annual con- ferences embrace districts, circuits, sta- tions, and missions. There is a General Conference, which meets once in four years. This body has at present about. IIS travelling, and nearly 200 local minis- ters. The number of places of public wor- ship, including churches, schoolhouses, and private houses, is about 900 ; and the number of communicants is about 14,000. 3. The Winebrennarians, a sect of Ger- man Baptists, so called from their founder being a Mr. Winebrenner, a pious and zealous German, who lives at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where his followers are chiefly found. They form several congre- gations, and are said to be quite evangeli- cal in their doctrines, and, as a body, irre- proachable in their lives. Their minis- tersj though not well informed, have the reputation of being devoted, laborious, and useful men. Winebrenner seems to have commenced his labours among the Ger- mans very much in the spirit and with the aim of Hans Houga in Norway. 4. The Mennonists have some churches, but the most of their little congregations meet in private houses ; they probably have about 50 or 60 preachers, and perhaps some 200 small congregations.* They are an amiable, and, in the main, evangeli- cal people, yet rendered somewhat luke- warm, it is to be feared, by their worldly prosperity. They are, for the most part, de- scended from Mennonist immigrants from Holland and Germany. Their confession of faith, as stated by one of their minis- ters, Mr. Gan, of Ryswick, in Holland, ap- pears to be moderate orthodoxy. t They reject infant baptism, but though their founder, Simon Menno, maintained that baptism should be by immersion, they do not deem it indispensable. On the contra- * The Mennonists meet for their worship in pri- vate houses oftener than in church edifices. Their congregations are very small, and for a long time scarcely existed out of Pennsylvania. t I fear that their orthodoxy is less unequivocal and general than it was sixty or eighty years ago. They are opposed to the use of the words Person and Trinity, when speaking of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 262 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. ry, they sprinkle, or, rather, pour water upon the head of the candidate, after which follow the imposition of hands and prayer. They have no order of preachers, hut eve- ry one in their assembly has the liberty to speak, to expound the Scriptures, to sing, and to pray. The Mennonists of Holland, as is well known, claim to be descended in the main from those Waldenses who, towards the close of the twelfth century, emigrated in great numbers to that country. If this be so, then the Mennonists in America have in their veins the blood of those wonder- ful survivers of long ages of persecution and oppression. CHAPTER XV. SMALLER METHODIST DENOMINATIONS. Secessions of greater or less magnitude have detached themselves from time to time, and glided off like avalanches from the Mount Zion of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, not, however, so as to dimin- ish its grandeur, or change its physiogno- my ; but most of them sooner or later melted away to nothing. The first that occurred was that of the Rev. William Hammet, of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1785. His followers took the name of Primitive Methodists. The second was that of the Rev. James O'Kelly, in Virginia, about 1792. His fol- lowers called themselves Republican Meth- odists. This was by far the more serious of the two, but both soon and forever dis- appeared from the scene. In the year 1816, about 1000 of the peo- ple of colour in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Philadelphia, headed by a Mr. Richard Allen, seceded from the main body. Allen was a man of considerable talent, who, from having been once a slave in one of the Southern States, besides pro- curing his freedom, had acquired a hand- some property, and becoming a preacher in the Methodist connexion, rose to be or- dained an elder. After his secession he was ordained a bishop at the first General Conference of his followers, by prayer and the imposition of hands by five local el- ders, of whom one was a presbyter in the Protestant Episcopal Church. What the number of ministers in this small com- munion may be I know not. Since the death of Allen, instead of a bishop it has two superintendents. Another secession of coloured members took place at New-York in 1819, and it has now several congregations of people of colour in New-Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Three years ago they had twenty-one circuits, thirty- two preachers, and 2608 communicants. They are believed to have adhered to the doctrines and polity of the body from which they seceded, their dissatisfaction with which arose from their preachers not being admitted into the itineracy, and, consequently, having no share in the gov- ernment of the church, nor a right, to re- ceive salaries, being only local preachers. There were one or two other secessions a little later, one of which was headed by the Rev. Mr. Stillwell, in the city of New- York, by which the Methodist Episcopal Church lost a few of its congregations, but they were not of such consequence as to call for special notice. But it sustained a far more serious loss in 1828, when a considerable number of preachers, chiefly local, and of lay members, withdrew from it at Baltimore, and in other parts of the country. As this secession has resulted in the formation of a new communion, which promises to be permanent, it calls for farther notice. In what was said of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, the reader will have re- marked that its constitution lodges the su- preme power, legislative, judicial, and ex- ecutive, in the itinerating ministers. They alone compose the Yearly and General Conferences. But, to two classes of the members, this has been felt to be oppres- sive. First, to the local preachers, who, although they may be ordained ministers, can have no voice in the government of the church. Nay, ministers who may have been for years in the itinerating service, the moment that, from sickness, duty to their families, insufficient support, or any other cause, they leave that service, have no longer any voice in the affairs of that church. Next, there were laymen who thought that the laity ought to be repre- sented in the church courts ; that is, should be admitted to the Annual and Gen- eral Conferences. This dissatisfaction began to assume a more decided character about the year 1820. A journal having been established for the purpose of advocating what were called " equalrights," this led to the send- ing up of numerous petitions to the Gen- eral Conference held in 1824. These be- ing unfavourably received, much excite- ment and discussion followed. The party that wanted reform urged their demands with more eagerness, and, consequently, some suspensions from church privileges took place in Baltimore and elsewhere. Such was the state of matters when the General Conference met in 1828 ; failing in obtaining redress from which, they who thought themselves aggrieved seceded, and formed a new body, under the title of the Protestant Methodist Church in the United States. In taking this step they have made no change in their doctrines, nor any innovations in church polity, be- yond what they had unsuccessfully peti- Chap. XVI.] FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS. 263 tioned for — the admission of lay represent- atives and of the local preachers to the government of the church. They have also ceased to have bishops, all ordination among them being now confined to the im- position of hands by presbyters. Their General Conference meets once in four years, like that from which they seceded. This body has one general and twenty- two yearly conferences, 1200 travelling and local preachers, 60,000 communicants, and 500 places of worship. Its General Conference has instituted a Board of Do- mestic and Foreign Missions, as also a Book Concern, which has its headquar- ters in Baltimore. There are four reli- gious newspapers, also, published under its auspices. Its churches are to be found in all parts of the country, but particularly in the Middle, Northern, and Western States. Calvinistic Methodists — a small Welsh communion, consisting of twenty churches and as many pastors. They are an evan- gelical and zealous body, and as it is only a few years since the greater part of them came to America, they still use the Welsh language in their public worship and in their families. Though found in several states, they are most numerous, I believe, in New-York.* CHAPTER XVI. THE FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS. This religious community first appeared in England towards the middle of the sev- enteenth century, and had an early share in the colonization of the United States. We have seen that its reputed founder and * The number of national churches among the Welsh emigrants and their descendants in the Uni- ted States is far greater than is commonly supposed. From a statement which has been kindly famished me while this work has been going through the press, by the Rev. Jonathan J. Jones, pastor of a Welsh Presbyterian church in the city of New-York, I learn that there are, besides the Calvinistic Metho- dist churches mentioned above, no less than 38 Con- gregational churches, 12 Baptist, 2 Presbyterian, 3 Episcopal, and 3 Wesleyan Methodist. The statis- tics of twenty of these churches show about 2640 communicants, 8050 members of congregations, and from 630 to 1030 dollars contributed annually to spread the knowledge of the Gospel. With the ex- ception of the Calvinistic Methodists and the Pres- byterians, the Welsh churches are included in the estimate which is made of the denominations whose name they bear. For instance, the Welsh Baptists come in under the head of the Regular Baptists ; the Welsh Congregationalists are included in the state- ment which I have made respecting the Congrega- tional body. Of the names of forty-one of the pas- tors of the churches mentioned in the statement furnished by Mr. Jones, seven are Jones, seven are Williams, three are Powells, three are Evans ; and among the others we find those of Griffiths, Roberts, Lewis, Morris, Edwards, Richards, Powell, Davis, Morgan, Owen, Philips, Jenkins, and others which are purely Welsh. first preacher, George Fox, visited several of the Southern provinces, and announced his message, as he himself relates, to a " willing people." But the proselytes to his peaceful doctrines, especially if they attempted to propagate them, encountered violent persecution almost everywhere, and although they were from the first protected in Rhode Island, and did at length obtain toleration in the South, they never made much progress until, through the influence and exertions of William Penn, they ob- tained an asylum, first in New-Jersey, and afterward in Pennsylvania, towards the close of that century, They are now supposed to have about 500 congregations in the United States, and are chiefly settled in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, in New-Jersey, New- York, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Virgin- ia, though some may be found in all the States. In Philadelphia alone they have six or eight large congregations or " meet- ings." It is far from easy to make out what were the doctrines really held by George Fox, and some of the other early Friends, or Quakers, as they are more commonly called. They spoke so much about the " light within," and the " Christ in the heart," and so little about the proper di- vinity of Jesus Christ, the inspiration and divine authority of the Scriptures, &c, that good men of that day much doubted how far they held the saving truths of the Gospel. But the subsequent writings of Penn, Barclay, and others, to whom may be added many excellent authors of the present day, make it certain that a decided majority of well-informed Friends have been sound in " the faith that saves." But within the last fifteen years a deplo- rable schism has taken place. Doctrines of the most dangerous character, imbody- ing, in fact, a kind of fanatical deism, hav- ing been widely disseminated by the preach- ing and writings of the late Elias Hicks, of Long Island, New- York, who was one of their ministers, they separated into two quite distinct bodies, each maintaining that it held the doctrines of the original Qua- kers.* One party is called the Orthodox, the other the Hicksites, from the name of their leader, or, rather, founder. Their rel- ative numbers are not exactly known, but the Orthodox are supposed to be fully three * The highest law court in New-Jersey decided a few years ago, in a suit respecting property held by one of the "Quarterly Meetings" in that state, that the so-called Orthodox Quakers are the true successors of the founders of the denomination ; in other words, hold the true doctrines of the people called Friends. This decision was formed after a long and very thorough investigation of the subject, conducted by a master in chancery, who was employed during several months in taking the testimony of distin- guished Friends as to what were the doctrines of the society. 264 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book. VI. fifths of the whole, or to have 300 congre- gations. The peculiarities of the Friends, in re- spect to plainness of dress, refusing to un- cover the head as a mark of respect to their fellow-men, whatever be their station, rank, or office, the use of the singular thou and thee instead of the plural you in all ca- ses where custom has sanctioned the su- perseding of the former by the latter, their refusing to take an oath, and to bear arms, are too well known to require remark. They have no " hireling ministry," and think it wrong to educate men for that of- fice, maintaining that those only should be suffered to preach who are moved from time to time by the Spirit to deliver a message from God. All remain perfectly silent at their meetings, unless some one feels thus moved to speak for the edification of those present, or to pray. In almost every con- gregation there are members who, from being often moved to speak, are called " preachers," and they may be of either sex. Some, too, think that the Spirit moves them to travel about for the purpose of visiting and preaching. But these, be- fore receiving authority to proceed on such missions, must first be approved by the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings to which they belong. Though they have no sala- ries, provision is made, when required, for the support of them and their families by presents from richer Friends. The super- vision of the churches is vested in the monthly meetings, composed of all the congregations within a convenient distance from each other ; the Quarterly Meetings, which comprise all within a larger circle ; and the Yearly Meetings, including all with- in one or more of the States, and of which, we believe, there are eight. The Friends have a Tract Society, a Bible Society, and some Sunday-schools. They have made some attempts, also, but I. Episcopal. Protestant Episcopalians Moravians to no great extent, to bring the Indian tribes to the knowledge of the Gospel. The characteristic traits of this peace- loving people are the same in the United States as in England and elsewhere — fru- gality, simplicity of maimers, strictness of morals, care for the poor of their society, and abhorrence of oppression in every form. This may be emphatically said of the Orthodox. Of the Hicksites, who, in my opinion, have departed fundamentally from the Gospel, it is to be feared that a far less favourable account will yet have to be given. The substantial orthodoxy of Will- iam Penn, and many others of the same school, has produced good fruits, which never can be looked for from the delusions of Elias Hicks. So far from rapidly increasing in Amer- ica, I rather think that, the Friends are stationary, if 'not positively declining, in point of numbers. The too frequent neg- lect of the religious education of their children, together with the rejection of the outward administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, must ever prevent them, in my opinion, from enjoying great or con- tinued prosperity as a church. CHAPTER XVII. THE SUMMARY. We have now completed our notices of the various evangelical churches or denom- inations in the United States ; and to assist the reader in taking a general view of the whole, we shall place them before his eye at once in a tabular form. In doing this, we shall first arrange them in the order in which we have already passed them under our review, that of their successive ap- pearance in America. We shall then re- arrange them under various heads, such as Episcopal, Congregational, &c. Churches. Ministers. 1,200 23 1,176 27 Communicants. 100,000 3,000 Total 1,223 1,203 II. Congregational. Orthodox Churches 1,500 1,350 III. Baptist. Regular Baptists 8,482 Free-Will Baptists 1,165 Seventh Day Baptists 59 Disciples of Christ, or Campbellites Wmebrennarians Total 9,706 IV. Presbyterian. Regular Presbyterians— Old and New Schools . 3,584 Cumberland Presbyterians 550 Dutch Reformed Church 267 Associate Synod 200 Associate Reformed 300 Reformed Presbyterians 94 Lutherans 1,371 German Reformed . 600 Total 103,000 Population.. 800,000 12,000 812,000 180,000 1,000,000 4,036* 637,477 771 61,372 46 6,077 4,853 704,926 2,672 279,782 550 75,000 259 29,322 100 15,000 165 26,000 57 10,500 423 146,303 180 100.000 u 000,000 4,000,000 ( 4,500,000 ) 6,966 4,406 681,897 4,500.000 * See remarks in chapter iv. of this book for the grounds on which the ordained ministers in the Regular Baptist com^ ■union are estimated a: 4036. Chap. XVII.] V. Methodist. Methodist Episcopal Church Protestant Methodists Welsh Calvinistic Methodists United Brethren in Christ . Evangelical Association THE SUMMARY. 205 Churches or 01 her places of worship. Total 30,029 Mennonists . Orthodox Quakers Preachers. Communicants. Population*, 25,109* {7730L' M't 1.068,525 4,500,000 . 2,000 J 700 I'M 60 ' 000 300,000 20 20 2,500 12,500 OQ00 < 250 T.M. • ~' UUU \ 350 L. M. ) 1 12 T. M. \ 200 L. M. 4,870 T. M. 980 L. M. 900 50,000 14,000 200,000 40,000 By uniting the Congregationalists with the Presbyterians, which, as they are in all important respects the same, is perfectly proper, we reduce the evangelical denomi- nations in the United States to four great families, and, thus arranged, they present the following summary : Churches. Ministers. Commun. Population. Episcopalians.. 1,223 1,203 103,000 812,000 Presbyterians .. 8,466 5,756 861,897 5,500,000 Baptists 9,706 4,853 704,926 4,000,000 Methodists 30.0 29 4,870 * 1,195,025 5.052,500 Total .... 49,424 16,632 2,864,848 15,364,000 This synopsis suggests a few observa- tions. 1. We have left out the Campbellites, both because we have no correct informa- tion as to their statistics, and because though some of them are, no doubt, sound on all essential points, yet, not knowing how many, we cannot place them with en- tire confidence among the evangelical de- nominations. Neither have we included the Mennonists, the German United Breth- ren, the Winebrennarians, the Orthodox Friends, nor some of the smaller seces- sions from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Had all these been included, the number of churches, ministers, and members, to- gether with the amount of the general population under the moral influence of the churches included in this category, would have been much greater. 2. It is impossible to state the number of churches or congregations, properly so called. Those of the Episcopalians, Pres- byterians, and Baptists, taken together, amount to 19,395. But those belonging to the different Methodist communions it is impossible to ascertain, no return of them having been made. There can be no doubt that, of the places of worship which I have given on President Durban's authority, more than 10,000 are churches properly so called. This, then, would make the entire number of the churches of the evangelical denominations, without counting the Camp- bellites, Mennonists, &c, exceed 29,000 ; and supposing these to contain upon an average 500 people each, they would ac- commodate more than 14,500,000 of the 18,500,000 of inhabitants. But if we take in all the places, whether churches or not, 200 300 S 4,8 \ 8,9 1,195,025 5,052,500' Travelling ministers. at which the Gospel is preached, in most cases once a week at least, and in others once a fortnight, seldom less often, these will be found to amount to 49,424. And even to these there ought to be added a part, at least, of the Campbellite, Mennon- ist, and Winebrennarian places of worship, and those of some of the smaller Methodist sects, before we can arrive at a full enu- meration of all the churches and other places in which salvation by a crucified Saviour is proclaimed to sinners. 3. The summary gives 16,682 as the number of ministers who devote them- selves entirely to the work. Adding the 8980 Methodist local preachers, we have 25,662 as the number of actual preachers of the Gospel. Even this is exclusive of those of the omitted denominations, and of the licentiates in the Baptist and Presby- terian churches, who cannot well be esti- mated at less than 1300, and who may fairly be set against the deduction to be made on account of ordained ministers employed as professors and missionaries. But taking the above 16,682 as the number, all things considered, of ministers that are evangelical on all the saving doctrines of the Gospel, and divide the population of the United States, which, in the beginning of the year 1844, was about 18,500,000, by this number, the result will be one such minister for less than 1110 souls. Now r although figures cannot express moral in- fluences, such calculations are neverthe- less not without their use. A country which has an evangelical preacher on an average for every 1110 souls, may be considered as pretty well supplied, if they be well distributed and faithful. A perfect distribution is, indeed, altogether impos- sible with a population rapidly diffusing it- self over immense, half-cultivated regions, yet much is done to obviate the disadvan- tages of such a state of things. The aid * I am indebted for the above estimate of the probable number of places, including churches, schoolhouses, and private houses, in which the, Methodist itinerant and local ministers preach, to my friend President Durbin. It has been made with much care, and, I doubt not, is considerably within the truth. President Durbin has a wide and accu- rate acquaintance with the country, as well as with the entire economy of the church to which he belongs. t Travelling ministers. J Local ministers.. 266 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. rendered by the Methodist local preachers must be regarded as an important auxiliary to the more regular ministry. The gen- eral faithfulness of this ministry has al- ready been fully discussed. 4. The members in full communion with the churches enumerated exceed 2,864,848 in number. Now, although it be very cer- tain that all these do not live up to their profession, yet as they belong for the most part to churches that endeavour to main- tain discipline, we may fairly presume that they comprehend at least as large a pro- portion of consistent Christians as any equal number of professors in other parts of Christendom. 5. The last column of the summary as- sumes 15,364,000 of the whole population as more or less under the influence of the evangelical denominations. Accuracy in such a calculation is hardly to be expect- ed, but I have taken the best data I could find, and doubt not that the estimate I have made is not much wide of the truth. In- cluding all the denominations that claim to be evangelical, this estimate would exceed 15,500,000. CHAPTER XVIII. NUMBER OF EVANGELICAL SECTS. Much has been said in Europe about the multiplicity of sects in the United States, and many seem of opinion that the reli- gious liberty enjoyed there has led to the al- most indefinite creation of different reli- gious communions. This requires a little examination. No doubt absolute religious liberty will ever be attended with a considerable sub- division of the religious world into sects. Men will ever differ in their views respect- ing doctrine and church order, and it is to be expected that such differences will re- sult in the formation of distinct ecclesias- tical communions. In the absence of re- ligious liberty matters may be much other- wise, but how far for the better a little con- sideration will show. People in that case may be constrained to acquiesce, ostensi- bly at least, in one certain ecclesiastical organization, and in certain modes of faith and worship sanctioned and established by law. But such acquiescence, it is well known, instead of being real and cordial, is often merely external and constrained ; and if so, its worthlessness is certain and palpable. But as respects the evangelical commu- nions in the United States, it must have struck the reader that this multiplicity has mainly arisen, not so much from the abuse of religious liberty by the indulgence of a capricious and sectarian spirit, as from the various quarters from which the country has been colonized. Coming in large num- bers, and sometimes in compact bodies, from different parts of the Old World, no- thing was more natural than the desire of establishing for themselves and their pos- terity the same religious formularies and modes of worship, church government, and discipline which they had cherished in the lands that had given them birth, and perse- cution for their adherence to which had led, in many instances, to their having emigra- ted. Hence we find, in the United States, coimterparts not only to the Episcopalian, Congregational, Baptist, and Methodist churches of England, and to the Presbyte- rian churches of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, but likewise to the Dutch and Ger- man Reformed churches, the German Lu- theran Church, the Moravians, Mennonists, &c. Indeed, there is scarcely an evangeli- cal communion in America which is not the mere extension by immigration of a simi- lar body in Europe. The exceptions hard- ly can be reckoned such, for they consist for the most part of separations from the lar- ger bodies, not because of differences with regard to essential doctrines and forms of church government, but on points of such inferior consequence that they can scarce- ly be regarded as new sects at all. In fact, if we take all the evangelical communions that have fallen under review, and contemplate the confessedly funda- mental doctrines maintained by each, it is surprising to observe how nearly they are agreed. It may, we believe, be demon- strated that among the evangelical com- munions in the United States, numerous as they are, there is as much real harmony of doctrine, if not of church economy, as could be found in the evangelical churches of the first three centuries. Indeed, as we before remarked, by group- ing the former in families, according to their great distinctive features, we at once reduce them to four, or at most five. Thus the Presbyterians, commonly so called, of the Old and New Schools, the Congrega- tionalists, the Dutch and German Reform- ed, the Scotch Secession churches,* and, we may add, the Lutherans and Cumber- land Presbyterians, form but one great Presbyterian family, composed of elder and younger members, all of them essentially Presbyterian in church polity, and very nearly coinciding, at bottom, in their doc- trinal views. Between several of these communions there subsists a most intimate fraternal intercourse, and the ministers of one find no difficulty in entering the service of another without being re-ordained. Again, between the different evangelical Baptist sects there is no really essential or * An effort is now making, which promises to be successful, to unite all the Scottish Secession church- es in one body. This coalescence of churches hold- ing similar doctrines and maintaining similar orga- nizations may be expected to occur often. Chap. XIX.] ALLEGED WANT OF HARMONY. 267 important difference ; and the same may- be said of the Methodists. Indeed, the evangelical Christians of the United States exhibit a most remarkable coincidence of views on all important points. On all doc- trines necessaiy to salvation — the sum of which is " repentance towards God," and "faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ" — there is really no diversity of opinion at all. Of this I may now give a most decisive proof. I have already spoken of the American Sunday-school Union. Among the lay- men who compose its Board of Directors, are to be found members of all the main branches of the evangelical Protestant Church — Episcopalians, Congregational- ists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Dutch and German Reformed, Methodists, Quakers, and Moravians. It publishes a great many books for Sunday-school libra- ries every year, none, of course, being ad- mitted the contents of which are likely to give offence to any member of the Board, or repugnant to the peculiarities of any of the religious bodies represented at it. In the summer of 1841 the Rev. Dr. Hodge, a professor in the Princeton theological sem- inary, was requested by its committee of publications to write a book exhibiting the great doctrines of the Gospel as held by all evangelical Christians. This he did to the entire satisfaction, not only of the Board, but I believe I may say of all evangelical Christians throughout the land that have read his work. It is appropriately entitled " The Way of Life ;" the subjects are the Scriptures; sin; justification; faith; repent- ance ; profession of religion ; and holy liv- ing ; under which several heads the funda- mental doctrines of the Gospel are present- ed in an able and yet most simple and famil- iar manner. It is a work, in short, which none can read without surprise and delight at observing the vast extent and fulness of the system of Truth, in which all evangel- ical communions are agreed. These communions, as they exist in the United States, ought to be viewed as branches of one great body, even the entire visible Church of Christ in this land. Whatever may have been the circumstan- ces out of which they arose, they are but constituent parts of one great whole — di- visions of one vast army — though each brigade, and even each regiment, may have its own banner, and its own part of the field to occupy. And although to the inexperi- enced eye such an army as it moves on- ward against the enemy may have a con- fused appearance, the different divisions of infantry being arranged separately, the ar- tillery interspersed, and the cavalry some- times in the front, sometimes in the rear, and sometimes between the columns, yet all are in their proper places ; and to the mind of him who assigns them their places, and directs their movements, all is syste- matic order where the uninitiated sees no- thing but confusion. Momentary collis- ions, it is true, may sometimes happen — there may be jostling and irritation occa- sionally — yet they all fulfil their appointed parts and discharge their appropriate du- ties. So is it with the " sacramental host of God's elect." No doubt this multiplication of sects is attended with serious evils, especially in the new and thinly-peopled settlements. It oft- en renders the churches small and feeble. But this is an evil that diminishes with the increase of the population. With a zealous and capable ministry the truth gains ground, the people are gathered into churches, con- gregations increase in numbers and consist- ency, and though weak ones are occasion- ally dissolved, the persons who composed them either going into other evangelical churches, or emigrating to other parts of the country, such as maintain their ground become only the stronger ; and it often hap- pens, particularly in the rural districts, that the number of sects diminishes while the population increases. Great, however, as may be the disadvan- tages resulting from this multiplicity of different communions, were they all re- duced to one or two, we apprehend still worse evils would follow. Diversity on non-essential points among the churches and ministers of a neighbourhood often gives opportunity to those who reside in it to attend the services and ministrations which each finds most edifying, instead of being reduced to the sad alternative of either joining in forms of worship which they conscientiously disapprove, and of listening to a minister whom they find un- edifying, or of abstaining from public wor- ship altogether. Rather than this, it is sure- ly far better to bear the expense of having two or three churches in a community, for which, looking only at the mere amount of population, one might suffice. CHAPTER XIX. ALLEGED WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE EVAN- GELICAL CHRISTIANS OP THE UNITED STATES. It has been often and widely stated in Europe, on the authority of a certain class of visitants from the Old World who have published their Travels, Tours, &c, that there is much unseemly strife among our various religious denominations. Here, I hesitate not to say, there has been much gross misrepresentation. No doubt our evangelical churches feel the influence of mutual emulation. Placed on the same great field, coming into contact with each other at many points, and all deeply and conscientiously attached to their peculiar 268 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VI. doctrines and ecclesiastical economy, they must naturally exercise, on the one hand, the utmost watchfulness with respect to each other, and, on the other, employ all the legitimate means in their power to aug- ment their own numbers. The result of such mutual provocation to good works is eminently happy. There may, indeed, be temporary cases of disagreeable collision and unbrotherly jealousy, but ordinarily these are of short duration. The best of men are, after all, but men. Hence even a devoted Gospel minister, after having long had some particular neighbourhood all to himself, may dread the opening of a new place of worship of a different communion in the vicinity of his own, lest some of his hearers should thereby be drawn away ; and such an apprehension may, for a time, excite some not very kind feelings in his breast. But universal experience shows that such feelings are usually groundless, and soon cease to be indulged by any but the most narrow-minded persons. Sometimes, too, a zealous, and in most cases vain and ignorant preacher, will show himself in a neighbourhood where the churches all belong to communions differ- ent from his, and there, in his self-suffi- ciency, begin to denounce and attempt to proselytize. Such men, however, soon create disgust rather than any other feel- ing ; for with us most of those who join this or that church, do so after examination of its doctrines, government, and discipline, and when once satisfied on these points, above all, after finding its services edify- ing, they are not disposed to allow them- selves to be disturbed by every bigoted and noisy brawler that may seek to gain them over to his creed and church, which, after all, may not essentially differ from their own. Notwithstanding such cases, I hesitate not to affirm that, taking the evangelical churches in the mass, their intercourse, in all parts of the country, manifests a remark- able degree of mutual respect and frater- nal affection. While earnest in maintain- ing, alike from the pulpit and the press, their own views of Truth and church or- der, there is rarely anything like denunci- ation and unchurching other orthodox com- munions, but every readiness, on the con- trary, to offer help when needed. Thus, among all but the Episcopalians, whose peculiar views of ordination stand in the way, there is a frequent exchanging of pulpits. I have known the pulpit of an ex- cellent Baptist minister in Philadelphia, when he was laid aside by ill health, to be supplied during two years by other minis- ters, and by those of Paedobaptist churches for much of that time. During more than seven years the author of this work was engaged in benevolent efforts in America, which led him repeatedly to visit every State in the American Confederacy, and' while on this mission he preached in the pulpits of no less than ten evangelical com- munions, including all the leading ones. This brotherly feeling widely prevails among the laity also. In all parts of the country they scruple not, when there is no service in their own places of worship, to attend others, though of another commu- nion; and, indeed, in our cities and large towns, not a few Christians regularly at- tend the lectures of pastors not of their own communion, when these fall on different evenings from those of their own pastors. Not only so, but as there is no bar to in- tercommunion, except in the case of the Baptists, whose views respecting baptism in all but a few instances prevent it, and in that of the small Scottish Covenanting churches, the members of one evangelical communion often join with those of anoth- er in receiving the Lord's Supper in the same church. In this respect, a very cath- olic spirit happily prevails. The answer of the Rev. Mr. Johnes. pastor of the Pres- byterian church in Morristown, New-Jer- sey, to General Washington, who, on one occasion during the war of the Revolution, desired to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper with Mr Johnes's congrega- tion, but stated that he was an Episco- palian, is just what a thousand ministers of the Gospel would make in like circum- stances : " Sir, it is not a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian table, but the Lord's table, and you as well as every other Christian are welcome to it." Numerous occasions, moreover, bring all evangelical Christians together. The Bi- ble, Temperance, Colonization, Sunday- school, and Tract Societies, not to men- tion such as are formed from time to time for particular and perhaps local objects, Sabbath Observance, Education, and the like, all bring Christians of different de- nominations into better acquaintance with each other, and tend to promote mutual respect and affection. Within the last few years Professor Schmucker, already mentioned, has pro- posed a plan of union for all the evangel- ical Protestant churches, which has met with much favour, so that a society has been formed for promoting it. Dr. Schmucker, who, I may remark, is much beloved among Christians of all denominations, as well as extensively known by his writings, does not propose any amalgamation or fusion of the churches, but the adoption merely of cer- tain fixed principles, upon which all the evangelical churches shall acknowledge the ecclesiastical acts of each other, and maintain a fraternal intercommunion. Another proposal of like tendency will, I trust, ere long, be carried into effect. It is that there should be a yearly meeting of the friends of foreign missions, held in one Chap. I.] UNEVANGELICAL CHURCHES. 269 or other of the principal cities, for receiv- ing summary statements from each of the missionary societies of its operations and success. Such a meeting, if well conduct- ed, might do much substantial good, both by diffusing important information as to the progress of the kingdom of Christ, and also by promoting brotherly love among Christians of different churches. Taking all the professed Christians, amounting, it has been seen, to more than 2,500,000, in our evangelical churches, I hesitate not to say that far more mutual respect and brotherly love prevail among them than would were they all coerced into one denomination. The world has al- ready seen what sort of union and brother- hood can be produced by all being brought into one immense Church, that admits of no deviation from the decrees of its coun- cils and conclaves. There may, indeed, be external agreement, yet beneath this appa- rent unanimity there may be internal di- visions and heartburnings in abundance. There may be union against all who dare to impugn her dogmas, but who can tell the almost infernal hatred with which her Religious Orders have been found to re- gard each other'? Compared with this, all the temporary attritions, together with all the controversies and exacerbations of feel- ing that accompany them, that take place in our evangelical Protestant denomina- tions, are as nothing. Common civility, on the contrary, con- curs with Christian charity to make the en- lightened members of one denomination respect and esteem those of another, and to appreciate the beautiful sentiment re- cently attributed by the chancellor of the exchequer, in the British Parliament, to the late Mr. Wilberforce : " I experience, 1 ' said that distinguished philanthropist, " a feel- ing of triumph when I can get the better of these little distinctions which keep Chris- tians asunder. I would not that any one should sacrifice his principles ; but, exerci- sing the Protestant right of private judg- ment, leave each to his own conclusions. It is delightful to see that in this way men of different sects can unite together for the prosecution of their projects for the ame- lioration of human society. When I thus unite with persons of a different persua- sion from myself, it affords me an aug- mented degree of pleasure ; I rise into a higher nature, into a purer air ; I feel that fetters which before bound me are dissolv- ed, and I delight in that blessed liberty of love which carries all other blessings with it." Still, the question remains, Whence have foreigners, while visiting the United States, received the impression, which, by being promulgated in their writings, has led me to write this chapter. The answer is easy. While such is the prevailing respect and regard for each other among the members of our evangelical churches, they all unite in opposing, on the one hand, the errors of Rome, and, on the other, the heresy that denies the proper divinity and atone- ment of Christ, together with those other aberrations from the true Gospel which that heresy involves. Now, it is this re- fusal to hold fellowship with errors of vital moment, it is this earnest contending for saving truth, that leads tourists in the United States, whom chance or choice has thrown into the society of persons opposed in their religious tenets to the evangeli- cal churches, to charge us with uncharita- bleness. Hinc ilia lachryma. We deny not that in some of the divis- ions of Churches that have taken place in the United States, men have at times permitted themselves to speak and write with an acrimony unbecoming the Gos- pel, and, by so doing, may have made an unfavourable impression on foreigners. But such cases have been local and ex- ceptional rather than general and ordina- ry, and never could justify any sweeping charge against the evangelical denomina- tions as a body. BOOK VII. UNEVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Having thus reviewed, as far as the compass of our work will permit, the Evan- gelical Churches or Denominations in the United States of America, we come now to speak of those that are considered as unevangelical by Orthodox Protestants ; and under this head we shall, for conve- nience' sake, range all those sects that either renounce, or fail faithfully to exhib it, the fundamental and saving truths of the Gospel. Here, however, let us not be misunderstood. When we put Roman Catholics in the same category with Uni- tarians, we would not for a moment be supposed as placing them on the same foot- ing. The former, doubtless, as a Church, hold those doctrines on which true believ- ers in all ages have placed their hopes for eternal life, yet these have been so buried 270 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIL amid the rubbish of multiplied human tra- ditions and inventions, as to remain hid from the great mass of the people. Still, as in their doctrinal formularies they have not denied " the Lord that bought them," however much they may have multiplied other " saviours," they must not be con- founded with those who have openly re- jected that " sure foundation which is laid in Zion." While, therefore, we must de- plore " their holding the truth in unrigh- teousness," and instead of presenting through their numerous priesthood the simple and fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, their supplanting these, in a great measure, by introducing " another Gos- pel," we would not say that an enlight- ened mind may not find in their church the way of life, obstructed though it be by innumerable obstacles. Neither would we be thought to put the Unitarians on the same footing with the Universalists. The moral influence of the preaching of the former, and their standing in society, make them far more valuable than the latter as a component part of the general population. Nor would we put the Jews, or even the more serious part of the Universalists, on the same level with " Socialists," " Shakers," and " Mor- mons." All that we mean by putting these vari- ous bodies in one category is, that they can none of them be associated with the evangelical Protestant Churches — with churches whose religion is the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible — nor, indeed, do we suppose that, however much they may dislike being all reviewed in one and the same section of this work, they would any of them choose to be as- sociated with the evangelical Protestant communions, or challenge for themselves that appellation. The doctrines and economy of the Ro- man Catholics being Avell known almost everywhere, a very general account of that Church may suffice, though it is by far the most important of all the bodies that are to be noticed in this section of our work. As the appearance, and the spread of Unitarianism in " the land of the Pilgrims," on the other hand, has been mat- ter of much surprise and curiosity in Eu- rope, as full an account of its rise, prog- ress, and present prospects in the United States will be given as our plan will per- mit. Of the other bodies that find a place here, we shall take such a notice, at least, as will enable the reader to form a correct idea of their true character and present condition. CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Maryland, we have seen, was original- ly a Roman Catholic colony, founded on most liberal principles, under the auspi- ces and through the exertions of Lord Bal- timore. And although Protestant Episco- pacy was established in the colony under the reign of William and Mary, the laws of England against Roman Catholics be- ing at the same time rigorously enforced, they continued, nevertheless, to form the most numerous and influential body in the province down to the American Revolu- tion. Even to this day, though now but a small minority of the entire population, not exceeding, in fact, 80,000, and inferior in point of numbers both to the Protestant Episcopalians and Methodists, they have much influence, and are perhaps the wealth- iest communion in the state. Except in Pennsylvania and Rhode Isl- and, I am not aware that the Roman Cath- olics anywhere enjoyed their fair share of political rights at the commencement of the war of the Revolution, but now, I be- lieve, they are everywhere upon the same footing with others, and enjoy all the po- litical privileges that our Constitution af- fords.* * I have often heard Roman Catholics in Europe reproach the Protestants of the United States with intolerance ; and in proof of this, they have chiefly urged the burning by the populace of a convent at Charlestown, near Boston, in 1834. That, indeed, is the only case, I believe, which even they them- selves can possibly urge as amounting to persecution ; and as, in the notoriety that it. has obtained, it has been sadly misrepresented, especially by the late Bishop England, in his letters to the Propaganda Society, I need make no apology for taking some notice of it. The convent in question, which was one of Ursu- line Sisters, and was founded in 1820, was rather a boarding-school for girls than anything else. The number of nuns varied from eight to ten, and that of the pupils from twenty to sixty. The buildings, fur- niture, and grounds were ample and valuable. The occasion of its being destroyed was as follows : One of the nuns, a Miss Harrison, who taught music, while suffering from temporary derangement caused by excitement, left the establishment for a short time. Hence a report that she had been ill treated, which soon spread through the adjacent borough ol Charlestown, and then through Boston, which is within two miles' distance. Strong suspicions having been entertained for several years, on what founda- tion I know not, of highly improper conduct on the part of some of the nuns, Miss Harrison's case in- flamed the minds of the populace, and led to a riot on the night of August 11th, 1834, ending in the en- tire destruction of the convent with all its furniture, the actors being for the most part young men and boys from Charlestown and Boston. This outrage was condemned in the strongest terms by all respect- able people, and an able report was published a few days afterward, and subscribed by thirty-seven Bos- ton Protestants, all of the highest moral respectabil- ity, in which the reputation of the convent was de- cidedly, and I dare say justly, vindicated. Some of the rioters were identified and punished, and a con- siderable portion of the public demanded that the Chap. II.] ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 271 The acquisition of Louisiana, in 1803, and of Florida in 1821, very considerably increased the Roman Catholic population of the country. To this must be added an immense immigration from Europe, main- ly from Ireland and Germany, during the last sixty, still more during the last twen- ty-five years. At the beginning of 1844 they were estimated, by well-informed Roman Catholics, at 1,300,000 souls in all. Their increase has been rapid since the Revolution, partly owing to the above- mentioned territorial acquisitions, partly to conversions, but most of all to immigra- tion. According to the Metropolitan Cath- olic Almanac for 1844, published at Balti- more, there were at that time in the United States, 21 Diocesses. 1 Apostolic Vicariate. 1 Archbishop, 17 bishops in service, and 8 bish- ops elect. 634 Priests, of whom 520 are employed in the min- istry, and 114 as professors of colleges, &c. 611 Churches, and 66 building. 461 Other stations for preaching, where churches had yet to be built. In all, 1072 places for preaching. 19 Ecclesiastical Seminaries. 261 Clerical students. 16 Literary institutions for young men, whereof 12 or 13 are incorporated colleges. 45 Female religious institutions (convents). 48 Female academies. The Roman Catholics have seven week- ly papers, of which one appears in Ger- man, and three monthly, and one annual periodical. It is clear, from all this, that the Roman Catholic Church has gained a firm and ex- tensive footing in the United States. The building of fifty church edifices in one year is a large increase for a denomination be- lieved to influence, more or less directly, 1,300,000 of the country's inhabitants. For such objects large sums are received from the Propaganda Society in France, and the Leopold Society in Austria. It is be- lieved that nearly 6135,000 were received in 1842 from these two sources.* State of Massachusetts should indemnify the Roman Catholics for the loss they had sustained. I regret that, from various causes, no indemnification has to this day been made, mainly, I believe, because it was insisted that the state should rebuild the convent — a demand opposed by many who would grant a full pecuniary compensation, but have no idea that the state, as such, should give any apparent sanction to an establishment of that kind. It ought to be known, however, that the convent at Charlestown was not destroyed because it was a Roman Catholic institution. Indeed, I am satisfied, from what I heard at Boston a few weeks after its destruction, that had it been a Protestant one it would, under the same circumstances, have shared the same fate. This forms no justification of the barbarous act, nor even a palliation of it ; but it does show that it was not owing to hostility to its occu- pants because they were Roman Catholics. * If the Roman Catholics in the United States receive aid from their brethren in Europe, they also The assertion has often been made by the opponents of the Roman Catholics in the United States, that they never can be safe citizens of a republic, and that the predominance of their church would in- volve the overthrow of our political Con- stitution. Such an opinion must rest, I should think, on the presumed hatred of the priests to republican institutions, and the impossibility of counteracting the in- fluence they possess over their people. However this may be, many valuable citi- zens and stern patriots in this country have belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and it remains to be seen how far it is possible for the Roman Catholic priests to obtain or exercise the same influence over their followers here that they pos- sess hi some European countries. One thing is certain : the Protestant population, and the clergy in particular, are not likely to be indifferent to their movements. The last few years have witnessed a great deal of discussion in the United States on the doctrines and influence of Romanism, and much distinguished talent and deep re- search have been exhibited in the course of it.* Neither has this discussion been confined to any particular denomination of evangelical Protestants, but has extended almost to every pulpit in every branch of that body. Never was there so general a determination to give publicity to the opin- ions they entertain of the character and tendency of the Roman Catholic religion ; nor have its friends and abettors been si- lent under these attacks. Much curiosity is felt in Europe as to how far the increase of the Roman Catho- lics in the United States arises from pros- elytism. No doubt it may partly be as- cribed to that, but much more to the im- migration of Roman Catholics, and of per- sons of Roman Catholic origin from Eu- rope. As for proselytism, the Protestants probably gain as much as the Roman Cath- olics from that source. f The Roman Catholics of the United States have done much for the establish- ment of schools and other institutions of learning ; and among their priests and higher clergy there is a considerable num- sometimes give aid to their friends in the Old World. For instance, large sums have lately been raised in our chief cities to aid in building a magnificent ca- thedral at Ardah, in the centre of Ireland. * Among the ablest writers on this subject may be reckoned the Rev. Drs. Brownlee and R. J. Breck- inridge, and the Rev. Messrs. Boardman and Berg. To these may be added the late Rev. Drs. John Breckinridge and Nevins, men of distinguished piety and learning, and whose memory is precious to many of the churches in America. Among the Roman Catholics, the late Bishop England and Bishop Hughes have been the most able disputants. t Captain Marryat, in his work on the United States, asserts that the Roman Catholics are in- creasing rapidly in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and other 272 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. ber of men of distinguished talents and extensive erudition. A considerable proportion of the sums received from Europe is laid out in build- ing churches and cathedrals, several of which are costly and splendid edifices. That at Baltimore cost $300,000 ; those of Cincinnati and St. Louis cost much less, yet are large and showy buildings. A visiter from Europe would, on enter- ing the Roman Catholic churches of the United States, be struck with the few pic- tures and other such ornaments that they exhibit. This may arise from time and money being required for such things. The priests, too, dress like other citizens when not engaged in their official duties. Nor will it escape a stranger from any part of Roman Catholic Europe, that processions and religious services in the streets are hardly ever seen in the United States. By the rapid multiplication of their priests in the United States the Roman Catholics have, no doubt, checked those conversions from their church to Protest- antism which were frequent in former times. Bishop England, in one of his let- ters to the Propaganda, stated, a few years ago, that " the Church" had lost no fewer than 50,000 of her legitimate children in his diocess by such conversions, for want of shepherds to look after them. But whatever may be the fact in regard to the increase of the Roman Catholics in the United States, or whatever may be the zeal and activity of the Protestants to pre- vent that increase, there is no well-inform- ed American who does not rejoice in the perfect religious liberty which exists for all ; nor is there wanting a good degree of kindness and social intercourse among men of all religious opinions ; while as to the government, it fulfils the declaration of the Carthaginian queen : " Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur." parts of the Valley of the Mississippi, and states it as his opinion that theirs will, at no distant day, be the predominant religion in all that region. But his mere opinion, unsupported by authentic statistical documents, is really of very little worth in such mat- ters. The gallant captain is at home on the seas, but when he attempts to describe the moral and religious state of the American Confederation, he is evidently in a world of which he knows little or nothing. A man who could allow himself to be hoaxed as he was when in this country — an author who could believe, and gravely relate, that the excessive modesty of the young ladies there leads them to put pantaloons on the legs of their pianos — is hardly fit for the task of carefully collecting and comparing facts, and de- ducing from them fair conclusions. CHAPTER III. UNITARIANISM. To understand the history of Unitarian- ism in New-England, the reader must have a clear idea of the leading ecclesiastical usages of the Puritans, and of the principles on which they were founded. The Puritans held that all men are by nature destitute of true piety; that they naturally grow up in the practice of sin ; and that no one becomes religious except by a change in his habits of thought, feel- ing, and conduct, which they ascribed to the special operation of the Holy Spirit as its supernatural cause. They believed that the truly pious are ordinarily conscious of this change in the action of their own minds when it takes place, and are able to describe it, though they may not then know that the change of which they are con- scious is regeneration. In some cases, they admitted, the man is not aware of any change at the time of his conversion ; yet he will be conscious of exercises after- ward, such as no unregenerate man ever has, and he can describe them. Some may be regenerated in infancy, which it is lawful for us to hope is the case with all who die before they are old enough to profit by the external means of grace. If any of them live to maturity they will not be able to remember the time of their change, but they will be conscious of sen- sible love to God and holiness, penitence for sin and other pious exercises, and can give an account of them. They believed, therefore, that every converted person who has arrived at the age of discretion, has a religious " experience" which he can tell, and by hearing which other pious per- sons may judge of his piety. The evi- dence thus afforded, however, was to be compared with his conduct in all the rela- tions of life, and if this also was " such as becometh saints," he was to be accounted a pious man. A church they held to be " a company of faithful persons," that is, persons who have saving faith, regenerate persons, agreeing and consenting " to* meet con- stantly together in one congregation for the public worship of God and their mutual edification ; which real agreement and consent they do express by their constant practice in coming together for the wor- ship of God, and by their religious subjec- tion," that is, by subjecting themselves voluntarily, from religious motives, " to the ordinances of God therein."* To become a member of a church, ac- cording to these principles, a person must voluntarily apply for admission. But if the admission were open to all applicants, bad men would come in, who neither knew their duty, nor were willing to perform it. * Cambridge Platform, 1648, chap, iv., sec. 4. Chap. III.] UNITARIANISM. 273 With such members, Congregationalism would not be a safe system of church gov- ernment. The applicant must, therefore, furnish evidence of his fitness for member- ship. He must give an account of his re- ligious experience. This being satisfac- tory, he must be " propounded ;" that is, his application for membership must be announced from the pulpit, and his admis- sion must be deferred for a given time, that all the members might have opportunity to acquaint themselves with his life and con- versation. These being found such as the Gospel requires, he was allowed to become a member, by publicly entering into cove- nant with the Church and with God. It must be particularly observed, that the burden of proof rested on the applicant. Every man, the Puritans held, is born in sin ; and if no evidence of a change ap- pears, the presumption is, that he is still in his sins. They regarded and treated all in whom no evidence of regeneration appeared as unregenerated ; as persons who must yet be converted or finally perish. Throughout Christendom, in that age, neither Jews, Turks, pagans, infidels, nor excommunicated persons could enjoy the full privileges of citizenship. These priv- leges belonged only to persons who were in communion with the churches estab- lished by law. The same rule was adopted in New-England. None but members of the churches could hold offices or vote at elections. Here, however, it operated as it did nowhere else. As the churches contained only those who were, in the judgment of charity, regenerate persons, a large portion of the people, among whom were many persons of intelligence, of good moral character, and orthodox in their creed, were excluded from valuable civil privileges. The principles on which this system was founded the Puritans brought with them from England ; but the system was first brought to maturity here ; and New-Eng- land Congregationalists, when on visits to their fatherland, did much towards giving its form and character to the Congrega- tionalism that afterward prevailed there. The system appears to have been adopted in 1648, with a good degree of unanimity ; but as the number of unconverted adults increased, both by immigration and by the growing up of children without piety, there was an increasing dissatisfaction with it. By the year 1662, such a change of opin- ions had been wrought that what was called the " half-way covenant" was introduced, by a recommendation of a general Synod. According to this new system, persons baptized in infancy were to be considered members of the church to which their parents belonged ; though they were not to be admitted to the Lord's table without S evidence of regeneration. Such persons, on arriving at maturity, " understanding the doctrine of faith, and publicly profess- ing their assent thereto, not scandalous in life, and solemnly owning the covenant before the church, wherein they give up themselves and their children to the Lord, and subject themselves to the government of Christ in the church," had a right to Baptism for their children. This was an important change. It relieved the appli- cant for church membership from the ne- cessity of furnishing evidence of his piety, and obliged the church, if it would exclude him, to prove that he was heretical in his opinions or scandalous in his life. This change was strenuously opposed ; and as the synod had only advisory power, and many churches disapproved its decisions, it never became universal. One step more remained to be taken. In 1704, " the venerable Stoddard," of North- ampton, avowed his belief that unregener- ate persons ought to partake of the Lord's Supper ; and in 1707 he published a ser- mon in defence of that doctrine. He main- tained that the Lord's Supper is a means of regeneration, and that unrenewed men, regarding themselves, and being regarded by the church as such, ought to partake of it as a means of procuring that desirable change in their own hearts. One of his arguments was, that it is impossible to dis- tinguish the regenerate from the unregen- erate, so as to admit the former and ex- clude the latter. After some controversy, this doctrine gained an extensive preva- lence among the churches which had adopted the " half-way covenant" system. Among these churches, the principles and rules of admission were now completely reversed. The church was now obliged to convict the applicant of a scandalous life, or of heresy, or admit him to full com- munion : and one reason for it was, the supposed impossibility of judging whether he was regenerate or not. Stoddard was a decided Calvinist ; but his system fostered the growth of Armini- anism. It taught the impenitent that they had something to do before repentance, as a means of obtaining saving grace. The unregenerate communicant supposed him- self to be obediently walking in the way which God had appointed for such persons as himself. He could not, therefore, feel much to blame for being what he was, or much afraid that God would remove him from the world without first preparing him for heaven. This, combined with the be- lief that the regenerate could not be distin- guished from the unregenerate by their Christian experience, was enough to throw the conscience into a profound sleep. The labours of the great Edwards, and the " revival of 1740," as it is usually called, form the next turning-point in this 2T4 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII feistory. Edwards was the grandson of " the venerable Stoddard," and his succes- sor at Northampton. In consequence of the manifest increase of Anninianism, and the consequent habit of relying on works done in impenitence as a means of prepa- ring for heaven, Edwards commenced his course of sermons on justification by faith. These discourses, and others on kindred topics, were the means of a very powerful revival, which became fully developed at Northampton early in 1735, and spread into many other towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The converts in this revival were generally able to give a clear account of the exercises of their own minds in their awakening, their conviction of sin, their submission to God, and ac- ceptance of Christ as their all-sufficient Saviour. So many undeniable instances, in which the regenerate could be distin- guished from the unregenerate by the his- tory of their religious exercises, gave a serious shock to the doctrine that making such a distinction is impossible. It taught ministers to hope and labour for conver- sions of which evidence could be found. It made those who had no evidence of their own conversion afraid that they were still unregenerate. By special request, Ed- wards prepared a narrative of these " Sur- prising Conversions," which was printed in London, with an introduction by the Rev. Drs. Watts and Guise. It was soon reprinted in Boston, and was extensively read, and exerted a powerful influence on both sides of the Atlantic. From this time there continued to be similar revivals, on a smaller scale, in va- rious parts of New-England. In 1739, and the beginning of 1740, they were evidently increasing. The celebrated Whitfield, who was ordained in 1736, had already exci- ted much attention in England, and was preaching with great success in the South- ern American colonies. To help forward this good work, he was invited to Boston, where he arrived in October, 1740. The exciting point of his doctrine was the ne- cessity of a sensible change of heart in order to preparation for heaven. Like the old Puritans, and like Edwards, he held that every man is born in sin, and unless some evidence appears to the contrary, is to be esteemed an heir of perdition. The believers of this doctrine had always been numerous and powerful both among the clergy and in the churches of New- England ; and by those who were not its believers, it was rather neglected than op- posed. It was now brought home to men's hearts as they had never known it to be before. All have heard of the eloquence of Whitfield ; and that of Edwards, though in a different style, was at least equally effective, and more sure to leave perma- nent results. These men had powerful allies in several of the pastors in Boston and other parts of New-England, and especially in the Tennents, and their fel- low-labourers in New-Jersey and Penn- sylvania. These men assumed as an established truth, and proclaimed with all possible dis- tinctness and earnestness, the doctrine that regeneration is a change accompanied with evidence by which it may be proved, and that all in whom no such evidence is found are unregenerate, and in the broad road to perdition. They preached to them, accord- ingly, not as Christians who needed in- struction, but as impenitent, enemies of God and righteousness, who must be con- verted or perish forever. Multitudes were awakened, convinced, converted ; and in a few years, tens of thousands were added to the churches ; and other multitudes who were already in the churches, were in like manner awakened and brought to repent- ance. Such an attack on men's hopes of heaven could not fail to provoke resistance. As has been shown already, the habit had been formed of hoping favourably concerning all who were not proved guilty of heresy or immorality, and of admitting all such to the communion of the churches, for this reason, among others, that perhaps they were regenerate. The promoters of the revival made unsparing war upon all such hopes, and pronounced all who had nothing else to rest upon, heirs of perdition. This their opponents called " censoriousness ;" and those who practised it were denounced as uncharitable, as usurpers of God's pre- rogative of judging the heart, as fanatics who delighted to throw orderly, quiet Chris- tians into needless alarm. Such was the usual language of that part of the clergy who leaned strongly towards Anninianism, of their followers, and of many others. Some zealous promoters of the revival were guilty of great errors, and really de- served these reproaches ; and its adversa- ries were not slow in seizing the advan- tage thus brought within their reach. They convinced many that the revival was made up of uncharitableness and fanaticism, and thus succeeded in setting limits to its prog- ress. In a few years after the commencement of this revival, Edwards became so fully convinced that the prevailing system of ad- mission to the communion, introduced by his grandfather and predecessor, was wrong, that he could no longer practise it. He published his " Treatise on the Qualifica- tions for Full Communion," in which he maintained that none ought to be admitted without such a declaration concerning the exercises of their own minds as, if true, would imply that they were regenerate per- sons. This change of opinion led to his dis- mission in 1750. His doctrine on this point,. Chap. III.] UNITARIANI SM. 275 however, even then, had many advocates. It spread rapidly among the friends of the revival, and is now held by all the Congre- gational churches of New-England that have not become Unitarian. Where the system of Stoddard and the half-way cov- enant have not been abolished by a formal vote, they have fallen into disuse, for none think it right to practise according to them. The ancient doctrine of the Puritans has been restored, and evidence of piety is re- quired of those who would become mem- bers of the Church. The principal faults charged upon the promoters of the revival by its opponents were censoriousnessand undue excitement. They laboured to exclude both from their own parishes, and, as far as they could, from the country. To a considerable ex- tent they were successful. The}' produced a profound calm on the subject of religion among all who were governed by their in- fluence — a calm which amounted to indif- ference. And as to censoriousness, they adhered to the practice of admitting men to the communion of the church without evidence of their piety. Their doctrine was, that every man's piety is to be taken for granted, unless some scandalous error of doctrine or practice proves him destitute of it. The most important characteristic — the fundamental element — of New-England Unitarianism was now fully developed. A party was formed, the members of which condemned and avoided all solicitude con- cerning their own spiritual condition or that of others. "When this state of mind had been pro- duced and confirmed, the remainder of the process was natural and easy. As in this party there was to be no strong feeling with respect to religion, except a strong unwill- ingness to be disturbed by the " censori- ousness" of others, there could, of course, be no vigorous opposition to a change in doctrines, no vigilance against error. A system of doctrines, too, was wanted, con- taining nothing to alarm the fears or dis- turb the repose of the members of the par- ty. The doctrines of man's apostacy from God, and dependance on mere grace for salvation, of the necessity of an atonement by the blood of the Son of God, and of re- generation by the special influence of the Holy Spirit, were felt to be alarming doc- trines. They were the doctrines by which Edwards and others had filled their hear- ers with anxiety, and produced excitement. They were therefore laid aside ; but silent- ly and without controversy, for controver- sy might have produced feeling. Men were suffered to forget that the Son and the Spir- it have anything important to do in the work of man's salvation ; and then it be- came easy to overlook their existence. In this way the Unitarian party was formed, and furnished with all its essential attri- butes long before Unitarian doctrines were openly avowed, and probably long before they were distinctly embraced in theory, except by a very small number. Unitarianism being introduced in this manner, it is evident that no distinct ac- count of the successive steps of its progress can be given. The revivalists of 1740 as- serted that " Socinianism" was even then in the land. This assertion was then re- pelled as a slander ; but Unitarians now admit and assert that several leading op- ponents of the revival were Unitarians at that time, or soon after. The prevalence of Unitarianism, however, was not then extensive. The greater part of those who are now claimed as having then belonged to the " liberal" party were only Armini- ans, or, at the farthest, Pelagians ; and some of them were decided Calvinists. From 1744 to 1762 the colonies were engaged, almost incessantly, in the wars that secured them against the arms of France. In 1765 troubles with England began, and continued till 1783. Then came the formation of our system of gov- ernment, and the anxious period of its early operations. Thus the attention of men was drawn off from religion, and fixed on other subjects for about half a century, affording a favourable opportunity for hab- its of indifference to become confirmed, and for error to make progress unobserved. Yet it was not wholly unobserved. In 1768, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins preached in Boston on the divinity of Christ, and pub- lished the sermon, assigning as a reason for the choice of this subject, his belief that it was needed there. From time to time other testimonies appeared of similar char- acter. The first congregation that became avowedly Unitarian was that at the " King's Chapel," in Boston. It was Epis- copalian. Being without a pastor, they employed Mr. Freeman, afterward Dr. Freeman, as reader, in 1782. In 1785 he succeeded in introducing a revised liturgy, from which the doctrine of the Trinity was struck out. He applied to several American bishops for ordination, but none would ordain him. He was, therefore, or- dained by the church- wardens, in 1787. For many years he maintained a constant correspondence with the leading Unitari- ans in England, and was a convenient me- dium of communication between them and the secret adherents of the same doctrines in America. The first Unitarian book by an Ameri- can author is said to have been " Ballou on the Atonement," published in 1803. Mr. Ballou was pastor of a Universalist socie- ty in Boston. But the term Universalist must not be understood here as it often is in Europe. It designates the belief that all intelligent beings — men and devils, if 276 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. there are any devils — will be saved. Some Universalists hold that all men at death pass directly into heaven ; others, that a part of mankind will undergo a limited punishment in hell, or, rather, in purgato- ry, in proportion to the number and atroci- ty of their sins. The doctrine has been favoured by a few men of considerable learning and respectable morals ; but its chief success has been among the igno- rant, the vulgar, and the vicious, not one of whom was ever known to be reformed by it. Mr. Ballou was a man of some ge- nius, but little learning. His works have done something to diffuse Unitarian opin- ions among Universalists. A Mr. Sher- man, in Connecticut, published in favour of Unitarianism in 1805. He was dismiss- ed from his pastoral charge about the same time, and in a few years left the ministry and lost his character. In 1810, Thomas and Noah Worcester began to publish their modification of Arianism in New-Hamp- shire. The same year the church in Cov- entry, Connecticut, became suspicious that their pastor, the Rev. Abiel Abbot, was a Unitarian. The subject was brought be- fore the Consociation to which that church belonged, and he was dismissed. He then called together a council, composed chiefly of men suspected of Unitarianism, who dismissed him a second time, and gave him a certificate of regular standing. The irregularity of this transaction called forth many expressions of disapprobation. In and around Boston no Congregational church had yet avowed itself Unitarian. Harvard College had an orthodox presi- dent and professor of theology till after the commencement of the present century. After the death of Professor Tappan, in 1804, the Rev. Dr. Ware was elected as his successor. While the question of his election was pending, a suspicion of his Unitarianism was suggested, but it was repelled by his friends as a calumny. Even when President Kirkland was elect- ed, in 1812, it has been said, on high Uni- tarian authority, that he could not have been elected if he had been known as a defender of Unitarianism. No pastor of a Congregational church in or near Boston had yet avowed himself a Unitarian, either from the pulpit or the press. Yet the style of preaching adopted by many was such as to excite suspicion ; several periodicals openly advocated Uni- tarianism, and Unitarian books were im- ported and published in considerable num- bers. Orthodox ministers, when attending councils for ordaining pastors, found them- selves opposed and thwarted in their at- tempts to ascertain the theological views of the candidates. Many other circum- stances indicated the presence and secret diffusion of error ; but the means were wanting of fastening the charge upon indi- viduals. There was, therefore, an increase of preaching and publishing against Unita- rianism. In the Panoplist, a monthly mag- azine commenced in Boston in 1806, this subject received special attention ; but all its warnings were denounced as " calum- ny." The facts, however, could not be much longer concealed. In 1812, the memoir of Lindsay, by Bel- sham, Avas published in London. Only a few copies of the work were imported, and these were carefully kept from the sight of all but a select few for nearly three years. At length, the Rev. Dr. Morse, af- ter months of fruitless effort, succeeded in obtaining possession of a copy. The ac- count there given of Unitarianism in Amer- ica was extracted and published in a pam- phlet. It contained letters from several leading Unitarians in Boston, especially Dr. Freeman, of various dates, from 1796, or thereabout, to 1812. In these letters the spread of Unitarianism, and the means used to promote it, were described without reserve. Concealment was no longer pos- sible. Unitarianism was, therefore, open- ly avowed by those who had been detect- ed, and by others whose character and in- terests were closely identified with theirs. The ecclesiastical results of this disclo- sure need to be particularly explained. Among Congregationalists, each church, that is, each congregation of covenanted believers, has full power to manage its own ecclesiastical concerns, without sub- ordination to any earthly tribunal. There was no way, therefore, of compelling churches that had become Unitarian to part with their Unitarian pastors. On the same principle, pastors and churches that continued orthodox were at liberty to with- hold Christian fellowship from those in whom they had no confidence. There was no means of compelling orthodox minis- ters and churches to perform any act by which a Unitarian would be virtually ac- knowledged as a Christian minister, or his church as a Christian church. Orthodox ministers, therefore, refused to exchange pulpit labours on the Sabbath with those whom they believed to be Unitarians, or to sit with them in ecclesiastical councils, or in any other way to recognise them as ministers of Christ. This practice, how- ever, was adopted gradually. Many or- thodox men were slow in believing that one and another of their neighbours was a Unitarian ; and many undecided men con- trived to avoid for some time a declara- tion in favour of either party, and to keep on good terms with both. At length, how- ever, successive disclosures made the di- viding line so visible, throughout its whole length, that every man knew his own side of it, and the parties are completely sep- arated without any formal excommunica- tion of one by the other. They meet only Chap. III.] U N I T A R I A N I S M. 277 once in a year in the " General Conven- tion of Congregational Ministers," and they continue to meet together there only on account of a fund of about 100,000 dollars for the support of their widows. On the publication of Mr. Belsham's dis- closures, it was found that all the Congre- gational churches in Boston had become Unitarian, except the Old South and Park- street, which last had been established within a few years by some zealous Trin- itarians. The whole number of Unitarian churches in various parts of New-England, but mostly in the eastern part of Massa- chusetts, was supposed to be about sev- enty-five, though subsequent disclosures showed it to have been considerably lar- ger. They had then almost entire pos- session of Harvard College ; and, by a change in its charter, deliberately planned some years before, but hurried through the Legislature at a favourable moment, they secured the control of it to their party. A considerable number of churches in Massachusetts had funds, given by the pi- ous of former generations, for the support of the ministry and of Christian ordinan- ces. The main object of the donors was to secure to their descendants, in perpetui- ty, the services of learned, pious, and or- thodox pastors ; and the funds were com- mitted to the church, and not to the parish, because the church, being composed of per- sons of approved piety, would guard them most effectually against perversion. Such was the case with the First Church in Ded- ham. In 1818, a majority of the inhabitants of the parish with which that church was connected chose a Unitarian to be their pastor. The church refused to receive him as their pastor. A few of its members, however, seceded from the church, chose the Unitarian for their pastor, and com- menced a lawsuit against the church for the possession of its property. In March, 1821, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts decided in their favour, and established the principle that, in all such cases, those who act with the majority of the parish are the church, and have a right to the funds. By this decision many churches have been deprived of their funds, their houses of worship, and even the furniture of their communion-table ; and many Unitarian churches owe their existence to means thus obtained. After this decision the existence of a church, as distinct from the parish, became unimportant among Unitarians. Its sec- ular interests were wholly in the power of the parish, and might as well be held by the parish directly. Their churches, as has been shown, were never intended to be bodies from which the unregenerate should be excluded. There was, therefore, no longer any important end to be answered by their existence. Generally, it has not been thought best to disband them ; but in a considerable number of instances they have been suffered to become extinct, and there remains only the parish and the pas- tor, who administers the ordinances indis- criminately to all who desire it. Accord- ing to some of their own writers, the re- sult is that the ordinances become cheap in men's esteem, and few care to receive them. Church discipline, of course, has fallen into entire disuse. The discipline of the clergy appears to be also extinct. If any of their clergy become scandalous- ly immoral, they are not formally deposed from the ministry, or visited with any ec- clesiastical censure, but are allowed to continue in office till their reputation be- comes such that none will employ them, and then to retire silently to private life. In 1825 the number of Unitarian con- gregations was estimated at 120. Now, in 1844, they are said to amount to 230. There are several causes of this increase. In 1825 the process of taking sides was not completed. Of the few which then remained without character, a part have doubtless become decidedly Unitarian. Mr. Ballou's work on the atonement has already been mentioned as the first Uni- tarian work by an American author. That and other works of a similar character prepared the Universal ists, somewhat ex- tensively, to avow Unitarian opinions. The Unitarians have, to a great extent, and it is believed generally, embraced the doctrine of the final salvation of all men. There is, therefore, no doctrinal distinc- tion between the two sects. As Unitari- anism is esteemed the more genteel reli- gion of the two, Universalists are under a strong temptation to change their name, and call themselves Unitarians. Such changes very naturally occur when a Uni- versalis! congregation becomes vacant, and a Unitarian preacher of acceptable address offers himself as a candidate. Sometimes congregations change from one of these sects to the other, and back again, as tem- porary convenience dictates. Unitarianism, as has been shown, ori- ginally grew out of a dislike to the prac- tice of requiring evidence of piety in can- didates for admission to the churches. There are many, in various parts of the country, in whom this fundamental feeling of the sect is very strong, but who are yet unwilling to live without some form of re- ligion. They are easily organized into a society which requires no creed, and sub- jects them to no discipline. Societies thus formed, however, often vanish as ea- sily and suddenly as they are made. In 1787 a "Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North America" was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts. It acquired permanent funds to the amount of 9000 278 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. dollars. It elects its own members ; and a majority of them having proved to be Unitarian, the society has passed wholly into the hands of that sect. It expends the income of its fund in supporting two or three preachers among the remnants of Indian tribes in New-England. One or two other unimportant societies, not ori- ginally formed by them, have in like man- ner passed under their control. They have no organization for foreign missions. To the Bible Society they contribute some- thing, but the amount is not known. The " American Unitarian Association," formed in 1825, is their principal organ- ization for united action. Its object is de- clared to be " to diffuse the knowledge and promote the interests of pure Chris- tianity throughout our country." Its six- teenth annual report gives the names of 117 clergymen who have been made life members by the payment of thirty dol- lars each, of whom eight are dead. The whole number of life members are stated at 374. It expended during the year end- ing in May, 1841, the sum of 4962 dollars, which was 81 dollars 89 cents more, than its receipts. The expenses of adminis- tration were, the salary of the general agent, 1800; his travelling expenses, 100; office rent, 200 ; total, 2100 dollars ; being very nearly three sevenths of the whole. This association has published 179 dif- ferent tracts, the prices of which vary from one cent to six cents. During the year ending in May, 1841, it aided sixteen destitute congregations, of which ten were in New-England, three in the State of New- York, and three in the Western States. The lowest appropriation for this purpose was thirty dollars, and the highest 300. It also expended 570 dollars for mission- ary services, of which 530 were expended to the west of New-England. The smallness of the amount expended by Unitarians in the way of associated ac- tion is not to be ascribed to parsimony, but to religious indifference. A large part of the wealth of Boston, and of the east- ern part of Massachusetts, is in their hands ; and their capitalists have made many splen- did donations to literary, scientific, and hu- mane institutions. Their churches probably contain some truly regenerate persons, who became members of them before they were avow- edly Unitarian, and who remain there from reverence for ancient usages, attachment to the places where their ancestors wor- shipped, and other similar causes. Others of them are men of stern and almost Puri- tanic morality, who have had from infan- cy great reverence for religion in the gross, but have never seriously studied its application to themselves in the detail of its doctrines and duties, and who would have remained steadfast members of the same congregations just as quietly had those congregations remained orthodox. In philosophy the Unitarians of New- England were at first, and for some years, followers of Locke ; holding that all our ideas, or, at least, the elements of which they are formed, are received through the senses. Very naturally, therefore, they built their belief of Christianity wholly on evidence addressed to the senses. They believed that miracles had been wrought, because it appeared so extremely improb- able that the apostles were deceived con- cerning them, or attempted to deceive oth- ers"; or that the canonical writings ascri- bed to them are spurious ; or that the ac- counts of miracles which they contain are interpolations. Those miracles they held to be the testimony of God, addressed to the senses of men, proving the truth of Christianity. Yet they did not admit the infallibility of the apostolic writings as we have them. Many of them held that the authors of the several parts of the New Testament had no inspiration which se- cured them against mistakes and false reasoning ; and they very generally held, that strong texts in favour of the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, or the personality of the Holy Spirit, must be interpolations or corruptions. Their religious guide, therefore, was so much ot the Bible as they judged to be true ; and their religion was, in its theory, the con- formity of their hearts and lives to certain external rules, which, in all probability, were originally given by God, and which have been transmitted to us in a record which is not free from error. To this, in- dividuals among them appended more oi less of sentiment and imagination, accord- ing to the prompting of their own genius. A system like this can never long continue to satisfy any community. It fails to meet certain feelings of spiritual want, which are sure to spring up in many minds, Hence there has been among the more se- rious, ever since the separation, a gradual going over to orthodoxy, which has retard* ed the growth of Unitarianism. Now the orthodox Congregational churches in Bos- ten are about as numerous as the Unita- rian, and the worshippers much more nu- merous ; and the result is similar in the surrounding country. A few years since, German Transcen- dentalism made its appearance among the Unitarian clergy, and has spread rapidly. Its adherents, generally, are not very pro- found thinkers, nor very well acquainted with the philosophy which they have em- braced, or with the evidence on which it rests. It promises to relieve its disciples from the necessity of building their reli- gious faith and hopes on probabilities, how- ever strong, and to give them an intuitive and infallible knowledge of all that is es- Chap. III.] UNITARIANISM. 279 f.ential in religion ; and it affords an un- limited range for the play of the imagina- tion. It has charms, therefore, for the con- templative and for the enthusiastic. The controversy on this subject became public in 1836. It was brought out by an article in the Christian Examiner, main- taining that our faith in Christianity does not rest on the evidence of miracles ; that a record of miracles, however attested, can prove nothing in favour of a religion not previously seen to be true ; and that, there- fore, we need to see and admit the reason- ableness and truth^)f the doctrines of Chris- tianity, before we can believe that miracles were wrought to commend it to mankind. The " Old School" Unitarians, as they called themselves, pronounced this theory infidelity, for it struck at the foundation of the only reasoning by which they proved the truth of Christianity. The controversy was protracted, and somewhat bitter ; but no attempt was made by the " Old School" to separate themselves from those whom they denounced as infidels. The charge of Pantheism is brought against the Transcendentalists generally, by their Unitarian opponents ; and, in fact, some of their publications are evidently Pantheistic, while others are ambiguous in that respect. Some of them have bor- rowed largely from Benjamin Constant, and maintain that all religions, from Feti- chism to the most perfect form of Christi- anity, are essentially of the same nature, being only developments, more or less per- fect, of the religious sentiment which is common to all men. According to them, all men who have any religious thoughts or feelings are so far inspired ; Moses. Minos, and Numa, and a few others, had an unusual degree of inspiration ; and Jesus of Nazareth most of all. They do not believe, however, that even Jesus was so inspired as to be in all cases an infallible teacher; and they declare themselves by no means sure that we shall not yet see his superior. They reject Christ as a me- diator in every sense of the term, and de- clare that, in order to be true Christians, we must hold intercourse with God as Christ himself did, without a mediator. These impious doctrines have been pro- mulgated in periodicals and otherwise, from time to time, with increasing boldness. In the spring of the year 1841, they were put forth without disguise and without re- serve in a sermon at an ordination at South Boston. Several of the leading Unitarian clergy of the " Old School" were present, and took part in the services. It is said that some of them, in performing their parts, uttered sentiments at variance with those of the preacher, from which attentive hear- ers might infer that the sermon did not meet their approbation ; but there was no -explicit condemnation of the sermon either then or afterward, till public attention was called to the subject by three evangelical clergymen who attended the ordination as hearers, and took notes of the discourse. These three witnesses, some weeks after the ordination, published extracts from the sermon in several religious newspapers, and called on the members of the ordaining Council to say whether they recognised the preacher as a Christian minister. Pub- lic attention was roused. Several intelli- gent Unitarian laymen united in the de- mand. Continued silence became imprac- ticable. A number of articles appeared in newspapers and magazines, in which indi- vidual Unitarian ministers denounced the sermon, and pronounced its doctrines deis- tical ; but they carefully avoided the ques- tion, whether its author was recognised by them as a Christian minister. Others of them preached and wrote in his defence. His ecclesiastical relations still remain undisturbed. Some of his Unitarian neigh- bours have recognised his ministerial char- acter by exchanging pulpits with him on the Sabbath ; and he has, in his turn, preached the weekly lecture maintained by the Unitarian clergy of the Boston As- sociation. It is understood, therefore, that the public avowal of doctrines like his, forms no obstacle to a regular standing in the Unitarian ministry. Why was not this defection arrested in its progress by ecclesiastical authority? The answer is easy. In Connecticut, where one or two min- isters became Unitarian while the com- munity remained orthodox, it was done. Those Unitarian ministers were removed from their places, and the progress of error was arrested. In Massachusetts, the de- fection was carried on by a different pro- cess. Men did not fall, one at a time, from orthodoxy into open Unitarianism, but al- most the whole community in the eastern part of the state sunk down gradually and together. For a long time there was no proof by which any one could be convicted of heresy ; and when proof was obtained, the heretics were found to be the majority in the ecclesiastical bodies to which they belonged, and of course, if any process had been commenced, would have decided all questions in their own favour. The friends and abettors of the Congre- gational independence of individual church- es maintain that it has been the means of saving New- England from universal apostacy. Had the Synod in 1662, they say, instead of being merely advisory, possessed jurisdiction over the churches, it would have imposed the half-way cove- nant upon them all. As it was only ad- visory, a considerable number of churches rejected its advice, and adhered to the ancient practice of the Pilgrims.* So, half * Many readers, however, will be of opinion that, 280 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIL a century later, had there been an eccle- siastical government to which all the churches owed obedience, Stoddard's doc- trine of admitting the unregenerate to full communion would have been enforced upon all ; for numbers and influence were in its favour. And when Edwards, after the great revival of 1740, reproclaimed the ancient doctrine concerning church mem- bership, had there been an ecclesiastical tribunal having authority over all the churches, he and his Reformation would have been put down at once, and the ad- mission of the unregenerate to the Lord's fable would have been required of all. And, finally, consider, they still farther say, the state of things in 1815, when conclusive proof was first obtained of the existence of Unitarianism among the Congregational clergy in Eastern Massachusetts. The Unitarians had the majority in the ec- clesiastical bodies of which they were members. Had these bodies possessed ju- risdiction over all churches within their bounds, they might have established Uni- tarianism in them all, and might have for- bidden all efforts for the revival or preser- vation of orthodoxy. If there had been a body representing all the churches in the state, and having authority over all, the majority would have been orthodox ; but the Unitarians were numerous and power- ful enough to have thrown off its jurisdic- tion, and to have subsisted by themselves, as they now do. If the civil government had been invested with power to enforce religious uniformity, it could have prevent- ed such a result ; but it would not have done it ; for the most important powers of the civil government were then, and, with few exceptions, have been ever since, wielded by Unitarian hands. In all these instances, the independence of the churches, its friends firmly believe, secured to the most orthodox the privi- lege of adhering to the whole truth, both in doctrine and practice, and of exerting themselves in its defence and for its diffu- sion. This privilege there have always been some to claim and to use. Error, therefore, has always been held in check till truth could rally its forces and regain its ascendency. CHAPTER IV. THE CHRIST-IAN CONNEXION. The body that assumes the title of Chris- hut for the isolation of ministers and congregations under the Congregational system, error must have been much sooner discovered, and checked in its be- ginnings. The same remark applies to the apostacy of many nominally Presbyterian ministers and con- gregations in England. These never were Presby- terians in fact. Error thus had leave to work its way unchecked by the oversight either of bishop or pres- bytery. tians is of purely American origin. They are more generally called in the United States Christ-ians, the i in the first syllable being pronounced long, though this pro- nunciation, I need hardly say, is rejected by themselves. Dating their rise from about the year 1803, they appeared, it seems, in New- England, Ohio, and Kentucky, some say also in the South, nearly about the same time. They boast of having no founder — no Luther or Calvin, no Whitefield or Wes- ley — that can claim any special influence among them. They are the largest no- creed sect in America, and had their origin in the dissatisfaction that existed in some minds with what they called the " bondage of creeds," and still more, with the bond- age of discipline that prevails, as they in- sist, in all other churches. This may be easily accounted for. Many of the most active promoters of the new sect had been excluded from other communions because of their denial of some important doctrine, or their refusal to submit to discipline and government. The Christ-ians, according to some of their leading authorities, had a threefold origin. The first members of their socie- ties, or churches, in New-England, were originally members of the Regular Bap- tist connexion ; in the West they had been Presbyterians, and in the South Metho- dists. Their churches have all along been constituted on the following principles : " The Scriptures are taken to be the only rule of faith and practice, each individual being at liberty to determine for himself, in relation to these matters, what they en- join ; no member is subject to the loss of church fellowship on account of his sin- cere and conscientious belief, so long as he manifestly lives a pious and devout life ; no member is subject to discipline and church censure but for disorderly and immoral conduct ; the name Christian to be adopted, to be exclusive of all sectarian names, as the most appropriate designa- tion of the body and its members ; the only condition or test of admission, as a mem- ber of a church, is a personal profession of the Christian religion, accompanied with satisfactory evidence of sincerity and piety, and a determination to live according to the divine rule or the Gospel of Christ ; each church is considered an independent body, possessing exclusive authority to regulate and govern its own affairs."* Although their founders continued to cleave more or less closely to some, at least, of the peculiarities of the various bodies in which they had been brought up, a process of assimilation to each other has been gradually going on, and has at * See an "Account of the Christian Connexion, or Christ-ians," by the Rev. Joshua V. Himes, in the Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge. Chap. V.] THE UNIVERSALISTS. 281 length brought them to a considerable de- gree of uniformity on most points of doc- trine. Trinitarians for the most part at the outset, they have now almost unanimously rejected the doctrine of the Trinity as un- scriptural ; and although they refuse to be tied down to a creed, the following may be considered as a fair outline of the doctrines that prevail among them : " There is one living and true God, the Father Almighty, who is unoriginated, independent, and eter- nal, the Creator and Supporter of all worlds ; and that this God is one spiritual intelligence, one infinite mind, ever the same, never varying : that this God is the moral Governor of the world, the absolute source of all the blessings of nature, prov- idence, and grace, in whose infinite wis- dom, goodness, mercy, benevolence, and love, have originated all his moral dispen- sations to man : that all men sin and come short of the glory of God, and, consequent- ly, fall under the curse of the law : that Christ is the Son of God, the promised Mes- siah, and Saviour of the world, the Mediator between God and man, by whom God has revealed his will to mankind ; by whose sufferings, death, and resurrection, a way has been provided by which sinners may obtain salvation — may lay hold on eternal life ; that he is appointed of God to raise the dead, and judge the world at the last day : that the Holy Spirit is the power and energy of God — that holy influence of God by whose agency, in the use of means, the wicked are regenerated, converted, and recovered to a virtuous and holy life, sanc- tified and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light ; and that, by the same Spirit, the saints, in the use of means, are comforted, strengthened, and led in the path of duty : the free forgiveness of sins, flow- ing from the rich mercy of God, through the labours, sufferings, and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ : the necessity of re- pentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ : the absolute ne- cessity of holiness of heart and rectitude of life to enjoy the favour and approbation of God : the doctrine of a future state of immortality: the doctrine of a righteous retribution, in which God will render to every man according to the deeds done in the body : the baptism of believers by im- mersion : and the open communion at the Lord's table of Christians of every denom- ination having a good standing in their re- spective churches."* Although each church is wholly inde- pendent of all others in the management of its affairs, yet, for the promotion of their mutual prosperity, they have associations called " State Conferences," composed of delegates from the clergy and the church- es, but with only advisory powers. In * See " Account of the Christian Connexion, or Christ-ians," by the Rev. Joshua V. Hirnes, as above. 1841 there were in the United States and Canada forty-one conferences, embracing, it was estimated, 593 ministers, 591 church- es, and about 30,000 members. The pop- ulation supposed to be under their influ- ence is estimated at 300,000, which is man- ifestly too high, for many of their con- gregations are very small, particularly in the West. Generally speaking, their ministers are men of little education, but a laudable de- sire for improvement in this respect has been showing itself. The State of Indiana granted them a charter some years ago for a college at New Albany, but whether it has taken effect I know not. They have no theological seminaries. For some years past they have had a religious journal call- ed " The Christian Palladium," published in the State of New- York, and two other journals, one published in New-Hampshire,, the other in Illinois. They have a Book Association also. Upon the whole, much inferior as the Christians are to the Unita- rians in point of wealth, the size of their churches, the learning and eloquence of their ministers, and the rank and respect- ability of their members, yet being far more numerous, and having doctrines of quite as elevated a character, their influence upon the masses, whlie kindred in nature, is per- haps greater in extent. CHAPTER V. THE UNIVERSALISTS. In our chapter on the Unitarians we ex- pressed our views of the moral influence of the doctrines of the Universalists. The latter were little known as a sect in Amer- ica until about the middle of the last cen- tury, when a few persons of reputation partially or wholly embraced their doc- trines. These were afterward preached by the Rev. John Murray, who came from England in 1770, and were embraced by the Rev. Elhanan Winchester, a Baptist minister of considerable talent. Both Mur- ray and Winchester held the doctrine of restoration, that is, that after the resurrec- tion and the judgment, the wicked, after suffering in hell for a time, and in a meas- ure proportioned to their guilt, will event- ually be recovered through the influences of the Spirit, and saved by the atonement of Christ. About the year 1790, the Rev. Hosea Ballou appeared as a Universalist preacher, and taught that all punishment is in this life, and, consequently, that the souls of the righteous and the wicked alike pass immediately at death into a state of happiness — a doctrine which, being much- more acceptable to the unrenewed heart, became much more popular than that of restoration as above described. The res- 282 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. torationist preachers in the United States hardly exceed twelve or fifteen in number, and their churches are even fewer ; where- as the Universalists, properly so called, have rapidly increased here within the last forty years. In 1801 there were but twenty-two avowed Universalist preach- ers ; they now state their numbers to be as follows : a General Convention, twelve State Conventions, fifty-nine Associations, 540 preachers, 550 meeting-houses, 875 societies, and 600,000 of the population under their influence. The last item, we suspect, is much too high. Their congre- gations are mostly small, and many attend from mere curiosity. The doctrines of the American Univer- salists are well expressed in three articles adopted as a " Profession of Belief" by the General Convention of Universalists, held in 1803. It is said to be " perfectly sat- isfactory to the denomination," and is as follows : 1. " We believe that the Holy Scrip- tures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind. 2. " We believe that 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 world of mankind to holiness and happi- ness. 3. " We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected ; and that believers ought to be careful to main- tain order and practise good works ; for these things are good and profitable unto men." Although their churches are all several- ly independent of each other, yet for con- sultation they have local associations, State Conventions, and a General Con- vention. They have begun of late years to pay some attention to education, and have now what they call a university in the State of Vermont, and three or four inferior institutions. Most of their preach- ers, though men of little learning, by di- recting all their thoughts to one point, and mustering every plausible argument in favour of their doctrines, become wonder- fully skilful in wielding their sophistry, so as readily to seduce such as want to find an easier way to heaven than can be found in the Scriptures, when these are not tortured and perverted to serve some particular end. They say that they have no fewer than twenty newspapers, advoca- ting their doctrines in different parts of the country. The only Universalists whose preaching seems to have any moral influence, are the haudful of Restorationists — the rest are heard with delight chiefly by the irreligious, the profane, Sabbath-breakers, drunkards, and all haters of evangelical religion. Their preaching positively exercises no reforming influence on the wicked, and what worse can be said of it 1* CHAPTER VI. SWEDENBORGIANS AND TUNKERS. The Neio Jerusalem Church, or Sweden- borgians, are not numerous in America. Their doctrines were first propagated here, I believe, by some missionaries from Eng- land. Their churches, which are small, are about thirty or forty in number, and iso- lated members of the sect are to be found in, various parts of the country. They have about thirty-five ministers, with hard- ly 10,000 souls under their instruction. Their churches, in point of government, are, in the main, independent, with consul- tative conventions of their ministers, held from time to time. Their doctrines, which, the reader must be aware, are of Swedish origin, and have for their author Baron Emanuel Swedenborg, are a strange " amal- gamation," as some one has justly re- marked, " of Sabellianism, the errors of the Patripassians, many of the anti-scriptural notions of the Socinians, and some of the most extravagant vagaries of mysticism. Their mode of interpreting Scripture is to- tally at variance with every principle of sound philology and exegesis, and neces- sarily tends to unsettle the mind, and leave it a prey to the wildest whimsies that it is possible for the human mind to create or entertain." They practise both Baptism and the Lord's Supper. f They have two or three periodicals, in which their doc- trines are expounded and defended. Tankers. — The Tunkers,or Dunkers, are, on the other hand, a sect of German ori- gin. They are Seventh-day Baptist Uni- versalists. They are Restorationists, and teach that men may do works of superero- gation : on this latter point, as well as on * On the opening of a Universalist place of wor- ship in any of our cities and villages, it is flocked to chiefly by low, idle, and vicious persons. Curiosity sometimes attracts others of a better description for a time ; but it is a remarkable fact, established by the testimony of Universalists on becoming con- verted to the Truth, that few can, however desirous, ever bring themselves to believe the doctrine of uni- versal salvation. Most are like the New-England farmer who, at the close of a Universalist service, thanked the preacher for his sermon, saying that he vastly liked his doctrine, and would give him five dollars if he would only prove it to be tme ! t The Swedenborgians say that they are increas- ing faster in America than anywhere else at present. If this be so, their increase throughout the world must be slow indeed. The late Judge Young, of Greensburg, in Pennsylvania, and a few other men of some influence, have been reckoned among their converts. In some instances men who have grown tired of the coldness of Unitarianism, have betaken themselves to Svvedenborgianism. Chap. VIII.] JEWS, RAPPISTS, SHAKERS, MORMONS, ETC. 283 some others, they show a strong leaning towards Romanism. They allow mar- riage, bnt make much account of celibacy ; in Baptism they hold that the immersion should be repeated thrice, and observe the seventh day as their Sabbath. Their church order is like that of the Regular Baptists, except that every brother is al- lowed to speak, and the most fluent is generally chosen the regular minister. Most of the men in this communion wear their beards long, and dress in long coats, or tunics, reaching to their heels, and bound at the waist with a girdle. They are but a small body, having some churches, but in many places meet in private houses. Some of them appear to possess piety. Their ministers are supposed to be about equal in number to their churches, and the aggregate amount of their members may be about 3000 or 4000. CHAPTER VII. THE JEWS. Whatever may have been the early legislation of the Anglo-American colonies in regard to the descendants of Abraham, it is certain that the Jew now finds an asy- lum, and the full enjoyment of his civil rights, in all parts of the United States. Yet I know not how it has happened, un- less it be owing to the distance of our country from Europe, and its presenting less scope for the petty traffic which forms their chief employment in the Old World, that it has been only at a comparatively recent period that any considerable num- ber of Jews have found their way to our shores. So much have they increased, however, among us during the last ten years, that it is now computed that there are no fewer than 50,000 in the United States. They have about fifty synagogues, and the same number of Rabbies. Five or six synagogues are now to be found in New- York, instead of one, as a few years ago. There is one in which the service is conducted in English, at Charleston, in South Carolina, and no doubt in other cities also. A few instances of conver- sion to Christianity have taken place, but only a few, the attention of Christians, we may truly say, not having been sufficiently turned to that object. This may have been from the fewness of the Jews, until of late years, causing them to be overlooked, or from the want of suitable persons to devote themselves to the work. We are pleased to see that some interest has begun to be taken in this subject during the last year or two. CHAPTER VIII. RAPPISTS, SHAKERS, MORMONS, ETC. The Rappists are a small body of German Protestants, who came to the United States from Wurtemburg, about the year 1803, under their pastor, a Mr. George Rapp, who has recently deceased. They settled ax a place called Economy, on the Ohio, about fifteen miles below Pittsburgh. From Economy part of them, headed by Mr. Rapp, went to the Wabash River, in Indi- ana, and on its banks formed a new settle- ment, called Harmony, but this they after- ward sold to the well-known Robert Owen, and returned to Economy, in Pennsylvania. Their distinguishing principle is an entire " community of goods," upon what they suppose to have been the example of the primitive Christians. The whole scheme, however, of this small community, for it comprises but a few hundred members, seems mainly of a worldly and merely economical character, though they keep up the form of religious observances and services. The Shakers are a fanatical sect of Eng- lish origin. About 1747, James Wardley, originally a Quaker, imagining that he had supernatural dreams and revelations, found- ed a sect which, from the bodily agitations practised in some parts of their religious services, were called Shakers, or Shaking Quakers ; it is not, however, to be suppo- sed for a moment that they are connected with the respectable people called Qua- kers or Friends. Ann Lee, or, rather, Mrs. Standley, for she had married a man of that name, the daughter of a blacksmith in Manchester, England, adopted Wardley's views and the bodily exercises of his fol- lowers. From the accounts we have of her she must have become a thorough adept during the nine years which she spent in convulsions, fastings, &c. ; for she is said to have clinched her fists in the course of her fits so as to make the blood pass through the pores of her skin, and wasted away so that at last she had to be fed like an infant. About 1770 she discovered the wickedness of marriage, and began " testifying against it." She called herself " Ann the Word," meaning that the Word dwelt in her. And to this day her followers say that " the man who was called Jesus, and the woman who was called Ann, are verily the two first pil- lars of the Church, the two anointed ones." In other words, they hold that, as the first Adam was accompanied by a woman, so must be the second Adam. In May, 1774, Ann Lee, otherwise Mrs. Standley, together with three elders, and others of the sect, emigrated to America, and two years after formed a settlement at Niskayuna, a few miles from Albany, in the State of New- York. From that, as from a centre, they put forth shoots, until 284 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. at length there are now about fifteen Shaker settlements, or villages, in different parts of the United States, comprising some 6000 or 8000 souls. Their doctrines are a strange mixture of the crudest errors with some few Gospel truths, but it would be a sad misnomer to call them Christian. They call themselves the Millennial Church. They hold that the millennium has begun, and that they are the only true church, and have all the apostolic gifts. They insist that Baptism and the Lord's Supper ceased with the apostolic age ; that the wicked will be punished for a definite period only, except such as apostatize from them, and these will be punished forever ; that the judgment has already commenced ; that Christ will not again appear in the world, except in the persons of his followers, that is, the Shakers ; that marriage is sinful, and that " they that have wives should be as though they had none," even now, and that thus alone purity and holiness, and the consequent beatitude of the heaven- ly state, can be attained ; that sin com- mitted against God is committed against them, and can be pardoned only for Christ's sake through them. Such are some of their absurd tenets. The discipline of their churches rests for the most part with " their elders," who follow the instructions left by " Mother Ann Lee." In their reli- gious worship, they range themselves at intervals in rows, and then spring upward a few inches ; sometimes, however, they become so excited in this exercise as to throw off their upper garments, and jump as if they would touch the ceiling — all, as they say, to express their joy in the Lord. After this they sit down and listen a while to their preachers, and then, when tired of hearing, resume their dancing freaks. They maintain the doctrine of a commu- nion of goods. The men and women live apart. The children of proselytes are in- stantly separated, by the boys being sent into the male apartment, and the girls into the female. Of course it is only from such recruits that a community of this kind can keep up its numbers. The Shakers have the reputation, in gen- eral, of being honest and industrious, but I have had no means of ascertaining what their interior life and conduct may be, be- yond this, that no small number of their members have left them in disgust, and are far from speaking well of them. The read- er will perceive their insignificance in point of numbers, yet, to believe some European travellers, there is cause to fear that the United States may one day be overrun with this ignorant and deluded sect. But the absurd importance which such writers would fain attach to the Shakers is easily accounted for ; their eccentricities afford a topic sufficiently marvellous and amusing to fill a chapter or two in a " Diary" or " Notebook," while in the United States no body thinks it worth while to bestow much thought upon them. So long as they re- spect the persons, rights, and property of others, the government suffers them to grat- ify their fancies undisturbed. According- ly, they remain a small and quite obscure community, that must in time utterly dis- appear instead of growing into something like importance, which would be the prob- able result if they were persecuted. Were the Shakers to appear in some European countries, a very different, and, in my opin- ion, a far less prudent course would be fol- lowed. Accustomed to meddle with eve- rything, even with conscience itself, their governments would probably interfere, un- der the plea of saving the children from being brought up in such delusion. But we prefer letting them alone, under the conviction that, all things considered, it is better to do so, and with the hope that the light that surrounds them, and with which they must come into contact in their inter- course with the worlu, will, in God's own time, reach their minds. To interfere with those parental ties, and that consequent responsibility which God himself has es- tablished, must always be a difficult and dangerous task even for the best and wi- sest of governments.* * A book of a character somewhat remarkable has lately been published by these deluded people. It is en- titled, " A Holy, Sacred, and Divine ROLL AND BOOK, from the LORD GOD OF HEAVEN, to the Inhabitants of the Earth ; revealed in the United Society at New-Lebanon. Coun- ty of Columbia, State of New-York, United States OF America. Read and understand all ye in mortal clay. Published at Canterbury, N. H., 1843.' r The history of this strange production is as fol- lows: A certain Philemon Stewart asserts that a holy angel from the Lord came to him in the morn- ing of the 4th of May, 1842, at New-Lebanon, and commanded him to appear before the Lord on the Holy Mount, bowing himself seven times as he ap- proached. He obeyed the heavenly messenger, and met a mighty angel on the summit of the hill or mount, who read to him six hours every day from the Roll which he had in his hand, in order that he, Philemon Stewart, might write down the sacred revelation. The contents of this volume are various. First, there is a Proclamation of the Almighty to all that dwell on the earth, announcing that he was going to make a great revelation through his holy angel, who is Jesus Christ. Next comes a proclamation from God to his holy angel. Then follows a proclamation of the angel himself. After this, we have the intro- duction to the Sacred Roll by the holy angel, giv- en also at New-Lebanon (after the volume had been written), on the 2d of February, 1843, at twelve o'clock, M. Then comes the " Sacred Volume and Sealed Roll, opened and read by the mighty angel," consisting of 33 chapters, each of which is divided into verses, after the manner of the Scriptures. To give anything like an adequate idea of its con- tents in a short space is impossible. I will only say, that it proposes to give an account of the character of God ; the creation of man ; of his fall through the temptation of the serpent [irrational or animal pro- pensities] ; of God's dealing with mankind ; of Jesus Christ; of the departures from the Gospel; of the second advent, or the Christ in the female (Mother Chap. Till.] RAPPISTS, SHAKERS, MORMONS, ETC. The Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, as they call themselves. The annals of mod- ern times furnish few more remarkable examples of cunning in the leaders, and delusion in their dupes, than is presented by what is called Mormonism. An ig- norant but ambitious person of the name of Joseph Smith, Jun., then residing in the western part of the State of New- York, pretends that an angel appeared to him in 1827, and told him where he should find a stone box. containing certain golden plates, with a revelation from heaven in- scribed on them. Four years after this, the plates having, of course, been found as de- scribed, the impostor set about the writing out of this revelation, and pretended, with the aid of a pair of stone spectacles, found also in the box, to read it off to a man of the name of Harris, and afterward to one called Cowdery, these acting as his amanuenses. The " prophet," as he is Ann Lee) ; of the way by which holiness may be at- tained, viz., the renunciation of sexual and sensual desires, and living as brothers and sisters, instead of husband and wife ; of the terrible judgments which men will encounter if they do not obey this revela- tion, etc., etc. As it is important that this book should be known to all mankind, it is enjoined by the mighty angel that every minister of the Gospel should have a copy, as soon as he can procure one, in the sacred pulpit, that people may see it. All boards of missions are commanded to have it translated into foreign lan- guages. One edition has been printed by the " So- ciety" for gratuitous distribution. Copies have been sent, in the name of the Lord, to the principal book- sellers, and a modest request is made that they would publish and circulate the work, and some di- rections respecting the manner of doing so are giv- en.* We leam, furthermore, from a letter dated the 18th of December, 1843, addressed to the Messrs. Harper, that the committee or agents of the Society have re- solved upon a pretty wide and thorough dissemina- tion of the 500 copies which they had, agreeably to the divine command, printed for general distribution. " We do not feel it our province," say they, "to judge of the work and designs of the Almighty in this mat- ter ; but we feel ourselves under the most solemn ob- ligations to obey his divine command, which has been revealed to us by the inspiration of his holy angel, with that degree of evidence which we cannot doubt. We have, therefore, made arrangements to forward four copies to each of the governments of Europe and Asia, part of which are already on the way to Eu- rope ; four to the chief magistrate of these United States, and two to the executive of each state, and also to the different boards of foreign missions. " We are aware that the manner in which the book was revealed and written, in the name of in- spiration from the Almighty, is not according to the generally-received opinions and present sense and ideas of mankind, but we solemnly testify that this work was not directed nor dictated by any mortal •power or wisdom." The whole is a strange mixture, in which entire passages, as well as verses, of the Scriptures are min- gled up with the speculations, often both impious and absurd, of the professed author. * In fact, ou page 161, it is expressly ordained that the book must be " bound in yellow paper,, with red backs, edges also yellow ; and it is my command, saith the Lord, that if any person or persons shall add aught to this book, he or they shall not prosper in time, nor find rest in eter- Jiity." now called, took care, of course, that nei- ther of them, nor any one else, should see the plates, the part of the room he occupied having been partitioned off from where they sat by a blanket. After three years spent in concocting this new rev- elation, the book at last was completed, and published as a 12mo volume of 588 pages, at Palmyra, in the State of New- York. It is commonly called the Mor- mon's Bible, but more properly The Book of Mormon, and is divided into fifteen books or parts, each purporting to be writ- ten by the author whose name it bears. These profess to give the history of about a thousand years from the time of Zedeki- ah, king of Judah, to A.D. 420. The whole work claims to be an abridgment by one Moroni, the last of the Nephites, of the seed of Israel, from the records of his people. Not to trouble the reader with de- tails respecting this most absurd of all pre- tended revelations from heaven, we need only say that it undertakes " to trace the history of the Aborigines of the American Continent, in all their apostacies, pilgrim- ages, trials, adventures, and wars from the time of their leaving Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, under one Lehi, down to their final disaster, near the Hill of Ca- morah, in the State of New- York, where Smith found his golden plates. In that final contest, according to the Prophet Mo- roni, about 230,000 were slain in battle, and he alone escaped to tell the tale."* But the Book of Mormon, which they do not consider so much in the light of a sub- stitute for the Holy Scriptures as of a sup- plement to them, does not contain all Jo- seph Smith's revelations ; a 12mo volume, of about 250 pages, called The Book of Cov- enants and Revelations, and filled with the silliest things imaginable, of all sorts, has been added to it by way of another supple- ment. Thoroughly to comprehend the whole system, however, one must read Mr. Parley P. Pratt's " Voice of Warning," for he is an oracle among the Mormons, and also the newspaper which they publish as an organ for the dissemination of their doctrines. We may add, that, aided by his wonderful spectacles, Smith is ma- king a new translation of the Bible, al- though quite unacquainted with Hebrew and Greek ! The publication of his own Bible, in 1830, may be considered as the starting- point of the sect. For some years he made but few converts, but having remo- ved to Kirtland, Ohio, he was there joined by Sidney Rigdon, formerly a heterodox Baptist preacher, who had been preparing the way for Mormonism by propagating certain doctrines of his own, and being a * Turner's "Mormonism in all Ages," published at New-York, and to be had of Wiley and Putnam, booksellers, London. 286 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. much better-informed man than Smith, it is chiefly under his plastic hand that the religious economy of the sect has been formed. From Ohio they began to re- move, in 1834, to Jackson county, in Mis- souri, where they were to have their " Mount Zion," the capital and centre of their great empire. The people of Mis- souri, a few years after, compelled them to leave it ; upon which they went to Illi- nois, and there they are now building the city of Nauvoo, on the left bank of the Mississippi, and thither their disciples have been flocking ever since, until their num- bers amount to several thousands. Smith and Rigdon are still their chief prophets. For a while, they had many to sympathize with them on account of the severity with which they had been supposed to be treat- ed in Missouri, but so much has lately come to light in proof of the inordinate am- bition, and vile character and conduct of their leaders, who want to found a kind of empire in the West, that their speedy an- nihilation as a sect seems now inevitable. One dupe after another is leaving them, and exposing the abominations of the fra- ternity and its chiefs. Smith and some others seem now marked out as objects on which the laws of the land must soon in- flict summary justice. Their leaders are evidently atrocious impostors, who have deceived a great many weak-minded per- sons, by holding out to them promises of great temporal advantage. " Joe Smith," as he is commonly called, will soon find that America is not another Arabia, nor he another Mohammed ; and his hope of founding a vast empire in the Western hemisphere must soon vanish away. To conclude, the Mormons are a body of ignorant creatures, collected from al- most all parts of the United States, and also from Great Britain.* A full exposi- tion of the wickedness of their leaders has lately been made by John C. Bennet, for- merly a major-general in the " Legion of Nauvoo," and an important man among them. CHAPTER IX. ATHEISTS, DEISTS, SOCIALISTS, FOURRIER1STS, ETC. These sects can hardly be placed with propriety among religious denominations of any description, the most they pretend to being a code of morals, such as it is. The avowed Atheists are, happily, few in number, and are chiefly to be found among * It is a singular fact that so large a proportion of them are from Great Britain. But it is not difficult to account for it. Smith and the other leaders know well that there is a large population in England of a low and ignorant character, who may be readily tempted, by the prospect of bettering their fortunes to take part in such an enterprise. the frequenters of our remaining groggeries and rum-holes. As for our Deists, including unbelievers in Christianity of all classes, there is a considerable number, especially in New- York, and some of our other large cities and towns. A very large proportion of them are foreigners. The infidelity of the present times, however, in the United States is remarkably distinguished from what was to be found there fifty years ago, when that of France, after having dif- fused itself in the plausible speculations of a host of popular writers, wherever the French language was known, became at length associated with the great Revolu- tion of that country, and obtaining credit for all that was good in a work which it only corrupted and marred, became fash- ionable in America as well as Europe, among the professed admirers of liberty, in what are called the highest classes of society. At the head of these, in the Uni- ted States, stood Mr. Jefferson, who was President from 1801 to 1809, and who in conversation, and by his writings, did more than any other man that ever lived among us to propagate irreligion in the most in- fluential part of the community. In the same cause, and about the same period, laboured Mr. Thomas Paine, and, at a later date, Mr. Thomas Cooper, who endeavour- ed to train to infidelity by sophistical rea- soning, and still more, by contemptible sarcasms and sneers, the youth whom it was his duty to teach better things. ■ Now, however, it is much otherwise. When men dislike evangelical truth, they take refuge in something which, under the name of Christianity, makes a less demand on their conscience and their conduct. Open infidelity, meanwhile, has descended to the lower ranks. It now burrows in the narrow streets, and lanes, and purlieus of our large cities and towns, where it finds its proper aliment — the ignorant and the vicious to mislead and to destroy. Owenism, Socialism, and Fourrierism, are of foreign origin. The first two are from England, and are but economical or political schemes, in which infidelity seeks to imbody and sustain itself. Fourrierism is also an economical scheme. It is not necessarily allied to infidelity, but as it has not long been known in the United States, I am not informed of its character there. Robert Owen, from Scotland, and Miss Frances Wright, from England, endeavour- ed some years ago to form the first infidel community upon the social principle adopt- ed by the Shakers and the Mormons ; fail- ing in which, they set about endeavouring to bring over the labouring classes of New- York, and other great cities, to certain agrarian schemes. But after much labour in travelling, lecturing, and forming socie- Chap. X.] GENERAL REMARKS. 287 ties for the circulation of infidel tracts and books, their efforts have proved almost fruitless. Their lectures at first attracted crowds both of Americans and foreigners, who attended them from curiosity, but be- fore long their audiences consisted chiefly of foreigners, and such is the state of things at present.* That there is a con- siderable amount of infidelity in America is not denied, but it cannot be compared to the vast amount of true religion, much less with the much vaster amount of re- spect for religion, and religious belief, which so largely pervades the moral at- mosphere of the country. Of the truly great men of the nation, very few are in- fidels. CHAPTER X. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE STATE OF THEO- LOGICAL OPINION IN AMERICA. Having concluded these notices of the various denominations — evangelical and non-evangelical — in the United States, I would now make a few remarks on the past history and present state of theologi- cal opinion in that country. Fully and philosophically treated, this could not fail to interest sincere inquirers after truth in all countries, but it would require not a chapter, but a volume, and would hardly be consistent with the nature of this work. We must leave such a discussion to an- other time, and, probably, to other hands, and shall now merely touch on a few gen- eral topics. I. Let us first mark some of the causes and influences to which this diversity of religious doctrines may be traced. The chief of these are, 1. Difference of origin and ancestry. This we have already noticed, but must refer to it again. Had the whole territory of the United States been originally settled by one class of men, holding the same system of reli- gious opinions, more uniformity of doc- trine might reasonably have been looked for. But what philosophical inquirer, know- ing the different origins of New-England, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New-York, would expect that the mere federal union * At one time it was feared that vast numbers of the labouring classes in New-York, as well as in Philadelphia and other cities, would be carried away by the plausible but vile discourses of Miss Frances Wright. But facts soon proved that those fears were groundless. Even in the acme of her popular- ity, a friend of mine who was present at one of her lectures told me that she was hissed no less than two or three times for making the assertion, and re- peating it, that Washington was an infidel ! There are few people in the United States who would not consider it a dishonour done to the name of that great and good man, whom humanity claims as her own, to call him an infidel. of states that differ so much in their ori- ginal inhabitants, could ever bring them all to complete religious uniformity 1 Let us but look at the number of different reli- gious bodies — different, I mean, in their origin — to be found in these and the other states of the Union. (1.) The New-Eng- land Congregational churches, formed by immigrant Puritans, and, down to the epoch of our Revolution, sympathizing strongly with all the changes of opinion among the English dissenters. (2.) The Presbyterian Church in its larger and smaller branches, very much of Scotch and Irish origin, and still aiming at an imitation of the Church of Scotland as its pattern. (3.) The Epis- copal Church, an offshoot from the Church of England, dreading and almost scorning to borrow ideas from any quarter save its mother-church. (4.) The Dutch Reformed Church, which long received its ministers from Holland, and still glories in the Hei- delberg Catechism and the decrees of the Synod of Dort. (5.) The Lutherans, the Reformed, and other German churches, who preserve their old nationality, both by being still organized as distinct com- munions, and by the constant emigration of ministers and people from their original fatherland. Now, why should we expect to see all these fused and amalgamated in the United States more than in Europe ■? 2. Mark, too, that none of their ministers can extend any such direct influence over other churches than their own, as might make the exercise of brotherly love pass into close intimacy and final amalgama- tion. Each of them has its own colleges and theological seminaries ; each its own weekly, monthly, or quarterly periodicals ; and some of them may almost be said to have an independent religious literature, edited and published by their own respon- sible agents. All this is counterbalanced only by many ministers of different denom- inations receiving their classical and sci- entific education at the same institutions, preparatory to their more strictly profes- sional studies. ' 3. The freedom allowed in the United States to all sorts of inquiry and discussion necessarily leads to a diversity of opinion, which is seen not only in there being differ- ent denominations, but different opinions also in the same denomination. Perhaps there is not a single ecclesiastical conven- tion in which there are not two parties at least, whose different views lead some- times to discussions keenly maintained, yet turning generally upon points which, however interesting, are confessedly not of fundamental importance. On what may be called vital or essential points there is little disputation, just because there is much harmony in all the evangelical commu- nions. Nor could it be well otherwise, see- ing that in doctrine and practice they all 288 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VII. take the Bible as their inspired and sole authoritative guide. 4. Nor must we forget that what may- be called provincial peculiarities necessa- rily lead so far to diversities of religious sentiment. A true Eastern man from Con- necticut, and a true Western man, born and brought up on the banks of the Ohio, can hardly be expected to speculate alike on dubious points in theology, any more than on many other subjects. So, also, are the inhabitants of the North and South dis- tinguished from each other by peculiarities fully as marked as those that distinguish the northern from the southern inhabitants of Great Britain. II. Yet it is not difficult to draw a line between the various unevangelical sects on the one hand, and those that may be classed together as evangelical denomina- tions on the other. The chief of the for- mer, as we have said, are the Roman Cath- olics, Unitarians, Christ-ians,Universalists, Hicksite Quakers, Svvedenborgians, Tun- kers or Dunkers, Jews, Shakers, and so on down to the Mormons, beginning with the sect that has buried the truth amid a heap of corruptions of heathenish origin, and ending with the grossest of all the delusions that Satanic malignity or human ambition ever sought to propagate. Now it will be observed that, with the exception of the first two, these sects have few elements of stability. Their ministers are almost all men of little learning, and that little is almost, all concentrated in specious endeav- ours to maintain their tenets, by perverting the Scriptures, by appealing to the prejudi- ces of their hearers, and by misrepresent- ing and ridiculing the doctrines of oppo- nents who meet their subtle arguments with the plain declarations of Scripture, as well as with unanswerable arguments drawn from sound reason. The congre- gations of the Universalists and Christ-ians — the latter of whom are Unitarian Bap- tists, and the most numerous of the une- vangelical sects next to the Roman Catho- lics — are far from large, except in some of the largest cities and towns in New-Eng- land, and they often last but a few years, disappearing almost entirely before the ex- tension of the evangelical communions. At times a religious revival almost anni- hilates, in the course of a few weeks, the attempts made by some Universalist preacher to form a society of that sect, at places where the faithful herald of the Gos- pel has lifted up a standard for Truth. And as none of the unevangelical bodies, not even the Roman Catholics, can absolutely debar their members from attending the preaching of evangelical ministers when they come into their neighbourhood, they present no insurmountable barrier to the advance of truth. A better and more intimate acquaintance with the state of society in the United States than foreigners can well possess, seems necessary to account for the number, variety, and numerical magnitude of some of our unevangelical sects, and thus to abate the surprise which these may occa- sion to many of our readers. Neverthe- less, to a certain extent, this may be brought within the comprehension even of those who have never seen the country. First, then, be it observed that not only can a far larger proportion of the white in- habitants of the United States read than is to be found in almost any other country, but they actually do read and pursue the acquisition of knowledge in almost every possible way. Novelty, accordingly, has always great attractions for them. Next, with the exception, perhaps, of Scotland, in no other country is there so little work done on the Lord's day ; not only does the law require, but the disposition of the people enforces it ; and as they are not at all of a character that would incline them to spend the day at home in idleness, they naturally take advantage of the opportunities within reach of attending public meetings, and listening to what may be said there. And religion being a subject to which they at- tach more or less importance almost uni- versally, it is what they most like to hear discussed on the Sabbath. Thirdly, where there is no evangelical preaching, vast numbers, particularly of such as have no decided religious convictions, will resort to a Universalist, or even to an infidel preacher, if one is announced in their neighbourhood, rather than go nowhere at all. No doubt curiosity leads them thith- er first, and perhaps for long afterward. Fourthly, absolute religious liberty being the principle of the government, the people may everywhere have what preaching they please, if they can find it, and choose to be at the expense of maintaining it ; and, ac- cordingly, they who dislike faithful evan- gelical preaching, often combine to form a congregation where some heterodox preacher may hold forth doctrines more acceptable to them. Congregations so formed, especially in cities and large towns, may last for years, or even become in some sense permanent, but in by far the greater number of cases they disappear, part of their members removing to some other place, and others becoming converts to the orthodox creed of the surrounding evan- gelical churches. Thus it will be perceived that the une- vangelical sects in the United States are mainly composed of persons who, in other countries, would remain stupidly indiffer- ent to religion, spending their Sabbaths in employments or amusements wholly sec- ular. Even this may be thought better by some than that they should " give heed to doctrines of devils," upon the principle that €hap. X.] GENERAL REMARKS. 289 no religion is better than a false one. This may be true in many cases, but hardly in ■all. Experience proves, I think, very de- cidedly in America, that persons that oc- cupy their minds with the subject of reli- gion, even when they doubt the truth or embrace positive error, are more accessi- ble to the faithful preaching of the Gospel, than others that are sunk in stupid indiffer- ence and infidelity. The forms of error in that country have, with one exception, no element of stability — no vigorous dog- matism or permanent fascinations to op- pose to the solid orthodoxy of evangelical preaching. The one exception is Roman- ism, which presents a sort of mosaic of truth and error, so artfully combined as to exert a charm over the minds of those who have once received it, which it is almost im- possible to dissipate. Next to Romanism, Unitarianism is, of all forms of error that assume the title of Christian, the most stable. Its professors are chiefly to be found in the eastern parts of Massachusetts ; but as those, as well as other parts of New-England, are constantly sending out emigrants to the new settle- ments, small knots of persons with Uni- tarian preferences may be found in the Middle, Southern, and Western States. Still, this dispersion of Unitarianism, and its sprouting up at various points, not in Massachusetts, has rather the appearance than the reality of increase. It may be more than doubted whether it be not posi- tively declining in Boston and its vicinity. Except that it by no means prevails in the same proportion, it is very much in Amer- ica what Rationalism is in Protestant Eu- rope — a disease caught by the Church from the epidemic skepticism of the eighteenth century — a skepticism which is now in both hemispheres taking the form of a mystical pantheism. The career of Uni- tarianism, which one of its advocates calls not a " religion, but a fashion,"* as a sect or party, is manifestly drawing to a close ; and such, I rather think, is the impression of its most intelligent and eminent leaders. It seems to be given up as incapable of dif- fusion ; and the thirty years' experience it has had of a separate organization con- firms to my mind this conclusion, though others may think differently. At all events, no one who is well informed with regard to the present aspect of things in America, can claim for Unitarianism much vigour or any greater positive increase than that of the natural increase of the population within its pale ; and it may be doubted whether it is increasing even so much as that. A certain amount of moral influence for good may fairly be attributed to some of the unevangelical sects, but this can hardly The Rev. 0. A. Brownson. be said of the Universalists — and they comprise nearly the whole — who deny a future judgment and all punishment beyond this life ; while as for the Atheists, Deists, and Socialists of every hue, it is hardly slander to say, that their influence upon society is positively mischievous. As for the Shakers, Mormons, and other such agglomerations, they may be ac- counted for, I apprehend, on two princi- ples. First, the binding nature of human depravity, which makes men prefer any- thing, however absurd, that looks like re- ligion, and suits their fancies, to retaining, or, rather, to obtaining, the true knowledge of God. Next, these bodies always hold out some temporal good — some economi- cal advantage — which, far more than any religious consideration, tempts persons to enter them. One would suppose, for ex- ample, that a religion which, like that of the Shakers, makes the sinfulness of mar- riage a fundamental principle, and obliges married proselytes to live single, could never find followers. Yet, as persons sometimes grow tired of the marriage rela- tion, or, rather, of those with whom it has bound them as husband and wife, so some may be found willing, even by becoming Shakers, to rid themselves of a burden that feels grievous to them. So, also, in the separation of children from their pa- rents, and the entire breaking up of the family relationships, weak people may al- ways be found ready to snatch at any op- portunity of ridding themselves of parental responsibility, by shifting it upon other shoulders. This despicable and unmanly selfishness may be regarded as the main foundation of all the forms of Socialism. III. We have yet to consider the extent of doctrinal agreement and diversity in and among the communions classed together as evangelical — a subject already noticed, but to which it is necessary to return, in order that the reader may perceive its con- nexion with certain other interesting and important topics. 1. They agree generally in holding the body of doctrines professed by the Reform- ed churches of France and Switzerland, as imbodied in the Westminster Assembly's Catechisms, and in the doctrinal articles of the Church of England. In particular, they hold the supremacy of the Scriptures as a rule of faith, and that whatever doc- trine can be proved from Holy Scripture without tradition is to be received unhesi- tatingly, and that nothing that cannot so be proved shall be deemed an essential point of Christian belief. They hold the inspi- ration of the Scriptures — the three persons in the divine unity — the holiness of the first human pair as created and placed upon probation— their fall, and the involved or consequent apostacy of the whole human race — the necessity of some atonement 290 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIL (sufficient to vindicate the justice of God's government) in order to the pardon of sin — the fact of such an atonement having been made by the humiliation, sufferings, and death of Jesus Christ, who is both God and man — the offer of forgiveness to all mankind, as provided for them by the mercy of God in Christ — the free justifi- cation of the believer, not for his works past or foreseen, nor for his faith, but for Christ's sake alone — the necessity of an inward spiritual renovation in order to sal- vation — the fact that this spiritual renova- tion is the result not of human endeavours, but of the Holy Spirit operating upon the soul, and thus making the call of God in His Word, and by all instrumentalities out- ward to the soul, an effectual call — the dependance of the believer, for his progress in holiness, on the continued communion with God by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit — the resurrection of the dead — the universal judgment — the eternal state of happiness for the saved, and of misery for the lost. .2. The Methodists and some smaller bodies reject the Calvinistic or Reformed doctrine of predestination, especially in its application to the individuals who, in the fulfilment of God's counsels, become the subjects of renewing grace. They also deny the doctrine that all who are once renewed to holiness are effectually and certainly kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. But in other com- munions these doctrines are held as clearly taught in the Scriptures, and as of great practical value. 3. A considerable proportion, perhaps a third, of the clergy and members of the Episcopal Church, agree with what is called the Oxford party in the Church of England ; so far, at least, as to ascribe to sacraments and other external institutions, a certain spiritual efficacy not recognised by other Protestants. 4. The theological discussions and dis- putes which sometimes agitate these vari- ous communions are such, for the most part, as to make it no easy matter to con- vey a just idea of them to a foreigner. In many instances, indeed, the disputants themselves can hardly state the point in debate to each other's satisfaction. For instance, I could not expect to state mi- nutely the differences between the " Old School" and " New School," in the Pres- byterian churches, without giving offence to one party or the other, or perhaps to both parties. Let it suffice, then, to say that, generally, the debates among theologians in America are debates about the constitution of the human mind, the analysis of responsibility and moral agency, and the old question of " fate and free-will." Some hold that all mankind, individually, are literally respon- sible before God for the sin of their first parents ; others hold only that, in conse- quence of Adam's sin, all his posterity are sinners. Some hold that sin consists in a propensity to sin concreated in the soul, or, at least, existing in the soul from the indivisible instant in which its existence commences, anterior to all choice, all in- telligence, all desire or emotion ; others hold that sin consists only in the perver- sion of the powers of human nature. Some hold that the " new birth" is not only fig- uratively and morally, but literally and physically, a new creation ; that it is a change in the being itself, from which a moral renovation inevitably proceeds ; that anterior to repentance, to faith, to any right movement of the soul, there is not merely an influence of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, but a subjective change within the soul, which change they call repentance. Others, on the contrary, hold that conversion, or the turning of the soul to God in repentance and faith, is regener- ation, and is the effect of a divine influence upon the soul. Some hold that the re- newed man will persevere in holiness, be- cause the power of God upon him is such that he cannot fall away ; others that God's promise to keep him cannot fail, and that, therefore, he will not fall away. Some hold that God, in His works of creation, providence, and redemption, has not con- stituted the best system possible to Him, and that He could have done much better than He has done ; others hold that the system of the universe, including all events, is absolutely the best ; the best which the mind of God could conceive ; better, with all the sin which exists, than it could have been if all creatures had re- tained forever their allegiance to God ; and others still hold that this system, including all the evil which exists under it, is, on the whole, better than any other system of creation and government could have been, but not better than if all God's creatures had remained holy and happy. Some hold that in every instance in which sin takes place, God, on the whole, prefers that sin to holiness in its stead ; others hold that God never chooses evil rather than good, or sin rather than holiness, yet that in every instance in which sin actually takes place, he, for some wise reason, chooses to permit rather than to interpose his pow- er to prevent it. Some hold that all the acts of voluntary agents are predestined in such a way that the agent has no power to act otherwise than he does act ; others hold that while all the acts of moral agents are certain beforehand in the counsels of God, nothing in that certainty is inconsist- ent with the power of the voluntary agent to act otherwise. Such is a specimen of the controversial theology in the evangelical, and particu- Chap. X.] GENERAL REMARKS. 291 larly in the Congregational and Presbyte- rian denominations. Were I to indicate the probable direction of religions opinion and theological science in the United States, amid this metaphysical strife, I should little hesitate to say that it is tend- ing, on the whole, towards a higher appre- ciation of the simplest and most Scriptural Christianity, that is, of the Gospel as " glad tidings" to all men, tidings of for- giveness for guilt through the expiation made by the Son of God, and tidings of the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead sinners to repentance, and to carry on a work of sanctification in the hearts of the believing. The demand is everywhere for a Christian- ity that can be pretiched, and that, being preached, will commend itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Under such a demand, wire-drawn specu- lations about Christianity — remote from any application to the conscience, to the sinner's fears, and to the hopes and devout affections of the believer — are felt to be impertinent. Thus the Gospel is preached less and less as a matter of traditionary dogmatism and speculation, and more and more as Gospel, the message of God's mercy to needy and guilty man, to be re- ceived by every hearer as suited to his wants, and to be hailed with faith and joy as life from the dead. Against this gen- eral tendency there is, and there will be, occasional, local, and party resistance ; the surface may be ruffled from time to time by some wind of doctrine, or speculation, rather, and the current may seem to be setting in the opposite direction. But I am fully persuaded that, on the whole, if not from year to year, at least from one period of change to another, the progress of religious opinion will be found to be to- wards the simplest and most Scriptural views of the Gospel as God's gracious message, which every man may embrace, and should embrace immediately, and away from those philosophical and traditionary expositions of Christianity which it only embarrasses the preacher to deliver, and the hearer to receive. The increased attention which the the- ologians of America are giving to the ac- curate and learned investigation of the Holy Scriptures, may be regarded as an indication of the tendency of theological seience in this country. That the Scrip- tures are the only authority in matters of faith is not only universally acknowledged in theory, but more and more practically acted upon. Thus the science and art of interpretation are more and more appreci- ated. The best theologian must be he who bests understands, and who can best ex- plain the Bible. The questions, What did Edwards hold ] What did the Puritans hold 1 What did the Reformers hold 1 What did Augustine, Jerome, or the earli- er Fathers hold 1 though admitted to be important in their place, are regarded as of small importance in comparison with the questions, What saith the Scripture 1 What did Christ and the Apostles teach ? Under this influence, the tendency of the- ological science, as well as of the popular exposition of Christianity from the pulpit, is towards the primitive simplicity of Chris- tian truth. The great achievement of American the- ology is, that it has placed the doctrine of the atonement for sin in the clearest light, by illustrations drawn from the nature of a moral government. Nowhere is the dis- tinction between the work of Christ as the propitiation for the sins of men, and that of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sancti- fying the sinner, more clearly drawn — no- where is the necessity of each to the sal- vation of the soul more constantly and for- cibly exhibited. The tendency of our the- ology, under the impulse of the Edwardean exposition of the doctrine of the atonement, is to avoid the habit — so common to phi- losophers and philosophizing theologians — of contemplating God exclusively as the First Cause of all beings and all events, and to fix attention upon him as a moral gov- ernor of beings made for responsible ac- tion. Here it is that the God of the Bible differs from the God of philosophy. The latter is simply a first cause — a reason why things are — sometimes, if not always, a mere hypothesis to account for the exist- ence of the universe, another name for nature or for fate. The former is a moral governor, that is, a lawgiver, a judge, a dis- penser of rewards and penalties. God's law is given to the universe of moral be- ings for the one great end of promoting the happiness of that vast empire. As a law, it is a true and earnest expression of the will of the lawgiver respecting the actions of his creatures. As a law, it must be sanctioned by penalties ade- quate to express God's estimation of the value of the interests trampled on by dis- obedience. As the law is not arbitrary, but the necessary means of accomplishing the greatest good, it may not be arbitrarily set aside. Therefore, when man had be- come apostate, and the whole human race was under condemnation, God sent his Son into the world, in human nature, " to be made a sin-offering for us ;" and thus, by his voluntary sufferings magnifying the law, " to declare the righteousness of God, that God may be just, and the justifier of him who believeth." Thus it is that God, as a moral governor, is glorified in the forgive- ness of sinners ; that He calls upon all men to repent, with a true and intense de- sire for their salvation ; that He sends into a world of rebellion the infinite gift of his Spirit, to impart life to those who are dead in sin ; that in a world of sinners, who, if 292 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. left to themselves, would all reject the of- fered pardon, He saves those whom He has chosen out of the world ; that he uses the co-operation of redeemed and renewed men in advancing the work of saving their fel- low-men. Men are saved from sin and condemnation, not by mere power, but by means that harmonize with the nature, and conduce to the ends of God's moral gov- ernment. This method of illustrating the Gospel carries the preacher and the theolo- gian back from the Platonic dreams and dry dogmatizing of the schools, to the Bible. It sets the theologian upon studying, and the preacher upon imitating, the freedom, simplicity, and directness, with which the Apostles addressed the understandings and sensibilities of men. And thus it may be re- garded as coinciding with other indications of the tendency of religious opinion ia the various evangelical bodies of America. I would remark, in conclusion, that few things in the history of the Gospel more strikingly prove its inherent life and divin- ity, than the extent to which it has se- cured and retains a hold upon the Ameri- can people. Their Christianity is not the dead formalism of ecclesiastical institu- tions — upheld by law, tradition, or the force of fashion.* It is not a body of supersti- tions, lying with oppressive weight upon the common mind, and giving support to a domineering priesthood. It is not that Ra- tionalism which, retaining little of Chris- tianity but the name, has had a brief as- cendency in some parts of Protestant Eu- rope. It is evangelical Christianity — the Christianity of the New Testament. Wher- ever the stranger sees a place of worship in our cities, or in the country, the pre- sumption is — the probability is, with few exceptions, ten to one — that there God is worshipped in the name of the one Medi- ator, with faith and penitence ; that there pardon is offered to the guilty, freely through Christ the Lamb of God ; and that there the Holy Spirit is looked for. and is given to renew the heart of the sinner, and to fill the believing soul with joy and peace. The worship may, in many instances, be such as would offend the sensibilities of certain cultivated minds — most unlike the choral pomp of old cathedrals — still, rude as it may be, it is often that only acceptable worship which is offered in spirit and in truth. The Gospel may be preached there ignorantly, and with many imperfections, still it is the Gospel, and often does it be- come " the wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation." BOOK VIII. KFFORTS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCHES FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. We cannot well close our view of the religious condition of the United States without a brief notice of what the church- es here are doing for the propagation of the Gospel in other lands. This forms a * Much has been said in Europe about the tyranny of public opinion in the United States, but I confess I never have been able to comprehend what this ex- pression means. M. de Tocqueville employs it, but •without giving any clear idea upon the subject, as has been well remarked by the Hon. John C Spen- cer, in his Notes to the American edition of M. de T.'s work. If public opinion be strong and decided in America, it is because the character of the people makes it so. When they form an opinion, more es- pecially on any matter in which the judgment or the conscience is concerned (and what subject of a prac- tical kind does not involve one or other of these,)? they are not willing to change it but for good reasons. And in all matters of religion, and morals especially, the Protestant Faith, which has so much influence with a large proportion of the population, concurs with the earnestness and steadiness of the Anglo- Saxon character, to make public opinion, not only strong, but right, on all points on which it has been sufficiently informed. Mr. Laing, in his excellent work on Sweden, has some judicious remarks on this subject, proving that he takes a philosophic view Of it. natural sequel to what has been said of their endeavours to plant and to sustain its institutions on their own soil. Some readers, indeed, may be surprised to learn that our churches are doing any- thing at all for the spiritual welfare of oth- er countries, while they have so much to do in their own. When they hear that our population is increasing at the rate of 500,000 of souls in the year, so that no- thing short of the most gigantic efforts can effect a proportionate increase of ministers and congregations ; when they read of no fewer than 60,000 or 80,000 immigrants arriving from Europe, the greater number of whom are ignorant of the true Gospel, and many of them uneducated, poor, and vicious, they may be astonished that the American churches, unaided by the gov- ernment in any way, receiving no tithes, taxes, or public pecuniary grants of any kind, even for the support of religion at home, do nevertheless raise large sums for sending the Gospel to the heathen. Such, however, is not the feeling of enlightened and zealous Christians in America itself. They feel that, while called upon to do their utmost for religion at home, it is at Chap. II.] EFFORTS TO CONVERT THE ABORIGINES. 293 once a duty and a privilege to assist in promoting it abroad. They feel assured that he that watereth shall himself be re- freshed, and that, in complying so far as they can with their Saviour's command to " preach the Gospel to every creature," they are most likely to secure the bless- ing of that Saviour upon their country. And facts abundantly prjove that they are right. Moreover, our churches have a special reason for the interest they take in for- eign missions. No churches owe so much to the spirit of missions as they do. Much of the country was colonized by men who came to it not only as a refuge for their faith when persecuted elsewhere, but as a field of missionary enterprise ; and their descendants would be most unfaithful to the high trust that has been bequeathed to them, did they not strenuously endeavour to carry out the principles of their forefa- thers. Alas, we have to mourn that we have, after all, done so little to impart the glorious Gospel, to which our country owes so much, to nations still ignorant of it ! Still, we have done something, and the candid reader will perhaps admit that we have not been altogether wanting in our duty, nor greatly behind the church- es of most other countries in this enter- prise. CHAPTER II. EARLIER EFFORTS TO CONVERT THE ABORI- GINES. Notwithstanding the common mistake at the present day, of those who conceive that religious liberty, and to some extent, also, the enjoyment of political rights, were the sole inducements that led to the ori- ginal colonization of the United States, we have seen that the plantations of both -Vir- ginia and New-England were designed to conduce to the spread of Christianity by the conversion of the Aborigines, as is proved both by the royal charters estab- lishing those early colonies, and by the ex- pressed sentiments of the Massachusetts settlers. The royal charter granted to the Plym- outh Company, having referred to the de- population of the country by pestilence and war, and its lying unclaimed by any other Christian power, goes on to say, " In contemplation and serious considera- tion whereof, we have thought it fit, ac- cording to our kingly duty, so much as in us lieth, to second and follow God's sacred will, rendering thanks to his divine Majes- ty for his gracious favour in laying open and revealing the same unto us before any other Christian prince or state ; by which means, without offence, and as we trust to his glory, we may with boldness go on to the settling of so hopeful a work, which tendeth to the reducing and conversion of such savages as remain wandering in des- olation and distress, to civil society and the Christian religion." And in this, the charter professes to favour the " worthy disposition" of the petitioners to whom it was granted. Nothing could be more nat- ural, therefore, than that John Robinson, pastor of that part of the church which re- mained at Leyden, in Holland, should ex- claim, in his letter to the governor of the colony at Plymouth, "Oh that you had converted some before you killed any!" But, in fact, the Plymouth colonists ap- plied themselves to the conversion of the natives from the very first. They en- deavoured to communicate the knowledge of the Gospel to the scattered Indians around them, and took pains to establish schools for their instruction. The result was, that several gave satisfactory evi- dence, living and dying, of real conversion to God. A poor, small colony, struggling for its very existence with all manner of hardships, could not be expected to do much in this way, yet in 1636 we find that it made a legal provision for the preach- ing of the Gospel among the Indians, and for the establishment of courts to punish trespasses committed against them. The Massachusetts charter sets forth that, " to win and incite the natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of man- kind, and the Christian Faith, in our royal intention and the adventurer's free profes- sion, is the principal end of the plantation." The seal of the colony had for its device the figure of an Indian, with the words of the Macedonian entreaty, " Come over and help us." And here, as at Plymouth, some not altogether abortive attempts were made to convert the natives from the very first. Thus, these two colonies might be con- sidered as self-supporting missions, and rank among the earliest Protestant mis- sionary enterprises. The Swedes had in the preceding century done something for their benighted countrymen in the north- ern part of that kingdom. French Hugue- nots, too, as we have seen, made an at- tempt so early as 1556, under the auspices of the brave and good Coligny, to carry the Gospel to America, by founding a set- tlement in Brazil. Calvin furnished sev- eral pastors for it from his school at Ge- neva. But Villagagnon, who took the lead, having relapsed to Romanism, put three of the Genevan pastors to death ; where- upon some of the colonists returned to Europe, and the remainder were massa- cred by the Portuguese. A subsequent attempt, made under the same auspices, to plant a Protestant colony in Florida, also failed. Thus, even assuming, which 294 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. is not very evident, that these attempts were of a missionary character, certain it is that the New-England colonies may be regarded as the first successful enterprises of the kind. In 1646, the Massachusetts Legislature passed an act for the encouragement of Christian missions among the Indians, and that same year the celebrated John Eliot began his labours at Nonantum, now form- ing part of the township of Newton, about six miles from Boston. Great success at- tended this good man's preaching, and other modes of instruction. Nor were his labours confined to the Indians near Bos- ton. From Cape Cod to Worcester, over a tract of country near 100 miles long, he made repeated journeys, preaching to the native tribes, whose language he had thor- oughly mastered, and had translated the Scriptures and other Christian books into it. Both editions of his Indian Bible, the one of 1500 copies in 1663, the other of 2000 copies in 1685, were printed at Cam- bridge, near Boston, and were the only Bibles printed in America until long af- ter. Eliot, who has ever since been call- ed the "Apostle of the Indians," died m 1690, at the age of eighty-five. " Wel- come joy," was one of his last expres- sions. His labours, and those of others whom he engaged in the same great work, were blessed to the conversion of many souls, and many settlements of " praying Indians" were formed in the country round Boston. But Eliot was not the first who preached the Gospel with success to the Indians in New-England. Thomas Mayhew began his labours among them on the island call- ed Martha's Vineyard, in 1643. In 1646 he sailed for England to solicit aid ; but the ship was lost at sea. His father, Thomas Mayhew, the proprietor of the island, though seventy years of age, then under- took the task, and continued it till 1681, when he died, at the age of ninety-three. His grandson succeeded ; and for five gen- erations, till the death of Zachariah May- hew in 1803. aged eighty-seven years, that family supplied pastors to the Indians liv- ing on Martha's Vineyard. In the Plymouth colony we find honour- able mention made, among those who la- boured to evangelize the Indians during Eliot's lifetime, of Messrs. Treat, Tup- per, and Cotton ; while in Massachusetts, besides Eliot, there were Messrs. (Joskin, Thatcher, and Rawson ; and in Connecti- cut, Messrs. Fitch and Pierson. The re- sult of their united efforts was seen in 1675, in fourteen settlements of " praying Indians, twenty-four congregations, and twenty-four Indian preachers." Besides religious instruction, the Indians were taught agriculture, and the other most ne- cessary arts of civilized life. But that very year (1675), King Philip, the chief of the Pokanoket tribe, instiga- ted by his hatred of Christianity, and still more, probably, by jealousy of the growing power of the English settlers, made an un- provoked war upon the colonies. It ended in the annihilation of his party, not, how- ever, without vast injury to the "praying settlements." Still, though the Gospel ex- perienced a check, it soon began again to make progress, so that in 1696 thero were thirty Indian churches in Massachusetts colony, and, two years later, 3000 reputed " converts." In Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, which belonged to the province of New- York, though its eastern part was col- onized by emigrants from New-England, missionary efforts were less successful. Still, the Gospel was not wholly without effect, and portions of the Narragansett, Pequod, Nantick, Mohegan, and Montauk tribes were converted to Christianity, and long formed " Christian settlements," some remnants of which exist to this day. The news respecting the progress of the Gospel among the Indians in New-Eng- land excited so much interest in the moth- er-country from the first, that " The Socie- ty for Propagating the Gospel in New- England" was incorporated in England so early as 1649, and though its charter was annulled at the Restoration in 1660, a new one was granted the following year, reor- ganizing the society, under the title of " The Society for. Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen Nations of New-Eng- land and the parts adjacent in America." The celebrated Robert Boyle took a great interest in it, and was its " governor" or president for thirty years. The good Bax- ter was its friend. In 1698, " The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge" was founded by members of the Established Church in England ; and in 1701, " The So- ciety for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts" was instituted. This last joined with the first in aiding the American missions, as did also, at a later day, " The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge," which was founded in Scotland. A considerable portion of the funds expended by these so- cieties, in the missions among the Indians, was contributed by the churches in Amer- ica ; for, before the Revolution, they had no independent missionary organizations of their own, owing to their dependant con- dition as colonies. In 1762, the Massachu- setts Legislature incorporated a society formed at Boston, "for promoting Christian knowledge among the Indians in North America," but the ratification of this act by the crown being refused, the missions had still to be conducted on behalf of the soci- eties in Great Britain, through American committees formed at Boston and New- York. ; Chap. U.] EFFORTS TO CONVERT THE ABORIGINES. 295 In 1734, Mr. John Sergeant began to la- bour among some Mohegans whom he had gathered round him at Stockbridge, in Mas- sachusetts, whence the name given them ever after of " Stockbridge Indians." That good man, whose labours were greatly blessed, died in 1749, whereupon these In- dians passed under the care of the great Jonathan Edwards, who had been settled at Northampton. It was while labouring as an humble missionary at Stockbridge that he wrote his celebrated treatises on the " Freedom of the Will" and " Original Sin." Having spent six years at Stockbridge, he was called to be President of Princeton College, New-Jersey. After the Revolu- tion, the Stockbridge Indians, many of them being Christians, removed to the cen- tral part of the State of New-York, thence to Indiana, thence to Green Bay, and at last to their present settlement on the east of Lake Winnebago, where they have a church and a missionary. Contemporaneously with the commence- ment of Mr. Sergeant's labours at Stock- bridge the Moravians began a mission in Georgia, whence they were compelled by supervening difficulties to remove soon after to Pennsylvania. In compliance with applications transmitted by them to Hernnhut, in Germany, the Society sent over several missionaries, and these wor- thy men began in 1740 to labour very suc- cessfully among the Mohegans on the bor- ders of the States of Connecticut and New- York. But the opposition of wicked white men compelled them at length to remove, with as many of the Indians as would ac- company them, to the neighbourhood of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and there they remained for several years, but suffered much in consequence of the hostilities between France and Britain in 1755-63. From that they went first to the banks of the Upper Susquehanna, and afterward be- yond the western borders of Pennsylvania, where they joined some Indian converts of the excellent David Zeisberger from the Alleghany River. These quarters they ex- changed in 1772 for others on the Muskin- gum River, in Ohio, where they enjoyed great spiritual prosperity for a season. From that they moved afterward to the Sandusky River, in the same state. After many calamities and much suffering du- ring the Revolutionary war, in which the Indians generally took part against the Americans, and after several changes of quarters subsequent to the return of peace, they finally settled on the River Thames, in Upper Canada, where they built the town of Fairfield, at which they now reside. David Brainerd commenced his short but useful career in 1743 among the In- dians between Albany and Stockbridge, .near what is now called New-Lebanon. He preached afterward to the Indians at the Forks of the Delaware, in Pennsylvania, the site of the present town of Easton. And, finally, he laboured for a short time, but with amazing success, among the New-Jersey Indians at Crossweeksung. On the termination of his labours by death, at the age of thirty, his brother John con- tinued them, and was much blessed in the attempt. Upon John's death in 1783, his Indian flock had the ministrations of the Word continued chiefly by the pastors in the neighbourhood until 1802, when it join- ed the Stockbridge Indians at their settle- ment in New- York. A school for Indian youth was opened at Lebanon, in Connecticut, in 1748, under the Rev. EleazerWheelock, and there the well- known Indian preacher, Mr. Occum, and the celebrated Mohawk chief, Brant, were educated. It was afterward removed to Hanover, in New-Hampshire, where it is still to be found, and is nominally connect- ed, I understand, with Dartmouth College. Its proper title is " Moor's Charity School." One of the most useful of the more re- cent missionaries among the Indians was the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who began his labours with the Oneidas in the State of New- York in 1764, and died in 1808, hav- ing preached the. Gospel to the Indians, with some short interruptions, for more than forty years. We have elsewhere referred to some- thing being done in the way of Indian mis- sions in Virginia, but in none of the South- ern colonies was there anything of this kind accomplished deserving of particular mention. The wars between the Aborigi- nes and the immigrants, that broke out soon after the arrival of the latter, and were re- peatedly renewed afterward, extinguished any little zeal they may have ever felt in such a cause. These notices will, no doubt, surprise such of our readers as have been under the impression that the colonists never did anything for the conversion of the Indians to the Gospel. Still, who can but regret that more was not done to bring the origi- nal occupants of the soil to that knowledge both of Christianity, and the arts of civil- ized life, by which alone the gradual ex- tinction of so many of their tribes could have been arrested? The efforts of the colonists, however, encountered many ob- stacles. The wars between France, when mistress of the Canadas, and the Brit- ish Empire, of which the United States were then a part, invariably drew their re- spective colonies, together with the inter- vening Indian tribes, into hostilities. These were protracted, bloody, and cruel, so as to leave deep traces of exasperation in the minds of all who did not possess a large share of the spirit of the Gospel. All war is dreadful, but Indian warfare is horrible 296 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. to a degree altogether beyond the concep- tion of those who have only heard of it at a distance, and it ultimately begot such a spirit of hatred and revenge among the col- onists as proved exceedingly unfavourable to missions. I stop not here to inquire who was in the wrong in the first instance. Only let me remark, in passing, that they are egregiously mistaken who assume that the colonists were always in the wrong. Again, the churches in the colonies were neither numerous nor rich, so that, upon the whole, those in New-England, and per- haps those, also, in New- York and New- Jersey, did as much, probably, in proportion to their ability, then as they do now. At length came the long war of the Rev- olution, and the still longer period that fol- lowed of distraction, confusion, and spirit- ual desolation. Small, indeed, was the prospect then of sufficient attention being paid to missions among the Indians, many of whose tribes were far from being peace- ably disposed towards the United States government. And no sooner did the coun- try and the government begin to recover from this stale of moral syncope, than they fell into fresh troubles in consequence of the wars between the British and French, following upon the French Revolution — troubles which ultimately brought on the war of 1812-1815, between the United States and Great Britain. Thus, it was not until the peace of 1815, and the general restoration of good- will between the Indian tribes and the United States, that a favour- able opening for missions among the for- mer was again presented. Blessed be God, our churches have ever since been becom- ing more and more interested every year in this good cause, as will appear from the operations of our societies for foreign missions. It is no easy task, indeed, to Christian- ize and civilize savages who, from times unknown, have been devoted to hunting and to war; and, when not thus occupied, lounge like their dogs about their miser- able hovels and tents, clad in skins, and leaving to their women, or squaws, the drudgery of cultivating a little patch of maize, making the fires, and even dressing the animals that have been slain in the chase, as well as all other domestic cares. Their aversion to the methodical labour required for the arts of civilized life is such as none can conceive without a personal knowledge of them. Not a single noble aspiration seems ever to enter their souls, but all they care about seems to be that they may pass away life as their fathers did, and then die amid the vague and shadowy visions of the unknown future. In short, as long as their forests last, and game can be found, they seem not to have a thought of adopting the habits of civil- ized life. Some persons are forever indulging mawkish lamentations over the disappear- ance .of the aboriginal tribes of North America, and, if one may interpret their sentimental distress on this subject, they would rather see this vast continent oc- cupied by a few hundred thousand sav- ages, roaming the forests, and continu- ally at war with each other, than covered with a civilized and Christian population; either forgetting, or else never having known, that a state of savageism is not only wretched, but necessarily tends to annihilation. But how civilized men are to share the same continent with uncivilized, without the latter being supplanted and made to disappear, is a question by no means of easy solution. On a continent of great natural resources, and possessing every- thing calculated to invite civilized men to its shores, becoming discovered, it is easy to see that the time cannot be distant when civilized men, by natural increase and immigration, will crowd upon and dis- place the uncivilized. To save the latter from extinction, under such circumstances, one or other of two courses must be pur- sued : either the two races must be amal- gamated, which is next to impossible while one remains uncivilized, and can only be done by reducing one of them to a species of slavery, and thus bringing them into the bosom of civilized society, as was very much the course pursued by the Spaniards in Mexico and South America ; or the un- civilized race be allowed to preserve their natural or tribial existence in some distinct territory. The plan pursued by the Span- iards was revolting to the feelings of the English colonists, and they adopted, ac- cordingly, that of letting the Indians enjoy a separate existence. But even this, easy as it may seem at first sight, is attended with many difficul- ties. It would be very practicable if all men were what they ought to be ; for then, after the immigrants had purchased the ter- ritory they required, the Indians would be left in undisturbed possession of what they chose to reserve to themselves, and the two races would live in each other's pres- ence, respecting each other's rights, and each contented with its own possessions. But this, alas ! is not a likely result among fallen men whom even Christianity has only partially restored. As the civilized increased in numbers, they desired more and more territory, which the Indians did not hesitate to sell as long as their own domain seemed almost boundless, and so the white men went on pushing the red farther and farther towards the West. Meanwhile, the latter disappointed the ex- pectations of those who had looked for- ward to their adopting the manners and customs of civilized life. Living in close Chap. II.] EFFORTS TO CONVERT THE ABORIGINES. 297 proximity to the white men's settlements, these they often visited with the skins of animals or blankets thrown over their shoulders, and their extremities exposed in the coldest weather ; and then, after lounging about the houses of the colonists, and taking such presents as might be of- fered, they returned to their comfortless wigwams without having acquired the slightest desire to exchange their wretch- ed mode of living for the conveniences and comforts they had just witnessed. They Avere too fond of the habits ill which they had been nurtured, and too averse to every- thing like steady industry, to seek any change. Nor were the colonists wanting in ef- forts to induce their savage neighbours to adopt civilized usages. Provision was made in almost every treaty that they should be supplied with articles of com- fort, and agricultural and other useful im- plements. But brandy, alas ! was inclu- ded at times, that being thought, in those days of ignorance, one of the first requi- sites of life — equally necessary to the civ- ilized and uncivilized man. Addresses with- out number were presented to " chiefs" and " councils" by the colonial governors in favour of civilization, but these were all in vain. The little that was done must be ascribed to the missionaries sent to them, chiefly by the churches in the colonies. These succeeded, in several instances, in partially civilizing the Indians amongwhom they laboured, and to this the still extant remnants of tribes may be said to owe their preservation to this day, inasmuch as those in which Christianity never gained any footing, and in which agriculture and the mechanical arts never made any prog- ress, almost wholly disappeared, either by becoming extinct, or by being merged in other uncivilized and heathen tribes. The result would, doubtless, have been much more favourable had the missionary spirit of the earliest colonists continued to distinguish their followers. But, alas ! mere cupidity tempted many to those shores for the sole object of enriching themselves by all practicable means, how- ever unjustifiable, and often by overreach- ing the poor ignorant savage. Nay, even good men suffered themselves to be too much influenced by the horrid massacres often committed by the Indians upon the frontier settlements in their wars with the colonists. These atrocities could hardly fail to cool the zeal for promoting the best interests of their barbarous neighbours, which such men had previously felt. Add to other untoward influences that of the phraseology of the royal charters, where what were called " rights" to cer- tain lands were granted, without the slight- est reference being made to the previous ''rights" of the uncivilized occupants of the soil. This seems to have suggested al- most all the subsequent efforts made to ob- tain per fas aut nefas, the territories marked out by those charters. Thus the poor In- dians had no certain resting-place. A few reservations which certain remnants of partially Christianized and civilized tribes have retained in some parts of New-Eng- land and New-York, are now the only In- dian settlements to be found in all the At- lantic States. Had the wise though much vilified plan, pursued for some years past by the United States government, been sooner adopted — had the tribes whose lands were included in the royal charters been all collected on one territory, beyond the boundaries of any charter, and ample enough for their support by hunting in the first instance, and afterward by tillage, even the limited attempts that were made to civilize them might have taken effect. But, alas ! where was there a territory ample enough to be found over which no charter extended its claims ] At last, by the acquisition of Louisiana, this desidera- tum Was supplied, and men, as benevolent as America has ever possessed, soon com- prehended the important use that might be made of it, and pressed it upon the atten- tion of the government. Accordingly, the country lying between the present States of Arkansas and Missouri and the Great American Desert, which stretches as far west as the Oregon Mountains, was set apart for the purpose, being sufficiently large, and containing much good land, and to it the government has succeeded in re- moving above twenty tribes, or remnants of tribes, from its own organized States and Territories. Soon all that remain will fol- low, so that there will be an Indian popu- lation of above 100,000 souls on a compact territory, stretching about 500 or 600 miles from north to south, and about 200 from east to west. Thither, also, have the mis- sionaries, who had been labouring among those tribes, gone ; and though the remo- val of the several nations from their an- cient homes, and from the graves of their forefathers, has been followed by some years of that hardship and suffering which all removals from ancient settlements, whether more or less civilized, to the dens- er forests must occasion, yet they are sur- mounting these, and gradually establishing themselves in their new homes. In pro- cess of time they .will have their little farms and lots of ground cleared, comfort- able houses erected, mills built, and the more necessary arts of civilized life intro- duced among them. Great progress is al- ready making, and the time, I trust, will come when the inhabitants of this Indian territory will accept the offer made by Con- gress to the Cherokees, shortly after the Revolution, to receive a delegation from them to the National Congress, and thus •298 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. admit them as a constituent portion of the United Stales, and subject to its laws. As this removal of the Indian tribes to a territory west of the Mississippi has sub- jected the General Government to great misrepresentation, and, in my opinion, to most unjust censure, I may say a few words farther respecting it. What has been most censured is the removal of the Cherokees, a tribe of Indians formerly situated chiefly in the State of Georgia, and by far the most advanced in civiliza- tion of all the aboriginal race. By the charter granted to Oglethorpe and his friends, Georgia claimed an exten- sive territory to the west of her present limits, out of which the States of Alabama and Mississippi have since been formed. This territory she agreed to cede to the United States, provided the General Gov- ernment would buy out the claims of the Indians residing within her present limits, and remove them elsewhere. The Gen- eral Government accordingly removed the Creek Indians, after buying up their claims, from the southwestern part of the State to the west of the Mississippi. But the Cherokees, whose lands lay in the north- western corner, refused to sell them, al- though the General Government for years tried every method that it deemed prop- er to induce them to do so. Georgia at length resolved to survey those lands, and to extend her jurisdiction over both their Indian occupants, and all who lived among them ; upon which the missionaries re- tired, with the exception of two, who re- fused to take the oath of allegiance to the state, on the ground that Georgia had no right of jurisdiction over the Cherokee territory. Being arrested and thrown into prison for this, they appealed to the Su- preme Court of the Confederation, which gave judgment in their favour, and ordered them to be set at liberty. This was de- manded, accordingly, by the marshal of the United States residing in the State of Georgia. The Governor of Georgia re- fused compliance. This was reported by the marshal to the Supreme Court. Its next yearly meeting was now drawing on, and the Constitution then required that the chief-justice should call upon the President of the United States to enforce compliance, which, by his oath of office, the latter was obliged to do. At this crisis, the Governor of Georgia, well aware that the President would do his duty, first offered pardon to the imprisoned missionaries, and as they refused to accept this, as a last resort he convened the Legislature, and it, on some trivial ostensible pretext, abolished the penitentiary or state prison, and so turned the missionaries out of doors. So the affair ended. The cause of the Indians was, in fact, sustained by the General Government, and though they received ! much trouble from their Georgian neigh- bours, they remained several years longer on their lands, and then sold them to the United States for a great price,* and re- I moved west of the Mississippi, where they are now settled. Although their removal was attended with much hardship, and a good deal of sickness, they are represented as doing well in their new territory, where they are placed beside the Choctas, Chick- asas, Creeks, and other tribes. It is hard to see wherein the General Government was to blame in all this. It was in favour of removing the Indians, be- lieving that it would be best for them to leave a territory where they could never live in tranquillity, and place themselves in another, which, being the absolute property of the United States, could not, under any pretext, be claimed by any state. There, if anywhere, they can, and, I have no doubt, will be protected. So, also, the course pursued by the Gen- eral Government in relation to the Semi- nole Indians in Florida has been held up as cruel and unjust in the highest degree, as designed to uphold slavery, &c, &c. Now, though far from believing that in this mat- ter the government has acted wisely, I think it obvious that the situation of the long, narrow peninsula in question, al- though nineteen twentieths of it are quite unfit for any species of culture, might make the possession of it desirable. A large sum, accordingly, was offered for it to the 3000 or 4000 Indians who roamed over it, and whose depredations on the white in- habitants of the country adjoining had long been exceedingly vexatious. A treaty was made, as the government thought, with chiefs having full authority to that effect. But this the Indians refused to keep ; hence hostilities broke out, which, after having lasted for years, are now termina- ted. That the government was deceived by its agents is very probable, but I do not believe that its intentions were unjust. Upon the whole, I think that the National Government, in its transactions with the Indians, has sincerely aimed at doing them justice. Its influence is happily exercised in promoting peace among the tribes of the West, the disputes constantly arising among which its officers and agents do their best to terminate in a peaceful way, and by the influence of persuasion alone. It has often, indeed, to bear the blame due only to unfaithful agents, by whom it is sometimes both deceived and committed. The General Government has been bla- med because rum and other ardent spirits are carried by unprincipled men to the In- dians on the borders, yet no government * Five millions of dollars, besides the expenses of their removal, and a year's support in their new homes. All this was in addition to the lands which they received in exchange for their former country. Chap. III.] BOARDS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 299 could well do more to prevent this. It has not only forbidden, but has taken measures to prevent all such traffic ; and these have not been wholly in vain. But what govern- ment on earth could effectually guard such an immense frontier of almost boundless forests as that of the United States 1 Eng- land and France find it impossible to guard effectually a few hundred miles of coast against smuggling ; how much more diffi- cult the task which the United States are blamed for not accomplishing 1 But the formation of Temperance societies among the Indians, and the passing of severe laws among themselves against every villain, white or red, who may be found engaged in such commerce, will be a more effectual remedy. In conclusion, I would state that the United States government has done much incidentally, during the last twenty-five years, to promote missions among the In- dian tribes, by a yearly grant of 10,000 dollars for the establishment of schools, blacksmiths' shops, and other trades. This sum is generally expended through the several missionary societies, and of course by the missionaries, as the persons most competent for the task ; many, if not all, of them being well acquainted with the various handicrafts most necessary to the partially civilized people among whom they live. The late Secretary of War, the Hon. John C. Spencer, has spoken in the highest terms of the judicious manner in which this money has been applied, and of the good which has been accomplished. A similar testimony has recently been rendered by a committe of Congress, to which the same subject had been referred. It is pleasant to state a fact which shows the favourable disposition of the govern- ment towards the benevolent enterprise of Christianizing and civilizing the tribes on our borders, to whom we are far from having done all our duty. Many of the tribes, it may be added, appropriate large sums from the yearly pensions they re- ceive from the United States government to the establishment of schools and the promotion of the arts.* * The United States government has done much to procure a favourable reception for the missionaries among the Indians, and to induce the latter to set apart large sums from the price paid for their lands by the United States, and which is generally done in the shape of annuities, for the promotion of educa- tion and religion, as well as the useful arts. These annuities now exceed 1,000,000 of dollars. To pre- serve these tribes, or, rather, all the tribes to which it can find access, from the ravages of the smallpox, the United States government also sends fit persons from time to time to vaccinate them. Within the territory claimed by the United States, there are now above fifty missionary stations among the Indians, about fifty missionaries, above forty as- sistant missionaries, American and native, and not much under 5000 communicants or members of churches. There is also a very considerable number of schools and scholars. Several of the aboriginal nations now assembled on the territory which the gov- ernment of the United States has assigned them, and which lies, as we have said, west of the States of Arkansas and Mis- souri, are making astonishing progress in civilization. As a proof of this, the fact may be cited that in some of them, partic- ularly the Cherokees and Choctas, many schools are now maintained ; some of them by the several missionary societies who employ ministers of the Gospel and teach- ers among them, and others by the govern- ments of those tribes. In some cases, in- dividual natives bear the expense of a school themselves, for the benefit of their children. Many of the natives are suffi- ciently well educated to be good teachers. The Chocta government has made pro- vision for the education of their youth, which may well cause many nations more advanced in civilization to blush. Their National Council in November, 1842, re- solved to establish three academies for boys and four for girls. For the former (one of which, I believe, is to be a sort of college) they made an annual appropria- tion of 18,500 dollars, and for the latter 7800, making together the sum of 26,300 dollars as a public annual appropriation for the support of schools ! And yet, a few years ago, these people were ignorant sav- ages, of whom not one could read ! And who have, under God, been the authors of this change 1 The missionaries who are la- bouring among them, and who are all Prot- estants. As to the Cherokees, the progress of civilization among them is not less won- derful. Very many of them can now read. A few years ago, one of their men, who had been educated by the missionaries, in- vented a syllabic alphabet, by which the art of reading has been wonderfully diffused among them — a phenomenon which has had no equal in any community in the whole world these two thousand years. There are three printing-presses in this nation, one of which has lately been intro- duced by their government for the purpose of printing a Cherokee newspaper ! We now proceed to give some notice of the various Missionary Societies in the United States, and in doing so shall have occasion to speak of what has been done since 1815 to introduce Christianity among the Indians. CHAPTER III. AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOR- EIGN MISSIONS. With the exception of that of the Uni- ted Brethren, the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions is the old- est society for foreign missions in the Urn- 300 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. ted States. It has also the greatest num- ber of missions and missionaries, and the largest amount of receipts. Several reli- gious denominations, agreeing substantial- ly in their views of the Gospel, and in their ecclesiastical organizations, unite in sus- taining it. These are the Congregational, numbering about 1500 churches, about the same number of Presbyterian churches, and the Reformed Dutch and German Reformed, numbering together about 700 churches ; though but a small number of the German Reformed churches yet take an interest in foreign missions. The great body of the Congregational churches are in the New-England States. The others, so far as this missionary institution is con- cerned, are almost entirely in what are call- ed the Middle and Western States. The number of congregations which are really connected with it, and operate through it on the heathen world, is about 3500, in which there may be 2,000,000 of souls. Its Origin and Constitution. — The Board had its origin in the following manner. Sev- eral young men, graduates of New-England colleges, and preparing for the Gospel min- istry at the Theological Seminary at Ando- ver, in the State of Massachusetts, agreed, in the year 1809, to unite their efforts in establishing a mission among the heathen in some foreign land. In this they were encouraged by the Faculty of the semina- ry. As the General Association of Congre- gational ministers in Massachusetts were to hold their annual meeting in June, 1810, these young men were advised to submit their case to that body. This was done by four of their number — Messrs. Mills, Jud- son, Newell, and Nott — in the following paper : " The undersigned, members of the Di- vinity College, respectfully request the at- tention of their reverend Fathers, conven- ed in the General Association at Bradford, to the following statement and inquiries. " They beg leave to state, that their minds have been long impressed with the duty and importance of personally attempting a mission to the heathen ; that the impres- sions on their minds have induced a seri- ous, and, they trust, a prayerful considera- tion of the subject in its various attitudes, particularly in relation to the probable suc- cess, and the difficulties attending such an attempt ; and that, after examining all the information which they can obtain, they consider themselves as devoted to this work for life, whenever God, in his provi- dence, shall open the way. " They now offer the following inquiries. on which they solicit the opinion and ad- vice of this Association. Whether, with their present views and feelings, they ought to renounce the object of missions as either visionary or impracticable ; if not, whether they ought to direct their attention to the Eastern or Western world : whether they may expect patronage and support from a missionary society in this country, or must commit themselves to the direction of a European society ; and what preparatory measures they ought to take previous to actual engagement. " The undersigned, feeling their youth and inexperience, look up to their Fathers in the Church, and respectfully solicit their advice, direction, and prayers." On the 29th of June, the Association elected a Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions, consisting of nine persons. The Board, at its first meeting, held in the following September, adopted the name of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, thus recognising its high calling to act for all in every part of the nation, who might choose to employ its agency in the work of missions among the heathen. The transaction of its ordi- nary business, however, was delegated to an executive commitd e called the Pruden- tial Committee, the members of which re- side at or near Boston, where is the seat of its operations. Subsequently it was found necessary to obtain an Act of Incor- poration from the Legislature of Massachu- setts, in order that the Board might the bet- ter manage its financial concerns. This act, being respected by the legal tribunals of all the other States in the Republic, has been found of great use, especially in the recovery of bequests contested wrong- fully by heirs at law. It requires one third of the members to be laymen, and one third clergymen ; the remaining third may be either clergymen or laymen. Members are elected by ballot. The object of the Board is expressly recognised in the act to be " the propagation of the Gospel in hea- then lands, by supporting missionaries and diffusing a knowledge of the Holy Scrip- tures ;" and full power is granted to hold an amount of permanently invested funds suffi- cient for the purpose of credit in the com- mercial world, and also to receive and ex- pend annually, in pursuance of its object, any amount of contributions its patrons may think proper to place at its disposal. The number of corporate members is about 175, residing in nineteen of the States, religious men, having in general a high standing in their respective profes- sions. These form the body corporate, the Trustees in respect to the financial con- cerns of the institution. But with these are associated a large body of honorary members, amounting, at present, to more than 3500, who are made such by the pay- ment of 100 dollars if laymen, or fifty dol- lars if clergymen ; and who share equally in the deliberations of the annual meetings, but do not vote, as that would interfere with the charter. A third class of members are called corresponding members ; they are Chap. III.] BOARDS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 301 foreign members, and are elected by ballot. In addition to the usual office-bearers for presiding at the annual meetings, and re- cording the proceedings at these meetings, there are three Corresponding Secretaries and a Treasurer, whose time is fully occu- pied with the business. Its History. — The proceedings of the ."Board, and the results of its experience and operations for the thirty years past of its existence, must necessarily be stated in the most comprehensive and summary manner. It is among the remarkable facts in the history of this institution, and in the eccle- siastical history of the country, that, at the outset, neither the Board nor its Prudential Committee, nor, indeed, any of the leading minds in the American churches at that time, could see the way clear for raising funds enough to support the four young men who were then waiting to be sent forth to the heathen world. One of them was accordingly sent to England by the Pru- dential Committee, mainly to see whether an arrangement could not be made with the London Missionary Society, by which a part of their support could be received from that society, and they yet remain under the direction of the Board. That society wisely declined such an arrange- ment, and at the same time encouraged their American brethren to hope for ample contributions from their own churches as soon as the facts should be generally known. From this time no farther thought was entertained of looking abroad for pe- cuniary aid. Indeed, the largest legacy the Board has yet received was bequeath- ed to it by a benevolent lady in Salem, Massachusetts, in the early part of the year 1811. The first ordination of American missionaries to the heathen in foreign lands was in that place, on the 6th of Feb- ruary, 1812. These were the Rev. Sam- uel Newell, Adoniram Judson, Gordon Hall, Samuel Nott, and Luther Rice, all from the little missionary band in the The- ological Seminary at Andover. They pro- ceeded forthwith to Calcutta, in the East Indies, but without being designated to any specific field by the committee. There was not then the hundredth part of the knowledge of the heathen world in the American churches that there is now. The Prudential Committee seem to have been unable to point to any one country, and tell their missionaries decidedly to occupy tha* in preference to other contiguous coun- tries. The comparative claims of the dif- ferent benighted portions of the unevan- gelical world was a subject then but little understood. The missionaries were left to decide what field to occupy after their ar- rival in India. Messrs. Judson and Rice had not been long with the Baptist missionaries at Se- rampore. near Calcutta, before they de- clared themselves converts to the peculiar views of those missionaries in relation to Baptism. Their consequent separation from the society which sent them forth, gave rise to the formation of a Baptist Board for Foreign Missions in the United States. Messrs. Hall, Newell, and Nott, after much painful voyaging from place to place, oc- casioned by the reluctance of the East In- dia Company to tolerate missionaries, and especially American missionaries, in India (the United States and Great Britain being then, unhappily, at war), at length, in 1813, found a resting-place and field of labour at Bombay, in Western India. This was the commencement of the mission to the Mah- rattas. The Mahrattas possess strong traits of character as a people, compared with oth- er nations of India, as is evident in their history for ages past. The American mis- sionaries were the first to go in among them, and they entered as the husband- man would into an unbroken forest. No preparatory work had been done, except merely that of conquest by a Christian power, and it must be confessed that few tangible results have yet been witnessed in that mission. But there is no doubt that the Mahratta people now stand dif- ferently related to the Christian religion from what they did in 1813. Much una- voidable preliminary ground has been gone over; the truth stands nearer to the na- tive intellect and heart ; the spiritual con- quest of the country is far easier than it was then. Among the Tamul people, found in the northern district of Ceylon and in South- ern India, there was some degree of prep- aration when the mission to that people was commenced in 1816; in Ceylon, by means of the Portuguese and the Dutch ; and on the Continent, by means of the cel- ebrated missionary Schwartz and his asso- ciates. Hence, through the blessing of God, the obvious results have been greater there than among the Mahrattas. The syste- matic measures which were early adopt- ed by the Ceylon mission for training a native agency, and the success attending them, did much to give an early maturity to the plans of the Board for raising up a native ministry in connexion with all its other missions, of which more will be said in the sequel. The most efficient semi- nary for educating heathen youths for help- ers in the work of the Gospel, is believed to be the one connected with the mission in Ceylon. The number of pupils is 160, all of whom are boarding scholars, and about 100 of them are regarded as truly pious. There is also a female seminary, containing more than 100 boarding schol- ars, where the educated native helpers of the mission may obtain pious, educated wives ; and there are free schools contain- 302 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. ing 3000 pupils, which are a nursery for the seminaries, and among the most ef- fectwe means of securing congregations to hear the preached Gospel. In 1834, a branch of this mission was formed at Ma- dura, on the Continent, and in 1836 anoth- er at Madras, with the special object of printing books in the Tamul language on a large scale. The first mission sent by the Board to Eastern Asia was to China in 1830. A pious merchant in New- York city furnish- ed many of the facts and arguments which justified its commencement, and then he gave two missionaries their passage to Canton and their support for.a year. One of these missionaries subsequently visited Siam, and opened the way for a mission to that country ; as he did also to Singa- pore, and to Netherlands India. The mis- sion to Singapore has not answered the expectations of the Board, and has been almost discontinued. The operations in Netherlands India have been much em- barrassed hitherto by the restrictive poli- cy of the Dutch Colonial Government. The mission in Siam has had a prosper- ous commencement ; but its prospects have not that cheering certainty which animates the labour of missionaries under such a government as now rules in Brit- ish India. Turning our attention to Western Asia, we find a number of interesting missions under the care of this Board. The Greek mission, commenced in the year 1829, grew out of the sympathy which was felt for the Greek people throughout the Chris- tian world, in their struggle for independ- ence from the Turkish yoke. Dr. King, who commenced it, had previously been connected with the Palestine mission. It was to the Holy Land, in fact, that the first mission in the series was sent, in the year 1821. Messrs. Fiske and Parsons were the pioneers in the enterprise. In 1828, after their decease, war, and the hos- tilities of the Maronites towards the mis- sion, compelled the surviving missionaries to retire from Syria for a season ; and it is to this occurrence, in the developments of Providence, we trace the establishment of the mission among the Armenians of Constantinople and Asia Minor, which has been so signally useful to that people. Two missionaries of the Board had, indeed, gone to Asia Minor as early as 1826, but their mission was to the Greeks. In the year 1830, Messrs. Smith and Dwight were sent on an exploring tour into Arme- nia, and were instructed to visit the Nes- torians in the Persian province of Ader- baijan. This visit brought that remnant of the most noted missionary church of ancient times to light, and induced the Board to send a mission to restore the blessings of the Gospel to that people. The mission was commenced on the plain of Ooroomiah, and has recently been ex- tended to the independent Nestorian tribes among the Koordish Mountains. The lead- ing object of the mission is to educate the clergy, and by reviving among them, through the blessing of God, the spirit of the Gospel, to induce them to resume the preaching of it with more than their an- cient zeal. The press has been intro- duced. More than 400 Nestorians are in free schools, supported by the mission, and taught by eighteen priests and sixteen dea- cons ; and upward of sixty are boarding scholars in seminaries. There is also a class of about a dozen in theology, instruct- ed by the missionaries. We already begin to witness the gradual reviving of preach- ing among the ecclesiastics. The great thing wanting among this people is spiritu- al life. They number about 100,000 souls. The Syrian mission has for some years past been cultivating an acquaintance with the Druzes of Mount Lebanon. These are about as numerous as the Nestorians, and resemble them in the mountaineer traits of courage and enterprise. The Dru- zes are a sort of heretical Mohammedans. Recently those inhabiting the mountains of Lebanon have, as a community, placed themselves under the religious instruction of the missionaries. Their motive may be the improvement of their civil condi- tion, by becoming Protestant Christians, but the fact of their permitting the mission to open a seminary at the seat of their government, and to preach the Gospel, and introduce schools freely among them, should be acknowledged with gratitude to God. The Armenian Church has proved to be scarcely less interesting as a field for mis- sionary labours than the Nestorian. It has even afforded more abundant spiritual fruit. An evangelical influence is strongly developed among the Armenian clergy ; and in many instances, where they have had no personal communication with mem- bers of the mission, but only with the Holy Scriptures, or with some of the books pub- lished by the mission, there are hundreds of Armenians, it is thought, whose minds, rejecting the corruptions and superstitions of their church, have come under the salu- tary influence of a Gospel that looks for justification only through faith in Christ. In short, the grand principles by means of which the Spirit of grace wrought out the Reformation in Europe, are seen to be op- erating in Western Asia, and their progress ought to engage the prayerful interest of all Christians. A mission was sent to South Africa in 1836, and high hopes were entertained of a prosperous issue. But these hopes have been in great measure blasted by the sin- gular immigration of the Dutch Boers from Chap. III.] BOARDS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. the English colony, and their consequent wars upon the Zulus. The mission to Western Africa, though commenced in 1834, has not yet advanced beyond Cape Palmas, where it has a very interesting seminary for Grebo youth ; but its ultimate destination, as soon as the way is opened up the Niger, is to the populous and health- ful countries of the interior. Along the coast, however, eastward of Cape Palmas, there is work for many missionaries. The results of the mission of the Board in the Sandwich Islands, a group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, constitute one of the great moral wonders of the age. The first missionaries landed on those islands in the year 1820. At that time the natives were savage and pagan, without letters, without a ray of Gospel light ; though they had just before strangely burned their idols — a fact unknown in the United States when the missionaries em- barked on their errand of mercy. In 1840, after the lapse of only twenty years, this same people might properly have claimed the title of a Christian people. Though necessarily destitute in great measure, owing to their poverty, of the more impo- sing insignia of civilization, they then had the elements and basis of it in Christian institutions, schools, a written language, the press, and books, and in the extensive prevalence of pious dispositions and habits. Within this space of time their language had been reduced to writing, and about 100,000,000 of pages had been printed by the mission in the native language. As the alphabet contains but twelve letters, and each letter has but a single sound, it is easy learning to read. One third of the population can read. The children of the chiefs are educated by a member of the mission in a boarding-school designed for them alone, which the chiefs support : this is at Honolulu, in the island of Oahu. At Lahainaluna, on the island of Maui, there is a seminary, for which a large stone ed- ifice has been erected, containing nearly 100 boarding pupils ; and at Wailuku, on the same island, there is a corresponding female institution, containing about fifty. At Waialua, on Oahu, there is a manual labour or self-supporting school. Two other boarding-schools are at Hilo, on the island of Hawaii, which are supported chiefly by the natives. The free schools number about 14,000 pupils. Laws have been passed by the government defining and securing the rights of property to the people, and taking the power of imposing taxes from the individual chiefs, and vest- ing it exclusively in the National Council, which is to assemble annually. But the most remarkable fact of all, is the extra- ordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the years 1838 and 1839, in consequence of which many thousands of the natives were hopefully converted to God. The number of church members (who are ad- mitted to that relation only after a cred- ible profession of real piety) increased in that space of time from 5000 to more than 18,000. The natives have erected many houses for public worship, and a still greater number of schoolhouses, and on the Sabbath-day, which is generally observed by abstaining from labour and amusements, the sound of the church-go- ing bell is heard in not a few of their val- leys. The Board has very properly spent a portion of its funds in missions to the more important and influential tribes of the North American Indians. It be- gan with the Cherokees and Choctas, in 1816-18, who then inhabited a tract of country within the chartered limits of some of the Southwestern States. These two missions, for more than ten years, had great success. The poor Indians were then driven almost to desperation by those who wished for their lands, and were bent on inducing them to remove beyond the Mississippi River. These efforts had a cruel success. The missionaries have fol- lowed the two tribes above mentioned in their exile. Missions were also instituted at different times among the Creeks and Chickasas, eastward of the Mississippi, and among the Osages westward ; but they have been discontinued. Subsequent to the year 1830, missionaries were sent to the savage, wandering Ojibwas, Sioux, and Pawnees, in the vast territory north- west of the United States ; and in 1835 they were sent across the continent, be- yond the Rocky Mountains, to the Indians in the Oregon Territory. There are sev- eral missions among the feeble remnants of the once powerful Six Nations, found on the borders of Lake Erie, in the State of New-York. The following is a summary view of what, through the Divine favour, has been accomplished by this Board. The amount received into the treasury of the Board du- ring the year ending on the 31st of July, 1843, was $244,224 43 ; and the amount of payments was $257,247 25 ; leaving the treasury indebted to the amount of $13,022 82. The number of missions sustained du- ring the year was 26 ; connected with which are 86 stations, at which were la- bouring 131 ordained missionaries, eight of whom were physicians, eight other phy- sicians, 15 teachers, 10 printers and book- binders, six other male, and 178 female as- sistant missionaries — making the whole number of missionary labourers sent from this country and sustained by the Board 348, which is eight less than the number last year. If to these be added 14 native preachers and 116 other native helpers, 304: RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. the whole number of missionary labourers connected with the missions, and sustained from the treasury of the Board, will be 478, which is 10 less than were reported last year. Of these missionary labourers, four ordained missionaries, and two male and nine female assistant missionaries, in all 15, were sent forth during the last year, being the least number of preachers, and the least number, including all classes of labourers, that has been sent forth during any year since 1831. Organized by these missions, and under their pastoral care, are 62 churches, to which have been received during the last year 2690 converts, and which now em- brace, in regular standing, 20,797 mem- bers. This number does not include some hundreds of hopeful converts among the Armenians, Nestorians, and other commu- nities in Western Asia. The number of printing establishments connected with the missions is 16, with four type foundries, 43 founts of type, and 30 presses. Printing has been executed for the missions in 33 languages, exclusive of the English, 15 of which were first re- duced to a written form by the missiona- ries of this Board. The copies of works printed at the mission presses during the past year exceed 600,000, and the number of pages is about 56,383,000 ; making the total number of pages printed for the missions since they commenced about 442,056,185. In the department of education the mis- sionaries have under their care seven sem- inaries for educating preachers and teach- ers, in which are 524 pupils, besides 22 other boarding-schools, in which are 699 pupils, more than 400 of whom are girls. Of free schools the number is 610, contain- ing 30,778 pupils ; making the whole num- ber of pupils under the care of the mis- sions 32,000. Of the 32,000 youth in the mission schools of this Board, somewhat more than 1200 are boarding scholars, in schools where the leading object is to train up a native ministry. Five hundred and twen- ty-four are in seminaries designed exclu- sively for males, where the course of study is as extensive as it can be, while the lan- guages of the several countries where they exist are no better furnished with works of sound literature and science. In general, the text-books for all the schools have to be prepared by the missionaries, and a very great progress, on the whole, has been made in this department, especially in ge- ography, arithmetic, geometry, sacred his- tory, and the first principles of religion and morals. About 442,000,000 of pages have been printed at the sixteen printing establish- ments connected with the missions of this Board. These establishments have printed books and tracts in thirty-three different languages, spoken by more than 450,000,000, exclusive of the English. These langua- ges are the Zulu, Grebo, Italian, Greek, Armenian, Turkish (in the Armenian char- acter), Arabic, Mahratta, Portuguese, Goo- jurattee, Hindosthanee, Latin, Tamul, Te- loogoo, Siamese, Chinese, Japanese, Ma- lay, Bugis, Hawaiian, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seneca, Abenaquis, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Creek, Osage, Sioux, Pawnee, and Nez Perces ; fifteen of which were first reduced to wri- ting by missionaries of the Board. The sixty-two churches which have been gathered among the heathen are formed as nearly on the Congregational or Pres- byterian model for such ecclesiastical or- ganizations as the nature of the case would permit. None but converts who have been received as members of the church, after giving credible evidence of piety, are al- lowed to partake of the Lord's Supper. The spiritual fruits of the missions to the Oriental churches are, of course, not in- cluded in this number, such not having been gathered into distinct and separate churches, the effort there having been to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into those religious communities as they now are. Theoky of the Missions of the Board. — The Board does not regard any of its missions as being permanent institutions. Their object is, through the grace of God, to impart the spirit and plant the institu- tions of the Gospel where they do not exist, and then to leave them to the con- servative influences that shall have been gathered about them. This is true theo- retically, and it will come out in fact as soon as the means are furnished for pros- ecuting the work with becoming vigour. The missionary is emphatically, in the es- sential principle of his calling, a sojourner, pilgrim, stranger, having no continuing city. The leading object of its missions, therefore, is the training and employment of a native ministry, as the only way in which the Gospel can soon become indi- genous to the soil, and the Gospel institu- tions acquire a self-supporting, self-propa- gating energy. And the fact is important to be noted, that the elders, or pastors, whom the apostles ordained over the churches they gathered among the hea- then, were generally, if not always, natives of the country. While the apostles had not the facilities of the present day for training men for this office by education, they had not the necessity for so doing. Among their converts at. Ephesus, Berea, Corinth, Rome, and elsewhere, they had no difficulty in finding men who only re- quired some instruction in theology, and scarcely that when endowed with miracu- lous gifts, to be prepared for the pastoral office. How they did, or would have done, beyond the Roman Empire and the bounds Chap. VIII.] BOARDS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 305 jf civilization, we are not informed ; but in the use they made of a native ministry, we recognise one of the grand principles of their missions, and also the true theory of missions — simple, economical, practical, Scriptural, mighty through God. The manner in which the Board is en- deavouring to carry out this theory in prac- tice has perhaps been sufficiently indicated. But the subject is one of so much impor- tance, that it will be worth while to quote part of an article upon it, which was sub- mitted by the Prudential Committee of the Board, at the annual meeting in the year 1841. I. On the maimer of raising up a native ministry. " 1. This must be by means of semina- ries, schools of the prophets, such as, in some form or other, the Church has al- ways found necessary. There should be one such seminary in each considerable mission. It is an essential feature of the plan that the pupils be taken young, board in the mission, be kept separate from hea- thenism, under Christian superintendence night and day. In general, the course of study should embrace a period of from eight to ten or twelve years, and even a longer time in special cases. Pupils can be obtained for such a course of education in most of the missions ; but, as a nursery for them, it is expedient to have a certain number of free schools, which also greatly aid in getting audiences for the preachers. " 2. There will be but partial success in rearing a native ministry, unless the semi- nary be in the midst of a select and strong body of missionaries, whose holy lives, conversation, and preaching shall cause the light of the Gospel to blaze intensely and constantly upon and around the insti- tution. Experience shows that in such circumstances we are warranted to expect a considerable proportion of the students to become pious. "3. The student, while in the seminary, should be trained practically to habits of usefulness. But this requires caution, and must not be attempted too soon. Those set apart for the sacred ministry might remain as a class in theology at the semi- nary, after completing the regular course of study ; or, according to the old fashion in this country, which has some special advantages, they might pursue their theo- logical studies with individual missiona- ries, and, under such superintendence, ex- ercise their gifts before much responsibil- ity is thrown upon them. " 4. The contemporaneous establishment of female boarding-schools, where the na- tive ministers and other educated helpers in the mission may obtain pious and intel- ligent partners for life, is an essential fea- ture in this system. A native pastor, with an ignorant, heathen wife, would be great- U ly embarrassed and hindered in his work. In this manner Christian families are formed, and at length Christian communi- ties, and there is a race of children with Christian ideas and associations, from among whom we may select our future pupils and candidates for the ministry." II. On the employment of this native mm ■ is try. " The pupils in the seminaries will have different gifts, and the same gifts in very different degrees. All the pious students will not do for preachers. Some may be retained as tutors in the seminary, others may be employed as school teachers, oth- ers as printers, bookbinders, etc. Those set apart for the ministry, while they are taught the way of the Lord more perfectly, can be employed as catechists, tract dis- tributers, readers, or superintendents of schools, and thus gain experience and try their characters. In due time they may be licensed to preach, and, after proper trial, receive ordination as evangelists or pastors. " While care should be taken to lay hands suddenly on no man, there is believed to be danger of requiring too much of native converts before we are willing to intrust them with the ministry of the word. Gen- erations must pass before a community, emerging from the depths of heathenism, can be expected to furnish a body of min- isters equal to that in our country. " Could the present native church mem- bers at the Sandwich Islands be divided into companies of 180 each, 100 churches would be constituted. Native pastors should be in training for these churches, and evan- gelists for the numerous districts where churches are not yet formed, and where the people are consequently exposed to the inroads of the enemy. In the other mis- sions the chief employment, at present, must be that of evangelists. In the Tamul missions hundreds might find ample em- ployment ; and in the Oriental churches, our leading object should be to bring for- ward an able evangelical native ministry with the least possible delay." III. On the power and economy of the plan. " In most of our missions we are oppo- sed by these formidable obstacles, namely, distance, expense, and climate. England was opposed by the same obstacles in her con- quest of India. And how did she overcome them ? By employing native troops ; and it is chiefly by means of them she now holds that great populous country in sub- jection. We, too, must have native troops in our spiritual warfare. Why not have an army of them ? Why not have as nu- merous a body of native evangelists as can be directed and employed? " Such a measure would effect a great saving oitime. Indeed, we can never leave our fields of labour till this is done. Our mission churches must have native pastors, 306 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIIL and pastors of some experience, who can stand alone, before we can leave them. Be- sides, we should make far greater progress than we do had we more of such helpers. " And what economy of money there would be in the operation of this plan ! The cost of a ten years' course of educa- tion for five natives of India would not be more than the outfit and passage of one married missionary to that country. And when a company of missionaries is upon the ground, it costs at least five times as much to support them as it would to sup- port the same number of native preachers. The former could not live, like the latter, upon rice alone, with a piece of cotton cloth wrapped about their bodies for clothing, and a mud-walled, grass-covered cottage, without furniture, for a dwelling; nor could they travel on foot under a tropical sun. They could not do this, and at the same time preserve health and life. " The cost of educating 1000 youth in India, from whom preachers might be ob- tained, and afterward of supporting 200 na- tive preachers and their families, would be only about 25,000 dollars, which is but little more than the average expense in that coun- try of twenty-five missionaries and fami- lies. Now, if the preaching of two well- educated native preachers, labouring under judicious superintendence, may be expect- ed to do as much good as that of one mis- sionary, we have in these 200 native preach- ers the equivalent, in instrumental preach- ing power, for 100 missionaries, and at an expenditure less by nearly 75,000 dollars a year. And then, too, the native preacher is at home in the country and climate, not subject to a premature breaking down of his constitution, not compelled to resort for health to the United States, or to send his children thither for education. Besides, the native churches and converts might gradually be brought to assume a part or the whole of the support of the native min- istry ; while it is very doubtful whether it will ever be expedient for the missionary to receive his support from that quarter. " One hundred thousand dollars a year would board and educate 4000 native youth. That sum would support 500 or 600 native ministers with their families ; and if the value of this amount of native preaching talent equalled that of only 200 missiona- ries, the annual saving of expense would be at least 125,000 dollars. But it would in the end be worth much more ; so that we see, in this view, how our effective force among the heathen may, in a few years, be rendered manifold greater than it is at pres- ent, without even doubling our annual ex- penditure. Some progress has even now been made towards this result. We al- ready have 500 male youth in our seven seminaries ; and a still greater number, male and female, in our other twenty-sev- en boarding-schools. But the scheme, how- ever promising and indispensable, cannot be carried into effect without a large addi- tion of first-rate men to the company of our missionaries." It is interesting to observe how the at- tention of Protestant missionaries from Europe, as well as the United States, has been drawn of late to the importance of a native ministry as a means of carrying on the work of missions among the heathen. There can, however, be no doubt that this Board has taken the lead of all other missionary societies in giving that subject the prominence practically which it de- serves in the great system of missionary operations. The Annual Meetings of the Board. — The annual meetings of the Board must receive a brief notice. They are held in the month of September, in some one of the more important cities of the Eastern or Middle States, and occupy three days. The session is for deliberation and busi- ness. The annual meeting for the year 1841 is a fair specimen of the usual attendance of members. There were 56 corporate, and 102 honorary members present. Of the corporate members five were heads of colleges (there are thrice that number be- longing to the corporation) ; thirty-one were pastors of churches, or otherwise employed in the Christian ministry ; ten were civilians ; and the remaining ten en- gaged in mercantile or medical pursuits. The first day of the session is employed in bringing forward the business of the meetings, so far as the Prudential Com- mittee is concerned, which is done in wri- ting. This, including the different parts of the annual report, is usually referred to some fifteen or more committees, who re- port during the session. Their reports often give rise to friendly discussions, which are always interesting, and often eloquent. All the meetings are open tc« the public, and are usually held in a church, that there may be room for those friends and patrons who wish to attend. Tn the evening of the first day a sermon is preached before the Board by a member appointed to the service at the previous meeting, and the members unite in cele- brating the Lord's Supper during the ses- sion. A meeting for popular addresses is held in the evening of the second or third day. The last day of the session is gen- erally the great day of the feast in point of interest ; and it may truly be said that the annual meeting of this Board, as a whole, has for several years past exerted a great and good influence on the commu- nity, its proceedings being more exten- sively and carefully reported in the reli- gious newspapers than those of any other religious or charitable institution in the country. Chap. IV.] BOARD FOR PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. 307 Publications. — The publications issued by the Board directly are, 1. The " Mis- sionary Herald," published monthly in about 24,000 copies ; 2. The " Day Spring," a monthly publication just commenced in the form of a small newspaper; 3. The " Annual Report," a document of about 200 pages, of which 4000 or 5000 copies are issued annually ; and, 4. The " Annual Sermon," and occasional missionary pa- pers of various descriptions. Among the numerous works which have been occasioned more or less directly by its missions, though not published by it or at its expense, the following may be men- tioned : Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Newell, by Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., 1815. Memoir of the Rev. Levi Parsons, by Rev. Daniel O. Morton, 1824. Memoir of the Rev. Pliny Fisk, by Rev. Alvan Bond. 1828. Memoir of Catharine Brown, a Christian Indian of the Cherokee nation, by Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1824. Memoir of Rev. Gordon Hall, by Rev. Horatio Bardwell, 1834. Memoir of Mrs. Harriet L. Wins- low, by Rev. Miron Winslow, 1835. Me- moir of Mrs. Myra W. Allen, by Rev. Cy- rus Mann, 1834. The Little Osage Cap- tive, by Rev. Elias Cornelius, 1822. Me- moir of Mrs. Sarah Lanman Smith, by Rev. Edward W. Hooker, D.D., 1839, Syr- ian Mission. Memoir of Mrs. Elizabeth D. Dwight and Mrs. Judith S. Grant, 1840. The Christian Brahmin, or Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Con- verted Brahmin, Babajee, by Rev. Hollis Read, 2 vols., 1836. Memoirs of Ameri- can Missionaries, formerly connected with the Society of Inquiry respecting Missions in the Andover Theological Seminary, 1832. Tour around Hawaii (one of the Sandwich Islands), by Rev. William Ellis, 1826. A Residence in the Sandwich Isl- ands, by Rev. Charles Samuel Stewart, 1828. History of the Sandwich Islands' Mission, by Rev. Sheldon Dibble, 1839. Observations on the Peloponnesus and Greek Islands, by Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1830. Researches in Armenia, by Rev. E. Smith and Rev. H. G. O. Dwight, 1833. Residence at Constantinople, by Rev. Jo- siah Brewer, 1830. The Nestorians, or the Lost Tribes, by Asahel Grant, M.D., 1841. Missionary Sermons and Addresses, by Rev. Eli Smith, 1833. Journal of a Mis- sionary Tour in India, by Rev. William Ramsey, 1836. Journal of a Residence in China and the Neighbouring Countries, by Rev. David Abeel, 1834. The Missionary Convention at Jerusalem, or an Exhibition of the Claims of the World to the Gospel, by Rev. David Abeel, 1838. Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, by Rev. Samuel Parker, 1838. Essays on the Present Crisis in the Con- dition of the American Indians, first pub- lished in the National Intelligencer under the signature of William Penn, 1829, by Jeremiah Evarts. Speeches on the Pas- sage of the Bill for the Removal of the In- dians, delivered in the Congress of the United States, 1830. History of the Amer- ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, by Rev. Joseph Tracy, 1840. CHAPTER IV. BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBY- TERIAN CHURCH. We have gone into considerable detail in the preceding chapter in order to exhibit, once for all, the grand principles of our American missions — the establishment of schools for the Christian instruction of youth, and especially for raising a native ministry among the heathen themselves, and the employment of that most impor- tant auxiliary, the press. The views of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on these points are held, I believe, without exception, by all our other missionary associations, so that we may dispense with going into the recon- sideration of them in the notices that are to follow. We turn next to the Presbyterian Church's Board for Foreign Missions, not because next in point of date or extent of operations, but simply because it derives its support from a member of the same great Presbyterian family of churches, of certain other branches of which the Amer- ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is the missionary organ. The two societies, in fact, comprise nearly all that is now done for the conversion of hea- thens, Mohammedans, and Jews, by Pres- byterians of all shades, in the United States. The Board of which we have now to speak was constituted only in 1837, the congregations which it represents having before that combined with others in sup- porting the American Board, and many of them, indeed, with a truly liberal spirit, now support both. The latter of the two Boards arose from a conviction which had long been gaining ground, that the Presby- terians as a Church, and by the medium of their supreme ecclesiastical judicature, ought, like the Church of Scotland, to undertake foreign as well as domestic missions. As the Old School Presbyterian Church, which appointed and supports this Board, numbers 1409 pastors and 2088 churches, and as nearly all these have it in their power to aid the cause, there is every prospect of its becoming in a few years a very efficient association. Its receipts for the year ending May 1st, 1843, were 64,734 dollars, and it had expended about 65 dol- lars more than this. In this statement are 308 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. included the sum of 3000 dollars from the American Bible Society for the printing and circulation of the Scriptures, and 2200 from the American Tract Society for the publication of tracts. It has the following missions : Iowa, or Sac Indians in the Indian ter- ritory westward of the Missouri. Here it employs a minister, a teacher, and a farm- er, and their wives, with an encouraging prospect of good being done by preaching, and still more by schools. Intemperance is found the greatest bar to the progress of the Gospel among the Indians. Chippewa and Ottawa tribes. — One missionary and a teacher, with their wives, are labouring with considerable and en- couraging success among these two tribes, which are still in the western part, of Mich- igan, not having been yet removed to the west of the Mississippi. Creek Indians. — These form a powerful tribe of above 21,000 souls, in the Indian territory to the west of the States of Ar- kansas and Missouri. Until of late, they have been averse to receiving missionaries, but the Board has now taken measures, with the consent of their chiefs, for sus- taining a mission among them, and a min- ister, with his wife, have entered upon their work. Texas. — One missionary and his wife have been stationed on the western border of Texas, but as this mission is intended for the benefit of Mexico, they remain where they are only until the door is opened for their admission into the latter country. Western Africa. — The Board has four missionaries, with their wives, and one coloured female teacher, sent frOm the United States, and two male native teach- ers, at Cape Palmas, the site of a colony of coloured people from America. The mission bids fair to be eminently useful. The Chinese. — This mission was at first established at Singapore. Two mission- aries, one of whom is married, and a phy- sician and his wife, were employed in preaching and in the education of youth among the Chinese, who either permanent- ly reside at that port or occasionally visit it. But now that the door is open for the en- trance of the Gospel into that great empire, the Board has lost no time in turning their attention to it. Last year they sent two ordained ministers, one physician, and one teacher to this important field. Siam. — In this kingdom the Board main- tains one missionary and his wife, who are preparing themselves for their future work by acquiring the language of the country, and making themselves useful, in the mean time, by an abundant distribution of portions of the Holy Scriptures and Tracts. Northern India. — Here it is that the Board has its most extensive missions, having at its different stations at Lodiana, Sabathu, Saharunpur, Allahabad, and Fut- tegurh, no fewer than fifteen ordained mis- sionaries, most of whom are married, one printer, three teachers, one physician, and one catechist, all Americans, besides two native catechists, and one native assist- ant. This mission has been remarkably successful, considering how lately it was commenced. Schools have been estab- lished at the different stations, and a con- siderable number of publications, including parts of the Bible, have been issued in the Hindustani, Persian, Panjabi or Gurmukhi, and Hindi languages. To this, preaching in the native languages at the different stations is now added, and in English, also, at one or more of these, for the benefit of the British officers and other foreign resi- dents, some of whom, we rejoice to say, have shown much kindness to the mis- sionaries, and have liberally contributed to the support of the schools. The missionaries in this quarter have lately formed themselves into three Pres- byteries, and these have been organized as the Synod of Northern India by the General Assembly in America, to which it is sub- ordinate. The Board takes a deep interest in China, and looks forward to the day when the truth may find an effectual entrance into that populous empire. It has, at a great expense, had 3326 matrices made in Paris for the casting of as many different types, which, by their combinations, can produce above 14,000 different characters : a num- ber, according to the report for 1841, amply sufficient for missionary purposes. Hence it would seem that the question, how far the Chinese language may be printed with movable type, is about to be resolved by this Board ; and it is a striking fact, that solely to its liberality the ingenious French printer, M. Marcellin-Legrand, under the direction of M. Ponthieu, who discovered this method of printing Chinese, and of Walter Lowrie, Esq., Secretary to the Board, and himself an excellent Chinese scholar, owes his having been enabled to make so much progress in preparing a complete fount of type in that important but difficult tongue. The Board is annually appointed by the General Assembly, and to that body it makes its report. The business, however, is mainly conducted by a very efficient committee subject to its supervision, and through this committee as its organ it is- sues a monthly publication, called The Foreign Missionary Chronicle, presenting not only full accounts of its own missions, but summaries also of what is done by other missionary societies. From 5000 to 6000 copies of this valuable periodical are circulated through the churches. The Board has now under its direction, sent out by the Church that appoints it, Chap. V.] BOARD FOR BAPTIST MISSIONS. 309 more than seventy labourers at foreign stations, of whom twenty-eight are minis- ters of the Gospel. It has, besides, eight native assistants, some of whom are learn- ed persons, and all of them hopefully pi- ous, and in different stages of trial and preparation for labouring among their be- nighted fellow-countrymen. Through the stations occupied by these missionaries, the Presbyterian Church is brought into contact with five different heathen nations, estimated to comprise two thirds of the whole human race. CHAPTER V. MISSIONARY BOARD OF THE BAPTIST CHURCHES. The operations of this Board now ex- tend over thirty years. It was first com- stituted in 1814, by the Baptist General Convention for Foreign Missions, which meets triennially, and is, in fact, a mission- ary society. To it the Board makes a regular Report of its proceedings. This association has from small begin- nings advanced from year to year in re- sources and efficiency, until, through God's blessing, it embraces all the four great con- tinents within the sphere of its operations. These have been conducted with singular wisdom, zeal, and perseverance, and have been crowned with remarkable success. Its history shows how wonderfully God, in his providence, orders and overrules events while enlisting new agencies for the accomplishment of his purposes. In 1812, the American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions, a Paedobaptist society, sent several missionaries to Ben- gal. On their voyage thither, two of these, the Rev. Messrs. Judson and Rice and their wives, changed their views and became Baptists ; an event that not only gave much distress to the other members of the mission, but produced, perhaps, for a time, other feelings besides disappointment in the minds of the members of the Board that had sent them out. On their arrival, they found that the British East India Company would not permit them to labour within its territories ; so that after a few weeks' stay they had to leave Calcutta. Messrs. Judson and Rice, however, with their wives, were received with great kind- ness by the excellent Dr. Carey and his associates, Baptist missionaries from Eng- land, settled at Serampore, a small Danish possession not many miles above Calcutta. There was no Baptist Foreign Missionary Society at that time in the United States, but as Messrs. Judson and Rice had be- come Baptists, were now in India, and wished to remain and preach the Gospel there to the heathen, their case drew the attention of the Baptist churches in Amer- ica, and a society was organized for their support. Meanwhile, Mr. Judson withdrew into the Burmese territory, and there com- menced a mission which has been signally blessed. The society, which they were the means of originating, is now a great insti- tution, with no fewer than nineteen mis- sions in various parts of the world. How wonderful are the ways of God ! bringing good from what seems to man, for a time at least, to be evil. Had not the two mis- sionaries become Baptists, where would have been the blessed mission to Burmah, and how many years might have elapsed before the American Baptists entered on the prosecution of foreign missions ? And had not the Governor-general of India ex- cluded American missionaries from Ben- gal, where would have been the promising American missions in Ceylon, in the south- ern part of Hindostan, and on the western side of the Indian Peninsula'! Such was the origin of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions ; let us now glance at its various enterprises as reported for 1843. Missions in North America. — These are eight in number, and embrace the follow- ing tribes : the Ojibwas, Ottawas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras, Otoes, Shawanoes, and others, Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctas, the last three residing on the Indian Ter- ritory. Among these various tribes the Board has eighteen stations and out-sta- tions, thirty-two American missionaries and assistants, and eight Indian assistants. In Europe. — In France, the Board has seven stations and six out-stations, one missionary and his wife, and ten native preachers and assistants. In Germany and Denmark it has nine stations, and thir- teen native preachers and assistants. In Greece, two stations, two preachers, three female assistants, and one native assistant. In West Africa, the Board has two sta- tions, three preachers, one printer, one fe- male assistant, one native assistant, and fifteen churches among the Bassas, a na- tive tribe near the colony of Liberia. In Asia, the Board has missions among the Karens on the borders of Burmah, in Siam, in China, in Arracan, in Assam, and at Madras and Nellore and British India. These, forming eight distinct missions, comprehended in 1843 thirty-five stations and out-stations, fifty-six missionaries and assistant missionaries, and about seventy native assistants. The total numbers, including all the mis- sions, were, according to the Report for 1843, as follows; 19 Missions. 80 Stations and out-stations. 103 Missionaries and assistant missionaries (Amer- cans), of whom 44 are ordained. 115 Native preachers and assistants. 77 Churches, comprehending more than 2000 mem- bers. 898 Baptisms in the course of the year reported on. 4000 Members in native churches. 310 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. The receipts for that year had amounted to 47,151 dollars, and the disbursements to 55,138 dollars. In addition to its regular receipts, the Board had received 6000 dol- lars from the American and Foreign Bible Society for the publication of the Scrip- tures ; 2200 dollars from the American Tract Society for the publication of Tracts ; and 4400 dollars from the United States Government towards the support of schools among the Indians.* This brief notice will give the reader some idea of this excellent society's opera- tions, and of the good that it is doing. A detailed account of its missions, particu- larly of those among the Burmans and the Karens, would be interesting, but would far exceed the limits of this work. It is delightful to see how much interest in the cause of missions has sprung up in this numerous and important branch of the Church in the United States. May God grant that it and every other may soon come up to the full measure of their ability and duty in this great work. Let me add, in conclusion, that the Mis- sionary Magazine, an able and interesting monthly publication, has long been the or- gan of the Society, and has a wide circula- tion among the Baptist denomination. CHAPTER VI. FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCO- PAL CHURCH. The Missionary Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church was formed in 1819, under the auspices of the General Confer- ence, but for many years its efforts were chiefly directed to domestic missions, in- cluding those to the slaves in the Southern States, and to the aboriginal tribes within, or adjacent to, the western frontier of the United States. It afterward directed its attention to the colonies of free coloured Americans on the Western coast of Afri- ca, and, at a still later period, it establisbed missions on the territory to the west of the Oregon Mountains, and at some important points in South America. The German im- migrants found swarming in our principal cities, at the same time engaged much of its attention. Its efforts in behalf of these and of the slaves, as properly falling under the head of home missions, we have al- ready noticed, and will now give some ac- count of what are, properly speaking, its foreign missions. North American Indians. — The Society in 1843 had twenty-five missionaries la- * After the account for the year was closed, $2000 additional were received from the American and For- eign Bible Society, and an equal sum from the Amer- ican Tract Society. To this must be added £500 from the Committee of the English Baptist Mission- ary Society, as an expression of fraternal interest. bouring within or beyond the western frontier of the United States among the following tribes, or remnants of tribes : the Wyandols, Oneidas, Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawottamies, Chippewas, Choctas, Cherokees, &c, &c. The Re- port for that year states the Indian mem- bers of the mission churches gathered from these tribes to have amounted to 3851. Texas Mission. — The Society had no fewer than thirty-six missionaries station- ed in the Republic of Texas in 1843 ; these had laboured with much success ; and they now form an Annual Conference, which, by conducting its own affairs, will probably do away with the necessity of having any independent mission in that country. This conference comprehends three Presiding Elders' districts, thirty-six travelling min- isters, forty local preachers, 3698 mem- bers, of whom 536 are coloured people. A college, also, has been established under its auspices. Liberia Mission, at and in the vicinity of the American colony on the west coast of Africa, was commenced in 1833 by the late Rev. Melville B. Cox, an excellent man, who fell a victim to the climate a few months after liis arrival. With his dying breath he exclaimed, " Though a thousand fall, Africa must not be given up." He was succeeded by others, and they, too, sank under a climate so fatal to white men. At length the Rev. John Seys was sent out, and he, through God's blessing, has been preserved to this day. He was greatly successful in putting the affairs of the mission in order, and superintending the labours of coloured preachers from the United States, the Society having to de- pend chiefly on these. Last year he was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Chase. The mission now includes an Annual Confer- ence, consisting of twenty preachers, all coloured, with the exception of the super- intendent and one other. Of the church members, about 900 in all, 150 are native Africans, who, within the last four years, were worshipping gods of wood, stone, leather, anything, in short, that their imagination could fashion into a god! South American Mission. — In 1841 the Society had five missionaries at Rio Ja- neiro, Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres, labouring, not unsuccessfully, to introduce the Gospel to those cities, now so ignorant of the truth. These worthy men, how- ever, the pressure of the times obliged the Society to recall. Within a few months the Society has resumed its labours at Buenos Ayres, and their faithful mission- ary is at his post again. Oregon Mission. — Both in its origin and its success this has been one, of the most remarkable of all the missions of the Amer- ican Churches. About the year 1828, the Chap. VII.] BOARD FOR PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL MISSIONS. 311 tribe of Indians called Flat Heads, living to the west of the Oregon Mountains, prompted, probably, by what they had seen and heard of the Christian religion among the trappers of the American and Hud- son's Bny Fur Companies, sent some of their chiefs into the United States to in- quire as to the various forms of religious worship observed here, and to decide upon which to recommend. After a long and painful journey they reached St. Louis, and stated the object of their coming to the late General Clarke,* then Govern- ment Agent for Indian Affairs in that dis- trict, by whom it was communicated to the ministers of the Gospel in the place. A great sensation was naturally produced. The Methodist Missionary Society was the first that took the matter up, and, desiring to act with prudence, sent two judicious and experienced persons across the Ore- gon Mountains to visit the Indians, ascer- tain their present position, and choose a proper situation for a mission. On their arrival they found the way wonderfully prepared by the Lord's providential dis- pensations, so that after their return, a mission on a large scale left New-York for the Oregon country. After a journey of some months it reached the place of its destination, and was welcomed by the In- dians and the Agents of the Hudson's Bay Company stationed in that region. This mission, which from the first has been remarkably blessed, consisted, in 1841, of no fewer than sixty-eight persons, including teachers, farmers, mechanics of all kinds, women, and children, all, of course, connected with the society. It is designed, in fact, to be in a great measure a self-supporting mission. Its object part- ly is, by exhibiting the advantages of civ- ilization, to induce the Indians to engage in tillage, and to adopt the other arts and usages of civilized life, in all which the mission has succeeded much beyond ex- pectation. Its spiritual success was still more remarkable, for the Indian converts amounted, two years ago, to no fewer than 1000. The mission, upon the whole, is an experiment of the most interesting kind. The total number of this society's for- eign missionaries amounted in 1843 to 115, of whom probably eighty were ordained. The number of members in the mission churches was 8936. Its total income for that year was $109,452; its disbursements $145,035, of which probably 90,000 were for home, and 55,035 for foreign mis- ♦sions.f * The name of this gentleman is well known in connexion with that of the late Governor Lewis, from the Exploring Tour they made in company ■across the Oregon Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, during Mr. Jefferson's presidency. t It is Drobable that 1 have not apportioned with CHAPTER VII. BOARD OF MISSIONS OF THE PROTESTANT EPIS- COPAL CHURCH. This Board was constituted in 1835. Its domestic operations we have noticed in another place, and have now to speak of its foreign missions, which extend to vari- ous parts of the world. Western Africa. — It has a very flour- ishing mission at Cape Palmas, and at two or three stations a few miles distant in the interior. In 1843 it comprised five ordain- ed ministers, together with three white and ten coloured teachers and assistants. The place has been well chosen, for Cape Palmas is one of the healthiest spots on that notoriously unhealthy coast. Several American ladies have resided there in the enjoyment of good health for some years. Attached to the mission there are several schools, partly for the colonists, partly for the natives, and attended by above 100 scholars, youths and adults. The preach- ing of the missionaries is well attended, and has been blessed to the salvation of souls. China. — The Board has commenced a mission under favourable auspices in Chi- na. It has one labourer on this field, and is about to send others. Greece. — The Board has a mission at Athens. There the Rev. Mr. Hill, with his wife (who is a remarkably efficient per- son), are stationed, and several American ladies as teachers, besides whom there are about twelve native teachers. Mr. Hill has been very successful in raising and supporting schools for infants, for boys and for girls, attended by about 800 schol- ars. He preaches, also, on the Sabbath and other occasions, in Greek, to a con- gregation of young and old. Yet, owing to the perpetual jealousy of the Greek cler- gy, and their influence with the govern- ment, the missionaries find themselves ex- posed to many difficulties. Crete. — In this island, also, there is a mission conducted by one ordained mis- sionary, assisted by his wife and one or two natives engaged as teachers. This mission has succeeded as well as its friends and projectors had hoped. Mission in the East. — The Board sus- tained a mission for some years at Con- stantinople. But it seems probable that it will be removed to Mardin or Mosul, in order to reach more effectually the Syrian churches, in whose behalf the Society has taken much interest. The Rev. Mr. South- perfect exactness the disbursements of the Society. The Report does not separate the domestic from the foreign expenditures. The whole number of missionaries, domestic and foreign, employed by the Society in 1843, was 325, ordained and unordained, and the members in the churches gathered were 39,684. 312 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIIL gate, who has travelled much in Asia Mi- nor and the adjacent parts of the East, and has given the results of his observa- tions in his interesting journals, is the So- ciety's missionary in this field. Two oth- ers have been appointed to join him. Texas. — In this Republic the Board last year employed three missionaries, who were labouring with some success at Hous- ton, Matagorda, and Galveston. It hence appears that the whole num- ber of the Board's ordained missionaries amounted, in 1843, to eleven, labouring in seven distinct missions, besides whom mere were several American ladies, chief- ly engaged in teaching, and no fewer than twenty native teachers. The receipts, ex- clusive of $200 from the American Tract Society, amounted, last year, to $35,197; the disbursements exceeded the receipts by $4494. The Board issues an interest- ing publication entitled "The Spirit of Mis- sions," for the diffusion of missionary in- telligence among the churches. CHAPTER VHI. foreign missions of other denominations. Missions of the Free-Will Baptist Churches. — The Free-Will Baptist Foreign Missionary Society was organized in 1833, and originated in the correspondence of the Rev. Mr. Sutton, of the English Gen- eral Baptist Mission, with Elder Buzzel, a Free-Will Baptist minister in the United States. Mr. Sutton wrote in 1831, repre- senting the deplorable state of the heathen in India, and calling on his American breth- ren to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Returning to Eng- land in 1833, Mr. Sutton went from that to America, there spent several months preaching to the churches ; then, after an- other short visit to his native land, he made an extensive tour in 1834 through the Free- Will Baptist churches in the United States, preaching to them on the subject of mis- sions, and acting as the corresponding sec- retary of a missionary society which had been formed the preceding year. Having succeeded in rousing these churches to a sense of their duty, he sailed in 1835 for In- dia with the Rev. Messrs. Noyes and Phil- lips and their wives, being the first mission- aries from the new society. On their ar- rival they went with Mr. Sutton to Orissa, a province lying on the western shore of the Bay of Bengal, some hundred miles southwest from Calcutta. They have been labouring chiefly at Balasore with much faithfulness and success. The Rev. Messrs. Bachelor and Dow have since joined these brethren, and are zealously prosecuting their work. The Society owes much, we understand, to subscriptions and collections at monthly prayer-meetings. The Rev. Lu- ther Palmer, of Norwalk, Ohio, a Free-Will Baptist pastor, some time ago gave himself and alibis property, valued at $5000, to the Society, wishing the latter to be applied to the support of the press in India. Such liberality reminds us of Pentecostal days. The receipts of the Society were, in 1843, $3502 ; its expenditures were $2679. Foreign Missionary Society of the Lu- theran Church in the United States. — This society, which dates from 1837, origi- nated in an appeal from the German mis- sionaries in India, Mr. Rhenius and his as- sociates, to their brethren in the United States, for the assistance they required in consequence of their separation from the Church Missionary Society of England, on account of certain of its views and meas- ures which they disapproved, after having laboured for several years in its service. In answer to their appeal, a convention of Lutheran ministers and lay members was held at Hagerstown, in Maryland, and the society was organized. But these mission- aries having renewed their connexion with the English Church Missionary Society, the American Lutherans have resolved to send out missionaries from their own churches, and now have two labouring in India. Foreign Missions of the Moravians, or United Brethren. — The Moravian Breth- ren in the United States formed a society for propagating the Gospel among the hea- then in 1787; an act for incorporating it was passed by the State of Pennsylvania ; and it. has been actively employed ever since in promoting missions. This socie- ty sustains two missions among the In- dians (the one among the Delawares, the other among the Cherokees), and eight missionaries. Its receipts last year were 8364 dollars. Some years ago it received a handsome legacy from a gentleman at Philadelphia. Its organ is " The United Brethren's Missionary Intelligencer, and Religious Miscellany." Foreign Missions of the Scottish Churches. — The reader has remarked that in our notices of the Associate, As- sociate Reformed, and Reformed Presby- terian Churches, we mentioned that they have undertaken foreign missions, either in connexion with the Board of the Old School Presbyterians or independently, within the last few years. Such are the societies in the United States which have been expressly formed for the propagation of the Gospel in pagan countries, although some of them have missions in countries nominally Christian. Let me add, that the American Bible So- ciety, and the American and Foreign Bible Society supported by the Baptists, have been making large yearly donations to- wards the circulation of the Holy Scrip- Chap. X.] FOREIGN EVANGELICAL SOCIETY. 313 tures in foreign, and especially pagan lands. Some, also, of the State and other local Bible Societies, such as those of Mas- sachusetts and Philadelphia, have done something in this way. The American Tract Society has likewise made yearly grants of from 10,000 to 40,000 dollars for the publication and distribution of religious tracts in foreign, and chiefly in heathen lands. The American Sunday-school Union, too, has granted both books and money for promoting its objects abroad. I am unable to state the yearly amount of all these donations with perfect accuracy, but believe that, taking the average of the last ten years, they have exceeded 50,000 dollars. CHAPTER IX. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR AMELIORATING THE CONDITION OF THE JEWS. This society was formed in 1820, for the purpose of providing an asylum, and the means of earning a comfortable live- lihood in America, for Jews whose con- version to Christianity exposed them to persecution and the loss of the means of living. A farm, accordingly, of about 500 acres was purchased, on which it was pro- posed to have a colony of converted Jews, who, by tillage and other useful arts, might support themselves and their families. Somehow or other this project did not an- swer the expectations of its projectors, and so much did the Society lose the con- fidence of the Christian public, that for a while it seemed quite lost sight of. A year or two ago, however, the impulse giv- en in Scotland and other European coun- tries to the work of converting the Jews, led some of the old friends of the Ameri- can Society to think of reviving it, and di- recting its efforts to the employment of mis- sionaries among the Jews, either in Ameri- ca or elsewhere. As the Society is incor- porated, and has property to the amount, I believe, of from 15,000 to 20,000 dollars, it may commence its operations immedi- ately among the Jewish people, of whom there are said to be about 50,000 in the United States, whose conversion has nev- er, it must be confessed, called forth the interest and the efforts that it ought to have done. CHAPTER X. FOREIGN EVANGELICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNI- TED STATES. This, which is the latest in its origin of all the foreign missionary societies, was formed in 1839, for promoting evangelical religion in all nominally Christian coun- tries, and was suggested by the growing conviction of many persons in the United States, that until pure Christianity be re- stored in nominal Christendom, the con- version of the heathen world can hardly be looked for. There are millions of Prot- estants, and tens of millions of Romanists, so manifestly ignorant of the great doc- trines of the Gospel, as to prove by their lives that they are little better than bap- tized heathen. Hundreds of thousands professing Christianity may be found in some countries who have actually never read a page of the book which God intend- ed should be emphatically, the people's Book, but which those who put themselves forward as their guides have kept from them, either from ignorance of its value, or from a dread of its influence when read. Now, while many societies seek to pro- mote true religion in the United States, and many also to send the Gospel to the heathen, the Foreign Evangelical Society makes it its peculiar province to cultivate that great intermediate field, presented by professedly Christian countries in which, whatever may be their civilization, the Gospel is really almost as little known as it is to the very heathen ; some being buried in the darkness of Romanism, and others in the still worse darkness of Ra- tionalism. In many such countries God, in his holy Providence, has been evident- ly opening the way for the admission of the long-excluded light. Stupendous rev- olutions have in the course of the last fif- ty years shaken, for a time at least, the spiritual despotism that had reigned so long over a great part of Christendom, both in Europe and America ; and the bit- ter fruits of infidelity, in all its forms, have disposed many, in countries where it had sapped the foundations of faith, to return to the simple truths of the Gospel, unper verted by human speculation and " philos- ophy falsely so called." The last revolu- tions in France and Belgium, in particu- lar, seemed to lay those countries more open to evangelical effort ; and it was hoped that, at no distant day, Spain and Portugal also would be found accessible to the Word of God. After much inquiry, partly conducted by an agent sent expressly to France and oth- er countries of Europe, an association was formed in 1836, which, three years after,, took the form of a regular society ; not, however, for sending missionaries from America to Europe, but for assisting the friends of evangelical religion in France, Belgium, and other countries similarly cir- cumstanced. It has accordingly aided the evangelical societies of France and Gene- va, and, though not to the same extent, some other, and more local associations. Gradually extending the range of its ef- forts, it has also promoted the same cause 314 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIII. by the distribution of tracts in Germany, and has even aided the friends of the truth in Sweden in what they are doing to com- municate the blessings of the Gospel more effectually to the Laplanders. As the So- ciety's Executive Committee is not re- stricted to any particular method of effect- ing its objects, it has turned its attention to a variety of ways of procedure. While making these efforts in Europe, the Society has found among the Roman Catholic population of Lower Canada, which is almost wholly of French ori- gin, an important and providentially-pre- pared field, which is now occupied by a very prosperous mission. As this mission originated with some friends of the Gos- pel in Switzerland, it is supported to a cer- tain extent by an association at Lausanne. Attached to it there is a large mission- house, in which above twenty Canadian converts are preparing for future labours as teachers, colporteurs, evangelists, preach- ers, &c. There are no fewer than eight or nine missionaries, all but one or two of whom are natives of France or Switzer- land : all have been accustomed to the French tongue from childhood, and several speaking no other. No one can foresee what may be the results of this auspi- cious commencement among a people with whom all previous attempts of a like kind had failed. The society contemplates commencing operations at several points of South America, as soon as persons fitted for the work can be found. The receipts of this society for the year ending on the 1st of May last (1843) were about 15,000 dollars ; and the number of labourers, in various fields, whom it sup- ported, was about eighty. CHAPTER XI. AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. Finally, we propose to say a few words respecting the American Colonization So- ciety, because of its connexion with mis- sions in Western Africa, and its bearings upon the general interests of humanity, though not a missionary society itself. Though originating in a sincere desire to promote the benefit of the African race, on the part of some of the best men that America has ever seen, this society has for many years past been much decried in America, and misrepresented to some ex- tent in Europe. The three persons who may be regarded as its founders have all passed from the present scene to their re- ward above. These were the late Rev. i)r. Finlay, of New-Jersey, the Rev. Sam- uel J. Mills, of Connecticut, and the Hon. Elias B. Caldwell, of Washington City, Clerk to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Society was organized in 1817, and its objects are expressed as fol- lows, in the second article of its constitu- tion : " To promote and execute a plan of colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient." The primary motive of its founders was to place the coloured man in circumstances in which he might acquire that real independence of station and character, and, consequently, that equality in social life which they sup- posed that he cannot reach in the midst of a white population. Soon after the Society was constituted, the Rev. Messrs. Mills and Burgess were sent as commissioners to explore the west coast of Africa, and select a site for the proposed colony. The first expedition was sent over in 1820, under the Rev. Samuel Bacon, who was appointed gov- ernor ; but he and many of the colonists were cut off by the fever of the country, in attempting to form a settlement at Sher- bro, which consequently failed. Another attempt followed a year or two afterward, and though the site was not so good as might have been found, it proved far better than the former, and is now called Liberia, lying between the 8th and 11th degrees of north latitude. No great extent of coun- try was bought at first, but other parcels have been added since, and the Society hopes before long to obtain the entire coast from Cape Mount on the north to Cape Palmas on the south, and extending to about 300 miles in length. Its chief pos- sessions at present are about Cape Messu- rado in the north, and Cape Palmas in the south ; a large part of the intervening coast is now in the possession of native chieftains, and on purchasing it, which the Society hopes soon to be able to do, it pro- poses to plant colonies at different points, for the double purpose of extending the present settlements and of abolishing the slave-trade, still vigorously prosecuted at two or three points on this part of the coast. Monrovia, the chief town in the northern cluster of colonies, has a convenient port, and is of considerable extent. There the Governor of Liberia resides. There are eight or ten villages, also, to the north and south, and in the interior, settlements hav- ing been made on the Stockton and St. Paul's Rivers, as well as at other points to the distance of eight or ten miles from Monrovia. A colony planted at Cape Pal- mas by the Maryland Auxiliary Coloniza- tion Society, consists of about 550 or 600 colonists from America.* Many natives, * It is an interesting fact, that the governor at Cape Palmas, Mr. Rushworm, is a gentleman of col- our, brought up in America as a printer, and who Chap. XL] AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 315 however, live both there and in Liberia on lands of their own, but within the limits of the colony, and subject to its laws ; in fact, they form an integral part of the popula- tion. These colonies have been of slow growth, for the Society, unaided by the General Government, has been unable to conduct the enterprise on a large scale. Inexperi- ence, too, has led to several blunders in the first years, to which must be added want of union and energy on the part of the Na- tional Society, aud the loss of the confi- dence of part of the public, particularly of the members of the Anti-slavery and Abo- lition Societies. Notwithstanding all this, the Society has been gradually advancing. Its yearly income has for some time past been about 50,000 dollars,* and its colonies, now supposed to number about 4000 emi- grants, are in a tolerably thriving state. Fatal as the climate of Liberia is to white men, the coloured find it so much other- wise, that the mortality among them has not been greater than was to be expected — not more than what was experienced by the first settlers in Virginia and Massachu- setts. Cape Palmas, from its elevated po- sition, has been found remarkably healthy, and not oppressive even to the missiona- ries, though whites. It has been well ascertained that, at the distance of from fifteen to twenty miles the country rises in the interior, and at no great distance farther becomes even mount- ainous. Hence it is inferred that the cli- mate there is salubrious. A few more years of success will enable the colonies to purchase the lands east of the " back set- tlements," and to open a way to the hilly country. Already, in fact, they are ma- king a road from Monrovia into the interi- or, so as to have a highway for trade in camwood and other productions of the country. The soil is almost everywhere fertile, and vegetation luxuriant, so that a large population might be abundantly pro- vided for. Instead of a single crop in a year, as in colder climates, two may be had of many vegetable productions. The sweet potato, rice, sugar-cane, the coffee plant, and other tropical produce, can be raised with ease. The grand difficulty in agri- culture lies in the want of good fences, and the destruction of posts and rails by insects. This must be overcome by making hedges of the sour orange, or by employing shep- herds, herdsmen, and boys. Many of the colonists have now their ably conducted for several years the Liberia Herald, a newspaper of respectable character, established at Monrovia ten or twelve years ago. * But this is exclusive of that of some State soci- eties which manage their own affairs, like that of Maryland, to which the state of that name granted 200,000 dollars, payable in ten yearly instalments. The colony established by that society, it will be seen, is at Cape Palmas. little farms. Others, and perhaps too many, are more occupied in trading with the na- tives. They keep a quantity of small craft for trading along the coast, and carry on a brisk barter with numerous vessels, Amer- ican, British, &c, &c, touching from time to time at Monrovia. It appears from the testimony of impar- tial men, with good opportunities of infor- mation, that these colonies have had a ben- eficial influence on that coast, and have tended to repress the slave-trade. < Such was that of Captains Bell and Paine of the United States navy, who were there in 1840, and who both vindicate the colonies from many charges equally false and ab- surd: among others, that of conniving at that infamous trade. That plantations mainly composed of liberated slaves should be altogether immaculate, no man of sense would expect or require. But that they are, as communities, thriving well, and that they are also exerting a happy influence on the natives, is what. I for one must be- lieve, from the abundant testimony of cred- ible witnesses ; among others, of several excellent missionaries, with whom I have been long and intimately acquainted.* I have remarked that the Society has been much opposed, especially by the friends of the anti-slavery societies in the United States. This opposition has arisen from the manner in which the Society has been advocated. Its friends have been apt to recommend it as presenting the sole method of ridding the United States of sla- very. This is absurd. It has diverted the minds of slaveholders in the South from the duty of universally emancipating their slaves, whether they shall remain in the country or not ; and in this way has done mischief. Its friends have said too much, also, about the impossibility of the coloured population rising to respectability and po- litical equality in the United States. The difficulties are indeed great, but good men should never lend their aid in fostering the unreasonable prejudices against the colour- ed race, entertained by too large a part of our people. Notwithstanding these and some other errors which might be mentioned, I cannot but feel the deepest interest in the cause of African colonization ; first, because it may be advocated even before slavehold- ers in such a way as to favour emancipa- tion, a thing which cannot be done at pres- ent by the agents of our " Abolition" and " Anti-slavery Societies ;" secondly, be- cause it provides slaveholders who wish to emancipate their slaves, and who, by * This applies chiefly to Liberia. I regret to say,' that very recent information makes me fear that the Maryland colony at Cape Palmas is not acting so fa- vourably on the mission there as it ought to do. It is to be hoped that the society at home will see the necessity of directing it to alter its policy. 316 RELIGION IN AMERICA. [Book VIIL certain State laws, are obliged to remove j them out of the state when so emancipa- ted, with an opportunity of sending them to a country which does afford the pros- pect of their rising to independence and comfort ; thirdly, because the colonization of Africa, in one way or other, presents the sole effectual method of breaking up the slave-trade : and, lastly, because it is the surest way of introducing civilization into Africa, and also furnishes a point cfap- pui for the prosecution of Christian mis- sions. Such is the opinion of the Rev. Dr. Philip, the distinguished and judicious superintendent of the London Missionary Society's missions in South Africa, as ably maintained in a letter addressed by him, eight or ten years ago, to the students at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New-Jersey. The Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopali- ans, and Methodists have all, as we have seen, flourishing missions in these colo- nies.* The numbers of evangelical preach- ers, of all denominations, is no less than forty. God has greatly blessed his Word in these communities, which, considering the recent servitude and ignorance of most of the colonists, are said to exhibit an ex- traordinary prevalence of morality. I know not how any person can read without interest the following statement, contained in the Report of the Methodist Missionary Society, read at the annual meeting in May, 1842 : " The Liberia mission includes an Annu- al Conference of seventeen preachers, all coloured except the superintendent and the two brethren lately sent out. It has a membership of nearly one thousand indi- viduals, of whom 150 are natives, who, until the last two years, were worshipping gods of wood, and stone, and clay. " There are thirteen day-schools within the bounds of the mission, in which from 550 to 600 children receive daily instruc- tion ; fourteen churches, some of which are very neat, and one built of stone, in size forty by sixty feet. There are also eight mission-houses or parsonages, four school-houses, one of which (the academy) is a stone building twenty by forty feet ; and a large printing-office, also of stone, with an excellent press. In the schools there are upward of forty native children and youth, who are preparing for future usefulness. Many of them read the Scrip- tures, and write well, and are burning with zeal to carry the Gospel to regions yet be- yond them. " Tribes at a distance have sent for mis- sionaries, and the board is anxious to push * The Roman Catholics have also commenced a mission at Cape Palmas, and will doubtless do the same, ere long, at Liberia. The Right Rev. Dr. Bar- ron and Patrick Kelly, priests, were sent in the year 1842 to Cape Palmas. the victories of the cross still farther into the interior. If means can be furnished, the Board expect a vast amount of native agency will be called into operation. If the society were able to thrust forth but a few scores of such young men of Africa as Simon Peter,* who recently visited this country, the Liberia mission of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church would be rendered a blessing to thousands of the African race yet unborn. In view of the success which has attended this mission, the report ex- horted the church to adhere to the motto of the dying and lamented Cox: 'Though a thousand fall, Africa must not be given up.'" The chairman introduced the Rev. John Seys, superintendent of the African mis- sion, who rose and spoke substantially as follows : "Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hand a res- olution given to me for presentation to the Society, with a request that I would make some remarks in sustaining it." He then read the f llowing resolution : <; ' Resolved, That the Liberia mission, inclu- ding as it does a portion of the interior of Western Africa, constitutes one of the most promising fields for missionary enterprise ; and that the touching appeals from the half- awakened natives of different tribes which have reached us through our missionaries, while they proclaim the ripeness of the har- vest, imperatively call upon the Church for the requisite supply of efficient labourers.' " I presume this resolution was assigned to me on account of my connexion with the Liberia mission. I can say it affords me much pleasure to present such a reso- lution. Years have now elapsed since I stood among you — since I was sent by you as an almoner of the Gospel to poor, long- neglected Africa. " The resolution speaks of Africa as one of the most promising fields of missionary enterprise. Is it so 1 Yes, sir, it is so. And if the missionary sickle be but applied, the field will yield a rich and noble harvest to the Church. Out of 1000 church members, 150 are native converts. But two years ago I found them bowing down to images of wood, and clay, and stone, and leather, and everything which their fancy could make into a god. These idols they placed about their persons, put them in their houses, and carried about with them wher- ever they went. " Soon after a number of them had been converted, they appointed a day for meet- ing, when they were admitted to the Church. And what a scene ! Bonfires were kindled in the town of Heddington, and the praises of Immanuel ascended with the smoke of the burning idols. At the same time, the hearts of these young converts were burn- ing with desire to carry the Gospel to the tribes beyond them. * Since dead. Chap. XII.] THE SUMMARY. 317 " Western Africa is a most promising field, because her native converts are eager to carry the Gospel to the country in the interior. The boys at the love-feasts tell the tale of their conversion, pray God to keep them good, to make them grow up men, and be missionaries to ' the tothef people.' The natives will prove themselves doubly qualified for the missionary work, as they have less fear of the peculiar dis- eases of the climate, can be supported with less means, and understand the language of the country." Nor is the interest which the converted colonists and natives feel in missions un- fruitful, if we may judge from the fact men- tioned in the " Africa's Luminary," the val- uable and well-conducted journal of the colony, that the sum of 208 dollars has been collected at a meeting of the mission- ary society of the Conference. CHAPTER XII. THE SUMMARY. Thus it will be perceived that almost eve- ry evangelical church in the United States is doing more or less for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign, and especially in heathen lands. I know not, indeed, that there is a single exception, unless it be among some of the smaller German de- nominations, or some branches of the Meth- odist and Presbyterian churches. Even these, however, seem almost all to con- tribute towards this great object through societies or boards, either belonging to other denominations, or common to sev- eral. Thus the Reformed Presbyterians or Covenanters support a missionary in the East Indies, in connexion, I believe, with the Presbyterian Church's Board of Mis- sions ; the Associate Reformed churches so far aid the same board ; the Associate churches have a mission in the island of Trinidad, and one branch of the Covenant- ers or Reformed Presbyterians are project- ing a mission in the same quarter of the world ; and some of the German Reform- ed churches aid the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, as do, also, some of the Cumberland Presby- terian churches. This is a gratifying fact, whether we re- gard it as a sign of life, or an earnest of its still farther increase in the churches. Not that these have done all that their glorious Lord may justly look for at their hands ; but that what they have hitherto done is but the promise of much greater things for the future, we may reasonably infer from the comparatively recent period that either domestic or foreign missions began seri- ously to interest the Christian public of the United States. Previous to 1812, there was not a single foreign missionary soci- ety in the country, with the exception of that of the Moravian Brethren, and not till long after did the churches do anything worth mention in that field. The last twenty years, or, rather, the last ten years, have witnessed much improvement in this respect, and we pray that it may go on in a far greater ratio until every church shall have come up to the full demands of its duty. It is difficult to present at one view the statistics of all these missionary efforts with perfect accuracy, at least if we would include all the particulars upon which the reader may think information desirable. On the main points we may obtain pretty accurate results. Including the missions of the evangelical churches alone, and those of the others are hardly of sufficient importance to call for notice, the receipts from all sources for propagating the Gos- pel in foreign, and chiefly heathen lands, for the year ending August 1st, 1843, may safely be reckoned at $510,424.* This is exclusive, also, of the income of the coloni- zation societies, amounting, say, to $60,000, these not being missionary societies. The number of distinct missions prose- cuted by the United States churches is at least sixty-five ; that of stations and out- stations exceeds 200. These employed in 1841-42 at least 375 preaching American missionaries, who, with few exceptions, were ordained ministers, and above seven- ty American laymen, chiefly physicians, printers, teachers, and catechists. The American females, chiefly wives of mis- sionaries and teachers, amounted to 420, making a total of 875 persons from the United States connected with these mis- sions, and all labouring, in one way or an- other, to promote the Gospel among the heathen. The natives who assist as min- isters, evangelists, teachers, distributors of tracts, &c, &c, amounted at least to 375. * The following table gives the details on this point : The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ...:... $244,224 Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church 59,534 Board of Foreign Missions of the Baptist Churches 47, J 51 Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church 39,452 Foreign Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church 35,197 Foreign Missionary Society of the Free- Will Bap- tists (about) 3,502 Foreign Missionary Society of the Lutheran Church (about) 3,000 Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren (about) 8,364 Foreign Evangelical Society ..... 15,000 Other Societies 5,000 Grants from American Bible Society, the American and Foreign Bible Society, and the American Tract Society, estimated to be at least . . 50,000 Total .... $510,424 Nor does this statement include the annual grant of the general government of 10,000 dollars for the support of schools among the Indian tribes, which is laid out through the missionary societies. I have not been able to obtain the exact amount raised by two or three of the societies ; but the supposed sums cannot be far from the truth. 318 RELIGION IN AMERICA. CONCLUSION. In the foregoing pages I proposed to treat of the origin, history, economy, action, and influence of religion in the United States of America, and in the execution of this task I have endeavoured to omit, nothing that seemed requisite to a full elucidation of the subject. The extent of ground ne- cessarily traversed has rendered it indis- pensable that I should lay before the read- er very numerous details ; but these, I trust, he has found at once pertinent and interesting. Here the work properly ends ; but I am desirous of recalling the attention of the reader to a few of the most impor- tant facts which it brings to light, and brief- ly to remark upon them, in order, if pos- sible, to render them more useful to those who may be led to contemplate them. I wish, also, to make a reply to several charges against my country, and especial- ly against its religious institutions, which 1 have heard in certain parts of Europe. I. The progress of Religious Liberty in America. — On this subject so much has been said in the second and third books of this work, that I need do no more than be- stow a very brief review upon it. In no part of the world, I apprehend, can we find any progress, in this respect, which can be compared with what has taken place in the United States. In the year 1607, the plantation of the Southern group of colonies was commen- ced within the settlement of Jamestown. In 1620, that of the Northern was begun in the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Though originating in motives as widely different, almost, as possible, and having in view the diffusion of forms of Protest- antism, so far as ecclesiastical organization is concerned, as completely antipodal as can be conceived, both were founded in that spirit of intolerance which prevailed at that day throughout the Old World, and which, alas ! reigns even yet in so large a portion of it. All that the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut expected to accomplish was the planting of colonies in which they and their chil- dren might profess and practise the reli- gion which they preferred. The tolera- tion of other doctrines and other forms of worship formed no part of their desire or design. Nor was there a better spirit in Virginia. In both, the narrow bigotry of Europe struck deep its roots, soon attained a vigorous growth, and brought forth its appropriate fruits. In the year 1634, the colony of Mary- land was founded, and two years later, that of Rhode Island, the one by Roman Cath- olics, who enjoyed their religious rights at that epoch in no Protestant country, and the other by a sect of Protestants, who could find no toleration either in Massa- chusetts or Virginia. Nearly fifty years later, Pennsylvania was planted as an asy- lum for persecuted Quakers, who, till then, had no place of assured protection and re- pose in the whole world. The influence of these three asylum-colonies, one in the north, one in the south, and one in the mid- dle of the entire series of plantations, where perfect religious liberty was established at the very outset, and in two of which its reign was never interrupted, though silent, was powerful. The complete demonstra- tion which they furnished — in the internal tranquillity which prevailed, so far as reli- gious questions were concerned, in the ab- sence of all unhappy collisions between, the Church and the State, and of corroding jealousies and attritions between the vari- ous sects — not only of the justice, but also of the wisdom of giving to all men the fullest possession of the rights of con- science and of worship, could not be lost upon the other colonies. Its influence concurred with the many long - protracted and severe discussions which took place in them, to bring about ultimately the triumph of better principles. And what is now the state of things in the United States, as regards religious liberty 1 It is that of the universal enjoy- ment of this liberty. The Christian — be he Protestant or Catholic — the infidel, the Mohammedan, the Jew, the Deist, has not only all his rights as a citizen, but may have his own form of worship, without the possibility of any interference from any policeman or magistrate, provided he do not interrupt, in so doing, the peace and tranquillity of the surrounding neighbour- hood. Even the Atheist may have his meetings in which to preach his doctrines, if he can get anybody to hear them.* It is a remarkable fact, that the United States and Texas are the only countries * Even as it regards the holding of political offi- ces, while the Constitutions of almost all the states, as we have shown in the third book, are founded on Christianity, in a certain sense, and at present make no distinction between Protestants and Roman Cath- olics, the Jew is, with one exception, nowhere de- barred from any civil privilege. There is, I am sor- ry to say it, one state, that of North Carolina, where the Israelite is still excluded from political privileges ; and this, too, under her new Constitution. But it is the only relic of this species of barbarism which re- mains among us. CONCLUSION. 319 in all Christendom where perfect religious liberty exists, and where the government does nothing, by " favour" or otherwise, to promote the interests of any one religion, or of any one sect of religionists, more than another. And I cannot but think that the very freedom from a thousand perplexing and agitating collisions, from which one sees the governments of other countries in the Christian world to be con- tinually suffering, furnishes one of the most powerful arguments which can be conceived in favour of leaving religion to its own resources, under the blessing of its adorable Author. Whatever diversity of opinion may exist among Christians in America on other subjects, there is none on this subject. They would all acknowl- edge, without a moment's hesitation, the views expressed in the following para- graphs, which were uttered lately by a gifted and elegant writer.* " Almost every sect in turn, when tempt- ed by the power, has resorted to the prac- tice of religious persecution ; but to the credit of Rome it must be said that the baptism of fire is almost exclusively her sacrament for heretics. Good men of al- most all persuasions have been confined in prison for conscience 1 sake. Bunyan was the first person in the reign of Charles II. punished for the crime of nonconformi- ty. Southey*s own language has the word punished ; it should have been persecuted for the virtue ; for such it was in Bunyan ; and any palliation which could be resorted to for the purpose of justifying an English hierarchy for shutting up John Bunyan in prison, would also justify a Romish hie- rarchy for burning Latimer and Ridley at the stake. Strange that the lesson of religious toleration should be one of the last and hardest, even for liberal minds, to learn. It cost long time, instruction, and discipline even for the disciples of Christ to learn it ; and they never would have learned it had not the infant Church been cut loose from the State, and deprived of all possibility of girding the secular arm with thunder in its behalf. John had not learned it when he would have called down fire from heaven to destroy the Sa- maritans ; nor John, nor his followers, when they forbade a faithful saint (some John Bunyan of those days, belike) from casting out devils, because he followed not them. And they never would have learned it had the union of Church and State been sanctioned by the Saviour. Whenever one sect in particular is united to the State, the lesson of religious tolera- tion will not be perfectly learned ; nay, who does not see that toleration itself, ap- plied to religion, implies the assumption * Rev. George B. Cheever, of New- York, in a Lecture on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. of a power that ought not to exist, that in itself is tyranny. It implies that you, an earthly authority, an earthly power, say to me, so condescendingly, I permit you the exercise of your religion. You per- mit me 1 And what authority have you to permit me, any more than I to permit you I God permits me, God commands me, and do you dare to say that you tolerate me ? Who is he that shall come in between me and God either to say yea or nay 1 Your toleration itself is tyranny, for you have no right to meddle with the matter. But whenever Church and State are united, then there will be meddling with the mat- ter ; and even in this country, if one par- ticular sect were to get the patronage of the State, there would be an end to our perfect religious freedom. " In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the poet Southwell, who wrote one of the most exquisitely beautiful death-hymns in our language, and who seems to have been truly a devout man, was put to death vio- lently and publicly, no other crime being proved against him but what he honestly and proudly avowed, that he had come over into England simply and solely to preach the Catholic religion. And he ought to have been left at liberty to preach it ; for if the Protestant religion cannot stand against Catholic preaching, it ought to go down. No religion is worth having, or worth supporting, that needs racks, or Inquisitions, or fires and fagots, to sus- tain it ; that dare not or cannot meet its ad- versaries on the open battle-field of Truth ; no religion is worth supporting that needs anything but the truth and Spirit of God to support it ; and no establishment ought to be permitted to stand that stands by per- secuting others, nor any church to exist that exists by simply unchurching others. So, if the English Church Establishment dared not consider herself safe without shutting up John Bunyan and sixty other dissenters (several of whom were also, like himself, clergymen) with him in pris- on, the English Church Establishment was not worthy to be safe ; the English Church Establishment was a disgrace and an in- jury to the Gospel, and a disgrace and an injury to a free people. No church is worth saving from destruction, if it has to be saved by the destruction of other men's religious liberties ; nay, if that be the case with it, it ought to go down, and the soon- er the better. No church is worthy to stand that makes nonconformity to its rites and usages a penal crime ; it becomes a persecuting church the moment it does this ; for, supposing that every man, wom- an, and child in the kingdom is kept from nonconformity simply by that threat, and that, through the power of such terror, there comes to be never the need to put such penal laws in execution, and so never 320 RELIGION IN AMERICA. a single subject really molested or punish- ed, still that church is a persecuting church, and that people a persecuted people, a ter- rified people, a people cowed down, a peo- ple in whose souls the sacred fire of liber- ty is fast extinguishing, a people bound to God's service by the fear of men's racks. Such a people can never be free ; their cowardice will forge their fetters. A peo- ple who will sell themselves to a church through fear of punishment, will sell them- selves to any tyrant through the same fear ; nay, a people who will serve God through fear of punishment, when they would not serve him otherwise, will serve Satan in the same way. " If you make nonconformity a crime, you are therefore a persecuting church, whether your name be Rome, or England, or America, even though there be not a single nonconformist found for you to ex- ercise your wrath upon, not one against whom you may draw the sword of your penalty. But it is drawn, and drawn against the liberty of conscience, and every man whom in this way you keep from noncon- formity, you make him a deceiver to his God ; you make him barter his conscience for an exemption from an earthly penalty ; you make him put his conscience, not into God's keeping, but into the keeping of your sword ; you dry up the life-blood of liberty in his soul; you make him in his inmost conscience an imprisoned slave, a venal victim of your bribery and terror; and though he may still walk God's earth as others, it is with the iron in his soul, it is with your chain about his neck, it is as the shuffling fugitive from your penalties, and not as a whole-souled man, who, fear- ing God religiously, fears nothing else. There may, indeed, be no chain visible, but you have wound its invisible links around the man's spirit ; you have bound the man within the man ; you have fet- tered him, and laid him down in a cold, dark dungeon, and until those fetters are taken off, and he stands erect and looks out from his prison to God, it is no man, but a slave that you have in your service ; it is no disciple, but a Simon Magus that you have in your church." But though with us " heresy" is no- where considered to be " treason," and all enjoy equal religious liberty, neither the General Government, nor those of our in- dividual states, are indifferent to religion. One of the most striking proofs of this is to be found in the fact, that every year — almost without exception in the autumn — *he governors of a large majority of our spates recommend and name a day to be observed as a Day of Thanksgiving to Al- mighty God for his mercies, and of sup- plication for their continuance. And such days are generally observed by Christians of every name. Business is suspended, the churches are open, at least in the fore- noon, and sermons are preached through- out the limits of the Commonwealth.* II. The True Causes of Success. — But our religious liberty, unbounded and pre- cious as it. is, is not the cause of the suc- cess which has attended the Gospel in America. It is only the occasion, if I may so express myself, not the means, by which the Church of Christ has made so great ad- vances in the United States. It has won- derfully opened the way for this blessed prosperity ; it has removed hinderances, al- layed prejudices, and placed the country in a true position in regard to Christianity. It has created an open field, in which Truth may contend with Error, clad in her own panoply, and relying on her own weapons. Much as I love the perfect liberty of con- science and of worship which we enjoy in America, there are other things which, to my mind, must be regarded as the causes of the success which has attended the ef- forts of God's people among us to promote his kingdom. Let us notice these for a few moments. 1. There is the grouping of our children, rich and poor, in the Sunday-schools, ar- ranging them in small classes, and bring- ing their young minds and hearts into con- tact with the Word of God. 2. There is the continuation of this good work in the Bible- class. What a powerful * The European reader of this work may be pleased to see one of the proclamations issued on such occasions ; we subjoin that of the Governor of New- York for the year 1843. " In obedience to that high sense of gratitude due the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, I do hereby designate Thursday, the fourteenth day of December next, to be observed by the people ot this state as a day of Prayer, Praise, and Thanks- giving to Almighty God for the numerous and unmerited blessings of the year. "I feel assured that this act of public duty is in accordance with the wishes of the people, and will meet with universal acquiescence. " As a people, we have great reason to be thank- ful, and to praise the Almighty Dispenser of all Good for the continued smiles of His providence on our state and nation. " During the past year we have been permitted to enjoy our religious and political privileges unmo- lested. We have been exempt from those ravages of malignant disease which sometimes afflict a peo- ple. The season has been highly propitious, and seldom has the harvest been more abundant. As a crowning blessing, the Spirit of the Lord has re- vived the hearts of Christians, and brought to a sa- ving knowledge many that knew not God. '■ For the distinguished blessings we have enjoyed, we should raise our hearts in humble adoration to our Father in heaven, thereby presenting to the world the imposing spectacle of the entire popula- tion of a great stale abstaining from all secular en- gagements on the day designated, and devoting them- selves to the service of the Almighty. We should always remember that 'righteousness exalteth a na- tion.' "Given under my hand, and the privy seal of the state, at the city of Albany, this tenth day of [L. S.] November, in the year of our Lord one thou- sand eight hundred and fortv-three. " Wm. C. Bouck." CONCLUSION. 321 means of doing good ! and how well cal- culated to follow up, or prepare the way for the instruction around the family altar! 3. There are our societies for educating in a thorough manner young men of piety and talents for the work of preaching the Gospel. And many hundreds of young men of promise, whom God's Spirit urges to preach salvation to their dying fellow- men, are thus every year brought forward for the work. 4. Next come the Home Missionary Soci- eties and Boards, which send forth these young men, when prepared to preach, to the new and destitute portions of the coun- try, and help the people to sustain them. 5. In connexion with these, the Mater- nal Associations, and other means for im- pressing on parents the duty of bringing up their children for the Lord, and for aid- ing them in the attempt, must not be over- looked ; nor those efforts which are made to disseminate the Sacred Scriptures and religious tracts and books. These are si- lent but efficient means of co-operation in this blessed work. 6. And, lastly and chiefly, there remains the preaching of the Word, the most effect- ive of all instrumentalities for the conver- sion and sanctification of men. There is nothing which may supplant this. And here we have abundant occasion for thank- fulness. We have a great many thousands of pious and faithful preachers ; very many of whom are able, skilful, and successful labourers in the vineyard of the Lord. Let the reader review what has been said on all these points in the portions of this work which treat of them, and he will discover the true causes, under God, of the progress which religion has made in Amer- ica from the first, and especially within the present century. III. The True Source of all Success. — Still, these must all be considered as only means ; the success is of God. " It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Here is all our hope ; even Truth itself is impotent to renovate the heart of man, depraved and debased as he is, without the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the province of this blessed Agent to take the things of Christ and show them unto men. It is He alone who can open the blind eyes, and cause them to see the beauty and fitness of the glori- ous plan of salvation through the crucified Son of God. It is he alone who can ren- der the preaching of the Gospel " the pow- er of God and the wisdom of God to the salvation of men." And He, blessed be God, can as easily render the same pres- entation of the glorious Gospel effectual to the salvation of many as of few — of hundreds and thousands, as on the day of Pentecost, as of one. But, alas ! when shall the Spirit be ap- i predated, honoured, sought by the Church ! as He ought to be ] Oh, when shall Chris- j tians awake to a proper sense of the desi- ! rableness, yea, the absolute necessity of His glorious effusion upon the world, in order to its conversion, and which is the subject of so many and so remarkable pre- dictions '? Many who profess the name of Christ seem almost not to know whether there be a Holy Ghost ! Now, though the churches in America, taken as a whole, are very far from a proper appreciation of this subject; though even the best of them are far from hav- ing attained such views, and from having put forth such action respecting it as they ought to do, yet there is, in all evan- gelical and truly converted Christians among us, some sense of their dependance upon the Spirit for success in their efforts to grow in grace, as well as to turn sin- ners unto righteousness. There is, also, much earnest prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit upon their souls, and upon all those who hear or read the Gospel. There is no one thing which has more decidedly characterized the preaching of our best and most successful divines, or the feelings of our most devoted Chris- tians, than the doctrine of the existence, the personality, the offices, and the saving operation of the Holy Spirit. It has been the great dominant idea, if I may so term it, which has pervaded and influenced the Church of Christ in America during the last hundred years. Hence the esteem in which revivals of religion are held. To this great subject I cannot but en- treat the religious reader to direct his most serious attention. It is one of vital impor- tance. Surely God has led his people to expect a great outpouring of his Spirit in the latter days. And, surely, the world, as well as the Church, has seen the need of such an influence, if it is ever to be brought under the renovating influences of the Gos- pel to a degree corresponding with its ne- cessities. And whatever importance the author may attach to other portions of this work, beyond all comparison he is desi- rous that the portion of it which relates to revivals may be most deeply pondered by every reader. IV. Grounds of Hope in relation to the Churches in America. — I know of no- thing which is so well calculated to inspire hope in relation to our American churches as the extensive diffusion of the spirit of missions among them within the last few years, for it is the spirit of Christ. Let us look at this fact for a moment. Twenty-five years ago, with the excep- tion of what was doing by a Committee or Board of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and the missionary societies of some of the New-England States — and this did not amount to very 322 RELIGION IN AMERICA. much — there was nothing doing in behalf of domestic missions. But within that pe- riod have been formed the American Home Missionary Society, which unites all the evangelical Congregational churches in the land, together with the New School Presbyterians ; the Board of Domestic Missions of the Old School Presbyterians, the Home Missionary Societies of the Bap- tists, Methodists, and Free-Will Baptists ; and the Boards for Domestic Missions of the Reformed Dutch, Lutheran, German Reformed, Associate, Associate Reformed, Reformed Presbyterian, Protestant Episco- pal, Cumberland Presbyterians, and Sev- enth-day Baptist churches. No denomi- nation is too insignificant to have its Soci- ety or its Board of Domestic Missions. And what do we see 1 Nearly two thou- sand ordained ministers are labouring in new and destitute neighbourhoods, in the East and the West, to gather congrega- tions and build up churches. What a change ! And what a ground of hope ! Moreover, thirty-four years ago there was not one Missionary Society in the United States for the promotion of foreign missions, save the small one of the Mora- vians. But now the Old and New School Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Metho- dists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Reformed Dutch, Lutherans, Free-Will Baptists, As- sociate, Associate Reformed, and Reform- ed Presbyterians, and perhaps some others, as well as the United Brethren, have their Foreign Missionary Societies or Boards, and sustain a greater or less number of men on the foreign field. It cannot be said that they have done all that they might. But it may be said that they have made a good beginning, and that what they have done is nothing in comparison with what they will do, with God's blessing. That they should have nearly 400 preach- ers abroad, besides other labourers, and raise more than half a million of dollars for the extension of the Gospel in that direc- tion, is a subject which calls for thanks to God. It is the wide diffusion of the spirit of missions through our churches, rather than its positive and present results, which I am here holding up as a ground of hope. And in that light I am sure it may fairly be regarded. It is the best omen for good both to the Church and the nation. It is our great palladium. It is also our best pledge, and even our most certain means, of prosperity to all the interests of Truth. As long as the spirit of missions is exist- ent and efficient in our churches of every name, we may venture to hope that, what- ever may go wrong in our political organ- ization, or however wickedness may aug- ment, God will regard us in mercy, and say of us as a nation, " Spare it, for there is a blessing in it." V. Efficiency of the Voluntary Prin- ciple in America in raising up an adequate Ministp.y. — That the Voluntary Principle has not been inefficient in America, in this respect, will readily appear from a simple statement of facts. If the reader will recur to chapter i. of book iii., he will learn that, at the epoch of the commencement of the Revolution in 1775, the number of ministers of the Gospel, of all denominations, including even the Roman Catholic priests, did not exceed 1441. Indeed, I am sure this esti- mate is too high. But let us suppose it to be correct. Now, if the population of the country was then three millions and a half, there was one minister of the Gospel for about 2428 souls. But if the population then was only three millions, which I ap- prehend to be an estimate nearer the truth, then there was one minister, on an aver- age, for nearly 2082 souls. On the other hand, the population of the country at the commencement of 1844 maybe fairly es- timated at 18,500,000 souls. And if the reader will refer to what we have said in chapter xvii. of book vi., he will see that the number of ordained evangelical or or- thodox Protestant ministers alone, exclu- sive of the local preachers of the Metho- dist churches (not far, in all, from 8500), exclusive, also, of the German United Brethren, and several other little German sects, as well as two or three small Meth- odist secessions, was, in the year 1843, sixteen thousand three hundred. That is, on an average, one evangelical Protestant minister of the Gospel for rather less than 1135 souls. It is not here asserted that all these ministers are pastors, or that they all have congregations to which they statedly preach. It is certain that a good many are teachers and professors, secretaries and agents of religious and benevolent so- cieties, who, nevertheless, preach a great deal ; and many, who are not pastors, preach to churches which are for a time destitute of pastors. But what is here meant is simply to show the increase of evangelical ministers of the Gospel, and its decided gain upon the increase of tha population. The fact is clear and striking ; there is at present one evangelical Prot- estant minister in the United States for less than 1100 souls; in 1775 there was one minister of the Gospel, of every name, for about 2428 souls, or, at best, for 2082. On the one supposition, the number of evangelical ministers is more than twice as great, in proportion to the population, as was that of the ministers, both Protest- ant and Catholic, in 1775, and, on the oth- er, it is nearly twice as great.* * If we were to include the Roman Catholic priests, and the Unitarian, Universalist, and other heterodox preachers, we should have at this time one preacher for every 800 souls. CONCLU SI ON. 323 I do not design here to assert the suffix ciency of the evangelical ministry in the United States to meet the wants of the population ; it will readily be admitted that it is not sufficient. If the evangelical Pro- testant ministers were twice as numer- ous as they are ; if, in other words, there was on an average one such minister for every 500 souls, instead of one for 1135, it would not be too many, when we consider the sparseness of the population in certain districts, which renders it impossible for one minister to look after more than 500 or 600 souls ; the number of denominations, which renders the number of ministers in many places greater than the amount of the population demands ; and the fact that a goodly number will always be engaged in our academies, colleges, and theological seminaries as professors, and in our reli- gious and benevolent societies as secre- taries and agents. But if the Voluntary Principle has been so efficient as to double the number of evangelical Protestant min- isters since the year 1775 (and the greater portion of this success has accrued since 1815, and can in no sense be attributed to the influence of the ancient establish- ments),* there is every reason to expect that it will, in the course of a far shorter period, again cause the number of the evangelical Protestant ministers to double upon the population. If we may judge from the progress of the last three years, it will not be more than twenty-five or thirty years until this desirable result will have been reached. VI. Efficiency of the Voluntary Prin- ciple in the United States in supporting the Ministry of the Gospel. — In this re- spect, the Voluntary Principle has not been destitute of considerable efficiency in America. It is not pretended that in a new country, where wealth may indeed be much more equally distributed than in the old countries of Europe, but where its aggregate is not to be compared with that of England, Scotland, Holland, Germany, or France, the sum raised upon the vol- untary plan is likely to be as large as that which is raised in Great Britain, and some countries on the Continent, from tithes, united with the revenues of ancient reli- gious foundations. We have as yet few such foundations^ and must, therefore, depend upon the voluntary offerings of the * With the exception of Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, the union of Church and State, which once existed in many of the states, came to an end during or shortly after the Revolution ; and in Con- necticut it terminated in 1816. In Massachusetts it lasted, as we have elsewhere stated, till 1833. + By far the most important of all such founda- tions, with us, is that of Trinity Church (belonging to the Episcopal denomination) in the city of New- York, which is said to be as much as fifteen or twenty millions of dollars, and has furnished the means of building many Episcopal churches in that state. people. I say voluntary offerings, for, whatever may be the mode of raising the salaries of our ministers, they are, in real- ity, derived from the spontaneous contribu- tions of the people. No man is compelled to pay a cent for the maintenance of reli- gious worship. Whatever he gives is deci- dedly by his own will. Every one is free to go to church or stay away ; and if he goes, he may, in many of our churches, avoid giv- ing all his life ; this is true especially of those churches whose sittings are public, that is, do not belong to particular individ- uals. Whatever a man engages to pay towards the support of the institutions of the Gospel he is expected to pay, and may be required, according to law, to pay. Seldom indeed, however, is there a resort to legal enforcement of the payment of pew-rents and subscriptions. But let us see what the voluntary principle does ac- complish. The total amount of money raised in the United States for the support of the minis- try in the evangelical denominations may be calculated as follows : I. Episcopal ministers, as stated in chap, xvii., book vi. ... 1203 Deduct for missionaries and professors, say 48 Tl55 Total salaries of 1155 ministers, say at an average of $500 each . . . $577,500 II. Ministers of the Presbyterian family of churches, including Congrega- tionalists, Lutherans, &c, as in the summary above referred to . 5756 Deduct foreign missiona- ries 171 Deduct professors in col- leges 141— _312 5444 Total salaries of 5444 ministers, say at an average salary of $400 . . 2,177,600 III. The Baptist ministers, according to the same summary, amount to 4850 Deduct for missionaries and professors, say 133 4720 As a considerable number of the Bap- tist ministers receive small sala- ries, and some none at all, we can allow $250 only as the average of their salaries. This gives . . . 1,100,000 IV. Ministers of the Methodist group, ex- clusive of local preachers, amount, according to the summary, to 4870 Deduct for missionaries and professors 118 4752 Supposing their salaries to be on an average $300 each,* the result is 1,425,600 * In some parts of the country it is certain that the Methodist ministers do not receive as great a salary as that mentioned in the text ; but, on the other hand, the salaries of their ministers in many parts of the country exceed it. In the Conferences of the states of New-England and of that of New- York, they are probably, as a body, better supported than those of any other denomination. In those parts of the land their salaries, including perquisites of all sorts, exceed, on an average, 500 dollars. The Episcopal ministers, being stationed chiefly in our cities and large towns, receive, as a body, larger 324 RELIGION IN AMERICA. This gives us a grand total of 5,280,700 dollars, as the amount paid for the person- nel, as the French would call it, of our pub- lic worship. It is possible that I have es- timated the average of the salaries of the Baptist ministers a little too high. Some may think that 200 dollars would be nearer the truth. I do not think so myself, from what I know of the whole country. As to the other denominations, I am quite sure that I have not placed them too high, especially if, as ought to be done, all the perquisites which may attach to the minis- terial and pastoral office among them be taken into the account. We have, then, the sum of 5,280,700 dollars as contributed by the evangelical denominations alone to support the ministry. And I am of opinion that if we were to add the amount con- tributed by the omitted small Methodist branches, the Orthodox Quakers, and some little German denominations, we might well give the sum of 5,500,000 dollars as a quite moderate estimate of the support given to the evangelical ministry of the United States. VII. Efficiency of the Voluntary Prin- ciple in the United States in the erec- tion of Church Edifices. — The church edifices which are annually erected in the United States, according to the best infor- mation which I have been able to obtain, from much personal observation and in- quiry, may be stated at about 920, rating them as follows : Among the Episcopal Methodists, according to a good authority, "from 250 to 300"— say 250 The Baptists fully as many as the Methodists (their own reports some years show between 260 and 270), say 250 The Presbyterians and Congregationalists together build at "least 200 (the Old School Presbyterians alone reported more than eighty last year) 200 The Lutheran Almanac mentions 76 new churches erected in the year 1841. An imperfect report for 1840 mentions 47, say 60 The German Reformed may be fairly estimated at. . . . 30 The Protestant Methodists at 20 The Episcopalians at 50 The Cumberland Presbyterians at 30 The Reformed Dutch at 10 The Scotch Presbyterians, of all kinds, at 20 Total of new churches annually erected among the above mentioned denominations 920 It may be that the last mentioned but one, and possibly that also, may be too high ; but the new churches of the Cum- berland Presbyterians, Protestant Metho- dists, and the Episcopalians, if not all the rest, are, it is probable, understated. I am of opinion that, if we should include the churches annually erected by the omitted small evangelical denominations, a per- fectly accurate summary of the meeting- houses or church edifices of every descrip- tion built by all the orthodox Protestant, communion in the United States, every year, would at the present time not fall short of 950. salaries than those of any other Church. I am per- suaded that they average considerably more than tiie amount named in the text. It is impossible to calculate with exact- ness to what extent this yearly increase of church edifices meets the demands of a yearly increase of the population, now amounting to nearly, if not quite, half a million of souls, of whom 400,000, if not 420,000, are of an age to go more or less frequently to church, and for whom church accommodation ought therefore to be pro- vided. The whole population of the coun- try that is supposed to be more or less under the influence of the evangelical de- nominations, estimated at 15,500,000, being divided into about 49,424 congregations, the average number of souls in a congre- gation must be about 314 ; and as the num- ber of church edifices already erected can- not be short of 29,000 in all, the new ones must consist partly of those required for existing evangelical congregations not pre- viously supplied, partly of those required for accessions to the evangelical churches from 300,000 of souls not previously attach- ed to such congregations, and for the grad- ual increase of those congregations from births and immigration. If we suppose the evangelical proportion of the yearly in- crease of the population of an age to go to church (say 420,000) to be as 15,500,000 to 3,000,000, or about 338,725 souls, and this proportion to be divided into congregations of 310 souls each, the result would be an an- nual increase of about 1093 congregations, requiring the same number of churches. Such a result, however, is by no means probable ; for many of these would no doubt join and be merged in existing con- gregations, and many would be found liv- ing in remote places, rendering it impossi- ble for them to be gathered into congrega- tions requiring church edifices. Neither is it easy to calculate the cost of these 920 or 950 church edifices, of which we have been speaking. A consid- erable number, perhaps forty or fifty, are annually built in our large cities, at an ex- pense of from 10,000 to 60,000 dollars, and a few of them cost even more. Many are large buildings which will hold 700, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, and a few even more ; while a great many in the country are small, and cost only a few hundred dollars. But if we include under this head all the expenses of our churches for light, fuel, sexton's wages, choirs, etc., etc. — in a word, what may be called the materiel, if I may so term it, of our public worship, I am quite sure that it will reach two millions and a half of dollars. I speak now of the evangelical churches alone. If we were to include the churches or meeting-houses built by the Roman Catho- lics, Unitarians, Christ-ians, Universalists> and other non-evangelical sects, we should increase the number from 950 to 1100 at least. VIII. The total cost of Public Woa- CONCLUSION. 325 ship in the United States. — It may be worth while to bring together the various estimates which we have made respecting the sums raised by the evangelical church- es for the sustentation of religion at home, and its extension abroad, and add to them the amounts raised by the non-evangelical denominations : 1. If we include all that certain omitted local associations do, in addition to the sums raised by the various religious socie- ties mentioned in book iv., whose object is to promote religion at home, we shall have a total amount of about $1,000,000 2. The amount contributed by the various religious so- cieties last year, according to the summary given in chap. xii. of bookviii., is 510,424 3. The amount annually rais- ed for the support of the evangelical ministry, as we have seen, may be es- timated at 5,500,000 4. The amount annually rais- ed for building and keep- ing in repair the church edifices, and for other expenses connected with the maintenance of public worship, may be given at 2,500,000 Making a total of . $9,510,424 From this statement, it appears that the sums raised by the evangelical churches for the promotion of religion, in one way and another, at home and abroad, amount to more than nine millions and a. half of dollars. If we add to this the sums given annual- ly by Christians to build and endow acad- emies, colleges, and theological semina- ries, with a view to promote religion, and also the amount raised among the non- evangelical denominations for the same objects, we shall increase this sum to at least, eleven millions of dollars, as the amount raised annually at present in the United States, on the voluntary principle,* for the sustentation and promotion of religion at home and abroad. f Nor have I included in the statements which I have made on this subject all that * I say on the voluntary principle, for the sums raised from permanent endowments (which are themselves the fruit of the voluntary principle, and not of governmental gift or taxation) are not suffi- ciently great to deserve to be excepted. t If we were to add to the above-mentioned sum of eleven millions of dollars to promote Religion in America, the amount which education costs in all its gradations, we must at least double it. The sin- gle state of Massachusetts bestows little short of a million of dollars annually upon the education of her youths in all classes of her literary institutions, though her population falls short of 800,000 souls. So that the sum of at least twenty-two millions of dollars is annually raised in the United States for the promotion of Religion and Education — a sum about equal, at this time, to the whole revenue of the National Government ! the voluntary principle does in reference to religion. For instance, provision is made in some denominations, by incorporated associations or otherwise, for the main- tenance of the widows and children of ministers, and of superannuated preachers. The sums thus raised are to be considered a part of the sustentation which is given to the institutions of the Gospel among us, and they all owe their origin directly or indirectly to the voluntary principle. It is not pretended that the voluntary principle raises as much money in Ameri- ca for the support of religion as do the legal provisions of some countries, where Christianity has created those opulent and time-honoured establishments which over- shadow them. In many cases, alas ! these establishments were founded in the ages of superstition, and owe their origin to the influence of a cunning and overreaching priesthood, exerted over an ignorant and debased people. But it is maintained that it cannot be said with truth that Christian- ity, left to its own resources in America, is likely to go down, or that it does not lead to efforts for its propagation which corre- spond in a good measure with the wants of the country. Whatever men may think on the subject of the best means of sup- porting the Gospel, it cannot be denied that the voluntary principle in America has demonstrated that it is not inefficient : a fact which was well established in the first three centuries of the progress of Christi- anity in the world. IX. Alleged Church Destitution in the United States. — From the year 1837 to that of 1840 inclusive, for an annual in- crease of the population to the extent of about 450,000 souls, that of the evangelical ministry of all denominations was not much, if at all, short of 700 per annum. The number of church edifices erected in 1841 was fully 880. The nett annual in- crease of evangelical ministers of all de- nominations is about 750 ; while that of church edifices, of all descriptions, as we have stated elsewhere, is not less than 950. As the annual increase of the popu- lation is at present about 500,000, the increase of evangelical ministers bears the ratio of 1 to 660 of the whole, or of 1 to about 560 of those who are of an age to go to church ; and the increase of church edifices is about as 1 to 525 souls. But it must have been seen from the tables in the summary of evangelical churches, ministers, communicants, and population, that partly from the very scat- tered condition of the inhabitants covering so vast a territory, partly from the pres- ence of several denominations at one spot, often leading to a plurality of churches and ministers where one might suffice, this in- crease of ministers and churches is not so adequate to the wants of the country as 326 RELIGION IN AMERICA. might at first sight appear ; still, it is so inconsistent with what many of our read- ers may have heard of the " moral wastes" in the United States as to require some explanation. First, then, let it be remembered that, at the Revolution, the number of ministers of every name was only one for 2440 souls, or, at most, one for 2000 ; and that the war of independence itself, and many other cir- cumstances, concurred to prevent much from being done to overtake this great and accumulating arrear in the religious institutions of the country. This destitu- tion continued to increase rather than di- minish, it is believed, from 1775 till 1815; so that, notwithstanding the more recent extension of the churches, and of institu- tions for training of ministers for assisting feeble congregations, no wonder that a great deal has yet to be done in recov- ering what may be called former moral wastes. Second. Churches and ministers not be- ing provided beforehand for new settle- ments, and a certain amount of population within a given district being required be- fore means can well be taken for forming a church and obtaining a minister, some time must elapse during which " moral wastes" may be found in newly-settled districts. The same remark applies to the mountainous district embracing the Alleghany range and its skirts. From the interior of Pennsylvania, down through Virginia, the eastern parts of Kentucky, and North Carolina, there is a considera- ble destitution of the regular ministrations of the Gospel. The sandy, thinly-settled zone of country, covered with pines, stretch- ing along the seacoast, from New-Jersey to Louisiana, and embracing the whole peninsula of Florida, may be placed in the same category. From such regions the cry of the man of Macedonia, " Come over and help us," is continually sounded in the ears of the churches in more fa- voured districts ; nor is it. heard in vain. Much has been done for them by the Home Missionary Societies, and Mission- ary Boards of the different churches, and much, no doubt, will yet be done. In the third place, there has been a large immigration from Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland, for whose spiritual wants it has not been easy to provide. The letters from these people to their friends in the Old World have in some cases given rise to the opinion that the moral destitution of the whole country is almost boundless. For a long time after the Revolution, the augmentation of German ministers from an indigenous source was very slow, while but few of a proper stamp came from Europe. Blessed be God, the pros- pect for our German immigrants is becom- ing more cheering. There are no less than two colleges and five theological schools, in which there is a goodly number of pious young men who are training up for the work of preaching Christ, under the in- structions of right men. It has been more difficult still for us to provide for the spiritual wants of the French who have come to our shores, or have fallen to us by the purchase of Lou- isiana. But the increase of evangelical religion in France will, I doubt not, give us the labourers we need to look after their interests. As to the Spaniards, Poles, Norwegians, Italians, etc., who come to us, their number is not great ; but the difficulty of preaching the Gospel to them has been almost insurmountable, owing to their not knowing the English tongue. In the fourth place, the representations made on this subject by some of our so- cieties are often calculated, though unde- signedly, to mislead a stranger. That there is much real destitution to warrant strong appeals is no doubt true ; but one is apt to forget that there is much that is hypothetical in what is said of the danger that threatens, if this destitution be not supplied. This danger is imminent ; still it is, as yet, but a contingency. If the re- quired efforts be not made, error and irre- ligion will overspread the country ; if the Protestants be not on the alert, Romanism will conquer it for itself. But it is to pre- vent such results that these appeals are made. Lastly, it is not to be denied that the agents and missionaries of our Domestic Missionary Societies and Boards have un- intentionally and unwittingly promoted er- roneous impressions respecting the reli- gious destitution of the country. When these societies were formed, some fifteen or twenty years ago, the first missionaries and agents sent into the West found many districts, and even whole counties, deplora- bly destitute : and in their published re- ports and letters they gave most affecting accounts of the want of shepherds to col- lect the sheep scattered over these moral wildernesses. Sometimes they thought that, like Elijah of old, they were " left alone ;" not being aware, or if aware, not rightly estimating the fact, that men of other denominations were labouring in the same regions, as itinerating, if not as set- tled ministers. Such misrepresentations led the Methodist and Baptist churches to publish statements, proving that the al- leged destitution had been greatly exag- gerated. Hence, of late years, it has been usual to give the names of places requiring ministers and churches, of the denomination to which the writer belongs, acknowledging, at the same time, the ser- vices of ministers of other denominations, where they are to be found. Exaggerated statements may often be traced, also, to CONCLUSION. 327 the warm feelings of extempore speakers at public meetings, leading them to com- mit themselves to expressions that have not been duly weighed, and to these find- ing their way, often with additional exag- gerations, into newspapers. Within the last fortnight, I have read in one of the best religious newspapers in the United States, the notes of a minister from the East, as he passed through Pennsylvania to the " far West." The writer did not see a single church in any but a few of the numerous towns and villages through which he passed from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh ! Yet I, who have been along the same route no fewer than twelve times, and who know every town and vil- lage upon it, having travelled it, not only as he did, in stages, but by railroad, in pri- vate carriages, on horseback, and even on foot, hesitate not to say that there is no town, or even village of any considerable size, that has not at least one church be- longing to some communion or other. These, however, are not the prominent churches, steeple-houses, as our Quaker friends might call them, to be seen in the Eastern States. Many are plain, humble buildings, standing in some retired street, and if visible at all to the writer as he whirled along, were hardly to be distin- guished from a warehouse or respectable barn. And if such misstatements are hon- estly made at times by our own country- men, how much more apt must foreigners be to form equally hasty and erroneous conclusions 1 X. Individual Instances of Liberality IN SUPPORTING AND EXTENDING THE INSTITU- TIONS of the Gospel. — It is one of the happy fruits of the voluntary principle that it cultivates a spirit of benevolence and self-reliance among Christians. It teach- es men the true value and utility of wealth, in showing them that there are objects infi- nitely more worthy of living for than mere self-gratification. Pious men of no coun- try have an adequate conception of the amount of good which they can do until they have made the experiment. We sub- join a few instances of individual liberali- ty, not because the authors of them were rich* men, but because of the systematic as well as delightful spirit which they dis- played. In the course of this work many others have been mentioned, which are well worthy of imitation. One of the most remarkable instances of liberality in the middle walks of life is recorded in the memoirs of the late Nor- mand Smith, of Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. * Had 1 been disposed to speak of what some (I am sorry to say too few) of our rich men have done, I might mention one man — a merchant— who has in the course of 30 years given to religious and benevo- lent objects eight hundred thousand dollars, and of one who gives from forty to sixty thousand annually. Smith was born in 1800, of pious parents, and seems to have become decided in his religious character at the age of twelve, during a revival. He learned the trade of a saddler, and commenced business him- self at the age of twenty-two, on a small capital lent him by his father. He was remarkably prosperous in business from the first, so that he was soon able to repay this debt. But he did not allow his busi- ness to engross his time and thoughts. He frequently visited the poor with the view of inquiring into and relieving their neces- sities, was a constant Sabbath-school teach- er, and for a long time was superintendent of a Sabbath-school for Africans. In short, he was the foremost to encourage and sup- port every good undertaking. But we must let the memoir* speak for itself. " In the early part of 1829 he had great doubts whether it was not his duty to re- linquish his business, in part at least, that he might have more time to do good. At that time he called to converse on this subject with the writer. He said that he found his business engrossed too much of his time and attention ; he wished to be in a situation more favourable for the culti- vation of personal religion and doing good to others ; and, as he had acquired proper- ty enough for himself and family, he felt a desire to retire, that he might enjoy more quiet and leisure. In reply, it was said to him, ' The Lord has plainly indicated how you are to glorify him in the world. He has greatly prospered you in your busi- ness ; the channels of wealth are open, and their streams are flowing in upon you, and it would be wrong for you to obstruct or diminish them. Let them rather flow wider and deeper. Only resolve that you will pursue your business from a sense of duty, and use all that God may give you for his glory and the good of your fellow- men, and your business, like reading the Bible, or worship on the Sabbath, will be to you a means of grace ; instead of hin- dering, it will help you in the divine life, and greatly increase your means of use- fulness.'' The effect of the conversation was not known at the time, but from an entry made in a journal which he began to keep about that period, it appears that the purpose was then formed to continue his business, and to conduct it on the princi- ple recommended. " From that time it was observable by all who knew him that he made rapid progress in religion. One subject seemed to engross his mind, that of doipg good; and much good did God enable him to do. Besides many large donations in aid of va- rious objects previous to his death, he be- queathed at his decease nearly 30,000 dol- * Written by his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Hawes, of the First Congregational Church, Hartford, Connec- ticut. 328 RELIGION IN AMERICA. lars to the various benevolent societies of the day. The amount designated for these societies in his will was 13,200 dollars. But they were also made residuary lega- tees of property which he would have dis- tributed while living, had it been practica- ble, without loss, to withdraw it from his business. " On his deathbed he said to a brother, ' Do good with your substance while liv- ing, and as you have opportunity ; other- wise, when you come to die, you ■will be at a loss to know what distribution it is best to make of it. The trouble and care of such a distribution in a dying hour,' he thought, ' should be avoided by every Chris- tian, by disposing of his property while in life and health, as the Lord should prosper him, and present to him opportunities of doing good.' " From the period above referred to, it became his established rule to use for be- nevolent distribution all the means which he could take from his business, and still prosecute it successfully and to the best advantage. He was usually secret with regard to donations of a private or person- al nature. A memorandum which he kept three or four years before his death, 'lest he should think that he gave more than he did,' shows that his gifts were numerous and large — sufficiently so to prove that he adhered to his principle of holding all as consecrated to the Lord. A slip of paper, taken from his vest pocket after his death, mentions the amount of his contributions at the monthly prayer-meeting for mis- sions among the heathen to have been thirty dollars, or 360 dollars a year. " In personal and domestic expenditure he studied Christian economy. While he denied himself no reasonable comfort, it was his habit to consider what things he might dispense with, that he might have the more to give for charitable purposes. Modest and unassuming in his natural character, he thought it not consistent, with the simplicity of the Gospel for one professing godliness to follow the customs and fashions of the world. While oth- ers were enlarging their expenditures, he studied retrenchment in all things. " When he set out in the world, it was with the purpose to be rich. But grace opened his heart, and taught him that the only valuable use of money is to do good with it ; a lesson which he emphatically exemplified in his practice, and which made him an instrument of good, the ex- tent of which can never be known till it is revealed at the last day." Another instance is that of a cotempo- rary of Mr. Smith, Mr. Nathaniel Ripley Cobb, at Boston, who died only seven months after him. Mr. Cobb was a mer- chant in that city, and a member of one of its Baptist churches. At the age of nine- teen he publicly professed his faith in Christ, devoting himself to the service of God in the sphere in which Providence had placed him, considering himself under the same obligation to employ his business talent for the glory of his Saviour that de- volved on the minister of the Gospel to consecrate the talents intrusted to him for the same great end. At the age of twenty-three he drew up and subscribed the following remarkable document : " By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than 50,000 dollars. " By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the nett profit of my business to charitable and religious uses. " If I am ever worth 20,000 dollars, I will give one half of my nett profits ; and if I am ever worth 30,000 dollars, I will give three fourths ; and the whole after 50,000. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward and set me aside." " To this covenant," says his memoir, " he adhered with conscientious fidelity. He distributed the profits of his business with an increasing ratio, from year to year, till he reached the point which he had fixed as a limit to his property, and then gave to the cause of God all the money which he earned. At one time, finding that his property had increased be- yond 50,000 dollars, he at once devoted the surplus, 7500 dollars, as a foundation for a professorship in the Newton Theo- logical Institution. " On his deathbed he said to a friend, in allusion to the resolutions quoted above, ' By the grace of God — nothing else — by the grace of God, I have been enabled, un- der the influence of these resolutions, to give away more than 40,000 dollars. How good the Lord has been to me !' " Mr. Cobb — such is the testimony of those who, like myself, knew him well — was also an active, humble, and devoted Chris- tian, seeking the prosperity of feeble churches ; labouring to promote the be- nevolent institutions of the day ; punctual in his attendance at prayer-meetings, and anxious to aid the inquiring sinner ; watch- ful for the eternal interests of those under his charge ; mild and amiable in his de- portment ; and, in the general tenour of his life and character, an example of consist- ent piety. His last sickness and death were peace- ful, yea, triumphant. "It is a glorious thing," said he, " to die. I have been ac- tive and busy in the world — I have enjoyed as much as any one — God has prospered me — I have everything to bind me here — I am happy in my family — I have property enough — but how small and mean does this world appear when we are on a sick- bed ! Nothing can equal my enjoyment in the near view of heaven. My hope in CONCLUSION. 329 Christ is worth infinitely move than all other things. The blood of Christ — the blood of Christ— none but Christ ! how thankful I feel that God has provided a way that I, sinful as I am, may look for- ward with joy to another world, through his dear Son." But I know no instance of more syste- matic and long-continued benevolence, nor one that produced equal fruit from similar resources, than that of the late Mr. Solo- mon Goodell, of Vermont, who died when about seventy. Mr. Goodell was a farmer. The following notice of him, though long, will be read with interest. It is from a source worthy of all confidence. " About the year 1809, the writer of these lines observed a donation of 100 dollars to the Connecticut Missionary Society, pub- lished in the annual accounts as from Mr. Goodell. Such donations were, at that time, very uncommon in this country, and with regard to that society, nearly or quite unprecedented. The thought occurred, that doubtless some gentleman of inde- pendent fortune had thought proper to take up his residence in the interior of Vermont, and that he considered the society just na- med a good channel for his pious benefi- cence. This conclusion was strengthened by seeing a similar donation from the same source at the return of each successive year for a considerable period. " When the American Board of Foreign Missions began its operations, Mr. Goodell did not wait for an agent to visit him, but sent a message (or came himself) more than fifty miles, to a member of the Board, saying that he wished to subscribe 500 dol- lars for immediate use, and a thousand for the permanent fund. He sent $50 as ear- nest-money, and said he would forward the remaining $450 as soon as he could raise that sum ; and would pay the interest an- nually upon the 1000 dollars until the prin- cipal should be paid. This engagement he punctually complied with, paying the in- terest, and just before his death transfer- ring notes and bonds secured by mortga- ges, which (including the thousand dollars above mentioned) amounted to 1708 dol- lars, 37 cts. ; that is, a new donation was made of 708 dollars, 37 cts., to which was afterward added another bond and mort- gage of 350 dollars. " Before this last transaction, he had made repeated intermediate donations. At one time he brought to the Rev. Dr. Ly- man, of Hatfield (the member of the Board above referred to), the sum of 465 dollars. After the money was counted, Dr. Lyman said to him, ' I presume, sir, you wish this sum endorsed upon your note of 1000 dol- lars.' ' Oh, no,' was his reply ; ' I believe that note is good yet. This is a separate matter.' He then expressed his wish that the money might be remitted towards re- pairing the loss sustained by the Baptist missionaries at Serampore. He regretted that he had not been able to make the sum 500 dollars ; consoled himself with the thought that he might do it still, at some period not very far distant ; and said that, if any of the bank-notes proved less valuable than specie, he would make up the deficien- cy- " Mr. Goodell had made what he thought suitable provision for his children as he passed through life. After consulting his wife, he left her such portion of his estates as was satisfactory to her, gave several small legacies, and made the Board his residuary legatee. He supposed that the property left to the Board by will would not be less than 1000 dollars ; but, as some part of it was, and still is unsaleable, the exact amount cannot be stated.* " On visiting Mr. Goodell at his house, you would find no gentleman with an inde- pendent fortune, but a plain man in mod- erate circumstances, on one of the rudest spots in the neighbourhood of the Green Mountains, every dollar of whose proper- ty was either gained by severe personal labour, or saved by strict frugality, or re- ceived as interest on small sums lent to his neighbours. His house was comfortable, but, with the farm on which it stood, was worth only between 700 and 1000 dollars. His income was derived principally from a dairy. " Besides the donations above mention- ed, Mr. Goodell made many smaller ones to missionary societies formed to send the Gospel to new settlements. He paid fifty dollars or more, at one time, to a mission- ary whom he employed to preach in the destitute towns near him. He aided in the education of pious young men for the min- istry, by furnishing them with money for their necessary expenses. He discov- ered no ostentation, so far as we have been able to learn, in his religious charities. Certain it is that he always appeared to- consider himself as the obliged party, and as obtaining a favour from societies which he made the almoners of his bounty. Far- thest of all was he from supposing that his charitable exertions could make any atone- ment for sin, or authorize any claims upon the divine mercy. He held to the most entire self-renunciation, and to dependance upon Christ alone." A very lovely example of benevolence is to be found in one of our large cities. It is the case of a comparatively young man, who was born of parents belonging to the Episcopal Church, and was taught the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed by his pious mother ; he was instructed in * In the summary view of Mr. Goodell's donations in aid of missions to the heathen, we find that, from the 12th of February, 1812, to the 19th of November, 1816, they amounted to 3885 dollars, 16 cts. 330 RELIGION IN AMERICA. a Presbyterian Sunday-school, learned his occupation (that of an apothecary) with a Baptist, and was brought to a saving knowl- edge of Christ under the preaching of the Methodists. After having gained enough to furnish a comfortable competency to those of his family who are dependant upon him, he now gives all his nett profits to the promotion of the cause of his Lord and Master. Nor does he confine his charities to any one channel, or to any one denomi- nation of Christians. On the contrary, his delight is to aid every good work, no mat- ter by whom it may be prosecuted. It is astonishing to learn what this devoted and excellent young man has been able to do during the period of ten years. One of the most remarkable instances of benevolence I have known was that of a coloured woman, who gave sixty dollars on one occasion to educate pious but poor young men for the ministry. She sup- ported herself by her labour as a servant. When she offered the above sum, the agent refused to receive it all until pressed by the humble donor, who said that she had reserved five dollars ; that she had no one dependant on her, and that she hoped to earn enough to provide for her wants in her last sickness, and for her funeral : nor In this was she disappointed. She often gave large sums, for one in her circum- stances, and rejoiced to have it. in her power to do anything for Christ and his cause. Would that I could say that such benev- olence is universal among the Christians of the United States. Alas ! all that is done by too many of our merchants and others, who profess to love Him who died to save the world, is in reality nothing in comparison with the means which they have, or have had. Too many have in- dulged in a luxurious and expensive style of living, while they knew that men were dying in their sins, and ignorant of the Gospel. It is for this sin, with others, that God has caused so many of our rich Christians to lose their riches in the com- mercial and financial distress with which the country has been visited during the last few years. Nevertheless, it is cer- tainly true that the spirit of benevolence is extending itself more and more among the Christian portion of the community. May God hasten the day when Christian men, in all spheres, will deliberately act on the principle of glorifying God in their business, and live for the promotion of His cause, labouring as diligently to make money for this high purpose as they now do for their own gratification. Such a day must come, or I see not how the world is ever to be converted to Christ. XI. Misconception and Misrepresenta- tions abroad. — To notice all the miscon- ceptions and misrepresentations which are prevalent in some, if not in all portions of Europe, respecting the religious and moral condition of America, is wholly im- possible in a work like this ; we must, therefore, confine our attention to but a few of them. 1. One of the most common objections against the religious institutions of this country is, that they have not prevented the bankruptcies and other species of dis- honesty which have here occurred, especi- ally of late years. But is it i-easonable to make the religious institutions of a coun- try responsible for the occurrence of such things 1 Must the churches in America be blamed for the unwise legislation of the country, as well general as local, which has been the primary cause of the over- trading and inordinate speculation which prevailed a few years ago, and which was so disastrous in its reaction 1 Must they be accountable for the avidity with which the foreign merchant, manufacturer, and money-lender encouraged the adventurous American merchant and trader to purchase their goods on credit, and invest their money in American stocks, often with lit- tle or no effort to make a proper discrimi- nation between them ] Must they be ex- pected not only to prevent our own people, whether in an individual or a corporate capacity, from committing acts of rascal- ity, but also to exert a similar influence upon the foreign adventurers who come among us from all parts of the Old World (and their number is not small), the real object of many of whom is to swindle the American creditor out of all they can, and then escape to Europe 3 Take our mer- chants who are engaged in foreign com- merce in the mass, and I hesitate not to say that, as a body, they have acted with as much good faith as any men in similar circumstances have ever done, during the last seven or eight years of commercial and financial difficulty through which the country has passed. Many of them ruined themselves in endeavouring to meet their engagements abroad, by paying an exor- bitant interest on the loans which they made for that purpose. I speak here of them as a body ; that there have been in- stances of dishonesty among them will not be denied, nor will any one be astonished at it. Our General Government has not failed to meet its engagements, nor is it likely to do so. And as to our twenty-nine states and territories, more than one third of them have no debts whatever ; more than another third have not failed for a single day to meet their engagements ; and of the others who have for a time failed to do so, only one has avowed and acted upon the doctrine of " repudiation," and that in the case of a loan which the Legislature of that state believed to have been fraudulently contracted. But this CONCLUSION. 331 doctrine of repudiation is itself repudiated with scorn in all other parts of the Union, and will be so in the state in which it had its origin. Some of our states are not at present able 'to meet the engagements which they made a few years ago in the enormous loans which they contracted at home and abroad, in order to accomplish the extensive lines of canals and railroads which they undertook during the years of unbounded, and, I must say, unnatural pros- perity which the country enjoyed. But they will ultimately, I doubt not, fulfil all these engagements faithfully. They feel unable to do so now, but they have not repudiated. On this subject, the following extract from a sermon preached in the city of Philadelphia.* on a public occasion, expresses the opinions and feelings of every Christian minister in the land. " The doctrine of repudiation, upon which the changes have been rung throughout Eu- rope to our great discredit, has, I am hap- py to believe, but few advocates in our Commonwealth. There is a vast differ- ence in point of honour and morality in ad- mitting the justice of a claim, but inability to meet it, and denying that any such claim exists. Men, whose honesty is above sus- picion, sometimes become involved and are utterly unable to meet their engagements. It may be so with a community, a state, or a nation. It is deeply to be lamented that such an exigency should ever occur. The effect is eminently disastrous in impairing public confidence, and weakening the ties which should bind men together as a great common brotherhood. But poverty is not necessarily a crime in a government any more than it is in an individual. Public en- gagements may not be met at the time, and yet the public faith may eventually be pre- served inviolate. I have nothing to say in defence of those who advocate the doctrine of repudiation in any form or under any cir- cumstances. They deserve all the obloquy and reproach which is heaped upon them. It is nothing better than public swindling, where the means of redress are placed be- yond the reach of those who are wronged. It matters not a particle that the money bor- rowed has been misapplied, or squandered in projects which yield no profit. This is our misfortune, or, it may be, our fault. But it does not make void a solemn com- pact, in which the public faith has been pledged. I cannot believe that the mis- chievous, disgraceful sentiments which have been promulgated by a few on this subject, will meet with anything like gen- eral favour. Our resources, our love of justice, and our honour abroad and at home, all forbid such a resort to relieve ourselves from a pecuniary pressure. It is better to submit to any personal sacrifices than to * By the Rev. Mr. Rood. bear the stigma of making loud professions and solemn promises to swindle honest and unsuspecting creditors. Our debts to the last cent must be paid, whatever struggles the effort may cost. On this point there must be no shuffling or evasion, but an hon- est acknowledgment of our responsibili- ties, and a steady and honest aim to meet them. With this disposition prevalent, and proved by corresponding action, the voice of vituperation and abuse will be hushed, and our enemies abroad and at home will confess that they have been too hasty and rash in their opinions of our national integ- rity." We are willing that religion should be held accountable for a great deal : but we are not willing that the church in America should be blamed for not preventing what the churches in no other countries have been able to prevent. The members prop- er of all our churches, evangelical and tin- evangelical, do not exceed a fifth part of our population ; and though the influence which they exert is unquestionably as sal- utary as that of any other body of equal number in the world, yet it is obvious they cannot control circumstances such as I have alluded to. W T ould the churches in Great Britain, France, Holland, Germany, or any other country, like to be held re- sponsible for all the acts of legislation, do- mestic and foreign, of their respective countries, and all the villanies which have been and are annually perpetrated in them ? I think not ; nor should they apply to their brethren in America a rule by which they would not like to be measured them- selves.* 2. The Political disturbances which oc- cur in America are not unfrequently spo- ken of in Europe in a way that conveys a reflection upon the churches of this land, as if they ought to prevent these things. That these disturbances do take place, no one will deny. There is not a good man in the United States who has not lament- ed what are called the " Abolition Riots," and other disgraceful scenes which have occurred within the last few years. These disturbances, however, have been greatly exaggerated as to their frequency and their extent, in the reports which reach Europe. Our newsmongers, in their ea- * A good deal has been said in Europe, by men who have travelled in America, respecting the im- positions which they have suffered in this country. There is no Christian man in the United States who is not distressed when he hears of such things. But is it just to blame the whole people of the land and their religious institutions for such occurrences? The author of this book has travelled much in almost every country in Europe, and he can affirm, with truth, that he has suffered impositions, and some of them very gross, in them all ; but he would deem himself utterly destitute of common sense, as well as of that charity which his religion requires, if he were to judge the people of any of those countries by such instances. 332 RELIGION IN AMERICA. gerness to concoct a piquant article of news for those for whom they cater, often give the most astounding exaggerations of what was a dispute or open quarrel be- tween some firemen, or between the blacks and whites in the suburbs of our cities, or the interruption which some lecturer on slavery has encountered in some of our vil- lages.* These representations go abroad, are circulated there, and lead many peo- ple to think that our whole country is in a continual state of disorder. But every American knows how to appreciate these reports, and is no way concerned about them, except to regret their occurrence. Indeed, neither their frequency nor their nature is such as to give him any seri- ous apprehensions. For these things are local, unfrequent, and wholly insignificant in comparison with the bruit which our newspapers make about them. And they no more affect the peace of the country than the passing cloud ruffles the bosom of our beautiful lakes. Within the last seven or eight years there have been some disgraceful instan- ces of summary punishment, without the intervention of a proper trial before the courts of law, of some gamblers, swindlers, and negroes (who had committed shock- ing crimes) in some of our Southwestern States and Territories. But these instan- ces have hardly exceeded in number that, of the ten years in which they have oc- curred. They took place, too, in a part of the country which is new, and very thinly settled ; where religious institutions have scarcely taken root, and where the forms in which the administration of jus- tice is carried on have hardly begun to exist. However much every well-inform- ed, good man in America must lament these things, he cannot but be less aston- ished at their occurrence than at the in- frequency of them.f No man can look at the great extent of even the settled por- tion of the United States, the long line of * A great deal has been said in Europe about the prejudice which exists in America against ttie col- oured people, and the difficulty of the two races living together. But it is a singular and indisputa- ble fact, that almost all the disturbances (which, af- ter all, do not amount to much) that occur between the blacks and whites in the suburbs of Philadel- phia, New-York, and other cities, take place be- tween the former and the Germans and Irish which live in those districts. t When we speak of the instances of disorders which sometimes occur in the Southwestern and Western districts of the country, it is worth while to notice the remarkable instances of the triumph of order which are also sometimes witnessed in them, amid very peculiar circumstances. A few years ago, a man committed murder at the lead mines of Du- buque, in what is now Iowa Territory, before there was any sort of political government established there. The people assembled of their own accord, ar- rested the murderer, chose judges, constituted a court, and gave him a fair trial before a jury. He was condemned after such a trial, and peaceably executed! seacoast which bounds the country on the east and south, of wilderness frontier on the west, the mountain ranges in the cen- tre, and the forests which abound almost everywhere, which furnish innumerable facilities for the commission of crime and escape from punishment, without being surprised that we have had so few disturb- ances of a serious character, especially when we have had the element of slavery, with all its concomitant evils, to augment the difficulty of our position. It would re- quire the army of the Czar of all the Russias to keep up a strong armed police, which some upbraid us for not having, and which would be necessary, if it were not that the moral influence which pervades the country — and which owes it existence to our religious institutions — furnishes a substitute which is infinitely better. We have had three attempts, one in Pennsyl- vania, one in South Carolina, and one in Rhode Island, not to overthrow the political institutions of the co mtry, but to obtain redress of grievances, real or imaginary, in an extra-constitutional way ; and yet all three were suppressed without the loss of one life taken away either in battle or by the administration of law. To what was this owing j To the patience, the concili- ation, and the due use of argument which the Christianity of the country could alone inspire and teach.* A few other facts may be stated to show the happy influence which Christianity ex- erts in the United States in securing the maintenance of order in a nation of eigh- teen and a half millions. Notwithstanding the unbounded facilities for highway robberies in almost all sec- tions of the country, who has ever heard of the existence of hordes of banditti either in our mountains or our forests ! And how few highway robberies and mur- ders, comparatively, have ever taken place in this country ! In many of the Western States, a solitary man, or even a boy, may be seen carrying the mail on horseback through unbroken forests, from town to * That the political institutions of the United States rest upon a pretty sure basis, and are deeply planted in the affections of the people, is most cer- tain, whatever inferences foreigners may sometimes make from the language uttered in moments of ir- ritation and despondency by the organs of our politi- cal parties in the hour of defeat or disappointment. In proof of this, the fact might be cited that two newspapers have been published for several years in the city of New- York, one in French and the other in English, which ably advocate the principles of monarchy as it exists in France and England, and incessantly attack and vilify the political institutions and the measures of the country which furnishes them hospitality and protection. And what is the effect ? These, perhaps, are read by the foreigners among us — for whom they are in fact published — and by some of our own people. But no American has the slightest regard for what they say, nor does the government for a moment trouble itself about them. CONCLUSION. 333 town, in perfect security. With such a population as is to be found in most coun- tries in Europe, could such a thing be done with safety 1 There have been seasons of great excite- ment, when the nation was agitated to its centre. For instance, during the recent unparalleled commercial distress, when so many banks, and so many of our best mer- chants and traders, our enterprising me- chanics and manufacturers — and, indeed, so many men in all the walks of industry, and in every station of life — were ruined. How was all this borne 1 Was there the slightest attempt to seek redress by revo- lution ] No. The government was se- verely blamed ; all these evils were be- lieved, by probably a majority of the peo- ple, to have been occasioned by unwise legislation, obstinately persevered in ; and yet not a gun was seized, not a sword was drawn, and not one human life was lost during the long and dreadful crisis. The only resort was to the ballot-box, as our elections are often termed. Take another instance. The autumn of 1840 witnessed the greatest political strug- gle which the country has ever seen. The question was that of maintaining or of overthrowing the party in power, in the election of a President. Nearly two mill- ions and a half of men resorted to their respective places of voting, and gave their votes for one or the other of the two can- didates. The excitement was almost un- paralleled. At every poll, or place of holding the election, crowds of people as- sembled on the day which was to decide the question ; and yet not one person was either killed or injured, so far as I have heard, in this great political contest. Could such a thing have occurred in the British realms, or in France, or any other country in the world 1 I believe not.* In the British realm, if we suppose the population to be 26 millions (we speak of Great Britain and Ireland, and the islands adjacent), there is one regular soldier for about 260 individuals ; in France, the army of the line is 400,000, by which if we divide the population of the kingdom, now thirty- four millions, we have one soldier for 85 inhabitants ; while in the United States, whose standing army was for the period of more than 20 years which immediately succeeded 1815, but 6000 men, and is now only 8000, there is one soldier to 2312 in- dividuals in the population. And yet there has been many a single year in which more people have been killed in broils and emeute.s * Within the last five years there have been more serious broils and more lives lost in the political strug- gles in Canada, on our borders, though under the strong government of England, and m presence of a standing army of 15 or 20 thousand men, than have taken place in the United States from the first. And yet Canada has not more than eleven or twelve hun- .dred thousand inhabitants. (insurrections) in both France and the British realm, than have lost their lives in all the " mobs" and " riots" — political, reli- gious, anti-abolitional, anti-gambling, etc. — that have occurred in the United States since the independence of the country was established, sixty years ago. What a refu- tation does this fact furnish of all the miserable charges which are heard in Eu- rope respecting the " riots," " disorders," etc., alleged to be continually occurring in America! Nothing strikes the observation more of one who comes from the Old World, where he cannot turn the corner of a street in the principal cities and towns, especially on the Continent, without meeting a soldier, upon his landing in the United States, than the almost complete absence of all mili- tary force. How is it that such force can be dispensed with ] Only because of the widespread and salutary influence of Chris- tianity. If we have " disturbances" and " riots" sometimes — which will not be de- nied — we have fewer of them than any other country of equal population in the world.* 3. The American people have been rep- resented sometimes by foreigners as being an immoral people. Now, although 1 know it is not easy to reply to such charges in a satisfactory manner in the very restrict- ed space which I must allow to them, nevertheless, I will say a few words upon this topic. That there are vices and crimes in America, and in no inconsiderable amount, is without hesitation acknowledged. But that they exist to such an extent as to jus- tify the assertion that the American peo- ple are par excellence an immoral nation, is denied. It is certainly not extraordinary, as has been well remarked by a writer in a late number of the Westminster Review, that there should be in the United States swin- dlers, counterfeiters, thieves, bigamists, murderers, and other criminals, since, in addition to those of indigenous growth, they receive so many from the Old World. This is a correct view of the subject. For it is a fact, that while there are cases in which foreign criminals, especially those who have committed crimes which most deeply affect the conscience and heart, * It is sometimes amusing to a well-informed American to hear in Europe the reports which are circulated there respecting the riots in our American cities. Take one for a sample. Two or three years ago a "dreadful abolition riot" occurred in Philadel- phia, in which it was said that there was much fight- ing in the streets, with guns and other deadly weap- ons ; and yet, wonderful to be told, no person was killed, or even very seriously wounded, I believe ! And this was said to occur in a country where so large a portion of the people possess fire-arms, and know how to use them better than the people of" any other land ! Verily, it requires strong credulity to be- lieve that such riots can be very dreadful. 334 RELIGION IN AMERICA. who have come to our shores and changed their names, reform and do well in a land where their past history is unknown (and certainly the friends of humanity must re- joice that it is so), there are very many in which it is otherwise. A man who has been a thief, a robber, a counterfeiter, a bigamist, in Europe, is not likely to reform in America, unless arrested by God's grace. There is more hope of a man who has committed manslaughter, or even murder, than of him. A few general statements will, however, best express all that I have to say on this subject. With the exception, perhaps, of Scot- land, there is no country in Christendom where the Sabbath is as well observed as it is in the United States. Of this any one who has extensively travelled in the Old World cannot fail to be convinced when he lands at any of our cities, I care not which, excepting New-Orleans, which is more of a foreign city than any other. It is the capital of a French state, where American influence, though fast gaining ground, is still far inferior to that of the French and the Spanish who remain in it. But the Protestant religion, when it gains the ascendancy, will produce there the same good effects in this respect which it does elsewhere.* Although thieves and robbers are not wanting in our large cities and towns, where all the world over such people most congregate and find the greatest facilities for their nefarious vocation, yet, taking the country at large, it will be difficult to name another where property is more safe, or where people live in greater security. As to murder, the most horrible of all crimes, the most exact enumeration has never been able to show that more than one hundred cases have occurred, and of late years not much more than one half that number, in any one year. This number is sufficient to excite deep distress in the heart of every good man ; but it is less than that which takes place in many other countries between which and ours comparisons on this * As to travelling on the Sabbath, there is every prospect that the establishment of railroad and steam- boat lines, taken in connexion with the just senti- ments which prevail among the pious and strictly moral portion of the population, will, in time, almost wholly put an end to it, especially on the long and important routes. Railroad and steamboat compa- nies already know that they gain nothing by running their cars and their boats on the Sabbath, owing to the comparative fewness of the travellers on that day. By stopping their cars and their boats on that day, they will save one seventh part of their expen- ses, give their labourers and agents the rest they need, and be sure of having on Monday the persons whom they would otherwise have carried on Sun- day. Indeed, if it were not for the carrying of the mail on the part of the government, there would be no great difficulty in causing the cars and steam- boats to cease on the principal routes. point as well as others are sometimes in- stituted. For instance, in England and Wales alone since the year 1812, the num- ber of convictions for murder has varied from 60 to 75. while the executions have been in the proportion of about one to four of the convictions. Were the comparison to be made between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, it would be most decidedly in favour of the former. The murders in France are not only more fre- quent than those of the United States, but often more diabolically savage and shock- ing, as the records of her criminal courts clearly show.* And though there is a considerable amount of prostitution in some of our large cities on the seaboard — as, for instance. New- York,f Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New-Orleans — and something of it in the largest interior cities, yet, take the nation as a whole, there is far less of this sin than is to be found in most countries in Europe. In many of our cities and towns of ten and twenty thousand inhabitants, public prosti- tution is almost unknown. Scarcely any- thing of the kind is seen in Boston, and other chief places in New-England. In no nation in the world, I am sure, is there a greater amount of virtue among ladies, both married and unmarried, taken as a body. Foreigners are shocked at the familiarity which subsists between the youth of both sexes with us ; but foreigners, if they knew well the domestic life of our people, would know that this familiarity seldom leads to evil consequences in neighbourhoods where the Gospel exerts its powerful influences. The youth of our religious families are brought up under a strong moral influence, and are taught to have confidence in each other, and in themselves ; above all, they are taught to fear God. From their earli- est years the children of both sexes frequent * A very large proportion of the murders which are committed in the United States are committed by worthless foreigners. The same thing is true of the robberies and other great crimes which occur among us. Almost all the riots which take place in our Atlantic States are made by Irish and Germans congregated in the suburbs of our cities, or working on our railroads and canals. Indeed, it is this for- eign element which gives us the greatest difficulty in almost everything. Not only are very many of our criminals foreigners, but they form a large proportion — in some places a majority — of the persons in our hospitals. This is not stated as a reproach, but as a fact. t I have read, with great astonishment, some re- marks of Mr. Tait, of Edinburgh, on prostitution in New-York, to be found in his recent work on Mag- dalenism (p. 5), and referred to by the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw in his excellent Lectures on Prostitution. The sum of Mr. T.'s statement is, that "that city furnishes a prostitute for every six or seven adults of its male population." I have lived much in New- York, and know something of its moral state; and I affirm that this statement, founded on an exaggera- ted report published by the Magdalen Society of that city, some nine or ten years ago, is quite incor- rect, and in no way approximates to the truth. CONCLUSION. 335 the same common schools. Even until quite grown up, in many districts they go to school together in the winter season. And yet, how seldom has any evil resulted. There are countries in Europe — it would be invidious to mention them — where such a thing could not be done with safety to their morals, and even where it is thought dangerous to allow large girls to be taught by a male teacher. We have, indeed, enough of the sin of uncleanness to mourn over ; and yet, in comparison with the state of many other countries, we have great reason to bless God for the hallowed influences which His Gospel diffuses among us.* If we have many, too many, alas! among us who have not submitted their hearts to these influen- ces, there are, on the other hand, a great many who have, and who are the " salt of the earth," and the " light of the world." We may be charged, as a people, with being rude, and wanting in habitual polite- ness in our manners. Witlings who visit us to find subjects on which to employ their pens, and with which to garnish their worthless pages, may accomplish their ends, and carry home portfolios laden with stories respecting the oddities and awk- wardness which they may have remarked among certain classes ; but beneath the rough and unpolished exterior of our peo- ple there will be found much sincere be- nevolence, as well as many of those other enduring virtues which conduce to social happiness. f We are, comparatively, a new * I have sometimes been amazed to hear the re- marks of foreigners who have undertaken to be cen- sors of American morals. A certain visitant from Europe, who has written three or four volumes about America, and has undertaken to represent the American cities as remarkable for the prevalence of prostitution, did, nevertheless, when at the dinner- table of a gentleman in the city of Philadelphia, boast of his having visited half of the houses of infamy in the city of New-York, and declared his intention to visit all the rest upon his return to that city — as a matter of curiosity, as he said ! A young gentleman, who resides in a city not one hundred miles from that in which this work was written, lately visited America, and spent two years there. On his return home, he spoke disparagingly of the religious state of the country, and charged the merchants of Philadelphia, and especially those of the respectable body of Friends, with being extreme- ly loose in their morals, and unfaithful to their con- jugal relations. And yet this same young man boasts of his having given, when among a tribe of Indians on our borders, a rifle to a chief in exchange for his daughter ; and that, after he had lived with her as his wife for three months, he abandoned her ! The wickedness of such persons is not so wonderful as their intolerable insolence in undertaking to misrep- resent and slander a whole people. But so it ever will be : bad men seek to hide their own infamy in charging others with the sins of which they are themselves guilty. t Among other charges brought against the Amer- icans is one which I must not omit to remark upon. It is, that they have no discipline in their families ; that their children grow up in insubordination, pride, insolence, and want of respect for old age and pa- rental authority. All this is inferred from the re- people ; this is emphatically true of a large portion of our population. And notwith- standing our vices, whether of native or for- eign origin, there is among us a vast amount of practical and efficient goodness. We have much to learn, but I trust we shall not be slow to imitate whatever is excellent in the manners or the deeds of other nations. 4. But the last topic which I shall men- tion, on which we have been the subjects of more misrepresentation and abuse than any other, is slavery. On this difficult and humiliating question I cannot enter into detail. It would require a volume to say all that might be said about it, and even all that ought to be said, in order to make our position to be fully comprehended by foreigners. I can say only a few words. Slavery is an accursed inheritance which the Old World bequeathed to the New. England, France, Spain, and Hol- land, all contributed their respective shares to its introduction and establishment in what is now the United States. Several of the colonies remonstrated against the bringing in of slaves among them. But it was all in vain. Slavery was fastened upon them for the purpose of promoting the commerce of the mother-country, Eng- land. And when the struggle came, by which the colonies were dissevered from Great Britain, slavery was one of the causes which led to that event ; and of all the portions of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, as it was originally drawn up by Mr. Jefferson, the most severe was that ports of foreigners (who, generally, have had no very- good opportunities of knowing the interior life of the families which they may have visited), or from some poor specimens of American families which have gone abroad, or from what they suppose must be the effects of Republican institutions ; just as if Republi- can institutions will not tolerate, or, rather, do not require, due subordination and discipline. N ow it is not to be denied that there are weak-mind- ed and foolish parents in America, as well as in other countries, who do not govern well their children, but it is their own fault, and not that of the institutions, religious or political, of the country. On the other hand, we have parents, and not a few, who are as rigid in the government of their children as are the Scotch themselves ; we have few teachers who can- not, or who do not, punish their scholars with the rod, if need be; there is not a college in the land that would not, without a moment's hesitation, expel from its halls the sons of the greatest men in the na- tion, if they deserved it, as I have myself witnessed. In our army, it is true that it is no longer allowed to- flog men, save as a commutation for the punishment of death ; but other and severe modes of punishing, though less degrading, are permitted. While in our navy, the discipline, 1 believe, is the most severe in the world. Recently the commandant of a petty brig of war hung up three men for alleged mutiny under the most remarkable circumstances, one of whom was a son of one of the first officers of the government. This instance was summary in its na- ture, quite without a parallel ; and how was it borne by the nation? The overwhelming majority of the people, including almost the whole of the religious portion of them, approved of the act. Would such things be tolerated in a nation in which there is no domestic government ? I think not. S36 RELIGION IN AMERICA. which related to the slave-trade.* As op- position was made to it by some of the members, it was stricken out in order to secure entire unanimity. The war of independence found slavery existing in all the thirteen colonies. Du- ring its progress, or soon after its close, the original four New-England States, Mas- sachusetts, New-Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, abolished slavery within their respective limits. Some years later, Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and New- York followed. In process of time Vermont and Maine, in New-England, and Ohio, Indi- ana, Illinois, and Michigan, in the West, were formed into states without slavery. To these we may add the two Territories of Iowa and Wisconsin. On the other hand, the six original slaveholding states, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, and Georgia, remain such to the present day, and to them have been added, in the West and Southwest, the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala- bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Ar- kansas, and the Territory of Florida. And the number of slaves has augmented from about 600,000, at the close of the Rev- olution, to nearly three millions. How and when the abolition of slavery is to be accomplished in these thirteen states and one territory, is a question which no one can answer. It may not be amiss for me to say, how- ever, that this mighty task will never be effected peaceably but through the influ- ence of Christianity. This has accom- plished all that has hitherto been done — the destruction of slavery in seven states, and the prevention of its entrance into six or eight more ; the abolition of the slave- trade before any other nation had done any- thing on the subject, and the declaring of it to be of the nature of piracy, and as mer- iting the same punishment. And however desperate the struggle may prove to be, she will not shrink from it. The noble example of England in abol- ishing slavery in her islands will not be * It was in these words :" He (the King of England) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to more miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his prerogative for sup- pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or re- strain this execrable commerce. And that this as- semblage of honors might want no fact of distin- guished dye, he is now exciting these very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also has obtruded them ; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liber- ties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." lost upon us. It has given a great impulse to the moral movement which is steadily going on in the community. It is true that, as slavery is by our Constitution left to the government of each state in which it exists, to be managed by it alone, there can be no such action among us as that of England, by which the overthrow of sla- very in her dominions was effected at a blow. It is in the midst of us ; it is not at a distance. Its destruction with us can be accomplished only by those whose pe- cuniary interests are at stake for its main- tenance. This point foreigners should well comprehend. It is the slaveholders among us, that is, the inhabitants of each slaveholding state, who alone can over- throw it. This it is which makes our po- sition so difficult. I am of opinion that it will require many years to efface this dreadful evil and burn- ing disgrace from the midst of us. It will require long and persevering efforts on the part of good men, and a large amount of that " wisdom which cometh down from above." But of one thing I feel very sure : it is, that although some may act rashly, and sometimes attempt to promote the cause by unwise measures ; and others may be too supine, and, through fear of evil consequences, not come up to its help as they ought ; although both these parties may charge each other, and perhaps justly, with so acting as to retard the work, yet there is a growing dissatisfaction with this great evil, a conviction that it ought and must be terminated as speedily as possi- ble, consistently with the true interests of all concerned, which will one day lead to its overthrow. I do not know how it will be brought about, but Christianity will ef- fect it. God — our fathers' God — invoked more and more earnestly, as I am sure he is, will, by his providence, open the way for this great achievement. To this great struggle, which Christians with us must carry on — let it take what course it may — in order to be successful, we are far from wishing our brethren oi other lands to be indifferent.* We want * The visits of foreign philanthropists cannot fail to do good- among us, when made in the spirit of a great and a good man who lately came to us from England,* who travelled throughout all our states, and "reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come;" who, though he neglected no opportunity to speak of the wrongs done to the slave, was ever heard with respect and attention by the slaveholder, for he spoke words of mingled wisdom and love. And when he had accomplished his mis- sion and returned to his native land, he addressed a series of letters to one of our most distinguished statesmen on the subject of slavery, and especially on the effects of its abolition in the British West In- dia Islands, which have been widely and attentively * Mr. Gurney, a distinguished member and minister of the Society of Friends, and who, with his excellent brother and sister (Mrs. Elizabeth Fry), is one of the brightest or- naments of humanity. CONCLUSION. 337 their sympathy and their prayers. We wish them to make a proper allowance for the difficulties of our position ; and while they reprove our delays and stimu- late our zeal, we wish them to do it in a Christian spirit, not only because it best comports with the religion which we both profess, but also because of its influence upon those among us who are slavehold- ers, the great majority of whom are not religious men. It is easy to grow indig- nant on this subject, and indulge in hard epithets ; but the " wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." There are those abroad who see no difficulties in our position ; to whom the fact that slavery is entwined about our very vitals, so far at least, as one half of the country is con- cerned, is of no importance ; and who vainly imagine that it is enough to de- mand that every slaveholder should let his slaves go free. This, indeed, is a very simple way of getting rid of the evil ; and if it were practicable, it would be well enough. So if all mankind would at once of their own accord give up their rebel- lion against God and yield a heartfelt obe- dience to Him, this world might be deliv- ered from sin without the toil of preach- ing the Gospel, and the employment of so many other instrumentalities which are now found to be necessary. And if all the men in the United States who were engaged in the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors twenty years ago had, of their own accord, or upon being simply requested or commanded, abandoned their wicked business ; and all who drank such liquors ceased to do so from the same in- fluence, there would have been no need of all the labour and expense which it has cost to promote the cause of Temperance among us. But how vain it is to talk in this way ! To overthrow slavery in the United States is a great work — the great- est and most difficult, I hesitate not to say, that ever man undertook to accomplish. And there is nothing but Christianity, em- ploying its blessed influences, light and love, which can effect it. A good deal of time, and a great deal of patience and pru- dence will also be required, if we would see this evil come to an end in a peaceful way. We have sometimes been not a little grieved by the severity — no doubt wholly inconsiderate — and the want of discrimi- nation with which some of our Christian brethren in the Old World have spoken and written respecting the American churches, read, and which cannot fail to do good. What a contrast between his course and that of some ardent, self-sufficient " friends of humanity," as they consid- er themselves, who have visited us from Europe with- in the last seven years, and who accomplished no good whatever for the cause which they profess to Save so much at heart ! in relation to this subject. Now I have no disposition to say that the American churches have done all that they ought to do, that they feel all the solicitude, and distress, and sorrow, which they ought for the continued existence of this great evil. There is nothing more probable in itself than that our churches should fail of com- ing up to their whole duty on this subject, $ more than on almost any other, when we consider how they are situated. I do not say this by way of apology, but to state the case truly. But to accuse our church- es throughout the land with approving of slavery, because, in some parts of the country, they think they are compelled to tolerate it as an evil from which circum- stances do not at present allow them to extricate themselves (and this is the most which can be said against them on this point), is going beyond the bounds of Christian charity. Besides, to charge all the American churches, as well as those in the fifteen states and territories in which slavery is unknown, as those in the thir- teen states, one territory, and one district in which it does still exist, with the sin of "robbery," "man-stealing," etc., is to be guilty of something more than a mere want of Christian charity. Nor are some other denunciations of a sweeping nature much less unjust or inju- rious. " Let America," said a distinguish- ed Christian minister whom we all love, at a missionary meeting in one of the great capitals of Europe, a few years ago, " let America wash the stain of slavery from her skirts, and then she will be worthy to come up and join us in the great work of converting the world." Indeed! and must our American churches be compelled to ab- stain from attempting to obey the command of thejr risen Saviour— and which may be one of the means of staying, if not averting the divine wrath, which would otherwise overwhelm their guilty country — until their land be freed from slavery 1 And if they are to be condemned for national sins which they have not been able to overcome, where are the churches which are to cast the first stone at them 1 Shall it be those of Eng- land, or France, or Holland 1 Blessed be God, our heavenly Father does not use such language towards us. He deigns to bless our humble efforts to make known his Gospel to the heathen nations, notwith- standing our many sins ; nor does He for- bid our co-operating with those who love his name in other lands to make known this great salvation to all men. Still more, He condescends to visit the churches in all parts of our land with the effusions of His Holy Spirit, without which, indeed, we might well despair of our country. But sympathy, love, prayer, and co-oper- ation better become those who love God in all lands, than crimination and recrim- 338 RELIGION IN AMERICA. ination. They form one vast brotherhood, and their trials, their labours, and their hopes are common. Neither difference of language, nor separating oceans, nor diver- sity of government and of ecclesiastical organizations, nor variety of modes of wor- ship, can divide them. They have their various difficulties to encounter, and their respective works to perforin. And how they should delight to encourage each oth- er in every good enterprise, rejoice in each other's success, stimulate and reprove each other (when reproof is necessary) with kindness, and not with bitterness ; and thus strive to hasten the universal triumph of the kingdom of their common Lord ! And how appropriate to them is the prayer of England's sweetest religious bard,* with which we bring this book to a close : " Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one, the crown of ali the earth, Thou who alone art worthy ! It was thine By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth ; And thou hast made it thine by purchase since, And overpaid its value with thy blood. Thy saints proclaim Thee king ; and in their hearts Thy title is engraven with a pen Dipped in the fountain of eternal love. Thy saints proclaim Thee king ; and thy delay Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see The dawn of thy last advent, long desired, Would creep into the bowels of the hills, And flee for safety to the falling rocks. The very spirit of the world is tired Of its own taunting question, asked so long, ' Where is the promise of your Lord's approacn V * Cowper — The Task, book vi. INDEX. Abolition Riots, how viewed in this country, p. 331. « " exaggerated report of, in Europe, 333, note. Aborigines (see North America). Academies and Grammar-schools, 148. Allenite Methodists, noticed, 262. America (see North America). Americans, best method for obtaining correct knowl- edge of, 29. American Revolution, effects of the, on religion, 102. " morals, character of two foreign censors of, 335, note. American, meaning of, when annexed to religious societies, 140, note. American Sunday-school Union and Auxiliaries, 152. " Education Society, origin of the, 157. " Bible Society, notice of the, 166. " Tract Society, operations of the, 167. " Prison Discipline Society, 174. " Home Missionary Society, operations of the, 140. American preaching, character of, 189, 192. " " different methods of, 191. " Unitarian Association, 278. " Theology, great achievement of, 291. " Colonization Society, history of the, 314. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions, origin and constitution of the, 300. history of the, 301. statistics of the, 304. plan of, for training a native ministry, 305. — annual meetings of, 306. * publications of the, 307. Andover Theological Seminary, history of the, 160. Anecdote of two young ladies under conviction, 212. Anglo-Saxon Colonists, character of, 23. " " effect of Norman conquests upon, in England, 29, 30. Anti-slavery Societies, 176. Associate Reformed Church, 255. Atheists, notice of, 286. Atonement, doctrine of, illustrated by American theology, 291. Ballou, Rev. H., work of, on the Atonement alluded to, 275. Banditti, no organized hordes of, in United States, 332. Baptists, Regular, account of the,' 229. " Independents in church government, 230. " Declaration of Faith of, 230. " statistics of the, 232. " Roger Williams not the founder of the, 231, note. Uaptists, Board of Missions of, 309. " Home Missions of the, 144. " Seventh-day, notice of the, 251. " Free- Will, history of the, 251. " " Missions of the, 312. " Campbellite, account of the, 251. Benevolence, interesting examples of, 329. Bible-classes, 156. Blake, Mr. Joseph, notice of, 63. Blind, asylums for the, 180. Boston, early settlement of, 54. Bouck, Hon. W. C, proclamation of, 320. Brainerd, Rev. David, notice of, 199. " " missionary labours of, 295. iBurr, Mr. Joseph, and Seminary, notice of, 149. " Bush-whacking" defined, 22. Camp-meetings, origin and nature of, 216. Carolina, North and South, benefits of dissolution of Church and State in, 115. Charters of American Colonies, curious character of, 27, 28. Cheever, Rev. G. B., extract from lecture of, 319. Cherokees, removal of the, 298. Christ-ians, origin and belief of the, 280, 281. Christianity, happy influence of, on public order, 332, 333. Christianity, only remedy for slavery in the United States, 336, 337. Churches and ministers at the Revolution, 103, 104. " membership in, how obtained, 185. " evangelical, order prevalent in the, 218. " " three divisions of, 220. " " general statistics of the, 264, 265, 269. Churches, evangelical, missionary efforts of the, 317. Church, relation of unconverted men to the, 187. " union of, with State gradually dissolved, 104. " union of, with State, when and how dissolv- ed, and effects, 112, 323, note. Church edifices, how built in cities and large towns, 132. Church edifices, how built in new settlements, 134. supply of, in the large cities, 134. number annually built in United States, 324. efficiency of Voluntary Principle in erecting, 324. Church edifices, average size of congregations in, 324. Church edifices, estimate of number of, annually needed, 324. Church edifices, grounds of alleged destitution of, 325. Cobb, Mr. Nathl. R., charitable resolutions of, 328. Colleges and universities, 150. " " effect of state control upon, 151. Colonial era, state of religion in the, 99. Colonists, religious character of the early, 51, 52. Colonization Society, history of the, 314. " advantages of African, 315. " plan of Gustavus Adolphus, 68. Coloured people, our reported quarrels with the, 332. " " disturbances chiefly between them and foreigners, 332, note. Colony, influence of, at Liberia, 315. " at Plymouth, account of the, 47-51. " " ecclesiastical regulations of the, 84. Colony at Plymouth, causes of aversion of, to prel- acy, 86. Congregations, new, how formed, 133. Congregationalists, parent stock of those in Eng- land, 224. Congregationalists, not Dissenters, 225. present religious system of, 225. mode of church discipline among, 226. mode of, for supporting public worship, 227. nature of the " Associations" of, 228. pastoral office among early, lost by dismis- sion, 228. Congregationalists, ordination among, how perform- ed, 228. Congregationalists not Independents in practice, 229. " Consociations" among, nature of, 229. Congregationalism, opinions of, as to preventing heresy', 279. 340 INDEX. Connecticut, early settlement of, 17, 56. " .union of Church and State in, dissolved, 112. Convent at Charlestown* burning of the, 270, note. Conversion of a young man by a particular mode of preaching, 205. Covenant, Half-way, introduction of the, 273. Covenanters (see Reformed Presbyterians). Deaf and Dumb, history of asylums for the, 179. Deists, notice of, 286. Delaware, early settlement of, 19, 68. " early relations between Church and State in, 90. Delaware, character of the Swedish settlements on the, 68, 69. De Tocqueville, works of, on America noticed, 31, 32. " erroneous opinions of, noticed, 194, note. District of Columbia, origin of the, 35. D wight, Rev. Dr., opinion of, on union of Church and State, 115. Education, attention of Puritans to, 147. " societies of different sects, 157, 159. Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, character of preaching of, 198, 274. Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, labours of, among the In- dians, 295. Eliot, Rev. John, missionary labours of, 294. English language first introduced in Dutch church- es of New- York, 65. Episcopal (see Protestant). " Evangelical Association," account of the, 261. Evangelical churches, three divisions of, 220. statistics of missionary efforts of, 317. General statistics of, 264, 265, 269. Foreign Evangelical Society, origin of the, 313. Fourierism, notice of, 286. Frelinghuysen, Rev. I. J., notice of, 65. French colonists, character of the, 25. Georgia, early settlement" of, 19, 63. German colonists, character of the, 24. " Reformed Presbyterians, account of the, 260. " Transcendentalism, 278, 279. Germantown, Pennsylvania, when founded, 80. Germany, early immigration from, 80, 81. Goodell, Mr. Solomon, systematic benevolence of, 328. Gurney, Mr., happy influence of visit of, to the Uni- ted States, 336, note. Gustavus Adolphus, colonization plan of, 68. " " death of, 68. Half-way Covenant, introduction of the, 273. Hanover Presbytery, memorial of, to Virginia As- sembly, and opposition to, 106, 108. Harrison, General W. H., a Sunday-school teacher, 155. Harvard College, when founded, 152. " " early opposition to Unitarianism in, 276. Henrico, University of, noticed, 61. Henry, Hon. Patrick, notice of, 109. Hopkins, Rev. Dr., sermon of, in Boston, 1768, 275. Huguenots, origin of the, 75. " immigration of, to America, 77, 78. " interesting facts respecting the, 78. " eulogium on the, 80. Hunt, Rev. Robert, notice of, 62. Immigration, extent of, from foreign countries. 42. " influence of, on the Voluntary Princi- ple, 42, 43. Indians, Society for Propagating the Gospel among, 277, 278. Indians (see Aborigines and North America). Insane, asylums for the, 178. Irish colonists, character of the, 24. ■ Italian colonists, character of, 25. Jefferson, Hon. Thomas, proposal of, for establish- ing religious freedom, 110. Jews, notice of the, 283. " American Society for benefit of the. 313. Judicial order, striking instance of, in a new settle- ment, 332, note. Kentucky, peculiar character of revival's in, 201. Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, missionary labours of, 295. Laidlie, Rev. Dr., anecdote of, 66, note. - Larned, Rev. Sylvester, anecdote of, 188. Liberia, influence of colony at, 315. " Methodist mission at, 316. Lindsay, Memoir of, by Belsham, 276. Livingston, John and Robert, notice of, 65. Dr. J. H., notice of, 66. Lowell, Massachusetts, statistics of, 182. Lutheran Church, history and statistics of the, 257,. 259. Lutheran Church, Theological Seminary of the, 164. " " Foreign Missionary Society of the, 312. " Lynch-law" very rarely executed, 332. Maryland, early settlement of, 18. " effects of early union of Church and State in, 90, 96. Maryland, early religious toleration in, 62. " . effects of disunion of Church and State in, 115. Maryland, Declaration of Rights in, 111. Marryat, Captain, opinions of, noticed, 271, note. Mason, Dr. J. M., originator of Theological Semi- naries, 159. Massachusetts, early settlement of, 17, 52 54, 55. " the last to dissolve union of Church and State, 116. Massachusetts Bay Colony, trials and prosperity of, 55. Massachusetts, dissolution of union of Church and State in, 112. Massacre at St. Charles city, Virginia, notice of, 61. Maternal Societies. 156. Mather, Cotton, notice of, 101. Mayhew, Rev. Thomas, missionary labours of, 294. Mennonists, account of the, 261. Methodist ministers, salaries of, 323, note. Methodist Episcopal Church, history and organiza- tion of, 245, 246. religious belief and discipline of, 246. statistics of the, 249. — Home Missions of, 145. Foreign Missions of the, 310. Methodists, Primitive, account of the, 262. " Allenite, notice of the, 262. " Protestant, origin of the, 262. " Calvinistic, notice of the, 263. " Stilwell, notice of the, 262. Ministers, salaries of, how raised, 136. " extent of support of, 137. " how trained and settled, 138.' " proportion of evangelical Protestant, to the population, 322. Ministers, evangelical, not sufficient for present need, 323. Ministers, total amount raised to support, 323. Montgomery, rapid growth of the town of, 135. " Moore's Charity School," notice of, 295. Moravians, notice of the, 81. " Church of the, account of, 250, " Foreign Missions of the, 312. Mormons, origin and character of the, 285. Morris, Mr. Samuel, notice of, 105. Muhlenburg, Rev. Mr., anecdote of, 113. Murders, comparative number of, in England and America, 334. Murders, large proportion of, in United States com- mitted by foreigners, 334, note. Nassau Hall College, when founded, 67. INDEX. 341 New-England, indebted to the religion of the colo- nists for its character, 32, 33. cause of rapid growth of settlements in, 57. apology for the Fathers of, 58. - — i religious character of, 59. influence of early union of Church and State in, 91-96. • relations between Church and State in, 87. proposal to divorce the Church from the State in, how received, 115. introduction and history of Unitarianism in, 272, 275. New-Hampshire, early settlement of, 17, 57. New-Jersey, early settlement of, 18, 66. early eminent ministers of, 67. early relations between Church and State in, 90. College of, established, 67. New-Orleans, more of a foreign than American city, 334. Newton Theological Seminary, notice of, 164. New-York, early settlement of, 18, 64. " intolerance of early Episcopacy in, 98. " early Indian war in, 64. " character of first colonists of, 64. " early relation between Church and State in, 90. North America, geography of, 9-11. discovery of, noticed, 15. account of the Aborigines of, 12-15. colonization of, 16-23. curious colonial charters of, 27, 28. forms of government in, 33, 34. views of first settlers of, on religious tolera- tion, 38. character of early colonists of, 83. relations between Church and State in, 84. churches and ministers in, at the Revolu- tion, 103, 104. union of Church and State in, gradually dis- solved, 104. early efforts to convert the Aborigines of, 293. • obstacles to conversion of the Aborigines, 295, 296. sentiments respecting the extinction of the Aborigines, 296. causes of the decrease of the Aborigines, 296. removal of the Indians by Government, 297. governmental sanction to missions among the Aborigines, 299. similarity of original tribes of, 12-15. advance of civilization among Indians of, 299. causes of success of evangelical religion in, 320. General and State Governments of, not indif- ferent to religion, 320. grounds of hope in relation to the churches in, 321. ■ union of Church and State in, when termi- nated, 323, note. foreign objections to religious institutions of, 330. ■ religious institutions of, not chargeable with immoralities, 330. religious institutions of, not chargeable with political broils, 331. impositions in, as reported in Europe, 331, note. prejudices against coloured people in, 331, financial integrity of General and State Gov- ernments of, 330. settlement of the interior of, 20-23. Northampton, Massachusetts, notice of revival at, 198, 274. North Carolina, first settlement of, 19, 63. " early relations between Church and State in, 90. Owenism, notice of, 286. " Panoplist," commencement of, in Boston, 276. Peace societies, 176. Penn, William, notice of, 69. Pennsylvania, early settlement of, 19, 70, 74. character of colonists of, 70. Perkins Institution for the Blind, 180. Philips Academy, notice of, 149. Piedmont, immigration from, 82. Plymouth Colony, account of the, 47-51. ecclesiastical regulations of the, -84. causes of aversion of, to prelacy, 86. Plymouth Company, notice of, 52. Poland, early immigration from, 81. " " tradition respecting the, 82. Political excitement, recent instances of, and re- sults, 333. Political disturbances in United States, how exag- gerated abroad, 331. Political institutions, firm attachment to, 332, note. Poor and afflicted, how provided for, 177. Presbyterian Church, history of the, 238. churches, how organized, 233. qualifications for ministry in, 233. Board of Domestic Missions of, 142. mode of communion in the, 187. Church Session, how constituted, 234. " " deacons not members of, 235 Presbytery of the, how constituted, 235. Presbytery, powers of the, 236. ministry in the, how licensed, 235. Synod of the, noticed, 236. General Assembly of the, nature of, 237. character and influence of the, 240. origin and progress of Old and New School parties in, 242. differences between Old and New School, 244. the recent separation in the, 243. statistics of the, 245. Board of Foreign Missions of the, 307, 308. Presbyterians, Cumberland, history of the, 252. " Reformed, distinguisiiing traits of, 256. Primary schools, 146. Princeton Theological Seminary, notice of, 163. Prostitution, foreign exaggerated account of, 334, note. Protestant religion early established in South Caro- lina, 123. Protestant Episcopal Church, account of the, 220. Puseyism, how extensive in the, 223. Board of Missions of the, 311. Theological Institution of the, 164. Providence, Rhode Island, settlement of, 57. Public worship, total cost of, in United States, 324, 325. Public opinion, alleged tyranny of, in United States, 292, note. Public disturbances and crimes, comparative few- ness of, 332. Puritans, origin and character of the, 44-47. " eulogy on the, 33. " attention of the, to education, 147. " religious views of the, 272. " ecclesiastical usages of the, 272. Quakers, history and character of the, 263. " persecution of the, 70, 93. Rappists, notice of the, 283. Reformed Dutch Church, history of the, 253. Home Missions of the, 144. Theological Seminary of the, 164. Religious liberality, noted individual instances cf, 327. Religious institutions of the United States, best means of knowing the, 31, 32. Religious liberty, progress of, in America, 130, 318. " " present state of, in America, 318. " toleration, extract on, 319. Religion, state of, in the colonial era, 99. " exigencies of, in United States, 131. " evangelical, causes of success of, in United States, 320. Religion, true source of all success in promoting, 321, 342 INDEX. Religion, institutions of, not chargeable with public crime, 330. Religion, institutions of, not chargeable with politi- cal disturbances, 331. Repudiation, wrong impressions respecting, abroad, 330. Repudiation, doctrine of, how viewed in this coun- try, 330. Revivals of religion, nature of, 136. character of early, 197. at Northampton, 198, 274. extensive in 1740-41, 199, 274. peculiar character of, in Kentucky, 201. — remarkable, in Yale College, 201. advantages of and best mode of conducting, 202. 207. consistency of, with our mental constitution, — instances of opposition to, disarmed, 208. — importance of orderly meetings in, 218. — happy instance of female influence in, 212. — alleged abuses in, 214. — pernicious effects of late meetings in, 218. — who oppose, 214. causes of prejudices against, 215. Unitarian objections to, in New-England, 275. Revival preachers, objections to, 216. Rhode Island, early settlement of, 17, 56. Rochester, rapid growth of, 135. Roman Catholic Church, early establishment of, 270. conversions from, how checked, 272. statistics of the, 271. probable influence of, 271. Sabbath associations, 176. " comparatively good observance of, in the United States, 334. Sabbath, interest of railroad and steamboat compa- nies to observe, 334, note. «St. Charles city, Virginia, massacre at, 61. Scotch colonists, character of the, 24. " persecution of the, 73. Scotland, early cause of immigration from, 72, 73. • " religious influence of immigrants from, 75. Scottish Secession churches, account of the, 255. Foreign Missions of, 312. Seamen, efforts to promote the interests of, 172. Sects, advantages of numerous evangelical, 26C. " nature and character of theological discus- sions among, 290. Sects, grounds of alleged want of harmony among, 267, 269. Sects, evangelical, often commingle, 268. " differences between evangelical and unevan- gelical, 288. .Sects, extent of doctrinal agreement among, 289. Shakers, account of the, 283. " recent extraordinary book of the, 284, note. Slavery, true position of the country respecting, 335. " how entailed on this country, 335. " severe clause against, in original Declara- tion of Independence, 336, note. Slavery, when abolished by the free states, 336. " increase of, since the Revolution, 336. " how to be ultimately abolished, 336. " an obstacle to promotion of religion, 40. " Christianity the only remedy for, 336, 337. " extent of, in the United States, 42. " difficulties attending the abolition of, 336. " severity of foreign Christians respecting, 337. Slavery, proper Christian spirit in relation to, 337, 338. Smith, Mr. Normand, extract from. memoir of, 327. South Boston, Transcendental sermon at, 279. South Carolina, early settlement of, 19, 63. " " early relations between Church and State in, 90. Southern States, religious character of the early colonists of, 60. State legislation here, friendly to Christianity, 126. Stoddard, Rev. Mr., peculiar sentiments of, 273. Story, Chief-justice, opinion of, on State patronage of religion, 116. Success, true source of all, in promoting religion, 321. Sunday-schools, mode of conducting, 154. Swedenborgians, notice of the, 282. Swedish settlements on the Delaware, 68. " " character of the colonists of, 69. Swiss colonists, character of the, 25. Temperance societies, 172. Tennent, Rev. Messrs., opinion of Whitefield re- specting, 203. Thanksgiving-day, publicly appointed, 320. governor's proclamation for, 320, note. Theological Seminaries, 159-165. Tract societies, 168. Transcendentalism, notice of, 278, 279. Transcendentalists, charged with Pantheism, 279. Transcendental sermon at South Boston, 279. Trinity Church, New-York, funds of, 323, note. Tunkers, notice of the, 282. Union of Church and State, when terminated, 323, note. Unitarianism, introduction and history of, in New- England, 272, 275. circumstances favourable to the growth of, 275. different writers on, 276. early opposition to, in Harvard College and elsewhere, 276. early concealment of, 276. first disclosures of, and results, 276, 277. first congregation that avowed, 275. first American writer on, 275. Unitarians, objections of, to early revivals in New- England, 275. Unitarians, early philosophy of, 278. " " American Association" of, 278. " religious belief of, 278. " introduction of Transcendentalism among, and results, 278, 279. "United Brethren in Christ," account of the, 261. United States, geographical notice of the, 35-37. power of government of, in promoting reli- gion, 116. religious character of government of the, 118. action of government of, Christian, 120. state governments of, Christian, 120. when, may be directed to- wards religion, 127. — church discipline in the, 183. moral character of ecclesiastical discipline in, 189. causes of diversity of religious doctrine in, 287. difference between evangelical and other sects in, 288. alleged tyranny of public opinion in, 292, note. - religious literature of the, 169. misrepresentation of family discipline in, 335, — character of political papers in the, 171. • commencement and progress of religious lib- 333. erty in, 130. comparative smallness of standing army in , absence of military police in the, 333. comparative morality of the people of the, 333. much of the gross crime of, imported, 334. Universalists, origin of, in the United States, 281. doctrinal belief of the, 282. definition of, in the United States, 275, 276. difference between, and Unitarians, 277. Virginia, early settlement of, 17. the first to dissolve union of Church and State, 105. religious character of first settlers of, 61. — intolerance of Legislature of, 62. early relations between Church and State in, and effects, 88, 89, 96. legislation in, about religion, 110. effects of dissolution of Church and State in, 113. INDEX. 343 Virginia, state of Episcopal Church in, at close of Revolution, 114. present state of Episcopal Church in, 114. act for establishing religious freedom in, 110. Voluntary Principle in supporting religion, obsta- cles to, 37-40. in religion, nature of the, 129. " " importance of the, 130. founded in character and habits of the peo- ple, 131. developed in Home Missions, 140. influence of the, on education, 146. " " on moral reformation, 172. " " on beneficent institutions, 177. " " in furnishing a ministry, 322. efficiency of, in increasing the ministry, 323. " " in supporting the ministry, 323. " " in erecting church edifices, 324. comparative influence of, in raising religious funds, 325. Wales, notice of immigrants from, 71. Welsh colonists, character of the, 24. Western States, extent of population of 1840, 22. Wheaton, Hon. Henry, remarks of, on relations be- tween Church and State, 128. Wheelock, Rev. Eleazar, school of, for Indian youth, 295. Whitaker, Rev. Alexander, notice of, 62. Whiterield, Rev. George, preaching of, at Boston, 274. Williams, Roger, arrival of, 56. " " notice of, 92. Winebrennarians, notice of the, 261. Winthrop, Hon. John, notice of, 53. letter of, to members of Church of England 53. arrival of, in this country, 54. Yale College, remarkable revival in, 201. THE END m