was constructed, formed, and adjusted by himself. The dear experience and the candid confession of Charles V. were thrown away on his bigoted son; who repeated on a still grander scale, with fresh horrors and cruelties, the bloody experiment of dragooning his subjects into uniformity, only to instruct the world by a still more memorable failure.

The increasing light of reason has destroyed many of these remnants of ignorance and barbarism-but much remains to be done, before the final accomplishment of the grand purpose, which, however delayed, cannot be ul timately defeated;-I mean, the complete emancipation of the mind;-the destruction of all creeds and articles of faith; and the establishment of full freedom of opinion and belief. I cannot doubt that a day will arrive when the attempts at enforcing uniformi y of opinion will be deemed as irrational, and as little desirable, as to endeavor at producing sameness of face and stature."-p. 88.

"I lay aside irony, and state most seriously and sincerely, that, whether I regard them [the Quakers,] as a religious sect or as a body of citizens, whether I look to their private or public conduct, I hold the Quakers in the highest respect.. As Christians, they entertain no unintelligible articles of faith; they waste no time in splitting the hairs of theological controversy; their singular and honorable distinction is practical Christianity, evinced in blameless lives, in renouncing all force and violence, in endeavoring to fulfil literally the Gospel precepts of peace and good-will, in active benevolence, in unremitted personal as well as pecuniary co-operation in all measures calculated to diminish the amount of human misery and suffering, and to improve the condition of their fellow-creatures,"

Now let us hear our venerated Jefferson's opinion: When living he wrote the following:

"The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is this. The convention of May 1776, in their declaration of rights, declared it to be a truth, and a natural right, that the exercise of religion should be free; but when they proceeded to form on that declaration the ordinance of government, instead of taking up every principle declared in the bill of rights, and guarding it by legislative sanction, passed over that which asserted our religious rights, leaving them as they found them. The same convention, however, when they met as a member of the general assembly in October 1776, repealed all acts of parliament which had rendered criminal the maintaining any opinions in matters of religion,the forbearing to repair tochurch, and the exercising any mode of worship; and suspended the laws giving salaries to the clergy, which suspension was made perpetual in Oct. 1779. Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away, we remain at present under those only imposed by the common law, or by our own acts of assembly. At the common law, heresy was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its definition was left to the ecclesiastical judges, before whom the conviction was, till the statute of the 1 El, c. 1. eircumscribed it, by declaring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but what had been so determined by authority of the canonical scriptures, or by one of the four first general councils, or by other council having for the grounds of their declaration the express and plain words of the scriptures. Heresy thus circumscribed, being an offence at the common law, our act of assembly of October 1777, c. 17, gives cognizance of it to the general court, by declaring, that the jurisdiction of that court shall be general in all matters at the common Jaw. The execution is by the writ De hæretico comburendo. By our own act of assembly of 1705, c. 30. if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more

gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offence by incapacity, to hold any office or employment ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three years imprisonment without bail. A father's right to the custody of his own children being founded in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken away, they may of course be severed from him, and put by the authority of a court, into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of that religious slavery, under which a people have been willing to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment of their civil fréedom. The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.-But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, Lut it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bring ing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation.They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free enquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free enquiry been, indulged at the era of the reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected and new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our me dicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food. Government is just as infalible too when it fixes sys tems in physics. Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere; the government had declared it to be as flat as a trenchThis error however at er, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and Descartes declared it was whirled round on its axis by a vortex. The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to correction; whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes, then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by topping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ouge

is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves."

This true and reasonable and Christian toleration, Liberal Christians are laboring to diffuse. I am happy to say that intolerance, bigotry and priestcraft, is fast falling to the earth. The legislature of Maine have passed the following Act at their last session. It shows the progress of wisdom and knowledge among the people of that flourishing State.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled, That no person who believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, shall be adjudged an incompetent or incredible witness, in the Judicial Courts, or in the course of Judicial proceedings in this State, on account of his opinions in matters of religion; nor shall such opinions be made the subject of investigation or enquiry.”

The Calvinists cannot endure this religious freedom, and they are using every possible means in their power to suppress and stop its progress. The weapons now used by them are of

the following character:

Extracts from A sermon, preached at the Installation of Rev. Salmon Bennet, as colleague pastor with Rev. Samuel Wood, D. D. of the first congregational Church in Boscawen, N. H. By Rev. Z. S. Barstow, of Keene.' January, 1833. Now read these 'excellent' extracts, puffed and recommended as 'rich with' orthodox instruction.' D, L. Morril with Mr. Barstow, through the N.H. Observer, have the modesty to say,

"There is a spirit of Religious Radicalism prevailing extensively; and as the cry of "exclusiveness," "intolerance"

and " bigotry" " is raised against the advocates of vital godliness; is it strange that some should fear to carry out their principles with an unfaultering step? As there are so many attempts to misrepresent and carricature the essential doctrines of Christianity, [by the Unitarians,] there is a strong. temptation to soften them down to the liking of corrupt men.'

"This is an age, when some, that have no piety, are desirous of pressing into the church, that they [Liberal Christians] may be honored as true disciples. And it is by urging forward such, that Satan is trying to sap the very foundations of the Spiritual Temple."

"I pity those [Unitarians] whose scepticism has blotted out the glory of our Immanuel. Their religion is cold. It warms not the heart; it pacifies not the conscience; it prompts to few acts of self-denial; it almost obliterates the line between the righteous and the wicked; and it makes retribution a farce. After all, it is only a substitute, and a very poor one, for the glorious gospel of the Son of God.-(See this vile slander on pp. 55-6 in the orthodox sunday school library book, entitled Advice to Young Christians, by a village pastor.')

Extract from Dr. Mason's Farewell Discourse in New York. "I know that this congregation is considered by them [unitarians], as the very focus of what they term bigotry; and I do rejoice that thus far I and you have been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Long may it continue so!. Long may it be thought a hopeless case to attempt to bring you over to the fellowship of DEVILS. Though I would not slander the DEVIL; he promotes his work as the destroyer, not by tempting men to his belief, but by persuading them to embrace what he does not believe what is too coarse and abominable for hell itself.” This is plain language. Unitarianism is too coarse and abominable for hell itself. Unitarians are devils; and worse than the Devil himself; for it would be slandering the Devil to charge him with doing what is daily done by unitarians. Very well. I shall not argue the question, whether Unitarians are possessed by the devil or not. But I must have some evidence, besides mere assertion, before I can yield the point in dispute. I will merely add, Remember that Liberal Christians have the same right and equal reason to bring these charges against the whole Calvinist denomination, which is divided into Baptists, Presbyterians, and Orthodox.

ORTHODOX IMPOSITION.

CHAPTER VI.

"I speak to your shame."

The Calvinists deceive and impose on the people in endeavoring to make their hearers believe in a doctrine invented by men, and called the 'sacred Trinity.' This abominable and ridiculous doctrine is the chief corner stone of their wicked dogmas, as we shall find on examining their creeds and systems of divinity.

The Calvinist doctrine is, there are three distinct equal persons in one God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and it falls to the ground whenever the distinct personality and equality of either of the three persons is disprov

ed.

It is overthrown when the Son is proved not to be equal with the Father; or if it be shown, that the Holy Ghost is not a distinct existence from the Father yet equal with him, it is overthrown as well. But the argument has generally been so managed, as if to prove the equality of the Father and the Son was to prove the doctrine of the trinity. Here its advocates have had the advantage of engaging on their own chosen ground, and have been careful to keep it. By the false methods of interpreting scripture which now prevail, texts may be brought together, which will give some speciousness to the argument in favor of the equality of the Father and Son, when addressed to some minds; but the worst methods of interpretation, bad as they are, and all the ingenuity of controversy, dexterous as it is, cannot give a plausibility to the alleged scriptural proof of the distinct personality of the Holy Spirit. There are three propositions essential to the received doctrines; they are these:

There is a separate existence, God the Father.

There is a second, God the Son, equal with the Father. There is a third, God the Holy Ghost, equal with the Father and the Son.

If either of these propositions is disproved, the doctrine which they go to compose is disproved with it.