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€€ Since Episcopacy sustained , in 1763 , the formidable assault of Dr . Mayhewv and to shield it , the Rector of Cambridge and the Archbishop of Canterbury interposed alike in vain , it has made no progress among us , such as could be satisfactory to its friends .
The writings of that admirable man gave the alarm through New England , and awoke the old congregational spirit . The measures of the English Society ( for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts ) were disconcerted ; and it was fain to turn again to the new settlers and the Indians , and leave the descendants of Puritans to take care
of themselves . Our revolution succeeding-, of course , did the cause of the English Establishment no good ; and the most important incident in its history among us , since that time , is the separation from it , and open avowal of Unitarian sentiments , of one of the principal churches in its communion .
" The work of Mr . Sparks is the best which has appeared in this country since the time of Chauncy , on the Episcopal controversy . He has the advantage over Dr . Miller in not writing in Presbyterian fetters , and in
possessing a learning-, possibly not so various , ( for he is a much younger man , ) but far better digested , more systematic and accurate . The cause of letters owes muck to this gentleman , and if it had not surrendered him to
higher claims , would yet hope much more . In his removal the University resigned a member on whose reputation it set a high value , and it was felt
like the loss of a distinguished freeman to the literary Republic of the East . From this flattering path to a wide reputation , and from the pursuit of favourite studies , he hesitated not to withdraw himself to the service of
religion , and went with , to say the least , no elating prospects , to preach in a new field , the doctrines of uncorrupt Christianity . " After examining" at considerable length the work of this formidable
exposer of the pretensions of " the only true church , " the Editors of the Disciple conclude by meeting the " unmeaning appeal to the sympathy of the Christian world , " so often made by it , as " the oldest daughter of the Protestant Reformation . " " It was no oh ^ ld of the Jteformation ; but the birth of an unblessed union between
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decrepit superstition and immature reason . Or if a daughter , it was like the thankless daughters of Lear . It had the spirit of a parricide . It drove the Reformation out from its shelter to abide * the pelting of the pitiless storm / and we may thank a younger branch of the family that it did not perish there . Let the Episcopal Church in America make its election . If it considers itself a distinct body from that in England , let it answer to no charges but what affect itself ; but then let it take such rank as its own deserts may warrant , and not claim a stock of merit bequeathed to it by English worthies . If , on the other hand , it will stav itself on the
reputation of the English Establishment , let it be bold and consistent , and assume that reputation in a mass . This it may find , perhaps , to be rather a burden than a prop . The history of tljat Establishment is , to too great an extent to be subject of boasting , a history of
selfishness , chicanery and violence . It is a history of unrelenting strictness when in power , and of abject artifice and false professions in disgrace . "" In this country , a country reserved , as it seems , by Providence for the last experiment , whether man can bear
and consent to be free , good , intelligent arid happy , whether those principles may yet prevail which have hitherto been kept down by his ignorance , his vices and his pride , it is not , perhaps , much to be feared , that institutions , the poor relic of a catholic and feudal age , the naked , marrowless skeleton of the gaudy thing they were ,
should ever gam a permanent establishment . 'They seem to have no congeniality with the spirit of the times . They grow in an unpropitious soil , and when the sun is up they will be scorched , and because they have no root will wither away . But if we should prove to be deceived in this , — if here , too , the best hopes of philanthropy were doomed to be again struck
down , —if hither , too , religion , pure and undefiled , should be pursued , — - pursued to her last retreat , where , for the sake of rendering a spontaneous obedience , and breathing an unfettered prayer , she was willing to sit at her board with famine , and lay herself to rest on rocks , we trust that the spirit will not be dead which spoke in the words of one . of our own divines ,
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350 American Unitarianism .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/26/
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