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    our country presetfts ,-as S conceive , a striking illustration of the justness of this remark . Never bis there been ia change greater or more remarkable ; but the careful and attentive observer will be able to trace it , without much difficulty , to . the operatipa of the same general causes to which we are likewise indebted for almost eveiy thing else that distinguishes the condition , or the character , of the people of New England * I have thought it would be useful to consider some of these causes , and to point out the

    bearing and influence they have had on the progress of liberal Christianity . ' The first * of these causes may be found in the character of our Puritan ancesto r end m the impulse which their example gave to religious inquiry and ^ ligimis ^ literty . • ¦ t Thev were GOttsistetit Protestants ; palled Puritans , says a contemporary ,

    • beeaose ^ they «* would have-the chureh thoroughly reformed ; that is * purged ( torn all those ' inventions whiqh have been brought into it since the age of iihe apostles , and reduced entirely to the scripture purity . " " Nottoijl was more disagreeable to them , ^ says the author of the New-England CJHronologv , " than to be called by the name of any mere man whatever ,

    since they renounced all attachment to any mere human systems or expose riofis of seripfcure , and reserved an entire and perpetual liberty of searching £ he inspired records * and of forming both their principles and practice from ihose ^ discoveries they should make therein , without imposing them ort -other ! . ' : It Is ttot ptetended that the rights of private judgment were tm- » i&rttDod their as ^ hey are iinderetood now . Even Hume , however , though

    < he despised their superstition , a « d detested most of their political leanings ; ijg : yet ctons ^ ain ^ d to pass on the Independents the high eulogium , that " of -all jCferistian ^ sects this was the fiF ^ t whic h , during its prosperity as well a £ -its ^ chrersity , always adopted the principle of toleration . " I Besides , our fathers were not only Protestants , but Protestant Dissenters ;

    rt * . rooters , " as they were sometimes s . cornfuHy termed by their enemies , an ^ A peilatiqfl still more pointed tand -significant than the modern term , " ra-; dical * ' * It matters not what were the particular dootrines , or what the particular practices , on account of which they separated from the Established . Church ; it is the effect of their example as separatists that we are considering . It- was not the wearing of the surplice , or the kneeling at the attar , that they objected to , so much as the authority that would impose the of the

    them , a ^ id danger precedent , should they once submit to the imposition . It was the bold and vigorous stand they made against arbitrary power ; their determination to live and die by the principle ^ that ifh e Scr iptuies are the only authority to be acknowledged in religious matters , reserving to themselves the right of judging what scripture is , and what scripture means ; it was their determined and prompt resistance to all usurpations over the mind and conscience , in whatever shape they might come , and howler trivial : in their first demands , whicfo -stampt the character of the

    men , and , I * may add , the character of the race . It was not their peculiar opinions , nor their peculiar practices , which they t * ap $ rnit , ted to their descendants ; but , what they valued more ffcan either , their pe ^ ujiar spirit ; and this I trust will live in , us , and fee cheri&hecj by us ^ as Jong , as a drpp pjf IlieirWpOi } flows in puf veins . But it yt $ &o $ inerely a courage tp a ^^ ert and defend tlje , rigU jpf private judgment that distinguished our ruritan ancestors , but a much rarer quality - « a « otnrage to exercise this Tie ^ t . Though setting a high and j usf value on L ^ ther > BeformaitioB , they did hot think * toat Luther ' s Refomaatioii had made theifn so wise , that the word of God might not make them wser ;

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    # ( $£ Progress of Eiberal Christianity in New EngMniP .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 302, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/14/