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    of thought and speech as really as if it were incorporated into our constitution . Let this engine once succeed , and what security have we against similar conspiracies to crush other opinions ? What truth is safe against such a weapon ? No matter , in this view * he remarked , whether Unitarian ism be true or false . It

    must not , and shall not , he put down in this way * He withstood this nefarious attempt , not as a Unitarian , but as a man , a Christian , an American , a freeman , a friend of the rights and liberties of the human raGe . On this subject he could not but speak warmly . He observed , that if he had found life an

    increasing good , if lie had in any measure succeeded in enlarging his own mind , if he had risen to any generous views of the Christian religion or human nature , he felt that he owed this happiness under God chiefly to the intellectual freedom which he had enjoyed . This had been to him the breath of life , and he must vindicate it for others as well as for

    himself . It was the birthright of all mtelli - gent beings . He could not endure that men , his brethren , should be debarred the free air , and the free sky , and the free use of their powers , and be immured in the dungeons of an intolerant , bigoted , enslaving theology . He said , that he knew something of the men who were

    most busy in forging our chains , in imposing what they called the true faith in this community ; whilst among them were men of talents and virtue , which he would be the last to question , he knew that they possessed no moral or intellectual superiority which authorized them to dictate to us in religion . Their usurpation shocked him . He could not endure

    that this metropolis , honoured as it is through the country , for its high intellectual cultivation , its social and domestic virtues , its munificence , its general morals , and its reverence for religion , should pass under the spiritual domination of such men , or of any men . Such

    an event would be the darkening of all its glory , a humiliation which , he trusted , none living were destined to endure . He observed , that his remarks on this topic had been so extended , as to render it impossible for him 10 enlarge on the other motive to which he had referred

    for firmly and openly espousing Unitariau Christianity . This was the excellence of the system . He wanted words to express his conviction of its worth . To him , it was no small recommendation of Unitarianism , that he could hold it without sacrificing his rational nature and his deepest moral feelings , a sacri-

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    fice which the Father of spirits could never exact from his intelligent children . He prized this doctrine above all price , as it gave him clear and bright views of the paternal character , of the righteous and benevolent attributes of God , nnd thus laid a foundation for an unshaken

    and purifying hope of forgiveness , of perfection , and of immortality . He clung to this doctrine , as binding the human soul to Jesus Christ , and to its Divine Parent , by ties infinitely tender , pure ^ consoling , strengthening-, and exalting . With these views of Unitarian

    Christianity , he could not brit hold it fast and hold it forth , and he besought all who thus viewed it , to give it the homage of their lips—the homage of fearless profession—and , above all , the homage of holy and beneficent lives . Hon . William Sullivan ^ of Boston , then rose .

    He said that he had been deeply impressed , aud felt assured that the highly respectable and numerous assembly which he had the honour to address , had been equally so , by the sentiments which had been expressed . The serious evils which had been presented to the notice of the meeting , seemed to him to arise out of that freedom of opinion and action which is peculiar to this country .

    He remarked , that the people of the United States , both in their civil and religious relations , were distinguishable from all other nations ; but particularly in this respect , that the political institutions of the country recognize no con * - nexion with professions of faith . Hence every reflecting mind would find itself engaged at times in inquiries of great interest : aud , among them , whether , as

    there is no coercive power in forming creeds , and exacting professions of them-, creeds would continue to be formed , professed , and adhered to ? Whether the clergy , there being no compulsion on the public to maintain them , would continue to be maintained ? Whether , as certain promptings of ambition , and love of power , in spiritual affairs , had no help from political patronage , popular elections would ba resorted to and used

    to supply the want ? Whether public opinion alone would be strong enough to uphold intelligence , virtue , and relir gion ; and to make ignorance and vice shameful , and hypocrisy disgraceful ? Whether the advantages gained by liberal instruction were in any danger ; and if they were , by what means they might be preserved and carried onward ? [ n solving such questions , said Mr . S ., there are no historical facts to guide us . ;

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    Intelligence . —American Unitarian Association . 735

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 735, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/63/