giving all the information I was master of, to all those of my countrymen who would. Among those who have been my hearers, about ten families, and some individuals, have embraced the Unitarian faith. Seven out of the ten families, are original converts from Heathenism. All of them are poor; their situation in life is much meaner than my own. There is not one European, or European descendant among us; not one rich man; not one learned man; not even one that can read English well. disadvantage does not discourage me at all. I am convinced that the God of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is the true and living God; and am also fully persuaded that Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles, and the Jewish and first Christian churches, were Unitarians.

This

To this truth I wish to bear my testimony among my countrymen as far as it lies in my power.' This case, like the preceding, completely refutes the objection we are examining, and establishes beyond question the adaptation of Unitarian Christianity to common minds.

5. I pass to another instance of the successful dissemination of our views among the common people. It may not be generally known that since the beginning of the present century, there has sprung up in this country a very numerous sect, who, abjuring all distinctive names, call themselves the Christian denomination. Originally they were seceders from the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Methodist denominations. Of course they were all nominally Trinitarians, having been educated in that doctrine. The doctrine, however, was soon canvassed, brought to the test of revelation, and universally rejected, with all its concomitant doctrines, as unscriptural. Within twentyfive years their growth has been wonderful, particularly in the Western States of the Union, and chiefly among

mmon people. They have now 500 ministers, and

from 700 to 1000 churches; and they number about 200,000 persons who have embraced their principles and doctrines. One of their principal preachers says ' We are Evangelical Unitarians in preaching and applying the Unitarian doctrine; and it is this mode of preaching and applying it which has crowned our labors with such a rich harvest. It is this which has given us access to the common people, who constitute the greatest part of our churches and congregations.' Such is the success of Unitarian Christianity among the common people in our own land.

Can

Already she numbers 200,000 converts. any one, with these facts before him, presume to maintain that it is not a religion for the poor?

6. My last instance is the success which has attended the labors of the Unitarian Missionary among the poor in Boston. Into whatever families he has entered, he tells us, he has uniformly been received with great kindness and affection. His public religious services have for the last four years been regularly and fully attended, and appear to have excited great interest among those for whom they are designed. In a public meeting some time ago, he expressed with much feeling the high sat isfaction he had derived from witnessing the adaptedness of Unitarian Christianity to the capacities and wants of the poor; and especially in the evidence he had had in the course of his labors how invaluable and sovereign a power it possessed to give consolation, peace and support in the mortal hour. Truly, the common people hear him gladly.' After such a successful experiment tried in the midst of us, will any one have the boldness to assert that Unitarianism is not a religion for the poor?

Such are the plain facts in the case; facts which cannot be denied nor invalidated. They tell us that

during the three first centuries, Unitarianism was the prevailing religion among the common people, and that at the present day it is embraced by the poor and unlearned in Great Britain, in India, in the western parts of our own country, and in the metropolis of New-England. These facts prove conclusively to my mind that the charge, so confidently alleged against it, of being unsuited to the poor and unlearned, is utterly destitute of truth. They make me value and love my religion the more; excite in me a desire to see it more widely diffused; and stimulate to new exertions in the cause of christian truth.

We see how this objection, when fairly met and thoroughly examined, vanishes away. It will be found so, I believe, with all the popular charges against Unitarian Christianity. The sole object of our efforts,' to adopt the language of one of its eloquent defenders, 'is to remove the prejudices which obstruct inquiry, and obtain for it a full and candid examination. Let the evidences of Unitarianism be properly discussed, and its friends have no apprehensions as to the result. If a fair hearing be once obtained, the decision must be favorable. We have mighty advocates, whose voice is resistless. The mind of man pleads for us. Left to itself, it rises indignant at creeds which fetter the understanding and narrow the heart. The Word of God pleads for us. It bears our sentiments on every page; and rarely can it be perverted or tortured into the semblance of Trinitarianism. The heavens and the earth plead for us. Wherever they indicate design, it is benevolent design; and never has any one deduced from their appearances, a plurality of creators. The revelation of God, the reason of man, the constitution of nature, with united voice proclaim these eternal truths:—'THERE IS One God! and God is Love!,

PRACTICAL

INFIDELITY

BRIEFLY CONSIDERED

IN REFERENCE TO

THE PRESENT TIMES.

PRINTED FOR THE

American Unitarian Association.

BOSTON,

GRAY AND BOWEN, 135 WASHINGTON STREET.

1830.

Price 3 Cents.

Ar the annual meeting of the AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION, May 25, 1830, Hon. STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS, of Salem, offered the following resolution.

Resolved, That earnest and persevering efforts through the medium of the pulpit and the press, to disseminate rational, praetical and liberal views of Christianity, are the most suitable means to arrest the progress of infidelity, and to confirm the influence of religion in honest and candid minds.

The substance of the remarks with which he supported this resolution having been by request of the Executive Committee reduced to writing, they were so impressed with the importance of the views presented, that they solicited Mr PHILLIPS to permit their publication in a distinct form. They are here printed with considerable enlargement from the state in which they were offered to the meeting, and with the omission of some introductory matter.

PRINTED BY I. R. BUTTS....BOSTON.