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good sense, and merit, as Mr. Freeman expresses it in his letter to Mr. Lindsey, "would give a sanction to any sentiment which he espouses," though the ho nourable Governor was not a member of the King's Chapel congregation. "The whole ceremony," says Mr. Freeman," was performed with great decency and solemnity in the presence of a very numerous assembly. Deep attention was impressed upon every countenance, and many of the advocates for religious liberty, of our own and other churches, could not forbear expressing their sensibility by tears of joy." The form used upon this interesting occasion is published by Mr. Lindsey in Vindiciæ Priestleianæ, who there expresses his entire approbation of it. All difficulties were at length surmounted: the remaining scruples of those who were advocates for episcopal ordination gradually subsided,* and the cause of the

In tenderness to the prejudices of some worthy members of the congregation, a vote was passed by the Society, that Mr. Freeman's ordination should be confirmed by an episcopal imposition of hands, if it could be at any future time conveniently procured without sacrificing their own religious sentiments. But a circumstance occurred shortly afterwards, which contributed more effectually to overrule the scruples of those who were unsatisfied, than any thing which Mr. Freeman or his friends could say or write upon the subject. This was the ordination of a clergyman at Boston by Bishop Seabury.

"If any prejudices remained upon the minds of my people in favour of episcopal ordination," says Mr. Freman in a letteer to Mr. Lindsey, dated October 15, 1788, "what you say in your book, the Vindiciæ Priestleianæ, would effectually remove them. But they are already cured of all prepossessions of that nature. I mentioned in a former letter, that Bishop Seabury had ordained a priest in Boston. The members of my congregation in general attended. They were so shocked with the service, particularly with that part where the bishop pretends to communicate the Holy Ghost and the power of forgiving sins, which he accompanied with the action of breathing on the candidate, that they now congratulate me upon having escaped what they consider as little short of blasphemy. Few of them had ever read, or at least attentively considered, the Ordination service. Since they have heard it, I have frequently been seriously asked by them, whether I would have submitted to so absurd a form.

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congregation continued to flourish under the auspices of this pious and exemplary preacher for upwards of twenty years. Since January, 1809, Mr. now Dr. Freeman has been associated with a colleague, the Rev. Samuel Cary, who, if we may judge by the specimen of his talents and spirit in the sermon which he delivered on the day of his ordination, and by the esteem and affection expressed in the charge of his revered associate, is worthy of the honourable situation which he occupies, and is well qualified to carry on the cause in which his excellent colleague has been so long and so successfully engaged. May this holy cause continue to prosper in their hands, and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, may they receive a crown of glory!

As a further means of diffusing the important doctrines of the proper Unity of God, and the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, Mr. Lindsey made a present of his own and of Dr. Priestley's Theological Works to the Library of Harvard College, in the Uni

I confess that I am convinced I should have acted wrong if I had done it. I shudder when I reflect to what moral danger I exposed myself in soliciting ordination of the Americau bishops, for I certainly never believed that they had the power of conveying the Holy Spirit."

Bishop Seabury might be, and probably was a very honest man. How far his wisdom kept pace with his honesty, the following anecdote may assist the reader to judge. This venerable prelate, after having been invested, or imagined himself invested, with extraordinary powers by the manual imposition of a few obscure and ignorant priests in Scotland, when he had returned to Connecticut, wrote to Dr. Stiles, the president of the College, the learned friend and correspondent of Dr. Price, that it was his intention to be at the annual meeting of the institution, but that he hoped he should be received with proper distinction, and that his precedency would be allowed in the place alotted to him." To which the learned president sent back a courteous answer: "That they should be very glad to see Bishop Seabury, but that he could not promise him any such mark of distinction as he expected. One thing however he could engage for, and would assure him of, that he would meet with a hundred and ninety-one as good Bishops as himself."

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versity of Cambridge in New-England; for which, "as a very valuable and acceptable present," he received the thanks of the President and Fellows. These books were read with great avidity by the students. But though there is great reason to believe that the seed thus sown took deep root, and that in many instances it produced an abundant harvest; and though many persons eminent for rank and talent in the New-England States* openly avowed the Unitarian creed, it does not appear that any numerous societies of Christians have hitherto followed the example of the congregation at the King's Chapel in making a public profession of the Unitarian doctrine,

In March, 1792, an Unitarian congregation was formed at Portland, a considerable town of the district of Maine, in the north-eastern part of the State of Massachusetts. The worthy founder of this society was the Reverend Thomas Oxnard, a man of good talents, of sincere piety and of ardent zeal, who had for some years officiated as minister of the episcopalian church at Portland, and who had been convinced of the truth of the Unitarian doctrine by reading the works of Dr. Priestley and Mr. Lindsey, with which he had been supplied by his friend Mr. Freeman, Through the same means, and by the public and private instructions of this good man, in the course of a few years, many other persons of property and respec

"Gov. Bowdoin," says Mr. Lindsey's worthy correspon dent," is a critic in biblical learning. Gen. Knox, one of the most distinguished officers in the late war, is an admirer of such authors as Edward Search. General Lincoln, our present worthy Lieutenant-Governor, appears uniformly and openly the friend of those doctrines that you approve. There are many others besides, in our Legislature, of similar sentiments, While so many of our great men are thus on the side of truth and free inquiry, they will necessarily influence many of the common people. As we have no establishment to oppose. the same zeal which is felt in England cannot be expected in this country; but Rational Christianity will, I doubt not, make a rapid though not very visible progress. This letter was written in 1758,

tability of character embraced and avowed the same principles. "I cannot," says this worthy man in a letter dated November, 1788, "express to you the avidity with which these Unitarian publications are sought after. Our friends here are clearly convinced that the Unitarian doctrine will soon become the prevailing opinion in this country; which must afford great pleasure to those good men, Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley. Three years ago, I did not know a single Unitarian in this part of the country besides myself and now, entirely from the various publications you have furnished, a decent society might be collected from this and the neighbouring towns. When you again write to Mr. Lindsey, you may assure him in the most positive terms that his and Dr. Priestley's publications have had, and probably will have, great effects in this part of the country; which I am sure must afford him great satisfaction."

Agreeably to this account, the doctrine of the proper Unity of God made a progress so rapid in the town and vicinage of Portland, that in the beginning of the year 1792 an effort was made to introduce a reformed Liturgy into the episcopal church; which being resisted by one or two leading members of the congregation, the Unitarians, who constituted a considerable majority of the society, seceded from the rest; and forming themselves into a separate church, they chose the Reverend Mr. Oxnard to be their mi nister; and being denied the use of the episcopal chapel, they assembled for religious worship at one of the public school houses, which was large and commodious, and where they carried on the worship of the One God with increasing popularity and success.

About the same time another society for Unitarian worship was formed at Saco, a populous village about twenty miles distant from Portland, under the auspices of Mr. Thatcher, a gentleman of large property and of excellent character, who was repeatedly returned as representative in Congress for the northern district in the State of Massachusetts, Mr. Thatcher

was originally an unbeliever; but possessing a caudid and inquisitive mind, he became a very sincere and rational Christian, in consequence of reading Dr. Priestley's Works; and, as Mr. Lindsey's correspondent expresses it, "the influence of our divine religion became very evident in his life and manners." This gentleman, by his conversation, his occasional publications, by lending Unitarian books, and by the great influence of his moral and religious character, contributed much to diffuse rational and pure Christianity in the vicinity of his residence, and formed at Saco a congregation of Unitarian Christians, which was for some time connected with that at Portland,. but afterwards became sufficiently numerous and respectable to maintain a separate minister. In England the spirit of the times is more liberal than the spirit of the laws. In America it is the reverse; and the bigotry of individuals sometimes labours to counteract the unlimited freedom of faith and worship, which is the glory of the Constitution of the United States. The active zeal of Mr. Thatcher, in promoting the worship of One God in opposition to unscriptural formularies and creeds, excited the malignant efforts of some of his bigoted neighbours to oppose his re-election to a seat in Congress. But the high character, the approved patriotism, and the distinguished talents of that honourable gentleman secured him au easy triumph over the mean attacks of ignorance and envy, and he was again returned by a great majority.

Upon the formation of the first Unitarian Society in the district of Maine, Mr. Lindsey's intelligent correspondent makes the following just and important observations, in a letter dated May 21, 1792.

"I consider the establishment of this society as an event peculiarly favourable to the progress of Unitarianism in this country. The eastern division of this State, commonly called the province of Maine, of which Portland is the capital, is one of the most flourishing parts of the United States. It is rapidly

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