REMARKS, &c.

By the advice of friends, whose judgment I respect, 1 have resolved to offer to the publick some remarks on the letter of Dr. Worcester, in reply to mine addressed to Mr. Thacher. They will be few in number, and as free as possible from personalities. When I understood that my letter was to be answered by Dr. Worcester, I felt and expressed great satisfaction. I regarded Dr. Worcester as a man of candour, moderation, and liberal feelings. I had reason to suppose, that as a minister, he would understand the feelings of his brethren, whose uprightness had been so wantonly assailed in the Panoplist Review, and whose influence and usefulness that publication was designed to destroy. I trusted, that whilst he would openly express disapprobation of some of my opinions, he would still appear in the honourable character of a peacemaker among christians. But I have been disappointed. His letter, though milder in language, breathes too much of the spirit of the Review. I feel, however, no disposition to retaliate. His letter, I will hope, is not to be considered as an expression of his general temper; and although it is too obviously designed to drive both me

and my brethren from the church and the ministry, yet, in obedience to that Master, who has forbidden me to render evil for evil, I have no desire to rob Dr. Worcester of his character as a christian, or a christian teacher.

My letter to Mr. Thacher is considered by Dr. Worcester as bitter and severe; but called, as I was, to repel the charge of immorality brought against men, whose' virtue and piety I know and honour, and to whom I am bound by ties of friendship and christian affection, I felt it a solemn duty to express what I deemed a virtuous indignation. I laboured however to temper displeasure with christian moderation; and, on finishing my letter, my fear was, not that I had expressed an improper warmth, but that I should be considered as wanting sensibility to the injuries done to some of the best men in this community. I know, however, the many weaknesses and imperfections of my nature. I may have erred, for the provocation was great; and I sincerely repeat the declaration with which I closed my letter, that for every departure from the spirit of the gospel, I implore the divine forgiveness. On the present occasion I am called to defend myself, rather than my brethren, and I am therefore at liberty to suppress the feelings which were awakened by many parts of Dr. Worcester's letter.

There is one particular in which I am indebted to Dr. Worcester, and I hasten to express my obli gation. He has pointed out an inaccuracy in the language which I have employed to express the

charges contained in the Review. I have said, that the Review "asserts that the ministers of this town and its vicinity, and the great body of liberal christians, are Unitarians, in Mr. Belsham's sense of the word." It is true, that this passage may be understood as charging the Review with asserting, that all the ministers of Boston of all denominations are Unitarians of Mr. Belsham's school. I ought to have said, that the Review maintains-that the great body of liberal ministers in Boston and its vicinity, and of liberal christians, are Unitarians, in Mr. Belsham's sense of the word. I was probably led into this inacuracy, by the manner in which the phrase “Boston clergy" is used in the Review; a phrase as broad as the "ministers of Boston," and which is employed by the Reviewer to designate the liberal ministers alone. I wrote too with a strong conviction, which is still in no degree impaired, that the Reviewer intended to fix on liberal ministers and christians, considered as a class, the sentiments of Mr. Belsham. I therefore made the statement with too little precision. I thank Dr. Worcester for detecting the inaccuracy, and if it has made a false impression on my readers, (which I think can very rarely have occurred,) I desire to express my sorrow for the wrong I have unintentionally done to the Reviewer.

This correction however affects very slightly the merits of the question. I still maintain, what I intended to maintain in my letter, that the Review was designed to represent the great body of liberal ministers in this town and vicinity, and the liberal party