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"BY THEIR FnUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEJl. COLCHESTER: PHINTED AND SOLD BY SWINUOKNE, WALTEH, AND TAYLOH. SOLD ALSO BY C. J. G. AND F, RIVINGTON ; UATCHAHD AND SON; AND SIMIMUN AND MARSUALL, LONDON. 183 L / / ^3-e ?/ ADVERTISEMENT. A Tract, professing to represent the opinions of the Dis- senters, has lately been distributed at the cottages of the Poor in this neighbourhood, the direct tendency of which is to hold forth the clergy of the Establishment as unworthy of their situation, and the revenues of the Church as a fit object of robbery. The principal argument made use of is, that, as there was no Church Establishment when Christianity was so far from being the established religion of any nation on earth, that it was only professed by a few humble individuals, scorned and persecuted by the rest of mankind, that therefore there ought to be no such Establishment now. There was a time when the inhabitants of this country used to go naked, and paint their bodies in such fantastic forms as savage caprice might suggest: why not follow their example, and return to this primitive state of things? There would be as much sense in the one as in the other, and a great deal more honesty in the latter. In order to justify in some degree the destruction of the Establishment, we are reminded of the United States of America, where religion is left to shift for herself, and, of course, is supposed to be thriving remarkably well. The pamphlet, by a part of which the following Remarks have been called forth, originated in the same quarter as the tract, and is dictated by a similar feeling. Here again the United States are held up as an object worthy of imitation. When the reader has perused the varied and indisputable author!- VI ADVERTISEMENT. ties which I have laid before him, he will be enabled to judge for himself. One conckision I think he must arrive at, namely, that the men, who could hold up such a country for our imitation in its moral or religious character, must either be pitiably ignorant, or detestably knavish. Some of the Extracts which have been introduced, do not, perhaps, bear immediately either on the moral or religious character of the States. They are, however, highly illustrative of national character; and as such, are not without interest. On the subject of religion in the United States, I believe that the dissenters generally are miserably deceived. There is a remarkable coincidence between the present and former times not yet forgotten, in the hostility which is professed against bells, and, indeed, against any thing which happens to combine ornament with utility. "As to their being deprived of the sound of the sabbath bells" (saith this modern Prynne), " they begin also to think, that as much true religion lies in that sound, as in the surplice, painted windows, showy altar, and many other things which originated in the gloom of popery, or issued from the fountains of superstition." The Author of " a Reply " ought to know, that such things are not considered as the essentials of religion, but only as accessory and convenient. He is quite mistaken, if he supposes that Churchmen think, that true religion is to be found in the sound of a bell, or in a surplice, or in painted windows, any more than in a whine through the nose, or in a face drawn out to the length of a cubit, or in a broad-brimmed hat, or in a wilful perversion of the recognized forms of speech. These noses, and faces, and hats, and perversions of speech, have the most perfect toleration ; and why not let the toleration be mutual ? The " gloom of popery," too ! We owe some of the no- blest productions of art to the circumstance of their being enlisted in the cause of religion. The Catholic thought no offering to his God too costly or too magnificent; — the Pu- ADVERTISEMENT. VU ritan thinks that he cannot be too mean and niggardly. However we may differ from our Catholic forefathers in opinion, we cannot but admire those stupendous monuments, which the spirit of piety reared, in various parts of the land, to the service of religion and learning. The Puritans, when they had the power, are remembered for nothing, but their selfishness, tyranny, ignorance, and warfare against every thing in the shape of ornament, when connected with religion. Many of the churches in this immediate neighbourhood, to this day bear testimony to the savage spirit of destruction and robbery which characterized the fanatic Hun, who was commissioned to overthrow " showy altai's," demolish " paint- ed windows," deface angelic forms, erase monumental inscrip- tions, and, in short, to obHterate any thing, that happened not to be quite consistent with his own barbarous and intolerant notions. Should any one be particularly desirous of dissipating the " gloom of Popery," I would recommend to him the following genuine puritanical works : — *' A Hole pricked in the Pope's Coat ;" " The Pricking Provender of Prelacy;" " The Buckle of the Canonical Girdle turned ;" "A Shot aimed at the De- vil's Head Quarters, through the tube of a Cannon of the Co- venant." After having demolished Popery and Prelacy, he may proceed with " High-heeled shoes for Dwarfs in Holi- ness;" "A Heel-piece to a Limping Sinner;" "Hooks and Eyes for Believers' Breeches;" and "Baxter's Shove to a Heavy-Breeched Christain." He may then conclude with " Sweet Sips of Soul Savingness." If" the gloom of Popery" should not be dissipated by the perusal of these, he may be deemed beyond the reach of human assistance. REMARKS, &c. Sir, In the following pages it is not my intention to enter upon the various subjects of your pamphlet, published in reply to the Charge, lately delivered to the Clergy at Colchester, by Archdeacon Lyall ; I shall confine myself to that part of it, which relates to the state of religion, as it presents itself in the American Union. In doing this, I have no wish to " hazard statements to serve a particular purpose, without being founded on sufficient information," nor shall I " advance general assertions, and, for con- firmation, cite authors, either of remote date, as com- pared with recent, or those, who, upon the particular account for which they are brought forward, cannot be considered as the most impartial, or competent.'^ To do this, however, would be much better, than to give statements resting on no expressed authority at all ; and that too, in cases, where it would be difficult to allow you to be either an " impartial, or competent" judge. It is particularly amusing, to see a man bring- ing against others the charges, I have already quoted, and then gravely proceeding, page after page, with statements apparently dependent upon nothing, but his own arbitrary will and pleasure ; seemingly quite unconscious, that he is kicking down his own prin- ciples at every step. When we write to the bad B feelings, the prejudice, or the rapacity of our readers, it is much better indeed to dispense with facts, and authorities ; as they would often stand in the way of some plausible, but hollow theory. I quite agree with you, that " nothing is more convenient than to advance general assertions ;" but it is rather odd, that whilst you are making this cap for others, you should not perceive, that it is as well adapted to your own head, as the very scalp that covers it. You estimate the population of the United States, without however giving any authority, at 12,500,000 ; the number of churches, of all sects, 11,164 ; and the average attendance at 600 souls, — " giving a total of «5, 582,000 usually attendant on the Christian ministry, exclusive of Roman-Catholics, who are very numerous in some parts of the republic." The census of 1820 gives the following amount of population : — Whites 7,861,935 Slaves 1,538,118 Free Blacks 233,557 All other persons, except? Afiifi Indians not naturalized 5 ' Total 9,638,226 The slaves, and the black population generally, by this time, in all probability, amount to not less than two millions. In what state they are, we shall have occasion to see hereafter ; but, adopting your own statement of population, if we include the Roman- Catholic attendants (and why a class of Christians, in Baltimore for instance more numerous than any other, should be excluded at all, it would be difficult to say), the usual attendants on Christian worship, will, in gross numbers, amount to one half of the population. The circumstances of a case. Sir, sometimes afford stronger evidence, even than the oath of any man whatever; and we know, that in no Christian country in Europe, nor perhaps in any district of an}^ such country does the number of attendants on public worship form any thing like an approximation to this ratio, even where the population is densely concen- trated. The old, the infirm, the sick, the infant, the busy, the unwilling, the idle, the infidel, in all countries, form together a large majority of absentees. But the population of the United States is spread over an almost infinity of territory. From the north- ern point of New England to the northern point of the Floridas, is about 17 oO miles. From New York to the western boundaries, is about 1400 miles; in length IZoO, in breadth 1400 miles, in square miles 2,450,000. Including the islands situated on the coast, we may say, with certainty, 2,500,000 ; which gives for every square mile 5 souls. The western country alone is said by geographers to contain 1,500,000 square miles. To furnish an average con- gregation of 500 persons, supposing that one half attend public worship, whether performed in log-house, shanty, or any other place, in winter, summer, or any other season, we must sweep over a space of 200 square miles ; at the same time, that we should find some difficulty perhaps in meeting with three families in suc- cession, professing the same religious opinions, in this " land of a hundred sects." Surely, Sir, amongst your admirers, you must calculate upon a prejudice, which entirely dispenses with examination and thought ; or, upon a credulity, absolutely idiotic. Jonathan is proverbial for throwing the hatchet, better than any man living. " There are," says Mr. Fearon, "no people, not even excepting the French, so vain, as the Americans. Their self-estimation, and cold-headed bombast, when speaking of themselves, or their country, are quite ludicrous. I might fill many pages, were I to follow in detail the deceptions example of some recent writers, whose views may perhaps he easilij appreciated. Every American, if he be a man of sense, would wish to see the real character and condition of his country ; in order that he might, not only perceive what is excellent, but also be able to discover what there was to amend and improve ; while to the respectable emigrant, and his family, the consequences must be lamentable, when he finds, that he has been excited to a change of country, by the exaggerated and base misrepresentations of romantic or interested individuals.'' Moore, the poet, has hap- pily, satirized this national vanity, in his epistle dated from Washington. " In fancy now, beneath the twihght gloom, Come, let me lead thee o'er this modern Rome, Where tribunes rule, where dusky Davi bow, And what was Goose-creek once, is Tiber now. This famed metropolis, where fancy sees Squares in morasses — obelisks in trees; "Which travelling fools, and gazetteers, adorn With shrines unbuilt, and heroes yet unborn." Americans, who have even seen London, will gravely tell their gaping countrymen, that it is not to be compared to New York. In any thing in which country is concerned too much caution cannot be exercised, in giving credence to American gasconade. Whether your statement, that nearly one half of the whole population of the United States (for your state- ment amounts to this) in their present state of disper- sion, and of course in spite of all obstacles, bodily and local, are usually attendant upon the Christian minis- try, giving an average attendance of five hundred souls, in each congregation, exclusive of Catholics, — whether this statement depends upon American, or upon any other authority whatever, I have no hesitation in saying, that it bears upon its front the impress of falsehood, and physical impossibility. The population of New York, when Mr. Fearon visited it, was 120,000; the places of Christian wor- ship 44. If about one half of this population fit- tended, it would require an average of from 13 to 14 hundred persons in each place of worship. Do you mean to affirm, that this was the case, even in the concentrated population of New York ? Mr. Fearon allows, that, "all the churches," meaning places of worship, " are well filled," at New York ; but when we consider, that some of these churches, instead of 1360 attendants, had not perhaps one quarter of that number, the rest of the assemblages must have been tremendous indeed. If your calculation is ridiculous even in the dense population of New York, what must it be in the wilderness, where, according to Dr. Mason, himself an American, "they lose, by degrees, all anxiety for the institutions of Christ ; their feeble substitutes, the small social meetings, without the minister of grace, soon die away : their sabbaths are Pagan : their children grow up in ignorance, vice, and unbelief; and their land, which smiles around them like a garden of Eden, presents one unbroken scene of spiritual desolation." You seem to exult at the declaration made by the Archdeacon, that the legal establishment of Chris- tianity may not be necessary to the maintenance of religion in the country. We might go farther, and say, that neither churches, chapels, nor meeting- houses of any kind, are necessary to the maintenance of religion. Men might be religious without them. But the question is not one of necessity, but of de- gree, namely, whether, under the legal establishment of Christianity, its doctrines would or would not be nii>re widely extended, and better understood, in any particular community ? It is foreign to my purpose, to enter upon the state of religion in this country. In what garb it appears, and in what spirit it is pro- fessed in the United States of America, the reader will be enabled to judge, on the strength of the au- thorities, which I am about to produce. In doing this, I shall not confine myself to mere religious ex- ercises, or assemblies, but shall embrace such actions, as mark the moral and religious character of a people, as surely as " a tree is known by its fruit.'' The first testimony, is that of a man who departed from England to the United States, dissatisfied with the political and religious institutions of his own country ; and it adds no little credit to his testimony, that he was deputed by a circle of friends, consisting of forty families, " to visit and give a faithful report, in order to furnish them with materials to regulate their decision on the subject of emigration." But it adds still more weight to his testimony, when we find it was wrung from him by palpable and staring facts, in spite of deeply-rooted, and fondly-cherished prepossessions. The gentleman to whom I allude is Mr. Fearon, Plaistow, Essex. He visited the United States in the year 1817, for the purpose already mentioned. In 1819, his book, on the subject, had reached a third edition. His own language will be the best criterion by which we may estimate the wishes and feelings of the Author, and the bitter disappointment of his golden dreams and fancies, on the subject of policy and re- ligion. Let Mr. Fearon, then, speak for himself, both as to feelings and fact. And first, as to feeling — " I perfectly rememember, indeed, the impressions with which I first visited America — impressions, which you all possessed in common with myself. America we believed to be (and I am sure we wished to find it so), the abode of freedom and toleration, in practice no less than in theory." " We fondly regarded it, indeed, as — " ' That land where self-government calls forth the mind. And the rights and the virtues of man are combined : 8 Where the thoughts, unrestrain'd, 'mid truth's regions may fly, Uncaged from the earth, may aspire to the sky. What the bosom conceives, that the tongue may express. Not bounded by bigots the power to bless. That land, where Rehgion's sweet voice may arise, Where, with Liberty, Virtue may walk 'neath the skies; Where, safe from each danger, secure from each storm. Lovely Freedom may nurse youthful Piety's form ; Where man, feehng his value, the impulse once given, May dare to deserve the rich blessings of heaven.' " Most of these lines are put in italics by Mr. Fearon, and were, no doubt, thought particularly fine. Religion singing. Liberty and Virtue walking arm in arm, and Freedom dandling a young Piety, are certainly sub- lime imasres. Before we have done, I fear we shall find that this "youthful Piety's form" not only wants nursing in this "land of liberty," but that the rickety creature would be of healthier constitution if nurtured a little more with "the milk of human kindness." " How far the country may have answered these our sanguine expectations — at least, how far I have believed them answered, I must leave each of you to conclude, from the facts I have forwarded, and the General tenor of my observation upon them." " At that period," says he, speaking of the first edition of his book, "sufficient time had not elapsed for the receipt, in this country, of a practical correction of that delusive enthusiasm, concerning the United States, which had been so widely propagated during the early part of the past year. Then, indeed, it was hardly possible to impress upon the mind of the Eng- lish advocate of enlightened opinions^ that America, judging from the frame of her government, could be ditferent, in reahty, to that which had been anticipated. Feehng this estimation of the repubhc to be general, it was with no ordinary anxiety that I submitted my reports to public scrutiny : now, however, within the short period of four months, accounts have arrived from so many quarters of the American Union, which, in all important points, confirm the general tenor of my ideas, that I should be affecting a degree of hu- mility which I do not feel, was I not to assert, that the opinions I have expressed on the subject of America, were the result of the most faithful inquin/ and ?nost solid conviction; and that whatever portion of regret may be felt upon the subject, it may be assumed, that my reports are but too true.^' [^Adver- tisement to the third edition.^ These preliminary extracts will, I think, be sufficient to show that Mr. Fearon entered the land of the United States a thick and thin admirer of her political and religious institutions ; and that, if his report is to be discredited at all, even in degree, he would be more likely to err in favor of the national character than against it. I do not mean, however, to charge him with want of candour or truth, that he did " extenuate, or aught set down in malice;" for, in direct oppo- sition to his darling anticipations and rooted preju- dices, he has recorded the most humiliating and mortifying facts. You say, "I conceive it requisite, that the public should be disabused of an impression, which both the clergy and the high-tory party, in this kingdom, are very desirous to make — that in America c 10 (meanino;, I suppose, the United States), there is no religion." They know. Sir, that religion is there "a rope of sand," and that she is frequently exhibited in the most degrading and disgusting form ; that her influence upon the great and leading principles of action are either not understood, or not recognized ; and they also know that Unitarianism is spreading far and wide amongst a people, whose self-sufficiency has already prepared the soil for its reception. 11 EXTRACTS. [No. L] NEW YORK— RELIGION. "Upon this interesting topic I would repeat, what indeed you are ah'eady acquainted with, that, legalli/, there is the most unlimited liberty. There is no state religion, and no government prosecution of individuals for conscience-sake. Whether those halcyon days, which would, I think, attend a similar state of things in England, are in existence here, must be left for future observation. There are five Dutch Reformed churches; six Presbyterian; three Associated Reformed ditto ; one Associated Presbyterian ; one Reformed ditto; five Methodist; two ditto ^br 6/flcA:s; one German Reformed; one Evangelical Lutheran ; one Moravian ; four Trinitarian Baptist; one Universalist; two Catholic; three Quaker; eight Episcopalian; one Jews' Synagogue ; and to this I would add a small meeting which is but little known, at which the priest is dispensed with, every member follow- ing what they call the apostolic plan of instructing each other, and ' building one another up in their most holy faith.' The Presbyterian and Episcopalian, or Chvrch of England sects, take the precedence in nvmbers and in respectability. Their ministers receive from two to eight thousand dollars per annum. All churches are well filled: they appear the fashionable places for ?en Jeft 'fr^e: ffPi^ ^ttaclj: ; hwtii licentious and destroying spirit .k$^ ^^n^ .fo^^i^k-i r^gcirdiess of every tiding but tjie gratificat}pn of ^.aligmnt J^^ and un-i£ortkij aspirations .'' uoiii i When we are told, as in the Tract to which allusion has already been made in the Advertisement^ that, ffin America, where |;here.;isnp: national church* re- ligion prevails more than in.'jEirjy other country in the world," it would be as well if its author* apd;the abettors of such a state of things, would define what they mean by religion ; because, judging from its effect upon the character and habits of the population of the United States, many people might be disposed to think, that the less of siich religion the better. THE END. *%■• Swinlxyne, Walter, and Taylor, Colchester. w- v V *">^-V"'""% '•-*-! '" *^°- ;*.;*s^ * ^^ oS-^ v^ >*' % 4 ' ' „ <, -^ ^^^°- "^0^ , ' 4 * S ^ * V V * o ^ ^ \#' .• ■ ^ ■• %," %, .0^ V '4 z ^^0^ •^ . y '''u. ■•*f V -ay <5^ * -ay ■<<> ' ■tP. \ .^^ V 7, z <>. ^ -^\^ ^*^ '2 7 tP V " " , t/><\^ ■^■^^ '^^ \^' a^;^^'a;= -^(^ i'''^ s r, ^''^ Q-> " ^ ■»■ \ » , 'Ti 0^^ ^V^ ft it .^^ .N^ cS ^ - r5-^ y-^. J'* -^«^.- .^- -o:'-'-r^>*:, .., V^>^>*'■; ' •« 1^0,%.^-^ v\^.-"/% '*'^ v^".-". ■%'**^ v^''^^-%' ■'^-.^ ./ *^. \ ^ rN^ \ * , X^ "^-^ " ^^^ V ft n -VO, ^. ^ - , .^ oQ\- ft ft s "> -iS < ^ - ^ ^ V V ^ * « ^ ^ \> ^ ^ * ^ '%^ V ^ ^ '• ^- ■■' - & %- \^ ... \" /^ ^' ■ ft ft s ^ _^^ O- aS? -^ ^i*v. /•■'*'' 1> <.//ftft .^^ -0^ ,- Y ft D ,- < . •'/ ^^^ •0 "^.c^ ^^^^- ^ ^V c> * N*^ -^ " %sJ*fei^- « . ^ .f^ ^ "Of %^ \> ,.-\"o, ^ '^^r .V yr^.\^\^' .V V „ ^ » ^^ *^ A^ ^ ■ ' Vr V ft n S^ Q. "'ftftO ^;