UN1VERSALISTS IN THE STATES. 405 



We thcfreore pray Thee help We therefore pray Thee help 



thy servants whom Thou hast re- Thy servants whom Thou hast 



deemed with Thy most precious redeemed tUrowjli His most prc- 



blood. cious blood. 



The above verses, so altered, constitute the only creed 

 which the Liturgy contains. Indeed, freedom of opi 

 nion is of the essence of the Unitarian Congregational 

 churches ; so that, although the clergy have frequent 

 conferences at their stated quarterly and other meetings, 

 yet very few of them agree upon doctrinal points. I 

 was informed that many of them were verging towards 

 Universalism, as one would suppose, indeed, was the 

 natural tendency of their advancing views. 



In an excursion I made on the Old Colony railroad, 

 I had the fortune to meet a young, very amiable, and, I 

 have no doubt, very sincere Universalist clergyman. 

 He was on his return to his father s house from a 

 preaching tour in western New York. He described 

 this singular sect as very prosperous and increasing. It 

 numbers 1200 churches, 700 ministers, and 60,000 com 

 municants, in the States. It is particularly strong in 

 Massachusetts, and, as he assured me, many of the Uni 

 tarian churches are believed to be tending towards them. 



This Universalist body possesses a very large measure 

 of toleration ; but he informed me that no exact state 

 ment of their doctrines is to be met with in books. They 

 are not digested as yet they are only, in fact, begin 

 ning now to philosophise their opinions. They have 

 among them men of almost all other sects- all agreeing 

 to make their special doctrines non-essential, and to 

 unite on the ground that all go to heaven together. My 

 informant made morality a condition to the attainment 

 of future happiness, by the belief that each man goes to 

 heaven with the dispositions and relishes he has about 

 him when he leaves the world, and thus is in a more or 

 less fit state for the enjoyment of heaven occupies a 



