CHAP. X.] UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONS. 137 



to me that he thought it nearly as presumptuous to acquiesce in. 

 the negative as in the affirmative of the propositions laid down 

 on this subject in the Athanasian Creed. &quot; We are,&quot; he said, 

 &quot; like children born blind, disputing about colors.&quot; 



The prominent position occupied by the Unitarians arises, not 

 from their number, nor their wealth, however considerable this 

 may be, but from their talent, earnestness, and knowledge. 

 Many of the leading minds in the Union belong to this sect, and 

 among them, Channing, Sparks, Dewey, and other well-known 

 authors, have been converts from the Congregationalists. 



To have no creed, no standard to rally round, no fixed canons 

 of interpretation of Scripture, is said to be fatal to their progress. 

 Yet one of their body remarked to me that they might be well 

 satisfied that they were gaining ground, when it could be said 

 that in the last thirty years (since 1815) the number of their 

 ministers had increased in a tenfold ratio, or from fifty to five 

 hundred, whereas the population had only doubled in twenty-five 

 years. He also reminded me that their ranks are scarcely ever 

 recruited from foreign emigrants, from whom the Romanists, 

 Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Episcopalians annually 

 draw large accessions. A more kindly feeling has of late years 

 sprung up between the Unitarians and Congregationalists, because 

 some of the most eminent writers of both sects have joined in 

 defending themselves against a common adversary, namely, those 

 rationalists who go so far as to deny the historical evidence of the 

 miracles related in the New Testament, and who, in some other 

 points, depart more widely from the Unitarian standard, than 

 does the latter from that of Rome itself. Norton, author of 

 &quot; The Genuineness of the Gospels&quot; may be mentioned, as one 

 of the celebrated Unitarian divines who has extorted from the 

 more liberal members of all &quot; orthodox&quot; denominations the praise 

 of being a defender of the faith. 



In the course of my two visits to the United States, I enjoyed 

 opportunities of hearing sermons preached by many of the most 

 eminent Unitarians among them were Channing, Henry Ware, 

 Dewey, Bellows, Putnam, and Gannet and was much struck, 

 not only with their good sense and erudition, but with the fervor 



