CHAP. XVII.]

MR. JOHN BUTLER.

657

the first open preaching of the doctrine in New York City. But it seems that, as early as January, 1794, a Mr. John Butler, an English Unitarian, appeared there, engaged the "Large Assembly Room," in Courtland Street, near Broadway, and began a course of lectures to propagate his "liberal" principles; and that he kept up these lectures for some months, challenging the reverend clergy to attend and controvert his views. But they seem generally to have preferred to let him alone, and not give importance to his proceedings by publicly disputing with him. They, however, invited him to "a private conference," which he declined, apprehending, as he said, that it would be attended with no "public benefit." His lectures gained him some notoriety, and several cards from him and others appeared in the newspapers of the city, relative to them. Butler's cards are generally headed "Unitarian Society," leaving it to be inferred that there was then such an organization in New York; though it is not said distinctly that this was the case. There certainly could not have been an organization of any great importance or permanence, else it would not have been left for a curious antiquarian to discover, within a few years, its very existence casually, while turning over the files of an old newspaper for another purpose.* Mr. Butler was probably

*See "Origin of Unitarianism in New York City," by Colonel Thomas F. De Voe, in the Historical Magazine for August, 1869, pp. 75-78.

one of those roving English Unitarians or Arians who, like Hazlitt who gave the Rev. Mr. Freeman, of Boston, so much aid and comfort

was

a sort of "Free Lance," who travelled at his will and went to war at his own charges, and in due time disappeared as he came, without record or observation.*

The character and history of the periodicals of any particular period usually mark pretty distinctly the prominent peculiarities of that period. Thus, the Spirit of the Pilgrims, a monthly periodical, established in 1828, in place of the Panoplist, which for fifteen years (1805–20) was the organ of the Orthodox of New England, marks an era in the ecclesiastical history of Massachusetts. The avowed object and end and the very distinctive character of this new religious periodical indicate with sufficient plainness the peculiarities of this period during which it flourished;

*Mr. Hazlitt was an English Unitarian minister, who visited Boston in May, 1784, and there preached, and exerted his influence in various ways to promote Unitarianism; and not only in this neighborhood, but as far eastward as Hallowell, Maine. Mr. Freeman said of him: "I bless the day when that honest man first landed in this country." Among other things which this "honest man" did in Boston was to persuade "several respectable ministers to omit the Trinitarian Doxology." — Spirit of the Pilgrims, 11, 291. It was Hazlitt's influence that converted Freeman's congregation into a Unitarian church, and secured the "reform" of the Book of Common Prayer to a Unitarian book. Monthly Repository, 111, 305, in Gillett, 231.

CHAP. XVII.] "SPIRIT OF THE PILGRIMS."

659

especially when considered in connection with the Christian Examiner, published at the same time in Boston, and confessedly the most important Unitarian publication in the United States. The Spirit of the Pilgrims was established to explain and defend Orthodoxy, and to expose the errors and dangerous tendencies of Unitarianism. "Unitarians," say the editors, in their Introductory Article, "have a magazine published here, upon which they spare no labor, and which is constantly employed in promoting their cause. We must have the means of meeting them on this ground."

And the editors justify their course, in making the defence of Orthodoxy against Unitarianism the great end of the Spirit of the Pilgrims, by the consideration that "the Unitarian controversy, as it is now conducted in Great Britain, Germany and the United States, embraces nearly all the great points of fundamental truth and fundamental error. It is, as we firmly believe, one of the last great controversies which is to afflict the church." They add: "The history of this controversy, so far as it has already proceeded, does not furnish any ground of alarm for the future; but in order to make a proper use of advantages, as well as to correct misrepresentations, it is necessary that the Orthodox should have some regular channel of communicating with the public."*

Introductory Article, Spirit of the Pilgrims, 1, 6-7.

These were the views of the leading Orthodox men of the period, in and around Boston; and to the support of this periodical, much of the talent and learning, and, above all, the effective, working ability of Orthodoxy at once rallied. For six memorable years it fought valiantly for the cause it had espoused. Bold and uncompromising in its support of Orthodoxy, fearless and unsparing in its exposure and condemnation of what were regarded as the errors and assumptions of Unitarianism, it made itself felt and feared by its opponents. Its trumpet notes gave no uncertain sound. It called all who loved the faith of the fathers to the battle for which it was ever girded and ready. Up to about this time (1825-28), Orthodoxy had stood very much on the defensive; but now it was called to assume the offensive, and to carry the war into the enemy's country. The whole life of Orthodoxy was quickened; new churches in large numbers. were formed; new and aggressive movements were inaugurated; and the whole country was astir with religious activity, which was crowned, at length, by one of the most extensive and powerful revivals of religion ever experienced in this country; of which some account may be found in the chapter on Revivals in another part of this history.

The increase of Congregational churches in the State, between 1820 and 1830, was great and rapid. Ninety-seven in all were organized. Of

CHAP. XVII.]

REV. PARSONS COOKE.

661

these, nearly two thirds were secessions from Unitarian bodies, once Orthodox; and thirty were newly-formed Unitarian churches. The whole number of Congregational churches in Massachusetts at the close of this decade was, therefore, four hundred and seventy-seven.*

In the year 1828, there suddenly arose a sharp discussion between a young Orthodox minister and a distinguished Unitarian magistrate of Massachusetts, on Unitarianism as a Political Power in the State. This, to be sure, was not a new topic. It had been repeatedly alluded to by Orthodox writers and speakers in previous years; but now it evoked unusual interest and attention, because it was quickly understood that the chief justice of the Supreme Court was the Unitarian champion. The controversy arose after this manner: At the annual Fast, April 3d, 1828, the Rev. Parsons Cooke, pastor of the Congregational Church, East Ware, Massachusetts, preached a sermon to his people, which was thought to be worth publishing, on Unitarianism an Exclusive System; or the Bondage of the Churches that were planted by the Puritans.

*Clark, chap. 21. The American Quarterly Register, anno 1831, gives a list of four hundred and twenty-three Congregational ministers in the State, of whom from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty were considered Unitarians. The whole number of churches and societies, according to this list, was about four hundred and fifty-two; of which one hundred and thirty were considered Unitarian. Vol. 111, 196-99.