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day a good deal of sincerity which has not worked out the best results. We believe, indeed, that, beneath all honest beliefs and statements, there is an underlying stratum of truth; but it is our business to dig down through the huge errors that have been built upon this concealed foundation, until we have reached and discovered the pure, eternal, and saving truth that the world so much needs. I wish I could say that we have got through the third stage of religious action. This stage seems to correspond to the position of that man in the parable who had good seed to sow, and a broad field to sow it upon. We surely have a broad field before us. This year we are, indeed, excluded from our Southern States; but, next year, we expect to have all America open before us, and ready to receive the seed which is given us to sow. But we read, in the parable, that after the husbandman had sown the good seed, and while men slept, the enemy came, and sowed tares. I take it that we are now in just that position. We have the seed: it has been winnowed and washed for us; it has been well selected, and should secure an abundant harvest. We have a religious system, with whose efficacy for life, for good living, we are fully satisfied. We are cheerful in our religion. We are less distressed by doubts and misgivings, and more eager for active duty, than the members of any other communion in Christendom. We have, as we ought to have, more courage, more confidence of victory, a greater elasticity of spirit and movement; for we bear the light armor, instead of the heavy cuirass. I say, we have got the good seed, and we have got the good ground. I was lately told, by a leader in the Orthodox ranks, that New England has done with Congregational Orthodoxy. He told me, that, if we chose so to do, we have only "to go in and win." Just now, we cannot go below the line of the loyal States; but the temporary bar

rier will soon be removed. A lady of the highest social position in the United States the widow of President Madison once said to me, with all that grace of manner which always distinguished her as a republican queen, that she remembered the day when she was the only woman, in a congregation of a thousand, who dared to listen to a Unitarian sermon! The venerable friend and brother whom I see sitting before me [Rev. John Pierpont] was at that time in Richmond, Va.; whither he had gone to preach this very gospel. But the various Orthodox sects could not admit Mr. Pierpont into their pulpits! The Jewish synagogue was not occupied; and some hope was entertained that it might be procured for a hearing. But the Jews could not condescend to hear a Unitarian minister ! The freethinking element in the politics of Virginia then suggested and induced an application to the Legislature; and the hall of the House of Delegates was thus secured and occupied. And it would have been better for Richmond to this day, if Mr. Pierpont had been permitted to preach in that city from that day to this, as he used to preach to the congregation within these walls. The widow of President Madison was the only woman who dared to hear one of the most eloquent men of this country preach of truth and righteousness, and judgment to come, when his name was coupled with the Unitarian heresy.

We are going to have a wide field. We cannot rest where we have been resting for the last ten years; and we must see to it that the ground is wholly pre-occupied with our good seed, that the tares be not sown, and our harvest become like that in the parable. Unless our zeal and activity shall exceed that of the Memnonites and the Mormonites and the Mammon-ites, and all the other ites who infest and overrun our land, our crop will not really be

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worth the value of the copies of Channing and Dewey which we have circulated at home and abroad. We are apt too much to rely on the providence of God! My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," says the true Son of the Highest. Our true position is to be fellow-laborers together with God. It is while we sleep that the enemy Sows tares. We are in the habit of showing, at our gatherings, how the whole world practically works with us,

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literature, commerce, the sciences, the arts, all the means and agencies of human progress, - how all these co-operate with us and with our liberal Christian theology. God is indeed very kind to those who will work together with him; but it will not do for us to say that we will sleep a little longer, and God will do the whole. If we sow the good seed, and do not watch our fields; if we merely scatter our seed, and take no further care or thought concerning it, the tares will grow as fast as the wheat will grow, and the heads will be as high, and our crops will be worthless; for God will not work a miracle to cut down the tares. God did not send his Son into the world to train a generation of drowsy sleepers for the kingdom that is to come! The experience of the children of this world ought to have settled this question for us, and put an end for ever to this drowsy and impious waiting on God.

The speaker closed with a vivid dramatic sketch of the rise and progress of sedition and rebellion in a certain country, whose chief could not be roused from his indolence and inactivity to arrest, in good time, the spread of the political contagion. Messenger after messenger arrives to inform him of the commencement of the treason in a distant part of his territories,its spread from village to village, and from city to city, and from State to State, until it approaches and invades even the national capital

itself. But the chief magistrate cannot be aroused from his foolish sense of security, and vain hope that the raging sedition will, in some providential way, be arrested. At last he appoints a "day of public fasting, humiliation, and prayer." Meanwhile, arsenals are taken, forts occupied, and ships seized, by the rebels, and the authority of the government utterly defied, and brought to nought. But now he folds his hands in despair, and sorrowfully exclaims, "I gave them warning, and they would not hear: what could I do more?" In this great crisis, "the children of this world" show how much wiser they are in their day and generation than "the children of light." The people rise in all their might, men, women, and children uniting in one sublime and wonderful rally to the succor and preservation of the national honor. Every man girds himself for the fight; every young man puts himself in training for the war; every woman prays God to show her how she may help on the great endeavor; every child catches the sacred watchwords of Liberty and Truth, and enters into the spirit of the noble movement. All cry out that the land shall, now and for ever, be one and indivisible; and all are ready to sacrifice treasure, ease, and life itself, to this great end. It is from such a sleep, into such a tremendous and effective activity, that every Christian body must be aroused. We are to sweep away the spirit of secession, with all its narrowness and littleness, from the church; and we are to bring the social body of Christ into that great Union which he meant it to be. No hybrid Confederacy can satisfy the great idea and demand of Christian Unity. It is to help to create this Union, in the city of our God, that our society is formed. We shall never advance the cross of Christ by proving from history that the cross of Christ ought to be advanced. Nor can our sacred

charge and duty be discharged by one, two, or three bishops, or by a dozen or a hundred presbyters. It can only be perfectly accomplished in that great order, wherein every man, woman, and child is a sacred priest, and when the word of God shall at last speak out the majestic command, "Forward, the whole line!"

The congregation then joined in singing the Doxo

logy,

"From all that dwell below the skies; ".

and the benediction was pronounced by Rev. Dr. HILL, of Worcester.

ADJOURNED BUSINESS MEETING.

The adjourned business meeting of the Association was held in the Freeman-place Chapel, on the afternoon of Tuesday, at three, P.M.

In the absence of the Secretary, Rev. EDMUND B. WILLSON, of Salem, was chosen Secretary pro tem.

The Committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year made a Report; which was afterward withdrawn in order to admit of a full and free discussion of the contemplated changes in the organization of the Association.

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The fourth and fifth resolutions, respecting the plan for raising funds for the Association by concerted and united action, was then taken up for discussion, after the adoption of an amendment proposed by Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, of Charlestown.

Pending this discussion, Rev. E. G. ADAMS, of Templeton, called for the Treasurer's Report; which was read by the President. After which the resolution was adopted, with but one vote in the negative.

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