The lamp of life deny?’—Heber.
It is almost unnecessary to say, the religious aspect of different parts of the great confederacy is far from uniform. This would be the natural result of the freedom of religious opinions, and the circumstances of the early settlement of the country. New England, settled by the Puritans, retains much of the strong impress of the character of her fathers. Maryland was settled by Roman Catholics, Pennsylvania by Quakers, and other states by Episcopalians, while colonies of Swedes, French, and Dutchmen formed the starting points of others. Some persons are disposed to mourn over the fact, that Christians are divided into such a number of denominations, which they conceive to be an evil, and they earnestly long for the time to come when all these things shall be done away. It is indeed to be regretted that a greater degree of harmony and charity does not prevail among the great denominations which compose the mass of Christians, and that the time should come speedily when all shall ‘love one another with a pure heart fervently,’ is ‘most devoutly to be wished.’ Still these differences of opinion are the inevitable consequences of freedom of opinion on any subject; and as the Bible has not clearly marked out any form of church order and discipline, in which the chief difference consists among evangelical Christians, it can never be expected that all will agree upon this subject any more than upon any other. And on the whole it is best they should not; and it was wise in the great Head of the church to leave these things, non-essential, as he has, that different denominations may by a holy rivalry ‘stir each other up to good works.’ What a safeguard against intolerance, and the evils of bigotry and oppression, when several large and balancing sects exist in a community at the same time—a mutual check, and mutually operating on each other to prevent corruption. We should fear the result in our own land of the great predominance of any sect, but most of all that which, owning allegiance to a foreign civil and ecclesiastical potentate, is even now seeking to gain possession of our fair inheritance—we mean the Roman Catholic. While their right to propagate their opinions by all fair and constitutional means equally with others is freely admitted, the influence of their principles on our institutions, should they finally prevail, cannot but be dreaded. What popery has beenit ever must be, the very foundation-stone being the infallibility of the church, which of course can never have done wrong, and can never change in any of its great characteristics. (See note at the end of this article.)
We will now proceed to notice the principal sects existing in this country.
METHODISTS. The Methodists are the most numerous denomination in the United States, being found in all parts of the Union in considerable numbers. They count more than six hundred thousand members of their churches. There are two principal classes of Methodists:—the Wesleyan, who are Arminians, and the most numerous. They are named from John Wesley, one of the founders of the sect. The other class, to which Whitfield belonged, are Calvinistic in their doctrines. They are also divided into two bodies on the question of church order and discipline,—the Methodist Episcopal and the Protestant Methodist;—the latter are seceders from the former body. Attached to the former there were, in 1833, five bishops, twenty-two hundred and thirty travelling preachers, and nearly five hundred thousand members of the churches; to the latter, four hundred ministers and fifty thousand communicants.
BAPTISTS. This denomination is second in the United States as to numbers. They estimate from four to five hundred thousand members of their churches. They are chiefly Calvinistic in doctrine, and independent or congregational in their form of church government, differing little in any respect from the latter denomination,except that they administer baptism by immersion, and only to adult believers.[87]
PRESBYTERIANS. This is the third numerically of the religious sects of this country. It is the offspring of the church of Scotland. Their doctrines are strictly Calvinistic. At the first meeting of the general assembly, in 1789, there were but about one hundred and eighty or ninety ministers belonging to the whole body, in four synods and seventeen presbyteries. In 1834 it embraced twenty-three synods, one hundred and eighteen presbyteries, two thousand six hundred and forty-eight congregations, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen ordained ministers, and two hundred and fifty licentiates, and more than two hundred and forty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty four communicants. Of these ministers, about one-third reside in the state of New York, the next largest number in Pennsylvania, and the next largest in Ohio; some are found in every state.
CONGREGATIONALISTS. This denomination, differing from the Presbyterian only in regard to church order and government, abounds chiefly in New England, where they are the most numerous sect, although there are churches of this order in other states. According to their principles,each congregation of Christians is a complete church, which may commune with other churches if it pleases, and may appoint its own officers, to exercise discipline within itself. These Christians have sometimes been called Independents, from whom, however, they differ in some respects. Congregationalist and Independent are synonymous terms in England. They have pastors and deacons, the latter having the care of the secular concerns of the church, and not being allowed to preach. Their doctrines are the same as those of the Presbyterians, with whom they are united in all the great benevolent societies and movements of the day. Number of members, about one hundred and fifty thousand.
EPISCOPALIANS. The organization of the American Episcopal church took place during the war of the revolution, and (to secure the uninterrupted apostolic succession, as they say) the first bishop procured ordination from the Scottish bishops at Aberdeen, and two others were soon afterwards consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury in England, and thus the succession was preserved unbroken. They have ten bishops, fifteen dioceses, and five hundred and twenty-eight clergy, priests, and deacons. The highest dignitary recognised is the Bishop. Priests and Deacons are the only other clergy known. The supreme authority is vested in a general convention, composed of a house of bishops and a house of lay delegates. Each diocese has a convention for the regulation of its own affairs. The state conventions consist of the clergy of the diocese, and a lay delegation from each church. No salary is given to bishops, as such; they are supported as rectors of churches.
The influence of republican principles is thus strikingly manifest in many of the features of American Episcopacy. The people always choose their own ministers, the bishops are elected by a procedure, according to which the laity have a vote through their delegates, and no salaries are independent of a similar vote. In all these particulars, the American church differs from that of England, but in doctrine and principles they are the same.
UNITARIANS; a small body chiefly in the state of Massachusetts, and mostly in and around Boston. They are Independents in church government. In doctrines they are mostly either ultra Universalists, or hold the belief of the final restoration of all men. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, and the doctrines called Calvinistic altogether. The congregation of the King’s Chapel, in Boston, was probably the first which cherished these principles. It was originally an Episcopalian society, and they now use the liturgy, altered in some points to adapt it to their views.