ound together. There is an attraction of
cohesion in an uniform religious worship, acting favourably upon the
morals of the mass, and binding still more closely those already united.
Now, the voluntary system in America has produced the very opposite
effects; it has broken one of the strongest links between man and man,
for each goeth his own way: as a nation, there is no national feeling to
be acted upon; in society, there is something wanting, and you ask
yourself what is it? and in families it often creates disunion: I know
one among many others, who, instead of going together to the same house
of prayer, disperse as soon as they are out of the door: one daughter to
an Unitarian chapel, another to a Baptist, the parents to the Episcopal,
the sons, any where, or no where. But worse effects are produced than
even these: where any one is allowed to have his own peculiar way of
thinking, his own peculiar creed, there neither is a watch, nor a right
to watch over each other; there is no mutual communication, no
encouragement, no parental control; and the consequence is, that by the
majority, especially the young, religion becomes wholly and utterly
disregarded.

Another great evil, arising from the peculiarity of the voluntary system
is, that in any of the principal sects the power has been wrested from
the clergy and assumed by the laity, who exercise an inquisition most
injurious to the cause of religion: and to such an excess of tyranny is
this power exercised, that it depends upon the _laity_, and not upon the
_clergy_, whether any individual shall or shall not be admitted as a
_communicant_ at the table of our Lord.

Miss Martineau may well inquire, "How does the existing state of
religion accord with the promise of its birth? In a country which
professes to every man the pursuit of happiness in his own way, what is
the state of his liberty in the most private and individual of all
concerns?"

Referring to religious instruction, Mr Carey in his work attempts to
prove the great superiority of religious instruction and church
accommodation in America, as compared with those matters in this
country. He draws his conclusions from the number of churches built and
provided for the population in each. Like most others of his
conclusions, they are drawn from false premises: he might just as well
argue upon the number of horses in each country, from the number of
horse-ponds he might happen to count in each. In the f