sanction to this tyrannical surveillance over
the conduct and behaviour of others. I really believe that the majority
of men who go to church in America do so, not from zeal towards God, but
from fear of their neighbours; and this very tyranny in the more
established persuasions, is the cause of thousands turning away to other
sects which are not subjected to scrutiny. The Unitarian is in this
point the most convenient, and is therefore fast gaining ground. Mr
Colton observes, "Nothing can be more clear, than that scripture
authority against meddling, tattling, slander, scandal, or in any way
interfering with the private concerns, conduct, and character of our
neighbours, except as civil or ecclesiastical authority has clothed us
with legitimate powers, is specific, abundant, decided, emphatic. It is
founded in human nature; it is essential to the peace of society a
departure from it would be ruinous to social comfort. If therefore it
is proper to introduce any rule on this point into a mutual church
covenant, it seems to me that the converse of that which is usually
found in that place ought to be substituted. Even the apostles, as we
have seen, found it necessary to rebuke the disposition prevalent in
their time to meddle with the affairs, and to make inquisition into the
conduct of others. But it should be recollected, that the condition of
Christians and the state of society then were widely different from the
same things with us. Christianity was a new religion, and its disciples
were generally obnoxious. They were compelled by their circumstances to
associate most intimately; they were bound together by those sympathies
and ties, which a persecuted and suffering class always feel,
independent of Christian affection. Hence in part we account for the
holy and exemplary candour [?an dour] of their attachments to their
religion and to each other. But even in these circumstances, and under
these especial intimacies, or rather, perhaps, on account of them, the
apostles found it necessary to admonish them against the abuse of that
confidence so generally felt and reciprocated by those who confessed
Christ in those unhappy times; an abuse so naturally developed in the
form of meddling and private inquisition."

I quote the above passage, as, in the United States, the variety of
sects, the continual splitting and breaking up of those sects, and their
occasional violent altercations, have all proved most injurious