THERE can scarcely be a doubt, that among all the political and social relations of a people, there is none of such primary and vital importance as their religion; and if this be true of nations generally, it is peculiarly so of the United States of America. These states present, in this point of view, a novel spectacle; that of an experiment, conducted on a scale commensurate with its importance. We have not here to describe the influence of religion upon savages, nor upon a race fettered with the shackles of superstition, and of a predominant church government. We find a civilized and intelligent community in a situation to which history shows no parallel. Save the effect of knowledge and principle, there is nothing to influence the faith of the American citizen, no form of worship prescribed by law, no predominance of sects, no physical intolerance, no advantage or disadvantage to hope or fear from difference of opinion. The experiment has been fully successful; it has proved that a nation may be moral and religious without any external agency to direct or control the mind. It may safely be considered to have demonstrated the inexpediency of a union between church and state.

The constitution expressly forbids the general government to make any laws with regard to religion, and though the several states have reserved the right, they seem resolved never to use it. They do, indeed, sometimes allot portions of new land for the support of public worship, but the use of the grant is always left to the discretion of the inhabitants. Such state laws as relate to religious qualifications for office,&c. are almost a dead letter, if we except those which, in some states, render the clergy ineligible to the legislature, probably on the principle that civil and religious duties are incompatible with each other.

We find religion in the United States free from legal support or restriction, and, if the experience of fifty years is to be trusted, this non-interference is favorable to good morals and rational piety. There is no intolerance, no persecution, little controversy; yet the people are as religiously given as those of any other country, though not scrupulous with regard to forms. It has lately been demonstrated by statistical facts, that religious institutions exist in a much larger proportion to the population in this country than in any other; and in no country is the spirit of Christianity manifested more than in this. Benevolent societies for meliorating the condition of our race in this and other lands are numerous and increasing, and they display all the characteristic energy and enterprise of the Americans. The American missionary is now seen bending his course to the ‘islands of the sea,’ that ‘they may rejoice in the salvation of God,’ and to the ‘utmost parts of the earth,’ that they too may know the way of life. The Bible society, having supplied so far as possible every family in this land with the word of life, is now sending it through the missionaries to the heathen world; while the Tract society is despatching its little messengers of ‘glad tidings’ through the earth. Home Missionary, for the supplying destitute places in the United States with the ordinances of the gospel, Sabbath School, Prison Discipline, and numerous kindred societies are also lending their aid; and there seems to be a spirit of philanthropy pervading all denominations of evangelical Christians, which knows no bounds but the ends of the earth. May this spirit be increased a thousand fold!

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 been it 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.

UNIVERSALISTS are a considerably numerous body. They are divided into two classes—Ultra, or those who reject altogether the idea of future punishments, and Restorationists, or those who believe in a punishment after death, but which is not eternal.

QUAKERS. Pennsylvania is the strong-hold of the Quakers, although there are considerable numbers in New Jersey, the city of New York,&c. There are two sects, the one orthodox, the other followers of Elias Hicks, or Hicksites. They dispute between themselves which has seceded from the original principles of the denomination. The Quakers of England sent forth an epistle in 1829, containing a confession of faith, which acknowledged the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divinity of the Savior, his atonement,&c. The Hicksites are generally considered the seceders.

The DUTCH REFORMED was the established church in New York until its surrender to England. Its first classes was formed in America in 1757. Its government is vested in consistories, classes, and synods. Members of the German Reformed church are found principally in Pennsylvania, and also in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and other states. There are more than five hundred congregations of them. The American Lutheran church has eight hundred congregations. The United Brethren, or Shakers, a singular, harmless, inoffensive and industrious race, are found in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, and other states. There may be about six thousand of them. The Swedenborgians also hold an annual convention.

INFIDELS. It is proper to mention under the head of religion, in order to give a correct view of the religious state of the country, a class of persons, divided into several subdivisions, and generally looked upon with pity by professing Christians of all denominations, and viewed with concern by all the rational friends of liberty. We speak of the Owenites, Fanny Wrightites, Harmonites, Deists, or, according to a very common form of parlance, Freethinkers, Infidels, or Atheists. All of them, we believe, affirm that a community of property, labor, and education, is necessary to the well-being of mankind, and hold that a belief in divine revelation is unnecessary and absurd. They hold, too, that the marriage covenant is binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Rapp, who brought a colony of foreigners of this faith to the banks of the Ohio, acquired an almost unlimited authority over them. He forbade the intercourse of the sexes for a year or more, and was obeyed. He divided the lands among his followers, instituted regulations for manual labor, and the products of the common exertion was thrown into a common stock. Mr.Owen’s settlement, called Harmony, was conducted on nearly the same principles of equality. This gentleman possessed a large property in Scotland, which he abandoned to found a colony, and disseminate the doctrines of Voltaire and Paine, in America, in which he was very efficiently aided by the celebrated Miss Frances Wright. Both of them went about the country several years, lecturing against Christianity and revelation; but with no very great success. They finally showed that practice does not always conform to principle, by marrying one another. Mr.Owen’s settlement has long been abandoned, his followers not having attained that degree of moral and social perfection requisite for its success!

Such principles as those of Mr.Owen, striking, as they do, at the very root of society, will never, it is to be hoped, prevail to any great extent in any part of the world.88 The Freethinkers are at present but a small body, without order or government as a party, and little respectable as individuals. They are probably not more than five or six thousand. They have newspapers and places of meeting, in New York, Boston, and elsewhere. Many of them are avowed atheists. Had they been persecuted, molested, or opposed in any degree, it is probable they would have multiplied much faster than they have.

PAPISTS or Roman Catholics. This sect is rapidly increasing in the United States; a fact which ought to alarm all the friends of liberty and true religion.89

In 1632, a priest of the order of the Jesuits accompanied the early settlers to Maryland, and since that time the Catholic population have been supplied with instructers of their own persuasion from England. Asee was constituted, and a bishop consecrated, in 1790. In 1810, it became an archiepiscopal see, and four new suffragan dioceses were established, viz.: in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown, in Kentucky, to which some more have since been added, in New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond, and Cincinnati,&c. Regular missions are also established all over the country, and it would seem, from the zeal of the missionaries, as well as by the language of the pope, that very great importance is attached to the future religious faith of America by the court of Rome. Nor have the devoted exertions of the priests failed of much success, for it has been computed that half a million of the people of the United States are Roman Catholics, of which not less than ten thousand are in the city of Boston, being one sixth of its population. It is stated that bishop England, of Baltimore, is an officer of the Inquisition!