As it began its career under the ministry of Christ and his Apostles, it will never close it, till the religion which they taught shall have answered all the designs contemplated by its almighty Author. May the time soon come, in this happy land, when Christians will dare to think and believe for themselves on this great subject. May the time come, when man shall no more dare to overawe, by threats or other means, his neighbor's mind in the formation or expression of his religious opinions, than he will to oppress or abridge his civil and political freedom. Then, when Christians shall look at the subject with free and unbiassed minds, acting without fear of man or bodies of men, and it shall be esteemed honorable, and not reproachful, for a man to form his own opinions, - then may we look with certainty to the universal spread of the great truths, which we now labor to extend then will the fabric of corrupt Christianity crumble and fall, as a thing that cannot stand in the light of free inquiry, enlightened reason, and sound scriptural interpretation. MR TUCKERMAN'S SEVENTH SEMIANNUAL REPORT OF HIS SERVICE AS A MINISTER AT LARGE IN BOSTON. PRINTED FOR THE American Unitarian Association. BOSTON: GRAY AND BOWEN, 141 WAShington street. JUNE, 1831. Price 5 Cents. 'The most effectual way to check the growth of great offences, is, to check the growth of little ones.'-London Quarterly Review, January, 1831. The experiment made of the Institution for the reformation of Juvenile Offenders, under the admirable system of discipline and education adopted by the highly gifted and benevolent Principal of the House, is most encouraging; and leaves nothing to regret, but the want of means to extend its usefulness. To provide these, and thus to rescue from crime and ruin the unfortunate objects who might there find an asylum, would be an occupation at all times worthy of the persevering attention of the city government'.— Address of the Mayor to the City Council of Boston, on the 3d of January, 1831. 'The best penitentiary institution which was ever devised by the art, and established by the beneficence of man, is, in all probability, the House for the reformation of Juvenile Delinquents.'-Governor Clinton's Message to the New York Legislature. 'It is a rare occurrence indeed to find persons of cultivated minds in an Alms-House.'-Report of the Commissioners of the New York Alms-House, September, 1830. REPORT. To the Executive Committee of the AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. GENTLEMEN,-There is no single topic belonging to the great subjects of poverty and crime, which is in itself so important, and has so strong a claim upon public interest, as the condition of the morally neglected and vicious children, a large part of whom, if they shall be left to the influences under which they are now living, will inevitably become early proficients in depravity, lost to all that is truly good and happy, and the bane of society; and, if they shall not be brought to our prisons, and even fall the victims of violated law, will almost certainly live in a state of abject want, and die in the debasement of unrepented sin. I referred to this topic in the close of my last Report, and I beg leave here to resume it. Would that I could speak of it in a manner in any degree commensurate with the greatness of its claims, whether we regard the individuals immediately concerned in it, or those without whose instrumentality they cannot be rescued from the ruin which threatens them; or, whether we look to the immediate, or the final conse quences, of the ignorance, transgression, and exposures in which we find them. I could neither satisfy myself, nor others, by any general language upon this topic. The principal cause, I am persuaded, of the little interest which is felt in it, is, the vagueness of general conception concerning it; and this is to be obviated only by a statement of facts, by which the character and extent of the evil to be remedied may be distinctly seen. I rejoice indeed to know, that there is in our community a very widely extended, and an active sympathy, as well with the moral, as with the physical condition of the poor. But this sympathy is not yet, by any means, what it should be. It is too general, where it should be particular; and therefore too indefinite, to awaken the strong sense which should be felt of personal obligation in the cause. It has indeed provided two ministers for the religious instruction of seamen, and five others exclusively for the service of the poor. Nor is this all. To myself at least, - and I know not how far to others, it has most liberally extended the means of adding to moral and religious instruction, the relief, to large numbers, of pressing want, and of severe suffering. Yet this ministry will very partially accomplish the objects which ought to be comprehended in it, if it shall fail to call forth in its supporters a stronger feeling of their moral relation to the poor; if it shall fail of bringing them into a closer connexion with the less prospered classes of their fellowbeings; and if it shall be viewed, and maintained, as a substitute for the personal services, which might otherwise, perhaps, be thought obligatory. I should indeed look with no pleasure upon this ministry, if I must feel |