building, having two galleries, one above the other, on three of its
sides. It is rich in historical recollections. Here Whitfield preached.
Here patriotic meetings were held even before Faneuil Hall was built;
and here the British troops were quartered at the time of the
Revolutionary War. Here, too, the lamp of truth was kept feebly burning
when all around had sunk into darkness and heresy. At the commencement
of this century, the ministry in all the other Congregational Churches
in Boston had become Unitarian. In the Old South, however, there were a
few people, eight in number, who formed a "Society for Religious
Improvement." They could not at first _pray_ together; they only read
the Scriptures and conversed on religious subjects. But they grew in
wisdom, fervour, and zeal, and were eventually the means, not only of
reviving religion in the Old South, but also of giving an impulse in
Boston which is felt to this day. Church after church on orthodox
principles has been instituted, till there are in Boston more than a
dozen large and vigorous churches of the Congregational order; and the
Old South, the honoured "mother of churches," has had her "youth
renewed like the eagles."

But how came Congregationalism to be so deteriorated? It was owing to
its having been made the State religion. All were at first taxed for
its exclusive support. This was felt to be unjust and oppressive, and
it brought the favoured system into bad repute. Then a modification of
the law was adopted, and the citizens had their choice of systems, but
were taxed for the support of some system or other. This provision,
likewise, began ere long to be felt as unjust towards those who did not
wish to maintain _any_ system, or at least not by taxation. This law,
moreover, gave a virtual support to Unitarianism. "This," says the Rev.
Mr. Button of New Haven, "has been more fully illustrated in
Massachusetts than in Connecticut. The repeal of the law for the