is dear in religious liberty. It has been a conflict for gospel truth. It has been the birth-pang of the daughter of Zion for the souls of the Heathen."*

The writer proceeds, and lifting up the mantle of a late distinguished orator of our own city, upon an occasion of almost equal importance, he exclaims,

"The agony is over. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Though disfranchised, we inherit; though excommunicated, we commune; though amputated from the body, we hold the head.-It is of little purpose that we should be thought to have gained the victory; it is sufficient to have gained a release from that spirit of intolerant bigotry to which we are willing to bid adieu for ever."-Brief View, p. 16.

All this is very fine; but really it does not appear to us that the agony is yet over, with the mind which dictated such a rhapsody, merely because the Young Men's Missionary Society did not sustain Mr. Spring's examination, and give an appointment to Mr. Cox. We cannot consent to have any voluntary association of gentlemen considered as persecutors of others, merely because they employ in their service only those whom they themselves approve.

The other pamphlet which lies before us appeared some weeks after the first. It is written in a plain style, with a mild spirit, and very much in the manner of a man of business, who prefers the simple truth, in relating his story, to any effort at producing stage effect. There is nothing like a haughty or intolerant disposition, nothing like agony, or even recrimination, displayed in its composition. Indeed the Hopkinsian party must have expended all their patience, and the old Calvinists all their intolerance, before they commenced writing their respective histories; for it is obvious, from a comparison of the style and the statements of the two pamphlets, that all the tameness is with the latter party, and all the fierceness with the former. Appearances, however, we confess, are often deceptive; and it is not always the stroke, which is accompanied

* Mr. Cox was sent to preach to the people of New-Jersey.

with the greatest flourish and the most noise, that cuts the deepest.

There are some statements of matter of fact, in the two documents under review, which would, at first, leave the impression on the mind of the reader, that one of the parties had done violence to the ninth commandment. There are indeed frequent contradictions; but it is possible, perhaps, and, surely, it is desirable, if possible, to account for them, without any implication of veracity. We shall at any rate make the attempt.

"Circumstances of no equivocal import very early indicated that there were some unhappy jealousies in the Board of Directors on the subject of Christian Theology-These miserable jealousies had never slept."-Brief View, p. 4.

"The spirit of unanimity did not appear to have forsaken us. Especially in the Board of Directors, the members seemed to feel as brethren. The majority felt no jealousies, nor suspected them to exist in the minority."-History, p. 7.

Here is, no doubt, a contradiction: but we think it is more apparent than real. Jealousies are well described, by the one party, as sleepless, unhappy, and miserable companions. Whether this description proceeds from experience, or an abstract knowledge of the operations of the human mind, its accuracy is unquestionable. Ambitious and restless men are doomed in providence to such unhappiness; and if the simple and unsuspecting are generally worsted by their adversaries, they seem to us, upon the whole, to have quite as much felicity as designing men. There is some truth in the old proverb, Honesty is the best policy. Of the problem before us, rather than suspect the veracity of either statement, we would give a hypothetical solution. If one of the parties happened to be conscious of jealousy, and felt the accompanying misery, it was natural to infer that the other was jealous also. What more natural, for one who distrusts himself, than to imagine that he is distrusted by others? The History before us seems to justify our hypothesis, by mentioning that the Rev. Mr.

Spring expressed his willingness to receive the first article of the original constitution, putting his own construction upon it.

Every set of words may be safely subscribed by any man, who is permitted, whatever may be their ordinary meaning, to attach his own ideas to them: but there must be some jealousy where there is a consciousness of equivocation; and might it not then have been written in truth, "These miserable jealousies had never slept ?"

They entreated them not to lose sight of the grand object of the institution, and forget the claims of the perishing Heathen." Brief View, p. 10.

"It was determined" (at the separation of the Young Men's Missionary Society from the New-York Missionary Society)" that the efforts of the former should be directed towards the destitute Whites in any part of our country, where missionary service should be thought most useful."-History, p. 6.

Here too the contradiction may be only apparent: for by the right of construction the American whites may be denominated Heathen.

"The Rev. Arthur J. Stansbury had called upon the Rev. Mr. Mathews, and stated, that having been disannexed from his former pastoral charge, he was at that time without regular employment as a minister. A mission for some months in the employment of the Young Men's Missionary Society was proposed to him, and he immediately signified his consent, should the Board think proper to appoint him. It was replied, that he would be proposed, and with that expectation he left the city."-History, p. 8.

In contradiction to this statement, the opposite party affirm, that

"The object to be secured by the majority, was not the appointment of Mr. Stansbury, so much as the rejection of Mr. Cox." Brief View, p. 5.

Here, to be sure, the parties are at issue. The one affirms, and the other denies. It would appear to us, with no other aid than common sense to guide us, that Mr. Mathews knew best what conversation he had himself held with Mr. Stansbury and that of course the charge brought against him and

his coadjutors, by the New Association, has really no foundation in fact. But, yet, with the right of construction, the whole may be explained away.

It is often good policy to provide before-hand a door of escape from dilemmas or other difficulties: and there is no method so well calculated to answer this purpose, as to be in the habits, on all very important occasions, of using equivocal expressions; or, in case the form of words be definite, to assent to them with a secret reservation. One is, in this way, always left at liberty, notwithstanding contracts, to use his time, his property, and his other talents, for the general good, without involving himself in what are termed inconsistencies.* This is the mode of reasoning by which they, who would set aside as sinful, the exercise of the private affections, and resolve all virtue into a regard for abstract being, satisfy themselves while overlooking whatsoever is included in punctuality to pledged veracity. If this plan of action were to become general, it is obvious there would be an end to all leases, deeds, mortgages, and titles whatsoever; there would be an end to all creeds, and confessions, and bonds, and contracts, and bargains, and commerce; an end to the marriage covenant itself, to all personal confidence, and, of course, to civilized society. It is probable that Godwin, himself, intended that this rule of virtue should be confined to those master spirits who are qualified to be the guardians of general being, and so should be at liberty to dispense with the ordinary laws of morality: and we think that every member, even of the New Society, exercising for himself

"Why should we observe our promises? The only answer that can be made is, because it tends to the welfare of intelligent beings. Can my engagement always render that which before was injurious, agreeable to, and that which was beneficial, the opposite of duty? Promises are, absolutely considered, an evil, and stand in opposition to the genuine and wholesome exercise of an intellectual nature. If, therefore, right motives and a pure intention are constituent parts of virtue, promises are clearly at variance with virtue. Every: promise is considered as given under a reserve for unforeseen and imperious circumstances. Every engagement, into which I have entered, an adherence to which I shall afterwards find to be a material obstacle to my utility, ought to be violated."-Godwin's Political Justice.

the right of mental reservation, would be satisfied that his associates were explicit in their declarations, and true to their engagements with him.

Among the positive contradictions, in the statement of facts, which appear upon comparing these two pamphlets, the most extraordinary, and the last of which we shall take notice, is that which respects an appeal to the Holy Scriptures. An attempt, in this age of Bible Societies, to proscribe the sacred volume, by forbidding quotations from it in proof of Christian doctrine, is so very great an absurdity that it is difficult to believe any Protestant Minister could be guilty of such an insult to any Christian Assembly. It would have been impious to wish for such proscription; and it is a bold impiety which would express publicly such a desire.

"They (the Hopkinsians) were not a little surprised to hear a reverend gentleman of the majority (the Calvinists) rise and express his hope, that if any person should introduce arguments from the Bible in support of his positions, he should be considered out of order. Nor was their mortification diminished, to hear another reverend gentleman of the majority concur in this extraordinary proposal."-Brief View of Facts. pp. 12, 13.

This is the charge; and an extraordinary one it is. We disclaim entirely, as the representatives of the orthodox in this good city, every man capable of making such a proposal: for assuredly he is unworthy of a rank among the witnesses of the Reformation. The charge is, indeed, denied by the Calvinists, in pp. 20, 21, of the History and the best solution which we can give of the contradiction is a reference to the right of construing words differently from their ordinary usage.

We cannot close our remarks upon the documents before us, without adverting to the charge of intolerance, urged so fiercely by the new Society against the old, and repelled so softly by the latter. "Sectarian prejudices"-" The littleness of party distinctions"—"The spirit of alienation and bigotry"—" That spirit of intolerant bigotry," &c. &c. are the phrases by which the Hopkinsians describe the disposition of the Calvinists in New-York in the years 1816 and 1817. Had we lived at a VOL. I....No. 2.

6