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MEMOIR 
 
 DAY!]) HALE, 
 
 LATE EDITOR OF THE JOUKNAL OF COMMERCE. 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM HIS MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. 
 
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 hr 
 
 BY JOSEPH P£>JTH0]VIPS0N, 
 
 PiSTOR or THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH, NEW TORK. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 JOHN WILEY, 161 BROADWAY, 
 
 AND 13 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
 ISoO. 
 
 No, I, 
 
Memoir. 
 
 Amid many cares and labors more than abundant, I sit 
 down to write a memoir of a departed friend. A variety of 
 documents must be read, collated, and classified ; oral tes- 
 timony must be reduced to Avriting, sifted, and arranged ; 
 letters must be perused and whatever is of value in their 
 contents must be woven into my narrative ; and the files of 
 a large daily newspaper for more than twenty years must 
 be examined critically for the selection of extracts and arti- 
 cles. Yet the task will be a pleasant one. It will bring 
 me again, as it were, in contact with one whom I loved 
 and honored — with a powerful intellect and a noble heart. 
 Already do I begin to perceive how little I knew and appre- 
 ciated in his life-time him whose life and character I shall 
 attempt to portray. His private journal reflecting from 
 its brief pages his early religious experience ; his letters 
 abounding with the generous sympathies of the husband, 
 the father, and the friend, and revealing as amid banks of 
 flowers the deep clear- stream of a spiritual life; his arti- 
 cles embracing a wide range of subjects — moral, political, 
 economical, religious, ecclesiastical, — and not only equal in 
 depth, discrimination, comprehensiveness, originality, and 
 force, to any productions of the same class, but vieing at 
 times with the more elaborate productions of philosophers, 
 statesmen, and divines ; — these cause me to feel tliat I am 
 about to delineate no common man, and, wliile I despair of 
 
6 MEMOIR. 
 
 doing justice to his memory, most earnestly to desire that I 
 may be enabled so to conceive of his character as fairly to 
 impress upon these pages its bold and massive features, 
 and if possible to transfer also its more delicate lines and 
 gentler shades. I would have others see the inward work- 
 ings of a mind and heart which have stamped indelibly their 
 impress upon society and the Church. 
 
 Just now, too, there is in this church which he established, 
 and to which he devoted the last years of his life, a revival 
 of religion, which originated apparently in connection with 
 his death, and the hcaveidy atmosphere around seems to 
 bear me up toward a nearer communion with him who has 
 put off this earthly house for " a building of God, not made 
 with hands." 
 
 I come then cheerfully to this unusual task ; which, by 
 God's blessing, I hope to accomplish for His glory, and the 
 good of His Church. 
 
 The name of Hale appears in the earliest records of New 
 England. The family has been traced back to Thomas 
 Hale of Codicote, Hertfordshire, England, Avho lived in the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. The present represent- 
 ative in England, is William Hale, Esq., of King's Wal- 
 den, Hertfordshire ; the line being quite distinct from that 
 of Sir Matthew Hale, and the family arms different. The 
 Hales were among the first settlers of Charlestown and Old 
 Newbury, in Massachusetts. Robert Hale, the first emi- 
 gi'ant, was one of the founders of the church in Charles- 
 town in 1632, and a deacon of the same ; his son. Rev. 
 John Hale, was the first pastor of the church in Beverly, 
 which office he filled with ability and favor for nearly forty 
 years. He was somewhat distinguished as an author, and 
 was public-spirited and influential as a citizen.* Early in 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
THEHALEFAMILY. 7 
 
 the last century, the branch of the family from which the 
 subject of this memoir was descended, emigrated from New- 
 bury to Coventry, Connecticut. Richard, the head of this 
 branch, was grandson of Rev. John Hale, and fatlier of 
 Nathan Hale, " the 'hero spy of the Revolution," Avho 
 was seized and executed by the British.* Another son of 
 Richard was Rev. David Hale, who was for several years 
 settled in Lisbon, Connecticut, as pastor of the Congre- 
 gational church in that town, and who was the father of 
 tite late David Hale of New York. Of this excellent 
 man a memoir might be written which would be profitable 
 to Christians in every station of life. Only the leading 
 facts in his history can be mentioned here. After a brief 
 but successful ministry to the church in Lisbon, the failure 
 of his health obliged him to relinquish preaching, and he 
 then devoted himself to the instruction of youth in a select 
 family school. Most of his pupils were from the neigh- 
 boring towns of New London and Norwich ; where some 
 are still living, who cherish with grateful affection the 
 memory of their kind and faithful teacher. 
 
 Li 1804, Mr. Hale came into possession of the ancestral 
 estate in South Coventry, and removed thither the same 
 year, where he continued to reside till his death. Here, 
 while he did not wholly relinquish the congenial employment 
 of teaching, he devoted himself principally to farming, and 
 by the system which he introduced in every department, he 
 soon made his farm a model for the neighborhood. So com- 
 plete was the order with which everything on the premises 
 was arranged, that a gentleman who in his boyhood was ah 
 inmate of Mr. Hale's family, lately remarked to the writer, 
 that if things remained as they were thirty years ago, he 
 could go now in the darkest night and put his hand on the 
 rake, the hoe, the pitchfork, or any other utensil belonging 
 to the farm. 
 
 * Sec Appendix B. 
 
8 MEMOIR. 
 
 The interior affairs of the househola were conducted with 
 like method and rcguhiritj. There was a fixed liour for 
 rising and retiring, for devotional exercises, and for every 
 meal. Order was the law of the house and of the farm ; 
 and whoever Avas employed in eith^, though but for one 
 day, was required to conform to the established rules. 
 
 Mr. Hale was as rigid in exacting what was right from 
 othei's as he was conscientious and even scrupulous in doing 
 right himself. His strong sense of justice and propriety 
 rendered him obnoxious as an employer to the indolent, the 
 wasteful, and the disorderly, but such an example of prompt 
 and upright dealing was of great value to those who were 
 disposed to profit by it. He possessed self-government in 
 a remarkable degree, and as he governed himself, so he 
 sought to govern his family and all who were in any way 
 subject to his control. 
 
 But Avith this stern adhesion to right was blended a kind- 
 ness and a gentleness of spirit hardly less rare. He would 
 never suffer a dumb animal to be abused. His horses and 
 oxen were trained and guided in the field without fear of 
 whip or goad. A generous hospitality always graced his 
 board, and his charity, often bestowed in secret, relieved 
 the wants of the poor. 
 
 As a severe pulmonary affection forbade his ever resum- 
 ing the labors of the ministry, Mr. Hale accepted the oflSce 
 of deacon in the church at Coventry, which he filled to gene- 
 ral acceptance for many years. From this it is apparent 
 that he entertained no notions of the dignity and the inde- 
 feasibility of the clerical oflSce, which would hinder him from 
 serving the church in any station or capacity to which in the 
 providence of God he might be called. And he was no less 
 willing to serve his neighbors in civil affairs, for he was a 
 justice of the peace, and judge of the County Court ; and 
 such was his character for wisdom and integrity, that who- 
 ever was conscious of the right of his cause, was always will- 
 
SKETCH OF REV. DAVID HALE. 9 
 
 ing to leave it to ' Squire Hale.' Ministers and cliurches 
 too, in that region, were accustomed to resort to him for ad- 
 vice, and to rely much upon his judgment in ecclesiastical 
 matters. To ministers in particular he was a valuable 
 friend. He always retained an interest in the education 
 of the young, and especially young men of promise. A 
 Secretary of one of our most important benevolent societies, 
 was induced to seek a liberal education by the counsel and 
 the proffered aid of Mr. Hale. There exists in Coventry 
 a fund known as the " Hale Donation" for the assistance 
 of young men preparing for the ministry. 
 
 Religion Avas eminently honored in this consistent servant 
 of Christ. He kept the Sabbath strictly. Even in harvest- 
 time, on Saturday afternoon his workmen were called from 
 the field and dismissed with supper in season for each to 
 reach his home before sun-down. Long before the tem- 
 perance reform had become popular, Mr. Hale ceased to 
 furnish ardent spirits to men in his employment, and gave 
 them extra wages in lieu of that liurtful perquisite. 
 
 His regard for truth was peculiar. He seldom gave a 
 certificate of recommendation, and when he did, as for in- 
 stance to young men who had been under his instruction, he 
 confined himself to few words, and to the exact facts in the 
 case. But his recommendation was a passport to employ- 
 ment wherever his name was known. A single line given 
 by him to the gentleman above referred to, certifying that 
 he was " well qualified to keep school," was worth more 
 than a whole page of ordinary testimonials. 
 
 In sickness and suffering he exhibited firmness, pa- 
 tience, and trust in God. On one occasion he submitted 
 to an acute surgical operation without moving a muscle or 
 uttering a cry of pain. As the surgeon and his attendants 
 were conferring apart about the expediency of binding 
 him, and friends were venting their gi'ief in tears, he 
 exclaimed, " What mean ye to weep, and to break mine 
 
 1* 
 
10 MEMOIR. 
 
 heart 1 for I am ready not to be bound only, but also 
 to die." 
 
 Such was the father of the late David Hale. This brief 
 sketch of his character will enable the reader to appreciate 
 in part the influences under which the subject of this me- 
 moir was trained. 
 
 His mother, Mrs Lydia Hale, was the daughter of Samuel 
 and Lydia Austin of New Haven, Connecticut. Her ster- 
 ling character, strong judgment, and fervent piety, well 
 qualified her to be the companion of such a husband and 
 the mother of such a son. Having passed the limit of four- 
 score years and grown venerable even in her widowhood she 
 still survives her only child, and in a retired village of 
 Connecticut, among familiar scenes and the few lingering 
 friends of other days, with the calm assurance of the ma- 
 ture Christian, she awaits the summons to rejoin the objects 
 of her fondest love in an eternal home. 
 
 The" preceding paragraph was in the hands of the printer 
 when intelligence was received that the desired summons 
 had at length come. A paralytic shock — the last of a se- 
 ries with which Mrs. Hale had been afflicted — terminated 
 fatally on the morning of the 28th of April. For some time 
 past she had resided with her granddaughter at Rockville, 
 Connecticut, a new village in the vicinity of Coventry, 
 whither she had gone, as she expressed it, to prepare to die 
 peacefully. She met the approach of death with the same 
 dignity and composure for which she Avas remarkable through 
 life. Her remains were conveyed to Coventry and deposited 
 by the side of those of her husband. Some interesting 
 reminiscences of her life, from her own pen, will be found 
 in the Appendix.* 
 
 * See Appendix C. 
 
EARLY LITE OF DAVID HALE. 11 
 
 David, the son of David <and Ljdia Halo, was born at 
 Lisbon, Connecticut, on the 25th of April, 171)1. It is 
 easy to infer what must have been the early training of the 
 child of such parents. Though he was their only child, and 
 for that reason they may have been more indulgent to his 
 childish faults, yet from all that can be ascertained, it 
 woukl seem that his parents were judicious and faithful 
 in the application of the scriptural principles of family 
 government. His mother once remarked to the writer, 
 when speaking to her of her son's usefulness and success, 
 " My great desire has always been that David might do 
 right and be a good man.^^ 
 
 One or two anecdotes may be mentioned here to show 
 that his parents did not discard the wisdom of Solomon. 
 On one occasion Avhen David was chopping wood in the 
 door-yard, his aunt cautioned him not to hurt himself, to 
 which he replied in a bantering way, whereupon his father 
 punished him severely though he was then in his 'teens. 
 
 He himself narrated this incident : " Once, mother called 
 me, ' David, David, David !' / didnH come, and then she 
 redded me." 
 
 There was nothing particularly noticeable in the charac- 
 ter and conduct of David Hale in his boyhood. He was 
 obedient, affectionate, playful, and sometimes roguish, and 
 is said to have been characterized by timidity, gentleness, 
 and extreme sensitiveness, rather than by their opposites. 
 He always told the truth from infancy, and in his childhood 
 and youth, though he gave no evidence of piety, he was at- 
 tentive to the outward duties of religion. His only educa- 
 tion was that of the district school and such instruction as 
 he received from his father at home, which was limited to 
 the common English branches. But in those days a com- 
 mon-school education in Connecticut laid broad and well 
 the foundations of knowledge. 
 
12 MEMOIR. 
 
 When about sixteen years of age, David left scliool and 
 began his business-hfc as a clerk in the store of a principal 
 nu'rcliMut of Coventry. His employer, now a resident of 
 Providence, Rhode-Island, says of him, " He was a faithful, 
 trusty boy. He then manifested those traits of character, 
 Avhich Avere in after life more fully developed, and for 
 Avliich I believe all who had the pleasure of his per- 
 sonal ac(|uaiutauce have, and ever will, give him full 
 credit, viz. : frankness, truthfulness, and magnanimity, — 
 the latter in my opinion equal to Webster's definition of 
 the term.* 
 
 " I recollect one incident that made an impressioiv on my 
 mind. I then thought he was chargeable with a transaction 
 that rather displeased me. I mentioned the fact to him in 
 private. He stood up before me with his head a little 
 higher than mine, and declared himself innocent of the 
 charge, and with tears running down his face respectfully 
 exculpated himself to my full satisfaction." 
 
 After one year's experience of a clerkship in a country 
 store, Mr. Hale began to aspire to be a merchant in the 
 connnercial metropolis of New England. His prospects in 
 Coventry were better than those of most young men, for he 
 was sure of coming eventually into possession of a farm as 
 good as any in the town. But feeling that this was " too 
 narrow a circle for information or exertion," contrary to the 
 preference of his parents and the advice of friends, he de- 
 termined to go to Boston and obtain a thorough mercantile 
 education with a view to that course of life which he had 
 
 * The following is the (lelinition referred to : Magnanimity, 
 "Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul which en- 
 counters danger and trouble with tranquillity and firmness ; which 
 raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of 
 benevolence ; which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and 
 prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest, and safety, for the 
 accomplishment of useful and noble objects." 
 
CLERKSHIP IN BOSTON. 13 
 
 marked out for himself. He was attractetl to tlie city also 
 by a fondness for polished society. 
 
 It was in 1809, when about eighteen year.> of age, that he 
 left the parental roof to seek his fortune by his own exer- 
 tions. As he drove into Boston in the old-fashioned chaise in 
 which lie had traveled from Worcester, (there was no great 
 Western railroad then), and with an honest simplicity in- 
 quired of the truckmen along the streets w'.iere he should 
 find a stahh; and an irui, ;uid was niiswercd by some with 
 curses and by others with ridicule, he had Jiis first expe- 
 rience of the rougli and tumble of Hfe in iiio busy, selfish 
 city. But this was oidy tlie beginning of Ins annoyances. 
 Not readily finding employment in tiie bns'ness which he 
 had in view, he accepted a situation in a co.nmission house 
 Avhere he experience*! such severe treatment that he ever 
 afterwards spoke of his employer as his old master. 
 
 On one occasion he was sent in search of a vessel whose 
 arrival was reported ; he went to her wharf, but she was 
 not there, and after searching for some tunc in vain, ho 
 returned to the store and said that he could j ot find her. — 
 " Can't find her ! Ha ! CanH find her .'" said his mas- 
 ter with a sneer, hooting him out of the ston^, " Go to every 
 wharf from Charles River to tlie Neck, and dou't come back 
 and say you can't find her." 
 
 Yet this clerkship, tliough far from corresponding with 
 his dreams of Boston life, proved to liim a very salutary and 
 useful discipline. Alluding to it afterwards in a letter to a 
 friend, he remarked, " God chose to place mo in a situation 
 where under a tyrant of a master, I should karii indifference 
 to fatigue or hardship, and unyielding perseverance in the 
 pursuit of whatever was undertaken ; a lesson which He 
 knew, though I did not, was absolutely necessary for me." 
 It was there that he learned never to admit tliat a duty re- 
 quired of him could not be done. 
 
 The occasion of his leaving this disagreeable situation was 
 
14 MEMOIR. 
 
 an incident illusti*ative of the independence and the noble- 
 ness of his character. A fellow clerk, a mere lad, had left 
 tlic store on account of harsh treatment. Young Hale was 
 ordered to go and entice him back, that his master might 
 have the malignant satisfaction of kicking him out of the 
 store. This he refused to do, and was turned out of his 
 place in consequence. 
 
 Thus ended the first year of his experience of city life. 
 Disappointed and tried he Avas on the point of abandoning 
 the idea of being a merchant, and even went so far as to 
 Avrite to his parents that he would return home and settle 
 on the farm, if they would remit him money for that pur- 
 pose. This was what his parents had long desired, and they 
 wrote immediately their approval of his decision and inclosed 
 the money which he requested. The letter was sent by a 
 neighbor, but on reaching Boston, by some strange oversight 
 he forgot to give it to David, and carried it back with 
 him to Coventry ; and before David received it he had 
 obtained another clerkship and had entered into engage- 
 ments which he could not retract. His new employers, 
 Messrs. Bartlett and Denison, were of a very different 
 stamp from the master whom he had left, and he soon 
 began to feel that the life of a clerk was not necessarily 
 the life of a drudge or a slave. This little incident shaped 
 the whole subsequent course of his life. His parents were 
 disappointed in the result, and not a little pained at what 
 they considered his " foolish schemes," but, as is not unfre- 
 quently the case, the Providence of God had a work in view 
 for David which their foresight limited by their fondness 
 could not then compass. As he grew up to manhood he 
 began to entertain more serious views of the future, and to 
 desire success in business chiefly as a means of comforting 
 his parents, and of doing good in the world. The following 
 letter, with all its humor, is indicative of the grave transi- 
 tion from the romance to the reality of life. 
 
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 15 
 
 "Boston, Aiml 2G, 1811. 
 ** Honored Father, 
 
 " Yesterday made me twenty years old. With what pleasure 
 I once anticipated that day. And perhaps it has brought me as 
 much pleasure as 1 ex[)ecle(l, but not exactly of the same kind. 
 Then, I thought what a tine thing it was to be strong, and nim- 
 ble so as to overmat(;h all the boys, and so that I could knock a 
 ball or {)itch a quoit like men, and so that I needn't always be 
 doing little chores, but more than all, because I should do what 
 I Iiad a mind to, and be free. And when I heard men talk I 
 frequently thought and knew tlieir opinions to be wrong, and 
 wished myself so large that what I said they would believe. But 
 now wliat am I ? Ncjthing it ap[)ears to me, but a mere insect 
 ciawling about on this great molehill. Some of my species are 
 running one way, some another, each one after his favorite crumb, 
 and few care which way I run, or what is the effect of my race. 
 When I look round and see the vast variety of great men, little 
 men, wise men, foolish men, fat men, and lean men, of what con- 
 sequence can it be v/hether I am long or short, whiteheaded or 
 auburn locked, humpshouldered, hooknosed, respected or neg- 
 lected ; whether I ride on the Pegassus of my own folly or go 
 on foot ; whether I am happy or miserable ? The world will 
 still go on just so whether 1 am in it or out of it, whether I sit 
 still or get up and stamp. Then what is to be done ? Climbing 
 the hill of eminence is like a pismire's crawling on chalk, as soon 
 as he makes it his dependence, down he goes with a broken head 
 for his exertions. We may rely on the aid of a divine providence 
 if we make it our trust. 13 ut this should not at all diminish our 
 own exertions. Every one has many objects, and some one in 
 particular which will involve his anxiety and command his abili- 
 ties. To suffer that favorite object to pass unattained would bo 
 the consequence of fear or sloth, both of which let every rational 
 being banish. The kind care of Heaven and my affectionate 
 parents has brought me to be almost a man. May the continued 
 care of Heaven make me a blessing to my parents ; nor suffer 
 them to mourn that they are the cause of a creature's existence, 
 who had better never been born. 
 
 " Your dutiful boy, 
 
 DAVID." 
 
 Mr. Hale remained In Boston, occasionally trading a 
 little on his own account, till after the declaration of war 
 against Great Britain in 1812. This period embraced the 
 non-intercourse act of Mr. Madison's administration and 
 
16 
 
 MEMOIR. 
 
 the embargo of ninety days by wliicli the war was preceded. 
 From brief intimations in a journal which he then kept, it 
 wouhi seem that he sympathized with the federal party in 
 their opposition to these measures which he represents as 
 having " laid American glory and prosperity in the dust." 
 We learn from the same source that he went on several 
 expeditions — some of them not a little hazardous — in quest 
 of imported goods then contraband of war. Of one of 
 these, by schooner to St. Andrews, his journal gives a 
 minute and entertaining description. 
 
 But the memorials of these few years are too scanty for a 
 connected biography ; and yet it Avas at this time that he 
 underwent the most momentous change of which a moral 
 being can be the subject in this probationary state. When 
 Mr. Hale went to Boston a young of man eighteen, though 
 liis principles were ■\vell-formed and his habits good, he was 
 not professedly a Christian. But he kept his morals pure. 
 In a letter to his father, he says, " I have read Proverbs 
 XXIII. attentivel3^ Of the virtues it inculcates I will say 
 nothing, and only observe that I am seldom called to ' eat 
 with a ruler,' and never join with ' wine-bibbers.' Of the 
 rest you will be satisfied if you but put the question, Can 
 he who most tenderly loves one female adorned with every 
 virtue, hold intercourse with another who has clothed herself 
 in infamy ?" He Avent indeed occasionally to the theater, and 
 and in after life he used to say jocosely that it was by hearing 
 actors speak that he learned how to speak himself at least 
 loud enough to be heard on the street or in af)ublic assembly ; 
 but how nuich ho thought of his school may be learned from 
 his letters on the theater in a subsequent part of this volume. 
 He never suffered himself to be contaminated with the vices 
 which flourish in the courts of Thespis. His preservation 
 from the common fate of young men in large cities was 
 owing chiefly to his early education, which had firmly 
 rooted in his mind the principles of vii'tue. He kept the 
 
CONVERSION. 17 
 
 Sabbath ; and he continued to read the Scriptures in wliich 
 from a child he had been taught. He attributed his preser- 
 vation in this respect in part likewise to his connection with 
 a singing school, Avhich occupied his leisure, and especially 
 to virtuous female society. liut he needed a higher security 
 than that aftbrded by early habits and good principles, or 
 even by the society of the pure in heart. And this he found. 
 At that time there was in Boston a preacher of the Gos- 
 pel whose name and labors will not be forgotten in that city 
 for many generaticas. I refer to the Rev. Dr. Griffm, then 
 pastor of the Park Street Church. Of noble mien, of car- 
 nest and effective eloquence, bold and zealous for the truth in 
 times of controversy and peril, this distinguished preacher, 
 then in his prime, drew around him a greater concourse of 
 hearers, and especially of young men, than any other orthodox 
 minister in Boston. Mr. Hale was an attendant on his minis- 
 try, and to use his own words, Dr. Griffin's sermons often 
 sent him home trembling to his room and to his knees. At 
 length his convictions resulted in penitence and faith in 
 an atoning Savior. This was somewhere in the early part 
 of the year 1812. In June of that year he commenced 
 keeping a journal in which he recorded his religious expe- 
 rience and such secular matters as interested him personally. 
 The entries in this journal were made at irregular intervals 
 for about three years, when it was dropped and never re- 
 sumed. He commonly recorded the texts with a brief out- 
 lino of the sermons of each Sabbath, sometimes adding his 
 own reflections. »The following extracts will serve to ex- 
 hibit the general tenor of his thoughts and feelings. 
 
 " Sahhalh, June 12, 1812. Am sensible that T have spent 
 lliis Sabbath very impiopcirly ; neither my thoughts nor my 
 words have been confined to heavenly objects. I must keep 
 myself alone on iSundays or i cannot enjoy the company of my 
 lieavenly Fatlx^r." 
 
 " Sabbath, Sept. 0. To-day the sacraniciii. of the supper has 
 b(!cn administ(!red ; but 1 was not at the table. Oh ! I cannot 
 
18 MEMOIR. 
 
 sit at tlie table of the Lord in Heaven unless I am prepared here. 
 I must first partake of that bread which came down from Heaven, 
 here, or I cannot live on it there. Scarcely could I turn my 
 back on that ordinance ; it indeed appeared a rich, a reviving re- 
 past. I could have given myself away to enjoy it with ray 
 Savior's smiles. Christ has died for me, and shall I not live for 
 Him ? He has humbled himself and taken the form of a servant 
 to atone for my sins, and shall I not be humbled for those sins ? 
 He has suffered himself to be derided, spit upon, scourged and 
 crucified for the love he bore to me who was his enemy ; and 
 shall I return him no affection who is so much my friend ? My 
 trembling soul scarcely durst trust itself in his hand. But I have 
 nowhere else to go. Merciful Savior, I will throw myself at thy 
 feet ; there will I lie till thy benevolent hand raises me up." 
 
 Mr. Hale already appears to have been a shrewd observer 
 of public men and affairs. His correspondence with his 
 " honored father," of which only a few specimens remain, 
 foreshadowed some of the opinions to which he afterwards 
 gave such prominence as a public journalist. In this view, 
 and as indicating the vigor of his mind and the readiness 
 of his pen, the following extracts from a letter written at 
 twenty -one, will be read with interest. 
 
 " The politics of our country appear to have taken a different 
 channel for a few months past. The storm appears to grow 
 more calm, and the strife to be less for names, and more for prin- 
 ciples. Violence is getting unpopular, and men are growing more 
 into the practice of thinking for themselves. They see that the 
 " Essex Junto " and federalists in other states have sometimes 
 been rash, and that democratic proscription at home and paper 
 cannonade on foreign nations, are but the pitiful ravings of mad- 
 ness and the bravado bluster of cowardice. In fact, I think 
 Americans are a;ettinfj a little wiser. If men in greneral should 
 become so wise, as to believe their own senses even when they 
 contradict their favorite leaders, and leave off to see with other 
 men's eyes, to hear with other men's ears, and not refuse to feel, 
 then demagogues must tremble and democracy tumble from its 
 pre-eminence. Democrats have been worse to convince than 
 " Doctor Doubty " himself. He upon receiving a good drubbing, 
 acknowledged that some things were certain ; but democrats 
 liave grinned and bore the cudgel, and still doubted whetlicr any 
 tiling hurt them. But wc must not expect the time in a republic 
 
EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 19 
 
 when patriotism shall govern. Legislative bodies will evor be 
 scenes of cabal, influenced by a few demagogues, to whom in the 
 fancied expectation of helping themselves, they will sacrifice the 
 best interests of the people. These demagogues know Avell how 
 to blow their own trumpets, to to,ot their own patriotism, and 
 tell the people how infatuated they are, with love for such 
 charming creatures. But Cassius, who for his philanthropy 
 could slay Caesar whom he loved so much, could afterwads place 
 t)/rants all over Judea and Syria, because they by their extortions 
 were able to pay him the most tribute. Constitutions are but 
 little protection against these rotten-core patriots. Different poli- 
 ticians, like different divines, think directly contrary to each other, 
 but all find their sentiments amply supported. No constitution 
 can be made so tight, but that a legislature who think there is 
 better picking the other side, will find some hole where they may 
 crawl through. The Hon. Mr. Otis, in a very elegant speech on 
 the reported answer to Gov. Gerry's ' Old maids' petition,' ob- 
 served very truly, 'Paper constitutions are like paper kites, and 
 every political boy thinks he may let them go the full lengtli of 
 the string.' 
 
 " Buonaparte says in one of his bulletins (soon after the battle 
 of Jenna, and the issuing of the Berlin decree), he will fight 
 until the British acknowledge that the rights of war, are the same 
 by water as by land, that it is as contrary to the law of nations to 
 capture private property on the sea as it is on the land. Will 
 you send me an answer to him ? Is private property as sacred 
 in ships as in houses ? If not, why is the distinction ?" 
 
 In the fall of 1812 Mr. Hale returned to Coventry, prob- 
 ably having been throAvn out of employment in Boston by 
 the war. Under date of Sept. 18th, his journal contains 
 tliis brief entry : " On Monday 14th, I left Boston and ar- 
 rived at my parents on Wednesday. Thus I am placed on 
 the ' War Establishment ' of Mr. Madison." He spent the 
 winter of that year in teaching a district school at Coven- 
 try. Here he became involved in a controversy with one of 
 the most influential men in the town, whose son he had 
 whipped severely for misdemeanor. The boy who was per- 
 haps the largest in the school, had openly and contemptu- 
 ously refused to do as he was bid ; Avhereupon Mr. Hale 
 flogged him into obedience. The flogging was undoubtedly 
 
20 MEMOIR. 
 
 severe though i*-s severity was much exaggerated by rumor. 
 
 The father of the lad, CoL , a leading Federalist and 
 
 aristocrat, was highly indignant at the insult offered to his 
 family pride, r„tvi threatened summary vengeance upon the 
 presumptuous teacher. Mr. Hale had already rendered 
 himself obnoxioas in some way to the democrats of the town, 
 and now " about half the district" was aroused against him. 
 The character and issue of the contest may be learned from 
 the account which he gave of it at the time in a letter to a 
 friend. 
 
 " Every measure was tried which malice could invent to injure 
 my character, and to drive me from the school. I kept my place, 
 and stood I trust, firm in my own defence against all their rage, 
 until all other measures failing, the Visitors of schools (who have 
 power to dismiss instructors for misconduct), were called. This 
 was just what i wanted. I had a grand trial before them in 
 which I was accused, perhaps of twentj'' crimes, such as feeling 
 important, and talking politics. My accusers belittled themselves 
 all that I could -•. ish, and gave me every advantage to defend 
 myself and whip them, which I did in a long plea. The Visitors' 
 judgment was mn only approbatory, but highly plauditory of my 
 conduct. The whole was a somewhat amusing, though quite in- 
 teresting scene. All this was too much for mj' enemies to bear, 
 and they threatc^ned mj' person with attack. And I have no 
 doubt some of t'lc m would have gladly sucked my blood. I let 
 them understand hat I was not scared, but as tlie judgment of 
 the Visitors had established my cliaracter to the world, I was 
 ready to leave then, Avhich it was thought prudent to du." 
 
 Not satisfied with the decision of the Board of Visitors, 
 the aggrieved p-rty determined to carry the case to the civil 
 law. A few days later Mr. Hale wrote to the same friend 
 as follows : " "VMiat think you ? My mad Colonel has at 
 length sued mo ! — before a single Justice ! and laid his 
 damages at seven dollars ! I have had but few days' notice, 
 and am determined to manage my own cause. The less no- 
 tice I can take oi" it the better. I have no doubt what the 
 result will be, b.it find that it requires considerable time for 
 mc to arrange my thoughts for such an undertaking. This 
 
SCIIOOLCONTROVERSY. 21 
 
 is the most important trial of all, and will, ii I am success- 
 ful, elevate my character still more than what is past. To 
 preserve and exalt my character is an object of very tender 
 solicitude." 
 
 But the Justice before whom he was sunimoned was one 
 of the visiting committee who had approved of Mr. Hale's 
 conduct, and he refused to try a case upon which he had 
 already given his opinion ; so the young advocate " lost the 
 opportunity of whipping the Colonel in his piea." 
 
 This opportunity, however, was soon given before the 
 proper tribunal, and the final result of the case is thus 
 stated by Mr. Hale in his journal under date of July 3d. 
 
 " July 3d. The long contest between Col. ■ and myself, 
 
 respecting a punishment Avliich I inflicted on his son while at 
 school in Silver street, I hope is now at an end, as it has been 
 decided to-day in my favor by a court of law. This business as 
 it has terminated will establish the government of scboolmasters, 
 and it is probable that much good will result to society, as it is 
 exactly what the ideas of many people at this time recjuire. 
 On the whole, I trust that community has gained, and that I 
 have suffered no loss in character, and I hope none in good 
 nature." 
 
 This decision was approved by the great majority of the 
 better class of inhabitants in the district, and its influence 
 upon the discipline of schools in that vicinity was felt for 
 years. A gentleman who resided in Coventry at the time, 
 and who afterwards taught school in an adjoining district, 
 observed to the writer, that when the trial came on, all good 
 people seemed to wish for Mr. Hale's success, and that he 
 himself felt strengthened by the decision when he came to 
 exercise the function of a pedagogue. 
 
 This little incident was quite an afiair for a young man of 
 twenty-one, and it brought out some of the characteristics 
 for which Mr. Hale was afterwards so distinguished. We 
 cannot but admire his fearlessness in the discharge of what 
 he considered his duty to the school, his manly, independent 
 
Of) 
 
 M K M O I R 
 
 bearing throngli the trial, and the self-rehanco and con- 
 fiik'nce in the justice ot" his cause which led him to under- 
 take his oAVu defence against the professional talent engaged 
 on the other side. It should also be mentioned to his credit 
 that it appeared from the testimony of all the witnesses, 
 that though he chastised the boy severely, he did not inflict 
 a stroke after the boy had submitted to his authority. The 
 chastisement was not inflicted in a passion but as a matter 
 of principle, to impress the scholars with the diflerence be- 
 tween *•' I won't " and " I will." 
 
 During this temporary residence at Coventry Mr. Hale 
 made a public profession of religion. His feelings in view 
 of that transaction are thus expressed in his journal. 
 
 " Sabbath, Jimc Gth, 1813. I have to-day taken upon me 
 publicly the vows of the Lord. Wliat an act have I done ! IIow 
 have I unalterably committed myself ! Alas ! I feel that I am 
 wholly unable to perform my solemn obligations. I have de- 
 clared in the presence of God, angels, and men — I have called 
 Heaven and earth to witness, that 1 take the Lord for my God, 
 Jesus Christ for my Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit for my Sanc- 
 titii'r ; that 1 renounce the world and embrace the cross. I have 
 pledged myself to ' walk in all the ordinances Lord blameless.' 
 ' But 1 know in whom I have believed,' that lie is able to keep 
 me from falling, and to present me before the throne of grace 
 clothed in the robes of his righteousness with exceeding joy. 
 Blessed Redeemer do I not love thy cause ? Is it not my wish 
 to honor thee. Oh thou who hast so much humbled thyself for 
 me ? Kind Saviour I lean on thy almighty arm ; Avilt thou up- 
 bold me, and make thy stiength ])erfect in my weakness. After 
 the Su})per, the 100th hymn in Dwight's Collection was suni^. 
 So congenial was it to my feelings that I felt myself overwhelmed, 
 and conipt'Ued to yield m}'' emotions in tears. And so perfectly 
 and so eloquently does it describe the feelings of my heart at that 
 time, that 1 would ever have it connected in my memory and in 
 my manuscripts with that transaction : 
 
 " The promise of my Father'8 love 
 Shall stand forever good ; 
 He said and gave His soul to death, 
 And scal'd the grace with blood. 
 
RETURN TO COVENTRY. 23 
 
 " To this dear cov'nant of thy Word, 
 I 8ft my worthlcaH name, 
 I seal the engagement to my Lord, 
 And make my humble claim. 
 
 " Thy light, and strength, and pard'ning grace, 
 
 And glory, shall he mine ; 
 My life and soul, my heart and flesh, 
 And all my pow'rs are thine. 
 
 " I call that legacy my own, 
 
 Whieh'Jf-sus did bequeath ; 
 'TwaH purchas'd with a dying groan. 
 And ratified in death. 
 
 " Sweet is the memory of his name 
 Who bless'd us in his will, 
 And to his testament of love, 
 Made his own life the seal." 
 
 In the same connection are two other entries which illus- 
 trate his habit of self-examination, and his views of Chris- 
 tian duty. The first was made on his twenty-second birth- 
 day. 
 
 " Sabbath, April 25. This day is the anniversary of my birtli. 
 Another year has been given me by a merciful God, and my 
 blessed Savior has been enriching me with abundant privileges 
 that I miglit bring forth some fruit. It becomes me then not to 
 slight this grace, but to examine whether my life has produced 
 any ' fruits meet for repentance.' Alas, what a wretched result 
 must such an inquiry produce ! Well may the Lord of the vine- 
 yard say, 'Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground.' But 
 God is abundant in goodness, therefore have I hope. Oh ! 
 Divine Savior, do thou intercede for me at thy Father's throne, 
 that I may be spared ' this year al.so,' and under thy gracious 
 culture may I be no longer barren. Do thou enable me this day 
 to renew my vows to thee, and this coming j^ear may I devote 
 myself more unreservedly to thee, who hast loved me and given 
 thyself for me." 
 
 The other entry was made some months previous, when, 
 entertaining the hope that he was a Christian, he was called 
 upon to engage in prayer in his father's family. 
 
 " My father left home yesterday to attend his duty at Tolland. 
 T have, by his advice, taken the lead in our family devotions. 
 How poorly I perform my part my own sensations are witness. 
 But I trust, that with some degree of humility and confidence, I 
 
24 
 
 MEMOIR. 
 
 am enabled to rely on that infinite fountain of wisdom, who has 
 promised to be near all those who call upon Him. But difficult 
 and embarrassing as this duty is, its performance affords the most 
 heartfelt satisfaction, even in a parent's family, and surrounded 
 with domestics. How delightful must it be then, when performed 
 by the side of her who is most tenderly loved, and whose bosom 
 beats with piety and congenial fondness. Strange that any whom 
 sympathetic love has united should neglect this cement, this bliss 
 of their affection, to raise their united hands, and present their 
 mingled prayers to their heavenly Friend. Imagination paints 
 the scene of family devotion adorned by love as almost up to 
 Heaven. Religion will not destroy love but c'nasten it, and 
 ' love will not wound religion but adorn it.' " 
 
 His correspondence at this time with the intimate friend 
 to whom he was subsequently united in marriage abounds 
 in expressions of sincere, humble, and earnest piety. A 
 few extracts may not be unacceptable to the reader. Speak- 
 ing of the best mode of influencing an impenitent person, he 
 remarks : " It is no doubt our duty to endeavor to persuade 
 sinners to love our dear Redeemer ; and though hints and 
 arguments may very properly be often used, we shall be 
 likely to make a deeper and more effectual impression by 
 cultivating that sweet and gentle temper in ourselves, which 
 Tfas so eminently exhibited in Him." 
 
 In respect to self-examination and the evidences of Chris- 
 tian character he makes the following discriminating re- 
 marks : 
 
 " In judging of ourselves and of all other things we are ex- 
 tremely apt to be influenced by our wishes. Here we need be 
 particularly cautious. Still we are not left to be continually in 
 doubt. If we will accept a Savior's invitations we may have 
 good reasons for our hope and stand fast, though with all humble 
 and sincere Christians it will be with meekness and fear. It 
 should be our earnest prayer that God would search our hearts, 
 and see if there be any wicked way in them, and lead us in the 
 way everlasting. We should not shrink from examining our 
 hearts by any test which is sanctioned in Scriptui'O, but should 
 endeavor to try ourselves by all tests to discover sin in all its 
 lurking places, and be careful that there is no one which we un- 
 knowingly roll as a sweet morsel under our tongue. We should 
 
RESIDENCE AT COV^ENTRY: MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 bring ourselves to every test, not generally, but particularly. If 
 we wish to know whetber we love Christians, we should not 
 look round on Christians at large merely, nor on the polite and 
 well-bred among them who would be agreeable to us without 
 their piety ; but ask ourselves, Do I love that poor, ignorant, 
 and despised servant of Christ who has nothing but his piety to 
 recommend him ? In inquiring whether we are pleased with the 
 sovereignty of God, it should be not generally but particularly ; 
 not ' Am I willing He should do what He pleases with nations or 
 with families, or bring upon me such afflictions as are common to 
 mfen ?' but, ' Am I willing like Job to have my friends turned to 
 enemies, and in poverty to be laid on the bed of anguish ?' 
 Could I then say ' It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him 
 good' ? " 
 
 In tlie beginning of his Christian hfe, he manifested that 
 delight in the Sabbath and in public worship for which he 
 was remarkable till the close of life. On this point, he 
 remarks : " Our pi-ivilege in the Sabbath is inestimable.. 
 To assemble in the temple of God on earth for His praise 
 seems the nearest approximation to the enjoyments of the 
 blessed above." 
 
 In the fall of 1813, Mr. Hale was drafted from Coventry 
 and joined the army at New London, where he remaingd 
 a short time as sergeant in the company of " Connecticut 
 Guards," but was never called into the field. Soon after 
 the retiring of the British from New London he was dis- 
 missed from service and returned to his father's house, 
 where he employed himself upon the farm. While living 
 at Coventry he planted a fine grove of maple trees, because 
 he was determined that he would not pay taxes for sugar, 
 nor be dependent on the British- for it. This grove still 
 flourishes in front of the old State-house. 
 
 On the 18th of Jan. 1815, he was united in marriage to 
 Miss Laura Hale of Canterbury, Connecticut, his cousin in 
 the first degree, to "Whom he had long been ardently at- 
 tached. Beautiful in person, refined in mamiers, well-edu- 
 cated, and possessed of uncommon sweetness of disposition, 
 and depth and fervor of piety, she was worthy of the en- 
 
.26 MEMOIR. 
 
 thusiastic admiration witli which Mr. Halo ever regarded 
 
 her, and which was not lost even in his chastened devotion 
 
 to the companion of his later years. To her husband she 
 
 "was as the ivy that twines itself fondly and gracefully about 
 
 the oak, clothing its rugged surface with beauty, and gently 
 
 shielding it from the rough blast and the pelting storm. 
 
 His journal thus records his emotions in view of this 
 
 union. 
 
 "Jan. 20, 1815. Wednesday evening the 18th, I took upon 
 me the sacred and tender obligations of a husband by receiving 
 the hand of Miss Laura Hale. I pray God to ratify our mutual 
 obligations, to confer his blessing upon our connection, which can 
 alone render it a source of happiness. Oh that He would enable 
 us to perform all the obligations wliicli we have taken upon our- 
 selves, that He would be our guide in our pilgritnage here below, 
 enable us to honor Him in our lives, and receive us at last as His 
 children to dwell for ever with our blessed Redeemer in His 
 presence." 
 
 His desire that this relation should be a means of spiritual 
 improvement is beautifully expressed in the following lines 
 which he addressed to Mrs. Hale on the recurrence of her 
 birth-day soon after theii" marriage. 
 
 "Most gracious Gotl. Through thy beloved Son, 
 Pardon our fhults, and bless I's as liuno own ; 
 Support, defend us by Ahniglity power, 
 And light our footsteps in the darkest hour. 
 Teach us to thee, our duty ; and with zeal, 
 May we perform the dictates of thy will ; 
 T'he duties of our station may wo. know. 
 What to each other and the world we owe. 
 May we adorn the doctrine we've professed 
 And as expectants live of glorious rest. 
 Into thy hand our ini'rests we confide. 
 Lord, 'tis enough if thou art glorified. 
 
 Fatigued when nature sinks, with death oppress'd 
 Oh take us to the realms of endless rest. 
 Then Heaven's pure air we'll breathe, its fields we'll rove, 
 And endless ages spend in praise and love." 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Hale again repaired to Bos- 
 ton, but the prospect of establishing himself as a merchant 
 appeared at first so dubious, that ho seriously debated the 
 
L I F E I N D O S T O N . 27 
 
 question of returning finally to Coventry and settling down 
 as a farmer. For a wliile he assisted his uncle Nathan 
 Hale in the office of the Daily Advertiser ; but receiving 
 favorable proposals from a gentleman who had some capital 
 at his command, ho entered into a co-partnership for the 
 business of importing and jobbing dry goods. The new 
 house opened in September, 1815, with flattering prospects, 
 and Mr. Hale was sanguine of success. In December of 
 that year he wrote to his parents that in the four months 
 in which he had been engaged in business, the sales liad 
 amounted to foj-ty-four thousand dollars, and the profits to 
 five thousand. For a time his career as a merchant was 
 one of uninterrupted prosperity. His credit was of the 
 highest character, and his sales and profits were large. But 
 the current soon changed, and adverse circumstances com- 
 pelled the firm to wind up its. affairs at the close of the 
 second year. This was owing mainly to the fact that their 
 stock was bOuglit at the high prices conseqiicut upon the 
 war, and sufiercd an enormous depreciation when trade was 
 revived by the restoration of peace. But the immediate oc- 
 casion of embarrassment was the protracted illness of Mr. 
 Hale from typhus fever, in the fall of 1817, which incapaci- 
 tated him for business and produced such uneasiness in tho 
 mind of his silent partner, the capitalist of the concern, that 
 he hastily determined to bring it to a close. " My sick- 
 ness," said Mr. Hale in a letter to his father, " caused mo 
 the loss of a profitable fall business, and so entangled my 
 
 affairs, that Capt. thought it necessary to stop my 
 
 business, and though I could not see the necessity, nor can 
 others since, yet his opinion created a necessity if it existed 
 nowhere else. My creditors are disposed to re-instate mo 
 handsomely, and it is a pleasure among the pains to per- 
 ceive their strong confidence in my integrity and ability. 
 
 Capt. for the present stands in the way, and I 
 
 almost begin to think him a hard-hearted selfish maii,»but 
 
28 MEMOIR. 
 
 must wait some days longer to make up my decision. * * * 
 It is probable I shall resume my business. On my own ac- 
 count these things do not trouble me ; on account of my 
 creditors they do some, but they are most of them rich and 
 generous men, and a good man told me I ought not to be 
 troubled on their account, for the same wise Being had ap- 
 pointed my misfortunes and their losses." 
 
 The principal creditors of Mr. Hale offered to release him 
 upon the most favorable terms, and to extend him whatever 
 credit might be necessary to re-establish himself in business. 
 A leading merchant of Boston, after proposing a liberal 
 
 compromise, added, " If Capt. will furnish you from 
 
 three to five thousand dollars, on your individual note for 
 a term of from three to five years to commence business 
 upon, I will give you a credit and so would all your friends, 
 of whom no you^ng man has more." The condition of rais- 
 ing this amount of capital was proposed as much with a 
 view to Mr. Hale's own benefit as for the security of cred- 
 itors. No young man ever stood higher in the confidence of 
 the mercantile community, or found more friends in adver- 
 sity. Alluding to this Mr. Hale remarks in a second letter 
 to his father, " I hope I have not munnured at this dispen- 
 sation of an holy Providence. I have been determined to 
 preserve a good conscience,'"and the good opinion of my ac- 
 quaintances both of my talents and integrity has made me 
 believe that good prospects and a fair character remain to 
 me yet, nor have I considered my stoppage a misfortune in 
 point of property." 
 
 But every proposition for the settlement of liis difficulties 
 was embarrassed by the capitalist whose hasty action had 
 complicated if it did not occasion them. This gentleman 
 Beverely censured the active partners in the firm. Ho 
 would accept of no compromise, and it was only by a pro 
 tracted controversy terminating in a lawsuit and an arbitra 
 tion^ that his claims were finally adjusted. The issue of 
 
LIFE IN boston: CORRESPONDENCE. 29 
 
 the contest was quite favorable to Mr. Hale, both in a legal 
 and a moral point of view. He did not however escape the 
 tongue of slander, as no man ever did wlio was unfortunate, 
 and even after he had removed to New York, calumnies 
 respecting his former business transactions were occasionally 
 revived by rival editors, though they uniformly recoiled 
 upon their authors. 
 
 During these two or three eventful years, Mr. Hale main- 
 tained his Christian character alike in prosperity and adver- 
 sity. Soon after he formed his first business connection, 
 and while elated with his prospects, he wrote to his absent 
 wife as follows : 
 
 " The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at 
 Park Street last Sabbath. It gave me pleasure to reflect that 
 my wife was engaged with me in the delightful solemnity. Yet 
 I cannot say I had a good day ; my mind was filled with the 
 world, and I exerted myself in vain to banish it. Bargains filled 
 my heart, and left the dying Savior too httle room. But it was 
 at my commencement. I trust it will not be so when the rou- 
 tine of business is a little estabUshed : indeed, I find the case 
 quite different already, for now I can banish business and think of 
 something else." 
 
 In another letter to the same dear friend, he thus gives 
 vent to his pious emotions in reading the word of God : _ 
 
 " How full of ardent and devoted piety are the Avritings of the 
 Psalmist ! How fully does he express the desires of every Chris- 
 tian ! How suited ai-e his petitions to our wants ! * Set a watch, 
 O Lord, before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips.' God ap- 
 pears to have been the most intimate associate of this eminent 
 saint, the confidant of his heart, the friend to whom he flew and 
 unbosomed himself in every grief, on whose arm he could lean, 
 and pour his tears and feel his griefs depart. How do they lower 
 down religion who make it to consist in proud good works, and 
 selfish exertions for personal good, leaving out of the account 
 humility, charity, faith, repentance, communion with God, and 
 all the sources of a real Christian's highest happiness." 
 
 The following extract is in quite a different vein. It is 
 from a letter written immediately after the great gale of the 
 
JJU MEMOIR. 
 
 23d September, 1815, when houses were unroofed, trees 
 and chimneys blown down, and vessels dashed against the 
 wharves or driven from their moorings : 
 
 " Our trains of reflection on the storm, though both were se- 
 rious and appropriate, were quite diflercnt. While you wero 
 seeking a shelter from the storm in an Almighty Savior, I was 
 stretching my ideas and enlarging the terrors which surrounded 
 me, luitil I could behold that more miglity display of power and 
 wrath which shall carry creation again into chaos. I could not 
 content myself shut up in the store. I walked out into different 
 parts of the town, and down to the long wharf w^here I could 
 have a satisfying view of the tumultuous ocean. Saturday 
 seemed an epitome of the united fury of the elements, and the 
 tremendous crash of falling Avorlds, which shall give terrible 
 grandeur to the final judgment-day. Indeed how much will it 
 then be necessary to have a hiding-place from the wind, and a 
 covert from the storm." 
 
 The same element in the constitutional temperament of 
 Mr. Hale, which brought him into sympathy with the wild 
 and turbulent phenomena of the physical world, nerved him 
 for the storms and conflicts of life, and enabled him to 
 struggle and to conquer where many would have yielded in 
 despair. When adversity befell him, his parents renewed 
 their solicitations that he would return to Coventry and 
 content himself with the peaceful occupations of the farm. 
 But while gratefully acknowledging their kindness, and ex- 
 pressing his desire to gratify them, he replied : " I love the 
 storms of life. The fire-side has its charms, but it is the 
 traveler beaten by the tempest who most enjoys them." 
 Still it was not constitutional fii'mness alone that enabled 
 him to face adversity. He had a devout trust in Provi- 
 dence. " My trials in business," said he, " I feel have 
 been hardly severe enough to do me good. We have not 
 suffered the want of any comfort, we have not been mo- 
 lested, and though somewhat anxious, perhaps I am not to 
 expect ever to be less so. You know I am not apt to be 
 concerned about the future." 
 
LETTER OF REV. S. SPRING. 81 
 
 He did not suffer business cares to interfere with reli- 
 gions duties. While separated from Mrs. Hale, for some 
 months after his marriage, he observed, simultaneously with 
 her, stated sea.sons of prayer and of meditation on selected 
 pa,ssages of Scripture. Ho delighted in the Sabbath. 
 Writing to his father, he says : 
 
 " I regret to hear of your illness which confines you from the 
 house of God ; but I am glad that ma, Lydia, and the old mare, 
 have sufficient confidence in one another to venture to meeting' 
 together. The Sabbath is indeed a precious season, and the 
 liouse of God a precious place. Perhaps it is useful for us some- 
 times to be denied the refreshing streams we find there, that like 
 the hart in the desert we may feel our need, and pant for the 
 water brooks. Some of David's most fervently pious psalms 
 were written when driven from the courts of his God. I feel my 
 privileges in this respect to be peculiarly great. 'We have no 
 such lengths to go ' as you have, and we uniformly find a rich 
 feast when we arrive. It is this which perhaps as much as any 
 thing makes me fond of Boston." 
 
 The correspondence of Mr. Hale even in the midst of 
 business perplexities, whether addressed to his wife, his 
 parents, or to others, was pervaded with the spirit of piety. 
 The preceding extracts are but specimens of the tone of 
 almost every letter. With him religion was not occasional 
 but habitual ; as he himself expressed it, it was a " heart- 
 business" and a " life-business." 
 
 A communication addressed to the Avi'iter by Rev. Samuel 
 Spring, of East Hartford, Connecticut, a partner of Mr. 
 Hale in his first business relations, presents a pleasing pic- 
 ture of his character. It is given entire. 
 
 "East Hartford, May 10, 1849. 
 "Dear Siu, 
 
 " Your note men ted an earlier reply, and would have received 
 it, had I been fully persuaded that it were best for me to under- 
 take any thing like a compliance in form with your request. My 
 connection with Mr. Hale, extending through a period of two 
 years, though it gave me the best of opportunities to become ac- 
 quainted with his character at large, was not of essential use in 
 
32 MEMOIR. 
 
 securing a view of his religious cliaracter especially, and doubt- 
 less for the reason that I was not prone to contemplate him as a 
 Christian, but rather as a business man, and as a partner and 
 friend. I was not then a professor of religion, and had but 
 just begun to be interested in my relations to God and eter- 
 nity ; although before we closed our connection I had made a 
 profession, and was with him a member of Park Street Church. 
 All my recollections of his Christian character are honorable to 
 him, and pleasant to myself. He was consistent and firm, and 
 had a testimony, I believe, in the consciences of all who knew 
 him, to the stability and elevation of his religious principles. I 
 distinctly recollect his punctual attendance on the weekly evening 
 prayer-meeting in Park Street Vestry, and the Sabbath-noon 
 prayer-meeting in the same room. He was also connected with 
 one of the Sunday-schools of the city, and a part of the time, I 
 think, superintended it. On him devolved the greater part of 
 the labor of conducting our mercantile concern, as the elder and 
 more experienced man ; and yet no fatigue and no complication 
 of cares Avere ever admitted by him as an excuse for the neglect 
 of duty, or a reason for evading his more public responsibilities. 
 I have said that I was not much in the habit of marking his 
 religious character ; and yet occasionally it forced itself upon my 
 notice in so'Vne striking and agreeable way. I recall an instance. 
 Before I found peace in believing, we were one evening in oiu* 
 store looking over the entries of the daj', and had been occupied 
 till it was quite late. Before we went home, Mr. Hale said to 
 me, ' We have been talking about business, let us now talk about 
 something better,' and then proposed some question to me, I 
 forget the form, designed to draw from me either the avowal of 
 a Christian hope or the acknowledgment of impenitence. I had, 
 as he knew, been tlie subject of concern and occasional deep im- 
 pression for some months. In answer to his question, I tokl him 
 I was afraid I had no religion. He then kindly directed my at- 
 tention to some things which he thought afforded evidence of a 
 renewed heart, and at once proposed the duty of making a pro- 
 fession of religion. I replied that I had no thought of it, and if 
 I had, the fear of dishonoring the cause and wounding the friends 
 of Christ Avould deter me from such a step. With an archness 
 of manner pecidiarly his own, and which when occasion offered, 
 lie knew well how to assume, and yet devoid of all severity, he 
 said, ' O what do you care about the cause and friends of Christ ?' 
 The aptness of the inquiry, the spirit and tone of the man, gave 
 mc at once an entirely new view of one feature of the Christian 
 charact«r. It was the first ray of light that came to the relief 
 of a benighted and desponding mind. I began to balance the 
 inquiry. if I had any regard for the honor of religion, and soon 
 
TRIALS IN BUSINESS, 33 
 
 was led to think if I liad, then I ought to admit the hope that I 
 was a Christian. I have not been accustomed to consider that 
 evening as the commencement of a new hfe, or that conversation 
 with Mr. Hale as the selected instrumentality of leading me to a 
 Savior, and not till months after this did I trust that the Holy- 
 Spirit brought me into the liberty of God's children ; but I have 
 often tliought of it as a pleasing instance of his readiness, his 
 Christian solicitude, and his tender fidelity. With all that was 
 rugged and apparently harsh in his manner and voice, Mr. Halo 
 had a feeling heart, and I have been led to regret that so large a 
 part of my business connection with him was spent, before I even 
 began to appreciate the more estimable points of his character, 
 or profit as I might have done, by his spirit and example. 
 
 " You arc at hbcrty to make what use you think proper of 
 what I have written, and will accept my earnest wishes for your 
 success in the service you have undertaken of preparing a me- 
 moir of that excellent man. 
 
 " Yours with Christian affection, 
 
 " S. SPRING." 
 
 Though for years after the misfortune referred to above, 
 Mr. Hale was obliged to struggle with pecuniary embar- 
 rassment, he was cheerful in the family and active in the 
 church. He did not suflfer himself to be made uiiliappy by 
 disappointments. Blessed with a thankful heart, and with 
 courage, patience, perseverance, hope, he enjoyed hfe and 
 improved it in spite of trouble and care. The increase of 
 his family, while it brought upon him new burdens and re- 
 sponsibilities, added greatly to his joy. The frequent allu- 
 sions to his own little prattlers, in his letters to his parents, 
 show how fond he was of the pleasures of the domestic 
 circle. 
 
 It was not till the spring of 1819, that he was enabled to 
 close up his old business, though before that time he had 
 become agent and part owner of a powder-mill, located at 
 Chelmsford, which yielded him a fair support. " I shall 
 have to labor," he says, " about two years in a profitable 
 business to repair the misfortunes of the same length of 
 time in a bad business. And for all this I care but little 
 in solid reasoning, but it ' goes against the grain' some. 
 
 9* 
 
34 MEMOIR. 
 
 My profits clear of all expenses for the first year are 
 $lj500, and my business has very much increased. I 
 feel quite safe as to this world, but have great reason to 
 mourn that I do not, as I ought, lay up treasures in Heaven." 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1821, an explosion at the 
 mill, Avhich did great damage to the property and suspended 
 the business, involved his affairs somewhat seriously for a 
 time. Still he was not cast down. He at once set about 
 remedying his misfortune, and as a means of support until 
 the new mill should be completed, he accepted a book 
 agency, of which he writes as follows : " My time is pretty 
 thoroughly occupied, but with the expectation of some lei- 
 sure I have undertaken to get subscribers for Dr. Dwight's 
 Travels, for which I am allowed one-third of the price. I 
 have obtained about sixty, and made besides some arrange- 
 ments with booksellers, so that I think the prospect is, that 
 with continued exertion I shall make from four to five hun- 
 dred dollars by it. On the whole I consider the last year 
 as the one of far the greatest temporal prosperity which has 
 ever been granted me. But wo need to see to it that tem- 
 poral prosperity aiid the present happiness we all enjoy, do 
 not tempt us to think or feel as if this were the place of our 
 rest." 
 
 His prosperity, however, again proved to be short-lived. 
 But leaving for the present the details of business, we will 
 recur to the development of his religious, intellectual charac- 
 ter. Mr. Hale transferred his church connection from 
 Coventry to the Park-street Church in Boston in the fall 
 of 181G. Here he proved to be an efficient and valuable 
 member. He was active in the Sabbath-school, punctual in 
 his attendance at prayer-meetings — in which he never de- 
 clined taking the lead when it devolved upon him — liberal in 
 his contributions for the support of religion and for benevo- 
 lent objects, and pi'ompt and energetic in the business affairs 
 of the church and tho society. He took great interest in 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. Sf/ 
 
 sacred music, and always occupied a place in the cliolr.. 
 Says cue who was associated with him in church fellowship, 
 " When Mr. Hale stood up in our meetings to speak or 
 pray, he appeared both in person and intellect to be heail 
 and shoulders above us all ; and such was his judgment, 
 his energy, his decision, and his talent for business, that 
 wo always put him on our committees." 
 
 While he was connected with Park-street Church, an 
 association of young men of that congregation was formed 
 for mutual improvement, and for incpiry as to modes of 
 usefulness. Several of the original members of the asso- 
 ciation wore unconverted, but eventually they all became 
 prominently useful Christians, and the association itseli" 
 greatly promoted the interests of Orthodoxy in Boston. 
 Mr. Hale early joined this association, and through his in- 
 fluence chiefly it was led to undertake the education of 
 young men for the ministry, and thus became a valuable 
 auxiliary in raising up an evangelical ministry when the 
 general tendency of ministers and churches in Massa- 
 chusetts appeared to be towards Unitarianism. On be- 
 ing elected to an important ofiice in the society, ho 
 wrote thus warmly to his father of his own interest in 
 the object : 
 
 " Tlie Recorder of this week will perliaps afford you some pe- 
 culiar satisfciction, as it will give you evidence that my character 
 is fair at least among the most respectable, including the serious 
 part of the young men of tlie town. Tlie society in the account 
 of which you will find my name makes me feel that I have not 
 lived in vain. It makes me glad that I was not contented with 
 the space I could occupy in Coventry. Not because I am proud 
 of the office — the cliief value I place on that is, that it will gratify 
 you — but, because I think I have been the honored instrument 
 of making it what it is. The society was not started by me ; it 
 was intended as a small society at Park-street. I joined it with 
 a determination, if possible, to change the object. I have been 
 warmly supported, but I am extremely mistaken if my counsels 
 and exertions have not raised it to an importance which makes its 
 influence felt through the town. If four or five young men are 
 
36 MEMOIR. 
 
 constantly supported in their studies, and the young men of this 
 town are drawn together for this noble purpose, two very impor- 
 tant objects are accomphshed — worthy the labors of many greater 
 and better men than I. The fund left by Aunt Hale for educa- 
 tion, I am decidedly of opinion would be much more economi- 
 cally and effectively expended, not to say judiciously, in its ob- 
 jects, were your large board of trustees to save themselves their 
 laborious duties, and annually pay their income to the American 
 Education Society. This is a society astonishingly efficient and 
 admirably conducted. I wish you would propose it to the 
 board. I believe there is nothing in the will to prevent. 
 
 " I would not readily consent to forego the pleasure I derive 
 from uniting in the great plans of benevolence which are going on 
 here. Would you not be happy to be united with those all 
 around you, who engage heart and hand in attacking Satan's 
 kingdom, with a firmness and zeal which shake his old and massy 
 walls ?" 
 
 Mr. Hale was now zealously engaged for the progress of 
 the Redeemer's kingdom. Alluding in one of his letters to 
 a revival in Coventry, he says : 
 
 " I am much rejoiced to hear of the gracious doings of God in 
 yom- place. It is the earnest prayer of every Christian, ' Thy 
 kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.' 
 In comparison with this, all temporal desires vanish into nothing- 
 ness when he reflects that a single soul is of more value than the 
 whole created universe. God seems now answering this prayei 
 so long made by His people, and is beginning to fulfil the glorious 
 promises made to His church. I am confident that the time is 
 rapidly hastening when Christians will break the strings v/hich 
 have so long resisted the demands made upon their purses by a 
 dying world. May that kingdom flourish in our hearts." 
 
 Again, speaking of the interesting intelligence received 
 in March 1821 from the mission to the Sandwich Islands, 
 he says : 
 
 " Our concert last Monday evening was intensely interesting, 
 and we are to have an adjournment of the meeting to hear more 
 of the journal. It really seems as if the Lord were determined, 
 by astonishing acts of favor to His children in their efibrts to 
 spread the gospel, to compel them to trust in Him." 
 
 The cause of missions had a large place in his aflfections 
 
missions: death of rev. d. hale. 37 
 
 and prayers, and his purse-strings never resisted the de- 
 mands of a dying world. He appreciated the influence of 
 missionary reading, and remarked with reference to the 
 Missionary Herald when it was started, that " parents are 
 extremely guilty of withholding more than is meet, who do 
 not furnish their families with this sort of reading. There 
 is no way in which they can help the education of their 
 children one-quarter so much at the same expense, and be- 
 sides the money all goes to missions." 
 
 In this particular Mr. Hale possessed in a high degree 
 an evidence of piety to which President Edwards thus 
 alludes in his diary, as a fruit of regeneration in his own 
 case. " I had great longings for the advancement of 
 Christ's kingdom in the world ; and my secret prayer used 
 to be in great part taken up in praying for it. If I heard 
 the least hint of anything that happened, in any part of the 
 world, that appeared, in some respect or other, to have a 
 favorable aspect on the interest of Christ's kingdom, my 
 soul eagerly catched at it ; and it would much animate and 
 refresh me. I used to be eager to read public news letters 
 mainly for that end ; to see if I could not find some news 
 favorable to the mterest of religion in the world." 
 
 About this time Mr. Hale was called *o mourn the loss of 
 his father, who died in February, 1822. The death of a 
 parent whom he so much revered, whose advice he had 
 sought on all occasions, and to whom he had been accus- 
 tomed to submit all his private aifairs, was a very serious 
 affliction. He had for some time expected the event with 
 painful solicitude ; but when it occurred he was sustained 
 by the consolations of the gospel, and became at once the 
 stay and comfort of his widowed mother. In his first letter 
 to her after he had returned from the funeral, he calmly 
 directs her thoughts to Heaven. 
 
 " I tnist, my dear mother, that we shall be enabled much to 
 reflect upon the providence which calls us to mourn ; to reflect 
 
88 MEMOIR. 
 
 with self-examination, and in such a manner that we shall be 
 purified as gold. I think that the assurance we have that my 
 father is now in Heaven will serve to give more fixedness to oui 
 views of that world, and enable our thoughts to rest more steadily 
 there. It is calculated to make us think more of the joys of 
 Heaven, and to desire them more, although we are to love 
 Heaven for its holiness, and because God is there, rather than 
 because our friends are there." 
 
 Mr. Hale always spoke of his father with profound re- 
 spect and often with deep .emotion, acknowledging his great 
 indebtedness to the example and instructions of his deceased 
 parent. 
 
 He once narrated to me an incident which showed how 
 quick were his own sensibilities, and how deep was his rev- 
 erence for his father's memory. Mr. Gough had been 
 speaking very eloquently of the ineffaceable marks of past 
 misconduct on the memory and the conscience. " Ah ! " 
 said Mr. Hale, " I know well what that means. Onco 
 when I was at home, my father, who had just undergone a 
 severe surgical operation, requested me to shave him. I 
 began to do so, but as he was nervous he complained that I 
 did not do it right. This vexed me, and I threw down tho 
 razor. Without saying a word lie took it up and with his 
 trembling hand finished shaving himself. I don't think," 
 he added, and here his voice choked, and his eyes filled with 
 tears, " I don't think I have over shaved myself from that 
 day to this without being reminded of my improper treat- 
 ment of my father and feeling sorry for it." 
 
 Such an acknowledgment, coming with the freslmess of 
 boyhood from one who had seen half a century, showed how 
 deep and strong had been the current of filial affection in 
 his heart. 
 
 In the year 1822 a new church was organized in Boston 
 by the union of colonies from the Old South and Park-street 
 Churches, with a fragment of the old Essex-street Church 
 then on the verge of dissolution. To mark the transaction, 
 
THEUNlONCHUaCH. 39 
 
 and for the purpose of a distinct designation, the name of 
 Union Church was given to the new organization. This 
 was the first aggressive movement of any importance on the 
 part of the Orthodox since the development of Socinianism 
 in Boston. It was therefore a movement of pecuhar interest 
 and responsibility. A gentleman familiar with the enter- 
 prise observes, " There was plenty of work to be done by 
 the infant church, for the whole current of popular influence 
 was against them. A congregation was to be collected ; 
 Sabbath-schools were to be gathered and instructed ; reli- 
 gious meetings were to be held, in the conference-room and 
 in private houses ; and a multitude of benevolent enter- 
 prises, yet in their infancy, presented strong claims for 
 aid." 
 
 Mr. Hale was of the number from Park-st. Church who 
 united in forming the Union Church. In this new field there 
 was a demand for all his talents and all his zeal. He was a 
 member of the choir ; he was chosen superintendent of the 
 Sabbath-school and was very efficient in that capacity ; he 
 was on the business-committees both of the church and the 
 society, ..nd assisted in compiling their manual and laws ; 
 he was accustomed to visit the poor, to hold meetings in 
 halls and in private houses, and in every way to labor for 
 the kingdom of Christ. A gentleman of Boston, who was 
 associated with Mr. Hale in the Union Church from its 
 organization to the time of his leaving the city, says of him, 
 " He was one of the most active and efficient members of 
 the church — always present at our public and private meet- 
 ings — always ready to lead in our devotions and instruct us 
 by his exhortations — ^unwearied in his labors on our several 
 committees, for visiting families — examining candidates 
 for admission to the church — and conducting our church 
 music. Of his labors as superintendent of the Sabbath- 
 school I cannot speak from personal knoAvledge, having had the 
 charge of another school. We admired him for the ability 
 
40 n MEMOIR. 
 
 with A\hich lie presented truth in his addresses in our meet- 
 ings, and for the clearness and soundness of his judgment in 
 matters of business. In the language of our pastor, he was 
 a ' strong man armed.' He was noble and gentlemanly in 
 his deportment — upright and honorable in his dealings. He 
 was warm-hearted and generous as a fi-iend — humble and 
 devoted as a Christian. No Christian brother ever called 
 forth more fully my confidence and my love. None ever 
 laid upon me such heavy obligations of gratitude by his 
 deeds of kindness and princely generosity, and in regard to 
 no one have I a more unshaken belief that he ' sleeps in 
 Jesus,' and has a ' part among all them that are sanctified.' " 
 
 Another gentleman, who was for some time a deacon in 
 the Union Church, says of Mr. Hale, " I was nearly asso- 
 ciated with him, and we often took sweet counsel together. 
 He was an active and efiicient Christian, labored in the 
 church and Sabbath-school, and was highly esteemed by 
 those who best knew his worth." 
 
 But it was not only in the church that Mr. Hale rendered 
 himself useful, though that was the sphere. of his highest 
 activity. As a citizen he was pubHc-spirited, and zealous 
 for the promotion of good morals and measures of reform. 
 
 He labored in various ways, and at length successfully, 
 to abate the nuisance of booths and liquor-stands about the 
 Common. Being grieved at the desecration of the Sabbath, 
 especially by parties riding for pleasure, he sought to coun- 
 teract the evil by keeping a livery-stable which should be 
 closed on the Sabbath, hoping by the result of this experi- 
 ment to persuade the proprietors of such establishments 
 to regard the Lord's day. He wrote occasional articles for 
 the newspapers on this and kindred subjects. A scries of 
 articles against the erection of a new theater in Boston, 
 which he furnished for one of the daily papers under the 
 signature of " A Father," attracted much attention by their 
 vigorous style, cogent reasoning, and elevated morality. 
 
FIRST EDITORIAL LABORS. 41 
 
 For a time Mr. Hale was a regular contributor to the 
 Boston Recorder, and had, in fact, the editorial charge of 
 one department of the paper, that of political affairs and 
 foreign and domestic intelligence. EQs labors in this depart- 
 ment attracted the favorable notice of several prominent 
 citizens of Boston, who were interested in the project of a 
 daily newspaper to be conducted on Christian principles, 
 and undoubtedly led to his being invited to take charge of a 
 similar enterprise in this city. In allusion to this project 
 he remarks, in a letter under date of May 5, 1821 : — 
 
 " My editorial labors do not much interfere with m};- other pur- 
 suits ; they take a little of my time which I should otherwise 
 spend at my store ; but most of what I do is at intervals of leisure. 
 I think it is important for me to do it, as I i^^et five dollars a 
 week of Mr. Willis. I am fond of a little such employmcait, 
 and especially if what I do is well done, it may fit me, by the 
 experience I get, and by showing my friends what I can do, for 
 more important services of the same kind. There is a very 
 strong disposition among leading Christians here to establish a 
 daily mercantile newspaper to be conducted on sound principles. 
 Mr. Evarts [then Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.] has inquired 
 of me if ray business would permit me to engage in the imder- 
 taking in connection with some man whose pursuits are entirely 
 literary. I should not be disposed to relincpiish my present busi- 
 ness for any uncertain enterprise ; but I could do a great deal 
 towards the editing of a paper without any infringement of con- 
 sequence on my daily avocations. You will see what 1 contribute 
 to the Recorder, by a pencil mark I have drawn under my 
 articles." 
 
 The project here alluded to was not carried into cifect, 
 though Mr. Hale was generally regarded as a fit person for 
 such an enterprise. In this connection an incident narrated 
 by Gerard Hallock, Esq., the surviving editor of the Jour- 
 nal of Commerce, is interesting as an illustration of the 
 generous spirit of Mr. Hale and the course of Providence 
 by which he was brought into a more intimate connection 
 with the public press. 
 
 " The circumstances," says Mr. Hallock, " which brought 
 
42 MEMOIR. 
 
 Mr. Hale and myself into connection Avith each otlier, as 
 joint editors and proprietors of this paper, are a little re- 
 markable. I became acquainted -with him in Boston in 
 1823. He was then in prosperous business as a merchant ; 
 I was a stranger, comparatively very young, -without pecu- 
 niary resources, yet resolved, if a few himdred dollars could 
 be loaned me, to establish a weekly paper there, for which 
 there appeared to be an opening. Scarcely had I made 
 kno-w^i my object, plan, and wants, when the money was 
 handed me by David Hale, who had collected it from a few 
 friends, himself included, with the condition that I should 
 ' return it when convenient.' In a little more than a year I 
 did return it, with interest." 
 
 Though Mr. Hale seldom took part in public meetings, 
 and never aspired to be an orator, he spoke occasionally in 
 Faneuil Hall upon mcasui'es in Avhich he felt a special inter- 
 est. He was prominent in a movement in relation to the 
 public schools. The school inspectors of Boston were elected 
 by general ticket, and as the Unitarians were a majority in 
 the city at large, they had tlie control of the public schools. 
 To neutralize or weaken this Unitarian power, Mr. Halo 
 suggested that the inspectors should be chosen by wards, 
 which would ensure the election of some Orthodox men. By 
 a speech at a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, in connection 
 with more private efforts, he secured the adoption of his 
 plan, and thereby effected a permanent change in the mode 
 of electing these officers. For his efforts in this matter ho 
 was assailed personally through the columns of the Daily 
 Advertiser,, and ridiculed for having " coined words" in his 
 speech, to which he replied over his own name. He also 
 advocated at a meeting in Faneuil Hall the change of the 
 government of Boston from town to city, and his speech on 
 that occasion was reported with favor in the journals of 
 the day. Public speaking, however, was not his forte, and 
 
DEATH OFMRS. HALE. 43 
 
 he commonly preferred to express his views on public af- 
 fairs through the newspapers. 
 
 The year 1824 was to Mr. Hale a year of peculiar sor- 
 row. Slie who for years had shared in all his vicissitudes, 
 and whose sweet companionship had relieved so many anx- 
 ious hours, was called to the rest and enjoyment of heaven. 
 A lingering and painful disease, which she bore with Chris- 
 tian patience and submission, terminated in death on the 
 evening of the Sabbath, July 25, 1824. Says a female 
 friend who was much with Mrs. Hale in her last sickness ; 
 " She was not only patient but happy ; she remarked to me 
 one day when I called to see her, not long before her death, 
 that it was pleasant to think of the grave as a resting-placo 
 for the body, asked me to put my hand on her emaciated 
 frame, and with a sweet smile said, ' see how sickness is pre- 
 paring it for the grave ;' she also spoke of a sermon of Dr. 
 Dwight on the resurrection of the body, which had afforded 
 her much comfort in her sickness, and repeatedly desired 
 that certain familiar hymns, relating to death and heaven, 
 inight be read or sung in her hearing. She met every 
 one who entered her room with a smile ; and it was her 
 constant practice, when the children came in to see her in 
 the morning, to speak to them with her accustomed cheer- 
 fulness, as if nothing was the matter ; because she did not 
 wish any gloomy impressions of her sickness to be left on 
 their minds. She made all her preparations for leaving her 
 family, when she should be called away from them, with 
 the greatest composure, as much so as if she had been only 
 going on a journey ; every little thing that would relieve 
 any one of care and anxiety she attended to ; she seemed 
 to lay aside her own feelings to relieve others." 
 
 It was the fervent prayer of this departed saint that her 
 children, four in number, might " in the dew of their youth 
 be devoted to God;" and she died expressing her strong 
 confidence that they would all be early brought within the 
 
44 MEMOIR. 
 
 fold of the Redeemer — a confidence which time has shown 
 was not misplaced. 
 
 I shall not draw aside the veil to picture the loneliness 
 and grief of the widowed husband, left with the manage- 
 ment of a young family, with no sister nor other female 
 relative to assist him. A delightful home soon offered itself 
 for his childi'en in the family of Rev. Levi Nelson, of Lisbon, 
 Conn. ; Mrs. N. being a relative of their deceased mother, 
 with whom she had ever been on terms of the most intimate 
 friendship. But while Mr. Hale was thus relieved of the 
 immediate care of four motherless little ones, of whom the 
 eldest was not yet nine years of age, his loneliness was pro- 
 portionally aggravated by their absence. He doated much 
 upon his children, and though they were too young to cor- 
 respond with him, he used occasionally to write them letters 
 full of simple affection and good counsel. One of these, ad- 
 dressed to his eldest daughter, is inserted here as a speci- 
 men of the methods by which he endeared himself to their 
 young hearts : 
 
 Boston, March 5, 1825. 
 My dear little Daughter, 
 
 It is a very long time since I have written to you or heard 
 anything about you. I suppose you liave in this long time grown 
 some taller, and I hope some wiser, and some better. 1 wish 
 very mucli to know how you spend your time ; what you do at 
 school and what yoii do at home. I want to know, too, what my 
 other little daughter is doing — she whom I used to call Miss 
 Little Fudge. Indeed, I liave called you both by this name, for 
 when you Avere three or four years old, you were so busy in doing 
 nothing, so earnest to do a thing one moment and to undo it the 
 next, that Little Fudge seemed quite descriptive of your charac- 
 •ters. Now that you have grown nTore sedate and more steady in 
 your purposes, I do not know but I must give up the old name 
 of Little Fudge and call you little Misses Amicable, or Indus- 
 trious, or some such thing ; but I can tell better when 1 hear 
 what characters Aunt Nelson gives you. And I wish to know, 
 too, what my little son Richard is doing, whether he learns any 
 thing at school, and my little son David, whether he is sober and 
 industrious as he used to be, and yet wears that grave counte- 
 
LETTER TO HIS CHILDREN. 45 
 
 nance, so honest and so calm. It is not because I do not think of 
 you, that I have not written ; but because I have so many things 
 to take up my time and attention. I think of you very tenderly- 
 many times a day, and I pray for you at least every morning 
 and evening. For when I get up in the morning, I think that 
 you are about rising, too ; and that you will get up with sprightly 
 countenances and full of hfe and run about full of joy, and not 
 think of a great many dangers that may be near to you. Even 
 Uncle and Aunt Nelson, careful as they are of you, cannot always 
 see the dangers and they cannot always be with you. But I re- 
 member that God is all the time with you, and that He sees every 
 danger to which you are exposed, and it is very delightful to ask 
 Him to preserve you. When I go to bed at eleven o'clock, I 
 think of you, and seem almost to see you fast asleep in }^our 
 beds all quiet and secure ; but I know that if you open your 
 eyes in the morning, it will be because God preserves you. 
 
 I have lately given out to the Sabbath-School, as a story to 
 tell in their own words, the account of the great quantity of fishes 
 taken by the disciples. The account is in the last chapter of 
 John. And I have asked the children a great many questions 
 about it, most of which they have answered very correctly. I 
 will tell you a few things which the children have agreed upon : 
 One is that Jesus was one hundred yards from the disciples while 
 they were conversing with him from the ship. You can easily 
 measure a hundred yards and see how far it is. Another thing 
 which they have concluded upon is, that the sh'q') in which the 
 disciples were, was not such a great vessel with three masts, as 
 we call ships in Boston, but a httle boat four or five yards long. 
 I asked the children to give me an account of the Sea of Tiberias. 
 
 After a moment's pause, Sarah T rose and stated the various 
 
 names by which it was called, what sort of gravel the bottom is 
 of, what river runs through it, how wide it is and how long, and 
 a great many more things, which she seemed to understand as 
 well as you would understand how to describe, the brook between 
 your house and Esq. Jewett's. And what would you say if you 
 were called upon to describe that brook ? I used, when I was 
 as large as you, to play in that brook, to fish there and build 
 littla dams to stop the water ; and once in the summer I went 
 barefoot into the brook to play, and a water-snake bit one of my 
 toes, which frightened me very much, but did me no hurt as he 
 had none of that poison which rattle-snakes have. I believe, 
 however, that I had presence of mind enough to kill the poor 
 snake for his impudence. 
 
 I am coming to see you as soon as the roads are a little better, 
 and shall bring the things of which Uncle N. gave me a memo- 
 randum. 
 
4G . M K M o I n . 
 
 May tho Lord watcli over you, my dear child, and over all of 
 you, my dear children, iind keep you by day and by night. 
 Your ailcctionate father, 
 
 DAVID H^LE. 
 
 That his painful discipline proved to Mr. I Tale a means of 
 higher sanctificatiou was manifest to all "vvho knew him inti- 
 mately ; and so far from seeking to dispel its influence, ho 
 rather sought to cherish and to deepen it through life. 
 More than twenty years afterwards, while on a visit in Bos- 
 ton, he went to his former residence and requested of the 
 occupant permission to enter the chamber in Avhich his wifo 
 died ; and there he shut himself up for hours to communo 
 with tho Past, with the departed, with his own heart, and with 
 God. 
 
 This severe domestic affliction was followed not long after 
 by reverses in business. Mr. Hale, still retaining his agency 
 for the powder-mill before referred to, and which of itself 
 yielded sudicient for his comfortable support, had also en- 
 tered into a partnership for tho auction and commission busi- 
 ness, and had become concerned in a woolen factoiy located in 
 Worcester county. Jiut the general connuercial reverses of 
 1825, and especially the unfavorable state of the market for 
 woolens, reduced the house with which he was connected to 
 bankruptcy, and threw him once more penniless upon the 
 world. So liard is it for a young merchant to build up a 
 stable business and amass a fortune in a great city. But 
 Mr. Hale's life had not been thrown away ; in fact he had 
 only begun to live, and tho samo Providence which had sub- 
 jected him to so many trials had in store for him the most 
 ample blessings in a new and congenial field of labor and 
 usefulness. 
 
 Meanwhile, he had formed a connection which restored 
 to his domestic life its comfort and joy. On the 22d 
 of August, 1825, ho Waa miited in marriage to Mis3 
 
JOURNAL OF C O M M E R C K . 47 
 
 Lucj S. Turner of Boston ; the blessings of which union ho 
 continued to enjoy till the close of life. 
 
 In 1827, Mr. Arthur Tappan, with his princely liberality 
 and Kcalous regard for the public good, resolved to establish 
 in Now York a commercial new-spapor, to bo conducted 
 upon principles of sound morality and true independence, 
 and with a scrupulous regard for the Sabbath. Some friends 
 of Mr. Hale, learning of the movement, recommended him 
 to Mr. Tappan as a suitable person to take charge of the 
 commercial and business department of the paper, to which 
 post he was accordingly invited. lie ent(!red upon his duties 
 at the commencement of the enterprise, Sept. 1, 1827 ; W. 
 Maxwell, Ii^sq., of Norfolk, Va., a gentleman of high lite- 
 rary reputation, being associated with him as the literary 
 editor. The Journal of Commerce (as the new paper was 
 called) was then about the size of the New York Tribune, 
 or one half its own present dimensions ; and its daily cir- 
 culation was only a few hundred copies — in fact much of 
 its circulation the first year was gratuitous. Its editorials 
 were generally upon literary subjects ; but its columns wcro 
 principally devoted to business and news, the latter being 
 diversified every few weeks by the arrival of a vessel from 
 Liverpool, Havre, or New Orleans. 
 
 Such was the expensiveness of the cnt(;rpri8e, that towards 
 the close of the first year, Mr. Arthur Tappan, who had 
 already advanced upon the Journal, thirty thousand dollars, 
 determined to abandon it ; and to rid himself of further 
 responsibility he presented the entire establishment to his 
 brother, Mr. Lewis Tappan, whom he had just associated 
 with himself in business. Several changes followed this 
 arrangement. Mr. Milxwell retired from the editorship, and 
 Mr. Horace Bushncll (now Rev. Dr. Bushnell, of Hartford) 
 — who already evinced much of his peculiar spirit and power 
 as a writer, and who had been an assistant of Mr. Maxwell — 
 
48 MEMOIR. 
 
 was employed for some months as editor, while Mr. Hale, 
 in whoso name alone the Journal was published, continued 
 to manage the business department. The paper was under 
 the general direction of Mr. Lewis Tappan, who thus an- 
 nounced the principles on which it should be conducted ; 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, Sejyt. 1, 1828. 
 
 " It will be a primary object to render the Jounial a first rate 
 commercial paper, worthy of this city. To this end an extensive 
 correspondence will be maintained, the most ably conducted peri- 
 odicals will be taken, and no pains nor expense Avill be spared to 
 procure authentic reviews of the markets, prices current, &c. It 
 will be necessary also to maintain a boat establishment for the collec- 
 tion of marine news ; and this must be done at our individual cost, 
 as the pubHc and our establishment will be benefited by a competi- 
 tion, and as it will be contrary to the principles of this paper to 
 be associated with similar establishments which devote Sundays 
 to the collecting- of news. By a vigorous competition we expect 
 to prevent any deficiency arising fi-om an observance of the Sab- 
 bath, by which we mean the hours consecrated as holy time by 
 the general usage of Christians in this city, viz., from 12 o'clock, 
 on Saturday night to 12 o'clock the night succeeding. 
 
 " We shall avoid all participation in the gain of those fashionable 
 vices which sap the foundations of morality and religion, on which 
 the best interests of the nation depend. We profess to be 
 friends of Christianity ; — not enthusiasts, nor sectarians — and by a 
 liberal and firm support of the moral and religious institutions of 
 the country, we shall hope to merit the patronage of all good 
 citizens. Nor shall we fear, for the Journal, the sneering impu- 
 tation of its being a religious newspaper, because it will refuse to 
 derive emolument from advertisements that are at war no less 
 with the political and commercial prosperity, than with the inno- 
 cence, integrity, and moral weal of the community ; nor because 
 it will seek to promote the purity and elevation of public senti- 
 ment. 
 
 " In short, it will be our endeavor to pursue an independent, 
 courteous, and honorable competition ; to come out plainly against 
 moral delinquencies ; while we hope to furnisli a paper, whicli 
 will instruct and gratify the merchant, the politician, the literary 
 reader, and the moral and patriotic of all callings and professions. 
 On the cooperation of such we confidentl)'- rely. Let the experi- 
 ment be fairly made, and who can doubt that, in the metropolis 
 of this great nation, a daily paper, striving to excel its contem- 
 poraries by a dignified discussion of all the leading topics of 
 
AN INDEPENDENT EDITOR 
 
 49 
 
 public interest, excluding vice in all its forms, will be extensively 
 patronized." 
 
 Such was the original plan of the Journal of Commerce^ 
 as devised by Mr. Tappan. Mr. Hale differed from him on 
 some minor points relating to advertisements and measures 
 of reform, but in the main tlic principles stated above were 
 his also. The attempt to establish a paper on such a basis 
 excited the opposition and contempt of mere men of the 
 world, while on the other hand some good men, with more 
 zeal than discretion, were dissatisfied because the paper did 
 not go as far as they desired, in its opposition to certain 
 specific evils, or did not 'oppose them in the manner which 
 they prescribed. Some who at the outset are loudest hi 
 their acclamations for an independent journal, are most bit- 
 ter in their denunciations whenever that journal has sufficient 
 independence to differ from themselves! Their idea of an 
 independent editor is an editor who will always take their 
 advice, express their views, carry out their policy, publish 
 their articles, defer to their opinion. And if at any time 
 he refuses to publish communications from them which he 
 deems erroneous or injurious, or to make his journal the ve- 
 hicle of their extravagances, their unjust and slanderous 
 imputations, or even of their mistaken though well-meant 
 views, then, forsooth, he is sacrificing his independence and 
 courting popular favor, and must be made to feel their 
 righteous indignation. They will coerce him into their no- 
 tions of independence by stopping the paper. 
 
 An extract from a letter written by Mr. Hale soon after 
 the Journal of Commerce was started, will show to how many 
 petty annoyances of this sort he was subjected, how imprac- 
 ticable it was for him to comply with the wishes of all his 
 patrons, and how much wiser was the general course which 
 he prescribed to himself than what others were so ready to 
 suggest. The letter was written before Mr. Hale had any 
 
 ownership in the Journal. 
 
 3 
 
60 MEMOIR. 
 
 " We are very glad to know all the objections which good 
 people make (and bad too) to our measures. We have heard 
 many objections. One good man says that our police reports are 
 making light of iniquity and trifling with matters which ought to 
 make us weep ; another says we ought to attack theaters and 
 lotteries, and keep up a fire of hot shot until the whole fabric is 
 overthrown ; another that we ought not to advertise rum ; an- 
 other, that we ought not to advertise novels ; and ever so many 
 others something else. And all, with one consent, say that the 
 wrong of which they complain is a great deal worse than theaters. 
 As to the novels, I have never heard it mentioned except in your 
 letter ; and if I were set to answer the gentlemen who make the 
 complaint, I should perhaps say, that they have never been at 
 the theaters, nor read the novels, and they had better abstain 
 from both, but that at any rate they know nothing of the matter 
 whereof they affirm. But if I were to use circumlocution, I 
 would say, that in advertising we promised to exclude but two 
 things, and to these we have added publicly all transactions upon 
 the Sabbath ; and we exercise a censorship with regard to quack 
 medicines and several other things, not however pretending to ex- 
 clude every thing which is abused, or with which sin is committed — 
 for then must we needs go out of the world ; but taking no more 
 ground than we can maintain, and hoping to help so to push for- 
 ward public opinion, that by and by some other things may in 
 the exercise of a sound discretion be added to our list of exclu- 
 sions. But I am very willing to say that I have no idea of pro- 
 scribing novels, if by the word is meant works of fiction ; for we 
 must then exclude a large part of the best religious tracts and 
 other publications. The effort which Chiistians once made 
 against novels, when they consisted of little else than licentious 
 love stories, was certainly praiseworthy. But to proscribe the 
 historic and literary works of fiction of the present day, merely 
 because they are called novels, would be as unwise as to proscribe 
 the clergy of the present day because they are called by some of 
 the same names, and discharge the same offices with the Catholics. 
 The abstract question of the right or expediency of using fiction 
 I need not discuss, or undertake to determine ; and there is no 
 probability that those questions will be decided at present ; at any 
 rate none that all modern novels will be so reprobated by the 
 united voice of the religious and moral community, that the high 
 ground can be taken against them that they shall or ought not to 
 be advertised in the columns of business." 
 
 As it was not the wish of Mr. Lewis Tappan to retain 
 the control of the paper, he endeavored to procure an editor 
 
EDITORIALLABORS. 51 
 
 to be permanently associated with Mr. Hale. In a few 
 months an arrangement was made by which Mr. Hale and 
 Gerard Hallock, Esq., then editor of the Jfew York Ob- 
 server, became joint proprietors and editors of the Journal 
 of Commerce. A guarantee fund of twenty thousand dol- 
 lars was subscribed by several gentlemen for the support of 
 the paper, and the editors were allowed two years to deter- 
 mine upon purchasing the property by returning principal 
 and interest. This they subsequently did, and thus the 
 Journal was established on a safe and independent basis. 
 But Mr. Hale passed through years of privation and self- 
 denial before he began to receive an income of thousands. 
 
 Although it was expected that Mr. Hale would devote 
 himself rather to the commercial and business department of 
 the paper, than to the departments of literature and politics, 
 yet neither his thoughts nor his pen could be idle, and by the 
 vigor and pertinence of his articles upon a great variety of 
 subjects, he soon proved himself to be one of the ablest edi- 
 tors in the Union. Self-taught as he was in every thing be- 
 yond the rudiments of education, unskilled in the rhetoric of 
 the schools, he yet wrote Avith a precision, a correctness, and 
 force of language, to which few attain. Elegance of com- 
 position he never attempted ; but his words " fitly spoken" 
 were sometimes "like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 
 He always expressed himself clearly, concisely, forcibly ; 
 and sometimes with that nice discrimination, both in words 
 and ideas, which indicates the true philosopher. When we 
 consider that he had no editorial sanctum; that his articles 
 were written — not in a quiet study at home — nor in a private 
 office accessible only by tortuous staircases and labyrinth 
 passages, and guarded by spring-locks against all who could 
 not give the magic ' Sesame' — but in the business office of 
 the Journal, of late years on the corner of Wall and Water 
 Streets, at a desk directly facing two doors, amid the rum- 
 bling of carts, the cries of street venders, the hum of con- 
 
52 MEMOIR. 
 
 versation, the receiving and disbursing of money, and inces- 
 sant interruptions from calls and questions requiring his 
 personal attention — when we consider that his articles were 
 written by snatches, in such a position, and were often sent 
 to the compositor without revision, we are filled with aston- 
 ishment at their excellence both of thought and style, and 
 at the power of abstraction and of self-government which 
 must have been acquired in order to produce such composi- 
 tions in circumstances so unpropitious. 
 
 As an editor Mr. Hale observed the courtesies of the pro 
 fession; he never indulged in low personalities ; even in the 
 heat of controversy, and while giving full play to his extra- 
 ordinary powers of humor and satire, he maintained the 
 dignity of the gentleman and the Christian. And yet pro- 
 bably no editor was ever subjected to a greater amount of 
 personal abuse. He was ridiculed, he was caricatured, he 
 was assaulted, his private character was calumniated, his 
 religious profession and acts were derided. And this malig- 
 nant opposition was commonly excited by the fearless utter- 
 ance of truth in the discharge of duty. The remark of the 
 late Mr. Adams might be applied to him : " To be slan- 
 dered is not peculiar to me, but is the common lot of all 
 men who have attracted the attention of the age in which 
 they live." 
 
 This treatment Mr. Hale never retaliated. His conduct 
 towards his bitterest enemies was magnanimous. He could 
 turn off their sneers and their curses with a laugh, — not be- 
 cause he was indifferent to the opinions of others, — not be- 
 cause he courted opposition, — not because his heart was 
 ribbed in steel, — but because he had a consciousness of recti- 
 tude which raised him above the shafts of slander, and be- 
 cause he knew that the most malignant prejudice would yield, 
 at length, before a stern integrity and a dignified self-con- 
 trol. 
 
 An incident of a personal nature occurred in the early 
 
ASSAULT AT THE EXCHANGE. 
 
 53 
 
 history of the paper, which occasioned some public scandal, 
 but which illustrated some of the noblest traits in Mr. Hale's 
 character, and won from him the general approbatioij of good 
 men. An article appeared in the Journal of Com7/ierce, 
 which, though not personal, was construed by a French 
 merchant as a reflection upon himself. The aggrieved party 
 demanded of Mr. Hale the name of the author of the com- 
 munication, which he refused to give, though he offered to 
 publish an explanatory article, if couched in proper terms. 
 Hereupon the excited Frenchman assaulted Mri Hale with 
 a whip in the crowded Exchange. The deportment of Mr. 
 Hale, who had received some intimation that such an attack 
 was intended, is thus described by one who was conversant 
 with the facts : 
 
 "Mr. Hale, who was by far the most powerful man of the 
 two, received the blows Avithout resistance, and without ex- 
 citement. He knew the writer of the communication, who 
 was not an intimate friend, but rather the contrary.' By 
 his conduct in this affair, he stood as the honored represen- 
 tative of the peaceful principles of Christianity, as a mag- 
 nanimous upholder of the freedom of the Press, and as one 
 who preferred to be laughed at by ungodly men rather than 
 to do wrong. I have never known, since living in this city, 
 a more heroic act. Many who disliked Mr. H. reverenced 
 his conduct on that trying occasion." 
 
 The following is Mr. Hale's account of the affair, as it 
 appeared under his own signature in the Journal of Com- 
 merce of the next morning. After stating the circumstan- 
 ces connected with the publication of the article, he thus 
 proceeds : 
 
 " In what followed the occurrences above-mentioned, one of 
 the editors acted alone, and may as well act alone in stating the 
 reasons of his conduct: though he cannot but feel that the mo- 
 tives which actuated so unimportant an individual must be of 
 very little consequence to the public. The undersigned pro- 
 
54 MEMOIR. 
 
 ceeded to the Exchange with the paragraph which had been 
 prepared, and with a sincere desire to make all suitable repara- 
 tion for the unintended Avound Avhich had been inflicted on the 
 feelings of Mr. M., presented it to him and his friend. After a 
 few minutes consultation, Mr. M. inquired whether the paragraph 
 which his friend had written, or anotlier which I then saw for the 
 first time, would be inserted. As he insisted on an answer, I 
 replied, that exactly in the phraseology which they then had, I 
 thought they would not. 
 
 " It is not my object to display the conduct of Mr. M. in an 
 unfavorable light ; suffice it to say, that on receiving my answer, 
 he at once assumed the appearance of heated passion, called on 
 some one to hold his overcoat, which he took off with great vio- 
 lence, and commenced a furious attack upon me with a rattan 
 cane. I acted as I had long since deteimined to act, if I should 
 ever be so unfortunate as to be placed in such circumstances. 
 From the beginning, I perceived that I was in no danger of per- 
 sonal injury — and reallj^ for such a flurry of boy's play I was 
 not disposed, and am not now, to be angry. If the object was 
 to inflict on me bodily pain, it failed entirely ; for I suffered none. 
 If it was to disgrace me, I have long since made up my mind, 
 that my own actions, and not those of other men, can do me that 
 injury. No doubt the feelings of many of the gentlemen present 
 demanded that I should fight. Perhaps all would have justified 
 me in doing so ; though I have the pleasure to know, that my con- 
 duct was approved by a large number, and for myself I find 
 nothing in it to regret. Why should I have fought? To prove 
 myself courageous ? Courage is that which enables a man to 
 act well when in danger ; but in this case the essential of danger 
 was lacking. If to prove myself superior in muscular strength, 
 why, I suppose nobod)^ doubts that now. Besides, why should 
 men be proud of that in which they are so much inferior to other 
 animals ? I know men whom either Mr. M. or myself could 
 overpower, who yet are entitled to our highest respect ; and 
 others who could overpower us both, and who yet are despised 
 by the whole community. 
 
 'DAVID HALE." 
 
 The commercial department of the Journal of Commerce, 
 to which Mr. Hale gave his chief attention, soon began to 
 attract the notice of business men as a most reliable source 
 of information upon commercial affairs. At the time of the 
 establishment of the Journal there existed a combination of 
 the leading newspaper establishments of the city for obtain- 
 
ENTERPRISE OF THE JOURNAL. 55 
 
 ing foreign intelligence ; but it appears to have been rather 
 a combination of laziness than of enterprise — the object 
 being not so much to obtain news promptly as to insure that 
 no one should obtain news to the disadvantage of the rest. 
 From this association the Journal of Commerce was jeal- 
 ously excluded. But its proprietor, Mr. Arthur Tappan, 
 was determined that nothing should be wanting for the suc- 
 cess of the paper ; and accordingly he employed a separate 
 news-boat, well-manned, to cruise in the harbor for the pur- 
 pose of hailing vessels as soon as they hove in sight and 
 bringing their news to the city with the utmost dispatch. 
 This boat, which bore the name of the Journal, was sustained 
 at great expense for several years. Her cruising was always 
 suspended on the Sabbath. By ^ood luck, as men of the 
 world would say, but rather by the blessing of Providence 
 on industry and enterprise controlled by right principle, the 
 Journal of Commerce in numerous instances obtained im- 
 portant intelligence in advance of the entire commercial 
 press of New York, and thus established a character for 
 energy and promptitude which proved invaluable. This was 
 particularly noticeable with regard to the French Revolution 
 in 1830 ; the news of which was brought to the city by the 
 Journal's news-boat, and was read by Mr. Hale from the 
 steps of the Exchange, while " extras" were preparing at 
 the Journal office.* 
 
 During the exciting scenes of Jackson's administration, 
 when the markets were affected by President's messages, 
 cabinet councils, and senate debates, Messrs. Hale & Hal- 
 lock established an express from Washington to New York, 
 by relays of horses, thus bringing Congressional news to the 
 
 * As the Journal was then printed on a hand-press, not more than 
 two or three hundred extras could be struck off in an hour, — a fact 
 illustrating the wonderful improvements in machinery made within 
 twenty years. Now ten or twelve thousand sheets can be worked in 
 an hour by Hoe's Cylindrical Press. 
 
66 MEMOIR. 
 
 Journal of Commerce from twelve to twenty-four hours in 
 advance of the mail. By this bold and energetic policy, 
 together with a strict regard for accuracy and veracity in 
 all statements of fact, and a careful avoidance of panic and 
 imposition, this Journal gained the confidence of the public 
 in a degree seldom attained. Probably no Journal of the 
 time has upon the Avhole exerted more inlluencc on the poli- 
 tics of the country. Its entire independence of party poli- 
 tics has given more weight and authority to its opinions. 
 As a matter of course it has been accused of vacillation 
 and hypocrisy, by whichever party was obliged, for the time 
 being, to encounter such a formidable opposition ; but all 
 parties have in turn been proud of its advocacy and aid. 
 It was a circumstance which gave peculiar satisfaction to 
 Mr. Hale in his last illness, that neai'ly every question of 
 political economy and of public policy which he had discuss- 
 ed for twenty years had been settled in accordance with his 
 own views of what Avas wise and right. This was particu- 
 larly the case with the bank and tariff questions, in which 
 he had taken a deep interest. He was a firm believer in 
 the Free-trade system, and one of its ablest expounders. 
 These subjects he had studied profoundly ; not in books — 
 for he had no leisure for that — but m facts and principles 
 scrutinized and shaped in the laboratory of his own philo- 
 sophical mind. Nearly every great truth Avhich he uttered 
 was, therefore, Avith him a discovery, an original thought ; 
 and he was wont to trace the deepest principles of his poli- 
 tical economy to the Word of God. 
 
 There were questions of a mixed character, questions at 
 once political, economical, social, and moral, upon which Mr. 
 Hale's opinions and the course of the Journal of Commerce 
 differed widely from those of the early friends and patrons 
 of the paper, and of many leading philanthropists. His 
 views on certain aspects of the temperance and anti-slavery 
 movements were to some a matter of surprise and to others 
 
MR. H ale's opinions AND INFLUENCE. 57 
 
 a matter of grief and vexation. This is not the place to 
 discuss those views ; they will bo given in full in a sub- 
 sequent part of this volume. Suffice it to say — and this is 
 the opinion of one who differed from him essentially upon 
 these points — that, in treating of those vexed questions, Mr. 
 Hale spoke and wrote in accordance with his own honest 
 conviction of Avhat wisdom, justice, philanthropy and 
 Christianity required. It will be admitted that he discussed 
 such questions witli great ability. His course in relation to 
 the late war Avith Mexico elicited the wiunn commendation of 
 the Christian community. His appeal to his fellow-citizens 
 to desist from that unrighteous war is a speaking monument 
 of his boldness, integrity, and magnanimity. 
 
 His connection with a leading commercial paper in the 
 commercial emporium of our country made Mr. Hale a pro- 
 minent man in the community ; and yet he owed his position 
 to his own energy, perseverance, al)ility, and worth, rather 
 than to any outward circumstances. Few men have come 
 into .this great metropolis who have made themselves y<?/^ as 
 he did, — who have, to the same extent, attracted the attention 
 and influenced the opinion of the public. It was a common 
 inquiry with reference to any important public question, 
 " What does David Hale say?" And though David Hale 
 did not always say what pleased others, or what seemed to 
 them right, he always did say something worthy of atten- 
 tion, and something which made an impression on the com- 
 munity. He had the reputation, too, of saying many un- 
 gracious things which he never did say ; in short every thing 
 severe, stern, positive, radical, in the Journal of Commerce, 
 was imputed to him ; and he was often distinguished from 
 the Journal and made personally, and by name, the object 
 of tirades on account of articles which perhaps he had not 
 sec^i till they appeared in print. But he was little affected 
 by such assaults, and least of all could he bo deterred by 
 
 popular clamor, or personal abuse, or threats of the with- 
 3* 
 
68 MEMOIR. 
 
 dx*awal of patronage, from a course upon whicli he had de- 
 termined. 
 
 It was tlie endeavor of Mr. Hale to give to the Journal 
 the highest possible value as a commercial newspaper ; for 
 he felt that its prosperity depended more upon a good repu- 
 tation in that particular than upon the ability of its loading 
 editorials. To accomplish this ro(i[uirod years of enterprise, 
 perseverance, and toil ; but these were rewarded in the end 
 with complete success. And here it should be noted that the 
 success of the Journal of Commerce has fully demonstrated 
 that a daily connnercial newspaper of the largest class can be 
 published without any work being done in connection Avith it 
 on the Sabbath. This was a prime object with Mr. Arthur 
 Tappan, in sotting up tlie Journal ; and Mr. Lewis Tappan, 
 when he had control of the paper, was in the habit for 
 months of closing the office, in person, on Saturday night, 
 and opening it on Monday morning, so as to insure the ces- 
 sation of all labor on the premises for twenty -four hours. 
 The proprietors of the paper have always had regard to the 
 Sabbath in their arrangements for procuring intelligence, 
 even when they had a private express rumiing in competition 
 Avith tlie mail. This good oxanipk' has had a happy influence 
 on the newspaper press. The Sabbath is much less dese- 
 crated than formerly in connection with the daily press, 
 though of late years the day has been more grossly violated 
 by the publication and sale of Sunday newspapers. The 
 interests of eomnievce can plead no necessity for the viola- 
 tion of the Sabbath. The publication of the Journal of 
 Commerce, on Monday, is hardly delayed an hour by the in- 
 termission of labor at the office on the Lord's da}^ and its 
 columns on that morning are as fresh and full as those of 
 other newspapers. Mr. Hale always performed extra labor 
 on Saturday in order to keep inviolate the day of rest. • 
 
 But it is the religious character and life of Mr. Hale 
 
HIS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 69 
 
 that will possess the highest interest for most who read 
 this volujne. He did not lose his activity as a Christian 
 in the laborious life of an editor. Action was his ele- 
 ment, — in nothing more than in the high theater of God's 
 purposes and of Christ's kingdom. On coming to New 
 York he entered immediately into church relations here, 
 and into the various departments of active Christian eftbrt. 
 He made his daily occupation subservient to the cause 
 of Christ. Says Mr. Ilallock, " His connection with the 
 Journal of Commerce was doubly agreeable to him, be- 
 cause it gave him a two-fold power of doing good ; first, by 
 the moral, social and political influence of the paper itself, 
 and secondly by the pecuniary emolument which it yielded." 
 Soon after the starting of tlie Journal, Mr. Hale removed 
 his family to New York, and lived for some time in a plain 
 way in the nortli-eastern part of the city. He united with the 
 Seventh Presbyterian Church, then under the pastoral care 
 of Rev. Elihu VV. J3aldwin, afterwards President of Wabash 
 College, Indiana. At that time Mr. Halo attached but 
 little importance to the distinctive prhiciples of Congrega- 
 tionalism ; he had never made them his study, and had no 
 thought of becoming in any way an innovator upon the eccle- 
 siastical usages of the city. In the opinion of one well 
 qualified to judge, he probably did not then understand the 
 diftercnce between Congregationalism and Presbyterianism, 
 and if he thought on the subject at all, it was only to adopt 
 the current opinion that the former system was suited to New 
 England alone, and never could be established on this soil. 
 It is important that this fact should be distinctly marked. 
 Mr. Hale loved Christian liberty, and had always enjoyed 
 it. He felt it to be the duty of church-members to bo 
 active in all the affairs of the church, and he had never met 
 with any official or ecclesiastical restriction upon his plans 
 of usefulness. He was accustomed to pray and speak in 
 social religious meetings, and to speak and vote in the busi- 
 
60 MEMOIR. 
 
 ness meetings of the church ; and this full Christian liberty 
 was so natural and proper, so much a matter of course, that 
 he had not been accustomed to trace it back to certain prin- 
 ciples of church polity. He expected to find substantially 
 the same freedom in the Presbyterian Church, and it was 
 not till he had been hampered in various ways under the 
 constitution of that Church, that he began to study the 
 New Testament with a view to ascertain what principles 
 were there laid down for the constitution and government of 
 churches. Mr. Hale did not come to New York as a secta- 
 rian or a propagandist. The principles of Congregational- 
 ism were in a sense as original with hhn, as truly the result 
 of his own reflections on the New Testament, as if he had 
 been ignorant of the existence of such a system ; for when 
 investigating the subject of church polity, he went for infor- 
 mation and authority, not to New England usages, but to 
 the Word of God. 
 
 He was first led to scrutinize the Presbyterian mode of 
 government by the summary manner in which he was elected 
 an elder in the Seventh Church. Not having yet raised an 
 inquiry as to the Scriptural warrant for the ofiice of ruling 
 elder, he had regarded the office with peculiar solemnity, and 
 was therefore surprised at being informed in one breath, 
 that he had been designated to this office, and that the con- 
 gregation would be publicly notified of it on the next Sab- 
 bs.th morning, and he would be ordained in the evening. He 
 not only felt that he needed time to weigh the question of 
 acceptance, but that it was due to the congregation to allow 
 them more time to form their judgment of his fitness, and to 
 bring forward any objections to his ordination. He finally 
 accepted the appointment, and was ordained an elder on the 
 11th January, 1829 ; and as the office of ruling elder is 
 "perpetual, and cannot be laid aside at pleasure," and " no 
 person can be divested thereof but by deposition," whatever 
 
CHURCH RELATIONS 
 
 61 
 
 virtue and sanctity his ordination imparted must have ad- 
 hered to him tln^ough life. 
 
 Soon after this event Mr. Hale removed his residence to 
 the lower part of the city, at too great a distance for his 
 family to attend the Seventh Church. Accordingly, much 
 as they were attached to the church and its pastor, they 
 were obliged to seek a more convenient place of worship, 
 and as the first question with Mr. Hale always was, "where 
 can I be most useful ?" he decided to unite in a mission en- 
 terprise, then in its infancy, for building up a church (Pres- 
 byterian) in the Bowery. There he remained for some 
 years, though with no little inconvenience, till several of the 
 leading members of the church had withdrawn, and the 
 church being heavily burdened with debt, there seemed no 
 longer any hope of sustaining the enterprise. In 1836 
 the pastor — Rev. Dr. Woodbridge, of Hadley, Mass. — was 
 dismissed, and in the year following the church was disband- 
 ed. Mr. Hale now attended on the ministry of Rev. Dr. 
 Spring, but did not unite with the church under his care. 
 Here for a time he was treated with marked attention, and 
 was often invited to take a part in social meetings ; but 
 having on one occasion indulged in a freedom of remark 
 about the state of the church, which gave offense to some 
 present, he was thereafter doomed to silence by the most 
 pointed neglect. In this situation he saw no prospect of use- 
 fulness for him in the Brick Church, and the question came 
 up with renewed interest, " Where can I be useful?" 
 
 After wandering from church to church in quest of one 
 that should be both congenial in its spirit, and promising 
 as a field of labor, Mr. Hale began to attend worship 
 at the Broadway Tabernacle, and much against the in- 
 clination of his family at the time, he decided to unite with 
 the church there worshiping because he thought that there 
 he might he useful. Little did he dream what great inter- 
 ests in the future were depending on that decision. 
 
62 MEMOIR. 
 
 The Broadway Tabernacle was erected in the years 
 1835-6, at an expense of upwards of sixty-six thousand 
 dollars, exclusive of a portion of the land on which the 
 building stands. The chief design of the founders of the 
 Tabernacle was the extension of the Free Church plan, 
 which at that time had been in successful operation for two 
 or three years. A very large building, it was supposed, 
 would furnish the means of instruction to the largest num- 
 bcr of persons, at the smallest expense of money and minis- 
 terial labor. Anotlier design was the accommodation of 
 large bodies of Christians on anniversaries and other occa- 
 sions. The building is one hundred feet square, with capa- 
 cious galleries extending the entire circuit. About twenty- 
 five hundred persons can be comfortably seated in it, and 
 upwards of three thousand contained Avithin the walls. It 
 stands back from Broadway one hundred feet, having an en- 
 trance from the street twenty-five feet in width. By this 
 arrangement a house of Avorship is placed in the very heart 
 of the city, on its principal thoroughfare, and yet removed 
 from the noise of the street. 
 
 The Tabernacle was first occupied by the Sixth Free 
 Church, which adopted the name of the building. This 
 church was mainly Congregational, though the deacons were 
 made trustees of the property, and the board, for the sake 
 of being better comprehended by the public, was denomi- 
 nated a session. This board of seven deacons, chosen an- 
 nually, had, together with the pastor, the general oversight 
 both of the spiritual and temporal interests of the church ; 
 but all ecclesiastical power, in the last resort, was vested 
 in the church itself. The first pastor of the Tabernacle 
 Church was Rev. Charles G. Finney, Avho, however, resign- 
 ed the charge in the spring of 1837, in consequence of ill 
 health. He was succeeded by Rev. George Dufiield, who 
 officiated as minister without being formally installed pastor 
 
^9 
 
 ITH.OF r PALME.8 li CO , 98 NASSAU 5TRE t T. N .Y. 
 
 TH 
 
 ia Arvniver sarr We et 
 
 iiACLE. 
 
THETABERNACLECHURCH 63 
 
 of the church. It was at this time that Mr. Hale united 
 with the Tabernacle. 
 
 It soon became apparent that the pecuniary strength of 
 the church and congregation was inadequate to the manage- 
 ment of so large an establishment ; and in February, 
 1838, an arrangement was made by which the Free Church, 
 then worshiping on the corner of Dey and "Washington 
 streets, united with the Tabernacle Church. The Dey- 
 street brethren insisted, as a condition of the union, that 
 the united church should be Presbyterian ; and this was 
 assented to, with the proviso, that such principles of the 
 Congregational order should be ingrafted " as should bo ap- 
 proved by the united churches." The Dey-street Church 
 brought with them their pastor. Rev. Mr. HelfFenstein ; but 
 both he and Mr. Duffield not long after retired, and in the 
 autumn of 1838 Rev. Joel Parker became the pastor of the 
 church. At the same time the Free Church plan was 
 abandoned in part, and the letting of pews substituted. 
 The church was harmonious and prosperous for some months 
 after Mr. Parker's settlement, and until some disciplinary 
 movements on the part of the session produced dissatis- 
 faction. 
 
 As this case was one of great notoriety at the time, and led 
 to important changes in the Tabernacle Church and property, 
 tlie leading facts connected with it should have a place in this 
 narrative.* An anti-slavery society was about to be formed 
 in tiie Tabernacle Church. The session being opposed to the 
 movement, cautioned the church against it. This produced 
 
 * A regard for persons now living who were engaged in this con- 
 troversy would lead me to avoid any allusion to it, were it not neces- 
 sary for the proper vindication of Mr. Hale's character and con- 
 duct that the facts should be stated. I have omitted all personalities, 
 and have given only a statement of facts from the best means of in- 
 formation at my command. It would not be strange if the recollections 
 of the opponents of Mr. Hale should on some points be at variance 
 with the memoranda which he made at the time. 
 
64 MEMOIR. 
 
 much excitement among the friends of the society, one of 
 whom, in particular, Mr. Lcnvis Tappan, then a member of 
 the church, pubhcly denounced the course of the session as 
 arbitrary, and insisted upon the right of forming such a 
 society. At h^ngth JNIr. Tappan was cited before the ses- 
 sion as a disturber of the peace of the church, and a slan- 
 derer of its officers ; but without being tried on the original 
 charges, he was condonHied for contumacy, and suspended 
 from church privileges. From this sentence he appealed to 
 the higher judicatories of the Presbyterian Church, and tho 
 decision of the session was finally reversed by the General 
 Assembly. One great point in controversy was the right 
 of Mr. Tappan to employ a reporter to attend on his trial 
 before the session, and take notes of whatever should trans- 
 pire. This right the session denied. 
 
 Mr. Hale, with his ardent love of liberty of thought and 
 speech, and above all, liberty of Christian action, and with 
 some personal experience of ecclesiastical dictation, could 
 not remain an indiiVerent speetator of such an affair. He 
 had no sympathy with Mr. Tappan's anti-slavery ophiions 
 or measures, and was not then on very friendly terms with 
 Mr. Tappan himself. But he felt that great principles 
 were involved in the trial, and that Mr. Tappan was wrong- 
 ed and oppressed by the session. After expostulating with 
 the elders in vain, he availed himself of the provision in tho 
 articles of agreement between the united churches for oc- 
 casional meetings of the whole church for business, and had 
 a church meeting called by public notice " for the prayer- 
 ful consideration of a case of discipline." At this meeting, 
 held January "21, 1880, he introduced the reporter for tho 
 Journal of Commerce to take notes of the discussion. This 
 was objected to by several, partly as a novelty, and partly 
 because it was inexpedient to give publicity to church trans- 
 actions. To the objection, that if reporters were allowed to 
 attend church meetings, the ' penny papers' might have them 
 
CASK () !•' L 10 W IS r A P P A N . 
 
 66 
 
 always present, Mr. Hale replied, " I should be happy if all 
 the penny papers in the city would fill their sheets with re- 
 ports of our prayer-meetings at all times. I fear they 
 Avould find the matter too good for their purposes. Instead 
 of telling that our prayer-meetings are private, and report- 
 ers cannot be admitted to them, I should be glad if the whole 
 city were here on such occasions — and if we could not ac- 
 commodate them all, I should be glad to have all we say and 
 do reported everywhere through the newspapers." 
 
 By a vote of the churcli, the reporter was allowed to re- 
 main, and the debates of the evening were thus preserved. 
 These were afterwa-rds published by Mr. Ilalc, on a loose 
 sheet, under the title of "'Facts and Reasonings," which 
 was very widely scattered. 
 
 The following is the report of the main speech of Mr. 
 Hale at that meeting. It develops many important princi- 
 ples of church government : 
 
 Mr. II.vi.e fhoii addressed tlie meeting as follows : 
 
 Mr. MoDEiiATOR, — I ask the kind attention of my brethren and 
 sisters to tlie rcnnaiks I am about to make. It was for tlic pur- 
 pose of making tliese remarks before them that 1 sought tliis 
 meeting. We are in difliculty, and the best way to extricate our- 
 selves appeared to me to be to hold a free discussion on tlie 
 subject, to Hnd out if possil)le tlio causes of our troubk;, and if 
 possil)le iix on some principles wliicli will counternct these causes, 
 and so guide us to harmony, and maintain that harmony horciaf- 
 ter. I am happy to see so large ;m assembly of my l)rethr(ni, 
 for the matt(!rs in hand concern us all, and T have been accustom- 
 ed to put confidence in the Avliole church for the manag(\mcnt of 
 its adairs in times of diiliculty, over and above any pitrt or small 
 proportion of the members. When all are asscml)led in a spirit 
 of benevolence, wc seek to promote the common good by tin; 
 adoption of principles, which, in their bearing, are e(pial upon 
 :ill ; but when a portion of the commimity act in tlie name of the 
 whole, it is often the case that the advantage of tlu; few is too 
 much consulted. Towards this church, in })articular, my con- 
 fidence has been constantly increasing ever since f IkkI the privi- 
 lege of becoming one of its members. 1 have found in all its 
 course an earnest desire to do right, guided by a liberal intelli- 
 
66 MEMOIR. 
 
 gence. Especially have recent events put the wisdom and kind- 
 ness of its members to a severe test. We have passed through 
 events which might have shaken any church. We have within 
 a short space, upon prudential considerations, dismissed two pas- 
 tors, to one or other, or both of whom, we were all warmly at- 
 tached. When I saw my brethren come together affectionately, 
 and sacrifice their individual feelings of attachment to those pas- 
 tors, on the altar of the common good, I said within myself, " this 
 church is worthy of my confidence, it may always be trusted." 
 We are called upon now again, to sacrifice all personal considera- 
 tion for our common good, and the honor of our common Lord. 
 We are again in difficulty. Our minds are full of anxiety. 
 When I contrast our present condition with the peace and har- 
 mony and joy which prevailed so recently, and which had been 
 procured by our united action, I am overwhelmed Avith the con- 
 trast, and I resolve that if God will deliver us again, and bring us 
 back to those heavenly places, I will try to be a better man than 
 I have ever been. Such is the feeling, as I trust, which pervades 
 the whole church. 
 
 It is painful to proceed to discuss in detail the causes of our 
 unhappiness ; but it is a necessary process, and I shall endeavor 
 to go through it, speaking with the kindness and the frankness 
 with which a friend and a brother ought to speak. 
 
 Our peace was first interrupted by the commencement of an 
 anti-slavery society, to be formed in the Broadway Tabernacle 
 Church. I do not impute moral blame to the brethren who were 
 engaged in this, nor do I question their abstract right to do what 
 they did : still I think it was an error to introduce the subject in this 
 form, and an error exceedingly dangerous to our peace. This is 
 the Broadway Tabernacle Church of Jesus Christ, not of Anti- 
 Slavery ; and it must always be dangerous for a church as such 
 to depart from the single design of its formation. We are asso- 
 ciated as a church, only for the worship of God, and an atten- 
 dance on the ordinances he has established. There may be in 
 our number some of all the various parties which divide our 
 country. We have Whigs and Van Buren men, tariff and free 
 trade men, abolitionists, and colonizationists. We differ about all 
 these things and many more, yet there is one thing about which 
 we all agree, and on this we unite. This is the corner-stone of 
 our fabric, and while we adhere to it alone, we shall be likely to 
 remain harmonious. In maintaining this unity of purpose, we 
 sacrifice nothing of our opinions or our rights with regard to other 
 topics. We are pledged to each other as a band of Christians, 
 and whoever introduces any thing else into our association, however 
 good or honorable it may be, perverts the ends of the association. 
 This he ought not to do, and his covenant with the church does 
 
SPEECHOFMR.HALE. 67 
 
 in my judgment fairly preclude him from doing it. The same 
 principle applies to all associations, and is necessary for their 
 peace. If this were a society for literary improvement, there 
 would be no doubt many other good things to wliich it might 
 turn its attention, but if a member should attempt to appropriate 
 the society to other purposes, he would introduce discord, and to 
 that extent violate the spirit of his pledge given on entrance. I 
 wish particularly to impress it on the minds of my brethren, that 
 we are associated for one purpose and no other ; and this truth 
 must be far more widely considered than it has been, if the 
 churches of our country are to have rest. Those things are no 
 exceptions to this rule which are thought by their especial advo- 
 cates to grow out of the Gospel, or to be essential adjuncts with 
 it, or even forerunners of it. If they are not in the pattern as 
 shaped by the Master, they have no business here. However 
 good they may be, and however excellent their machinery, if it is 
 thrust into the workings of the church, our machinery will be in- 
 terrupted in its peaceful movements, or stopped entirely or broken 
 to pieces. I hope with these views that our brethren who pro- 
 posed the formation of the anti-slavery society will see the 
 propriety of withdrawing it from this church, to set it up in 
 greater strength, if they can, elsewhere, but in independence of 
 this chui'ch. 
 
 I now turn to the other side, and it is with much pain that I 
 feel myself obliged to animadvert on the conduct of brethren with 
 whom I have acted in the closest intimacy, and whom I have 
 been accustomed to love and respect. I allude to the measures 
 of the session. It may be said perhaps, that what has been 
 done by the session is not within the cognizance of the church, 
 and not our business coUectivelj', and that if wrong has been 
 done, the party wi'onged has the right of appeal to another judi- 
 catory, where every thing will be corrected. But in my judg- 
 ment it is not only our right, but our indispensable duty, to look 
 into the treatment which every brother receives at the hands of 
 the session. We have covenanted with each other, not with the 
 session. You all stand pledged to me and I to you, that we will not 
 see each other wronged, but will defend and watch over and pro- 
 tect each other. Under such a pledge, if I stand by and see my 
 brother wronged, without interfering for his deliverance, my bro- 
 ther's wrongs will be required of me as a tacit accessory by his 
 God. When we stood before the altar, we made a covenant with 
 each other and with God, the keeping of which we cannot dele- 
 gate to the hands of others. We must see to it for ourselves, 
 that the covenant is fulilled. 
 
 On Sabbath morning the 16th of December last, after listen- 
 ing to a sweet discourse from our pastor, and when our feelings 
 
68 MEMOIR. 
 
 were in as hfippy a state almost as is consistent with earth, the 
 members of the church were requested to remain after the con- 
 gregation liad dispersed. On incjuiring what was the subject to 
 be brought before us, of an elder who sat by my side, I was told 
 that the session had prepared a paper which they wished to 
 read relative to the proposed anti-slavery society. I perceived 
 at once that we were about to be plunged into a sea of trouble, 
 and I well nigh resolved' to step forward before the paper was 
 read, and beg the church to retire, and save themselves from 
 incalculable miscliief. 
 
 But it required more courage to act thus in the face of my 
 superiors, than at the moment I was able to muster. The ad- 
 monitory letter of the elders was read, and I need not describe 
 the instant and dreadful change which it produced in our feel- 
 ings and our pi-ospects. Tlie sad excitement which immediately 
 followed is fresh in the recollection of us all. There was no ne- 
 cessity for creating all this evil, on the part of the session. The 
 circumstances required no such advice. The anti-slavery society 
 had not been started with hostile intentions against the peace of 
 the church. No such thing was suspected of more than a very 
 small number ; and if it had existed (which is wholly denied), it 
 could not have been carried out, for there was too much good 
 sense and good feeling among the members of the church, that 
 such a design should have been in the least degree dangerous. 
 I admit that the session had the abstract right to give advice, so 
 have Ave all the same right ; and others also have the same right 
 to take or reject the advice. But the session were bound to 
 think wisely and generously, and coolly, before they gave advice, 
 which it was easy to see beforehand, would produce great com- 
 motion. Tlie result of that Sabbath noon's advice, I thought 
 then, would convince the session, that the advice I had previ- 
 ously given them, to let the anti-slavery society alone, would be 
 seen to be judicious; but to my great regret I learned a day or 
 two after, that the session had made another plunge, and cited 
 Mr. Tappan to appear before tliem, to answer to charges which 
 they would prefer. I thought it my duty to expostulate with the 
 session on the course they were pursuing, and with the deep grief 
 which I felt, to beseech them in the name of our peace, our use- 
 fulness, and the influence of the Gospel, by every thing dear to 
 us as a Christian church, to desist from the perilous com'se in 
 Avhich they had started. It did seem to me that the path of duty 
 was so plain, that no way-faring man had need to make any mis- 
 take. IBut my expostulations were on the whole set aside, as 
 were all the calls of peace and usefulness, and a bill of indict- 
 ment was found against our brother Tappan, and his trial com- 
 menced. I do not pi-opose going into the investigation of the 
 
SPEECH OFMR. HALE. 69 
 
 cliarges. The trial of them will probably go on elsewhere. But 
 of the manner of the proceedings on tlie part of the session, I 
 will speak and speak fully, for that it is, which has brought the 
 saddest afilictions upon us. 
 
 Christian discipline ought to be exercised with the greatest 
 kindness. Never for purposes of party, or to gratify personal 
 feelings, but for the two ends alone of the honor of religion, and 
 the especial benefit of the brother accused. Church discipline 
 is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ, and is in fact a part of 
 His own system of means to bring His people to Himself. It 
 should certainly be exercised in His spirit, and with all that gene- 
 rous compassion which He exercises always towards us all. 
 Every thing should be done and construed in kindness and liber- 
 ality. At least should there be as much lenity exhibited as is 
 shown in the criminal courts of civil society, towards accused 
 persons brought before them. But I am sorry to be compelled 
 to the belief, that a very different course from all this was pur- 
 sued by the session. 
 
 The session have not thought it best to lay before us any 
 statement of their doings, and so in commenting upon them I am 
 compelled to go partly upon what I know from my own observa- 
 tion — and partly upon such hearsay testimony as I can rely upon. 
 
 When the trial of Mr. Tappan came on, the session, not con- 
 fining themselves to the bill of charges of which the accused had 
 been notified, selected various expressions of his, uttered on the 
 trial, and directed them to be entered -on the record, as evidences 
 of his litigious disposition. 
 
 [After several interruptions and explanations :] 
 
 Mr. Hale continued — In a criminal court an accused person 
 would, under such circumstances, have been allowed to say, that 
 he did not mean what the expression implied to whicli exception 
 had been taken, or to express himself in so aggravated a manner. 
 And the hberty to make sucli explanation would not be denied 
 him in any criminal court in this country. In no such court would 
 such illiberality be practiced, especially as, in this case, the record 
 was the only thing which could appear before the higher judi- 
 catory. [Here Mr. Hale was again interrupted.] 
 
 In all courts where civil liberty is protected, if a man on trial 
 is contumacious to the court, that is one thing ; but if he says 
 things which show a murderous disposition, they are never put 
 on record, to prove that he committed murder. The whole trial 
 and the penalty relate to wliat took place before the trial com- 
 menced. Misconduct at the trial is never put on record as a 
 proof of the crime, nor punished as part of it. If a person ma- 
 nifest disrespect or contempt to the court, he may be sent to jail 
 until he learns better. But what our brother said without being 
 
70 MEMOIR. 
 
 contumacious, was written down as evidence of his litigiousness. 
 And this was done to aggravate his guilt. 
 
 I never knew an instance, nor was there ever one, in any fairly 
 conducted trial, in which a person on trial was refused the privi- 
 lege of explaining what he had said. The principle is essential, not 
 to fairness merely, but to truth, for very often a sentence, or part 
 of a sentence, taken by itself, and without explanation, will 
 convey an idea directly contrary to the idea in the mind of the 
 speaker, and nothing can be more at war with simple truth, than 
 the harsh refusal to allow an accused person the liberty to ex- 
 plain, that what he has said was spoken imder a misapprehen- 
 sion, in his oivn tnind, of the real state of the case, or tliat what 
 he said was not the full expression of his meaning, but ix'ferred 
 to something he had said before, or intended to say afterwards, 
 and Avhich other expressions were essential to the right under- 
 standing of his meaning. 
 
 Every explanation ought to have been received. In this case 
 it was of essential importance from the fiict that the record of 
 the session was to be the whole case before the Presbytery.* 
 
 Another thing. Every member of the church, who could pos- 
 sibly be a witness for the accused, was excluded from the trial. 
 Even the members who had been summoned were excluded. 
 
 I have it oflicially that the Moderator of the session did ex- 
 clude the members of the church who were to be witnesses from 
 being present at the trial, and he also excluded members who 
 had not been summoned, as witnesses, upon the ground that pos- 
 sibly they might aftervHirds be summoned. The " book of dis- 
 cipline" shows gi'eat ignorance of piinciples in the rule it con- 
 tains on this point, but it does not authorize the course adopted 
 by tlic session. I say by the session, for orders given by the 
 presiding judge of a court are given by the court. No such 
 practice is allowed in civil or criminal courts, except in cases 
 where there is supposed to exist a conspiracy among the wit- 
 nesses either with or against the accused. The rule of the ses- 
 sion carries on its face this unworthy charge against the mem- 
 bers of this church, for certainly if the members who were sum- 
 
 * That this matter may be definitely understood I will instance an ex- 
 ample. Mr. Tappan said on tlio first evening of the trial, tliat it would 
 take until Marcli to finish it. This expression the session directed the 
 clerk to record, as evidence of a litigious disposition. AVhen the session 
 came to adjourn they adjourned until the next evening. On this, Mr. 
 Tappan requested that it should be entered, that when he said it would 
 take to March to get tlirough Avith the trial, it was under the impres- 
 sion that the session would only sit one evening in a week as they had 
 beeu accustomed to do ; but if they should adjourn IVom evening to 
 evening, a much shorter time would probably be required. This ex- 
 planation the session refused to record. 
 
SPEECH OF MR. HALE. 
 
 ri 
 
 moned could be relied upon to speak the truth, under all circum- 
 stances, there was no meaning in the order which excluded them 
 from licaring the testimony of each other and listening to the 
 trial. The principle adopted by the session of excluding those 
 who might be witnesses, and requiring as they did the accused 
 to enroll each particular brother or sister present as a witness at 
 that time, or lose his right to do so afterwards, was harsh and 
 rigorous, and a violation of the rights, both of the accused and 
 the members of the church. The principle is ruinous to liberty, 
 for it would be very easy to make it a pretense upon which all 
 spectators shoidd be excluded from court. 
 
 It is a matter of no dispute that our brother was refused the 
 privilege of having a reporter to assist him in taking down a 
 complete record of all that was said and done in the process of 
 the trial. Every other person present possessed tlie right of 
 making a full report, but to tlie individual on trial it was denied. 
 I need not prove, to persons accustomed to notice the workings 
 of such matters, that a court which should refuse to allow a full 
 report of its proceedings to be made by impartial hands would 
 not be very likely to make a full and fair report itself. Are not 
 all the courts of this countrj^, both civil and criminal, open to 
 reporters ? Is there any one of them, where a party interested, 
 or a party uninterested, would be prevented from taking notes of 
 all that transpired ? Not one. It is an essential right in the 
 protection of justice and fair dealing, and any civil or criminal 
 judge who should infringe it would cover himself with the dark- 
 est suspicions, and be driven from his seat. The right is not 
 less clear, nor less important, in regard to ecclesiastical courts. 
 Their penalties, in a great measure, relate to reputation with the 
 whole church and the world at large. It is therefore of peculiar 
 importance, that the individual whose reputation is" at stake 
 should be able to sliow to all persons what was the evidence, 
 and what were all the proceedings in the case. I should have 
 felt alarmed, as our brotlier did, under that rule, and afraid to go 
 on with the trial. I could not have felt secure in trusting to the 
 records of a court, who had passed such an order. If I had 
 been in the place of our brother, I should not only have felt at 
 liberty to do as he did, but I should have felt compelled to do it 
 as a matter of duty. If he had submitted to the order, he would 
 not merely have given up his own rights, but mj^ rights and 
 yours. He would have admitted a principle which would have 
 rendered us all insecure. 
 
 In demanding this vital right, and demanding it as a right, ho 
 did what every man who knows the worth of liberty, and the 
 blood it has cost, would and ought to do. But why was this re- 
 fusal to permit every thing to be taken down, and, if the ac« 
 
72 MEMOIR. 
 
 cused pleased, reported to the world ? Was any thing likely to 
 occur which would not bear the light ? Kindness and generosity 
 do not spoil in the daylight, but become more fragrant, and 
 even simple justice will stand the most intense rays of the sun, 
 without losing its beauty. 
 
 If the accused had been guilty of the crimes laid to his charge, 
 and that had been proved by the testimony, would the convicted 
 man have desired to publish the proofs of his guilt ? And if he 
 had, would the court have any thing to fear from it, either for 
 themselves, or this church, or the honor of religion ? There 
 could have been no good and honest reason for excludino: the re-i 
 porter. God himself has His reporter. In the book of His re- 
 membrance are written down all His dealings with each one of us, 
 during our long and merciful trial, and He does it in order that at 
 the last great day the record may be reported and published to 
 the universe, to the utter confusion of all incorrigible criminals, 
 and the vindication of God's rectitude, so that all a^ood beina's 
 shall be surely convinced that His judgments are righteous, and 
 so take part with Him. In the same manner will every tribunal 
 act, whose measures are those of intelligence and rectitude. 
 
 A contrary course at once excites suspicion, and has in this 
 case done dishonor to this church and our religion. These are 
 my opinions of this matter of the reporter ; and I am sure 
 that unless we act upon them, we shall never be able to satisfy 
 our own consciences, or make the world believe that what is done 
 here is honest and of good report. 
 
 Under the circumstances which I have described, the session 
 passed sentence against our brother, of suspension from the com- 
 munion for contumacy. 
 
 They wronged him once, and because he, as an American 
 Christian was bound to do, stood by his right, they wronged him 
 again, and consummated the wrong hy intlicting upon him the 
 heaviest penalty within their power. This contumacy, be it re- 
 membered, was not against Him who spreads our communion- 
 table with the emblem of His sufferings in our behalf, but against 
 the session — that was all. I do not see what connection there 
 was between the crime, if it had been one, and the punishment 
 which was inflicted on account of it. I will only add, on this 
 point, that the book of discipline authorizes no such sentence as 
 this for contumacy. 
 
 As another wrong in this case, I have to state that notwith- 
 standing the appeal which our brother has taken to a higher tri- 
 bunal, the penalty of the session has been inflicted in the mean 
 time to its fullest extent. No such thing was ever done in any 
 coui't, where there was the least pretense of justice. An appeal 
 is a continuation of the trial. The decision has not been reached, 
 
SPEECHOFMR. HALE. 73 
 
 and the " question of guilt or innocence" has not been settled 
 until the ultimate decision has been obtained. I know very well 
 that the book of discipline authorizes this, and it shows the ex- 
 treme ignorance on the part of the men who made it, of the 
 simplest elements of right and the commonest proceedings of 
 courts. You might as well stop any where else and inflict a 
 penalty as at the result in the first court. The plan of this pro- 
 ceeding is to punish first and try the accused afterwards, and find 
 out whether he ought to be punished. I have never known of 
 more than one case in a criminal court analagous to this. That 
 was the case of two Indians who were tried in Georgia, under an 
 iniquitous law of that State for driving off the rightful owners of 
 the soil. Under this law the two Indians were found guilty, and the 
 punishment was death. Their counsel appealed to the Supreme 
 Coui't of the United States, as they had a right to do, and if 
 there had been justice in Georgia, the Indians would have been 
 safe. But the Georgia court said, you may appeal as much as 
 you please, but in the mean time we shall hang you. And so 
 they did, and filled the whole land with abhorrence of the mur- 
 derous deed. This to be sure is not a hanging matter, but it is 
 a suspension of character. The news goes forth to the world 
 that our brother is excommunicated, and yet the trial is pending, 
 which I am sure will in the end reverse the sentence of the ses- 
 sion. • In the mean time he is driven from the communion as if he 
 had been convicted, and his reputation suffers. After months, 
 and perhaps years, the unjust sentence will, I have no doubt, be 
 reversed, but the wrong which has been done can never be fully 
 redressed. This certainly is great injustice. 
 
 Still more, and worst of all, I know that at least one of the 
 judges had made up his mind and determined to convict the ac- 
 cused, before the trial commenced, for he told me that something 
 must be done to break down the influence of Mr. Tappan. This 
 was said to me, and repeated, without any charge of confidence 
 being imposed upon me. Surely such a judge, or a court with 
 such a judge upon its bench, was not fit to try any man. Such 
 an individual would not have been allowed to sit upon the trial 
 even of Coleman, who cut the throat of his wife at noon-day, 
 and before a throng of witnesses. Any one who had declared 
 beforehand that (!oleman ought to be hanged would have been 
 disqualified from sitting on the trial. Our rights are entirely in- 
 secure, if we may be called before men and tried by men who 
 have, beforehand, determined that we must be broken down. I 
 know that these statements produce painful emotions in the minds 
 of many who hear me, as they do in my own. But it is indis- 
 pensable that the matter should be thoroughly investigated. I 
 respect my brethren who compose the session, and I am not dis- 
 4 
 
74 MEMOIR. 
 
 posed to charge them with having done all these wronjD;s inten- 
 tionally. But however honest they may be, I cannot feel at all 
 secure, while the tribunal to which I may myself be responsible, 
 so violates the principles which are the essential safeguards of ray 
 rights. I do not consider my reputation safe in their hands, and 
 I know that other brethren feel the same alarm. We cannot set- 
 tle down in peace, until we are eftectually secured against such 
 dangers. My deliberate opinion is, that if the session had re- 
 solved at the outset to do every thing wrong, they could not have 
 accomplished that purpose more completely. 
 
 My desire and the object of the remarks I have made and 
 shall make, is, if possible, to remove these dangers, and fix our 
 relationship on such principles as will make us safe, and secure to 
 us permanent peace. And to help us in our judgment allow me 
 to point out the radical error of the session, which has led them 
 into all these other errors. It was the want of confidence in' the 
 members of the church. The session feared that the ingenuity 
 of Mr. Tappan would be sufficient to change our opinions, and 
 bring us to act in opposition to them and our pastor. In this 
 opinion they were probably very sincere ; but unless I entirely 
 overrate the intelligence of my brethren, the session were utterly 
 mistaken in their low opinion of us. I know I am right about 
 this, and it was entirely under the influence of fears growing out 
 of this eiTor that this prosecution was commenced. I combatted 
 this error with the members of the session with all the power I 
 possessed, at the commencement of this unhappy business. I 
 assured them that they might rely on the wisdom, intelligence 
 and piety of the church. If they had felt the confidence in us 
 which they had reason to feel, this prosecution would never have 
 been commenced. But they supposed us liable to be led astray 
 — that there was a dangerous man among us, and that unless he 
 were put down, we should all be corrupted by his influence, and 
 brought over to wrong-doing. There are many men who can 
 never comprehend how a community should live together in peace 
 without being governed. A Frenchman who lands on our shores 
 and sees no f/ens cCarmcs, thinks there is no government, and is 
 afraid he shall be killed. He does not understand the workings 
 of a system of liberty, where the laws being made by the people, 
 they are for the good of the people, and all the people are en- 
 gaged for their support. So it was with the session. They 
 could not believe in the stabilitj^ of our ungoverned peace. This 
 brought the pressure of their power upon it for its preser- 
 vation and crushed it to pieces. We know that mere sincerity 
 in rulers is no guarantee that they will govern Avell. They must 
 add to sincerity, intelligence, liberality and purity from prejudice. 
 We had this truth strongly exhibited the other day in a sermon. 
 
SPEECHOFMR. HALE. 75 
 
 in which our pastor illustrated the guilt of prejudiced sincerity 
 by supposing the case of an honest but prejudiced jury, sitting 
 upon the trial of a fellow-being for his life, and he exhibited the 
 climax of the illustration by the pungent inquiry, " who does not 
 see that there was murder in that sincerity ?" So giving our ses- 
 sion all the credit for honesty which any one may claim for them ; 
 yet while they act under the prejudice which fills their minds 
 respecting the real character of this church, while they believe 
 us incapable of taking care of ourselves, there will ever be dis- 
 order and insecurity and oppression in their sincerity. Let them 
 take a right view of our character, and then every brother and 
 sister seems a police officer for the protection of the peace and 
 order of the church. The men who have kindled the fires of 
 persecution in past ages of the church were, many of them, pos- 
 sessed of tliis prejudiced honesty, and with many the prejudice 
 was precisely the same prejudice wliich has led our session 
 astray. Paul says he was honest in persecuting the church be- 
 fore his conversion, and still he confesses tliat for the exercise of 
 this honesty he was unworthy to be called a disciple. 
 
 1, sir, cannot afford to bear the loss which must be sustained 
 under such an administration of our affairs. I cannot afford to 
 have the peace of tlie church thus destroyed. I cannot afford 
 to have my pastor brought into the circumstances of danger to 
 his inffuence, nay, of great and certain loss, which tliis state of 
 things necessarily brings with it. 1 have s(Km a pastor, young, 
 and standing in the midst of his flock in all the loveliness of mutual 
 confidence, with no other rule over them, and desiring none, but 
 that which was secured by his pious and affectionate care for 
 their souls. I have seen such a man, startled by some leaf of 
 opposition, begin to put himself in an attitude of caution, and to 
 guard against popular excitement, and thus assume a position an- 
 tagonist to his chiu'ch, and I have seen him follow out his fears 
 in the curtailment of their influence until he had robbed them of 
 all their fianchise in the election of their own officers, shut them 
 out from th(! liberty of meeting to discuss their common interests, 
 and well nigh taken from them the liberty of speech even in their 
 social religious meetings. We cannot afford to have the active love 
 and youthful vigor of the Tabernacle Church fall into such decre- 
 pitude, nor to have any part of so deadly a process pass upon 
 us, and I will now submit three short resolutions, which I think 
 will be an effectual bar to such a process, and will go far to 
 secui-e our peace and prosperity hereafter. But first allow me 
 to read sundry rules which were prepared by the session, and 
 adopted by the church on a Sabbath morning, some time last 
 summer, as I understand, for I was not present at the time, nor 
 
76 MEMOIR. 
 
 was any other brother present who would be expected to take 
 an active part in framing the proposed modifications. The paper 
 is as follows : 
 
 1st That God alone is Lord of tho conscience, and hath left it free from 
 the doctrines and commandments of men, which arc in any thing con- 
 trary to his word, or bind it in matters of faith or worship— Ihercfore, 
 we consider the right of private judgment in all matters that respect re- 
 ligion as universal and unalienable. , , . ,. , „ , - 
 
 2d That the Bible is tho supreme and only binding code of laws for 
 the government of the Churcli— so that in all matters of government 
 and discipline the Church is bound to follow the rules of Christ, and no 
 obligation can exist to do and submit to that which violates them. 
 
 3d That each body of Christians meeting in one place, and united by 
 love to walk together according to the rules of Christ's house, i,n sub- 
 jection to him, is a church deriving from him the right to choose its own 
 pastor and church officers, and to discipline its members—but that in 
 tho exercise of those rights, churches may agree to act through their 
 representatives or elders, chosen out from among themselves lor the 
 purpose of promoting the general interest and the enforcement of the 
 laws of Christ. And when difficulties may arise in the administration 
 of discipline, application may be made for the aid ot'^othcr churches, 
 either through their representatives in Council, or in Presbyteries and 
 in Synods, &c., agreeable to some plan approved and adopted by them 
 
 for this purpose. . i. ^i -n 
 
 4th That the form of government, and forms of process of the Pres- 
 byterian Church of the United States of America, as amended arid rati- 
 fied by the General Assembly, in May, 1821, and adopted by the Pres- 
 bvtcrics, meet our approbation, and will be submitted to as iar a.s the 
 application and enforcement of the same shall not violate any ot the 
 rules of Christ's house. , v *, 
 
 6th That in the administration of the discipline of the church by the 
 ciders or congregational assembly, who are the representatives of the 
 Church, we hold the following to be the legitimate and proper applica- 
 tion of Presbyterian government as laid down in that form oi government 
 ami book of discipline. Ist-The pastors, elders, ami deacons are to 
 be chosen by a majority of the votes of the members of the church, -d— 
 That the authority of the session is ministerial or declarative, ana 
 should be exercised by them under a sense both ol then-responsibility 
 to the Head of the Church, and of the fact that they are the representa- 
 tives of the people. 3d-That in all cases of oliense discipline should 
 be commcnco.l and proceed on the rule laid down in Matthew xviii. lo— 
 18 4th— Tiiat in cases of process against a member ol the church, tho 
 meetin- of the session shall be free to the entrance of any of the mem- 
 bers of the church, who may wish to hear the testimony and witness 
 the proceedings. ,. , ,, , • i 
 
 0th Applicants for admission to sealing ordinances shall be examined 
 by the session as to their knowledge and piety, and when npproyed sha 1 
 be publicly propounded at least one Sabbath before their uniting with 
 
 ^TtV^An ' annual meeting of the church shall be held on the first 
 Monday in April, when the session shall make an annual report in re- 
 lation to the spiritual interests of the church ; the deacons in relation 
 to their trusts, and the trustees in relation to the funds and expenses ol 
 the congregation. 
 
SPEECHOFMR.HALE. YT 
 
 To this I propose to add tlie following as permanent rules : 
 
 Resolved, That the following be added to the permanent rules of the 
 Tabernacle Church : 
 
 1. in the discipline of this church no member shall be obliged to 
 make his defense before any judicatory other than the session of this 
 churcli, and any member tried by the session shall have the right of ap- 
 peal to tlie whole body of his brethren assembled in church meeting. 
 
 2. The first cliurch prayer-meeting in each season of the year shall be 
 a business meeting, at which any member of the church may introduce 
 any proposition which he deems proper, and meetings for business shall 
 be held at any otiier time by direction of a majority of the members 
 present at any weekly prayer-meeting; but such meetings, other than at 
 the commencement of each season, sliall be notified on tlie Sabbath pre- 
 ceding their occurrence. The covenant or confession of the churcli or 
 its permanent rules may not be changed, except at a meeting specially 
 notified for important business. 
 
 8. At the annual meeting in April, a church clerk shall be chosen 
 who sliall record all the resolutions and other proceedings of the church 
 in a book, which book shall always bo accessible to any member of the 
 cluiTch during ordinary business hours. 
 
 I have drawn the first of these resolutions in accordance with 
 the principle which I have laid down, that it is the duty of the 
 church to see to it, that its discipline is administered according to 
 th(^ principles of righteousness and the order of the Gospel. 
 Without this rule we are none of us secure, for we are destitute 
 of that essential guarantee of liberty, a trial by jury, or in other 
 words, a trial by those who are of the same class with tlie accus- 
 ed. A member of this church, as the matter now stands, may be 
 summoned before a court of Presbyterian elders for trial, and if 
 he thinks they do him injustice, he may appeal to more Presby- 
 terian elders, and then again to a still higher court, and then, if 
 he pleases, to one still higher, but he everywhere finds himself in 
 the presence of Pi-esbyterian elders. However many times he 
 may be tried, it is alwa3's by a class to which he does not belong. 
 The sympathies of each court are with the other courts. The 
 accused nowhere finds himself in the hands of the class who 
 sympathize with him. Very seldom indeed, under such circum- 
 stances, will justice be done. In all governments where there is 
 any pretense to liberty, in England, France, and the United 
 States, this principle of trial by equals is held to be the very 
 corner-stone of justice. In none of these countries would the 
 citizens trust tliemsclves in the hands of law judges merely. A 
 jury is the palladium of liberty. 
 
 Another inalienable right of American Christians is, that of 
 meeting. freely for the discussion of all public measures. I have 
 drawn my second resolution in accordance with this right. This 
 right has in some churches been studiously abridged, lest the free 
 discussions of the members should produce rebellion against the 
 
78 MEMOIR. 
 
 eldership. Even in this church our young brother, Avho is both 
 an elder and a trustee, stated to us the other evening, that it was 
 incompetent to the church to hold meetings for business unless 
 those meetings were called by the trustees, and anotlier member 
 affirmed that meetings could not be held unless with the appro- 
 bation of the session. Notwithstanding tlicse judicial opinions, 
 it is necessary that we should have meetings whether the session 
 or trustees will it or not. The house is ours, the business is ours, 
 the interests are all ours, tlie session and the trustees are but our 
 ministers. What authority liave they to interrupt us, merely be- 
 cause we have committed to them the keeping of our key ? Our 
 young brother, who thinks we cannot meet without his consent, 
 has no more right to prevent us fi'om meeting, than his minister 
 to whom he commits the keeping of his store key, has to assume, 
 that liberty must be granted by iiim before the owner can enter 
 his place of business. 
 
 My third rule provides for the safe keeping of our records, and 
 their being kept always accessible to the brethren. All our re- 
 cords are now kept, so far as they are kept at all, by the clerk of 
 the session. Those records are not within our reach. Although 
 the book belongs to the church, and to me as much as to any 
 brother of the session, yet I was unable to get access to it for 
 the purpose of obtaining the information which I needed for this 
 evening. 
 
 I have tried to see the book of records, and could not. It is 
 no fault of mine if unfavorable inferences are drawn from the 
 fact. 
 
 Now, in conclusion, I ask to have it remembered, that how- 
 ever much of mismanagement I have thought it my duty to lay 
 at the door of the session, I have in no case charged them with 
 improper motives, or an intention to do wrong. I have taken 
 care not only to speak of them courteously and kindly, but to 
 feel so towards them. I have, at the same time, stated to the 
 church frankly my views of the origin and causes of our present 
 disturbed and unhappy condition. I have also pointed them to 
 the principles which, if adopted, according to my judgment, will 
 bring back our peace, and insure its perpetuity. 
 
 [After a protracted and animated discussion, the Moderator 
 put the question on the resolutions submitted by Mr. Hale, and 
 declared the vote by voices to be in the negative. The result 
 was doubted and a count loudly called for, but the Moderator did 
 not notice the call, and so the meeting was immediately adjourned.] 
 
 Some months later Mr. Hale addressed to the members 
 of the Broadway Tabernacle Church, a second number of 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH 
 
 79 
 
 " Facts and Reasonings on Church Government," from 
 which the following extracts, explaining and enforcing his 
 own views and principles, arc of general interest : 
 
 " To the Members of the Tabernacle Church. 
 
 " Dear Brethren, — On the evening of January 21st, 18.39, I 
 had the satisfaction of stating to you my views of the origin and 
 causes of the divisions which had so suddenly sprung into existence 
 among us, and of offering to you, in the form of resohitions, the 
 rules of practice which it seemed to me would restore the peace 
 we had so recently possessed. I am still of opinion tliat those 
 resohitions if adopted would have produced the good effects I 
 promised, and so have saved us from much subsequent mischief. 
 Whether they failed for want of a majority of votes at that meet- 
 ing will never be certainly known, for the Moderator declared the 
 result upon the general answer of ' yes' and ' no,' and silenced the 
 calls for a count, by praying. On the first Monday evening of 
 April afterwards, our annual business meeting occurred. I have 
 annexed a report of the proceedings at that meeting, chiefly for 
 the purpose of recording in a definite form the arbitrary claims 
 set up by our session, and illustrating their operation. The 
 question between us and the session is precisely the same with 
 that between Luther and the Pope ; the Puritans and the lliei'ar- 
 chy ; the revolutionary patriots' of "70, and Lord North. It is 
 the question whether sovereignty is in the people or in their 
 rulers ; ' whether nations were made for kings and churches for 
 priests, or priests for churches and kings for the people.' The 
 doctrine that the people are the sovereigns, and have the right to 
 manage their own affairs, is the doctrine of the Gospel, and of 
 the most intelligent friends of its advancement. It was the doc- 
 trine of the men who landed at Plymouth, and will be maintain- 
 ed by theii descendants, I trust, 
 
 "Till the waves of the bay where the Mayflower lay, 
 Shall foam uud freeze no more.' 
 
 At our meeting to which I have referred, in January, '39, the 
 claim set up by the session was, that we had no right to control 
 their proceedings. At the meeting in April, they took the higher 
 attitude that we had no right to discuss tliem. I supposed that 
 sober reflection must convince all intelligent men, not only of the 
 falsehood of this doctrine, but of the folly of attempting to set it 
 up, among Christians who had been taught from their infancy to 
 abhor it. I waited therefore after the April meeting until the 
 particular excitement of the day had subsided, and tlien called 
 upon our pastor and several of the elders, in the hope that they 
 
80 MEMOIR. 
 
 would be ready to take back, or at least to modify and define 
 tlieir pretensions in such a manner, that we could live together 
 peacefully, and still be a free and active church. My hopes were 
 disappointed. * * * * * 
 
 " This is not a question whether one set of officers or another 
 shall be in the administration. Nor is it a question between Con- 
 gregationalism and Prcsbyterianism. The constitution of Pres- 
 bytorianism no more authorizes such absolutism than it authorizes 
 the elders to burn us at the stake." * ^- * * " The noise 
 and confusion of our April meeting was not made to keep me 
 down particularly, but to keep you doAvn, or rather to keep us all 
 in a state of subjugation together. It will depend upon the lift- 
 ing of our hands, whether Ave are thus subjugated, for whatever 
 the eldership may arrogate, they know the fact, that the whole 
 control over them is in the members of the church, and cannot 
 possibly be taken away. ■ You can do as you like, brethren, but I 
 am free to say, that while I live, Avhether in church or state, 
 whether in large communities or small, I will always resist such 
 claims as are set up by our ciders. Liberty has cost too much 
 to be pusillanimously resigned. I love liberty in the churches. 
 It is the bond of union and the spring of energy. I love it in 
 all my fellow-men. I love it in myself, and I mean to keep it. I 
 was born free and I mean to die free. I received liberty, civil 
 and religious, from my parents ; I intend to leave it if I can to my 
 children. I contributed largely to the state of things which en- 
 abled this usurpation to be set iip over us, and I do not intend to 
 rest imtil I have fairly and fully thrown on you the responsibiHty 
 of maintaining your riglits or giving them up. 
 
 " As we are forbidden the privilege of conferring about our 
 affairs Avhen together, I have no alternative but to address you in 
 this Avay ; for although I have lost the pi-oper liberty of speech 
 when within the walls of the Tabernacle, I have a press in my 
 OAvn building which goes by steam, and the elders cannot stop it. 
 " Let us reason together then respecting the interests of our be- 
 loved church, and the measures of our officers, so far as reasoning 
 can be useful, and find out Avhat we ought to do. If you turn 
 away from the discussion, you do it at your peril. You all love 
 peace, and so do I. But we are enlisted as ' soldiers,' and if our 
 Master commands Ave must contend. Ma)iy a soldier has become 
 a^trenuous advocate for peace Avhen he Avas afraid of the battle, 
 and many a Cliristian has thought himself entitled to the blessing 
 Avhich belongs to the ' peace-maker,' who Avill be disappointed 
 by getting only the reward of the 'slothful servant.' It is cow- 
 ardice and indolence in his bosom Avhich many a man mistakes 
 for Christian love of peace. If we really love peace according to 
 its inestimable Avorth, Ave shall take care that it is established on 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH. 81 
 
 the eternal basis of truth. There is no peace to the wicked — 
 there is no desirable peace in falsehood — there is no peace worth 
 having to a slothful or an enslaved church. Righteousness and 
 peace must meet and kiss each other, if we are to enjoy the in- 
 fluence of either. With the action of such a falsehood as tlie 
 session have introduced as the main principle of their relation 
 to us, there never can be any peace but the peace of death. The 
 great interests of the Tabernacle have been committed to our 
 hands. We have solemnly promised to watch over them and 
 each other, and woe unto us if we fail to understand our duty ! 
 
 " It would be impossible to follow our officers into an ex- 
 amination of all their measures. I shall only touch upon several 
 events well attested. The two churches (Tabernacle and Dey- 
 street) were united upon the basis of a written covenant adopted 
 at a meeting of delegates and afterwards ratified by the churches 
 respectively. The fourth article of the covenant is in the follow- 
 ing words : ' The two churches to be connected with the Third 
 Presbytery of New York, it being understood that such j^rinciples 
 of the Congregational order shall be engrafted, as shall be a^')- 
 2)roved b>j the united churches. The brethren who now assume to 
 rule us say that the condition in italics they never intended to 
 comply with. They acknowledge that I, and those who acted 
 with me, refused to consummate the union, without this condi- 
 tion ; but that the committee who met them said that after all, 
 nothing was meant by it. I deny this verbal nullification. The 
 story is absurd on its face, though honestly stated, I dare say. 
 Our written covenant of union, therefore, though fulfilled on the 
 one part, remains broken on the other. I claim of tlie members 
 from Dey-street, that the church should be assembled calmly to 
 deliberate on tliis covenant. If, on coming together, the church 
 prefer to make no modifications, the covenant will, notwithstand- 
 ing, have been kept. The stain of unfaithfulness will have been 
 wiped away. 
 
 " The administration of the session is but little known to us, 
 except in their measures towards Mr. Tappan. There are certain 
 jn-ominent points in that matter which demand our consideratic^n. 
 Tiie long details have been attended to by Mr. Tappan himself. 
 They have been managed by him with a degree of talent, energy 
 and good temper which have seldom been equaled. He has tri- 
 umplied amply. I rejoice in his triumph, for his sake and the sake 
 of religious liberty, and Christian rights everywhere. The con- 
 ti'oversy was for pi-inciples, as important for me as for him. Ho 
 fought the battle alone, but for us all ; and I thank God that a 
 mouth and wisdom were given to him which all his adversaries 
 were unable to gainsay or resist. The verdict of the highest 
 Presbyterian judicatory has stamped the whole prosecution as 
 4* 
 
82 MEMOIR. 
 
 wrong and oppressive. The opinions and arguments which I 
 
 spread before you on the 21st of January, therefore, have been 
 
 sustained, not <as mere Congregationalism, as you were told, but 
 
 as sound Presbyterianism also. 
 ******** 
 
 " By the events which have taken place, our session have, ac- 
 cording to their own declaration, lost the power of conducting dis- 
 cipline, and so we are in fact without this most important preroga- 
 tive. Mr. Tappan you will recollect was never tried on the charges 
 tabled against hirn, but was ' excluded for contumacy,' he having in- 
 sisted on retaining u reporter at the trial, contrary to the order of 
 the session. The General Assembly reversed the decision of the 
 session ; and then Mr. Tappan demanded to be tried on the 
 original charges, alleging that as those charges had been promul- 
 gated to the world, it was due to his own reputation that the 
 truth in the matter should be judicially ascertained. This de- 
 mand was most reasonable ; and as necessary for Mr. I^arker as 
 for Mr. Tappan. The session however refused to take up the 
 trial, and recorded a set of reasons for the refusal, among which 
 was the following : — ' The session are deeply convinced that it is 
 beyond their power to attain the ends of salutary discipline in the 
 trial, inasnuxch as the General Assembly have not sustained 
 them,' and again — ' while therefore the session /«•/ as strongly as 
 ever the im2)ortance of investigating these charges, yet they do 
 not see any other course which they can wisely adopt, but to dis- 
 continue the prosecution, because, painful and humiliating as it is 
 to abandon the investigation of grave charges on account of the tur- 
 bulence of the person accused,' Ac. ' Painful and humiliating' 
 truly. It seems impossible that the members of a court should 
 i-ecord their inability thus, without giving up their claims, not 
 merely to peculiar and exclusive wis{U)m, but to any competency 
 for their otHce. But whatever the session may think of them- 
 selves, the chiu-ch is evidently without the power of discipline, 
 for although this broken-down court might possibly manage the 
 sisters of the church, or the poor brethren, yet if there be a 
 ' turbulent' spirit among us, a brother who will contend for his 
 rights as a giant, then the session mut t again come to the pain- 
 ful and humiliating conclusiiin, that such a man is too much for 
 them. But how preposterous is the plan upon which our disci- 
 pline is conducted, even when successful ! In tlieir annual report 
 the session said, if I remember right, that 'four' had been cut 
 off. But who they are, whether it is you, or I, or brother B, or 
 brother C, nobody knows. They summon a member into the 
 secresy of the session-room and there excomnuuiicate him, and 
 he cotmts one in the list of subjects ; but the transaction is kept a 
 profound secret, and the book on which the record is made no- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH. 83 
 
 body can see ! Was ever such innocent discipline heard of 
 before ? The whole force of church (lis(;ipline so far as penalties 
 go, consists in public exposure and condemnation : for let us re- 
 member that our relationship to an exscinded brother is not end- 
 ed, nor our duties done. The Gospel points out the manner in 
 which such persons are to be treated when discipline is right- 
 eously administered. Is it true, then, that the session are so irre- 
 sponsible to the church as not to be obliged to tell us the names 
 of the excommunicated ? Ought a report, so deficient, to be ac- 
 cepted? Methinks the tremendous responsibility of exercising 
 discipline in Christ's house is sometimes but httle appreciated. 
 There is too much reason to believe that in many churches it is 
 made an instrument of partisanship, of shutting up opposition 
 and of destroying rivals. Often its hottest violence has been ex- 
 ercised towards the most conscientious members of the church if 
 their regard for their Savior forbade tliem to submit implicitly to 
 the chief priests and elders. What can men be thinking of, who 
 touch with careless or selfish or angry hands the ark which has 
 written upon it, ' whoso shall offend one of these httle ones which 
 believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hang- 
 ed about his neck and he drowned in the depths of the sea.' 
 
 " Let us look now a little at our condition. 'J'he peace we pos- 
 sessed immediately after tlie settlement of Mr. Parker, and wliich 
 might now have been flowing like a river, is di'ied up, never to 
 return, without a great change of management. About sixty 
 members of the church, comprising a most important portion of 
 its active piety, have left us under deep feelings of injury. Our 
 religious conference-meetings are ended. Eighteen months ago 
 we conversed freely together in our religious mecjtings, and the 
 members of the church were invited to speak often one to ano- 
 ther. . Now no voice is heard but that of the pastor, and at in- 
 teivals that of an elder, and no opportunity is given for any 
 other. The only exception to this is, that three times, if I recol- 
 lect right, in nine months, I have felt impelled to say a few words 
 myself, thougli during all that time my pastor has not invited me 
 to take any part at all, not even to pray on any occasion, though 
 he formerly called on me as often at least as on any other brother. 
 I have not, so far as 1 know, remitted any courtesy due to him, 
 nor done any thing which ought to forfeit tlie esteem of a gene- 
 rous mind. Yet it would seem that controversy and personality 
 have been brought into all our meetings. Such is our social con- 
 dition. The large number of colored persons which once filled a 
 whole section of our house, and by their presence testified to the 
 kind and paternal character of the church, have withdrawn. 
 Their presence was to me a more honorable testimony to our 
 Christian character than an equal number of persons would have 
 
84 MEMOIR. 
 
 been, whose coaches wore drawn up before our door. They have 
 been treated sevcrel3^ Our trustees refused them leases of pews, 
 except on the condition, that if they allowed a white person to sit 
 with them but for once, the lease should be forfeited. Their 
 children were disobliged in the Sabbath-school, and their feelings 
 in various ways needlessly, and I think ungenerously, wounded. 
 Our Sabbath-school has dwindled to a small affair. The few ac- 
 cessions to the church must be hardly sufficient to keep our re- 
 maining numbers good. And still the kindest counsel which 
 those who urc not j)leased can get, is, that they had better go 
 away. Not an iota of concession is thought of; nothing but a 
 harder and still harder turn of the screws. To sustain this ruin- 
 ous usurpation, we are forbidden to express our views to each 
 other, even in our annual business-meeting. I have good reason 
 for belie\ing that our last annual meeting was conducted on a 
 plan previously agreed upon by the pastor and elders. I stood 
 on the floor for an hour and a half, contending for our common 
 right of speech, aiid during that time, while according to well- 
 settJed principles, 1 had the exclusive right to speak, motions 
 were made and received by the Moderator, and by him put to 
 vote, and the whole business of the evening forced through. It 
 is the chief duty of a chairman to preserve order, and maintain 
 individual rit/hts, and luifaithfulness and partisan acting in a 
 chair is considered by all honorable men, as dishonorable above 
 ordinary dishonor." 
 
 After alluding to the financial condition and prospects of 
 the church as requiring harmonious action, and making a 
 strong appeal to the church to rally and sustain the enter- 
 prise, the address proceeds : 
 
 " If you ask me why I do not leave the church as I have been 
 so liberally advised to do, ray answer is, tirst, I choose to stay. 
 I choose to do so, because I have been here longer than most of 
 my brethren wlio wish to get I'id of me, and there is not another 
 church to wliich I wish to go. Because I love the Tabernacle 
 Church, its choir, its services. The example of good men 
 teaches me to staj' where I am, and seek to correct what is wrong. 
 I have no doubt that my opinions and feelings substantially 
 agree with those of the gi-eat mass of the church, except when a 
 contrary feeling has been induced by misapprehension. I know 
 you are tlie friends of liberty. No church is moie democratic 
 than the Tabernacle. I ha\-e never yet proposed that the church 
 should become Congregational in its organization, nor do I sup- 
 pose that my brethren and sisters have the strong opinions which 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH. 85 
 
 I have on that subject, or that many of them have troubled 
 tlicmselvos to study the difTcrcuce between Congregationalism 
 and Presbyterianism. Yet I know, that generally you believe in 
 the right and the capacity of tlie people to govern themselves in 
 accordance with the earliest lessons of infancy throughout our 
 country. If you do, you are Congregationalists, whatever you 
 may call yourselves. At any rate, I cannot doubt that you will 
 retain the liberty of thought, speech and action, committed to your 
 hands. If you ask me the motive which stimulated me to so 
 much labor in opposition to the policy of the session, I answer, 
 it is not that I want their offices, for they were offered to me and 
 urged upon me at the organization of the united church, but I de- 
 clined them. I do not know the office on earth which I desire 
 for its personal importance or consequence. I am exceedingly well 
 satisfied and happy in all the allotments of Providence. 1 have 
 not separated from my former friends of the session and resisted 
 their measures, carelesslj^ or for small reasons, or for selfish 
 ends. If any Christian Avere to take the responsibility which I 
 liave taken without much prayer, severe self-examination, and 
 perfect disinterestedness, he would be exceedingly culpable. But 
 it has cost the blood of better men than I, and thousands of 
 them, to secure my liberty and yours, and cost it in contending 
 for just the same principles for which I contend against the ses- 
 sion. My blood will not be called for in maintaining these prin- 
 ciples, but, if it were, I should feel that the cause was worth the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 " Our security in both our civil and political relations depends 
 on the maintenance of correct principles. If the constitution be 
 good and carefully maintained, the men who administer govern- 
 ment can do no great mischief. So ' principles, not men,' is the 
 sound truth which all political parties are desirous of inscribing 
 on their banners, though to be sure, they generally act upon ex- 
 actly the reversal of the motto. The patriots of the revolution 
 commenced th;it war for this as a prominent reason, that the 
 Parliament of Grreat Britain imposed a duty of a penny a pound 
 on tea imported into the colonies. Tliey did so, not to make tea 
 cheaper, for the war cost more than all the tea they used during 
 the whole course of their lives ; but b(!cause the duty was de- 
 manded in violation of a principle, Avliich piinciph; was the essen- 
 tial protector of all their property and rights. We hold our pro- 
 j)erty securely because it is a well settled principle, that what a 
 man buys, and pays for honestly, is his, and no one has a right to 
 interfere with his possession of it. The multitude who throng 
 Broadway pass unmolested and secure, because it is a well settled 
 principle tliat every one shall turn to the right. What if some 
 charioteer should get the notion that he was king, and every one 
 
86 MEMOIR. 
 
 must turn out for Idm, and so should drive pell-mell through 
 Broadway ? What cries, what fleeing, what upsetting, what 
 ruin would strew his course. If there were to come into your 
 house at evening, a man who you knew claimed all your fur- 
 niture as his, could you go to rest quietly ? There have come 
 into the Tabernacle a set of men who claim that all our rights 
 are theirs. Rights worth more than household furniture : the 
 right of speech, the right of deliberating together, the right of 
 understanding and managing our OAvn affairs. If an individual 
 gets the notion that he is a king, we call him crazy. Though 
 never so sane on all other subjects, we refuse to trust him, espe- 
 cially in any matter touching his derangement ; and we even con- 
 sider his delusion so dangerous that his best friends will watch 
 him closely, and perhaps confine him in a mad-house, for no one 
 can tell what he may do. He may perhaps think it right to cut 
 oft" the head of some refractory subject, and that subject of his 
 imaginary kingdom may be his wife, or his son, or neighbor. We 
 had a most melancholy story in the newspapers lately, of a very 
 good man who under some such delusion murdered his wife. 
 Our session have imbibed the notion that they are something- 
 like little kings in the midst of us, and it renders every one 
 around them insecure. Under the influence of this delusion the}'^ 
 did attack Mr. Tappan, but he was a strong man and so escaped. 
 If we ask them for information, they tell us we are accountable 
 to them, not they to us ; and if we ui'ge our right to speak and 
 vote, they call it lynch law. They seem to count opposition to 
 them a crime, conducted never so courteously. No present 
 calm, no seeming or real kindness, can ever satisfy a wise man, 
 while he knows the ^^ri/ic/^j/es of those around him are unsound. 
 
 " I cannot think of any privilege which the session acknow- 
 ledge as ours on the ground oi 2^rinci2)le and right, which Popery 
 does not allow to its votaries. We are denied the right of speech, 
 and the right of voting, so as to have our votes really ascertain- 
 ed, and of voting at all in fact, for our pastor asserts the right of 
 putting an end to church meetings at his own will. I was told, 
 to be sure, by my pastor, and some of the elders, that I could 
 talk with the members of tlie church individually, but now that 
 I have set about it as my only way of conferring with them, it is 
 intimated to me that this is a disturbance of the peace of the 
 church, for which I am liable to discipline. I am taunted pub- 
 licly with inviting the brethren to my house, and meeting them 
 elsewhere, for consultation, as if this were not my right. Be- 
 cause I oppose measures which seem to me ruinous to the church, 
 I am charged with opposing my pastor, and called a ' dema- 
 gogue.' Every thing is attempted to be made into a personality. 
 The courteous expression of my opinion is called ' vituperation/ 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH. 87 
 
 Is not every thing perverted in this way and all rights denied ? 
 I may not address you orally — think you the sRssion would let 
 me print this address if they could help it ? The prosecution 
 against Mr. Tappan was avowedly ' to put him down,' and it was 
 avowed by several of the elders that it was necessary to do so, 
 because if something was not done Mr. Tappan would poison the 
 minds of the church and 'get a majority.' All this was said 
 freely at the time, without any apparent consciousness that it was 
 wrong. Why should not I be put down, also ? I am laboring 
 for the same end, and hope to accomplish it, and I claim it as 
 my right, secured to me as an American Christian, and it is one 
 I mean to use as far as duty requires it, however much it may be 
 denied, and, when it can be done, trampled on. I ask now what 
 right any one of lis possesses, as a member of the Tabernacle 
 Church, and with the acknowledgment of the session, but just 
 the right to listen and to obey ; and as to the first of these it is just 
 as easily taken away as the rest. The last I think the session 
 will never deny us. The right to personal liberty and life we 
 possess under the guarantees of civil law. If we held them only 
 by the guarantee of principles recognized by the Tabernacle 
 session, they would stop short of most other ecclesiastical courts 
 who have possessed civil power. Thousands of Christians have 
 paid the penalty of liberty and life, for having dared to exercise 
 the rights which God gave them, in opposition to ecclesiastical . 
 usurpation. Our session have gone in the same path until the 
 wall of civil protection has stopped them. How much farther 
 they would go if they could, it is not of great importance to de- 
 termine. In my judgment, no one of us will retain the right to 
 oppose their measures but by his oiun strength and GocVs blessing 
 
 on the means within his own power. 
 ******** 
 
 " In some respects the proper character of a church is illus- 
 trated by the quiet, inoffensive, and docile temper of sheep. But 
 they should not in all respects resemble sheep. They should 
 not allow themselves to be sold as sheep are, nor should they 
 with the same heedless confidence follow a leader, lest they fare 
 like the flock which was quietly trotting across a covered bridge 
 over the Connecticut, when the leader perceiving something omi- 
 nous before him, and an open window at his side, leaped out of 
 the window — the next followed, and the next, in regular succes- 
 sion, and directly the whole flock found themselves floating down 
 the cold stream together. Whatever else got wet on that occa- 
 sion, I presume the self-complacency of the leader was not at all 
 damped. 
 
 " The remedies I have to propose are in substance the same 
 which I proposed at the great meeting on the 21st of January, 
 
8» MEMOIR. 
 
 1839. Not tli.at you should make me king. That would be as 
 foolish as to allow any other brother to fill that oflice. Not a re- 
 volution, not popular excitement, not Congregationalism necessa- 
 rily, nor any of those things which have been held up to terrify you 
 into voting your i-ights away and turning your backs on your 
 duty. To be sure, I think Presbyterianism in all its distinguishing 
 roots and branches bad. Not so much, as it hes in the hook, but 
 as it is acted out by those who in its name assume to set its con- 
 stitutional restraints aside. But whatever avo may be, let us 
 maintain the clear truth, that our house belongs to us, not to the 
 trustees, that our spiritual interests and all our affairs are at least 
 to be understood and watched over by the whole church, and that 
 we have and will ever use the liberty of speech freely, and at 
 least claim the right to express our opinions and give our advice. 
 To insure this, we want 
 
 " 1st. A church clerk, in whose hands the records of the church 
 shall be accessible to each member at all proper times, and a 
 church orixiinization, and the means of holdinof church meetino-s, 
 without so exceedingly improper a surveillance as asking leave of 
 the session or trustees. 
 
 " 2d. A regular succession of business-meetings recurring once in 
 three months, for instance, at which any member shall be at 
 libert}^ courteously and according to the established rules of 
 order, to present his views on any church matter without hinder- 
 ance or offense. 
 
 " 3d. The enforcement of the standing rule now in existence, 
 which requires each board of officers to make a report at the an- 
 nual meeting. These reports should be full, extending to all 
 matters wliichliave occurred, especially if interrogations are sus- 
 tained by a majority of the church. 
 
 " Tliere is nothing anti-Presbyterian in all this. Farther, it is a 
 reform recommended by many Presbyterians, that elders should 
 be elected annually. This would be a most desirable and proper 
 change. 
 
 " Still farther, we shall never be safe in our rights, according to 
 the united voice of all the advocatcis of liberal institutions, until 
 we have the trial by jury. It is monstrous that Christians should 
 be liable to excommunication by a court which is a jHirig in 
 the controversy. It would be a simple thing to let the church 
 clerk draw a panel of twelve brethren, whenever so desired 
 by any member ai-raigned for discipline, which panel should 
 pronounce guilty or not guilty, the session conducting the trial 
 as a court and adjudging penalties. No one of us can be mulct- 
 ed in any of our criminal courts until twelve men, not law judges, 
 but our equals, have pronounced us guilty. Should not a mem- 
 ber of the church be treated with as much care as any other 
 
APPEAL TO THE SESSION. 89 
 
 citizen, and should not church courts be as liberal as the Record- 
 er's Court at the halls of justice in Center street ? 
 
 " Adopt these principles and they will make no uproar. If you 
 lift your hands it will be done, and instead of confusion they will 
 bring us peace. If they had been adopted by the church soon 
 after the union, it is my firm belief, that we should now have 
 been a united, vigorous and happy church. The reason is that 
 these are the principles of everlasting truth, and truth brings 
 peace. 
 " Brethren of the Session — 
 
 " I have looked over all I have written with great care, and in 
 my judgment the statements are quite within the truth. If I 
 have fallen into the least error unfavorable to you, I shall be 
 ready at all times and with all the means in my power to correct 
 it. If there is severity in what I have written, it is not in the 
 manner but in the matter, and that 5'^ou made, not I. If religion 
 is dishonored by the exposition of your proceedings, that fault is 
 yours again, not mine. But I have made up my mind that 
 religion has suffered more by covering the faults of its professors 
 than from a fair and manly exposure and condemnation of them. 
 The iniquity of David was not hidden to save God's honor. You 
 and I may have a dreadful account to give for the manner in 
 which we have conducted as members of the church, but the re- 
 ligion of Jesus Christ will not die with us, nor on our account; 
 nor will great scandal be fastened upon that, necessarily, because 
 it is fastened on you or me. I acknowledge my obhgation to 
 treat you with kindness as brethren, and not interrupt or hinder 
 you in the proper discharge of your official duties, nor even need- 
 lessly to expose the wrongs of your administration. But there is 
 nothing in our relationship which elevates you above fair and can- 
 did scrutiny, whenever the good of the church requires it. In- 
 deed all offices are taken with that consent. Then, cease to talk 
 of ' great scandal' being brought on religion by ' Facts and Reas- 
 onings,' or ' reports,' truly made, of what you have done. And 
 cease to talk so much of 'contumacy' as if it were a mighty sin 
 to refuse obedience to your ecclesiastical usurpations. Such con- 
 tumacy has been a distinguishing characteristic of the Christian 
 religion from its foundation. No people were ever so contuma- 
 cious as Christians. The martyrs have all died in it and generally 
 for it. When the apostles were imprisoned and beaten for con- 
 tumacy, and the High Priest and Council demanded of them, 
 * Did we not straitly command you ?' their answer, always man- 
 fully given, was ' we ought to obey God rather than man.' 
 Jesus Christ uniformly took part with the conscientiously contu- 
 macious, and many a martyr has gloried in the loss of all things 
 for this cause and in death itself, knowing that the torch of frown- 
 
90 MEMOIR. 
 
 ing priests and councils would light him to the smiling commen- 
 dation of his Savior. In His high court of last resort, the doc- 
 trine of ' submission right or wrong' was never recognized. 
 
 " Now let me ask you, what you desire to bring about ? Would 
 you transform the Tabernacle Church into a company of unthink- 
 ing, servile automatons ? Is that what Presbyterianism demands ? 
 I would rather be pastor of a little thinking, scrutinizing and in- 
 telHgently affectionate church, in any valley of New England, or 
 hold influence there, ' by the divine right of superior piety and 
 wisdom,' than to sit on the throne of Rome and be obeyed and 
 hated through an empire. God will have none but a willing 
 obedience towards his government. When men complain of his 
 government, his reply is, 'come let us reason together,' and he 
 has appointed a day in which before the assembled universe the 
 books shall be opened and he will make his great report. Then 
 every mouth shall be stopped, not by rules of order, but by the 
 revelation of the righteousness of his judgments. Does Presby- 
 terianism elevate you to an irresponsibility above that which 
 Jehovah claims ? He does not call popular opinion lynch law. 
 Then open your book and put down those who oppose you, as He 
 will those who oppose Him, by showing that you, hke Him, have 
 been long suffering and slow to anger, and of great kindness, not 
 willing that any should be excommunicated, but that all should 
 be brought to repentance. Suppose you could succeed in 
 establishing the doctrine of absolutism which you have got up ; 
 there is no lineal descent of authority here, and my sons will per- 
 haps be elders in the next generation, to domineer over yours. 
 Is it a speechless obedience to my children which you would 
 leave as an inheritance to yours, for the sake of exercising autho- 
 rity over me yourselves ? But what have you to gain by putting 
 down discussion ? There can be but three possible reasons for 
 it. Either your measures are bad, or you have not ability to de- 
 fend them, or the church have not intelligence and honesty to ap- 
 preciate your defense. Your unwiUingness to have your meas- 
 ures discussed will in itself be very apt to create the impres- 
 sion beforehand, that your weak point is a consciousness that 
 your measures Avill not bear investigation. But whether they 
 will or not, do you gain anything by transferring the discussion 
 from the leoture-roora to the press ? from free and amicable de- 
 bate, where all parties are present, to ex-parte conversations out of 
 doors ? I can say sincerely that the perfect success of your 
 arbitrary doctrines would bring nothing with it which has the 
 least charm for me. To stand up in the church and by good 
 reasons persuade it to adopt wise measures, has interest about it, 
 but to compel submission to measures good or bad, by violence, 
 or trick, or official force, is so out of place among brethren m the 
 
APPEAL TO THE SESSION. 91 
 
 Church of Christ, that, painful as it is, I had rather be the slave 
 than the master. I declare to you, that, from the beginning of 
 the controversy, I have never been able to perceive anything de- 
 sirable which you could possibly gain by your measures, and cer- 
 tainly there is nobody who is less exposed to personal loss from 
 your success than myself. On the contrary, I am sure of success 
 in m}^ plans. Whether the Tabernacle Church asserts its rights 
 or not. Christians elsewhere will be put on their guard. I have 
 already seen triumphs of truth enough to teach me, that if it is 
 slow it is nevertheless sure. 
 
 " Our real interests in the Tabernacle are all the same, if only 
 w^e all had the libe)"ility to understand them right. This fact is 
 so very clear to my mind, that I cannot but hope that at some 
 day not very distant, we shall all labor together again with a 
 better, spirit than ever before. Yet I do not hesitate to say, 
 though no man should stand with me, my hand, feeble as it is, 
 shall ever be against every man who seeks to rob the church of 
 its birthright, liberty of thought, speech and action. My motto 
 in religion as well as politics shall be, ' Liberty and union, one 
 and inseparable.' 
 " Brethren of the Church — 
 
 " Whitefield said of things in his day, ' The Pope has turned 
 Presbyterian.' It is easy to find him in all denominations, for 
 every man by nature would be a pope if he could. So let us 
 not waste our ammunition in long shots against an evil in Italy 
 which may be growing up at our own feet. Pardon this long 
 address. I could not make it shorter, and it is but little labor for 
 you to read it, compai-ed with what it has cost me to write it. 
 I shall certainly expect from you this requital. All I have to 
 say more is, examine for yourselves. Divest your minds of all 
 prejudice and personality. Study your duty to yourselves and 
 your Master in Heaven. As intelligent and independent Chris- 
 tians, worthy of your high vocation, find out what is right, and 
 DO IT." 
 
 Thcvse " Facts and Reasonings" will enable the reader to 
 judge how far Mr. Hale was responsible for the controversy 
 which distracted the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. His 
 conduct in bringing the case of Mr. Tappan and the doings 
 of the session before the body of the church was neither 
 presumptuous nor disorderly. When the Tabernacle and 
 Dey-street churches were united, the right of holding 
 church-meetings for business was distinctly reserved, and 
 also the privilege of engrafting on the constitution of the 
 
92 MEMOIR. 
 
 new church such principles of the Congregational order as 
 should be opproved by the united churches. Mr. Hale felt 
 deeply that the liberty and peace of the church were endan- 
 gered by the course of the session towards Mr. Tappan ; he 
 saw that the interests of the Tabernacle must greatly suffer 
 from a controversy which threatened to agitate the whole 
 Presbyterian Church; he was anxious to avert these evils, 
 and being convinced that the policy of the session could not 
 be justified — as it was not by the General Assembly — he ex- 
 postulated with the elders individually and entreated them 
 to desist ; when these efforts failed, he brought the matter 
 before the church at a meeting duly notified for the prayer- 
 ful consideration of the case ; in liis remarks on that occa- 
 sion he violated no rule of Christian decorum, but spoke 
 calmly and kindly, though with great plaiimess and decision, 
 setting forth his views of the causes of existmg difficulties, 
 and suggesting a remedy. In all tliis he acted on his own 
 responsibility, without consulting with Mr. Tappan or form- 
 ing a party in advance. Deeming individual liberty inse- 
 cure under such a precedent of discipline as that which the 
 session were then establishing, he laid down certain prin- 
 ciples in the form of resolutions to guard the church in 
 future. This was in accordance with the terms of agree- 
 ment between the united churches, and Mr. Hale was al- 
 ways of opinion that the majority of the church would have 
 sustained his resolutions if the vote had been taken by 
 count. 
 
 After this meeting Mr. Hale was looked upon as inimical 
 to the session, a disturber of the church, and even a disor- 
 ganizer. His own liberty of speech in church-meetings was 
 infringed upon by various expedients, and the few reserved 
 rights of the church were hurriedly voted away. In this 
 state of things there could be no peace. Matters of public 
 discussion became matters of personal difference ; brethren 
 were alienated by conflicting views of policy. In a contro- 
 
CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 93 
 
 versy so protracted, and in the end so bitter, it would have 
 been strange if Mr. Hale had not erred at times by being 
 too violent or too severe. Yet it is plain that he acted from 
 a conscientious regard for Christian liberty, and that he 
 was mainly in the right. He valued the peace of the church, 
 but he valued truth and justice more. He once said to the 
 writer, " No man loves peace more than I do, or will make 
 more sacrifices to obtain it ; or will fight harder than I when 
 duty calls me." 
 
 But during all this controversy, Mr. Hale endeavored to 
 maintain a Christian spirit. He was not disposed to find 
 fault with his pastor, but on the contrary cordially to sus- 
 tain him in every thing which did not involve a sacrifice of 
 principle. He felt particularly happy in the settlement of 
 Rev. Joel Parker over the Tabernacle Church. In a letter 
 to his son, dated October 19, 1838, he says, " We have Mr. 
 Parker settled Avith us at the Tabernacle, and I feel very 
 happy in his labors. He is a man of very sweet temper, 
 and quiet, ardent piety." The serious difierence in which 
 he was afterwards involved with a pastor whom he so highly 
 esteemed, and whom he regarded as preeminently fitted for 
 his station, was exceedingly trying to Mr. Hale. It grew 
 out of a conflict of opinion upon vital questions touching the 
 rights of individual church-members, the occasion of which 
 has been described. That Mr. Hale was desirous of an 
 amicable adjustment of the difficulty is apparent from the 
 following note, written when he felt aggrieved by the course 
 pursued towards himself in the meetings of the church : 
 
 "New York, Oct. 25, 1839. 
 " Dear Pastor, 
 
 " The interview I had with you and Dr. B — in your study has 
 been a source of great comfort to me, during all the painfulness 
 of our subsequent controversy. 
 
 " The affairs of our church have now arrived at a stage which 
 makes me desirous of having another conversation with you. 
 My object, now, is as frank and friendly as befoi-e. It is first to 
 
94 MEMOIR. 
 
 remove from your mind the wrong impressions which I think it 
 likely are there, respecting my conduct. Secondly, to see if it is 
 not possible by mutual generosity to agree on some plan which 
 may effectually heal the divisions of the Tabernacle Church. 
 And thirdly, I am obliged to say that after mature deliberation, 
 and as much charity as I am able to exercise, I cannot view 
 several of your acts otherwise than as trespasses against me 
 of which I ought to tell you, in the hope that my opinions, if 
 erroneous, may be set right, and if not that you may be persuad- 
 ed and gained to correct views. 
 
 " I pray you, sir, pardon the frankness of this letter, and attri- 
 bute it to the feelings of a faithful brother towards his pastor, 
 who, althouofh, in some meas\u-e alienated, has still left a strontj 
 desire that the cordiality which existed when our relationship 
 was formed may, if possible, be restored and perpetuated. I 
 have adopted this method of laying my proposal before you, that 
 you may the more freely deliberate upon it ; and may the Holy 
 Spirit teach us both our need of His help, and prepare us for His 
 service in the Tabernacle Church, or wherever else He may assign 
 us our place. 
 
 " Your faithful brother, 
 
 "DAVID HALE." 
 
 The following extracts from letters addressed to his son, 
 pending the controversy, will further illustrate the spirit by 
 which Mr. Hale was actuated, and the principles for which 
 he contended : 
 
 " We have very good preaching at the Tabernacle, and in re- 
 ligious privileges are very happy, though I am having no small 
 controversy Avith our pastor and elders, in consequence of their 
 ultra-Presbyterian measures, which have been quite tyrannical. I 
 hope you will be an advocate everywhere of self-government on 
 the part of the people, of democracy, of Congregationalism, and 
 the government of the people everywhere in church and state. 
 Rich men will oppress, and a love of power and domination 
 is too deeply iixed in us to be extirpated entirely by all the 
 grace we get in this world. As you say, God has given all His 
 creatures the means of happiness, for all have the means of 
 keeping His commandments. 
 
 " I trust the whole matter will turn out for the furtherance of 
 the Gospel. It is a glorious thing to have the Spirit of Jesus 
 Christ, holy, harmless and separated from sinners. I hope all 
 that we learn of the weakness and wickedness of men will serve, 
 not to make us misanthropic nor discontented, but to turn us 
 
RIGHTS OF THE BROTHERHOOD. 95 
 
 more in faith and love towards Him who is ever faithful, and 
 wise, and mighty, and to make us contemplate more affectionately 
 His noble conduct, who endured Avorse contradiction from sinners, 
 under circumstances eminently calculated to sour all His bene- 
 volence, and transfoi-m it to the bitterest wiath. But His spirit 
 rose only to a higher pitch of benevolent compassion." 
 
 As his proceedings in this case gained for Mr. Hale the 
 unenviable reputation of being a disturber of the church, 
 and an enemy of the ministry, it is due to his memory that 
 he should be allowed to testify to his own motives and feel- 
 ings in these respects. The following extract from a letter 
 Avhich he addressed to the writer, when agitating the ques- 
 tion of accepting the call of the Broadway Tabernacle 
 Church, shows that he was aware of the prejudices existing 
 against him on account of the transactions referred to, and 
 that he was ready to justify his conduct as resistance to ec- 
 clesiastical domination. 
 
 " I would not advise any man to attempt to live with me (as my 
 pastor) upon the plan of refusing me liberty to speak in the 
 meetings of the church, or any other brother, nor upon the plan 
 of crushing any brother for his own gratification, nor upon the 
 plan that whatever he proposes must be law, whether it be wise or 
 unwise. But I think you have no such propensities ; and if you' 
 come to be my pastor, yon may defeat my plans and get me voted 
 down as often as you please, by fair discussion, and you shall 
 never lose my affectionate regard on that account. But my im- 
 pression is, that we should think alike, fi'om the beginning of the 
 year to its end ; and, certainly, your own proper province I shall 
 always be glad to have you manage to suit yourself, without any 
 care of mine. My wish is, that our glorious Master may be honor- 
 ed, and his gospel proclaimed by every tongue, to the ends of the 
 earth ; and I never mean to act from any motive of selfish or 
 personal feeling." 
 
 The effect of this discussion on the mind of Mr. Hale was 
 to increase his jealousy of official prerogatives in a church, 
 and his love for the free ecclesiastical institutions of New 
 England. He began to study more attentively the Word of 
 God, with reference to the rudimental principles of church 
 
96 MEMOIR. 
 
 polity therein contained. Thus the providence of God was 
 preparing him to be, as it wore, the parent of a new move- 
 ment in the religious aftairs of New Yoi-k, and in the midst 
 of ecclesiastical systems so long established here as to claim 
 a sort of prescriptive right to the soil, to mtroduce success- 
 fully that simple and efficient system of church polity which 
 has existed in New England from its first settlement, which 
 is believed to have been substantially the system of the pri- 
 mitive churches, and which best secures Christian liberty 
 and best develops Christian character. For such a move- 
 ment there was needed a leader who could confront jealousy 
 and bear the opposition even of brethren, — who should be 
 able to defend the cause which he espoused, — one who could 
 go forward, if need be, alone, and in face of a virtual ex- 
 communication from Christian fellowship, to do what he felt 
 to be important for the interests of truth and of Christ's 
 kingdom. 
 
 The occasion for this new movement arose m the following 
 manner. The pecuniary! aftaii-s of the Tabernacle Church 
 had become greatly embarrassed. Several of the original 
 friends of the enterprise, including the two principal sub- 
 scribers to the buildings had withdrawn from it, and those 
 who remained were generally persons of little property, or 
 were suffering from the commercial revulsion of 1837. 
 Many too had become disafiected during the controversy, 
 and had removed to other chui'ches. It was impossible any 
 longer to defray the current expenses of the church, or even 
 to meet the interest on the debt. Accordingly a mortgage, 
 held by Mr. W. Green, was prosecuted to foreclosure, 
 and the Tabernacle was advertised to be sold at auction. 
 The elders and trustees made strenuous eftbrts to avert this 
 crisis. At their solicitation, a highly respectable committee 
 from other Presbyterian churches was appointed to devise a 
 plan by which the Tabernacle might be saved for the uses 
 of a Christian church, and of the benevolent societies. 
 
 II 
 
PURCHASE OF THE TABERNACLE, 97 
 
 Mcaiiwliilc Mr. Hale had resolved in the last resort, to 
 buy the Tabernacle himself. He announced this intention 
 to the trustees, requesting to be notified whenever their own 
 plans were finally abandoned. The committee from other 
 churches, believing it impossible to extricate the Tabernacle 
 Church from its embarrassments, approved Mr. Hale's plan, 
 and recommended him to make the purchase. He bid off 
 the Tabernacle at a chancery sale, July 2d, 1840, for 
 $34,30-3 74. The whole affair is thus recounted in a letter 
 to his son : 
 
 " I look upon the purchase of the Tab(3rnacle as an era in 
 religious policy in all the country south of New England. We 
 shall go for pure Congregationalism in all its simplicity. The 
 story of the matter was on this wise. Tlie Tabernacle Avas ad- 
 vertised for sale under a decree of the Chancellor on the 2d of 
 J Illy. Nine days before the time the rulers called the people 
 togetlier, and disclosed to them the desperate state of their affairs. 
 Mr. Parker had just before announced his resignation. At this 
 meeting it was pi-oposed to call Dr. Beechei-, and the elders 
 thought if the church would raise a large subsci'iption, and call 
 Dr. Beecher, they could get help for the money. I said that I 
 did not think much of such expedients as calling Dr. ]3eecher, 
 much as I should approve of him as pastor, that time was pre- 
 cious, and I thought I could tell how the house could be saved. 
 I tliought Congregationalism could save it. They went on witli 
 calling Dr. Beecher, &c., and called meetings of Presbytery^ 
 until tlirce days before the sale, when a committee of Presbyte- 
 rian elders called on me to know my plan. I disclosed my pecu- 
 niary means and plan of operations. The result was that they 
 reported that it was inexpedient to attempt to extricate the old 
 concern, but that I had better buy the house. I saw Mr. Green, 
 tlie mortgagee on wliose claim the house was to be sold, on the 
 next day after the committee called on me, made the arrange- 
 ments I wished, and the next day after that bouglit the house at 
 auction. I paid about $20,000 by my own notes, and $9,500 in 
 cash. The cash was most of it loaned by Presbyterians for five 
 years. Tlie old chui'ch were astounded at tlie movement, aiul 
 although compelled to praise what I had done in the liighest 
 terms, they were still so angry that they have left no stone un- 
 turned to do the new enterprise mischief. We have however 
 been wonderfully prospered. Elder P. stands with us boldly, 
 and is happy as a prince in the new attitude of affairs. We are 
 5 
 
98 MEMOIR. 
 
 strong, however, witli first-rate men for all posts, a capital choir, 
 led by Mr. Andrews, of the Academy of Music, and above all, 
 strong in the Lord, I trust. The course of the brethren is right. 
 They start with prayer, and go on with firm and humble steps. 
 Our pulpit has been well supplied for a month now since we 
 separated. 
 
 " The events of Providence have wonderfully favored us. I 
 did not dream of bringing in Congregationalism with the help of 
 Presbyterians, but so it is, and it is most Avonderful. It fills 
 me with joy and gratitude to see what God has wrought. May 
 the movement be greatly to His praise. Our church is not 
 yet formed, but will be probably in a few days. I sent you in 
 a bundle of papers, yesterday, a report of the committee on 
 Covenant, Rules, &c. We are all wide awake, and extremely 
 happy." 
 
 On the evening of the day of the purchase, at a very full 
 meeting of the Tabernacle Church (which then consisted of 
 five or six hundred members), Mr. Hale informed them that 
 he had bought the house for their benefit and that of the 
 Christian public, and invited as many of the members as 
 might be so disposed to unite with him in forming in the Ta- 
 bernacle a Congregational church after the pattern of the 
 primitive churches and the churches of New England. The 
 officers of the church were unfavorable to this movement, 
 and the result was that the members dispersed in various 
 directions, and the church became extinct. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Parker preached in the Tabernacle on the fol- 
 lowing Sabbath, and on Monday evening, July 6th, the last 
 meeting was held in the lecture-room of the building. Not- 
 withstanding the recommendation of the officers of the 
 church, that the members should unite Avith other Presby- 
 terian churches, and the public declaration that " not ten 
 respectable families in New York Avould attend a Congrega- 
 tional church," at the close of the meeting some thirty or 
 forty brethren remained to take measures for organizing 
 such a church ; and having conversed together upon the im- 
 portance of the step they proposed to take, they kneeled 
 down and prayed, commending themselves and the church 
 
PURCHASE OF THE TABERNACLE. 09 
 
 about to be formed, to the guidance and care of God. A 
 conunittce Avas then appointed to t:iko measures for the for- 
 mation of a Congregational clnu-ch. The movement was 
 entered into Avitli much spirit 3 several brethren from other 
 churches joined in it, and after liaving agreed upon some per- 
 manent principles of government, articles of faith, a cove- 
 nant and a form of admission, the persons whose evidences 
 of piety had been made nmtually satisfactory upon exami- 
 nation, entered into covenant with each otlier, and with God, 
 and constituted themselves a church of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, under the name of " Broadway Tabernacle Church." 
 The articles of faith, form of admission and covenant were 
 substantially those of Park-street Church, Boston. 
 
 To meet the obligations which he had assumed in the 
 purchase of the Tabernacle, Mr. Hale was obliged to borrow 
 immediately between nine and ten thousand dollars. His 
 private resources at that time were limited, and the receipts 
 of the Journal of Commerce were absorbed in the payment 
 of its debts. " Money was worth two per cent, a month, 
 ;uid property and credit were at the lowest ebb." It was 
 in such circumstances that Mr. Hale bought the Taber- 
 nacle, not as a matter of specuhition — although he might 
 have made several thousand dollars out of the transac- 
 tion — but for the public good. He shouldered a bur- 
 den which Christians of ample fortune would not touch 
 with their little finger. The foresight with which ho 
 planned this purchase, the energy with which he put his 
 plans in execution, the zeal and patience and self-denial 
 with Avhich he labored through evil report to secure an 
 important public benefit, evinced a great and noble mind. 
 He risked all his resources and all his credit upon this one 
 enterprise, for the sake not of gain but of good. He made 
 the venture in faith, and God prospered him. When he 
 bought the Tabernacle he had but little unencumbered 
 property. It was necessary for him to negotiate a loan 
 
100 MEMOIR. 
 
 of $9,533 82, which according to the terms of sale was to 
 be paid in cash, the balance being payable by his own notes 
 or bond to be liquidated by quarter-yearly payments of 
 $1,250, with interest on the principal sum. In this he was 
 assisted by several gentlemen of high commercial standing 
 and Christian character, among whom were Messrs. Erastus 
 C. Benedict, James Boerman, James Brown, Benjamin F. 
 Butler, WiUiam W. Chester, William B. Crosby, Henry 
 Grinnell, Robert T. Haines, Jacob Little, Sidney E. Morse, 
 Christopher R. Robert, and A. R. Wetmore. The follow- 
 ing recommendation was given by three of the gentlemen 
 above-named, who were appointed by a meeting called for 
 the purpose, to " confer with Mr. Hale in regard to raising 
 the money Avanted." After stating the terms of the loan, 
 they say, 
 
 " The undersigned, believing it to be very important that the 
 Tabernacle should be placed in such a position that it may be 
 used when wanted by the various; benevolent societies of the day, 
 and for other moral and religious purposes, deem it but just and 
 reasonable, that Mr. Hale should be aided in this laudable ob- 
 ject by the Christian public, and trust he will receive aid, to 
 the extent asked. 
 
 "WM. W. CHESTER, 
 "R. T. HAINES, 
 "C. R. ROBERT." 
 
 These gentlemen did not agree with Mr. Hale in his views 
 
 of Congregationalism, but they appreciated his motives in 
 
 purchasing the Tabernacle, and had confidence in his inte- 
 
 . grity. With this aid Mr. Hale felt sure that he could make 
 
 the building pay for itself by public uses. 
 
 The church which had been formed on the 6th of July 
 was formally constituted and publicly recognized by an ec- 
 clesiastical council on the 3d of September following. 
 There were present at that council Rev. Drs. Skinner, 
 Bacon, Patton, and Todd, and Rev. Messrs. J. Harrison, 
 J. Marsh, G. R. Haswell and P. Lockwood, with delegates 
 
TABERNACLE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 101 
 
 from several clmrches. The occasion possessed therefore 
 all the dignity that could be desired. 
 
 In January, 1841, Rev. E. W. Andrews, of West Hart- 
 fort, Conn., was installed pastor of the church by a numerous 
 and highly respectable council. He entered upon his minis- 
 try with very encouraging prospects. 
 
 Mr. Hale was exceedingly happy in the success of the en- 
 terprise. In a letter to his esteemed friend. Rev. Levi Nel- 
 son, he thus pours out the fullness of his heart : 
 
 " Mr. Andrews was installed on the last Sabbath evening of 
 January. The exercises were excellent, the house full. Even 
 Presbyterians present were filled with admiration. Prime Yan- 
 kees are now joining us from all tlie churches round about. 
 About thirty are now propounded. Everything has been ordered 
 admirably in Providence. Never did God prosper anything 
 more. I bless His name, and am happy, and have been from the 
 day I bouglit the house. Our pastor, we think, is just the man 
 — of the Connecticut old school — and now if God will add the 
 blessing of His Spirit, sinners Avill be converted." 
 
 It was Mr. Hale's first aim, in the new Tabernacle Church, 
 to profit by experience, and to guard against those sources 
 of difficulty which had existed in the former organization. 
 This was effected in a great measure by the simple change 
 of organization; for a church in which every brother is admit- 
 ted to a full participation in all its affairs, and where matters 
 are determined by a majority of votes, is much more likely 
 to possess unity and peace, combined with strength and 
 Christian activity, than a church whose affairs are managed 
 by a few individuals. But in addition to this it was felt to 
 be important to lay down at the outset certain principles or 
 rules of action, which could always be appealed to for the set- 
 tlement of disputed questions. One point on which Mr. Hale 
 particularly insisted was that the church, as an organized 
 body, should he kept distinct from all other associations, and 
 should not be made the agent of specific measures of reform. 
 Accordingly he secured the adoption of the following de- 
 
102 MEMOIR. 
 
 claration as tlie fundamental principle of the church, viz. : 
 " The design of a Christian church we understand to he the 
 enjoyment of Christian ordinances., and the riiaintenance of 
 the worship of God.^^ 
 
 This declaration was afterwards amended so as to include 
 the definition of a church, in these words : " A Christian 
 Church we understand properly to be, and we accordingly 
 declare this church to be, an association of professed believ- 
 ers in Christ for mutual watchfulness, for the- enjoyment of 
 Christian ordinances, and the maintenance of the worship 
 of God." 
 
 Such a declaration was of great importance at a time 
 when there was a strong tendency to transform churches into 
 societies for particular reforms, and even for political action. 
 The working of this principle in the Broadway Tabernacle 
 Church has been most happy. Though some of the promi- 
 nent members of the church are zealous for particular meas- 
 ures of reform, the church itself has never been agitated by 
 these subjects, for since every brother is left at liberty to 
 advocate any reform, and to join or to organize any re- 
 form society, all are satisfied with this unrestricted personal 
 influence without demanding church action in their favorite 
 cause. Prayer and remarks, with reference to such sub- 
 jects, are unrestrained ; personal action is free ; but legisla- 
 tion in the church upon subjects so foreign to the design of 
 a church is not desired by any. Each member of the chui'ch 
 is responsible to his brethren for his general walk and con- 
 versation, but may appropriate his efforts to any depart- 
 ment of benevolent labor to which, in his own judgment, he 
 is called by the Master, to whom he is directly responsible 
 for the use of all the talents which have been committed to 
 his hands. At the same time any member of the church, in 
 voting upon the reception of a candidate into church fellow- 
 ship, may make the opinions and practice of the person with 
 regard to the use and sale of intoxicating drinks, slavehold- 
 
OBJECT OF A CHURCH. 103 
 
 ing, dancing, and any other act of questionable moralitj, 
 a test of pictj, and the whole church may have a common 
 moral sentiment upon such subjects which shall express itself 
 as occasions arise, while tliey avoid the dangerous expedient 
 of legislating on specific moral questions in the abstract. 
 
 These fundamental principles of clmrch organization stand 
 in tlie Broadway Tabernacle Church as a monument of the 
 wisdom and foresiglit of David Hale, who derived them not 
 from books nor from men, but from the study of the rudi- 
 ments of church polity contained in the New Testament. 
 
 In accordance with these principles, the church, at an 
 early period of its history, adopted the following preamble 
 and resolution : 
 
 " Whereas the desirjn of a Christian church, as stated in the 
 first declaration of this church, is the enjoyment of Christian or- 
 dinances and the maintenance of the worship of God ; and where- 
 as a Congregational church possesses no power to compel a 
 member to engage in any particular department of Christian 
 labor; and wliereas there are now societies to which Christians 
 may unite themselves for the furtherance of all works of Chris- 
 tian ben(!volence, if they believe that their usefulness will be 
 thereby promoted ; and Avhereas we have, in this church, mem- 
 bers who are connected with almost all the great religious chari- 
 table societies, who may see to the interests of those societies ; 
 and whereas, there is great diversity of opinion among us in re- 
 ference to the various charitable movements of the day, but 
 great harmony in regard to the peculiar and special designs of 
 the church, which harmony may be interrupted, as it has been 
 in other churches, b}^ any effort to cooperate in our organized 
 capacity with other societies : — Therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That we deem it expedient in our action, as a 
 church, to confine ourselves to that design set forth in the fol- 
 lowing declaration, viz.: 'The design of a Christian church 
 w(> understand to be the enjoyment of Christian ordinances, 
 and the maintenance of the worship of God.' " 
 
 At the same time every facility was provided for the pre- 
 sentation of benevolent objects from the pulpit and for col- 
 lections in their behalf. 
 
 The Tabernacle Church continued to prosper. In 1841, 
 
104 MEMOIR. 
 
 114 members were added to it, thirteen of Avhom united on 
 profession of tlicir faitli, — among them two daughters of 
 Mr. Hale. In 18 i2, there were 130 additions, sixty on pro- 
 fessi'on ; in 1843, 88, of whom thirty-four united on profes- 
 sion ; and the church now numbers about 450 members, and 
 has liad connected with it in all more than 700. In this pros- 
 perity Mr. Hale exceedingly rejoiced. He often spoke of it 
 both in private and in public, and alluded to it with thanks- 
 giving in his prayers. Before he was called away, he was 
 permitted to see his cherished Tabernacle Church estab- 
 lished on a firm basis, hoth in numbers and in pecuniary 
 strength, and growing in self-sustaining power, liberality 
 and usefulness, — to enjoy in connection with it several revi- 
 vals of religion, and very many delightful seasons of prayer 
 and praise, — and to see his entire household gathered into its 
 bosom. 
 
 Mr. Hale's connection with the Tabernacle was widely 
 misunderstood and misrepresented. What he did for the 
 glory of God and the promotion of Christian truth, liber- 
 ty, activity, and love, was imputed to the most narrow 
 and selfish motives. Having bought the house entirely on 
 his own responsibility, at a time when his pecuniary re- 
 sources were limited, and having given on account of the 
 purchase his own notes to a large amount, he was obliged to 
 open the house more freely to public uses in order that 
 the income from these lettings might pay the interest on 
 loans and mortgages, ground-rent, and other current ex- 
 penses, in all exceeding four thousand dollar.!. In so doing 
 Mr. Hale sometimes allowed the Tabernacle to be used for 
 purposes which were disapproved by the church and the 
 Christian community, and as neither the extent of his obli- 
 gations, nor his agreement to surrender the property to the 
 churcli at cost, were generally known, the impression went 
 abroad that he rented the building for the sake of gain, and 
 was deriving a handsome income from worldly amusements. 
 
USES OF THE TABERNACLE. 105 
 
 This greatly scandalized some good people, and furnished 
 his political and personal enemies with an inexhaustible 
 fund of satire and abuse. All this he bore good-naturedly, 
 knowing that in due time the whole matter would be under- 
 stood. He had some peculiar notions as to the purposes for 
 which such a building as the Tabernacle should be used, but 
 he was ever ready to regard the wishes of his brethren in 
 the church, even when he had entire control of the build- 
 ing. For several years he had the sole management of the 
 building, renting it as he had opportunity for public pur- 
 poses, and transacting all the business pertaining thereto, — 
 for none of which services did he ever receive a single cent for 
 his own benefit. As soon as the new church was organized, 
 Mr. Hale leased the Tabernacle to the ecclesiastical society 
 or congregation for ten years at ai\ annual rent of one thou- 
 sand dollars. By the terms of this lease the congregation 
 were to have the exclusive use of the audience-chamber on 
 the Sabbath, and of the lecture-room and other apartments 
 during the week, and to receive all the revenue from pew- 
 rents and collections, defraying their own expenses, — Mr. 
 Hale reserving the right to let the building for miscellaneous 
 purposes during the week, and engaging to meet all the ex- 
 penses of the property. It was further stipulated, that at any 
 time within the ten years, the Broadway Tabernacle Society 
 might purchase the property at cost, interest included, and 
 that the net income of the building in the interim should 
 constitute a sinking fund for such purchase. Thus Mr. 
 Hale voluntarily put it out of his power ever to realize one 
 dollar from what might have proved a most lucrative invest- 
 ment. He bought the Tabernacle at his own risk, intending 
 tliat the property by its earnings should as it were redeem 
 itself for the perpetual use and benefit of a Congregational 
 church. An act so dismterested is hardly credited by a 
 selfish world. Some sinister motive is ever suspected by 
 5* 
 
106 MEMOIR. 
 
 those who know not what it is to forego self-interest for the 
 glory of God. 
 
 • The result of this arrangement Avas that when in March, 
 1845, the Society purchased the Tabernacle, its cost to them 
 was reduced by the net earnings of five years to about 
 $30,000. Of this sum about $12,000 was raised by the 
 sale of pews, which was paid to Mr. Hale, and a mortgage 
 on the property was given for the balance. The income 
 from the rents and extra uses of the house has not only 
 paid the interest on the debt, but has reduced the principal 
 by one-third, and in a few years will extinguish it entirely, 
 without any pressure on the congregation. To accomplish 
 this object tlie miscelbuieous uses of the house are still ne- 
 cessary. If those who complain of such uses would oflTor to 
 pay oif the debt by subscription or by purchasing pews, 
 and would assist in raising the eight or nine thousand dol- 
 lars per annum, which are required to meet the current ex- 
 penses of the Tabernacle enterprise, the trustees and con- 
 gregation Avould cheerfully listen to their proposals. Mean- 
 while they will do the best they can to keep this vast edifice 
 in the possession of an evangelical church, and for the great 
 interests of benevolence, humanity, literary culture, and 
 social refinement. When the Broadway Tabernacle, freed 
 from all encumbrances, shall have become a center of moral 
 and religious influences for New York and for the Union, 
 speaking ever with one voice, and making one grand moral 
 impression, — when the few remaining churches in the lower 
 part of the city one by one shall have been removed, and 
 this vast edifice shall stand with open gates inviting the 
 stranger, the poor, the young men of the eitv, the giddy, 
 pleasure-seeking throngs on the great thoroughfare to enter, 
 and hear the word of life, while it shall continue also from 
 year to year to gather beneath its dome the thousands of 
 Israel to hear and consult of the public interests of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom, — then perhaps those who have never lift- 
 
DOMESTIC CHANGES. lOY 
 
 ed :i finger to sustain the enterprise, but have carped at the 
 occasional uses of the house, whicli were dictated by neces- 
 sity, shall begiji to coni))reheud the sagacity and the inagna- 
 niuiity of one, who i'or no personal c.molunient or advantage, 
 but at nuich j)ers()nal iucouvenience and sacrifice, :it the risk 
 of property, and in face of opposition a.nd ol)lo(|uy, saved 
 the Tabernacle from becoming a grand center of evil where 
 stipci-stition and error sliould l)e enslirine(l, or the goddess 
 of pleasure and lust should hold her court ; — then tardy 
 justice will be rendered to David Hale for the crowning act 
 of his life. 
 
 In the interval covered by these public events, important 
 changes had taken place in the family of Mr. Male. The 
 children of the first Mrs. Hale had grown to maturity, and 
 some of them Avero married, while an equal number had 
 been a,ddcd to the household — one of whom died in infancy. 
 Mr. Hale's intercourse with his children was characterized 
 by an alFectionate interest in all their aftairs, and a deep 
 concern for their spiritual welfare. His constant aim was 
 to lead them to form those traits of character which were so 
 conspicuous in himself — sincerity, independence, and bene- 
 volence. Tn his letters to them, even the youngest, when 
 away from home at school, tliere was always a wise adapta- 
 tion of his counsels to their understanding, habits, and dis- 
 position, and some liappy turning of the thoughts to religion 
 as the chief thing. A few extra,cts from these letters will 
 be found in tlie Appendix.* Tliey are good models of cor- 
 respondence for Christian parents. 
 
 In the year 1844, he was called to part with liis second 
 daughter, Mrs. Lydia Devan, for the missionary work in 
 China. Both in person and in character, this daughter strik- 
 ingly resembled the sainted mother whose name she l)ore. 
 She was greatly endeared to all who knew her. From child- 
 
 * See Appendix D. 
 
108 MEMOIR. 
 
 hood she had cherished a desire to be a missionary, and 
 after she was married and pk^isantlj settled in New York, 
 she still clung to the same desire. At length, on the open- 
 ing of China to missionary effort, her husband, then in good 
 practice as a physician, but sharing in her wish to proclaim 
 the Gospel to the heathen, received from the Baptist Board 
 of Missions — with which denomination he was connected — 
 an appointment to that interesting field. Nothing could 
 have been more grateful to the feelings of Mrs. Devan. 
 Her fondest aspirations were now to be fulfilled ; yet, ready 
 as she was to go, and free to act her own pleasure, she 
 sought the counsel of her father. The manner in which Mr. 
 Hale regarded the subject is thus described by a friend : 
 
 " He viewed the event, not as a matter of personal feel- 
 ing, but as he viewed almost every thing, — in its bearing 
 upon the kingdom of Christ, and the well-being of mankind. 
 He had long known Eydia's attachment to the cause of mis- 
 sions, and her ardent desire to devote her life to that cause. 
 When she was not far from sixteen years of age, she con- 
 ceived a strong wish to join a company of missionaries who 
 were going to Greece, and there to become a teacher. 
 Being at that time at school, away from home, she wrote to 
 her father, requesting permission to go. But he could not 
 consent to it, on account of her extreme youth and inexperi- 
 ence, and the want of such protection as so young a female 
 would need. 
 
 " These objections, however, no longep existed, when it 
 was proposed that she should go to China. It was evident 
 that her missionary spirit had not abated, for Avliile the way 
 was not open for her to enter on a foreign mission, she was 
 an active missionary at home. Her knowledge and experi- 
 ence were much increased, and her judgment nfature. And 
 besides all this, she had enjoyed six years experience of the 
 faitliful devotion of a husband whom she loved most ardent- 
 ly, and who ever studied to promote her happmess. 
 
MRS. LYDIA DEVAN. 100 
 
 " Wlicn the proposition to go to China was made to Dr. 
 and Mrs. Dcvan, the first step they took was to confer with 
 her father on the subject. The interview was long, and 
 deeply interesting. Having discussed fully and freely 
 everything relating to it, Mr. Hale expressed his entire wil- 
 lingness to have them go, and to render them all the aid in 
 his power in carrying out their plans. This he did by giv- 
 ing them one thousand dollars, all that he then felt able to 
 give, and rendering aid in various smaller matters. 
 
 " He loved this daughter with very warm affection, and 
 always took peculiar pleasure in having her near him ; yet 
 he was willing, he even rejoiced, to resign her at the call of 
 the Savior, to serve Him in a heathen land. He felt that 
 God had honored him by thus distinguishing his child, and 
 that it would be sinful in him to mourn at her depar- 
 ture." 
 
 Hardly two years elapsed before this lovely and devoted 
 woman — the first missionary who gained access to the women 
 of China — was called to lay down her life in the cause she so 
 much loved. Having just acquired the language, and an in- 
 fluence over the Chinese of her own sex which promised much 
 good, she was summoned away by death on tlie 18th of Oc- 
 tober, 1846. She sleeps at Whampoa in the vicinity of Can-^ 
 ton.* Mr. Hale received the unexpected intelligence of her 
 decease with great calmness, and reiterated the sentiments 
 he had expressed on bidding her adieu. The news reached 
 New York on the. day of the weekly prayer-meeting of the 
 Tabernacle Church. At that meeting Mr. Hale was in his 
 place — the object of regard and sympatby to all present. 
 No formal mention of his bereavement was needed ; the in- 
 telligence had gone from mouth to mouth, and with it grief 
 had spread from heart to heart. After the opening exer- 
 cises, that exquisite hymn by Dr. L. Bacon — 
 " Hail tranquil hour of closing day !" — 
 * See Appendix E. 
 
no 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 a hymn penned while watching the slow decline of the part- 
 ner of his life — having been sung, was commented on by the 
 pastor as appropriate to the occasion. The following stanza 
 was particularly dwelt upon : 
 
 " How sweet to look, in thoughtful hope, 
 
 Beyond this fading sky, 
 And hear Him call his children up 
 
 To His fair home on high." 
 
 It was remarked that God knows where all His children 
 are, and is calling them home, now from one land, now from 
 another, till all shall be gathered in His presence and glory. 
 
 Scarcely were these remarks finished when Mr. Hale rose 
 and said, "I suppose you hardly expect me to speak to- 
 night, and yet I know not why I should not speak to-night 
 if ever. I cannot mourn for my daughter (and here his 
 utterance choked) — I bless God that He gave me such a 
 daughter, and that He inclined her to go and serve Him 
 among the heathen ; and now that He has taken her to Him- 
 self, shall I mourn? How diflerent are my feelings from 
 those of a parent whose son has fallen on a Mexican battle- 
 field ! I might have reason to mourn if a child of mine had 
 died in such a war as that in which we are engaged against 
 a weak, half-civilized, sister nation. But now I have no 
 tears to shed. Much as I love my children, I cannot expect 
 always to have them around me — to dandle them always 
 upon my knee ; nor do I desire to ; I have something else to 
 do, and I trust they have also. I have consecrated them to 
 God, and have endeavored to train them for usefulness, 
 and now if Christ honors one of them witli a call to serve 
 Him anywhere in His kiiigdom, shall I object and complain ? 
 No ; I will rejoice at it. We ought not to talk of such things 
 as a sacrifice, and make an ado about parting with our chil- 
 dren for Christ. I say to these young converts (it was a 
 season of revival) if any of you shall go to serve Him among 
 
SUBMISSION UNDER TRIALS. Ill 
 
 the heathen, I'll help you with my prayers, I'll help you 
 with my money, but IwonH shed a tear; I'll rejoice over it." 
 
 What a noble exhibition of Christian firmness under afflic- 
 tion, of supreme love to Christ and His glorious cause ! 
 
 The following letter addressed soon after to myself when 
 called to Philadelphia by the sudden death of a sister, shows 
 how deep was Mr. Hale's sensibility under affliction, and 
 how fully he realized the comforts of the Gospel ; 
 
 New York, Feb. 6, 1847. 
 My Dear Pastor — 
 
 In thinking of you last night, I determined to write you a 
 letter to-day, thinking that I would try to repay you in part for 
 the sympathy which you so kindly exhibited for me. I am "-lad 
 to receive your letter of yesterday, and by it to know more per- 
 fectly the measure of your grief. It is dangerous, in a world like 
 this, to have precious things given to us — it is so very hard to 
 part with them. Some kind parents take care to keep from their 
 children tlie things on which their love will fasten, it will be so 
 difficult to take them away. Others give them and take them 
 away for the purpose of discipline. I have never been surround- 
 ed by so many objects to love as you have. I have no lovely 
 sister to die, though I have had so many objects of my love, that 
 I have shed many bitter tears over their loss. But you, I fear, 
 have still more to shed, and I trust much higher grace to reach 
 than I can expect. 
 
 This world looks strangely to me. Such high hope, such rich 
 enjoyments, snatched away from us as if to mock our agony, and 
 yet all in love. What sad waywardness it is which requires such 
 discipline to correct it ! But 1 know that all the thoughts tliat I 
 could suggest are present with you, and I trust we shall both hold 
 fast to the steadfast throne of God, for there is nothing else which 
 Avill not tear itself from our grasp as the storms of life beat over 
 us. It is our unspeakable comfort to believe that our dear ones 
 have gone to better friends, and that they are not lost even to us. 
 
 May the Good Spirit comfort your heart by His presence, and 
 may we all learn the lessons of love to God and dependence joy- 
 fully on Him, which will prepare us to serve Him more, and each 
 other more, and so be ready for the perfect love of a perfect 
 state, — where we shall be satisfied. 
 
 Yours, affectionately, 
 
 D. HALE. 
 
112 MEMOIR, 
 
 It is to be regretted that Mr. Hale did not continue his 
 private journal beyond the first few years of his Christian 
 experience, and that after the death of his father, his cor- 
 respondence, with the exception of occasional letters, was 
 limited to matters of business. We are thus deprived of 
 two important sources of evidence as to his religious character 
 in later life. But while we lack such a record of his feelings 
 as would be furnished by the self-communings and reflections 
 of a diary, or by the free and familiar expressions of a 
 friendly and confidential correspondence, we have the evi- 
 dence of his character in the acts of a life which was uncom- 
 monly open to inspection. It was felt by those who knew 
 him best, that in the last few years of his life his Christian 
 character rapidly matured and developed itself with symme- 
 try and completeness. 
 
 The cheerful tone of his piety at this period, which was 
 remarked by all who knew him as a Christian, was owing in 
 no small measure to the success which had crowned the Ta- 
 bernacle entcrpi'ise. The enjoyment which he found in his 
 new church relations was greatly hightened by contrast 
 with the scenes of controversy through which he had passed. 
 He felt too that in the organization of the Tabernacle Con- 
 gregational Church, he had secured the recognition and the 
 preservation of important principles, and had contributed to 
 the progress of the Redeemer's Kingdom. His frequent 
 allusions to this were imputed by some to a spirit of boast- 
 ing — but they were prompted rather by joy and gratitude 
 for the success of an undertaking to which he had consecrat- 
 ed time, thought, feeling, character, and money, for the 
 glory of God. And well might he rejoice when he saw not 
 only the Tabernacle Church prosperous, but other Congrega- 
 tional churches springing up vigorously in New York and 
 Brooklyn, as a consequence of his original movement.* ■{ 
 
 Mr. Hale was devoted to the Tabernacle Church in all its 
 • See appendix F. 
 
ACTIVITY IN THE CHURCH. 113 
 
 interests. Feeling the need of rest on the Sabbath after 
 the exhausting labors of his profession during the week, he 
 did not indeed engage in Sabbath-school instruction as ho 
 had done in former years ; but he was a member of the choir, 
 till within about two years of his death, and was regularly 
 present at the weekly rehearsal. Ho uniformly attended 
 public service three times on the Sabbath, and / do not re- 
 member ever to have missed him from a stated religious 
 meeting during the week, when he was in the city and in 
 health. He would come to those meetings from his office, 
 without his evening meal, rejoicing in such a relief from 
 temporal cares. In seasons of special interest, he would at- 
 tend a religious meeting almost every evening for weeks in 
 succession. 
 
 He loved religion, ho loved the cause of Christ, he loved 
 the people of God, he loved prayer, and the faithful, earnest 
 preaching of the Word. Nothing would move him to tears 
 so quickly as the narrative of the conversion of souls to 
 Christ ; nothing would light up his rugged countenance with 
 such joy as did the intelligence of the pro'gress of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom in any part of the world. He was in his 
 element at the monthly concert of prayer. His comprehen- 
 sive review of the news of the month in its bearing on the 
 advancement of Christ's kingdom was always instructive ; 
 he rejoiced in every indication of progress, and said, with 
 reference to the great physical improvements and bene- 
 volent enterprises of his day, that the world had been made 
 since he was born. On such topics, his love of liberty, and 
 his enlarged charity and benevolence, came prominently into 
 view ; and his soul was often fired as from God's own altar, 
 as he dilated on the coming glories of the Redeemer's reign. 
 How withering at such times was his sarcasm upon those 
 who were busying themselves with their own mean affairs, — 
 living for gold or honor ! He felt that there was no great- 
 ness but in connection with God's service. 
 
114 MEMOIR. 
 
 This idea he often dwelt upon in his exliortations. On 
 one occasion, at a prayer-meeting, allusion had been made 
 to a female member of the church, then dangerously ill, who, 
 when asked whether she had a consciousness of supreme love 
 to Christ, replied, "I do not think I should have been will- 
 ing to go so far in all weather to teach my class in the color- 
 ed Sabbath-school, if I did not love Him :" Mr. Hale arose 
 and said, " Ah, that is it. We see what will give us com- 
 fort in death. It is not that we have been great, or rich, or 
 honored ; it is not the great things that we have done ; it is 
 teaching poor, colored children ; it is visiting the poor ; it is 
 laboring in the Sabbath-school ; it is doing something, how- 
 ever humble, for Christ. This will give us comfort when 
 we die." Thus did he encourage the poorer and feebler 
 members of the church. Indeed he himself delighted in 
 such services mor.e than in his public labors and benefactions 
 for the cause of Christ. And doubtless from such services 
 will flow results which will be immeasurably joyful to him in 
 eternity. It Avas but the other day that an anecdote illus- 
 trating Mr. Hale's usefulness as a Sabbath-school teacher, 
 was brought casually to my notice in a newspaper published 
 by the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 " A minister of this city, in preaching for the benefit of a 
 Sunday-school, a few Sabbaths since, related the following 
 story : 
 
 " A lad, in Boston, was in the class of a Sunday-school 
 teacher, (the late David Hale,) who for a long time occupied 
 a large space in the public eye. When the lad meditated a 
 departure from the school, to accompany his parents to 
 Europe, his teacher got him to learn eight verses of the 
 sacred Scripture, in which were the words, '/ will behave 
 myself wisely in a j)crfect icay.' Before he quit the 
 shores of his native land, his faithful teacher presented him 
 with a copy of the New Testament, writing on one of its 
 
RESULTS OF HIS LABORS. 115 
 
 blank leaves those same words. After an absence of seve- 
 ral years, that Sunday-school boy set sail for homo again. 
 During the voyage they met with a calamity; an officer 
 was lost overboard. While attempts were making to re- 
 cover tlie man, which it was plainly seen must prove fruit- 
 less, anotlier officer ste])pcd into the cabin, and whispered 
 in that boy's ear, ' Look in the man's state-room, and see 
 if he left his watch hanging tliere ; if he did, take it, and 
 put it on yourself ; no one will know it : it will be thought 
 he had it on when he was lost!' The boy stepped to 
 the door, and saw the watch hanging where it had been 
 left. ' Now, then,' said the lad, in his heart, ' shall I, 
 just returning to my native land, witli a fair character, and 
 to commence life for myself, begin with theft?' His soul 
 revolted at the thought, and then, Avitli the vividness of 
 inspiration, rose up those words within him, ' I will behave 
 myself wisely in a perfect way!' That boy became a 
 minister — that minister now addresses you." 
 
 I know not whether Mr. Hale was ever informed of the 
 good effect of his counsels in this case. Many others are 
 under a like obligation to him for his kind and faithful 
 instructions ; and while he rests from his labors his Avorks 
 do follow him. Much good is yet to flow both from his 
 labors and his charities. Of the extent of the latter the 
 world knew nothing. He often gave money largely, and 
 when, as in the purchase of the Tabernacle, he had a great 
 end to accomplish, he never scrupled at the cost. But the 
 beauty of his benevolence was tliat it was hal>itual, cheerful, 
 systematic, comprehensive, and from principle. His native 
 disposition was generous, but that trait was refined and am- 
 plified under the influence of an evangelical faith. Many 
 pleasing instances of his liberality might here be mentioned ; 
 but the record of all his good deeds would fill the volume. 
 
 Soon after his conversion, at a time when his means were 
 very scanty, being on a visit to his cousin, at Lisbon, Conn., 
 
116 
 
 MEMOIR* 
 
 he called upon a worthy couple in the town, whose means of 
 support hail been diminished through age and infirmities. 
 Seeing their condition, he left a sum of money with his cousin 
 for their relief, charging her to conceal the name of the 
 donor, and afterwards sent other sums for the same purpose. 
 In after years, when he began to be prospci'ed, this relative 
 herself often received from liim tokens of kindness, both in 
 remittances of money, and in such articles for family use as 
 arc always acceptable in the family of a country minister. 
 And he would bestow such favors with a delicacy and a cor- 
 diality which greatly enhanced their value. He khidly an- 
 ticipated the wants of others, and tendered such aid as was 
 in his power. Thus he advises his cousin, when in feeble 
 health, to go to the Springs and remain as long as she may 
 see fit, at his expense, and offers to provide her with a nurse 
 or a traveling companion ; and again he suggests that she 
 should come and place herself under the care of an eminent 
 physician in New York, remarking that he " should be most 
 happy to defray the expenses of the journey for her husband 
 and herself, and also of the doctor." 
 
 A young woman who supported herself by giving lessons 
 in drawing, being ill, and threatened Avith loss of sight, Mr. 
 Hale provided for her the best medical attendance at an ex- 
 pense of two or three hundred dollars. The person thus be- 
 friended had no claim upon him but that arising from her 
 character and her necessities, and the act originated simply 
 in the kindness of his heart. 
 
 He used, either in person or through some member of his 
 family, to seek out the poor of the church, or such others as 
 were both needy and deserving, and minister to their relief. 
 This was to him a constant source of pleasure. He never 
 refused a call of charity which was fairly presented to his 
 mind as desqrving of regard. One mode of doijig good with 
 him, was that of accounnodating persons of limited means, in 
 whom he could put confidence, with loans of money, either 
 
HIS CHARITIES. 117 
 
 without interest or on very easy terms. Many a poor minis- 
 ter had occasion to thank Mr. Hale for such a favor, be- 
 stowed perhaps without solicitation, and as a delicate way of 
 making a present of money to one who would not ask it, 
 for he frequently canceled such debts in whole or in part. 
 In the same spirit he would grant to members of the Taber- 
 nacle Church accommodation in business which they could 
 obtain nowhere else. 
 
 His charities, while they were abundant and diversified, 
 were also systematic and judicious. What he gave to 
 benevolent objects was a part of his daily expenses. Such 
 objects were not postponed till everything else was pro- 
 vided for, and every other possible use had been made 
 of money. They belonged to his regular expenditures. 
 He gave away the greater part of his available earnings, 
 and often anticipated them, for the promotion of benevolent 
 objects. When possessed of ample means he did not live in 
 luxury. He indulged in no display in dress, in equipage, or 
 in his manner of living. His conduct in this respect was 
 most exemplary. He would not keep a carriage, or live os- 
 tentatiously, because he did not wish to appear to place him- 
 self above his brethren in the church. His dwelling was 
 furnished with as much plainness as was consistent with good 
 taste and propriety. There was nothing in it for mere dis- 
 play. He once remarked to me, as I was admiring the style 
 and situation of his house, that he sometimes questioned 
 whether it was right for him to occupy a house worth twenty 
 thousand dollars, when money was so much needed to spread 
 abroad the Gospel. The first use of money with him was to 
 do good, and he endeavored to do good with money just in 
 proportion as from time to time the Lord had prospered him. 
 He used to say that he should think it wrong to suffer pro- 
 perty to accumulate in his hands to the amount of $100,- 
 000 ; and that he wanted money in order to give it away. He 
 regarded himself as a mere steward of property for the Lord. 
 
118 MEMOIR. 
 
 It "was a" frequent reinavk of his that he >Yisl\ed to do good 
 ■with his money whik^ he lived ; and he condennied the policy 
 of hoarding up Avealth -while life lasts, and then appropriat- 
 ing it to good uses only -when death renders it impossible to 
 keep it longer. 
 
 One of the most pleasing featm*es of his charity was its 
 cheerfulness. He never gave grudgingly, nor merely from a 
 sense of duty, but because it Avas a pleasure to give. A Se- 
 cretary of one of our benevolent societies, after having pre- 
 sented the object at the Tabernacle, called on him for his sub- 
 scription. " Well," said J\Ir. Hale, " that was a good story 
 and well told ; hcrc^s the money."'' 
 
 His example in this respect greatly stimulated others. 
 One of our most liberal merchants has told me that he omcs 
 his disposition to do good with his money ver}' much to the 
 example of David Hale. That example should be followed 
 not only by those who are already prosperous in business, 
 but also by young men who are uuirking out their course for 
 life. 
 
 From the beginning of his Christian life, Mr. Hale was 
 distinguished for liberality. In Boston, when his means 
 were limited, he gave hundreds of dollars to benevolent ob- 
 jects, and when afterwards in this city his income increased, 
 his contributions increased, as they should, in a higher ratio, 
 until he gave away thousands anmmlly, and in tlie aggregate 
 tens of thousands, to promote various objects of Christian 
 benevolence. 
 
 His inlluence on the Tabernacle Church in this respect 
 was peculiarly happy. \\'heu I wished to introduce an 
 object of benevolence to the church in a familiar way, I 
 would always send the applicant to Mr. Hale ; then at a 
 pi'ayer-meeting or lecture, would state the nature of the ap- 
 plication: whereupon Mr. Hale would rise and say, " I have 
 looked at this matter, and I think we ought to help to buiL 
 tliis church, or support this missionary, (or whatever the 6 
 
 i 
 
C O N G U K G A T I O \ A L K N 7" K II P It I S E S . 119 
 
 jcct rnif^lit bo,) and I have made up rny mind to give twonty 
 dollars, or fifty, or a liundred, (according to the object,) or 
 if you will give ho much I will make up the balance, or 
 double your HubscriptionH. The way to prosper is, t^j keep 
 giving ; and it costs us very little to do a great deal of 
 good." The effect of such a speech was always to secure a 
 good collection. 
 
 Of late years Mr. Hale's contributions were turned very 
 much into the channel of Congregational enterprises. This 
 was not owing to mere sectarian feeling. As we have seen, 
 Congregationalism was with him a matter of principle. Ho 
 did not value it as an isra, but as an embodiment of the free 
 Spirit of the Gospel, as the best system of church organization 
 for all the practical ends of such organization. I'herefore ho 
 contributed his money most freely where the principles of 
 the Puritans would be honored. But besides this, he was of 
 opinion that Christians who had the means of doinf good 
 on a large scale should have specific objects under their 
 care, as for instance that one should sustain a college, another 
 a church, a third a missionary, &c., and so he looked after 
 interests which others were apt to overlook. I cannot ascer- 
 tain how much he contributed towards Congregational ob- 
 jects. He gave thousands of dollars X/) individual churches 
 in this city and in Brooklyn, and sometimes assumed very 
 heavy responsibilities for a new church enterprise.* He 
 gave large sums of money to feeble churches or new organi 
 zations in Western New York, and in regions farther west. 
 He usually supported from his own purse one or more mis- 
 sionaries at the West ; at one time three^ at an average salary 
 of $;";00. The establishment of a Congregational church in 
 Detroit would not have been attempted but for him. When 
 the brethren who contemplated forming that church felt that 
 they were too few and feeble for such an undertaking, Mr. 
 • See Appendix F. 
 
120 MEMOIR. 
 
 Hale pledged himself to pay the salary of the pastor ^^!t|50l 
 per annum) for two years, Avhile at the same time he sup- 
 ported a missionary evangelist among the feeble churches of 
 Michigan. Says the late pastor of the church in Detroit, 
 " Two thousand dollars came from him to me and through 
 my hands to sustain the cause in Michigan." 
 
 But I must pass to other points of his character as they 
 presented themselves in the closing years of his life in which 
 I knew him personally. 
 
 The impression was quite common that Mr. Hale was apt 
 to make trouble in a church and especially for his minister. 
 I did not find it so. As much as any man I ever knew, 
 David Hale was deserving of the uniform confidence, affec- 
 tion and respect of his pastor, and his brethren of the 
 church. To me he was always respectful, kind, generous, 
 considerate of my feelings, influence, and happiness. Some- 
 times I deemed it my duty to oppose in church-meeting a 
 measure to which he was strongly committed ; but though 
 his views were defeated, I never detected the least change 
 in his deportment towards myself. The secret of which 
 was simply that his rights as a private member of the 
 church were respected, and he was met by fair and kindly 
 argument instead of being put down by gag-law. 
 
 He had certain traits of character which made him an un- 
 desirable opponent to one who was in the wrong, or who Avas 
 disposed to carry his point by subtlety, or by harsh and illi- 
 beral measures. Yet those very traits rendered him a most 
 efficient champion for truth and right. It might even be 
 said in a sense that duty was his God. He earnestly sought 
 the truth and endeavored to do the right. They were the 
 poles of his soul, not opposite as antagonistic, but as mutu- 
 ally supporting and balancing his whole moral nature. I 
 have sometimes pictured to myself David Hale arraigned 
 before the Inquisition, and called upon to confess that a 
 
DECISION OF ciiaracter: integrity. 121 
 
 piece of paste was Christ ; or before Laud's Iligli Commis- 
 sion to engage a strict conformity to the offices and ritual of 
 the Established Cliurch ! Did ever a Lollard or a Huffue- 
 not go to the stake ; did ever a Puritan go to the pillory, the 
 prison, or the scaffold, with a higher devotion to the truth 
 than would he ! He deny the truth ; he swerve from the 
 right through fear of torture, through fear of death ! Ho 
 had courage to do his duty in all circumstances, courage 
 even to undertake an unwelcome service, and one which did 
 not imperatively devolve upon him, for the sake of the truth. 
 He had courage always to stand by his principles, and to face 
 the consequences of his own acts. Even in the most trying 
 circumstances, and when he knew that he was provoking a 
 storm of opposition against himself, and was alienating his 
 chief friends, he had the courage to do his duty. Yet his 
 known integrity inspired confidence. His word could always 
 be relied upon. He abhorred deception in any form and 
 under any pretext whatever. He was thoroughly honest ; 
 honest not only in business relations, but in all his inter- 
 course with his fellow-men. He never resorted to petty ma- 
 noeuvering to gain his end. iiut this very honesty was a 
 cause of his unpopularity with some, for it made him quick to 
 detect, and prompt to expose hypocrisy and fraud. He was 
 the sworn enemy of imposture everywhere ; in church and in 
 state ; in commerce, politics, medicine, science, literature 
 and religion. Such honesty is not liked by all, but it is the 
 very stamen of a sterling character. 
 
 Coupled with this integrity of heart, Mr. Hale had a 
 perfect frankness of manner. His sincerity was apparent 
 to all. He carried his soul in his face, his faults as well as 
 his virtues, and as you caught the light and shade, — as this 
 or that phase came over his soul — so might you rend the 
 man. I'here was no reserve about him. If he did not ap- 
 prove your sentiments or conduct he would tell you so; and 
 
122 MEMOIR. 
 
 when he said he did approve them you could believe him. 
 What he thought and felt he hesitated not to utter ; nay, he 
 could not but utter. His frankness was sometimes blunt, but 
 it was commonly kind and often amiable. This quality made 
 him some enemies, but it endeared him to his friends. It is 
 one of the most desirable traits of character, and those who 
 were long under his influence learned to value and to cul- 
 tivate it. 
 
 With Mr. Hale these traits were not the mere result of 
 education or of natural cultivation, but of religious princi- 
 ple. He was a conscicntioxis man ; he aimed to do right in 
 the fear of God ; and he who acts from such a motive must 
 be an honest man. His quick, sometimes almost intuitive, 
 perception of Avhat was right, made him impatient of the 
 errors and severe upon the follies of others. Sometimes he 
 was hasty in judgment and rash in speech ; but when brought 
 to see that he had Avronged another, he always had the ho- 
 nesty to confess it. To that fact I could probably summon 
 witnesses as numerous as the real offenses. 
 
 He had great firmness and decision of character. These 
 qualities he much admired in others. Oliver Cromwell, as 
 he appears in liis own letters and speeches, collected by 
 Carlyle, was a great favorite with him. He admired the 
 blunt honesty, the manly decision, the devotion to principle 
 60 conspicuous in the plain Huntingdon farmer, who became 
 Lord Protector of the Commonwealth ; and he seemed to 
 feel as he gazed upon the rugged, earnest, honest face of the 
 old Puritan general, that he had found a man after his 
 o-\vn heart. 
 
 Mr. Hale's conclusions upon moral subjects seemed at 
 times to be formed intuitively. Especially was this true 
 where great principles were involved. There were certain 
 principles of moral science, ecclesiastical polity, and politi- 
 cal economy, which he had weighed and settled. Some of 
 
 II 
 
self-control: church debates. 123 
 
 these were original in the sense of having been thought out 
 by and for liiniself ; all of them had been made his own by 
 being subjected to the rigid analysis of his own mind. His 
 principles were fixed , and he usually made up his mind 
 promptly and decidedly ; and when his mind was made up in 
 view of truth and duty, who or what could change him 1 Op- 
 position could not turn him ; neither obloquy nor entreaty 
 could induce him to retract. And yet with all this decision 
 and firmness, which, in the view of some, amounted even to ob- 
 stinacy, there was one principle to which, as a Congregation- 
 al ist, he faithfully adhered ; and that was, always to yield to 
 the dccisio7i of the majority. This he invariably did with good 
 grace. He never attempted to form a party in the church, 
 or to make others uncomfortable by constant irritation. I 
 have seen him laugh heartily at being con(i[uered in a fair de- 
 bate. He could not be driven from his principles, but he 
 would cease to drive them, when he found that the case was 
 fairly decided against him. Hence he made no difficulty in 
 the church. In the present Tabernacle Church, he had no 
 occasion to contend for the right of speech, and he respected 
 the rights of others. In debate he was always calm and 
 clieerful. That perfect self-control which enabled him when 
 assaulted in the Exchange to refrain from blows or anger, 
 and when spit upon by an excited politician, on board a 
 steamboat, calmly to Avipe his face Avith his handkerchief, 
 remarking only that it was "a dirty trick," — that complete 
 self-possession to which he had attained, made him at once 
 a formidable and an agreeable opponent in an argument. 
 He would not betray anger in debate even under strong 
 provocation, but would endeavor to allay excitement in 
 others ; and even when he found that his own views were 
 likely to prevail, if the minority was large, and the proposed 
 measure likely to produce ill feeling, he would not press it 
 to a decision, but would ask a postponement for the sake of 
 friendly conference, or would endeavor to harmonize the par- 
 
124 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 ties on some common basis. His influence on the church in 
 this respect was eminently happy. 
 
 This dignified self-control gained for him an influence in 
 those pubhc bodies, ecclesiastical councils, conventions, &c., 
 in which he sometimes took a part. In 1846 ho was a 
 member of the Congregational Convention at Michigan City, 
 where he greatly distinguished himself by his spirit and ad- 
 dresses. A prominent member of that body thus speaks of 
 the appearance of Mr. Halo in the convention, and the in- 
 fluence which he acquired over it : 
 
 " I doubt whether he ever in so short a time did more for tlic 
 cause of truth, than while at Michigan City. But for liim, that con- 
 vention would, I think, have adjourned witliout taking that decided 
 action against the ' Plan of Union,' which has so essentially bene- 
 fited the denomination at the West, and which has since been in- 
 dorsed at the East. The committee appointed to report on that 
 subject recommended only a modification of the Plan, and exert- 
 ed themselves to procure the adoption of their report. Mr. Hale 
 took the lead in opposing the 7)wdiJication, and boldly maintained 
 that the Plan sh.ould be abrogated. At first his views seemed nitra 
 to many of us. We were not prepared to go so far. But his 
 quick discernment and ready wit, his strong arguments and apposite 
 illustrations, were too much for the committee, (of whom I was 
 one and contended for a modification,) and the brethren were 
 led almost mianimously into his views before we separated. He 
 was added to the committee, and wrote the latter part of the re- 
 port which was finally adopted unanimously. There were other 
 subjects that came before the convention for discussion, whose in- 
 troduction he strongly opposed, and because of that opposition, 
 some of our good brethren formed a very erroneous opinion of 
 him, and one of them, in his zeal, administered a personal rebuke 
 to Mr. Hale, by name. He received it without anger, and re- 
 plied in a kind though decided manner, which won the hearts of 
 all. So rapidly did the influence of Mr. Hale increase toward 
 the close of the convention, that one of the officers remarked to 
 me, ' If the convention had continued two days longer, Mr. Hale 
 would have had the whole control of it.' As we were returning 
 from Michigan City, one of the brethren who had at first been 
 prejudiced against Mr. Hale, because of his manner, speaking of 
 him, said, ' He has a noble soul after all. I watched his coun- 
 tenance Avhile Brother — was preaching, and observed that 
 
 it was often bathed in tears.' " 
 
ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN: SOCIAL HABITS. 125 
 
 Mr. Hale endeared himself greatly to the young men 
 of the church. He took a lively interest in their welfare ; 
 was ahvays ready to counsel and aid them in their tempo- 
 ral affairs, and endeavored to train them to habits of self- 
 reliance, perseverance and Christian activity. The follow- 
 ing skeleton of an address to the young men of the church, 
 found among his papers, will show what in his view were the 
 most important elements of character, and may convey use- 
 ful hints to that class of readers : 
 
 Be eminent in holiness. 
 
 For this you must study tlie truth. 
 
 Must keep your mind at peace ; in business ; in politics ; in the 
 
 church. 
 Be enmicntly useful. 
 
 Fill your mind with elementary knowledge. 
 Be independent in opinions. 
 Be a leadei' ; but not ambitious. 
 Select particular objects. 
 Be steadily laborious. 
 Be submissive. 
 You Jiave enlisted for life. 
 Be consistent. 
 
 It was quite an object also with Mr. Hale to cultivate 
 social feeling in the church. His New Year's calls were al- 
 most exclusively upon the members of the Broadway Taber- 
 nacle Church, not excepting the poorest. He preferred to 
 keep up an acquaintance with his brethren and sisters in 
 Christ, rather than with the great, the wealthy, the titled, to 
 Avhose society he might have had access. He took great de- 
 light in having social assemblies of the church at his own 
 house. On such occasions he made all happy by his cheer- 
 fulness and his generous hospitality. His appearance and 
 manners made him pleasingly conspicuous in the social cir- 
 cle. In person, he was tall — more than six feet in hight, 
 and well proportioned, though of rather a spare habit, and 
 he stood or walked erect ; his forehead was high and stamp- 
 ed with thought ; his hair, which he wore brushed back from 
 
126 MEMOIR. 
 
 tlie forehead, was tliin and prematurely gray ; his counte- 
 nance "was naturally stern, but easily relaxed into a smile ; 
 his voice deep and guttural, but easily softened by emotion. 
 His conversation was sprightly, and his hearty laugh would 
 often ring out at the pithy anecdote or the pointed satire. 
 He possessed a rare amount of bo7ihommie, good-nature, 
 which overflowed in company, and made everybody cheer- 
 ful. He was a lover of hospitality, and a lover of good men ; 
 and when, as was sometimes the case, his guests consisted 
 principally of clergymen and other professional gentlemen, 
 he did the honors of the house and table with an ease and 
 grace, and participated in their discussions with an interest 
 and abilit}', which never failed to elicit their admiration 
 and respect. A New England minister having once listened 
 to his table-talk, exclaimed, ^' Why, David Hale is a philo- 
 sopher !" 
 
 Yet it was the impression of many — especially of those 
 who were in the habit of interrupting him at his oflice with 
 trifling questions, when he was engaged in making out a 
 price-current, or writing an important article — that he was 
 seriously deficient in the softer traits of character. It is 
 true that these were not so prominent as others of a sterner 
 mold, and his character upon the whole was not so genial as 
 that of Henry Martyn or of James Brainerd Taylor. He had 
 in his composition more of Peter than of Jo/in. He lived 
 more in the stern and stormy walks of duty than in the fra- 
 grant bowers of love. Of late years, however, the sterner 
 features of his character were softened, or were rendered less 
 prominent, by the filling out of those of finer texture. But 
 his deficiency in this respect was by no means so great as 
 they supposed who met him only in the rougher walks of life. 
 That man knew little of David Hale who did not know him 
 to be possessed of most refined sensibilities. When I had a 
 touching incident to narrate, or a pathetic appeal to make, I 
 knew that he would be the first man to be moved to tears. 
 
TENDERNESS OF HEART. 127 
 
 The heroic and the tender are often thus intimately blend- 
 ed. Luther had great tenderness of heart and was often 
 moved to tears like a child. John Knox when first called upon 
 by his brethren to speak in behalf of the truth burst into 
 tears and hid himself; yet he could throw overboard from 
 the galley which was bearing him as a prisoner, the image of 
 the Virgin which he was commanded to kiss, saying it was 
 nothing but painted wood, and could confront monarchs as a 
 witness for Christ. Washington Avent alone to weep and 
 pray at Valley Forge. Men of tlic sternest mold often havo 
 beating under their scarred and rugged breasts a heart as 
 delicate and sensitive as that of woman. Those who were 
 accustomed to meet Mr. Hale in the social prayer-meeting 
 learned that he had a tender lieart. His prayers evinced a 
 child-like spirit, full of submission and trust in God. His 
 exhortations were those of simple, earnest, aftcctionate piety. 
 Never shall I forget their impression. Would that I had 
 tliem preserved in writing as they fell from his lips. In 
 particular, I now remember one, which, like his happiest 
 efforts in this way, was purely spontaneous. The hymn was 
 read commencing with the words — 
 
 "Come let us join our sonp;s of praise 
 To our ascended Priest ; 
 He entered heaven with aU our names 
 Engraven on his breast." 
 
 After the singing, Mr. Hale rose in liis place and said : 
 " Brethren, let us look a little at the sentiment of this hymn. 
 Is it true ? Have we thought what it means ? Has Christ 
 entered heaven with all our names engraven on his breast 1 
 
 Is David Hale written there ? Is , and , written 
 
 tliere ? Does Christ know us individually, and present us 
 to his Father name by name?" 
 
 The effect was overpowering. The sincere Christian re- 
 alized his union with his Savior as he had never felt it 
 before. 
 
128 MEMOIR. 
 
 On another occasion, when he was to conduct the meeting, 
 he came in hurriedly and took his scat, remarking that he had 
 been so full of business through the day, that he had had no 
 time to prepare for the meeting, not even to select a hymn ; 
 " but here is one," said he, opening the book, " that ought 
 to put us in a right frame." He then read the hymn of 
 Montgomery, beginning, " Forever with the Lord," and as 
 he read his soul kindled with the theme, till he expatiated 
 most eloquently on the blessed hope of the Christian : 
 
 " Here in the body pent, 
 
 Absent from tliee I roam ; 
 Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
 A day's march nearer home. . 
 
 " So when my latest breath 
 Shall rend the vail in twain, 
 By death 1 shall escape I'roni death, 
 And life eternal gain. 
 
 " Knowing as I am known. 
 
 How shall I love that word; 
 And oft repeat before the throne, — 
 ' Forever with the Lord.' " 
 
 " Yes," said he, with emphasis, " Forever with the Lord. 
 No cares, no vexations, no hurry, no business, nothing to 
 draw ofi" our minds from Christ, nothing to fill our minds but 
 Christ. What a blessed relief after being pent up so long 
 in this poor body !" 
 
 That was the last time that Mr. Hale officiated as the 
 leader of our prayer-meeting ; both the substt/nce and the 
 manner of his exhortation arc vividly remembered by many 
 who were present. He seemed to pass at once from the 
 bustle of the world into communion with Christ, into the at- 
 mosphere of heaven. About that time indeed, his mind ap- 
 peared to be drawn more and more towards the contempla- 
 tion of death, and of the heavenly world. This was not 
 owing to any physical infirmity, or to anything which might 
 
LAST LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 129 
 
 awaken the thought that his own end was near ; it was one 
 of the leadings of the divine Spirit to prepare him for that 
 end. In a letter to his venerable mother, who was threat- 
 ened with the last and fatal stroke of apoplexy, he unfolds 
 fully his own feelings in view of death : 
 
 New YorJc, March 9, 1848. 
 Mr Dear Mother — 
 
 I learn by a letter from David that you had quite a bad faint- 
 ing turn on Tuesday. I hope that on such occasions you will be 
 able to say and feel as Paul did wlien he was old, that though 
 our earthly liouse of this tabernacle perish, we have a building of 
 God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It 
 is a source of inexpressible comfort to me, that you have been 
 spared until your once little son has become an old gray-headed 
 man himself. We have had a long journey together on earth, 
 and been blessed with much enjoyment in each other. But we 
 grow old, and there is no way to renew our youth but to pass 
 into another world, wliere we may hope to be always vigorous 
 and young. What should we do but for the revelations which 
 Christ has made to us — his expressions of love and confidence ? 
 Fear not, I am with thee ; I will never leave nor forsake thee ; I 
 am the resurrection and the life. Whether living or dying we 
 may be in His care, who is faithful beyond all other faithfulness. 
 He came to save sinners, too, so that if we but trust Him, there 
 is nothing for which He will not provide. An interest in Him is 
 all that short-lived creatures like us need, Oh, if we can but cast 
 ourselves afl'ectionately on His arm, how firmly it will sustain 
 us ! You can trust Him, mother, for you have long endeavored 
 to do so. One of our newspapers this afternoon, speaking of Mr. 
 Adams, spoke of the abuse he had received, and the softening in- 
 fluence of old age upon public feeling. When he went West, 
 said the editor, the people took him in their arms and carried 
 him from place to place. This was not literally so, but in spiiit 
 it was, and I thought the idea was beautiful. How happy then 
 may we feel to know that when we are old and gray-headed, God 
 will not forsake us, but when we faint will put under us His arms, 
 and carry us to the mansions of rest. It is good to be in God's 
 hands : how good we should always feel it to be, did we not love 
 this fleeting world too much ! 
 
 But I intend to come and see you on Tuesday morning, and 
 express to you, personally, how much I love my mother, and how 
 thankful I am that you have been preserved so long in comfort of 
 
180 M K M O I R . 
 
 body and mind. It is very conifortinfj to nio, tlmt (ho children 
 >vlu) iiro around you [his own olul(h(>n with whom she was] 
 ■will continuo to bo earnest in their attention to supply all your 
 ■wants, and I hope I may yet see you mimy times as 1 have done. 
 Hut I know it is not liki'ly that w^o shall sec each other many 
 times more on earth. If you depart before me it cannot be long 
 before 1 shall follow you. Oh, that we may meet in the mansions 
 ■which (Christ has {)repared for His people in the temple above. 
 It will be to go no more out from the glory of the Lord forever. 
 The family all send tbeir ardent love, and I shall hope to sec 
 you on Wednesday at farthest. 
 
 Your affectionate son. 
 
 DAVID IIALE. 
 
 This letter is a model of filial aflfeetioii and Christian 
 faith. Thus did he discharge every duty in the family, in 
 the church, in society, promptly, afteetionatcly, cheerfully, 
 conscientiously, fdling up his days with usefulness, yet ever 
 looking above and beyond this world for his rest and his re- 
 ward. 'I'hc current of life, which had often been so turbu- 
 lent, and which had exposed him to so many dangers, and 
 compelled him to so many struggles, was now flowing smooth- 
 ly on amid scenes of verdure and gladness. His age had 
 not yet passed into the sore ai.nd yellow leaf. " His eye was 
 not dim, nor his natural force abated.'' He liad a good 
 prosjxH't of many days. 
 
 But the intense and unceasing activity of his brain worc^ out 
 the springs of life. In a moment those springs snapped, and 
 he, so athletic and vigorous, became helpless as a child ; 
 he, so lively and active of mind, became dull, incoherent, 
 Unconscious. This was on the morning of tlie Sa.b!)ath, Juno 
 11th, 1848. He had risen apparently Avell, had taken a 
 batli, and was completing his toilet, when he suddenly called 
 to his companion that he was ill and felt as if he was about 
 to die. Being conducted to a divan, he became almost im- 
 mediately insensible. IMedical aid was summoned, and tho 
 most active measures were taken to restore consciousness, 
 
LAST SICKNESS. 131 
 
 but ho remained in a comatose state tlie greater part of the 
 day. Had he died then, without one word as to his personal 
 feelings, we could have entertained no doubt of his safety 
 in and through Christ ; but wo should have lost many pre- 
 cious tokens of comfort and hope which now remain to us. 
 But it pleased God to suspend the blow. For a long time 
 however he seemed to hang between life and death. A pain- 
 ful, uneasy sensation in the head deprived him of siglit and 
 confused his thoughts. Once he started as from a dream, 
 and exclaimed that he had just discovered that he was David 
 Hale, having been long perplexed about his identity. He 
 was raised gradually from this state of extreme mental and 
 physical prostration, and was enabled to see his friends, 
 to converse intelligently, to dictate an occasional letter, 
 and to journey for the improvement of his health, though lie 
 continued much enfeebled in body, and was incapable of his 
 usual mental exertion. In the course of the summer he 
 visited his friends m Connecticut and Massachusetts, and 
 seemed decidedly benefited by the tour. On returning to 
 New York in the fall, he went almost every day to his office, 
 though without attending to business ; but the excitement of 
 the city was too much for him in his weak and nervous state, 
 and his physician recommended him to take another journey 
 or a sea voyage. Ho left New York on the *7th of November, 
 having first deposited his vote for President — accompanied by 
 his devoted wife, who had been with him unceasingly from the 
 first moment of his attack, and whose experience in sickness, 
 united with a rare degree of fortitude and cheerfulness, ren- 
 dered her fully co-mpetent for this important trust. His in- 
 tention was to visit Cincinnati, and as winter approached to 
 journey southward as far as New Orleans, and possibly to sail 
 thence to Cuba. But finding himself unable to endure the 
 fatigue of the tour which he had undertaken, he retraced his 
 course to Philadelphia, and thence proceeded to Wasliington. 
 
182 MEMOIR. 
 
 The providence of God directed him to Fredericksburg, 
 Va., Avhere his journey was arrested by increasing debility. 
 Dropsical symptoms supervened, and his ultimate recovery 
 became more and more doubtful. At length, an attack of 
 influenza, whicli was epidemic in the place, terminated his 
 sufferings, and happily delivered him from the protracted 
 anguish of a death by the disease under which he labored. 
 He died on the 20tli January, 1849. With occasional ex- 
 ceptions he retained his consciousness to the last. When 
 that consciousness returned after his first attack, it was evi- 
 dent that he was clinging to life. Both his constitution and 
 his Avill struggled hard against his disease. He had so many 
 plans, so many hopes, was so full of business, that he could 
 scarcely be reconciled to the thought of death. He was par- 
 ticularly interested in the establishment of a religious news- 
 paper in NcAV York, to be conducted in a liberal and inde- 
 pendent spirit ; and he expressed his gratification that others 
 had begun an enterprise Avhich he had so long contemplated, 
 but could not hope to accomplish. But by degrees his feel- 
 ings underwent a change, and it was pleasing to observe how 
 calmly he relinquished his hold upon the world, and resigned 
 himself to the will of God. 
 
 Doubts and fears he had at times ; — not doubts respecting 
 the way of salvation, the fullness of Christ, the promises of 
 God — but doubts respecting himself, resulting from his habit 
 of close self-scrutiny, and his nice discrimination of his own 
 mental states. He would sometimes sigh to find God as a 
 near and present fi-iend. Yet even these occasional doubts, 
 and his caution in speaking of his own hope, were a com- 
 forting sign that his reason was unclouded, that his judg- 
 ment of himself was to be relied upon, and that his con- 
 fidence in Jesus, to whom he peacefully conuuitted himself at 
 the last, was not mistaken. 
 
 Those who understood his natural temperament and 
 
DEATH -BED SCENE. 133 
 
 were conversant witli his religious life, would not look for 
 anything ecstatic in his last hours. Yet one who was much 
 with him testifies that "there were times when he might 
 have yielded to the floods of emotion, — ^grateful and happy af- 
 fections which commenced to issue from his heart, and might, 
 if unrestrained, have suddenly broken down the banks of clay 
 and borne him with a rush of rapture into the other world ; 
 but reason always stopped the outlet before the current of 
 emotion became uncontrollable." But we shall best learn 
 his state from his own expressions. At one time he said, " It 
 would take so little to carry me to the arms of Jesus, that I 
 am sorry to wait — yet I shall perhaps find tliat I have mis- 
 taken the way — such a sea of troubles as I have to go 
 through." On another occasion he spoke nearly as follows : 
 " God is my portion, and T am sincerely desirous that his go- 
 vernment should bo maintained in all things. It is strange 
 in how short a time I have become reconciled to death, and, 
 indeed, perhaps I am not yet reconciled. I thought that if 
 ten or fifteen years could be added to my life, it would be ex- 
 ceedingly desirable. But my work is done, I have only odds 
 and ends to finish of the things I have begun, yet I would 
 liave liked to remain in the world some time longer, and 
 managed its affairs as well as I could ; but now I think I am 
 sincerely reconciled to bear it, and let God do as lie will." 
 In particular his interest in prayer increased. On one occa- 
 sion, towards the close of his sickness, when a prayer was 
 offered ending with the words " and we will praise the 
 Fa,ther, Son and Holy Ghost forever ;" he broke out with 
 emphasis, " So we will ; so we will ! Yes, we will praise 
 them — we will praise them — forever and ever !" He sent 
 his love to all the Tabernacle Church — to its pastor and to 
 several members by name, and in his wandering thoughts 
 desired to be " dated" from the Tabernacle. When asked 
 if he was reconciled to lingering sickness, should that be 
 
134 MEMOIR. 
 
 God's -will, he answered, " Yes ; I think I am sincerely re- 
 conciled to God's will, whatever it be ; but I have my pre- 
 ferences, and should prefer a speedy death. My work is 
 finished. I am satisfied that for the most part I have done my 
 duty, not boastfully, but humbly, as a man ought to do it." 
 Toward the last, death appeared to him more and more de- 
 sirable ; his childlike trust in the Savior increased, and he 
 could say with the dying Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my 
 spirit." His last message to his children Avas, " Tell them 
 to trust in Jesus, as I hope I do." Thus gently he passed 
 away. 
 
 " His was the upright deed, 
 His the unswevvino; course. 
 'Mid every thwarting current's force, 
 Unchanged hy venal aim, or flattery's hollow reed : 
 The Holy Truth walked ever by his side, 
 And in his bosom dwelt, companion, judge and guide. 
 But when disease revealed 
 To his unclouded eye 
 The stern destroyer standing nigh. 
 Where turned he for a shield 1 
 Wrapt he the robe of stainless rectitude 
 Around his heart to meet cold Jordan's flood ? 
 Grasped he the start' of pride, 
 His steps through death's dark vale to guide 1 
 Ah, no ! self-righteousness he cast aside ; 
 Clasping with firm and fearless faith the cross of Him who 
 
 died ; — Serene, Seuene, 
 He passed the crumbling verge of this terrestrial scene, 
 Breathed soft, in childlike trust, 
 The parting groan. 
 Gave back to dust ita dust, 
 To Heaven its owiiy 
 
 " And I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me. Write, 
 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
 forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labors ; and their works do follow them." 
 
FUNERAL SERVICES. 135 
 
 The remains of Mr. Hale were brought to New York, 
 where they arrived on the 23d of January ; the funeral took 
 place on the 25th. The day was unpleasant, and the hour 
 inconvenient for men of business ; but a large concourse of 
 persons were in attendance. The remains were interred in 
 Greenwood Cemetery. The following account of the fune- 
 ral services is from the Journal of Commerce of the suc- 
 ceeding day : 
 
 Funeral of Mr. Hale. — " The remains of our late friend and 
 partner, David Hale, were yesterday deposited in their last rest- 
 ing-place, — * earth to earth and dust to dust.' 
 
 "At 12 o'clock, noon, the invited friends and relatives of the 
 deceased convened at his late residence in Murray street, Avhere 
 an appropriate prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Thompson, pastor 
 of the Tabernacle Church, of which Mr. Hale was a member. A 
 procession was then formed, and moved on foot from the house 
 to the. Tabernacle. At the Tabernacle, which was nearly filled 
 with spectators and friends, numbering, probably, 1500 or up- 
 wards, the services were introduced with a few impressive re- 
 marks by the pastor, after which, prayer was offered by Rev. Dr, 
 Patton. The hymn commencing, ' Friend after friend departs,' 
 was then sung by the choir, and select passages of Scripture were 
 read by the pastor. Next, a thrilling address was made by Rev. 
 Henry W. Beecher, of Brooklyn, in which he alluded to the re- 
 ligious character of the deceased, his eminent usefulness, and his 
 peaceful exit. To those who had access to the secret chambers 
 of his soul, it was manifest, said the speaker, that Mr. Hale's high- 
 est interest Avas above. He (Mr. Beecher) had seen the tears 
 trickle down his naturally stern features, on hearing of some new 
 triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom. His heart was tender on 
 such subjects, and his hand was ever open to promote the cause 
 he loved. When death approached, he was not appalled, but 
 * trusting in Jesus,' (to use his own expression,) he bade the 
 message welcome. When such men die, the speaker could not 
 mourn, but must exult and triumph. Tliey had accomplished the 
 great object of life, and were now free from its temptations and 
 infirmities. Of all the persons in that house, he (pointing to the 
 corpse beneath the pulpit) is the wisest, the happiest, and the 
 holiest. " 
 
 " Mr. Beecher was followed by Rev. Dr, Lansing of Brooklyn, in 
 an address to the throne of grace. The hymn, ' Hear what fJhe 
 
136 TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 
 
 voice from Heaven proclaims For all the pious dead,' was then sung, 
 and, -with the benediction, closed the public services. The whole 
 scene was deeply interesting and impressive ; and not least the 
 readiness with which several hundred persons embraced the op- 
 portunity aft'orded at the close of the exercises, of passing succes- 
 sively near the corpse, and taking a last look of a coimtenance 
 which to most of them was familiar. " 
 
 " From the Tabernacle, the procession moved in carriages, about 
 thirty in number, to the Biooklyn South Ferry, and thence lo 
 Greenwood Cemetery, where the body was interred." 
 
 On the following Sabbath morning (Januaiy 28tli), a dis- 
 course upon the life and character of Mr. Hale was deliver- 
 ed at the Tabernacle by the pastor of the church, to an im- 
 mense audience who testified their interest in the occasion 
 by a solemn and tearful silence. This discourse was pub- 
 lished in the Journal of Commerce y the Tribune ^ and the 
 Independent. 
 
 TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 
 
 The following tribute to the memory of Mr. Hale, from 
 the pen of his surviving partner, Gerard Hallock, Esq., is 
 given entire, though some of its statements have been anti- 
 cipated. 
 
 The Late David Hale. — Mr. Hale was born at Lisbon, 
 Conn., on the 25th of April, l^Ol, and died on the 20th of Ja- 
 nuary, 1849, in the 58th year of his age. His father was a cler- 
 gyman and teacher of youth. 
 
 When David Avas eleven years old, the family removed from 
 Lisbon to South Coventry, Conn. 
 
 At the age of fifteen or sixteen, he went to Boston in search 
 of employment, and engaged as clerk in a jobbing house in State 
 street. After various changes and disappointments, Avhich it is 
 not necessary here to mention, he went into business on his own 
 account. In the mean time he had experienced religion under the 
 preaching of Rev. Dr. Griffin, and united with Park-street 
 Church. 
 
 The writer first became acquainted with him in 1823. He was 
 then an active member of Essex-street Church, having been de- 
 signated, with others from Park-street and the Old South, (the 
 only orthodox Congregational churches of any magnitude then 
 
TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK- 187 
 
 existing in Boston,) to form a nucleus for the new enterprise. 
 There was plenty of work to be done, — for the whole current of 
 popular influence was against them. A congregation was to be 
 collected ; Sabbath-schools were to be gathered and instructed ; 
 religious meetings were to be held, in the conference room and 
 in private houses ; and a multitude of benevolent enterprises, yet 
 in their infancy, presented strong claims for aid. In all these 
 things, Mr. Hale was among the most prominent and active mem- 
 bers. He was then thirty-two years of age. The writer once 
 asked him how long he intended to be a teacher in the Sabbath- 
 schoo! ; his reply was, that he " had enlisted during the war." It 
 was a pithy remark, and has since been verified by twenty-five 
 years experience. Amidst the various distractions of business, 
 during this long period, he always found time to devote to his 
 Master's service. If he had money, tltat was freely laid on the 
 same altar. He has often remarked to the writer, that the most 
 he wanted money for was to give it away. His practice has cor- 
 responded with his preaching. He haa given nearly all his avail- 
 able earnings ; nay, has often anticipated them, for the promotion 
 of benevolent objects. When he v/as a merchant, in moderate 
 business, and with but little capital, he gave only hundreds ; but 
 when, in later years, his income was thousands, he gave thou- 
 sands, and in the aggregate, tens of thousands. His connection 
 with the Journal of Commerce was doubly agreeable to him, be- 
 cause it gave him a two-fold power of doing good : first, by the 
 moral, social, and political influence of the paper itself, and se- 
 condly, by the pecuniary emolument which it yielded. 
 
 The circumstances which brought himself and the writer into 
 connection with each other, as joint editors and proprietors of this 
 paper, are a Uttle remarkable. As I said before, (if for conve- 
 nience' sake the reader will allow me to use the first person sin- 
 gular,) I became acquainted with him in Boston in 1823. He 
 was then in prosperous business as a merchant ; I was a stranger, 
 comparatively very young, without pecuniary resources, yet re- 
 solved, if a few hundred dollars could be loaned me, to establish 
 a weekly paper there, for which there appeared to be an opening. 
 Scarcely had I made known my object, plan, and wants, when 
 the money was handed me by David Hale, who had collected it 
 from a few friends, himself included, with the condition that I 
 should " return it when convenient." In a little more than a year 
 I did return it, with interest. 
 
 Before 1827, a change had come over us both. Mr. Hale had 
 yielded to the storm of 1825. He had removed to New York, and 
 become editor and half proprietor of the New York Observer. 
 When Arthur Tappan, — then a prince in liberality, and now more 
 
138 TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 
 
 than a prince in benevolent aspirations, though his means are less, 
 — determined to establish the Journal of Commerce, I lost no time 
 in recommending Mr. Hale for the commercial and business de- 
 partment, and had the satisfaction to see the recommendation car- 
 ried into effect. At the very commencement of the paper, Sep- 
 tember 1, 182Y, Mr. Hale was on hand, and entered upon his 
 duties. But neither he nor I foresaw the difficulties he would 
 have to contend with, nor the embarrassments, of various kinds, 
 which would im])ede the success of the enterprise. Mr. Tappan 
 himself became discouraged, — not so much on account of the 
 money he had expended, (though the amount was large,) as be- 
 cause it seemed impossible, with any amount of money, to make 
 the paper what it ought to be. In this state of things, Mr. 
 Lewis Tappan called at my office one day, and told rrtc that his 
 brother had determined to discontinue the paper next week, unless 
 it could be placed on a difl-erent footing. [This was near the 
 close of 1828, the paper having been in existence about sixteen 
 months.] He at the same time presented me certain propositions 
 which contemplated the conditional purchase of the establishment 
 by Mr. Hale and myself jointly, and then retired, saying, " Upon 
 you, sir, I throw the responsibility of deciding whether the Journal 
 of Commerce shall be discontinued, or not ;" or to that effect. The 
 appeal was a strong one, — especially to me, who had taken 
 much interest in the success of the enterprise, though I had not 
 entertained the remotest idea of being personally connected with 
 it ; and, although pleasantly situated where I was, I decided, on 
 reflection, to accept the overture, and the consequence has been, 
 twenty years of unceasing toil, both to Mr. Hale and myself, and 
 the establishment of the paper on a basis of permanent usefulness. 
 In looking back upon the incidents above related, and many 
 others which cannot be recorded here, the ordering of Providence 
 is so clear that it would be a sin not to perceive and recognize it. 
 Had I not known Mr. Hale intimately, (having been a member of 
 his family in Boston more than a year,) and had we not mutually 
 reposed the utmost confidence in each other, the connection would 
 not have been formed, and tlie Journal of Commerce would long 
 since have been among the things that were. I own that at this 
 time I did not appreciate, nor fully know, the strength of his in- 
 tellectual powers ; nor did either of us dream that he would ever 
 take the stand which he has taken, as one of the ablest editors in 
 the Union. I only expected to receive occasional aid from his 
 pen, and that not of the highest order ; but in point of fact, Avhile 
 he made his own (the commercial) department of the paper 
 all that could be desired, he became a most efficient coadjutor 
 in the editorial department proper. For vigor of conception, 
 
TRIBUTE or GERARD 11 ALLOC K. 139 
 
 force of reasoning, and aptness of illustration, some of his articles 
 would not suffer in comparison with the leading editorials of the 
 London Times. Language he did not study, having had but a 
 commoik school education in his youth, — yet by long practice, he 
 acquired a facility of expression which many of the best scholars 
 are not able to command. Thoughts he never lacked. They 
 flowed faster than his pen could indite them. 
 
 The prorain(;nt qualities of his mind were greatness, strength, 
 quickness, and fertility. His conclusions were drawn suddenly, 
 and, as it seemed, almost intuitively. His discernment of cha- 
 racter was remarkable. lie had a rich vein of humor, which, in 
 connection with his intellectual resources, gave to his conversation 
 a j)eculiar interest. He was sometimes severe, both in manner 
 and in judgment. With a temper naturally impetuous, and not 
 entirely subdued by grace, he occasionally expressed himself 
 harshly, not to say unadvisedly. But I know that he contended 
 manfully against these infirmities, and sought to subdue them. 
 I have several times heard him lament that he had not more of 
 the meekness of wisdom. Once he told me that he had resolved 
 to set a double guard at the door of his lips ; or to that eftcct. 
 A bad man does not so repent and resolve. 
 
 One of the agreeable traits of Mr. Hale's character was his 
 perfect frankness. There was no guile about him. He was in- 
 ca])able of it himself, and despised it in others. 
 
 He had many warm fricinds, and some enemies. But, in gene- 
 ral, those who knew him best loved liim most. His faults were, 
 from their nature, uppermost ; while many of his excellencies 
 were, from their nature, invisible to the public eye. A stranger, 
 beholding his lofty, independent bearing, and hearing his gruff 
 voice, would not have suspected that there beat within his breast 
 a heart of warm affection, tender sensibility, and Christian chari- 
 ty ; that he held daily communion with his Maker, and conscien- 
 tiously sought to know and do His will. Yet so it was. After 
 twenty-five years of intimate acquaintance with him, under a 
 great variety of circumstances, I am convinced that so it was. 
 
 The bold points of his character above indicated made him a 
 mark for a greater amount of personal abuse than has fallen to 
 the lot of any other editor within my knowledge. He was abus- 
 ed, not only for his faults, and the faults of others, but for his 
 virtues. Many an article or paragraph in our columns which he 
 never saw or heard of until he saw it in print, has becm made the 
 occasion of a fresh tirade of abuse towards himself personally 
 and by name. Fortunately, such effusions gave him no uneasi- 
 ness. If he read them at all, which latterly was not very com- 
 mon, he generally accompanied the reading with a laugh, and the 
 louder in proportion to the spitefulness of the attack. 
 
140 TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 
 
 One incident, which aftbrded his assailants a "nut to crack" 
 for a considerable time, was his suffering himself to be rattanned 
 or cowhided (we forget which) on 'Change, by a little French- 
 man. From this they inferred a lack of personal courage. Now 
 the fact is, that ha\T:ng reason to expect the attack, he dehberately 
 made up his mind beforehand, that being a professor of religion, 
 and an elder in a Christian church, he would not be converted 
 into a pugilist at the option of another ; and, in short, that he 
 would make no resistance unless he should find he would other- 
 wise be seriously injured. He very well knew that Avith one 
 sweep of his long, sturdy arm, he could demolish his assailant. 
 But he did not wish to hurt him, and was not much hurt by him. 
 The paragraph which gave rise to the assault Avas not written by 
 Mr. Hale, nor by me ; nor was it strictly personal. But let that 
 pass. Is it not manifest, that to receive the infliction passively, 
 under such circumstances, required a much higher degree of per- 
 sonal control, than if he had followed the dictates of depraved 
 nature ? On a subsequent occasion, when he expected a street 
 assault from a powerful man, he said to me, " If attacked, I shall 
 defend myself. I cannot afford to trifle with him, — he will hurt 
 me too much." My own opinion is, that few individuals possess 
 a higher degree either of personal or moral courage than did Mr. 
 Hale ; and if I had wished to find a man who, at the call of duty, 
 Avould perform the perilous feat attempted by his uncle. Captain 
 Nathan Hale, in the Revolution, and then, like him, when about 
 to be swung from the gallows, exclaim, " My only regret is, that 
 I have but one life to give for ray countiy," I know not whom I 
 should have selected sooner than the subject of this notice. 
 
 One other topic I Avill mention, as it has given rise to more mis- 
 representation and reproach than even the foregoing. I allude to 
 Mr. Hale's purchase of the Broadway Tabernacle. This purchase 
 was made in the year 1840. Property and credit were at the 
 lowest ebb. Money was worth two per cent, a month. Rich men 
 felt poor, and the poor men felt like beggars. In such a state of 
 things it was announced that the Tabernacle was about to be sold 
 imder a foreclosure. It had been occupied as a Presbyterian 
 church, and a pure Gospel had been preached there. It was now 
 liable to fall into the hands of errorists, of one kind or another, 
 and in that case, instead of being what it had been, and was in- 
 tended to be, it would become a grand center of mischief. Va- 
 rious eftbrts were made among the good people of the Presbyte- 
 rian denomination to raise the necessary funds, but without suc- 
 cess. At length David Hale came to me, and inquii-cd if I had 
 any objection to his buying the Tabernacle. I was astounded at 
 the suggestion, knowing that he really had no money to spai-e, 
 
TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 141 
 
 and that all the receipts of the firm would be required for a con- 
 siderable time for the payment of debts ; yet I gave my consent. 
 I however remarked to him that his motives would be miscon- 
 strued, — that it would be said he was speculating in churches, 
 and all that, — and I would advise him, on the spot, to place the 
 matter in such a shape that under no circumstances could he re- 
 alize more than seven per cent, on the money invested. He ap- 
 proved of my suggestion, and governed himself accordingly. He 
 might have made -^15,000 or $20,000 out of the transaction, and 
 he fully believed so at the time ; but instead of this, he raised 
 money wherever he could obtain it, either from his own resources, 
 the good will of personal friends, or the friends of the cause, and 
 then loaned it to the society at seven per cent. Such was the 
 effect of the operation, though in form he was the purchaser and 
 owner of the property. But this is not all. For several years 
 after the purchase, he had the sole management of the building, 
 renting it from day to day, and evening to evening, as be had op- 
 portunity, for public purposes, receiving pay for the same, and in 
 various ways expending time and labor about it, — for no part of 
 which has he ever received or desired to receive a single cent for 
 his own benefit. Every dollar realized from such meetings, or 
 froni the building in any v^ay, has been applied toward the ex- 
 tinction of indebtedness upon the property, the payment of inter- 
 est, &c. The result of the matter is, that a considerable portion 
 of the cost of the edifice has been extinguished by its own earn- 
 ings. It is now the property of the society worshiping in it, at 
 a cost not equal to half its value ; and the only pecuniary advan- 
 tage that Mr. Hale has ever derived from it, is, that he has been 
 largely out of pocket on account of the purchase, and still is, to 
 the extent of 84000 or $5000, which, however, we understand, is 
 about to be paid to his heirs. 
 
 Take it all in all, the purchase of the Tabernacle ought to be 
 regarded as the crowning act of his life. For not only was it one 
 of the most liberal acts (considering the pecuniary circumstances 
 of the purchaser at that time) to be found in the annals of bene- 
 volence, but it was a "parent act, of which the offspring have al- 
 ready risen, in goodly numbers, both in this city and Brooklyn. 
 Since the purchase of the Tabernacle, and by "a process easily 
 traced back to that event, not less than ten or eleven Congrega- 
 tional churches have been organized in the two cities, most of 
 Avhich are large and flourishing, and provided with pastors of dis- 
 itinguished talents and piety. The pecuniary contributions of Mr. 
 Hale in aid of these various enterprises are thus stated in the new 
 Congregational paper, the Indeinndent, of the present week. [See 
 Appendix F.] 
 
142 TRIBUTE OF GERARD HALLOCK. 
 
 The Late David Hale.— As we were unable in a single day, 
 amidst niaiiv interruptions, to say all that we desii^ned to say ni 
 ro-vard to the character ami life of our deceased tnend and part- 
 ner, it was our intention to add a supplementary article m a future 
 number But the points in reserve, or most of them, have been 
 so liappilv touched upon by his pastor. Rev. J. P. Thompson, m 
 the funeral discourse since published in ovu- columns, that we 
 deem it unnecessary to go over the o-round agam. We nviU how- 
 ever add a few words in regard to Mr. Hale's sickness and death. 
 
 Until about a year since, his health was remarkably good 
 His business, as well as his inclination, required him to take a good 
 deal of exercise, which kept his system healthful and vigorous. 
 It was a pleasure to see the youthful energy with which lie 
 moved. Early last spring, he began to complain ot not feeling as 
 well as usual, and took an excursion or two, in the hojie of re- 
 o-ainin<^ his accustomed energy, but without success. Nothing 
 serious was apprehended, however, until Sunday morning, the 
 11th of June, when in his own house he was suddenly attacked 
 with conoestion of the brain, or a kind of apoplexy. When the 
 shock tirs^t came on, he remarked to his companion that he did not 
 know what was the matter with him, but that be telt as if he were 
 dvin.>- He partly fell and partly was assisted upon the sofa, and 
 became immediately helpless and insensible. In this condition he 
 remained for several hours, notwithstanding the ellorts of skiUtul 
 physicians to restore him. It was at this time doubttul whether he 
 would live through the day. Toward night, however, he experien- 
 ced some relief, and in the course of a day or two the physicians pro- 
 nounced him out of immediate danger. In two or three weeks, 
 he was able to sit up some, and in about two months, he could 
 walk a short distance out of doors. He was, however, still very 
 feeble, both in body and mind. The shock to the latter was al- 
 most as great as to the former. Even after he became rational, 
 there was still a blur over his mind, which made lum unconscious 
 of his own identity. Or rather, he did not know who he was. One 
 day, about three weeks after the attack, he remarked with much 
 apparent satisfaction, that he had just found out that he was 
 David Hale ! In August he had so far recovered, that his physi- 
 cians advised him to^ journey a little, taking care not to overdo, 
 and accordingly he spent a month or two in Connecticut and 
 other parts of New England, going as far north as New Hamp- 
 shire Durin.1- this absence he wrote two or three short letters, 
 which were published in our columns. Although possessing 
 some of the usual characteristics of his writings, they evinced but 
 too plainly that he was not what he had been. With these ex- 
 
TRIBUTE OF GERARD HAL LOCK. 143 
 
 coplions, nothing from his pen has appeared in our columns since 
 the lull of June. He returned to New York in October, 
 and after remaining here two or three weeks, during which he 
 did not gain strength as fast as was expected, he started for the 
 South, intending to go down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Or- 
 leans, and hoping to return in good health next spring. In all 
 these journeys, and subsequently to the moment of his death, he 
 was attended by his faithful wife, whose care and watchings were 
 never intermitted, when they could be made available to his com- 
 fort. On their arrival at llarrisburgh, the weather was cold, and 
 it was feared that the canal would be frozen before they could 
 reach Pittsburgh. 'J'his and other considerations induced them 
 to return to Philadelphia, whence they proceeded to Washington 
 City. Mr. Hale did not bear the journey well, cither from New 
 York to Harrisburgh, or from Harrisburgh to Washington ; and 
 on his arrival at the latter place, was obliged to stop several days 
 to recruit. It now became a ([uesiion whether he sliould go far- 
 ther away from home, or return. Many fears were entertained, 
 that, if he went to the far South, as he had contemplated, it would 
 be only to die there. He at length decided to go forward, and 
 with some difficulty reached Fredericksburgii, Virginia, stopping 
 at a most excellent public house, and withal a temperance estab- 
 lishment, called " The Exchange." Both he and his friends after- 
 wards thought it a most providential circumstance that he should 
 have " brought up" at exactly the place of all places, except his 
 own home, where he would have wished to be, and they to have 
 him, had they known that it was to be the scene of his last sick- 
 ness and death. The most kind and delicate attentions were prof- 
 fered him and his family, V>y the keepers of the house and its 
 guests, and by many other inhabitants of Fredericksburgh, (among 
 whom ought especially to be mentioned his devoted and eminently 
 skillful physician, Dr. Welford,) who, though strangers to him per- 
 sonally, yet knowing his character and usefulness, vied with each 
 other in manifestations of kindness and sympathy, and the only 
 measure of their attentions was a discreet regard to the limit 
 where, in a case of sickness and sorrow, even kindness becomes a 
 burden. Mr. Hale, while living, and those members of his family 
 who were with him in his .sickness, felt, and the survivors still 
 feel, that both the measure and character of the attentions be- 
 stowed upon him and them by the people of Fredericksburgh 
 were such as could only proceed from the most benevolent hearts, 
 united witii the mo.st delicate sense of fitness and propriety, it 
 is pleasant to reflect in this connection, that Mr. Hale was always 
 a friend to the South as well as the North, and that on all proper 
 occasions he rebuked that reckless, fanatical spirit which heeds 
 
144 T n I n IT T E or g e r a r d h a l l o c k . 
 
 not results — no, not tlie Union itself, — if only the " one idea" can 
 be urged to its consummation. 
 
 His religious feelings in the prospect of death were such as 
 might be expected from a man who had so long cherished the 
 Christian's hope. Although at first he desired to live longer, for 
 several reasons, yet he afterwards became entirely willing and 
 even desirous to die. He knew in whom he had believed. Two or 
 three days before his death, being asked by his companion if he 
 wished to send any message to his friends in New York, as she 
 was about writing to them, he said, "Tell them all to put their 
 trust in Christ, as I hope I do." 
 
 Having remarked on a fornu^r occasion that Mr. Hale gave 
 away nearly all his a\"ailable earnings, it may be proper to add 
 that his interest in the Journal of Cotnincrcc is alone a handsome 
 property, and that altogether his estate, after deducting indebt- 
 edness. 'cannot be less than $75,000 or $80,000. Such, at least, 
 is the writer's opinion. 
 
SELECTIONS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 DAVID HALE 
 
MmtBllaneou^ ^S^ritings, 
 
 The following selections from the writings of Mr. Hale are 
 made partly from his published articles in the Journal of Com- 
 merce and in those religious newspapers to which he occasionally 
 contributed, and partly from unpublished manuscripts which he 
 had prepared and arranged for a fourth number of his " Facts 
 and Reasonings." A topical arrangement has been adopted as 
 more convenient than one following the order of time, though the 
 latter has been observed as far as practicable. 
 
 LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 
 
 Addressed in 1826 to the Committee for erecting the Tremont Theater 
 in Boston. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Gentlemen — Permit one of your fellow citizens to lay before 
 you some of the thoughts which have passed his mind, in reflect- 
 ing upon the enterprise in which in you are engaged. You are 
 men of generous and patriotic minds. You have laid ycfur plans 
 upon a liberal scale. Having selected one of the nftst beautiful 
 sites in a city unrivaled for elegant situations, you propose to 
 erect upon it an edifice which shall endure for ages, and be ad- 
 mired in the midst of architectural magnificence — a structure, 
 which shall maintain its massy dignity while mirth reigns within 
 its walls ; nor change, until in years to come, the funeral proces- 
 sions of its builders shall have one after another passed by, and 
 all who witnessed its rising have long slumbered in the grave. 
 When the labor of its erection shall be completed, and art have 
 finished its decorations, its doors shall be opened, and with the 
 sound of the viol and every instrument of music, the throng, re- 
 tiring from the busy pursuits and anxieties of the day, shall be 
 
148 LETTERS ON THE THEATER, 
 
 jntUctl here, to throw off their cares, and for the evening at least 
 to be muihfn]. Hero poetry shall carry its thrill throiigh the 
 sniih tho art of mimicry make distant scenes and ages present, 
 fitid genius and eloqnenoe and grace exert their ])ower. Here 
 .A polio and the Sacred Nine shall dwell, and the delighted crowd 
 i-r'f irrn and return to pay to them their Avilling evening sacrifice. But 
 rioitber at its opening, nor during the long age^ while its walls 
 shall stand, will the herald of salvation, -with the sacred Bible in 
 his liand, tell of the tragedy on Calvary, or proclaim the hopes 
 ol' eternity to dying men. No throng shall bend their knee in 
 prryer, or raise their voices in shouts of thanksgiving to that one 
 0(xi, who for a theater has built the imivcrse, for sceneiy spread 
 out )tature, whose tinsel is the rainbow, whose spangles are planets, 
 Ti ]\ose actors are men and angels led on by himself, the Lord of 
 hoj^ts. Here shall assem])le from evening to evening many of 
 ftrcat worth and respectability, the company of the gay, Avhose 
 hearts are sad, and of those whose only care is to be happy 7iow ; 
 and here shall also come the painted harlot, whose house is on 
 the way to hell, and with her the veteran debauchee, whose path 
 is strewed with broken vows and mined innocence. The youth, 
 too, the hope of his mother, whose head has often received a fa- 
 ther's blessing, with glowing passions will come here to be de- 
 voured by vultui-es. But into these doors, he who seeks the 
 Savior W'ill never turn hoping to find him : the afflicted will never 
 KCck comfort in pouring out his comjilaint before his Father in 
 TIenven, If the name of God is called at all, will it not be in pro- 
 fanation, or to add weight to curses ? Will not the Bible be men- 
 tioned with contempt, and the blessed Savior sometimes be made 
 the song of the drunkard ? When the assemblies disperse, many 
 will go away to spend the night in debauchery, and but very few 
 to spend an hour with God in their closets. If sometimes a good 
 jT,solution is strengthened, or a virtuous jirinciple cherished, in a 
 thousand instances the bands of virtue will be loosened. From 
 year to year a nudtitude Avill enter here upon a course of dissipa- 
 tion in which they will be hurried to destruction. From age to age 
 many fond parents will weep tears of blood over their ruined 
 ^ons, and possibly their fallen daughters ; and wives and sistei-s 
 join the lamentation. 
 
 .\nd now jxn-mit me to say most respectfully to you, gentle- 
 men, that for all these consequences the builders of the new 
 theater make themselves responsible. And let me ask you, is 
 ilh's the return which is due from you to the city in which you 
 reside, and in which you have accunndated )-our wealth ? Is 
 this the inheritance you would leave to your children ? Will you 
 consent for the sake of increasing a little, that wealth of which 
 
LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 110 
 
 you have already enough, to visit all these evils upon yourselves, 
 and your neighbors, and your posterity for ages ? 
 
 Some farther considerations I will soon address to you, and re- 
 main your obedient servant, 
 
 A Fatueh. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Gentlemen — The object of these letters is by no means to oi- 
 fend ; neither is it to draw towards you the personal disrespect of' 
 any member of the community. On tlic contrary, it is the personal 
 respect which I feel towards all tlie subscribers, so far as 1 know 
 tliem, and the full confidence that they would do nothing which 
 they beUeved an injury to the community, which has induced m*:; 
 to write. And I take the channel of a newspaper, the mor;> 
 readily to meet the eye of several of the subscribers, and for lli« 
 purpose of drawing forth the sentiments of a very great numbei* 
 of my fellow-citizens, who I know have the same feelings with 
 myself. It is to little purpose, that your friends and neighboi's 
 mention your names with sorrow in their private circles, as coa- 
 ncctod with the building of a new theater, if those expressions bo 
 not carried to your ears. If a very humble individual can iuduco 
 those friends to speak freely to you, and still more, if he ca)i pet- 
 suade you to look over the subject again, there is some hope, 
 that what seems to mo a most portentous evil to our city may 
 yet be averted. 
 
 I am satisfied that there is in the community a growing disap- 
 probation of the theater. Within ten years the advance has beea 
 very perceptible. The long-maintained doctrine that it is a school 
 f<jr morals is now held by very few. The disreputable lives of 
 most of the actors, the scenes of the upper boxes, of the lob- 
 bies, saloons, and neighboring rooms, have poured forth proof to 
 demonstration. The ruin of tluiir fondest hopes has carried to 
 many famihes, not conviction only, but a brok<m heart. A very 
 ri\-^I)e('.taf)le gentleman inO^i'med me, that within the circle of his 
 own family connecticms, three very promising y<jung men had re- 
 fjMiLly been utterly ruined, and their ruin could be distinctly 
 traced to the tlieatcr, as its origin. Anotlier told me, that such 
 had been his experience upon the subject, tliat though in exten- 
 sive mercantile Ijusiness, he folt obliged, painful as it was, to turn 
 any apprentice, from his counting-room, who attended the theater. 
 He could not trust them. 1 know other men of the highest i-e- 
 spectabihty, who never take mercantile papers to their dwellin;^, 
 because of the evil ellects of theater advertisements. The plana 
 you have proposed, to promote good order and prevent licen- 
 
150 LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 
 
 tiousncss in the contemplated theater, are proofs of this progress 
 of sentiment. In order that the enterprise may be popidar, it 
 must hav€ a character above what is common. 
 
 As an evidence of this change, and a fact much faeihtating its 
 progress, I adduce the combination of men of higli and hboral 
 character for this very purpose. So enormous has the evil be- 
 come, that it can no longer be borne ; and if the same moral 
 power -which has revolutionized the opinions of the world on the 
 subjects' of the African character, the slave ti-ade, civil and reli- 
 gious liberty, and other great interests, does not find a more im- 
 pregnable fortress in the remaining favor toward theaters, then 
 on tiiis topic also will public sentiment ere long be raised to the 
 standard of truth, however high that may be. It cannot require 
 a very long-continued or powerful ellort to overturn the remain- 
 ing arguments, that theaters are a necesssary evil, and that it is 
 better to go to them than to worse places. Both these argu- 
 ments admit, on the face of them, that theaters are bad in them- 
 selves ; an evil to be tolerated. Unless some stronger and higher 
 position can be taken, a capitidation is at hand. These argu- 
 ments have always been the last defense of abuses, when ex- 
 posed and pursued ; and behind this fortress of basket-work, they 
 have one after another submitted to tlie invincible arms of truth. 
 Necessary ! Put an end to the indulgence, ;ind you end the ne- 
 cessity for it. And as to the other, send a boy to the theater 
 upon this principle and see whether he escapes a worse place. 
 We know the stoiy of the man, who, when three crimes were pro- 
 posed to him, chose intoxication as the least heinous; and when 
 intoxicated committed both the otliers. 
 
 Some other considerations 1 will take the liberty to submit on 
 another occasion, and remain most respectfully your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A Fathkr. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Gentlemen — I remarked in my Inst letter that public senti- 
 ment was becoming more conformable to the standard of truth. 
 I will now make a few remarks illustrative of this. 
 
 It is within the recollection of this generation, that merchants 
 engaged in the slave trade were considered honorable men. They 
 Avalked on 'Change, and made their contracts, and conversed of 
 their profits, thinking of public scorn no more than if trading in 
 bales of cotton. And perliaps they were scarcely more culpa- 
 ble, for the enormous Avickedness of the traflic liad never been 
 exposed, or even suggested to their minds. Mr. Wilberforce 
 
LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 151 
 
 united in the first systematic effort to expose those enormities, and 
 lie has lived to see public opinion so changed by his own and 
 his most honorable coadjutor's labors, that now tiie tralKc not only 
 covers the merchant with disjrrace, but carries him to the gibbet 
 and hangs him as a pirate. So tremendous has been the turning 
 round of pul)lic ojiinion, that no man would willingly acknowledge 
 Inn father to have been engaged in the trade. It would be a blot 
 on the family escutcheon. We know the cfi'ect on the repu- 
 tation of some men whose names are never mentioned, or their 
 son's names, but with this association. I use this history, not to 
 compare your enterprise with the slave trade ; though little blame 
 was attached to that forty years ago, and drawing the likeness 
 from that jieriod it could not be severe ; but I do it to exhibit the 
 changes which have been effected in public opinion. And I say 
 the time may be, when he who would inflict the severest reproach 
 on your son shall point to the structure in Common street, and 
 say, '' i\\y father helped to build that tlieatcr." 
 
 I have lived lonfj enourjh to see those things which were 
 thought to give the finest polish, expelled with contempt from 
 decent society. In my youth, infidelity of sentiment and pro- 
 faneness of language were almost indisj)ensable to the fine gen- 
 tleman. They were boastingly exhibited in the company of 
 ladies, and many ladies could utter an oath with a manly grace. I 
 need not tell you what company a profane woman must keep 
 now ; nor whether a man who should use profane language 
 in the presence of ladies, would pass for a gentleman. I'lie 
 change of sentiment on the subject of dueling has wiped that 
 reproach from New j*'ngland, and will ere long drive it from the 
 whole republic. I can remember when, at convivial dinners or 
 suppers, it was not much thought of, that a gentleman should be- 
 come intoxicated, if the wine was but good ; or at least, that he 
 should be helped to his home, by companions, who might chance 
 to be in a better condition than himself. Where is now the re- 
 putation of that man who gets intoxicated at a dinner ? — All 
 these are the revolutions of twenty years. They are the dashings 
 of a tide which has just begun to set upon us, but which, when 
 the sun of intelligence and virtue has risen to its meridian, will 
 bear away with resistless desolation the strong embankments of 
 inicjuity. If the theater is founded on truth, it will stand against 
 the flood ; but if, as I verily believe, while our churches are the 
 gate of heaven, our theaters are the gate of perdition ; if their 
 doors are emphatically, as is written over some of them, the " en- 
 trance to the pit ;" then, ere ^'^ng, will an enlightened and indig- 
 nant community sweep them away, and hardly can their builders 
 expect to escape uninjured. 
 
152 LETTERS ON THE TIIEATEfl. 
 
 Suca progress has !i reformation of sentiment already made, 
 that most denominations of Christians, in this city at least, con- 
 sider an atten(hince iijion the theater as discreditable in any mem- 
 ber of their cluirches. It will reqnire no great advance farther 
 to render an attendance inconsistent with any nsligious character. 
 And as to tlie fasliion, let me remark, there is great danger, that to 
 be religious will be tlie next wliich reigns. The friends of virtue 
 have now the means of ])resenting its claims constantly before the 
 community. In the dark ages, abuses might expect to exist im- 
 niolosted ; but in the midst of printing presses, and associations, 
 and me.ins of so many kinds, thej^ cannot escape exposure. Es- 
 cially arc the inhabitants of Boston within the reach of moral in- 
 fluence. There is n(tt herc^ as in New York, a constantly chan- 
 ging population of thirty thousand strangers ; and were the ques- 
 tion of building a new tlieater now to be submitted to tlie citizens 
 of Uoston, I am confident that their vote would be a decided ne- 
 gative. And further, I am confident, that would you consent to 
 stop and appropriate the beautiful site which you lia\e purchas- 
 ed, to some other object, a large sum could be raised from the 
 community to indemnify you against loss. 
 
 A Father. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Gentlemen — Perhaps I ought to say before I proceed, that 
 the erection of the proposed theater is not likely to all'ect my pe- 
 cuniary interests or those of any of my friends in the least de- 
 gree. The motives which have actuated me ajipear on the face 
 of what 1 have written. 
 
 There are several considerations not yet suggested, which indi- 
 cate a change of public opinion unfavorable to theaters. Aside 
 from a change of moral sentiment which is going on, there is the 
 very important fact, that public attention is Ifeginning to be drawn 
 strongly to other amusements. The. favor with which ])]iil(>so- 
 phical lectures on a variety of topics liave been received, exhibits 
 an intellectual taste which is germinating and taking deep root 
 in the upjier classes of society. To tJK^se lectures a father may 
 take his wife and daughters without the fear that tlu'y will be 
 covered with blushes at vulgar ril)aldry, and his son witliout the 
 fear that he will fall into the enticements of the bar-room or of 
 the iipper boxes. 
 
 A taste for the fine arts is rapidly gaioiug strength. The in- 
 telligent and liberal plans of the directors of the Atlieneum here, 
 and of similar institutions elsewhere, have a strong tendency to 
 divert the current from theaters ; and I cannot but think that they 
 
LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 153 
 
 will do more than produce a mere diversion. The very gross per- 
 form.'incos at some of the tlicatcrs must be takc^n as a part of 
 theater mana<^(!m('nt and brinj^^ disirrace upon tlie fraternity. 'J'ho 
 shameless exliil)itions of their persons by Madame de llutin and 
 other females at the JJowery Theater in New York will be asso- 
 ciated witli the theater generally. The fact which I have seen 
 repeatedly stated, that theaters in England arc bad property, is a 
 strong corroboration of what J have said. In i^oston, while the 
 population of the city has doubled, the support of the theater has 
 not increased. A very large proportion of the patronage which 
 exists is from strangers, who are here for a few days only ; and 
 building another tlieater cannot much increase this part of the 
 company. And as to the sober citizens who reside here, they 
 are too much accustomed to excitement, to be moved l)y any- 
 thing more to be done. The amuial expenses of the present 
 theater are about ^."JOjOOO ; and if I am correctly informcid, the 
 receipts have uniformly left but a very moderate pnjfit. If your 
 theater goes into operation under the circumstances of rivalry 
 which must exist, the expenses of. both establishments cannot be 
 less than 't'75,000. If you cannot more than double the pre- 
 sent rate of income, you will lose momiy. And is there any rea- 
 sonable prospect, that you can induce the thinking citizens of 
 Boston to give theaters three or four times tlnur prescnit patron- 
 age ? — which must be done, for the support of strangia-s cannot 
 be much augmented. Jiut is there not some hope that you will 
 bo able to close the Federal-street Theater ? If you could, yours 
 would hardly be kept open. But how can you accomplish this ? 
 The owners of that theater are numerous and wealthy. They 
 can give the rent to their managers as they say they have already 
 done for three years ; or they can bum the tluiater and not be in- 
 jured. But it is not so with most of you. A few of you have 
 money which you can sport with ; but most of you, though re- 
 spectable mechanics, have not. What, let me ask you, is it rea- 
 sonable to expect your stock will b(; worth in one year after the 
 completion of your labor upon a theater which will cost at least 
 $100,000, and remain deeply in debt ? Wliat is the value of a 
 largely mortgaged property, which cannot be made to produce 
 an income ? It would be easy to adduce other arguments to 
 prove, that the expensive building which you are erecting must 
 be poor property as to income, as well as poor in character. You 
 would have a well re<julalcd theater. It is a mere chimera. To 
 a theater whicli should produce a good moral effect, who would 
 go ? Neither the bad, nor the good, nor the indifferent. The 
 lower classes must be baited with vulgarity, and the higher would 
 find better entertainment elsewhere. To regale all tastes with 
 7* 
 
154 LETTERS ON THE THEATEK. 
 
 dishes seasoned only to the palates of the pit and the third row, 
 I am confident will ere long be found impossible. 
 
 It was ray intention to end these letters with the third ; but the 
 united expression of approbation, which I have heard from gen- 
 tlemen, whose sentiments are various on other topics, has induced 
 me to add a fourth to tlie number. This strong approbation, ex- 
 pressed not so much of the mode in which I have exhibited the 
 subject, as of the opinions advanced, I consider as an indication 
 of much good. There certainly is a strong feeling pervading the 
 community adverse to your enterprise. I have heard of no man 
 who has been dissatisfied with these letters. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I may safely say, I wash my hands of the 
 guilt of erecting the new theater in Common street. A virtuous 
 community also disclaims all participation in the deed. The 
 blood of all the victims murdered on your altar be upon your 
 heads ; we are clear. But are you sure that you can bear the 
 tremendous responsibility which you are taking ? Tell me not 
 that the building of a theater compels nobody to drink ; and that 
 a gallery of prostitutes compels nobody to be lewd. Such a 
 doctrine we never act upon. The temptations of Satan compelled 
 nobody to eat of the forbidden fruit, yet that temptation has 
 filled our earth with mourning, and that God who said to Satan, 
 " Tliou art cursed," has not altered his opinions or the rules of his 
 conduct. And are you certain that no curse beyond the indig- 
 nation of an injured community awaits you ? Are you certain 
 that the pit which you are digging, you will not yourselves fall 
 into ? You are but men, and have already felt how strong is the 
 power of temptation. But most of you are fathers. Would you 
 have the delicate sensibility which now plays through your 
 daui^hter's aftections exchano-ed for the cfross emotions of the 
 theater ? Would you drive from her cheek the expression of 
 that sensibility, and bleach her countenance to a steady compo- 
 sure amidst the language and conduct of sensuality '? and more — 
 train her to give the smile of approbation to that vulgarity, at 
 which the pit laughs ? Nay, save her from such a fall — I also 
 am a father. 
 
 And for your son, will you erect a bar and place intoxication 
 before his inexperience, in its most attractive forms ? Will you 
 prepare a place, where he shall be surrounded by the most de- 
 praved and yet the most enticing companions which the commu- 
 nity affords ? Still more ; will you build a house upon your 
 grounds, that in it he may. meet and revel with harlots'? Nay 
 spare him ; when your own head is white, and the hands of his 
 mother are feeble, you will need the support of his steady arm, 
 not trembling with a premature, as youi's with a real, old age. 
 
 1 
 
LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 155 
 
 As I advance, the view enlarges before me, and new and 
 ■weighty considerations crowd upon my mind ; but I have not 
 time, and perhaps it would not effect more were I to' go farther. 
 I leave the subject to your reflections. Upon you, I say again, 
 if you go on with the enterprise, rests the responsibility ; and 
 upon your souls will be found, as accomplices and tempters, a 
 dreadful share in all the consequences. And let me say, you will 
 have a long-continued account to give of the transaction, to your 
 own consciences, to your injured fellow citizens, and to your of- 
 fended God. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant, 
 
 A Father. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To the Inhabitants of Boston. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens — You have seen the letters which I have ad- 
 dressed to the committee and subscribers for the erection of a new 
 theater. A large number of very respectable individuals have 
 approved in strong terms of the sentiments contained in them, 
 and believe that they exhibit by no means an exaggerated state- 
 ment of the evils which threaten us. A great majority of you, I 
 trust, are of the same opinion. 
 
 The inhabitants of Boston have ever been known as attached to 
 good order, sobriety, and morality. They are not an ignorant 
 rabble to be lured by shows, while they are robbed of their rich- 
 est treasures. The annual income of the Federal-street Theater 
 is about $50,000, which, with hack hire, and other charges 
 upon attendance, is a tax upon the city of at least $75,000. I 
 say nothing of the expenses of those scenes which succeed the at- 
 tendance. In this theater are every night assembled a company 
 of women from the haunts of infamy, to pollute our youth and 
 drag them away to their chambers of death. From the upper 
 boxes and the pit issue exclamations fit only to be heard in hell ; 
 and which, if females otherwise delicate can learn to hear ynmov- 
 ed, I cannot write without pollution to my paper, nor without 
 drawing upon myself a burst of indignaticjft- which I would riot 
 willingly bear. And we have another theater* — but I forbear 
 lest I should rend again the paternal hearts of some of you which 
 have not yet ceased to bleed, and bring up again to view your de- 
 spoiled and ruined sons. Over this theater one individual, having 
 possessed himself of a majority of shares, is able to exert an en- 
 
 * Schaifer's Garden, where several sous from most respectable families 
 had then just been ruined. • 
 
ITS LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 
 
 tire conti'o], and youth after youth is i-uined for time and eter- 
 nity 'f and all the 'benefit resulting is, that he gets his daily bread, 
 :ind the owners of the property receive as rent three per cent, per 
 fmnum. And is there no relief ? Must the sons of the rich and 
 daugliters «.)f the poor be bound, and almost in hecatombs lie 
 blending victims xipoti the altars of Venus and Bacchus, and the 
 liorrid god, whatever be his name, who presides over the chances 
 of the game ? 
 
 ..Vnd we are to have another theater upon a larger and more 
 ♦'X'pcnsive scale. To support it, if it is to yield an income to the 
 owners, cannot cost l(\ss than $75,000 annually. For the support 
 I'i' the two principal theaters, you are to be taxed then at least 
 f! 50,000; and this is as nothing, in comparison with the im- 
 mense mtn"al damage y«m sustain. The shares in the contem- 
 plated theater are so owned, that a portion of them must at no 
 distant period be sold, whether at a profit or a loss ; and it would 
 be. no nion^ than has already been done, if some one or two indi- 
 vldwils should jiossess themselves of a major-ownership, and 
 nialce it a d(Mi of wickedness which Avoxdd cause its builders to 
 shudder. The expenses of these establishments would support 
 nil vouv clergy, all your schools, your civil institutions, and I 
 flight also say, cverytliing else, which is of public utility within 
 the city. So cheap is virtue, so dear is vice. And for what is 
 all this expenditure ? Not to produce any moral good. You are 
 too ranch enlightened to allow such a pretense to be made by 
 von. Scarcely can it be said it is to amuse any of you. But a 
 few of you attend, and those who do, a great portion of the time 
 go away disgusted, not amused. Is not all this expense incurred 
 that the"*'n" owners may gain an income upon their property, and 
 that a « ompany of dissipated players may gamble away your 
 inonej , and in the indulgence of the lowest sensuality scatter it 
 to all tho V inds as fast as you lay it before them. I do not speak 
 ot' e^'er}" a^ tor. I speak of them as a class. Virtuous actors are 
 ex'roptions to a general rule. What claims have Cook or Kean 
 to t^renty, thirty, or forty thousand dollars annually ? Pardon 
 jmo, fellow citizens, if your indignation is roused at these state- 
 njiM^ts f the ti'uth. It is a case in which we are mxitually and 
 deeply interested ; about which we have a right to confer toge- 
 ther, jmd to confer freely. We are passengers on board a com- 
 mon ship. If I sound an alarm when there is no danger, heed me 
 nof ; but remember, if we fall into the whirlpool, we go down to- 
 g;etJiep. In such a case as this, a heavy responsibility rests on 
 ♦•very man. I have thrown ofT my share. I have warned the 
 builders and notified the community. You cannot innocently fold 
 yoar band*. Ho who sits by when a crime is perpetrated which 
 
LETTERS ON THE THEATER. 157 
 
 he might prevent, becomes an accessary. Express then, in all 
 suitable ways, your firm disapprobation of this unwarrantable plan ; 
 and by your decision let the builders know, that if they persist, 
 they may have the theater ; but from the enlightened and virtu- 
 ous citizens of Boston, they shall never have an audience, what- 
 ever may be the fascinations with which they shall attempt to lure 
 you. — Look at your children, ye fathers and mothers, — which of 
 them do you select for the seductions of the theater ? Ye ami- 
 able and beautiful daughters, where is your sex humbled, where 
 is disgrace poured upon woman, where are you insulted and your- 
 selves treated as devoid of virtue, so much as at the theater ? 
 When you are alone, listen to the cries of the g;iHery and the inuen- 
 doos of the stage scarcely less offensive ; and if blushes thicken on 
 your faces, determine whether you will honor such scenes with 
 your presence. Say whether you will place yourselves in the 
 midst of indecency, that exhausted indulgence may gaze and see 
 how you act, as the student gazes on the little animals in the ex- 
 hausted receiver of his air pump. And ye young men, the hope 
 of your parents and your country, is it not enough, that so many 
 have already been destroyed ? The trial through Avhich you 
 have to pass is indeed dreadful. I know what it is, for I have 
 passed it. And to me the wonder is, not that so many are ruin- 
 ed, but that any escape. Place not yourselves amidst the thick- 
 est onsets of temptation. Look at many miserable beings a little 
 older than yourselves, who at your age were as promising as you, 
 had as much virtue, as firm sentiments, as good resolutions as 
 you. You cannot, any better than they, walk on coals and 
 your feet not be burned ; nor put them in your bosom and your 
 clothes not be consumed. 
 
 Here, fellow-citizens, I leave the subject to your cool reflec- 
 tions ; and most respectfully subscribe myself. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 A Father. 
 
 [Botli the Federal-street and Tremoat Theaters ceased years ago to 
 be used as Theaters, and have been for most of the time since used as 
 churches.] 
 
158 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 The following articles contain suggestions important alike 
 to the officers of charitable institutions and the Christian public. 
 The remarks upon the responsibility of such institutions to 
 the public deserve to be seriously pondered. Mr. Hale's posi- 
 tion with respect to colleges was misunderstood. He was not 
 opposed to colleges ; he was not even opposed to the founding 
 of colleges as charitable institutions, though perhaps he did 
 not realize to what extent a college must have charitable aid 
 in order to exist. But his plan was to provide for a college 
 only the necessary buildings and apparatus, and leave the 
 instructors to be supported by the avails of teaching, or by the 
 donations of the benevolent, stated or occasional, to meet any 
 deficiency from that source. Such a system he thought would 
 keep professors from becoming drones, and would keep the 
 institution under the watchful sympathy of the good. He did 
 not seem to consider how hard it would be to procure competent 
 men to devote themselves to the work of instruction — thereby 
 cutting themselves off from other pursuits — witli an uncertain 
 support. Mr. Hale did not make war upon colleges. One 
 of his latest benefactions was the gift of five hundred dollars 
 towards the fund which should place Bowdoin College under 
 the control of Orthodox Congregationalists, 
 
 These articles are repiinted from the second number of his 
 " Facts and Reasonings," with his own preface. 
 
 The following articles were written and published in the Bos- 
 ton Recorder in the year 1820. The American Education So- 
 ciety had then come out with the grand plan of obtaining schol- 
 arships, to an extent which should render the Society independent 
 of popular contributions. Tlie American Board of Commission- 
 ers, at about the same time, also made an effort to increase their 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 159 
 
 Permanent Funds, and that policy seemed to be coming into 
 general popularity. I thought the policy fraught with danger, 
 and wrote the following numbers in the hope of changing the 
 opinions of my friends and brethren, who were leaders in the 
 business, or at least of bringing the Christian public to a stand 
 on the subject. 
 
 I do not know that they ever circulated beyond the Hmits of 
 their first publication, nor can I claim that they had much to do 
 in changing public opinion, but I am happy to know that, with- 
 out much direct argument, the views which seemed then to me 
 sound have come to be generally entertained, so that the policy 
 of carrying on the great Christian charities by means of interest 
 on permanent funds has been almost wholly laid aside. The 
 popular contributions to the American Board have, in the mean 
 time, quadrapled in amount. It is a matter of great regret that 
 our Hterary institutions should so pursue the same policy of 
 accumulating funds. Nothing can more certainly insure their 
 apostasy from sound religion and even sound education. 
 
 This is a new age of Christianity, an age of activity, to an 
 extent and of a character to which the history of the Church 
 furnishes no parallel. The success is also in some good degree 
 proportioned to the zeal with which it is put forth. For carry- 
 ing on the great work, all the moral and physical resources 
 which can be controlled are put in requisition, and brought to 
 bear in every possible form. Arts, sciences, politics, wealth, act 
 in harmonious alliance. Institutions are established and combi- 
 nations formed, from the primary and the Sabbath-school, to 
 the well endowed College and Theological Seminary ; from the 
 little tract association of a country district, to the Bible Society, 
 which grasps the world in its enterprises. Thus far, things have 
 gone well in the main ; and there is good reason to believe that 
 wisdom has come down from on high, in answer to the humble 
 prayers of Christians for guidance. Yet it may be, that in these 
 grand efforts to promote the glory of God on earth, men will 
 have to learn the folly of their own wisdom. Hitherto, no ruin- 
 ous mistakes have occurred. Some efforts have come before the 
 public upon a pretty large scale, which have not been successful, 
 and afterwards it could be seen that they were badly planned. 
 Yet no wide ruin has ensued. But in such great and novel 
 plans of operation, going forward with such great success, it is 
 safe to say, that sad reverses will ensue, unless great watchful- 
 ness is used. God will indeed grant wisdom when it is properly 
 
IGO PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 sought ; but tlais can hardly be expected upon those efforts, if 
 there should be any, which go upon the basis of an independence 
 of His constant support and protection. With the little sagacity 
 which I possess, the feature of greatest danger in this country, is 
 the propensity to establish everything upon the basis of Perma- 
 nent Funds. And here I think I see a danger, which calls upon 
 rae to make known my apprehensions ; a danger, which I fear 
 threatens the overthrow of our benevolent institutions, and a 
 religious reaction, as deadly to the present hopes of a lost world, 
 as have been the recent mercantile permanent investments of 
 capital to the pecuniary hopes of thousands. 
 
 My first position with regard to Permanent Funds is that 
 they are fraught with great evils ; and my second, that there 
 is no good which they are expected to accomplish, which cannot 
 quite as well be accomplished by annual or occasional donations. 
 The first danger which I will mention is perversion. An 
 institution with a large amount of funds is alwaj^s an object of 
 desire to the great Adversary, and he will not rest till he 
 can take possession of it for his own purposes, if he is per- 
 mitted. If the soldiers of the Cross have erected a citadel 
 of peculiar grandeur, whose ramparts are of precious stone, 
 and whose weapons are of gold, the arch-fiend has so far, in 
 almost every instance, contrived to gain possession of it by 
 fraud, or seduction, or treachery, or violence, and to turn its 
 guns upon its retreating soldiers. What rich institution, in 
 any country, has held out against his attacks for a hundred 
 years ? Perhaps one or two can be mentioned, but in how 
 much shorter time has he gained possession of all the others ? 
 In this young country institutions are not of c5urse numerous, 
 which have long been here : Cambridge College is the most 
 prominent instance ; and years ago did the enemy take pos- 
 session there, and from its portals point the artillery, which 
 soon brought the capital and all the surrounding country to 
 subjection. Nor has he thought it beneath his notice to occupy 
 small outposts ; and to appropriate funds designed to support 
 lectures upon the doctrines of grace, to the support indeed 
 of lectures ujmn those doctrines, but whose effect is to cover 
 them with contempt. What would Unitarianism ever have been 
 in this region, but for the deposited funds of evangelical Chris- 
 tians ? What colleges has it founded ? What societies has 
 it endowed ? What churches has it built ? No, it is chiefly 
 by the sacrilegious robbery of consecrated funds, or by the 
 crafty or forcible taking of consecrated houses, that it has been 
 able to spread desolation over ai|.d around this metropolis, and 
 estabUsh a dominion here, which it costs an expenditure of 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 161 
 
 labor and treasure to overthrow, proportioned in extent to the 
 largeness of our pious fathers' charities. 
 
 Under this head it is well to mention the danger of appro- 
 priations to the personal use of the usurpers ; a calamity trifling 
 indeed compared with the other. To these dangers are funds 
 especially liable, which are held by societies organized in the 
 common form. Around them no ditch is dug nor hedge built. 
 Who compose the Society ? Individuals who have paid each 
 his pittance, a dollar, or perhaps five dollars ; and of these, ten, 
 twenty, sometimes fifty assemble at an annual meeting. Into the 
 hands of this small number are resigned the commissions of its 
 officers and the evidences of its property ; and by its will ai'e 
 new officers appointed to fulfill all its pleasure. I know a 
 society whose constitution requires the presence of twenty 
 members to form a quorum, which has repeatedly been obliged 
 to delay its business, and send out to individual members special 
 and urgent requests for their presence. One hundred dollars 
 would have made members enough to constitute a majority 
 at any of its meetings ; and yet this society had $25,000 per- 
 manent funds, and but for timely admonition, would have stood 
 in the same defenseless state, with an addition of $50,000 raoi'e. 
 It is not in the nature of things that bags of gold should lie 
 thus by the way-side, and no one take them up. And though 
 men of incorruptible integrity now have the control, it is cer- 
 tainly wise to guard against abuses which may prevail here- 
 after, I propose to consider some other dangers at a future 
 time. Quo. 
 
 II. 
 
 Another danger to Permanent Funds is that of loss by in- 
 sufficient security in the investment. If the money is invested 
 so as to yield a tolerable return of income, there must be no 
 inconsiderable degree of insecurity. If the investment is in 
 bank stock, the income will not exceed five or six per cent, 
 per annum ; and occasionally losses will occur wliich will pre- 
 vent any dividends. But recent experience has taught the 
 insecurity of banks even with a large capital ; and the more any 
 one knows of the management of them, the less will he think of 
 their permanent stability. They are entirely dependent on the 
 men who direct them ; and are safe or otherwise, as they are 
 prudent or adventurous. And scarcely any bank except that of 
 the United States* has so large a capital, or is in any way so 
 
 * Subsequent events Lave shown that this exclusion was quite un- 
 necessary. 
 
162 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 situated as to be beyond the reach of an individual or a com- 
 bination, wlio might Avish to buy a major part of its stock, 
 and make it an engine of speculation. If a bank fails, its bills 
 may all be paid, and yet its stock not be worth a cent. If I am 
 correctly informed, the stocks of the Eagle Bank at New Haven, 
 in Avhicli wei-e invested a very large amount of religious cha- 
 ritable funds, will never be worth a farthing, making a total 
 shipwreck of the whole. The case of the American Board of 
 Commissioners is still worse ; for it appears from the proceed- 
 ings of the last annual meeting, that the $4000 permanent fund 
 lost by the Eagle Bank, is to he made good from current 
 receipts. I do not question the right of the Board to make 
 this appropriation of its income ; but it is perfectly plain, that 
 the current resources of the Board and their support to Missions, 
 are lessened four thousand dollars. They are four thousand 
 dollars poorer as to all present operations, than they would have 
 been, had the Eagle Bank stock, or the money which bought it, 
 never been given them. If anything is wanting to confirm 
 this statement, I will make anotlier proposition which may excite 
 a smile, but which is yet obviously true. If these funds are 
 always to remain, and the capital never to be used, then the 
 capital will of necessity be lost ; and so long as they are thus 
 kept, and until the fund system is given up, so far and so 
 long, that is precisely the effect produced. The stocks of the 
 United States, and of the several States, may be more secure 
 than banks, though liable to great fluctuations. But these are at 
 prices which leave an income of only about four per cent. The 
 money for current expenditure, if not for permanent funds, is 
 drawn chiefly from men in active business, who at the same time 
 are ofien borrowers. In all ordinary business discounts, tlie rate 
 of interest is at least six per cent. So that the Christian who 
 gives one thousand dollars to a permar.ent fund and hires so much 
 more money to conduct his business, produces a loss of twenty 
 dollars annuall}', besides tlie labor on both sides. The Society 
 would be at least as well off Avere he to pay it forty dollars 
 yearly, and retain the money in his business. Let then the 
 capital remain Avhere it is safely and profitably invested ; and let 
 the man Avho is Avilling to do as much as to give the principal, 
 be trusted that he will pay the interest. 
 
 A circumstance Avhich adds considerably to the danger of loss, 
 is that the directors of Religious Charitable Societies, especially 
 the most actiA'e, are clergymen. I know one Society with large 
 funds, Avhose active directors are all clerical. And it is to their 
 honor, that, occupied in their vocation, their minds cannot come 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 163 
 
 down to tlie calculations, which arc essential to the security and 
 productiveness of capital. 
 
 It is not that I fear the loss of these funds simply. If they 
 cannot be brought into use, I could stand by and without a mur- 
 mur see the half of them sunk in the ocean. But it is the moral 
 effect which I fear. It is the closing up of the fountains of 
 benevolence, which any great catastrophe in the loss of funds 
 would be likely to produce. Quo. 
 
 III. 
 
 Another and most important danger from Permanent Funds 
 is that they create an independence of the Christian public. I 
 know that this is supposed to be an important benefit, resulting 
 from the Funds, and in some instances at least it has been 
 put foremost, that they will prevent constant solicitation. 
 
 But it will not be difficult to show, that if such a separation 
 could be effected between all the societies and the public, the 
 axe would be laid at the root of that tree of Christian benev- 
 olence whose healing leaves are beginning to be scattered to all 
 the nations. 
 
 The injury would fall upon the societies and those who man- 
 age them, and in a most deadly manner upon the public. No 
 one entertains a higher respect than I do for the men now at the 
 head of our religious charities. They are, for the most part, the 
 best of tlie pious, and the wisest of the learned. They are in the 
 first rank of the Christian community. All the trust which 
 ought to be reposed in men may be repo«!cd in them. But the 
 disinterestedness of the founders of societies is not to be looked 
 for in their successors, when wealth has rendered that disin- 
 terestedness less important. It is the riglit time now when the 
 proposing of principles cannot possibly be supposed to have any 
 personal application, to establish those which are just. Preven- 
 tion is much easier than cure. I ask, then, what would proba- 
 bly be the effect upon the character of an humble Christian, in 
 moderate circumstances, were he elevated to a throne or even to 
 a fortune. How many benevolent men have been rendered 
 misers by a sudden accession of wealth ! I say without hesita- 
 tion, that, let the managers of these institutions be possessed of 
 any supposable human character, they will conduct their affairs 
 more honorably, more judiciously, and with more energy, if they 
 rely upon the Christian public for support, than they will if ren- 
 dered independent by Permanent Funds. These institutions be- 
 long to the public as much as a bank belongs to the holders of 
 its stock ; and equally are the public entitled to inspect all the 
 
164 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 transactions of the agents. All material transactions touching 
 the interests of the association, the officers are bound to lay 
 before their owners, the public. While the public support these 
 institutions this course is necessary ; and if there is danger that 
 the pubHc will judge erroneously respecting any disclosure, the 
 disclosui'e must yet be made, and the public are sure of the 
 benefits also of a careful correction of those wrong statements, 
 which may pervert their knowledge. But if there were no 
 dependence on the public for funds, how easy it would be to con- 
 clude that it were better to retain the knowledge, and save the 
 trouble of an explanation. This is but one item. Men who un- 
 derstand human nature can carry the discussion forward to other 
 results, more speedily than I can write them. What I do, is but 
 to set up the guide-posts on the road to perversion. 
 
 But far the most important and deadly effect Avould fall on the 
 churches. Our vineyard has been dressed by the agents of 
 charitable societies. To them are to be attributed as the instru- 
 ments, its extension, its beauty, and its fruitfulness. Let them 
 but withdraw, and soon it would be all grown over with thorns, 
 and nettles would cover the face thereof. All the interest which 
 is excited in themselves by activity ; from the glow which is felt 
 by the orator, when he puts forth all his powers upon his noble 
 subject, to that which is produced in the heart of the humblest 
 collector of a cent society by his efforts ; all the animation which 
 is excited in the minds of those who are addressed, — the plea- 
 sm'e of giving, with the interest which every one feels in an ob- 
 ject to which he has contributed ;- — the animation of conjoint 
 action in auxiliary societies ; — a great part of the publications, 
 and even the monthly concert itself, it is to be feared would 
 have an end. Benevolence, when thei^e was no longer any need 
 of her alms, would cease her activity, and cease to pray. Her 
 fire Avhich has burned until the ascending volume of its flame 
 has flashed to heaven, and sent gleams of light to the ends of 
 the earth — would then go out, and a calculating dogmatism 
 freeze up the soul. Never has religion flourished except when 
 activity in keeping the Savior's command to evangelize the 
 nations has been manifested in the Church. When thej^ who 
 were dispersed in the persecution which followed the death of 
 Stephen went everywhere preaching the Word, then did Chris- 
 tianity go forth in her beauty and her strength ; but when she 
 became rich she became sickly in luxury and perished on the 
 throne of Constantine. So it was in the great effort in which 
 Luther led the way. The more we have to do in the cause of 
 Christ, the more shall we love that cause. With nothing to do, 
 the Cliristian could not keep alive the spark of holiness kindled 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 165 
 
 witliin him. This cup, then, of the blessing of contributing to 
 the spread of the kingdom of our Master, let us not drink it at a 
 draught, lest afterwards we perish with thirst. Here I feel con- 
 strained to quote from an article headed " Penuriousncss of 
 Charity," in the Recorder and Telegraph of October 27, written 
 by one who well understood his subject. " It requires more ex- 
 pense of nerve and muscle and talent; more time and IxavA 
 labor ; more thought and plan ; more activity and vigilance and 
 perseverance ; to procure money for the noblest of all objects 
 which solicit lauman attention, than it does to procure the same 
 sum from the commerce and business of the world." — " Look at 
 the poor public servants of the Church, to whom is assigned the 
 duty of soliciting the funds necessary to carry on the noblest en- 
 terprises of the age. They labor harder than you do." It is 
 7iot in my power to gainsay these assertions. But if the Amer- 
 ican Boai-d of Missions, to raise its last year's income, has 
 expended by its officers, agents, and active friends, an amount of 
 labor which otherwise employed would have earned ^G0,000, 
 and other societies have done the same ; then '!?200,000 worth of 
 laboi', guided by the best talents in our country, has been ex- 
 pended during the year, in keeping up and elevating the stan- 
 dard of Christian action. That spirit of Christian action is one 
 of the greatest supports of vital religion in our churches. What 
 then would become of us, if all of the societies were supported 
 by Permanent Funds, and this vast amount of effort withdrawn? 
 If thirty years' continued effort has been necessary to bring us 
 where we are, half that time of inaction would float us back to 
 the point whence we started. Quo. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The establishment of Funds is doing that now which belongs 
 to the next generation. If it is a privilege to contribute to the 
 advancement of the kingdom of our Redeemer on earth, (and I 
 believe it to be one of the greatest which God has conferred on 
 his people,) then why should our successors on the stage bo 
 deprived of their fair proportion? If, on the other hand, it 
 is a labor and sacrifice, why should we burden ourselves not 
 only with the share which is fairly our own, but deposit money 
 to discharge the portion of those who follow us ? The com- 
 munity of Christians for combined benevolent efforts is just 
 coming into existence. And what infant community ever 
 thought of paying the revenues of future generations ? It is 
 much more common and equitable too, that those who bear the 
 burden and effort of the outset should leave some portion of the 
 
IGG PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 expense contracted in purchasing the benefits which are handed 
 down to posterity, to be paid by those who receive the greatest 
 benefit. And is there any roason to do\ibt that the body of 
 Chiistians of the next generation will be far more able and more 
 willing to give money than the present ? The efforts to obtain 
 Pormanont Funds lessen 2^>'<'sc»f receipts. The late Address of 
 the American Education Society put this matter in its true light. 
 They say, " It seems not to be understood so clearly as it should 
 be, that the recent success in obtaining scholarships instead 
 of providing 2^>'Cf<cnt relief, is calculated rather to lessen the dona- 
 tions for current use." Here there is a society which within the 
 quarter has received subscriptions for scholarships to about the 
 sura of §50,000, whose whole permanent fund is nearly or quite 
 $75,000, and yet according to the same Address, " the whole 
 sum received at the treasury for current itse during the last 
 quarter "was but four hundred dollars ; six or seven times less 
 than was necessary to meet its engagements to its beneficiaries." 
 In how different a condition woidd this treasury have been if the 
 late effort had been to raise money for present use ! The late 
 Mr. Woodman was one of the first to perceive the dangers which 
 I have mentioned, lie declined the application of the Society, 
 yet exhibited his high sense of its excellence, by bequeathing to 
 it $3,000 — not to establish Woodman scholarships, but with the 
 condition that the interest and fifteen per cent, of the pnncipal 
 should be annually expended. The American Education So- 
 ciety in 1819 found its funds very low, and laid its case before 
 the public. So liberally Avas its call answered, that in addition 
 to the supply of its then present wants, it had given it a permanent 
 fund of over $10,000, and a surplus for current use amounting 
 to $10,000 more, which $10,000 were added to the fund ; a 
 precaution of essential service, for when the receipts fall off, the 
 money can at any time be transferred back to current use. 
 Now, the Society would place its reliance on scholarships, which 
 to be at all adequate to its great usefulness must amount to 
 $500,000. 
 
 Funds prevent the constant solicitude aboxit its present state 
 which every societ}' needs to retain in the minds of the com- 
 munity. How can a society, rich in stocks, bonds, and mort- 
 gages, come before the public and plead its poverty ? And 
 how can the ]niblic feel any anxiety about it, should its dona- 
 tions fall ofl" or be discontinued for a time ? Above all, when 
 Christians are no longer solicited, and therefore cease to con- 
 tribute to any given charity, they will in a great degree cease to 
 pray for it. A danger so obvious and so overwhelming needs 
 only to be stated. Let then those bocieties who believe that 
 
PEKMANENT FUNDS. 167 
 
 their objects can be accomplished witliout the prayers of the 
 Church, build themselves on Permanent funds ; but let those who 
 feel tlieir dependence on God, feel also some dependence on the 
 Christian community. 
 
 Tims much for the dangers of Permanent Funds. In the next 
 place, there is no possible good which cannot as well be accom- 
 plished Avithout them. I appeal to Yale College as compared 
 with Cambridge. Every association, to avoid embarrassment, 
 needs wealth enough to possess its necessary fixed property free 
 of debt — for instance, a college, its buildings, libraries, &c. ; a 
 Foreign Missionary Society, its printing presses, its missionary 
 farms, buildings, &c., and s{)are capital enough to manage its 
 publications and all its operations with facility. Cannot an 
 association of men of high talents, furnished with all the build- 
 ings and machinery of a colU'ge, contrive with such advantages 
 to obtain support ? Nay will not such a college be likely to 
 nourish in a far higher degree, where every professor knows that 
 both his reputation and his living depend upon his efforts ? As 
 to the maintenance of mercantile credit, none but a Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society needs such credit. And what merchant, if 
 ottered a bill on the London Missionary Society, would refuse to 
 take it, on the ground that the society had no Funds ? The wis- 
 dom and integrity of its directors, and its favor with the public, 
 are sufficient guarantees for its solvency. And these must be 
 the chief guarantees of every other benevolent society. 
 
 Some suppose, that although Funds have never been safe 
 befoi'C, yet the present is an age so peculiar, so enlightened, that 
 all reasoning from the past fails. They imagine that the lion has 
 gone the length of his chain, tint the bright millennial day is now 
 dawning, and from this time all things will go well. Then 
 surely there is no need of Permanent l<\mds. But what age of 
 the Church has not been new and peculiar? In what one have 
 Christians not supposed they possessed unusual light? There 
 lias already been one grand experiment upon permanent wealth 
 to support religion, 'i'he monastei'ies and other rich establish- 
 ments of the Roman Church have engrossed the wealth of 
 nations. Many of these had their foundations laid in what was 
 then considered an enlightened piety. To a vast extent the 
 intentions of the donoi-s Were as pure as they are now. After 
 the church had struggled Qut of the dangers of iniidelity, who 
 would not have tliought them safe, at least on tliat hand ? Yet 
 the adversary took the same trap, put up a stee|)le in front of it, 
 changed the dress of his decoys to a surplice and band, took the 
 sword from their hands, and gave each a Bible, and his success 
 has been great, at least among us. Wordly alliances have 
 
168 P E n M A N K N T FUNDS. 
 
 always been ruinous, but confidence in the Lord has never been 
 disappointed. The groat and only secure source of revenue to 
 the Church is her own elovatod and enlightened piety. This is a 
 mighty fund from which all our societies may draw : — a fund 
 which caiuiot be lost nor perverted. 
 
 If it is thought that the solicitations of the great number of 
 societies Avill clash with each other, the reply is. there may be 
 need of system and concert among them, but if the solicitations 
 are for good objects, and well directed, we shall not be injured 
 by their iVi'quency. 
 
 My remarks have been made chielly against larffc funds. But 
 they will apply also to smaller ones, though with diminished im- 
 portance. On the subject of parish funds, I would remark that 
 in the neighborhood of l^oston they are well undeistood. A few 
 churches yet possess them, and in some instatices, I know that 
 their best men consider them a heavy burden, which, if they 
 could, they would gladly throw olf ; other churches who in their 
 journey through the desert, had they been poor, might have travel- 
 ed immolestod, have, because they had money about them, fallen 
 among thieves, who strijiped them and wounded them and left 
 them Jialf dead. IJut oil has been poured into their wounds ; 
 and being relieved of their burden, they have gone on their way 
 Avith lighter steps, singing songs of deliverance. 
 
 It is said that money can be obtained for Permanent Funds, 
 which otherwise could not be had at all ; therefore the amount is 
 clear gain. If this is true, it is in a great degree the conse- 
 quence of an impression which Christians have had. that Perma- 
 nent Funds coi\stituted the most important weight in the scale of 
 usefulness. The instructions have been wrong, and it Mould be 
 strange if no wrong practice followed. But it is supposed that 
 money can be obtained for funds jiayable at the decease of the 
 ben^factor or at some other future perioil. and the interest be. 
 obtained in the mean time, and thus constitute at once ixn eOi- 
 cient permanent fund. And it can be obtained by the same 
 process for present use. If money is wanted faster than the 
 conununity choose to pay it down, then bonds can be taken pay- 
 able at a future time ; which bonds, so far as they are good 
 security, will be cashed at the outset by others whose property 
 is in money, and who live on its income. No loss will ensue 
 from this negotiation, but practically a great profit. For al- 
 though the annual iiiterest will not be brought in upon money, 
 the capit^xl will be invested in well educated ministers of the gos- 
 pel, the heathen educated and converted to righteousness, and 
 churches founded and strengthened ; and from such an invest- 
 ment will return a double usury in cash, and one tenfold in 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 169 
 
 pioty and knowledge. Let us contemplate the difference in the 
 two modes of operation. Suppose fSOO to be the sum. Call it 
 equal to the education of one indigent but pious youth for the' 
 ministry. Let it be at once expended. It will produce an effect 
 e([ual, in the whole, to the education of this youth, in one year. 
 Let another ^500 bti made a permanent fund. With interest at 
 the rate of six per cent, it will produce the same effect in seven- 
 teen years. The one laborer goes into the field sixteen years be- 
 fore the other, and all he has to do to equal the permanent fund, 
 supposing he dies in sixteen years, is to prepare another man to 
 fill his place. To be sure, his successor would have just double 
 tlie work to do ; for the man produced by the fund, and who 
 starts with him in the year 1843, will upon the same scale of 
 ellort, have brought forward his successor in 18G0, and the per- 
 manent fund will at the same time produce another. It is im- 
 j)ossible to state such a calculation, without showing the entire 
 imjj<jLency of Permanent Funds. 
 
 Jjut what would be the real facts resulting from an immediate 
 expenditure ? Is it probable that he who goes at once to his 
 work will do less than raise $00 annually for charitable pur- 
 poses? Here is twelve per cent, interest on the permanent fund 
 in cuhIi. Will he do less for his fellow men, than to be instru- 
 mental in the salvation of one annually, and of bringing forward 
 in tfie whole time two, as ministers of salvation ? What an 
 odds ! Wiiile, therefore, the heathen are perishing and our own 
 country is desolated for want of 'present help, and while God is 
 so abundantly adding liis bh^ssing on our efl"orts, let us not under 
 circumstances which cry so impressively " now is the accepted 
 time," busy ourselves in laying up heaps of money which ought 
 to be scattered to the ends of the earth, foolishly calculating how 
 smoothly things will go on in distant years. Does not the blight 
 wiiich G(k1 has sent on Permanent Funds instruct us that our 
 confidence should be in Him ? Let then the contributions of 
 Christians b(! increased. Lei their benevolence flow in a deeper 
 and broader stream, not to fill stagnant pools, but to fertilize the 
 earth. Let our charities be enlaiged, and let them be invested, 
 not in banks and stocks, but in men and morals ; not in farms of 
 earthly tillage, but in portions of earth's moral desert trans- 
 formed inio the gardens of the Lord. 
 
 I have accomplished my purpo.se if these humble essays have 
 awakened inquiry and reflection. Quo. 
 
 8 
 
iro 
 
 PERMANENT FUNDS, 
 
 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 19<A, 1833.] 
 
 The controversies which are continually arising in religious so- 
 cieties of different names, as to the disposition of Permanent Funds 
 which have been left to them by benevolent individuals, consti- 
 tute a powerful argument against the desirableness of such funds, 
 even if there were no other objections to be urged against them. 
 But there are other objections, of so serious a nature, that many 
 of the principal rehgious societies of the day, such as Bible, Mis- 
 sionary, and Tract Associations, have become decidedly adverse 
 to the possession of Permanent Funds at all. One objection is, the 
 suspicion to which they give rise in the minds of persons not cor- 
 dially in favor of such institutions, that these funds will be used 
 in some way or other for sinister purposes ; and another is the 
 feeling which is apt to prevail among those who take an interest 
 in the institutions, that being in possession of so much money, 
 (and rumor generally magnifies the amount at least ten-fold, and 
 sometimes a hundred-fold,) they cannot need the contributions of 
 individuals, or at any rate that the demand for such contributions 
 must be extremely small. In more private associations, such as 
 churches and congregations, there are objections of a different 
 nature — though perhaps applicable in some degree to the soci- 
 eties above-mentioned. Experience proves that the support of 
 public worship on the part of the congregation, by their own per- 
 sonal contributions, is a healthful exercise in itself, and more fa- 
 vorable to the welfare of the congregation, as well as to the moral 
 benefit of individuals, than if all expenses were paid by an un- 
 known hand. Money is a dangerous thing in the hands of reh- 
 gious societies, — dangerous, we mean, to the societies themselves, 
 and the individuals composing them. It is therefore with Uttle 
 pleasure that we hear of bequests made to such societies, to be 
 kept as permanent funds. If people have the heart to make do- 
 nations or bequests to good objects, we congratulate them on the 
 disposition and the ability ; but in our estimation, they had much 
 better give for immediate use, than for postei'ity, to say nothing 
 of the hazard of perversion, and of laying a foundation for future 
 collisions and controversies. In these days, tlicre are so many 
 opportunities of doing good in one form or another of benevolent 
 effort, that money applied to such objects is worth more than 
 six per cent. ; or in other words, moral influence, judiciously ex- 
 erted, will yield a larger increase than money lying at interest. 
 Beside ; if the world is growing wiser, and better, as we hope it 
 is, posterity will be as able to do its appropriate work in this 
 respect, as we are to do ours. 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 171 
 
 LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, December 4, 1841.] 
 
 TiiE usefulness of institutions depends very much upon the 
 principles of their structure ; and the character of a people de- 
 pends very much upon the character of their institutions. In 
 every country tliere are powerful tendencies always at work to 
 misshape its institutions. A yoimg nation like ours, started by 
 an intelligent people, with tlie old world lying before them for 
 their contemplation, has superior advantages for rearing its insti- 
 tutions in the best manner. Many of the principles upon which 
 the institutions of the old world are planted, we reject. We 
 think the Hindoos exceedingly debased, because they refuse all 
 literature to females ; and yet many persons among us are per- 
 Jiaps just as unreasonable as the Hindoos in their views upon the 
 same subject. Our countrymen pi-aise liberty, yet we have had 
 a great national convulsion from an eftbrt to bring in governmen- 
 tal power to drive the citizens from their free choice of the vari- 
 ous occupations before them. We reject an alliance of the Chui'ch 
 with the State, and yet perhaps are just as much in error about 
 some otiier alliances which are deemed quite indispensable. We 
 have concluded that religion should have no other support from 
 the laws than simple protection, and yet we hold on to an alli- 
 ance of the State with education, which perhaps may finally turn 
 out to be a mistake of the same nature with the one we reject. 
 We do not say it is so, but in the quarrels about common schools 
 Avhich exist in so many places, this fundamental inquiry will force 
 itself into notice. Besides, we have a great system of Sunday- 
 school education, which has no State support, and which is yet 
 incomparably more efficient in reaching the wants of ignorance, 
 than any of the State systems of public education. 
 
 It has come to be generally admitted that wealth is the parent 
 of vice, indolence, inefficiency and misery ; yet almost all parents 
 desire to leave their children in just this dangerous condition. It 
 is admitted that in all enterprises, riches take away the energy of 
 men, and that the Christian religion has never prospered under 
 their influence ; and yet our good men are constantly endowing 
 their churches, and colleges, and theological seminaries, with riches. 
 There is no such certain way to unnerve an energetic man, as to 
 let him know that he has a sure and ample income for life ; and 
 yet, whenever a new professorship is to be added to a college, 
 the first thing to be done is, to collect so much money that the 
 interest of it will secure the incumbent's salary, whether he labors 
 or is idle. A rich church is almost of course an inefficient, use- 
 less church. A rich college is the same thing. Then why shoidd 
 
172 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 men waste their money, and worse than waste it, by giving it to 
 destroy the institutions they most approve? Simple, uncornipt- 
 ed truth on moral and religious subjects can hardly be preserved 
 in more wealth than a competency. We speak of associations, 
 not individuals. The condition of the world calls for all the 
 money of the charitable to relieve its present wants, and yet there 
 are many who will try to hoard up their money for the next ge- 
 neration, by leaving it in stocks, which, however, are very likely 
 to correct the mistake of the donor by coming to nothing in the 
 hands of the endowed institutions. 
 
 The truth is, tliat personal energy is the thing which reforms 
 the world, and converts the wilderness into fruitful fields. 
 Money is convenient, but not half as necessary as is commonly 
 supposed. It greases the wheels, but will never draw the load. 
 The world may be corriijited by mone)^ !Men may be brought 
 to vice, but not lo virtue by it. What x-eason is there in endow- 
 ing a college, beyond the mere purchase of an establishment ? 
 ^len in the ordinary pursuits of life must furnish them,-?elves with 
 shops and tools. If a company of educated men, with a shop 
 and tools furnished to them without cost, caimot earn their own 
 living, tlun' ought to starve. Schools of all sorts are made to 
 flourish by the individual enterprise of their teachers, with all the 
 charges of rent and apparatus upon them. The Rutgers Female 
 Institute, in this city, is a matter of private though benevolent 
 speculation. The income of the teachers depends on the prospe- 
 rity of tlie school ; and so great is its prosperity, that it has 
 neai-lv live hundred scholars, who have the amplest means of in- 
 struction. Every tiling is managed upon a most liberal scale, and 
 yet the stockholders get six per cent, for their money. If some 
 rich man should take such a fancy to this flourishing institution 
 as to give it a hundred thousand dollars, it would probably be a 
 blow on the head which would paralyze all its energy. There is 
 a similar institution at Albany, which is in a similar state of pros- 
 perity, and has been for years. There are many other equally 
 prosperous, money-making schools, we are happy to say, scat- 
 tered over our country. The institution at Oberlin is a striking- 
 example. Its professors earn their living by their labor, and de- 
 pend entirely on the success of their enterprise. It has been at- 
 tacked and rendered odious on all sides, and yet the energy of 
 its professors has raised it to six hundred students, and the num- 
 ber would be larger had the faculty the means of erecting more 
 buildings. If this place is the hotbed of error, as is represent- 
 ed, and about this it is not oar business to determine, then we 
 say, it is giving truth no fair chance to furnish it only with richly- 
 endowed institutions, with which to carry on the wai-. If such 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 173 
 
 men would do good witli their money, let them spend it freely in 
 relievint^ the present wants of tlie present generation. The best 
 guarantee for the future is the rectitude of the present. But if 
 you have a son you love, a church, a college, a seminary of any 
 sort, on which your affections are fi.xed, do not make them rich. 
 
 MISTAKEN EFFORTS. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, December 21, 1841.] 
 
 There are a great many things done in this world from the 
 most charita])le motives, which had better not be done. Sacii- 
 fices are often made, and great zeal displayed, for the accom- 
 plishment of had ends, and Ihat with the very best intentions. 
 The chanty bestowed upon street beggars is almost all of it 
 positively injurious ; and a very large proportion of the money ex- 
 pended upon the poor in other ways is worse than thrown away. 
 A great deal of money has been raised to endow professorships 
 and scholarships in colleges and other seminaries, when the inter- 
 ests of religion and learning would have been better served without 
 such endowments. Tn fact, a large part of the charitable efforts 
 which have been made, to establish academies and colleges for the 
 purpose of educating students gratuitously, or at half price, are of 
 very questionable utility. Teaching is pursued as a business by 
 a great number of persons, and no seminaries are likely to be con- 
 ducted so enicicntly as those Avhich are conducted with a view to 
 individual profit. In cities, and in fact, all over the country, 
 there are, and will be, very xnnx\y persons who cannot afford to 
 educate their children, or Avho do not value education as they 
 ought, for whom the benevolence of others must provide. But 
 with the great mass of our people it is not so. In this city there 
 are numerous private schools, extending to all branches of edu- 
 cation. Suppose some Girard should bestow live millions of dol- 
 lars for the establishmiMit of schools among \is where all things 
 should be taught gratultoushj. If the charity should succeed 
 perfectly, all the piivatc; schools would be broken up, and those 
 who conduct them depi-i\ed of their means of living, and no good 
 would be accomplished to the cause of education. We have 
 now colleges more than enough. Suppose some man should 
 establish colleges, or some State should found them, with such 
 ample endowments that students would not only be taught, but 
 boarded gratuitously. It would perhaps be hailed as a magni- 
 ficent act of generosity, but it would do a great deal of mischief 
 and very little good. Our colleges are now in a great strife for 
 
174 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 students, ami tho strife is cavriod on by underbidding in prices. 
 In order that a college may be able to draw students to itself by 
 xuiderbidding, it nuist be largelj- endowed. The expenses of 
 the establishment must be paid in some other ^Yay than by 
 tuition fees. The competition can never be satisfied. The col- 
 leges may be endowed until education is free, and until students 
 are liired to go to college, and yet no pinntwill be reachtnl where 
 tlie cry will not still be, " Give, give." If an opposite course 
 were pursued, private enterprise would be fostered. If bene\"o- 
 lence were stopjunl at what we are suiv is the farthest bounds of 
 usefulness, viz. furnishing of buildinns and apparatus, leaving the 
 facidties to get their li\ing bv their faithfulness, there woulil then 
 be a basis of calculatiini. As we go now, jn-ivate schools are de- 
 stroyed by public schools, and public schools by eacli other, and 
 yet those least useful are perhaps as nuu-li sujiported as the rest, 
 by the munificence of individu.ds or the public. 
 
 These remarks are applicable to the newspaper press and other 
 modes of circulating intelligence. If a great society could be 
 formed for the purpose of printing newspapers, or some benevo- 
 lent individual were to bequeath ten millions of dollai-s for the 
 purpose of printing a daily news'fiaper in the city of New York, 
 to be distributed gratuitously for half its cost forever, it might 
 seem at first blush a splendid plan of benevolence ; but the eQect 
 would be extrenu^ly unfair towards those now engaged in supply- 
 ing the conuuunity with newspapers, and tlie public woukl on the 
 ■whole, and in the long run, be great losers. Such an ovei-shadow- 
 ing establishment might, at a heavy loss of money to itself, prevent 
 other editors from earning their bread, but it could never servo 
 tlie public so usefully as they are served by private enterprise. 
 Charitable societies and endowed institutions always work at a loss. 
 In tlieir very construction they are inert and extravagant. They 
 should not, therefore, be formed for ends wliich can l)e accom- 
 plished by private eft'ort. Benevolence extended in such ways 
 cripples the enterprise which would best accomplish the end, and 
 leaves the designs of goodness more poorly accomplished tlian if 
 nothing had been done. 
 
 Views like these, we are sure, ought to be Tnore deeply pon- 
 dered than they have been. It is of great importance that the 
 institutions of our country shoidd be so formed as to retain their 
 vigor from age to age. If they are to do so, then they must 
 have a large infusion of individual enterprise and individual inter- 
 est. Free trade is good in other matters besides buying and sell- 
 ing. This country lias tried it in its religious institutions, and is 
 reaping a rich harvest of blessings in consequence. There is 
 more in the same jilan for all sorts of doing good, than has ge- 
 ncnilly been supposed. 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 175 
 
 COLLEGES AND COLLEGE FUNDS. 
 
 [From the Journal nf Commerce, JJcceinlfer 18, 184G.] 
 
 TiiK Rev. Thomas Spencer of England, who, though a church- 
 man, is a noble defenfler of free principles, in liis admirable tract 
 entitled " The People's llights and how to Get them," writes as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Tho rif^hts of property arc invadcl by ecclesiastical, c<Iucational, 
 ami clmritable ciidowincnts, wliicli not only become prolific sources of 
 corruption, but actu;illy derive tJieir value from tlie industry of a 
 future day, and are tlicrefore a tax upon all otlier property. An 
 estate, for instance, wliicli has been left to a Oriuninar iScliooI, and 
 •which, when the testator made Iiis will, was worth £,M) a year, but 
 whicii is now worth £,-jUW a year, derives its cliicf value fiom those 
 who have built upon and improved it, who arc thus made to K've the 
 produce of their labor to an endowment over which they have no con- 
 trol. It is Li;^li time for tho world to throw off' the dominion of the 
 dead ; and to pbu;e the land under tiie entire mansigcment of the living. 
 The rights of pi-operty will allow a man to sell, give, or bequeatli his 
 property to another, but not to tie it up throughout perpetual genera- 
 tions. I5y endowment and by the law of primogeniture, the living are 
 not only governed by the acts of tiie dcail, but by such acts as those 
 dead, if now alive, would be the last to sanction. They whose only ob- 
 ject was to push fjrward their fellow-creatures are now the means of 
 keeping them back ; and the most enlightened men of former days are 
 now, in this age of science and discoveries, made the dispensers of hea- 
 then mythology and a use-less smattering of Latin. and Greek. Tlieso 
 endowments ought to be taken by the State, and, with the least possible 
 injury to the present possessors, appropriaicd to the payment of the 
 National Debt. A public school, with an endowment of £20,000 a year, 
 origin.'illy intended for the education of the poor in the most useful 
 learning that could be got, but now appropriated to the giving of a 
 most imperfect education to the sons of the rich, is a disgrace to our 
 land." 
 
 These are thoughts worthy of the mo.st serious consideration. 
 There are great truths in them. This we may say without stop- 
 ping to endorse everything precisely as it stands. Men, and 
 good men, have almost with one consent rejected the simple 
 plan of Jesus Christ. They fear liberty and the control of the 
 people, and go about to establish knowledge and religion by 
 ecclesiastical inclosures and pecuniary emoluments. jjut in 
 these plans they have always been disappointed, and always will 
 be. I'he hierarchy of the dark ages had its foundations laid in 
 this way, and now, in our young country, where pure religion 
 and learning might be handed down to the latest po.sterity, even 
 good men seem de;if to all the lessons of experience, and are ex- 
 posing our institutions to the same ruin. The two great sources 
 of the overthrow of pure Christianity and sound leai-ning in past 
 times, were ecclesiastical organizations and pecuniary endow- 
 
17G PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 monls. Wc iiUoiul now to speak chiefly of the latter, and as 
 coimcoted with litomture. Religion has been severed from the 
 State in this country, but learning is bound to it still. We arc 
 not ready to say tliat this is wrong, yet it would be a revolution 
 no more strange than the other, if the help of the State in learn- 
 ing should one day be deemed as gri'at a hinderance, as in mat- 
 ters of leligion. . The world has hardly had an exhibition of 
 what liberty without the State will do for learning. In the 
 British colony of South Australia there is a specimen worthy of 
 much contemplation. That colony was commenced some terj 
 yeai-s ago. upon a plan of very luiusual liberty. The Govern- 
 ment of tircat Britain merely guaranteed to the emigrants that 
 they should govern themselves, and that no convicts should be 
 sent there. Freedom of trade, education, and religion, prevail 
 there. Neither the home government nor that established by 
 the colonists has done anything for the patronage of religion 
 and learning. Yet the pojndatioTi, the commerce, and the 
 wealth of the colony have rapidly increased, and although such 
 colonists must have been comparatixely poor, they have every- 
 where jii-ovided themselves with schools and churches, with 
 remarkable promptness ; so that in these respects they are pro- 
 bably as well oft" as the mother countr)'. A paragraph in the let- 
 ter of our London correspondent of October 30th contains some 
 statistics showing the wonderfully rapid growth of this free peo- 
 ple. The bishop sent to superintend the Episcopal Church in 
 Kew Holland was struck with the religious energy of the colo- 
 nists of South Australia, but complained that they wasted their 
 strength in buiUling many small churches of various denomina- 
 tions, instead of uniting in one or two large enterprises. These 
 colonists are in a fair way to j-ank high in their religious and lit- 
 eraiy character, and this without governmental interference with 
 either. We will add, that the Sabbath-schools, wherever they 
 exist, are the best schools wluch exist, and drop this point of 
 in(juiry. 
 
 If it is necessary that colleges shoidd be charity institutions, 
 it does not follow that they should be sustained by funds draw- 
 ing si.\ per cent, interest, rather than by yearly contributions ; 
 nor that they should be so multiplied as to destroy each other. 
 We have arrived at a position in both these respects, which calls 
 u[)on us to stop and incjuire whether we are going right. Every 
 genei-ation owes important obligations to the next, and one of 
 these obligations is, to see that the next generation is free. We 
 are not at liberty to embarrass their struggle for the mainte- 
 nance of sound learning and sound religion. If we make rich 
 colleges or chiu'ches which will be independent of the next 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 177 
 
 generation, we run tlie hazard of greatly increasing their bur- 
 dens. We do not mean to say whether Orthodoxy or Unitari- 
 ani.sm he the trutli, but takin;^ the opinions of Harvard and the 
 other founders of that College as the opinions which they deem- 
 ed of the utmost importance, had they a right to distrust th(;ir 
 posteiity, and by tiieir donations of large funds, place that Col- 
 lege beyond the control of future gcntsrations, and so render the 
 labor of maintaining the opinions of the founders of that College 
 by those who should believe them afterwards, so much more dif- 
 licult? Had Harvard and his pious associates and successors a 
 right to throw so vast a burden as this upon their posterity who 
 should believe with themselves ? Certainly they had no such 
 right With their views of truth, they were bound to leave pos- 
 terity free to act, without such an incumbrance. Again, and 
 without saying who is right, but only that every man is bound 
 to support what he holds to be important truth, we may ask 
 whether (^ueen Anne, wjio gave a great farm to Trinity Church 
 in olden times, worth millions now, treated this generation fairly 
 when she gave that property to control the E[)iscopal Church, 
 as it does in these days, and blight our city of living men with 
 its interminable leases. We could name other examples where 
 the goodness and pious liberality of tlie generations gone by, 
 have entailed insuperable burdens upon the men who hold the 
 same opinions in this generation. Everybody can see, that how- 
 ever charitable and worthy the individuals were who made these 
 donations, and though their good intentions may have their re- 
 ward, it is not the less true that their charity was great unfair- 
 ness toward the present generation. If tlds generation endow 
 Yale or Amherst, or the Metliodist College at Middletown, or 
 the Episcoj)al College at Hartford, to such an extent that they 
 can go on and prosper though they become th<jroiighly revolu- 
 tionized in their opinions, and though future generations with- 
 draw from them, it will be doubly guilty, because acting under 
 the light of an experience which Hai-vard and his cotemporaries 
 did not enjoy. The earth belongs to the living, unembarrassed 
 f)y the entailments of the dead ; and truth will always be best pro- 
 moted by leaving its care for the future to " God, and the people" 
 whom He shall have on the earth. The founders of our institu- 
 tions believed this, and secured inestimable benefits by prohil)it- 
 ing primogenitures or entailments of estates in any form. But 
 their jjrohibitions do not reach corporations, who, as they never 
 die, hold tiieir estates in perpetual entfiilment. 
 
 Although colleges are important, their undue multiplication is 
 a great misfortune. If there are too many, the cost is too great, 
 both of men and treasure, and yet all are feeble. Colleges claim 
 8* 
 
178 PERMANENT FUNDS. 
 
 the best talents for their instruction. Each one must withdraw 
 some half dozen or whole dozen of the best ministers or other 
 men of learning and usefulness, and shut them up to teaching. 
 If half a dozen men of first-rate powers of usefulness are shut up 
 to the education of fifty or a himdred boys, when those boys 
 might just about as well be added to the classes of another col- 
 lege, it is a most improvident' and culpable waste of good things. 
 If good men contribute their funds to build useless colleges, and 
 support their professors, they do mischief thereby, and had bet- 
 ter throw their money into the sea. There is no danger of too 
 much religion or knowledge, nor of too much instruction in 
 either. But there is great danger from institutions, Avhether lit- 
 erary or religious, if placed above the control of the living age. 
 Such institutions have ever been the bane of society. Europe is 
 covered with institutions founded and enriched by the good in- 
 tentions of past ages, to be putrid sores in this. Our own coun- 
 try is young, and should render her youtli perpetual. But the 
 policy wliich Ave reprobate, is already enfeebling us, and inflict- 
 ing at least some small taint upon us of European decrepitude. 
 The covering was a little raised from Harvard, and we saw the 
 corruption of sinecure professors, paid a hundred dollars an hour 
 for their services. It was only with the help of peculiar circum- 
 stances, that Mr. Bancroft, standing high as he did among the 
 literary men of the East, was able, with his compatriots, to lift 
 the covering so much ; — and how very few, if any, of the cor- 
 ruptions of that institution have been or can be remedied ! 
 Avowed opponents can do nothing in such a case, for they can- 
 not obtain the necessary information ; and if they could, are 
 easily discredited. Friends only can do the faithful Avork, and 
 hoAv scarce are friends who will immolate themselves on such an 
 altar ! 
 
 THE STATE AND THE COLLEGES. 
 • [From the Journal of Commerce, April 29, 1848.] 
 
 There are two ways of being unsectarian : one is to include all 
 sects in government favors, and the other is to exclude them all. 
 The latter course is easily adjusted ; the former is exceedingly 
 difficult of adjustment. The government of our State and those 
 of most of the other States have adopted the doctrine that the 
 State is bound to educate the children of the people. In carry- 
 ing out this doctrine, they have now and then come upon unex- 
 pected difficulties ; but never seem to have thought seriously that 
 
PERMANENT FUNDS. 179 
 
 the origin of these difficulties was the adoption of a wrong itrin- 
 c'q)le. Our common scliools, having been in general constructed 
 as public schools, are free, as far as possible, from denominational 
 characteristics. But the colleges aie all sectarian institutions. 
 They are the great schools for preachers, where young men are 
 expected to be trained to certain religious views, tliat they may 
 become preachers of those views. ■ They are in truth the strong- 
 holds of denominations ; yet, having a prominent literary character, 
 they are, as literary institutions, taken under State patronage. At 
 the last session of the Legislature the Catholics for the first time 
 presented their claim to participate in the State bounty. The 
 claim was unquestionably good upon the plan heretofore pursued, 
 and a Legislature altogether Protestant was obliged, in plain 
 justice, to put Fordham in with the rest. It was a noble piece 
 of adherence to equal and impartial justice. These Pi'otestants 
 could not plead, as Cathohcs do when in power, that theirs is 
 the only true Church, and all others heretics ; and that therefore 
 the latter ouffht not only to be excluded from patronage, but pre- 
 vented by all possible means from propagating their pestiferous 
 doctrines. Protestants acknowledge the equality of men in their 
 right to determine, each one for himself, what is his duty to his 
 Creator. The State must continue to support Fordham or aban- 
 don the colleges to their friends. There is no other possible al- 
 ternative which can be adopted with honor. We hope the Legis- 
 lature will see that they have committed a great error in distri- 
 buting the fimds of the State to colleges at all ; and will extricate 
 themselves from the difficulty by making no more such gi-ants. 
 Not for the sake of ridding themselves of Fordham, but because 
 the whole policy is unsound and injurious. 
 
 While scorning the doctrines of Fourier, under the precise 
 forms in which his disciples seek to put tliein in practice, we have 
 failed to see that they are, after all, only tlie established principles 
 of our government, developed in a different shape. We acknow- 
 ledge the obligation of the State to feed and educate all who 
 throw themselves iipon it for these purposes, or even neglect to 
 provide for themselves. But passing over the Fourier question, 
 it seems to us plain, that whatever may have been proper in the 
 infancy of the country, colleges ought no longer to be objects of 
 State patronage — at least those in the older States. The deno- 
 minations are able and willing to take care of their own colleges. 
 There are too many colleges, and there will be too many even 
 without State patronage. The expectation of patronage from the 
 State will stimulate new colleges into a useless existence, for the 
 benefit of villages and sects or fractions of sects, and embarrass 
 legislation by multiplied applications, and all to the damage rather 
 
180 COLON I X ATIO N. 
 
 than advancement of knowledge. By the process of private be- 
 quests, some of our colleges are already becoming too rich. We 
 are getting so much wealtli in our country, that many persons 
 need legatees, and tlie colleges are often selected by testators. 
 Thev generally adopt the system of piling up money in -what is 
 called " foiuidations" for professorships, wliich foundations are 
 just the most ellicient opiates (or the professors who stand upon 
 them. It is already apparent that our richest colleges are least 
 useful, and that if we would preser\e their elliciency, thev must 
 be kept in alliance with that great middle class in which lies the 
 great stiengih of every people. 
 
 SLAVERY ; COLONIZATION ; ABOLITION. 
 
 Thoioh the controvei*sv to which these articles relate is 
 nearly obsolete, it has been thought best to collect them as 
 a matter of history, and an illustration of the spirit of the discus- 
 sion. They have been st^lected not with reference to the views 
 or jnefiMences of the Editor, but in order fairly to present the 
 ojnnions of Mr. Hale on a subject in which he ever felt a deep 
 interest. 
 
 COLON IZATIOX. 
 [i^Vom the Joitrnal^of Connna-ee, May 1o. 1S3 1.] 
 
 TiiK citizens of New York, ami of the country round about, 
 have recently been awakened by the warm discussions Avhich 
 have been going on on the subject of Colonization. Tlie colo- 
 nization of the people of color of the United States was a 
 thought which originated in some beneM^lont miiuls, juMhaps 
 twenty years ago. 
 
 In the anxious inquiry, " AVhat shall be done for our country 
 and the colored population in it ?" they discovered that there 
 was one thing which could be done, and that one thing was 
 
COLONIZATION. 181 
 
 to provide some place beyond the reach of slavery and its 
 associations of degradation, and assist as many free colored 
 persoas to remove there as denired to f^o. In this it was found 
 that pliilanthropists of the North and South could act har- 
 moniously, and so create a bond of union out of a subject 
 which had tlircatened disunion. The most intelligent agents 
 were dispatched to Africa, who fixed upon a certain point 
 of the coast, made negotiations with the native chiefs, secured 
 the rer^uisite territory, and made preparations for a settlement. 
 
 From that time to this, colored persons have been found 
 desirous of removing to Africa in larger numbers than the 
 funds of the charitable could carry. 80 tliat now the colony 
 consists of three thousand persons, stretching along in various 
 settlements upon the coast for more tlian a hundred miles. The 
 businrjss has chiefly been conducted under the auspices of "The 
 American Colonization Society ;" an association composed of 
 a large number of the most distinguished men in all parts of 
 the country, having its central point at the seat of government. 
 In the colony, schools are established, churches erected, and 
 a well organized society is forming. The natives of the neigh- 
 borhood, attracted by the superior condition of the colonists, 
 are asking for teachers, and oifering whatever inducements they 
 can, to procure for themselves the advantages which they 
 see in the colony. The slave trade along that part of the 
 coast has been, by the efforts of the colonists, effectually sup- 
 pressed. Jjy the operations of the society the attention of 
 the American people has been in a degree kept upon the 
 blacks and their condition, and a kind spirit towards them has 
 been cherished and strengthened. 
 
 We know that these details will seem trite to those who 
 for years have been looking at the movements of the Colo- 
 nizationists. But we have within a few days past met with 
 several persons of intelligence whose attention has just been 
 aroused by the din of the last few days' conflict, but who under- 
 stand little or nothing of the ground of the contest. It is 
 for their benefit we have given this bird's-eye glance of Colo- 
 nization. It has but one principle ; it does but one thing, 
 and that one thing is the colonizing of free people of color with 
 tlteir oam consent. Other good things have followed as effects, 
 some of which we have mentioned above, and some of its friends 
 biilieve it tends strongly to bring about, in a peaceful and 
 quiet way, the total abolition of slavery. But with all such 
 matters, the condition of the slaves, their rights and everything 
 else of this sort, the society does not interfere. The broad 
 field Is left open for other individuals, or for the same individuals 
 
1S2 COLONIZATION. 
 
 if llioy ploaso. to oocujiy a^ may suit thoir rospootivc opinions. 
 Tho ONK tiling- wo have mentioned of the society is its unit, 
 and its whole account. 
 
 Such a plan of benevolence, it would seem, must com- 
 mend it,-<elf to the good wishes, or at least disarm the oppo- 
 sition, of all men. Yet •within a few yeai-s past, under the 
 claim of extra love for the Macks, there has sprung up an 
 organized war upon Colonization, carried on with a spirit of 
 violence rarely exceeded. Those who have engaged in this 
 strange attack are some of them men of benevolence and 
 high respectability in the community. Yet to such a hight 
 has the war been carried, that many of the measures taken 
 have seemed to us far enough from such as ought to char- 
 acterize honorable conllicts. For the last year or two it has 
 been carried on with so much s\iccess, at least in the opinion 
 ot" its abettors, that at their annivei-sary livst week, when all 
 things were going on gloriously, one of their number, a man 
 too of great excellence of character, proclaimed to the audi- 
 ence that they had assembled '• to toll the death-knell and 
 attend the funeral obsequies of the American Colonization 
 Society." In tlie early part of this war the Colonization Society 
 contented itself with acting on the defensive ; but its friends 
 have at last been driven to take the field, and have, during 
 the last few days, not only made their principles undei-stood, 
 and vindicated themselves before admiring crowds, but have 
 carried the war into the camp of their opponents until the 
 necessity for a winding-sheet has well-nigh passed to the 
 otiun- side, and Colonization is almost in danger of being com- 
 pelled to perform the last kind offices for its lately exulting 
 foe. Public sentiment is aroused. Colonization has gmned a 
 degree of attention which it could never before excite. Its 
 objects are understood and appreciated, and will be supported 
 by increivsing multitudes of our citizens, while the furious and 
 unfair ettbrts of self-styled Abolitionists are looked upon, to use a 
 mild term, with general disapprobation. 
 
 If Abolitionists can do anything for the blacks, and for our 
 country in reference to them, Ik'skfcs that which is doing by Colo- 
 nization, let them do it. They will have the hearty cooperation 
 o\' all good men. But if they dash against Colonization, they will 
 tlnd it a rock. 
 
M n K R I A FACTS. 183 
 
 " FUNERAL " EXPENSES. 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, June 6, 1835.] 
 
 Moses Allen, Esq., Treasurer of the New York Colonization 
 Society, has received in cash since the 1st of May, and chiefly 
 within the last few day.s, over four t}ioi:.4anj> dollars. The 
 friends of Colonization, having heard that their cause had fallen 
 among slanderers, who undertook to strip off its beauty, and 
 then stJihbed it with weapons, leaving it for dead, have made a 
 contribution, that whatever decency required, might be done. 
 
 LIBERIA FACTS. 
 [Frow the Journal of C(/mmerce, July 8, 1834.] 
 
 We have had consideraljle opportunity to converse with Messrs. 
 Temple and Jones, who have just returned from Liberia. Their 
 conversation has interested us, and will we presume interest our 
 readers ; though to such as are very familiarly acquainted with 
 the affairs of the colony, it may not afford any great addition to 
 their stock of information. Temple is a man of sprightliness and 
 ardor. He is not yet recovered from the indisposition which so 
 far deranged his reason, as for the time to make him write 
 helter-skelter letters, which afforded glorious pickings for the 
 Abolitionists ; though we know that some of them saspected, 
 at the time, that the wriUir was not of sane mind, and one 
 of their editors had conscience enough to refrain from publishinf 
 them on account of the distinct marks of aberration which they 
 bore. Jones was sent out by a Colonization .Society of Ken- 
 tucky, and sailed with a detachment collected in that State, 
 in the latter part of 1832. He is a man of apparent coolness, 
 of good sense, discrimination, and piety, [{is manner is .such as 
 Ui fix upon him the confidence of those who hear him. Both 
 are black men of more tlian ordinary education and talents. 
 Jones was ten months in the colony, and visited all parts of it. 
 'J'emple was there but about four months. They say the soil of 
 Liberia is excellent. Jones is acquainted with the choice lands 
 in the heart of Kentucky, and says he thinks the soil of Libetia 
 equally excellent, though he saw some lands there which he con- 
 siders better than any which he ever saw in Kentucky. The 
 land is, some of it, open and covered with high grass, but in 
 general it is wooded with heavy trees. Coffee, cotton, and rice 
 arc indigenous, and grow well ; but in order that they should 
 produce profitably, they mu.st there, as everywhere, be regularly 
 cultivated. Cotton does not there, as in this country, require to 
 
184 LIBERIA FACTS. 
 
 be planted annually, but blooms and bolls the year round, and 
 from year to year. Coffee trees bear freely four or five years 
 after planting. Jones saw some trees picked, whicb yielded 
 abundantly. The natives are good laborers, and contented with 
 very low wages — not over twenty-five cents a day. With their 
 help, it would be easy to cultivate coffee, rice, and cotton, to any 
 extent, and with ample profit. Plantains and bananas grow 
 freely. The low lands bear pineapples abundantly, and various 
 other delicious fruits are in great profusion. 
 
 The climate is pleasant, and to those who are acclimated, 
 healthy. Many of the natives live to a great age, and several of 
 the colonists were heard to say that their health was much better 
 than in America. All who go from this country are, after a few 
 days or weeks, attacked with fever and ague, which prostrates 
 them for a considerable time, and proves fatal in many cases, 
 especially where there is indiscretion on the part of the patients, 
 or want of comfortable accommodations. This fever resembles 
 that which attacks emigrants to many parts of the western wilds 
 in our own country, though generally more severe, yet much less 
 severe than the seasoning which slaves go through, who are 
 removed from the high lands to Georgia and South Carolina. 
 It is much more injurious to white persons than to black. It is 
 believed that the Cape Mount territory will prove more healtliy 
 than the country about Monrovia, though against the latter there 
 is nothing to allege but the seasoning fever. This fever the 
 inhabitants say all the native children have when quite young. 
 
 There are plenty of fisli in the sea and rivers, and at Junk fine 
 oysters. 
 
 The occupations of the colonists have been trading, agricul- 
 ture, and such mechanic occupations as are connected with 
 building, and tlie other wants of a new people. A gi'eat many are 
 tradei's, pressing their establishments back into the interior in 
 pursuit of camwood, ivory, gold dust, palm oil, &c. A consid- 
 ei-able number have become wealthy. Those who have set 
 themselves to the cultivation of their lots have found that the 
 surest if not the shortest way to comfort. Some of the traders 
 say they intend to turn their attention more to agriculture here- 
 aftei". Tiiere are also in the colony quite too large a number of 
 emigrants who have not adopted any settled pursuits, but who 
 depend on jobs and day labor for a support. These find little 
 encouragement, as the natives are better and cheaper laborers. 
 Mechanics arc liberally paid. The farmers, if we may call them 
 such, in the neighborhood of Monrovia find a very good business 
 in supplying that market. The recaptured Ebos tind Congos, 
 who inhabit New Georgia, exhibit the best specimens of agricul- 
 
LIBERIA FACTS. 185 
 
 tural success, though even there but a few acres from each lot 
 are yet cleared and brought under tillage. 
 
 All the towns have churches and school-houses. The churches 
 are well supplied with cokjred preachers, and arc attended, and 
 the Sabbath observed, as well and better than in New York. 
 
 The sober and industrious, and especially the I'eligious part of 
 the colonists are contented and happy. Many of them ex- 
 pressed in the warmest manner their gratitude for such a place 
 of refuge, and declared that nothing would tempt them to return 
 to the United States. They said that, let the laws here be 
 what they might, they had much rather live in Liberia. On the 
 contrary, those who are indolent and vicious, and those who 
 went out under the notion that they should be ladies and gen- 
 tlemen, and who expected to live in the emphatic freedom which 
 the negroes, so many of them, think the only freedom worth 
 having, viz., freedom from work — all such persons are disap- 
 pointed, and find fault with the colony, when in fact the only 
 difficulty is in themselves. 
 
 The colonists ai'c, too many of them, fond of show and style, 
 and making a dash and living in idleness, in sliort, of being 
 negroes, and almost all are intent on their own pursuits, and 
 attend but little to the maintenance of law and order, and 
 the advancement of the public good. There is great w^ant of 
 men well educated, men of good habits and public spirit. The 
 colony could very well afford to give two hwfcrs for one good 
 citizen. 
 
 Spirituous liquors are sold at the shops as freely as in the 
 towns of the United States, and produce similar effects on the 
 population. There are more or less feuds and quarrels among 
 the people, but Jones' illustration of their extent was a little 
 humiliating, for he said he thought there were less of such 
 scenes than among the white people here ; and this, without 
 having been a witness to our spring election. 
 
 Both Temple and Jones say, Liberia is the place for them, 
 their friends and their children, and that they intend to return 
 speedily with as many as will accompany them, and spend their 
 lives there. 
 
 From all this we judge that Liberia is not far from what a 
 man of sense would have expected it to be. The expectations 
 of such a man Ave think would be full)^ equaled. Tliose who 
 demand that in the construction of such a colony there should 
 be nothing wrong, no mismanagement, no vices, no selfishness, 
 indeed, that liberated slaves should constitute a more perfect 
 community than was ever seen on the earth, and that the enter- 
 prise should be carried on with a degree of wisdom and success 
 
186 LIBETcIA FACTS. 
 
 never before known, such persons, like a portion of the colonists 
 ■which we have mentioned, find abundant cause of complaint. 
 There is there the selfishness, and quite too much of the decided 
 vice, which dishonor all communities. The colonists are much 
 more intent on their own affairs than on those of the public. In 
 this they have no special superiority over the citizens of our own 
 happy land. The institutions of society are never built, nor do 
 they rest, after all our poetry of patriotism, upon anything 
 better than the necessity which every man feels of protecting 
 himself and his property against lawless depredation. In pro- 
 portion as the number of men of property increases in Liberia, 
 will the institutions of law be strengthened. Out of that very 
 eagerness for money-making, which now characterizes so many 
 of the colonists, and makes them neglect the public, will ulti- 
 mately grow law and order, and pubhc spirit, and stable insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 Those who are engaged in raising a hue and cry about evils 
 in Liberia, which we cannot correct here at home, display no 
 great share of charity or good sense. No other colony has ever 
 succeeded so well as that ; and none but those of the Puritans 
 ever exhibited more public spirit, or more public virtue, or gave 
 better promise of being the germ of an empire. 
 
 ONE FACT. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, July 4, 1834.] 
 
 A GENTLEMAN now here from Georgia is the owner of between 
 forty and fifty slaves. They are employed in agriculture, and 
 have such tasks to perform that their day's work is usually ac- 
 complished by one or two o'clock in the aftei'noon ; after which 
 they work on wages for their master or other persons, or do 
 what else they please. They had, however, become somewhat 
 refractory, and on a consideration of the whole matter, their 
 master determined, before leaving home for the North, to give 
 them the offer of their freedom. This the laws of Georgia for- 
 bid, except on condition of leaving the State. The colony at 
 Liberia obviated this difficulty, and enabled him to try his benev- 
 olent experiment. He, therefore, called them together, made 
 them an address, and told them they were free, upon condition of 
 going to Liberia. But they all declined, — not because they ob- 
 jected to the condition, for they knew nothing of the misrepre- 
 sentations of Abolition publications, but because they chose to 
 remain as they were. A neighbor of this gentleman had, a short 
 time before, sold his slaves at $300 each ; so that the slaves who 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY MEETING. 18T 
 
 were offered their freedom by this one gentleman were worth 
 fully ^15,000, and could have been sold for that sum but for the 
 sympathy of their master. 
 
 Now, what a beautiful figure a few northern men cut, who 
 having themselves, with one or two exceptions, made no sacrifices 
 for the blacks, get together in conventions, and vote such a man 
 a pirate, and load him with all tlie epithets of opprobrium which 
 can be invented ! This man was and is a slaveholder, and has 
 only offered his slaves tlieir liberty on the wicked condition of 
 being " expatriated." Such are the broad charges which Aboli- 
 tionists bring against men in a mass, some of whom are much 
 better than themselves. Will such slanders aid any righteous 
 
 ANTI-SLAVERY MEETING. 
 [Fro7n the Journal of Commej-ce, July 7, 1834.] 
 
 A PUBLIC meeting was notified by the Abolitionists, to be held 
 at Chatham Chapel on the morning of the 4th of July. The as- 
 sembly to us appeared meager. It was composed of about 
 equal proportions of whites and blacks, commingled through the 
 house, and filling it about half full. In the choir of singers the 
 males were chiefly black, and the females mixed together about 
 half and half. The appearance of the audience seemed to us to 
 indicate, that public curiosity was nearly satisfied with Abolition- 
 ism, and we felt sure that the promiscuous seating would deter 
 most persons from attending hereafter. 
 
 The performances of the meeting commenced quietly, but soon 
 after the beginning of the oration by David Paul Brown, Esq., 
 who had been invited from Philadelphia for the occasion, a few 
 low fellows near the door commenced a disturbance, which was 
 kept up in various ways by shouting and clapping, and personal 
 discussion with some of the Abolitionists about the relative im- 
 portance of black and white men. Mr. Brown found it impos- 
 sible to proceed, and he left the house, saying good-naturedly, 
 that he must imitate the example of John Quincy Adams, when 
 he published his " speech which was suppressed by the previous 
 question." The assembly waited patiently for half an hour, per- 
 haps, and as the noise did not cease, the choir sang the hymns 
 which had been prepared, and all hands dispersed. Some of 
 the police were in the mean time called, but declined making ar- 
 rests, as no violence had been used, and the noise was cloaked 
 under the expression of opinion at a public and promiscuous 
 meeting. 
 
188 INCENDIARISM. 
 
 The mingling of colors was calciilated to produce excitement, 
 espocially lhat\if tho females in the choir. It was highly repre- 
 heiisihlo in the leaders to peisuado the young white women to 
 do themselves so great an injury, for the sake of exemplifying 
 their strange notions. Whether public opinion be right or 
 wrong on this subject, young wonuMi are not the proper troops 
 to be pushed to the front rai\k in the attack upon it. On tho 
 wall of (lie building, outside, was sus])ended the Declaration of 
 the American Anti-Slavery Society, framed, and in the style of a 
 fac-siniile of the Declaration of American Independence. No- 
 thing hardly could have been invented more insulting to Ameri- 
 can Vecling. Indeed, if tho Abolitionists had wished for a row, 
 they could hardly have adopted measures more likely to bring it 
 about. 
 
 Still Ave, in common with tho friends of Colonization univer- 
 sally, reprobate and condemn the disturbance which was made. 
 Inexcusable as were tho proceedings of the Abolitionists, they 
 form no excuse for the interruption of their meeting. The right 
 to meet and discuss all topics belongs to those who are in the 
 wrong as much as to those who arc in the right. Public opin- 
 ion needs reform in our city on this subject. The disturbance at 
 Chatham Chapel was a small atVair compared Avith Avhat Ave 
 have frequently Avitnessed at public meetings on exciting topics. 
 
 INCENDIARISM. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, July 10, 1834.] 
 
 A ii.\NDniLL of the most incendiary character Avas seen posted 
 about the city earl)^ yesterday morning, headed 
 
 " LOOK OUT FOR KIDNAPrERS ! !" 
 
 Then folloAvs a cut, representing a negro-driver mounted on a 
 horse, Avith a double-thonged Avhip, driving before him a colored 
 man, Avhose Avife aiul children are almost clinging to the horse to 
 prevent the imnatural separation. And Avhat is the object of 
 this expressive cut, in its present application ? Nothing more 
 nor less than an appeal to mob violence, against the execution of 
 the hiAvs, — nay, of the Constitution ; Avhich expressly provides 
 that " no person held to service or labor in one State under the 
 Iravs thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any 
 law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or la- 
 bor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to Avhora 
 such service or labor may be due." The details of the handbill 
 we decline copying. It Avill be sufficient to state that it records. 
 
INCENDIARISM. 189 
 
 in the most oflcnsive terms, tlie circumstances of a claim pre- 
 sented to om- courts, for tlie surrender of tliree (alleirod) run- 
 Jiway slaves — a man, his Avifc, and child. It concludes as fol- 
 lows : — " Will men wlio \ovo liberty, and believe that all inno- 
 cent men have a rijrht to it, tamely see such villainy perpetrated 
 by law in this city? — A man would be hunL,^ for it, if committed 
 on the coast of Africa ! — Opposition to tyrants is obciditiuce to 
 (^)d." 
 
 'J'liis haiKll)ill is dated July 8th. As the Emancipator of tho 
 day previous contains the same thing in substance;, and in nearly 
 tiM! same phraseology, (with some omissions,) we d<;em it fair to 
 iiil'er tliat both are tin; offspring of the same parents — i. c, of 
 tbc Aljolitionists : of those; who, " whatever else they may be, 
 ar(!, to a man, thorough-going advocates of non-r(!sistance." la 
 tliis resjx'ct they are like; most other in(;endiaries. Their busi- 
 ness is, not defense but allack. They set the whole community 
 in a blaze by their violence, — call men pirat(^s, thieves, kidnap- 
 ])('rs, knaves, villains, c^c. — encourage tlie blacks to rescue slaves 
 from tlie hands of the pcjlice, (read tin; above extracts from the 
 jiandbill) when about to be given up to their masters in obedi- 
 ence to the Constitution, — but they never "resist," — oh, no! 
 that would b(! most unkind and uncdiristian. Their business is 
 simply to fire the train ; the explosion tlu^y leave to others. It 
 is with the greatcist reluctance; that we ('.\-j)rcss ours(!lv(;s thus in 
 regard to men, for some of whom we eiitcrrtain a high inspect, 
 and whose motives, i. c, the motives of some of them, we have 
 111) doubt are much better than those; of Saul of Tarsus, when he 
 thought he did God s(;rvice by persecuting the church. But, 
 situated as we are, we cannejt keep silence without being misun- 
 derstood, — neither can we, as faithful sentiiuils, permit such 
 inueiidiaiy proceedings to go on, without lifting up our voice 
 against them. No one can be more opposed to slavery in the 
 abstract than we are ; no one can be more desirous to see it 
 (lone away, " as soon as it can be done peaceably and on reason- 
 able terms." We are willing to be taxed to any extent in com- 
 inun with the rest of the country, to indemnify slaveholders for 
 their slaves, and with their consent, to set the slaves free. But 
 we have no idea that this vast work can be a(;complislied by do- 
 iiuiicialion, or the calling of hard nam(!s, or by opjiosiiig the only 
 jiiaclieal enterprist; yet in ojieration, which looks towards the ac- 
 coinplishnfKMit of so glorious a result. It is now more, than a 
 year that the Abolition papers, here and in Boston, have been 
 vilifying the Colonization Ho(;iety and Colonizationists, l)y a 
 couiso of systematic misrepresentation whicli never had a paral- 
 
190 INCENDIARISM. 
 
 lei, among papers pretending to moral honesty, since we first 
 became acquainted with the newspaper press. 
 
 Such weapons may avail temporarily, but they never can con- 
 duct a righteous cause " to glory and to victory." 
 
 But while Ave express ourselves thus fully in reprobation of the 
 course pursued by the so-called Abolitionists, we wish to caution 
 their opponents, whether Colonizationists or otherwise, against 
 countenancing, either by word or deed, any resort to a mob police. 
 We have had too much of such government of late, — and if en- 
 couraged, it will eventually overwhelm us. Besides, the Aboli,- 
 tionists, as citizens, have rights, which do not at all depend upon 
 the correctness of their opinions, or the wisdom of their meas- 
 iires. On this subject we concur with the following remarks 
 from a communication which Avas sent us yesterday : ' 
 
 " The Constitution of the United States permits the citizens of 
 this land, of all creeds, complexions and parties, to assemble 
 peaceably, and deliberate on subjects of interest or of grievance, 
 and to labor for such issues as they may deem good. If then 
 they are peaceable and orderly, and confine themselves to the 
 use of the press and the tongue, no body of men has a right tp 
 molest them ; and if they transcend their rights, the magistrate 
 alone has the prerogative of interfering, and then they may de- 
 mand a legal trial. 
 
 " There is a Aveekly placard, displayed at the doors of Tam- 
 many Hall, inviting the young and thoughtless to attend infidel 
 and profligate lectures, at that place, on the Sabbath-days. 
 Yet, — although the detestable principles there proclaimed, — the 
 mere continuation of the Atheism of the Hall of Science, — are 
 directly calculated to subvert all that is virtuous and sacred ; to 
 underniiue the firm pillars of government ; and to overwhelm all 
 our civil and religious liberties, our peace, prosperity, and im- 
 mortal hopes, in the A^ortex of infidelity, — no mob is there assem- 
 bled to oppose, or to offer the disturbance of a whisper. Nor 
 Avould a friend of the liberties of his country, and much less a 
 friend of religion, lift a finger to arrest the course of these de- 
 luded men, except by the use of persuasion and prayers, — the 
 weapons of the gospel of peace." 
 
REVIEW OF JAY. 191 
 
 JAY ON COLONIZATION AND ANTI-SLAVERY. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May IG, 1835.] 
 
 AVe opened this book with a respect transferred to it from its 
 autlior, and rejoicing that now certainly \vc were in possession of 
 sometliing written in good temper, witli fairness of statement and 
 soundness of argument. As to the first, our anticipations are in 
 a good degree reahzed. But as to the hist two, we confess we 
 iyi3 disappointed. 
 
 Tlie first part of the book is devoted of course to an attack on 
 Colonization. The last is occupied with a defense of Anti-Slavery, 
 technically so called. With the hitter part we shall not now in- 
 terfere. We claim for Abolitionists, as we do for all Americans, 
 their right to express their sentiments and give their reasons, in 
 ^pee(ches or in writing, in pubhc or in private, alone or in associ- 
 ations, so they only do it peaceably, and as good citizens. And 
 this whetht^r they be in the right or in tlic wrong, whether wise or 
 foolish. Il is therefore only when Abolitionists have carried their 
 war upon the community to a degree of violence which the in- 
 terests of no cause could warrant, that we have felt obliged to 
 resist their movements. 
 
 In his attack upon Colonization, Mr. Jay begins with stating 
 that " a powerful institution is now in operation which professes 
 to be, not merely a remedy for slaveiy, but the only remedy that 
 can be devised." We confess this assertion cost us half our 
 confidence in the book It is totally incorrect, and has often been 
 declared so. There are thousands who believe Colonization tlie 
 only feasible remedy for slavery lultich has yet been devised ; and 
 it has been abundantly proved that it is a possible remedy. 
 Yet that practically it will be an adequate remedy remains to be 
 seen. That it is " the only remedy that can be devised," no Co- 
 lonizationist can claim foreknowledge enough to declare. If in 
 half a dozen instances, scattered over fifteen years, the advocates 
 of Colonization have in the ardor of their debate spoken at all in 
 this way, their expressions have referred to the state of things 
 actually existing, rather than to possible future events. But 
 who ever thought before, of insisting that a thing was good for 
 nothing merely because some of its enthusiastic admirers had said 
 it was good for everything ? According to this mode of argu- 
 ment, if once in two years some fiiend of temperance should pro- 
 claim it as the only remedy for all the ills of life, tlien the Ame- 
 rican Temperance Society ought to be hunted from the world. 
 It is thus that Abolitionists usually attack Colonization. Tliey at- 
 tach to it claims it never made, and then prove those claims ill 
 
192 COLONIZATION AND ANTI-SLAVERY. 
 
 founded. They put up their own men of straw, then knock them 
 over, and huzza for victory. 
 
 The next cliarge which Mr. Jay brings, is, that the Constitu- 
 tion of the American Colonization Society " has no preamble set- 
 ting forth the motives which led to its adoption." This cluii-ge 
 he fastens upon the Society by quoting the constitution itself. 
 Certainly it is a most suspicious circumstance ! Mr. Jay thinks 
 it was "probably not witliout design." Yet our wisdom was 
 never deep enough to penetrate to this thought, till we found it 
 in (he book. A constitution without a prcambh^. ! Let all good 
 Abolitionists open both- eyes and hold up both hands ! 
 
 The third charge is almost as bad as the second. It is, that 
 men whose opinions are wide apart ■ on other subjects, come 
 and act harmoniousl}^ together on this ; and that " this anomalous 
 amalgamation of character and motives has necessarily led to la- 
 mentable compromise of principle." Men should, then, not come 
 together upon a point in which they are agreed, but upon those 
 matters only about which they differ. The members of the Bible 
 Society and the Tract Society ought to take this charge into seri- 
 ous consideration, and make no more " anomalous amalgama- 
 tions," — but the Episco})alians should talk of nothing but " Mo- 
 tlier Church," the Presbyteiiaiis of the General Assembly, and the 
 Methodists of the Bench of Bishops. To throw away their 
 weapons of war and come together to do a good thing in which 
 they are all agreed, such for instance as distributing " the Bible 
 without note or comment," implies according to the argument of 
 Mr. Jay "compromise of principle." It really implies only a 
 compromise of ill nature. 
 
 After going over these tangible grounds of condemnation, Mr. 
 Jay turns awaj^ to search more uncertain territories. He says, 
 " True it is, that the (,\)lonization Society protests against being 
 judged by any but the official language of the board of managers. 
 To the justice of this protest it is impossible to assent. The So- 
 ciety is arraigned at the bar of public opinion, not for the object 
 avoiocd in the Constitution, but for the influence it exerts in vindi- 
 cating and prolonging slavery, and in augmenting the oppression 
 of the free blacks." The italics are Mr. Jay's. Among the fogs 
 of suspicion then, let us go in search of malign influences. It was 
 a long time before it was suspected by anybody but the avowed 
 advocates of slaver}', that the removal of free blacks at their own 
 request to the land of their fathers, was a business of evil influ- 
 ence. Some of them, to be sure, thought the establishment of 
 colonies of free blacks in Africa, which should ultimately grow 
 perhaps into independent and well regulated communities, was of 
 dangerous tendency ; — that it ^7as making too much of the blaeks. 
 
REVIEW OF JAY. 193 
 
 a,n(l would be likely to produce discontent among those who re- 
 mained in slavery. The men who now compose the Anti-Slavery, 
 or more properly Anti-Colonization party, were many of them for 
 years the advocates of Colonization, and cliielly on the ground that 
 its " influence" went to meliorate the condition of our colored 
 population. At length however one of them thought he " smelt 
 a rat," and within three or four years something of a party has 
 been formed, of men who have opened their eyes to the delusion 
 in which they were involved, and now think there is no virtue on 
 earth equal to that of pulling down the work they had been so 
 long and honestly building up. 
 
 But where are the evil influences of Colonization ? It seems to 
 be supposed that a sort of miasmatic atmosphere surrounds this 
 undertaking, surcharged with misery and death for the poor 
 negro. " A strong and very general prejudice exists against 
 the free blacks," says Mr. Jay. " It is unfortunately the policy 
 of the Society to aggravate this prejudice, since the more we abo- 
 minate these people, the more willing we shall be to pay money 
 for the purpose of getting rid of tliom." 
 
 A charge of deeper depravity than this is not often made. 
 A charge too, entirely gratuitous and without foundation. And 
 Avhat proof does Mr. Jay bring to sustain his charge of dupli- 
 city, falsehood and cruelty, against the best and most honor- 
 able men of the nation ? Why, he quotes the speeches and 
 writings of Colonizationists, in which for the purpose of moving 
 the compassion of the public towards the blacks and exciting 
 their fellow-citizens to make an effort to cure the dreadful evils 
 connected with their condition, their degradation has been spoken 
 of as it is. Among the passages quoted is the following, from 
 an editorial article in the African Repository, the official journal 
 of the American Colonization Society. " There is a class (free 
 blacks) among us, introduced by violence, notoriously ignorant, 
 degraded and miserable, incntulb/ diseased, broken spirited, acted 
 upon by no motives to honorable exertion, scarcely reached in 
 their debasement by the heavenly light." How " mentally dis- 
 eased" must that man be, who could see duplicity, fraud and 
 cruelty, in such expressions of truth and compassion ! Surely the 
 missionaries who send appalling statements of the ignorance and 
 wickedness around them, may better be told that they seek to 
 aggravate the prejudices of Christians against their fellow-beings. 
 Nay, the Bible itself is quite open to the animadversion of Aboli- 
 tionists in this respect. The word prejudice Mr. Jay uses pretty 
 much as demagogues use " monopoly," a mere sound to catch 
 the unthinking. Some Abolitionists would almost make us think 
 9 
 
104 COLONIZATION AND ANTI-SLAVERY. 
 
 it a " prejudioo" to believe that negroes are blnok. It is how- 
 ever not a prejudice to believe the truth, be it >vh:it it may. 
 
 Next comes a charge that Ct^lonizatiou is unfavorable and op- 
 posed to the education and elevation of the blacks. One chief 
 evidence of this is. that many friends of Colonization have express- 
 ed the opinion that they can never be elevated to an equality with 
 the whites, or in fact to any satisfactory point in this country. 
 Thus an opinion, honestly and sympathetically held by four-tifilis 
 of the ])hilanthropists of our country, is metamorphosed into a 
 wicked passion. 
 
 Of course Mr. ,lay reiterates the charge that Colonization, by 
 assisting the blacks to llee from the oppression they endure, be- 
 comes accessory to that oppression, 'fhe argument, is this ; — 
 Colonization assists free blacks to go to Liberia; in consequence of 
 this, the free blacks are treated with greater severity in the States 
 in which they reside, in order that they may be made wilHng to 
 go. £riio. Colonization is accessory to the oppression. The ar- 
 gument confounds the distinction between innocent and guiltj' 
 causes. After the massacre at Southampton in Virginia, the 
 free blacks were hunted and shot like wolves. They lied trem- 
 bling in every direction, and Colonization stepped forth and ssiid, 
 " Spare their lives, and I will take them away.'' This act Aboli- 
 tionists have the stoicism to charge as a crime, and declare that 
 Colonizatioi\ is guilty of the sulVerings inflicted on the blacks by 
 their affrighted ]HM-secutors. If there is a climax to perversity in 
 argument, it is this. 
 
 Again, some men engaged in acts of ojipression have called 
 on the name of Colonization : erijo, says Mr. Jay. Colonization was 
 accessory to the crimes they committed. But time would fail us 
 to mention one half of the wrong positions taken in this book. 
 For in truth, there is, in our humble estimation, scarcely a para- 
 graph which has not more or less of perversion. Its wholesale 
 dealing with regard to facts, is quite remarkable. We have not 
 space in a newspaper to go into details on this point. We may 
 mention the paragraph with which he sets out as an illustration 
 of the manner in which the author foregoes all regard to accu- 
 racy in driving at his object. There llie number of slaves in the 
 United States is put down at '2,245,144 ; and it is added, "they 
 are moreover kept in ignorance, and compelled to live without 
 God, and die without hope." Yet further along in the book, 
 Mr. Jay puts down some hundreds of thousands of these very 
 persons as savingly (>nlightened by the gospel, and on their way 
 to heaven, full of hope. Such is the effect upon an honest and 
 intelligent and philanthrojiic man, of giving himself up to suspi- 
 cion and jealousy. His mind is carried away by airy nothings. 
 
REVIEW OF JAY» 195 
 
 lie socs hob'^oblins and cliimftras diro in evory direction, but they 
 have their parenta;^e in bis fancy alone. There are no opinions 
 with which we have ever been conversant, which so utterly over- 
 throw the mind, as those of the new sect called Abolitionists. 
 They attack Colonization wi'h arrows dipt in poison and pens in 
 gall, and seem to think all the furies should be raised to put it 
 down. Yet ask them calmly what they have to say against " co- 
 lonizing free people of color in Afnca with their own cf^nsent," 
 and they answer, nothing at all. We have put this question to 
 many of them, and without exception this is their answer. And 
 we venture to predict that if any one will ask Mr. Jay his opinion 
 of this simple matter of Colonization, Mr. Jay will answer that he 
 APi'ROVKSof it. After all the great efforts of this book, its whole- 
 sale statements, iLs perversions, and its unmeasured denunciation 
 of the best of men, he will say that he aim'kovks of Colonization. 
 What he disapproves are things of his own creating. Abolition- 
 ists hatch cockatrice eggs, then fall to beating their own pro- 
 geny, and if you ask them wliat they are aljout, they say they 
 are lighting Colonization ! 
 
 There is one subject in which we most cordially agree with 
 Mr. Jay. It is the severity with which he reproves the conduct 
 of the people of Cormecticut for their treatment of Miss Crandall 
 and her school. Here were the whole powers of a State, with the 
 machinery of its legislation, brought to act against a single defense- 
 less woman, while the magistrates who invoked the enactment 
 of laws for her oppression, stood by and winked at the violation 
 of all law for her injury. Her crime was, in fact, not that she 
 taught colored girls, but that .she kept her school too near the 
 beautiful mansion of a man who thought himself too genteel to be 
 thus annoyed. To gratify such pride it was, that the Legislature 
 of Cormecticut were moved to make oppressive laws, and for the 
 same purpose were men countenanced, who trod the just laws of 
 Connecticut under their feet. As citizens, as men, as gentlemen, 
 the whole affair is one of deep disgrace. 
 
 In concluding an article which we could easily extend to any 
 length, we have to say, there have doubtless been some errors in the 
 management of the affairs of th(i Ameiican Colonization Society. 
 Who from the beginning expected anything else? What human 
 wisdom rises to infallibility; nay, in what untried enterprise of dif- 
 ficulty like this, do not men, conscious of their ignorance, enter with 
 deep anxiety, le.st their mistakes should be so great as to be ruin- 
 ous? Doubtless, too, in the hundreds and thousands of speeches 
 which liave been delivered, and reports and essays which have been 
 written for seventeen years, many foolish and erroneous things have 
 been said. These productions, though starting from Colonization, 
 
19G SLAA^ERY AT THE COMMUNION. 
 
 have spread in all diivotions, and inidudod all the various opinions 
 of their authors u])ou the deeply iulerestino; subject of our colored 
 population. With a oieat ileal of what has been written, Coloni- 
 zation has really as little to do. as had the resolution of Mr. 
 Foote, in the Senate of the United States on the public lands, to do 
 with the mighty speeches on the tarilf and nullitication, and every- 
 thino- else, which ao-itated our political councils at that time, jind 
 which were made upon that resolution. Ihit deductino- all which 
 in fairness ought to be deducted of this sort. Colonization is a 
 noblo cause, its olfects already have been g-ood beyond estima- 
 tion. It has pioneered the way to deliverance, both for the white 
 and the black races of oiu- country, from the curse of slaveiy. 
 If others have other plans, let them be presented. Colonization 
 •will not hinder. But who are you, Abolitionists, that you should 
 set up that your remedj'- is " the onlif remedy that can be devis- 
 ed?" AVho are you, that you should attempt to overthrow such 
 a cause as you assail ? WIio are you, that you should accuse 
 Mills and Ashmun of beconiini;- martyrs to establish cruelty and 
 deceit ? Who are you ? What have you done for the negro ? 
 Talk you of how few Colonization has liberated and raised to the 
 rank of men ? Where is 0)u' upon whom yon have conferred 
 like favors ? 
 
 SbAYF.RV AT Till'] COMMUNION. 
 [./•>•()>« the Journal of Coniniiicr, Jinic 20, 18m5.] 
 
 At a preliminary meeting of the Anli-Sla\'ery Society in Bos- 
 ton, on the evening- of the 25th ult., the following resolution was 
 nnanimousli/ adopted : — 
 
 7»«'.svj/i'<(/, That in tlie opinion of tliis convention, one of the most 
 clTectual means lUKler Uoil to per.stiadc the slavelioliler to " p;otlly 
 sorrow " for his sin, in (le'i;railin>'' (uhI's image, anil to brin^ slavery 
 to a si^eeily and blessed termination, is for the cluiroli everywhere to 
 cxeUule from her eomnninion jukI privileges, all those who claim ami 
 hold their fellow-men as property. 
 
 There is in this city, a lady of eminent piety, the widow of a 
 clergyman, who lately resided in Virginia, but who was well 
 known and loved through the whole country, and whose useful- 
 ness extended through every State. That gentleman was the 
 owner of slaves, and they have fallen into the possession of his 
 widow, who has made arrangements for their manumission. 
 These arrangements have been made with a conscientious regard 
 to the best interests of the slaves, and in conformity to^ the 
 
ABOLITIONISM AT ANDOVER. 197 
 
 Golden Rule. Acting with these motives, she has fixed a future 
 day for the freedom of lier slaves, and of course, up to the time 
 when her arrangements take effect, she is excluded from the 
 communion, and all the privileges of the churches ; but the next 
 day she may enjoy them. Wlien men pay the expense of spread- 
 ing a table, they may well invite or exclude whom they please. 
 It seems but reasonable, that the same liberty should be allowed 
 to Him who has been at the expense of spreading the table in 
 question. We are getting to have plenty of churches of temper- 
 ance, and churches anti-masonic, and churches of anti-slavery. 
 
 ABOLITION. 
 
 \^From the. Journal of Commerce, July 28, 1835.] 
 
 It is rumored that George Thompson, the imported agitator, 
 having completed his assault upon the Theological Seminary at 
 Andover, is about to make a similar attack upon Amherst Col- 
 lege. Is there no law by which our literary and theological 
 institutions can be protected against such outrages, especially 
 from foreigners ? At Andover, we understand, he or his co- 
 agitators lectured .seventeen eveninf^s in succession ; the whole 
 object of their mission being to excite an insurrection among the 
 students against the Faculty on the subject of Abolition. These 
 worthy men had endeavored to keep the controversy out of the 
 Institution ; and to avoid any pretext for its introduction, the 
 Colonization Society in the Seminary had submitted to a volun- 
 tary extinction. But it all would not answer. Accordingly a 
 regular siege was laid to the Institution, by Thompson, Phelps 
 & Co., and with the tactics of discipUnarians they contracted 
 their approaches till tliey finally got into a grove near the Insti- 
 tution, where they held foith to some of the students, — the 
 Faculty still persisting in their determination to exclude them 
 from the walls. The language wliich they used on various occa- 
 sions in respect to the Faculty was abusive and disgusting. 
 What other society, pretending to be guided by Christian prin- 
 ciples, ever trampled under foot the rules of propriety and com- 
 mon decency, as the Abolition Society has done, and is habitu- 
 ally doing ? It is not enough to scatter firebrands all over the 
 land ; to sow the seeds of insuri-ection and bloodshed ; to rivet 
 the chains of the slave so tightly tliat all the wisdom of the wise, 
 and all the philanthropy of the benevolent, may not be able to 
 unloose them ; hut lest there should be one spot uncontaminated 
 by tlujir pestiferous influence, they invade the sanctuaries of 
 
lOS DISSOLUTION OF T II F, I^ N I O N . 
 
 loarniiiiX .ind rolii^ion. juul exhort tho stiuloiits to robol iiirninst 
 Ihoir kiiul atul faithful instruoti>»"s ! The spirit, of radioahsm and 
 ins\iboiilination whioh is inhoront in the system of AboHtion as 
 now preaohoil wouKl overturn the institutions of society every- 
 whoiv. and biiui;- in an a^e of anaivhy over which anij;els might 
 woop. Hut thanks to the intellioonce and moderation of our 
 counti-ymen. tl\ey will not loiio- yield then\selves to such deplora- 
 ble ouidance. '('here is a redeemin<^ spirit in the land, and esjH>- 
 cially in New Kti<;land. which will ere long restore things to 
 their proper ei|uilibnuni. Tliere is a light there, >Yhich will 
 soon dispel the fogs and darkness that perverted elotpience has 
 created. And here we wish to ask our respected New Knoland 
 friends who disapprove of the measures of the Abolitionists, 
 whether it is not time to exert their intluence in a more direct 
 antl ilecidcd manner than they have hitherto dt>ne, with a view 
 to the more speedv obo/iiioii of this impracticable bundle o( ab- 
 sunlities which has been concocted under the idea of its being a 
 remeily for slavery ! The disease has been permitted to run till 
 the tokens of otssoia'tu^n are clearly seet\ in prospect, — dissolu- 
 tion, not of slavery, but of tiik Union. And when that is done, 
 we shall have lost tho hold which we now have upon tho South 
 by political ties and social intluence, and the prospects of tho 
 slave will be rendereil more hopeless than ever. How much 
 would the conditioi\ and prospects of the slaves in the British 
 AVest Imlies have been improved by a (ftssohtiion of the union 
 between those colonies and the mother country ? We will not 
 insult the undei-standings of our readers by a rej^ly 
 
 EXCITEMENT AT THE NOUTll AND AT THE SOUTH. 
 [From tfic Journal of Connncrcr, .lugiist 7. lSo5.] 
 
 Witii.K the better discretion of the North is engaged in counter- 
 acting the violent ell'orts of fanatics here, we (u\d ourselv(>s assail- 
 ed by fanatics in the South, not less deserving of rebuke. The 
 threat of separating the l^nion. which had scarcely died away 
 since the settlement of the tariff question, is revived, and made 
 again to stalk abroad to atVright us. It is a cry we always dis- 
 like, come whence it will. To our eai's it speaks ill of the patri- 
 otism of those who make it. and their readiness to adhere in good 
 faith to the compacts of the Constitution. That instrument was 
 not drawn up witi\ the untlerstanding that each State should either 
 have its own way ii\ all things, or throw up the bargain. That 
 would have been childish. Our fathers Jigived to trust then\- 
 
D I H H O L U T I O N OK T 11 K U N T O N . 1 09 
 
 BC'!v<rR to tlir; working of the ^n-at inKtrumcnt they had framed, 
 and ahide the resuh,. 'J'o sound tlie cry of dissolution as the 
 grand argunrient on all rjerasioris of disHatisfaetion, i.s neither juHt 
 nor nnanly. Koin'tiiitif^ like a diiHolution of the Union has f;een 
 attempted once hy the NullifierH, and it was found to he an exeeed- 
 '"o'y fiwkvvard husin<;:-is. J'olil.ieianH were never more puzzled 
 than were thoHe of iSoutli Carolina in framinj^ a nullifyinf^ HyKtem. 
 'I'lie remedy, thou;^h pretty <!n()Ugh on paper, was found far 
 from " pcaceahle" in practice. In the pre.s<;nt case there, Ih no 
 pr(!t<!n8e for K(;paratiori which lias the semblance of BoundncsH. 
 Thfj movementH of which the Houtli cojnplains are made by a 
 portion of the community Uio small to implicate the whole, espc- 
 cially a.H a great majority think with the Houth tliat the course of 
 northern fanatics is wrong, and are doing not a little to counter- 
 act it. The Richmond Whig says the Houth is entitled to legisla- 
 tive interference for preventing the manufacture in the northern 
 cities of those missiles which assail its Iranijuillity. Is it pos/iible 
 (asks the Whig) that the pf>wer f»f the States is not adequate to 
 the suppression of causes of offense against a sister HtaUi, which 
 between foreign States would \)f',juHt cauHe of viar'f 
 
 We shall adopt no such rnfjasures as tlie Whig rccommendH. 
 The thing is as impracticaf>le as the plans of the A bf>litionists. We 
 reanon errors down in this part of the country, except that now 
 and then of late years we have tried a mob. I5ut the new pro- 
 cess has befm found to work exactly by contraries, and wc; hope 
 will never be tried again, i'y the process of reasoning we have 
 brought the Abolitionists to a stand; by the same process, with 
 the favor of Providence, (if the South will let us alone,) will wc 
 entirely deprive them of any power to do mischief. Jt is about 
 two years since the Garrison sect assumed consequence enough 
 to attract public attention, and we dare engage its race, is full lialf 
 run. We acknowledg(! that we think the South has reason to 
 complain loudly, and to be in some measure alarmed > for the 
 effects of the inflammatory conduct of the furious Abolitionists; 
 and if their course should ever come to be pursued by the great 
 mass of northern men, tlie South would have reason to look about 
 for re,inedies. perhaps evcm for those which are violent. JJut why 
 should the South be separated from its friandis ; horn a commu- 
 nity an immense majoiity of whom are for repressing all vio- 
 lenc(; ? Why take such a course merely to revenge the doings of 
 a small minority ? 
 
 J'ut if the case of right were ni',ver so yjlain, how is the sepa- 
 ration of the States to be a remedy for the wrongs of which the 
 South com|)hiins? How would that check the effects of inc(;ndi- 
 ary meetings, and spe,cche8, and books? in the case of the tariff", 
 
200 DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 
 
 we could see how a dissolution of the Union would dissolve the 
 tariff. But in the present case we do not see v.iiat possible rela- 
 tionship there is between the disease and the reniody. If the 
 Union were severed, no territory would be annihilated. The 
 countiT north of Mason and Dixon's line would still exist, and 
 the Abolitionists would be as thick in it as before. The necessi- 
 ties of communication by mail would not be lessened, nor do wo 
 see that in any way anything would be accomplished for the se- 
 curity of the South. On the contrary we can see that mucli of 
 the security they now possess would be taken away. In the first 
 place, the disposition to .stand by the South, and by all proper 
 means to discountenance and oppose the violent measures of 
 which she complains, would be cooled by the consciousness that 
 by the separation she had grossly \iolated her duty and her con- 
 stitutional obligations. The constitutional pledge by which all 
 the States are bound to assist in the suppression of insurrection 
 whenever it may occur, and to restore fugitives, would be at an 
 end. Indeed we see nothing but loss to the South by the despe- 
 rate measure which we are sorry to hear so freely talked of. It 
 Avould be a loss irreparable to all the States, compensated by no 
 good, — no, not the smallest, to any one of them. Why then, in the 
 absence of all motives but the restlessness of passion, should we 
 talk so freely of proving ourselves unAvorthy of our birth-right, — 
 recreant to the inheritance which our fathers purchased for us 
 Avith their blood ? 
 
 The recent violence upon the post-office at Charleston, and the 
 sacrifice of human life in Mississippi upon the charge of conspi- 
 racy, will have a very bad inlluence at the North. If the violent 
 measures of northern Abolitionists have, as was stated by the 
 Richmond Whig, destroyed the Abolition party in Virginia, t-uch 
 events as have recently transpired at the South and West, will 
 have a similar tendency to paralyze the efforts of those at the 
 North who would put down the fanatics around them. As to the 
 doings in IMississippi, there is not yet before the jnihlic any evi- 
 dence that the supposed conspiracy is not wholly and solely a 
 thing of heated imaginations. The confessions of men under tor- 
 ture are entitled to similar account with the watery ordeal by 
 which witchcraft is wont to be tested. Yet has human life been 
 sported with, and the agonies of sufferers, condemned by no legal 
 iiwestigation, mocked and deiided. Northern citizens have been 
 hung up without anything which deserves the name of trial. If 
 it is expected that such cold-blooded violations of law and 
 justice will meet with sympathy at the North, it is a great mis- 
 take. And if sucli measures are to be continued, we despair of 
 opposing Abolitionists with success. But if we may be left to the 
 
LYNCH LAW. 201 
 
 fair warfare of argument, northern intelligence and integrity will 
 soon frown them into silence. But alas, for the poor negro ! — 
 What is he to do in such a conflict ? If the Abolitionists have 
 any compassion where they pretend so much, we pray them to 
 pause in their cruel career. 
 
 OVER-ACTING AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 \_FroTn the Journal of Commerce, August YJ , 1835.] 
 
 Our condemnation of the doctrines and measures of Immediate 
 Abolitionists must not lead us to give countenance to errors on 
 the other extreme. Such is the pretense that the question of sla- 
 very may not be discussed at the North. Such also is the doctrine 
 which makes every one of the 10,000 postmasters in the United 
 States a censor of the press. And such, above all, is the plan of 
 hanging suspected persons at the South, without form of trial. 
 There is reason to beheve that innocent persons have already been 
 sacrificed in this way in Mississippi. It seems incredible that 
 such a mode of discriminating justice or rather injustice, should 
 be publicly approved and advocated by respectable men. That 
 in the heat of excitement and under apprehension of danger, in- 
 stances of the kind should occur, is not indeed strange, however 
 much to be condemned and deplored. But that men professing 
 to be guided by reason and by lav/, should in tlieir cooler mo- 
 ments, sanction such a system of murder, would, we repeat, seem 
 to us incredible, were it not forced upon us by the evidence of 
 our senses. There is the editor of the United States Telegraph, 
 a gentleman and a professed Christian, yet in a paragraph which 
 we copy elsewhere, he publicly expresses his regret that Cran- 
 dall, wlio was arrested in Washington on a charge of circulating 
 Abolition pamphlets, had not been put to death on the spot in- 
 stead of being handed over as he was, to the penalty of the laws ! 
 Does not the editor see that his doctrine is more bloody than that 
 of Nero ? The latter when first desired to sign his name to a list 
 of malefactors who were to be executed in conformity to law, ex- 
 claimed, " I wish to heaven I could not write." But the editor 
 of the Telegraph laments, not only that blood was not shed, but 
 that it was not shed without law and in defiance of law. And the 
 same doctrine has been avowed by many others. Does not the 
 Constitution guarantee to every " criminal" — not innocent persons 
 merely but to every criminal — the right of trial by jury ? When 
 therefore the Telegraph advocates what it calls " summary jus- 
 tice," in cases like that of Crandall, it advocates murder in the 
 
202 RADICALISM. 
 
 eye of the law and of reason, and pours contempt upon the Con- 
 stitution undor whicli wo live. 
 
 If Ave oould make our voice heard over the whole South, we 
 would tell thoni, that they are in danger of ovcr-actim;/ in this 
 matter; t. c. if their object is to prevent the spread of Abolition 
 principles. Public sentiment at the North has changed rapidly 
 against the doctrines of the Abolitionists witliin the last few weeks, 
 and unless the conduct of tlio South sliould be so violent as to 
 create a reaction, there will be a chance, before long, for some- 
 body to ring the funeral knell of the system, as our friend 
 Ludlow was going to do, some time ago, in the case of tlj/o Colo- 
 nization Society. 
 
 THE WORK GOES BRAVELY ON. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, October 3, 1837.] 
 
 The Boston Liberator of Friday is stutfed with communications, 
 resolutions of Anti-Slavery Societies, ttc, denouncing the " Ap- 
 peal" put forth by Rev. Messrs. Fitch and Towne. Abolitionists, 
 of Boston, against the destruction of the Sabbath, the Clergy, the 
 Church, civil government and family government, and against the 
 claims of the Abolitionists to thrust their inllaramatory notices into 
 a minister's pulpit contrary to his known wislies, whenever the op- 
 ]->ortunily is atVorded. by means of ministerial exchanges or other- 
 wise. The " Appeal" ari-ogates nothing tn the clergy but rights 
 essential to their othcial existence : and until tlie laboi-s of the Abo- 
 litionists began to enligliten society into its privileges and duties, 
 .such a dociuncnt would have been considered tame, if not latitudi- 
 narian. We therefore notify the disciples of Faimy ^^'riglu. Robert 
 Dale Owen, and all other intidels and radicals in morals, that while 
 their cause in this quarter is apparently on the wane, light has 
 s]n-ung up for them in the Ea.-t, fast by the graves of the Pil- 
 grims. Go and refresh yourselves with its beams. Yoke your- 
 selves to the cai- of Abt)lition. Doubtless you shall be jiromoted 
 to honor ; yea doubtless, by this new and powerful machinery, 
 you shall accomplish vastly more for the destruction of the insti- 
 tutions of religion, than you have hitherto been able to achieve. 
 Let us give you the watch-words ; they will speak music to your 
 souls. Listen : 
 
 " Down with the Sabbath. 
 
 " Down with the Clergv. 
 
 " Down with the Church and the Sacrament. 
 
 " Down with Civil Coxernment. 
 
 "Down with Familv Covernment." 
 
THE ALTON U I O T . 203 
 
 These will do to be^iri with ; thou<,'h then; are others into which 
 you will he initiated in due time. 
 
 We wish not to he misunderstood. We do not say that all 
 Abolitionists accord with these sentiments; for we know it is 
 otherwise. But we do say, and we can prove, that every one of 
 the doctrines named has been embraced in the teachings of Abo- 
 lition Agents, and propagated at the expense of Abolition Socie- 
 ties. 
 
 THE ALTON RIOT. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, JVovemJjcr 24, 1837.] 
 ******%% 
 Bl't what we designed more particularly to speak of, when we 
 began, was the pertinacity with which the Abolitionists pressed 
 the measure which led to the riot. We admit that nothing which 
 they did, or could do, would juHtifi/ the riot, and of course that 
 from beginning to end it was an outrage of the most flagrant cha- 
 racter. It was both a breach of law and an invasion of right. 
 On a former occasion we expressed our views in regard to it more 
 at hmgth. We have no wish to abate anything of the severity 
 with which we then denounced the transaction. IJut at the same 
 time we must say, that in spite of laws and rights, in spite of the 
 sanctions of the Constitution, in spite (it may be) of the claims of 
 justice and humanity, unlawful resistance will always be liable to 
 follow unj^ielding pertinacity in pressing measures of supposed re- 
 form, in opposition to a strong public sentiment. There is need 
 of wisdom and moderation in the furtherance even of the most 
 desirable reforms. Time, place, and circumstances, must be con- 
 sulted. " Expediency," a much abused word and thing, must be 
 restored to its proper place in men's thoughts. They must 
 remember that they can exercise all their constitutifjnal rights 
 without coming into collision. A. has a constitutional right fo 
 walk the street ; so has B. They both have a constitutional right 
 to walk in such part of the street appropriated to foot passen- 
 gers, as they please. But if one chooses to take just that part of 
 the walk which the other does, and if both insist upon their pre- 
 ference, they will come into collision ; and bloody noses or some- 
 thing worse will probably be the consequence. A little forbear- 
 ance and concession on both sides, — a little waiving of their con- 
 stitutional rights — would have obviated all the difficulty. So it is 
 in matters of greater concern. Men must be gentle in their feelings 
 and conduct, if they would get along without trouble. They 
 must be mindful of the rights and feelings, and even the preju- 
 
204 T 11 K ALTON RIOT. 
 
 dicos of ofliors. Wo do not ask tlu'in to compromise principlo, 
 tliough wf l)('n' llu'in to (listinyuisli hctwoon a steadfast adherence 
 to principle, and a stubborn self-will. Men of ardent tempera- 
 ment, when they have once committed themselves to a cause, 
 want to take the whole world alonij^ with them; and marvel that 
 all will not come at once. Some of them have a leaven of jiride 
 too ; a zeal to be reformers; and not unfrequently they attempt 
 to imitate (he course and maimer of some successful reformer 
 whom they have in their eye. In such cases they very commoidy 
 over-act. Ijulher, for instance, could do many things which 
 'i'iiomas Thumb cannot ; even though the latter should imagine 
 himself a second Lutiier. We hope (hat the di'])lorabIe liols and 
 mob-murders, of which we have had so many e.xaniples within a 
 year or (wt) past, in did'erent parts of the country, Avill arouse the 
 community to (he adoption of (he most oflicient measures for the 
 prevendon and punishment of such outrages in future, and also 
 impart a lesson to those who need it, of the indispensal)lc neces- 
 sity of prosecuting even unquestionably good en(erprises, which 
 bear upon public sentiment, Avith wisdom and moderation. 
 
 TITF, ALTON VJOT. 
 [/'V(>»i the Joiinin/ of Commerce, llt'crmhrrl , ISI]?,] 
 
 A CoRUKsi'ONiiicNT iu allusit^n to (he Al(ou alVair, inquires " if an 
 editor of a newspaper, or any man engaged in a lawiul business, 
 must ask permission of any people (o pursue his business among 
 them." Not unless he chooses to do so. In most cases, he would. 
 wish to consult them, and endeavor to secure their coiiporadon. 
 Yet if he failed in this, — nay, if he found (he peojile united as one 
 man in opposing him and his under(aking, — he might s(ill go 
 ahead and es(ablish his paper if he chose. There is nothing in the 
 Constitution or laws to prevent it. These instruments, on the 
 contrary, ha\e guaranteed (he perfect freeilom of the press and 
 of the tongue. The editor's undertaking, in the case supposed, 
 is a "lawful" one. He has a " constitutional right" to carry it 
 forward. 1 kit av hat then ? ''All things are lawful," almost, — 
 " but all things are not expedient." It is lawful to sell rum, and 
 to do a groat many other foolish and wicked things. The Consti- 
 tution has thrown the doors wide open in regard to civil rights ; 
 in doing which, it presupposed a certain degree of moderation on 
 the part of the people. Unfortunately it presupposed what does 
 not always exist. A moment's retlection would convince any rea- 
 sonable man that all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution 
 
Till', RKilir () I' I'KTiriON. 205 
 
 cannot be exercised, except under restrictions as to time, place 
 and circumstancos. The same (constitution whicli authorizes tlio 
 freedom of spiuicli and of the press in Illinois and iVTiissMchu- 
 sctts authori/(!s it also in South Carolina and Mississippi. Why 
 tluMi, if the Abolitionists are deti^rmincd to insist on all their (;on- 
 s(itntion;il rii;'hts without restriction, do tluiy not establish a ])ress 
 in one of tlu; last mentioned Statt^s ? Are they afraid of bciiij^ 
 mobbed? What! Do we not live under a irovernnu'iit of laws? 
 And are they not competent to the protection of ix pcaccithh: citi- 
 zen enirajred in a lairfal busiiu^ss ? No, friend, they are not ; and 
 "\vh;it is more, they never will b(\ luitil the s(;it(( of soci(tty is radi- 
 cally chani^^id. W(i may complain as loudly and as bitterly as 
 Ave please, that we cannot (!X(^rcise our constitutional rijrhis in such 
 cases, — yet th(! fact remains imtdianifed ; we cannot. An army 
 of 100, 000 men could not make it otherwise. Instead tlu^n 
 of turninL,^ the world upside down because^ we <%aiuiot do as 
 Ave please in all things, it Avould be well for us to considcir 
 Avhether our pleasure is not somcitimes our folly and our sin. Is 
 it W///tn"or us habitually to strain the Constitution toburslini^? 
 Is it Avise ? Is it prudent? Shall W(! ever ifci a better one, if 
 this is destrov(!(i ? 
 
 By the way, nobody is more sensilive to what they call the 
 a})uses of tlu! j)ress, than the Abolitionists. If anythiiit^ is said 
 au;aiiist th(')ii,, it is a drciadful thinir, — a delil)(>rat»^ attempt to j^ctt 
 uj) a mob, ttc. Vet a course of conduct pursu(!d by thems(dv(\s, 
 Avhich tluiy know will rc^sidt in a, mob, is perf(U',tly harmless, — 
 nay, highly meritorious. Their right to the liccMitious use; of the 
 lonirue and th(! press is sacred ; another man's right to the sanu) 
 things is the higlTt of presumj)tion. 
 
 Till-] RKIIIT OK PMTITION. 
 [From the Joxtrnul of Commerce, January 125, 1838.] 
 
 \v our rights are Avhat they should be, thcji it is best to pre- 
 serve them just as they are ; and if Ave would preserve them, 
 Ave must understand them accurately, so as neith(!r to make less 
 of them, nor more, than we intended. It is always the effect of 
 extending one right too broadly, that it trenches upon and dimin- 
 ishes another, either of our own or some other person. The 
 right of ])etition is just Avhat the phrase imports ; and not the 
 right to control the acition of the power to Avhoni the j)etition is 
 sent. The citizens of the country are secured in this right by 
 the Constitution. That instrument, in its amendments, declares 
 
206 THE RIGHT or petition. 
 
 that " Congress shall make no law" for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the citizens from petitioning. AVell, Congress have made no 
 law on this subject ; and tliore is nothing in the way of sending 
 as many petitions to Congress as anybody pleases. Any man, 
 woman or cliild, can send up a petition for the same thing, every 
 day through tlie whole session of Congress ; and that too with- 
 out the payment of postage, or fees, or expenses of any sort. 
 Certainly, then, when people, under such circumstances, com- 
 plain that they are deprived of the right to petition, they must 
 mean something wliich the Constitution does not, and ought not 
 to secure. We say ought not, for obviously the only thing 
 which the Constitution ought to secure, is the right of combina- 
 tion, and arrangement, and organization, according to the peo- 
 ple's pleasure. The grand object of tyrants is to prevent the 
 popular will from being strengthened by organization and consul- 
 tation. A tyi'ant will not allow his subjects to assemble to dis- 
 cuss political toj)ics, or circulate petitions, or in any way act in 
 concert, and so strengthen themselves against their oppressor. 
 The Constitution intends to secure to the inhabitants the full 
 right to combine as much as they please, and in all possible 
 ways ; to talk and write, as loud and as long, as wisely and as 
 foolishly, as violently and as calmly, as they please ; and stops 
 them not until they take up arms, or in some way resort to phy- 
 sical force. If they do this, the Constitution sends them to pri- 
 son ; for the use of physical force interferes with the right of all 
 other persons to write and talk. 
 
 But, it is said, " what possible value can there be in the right 
 of petition, if, after all. Congress are not obliged to give the 
 least heed to our jn^aycrs, not even to read them* and know what 
 they are ?" True enough ; what use is there in drawing up long 
 arguments, if Congress will not be convinced by them ? What 
 use in a long array of signatures, if Congress will not be influenced 
 by them ? What use in petitioning, if our petitions are not granted ? 
 Tliere is all the use whicli an intelligent freeman can desire. The 
 right of petition, as some untlerstand it, would resolve our republic 
 into a democracy of the most disorderly kind. Every citizen, by 
 virtue of the right of petition, would then become a member of 
 Congress, and even moi'e than a member ; for he would possess 
 the prior I'iglit to make motions and aigue topics. If every peti 
 tion must of right be considered, this would be the result. Con- 
 gress have always done what they pleased with petitions. The 
 usual place of jmtting tiiose to rest which it is not desirable to 
 act upon, is in the hands of a committee ; but of this. Congress 
 is to judge for itself. Any other rule than that which gives 
 Congress the entire control over petitions after they are pre- 
 
THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 207 
 
 sented, would be inconsistent with those provisions of the Consti- 
 tution which confer on Congress their powers ; inconsistent with 
 itself ; inconsistent with the transaction of business by Congress ; 
 inconsistent with everything which has order or propriety about 
 it. With these sentiments, we cannot help thinking- tliat the 
 very respectable meeting of young gentlemen at Clinton Hall, last 
 Monday night, mistook the true state of the case when they 
 passed the following resolution, viz : — 
 
 Resolved, That the resolution of the House of Representatives, oflFered 
 by Mr. Patton, of Virginia, and passed on the 21st December last, de- 
 claring that certain petitions " be laid on the table ivithout being deba- 
 TEn, printed, read, or referred, and that no further action whatever 
 shall be had thereon," is a palpable violation of the riglits of petition and 
 debate, exhibits an unjustifiable and indecorous contempt for the opin- 
 ion of a portion of our fellow-citizens, is dangerous as a precedent for 
 innumerable abuses of a similar nature, unconstitutional, and sul)vcr- 
 sivc of the very principles upon whicli our government is founded. 
 
 In our humble judgment, the resolution of Mr. Patton does 
 not touch at all the right of petition ; and the only ground upon 
 which it can be assailed successfully, is, not that of constitu- 
 tional right, but of propricity and expediency. Congress, beyond 
 all question, we think, had the full right to adopt that resolution 
 if they deemed it expedient. That it was expedient, we shall 
 not say. But we do say that there was pressing necessity for 
 some measure that should allay the excitement in Congress, and 
 restore such calmness among the members as that the public 
 business could receive attention. The reading and printing of 
 the petitions would liave made great expense of time and money, 
 and could not, by any possibility, have enabled the members of 
 Congress to understand the subject better tlian before. 'J'here 
 is no pretense that the petitions contained a single idea Avhich 
 had not been fully before tlie blouse a hundred times before. 
 Tluiy all prayed for the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
 lumbia ; a measure Avhich Congress had with great unanimity 
 resolved that it was inexpedient to adopt. These petitions were 
 s(!Mt in, more for the sake of producing excitement and agitation, 
 tiian for the purpose of convincing anybody. They furnished 
 the means of indulgence to the scolding propensities of J. Q. 
 Adams, and helped him to set Congress on fire daily, as Nero 
 did Rome, for his amusement. We think the sport reprehen- 
 sible in the highest degree, unpatriotic, and dangerous. Since 
 the adoption of Mr. Patton's resolution, comparative quiet has 
 been restored to Congress, and that body has attended to better 
 business, though wc cannot say that they have brought any 
 great good to pass. 
 
208 THE IIIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 The Abolitionists are now trying, as tluMr last shift, to continue 
 the storm thov have raised, (and which, but tor some new expe- 
 dient, must subside.) by reviving old animosities against the 
 South. Our southern brethren are high-toned, ami ottentnnes 
 rash. They do not endure provocations with the Christian cha- 
 rity nor the calm magnanimitv which would be to their credit. 
 They have been wronged most deeply, nwst ungenerouslv. most 
 wickedly, by the Abolitionists. We caution our fellow-citi/AMis 
 agtxinst being drawn into the plans of the agit-iUors, upon this 
 most unpatriotic and dangerous ground, of opposition to the 
 fiery temper of the South. Let the North be iii-st just, and 
 then, if possible, generous. Sectional prejudices have been here- 
 tofore fostered by political aspirants, and will be again. But it 
 is a diuigerous game. The Father of his countiy warned us on 
 this head. All our sages liave done the same. 
 
 As to the abolition of slavery in the Distiict of Columbia, desi- 
 rable as in our estimation it is, there is no hope of it, until the 
 Abolition fury has blown over, and calmness and kindness are 
 restored. The only way for the judicious and real friends of 
 that measure is, to wait the returning current of events, which 
 shall set us back where we were seven years ago, when we our- 
 selves could advocate the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, and in all the South, with some hope of usefulness; 
 when in Virginia. !Marylaiul. and Kentucky, the abolition of 
 slavery was freely advocated by the best and ablest men of those 
 States. l)ut their n\ouths are closed now, though we trust not 
 forever. We trust the day is not far distant, when the greatest 
 danger of our country, its most crying sin, its deepest disgrace, 
 juhI its most blighting curse, shall again become, as it always 
 ought to be. the theme of our anxious and earnest, yet kir.d and 
 patient deliberation. The first step toward such a state of 
 things, is to stop the broad and deep current of vituperation and 
 slander which is ever tlowing from the North to the South, and 
 which, instead of producing the effect intended, exasperates to 
 madness those who have the sole constitutional control over the 
 subject in the States — the slaveholders, — and brings them at 
 once into an attitude of detiance. If tliis is the way to abolish 
 slavery, our judgment is strangely perverted. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA HALL. 209 
 
 PHILADELPHIA ABOLITIONISTS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 19, 1838.] 
 
 TriR City of Brotherly Love lias boon kcjjt in a pretty consider- 
 ;iblo formont for two or throo days past, by the presence of the 
 (lonrral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, who had s<jme 
 i(>\x<^\\ (juestions to settle ; and especially by the sudden appear- 
 ance of a petticoat convention, black and white, assembled from 
 parts unknown. Then there was the dedication of Agitation 
 ilall, in which the convention held their sittings. Such was the 
 occupancy of the hall on the day previous to its destruction ; we 
 mean it wiis occupied by the petticoat convention ; and on the 
 evening previous, three women, besides William Lloyd Garrison, 
 held forth to a very promiscuous assembly of 3000 persons. Now • 
 we suppose it would be highly improper for us to express any 
 doubt v/lu!th(!r such conduct is becoming the modesty which 
 ought to l)(;long to the female sex, — and which does belong to a 
 good pait of tliem, — for we have learned by experience, that 
 any disapprobation, even the slightest, of the conduct of the Abo- 
 litionists, in a time of excitement against them, is interpreted into 
 a direct encouragement of the mob. For ourselves, we disap- 
 prove both of the mob and the causes of it. We do not say we 
 disapprove of the two things equally ; for they do not exactly 
 admit of comparison. An open violation of the decencies and 
 proprieties of !if(; is not in all respects so bad as burning a house ; 
 yet it is no bad, and productive of so much mischief, that the per- 
 petrators, especially if women, ought to hide their heads with 
 shame, lieally, we have fallen upon beautiful times, when white 
 dandies with spectacles, and black wenches, — and black dandies 
 "with white wenches, — must show themselves off in our most pub- 
 lic promenades, walking arm in arm ; and in our churches, min- 
 gled like the squares on a checker board ; and when women, (0 
 that the Apostle Paul would come among us,) with more brass 
 than men can readily command, are seen holding forth to large pro- 
 miscuous assemblies, or traveling hundreds of miles to meet in 
 convention ! 
 
 THE ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 29, 18.38.] 
 
 Wk shall prf)bably have occasion to use this captioa but a few 
 times more. The meteor has passed across our planet with a 
 scorching heat which burned its own hair, and has at last explod- 
 ed, and the fragments are fast losing their power of conflagration. 
 
210 THE ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 It has been rather a wonderful affair upon the whole. A few 
 violent spirits, led on by Garrison, a man of talents and perseve- 
 rance and vindictive hate, came forth as the opponents of slavery 
 in a community the freest in the world, whose grandfathers had 
 abolished slavery with the utmost detestation of the thing, — a 
 detestation which has descended in full force to their posterity. 
 On the capital of this universal sentiment they have contrived to 
 carry on a pretty large trade of agitation, by getting themselves 
 up as above all the champions who would lead on the people to 
 the gratification of their dislike of slavery. In the progress of 
 their warfare, they have not distinguished themselves as the op- 
 ponents of slavery ; that was impossible. But they have distin- 
 guished themselves by their furious denunciations of everybody 
 who did not instantly fall down and worship the idol which they 
 had set up ; by their disregard of all Christian and gentlemanly 
 courtesy ; by the fallacious modes of reasoning which they adopt- 
 ed ; by the axioms which they laid down as fundamental tniths, 
 almost all of which had some admixture of palpable error ; and 
 perhaps above all, by their perversion of the king's English, which 
 they carried so far as to make a dialect for themselves, which a 
 common English scholar could by no means understand. After 
 a long dispute about the propriety of the immediate abolition of 
 slavery, you would find that hnviediate meant only doing some- 
 thing now with the hearty purpose of putting an end to slavery 
 at some day far ahead ; and perhaps you would find at last, that 
 the furious advocate of immediate emancipation was really for 
 making a much longer process of it than yourself. " Slavehold- 
 er" does not with them mean a holder of slaves, but a holder of 
 slaves with mere mercenary designs ; whereas, a man may hold 
 slaves never so many and never so long, if only he would adopt 
 their notions about the light of the case, and then he is no 
 slaveholder at all. The Catholic doctrine of intention was every- 
 thing with them. 
 
 At first, the matter was much misunderstood by many persons, 
 and the more, because some, and even most of these violent spi- 
 rits, had made high professions of piety, and had in fact been as- 
 sociated in many good things. Their sophistry confounded some. 
 They made a syllogism thus : They said ; Is not slavery a sin ? 
 Yes. Ought not all sin to be immediately repented of? Yes. 
 Well then, they exclaimed, ought not the sin of slavery to be imme- 
 diately repented of and abandoned ? This they would say with a 
 self-complacent sneer of triumph, as if such logic must shut up all 
 mouths ; and yet in their public documents and private conver- 
 sations, they declared themselves unconvinced by it, and that sla- 
 very ought not to be immediately abolished. It was not every 
 
THE ABOLITIONISTS. 211 
 
 one wlio could see where the fallacy of this logic lay ; and only 
 those who had become familiar with the use of tlie cut and thrust 
 sword could slash it open and show its falsity so plainly as to 
 shut up the declaimer's mouth. With furiousness and unfairness, 
 and vindictivencss, and some other evil things, these men con- 
 tinued to iri'itate the lower classes, and to get up mobs in several 
 instances, while they compelled tlie more thinking and substan- 
 tial part of the community to take their stand in opposition both 
 to the Abolitionists, who violated all moral and conventional laws, 
 and to the mob, who violated the civil and statute codes. Some, 
 from their detestation of the mobs, were carried over to join the 
 Abolitionists entirely. Generally, when there was personal danger 
 to be feared from the mob, the Abolitionists took their lives in their 
 hands, and cleai-ed out, leaving the storm they had raised to be 
 calmed by the sensible part of their opponents, and then they usu- 
 ally charged the getting up of the mob upon the men who Iiad put 
 it down. We remember no one except Lovejoy, who has put 
 himself in the breach. The result with him has done nothing to 
 inspire others. In Philadelphia, the morning after their Hall was 
 burned, they held a solemn meeting in front of the ashes, and ad- 
 journed sine die. 
 
 It was evident from the beffinninof, that this sect must be short- 
 lived. They lived on violent passions, and their only hope was 
 in agitation and fury. But violent passion is always of short du- 
 ration. Another mortal deficiency in their plan was the want of 
 any tangible end to be accomplished. This is always necessary 
 in order that men should be long kept together. The Abolition 
 agitators could not, in the nature of the case, have any such end, 
 the accomplishment of which they could see going on. They 
 have expended some half million of dollars, it may be, in all, in 
 printing pamphlets and newspapers, and sending agents all over 
 the free States to convert people to Abolitionism who in every 
 good sense were already better Abolitionists than themselves. 
 The labor was only beating the air. Besides all this, it was evi- 
 dent that the accumulation of numbers to their standard would 
 be death to their cause; for although many might be impregnat- 
 ed with the distinctive mania of the new sect, the great mass of 
 adherents would be of a character too calm and sensible to sup- 
 port the furious fight on which the leaders were bent. So it has 
 turned out. A great many members of the Abolition Societies 
 have turned conservatives, and are actually the most efficient op- 
 ponents of the madness of their leaders. The community gene- 
 rally, though greatly excited at first, have ceased to care much 
 for the noise. Even the southern slaveholders, though driven by 
 their resentment to many most foolish and wicked speeches and 
 
212 THE ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 deeds, have now become more cool and self-possessed. The zeal 
 of the Abolitionists themselves has also cooled somewhat, if we 
 may judge from their diminishing efforts. They have tried to re- 
 kindle the zeal of their party by the fires of Pennsylvania Hall, 
 but we apprehend, with no great success. 
 
 The catastrophe of the aftair seems now to have arrived. The 
 leaders, in their efforts to turn the heads of the public, have pretty 
 thoroughly addled their own. They have, as is the end of fana- 
 tics commonly, espoused the most monstrous errors. Garrison 
 denounces the Sabbuth, the clergy, all government, even that of 
 the family, and teaches the little ones to disobey their parents, for 
 this is right. In this he is joined by several others. Miss 
 Grimke has, with some other women and men, turned off from 
 declaiming against the oppression of the blacks, to denouncing the 
 oppression of the women. Some of them have become perfec- 
 tionists, and now count themselves too good to associate even 
 ■with white folks ; and Mr. Stewart, of Utica, has created a grand 
 split by declaiming that the society was wrong in the declaration 
 it had placed in its constitution, that with the States alone rests 
 the power to legislate on the subject of slavery. Mr. Stewart 
 was able to convince a majority of members at the last sitting, 
 that in this fundamental avowal they were utterly wrong. He 
 said such a doctrine was quite in the way of their success ; for 
 when the people were urged to join the Abolitionists, a great 
 many pointed to that clause in the Constitution, and very coldly 
 said, if that be true, what's the use of anti-slavery societies in the 
 free States ? This very sensible common sense logic was too 
 much for Mr. Stewart, and so with a true Abolition heart, he is 
 for putting all impediments out of the way. On the whole, these 
 loving men and women, blacks and whites, abhorring all preju- 
 dice about sex or color, have got their claws pretty well into each 
 others' hair, and whatever may be left of the persons, there will 
 be hardly a grease-spot, in three years, to mark where Abolition 
 once sat. We said, whatever may be left of the persons. Here 
 is to us a melancholy thought. Many of the leaders will be left 
 intellectual wrecks, (we hope not moral wrecks,) to warn all who 
 navigate the moral seas, to beware how they abandon the teach- 
 ings and temper of the great Book of charts. 
 
CHURCH ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES. 213 
 
 ABOLITION IN THE <3HURCHES. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, February 2, 1839.] 
 
 The Abolitionists are holding a great city convention here, 
 about these days, and trying hard to blow up the expiring embers 
 of agitation. One of the measures resolved upon, is, Ave under- 
 stand, to form an Anti- Slavery Society in every church in the city, 
 and very likely in the country too. They would perhaps like to 
 form an Abolition Society in every quiet and happy family if they 
 could. As to the Church Anti-Slavery Societies, they are in vio- 
 lation of the plainest principles of fairness, though in accordance 
 ■with the policy which has been adopted too much, in connection 
 with other efforts at reform, and sanctioned by much high autho- 
 rity, 'besides that of Abolitionists. The churches are well formed 
 associations, and if their united action can be turned to any one 
 point, the results are likely to be important. So they have been 
 made the cauldrons to boil all soups in. But it ought to be re- 
 membered that churches are associations for one purpose, and the 
 members being agreed on this one 2}oint, live together very affec- 
 tionately, though on other matters they may hold very diverse 
 opinions. It is easy to see, that if one party undertake to pervert 
 the association and make it into a temperance society ; another 
 party to make it into an anti-slavery society ; another, a moral re- 
 form society ; another, an anti-masonic society ; and all the rest, 
 something else, that the original design of the institution is over- 
 thrown, and a peaceful association turned into a bedlam. The 
 same reasoning would apply to any other association. It is often 
 the case that associations formed for other purposes, are attempt- 
 ed to be made into political engines. This is always complained 
 of, and justly ; for it is unfair, and a violation of the pledge given 
 on entering the association. We do not expect to convince Abo- 
 litionists with this reasoning, obviously just as it is ; but we hope 
 to convince other men, and induce them to let the churches at- 
 tend to their own proper business ; viz., the promulgation of the 
 Gospel simply, and an attendance upon its ordinances. As to 
 the new spasm of Anti-Slavery, we hope the churches will " take 
 it coolly." They will not be hurt if they behav^e wisely. The effort 
 will prove itself feeble for mischief, if so designed. Abolition 
 has had its day ; its character is well understood ; its adherents 
 are falling off sick ; and in all respects it has ceased to be an 
 alarming apparition. 
 
214 DIVISION AMONG ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 ABOLITION. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 12, 1840.] 
 
 Our good friends the Abolitionists are gettmg into a pretty 
 considerable snarl, from which we wish them a safe deliverance. 
 As they have had but little fighting to do with the public of late, 
 they have gone at it, hammer and tongs, among themselves. We 
 expect they will end where the Kilkenny cats did. 
 
 Be it known, then, to all horned cattle, that the Executive 
 Committ(;e of the American Anti-Slavery Society, including its 
 worthy President Arthur Tappan, Esq., are regarded by the Gar- 
 rison faction as far, — very far behind the age. They are not up 
 to the latest humbugs by a long way. They do not hold to the 
 non-resistance, no-human-govcrnment theories ; they do not de- 
 nounce the clergy ; they are not in favor of dressing out Avomen 
 with boots and spurs ; they can't go perfectionism ; they regard 
 the Sabbath as a divine institution ; and in various other respects 
 they are guilty of the most alarming heresies. Therefore they must 
 be ousted from their places ; and to this end Garrison and his 
 party are coming on, or ha\e come on, with all the strength they 
 could muster, — male and female, black and white, — to vote these 
 gentlemen out of office. And they will succeed ; we have no 
 doubt of it. One feature of the Abolition Society is, that eveiy 
 member, male and female, has a right to vote in its meetings ; 
 and as the admission fee is a mere song, it is the easiest thing 
 in the world for any restless individual who is mean enough, and 
 willing to take the trouble, to turn the administration of the 
 society up side down. So here she goes. To-morrow is the day 
 for the tragedy to be enacted. In the mean time we copy from 
 the last Lie-berater, the rallying-cry of the revolutionary party : 
 " The New York Anniversary. — If after all the facts that have 
 been laid before the Abolitionists of the country, respecting the 
 plan to abolish the National Society, and to put the management 
 of our cause into the hands of a select body of men, &c., Ac, — 
 and after all the warnings and appeals that have been made to 
 them, to rally together at New York, next week, in order to keep 
 our common platform from being broken down by the hoof of 
 sectarianism — they shall neglect to give an overwhelming attend- 
 ance, it will prove conclusively, that Abolitionism is indeed 'going 
 down.' In order to enable such of the friends of the ' Old Or- 
 ganization' in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode 
 Island, as wish to be present at the meeting, without incurring 
 much expense, we are requested to state that arrangements have 
 been made with the railroad and steamboat companies, by which 
 it is expected that delegates may go from this city to New York, 
 
THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 215 
 
 and hack again, for a sum not exceeding five dollars ! They can 
 also be accommodated with food and lodc^ing in New York, for 
 50 cents a da3^ An extia train of cars will leave Boston for Pro- 
 vidence on Monday next, May 11, at half-past 12 o'clock, stop- 
 ping at the intermediate places, on the arrival of which at Provi- 
 dence, the company will embark for New York, in the spacious 
 steamboat Rhode Island, (one of the safest and best boats in the 
 country,) touching at Newport for the accommodation of the 
 friends in New Bedford, Nantucket, Ac, &c. A grand anti-sla- 
 very meeting will be held on board the boat during the passage. 
 Under these circumstances, it is hoped and believed that our 
 friends will muster strong. A special invitation is given to our 
 colored friends to be fully represented on the occasion, as they 
 will be admitted to equal privileges with others, both in the cars 
 and on board the boat." 
 
 SLAVERY— SEPARATION OF CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS INTO 
 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 28, 1845.] 
 
 The question of slavery was above all others the most difficult 
 to be adjusted and settled, at the time of the formation of tiie Fe- 
 deral Government ; and though, in the spirit of compromise, the 
 institution was recognized in the Constitution, and left, as to its 
 continuance or abolition, where it was found, exclusively under 
 the control of the State sovereignties sanctioning its existence, it 
 was then, in its moral relations, and has been ever since, a subject 
 of discussion and agitation. Some have thought, (and Granville 
 Sharp in a letter to Dr. Franklin, dated 1788, expressed this opi- 
 nion,) that the clause in the Constitution permitting tlie longer 
 continuance of the American slave trade, and that of the second 
 section of the third article, requiring the surrender of fugitive 
 slaves, were " so clearly null and void by their iniquity, that it 
 would be even a crime to regard them as law." Others, at the 
 origin of the Constitution, maintained, and many now maintain, 
 that in forming a union of sovereign States, the toleration of evils 
 preexisting in some of those States, and under tlieir exclusive 
 control, if the consequence be clearly conducive to the ameliora- 
 tion and ultimate extinction of such evils, is a dictate of sound 
 morality ; and that the ancient Jewish law touching slaves that 
 might escape from their masters, was a part of the civil code 
 of Judaism only, and not of the moral code of immutable and 
 universal obligation. The whole subject of slavery in these 
 
216 CHRISTIAN DUTY TO THE SLAVES. 
 
 United States is so complicated in its relations, involving so 
 many rights and duties of individuals, of States, of the general 
 government, of respect to the mutual interests of two distinct 
 races of men, as to involve the deepest questions in morals, poli- 
 tics and religion. Hence, for the last ten years, probably no one 
 subject has more occupied the public mind, been more thorough- 
 ly investigated, or earnestly discussed, by the press, by voluntary 
 associations, by ecclesiastical bodies, and by the representatives 
 of the people in the Stale and national councils. The agitation 
 has finally severed the ties of Christian union between the north- 
 ern and southei'n members of two of the largest ecclesiastical 
 communions, and is perhaps threatening others. No such divi- 
 .sions can aft'ect the question of duty in regard to our slave popu- 
 lation, and how far they will contribute to advance or retard its 
 performance, is yet to be seen. We confess our apprehensions, 
 that as in cases of divorce between those most closely allied in 
 domestic relations, the alienation of feeling will increase, and error 
 on both sides become more inveterate. Let us, hoAvever, hope 
 for the best. Rash and reckless as has been the course of north- 
 ern Abolitionists, the moral sense and sentiment of all Christifins 
 whose interests are not identified with slavery, demand of the 
 people of the Southern States, — not on the ground of law or 
 constitution, but of right reason (the foundation of both) and of 
 liumanity and Christian duty, — a system of voluntary, cautious, 
 but determined action for the improvement of the condition and 
 elevation of tlic character of the slaves, — that such ancient laws 
 should be revised as are contrary to justice and benevolence, — 
 that these people who cultivate the fields, and by their labor en- 
 rich the South, should be permitted to possess, read, and search 
 the sacred Scriptures, — should enjoj', like others, the benefits of 
 ample religious instruction, — and that their families should be 
 protected by law against wanton insults, and tlie needless and 
 cruel rupture and destruction of their domestic relations. The mis- 
 representations and fierce denunciations of the Abolitionists have 
 been pleaded by southern Christians as an excuse for their inac- - 
 tion ; but now, having assumed a separate and independent posi- 
 tion, they should give activity and effect to those just and humane 
 sentiments upon which, on account of the unreasonable and im- 
 prudent interference of others, they have felt compelled to impose 
 restraint. We have never doubted the general humanity of Chris- 
 tians at the South ; but so imperfect, even in good men, is our na- 
 ture, — so affected by early habits, associations and circumstances, 
 — so disposed to voluntary ignorance, where knowledge would 
 give pain — to apologize for indolence where efforts must be ar- 
 duous to be successful, — so inclined to think and say it is enough 
 
GOVERNOR HAMMOND ON SLAVERY. 217 
 
 for US to rest satisfied with the customs, laws and institutions of 
 our fathers, — that mighty influences, the clear shining of gie.ii 
 truths, or some Luther's thimdering voice, can alone arouse them 
 to the energy and self-denial of thorough and extended reform. 
 
 GOVERNOR HAMMOND'S LETTERS ON SLAVERY. 
 
 IFram the Jovrnal of Commerce, July 3, 1846.] 
 
 The groat body of Southern people will be found hereafter sus- 
 taining the positions taken by Governor Hammond, and it is well thnf 
 our Northern friends should be duly informed thereof; and his wliolo 
 discussion is so manly, plain, and good tempered, that his own wOru- 
 are the best medium in which his reasonings can be conveyed. — Charles- 
 ton Paper. 
 
 This sentence is selected from an article announcing the i c 
 publication of Governor Hammond's Letters in pamphlet form A) 
 general circulation at the South, and the writer urges their 
 republication by Northern editoi's as a conclusive vindicatifni, 
 from the South, of perpetual slavery. We have already briell 
 reviewed the first letter of this gentleman, and demonstrated, we 
 trust, that his main argument, derived from patriarchal and 
 Jewish example, has no validity. His second letter is now 
 before us. To the argument deduced from tlie practice of patri 
 archs and the civil code of the Jews he recurs, as if sensible that 
 on no other ground can his doctrine of the right of perpetual 
 slavery be sustained. 
 
 Before we proceed to reexamine this argument, we must bt 
 permitted to notice one of the many fallacies of the author, in 
 regard to our knowledge of the existing slavery at the So i'' 
 IIc thus addresses Mr. Clarkson, of England : — 
 
 " I have not the least doubt that you think yourself the very he:; 
 informed man alive on tliis subject, and that many think likewise 
 far as facts go, even after deducting from your list a great deal that i- 
 not fact, I will not deny that iiroljahly your collection is tlie most ey 
 tensive in existence. But as to the trutli in regard to slavery, thcru ;. 
 not an adult in this region but knows more of it than you do. TV?-''- 
 ximX/dct are, you are aware, by no means synonymous terms. Nin-M 
 ni IK! facts may constitute a falsehood ; the hundreltli, ailded or r.!.-;i' 
 gives the truth. With all j'nur knowledge of facts, 1 undertak? '• . 
 that you are entirely and grossly ignorant of the essential priiir ■ 
 humiin association revealed in history, both sacred and p)-'ji.. 
 Avliich slavery rests, and wliich will perpetuate it forever in ^J ,i 
 or other. However you may declaim against it; however poweri.... 
 you may array atrocious iiuiidcnts ; whatever appeals you may ni^k 
 the heated imaginations and tender sensibilities of mankind, believe •■ . 
 your total blindness to the whole truth, which alone constitutes iii» 
 10 
 
218 GOVERNOK HAMMOND ON SLAVERY. 
 
 truth, incapacitates you from ever making an impression on the sober 
 reason and sound common sense of the world." 
 
 Again : " Other Ueforniers, animated by the same spirit as the Aboli- 
 tionists, attack the institution of marriage, and even the established 
 relations of parent and child. And they collect instances of barbarous 
 cruelty and shocking degradation which rival, if they do not throw into 
 the shade, your slavery statistics. But the rights of marriage and pa- 
 rental authority rest upon truths as obvious as they are unchangeable, 
 — coming home to evci'y human being, self-impressed forever on the 
 individual mind, and cannot be shaken until the whole man is cor- 
 rupted, nor subverted until society itself becomes a putrid mass." 
 
 Whether there be any ground for the distinction suggested by 
 Governor Hammond between truth and fact (and it is at least 
 shadowy) or not, every fact is undoubtedly a truth, and it is 
 obvious, that if " ninety-nine facts may constitute a falsehood, 
 and one added, or alone, give the truth," — if the " iohole truth 
 alone constitute the truth," — Governor Hammond, not less than 
 Mr. Clarkson, is incapacitated to judge on the subject of slaverj^, 
 or to make an impression on the sober reason and sound common 
 sense of the world. We are aware of the injustice and unfair- 
 ness of those, who would string together rare and atrocious 
 instances of cruelty or crime, to be found in any society, and 
 present them as evidence of the general character of such 
 society. But such collections of facts, under one system, with 
 collections fairly made under other and different systems of 
 society, are not useless in determining the relative merits of the 
 two. And if it be evident, as we hope to show, that neither 
 Patriarchal example nor Jewish law is of validity to sustain the 
 doctrine of perpetual slavery, certainly as it now exists, and that 
 while Christianity tolerates, its prevcxlent spirit must inevitably 
 in due time, and by proper means, subvert the system, we must 
 conclude that abuses under relations divinely sanctioned as per- 
 manent, are not to be alleged as arguments for the perpetuity of 
 slavery, and we might conclude as probable, what we believe to ' 
 be true in fact, that the abuses under the system, destined to 
 perish, are' greater in nunibei- and extent than those incident to 
 natural relations immutably e!^tablislK!d by the moral law. 
 
 What does or can any one man, or any twenty men living, 
 know of all the facts embodied in the operations of the system 
 of slavery, during a single day ? On a subject so extended, so 
 complex, so varying, the knowledge of the wisest, the most 
 cxpei'ienced, the most observing and sagacious, must be very 
 defective, and altogcither general. To the formation of correct 
 opinions concerning it, Mr. Clarkson's position is in some re- 
 spects imfavorable ; Governor Hammond's is so in others. The 
 former is peculiarly liable to prejudice, exposed to exaggerated 
 
GOVERNOR HAMMOND ON SLAVERY. 219 
 
 statements, left to form his judgment from testimony, from the 
 hiws, and the published acts of cruelty and oppression in the 
 South, witliout observation, or just representations of many com- 
 pensating circumstances and deeds of humanity. The latter, 
 founding his whole tlieory on imagined Divine right, defends this 
 fiction as conscientiously as though it were fact, looks round him 
 for green spots and fountains in the desert, and neither witnesses 
 nor perhaps desires to know, tlie sufferings and the crimes in his 
 immediate vicinity. Ninety-nine facts of cruelty and oppression 
 constitute to him a falsehood ; but the hundredth fact of kind- 
 ness or compassion gives the truth ; or vice versa, if you please. 
 Could Governor Hammond mean this ? and if not, what does he 
 mean ? 
 
 And why should not Mr. Clarkson retort, and with reason ask 
 what Governor Hammond can know of tlie condition of the 
 laboring classes in Great Britain, of the state of things in the 
 West Indies, or in tlie British possessions in the East ? "I am 
 not aware," says Governor Hammond, " that you have ever 
 visited this country or the West Indies." — " I am not aware," 
 says Mr. Clarkson in reply, " that you have ever visited this 
 country or our West or East Indies. There is not an adult in 
 Birmingham, in Jamaica, or in Calcutta, but knows more of the 
 effect of our government in these places than you do. You may 
 have ninety-nine facts, but recollect, sir, without the hundredth, 
 they constitute a falsehood ; that it is the whole truth which 
 alone constitutes the truth, without which you are incapacitated 
 forever from making an impression on the sober reason and com- 
 mon sense of the world." 
 
 Men of sober reason and common sense will judge of slavery 
 as they judge of other states and conditions of human society, 
 by the best lights they possess, or can obtain, of reason, testi- 
 mony, observation, experience. If perfect knowledge of the 
 whole truth is necessary to enable us to form opinions, in regard 
 to these states and conditions, we must despair utterly of the 
 achievement. Yet most men deem themselves competent to 
 discuss the respective merits of different forms of government, 
 and the relative value of different pohtical and social institutions 
 of which they have but read in history or heard from the oral or 
 recorded testimony of those who have felt their influence or ob- 
 served their operations. The general piinciples of such govern- 
 ments and institutions, general and particular facts connected 
 therewith, their nature and causes, aflbrd grounds for comparison 
 and reasons for just general conclusions. And of this kind of rea- 
 soning Governor Hammond supplies numerous illustrations, not 
 contending more earnestly for his theory, than immediately and 
 
220 G O V i: U N U 11 HAMMOND ON SLAVERY. 
 
 comploU'ly confuting it. lie finds it most convenient to shelter 
 himself uiulor the authority of Scripture, since l)efore such au- 
 thority, if it exist, ojiposing argument is profane, and reason 
 bows in silence. What are ninetj'-nine arouments against per- 
 petual slavery and but one for it, if the infallible and mighty 
 Word bids contradiction and argument alike cease ? 
 
 " Innumerable instances (says Governor Hammond) nup;lit bo (juoteil 
 where Cod has }!;iven and oonimandod men to assunio tloniinion over 
 their I'oUow-uien. But one wiU sulhoo. In tlie twonty-ti'tli chapter of 
 Leviticus you will liud douu'stic slavery — precisely such as is maintained 
 at this day, in these States — ordained and established by Uod, in lan- 
 gunjje -which 1 defy you to pervert, so as to leave a doubt on any lionest 
 mind that the institution was founded by llira and decreed to be per- 
 petual. I quote the words : — 
 
 '■ ' Leviticus 25 ch. 44 vs. — Botli thy bcnKhiien niut thy hoiiilmniils which tliou slialt 
 liavt", shall bo of thu hiMlhfii [AlViciius] that aio round about you j of whom y c shall 
 buy bondmoii and liomlimiiils. 
 
 '•'45 Moreover of the children of the strnn-jers that do sojourn among you, of 
 thoni shall yc buy. and of their families that are with you which they begat in your 
 luiul [descendant's of Vfricans] and they sliall be your possession. 
 
 •••4(> And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you to 
 inherit them for a jiossession. Thev shall be vouk bondmf.n kokevkk.' 
 
 " What human legislature could make a decree more full and explicit 
 than this.' What court of law or chancery could defeat a title to a 
 slave couched iu terms so clear ami complete as these .' And this is the 
 law of God whom you pretend to worship, while you denounce and tra- 
 duce us for respecting it." 
 
 If this Jewish code be a law to us, it must certainly be 
 received with its various restrictions ami limitations. It must be 
 shown that \ve t)t'cu[)y among the nations, at least toward the 
 heathen, the position of the Jews; and then not only the foreign 
 slave trade becomes lawful, but our own citizens may be sold for 
 a period of six years to one another in cases of po\erty or debt, 
 while enslaved strangers and their descendants must, should 
 they consent, be received by baptism (answering to circum- 
 cision) into the church, and thus reduce the jieriod of their 
 servitude and modify its character in accordance with that oi the 
 Hebrews themsi'lves, while such as decline the rite, as well as all 
 others, in case of escape, must in no instance be restored to their 
 masters, but (according to most commtnitalors and the testiraoi;y 
 of Josei)hus) share, at the close of fifty years, in the eman- 
 cipation of the Jubilee. And since the Jewish Theocracy 
 has expired, whence is derived our authority for adopting the 
 laws of slavery which prevailed among the Jews, unless all other 
 nations (certainly Christian nations) may adopt the same? And 
 by Avhat right does Governor Hammond apply the Avords of the 
 Jewish law to Africans and descendants of Africans, when the 
 
GOVERNOR HAMMOND ON SLAVKRY. 221 
 
 slaves introduced among the Jews Avere a distinct people, the 
 children of Canaan, upon whom alone was pronounced a curse, 
 and from wlujm history shows that the Africans we enslave are 
 not descended. While the argument from Jewish law would, if 
 it had any force, be rather against than for a system of perpetual 
 slavery such as exists in our country, we deem it of no validity ; 
 since, as has been well remarked, " under the glorious dispensa- 
 tion of the gospel, we are absolutely bound to consider ourselves 
 as citizens of the world, and every man whatever, without any 
 partial distinction of nation, distance, or complexion, must neces- 
 sarily be esteemed our neighbor and our brother," and since the 
 laws of Christian benevolence must tend to improve the con- 
 dition, exalt the character, and conduce to the civilization, know- 
 ledge, liberty and happiness of the whole human race. 
 
 True, slavery, like political despotism, was tolerated by Christ 
 and his apostles ; they justify as permanent neither the one nor 
 the other ; and while abstaining from positive and indiscrimi- 
 nate denunciations of either, enjoin duties upon individual men, 
 and proclaim principles of universal application to human so- 
 ciety, which must of necessity finally subvert both. Their power 
 was shown in the destruction of slavery, to a great extent, in the 
 early ages of the church ; the feudal systems of Europe wasted 
 away before them ; they planted civil and religious freedom on 
 this continent ; they have during the last fifty years pervaded a 
 great portion of Christendom ; and the flame of zeal and philan- 
 thropy they are kindling in ten thousand hearts, is immortal, and 
 will at no distant period shine out on the whole world like the 
 sun in his strength. 
 
 Heady as Governor Hammond is to adduce scriptural quota- 
 tions in support of his theory, in one instance at least he exhil>its 
 a remarkable misapprehension of the ordinaiy meaning of the 
 sacred language. Because God by the pi'Ofihet Joel d('nr)nnces 
 vengeance against the Tyrians and Zidonians who had sold the 
 children of Judah and of Jerusalem unto the Grecians, in these 
 words : — " And I will sell your sons and daughters into the 
 hands of the children of Judah, and they shall s(;ll them to the 
 Sabeans, to a people far off ; for the mouth of tlie Lord hath 
 spoken it," — Governor Hammond asks, " Do you call this a con- 
 demnation of slave-trading? The prophet makes God himself a 
 ])articipator in the crime, if it be one." Can it be necessary to 
 remind Governor Hammond that the evil passions and the worst 
 crimes of men are represented in Scripture as the instruments of 
 Divine displeasure ; that the Assyrian king who is addressed by 
 the Almighty as the rod of his anger and the staff of his indig- 
 nation, who is to be sent against an h3pocritical nation, and 
 
222 GOVERNOR HAMMOND ON SLAVERY. 
 
 charged " to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread 
 them doAvn hke the mire of the streets," is himself an offense to his 
 Maker, who declares, that when his whole work upon Mount 
 Zion and on Jerusalem is performed, lie " will punish the fruit 
 of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his 
 high looks." Let Governor Hammond read the 3Gth verse of 
 the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, or the 11th verse of the 12th 
 chapter of the 1st hook of Samuel, and he will hesitate again to 
 confound the acts of God's ]n-ovidential government in the control 
 of moral evil, with the sanctions of his moral law. 
 
 Alluding to dangers to the Union, Governor Hammond writes, 
 " and come Avhat may, we are firmly resolved that our system 
 OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY SHALL STAND." The Northern Abolition- 
 ists are as much disposed to disunion for the overthrow, as Gov- 
 ernor Hammond is for the preservation and perpetuation of sla- 
 very. These are the extremes. The great body of the Amer- 
 ican people will guard the Union, but they hope and expect, 
 Avith the consent of the South, with due i-egard to the many 
 great interests concerned, with a circumspect caution, and a pru- 
 dent foresight as to the means, the tinal and entire abolition of 
 slavery. This is a great moral end, to which the public mind is 
 urged by causes and motives of irresistible force. 
 
 " Come what may, we arc firmly resoh^ed that our system of 
 DOMESTIC SLAVERY SHALL STAND ;" and who are " we ?" A few 
 politicians, or the small comnumity of South Carolina, and here 
 and there one in the other Slates of the South, educated in the 
 same school. Can you erase from the New Testament, or the 
 memory of man, those words of the Great Master of Christians, 
 *' Whatsoever ye would that others shoidd do to you, do ye even 
 so unto them," or make Christians believe it right to deny to 
 three millions of slaves the privilege of reading them ? Can 
 you silence the whisperings of your own consciences, when you 
 worship at His altar who took upon him the form of a servant 
 and died in agony for the whole brotherhood of our race, thus 
 opening, in a sense too high for Avords to express, the doors of 
 the prison-house, and setting the captive free ? Can you fortify 
 yom* own purposes against tlie genial influences and all-subduing 
 spirit of liberty, seen and felt in the breeze, the forest, the 
 streams, the ocean, in all animated nature and all living forms, 
 thundering from our mountains, breathing fragrance through our 
 valleys, making even the songs of birds more sweet, illuminating 
 the great charter of our Independence, and like a hidden but 
 holy fire, vital in the whole frame of our National Constitution ? 
 Can you maintain your gnnuul against the gcmius, the eloquence, 
 the literature, the philanthropy of the age and the civilized 
 
GOVERNOR HAMMOND -ON SLAVERY. 223 
 
 world ? Above uU, can you defend the mrong against the 
 right ? No ! never ! This system of slavery has within itself 
 the seeds of decay and dissolution. On those who deem Liberty 
 no blessing to themselves, or who believe that the African race 
 are, by nature, incapable of understanding or enjoying it, such 
 reflections may make no impression ; but by those wlio admit the 
 common origin, redemption, and desliny of the human race, they 
 cannot be disregarded. If the tliought of perpetual bondage for 
 ourselves be repugnant to all our sentiments, it must be a condi- 
 tion to which we cannot benevolently wish to see others forever 
 subjected. We are not to be understood as urging sudden 
 emancipation, or as doubting the general humanity of the people 
 of the South. We are for action on the part of the South, cau- 
 tious, wise, prudent action, in preparation and for improvement. 
 We wish all to believe that evils should be remedied, though it 
 may require time to remedy them ; that slavery is to be abol- 
 ished, though there may be several, perhaps many steps, before 
 that point can be reached. And who can tell that lie who rules 
 in human adairs, as upon the throne of Eternity, sees not in the 
 distance the emancipated and instructed descendants of Africa 
 hastening at the bidding and with the blessing and gifts of their 
 masters, to repossess the land of their progenitors, to rebuild the 
 desolate homes and repair the wastes of ages, to dispense the 
 bread of life to the famishing, to wake new joy, to spread out 
 new life and light and beauty, in that land of crime, slavery and 
 despair ? 
 
 Having said thus much in regard to what we deem erroneous 
 in the views and arguments of (rovernor Hammond, w<! add 
 that, like him, we marvel at the ignorance shown by Mr. Clark- 
 son, in his recent address to the inhabitants of the United States, 
 of oui- institutions, of events in our early and more recent history, 
 of the sentiments of our citizens generally, and of the cliaracter 
 and virtues of the people of our Southern States. He has de- 
 rived his information, obviously, from no pure sources. It would 
 be useless to attempt the correction of Mr. Clarkson's errors in 
 this, or those not less numerous perhaps in his former address, 
 or to rernark very parti(;ularly upon the tone of authority with 
 which this aged veteran in the anti-slavery cause assumes to 
 instruct our countrymen. He evidently knov/s not the well-nigh 
 univeisal and ardent attachm.ent of our citizens to the Union, tlie 
 respect and esteem cherished mutually by the citizens of the dif- 
 ferent States toward each other, and has not the slightest con- 
 ception of th(^ sympathy and humane concern felt by the people 
 of the SouUi in the ])hysical comfort of the slave population, nor 
 of the profound desire cherished by thousands who adorn all 
 
224 ABOLITION AND THE A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 their social relations, to fulfill, towards this dependent class, as 
 the way raay open before them, the highest requirements of 
 Christi;m duty. 
 
 THE ABOLITIONISTS AND THE AMERICAN BOARD OF 
 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 [Fro/n the Journal of Commerce, September, 1&15.] 
 
 FiFTEEjr years ago the subject of slavery was discussed 
 throughout the Union, under the banner of Colonization. Tliat 
 enterprise embraced good men through the free and the slave 
 States, and most freely was the condition of the colored race can- 
 vassed. Altliough no philanthropist could say how the mighty 
 curso was to be removed in all its broad dimensions, yet a plan 
 was prosecuted by which it was removed at least from a few. A 
 few colored tamilies were removed, at their own desire, back to 
 the land of their fathers, to a land whose warm climate and lux- 
 uriant productions fitted it for their residence. There they were, 
 far from any organized society of white men to crowd upon them 
 and domineer o\er them. Black was the only color there, and 
 therefore no mark of degradation. In Liberia a negro was every 
 inch a man. He was a freeman, a part of the nation, and of the 
 government, and eligible to an}^ post of honor or profit. His 
 children were to grow up there, without ever having felt the 
 crushing consciousness of inferiority, and the race, redeemed and 
 disenthralled, were to take their stand as etpials among the na- 
 tions. In this state of things tlie abolition of slavery in the Fe- 
 deral District was earnestly discussed and pressed upon Congress, 
 and some of the northern slave States were seriously consider- 
 ing whether they ought not to take measures for the extinction of 
 slavery. The most eloquent and populai- statesmen of Virginia 
 and other States poured out their souls in burning eloquence in 
 favor of the slave and the master, and against the intolerable 
 burden of the relation which subsisted between them. The 
 work went bravely on, and the seed so freely sown, and cherish- 
 ed by so many hands, seemed fast ripening to a plentiful harvest. 
 
 But there arose another set of philantliropists, more zealous, 
 whose zeal amounted well nigli to fury. They could not wait for 
 the slow process of the seasons, but would have the fields reap- 
 ed now, and slavery abolished immediatelj^ Many of them had 
 been the earnest friends of Colonization, but the cnmii of so slow 
 a process disgusted them, and they seized the sickle and reaped. 
 One earnest friend of Colonization had been to Europe, and ad- 
 
ABOLITION AND THE A. B. C. F. M. 225 
 
 vooated Colonization most cloquenLly, but when he came back, 
 learning tliat he had put forth some doctrines not recognized by 
 the society, lie changed sides and fought against the plan with 
 the same zeal with which he had contended for it. Another 
 gentleman, who Avas a leading Colonizationist, learned to his 
 great surprise that some spirituous liquors had been imported 
 into Liberia, and he changed sides instantly, and became an ear- 
 nest opponent of the cause which he had before promoted. What 
 precise motives changed others, we cannot say ; but it is evident 
 that gentlemen who wheeled round on such pivots could not 
 have had any clear comprehension of what they had been advo- 
 cating, either before or after the revolution in their minds. 
 
 Well, what did these extra zealous men do for the immediate 
 abolition of slavery? 
 
 First, As we have intimated, they denounced Colonization in 
 the most vehement terms. That was a scheme, they said, " en- 
 gendered in hell ;" and as they had been the fathers of it, or at 
 least its early nurses, th(^y ought to know. 
 
 Secondly, They organized Anti-Slavery Societies throughout 
 the free States. 
 
 Thirdly, They procured Abolition lecturers to go through the 
 free States, and established Abolition presses, and so taught the 
 people in all possible ways what they knew before, and convin- 
 ced them of what they had never doubted. 
 
 Fourlldy, They set up young women in rows, first a black one, 
 and then a white one ; they invited colored people to their tables 
 at social parties, and to their pews in the churches, and so estab- 
 lished the equality of the colors. 
 
 Fifthly, They carried the war into the churches of the various 
 denominations, insisting that Christian slaveholders should not 
 come to commmiion, nor preaching slaveholders into the pulpits ; 
 making the slavery question to supersede all other questions, and 
 so " raised Ned and turned up Jack" in these previously more 
 peaceful communities. By this they succeeded in abolishing the 
 ties which existed between a considerable number of pastors and 
 their people. 
 
 Sixthly, They had a negro boy, whom they did something 
 with, — educated, if we remember right. We recollect distinctly 
 that there was one such boy, whom we all confessed they had 
 set free. 
 
 Seventhly, They fulminated all sorts of maledictions against the 
 slaveholders of the South ; classed them with pirates, robbers, mur- 
 derers, and whatever else was most to be abhorred, and cursed 
 them from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet, in 
 their fingers and their toes, their knees and their elbows, and in 
 10* 
 
226 ABOLITION AND THE A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 every other part to which the holy Pope of Rome extends his holy 
 curses. 
 
 Eiglitlihj, They gave aid and comfort to all fugitive slaves, and 
 got out habeas corpus writs, and seized all such as happened to bo 
 found peaceably traveling with tlieir masters within their pre- 
 cincts, and compelled them to be free. More recently they have 
 constructed an " under-ground railroad," which, going down on 
 the south side of Mason and Dixon's line, comes up on the north 
 side of the line which separates the United States from Canada, 
 and so have established a colony of freemen under the reign of 
 Queen Victoria. 
 
 Ninthly, Not finding elements for sufficient war, out of them- 
 selves, they split asunder, and commenced fighting each other ; 
 going forth in guerilla parties, firing at anything whicli looked 
 formidable, including tlie ministers, the churches, the Sabbath, 
 the Bible, and above all the Constitution and the Union of these 
 United States ; setting up a Liberty party, and pulling down a 
 Liberty party ; getting some Liberty men into office, or at least 
 keeping other men out, and so bothering the electors. Li fact, 
 the labor has so increased upon their hands, as to make it quite 
 plain to them, that evcrythinc) is to be abolished. If all things 
 were back in chaos, then would Abolition be finished, and Garri- 
 son and Leavitt, rising above their fellows, proclaim, " the eve- 
 ning and the morning were tlie eighth day, and all's very good." 
 
 Among the objects of most furious attack in this war of Abo- 
 htion, is tlie American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
 sions. The Board was formed for the specific purpose of send- 
 ing the gospel to the heathen. Its labors of benevolence are all 
 foreign, out of our own nation, except (if it be in any sense an 
 exception) that it sends missionaries to the Indians. Whether 
 this is more or less important than domestic missions, the Board 
 does not say, but takes this department as one suitable for labor. 
 It has followed up its design Avith great acceptance to the public 
 generally, except the Abolitionists ; who laj^ sundry charges upon 
 the Board, viz., that the Board has not denounced slaver}-, but 
 takes money of slaveholders to support missions, and even sends 
 agents among them to ask tlieni for it, and when they get it, mix 
 up the black and the Avhite money together, without distinction 
 of color, just as the black and while girls were mixed up at the 
 Chatham Chapel. They insist that the treasurer of the Board 
 must interrogate every dollar as to its history, thus. "Hast 
 thou in thy journeyings, dollar, ever visited that land of abo- 
 minable sin and darkness Avhich lies south of Mason and Dixon's 
 line ? Ilast thou ever been paid as the price of immortiil hu- 
 manity, sold to sweat and groan in slavery? Hast thou ever 
 
Alio LIT ION AND THE A. G. C. F. M. 227 
 
 dwelt in I.Ik! pocket of one of those monsters in liuman form who 
 holds his fellow-raen in bondat^e ? If thou hast, thou art a pol- 
 hitod dollar, unfit to serve God or good men : thou canst not be 
 admitted into the society of our honest money." If the dollar 
 were to confess that it had been South to be sure, but had come 
 back to a New York Abolitionist in payment for goods sold to 
 slaveholders, it might be some mitigation. But whetlier the dol- 
 lar might pass or not, the privilege of giving to so good a pur- 
 pose as sending the knowledge of Jesun Christ to heathen nations 
 is not to be allowed to slaveholders. They are so bad, that they 
 are to be allowed to do no good thing. They may not contribute 
 to any good object, nor labor in any good cause. Cut olF and 
 excommunicated, they are to be given over to the commission of 
 sin, and only sin, and that continually. All they are allowed to 
 do, is to repent and mind the Abolitionists. Wo do not think we 
 have caricatured the position which has been assumed, nor do we 
 think it susceptible of being caricatured. Nothing in all the 
 range of imagination could be more absurd in our judgment, than 
 the one really taken. First, that the Board, and in fact eveiy 
 society, and every church, shall be an Anti-Slavery Society. 
 Ladies cannot meet to make clothes for poor children, but they 
 must begin by passing some declaration about slavery ; and the 
 Board of Commissioners must stop its mighty work of civihzation 
 and Christianization, to have, first of all, an Anti-Slavery battle. 
 The division of labor which so facilitates all other operations is 
 not to be allowed in morals and religion, but everything must be 
 one thing. The position really seems to be taken for -no other 
 purpose than because, on account of its exceeding absurdity, it is 
 out of all possible reach of compromise, and so will serve for 
 endless war. The Board, desirous of peace on all sides, and in- 
 fluenced by the fact that some of the heads which in the long 
 war of Anti-Slavery have become so wretchedly twisted, Avere 
 once good heads, and may possibly be so again, have listened to 
 this folly, appointed committees on it, and more than once settled 
 it by resolving the only thing which it was possible to resolve, 
 viz. : that the subject of slavery did not come within the proper 
 cognizance of the Board, their only business being the promulga- 
 tion of gospel truth,, which was also the readiest way to the cor- 
 rection of all moral wrong. Another great assault has been made 
 upon the Board recently ; and in all sorts of professions of kind- 
 ness it is demanded that the subject shall once more be most lov- 
 ingly settled. If anything can be settled with such men, so that 
 it will stay settled, it is more than our experience would lead us 
 to expect. 
 
 Now from this eminence, if it may be called so, this post of ob- 
 
228 ABOLITION AND THE A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 servation any how, we ask our readers to turn back and look at 
 this war and its results. There have been mobs here, and in va- 
 rious other places. The lawful peace of Abolitionists has been 
 violently interrupted, and their right of speech invaded ; and on 
 the other hand the Constitutional guarantees of the States to- 
 ward the owners of slaves have been resisted, and in a great mea- 
 sure practically abolished. Feelings of the most acrimonious 
 kind have been engendered through the country for years, though 
 happily a better state of feeling seems now to be gaining ground. 
 What has it all accomplished ? One of the chief arguments 
 against Colonization in Africa was that the colored people were 
 compelled to go. They did not act freely, and only chose that 
 as an alternative. Has their Colonization in Canada been any 
 less objectionable on the same score ? When a slave nms away 
 by the luider-ground railroad, does he do it freely, or only as a 
 choice of evils? Is he not in every sense compelled to run, and 
 with a more absolute necessity than ever drove a man to Liberia ? 
 Is the condition of the negroes any better in Canada, than it was 
 before in slavery ? Tliey are still a wretched, degraded, and shut- 
 out race, doomed inevitably to perish, without hope for themselves 
 or their children of ever rising to an acknowledged equality with 
 their fellow-subjects around them. The free negroes in the slave 
 States are a much more miserable race than the slaves, and if the 
 fact that they become extinct in the free States proves anything, 
 it proves that even here they are worse otf tlian in slavery. We 
 know that this is no reason for enslaving them, for every man, 
 whatever be his color, is entitled to judge for himself in this re- 
 spect. But it has sometliing to do witli the duty of philanthro- 
 pists. To help a slave into a worse condition, however much he 
 may desire it, is not so imperious a duty as to help him to re;d 
 freedom. The system, at any rate, must have a deeper and 
 broader remedy than colonization in Canada or anywhere among 
 the whites, and we caimot help suspecting, perhaps illiberally, 
 that the whole system of running oft' negroes is sustained quite 
 as much for the sake of vexing the masters, as of benefiting the 
 slaves. 
 
 Within the fifteen years of this war, for war it has been to the 
 knife, the Washingtonian movement has come up, and a glorious 
 temperance reformation has been accomplished ; a most remark- 
 able diange has taken place in favor of the observance of the 
 Sabbath ; the whole world, except a part of the Roman Catholic 
 and Greek Church States, has been opened to the free circulation 
 of the Bible and its missionaries. Public opinion in our country 
 has been completely revolutionized on the subject of the curren- 
 cy ; and the true principles of political economy have otherwise 
 
THE SYRACUSE CONVENTION. 229 
 
 been much advanced ; the change to clieap postage has been 
 argued and carried ; Puseyism has risen and fallen ; the rights of 
 men as individuals, to read, think, believe and speak, each one 
 for himself, have been acknowledged as they never were before ; 
 the Bible has been attacked, and has successfully resisted the at- 
 tack, and now exerts a wider influence than ever ; in fact, in every- 
 thing good, both in principle and practice, this fifteen years has 
 been the most successful era in the progress of truth Avhich the 
 world ever knew. And yet slavery is not abolished in one single 
 State, nor has the subject of Abohtion, in our judgment, if it has 
 advanced at all, kept any sort of pace with the other moral and 
 political revolutions of the times. Now we propose, that after the 
 measures for the abohtion of slavery which are proposed to the 
 Board of Commissioners shall once more, at the meeting soon to 
 assemble at Brooklyn, have received the same answer as before, 
 the other side shall be allowed to take up the game, — and if by 
 the year 18G0, we do not make a mighty inroad, and bring about 
 a new era in slavery, we wU acknowledge that the Abolitionists 
 are the wise men, and hand them back their balls. 
 
 THE SYRACUSE CONVENTION. 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, March 23, 1846.] 
 
 The Abolitionists are in very great trouble. They have estab- 
 lished the negroes in the comfortable climate of Canada, and 
 otherwise pretty much abolished the sin of slavery in these Unit- 
 ed States ; yet there are so many other things out of order, that 
 the good men can have no peace. Abolition is the remedy for 
 all diseases. Whatsoever will not obey, let it be abolished. The 
 A. B. C. F. M. is now the chief object of attack. Before the 
 meeting of this body at Brookh^n last fall, every preparation Avas 
 made to abolish it, by a thundeiing discussion. But it turned 
 out that the Abolitionists were themselves abolished, so that Mr. 
 Phelps, when asked point blank whether slavery was always a 
 sin, neither said yes nor no. But a few choice spirits, the very 
 purest of the whole, the very high wines of gall, carry on the 
 war the more fiercely for defeat. They held a convention at Syra- 
 cuse a while ago, from which they poured forth their vials. 
 These were men who once stood well, and were happy and use- 
 ful, cooperating with good men. But the infection of Abolition- 
 ism appears to have perverted all their faculties. Among them 
 were Gerrit Smith, Beriah Green, Alvan Stewart, and Dr. Lafon, 
 formerly a missionary of the Board in the Sandwich Islands. The 
 
230 THE SYRACUSE CONVENTION. 
 
 latter gentleman has been off service for six or eight years, and 
 seems to be cliielly engaged in slandering his brethren who keep 
 to the work, some of whom have carried their anti-slavery feel- 
 ings quite far enough. This Dr. Lafon, as we jiulge from the 
 newspapers, sets himself up to contradict not only the mission- 
 aries, but scores of other men, who, as travelers, naval officers, 
 and mariners generally, have given their testimony to tlie same 
 facts. 
 
 At the late convention at Syracuse, statements were jnit forth, 
 probably coming from Dr. Lafon, which some people think are 
 a real " bomb-shell" thrown into the American IJoard. A letter 
 writer from Syracuse to the New England PuriUui says of the 
 address of the convention — 
 
 " If its ant'urd fitcfs are true it will unsettle the affections of tlio 
 friends and supporters of the American Board in this ref:;ion, quite ex- 
 tensively. My firm belief is, that its promises — the allepiations ajjainst 
 the Board, that it allows in the churches of its missions the abominations 
 of 'polygamy, caste, oppresfiion, slavery, idolatry, and all the various 
 sins peculiar to their respective fields,' arc not true." 
 
 It is wonderful how little sense there is among some sensible 
 people. Who that has read the Acts of the Apostles and their 
 h^.pistles to the churches formed of converts from idolatry, or (hat 
 knows anything of human nature, can fail to understand these 
 slanders ? Certainly they are " not true" in the manner in which 
 tliey are put forth. The im})ression they are intended to make, 
 tliat the American Board sanctions polygamy and idolatry by tlie 
 practice of its missionaries, is utterly false. The habits which 
 have been worked into a man's character by all the actions and 
 conduct of his life are not instantly eradicated by the most tiio- 
 rough faith in the Christian religion ; nor does the exercise of such 
 a faith at once free a man from tlie social entanglements in which 
 idolatry had conlined him. Wiien he iiears the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, and with his heart and what int(>iligence I\e jiossesses ac- 
 cepts it, he has a new rule of duty and new objects of pursuit. 
 Dut with regard to the tcMi thousand things whicli his old religiiMi 
 taught him, he has to h'arn that they are wrong by compaiing 
 them with his new rule, as by degi'ees he comes to understand 
 it. How slow is the advance of society in truth, even where in- 
 telligence is already extensive, where the people read and hear 
 continually ! There are in this country now superstitions in current 
 circulation and belief among intelligent Christians as prejiosterotw 
 as anything which was ever taught by paganism. Who that hns 
 labored to learn the truth with an ardent desire to adopt it on ail 
 subjects, has not detected from year to year in his own behef, 
 
THE SYRACUSE CONVENTION. 231 
 
 opinions which will not. boar invcsLisration for <a moment, and yot 
 thoughtlessly he has been governed by tiicm all his life, until the 
 moment of their detection, llovv long were wc and our fatlittrs 
 in finding out that the slave trade was wrong for that to urge every 
 friend to drink intoxicating li(iuors was wrong ! It is only now 
 that the enlightenment of p]ngland has brought her people to 
 know that the corn laws are ojjpressive and wicked. And liow 
 slow are Americans to confciss that to our own protective tarilY 
 belongs the same condemnation ! When an ignorant or a vicious 
 man becomes a true Christian, he is not made a learned man, nor 
 are his appetites, pampered by indulgence, at once made what 
 they should be. lint if the heart is right, the head will grow in 
 knowledge, and a struggle will be commenced with wicked desires 
 which may prevent them from (nitbreaks, but which must be car- 
 ried on long and with vigor, before the rebels will give up. When 
 a Catholic becomes a Protestant, how long must he dwell upon the 
 real character of the Virgin Mary before he will cease to feel for 
 her a reverence which Protestants call idolatrous. 
 
 No doubt there are in the churches formed by Christian mis- 
 sionaries from the heathen, the same remains of old customs and 
 opinions, which made the apostles so much trouble in the primi- 
 tive churches. A Sandwich Island chief may give the best evi- 
 dence of Christian affections, and yet he may not have learned to 
 put on decent apparel, or formed any tolerable notion about the 
 rights of property between him and his people. A heathen man 
 becomes a Christian, but he has two or three or five or six wives, 
 and three times as many slaves. His acceptance of Jesus Christ 
 by faith will not necessarily mak(! him see that these relations 
 are wrong, — and if he reads the Bible through, he will not only 
 find neither of these relaticms specifically condemned, but both ap- 
 parently sanctioned in the practice of the most api)lauded ancient 
 saints. There is nowhere a word of disapprobation in the JJiblo 
 of polygamy, unless the direction that bishops and deacions shall 
 be each the husband of one wife, and that condemns bachelors as 
 much as it does polygamists. 13ut what if such light should en- 
 ter his mind as AVO\dd enable him to s(!e that one wife is all that 
 sound morality allows ? The question is not whether he shall take 
 more than one, but how shall he reduce the mmiber. Which 
 wife with her children shall he cast away from his protection ? 
 One would think that even the hard heart of an ultra- Abolitionist 
 would allow him time to consider and provide for the condition 
 which he desires, and not refuse him the benefit of Christian fel- 
 lowship, merely because he is oppressed and distressed in s(!arch- 
 ing for the path which will lead him out from his embarrass- 
 ments. The condition of chiefs whose people are substantially 
 
232 THE SYRACUSE CONVENTION. 
 
 related to him as slaves, may not be more easy of decision by a 
 sincerely honest and Christian heart. 
 
 No one whose last spark of common sense is not extinguished 
 can doubt that slaveholders and polygamists, and dealers in alco- 
 holic drinks besides, were admitted and recognized in the primi- 
 tive churches without the thought that there was any " immora- 
 lity" about them. Believers were ipso facto qualified members of 
 the churches, and to associate with the Christians constituted 
 church-membership in those days. Nor in the catalogue of cha- 
 racters excluded from the kingdom of heaven, are slaveholders, 
 polygamists, and rumsellers mentioned, but liars are mentioned, 
 and repeatedly, as among the most hateful in that terrific 
 category. 
 
 The controversy of these Abolitionists, if such they are to be 
 called after almost all Abolitionists have separated from them, 
 reaches higher than the visible associations of professing Chris- 
 tians. The great and original offender is Jesus Christ himself, 
 who in his kindness invites all sinners to him, and if they accept 
 his invitation, receives them, heavy laden though they be with 
 ignorance, false opinions, and bad habits, not even asking any 
 questions about these tests of the revilers. If He accepts them 
 and they unite themselves with other Christians, they are in the 
 church by His authority, and He is responsible for His own acts. 
 Let the assailants attack the real object of their hate. 
 
 In the ranks of the Syracuse convention there were men who 
 hold political meetings on the Sabbath as a regular matter. 
 Where do they belong in the list of offenders against religion and 
 good morals ? To be sure, they sanctify their politics by calling 
 over reho;ious words, but, after all, it is a mere matter of electina; 
 themselves and those they like, to political office. An ordinary 
 Tammany Hall meeting on the Sabbath would be no more a vio- 
 lation of the day. To wliat depths of inconsistency and wicked- 
 ness will not men sink, who forsaking the path of Christian kind- 
 ness and duty, set themselves up to revile and calumniate their 
 fellow-citizens and fellow -Christians ! What a warning are these 
 men, once active in the labors of Christian benevolence, which 
 they now oppose with such mad desperation ! Nothing is too 
 useful to escape their slanders. Tlicy are not reformers, but abo- 
 lishers. One would think that the American Board, the largest 
 channel through which American Christians send out the Bible 
 and missionaries, and useful instruction of every land to the de- 
 graded nations of paganism, would fill even a fanatic, in his worst 
 paroxysms, with a respect which would check his ravings. But 
 the American Tract Society has been able to stand through a 
 similar attack, and Ave have no doubt the American Board will 
 
SLAVERY AND THE CHURCHES. 233 
 
 come off safe from this assault, furious as it is, and injurious as it 
 may be, perliaps, in the beginning. 
 
 We are aware that articles of this sort belong rather to the re- 
 ligious papers. But there is not one of them upon which any- 
 great institution for the promotion of the welfare of the world 
 can rely. And such institutions as the American Tract Society, 
 and the Board of Commissioners, in their very structure, are un- 
 able to meet in a proper way such assailants as have made war 
 upon them. It seems therefore to devolve of necessity, upon the 
 secular newspapers to set these matters right, — while the reli- 
 gious newspapers fiddle, each one upon the string of their own 
 sect, though all the great institutions of the country were perish- 
 ing in incendiary fires. 
 
 SLAVERY AND THE ECCLESIASTICAL BODIES. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, June 17, T84G.] 
 
 FoK tlie last fifteen yeai-s we have had the most intolerable 
 tempest that ever raged, about slavery metaphysics. The Baptist 
 and Methodist national organizations have been broken in sunder, 
 and the churches of all denominations which have been unwise 
 enough to admit the debate, liave been kept in violent agitation. 
 Recently both the Presbyteiian General Assemblies had the mat- 
 ter up, and tlie New School Assembly spent a couple of weeks, 
 more or less, in discussing it. D.D.'s have written pro and con, 
 until the subject is not only threadbare, but worn to tatters. 
 Well, what have we, as the end of all the tumult ? Why, a ge- 
 neral agreement that slavery is a very bad system, under whicli 
 enormous wrongs are done, and yet that there are some cases in 
 which it is right for individuals to hold slaves, so that the holding 
 of slaves is not in itself and of necessity in every single instance, 
 wrong. This, we say, is the general and tolerably unanimous con- 
 clusion ; that is to say, the opinion of the whole North, and a ma- 
 jority of the South, is just exactly what it was twenty, forty, fifty, 
 a liundred years ago. If anything, slavery is looked upon with 
 rather less abhorrence than it was before this discussion com- 
 menced ; for many extravagant opinions which persons were quite 
 willing to adopt, have been corrected by better information. Jef- 
 ferson said in reference to the great wrongs of slaverj', " I trem- 
 ble for my country when I remember that God is just." No sen- 
 timent stronger than this has been established since. In our 
 judgment, this long-protracted, vindictive, wicked agitation only 
 leaves public sentiment where it found it. Public sentiment was 
 
234 SLAVERY AND THE CHURCHES. 
 
 rio;bt at the bcs^inninar, is riwht now, and ever will be. So now 
 let those who think the subject worthy of their labors, write on, 
 talk on, labor on. If they can change public opinion, or elicit one 
 particle of light further, they will exceed our expectations. 
 
 It is most wonderful that Christian churches at the North 
 should ever have allowed the subject of southern slavery to dis- 
 turb them. It is with them altogether a foreign and distant sub- 
 ject, with which, as churches, they had nothing to do. It is as 
 much out of order in a church-meeting, as the tariff or a national 
 bank. Both these are moral, and if you please religious ques- 
 tions, (for anything can be made so.) If men will consider the 
 nature of Christian churches and the designs for which they are 
 formed, they will see that those designs do not include such mat- 
 ters. If it were not for the clerical bodies, who perhaps take up 
 slavery for want of anything really useful on hand, we might 
 now at once be rid of the Anti-Slavery disturbance. But if a 
 bull comes roaring from Caledonia, and another from Canada, and 
 the ecclesiastical judicatories here will give them stable-room, and 
 all the great divines, talk about them, and write about them, why 
 then the noise will go on. The New School General Assembly 
 thought they had settled the question at the late meeting by 
 adopting the resolutions of the Rev. Dr. Duffield, who has a very 
 excellent faculty on such occasions of writing resolutions, which 
 amount to nothing. So the dancing question was settled very 
 amicably three years ago in the same body, by adopting the same 
 gentleman's resolution that " j^romiscuous dancing" was unbecom- 
 ing among Christians. This was considered as very distinctly con- 
 demning checkcd-apron balls, and such othei** associations in con- 
 nection with dancing as all respectable people take care to keep 
 clear of. As to the slavery resolutions, we judge by the New 
 York Observer, that it is very likely their meaning, if they have 
 any, is so dubious that all parties, on second thought, will be hable 
 to be dissatisfied. For ourselves, much as we have written dur- 
 ing this furious war, we have never attempted to prove slavery 
 to be either right or wrong ; for we knew it would be a waste 
 of labor. And what Ave wish now particularly to impress on the 
 gentlemen who are laboring so earnestly in this business, is the 
 fact that they accomplish nothing. They do not change public 
 opinion, and cannot. Why then keep up a useless agitation, even 
 by writing well, when no possible good can come of it ? It would 
 certainly be a great fixvor to the agitated churches to be left at 
 rest. The moral and religious interests of the world demand 
 something besides controversy, and especially that about foreign 
 topics. 
 
USE OF ABOLITIONISM. 235 
 
 USE OF ABOLITIONISM. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 14, 1847.] 
 
 Twenty years ago the cause of Colonization was unusually- 
 popular. Real abolition was also gaining ground rapidly, so 
 that but for the storm of fanaticism which arose in the East, sla- 
 very would probably have been abolished before this, in Dela- 
 ware, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky. If it had been so, the 
 colony of Liberia would have been overrun and utterly ruined in 
 all probability, by hordes of emancipated negroes, in all the vice 
 and feebleness of recently emancipated slaves. Barbarism would 
 have amalgamated the colony with the neighboring tribes, and 
 everything would have been lost. But Abolitionism came in to 
 stay the ruinous prosperity. It has stayed emigration to Africa, 
 until the colony and its principles have taken deep root. A 
 government has been established, and is in the hands of colored 
 men, who have managed their own affairs until they have sat- 
 isfied themselves and the world of their ability for republican 
 self-government. Schools and churches, and their necessary 
 organizations, have been operating for years. Society in all its 
 great departments is organized, opinions formed, and principles 
 established. Society is fairly in motion upon its own axis, with 
 its centrifugal and its centripetal forces accurately balanced. 
 The civilized nations have looked on, and learned to respect the 
 effort, and everything seems approaching the crisis when prac- 
 tical Abolition and Colonization may act together as they once 
 did, and upon a vastly enlarged scale. The chief thing to be re- 
 gretted among the effects of the Abolition fanaticism, is, that it 
 has prevented so many intelligent and property-owning blacks 
 from emigrating. Liberia wants them, and to supply their place 
 by liberated slaves requires years of training. Still, the success 
 lias been great. When the colony of New Amsterdam had been 
 established as long as that of Liberia, it numbered only two hun- 
 dred and fifty inhabitants, and they in a most miserable plight. 
 The Dutch in all that time had established absolutely nothing 
 but mismanagement and rum. But the colored emigrants have 
 established everything, and are speedily to become an indepen- 
 dent people, standing in high honor among the Christian nations 
 of the earth. Already they mmiber several thousand inhabit- 
 ants, and are rapidly increasing in wealth, intelligence, and 
 sound morals. They will soon be able to endure a large emigra- 
 tion. What if the emigration from the old nations had poured 
 into this country two hundred years ago, as it does now, or has 
 done at any time for twenty ycais past ? The Yankee character 
 would have been buried beneath an avalanche of Irishmen and 
 
23G THE OLD THREADBARE COAT. 
 
 Germans. The hopes of the world were not thus to be blasted. 
 The days of high prosperity were postponed until the new prin- 
 ciples of our fathers had been put into successful operation, and 
 luid worked so long that the nation had come to trust in and 
 praise them. The Bible men have also had time to organize all 
 their institutions, and to spread themselves over a vast surface, 
 taking the lead, and shaping all the affairs of society. Now wo 
 are ready for the miserablcs of all nations. They now come full 
 of admiration of our institutions, and determined to support 
 them, though they often make clumsy work of it. 
 
 THE OLD THREADBARE COAT. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, December 6, 1847.] 
 
 The Boston Recorder has " the pleasure to announce, that 
 Rev. Dr. Watcrbury, of that city, will, in their next paper, com- 
 mence a scries of articles on the subject of slavery." We con- 
 fess our wonder that so many ministers should think it their 
 dutjs in these days, to write a " series of articles" upon a subject 
 which has been discussed and hammered and mobbed, until 
 everything which could be said has been said a thousand times, 
 — a subject too, which must continue to be discussed, in its 
 events and management, until it ceases to exist. Slavery was 
 abolished as a curse, an abomination, throughout New England 
 long years ago. What else is thought of it now ? What new 
 opinion has been formed about it ? In oixr judgment the public 
 sentiment has not been advanced one inch by all that has been 
 done. The odium of color, the real decfradation of the neo-ro 
 race, has not been abolished in a single free State. There is not 
 one of them in which the public sentiment is not more unkind 
 toAvard the negro, than it is in any slaveholding State. Where 
 are negroes recognized as men equal to the whites ? Where do 
 they vote upon the great rule of individual human right ? A 
 grudging pittance of justice, dealt out from domineering and 
 arrogant hands, is all they can obtain. There is not a spot 
 in all the free States, in which a respcctabh; white girl could 
 marry the most respectable man with one drop of negro blood in 
 liis veins, without being turned out of white society, for her 
 rebellion against public sentiment. When such a state of things 
 exists towards free blacks after such protracted discussion, we are 
 in a poor position to discuss slavery ; certainly with the violent 
 imputations of wrong towards slaveholders, which have so gener- 
 ally characterized Northern discussion. We all agree to any 
 verdict against slavery, which any one of its enemies will bring 
 
THE OLD THREADBARE COAT. 237 
 
 in. " So say you, Mr. Forem.an ; so say you all, gentlemen," 
 sliall have our unanimous and instantaneous assent. Wo will 
 hang- it, drown it, or burn it, anything you ask, we will decree. 
 'J'iien, what more do the wise men contemplate ? The best men 
 of the slaveholding States, the wise men, the pious men, the 
 thorough Abolitionists, beg us at the North to cease the agita- 
 tion of this subject. They assure us unanimously that our agita- 
 tion creates a pr^ijudicc which paralyzes their eiforts. They say 
 that Abolition violence has for tlie time tainted and poisoned 
 Northern opinions, so that even in the bitter spirit which now 
 prevails, nothing but a pro-slavery effect is produced by our 
 anti-slavery discussions. We know that the anti-slavery bitter- 
 ness has taken such deep root in many New England churches, 
 that the pastors, (many of whom planted the root themselves,) 
 are teased and scolded because they do not "come out" against 
 the awful sin of slavery. How many of them Avrite for the 
 papers, and so do mischief for the sake of pacifying domestic 
 tempers, we cannot say. That may be a good reason in some 
 cases, and if any minister or layman has anything to say which 
 has not been said at least a thousand times, we will not object to 
 his saying it until that number is made up. Nor do we intend 
 to say that slavery is not a subject to be discussed. But we 
 have a right to show to Northern men, that their discussions are 
 mischievous, if we think them so. This is as much our right, as 
 any part of the discussion is the right of any one. 
 
 We said that the subject must continue to be discussed in any 
 event. Tiie incidents wiiich occur in reference to it will not only 
 keep up a discussion, but an agitation. In calm discussion we 
 are heartily glad to see the good old days of Colonization coming 
 up again, and taking a lead as it did years ago. The people of 
 tlie South are carrying on a discussion among themselves, and 
 trying to recover the position which they occupied twenty years 
 ;igo. Why not listen, as far as the abstract question is con- 
 cerned at least, to tlie men there who arc striving to bring about 
 some measure for the removal of the intolei-able burden trom 
 them ? Of the sincere desire of Mr. Clay and his associates in 
 Kentucky, for instance, to abolish slavery in that State, there can 
 be no doubt. It seems to us, standing as they do, they have a 
 jjght to claim that their advice should be heeded, and respect- 
 fully weighed. The pliysical and moral progress of the world 
 are pressing harder and harder upon slavery. This progress 
 must and will be discussed in all its tendencies. There is 
 enough to do, in connection with events, and in striving to guide 
 them right. The anti-slavery agitation, conducted as it has 
 been, has been the worst thing for the interests of religion at the 
 
238 CHURCH POLITICS. 
 
 North, which those interests have endured for lialf a century. 
 The great mass of Christitm people have become utterly sick of 
 it. We wish the ministers were as sick as the people. Many of 
 them are. 
 
 CHURCH POLITY AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 For the last ten years of his life, Mr. Hale took a special interest 
 in the discussion of questions relating to the nature and constitution 
 of the Church, its officers, the rights, duties and privileges of its 
 members, the terras of Christian communion, and the means of 
 spreading the gospel among men. His articles on these subjects, 
 though deficient in historical research and Biblical criticism, yet 
 as an exposition and defense of great principles, are not surpassed 
 perhaps by any writings in the language. As they were generally 
 called forth by some passing incident, and have no immediate 
 connection with each otiier, they are here arranged in the order 
 of time. Several dissertations on these topics, never before pub- 
 lished, Avhich were intended to form a new number of Mr. Hale's 
 occasional sheet, called " Facts and Reasonings," are introduced 
 in a body by themselves. 
 
 CHURCH POLITICS. 
 [Ftom the Journal of Commerce, Febniart/ 14, 1838.] 
 
 A Convention of clergymen was recently held at Worcester, 
 Mass., " for the purpose of expressing the scntimewtsof the clergy 
 of the county, on the subject of American Slavery." About 
 eighty reverend gentlemen, of various denominations, assembled, 
 and after a good clerical squabble, they so far agreed as to be able 
 to adjourn for six weeks. We are happy to say that about half 
 the clergy of the county preferred to stay away. The great 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DOMINATION. 239 
 
 trouble with this clerico-political Convention was the want of lib- 
 erty of speech ; and yet, judging from the reports, they appeared 
 to exercise quite as much liberty as was for the credit of tlieir vo- 
 cation, or the good nature of their own feelings. Mr. Trask said, 
 " lie was in favor of a holy excitement. We can accomplish no- 
 thing without it. It is said, likewise, that we shall involve the 
 clergy in poUtics. He ever had been, and ever meant to be, a 
 politician — a Christian politician." And the churches, we sup- 
 pose, are to be primary political associations, boiling with anti-ma- 
 sonry, or temperance, or abolition. Ladies shall send up their 
 sweet names to soften the hard hearts of politicians at Washing- 
 ton, and the clergy, with muskets, well charged, fight the battles 
 
 of the race. One of them tried it, and found shooting a 
 
 game that two could play at. We can tell the reverend clergy, 
 that if proceedings like what have been witnessed among them 
 for two or three years past are to be continued, their black coats 
 are destined to be dreadfully rolled in the dirt. It is matter of 
 deep regret that so many of the clergy of this county have turn- 
 ed aside from the proper duties of their profession, and set them- 
 selves to the cultivation of all sorts of contention. 
 
 In their proper sphere, the clergy are the most useful of all men. 
 But out of it, they always manage badly. They have been bad 
 politicians the world over. While they labor within the ))roper 
 province of their high and holy vocation, they ought to be ex- 
 empt from newspaper assaults, and from harm, in any way, 
 from the belligerent parties in the world's contests. But if they 
 are so fond of fight as to take arms and enter the field, we care 
 not how severe is the drubbing wliich they get. 
 
 One thing seems to us certain. If things go on as they are 
 now going, the religion of Jesus Christ will need to be established 
 de novo, in our land. The great business of the present organ 
 ization has, to a lamentable extent, become something very dif- 
 ferent from the original design for which churches were consti- 
 tuted and religious ordinances set up. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DOMINATION. 
 \_FroTn the Journal of Commerce, Novem.her 22, 1838.] 
 
 The world knows something of the doings in the General As 
 sembly of the Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia. We had 
 supposed, and we believe it was generally supposed, that after 
 the split which took place there, the various Presbyterian churches 
 of the country would be permitted to arrange themselves as they 
 might choose with one or the other General Assembly. But it 
 
240 ECCLESIASTICAL DOMINATION. 
 
 seems a different course has been resolved upon, and that the OKI 
 School men have dctermuied to pursue tlie game hito all its hid- 
 ing-places, and never to rest until the split is run into the remo- 
 test ramiiication of the church. In furtherance of this policy, the 
 Presbytery of New York, as we learn on good authority, have 
 taken it upon themselves to depose the Rev. Dr. Cox, of Brook- 
 lyn, and declare his pulpit vacant ! The church and congrega- 
 tion of which he is pastor, would have been entirely harmonious 
 but for this quarrel among the clergy in what is called the " Su- 
 preme Judicatory of the Church," and notwithstanding this quar- 
 rel, only two of the session, which is composed of seven, and a 
 small number of laymen, are disaffected. The great majority of 
 the church and congregation, and their officers, are attached to 
 their pastor, and not disposed, any more than their pastor, to en- 
 ter into any controversy about Presbyterian paper. But the 
 Presbytery demand that Dr. Cox should give in his adhesion to 
 the Old School General Assembly as the only true and geiuiinc 
 body, notwithstanding the amicable division of the Synod which 
 took place recently at Newburgh, by which Dr. Cox and his 
 chuich had ceasjed to belong to the body which now attempts to 
 depose him. Dr. Cox could not of course recogni/e the supre- 
 macy of the Old School General Assembly, and for this he was 
 deposed, and the small minority of his session and people declar- 
 ed to be the session and church. We understand a member of 
 the Presbytery was designated to obtrude himself into the pulpit 
 on Sunday next, and proclaim the doings of the ecclesiastical 
 tribunal, and inform the people that they must elect another 
 pastor. 
 
 Ordinary theological discussions or church proceedings do not 
 come within the proper scope of the business press. But we 
 think such an allair as this is so much a question of general right 
 and common libcrt)% that every press which stands as the guar- 
 dian of popular rights at all, is at hberty and is bound to use 
 whatever inlluence it has, by way of resistance. If we nuist sub- 
 mit to ecclesiastical tyranny such as this, then we are for mo\ing 
 West, to see if there may not be another Plymouth Kock soine- 
 Avh(!re, upon which we may set our feet, with the hope of raising 
 again the sj)irit of the pilgrims where it may be sustained with 
 better hopes. But such things will not be submitted to ; and al- 
 though we have now no adequate channels for discussing the sub- 
 ject before tlio public, the necessity will provide them. To talk of 
 civil and rdigioHS liberty luider such measures, if they could be 
 enforced, avouUI be idle. But they cannot be enforced, thanks 
 to the 2>olitical guarantees of the country. The courts will not 
 permit rights to be thus trampled upon. If the Presbytery of 
 
Till-: U O N G n E G A T I O N A L I S T . 241 
 
 N<nv York choose to declare a puli)it vacant in violation of the 
 wishes of both the pastor and the peopk;, tiiey can do so. It is 
 only showing what they would do if they could. But if any Rev. 
 D.D. should dare to interfere witli tlie public worship of a reli- 
 gious assembly and attemjjt to take possession of their pulpit for 
 the purpose of announcin;^ any such ecclesiastical decree, it 
 would be the duty of such a congregation to call in the nearest 
 police oflicHT, if there were none present, to seize the oliender and 
 take him olF to jail, where, with liberty to study the laws of the 
 land, lie might become a good citizen. If all the laws of good • 
 ness contained in the Bible fail to curb the bad passions of those 
 wlio are the teachers of religion, then they must learn of another 
 statute book. We hope there is a large; portion of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church who have no notion of submitting to these monstrous 
 wrongs of clergymen ambitious of universal dictation. It is hii>-h 
 time that this determination were fully announced, and the clergy 
 sent back to their proper business. There are no men more use- 
 ful than they, while with meekness, and kindness, and wisdom, 
 they feed the flocks over which they are placed ; but out of this 
 their proper sphere, they have ever been the most dangerous 
 class in society. W(! are for keeping them in their places and 
 about their prouer calling. 
 
 THE CONGREQATIONALIST. 
 lFn»n the Journal of Commerce, February/ 12, 1889.] 
 
 Two papers have been started at Hartford, Connecticut, with 
 this name. We have not seen enough of them to know very 
 thoroughly how either will be; conducted, but we arc gla,d to see 
 the banner of Congregationalism hoisted broadly before the 
 world. It is the banner of our Puritan fathers ; the banner of 
 peace, of liberty, of brotherly love, and Christian energy. More 
 of the New England character grows out of its religious organi- 
 zation, than people are aware of. The influence of that organi- 
 zation is felt iipon every citizen, though only a minority are 
 church members. If liberty is worth anything and useful any- 
 where ; if men may bo trusted to govern themselves ; or if self- 
 government is a thing to be desired under any circumstances, it 
 would seem that a Christian church affords those circumstances. 
 Churches are very apt to include some self-righteous nwn and 
 women, some self-conceited persons, and perhaps .some hypo- 
 crites, or at least persons who are no better than they should be, 
 and not so good by a great deal as they think themselves to be. 
 11 
 
242 THE CONGREGATIONALIST. 
 
 But after all, cliurclies generally are at least a little select. 
 There is not in them so large a proportion of ignorance nor vice, 
 nor bad habits, as in the political community at large. If politi- 
 cal society, when it governs itself, after all its faults, makes up a 
 better government than any other which could be made up for 
 it, then we think churches will be best governed when they gov- 
 ern themselves. We know there are man)' men who think so- 
 ciety unfit to govern itself, and they generally suppose that it 
 would be a great blessing to their country, if only they could 
 themselvesjust govern everybody else. But so far as we have 
 been acquainted with such men, either in or out of the church, 
 we have not thought their views of government of that liberal 
 cast, and their feelings of that enlarged benevolence, which 
 made us desirous of putting our country or even ourselves en- 
 tirely into their hands. There is, too, this strange contradiction 
 in their logic, that while they think men incapable of governing 
 themselves, they still think that some men are not only excep- 
 tions to this incapacity, but such exceptions, that they are able 
 besides governing themselves to govern all other men. The his- 
 tory of the world has proved that those who have been clothed 
 with absolute authority were in general the very worst persons 
 who could have been selected for that purpose, or else, that to 
 clothe a man with such authority does of itself spoil him and 
 render him unfit for its exercise. 
 
 Our fathers thought self-government a most desirable thing, 
 not mei-ely as a personal matter to themselves, but in its influ- 
 ence upon society and the destiny of their posterity. They de- 
 clared that men were born free, and in their political relations 
 equal ; and that sovereignty is in the people, and to be exercised 
 by them. They took great pains to guard self-government so 
 that it should never be lost. They determined that no man 
 should ever be tried for any crime, but by a jury of his equals ; 
 that nothing should be done to interrupt tlie freest exercise of 
 speech or the press, and that the people should always have the 
 uninterrupted right to meet for the discussion of public mea- 
 sures, and to form such associations with regard to them as they 
 should deem best. Wlien so large a number of people were to 
 act in regard to matters of govei'nment, tliat the whole mass 
 could not assemble in one place, they provided that the people 
 should, in the exercise of tlie most perfect freedom, choose dele- 
 gates to represent their local divisions and various interests ; but 
 so jealous were they of abuses by these delegates, and so well 
 did they understand how power corrupts the mind and engen- 
 ders tyranny, that they required all these delegates to resign their 
 trusts into the hands of the people again, fully and entirely, after 
 
THE CONGREGATIONALIST. 243 
 
 only very short terms of office. Most of their officers and repre- 
 sentatives were elected for one year only, some for only half a 
 year, and very few for more than two years. Self-government, 
 secured by the free exercise of all these " inalienable rights," 
 they considered so important, that to gain and keep the blessing, 
 they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. 
 Sooner than submit to anything else, they Avere ready to saci'ifice 
 all that men count dear on earth. Congregationalism adopts 
 these views, and acts upon them. The Congregational churches 
 of New England are the most perfect exhibitions of self-govern- 
 ment that are to be found on earth. Each church is a commu- 
 nity of itself, — an independent sovereignty, — rendering to all the 
 churches around it the charities of good neighborhood and Chris- 
 tian affection, but acknowledging »o authority over itself any- 
 where out of itself, except in God. No officers are clothed with 
 any power to rule. The pastor, deacons, and the members, each 
 and all, enjoy the influence which wisdom and goodness procure, 
 and no more. The pastors are of course treated with respect, 
 unless by misconduct they forfeit their claims ; and if they do 
 their duty as good men, they enjoy an affiictionate regard and 
 confidence, and exert an influence over their people, which mere 
 power never can confer. As to all the rest, he has most influ- 
 ence who has most piety and most wisdom, allowing something 
 of course to wealtli, which everywhere confers a certain amount 
 of influence. But nowhere on the face of the earth, have wis- 
 dom and goodness a more predominating sway than in the New 
 England cliurches. The result of a system so free, and bearing 
 so equally on all, is to bring the wisdom of all into the common 
 stock for the common good. The experience of the aged, and 
 the zeal of the young, the prudence of the timorous, and the 
 darino- of the brave, all mino-le too-ether, and, in general, harmo- 
 niously. Under such circumstances, men learn to differ m opm- 
 ion without alienation of heart, and minorities acquiesce cheer- 
 fully in the decisions of majorities, for they have none of the 
 corrosive feeling that they have been abused or oppressed, but 
 they know that everything has been done fairly. Under such 
 circumstances it comes about, more than anywhere else, that 
 every member becomes acquainted with all the common interests 
 of the association, and gets his feelings engaged for their ad- 
 vancement. In the discussions about the common good in a sys- 
 tem so free, the powers of the mind are enlarged, and the heart 
 made better. The modest and timid are encouraged, and many 
 a young man finds out his powers of thought and argument, and 
 even of eloquence, and gets confidence in himself, and becomes a 
 man of tenfold more importance in society than otherwise he 
 
244 THE CONGREGATIONAL 1ST. 
 
 would have been. These associations possess in themselves the 
 quality of perpetual youth, or, at any rate, of recovering that 
 state if for a time old age should creep upon them. If some 
 man, who in his youth acquired influence, holds on to it injurious- 
 ly when he grows old, and if in growing old he loses the ardor 
 of his youth and becomes selfish, his influence at farthest dies 
 when he dies. He has no power to associate others around him- 
 self who can perpetuate the same chilling control. When he is 
 gone, the field of influence is open again, and the church is set 
 entirely free. The peace of the New England churches is not 
 the peace of Rome or Spain, or of any other place where stern 
 government prevents discontent from manifesting itself ; it is not 
 the peace of death, nor of slavery, nor of subjugation, but of active 
 good will, of intelligent contentment, and of vig(irous cooperation. 
 Who that has a heart would not rather have influence in such a 
 society, than all the power that official rule could give him ? 
 
 We think our readers can see in all this a system to make 
 men of honesty, of liberality, of intelligence and energy, — to 
 make, in fact, Yankees, just such as Yankees are. We think 
 they can see that more of the Yankee character grows out of 
 Congregationalism, than they have before supposed, and that it 
 is a system more important to the literary, political, mei-cantile, 
 and all other interests of our country than they have been aware 
 of. The very generosity which the system inspires has induced 
 New England men to yield to other systems when they have left 
 their native land. There have not been wanting, too, in New 
 England, men who, lacking the true spirit of the society and 
 institutions around them, have been disposed to recommend 
 other systems, which confer more power on a few. There aie 
 some evils in a Congregational society, as there will be in all so- 
 cieties ; and some persons have been inclined to think that 
 greater power conferred on a few would remedy these evils ; 
 and so there has prevailed extensively in New England a certain 
 degree of favor towards more governing systems. Some clergy- 
 men, when pestered by the exercise of too much liberty among 
 their people to be consistent with their notions of their own dig- 
 nity, or, perhaps, when really dealt hardly by, have thought how 
 very satisfactory it would be, if only they had the power to re- 
 duce such uncomfortable liberty to subjection and silence. The 
 aristocratic feeling has been carried so far in fact at home, that 
 the perfect simplicity of Congregationalism has been marred in 
 several counties in Connecticut, and we believe in Rhode Island, 
 by the introduction of a sort of mongrel hierarchy under the 
 name of " Consociation." The design is the same as that of all 
 other hierarchies, viz : — to give power to the clergy ; a result 
 
THE CONGREGATIONALIST. 245 
 
 which the experience of the world, and especially of the Chris- 
 tian Church, has proved to be most disastrous to its interests. 
 We hope the churches who have been led unthinkingly to adopt 
 this false principle, though it be but in a comparatively moderate 
 degree, will throw it off immediately and entirely. If they be- 
 lieve in self-government, let them adhere to that beautiful prin- 
 ciple. But if they think themselves unable to govern them- 
 selves, let them adopt the blessings of being governed to the 
 full, and choose a Pope at once. There is no midway point be- 
 tween the two extremes, where sense and reason can meet. 
 Men should govern themselves, or they should be governed, 
 wholly and entirely. The principle is good for everything, or it 
 is good for nothing. Thei-e is no making it better by mixing. 
 
 As there is no political government on the whole so efficient 
 for all good purposes and so inefficient for bad ones as a govern- 
 ment of the people, so it is in religious matters with Congrega- 
 tionalism. Wealth and talents and family may sometimes pro- 
 tect a bad church member from the censures which his miscon- 
 duct demands ; but on the whole there will be fewer such cases 
 than under any other system. There will be, and there is, more 
 tenderness toward the weak and ignorant when they fall, and 
 more stern and unflinching faithfulness in dealing with the pow- 
 erful, than is to be found elsewhere. This is proved by the fact, 
 that to be excommunicated by a Congregational church is a 
 much deeper disgrace, and is set down as a more certain evi- 
 dence of bad character, than the excommunication of any other 
 tribunal. If injustice is done even there, it is generally brought 
 about by the clergy, and not by the people. Indeed the good 
 sense and rectitude of the people are in most cases an overmatch 
 for all such attempts, and with very few exceptions the minds of 
 the clei-gy remain uncontaminated to any dangerous degree with 
 the love of domination, and tliey lead in ways of generosity and 
 faithfulness. Congregationalism avoids contention as far as it is 
 possible to do so, and on the whole provides the best possible 
 means of putting an end to it when it exists. Each church has 
 its own troubles and no more. It is not obliged to take part in 
 contentions out of its own limits, originating perhaps at a dis- 
 tance, and about matters in which it feels little or no interest. If 
 contentions spring up, as unhappily they will, the consciousness 
 which both parties feel that they are accountable to the people, 
 puts them at once on their good behavior ; and as there is no 
 grand system of j-eligious judicatories and appeals, there is no 
 machinery for prolonging controversy, and no special grandeur 
 and importance given to persons merely from the fact of their 
 being litigants. As there are no courts which can compel the 
 
246 THE CONGREGATIONAL 1ST. 
 
 attendance of parties before tlicin, public sentiment demands that 
 controversies which cannot otherwise be settled shall be submit- 
 ted to arbitration, and he wlio refuses the advice of other 
 churches when he himself can choose half the advisers, is apt to 
 be suspected, from the fact, of bcin^ coi\scious that his cause is a 
 bad one. When other churches are invited to assist by their ad- 
 vice in the settlement of dillicuUies, they do not become parties. 
 Their ])osition is that of friends to botli parties. It is not their 
 quairel, and no pow(!r can compel them to take part in it as 
 their own. Over the whole system, the clergy, by tlieir Associa- 
 tions in counties and their Gen(>ral Associations in States, exert a 
 wide intluence, which, thoutfji there is no authority in it, acts 
 with a real elliciency which ouijfht to be entirely satisfactory to 
 them. 
 
 We are happy to say that Conirreii^atioualism in fact pervades, 
 and is the plan of all tiie relii^ious denominations of New Eng- 
 land, except that of the AIi!tlu)dists. Tiu^y have a government 
 much less in accordance with our free political institutions. The 
 Baptists are everywhere Congregationalists, and Episcopacy, in 
 this countiy, though it retains consideiable ]K)mp and circum- 
 stance, has nevertheless very wisely assimilated itself to our insti- 
 tutions in oth(!r respects, and based itself very distinctly ujion 
 the good will, the ])rotection, and the supreme control of the 
 people. Indeed, in some respects the Episcopal clergy are more 
 dependent on the people, than in Congregationalism itself. 
 
 We have taken much pleasure in writing this article, as we al- 
 ways do in contemplating in this way the happy institutions of 
 liberty, especially of Ihl)I(^ liberty, — the liberty and ecpinlity 
 which Jesus Christ has taught us, and exemplilied bj' his exam- 
 ple as well as his ])r(>ce|)ts. We think wo. ha\e very amply sus- 
 tained the (leclaralion with wliich we set out, that "the banner 
 of Congrega(i()nalism is the l)ai\ner of peace, of liberty, of broth- 
 erly love and Christian energy !" -We hope we have done some- 
 thing to renn)ve from the minds of those who look on the New 
 .l<]ngland policy as dangerous, their groundless fears, and from 
 the minds of our readers who are Congregationalists, the impres- 
 sion, if they have it, that there ai-e other systems better than 
 tlmt, or as good as that, or anything like as good as that, in its 
 practical results. Such opinions we are deeply convinced are en- 
 tirely erroneous. We had a spice of them ourselves once, when we 
 lived in New England and had no opportunity for a practical com- 
 parison of dillerent systems ; and we have not been cured of those 
 notions by disappointment or jtique, but, as we think, by a calm 
 observance, luuler advantageous circumstances, of the workings 
 of various systems. Those notions were entertained thought- 
 
CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS. 247 
 
 lessly ; tliey have been eradicated tliouglitfully, and upon more 
 perfect knowledge. They are, at any rate, cured so (rdectuiilly, 
 that we have come to consider the (>oiigregationalism of New 
 1-Cnghuid as above all prices in its elFects upon character and the 
 destiny of our country and the world. And we hope that wher- 
 ever the sons of Now Et\gland go hereafter and establish their 
 religious institutions, they will hoist the baiUK^r of (-ongrciga- 
 tionalism high, and nail it to th(; mast, and rally around it with- 
 out a thought of its abandonment. Ijet their religious policy be 
 founded in the largest liljcrty, and the most entire sov(!reignty of 
 the peo[)lc. It is their duty to their Puritan forefathers ; it is 
 their duty to themsf^lves, and not less so to their country. It is 
 their duty to tlu; Christian religion and the founder of that re- 
 ligion, Jesus Christ himself, wIkjhi alone th(»y are at liberty to 
 call Miister. 
 
 We hope, therefore, that the newspapers in Hartford, to which 
 we alluded at the outscst, will be conducted in a maimer worthy 
 of the high title which tlusy have assumed, and that they will 
 teach their read(!rs to stand by their personal rights in religious 
 as well as political matters, not for the sake of tliemselvcs mctrely, 
 but in the discharge of high duty, from which, as American 
 Christians, they cannot excuse themselves. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONS. 
 
 \_From t/ic Coiif^rcgalional Observer, 1841.] 
 
 It has long been a matter of complaint among the best friends 
 of Congregationalism, that thei-e is among us too little attach- 
 ment to our distinctive principles. Our denomination have dif- 
 fered from most others in this respect. While a commendable 
 degree of zeal has been manifested in sustaining great priiici])les 
 of Christian doctrimis, and a disposition, when nujuired, to con- 
 tend earn(!Stly for the faith once delivered to tin; saints, we have 
 overlooked the importance of standing (irmly by tliosi; principles 
 of order and religious liberty, which our fath(M's sullered so much 
 in rescuing from the rubbish which had overlaid them. And we 
 have often inquired, why is this apathy ? We v(!n(M-ate our an- 
 cestry ; we laud them for their self-sacrifice, and their noble 
 achievements ; while we undervalue thefruits of their labor, and 
 the glorious legacy which they l((ft us. We have asked, why has 
 not more interest betm felt, to keep our people, and especially our 
 j'oung people, well instructed as to our distinctive princ^iples ? 
 Why do not intelligent members of our churches take more pains 
 to inform themselves, and diffusci information on these subjects ? 
 
248 CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS. 
 
 Many causes have contributed to produce this apathy. But 
 we can tliink of none whicli has done more than our policy with 
 regard to home missions at the West. We have taken the lead 
 of the rest of the country, in i-egard to our contributions to this 
 cause, and w(! have suffered Presbyterians to lead us in their dis- 
 tribution. We have treated it as a matter of indilFerence in the 
 planting of tlie churches, whether we erected them on the basis 
 of our own principles, or on one veiy different. Nay, our young 
 men have gone to the West, expressly advised by our fathers 
 here, to throw off" their Congregationalism, and bring their minds, 
 as best tliey could, to conform to J-'reshyterinnism. And when 
 our bretliren, the members of our own families and churches, 
 have gone westward, and sent back for our aid in rearing Chi-is- 
 tian institutions after our model, now made more dear to them by 
 their removal, and by the recurrence of their fond remembrance 
 to the scenes of their childhood, we have sent them the means oi 
 building institutions that must be strange, and averse to their 
 early associations. And thus we have brought forward a gene- 
 ration of them, that, as it were, speak one half in the speech of 
 .^shdod, and one half in the Jews' language. And so far as the 
 gratification of their early associations is concerned, they have 
 asked of us bread, and we have given them a stone. 
 
 Now this fact has had its effect upon our churches and our 
 children at liome. It is equivalent to our saying to them, that 
 our distinctive principles are not worth preserving. This lan- 
 guage is virtually held, every time we contribute our funds to 
 sustain other institutions, wlien we send our young ministers to 
 the West, under advice to abandon the J\ew England institutions, 
 and in all that we do, in preferring Presbyterian institutions to 
 our own. 
 
 Now if no other cause than this Averc in operation, it were a 
 matter to be expected, that our people would come to regard our 
 own institutions as hardly worih the pains needful to their pre- 
 servation. And this feeling, once introduced, does not stop with 
 our relations to Presbyterians, who hold the same distinguish- 
 ing doctrines with us. Put it begets a state of indifference, 
 which exposes us to ini'oads from sects who reject these doctrines. 
 It has done much to foster a laxity of feeling as to religimis 
 principles, and thus to weaken the churches planted by our 
 fafb.ers. We are wasting their heritage by this well-meant but 
 mistaken policy. We are giving every propagator of error an 
 advantage against our own children, by instilling into these chil- 
 di-en the Indief that our own institutions are not seriously to be 
 valued above others. 
 
 We know it will be said, that the sustaining of the doctrines 
 
CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS. 249 
 
 is more important than principles of church government. But 
 principles of ord(!r ai-e necessary to the sustaining of doctrines ; 
 and we cannot attain the end without the means. Let this indif- 
 ference as to })rinciples of order prevail, and confusion, and every 
 evil work, would, ere long, come in, and the doctrines would go 
 under a cloud. We much mistake, if the unfortunate union be- 
 tween Presbyterians and C^ongregationalists has not done much 
 to introduce confusion and heresy into both denominations, in 
 those regions where the union exists. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL TIOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 [Fro7n the Co7igre^altonal Observer, Dec. 18, 1841.] 
 
 Messrs. Editoks : — The controversy about Congregational 
 Home Missions is getting so fierce that the dust which rises will, 
 I fear, hide the I'eal matter at issue. It is better, as you say, to 
 keep cool, and not only on this, but on all other subjects of Christian 
 discussion. I had i-eason to thank you for presenting my views 
 in favor of a separate organization very early in this discussion. 
 I hope you will allow me now to endeavor to bring the minds of 
 your readers back to the real question. Those who think Congre- 
 gationalists should carry on their Home Missionary o[)erations dis- 
 tinct from Presbyterians claim tiiat tlieir object is none other 
 than the glory (jf God and the salvation of men. I do not see 
 therefore why the movement should be stigmatized, or perhaps 
 I should say if I would keep clear of the same fault, denomi- 
 nated " sectarian." Nor do I see why it should be called a " cru- 
 sade." It is as easy to call a thing by one name as another, 
 but the common way and the fairest way is to let every ciiiid 
 wear the name given by its father. 
 
 I suppose all Congregationalists will desire to adopt that mode 
 of operation whicli will most honor God in the salvation of the 
 largest number of our fellow-citizens. The inquiry is, how shall 
 we soonest plant Christian institutions all over our country, and 
 plant them in such a form that they will flourish thnnigh all time, 
 I think our country will be much more largely blest by the sepa- 
 rate action of Congregationalists. I beli(;ve that if you plant 
 your churches Presbyterian, they will grow old and decrepit ; 
 but if you plant them Congregational, tliey will flourish in con- 
 stant youth and vigor ; that ia fact if our country is to be a vig- 
 orous Christian country, its churches must be organized as Con- 
 gregational churches. I know that while Congregationalists 
 
250 CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS. 
 
 acted separately tliey did spread Congregationalism, but that the 
 union with Presbyterians has transformed almost all the churches 
 so formed into Presbyterian churches. If there had never been 
 a union, I believe New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, would 
 now have been Congregational States ; but the union has pre- 
 vented this and made all these States Presbyterian. These state- 
 ments I believe will hardly be controverted by any one on the 
 other side. Certainly, then, those Congregationalists who come 
 forward with statements so important ought to be patiently heard 
 while they urge Congregationalists to change their mode of ope- 
 ration. There are many Congregationalists who are controlled by 
 these considerations and who think it their duty no longer to sustain 
 the union. They must have channels through which thej* can act 
 or they Avill perhaps not act at all — certainly not efficiently. There 
 will, therefore, most unquestionably be such an organization, what- 
 ever may be said against it. Let us then make our views understood 
 by each other and let each Christian act as he thinks he ought. 
 I do not expect that the separate action of those Congregation- 
 alists who determine to act separately will produce any of those 
 terrible convulsions which are predicted. I do not see the war 
 which is so much talked of. I do not expect the destruction of 
 the present Home Missionary Society, but I do expect that the 
 progress of discussion will create a great deal more Congrega- 
 tionalism than exists at present, and that Congregationalists will 
 learn that if they would Christianize the world so that it will 
 "stay" Christianized, it must be done by spreading Congre- 
 gationalism. 
 
 You call upon the Puiitan to say what sort of Congregation- 
 alism it would spread by a separate organization. I cannot an- 
 swer for the Puritan, but I am quite ready to answer for myself, 
 that it is not " consociated" Congregationalism that I would 
 spread, nor should I expect any one to see difference enough 
 between that and Presbyterianism to induce much effort to spread 
 tlie one rather than the other. It is one of tlie most grievous 
 deeds of the past years of union with Presbyterianism that Con- 
 necticut has become substantially a Presbyterian State.' There 
 is no mistake about this. The name of Congregationalism is 
 retained, but its reality is gone. A Congreyutional church is 
 complete in itself, possessing all the powers necessary for its own 
 organization and action, those powers to he exercised hy the vote of 
 a majority of the memhers. Consociation takes away tliese essen- 
 tial characteristics, subjecting the church in all its movements to 
 the control of the Consociation. I have before me the rules of 
 the Consociation of the Eastern District of Fairfield County. I 
 quote " Art. 1st. The duties of this Consociation shall be to 
 
CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS. 251 
 
 settle cand dismiss ministers within tlieir limits — decide cases of 
 discipline — and to adjudicate in all cases relating- to the interests 
 of religion in the district." Here i.s Congregationalism swept 
 away at a blow. Tiie churches cannot elect their own pastors, 
 nor even their deacons if the Consociation choose to interfere. 
 The power of appointment is as absolutely vested in the Conso- 
 ciation as it is in an English bishop. Further along they say 
 that " either the pastor, church or socictij'' may call tlie Conso- 
 ciation, and it is very evident that the (consociation may go witli- 
 out being called by any one if it so pleases. Is this the liberty 
 with which Christ made the churches of Connecticut free ? I am 
 grieved and vexed that the clergy of my native State should thus 
 have taken away the beauty of Zion ; and I think the churches 
 who have thus supinely allowed the precious talent committed to 
 them to be lost will deserve to be oppressed by shcphei-ds who 
 care not for their flock, unless they speedilj^ withdraw from so 
 dangerous a position. It is not to spread such Congregational- 
 ism as this, that I shall give my money or my prayers. 
 
 Perhaps I have made corrections enough, yet I will say one 
 thing more. The views of the Puritan it seems to me lack some- 
 thing of purity, and perhaps this is the reason why you are not 
 answered. It had quite an article the other week to prove that 
 no man could acquire a right to preach but by license from the 
 clergy, and it stated distinctly that no church could elect one of 
 its own members and set him to be their pastor. I do not under- 
 stand Congregationalism so, nor do I understand primitive church 
 history so. It is generally expedient that men should have the 
 sanction of some body (jf ministers, before tluy preach, and gene- 
 rally expedient that a church should call in other churches to 
 assist in the installation of its pastoi-, but not necessary ; and 
 when a council acts, it is by the authority of the churches and in 
 their name, not by the authority of the clergy. This is the doc- 
 trine of Congregationalism. The doctrine of clerical power is 
 the great distinctive feature of Episcopacy. It is the church, not 
 the clergy which is the pillar and ground of the truth. 
 
 It is quite time that the Congregationalists of New England 
 had made up their minds whether divine right belongs to the 
 clergy or the people. We had a document put forth not long 
 since in the shape of " A Pastoral Letter from the North Conso- 
 ciation of Litchfield County." This document says " two things 
 are essential to the constitution of the pastor, a call from God to 
 take the office, and ordination to confer the needful gifts by the 
 laying on of the hands of the apostles and elders." This would 
 be in good keeping in some places, but not among Congregation- 
 alists, and in my judgment the latter part is a pure assumption. 
 
252 OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ■\vitliout the least -warrfint of Scriptuie. If any of the members 
 of that Consociation thinks he can make out Scriptuie for it, let 
 him try, and layman as I am and pressed with other cares, I will 
 still venture to defend the opposite ground. Suppose a man has 
 the first of these requisites and is in the midst of a clergy who 
 refuse him the second. What shall he do? Why, according to 
 this pastoral letter he must obey man rather than God, and do 
 nothing ! I think the Sciiptures would teach him to do like 
 John Bunyan, go to preacliing. God never lays down his rules 
 in a manner to involve such absurdities. If God calls, we must 
 obey. If men will sanction it, all the better ; but if they will not, 
 then they must be disregarded. I say as does the pastoral letter, 
 " let the people honor the office of the pastor as a holy and fruit- 
 ful ordinance of God," and I would counterpoise it by adding, 
 let the pastors honor the churches as the foundation of all orders 
 and offices, and to which all are to be the servants ; and let them 
 not claim more in the churches than is claimed by the Great 
 Head, who is content to be an elder brother. Quo. 
 
 OFFICERS OF TPIE CHURCH. 
 [From the JVcw York Evangelist, 1841.] 
 
 A Correspondent of your paper, Pkesbyter who seems, 
 upon the whole, to be quite liberal in his intentions, has brought 
 together upon the subject of the officers of the church, what ap- 
 pears to me a singular cluster of opinions. He makes out very 
 clearly, that the primitive churches were organized with two offi- 
 cers and no more, viz. ; pastors and deacons, the latter for the 
 care of church cliarities. He thinks, nevertheless, that it is better 
 there should be another order, viz. ; ruling elders, because it is ex- 
 pedient as he thinks, and because although there is no " express 
 warrant for this office in the Bible," yet "there are several 
 intimations in the epistles, which seem to favor the institution." 
 These h(! considers representatives of the people, and the expe- 
 diency of tire office, he says, " is so clearly seen, that a large por- 
 tion of the Congregational churches appoint standing committees 
 or a large board of deacons, with powers similar to those of a 
 session." 
 
 Congregationalists have obviously some right to interpret their 
 own })olicy, and I hope you ^vill allow me, as one, to put this 
 matter straight, even though I should say some things not in ex- 
 act accordance with your own views. It is quite plain, that if the 
 primitive churches appointed only teachers and agents for their 
 
OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 253 
 
 charities, that all the principal matters of churcli business were 
 reserved to tiie cluirch. Tlie admission to membership, and the 
 administration of discipHne, were not delegated at all. It is 
 (squally plain, that the election of ruling elders would have been 
 the introduction of another system entirely. It would have put 
 an end to the democratic principle, by substituting the aristocra- 
 tic. In my judgment, there are no " intimations" even, that any 
 such change ever took place, or that the perfect Congregational- 
 ism in which the churches were instituted at first, was not found 
 the expedient plan, so long as the advancement of Christ's king- 
 dom was the only object of his professed followers. It was under 
 this S3'stem of individual liberty, and individual responsibility to 
 their grand Master, that the (Jhristians went everywhere, each 
 one according to his own judgment, "preaching the gospel," and 
 it was under this system that tlie word had good power, and 
 multitudes were added to the Churcli. If all bands had been re- 
 quired to wait the sanction of the riding elders, what would have 
 become of all this evangelical labor ? 
 
 If ruling elders were ever wanted in the Church, either in the 
 primitive or modern ages, it seems to me they must have been 
 wanted at the very outset, when the converts, full of all the errors 
 of Judaism, and Paganism, and heathen philosophy, and feeble in 
 Christian knowledge, must have had more need of government, 
 than ever afterwards. Tiie (church had before Ix^en under tutors 
 and governors ; but this was the time of her emancipation. There 
 was now a nobler and larger work for the sons of God to per- 
 form, than ever before, and they were told to do it ; controllecl by 
 no human power, and following only in the footsteps of their 
 great captain. 
 
 But let me set Presbyter right, about the matter of Presbyte- 
 rianism being a representative form of church government, and so 
 like Congregationalism that Congregationalists, feeling the neces- 
 sity of the case, do virtually establish sessions. In my judgment, 
 these ideas' are all mistakes. Presbyterianism is not repul)li(;an- 
 ism, nor is it in any proper sense a representative government. It 
 the government of this nation had been organized by the election 
 of a President and Senate for life, in whom were vested all the 
 powers of the Constitution, what v/ould it have been called ? Not 
 a representative government, certainly, nor a republic in any 
 sense. It could have been called nothing but an elective aristo- 
 cracy. If, instead of electing a national Senate, the Constitution 
 of each State had provided that its officers should consist of a 
 Governor and S(;naLe elected for life, and that the Union should 
 be formed by a Congress of delegates chosen by the various State 
 Senates from their own bodies respectively, what would this have 
 
254 OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 been called ? The people would have expressed their opinion 
 at once, and there would be an end of their influence. If such 
 a plan had been proposed to the Convention for framing the Fe- 
 deral Constitution, in my opinion, rather than adopt it, they would 
 have thought the people better represented by declaring General 
 Washington the unlimited monarch of the realm, the crown to de- 
 scend in the line of his heirs forever. It certainly would never 
 have been thought of, that such a government was composed of 
 representatives of the people. Such a government could never 
 have been planned, but with the intention of shutting out the 
 people from all participation in power. 
 
 Nothing can be more erroneous than the notion that the stand- 
 ing committees of Congregational churches exercise similar power 
 with Presbyterian sessions. There may be, possibly, a few 
 churches who are called Congregational, and who have so mistak- 
 en Congregationalism, as to suppose that names constituted the 
 thing, and so contented themselves with being ruled by a ses- 
 sion, if only it was called a standing committee. But there are 
 no such churches in New England. There, and wherever else 
 Congiegationalism really exists, there is no power delegated to 
 any one, but the power to accomplish the resolves of the whole 
 church. Standing committees stand but one year, and then are 
 resolved into the general mass. They do not admit members, 
 nor excommunicate them, nor hold any of the powers of discipline ; 
 they do not appoint delegates to associations or councils, nor ex- 
 ercise authority in any way. They are mere committees, acting 
 as they are directed by the church. If such committees ever 
 seek to prevent the free action of the churches, or attempt any- 
 thing on their own authority, it is an usurpation, and every intel- 
 ligent Congregational church would take prompt measures to cor- 
 rect the wrong. 
 
 It is evident from what I have said, that no two systems can 
 be less alike than Presbyterianism and Congregationalism. It 
 is quite true, that many churches of Congiegationaiists have, 
 in deference to the custom around them, made their organization 
 Presbyterian. Under such circumstances, perhaps, the Congre- 
 gational fec'liug of equality will be conti-olling for years. But it 
 is sure to die at last, and the control of the rulers to be substi- 
 tuted in its place. Presbyter says, " those systems of church gov- 
 ernment in which bishops and elders monopolize the authority, 
 ruling over, and independent of the biollierhood, are plainly un- 
 sciiptural." I ask him, then, what good reason there can be for 
 setting aside a system in practice, which acts directly in accord- 
 ance with this principle, and substituting one which contradicts 
 it ? If we believe that the right and resoonsibility of govern- 
 
RULING WITH A HEAVY HAND. 255 
 
 ment is by God's appointment with the people, why should we 
 attempt to carry an opposite principle into operation by choos- 
 ing a king or an aristocracy ? Presbyter writes like a man per- 
 fectly sincere, and there are no doubt a multitude who think with 
 him. The object of Christims, whether they adopt the one or ' 
 the other of these systems, is the same, viz. : the a.dvancement of 
 the cause of evangelical religion by the most efficient means. 
 The two denominations have acted for years very harmoniously to- 
 gether, upon a sort of understanding that nothing should be said 
 about the matter, but a new state of the case now exists, and it is of 
 great importance that both systems should be well understood, 
 that the best may be adopted. If one is better than the other, 
 they who have heretofore adopted the poorer of the two have 
 no more reason to count the explanation unkind, than a com- 
 pany of reapers would have to complain of the man who should 
 present to them a better sickle than the one they were using. 
 
 CONGREGATIONALISM OUT OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 [From the JVew England Puritan, 1842.] 
 
 There is no error so industriously repeated, and none which 
 exerts so much influence as this, that Avhile Congregationalism is 
 a very good thing for people so enlightened and orderly as those 
 of New England,.it is not at all the thing for such communities as 
 exist elsewhere. The people of New York are said to be hetero- 
 geneous, not used to managing their own affairs, and not com- 
 petent to manage them. A distinguished gentleman from New 
 England, now residing in Michigan, expressed the sentiment by 
 saying, " Congregationalism will do very well in New England, 
 but the people of Michigan need to be ruled with a heavy hand." 
 By " a heavy hand," the gentleman meant Presbyteiianism. I 
 liave heard tliis opinion expressed in various forms by men of 
 high standing in the churches, a thousand times. When the Ta- 
 bernacle passed into Congregational hands, a Rev. Doctor of Di- 
 vinity declared in a public assembly, that not ten respectable 
 families could be found in New York, who would attend a Con- 
 gregational meeting. I have perceived, by conversations with 
 gentlemen fi-om New England, tliat the notion that Congregation- 
 alism is unfit for any other part of the country than that, has 
 been industriously circulated there. This error has gathered 
 strength from a considerable number of facts. Churches called 
 Congregational have, one after anothei-, failed in New York and 
 elsewhere. The most noticeable of these failures, perhaps, was 
 that of Mr. Todd's church, in Philadelphia. It would not be 
 
256 SUCCESS OF CONGREGATIONALISM. 
 
 expedient to state here all the causes which resulted in the fail- 
 ure of that once hopeful enterprise. It is sufficient to say, 
 that the failure was not caused by the Congregational mass of 
 people, but by the leading men, who would have been the en- 
 lightened rulers, had the church been Presbyterian. So far as 
 I have remarked, the difficulties in churches uniformly arise 
 among the leading men, who are supposed to possess superior 
 enlightenment. The mass of members, who are supposed to be 
 too unlearned for self-government, generally behave very well. 
 In New York, Congregationalism has never had a fair experi- 
 ment, until the formation of the Tabernacle Church. Several 
 Congregational churches had been formed, but, in some cases, 
 the Congregationalism was overridden by some fanatical purpose, 
 to which it was rendered subservient, or else there was too much 
 feebleness in resources of some sort, to warrant any tolerable 
 hope of success. As to the Tabernacle, it has so far been the 
 most successful religious enterprise ever undertaken in this city. 
 The West is rising in Congregationalism. About one-half the 
 churches in Illinois are Congregational. In Michigan, a strong 
 Congregational movement was made about two years ago, which 
 has been attended with great success, so that now that State may 
 be put down as half Congregational, with a rapid propor- 
 tionate gain in favor of Congregationalism. In Wisconsin and 
 Iowa, Cono-regationalism takes the lead. The tide is turning in 
 all directions, and the question is no longer agitated, whether 
 Congregational churches shall become Presbyterian, but whether 
 Presbyterian churches shall become Congregational. The fact 
 is, the church polity of New England is the only polity fitted to 
 our country, or to real Christians anywhere. Ignorance, super- 
 stition, and the supremacy of human authority over the word of 
 God, require hierarchy to support them, clothed with power in 
 propoilion as these things are to be accomplished. But the 
 spread of the gospel is a work which puts every disciple of 
 Christ in motion, under the dii-ect control of his Master in heaven. 
 The superior energy and enterprise of Congregationalism is as 
 conspicuous out of New England as in it. It can live and flour- 
 ish wherever the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ can live and 
 flourish. Christ left the Church Congregational in the largest 
 sense. He committed the mighty principles which he had pro- 
 mulgated, to the hands and hearts of all his people, with the 
 command to all, " Go preach the gospel ;" and unless the disci- 
 ples of Christ feel this command ever pressing upon them, indi- 
 vidually, their Christian energy languishes. Let every New 
 England Christian disabuse himself of the delusion that Congre- 
 gationahsm is only suited to New England. Congregationalism 
 
UNION WITH PRESBYTERIANS. 257 
 
 has been one of the chief instruments in making New England 
 Avhat it is, and if other parts of our country, and tlie world, are 
 to be made what New England is, it must be by the same means, 
 ('oiigregationalism is the system of church government which is 
 iitted to all men, and which ought to be established every - 
 ■where. 
 
 Union with Presbyterians. I see, by late repoi'ts from Wis- 
 consin and Iowa, that the grand error of putting Ccjngregation- 
 alism in alliance with Presbyterian judicatories is still at work. 
 An end must be put to this, before Congregationalism will put 
 on its glory. The New School Presbyterians are talking very 
 cozily about these days to Congregationalists, and the Old School 
 declare on all sides that they do not dislike Congregationalism 
 half as bad as they do the New School, and in fact that they al- 
 most like us. So the old scandal, that the New School were 
 " no better than Congregationalists " is turning to be a compli- 
 ment. The fact is, there is no dilTerence between the Schools in 
 relation to us. Both dislike our system, and both will oppose 
 and overthrow it whenever they can. The most liberal New 
 School divines hei-eabouts resist every effort to establish Congre 
 gationalism. A Yankee would not know why, yet he will find 
 it so in every movement. There has lately been a movement for 
 the establishment of a Congregational church in the south part 
 of Brooklyn. There is a population of Yankees there, some of 
 whom are decided Congregationalists. Dr. Co.x and his people, 
 with other Presbyterians, looked at the spot two years ago, 
 and made quite an effort to establish a Presbyterian church, but 
 did not succeed. Last spring there was a Congregational move- 
 ment. The matter soon attracted attention. There was a small 
 meeting-house on the ground, which was about to be vacated by 
 the Episcopal Society, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Stone. If 
 the neighboring clergymen would have given their countenance 
 to the Congregational movement, a flourishing church might 
 have been at once established. If they really think so well of 
 Congregationalism, why did they not bid it God speed ? It was 
 evidently the way in which the best success could be expected. 
 Yet while negotiations were pending among the various parties, 
 the Old School men of New York bought the littlo church, put 
 an end to negotiation, and started oif an Old School preacher. 
 Two or three months have been enough to show the inaptness 
 of that movement; for the clergyman has been witlidrawn, and 
 the house re-sold to the New School, who are now about to try 
 their hand. Not one word of assent, so far as I have heard, has 
 the Congregational movement ever had from any Pi-esbyterian 
 clergyman of either School. What is the use, then, of trying to 
 
258 HOSTILITY OF PRESBYTEIIIANISM. 
 
 sustain an alliance where there is no real sympathy ? The clergy 
 and their powerful friends are very sincere, or think themselves 
 so, in their kind professions. They have seen the beauties of 
 Congi-egationalism, and, like Dr. Bcccher, they can praise it ; 
 but, like him, they arc Presbyterians, and they do not want the 
 beautiful creatui-e to come too near their castles. Tliey believe 
 the common people are not competent to carry on churcli fiffairs, 
 and that the congregated wisdom of the clergy alone is sufficient 
 for such things. 
 
 It is strange to me, who have long looked upon it, that it 
 should be so. But so it is. Old School and New School are 
 alike the irreconcilable opponents of Congregationalism. They 
 do not believe in it, and they will not have it, if they can help it. 
 Yet there is no difficulty in living in close neighborhood and good 
 neighborhood with Presbyterians. But it must be done by 
 placing our alliance upon the points of agreement, and not upon 
 those of difference. Presbyterians and Congregationalists can 
 agree and cooperate in Sabbath-schools, Bible societies, and 
 many other things, but they cannot coopeiate in church govern- 
 ment. It is absurd, and the ready Avay to controversy, thei'efore, 
 for the two denominations to unite in the establishment of churches, 
 or in church judioatoi'ies. The effect has been bad universally, 
 and Congregationalism has always been obliged to yield every- 
 thing, or resist, or break away. When the two denominations 
 meet together in Presbytery, they seldom understand the union 
 in the same way. Presbyterians look on the Presbytery as an 
 authoritative judicatorjs witli power over the churches, and bound 
 to govern them. Congiegationalists count the church as the 
 highest ecclesiastical judicatory on earth, and the ]-*resbytery as 
 possessed of no power whatever. IIow can the two parties man- 
 age such opposite opinions hariiioniousiy ? They never have, and 
 they never will. Presbyterianism first demands union, then the 
 right to advise, then the enforcement of advice. Entering into 
 luiion is but the beginning of controversy. There have been 
 many instances like tlie following : In the town of Franklin, in 
 this State, there was a large Congregational church. The people 
 were most of them from Franklin, and other towns in Connecti- 
 cut. They would have been happy and strong, if they had not 
 accepted the invitation of the Presbytery of Delaware county to 
 an alliance. A union was formed upon very simple principles. 
 The church declared its rejection of all authority but that of 
 Christ and its own body. It agreed to send delegates to the 
 meetings of the Presbytery, to hand in a report of its condition, 
 and, in I'eturn, the Presbyteiy agreed to give its advice to the 
 church, if, at any time, tlie church should ask it. What mischief 
 
EVILS OF THE PLAN OF UNION. 259 
 
 could grow out of so simple and friendly a thing as this ? The 
 secjuel shows. About a year ago, the cluirch in Franldin, with 
 
 great innocency, employed a graduate from , to preach to 
 
 tliem ; and being acce])table, a contract was made for a year. 
 8oon, however, it began to be rumored that the preacher was 
 Tuisound. A few of the bnithren were troubled, and some eight 
 or ten sent for advice to the Presbytery. The church did not 
 ask advice, and so the exigency liad not occurred which author- 
 ized tiie Presbytery to take up the; matter. Yet tli(iy did take it 
 up, and gave advice in (lie strongest terms : that the preacher 
 should be sent away forthwith, and accompanied their advice with 
 a notice that Presbytery would meet in Frauklin on a day 
 near at hand, to consider further of the matter. Tliey did so 
 meet, and ga\e fui'ther advice, declaring that tliose membeis who 
 should comply witli their advi(;e should be deemed and taken to 
 be the first church in Franklin. The church was distracted and 
 torn in pieces by these proceedings. About one-third of the 
 church and congregation adopted the advice of Presbytery, and 
 declared themselves tlie first church and congregation ; but the 
 majority rejected the advice, and, as the civil laws of New York 
 recognized them as owners of the property, the adherents to 
 Presbytery were compelled to withdraw, and build themselves 
 another house. The heart-burnings, the sins, the mischiefs of 
 every sort, attendant on such an ad'air, can be imagined. The 
 majority were still so much disposed for peace and union, that 
 tliey sent delegates to the next meeting of Presbytery, who were 
 refused their seats, and so the union was broken. 
 
 The first church in Franklin have now learned so much of the 
 sufferings of union, that they will hereafter let Presbyter)' alone. 
 They have since settled an excellent pastor from New England, 
 but not a clergyman in the ncighborliood will exchange with him, 
 or in any way recognize him or the church. Yet the church has 
 done nothing but, in the most long-sufiering style, decline the 
 advice of the Presbytery. 
 
 The same Presbytery have since been trying their hand in a 
 similar manner with another refractory Congregational church in 
 union with it. I hope that church will at once take the only 
 course which can save it from the scenes of Franklin, viz : with- 
 draw from all connection with Presbytery. Such is the effect of 
 union. It is the bond of discord. 
 
260 WORDS AND NAMES. 
 
 WORDS AND NAMES.— NO. I. 
 [From the Boston Recorder, July, 1843.] 
 
 A GREAT deal of error grows up in our minds from the gradual 
 changes which take place in the meaning of words, and especially 
 the application of names to things quite unlike the things wliich 
 the}^ originally described. Prcachinr/ has come to be confined in 
 its meaning, with most men, to systematic sermonizing from a 
 pulpit. Yet the meaning of the term, as used in the I3ible, ex- 
 tends to all conversation. In fact, there was in apostolic times 
 no preaching which exactly corresponded with the preaching of 
 modern times. They that were scattered abroad after the mar- 
 tyrdom of Stephen " went ever)' where preaching the word," 
 not in systematic sermons, but in conversations by the Avay, or in 
 the house, to few and to many, as there was opportunity. In the 
 Scripture meaning of the term, therefore, all Christians are 
 preachers who proclaim to their fellow-men, in any way, the, 
 good news of salvation by Jesus Christ. How absurd, then, is 
 it, to insist that none can preach but such as have been ordained, 
 or that it requires a different kind of commission to authorize a 
 Chiistian to preach a sermon, constructed with its firstly, secondly, 
 and thirdly, from Avhat it does to put forth Christian truths 
 without numbering them. Every Christian is bound to be a 
 preacher at all times. How or when he shall preach, depends on 
 circumstances, but as to the Scripture authority in the case, a 
 Sabbath-school teacher has precisely the same with an archbishop. 
 Both are authorized and commanded to preach the word. 
 
 Church is another name about which a very erroneous impres- 
 sion pervades men's minds, from its being attached to organiza- 
 tions quite different from the original churches. To the mind of 
 the Roman Catholic the word church conveys the idea of the 
 Roman Catholic church, with its pope, cardinals, bishops, crosses, 
 pictures and masses ; in the mind of an Episcopalian, the word 
 canies witli it the apostolic succession of bishops, the surplices 
 with which they are dignified, and the formularies by which their 
 worship is guided : before the Presbyterian, the word instantly 
 arrays tlie General Assembly, and all the '"lower judicatories;" 
 and before the Congregationalist, his own parish circle, united in 
 covenant, with its pastor and deacons. The impression of the 
 Congregationalist is much nearer to the original meaning than 
 any of the rest ; but even the little formality of organization 
 which enters his mind was entirely absent from the original im- 
 port of the word church. It meant, then, the company of be- 
 lievers, having no written covenant, no written creed, and no 
 officers of any sort ; but bound together in the love of Christ 
 
WOKDS AND NAMES. 261 
 
 and each other, each performing whatever service he had talents 
 or opportunity to perform. The church, at the time of our 
 Lord's ascension, consisted of " about an hundred and twenty" 
 persons, men and women. This was all that remained of the 
 multitudes who had' fed upon the miracles of Jesus, and shouted 
 hosanna to the Son of David. On the day of Pentecost the 
 members of the church "were all with one accord in one place," 
 wlien suddenly there came a sound from heaven, and the Holy 
 Ghost fell upon them and those who had come together to see 
 the wonder, and upon that day the church had an accession of 
 " about three thousand souls," but with no other ceremony than 
 baptism. These all became preachers at once, as they retired to 
 their various homes in distant places. 
 
 Thus was the church constituted, simple in its structure, ce- 
 mented by faith in Christ and love for tlie brethren, and impelled 
 to universal expansion by the spirit of heavenly benevolence 
 which had been kindled in each heart by the Holy Ghost. Forms 
 and ceremonies it had none, except the two sacraments of Bap- 
 tism and the Supper; but everj^ member was filled with a spirit 
 such as had not before moved our earth — a spirit, which, Avhile 
 it submitted to civil governments and ecclesiastical powers, so far 
 as it could be done with honesty, yet held every man in such su- 
 pi-eme and direct allegiance to the risen Lord, that thrones and 
 hierarchies were set at defiance b}^ the weakest saint, whenever 
 that supreme law required it. 
 
 From this view of the organized and universal church, we per- 
 ceive that any collection of disciples is a church, possessing all 
 the power which Christ has conferred, and able to do all things 
 which its circumstances require. It cannot control other portions 
 of the church, nor prescribe rules for them, but it may prescribe 
 rules for itself. In the midst of conflicting opinions, it may draw 
 out, in the form of a creed, its views of fundamental doctrine ; 
 it ma}'^ establish rules for the orderly and convenient transaction 
 of its business ; and it may elect such officers as will enable it to 
 carry out, in the best way, the design of Christ in founding his 
 church. The object of constructing local churches is that the 
 members may enjoy communion together as brethren, and in the 
 sacrainents, and that their worshijj may be mciintained inMicly, so 
 that the j)eople of the ivorld may come in and hear the word, and be 
 brought into the church. This siinplicity of the church should 
 never be violated. It should never be forgotten that a church of 
 Christ is a company of his disciples, joined together in that char- 
 acter only, and that it is not a society to carry out political ov 
 moral reforms, or even in its organized capacity to preach the 
 gospel beyond its own ordinances. The church covenant must 
 
262 WORDS AND NAMES. 
 
 require of each member that he shall lead a life of godliness and 
 honesty, adorning his profession, leaving him to choose his own 
 sphere of labor in the grand business of human improvement. 
 She cannot, as a condition of communion, require him to join a 
 temperance society, nor forbid him to do so, nor to go as a foreign 
 missionary, nor refrain from doing so ; nor can she of right in- 
 quire further into his opinions or his practice than is necessary to 
 satisfy herself whether he is a disci2)le of Christ or not. Upon 
 this simple primitive plan, Christians may live together as breth- 
 ren, happy and cordial, tliough they may hold a thousand differ- 
 ent opinions upon political and moral subjects, and the best 
 methods of doing good abroad in the world. 
 
 The notion, not uncommon, that the church is a society for all 
 work, that is a temperance society, an anti-slavery society, a for- 
 eign missionary society, and a society for everything else in which 
 Christians may be, and oiight to be, engaged for the perfecting of 
 the grand consequences of the Christian religion in all their de- 
 tails, is preposterous and ruinous. It transforms the church from 
 being the joyful and peaceful assembly of disciples, ever the same, 
 into the battle-ground of every new thing which comes up, and 
 makes it as changeable as the waves of popular excitement. 
 
 Each member of the church is bound, besides supporting his 
 own church as first of all, to do with his might whatever else his 
 hands find lo do, either by himself or in associations with others 
 who think with him. He is bound to be a preacher wherever he 
 goes, and to assist other brethren who are ready to devote them- 
 selves to evangelical labors at home or abroad, and to go himself 
 at the command — not of the church — but of Christ. He is in 
 fact bound by his obligations — not to the church — but to Christ, 
 to labor with all his might, and every day, and in any field to 
 which the Lord may appoint him. Behold, then, the unity, the 
 simplicity, the order, and the resistless energy of the church. 
 
 Quo. 
 
 WORDS AND NAMES.— No. II. 
 [From the Boston Recorder, July, 1843.] 
 
 Ordination is another word which has been perverted in the 
 same manner. It conveys to the mind of each one who reads 
 it in the New Testament the idea of such a ceremony as he has 
 been accustomed to see performed under this name. But in the 
 primitive church, no particular ceremony was established for or- 
 dinations, nor did the powers of a disciple to perform service 
 in the church depend upon any form. If in ordination, any ce- 
 
WORDS AND NAMES. 263 
 
 remony was performed, it was but the declaration of office, not 
 tJie conferring of it. It was the putting of a man into a place 
 which was already his by the events of Providence. Doubtless 
 lliere were hundreds of ordinations to various duties with no ce- 
 remony at all, the individual being merely designated for his 
 place by the election of the brethren, or of some individual or in- 
 dividuals whose business it was to arrange the matter, or by such 
 indications of Providence as made duty plain to the individual 
 himself. 
 
 The virtue which is attached to ordination in all hierarchies, 
 and by too many men out of them, is quite remarkable — nothing 
 less than that b}' means of the laying on of hands there has been 
 handed down from the apostles the exclusive right to preach, and 
 especially to administer sacraments, and to ordain successors. 
 This strange monopoly is claimed by the clergy, in spite of its 
 absurdity. In the first place, it is a most unnatural ariangement 
 which they claim to have been established. It shuts up the free 
 grace of Christ within the grasp of priests, and brings sinners, 
 not to Him who never sends any away empty, but to men who 
 are capricious, bigoted, and hard-hearted, often giving them a 
 stone who ask for bread. It makes the plan of the gospel a 
 changeable plan, the terms of admission to its benefits beino- one 
 thing in one age, and another in another age, and in one sect or 
 place in the same age directly the opposite of what they are in 
 others. Has God embarrassed his great work of redemption by 
 such contingencies as these ? But, in the second place, there is 
 not one of all the priests who claim this exclusive power by suc- 
 cession, who can give a history of his own lineage, or make out 
 any tolerable evidence that he is in the hne of descent at all ; for 
 this succession has passed through the accidents of eighteen cen- 
 turies, most of them exceedmgly dark and doubtful. How awful 
 it must be to swing into eternity upon a chain so lono-, and in 
 which, if a single link be broken, " tenth or ten thousandth 
 breaks the chain alike." If the other end be not fast hooked in 
 the rock Peter, and every link carefully welded, how miserable 
 must be the condition of the soul who hangs upon it over the bot- 
 tomless abyss ! How perplexed must we all be, if the grace of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, or any portion of it, depends on such 
 things as these — instead of coming, as it does, fresh and new, 
 directly from His hand to every believing hand extended to re- 
 ceive it. 
 
 But besides all this, the apostles possessed no powers or gifts 
 which were in their nature transmissible. Christ, in wonderful 
 disparagement of this claim of ordination, never performed any 
 ceremony at the calling of either of them. He merely said, " fol- 
 
264 WORDS AND NAMES. 
 
 low me," as lie says to his disciples now by his providence. And 
 he called them not to be rulers, or to establish a hierarchy, but for 
 the very simple purpose of testifyiiig of v'hat they saiv and heard. 
 They Avere toitnesses of all that Jesus " began both to do and teach" 
 — nothing else. Christ selected the twelve to be continually with 
 him. St. Luke records the commission given to them by the Lord, 
 as follows: — "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is 
 come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusa- 
 lem and in all Judca, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth." Peter, in recognition of this single design, 
 when he called the attention of the church to the necessity of 
 filling the place of Judas, said, " Wherefore of these men which 
 have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus went 
 in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto 
 that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be or- 
 dained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." How differ- 
 ent an address would Peter have made if he had entertained the 
 opinions of many modern bishops. Mark, in the third chapter, 
 says, " And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, 
 and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power 
 to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils." This last power it is 
 not pretended has been transmitted, except by the Romanists, nor 
 even by them, for ordination is not necessary to the woi-king of 
 their miracles ; any girl who Avill learn to live without eating, or 
 to lie in one position fourteen years, having as much power for 
 this purpose as an archbishop or a cardinal. Of the duties as- 
 signed to the apostles, that of preaching or testifying is the only 
 one which is handed down. There are various other passages re- 
 cognizing this great design, but none establishing in the apostle- 
 ship any such authority over the church, as is pretended to be 
 derived from them. Christ nowhere gave them any commission 
 to rule over the other disciples or to dictate to them what they 
 should believe. The humble but most honorable business of 
 feedinr/ his sheep and his lambs was all that Peter was authoriz- 
 ed to do. 
 
 Again : it is not pretended that ordination confers the gifts 
 which fit a man for the ministry or the graces of a Christian even, 
 but only the rights. God has nowhere in the Christian church 
 established ordinances for the conferring of power without grace. 
 Still more, the claim of ordination is one in direct resistance of 
 Christ. It claims that ordination confers the powers of office 
 upon men whom the Head of the church has not called ; upon bad 
 men, nay, the very worst of men. It claims the right to thrust 
 upon the Lord, men who reject Him and whom He rejects ; to 
 put into the administration of his aflFairs, not his disciples and 
 
WORDS AND NAMES. 266 
 
 friends, but his enemies ; to appoint shepherds in despite of him, 
 who care not for llie tiocks — mere hireUngs. It sets up, in fact, 
 a liierarchy, not over the clmrch only, but over the Head of the 
 church. This is the legitimate result of the divine right of apos- 
 tolic descent, as claimed by virtue of ordination, whether it be 
 held by the bishops of Rome, of the English Episcopal Church, 
 or the pastors of Presbyteiian or Congregational churches. This 
 is the graad spinal error on which all hierarchy is constructed, 
 the falsehood preeminently accursed, which has done more to 
 ojipress the church of Christ and to prevent the fulfillment of his 
 great command to preach the gospel to all jieople, than any other 
 falsehood. It is held nevertheless by thousands of pious pastors, 
 though much to their own damage, and the damage of the 
 churciies. Christ instituted no forms of any sort in ordftiation. 
 He was not a man of forms, but of spirit, Mark, in the passage 
 I have (|uoted above, says, " he ordained twelve." No laying on 
 of hands was mentioned, and evidently none took ^^h^ce. The 
 call was the ordination. When the place of Judas was to be fill- 
 ed, if ever, there should have been an ordination after the mod- 
 ern form. On that occasion, Peter said, " must one be ordained 
 to be a witness with us," &c. The proposal pleased the one 
 hundred and twenty disciples in the midst of whom Peter was 
 standing, and they proceeded to the ordination. This was the 
 time in which succession, if it was to exist, should have been 
 started carefully, and all its mighty consequences fastened se- 
 curely to the apostolic foundation. What under these circum- 
 stances did the apostles. What ought they to have done, and 
 most carefully recorded, according to modern opinions and mod- 
 ern records of ordination ! What they did was as follows. They 
 "appointed two, Joseph and Matthias." " They prayed, thou. 
 Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these 
 two thou hast cluisen, that he may take part of this ministry and 
 ajiostleship — and they gave torth their lots ; and the lot fell upon 
 Matthias, and he loas mmibered with the eleven apostles." Oh, if 
 Luke could have but reached down his hand to the nineteenth 
 century, he might have had a thousand pounds put into it. if unlv 
 he would have interlined the laying on of hands by the eleven. 
 But as the ordination was really by the whole church, and with- 
 out the laying on of hands at all, Luke thought best to let it go 
 so. The descendants from Matthias are now evidently without 
 lineage. The matter was not begun right, and the mistake can- 
 not now be corrected. What pastor can say that he does not be- 
 long to this broken Hne ? The example set us on this occasion 
 should be, and is, followed substantially by Congregational 
 churches. Having in their own minds, after prayer and inquiry, 
 12 
 
260. WORDS AND NAMES. 
 
 fixed upon one or more disciples as suited to be their pastor, they 
 lay the matter more especially before God in prayer, saying. 
 Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show us whom 
 ,thou hast chosen — and they give forth their lots or votes, and on 
 whomsoever the choice falls, he is, if he accepts the election, val- 
 idly ordained. If, after this, a ceremony or public induction is 
 convenient, there can be no objection to it, but it adds nothing to 
 the validity of the transaction. 
 
 Again, Paul claims to be an apostle, but he was never ordain- 
 ed, and he makes the number thirteen. When Paul was called 
 into the ministry he saw Christ, and so became one of the very 
 best witnesses of the resurrection. In his case, as if to throw de- 
 signed contempt on this monopoly of ordination, he was sent first 
 to a layman — "a certain discij)le at Damascus, named Ananias." 
 This layman, " putting his hands on liim, said, Brother Saul, the 
 Lord Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the Avay as thou camest, 
 hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled 
 with the Holt/ Ghost." Paul "received sight forthwith, and arose 
 and was baptized," (the baptism being unquestionably adminis- 
 tered by this same layman;) "and straightway he preached 
 Christ in the synagogues." How exceedingly irregitlar was all 
 this, when compared with modern books and opinions ! Paul 
 takes special care to tell us that he preached for three years after 
 this, before he saw any one of those who were " apostles before 
 him," (read Gal. 1st and 3d chaps.) When we look at this sub- 
 ject in its true light, how funny and ridiculous do a company of 
 bishops appear, clad in silks and ornamented like eastern princes, 
 walking forth in grandiloquent procession, announcing themselves 
 as the lineal representatives of the twelve apostles ! And how 
 preposterous are tlie pretensions of any set of men who claim, 
 that by virtue of ordination, they are invested with a monopoly of 
 sacred things, so that the Church of Christ cannot enjoy her pri- 
 vileges, nor even her existence, without them ! Quo. 
 
 WORDS AND NAMES.— NO. III. 
 \From the Boston Recorder, July, 1843.] 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood as rejecting or undervaluing the 
 ministers or the deacons, or the covenants and creeds of the 
 churches, or the simple forms of ordination as practiced by the 
 New England churches. All these are generally expedient, but 
 their obligation rests on the basis of expediency ; and when ex- 
 pedient, they become matters of duty, and in that sense of divine 
 
WORDS AND NAMES. 267 
 
 right. But judging of this expediency — the exercise of this divine 
 riglit — is intrusted to the people, not tlie ministers alone. It is 
 the requirement of the Savior, that in his own Itouse all things 
 should be done decently and in order, for the edification and vig- 
 orous action of his body ; but by what means this shall be accom- 
 plished must be determined by the brotherhood, according to 
 the circumstances of each particular one. 
 
 For a church in the midst of other churches, nothing is more 
 suitabU; than that in the installation of one of its members as its 
 pastor it should call in its neiglibors and fiiends, and that the 
 pastors, being accustomed to lead on all public occasions, should 
 lead also in this. "While a church has a ])astor, or can conveni- 
 ently procure the services of a brother who has been educated 
 and set apart for the ministry'-, good order and propriety recpiirc 
 that they should do so, and that such an one should lead them 
 in their most public devotions, and in the administration of ordi- 
 nances. JJut, if the circumstances are reversed ; if a churcli is 
 far oft" from other churches, or surrounchsd only by such churches 
 as will not sympatliize with her, she is cpiite at liberty, and the 
 divine will woulil recjuire her to ordain her own pastor, as was 
 done in the case of Matthias. If, too, thus separated and alone, 
 without a pastor, her season of communion at the Supper returns, 
 or infant children of behevers arrive at the proper age to be 
 publicly dedicated, the church is not at liberty to neglect the 
 ordinances on this account, but must appoint some one of her 
 number to officiate mitil the Lord shall pleases to send her better 
 helps. The benefit of the sacraments does not depend upon the 
 exterior consecration of the hand which administers them, but 
 upon the internal sanctilication of the heart whicli receives them. 
 Even the churcluis of Rome and of p]ngland acknowledge all 
 this, and direct that baptism shall in extreme cases be adminis- 
 tered by a nurse, or any other person at hand, and such baptism 
 is allowed to be as eflicacious as that administered by consecrat- 
 ed hands. This is making the validity of the administration to 
 depend on the circumstances of the case, and so upon expedi- 
 ency altogether. 
 
 Episcopacy of all sorts selects a portion of the clergy as supe- 
 rior to the rest, and insists that they alone possess the strange 
 monopoly of ordination, denouncing Congregational and Presby- 
 terian ministers, as no more than unanointed laymen. In this 
 they are quite right, and if they would but put themsehes upon 
 the same level of universal brotherhood, it would be just where 
 the Bible and common sense put them. 
 
 I do not intend to enter extensively into the minute examina- 
 tion of texts of Scripture in connection with this subject, for it 
 
268 WORDS AND NAMES. 
 
 would' extend this article beyond my design. This is not, how- 
 ever, because I have not examined the IJible ; for I have read 
 the New Testament tln-ough carefully, and noted every passas^c 
 wliicli seemed to have a beaiing on the case. My clear convic- 
 tion is, that there is not any authority there for the claim, but an 
 overvvhelmin<f amount of evidence against it, both in the general 
 spirit of Christ's institutions, the particular occurrences which 
 are related, and the instructions which are given. It is not pre- 
 tended that the Savior ever laid his hands on any one for the 
 purpose of ordaining hini to preach, or that he instituted the or- 
 der of priests with this power, by any particular declaration. It 
 is a matter of deduction, merely. It is said in reply to this most 
 remarkable absence in the institution, of a power which is claimed 
 Avith such pertinacity, and as so indispensable, tliat the call of 
 Christ was enough, so that whoever He called needed no farther 
 authority. Certainly it was so in the days of Christ's dwelling 
 on earth, and it is ecjually so now. The disciple who is called to 
 devote himself to tlie work of the ministry, by the voice of Jesus 
 Christ speaking in his providence, cannot be helped by human 
 authority, and ought not to be hindered. The great princi})le is 
 the same now as Ibrmerly, and woe to that body of men who at- 
 tempt to hold back any one whom the Lord has called, or to in- 
 terfere in the case beyond the giving of advice. And woe to that 
 disciple who being so called to any duty, fails to perform it from 
 fear of men. 
 
 Gifts which have been conferred by the laying on of hands, 
 are mentioned two or tln-ee times in the New Testament, and the 
 texts are constantly resorted to in support of the monopoly of 
 the priesthood ; but no one can say Avhat those gifts were, and it 
 is not pretended that any gifts are now conferred by ordination. 
 If bishops or councils could confer gifts by the laying on of their 
 luuuls, tlie cases would be paralUil, and the autliority appro- 
 priate ; but since they cannot, it is imj)ossible to feel the force of 
 the deduction, by which they would prove themselves to be 
 necessary in the case. Let, then, the really ))ious pastors, whose 
 desire is to walk in the footstejis of the great Shepherd, abandon 
 this silly and groundless conceit. Let Home keep it to herself, 
 with the long catalogue of her blasphemous assiunptions of di- 
 vine prerogative. 
 
 Discij)leship includes the highest of all prerogatives. Every 
 disciple is a brother of Christ, a son of the Lord Almighty, a 
 king and priest unto God ; and this, not by doubtful deduction, 
 but by explicit allowance and declaration of the Holy Ghost. If 
 any desire to distinguish themselves in the " royal priesthood " 
 
THE CHURCH AND THE PRESP. 269 
 
 of the " sons of God," let tlicni do it according to the direction 
 of the Master — by superior service in the church. 
 
 Plainly, the prcachinq; of the gospel is in no more need of 
 studying its lineage than any otlier occupation. It Avould be 
 really just as correct in fact, and as im{)ortant in prerogative, for 
 a portion of the tentmakers or saihnakers of the world to band 
 themselves together and claim a monopoly of the business, under 
 the pretense of lineal descent from the great apostle to the Gen- 
 tiles. The power of the gospel is not dei)endent on such things 
 as this. When the veneral)le Lyni;vn IJeecher was a young man, 
 leturning on a certain occasion to his native town in Con- 
 necticut, he fell into conv(;rsation by the roadside with an old 
 neighbor, an Episcopalian, who had been mowing. " Mr. Beech- 
 er," said the fanner, " 1 should like to ask you a question. Our 
 clergy say that you are not oi-dained, and have no right to 
 preach. I should be glad to know what you think about it." 
 " Suppose," replied Dr. Beecher, " you had in the neighborhood 
 a blacksmith, who said that he could prove that he belonged to 
 a regular line of blacksmiths which had come down all the way 
 from St. Peter, but he made scythes that would not cut ; and 
 you had another blacksmitli, who said he could not see what de- 
 scent from Peter had to do with making scythes, so long as they 
 were well made, and this man made scythes that would cut. 
 Where would you go to get your scythes ?" — " Why to the man 
 who made scythes to cut, certainly," replied the farmer. " Well," 
 said Dr. Beecher, " that ministry which cuts is the ministrrj 
 which Christ has authorized to preach." In a recent conversa- 
 tion on the same subject. Dr. Beecher gave his opinion by relat- 
 ing this story. Quo. 
 
 THE CIIURCn AND THE PRESS. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, Jluf^ust 10, 1843.] 
 
 TiiK supremacy of the Journal of Commerce over the rest of 
 the secular press, in all matters of church polity, has been most 
 shockingly encroached upon within the last few weeks. The 
 Courier has gone into the njatters of " our church" by whole col- 
 unms, setting popery and high church pretensions at utter defi- 
 ance, and treating bishops' rol)es as if they were only common 
 cloth. We do not comprehend " what has got into the man," that 
 he writes so well upon churc^h affairs. Tiie Express has been 
 picking up some of our spent shot, and firing them over again at 
 Bishop Hughes and the papists, and the editor has involved him- 
 self, head and shoulders, in the strife, and the hotter it becomes, 
 
270 THE pilgrims' FATHERS. 
 
 the better he seems to like it. Now neither of these papers has 
 an editor who has ever been ordained to any such service, or ever 
 wore even the title of reverend. Who ever thought of saying 
 " the Rev. James Watson Webb, Colonel in the regular army," 
 or " the Rt. Rev. William B. Townsend, Esq., Bishop of Staten 
 Island ?" The Commercial Advertiser we need hardly mention ; 
 for it has always been a dabbler in these matters, though it has 
 assumed a much more decided and fearless tone of late, declaring 
 that it is not boimd at all by the decrees of the Church as to what 
 it shall say, or what matters it shall discuss. The American 
 treats these things with all the reverence which a man without 
 even a cleiical title ought to do. If it says anything beyond what 
 the Church has ordained, it takes care to put it in the form of 
 great discretion. As to the Post, it minds its politics, as it ought. 
 The penny and two-penny papers are all of them, more or less, 
 falling into the same disuegard of the lines which separate be- 
 tween secular and ecclesiastical affairs. Ten years ago not one of 
 these papers would have dared to crack a joke at His Holiness 
 the Pope, or any of his vicegerents on this side of the Atlantic, 
 or question the propriety of any of their proceedings. We had 
 then the field to ourselves ; but we were unable to defend the 
 hues. Bishop Hughes broke out of the church, close into the 
 bloody field of politics, and compelled all hands to " stand by ;" 
 and now Bishop Onderdonk has consummated the confusion, by 
 ordaining in the Episcopal Church, a young man who, almost 
 every body thinks, ought to have been ordained by Bishop 
 Hughes. 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, JVovemher 24, 1843.] 
 
 The New England Society, we understand, are planning for 
 an anniversary, this year, of unusual interest. The farther we 
 float on the stream of time away from the landing of our fathers, 
 the more interest is there gathering, all the while, about the recol- 
 lection of that event. When we stood the other day before Weir's 
 great picture of the embarkation, and remembered that upon that 
 deck was gathered the world's best hope for liberty and virtue, 
 we felt inexpressible satisfaction in knowing the fact that Pro- 
 vidence had sustained that hope, and landed that company in 
 America. What if that company had been overwhelmed on the 
 passage ; who can say how much our race would have been re- 
 tarded in its struggle for emancipation from the crafts of kings 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 2T1 
 
 and priests ? The Reformation miglit have been overpowered, 
 and thick clouds have been again sliutting out the light. As it 
 Avas, the work of emancipation, complete and thorough, was done 
 at once. Our ancestors commenced on tiiese shores, not strug- 
 gling under masses of oppression and ignoiance, but they beflan 
 free. Look at England. How she heaves with desires for lib- 
 erty, and how she is fettered and enthralled still, two hundred and 
 twenty years after that portion of her people who came over here 
 were perfectly free. It will probably require thi-ee centuries 
 more, to place Englishmen in England at a point so far advanced 
 in tlie Avorld's renovation, as was Plymouth Rock, when our 
 fathers first planted their free feet upon it. With one leap they 
 cleared themselves of the old woi-ld's rubbish, and began a new 
 world. How strange it seems to us, that a great mass of pious 
 and intelligent Christians in England should sincerely think an al- 
 liance with the State necessary to the support of religion : that 
 they should think the kingdom of Christ dependent upon such 
 low maneuvers as the appointment of dissipated sons of noble 
 families to places, in order that the support of' those families may 
 be secured to the Church : that even the noble Scotch, who 
 have just abandoned all their church accommodations, and pre- 
 ferred the open air with liberty, to costly temples under the op- 
 pression of their civil alliances, — that such men, with their great 
 leaders, should after all be so in darkness still as to desire an- 
 other arrangement with the State ! Yet so slow as all this are 
 men to learn the truth, even Avith the example of America before 
 their eyes. Even in this country, how many men are still so un- 
 enlightened as to doubt the ability of tlie people to manage their 
 own affairs ; doubtful in fact whether the Reformation was not on 
 the whole a iniifortune, or at least, with IMr. Carey, whether it 
 did not go too far ! Such men, we trust, will live to see that the 
 Reformation will go considcial)ly farther than it has even now 
 gone ; so far, in fact that tlie direction of Jesus Christ, " Call no 
 man master on earth," shall be fully obeyed. Let, then, the 
 event which })lanted libei'ty in the earth be celebrated. The 
 thoughts which gather around Plymouth Rock will always be too 
 big for utterance. The most burning elo(jucnce can never bring 
 them forth ; the most expansive genius can never fully compre- 
 hend them. 
 
272 PURITANISM AND EPISCOPACY. 
 
 PURITANISM AND EPISCOPACY. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, December 27, 1843] 
 
 The speech of Rev. Dr. Wainright at the Piln;iim dinner, shows 
 tliat these two irreat principles stand as widely apart now, as Ihey 
 did two hundred years ago. Time has not modified their essen- 
 tial ingredients, though time and the enlightenment of the age 
 have induced more e.xtcrnul courtesy. Mr. Choate, in his oration, 
 said, that in Geneva the exiled Puritans"" found a State without 
 a king, and a clun-ch without a bishop." At the dinner Dr. 
 Wainwright responded to the toast, " 'i'he clergy of New England." 
 In the course of his remarks, he said that in a proper place he 
 would undertake to prove that " there could be no church with- 
 out a bishop." In another ])art of his remarks he said that al- 
 though "an opponent of Puritan principles, he venerated the 
 Puritan virtues." This is as near to an agreement as Puritanism 
 and prelacy ever have come, or in all probal)ility ever Avill. It 
 was from the oppressions of prelacy that the Puritans lied ; the 
 at((^m[)t to extend the national church of England to these colo- 
 nies, as it w;is extended to Irt'land, was one of the chief, though 
 more secret causes of the war of the Revolution, and in that war 
 the mass of the Episcopal (dergy and a great propoi'tion of the 
 laity took sides with the motlu^r country. In fact, the history of 
 the world d(X!s not recoi'd an instance in which ])rela(;y has taken 
 the side of liberty. Liberty owes her nothing ; and if no sjiirit 
 but hers had been life in England three bundled years ago, this 
 mighty republic would have made no part of the world's history, 
 and Pilgrims' day would never have been named. The two 
 things are eternal, irreconcilable enemies ; and however happily 
 the advocates of the two systems may live together in the same 
 community as men and neighbors and Christians, it will only be 
 by dropping for the time, the peculiar principles whicli constitute 
 the two systems. p]piscopacy wiicn it stands forth distinctivx^ly, 
 aj)pears in surplice and band and lawn, claiming through apos- 
 tolic succession to be tlie solo depository of covenant l)lessings, 
 and the exclusive church of Christ, in which it exercises authori- 
 tatively its functions, independent of the people and by divine 
 right. It sjx^aks of the Bible jus interpreted by the authoiity of 
 tht^ falh(!rs, the councils, and the homilies, and it claims the sub- 
 mission of all men to its behests, under ])ain of eternal damnation ; 
 or at least, of hopes restricted to " uncovenanted" grace. The 
 Puritan, in his round hat, and with no attire or aii- of superiority, 
 re])lies, God is my father; Christ my bishop; this Bible my in- 
 fallible guide. In this Bible I learn that vvhere two or three are 
 together in the name of Christ, He will be with them, and thai 
 
PURITANISM AND EPISCOPACY. 273 
 
 is church and bisliop onoujj^h for me. This Bible is tlic finislied 
 revelation of God, and what he has finished, I do not believe men 
 can make better. When you tell me that men have made an au- 
 thoritative interpretation of God's book, you tell me what is im- 
 ))i)ssil)le; what I cannot and dare not adopt; for God tells me, 
 if I believe Ills word, I shall be saved ; and if I do not, I shall 
 be damned. I must see to this great matter for myself. Your 
 apostolic succession I covet not, for I have one infinitely better, 
 .1 am a bi-other of Chiist, a son of God, a king and a priest, my- 
 self, by commission from the Almighty; and of what avail can 
 succession from the apostles be to me ? Whatever you propose 
 to me, which is in accordance with the Bible, [ shall be ready to 
 comply with, at your suggestion and advice; but your commands 
 .1 disclaim ; and when they reejuire me to disobey God, whatever 
 may be the consequences, I dare not comply. 
 
 The two systems need to be delineated no farther, to show that 
 they are never to be reconciled. Without saying which of these 
 systems is right, any one may sec that they contradict each other 
 throughout ; and without finding fault that an invitation to the 
 Pilgrim dinner was extended to so respectable a New Englander 
 as tlie Rev. Dr. Wainwright, or accepted by liim, we must take 
 the liberty to say that when prelacy holds a celebration, it can- 
 not exhibit the good taste of unity for Puritans to take any promi- 
 nent part in it ; and the same dilliculty exists when the case is 
 reversed. That an Episco[)al clergyman, especially, should re- 
 spond to a toast in honor of the " clergy of New England," when 
 everybody knows that in his estimation there arc no clergymen 
 there, except the very few who have been Episcopally ordained, 
 and that there are no churches in New England except such as 
 have Episcopal Bishops set over them, is carrying out Yankcic 
 fraternity in just the way to break it up altogether. An old 
 Federalist might as w(!ll be madi; the sponsor of a toast in honor 
 of Thomas Jefferson at a Democratic mass meeting, or a Democrat 
 echo the memory of Alexander Hamilton in a log cabin. It is 
 in better taste and better friendship that each party should go by 
 itself, and rejoice in the success of whatever stimulates its exult- 
 ation ; for the Puritan's hat will be very likely to be trampled on 
 at the Episcopal convention, and the Bishop's lawn to be torn at 
 tlie puritanic conventicles. 
 
 It may be a matter of some interest to state, that the historic 
 fact which Mr. Choate mentioned, he thought no more of than 
 anything else he was saying, and was thrown into great wonder 
 as to what it could be which liad produced such thunders of ap- 
 plause, lie incjuired with earnestness afterwards, what it was 
 which produced the commotion. The same thing might have been 
 12* 
 
274 PRINCIPLES OF CONGREGATIONALISM. 
 
 said in Boston without producing the least excitement, or imposing 
 on any Episcopahan the necessity of taking the least notice of it. 
 But recent events have created the state of feeling in New York 
 which so exploded in the Tabernacle. 
 
 PUNCHARD ON CONGREGATIONALISM. 
 \_Froj}i the Journal of Commerce, Jan. 4, 1844.] 
 
 PuNC hard's view of the principles and doctrines of Congre- 
 gationalism, of its practice and its advantages, together with a 
 summary of the testimony in its favor, offered by Ecclesiastical 
 History, is a learned and elaborate treatise, calculated to enlighten 
 the public mind, and to promote the extension of a system of 
 church government "recommended by the purity of its princi- 
 ples, the clearness of its doctrines, the simplicity of its rules, 
 and the consonance of its spirit with the meek breathings of the 
 gospel." 
 
 Congregationalism, in common with other Protestant systems, 
 takes the Bible as its only infallible guide ; but it has certain es- 
 sential principles, distinctive and peculiar to itself. It is an or- 
 ganization of the largest liberty, investing its members with power 
 to choose their own officers, and to administer their own affairs. 
 By giving the power of discipline to those most interested in 
 maintaining the purity of the church, it establishes a security the 
 most effectual for preserving that purity, while at the same time 
 it guards against the abuse of a power so likely to be perverted, 
 under the influence of prejudice or passion, by an individual, or a 
 particular class recognizing an interest common only to its own 
 order. By establishing the independency of each of its churches, 
 it secures to each its riglits and privileges. 
 
 As Congregationalism regards the Scriptures as the only infal- 
 lible guide in matters of church order and discipline, it seeks in 
 them to ascertain what is essential to the character of a Christian 
 church ; believing that the principles of church order and disci- 
 pline are essentially the same in all ages of the world — in these lat- 
 ter days as in the days of the apostles. 
 
 From the express injunctions and instructions of Scripture, 
 and from the authorized example of the apostolic churches, 
 equally authoritative with express commands, it infers the truth, 
 that — 
 
 " A visible Christian church is a voluntary association of pro- 
 fessed Christians, united together by a covenant for the worship 
 of God and the celebration of religious ordinances." 
 
 It is also a principle of Congregationalism, deduced from the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CONGREGATIONALISM. 275 
 
 same authority, that a cluirch should ordinarily consist of only 
 so many members as can conveniently assemble together for 
 public Avorship, the celebration of religious ordinances, and the 
 transaction of church business. The Greek word commonly 
 translated church in the New Testament, is used indiscriminately 
 to designate either the whole body of Christians, or a single con- 
 gregation of professed believers, united together for religious 
 purposes. It is used in the latter sense in more than sixty dif- 
 ferent instances. If " the church at Jerusalem," " the church at 
 Antioch," " the church at Corinth," " the church at Ephesus," 
 &c., had not been regarded by the sacred writers as constituting 
 each an entire and complete church, hoAV easy it would have been 
 to speak of them respectively, as that portion of the church of 
 Christ residing at one place or the other. Such being the cha- 
 racter of the apostolic churches, the Congregationalists infcn- that 
 such should be the characttir of all Christian churches, in all 
 countries and in all periods of time. 
 
 We have already slatted that Congregationalism vests all church, 
 power in the hands of tliose who constitute the church. 
 
 These are the great principles which constitute the rock where- 
 on rests the fair fabric of the system. Its adherents refer to 
 Jesus Christ as the author of their church polity, and from the 
 Scriptures themselves derive their piinciples and doctrines. But 
 the testimony of many of the most ancient fathers, as well as 
 the judgment of many learned and impartial modern writers on 
 ecclesiastical history, attests the correctness of their interpretation 
 of the Scriptures. The work before us contains copious extracts 
 from the writings of Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, and others, 
 ancient and modern, conclusive to this purport. 
 
 No churches can shoAv a purer or more blameless practice than 
 those organized on the principles of Congregationalism. The sys- 
 tem combines energy and (efficiency with order and regularity, 
 and is eminently adapted to effect the great purpose of church 
 organization. 
 
 Among the advantages jieculiar to Congregationalism, besides 
 its conformity to the polity of the apostolical churches, not the 
 least is its encouragement of self-government, beyond any other 
 system. The Puritans, when at Leyden, professed democratical 
 sentiments in relation to civil government, and before landing upon 
 the rock of Plymouth, they adopted a brief but comprehensive 
 constitution, containing, says Pitkin, the elements of those forms 
 of government peculiar to the new world. 
 
 Previously to the American Revolution, Mr. Jefferson declared 
 church government on Congregational principles to be the only 
 form of pure democracy that then existed in the world, and the 
 
276 RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 best plan of government for the American colonies. To Congre- 
 gationalism we doubtless owe the free and happy structure of our 
 political institutions ; for wherein they are not directly imitated 
 from that excellent model, they were framed by tlK)se whose 
 minds were deeply imbued with the spirit and liberality of its 
 principles. If Congregationalism does not unavoidably lead to 
 the establishment of a democracy, it certainly favors that form of 
 government. 
 
 It also promotes general intelligence beyond any other form of 
 church government. In illustration of this, let the population of 
 New England be compared with tliat of other lands where a dif- 
 ferent polity prevails. Congregationalism is the oftspring of in- 
 telligence, and demands more of it in the mass of the church 
 than any other system. 
 
 The very able and interesting work of Avhich we have briefly 
 recapitulated a few of the arguments, has been published in one 
 duodecimo volume, by Allen, Morrill and Wardwell, of Andover ; 
 and Mark H. Newman, of this city. 
 
 RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH. 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, January 10, 1844.] 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Cunningham preached in the Tabernacle on Sab- 
 bath evening, to a very large audience. The primary object of 
 the sermon was to prove that Jesus Christ had established a 
 kingdom on earth, and as to all matters of ecclesiastical polity 
 was the ruler in that kingdom, and had given it a code of laws 
 which its members were bound to obey ; that these laws required 
 the church to control within itself, the whole matter of its wor- 
 ship and the appointment of its officers ; and that with the privi- 
 leircs of Christ's kincjdom so constituted, no civil magistrate had 
 any authority to interfere. 
 
 This is not an uncommon mode of arguing the subject ; yet it 
 seems to us quite defective and erroneous. Before the Free 
 Church of Scotland shall establish real liberty, and accomplish 
 the will of God completely, it must, we are persuaded, take dif- 
 ferent ground from this. 
 
 The proposition of Dr. Cunningham is, in the first place, un- 
 tnie. Christ has not established any chui'ch to be recognized 
 and dealt with as a kingdom, or an organization at all. His 
 kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, having its existence in the hearts 
 of men, and over his church as a great spiritual community He 
 reigns, and for it has made laws ; but a kingdom of this world, 
 He established none, not even in the name of a church or a kirk, 
 
RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH. 277 
 
 with a Papa or a General Assembly as His Vicegerent, posses- 
 sing power to negotiate with the State, or set bounds to civil 
 authority. 
 
 Besides, the theory of Dr. Cunningham would be inapplicable, 
 if true. Suppose the Savior had established a code of laws for 
 his church when it should exhibit itself visibly before men ; the 
 Scotch Kirk is not that church. On the contrary, recent events 
 have proved that the old kirk is a body inimical to the true 
 spirit of Clirist, and persecuting it by various measures which it 
 certainly would not adopt if its governing members had them- 
 selves that spirit ; and the possession of that spirit is the only 
 test left us of citizenship in the kingdom. Dr. Cunningham felt 
 this difficulty ; for he said, as we understood him, that the ex- 
 emption from civil obligations extended to any association j^rofes- 
 sing to be a church of Christ. But if Christ as King in Zion 
 established a code of laws for his kingdom, it must have been for 
 his real kingdom, his true subjects ; and certainly Satan cannot 
 get up a church of his ow^n, and claim immunities for it under 
 the disj)ensation of the true church. 
 
 Another difficulty with the position of Dr. Cunningham is, 
 that while it protects the true church from the oppression of 
 civil tyrants, it leaves them altogether at the mercy of ecclesias- 
 tical tyrants, and these are commonly much worse than the 
 others. Under the pretense of authority from Christ, they do, 
 in many cases, most cruelly oppress and destroy his true disci- 
 ples ; in truth, nothing has been so much the object of the 
 hot hatred of ecclesiastical rulers, as the men who have most 
 thoroughly copied the spirit and most implicitly obeyed the laws 
 of tlieir Spiritual King. 
 
 The truth about the matter is, that the right to hold opinions 
 upon religious subjects and all other subjects, and to act under 
 the influence of those opinions, whether they bring men to wor- 
 ship God or to refuse to worship Him, is not derived from any 
 associated condition, but is an individual right, pertaining to 
 every man as he came from the hand of his Maker, entrusted 
 with faculties, surrounded by inlluences, and pressed with obli- 
 gations. Every man in his own title has the right to think for 
 himself, to associate with others, and to select teachers and helps 
 of every sort to carry out his opinions, without the interference 
 compulsorily of any man or body of men, whether they be kings 
 or prelates, parliaments or presbyters. This principle sets men 
 truly free. It disenthralls and makes them men. It is by this 
 right, that the kingdom of Christ is protected, and according to 
 this principle it is constructed. It exempts men alike from civil 
 and ecclesiastical tyranny, and prescribes the limits of jurisdiction 
 
278 CHURCHES AN"© POLITICS. 
 
 to governments of both sorts. A council, a bishop, a presby- 
 tery, or a consociation, has upon this principle no more right to 
 dictate what men shall believe, or who shall be their religious 
 teachers, than a king or a president. It secures the same rights 
 to infidels and Christians, to papists and protestants, to church- 
 men and quakers, to those who are in the church and those who 
 are out of it. "When the principle is thoroughly learned, the 
 Reformation will so far be perfected ; the Free Church of Scot- 
 land will be truly free, and the process of bringing men really 
 and truly into the kingdom of Christ, will be likely to go on 
 much more rapidly than it has done since this principle became 
 obscured and was ultimately lost in the first centuries of the 
 Chi'istian era. 
 
 We make these remarks with great respect towaras the gen- 
 tleman whose discourse has been the immediate occasion of 
 them, and in the hope that they may possibly help the noble 
 Free Church of Scotland so to start in her new enterprise, that 
 another separation for conscience' sake may not be necessary in 
 some future century, when the rights of individual men shall be 
 more fully comprehended. We hope also that truths so plain 
 may soon be more fully recognized in free America. " The spi- 
 rit of the age " does powerfully tend that way. 
 
 CHURCHES AND POLITICS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, June 11, 1844.] 
 
 The ecclesiastical convention of the Methodist denomination 
 seem to be bringing their political discussions to a crisis. The 
 result will probably be a separation. The break is to be at 
 Mason and Dixon's line, — a weaker spot than is to be found 
 elsewhere, and so often bent that there is perhaps some anger 
 that the political ligaments may one day separate. How- 
 ever, political unions would seem to be stronger than ecclesias- 
 tical unions, so that while the latter break, the former may 
 hope still to hold out. It seems to us that if the professed 
 disciples of Christ understood, as well as they might, the single 
 subject which so moved his compassion, they would hardly spend 
 their time in forming national churches at all, much less in those 
 wranglings which break them in pieces after they are constructed. 
 Christ said nothing about slavery, though he condemned oppres- 
 sion, and propounded principles which are sure, when thoroughly 
 adopted, we think, to put an end to the system the world over. 
 But there was another slavery so incomparably worse, to which the 
 
A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 279 
 
 whole family of man had voluntarily surrendered up themselves, 
 that He seems hardly to have noticed political bondage. His 
 immediate disciples, full of the same spirit, went every where 
 preaching that men should repent. Preachers no\v-a-days do the 
 same, and when the harvest of their converts is gathered into a 
 company, it is an Anti-Slavery Society. It is a Church of Christ, 
 alias, an Anti-Slavery Society, a Temperance Society, and in ge- 
 neral, a society of all work. In religious matters it is conscience 
 Avhich prompts men ort ; in war it is honor. But from the 
 manner in which the pi'ompter operates, there is reason to sus- 
 pect that the animating spiiit is often identical in both cases and 
 not exactly either of the principles whose name it takes. 
 
 If men would carry on moral reforms or political revolutions, let 
 them do so, and create their associations as they please ; but when 
 they form a church of Christ, let it be an association of His disci- 
 ples — nothing more, and nothing less. If these disciples differ in 
 opinion about the best man for the Presidency of the United 
 States, let them push their differences as hard as they please, but 
 not on the church. If they want to abolish slavery or intemper- 
 ance, and if they believe total abstinence the proper remedy, let 
 them urge it as they think proper ; but so long as it is possible 
 for a man to own slaves, or to drink wine, or belong to a masonic 
 lodge, and still be a Christian, these things cannot, except upon 
 plans altogether schismatic, be made tests in the church. It is 
 the spirit of the world, and not the spirit of Christ, which makes 
 them so. The exclamation of Robert Hall, " he who is good 
 enough for Christ, is good enough for me," is the only principle 
 of common sense, as it is of sound Christianity. Until Christians 
 adopt this principle, they can never have peaceful churches, and 
 their quarrels will be ever deranging the better management of 
 politicians. 
 
 A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 
 
 New York, December, 1844. 
 To the Editors of the JVcw England Puritan : 
 
 Gentlemeiv : In your paper of November 8th, 1844, are published 
 the procecdinjis of tlie " Mnnhattan Congregational Union." That our 
 brethren in New England may have a correct understanding of tho 
 ■whole matter, you are respectfully requested by the delegates from the 
 Tabernacle, to publish the enclosed documeut, exhibiting the arguments 
 and decision of that Church in regard to the Union. Your readers by 
 referring to the Puritan, will notice that the quotations from the Con- 
 stitution do not agree with the instrument as sent to you. This is ex- 
 plained by the fact, that the Union when it came together, changed the 
 
280 A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 
 
 phraseology from what it was when submitted to the Churches, though 
 Ldo not perceive that the meaning is essentially altered. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 One of the Delegates. 
 
 To the Rev. 0. S. St. John, Scribe of Convention, c&c. : 
 
 By a vote of the Convention which met at the Broadway Tab- 
 ernacle and formed the Constitution of a Congregational Union, 
 it was made the duty of the delegates to submit that Constitution 
 to their respective churches, and to notify the Scribe of Conven- 
 tion of the result. 
 
 The undersigned delegates from the Broadway Tabernacle 
 Church have now to report, that the Constitution was by them 
 submitted to the Church and received the earnest attention which 
 its importance demanded. The clause defining the powers of 
 the proposed Union, received especial attention. That clause 
 reads as follows : — 
 
 Art. 2. This body shall be strictly advisory in its character, profes- 
 sing no powers of government either legislative or administrative ; nor 
 exercising any appellate jurisdiction over the churches ; it shall be only 
 a council where the learned, the wise, and tlie good of our churches 
 may consult together respecting all matters pertaining to the welfare 
 of the churches which may demand their attention ; and its decisions 
 shall, in all cases, possess no more binding authority than their truth- 
 ful character, and the weight of combined wisdom and piety in the 
 body, can give them. 
 
 The discussion drew together a very full attendance of the 
 members of the church, and was continued by adjournment for 
 three evenings. 
 
 In favor of the plan, it was urged that union is a fundamental 
 principle of Christianity, exhibited by it at all times, and that 
 Congregationalism falls in with and encourages this disposition ; 
 that the churches all over New England are organized upon 
 some plan of association and that the proposed Union was, there- 
 fore, in accordance with the usages with which our church more 
 particularly sympathized ; that in Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 the union was through the agency of Consociations, which are 
 generally authoritative bodies empowered to determine and make 
 final issue of the matters brought before them ; that in Maine 
 the union is by Conferences possessing no authority but that of 
 opinion ; and that in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ver- 
 mont, the churches have associations under various names, but 
 in their general bearing like the Conferences of Maine. The 
 Constitution under consideration, it was urged, belonged not to 
 the order of Consociation but of Conference ; that it was there- 
 fore in conformity with the institutions of the most jealous Con- 
 
A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 281 
 
 gregationalists, and that tlie body proposed to be created by it, 
 ])ossessing no authority, could not be injurious in its operation, 
 and ought not to be treated with distrust ; that in fact without 
 any possibihty of mischief, it would do great good by strength- 
 ening the chvu-ches, which wei-e in general feeble and surrounded 
 by neighbors not sympathizing with their polity, and so greatly 
 in need of some bond of union to which they might look as a 
 center of affection, sympathy and support ; that the proposal 
 had grown out of the wants and expressed desires of the 
 churches, some of whom felt the necessity so much that they 
 would be likely to ally themselves to the neighboring Presbyte- 
 lies unless some plan of tliis sort should be adopted. Various 
 instances of the good eftect of united action were adduced in 
 confirmation of these views. 
 
 On the other hand it was argued, that the Tabernacle Church 
 had enjoyed great union and pi-osperity in its present position, 
 and so far as its own interests had weight, ought to scrutinize, 
 Avith great care, any proposition for a material change ; that it 
 was a mistake to suppose that organizations like this pervaded 
 New England generally ; that in fact tlirough Massachusetts, 
 New Hampshire, and Vermont there were, beyond the Associa- 
 tions of the ministers, very few organizations of any sort, and 
 that those which did exist were only arrangements for relir/iotis 
 meetings by the assembling together of neighboring churches ; 
 and that the Conferences of Maine were iniended. to go no far- 
 ther ; and by their rules were forbidden from exercising any such 
 general supervision " respecting all matters pertaining to the wel- 
 fare of the churches which may demand their attention" as was 
 to be the special business of the proposed Union ; that, in fact, 
 the Constitution under consideration was unlike anything to bo 
 found elsewhere amonfj Cono-rerfationalists, being neither a court 
 with authority, nor a religious meeting, but a sort of diocesan 
 " busybody about other men's matters," with no bounds to its 
 interference, and so, in some respects, more objectionable than a 
 body possessing defined authoritij ; that such an organization 
 was unscriptural, no record of any such thing being found in the 
 Acts of the Apostles or anywhere else in the New Testament, 
 the union of the primitive churches being that of the heart, and 
 of ready cooperation upon emergencies, but without any perma- 
 nently organized body of any sort ; that under this arrangement, 
 the Christians just converted from heathenism enjoyed a " lib- 
 erty and union " which made them more efficient than the 
 churches have ever been since ; that it was in departing from 
 this union of hearts, and attempting to strengthen themselves by 
 arrangements like the one proposed, that the organized unity be- 
 
282 A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 
 
 gan of that great hierarchy which carried the churches back, in 
 a mass, to idolatry ; that with that example before modern 
 Christians, we should be inexcusable were we to take one step in 
 the same road ; that the primitive independence of the churches 
 was the palladium of their liberty, their union, their purity of 
 doctrine, and their efficient evangelical action. 
 
 It was further urged that the proposed Union was wrong, in- 
 asmuch as it virtually placed the advisory supervision of the 
 churches in the hands of a class of the brethren, in contradiction 
 to the primitive example, when the " whole church," including 
 all classes, was the only body appealed to, and that the depar- 
 tures from the primitive plan had proved exceedingly injurious ; 
 that the benefits of formal union, if there Avere such, could be 
 better attained by an organization of pastors and brethren in a 
 voluntary and distinct society, not involving the authority or the 
 organization of the churches, and so requiring no Church action, 
 and exciting no discontent or jealousy ; that the events now 
 transpiring in other denominations proved that supervisory 
 church organizations were but organizations of discord, which, 
 when extended to a national character, presented the clergy and 
 laity in great councils of acrimonious controversy, dishonorable to 
 religion, agitating to the churches, and in every way productive 
 of mischiefs which were poorly compensated by the benefits sup- 
 posed to be secured ; that this projiosed union must, hke the or- 
 ganizations alluded to, be inevitably a center for agitating the 
 topics of the day, and would almost of necessity, involve us in 
 the great calamity of being compelled to attend to and partici- 
 pate in those controversies ; that now, we could measure the ex- 
 tent of our difficulties, and provide for them, but so associated, 
 could never know when a subject was finished ; that even the 
 Conferences of Maine were looked upon with a watchful jealousy 
 which was undesirable : that the Consociations of Connecticut 
 had been matter of controversy from the beginning, the eflfects of 
 which were visible in the great variety of powers which tliey 
 possessed, being, in fact, in each case, so much as the friends of 
 ecclesiastical government had been able to acquire, in spite of its 
 opponents ; that the existence of such bodies caused the non- 
 assenting churches to be objects of unkind suspicion, so breaking 
 up real union ; that upon the whole, the proposed union was un- 
 scriptural, uncongregational, unnecessary and dangerous, and 
 finally, in direct contravention of the proper design of churclies, 
 and of our own fundamental rule defining that design, Avhicli is 
 as follows : " The design of a Christian church we understand to 
 be the enjoyment of Christian ordinances, and the maintenance 
 of the worship of God." This fundamental rule, it was said, had 
 
A CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 283 
 
 been thoroughly discussed and agreed upon at the organization 
 of the churcii, and Avas intended to be construed strictly, and to 
 preclude everything but the two designs specified ; that this, be- 
 ing another design, was therefore precluded. Instances were 
 adduced of the great injury which particular churches had suf- 
 fered from being associated with bodies having the right to ad- 
 vise them. 
 
 In the course of the discussion, letters were read from many 
 distinguished individuals, both of the clergy and laity of New 
 England, stating facts and opinions, bearing upon the case, and 
 also extensive quotations from Punchard, Coleman, Bacon, Chee- 
 ver, and other writers, who had elucidated the principles in- 
 volved in the debate. 
 
 The discussion was terminated by the introduction of the fol- 
 lowing resolution, by a brother who had taken no active pait in 
 the debate, and being assented to by those, on both sides, who 
 had been active, passed with great unanimity, as follows,. to wit : 
 
 " Whereas the subject of forming a Congregational Union has been 
 presented to this Church — and whereas there exists amongst us a diver- 
 sity of opinion as to the utility of such a measure — therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That without expressing any opinion as to the merits or 
 demerits of the proposed organization, we deem it inexpedient at present 
 to take any action in relation thereto." 
 
 We have thought it important to give this synopsis to the 
 Convention, and the churches which they represent, that our sis- 
 ter churches may not attribute the result to any want of affec- 
 tionate regard, or desire of gospel union with them, but may 
 know the reasons, truly, which have controlled us. Throughout 
 the discussion, the most affectionate regard was expressed to- 
 wards all the churches, and we are happy to acknowledge our- 
 selves already in a union with them, which imposes on us the 
 responsibility of rendering to them a frank and full account of 
 what we have done. We are happy to assure our brethren that 
 the members of the Tabernacle Church feel committed as sharers 
 with them of their sorrows and their joys, and are ready to co- 
 operate with them for the promotion of the common good, and 
 the glory of our common Lord. 
 
 Wishing to the Convention and to all our brethren, grace, 
 
 mercy, and peace, in the liberty and efficiency of apostolic 
 
 order, we subscribe ourselves their servants in the bonds of 
 
 Clirist. 
 
 David Hale, 1 t^ 7 . j-^i 
 
 A ,,T Ueleqates of the 
 
 Albeut Woodruff, \ „ ^ , ■' rr 1. 
 
 bAMUEL Pitts, | 7 wi j. 
 
 T TT ernade (Jhurch. 
 
 Joseph Harris, J 
 
284 RELIGION AND SECTARIANISM. 
 
 RELIGION AND SECTARIANISM. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, January 14, 1845.] 
 
 It is generally true tliat when religion is low, sectarianism is 
 high, — and when religion is high, sectarianism is low. If we see 
 a man full of denunciation against his fellow Christians of other 
 denominations, he generally has but little piety himself. To be 
 sure a good man will think it his duty to denounce immorality, 
 and the more if it is covered up under the cloak of religion. But 
 sectarianism is in general not a matter of virtue against vice, nor 
 of fundamental truth against fundamental error, but it finds its 
 importance in external forms, or in minor matters of belief. It 
 belongs often not so much to matters of faith, of personal piety 
 or practice, as to church government, or the way of management. 
 Nine-tenths of the quarrels among professing Christians are about 
 wood, hay, and stubble, — things which on both sides Avill be alto- 
 gether burned up and cast away at the last. The preaching of 
 Christ, and the men who learned of him, was seldom denunciatory. 
 Now and then there came forth a portentous "Wo unto you. 
 Scribes and Pliarisees, hypocrites ;" but more frequently the strain 
 Avas, " Oh! Jerusalem, Jerusalem." The truth has been spread 
 in the same spirit so far as it has been spread at all. Denunci- 
 ation and excommunication have done but little, except when ap- 
 plied to open vice, for the preservation of purity or faith. In 
 fact, three-fourths of the excommunications which have taken 
 jilace in the name of Christianity, have been the anathemas of 
 error and vice against truth and virtue. Pride has excommu- 
 nicated humility ; liypocrisy, sincerity ; and selfish tyranny, hum- 
 ble benevolence. Almost always the men who have exhibited 
 most of the spirit of the founder of Christianity, have been the 
 objects of persecution and scorn, and certainly none with this spirit 
 were ever persecutors. The common people are seldom violent 
 sectarians, unless excited to it by their leaders ; and the leadei-s, 
 it is to be feared, are more fre(|uently violent in their demmci- 
 ations for the sake of the emoluments or authority of office, than 
 from regard to the honor of Christianity. Real piety is in the 
 way of such motives. There is no money to be made, no great 
 authority to be exercised by it. To go about doing good, and to 
 call every man a brother, is its delight. This spirit thwarts the 
 plans and condemns the practices of aspirants, both in state and 
 church. Christianity is a great levcler. It begins with the 
 broad equality of men, and puM upon each man such great im- 
 portance that office loses its consequence and its power. A bad 
 man, however high in office or wealth, is, by the measure of Christ- 
 ianity, put far beneath the poorest disciple in the estimate of both 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL REGULATION. 285 
 
 God and man. It is not strange, therefore, tliat the proud, tlio 
 ambitious, the bad of every name, should liatc and seek to de- 
 strt)y the persons wlio, l)y merely imitating the example of their 
 Master, bring discredit on bad great men. Excommunication is 
 therefore brou<i;ht in to s^et rid of them, and so industriously is 
 
 O O ... .1 
 
 the knife applied, that the sound fruit is sometimes cut away untu 
 little remains except a rotten core. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL REGULATION. 
 \_Fn)»i the Journal of Cummcrrc, March 1 1, 184G.] 
 
 Dr. Woons, of Andover Theological Seminary, as chairman of 
 a committ(H', has published a long report and a plan for system- 
 atizing (Jongregatioualism in Massachusetts, so that it may act as 
 a denomination like other sects. Strange that a man of the e.x- 
 j)erience and wisdom of Dr. Woods, should not have learned that 
 regulation has always been the curse of rciligion. The discij)les 
 of Clii'ist were never so free from regulation as in the times of 
 the apostles, and never were so mighty in their efforts. Then 
 every believer was a fully authorized piiest, and all the regulation 
 prescribed to them was, that in their meetings they should speak 
 one at a time. Regulation afterwards overthrew the work which 
 liberty had accomplished, and carried Christendom back to idolatry. 
 Jn Luther's Jleformaticjn it was truth untrammeled by regula- 
 tion, which did the work. Every man was a preacher again in 
 those times, and mighty things were done. So, Wickliil'e, long 
 before, unembarrassed by regulation, and witlnjut the help of 
 printing, circulated the ]5il)le and ITible truth in England, until the 
 ground heaved beneath the hierarcliy, ;ind the nation came near a 
 revolution. It is liberty, individual free action — that is mighty, 
 Ucgulation is wanted in military warfare, but not in that wiiich is 
 inlell(!ctual or moral. " Every man on his own hook," is the dis- 
 cipline of ellicii-ncy in spreading trutii, and it is the discipline 
 which l)rings about tlie best ordisr also. But no sooner has indi- 
 vidual libeity brought truth into power, than the Uev. Doctors 
 bring out tiieir curb-bits and halters and breech-bands, to stay 
 the resistless steed and " regulate" his speed. But for this regu- 
 lation the world would long ago have been a Christian world. 
 Jlrgulation has killed everything. It has been Satan's great 
 engine, b(jth in politics and religion, for the debasement of man- 
 kind. 
 
 How can a man who loves the peaceful churches of New Eng- 
 
286 ECCLESIASTICAL REGULATION. 
 
 land desire to form them, and Congregationalists everywhere, into 
 a national denomination ? Now those churches, next to families, 
 are the happiest associations on earth. Tliey are united for mu- 
 tual improvement, and the benefit of the people around them. 
 They have no troubles but such as originate in their own little 
 circle, and these are settled generally within the same circle. If 
 they were regulated into a national denomination, they would, like 
 all other national denominations, be agitated by some great bug- 
 bear which is brought upon the national stage. The Abolitionists 
 have broken the national churches of the Baptists and Methodists 
 in twain ; the Presbyterians have broken by their own weight ; 
 and if we may judge by appearances, the Episcopal church is in 
 some danger of a similar result. The two Presbyterian schools 
 have yet a North and South question on hand, and if the Aboli- 
 tionists could really contrive to break all these national arrange- 
 ments into a thousand pieces, in our humble judgment it Avould 
 be one of the greatest blessings that could befall religion or its 
 professors in the various denominations. 
 
 " Why may Ave not," says Dr. Woods, " have a Congregational 
 Union in this countrj^, as they have in England, Scotland and 
 Wales." It oujjht to be understood that the Concfrecjationalists 
 of Britain have been one of the most thoroughly united and effi- 
 cient bodies in the Avorld. They have prospered and increased 
 abundantly, until they number some twenty-five hundred churches, 
 each one a perfect body in itself, and yet united by unity of sen- 
 timent and feeling with all the rest, until this poor plan of regula- 
 tion, or in other words hierarchical union, was taken up by some 
 of the pastors, and it has been a source of discord ever since. 
 Two-thirds of the cliurches perliaps are in the Union, and one- 
 third out ; so making two sects, and very essentially interrupting 
 their harmony and efficiency. Christians may Avell cry every- 
 Avhere, " Oh that the pastors would teach us, and as to all the 
 rest, let us alone." " Let us alone — let us alone" — Avas the Avise 
 answer of the French merchants Avhen Bonapaite asked what he 
 could do for them. So, many Christians Avill say to all these 
 plans of regulation. Truth is mighty Avhen joined with liberty, 
 but its effective power is diminished just as its liberty is taken 
 away. Congregationalism has too much regulation in New Eng- 
 land already. New England Avas by the pious Puritans laid out 
 in towns and parishes, Avith local boundaries established by law. 
 The parishes Avere designed as the boundaries of religious societies. 
 Tlie Congregational pastors have by a code of etiquette similar to 
 that which governs physicians, made each pastor an absolute 
 bishop in his own little diocese, so far that no other bishop of the 
 same denomination can officiate therein but by invitation of the 
 
ECCLESIASTICAI^ REGULATION. 287 
 
 resident. In Connecticut a mongrel hierarchy or regulator called 
 Consociation has been established, by whicli the pastors of a 
 county combine to control ecclesiastical affairs within tlie county. 
 These are both arrangements of the pastors to " regulate" tlie 
 churclies, and although well meant, are extremely unwise and 
 injurious, and under their influence more discontent is engendered, 
 and more i-ival sects introduced, than in any other way. If the 
 Congregationalists of New England would prosper in the highest 
 degree, they must not add more regulation, but, if possible, dis- 
 enthrall themselves from what they now have. 
 
 Speaking of union among Christians and about ecclesiastical 
 affairs, we will just say that it does not seem to us that the great 
 Doctors have as yet, to any considerable extent, caught the i-ight 
 plan to bring it about. World's Conventions will not do it; 
 Councils out West will not bring it about. One grand defect of 
 these councils and conventions is, that they are always sectarian 
 in their very plan; and so antagonistical, instead of congenial. 
 They do not embrace the entire church of Christ scattered through 
 the rubbish of multiplied denominations. Then there is this grand 
 trouble in the case. It is an attempt to create harmony by the 
 adoption of a certain creed ; whereas the harmony must be pre- 
 existent, having its residence in the understanding and feelings of 
 men. It cannot be created by resolutions and proclamations. 
 For the present there is an insuperable obstacle in the way of 
 Christian union. Men and good men have no correct notion of 
 that great thing toleration. Toleration must be the corner-stone 
 of union. Before men can form a sound union, they must agree 
 to differ, and agree that each one has a right to his peculiar opin- 
 ions. Toleration is not yet established — no, not among Protest- 
 ants, by a great deal. That great doctrine of liberty so much 
 vaunted, that every man has a right to reason and believe for 
 himself, and worship according to the dictates of his own con- 
 science, however much it may be lauded in public, is very little 
 cherished in the breasts of men. The world is not ripe for union 
 yet, and something besides councils is necessary to ripen it. The 
 sun of truth must shine upon the Christian v/oi-ld for some time 
 yet to come, before it will be ready for union. Men's minds 
 must be ennobled and expanded, and made genei-ous, not to the 
 abandonment of truth, but to the holding of it in love. The 
 process is an intellectual one. He who brings out a single truth 
 so as to command universal consent, has done more to create 
 union than all the councils that were ever held. The intercourse 
 and good feeling of councils may help on union, but their procla- 
 mations and creeds not at all. In truth, the conclusions of coun- 
 cils are seldom exactly true, for they are compromises, taking their 
 
CONGREGATIONALISM. 
 
 scat betweon many stools, and so not exactly on any one. Indi- 
 vidual belief is more often exactly right. In fact, there is a pro- 
 mise of guidance and help to individuals, but none at ail to 
 councils. 
 
 CONG llEO ATION A LISM. 
 IFroin the Journal of Commerce, Auf^u^t 28, 1846.] 
 
 Passing events indicate that the polity of this denomination, 
 which claims to be tiie fre';st in the world, must come under the 
 common discussion, and answer with others to the charge of up- 
 holding a hierarchy. The theory of Congregationalism is, as wc 
 understand it, that every local church is complete in itself, with 
 full power, without the assistance or assent of others, to jierftict 
 its organization and carry on its operations ; that it can invite, in- 
 stall, and dismiss its ollicers, and that the onicers ai-e equally 
 free to accept, continue, and resign, according to their own 
 pleasure, and that every member is equally free to choose his own 
 field of usefulness, responsible to the association only for a gene- 
 ral deportment becoming a Christian profession, and the per- 
 formance of such labors as he \oluntarily engages to undertake. 
 That compulsion which requires a man to submit to the control of 
 others, especi;jll3^ which compels a parish to accept, keep, listen 
 to, or support, a pastor whom they do not approve, or compels a 
 pastor to settle with or remain with a parish, when he thinks he 
 should be more useful or more happy elsewhere, the theory of 
 Congregationalism rejects. The Pilgrims thought that religious 
 liberty involved not only the right to think and speak, but the 
 right to choose teachers and leaders in worship. They did not 
 understand how a congregation could worship according to the 
 dictates of their conscience, when obliged to listen to insti'uctions 
 which they deemed heretical, or to worship in any way which 
 contradicted their conscience. Notwithstanding these thoroughly 
 radical ])rinciples of independency, it has l)een the custom of 
 Congregationalists to call councils at the settlement and dismis- 
 sion of ministers, and on other occasions, with the oft-repeated 
 declaration, however, that these councils were only advisory in 
 their decisions, and their public performances only suitable cere- 
 monies, and not of any necessity or binding obligation. It was 
 on such grounds that the polity of Congregationahsm came some 
 _vears ago, and under peculiar circumstances, before the courts of 
 Massachusetts. Ministers, whom their parishes had resolved no 
 longer to employ, continued to tender their services, and then 
 
CONGREGATIONALISM. 289 
 
 lirouflit Kuits for thoir salaries. The supreme court of that 
 (State declared, that as it was a custom to settle and dismiss min- 
 isters by councils, and as the contract was indefinite as to time, a 
 minister who had been settled by a council could not be other- 
 wise dismissed ; for that, by custom, this had become lata. 
 When a minister had been dismissed by his parish, and had de- 
 clared that he would not consent to a mutual council, and the 
 parish had tlx-reupon called an ex-'parte council which d-etermined 
 that lie ought to bo and was dismissed, the court held that he 
 was not, because it was not demanded of him at the time that he 
 should unite in the council. The society tlien called another 
 council, as the court Iiad ordered, demanding of the minister to 
 unite in it, which lie refused ; and that council determined as the 
 other had done, and dismissed the minister for the third time. 
 ])Ut still the court held that he was not dismissed, because some 
 of the same men were on the second council that were on the 
 first, and this rendered its proceedings null and void ; for that a 
 man could not be a judge who h.ad already made up and declared 
 his mind. We state these points from recollection, but they are 
 substantially correct. Thus the courts of Massachusetts, while 
 they disclaimed all interfei-ence with ecclesiastical affairs, and re- 
 fused to in(juire whether a minister had broken his contract by 
 preaching exactly opposite doctrine from that which he was cm- 
 ployed to preach, did really o\ci-throw the whole fabric of Con- 
 gregational liberty, and establish mutual councils, which might or 
 might not be possible to be obtained, as ecclesiastical tribunals, 
 holding the parishes and pastors in absolute control. Under 
 these legal decisions some parishes have been despoiled of their 
 estates by ministers who refused to go away, though after beino- 
 told that their services were not wanted and would not be tole- 
 rated. Ojipressive as these strange legal doctrines liave been, it 
 is diflicult to correct ihe mischief; for the time of settling a pas- 
 tor is not a time when it is agreeable to talk of, or make provi- 
 sion for, the dissolution of the connection. Several cases have 
 uccui-red lately, in which the doings of councils in overruling 
 the liberty of pastors or parishes, or both, have attracted unusual 
 attention. 
 
 IS'ol many months ago, one of the churches in Boston invited 
 Mr. Held, of Salisbury, Ct., to become their pastor, and he ac- 
 cepted the invitation ; but the consociation, wliich was the coun- 
 cil in the case, and claimed authority, refused their assent. Not 
 very long ago, a pr isli in the same neighborhood desired, with 
 entire unanimity, v > instal a particular minister as their pastor, 
 who had accepted their invitation ; but the consociation refused 
 their assent, and as the consociation claimed final jurisdiction in 
 13 
 
290 DR. BEECH ER ON CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 the case, the wish of botli minister a,nd people wns set at nought. 
 Out of the jurisdiction of consociations new councils would have 
 been called, until one was found which would perform the cus- 
 tomary services of an installation. 
 
 Just now a similar result with that first named has happened 
 before a mutual council, called in the matter of the invitation pre- 
 sented by the Church of the Pilgrims to Mr. Storrs, of Brook- 
 line, near Boston. Mr. Storrs, as Mr. Reid had done, declared 
 liis clear conviction that duty required him to accept the invita- 
 tion ; but the council in this case also refused assent. It is un- 
 derstood that the ministers Avere in favor of dismissing Mr. Storrs, 
 and the laymen against it. In both cases the gentlemen are com- 
 pelled to remain and labor, contrary to their convictions of duty. 
 Such forced relations can hardly be expected to last long, or be 
 quite happy while they continue. If a minister or parish have 
 doubts about what ought to be done, they may well ask advice 
 and abide by it ; but it is a new doctrine among Congregational- 
 ists, that councils shall compel, or courts compel, or anything 
 compel, the beginning or continuance of pastoral relations, when 
 either party is distinctly desirous of their termination ; and the 
 fact that these modern ])roceedings do indeed overthrow the 
 Avholc Congregational j)lan of free action, must bring up the ques- 
 tion, whether a ncAv practice ought not to be adopted, by Avhich 
 councils shall be dispensed with. Certainly Ave should think the 
 Puritan spirit of liberty must be considerably tamed, if such ab- 
 soluteness of councils is lono- endured. 
 
 DR. BEECIIER ON CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, October 15, 1846.] 
 
 A CROWDED audience assembled at the Broadway Tabernacle on 
 Sabbath evening, to hear Dr. Beecher's views of the late meeting 
 in London of the Evangelical Alliance. Dr. Bccchcr will always 
 have great assemblies to hear him, as long as he is able to speak. 
 He speaks from a generous and full soul, and is a strong indepen- 
 dent mind. His thoughts are usually right ; but whether right 
 or wrong, they are always great thoughts. 
 
 He began his discourse by stating the great truth that the 
 real Church of Christ is always a unity. That is a proposition 
 self-evident, as well as evident from the teaching of the Ncav Tes- 
 tament. The disciples of every master are a xmity, for it is tlie 
 adoption of the same ]irecepts of the master, which makes them 
 disciples. The true disciples of Thomas Jefferson are a unity. 
 
DR. BEECH EU ON CHRISTIAN UNION. 291 
 
 Many may call themselves disciples from interested motives, or 
 from ignorance of what he taught, and some may tliink tlicm- 
 selvcs Jiis (iisciplos wlio are not, because they have been too 
 carehss to find out accurately Avhat he did teach. Such persons 
 may form as many Jfllcr.sonian St)cielies as tliey will, — it does not 
 make them at all the more his disci])les. 'I'lu; disciples of Christ 
 must be a unity, tluii'cfore, and of an infiniiely higlier nature than 
 is suggested by tliis illustration, l^ut Dr. lieecher seemed to 
 confuse this idea by passing to the multitude of Christian churches 
 of all denominations, and s])e;iking of them as if they were this 
 very unity, or were composed of tbis very same united and true 
 church. Tiiat this is not so, and in fact that all tliese associations 
 are almost certain to have more or less persons in them who do 
 not belong to the i-eal unily, and that it is cpiite ])ossible to form 
 such a nominal church without a single such j)erson in it, is quite 
 as evident as the proposition of real unity among real discij)les. 
 
 Dr. Beecher spoke eloquently of the value of " xuiion for the 
 sake of union," and it seemed to us most truly. Happiness is the 
 object of all effort, and what brings such a flood of that, as union, 
 and above all. Christian union ? To make such a thing universal, 
 or even extensive, is worth all the labor that it can cost. In- 
 deed, to see so good a man as Dr. Kcfjchcr made as haj)py as he 
 evidently was made by the convocation at Jjondon, would, to a 
 generous heart, be compensation enougli for all the trouble and ex- 
 jjense of that great gatliei ing. Said the Doctor : " The first I saw 
 of it was in my ni;ws])aj)er, as 1 was silently reading it. I'll go ! 
 I'll go! I exclaimed. Go where? said my wife. I'll go! I'll 
 go! said I. Go ivhcre? said my wife, thinking 1 had gone crazy. 
 Why to London, said I, to this Cliristian Union." "Who shall say, 
 after the mere idea of union has so stirred the blood of such a 
 man as if it were the blood of a boy, that union for tlie sake of 
 union is nothing; nay, that it is not a glorious thing, worthy the 
 aspirations and the efforts of every good man ? 
 
 Dr. J^eecher expatiated largely upon tlie evils of dissension and 
 sectarian controversies in the church, meaning, as it seemed, the 
 visible churches, and at the same time the true church, lie said 
 that wliile the enemies of Christ were; united and concentrated, 
 the diderent divisions of the church had l)een divided, expending 
 half their strength in opposing (;ach other, and leaving but half 
 with which to oppose the united hosts of the common enemy ; — 
 really doing little but marching backwards and forwards, 'flie 
 ground gained by the Reformation had in this way been half of it 
 lost, and all would be lost unless the cluu'ch could ])e concentrat- 
 ed and orgaTiized in unity. If an organized unity could \w edect- 
 ed ; if the mighty hosts of the church, who were lighting in little 
 
292 DR. BEECIIKR ON CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 squads or individually, and so much against each other, could be 
 ■wheeled uj)c)u the right and the left into one grand united army, 
 tlie victory would be sure and sjieedy, and tlie triumph glorious. 
 Wo confess that almost all this scenied to us entirely erroneous. 
 It is not certain, by a great deal, that the division ot' Protestant 
 Christians into various denominations, to some extent antagonis- 
 tic to each othei', has really lessened their success. At any rate, 
 such divisions were a necessary consecjuence of tliinking. Jf men 
 do not think, they may perhaps think alike, to use a solecism ; 
 or if they have no intelligent belief of anything, tlien they may 
 all believe as they arc told. But if they thiidv and reason, they 
 will come to different conclusions ; and who can say that there has 
 been, in the aggri'gate, less real union and hearty coopi'i'ation, be- 
 cause men have fallen apart and fallen together according to the 
 alhnities which have resulted from universal thinking. The ob- 
 ject of ellbrt has after all been the same ; the design harmonious ; 
 and however much men may love to do gooil for the sake of good- 
 ness, they are not yet so high in virtue, that a little rivalry in the 
 common cause may not add to the common result. General 
 Taylor's volunteers light all the better because they have been 
 found in ditlerent States. But after all, we shall not deny that sec- 
 tarianism has often been carried to wicked and injurious extremes. 
 Yet it is not a thing of such unmingled mischief as the l)i)ctor 
 represented it. To assume that next to nolliing has been accom- 
 plished in the last fifty years ; nay, that to go on as we are going 
 Avill end in ruin, it seems to us is denying tlie facts of which every 
 man is cogniz;i.nt. Ivuowledge and C^iuistian charity, and the do- 
 minion of true Bible principles, have been spreading, and arc 
 spreading gloriously on every hand, and faster and faster the good 
 work goi>s on in each revolving year. Tiiat a great organization 
 into visil)le unity would give us the victory, we do not believe at 
 all. It was just this scheme which set the Pope on his throne, 
 and carried the Chiistian Church in one giand oi'ganized unity 
 back to Paganism. Equally incorrect is the notion that the ene- 
 mies of Cliiistianity have acted in unity, they have been at least 
 us much divided as Christians have been. No, it is not organiza- 
 tion, but freedom, that religion wants to insure success. It was 
 individual freedom which gave to Chiistianity its early triumphs, 
 and organization tliat threw away all the labor. Yet nu'n, and 
 good and wise men. will learn nothing by the tremendous disas- 
 ter. Instead of trusting to their Master and liis truth, the pano- 
 ply of the gospel, in singU.'-hauded warfare, they will still try to 
 establish little popedoms and great popedoms, and rely on organ- 
 ization and combination, contrary to the commands of the Great 
 Captaui, and all experience. For ourselves, if wo must have one 
 
D U . n K K C II K U ON C 11 U I S T I A N UNION. 293 
 
 p;rc:it cenlnil orifiinmul union, wis should not care much Avhothcr 
 its s(!iit wcro at London or at Rome. If men would hii(, jjliiloso- 
 phize a little, they would sec that truth is not stniuj^tliened by 
 alliances and or<rani/,ations. Pliysical force is increas(;d hy the 
 accumulation of nund)ers, hut truth is, just as mighty wiu'n lisp- 
 ed by a cliild or a hv.gffir, as when ])r()claimed from the head 
 of assembled l(^<,nons. Ideas seek deliverance from the incum- 
 Ixaiices of such thintrs. Reason asks for reasoninif ; truth calls 
 for pieachers, — individual men goin<r forth to proclaim and prove 
 it. What does a syllogism j)rove more, when j)ro[)ounded by ten 
 thousand men, than by one man? How is tlu; testimony of the 
 Scripture writers inon; convincing because enforced by the unit- 
 ed resolution of a multitude, than by one single tongue. This 
 notion, that great organizations are to strengtlujn truth or secure 
 ical unit}', is as un])hilosoj)hical as it is unscriptural. ^i'he (sffect 
 of such things has always been to embarrass that Ucc individual 
 ell'ort, that must do about all that is done to s[)read knowledge 
 and truth. Assoc^iations for certain spccilic objcicts, may be use- 
 ful. Small contributions may be gathered into a conmion treas- 
 ury, and so, little drops mak<! an ocean ; but this is a very dif- 
 ferent thing from ecclesiastical organizations. U these organiza- 
 tions assume any general supervision of individual conduct, they 
 would fall into common error. J5ut we must leave our readers 
 lo think out the rest of this topic, hoping only that we have said 
 <'nough to be understood, and not misunderstood. 
 
 Dr. J5ecclier repeated the representation so often made, that 
 the crowned heads of Europe are conniving with tlie Poj)e to re- 
 sist the spread of knowledge, and especially of Christian know- 
 ledge, among the people ; and that a mighty combin.ation is form- 
 ing which will one day burst with overwhelming force upon tho 
 church. We suppose that he is entinily mistaken in all this, and 
 we think imputations so injurious sh(juld either be sustained by 
 som(! proof, or omitted. What is then; ujion the face of Europe 
 now to authorize such a charge ? Doubtless tluue are crowned 
 heads in ]^]urope who are (|uite two jealous arid fearful of liberty. 
 And this is not strange, wlien among ourselves there are so many 
 thousands of intcilligent men who are all the time in alarm at the 
 (Ireadcid ellects of self-government. Every wh(!re mew are afraid 
 to trust themselves to the democracy of their f(!llow-m(!n. Tiio 
 rulers of Europe are not likely to be more fr(!e from sucii fears, 
 than otluM' men; and they are fearful of bloody and vi(jl(!nt r(!vo- 
 hitions, and liave entered into alliances to help each other against 
 thou. I>ut that they have (!ntered into any alliance to jjrevent 
 the circulation of IJibh; truth, is in our judgnudit not only with- 
 out evidence, but au'ainst evidence. We thouirht there was 
 
294 MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 
 
 strength in tlie remarks of the CathoHc Freeman's Journal, -when 
 it replied to this assertion the other day by saying, that the prime 
 minister of Cathohc France is a Protestant, and of Cathohc Spain 
 a Jew. England is not certainly in this conspiracy, for her Am- 
 bassadors are everywhere the protectors of the Bible men against 
 the bigotry of the local church organizations. The prime minis- 
 ter of France is not only a Protestant, but a man of such noble 
 views of government as would adorn any post in our Republic. 
 The old Pope was a narrow-minded bigot, raised in the last cen- 
 tury, and never got out of it. But the new Pope seems to be a 
 noble fellow, belonging to- this nineteenth century, and likely to 
 adorn it by a liberal policy. Let us be happy about it, and cheer 
 him on by commending what is right. Let us not discourage 
 all right intentions in popes and kings, by pertinacious condem- 
 nation of all they do, be it never so patriotic and enlightened. 
 
 We regretted to hear Dr. Beecher speak as he did of Roman- 
 ism in the West, representing its colleges, schools, and cathedrals, 
 as beacons of alarm, outrunning Protestant institutions, and threat- 
 ening to educate a generation to Romish doctrines, and so con- 
 summate the subvei-sion of our free and happy institutions. We 
 know not how a man of so much sagacious observation can speak 
 such things, when less than one generation ago St. Louis, De- 
 troit, and many other important Western places, were possessed 
 by Catholics, — but not one of them is now, — and when in truth 
 the energy of Protestant emigrants, notwithstanding the thou- 
 sands of imported Catholics, has completely overthi-own their su- 
 premacy in every direction. Such a day as this is not one for 
 fearfulness, if only men will learn to trust in God, Truth and 
 Liberty. 
 
 MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 
 
 New York, Jan. 29, 1847 
 
 To the Editors of the J\''. E. Puritan: 
 
 Gentlemen :— In the New York Evangelist of December 17th, there 
 appeared an article from Dr. Eildy, of Newark, attackinj;; and entirely- 
 misrepresenting tlie Michigan City Convention,, and calling Mr. Cooke 
 of your paper and myself by name. The .article was " leaded," and put 
 out in the most honoral)le style. According to all my understanding of 
 rights, and my pr.actice as an editor, I was entitled to reply in my own 
 way, restrained only by parliamentary rules of decorum. I immediately 
 -wrote the enclosed, and presented it to the editor of the Evangelist, 
 which, after keeping some five weeks .and debating the matter nota lit- 
 tle, he declines to print. I hope you will do me the favor to print it. 
 The Evangelist has repeatedly attacked Congregational movcmcuts in a 
 
MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 295 
 
 very illiberal way, and this is not the first time that it has altogether 
 refused to correct its misstatements ; and yet the paper is considered, I 
 suppose, by many who take it, almost a Congregationalist. If I would 
 write a feeble answer, a sort of half plea of guilty, there would be no 
 difficulty in getting the Evangelist to print it ; but if the case of Congre- 
 gationalism is set out in its triumphant righteousness, it is too danger- 
 ous to do it common justice. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 DAVm HALE. 
 
 When an individual is assailed by name, before the public, he 
 not only has the right to correct the mistakes which have been 
 promulgated, but is under a sort of necessity to do so, in com*- 
 tesy to his accuser. In Dr. Eddy's " Observations on the West," 
 in your last paper, I expected to find an account of what he saw, 
 but almost the whole article is occupied with criticisms on the 
 Congregational Convention of Michigan City, which he came near 
 to, but did not see. 
 
 I am not of the number who feel great reverence for councils. 
 Yet there is a certain amount of courtesy which is due to them 
 and their members — at least the courtesy of truth. When Dr. 
 Eddy names " Mr. Hale, of New York, and Rev. Parsons Cooke, 
 of the Boston Puritan," as persons making special efforts to ac- 
 compUsh what he disapproves, and then strews along such epi- 
 thets as "narrow prejudice of sect," "sectarian violence," "ultra 
 Congregationalists," " narrow sectarianism," and in contrast with 
 these puts down " men of enlarged views, of Catliolic spirit, and 
 genuine piety," I think he does discredit to the bump of vene- 
 ration, which every man should have somewhere about his head. 
 When he speaks of " the wildness and laxness of the English In- 
 dependents of the I7th century," he must refer to Oliver Crom- 
 well, John Milton, and their associates. Such things have been 
 said of those men a million of times by Romanists and Episcopa- 
 lians, but they do discredit either to the historic intelligence or 
 Christian fairness of a divine who would build his churches on the 
 platform of the Westminster Catechism. 
 
 But to come to the im])ortant matter of the Concjrcgational 
 Convention of Michigan City. Tliat is important, and being so 
 ouglit to be correctly understood by both Congregationalists and 
 Presbyterians. To make it so understood is ray design in writing 
 this article : for as to Mr. Cooke, I shall leave him to his own 
 care ; and my own poor name has been and continues to be so kick- 
 ed about, that another kick from even a very respectable source 
 would not be deeply felt. 
 
 Dr. Eddy has been peculiarly unhappy in almost all the state- 
 ments of his article. I do not suppose that " provision was re- 
 quested for five hundred," though I do not know what some 
 
296 MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 
 
 individuals might have requested. The Convention was not *' far 
 from being liarraonious." On the question of abrogating the 
 Plan of Union, there was perfect harmony, and that Avithout any 
 persuasion from Mr. Cooke or myself. Tlie Western men called 
 the Convention, and every man, whether from the West or the 
 East, agreed that the plan of 1801 ought to be abandoned, and 
 no new one formed. To be sure, the desire of imiversal legisla- 
 tion, which so much and so improperly pervades almost all our 
 ecclesiastical bodies, was exhibited there, and some gentlemen 
 thought the Convention should resolve about slavery, perfection- 
 tionisra,. temperance, and all the long list of matters which have 
 been so often resolved and re-resolved. But a friendly discus- 
 sion brought about a general agreement, that the Convention was 
 going out of its design in taking up any of these questions, and 
 they were all Avithdrawn, though I am sorry to say that one or 
 tAvo resolutions of this sort had been adopted before this funda- 
 mental discussion came up. The ConA'ention was eminently har- 
 monious in feeling, and instead of leaving behind the stigma 
 which some ecclesiastical meetings have, that " no revival of re- 
 ligion could survive" them, religion was revived at Michigan City 
 by the religious exercises, and the general deportment of the 
 Convention. The pastor of the church said so, Avith great joy. 
 
 Dr. Eddy misappi'ehends, and so mistakes entirely, as I think, 
 the past influence of the Plan of Union, and I am sure he wholly 
 misapprehends the design of the Convention. The documents 
 published by the Convention set the matter forth honestly and 
 fairly ; and if any one Avill read them candidly, he will see tliat 
 there was good reason for Avhat Avas done. The Plan of Union 
 lias all along been a bone of contention, instead of a bond of 
 union. " Presbyterians and Congregationalists at the East, at the 
 West, CA'crywhere, ought to be one," says Dr. Eddy. In my 
 judgment the act of the Michigan City Convention Avill result in 
 their being better united than before, and Avas in truth the only 
 way to end the unhappy controversies Avliich have been festering 
 for a long series of years. The two denominations are in many 
 respects alike in this country. Their strength is chiefly among 
 the same classes of society. Their doctrinal faith and modes of 
 presenting it are similar. But in church organization and cjov- 
 ernment, there are no tAvo denominations in the land more entirely 
 and utterly at variance. The monarchical arrangements of prelacy 
 are not more entirely opposed to the democratic independency of 
 Congregationalism, than is the ruling eldership of Presbyterian- 
 ism. The truth is, that the two denominations are Avell calculated 
 to be friendly neighbors, but not to hve in the same house ; and I 
 think history proves, that when too close a union is attempted, 
 
MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 297 
 
 Presbyterianism is always the dissatisfied party. In the great 
 Pui'itan revokition in England, the two denominations acted well 
 together, un(,il ];)i-elacy and the first Charles were put down •, but 
 then, immediately, the Presbyterians demanded that the Congre- 
 gationahsts should becomi; Presbyterians, and that Presbyterian- 
 ism should be established in the government. In vain did good 
 Oliver Cromwell and tlie Independents proclaim perfect religious 
 freedom of belief and worsliip, and make England then like Ame- 
 I'ica now ; in vain they urged tliat m<ui sliould not be constrained 
 about such matters. The Scotcli Piiesbyterians raised a great 
 army, took Charles the Second into their camp, and marched to 
 overthrow the government which they had fought so long to set 
 up. They preferred the restoration of royalty and j)relacy to a 
 freedom which did not recognize tiieir suprcmac}^ It was only by 
 one of the master strokes of gallant genius with which God so 
 often blessed Oliver, that lie was able to destroy this Presbyte- 
 rian army, moi-e than twice as large as his own, and so save Eng- 
 land's gloiious liberty for that time. If the Presbyterian Puri- 
 tans could have been persuaded then to adopt the views of reli- 
 gious freedom which the Congregationalists pronounced, the Com- 
 monwealth would have lived to this day, and tliis world have 
 been set on, centuries of civilization and i-eligious glory beyond 
 its present position. 
 
 New England was peopled by the Independents, and at more 
 southern points were settlements of Presbyterians. It was natu- 
 ral tliat in contending against the crown and the Episcopal liie- 
 rarchy, the two should act as one, and cement again their olden 
 friendship. At the date of the Plan of Union adopted by the 
 General Assembly, and the Connecticut General Association, tlie 
 horrors of French anarchy had alarmed tlie pastors and lead- 
 ing men of Connecticut, who instead of turning to more perfect 
 liberty for protection, sought for it in strengthening tlie hands 
 and increasing the powers of government. It was under such 
 impressions that the Union was formed, and hundreds of Congre- 
 gational churches west and south of New England advised to as- 
 sume the Presbyterian form of government. The great mass of 
 the people in New England, however, were not disposed to 
 change their home institutions. Thus commenced this new 
 "Plan of Union." But what was this Union? It provided not 
 for amalgamation, not for the rule of one denomination over the 
 other, nor that one should swallow up the other. It was a very 
 slight plan of intercourse merely, and if its simplicity liad been 
 maintained, there would have been no necessity for the Michigan 
 City Convention. 
 
 But, (I trust I may give my views freely and without oflfense,) 
 
298 MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 
 
 Presbyterians had no thought of such an union. They insisted 
 that the union should take the shape of Presbyterianism every- 
 where. Everything must have the name, at least, as far as pos- 
 sible the 2^owers, of the Presbytery. Hundreds of Congregational 
 ministers and churches connected themselves with Presbyteries, 
 but never one Presbyterian pastor or church, so far as I know, ever 
 thought of such a thing as joining a Congregational Association. 
 Our churches extend the hand of friendship to yours on all our 
 occasions of social intercourse. They have invited you a thou- 
 sand times to participate in their councils, and you never once re- 
 turned the civility. Your ministers are received and settled as 
 pastors in our churches, without being asked to abjure their Pres- 
 byterianism ; but when oui's are invited to be pastors of Pres- 
 byterian churches, they must answer " the constitutional ques- 
 tions," and subscribe to the whole book, at least " for substance 
 of doctrine." Repeatedly they have been rejected, and a happy 
 prospective relation broken up, because the pastor elect could not 
 subscribe to the exclusive divine right of Presbyterianism. 
 
 The churches over the whole Western Reserve, though Con- 
 gregational still, are organized as Presbyterian, and so are hun- 
 dreds of churches elsewhere. The young ministers of New Eng- 
 land have not carried with them the same spirit of independency 
 Avhich has pervaded other emigrants 1.0 the West. They had im- 
 bibed the opinions of the early fathers of this century, and every- 
 where exerted themselves to carry the churches over to thorough 
 Presbyterianism. Some two thousand Congregational churches 
 have, under these influences, been transferred to Presbyterianism, 
 During this display of Christian liberality and denominational Ca- 
 tholicism, the like of which the world never witnessed, you have 
 not allowed a single church to change the other way without the 
 most determined resistance. Yet you call ?<s bigots, narrow- 
 minded sectaiians, and disturbers of Christian peace, because we 
 insist on being Congregationalists, and so maintaining the clear 
 design of the plan of 1801. 
 
 While the " time-hallowed plan" was working out these things, 
 the controversy between tlie Old and New Scliools came on in 
 the General Assembly, which continued to burn with fiercer and 
 fiercer fury, until it burst in a dread earthquake, seveiing the 
 Presbyterian Church in twain, and casting the New School men 
 off as nothing better than Congregationalists ! That exhibition of 
 the terrific effects of attempting to mix in one mass things so op- 
 posite, startled the churches, and made them inquire for the 
 cause. From that time, the distinctive Congregational spirit has 
 been rising. There are multitudes of Christians who have examin- 
 ed the subject, and come to the conclusion that all systems which 
 
MICHIGAN CITYCONVENTION. 299 
 
 create official rule in the church are inconsistent with the exam- 
 ple and the precepts of Christ and his inspired followers. They 
 have also come to the conclusion that Congregationalism is alto- 
 gether better than Presbyterianism — that its government is 
 stronger, more peaceful, better calculated for the education of 
 Cliristians in high virtue and evangelical action ; and that it is 
 above all other systems, fitted to work peacefully in cooperation 
 with the opinions and habits of the free, self-governing people of 
 the United States. We are, therefore, in conscientious earnest- 
 ness, attempting to promote it ; but only, I trust, in such ways as 
 Christian integrity and kindness authorize. All our efforts to es- 
 tablish Congregationalism, or rather to keei) it among those who 
 were educated in it, have been met with hard names, as Dr. Eddy 
 assails the Michigan Convention. They who attempt to be sim- 
 ple Congregationalists are freely termed disorganizers, bigots, dis- 
 turbers of the peace, perfectionists, Brownists, sectarians, narrow- 
 minded, and not of the New England School. Such efforts arc, 
 as Dr. Eddy says the Convention is, everywhere condemned. 
 The truth is that our brethren of the New School have assumed 
 most freely, that the country was theirs, and that Congregation- 
 alism had no business anywhere out of New England. Instead 
 of promoting the peace of the Congregational churches, they have 
 been held in constant disturbance by their union with Presbyte- 
 ries. In numerous instances, where a majority of a Congregational 
 church which had never put itself under tlie authority of Pres- 
 bytery have passed votes not approved by Presbytery, jurisdic- 
 tion has been usurped over the church, and the minority declar- 
 ed to be the church, on no other ground than its adherence to the 
 advice or authority of Presbytery ; thus often rending the 
 churclies in twain, or at least estabhshing a controversy against 
 the majority sustained by Presbytery, which the life of a gene- 
 ration was not sufficient to heal. In one instance, a Presbytery 
 in Michigan asked leave to hold its session in a Congregational 
 meeting-house, and while enjoying this courtesy, got secretly to- 
 gether the less influential portion of the church, and formed them 
 into a Presbyterian church, and declared them the Church in that 
 large town. The church had up to that hour been harmonious, 
 but here was a fire-brand which burned up their peace, until to 
 save religion from ruin, the wronged portion of the church submit- 
 ted to this , I will not give it a name, and now that is a Pres- 
 byterian church. One of the Presbyteries in Ohio declared sol- 
 emnly and publicly, that a church which had adopted the Plan of 
 Union, and so attached itself to the Presbytery, by merely agree- 
 ing to send in its statistics, and if it pleased, a delegate, had by 
 that act become an integral part of the Presbytery, and could 
 
300 MICHIGAN CITY CONVENTION. 
 
 not withdraw without self-dissohition. A multitude of such 
 things have occurred, and doubtless in the controversy, Congrega- 
 tionalists have said and done some, perhaps many, unadvised 
 things. But they have never assumed jurisdiction over Presby- 
 terian churches, nor done anything resembling these Presbyte- 
 rian aggressions. 
 
 The history of the Union of 1801 proved to the Michigan City 
 Convention, that in its 2)cn<crsions it had been a fountain of dis- 
 cord, of evils great and multiplied, beyond farther endurance, and 
 that one of tliree things must be done, viz. : this controversy 
 must continue and endure, or Congregationalism must be aban- 
 doned and handed over to Presbyterianism, or a friendly and entire 
 separation must be pronounced. We unanimously adopted the 
 last alternative. If we had taken the second, the Congregational 
 churches would not have followed our advice, and if they had 
 followed it, the effervescing elements would have still remained 
 in conflict. We believed Congregationalism the fittest church 
 polity for the West, without, however, claiming or desiring to 
 hinder any other denomination from laboring and building 
 churches as they may. Nay, the more others do, the better 
 shall we be pleased, and the Convention with the widest liber- 
 ality recommended, that Congregationalists should hold them- 
 selves ready to cooperate with their brethren of all otho' denom- 
 inations in everything which should promote the interests of pure 
 religion at the West, upon such terms as the local circumstances 
 might indicate. We have not withdi-awn from real union with 
 Presbyterians, but have established with them a better basis of 
 union ; a practical basis, upon which we may unite in agreement, 
 and not in discord. This is all that was intended by this con- 
 demned Convention — all that was done. We made no war on any 
 Christian brother. We called no one a bigot or a sectarian, or a 
 tyrant, or any other hard name. We had no hard feelings, 
 though we had some hard opinions of certain very jiard transac- 
 tions. We knew we had a r'ujht to he Conf/rcpafionallsfs, and in- 
 tended to maintain that right, and now, God blessing our efforts, 
 as he has, (and I trust will in time to come,) those who condemn 
 us shall see us scattered abroad over the West, going everywhere 
 pi'caching the word, and we hope that Presbyterians in an equally 
 good spirit will do so too, and build two churches to our one. 
 From whence, then, is controversy to come with all the terrific 
 evils which Doctor Eddy portrays ? Not from Congregationalism, 
 for that has not changed its spirit, though it has changed its plan 
 of action. If there is controversy hereafter, it will be from the 
 same source as heretofore. It will be because Presbyterians con- 
 tinue to deny and resist the right of American Christians to be 
 
PASTORS AND CHURCHES. 301 
 
 Congregationalists, and worship according to tlie dictates of their 
 consciences. This usurpation I liope and believe Congregational- 
 ists will no longer endure, but with kind decision will maintain 
 their civil and religious liberty. 
 
 I ask Doctor Eddy to ponder this matter, to read his letter 
 again, and see what epithets he has applied to an old friend, and 
 virtually to thousands of his Chi-istian brethren, and intjuire if it 
 is not time that such things had an end. I ask him to look at 
 the Con<rre"ational churches which have been established here 
 
 p o 
 
 within six years ; the Tabernacle, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the 
 Free Churches, and say whether these are ultrct Congregational, 
 sectarian, disorganizing, unbrotherly, mischief-making churches. 
 I ask him if he can tcsll where more perfect kindness and good 
 order is to be found, than here. And yet these churches have 
 been established upon the same sentiments which pervaded the 
 Michigan City Convention. 1'liese are all dislinctive Congrega- 
 tional churches, that is, real Congregational churches, and 7iot 
 Presbyterian churches. They are, if you please, ultra Congre- 
 gational churches ; for nothing is more ultra than the perfect 
 equality of the brotherhood, and the concentration of ail necessary 
 power in one church, which are the fundamental principles of all 
 Congregationalism. Principaliticis and powers are blotted out 
 here, the utmost radicalism can go no farther. And yet, here are 
 hberty and union, order, peace, and energy, such as no system of 
 labored organization can equal. At least, so many of us believe 
 and profess, and, so believing, are bound to show our faith by our 
 works. 
 
 These circumstances seem to compel what otherwise would 
 look egotistical, the subscription of my name, which is 
 
 DAVID HALE. • 
 
 RELATION OF PASTORS TO THEIR CHURCHES. 
 [Frotn the Boston Recorder, March, 1847.] 
 
 Messrs. Pjditoks : — The discussion which has occurred in the 
 Recorder exhibits a confused, if not a superstitious state of mind. 
 The truth is very obvious, however, in simple Congregationalism, 
 as it is in the New Testament. The confusion arises from the 
 adoption of radical errors respecting the ministry. The effort to 
 reconcile those errors with truth, or with other errors, only 
 involves him who attempts it in great ditiiculty. " I am your 
 master and all ye are brethren," explains the whole matter. Every 
 disciple is a preacher, appointed and authorized, nay, commanded 
 
302 PASTORS AND CHURCHES. 
 
 by Christ, to preach the gospel as God shall give him opportu- 
 nity ; to preach as Paul did, " from house to house," by the 
 way-side, in the synagogue, the Sabbath-school, the pulpit, wlier- 
 ever a sound and humble discretion and desire to honor not him- 
 self, but Christ, shall see the way opened. Even they who are 
 not disciples are bound to preach. He that heareth must say 
 come, and every one must go, repeating what he has heard, 
 whether he has embraced tlie truth to the saving of his soul 
 or not. The New Testament furnishes no record of " licens- 
 ing" men to pi"each, of putting hands on men's heads, or 
 doing anything else as a preliminary to preaching. These 
 things were got up in the dark times of prelacy, and whether 
 expedient or inexpedient now, were not practiced at the be- 
 ginning of Christianity. No one in those days waited for liberty 
 to preach. No body of men or individual man pretended to 
 impart such liberty. When the church Avhich was at Jerusalem 
 were all scattered abroad, except the apostles, they that were 
 scattered loent everywhere preaching the word. If the gentlemen 
 who have been writing in the Recorder will turn to the eighth 
 chapter of Acts, they will there find the institution of the gospel 
 ministry. This is the " order" which the Holy Ghost has ap- 
 pointed. All the rest is man's devising. It may be expedient 
 now, though it was not then, to license and lay on hands. But 
 Congregationalism holds these things as ceremonies merely, not 
 matters of authority or necessity. 
 
 Next, what is the church and church membership ? The true 
 church of Christ is a spiiitual body. It is within men. It is 
 composed of those who by repentance and faith have united 
 themselves to Christ, and so become parts of his spiritual body. 
 The external associations which are organized by men in various 
 ways, composed more or less, or possibly not at all, of true disci- 
 ples, are not the church for which Christ died, nor to which he 
 has left his promises. If they are, then Rome is the mother of 
 us all, and " succession" is the channel of authority and grace to 
 priest and people. The associations denominated churcnes' of 
 Christ are constructed upon plans of their own devising ; it may 
 be more and it may be less in accordance with the will of Christ. 
 It may be in iitter opposition to his will. In primitive times the 
 disciples signed no confession, entered into no written obligations 
 of an}' sort. They merely "joined themselves unto the Lord." 
 Whoever came and consorted together with the disciples was a 
 church member, which is only saying that thej^ who composed 
 the congregation were members of the congregation. If any 
 such person was heretical or immoral, the rest put forth a decla- 
 ration of the fact, excluding him from the congregation, or at 
 
PASTORS AND CHURCHES. 303 
 
 any rate declaring the assembly or cliurcli, and CLiistianity, no 
 longer responsible for him. 
 
 These views may be new, and even astonishing to many "New 
 England people, and much more so to people elsev/here. Yet 
 they are just the facts which Ave have been reading in the New 
 Testament from our infancy, and misunderstanding all our lives, 
 because ceremonies have constantly addressed the opposite doc- 
 trine to our senses. I think no man can be in difficulty about 
 the relation of a pastor to his people, with these views, unless 
 the perversion of the word pastor to meaning exclusively the 
 public Sabbath-day preacher in the mectmg-house, may still ob- 
 scure it. He ranks with the preacher in the Sabbath-school, 
 with all the church, who all preach (announce) the gospel, or 
 should do so, in their hves and conversations. He is a brother, 
 and comes regularly with the assembhng church, to do the ser- 
 vice which the church have assigned him as their most jiublic and 
 formal preacher. Whether he have " signed the book" or not, 
 the Cliristian community in which he is are bound to watch over 
 him, to admonish him if necessary ; to see that he, no more than 
 any brother, exercises lordship in the church ; and if his immo- 
 ralities demand the painful measure, to declare by their own act, 
 as a church, or through some other medium, that Christianity, or 
 at least this body of its professors, no longer endorses his Chris- 
 tian character. He has not received his authority to preach either 
 from the church or any ecclesiastical body. If he is a hypocrite, 
 he must answer for that to the master whom he has belied ; 
 and if he is a true disciple, all the anathemas of hypocritical or 
 mistaken churches or ecclesiastical bodies cannot take away his 
 commission, signed and sealed as it is by the •' Captain of Salva- 
 tion." The "license," as it is called, by the church, or ministers, 
 is nothing but an expression of their ojnnion, a, letter of recom- 
 mendation. It may be very useful and proper to be taken by a 
 man going among strangers, as similar letters are by merchants 
 when they go to a distant market, in whicli they are unknown. 
 It establishes the credit of the person by the testimony of known 
 and accredited witnesses. The one is not a license to buy goods, 
 nor the other a license to preach. Both are facilities alike in their 
 nature, and simply transfer a man's character with his person. 
 In both cases, if the persons issuing such letters of recommenda- 
 tion find that they were themselves deceived all the time, or that 
 the individual has since become unworthy of trust, it is their 
 duty to revoke the letters of credit with all necessary publicity. 
 To " silence" any man, to say he shall not preach, is not the ec- 
 clesiastical right of any man or body of men ; and blessed be 
 God, it is not in our land, within the civil power of govern- 
 
304 ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 
 
 ments, in tlie church or the state. The owners of a meeting- 
 house may, to be sure, hccnse or allow a man to preach in 
 that house. And so may an ecclesiastical body regulate their 
 own proceedings within the house of their meeting. But this is 
 the limit of their authority either of allowance or prohibition. 
 Their influence may with propriety extend much farther, but 
 when they attempt to extend their authority farther, they are at 
 once stripped of power. If a company of ministers form them- 
 selves into a society to govern one another, and mutually agree 
 to be disciplined and silenced by the majority, wicked as the 
 arrangement would be, it would place the members in a volun- 
 tary subjection, which might make the path of duty obscure to a 
 good man. But without such an agreement, when the true dis- 
 ciple of Christ is silenced by the decree of any council, he is to 
 disregard it entii-ely, and preach on the more earnestly. When 
 the high priest and all they that were with him commanded the 
 apostles not to speak in that manner, and shut them up in prison, 
 then the angel of the Lord opened the prison-doors, and brought 
 them out, and said, " Go stand in the temple, and S2)eak (preach) 
 to the peoiiile all the tvords of this li/e.^' When they were 
 arraigned again before the council, and the chief priest inquired 
 sternly, " did not tve straightway command you ?" the short but 
 conclusive answer of Peter and all of them was, " We ought to 
 obey God, rather than man." The same principles which 
 prompted that noble answer then, and which we now so much 
 approve, will sustain the same answer under similar circumstances 
 to the end of the world. Where then is the mystery or the 
 difficulty in understanding the relation of a minister to the people ? 
 
 Quo. . 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 
 
 l^From the Journal of Commerce, JVovember 5, 1847.] 
 
 Nothing surprises a candid layman more than the party and 
 bad legislation of ecclesiastical bodies. It is a great fault of all 
 legislators, and of public sentiment also, to desire that everything 
 should be regulated by statute law. When an evil has been 
 cured by discussion, and the reformation in public opinion 
 brought into a controlling position, then it is that a law must be 
 made, and the living power be laid in the grave of a dead letter. 
 But nowhere is the true prelacy of leading influence so much 
 discarded as in ecclesiastical circles. Nowhere is influence 
 so controlling, and nowhere is it so thrown away. Ministers, 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 305 
 
 who might have everything their own way upon the respect 
 v/hich is felt for them personally, seem fond of throwing away 
 this great power of usefulness, and carrying what they deem ex- 
 pedient by the pains and penalties of law. Nor are they often 
 scrupulous to inquire whether they have any constitutional pos- 
 session of the power which they thus attempt to wield. If a 
 thing is thought desirable, it is to be enacted. " God's constitu- 
 tion of necessity" might be the proper i-ule for Oliver Crom- 
 well, when under that rule alone could the liberties of England, 
 or the lives of a majority of her people, be saved from the 
 butchery of Romish persecutors. But now times are changed, 
 and there is no excuse in these days for usurping authority 
 which was never delegated. We have scarcel}^ seen an act 
 which more strongly illustrates this unwise disposition, than one 
 which we find in the proceedings, of the New York Presbytery, 
 who, according to the reports in the religious papers, amended 
 their rules respecting churches, by enacting " that no vacant 
 church shall hereafter employ any minister or hcentiate (not be- 
 longing to this presbytery) for more than two Sabbaths, nor 
 take any steps preparatory to the calling of such minister or 
 licentiate, to be their pastor, without applying to the presbytery 
 if in session, or if in the intervals of presbytery, to the standing 
 committee of supplies." 
 
 Such enactment, it seems to us, reflects illiberally upon the 
 pastors themselves. If they have done their duty as pastors in 
 their own churches, and in the churches around, are not the 
 people sounder in doctrine, and in all knowledge, than this rule 
 implies ? And have the opinions of the pastors collectively 
 so little influence, that they can only control the people by 
 law, and such a law as this ? But the churches connected with 
 this Old School Presbytery are among the most intelligent of the 
 city, and the pastors among the most respected, influential, 
 and we may add liberal, too. What would the pastors think, 
 if the people should decree that none of them should interchange 
 with the denomination which we suppose this rule is especially 
 intended to affect? But the Presbytery have no power to 
 make such a law. It is an outright usurpation, which we 
 are sure was not intended ; and it is only because of the great 
 love and respect which the people feel for their pastors, that 
 they bear such legislation. What could more fully prove that it 
 is unnecessary and unwise ? Such things in religious affairs are 
 bad in their influence. They confuse men's ideas about their 
 rights, and prepare them to submit to usurpations in politics, and 
 in other religious denonainations. Our political liberty grew out 
 of religious liberty, and rests upon it. The great Puritan doc- 
 
306 ORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 trines of the individual rights and responsibihties of men hold up 
 tlie fabric of our political liberty. We have all, therefore, the 
 deepest stake in the maintenance of those doctrines in all our re- 
 ligious organizations. 
 
 ORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE. 
 \_From the Boston Recorder, December 1, 1847.] 
 
 I SEE this awkward phrase used very often, and apparently 
 without any very exact idea, or at least without any fitness of 
 the phrase to the idea. Ordinary often means inferior, of poor 
 quality, but that I suppose is not intended. What is an ordi- 
 nary means of grace ? Is it a settled pastor, or is it two meet- 
 ings on the Sabbath, and as many sermons, and perhaps a 
 lecture and a prayer-meeting during the week? These are 
 often very good, and often very ordinary, in every sense of the 
 word. What are extraordinary means of grace? Does a minis- 
 ter, w^ho in his own parish is an ordinary moans of grace, become 
 an extraordinary means by going to anotlicr parish ; or is a min- 
 ister who has no parish an extraordinary means always ? Do 
 those men who use this phrase mean the means whicli God ordi- 
 narily uses or which men ordinarily use ? Tlie object seems 
 to be to praise ordinary means, to tlie disparagement of extraor- 
 dinary means. If the intention is to say that there is nothing 
 more to be done for bringing about or carrying on a rc\ival 
 of religion than what is ordinarily done when thei-e is no revival, 
 and no wish for one, then it is a most pernicious error. If 
 the indistinct impression which originates the phrase is, that 
 God has two classes of preachers, ordinary and extraordinary, 
 that also must be an error. If they who use the phrase intend 
 to use it to disparage those preachers whose eflbrts God has 
 blessed with extraordinary efl'ect, and made the means of gather- 
 ing extraordinary numbers into the kingdom of Christ, then the 
 intention is a plain contradiction of the well-known facts of 
 God's providence. If finally the design is to get up a sentiment 
 which shall forbid the churches from employing at any time 
 other men to use the means of grace than their own pastors, 
 then it is a plan of hierarchy of a very dangerous character. It 
 is not every man Avho is a good pastor who is best qualified for 
 reaching the consciences of men, and rousing them to seek salva- 
 tion earnestly. Paul has tried to make us understand that we 
 are all endowed with some gifts, but none of us with all gifts. 
 Every one is a head, foot, or hand, but no one is the whole 
 body. The history of great revivals proves, that the ordinary means 
 
THE STATE, CHURCH, AND FAMILY. 307 
 
 of grace for them are one, or at most a few men, full of faith 
 and of the Holy Ghost, going like Paul and Peter from house to 
 liouse and place to place. The life of Mr. NeLtleton is a full 
 illustration of this; and are we to have a system dehberately 
 built up by which such men shall be excluded from the pulpits 
 by the dictation of the pastors, however much the churches may 
 desire to bring them in as colaborers ? If the men who use this 
 phrase mean any distinct thing by it, I wish they would tell us 
 distinctly what they mean, and what they intend to bring about 
 by this new phrase. Querist. 
 
 THE STATE, THE CHURCH, AND THE FAMILY. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 17, 1848.] 
 
 Thesk institutions are much dwelt on, and b}' clergymen often 
 represented as three institutions of .Jehovah for the benefit of 
 man. . Rev. Mr. Kirk, of Boston, repeated to a crowded audience 
 in the Tabernacle his sermon before the American Home Mis- 
 sionary Society, in which he took the same view of the matter. 
 The Church, he said, was composed of organized bodies of pro- 
 fessed Christians. This was the great conservative power in the 
 world, — an organized Church. This was the salt of the earth 
 mentioned in the text. But to a very great extent Mr. Kirk 
 treated religion as an individual obligation. He spoke of Sab- 
 bath-schools, colporteurs, the distribution of Bibles, tracts, &c., 
 as mighty means in saving the woi'ld ; yet insisted that an 
 organized Church was the power. He said God had instituted 
 no particular mode of organization ; and he rejected the papacy 
 from being a department of the Church of Christ, though it has 
 more organization than any other body of professed Christians. 
 In these days it would not be amiss to say that God has ap- 
 pointed no particular form of organization for the State. We 
 have been expecting that the preachers of at least the Congre- 
 gational denomination would come to a different mode of treating 
 these topics before long, and conclude that the Church of Christ 
 is not created by oi'ganization, but exists in every true disciple 
 of his, wherever he may be, however organized or unorganized, 
 and that they would then see that truth is the great conserva- 
 tive power in the world, and organizations good or bad, just as 
 they help or hinder its promulgation. As to both Church and 
 State, this idea of organism has confounded and bewildered 
 most men. It is difficult to see how simple organization could 
 be prescribed, without some particular form being prescribed. 
 What is organization ? What is it, when you have it in its best 
 
308 THE TRUE CHURCH. 
 
 estate, but a mere facility, by which men act together ? By it, 
 many times, bad or heartless men are able to embarrass the 
 earnest and benevolent, so as to stultify their efforts. Such or- 
 ganizations cannot be a great power for usefulness. The State, 
 and the people in it, may go to ruin, in spite of all the church 
 organizations, where the people merely sit down in eai'nest about 
 nothing but their own enjoyment. 
 
 THE CHURCH— WE'VE FOUND IT. 
 [From an unjnihUshed Manuscript. "l 
 
 We commenced a search for the true Church of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ some time ago, and we presented the result in an 
 article headed, " The Church, where is it ?" We stated then 
 the result of our investigation into the two principal grounds 
 upon which sundry organizations claim to be acknowledged as 
 the Church. They are unity, and apostolic succession ; and wo 
 found a total Avant of evidence that either of these things ac- 
 tuall}^ exists in any of them. Unity certainly does not, as every 
 body knows ; and as to apostolic succession, we came directly 
 to the conclusion that no priest on earth could make out not 
 only that absolute certainty iipon which the whole matter de- 
 pends, but any tolerable probability that the chain of descent 
 has been maintained unbroken from the apostles to himself. 
 Utterly defeated, therefore, in our search after the Church upon 
 such principles, and still believing that there is a church some- 
 where, we determined to pursue the inquiry, and the head of 
 this article announces with what happy success. We have 
 found the Church of Christ, " which he has purchased with his 
 own blood," the church out of which there is no salvation, and 
 within which there is no condemnation. It is the Holy Catho- 
 lic Church. 
 
 The quotation which we have made above indicates the course 
 of our search. We turned to the declarations of the great 
 Founder of the Church, and of those persons who were its first 
 members. Here was an exceedingly interesting field of investi- 
 gation, and we are happy to say, as satisfactory and rational as 
 it was interesting. We noticed at once that the word translated 
 church, means congregation or company or assembly, and is so 
 miiformly translated in the Old Testament, and frequently in the 
 New. Feeling that there could be no better place to find out 
 what we wished to know than the scene of the last conversation 
 of Christ with his disciples, before his passion, and on which He 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH. 309 
 
 instituted tlie sacraraont of tlie Supper, we went tliere and lis- 
 tened to His instructions upon tliat most deeply interestin*/- 
 and painful occasion ; when, " having loved His own which were 
 in the world, He loved them unto the end." Supper beinjr 
 ended, He rose, girded himself with a towel, poured water into 
 a basin and washed the feet of each one of the disciples, and 
 said : " If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye 
 also ought to wash one anothek's feet." He then with deep 
 grief declared, " one of you shall betray me." Soon after, Judas 
 went out. The Savior continued the conversation, and said : 
 " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have 
 love one for another T — " I go to prepare a place for you." — " If ye 
 love me, keep my commandments." — " Peace I leave with you." — 
 " Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." 
 — " Herein is ray Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." — 
 " If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." — " If 
 ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because 
 I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth 
 you." — " Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant 
 is not greater than his Lord." — " They shall put you out of the 
 synayoyues, yea, the time coraeth that whosoever killeth ym 
 shall think that he doeth God service." Afterward Jesus lifted 
 up his eyes to heaven and prayed. In this prayer he said : 
 " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast .sent." — " They are not of 
 the world, even as I am not of the world." — " Sanctify them 
 through thy truth, thy word is truth. Neither pray I for these 
 alone, but for them also who shall believe in me through their 
 word ; that ?oe all may be one, as thou B'ather art in me and I in 
 thee, that they also may be one in us." Before Pilate : "Jesus 
 answered, my kingdom is not of this world, else would my ser- 
 vants figlit. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 
 The Apostle John in closing this narrative, says : " These are 
 written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of 
 God, and that helienny ye might have life through His name." 
 John had good reason for writing with this great and single de- 
 sign, for on looking back in the book he had been writing, 
 we find that he had heard his Master say : '' He that beliuveth 
 on the Son hath everlasting hfe ; and he that believeth not 
 the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on 
 him." — " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness^. 
 even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in Him should not perish but have eternal life ; for God 
 so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have evcrlast- 
 
310 THE TRUE CHURCH." 
 
 ing life." — " If any man thirst let hira come unto me and drink." — 
 " He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that be- 
 lieveth on me shall never thirst." — " Him that cometh to me 
 I will in nowise cast out." — " He that heareth my word and be- 
 lieveth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall 
 not come into condemnation, but is passed from death imto life." 
 — " I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth on me, 
 though he were dead yet shall he Uve ; whosoever liveth and 
 beUeveth on me shall never die." These declarations and many 
 more like them John had recorded. They were the reiteration 
 of the same truth which seemed to be the central point of all 
 the teachings which he had heard in the intervals of the mighty 
 acts of Jesus Christ, by which he had proved that life and death 
 were entirely at His disposal. We looked through the other 
 gospels written by Matthew, Mark and Luke, and found them 
 full of this same trutli ; and when we turned to the comments of 
 the apostles in their letters, written under the guidance of inspi- 
 ration, we found them full of the same thing. Faith in Christ, — 
 faith in Christ, — faith in Christ, is the first and last, and sum 
 total everywhere. They say it " worketh by love and purifies 
 the heart ;" that it is " the fruit of the Spirit ;" that it consti- 
 tutes those who possess it into a family ; that it would operate 
 in the same manner in all who possessed it, until they should 
 " all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the 
 Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statm^e 
 of the fullness of Christ." 
 
 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 [From a7i unjniblished Jlfamisciipt.'] 
 
 In the month of August, 1845, I was relaxing from severe oc- 
 cupation, by a tour in Connecticut, and called on Saturday to 
 spend the Sabbath with my relative, tlie pastor of the church in 
 llampton. In the coui'se of conversation, I learned tliat an Epis- 
 copal minister, from a neighboiing town, had delivered several 
 leetui'es in Hampton, setting forth the dogmas of higli churchism, 
 and was to ])reach again after tlie i-egular service on the next 
 Sabbath P.M. I suggested that I might deliver a lecture on the 
 same topic in the evening, and it Avas announced accordingly. I 
 listened with interest to the discourse of the Episcopal divine, and 
 he was so courteous as to attend my lecture in the evening, we 
 liaving been politely introduced to each other by a mutual and 
 honored friend. My lecture was substantially as follows : 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 311 
 
 LECTURE ON THE TRUE CIIURCTI OF CHRIST. 
 
 Brethren and Friends — In the course of a tour of relaxation 
 I had the pleasure of calling on your pastor yesterday. He in- 
 vited me to lecture on temperance this evening, but learning in 
 conversation, that the question of what is the True Churcli of 
 Christ had been brought before you by a clergyman from a 
 neighboring town, I preferred as my custom is in my ordinary 
 business, to discuss that topic which is for the time exciting spe- 
 cial interest. You may think it strange that an editor should 
 enter upon such a discussion. It is true that I am neither a the- 
 ologian, a polemic, nor a scholastic. I seek rather to be imbued 
 with that which so characterizes and distinguishes the people of 
 my native State — common sense. This, enlightened by the Bible, 
 is generally the best guide to truth on all such matters, as I pro- 
 pose to discuss before you. I desire to say also, tiiat I am not only 
 a plain but a blunt man. My occupation leads me to deal with 
 rougher materials often, than compose this audience, and I fear 
 that my habits of thinking, which I cannot throw off for an hour, 
 may make me seem severe and unkind, when I really am not so 
 at all. In addressing you my object is not to sustain any par- 
 ticular sect, but to find ou^ what is truth. If the Church of 
 Rome, or England, is really what she claims to be, let us all join 
 her, for it can do none of us any good to believe or practice false- 
 hood. Let us find the true Church of Christ and unite ourselves 
 to it, for there is such a church, and out of its pale there is no 
 salvation. It is therefore with deep seriousness that I address 
 you to-night, for upon the right understanding of this great sub- 
 ject our eternal salvation depends. Allow me then to state 
 some of the distinguishing characteristics of the Church of Christ. 
 That it is distinguished from all other associations, is plain from 
 the nature of the case, and from the declarations of Scripture, 
 which everywhere characterizes the Church as a separate and 
 " peculiar people." 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the religion of Christ is, that it deals 
 with, and lays its claims upon the spirit of man, his intellect, and 
 afl'ections. It does not say, as all religions before it had said, Pay 
 great sums of money or endure great suffering to procure the 
 favor of the gods. It does not command. Make a pilgrimage to 
 Mecca or Jerusalem ; swing so many times around the pole, fasten- 
 ed by hooks through your back ; hold up your arms until they be- 
 come fixed and petrified, so as never to be taken down ; nor cast 
 yourself under the wheels of an idol's car : but " give me thy 
 heart ;" " believe and thou shalt be saved ;" " the kingdom of God 
 is within you." The Apostle Paul addressed a letter thus : " Unto 
 
812 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified 
 in Christ Jesus, called to be saints ;" and " if any man have not 
 the S2)irit of Christ he is none of his." Membership in this 
 church is obtained therefore not upon external performances, 
 but upon the possession of a certain state of the mind, from which 
 to be sure all good conduct will proceed. 
 
 Another peculiarity of the religion of Christ is, that it addresses 
 itself to men, not as communities, but as individuals. Its com- 
 mands, its promises, its threatenings, and its hopes, are addressed 
 to each individual man, woman, and child, and each one is re- 
 quired for himself to comply with its requisitions, being held as 
 fully able to do so, and therefore responsible for himself, and be- 
 tween himself and Gk)d alone. It addresses itself to every man 
 by himself, whatever his circumstances may be, whether he be 
 poor or rich, ignorant or learned, alone in the desert, or among 
 the bustling multitudes of a city. It suits his condition, what- 
 ever it be, and follows him wherever he goes, as distinctly as if there 
 were no other creature on the earth besides himself. " Repent, 
 believe, thou art the man," are ever sounded in his ears. This 
 recognition of man, as an individual always, and this perfect fitness 
 for his case as an individual, whatever it may be, is a very great 
 peculiarity of the religion of Christ. Another peculiarity of this re- 
 ligion is, that it refuses all merit to our services. Whatever we may 
 do, we can merit no blessing. Salvation is a free gift, bestowed 
 through the merits of Jesus Christ upon such as exercise the pre- 
 scribed affections toward him. Another and most important pe- 
 culiarity of the religion of Christ is, that it demands 'purity of 
 heart. Other religions have had their foundation and their 
 strength in their agreement with the depraved and impure lusts 
 of men. But Christ says, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God," and this purity is of no ordinary character, for 
 in illustration of it he says, " He that looketh on a woman to lust 
 after her hath committed adultery already," and " He that hateth 
 is a murderer." " Nothing that defileth or worketh abomina- 
 tion, or maketh a lie," shall in anywise enter the true Church of 
 Christ. " Without are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers, 
 and murderers, and idolaters, and whatsoever loveth or maketh 
 a lie." 
 
 This purity is especially peculiar, as it is everywhere represent- 
 ed as not existing in the common or natural state of human affec- 
 tions, but as acquired and received at the time of joining the 
 Church, being the associate of faith. Very strong language is 
 used on this point. The transition is even termed by Christ be- 
 ing " born again." It is described as being " born of the Spirit," 
 as being made " new creatures in Christ Jesus," as becoming 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 313 
 
 " dead to the world and alive unto righteousness," and it is said 
 of the persons who have this especial state of mind, that they 
 exercise a " faith which works by love, and purifies the heart ;" it 
 is even said of them that thej^ " dwell in God and God in them." 
 
 Another most remarkable characteristic of the true Church is, 
 that its bond of union is benevolence. Other associations (except 
 where the affections of this church are present) are chielly bound 
 together by selfishness. Some common oi)ject of personal glory, 
 emolument, or pleasure, is the principle of cohesion. But love 
 for the Master, and love for one another, is the bond of union in 
 the Church of Christ. It is the same feeling which drew Christ 
 from heaven, and is one of the important features in which the 
 disciples are one with Him. 
 
 I will mention but one other pecuharity of the religion of Christ, 
 and that is, that it depends solely on its principles for its success. 
 It is a mailer of principle. Other religions have been promul- 
 gated by war, by proscription, by great combinations, and chica- 
 nery. But if a whole nation were compelled by physical force 
 to call themselves Christian, the Church of Christ would not 
 thereby be enlarged in the least degree. Pen and ink, the voice 
 of love, putting forth argument and persuasion, and entreaty : — this 
 is " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" and this 
 only, from the nature of the case, can extend the Ciiurch of 
 Christ. Truth, as it is preached by " them that believe," reaches 
 the understanding, the conscience, and the heart of man afrer 
 man, and by the blessing of its Author upon it, makes^him a 
 " new creature in Christ," uniting him to Christ as a branch is 
 united to the vine, and adding him to that Church which is so 
 identified with Christ in character and purpose, that He prayed 
 thus most remarkably for them to the Father, " That they all 
 may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
 also may be one in us." The persons for whom this remarkable 
 prayer was offered were in the same breath designated as " them 
 which shall believe on me.^' 
 
 Behold, then, the true Church of Christ. It is spiritual, it is 
 individual, reaching to all possible conditions ; it disclaims all merit 
 in its members ; it is composed of pure or holy persons only, who 
 have acquired this purity by a great moral renovation ; it is bound 
 together by benevolence, and it is extended by the affectionate an- 
 nouncement of the truth alone. 
 
 From this statement of facts it is evident that the true Church of 
 Christ cannot be perpetuated by the succession of a society. As- 
 sociations of men extend to their bodily presence, but nut to their 
 hearts. A principle, a state of affections, cannot possibly be 
 transmitted by external associations or ceremonies. Suppose the 
 14 
 
314 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 society of the Cincinnati had inchided every patriot of the revo- 
 lution, and being so founded, had attempted to perpetuate the 
 patriotism of American citizens, in regular succession from the 
 revolution, by the admission of members to that society. I 
 care not what ceremonies might have been adopted at the ad- 
 mission, how painful or pompous soever they might have been, it 
 would be idle to tell a New England audience that a man was 
 exclusively a patriot, or at all the more a patriot, for having gone 
 through with them. If you were to take such an one in Uie act 
 of giving " aid and comfort" to the enemies of your coimtry, he 
 might protest that he was a patriot by succession, and show his 
 certificate of admission to the patriot church, but it would not 
 save him from the gallows for one moment. ' What has belong- 
 ing to a society to do with your being a good citizen ! A patriot 
 by succession forsooth !' would be the contemptuous reply which 
 such claims would receive through all the ranks of intelligent New 
 England. ' Cheap patriotism this, to be sure. Our fathers had a 
 different sort. They got it from God, and it lived in their own 
 burning bosoms, not in the record-books of a society.' If you 
 were to take a thief, and pour all the waters of the Quinnebaug 
 upon him ; if you were to exhaust the fuller's whole stock of soap 
 upon him ; if you were to perform never so many manipulations 
 upon him ; nay should rivers of oil be poured on his head, would 
 his thievish lieart be purified by all this '? If there were exter- 
 nal impurity upon him, it would have been washed away, but no 
 approaWi would have been made to liis mind. If you were to 
 admit him to the church of any denomination, alas, what a melan- 
 choly cloud of witnesses there are, that even this would not re- 
 move his pollution from him, or make his heart at all better than 
 it was before ! 
 
 It is farther evident that admission to an external association, 
 whatever it may be, cannot be admission to the true Church of 
 Christ. Suppose you admit an impure man to the church with 
 never so much ceremony. Suppose you make him a deacon, an 
 elder, a bishop, nay a pope, and repeat your ceremonies with in- 
 creasing solemnity at every stage, and with full certificates of all 
 this, he approaches that great gate of pearl over which it is writ- 
 ten, " Nothing that defileth or maketh a lie can enter." What 
 will it all avail ? Your certificates would not begin to reach the 
 emergency. They would be but so much waste paper. They 
 cannot force a bad man into heaven, nor afford him the least as- 
 sistance. What ha\ e such things to do with admission to that 
 Avorld of truth and holiness ? 
 
 Again : it is evident lliat there are no ranks, no orders in the 
 true Church of Christ. The highest possible honor and dignity 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 315 
 
 are conferred on each one upon his admission. He is made a 
 brother of Christ, a cliild of God, an heir of glory immortal. He 
 is pronounced a king and a priest, and has the promise of being 
 made like Christ, and finally to see as he is seen, and know as 
 he is known. What orders can there be above tliis " chosen ge- 
 neration, this royal priesthood, this holy nation ?" We have not 
 only plain reason but the express declaration of Christ, who said 
 expHcitly in reference to this very point, " I am your Master and 
 all ye are brethren." The controversy therefore between Episco- 
 palians and Presbyterians about three orders, or two orders, and 
 with some Congregationalists about one order, is all a controversy 
 about nothing. 
 
 We see in this, too, that no portion of the members of this 
 church can confer prerogatives upon any other portion. Every 
 one is authorized in the highest possible degree ; and what he 
 shall do depends not on the license or ordination of his brethren, 
 but upon the commands of the Great Master as indicated in his 
 word and providence, and judged of by each disciple for him- 
 self. It is obvious farther, that it is not altogether safe to ti'ust 
 ourselves to any external association of men merely because they 
 claim to be exclusively the true Church of Chiist. There is 
 danger possibly, in these claims, of setting up an opposition to 
 the true Church. There is no foundation for the Church but 
 Jesus Christ, and if men attempt to lay the foundation of tradi- 
 tion or succession, they do plainly reject Christ. He, as master, 
 admits every member to his church upon the possession of the 
 required state of affections. Woe lo that church and its active 
 agents, then, who shall assume to do this in his name and to admit 
 members to his church, and that, too, without the character which 
 he requires ! Claims are not possessions any more here than else- 
 Avhere ; and it is possible, by joining those who make the highest 
 claims, by that very act to reject Chiist and his true Church. If 
 we fail to unite with the true Church and to come in " througli the 
 door," our joining all other churches will be in vain and may be 
 much worse than in .vain. If,' tlierefore, any association of men 
 proclaim itself the Cliurch of Chiist exchisivelv, its claim is obvi- 
 ously false, and gives much reason to suspect tliat it lias no part 
 nor lot in the matter ; but is a rival and opposition church — an 
 anli-christ, though it may include some true, but in this matter 
 deluded disciples. Finally, there is no such thing as " uncove- 
 nanted mercy." There are some persons who, while they claim 
 that their chui'ch possesses the monopoly of covenant mercy, do 
 yet in their benevolence hope that some others maj^ be saved by 
 uncovenanted mercy. They seem to have an idea of shreds and 
 surplus pieces in God's mercy. But there can be no sucli thing. 
 
316 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 All who are received into the true Church are received upon the 
 same plan and in the same way and by the same Great Adminis- 
 trator. They are received upon their compliance with the icrms 
 which are proposed — with the covciumt which God has sealed in 
 the blood of his Son. If there was other mercy, why was not 
 the covenant enlar!i;ed to include it? No, the invitation of the 
 Author of salvation is, " Come unto mc, all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " Him that cometh unto 
 me I will in no wise cast out." All Avho accept these ])rc>posals 
 are in covenant with Christ ; they who refuse will tind no mercy 
 out of the covenant. Uncovenanted mercy is eternal death. 
 How wonderful is the delusion which talks of nncorcuanted mercy, 
 "which dreams that penitent believers in Jesus Christ aie out of 
 covenant with Him because out of covenant with them ; and that 
 impenitent men may reject Christ and still " climb up" through 
 their church into heaven. 
 
 Now I am sure I shall be pardoned — nay, that courtesy de- 
 mands that I should take some notice of the propositions which 
 weie submitted to vou tliis afternoon ; though 1 fear, from the 
 character of those propositions, that I shall seem to be severe 
 upon the gentleman who has put them forth. But I have no 
 feeling of severity. He will doubtless allow me to practice the 
 frankness which he so properly eulogized at the opening of this 
 discourse. He urged that in all matters, and especially in those 
 of religion, we desire sfabiliti/. Certainly he was right. But it 
 can hardl}' be fair to put forth a general proposition of this sort, 
 and then claim to one side its whole popularity. All men who 
 think with the gentleman about the desirableness of stability, are 
 not therefore to adopt everything else which he said and join his 
 church. But he attempted to carry you with him on this point 
 by a refej'ence to the instability of New England religion. He 
 charged it in no scrupulous terms as being " one thing to-day 
 and another to-morrow" — ever changing and uncertain and so 
 divided by warring opinions that no stability is to be found any- 
 where. I thought he must be a man of courage who could pro- 
 nounce such allegations against the opinions of New England in 
 the midst of a New iMigland audience. The religion of New- 
 England unstable and divided ! Why, it has been her reproach 
 that from the beginning to this dav, she holds the same blue, 
 puritanic doctrines. Here Congregalionalists, Baptists, Method- 
 ists, and Evangelical Episcopalians, all agree in the great funda- 
 mental doctrines of the true Church of Christ. They differ about 
 the quantity of water to be used in baptism, and some other 
 points of similar, and some of still greater importance. But upon 
 the great truths of the Church there is not a thinking community 
 
T II E T R U F. C II rj II C II O I" f; II It I S T . 317 
 
 upon the f;i''C of earth so united and so unclianifeaMe as tin; New 
 IviLflandc.rs, wliifdi tlu; {gentleman tliinks lu- hfliolds in sucli a sea 
 ol troubles. Beautiful, ever-faithful N<'.w Enirland, Jk»\v art thou 
 nnisunderstood and nnisrepresented ! Thy p(race flows pi;rennial 
 like thy lovely rivers. The afjrreement of Ntnv England, too, is 
 something very different from the ereed of O'Connell — " I believe 
 all that the Church believes." It is the agreement of men who, 
 having thought f!ach one for himself, find afterward that they all 
 tliink alike. This is a livinfj faith. To believe as the Church be- 
 lieves is to have no faith, ac(;ording to ;my New England sense. 
 Make a proposition to a Yankee, and tell him the Church believes 
 it, and therefore he must, and he will be sure to reply, "Well, 
 stranger, I can't believe that way, })\ii prove il, and then I guess I 
 can believe it." Yet to such a faith in " tlie Church " did the 
 preacher, this afternoon, all along intimate, (for he did not exactly 
 say it), New England rniist go for deliverance from uncertainty. 
 Go to th(; E[»iscopal Cliurch for stability and agreement! Why, in 
 that church are pent up all possible shades of theological doc- 
 trine which are to be found on earth, from thorough Calvinism to 
 the e.vtremest point of Unitarianism. An hundred sects war in 
 her bosom, making up at this moment the most violent theologi- 
 cal controversy which is to be found in all Christendom. To the 
 Episcopal Church ! which (allcnv me to say the exact truth) 
 agrees about nothing, except about an old hc>ok and some old 
 clothed, or rather an old fashion for clothes. Even this worthless 
 unity the Church cannot maintain, for in the diocese of Exeter, in 
 England, there is a rent about the clothes, and as to the book, 
 there is no more real agreement about its meaning than about the 
 meaning of the Bible which the book was given to make plain. 
 He must be a man of strange views who can, just at this time, 
 propose that New England should turn to Episcopacy for re- 
 pose. 
 
 The great burden of tlio gentleman's discourse was the want 
 of an authorilalive interpreter of the religion of Christ, something 
 which should make us certain what were the truths and the 
 institutions of Christ and his apostles. I agree most fully that 
 we should follow these great leaders. As to the inHtilulioriH of 
 the apostles, they were clearly Congregationalism. The form of 
 the primitive churches was the same with the form of the New 
 England churches, except that there was in them considerably 
 less of form, and circumstance, and hierarchical arrangement, 
 than even in your simple churches. I can bring you Episcopal 
 authority for this, and if any man, woman or child, whose mind 
 is not perverted, will find any such thing as a diocesan bishop in 
 the Acts of the Apostles, 1 will incur any such forfeit as is com- 
 
318 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 mon in New England. Certain it is, that in those da)'s every- 
 thing was done bj'^ the democratic mass of tlie brotherhood. 
 When an apostle was to be ordained to fill the vacancy created 
 by the apostasy of Judas, the brethren did it all ; and when the 
 great apostle was to be sent to the Gentiles, he was first sent to 
 a lay disciple in Damascus, who, in performing the miracle of 
 opening his eyes, laid hands on him, then baptized him, and 
 . straightway he went forth a finished preacher, not seeing anj^ one 
 of the apostles, according to his own statement, until three years 
 afterward. In those days all were prtiachers, all administrators 
 of sacraments, breaking bread from house to house. There is no 
 record in the New Testament of any such thing as laying hands 
 on a disciple, to authorize or qualify him for these duties. The 
 primitive churches, the apostles included, were democratic assem- 
 blies of equal brethren, differing only in gifts and graces, and so 
 prepared not for difterent orders but for different services. 
 
 The necessity of an authoritative standard of apostolic faith 
 and practice, beyond what is now generally possessed in New 
 England, the gentleman urged, until he declared that " any opin- 
 ion not maintained from tlie apostles down to the present time 
 may be rejected." I give his own words, for it was so strange a 
 proposition that I took care to wiite it down at the moment. 
 " Any opinion not maintained from the apostles down to the 
 present time may be rejected !" Of course the Bible is no rule 
 of faith, anytliing which is there may be rejected. The Bible 
 ceases to be authority. Could the gentleman have been aware 
 that while standing up as a Christian, he was preaching thor- 
 oughgoing deism ? No principle of Thomas Paine ever struck 
 out the Bible more effectually. More than that, it strikes out all 
 truth, for there is nothing, no one fundamental or important 
 doctrine of the Church of Christ, which has been so held. The 
 historic fact of the mission and death of Chiist may have been 
 believed all the way down, but not one of all the doctrines 
 taught by him or his apostles. So earnest was tlie gentleman 
 for authority, that he smote out at a blow all authority. Think 
 of it. Nothing is to be believed, but nothing! Such is the end 
 of philosophy turning away from the word of God to look for 
 authority. 
 
 To illustrate the necessity of an authoritative interpreter, the 
 gentleman said, " no man can interpret for his neighbor, and 
 therefore not for himself." Then, how are we to obtain this so 
 much desired interpreter ? Why, by getting a great many 
 together. A great many non-interpreters make an interpreter, 
 just as a great many ciphers make a thousand. That seemed to 
 be the arithmetic of this philosophy, but it is not according to 
 
r n E TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 319 
 
 tlie .iritlimelic of New Engljind. Tn New Enp^land, any quan- 
 tity of iKttliings make only nothing. 
 
 Hut wliat is tliis interpreter whicli is called authoritative, and 
 upon which alone we are to rely ? It is the historic succession 
 of the church, or rather of the priesthood, for the whole au- 
 thority is in them. During twelve centuries of the eighteen 
 since Christ, the succession has been wrapped in the Church of 
 Home, that black cloud of locusts whicli for centuries shut out 
 all light, and shut the world in to a condition of ignorance called 
 a[)propriately "the dark ages," During centuries of this dark- 
 ness, the priesthood, with a few exceptions, was an order 
 superior only in its abominable wickedness. It was filled up 
 with adulterers, robbers, and murderers, the most odious who 
 have ever disgraced and trodden down humanity ; haters of all 
 purity and of all truth, such as is found in the Bible. These 
 monsters constituting the hierarchy, in general had no Bible, 
 and could not have read it if they had possessed it ; yet to this 
 congregation of earth's consummate ignorance and wickedness, 
 to " the mystery of iniquity drunk with the blood of the saints," 
 the intelligent and virtuous pojjulation of New England are to be 
 turned over to learn what they are to believe of the pure and 
 holy gospel of God our Savior. Again, I say, he is a. man of 
 unusual courage who dares to submit such propositions to a New 
 England audience. It would be much more rational to say that 
 tlie convicts of your State-prison are the only authoritative 
 interpreters of Connecticut law, and that any opinion may be 
 rejected which they have not always held. I care not how 
 man)' hands, reeking with pollution and blood, every one of these 
 Komish priests niiglit have had upon his head ; it made the suc- 
 cession of hell nothing better. The true Church of Christ, 
 and the pure doctiines of Christ, were always their abhorrence ; 
 themselves abhorred of God and all good beings. 
 
 But I cannot perceive the necessity which was so eloquently 
 urged upon us. What need have we of an authoritative inte?'- 
 ]>rcter ? We have the very loords of Christ, and his apostles. 
 They npeak to us as directly as to the people who heard them 
 eighteen hundred years ago. We have heard them ourselves. 
 What need have we of an interpreter? Suppose a council 
 should be called to interpret what I say to-night, and that coun- 
 cil should tender the result of their labors to you. You would 
 certainly say, " We have no need of your interpretation. We 
 heard Mr. llale ourselves; we know what he said ; we under- 
 stood what he meant, your help can do us no good." Unless an 
 interpreter can express himself in clearer language than God, 
 unless he understands the construction of the human mind better 
 
320 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 than the Being who constructed it, \inless, in short, he is God's 
 superior, his services are not wanted. We have heard God 
 speaking to us, and, blessed be His name, He has spoken in a clear 
 and distinct manner, and we understand Him. He said, " Come 
 unto me, all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved, for I am God, 
 and there is none else," and we understood Him. He said, 
 " God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life," and we understood the blessed announcement. He 
 said, " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord doth 
 pity them that fear Him," and we understood it and were 
 strengthened. He said, " If any man lack wisdom, let him 
 ask it (of the Church ? no) of God, who giveth liberally and up- 
 braideth not," and we understood it and learned where to go 
 when in doubt. He said, " The meek will he guide in judgment, 
 the meek will he teach his way," and " if any man will do 
 his will he shall know of the doctrine," and we understood 
 it and learned wliere to go for an authoritative interpreter. The 
 interpretations of councils and authoritative books, why, the)' do 
 but mystify and confuse the clear Word of God. Every council 
 requires, at least, two other councils to interpret its interpret- 
 inys. The whole thing is groundless and preposterous. They 
 wlio adopt any other rule of faith than the Bible, and any other 
 authoritative interpreter than every man's own understanding, 
 guided by the Holy Ghost, do but reject God for His want of 
 authority, and bring in men to make up the deficiency. 
 
 There are many more tiuths which follow from this view 
 of the true Church of Christ, which there was neither time nor 
 propriety in discussing upon the occasion at Hampton, but 
 which are nevertheless of the highest importance. It follows 
 that the churches of all denominations ai"e mere voluntary asso- 
 ciations, havmg in their associated capacity no covenant witli 
 Christ, or commission to e.xercise autliority in his name. So far 
 as such associations are composed of true disciples, i\\e\ are visi- 
 bilities of the true Ciiurch, but hypocrites by uniting with these 
 associations do not become members of the true Church in any 
 sense. Such associations, when simple in their organization, ai'e 
 favorable to the piety of the members and to the extension of the 
 ti'ue Church, and so approved of Christ. But his coirvant is 
 with iixUviduals, not ivith masses, and if these take the hierar- 
 chi'-al form, and assume to lord it o\er God's heritage, tliey are 
 a curse to the true Church and an abhorrence to God. Church 
 associations may manage their own affairs according to their own 
 plan, provided that plan does not contravene God's claims ; but 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 321 
 
 let them not assuiriR to do it by divine right, or in the name of 
 the Lord, for they have no such charter. They are none of 
 them, nor all of them together, the Clnirch of Christ or a branch 
 of it. Too often these associations have many in them who are 
 not members of the Church of Christ at all, and to whom He will 
 say at the last day, " I never knew you, depart from me, 
 ye workers of ini(iuity." Nay, it is much to be feared that 
 many such associations have not one member of the real Church 
 in their whole number, and if one should by the grace of God 
 become so, he would thereby become, perhaps, the object of tlie 
 concentrated hatred of his brethren. What monstrous arrogance 
 is it, then, for presbyteries, synods, conventions, or councils, to 
 assume, as they generally do, that they sit " as courts of Jesus 
 Christ!" What ignorance of the whole matter do these reverend 
 bodies exhibit, to whatever denominations they belong, and with 
 what disapprobation must the Head of the Church and its only 
 Lord look down upon such assumptions of His prerogatives by 
 the worms of earth ! How can such men condemn the Pope for 
 pretending to be the vicegerent of God when they take precisely 
 the same attitude themselves ! When men have dared this 
 ■wickedness, what abominable violations of the laws of the Church 
 have they not gone on to commit, in fearless disregard of that 
 dreadful anathema, " He that olFendeth one of these little ones 
 that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were 
 hanged about his neck and he drowned in the depths of the 
 sea." If men are bent on persecuting the members of Christ's 
 Church, let them beware how they add the heinous aggravation 
 of doing it in the name of«('hrist. 
 
 Farther, wc may learn what church organizations are lawful, 
 and how far a member of the Church of Christ may commit him- 
 self to the control of others. It must not be to an extent whi(;h 
 ■will embarrass him in his obligations to act individually in the 
 performance of any duty to which the Head of the Church may 
 call him. His obligations to (Christ are paramount to all others. 
 He must keep the right to comply with the great evangelical com- 
 mand to proclaim the gospel everywhere, to perform all other 
 duties according to the dictates of his own conscience, always 
 careful not to disturb or interrupt his brethren in the exercise of 
 the same liberty. All governments and all subscriptions which 
 assume more than this, are in violation of the fundamental law, 
 " Call no man master on earth," and so null and void. 
 
 We see that the powers of church ofHcers are derived from the 
 church, and extend as far as power is confcm'd hi/ the association, 
 and no farther, provided always, as above stated, that the. obli- 
 gations of the individual members, to Christ, are not infringed. 
 
322 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 The authority of church officers can never be an authority over 
 and above the society itself. I use the words, church, association, 
 society, and congregation, as all of the same import. The New 
 Testament uses the names of service, rather than authority, in 
 de:-ignating the officers of the primitive churches. Minister and 
 deacon both imply service only, and bishop nothing more than the 
 proper business of a committee man to " oversee " affairs. One 
 appointed to service acquiies certain rights from that appointment. 
 He acquires the right to do what he is appointed to do. If a soci- 
 ety elect a preacher, they confer on him the right to preach, and 
 obligate themselves to sustain him in his appointment. It Avould 
 be a violation of his rights, or his authority, if you please, for 
 any other member of the church to take possession of the pulpit 
 and exclude him. The same rule applies to the chorister, the 
 organist, the deacons, the sexton even. Their services may be 
 ditferent in importance and in honor, but the authority for them 
 all is received from the same source, and sustained on the 
 same principles, and with regard to them all the arrangement 
 should be entirely voluntary with both parties, as to its com- 
 mencement and its continuance, unless it is thought expedient to 
 appoint for a specific time. In that case, a removal cannot with 
 propriety be made, except on proof of distinct malpractice in 
 office, or failure of service. 
 
 Again, we ma}' understand sacraments more clearly by seeing 
 distinctly what is the nature of the voluntary associations called 
 churches. There is no mysterious efficacy about them, drawn from 
 divine right or prerogative in the administrator or in the body 
 within which they ai'e administered.- They are illustrations of 
 truth, but not truth itself, and in no sense themselves the fact 
 which they are intended to commemorate or set forth. All saving 
 efficacy is in Christ, through the Spirit. The benefit of sacra- 
 ments is individual, and depends on the state of mind of each one 
 for himself, so that around the same table there may be some who 
 eat of the same supper to their spiritual growth and progress in 
 salvation, while others eat to the increase of their sin and con- 
 demnation. The efficacy is all of faith ; not faith in the sacra- 
 ment, or the church, or the minister, but in Christ alone. If 
 Christ is remembered by the aid of the supper, so as to be more 
 loved and more confided in than before, then is the sacrament 
 effectual toward salvation, and whether received from an ordained 
 minister in the midst of an organized church, or from any other 
 brother in an occasional meeting of Christians, or by himself 
 alone, the blessing may be expected equally, if only sought 
 aright. It was upon this plan of illustrating and enforcing truth, 
 that pictures were introduced. But man, who loves darkness. 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 323 
 
 soon stopped in his tlioughts at the picture, and worshiping 
 that, lost all truth and became an idolater. Not less idolatrous 
 are the superstitious notions which many Protestants, even among 
 Congregationalists, entertain respecting the sacraments of the 
 supper and baptism. To look to them, as possessing in themselves 
 some mysterious efficacy, is as much idolatry as to look to a pic- 
 ture or a graven image in the same way. 
 
 We see the phrase " visible church " generally conveys a false 
 impression, as the true Church of Christ consists of individuals 
 alone, so that Church can only be yisible in the persons of the 
 same individuals. The true visible Church is composed of saints, 
 and the}^ are visible whenever they go about in the footsteps of 
 their Master, doing good. We see that true discipleship, and 
 that alone, entitles a man to pro/ess to be a disciple, and espe- 
 cially by partaking of the supper, and that it is not doing what is 
 commonly termed "joining the church," which confers it, though 
 order in ascertaining true discipleship — provided it is not made 
 too much of — is proper. I may say here, that the Baptists who 
 exclude from communion those who have not been immersed, re- 
 ject the true doctrine of the Church ; and their opponents, who 
 can see this wrong, and who still make sprinkling and joining the 
 church essential prerequisites to communion, are guilty of the 
 very thing which they condemn. Neither of these is essential to 
 salvation, and so cannot lawfully be made essential to commu- 
 nion. 
 
 We see that popes, cardinals, bishops, presbyters, ministers, 
 and all, by whatever name they may be called, whose especial 
 calling it is to do service in the Churcli, are officers in a voluntary 
 association, and, after all, nothinfj hut men. There is nothing 
 mysterious about any of them. They possess no special powers 
 from Christ which they can confer on others ; nay, no special 
 powers which have not been conferred by the associations among 
 whom they labor. They have no right to monopolize the preach- 
 ing of the gospel, or the administration of its ordinances, and 
 have no more or better right to do these things than any body 
 else, except the right which exists in the propriety of each parti- 
 cular case, and the appointment of the ptiople. The local settled 
 pastors of the churches of our day are not only of no " divine in- 
 stitution," but they are not after any pattern recorded in the New 
 Testament as belonging to the primitive church. The arrange- 
 ment, however, seems admirably adapted to our times, right and 
 propel-, provided it does not attempt to monopolize service, but 
 leaves every disciple pressed with the duty of preaching the gos- 
 pel by the way-side, in the house, the conference meeting, and 
 even the pulpit, if Providence points to that as his duty. 
 
324 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 AVo may loani farther that tlio phrase ■• saored desk," growing 
 out of the idea of being useil by saeied men : the C(Miinion notion 
 amoiiLT Protestants, that a meeting-house is ehanged in its chamc- 
 ter. and made holv bv consecration, or that anv material thinjr 
 can possess spiritual ettioacy. is superstition and idolatry. If God 
 has made no promises to associations of men. He has made none 
 to the houses they build. Tlie common notiiw that God is more 
 present in a meeting-house than elsewhere, and that prayei-s and 
 praises offered there are more etficacious than elsewhere, is in 
 contradiction to the whole teaching of the New Testament. 
 God directed the building of a temple for the use of a national 
 church, and made himself visiblv present theie, but the time has 
 come when Gerizim and Jerusalem, and all places, are to he for- 
 gotten in the grand idea that God is a Spirit, and must be wor- 
 shiped in spirit and in truth. Protestants pity Catholics for 
 tliinking that mass must be said in the chinr/t to be effectual, and 
 by the priest, and vet induliife these same superstitions all their lives. 
 I am afraid that three-fourths of all the consecrations of houses in 
 New England are no better than Romish superstition, and a rank 
 offense to God, especially when offered by a people whom He has 
 blessed with such abundant light. The New Testament thoroughly 
 forbids the limiting of God to groves, mountains, or houses, as the 
 places more than others of his presence, even in its highest and most 
 gracious extents. I doubt, in fact, whether it is strictly lawful, even 
 with the most intelligent and spiritual views, to consecrate or de- 
 dicate i\ house to God and his worship exclusively, otherwise 
 than as we dedicate all we have to Him. What right have Chris- 
 tians to invest great sums of money in a house, and then shut it up 
 to worship entirely, more than they have to shut themselves away 
 from usefulness to devotion ? A house is a place for special conve- 
 nience for men, not for the special presence of God. The idea 
 that God is in the house is just the idea which a heathen man h;\s 
 about his idol. He does not generally think that the stone is God, 
 but that God is in it, and why not as much in a hewn stone or 
 carved block, as in brick walls, or wooden pews ? 
 
 Finallv, we see that people, now as well as formerly, "are too 
 superstitious." Thev love to be superstitious. They are dissa- 
 tisfied with a religion altogether spiritual, with a God altogether 
 a Spirit, with a Savior whose mission was entirely to purify the 
 heirts of His people. The human heart longs for something ma- 
 tf-i-d on which to rely: — something besides meeting God spirit- 
 nail v, and dwelling in Him. The superstitions of Konu^ ami of 
 P:ig.uiism are only cultivations of the natural propensities of the 
 hiim*^..! heart, propensities which grow rank and strong without 
 cultivation. How great was the work which Christ undertook ! 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 325 
 
 How entirely unlike that which had been undertaken by any man 
 before ilim ; and how blf;shed are they wlio, wa-shed and redeem- 
 ed by liim, haVe been admitted to His church, received into cov- 
 enant with Him, and made joint heirs with Him to an inheritance 
 wiiich is incorruptible and undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserv- 
 ed in heavea for them ! 
 
 THE DISTINCTIVE PRINX'IPLES OF COXGREGATIOXAL 
 CHURCH POLITY COMPARED WITH OTHER DE- 
 NOMINATIONS. 
 
 [/Vom an unpuOlisfied Manuscript. '\ 
 
 As the ricjhts and duties of the church member are essentially 
 modified by the polity of the church to which he belongs, it is 
 impottant to him, and also to the church, that he should under- 
 stand the principles of that polity. The government of a church, 
 like any other government, is a practical tiling: it defines relations, 
 distributes powers, pre.scribes duties. And these vary with the 
 character of the system. It is therefore obvious, that though all 
 believers, considered simply as disciples of Christ, have the .same 
 duties to discharge, yet considered as subject to this or that 
 particular ecclesia->tical organization, their duties, as well as their 
 privileges, may be quite diverse. As the active duties of a citi- 
 zen of a republic are not the same as those of the passive sub- 
 ject of an oligarchy, — being more numerous, more responsible, 
 more noble ; so, under the various schemes of church order, 
 there is more or less for the laity to do, or to submit to, in the 
 management of affairs, as tue .schemes have more or less the cha- 
 racter of free institutions. 
 
 1. Congregational church polity is distinguished from the Pro- 
 testant or Methodist Episcopal Church, by the principle that all 
 Christ's servants in the miiii.stry of the gospel are erpial in rank. 
 
 The preeminence of one servant of our Lord over another ap- 
 pears to be inconsistent with the genius of Christianity : for He 
 has said, " The princes of the Gentiles e.verci.se dominion over 
 them, and they that are great e.xercise authority upon them ; but 
 it shall not be so amongst you." Matt. xx. 25, 2G. " One is your 
 master, even Christ ; and all ye are brethren." Matt, xxiii. 8. 
 The Apostle Peter assumed not this superiority — " the preHhifters 
 who are among you I exhort, who am also a presh'/tfr. hVed 
 the Hock of God whith is au.ong you. taking the ouersifjht not 
 by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready 
 mind : neither as beint; lords over God's herita're, but ensamples to 
 the flock." 1 Peter v. 2, 3. The identity of the terms Presbyter 
 
326 THE CONGRKGATIONAL POLITY. 
 
 and Bishop is obvious on the very f;ieo of the apostolical writings ; 
 the bishops bein<,^ caWed prcsbi/iers, ami the preshi/tcrs l)ishops. [n 
 Acts x.\. the same poi-sons \Yho, at the 17th verse, are termed 
 elders or pirsbi/tcrs,' m\\ in the 'JSth verse, called oirrsars or 
 bishops. In his epistle to Titus, Paul, after havino; declared it to 
 have been his design, in leaving the evangelist in Crete, that ho 
 should ordain clJcrs in every city, at once proceeds to onunierate 
 some of the principal qualifications by which they should be distin- 
 guished, and in the n\idst of the recittU, he says, " for a bishop 
 must be blameless," etc. — Tit. i. 5-7. 
 
 As such superiority is unscriptunil, so it is found to be useless. 
 In those communions where such gradations are acknowledged, 
 peace is not secured by concession, but rather discord. The evils 
 arising from ambition, pride, and tyranny, the natural fruits of such 
 ascendencv, are far more destructive to the interests of true reli- 
 gion than the dillerences of opinion which equality jn-oduces ; di- 
 versity of judgment may be silenced, but cannot be prevented by 
 an appeal to authority. 
 
 2. Congregational church polity is distinguished from Episco- 
 pacy and Presbyterianism by the principle, that the only organ- 
 ized church it owns is a particular church or con(frc(/ation of be- 
 lievers statedly worshiping in ouc place. National churches, like 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Presbi/teriaii Church, includ- 
 ing manv particular churches, and governed by general otiicers, 
 irresponsible to the brotherhood, have no place in the Congrega- 
 tional system. " The plan pui-sued by the apostles seems to have 
 been," says Archbishop Whateley, " to establish a great number 
 of small (in comparison with most modern churches) distinct and 
 independent conununities . . . occasionally conferring with 
 the brethren in other churches, but owing no submission to 
 the rulers of any other church, or to any central or common 
 authority, e.xcept to the apostles themselves," whose oflice was 
 extraordinary, and but for a limited time. 
 
 Tins may bo contirmed by an appeal to the New Testament. 
 Look at the superscription of the epistle to the church of Coiinth. 
 Corinth was in the province of Acliaia. In that province there 
 were other churches besides that in the city of Corinth. If then, 
 a national church hail existed, like the Episcopal or Presbyterian 
 Church of the present dav. the epistle would have been address- 
 ed to the Church of Achaia. But, in truth, the independence of 
 the cluuch at Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, anil but a few miles 
 distant from the city, is directly recognized by the apostle, Rom. 
 xvi. 1. He also sjieaks of " the churches of God iii Judca," 1 
 Thes. ii. 14, " the churches of Galatia," Gal. i. 2. And John 
 speaks of "the sercn churches which are in Asia," Rev. i. 11. 
 
T H K C O N G R K G A T I N A L POLITY. .j'27 
 
 Oiiurcli history fiilly sustains these interpretations. Mosheim, 
 in Ills (Jftrnmontarios on tlie afTuirs of the Christians, says, " Ai- 
 thou;(li all the churches were, in the first ages of Christianity, 
 united tojrijther in one common Vjond of faith and love, and were 
 in every respect ready to pHimote the interest and welfare of each 
 other hy a reciprocal interchanj^e of jrood oflices ; yet, with regard 
 to government and internal economy, every individual church con- 
 sidered itself as an independent community, none of them ever 
 looking, in these respects, beyond the circle of its own rnemhers 
 for assistance, or recognizing any sort of external influence or 
 authority. Neither in the New T<;stament, nor in any ancient doc- 
 ument whatever, do we find anything recorded, whence it might 
 be inferred that any of the minor churclies wan^ at all depen- 
 dent on, or looked up for direction to, those of greater magnitude 
 or consequence ; on the contrary, several things occur therein 
 which put it out of doubt that every one of them enjoyed tlie 
 same rights, and was considered as being on a footing of the most 
 perfect equality with the rest." Tertullian tells us expressly, in 
 his time, that the churches were free and equal in rank and au- 
 thority. 
 
 Gibbon lias truly said, "The (Christian) societies which were 
 instituted in the cities of the itoman em[>ire were united only by 
 the ties of faith and chaiity. Every society formed within itself 
 a separate and independent republic ; and, although the most dis- 
 tant of these little states maintained a mutual as well as friendly 
 intercourse by letters and deputatif)ns, the Christian world was 
 not yet connected by any supreme authority or legislative assem- 
 bly." 
 
 .'{. Congregational church polity is distinguished from the fore- 
 mentioned systems by the principle Ihai all chardt i)()Vier reaides 
 in the church ilaelf, and not in the church, oJficcrH : and resides in 
 each particular church, directly and originally, by virtue of the 
 expressed or implied compact of its members, and not habitually 
 or by virtue of any authority derived by succession from somtj 
 higher body, ccclesi;istical or clerical. Bishop Beveridge, in 
 commenting upon Matthew xviii., tells the laity, if any one 
 trespass against them they must tell it to the clergy. The Pres- 
 byterian Church directs the same thing to be told to the ses.sion, 
 a body of ruling elders, charged with the spiritual government of 
 the congregation. Plan of Gov., ch. x. § G. Are we not com- 
 manded by CJhrist, if a brother trespass against us, to take certain 
 steps to gain him, and if those fail, to "tell it to the church?" 
 
 Of the design of our Lord to establish what should be empha- 
 tically a social rdiyion, "a fellowship" or "communion of 
 saints," " there can be," says Archbishop Whately, " I think, no 
 
328 THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 
 
 .doubt in the mind of any reflecting reader of our sacred books. 
 Besides our Lord's general promise of ' coming into and dwelling 
 in any man who should love him and keep his sayings,' there is 
 a distinct promise also of an especial presence in any assembly, 
 even if ' two or tliree are gathered together in his name.' Besides 
 the general promises made to prayer — to the prayer of the indi- 
 vidual 'in the closet,' there is a distinct promise also to 'those 
 who shall agree together touching something they shall ask.' 
 And it is in conformity with His own institution that Christians have 
 ever since celebrated what they designate as emphatically the 
 cominunion, by meeting together to break bread in commemora- 
 tion of His redemption of his people. His design, in short, man- 
 ifestly was to adapt his religion to the social principles of man's 
 nature, and to bind his disciples, throughout all ages, to each 
 other by those ties of mutual attachment, sympathy and coopera- 
 tion, which, in every human community and association, of what- 
 ever kind, are found so powerful." The archbishop then pro- 
 ceeds to consider how much is implied in the constituting of a 
 commwidty, and what are the inherent properties and universal 
 character naturally and necessarily belonging to any regularly 
 constituted society as such, for whatever purpose formed. And 
 he concludes that it belongs to the very essence of a community, 
 that it should have ojftcers, rules, and power of admitting and ex- 
 cluding persons as riiemhers. These principles of common sense 
 were acted upon by the first churches, under the immediate di- 
 rection of our Lord and his apostles. They elected their officers, 
 Acts vi. 2-G ; received their members, Rom. xiv. 1 •, dealt with 
 offenders. Matt, xviii. 17 ; Gal. vi. 1 ; excluded the impenitent,. 
 1 Cor. V. 4, 5 ; and restored those who repented, 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. 
 If all chuich power was vested in the brotherhood, in primitive 
 times, it is too late to question the wisdom of continuing the 
 power in the same hands, in this enlightened age. 
 
 4. Congregational church polity is distinguished from strict 
 independency by the principle of association or conference of 
 churches. 
 
 It has been already shown that the first churches, though in- 
 dependent, were united by the ties of faith and charity. This 
 is seen by their mutual salutations: Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 
 19 ; 1 Pet. V. 13 : in their consultations by delegates or messen- 
 gers, Acts XV. pas. ; 2 Cor. viii. 23-24 ; Phil. ii. 29 : by pecu- 
 niary contributions. Acts xi. 20-30 ; 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1- 
 4 : byletteisof commendation, Rom. xvi. 1-22; 2 Cor. iii. 1 ; Col. 
 iv. 10. 
 
 Association of churches is highly important, and must take 
 place, in as far as religion prospers among them. If they are 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 329 
 
 guided 1)}^ the Word of God, they will have (he same end in view, 
 and consequently must be united. But in order to its beintr bene- 
 ficial it must he voluntarif. As love is the perfect and only bond by 
 wiiich the membeisof a single church are cormected, this is suf- 
 ficient for uniting different churches. Love alone can produce 
 useful cooperation amongst them. Considering the relation in 
 which they stand to each other, it is highly important that, by 
 mutual good offices, they should cultivate brotherly love. This 
 may be done by their giving and receiving advice ; by their pray- 
 ing for each other, especially when anything difficult or impoitant 
 occurs.; by their joining to promote the spread of the gospel; by 
 their sending messengers to one another, as we find the apostolic 
 churches did, 2 Cor. viii. 23 ; by their communicating each 
 other's necessities, and by many things similar. Such correspond- 
 ence is calculated to have the happiest effects, while it allows the 
 most perfect liberty and independence to each church. 
 
 5. Congregational church polity is distinguished from that 
 novel scheme which would supersede the pastoral office and a 
 stated minislry. 
 
 It is doubtless true that every Christian man who understands 
 the truth should teach it ; especially that truth which is essentially 
 connected with salvation. Still the sacred writings always dis- 
 tinguish between ministers and believers generally, between the 
 pastors and the flo(;k, the teachers and the taught. " To all the 
 saints which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons," Phil, 
 i. 1. " Let him that is taught communicate to him that teacheth 
 in all good things," Gal. vi. 6. " Even so hath the Lord ordained 
 tliat they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," 1 
 Cor. i.x. 14. " If all were teachers, where were the taught? If 
 all were pastors, where were the tiock'? If the body were the 
 eye, where were the hearing ?" The gifted brethren in the church 
 at Corinth possessed remarkable and miraculous powers, and the 
 apostle Paul has given directi(jns for the exercise of their special 
 and supernatural endowments, 1 Cor. xiv. 31 ; but these are not 
 possessed in the present day. 
 
 " It does not follow," says the learned Ncander, " that all the 
 members of the church were destined to the ordinary office of 
 teaching ; there is a great distinction between a regular capability 
 of teaching, always under the control of him who possessed it, and 
 an outpouring (like prophecy or the gift of tongues) proceeding 
 fVom a sudden inspiration, and accompanied with a peculiar and 
 elevated, but tiansient state of mind. On such transient excite- 
 ments, care for the maintenance, propagation and advancement 
 of clear religious knowledge could not be made safely to depend." 
 Although all Christians must be taught only by one heavenly 
 
S30 THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 
 
 (riiido, yot, ivgjird (o the wonknoss of Iniman naturo. ■which is 
 (lostinod to koop tlie troasuros of heaven in eartlien vessels, made 
 it requisite that persons should never be wanting in the Church 
 who were peculiarly qualified constantly to set before then- breth- 
 ren their relation to the common (ruiile and Redeemer of all. 
 Such a capability of expounding presupposed a cert^uu cultiva- 
 tion of intellect, a certnin clearness and acuteness of thought, and 
 a certain power of communicating its impressions to others, which, 
 when tlu>y were present, and penetrated by the power of the 
 Spirit of God. became the gift of teaching. For this reasonable 
 and Divine ordinance the Congregatiiinal churches pleail. regardin'^" 
 the maintenance of the Christian ministry in an adequate degree 
 of learning, as one of their special cares, that the cause of the 
 gospel may be both honorably sustained and constantly promoted. 
 6. The Congregational church polity is distinguished from the 
 system of the Baptist churches by the principle of the right of 
 believing parents to dedicate their infant children to God in 
 baptism ; by the principle that water is to be applied to the per- 
 son, and not the person to the water ; and by the principle of 
 open communion with all who make a creditable profession of 
 being Christ's disciples, irrespective of the mode of baptism. 
 
 (1.) God ordiiined and established the families of the earth, 
 and connected with that economy his truth and wt>rship for two 
 thousand years. The fomily of Abraham was favored with a 
 rite of purification, observed not only by the fathers, but per- 
 formed on their infant sons. Jehovah wjis " the God of all the 
 families of Israel," and in Christ " all the families of the earth 
 are to be blessed." Wherever the gospel is received by the head 
 of the family. " salvation luxs come to that house." Thus '• the 
 unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife (who believes.) and 
 the unbelieving wite is sanctitied by the husband (who believes); 
 else were your chiUlren unclean, but now are they holy." 1 Cor. 
 vii. 14. As Jesus saves his people from their sins, so baptism 
 with the element of cleansing is a proper syml>ol of that spiritual 
 purification, as circumcision was under the patriarchal and Leviti- 
 cal economies. Tiie apostle Peter, therefore, exhorted the inquir- 
 ing multitude, " Be ye baptized every one of you," it:c. " Foi 
 the promise is unto you and to your children, aiul to all that are 
 afar oft", ■■ itc. Acts ii. oS. oO. "The reason why you, parents, 
 should be baptized is, that the promise is to you ; but the pro- 
 mise is to your children also, and therefore they should be bap- 
 tized too." Thus. Lvdia was liaptized, and all her hotisc/iofif. 
 The jailor at Philippi and all hia. — Acts xvi. 15, 33. Paul 
 baptized the lioiisc/io/d of Stephanus, 1 Cor. i. It?. Justin 
 Martyr, who wrote about forty years after the apostolic age, says, 
 
T TI K S A Y n R C) K I' L A T F O U M . 331 
 
 " Sovoral persons ;ini(inj^st us, botli men iind womni, of s'lxh/ (tml 
 soventy years old, who W(H"o inade (lisriples to C'lirisl in or J'rovi, 
 their iHfhney, do conLiiuK; uncornij)!," ('^'C. Now thoy could not 
 be proselyted or made disciples from their infancy, without beintr 
 tresitc'd as such, that is, beinif baptized. (Matt, xxviii. 1!).) *S^>/// 
 or seiienfy years from the time of Justin carrie.sus back almost into 
 the middle of the apostolic ai^e, the period at which tlussc ivred 
 Christians were so diseipled. 
 
 (2.) In baptism wattM- is to be applied to the jkm-sou. Under 
 the Mosaic law all the rites of purilication and consecration were 
 so performed, "lie: sprinkled witli blood," itc. "Almost all 
 thinors pursued with blood," iVc. "With my holy oil have I 
 anointed him." " I shall be anointed loith fresh oil." " I will 
 sprinkle clean water upon you," S:c. " Ye shall be baptized with 
 the Holy (Jhost." How? He fell upon them — pourcsd forth — 
 fihed forth, Arc. Circumstances render this mod(! more ])rol)al)le. 
 The multitudes who were baptized by John, and, on tin; day of 
 Pentecost, did not anticipate the reception of baplism, and were 
 imprepared for it by immersion. It is not liki^ly that the baptism 
 of Paul, Acts ix. 9, 18, 10, or that of th(( jaMor, Acts xvi. n;5, 
 was by immcusion. Th(! quantity of the eh^ment employed can- 
 not determine the right observance of an ordinance. TIk; Lord's 
 Supper conveys the; idea of a 7neal ; yet we take the smallest 
 quantity of bread and wine. Why may not the use of the smallest 
 quantity of water, as the sign of cleansing, be accounted ba])tism ? 
 
 (3.) That man makes a credible {)rofession of discipleship to 
 Christ who observes all things that are made; plain to his mind 
 from the New Testament, 'riiis is the case with those who ob- 
 serve baptism in eitluu- mode, and therefore, neither should 
 exclude the other from the fiord's table. " He who is accepted 
 of Christ should be acce])ted of his brethren." 
 
 THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. 
 IFroin an unpublished Mannscript.'\ 
 
 In the year 1G48 the Canihridcje Platform was established by 
 a convention of members from all the colonies, after a long deli- 
 beration, which spread over several years. It accorded witii the 
 general usage of the churches, which was then very much the 
 same; as it is now in Massachusetts. It recognized the churches 
 individually, as the only depositories of ecclesiastical authority, 
 having \w superior or c(uut of any sort possessing the right to re- 
 view their doings. Ordination, that Platform declares " nothing 
 
332 THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. 
 
 else but the solemn putting of a man in his place and office in the 
 church, where unto he had right before by election." One of the 
 designs in calling the convention at Cambridge is stated in its 
 history to have been " for correcting some of the churches who 
 were thought to favor the discipline of the Presbyterians." This 
 Platform left the churches perfectly free and independent, for al- 
 though the clergy met in associations, such as were convenient, 
 and sometimes large conventions were brought together to con- 
 sider specific subjects, yet none of the assemblies possessed any 
 official authority over the churches. This Platform was adopted 
 and practiced upon in all the colonies. The Presbyterian tenden- 
 cies however were not entirely extinguished by it, but continued 
 to exert themselves, especially in Connecticut, which was the bor- 
 der territory between the two denominations. " Some closer 
 bond of vmion among churches and ministers, seems to have been 
 early and generally desired," says the history prefixed to the 
 Saybrook Platform. This desire came to its denouement in 1708, 
 when " the Legislature passed an act requiring the ministers and 
 churches to meet and form an ecclesiastical constitution," " from 
 Avhich," says the legislative resolution, " would arise a permanent 
 establishment among ourselves, a good and regular issue in cases 
 subject of ecclesiastical discipline." This Convention assembled 
 at Saybrook, September 9, 1708. The only important measure 
 of the meeting was the establishment of an ecclesiastical jurispru- 
 dence under the name of " Consociation." The consociations 
 were to exist one or more in each county, and to be composed of 
 the pastors, and one or more delegates from each chui-ch, though 
 nothing was to be " deemed an act or judgment of any coun*^ 
 cil which hath not the act of tlie major part of the elders (pas- 
 tors) present concurring." The consociations were to have final 
 jurisdiction of all cases committed to them, but their jurisdiction 
 extended only to cases of discipline, and only the church could 
 call the consociation, the " offending brother," or person under 
 discipline, being expressly denied this privilege. The consocia- 
 tion therefore was a permanent authoritative council upon which 
 the churches had a right to call in cases of discipline. The spirit 
 of liberty for a long time resisted this plan, and as late as the be- 
 ginning of the present century in all the Eastern half of the 
 State the churches knew nothing of it. Since that time, however, 
 these organizations have been pushed with great earnestness by 
 many clergymen, and they have besides arrogated powers which 
 are not at all conferred by the Platform. They even go so far 
 as to declare that the churches can call no council but from the 
 consociation and through its officers, and especially is tliis insisted 
 on with regard to councils for the installation and dismission of 
 
THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. 333 
 
 pastors. In most, if not all, the consociations, the pastors now 
 insist that the churches can neither settle nor dismiss ministers, 
 but with the consent of a majority of the pastors of the con- 
 sociation, and some pastors under this assumption go so far 
 as to intimate that they aie secure in their places in despite 
 of the opinion and desire of the church and parish, with which 
 they are connected. But all this is sheer assumption without 
 the least shadow of authority in the Platform. The consociat- 
 ed churches are not obliged to take the advice of consociation 
 on any occasion, and have the same right to settle and dismiss 
 their pastors by the aid of mutual councils, or Avith any other 
 councils, that they would have had if the Saybrook Platfoim 
 liad never been laid. All a consociated church is bound to 
 do is, if it calls the consociation, to obey its judgment in the 
 matter of discipline submitted. The authority claimed by the 
 consociations, that they alone can install and dismiss pastors, is ob- 
 viously inconsistent with Congregationalism, the fundamental 
 principle of which is, that every church is complete in itself, pos- 
 sessing all the powers requisite for the appointment of its officers 
 and the management of its affairs. A church which should sur- 
 render its right to elect its own pastor would surrender an essen- 
 tial right of Christian liberty, and would have no good claim af- 
 terward to be called a Congregational church. I am not suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with the history of the consociations to be able 
 to say, how in all cases, they accumulated the powers which they 
 claim. I happen to know of the consociation in New London 
 county, that having induced most of the churches to join it as 
 an arrangement for mutual edification, expressly disclaiming all 
 authority, the consociation at one of its meetings resolved itsvlj 
 into the only ecclesiastical council to be holden in the county. It 
 happened that at that moment one of the consociated churches 
 had an ordination on hand, and had already sent out letters mis- 
 sive, inviting several sister churches to assist them on the joyful 
 occasion. As the vote of consociation forbade this procedure, the 
 church had no alternative but to recall its letters and submit to 
 the assumption of consociation, or withdraw from it altogether. 
 They preferred the latter. 
 
 It is sufficiently evident from what I have written, that the 
 scheme of Consociation, as now carried out in Connecticut, is radi- 
 cally wrong. It has certainly no claim to have been constructed 
 alter any apostolic model. It requires some close and personal 
 inspection to be able to see what the practical effects of such a 
 system are. Erroneous systems always in some way work prac- 
 tical mischief. I have been more or less in Connecticut, and have 
 noticed the following evils : 
 
334 THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. 
 
 First, discussion and differences of opinion respecting the pro- 
 priety of the system. 
 
 Secondly, a growing jealousy of the pastors under the suspi- 
 cion tliat they arc aspiring after powez", and endeavoring to form 
 a combination among themselves, under cover of wliich they 
 can keep their places, and set disaffection at defiance. This is 
 the more likely to be strong, as the })eople believe, that whenever 
 a pastor becomes dissatisfied with them, or has a better place, or 
 a more useful one offered him, and has a mind to go, he will go. 
 
 Thirdly, a disposition to withdraw from consociation, which is 
 suppressed only by the known wishes of the pastors, and is so 
 secretly undermining tliein in the affections of their people, or 
 breaking out in open collision. 
 
 Fourthly, an unfavorable relationship between churches which 
 have withdrawn, or have stood aloof from Consociation, and their 
 sister churches, but especially the pastors of those churches. The 
 effort of the clergy to induce chui'ches to come into the conso- 
 ciations, to prevent them from withdrawing, and when they do 
 withdraw to prevent tlieir example from being followed by 
 others, is encountered with the worst prejudices. 1 know one in- 
 stance at least, where a great deal of mischief is secretly working 
 in tliis way. 
 
 These evils may not as yet be very extensively visible, espe- 
 cially to tlu! pastors, who ai-e likely to know less of them than any- 
 body else. But the developments will be jnore and more dis- 
 tinct from year to year, i wonder that so very intelligent and 
 intluential a community of men as the clergy of Connecticut 
 should subject themselves to tiiese evils, for so little good as can 
 possibly come of Consociation. They have the power to hold a 
 controlling sway by means of their siipeiior learning and piety, 
 and very httle other sway can they possibly acquire. Why then 
 should they excite the jealousy of their people to no purpose ? 
 Doubtless they think that the good of the cliurches would be 
 promoted by more of what is termed " permanency in the minis- 
 terial olhce." Possibly Consociation may for a time increase that 
 permanency, but I am mistaken if in the end its effects be not quite 
 the reverse. The feeling of subjugation to ecclesiastical authority 
 is operating injuriously upon the Congiegational churches of Con- 
 necticut, and aiding cither denominations. The people there will 
 not submit quietly to what they deem a clerical usurpation, and I 
 apprehend if t'oiisociation is persisted in, with its oifensive fea- 
 tures, that it will work commotion in many chui-ches, if not a ge- 
 neral revolution. 1 am glad to see by the debates in the General 
 Association of Conni'ctiout, that at least some clergymen are dis- 
 posed to let the whole system fall into disuse. That it will be 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 335 
 
 thrown off eventually, I have no doubt. If the clergy are not 
 men of practical good sense enough to see this, and insist on the 
 usurpation which tliey have established, then many parishes will 
 dwindle away by certificating, and linger along under disaffection, 
 until the clergy or the churches perceive that this mongrel hi(!r- 
 arcliy is destroying Congregationalism in the " land of steady 
 habits." I hope the discovery may be made in season to avert 
 such a result. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 
 \_From an unpublished Manu.icripl.'l 
 
 Of all the evils of political government, one of the greatest is 
 over-legislation — too -much interference with individual choice. 
 When bodies of men come together clothed with authority, 
 they must needs exercise that authority. ]3ut if the exercise of 
 authority were confined to proper objects, and within proper 
 limits, the laws to be passed would be so few, and the affairs (;f 
 government so simple, that to be a legislator would be no mighty 
 matter. There are always manj' evils in society, and many 
 things which would b(! right if let alone have been made; wrong 
 by previoi^s legislation, so that at every session the labor of put- 
 ting everything just right exactly, is sufli(;ient to m;ik(! much 
 talk and raise much dust. One honorabh; gentleman lias his 
 fences made of upright strips of board or pickets, and his iicigh- 
 l)ors' pigs priiss their lank sides between them. lie, therefore, 
 moves for a bill requiring that all swine running at larg*; in the 
 highway shall be restrained by yok(;s made of f(jur sticks, so 
 placed as to form a .square in the center, the ends proje(;ting 
 each way to the distance of six inches, 'i'liis disposition to rcjju- 
 late everything by statute law is often extended to the most 
 injurious interference with individual liberty aftd private rights. 
 A thousand matters, which, if left to liberty and the laws 
 which God has made, would pass off with order and u.se- 
 fulness, are thrown out of order and out of use by indis- 
 creet efl'orts at too much regulation. The exceeding simpli- 
 city of wise government has hardly as yet been coinj)ieh(!n(led 
 by the mass of men, much less by those who occujiy positions of 
 authority and supcirvision. It is coming, we hope, to be utidcr- 
 sLood that liherti/ is the great conservative power, and that the 
 government is strongest which is least felt, and that sociely most 
 pea(;eful, as a giMicral ruli-, which is most left to itself. \Vhat an 
 illustrious display of the power of hberty to produce good order 
 
336 ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. 
 
 have we Just had in our national election ! Two mighty parties 
 •w]:o for months have been training for action, until charged 
 with excitement in every nerve, have marclied to the polls, de- 
 posited their ballots, and the stiife is ended. Scarcely a blow 
 has been struck or a drop of blood shed. Not a life has been 
 lost. The defeated party acquiesce in the result, and would de- 
 fend the government elect from all attempts at unconstitutional 
 violence with as much zeal as the party which has been success- 
 ful. Not a soldier has been called out to preserve the peace, 
 nor has any force been on the ground beyond small bodies of 
 poHceraen with their staves. This is the peace of liberty ! The 
 wisest efforts of arbitrary government never equaled it, never 
 approached it. 
 
 In religious concerns our governing has been carried to even 
 a more injurious extent than in politics. Private judgment and 
 private action have in most ages of Christianity, as well as of all 
 other systems, been the most alarming objects for contemplation 
 by the rulers. So much legislation has been enacted to prevent 
 errors of doctrine and disoiders of practice, that men were 
 brought to beheve almost nothing which was true, and to act for 
 nothing Avhich was desirable. Noble man was made an ignoble 
 machine. We have escaped by the good providence of God, 
 and the wonderful sacrifices of our fathers, from the worst of 
 these trammels, and yet w-e should be unwise to suppose that 
 the disposition in leading men, which produced the mischief is 
 not as rife now as ever. 
 
 The fondness for public displav, the disposition to act on an 
 extended scale, mingled with the very sincere opinion entertained 
 by almost every man that he is wiser than his fellow-men, and 
 so eminently qualified to rule usefully and extensively, will con- 
 stantly be oiiginating large plans of government. Merclv to 
 feed the sheep and feed the lambs is too simple a business tn fill 
 the desires of man's expanding bosom. We have been surprised 
 to see by the reports of the religious papers what mighty assem- 
 blages have been in labor during the summer and autumn. Con- 
 ventions, synods, councils, unions, conferences, and more be- 
 sides, quarterly, annual, and triennial, have been passing before 
 us. No sect is so small but that it builds up its little scaffold 
 on which its wise men move to and fro, and from which they 
 scatter their decrees of regulation, opinion, and advice. W^e have 
 been most interested in these assemblages among the denomi- 
 nations with which we are best acquainted. There was a gieat 
 convention of Presbyterians and Congregationalists at Cleveland 
 last summer, which interested us a good deal, and we laid aside 
 the religious papers containing the reports of its proceedings, in- 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION. 33T 
 
 tending to mingle our wisdom with the wisdom of that numerous, 
 learned, reverend, and pious body. But other topics more im- 
 mediately belonging to our own diocese occupied us, and the 
 convention has passed into the distance. WJiat particularly 
 attracted our attention in the proceedings of that body was the 
 universality of its jurisdiction. It was not the judicatory or 
 legislature of any particular denomination, but a body which had 
 called itself together ; yet it seemed to think itself the parliament 
 of the realm, acting under a most satisfactory weight of responsi- 
 bility. That the great affairs which hung upon its decisions 
 might receive attention in due order, they were distributed to 
 the hands of standing committees. Slavery in the United States 
 was committed to one committee, colleges and education to 
 another, newspapers to another, colportage to another. 
 
 After informinn: the world what ought to be believed and done 
 with regard to most or all of these matters, the important assem- 
 bly adjourned, not, we are happy to say, without determining to 
 hold another such-like assembly next year, when we trust the 
 annexation of Texas, the regulation of the currency, and the pro- 
 tective system will not be neglected. Indeed, we could not help 
 thinking that protection against unauthorized competition was not 
 altogether forgotten at Cleveland. 
 
 CHRISTIAN UNION.— THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, October 29, 1846.] 
 
 A GREAT number of persons have, in these latter years, set 
 upon finding Christian union, or the basis of it ; yet the seai'ch 
 seems to have been only as successful as that in old times for the 
 philosopher's stone. What Christian disxymon is, every man can 
 easily ascertain ; for he finds his own heart and all his propensities 
 full of it. His conscience is ever alive to it ; that conscience which 
 would not allow the negro to work, viz. : " something in here 
 which says I wont.'' There are so many paths to disunion, that 
 they cover all the ground, and render it evident that, if there is 
 any path of union, it is indeed a strait and narrow way. 
 
 Especially has the search been reanimated lately, by the assem- 
 bling of twelve hundred men at London, to make one great effort 
 to find, if possible, this long-lost pearl. They all agreed that it 
 was a pearl of great price, which a man might well compass sea 
 and land, and sell all that he had, to buy. They were the wise 
 men of the East and the West, learned in everything, ancient and 
 modern, and evidently intent, with one mind and with great zeal, 
 15 
 
338 CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 in the searcli, and determined, if there were any such thing as 
 Christian union, however deep it might be buried beneath super- 
 stition, bigotry, fanaticism, arrogance, and whatever else may go 
 to make up the great sectarian compost, that they would dig it 
 out and show it to a curious and contemptuous world. They did 
 cast away mountains of the compost, and did find some gems of 
 truth and harmony, well worth the cost and trouble of the 
 search ; but, that they did not discover the great truth for which 
 they sought, was evidently the sad conviction which settled 
 down on all their minds. In fact, after all the joyfulness of the 
 meeting, they seem to have separated with the impression ra- 
 ther more distinct than before, that there was really no such thing 
 as they sought ; at any rate not in London, for they made ar- 
 rangements for branch unions, local, detached searchings in vari- 
 ous places, where small, imperfect gems may be found, but where 
 they all knew the grand pearl lay not. They appeared to under- 
 stand that another general, broad, universal, catholic search would 
 not soon be attempted, and Dr. Beecher, who was as earnest in 
 the search as any one, states on his return, publicly and repeat- 
 edly, that all which was found, or which could be found, was the 
 union of the majority, or the jwssible number, which is plainly an 
 abandonment of the whole thing. What this council of twelve 
 hundred did find, they have laid before the world in the following 
 propositions : 
 
 THE DOCTlllNAL BASIS. 
 
 1. The persons composing the Alliance shall be such persons only as 
 hold and maintain what arc usually under.stood to be evangelical views, 
 in regard to matters of doctrine understated, viz. : 
 
 1. The Divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 2. The right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of 
 the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 3. The unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity of Persons therein. 
 
 4. The utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the fall. 
 
 5. The incarnation of the Son of God, (and) his work of atonement 
 for sinners of mankind, and liis mediatorial intercession and reign. 
 
 G. The justification of the sinner by faith alone. 
 
 7. The work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of 
 the sinner. 
 
 8. The immortatity of the soul, the resurrectio7i of the body, the judg- 
 ment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness 
 of the righteous, and the eternal punishment of the wicked. 
 
 9. The Divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the (authori- 
 ty,) obligation and perpetuity of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper. 
 
 It is, however, distinctly (declared,) First, that this brief summary is 
 not to be regarded in any formal or ecclesiastical sense, as a creed or 
 confession, nor the adoption of it as involving an assumption of the 
 right authoritatively to define the limits of Christian brotherhood, but 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION. 339 
 
 simply as an indication of the class of persons whom it is desirable to 
 embrace within the Alliance : Second, that the selection of certain tenets, 
 with the omission of others, is not to be held as implying that the former 
 constitute the whole body of important truth, or that the latter are un- 
 important. 
 
 II. That the Alliance is not to be considered as an alliance of denomi- 
 nations, or branches of the Church, but of individual Christians, each 
 acting on his own responsibility. 
 
 III. That in the prosecution of the present attempt, it is distinctly de- 
 clared, that no compromise of the views of any member, or sanction of 
 those of others, on the points wherein they differ, is cither required or 
 expected ; but that all arc held as free as before to maintain and advo- 
 cate their religious convictions, with due forbearance and brotherly 
 love. 
 
 IV. That it is not contemplated that this Alliance should assume or 
 aim at the cliaracter of a new ecclesiastical organization, claiming and 
 exercising the functions of a Christian church. Its simple and compre- 
 hensive object, it is strongly felt, may be successfully promoted without 
 interfering with, or disturbing the order of, any branch of the Chris- 
 tian Church to which its members may respectively belong. 
 
 V. That while the formation of this Alliance is regarded as an impor- 
 tant step toward the increase of Christian union, it is acknowledged as 
 a duty incumbent on all its members carefully to abstain from pronoun- 
 cing any uncharitable judgment upon those who do not feel themselves 
 in a condition to give it their sanction. 
 
 VI. Tli.it the members of tliis Alliance earnestly and affectionately re- 
 commend to each, in their own conduct, and particularly in their own 
 use of the press, carefully to abstain from and put away all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, with all malice; 
 and in all things in whicii they may yet differ from each otlier, to be 
 kind, tender-hearted, forbearing one anotlier in love, forgiving one an- 
 other, even as God, for Clirist's sake, hath forgiven thera ; in everything 
 seeking to be followers of God, as dear children, and to walk in love, as 
 Christ also loved them. 
 
 When men assume to form a imion of the disciples of any 
 raastei', they are obviously bound to make no other conditions to 
 the union than the mastei" has made. To put in other things 
 than He has put in, and then assume this extended basis as the 
 true basis of union, is unjust, as well as en-oneous, for it excludes 
 some whom the Master has received. The idea of Christian 
 union (if men have any distinct idea about it) must be the union 
 of all the real disciples of Christ, and it proceeds upon the as- 
 sumption that there are certain things essential to discipleship, 
 and that of course these essentials are common to all, and that 
 upon them, all the disciples can come together in harmony. This 
 thought receives additional interest and illustration from the ex- 
 pectation that all who possess these essential things will dwell 
 together in heaven with Christ, and spend their future life in per- 
 fect harmony Avith Him and one another. This theory is simple, 
 and every mind comes irresistibly to the conclusion that it is pos- 
 sible to begin this union on earth. Why is it, then, that so much 
 
340 CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 honest effort cannot reach this so much-desired union ? Is it im- 
 possible in the nature of the case to ascertain tlie common ground 
 of unit}' in the common essentials ? or is there still so much su- 
 perstition, and error, and sectarianism, and selfishness, hanging in 
 scales upon the e^^es of the wise and good, tliat they have no 
 vision to perceive that which is most obvious ? 
 
 It is clear that such an union must be formed solely for the 
 sake of union, and the joy and benefit of union, without the in- 
 tention of doing anything whatever. It must be "union for the 
 sake of union," or it is something besides simple union upon es- 
 sentials. To put in something to do would be to make a union 
 of so many as could agree to do that thing, and so would shut 
 Gilt all who do not approve of this particular mode of exhibiting 
 their discipleship. 
 
 We shall not go so far out of our proper course as to make a 
 theological argument to prove how much is essential to Christian 
 discipleship. The " doctrinal basis " of the Alliance shows why 
 they could not find the union which they sought. The sixth and 
 shortest article discloses the mischief. Say the Alliance, " The 
 justification of the sinner is by faith alone." If this is so, then 
 faith is the only essential, and all the other articles are extra- 
 judicial, non-essentials, about which disciples may differ, and still 
 be disciples. If we remember right, this is very much as Christ 
 preached, and laid the matter down himself. We cannot recol- 
 lect tb.at he anywhere mentioned any one of the eight articles as 
 essential to discipleship. " VVha' — wha' — wha' — what do you 
 say ?" stammer a thousand tongues ; " that we must take in every 
 man who says he has faitli ? Wliy, that would include Quakers, 
 Czerski, and even Papists. Monstrous ! monstrous ! !" Well, 
 monstrous as it is, you must, according to your own showing, 
 gulp it down, if you would have Christian union in its perfect- 
 ness. All the rest may be very great truths, and very necessary 
 to be believed, in order to the most perfect Christian character, 
 but you have made them all non-essential by your own great de- 
 claration, faith alone is the ground of justification. But let us 
 see whether all the rest is exactly true. What do you ministers 
 mean by making your divine right one of the nine bars of your 
 inclosure? Do you. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, 
 Baptists, Methodists, and ministers of all denominations, mean, 
 here in the middle of the nineteenth century, to declare soberly 
 to a gaping world, that there can be no church without a bishop ; 
 in short, no chui-ch Avithout you ? Verilv, you may have the 
 basis of a ministerial luiion, of a hierarchy as broad as the earth ; 
 but if the laity set iip their occupations as just as much of 
 "divine institution " as yours, why then you have the union of a 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION. 341 
 
 caste, and notliing more. Did you have any distinct idea at all, 
 wlien you adoj)ted this corner-stone of superstition in p;ifran and 
 ])apal churches ? This is tlie doctrine which lias rent all Chris- 
 tendom, and caused nine-tenths of all the persecution under 
 whicli our race has groaned. If it means anything, it means 
 that you are something which other men are not ; and can do 
 things with a mysterious elKcacy which other men cannot impart. 
 Do you mean that you are brought into this " divine institution " 
 by certain manipulations which were performed by those already 
 in it, by which an ojjlclal character or nature was imparted to 
 you, separated from your personal character ; so that you may be 
 very good oflicial actors in God's name, though personally, some 
 of you perhaps have paid Him little homage, and spend your 
 time in the service of another master ? We think some of the 
 American genth^men are bound to tell whether the atmosphere of 
 llieir hall was bedimmcd by Puseyism, that they adopted this fun- 
 damental doctrine of Popery ; or wluither thej' do indeed hold it 
 in the pure air of America ; and if they do hold it liere, what 
 the}' intend us, the people, to understand by it. It was the pro- 
 mulgation and belief of such things which engendered the infi- 
 delity of Franco, and does the same in all countries where they 
 are generally adopted. Intelligent men who know nothing else 
 about Christianity, get to think it only a system of priestcraft on 
 one side, and superstition on the other, and cry, " Crush the 
 Avretch !" because they think the author of Christianity was the 
 author of the abuses which they see around them. 
 
 It was especially out of keeping lo put forth such a dogma as 
 essential to Christian union, when the assembly which put it forth 
 was convened in utter rejection of it. Twelve hundred consti- 
 tuted the union, yet one, not of the divine institution, presided 
 over them, and in every way their pi-actice was in contradiction 
 to the theory. The Alliance tliouglit it necessary to declare that 
 they did not aim at " exercising the functions of a Christian 
 church," implying that their assembly might be so regarded, and 
 would be so in reality if they but determined so, yet there were 
 no ])rin('ipalities nor powers — nothing but gifts. But they were a 
 church for the time being, and perf(;i-med all the functions of a 
 church, and very much after the piimitiv(i fashion, too. If Christ 
 had appeared personally among them, and said, " I am your Mas- 
 ter, and all ye are bretiiren," all of them would have united in a 
 hearty response. What denomination did this church of the Al- 
 liance belong to ? and after what j)lan was it made ? It was a 
 thing worth contemplating in tliis light, as well as many others. 
 Men often pay homage to the truth by their conduct, while 
 
342 CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 Ihey little think of it, and even while their lips avow quite oppo- 
 site doctrines. 
 
 But although the Alliance did not find the threat truth which 
 they sought, and made some very painful mistakes in their efforts 
 to find it or to set it up, yet they did make some great discoveries. 
 They learned unanimously, that an individual disciple had, in him- 
 self, and without being sent or appointed by any ecclesiastical 
 body, a divine right to go in his own name to the Alliance, and 
 there to act in his own name and upon his own responsibility. 
 This was a hard saying when first broached in the Free Church of 
 Scotland, and long did the judicatories debate it before they could 
 agree not to forbid it. This, then, was a meeting of the people ; 
 a thoroughly democratic assemblage of men, who, however much 
 of divine right they might suppose themselves to possess in their 
 official capacities at home, carried none of it there. They came, 
 not as delegates, nor functionaries, but merely as Christian men. 
 This was the fact, though they seem scarcely to have been aware 
 of it. Yet they acted upon it throughout. A great advance 
 that, in Christian opinion, which allows that a Christian has a 
 right in himself to attend a voluntary assembly of his fellow- 
 Christians, and commune with tliem about Christian union. Then 
 to agree that such a body of mere individuals had a right to 
 make a creed, to deliberate, and publish their deliberations to the 
 world, and even to declare that tiiey did not " aim at the charac- 
 ter of a new ecclesiastical organization," which was as much as 
 to say that they could establish such an organization if they 
 would, is certainly a very radical proceeding, tending to destroy 
 reverence for office, and end — no one knows Avhere. 
 
 Another important discovery was, that Christian union is a vol- 
 untary matter ; a union not of denominations, but of individuals 
 of congenial feelings ; and that this is the only way in which a 
 real imity can be attained. 
 
 The American delegation learned something about the notions 
 of some of themselves, on anti-slavery excommunion. Gentle- 
 men who have been shutting out slaveholders from their pulpits 
 and communion-tables, found the same screw turned hard down 
 upon themselves, as guilty participants in the system ; for our 
 English brethren are rampant Abolitionists, and hold us all guilty 
 of being pro-slavery men, " pirates," " man-stealers," and all that, 
 if we hesitate to denounce all slaveholders with these terms, in 
 the true Garrison style. It was instructive to these gentlemen, 
 just as the farmer's declaration, "It was your bull," instructed 
 the lawyer. They Avere in a mass driven, by their own rule, from 
 the communion of this church of the Alliance. In a single day 
 they learned unanimously that this was not a proper ingredient 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION. 343 
 
 in the basis of Cliristian union. Tlie lesson was worth a voyage 
 to England, and we hope will enlarge and correct the views of 
 these gentlemen for all their future course, and save them from 
 foiming more churches " on the anti-slavery and total-abstinence 
 principle." ^ 
 
 ITpon the whole. Christian union among intelligent, thinking, 
 independent minds is no easy thing, as the world goes. He that 
 would compass it must have a great heart, a much greater one 
 than beats in most of our degenerate, selfish, proud bosoms, how- 
 ever much better influences may have been at work there. He 
 must have " the spirit of Christ " in measures always offered, but 
 seldom accepted. He must be meek and lowly, and boundless in 
 liis benevolence, so that he can even love his enemies, and bless 
 while they curse. He must have no ill-will toward any being — 
 no, not toward that arch-angclic intelligence which led the hosts 
 of heaven in their great revolt, and is now sunk with them to all 
 the wretchedness of an eternal hatred of happiness and goodness. 
 He must hate no one, wish none ill, but pity where he cannot 
 love. He must have contemplated the benevolence of Christ un- 
 til he has become enthusiastic in admiration and love, and is ready 
 to follow him and imitate him, as the soldier does the captai»i 
 with whom he will gladly rush to the cannon's mouth. He 
 must have such an enthusiasm in his soul, that when he meets 
 another man, he Avill ask nothing of him but whether he knows 
 and loves the Great Captain, to give him the hand of fellowship, 
 and, though he be poor and despised, to receive him as a brother 
 beloved. A benevolence which knows no limit can alone realize 
 Christian union. The great soul of Robert Hall was in the spirit 
 of Christian union, when he said, "He who is good enough for 
 Christ is good enough for me." 
 
 The possession of such heai-ts, and their active union together, 
 was the thing sought for by the Christian Alliance ; and although 
 they did not come \'ery near to the perfect enjoyment of what 
 they desired, it is evident that the pursuit was ennobling and joy- 
 ful beyond description. The idea is grand, and the feeblest effort 
 to realize it worthy of all praise. No doubt the gentlemen who 
 assembled have been and will continue to be richly repaid for 
 tiieir toils and various dangers, both in the scene itself and their 
 reflections upon it. They will remember, too, that they will be 
 expected to set noble examples hereafter ; to meet in their vari- 
 ous ecclesiastical bodies, without making it their tirst business to 
 calumniate Southern Chiistians, and their second to kick the men 
 of Oberlin, nor even abuse the Pope beyond his deserts, nor treat 
 Satan himself as if they took pleasure in his pains. 
 
 The Alliance has done much incidental good. The Americans 
 
344 ROMANISM AND COLLATERAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 have evidcnt]y made a strong impi-ession on the Europeans, and 
 the Europeans on them, and all on all. The impression is as good 
 as it is strong. They better understand each other, and each 
 other's nations. Mutual respect and esteem have to some extent 
 taken the place of narrow prejudice. Real union has been in- 
 creased, leal truth impressed on all minds, and the ultimate 
 accomplishment of an universal Catholic union made a subject of 
 consideration and hope. 
 
 ROMANISM AND COLLATERAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 The Journal of Commerce was perhaps the first secular news- 
 paper in the United States which introduced into its columns a 
 discussion of the doctiines, principles and claims of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. Mr. Hale gives this account of the effect of 
 his first allusion to this subject. " We had at the outset a few 
 Catholic subscribers : but in sxivintr an account of a ffreat conven- 
 tion of Catholic clergymen at Baltimore, to say masses for the 
 relief of the soul of a bishop, who had died some six months be- 
 fore, we happened to put in the thought which must have been 
 uppermost in the minds of everybody, viz. : that the clergy had 
 been very careless of their brother in that they had allowed him 
 to roast in purgatory for six months before coming to his help. 
 It was too much to be home, and orders to 'stop my paper' 
 came from all parts of the country. The loss however was not 
 very great, and Ave were rather glad it occurred ; for it released 
 us from the peculiar restraint which we had felt under, not of 
 fear, bvit of courtesy toward the religious predilections of sub- 
 scribers. From that day we have felt at libei-ty, not to do wrong 
 to Catholics, nor to enter into theological eflforts to counteract 
 
ADDRESS TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 345 
 
 them, but to treat them as the best interests of the country- 
 seemed to us to require, whenever they have interfered impro- 
 perly with American citizens, or their institutions." 
 
 When the question of the use of the Bible in public schools 
 was agitated in New York, Mr. Hale took an active part in the 
 discussion, and Avrote several able articles against sectarian 
 schools. In 1842 he had a controversy with Bishop Hughes, 
 growing out of the criticisms of the Journal of Commerce upon 
 the Bishop's " Pastoral Letter." As this discussion related 
 chiefly to matters of fact, and incidents of mere passing moment, 
 and as it was widely published in the third number of Mr. 
 Hale's " Facts and Reasonings," it is deemed inexpedient to 
 transfer the articles to these pages. Another discussion between 
 Mr. Hale and a Committee of Roman Catholics, touching certain 
 allegations in the Journal of Commerce, is omitted for the same 
 reason. The Address to the Roman Catholics of the United 
 States, which prefaced the edition of these documents referred 
 to above, may serve as a general introduction to the articles 
 which follow. 
 
 TO THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Felloio- Citizens : 
 
 You will, I suppose, hardly thank me for addressing this pub- 
 lication to you, for you probably think me a bitter enemy of all 
 Catholics. Under such circumstances it would be folly in me to 
 make professions of friendship. But there are some things in 
 whi(5h your interests are identified with mine. As citizens of this 
 great and free country, our interests are the same. Liberty is as 
 important to you and your children, as it is to me and my chil- 
 dren ; and if our common liberty is overthrown, we shall suffer 
 together, whether the instruments in the work be Catholics or 
 Protestants. It would be doubly shameful in you, who have 
 been admitted without stint to all the immunities of a free gov- 
 ernment already established, if you were to do anything, or allow 
 anything to be done within your community, which should en- 
 danger those immunities. And let me tell you, if the general 
 structure of a free government is to be sustained, every cord and 
 fiber of sound principle, wherever it may wind itself, must be pre • 
 15* 
 
346 ADDRESS TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 served. The lofty mast of a great ship need not have an axe 
 struck into it — if the shrouds are allowed to be cut, one after 
 another, when the wind blows the mast will go by the board. 
 We are fellow-citizens of this republic, and interested mutually 
 and equally in the preservation of our fair possessions. We are 
 also fellow-travelers to eternity, and interested alike to find out 
 the way to a better world. God has marked out that way, and 
 the consequences of error about it will be equally fatal to us 
 both. There are, then, some reasons, why we should be friends. 
 There are some subjects upon which our interests are identified. 
 There are also some principles in which I think we shall agree. 
 One of these is that Jehovah is a God of truth, — never speaking 
 falsely himself, nor authorizing others to do so in His name. If 
 a prophet or a priest come to us proclaiming lies, then God has 
 not sent him ; or if in connection with some truth he proclaims 
 some one or more palpable falsehoods, he is not God's ambassa- 
 dor, — at least so far as he is occupied with these falsehoods, and 
 they throw great suspicion on his whole character. There are 
 many points of difference between Catholics and Protestants, 
 which, being dependent on long courses of reasoning, the truth 
 cannot be ascertained with such certainty as to command univer- 
 sal assent. But with some matters of fact it is otherwise. If 
 one man says that a substance lying in the street is rotten wood, 
 and another says it is an iron shaft, it is not difficult to ascertain 
 who speaks truly. There is one fact between us capable of simi- 
 lar demonsti-ation. Y"our priests and your Church pronounce 
 the Protestant versions of the Bible " spurious." Whether this 
 is a truth or a falseliood it is easy for you to determine ; for 
 your Church has ' sanctioned the Douay translation as genuine. 
 Let me ask you to take that, and one of the Bibles which are 
 distributed by tlie Bible societies, such as were pubhcly burned 
 at Corbeau, and compare tlie two together. I know several 
 Catholics who have done so, and they all say, that the two trans- 
 lations are alike, except in a few words. If the two translations 
 are alike, what becomes of the veracity of your Church and her 
 priests ? — for this is not a matter about which they are in igno- 
 rance. They know what the truth is in the case. If you find 
 on examination that the Protestant Bibles are fair translations of 
 the original, and not spurious, then their spuriousness is not the 
 reason why you are forbidden to read them, nor is it the reason 
 why they are gathered in heaps and burned. While you read 
 for the purpose proposed, let me ask you to see if you can find 
 any authority, in any Bible, for praying to saints, or worsliiping 
 the Virgin. If you find any passages which forbid that worship, 
 note them in both Bibles. If you find that Protestants are right 
 
ADDRESS TO ROMAN CATHOLICS, 347 
 
 in these two matters, as you certainly will, I hope your desire to 
 know Avliat is trutli will not suffer you to rest until you have ex- 
 amined all the chief points of dilference. Then, all I have to 
 say is, go with God and ti'uth. 
 
 In calling on you to vindicate our common liberty against spir- 
 itual usurpations, I ask you to do no more in your Cliurch than 
 I hold myself bound to do in mine. This paper, which I now 
 present to you, is, as you see, the third of a series. The other 
 two were published for the purpose of resisting wrongs in the 
 Church to which I then belonsxed. The rights and duties of 
 men in these respects are the same in all churches. In the 
 support of our various religious denominations, let us never for- 
 get that we are Americans. 
 
 If Protestantism has done some things wi-ong, it has done 
 some things right. This liberty of ours is Protestant liberty. 
 There is no pretense that the institutions of this country were 
 shaped by Roman Catholic priests. Tiiey were shaped by Pro- 
 testant priests and laymen, and you praise them because they are 
 rightly shaped. This universal education, which you find here, 
 does not exist in Catholic countries, yet it is right, and you 
 praise it. Protestantism therefore has done something well, and 
 in some respects lias secured your approbation. A system 
 which has established liberty and universal education for the 
 poor, you will not denj^ is worthy of great praise. Let me ask 
 you, not reproachfully, but respectfully and seriously, wliy, when 
 you determined to leave Europe, you did not sail for South, 
 rather than North America ? The soil, the climate, all the 
 natural advantages there, are quite as great as here, and the 
 country has been longer settled. It is a Catholic country witlial, 
 and this is Protestant. Why did you not select the country to 
 which your religious affinities vpould naturally have inclined 
 you ? You will say, perhaps, that South America has no lib- 
 erty, no schools, no settled governments ; that it has nothing 
 which a wise man could enjoy, or a good father desire to leave 
 as an inheritance to his children. Tell me now, why, in the civil 
 condition of the two parts of this continent, there is everything 
 you desire here, and everything you dislike there. You can 
 give no other answer, there is no other answer, than this : South 
 America was settled by Catholics, and is a Catholic country. 
 North America was settled by Protestants, and is a Protestant 
 country. Can the thing be good, which has worked such evil 
 there, and that be evil, which has worked such good here ? 
 The free circulation of the Bible, that book of God, which your 
 Church, Avhenever she has the power, forbids the people to read 
 in any translation ; that book is the pillar of our liberty, peace. 
 
S48 CATHOLIC MAGAZINE. 
 
 and happiness. It is a book of individual liberty. It is the gift 
 of God, not to kings and priests only, but to all the race. It is 
 addressed to you and me as men, and it tells each one of us 
 liow we may secure the fuvor of God and eternal life, without 
 the help or the consent of the Church, the priests, or any other 
 person. God gives you liberty to read the Bible, to believe in 
 Jesus Christ, and be saved. More than this, you have no lib- 
 erty not to read it. The way of salvation is laid down there by 
 the Author of it — and do you think th;it all the priests on earth 
 ran veto His enactment ? He says that " all liars shall have their 
 ])art in the like which burnetii with tire and brimstone." And 
 do you suppose that if a liar were to be baptized every day, con- 
 fi^ss to a jiriest, and be absolved by him as often, at his death 
 have rivers of oil poured upon him, and afterward millions of 
 nuisses said for the repose of his soul, do you suppose that all 
 this would keep him out of hell, or help him out after he was 
 in ? If you do, you suppose the Roman Catholic Church 
 stronger than God. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, on this sheet I present you with copies of the 
 C(M-respondence, which I have held, on two different occasions, 
 with leaders among you. In both cases your champions have 
 retired, and left me alone in the tield. Read these letters and 
 let me receive at your hands, if not the kindness whiuh belongs 
 to a friend, at least the fairness which you accord to an enemy. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, Febmary 19, 1838.] 
 CATHOLIC MAGAZINE. 
 
 Wk received, a day or two ago, a small periodical, entitled 
 " Children's Catholic Magazine." We hope it may have an ex- 
 ten.sive circulation among the Catholic children in our country ; 
 for if they i-ead this, tliey will of course liave first learned to read, 
 and having learned to lead, they •<vil! read whatever falls in their 
 way, and soon learn to think as Avell as read. Eveir this little 
 magazine, although thoroughly sectarian, teaches some good 
 things. 
 
 We see on one of the first pages, this little statement as a mat- 
 ter of fact : " The last descendant of Martin Luther, now living 
 in Germany, and verj'- poor, lately abjured the Reformed, and 
 adopted the Catholic religion." Well, there must be some com- 
 fort in that, to the Pope and his adherents, if the fact be so ; and 
 if it be not, the story is just as good. There are some conse- 
 quences of Martin Luther not yet turned Catholic. Pray, do 
 they, m thoroughly Catholic countries, print little magazines for 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 349 
 
 children to read? Under whose paternal promptinj^s is this little 
 Catliolic manual put forth ? Martin Luther is the father of it ; 
 and but for him, we dare venture anythini^, it would never have 
 seen the day. Our newspapers, our periodicals, our })u})lic 
 schools, are all the descendants of Martin Luther. The millions 
 of our free-born population are all his children. But for him we 
 might have been like the children of the Pope who live in Italy, 
 near their father. Which is the happiest family ? 
 
 [Protn l/ic Journal of Cummcrcc, Janvary 11, 1841.] 
 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 It may be as well to go to the bottom of this subject at once, 
 and to examine certain principles, which, even if not expressly 
 mentioned in the discussion, exert a secret intluence on the minds ' 
 of others besides the Roman Catholics. 
 
 It is said that governments everywhere have a right to provide 
 for their own existence, safety, and healtliy operation, and of 
 course may and ought to use the necessary means of doing it ; 
 that government cannot maintain itself and accomplish its pur- 
 poses without a sense of rehgious obligation among the people ; 
 that, therefore, the government lias tlie right, and is bound, to 
 see that the people are religiously educated ; that, as there neither 
 is nor can be, in actual existence, any such thing as religion in 
 general, without any particular form, religion can be taught only 
 according to the form in which it is held by some sect ; that the 
 State cannot escape from that alternative by presci'ibing a form of 
 its own in which reliy;ion shall be tauMit, as the adherents of that 
 form would themselves be a sect ; and that, therefore, the State 
 has the right, and is bound by the necessity of providing for its 
 own safety, to sustain sectarian schools. 
 
 Tliis looks plausible; but before entering upon the path whicli 
 it indicates, let us see whither it will lead us. 
 
 If the State is bound to teach religion as a means of preserv- 
 ing its own safety, it is certainly bound to teach such religion, and 
 such only, as will answer that purpose. If the Mormons hold 
 that the world and all it contains is th(;irs, and that they are soon to 
 take possession of it, and have a right, even now, to take posses- 
 sion of such part? of it as they conveniently can, in disregard of 
 the laws of all earthly governments, the State certainly should 
 not teacli the doctrines of that sect. If the Non-resistants hold 
 that ;dl human government is an abomination in the sight of God, 
 and that no man ought to take any part in it, or pay any regard 
 
850 SECTARIAN SOIIOOLS, 
 
 to its mandates or dooisions. the State ought not to teach the doc- 
 trines of that sect. If, as the Turks grow civiHzed, a coinpau)' 
 of the more fanatical among them, hoUling it a rehgious duty to 
 kill " Christian dogs " and seize their property, should come and 
 settle among us. to pieserve their religion in its purity, the State 
 ought not to teach the doctrines of that sect. If there be a de- 
 nomination of jMofessed Christians, whose doctrines encourage 
 men to expect impunity in crime, the State ought not to teach its 
 doctrines. If there be a sect whose doctrines inculcate the duty 
 of overthrowing the present government and establishing another, 
 even at the expense of civil war, or by the aid of armies called in 
 from abroad, — and the history of more than one nation in Eu- 
 rope shows that such sects may exist. — the State ought not to 
 teach its doctrines. Or, if there be any sect whose doctrines arc 
 inethcient, and fail to protluce such a moral charat-tcr in its disci- 
 ples as the safety of tiie Slate requires to be l\iund in its citizens, 
 the State should not teach its doctrines. JNor may the State 
 hazard its own safety by trying^ the experiment of teaching any 
 new doctrine that may be proposed. It must teach, and cause 
 its subjects to believe, such doctrines as are known to be safe. It 
 must select such a creed as the safety of the State requires, and 
 cause that creed to be inculcated. It must judge for itself, what 
 sects are safe ; and if but one such can be foimd, must select its 
 doctrines as the religion to be taught by the State. If a multi- 
 plicity of sects is found to be dangerous, it must select the best 
 among them and suppress the others. 
 
 Are we willing to intrust the State with such discretionary 
 power over religion '? To what purpose lia\'e we separated the 
 Church from the State, if religion is thus to be brought under the 
 control of the State by means of schools? Must there not be 
 some error in the principles Avhich lead to such a conclusion ? But 
 this is not all. 
 
 If the State must teach religion, it must have command of all 
 the necessary means of teaching it. The most important means, 
 the indisponsable instrument, without which all others must bo 
 xmavailing, is the pulpit. Without the pul|)it, the citizens can 
 never be made what the safety of the State lequires them to be. 
 Without the command of the pulpit, the command of the schools 
 will never enable the State to teach religion so as to insure its 
 own safety. If the State must produce in its citizens that reli- 
 gious character which its own safety requires, it must ha\e com- 
 miind of the pulpit, as well as of the schools ; it must secure 
 such preaching as the necessities of the State require ; it must 
 pro\ide an adequate supply of clergymen, whose instructions will 
 be politically safe, must place them where they are needed, and 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 351 
 
 furnish them with the means of subsistence ; and as preaching to 
 empty seats will not make the citizens religious, it must secure 
 the necessary attendance upon the instructions which it provides. 
 Jf all this is done voluntarily — if a sufficient number of men will 
 become such preachers, of their own accord, and if the people 
 will hear them and support them of their own accord, very well. 
 The State in that case need not use its power. Still, even then, 
 the State must keep an eye on the subject; must know whether 
 these things are done to such extent as its necessities require, and 
 if there is any deficiency, must use its strong arm U) supply it. 
 Are we ready for this ? Shall we act on principles which inevi- 
 tably conduct us to such a result? 
 
 This reasoning has not been invented just to serve as a scare- 
 crow on the present occasion. Ivf;ad the arguments of Dr. Chal- 
 mers in favor of an established church. lt<'ad the arguments of 
 any PJnglish high-churchman on the same subject. Read the re- 
 port of Victor Cousin on Education in I^rassi;i. R*;ad what has 
 been written by any able advocate for the union of Church and 
 State. You will find this principle, — that the State must, for its 
 own safety, secure the religious instruction of the people, — dis- 
 tinctly announced, and made the basis of all their reasonings. In 
 the writings of those of them who mention this country, you will 
 find the neglect 0/ this principle charged upon us, as the funda- 
 mental error of our iastitutions — as the great political blunder 
 which mu.st, sooner or later, work our ruin. From this principle 
 they infer the necessity of an established religion — of a clergy 
 provided, commissioned and support^^d by the State. And their 
 logic is without fault. Only grant them this principle, and there 
 is no possibility of avoiding their conclusion. We must give up 
 that principle or consent to have a Church established by law, the 
 ally and servant of the Slate. 
 
 The principle is false. The people should give character to 
 the State, and not the State to the people. Such is the funda- 
 mental idea of American Republicanism. With us, the State 
 exists for the people, and not the people for the State. The 
 people are to make the Stnt^i what they think it should fje, and 
 not to be made by the State into what the State would have thera. 
 In the heathen republi'-s of antiquity, and the infidel republic of 
 France, the individual citizen was not recognized as having any 
 interests too sacred for the State to interfere with. Of course 
 the despotism of the majority was absolute and unlimited. The 
 citizen had no rights which it might not invade — not even the 
 right of thinking his own thoughts and forming his own charac- 
 ter. He must think and be just what the State demanded of its 
 citizens. The Spartan system of education by the State, accord- 
 
352 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 ing to wliicli every child was to be taken in infancy, and made 
 into just such a thing as the State supposed itself to need, was 
 only the thorough carrying out of this idea. But Christianity 
 has taught us that the individual has interests which are spiritual 
 and eternal, and are therefore more sacred than any interests of 
 the State, which are only temporal ; that the individual is directly 
 responsible to his Maker for his religious character, and the State 
 cannot relieve him of that responsibility, and may not interfere 
 with it. On our theory, mind is free ; the right of private opin- 
 ion is sacred ; and public opinion may not, in any way, prescribe 
 to the individual what he is to think. The State, therefore, can- 
 not take the formation of religious character into its hands. It 
 must leave that duty to those whom God will, in the end, hold 
 responsible for its performance ; that is, to the citizens as indivi- 
 duals. It is not true that the State has a right to do, or to 
 secure the doing of, Avhatever is indispensable to its own safety. 
 It must, at whatever hazard, respect the inalienable rights of the 
 individual citizens. The State must consent to be dependent on 
 them for its safety ; to rely on them, as individuals, for the per- 
 formance of duties, without the performance of which its ruin 
 is mevitable. It must rely on the people to give religion that 
 prevalence which the safety of the State requires. It must rely 
 on the people to do this, not acting as a whole, through the State 
 as their instrument, and thus taking away the rights of indivi- 
 duals ; but on the people, acting as individuals, or in such asso- 
 ciations as they think it their duty to foi-m for that purpose. True, 
 the citizens may neglect their duty, and the State be ruined. But 
 exemption from danger is not to be expected. Every State is 
 always in some degree of danger, and always must be ; and all 
 expei'ience proves that the danger is quite as little on our system 
 as on any other ; that where the care of religion is left to the 
 people, it is quite as efficiently promoted as when the State 
 luidertakes to secure its prevalence. Those who call our Govern- 
 ment infidel, because it so sacredly regards the Christian rights 
 of every citizen, wholly misunderstand the matter. 
 
 As, then, the State is not bound to teach religion at all, it is 
 mider no necessity of teaching it in the form in which it is held 
 by some sect, or number of sects ; it need not establish or main- 
 tain sectarian schools. It can do all its appropriate work without 
 them. 
 
 Still, no reason appears from anything that has been said, why 
 the State should refuse to teach any important and universally 
 admitted truth. It may teach the universally admitted rules of 
 moral conduct and principles of moral obligation. By doing this, 
 it invades no man's liberty — it interferes with the exercise of no 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 353 
 
 man's rights. It does for each man's children only Avhat he him- 
 self believes ouglit to be done. Nor is the State obliged to fix 
 very definite boandaril^s, applicable to all its schools, between what 
 may be taught in them and what may not. It may safely leave 
 something to the free Avorkiiig of y)ul)lic sentiment in different 
 })arts of its territorj^ and may lawfully presume that no injury is 
 done where no one complains. If the people of a certain district 
 employ a religious teacher, and are satisfied with his management 
 of their school, and no remonstrance is heard from any quarter, 
 tlie State may lawfully presume that all is right. Nor is it a 
 duty to heed every murmur of the vicious. The teacher of a 
 school in any part of Orange street might inculcate all the duties 
 growing out of the seventh and eighth commandments, however 
 some of the inhabitants might dislike them. Comj)]aints and re- 
 monstrances that evidently grow out of the love of crime, are 
 themselves immoral, and the State is not bound to lieed them. It 
 need regard only such remonstrances as may ])ossibly be consci- 
 entious. 
 
 This indulgence, liowcver, does not extend to sectarian schools. 
 They are established for the very purpose of teaching the pecu- 
 liarities of some sect ; and there is no peculiarity of any sect, 
 against which some one lias not conscientious objections ; none, 
 for tlie teaching of which some honest men are not conscientiously 
 unwilling to })ay their money. The State cannot presume that 
 there is no honest objection against them. They are instituted 
 on purpose to teach that against Avhich every one knows there are 
 objections. They are established because what they are to teach 
 is objected against, and cannot be taught in the public schools. 
 By declaring themselves sectarian, they declare themselves to be 
 such as the State ought not to support. 
 
 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 [From the Jotu-nal of Commerce, January t.3, 1841.] 
 
 Since the publication of our former i-emaiks on this subject, a 
 decision has been had in the Board of Aldeimen on the appli- 
 cation of the Catholics for a separate common-school money. As 
 was anticipated, the Board decided against the application almost 
 unanimously. It might therefore seem useless to continue our re- 
 marks ; but we had and have other aims than merely to influence 
 the decision of the Common Council. We wish to dissipate, so 
 far as in us lies, the fog whicli has been thrown around the sub- 
 ject, under pretext of a special regard for religion and a special 
 
354 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 horror of infidelity. We trust we are not behind the CathoUcs in 
 both these respects, according to our ideas of rehgion and infidel- 
 ity, but we hold tliat there are other and better ways of promoting 
 the one and avoiding the other, than by a union of Church and 
 State. This latter expedient has been thoroughly tried in the old 
 world, and has essentially failed. In this countr}' a different sys- 
 tem has been tried, and the results, thus far, have been most 
 cheering. 
 
 Some maintain that sectarian schools must exist, because, they 
 say, all others are virtually infidel schools. They say, religion 
 cannot be taught except in some particular form ; that the adlie- 
 rents of any particular form are a sect ; that to exclude everj^thing 
 sectarian from our schools is to exclude religion in every parti- 
 cular form in which it exists ; and that this makes them infidel 
 schools. Hence it is argued that sectarian schools ought to ex- 
 ist ; and the argument, if carried out, would lead to the conclu- 
 sion that none others ought to exist, and that the State should 
 bestow its whole patronage on sectarian schools. 
 
 But if this argument is sound, how shall we avoid the reproach 
 of having infidel schools ? By choosing some one sect, or two or 
 three sects, whose doctrines are to be taught in school, as the 
 State rehgion? We never shall agree to that. Shall the State 
 put all sects on a level, and support them all alike ? What must 
 be the influence of a decision, by the authority of the State, that 
 all sects are equally worthy of its patronage — that the religion of 
 one sect is just as good as that of anotlier ? Evidently, to beget 
 contempt for all the peculiar doctrines of Christianity. What is 
 the language of such a decision to all who attend school ? " Chil- 
 dren," it says, " you must have some religious belief. You must 
 believe that the wicked will be punished after death eternally, or 
 that they will not be punished at all ; but it is of no importance 
 which of the two you believe. You must believe that the Pope 
 is Christ's Vicar, or that he is Anti-Christ, no matter which." It 
 would teach children to regard all religious doctrines with perfect 
 indifference. It would teach them to believe that no doctrine has 
 any better claim to be regarded as truth, or as important to their 
 temporal or eternal welfare, than its opposite. It would teach 
 them to condemn all decided preference for one doctrine over an- 
 other, as mere bigotry. In short, it would teach an infidelity 
 just like that of some French statesmen of the present day, wlio 
 have no faith in Christianity as a system of truth, but who wish 
 to have it taught, because the good of the State requires that the 
 people should have some religion. 
 
 The State may with propriety decide that the members of all 
 sects have equal civil rights, and shall enjoy equal political privi- 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 355 
 
 leges ; but it has no right to decide the question, whether the re- 
 ligion of one sect is just as good as that of another. It must leave 
 the question of the truth and comparative value of different creeds, 
 wholly untouched ; for it may not give one the preference over 
 others ; and by deciding that all are equally good and true, it 
 teaches infidelity. A school system which teaches the doctrines 
 of all sects indifferently, is an infidel school system, and its infidel 
 influence will inevitably be felt in eveiy school where the system 
 is understood. Tliey will all be infidel schools, though in half of 
 them the Assembly's Catechism itself be committed to memory 
 by every child that attends ; for the system teaches that other 
 children are learning opposite doctrines, which are just as good. 
 The reproach of infidelity is inciuTcd, and not avoided, by decid- 
 ing that all creeds are worthy to stand on a level with each other. 
 
 But it is not true that schools in which no religion is taught 
 are of course infidel schools. A school may be established for 
 teaching a particular branch of education, and may, without ex- 
 posing itself to any just reproach, confine itself to the object for 
 which it was established. A writing-school indicates no error 
 concerning arithmetic, grammar or geography, by confining itself 
 to instruction in penmanship. Nor does a school instituted ex- 
 pressl}'- for teaching these four studies, and these only, teach any 
 error in astronomy by omitting all mention of that science. Nor 
 does a school, instituted by the State for the express purpose of 
 teaching certain rudiments of secular learning, teach its pupils any 
 error concerning religion, by merely confining itself to its own 
 business. 
 
 With us, public schools are not, and cannot be, places for com- 
 plete education ; and they ought not to be anywhere. It ought 
 to be understood, that the whole work of forming the character 
 is not committed to the schoolmaster. There is something which 
 the parent must do personally, or he cannot be innocent. There 
 is a part in the work, which belongs to the pastor, and which he 
 must perform himself, or be to blame. It is very true, that many 
 parents, from indolence, or distaste for religious duties, and from 
 other motives, wish to throw their burden on the schoolmaster ; 
 but it ought not to be done. It is true, too, that some pastors 
 would be glad to have the schoolmaster perform a part of their 
 duties ; but they have no right to be gratified. In the proper 
 division of the labor of education, the formation of religious char- 
 acter falls to ])arents and pastors ; and the State system of edu- 
 cation should not be reproached with infidelity, because it leaves 
 their work for them to do. If they need aid in the performance 
 of their duty, the Sabbath-school is at their command ; and if that 
 is not sufficient, other means may be devised, to whatever extent 
 
856 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 the necessities of faithful and industrious parents and pastors can 
 require. 
 
 Let it be understood, then, that our public schools are not in- 
 tended and do not profess to give a complete education ; that 
 they undertake only to give instruction in certain departments, 
 and leave other departments to those whose duty it is to attend 
 to them. Such an arrangement, well understood and adhered to, 
 Avill teach no error, will exert no irreligious influence. Nothing 
 about it even implies that religion is unimportant, or that children 
 are to be brought up in ignorance of its doctrines and duties. 
 
 But, if tlie formation of religious character is thus left to the 
 voluntary labors of the people, — of the churches, the pastors, the 
 parents, — will it not be neglected ? Doubtless it will, to some 
 extent ; and the result, to the same extent, will be evil. But that 
 evil seems to be unavoidable, so long as men are found who 
 neglect their dut}'. No experience of any nation warrants us to 
 expect, that teaching religion by law would at all diminish it. 
 Greater faithfulne-os in parents, pastors and churches seems to be 
 the only remedy. It is very natural for the Church to be afraid 
 of hard work, and to wish to finish oft' some difficult labor at once 
 and effectually, by calling in the strong arm of the State. The 
 experiment has often been tried ; but neither the Church nor the 
 world has ever been the better for it. If the Church will not do 
 its own work, it must remain imdone, and both the Church and 
 the world must take the consequences. 
 
 But this same sophism will show itself and must be met in an- 
 other shape. It will be said that Christianity requires every man 
 to act the Christian in every employment and relation of life, — in 
 teaching school, as well as in everything else ; and that to act 
 otherwise is practical infidelity. Very true ; but what is the proper 
 inference ? Men must act like Christians in building steamboats, 
 making shoes, grinding scythes, and mending pens ; and we must 
 remember, there is no such tiling, actually existing, as Christian- 
 ity in general, not in the form of some sect. How is this de- 
 mand of duty to be met ? How are men to perform all these 
 duties like Christians ? Must they all be done in sectarian estab- 
 lishments ? Certainly not. Men can act from Christian motives, 
 on Cliristian principles, and with a Christian spirit, in the per- 
 formance of any duty whatever, though they neither sail in secta- 
 rian ships, work in sectarian shops, nor teach sectarian schools. 
 Nor can even an apparent neglect of Christian duty be justly 
 charged upon them because, in each of the relations of life, they 
 attend to its appropriate duties, and leave the appropriate duties 
 of others for others to perform. 
 
 This Protean sophism takes still another form. It is said that 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 357 
 
 all education which is not based upon Christianity is infidel edu- 
 cation. This is true in a certain sense ; but not in a sense which 
 proves the necessity of sectarian schools. That basis of education 
 which Christianity must furnish need not be laid in public schools. 
 It may be laid elsewhere, by the labors of the family, and of the 
 Church. 
 
 What is meant by Christianity being the basis of education ? 
 That it must be the basis of instruction in each branch of study ? 
 In what sense is it the basis of instruction in arithmetic ? What 
 are its bearings on the multiplication-table ? What influence 
 must Christianity exert, in order that the rule for extracting the 
 square root may not be an infidel rule "? A moment's conside- 
 ration may convince any one, that Christianity has nothing to do 
 with arithmetic, except to dictate the motives and temper with 
 which it should be studied, and the uses to wJiich it should be 
 applied. And so of the studies of our public schools gene- 
 rally. Christianity, from the nature of the subject, cannot be 
 the basis of that part of education, except as it is the basis of the 
 character with Avhich it should be acquired and used. Those 
 studies are in no sense inferences from Christianity, or from 
 any of its doctrines. It is as absurd to say that they are invested 
 with an infidel character if Christianity is not taught in the same 
 school-room, as it would be to say that arithmetic is made ungram- 
 matical, by teaching it and grammar in separate rooms. Chris- 
 tianity should certainly be the basis of the plan which every man 
 forms for the education of his children, and of the character which 
 every system of education aims to produce ; but it is not, it cannot 
 be, the basis of each branch of instruction, in such a sense as 
 makes it necessary that the}' should all be taught in the same 
 5cnoOi. 
 
 Turn the subject which way we will, it is not necessary that 
 every school should be either sectarian or infidel. We are not shut 
 up to any such alternative. Sectarian schools may be very con- 
 venient and very proper in some circumstances. It may some- 
 times be best that private schools, whose })Uj)ils are removed from 
 parental oversight, should be of that character. But there is no 
 necessity that they should form a part or the whole of a system 
 of means provided and sustained by the State for the instructi<jn 
 of all its citizens. The State can do all its appropriate work 
 without them ; and if parents, pastors, and churches, also do' 
 theirs, the whole work of education will be done. 
 
358 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, January 18, 1841.] 
 
 The objections against sectarian schools being supported by 
 the State have been partly anticipated in our former remarks ; 
 but they deserve a separate consideration. 
 
 If the State engages in this work at all, it must either make a 
 selection among sects, and support the schools of some and not 
 of others, or it must support the schools of all sects. The 
 former w^ill never do. It would be the establishment of a State 
 religion. The legislators who should begin the work would be 
 put out of office at the next election, and their work would 
 be luidone with all possible haste. Supporting the schools of all 
 sects, — as has been shown already, — would be a measure of infi- 
 del tendency. It would teach children, that, of the contra- 
 dictory doctrines of different sects, one is no better entitled 
 to our regard than another. It would teach them to regard all 
 forms of i-eligion, as the State regards them, — with equal indif- 
 ference. Placing all creeds on a level, wlien they cannot all be 
 true, is virtually saying that none of them are entitled to be 
 received as truth, or that truth, on this subject, is unimportant. 
 If the State supports sectarian schools, this bad influence is un- 
 avoidable. 
 
 Another evil would be the needless and hurtful multiplication 
 of schools. Men born and bred in cities can but partially under- 
 stand the force of this argument ; but in the agricultural regions, 
 which in fact constitute nearly the whole of every State in the 
 Union, except perhaps in Rliode Island, the evil would be abso- 
 lutely intolerable. In every neighborhood tliere must be as 
 many schools as there are sects. School distiicts must be of 
 such moderate extent, that a child can, witliout hardsliip, walk 
 twice a day from the circumference to the center. They can 
 seldom contain one hundred scholars, and often not more than 
 twenty- five. For these, there must be two, three, four or more 
 schools, according to the number of sects into which the parents 
 happen to be divided. How are they all to be supported ? 
 Evidently, the requisite amount of funds caimot be obtained ; 
 and instead of one good school, sufficient for the wants of all, 
 kept during the whole or nearly the whole year, each sect will 
 have a cheap and nearly Avortliless school, for only a few weeks 
 in a year. 
 
 It is of no use to say that this universal division of schools 
 ueed not be. It is one of those things which, though apparently 
 they need not be, certainly will be. If the State supports the 
 schools of one sect, another will make the demand, and it must 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 359 
 
 be granted. Another, and another, and finally all, will follow 
 the example. If the plan begins in the cities, it must soon be 
 extended to the larger villages, and then to the smaller, and 
 then to the farming districts. There is no stopping-place, any- 
 where betwixt the beginning and the end. 
 
 Nor let it be said that some sects resemble each other so 
 closely that they need not have separate schools. In their own 
 view, their differences are such as to demand distinct ecclesi- 
 astical organizations and expensive arrangements for worship. 
 They think their differences important, and will not consent that 
 the State should judge of their importance. If some sects 
 receive the aid of the State in propagating iheir peculiarities by 
 means of schools, others will demand it, and must have it. 
 There can be no peace, till there are in each school district as 
 many schools as thei-e are sects among its inhabitants. This 
 point has already received a partial illustration. The Roman 
 Catholics argue, that they differ so much from the Protestants, 
 that they must have separate schools ; while the Protestants are 
 so much alike, that they can all use the same schools. But who 
 shall be the judge in this matter ? If they are allowed to decide 
 whether their own peculiarities are important enough to justify 
 separate schools, every Protestant sect must be allowed the same 
 privilege, and, in the use of it, will demand schools of its own. 
 
 Another evil would be the increase of sectarian hostility. 
 This, too, would be felt most powerfully in the agricultural dis- 
 tricts and smaller villages, which, be it remembered, contain 
 almost the whole people. In each of those districts, each sect 
 would be anxious to have as large a school as possible, and 
 therefore as many adherents in the district as possible. Hence 
 efforts at proselytism would be vigorous and persevering. In 
 such small communities, the transfer of a single man from one 
 party to another would be an event of great relative importance, 
 and would excite deep and strong feeling. The change of senti- 
 ment in a single tax-payer would sensibly affect the pocket of 
 every one, both of his old and his new associates. Every mem- 
 ber of every sect would be stimulated to make proselytes, by his 
 conscientious preference for what he regards as truth ; by his 
 love of victory ; by his regard for his own purse, and desire of 
 help in meeting expenses, and by his desire to retaliate on rivals, 
 who, he supposes, resort to unfair means of gaining advantages. 
 The compound would make a most unlovely spirit, while the con- 
 scientiousness would sanctify it in the eyes of him who was gov- 
 erned by it. And there would be at least an annual struggle of 
 the sects, to get the names, the influence and the pecuniary aid 
 
360 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 of those who belong to no sect ; and of those, mnnj'^ would be- 
 come violent partisans, without a particle of religious principle. 
 
 Each sect, too, would wish to have as many schools as possi- 
 ble ; and the leaders, of each would be laying and executing 
 plans for the establishment of schools in all the districts in the 
 land. Each supreme dignitary or central board would be send- 
 ing out appeals, stating that " there are so many districts in 
 which we have no schools ;" that "in such, and such, and such a 
 place, there are a few members of our church, who, with a little 
 aid from their more favored brethren, might sustain schools ;" 
 and reports from traveling agents, telling in what places they 
 liad excited a desire, or a desire might be easily excited, " for 
 schools of our order." The reader, if he can bear the sight, may 
 finish the picture for himself. 
 
 This last mentioned evil would be aggravated by another, — 
 the introduction of sectarianism into politics ; the transformation 
 of the various sects into so nianv political factions, each plotting 
 for the promotion of its own interests at elections and in legisla- 
 tion, and all bargaining with each other and with politicians for 
 the accomplishment of favorite objects. This will be inevitable, 
 if the several sects, as such, are to receive money from the State. 
 The thought has already been conceived, and tliB beginning has 
 been made. The Propaganda Society of Lyons, in their " An- 
 nals" lately published, say of the Roman Catholics in the United 
 States : " Their xmion secures for them an infallible preponder- 
 ance, in the midst of the perpetual divisions of heretical ojiin- 
 ions. In the Atlantic States, they form a powerful minority. 
 In the greater part of the Western States, they form a plurality, 
 and at some points perhaps a majority of the inhabitants." 
 Those who talk thus of " infallible preponderance," secured by 
 united and powerful minoi-ities, pluralities and majorities, are 
 certainly thinking of voles, of elections, of legislation, of acting a 
 part in politics. Wherever the thought mav have originated, 
 the Roman Catholic leaders in New York have declared them- 
 selves ready to act according to it. They have offered the votes 
 of their sect to any political party that will give them what they 
 call "justice." If they succeed, some other sect Avill follow 
 their example ; and the further it goes, the more others will feel 
 themselves compelled to adopt the same course in self-defense ; 
 and, in the end, the various sects will become so many political 
 factions. If there is any sect whose religious purity will not be 
 injured by such a change, it must be some one which has very 
 little purity to be injured. 
 
 Nor is this all, or the worst of it. After the spirit of sectari- 
 anism has been thus stimulated to a preternatural and malignant 
 
SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 361 
 
 activity, find then poisoned by its allianco with politics, tne chil- 
 dren of every sect are to be inoculat(;d witli it in infancy, and its 
 growth is to be effectually nurtured by their education in sec- 
 tarian schools. People need not hope that the sectarianism of a 
 generation thus trained will be like that which they now wit- 
 ness. Commencing before the understanding is develtjpcd, and 
 before any reason for it can be comprehended ; fostered by every 
 opportunity of childish emulation or antagonism between the 
 members of rival schools ; embiliered, first by sympathizing with 
 the participation of their parents, and afterward by tlieir own 
 participation, in every proselyting effort and every local election ; 
 kept alive and increased by the constant necessity of guarding 
 against the political and other machinations of rival .sects ; it 
 must be a sectarianism of such malignity as no example has yet 
 enabled the people of this country to understand ; and it will be 
 well if the politico-religious factions thus formed abstain from 
 shedding each other's blood. 
 
 Finally, no system of sectarian schools can be made to reach 
 the whole population of the State. Many families live sur- 
 rounded by families of other sects, to whom they cannot consci- 
 entiously intrust the education of their children. Multitudes be- 
 long to no sect ; and a large part of them will obstinately refuse 
 to j)lace their children in sectarian schools. The geographical 
 system, of dividing the whole State into districts, with a school 
 in each, must be given up ; for the sects will supersede it so ex- 
 tensively, that the remnant will not be worth preserving. And 
 when tlie geographical system is abandoned, there will be no 
 security for the existence of schools in all places where they are 
 needed. Numerous tracts of country may then be left without 
 schools, and nobody will be held responsible for the deficiency. 
 The result will be, a numerous population whom the sectarian 
 system will fail to reach, growing up uneducated, and unfit to be 
 free citizens of a free republic. The State cannot secure (hat 
 universal diffusion of intelligence which its own safety requires, 
 except by adhering to the geographical system. 
 
 And here the argument might close ; but it seems advisable 
 to notice two pleas in favor of the present Roman Catholic 
 claim. It is said that they pay their proportion into the school 
 fund, and have a right to an equivalent. Very true ; and they 
 have an e(juivalent. While they remain in tliis country, they 
 cannot escape having an equivalent. The privilege of living in 
 an educated community is worth, many times over, all that tliey 
 pay. But this is not all. The schools are open for tlicm, as 
 well as for others. A full equivalent for their money is tendered 
 to them in this form also ; and if they refuse to accept it, still 
 10 
 
362 SECTARIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 the State has done its duty. It confers on them one benefit, 
 worth far more than tlieir money, and lays another at their door, 
 whicli they may use if they phrase ; and by this, the demands of 
 justice are fully satisfied. 
 
 The other argument is, that the consciences of the Roman 
 Catholics require them to have sectarian schools, and we ought 
 to accommodate our institutions to their consciences. The an- 
 swer is easy. Their consciences are already accommodated, as 
 far as they can reasonably ask to be. They are at perfect liberty 
 to estabUsh as many sectarian schools, and support them as 
 abundantly, and patronize them as exclusively, as their con- 
 sciences require. Not the least impediment is thrown in their 
 way. The law even protects them in all their lawful measures 
 for this purpose ; defends them against all opposition by force 
 or fraud ; protects their school-houses, and other property ; en- 
 forces the fulfillment of contracts ; renders them all the aid it 
 renders any man in any lawful business. And with this they 
 ought to be content. But, it seems, their consciences go beyond 
 all this, and demand an appropriation from the State Treasury, 
 in support of their schools. They demand the commencement 
 of a series of changes tluit would destroy our school system, and 
 substitute for it, one according to their mind. This we cannot 
 concede. We cannot undertake to gratify all consciences, — 
 especially while they contradict each other. What if Protestant 
 consciences, twenty times as numerous and quite as honest and 
 well informed, demand the unbroken preservation of our district 
 school system, and entire abstinence, by the State, from the sec- 
 tarian ? How are both to be gratified at once ? There are 
 those in the world — and if we will publicly engage to change 
 our laws and institutions as their consciences require, they will 
 soon be plenty among us, — whose consciences demand an hered- 
 itary monarchy, with absolute power, a censorship of the press, 
 the universal collection of tithes, the suppression of heresy by 
 pains and penalties, and the exemption of clergy from arrest, 
 and trial by the civil government for any ciime. Shall we an- 
 nounce that if they will come among us, all things shall be 
 arranged as their consciences require ? 
 
 We have formed free institutions, and a system of schools as 
 an important means of sustaining them. People of any country, 
 and of any sect, are welcome to come among us and enjoy the 
 benefit of them ; but we cannot give them up to gratify those 
 who like something else better. We allow and secure perfect 
 liberty of conscience to every man whose conscience will be con- 
 tent with its proper employment, regulating the conduct of its 
 owner. But if consciences will go beyond their proper sphere. 
 
THE CATHOLICS. 363 
 
 and demand the surrender of any of our free institutions, or the 
 destruction or derangement of any of our means of sustaining 
 them, we cannot gratify sucli consciences. If any man's rehgion 
 debars liim from enjoying any of the privileges whicli our coun- 
 try ofi'ers freely to all, it is his misfortune, or his happiness, ac- 
 cording as his religion is right or wrong ; but we cannot afford 
 to desti-oy any of those privileges, to gratify the few who deem 
 it unlawful to x;se them. We must keep up our system of public 
 schools which arc not sectarian, for the benefit of all, leaving 
 those who think they know a better way, at perfect liberty to 
 walk in it, which is all that they can reasonably ask. If any 
 man's religion subjects him to peculiar expenses, that too is bis 
 misfortune, — or a peculiar favor of Providence, as the case may 
 be. It is an affair between him and his Maker, and not between 
 him and the State ; and we cannot remove or weaken any of the 
 supports of freedom, for the sake of reducing his religious ex- 
 penses to an equality with those of other men. 
 
 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 [F7om the Journal of Commerce, February 13, 1841.] 
 
 ****** 
 
 We have no fears that Romanism will subjugate this free 
 country, assisted though it be, by all the powers of the Leopold 
 Foundation. But we know that if Americans were to allow 
 themselves to be seduced by promises or awed by thi-eats, our 
 liberties would soon be gone ; and here we shall take the liberty 
 to say, that the conduct of the priests and leading men, ia hold- 
 ing Irish Catholic meetings for the purpose of subverting the 
 institutions of this country and getting possession of its school 
 funds, is impudence of no ordinary cast, and shows that some- 
 thing has stultified their perceptions. What scorn would Ameri- 
 cans justly bring upon themselves, were they to make such 
 attempts upon the monasteries of Spain, or the domestic institu- 
 tions of any other country of Europe ! What scorn, if, instead of 
 sending Missionaries unarmed to teach justice and temperance 
 from the Bible, they should send their ships-of-war to force Pro- 
 testantism and brandy on the heathen at the cannon's mouth ! 
 But we say to our friend, the Irish American citizen, and all his 
 bishops, go a-head. Share to the full in our liberty, and the 
 protection of our good laws. Our alms-houses and the charity of 
 private Protestants will make up what you leave undone for the 
 wants of your swarms of ignorant and vicious poor. Our school- 
 
364 PURGATORY. 
 
 house doors shall be open to their children, free of expense, and 
 to please you, all the books shall be expurgated, except the Bible. 
 One party or the other will pay the naturalization fee of all your 
 countrymen who desire it, and after having sworn allegiance here, 
 then agitate the Irish repeal and the New York school-fund as 
 much as 3^ou please. Americans have most of them two eyes 
 and two hands, and a heart a-piece, and we all intend to be about 
 here for some years to come. 
 
 PURGATORY. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 6, 1841.] 
 
 It seems that Joe Smith has put purgatory into the list of his 
 superstitions. He has also fixed an easy wa}^ to get people out 
 of that difficulty, and he does right ; for the bright idea of the 
 whole matter is just that very thing of getting them out. There 
 is very little money to be made by a place of eternal punishment, 
 but a place which people can be helped out of by their friends who 
 are left behind, — that has yielded a larger revenue to the priests, 
 than any bther religious doctrine in the world. The Mormon 
 doctrine is, that any man to whom the magnetic cord of mysteri- 
 ous influence has been passed down by regular succession, not 
 from Peter, but from Joe Smith, may baptize a friend of the de- 
 parted heretic in the name of the heretic, and that substitution 
 is all the same as if the heretic had been himself baptized, and he 
 is by his proxy thereupon brought into the true Church of the Lat- 
 ter Day Saints, and so of course is at once out of all difficulty. 
 For this good purpose two old soldiers have recently been bap- 
 tized in Illinois by a Mormon elder, one by the name and on be- 
 half of George Washington, and one by the name and on behalf 
 of William Henry Harrison. This plan of competition by the 
 Mormons must be dangerous to the Roman priests, for it operates 
 quicker, and is cheaper than masses, and just as good exactly. 
 
 : THE SCHOOL QUESTION. 
 
 i 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, October 30, 1841.] 
 * ***** 
 
 But that which interests a very large and substantial part of 
 our citizens, more than all other questions before the public, is 
 the attack which the Catholic priests have made on our public 
 schools. The schools of this city are its glory and its hope. 
 
THE SCHOOL QUESTION. 365 
 
 They are of the very first order of usefulness. They are purely 
 literary institutions, except that the Bible, the common book of 
 all Christians, is read once a day. The school-books have been 
 expurgated by all the various religious sects until there is nothing 
 left which any one complains of. The schools are located conve- 
 niently in all parts of the city, and act upon a common plan ; so 
 that when a child goes from one to another, he finds in his new 
 school the same books, rules and regulations, to which he had be- 
 come accustomed. 
 
 These schools are open witliout expense, even for books, to all 
 the children of the city. The foreigner, as soon as he arrives in 
 the city, can send his family to as good schools as the world 
 affords, without money and without price. But the Catholic 
 priests are not willing to have the children of their people attend 
 these schools, and the Bishop of Basileopolis has accordingly 
 led off in a grand crusade against them. The great and only ma- 
 terial complaint is, that the Bible is read in these schools. This, 
 according to the Bishop, renders them sectarian ; which prevents 
 his people from attending them, and so deprives them of their 
 rights. If the Bible could only be read with the Notes of the 
 Romish Church, that would cure the matter of its sectarianism, 
 in the Bishop's opinion. So if the Bishop should take it into his 
 head that there should be a cross painted over the Speaker's chair 
 in the Assembly Room, at Albany, or erected at the top of the 
 cupola of that building, he would then be able to show that 
 the plain walls and plain cupola were so sectarian that Catho- 
 lics were deprived of their privilege of serving in the Legisla- 
 ture, — that of course the right of suffrage was useless, — and that 
 all the Catholics in the State were disfranchised. The very mo- 
 dest claim of the Catholics is just this, that the schools shall be 
 made Roman Catholic schools, or else the Roman Catholics will 
 be " deemed and taken" to be most wickedly deprived of their 
 rights. 
 
 The real question as to the schools is one vital to our institu- 
 tions. None but a Roman Catholic would have had the effron- 
 tery, or even the thouglit of making such an issue. The ques- 
 tion is simply whether our schools shall be public and free to all, 
 or turned into subserviency to a foreign sect, whose principles are 
 at war with the whole fabric of our institutions. The difficulty 
 with the Bishop is really not so much that a chapter in the Bible 
 is read in the morning, — though that is a great Americanism ; for 
 the Bible is the only book of liberty, — but the grand difficulty is, 
 that Catholic children who go about, slipping beads, crossing 
 themselves, and so much afraid of their priests, that they dare 
 not think without permission, do, by associating with American 
 
366 PROSPECTS OF POPERY. 
 
 boys, learn to hold up their heads, think for themselves, count 
 then* rights instead of their beads, and throw off the priestcraft 
 which holds them in base subjection. Thus the boys turn Ame- 
 ricans, and the Bishop loses his sheep, or as the French parson 
 said, his " dear moutons." 
 
 THE POOR POPE. 
 
 [FroTTJ the Journal of Commerce, October 8, 1842.] 
 
 Popery seems to be acting with considerable vigor in its 
 extremities. In the Sandwich Islands its priests are thick on all 
 the islands, doing what they can to counteract the labors of Pro- 
 testant missionaries, who first raised there the standard of the 
 Cross, surrounded by books and schools. In this country the 
 Papists seem to think that popery and liberty are here to find a 
 safe retreat from the dangers of the old world. Here popery is 
 sought to be sustained even by such desperate measures as the 
 establishment of schools, the publication of newspapers, and the 
 submission of questions for decision to the people ! This process 
 will bleach the Ethiopian's skin and take out the leopard's spots. 
 Yet, it is going on in spite of the protestations of the Pope 
 against " the most pestilent impudence" of publishing books. 
 Poor old man ! his secular power is circumscribed to a small ter- 
 ritory, the revenues of which are insufficient for any important 
 purpose, and he has not credit enough to borrow. His own peo- 
 ple, too, especially the middle classes, inoculated with the pesti- 
 lent epidemic of the times, are itching for knowledge, and send- 
 ing to the Protestant portions of Europe and to free America for 
 books — books — and reading with the avidity with which a starving 
 man eats. The authority of the Pope will soon be confined to 
 spiritual matters, and in this he will be obliged ere long to ac- 
 knowledge that every man is a pope, and consent to govern in 
 accordance with the opinions of the masses. The day of inves- 
 tigation has risen upon the world, and it will be a long day. 
 
 PROSPECTS OF POPERY. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, February 7, 1843.] 
 
 As to the old Pope, it is best to watch him, and give him hard 
 blows, if, forgetful of where he is, he seeks to play his pranks 
 here as he has done in Europe. But if, afflicted with the rebellion 
 
PROSPECTS OF POPERY. 367 
 
 of his children on the other side of the Atlantic, he stretches 
 his aged eyes to this free country, and hopes here to head off and 
 turn back the reformation, let him take what comfort he can in 
 liis dreamy fancy. So if the icebergs of the North find them- 
 selves hot pressed by the returning lord of the summer, and ima- 
 gine that they can better sustain their power by removing to the 
 equator, let them do so. All that the equatorial regions need to 
 care for is, that no clouds obscure the sun. Popery is in more 
 trouble here than is generally supposed. Doubtless there are 
 vast importations of the article, of the very strongest quality ; 
 and large sums of money are sent over from Europe to bring us 
 back to the holy harlot mother ; but the work of conversion, so 
 far as our observation extends, goes on but slowly. After all the 
 foreign remittances, the Catholic churches, at least in this city, 
 are deeply in debt. Bishop Hughes stated, not long ago, that in 
 the aggregate they were in debt to the full value of the property ; 
 and in our opinion, that was a very niodeiate estimate. The 
 priests have persuaded the faithful servant girls and servant men 
 to take their savings from the savings-banks and loan them to 
 build churches. If we understand the matter, the church in 
 James street, and that in Chambers street, have many of these 
 persons knocking at their doors, and knocking hard for the pay- 
 ment of bonds, but with very little success. But these are minor 
 matters. The Irish Catholics come here to be free ; they are 
 great democrats, and their priests are obliged to be democrats, 
 too. They are foi-ever talking of liberty and personal rights, and 
 the Constitution, and the laws. After all this outcry for liberty, 
 it is not so easy to obhterate all personal rights, and bring the 
 people back to abjectness. It is a great embarrassment that the 
 Head of the Church is a foreign prince. A still greater difficulty 
 is the necessity which the priests find themselves under of defending 
 themselves by means of a public press. There is .nothing which the 
 present Pope counts so " pestilent" as this boundless liberty of print- 
 ing. Heretofore Rome has shut up argument in dungeons ; but she 
 has been obliged to answer argument by argument here, and that 
 before the tribunal of the people. She is drawn to the press for de- 
 fense, and thei'e the worst features of the system her priests have 
 never dared to defend, or even to confess. There is nothing which 
 can inflict so deadly a wound on the beast as a goose-quill. Another 
 difficulty is, that in order to preserve Catholics from straying away 
 from the faith, their fears have constantly to be appealed to, and 
 with a degree of seventy which is dangerous to those who apply 
 it. Catholics would send their children to the public schools and 
 the Sunday-schools ; they would go to Protestant churches and 
 to the devotions of Protestant families, but (or fear of the priests 
 
368 PROSPECTS OF POPERY. 
 
 at the confessional. People do not like such a government, and 
 .it must always be a dangerous resort where there is really no 
 power to enforce the threatened penalties. In the vaiious docu- 
 ments which we have published, there is abundant proof that the 
 fires of discord which rage in the bosom of the Mother Church 
 are of the hottest sort. There is no Protestant denomination in 
 the United States which would think of using such language 
 towards its clergy as that which was used by the wardens of 
 St. Louis' Church at New Orleans, or the people of St. Joseph's 
 and the Harlem Church here. The unity of the Romish Church 
 lias generally been little else than outside talk. The daring of 
 Bishop England and Bishop Hughes has induced them to attempt 
 to do great things, but they have only got into scrapes and dis- 
 affected their people. The truth is, Romanism in the United States 
 can neither sit still nor stir about. So far as we are acquainted, 
 the conversions from Popery are much more numerous than the 
 conversions to it. In fact, such is the peculiar character of its 
 adlierents that they must be scattered and mixed up with Pro- 
 testants in such a manner that it is more than the wit of the 
 pi'iesthood can do, to preserve them from becoming intelligent and 
 independent. As a matter of fact, we know that, to a great extent, 
 the Irish, particularly the men, after they have lived here ten 
 years, will not pay half so much to the priests as when they first 
 arrive. The number of Catholics is increasing, but in a smaller 
 ratio than Protestants. In 180V, William Wirt, in a letter to a 
 young student in Kentucky, wrote, " the constant intercourse 
 between Kentucky and the Spanish settlements will make it neces- 
 sary that you should be well acquainted with that language." It 
 is hardly possible to believe that such a sentiment should have 
 been true so recently. Where arc now those settlements of 
 Si)anish Catholics ? Swept away by the waves of Protestant emi- 
 gration. Where are the Catholics who were born in this country ? 
 Look at the multitudes who pour out of St. Peter's, and listen to 
 their conversation. They have almost all of tliem foreign face.s 
 and a foreign brogue. Tlie grand difficulty which prevents Catho- 
 lics from being more rapidly transformed into independent Ameri- 
 can citizens is, the oppressions which Protestantism has practiced 
 upon them in their native land. They have been goaded to exas- 
 peration by the tyranny of the Established Church of England. 
 They come here thinking very naturally that all Protestants are 
 such unjust oppressors. Then here and elsewhere they have 
 heon charged at random with a great many things which were 
 untrue, and others which they thought untrue. Let us teach 
 them a new lesson ; and while we leprove the arrogance and 
 tyranny of their priests, as we would reprove the same things in 
 
PROPOSED CATHOLIC REFORMS. 369 
 
 any otlier men, let us teach them that Protestants are as liberal 
 as they are free ; that they have imbibed the benevolent spirit of 
 Jesus Christ, and that they rely on truth alone to uphold their 
 opinions. Then, although the Roman Catholic Church may 
 remain as a distinct denomination, its members will be intelligent 
 and free Americans, and no more dangerous than the adherents 
 of other denominations. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, July 8, 1843.] 
 
 PROPOSED CATHOLIC REFORMS. 
 
 ^E do Bishop Hughes the justice to publish the report of the 
 mixed committee appointed under his auspices to investigate the 
 burning of the Bibles at Corbu, Clinton county, N. Y. It shows 
 that Catholic priests have learned something by residing in this 
 country, and that a green one from France is liable to make great 
 mistakes by behaving here just as he would at home. Certainly 
 the American Catholic priests have done right in this matter, and 
 we trust that now the Rev. Father O'Reiliey, who assailed us so 
 furiously for stating the case at first, will do us justice, and con- 
 fess that it is possible for a heretical layman to be in the right, 
 and a priest of the Church in the wrong, especially where facts 
 are to be investigated before the whole people, and not within the 
 thick walls of the Inquisition. There are a few more bad prac- 
 tices of the Rorai.sh priests which, as friends, we tell them cannot 
 be maintained here, and had better be disavowed at once. One 
 of them is the requiiing of the poor Catholics to surrender the 
 Bibles which have been given them, to be destroyed 2'>ri^<^telij. 
 You cannot keep people from reading and thinking, in this coun- 
 try. Another thing which is exceedingly unpopular, is the es- 
 pionage which is exercised in families, and the prohibition to ser- 
 vants, of uniting in family devotions. Another thing is, taking 
 money for praying souls out of purgatory. Praying souls out of 
 purgatory is all a humbug to raise money ; and the people know 
 too much to sustain it much longer in this country. Auricular 
 confession will go by and by, and then, by purging the priest- 
 hood of dissolute men, making a Head to the Church in the United 
 States, and adopting the Bible as the rule of faith, Romanism will 
 stand some chance of success among us. Luckily you never did 
 here sell indulgences to eat meat on Friday, for three shilhngs 
 a-piece, as is done now in South America, and so that is not to be 
 relinquished. But Popery must be modernized if it is to succeed 
 here. We trust that Bishop Hughes will be able to convince his 
 16* 
 
370 REBELLIOUS CATHOLICS. 
 
 Holiness of the expediency of burning no more Bibles in the 
 United States, and of hereafter introducing French priests by 
 way of New York, and not by Montreal ; and that he will also 
 be able to procure from the Pope a dispensation in favor of the 
 improvements which we have suggested. If he finds any diffi- 
 culty in accomplishing so desirable an end, we shall be happy to 
 supply him gratuitously with "Facts and Reasonings on Church 
 Governments," which we are sure must convince all the Vatican 
 that the mode of doing things in this country is very different 
 from what it was in Rome during the Middle Ages, or is even 
 now. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, September 22, 1843.] 
 
 REBELLIOUS CATHOLICS. 
 
 The New Orleans papers contain paragraphs the substance of 
 which is, that recently a lodge of Free Masons have laid the 
 foundation-stone of a tomb, in the cemetery attached to the Ca- 
 thedral, whose wardens have heretofore shown so much disposi- 
 tion to pin their faith on their own sleeve, especially as to secular 
 matters ; that the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese sent, 
 through the Rector of the Church, to inquire of the wardens 
 why it was that they had so desecrated grounds consecrated to 
 holy purposes ; that the wardens replied that they considered 
 the Bishop not a little insolent in making any such inquiry, and 
 that all associations had at all times been privileged to erect 
 tombs for their deceased members. So the Bishop was obliged 
 to put this little matter in his pocket, and keep still ; but if his 
 soliloquy could have been overheard, it would probably have been, 
 " I curse these infidel wardens with all the curses which ever 
 issued from the throne of St. Peter at Rome ; may their wives 
 be unfaithful and their children disobedient ; may their houses 
 be burned up, and their goods rot on hand ; may they have tic 
 douloureux in their heads, gout in their toes, and rheumatism in all 
 
 their bones ; may but what is the effect of all this ? The 
 
 wives of the accursed are as faithful, and their children as 
 obedient, and their property as safe, and their persons as full of 
 health, as if I had spoken nothing. Oh ! that I had the powers 
 of the Holy Inquisition here, as they are exercised among the 
 faithful in the Old World. I would soon place these infamous 
 rebels where it would be of little consequence to them how 
 their families should behave, or what should become of their es- 
 tates." 
 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 3T1 
 
 " CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY." 
 {From the Journal of Commerce, March 18, 1845.] 
 
 This was the simple and expressive motto upon the banner of 
 the students of the Roman CathoHc College at Georgetown as 
 they walked in the inaugural procession. Do they mean the 
 civil and religious liberty of Italy ? That con.sists in the liberty 
 to believe what the Church teaches, and obey what the Church 
 commands. An Italian cannot discuss any public topic in assem- 
 blies, or in newspapers ; he cannot print a book, nor have a 
 book by virtue of any personal right to have it ; he cannot have 
 God's book at all, except by keeping it hid ; he cannot pass 
 from one place to another without leave ; he cannot, even in pri- 
 vate circles, express his opinions, if he has any, unless those 
 opinions are approved by the government. His house is no 
 castle for him, though it may be for the priest against him. Of 
 liberty, stich as the American constitutions proclaim and guar- 
 antee, he has none, either civil or religious. 
 
 Do they mean the privileges which American citizens, holding 
 the Catholic faith, enjoy in this country ? Civil liberty, to be 
 sure, Protestantism has provided for them ; but Romanism lias 
 repudiated that liberty. A Romanist even here has not the lib- 
 erty to keep his or her own secn^ts, but must reveal them to the 
 priest, with all matters of the family into which he chooses to 
 pry. Catholic servants do not possess the liberty to attend 
 family worship, with the Protestant families to which they be- 
 long. Congregations which build churches cannot control the 
 appropriation of their revenues, nor even hold the title-deeds of 
 the property. They cannot marry except within the circle pre- 
 scribed by the priest ; and if they have children, they cannot 
 select the Sunday or day-school to which they shall be sent. 
 We mean, that by the laws to which they subscribe, these rights 
 are not acknowledged as belonging to them, by any personal and 
 inherent claim, but are claimed to be controlled by the priest ; 
 and the only way in which these rights can be enjoyed, is by re- 
 belling against Rome and taking shelter under Protestant laws. 
 As to religious liberty, a Catholic has nothing which a Protestant 
 would call liberty. He has no liberty of private judgment, for 
 he must believe what the Church teaches. He cannot select his 
 religious teachers ; they are made for him and placed over him. 
 His faith, his practice, his teachers, are all made for him accord- 
 ing to the order of an old man at Rome, and other old and 
 young priests, calling themselves the Church. He cannot choose 
 his own food ; for he must eat fish on every Friday, except by 
 indulgence from the priest; then he may eat meat. For such 
 
0<_ PROTECTION AGAINST CATHOLICS. 
 
 slaves to be carrying about the banner of " Civil and Religious 
 Liberty," does but excite our pity. Would they could but once 
 feel what libei'ty is. The sensation would make them leap for 
 joy. Liberty to investigate where we please ; to believe what 
 we please, and to pi-oclaim everywhere what we believe; to 
 worship as we please, when we please, and with whom we 
 please ; to marry whom we love most, and educate our children 
 in such ways and with such helps as we think best for them ; to 
 erect our "meeting-houses," and own them and manage them 
 as we please ; to study the Bible without note, comment or 
 guidance, and judge for ourselves what our Father in Heaven 
 says to his children ; to live within a door which no man 
 can open without our consent ; to enjoy all these things and 
 many moi'e, and to enjoy them, not by the consent of a priest, 
 but as personal rights, given to us by God, and made in us when 
 He made us ; — such a man has no need to carry " Civil and Re- 
 ligious Liberty" about, stuck upon a pole ; for he is clothed by 
 it, and filled with it, and exults in it. Such a man has use for a 
 conscience and understanding and affections. He is God's free- 
 man. 
 
 PROTECTION AGAINST CATHOLICS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 28, 1845.] 
 
 " How shall the Protestants of Ireland protect themselves 
 against the Catholics ?" is the title of an article which has lately 
 appeared in England, and the question is one which is exciting 
 deep interest there. The true answer is, allow them their rights ; 
 treat them fairly ; make government a blessing, instead of a curse 
 to them. Ireland has a right to hate Protestantism, for she sees 
 it hardly ever except in the shape of an oppressor. Let Catholics 
 be treated with a generosity which they never exercised. Do to 
 them, not as they have always done to us, but as we would that 
 they should do to us. Acknowledge them as fellow-citizens, 
 entitled to think for themselves and adopt their own religious 
 belief, without derogation from their civil rights. Take off the 
 enormous injustice of tithes to support an establishment upon 
 which they never attend. The bloody feuds of past days may 
 not be instantly cured, but there is no other remedy, and the 
 sooner this is applied the better. We must allow to others what 
 we claim for ourselves. If we claim that civil penalties shall not 
 fall on us because of our faith, we must allow the same thing to 
 all other sects. If we claim the liecht to examine and determine 
 
A CHRISTMAS SERVICE. 373 
 
 for ourselves, we must allow tlie same right to others. There is 
 no doctrine so absurd tliat oppression cannot propagate it. There 
 is no falsehood so entrenched, that truth and kindness cannot dis- 
 lodge it. A government which is oppressive and unjust, ought 
 to be resisted ; one that is just will always find support. The 
 Catholics of this countiy who have been here long enough to 
 imderstand our institutions and their value to every citizen, are as 
 good supporters of the government as other men. And as to 
 the priests, judging from the claims which we see put forth by 
 the clerical assemblies of other denominations, they are but little 
 if any more hierarchical than their neighbors. Almost without 
 exception the Protestant ministers claim the same divinity as dis- 
 tinguisiiing their business from all other business, which each so 
 scornfully and so justly scouts in all the rest. Men are men, and 
 nothing more nor less ; and the different degrees of badness in 
 governing systems, whether in Church or State, consist chiefly 
 in their adaptation to develop tlie self-conceit, the arrogance and 
 love of power, which dwell in all men, and in most of them are 
 exceedingly rife and turbulent, if they have the power. The best 
 remedy is the spirit of the Christian, accompanied by those great 
 principles of political and religious equality which run through 
 the New Testament, and are adopted in the glorious Constitution 
 of our country. All men are equal in personal rights, when they 
 are born, and ever afterward. Divine right belongs to man as 
 made by his Creator, and ever after, when engaged in the per- 
 formance of duty, and to nothing else. These principles of eter- 
 nal truth, maintained and acted on, will make each man's rights 
 clear, and public free discussion will array the masses against 
 violence, and protect society under the benign regulation of just 
 laws framed to promote the public good. Catholics and Protest- 
 ants will then live securely and peacefully together. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS SERVICE. 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, January 9, 1847.] 
 
 If our chief pastor will inquire about the flock, he will find 
 that the mixed marriages, or something else, are producing a wan- 
 dering disposition in the flock. A dozen or more have joined the 
 new German Catholic Congregation since their public meeting, 
 and many more are reading the Bible, and interpreting it for 
 themselves. In fact, the Bishop and under-shepherds read the 
 Bible, and take texts for sermons from that, and not from tradi- 
 tion. We had the privilege of listening on Christmas day to a 
 
374 A CHRISTMAS SERVICE. 
 
 Bible sermon from the Bishop, at the Cathedral, most of which 
 would have been approved in any New England pulpit. He 
 quoted the Word of God as of authority, and there it lay before 
 him, to guide him and all the people. It was a scene to excite 
 deep reflection and ardent hope. That mortal sin for which so 
 many thousands of Christ's disciples have been punished even to 
 death, and with »11 imaginable cruelties, under the influence of 
 the Romish hierarchy, — that sin the Bishop committed before the 
 great congregation without fear ; nay, he durst not fail to commit 
 it. He had the Bible in his jwsscssicni, and he read it. What 
 crowds of Lollards were murdered and sent to heaven, even in Old 
 England, and but a little while ago, for doing just what the Bishop 
 did, and so recommended to all the people. We were glad 
 to know that the Bishop would not be burned for his fault, nor 
 even the Bible burned which he had been reading. It was wra- 
 tifymg to see also, that although the ofiiciating priests ni a long, 
 unmeaning service before and after sermon, prayed in an unknown 
 tongue, yet the faithful had their prayer-books in their various 
 vernaculars, praying on their own account. There were some 
 things done which were ridiculous enough, to be sure. Two Bish- 
 ops and all the priests appeared in women's clothes, petticoats, 
 Vandykes, (fee. The Bishop spoke in his sermon of Christianity 
 as having elevated woman. Certainly in dress, it was evident it 
 had placed her on a level with the Bishops. An hour before 
 and after sermon were passed in pantomime. Four men Avith 
 broad square gold blankets, richly colored, and decorated with 
 pendent sleeves, fringes, <fec., placed themselves in all possible re- 
 lations to each other, bowing, prostrating themselves, putting on 
 the assistant bishop's miter, and taking it off a dozen times. 
 There were also some half dozen boys, in petticoats, with candles, 
 and acting as Avaiters. One very grave operation Avas to take a 
 richly-covered book from one place and put it in another, or 
 hold an open one on the. boys' heads, Avhile a priest chanted from 
 it, &c. Let no one say Ave ridicule the service. We only de- 
 scribe it, and if that is ridicule, the fault is in the facts, not the 
 telling of them. All these things must pass away. Priests and 
 bishops must appear in men's clothes, and other garments more 
 fitted for the successors of fishermen, than the gorgeous and cum- 
 brous trappings, Avith candles at noon-day, with Avhich this cere- 
 mony Avas performed. A generation cannot groAv up in America 
 without demandinof somethinQ: more intellectual than such thinffs. 
 They might make the ignoi'ance of past ages stare, and Avonder, 
 and obey, but they will produce no such effect now-a-days. On 
 the whole, the service of the Cathedral was full of hope. Hope, 
 chiefly for Catholics, who compose so large a portion of the civil- 
 
THE CATHOLIC SERVICE. 375 
 
 ized world. A better day is before them, — is upon them. They 
 are rapidly rising from superstition to faith ; not that blind sub- 
 mission to dictation which is called faith, yet is unworthy of the 
 name, but to an intelligent investigation of God's works and 
 word, a clear comprehension of their own rights, obligations and 
 privileges, and an operative, purifying, ennobling faith in all that 
 is proved to be true. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC SERVICE. 
 
 \^From the Journal of Commerce, January 19, 1847.] 
 
 The Catholic Freeman's Journal has a very clever article com- 
 menting upon our account of the service at the Cathedral on 
 Christmas day. The editor is triumphantly good-natui'ed and 
 veracious, though somewhat poetical, as he had a right to be. 
 He is even quite gratified at our simple statement, and very kindly 
 instructs us in some of the matters about which we were obliged to 
 exhibit ignorance. He says that what we called broad gold blan- 
 kets were " the cope, tlie chasuble and the dalmatics ;" and that 
 what we called a petticoat was " the alb, a white robe worn by 
 those who officiate in the sanctuary, symbolical of the purity and 
 innocence of life which should adorn those who minister to the 
 Lord." Should adorn ! Carefully said. We have read history 
 until the last idea which any garment of that form upon a priest 
 would convey to our mind would be that of purity. But it only 
 emblems that which ought to be, and in the rufht Reverend wearer 
 on Christmas day, is, we trust. But the impi-ession of purity would 
 rise much stronger in our mind, if these women's clothes were 
 transferred to honorable wives. As to the otiier hard names, we 
 sliall never be able to recollect them, or, if we did, to know what 
 they symbolize. Our friend does not explain them, onlj^ that 
 " they are the mere outward forms," and have been the same from 
 " the earliest periods of the Church." Earliest periods ! Why, 
 the man does not mean to say that those old Congregationalists 
 Peter and John wore such things ? They might have had blan- 
 kets, but they were useful, comfortable garments, — not such 
 clumsy, ill-setting things as these " gold blankets." The editor 
 thinks us in so hopeful a way, that he declares — " We venture to 
 say, judging from this and other evidence, that if Mr. Hale tries 
 (which we hope he shall) but fifteen years more, he will be a Ca- 
 tholic." We thank him for his good wishes, and will cheer him 
 in his hopes with the assurance that we will declare ourselves 
 Catholics the moment we are convinced that Catholicity is truth. 
 
376 THE CATHOLIC SERVICE. 
 
 But with our present feelings we should not consent to be can- 
 didates for petticoats. But we are ignorant yet, very ignorant. 
 We call things by such names as we have been accustomed to 
 give them. Our first great blunder in this way was in supposing 
 that the sign put by the Bishop before his name was a dagger. 
 It was what the printers always called a dagger, and so we sup- 
 posed it was a dagger. We grew up in New England, where 
 there are few symbols, and many realities. Few symbols of 
 purity, and much real purity ; few types and shadows, but much 
 reality. Not so much piety of garments, but more, or at least 
 quite as much, true piety. The ministers there, to be sure, once 
 Avore big wigs and three-cornered hats, clean bands, and some- 
 times a black college surplice. But those things have now al- 
 most entirely disappeared, and the clergy rely almost on their 
 personal bearing and piety for their influence among the people. 
 We may learn to get truth through symbols of doubtful significancy, 
 but we have been so long accustomed to go right to it, and read 
 it in the Bible, with no symbols between it and us, that at first 
 this way, so old, but new to us, seems rather to embarrass the 
 matter. But we must live and learn, and nobody can tell what 
 fifteen years may not do. We should not be surprised to find 
 ourselves much nearer to American Romanism then, than we are 
 now. Certainly we are much nearer to it now than fifteen years 
 ago. But as we said, we are ignorant yet. We do not know 
 why Jesus Christ came into the world and gave himself a sacrifice 
 on the Cross to establish a Church on Peter. We do not under- 
 derstund how the Church has been infallible when her councils 
 have decreed so many different things. A passage in Bishop 
 Hughes' sermon on Christmas troubled us just in this place. He 
 said that Mary had been called the " Mother of God" until Nes- 
 torius (?) declared that it was improper to call her so. A great 
 council was called, and the prelates from all parts of the empire 
 were interrogated as to the opinion of the Church, through their 
 dioceses. They declared that the sense was everywhere against 
 Nestorius, and when this decision was proclaimed from the vast 
 temple in which the council were assembled, the people rent the 
 air with their joyful acclamations. We were obliged to perceive, 
 through this symbol of public rejoicing, that there must have 
 been some doubt how the council would decide, and that to pro- 
 duce such a doubt, there must have been a wide-spread differ- 
 ence of opinion ; and the question would rise whether if the deci- 
 sion had been the other way, it would have been just as infallible. 
 But the Bishop took it upon himself to say, that the appellation 
 was given to Mary " not because she was mother of the divine 
 nature, but because that nature was so united with the person of 
 
PROTESTANT LIBERALITY. 377 
 
 her Son,<as of that it was proper to use this language." It seem- 
 ed to us, therefore, tliat there was notliing really, in the mighty 
 question. All parties held the same opinion about the fact. The 
 only cpiestion was about the ■propriety of the toords, and that a 
 Church which should make such a mighty movement about a mat- 
 ter of no real importance, must have been not merely fallible, but 
 childish. We did not see Church Infallibity, any how, in these 
 symbols. 
 
 But we have displayed enough of our ignorance for the pre- 
 sent. If we were to say that we do not know how the succes- 
 sion is proved all the way down from the apostles, nor of what 
 importance it could be if it were proved, it would only show how 
 much more we have to learn in fifteen years. But fifteen years 
 is a great while. In a very little of that time all the banks are to 
 break, and nobody can say where we shall be after that. We 
 hope to be where the Bible is, where people believe because 
 things are proved, and not because they are not proved, or are 
 even disproved, and Avhere faith is not formal and ceremonial, but 
 living and purifying. We should not think it very strange if all 
 this should take place in the American Catholic Church. 
 
 PROTESTANT LIBERALITY. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, March 27, 1847.] 
 
 *' In the midst of such scenes ; of dreadful sufferings and of generous 
 charity, it were strange if Protestantism of the true and genuine type 
 should not show its hideous form. It has done so ! In shame for our 
 wretched humanity we would wish to be able to deny it. We would 
 fain tliink tliat the serpents of the pit had assumed the empty form of 
 Bible-pedlars, and had not found any of the human race so God-forsaken 
 as to serve so purely hellish a cavise. But, except we take this expla- 
 nation, there is no other way to escape from it, that the canting miscre- 
 ants of Exeter Hall have gone to Ireland, crept into the hovels where 
 poor Catholics were writhing in the agonies of a death from starvatioti, 
 with rice boiled, and prepared in their hand, and have offered it on the 
 condition of abjuring the Catholic faith, and when the condition was 
 rejected, have gone away and left the poor Catholic to certain death!.' .' 
 Is it not well, is it not full time that Protestantism of this type has lost 
 its hold on public sentiment, and that the howl of its self-confessed dis- 
 solution is no longer interrupted save by the jecrings of those Avhom 
 it has attempted to dupe .'" — Freeman's Journal. 
 
 It must be a most inveterate habit of lying which the present 
 deplorable condition of Roman Catholics, and the noble gen- 
 erosity of Protestants cannot silence. Such a story as this must 
 be an outright made-up slander, without one word of truth 
 
3T8 
 
 BIBLE OR NO BIBLE 
 
 about it. But even if one or two individuals had done just what 
 is here represented, how poor a soul must tliat Catholic have, 
 who would make a noise about it here, and how exceeding ungen- 
 erous in the midst of Protestant liberality, to call that " Protest- 
 antism of the true and genuine type." The thousands of dollars 
 which come from all parts of our country for Catholic relief, (for 
 there is no Protestant suffering of importance,) are, for the most 
 part, given by Protestants who claim to be of the " true and 
 genuine type." These free and happy States are peopled with 
 such. But what if some Protestant association, unable to help 
 all, had thought it a chief duty to aid Protestants ? Has Popery 
 anything to say against that ? " Left to certain death !" If this 
 had been the extent of Popish cruelty, its guilt would have been 
 comparatively small. But it has not left Protestants to die ! 
 Its pathway through the dark ages, and while it had the power, 
 was a broad way, piled high with Christian corpses on either 
 side, and gullied deep with the river of Christian blood which 
 was ever flowing through it, from victims put to death with all 
 possible horrors. Left to die ! Do you think that wrong ? 
 What do you think of shutting a mother in one room, and her 
 child in an adjoining room, where she could hear its cries and its 
 breathing, and then starving them both to death, because that 
 mother refused to abjure Jesus Christ and worship the Virgin 
 Mary ? Such things as these, in hundreds of thousands of 
 instances, and by the Inghest Catholic authorities, we have to 
 balance your slander, thrown thus meanly back in the face of a 
 generous Protestant world, laboring earnestly to relieve Catholic 
 misery — and that misery created almost wholly by Romanism 
 itself. Left to die, eh ! 
 
 BIBLE OR NO BIBLE. 
 [jFVom the Jotirnal of Commerce, ^pril 6, 1847.] 
 
 He who would know the value of the Bible may learn it by 
 comparing the LTnited States with Mexico. Mexico was first 
 settled, and by as good men perhaps as could be found anywhere 
 without the Bible. The soil, the climate, the minerals of Mexico, 
 were all superior to those of the United States. She had the 
 superiority in everything except men, and the difference in the 
 men was chiefly attributable to the Bible. We talk much of 
 Anglo-Saxon blood. But why is that blood better than the blood 
 of Aragon and Castile ? The blood of all our race is feculent 
 and feeble untU the religion of the Bible gives it purity and vigor. 
 No candid man can find any adequate cause for the boundless 
 
BIBLE OR NO BIBLE. 379 
 
 disparity between the people of the two republics, except that 
 one is a Protestant and the other a Catholic nation ; one has the 
 free use of the word of God, the other has it not. 
 
 Let the world look at the state of facts now exhibited in the 
 two nations, and give a verdict of truth. Let them say whether 
 the Lord is God, or the Pope of Rome ; whether they will be 
 ruled by the laws of God, or by those of an ignorant, lewd and 
 lying priesthood. 
 
 In Mexico is a population of eight millions of people — poor, 
 ignorant, violent, revolutionary ; and a priesthood who have con- 
 trived to amass all the wealth in their own hands ; a people and 
 a country in abject poverty, and a Church with seventy millions of 
 dollars, an army forced into the ranks, miserably armed, miserably 
 clothed, and starved, on the one side ; to meet an American army 
 of volunteers, educated, well-armed, fed and clothed, and of a supe- 
 riority so extraordinary, that where they stand, and against four 
 times their number, they stand unmoved as the hills beneath them. 
 In one nation cities rise on every hand ; navies float on every sea ; 
 canals, railroads and communications of every sort facilitate the 
 growing greatness and happiness of the people ; while in the 
 other, cities dwindle away and commerce scarcely has existence. 
 In one nation every man is industrious and inventive, secure in his 
 home, his family and his property ; in the other, everything is 
 indolence and insecurity. In one country schools are everywhere, 
 instruction everywhere, intelligence and manly independence in 
 every countenance ; in the other, superstition, ignorance, servility, 
 worthlessness. One country feeds the starving Cathohcs of Eu- 
 rope ; the otlier starves Catholics at home. One is the land of 
 freedom and plenty, to which the oppressed and starving of Eu- 
 rope are thronging as to a paradise ; the other the abode of 
 oppressors, and shunned by the most miserable as the place where 
 they would only be made still more miserable. One country is 
 adorned and blessed with thousands of churches, few of them 
 rich, but filled with intelligent Christians, taught by a thoroughly 
 educated and pious ministry ; the other has churches filled with 
 images, pictures, and ignorant devotees bowing before them^ under 
 the dictation of priests, who, with some exceptions, are ignorant, 
 vicious, cock-fighting, gambling, sore-legged, and all in all as 
 thorough-going a set of villains as ever took holy orders this side 
 of the bottomless pit. One nation is full of Christians ; the 
 other is full of Catholics. One nation is full of Bibles ; the other 
 full of tradition. The Bible has made us to differ. Let us thank 
 God and keep it, and not only keep it, but study it, and fill our 
 minds and the minds of our children with its purifying and enno- 
 bling truths. 
 
380 TENDENCIES OF ROMANISM. 
 
 TENDENCIES OF ROMANISM. 
 [From the Jom-nal of Commerce, May 12, 1847.] 
 
 The tendency of tlie Roman Catholic system is to barbarize 
 and brutalize those who adopt it. 
 
 It removes the word of God from the people, It is in the 
 study of the Bible alone that men find out their relationship to 
 God and their fellow men, and their high dignity and responsibiUty. 
 Nothing but this has ever enabled our race to stand up in such 
 personal and associated dignity, as to maintain good order in con- 
 nection with true liberty. Without the Bible men neither know 
 God nor themselves. 
 
 The system deals in no great thoughts. It is by contemplating 
 great objects that men become great. By contemplating others, 
 men are " changed into the same image" with the objects of con- 
 templation. The man who has with him always the grand idea 
 of God's presence, who feels that the Almighty is round about 
 him constantly, and does this with admiration and love for that 
 high and holy Spirit in whom he lives, and moves, and is, gradually 
 becomes elevated, purified, and like the object of his contempla- 
 tions. The Romish religion Avraps us in no such elevating con- 
 templations. Instead of sending us to God through the great 
 Mediator, with all our sorrows, desires and joys, it sends us to a 
 priest, often a poor humanity, or to saints dressed out in fantas- 
 tics, or to the Virgin Mary ; and with the contemplation of these 
 small, and often degrading objects, would occupy and fill our 
 minds. It is not a religion of grand spiritualities, but of small 
 materialities. 
 
 It does not appeal to the ennohling affections of our race. 
 Benevolence is the great affection of man, and fear the least and 
 most belittlinsc. The Romish relimon has little to do with benevo- 
 lence, but is built almost wholly on fear ; fear of penance, of the 
 priest, of purgatory. Instead of teaching that we are to love all 
 men as brethren, children of a common Father," it shuts up favor 
 within the inclosure of the Church, and teaches that heretics 
 (those who have opinions) are to be hated, persecuted and 
 destroyed. It does not stimulate, but suppresses mental exercise ; 
 and the mind can no more thrive in indolence than the body. 
 Investigation is mental exercise. Searching after truth, great 
 truth, makes the mind strong and healthy. But Rome forbids all 
 this mental exercise upon the greatest of all topics. It demands 
 that men should never think and investigate, but believe the teach- 
 ings of the Church. The mind which adopts this fundamental 
 error is at once unstrung. Its exercise is ended, and its health 
 and strength departed. Civil governments always, if they can, 
 
TENDENCIES OF ROMANISM. 381 
 
 demand the same slavish submission, so that when the system is 
 carried out by rehgious liierarcliy and pohtical despots, men cease 
 to think on these two most interesting subjects, and their intellect- 
 ual strength departs. In our country, where freedom of political 
 discussion is everywhere kept up, that does much to sustain intel- 
 lectual strength. But he Avho consents to be enslaved, to give up 
 his mind to the dictation of masters in religion, has lost, even 
 here, the best means of intellectual culture, and even of thorough 
 political knowledge. It is true that when despots in religion and 
 politics have alike established their sway, there yet remain the 
 broad fields of art and science, in which minds may rove and 
 exercise. But these fields are trodden by a select few only, and 
 they must keep to nari-ow paths, lest their feet should uncap some 
 forbidden cave. 
 
 Individuality, and that self-reliance without which no man can 
 be great, Rome discountenances everywhere. Rights here, and 
 salvation hereafter, come down through the Church and her con- 
 secrated hands. Dependence, submission, are her constant cry. 
 She allows no child of God to say, " I will tell it to my Father," 
 and rest it there. But soul and body, time and eternity, hang 
 on the will of men and association in the Church. The highest 
 nobility of man, standing up alone in the rights which God gave 
 him when He made him what he is, Rome dashes to the earth. 
 What mind can fail to see the ennobling power of personal inde- 
 pendence, and of personal divine right, in which an individual 
 man stands, a king and a priest of God's making, high above all 
 the kings and piiests which men have made, or who have made 
 themselves in spite of men. 
 
 Here are five great avenues to feebleness and brutalization, at 
 which Rome is ever working. The number might be increased, 
 and these might be expanded until volumes were filled. They 
 are matters of common sense, obvious philosophy, and as interest- 
 ing as obvious. The- tendency of the great doctrines of any sect 
 in religion, politics or general philosophy, should be considered ; 
 for these produce the grand residts. A circumstance or cluster 
 of circumstances may indicate an opposite result, as the windings 
 of a path may sometimes turn the face of the traveler avvay from 
 the proper end of his journey. But in both cases he is on his 
 way, and moving toward the end with certainty. Here are rea- 
 sons enough for "the bloody revolution of France, for St. Barthole- 
 mew's day, and all the horrors of Catholic barbarity, for the pre- 
 sent condition of Catliolic countries. They show, too, how our 
 land of happy Bible freemen would be dragged down to the den 
 of brutality, if Rome or any other hierarchy should ever get the 
 dominion over us. 
 
382 ROMANISM AND LIBERTY. 
 
 ROMANISM AND LIBERTY. 
 
 [Frotn the Journal of Commerce, Jlpril 14, 1848.] 
 
 Brownson, in the last number of his Review, has a labored 
 article, in which he attempts to show that the Romish Church 
 has been the patron of liberty always. lie irocs back to the 
 time of the introduction of Christianity, describes the bad state 
 of the world then, and attempts to show that it has become 
 much better since. Bishop Hughes has attempted to show the 
 same liberalizing tendency of his Church, and so have various 
 others. But it would be a mucli shorter ]«-oc(!ss, and much 
 more satisfactory, we think, if, instead of wading through the 
 labyrinths of so many ages of darkness, tyranny and crime, the 
 gentleman would point us directly to the various nations where 
 this " tendency" has resulted in the establishment of that which 
 was the end and object of the tendency. Wo take it that a ten- 
 dency, which is nothing but a tendency, might as well be a ten- 
 dency to one thing as another. In fact, the best way to ascer- 
 tain the tendency of any cause is, to inquire what has been 
 produced. Prelacy assumed great inlluence during the early 
 centuries, and in five or si.\ hundred years had come to exert an 
 almost undisputed ' sway. If it was in full tendency from the 
 year 500 to the year 1500, it would seem that a tendency of a 
 thousand years must have " cropped out," as the geologists say, 
 at some point, and come to the i-ealization of a " development." 
 Obviously, the Catholic Church ought not to be held responsible 
 for what has happened since Kno.v, Luther, Calvin, lluss, and 
 others like them, brought in their disturbing inlluences. 15ut 
 anywhere, along from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries, if the 
 great Catholic tendency did really come above ground, in the 
 establishment of a well-regulateil republican government, any- 
 where under the patronage of the Pope, for instant'.e, or any 
 other Catholic dignitary, historians have very carelessly over- 
 looked it. They were not aware of the tendency perhaps, — 
 were not looking out for the dmelopment, and so stunibled over 
 without observing it. If any such thing really existed, anil Mr. 
 Brownson will point it out, we will slide down the plane of time 
 a thousand years, with tiie pleasure of his company, to see it. 
 Possibly it lies just developed under or among the ruins of ller- 
 culaneum. Wlu'rever it be, though yet buried deep under 
 boundless continents of lava or other rubbish, we will " off coat," 
 and with pickaxe in hand, dig as long as he will, to find it. But 
 there have been, all along, several nations in which the Catholic 
 tendency to freedom has been operating, in a great measure 
 undisturbed, imtil recentlv. We do not refer to England or the 
 
ROMANISM A N IJ LIBERTY. 383 
 
 United States, for in bolli these countricfi the tendency was run 
 off the track two liundred years ago. But it has been working 
 in Spain, Italy, Austria, South America, and in Russia too, we 
 presume ; for when tlie Eastern or Greek Churcli separated 
 from tlie Western or Romish, she probably kept her share of the 
 tendency. Will Mr. Brownson, or any of the learned gentlemen, 
 cither lay, reverend, or .very reverend, or right reverend, point 
 us to the really free Catholic country now basking in the liberty 
 which Popery has brought to it? We are ready to take ship 
 any day to visit that country. Certainly in Italy, in the very 
 focus of this great tendency, it must have wrought out the great 
 object of its labor ; yet they say the people have never been 
 allowed to vote for their rulers there, in either Church or State ; 
 that they have no news])apers except those entirely controlled 
 by government, no meetings of citizens to discuss political or 
 religious subjects, no public schools, no Bible, " no notiiing." 
 Well, if that is the best result of an uninterrupted tendency to 
 liberty of twelve centuries, then we cannot understand the use of 
 tendencies. 
 
 The Puritan tendencies have not been at work a quarter 
 so long, and yet see what developments have come above 
 ground. They came up early, like tulips in the spring. Whose 
 tendencies tliese are which are heaving so under all the old 
 Catholic thrones of Europe, we will not stop to say ; but we 
 cannot help thinking, that this old tendency of Romanism which 
 Mr. Brownson describes, has been stimulated into a more rapid 
 productiveness since the land has been literally dressed with 
 Protestant lime. 
 
THE PILGKIM FATHERS. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS. 
 
 In making selections from the writings of Mr. Hale for the 
 present volume, the Editor has limited himself mainly to topics 
 of a moral and religious nature. He has excluded political sub- 
 ject's, on which — especially that of Free Trade — Mr. Hale wrote 
 much and with great ability. He must also omit many mis- 
 cellaneous articles which would of themselves make an inter- 
 esting volume. From the great mass of such articles contained 
 in the more than six thousand numbers of the Journal of Com- 
 merce which have been examined for the purpose, such only 
 have been selected as are supposed to have some permanent 
 value, or to be of striking merit. Each article here inserted has 
 been identified as Mr. Hale's by Mr. Gerard Hallock, by whose 
 kind aid the Editor has been enabled to make this compilation. 
 
 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, February 8, 1846.] 
 
 " Forefather's Day. — The claims of the old Puritans to our memory 
 and admiration cannot, we presume, be vindicated on the ground of 
 their intrepidity and skill as voyagers, or of the privations they en- 
 dured, though condemned to live when they landed, their descendant 
 patlietically tells, on ' a few biscuits, a little Holland cheese, and a 
 small bottle of aqua vitre.' Consequently the results of their deeds on 
 this continent, or their former lives and cliaracter, establish their title 
 to fame witii posterity. ' Around this spot,' said the President, ' lit- 
 tle more than two hundred years ago, men enacted scenes which con- 
 stituted the history of a nation. One degree of heat and cold more or 
 less, one tomahawk more, and an empire was extinguished.' Acting 
 under the like natural gratitude, the denizens of a future flourishing 
 republic may assemble on the shores of New Zealand to honor their pil- 
 grim progenitors, for they too will have planted an empire. They may 
 be supposed to cast a retrospect on their narrow escape from non-exist- 
 ence, and say, a judge more clement, a felony less heinous, a jury more 
 conscientious, and an empire was unborn. 
 
 " As to their character and the motives of their conduct, the concur- 
 rent testimonies of all impartial historians concede that their turbu- 
 lence made Europe too hot for their practices. Nor cau Mr. Webster 
 
THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 385 
 
 dispel the belief in this overwhelming authority by quoting history to 
 prove they were an ambitious, unscrupulous sect, and, without show- 
 ing, doggeclly asserting the contrary. They committed their lives to 
 tlio ocean, it may be said, in vindication of religious freedom. But they 
 always pushed the doctrine in the application to their own case to the 
 most extravagant excesses, and the destruction of civil obedience. The 
 instant they ceased to be slaves, did they not play the tyrant .' Nay, 
 while actually harassed by vexation and oppression, did they not 
 strive to perpetuate against other persuasions tlie thraldom at which 
 they so obstreperovisly clamored .' Looking at the specimens that re- 
 mained, the Old World, indeed, may bless her fate on the transportation 
 of a portion of the race to a place where they could no longer be dan- 
 gerous, and calculated to reform their tempers by diverting them from 
 tlieir favorite occupation of preaching, to the necessity of deriving a 
 subsistence from clearing the forest and cultivating tiie soil. They left 
 behind too many bad on principle, with one who earned an everlasting 
 memory by chance, and one who reaped immortal curses by his crimes. 
 Deeply was it to be lamented tliat Oliver Cromwell did not make one of 
 the Pilgrims ; he would have returned to his primitive avocation of the 
 plow, and the world would have been spared the bloody record oa 
 wliich Puritanism has engraven his name."' — Freeman's Jouimal (Cath- 
 olic). 
 
 Bite viper ! If the man who wrote this for the official organ 
 of this diocese, or his ancestors of hke blood, could have known 
 in 1G20 that only " one tomahawk more" was wanting, it would 
 have been speedily supplied. But the time when one tomahawk 
 or a million could extinguish the empire of earth's deliverance 
 from the reign of priestcraft has gone by, thanks to the provi- 
 dence of God. The empire of Puritan emancipation is so firmly 
 established upon the broad basis of truth, that though the emis- 
 saries of the Papac)' come here by thousands, build their cathe- 
 drals, establish their nunneries, and set up their newspapers 
 to curse the fathers of the republic and the principles which 
 they pronounced, yet no one is alarmed. The pillars which 
 they erected tremble not, and no well-instructed descendant 
 of the Pilgrims is alarmed. Yet to this day, the Papacy dare 
 not allow a Yankee boy to pass its frontier with a Bible in 
 his pocket, lest he should overthrow the Church. The head 
 Papa sits trembling at Rome, scared by the noise of a printing- 
 press, more frightful to him than the earthquakes of Etna 
 and Vesuvius. And yet the noise grows louder. That blessed 
 " palaver stone" at Plymouth is becoming a great mountain and 
 filling the earth — burying forever divine right and the boundless 
 wickedness of the men who claimed it. Cry on then from the 
 tops of all the Seven Hills, " treason ! rebellion ! there can 
 b'! no church without a bishop, no state Avithout a king !" 
 Gather together hard names and hard curses mountain high, 
 and hurl them upon the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock. It is too 
 late, for the empire of liberty is founded. 
 17 
 
386 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 
 The Pilgrims had a pilot to guide them, in whom they 
 trusted, more than in their own skill. True, they did not 
 land where they expected, but they landed where God in- 
 tended, and that was what they desired. It is not pretended 
 that the Pilgrims were perfect either in wisdom or holiness. 
 They were men from Europe, not angels from heaven, nor gods 
 from anywhere, nor even saints from Italy. They had not 
 learned everything, but they had learned that God was greater 
 than the Pope, that the Bible Avas a safer guide than tradition, 
 that salvation was by faith in Jesus Christ, not by absolution 
 from the priest. They had learned the great doctrine of human 
 equality and the divine rights of man as he came from the hand 
 of his Creator, and they valued those rights more than the bless- 
 ing of the bishop. They found a shorter way to heaven than 
 tliat which lies through purgatory, and a surer ticket of admis- 
 sion than masses, bought with money. 
 
 But there is no better testimonj^ to the character of the 
 parents than is to be found in that of the children. We are will- 
 ing the Puritan pioneers of New England, and the Catholic pio- 
 neers of South America, should be judged and compared either 
 by the records of history, or the facts of the present day. We 
 are willing to compare New England with Rome itself, the very 
 seat of Cathohc influences. We are willing to weigh what 
 the Puritans have done for the happiness of mankind, against the 
 labors of their revilers, Avhether they be put forth through the 
 organ of Bishop Hughes or the Reverend Rector of New 
 Rochelle, whose unscrupulous misrepresentations disgrace a re- 
 spectable Puritan name. Where has liberty spread her wings 
 without restraint but in the land of the Puritans ? Nay, where, 
 but vmder the protection of Puritan principles, did ever self-gov- 
 ernment maintain anj^thing but endless revolution ? The doc- 
 trines of salvation by penances and absolutions and auricular 
 confessions and prelatical blessings, and that tradition and the 
 Church are the rules of faith, make men slaves to priestcraft. 
 Tlie doctrine that the Bible is the only rule of faith, and that 
 salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ alone, disenthrals the soul, 
 and makes God's freemen. Such were the Pilgrims, and such 
 are most of their descendants still. 
 
 But however much hierarchs may hate and vilify the Puritans 
 and their principles, they are compelled to bow down and do 
 them reverence. At the staple and ring fastened by the Puri- 
 tans, their stiff necks are compelled to bend. Here, we have 
 th«^ strange inconsistency of men abusing the doctrines of the 
 Puritans, as they j)retend, and yet pniising the religious and civil 
 liberty and the universal education which are but the practical 
 
THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 387 
 
 development of those doctrines. The Pope's bishop here, the 
 patron of this scoffing journal, out-Herods the Pilgrims in his 
 praises of Pilgrim democracy. Amid the denunciations of the 
 fountain, all hands praise the stream below, compelled by the 
 fruitfulness and beauty of the valley around. Popery curses the 
 Pilgrims, and then seeks to be popular by putting on their gar- 
 ments. 
 
 The Pope here is the friend of education, self-government, re- 
 ligious liberty, and has "no objection" to the reading the Bible 
 in the public schools ; in fact you would almost think him Elder 
 Brewster risen from the dead. What liigher praise did any men 
 ever extort from their enemies? Go on then. Genius of Hier- 
 archy, to upbraid the Pilgrims of 16'20. You cannot deliver 
 yourself from the controlling spell of their doctrines. You must 
 walk in the procession of the Pilgrim triumph. The Pilgrims 
 are dead, to be sure. Tyrants and slaves may kick their dust. 
 But their principles live and will live to lay superstition and 
 tyranny in the dust. 
 
 Bishop Hughes, in the versatility of his genius, delivered a lec- 
 ture two or three years ago, in which he demonstrated, as 
 he seemed to think, that Popery naturally tends to liberty 
 and civilization, and that if it had not always produced these 
 results, it was owing to " accidents." The Reformation under 
 Luther he thought a great misfortune, as it interrupted the reg- 
 ular development of the blessings of Popery. The Bishop felt 
 sure that the bombshells which were found in the Pope's 
 nest just at that time were the genuine eggs of the republican 
 goose ; and that, if Luther had not scared her off, she would 
 have hatched out, in due time, a brood of liberty, religion, 
 and literature. No matter that whenever one of these eggs had 
 really been hatched, there had burst out a thousand iron slugs 
 and all sorts of murderous things, — that was only an accident. 
 Republican eggs will .'^ometimes hatch that way. At any rate, 
 the Bishop proved to demonstration, that the most hideous des- 
 potism which ever crushed our race would have produced 
 liberty, order, and virtue, if only it had been left alone : just as 
 a battle-field, manured with gore, bears rich clover, or a heap of 
 compost-filth covers itself with violets and dandelions. So the 
 Papacy was established as the natural progenitor of Puritanism. 
 
388 pilgrims' day. 
 
 PILGRIMS' DAY. 
 
 [Prom the Journal of Commerce, December 21, 1847.1 
 
 The New Ensrland Society of this city will celebrate the land- 
 incf of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, with their accustomed 
 oration at the Tabernacle, and suppei' at the Astor House. The 
 orator this year is J. Prescott Hall. Esq., whose personal repu- 
 tation leads us to expect that the higii character of this anniver- 
 sary will not suffer in his hands. The Yankees in Brooklyn hav- 
 ing set up for themselves, are to have their feast also. Rev. Dr. 
 Cheever is their orator ; and as to the feast, they intend to have 
 some flow of soul there, for although they have e.vcluded into.x- 
 icating liquors, they have introduced the ladies who are some- 
 times still more intoxicating. 
 
 It is grateful to rest upon events which show that the virtues 
 are not mereh' a list of pretty labels placed on empty packages, 
 or, what is still worse, used only to smuggle along bad things 
 under cover. There must be some virtue, or hypocrisy Avould 
 have been dead long ago, for the pretense to that which never 
 was cannot long cheat people. Yet if we were really to ascer- 
 tain how small a quantity of real virtue has been able to keep up 
 this vast growth of fungous matter, looking all green and healthy, 
 we should find that pure virtue, the real morphia itself, must 
 have a wonderful power in it. The world has never yet sunk so 
 low, as not to know that real virtue is of inestimable worth. 
 Every one who pretends to have anything pretends that he has 
 che genuine article, yet there is a wonderful quaniit)' of counterfeit 
 stuff abroad. There is a courage much boasted of, by which men 
 fight duels and all sorts of battles, which, after all, is nothing but 
 fear of somebody's talk ; there is a benevolence which only does 
 good deeds to others, because it sees that it can carry out its own 
 selfishness that way ; there is a piety which makes a great outside 
 show of words and ceremonies, merely to cover the track of freer 
 sinning ; and there is a patriotism which makes a great outcry about 
 the public good, but means nothing but its own. These counter- 
 feits of virtues are always the deadliest enemies of the real thing ; 
 and their way of fighting it, is to call it by the names of their own 
 hateful qualities. Sheep thieves, they say, cry stop-thief loudest 
 of all the throng ; so you may pick out the real bigots and hypo- 
 crites of the coramunit}', by selecting those whom you hear most 
 vehemently charging others with these vile qualities. 
 
 It is one of the remai-kable characteristics of real virtue, that it 
 deals little in pi-etension as to itself. It acts out itself. Its 
 proof is in the use, and it seems often to be quite unconcerned 
 about what others think. Real virtue, knowing its own worth, 
 
pilgrims' day. 389 
 
 is careful too, not hastil}' to cliari^e that what seems right exter- 
 ually is really wrong. " Charily hopeth all things," and is not 
 half so ready to call a hypocrite by his true name, as t4ie hypo- 
 crite is to fix his own name upon sincerity. If a man talks a 
 great deal about honesty, do not put your money in his hands. 
 
 But there is a great characterisUc about true heroic Airtue. It 
 always exerts itself about that which it thinks r'uiht. A bravery 
 which exerts itself in mere destruction, a patriotism which will 
 hurry the country to ruin, rather than offend the popular opinion, 
 falls oti' here, and proves itself hollow-hearted, — a vice and not a 
 virtue. /*• it rights That is the first and last question with 
 great virtue. What is dutij? W\\i\i.\s tisefulnPHS? What will 
 fall in with and carry out the plans of Infinite Goodness ? The 
 man of real virtue stands by God's side and woiks with him. 
 He is a hero, as inconceivable to common heroes, as God him- 
 self, almost. He works by rules and acts on plans, to them in- 
 comprehensible. 
 
 Puritanism was not a man or generation of men, but a princi- 
 ple, a soul which makes a hero of any man in whom it dwells, 
 it had a marvelous development in the seventeenth century, but 
 has had its developments in all centui-ies, even in this, we trust. 
 In the seventeenth century, men grew to be great heroes, by the 
 working of true virtue within them, and cruel oppression without 
 them, and a better knowledge of what was real truth than had 
 existed for ages before. These Puritans were hated, hated, hat- 
 ed ; yes ! with a peifect, finious, inexpressible hatred. There 
 was reason enough for this in Church and Slate, for they had 
 found out that man was a king and a priest, and this put them 
 that wore crowns and mitei's into the ranks at once, and turned 
 the world upside down sure enough, or at least brought it to one 
 broad equality. 
 
 What they believed they practiced ; and so, when a man who 
 had been a special king rebelled against the government, com- 
 mitted treason, and could in no otherwise be made to allow peace 
 to the commonwealth, they cut his head otf", for the necessity of 
 the case, and without any particular superstition about the mat- 
 ter. There was some shaking about thrones in those days, when 
 there was danger that the common good of all the people alike 
 was to be made the rule of action. 
 
 There was never a greater eflbrt made on earth to bury up 
 and dcsti-oy anything, than has been made against this Puritan- 
 ism, and the great men whose hearts beat with it ; and yet, with 
 a singh' excejition, and that almost a part of the very same 
 thing, no other set of men ever laid the world under such mighty 
 obligation to them, or produced such great blessings for our race. 
 
390 BISHOP HUGHES AMONG THE PURITANS. 
 
 Liberty, civil and religious, the Puritans won it for us all. They 
 have been accused of everything but vvliat they were. We have 
 thought "this a good occasion to show how some of these things 
 stand, and we have a couple of capital witnesses, in Carlyle and 
 the North American Review, neither of which can be accused of 
 any prejudice in favor of Puritanism. 
 
 Every man who would understand this strange giant period of 
 the world, should read Carlyle's book through ; and he will grow 
 himself, if he will but allow it. The Puritans who landed on 
 Plymouth Rock, and their immediate associates, have been char- 
 ged a milHon of times, with coming over for gain ; to get from go- 
 vernment, that they might play the tyrant themselves ; with de- 
 stroying the Indians ; with persecuting the Quakers ; persecuting 
 Roger Williams, &c. All these things are utter lies, though told 
 never so many times. The facts out of which most of these 
 stories are fabricated did not happen in connection with the Ply- 
 mouth colonists at all, but with the corporated planters of the co- 
 lony of the Massachusetts Bay ; nor until the generation of im- 
 migrants had all passed away. The facts as charged never hap- 
 pened at all. The quotations below, constituting the concluding 
 portion of a review of Mr. Young's collection of chronicles, in 
 the North American Review, put these things in their true po- 
 sition. [These are omitted for want of room.] 
 
 BISHOP HUGHES AMONG THE PURITANS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, January 8, 1848.] 
 
 Spiritualities are easily lost sight of. Sentiment controls 
 men, and yet, while we celebrate the praises of a sentiment 
 which in old times blessed the world, its life dies away within us, 
 and the praises of a great virtue will perhaps be celebrated by 
 oigies of viciousness. Even those symbols of sentiment or feel- 
 ing which are intended to perpetuate virtue, lose the life them- 
 selves which they were intended to secure, and come to be them- 
 selves substituted for it, to its entire extinction. So men honor 
 humility by wearing sackcloth and abstaining from meirt, while 
 tlieir hearts, very possibly, are full of pride, and their bellies of 
 salmon and eggs. Those spiritual sentiments and feelings which 
 purify and ennoble men, come to be celebrated by outside shells 
 of ceremony, got up as substitutes for the represented graces, 
 and as a decent apology for the total absence of all real good- 
 ness. When this process has gone on until the vicious apparition 
 of virtue is thoroughly substituted for its living self, then a refor- 
 
BISHOP HUGHES AMONG THE PURITANS. iJ91 
 
 mation becomes necessary ; a recurrence to first principles ; a be- 
 ginning de novo. 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine any aberration from original 
 principles, any passing round to a precisely antipodal position, 
 more thorough and perfect than the invitation of a Romish pre- 
 late to participate in a festival to the honor of the Pilgrims who 
 landed on Plymouth Rock, December 22d, 1620. If ever there 
 were men who personifi'id principles, they were the Pilgrims. 
 Men as learned as they, perhaps as enterprising and industrious, 
 certainly more wealthy. landed on various points along the At- 
 lantic coast, before and after these Pilgrims, and yet their land- 
 ing gave interest to no rock, and their acts have left no impres- 
 sion on the world. Surely the landing of a small ship-load of 
 men and women, hungry and frozen, upon the barren beach of 
 Plymouth, was in itself an event of no consequence to the world. 
 There was something in and about these men and women which 
 did not appertain to others ; something beyond mere common hu- 
 manity. They were peculiar, strange men and women ; strange 
 in character, in sentiment and in spirit. The)' came here avowing 
 a purpose which no emigrants except themselves and their im- 
 mediate associates avowed. They were peculiar in this, tlmt 
 they took the Bible as their sufficient rule of religious faith, re- 
 jecting the authority of men present, and the traditions of the 
 ancients. They rejected all those claims to clerical authority 
 which were founded on official succession, and claimed for them- 
 selves, and each one of themselves, a commission from Jesus 
 Christ, not only to preach the word, but to do everything which 
 the exigencies of the Church might require. They claimed that 
 authority came from God through the people ; and so, that every 
 community was a State, and every assembly of Christians a 
 Church ; and that in Church and State theie was no rightful 
 authority but that which had its origin in the voluntary consent 
 of the people. 
 
 We need not stop to inquire whether these principles of the 
 Pilgrims were more true, or less true, than the opposite princi- 
 ples which they rejected, and which had rejected and persecuted 
 them. We have only to say that the sentiments which they 
 held, and of which we have enumerated some of the most im- 
 portant, rendered them a peculiar people ; and their peculiar sen- 
 timents alone rendered their landing an event of any consequence 
 to the world. These opinions were in contradiction of the opin- 
 ions of the world generally, as it then existed, and they were put 
 forth in resistance to the authorities of the world. Tlie kings 
 jind prelates of the world felt that these principles were, utterly 
 inconsistent with their claims, and subversive of their authority. 
 
392 BISHOP HUGHES AMONG THE PURITANS. 
 
 They justly regarded the sentiments of the Pilgrims as nothing 
 less than treason against them. Here was a war of principle 
 wide as the world. 
 
 The descendants of the Pilgrims, and all others who meet to 
 commemorate the landing of the Pilgrims, celebiate the princi- 
 2jIcs more than the men wiio landed ; or rather, the principles in 
 the men which made them what the}' were. Any otiier motive 
 would be an absurdity and a weakness. It was not to be e.xpected 
 that all the descendants of the Pilgrims, much less that all the 
 people of New England, and all their descendants, should hold 
 on to the principal opinions of the fu'st Pilgrims. They have all 
 a right to think for themselves, and the spirit of their fathers con- 
 jures them to find the iruth, and then to hold it fast as above 
 all price. Yet it is difficult to comprehend what cordiality there 
 can be, really and thoughtfully, in the piaises of their fathers by 
 nien who have rejected the opinions which they held, and adopted 
 those wliich they rejected. Still, when a lineal descendant of 
 the Pilgrims chooses to stand up and declare at a Pilgrim dinner, 
 that " there can be no Church without a Bishop," we can only 
 say, "They are not all Israel which are of Israel," and wonder 
 at the strange absurdity of celebrating the praises of men, and 
 excommunicating them on the same occasion. But when a pre- 
 late is brought in who has not a drop of Pilgrim blood in his 
 veins ; who has exerted his utmost power to drive the Bible from 
 our system of public education ; who prints it in his book of di- 
 rections for the diocese, that " a heretic is one who has an opin- 
 ion," and has just declared of the Romish Church, under his own 
 name, in his own paper, " that all Piotestants who have a zeal 
 for their salvation, ought to enter her communion with as little 
 delay as possible ;" when such a man is made conspicuous at a 
 Pilgrim dinner, we say absurdity can go no further, and it is time 
 for a reformation. The sentimental descendants from the Pil- 
 grims — the real spiritual succession — cannot consent to such a 
 state of things. This we say, not in disrespect to Bishop Hughes, 
 or to the opinions of any one, but in deference to the proprieties 
 of an occasion. We need not explain the incongruity, for the 
 consciousness of every sensible man explains it to himself. But 
 we must be excused for speaking freely of this matter, though 
 not disrespectfidly, we hope. 
 
 We are obliged to think that the real design of a Pilgrim cele- 
 bration has been lost sight of almost entirely. We have been 
 gratified to see with what a noble zeal some of the leading gen- 
 tlemen in the society, who have either gone back to the opinions 
 of church order which the Pilgrims rejected, or forward to the 
 denial of those grand theological doctrines upon which they built 
 
BISHOP HUGHES AMONG THE PURITANS. 393 
 
 their wliole Cluistianity, have led on the eulogies of the Pilgrims, 
 however hard those eulogies might bear against their own pre- 
 sent opinions. Thej^ have seemed to comprehend the greatness 
 of their fathers, and to realize that, on the day of their praises, 
 those praises should go forth without controversy or embarrass- 
 ment. Certainly this is right, and everything else is wrong. Yet 
 we cannot hel[) (liinking that tlie great discrepancies of opinion to 
 which we have alluded, have brought about this strange oblivion 
 of the real objects of a Pilgrim celebration. Nothing could 
 more forcibl}' illustrate the contradiction between the occasion 
 and tlie presence of a Romish Bishop, than an occurrence which 
 took place at the last meeting of the officers of the New Eng- 
 land Societ)', before the dinner. A committee had been ap- 
 ])ointed, as usual, to invite honored guests ; and at this meeting, 
 as usual, the toasts were to be agreed upon, and the arrange- 
 ments finished. One of the officers proposed as a toast, " The 
 Clergy of New England — they diaw their theology from the liv- 
 ing fountain of God's word, not from tlie stagnant pool of human 
 tradition." " That won't do," exclaimed a member of the com- 
 mittee on invitations : " we have invited Bishop Hughes." Sure 
 enough, that toast would not do at a dinner to which a Romish 
 prelate had been invited. It would have been an insult ; and 
 does it not follow that the memory of our fathers was insulted 
 by the opposite course ? Certainly the least which courtesy de- 
 mands is, that every celebration of principles and men, whatever 
 they be, should be unembarrassed by the opposite opinions. If 
 those who hold opposite opinions, in whole or in part, choose, for 
 any reasons, to be present, tliey go in submission to the occasion, 
 and not to require that the occasion shall submit to them. We 
 would treat ail men with the deference which is due to the occa- 
 sions on which we meet them. If we should visit the King or 
 the Pope, we should do it with the expectation of conforming to 
 all the established etiquette of their presence. But if all the 
 popes and kings on earth should come to the Pilgrim dinner, it 
 should not hinder us from shouting, " A Church without a Bishop 
 and a State without a King; !" 
 
394 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 GRANTS TO CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, July 29, 1847.] 
 
 The State and city governments are overwhelmed with de- 
 mands for grants to charitable institutions and for charitable ob- 
 jects. Many of these appear in forms the most corrupting to the 
 minds of our rulers. They are backed up by the usefulness of the 
 institutions, the clamor of sympathy for the suffering, the charges 
 of want of sympathy against the opponents of such grants, and 
 above all the threat that all the powers of charity shall be exert- 
 ed to vote down the opponents of its demands. These means are 
 not all resorted to on every occasion, but they are the natural and 
 common resort. But the question generally lies deeper than 
 these things. It is a question of right and of general expediency. 
 If the friends of an excellent charity were to come to you, and 
 ask you to steal your neighbor's property and give it to them, 
 and sliould go on to urge the excellency of the charity, and the 
 hard-heartedness of rejecting their plea, you would certainly say 
 that all tliat had nothing to do with the case. " The pi'operty is 
 not at my disposal," you would say, and think the man a thief 
 who would urge you farther. This is the answer which we must 
 teach our legislators to give to these petitions for charitable aid. 
 " We are not authorized to give away the public property, but 
 merely to manage it for the public use," must come to be the an- 
 swer to all these demands, or the property of the whole country 
 will be given away, and we shall all be the beneficiaries of charity. 
 No possible shape of charity could be worse than that which is 
 assumed in Great Britain and our own country, a mingling of 
 public and private action. Private charity begins the institutions, 
 and government is expected to perfect and sustain them. No 
 plan or want of plan could be worse than this. It demoralizes 
 the whole system of government. A number of individuals join 
 together and establish a public institution, — a college or asylum, 
 perhaps. Possibly the motive is purely charitable ; possibly it is 
 purely selfish. The nature of the institution is public ; that is, it 
 proposes to do a benefit to all who feel its influence, and it invites 
 the whole community to come and receive its benefits. They be- 
 gin the institution, and give it some shape, and form around it a 
 circle of friends. Then the public are " deemed and taken" to 
 be bound for its support. The parties who have started the en- 
 terprise have not inquired whether they were able to carr}'^ it 
 through. Nor indeed were they obliged to do so, for they calcu- 
 lated beforehand that the State, or city, or the nation, might be 
 relied upon to make up all deficiencies. Universal private solici- 
 tation may be first resorted to, and if this is only done without 
 
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 395 
 
 any false pretenses, it is not particularly objectionable. But mo- 
 ney comes too slowly when only given by those who own it. To 
 get abundant supplies it is necessary to go to those ivlio give 
 away other people s monei/, — Congress, or the State Legislature, 
 or the Common Council of the city— to some body of men, who 
 are none the poorer themselves for the money they give away, 
 and may be richer in good opinions, and perhaps in vote.s, for 
 their charity. Evidently such a system must have limits set to 
 it, or it will give away everything. Here are a thousand little 
 gatherings of individuals devising plans of expenditure for the 
 public. The public are not called to the primary consultations. 
 Everything is begun upon the voluntary principle, and then 
 thrown off upon the shoulders of the public. The public under- 
 take the education of all the children, and the support of all the 
 paupers, and that is a burthen which is as yet unweighed ; but in 
 these institutions of private ongin is another field of public ex- 
 penditure, boundless in its extent and thoroughly demoralizing in 
 its form. Considerations like these must, we are persuaded, be 
 brought in to control, nay, to forbid, the practice which has been 
 going on and strengthening, until it is almost uncontrollable. The 
 British Government are involved in difficulties which confound 
 their statesmen. They have been driven to the endowment of 
 Maynooth as one expedient. The endowment is right as a simple 
 matter of adjustment, under a principle, however, which is en- 
 tirely erroneous. A Protestant nation is compelled by its own 
 erroneous practice, to endow Catholic institutions. They will be 
 compelled, on the same plan, to endow infidel institutions, — all 
 sorts of institutions ; for the doctrine now laid down is, that all 
 who contribute to the public treasure are entitled to equal bene- 
 fits in the distribution of that treasure, without inquiry as to their 
 faith. What utter confusion must such a doctrine produce ! 
 When we say that all citizens are entitled to equal protection un- 
 der the government, to equal justice, and to an equal share in all 
 the benefits of the government, to the full extent of protection in 
 " life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," we say that which 
 is easily understood and done. But when we undertake to keep 
 up this even-handed equality, in the support of all their enterprises, 
 literary, religious, agricultural, mechanical, charitable, and every- 
 thing else, we are in utter confusion. The money of the State 
 is given to build up one institution, and then to build another to 
 pull down the first, and universal dissatisfaction must be the end. 
 We have repeatedly stated these views, more or less distinctly, 
 and applied them against granting various requests, pending be- 
 fore some branch of government. We wish now particularly to 
 oppose them to the application of the Asylum for the Deaf and 
 
396 PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 
 
 Dumb, -wliich is pending before the Common Council. We aro 
 glad to find that such principles are recognized by some of the 
 nieraoers. We hope they will be sustained by the A-oice of every 
 good citizen. It ought to be said in tones not to be misunder- 
 stood, that it is not competent for the Common Council to c/ive 
 away the property of the city. They have rightfully no such 
 powQr. The property is not theirs, and they have no right to 
 give it to the Asylum. This is a good time to say the truth and 
 act upon it ; for the Asylum in question is one of our most e.xcel- 
 leat institutions. There is no doubt about its usefulness. But 
 the Common Council have no right to comply with their re- 
 quest. It would be a piece of usurpation in them, of violation of 
 their plain duty, though only such a violation as has been often 
 committed. We say, No ! to all those things, and the City 
 Council must say, No, or the city will be ruined ; and that will 
 be a worse result, than that an excellent institution should be left 
 for its support to its legitimate resources. 
 
 PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, JVovember 25, 1847.] 
 
 Both the intellect and physical faculties depend upon use for 
 their development. Necessity is the mother of invention, and 
 so she is of every strong, well formed, desirable faculty. Such 
 is the natural repugnance of our natui'e to. effort, that all possible 
 motives are necessary to rouse us to vigorous action. The man 
 of wealth finds it impossible to give to his children the energy 
 wliich he sees in the children of his less prosperous neighbors. 
 His own children will trust in their father's we?dth, while those 
 Avho have no such enfeebling support trust in themselves. 
 Sometimes the children of the rich, if they are fortunate enough 
 to lose their patrimony, prove to have resources which neither 
 they nor others supposed them to possess. Sometimes an unex- 
 pected difficult}^ thrown across the path of a moderate man, will 
 start him into a new career ; and persecution creates saints and 
 heroes out of common every-day characters. Sometimes a deli- 
 cate lady who seemed fitted only for the toilet, when left a desti- 
 tute widow, is stimulated by a mother's love to more than 
 masculine eftbrt for the support and honor of her children. Her 
 character is transformed by the change in her condition. Neces- 
 sity stirs us to meet it, while, without any necessity, human 
 nature sinks down inert and worthless. This is the tendency, 
 though occasional, perhaps numerous, exceptions occur. The 
 
PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 397 
 
 hope of fame or of increased wealth, and some'lmes the benevo- 
 lent desii'e of doing good, will stir the human powers to high 
 Twchievements. But these are exceptions ; and iimong the igno- 
 rant, the superstitious and debased, such cases are rare indeed. 
 It is unnecessary to say, after such statements, that the gen- 
 eral policy witli refei-ence to the poor, which lias been pursued 
 in England and America, is perfectly fitted to unnerve and 
 destroy society. It meets men who have entertained high 
 hopes, and held high places perhaps, whenever discouraged by 
 disappointment and ditRculty, and instead of encouraging them 
 to new and wiser efforts, invites them to give up, and retire 
 to public support. To the man who charges his misfortunes to 
 the community or the government, the alms-house says, " Come, 
 eat of my bread, and Uve at the expense of your persecutors." 
 To the ignorant, the vicious and lazy, the alms-house is a sort of 
 elysium where they may bask in undisturbed indolence. The 
 enfeebling influence of the alms-house is much increased by the 
 fact that every one feels that he has a right to go and live there. 
 The pauper thanks nobody for his daily bread ; not he. He is 
 a citizen. He has perhaps paid taxes, or done military or jury 
 duty ; and the support which he finds in this public institution, 
 he feels, is connected with his citizenship ; and he lives there 
 with the most entire feehng that he is at home, eating at his 
 own table. This characteristic attaches to all charitable associa- 
 tions. Tiie money which is given to trustees for the use of the 
 poor, belongs to the poor. They, therefore, are under no obliga- 
 tion to thank the trustees. Associations have this other evil 
 tendency, that they break up the natural connection between the 
 various classes of society. He who gives, and he who receives, 
 are separated from each other, whereas they should be well 
 acquainted. Some shapes of associations are more objectionable 
 than others in this respect, but all are objectionable, though per- 
 haps judicious on the whole, notwithstanding all objections. 
 It is exceedingly difficult for the poor to repress the feeling, that 
 want on their part implies obligation to supply want on the 
 part of those who are favored with a surplus. This feeling 
 is not without a good basis in fact, so far as want is the conse- 
 quence of misfortune, and not of indolence or extravagance. 
 But our object in these remarks is not so much to discuss 
 the obligations of the prosperous, as to inquire how those obh- 
 gations can be discharged without increasing thf evil which they 
 desire to cure. If gi\ing to the poor in any one way under- 
 mines human energy and increases pauperism, it is a vice to 
 give, unless it is absolutely necessary to save life. 
 
 It is quite evident that the pauper policy of England and 
 
398 PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 
 
 America is accumulating an extent of pauperism which threatens 
 the very existence of the mother country, and which is fearfully 
 disorganizing society in this. Some remedy must De found ; 
 some new mode of charity must be discovered, or industry 
 will be crushed under the insupportable burden of poverty. 
 We must say, that in this country at least, nine-tenths of 
 the pauperism is unnecessary. Most of the paupers, while 
 they live in the alms-house, are as able to support themselves as 
 the industrious poor who bear the double burden of their 
 own support and that of their indolent neighbors in the poor- 
 house. And of the rest, most of them suffer only on the fixed 
 law of God, in consequence of their vices. A few, a very few, 
 are what are called " virtuous poor ;" and no one will say aught 
 against the obligation of the prosperous to make them comfort- 
 able. The opinion that paupers are able to support themselves, 
 is sustained by the fact, that in well-conducted workhouses, they 
 do support themselves, and pay the expenses of the estab- 
 lishment, and more besides : — so that well-regulated work- 
 houses are a source of profit to the towns which have estab- 
 lished them. The occupations of these workhouses are simple, 
 of course, and such as require no special skill. How abun- 
 dantly could such paupers support themselves, if they should 
 apply themselves with the vigor of freemen, instead of the indo- 
 lence of paupers. In general, too, beyond incidental advice and 
 encouragement, every man can better understand and direct his 
 own energies, than any other person can direct them for him. 
 
 That the present system must be abandoned, is coming to be 
 more and more the opinion of intelligent men ; and this, not 
 from any feeling of unkindness toward even the vicious poor, 
 but to save society from being engulfed in pauperism. 
 
 We suggest that the fundamental wrong in the present system 
 is the doctrine that it is the province of (government to distribute 
 alms. It is this erroneous view of the powers and duties of gov- 
 ernment that lies at the bottom of the monstrous evil. The 
 same error with respect to rehgion, literature, and many other 
 things, has been productive of the direst mischief. It is a great 
 evil that the proper sphere of government is so loosely defined, 
 if defined at all. To the government men go for the correction 
 of all evils, real or imaginary ; and government is commonly 
 quite willing to enlarge its prerogatives to any extent. Our 
 fathers described the proper duties of government with admi- 
 rable truth. They said that governments were instituted to 
 secure the inalienable rights of men ; and these rights they 
 declared with equal accuracy to be " life, liberty, and the 
 pursuit of happiness." Yet our community, regardless of these 
 
PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 399 
 
 great truths, tliiiik government should inspect fish, measure 
 corn, reguhite the rate of usance, and almost be the market-man 
 and cook of every family. Some progress, we hope, is making 
 in a right practice, — but the grand simplicity, the only lawful 
 business of government, is very little perceived. Certainly the 
 distribution of alms is not the proper business of government, 
 either national or municipal. 
 
 Another fundamental reform must be, to place the support of 
 the poor really and truly in its proper attribute, not of right, but 
 of charitij. It is right that pauperism should be restrained by 
 the acknowledgment of this great truth. 
 
 Farther, relief should be divested of its certainty. Charitjj 
 ought to be precarious and uncertain. The industrious ant and 
 bee would be unnerved by the knowledge that the winter's store 
 would be sure without the summer's toil ; and certainly our 
 race, more indolent than the insects, can never endure the 
 enfeebling influence of such a fact. It is easy to see that the 
 people who fill our alms-house can never have hearts to work, 
 while elegant case and leisure are provided for them on Ran- 
 dall's Island, with greater certainty, to the end of their days, 
 than any industrious man holds the house which he has paid for. 
 
 These suggestions contemplate great reforms, and many will 
 think, great hazards. But it is well to encounter great hazards 
 in the hope of avoiding certain ruin. 
 
 In our own countrj^ more safely perhaps than in any other, 
 may charity be left to the charitable. There is in no other 
 country more ability or disposition to relieve the distressed ; and 
 in no other country is the wide field of self-reliance so success- 
 fully opened as here. Here the demand for labor is boundless ; 
 wages high, living cheap. Here, if anywhere, each man can 
 and ought to take care of himself, and all schemes of furnishing 
 food, clothing, or even labor, systematically .^ on any other plan 
 than that of the free exercise of every man's liberty in his own 
 behalf, will be found to be but rottenness in the bones of the 
 commonwealth. 
 
400 TEMPERANCE AND POLITICS. 
 
 TEMPERANCE AND POLITICS. i 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, October 6, 1838.] 
 
 The laws regulating or prohibiting the sale of spirituous 
 liquors are likely to have an important bearing on the elections in 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In both those States, laws 
 have been enacted with the design of preventing the retail spirit 
 trade altogether. It seems to us that the friends of temperance 
 need to apply the remedy somewhat to their logic, as well as to 
 their appetites. They charge distillers and dealers with crimes 
 of which they are not guilty, and assert that because they are 
 dealers, they are incapable of judging on the question. This is 
 "no such answer as a good cause need give to opposing arguments, 
 and it can be no answer to intelligent minds. If a man were in 
 dano-er of being hanged, it would be very possible that he might 
 give very good reasons why such a punisliment should not be in- 
 flicted upon him. But, whether his reasons were sufficient or in- 
 sufficient, no sensible judge would think of setting aside his de- 
 fense, on the ground that he was too deeply interested to be able 
 to judge in the case. 
 
 On the other hand, it seems to us the dealers must fail entirely 
 in their position, that the laws prohibiting the retail trade are 
 unconstitutional. The business does more mischief to society 
 tlian all other causes put together. It destroys life, peace, pro- 
 perty, and everything which is held most dear, and annually 
 throws its thousands of ruined victims upon society, to be sup- 
 ported by the money of those who have had no share in tlic 
 profits of their ruin. If society has not the right to stop this, 
 we know not for what society is formed. If this business is not 
 ai-ainst the general welfare, what is? The vending of lottery- 
 tickets is not a tenth part so bad ; yet the spirit-dealers will not 
 pretend the laws prohibiting their sale are unconstitutional. 
 Society possesses the power to prohibit and prevent all tliose pur- 
 suits by individuals, which interfere with the general well-being 
 of the whole. And the power is in fact exeicised much beyond 
 this limit ; for a multitude of pursuits are forbidden which are 
 nowise injurious — nay, which are positively useful. [The pro- 
 hibitions, to be sure, are always on the ground that the prohibited 
 occupation is injurious.] Now if society may forbid those things 
 which are only imagined to be injurious, and those things Avhich 
 are injurious only in a small degree, — in fact, prohibit everything 
 supposed to be bad, — then it would be very strange if it could 
 not prohibit the greatest of all evils, that which stalks abroad, 
 desolating the land. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 401 
 
 COLD WATER DINNERS. 
 [Front the Journal of Commerce, December 10, 1841.] 
 
 A puiiLic dinner wiLliout wine is a new aiu strange thing. 
 Wine has been supposed to be the soul of wit, ;he spirit of con- 
 viviality, Hnd the very genius of inspiration. Pcots have written, 
 artists painted, orators declaimed, and dinner-parties roared, 
 under its impulses, until it has come to be thought that there 
 could be neitlier wit nor skill without it. But a lew experiments 
 lately have started the query whether there is not more inspira- 
 tion ill cold water than in wine. There is an old saAv that, " when 
 wine is in, wit is out ;" which has lived all along, in spite of pub- 
 lic sentiment to the contrary. Especially at dinners it has been 
 noticed that whether the wit grew brighter with each succeeding 
 bowl or not, the laugh grew louder, until the lai gh getting ahead 
 of the wit, would roar before it listened. It has been noticed, 
 too, that when gentlemen were about to drink wine after dinner, 
 it was thought necessary that the ladies should v.ithdraw. This 
 was always a bad sign, for it is well known that when a man is 
 about to make himself a brute, he commonly tirns away from 
 his wife and daughters, and from all respectable females, or 
 drives them away from him. This fact has thrown suspicion on 
 the motive for turning the ladies away from the dinner-table at 
 the moment the wine was brought on, and upon the conduct 
 which succeeded, under the change of influences. Most men, 
 so long as they are conscious that their conduct is reputable and 
 right, are fond of the society of ladies, especially on all occasions 
 of social enjoyment. Woman was designed to be the constant 
 companion of man. Her promptings put him np to his duty, 
 and her reproofs keep him back from excess. The man who is 
 going to a convivial scene where he cannot take his wife, is gene- 
 rally going where he should not. 
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, January 14, 1843.] 
 
 Tins has been one of the most, if not quite the most remark- 
 able movement of this remarkable age. A war had been kept 
 up against intemperance from time immemorial. But nothing 
 was really accomplished until about twenty year; ago, when total 
 (ihsfinonce was thought of. That thought brigi:tened the hopes 
 of philanthropists, and brought them up onc'- more to the 
 conflict, with more energy than before. Total -.bstinence from 
 distilled liquors, was the motto on their banuer. The new 
 
402 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 thoui'lit, however, did not create courage enough to attempt the 
 reformation of those ah'eady accustomed to drunkenness. Tiiey, 
 it was supposed, were beyond the reach of kindness and of hope, 
 and nothing really was done for them until they took their deh- 
 verance into their own hands, and declared that they would no 
 longer submit to the shame and misery of their condition. Re- 
 formed drunkirds went everywhere preaching the year of re- 
 lease to the captives of intemperance, and their labors were at- 
 tended with great success. They knew how to pity and persuade 
 those who remained in the wretchedness from which themselves 
 had escaped. Their labors for a time were wonderfully ener- 
 getic, and wonderfully successful. \V"e have heard much less of 
 them this year than last, but we hope it is not because the vigor 
 of the elTort has been rela.ved. There have been some things about 
 the movements of the reformed drunkards, which have made us 
 to doubt of the stability of their work, though we have Loped 
 for the best, and done what we could to cheer them on. 
 
 In the first place, we have noticed in almost all the speeches of 
 reformed drunkards, a great want of the humility and repentance 
 which ought to have characterized their new position. Many times 
 they ha\e in fact seemed to glory in their former shame, and to be 
 proud in proportion to the number and extent of the revolting 
 scenes in which they had been actors. A man who can repeat with 
 glorying the beastly doings of his drunken days has attained but 
 an outside reformation. No being on earth is more odiously guilty 
 than a drunkard. His obligations to himself, to his family, to 
 society, and to God, have all been broken, — trampled under foot. 
 Look at the beast who goes home drunk at night to the society 
 of a virtuous wife and his dependent children, to besmear the 
 house witli his filth, and perhaps to vent his wild passions on 
 them in curses and blows. The only fit residence for such a being 
 is hell ; and to his appropriate destiny he is hastening. When 
 such a man is mercifully rescued from his drunkenness, words of 
 contrition and deep repentance become him. If his reformation 
 extends to the heart, he will never repeat the history of his life 
 but with deep shame, and only to warn others to avoid his guilt. 
 
 Another noticeable feature in the movements of the reformed 
 drunkards is the abjuratiou of religious influences. If they had 
 cast off sectarianism merely, their wisdom in that particular would 
 not have been questioned. But when tho}^ reject, as they have, 
 the teachings of Jesus Christ and the whole Bible, they commit a 
 most dangerous mistake. There are nowhere to be found such 
 lessons of temperance as in the Bible, and nowhere else are they 
 enforced by such sanctions. Men who attempt to inculcate mo- 
 rality without the influence of religion, now that we have the 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 403 
 
 Bible, are behind the age. They practice quackery, after an in- 
 fallible remedy has been discovered. If some of the reformed 
 orators would sit down to the reading of the Bible, they would 
 probabl)' find that they have another reformation to go through 
 with, before they can be safe. They will find that their hearts 
 must be reformed, as well as their lives. Christian philanthropy 
 it was, which devised the temperance reformation, and which, by 
 the labors of twenty years, kindled and fed the sentiments of re- 
 formation that at length burst out so ardently. There are mo- 
 tives not connected with religion, which would seem sufficient to 
 keep a man back from making a beast of himself; natural affec- 
 tion, a good name, the desire of wealth, or at least of personal 
 comfort, are all powerful motives. But they lose nothing by be- 
 ing associated with religion. On the contrary, the Christian re- 
 ligion exhibits all these motives in their most attractive form, and 
 by its own sanctions adds immeasurably to their force. Looking 
 at the subject from any position, whether that of a Christian or 
 a mere philosopher, we cannot help seeing that to reject the aid 
 of religion in such an enterprise is to cast away our most efficient 
 helper. But every Christian will feel that a temperance refor- 
 mation which rejects the influence of religion is likely to be as 
 shallow in its moral power as it is in its philosophy, and as tran- 
 sient as it is shallow. 
 
 The temperance books are, some of them, of a very improper 
 character. They are recitals, it may be, of the incidents of a 
 rowdy's life, through all the hst of low vices. " The Inebriate" 
 is a sample. Books of this class, if they were found in the hands 
 of rowdies, and prepared for their amusement, would be con- 
 sidered most pernicious, by the people who now praise them if 
 only labeled "Temperance." The vulgarity and pollution of 
 Bulwer and Byron are justly deprecated, and cannot be sanctified 
 by being enlisted in the cause of morality. Many persons visited 
 the "great moral painting" of Adam and Eve, who would have 
 applied to the police to suppress the monstrous exhibition, if it 
 had been called what it really was. Yet the immoral etiect of 
 the exhibition was perhaps quite as great under its assumed as it 
 would have been under its proper character. We cannot change 
 the nature of poison by calling it bread. 
 
404 BREACHES OF THE SABBATH. 
 
 BREACH OF THE SABBATH. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, Api-i! 25, 1834.] 
 
 It is Avitli deep regret we have learned tliat Messrs. Webster 
 and Binuey prosecuted their journey from PI iladelphia to Wash- 
 ington during the last Sabbath, and at Bal imore addressed a 
 great number of citizens upon the political topics of the day. • 
 Both these gentlemen, and more particularly Mr. Webster, we 
 have always delighted to honor. His greataess and patriotism, 
 his intelligence, and we have always believi-d his reverence for 
 religion, have fastened upon him our admiracion and confidence. 
 If we now mention our regret at the events of the last Sabbath, 
 it is not for the purpose of lessening him in the public esteem, 
 but to counteract, so far as we are able, the influence of a bad 
 example, the more to be dreaded from such a man. We under- 
 stand and appreciate the interest of affairs at Washington which 
 urged Mr. Webster to violate his habits and his feelings on this 
 occasion. But we do not see that any e.xcuse can be pleaded for 
 what occurred at Baltimore. We are fully convinced that it is 
 only by maintaining a respectful public sentiment toward the 
 institutions of religion, especially the Sabbath, that enough of 
 public virtue and intelligence can be maintained to perpetuate 
 our free institutions. 
 
 SABBATH-DAY TRAVELING. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 20, 1835.] 
 
 We are glad to see that the Directors of the Boston and Prov- 
 idence Railroad have discontinued their trips on Sunday, e.vcept 
 one each way in connection with the steamboats. We wish their 
 order had been without this exception, and that they had made 
 the Sabbath thoroughly a day of rest. It would have been a 
 noble example for all the railroads and canals of our country. 
 The violation of that day upon these great lines of communica- 
 tion is among the most prolific causes of poverty and crime. 
 We are fully persuaded that six days for labor and the seventh 
 for rest, is an arrangement exactly fitted to our condition, and . 
 that no man who violates this arrangement can be so happv, and 
 manage his affairs so well, as in its observance. 
 
 On railroads there is less apology for violating the Sabbath 
 than exists almost everywhere else. Transmission is so rapid 
 that six days are sufficient to send a man. from Maine to Georgia. 
 Passengers may go from Boston and Providence, or from Boston 
 to Providence, on Monday morning before the hours of business 
 
C H V I ^ G K E \V S P A P E R S ON SUNDAY. 405 
 
 arrivi!, and in general it must be impossible to plead necessity, 
 or even convenience, for breaking the rest of the Sabbath at all. 
 We hope the very respectable men who have the direction of the 
 matter, patriots and Christians as they ai-e, will do their country 
 the signal service of making their reform perfect. 
 
 CRYING NEWSPAPERS ON SUNDAY. 
 [From the Journal of Commeve, July 10, 1839.] 
 
 There is scarcely a greater public nuisance to which our 
 citizens are subject, than the continual ciying of newspapers 
 by boys in the streets on Sunday. No part of tTie city is exempt 
 from the annoyance. No hour of the day, from early dawn 
 till mid-day and later. P^ven the hour of worship is invaded by 
 the never-ceasing cry. We will say nothing of the immorality 
 of the practice ; nor of the probable consequences to the boys 
 themselves, of being engaged in such employments on the Sab- 
 bath, instead of devoting the day to the purposes for which 
 it was designed. We will not speak of the probable effect 
 of such reading on the Sabbath as by this process is thrust upon 
 thousands of persons, old and young. All these, however, are 
 important considerations, and if duly weighed, could not fail 
 to produce a strong sensation in the community. But our 
 object now is of a different kind. We wish to show that 
 independent of any such considerations, our citizens are wronged 
 and abused by the incessant noise and outcry with which the 
 vending of newspapers is accompanied on the Sabbath. Throuo-h- 
 out the C'hristian world, this day is regarded as consecrated by 
 the Almighty to the purposes of religion. It is also considered, 
 in its influence, a most important conservator of the public 
 morals. Without the Sabbath, we may safely say that a repub- 
 lican government could not long exist. Legislators have been 
 aware of the tendency of the day to promote the best interests of 
 society, and accordi;:gly they have guarded it with the sanctions 
 of law. They have done this also, to protect the rights of wor- 
 ship, and the private enjoyment of the day, by those who 
 aie disposed to devote it to its appropriate duties. A continual 
 noise in the streets, when unnecessar)% is an invasion of these 
 rights and this enjoyment. The laws indeed would go further. 
 TIr'3'- prohibit buyiu'^ and selling on the Sabbath, except in par- 
 ticular cases, of which the selling of newspapers is not one. 
 Now it appears to us, that if the proprietors of newspapers 
 are suffered thus to violate the laws, they ought at least to be 
 
406 CLOSING STORES ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 restrained, both bv their own sense of propriety and by the anu 
 of the hvw if needful, from encroaching upon the peace of their 
 fellow-citizens by sending a thousand boys to fill the streets with 
 confusion. It is a liberal compromise in their favor to wink 
 at the hawking of newspapers through the streets on the Sab- 
 bath, and at the same time to insist upon its being done, if at all, 
 in silence. 
 
 The evil complained of is of recent origin, and it is high time 
 it was abated. If the distributors of tracts (pardon the suppo- 
 sition) were equally noisy in performing their duties, they would 
 not be tolerated for an hour. No, the very men who abet the 
 noise of a thousand boys in the distribution of newspapers 
 would be scandalized by such a gross infringement upon their 
 rights. 
 
 CLOSING STORES ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, June 28, 1844.] 
 
 The laws requiring a proper observance of the Christian Sab- 
 bath are good and wholesome laws, in accordance with the wishes 
 of a vast majority of the people, and necessary to the highest 
 Avelfare of the community. In a republican government, espe- 
 ciallv, the public safety demands that moral influences should be 
 promoted and the avenues of vice obstructed. All experience 
 proves that there can be no well regulated liberty where the pub- 
 lic morals are generally depraved, and that about in proportion as 
 the Sabbath is disregarded in any community, is the depravation 
 of its morals. Laying aside, therefore, the sanctions of the Di- 
 vine Law, which, over a Christian people, ought to be paramount, 
 the public safety demands that at least a decent respect should 
 be paid to the day which ninety-nine hundredths of the (Christian 
 world are agreed in regarding as the Lord's day, or Sabbath of 
 the new dispensation. The fact that a few thousand Jews are in- 
 cluded in the number of our citizens is no good reason why as 
 many millions of other denominations should be denied the quiet 
 enjoyment of a day which they regard as di\inely appointed, or 
 permit it, as in France, during the reign of terror, to be blotted 
 from the statute-book. On the same principle, if there were a 
 few thousand Mahometans among us, we might not enact laws 
 against polygamy, because thereby we might be trenching upon 
 the rights of conscience of a portion of the people who believed 
 in the Koran. In vain should we plead that polygamy was for- 
 bidden by the Christian religion, which was the religion of the ' 
 
CLOSING STORES ON THE SABBATH. 407 
 
 vast majority of the people, or that it was hurtful to public 
 morals and the general weal ; the consciences of these few Mahom- 
 etans must be protected at every hazard, for, in the language 
 of our correspondent, " the laws of this great nation extend to 
 every man the enjoyment of his religion." To compel a man to 
 do a positive act in violation of his conscience, is one thing ; to 
 compel him to omit certain acts, which from the nature of the 
 case are not obligatory upon his conscience, is another. We 
 never heard it intimated that a Jew's conscience was wounded by 
 not .selling goods publicly on the Lord's day, or that a grog-shop 
 keeper's conscience suffered from not selling liquor on that day. 
 We sincerely respect the conscientious belief of any and every 
 man in matters of religion, however erroneous that belief may 
 be ; (in this category wo place our Jewish brethren ;) but when 
 men's consciences are clamorous for breaking the laws both of 
 God and man, and for destroying both the bodies and the souls 
 of men, not six days in the week only, but seven, (we here al- 
 lude to grog-sellers,) we think it time to ask what is their defi- 
 nition of conscience, and whether they have not confounded it 
 with the will, which is the ver)' thing that requires to be re- 
 strained when it inclines to mischief. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the opposition to Mayor Harper's 
 course in regard to Sunday buying and selling does not come 
 chiefly, if at all, from the Jews, but from the grog-sellers ; to 
 many of whom Sunday has hitherto been the best day in the 
 week. That is, they have sold more liquor on that day than on 
 any other. What a comment is this upon the extent of the mis- 
 chief which has resulted from permitting grog-shops to be opened 
 on the Sabbath ! How many families have suffered for want of 
 bread, who might otherwise have had enough and to spare ! 
 How much demoralization has ensued, how many crimes have 
 been committed, in consequence of this pernicious custom ! Most 
 laboring men receive their weekly earnings on Saturday night ; 
 and consequently, Sunday is the very day for the grog-dealers to 
 catch them with a little money in their pockets. It hurts their 
 consciences prodigiously to be deprived of the opportunity to 
 have the first access to these hard earnings. We advise them to 
 rest satisfied with six days in the week for the administering of 
 poison to their patients, and then sending them to destruction, 
 and their families to the Alms House, to be supported at the pub- 
 lic expense. 
 
408 ACKNOWLEDGING GOD. 
 
 "ACKNOWLEDGING GOD" 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, September 15, 1845.] 
 
 It is agreeable to the taste of some Americans to pronounce 
 their country a.: atheistical and " God-rejecting" country, be- 
 cause the Cono>'itution of the Union says nothing upon the 
 subject. There : re some also, generally of the " pre-millennial" 
 school, who lay ;.he same charge upon our ancestors, because in 
 forming the Coa>titution they neglected to assert the dignity of 
 Jesus Christ as •• Prince of the kings of the earth," and to deter- 
 mine the questi.;i.' of the Trinity. All such men forget, or never 
 learned, that th--. province of civil government is not to determine 
 religious questic i3, and that while it is the duty and privilege of 
 every man to :. knowledge God in all his ways, it does not 
 follow that eve;y soulless corporation should do the same. In 
 Roman Catholic countries nothing can be done without a " By 
 the Grace of Gel." In that high and lofty name all abomina- 
 tions are perpcr.ated, whether by the Church or State, or 
 smaller compan'rs of priests or banditti. The robber on the 
 highway is sure 'o act in the name of the Trinity, and to pronounce 
 the blessinof in mi name of the Son on his victim as he ijoes oft'; 
 a blessing, by t'-"' way, quite as rich in virtue as many which 
 come with cons-orated hands uplifted. A board of bank direct- 
 tors are not to hi charged with infidelity because their charter 
 says nothing abo.it religion, nor because their meetings for dis- 
 counting notes '<yii not opened with prayer. Religion is a per- 
 sonal matter, ai-o not a matter of governments, unless they are 
 corporations for /."ligious purposes. On this plan we secure the 
 invaluable privil ge of religious freedom. The nominal religion 
 of the State is E'.Lch reduced, but the real religion of the people 
 is greatly enlarged. Many good people are quite troubled about 
 the Avant of reli ion in the State. But they need not be ; for it 
 is on the princ-,.le which is fundamental to the vigor of true 
 religion. The rifsign of government is to secure the peaceful 
 enjoyment of private rights. The Deist, Atheist, Catholic, Pro- 
 testant and Mormon, are all equal in the cognizance of law. 
 They are all entitled to examine, believe, and teach, as they 
 think proper. The civil government knows nothing of religious 
 distinctions, and in fact uothino- of religfious faith. In oaths 
 alone it brings ;:"i the use of relisfion, and in that it does not 
 assume the pow *" to coerce any one's conscience, but takes the 
 Quaker's affirmation as just as valid as his oath. If the prin- 
 ciple which lies at the bottom of religious liberty were carried 
 out to the extent of abolishing oaths altogether, the credibility 
 of witnesses anti. the honesty of judges and importers would not 
 
A NATIONAL BUTCHERY. 409 
 
 in all probability be thereby impaired. It is liberty, not govern- 
 ment, which all the lovers of truth should desire. The interfer- 
 ence of government has never done anything yet, but to defoim 
 religious truth, while Hberty has made its stream flow peaceiuliy 
 and broadly through the land. 
 
 The patriots of the Revolution were not a godless race of 
 men, thougli they did not think it expedient to say much upon 
 the subject in forming the fundamental law. The work was not 
 done without the constant recognition of Jehovah, and much 
 prayer for his guidance. 
 
 A NATIONAL BUTCHERY. 
 [Fro77i the Journal of Commerce, January 30, 1841.] 
 
 We have been thinking of the matter of supplying all the 
 people in the United States with meats, and it seems to us that 
 it is one which deserves the attention of the National Govern- 
 ment. The subject is of vast importance, and is now utterly at 
 loose ends. The supply is left to the mere volition of diovers, 
 entirely irresponsible to anybody, so that every citizen in this 
 city, and every other city, is left without the least assurance that 
 his supply may not be cut off at any moment. We have got 
 along under our present system, or we might more properly say, 
 total want of sy.stem, better than might have been expected, and 
 much better than, we fear, will be the case hereafter. But there 
 are now great wrongs which cry aloud for a remedy. There is 
 not a little meat of old cows which is atteni^jted to be palmed 
 off for good ox beef; measly hogs are put up as good pork; 
 animals which are diseased and even which die of themselves, it 
 may be of hydrophobia, are dressed, and " blowed up," and sold 
 for good and wholesome viands. It is even stated on good au- 
 thority, that there are regular sausage-makers who supply them- 
 selves Avith raw materinl from the worn-out horses which the 
 omnibus owners turn oft" to die, and the small bits of woolen cloth 
 which are found on the tailors' shop-floors or the old clothes 
 bought by Jew peddlers. It has even been stated, and many 
 judicious people believe it, that cats have been sold in the market 
 for rabbits, and dog meat for venison. What else could be ex- 
 pected while Tom, Dick and Harry are allowed to issue beef, 
 pork, and mutton at their pleasure ? The ignorant poor are the 
 severest sufferers by this Locofoco way of doing things ; for they, 
 having less knowledge and less power, are aiways made the prey 
 of the crafty. If things go on in this way — and they will unless 
 the government interferes — there is no telling what frightful evils 
 18 
 
410 A NATIONAL BUTCHERY. 
 
 may come upon us. Suppose, for instance, and the thing is not at 
 all impossible, that some drover from the west, with his flock of 
 cattle filling all the road, should fall upon a kennel of rabid 
 wolves or dogs, which flying upon the cattle, should inoculate 
 the whole herd with the deadly virus of their fangs. Would the 
 drover ever tell of the incident ? Not he. On the contrary, he 
 would hurry his cattle on to the Bull's Head where, foaming with 
 fatigue and madness, they would be sold to the butchers, and the 
 next day the whole city would be unsuspectingly dining upon 
 their flesh. What the final eff"ect would be, we forbear to tell. 
 Then suppose the drovers should, through mistake or design, 
 drive all the cattle and sheep to New Oi'leans, under the influence 
 of a momentary high price there, what would be the danger to all 
 other parts of the country ? As we go now, there is plainly no 
 certainty that thei-e will be any butchers or drovers. Indeed 
 everything is entirely uncertain, fluctuating, frightfully irregular, 
 and irresponsible. 
 
 Now il' government is not designed to provide for such an emer- 
 gency as this, we ask what in the world it is designed for ? This 
 matter takes hold of the very life and e.vistence ot the people. If 
 the people all starve to death for tlie want of meat, or are poisoned 
 to death with bad meat, there will be little for government to do 
 afterward. It is with these views, after the little leflection we 
 have given to the subject, that we have determined to lend our 
 feeble eflbrts toward the establishment of a National Butchery, 
 to regulate this wliole matter. That Congiess has the povver to 
 establi.Nh such an institution, there can be no doubt. We argue 
 the existence of tliis power in Congress from the following con- 
 siderations. 
 
 1st. It is impossible that the wise and benevolent men who 
 framed the Constitution, could have forgotten or neglected so 
 important a matter as this, especially as they had just emerged 
 from a war duiing which there had been one continued series of 
 derangements and disorders in the supply of meats, so that even 
 the American army wei'e sometimes totally destitute. They were 
 also reminded, during their deliberations, every day at dinner, of 
 the absolute necessity of meats for the support of legislation. 
 
 2d. But there is no need of relying upon this argument. The 
 fraraers of the Constitution did not fail to place in that instrument 
 the requisite povver. They gave to Congress the povver to " re- 
 gulate commerce among the several States," and what vv^e projiose 
 is only the regulation of a portion of that commerce. The power 
 to " fix the standard of weights and measures," includes what we 
 contend for by the mostn;itural and necessary inference. No one 
 will doubt that these weights were designed to weigh meat ; but 
 
A NATIONAL BUTCHERY. 411 
 
 in order that meat should be weighed, meat must be had, and a 
 national butcheiy is the only sure way of secui-ing this end. A 
 law, therefoi'e, for this purpose, would come imder the authority 
 to " make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- 
 ing into execution the foregoing powers." 
 
 As to the plan and sti'ucture of the national butcherj^, we would 
 make it just like a national bank. There should be a mother 
 butchery in the city of New York, with branches in all the States ; 
 and we would copy from the laws of New York the plan of com- 
 missioners, whose business it shovdd be to examine, once a year 
 at least, and as much oftener as they please, each branch butchery 
 and each flock of cattle. There should be subordinate commis- 
 sioners, who should extend the system in its perfection over all the 
 States, so that a complete record shoald be kept of every calf, 
 lamb, pig, chicken, and gosling, Avhich should be added to the 
 stock ; which returns, being all biought together at the mother 
 butchery and then published every montli, would constitute a 
 basis of calculation, like the statements of specie in the bank 
 vaults. The growth and supply of meats under such a system, 
 would be something tangible. Cattle Avould then be more evenly 
 distributed than they are at present ; for the reports of the 
 brandies would always be a sure guide in this respect. 
 
 In order to establish this system in its most extended benefits, 
 it will be obviously proper to prohibit all private slaughter-houses ; 
 for we cannot too earnestly uig'e upon our readeis the great 
 danger there is of fraud and deception, when trusts so important 
 are left to be exercised by private and irresponsible individuals. 
 We shall never have a well regulated meat market throughout 
 the country, until our plan is adopted. Tliis is the newest Amer- 
 ican system, and certainly the most important of all measures of 
 this class ; for in its benign operation, it will distribute good 
 beef, good mutton, g0(;d turkeys, good everything, in fact, 
 through all the garrets and cellars of poverty as well as in the 
 palaces of the rich. The details of the matter will furni-^h an 
 exhaustless fund for reports and speeches in Congress and the 
 State Legislatures. Parties will be formed under its banner, 
 which will shake the nation to its center, and make us President 
 of the United Slates. But for tliis we care not a rush — our ob- 
 ject being solely the good of the people in all the largest sense 
 of that term. 
 
 Every body will see what we mean by this rigmarole. It is 
 not to throw deiision on the opinion that regulation is necessary 
 in currency. Yet, in all soberness, we have no doubt that regu- 
 lation is quite as much wanted in meats as in money ; and that if 
 only we bad been brought up under a system of regulation re- 
 
412 VOTE YOURSELF A FARM. 
 
 specting food, we should have thought the arguments used above 
 quite conclusive in the case, and should have been more afraid to 
 trust free trade for beef than we now are for currency. In either 
 case, great regulating establishments would produce endless mis- 
 chief, and as the effort at regulation is utterly wrong and per- 
 nicious, it can never itself be regulated or modified so as to possess 
 any other character. 
 
 VOTE YOURSELF A FARM. 
 {From the Journal of Commerce, April 28, 1847.] 
 
 Every American citizeg owns a farm in the wild lands of the 
 nation. He owns his proportion of the common domain, and has 
 a right to it. It may be it is an hundred acres ; it may be one 
 acre. Whatever his proportion is, it belongs to him. But there 
 is this about it : Tiie inheritance is not divided so that the 
 farm of each one in particular exists in a separate estate, and it 
 will not do for one to go and take possession of his farm, and 
 still claim l)is old right among the proprietors in common. But 
 he is a citizen, and cannot be excluded, nor exclude himself, 
 from the benefits of common ownership. The nation makes 
 all this right by selling the land. They who wish to take actual 
 possession of farms pay into the common property a certain 
 small sum of money, which goes for the common benefit. They 
 who buy farms in tliis way, and have money, still retain their 
 interest as before in the common property, and become owners 
 in particular of what they buy. They who do not wish for 
 farms in this way get their proportion of the whole. If ten 
 men own a stock of merchandise in copartnership, it will not do 
 for one partner to sa\r, " I will take possession of that hogshead 
 of sugar, and chest of tea, &c., for one-tenth is mine, and plainly 
 I own them," while at the same time he continues to claim that 
 he is an owner in common, and equally with the other nine, 
 in all the remaining property. If he should desire it, the part- 
 nership might be dissolved, and after paying the common debts, 
 he would be entitled to his tenth of what remained. But our 
 national copartnership cannot be dissolved, nor are our common 
 debts in any rapid course of payment. We must maintain 
 our common ownership, and must hold the property in common, 
 or expend the proceeds of it for the common benefit. Is 
 not that fair ? Then what honest man will talk of voting himself 
 a farm ? 
 
 There is cue thina: in which national reform is wanted ia 
 
VOTE YOURSELF A FARM. 413 
 
 the direction of these leformers. It is right that society should 
 refuse to embarrass itself by protecting the ill-shapen and inju- 
 rious contracts of individuals against the common good, and 
 especially the vast accumulations of soulless, deathless cor- 
 porations, and most of all, religious corporations. What society 
 agrees to do, it should do, though to its hurt. But it is under 
 no natural obligation to defend the manor leases, or the hundred 
 year leases in this city, nor the accumulations of religious 
 societies which blight the land. Society engaged to defend the 
 manor leases, and should keep its engagement at all hazards. 
 Our State lias declared that ic will not hereafter be responsible 
 for such leases on " agricultural " lands. But such leases are 
 ■worse in cities tlian elsewhere, and ought to be put out of 
 the protection of the law as much here as in the country. Our 
 city suffers immensely bj' the parsimony of old hunkers, Avho 
 would carry iheir deeds Avith them to eternity, and clutch thera 
 there with the grasp of agony. Some large and beautiful sec- 
 tions of our city are almost ruined by this miserable policy 
 of never selling. The State should set its face against it ; at 
 least, it should withdraw its support from it, and should cease 
 to protect church property beyond the immediate uses of the 
 society to wliich it belongs. A church of Christ, owning a 
 million of dollars' worth of land, or half that sum in land 
 or money, is a monster, and will be, if it is not already, a curse 
 to religion and society. It is wi'ong for society to nourish 
 and protect such sores on the body politic. We speak not 
 of the past, but of the future. Old sores must remain, but new 
 ones should be prevented. These ideas all national reformers 
 should advocate, not the foolish doctrine that the accumulations 
 of individuals shall be limited, either in money or land. The 
 injury will be much greater than the benefit, from such restric- 
 tions. Honest industry will best promote the public good 
 by accumulating as it can ; and without the entailment of 
 perj)etual leases, there is no danger from such accumulations. 
 Every father who is so unwise as to accumulate vast estates is 
 pretty sure to be followed by sons or grandsons who will scatter 
 faster than he has gatliered. There is no enduring evil here. 
 The danger is in the otlier sources which we have pointed out, 
 viz., long leases of estates instead of sales, and especially the 
 leases and the accumulations of corporations, and above all, 
 of religious corporations, which go on to accumulate inter- 
 minably, never dying, and never therefore falling into the hands 
 of distributors. Our country is growing in wealth, — w^e hope 
 not in religious superstitions. But it is high time that we put a 
 stop to the tendencies toward an overgrown religious aris- 
 
414 trades' unions. 
 
 tocracy, liKe that of England or Mexico, whore the people 
 are tasked and tioeced into poverty, that wealth enormous may 
 be gathered into the hands of a clergy debased as much by 
 wealth as the people are by poverty. 
 
 TRADES' UNIONS. 
 \^Fiom the Journal of Comimree, April 7, 1835.] 
 
 The Transcript misunderstands our reference to England as 
 exhibiting the practical remedy for turn-outs. We do not refer 
 to her laws, but to her free principles. Laws against turn-outs 
 and combinations, England tried and found unavailing. The en- 
 lightened policy of Mr. Huskisson repealed all tliose laws, and left 
 the whole matter to the care of individuals and public opinion. 
 The result was, that combinations became so arbitrary, as not 
 only to place all journeymen in the most absolute slavery to the 
 most tyrannical government ever yet established, but to threaten 
 the utter ruin of both the employers and employed. This brought 
 the employers to a stand, and they were obliged individually to 
 determine to employ no workmen who helomjed to the Unions. 
 The business of turning out has consequently changed sides, and 
 the operation of the present state of things must be to break up 
 the Unions ; — a blessing most devoutly to be desired, chietly for 
 the sake of the workmen themselves. The results in this free 
 country, where no laws have ever been made on the subject, 
 will be more speedily attained. The Unions have already lost 
 their popularity with a large proportion of the journeymen. Is 
 it to be admitted for a moment that a system of tyranny so cruel 
 as the Unions adopt, shall flourish here ? A system by which 
 the premises of employers are entered without right, and sober 
 and peaceable \\\^\\ forced from the honest labors by which they 
 support their families, and row^jr/W to march like conscript militia 
 through the streets under the command of some foreigner who has 
 come here to assert the rights of American citizens? A system 
 whose grand engine is/'m/- — fear of outlawry, of ve.xation, nay, of 
 midnight maimings and assassination. We have an instructive 
 specimen of the temper of these associations and the means they 
 use to accomplish their purposes, in a resolution passed by one 
 of them the other day, recommending that the tire companies 
 should not lend their aid to extinguish tires, in houses built of 
 State-Prison marble. We must employ these men to build our 
 houses at any wages they choose to decree, and of the materials 
 
trades' unions. 416 
 
 which they select, or submit to have them burned over our heads 
 ;it midnii^ht. We shall see about that. 
 
 W(i are glad when labor is richly rewarded. There are no 
 men who better deserve to grow lich tlian mechanics. There are 
 non(! who are more sure of suc(!(>ss wlum they feike the measures 
 to secure it which every man must take. Tiie wealtli, tlie offices 
 and the honois of our country arc as free and as open to them 
 as to any other class of our citizcms ; and no other class have re- 
 ceived them more liberally. There are no expenses of our own 
 establishment which we pay more cheerfully than the wages of 
 lal)or ; and if by the process of demand, the only one which can 
 sustain the price of anything, wages should be raised to double 
 their present rates, we should pay them freely. But while there 
 remains a drop of American blood in our veins, we will never com- 
 bine with any other persons to dej)ress the price of labor, nor 
 submit to the dictation of any combination as to the prices we 
 shall pay. 
 
 TRADES' UNIONS, 
 [FVom the Journal of Commerce, April 10, 1835.] 
 
 The Transcript says it is only a " reasonable" compensation 
 that the journeymen seek to establish. Suppose then that we 
 should adopt the plan of the Unions, and call together the mem- 
 bers of each separate interest to establish for its goods, wares and 
 labors, what it deems a " reasonable" price or rate of profits. We 
 dare say the Lawyers and Doctors and Clergymen would all think 
 it " reasonable" to put the price of their labors up, at least one- 
 half. We know that the importers and jobbers of dry goods, and 
 the grocers, consider their rates of profit in general quite too low. 
 The broker's quarter per cents, arc a mere bagatelle compared 
 with what they should be, and as to the money-lenders, they let 
 us know wliat they considered " reasonable" in the panic winter 
 before last. Ten to one, after the vote had been taken all round, 
 the mechanics would find the g(!neral scale raised so high, that 
 their relative position would be quite as un-" reasonable" as it 
 was before they interfered with the natural order of things. 
 
 Tlie fact is that a way has been provided by a higher Power 
 for ascertaining what is " reasonable" in these matters. Princi- 
 ples have been laid deep in the an-angement of things, and they 
 are very apt to fall into difficulties who undertake to contend 
 with these principles. Supply and demand arrange prices " rea- 
 
416 LABORERS AND EMPLOYERS. 
 
 sonably" and usefully, and peacefully with all. Let us have 
 *• Free Trade and no Combinations." 
 
 We might go on to speak of the most unreasonable copartner- 
 ships which the Unions create, by which the best men are obliged 
 to divide even with the poorest ; we could speak of porter-house 
 lists which grow out of these combinations, by which every jour- 
 neyman is obliged to submit to the degradation of having his 
 name posted up in a tap-house, and wait until his turn comes 
 before he can be employed. Such is the degrading tyranny of 
 Trades' Unions. They subdue the moral sense, the self-respect, 
 the happiness, the interests of all who will submit to them. 
 
 LABORERS AND EMPLOYERS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, July 1, 1835.] 
 
 Nothing was ever niore thorough cant, than the talk about 
 oppressing the poor by employing laborers at the current rat(^of 
 wages. And nothing in principle is more wicked or dangerous, 
 than the doctrine that laborers thus employed have a 7'i(/ht to a 
 portion of the property of those who employ them, beyond the 
 stipulated amount of wages. Sucli a sentiment subjects property 
 to a common distribution at a blow. It takes away the induce- 
 ments to industry and frugality, and would bring the whole of 
 society to one indiscriminate mass of poverty and wretchedness. 
 The man who agrees to labor for a dollar a day, and when he has 
 performed the labor receives his dollar, has received all that is 
 due ; and he has no more ground for complaint than his employ- 
 ers ; provided always that there is no combination among em- 
 ployers to depress the price of labor. To teach a different doc- 
 trine, is as cruel toward the laboring classes, as it is prejudicial to 
 society in general. It makes them discontented and unhappy, — 
 and induces them to desert the straight road to_ comfort by in- 
 dustr}^ and economy, and to put their trust in agitations and turn- 
 outs, means by which no trade ever was or ever Avill be perma- 
 nently benefited. 
 
INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY. 417 
 
 INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY. 
 
 \_Fro7n the Journal of Commerce, March 11, 1836.] 
 
 A WRiTKii in the Post thinks our prescription for the evils in 
 tlie condition of the laboring classes, a good one so far as it 
 goes, but inadequate to procure a thorough cure without the 
 additional item of the suppression of paper money. We tell the 
 wiiter, frankly, that we claim no credit as inventors of this 
 remedy. It is an old recipe which we found in our grand- 
 father's scrap-book, where it was copied from an essay of iJoctor 
 P'ranklin. The original author the writer well recollects to have 
 heard of, though he is not much imbued with his spirit. The 
 Doctor was a very poor printer's boy, but by the thorough use 
 of tins simple prescription, he rose above all the evils of his con- 
 dition, and made himself of such usefulness to his country, that 
 his name will be honored by Americans in all ages. One of his 
 adjunct rules was, "time is money." So he never "struck," 
 and spent his time parading the streets with a flag. But he 
 kept busy. If he could not get one price, he took another; 
 and spent all his time in earning something, and then took care 
 of what he earned. Neither time nor money with him were 
 wasted, not even a groat or an hour ; for his motto with regard 
 to both was — 
 
 • "A 
 
 ' A penny saved is twopence clear, 
 A pin a day is a groat a year." 
 
 The remedy prescribed in the Post belongs to another school 
 altogether. Those who take Dr. Franklin's remedy find it quite 
 sufiicient ; and those who take the Post's will seldom be inclined 
 to take the Doctor's with sufficient thoroughness. This remedy 
 of Dr. F.'s must absolutely be taken clear, and without any mix- 
 ture of other ingredients. We know hundreds and thousands of 
 men who have taken it, and with perfect success ; and they are 
 now the very men who own the city. The same way is open to 
 all who have no other capital than their hands and a good char- 
 acter. Never was the way to wealth so broad and easy as here. 
 They who start early in it, before expenses accumulate on them, 
 and use Franklin's remedy freely, we will guarantee without 
 a premium, that nine out of ten of them, will enjoy a comfortable 
 living, and leave estates behind them. But we are sure the 
 road to wealth does not lie through Trades' Unions. TLey 
 always have cost more than they have come to, and always will. 
 So we adhere to our old prescription of industry and economy, 
 as the best remedy for the evils of which the laboring classes 
 complain. If this does not work a cure, the case is hopeless — 
 the patient is incurable. 
 
 18* 
 
418 BROOMSTICK STRIKES. 
 
 BROOMSTICK STRIKES. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, June 23, 1835.] 
 
 The system of strikes is full of evil for males, but it is horrible 
 for females. Mr. Carey has long been troubled with the misera- 
 ble condition of things in this country, and his remedy is always 
 the same in principle, whether it be called Tariff or Turn-out. 
 He mourns over the wretched condition of our manufacturing 
 interests, and one of the chief ingredients in this cup of wretch- 
 edness is the high price of labor in this country ; and anon, he is 
 equally distressed at the cruelly oppressed condition of our 
 laboring classes, because the rate of compensation is so very 
 low. The whole course of Mr. Carey on all these matters, both 
 as to disease and remedy, is one of utter delusion and folly. 
 This community is the most healthy in its business of any in the 
 Avorld, and if it were sick, his lobelia would only make it sicker. 
 There is no country whose population, of all classes, is so abun- 
 dantly supplied with all the comforts of life. Ninety-nine hun- 
 dredths of all which is said about the depressed condition of 
 females and their labor, is mere croaking about nothing, let who 
 will say it. If a few aged persons whose sight or other faculties 
 have failed, or a few younger persons, whose faculties have never 
 been instructed, are able to earn but a pittance, it is not strange 
 that such persons should make coarse cotton " shirts for a shilling 
 a-jyiece ! f" and what of it ? That shilling will buy almost enough 
 of the cloth to make a shirt. Who does not know how ex- 
 tremely difficult it is to procure female labor for domestic pur- 
 poses, at any price, and who does not know that when such 
 females make their appearance abroad, it is in silks and muslins 
 so rich and tasty, that there is no distinguishing the maid from 
 the mistress ? If they all rode in coaches, when they went 
 abroad, we should not complain ; but it is indeed most ridiculous 
 to be prating about their distressed condition. The wages of 
 female labor are not only higher in this country than in any 
 other, but they are as to all practical purposes four times higher 
 now than they were thirty years ago. At the beginning of this 
 century, hfty cents a week Avas a common price for female labor, 
 and fifty cents then was, for their use, not worth so much as 
 twenty-five cents now. Then, the wages of a month would not 
 buy so much calico as the wages of a week will buy now, and as 
 to silks, and laces, and capes, and pelerines, they were not named 
 or tliought of. Now, many a woman is able by the labor of her 
 hands alone, to clothe herself not only neatly but genteelly, nay, 
 elegantly, and laiy up a sum of money annually, which, if pur- 
 sued for twenty years, would give her a capital more effective 
 
FEMALE WAGES. 419 
 
 than nine-tenths of the farmers in New England have been able 
 to acquire during their lives. If there are females, who, from 
 want of faculties, or loss of faculties, or bad husbands, or numer- 
 ous children, are really unable to procure the comforts of life, let 
 us look to it and supply their wants. But, in the midst of 
 the bounties which Providence pours upon all classes in over- 
 flowing abundance, let us not spend in complaints the breath 
 which ought to be spent in gratitude, or pour out our philan- 
 thropy in dolorous words, breeding discontent. Those who hunt 
 for oppression must be hard pushed, if they can find it exercised 
 only by those who oflter work at low prices, leaving others at full 
 liberty to assume the oppression or let it alone. Honorable men 
 and reverend divines might be much better employed than iu 
 preaching uneasiness and ill-will from such a text. Still worse is 
 it in them, to speak in such a way as to throw the mantle 
 of sympathy or excuse over vicious courses. Very few indeed 
 among the abandoned Avomen in the United States can plead 
 poverty in its direct pressure as an excuse or a motive for their 
 wickedness. 
 
 The superior prosperity of our country is attributable to the 
 superior liberty of its citizens — to the more full operation of 
 God's system of free trade among us. If Mr. Carey will change 
 his complaints to thankfulness, and give up his notion of being 
 wiser than the Author of systems, and cease to fight against the 
 arrangements of free individual action, by which He has provided 
 for the highest possible remuneration for labor, Mr. Carey will 
 then find his own mind happier, and his labors producing more 
 happiness in others. But if he thinks otherwise, let him try 
 still longer to stem the stream which has already carried him 
 far downward ; he will find its current beyond his control who- 
 ever may come to his aid. 
 
 FEMALE WAGES. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, March 1 , 1839.] 
 
 • We advise the seamstresses in each loard, to open a store or hire a 
 room, to offer to make coats, waistcoats, and pantaloons at a fixed price; 
 and we advise benevolent ladies and gentlemen to have the stuff pur- 
 chased for their use, cut out, and carry it to these Ward Depots, and 
 encourage these poor seamstresses. It would be a great charity." — Eve. 
 Star. 
 
 The above is from a long article in the Star, which is chiefly 
 occupied in setting forth the miserable condition of seamstresses. 
 When ad\-ice is given to the distressed, it should be such as will 
 
420 FEMALE WAGES. 
 
 afford permanent relief. The expedient which the Star proposes 
 has been tried to some little extent, and found, we believe, only 
 a new contrivance for depriving honest women of the little which 
 still remained to them. Such shops will seldom be under the 
 care of persons to be trusted ; and if they were, they must get 
 their support from the labor of those for whom they do business. 
 They c;innot increase the wages of the seamstresses. There is 
 no ;elief to the poor as a class, in transferring work from those 
 who have it, to those who have it not ; and to do so by means 
 of an intermediate house which shall effectually cut off all direct 
 in'e co'irse between the employers and the employed, is doing great 
 m schief. The acquaintanceship which the various wants of the 
 community bring about, when left to its ordinary channels, is of 
 immense importance to the rich and the poor. To cut off this 
 inteicourse is to deprive the poor of their best resource in ex- 
 tremity. There is no permanent remedy in the case, better than 
 the straightforward operations of free trade. Many women, no 
 doubt, cannot well do anything else than use their needles where 
 they are. But the gieat mass of the seamstresses can change 
 their local habitation and their business, and there is surely in 
 this country no great difficulty in such persons getting an honest 
 livinnr. We should be oflad, with reo-ard to every individual 
 woman, that she had a parlor at her command ; but all women 
 cannot spend their time in parlors, and it would be very unwise 
 in the community to attempt by charitable efforts, to undertake 
 to change the order of thino-s so as to biing about such an uni- 
 versal parloring. Equally unwise is the endeavor to sustain an 
 undue proportion of persons in any particular condition because 
 that condition is more genteel than other conditions. This, we 
 suppose, is tlie true secret of the distress among seamstresses. 
 There is much less, if there is any distress at all, among cooks, 
 chambermaids, and laundresses ; and we suppose, too, that to- 
 ward these latter classes there is (juite as substantial a feeling of 
 lespcct as toward seamstresses. But sewing has the most of 
 that fasL-inating, nondesciipt sort of a thing about it, called gen- 
 tiliiy, and for the love of that, thousands have gone half starved and 
 without a second dress, when if they would only have parted with 
 gentility, they might have had an abundance of everything else, 
 and really a better reputation into the bargain. This mania for 
 gentility is one of the weaknesses of human nature which per- 
 va les all cla-^ses of the community. To support gentility, multi- 
 tu 1 's live forever in debt, and subject themselves to the incessant 
 torment of duns and sheriffs, almost as much to be dreaded as the 
 fiOgs of Egypt. They are much the wisest who go for ungenteel 
 but honest comfort and contentment. Want would soon flee from 
 
INDECENT PICTURES. 421 
 
 the seamstrosses if onl_y gentility Avere turned out of the house, 
 and contentment with the allotments of Providence taken home 
 in its ])lace. Virtue and happiness would then be much more 
 securely possessed, and so would a really good reputation. We 
 know of no other thorough working remedy in ihe case. After 
 all, if persons are involved in difficulty and want, they should be 
 helped ; but the help should always be accompanied with such 
 good counsel as will, if possible, enable them to keep out. These 
 remarks apply chiefly to young, unmarried females. Women 
 who have families of hungry or sick children, who are widows, or 
 what is incomparably worse, have husbands who are drunkards, 
 are chained to poverty, do whijt they will, and ought to be re- 
 garded with especial compassion. But, even with thera, good 
 advice is often what they need most. 
 
 THE PICTURES AND THE PUBLIC TASTE. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, July 31, 1833.] 
 
 It is very well that the papers have opened a battery against 
 the indelicate exhibitions in the windows of print-shops. Let 
 them keep up the fire until all such windows are smashed to 
 atoms in 2Jublic estimation, and until no decent person will enter a 
 place the external attractions of which are indecent. But there 
 is another and deeper evil to be cured than this. It is the want 
 of correct principles in the formation and guidance of the public 
 taste. What are the rules which regulate and limit exhibitions 
 of this sort ? With the public generally, there are none. This 
 want of all metes and bounds has left us to run into the wildest 
 extremes of inconsistency, and made us objects of the surpiise 
 and laughter of other nations. One declares that the short 
 dresses of fashionable ladies, a few weeks ago, were immodest 
 and ridiculous ; another, with perhaps equally honest intentions, 
 runs upon the P'rench doctiine of "evil to him who evil thinks." 
 The one will hardly permit the common display of the human form ; 
 while the other, or perhaps the same, upon a difteient occasion, 
 and under different circumstances, acts upon a rule which has no 
 stopping-place short of making all apparel a mere matter of indi- 
 vidual Uiste, governed by no abstract and independent rules. 
 When the French dancers, with tight pantaloons and kilts, kicked 
 up their heels on the boards of the theaters, the virtuous and 
 thinking part of the community cried out that it was an outrage 
 upon ail decency. And so it was. When those innocent babies, 
 tho chanting cherubs, were exhibited, they could hardly be 
 
422 THE GREEK SLAVE. 
 
 looked at but through fan-sticks. But when an ingenious artist 
 exhibited a whiskered liussar, with a beautiful Parisian courtesan 
 at his side, elegantly painted in native nakedness, and called them 
 Adam and Eve ! ! husbands took their wives, and mothers took 
 their daughters, and lovers took their sweethearts, and ladies and 
 gentlemen who were not lovers, young and old, thronged to see 
 it. Even benevolent individuals asked that, as a boon, the picture 
 might be exhibited for the benefit of their favorite relio-ious and 
 moral charities. And so the better feehngs were enlisted to bring 
 out all to view a picture decidedly more objectionable than the 
 worst picture at any print-shop window in the city. Public sen- 
 timent must be anchored to some well settled and immovable 
 principles on this subject, such as it has not now, or we shall float 
 out upon a practice Avhich is without a shore. The subject is one 
 of great interest and some difficulty. 
 
 THE GREEK SLAVE. 
 \_JFyom the Journal of Commerce, October 13, 1847.] 
 
 Whether names change things in reality or not, they change 
 the idea in people's minds very much. We had a French sol- 
 dier and a Parisian courtesan exhibited here some years ago, 
 under the name of Adam and Eve ; and it was quite fashionable 
 to visit the exhibition. But if the picture had been called by its 
 right name, it would have had a very different reception. Yet 
 the thing really was the Frenchman and courtesan, and nothing 
 else in the world, not even clothing. People have come under so 
 strong an impression that civilization demands that the human 
 form should be covered, and that only barbarians practice other- 
 wise, that to countenance anything else is felt to be a barbaric 
 degradation. In an article by Rev. Orville Dewey, on " Powers* 
 Greek Slave," in Mrs. C. M. Kirkland's Union Magazine, the writer 
 says :— 
 
 " According to the true laws of art, can that be right in a statue 
 which would be wrong, improper, disgusting, in real life ? Art pro- 
 poses the representation of something that exists, or may properly and 
 beautifully exist, in real life. And I doubt whether statuary or paint- 
 ing have any more business to depart from that rule than poetry. Sup- 
 pose that an epic poem, for the sake of hightcuing the charms and attrac- 
 tions of its heroine, should describe her as walking about naked ! could 
 it be en lured ? Nor any more do I believe that sculpture, without some 
 urgent cause, should take a similar liberty. A draperied statue can 
 answer all the ordinary purposes for a work of art. Witness Canova's 
 Hebe ; and the Polymnia in the Louvre, an ancient Avork. And I doubt 
 not that ancient art would have given us more examples of this, if the 
 
THE GREEK SLAVE. 423 
 
 moral delicacy had been equal to the genius that inspired it. I trust 
 that Christian refinement, breaking away from the trammels of the an- 
 tique, will supply the deficiency." 
 
 This seems reasonable, and tlie reasoning and the conclusions 
 such as might be expected from an eminent clergyman. It ac- 
 cords, we have no doubt, with the first impression of every one. 
 To see the form of a young girl stand erect before one, without 
 so much as the garment of a fig leaf to cover her, is shocking at 
 the first impression. Every unused mind must be pained, and 
 feel that it is wrong to be there. 
 
 We expected, after such preliminary remarks, to find Dr. 
 Dewey condemning Powers' statue of the Slave in the strongest 
 terms of a Christian father's disapprobation. But no such thing. 
 His condemnation is turned to high praise by just a change of 
 names and scenes, — the real fact remaining unchanged, — and he 
 surprises us thus : — 
 
 " The Greek Slave is covered all over with sentiment, sheltered, pro- 
 tected by it from every profane eye. Brocade, cloth of gold, could not 
 be a more complete protection than the vesture of holiness in which she 
 stands. For what docs she stand there .' To be sold — to be sold to a 
 Turkish harem. A perilous position to be chosen by an artist of high 
 and virtuous intent. A perilous point for the artist, being a good man, 
 to compass. What is it? The highest point in all art. To make the 
 spiritual reign over the corporeal ; to sink form in ideality. In this 
 particular case, to make the appeal to the soul entirely control the ap- 
 peal to sense ; to make the exposure of tliis beautiful creature foil the 
 base intent for which it is made ; to create a loveliness such tliat it 
 charms every eye, and yet that has no value for the slave-market, that 
 has no more place there than if it were the loveliness of infancy ; nay, 
 that repels, chills, disarms the taste that would buy. And how com- 
 plete is the success ! I would fain assemble all the licentiousness in the 
 world around this statue, to be instructed, rebuked, disarmed, converted 
 to purity by it !" 
 
 Bravo ! Now we may hope to have the morals of our city 
 renovated, and the libertines of Broadway renewed to chastity by 
 looking on this marble. That " vesture of holiness" must be 
 quite transforming to men with whom virtue, modesty and inno- 
 cence, are but a jest, — the things they joy to trample under foot. 
 But we doubt very much whether the spectators generally perceive 
 any such vesture. We certainly did not see it, but in truth we 
 felt so much ashamed to be there at all, that we did not perhaps 
 see all that Avas to be seen. We certainly felt most deeply that 
 to have gone there except on a professional visit, — to have gone 
 there to see that nude female, — would have been a degradation. 
 According to a very favorable notice of the statue which appeared 
 
424 THE GREEK SLAVE. 
 
 in the Tribune, this " vesture of holiness" is very seldom seen. 
 Says the writer : — 
 
 " We heard a gentleman yesterday expressing his delight in the high- 
 est terms, after visiting the Slave. ' I never, in my life,' said he in the 
 most emphatic manner, ' saw a piece of marble with such a beautiful 
 polish.' 
 
 " Some very nice people who visit the Slave can see nothing hut its 
 nudeness ; others object to the revolving pedestal, while one critic could 
 see nothing but the drapery on the wall. j\'ot one in a thousand ap- 
 pears to have a perception of the marvelotis truth and purity with which 
 the statue is clothed^ ov the characterization and majestic simplicity' of 
 the design. This cannot be wondered at. There are but few who have 
 an intuitive perception of the true objects of art." 
 
 After such testimony in confirmation of our own non-observance, 
 we cannot help thinking that the idea of Dr. Dewey is mere poe- 
 try, with no fact at all for its foundation, and that his plan of 
 purifying voluptuaries by gathering them around the statue, is 
 also mere poetry ; and that the faithful preaching of the pure 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ would be a much more hopeful remedy 
 for their viciousness, if indeed there is hope for it from remedies 
 provided by either God or man. 
 
 There is another stage in this process of poetic holiness which 
 has attracted our notice. It is the representation of Statuary by 
 living persons. This is not a new thing altogether, for children 
 sometimes play in this way ; but it is new in New York as a pub- 
 lic exhibition, just as it is now brought forward. In the exhibi- 
 tion wliich we witnessed, the first part was peiformed by men 
 and women dressed in a tight knit silk, of the color of white mar- 
 ble, the faces so prepared as to have the same appearance, and 
 then more or less drapery was added, of thin muslin. It did not 
 require a very powerful effbrt of imagination to apprehend the 
 forms as real marble ; in fact, it reqmred some acquaintance with 
 "art" to have any other impression. The Greek Slave was actu- 
 all}' personified in this way, though not without the addition of a 
 flounce around the loins, and even then some of the audience 
 hissed, which seemed to us very foolish, for we were not there to 
 be prudish. We perceived, by the talk around us, that the deli- 
 cate drapery was the objection in part, for it was thought by 
 some that this alone suggested the idea of immodesty, and but 
 for it, the exhibition would have been unobjectionable. 
 
 In the next scene the light marble dresses were exchanged for 
 those of flesh-color ; tlie arms of the females bare, and their 
 faces, hair, ttc, presented in real life. Here again there was 
 delicate drapery of muslin, crimson taff'eta, (fcc. ; enough, at least, 
 as in the case of the representation of the Greek Slave, to start 
 
THE GREEK SLAVE. 425 
 
 the question of modesty. The male figures were dressed in a 
 similar \Vci3' : but the oommunity are so accustomed to see the 
 fiyures of men distinctly traced in their common dress, that no 
 strong (jiierjr would be likely to arise about the propriety of tliis 
 part of the show. Bat the thought has forced itself upon us, 
 that having poetized naked art into the most impres.si\'e modesty, 
 if we could poetize naked nature (in the personification of art) 
 into the same holiness, we should then have gone round the ring, 
 and should have a galvanic battery of electric virtue before \i'hich 
 A'oluptuousness must indeed be transformed into purity, and all 
 improper thoughts be forever expelled from the mind. If the 
 votaries of art and morality should come to this conclusion with 
 such unanimity that any money could be made by it, we have no 
 doubt that tlie experiment could easily be tried. 
 
 But it seems to us that a plain statement of the manner in 
 which this Slave was got up must divest it of its virtue of hoh- 
 ness in the minds of some people. It is called " The Greek 
 Slave." But no Greek Slave had anything to do with its forma- . 
 tion. That name is assumed to excuse what otherwise would be 
 nothing but a burning insult to the city. But for this, the exhi- 
 bition would be only pronouncing us a comrauniLy of baibarians. 
 It seems to 'is that the way in which the thing is done will not be 
 very satisfactory to the ladies, or even the gentlemen of our city, 
 whose sensitiveness lias not been seared as consciences are some- 
 times. We have" the account in the letter of a friend to the art- 
 ist, who seems to be famihar with the whole matter, as follows : — 
 
 •' The Process of the Sculptor. — Frora a paper in the Literary 
 World, signed G. H. Calvert, we extract the following accovmt of the 
 method in which statues are wrought from the block of marble: — 
 
 " The conception being matured in the artist's mind, the first step in 
 the process of giving form to it is to erect, on a firm pedestal, a skeleton 
 of iron, whose hight, breadth and limbs ave determined by the t'iie and 
 sliiipe of the proposed statue. In this case it would he about five feet 
 high, with branches, first at the shoulders, running down forward tor the 
 arms, then at the hips, to support a large mass of clay in the trunk, and 
 thence divided in two for the legs. About this strong, simple frame is 
 now roughly built, with wet clay, the prc-determincd image. Rapidly 
 is this molded into an approximation to the human form; and when 
 the trunk, head and limbs, have been definitely shaped, then begins the 
 close labor of the mind. Tlie living models are summoned, and by their 
 aid the surface is wrought to its last stage of finish. I say models, for 
 to achieve adequately a high ideal, several arc needed. Nature rarely 
 centers in one individual all her gifts of corporeal beauty. For the 
 Eve. Powers had more than a score of models. 
 
 "The modern Cliristian artist cannot be favored, as was the painter 
 Zeuxis of old, to whom a Grecian city, that had ordered from him a pic- 
 ture of Helen, sent a number of its clioicest maidens, that out of their 
 various graces and beauties he might, as it were, extract one matchless 
 
426 THE GREEK SLAVE. 
 
 form For the ' Slave,' the character Powers had established in Flor- 
 cuce, for purity and uprightness, ohtaiucd for liim one model (who Avas 
 not a professional sitter,") of such perfection of form as to furnish nearly 
 all that he could derive from a model. With this breathing figure be- 
 fore him, and through liis precise knowledge of the form and expression 
 of every part of the human body, obtained from the study of nature and 
 his own deep artistic intuitions, the clay under his hands gradually 
 grew into life and assumed the elastic, vital look which no mere anato- 
 mical knowledge or crall of hand can give, but which is imparted by the 
 genial sympathy with nature's living forms in alliance with a warm 
 sensibility to the beavitiful — iiualities whicli crown and render effectual 
 the other less elevated endowments for art. Thus, by the most minute 
 manual labor, directed by those high and refined mental gifts, the clay 
 model of the 'Slave" was wrouglit out; and there the artist's work 
 ended — the creation was complete. The processes whereby it was now 
 to be transferred to marble, though of a delicate, difficult kind, and re- 
 quiring labor and time, arc purely mechanical, and are performed, un- 
 der the artist's direction, by uninspired hands. 
 
 "■ In order that the soft clay image be transformed into a harder sub- 
 stance, without suffering the slightest change in its surface, a mold is 
 applied to it in the same way and with the same material as when a cast 
 is taken of the living face or head, by means of semi-liquid plaster of 
 Paris. The clay figure is entirely covered with this substance, from 
 one to two or more inches thick, provision being made for taking off the 
 arms, and for splitting the trunk after the plaster shall have hardened. 
 The clay is then all taken out, the hollow mold is cleaned, and then re- 
 filled with semi-liquid plaster of Paris. AVhen this, which now occu- 
 pies entirely and minutely the place of the clay, has in its turn become 
 hardened, the outside crust of plaster is broken from it, and then is laid 
 bare an exact fac-simile of the original clay figure in hard, smooth plaster 
 of Paris, capable of bearing the usage of tlie studio, and of receiving the 
 many marks that are to guide the marble-cutters, whose work now 
 begins. 
 
 '• First comes the blocker-out, with his heavy mallet and coarse chisel, 
 under whose rough blows the white block soon begins to grow into a 
 rude likeness of humanity. Tiien, a finer workman, who loosens more 
 of the folds that overlie the beaming image which the artist is bent on 
 disclosing from the center of the niai-ble. And finally, the artist him- 
 self, or, as in this case, a refined worker, schooled under the eye of 
 Powers, gives the finishing touches, reproducing with unsurpassed ac- 
 curacy, in the transparent, pure marble, every swell and indentation 
 .•\nd minute curve, all the countless delicacies of detail, the which com- 
 bined with and forming grand sweeping lines, characterize the original 
 as molded in the ctay by the hand of Powers." 
 
 Here then we have, in sober prose, the lineameuts of a Floren- 
 tine girl, who had, by some means, been brought to consent to 
 this revolting use of her person. The rest is made out witii the 
 help of " professional sitters." There is no Greek slave at all in 
 the case. That is all poetry, or rather humbug. Nor are we 
 able to see the almost celestial genius which is attriinited to the 
 sculptor. He lias a conception — then sends for a young girl 
 from whom to cop// his conception. There is nothing that in tliis 
 case he did not copy, e.\cept the attitude and the exj)ression of 
 
THE GREEK SLAVE. 427 
 
 conntenance. And why should not the "one model" furnish liini 
 witli both these, or at least tlu; last ; for hardly could that hold 
 model have been so entirely lost to her natun; as not to blush 
 and hanij;- her head somewhat in the style of a Grecik slave, if ever 
 re;illy any Greek girl was so barbarously treated. And why 
 could not the Florentine who used the chisel, who actually 
 wrought out the statue, have copied from the original as easily as ' 
 from the copy made by Powers ? Why not ? It was little else 
 than a matter of convenience in working. But it is not our ob- 
 ject to disparage Mr. Powers as a scul[)tor. Our object is, to say 
 that there is no necessity for this nudity to display his skill. The 
 display of genius is not there, but in the human countenance, 
 which is quite as well, nay, much better represented when the 
 person is covered. All the offensive exhibition is a mere copy, 
 which we will guarantee the mechanic could have brought out 
 just about as well without the help of Powers. Such statues as 
 the " Greek Slave" must belong to the less exalted department of 
 the art. There is little room for genius where so much is merely 
 copied. 
 
 What is there, then, to excuse or palliate this copy of a nude 
 Florentine girl, set up in New York, and made endurable, nay, 
 fashionable, by the authority of such men as Dr. Dewey ? In our 
 huml)lc judgment, all the reprobation with which he speaks of 
 nude works of art belongs to this ; and it required a courageous 
 Green Mountain boy to set it up for exhibition in New York. 
 We will not say what its attractions are. Ever}^ one can judge 
 best by looking into his own feelings. As a matter of fact, we 
 know that nude exhibitions of the human form, if endured 
 by the public, are always sources of large profits to the ex- 
 hibitors. We know that young ladies have visited the statue, 
 and on entering the room have been shocked at the image 
 before them. But they had been told that it was a great 
 work of art, that it was right, nay, almost a duty, to see it ; 
 and so they hushed the mniden fluttering in their hearts, and 
 forced themselves to gaze and admire. We would help them, if 
 possible, back to the repossession of their natures. The first re- 
 sponse of their feelings was natural, was right, and much nearer 
 holiness than anything about the statue. We will tell them for 
 their help in the path of rectitude, that some of our best artists 
 pronounce the whole thing " vulgar." If art says it is vulgar, 
 certainly nature is of the same opinion. One foreign artist, of no 
 peculiar sensitiveness, remarked about it, " I will tell you what it 
 is. The ladies go there to look at the statue, and the gentlemen 
 go to look at the ladies.'' We have yet to learn that anybody 
 has really been excited with pity or mdignation, or with any of 
 
428 THE CHURCH. 
 
 the feelings which would be excited by the reality of a young 
 woman drao-ged out and exposed as the name of this statue repre- 
 sents. There may have been many tears shed, but we have not 
 heard of it. We think the first impression of well-regulated 
 minds is, the desire that some one would throw a blanket over 
 this nakedness and hide it. If nature is right, — if the artists are 
 'rio-ht, — if this is a really barbaric, vulgar exhibition, opposed not 
 only to Christian purity, but to civilized good taste, then let the 
 delusion of holy vestments be dissipated, and the real vestments 
 of decency be put in their place. 
 
 [The following article was accidentally omitted at its proper 
 place ; it shoul^ have been inserted before the article on page 
 308.] 
 
 THE CHURCH— WHERE IS IT? 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce.'] 
 
 There is a great deal of discussion in these days about the iden- 
 tity of the Church. So many cry " Here she is," that none but 
 a very steady man can avoid being confused. The Romanists 
 declare that theirs is the Holy Catholic Church, out of which 
 there is no salvation ; the Episcopalians, at least the Pusey por- 
 tion of them, that they have a monopoly of the " covenant," so 
 that if any find heaven out of their bosom, it must be through 
 the " uncovenanted mercy" of God. Joe Smith sets up the 
 same claim for his church of " Latter Day Saints ;" and various 
 other denominations insist that though salvation may be secured 
 out of their pale, yet they have certain special external matters 
 which constitute the sine qua non of the " visible Church." 
 "We have felt obliged, for our own sakes, to look into this matter, 
 and as it is the topic now up for discussion, we trust our readers 
 will excuse us for laying before them the result of our investiga- 
 tion, though it may turn us aside for a moment from our usual 
 routine. We have noticed that each Church, especially those 
 most exclusive, boast greatly of their unity. Behold, says each, 
 the unity of our Church ; and behold into how many sects all 
 other pretenders are divided ; and they tell us of the particular 
 talisman in their position which guarantees this unity. Yet 
 while the boast is in their lips, we see them fciU asunder, and 
 higli church and low church are immediately separated as by an 
 impassable gulf. We feel obliged therefore not to determine in 
 favor of any particular Church on account of its unity, for no 
 
THE CHURCH. 429 
 
 Church possesses tliat quality as a perpetuity. The Romish 
 CImrch has lost the great section which now composes the 
 Greek Church, and that composing the Episcopal Church, not to 
 speak of the sundering- by tlie Reformation; and still the fires of 
 discord rumble in the midst of her. The Episcopal Church, too, 
 seems about to be riven in the center ; the Kirk of Scotland has 
 witnessed a grand secession ; and the Presbyterian Church in this 
 country is broken into equal parts. We notice, too, that not- 
 withstanding these mighty severings, the claim of unity is as 
 confidently asserted as ever, for each part and parcel is sure to 
 allege that it is the whole Church, showing that even the doctors 
 disagree, and are as much at fault as other men ; only each cries 
 " here she is." 
 
 In searching for the true Church among the contending claims 
 Avhich are presented, we have been surprised to observe, that the 
 indispensable quality, the philosopher's stone of the true Church, 
 is not anything which belongs to the people, but to the priests 
 alone ; so that to belong to the true Church is to follow a 
 certain set of priests, and to conform to their directions. With 
 the Romanists, the Greeks, and the Episcopalians, it is the 
 " apostolic succession" of the clergy ; and the same thing it is, if 
 we understand the matter, which constitutes the e.xclusiveness of 
 the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, so far as they 
 are exclusive. Without the presence of an ordained priest in 
 apostolic succession, there is with them no authorized Church. 
 But as these (exclusives among Presbyterians and Congrega- 
 tionalists) admit that salvation is to be had, and even by cove- 
 nant, out of their churches, we have pursued our investigation 
 of the matter chieHy with reference to the claims of the iliree 
 great Episcopal churches of Rome, Greece and England. The 
 proposition is, that the twelve apostles were an order of men con- 
 stituting the nucleus of the Church, and possessed the exclusive 
 power to administer its ordinances and admit to its privileges ; 
 and that the power of the apostles has been transmitted by regu- 
 lar succession, through the laying on of hands, from age to age, 
 down to the present day ; so that the bishops now extant, are 
 the veritable personification and identification, so far as office and 
 power are concerned, of the twelve apostles. The Romanists 
 claim that the Pope is the successor of Peter, the superior, as it 
 is alleged, of the apostles ; and that the bishops are the succes- 
 sors of the rest, though which apostle each bishop personifies re- 
 spectively, it is not attempted to determine. This is the doctrine, 
 if we understand it right. From the bishops the grace is trans- 
 ferred to the priests, and from the priests to the people, though 
 'the people never receive the power to pass it among each other. 
 
430 THE CHURCH. 
 
 Merely to belong to the Church, is of no avail. The applicant 
 must be admitted by the priest, and from him receive certain 
 sacraments from time to time. It is upon these sacraments 
 which the priest administers, that the prospect of eternal jrlory 
 depends. Baptism is one of these sacraments. When adminis- 
 tered by the consecrated hands of a priest, it implies the remis- 
 sion of sins, the regeneration of the recipient, and his admission 
 into the kingdom of heaven ; but any other man besides a priest 
 might baptize his fellow-man a thousand times, nay, pour all the 
 waters of the Mississippi upon him, it would not wash out a sin- 
 gle stain. The sacraments, in fact, are all of no use, except 
 when " rightly administered ;" but when so administered, they 
 are effectual to eternal salvation. lu examining this plan of sav- 
 ing sinners, it seemed to us of the utmost importance that every 
 part of the history of this succession should be attested and 
 brought home to each particular priest in the most minute and 
 authentic form. If a mistake is made, it cannot be corrected. 
 Heaven or hell hangs upon the verity of the succession. If the 
 conveyance was imperfect at any point of the eighteen hundred 
 years, the whole chain of communication is broken, and the poor 
 sinner who trusted in the priest is lost forever. Upon this point 
 it is indispensable that we should be certain — arsolutelv cer- 
 tain. If a man only buys a lot of ground upon the surface of 
 this transient world, he is careful to examine the title backward 
 to the utmost record, and get a lawyer experienced in the busi- 
 ness to lielp him. With every new sale a memorandum of these 
 searches is handed over with the other papers. Yet after all 
 this care, how many titles piove defective. If therefore the 
 eternal joy or sorrow of an immortal being is to be placed upon 
 the historical succession of the administering priest, Ave sliould 
 expect every priest to come with his " searches" in his hand, 
 carefully autlienticated, from the starting-point of the apostles to 
 the day of administering the sacrament. This is rendered indis- 
 pensable, inasmuch as this power of life and death, this gift of 
 the Holy Ghost, as it is still called, this mysterious power of 
 eternal import, produces no animal or mental sensation as it 
 passes from one to another. The priest who receives it from 
 the bishops does not feel, nor see, nor hear, nor taste, nor smell 
 anything. There is not even the little sudden shock wliich elec- 
 tricity produces Avhen it enters the system. The bishop per- 
 ceived nothing, either in his mind or body, when the all-powerful 
 grace was imparted to him, Tior does the sinner who comes to be 
 transformed out of darkness iiUo light, perceive anytlung. From 
 Pope to penitent there is no consciousness of receiving anything 
 at the time, nor afterward can the individual possibly ascertiuu 
 
THE CHURCH. 431 
 
 that he is in possession of anything. It is of no use to ask any 
 one who has received this grace, but who has notliing to show 
 for it, how or when he lost it, or where he had it last, for there 
 is no sensation, no consciousness of anything at all, at any time. 
 Neither the man himself nor those who are acquainted with him, 
 can perceive that he has anything nevi or peculiar about him. 
 He is no better in atfections, no wiser in intellect, no stronger in 
 body. We have noticed that some boys just out of the theo- 
 logical seminary, where they had learned the indispensableness 
 of the gifts of ordination, and anxious to be able to preach with 
 authority, having been ordained by Congregational pastors, and 
 finding that they had acquired nothing palpable, have sought 
 the desideratum from pi-esbyters in the Presbyterian Church. 
 Still unconscious of the gift, they pass on to the bishop of the 
 Episcopal Church, and thpnce, dissatisfied, to Rome, and yet, like 
 other boys in chase of jack-o'-lanterns, they cannot clutch it, nor 
 get nearer to it, by all their labor. 
 
 As therefore there is no possibility, with the help of the most 
 powerful microscope, or in any other way, of getting any present 
 evidence of the existence of the grace, everything depends on 
 history, which, as we said, in a case so momentous, should be 
 authenticated at every step. But how surprised were we to find 
 that there is not a scrap of any such authentication. When we 
 looked for the parchment deed, and the seal of the notary-public 
 or commissioner of deeds, or at least of the ordaining bisliops 
 and councils, we could find nothing but the general deductions 
 of history coming down from " the fathers." JVot a piipfif or 
 bishop in any one of the three (/real Episcopal Churches is ai:so- 
 LUTELY CERTAIN of his succcssion. When the sinner is about to 
 pass into eternity, and the priest says to him, " Grasp this chain 
 of succession ;" and the dying man exclaims, " Oh, Reverend Sir, 
 are you certain that this chain, so very long that I can see only 
 this one link of it, — are you certain that it was fast-hooked to 
 the foundation of the apostles, and that in all its ten thousand 
 links there is not one unsound ?" — the utmost that the priest can 
 say, in this moment of infinite importance, is, "I ffuess it will 
 hold you." 
 
 As we cannot tell how long we may be occupied in searching 
 for the Church, we lay before our readers ihe result of our ex- 
 amination so far. It is unsatisfactory, we confess. We cannot 
 l)ut hope that somewhere there is something more sure upon 
 which we and our readers may trust our eternal interests. If we 
 find anything by farther searches, we will publish what we find. 
 
432 BUSINESS PROSPECTS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 
 BUSINESS PROSPECTS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, Fibruaiy 28, 1839.] 
 
 All the prophecies of prosperity to our country are now re- 
 ceiving- their fultilhnent. The past year lias been one of the best 
 ever known for substantial prospeiily, and the current year is 
 likely to be still better. There will be prosperity enough to 
 make everybody rich ; and yet the surest way to get poor is to 
 be in an inordinate hurrv to get rich. This has caused the down- 
 fall of hundreds within the last few }-ears. Many who were rich, 
 in scrambling for enormous gains, lost all, and would now be most 
 happy and contented if tliey could get back one-tenth of the 
 wealth tiiey once had in secure possession. Many a young m;ui 
 who is now starting in business, will spend his life in torture and 
 die poor, merely because he is bent on being a verj/ rich man. 
 But why do you wish to be very rich ? Of what use could live 
 millions be to you? Would you eat any more, or would what 
 you eat taste any sweeter for such unwieldy wealth ? Could 
 such a sum minister any more to your real happine.ss than half of 
 it, or a quarter, or a tenth of it ? He is as rich as the richest 
 wliose wants are all supplied. All the rest is mere care and vex- 
 ation. 
 
 In all the range of human folly, there is nothing more foolish 
 than the desire to possess boundless wealth, which after all gives 
 the possessor nothing but trouble and anxiety. There are some 
 men so rich that there is scarcely a tire but they are losers bv it 
 ^— or a gale, but it costs them something. There is no thunder 
 of distant war, but they tremble for their numerous stores ; no 
 flood but carties oil' some of their bridges ; no prosperity in the 
 land but it makes money plenty and brings down their rate of 
 usance, and makes it more difficult to re-invest their constantly- 
 returning funds. These men lead a dog's life merely because 
 they are so lich. Few poor men who know not where to get a 
 meal of victuals, suffer from anxiety so much as they. Yet thou- 
 sands, in scrambling for this state of wretchedness, have plunged 
 themselves into a sea of troubles, where they have been almost 
 as miseiable as if their largest desires had been accomplished. 
 Our advice to all our friends is. Do not set out to be enormously 
 rich. Bound your desires by what you know is judicious Let 
 your mind run on something more noble than mere money-makino-. 
 Keep your business within your means. Do no more than you 
 can manage with ease, then you will not be humbled to continual 
 shinning. If you are prosperous, give away your money freely. 
 One dollar given away will atlord you more real joy than the 
 hoarding of ten dollars. On such principles as these, you will be 
 likely always to have enough ; you will be hkely to manage your 
 
THE TRADE OF POUTICS. 433 
 
 business easily, honorabl3% and happily. Your credit will be 
 good, your heart at rest, and your tire-side happy. Wiiatever 
 your occupation is, stick to it. Never turn off to specula- 
 tions. Let all your acquaintance make their thousands daily, and 
 be not yourself disturbed. Tiicy stand on slippery places, and 
 when the storm of revul>i()n comes, nine out of ten of them will 
 be swept away, while you remain unmoved. 
 
 THE TRADE OF POLITICS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 23, 1847.] 
 
 A POOR trade, and yet the only one which some men have. It 
 is a trade, moreover, inconsistent with the best success, if not 
 with any success, in any other occupation. The merchant or 
 mechanic who makes himself a partisan, and so occupies his mind 
 with contriving and his hands with executing political projects, 
 will almost certainly neglect his store or his shop. Even lawyers, 
 whose business is perhaps more congenial with politics than that 
 of an}' other set of men, are very apt to find that either politics 
 or the bar must be relinquished. It has come about that a very 
 considerable number of persons, abandoning other occupations, 
 have taken up politics as a trade, and make this their chief reli- 
 ance for a livelihood. To young persons there is much that is 
 alluring in political scrambling, and the young often enter into the 
 support of one j)arty or another with a degree of real patriotism 
 far beyond that which is felt by their leaders. They hear it pro- 
 claimed that " a crisis has arrived when the country is to be saved 
 or lost," and in their simplicity and inexperience they suppose 
 the whole country is meant, whereas, ten to one, the orator only 
 means that his own particular interest in its honors and emolu- 
 ments is to be saved or lost. These same young persons perhaps 
 continue the game when they come to understand it better, for 
 the sake of personal advantage, and great numbers of others 
 enter upon it for the same reason. Others, again, are allured by 
 the mere love of excitement. Some men devote themselves to 
 politics deliberately, almost from the commencement of their ac- 
 tivity in life ; but the greater number who adopt politics as a 
 trade, do so, because, having from some of the causes mentioned, 
 been drawn into it, they have pursued it until their other occupa- 
 tions have deserted them, and as a matter of necessity they cast 
 themselves for a living upon what seems the most ready re- 
 source. 
 
 Politics, however, is a poor trade. It is poor in its effect upon 
 19 
 
434 THii: TRADE OF POLITICS. 
 
 a man's purse, for it generally leaves it empty enough. The ex- 
 citements of politics disqualify a man in a great measure for the 
 careful husbandry of his pecuniary resources. A political Ufe is 
 an expensive one, and the salaries, in our country at least, are too 
 low to defray the expense. Many a man in the higher offices 
 earns less than a good farmer, and as to the clerkships and other 
 working ofl/ces, which are the objects of most violent scrambling, 
 a great proportion of them yield less income than is paid by in- 
 dividuals for services no more laborious. When to these things 
 are added the losses which result from being turned out of office 
 every now and then, it is not strange that politicians, as a class, 
 have less money, less credit, and more duns, than any other class 
 of honorable men. Politics is a poor business in its effects on the 
 morals of a man who makes it his ti-ade. He must belong to a 
 party, and the measures of a party are seldom such that a good 
 conscience can approve them all ; but he must approve them all. 
 He must go with the team over precipices and through bogs, and 
 the moment he falters he finds himself down and trampled on. 
 The bidding of the party, not the dictates of conscience, 
 must he obey. The best rule which he can hope to live by is 
 that *' the end justifies the means." After all its show of eclat, 
 politics is a poor business as it respects the honors obtained by it. 
 True, it is chiefly in politics that men aie elevated to what are 
 called posts of honor. But the honor most of them attain is, to 
 be most heartlessly huri-aed by one ])arty and most heartily hissed 
 by the other. Now and then a man enjoys the real deference 
 and cordial approbation of his countrymen, and perhaps the 
 world. But such men are not often from the number of those 
 who make politics the occupation of their lives. They are much 
 oftener the men who, upon an emergency, are called forth from 
 comparative retirement, and whose plans for the future are not such 
 as to bend their own integrity or excite the jealousy of others. In- 
 consistency of conduct in political men is always and perhaps 
 rightfully esteemed dishonorable. Yet no man can long ride 
 upon popular opinion and be consistent ; for the plain reason that 
 public opinion is not consistent. We beg the pubhc pardon for 
 speaking the truth in so unpopular a manner, but so it is. There 
 are a gieat many subjects upon which the public mind is estab- 
 lished, never perliaps to be changed ; but upon those which are 
 not so settled, (and these are always the subjects of interest and 
 debate with politicians,) the pubhc mind changes much oftener 
 than the change is noticed. The same opinions which at one 
 time a public man is obliged by the force of public opinion to 
 advocate with all his j^owers, he is a few years afterward com- 
 pelled by the same public to oppose with equal earnestness, and 
 
THE STATE. 435 
 
 then, perhaps be scorned by the same public for his inconsistency, 
 when he would most gladly be consistent if he dared. Take it 
 all in all, there are hundreds of men who, by their enterprise, and 
 talent, and probity in business, and liberality and piety of moral 
 conduct, gain a more substantial honor among their fellow-men 
 and die more heartily regretted, than falls to tlie lot of more than 
 a very small number of politicians ; while thousands of politicians 
 die absokitely and very justly despised. But poorest of all is the 
 trade of politics in regard to the happiness of the man who pur- 
 sues it; and this is the test of value for all things. Wealth, 
 honor, and pleasure, are good for nothing, and no wise man will 
 pursue them for their effect on himself, except as they promote 
 his substantial happiness. But what is the politician's happiness ? 
 If he is completely successful, his gratitication is hardly worthy 
 to be called happiness. It is the gratification of ambition, which 
 is the more insatiate the more it is indulged ; and it is the ma- 
 licious gratification of triumphing over rivals — a feeling which 
 partakes but little more of pleasure than of pain. But how many 
 are never able to reach the fountain where these mixed waters 
 may be tasted ! They live in vexation and anxiety, fearful of 
 rivals, conscious that the waters of public opinion on which they 
 walk are unstable as those of the ocean ; always scared at the 
 visions of defeat, and not unfiequently ol)liged to feel the chagrin 
 of the reality, and the anguish of beholding a rival go up to the 
 pinnacle, while they sink down neglected. 
 
 This is our sermon on the poor trade of politics. 
 
 THE STATE: 
 
 (a review of professor lewis' discourse at andover.) 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, September 14, 1843.] 
 
 Men have become so exceedingly learned in these days, that 
 they know nothing at all. They are so fond of metaphysics, that 
 the evidence of their senses is insipid. Nothing is certain but 
 that which is deduced by a long course of sophistry ; and, as to 
 prove the truth by metaphysics is a short and simple process, 
 they are only satisfied when at the end of three hours they have 
 mystified themselves into such utter darkness that a glow-bug 
 fills them wilh ecstasy. The moon has no charms for them until 
 they have proved that she is a cheese ; the rays of the sun have 
 no warmth until they are proved to have their origin in cucum- 
 bers. All that is, must be reasoned out of exi^^tence, and things 
 most hideous that are not, reasoued into reality • and then they 
 
436 THE STATE. 
 
 can smoke their pipes with composure. If such brain-sick learn- 
 ing could have its way, common sense would be laughed out of 
 society ; all that men know, they would be required to deny ; and 
 all that is absurd, to believe. The age of infidel philosophy 
 would be brought back, and the consummation of learning consist 
 in knowing the only thing which would remain to be known, viz. : 
 that all things are uncertain. 
 
 We know not what could be a more thorough exemplification 
 of tliis learned foolishness, than an American Professor proving 
 before the assembled sages of New England, that man has no 
 right to govern himself in society, that he has no riglits except as a 
 religious being, that a state formed by the agreement of the people 
 is no state at all, and that there is a mysterious divinity about 
 that mystical thing called government, which makes usurpation, 
 and that only, the ordination of God. " Tlie State may originate 
 as the production of a wicked revolution or a just revolution," 
 &c. ; in any way, in fact, except by the free assent and agreement 
 of the people. Herod, Nero, the tj-rant of the day in the tumult 
 of the French Revolution, Bonaparte, and Rosas : all these rule 
 bj the authority of God ! " this is not the work of man ;" but 
 these United States, with Washington at their head, " were not a 
 State, but a mere mass of men — it was a usurpation — the State 
 had committed suicide." This theory is not uncommon in our 
 days, especially among the clergy. With these men notliing is 
 so odious as radicalism ; and whatever opposes their will is ra- 
 dicahsra. No doctrine is so odious as that kings are made for the 
 people, and priests for the churches ; and no doctrine so whole- 
 some as tliat the people are made for kings, and churches for 
 their priests. The family is taken as the sample of government 
 by divine right, and the chief blessing of that institution is its dis- 
 cipline. Discipline is their panacea for the ills of humanity. It 
 is, say they, ''only through the discipline of the fjiniily, the State, 
 and the Church, that man can attain his true dignity." Birch is 
 the only tree in all the forest which they admii-e ; but if by chance 
 the little end of the switch falls to their share, no boy makes more 
 outcry. They talk as if under an indistinct impression that the 
 proper duty of a father is to flog the boys every night, as they 
 go to bed. The sura of the whole matter is, that the State being 
 a religious institution, and religion being the especial prerogative 
 of the Church, and the Church, as well as the State, being a dis- 
 ciplinary institution, for which however the State alone holds the 
 power ; it is expedient for the furtherance of the ends of a reli- 
 gious State and a disciplined Church, that the two should be united 
 in mutual support of each other. The adulterous union of Church 
 and State is the end of all this fine spinuing of metaphysics. 
 
THE STATE. 437 
 
 There are some results of tlie doctrines under consideration, 
 which seem to us Uttle short of absolute absurdities, even in meta- 
 physics. One of the rules of logic, as well as physics, is, that a part 
 cannot be more than the whole. Yet these metaphysicians hold tliat 
 a civil compact, a government originated by the will of the whole 
 people, is a fiction, but that any indivklunl may assume the gov- 
 ernment, and it is then an institution of God. What a million 
 of men have no right to do, any one of the million has the right 
 to do, in opposition to all the rest; In fact, any number of indi- 
 viduals may rise up in opposition to each other, and the conqueror 
 of the whole can establish a divineh'-appointed State; but if the 
 whole number rise in harmony and peace, and establish a gov- 
 ernment, it is nothing. 
 
 Again, according to the hypothesis of these men, every ex- 
 isting government is of divine right, except those where the 
 will of the people is the supreme law. Whoever governs to- 
 day is the vicegerent of Jehovah ; and all rebellion against the 
 government in existence, is rebellion against God. Yet if rebel- 
 lion becomes so strong as to overthrow the government and'^es- 
 tablish itself in power, the scepter of divine right passes instantly 
 into its hands. According to this theory tlie government of 
 Boyer was the government of God ; and none the less but per- 
 haps the more so because he had violated the Constitution upon 
 which he was elected, and usurped all power in his own hands. 
 The rebellion of Riviere was a wicked rebellion in all its stages of 
 feebleness ; but when it became so strong that Boyer fled, then 
 the revolution became a righteous revolution, and Riviere the 
 head of the State by divine right. "King Solomon the First," 
 who has since headed a rebellion against the government of 
 Riviere, will be a lawful king if he can get strength enough to 
 rule ; if not, he will deserve to be executed as a rebel. Success 
 is the test, and the signal of divine approbation. " ]\Iight makes 
 rifht." No pope, or king, or tyrant robber of the dark ages, 
 ever asked for anything better than this. But we have no such 
 doctrine from the Word of God or from any of his dealings. 
 With the Bible, success is no test of rectitude. Actions begun 
 in sin are not consummated in righteousness, but if they are to be 
 sanctioned in heaven they must be right from the start. The 
 right of the strongest is one of the laws of Satan's kingdom, and 
 by it he has kept his minions on the thrones of this world, and at 
 the head of its pohtioal churches, in a great majority of cases, 
 from ai''e to age, and we have no doubt that these merciless op- 
 pressors of the human family, and persecutors of the real Church 
 of Christ, have been as much abhorred in heaven as on earth, and 
 instead of ever being owned as the vicegerents of Jehovah, will 
 
438 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
 
 find their place among the rebels against Hira. But how unwor- 
 thy is the advocate of such opinions, to enjoy the privileges of 
 American liberty ! How unworthy to enjoy the " inalienable 
 rights" which cost so much blood, and which he so much de- 
 spises and contemns ! The sophistry of his learning in its high- 
 est efforts reaches only to the same conclusions with the most be- 
 sotted iofnorance. 
 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce.^ 
 
 We have never seen any good reason for the opinion so often 
 and so self-complacently expressed, that the people, especially 
 those who are poorer than the speakers, are unfit to govern them- 
 selves. There is a strange anogance of wisdom and patriotism 
 among those who count themselves of the upper classes. They 
 seem to forget that the vigor which has raised them so much, 
 was nurtured and hardened in the lower ranks from which they 
 started. They fail to appreciate the fact which they see con- 
 stantly before them, that it is the energy existing at the bottom of 
 society which raises it to the top, and the supineness accumulat- 
 ing at the top which constantly sinks it to the bottom. 
 
 Those who think themselves alone worthy to be trusted, we 
 have seen quite as ready to appropriate the powers of government 
 to their own private and dishonest advantage, as poor men, or 
 even ignorant men. Education, intelligence, moral principle, can- 
 not be too highly valued. Tliey are essential to the well-being 
 of a State. When the supposed upper classes have enough of 
 these to make them willing to do justice to those whom they con- 
 sider below them, there will be more reason than has ever been 
 long seen on earth as yet, for the opinion that these alone should 
 rule. 
 
 But there is a mighty power in the mere shape of institutions, 
 to guide men right. The Irish are an ignorant and turbulent 
 people, upon whom England has exhausted the wisdom and 
 patriotism and Christianity of her upper classes, for long centu- 
 ries, in vain. They grow worse instead of better, until Ireland is 
 little else than a great bedhim, and hospital, and golgotha. Bt 
 just change the position of an Irishman ; tmnsplant him from 
 Ireland to America ; give him a share in the government, and 
 treat him as a man, and he is a man. The process of regenera- 
 tion goes on with astonishing rapidity ; and if the effect of his 
 early training cannot be wholly eradicated from the emigrant, it 
 
PERSONAL RIGHTS. 439 
 
 is from bis children. They are good citizens, stripped clean of 
 the peculiar qualities which destroy the country of their ancestors. 
 Right treatment, good institutions, regenerate the family from the 
 desperate degradation to which ages of bad government had re- 
 duced it. We have an intensely interesting exhibition of the 
 same tiling in Liberia. Tlie negroes are set down as a sort of 
 half-monkey race by some philantiiropists ; and by a vast majority 
 of respectable people the negro slaves of the South are thought 
 wholly incapable of self-government ; and so they are probably 
 in this country. But look over to Liberia, and see these very 
 slaves, the identical men and women who were slaves, not their 
 children, struggling through the difficulties of a new and most 
 arduous enterprise, with a degree of wisdom and steady energy 
 which would do honor to any people. Let us not then any longer 
 talk of the incapacity of man for self-government, especially with 
 the Bible in his hands, that source of abundant wisdom. French- 
 men, to be sure, have not many Bibles. But they have Bibles 
 and Bible men enough to salt, and enlighten the land very essen- 
 tially. They have done nobly in recovering their rights three 
 times from the grasp of tyrants. Let them but know that the 
 government is of them and for them, and we shall expect them to 
 do honor to the free institutions of their choice. 
 
 [These principles are then applied to the French Revolution 
 of 1848.] 
 
 PERSONAL EIGHTS. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, January 27, 1844.] 
 
 The rights which men hold in their own persons are about all 
 the divine rights which exist on earth. "Thou shalt lovet hy 
 neighbor as thyself," is the command of God, and confers a right. 
 " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink," 
 confers a right in the same way ; though not perhaps by the de- 
 serving of the beneficiary. That God has made of one blood all 
 nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, places us upon 
 one broad equality — giving to every man the same rights which 
 are possessed by other men. Whatever rights we possess by 
 virtue of our creation, with the faculties and i-esponsibihty which 
 attach to us, we are entitled to exercise, without interruption, or 
 interference, or censorship of our fellow men. If tbis is not so, 
 then the right is not ours, but the neighbor's, who has a right 
 to control us. As each man, for himself, is responsible to 
 God for his opinions, the state of his affections, and the worship 
 
440 LIBERTY AND LICENTIOUSNESS. 
 
 •vvliich he renders, he has a riglit in himself to form these opin- 
 ions bv the examination of all the sources of information and 
 Sjuidance which are naturally within his reach — and render a wor- 
 ship and service which those opinions dictate. However errone- 
 ous these opinions and this worship raa}- be, and hov,e\er painful 
 to those around us, and although our friends and neighbors may 
 have the right to expostulate with us in kindness, they have no 
 right to take otTense at us, or injure us in any way ; for we are 
 not infringing upon their rights — we are only exercising our own. 
 
 Every man has a right to select his own occupation, his wife 
 (with her consent), and his associates generally. For all this he 
 is responsible to God ; (for he exercises the rights which God has 
 given him,) but he is in no wise responsible to his fellow-men. 
 If, in any of these selections, he is led into courses of life which 
 violate his duties to other persons, then the)' have a right to com- 
 plain ; but not for the mere selection. As a citizen every one has 
 a right to join what political party he pleases, and vote for the 
 rulers of his own choice ; for, in so doing, he only exercises the 
 right which belongs to all citizens. 
 
 The properly which any man has honestly acquired he has a 
 right to keep or dispose of, as he pleases — pro\ ided he does not 
 endanger the support of his family or his own maintenance. 
 
 Ill fact, every man has a right, so far as his fellow-men are 
 concerned, to believe and to do a great many wrong things, for 
 which he may stand deservedly condemned befoie his Creator. 
 Our various relations to each other, as neighboi-s, dealers, employ- 
 ers or eniploved, make no change or abridgment in the absolute- 
 ness of these rights. The man who assumes to r.ontrol us, or to 
 quarrel with us, or injure us in any way, or even to frown upon 
 us, because we do not exercise these rights in accordance with 
 his opinions or his interest, or his wishes, invades the rights 
 whicii God has given us, and is as truly guilty of a robbery as 
 if he had violently taken away our money. 
 
 LIBERTY AND LICENTIOUSNESS. 
 [^lyom the Journal of Comnu^rce, October 31, 1835. j 
 
 Every virtue, carried to excess, becomes a vice. And so 
 much does vice wear the semblance of its kindred virtue, that it 
 is often takt^i for it by the individual who practices it, and not 
 untrequently by lus acquaintances. The miser calls himself pru- 
 dent; the spendthrift thinks he is only generous; and the 
 licentious abuser of his fellow-men sets himself up as the cham- 
 
MBERTY AND LICENTIOUSNESS. 441 
 
 pion of liberty. Ameiioans have bcon so careful to shield real 
 liberty from invasion, that in buildinor their wall around it they 
 have inclosed almost all the quags of licentiousness. 
 
 Here every man possesses, as an American citizen, the inalien- 
 able rig-ht of swearing, lying, and slandering, provided only that 
 he makes his declaration in such a general way as not to fasten 
 on any one individual. For instance, he has a right to say of the 
 Jackson men, or of the Whigs, or of the Presbyterians, or the 
 Methodists, in general terms, that they are thieves, robbers, or 
 anything else he pleases ; and if there are any considerable num- 
 ber of persons wlio wish to promulgate the same opinions, they 
 have a i-ight to meet in convention, and discuss and resolve as 
 may best suit their malignant propensities. More than this ; they 
 have a right to take such measures as will alarm those they hate, 
 for their personal safety, or for the safety of their property, pro- 
 vided only they do not sni/ what their real object is. Nay, more ; 
 there are various ways in which an American citizen has a right 
 to defraud his fellpw-citizens of their property, tiieir happiness, 
 and even their lives. In sliort, every American citizen has a right 
 to render himself a mischievous pest to all his fellow-citizens. 
 We use the word " right " in its civil sense, it will be seen, mean- 
 ing the liberty to do everything which the laws do not punish. 
 While every American citizen possesses, in this sense, the right to 
 do as we have described, it is obvious that all of us cannot really 
 exercise all our rights. If we should, the result would be Bed- 
 lam rather than society. It would be luiiversal confusion, and 
 deprivation of all real and useful liberty. Plainly, somebody 
 must forbear. If one portion of the community insist on exer- 
 cising their rights thus licentiously, other portions must submit to 
 have their rights restricted and abridged. It seems manv times 
 to be forgotten that there are other laws besides those written in 
 the statute-book, by which every good citizen ought to be bound 
 and regulated ; such as the laws of God, the laws of good neigh- 
 boihood, and the laws of gentlemanly courtesy. But it is no 
 uncommon thing for those who break most barbarously all these 
 last named codes, to cry themselves up as the champions of liber- 
 ty and law, and cry out " persecution," if any vigorous measures 
 are adopted to resist, or even to expose their mal-practices. 
 
 19* 
 
442 SECTARIANISM. 
 
 MORALS OF RULERS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, September 9, 1844.] 
 
 We published some time ago the letter of a correspondent, 
 setting forth the immoral character of several members of Con- 
 gress, and complaining in very proper terms, that such men should 
 be sent to dishonor the country in the halls of its legislation. 
 There are a multitude of such complaints. But are those who 
 complain always careful themselves not to vote for an immoral 
 man ? The difficulty, if we understand it right, is, that good men 
 pray for good rulers, and then vote for bad ones. They can see 
 very well that some dissolute man from a distant part of the 
 country ought never to have been intrusted with the affairs of 
 government ; but when such a man is nominated by their own 
 party, in their own district, do they withhold their votes ? Not 
 one man in ten, if one in a hundred, will break aAvay from the im- 
 pulses of party to follow the leadings of sound morality. They 
 pray for rulers who "fear God and hate covetousness," and then 
 vote for men who " neither fear God nor regard man." Such 
 praying, and the scolding of such men about bad rulers, are 
 equally important. If men who pray for good rulers are in earn- 
 est when they pray, there is one way by which they can secure 
 a favorable answer to their prayers. It is never to vote for any 
 but good men. If men who pray would act in accordance with 
 their prayers, and never vote for an imnfworal man, there would be 
 no such men nominated. But so long as men sacrifice religion, 
 morals, and everything else, at the shrine of party, so long virtue 
 finds no support, and vice no reproof at the polls. Let every 
 man do his own duty in this matter, or else cease to complain of 
 bad men in office. 
 
 SECTARIANISM. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, September 9, 1847.] 
 
 We doubt whether sectarianism in general is any part at all of 
 true Christianity. We suspect that Christianity is one thing, and 
 sectarianism a separate thing ; no more the thing than the husk is 
 the coi'n, nor at all as necessary to true religion as the worthless 
 husk to the rich corn which it incloses. Sectarianism may be 
 essential to the elevation of leading individuals, and but for it, 
 many great systems would vanish into air at once ; but religion 
 would be left, nevertheless. Christ promulgated Christianity ; 
 men have promulgated sectarianism. There have been thou- 
 sands of occasions when this has been practically illustrated. 
 
TRINITY CIIURCJI CROSS. 443 
 
 .Cliristian missionaries of various denominations have often found, 
 when they have met together, that they were all one. Men in 
 great peril together have often, by their mutual danger, been 
 stripped of their sectarianism, yet with all their religion left, have 
 called aloud and together for help from the mighty God who 
 alone could save them. It is in rich churches, beneath tall spires, 
 and in irreligious associations, that the weeds of sectarianism grow 
 rife ; but in poverty and sadness there is often none of it, 
 though much more true piety. In fact, if sectarianism were not 
 constantly fomented by interested individuals, we should not be 
 certain that the great mass of Christians would not directly fall 
 into one great brotherhood. We are not so much troubled about 
 sectarianism as some people are. We are not certain that, small 
 as the portion of true piety may be among all the denominations 
 in these days, sectarianism is not a good thing. It sets up a ri- 
 valry of opposition where the motive of benevolence is too feeble, 
 and so creates Christian action and usefulness, when but for it 
 there would be nothing but dry bones. Still, we cannot think 
 that the true vitality of religion is in sectarianism. While we do 
 not think that Christian union on a common basis is, as thino-g 
 now stand, to be established by a world's convention, yet we do 
 think it a possibility, and even a probability at some time. Pray 
 what will give vitality to the saints in heaven ? Will it be Epis- 
 copacy, or Congregationalism, or Methodism ? 
 
 TRINITY CHURCH CROSS. 
 \_Fyom the Journal of Commerce, July 9, 1845.] 
 
 The cross has at last been placed on the top of the noble 
 steeple of Trinity Church. As a mere matter of architecture, it 
 is rather, by contrast, calculated to add to the dignity of the 
 structur^below. Whether in this respect it is for the better or 
 the worse, there will probably be a diversity of tastes. If the 
 cross is intended as a sign to designate the denomination to whom 
 the building belongs, it will be likely to be misunderstood, unless, 
 indeed, Trinity intends to announce her return in due submission 
 to the bosom of Holy Mother Church of Rome, which we 
 suppose is not the case. If the cross is erected under the notion 
 that it adds anything to the sanctity of the place, that this cross 
 will be an object of adoration, or veneration even, the design is 
 distinctly idolatrous, and in thorough rejection of Him who died 
 on Calvary upon a cross, as a sacrifice in the place of sinners. It 
 is no matter into what shape the smith hammers the metal when 
 
444 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 it is warmed on the coals, whether it be a Jupiter, a St. Paul, or 
 a cross ; whether it is the image of anything in heatlien my- 
 thology or scripture history, makes no difference. If the image 
 is intended to excite pious emotion tow.ird itself, or anything 
 which dwells in it or about it, the intention is to reject the true 
 God and set up another. Truth and falsehood are often so near 
 together, that it takes the nicest care to distinguish between them ; 
 yet they are always really and totally opposed to each other, and 
 their results are liable to be separated by a gulf which no man can 
 pass. It is no uncommon thing, in fact, for men to believe that 
 the)' are doing God service, when they are doing just that which 
 he most abhors. But there is no need, we presume, for such re- 
 marks upon the Trinity cross, though they flow naturally from 
 the contemplation of the manner in which, by the use of such 
 images, the Christian Church, winch it cost so much blood to es- 
 tablish, was led back to an idolatry more dark and dreadful than 
 that which had preceded it; so that the whole work of the 
 Christian dispensation had in reality to be commenced anew, and to 
 find its most deadly and cruel opponent in the nominal Church, 
 with the cross elevated upon every steeple. 
 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, Jaiiuary 4, 1848.] 
 
 We received yesterday a notice that our property in Maiden 
 Lane had been assessed $3,00, with information that the said 
 assessment had been " confirmed ;" and that payment would be 
 received "in money current at the several banks in this city." 
 We have to say mos*^ decidedly that we shall not pay. First, be- 
 cause we cannot determine certainly what the amount is, as it is 
 only stated in figures. Secondly, because we have no faith in mere 
 confirmation. If the thing be unsound in itself, whetli^r it be 
 man, beast, or whatever else, mere confirmation, by whatever 
 hands performed, is a mere ceremony, coming to nothing; there- 
 fore this matter of the Maiden Lane, being altogether unsound, 
 hypocritical, rotten, and of unseemly odor, from the beginning, 
 confirmation cannot cure its defects. And lastly,' because we do 
 not own any property iu Maiden Lane. 
 
CHURCH PEWS PROFANENESS. 445 
 
 CHURCH PEWS. 
 
 {From the Journal of Commerce, May 18, 1843 ] 
 
 " Church Pews. — In thn practice of politely bowing strangers out 
 of a pew where there if? still room to spare, is there not a Lick of even 
 worldly courtesy ? ' Have 3'oii not. mistaken the pew, sir .'" bbmiUy said 
 one of these Sunday Chesterfields, as with emphatic gracefulness he 
 opened the door- ' I beg: pardon,' replied the stranger, rising to go out, 
 ' I fear I have. I mistook it for a Christian's.' " — A''eio York American. 
 
 This must be a very popular paragraph with tliose Sunday 
 marauders who, whether they pay for a pew anywheie or not, 
 are perfectly at home in the best seat they can find. These per- 
 sons have, many of them, arrived at so high a state of Christian 
 attainment, as to perceive that the only person in all the world 
 Avho has no claim to a pew in church, is the person who pays for 
 it. They, therefore, take possession alone, or in squads, of the 
 best pews they can find, where they seat themselves in Christian 
 perfection, and if a contribution-box should chance to pass along, 
 they turn up their Christian noses at it, and report the people as 
 extremely impolite. For the owner of the pew to stand with his 
 family at the door and make a bow, signifying that he would be 
 glad to use what is his own, is enough to get him the character 
 of being no Christian and no gentleman. We know at least one 
 church where intrusions of this sort are carried on with so high a 
 hand, that the trustees are obliged to be less courteous than they 
 would like to be, or give up the establishment altogether. We 
 have sometimes seen persons high in honor and in Christian 
 character, when they go to a strange church, take a back seat, 
 or ask the sexton to show them to a seat, or walk down the aisle 
 with an air which betokens their wishes, and this course of con- 
 duct has seemed to us to breathe quite as much the air of Chris- 
 tianity and politeness as the conduct of those persons who, when 
 they go abroad to church, go early, take possession of the best 
 pew they can find, and then look with self-complacent indig- 
 nation at the parishioner who dares to ask for a seat in his own 
 pew. 
 
 PROFANENESS. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, August 25, 1846.] 
 
 I HOPE the day will come when a grand effort will be made to 
 purify our language from piofaneness ; or, at least, when the cap- 
 tains of steamboats, and others who entertain throngs of travel- 
 ers, will remember that among their guests there are almost 
 
446 PROFANENESS. 
 
 always some who love and revere the name of God and Jesus 
 Christ, and whose feelings are wounded when these names are 
 taken in vain. I shall not dispute the right of any man (so far 
 as society is concerned) to defy high Heaven with oaths and 
 curses, and swear when God only, hears, or when he is surround- 
 ed by others like himself. I can only say of him that nothing is 
 more vulgfar in lancruawe, nothing else more degrading, nothing 
 else so profitlessly wicked. But let him settle that with the God 
 who has told him beforehand that He will " not hold him guilt- 
 less." What I claim is that my ears shall not be assailed by 
 profanity. It is not only sin against God, but against the Eng- 
 lish language, and against common civility, for any man in a pro- 
 miscuous society to draw his adjectives fi-om the vocabulary of 
 Billingsgate, which some of the company have never learned, 
 and cannot hear but with pain. Especially is this violation of 
 private rights disreputable and ungentlemanly in the officers of 
 steamboats and the keepers of hotels, who by their invitations to 
 strangers to come under their charge, do virtually pledge them- 
 selves that the traveler's personal rights shall not by them be 
 invaded, but protected and secured. These remarks are not 
 without reason in what I have endured at the West ; and yet I 
 would not be understood as characterizing the Western people as 
 sinners above all men in this respect. There is too mucli pro- 
 faneness, a great deal, yet there are thousands who abhor an 
 oath, and on the whole I did not hear more of this vulgar crimi- 
 nality than I had reason to expect. The most shocking profanity 
 to which I was compelled to listen was at La Porte, Indiana. 
 But it was at the close of election day, and the men whose hid- 
 eous oaths resounded through the tavern were not, I trust, any 
 fair representation of the people of the place. There were, how- 
 ever, a number of men whose language was almost all profane, 
 and who seemed distressed that they were obliged to intersperse 
 a few words of real English in order to express any idea at all. 
 Some whose ideas were all drowned, made out pretty well with 
 no English at all. I went to bed almost horrified by the dread- 
 ful depravity wliich I had witnessed, and when at a late hour I 
 was awakened by an old man passing through my chamber to 
 his own bed, cursing and damning along, in low grumbles to 
 himself, it required but little dreaming to suppose him a lost 
 fiend, vainly seeking rest in the darkness, and that I had lain 
 down in the purlieus of the infernal regions, instead of on the 
 border of " The Door Prairie." 
 
 A similar train of thought has come over me respecting the 
 smokers, though of course of a much milder character. I do not 
 dispute the right to smoke, so far as I am concerned, or society ; 
 
D O C T O U S OF DIVINITY. 44T 
 
 but I do dispute any man's ritfht to smoke in my face in the 
 places of promiscuous resort. I do not say that it is degrading 
 or ungentleraanly to smoke good cigars, or bad ones, or a pipe. 
 But I do say, that the man who comes upon the promenade of a 
 steamer, "abaft the shaft," where ladies and gentlemen are as- 
 sembled, and there sits himself down at the windward of them, 
 to smoke and spit, is a violator of their individual rights, is un- 
 civil, and for the time being a blackguard, however much of a 
 gentleman he may be elsewhere and on other occasions. If 
 anything could make me believe that tobacco-smoking was in its 
 very nature uncivilizing and degrading, it would be the exhibi- 
 tions of incivilit}^ such as I have described, which it induces men 
 to be guilty of, who, in every other respect, seem to be courteous 
 and gentlemanly. When I went into the bar-rooms or the 
 " smoking-rooms" of the West, I should have thought myself 
 quite uncivil to complain of those who were smoking. But I 
 thought there was reason for complaint, when almost on no oc- 
 casion could I get a seat in the fresh air, but some smoker would 
 contrive to get further to windward than myself and make me 
 breathe out of his mouth. Ladies, though their sweet presence 
 protects the gentlemen who accompany them from some incon- 
 veniences, and even introduces them to some choicer accommoda- 
 tions — even ladies are no protection against the smokers. No 
 decorum, no beaut}^ no necessity can propitiate the smoker, and 
 remonstrance is only the precursor of double injury. 
 
 D.D.'s. 
 
 [Froni the Journal of Commerce, August 25, 1845.] 
 
 We are glad to see that our colleges are forbearing this year, 
 more than ever before, in the distribution of " Semi-Lunar Far- 
 dels." The great number of manufactories of Doctors of Divin- 
 ity, and the curious characters who sometimes get them, with 
 the other objections, have brought the title into absolute disgrace. 
 It ranks now very much with " Calling " in the militia ; that is, 
 a good deal below Mr. It is a singular accident, if such it was, 
 that the only thing in our country which has any resemblance to 
 a title of nobility should have been bestowed upon the ministers 
 of a religion whose honor is all in its humility, and whose author 
 forbade them even to be called Rabbi. The degree of LL.D. is, 
 to be sure, in a few cases, conferred on literary men and civilians, 
 but not with the design of giving a title. Even this had better 
 be omitted. But to set about decorating the parties with D.D.'s, 
 
448 ELOQUENCE. 
 
 because they stand in certain relations to the officers of the col- 
 lege, or to rich donors, or even have money of tlieir own to give, 
 or have rendered some service to a party, or need to have a ques- 
 tionable character white-washed, or have reached a certain age, 
 is not very reputable to anybody, and causes the same thing, 
 when conferred on real merit, to be rather a derogation than an 
 honor. One gentleman, we noticed, was mentioned as the oldest 
 living graduate of the college, and he was doctorated, not with- 
 out other merits, we dare say, besides his extreme age. Yet the 
 act was likely to be misunderstood rather as one of pity than 
 respect. We hope the hundred institutions of our country, and 
 more too, called colleges, and a few of them entitled to the name, 
 will cease this nonsense and mischief of trying to inflate the pride 
 of ministers, by conferring an old, unmeaning, and superan- 
 nuated title upon them. Let them have the privilege, like other 
 American citizens, of being called Mr., and earning their own 
 rank in society. 
 
 SEMI-LUNAR FARDELS. 
 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, August C, 1847.] 
 
 There is a prospect of an uncommonly large yield this sea- 
 son. One college has turned out five pair. As there are over 
 one hundred colleges in the country, they would, at the same 
 rate, yield an aggregate of over five hundred pair in a single year. 
 For the economy of labor, we would suggest the propriety of at 
 once dubbing all the clergymen in the country, " D.D.," without 
 distinction of sect. This would satisfy all, and leave no room for 
 suspicion of favoritism. And what a glorious country we should 
 be, with twenty-five thousand or thirty thousand Doctors of Di- 
 vinity among us. 
 
 ELOQUENCE. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, March 11, 1847.] 
 
 TriE newspaper urchins know how to practice it. They put 
 on an earnestness which surpasses anything on the forum. They 
 run through the streets as if they would break their necks, crying 
 "Extra Herald and Tri — bune, got the great war in Mexico." 
 You would think the fellows were chased by Rancheros, and like 
 the Abolitionists of old times, had taken their lives in their hands. 
 
MORAL COURAGE. 449 
 
 They seem in a perfect agony witli tlie friorlitful news they carry. 
 Now and then they get up an excitement meeting, and combine 
 their powers. One afternoon last week a squad of them came 
 rushing down Wall street, and brought up on the broad pave- 
 ment opposite our office. There were twenty of them, perhaps, 
 all shouting at the top of their voices, running about amontr each 
 other, and up and down, — much as you will see a swarm of bees 
 when hovering in the air. The trick succeeded admirably. Many 
 of the passers-by bought the extras, which the boys, in the a"-ony 
 of their excitement, had scarce time to deliver. In about fifteen 
 minutes the show was ovav, and nothing left but the solemn tone 
 of a single voice, crying over and over, despairingly, " Evening 
 Expr-a-a-ass, fourth edition, — got the battle in Mexico — only tew 
 cents." This melancholy dole held on until the dusky nio-ht, 
 when whip-poor-will begins his more sprightly monotony, and the 
 night-hawks dive down through the air and cry p-o-o-o to day's 
 ag.talions. Occasionally the boys kill General Taylor, or capture 
 him. Sometimes they knock olT Santa Anna's other lee, or put 
 him some other way in limbo. But whoever buys their extras 
 now-a-days — whatever the " edi-shin " may be — is sure to be 
 tak<!n in. As the matter goes now, the heads of southi»rn news 
 are telegraphed every night from Washington, and published in 
 the morning papers, so that all the great wars in Mexico, of all 
 edi-shins, are little else than repetitions of the morning news. 
 
 MORAL COURAGE. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, April 19, 1843.] 
 
 This is a choice commodity, and is shared largely by almost 
 every individual, in his own estimation, while he is apt to con- 
 sider it sadly deficient in others. There is a feeling very preva- 
 lent in the community, that editors, especially, are deficient in this 
 estimable characteristic. Men wonder that editors are not ready 
 to run a tilt against every wind-mill within their reach : also to 
 ride every hobby, however spavined it may be, or however 
 broken the ground. If there are ditches or stone-walls to be 
 lea|)ed, or pitfalls to be crossed, the owner of the aforesaid fia7ii' 
 iiud ap[)lies to the editor, as a matter of course, to make the ex- 
 periment; keeping his own precious self out of danger. If the 
 editor breaks his neck in the attempt, the owner still remains un- 
 known ; but if he gets safe over, perchance the mysterious agent 
 who has used him as a catspaw may come forwaid and share the 
 honors of victory. Take a case, by way of illustration. A day 
 
450 "MUNinCENT BEQUEST." 
 
 or two since, we received an anonymous communication, to which 
 was appended the following postscript : 
 
 " P.S. And now, dear sirs, while we esteem you as possessing more 
 moral courage than any other editors of the secular press in the Union, 
 we question whether you have enough to give the above a place in your 
 useful and wide-spread journal. We hope to be disappointed, however, 
 by seeing it appear : for wickedness must be rebuked, or we perish." 
 
 All this is well fitted to stimulate us to the conflict. It ap- 
 plauds our moral courage — of which we claim no more than our 
 share ; it also rebukes our lack of that ingredient ; yet gives us an 
 opportunity to show that, after all, we are brave enough to do as 
 he bids us. Now we have a proposition to make to this admirer 
 of moral courage. It is this : If he will append to the commu- 
 nication his own real name and place of residence, and if it turns 
 out that he is a man of any character and responsibility, we will 
 give his communication an insertion in our columns. Our names 
 are well known to the public; let Alithea (Aletheia it should be, 
 if he means to be the personification of Truth) reveal himself 
 also : and then we shall stand on equal ground. But perhaps the 
 communication is not such that Alithea would be willing to be 
 known as the author of it: he would like to see it in print, if he 
 could skulk behind the fence, and leave the responsibility to be 
 borne by others. Let us say to him, in all kindness, that this is 
 not moral courage. We desire to have only so much of that in- 
 gredient, in the exercise of our professional duties, as will embolden 
 us to print and say what is wise and expedient, all things con- 
 sidered. Therefore, the fear of being accounted deficient in 
 moral courage will not impel us to insert Alithea's communica- 
 tion, except on the condition above-named ; for there are other 
 qualities of mind, — a sound discretion for instance, — which we 
 deem as valuable as moral courage. 
 
 " MUNIFICENT BEQUEST." 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 13, 1839.] 
 
 We do not intend to quarrel with these words, (which we so 
 often meet with in the public prints,) nor their meaning. And 
 yet we cannot help thinking, that to part with one's money at 
 death is hardly so thorough a proof of genuine benevolence, 
 as to give it away before the cold grip unclenches his fist so that 
 he cannot possibly hold on any longer. Any man will let go of 
 his bag of money when he cannot possibly hold on any longer. 
 
TOKENS OF RESPECT. 451 
 
 But after all, there is a great deal of propriety, and some real love 
 of doing good no doubt, many times, in making a generous dis- 
 position of a large estate by will : and there may be often good 
 reasons for keeping, while one lives, more property than it is ex- 
 pedient to leave to personal heirs. But he who gives away his 
 surplus money while he lives, is wisest, for two reasons. He can 
 be more sure that it is well expended if he superintends that 
 matter himself; and when money is thoroughly expended for 
 some good end, there is no farther trouble in taking care of the 
 money. After a man has acquired as much property as he can 
 possibly have any use for, all his other acquisitions but increase 
 his cares. What rest can a man have who owns fifty stores and 
 houses in this city, and stock in half the banks and insurance 
 companies ? Certainly, if he holds his property with the love of 
 money which is so strong in the bosoms of most rich men, he 
 must always be harassed with the apprehension of loss. If he 
 would give three-fourths of his property away, if he could find 
 any good object on which to bestow it, he would then breathe 
 easily and sleep soundly. But we do not expect to persuade 
 men of ga-eat wealth to adopt such simple wisdom as this. If we 
 can, by such views, do anything to moderate the desires of young 
 men, we shall do something also to insure them real plenty and 
 happiness all their lives. It is the inordinate desire of enormous 
 wealth that could only be a torment if attained, which causes 
 almost all the bankruptcies among our trading class. 
 
 TOKENS OF RESPECT. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, JVovember 11, 1839.] 
 
 We often see it stated that on the opening of the court it was 
 announced that some lawyer practicing at that bar had died, 
 whereupon, as a token of respect, the court immediately ad- 
 journed. Legislative assemblies, we are often told do the same, as 
 a token of lespect to deceased members of their bodies. We are 
 not able to see how this adjourning is a token of respect. If the 
 individuals who adjourn would retire to their chambers, there to 
 think upon their lives and the end of them, it might show that 
 the death of a comrade had made a suitable impression. But we 
 do not understand that this is considered necessary. The time is 
 spent in ways not particularly appropriate, and often in mere idle- 
 ness or something worse. What respect there can be to the mem- 
 ory of an industrious man in spending a day of idleness, or to 
 the memory of a good man in spending a day of carousing or 
 
452 POSTHUMOUS PRAISE. 
 
 sporting, we do not understand. We can understand how all the 
 laborers on the Croton Water Works might think the same course 
 very appropriate, if only their Avagcs were to go on, and in fact 
 how an\^ set of men who get as much by idleness as by labor, 
 should think themselves very soberly called upon to throw up 
 work whenever there is a death, a birth, or a marriage. This 
 mode of expressing sympathy, however, while it is very con- 
 venient for some, is very inconvenient for others. A judge may 
 adjourn and suit himself, but it is not so with panels of jurors 
 and scores of witnesses. And now it strikes us that possibly this 
 is the secret of the thing. Herod, when about to die, know- 
 ing that the event would cause universal joy, determined to make 
 sorrow in another way, and so undertook to have a great number 
 of the best men of the nation massacred at the same instant. 
 Some grief is no doubt awakened in the bosoms of the parties of 
 wliom we have spoken, by the useless disorder of their affairs and 
 waste of their time, when perhaps but for tliis, the dead lawyer 
 would hardly have drawn a sigh from any bosom. If this is not 
 it, we should feel much obliged if the next man who moves ad- 
 journment on such an occasion, would be good enough to tell us 
 in his speech how the adjournment is a token of respect. In our 
 judgment, the best token of respect which can be paid to de- 
 parted merit is for every one to labor naoi'e diligently and earn- 
 estly in the performance of his duty. 
 
 POSTHUMOUS PRAISE. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, September 19, 1836.] 
 
 It was a practice of the ancient Egyptians to pronounce hon- 
 estly and impartially on the conduct of their princes after they 
 were dead, however much they might have been eulogized by 
 flatterers during their lives. It was a worthy and useful prac- 
 tice, for men are frequently more anxious to leave a sj^ood name 
 behind them, when they are dead, than to rear it while they live. 
 The practice among us is the reverse of that of the Egyptians. 
 If a man occupies a political statioii, the way is to abuse him 
 while he lives, as the worst of all bad fellows, but the moment 
 he is dead, whether he were really a bad or a good man, all 
 hands turn to praising him ; and especially they take care to 
 make him a saint in religion and send him straight to heaven. 
 A plenty of newspaper certificates are put into his hand, that lie 
 is a lit subject for that better world, under the impression that 
 they will have the same good influence as a Pope's certificate of 
 
 i 
 
THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN. 453 
 
 absolution. A man lives in the indulgence of unbridled licen- 
 tiousness until his iieart is iiardened to the commission of the 
 most ti(;ndish cruelties to accomplish his designs, and when his 
 head is grown gray in crime, just before the last fiickering of the 
 " lingering taper," he wipes his mouth, calls a priest, has a 
 prayer offered to the God whom he has ever before offend(Ml, 
 wraps himself up in a hypocrite's cloak, and "wings his way." 
 
 That will do for political religion, and is very comforting for 
 those who are determined to take no safer course for themselves. 
 Nor shall we enter into any theological discussion about the mat- 
 ter. We speak only in the name of reason, of the public morals, 
 and the public good. It is rank injustice to all these, to Avhite- 
 wash the corpses of tlie most odious men, and perfume them for 
 heaven without warrant. It hardens others to expect that they 
 shall die in honor, however they may have lived in disgrace, and 
 to increase the number of their crimes, expecting retribution nei- 
 ther here nor hereafter. 
 
 THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN. 
 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, May 28, 1838.] 
 
 Some ladies have distinguished themselves by declaiming 
 against the oppression of women, which they say exists in our 
 Christian land. They say women are kept in a condition of in- 
 ff-riority to men, and that of right they ought to be equal. We 
 have been thinking the matter over, and have come to the con- 
 clusion that the wrong is quite the other way ; and that if rights 
 ought to be divided half and half, we would be for a new divi- 
 sion. Not on the ground upon Avhich Miss Grimke goes, that 
 men are not women, or permitted to engage in women's occupa- 
 tions, but because, when the simple question of superiority is at 
 issue, the men always have to give up. If ladies and gentlemen 
 meet on the side-walk, who has to turn out ? If there are not 
 seats enough for all the company, who has to stand up ? When 
 there is danger to face, who must go forward ? If there is curi- 
 osity to gratify, who goes behind ? If there is too much com- 
 pany for the first table, who eats at the second ? Who has al- 
 ways the right hand and the most respectable position ? We 
 could mention a hundred other cases, in which, on the simple 
 question of right, everytliing is yielded to the women. But 
 there are many cases in which the condition of men is still worse. 
 For instance, if on any public occasion a pew at church, or a seat 
 anywhere, be occupied by men ever so respectable or aged, a 
 
454 ST. pat*rick's society. 
 
 smirky little beauty trips along and presents herself at the top of 
 the seat, and they must all jump up and clear out as if they had 
 been shot. Especially ought it to be noticed, that when matri- 
 monial negotiations are to be made, the whole burden of perform- 
 ing the delicate and often very embarrassing part of making pro- 
 posals is thrown upon the men, while the women sit and say no, 
 no, no, as long as they like, and never say yes until they have 
 a mind to. Mrs. Angelina Grimke Weld may show a catalogue 
 of equal grievances. 
 
 ST. PATRICK'S SOCIETY. 
 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, March 17, 1846.] 
 
 Sure, our Irish fellow- citizens, who have come of their own 
 free-will to the land of St. Jonathan, are to have a grand dinner 
 to-day, in honor of St. Patrick and their own appetites, at the 
 City Hotel. We wish every son of an Irish mother could sit 
 down and rest himself, and eat of the good things. St. Patrick, 
 you know, was the saint that preached a great sermon to the 
 snakes and frogs, and persuaded them all to quit swate Ireland, 
 except one great old snake, and the saint had to " come Paddy 
 over him." St. Patrick had a big iron chest, and he made a bet 
 with the snake that he could not get into the chest. The snake, 
 to win the bet, got in all but his head, which he kept out from 
 some suspicion tliat he could not altogether expel from his 
 bosom, whereupon the saint flung' down the huge cover of the 
 chest, and the snake, to save his head, was obliged to jerk it in. 
 But the spring-lock held fast, and St. Patrick immediately flung 
 the iron chest, snake and all, into the Lake of Killarney, where it 
 lies at the bottom now. About the truth of this legend, there 
 never was the least doubt ; and now, if any Irishman should iver 
 commit a bit o' disiption, he can point to the patron saint, and 
 the good he did in that same way. St. Patjick, we hope, will 
 preside at this dinner to-day, and bless all the hearty cheer of it, 
 just the same as he would if it had been in old Cork, to be sure. 
 At any rate, this bringing of Patrick and Jonathan and all the 
 national saints thegither, in the social way, has a great effect in 
 promoting good nature among them. 
 
FAMILY GOVERNMENT. 455 
 
 FAMILY GOVERNMENT. 
 IFrom the Journal of Commerce, April 25, 1839.] 
 
 Columns of newspapers and volumes of books have been 
 written on this subject, and to very good purpose in many cases. 
 But after all, the secret is more in a nut-shell than is commonly 
 supposed. The greatest secret in the whole matter consists in 
 being a truly good parent. Your children see you in your do- 
 mestic carelessness. They know the real character of their pa- 
 rents better than persons do who live in other houses, and who 
 only see you when you are on your guard. If they find their 
 parents unkind to each other, or failing in any way to maintain in 
 private the characters which they assume in public, their respect 
 is gone — their confidence broken down. If your child has ever 
 known you to be guilty of telling a lie, how can you govern him ? 
 If he knows you have cheated a neighbor, how can you govern 
 him ? If he .«ees you in public, putting on the air and manner, 
 and claiming to be a Christian, while in his close watchings he 
 sees that you are full of pride, and vanity, and bitter feelings, and 
 ambition, and covetousness ; that all your religion goes off at the 
 corners of the streets, and none of it in your bed-chamber ; how 
 can you govern your child ? 
 
 First, then, be a good man, and a good father. 
 
 Secondly, govern yo2<r6r(/ always, and without the least degree 
 of unfair charity toward yourself. The laws you enact for your 
 children, never break yourself. If you break out with bad [)as- 
 sion, and excuse yourself, you must certainly be as generous to 
 your children, and excuse them for the same fault in the same 
 way. How can you govern your children if you cannot govern 
 yourself ? 
 
 Thirdly, let all your requirements be just and generous ; never 
 given for your own good, but always for tlie good of your chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Fourthly, spare no pains — give yourself no rest in body or 
 mind — while anything remains to be done which can enlighten 
 the understandings or sweeten the affections of your children. 
 
 Fifthly, let your orders be wisely given, and then maintained 
 at all hazards and at all times. Never in one instance, allow your 
 word to fail. Trust chiefly to kindness, and })ersuasion, and rea- 
 soning, tMid use punishment of any sort as little as possible. But 
 let it be always understood that obedience, full and entire, must 
 be yielded to your directions, and that you will, though with 
 great considerateness and affection, never slacken your hand, nor 
 relax your demands until such obedience is rendejed. 
 
 Mind these rules, and \vith very little severity in any way, you 
 
456 POLITICS AND RELIGION. 
 
 will seldom fail of securing all the benefits of a reciprocally af- 
 fectionate and well-ordered family. 
 
 POLITICS AND RELIGION. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, March 12, 1835.] 
 
 • Our brethren of the type, in this city, are in great trouble lest 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts should refuse to repair the 
 damages occasioned by the Charlestown riots. An extract from 
 one of them we have already published. Another writes as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " We did expect from the known liberality and justice of the Boston 
 people, that they would have rebuilt the convent by subscription ; by a 
 capitation tax ; by an appeal to the honor, to the justice, to the manhood of 
 the community ; by a sense of respect due to the outraged laws ; bj' the 
 ordinances of civilization; by the usage, and feeling, and chivalry, of a 
 brave and gallant people; we looked to see these dtliolic women rein- 
 stated iu tlieir dwelling, with all honor and repcr.tance — reinstated 
 in their rights and in their property — the criminals punished, and the 
 laws triumphant. 
 
 " This not having been done by the people, in their individual capaci- 
 ty, does not lessen the obligations of the State to do them justice ; and 
 we hope, for their own honor — for the opinion of the world — for tlie high 
 character and reputation the State enjoys — that the claim of these peo- 
 ple will be allowed; no matter whether it is called a debt or a gra- 
 tuity." 
 
 We hear nothing from these compassionate editors about the 
 New York riots. Tiieir •e.vpansive benevolence overleaps such 
 narrow limits. The poor blacks, whose houses were torn down, 
 or rifled of their contents, — there is no propriety in indemnifying 
 them from the public treasury, or by subscription, or by a capita- 
 tion tax ; for, with a few e.xceptions, they are not permitted to vote ; 
 and if they were, they would have too much discernment not to 
 see through the flimsy artifice by which it is sought to cajole our 
 " adopted fellow-citizens." Neither is there any propriety in 
 providing indemnity from the public treasury, or by subscription, 
 or by a capitation tax, for the damage done to Presbyterian, 
 Episcopal, or Methodist churches, for the obvious reason that 
 neither of those denominations would be gulled by such an act of 
 "justice," to vote for the party making the appropriation. Be- 
 sides, the party in this State which controls the parse-strings is 
 the antipodes of that which holds the reins of power in Massa- 
 chusetts, and of course an opposite effect might be produced. 
 
 It is with reluctance that we allude to this subject, in such a 
 
EXPEDIENT AND ABSTRACT. 457 
 
 connection, at all. But if political editors are determined to mix 
 up Church and State for the accomplishment of their purposes ; 
 if, for the sake of getting votes, they will afford countenance and 
 encouragement to one sect, at the expense of the rest, they may 
 rest assured we will oppose and expose them, to whichever party 
 they may belong. We are willing, and desire, that the Catholics 
 should have an equal chance wiih all other denominations; but 
 if, at the approach of every election, political papers are to turn 
 aside from the proper sphere of their labors to puff the Catholic 
 religion for the sake of obtaining votes, thej' need not wonder if 
 countervailing measures are adopted. We hold that politics and 
 religion should be kept distinct. They cannot be united for any 
 good purpose, and we entreat those who have influence in such 
 matters, not to make the attempt. If, however, religion must be 
 dragged into our political contests, we say let it be frankly 
 avowed. Let the people know what the question before them is, 
 and they will decide accordingly. 
 
 EXPEDIENT AND ABSTRACT. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, May 18, 1836.] 
 
 These are a couple of words which certain modern casuists 
 have taken great pains to run down. The pronunciation of either 
 of them instantly causes the lips of these men to curl and their 
 noses to turn up at the end. And yet both these words have 
 long occupied well-known places in the English language, and 
 have been words of great use and usefulness. As to the first, it 
 means fit, proper, or that which is right and judicious; in fact, it 
 means duty, upon a comprehensive view of all the circumstances 
 in the case. It is common for logicians when discussing a par- 
 ticular measure, to inquire, first, whether it is lawful, and second, 
 whether it is expedient. The Apostle Paul made the same divi- 
 sion when he said all things were lawful to him, but all things 
 were not expedient ; and announced tiiat he made the latter the 
 rule of his conduct. The reason of this is obvious. Expediency 
 always includes lawfulne^^s, and is a rule of duty which includes 
 all other rales. What do men propose to gain by quaiivling 
 with this good word and trying to blacken and spoil it ? What 
 good do they propose to accomplish by their labors? Is it that 
 if they could succeed, they might shape their course by the rule 
 of inexpediency ? That is the opposite of expediency, and if we 
 might judge from many of their projects, inexpediency is their 
 guide. 
 
 20 
 
458 BETTING ON ELECTIONS. 
 
 Abstract, — -what is the matter with that ? -vyhom ha? it wrong'ed, 
 that war should be made upon it ? It is often used to express 
 the idea of a subject in its primitive qualities, and divested of 
 those incidental circumstances wliich may attach to it, but are 
 not its essential ingredients. For instance, if one of these phi- 
 losophers were required to Uike a dose of tartar emetic, that in 
 the abstract might be veiy undesirable. But if he had a fever in 
 his blood, (as sometimes such men have,) and the medicine was 
 likely to remove it, why, then, the conclusion would be reversed, 
 and to take it might be highly expedient. For ourselves we in- 
 tend to vise these persecuted words just as we have been accus- 
 tomt^d to do ; and if we can prevent it, not to sutt'er them to be 
 either killed or belied into a bad character. They are good and 
 honorable words. If thev were expiinocd from the dictionary, 
 there would be two ideas, which we shouM often have, but could 
 not express ; certainly not so well as we can now. Those who 
 do not like the words need not use them. But we venture to 
 say, that however many persons may try to destroy them, they 
 are so safely intrenched within the massy tomes of Dr. Webster, 
 that they will bid defiance to all their assailants. 
 
 BETTING OX ELECTIONS. 
 [F?o>n the Journal of Commerce, October 1, 1834.] 
 
 We do not introduce this subject because we think anything 
 we can say will do much good. There is too much interest in 
 gambling of all sorts to be checked by anything but stern prin- 
 ciple. It may not be amiss, however, to remind our fellow-citi- 
 zens that betting is a violation of both moral and civil law : and 
 that those who boast of being supporters of the laws should not 
 wantonlv transgress them. But betting upon elections is violat- 
 ing the law under circumstances which aggravate the offense 
 beyond the mere sin of getting possession of another's property 
 without right. It is putting the high francliise of freemen at the 
 stake of the gambler. It is a poHtical sacrilege. Besides this, it 
 throws into our contest.s with one another, at the polls, a double 
 spirit of violence, when without this addition, the mass of passion 
 would be quite sutHciently great. Every man who bets on an 
 election encourages, perhaps begins, in himself and in his antago- 
 nist, a practice which often has led. and may again lead, to ruin. 
 If h«' loses, he parts with his money without anv equivalent. If 
 he wins, he comes into the j>osse^ssion of property without right, 
 his title to which can never be made i^ood, and lor which he 
 
USURY LAWS. 459 
 
 must owe the righttul owner to the day of his death : and even 
 that e\ent will not cancel the obligation. This may be thought 
 a mighty serious view of a little betting. But it is no more seri- 
 ous than true. No man's sentiments are right, and no man is 
 safe who cannot always say with truth, " I never bet." 
 
 USURY LAWS. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, July 31, 1834.] 
 
 Professor Dew, of William and Mary College, Virginia, has 
 published a well-written " Essay on the Interests of Money and 
 the Policy of Laws against Usury." He exliibits the ill effect of 
 such laws upon the pecuniary interests of lenders and borrowers, 
 and upon the public morals. lie takes the ground which every 
 writer must take, who would have the reputation of possessing 
 the least particle of good sense. The superiority of the princi- 
 ples of free trade in regard to money, is indeed now, we be- 
 lieve, universally admitted. Yet such is the sluggishness of 
 legislation, and the fear of oflending the prejudices of a few per- 
 sons who live in the dark, that usury laws are still almost 
 everywhere maintained. Even in the enlightened State of Mas- 
 siichusetts it was with difficulty that some modification was 
 secured last winter. In Holland there are no usury laws, and 
 there the rate of interest is lower than anywhere else in the 
 world. 
 
 Those who suffer most severely, under usury laws, are the 
 money borrowers ; and especially tliose in bad credit. This is 
 quite just ; for such laws have their origin in the efforts of such 
 persons unfairly to curtail the profits of those Avith whom they 
 deal. But instead of accomplishing their object, they subject 
 themselves to the payment of the penalties which they desire to 
 inflict on others: for in addition to the rate of interest which 
 they would otherwise be compelled to pay, they must pay the 
 lender a premium to guarantee him against injury from the vio- 
 lation of the laws. 
 
 Usury laws do much to increase the severity of money pres- 
 sures. When money is scarce, the price of it rises, as does the 
 price of everything else under the same circumstances. High 
 prices were instituted as part of the system, for the purpose of draw- 
 ing in supplies more rapidly. When money is high, there is gen- 
 erally a want of confidence, which in some degree prevents its 
 being brought freely into market as other commodities are when 
 they are scarce. Usury laws increase the evil, for they keep 
 
460 QUACKERY. 
 
 many sums of money back, either because the owners -will not 
 break the laws of the country, however bad, or because they 
 will not, for anj' premium, put their capital at the risk of legal 
 forfeiture. Usury laws operate to aggravate the mischief they 
 are intended to cure, and. in every way do mischief and nothing 
 else. 
 
 QUACKERY. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, J\'ovember 22, 1834.] 
 
 There is nothing about which it is more easy to gull the pub- 
 lic than the remedies for the decay of nature. Men trust their 
 lives in hands where they would not think a shilling safe, and 
 are induced to do so by the very arguments which, applied to 
 money, would destroy their confidence entirely. If a man were 
 to come here from a distant country and advertise in all the pa- 
 pers that he could so conduct all the branches of business as to 
 insure unheard-of profits, would the people flock to him with their 
 money ? They would understand that such pretensions were in 
 themselves proof of imposture. But if a stranger advertises that 
 he will cure all diseases with one remedy, and declares most 
 roundly that if he were universal doctor, death would be driven 
 from the world, he will probably have plenty of patients who 
 commit health and life to his quackery. The doctor in Connect- 
 icut, some twenty years ago, who cured consumption in all its 
 stages with rain-water drops, was an innocent fellow enough, 
 especially as he charged nothing for his drops, and only made 
 each patient buy a book full of certificates of his wonderful cures. 
 But most quacks do not deal in rain-water. Their nostrums 
 either kill or cure, and generally it is the former. Yet they de- 
 clare they never lost a patient. There have been some such 
 quacks in cholera practice, who have asserted roundly that all 
 their patients recovered, when in fact corpses were strewed all 
 alono- their path, — many of them killed without the help of 
 cholera at all. The more safe impositions of quackery are prac- 
 ticed upon the cure of diseases of j^'^r^^ of the system, — such as 
 the eyes, the ears, the teeth, &c. One declares he can make a 
 bald head spjout with all the freshness of youth, and cause ring- 
 lets to flow from an old poll as luxuriantly as they do upon the 
 head of a mermaid. He has plenty of certificates of success, 
 and thousands pay freely a dollar, or whatever the price may be, 
 for a vial of the precious fructifying liquid, and apply it from day 
 to day to their unvegetating pates, and wait, and feel, and look in 
 
MOBS. 461 
 
 the glass, to catch the first germinations of new locks, — but Avait 
 in vain. They find at last that the only way to fulfil the promise 
 of the (juack, is to buy a " scratch" of the barber. Deafness 
 can be cured infallibly by filling the ears with " the Imperial 
 never-failing, sound -restoring sonoiific," poured warm upon the 
 tympanum. Hundreds try it, and all hear less than ever; 
 though a few, imagining that they hear noises which were never 
 made, give certificates of wonderful cures. But the teeth, they 
 are the glory of quackery. No one, so far as we know, has ever 
 promised to make new teeth grow in old gums. But it would 
 be a good thing : crowds would buy " the royal tooth-restoring 
 drops." As it is, teeth are pulled out witliout giving pain, and 
 old stumps filled up so as to be as good as new, and new teeth 
 put in of imperishable materials, Avhich last perhaps a year. All 
 their Avork is but mischief, for whoever deposits anything but 
 gold in his teeth, makes a grand mistake. However, it is useless 
 to write against quacks. They are the standing subjects of ridi- 
 cule and contempt, and yet so fond are people of being fooled 
 with, that quacks Avill always find plenty of customers, and so 
 will lausfh at moralists and satirists. 
 
 MOBS. 
 [From the Journal of Coinmerce, JVovember 19, 1835.]' 
 
 To everything there is a season, and mobs have had theirs. 
 It Avas a long time since the sway of the laws had been inter- 
 rupted, and while the public mind was highly e.xcited on other 
 subjects, and in security on this, the peace and order of society 
 were repeatedly violated. The potentates of Europe and all the 
 enemies of free institutions chuckled in their sleeves, and some of 
 our own citizens thought the time had come in which the great 
 question of the supremacy of the laws or of mob violence, was to 
 be determined. They who understand best the workings of 
 public opinion, however, had never any trouble on this head. 
 Tiiere is no more danger that Americans will surrender the reign 
 of laws under which they lie down securely at night and go 
 about their avocations by day, than that they will go back to the 
 condition of colonies to Great Britain. This community will no 
 more tolerate mobs, than any other method of tiampling the 
 laws under foot. That there never will be any popular risings 
 hereafter, we cannot say. If men will insist on saying and 
 doing the most irritating things, the baser sort may, perhaps, 
 sometimes determine that they will not bear it, and may throw 
 
462 A STRANGE BIRD MIRACLES. 
 
 addled eggs and break windows, hiss, and all that. It is well 
 for those wlio deal with the public to bear these propensities in 
 mind, and not pour out anathemas just exactly as they might if 
 every man whom they abuse, was a man of sound good sense. 
 Yet we propliesy that the time is at hand when the " liberty of 
 speech and the press" will not be able to provoke any harder re- 
 turn than words, and Aviien those who court persecution will find 
 no little dithculty in winning its laurels. This community will 
 never submit to mobs but on a surprise, — neither will they give up 
 one iota of their liberty of speech or the press, or make any laws 
 upon the subject, however much that liberty may be abused. 
 We reason down error here, and by that resistless weapon will 
 all violence of every sort be subdued. For ourselves we feel 
 perfectly secure of the reign of the law^s, liberty and truth, sup- 
 ported by an enlightened public opinion. 
 
 A STRANGE BIRD. 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, April 25, 1835.]] 
 
 Thk Catholic Miscellany has had the impudence to adopt as 
 its device the American Eagle with the shield and stripes, — hold- 
 ing in the right talon a cross, and in the other a Popish chalice. 
 This desecration of our noble bird, in making him, while he 
 stands forth as the emblem of our political Union, to hold out the 
 emblems of a state religion, and that the most oppressive which 
 the world ever saw, will be little relished by the native-born sons 
 of America. Our eagle wears no miter, and holds no chalice 
 filled with the bitter dregs of imposture, pollution and tyranny. 
 Let the Catholics remove our shield and stripes, and they may 
 then hold up their eagle as they like. He will then be an Aus- 
 trian bird, and the emblems he holds will set forth the iron gov- 
 ernment they represent. But the stripes and the chalice — not 
 yet — no, nor ever. 
 
 MIRACLES. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, February 16, 1843.] 
 
 A GENTLEMAN who had the privilege of listening to a serraoa 
 by the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes last Sabbath morning, informs 
 us that the scope of the prelate's discourse went to show that 
 the Church possessed all the powers now which it had in the 
 
EXCITEMENT. 463 
 
 time of the apostles ; and that the bisliops, who are the verita- 
 ble successors of the apostles, have the same power of workinor 
 miracles now, which the Apostles possessed, if only they should 
 please to use it. We hope if the riglit reverend gentleman 
 should ever feel in the mood of workinLf a miracle, he will not 
 turn his attention toward us ; though if he should, and will but 
 give us notice, we will let him see that we can work as many 
 miracles as he. We can make the blood of St. Januarius liquefy 
 as quick as any priest of tiie most regular ordination ; and as to 
 living without eating, we can beat the Addolarata of the Tyrol, 
 for we will leave it to fifty men in Wall street whether they have 
 seen us eat anything these ten years. 
 
 EXCITEMENT. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, August 12, 1835.] 
 
 There are a great manj^ persons who seem to live on mental 
 excitement, as some others do on that wliich is animal. These 
 persons, by long indulgence, acquire an appetite for excitement 
 so strong, that it cannot be satisfied with peaceful scenes. They 
 are therefore driven to the indulgence of bad passions. With 
 malice, revenge, envy, and other things of similar character, they 
 are able to mix a portion sufficiently intoxicating to strain up 
 their relaxed nerves and fit them for action. Some such persons 
 live in an endless ebriety of exasperation. They cannot be happy 
 unless they are mad, and have not heart for action until they 
 have drunk down and again thrown oft" plentiful quantities of 
 curses upon their fellow-men in general, and upon a great many 
 of them in particular. Such persons love to meet together to 
 drink from a common cup mingled by their common contiibu- 
 tions of bile, and as this is not sufficient, they will hire others 
 and pay them liberally to help them keep up their rage. Their 
 choice of books, and newspapers, and periodicals, is ever directed 
 to that which will sustain in them the most malicious excitement. 
 A publication, which recommends prudence, conciliation, and 
 good nature, is as tasteless to them as cold water to a drunkard 
 of fourscore. If you touch one of these persons with a pole, you 
 instantly feel a shock like that communicated by the electric 
 fluid. You can never hope to be agreeable to them unless you 
 have just lost a debt or had your corns trod on. If they should 
 once become really good-natured, and a flash of genuine and 
 broad benevolence should pass over them, there would be great 
 reason to fear that the functions of life would cease. 
 
464 THE MAIL NULLIFICATION. 
 
 [This little jeu-d'esprit has some historical interest in these 
 days of railroads and telegraphs.] 
 
 THE MAIL. 
 [From the Journal of Comnunrcc, March 16, 1833.] 
 
 One of our cotemporaries stated yesterday, on what he said 
 was good authority, that the Postmaster- General was about to 
 establish a daily mail between Washington and New York. 
 Such a thing would be a desideratum, especially if it should get 
 here every dliy. We believe there is a mail now which starts 
 from Washington almost every day. The fact is, perhaps, that 
 the Postmaster- General is about to establish an extra mail to run 
 from Washington to Portland, and perform the extraordinary ser- 
 vice of keeping to a fixed time, and that a reasonable one. The 
 irregular operations will, perhaps, remain to be performed on the 
 old plan : for, to bring the whole system up to business-like 
 accuracy, and manage it as an individual would manage his own 
 aifairs, would be quite too much. We must, therefore, have one 
 mail line to go right, and another to go lorong. If a dispatch 
 mail should be established, we hope it will be on the plan of car- 
 rying the mail. To drive coaches from one end of the country 
 to the other Avithout the news on board, might be a matter of 
 great exactness, but would accomplish little good. The Post- 
 master-General's double horse express between Philadelphia and 
 New York, dashed through the mud in good style, but the diffi- 
 culty was, it did not bring the news ! 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA NULLIFICATION— COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO. 
 \From the Journal of Commerce, .ipril 1, 1833.] 
 
 We wonder if South Carolina is bigger than all the rest of the 
 woiid ? We should think so from the vaporing of the Nul- 
 litiers — and that their 17,000 undisciplined volunteers were more 
 tlian a match for all the armies of Europe. No doubt the whole 
 United States has been terrified into submission by seeing a few 
 refuse muskets and old ship cannon bought of the Yankees 
 at "i aiikee prices, and shipped to Carolina in Yankee vessels, 
 to be thrown aside, as the Yankees well knew they would 
 be. without ever being used except to shoot partridges with, or 
 to make a big noise at a Fourth-of-Julv celebration. The large 
 bird, whose watchword we have placed at the beginning of this 
 paragraph, is always most valiant after being exposed to danger, 
 and none the less so because he owes his escape to the magna- 
 
"our country, right or wrong." 465 
 
 mmity of his foos. We will not compare the NuUifiers exactly 
 with a rooster, nor the United States with a rooster's foe. But 
 it is ridiculous to hear a single State talk of frightening the other 
 twenty-three States into terms. No, it was a principle very dif- 
 ferent from fear, which led to the liberal concessions of Mr. 
 Clay's bill ; a principle as different as light is from darkness. 
 The question was, between submitting to the disgrace which 
 South Carolina threatened to inflict upon the nation, or avoiding 
 that disgrace by making concessions which many supposed she 
 had no right to claim. The twenty-three States preferred 
 the latter. So, if twenty-four men were in a ship with powder 
 on board, and one of them should take it into his head to 
 play the bully, and proclaim on his oath that he would blow her 
 up " sky high, sir," unless they would convert her into a brig, 
 they might perhaps come to his terms, — or at least consent that 
 after a certain date she siiould be converted into a brig, rather 
 than run the hazard of taking a trip to the moon in com- 
 pany with their troublesome shipmate. There would be only 
 one other course they could pursue with any safety, viz., to 
 put the fellow in irons, and feed him on bread and water, 
 till he leained to behave himself. But this would be very 
 unpleasant, and the reputation of the thing would be bad. It 
 would be better to avoid open collision if possible, even though it 
 were quite as easy to put the man in irons, as to convert the ship 
 into a brig. Such a man might pride himself very much 
 on " restoring peace" to the ship's company, seeing it depended 
 upon him ana his " high courage" to say whether they should 
 have peace or not. In other words, he alone was the disturber 
 of the peace, and of course when he ceased to disturb it, he re- 
 stored it to the ship's company. 
 
 "OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG." 
 \From the Journal of Commerce, March 12, 1839.] 
 
 Such a sentiment, in the mouth of a warrior by profession, 
 like Decatur, might be tolerated, or even applauded. But when 
 contemplated as a part of a system of ethics, its deformities be- 
 gin to appear. We do not like the notion of doing wrong, or 
 supporting wrong done by others, let the circumstances be what 
 they may. We think there is a nobler sentiment of patriotism 
 than this, and that in truth this sentiment of " our countiy right 
 or wrong" grows hard by the other of " charity begins at home." 
 The same sentiment is applied in a good many cases, and in none 
 20* 
 
466 "our country, right or wrong." 
 
 more frequently than in the matter of political partisanship. 
 " Our party, right or wrong," is the test to which most political 
 leaders subject their partisans, and if on such occasions they 
 were to put down all the thoughts of their hearts, they would 
 add, " whether our country sinks or swims." Next comes our 
 State against all other States ; Philadelphia against New York ; 
 our town against all other towns ; and- myself against every body, 
 right or wrong ; for " Charity begins at homey To be sure if 
 our countr}^ or our State, or any community to which we belong, 
 becomes engaged in controversy with another community, we 
 owe certain duties as citizens, which must be performed, and 
 caution ought to be observed in condemning the measures of our 
 own government. But to proclaim a cause to be good and just 
 when we know it bad and unjust, merely because it is the cause 
 of our town, party, or State, or nation, is far enough from being a 
 virtue. Patriots of this sort, we should expect would stick to 
 their patriotism just as long as they supposed it to be for their 
 individual interest, and no longer. Real patriots, who may be 
 trusted, are men of genuine honesty, who love the truth, and men 
 of expanded benevolence also, who love all men wherever they 
 may live. 
 
 This thought suggests another objection which lies against 
 the doctrine at the head of this article, and which is zealously 
 shouted by so many men. It is, that genuine patriotism is 
 founded on benevolence, or the love of all men, and so is a prin- 
 ciple which would revolt from doing wrong to any nation or any 
 individual. And there is reason in this. Why should a citizen of 
 these United States, in the present emergency, go heedlessly with' 
 his own country against Great Britain, any more now, than he 
 would if Great Britain were a part of this Union? Our interests 
 are nearly as much identified now, as they possibly could be. What 
 if the Atlantic rolls between us ? The same thing is true of Missis- 
 sippi. But New Brunswick is only separated from us by a line 
 which is imaginary and occupies no space. Why should we hate 
 men, or go against them light or wrong, merely because they live 
 on the other side of a degree of longitude ? What is that degree 
 of longitude, more than another degree of longitude ? What if 
 our neighbor is associated in civility with another commimity — is 
 there anything hateful in that ? How miserable is that benevo- 
 lence which covers only one's little self, or town, or nation, com- 
 pared with that which reaches to every fellow-being wherever 
 he lives, and whatever may be his circumstances ! The latter 
 principle is not only incomparably more noble than the former, 
 but, in fact, is an elevated virtue, while the former is in general a 
 low and selfish vice. There is one government to which all men 
 
LIBERTY. 467 
 
 belong. That government is generous, and kind, and boundless 
 in its benevolence. He who bounds his affections by some little 
 spot of earth, needs to be taught what are the first principles of 
 moral greatness. Whomsoever we make war upon, they are our 
 brethren. Read the Bible, and see if it is not so. You will find 
 there the constitution of confederated v/orlds : and you will learn 
 theie to say, "my country — I love her, and I will never consent 
 to her doing wrong." Then you will be a patriot who may be 
 trusted. 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 {From the Journal of Commerce, May 21, 1839.] 
 
 In almost all men there is a strong love of personal liberty, and 
 along with it a desire to encroach on the liberty of others. The 
 lo/e of power, like the love of gain, is a common passion. There 
 are few associations formed, either political, religious, literary, or 
 of any other kind, in which there will not directly be found some 
 men who will seek to control the rest: and this disposition will 
 be carried out with a vigilance and perseverance which are quite 
 surprising. If you see three chimney-sweeps together, you will 
 almost certainly see the stoutest assuming to govern the rest ; 
 and so it is whether the community be high or low, black or 
 white, dirty or clean. Even the animals have the same love of 
 superiority ; for you will hardly see a flock of dogs in the street 
 (New Yorkers can try this experiment any day) but you will ob- 
 serve a fight, or at least a snarl, among the stoutest of them, to 
 determine who shall be the greatest. Under such circumstances, 
 every man who would be truly free must watch his liberty as he 
 does his cash. He is the only real and genuine lover of liberty, 
 wlio loves it for its own sake ; who not only loves to be free him- 
 self, but loves to see others so ; and who would never be at ease 
 while he knew that he exercised an undue control over the freedom 
 of any other person. Many men think they love liberty, and talk 
 largely in its praise, — perhaps become the head demagogues of a 
 grog-shop or a town, who will after all show themselves the most 
 unsparing taskmasters whenever they get a chance. Even the 
 gentler sex are not entirely free from this wide-pervading passion. 
 The lad}'' superiors of nunneries, and a thousand other places, 
 make this fact felt upon their cringing inferiors. We take it that 
 the reason why we are freer than the nations a thousand years 
 ago, is not that no men or women, of tyrant disposition, can be 
 found now-a-days, nor that there has beea in fact much differ 
 
468 TYRAXXY OF LIBERTY. 
 
 ence in this respect in different ages, but only that the great 
 mass of the people assert iheir rights with greater vigor than 
 formerly. Americans must not suppose that either in religion or 
 politics, it will be sufficient that their fathers declared themselves 
 free, and all men equal, and planted the tree of liberty deep in 
 their soil, and made it grow with surpassing beauty. Uidess it 
 is watched, it will die, and stand as xmseemly as a decayed Loni- 
 baidv poplar. Let every one look to his own case, and see whe- 
 thei- he deals with those in all his associations who allow the fun- 
 damental American principles that all men are equal, and that 
 sovereignty is with the people and nowhere else ; and lot him 
 not wait until he feels the screws upon his own thumbs before he 
 considers himself oppressed, but whenever and wherever those 
 principles of popular control are denied, which are the only safe- 
 guards of liberty. 
 
 TYRANNY OF LIBERTY. 
 
 [From the Journal of Commerce, February 8, 1840.] 
 
 Many Europeans have been scandahzed of late years to find 
 that out of the liberty of the United States had grown a tyranny 
 more fearful than any that is exercised by the absolute sove- 
 reigns of Europe or Asia. It is the tyranny of the majority, or 
 of public opinion. M. de Tocqueville, in his discussions about 
 the democracy of the United States, dwells much on this. He 
 has been much and deservedly p'-aised, for he seems to have 
 a great deal of intelligence and independent honesty of thought : 
 yet he seldom gets right, exactlv. He measures and guages our 
 institutions by rods and scales made with great niceness upon the 
 most approved principles of the science of government, but 
 the real thing of liberty, the secret of what it is, he evidently 
 never got hold of. He could see that liberty constituted in 
 some respects a stronger government than absolutism, and he 
 thought that strength was tyranny. He says the tyranny of 
 public opinion in the United States goes beyond that of the 
 Inquisition in Spain ; for that the Inquisition was never able, 
 with all its terrors, wholly to suppress the circulation of intidel 
 books ; whereas public opinion in the United States prevents any 
 man from wishing to even iJrlnt them. This was as well as 
 a man who had studied government as a science, could explain 
 tlie mystery which he saw. But in truth, what he saw was tht 
 peifeciion of liberty. The tortures of the Inquisition could never 
 extinguish the curiosit}' of the public to see and know the 
 contents of the books for which the suffering was endured. Be- 
 
TYRANNY OF LIBERTY. 469 
 
 sides, tliose tortures always excited sympathy for the sufferers; 
 and ahhough the Popish priest might be in ihe outset right, the 
 manner in wiiich he n^.aintained the truth, put him in tiie wronor. 
 The proce.-s tlierefore fed opposition to itseU', and po-sessed 
 in itself the elements of its own defeat. It continually ex- 
 cited the sympathy and the curiosity of the people, and when- 
 ever they could, they would indulge these feelings. But in the 
 United Stales heretics of all sorts are now treated fairly. They, 
 therefore, get no sympathy. Their cause is put upon its intiin- 
 sic merits. Then it is discussed freelv. Every one reads and 
 hears as much as he pleases, and so makes up his opinion. 
 Wlien this process of investigation has gone on until all are satis- 
 fied, and the error is universally condemned, then comes up 
 the tyranny of public opinion, as it is called. It consists in 
 the lact that every man has studied the subject until he is 
 saiistied, and so will study no more. The books cease to sell, and 
 tlie aifair has gone by. Fanny Wright and her associates have 
 had fair play. They have preached, and written, and explained, 
 and enforced, until the good sense and intelligence of the people 
 has brought them to reject infidelity and brand it as a great, and 
 dangerous, and palpable error. The discussion is ended ; the 
 books will not st-ll ; the people will not go to the lectures, and 
 the plans of the infidels are overthrown and put down by the 
 free decision of every man for himself, as no fires or tortures 
 of an\' sort could overthi-ow them. Men who belong to the 
 minority are very apt to complain of the tyranny of the majoiity. 
 The majoiity is sometimes truly tyrannical. But such tyranny is 
 in general of a mild type, and the grand safeguard against this 
 tyranny is, that discussion is left fne. If the majority acts vio- 
 lently and oppressively, discussion will wear away its influence as 
 the sun subdues the banks of snow and ice, and the tyrannical 
 majority will, before it is aware, find its power gone. Bat dis- 
 cussion in arbitrary governments cannot be had ; and if it could, 
 where would be the use of convincing the tyrant that the indul- 
 gence of his cruel passions was wiong. Right and wrong are 
 not the landmaiks or the motives of his policy. But in a repub- 
 lic, where the power is all really in the hands <:if the people, 
 tyrann\' will always find a ready counteraction. All the good 
 and bad feelings of those who witness it, rise against it, and it is 
 soon overthrown. Majorities here have to conduct themselves 
 with great circumspection, and our experience has made us be- 
 lie\e that the only way for any party long to maintain itself here 
 in power, is, to pursue in the main a policy favorable to the 
 public interests. So the tyranny of hberty is in the main only 
 the perfection of liberty. 
 
470 INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 \_From the Journal of Commerce, September 23, 1840.] 
 
 Scarcely anything is more desired, or more misunderstood, than 
 independence. When a man has acquired a great amount of pro- 
 perty, and has a jrreat number of tenants, and clerks, and servants, 
 and above all a vast circle of fashionable acquaintances, so that the 
 keeping of his happiness is in a thousand hands, from some one 
 of which he is always suffering, then he is called independently 
 rich. He cannot appear abroad without the help of a retinue, 
 nor then but on condition of being dressed exactly so, and con- 
 forming without scruple to all the follies and sins which the 
 fashion of his class decrees, — all for the sake of being indepen- 
 dent. 
 
 In judging of independence in others, men commonl}^ take 
 themselves as the standard. They think all other men who think 
 and act as they do, independent. Thus a politician, so long as 
 lie adheres to the opposite party, is a slave to party discipline, to 
 bribery, corruption, the possession or the hope of office. But 
 so soon as he comes over to our side, he instantly shows that he 
 is a man of sterling independence. He has broken the shackles 
 of party, whicli his generous spirit could no longer brook. Men 
 love independence in themselves, and think they admire it in 
 others. Above all they admire it in an editor. An independent 
 pi-ess is the beau ideal, the beautiful thing, of their admiration. 
 Especially in a free country, and among an intelligent and moral 
 people every body says the press should be independent. Yet 
 liow few there are who mean by this anything but a press whicii 
 will reiterate just what they themselves think and believe. To 
 be unconvinced by ai-guments which are so convincing, and to 
 differ in opinion from men so universally in the right as them- 
 selves, is a kind of independence which few men will endure. 
 They cannot understand how any one can be so perverse as to 
 differ from them, except under the influence of some bank or 
 other hot-spring of corruption. There is nothing about which 
 men desire an independent press so much as in the matter of po- 
 litics ; and there is no topic on which they bear independence so 
 poorly. About these matters, ■ there is nothing excites more 
 anger than simple statements of well authenticated facts. Even 
 some good men get so becrazed, that although they will labor in- 
 dustriously, and give their money freely to support and spread 
 the truth in other departments, they will not consent to have a 
 newspaper about their premises unless it will repeat all the false- 
 hoods, vituperation, and personal blackguard of the party press. 
 Bonaparte wrote to his wife very truly, " There are no such 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 471 
 
 slaves as we." So it is generally. The higher men rise in au- 
 thority as it is called, the more completely are they subject to 
 the control of those whom they govern. The more they succeed 
 in the accumulation ot" money or power, the more they render 
 themselves dependent. True independence is best secured in 
 narrow circles, by prudence, industry, and integrity, and a ge- 
 nerous distribution of surplus possessions to supply the deficien- 
 cies of others. 
 
 WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 
 IFroin the Journal of Commerce, April 11, 1848.] 
 
 The English language having been constructed befoi'e the 
 French Revolution of February, 1848, possesses no words ade- 
 quate to characteiize that event, and the events which have 
 succeeded. When thrones which have stood for ages are 
 overthrown by the dozen, there is no use in trying to do more 
 than to state the simple facts as they occur. They are their own 
 most eloquent description. To call them astonishing, astounding, 
 or benumbing, is a tame expression. We should like to hear the 
 transcendental philosophers attempting just now to define "the 
 idea of a slate" — that mysterious, superstitious nonenity of theirs. 
 'J'he full idea of what has happened no one possesses, and so it is 
 not likely to be e.xpressed. 
 
 Sometliing unseen must have been working underneath those 
 thrones for years, or they could not have fallen so easily. No- 
 body seems to possess any power but the people ; no principle 
 to have enei-gy but liberty. Both these do their pleasure. 
 Standing armies, garrisoned castles, family alliances, all those ar- 
 rangements in which kings have hitherto trusted so securely, are 
 powerless now. What has done all this ? Certainly we have 
 necn notliing adequate to the production of such great changes. 
 We all thought that superstition toward the church and the State 
 held Austria as tlie nightmare ; but the people prove to be infi- 
 dels to both. We reckon that ideas have been eating under these 
 thrones ; truth has been there at work, quite silently, but very 
 powerfully. Men have been thinking, and have learned that they 
 had ritjhts. This is the heaving of thought, with e.xceedingly 
 little of j)hysical force. 
 
 Almost nil Europe is revolutionized into constitutional govern- 
 ments, to be controlled by the people. Even Rushia, reposing in 
 the cold North, is not content to be quiet. In that vast empire 
 
472 WHAT OF THE NIGHtI 
 
 the controversy of feeling is between the nobles on one side, and 
 the Emperor and the people on the other. 
 
 The greatest of all wonders in the matter, is the high conduct 
 of the mobs. Kings flee, or stay to concede, at discretion ; and 
 rich men, panic-stricken, break all property in pieces, and tram- 
 ple commercial order under foot ; while mobs act with a coolness, 
 integrity and conservatism, which puts the " upper classes" to 
 shame. What ails the men who have managed all the great po- 
 litical and commercial affairs of Continental Europe ? Are they 
 conscience-stricken, or only destitute of courage ? Surely all the 
 small souls must have floated to the top of society, just at this 
 time. The people have done nothing but change the shape of 
 politics. They have everywhere conducted wilh a moderation 
 which excites the world's wonder. They protect life, property, 
 all but tyranny and bad government. To be sure, nobody knows 
 what they tvill do ; but so far as they have done, no congress of 
 sovereigns ever exhibited so much soundness of principle or pro- 
 priet)'^ of action. If the wise men who despise those they count 
 below them, had but exhibiied as much character as the mob, 
 these commercial disorders would have been avoided. We con- 
 fess we think better of men in their low estate, for these states- 
 man-like opinions and movements of the masses. Many of the 
 doctiines they proclaim are perfectly true, and put to shame our 
 usury laws, and protective tarift's, and post- office monopolies. 
 We cannot say what is to be ; for we do not know. But we say 
 that the rich people of France have precipitated their own ruin, 
 and we hope to see, " Uberty, equality, fiaternity," in their truest, 
 and most philanthropic sense, seated firmly in the government of 
 a free Fi-ench Republic. 
 
 Americans must remember that their hand is in all these strikes 
 for liberty. Our example, our principles, and our prosperity 
 under them, have done more to break down the superstitions on 
 which arbitrary governments rested, than all things else. The 
 letters Avhich immigrants to this country have sent back to their 
 fri(^nds, have furnished a vast amount of reliable information. 
 Europe is engaged now, with the most intense interest, in study- 
 ing America. Her leading spirits have, for years, been eagerl}' 
 inquisitive of all Americans who came in their way. American 
 books, from being rejected as worthless, are now eagerly sought 
 for. We could point to a literary American traveler in Europe, 
 who has orders from a dozen rojal libraiies there, to buy American 
 books. The British Museum appropriated £2000 for the pur- 
 chase of every book published in America, illustrati\e, in any 
 wa)', of American affairs. European statesmen draw Americans 
 to close intimacy with themselves, and we suppose we could 
 
HOW TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 413 
 
 name at least one American wlio is cooperatinjr with M. Lamar- 
 tine and his associates in the great labor of preparing the project 
 of a constitution for France, to be submitted to the convention of 
 nine hundred. At such a time the j)rinciples which we avow, 
 and the practices wliich Ave adopt, are full of extraordinary im- 
 portance. Let us show ourselves, every man of us, a true sup- 
 porter of liberty and good order. If it is possible, we would 
 that the firemen of Philadelphia should be so impressed with the 
 dignity of their position, while the govei-nments of Europe are 
 reconstructing, as to be awed into good behavior. Let us all be 
 generous to the people who have done such wonders in so won- 
 derful a way. Let us not be too coy of our confidence that they 
 who have begun so well, will go on well to the end. How im- 
 measurably is the diificulty of French affairs increased by the 
 panic among the rich and influential. They could not have fared 
 worse, if they had stood firmly at their posts during this storm, 
 and kept up the life-pulse of business. How may the whole cur-- 
 rent of destiny be changed by throwing so many thousands out of 
 employment at such a crisis. But we trust that the great prin- 
 ciples which the people have so nobly avowed and hitherto sus- 
 tained, will carry them safely through. It will be a good time 
 then for the timid to come back to their avocations. 
 
 HOW TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 
 
 \_Introduction to Professor Turner's " Kingdom of Heaven. "'\ 
 
 What Paul said to the Athenians, may still be said to almost 
 every collection of men, — " Ye are too superstitious." The hu- 
 man mind looks naturally and earnestly to the senses, for in them 
 it is accustomed to confide. It longs to have its gods, its priest- 
 hood, and its rites made such that they can be seen and handled. 
 To introduce and sustain a religion purely spiritual, has been 
 more pertinaciously opposed than any other measure of God's 
 moral government. The Israelites would be continually setting 
 up something material to personify their ideas of the Deitv, and 
 the same propensity still beats high in human blood. Romanism 
 followed out this propensity and floated on its current luitil, in 
 the name of Christi uiity, she had reinstated the same fabric of 
 idolatry which the same propensity had before erected, and 
 whicli Christ came to overthrow. Every memoiable event 
 around which the affections of Christians had clustered, was 
 bodied forth in gold and silver, or on canvass, and these images 
 absorbing the affections which the events had excited, soon came 
 
474 now TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 
 
 to be themselves loved and reverenced. The cross had transfer- 
 red to it the merit of the sacrifice of Christ, and men in their 
 ignorance, fell down before the wood, no longer striving to under- 
 stand and feel tlie power of the atonement. Paganism does not 
 pretend that images are real gods, but that tlie gods are in the 
 images. So Popery would set forth God and the atonement by 
 imagerj^ but soon the vitality of truth fades away, and a stupid 
 adoration is paid to matter. Christ sought to strip all places, all 
 men, and all things, of this superstitious reverence, and to hold 
 up truth and a spiritual religion before man, that his soid might 
 be purified, elevated, and made meet for an heavenly inheritance. 
 But the superstition which still hangs over the most enlightened 
 communities, and the most spiritual minds, warns every man who 
 examines society or himself, of the dreadful weight of sense 
 which still bears us downward to the earth and its debasement. 
 Who, that examines himself, will not find in his mind some rever- 
 jBnce for the house in which he has often worshiped, and espe- 
 cially for the di'ttk from which truths which he loved and felt, 
 have been so often uttered, and perhaps still more for the inan 
 who has stood there and proclaimed those ti'uths. Shreds of 
 Romanism there are perhaps, not yet thoroughly torn away from 
 our habits of thinking, or perhaps new threads woven by our own 
 dispositions, or perhaps both, twisting together and strengthening 
 each other. We think the Catholic a besotted devotee, who will 
 pray only in his church, while we perhaps go up to our own 
 meeting-houses Avith just the same feeling, that God is there 
 more than elsewhere, and that prayer ottered there will mce 
 surely be answered. It is exceedingly difficult for Christian 
 churches to divest themselves of the notion that some mysterious 
 divine power has been transferred to them, and still more diffi- 
 cult, 1 judge, for ecclesiastical bodies to divest themselves of the 
 notion, that God has committed his power to them. 
 
 If it has been difficult to maintain spirituality in single minds 
 and collective bodies, how much more difficult has it been to 
 bring men to realize, that by spiritual means alone the kingdom 
 of God is to be sustained in the world. It is extremely difficult 
 for men to believe that truth can win the day, and sustain 
 the church. The almost universal practice of professed Chris- 
 tians has been, so soon as they have obtained the power, 
 to bring ecclesiastical combinations, pohtical authority, or at least 
 wealth and station, to hedge about and protect the church. The 
 sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, can be wielded 
 by little children, and often so proceeds from their lips as to cut 
 down strong men. But that it can so turn every way as effect- 
 ually to protect the tree of life, but few men have ever steadily 
 
HOW TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 475 
 
 and practically believed. They have seen it written through all 
 history, that truth, and truth alone, had power to sanctify and 
 save ; yet they are alarmed when error stalks forth against it. 
 They dare not trust truth alone in the fight, but run for green 
 withes and new ropes with which to bind the giant. Nothing 
 more distinguished the plans of Jesus Christ from those of all 
 other masters of philosophy or religion than this, that he trusted 
 the propagation and triumph of the new doctrines which he 
 preached wholly to their own force. Not by might nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, was not only his theory but his prac- 
 tice. He took his coadjutors from the humblest and least pow- 
 erful ranks of society. " Put up thy sword," he said ; I could 
 call legions of angels if I desired to use force. He prescribed no 
 ranks in his kingdom, no orders of any sort, as others had done. 
 " I am your master," he said, " and all ye are brethren." If any 
 -one would be greatest among you, he can become so, only by 
 preeminent service. Call no man master, and allow no man 
 to call you master, for there is no master but myself. Who 
 would believe this the wajr to overthrow kingdoms and revo- 
 lutionize the world ? Would Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Con- 
 gregationalists ? Can it be done without a " visible head" to the 
 church — without Bishops to ordain and command, or Sessions, 
 Presbyteries, or Consociations to rule ? Truth only, the Spirit of 
 Christ only, and every disciple a preacher?" Even elevated 
 piety says No ! and puts its hand to its sword. What, no 
 plan for the suppression of error, but just that of preaching 
 truth ? No ecclesiastical fence at all around the church ? 
 
 Christ established no form of church government in detail ; 
 and it is evident from what he said and did, that the only 
 government which He could approve, must be that of the broth- 
 erhood ; and in their hands, the object of all regulation must 
 be the security of individual freedom. This must be the object 
 and ariangement, for Christ holds every one subject to him- 
 self directly, and bound to do his bidding, not consulting 
 with flesh and blood. His promised help was to individuals, not 
 collections of men. The great business of those who became 
 his subjects, was preaching, accompanied by works of benevo- 
 lence. His last command was, " Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the gospel to every creature." He promised miracu- 
 lous powers to all who should believe, and then ascended to 
 heaven. The next verse says, " they loent forth and preached 
 everywhere." The Lord did not withdraw his power or his 
 care over these preachers, but blessed all of them, and the name 
 of the Crucified One came to be known and loved, with wonder- 
 ful speed, through the world. His true disciples still hear 
 
476 HOW TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 
 
 his voice calling from heaven to them, " Go preach, go preach 
 the gospel." But who are these that cry, " Stop, ask our 
 leave f' Some of them are true disciples, strangely misun- 
 derstanding their duty, and the plans of the Lord. Others 
 are dumb dogs, that will not bark themselves, and do not like to 
 be disturbed by any noise. It was the human conservatorship 
 which men assumed to establish over Christ and his kingdom, 
 that not only checked and prevented the accomplishment of his 
 last order, but carried back the whole church again to paganism, 
 and surrendered it to become the strongest fortress ever pos- 
 sessed by Satan. Oh ! how the blood of the saints has flowed 
 in rivers, under the ecclesiastical protectorship of the church. 
 But for this, the world would have been full of the knowledge of 
 the Lord centuries aero. It is heart-breakinw to think of the bns: 
 agony which our race has endured, and especially the followers 
 of the Lamb, because Christians have not trusted to and carried 
 out the great moral and intellectual plan of Jesus Christ. And 
 yet they will not learn. The great burden is. How shall we stop 
 irregularity, how stop too much and too earnest preaching, how 
 organize the hosts of God's elect into one great central unitij ? 
 Still the voice fi'oni heaven cries to all who believe. Preach ! 
 preach ! Still the conservative organizations cry Stop ! ask 
 leave! and siill the nations he in darkness. But a new day has 
 dawned, new methods of preaching have been devised. In Sab- 
 bath-schools, in prayer-meetings, in the distribution of tracts and 
 Bibles the Lord is preached, and all, who believe, are waking up 
 and understanding that the cry. Go preach the gospel, means 
 them. Many have gone to the heathen, others are going, sup- 
 ported by those who remain with the stuff. Great principles of 
 truth are being published all abroad, and error is giving ground 
 even in its darkest and strongest holds. It is not conservatism, 
 be it remembered, but liberty, which is doing all this. Let the 
 disciples everywhere see and know that the day is breaking, the 
 day of such labor and hope as never before dawned. If the 
 world cannot be reclaimed now, if the mighty conquests of truth 
 are to be yielded to unbelief this time, what can our world have 
 to hope for? But the world is Christ's, and I trust his dominion 
 is to be e.xtended over it by this present effort, during this day 
 which is now dawning. Let every disciple address himself to 
 the doing of whatsoever his hands find to do. Let every one 
 preach the word in his own appropriate manner, enforcing his 
 words by a Christian life. 
 
 That this treatise of my excellent friend may encourage the 
 disciples, and help them to see where their great strength lies, is 
 my earnest wish. For that he has prepared it, and if my hasty 
 
A CLAIM TO SAINT SHIP. 477 
 
 introduction, in the least degree, assists his benevolent design, I 
 shall be most thankful to him for having requested me to 
 prepare it. • 
 
 A CLAIM TO SAINTSHIP. 
 IFroni the Boston Recorder, October, 1847.] 
 Messrs. Editors : 
 
 I WANT to know whether I am not entitled to be put in the 
 calendar of saints ? I see that several persons have been spoken 
 of lately as having done a very meritorious and praiseworthy act, 
 in making some sacrifice for the observance of the Sabbath. I 
 have made some sacrifices in that way during my life without 
 thinking much of it, but now I begin to suspect that I am 
 a mucli holier man than I have heretofore thought myself to be. 
 
 During the last year I made a journey to " the West." On 
 returning, it would have saved me four dollars, I believe, to have 
 paid my passage " through" from Chicago to Buffalo, but the 
 boat would reacli Mackinac on Saturday night, and as I did not 
 think it right to travel on the Sabbath, I paid to that place and 
 stopped. Perhaps I ought not entirely to suppress the fact, that 
 1 wished to see Mackinac by daylight, and when the boat arrived 
 it was in the midst of a splendid moonlight only, which proved, 
 however, to be altogether the best light in which to exhibit the 
 place. But on the afternoon of the next day. Sabbath, the crack 
 boat, Boston, came along — just the boat I wished to go in, and 
 just the time I should have desired to start, but that it was the 
 Sabbath. I am not a minister, and very likely no one on board 
 would have known me ; yet I did not go, nor had I any debate 
 with myself whether I should go or not, but staid until Tuesday, 
 if I remember right, and then took a second-rate boat. 
 
 I have a son who spent some months in traveling over the 
 West. His trunk was stolen, the thief arrested, and my son 
 compelled to give a bond for three hundred dollars, that he 
 would appear at the opening of the court in Sandusky city on a 
 Monday, in a future month, to testify against the thief. As tliat 
 Moudav approached, my son found himself upon the shores of 
 L;die Michigan. He took a boat, which was expected to arrive 
 at Sandusky city on Friday, or at farthest on Saturday. But by 
 some accident she was detained, and when the Sabbath sun 
 arose, she was amidst the marshes of Lake St. Clair. At the 
 first landing place my son went on shore, though he knew that 
 by doing so he could not reach Sandusky city according to the 
 
478 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 bond. He took the first boat that came along on Monday, 
 reached liis post Tuesday forenoon, and reached the court-house 
 as the district attorney stood up to move the court that his bond 
 should be dechired forfeit ; but he exchiimed, " Here I am," and 
 all was right. 1 never had these things printed, and never 
 thought much of them, but deemed them mere common duties, 
 such as Christians are always accustomed to. But since I 
 see such acts held up as rarities, things only performed by extra- 
 ordinary men. I query with myself whether I am not something 
 extraordinary, and mv family also, and whether I ought not to 
 consider the holding back of the district attorney to the very 
 moment of my son's arrival, as a miracle from the Virgin Mary, 
 in illustration of the great love she bore to him and his holy 
 deed. Say, are we saints, or nothing but every-day Christians? 
 
 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 [F)om the Journal of Commerce, July 17, 1846.] 
 
 Thomas Jefferson has been ranked by the more religious part 
 of the community as an infidel. Yet some of his sayings are 
 worthy of the highest place in the esteem of all good men. He 
 could not have been the worst of infidels who said in reference to 
 the slavery which then pervaded almost all the States, '' I trem- 
 ble for my country when I remember that God is just ;" and in 
 reference to government, " that which is morally wrong cannot 
 be politically right." This last declaration stands in high con- 
 demnation of that disregard of moral obligation which proclaims, 
 " All is fair in politics ;" — " Our country light or wrong." Ac- 
 cording to Mr. Jefferson's maxim, governments and political parties 
 are bound bv the same moral principles which bind individuals. 
 This is the doctrine of the Bible, and must be the doctrine of all 
 intelligent Christians and philanthropists. The opinion has been 
 industriously inculcated, that a state of war puts an end to the 
 common liberty of free discussion, suspends the law of morality, 
 for the time, and binds every good citizen to unite with all his 
 powers in support of the government of his country, whatever 
 his private opinions may be of the rectitude or wisdom of its 
 measures. But the opposite of this must be true, upon the rule 
 of Mr. Jefferson. War is so terrible a calamity that governments 
 ought not to find it a protection against public scrutiny ; on the 
 contrary, governments ought to be restrained by the conscious- 
 ness that if they allow tiiemselvcs to be involved in war, they 
 will be called upon to give ample rouions for so great an evil, and 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 479 
 
 daring tlie progress of the Avar, will be held to a rigorous scrutiny, 
 lest under the influence of its great temptations, they adopt mea- 
 sures wiiich are immoral. That in tliese days a nation is at war, 
 seems almost of necessity to imply a want of wisdom or sound 
 morality. Tliere was force in that declaration of a Senator who 
 exclaimed, " Of what value 'a your diplomacy, if it cannot save 
 us from war." 
 
 The war with Mexico came upon the Administration as unex- 
 pectedly as it did upon the nation at large. It came, in con- 
 sequence of the same false policy being adopted toward her, 
 which was adopted toward England : the polic}'^ of raising the 
 utmost hazard of war, that to avoid so dire an alternative, peace 
 might come. The Administration no doubt expected the Oregon 
 negotiation to terminate as it has, in an adjustment. Yet the 
 notice, which, according to the declaration of the President, 
 would, at the end of a year, present the alternative of an adjust- 
 ment of the boundary — or war, together with the demand of 
 more than was clearly right, with the rejection of all overtures 
 for arbitration, and that in a tone of rough defiance, — all this did 
 create in the minds of prudent men, a deep alarm, and but for 
 the wisdom of our Senators, and our people, and the cool dignity of 
 tlie British ministers, would probably have brought upon us a war 
 as horrible in its consequences as it was unnecessary and worth- 
 less in its object. By this policy, we have lost a portion of Oi"e- 
 gon, which would have been ours if only we had floated on the 
 tide of destmy, — a loss, however, of what is worthless, and so 
 not to be regretted. But thanks to a kind Providence, the " kill 
 or cure" policy terminated in peace, though not so much from the 
 policy itself, as because it was counteracted and overruled by bet- 
 ter plans. 
 
 In our relations with Mexico this same policy has involved us 
 in the other alternative, and plunged us into a war as perplexing 
 as it was unnecessary. Oregon was fairly ours to 49, and Texas 
 to the Nueces. Beyond these bounds our own statesmen were 
 divided as to our title. Yet in both cases the Administration 
 went for 54.40 as our " clear and unquestionable" right. It is no 
 part of our purpose to extenuate the wrongs which Mexico has 
 done us. Miserable Mexico, priest-ridden and robbed, has been 
 groping in darkness for three hundred years, under the name of 
 a Ciiristian community, but in all that time has made no progress ; 
 for she has been guided not by the light of revelation from above, 
 but by superstitions from beneath. Our object is only to find 
 out what we, as a great, frei* and Bibli^ nation, ought to do, in 
 ac.com plishinu' tin; high (Kstiny with which heaven has entrusted 
 us. Wc know what is right, and can allbrd not only to be just, 
 
480 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 but generous, charitable, na}^ compassionate. Although Mexico 
 claims the whole of Texas as hers, yet if we had confined our 
 preten -ions, or at least our armies, within the boundaries of Texas 
 proper, there would have been no war. There is very little ques- 
 tion about this, in the minds of intelligent men. The settlers 
 along the left bank of the Rio Grande, had never taken any part 
 in the Texan revolt. They were Mexicans, as loyal to tliat gov- 
 ernment as any other portion of the nation ; and although Texas 
 spread her declaration of independence to the Rio Grande, it was 
 never with the approbation of the people on its banks, nor in fact 
 did real independence ever extend there for one moment. The 
 absolute boundary of all sympathy with Texan independence was 
 probably the barren desert midway between the Nueces and the 
 Rio Grande. A just man will not take forcible possession of 
 more than is his unqnestionable right, at least in his own opinion. 
 That which is doubtful he will leave to negotiation or arbitration. 
 If we had been goverrfed by the same rule, our armies never 
 would have crossed the Nueces, and then our interests and honor, 
 and the peace of the world, would have been preserved. Instead 
 of this, we marched our army to the utmost verge of a question- 
 able claim, and noi content with that, planted our cannon in such 
 a manner as to control, and in eft'ect take possession of a city to 
 which we did not pretend to have any claim. What boots it that 
 in this position our General was ordered to be circumspect, and 
 to declare that he came on a mission of peace only. His actions 
 were hostile, irritating, insulting ; and they aroused the unwise ire 
 of Mexico to its " sticking point." No conquerer ever yet an- 
 nounced that his object was war. Bonaparte always marshaled 
 his armies for peace. How, under these circumstances, can we 
 appeal to Heaven, and say that this war is either " necessary" or 
 
 The manner in which the constitutional sanction was obtained 
 to the existence of war, it seems to us, is in the highest degree re- 
 prehensible. In the excitement and agitation with which the 
 news of a Mexican attack tilled Congress and the nation, the Pre- 
 sident sent to Congress a message demanding the passage of a 
 law recognizing the existence of war, with authority to raise fifty 
 thousand men, and expend ten millions of dollars. A proposition 
 to declare war, was voted down instantly in the House, but this 
 executive call for a recor/nition of war the effect of which was pre- 
 cisely the same, was urged through with the impudent and slander- 
 ous declaration that every patriot who demanded time to think of so 
 dire a declaration, was a traitor, and a Mexican at heart. Whf n 
 Mr. Calhoun stood up in the dignity of a patriot Senator and de- 
 clared his readiness to vote the appropriation, and the men, extrav- 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 481 
 
 agant as was the extent of the demand in this respect, but asked 
 a d;iy to consider the question of war, the proposal in botli its 
 parts was refused by the leaders, and in the rush of furious ex- 
 citement, not men enough were found to hazard their personal 
 good for tlieir country's, to control the desperate movement. If 
 a week had been allowed for consideration, probably if but a day, 
 we should have avoided a war, and General Taylor's army, after 
 having driven back the Mexicans to the other side of the river, 
 would have leposed on iheir honors in a position much less perplex- 
 ing than the one they now occupy. If the demand of the President 
 had been limited to the five thousand men, asked for by General 
 Taylor, how much better would our position now have been. 
 That denunciation of deliberation, what was it for? Because it 
 was foreseen that deliberation would defeat the declaration ; and 
 that Mr. Calhoun would have the honor of saving the country 
 from two wars in one session of Congress. Tluis, in mad defiance 
 of all discretion, our commerce, and all bur interests were strip- 
 ped of the protection of peace, subjected to the laws of war, and 
 placed in a position from which it will require the cooperation of 
 our enemy to extricate us ; for nothing but her agreement to a 
 treaty of peace can perfectly repeal tliat act of our Congress. It 
 seems to us that the nation should raise its voice in stern reproof 
 of such a procedure, and put a mark upon the men who brought 
 it about, which will caution future administrations against press- 
 ing the most momentous of all questions which can ever be sub- 
 mitted to Congress, through the two Houses, without time to be 
 certain as to facts, and to deliberate calmly on their proper con- 
 sequences. 
 
 There is a strange circumstance at the basis of both controver- 
 sies in which we have recently been engaged, viz. ; that there was 
 no possible good to be obtained by war, nor by a domineering diplo- 
 macy, which would not have been better obtained by peace. In 
 the case of Mexico, we demand two things : a settlement of boun- 
 dary, and the payment of indemnity. If we would but be quiet, 
 our boundary would settle itself by the force of destiny, more 
 resistless tlian our armies, and give us more than we can hope or 
 ask for in arms. As to indemnity, we are spending vast sums of 
 good money in pursuit of much smaller sums of bad. We are 
 hoping that the inability of our debtor to pay his current expen- 
 ses, will compel him to agree to pay our debt. We impoverish 
 him and oui-selves, Ave throw away more than the debt, in ren- 
 dering him hope'lessly unable to pay. What, under such circum- 
 stances, can we hope for ? What do we intend ? Why, obvi- 
 ously, to compel him to sell us California, in payment of the debt, 
 — we giving him money to boot, — when the same California we 
 21 
 
482 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 should, in better time, have gained for nothing, and perhaps 
 have collected our indemnity besides. Turn -which way we will, 
 therefore ; let our fleets and armies be as valiant as they may ; 
 inevitable defeat and disgrace are in the very nature of the case 
 before us. The whole affair must come to just such a result as 
 Avould have ensued, had we invaded and conquered Texas ten 
 years ago, and compelled Mexico to give Texas up to us, for the 
 consideration of the money due from her, and five or ten millions 
 of new dollars to be paid by us. Here then are we in a most 
 perplexing dilemma. Our little army has covered itself with ho- 
 nor, but not under the declaration of war, nor after the invasion 
 of Mexico. Under the declaration of Avar we have invaded Mex- 
 ico, and blockaded her ports. We have cut off her trade with 
 all the world, and with ourselves among the rest. Now, resting 
 in a quandary, we perform such an exploit as opening the port 
 of Matamoras to Yankee notions, in despite of Mexican revenue 
 laws, hoping, by showing that free trade makes cheap goods, to 
 corrupt the people into rebellion, — not telling them that the 
 same vicious policy prevails here. This singular blockade, to es- 
 tablish free intercourse, we hope to carry into all the ports of our 
 enemy. We look also wishfully for another revolution in Mexico, 
 which will put some one at the head of aftairs who Avill help us 
 out of the scrape ; and we proclaim to Mexican aspirants, through 
 our government newspaper, that we war only '' against the ^var 
 party in Mexico ;" thus rendering ihe United States an appen- 
 dage to an opposition faction in our enemy's councils. California 
 we can invade without waiting for factions to help us. In her 
 boundless Avilds there are, in truth, but few people of whom to 
 make factions in resistance of their own government or ours. A 
 western army is bravely marching, therefore, upon Santa Fe, 
 which, in our amazement, we find belongs to us ; or at least, that 
 consistency compels us to say so, because it is on the left bank of 
 the same brave river, Avhich was the boundaiy of the Texan de- 
 claration. If Yucatan could only be brought to declare her in- 
 dependence, making the same river the Northern boundary of 
 her declaration, why then, by annexing Yucatan, we should hold 
 all Mexico by the same sort of title under which we claim Santa 
 Fe. But this claim is in contradiction to that upon which we 
 rely in treating with Texas, viz. ; that she has for years maintain- 
 ed her independence and governed herself. Santa Fe has never 
 maintained or declared its independence for an hour ; and so, by 
 our own rule, belongs to the government with which it has been 
 associated. 
 
 In the Message to Congress in which President Polk recom- 
 mended the recognition of war he says, " I shall be prepared to 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 483 
 
 renew negotiations whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive 
 propositions, or to make propositions of her own." 
 
 The terms of this declaration of the President have been essen- 
 tially modified, however, by the government organ. The Union 
 says tluit the objects of the war are "reparation — ^justice — 
 peace." " When she shall proffer suitable terms, they will be 
 accepted. Till this be done, our war will march steadily and 
 vigorously on — it will ascend the table land of Mexico — it will 
 maich from province to province, and from stronghold to strong- 
 hold, until finally it shall dictate to Parades, or to any successor 
 if need be, a compulsory peace, within the walls of his capital." 
 IBravo ! verily, the editor speaks like a god. Here, then, the 
 pledge is taken back entirely ; for "reparation" and "justice" are 
 a broad basis for any demand, and mean that fighting is to cease, 
 when Mexico submits to our demands. This is a total repudia- 
 tion of the Presidential pledge. 
 
 It becomes, under such circumstances, an inquiry of great in- 
 terest, what are the demands which our government makes upon 
 Mexico ; and whether they form any just cause for prosecuting 
 the war. If we understand the matter, our government demand, 
 first, that Mexico should treat with us. Secondly, that she shall 
 treat about and fix a boundary between herself and the United 
 States. Thirdly, that she shall agree to pay us Avhat she owes 
 us. We appeal to the justice and moral sense of the American 
 people to say whether in these things there is any justification 
 for invading the territory of Mexico and killing her citizens. Has 
 not Mexico, as an independent nation, a right, according to inter- 
 national law, to hold diplomatic relations with us, or not, at her 
 pleasure. This right is practised upon by ourselves and all civi- 
 lized nations, without assuming that the withdrawal of such re- 
 lations is cause of war, or even of offense. If pecuniary indebt- 
 edness, or the settlement of a boundary is cause of war between 
 nations, authorising invasion and slaughter, then may eveiy cre- 
 ditor enter the house of his debtor, and shoot him down, and 
 every farmer who claims a boundary about which his neighbor 
 refuses to negotiate, may do the same thing to hira. The ground 
 is no better in one case than the other : and we fear that the state- 
 ment proves our invasion of Mexico with the intention of murder- 
 ing all her citizens who attempt to oppose our invasion, to be not 
 only without good cause, but unjust and wicked ; a crime of the 
 blackest die. 
 
 With these views it is easy to see how peace should be procur- 
 ed. If we cease to prosecute the war there will be peace. To 
 say we fight for peace is a delusion. Withdraw your armies and 
 take a position of unquestionable justice. We should say, on this 
 
484 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 side of the Nueces. But if this is too much to hope for, then on 
 this side of the Rio Grande. No nation ever had so fair an op- 
 portunity to obtain real honor, and lay the world under obliga- 
 tions to us, as we had after the Mexicans were repulsed. If in 
 the midst of victory we had declared, " We will not disturb the 
 peace of the world by a war upon Mexico, but content ourselves 
 with vindicating the integrity of our soil, and our flag upon the 
 highway of nations ; — if Mexico stops here, no more blood shall 
 be shed ;" there would have been high honor in it, and sound po- 
 licy too. That time is past ; but now, let our armies be with- 
 diawn from Mexico, and our fleets from the blockade of her coast, 
 and there will be peace ; as good a peace at least as has existed 
 for the last ten years, and just as good as would exist under any 
 treaty which could now be formed, our own recognition of war 
 only excepted. If in a new treaty, Mexico should again promise 
 us money, the non-performance of the promise would probably 
 lead to renewed iriitation. Nothing is to be gained, and much to 
 be lost, by a prosecution of tlie war. Trade will be lost. Many 
 valuable lives of our own citizens will certainly be lost in the camp, 
 if not in fight; and the attempt to capture the Mexican capital, 
 will expose us to disaster and defeat, under the accumulated dis- 
 advantages of an invading war. 
 
 Sundry collateral reasons Ave know are urged for continuing the 
 war, showing rather, that diiect reasons are wanting. It is said 
 that the war will extend civilization and liberty, break down the 
 oppression of hierarchy, and especially of military despotism. But 
 these are such reasons of benevolence as the ambitious destroy- 
 ers of otir race have always been ready to urge. The people of 
 Mexico have a right to manage their own affairs, and be misera- 
 ble until they can fuinish among themselves the men who are ne- 
 cessar}' to their deliverance. It would be a strange assumption 
 that the United States are obliged to set up schools for the Ca- 
 tholic governments of South America, and compel them to be 
 educated and reformed. The task would be more perplexing 
 than the famous obligation to preserve the " balance of power" 
 in Europe, which has cost so much blood and treasure. Be- 
 sides, like all other possible objects of the war, these are much 
 better accomplished by peace. The mission of the United States 
 among the nations is one of reason, of intellect, of morals. It can 
 only be accomplished in peace. While peace prevails, reason ex- 
 tends her sway, and truth advances in her conquests. But war 
 substitutes force for reason, violence for kindness, and turns back 
 the hopes of philanthropy and religion. War has been the curse 
 of mankind ; and this detestable Mexican war is the present 
 curse and shame of these two nations, and especially of the United 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 485 
 
 States, as most enlightened. Our influence will bless Mexico, if 
 it is exerted peacefully. Tlie Bible men AviJl by and by reach the 
 Mexican border in tlie tide of their emigration, and flow over 
 among her people, carrying their intelligence with them. Before 
 them, the Mexicans must be reformed, or silently perish like the 
 aboriginal races of America or the negroes in the free States. 
 Americanism is a principle, not a locality. Whoever adopts our 
 principles, is an American in the best sense, wherever he may 
 dwell. The great American principles of liberty and individual 
 right, will give us the Rio Grande, nor stop there, but go on to 
 conquer all Mexico, and all the nations of America ; whether to 
 be addvd to our Union or not, is comparatively of little import- 
 ance. California must fall into our possession. Everythincr 
 which we fight for, will be accomplished much sooner in peace. 
 Why then should we disgrace California by conquest, when we 
 only intend to establish there free and independent States ? Why 
 conquer Mexico with great cost, when of necessity we must im- 
 mediately abandon the conquest? Why fight o^the objects we 
 desire, and refuse to accept them when offered to us without 
 money and without price ? Why oft'end Heaven and disturb the 
 world, and destroy our own citizens, and squander millions of 
 money for no possible good ? All our institutions and interests 
 are liazarded by war ; all sure to be secured and advanced by 
 peace. 
 
 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 [Frotn the Journal of Commerce, July 1, 1847.] 
 
 Soon after the war with Mexico was commenced, I addressed 
 my fellow-citizens, at least so many of thera as read the Journal 
 of Commerce, under my own individual signature. To present 
 my sentiments with my humble name attached to them, was ren- 
 dered necessary by circumstances, — not because I was so thought- 
 less as to suppose that m}^ name could add weight to my opi- 
 nions. In that address I endeavored to show that the war was 
 waged without reasons which could justify it ; for that, although 
 the conduct of Mexico had been unwise toward herself, and in- 
 jurious toward us, there were yet no facts in her conduct which 
 authorized the nation to resort to war. I attempted to show, 
 also, that the war was without motive on our pai-t, for there was 
 nothing wliich its utmost success could bring to us, that would 
 not be better attained by forbearance and peace. I also urged 
 that the prosecution of the war involved dangers to our country 
 of fearful importance. 
 
486 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 A year has passed away, and the time has come in which I 
 think it possible that the same views may again be presented 
 with some liope of usefulness ; and this, I trust, will be deemed a 
 sufficient excuse for doing again what would otherwise be merely 
 a piece of unworthy self-conceit. 
 
 The war was entered upon by the government under a great 
 mistake as to the proper measures for securing peace. It was 
 not anticipated by the people or the government. No one ex- 
 pected it a week before it was declared. If it had been antici- 
 pated, it would have been avoided. The last reports to the gov- 
 ernment were, that no considerable Mexican force was near Ma(a- 
 moras, and that there was no danger of an attack. Suddenly a 
 strong Mexican force crossed the Rio Grande. General Taylor 
 sent to the govei-nment for five thousand men to repel the inva- 
 sion ; but the President, after a Sunday's consultation with his 
 Cabinet, seized upon the occasion to recommend a declaration of 
 war, with an army of fifty thousand men ; and the members of 
 Congress, afraid to stand up and avow their real opinions, voted 
 assent to the executive recommendation, with a slavish serviHty 
 suited only to the menials of a despot. The House of Repre- 
 sentatives, with almost entire unanimity, voted down a war pro- 
 position on one day, and yet on the next day voted almost as 
 unanimously in its favor. A very few only of either party were 
 found, with the real patriotism of the noble Calhoun, to exclaim, 
 " I cannot vote for this measure. I shall remain silent." Yet 
 there was more real glory in this exclamation than has been 
 gained by all the trophies of the war. The object of the Ad- 
 ministration was peace all the while. The President had adonted 
 the notion that the way to secure peace was to make demonstra- 
 tions of war ; to deal in threats ; to play General Jackson in fact, 
 though without his comprehension of results. Whether the spirit 
 of this policy was among the Cabinet Secretaries, or whether it 
 was the determined policy of the President, is not known ; for no 
 Cabinet was ever so perfect a unit (at least to the public) as 
 ours, and never were personal opinions and Cabinet discussions 
 preserved in such profound secresy from the people. This policy 
 of threats had well nigh involved us in a war with England about 
 the land between 49 and 54.40 in Oregon, for which now the 
 nation do not care one straw. But peace had been secured with 
 England, and the Oregon boundary settled, — perhaps the Presi- 
 dent thought, by his threats ; other men think, by the opposite 
 and conciliatory policy of the Senate and the people. The Presi- 
 dent's object was a treaty with Mexico which should settle 
 boundaries and establish permanent peace. This was a most 
 desirable object, which previous Administrations had earnestly 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 487 
 
 and patiently sought to accomplish. Mr. Polk had sought it in 
 a conciliatory way. He had been patient and generous. He had 
 even withdrawn our naval force from the neighborhood of Mexico, 
 because her rulers stated that its presence was an embarrassment 
 to negotiation. But the Mexicans behaved as poorly toward us 
 as toward themselves ; and at length the President determined to 
 renew with more vigor the threatening policy. He ordered 
 General TajHor to break up his camp on the Nueces and take a 
 position of intimidation on the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras. 
 In this movement commenced the danger. The annexation of 
 Texas was only a link in the chain of events, and no more the 
 cause of the war than any other link ; though nearer to the indis- 
 cretions which were the cause of the war. But it can w"ith no more 
 propriety be set down as the cause, than the declaration of Texan 
 independence, the battle of San Jacinto, the discovery of this conti- 
 nent by Columbus, or an^" other event which was necessary to place 
 affairs as they stood when General Taylor was ordered to the Rio 
 Grande. It is impossible to show that any probability of war 
 existed, while General Taylor remained on the Nueces. Neither 
 did the removal of his army to the Rio Grande necessarily in- 
 volve the issue of war ; no, nor even the irruption of the Mexi- 
 cans upon this side of that river. General Taylor contemplated 
 no such thing as war certainly, when he called for five thousand 
 men. He thought of nothing but the security of his position, 
 and that he in the end accomplished most gallantly, before a sin- 
 gle man came to his aid. Had General Taylor been the execu- 
 tive head of our nation at that time, this war had never been. 
 No man in the country was more surpiised than he, at the de- 
 claration. It was the declaration or recognitioyi of war hij Con- 
 gress and the President, that made the war. Up to that declara- 
 tion, there was no war, nor inevitable necessity or even probable 
 cause of war ; and but for that declaration, we should have con- 
 tinued as much at peace with Mexico as we had been for ten 
 years before, or shall be hereafter upon the basis of any treaty 
 which it will bo possible to make. The unwise determination of 
 that unfortunate cabinet council, on Sunday, commenced the war. 
 This is a good place to speak of " military chieftains," at whom 
 so many of our citizens are alarmed, as if they were men whose 
 breath is war. The history of our country teaches a different 
 lesson. General Washington by his own personal firmness 
 sa\ed us from war during his administration, though it required 
 all his great influence to restrain the excited feelings of his coun- 
 trymen. The Avar of 1812 was not declared under the influence 
 of a military chieftain, but by President Madison, eniinently a 
 civilian, surrounded by a civilian cabinet, and with so Httle of the 
 
488 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 firmness which is essential to railitaiy greatness, that he was 
 driven from his own conscientious opinions by the Hotspurs of 
 civil hfe, and compelled to recommend war. 
 
 Under General Jackson we had no small bluster with France ; 
 yet they who understood the matter always knew that there was 
 not the least danger of war. His policy was always fixed on 
 peace. Here now again we are at war under the guidance of 
 men who know nothing personally of its agonies. With no mili- 
 tary cliieftain in the Cabinet, and with a President who is a man of 
 peace, who has periled his political standing in opposition to per- 
 sonal combats, and in the cause of temperance and general good 
 morals, — under such a President we are at war, and all by a 
 great mktake. He knew little of war, and so played with it, as 
 inexperienced children do with sharp knives, and the nation 
 bleeds in consequence. There is another thought connected with 
 this. If the aspirants for the presidency in the halls of legisla- 
 tion get to understand tliat war creates new Presidents, they may 
 be less disposed to vote for it. A measure which throws them 
 from the line of promotion, will not be so likely Lo receive their 
 support. 
 
 It is proper to say here, too, that the declaratic)n so often 
 made that " this is a war for the e.xtension of slavery," is utterly 
 untrue. Mr. Calhoun, the great champion for the rights of 
 slave-holders, was the most prominent opponent of the declara- 
 tion of war. He besought the Senate to pause, if but for a day, 
 and think of the direful consequences of what they wei'e in such 
 haste to perform. The South as a whole, has shown quite as 
 little favor toward the war as the North or the East. The 
 solemn declaration of the Legislature of Massachusetts that this 
 war is for the extension of slavery, therefore, exhibits either very 
 culpable ignorance, or a more culpable disposition to create poli- 
 tical importance by aggiavating the bad feelings of one section 
 against another in this Union. Nothing is more common among 
 small politicians, than this sectional sectarianism ; and nothing 
 less in accordance with enlarged views and real patriotism. The 
 war was a (jrcat mistake, — notliing else. It was declared as a 
 pait of the policy of intimidation. The apparition of fifty thou- 
 sand men and ten millions of dollars the President thought would 
 soon bring the Mexicans to terms. " Blow upon blow," cried 
 the Union ; " blow upon blow" must we give Mexico, until she 
 consents to treat with us and restore peace. Sixty days of this 
 policy, it was thought, would be quite enough to insure the de- 
 sired result. But we have gone on for more than a year and 
 have not peace. Our blows have followed each other in such 
 terrible force, that the government of Mexico is annihilated. We 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 489 
 
 have destroyed her ability to make peace. The war was declared 
 as the means of peace, and for no other purpose ; though this 
 means was resorted to the more readily, perhaps, from the war- 
 like disposition of some people at the West and elsewhere. The 
 President was perfectly honest in his plan, but utterly mis- 
 taken in his means. His great iniquity has been in carryino- on 
 the war so long, and with such misery to both nations, merely to 
 save him.self from the humiliation of confessing that he had made 
 a great mistake. He thougiit ten millions of dollars would be a 
 sufficient e.xpenditure ; that few lives would be lost, and little 
 evil in fact come in any way, from following out the policy of in- 
 timidation. But he cannot be excused so gently in the loner 
 prosecution of his plan. He has been driven from one excuse to 
 another, and from one hope to another, until he is in dancer of 
 resorting to reasons which may invulve us in war with all the 
 world, and render us and our institutions a curse among the 
 family of nations. From being the noble minister of peace, 
 liberty and happiness among men, we are in danger of biinging 
 back the dark ages of war and carnage, and putting republican 
 liberty in such deep disgrace in the world, that tyranny in any 
 shape will be preferred before it. I ask ray countrymen to look 
 candidly at our present position before the world. Kings and 
 emperors and aristocrats have combined to preserve the peace of 
 the world, and yet this nation perpetuates the policy of devils. 
 These United States, whose glory is love for individual man and 
 protection for his lights, — who have all along proclaimed good 
 will among men ; we to whom the Great Father of all men has 
 given this wide-spread land of plenty, with millions of acres yet 
 unoccupied upon which future generations may expand ; we to 
 whom lie has given intelligence, spreading schools and churches 
 everywhere, and placing his Book of love where every family may 
 have it; we who have all that heart could wish, are the nation 
 left last upon the earth to make war, to send our young men to 
 invade the territory of our neighbor, to murder her young men in 
 battle and her old men in their homes, — to spread desolation, 
 terror and death, on every hand. This is the work in which 
 America is engaged, now that all the other nations have abandoned • 
 the abominable trade. What a curse we have inflicted on our- 
 selves ! The waste of treasure is vast, but the nature of that 
 consideration renders it almost unworthy of mention in compari- 
 son with the terrific moral evils which have been brought upon 
 us. Of thousands of our citizens who, leaving their peaceful do- 
 mestic occupations, have engaged in this wicked war, nearly half 
 have died miserably in tlie country which they have invaded. 
 Some of them have been killed by the Mexicans in the honorable 
 21* 
 
490 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 defense of their soil, but more have perished " by the visitation of 
 God." And they who at the expiration of their year of engage- 
 ment have fled to their homes again, — what are they ? Some 
 are maimed, others infected with diseases which they bring home 
 to propagate among their friends ; many broken down in morals, 
 and transformed in one year, from good citizens, to the habits 
 and feelings of ferocious war. What a curse has this war been 
 already to our country ! A long list of " pensioners," not hon- 
 ored as those of the Revolution, will fill up the ranks of that 
 patriot throng who served in the defense of their country against 
 a foreign foe, who had much more reason for invading our terri- 
 tory than we have for invading that of Mexico. It is a consola- 
 tory reflection that these citizens of ours who have suffered so 
 pitiably in Mexico, went voluntaribj to their destiny. They were 
 not conscripts taken by force from their occupations. They went 
 of their own accord to invade Mexico, and if they have perished, 
 it was in their own chosen way. 
 
 Under such views, the second invasion of Mexico, under Gene- 
 ral Scott, seems to me a measure of unmitigated wickedness. We 
 had fought long enough to know that that was not the way to 
 peace, and that to figlit longer must be without an object. Yet 
 the city of Vera Cruz was doomed. The foundries of our com- 
 merce and manufactures were turned from their useful pursuits 
 to the manufacture of bomb-shells and all the implements which 
 destroy cities. The explosion of these shells in palaces and in 
 private dwellings, where the mother sat terrified in the midst of 
 her family, was foreseen and deliberately resolved upon. It is 
 idle, in a moral view of the subject, to plead " the laws of war." 
 Those laws, no more than the laws of honor or the laws which 
 regulate the internal police of a banditti, are recorded in the 
 Bible, or will be pleaded in that great day when rulers and peo- 
 ple must stand on one level, to be judged by that perfect Chris- 
 tian rule, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do 
 ye even so to them." 
 
 Well, what are we to do, after all the wrongs of the war ? AVe 
 have trodden down the national existence of Mexico, so that 
 peace upon a basis of the national will is impossible. Whatever 
 treaty we may now make will be in reality a farce ; a mere thing 
 dictated by force ; and so it will be understood by the civilized 
 world. It will be impossible for us to acquire a good title to the 
 least thing conceded by any such treaty. Besides, Mexico has 
 nothing that we want. She has nothing to cede but ierritory, 
 and more territory at present would be a curse to us. Our popu- 
 lation is rambling too loosely for our best interests. Our laws 
 and our responsibility are already spread to very dangerous ex- 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 491 
 
 tents, over people so thin and of sucli habits that the whole na- 
 tion is kepi in constant exposure. Even the ports of the Pacific 
 are now as fully open for our use, and were before the war com- 
 menced, as they ever will be. It is but damage and indefinite 
 hazard that we extend our territoiy further by force. The rapid 
 advancement of our population will show in future years what will 
 then be required. But if the territory of Mexico or any portion 
 of it were worth our having, it is impossible for us now to gain 
 any good title to it. The annexation of ^ single square mile of 
 Mexico, under our present conquests, would be only the annexa- 
 tion of an indelible blot upon the history of our nation. We 
 could never own such a territory upon the ground of any moral 
 right, and no other right can be anything but a moral wrong. 
 We bought Louisiana ; we accepted Texas by negotiation with 
 her lawful government. Now to annex more bj'' conquest, would 
 be the adoption of a policy of wickedness heretofore unknown to 
 us, and with which the annals of this republic are not yet stained. 
 May they never be stained by such a deed ! While we purchase 
 or annex, by peaceful treaty with lawful sovereigns, we follow the 
 leadings of deslinj^ ; but annexation by conquest, once admitted, 
 will burst the bolts of morality, and open the door to a future 
 policy of terrific hazard to our nation. The plan of taking a line 
 across Mexico from the Rio Grande to the Pacific, or that of tak- 
 ing permanent possession of her sea-ports, either or both to- 
 gether, are incomparably preferable to the prosecution of a bloody 
 war. But neither of these can be sustained upon any ground of 
 morality or of sound policy. They only appeal for support to 
 that pride which so often goes before a fall. 
 
 The war has brought our relations with Mexico into a position 
 which must startle every thoughtful man. We have destroyed 
 her government, and we find ourselves in possession of a burthen 
 which we know not how to throw off. The question was, how 
 shall we gain possession of Mexico. It now is, how shall we rid 
 ourselves of Mexico. Such monstrous thoughts are suggested 
 by this monstrous state of things, as the maintenance of a repub- 
 lican government in Mexico by the force of a permanent armed 
 occupation. This monstrous plan seeks support in the philan- 
 thropy of civilizing Mexico and teaching her people how to govern 
 themselves. We are called to no such hopeless education of our 
 neighbor ; and the attempt would be quite as likely to barbarize 
 the United States and break up our government, as to civilize 
 Mexico and establish her institutions. 
 
 In the midst of all the dangers which surround us, there is but 
 one clear way of either sound morality or sound policy. It is to 
 come out of the difficulty by the same path through which we 
 
492 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 entered it. In short, to abandon the war ; to call home our 
 young men, and leave Mexico whole and entire to her own man- 
 agement, and ourselves to the full enjoyment of the boundless 
 prosperity which Providence bestows upon us. The cr)-, No 
 more appropriations for the war, must go up from all parts of the 
 nation. It is tlie only cry that can place us in safety. To ex- 
 press opposition to the war, without declaring that th.3 war is to 
 be abandoned ; to opuose it, and still vote supphes for it, is only 
 to support the Administration in carrying it on. No man in the 
 nation would be more relieved than the President by seeing an 
 end of the war. If I understand his feelings, he would have 
 been happy if Congress had refused appropriations at their last 
 session. But no one dares to take the responsibility of recom- 
 mending an abandonment of the war. What a disgrace it implie.s 
 upon the Christianity of our country ! The President recom- 
 mended the war, and Congress, afraid of the people, voted it. 
 He points out the means of carrying it on, and they vote the 
 men and money through fear of the people. In my judgment, 
 the President and Congress underrated the intelligence and mo- 
 rahty of the people. Let the people speak, then, and undeceive 
 their rulers. Let them know that they stand at the head of a 
 nation, not of military rowdies, but of Christian men, full of the 
 wisdom of peace and good will. At any rate, the tide must be 
 turned by the people, and it can only be done by a bold and 
 loud demand that the war should be abandoned. JYo more ap- 
 propriations for the war. — Come away, — Let Mexico aloxe ! ! 
 must be proclaimed through the land. Let no man call himself 
 a friend of peace who is not willing to take this attitude. All 
 other opinions are upon the whole in favor of war. 
 
 But whatever my countrymen may please to do or say, I do 
 not intend to live or die with any of the blood-stains of this war 
 upon me. DAVID HALE. 
 
Sl|i|ienhix\ 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 In 1G90, Mr. Hale was invited by tlie General Court to 
 accompany the expedition against Canada as chaplain. Not- 
 withstanding ihe earnest remonstrance of the church and town of 
 Beverly, Mr. Hale accepted this invitation and was absent from 
 his flock for sevei'al months on this public service. "In 1734, 
 the General Court, in consideration of the time and service ren- 
 dered, granted his heirs three hundred acres of land." 
 
 As an illustration of his libeiahty and public spirit, it is stated 
 that during the old French war, on one occasion Mr. Hale 
 " diiected the selectmen to appropriate £6 of his salary — nearly 
 a twelfth part of the whole — to public uses ;" and on another, 
 loaned the town money for the same purpose. He also con- 
 tril)uted libeialiy towaid erecting a house of won 'lip. 
 
 Mr. Hale, in oommon with many of the most influential men 
 of the day, was to some extent carried away wit!; the delusion of 
 witchcrafr, though he did not take an active part in the prosecu- 
 tion and trial of the accused persons. But in 1GH2, his own wife 
 was accused of witchcraft, though none could be found to 
 believe the charge ; this opened his eyes to the fanaticism 
 that prevailed upon this subject, and with great frankness and 
 boldness, he acknowledged his own error, confronted popular 
 opinion, and sought to prevent the further saciifice of life 
 to that terrible delusion. His " Modest Inquiry into the Nature 
 of Witchcraft," a work everywhere commended, hastened the 
 close of the Salem traged3^ 
 
 [The foregoing facts are derived from a " History of Beverly," 
 by Edwin M. Stone.] 
 
494 APPENDIX. 
 
 B. 
 
 Nathan Hale graduated at Yale College in 1'7'73 with the 
 highest honors. On leaving college he taught school at New 
 London, but on the breaking out of hostilities between the colo- 
 nies and the mother country he joined the army, entering 
 the regiment of light infantry under Colonel Knowlton of Ash- 
 foid. Before the age of twenty-one he received a captain's com- 
 mission. In September, 1776, when the American army was 
 quartered in New York, the Commander-in-chief wished to 
 ascertain " the numerical strength and contemplated operations 
 of the enemy," who had just been evaded by the skillful removal 
 of the army from Long Island. For this purpose it was neces- 
 sar}' that some one should penetrate to the heart of the enemy's 
 camp, and Colonel Knowlton was charged with the selection of 
 an individual to perform this office. The nature of the service 
 admitting no delay, a proposition was submitted by Colonel 
 Knowlton to the officers, when young Hale was the only one 
 found ready for the perilous undertaking. His j^outh, intelli- 
 gence, learning, polished manners, discriminating judgment and 
 fidelity, all combined to recommend him to the Commander-in- 
 chief, who gave him his instructions in person and sent him on 
 his important but dangerous errand. Captain Hale succeeded in 
 ascertaining the lines, posts, and numbers of the enemy, and 
 their contemplated movements, and was just stepping into his 
 boat to return, when he was seized as a spy, and taken back to 
 the Bntish commander, who without any investigation ordered him 
 to he hung the next morning. It is stated that " this peremptory 
 order was carried into effect, in a barbarous and revengeful man- 
 ner by a refugee to whom he had been delivered for execution 
 by the British commander." The last words of this young 
 hero — for he was then but twenty-two years of age, were 
 expressions of regret that he had but one life to lose for his 
 country. 
 
 I 
 
APPENDIX. 495 
 
 C. 
 
 ROCKVILLE, Aug. 13, 1842. 
 
 Being now in my sevent3'-cighth year, I would, for ray 
 own satisfaction, record some of the dealings of Providence 
 toward me. 
 
 I was born in New Haven, December 0th, 1704. My father, 
 Samuel Austin, descended from one of three brothei-s, emigrants 
 from England. My mother was daughter of Dr. Alexander 
 Vrolcott, early in life of New Haven, but after of Windsor, Con- 
 necticut. My parents gave me much religious instruction, but 
 my schooling was much interrupted by the Revolutionary war. 
 1 was under the ministry of Dr. Jonathan Edwards until I was 
 in my twenty-sixth j'ear (the time of her marriage). 
 
 In 1790, my father died, and I was married to Rev. David 
 Hale of Lisbon, with whom I lived very happily until 1822, 
 when he died in the triumph of faith. In 1804, my husband 
 being in poor health, he was dismissed and we moved to 
 Coventry. 
 
 In my childhood and youth I had many seasons of solicitude 
 about my soul's safety, and struggled with many temptations 
 and trials, but at the age of about fifteen I hope I gave myself 
 up to the Savior. The text of Scripture which speaks of 
 receiving the kingdom of heaven as a little child gave me great 
 comfort, and I felt that I could trust in Christ and go on my 
 way rejoicing. On the first Sabbath of July following I was 
 admitted to the church under the pastoral care of Dr. Jonathan 
 Edwards, at New Haven. Since I united with the church 
 I have had some seasons of great darkness and temptation, but 
 the Lord has carried me through to old age, and I would 
 now testify to Ilis goodness, and rejoice, and bless His holy 
 name. 
 
 (Signed) LYDIA HALE. 
 
496 APPENDIX. 
 
 D. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 [To his Mother during the Cholera c>/"'32.] 
 
 New York, July 16, 1832. 
 
 My Dear Mother: — I have received and read with deep 
 grief your letter from Coventry. I hope our kind friend Major 
 R. and his afflicted family will be able to stay themselves on God, 
 and so be kept in perfect peace. Truly, this is a world of death. 
 There is nothing solid but that which has its foundations in God. 
 He is everlasting strength, and they who trust in Him shall be as 
 Mount Zion which cannot be moved. We are here so surround- 
 ed with death on all sides, that we become familiar with the ra- 
 vages of the dreaded King of Terrors. 
 
 You will find in the Mercury of this week full and detailed ac- 
 counts of the cholera among us. Those accounts have been 
 chiefly made up by myself, and you can receive them in the same 
 manner as if they were all repeated in this letter. I wrote you 
 three letters directed to Vernon, and sent you a daily paper there, 
 presuming that you would feel a good deal of anxiety about us. 
 But I hope you will not feel greatly anxious about us, but put 
 your trust in God, and be willing that He should do all his plea- 
 sure. Notwithstanding the great number of deaths in the city, 
 I do not feel much in danger, and if I did I am fastened to duty 
 here, and cannot change ray ground without an abandonment of ray 
 duty. Scarcely an individual of all my acquaintance has suffered 
 from the cholera. Not a merchant has died, and the deaths in 
 all the principal religious societies are I presume quite as small 
 as usual. I am in the most perfect health, and my family are so 
 with one or two slight exceptions. Altliough we are in health, 
 and from all we know do not believe our danger much greater 
 than usual, yet the knowledge that something like a hundred 
 persons perish daily in the city in which we dwell, by such a dis- 
 ease, produces some rather chilly sensations, and takes away 
 most of the hilarity which is indulged at other times. It is a 
 good opportunity to learn how entirely we are in the hands of 
 God. How fully true it is tliat in his hands our life and breath 
 are. I have some such feelings as I am glad to have, but need 
 ;i great deal more grace. 
 
 I still intend to visit you this summer, but the sickness here 
 renders the time more uncertain than it would otherwise be. I 
 
APPENDIX. 497 
 
 do not expect that the cholera will go on to rags; for many days 
 as it is now raging. It would not be in accoidance with its 
 movements anywhere else. But no one know.- save He who 
 controls the destroying angel. 
 
 I am, your dutiful son, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [To his Mother during the Cholera of '32.} 
 
 Nkw York, July 28, 1832. 
 My Dear Mother : — 
 
 " Safely through another week 
 God has brought us on our way." 
 
 So far as my family is concerned we have to speak of good- 
 ness. The pestilence has not come nigh us, and we feel as if we 
 had now become so accustomed to a bad atmosphere that we 
 can breathe it almost without harm ; at any rate ve feel more fjrrn 
 and compact in body than we did two weeks ago. 
 
 This week has brought on a great relief from the severity of 
 the prevailing epidemic. On Saturday last the i.ctual number of 
 deaths from cholera was 152. The report yesterday was 63, and 
 to-day 70. The somewhat worse report of to-day, than yesterday, 
 is only the irregularity which Ls to be expected in the retirement 
 of the disease. I send you by this mail our evening edition of to- 
 day's paper, which will give you the news. At Brooklyn, the dis- 
 ease is to-day quite as bad, in proportion to the number of inhabit- 
 ants, as it was here a week ago. May a merciful Providence 
 speedily avert this dreadful pestilence from us. When it departs 
 I shall feel an immense load removed. The continued care and 
 " sharp look out" we keep, the editorial responsibility of writing 
 so as to do good and not hurt ai such a time, and the conscious- 
 ness of the distress around me, become painful from long- con- 
 tinuance, more painful than any apprehension about my own per- 
 sonal safety. 
 
 I hope, my dear mother, you will be able to enjoy much of 
 God's presence where you are, and to feel not only safe, but re- 
 joicing in his hands. He is a glorious object of confidence, and 
 blessed are all they who put their trust in Him. 
 
 Major R., I hope, gets much consolation from the great foun- 
 tain. The joys of this world fade away, but the} whose portion 
 is in God have an abiding source of joy which i'- not dependent 
 on the springs of this world, and can never dr* up. There we 
 may all drink abundantly — drink and welcome. 
 
 Your dutiful sua, 
 
 DAVID HALR 
 
498 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Extract from a letter to his Mother, during the Cholera of '33.] 
 
 " For myself, I feel more and more that the thread of life is very 
 brittle, and I think some more willingness that it should be so. 
 I should like to live to comfort you while you live, to train up my 
 family, to see the Journal of Commerce free from debt, and ex- 
 erting all the good influence of which it is capable, and furnish- 
 ing me with the means of providing for my family, and doing some 
 good in the way of charities. I should also be glad to see where 
 this world will be in moral and physical condition thiity years 
 hence ; and I expect to live to see all this. But as the Lord 
 pleases. If he cuts me off this year, it will be because that is 
 best. Whether living or dying, may we be the Lord's." 
 
 [Extract from a Letter to his Sons, when absent at School.^ 
 
 New York, August 8, 1833. 
 
 My Dear Sons : — We have heard but little from you since 
 you left us. We had a letter from R — announcing your arrival. 
 Since then we have sent you a bundle of clothes, which we hope 
 you received in due order. We were very sorry to hear that you 
 had lost your money, because your expenses ai'e heavy upon us 
 at the best, and we can ill afford to have them increased unneces- 
 sarily. We were sorry also because the circumstance exhibited, 
 as we found, a want of proper care in you, and is rather a proof 
 that you will not be careful of things put into your possession. 
 We were still further sorry for the manner in which R — mentioned 
 it, for that indicated that the loss was little thought of or re- 
 gretted. I shall never wish to teach you to be miserly, and to 
 think that money is the chief good, and that to possess great 
 heaps of it ought to be the chief or even a great object with you. 
 But I know that heedlessness about money is almost sure to be 
 followed by embarrassment and poverty, and with these a loss of 
 character, and the means of usefulness. If a man would be 
 happy, he must have his pecuniary affairs in a comfortable and 
 easy way, and this in general can only be secured by economy 
 and carefulness. Many a man of good powers of mind is ren- 
 dered unhappy all his days, and counts but little any way in the 
 world, because he has not sufllicient carefulness to take care of his 
 money. I wish my sons to be happy and useful men, and in 
 order for that, I know it is of the first necessity that they should 
 be economical. Your living you must get yourselves. For if I 
 am able to educate you well, it is about all that I c;au do, oi' if I 
 
APPENDIX. 499 
 
 should be so favored as to be able, that is in my opinion about 
 all which it is best for parents to do." 
 
 \_To an absent Son, on the Death of an Infant Daughter. "l 
 
 New York, January 9, 1836. 
 
 Dear Richard : — I write you now Avith sad intelligence ; your 
 little sister Martha Louisa is dead. The dear babe has been out 
 of health ever since September. But a few weeks ago she was 
 seized with a cold or something else, which affected her lungs a 
 good deal. The inflammation we were not able to remove, and 
 she sunk under it. We were not much alarmed until within a 
 day or two. She died last night, and will be buried, as we ex- 
 pect, to-morrow after divine service. The affliction is severe. 
 We all weep under the chastisement of our Heavenly Father, and 
 you will weep too, I dare say. And Richard, will you not now 
 become a Christian? You too must die, and you cannot be jus- 
 tified, as I trust Martha is on the ground that she has never 
 knowingly and voluntarily rejected the Savior. You have heard 
 of Jesus' dying love, and have refused it, and unless you com& 
 and submit yourself voluntarily to Him, you cannot be saved. 
 And, my dear boy, what do you intend to do with the learning you 
 are acquiring ? Will you make yourself respected as a learned 
 man, and gain the fame of literature ? I know that you must 
 feel that such an aim is quite too low for an immortal being. 
 Nothing but the service of God in a course of humble and obedi- 
 ent usefulness is worth living for. But if you live for the glory 
 of God, for the salvation of men, you will live for the same ob- 
 jects for which angels live, and exert their noble powers. I have 
 for some time been intending to write you a letter, and try to 
 bring you to reflect seriously on what you are doing, and per- 
 suade you, if possible, to dedicate yourself to the sen-ice of God, 
 If you were but truly pious, if you had a covenant with God, 
 that all things should work together for your good, I should 
 feel quite safe concerning you, and should rejoice to have you 
 serve God in any part of tlie world, and if called to part with 
 you, we should do it mourning, yet rejoicing. But I feel con- 
 stantly anxious about you now, for I fear God is on the principles 
 of his holy administration your enemy, that His law condemns you, 
 and you have no refuge in His mercy through Christ. Will you 
 not, my son, make this a subject of deep consideration and 
 prayer ? In whose service will you spend your life ? Say shall 
 it not be the service of God your maker. Let it not be the ser- 
 
500 APPENDIX. 
 
 vice of His and your own worst enemy. I shall not cease to pray 
 that the Holy Spirit would draw you to the blessed Redeemer. 
 Show this letter to D — Tliese considerations are worthy of his 
 most serious regard. We all love you much. 
 
 Your affectionate father. 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [Extract from a letter to a Son, icho uus absent on a Jotirnei/.'] 
 
 You do well to watch over the feeling of recklessness which 
 you mention. It is a common feeling with persons who leave the 
 circle of their acquaintances. It shows them, much to their sur- 
 prise often, how great are the restraints of society, and how little 
 they are accustomed to feel the presence of God. The cure for 
 it is self-examination and prayer. Cultivate a stronger and more 
 vivid apprehension of God's presence around you, mj' son, and it 
 will replace most happily what feeling of restraint you have lost 
 by leaving the circle of home. Many persons in this condition 
 have been ruined. Tliey felt restrained from doing wrong while 
 at home, and supposed, perhaps, that it was sound moral senti- 
 ments, and pious reverence for God's laws, which restrained 
 them. But when they went beyond the watch of their acquaint- 
 ance, they learned tliat their restraints were local, their gods 
 were gods of particular places. May the Lord never leave us to 
 GUI-selves. All the family remember you affectionately. 
 
 Your father, DA VI D ' HALE. 
 
 [Extract from a letter to a Son who was absent on a jour net/.'] 
 
 New York, July 17, 1838. 
 
 My Son : — I got your letter last week. Now that my children 
 are scattered in all directions, it is a great pleasure to have them 
 writing home, making the paternal ground the central point of 
 family correspondence. From this point we send back the ravs 
 of information, so that each member is tolerably well informed 
 about all the rest. * * * " * 
 
 I see in the Boston Baptist Watchman a letter speaking of a 
 very rich revival of leligion now going on in Schenectadv, which 
 has included a considerable number of the college students in its 
 influence. There are no influences which I would recommend 
 you to seek so earnestly as those of the Holy Spirit on such oo- 
 
APPENDIX. 501 
 
 c'lsions. Yuu luive never since or before you enterlainod a ])ope 
 of your new birtli, been sufficiently disposed to attend evening 
 meetings, or any places favorable to religious improvement, ex- 
 cept the regular services of the Sabbath. I do not know but I 
 have been faulty in tiot taking you more with me to such meet- 
 ings. It is at any )ate, I have no doubt, quite indispensable for 
 every Christian who would grow in grace and knowledge to devote 
 regularl}^ some portif.n of his time in social religious intercourse 
 ■with his brethren, if be would grow in grace, and knowledge, and 
 when the sjiccial inijuences of the Holy Spirit are descending 
 like dew around him, he should take special care to drink of it as 
 largt ly and freely as possible. The longer 1 live the more I am 
 impiessed with the truth that it is a laborious business to prepare 
 for heaven. To cultivate the heart requires patient watchfulness, 
 as much as the cuUivation of the intelh^ctual powers. At our 
 prayer meeting last evening a son of Mr. L. Tappan, lying at 
 tlu! point of death, at New llaven, was made a subject of prayer. 
 He is, I suppose, a student in the College, and probably not a 
 great ways from your age. He is ho[)efully a Christian, and so 
 ready to die. Yet it is a solemn and a gloomy thing almost, to 
 die without more glowing faith than most men possess who 
 have some faith. 
 
 I send this by a gentleman of my acquaintance, who came in just 
 now to ask to have the direction of his paper changed. The sav- 
 ing of j)ostage is something, and a })lan of the sort, if pursued 
 through life, amounts to a surprising sum. It is never worth 
 while to spend a dollar's worth of time, which could be devoted to 
 useful hnaiueas, to save a shilling, nor spoil a knife to skin a Hint. 
 Still it will be found that savings make men rich oftener than 
 anything else. So much so, that P'ranklin said, " a penny saved 
 is two pence clear." I believe it was Franklin. 
 
 Yolu- aflectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [Ttf a Daughter at Boarding-school, when ten years old.'\ 
 
 New York July 26, 1838. 
 
 Mv Dear Daughter L. : — I was much gratified with the little 
 letter you sent me some days ago, for although it did not contain 
 any very important information, it was one of your first efforts, and 
 quite like yourself. Parents love their children so much that they 
 love to see them make blunders, and to make efforts of any sort, 
 whether they be wise or full of childish folly. Your letter how- 
 
502 ' APPENDIX. 
 
 ever was quite a good one, for so little a girl's first effort to write 
 to her father, and I shall expect you to keep on writing, and that 
 each successive letter will exhibit more and more knowledge, 
 until you can easily write as long and as good letters as Mary 
 and Lydia. L., I believe, took down a hoop which will probably 
 answer your purpose. But you must remember that you are at 
 school at Araboy, and that your chief business is to learn your 
 lessons. You will, to be sure, have plenty of time for play, in 
 which I shall be glad to have you enjoy yourself, but if you 
 would be happy at play, you must not go to play with a heart 
 heavy because your lesson is neglected. I do not expect you 
 to be very wise now, but I expect you will be wise enough to 
 obey those who are older and wiser than you, and I hope, above 
 all, you will be wise enough to obey God, whose laws are all 
 perfect in wisdom and goodness. You see what a long letter you 
 have got by just writing me such a little one. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 \_To two of his Daughters, abroad at School.'^ 
 
 Wednesday Evening, Deo. 6, 1838. 
 
 My Dear Little Daughters : — It is long since I have seen 
 vou or written to you, so thai I am almost afraid that I have 
 neglected my duty as a father, and failed in using the proper 
 measures to make you love me, as I wish you should. You have 
 probably learned, by your own expeiience, to comprehend the 
 truth of Solomon's wise saying, " He that would have friends 
 must show himself friendly." This is true no less with regard to 
 parents and children, than with regard to persons not at all re- 
 lated. If you desire to make others love you, you will seldom 
 fail of accomphshing your object, if you will begin by loving them, 
 or by exhibiting that kind solicitude about their interests and 
 happiness which love would inspire. So when you are in the 
 company of others, if you wish to win their love, you must do it, 
 not by talking of yourselves and your own great excellences and 
 wonderful feats, but by talking of their interests and their ex- 
 cellences and good deeds. 
 
 You know, perhaps, that Dr. Devan and Lydia dined with us 
 on Thanksgiving Day. We were quite happy in being so many 
 of us together, and we did not forget those who were absent, and 
 so I gave my toast with a tumbler of cold water. What do you 
 think it was? It was "Richard, Lucy, Laura," and we were all 
 
APPENDIX. 603 
 
 happy in drinking such a toast. I was happy in it, though I felt 
 melancholy at the recollection of the name of another little one who 
 has gone, I trust, to a better school even than the one where you 
 are, but from which she will never come home in this world. I 
 ■would have repeated the dear name of Martha Louisa, if there had 
 been no others present but our own happy number. My memory 
 went still farther back, and beyond where your memory began, 
 and I remembered the mother of your oldest sisters and bro- 
 thers, and my honored father, with both of whom I had eaten 
 many Thanksgiving dinners in great happiness. It was a thought 
 too, full of melancholy pleasure, to look forward and expect that 
 as one after another of us is called away, no more to meet in our 
 happy circle, those who remain will not forget the absent. Nor do 
 those who are absent forget us who remain behind. How sweet 
 it is, in the midst of such recollections, to remember that all our 
 intercourse with the dear ones who are gone was guided by lovo — 
 that Ave did what we could to make them happy, and but little 
 to grieve them. So I hope it may always be with us until we 
 shall form our circle again in still higher happiness and love be- 
 fore our Savior's throne in heaven, or in some one of those happy 
 mansions which he said he was going to prepare in his Father's 
 house. 
 
 "We are much gratified to hear from time to time that you are 
 doing well, laying up stores of knowledge, and commending your- 
 selves to the approbation of your excellent teachers. Try to 
 live each day better than anj^ before, and you will find that you 
 do not exert yourselves in vain. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [7b a daughter absent at School.'] 
 
 New York, July 9, 1839. 
 
 My Dear L. : — Your Ma has reminded me this morning that 
 this is the birth-day of our eldest daughter — our Lucy. I should 
 probably in the multiplicity of my avocations have not thought 
 of it. But I am glud to be reminded of it, and glad to stop a 
 few minutes, and reflect on the event which occurred thirteen 
 years ago, when I first saw your infant form, and on the events 
 which have marked your path thus far on the long-endless jour- 
 ney you then commenced. We have much reason to be thank- 
 ful that you live still — that your limbs are not broken — that you 
 are not a maniac, but on the contrary that you have faculties 
 which you have already learned how to use, so that we may be 
 
604 APPENDIX. 
 
 delighted with the exercise of your opening powers, and hope for 
 their continued r-nlargement, until you shall grow up a woman, 
 capable of takir _ your station among the managers of this world's 
 atfairs, and be a blessing to your parents, and all around you. 
 Thirteen years is -nore than half of the distance, yes, full two-thirds 
 of it, to vour -.n .manhood. They probably seem short to you 
 compared with ihe years in prospect, but in this feeling, if you 
 have it, I forewa-n you of disappointment, for the thirteen years 
 of your life thus far, are the longest yeai-s you will ever see, un- 
 K'ss, indeed, Go.i should give you years of tedious affliction. Tliey 
 might possibly s'^em longer. Before you are aware of it your 
 teens will be g'^e, your education finished, and your character 
 formed. Is it n"t time, then, that all the essentials of a good char- 
 acter shoidd hi.va been commenced? Is it not high time that 
 your heart were c^iven to vour Savior, and that gracious work of 
 sanetification cc;amenced, which alone can destroy the evil pas- 
 sions of your heirt, which have already toubled you so much, 
 and fit you to t j; happy here and in Heaven ? 
 
 You will ne\t" be happv in the highest deg"ee of which you 
 are capable, while you stand in opposition to the glory of God, 
 and the great p^ms of his goodness to bless all his intelligent 
 creatures. For} our rebellion against infinite goodness thus long, 
 you deserve to be left to perish, but how dreadfully will your 
 guilt be increasixl by thirteen years more of obstinacy, with your 
 conscience enli£,!tened, and Divine goodness blazing all around 
 you. Give your heart to the blessed Savior, Lucy, and never 
 forget that until you do this you are going constantly the wrong 
 ipay. We love vou very much, and think of you to-day with 
 more than comi\i')n interest, and we praj' the good Lord who has 
 conducted you thus far, with so much favor, will guide you safely 
 on to Ilis heav( nly kingdom. 
 
 I love little Laura, too, and wish her to read this letter. 
 
 Your fond father, DAVID HALE. 
 
 [ To another Daughter. "[ 
 
 New York, AuCxCST 22, 1839. 
 
 My Dear little L. : — I congratulate you on the return of 
 your birth-day. and 
 
 "I could give you a thousand kisses 
 Hoping what my thoughts desire." 
 
 I wish you a happy day, though I know you are to be disap- 
 pointed in youi- rrish to soend the day at your " dear home" — a 
 
APPENDIX. 505 
 
 nome dear to us all, and to your parents most dear, because it is 
 the place where we first caressed you, and where we have en- 
 joyed the numberless pleasures attendant upon having our flock 
 of children around us. But the oldest of the flock are taking to 
 their wings and flying away, so we must make the most of our 
 little chickens ere they also fly away. The fact that to-day you 
 are eleven years old, admonishes me that long before another 
 equal space of time is past, you will stand before me a woman 
 grown, no more to be whirled in the air, and ride on the shoulder 
 of your father, but, if our lives should be spared, to take his arm, 
 and be his companion. What I do for you, as your father, must 
 be quickly done. I have prayed for you a great many times, 
 that God would bless you, and make you love Him, and keep 
 His commandments, that He would prepare you to be a usefid 
 woman during the brief space of your flight through this world, 
 and a beautiful spirit afterward in heaven, enjoying and serving 
 Him forever. For rapidly as you have run from infancy to child- 
 hood, and will go on to youth and womanhood and old age, 
 these are not the end of changes, but one succession of them will 
 follow another forever. It should influence you to behave in a 
 womanly manner to know that soon you will be a woman, and 
 it should elevate you proportionably more to know that soon you 
 will be an angel. But angels have holy hearts. 
 
 Your early years have been marked by some suffering in regard 
 to your health. Those sufferings, though they have not been very 
 great, have made us love you the more, and made us the more de- 
 sirous that you should be very happy when you can be. Still pa- 
 rents would be very imfaithful to their children, if they should in- 
 dulge them in every one of their wishes, for they all want many 
 things which would, in the end, harm them. God, whose sfovem- 
 raent is all love, finds it necessary to treat us all so, and deny us 
 many things which we most ardently desire, but which would 
 ruin us, perhaps, if we were indulged. 
 
 One of the most important things to be attended to on a birth- 
 day, is self-examination. So you must set yourself to watch 
 your young heart, and teach it early to seek God, and desire to 
 be good. Be impartial with yourself, condemning all that you 
 really think wrong, and determining this day to do better, and 
 as you learn more to understand how fast times flies, learn to be 
 more choice of it, and spend it better. 
 
 While I live, you may always be sure of an affectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 22 
 
606 APPENDIX. 
 
 [To his Daughters at School.'} 
 
 New York, August 5, 1840. 
 
 My Dear little Daughters : — I always take ^-eat pleasure 
 in talking with you, and in writing too. But New York is such 
 a busy place, that men who hold a position in its business, find 
 their minds and hands so constantly occupied that even their 
 children are apt to be neglected, though the education of their 
 children is a matter of immensely more importance than laying 
 up property for them. A father is happy under such circum- 
 stances who has a good wife, as I have, to devote her affections 
 and thoughts to the children. Your mother is about to visit you 
 in her affection, to see if she cannot, in some way, do you good. 
 Many children have parents who send them to school to get rid 
 of them, and who always feel that their children are a burthen. 
 You are so happy as to have parents whose happiest occupation 
 it is to watch over and pray for you, and in every possible way 
 to do you good. Especially we wish to imbue you with those prin- 
 ciples and habits which will make you useful and happy. God 
 who made the world has drawn the path of happiness very 
 plainly, but it is a straight path with exact boundaries, and there 
 are flowers, and a thousand things over the fence which look en- 
 chantingly, and which, applying their enchantments to our pas- 
 sions, urge us to break through to their enjoyment. But no one 
 ever yet did so who was not in the result miserably disappointed. 
 They who have tried it most thoroughly have learned that to fear 
 God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man, 
 and that all, more than that, is not only vanity but vexation of 
 spirit. God has allowed us all that can make us happy, and He 
 has assured us that in keeping His commandments there is great 
 delight. The experience of Christians confirms this declaration 
 of God, and proves that they alone have right opinions, and fol- 
 low judiciously after happiness, who take the word of God for 
 their guide. So I hope you will do, my dear little daughters. 
 Yom* aftectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [To one of the same, on her Birth-day.'] 
 
 New York, August 22, 1840. 
 
 My Dear L. : — ^Your father affectionately congratulates you 
 on your twelfth birth-day. I think myself happy that you 
 have grown so large, and so strong, and have learned so 
 
APPENDIX. 507 
 
 much, and have still such excellent opportunities for learning 
 more. I am glad to find you thinking so much of your 
 birth-day. Time slips away so slyly, and so silently, that if 
 we do not take care life slips away and is gone unnoticed. It is 
 well therefore to have some spot where we " take note of time." 
 Twelve years is no small space of time, and now you pass the 
 mark as we pass the mile-posts on a railroad. One after another 
 flies by, and before we count them almost we are at the end of 
 our journey. This is a peculiarly happy birth-day to you, and 
 your parents too, because we hope you have, during the past year, 
 been born again, and are going on to be one year old as a child 
 of God. Your parents rejoice with you in this great and glori- 
 ous hope, and pray that you may indeed be adopted into God's 
 family, and be taken wholly under his care. While we hope and 
 pray, we cannot help remembering that you are very young, and 
 as yet have learned but little of the exceeding wickedness of your 
 heart, and of all hearts, and we look forward to your coming 
 year to confirm our hopes, and give stronger evidence by your 
 meek, and industrious, and prayerful life, that you are indeed 
 something better than my child. 1 hope the year before you 
 will be one of health and happiness to you, and that you will 
 grow in knowledge and goodness, until y©u are perfect in the 
 likeness of your Savior. 
 
 With many joyful wishes for your happiness, 
 
 I am your affectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
 [To his Davghters at Srhool.'\ 
 
 New York, Sept. 23, 1841. 
 
 My Dear Daughters : — I feel as if I had been negligent of 
 a father's duty in not wjiting to you more than I have. But you 
 know how I am pressed with important cares every day, and 
 every minute, and I hope you will not allow yourselves to suffer 
 for want of my counsel. 
 
 You have grown so tall that you can see into the world a 
 good ways. I have no doubt that you see indistinctly floating 
 about a great many bright objects which you hope as you go far- 
 ther to be able to lay your hands upon, and make them your own. 
 I hope you will be gratified in this* But you must bear in mind 
 that it is not all gold that glitters, and that therefore some of 
 these things, if you catch them, will only prove to be washed over 
 with gold, and that very thin, wliile the substance is of some 
 
508 APPENDIX. 
 
 baser metal. I trust, however, that you are not filling your 
 minds with fancies, so that you will be disappointed with the re- 
 ality, as so many girls are. This world is a very good world in it- 
 self, and the people would be very good were it not for their bad 
 dispositions. As things are, there is a great deal to enjoy, if only 
 we go to work the Bible way. If we set about enjoying the world 
 upon the world's plan, it will all turn to ashes in the mouth ; but 
 godliness, with contentment, is great gain, and the world cannot 
 rob us of it. So fear God, and keep His commandments, cul- 
 tivate the spirit of Jesus Christ, and all your blessings will be 
 enriched, and your disappointments softened and allayed. You 
 must never expect to get everything exactly right at any time. 
 This is not a world for such perfection. The ills we feel, there- 
 fore, should not make us always desirous of change, lest we fare 
 like the fish which jumped out of the frying-pan and fell into the 
 fire. 
 
 1 am looking forward to the pleasure of having you at home 
 soon to mingle with us in all our enjoyments. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 DAVID HALE. 
 
APPENDIX. 509 
 
 OBITUARY OF MRS. DEVAN'. 
 
 From a letter of Dr, Devan, of October 22, extracts from 
 ■which have beeu published, it appears that the death of Mrs. 
 Devan occurred at Canton on the evening of the Lord's day, 
 October 18. She had been indisposed a week or two pre\ious, 
 but it was onlj' a few days before her decease that the indications 
 of illness became alarming. On the 12 th of October, " symptoms 
 of abdominal inflammation made their appearance, which resisted 
 all the means which medical counsel could devise ; and on the 
 following Lord's day, at 10 o'clock, P. M., her spirit left the 
 cumbrous clay, to join the great company of glorified martyrs that 
 surround the throne." 
 
 " The day before her death, she was asked, * Do you regret 
 having come to the missionary field ?' The answer was prompt 
 and definite, ' O, no ; nor that I came to Canton city.' At 
 another time, ' What is the state of your mind ?' — ' Peaceful.* 
 Then she asked, ' Do you think it possible for me to recover ?' I 
 replied, (and it was the first intimation I gave her of her danger,) 
 ' There is very great danger.' — * Well,' she said, ' I am very will- 
 ing either to live or to die, to recover or not, as the Lord may 
 please.' On the following day she asked, ' Is my case fixed ?' I 
 replied, * I fear it is.' ' Oh,' she said, ' it will be a release, 
 a happy release.' Again she inquired, ' What day is this ?' I 
 told her it was the Lord's day. ' I am glad it is, and when shall 
 I die ?' On being told that she could not expect to see another 
 morning, she said, * All is right !' — ' Lydia,' said I, ' have you 
 any messages for your friends ?' — ' Only to tell them that my 
 trust is in Jesus.' " Her remains were interred at Whampoa ; 
 services at the house by Dr. Bridgman, missionary of the Ameri- 
 can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ; and at the 
 grave by Dr. Ball. 
 
 Mrs. Devan was a native of this city, and daughter of David 
 Hale, Esq., now of New York. She was converted to Christ at 
 Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1832 ; and at the time of her death 
 was a member of the First Baptist church in New York, under 
 the pastoral care of Dr. Cone. She was appointed, with Dr. De- 
 van, to the China Mission in March, 1844, and sailed for China 
 the following June. " She was a pioneer female missionary, the 
 first that ever brought the v)ord of salvation to those of her sex at 
 Canton." She died at the age of twenty-eight. 
 
510 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following notices of her character are from the correspond- 
 ence of the Baptist Register, and are illustrative of the estimation 
 in which she was held. 
 
 " Her mind was of a very superior order, and under the culti- 
 vation bestowed upon it exhibited a richness and maturity not 
 often seen. Her form and features were such as to attract the 
 notice and secure the admiration of all. These advantages were 
 rendered doubly interesting by * the ornament of a meek and 
 quiet spirit.' " 
 
 " She had moved in a circle where her society was cultivated 
 and prized. In the church, she was the loved of all. The dif- 
 ferent societies connected with the First Church depended much 
 on her prudence and zeal. The poor blessed her name. Having 
 pecuniary means, and being unincumbered with children, she 
 made the hearts of the widow, the fatherless, and the afflicted, to 
 rejoice." 
 
 " She did not enter upon the missionary life with any romantic 
 expectations, — she had counted the cost, — she knew what she 
 would have to sacrifice. She loved her friends, she loved the 
 church to which she belonged, she loved, she venerated her pas- 
 tor. Her heart was formed for society, and with the husband of 
 her choice, and troops of admiring friends, she enjoyed the 
 world, with the best and highest relish. The world had never 
 incurred her hate ; but the love of Christ constrained her to sac- 
 rifice the pleasures of this life, that the Chinese might be 
 saved.' " — [Baptist Missionary Magazine.^ 
 
APPENDIX. 511 
 
 F. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. 
 
 The era of Congregationalism in New York dates from the for- 
 mation of tlie present Broadway Tabernacle Church. Prior to that 
 time there had existed in the city several feeble Congregational 
 churches, some of which hardly lived long enough to have a his- 
 tory, or even a name. Most of these enterprises were frustrated 
 by unforeseen circumstances, mainly in consequence of the ex- 
 traordinary pecuniaiy embarrassments of the times, involving 
 many of the leading Christian men of this city in ruin. Only one 
 or two of this class remain. The Broadway Tabernacle Church 
 was established on a firm basis, and for a time was the only strong 
 and healthy Congregational church in New York. Its prosperity 
 demonstrated the fact that Congregationalism could flourish on 
 this soil ; and awakened the numerous friends of this system of 
 church polity, the sons of New England, residing in New York 
 and Brooklyn, to the importance of having churches in which 
 they could worship God after the manner of their fathers. Ac- 
 cordingly in the winter of 1844 (January 29th) a number of gen- 
 tlemen in Brooklj'n, partly at the instance, and by the personal 
 influence of Mr. Hale, formed the Church of the Pilgrims, and 
 erected a substantial and imposing edifice of stone, (at a cost of 
 $65,000) on the corner of Henry and Remsen streets. To this 
 enterprise Mr. Hale contributed |2, 000. Tins church is free from 
 debt, and in a highly flourishing condition, under the ministry of 
 the Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr. 
 
 In June, 1845, a small Presbyterian church in the North- 
 eastern part of Biooklyn Iiaving dissolved, several of its members 
 united with others in forming a Congregational church, which in- 
 vited Rev. I. N. Sprague, of Hartford, to become its pastor. This 
 church, which took the style of the " Second Congregational," 
 erected a neat and commodious edifice on Bridge street, near 
 Myrtle avenue, toward which Mr. Hale contributed six hundred 
 dollars. Few churches have had a more rapid and healthy 
 growth than this. 
 
 On the 12th April, 1846, a church was organized in the upper 
 part of the city of New York, under the name of the Church of the 
 Puritans. It embraced several gentlemen of wealth, and enter- 
 
512 APPENDIX. 
 
 priso. who were warmly attached to Contrrogntional principle*, and 
 who dosiiod that those principle^; should be titly represented in the 
 midst of the prominent churches of this great metropolis. Rev. 
 G. B. Cheever, D.D.. was inst;dled the pastor of this church, 
 soon after its organization, and a site was procured on Union 
 Place, where an elegant editice of marble wiis erected, at a cost 
 of about ^oo-Ol^O, which was entirely paid for by subscrip- 
 tion. In this enterprise, Mr. Hale felt a deep interest, luid indeed, 
 he did much to originate the whole movement. He subscribed 
 $2,500 towarvi the erection of the house. 
 
 In the year "1847. the church edifice on Cninborry-street, Brook- 
 lyn, occupied by the First Presbyterian Church (^Rev. Dr. Cox's), 
 was otlered tor s;ile, — the congregation being about to remove to 
 anotlier location. — and was bought by Mr. Hale, in connection 
 with two gentlemen of the Church of the Pilgrims. (^Messi-s. H. 
 C. Bowen and 8. B. Hunt,"! for about twenty thousand dollars. 
 A new church was organized in June of that year, under the 
 name of the Plymouth Church, which took possession of this 
 building, and invited Rev. H. W. Beecher to become its pjvstor, 
 undir whose ministry a large congregation has been gathered, 
 and the church has greatly increjvsed. During the pn^sent year, 
 a large and neat edifice, with ample arrangements for lectui-e- 
 room. Sabbath-school rooms, I'cc.. has been erected in ]ilace of the 
 old one, which W!is in part destroyed by fire in January last. 
 The new church fronts on Orange-street ; it is wholly piiid for. 
 
 In February, 1848, the Madison-street Church. Xew York, 
 (Presbyterian,") changed its organization, and adopted the Congre- 
 gational form of go\ernment, under the name of the Eastern Con- 
 gregational Church, 'riiis change w;is made with givat unanimi- 
 ty, and has been followed with liappy results. Mr. Hale agived 
 to pay one hundred dollai-s per annum for five rears, toward the 
 support of the pjistor of the church. Its athiirs are now in a pro- 
 mising condition under the ministry of Rev. A. B. Crocker. 
 
 About the same time a church was organized on Clinton avenue, 
 BrookiNU. over which Kev. D. C. Lansing. D.D.. was installed 
 pastor. A lot was purchased and a small building erected tor 
 temporary use. to be hereafter occupied jis a lecture-room. Mr. 
 Hale contributed proportionally to this enterprise. The churcu 
 hiis had a gradual and steady increase, and must eventually be- 
 come a position of importimce. 
 
APPENDIX. 513 
 
 A similar enterprise has been commenced under favorable 
 auspices, on Bedford avenue, Brooklyn, where a small church has 
 been organized, and a neat house of worship erected, free from 
 debt. Mr. Hale was one of the original subscribers to the purchase 
 of the lot on which this building stands. The rapid growth of the 
 neighborhood will insure at, this point, as on Clinton avenue, a 
 large and substantial congregation. 
 
 In the autumn of 1848, the new and elegant edifice on the 
 corner of Hammond and Fac'tory streets. New York, erected by 
 the Hammond-street Presbyterian Oiiuivh, Avas bought at public 
 auction by Messrs. S. B. Hunt and H. C. Bowen, for about fif- 
 teen thousand dollars. Public worship was sustained in the 
 house for several weeks under the direction of the proprietors ; 
 and in the month of November a church was organized under the 
 name of the Hammond-stieet Congregational Church, and an 
 ecclesiastical society formed, to which the property was trans- 
 ferred. Rev. W. Patton, D.D., was subsequently installed jiastor 
 of the church. The congregation is already large, and its 
 finances are in a prosperous condition. Tiie enliM-prise has been 
 successful beyond tlie most sanguine expectations of its friends, 
 and may be regarded as established on a permanent basis. As 
 this whole movement was made during the illness of Mr. Hale, 
 he had no part in it personally, though it gave him great satisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 One or two other churches remain to be spoken of. The 
 Fourth Congregational t^hurch in New York, which was formed 
 in 184;^, after struggling, in faitii and patience, with many trials, 
 sometimes meeting in a hall, sometimes in a private house, some- 
 times ready to disband — has at length procured, on f;ivoiablc 
 terms, a neat and comfortable house of worship in Sixteenth- 
 stnu't, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and has encour- 
 aging prospects of success. This feeble church was an object of 
 the sympathy and benefactions of Mr. Hal«i. 
 
 The First Free Congregational Church, worshiping in Chrys- 
 tle-street, was a remnant of the church formerly worshiping in 
 the Ciiatham-street Chapel. It has always had to contend with 
 pecuniarv t'mbarrassnu'Uts and popular prejudices ; and notwith- 
 standing the zeal, perseverance, and self-denial of its members, 
 may be compelled to yield to the force of circumstances, 
 and disband. Mr. Hale gave large sums of money to tliis 
 
614 APPENDIX. 
 
 church, and just previous to his last ilhiess, he had devised a plan 
 to extricate it from all embarrassment, which, had he lived, would 
 probably have been successful. 
 
 Mr. Hale supported from his own puree a missionary, who 
 traveled through Western New York to look after the interests 
 of feeble Congregational churches ; and another in Michigan, 
 who labored for the same object. The latter was subsequently 
 maintained by the Domestic Missionary Society of Connecticut, 
 and Mr. Hale contributed the amount of his salary toward the 
 erection of a church in Detroit. In one of his letters on the sub- 
 ject, he says, " I am thankful that God has given me the means 
 of being a small society myself until larger things can be brought 
 into operation." Alluding to the denominational aspect of these 
 efforts, he remarks, " I do not intend to be bigoted about reli- 
 gious matters, for it is that which I wish to overthrow. But as 
 I cannot help all denominations, and can exhaust all my resources 
 on what I deem most useful, I think it right to labor pretty ex- 
 clusively for the ' best gifts.' " 
 
 It has been already stated that Mr. Hale paid six hundred dol- 
 lars a year, for two years, for the support of Rev. H. L. Ham- 
 mond as pastor of the Congregational Church in Detroit. When 
 first applied to for this purpose, he wrote to Mr. Hammond as 
 follows : 
 
 " There is only one way to answer a proposition so full of important 
 benefits. So long as God gives me money, and opens such doors of use- 
 fulness for it, I know what He intends to have me do with it. I have not 
 had time to confer much with friends. One gentleman said he would 
 pay a tenth. I shall see others; but whether I get help or not, I will 
 be responsible for the amount, and you may draw on me quarterly for 
 the amount, if, upon a more careful inquiry into the facts, you think it 
 best to undertake, as I have no doubt you will, and I trust the Lord 
 will bless you in this great labor." 
 
 In a subsequent letter he says, " I rejoice with you in the 
 prosperity which God is giving to our efforts. It is most re- 
 markable, trulv, and I bless Hira that He allows me the privi- 
 lege of having anything to do in labors so successful and so use- 
 ful. I have paid your two diafts with much satisfaction." 
 
 Again he writes, " I pray that God may continue His blessing, 
 and grant it in still larger measure, so that the next reports may 
 be much more joyful. But if they are much less so, there will 
 
APPENDIX. 515 
 
 be no cause for discouragement. The good that is done is not 
 always immediately apparent, though it does seem to be the 
 case now that the harvest is ripe for the sickle. I feel that mine 
 is the humblest part in the work, but I am thankful for any 
 part." 
 
 The Congregational church in Detroit is in a highly prosper- 
 ous condition, and the other agencies for good which Mr. Hale set 
 in motion at the West, are still at work. There is no means of 
 ascertaining the gross amount of his contributions to promote the 
 cause of Christ at home and abroad ; while his more private cha- 
 rities have their record only in the grateful remembrance of the 
 beneficiaries, and with Him who rewards each act of kindness to 
 a disciple, as done unto Himself. 
 
INDEX TO THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. 
 
 Abolition, 180, 197, 214. 
 
 " in the Churches, 213. 
 
 Abolitionism, Use of, 235. 
 Abolitionists, The, 209. 
 
 " and the A.B.C.F.M.,224. 
 
 " Orer-acting Against, 201. 
 
 " Philadelphia, 209. 
 Abstract, Expedient and, 457. 
 Acknowledging God, 408. 
 Adam and Eve, Painting of, 421. 
 Alliance, Evangelical, 337. 
 Alton Riot, 203, 204. 
 American Board and Abolitionists, 
 
 224. 
 Anti-Slavery, Jay on, 191. 
 " Meeting, 187. 
 
 B. 
 
 Beecher, on Christian Union, 
 
 290. 
 Bequest, Munificent, 450. 
 Betting on Elections, 458. 
 Bible or no Bible, 378. 
 Bishop Hughes and the Puritans, 
 
 390. 
 Breach of the Sabbath, 404. 
 Broomstick Strikes, 418. 
 Business Principles, 432. 
 Butchery, A National, 409. 
 
 C. 
 
 Carolina, South, Nullification, 
 
 464. 
 Catholics, The, 363. 
 
 " Protection Against, 372. 
 Rebellious, 370. 
 Catholic Magazine, 348. 
 " Reforms, 369. 
 " Service, 375. 
 Charitable Institutions, Grants to, 
 894. 
 
 Charlestown Nunnery, 456. 
 Christ, The True Church of, 310. 
 Christian Union, 290, 337. 
 Christmas Service, 373. 
 Church, Officers of the, 252, 266. 
 Church Pews, 445. 
 Church Politics, 373. 
 Church Polity, 238. 
 
 " and the Pre.ss, 269. 
 " Rights of the, 276. 
 " State and Family, 307. 
 The True, 310. 
 What is it .' 260. 
 " Where is it .' 428. 
 We've found it, 308 
 Churches, Abolition in, 213 
 " Division of, 215. 
 " in New York and Brook- 
 lyn, 511. 
 " and Politics, 278. 
 " Relation of Paators to, 
 301. 
 Civil and Religious Liberty, 371. 
 Closing Stores on Sabbath, 406. 
 Coat, Old Threadbare, 236. 
 Cock-a-doodle-do, 464. 
 Cold Water Dinners, 401. 
 Colleges, and College Funds, 175. 
 
 " and the State, 178. 
 Colonization, 180. 
 
 " Review of Jay on, 191. 
 Society, 183. 
 Communion, Slavery at the, 196. 
 Confirmation, 445. 
 Congregational Churches in New 
 York and Brooklyn, 511. 
 " Home Missions, 247, 249. 
 Polity, 325, 331. 
 Union, 279. 
 Congregationalism, 288. 
 
 " out of New England, 255 
 " Principles of, 325. 
 " Punchard on, 274. 
 " Success of, 256. 
 Congregationalist, The, 241 
 
518 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 CoQTention, Michigan City, 294, 
 " Syracuse, 229. 
 
 Correspondence, App. D., 496. 
 
 Country, Our, " Right or Wrong," 
 465. 
 
 Courage, Moral, 449. 
 
 Cross on Trinity Church, 440. 
 
 Crying Newspapers on the Sab- 
 bath, 405. 
 
 D. 
 
 Devan, Mrs. Lydia, App. E., 509. 
 Dissolution of the Union, 198. 
 Doctors of Divinity, 447. 
 Domination, Ecclesiastical, 239. 
 
 E. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Bodies and Sla- 
 very, 233. 
 " Domination, 239. 
 " Legislation, 304, 335. 
 " Polity, 325. 
 
 Questions, 238. 
 Regulation, 285. _ 
 Economy, Industry and, 417, 
 Efforts, Mistaken, 173. 
 Elections, Betting on, 458. 
 Eloquence, 448. 
 Employers, Laborers and, 416. 
 Episcopacy and Puritanism, 272. 
 Evangelical Alliance, 337. 
 Excitement, 463. 
 
 " at the North and South, 198. 
 Expedient and Abstract, 457. 
 
 Facts, Liberia, 183. 
 Family Government, 455. 
 Family The, 307. 
 Fardels, Semi-lunar, 448. 
 Farm, Vote Yourself a, 412, 
 Fathers, The Pilgrim, 384. 
 Female Strikes, 418. 
 Female Wages, 419. 
 French Revolution, 471, 
 Funds, College, 175. 
 
 " Permanent, 158. 
 Funeral Expenses, 183, 
 
 G. 
 
 God Acknowledged, 408. 
 
 Gospel, How to Spread the, 473, 
 Government, Church, 325. 
 " Family, 455. 
 
 Self, 438. 
 Grace, Ordinary Means of, 306. 
 Grants to Charitable Institutions, 
 
 394. 
 Greek Slave, Powers', 422. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hale, Rev. John, [App. A.] 493. 
 
 " Mrs. Lydia, [App. C] 495. 
 
 « Nathan, [App. B] 494. 
 
 Hammond, Gov., on Slavery, 217. 
 
 Home Missions, Congregational, 
 
 247, 249. 
 How to Spread the Gospel, 473. 
 Hughes, Bishop, Among the Puri- 
 tans, 390. 
 
 I. 
 
 Incenbiarism, 188, 
 
 Independence, 470. 
 
 Industry and Economy, 417. 
 
 Institutions, Grants to Charitable, 
 394. 
 
 Institutions, Literary and Reli- 
 gious, 171. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jat on Colonization, 191, 
 L. 
 
 Laborers and Employers, 416. 
 Laws, Usury, 459. 
 Legislation, Ecclesiastical, 304, 335, 
 Letters of Mr. Hale, [App._D.] 496 
 
 " Gov. Hammond, 217. 
 
 " On the Theater, 147 
 Lewis, Professor Tayler, on the 
 
 State, 435 
 Liberalitv, Protestant, 377. 
 Liberia Facts, 183, 
 Liberty, 467, 
 
 Civil, 371. 
 
 " and Licentiousness, 440. 
 
 " Religious, 371. 
 
 " Romanism and, 382. 
 
 " Tyranny of, 468 
 Licentiousness, 440. 
 Literary Institutions, 171. 
 
IKOE X. 
 
 519 
 
 M. 
 
 Mail, The, 464. 
 
 Means of Grace, 306. 
 
 Mexican War, 478, 485. 
 
 Michigan City Convention, 294. 
 
 Miracles, 462. 
 
 Mistaken Eiforts, 173. 
 
 Mobs, 461. 
 
 Moral Coura^, 449. 
 
 Morals of Rulers, 442. 
 
 Munificent Bequest, 460. 
 
 N. 
 
 Names and Words, 260. 
 National Butchery, 409. 
 New England Society, 270. 
 Newspapers, Sunday, 405. 
 Nullification, 464. 
 
 O. 
 
 Officers of the Church, 252, 266. 
 Ordinary Means of Grace, 306. 
 Ordination, 262. 
 " Our Country, Right or Wrong," 
 
 465. 
 Over-acting Against Abolitionists, 
 
 201. 
 
 Pastors, Relation of to Churches, 
 
 301. 
 Pennsylvania Hall, 209. 
 Permanent Funds, 158. 
 Personal Rights, 439. 
 Petition, Right of, 205. 
 Pews, Church, 445. 
 Pictures, [Adam and Eve,] 421. 
 Pilgrims' Dav, 388. 
 Pilgrim Fathers, 384. 
 Pious Slaveholders, 186. 
 Plan of Union, 259, 294. 
 Platform, Saybrook, 331. 
 Politics in Churches, 238, 278- 
 
 " and Religion, 456. 
 
 " Trade of, 433. 
 Polity, Church, 238. 
 Poor, Provision for the, 396. 
 Pope, The Poor, 366. 
 Popery, Prospects of, 366. 
 Posthumous Praise, 452. 
 Preaching, 260. 
 Presbyterians, Union with, 267. 
 
 Press The, and the Church, 269. 
 Principles of Business, 432. 
 Profaneness, 445. 
 Prospects of Popery, 366. 
 Protection against Catholics, 372. 
 Protestant Liberality, 377. 
 Public Taste, 421. 
 Punchard on Congregationalism, 
 
 274. 
 Purgatory, 364. 
 
 Puritanism and Episcopacy, 272. 
 Puritans, Bishop Hughes Amontr, 
 
 390. * 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quackery, 460. 
 
 R. 
 
 Radicalism, 202. 
 Reformation, Temperance, 401. 
 Reformers, National, 412. 
 Reforms, Catholic, 869. 
 Regulation, Ecclesiastical, 285.' 
 Religion and Politics, 456. 
 
 " and Sectarianism, 284. 
 Religious Institutions, 171. 
 
 Liberty, 371. 
 Respect, Tokens of, 451. 
 Right of Petition, 205. 
 Rights of the Church, 276. 
 Personal, 439. 
 " of Women, 453. 
 Riot, Alton, 203, 204. 
 Romanism, 344. 
 
 and Liberty, 382. 
 Tendencies of, 380. 
 Rulers, Morals of, 442. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabbath, Breach of the, 404 
 
 " Newspapers, sold on, 405. 
 " Stores, closed on, 406. 
 ♦' Traveling on, 404, 477. 
 
 Saintship, a Claim to, 477. 
 
 Saybrook Platform, 331. 
 
 School Question, 364. 
 
 Schools, Sectarian, 349, 353, 358. 
 
 Sectarian Schools, 349, 353, 358. 
 
 Sectarianism, 284, 442. 
 
 Self-Government, 438. 
 
 Semi-lunar Fardels, 448. 
 
 Slave, The Greek, 422. 
 
 Slarery, 180. 
 
520 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Slavery at the Communion, 196. 
 
 " and Ecclesiastical Bodies, 
 215, 233. 
 
 " Gov. Hammond on, 217. 
 
 " and Metaphysics of, 236. 
 Smoking, 447. 
 Spread of the Gospel, 473. 
 State, The, 435. 
 
 " and the Colleges, 178. 
 
 " Church and Family, 307. 
 Strange Bird, 462. 
 Strikes, Broomstick, 418. 
 St. Patrick's Society, 454. 
 Syracuse Convention, 229. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taste, The Public, 421. 
 Temperance Reformation, 401. 
 Tendencies of Romanism, 380. 
 Theater, Letters on the, 147. 
 Tokens of Respect, 451. 
 Trades' Unions, 414, 415. 
 Trade of Politics, 433. 
 Trinity Church Cross, 443, 
 
 True Church of Christ, 810. 
 Tyranny of Liberty, 468. 
 
 Union, Christian, 290, 337. 
 
 " Congregational, 279. 
 
 «' Dissolution of, 198. 
 
 " Plan of, 259, 294. 
 Unions, Trades', 415. 
 ,Use of Abolitionism, 235. 
 Usury Laws, 459. 
 
 Vote Yourself a Farm, 412. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wages, Female, 419. 
 War, the Mexican, 478, 485. 
 What of the Night ? 471. 
 Witchcraft, 494. 
 Women, Rights of, 453. 
 Words and Names, 260. 
 
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