any and every retrenchment "on the equal rights of other men." As this is the exposition of Christ himself, and not that of any sectarian or ignorant commentator, there can be no further dispute about it: And Christianity, therefore, stands justly acquitted of the charge of exciting its followers to "retrench on the equal rights of other men."[H.] As all the other charges in the fifth, or negative article of your creed, hang on the same horn, they must fall to the ground in the same manner; and hence it would be useless to multiply words in reference to them. It may indeed be asserted as a universal truth, that the absence and not the presence, the scantiness and not the excess, of religion, has been the cause of all the crimes and corrup tions that have ever stained the earth. The man who has the Christian faith, the Christian spirit, in his heart, so long as they remain there, never has mischief in his mind, or falsehood or deception on his tongue, and never raises his hand to commit deeds of blood or violence, unless in necessary selfdefence.

It will not do to tell us, with these primitive injunctions of Christ, which I have just qnoted, staring us in the face, of some of the Popes, who, while they professed reverence for theire Divine Master, descended to acts of tyranny or corruption, diametrically at war with their professions; or of some protestant ecclesiastics and potentates, like the English Bishop, who fled for a crime that must be nameless here; or of the Monarch of England,

who, with the same professions on his tongue, had the hardness of heart to cut off the heads of his wretched wives, as though they had been so many chickens; or of certain ministers of the gospel of recent date, who disgraced their high calling by deeds of guilt and of shame: And that, therefore, Christianity excites its disciples to the commission of such acts: for all these discrepancies in the conduct of professors, only prove the falsehood and frailty of man; but do not, in the slightest degree, impeach the purity of Christ, or the divine perfection and purity of the religion which he bequeathed us, as the best and brightest inheritance that ever fell to the human race: That all-pure, allperfect, and everlasting inheritance, of which Infidelity would rob us, that she might behold us, like herself, tost about, bewildered and confused, in the regions of baseless conjecture and wild speculation-those regions, in which, as I have said, on another occasion, there are MANY POINTS OF DEPARTURE, but NO PLACES OF rest.

When any man talks to me of the inconsistency of those who profess Christianity, and practice the reverse of it, as affording an argument against the system; my answer is, read the Bible; go to that Fountain Head of wisdom; that book, of which even an Infidel, when asked, how it was that the Bible was so far superior to all other books, that it could be read over and over a thousand times, and still retain all its freshness; and why no other book like it was ever written ?-answered, because there

1

was not room in the world for two such books!read, I repeat it, Moses and the Prophets; read the gospel, search them thoroughly, and you will learn what Christianity is: then learn to regulate your conduct by what you have read: And if others do not do likewise, it may and probably will be to them the greatest of all possible misfortunes, the heaviest of all possible curses: But it will not be your fault, nor to your injury. The Bible is the never failing mirror, in which every man, who tries it, will assuredly see his portrait reflected in its true colors; not his outward portrait, but that of his heart, with all its corruptions, his mind with all its errors; there he will behold himself in all his natural de formity; and thrice happy will it be for him if the exhibition shall awaken him to a sense of contrition, shall determine him to purify his corruptions, to correct his errors, and to lay hold of the precious promises which the sacred volume holds out to the faithful and the pure in heart-Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord; and whose hope the Lord is; for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters. Jer. 17, 7. And again-Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. Mark, 5.8. Waste not your breath and your time, therefore, in cavilling at the inconsistency of others; but labor to improve yourself and to secure your own salvation, by faith, and the good works which flow from it; never forgetting for a moment, that FAITH without WORKS is DEAD.

I now come, Mr. Herttell, to your political creed,

of which you say in the beginning of it, that you "feel in conscience bound to adhere." As you have made no such declaration respecting your creed on the subject of religion; we are left to infer that in this respect you entertain no opinion, which you "feel in conscience bound to adhere" to: And if so, we are still further justified in remarking, that all you have said of what you do or do not believe, is mere sound, signifying nothing. But on the very threshold of your conscientious creed, it happens that we differ as widely as we do on that already discussed. The ground of difference in this case, however, I must defer stating to another, and perhaps still another communication.

In the mean time, I salute you respectfully, with my best wishes for your present and future welfare, which includes the earnest wish of my heart, that you may be speedily and effectually converted to the truth as it is in Jesus.

SHERLOCK.

Salem, Washington Co. March, 9th 1833.

LETTER V.

TO THOMAS HERTTELL, ESQ.

SIR,-I parted with you in my last, at the point of commencing the exposition of your political creed, to which you say you are conscientiously bound to adhere. I have no doubt of your strictadhe rence, on all occasions, to the dictates o con

science; but still I believe that in this case, with all due deference to your superior talents and acquirements, your conscience is not sufficiently enlightened. Your first article is as follows:

"I believe the resolution, now before the house, is palpably adverse to the express provisions of the Constitution. Nor am I singular in such belief."

That you are not "singular" in your belief, may possibly prove in the language of holy writ, that you "follow" (perhaps lead) "a multitude to do evil." But before I proceed to show, that what you profess to "believe" in this case, is an untenable and false proposition, I will step aside to notice those auxiliaries, whose accordance with your views saves you from the imputation of being "singular" in your belief; but whether such accordance adds much to the strength or the dignity of your creed, is another and a different question. I would rather have seen my friend Herttell acting the part of a brave yankey soldier, who, during a battle, was observed alone, at a distance from the body of the army, loading and firing at the enemy with all possible despatch; and on being asked to what regiment he belonged, replied, that he was of no regiment, but was fighting on his own hook. It is sometimes better to fight thus alone, "on one's own hook," than to be encumbered with associates, whose character and principles would spoil the odour of victory, and afford no consolation for the

shame of defeat.

It seems there was a memorial from Duchess