Under the above caption, the wealthy President of Bethany College, Virginia, inserts a communication from one of his brethren in Gentilism residing at Triana, Ala., with approbation; and expresses his regret, that the very "graphic delineation" had remained so long upon his files before it saw the light in his "Millennial Harbinger."

The writer was a professional student at Cambridge, Mass.; and having been seized with a morbid affection, which has victimised the pocket and reputation of many so possessed, technically styled cacoethes scribendi—and which, in vulgar English, may be termed an itch for scribbling—he has sought notoriety in assailing me and others in that periodical, where men are condemned and executed without trial, jury or defence. Of the others with whom my name is associated, I cannot speak, not knowing the alleged demerits of their several cases; but I perceive they are cited as instances of very flagrant delinquency when judged at a Campbellite tribunal; and of course, as a most appropriate allocation with myself, for the purpose of heightening the scarlet, or deepening the black of my character, in the estimation of the 10,000 at $2 a head, with whom Mr. Campbell seeks to fill his amphi-theatre before he begins his rehearsal, preliminary to his "last night’s benefit," in the Five Act Play of "OUR MISSION; or, the World’s Evils cured by Bethany Divinity; and concluding with the broad farce of "The Kingdom in the Milky Way!"

In the Cambridge Alabamian’s lucubrations upon Shakespearian, Horacian, and Hudibrastic lore, in which he seems infinitely better versed than in "the things of the Spirit," he gets among the cardinals, and evokes, as a spirit from the vasty deep, "Poor Wolsey!"—a cardinal of Rome, and panderer to the vices of Henry VIII, adulterer and murderer, and whose extravagance rivalled royalty itself in all its recklessness and display. To this respectable character he likens me and others, whom he styles, "small stereotyped editions of the great Wolsey!" He continues in the same strain, saying, "Small Wolseys, indeed, they are, but Wolseys for all that. They are actuated by his spirit, and possessed of purposes and aims akin to his—that is, self-aggrandisement, by ministering to the wishes of their king. ‘Tis true, they have no Henry VIII, to whom they submissively bow the knee; but they have a king equally imperative, notwithstanding, and will, I dare say, prove in the end equally fickle, and lacking in gratitude. Their king is the flesh-loving mob—the world, the great Mammon of unrighteousness. They truckle to its whims and caprices as fawningly as ever did priest or layman to the nod and beck of the Vicegerent of St. Peter. How it sickens the heart of an honest man, to see men laying aside their allegiance to the Father Eternal, to take upon their necks the burden of slaves—the bondage of the flesh and the world! Verily did the Apostle speak well when he said, "The dog is returned to his own vomit, and the washed hog to his wallowing in the mire." Having penned this, he treats the reader to a sketch of a Nashville orator, who has lately exchanged Bethany speculations for something more congenial to his own organization, and quotes from his apostle or prophet Hudibras, who sings:

For saints may do the same things by

The Spirit, in sincerity,

Which other men are tempted to,

And at the Devil’s instance do;

And yet the actions be contrary,

Just as the saints and wicked vary.

"This may be said," he continues, "of all those who more admire to have the applause of men than the praise of God; or who, seeking to please the one, neglect the mandates of the other. Such men, so long as they halt between God and Mammon, can never have that "peace above all earthly dignities—a still and quiet conscience." ‘Tis vain for them to seek for happiness whilst they are warring against the source of all happiness—integrity. Such men generally discard the Bible, because it reminds them of their iniquity. They cry, Away with it! away with it! for they know that, if they hear its teachings, they will be forced to say:

Thou turnest mine eyes into my very soul;

And there I see such black and grained spots

As will not leave their tinet.

Now, the reader would suppose that the writer of these strictures was well acquainted with me in word, in doctrine, and in deed. But no such thing! He knows nothing about me but what he may have picked up by the way side in the scatterings of the enemy. I pardon the poor man’s calumnies on the ground of his ignorance; though he ought to be sure he is right before he handles character not his own. Mr. Campbell, however, is not so excusable; he knows that what this person writes of me is false; and all his partisans who know any truth of me know it also; and all my readers, hearers, and acquaintances, know that there is not one word of truth in this Alabamian’s "graphic delineations," fit only for such a periodical as it appears in, and endorsed by its proprietor. The conviction of those acquainted with me is, that, if there be a man in this generation who neither truckles to the whims and caprices, nor fawns upon the world for its applause and good things, it is myself. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Compare my antecedents and consequents with those of my traducers, and it will not be difficult to acquit me of flattering the world for the sake of what it has to bestow, upon their accusation. I neither court its friendship, riches, nor honours; and, as a necessary consequence, it has bestowed neither upon me. But is this the case with those who calumniate me? The very reverse! Their purses and their garners are well filled; they milk the goats in large sums for their money-making speculations; they are constantly bringing out some scheme on divers pretences for raising the wind; they flatter the rich, and neglect the poor; and, to gain the favour of the world, they pervert, suppress, and exclude the truth, that it may not appear so uncompromising and unpalatable to its mind as it really and necessarily is. All this iniquity they do, and much more; and doubtless will continue to do, until their cup runs over, and the Lord comes to repay them according to their deserts. Talk of truckling to the world and fawning upon it—how supremely ridiculous! A man that withstands it, almost alone, and testifies against it as "the enemy of God," with all that love it; and that none of its citizens can be saved who believe not the gospel of the kingdom in the name of Jesus, and, as a consequence, subject themselves to "the obedience of faith" in that name! O, what but the vilest malice and hypocrisy can publish such self-evidently false accusations under pretence of zeal for God! But, Satan reigns, and his curse rests upon the advocates of that truth which, when realised shall bruise him under foot, and sweep into the bottomless pit for a thousand years all his refuges of lies. God will bruise Satan under our feet soon. This is a great consolation; and with a full assurance of it, we may patiently endure till the day of triumph come.

But why does this president of a worldly institution admit such bald malevolence and falsehood into his miscellany? Because, having been put to silence by scripture testimony and reason, and not having the magnanimity to do fair battle in his pages, or to confess defeat, he has recourse to petty revenges for the gratification of his spleen! He is openly charged with palming off upon the public traditions for gospel which are not the gospel; and the charge has been amply sustained: yet he dare not give page for page and line for line in a fair field and no favour, to prove or defend his position, or to overturn that of his opponent. It is not because he has neither time nor space. He hath both, if a man’s character is to be attacked, and the attack endorsed. Nor is it because the subject is not important. There is no other question equal to it; for a man’s salvation depends upon believing and obeying the right gospel. This gospel he does not teach; nor is it allowed currency on his pages. He is, therefore, a deceiver of the people; and so long as he evades a fair, open, and honourable inquiry, he is a wilful deceiver. He fears the light because of the rottenness of his cause, and of the terrible confusion it would create in the dark places of his benighted sect. He therefore shelters himself in an affected sovereign contempt for those he fears, and who, he strives to persuade his readers, by misrepresentation and miserable pasquinades, are too reprobate and accursed for the spiritual attention of his piety and theological lore! But if the Creator of all things deemed the "chief of sinners" an object of his solicitude, surely there is no Wesley too small for Mr. Campbell’s!

EDITOR.

December 23, 1854.

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