case, so far as he was concerned. He accordingly wrote me a very satisfactory letter, dated Frankfort, Kentucky, 13th May, 1831, in which, by the bye, he says the officers of this institution, elected himself and one or two other members of the supreme court, to the office of Vice President, without their knowledge or consent; and that the corresponding secretary, had invited him to attend the annual meeting in Philadelphia that spring, but that he did not go.

In September, 1831, I wrote to Dr. Ely, of Philadelphia, and requested him to give me some information on certain points connected with the national societies in general, and that of the A. S. S. Union in particular; though I confess, I then believed, and still believe, I was as well informed on those points as the Doctor was himself. My reason for addressing him on this subject, was, that a writer in the "Hiwassean and Athens Gazette," a little political paper under the control of the Hopkinsians, had said, that if any person desired information on those points, among many other great men whom he named, let the individual write to Doctor Ely. Now, the Hopkinsians, from first to last, have brought as many "railing accusations" against me for writing this letter, and have made as much noise about it, as the devil did about the body of Moses! They admit that I gave my proper signature; but they charge me with taking the Doctor in, by making an impression on his mind that I was a Presbyterian! But does this justify him in turn, in attempting to make a false impression upon my mind?

The following is an extract from my letter:

"A Methodist preacher in this vicinity, has recently published a pamphlet, in which he has opposed the Bible, Tract, and Sunday School Societies; and has made many quotations from your writings, and represented you, as wishing an establishment by law. Please write to me, and let me know in your letter, what relation the different denominations sustain to these societies, and especially the American Sunday School Union."

The following is an extract from the Doctor's lengthy reply to the above:

“PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 14, 1831. Dear Sir-The managers and officers of the American Sunday School Union are in nearly equal portions members of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal churches. The publishing committee consists of eight members; of whom two are Baptists, two Episcopalians, two Presbyterians, two Methodists; and NOTHING is published by

the Union which does not meet their UNANIMOUS APPROBATION!

At every anniversary meeting of the Union, PERSONS of the Congregational, Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist and Presbyterian denominations have taken part in the public exercises, and have strongly recommended the institution to the patronage of the public. True it is, that SOME of the Methodists have a Sunday School Union of their own; and should this union choose to send their annual report to the A. S. S. Union, they would have all the privileges of the largest con· tributors, without contributing a cent, or changing one of their regulations."

Now the Doctor, by saying "some" of the Methodists have a union of their own, would evidently impress my mind with the belief, that the great body of the Methodists go for the American Union.

And by saying "nothing is published by the Union that does not meet" the unanimous approbation of the four denominations he names, he would evidently induce me to believe, that the books of the American Sunday School Union are as heartily approved by the Methodist Episcopal church, as by the Presbyterian church. Not any of this is true, absolutely and unequivocally not true; and I should suppose that the Doctor himself would know that such inferences are incorrect.

But so late as 1834, it will be seen, by perusing the following extract of a letter from the Rev. E. W. Daughty, of Augusta, Ga., to the editors of the Christian Advocate and Journal, bearing date March 18th, that the agents of the American Sunday School Union, are still, like the Jesuits of China and France, driving through the continent with a zeal and ambition that know no termination but success; carrying with them as usual, a mixture of light and darkness, truth and falsehood. Behold the extract!"Three of their agents, the Rev. Mr Baird, of the Presbyterian church; the Rev. Mr. Welch, of the Baptist church; and the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, of the Methodist Episcopal church, at a public meeting of the citizens of this place very recently, have contributed much to confirm the public mind in the impression that the M. E. church has an equal interest with the Presbyterians, and all others in the American Union; although all who read the Advocate will discover, especially in some late numbers, that this is not the fact; though few comparatively, out of the church, and not all in it see your paper They

asked the public, and obtained over $700 to carry on the operations of the American Union in Georgia-one of their objects being to fix a depository in this city for their books."

This Mr. Shepherd, who has been an agent for several years, for this institution, is in reality a local preacher in the Methodist church; and when at home resides in Nashville, Tennessee. But, it is sufficient to say explicitly, that if all the agents of the A. S. S. Union were Methodist preachers, it would not alter the case. In this matter, they do not represent our church: and those of them who are agents know it, though they have not the honesty to apprise the public of the fact. And when they say or do any thing which has a tendency to make an impression, that the Methodist Episcopal church has any part or lot in the operations of the American Sunday School Union, they misrepresent facts, and deceive the people-and of course they do it wilfully. Yes, they, with all others who act thus, agents, managers, and officers, are guilty of misrepresentation and deception. For, "misrepresentation," says Noah Webster, is, "a false or incorrect account given either from mistake, carelessness, or malice"-and I add, design.

Webster's definition of the word deception, is, among many other things; "Any declaration, artifice or practice which misleads another." Such declarations for instance,

as those, by which these three gentlemen mislead the minds of the good people of Augusta. And let such "declarations" as those quoted in the foregoing extracts, come from whom they may, I answer them as follows:

"Highland or Lowland-Prince or Peer;
Lord Angus-thou hast lied."

And now reader, in confirmation of what I have stated above, I will here subjoin two extracts from the report of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, held in Philadelphia, in May 1832; and having been a member of that body myself, I know that the report, from which I make these extracts, speaks the sentiments of that body, and that it was adopted by a unanimous vote. That conference was composed of about two hundred and thirty ministers, some from every state in the Union, and constitutes the highest ecclesiastical court in our church. Hear what they officially, say:

"For these and other reasons, especially that we consider NATIONAL religious societies incompatible with the safety of our FREE institutions, both civil and religious, we have long been known as in OPPOSITION to them."

Again: "Resolved," &c. "As the sense of this General Conference, that it is INEXPEDIENT FOR ANY OF OUR PREACHERS, TRAVELLING OR LOCAL, TO ENGAGE AS AN AGENT IN BEHALF OF ANY INSTITUTION NOT CONNECTED WITH OUR

CHURCH, with the exception of the colonization society."

And to show my readers that all is not as the managers, officers, and agents of the American Sunday School Union would have us suppose, I present them with the following paragraph from the "World," a respectable Baptist paper published in Philadelphia:

"The question is not whether the American Sunday School Union has been the instrument of doing good or not; but whether the Baptist denomination will rest satisfied with the good the Union is accomplishing. Is the Baptist denomination willing to make the A. S. S. Union the depository of its interests? We answer, NO. It would be worse than folly and infatuation for them to do so. The American Union never has, and never can, fill the place we should wish a Baptist Sunday School Union to occupy. Does our brother X. object to this, or is he willing that our peculiar doctrines should be laid on the shelf to be covered with dust, and be forgotten? If he is, he has only to consign them over to the American Sunday School Union, whose very organization prevents it from meddling with them, and his object will be accomplished."

I ask particular attention to the above; and particularly on the part of the Baptists, should this work fall into their hands, as I trust it will. On my way down from the seat of government in New Jersey, to Philadelphia, on board of a steam-boat, in the Delaware river, in the spring of 1832, I recollect to have conversed freely and fully, with a highly respectable Baptist minister on the subject of the national societies, who was then a resident of the last named city; and he remarked to me, that he was then, and had been for some time, laboring to convince his brethren of the dangerous tendency of those societies.

Let the following extract from the "Christian Intelligencer," of July, 1833, a Duch Reformed paper of the city of New York, be carefully read; and it will show clearly, the light in which that church regards the American Union, and its agents. The extract is taken from an article in which "an agent of the S. S. Union," is charged with access to one of their churches, in which he taught false doctrines. The article advises to resist these agents!! Hear it!! "Atleast, if notwithstanding all our watchfulness, it should happen,

that one of these time-serving agents should creep in unawares, Jude 4, 'privily to bring in damnable heresies' among us, Peter ii, 1, we would at once demonstrate his false teaching, and then caution the congregation neither to receive him into their houses, nor bid him God speed. We trust our worthy brother will so act at P. And we hope ALL OUR CHURCHES will be upon their guard against these agents, unless their design, principles and objects are well known and decisively approved. For our part, we have determined no longer to encourage some of the crafty and IRRESPONSIBLE AGENTS, whose grand, if not sole, object is this-to procure a good temporary income, and the opportunity to select a choice place of settlement. Beware of them!"

May Heaven smile upon the editor of the Intelligencer! for, verily, he is in the faith. Truly he has said multum in parvo. From the annual report of the American Union, by PAUL BECK, treasurer, "from March 1st, 1831, to March 1st, 1832," it will be seen that the whole amount of expenditures for the society for that year is, SEVENTY-SEVEN THOUSAND,

FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR DOLLARS AND EIGHTY-SIX CENTS!!! Of this sum, TWENTY-THOUSAND AND SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS, went to pay "missionaries, agents, and incidental expenses" in the valley of the Mississippi!! And

SIX THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS,

went to pay the salaries of officers, agents, &c. And the above is a fair specimen of the expenditures of every year, otherwise than that they continually increase; so that upon the whole, this Dutch Reformed editor, is justifiable in saying, the sole object" of these "time-serving agents" is, "to procure a good temporary income."

CHAPTER VI.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BISHOP OTEY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AND THE REV. MR. SHEPHERD, AGENT OF THE AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

"To the Editors of the W. W. Review.

GENTLEMEN: In your paper issued June 29, I perceive under the editorial head, a notice of the Sunday School celebration, which was held the preceding Lord's day at the Methodist church. Considerable misapprehension prevails as to the objects and purposes of that meeting. It ought to have been stated, gentlemen, that the main design of the projectors of the celebration, was to further exclusively the objects of an institution, styled the American Sunday School Union. For aught that