possession of the aforesaid slander. I will, therefore, give no occasion to the enemy to speak reproachfully, and will constrain a trial of the merits of the allegata. I seek not vengeance, and will not receive from him, in any shape, one penny or ten thousand pounds, as a fine or consideration for his persecution and final imprisonment of me; but I will come out of this furnace without the smell of fire upon my garments; and make manifest the church and the party who have thus, in pretence of justice and humanity, sought to silence my pleadings for primitive Christianity, or to impair my reputation amongst my contemporaries and posterity. I cherish no ill will to any man under the broad heavens; but I will maintain, I hope, a pure conscience and a good character while I live, and leave the latter as the best legacy that I can bequeath to those most dear to me in the flesh and in the Lord.

My counsel have prepared my defence, and it is now on file to meet the case on its merits, as entered by Mr. Robertson, the pursuer. I have not heard that my friends have yet entered suit for false imprisonment, but presume it will be done immediately; and, then, the issue on the merits will be, on his part, unavoidable. A printed copy of it was received per last mail, from Brother Alexander Paton, of Glasgow, and is in the following words:

Defences for the Rev. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, President of the Bethany College, Virginia, United States of America; to the SUMMONS of DAMAGES raised against him at the instance of the Rev. JAMES ROB. ERTSON, residing at No. 27, Gilmour Place, Edinburgh.

THIS is an action at the instance of a party styling himself as the Reverend James Robertson, residing at No. 27, Gilmour Place, Edinburgh, concluding against the defender for damages for certain alleged written and verbal slander. The documents complained of as libellous consist of a letter addressed by the defender to an Edinburgh newspaper, and a placard said to have been published in Dundee; and the verbal slander complained of is said to have been contained in two lectures, one delivered at Falkirk, and the other at Glasgow, in which the substance of the letter and the placard above mentioned is said to have been repeated.

The defender has no intention of going into any detail in regard to the discussion with the pursuer, out of which this action has originated. The defender was sent as a deputation from the Baptist Church in Virginia to this country, for the purpose of enforcing certain theological opinions entertained by that body.* The object of his visit to this couniry had no relation, direct or indirect, with

*Mr. Moncrieff has mistaken the nature of my mission to England and Scotland; but this cannot effect the true issue in the law or equity of the No matter what my deputation, or mission, or tour was. It is my character in that mission which has been maligned.

case.

the subject of slavery; but having in the course of his mission been followed most perseveringly by the pursuer and others, and assailed with contumely and reproach, on account of his opinions on that subject, he was induced to consider the propriety of publicly defending the views on which he was thus openly assailed.

One of the most vehement in his abuse of the defender was the present pursuer. On arriving at Dundee, the defender found that the streets of the town had been covered with placards of the most abusive and scurrilous description, directed against himself. On the other hand, it appears that parties opposed to the views of the pursuer put up a counter placard, being that quoted in the summons. With the publication of this placard the defender had no connection or concern whatever. But having been publicly challenged by the pursuer to discuss the question of slavery with him, he wrote the letter which is quoted at length in the summons. If he made any allusion to the subject of this placard or letter in the subsequent lectures, it was merely explanatory of the circumstances connected with the pursuer's challenge.

The defender denies altogether that the letter in question contains any actionable matter. It had come to the ears of the defender that a party of similar name to the pursuer had been turned out of the Baptist Church, and for the offence referred to in the letter in question. How far this statement was true, the defender had, at the time, no means of knowing. Neither had the defender any means of knowing whether the pursuer was the individual to whom this event had happened. But he thought himself entitled, before meeting him as a public antagonist, to know the standing and character of his opponent; and therefore he made it a condition of his so meeting the pursuer, that he should not be the party who had been thus expelled from the Baptist Church. He imagines there can be no doubt that he was entitled to make this stipulation.

In regard to the other passages of the letter, there is nothing whatever of a slanderous or a calumnious nature contained in them.

PLEAS IN LAW.

1. The expression alleged to have been made use of by the defender are not actionable, and the summons is not relevant to support its conclusions.

2. The defender not having published, or having in any way concurred with the publication of the placard libelled, cannot be made responsible for its contents.

3. Under the circumstances, the defender was entitled to use, and was justified in using, the expressions complained of.

4. At least the defender had probable cause for the use of these expressions, and the same afford no ground of action against him. Under protestation to add and eik.

J. MONCREIFF.

There can be no donbt from the opinions expressed and hinted by the Lords in Session, that my counsel will maintain the ground which they have assumed. From the perusal of the defence, I presume, any one may see the real issue on its proper merits. I predict that

Messrs. Robertson and friends will not meet my counsel before the Court of Queen's Bench, as set forth in these well digested "pleas in law."

A. C.

MORAL SOCIETIES,

Having religious rites and secrets, "Sons of Temperance," "Odd Fellows" and "Free Masons."-No. I.

PREFACE.

PHILOSOPHERS, religionists and moralists have always had, and still have, their sects and parties. Dissent in theory, alienation in affection, and opposition in practice have unfortunately, in all ages, characterized fallen humanity. When angels fell from love they became schismatics. Till then neither jar nor discord found a place in earth or heaven. Harmony, universal barmony, reigned supreme. Angels fell from love. Exiled from heaven, strife, and schism, and war have since marked their path through every age and every realm. Man, overcome by the sophistry of the great heresiarch, has ever since his apostacy been alienated from God, his brother, and himself. Hence, earth is every where thickly sown with the seeds of discord, strife and schism.

"In the fulness of time" a great PACIFICATOR is born. "The PRINCE OF PEACE" appeared on earth and proposed to mankind to unite with him to form one great party, and to repossess their forfeited heaven. He lays the foundation of universal salvation, by the sacrifice of himself. His mission, his life, his death, were designed to reconcile and heal the breach between God and man, and between man and man. He preached peace "to them afar off, and to them that were nigh.” His institution called "the Church, or society of the Lord, the family of Christ, "the house of God," the lodge of heaven, is the only institution which Divine philanthropy could prompt, Divine wisdom devise, and Divine power execute and sustain for the reconciliation, the reformation and salvation of man. It has the oracles of God, the presidency of the Messiah, the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of angels, the arguments, the motives, the eloquence of Apostles, Prophets and Evangelists vouchsafed as its adaptation to the work and as a guarantee of its success. It is, therefore, the only rational, moral and religious society, under the broad heavens, that can at all hope to ameliorate, sanctify and bless the world. Men will as soon create a new solar system, as achieve that which Christianity contemplates by the Church of the living God. When Christ's Gospel, SERIES III.-VOL. V.

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in the hands of Christ's Church, fails to reclaim, reform, refine and elevate man from degradation, vice and ruin, no human institution can rationally, morally, or religiously, hope to accomplish it. If any theory of morals, of piety, or reformation, is better than the Gospel, then is man wiser than its author; if any association, club, party, or fraternity, can accomplish more than Christ's Church, then is not Christ's Church God's wisdom, benevolence and moral power. Then is the glory of men above the glory of God; and man's wisdom and benevolence exalted above the Divine.

On opening our Christian Baptist, and, on reading our first article, now five and twenty years old, in which reference is made to a tract, published by myself seven years before, I am glad to find that these conceptions and views of Christ's Church, its proper foundation, its design, and its adequacy to the present condition of human society, to all the aberrations, follies, depravity and wickedness of man, are clearly indicated and forcibly expressed. And this, too, with respect to all the new foundations, bonds of union, corporations, new societies, philosophical, moral or religious which the prolific and overheated imagination of man have given birth to under the names of benevolent, moral or philanthropic institutions, having special charters, symbols, rites, ceremonies, &c., &c., for the moral improvement and reformation of man. I must give one or two passages from it, respecting institutions formed within the Church, for church duties.

"The societies called churches, constituted and set in order by those ministers of the New Testament, were of such as received and acknowledged Jesus as Lord Messiah, the Saviour of the World, and had put themselves under his guidance. The ONLY BOND OF UNION among them was faith in him and submission to his will.

Their fraternity was a fraternity of love, peace, gratitude, cheerfulness, joy, charity and universal benevolence. Their religion did not manifest itself in public fasts nor carnivals. They had no festivals—no great and solemn meetings. Their meeting on the first day of the week was at all times alike solemn, joyful and interesting. Their religion was not of that elastic and porous kind, which at one time is compressed into some cold formalities, and at another expanded into prodigious zeal and warmth. No-their piety did not at one time rise to paroxysms, and their zeal to effervescence, and, by and by, languish into frigid ceremony and lifeless form. It was the pure, clear, and swelling current of love to God, of love to man, expressed in all the variety of doing good.

They knew nothing of the hobbies of modern times. In their church capacity alone they moved. They neither transformed themselves into any other kind of association, nor did they fracture and

sever themselves into divers societies. They viewed the Church of Jesus Christ as the scheme of heaven to ameliorate the world; as members of it, they considered themselves bound to do all they could for the glory of God and the good of men. They dare not transfer to a missionary society, or Bible society, or education sɔciety, a cent or a prayer, lest in so doing they should rob the church of the glory, and exalt the inventions of men above the wisdom of God. In their church capacity alone they moved. The church they considered "the pillar and ground of the truth," they viewed it as the temple of the Holy Spirit-as the house of the living God. They considered if they did all they could in this capacity, they had nothing left for any other object of a religious nature. In this capacity, wide as its sphere extended, they exhibited the truth in word and deed. Their good works which accompanied salvation, were the labors of love, in administering to the necessities of the saints, to the poor of the brotherhood. They did good to all men, but especially to the household of faith. They practised that pure and undefiled religion, which, in overt acts, consists in "taking care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and in keeping one's self unspotted by (the vices of) the world."

In their church capacity they attended upon every thing that was of a social character, that did not belong to the closet or fireside. In the church, in all their meetings, they offered up their joint petitions for all things lawful, commanded or promised. They left nothing for a missionary prayer meeting, for seasons of unusual solemnity or interest. They did not at one time abate their zeal, their devotion, their gratitude or their liberality, that they might have an opportunity of shewing forth to advantage or of doing something of great consequence at another.*

If these views are just and scriptural as respects widows and orphans, the poor and wretched outcasts of society, contributions, prayers and efforts for their relief, and new associations specially for these as their exclusive objects, how much more apposite to the institutions, named at the head of this article, as appendages to the Christian Church. And now I desire to state very distinctly and emphatically, that so far as we advert to, or expatiate upon, the three institutions named, it will be only as they are regarded by the members, or by professors of Christianity, as a succedaneum or substitute for the Christian Church, in the particular duties which they assume to perform for one another, or for mankind.

As respects their wisdom, benevolence, or character, as mere worldly institutions, operating on those without the church, I have little or nothing to say at present. Amongst Jews, Turks, infidels, or atheists, they may be occasionally as useful as they are benevolent; but as to their being composed of Christians, in whole or in