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witness; and who are the very people to whom alone belongs the disgrace of having attempted to cleave asunder, by the opening-wedge of their Sunday Mail manoeuvre, the integrity of our political government; and, after all their pretended fears of Popery, to bring it themselves under the control of a religious despotism. These are they, who, by the TRICK of a general and ambiguous title, and a studied phraseology calculated to impress the reader with an idea of universal agreement and authority, and of their being actually identified with the success of true religion and the preservation of civil liberty in the United States, would impose themselves thereby upon the community at home and abroad, and thus seek to gain for those slanders and misrepresentations which are the natural fruit of sectarian bigotry and intolerance, the homage and credit which are due to truth alone. But it is proper that their tricks should be exposed, and that they who thus presume authoritatively to decide upon the character, doctrine, and destiny of people who are quite as learned, intelligent, and respectable as they, and four times as numerous, should be unmasked and

The cruelties practised by this party when in power, are not a whit behind the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, and are disgraceful to humanity, not to say religion. It is the bistory of this party which proves its true spirit and character. Doubtless there are now, and have always been, excellent and godly men among them. My remarks do not apply to these, but only to such as are truly and essentially the party. To be the party is one thing; to be of the party is another. A British poet thus speaks of the party when in power:

"Those errant saints, whom all men grant,

To be the true church militant;

Such as do build their faith upon

The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;

And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation
A goodly, thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing-never done."

The principal denominatio as have been thus estimated as to number, from good authority

Baptists,

492,496

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exhibited in their own proper character, as among the most bigoted, grasping, and intolerant of all the sectaries of our land.

To show the true sectarian purposes of this pamphlet, so cunningly and deceitfully entitled "Our Country, its capabilities, its perils, and its hope," I make a few brief extracts from the "appeals" it presents from the West, addressed to the Society:

“From Rev. A. Kent, Galena, Ill.-Letters and pledges to individuals and to your Society have failed of the desired effect; and the result of the whole is, that this large district between the Mississippi and Rock rivers is one wide waste so far as Presbyterian and Congregational ministers are concerned, if we except two or three on the southern margin of the field, and one at Galena. There are large settlements on Wisconsin, Grant, Platte, and Fever rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi; and then there is the Pecatonica, tributary to Rock river, 200 miles long, and will ere long be navigable within 30 miles of Galena, and watering some of the finest mineral and agricultural country in the world; and all this wide field is destitute of Presbyterian and Congretional preaching, with the exceptions before made."

"From Kentucky-The wants of our churches have aroused our moneyed men, and I am now prepared to offer $500 a-year each, to two missionaries. We have had the money for some months, but cannot get the men We have a wide and most promising field. As many as three or four churches could be formed at once if we had the men. In Southern Kentucky are some 12 or 15 counties, and not a Presbyterian minister."

"From Missouri-As far as our means go, the youth of this place are under religious training. Had we teachers to keep up a Sabbath school or two in every village or neighborhood, another generation might be rescued from the ruin which impends over this. But you may judge for yourselves that it must be a great distance from one Sabbath school or Bible class to another, (which are under the patronage of the A. H. M. S..) from the fact that there are about fifty counties in this state in which no Presbyterian minister resides."

"My field of labor is too wide. There is not a Presbyterian preacher within fifty miles of me, and but very few of any denomination except Campbellites. The country all around is pretty well settled. The Lord has a great work to be done here. Unless we be sustained by your Society, we must abandon the field. The salvation of thousands of immortal souls in Missouri depends upon the prosperity of the American Home Missionary Sooiety."

"A large and needy field in Indiana.-The field which I Occupy is large, and many parts of it very destitute of the regular means of grace. The bounds of our presbytery are very much extended, and include the south end of the state of Indiana, reaching from the month of the Wabash, up the Ohio two hundred miles. On the latter river, scattered along down to the Wabash, are a number of villages, and from the Wabash to New Albany there is but one Presbyterian minister residing. The population of these villages is increasing, and in most, if not in all of them. are Presbyterians living destitute of preaching, We have 8 ministers in this presbytery; yet in 9 of the 21 counties which it includes, there is no minister of our denomination living or

1

preaching, except myself. The region is, indeed, but poorly supplied with preaching of any denomination. Yet in all these counties are some of our people anxious to have the bread of life dispensed to them. Indeed, there is a general interest manifested to have Presbyterian preaching, especially in the villages. May I not say this is a moral wilderness? Yet it is increasing in population, and is destined one day to become a very important part of the state. We want, in the bounds of our presbytery alone, from 10 to 15 more well-qualified ministers; and then we should also have to look to your Society for aid."

There are no appeals to the Society from any other party mentioned, and we have the pronoun in the possessive case here often enough, in all conscience, to show the exclusiveness of the claim preferred by Presbyterianism to the broad and fertile regions of the West.

Upon reading this pamphlet, so full of these most urgent appeals from the West, and such gloomy descriptions of the destitution of this region in regard to the gospel, gospel ministers, and gospel institutions; and its imminent perils from the aforesaid Catholics, Campbellites, &c. &c. one would think that it was about to be wholly swallowed up by a flood of heresy, and that the only salvation would be in the ark which the American Home Missionary Society so kindly furnishes. -And when we read further the glowing accounts here given of the happy consequences which will result when the West, converted by its missionaries, and increased in population and power, shall bring not only the East, but the whole world under the influence of truth and righteousness, one is almost ready to set forth as a volunteer in so good a cause. But when I come to know who they are who make these representations, and arrogate to themselves, and to the world, so much benefit and advantage from the prevalence of their gospel, and the building up of their Zion; I cannot but smile at their assurance. Presbyterianism convert the world! Presbyterianism produce such unity of faith, feeling, and influence,-such oneness among all who believe that the Saviour's prayer will be answered, and the whole world receive him as the Messiah! How shallow a conceit! Presbyterianism has been long enough in the world already to show what she can do for the world. Has she promoted Christian union? No. On the contrary, she has been one of its greatest hindrances. She has been ever characterized by an exclusive and sectarian spirit, seeking her own aggrandizement, and laboring for the exaltation of her peculiar Zion. Christian union, indeed! She has divided and sub-divided and given birth to more sects than any other party whatever. And will she convert the nations? No. God does not intend Presbyterianism to convert the world. This is a point at least as certain as any of the decrees of Westminster. How large a part of the world has sho converted in 200 years? How many converts is she making now per

annum? How many unsprinkled adults of sound mind and unbiassed judgment are converted and added to her churches? But few indeed. It is not over such as these she triumphs. She finds it to be an easier victory over the unconscious and unresisting infant in its mother's arms, and sets her seal upon it, to claim it by pre-emption right. Yes, it is thus she recruits her forces. Natural generation is the great pillar of Presbyterianism, and she does well for herself to promote the cause of HOME missions, and to send forth her missionaries to the teeming and prolific regions of the West, to supply the destitute with her gospel institutions; but especially with infant sprinkling, and the holy ordinance of matrimony. Let Presbyterians stick to the FIRST commandment, far more important to them as a party than the Decalogue, and "increase, multiply, and replenish the earth;" for in this alone is their salvation.

It would seem, then, that these Presbyterians denounce Campbellism as a "pirate bark," because they themselves claim for their own craft the exclusive right to the freedom of the seas; that they fear its object is to form one great body, in the shade of which no other can possibly exist, because this is just what they wish to do themselves; that they regard it as "the great curse of the West," because it is the great obstacle to their ambitious designs; and, withal, that they take the liberty to misrepresent and denounce it, and class it with the grossest delusions, simply because they are of their fathers who in the days of Cromwell inflicted death by the most cruel tortures upon those whose religious sentiments differed from their own; an employment in which they would no doubt be happy to engage once more, if their power were equal to their wishes.

After this exposure of the tricks of this society, truth requires that their decoy flag, the title-page of this pamphlet, should be changed to read as follows: Our Country; its capabilities; its gullibilities; its perils from heresy, and its hope in Presbyterianism; being a Plea for the early establishment of Presbyterian Institutions in the destitute portions of the United States. Published by the Executive Committee of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society. This being done, the reader of the pamphlet will know in what sense to understand the various phrases, "Evangelical Religion;" "The Gospel;" "The only true religion," &c. expressions which he might otherwise by mistake suppose to mean the gospel and religion of Jesus Christ; and be will also know in what light to regard denunciations, of which it is far more honorable to be the object than the author. R. R.

The following extract from the pamphlet commented on_in_the preceding article, is not without interest: R. R.

POPULATION, PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE, of the UNITED STATES.

The census for 1840 gives the total resident population of the United States at 18,062.566. Every year adds five hundred thousand more; so that already the number is more than seventeen millions and a half.

What the population may become

Admitting, as may be safely done, that the agricultural facilities and the salubrity of climate in this country are equal to those of any portion of the globe, of equal extent, and what is to hinder the population from becoming as dense here as in any other country? Should it ever equal that of Europe, (viz. 110 to each square mile,) the population would be 220 millions.

If it should be as dense as the population of Hindoostan, (50 per square mile,) the popu lation would be 100 millions.

If it should be as dense as that of China, (150 per square mile,) the population would be 300 millions

Now when it is considered that the present civilization and Christianity of this country are vastly more favorable to the preservation of life than the degradation and supersti. tions of the Hindoos and Chinese, and that our civil institutions are at least as favorable to the increase and preservation of human beings as those of Europe, we may safely take the average density of population of the countries above mentioned, as data by which to estimat our own. This average is 103 3 to the square mile-giving as the prospective population of our country, 207 millions.

A European writer who has been extensively quoted, advances the bold proposition that the natural resources of the American continent, if fully developed, would afford sustenance for 3,600 millions of inhabitants, or four times the present population of the globe. He also regards it as probable that the actual population will not fall short of 2,000 millions. The proportion of this number which should be assigned to the United States, would be two fifteenths, or 266,666,666. The writer alluded to goes on to say"And what is more surprising, there is every probability that this prodigious population will be in existence within three or four centuries. The imagination is lost in contem plating a state of things which will make so great and rapid a change in the condition of the world. We almost fancy it is a dream; and yet the result is based on principles quite as eertain as those which govern the condust of men in their ordinary pursuits.Nearly all social improvements spring from the reciprocal influence of large and son. densed numbers, and dffiused intelligence. What then will be the state of society general. ly in America two centuries hence, when a thousand or two thousand millions of givilized men are crowded in a space comparatively so narrow, and speaking only two languages, as will doubtless be the case? History shows that wealth, power, science literature, all follow in the train of numbers, general intelligence, and freedom. The same causes which transferred the sceptre of civilization and the weight of her influence from the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile to Western Europe, must in the course of no long period carry them from the latter to the plains of the Mississippi and the Amazon."

What the population probably will become.

The President of the United States estimates that the population doubles every twenty-three years Statistical tables show that since the year 1790, the rate of increase has never been less than 33 per cent. every ten years, while the average rate has been more than 34 per cent.

But is it likely that this rate will be sustained? There are certainly many things that sanction such an expectation: for example, the favorable circumstances of the terri tory to be occupied, the homogeneousness of the people who have the present possession of it, and the rapidity of foreign immigration. The condition of men is constantly receiving improvements from science, the arts, and the diffusion of better principles of education and government. These causes will not only promote the increase of our native population, but will bring incalculable numbers from the Old World to our shores, and the physical and intellectual power thus imported will exert itself to better advantage in developing the means of subsistence, than it can do under the burdens of European society and government.

Taking the rate of increase of population at one-third every ten years, (i e. doubling in 30 years,) and we shall have, in round numbers, the following results:

A. D. 1840, the population was

A. D. 1850, it will be

A D. 1860,

A D 1870,

A D. 1880,
A. D. 1890,
A D. 1900,
A. D. 1910,
A. D. 1920,
A D. 1920,
A D. 1940,

17.000,000

22.600.000

30,200,000

40,200,000

53,700,000

$1,600.000

95.500.000

127 000,000

169.800.000

205.400.000

275,200.000

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