try to destroy a hope which any one had imbibed. In one instance, when I doubted the soundness of a hope which one of my friends had obtained at another place, and had assigned some reasons for it, and the individual had given up her hope, a very active lady of her acquaintance sent word, that she would not have it so, but would shortly come and see her, and get her hope back again."

Ard. The author of the letter on the new measures, mentions "the hasty acknowledgment of persons as converted on their own judgment, without interrogation or evidence." Is there any proof that this was done?

Th. There is. For even after this letter was published and widely circulated, a theological student, who attended a three days' meeting in Westerly street, says: "Sinners were called forward, and requested to kneel in the broad aisle. After a season of praying, and sighing, &c., they were invited to be seated. After a recess, the same persons were called forward, and all requested to rise who thought they had been converted during the praying season. Nine arose, and were counted audibly by one of the preachers. After which others were called forward to be prayed for, and so on, throughout the meeting. They were counted publicly, and audibly, three times during the meeting, to the amount of between thirty and forty."

Exp. The practice became much more frequent afterwards. There was also a practice of endeavoring to get sinners to promise that they would submit in a given time, while they should be prayed for; of which there are a few certificates.

Th. A church member says: "Mr. F. of M. used to persuade and urge sinners, previous to praying with, and for them, to promise to give up their hearts while he was praying; and then kneel down with them, and remind them of their solemn promise."

A minister says: "It has been a common practice, I believe, to try to make sinners promise to submit to Christ within a given time."

A church member says: "While I was under serious impressions, and before, I was repeatedly urged by different persons, to promise that I would repent and submit within a given time."

Ard. There are various other subjects yet, which, though they have been incidentally brought into view, have not been directly attended to.

Exp. Yes. Take that of the abusive treatment of the impenitent, which was sometimes thought to be intended to make people angry, and excite opposition.

Th. Mr. Bold, in his printed sermon, says: "That excite

ment which does not call out the opposition of the wicked and wrong-hearted, is either not a revival of religion at all, or it is so conducted that sinners do not see the finger of God in it. Those means, and that preaching, both as to matter and manner, which call forth most of the native enmity of the heart, are nearest right."

Ard. There would, then, be a strong temptation, always operating upon his mind, and on the minds of those who embrace the same views, to take such a course as appeared most likely to stir up opposition. And opposition would be reckoned an evidence that their measures and their preaching were right.

Th. Mr. Bold, in the Revival Conference, resisted the proposition, that "language adapted to irritate, on account of its manifest personality, is to be avoided." And he said, he found it necessary sometimes "to come right out." A leader in Westerly street said: "I always intend to be personal in my preaching." Another new-measure leader acknowledged in the Conference: "I believe that the greatest evil which has been among us, has been a harsh and improper treatment of sinners, and that this is the core of the difficulty."

Ard. The existence of the thing is admitted, then; so that there is less need of proofs.

Th. Let me read a few. A professor in the college says: "I heard Mr. Bold say, of the President's wife, that she was a dreadful, dreadful wicked woman! indeed, the wickedest woman he ever saw."" And this was said of a lady highly esteemed and respected among all her acquaintance, on the simple ground that he considered her unconverted.

A church member says: "Mr. Rude was in the habit, in his preaching, of relating, in hard and reproachful language, what had been said to him in private conversation, in such a manner that the assembly must know what individuals he referred to. And he was in the habit of telling the Lord the same story, in the same manner, in prayer."

A minister says: "It is said in this place by the most uniform members of this church, to be a notorious fact, that Mr. Rude was in the habit of addressing entire strangers, in the house or in the street, wherever he met them, and of saying to them, 'You are going right to hell, and I can see hell written upon your forehead, or depicted in your countenance;' or similar expressions."

Exp. We have now looked at some of the principal matters which have been grounds of complaint among ministers and Christians against the new measures, and it appears that they have prevailed to an alarming extent.

Ard. But were not quite a large part of the exceptionable

things done by young men who attempted to imitate Mr. Bold, without being very skilful in their imitations?

Th. Yes. But Mr. Bold himself appears to have had no small share in the exceptionable things which were done; and indeed, that is implied in the suggestion that others were imitators of him. Unless he did strange things to be imitated, there would have been no occasion furnished for such strange conduct in his imitators. But there is another thing to be considered. All but two or three of the young men whose conduct has been noticed, were connected with the Presbytery in Westerly street, and received ordination, at their hands, at the very time when they were practising these things. And against the ordination of Mr. Reckless a remonstrance was presented, specifying a great number of these very things, which remonstrance was unavailing. The Presbytery, therefore, made themselves responsible for all the exceptionable things charged against Mr. Reckless, as well as those practised by Mr. Bold, Mr. Rash, and the others whom they patronized and defended.

Ard. What will be the consequences of a revival conducted by such measures?

Exp. I will read to you a few lines from the letter on the new measures, in which the writer seems to anticipate what is to be expected as the immediate consequence. He says: "It will become more and more exceptionable. Urged by circumstances, men will do things which, if in the beginning they had been predicted, they would have said, 'Are thy servants dogs, that we should do these things?' By degrees, however, all landmarks will be removed, and what was once regarded as important will be set at nought, and what would once have produced horror will be done fearlessly. There is nothing to which the minds of good men, when once passed the bounds of sound discretion, and launched upon the ocean of feeling and experiment, may not come to. But the evil which may flow from those who commence these aberrations, is but a drop of the bucket in the ocean of disorder and misrule, to which they may open the door. There is nothing so terrible and unmanageable as the fire and whirlwind of human passion, when once kindled by misguided zeal, and sanctioned by conscience, and the idea of being reviled and persecuted for doing God service. Like the cave of Æolus, or the gate of Pandemonium, a single arm may suffice to let out the storm. But when once the atmosphere is put in motion, no human power can stop it until it has exhausted its fury in works of moral desolation. They who did the deed may repent of it early, and stretch out impotent hands to stay the evil, and weep over the desolation without

being able to repair it. The restoration of Davenport to sanity, and his subsequent confession, did not repair the moral desolation which his conduct and principles had made."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THERE was a certain Mr. Strangeways, who had labored as an itinerant in endeavoring to promote revivals, before Mr. Bold made his appearance. Indeed, he had labored in the place where Mr. Bold resided before he was awakened, and though not the pastor, Mr. Bold was usually considered a convert of his. When Mr. Bold became prominent, Mr. Strangeways retired from public observation for a time. He was not pleased that Mr. Bold should take the credit of the new measures, and all the success which was ascribed to them, and have the honor of giving them his name, when he had practised, as he said, the same measures, before Mr. Bold's conversion. He said they ought to be called by his name, rather than by the name of Mr. Bold. Nevertheless, while Mr. Bold seemed to fill the public eye, he remained in obscurity. But after Mr. Bold had gone to South street to labor there, and Mr. Meek had gone to Virginia street, to spend the winter on account of his feeble health, Mr. Strangeways took the field again, and became prominent in Westerly street, as a promoter of revivals. About the

same time also, protracted meetings were introduced, of which he was an active promoter. In these meetings it was common to collect a number of ministers, and have a series of exercises, filling up all the time, except the hours of rest, with preaching, exhortations, prayers, visiting, &c., according to circumstances. Of meetings of this kind in which Mr. Strangeways was invited to take a part, he usually took the control, and managed them himself, without much aid from other ministers. And he seemed determined to outdo, in the strangeness of his measures, and in the strangeness of his expressions, all that had gone before him, fully verifying the remarks in the letter on new measures just quoted. Some, who had maintained their ground against the new-measure influence, during the triumphs of Mr. Bold, now fell in, and were carried away; while others, who had been borne down by the violence of the torrent then, now seemed to recover their sanity, and gradually to work their way back towards their former ground. This would have been well, if they

had only come out openly with their retractions, like the honest Davenport of the last century. It is believed that Mr. Bold himself, when he went to South street, laid aside some of his most obnoxious measures; and also that quite a number of his friends, of prominent standing in Westerly street and elsewhere, did the same. But they made no confessions; they published no retractions; they seemed to wish to maintain the credit of consistency. And while they endeavored silently to get back to their former ground, they wished not to admit that they had ever departed from it.

About this time a long letter was written to Mr. Bold, urging him, as an honest man, to confess sundry wrong things of which he had been guilty, and pains taken to have it privately delivered, that the step might be as nearly as possible in conformity with the 18th of Matthew. And when no answer was received to it, another brother united in the second step of labor. This was done as a proper preparation to a public exposure of Mr. Bold's 's course, in case he should not retract and make gospel satisfaction. These letters never received any answer from Mr. Bold.

But while the writer was collecting facts, and making preparations to publish them, as he believed the interests of true religion required, he was arrested by the following singular document:

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The subscribers, having had opportunity for free conversation on certain subjects pertaining to revivals of religion, concerning which we have differed, are of opinion that the general interests of religion would not be promoted by any further publications on those subjects, or personal discussions; and we do hereby engage to cease from all publications, correspondences, conversations, and conduct, designed or calculated to keep those subjects before the public mind; and that, so far as our influence may avail, we will exert it to induce our friends on either side to do the same." To this document was subscribed the names of several leading new-measure men, and three or four others who had been considered on the other side.

This was considered by the friends of Mr. Bold, as a triumph. And it was viewed in the same light by such of the friends of Mr. Meek as thought the truth ought to be made known. It was also considered in that light by the enemies of all revivals, as appears from the following remarks of a Unitarian paper. After speaking of it as the coming together of Herod and Pilate, he says: "The [Revival] Conference broke up, and the eastern men returned home discomfited and dispirited. The revival measures of the notorious Mr. [Bold] [Fearless] were approved and applauded by their

and Mr.