my religious views, and the doctrines that I am in the habit of publicly teaching; and I am given to understand, that within this very short time back, you publicly assailed my character as a Christian minister, and to a member of my own congregation made charges, which, if allowed to pass uncontradicted, might seriously affect my usefulness. I am given to understand, that you have asserted concerning me-and I certainly must give you all credit for the penetration by which you so soon discovered the sentiments of a person, who, to the best of his knowledge, has made no public or private confession before you--that I am "no Christian,' no preacher of the gospel,” “a denier of the Lord that bought us; and that I am not only without the pale of salvation myself, but that I am leading those who wait upon my ministry, into the same deplorable state of perdition. Sir, these are grave charges; but did they affect myself alone, I should not notice them. As I understand, however, that you industriously circulate the same from motives best known to yourself, but which the charity that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things," will not allow me to impute to any unchristian motive, I cannot let them pass wholly without notice.

Since my settlement in this town, it has been my study, in humble imitation of the conduct of my great Master, as far as lay in my power, to live peaceably with all men. I never made a charge against the religious belief of any of my conscientious neighbours, who, I considered, had the same opportunities and privileges of judging, that I had myself; and grieved am I now to find, that in return, the same Christian spirit has not been reciprocated. While I hold the perfect right of every one, on Christian grounds to defend the opinions he conscientiously believes to be founded on the word of God, I would strongly deprecate the too common practice of denying the Christian name to those who may differ on speculative points.

Sir, you have, I am told, in a comparatively public manner, assailed not me alone and my public character, but one of my flock, in bitter and unwarrantable terms, blaming him for attending on my ministerial services, and, by strength of vituperation and calumny, endeavouring to influence him to desert the faith in which he is at present a conscientious and sincere worshipper.

I take the liberty of writing to you, not for the purpose of rashly asserting, at once, that your conduct has been harsh, uncharitable, and unjust, but simply to allow you, before I and the public come to any further determination on the subject, a full and fair opportunity of explanation.

With regard to your calumnies against my friend Mr. Glendy, and his congregation, I have nothing whatever to do. I shall take care, however, to let him know what you have said concerning him. He is well able to defend himself.

I remain, sir,

Yours, &c.

JAMES MALCOM.

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Having by this letter, and the motives by which I was actuated in writing it, done nothing more than what I conceived to be my duty; and considering it to be sufficiently respectful, when the galling provocation was taken into the account, I expected that the courtes y of the gentleman, and the feelings of the Christian, would have prompted a reply in a similar spirit, for the purpose either of correcting misstatements, denying. the entire transaction, or vindicating the language employed on the occasion. I may be in error, but I certainly thought myself entitled to this. Having, however, received no reply, I am bound to infer that the transaction has been correctly reported, that these statements were thus publicly advanced, that such opinions Mr. Carter entertains concerning me, and that such charges he is in the habit of making, whenever I unfortunately happen to be the subject of his conversation. I now, therefore, as a last resort, appeal to the public for their judgment in this case.

I am in this instance, the accused party; I have been thus wantonly attacked by a man with whom I never interfered; Mr. Carter has, in an unprovoked manner, voluntarily come forward, and endeavoured to brand upon me accusations, that, if allowed to pass unnoticed, might, in the present state of public religious feeling, seriously affect my interest, and the prospects of our worshipping society in this town. I therefore plead "not guilty;" and I take the liberty of telling Mr. Carter through you, that his accusations are unfounded, and his statements untrue. I tell him, as I would tell any man who would dare to poison the public mind against me in a similar manner, that he was unjustified either by the spirit of our common religion, or by any intercourse we have had together, in making his private opinion, however conscientious it may be, the ground of accusation against me. He should have proved his assertions, before he dared even to whisper them abroad -proved them, not from what his own belief may happen to be, but from what the Holy Word of God has decided upon such subjects. Until he does this, satisfactorily and triumphantly, let him never venture to speak upon the subject, without at the same time reminding his auditory, that what he is advancing is but the weak opinion of a weak and fallible man—that many of the wisest, and most pious, and most learned,

have decided very differently upon such questionsthat it is highly presumptuous in him to insult and malign those of different sentiments, who, though they may be in humble circumstances, are not on that account subjects on whom to heap insolence and scurrility; and that it is usurping the privilege of high heaven alone, when he would arrogate a right of "judging" and “condemning "his conscientious Christian brethren for that even the humble individual whom he so loudly censured for worshipping God where his conscience approved, possessed a few privileges in common even with the Rev. Henry Carter,-that to him there was the blessed Bible, a gift as free, and open, and intelligible, from which he was as qualified to gather the essential truths of religion, and form his own faith.

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It would perhaps be sufficient for my own vindication, to content myself with advancing my opinion in opposition to that of Mr. Carter, and simply assert, that his charges are unfounded. I do not, I never have denied the Lord that bought us. I believe, and always have taught," the whole counsel of God" regarding him, that I have found stated in the sacred scriptures ; and as regards my future lot, I believe with the apostle, that, "if I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe that God has raised him from the dead," I shall be saved.

I feel distressed at being thus obliged to notice in terms of the strongest reprobation, the conduct of any of my brother ministers, and especially belonging to a church towards the members of which I entertain no sentiments but those that are friendly, and from whom we have in general experienced no treatment unmarked with brotherly kindness and charity. But I am forced to take this public notice of the unwarrantably gross and insulting conduct of a curate, from a regard to my own character, and to the cause of which I am, in my present situation, in some measure the guardian, in the hope that this public exposure may have the salutary effect of preventing a repetition of the offence.

The attack, I am sorry to add, has not been confined to myself; it will be seen from the account of the conversation, that a neighbouring minister, of whose character and conduct I will not venture to write as my feelings would dictate, but whose well known kindness of heart and purity of life, might surely have screened

him from the finger of derision and obloquy-has also been implicated; and I thought it my duty to inform a brother of what had been said of him in his absence. Accordingly, Mr. Glendy wrote to Mr. Carter upon the subject, a copy of whose letter is here subjoined. To this also, there has been no reply, farther than the reported statement of Mr. Carter, that he will hold these letters as documents to show the treatment he has received; and I now take the liberty of laying them before the public, to show the treatment that we have received.

SIR, I have heard with extreme surprise and regret, of a very wanton and unprovoked attack, said to have been made by you, on my ministerial character; and I regard all the circumstances connected with it, as an aggravation of the offence. It is said, the language was used before a number of persons, just after you had left what you call a consecrated church, when you stood upon what you regard as holy ground, after administering one of the solemn ordinances of our holy religion, when, if ever, the heart of a minister must expand with that charity, wanting which, even the faith that could "remove mountains," is but "the sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal." This, sir, was surely neither the time nor the place, to indulge in an unseemly ebullition of passion, nor exhibit the cloven foot of Popish infallibility. Say then, why you presumed to drag forward my name at all? Our intimacy could not justify this, for I never had the slightest intercourse with you, except, on two occasions, and in neither of these did I use a single expression calculated to irritate the mind of the most sensitive. And if a hearer of yours chose to desert your communion, and, exercising the undoubted right of every Christian, pre

ferred the plain and simple doctrines of the gospel, to the self-contradictory dogmas of the Athanasian creed, why should this subject me to low and vulgar abuse? Above all, sir, how came you to sit in judgment on my Christianity, denounce me as no Christian, and impiously arrogating to yourself, that which only belongs to Jesus the Judge of all, consign "me and my flock to hell?" Let me tell you, your conduct is most audacious, and neither your standing, character, nor acquirements entitle you to assume such authority; and were they ten thousand times what they are, would be spurned as an unholy "lording it over the heritage of God."

Let me ask again, how came you to denounce me as a" denier of the Lord that bought me?" My teaching and principles are perfectly well known in the neighbourhood. I have taught openly, and in secret have I said nothing which I would not, and have not avowed in public. I have often been foully misrepresented by men, who, like yourself, have denounced my opinions, in language, which they did not, and could not, believe; nay, which they knew to be false, and for a time, their calumnies served a purpose; but they now recoil upon the heads of the slanderers, and they find it convenient to be silent. But, if you knew any thing whereof you have affirmed, you must know that my uniform teaching has been to lead men to the word of God, as their only infallible guide, to believe in Jesus as their only Saviour, in whom God is reconciling the world to himself; that my creed is the creed of the apostle Peter, sanctioned by Jesus, and revealed by his Father; "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." You must know I have uniformly taught, that we are redeemed, not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood-not of God! for that is blasphemy; not of a human nature! for that is orthodox nonsense; not of a man! for I am no humanitarian-but with the precious blood of the Son of God, as of a lamb. And if this be "to deny the Lord who bought me," I do so in common with Paul and Peter; nay, the Lord Jesus Christ must have denied himself, and been denied of his Father. I am not, therefore, ashamed of the company in which I am found.

It is also said you charged me with leading my flock to hell, and that those who follow me must go to hell.