still they are tired of hearing this exclusive claim to ministerial character and usefulness, and the self-confident assumption of "competent" and "efficient" and "regular" ministers on the part of the Presbyterian clergymen, as set forth in their letters and reports.. And as I am a sort of poet at times, I would enquire of these self-styled orthodox gentry:Where is thy greatness now? forgotten! gone! Thy superiority, scatter'd in the dust of time, And the bright sun, that once upon you shone, Has located his glory in a different clime.

My object in re-publishing the letters and reports of Presbyterian missionaries, with subjoined remarks, is to subserve the cause of truth, and at the same time, to teach the authors of those letters and reports, the salutary lesson not to suffer their zeal to get too much the start of their knowledge, nor their veracity to halt too far behind both. Therefore, the next chapter will be written on the subject of the moral desolations in the Province of Canada, as set forth by two Presbyterian ministers in the city of New-York. For it seems that not only the valley of the Mississippi is a moral waste, in their estimation, but every other section of the globe, where these men do not reign without a rival. In one word, from the reports of home missionaries in the employment of the Presbyterian church, it appears, that Presbyterian clergymen alone, have been called of God to preach the Gospel, in these United States.

CHAPTER III.

THE PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA IS A GREAT MORAL "" WASTE.

THE above sentence occurs twice in the New-York Evangelist, for August, 1831, in two recommendations from two reverend Presbyterians of the city of New-York, in which they urge the claims of Mr. Cary, an agent sent by the Presbytery of Upper Canada to solicit pecuniary aid in behalf of a theological seminary, then in contemplation for that province. One of these gentlemen, in urging the claims of Upper Canada, or his kindred spirits of that province, in their determination to establish a seminary of learning there, actually goes on to say, "this seminary is comparatively the ONLY HOPE under God." That it is right to establish semin

aries of learning in Canada, and in every state and territory in the Union, will not, I think, be denied by any one; but that Upper Canada should be represented as "a great moral waste," in order to effect this most desirable object is wicked, and it is what facts and the real state of things will not warrant. That there are many ungodly sinners in Upper Canada, and many soul-destroying errors which need to be plucked up, I have no doubt; but I happen to have such means of information, as to enable me to know that in Upper Canada, for the last thirty-five years, there have been as powerful, and, in proportion to the number of the inhabitants, as extensive revivals of religion, as have been witnessed any where else; and within seven or eight years past the success of the missions under the care of the Methodist conference in Canada, has truly astonished every one who has impartially beheld them. Gentlemen, this over-stating business is not the best way to do good. Reader, it cannot now be done as formerly, as you very well know, without an exposure. It must be obvious, that the want of accuracy and candor, manifested in so many communications on the moral condition of our country, not only excites a prejudice among us injurious to the usefulness of those sent out to labor as missionaries, but creates a false impression abroad.

The population of Upper Canada, in 1831, did not much exceed 100,000 souls. Among these there were not less than 10,000 belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church, or about one tenth of the whole population, according to the minutes of said church. Add to these the Baptists, the Menonists, the Scotch and English Presbyterians, and the members of the Church of England, and it will be found that the province is not one "great moral waste," as these libellers have represented it, unless they intended to be understood, which was no doubt the case, that all were morally destitute who were not favored with the ministrations of the Presbytery. of Upper Canada. One of the gentlemen does, indeed, assume the position that a "faithful Gospel ministry" cannot be secured "without a theological seminary!" If this position be correct, then indeed was Upper Canada in a most deplorable state, for no such institution existed there, and therefore no "faithful Gospel ministry."-But it seems from an article that appeared in a Canada paper, soon after these libellous publications reached there, that the people of that Province, who had sat under what they considered a "faithful gospel ministry" " for more than thirty years, did not relish these things so well.

To be brief, so far as different portions of our population are dependant on Presbyterian ministers for a supply of their religious wants, their condition is truly deplorable, and if left without help from ministers of other denominations, they may in truth be called "great moral wastes!" For, first, but few of them have the disposition to feed the wandering sheep without high wages; and next, still fewer of them have the gifts and graces to do so. Happily for many, however, so far as Methodism is concerned, there is, in its admirable economy, an adaptiveness to the various local habitations and religious wants of every class of society. Methodist preachers generally, like the venerable founder of Methodism, John Wesley, say, in answer to those who trouble them "the world is my parish." Before I close this chapter, however, I will just remark, that the government of Canada, some time previous to 1831, had established a college at York, the capitol of Upper Canada, and that the Methodists had for some time been pursuing measures for the establishment of a literary institution, to be located at Coberg, in the District of Lancaster. And where is there a scope of country, having no greater population than that of Upper Canada, where more than two colleges can be found? Alas! this enables us to account for the poor little Presbytery of Upper Canada, having sent Mr. Cary out on this begging expedition. The Presbyterians, where ever they are found, like Pompey and Cesar of old, can neither bear an equal or a superior!

CHAPTER IV.

DELAWARE COUNTY, IN NEW-YORK, A GREAT MORAL WASTE.

THE following letter, written at Delhi, Delaware county, New-York, is from the pen of a Presbyterian clergyman, and in the summer of 1831, was published in the Delaware Gazette, the Western Recorder, the New-York Evangelist, and the Vermont Chronicle.

DEAR SIR-Permit me, through the Recorder, to acknowledge the displays and triumphs of the grace of God in the village of Delhi, the shire town of Delaware county. Until within a few months, the influence of infidelity upon the population of this place, both in its naked form of the last century, and under its varying specious garbs of the present day, had not probably a parallel in the State! The Bi

L

ble and its institutions were treated with very GENERAL CONTEMPT; and their influence was almost WHOLLY banished from the people! The name of God and of his dear Son, were openly reviled and blasphemed, by men of the most commanding influence, and the highest standing in the place. Some FEEBLE EFFORTS had repeatedly been made to raise the Redeemer's standard on this ground, but with no apparent success, till some time in the course of last winter, when, under the missionary labors of Rev. S. G. Orton, the Holy Spirit gently distilled its influences, and a few were brought to yield their hearts to God.

In April last, a four days meeting was held, which was attended with very happy effects. At that time a church was organized, and the banner of the gospel was set up in the name of the Lord. At the April meeting, a county Sunday School Union was formed, and efficient measures were adopted, to extend the benefits of Bible instruction to all the youth of the county. The whole amount of good done cannot be fully estimated, until the disclosures of the judgment day. The little sacramental host of God's elect in Delhi, need the prayers and aid of their brethren, in their present struggle to build a house for the public worship of God, and to establish among them the STATED preaching of the gospel. It devolves upon them to hold up the banner of the cross, on perhaps, THE BOLDEST RAMPART OF THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS IN OUR STATE. May the great Head of the Church sustain them in the effort, and to him shall be all the glory.

Yours, &c.

L."

REMARKS. In a moral point of view, the enterprising mind of man, cannot conceive of a race of beings, being in a more deplorable state, than this letter writer represents the inhabitants of Delaware county to have been, in the summer of 1831. Nor is the penetration of an Odipus, at all necessary, to enable the reader to determine, whether the above is a portrait drawn by a faithful artist, or a hideous caricature having existence only in a distempered imagination, or the splenetic effusions of mortified vanity and self-conceit. From reading Mr. L's letter, a person unacquainted with Delhi, would suppose that it was peopled with a gang of Atheists, superstitious Hindoos, or degraded Hottentots, who led lives corresponding with their professions, and that none but "feeble" efforts had been made to effect a reformation, all of which proved entirely unavailing until the arrival of Mr. Orton, and his brother L. who (potent men!) soon battered down the boldest rampart of the kingdom of darkness in the State,"

and established the "sacramental host of God's elect." The article in question, is a foul libel on the citizens of Delhi and its vicinity, and its being from the pen of a clergyman is no extenuation of the offence: rather it aggravates and greatly increases the guilt.

What excuse can be offered for this flagrant outrage, committed against the "rampart" of common sense, by this our brother L? I hope some better one than that he wrote for the Western Recorder, or the meridian of Utica, for effect abroad. If there be any portion of the great commercial State, where the people have been favored with line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little, and there a great deal, that portion is Delaware county. The march of religious improvement in that county, for a number years past, has been rapid, constant and onward. The Delaware Coun ty Bible Society, reported at its anniversary in July, 1830, that every family in the county was supplied with a copy of the scriptures. They then had not only a county Temperance Society there, which would compare advantageously with any in the State, but a village temperance society was formed there in the spring of 1829, and was in a very flourishing state in 1831, which to Mr. L. ought to have been evidence of a reformation in morals, removed in some small degree from heathenism!

The Methodists, who are by far the most numerous denomination in that county, had long enjoyed "stated" preaching. Indeed a revival had already commenced among them which numbered some ten or a dozen converts, before these reverend gentlemen assumed spiritual dictation over the village. The Episcopalians had a house of worship in Delhi before these men had paid the place this pastoral visit, and had organized a congregation in the place several years before they built said house. Both the Methodists and Episcopalians, had flourishing Sabbath schools there, even before they had learned that the Lord had certainly made such men as Messrs. Orton and L. The doctrines of the Methodist and Episcocal churches had long been honestly stated by the preachers; no unpopular tenets were kept in reserve; no garbled account of a Confession of Faith was insidiously held out as a lure to decoy the ignorant and inexperienced. Under the ministry of these men, the people were not shocked with irreverent and blasphemous expressions, or disgusted with the capers of a harlequin. They heard no virulent denunciations of individuals, or of particular creeds, under the garb of supplications to the throne of grace which has long since become a