imperial robes, in expectance.

Nor does this base conten

tion portend a crown in heaven, or celestial robes of light and glory.

The sincere friend of truth may humbly repose his confidence in the God of truth, though his foes are numerous, strong, and active. And I place full confidence in the belief, that correct sentiments will prevail; that they will not be rooted out of this city. Neither the pitchy, midnight cloud of the eleventh, nor the early dawn of the sixteenth century, are to return; nor are the discoverers and improvers of the eighteenth century to be compelled, like Gallileo and Copernicus, to retract their discoveries, in order that the champions of selfishness may rule the church a little longer. Civil rulers have learned that they can make shift to wield the sword and sceptre, and are in no dread of a peal of thunder from the Vatican; nor are they in need of monks and inquisitors at their elbow, to point out the victims of the mother of harlots. The amusements of the auto-de-fe are past; and, as for the ghostly lords and umpires of conscience, they The faithful witnesses of truth are no are never more to return. more dragged to the anvil, that their chains and fetters may be made fast; nor are these moral blacksmiths longer to rivet their fetters on the mind, made for free and liberal discussion.

But, defeated as Satan and his angels, and all his legions of spiritual despots, emissaries, and abettors are; dislodged from their main fortresses; driven from the open field, and ferreted from glens, coverts, and fastnesses, it is astonishing to see the activity, the incredible zeal, boldness, and desperation of their expiring efforts. They can no more endure the light than ghosts and goblins can abide the approach of morning; it discloses their frightful features, and pierces them through with intolerable pain. Yet, in their ardour to maintain even a hairbreadth of ground, or perhaps to bring off the body of Patroclus, or some hero slain, they forget that they can do nothing but in darkness, and bolt fairly out into open day. What do we see?—Their whole panoply!-You might nearly take their description from Ossian's cloudy ghost: "Their sword is a pale meteor, without edge or point-their spear is mist"-their breastplate, made of something

which shines in the night like burning gold,* now appears a miserable patch of rotten wood. Their helmet is paper, whose only virtue is derived from some great name, such as CALVIN, written on it in capitals. Yet their countenance is very fierce, and smoke issues from their mouth and nostrils. Did you not see their weapons, you might expect a terrible conflict; and, as it is, they will make a stout resistance to every thing but "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

I fully anticipate all that will be said of these remarks; the contemptuous slangs of Arminianism! Socinianism! Ribaldry! Slander! that will be thrown out. But, that reason which renders man the lord of this terrestrial globe, and which continually strives to rescue him from the reign of his passions and prejudices, if allowed to speak, will show the reader that my premises are true; and, as for the conclusions, I wait for time and experience, those grand correctors of folly, to justify them. That tribunal before which I am perfectly certain this production will fare the best, will be the consciences of the very men I accuse? For they well know that I speak the truth. Were they, indeed, as ardently engaged in promoting truth, as they are error; in removing old prejudices, as they are in supporting them; in promoting the spread of light and reformation, as they are in extinguishing the one, and resisting the other, still, using the means to do it which they are using, they would have reason to be ashamed of their conduct, and would merit the disapprobation of all men; for the end cannot sanctify the means.

The cause of Jesus Christ, important and glorious in its nature, divine in its origin, and pure in its principles, uniform and resistless in its progress, and secure of its final issue, asks no assistance from those artifices by which the schemes of ambition are accomplished; much less does it fear those artifices, or the more bold attacks of wicked men. And it will progress and prosper; neither shall the gates of hell prevail against it. Let these men continue to plot and whisper; let them summon to their aid their sharpest satire and best logic-their boldest assertions, and most pious tones, still their scheme is not on the ground of truth, and

Foxfire.

it will not stand. After having wasted their wit on phantoms of their own creation, their zeal in vain efforts, and all their mighty resources in building castles in the air, they must at last bow to the truth, in those solemn scenes where the illusions of ambition are not known, and where the adorations of a multitude, led on by sophistry and intrigue, can no longer give countenance.

INVESTIGATOR.

ΤΟ

THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK.

I HAD almost concluded to issue this Triangle, which the reader will perceive is the true and real Triangle, without any address, advertisement, ad lectorem, or preface; but I feared it would resemble a door without a threshold, or a building without a courtyard or portico. It is not worth while for a writer to say much about his motives in his preface. It would be like a man who was conducting you into a Museum, who should stop you at the door to tell you what was to be seen: it would be quicker work to let you in. And Johnson's saying, that a book will fix its own age and country, is generally

true.

This book is not a Habeas corpus ad respondendum," but rather a Habebunt corpora ad vivendum. I fear the lawyers will not comprehend this phrase, but the divines will," and that will do," as the great Wellington said when he laid his hands on the pommel of his saddle. The Hopkinsians are a very clever set of men; all they want is to live, and "let live." They are disinterestedly benevolent. They