and he was carried at the age of five months to Granville, Mass., and bound out a servant to Deacon David Rose. The deacon was strictly a Calvinist, and sought to imbue the spirit of his young charge with the religion of Jesus Christ as he understood it. The lad was timid, fearful, especially in a thunder-storm. His thoughts of God

always bordered on the terrific. He loved study; and, although the advantages which he had were very small, yet, by strict application, and by adopting as his motto. that he would know a little more every night than he did in the morning," he slowly increased his stock of knowledge. His serious impressions increased; he often had fearful apprehensions of going to hell; was greatly alarmed at the aurora borealis, which he regarded as a presage of the day of judgment. He finally supposed he had experienced religion, and united with the church in East Granville. Subsequently, his gifts and piety attracted the attention of neighboring clergymen, and he was advised to prepare for the ministry. He pursued his introductory studies with a clergyman in Connecticut, and afterwards studied Greek with another clergyman. In 1780 he was licensed to preach the gospel. The first five years of his ministry were spent in Middle Granville, where a new meeting-house had been built, and where he was invited to supply the pulpit. At the close of this term he was ordained, and shortly after went to Torrington, Conn., where he officiated for two years. Afterwards, namely, in 1788, he removed to West Rutland, Vt., having received a call to the pastoral office there. He pursued his vocation as a minister of the gospel here for a series of years. His instructions to the people of his charge

were strictly Calvinistic. They had obtained a small library, consisting principally of religious books, among which were certain recent English publications, and controversial works on theology, as Fuller's "Letters to Calvinists," "The Gospel its own Witness," "The Gospel a Faithful Saying," "The Backslider," &c. &c. It is probable there were other works somewhat of this nature. Such books as these were pleasing to him. He was remarkably fond of a sharp, pungent style, of apt illustration, and of stinging satire and repartee,-a style which he took some pains to cultivate.

SECTION XXIII. MR. BALLOU IN HAYNES' PULPIT.

At the time named, June 1805, Mr. Ballou appeared in Rutland to deliver a discourse, at the request of several of the respectable inhabitants of that town. He took for his text 1 John 4: 10, 11,-"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." The leading object of his discourse was to describe, 1st, The great love of God towards his creatures, whom he had created in his own image, while they were in a state of sin and guilt. 2d, The manner in which this love had been manifested through the Lord Jesus Christ; and, 3d, The propriety, beauty and duty, of our loving one another, as a rational service arising from the manifestation of the love of God in Christ. These were the precise themes of the text. The sermon was distinguished for its kindness; nothing had been spoken directly against any

class of Christians, except so far as preaching the plain doctrine of the text could be so regarded. Mr. Haynes came at this time to hear Mr. Ballou, at the urgent request, it is said, of his people. They felt a desire, perhaps, for a display of his wit and satire in an attack on Mr. Ballou. When Mr. H. arrived at the meetinghouse, he was introduced to Mr. B., and was at once invited to take a part in the exercises. This at first he declined, saying he came merely as a hearer. Mr. B. urged his acceptance of the invitation, as the services were to be holden in Mr. H.'s pulpit. At this Mr. H. said- knowing, perhaps, the preparation he had made that he might be willing to make some remarks after the sermon was closed. Accordingly, after Mr. B. had finished his sermon, he turned politely to Mr. H. and said, "There is now an opportunity for remarks, if you are disposed to make any;" when Mr. H. arose and delivered his discourse.

SECTION XXIV.. - MR. HAYNES' SERMON.

Mr. Haynes was much excited, and grew more so as he proceeded. One fact can fail to strike nobody, namely, that Mr. H's sermon was no reply whatever to the sermon of Mr. B. It was claimed by Mr. H's friends, "That the subject was chosen, and the plan and arrangement of the discourse formed, while he was listening to Mr. B." We think it far more probable that this attack on Universalism had been previously prepared, and that Mr. H. carried it to the church in his pocket. Not the slightest reference did he make to Mr. Ballou's discourse;

nor attempt to show that Mr. B. had misapplied his text, or drawn wrong inferences from it. The simple fact about Mr. H.'s sermon, which strikes the attention of every man who reads it, is, that it was an ebullition of ill-will to Universalists, and hatred to the doctrine which they preach. There was no calm reasoning in it; no attempt to show that the doctrine of endless misery is the doctrine of the Scriptures; no effort to prove that the passages used by Universalists to support the doctrine they believe are misapplied by them; but it was merely the aim to hold the doctrine up to ridicule as the devil's doctrine, and Mr. B. as the devil's agent. Truth was aimed at less than satire; religion less than wit; and a momentary revenge more than a public good. Mr. B., on his part, had treated Mr. H. with politeness; he had invited and urged him to take a part in the services; and, in the course of his sermon, had studiously avoided everything which could give him pain. Which of the two, then, acted most like the disciple of Jesus? and which showed the wisdom that is from beneath, described as carnal, sensual, devilish? Mr. H. was not the author of the leading idea of his discourse, namely, that the devil was the first preacher of Universalism. This had been maintained by Dr. Ryland, of England; and it is probable that, among the English controversial books which we have said had found their way into the library at Rutland, where Mr. H. resided, he had seen some references to Dr. Ryland's discourse, if not the discourse itself. It was entitled, "The First Lie refuted; or, the Grand Delusion exposed; a Sermon preached at the Rev. Dr. Rippon's meeting-house, by John Ryland, D.D., June

15, 1800," which was five years before Mr. H. broached the same idea. The two sermons both had the same text, and the same object, they were both philippics against Universalism. As Dr. Ryland's had been noticed in several of the English reviews, we have but little doubt that Mr. H. got the first idea of his discourse from that

source.

SECTION XXV.- MR. BALLOU REPLIES.

Mr. Ballou had no desire to pursue Mr. H. He made no reply upon the spot. He felt that his antagonist had done what he would be sorry for in moments of calm reflection. It was an unprovoked attack, and had not been rendered necessary by anything which had been said upon the occasion. Charity led Mr. B. to pass it over, as a hasty matter, which did his opponent no honor as a Christian, and which, if he did not persist in it, should not be mentioned to his discredit. But Mr. B. was soon disappointed, for, to his surprise, in about six months afterward he saw the sermon in print! In his preface Mr. H. expressed a doubt "whether, on the whole, the publication was for the interest of truth" but he seems to have yielded his own judgment to that of those by whom he had "been urged to let the same appear in print." The publication appeared about the beginning of 1806, when Mr. Ballou at once addressed an epistle to Mr. Haynes, through the medium of the press. As this epistle is important, and not of great length, it is here subjoined.

"Barnard, April 22, 1806.

"REV. SIR: The design of this epistle is to inform you and the public how I viewed your conduct at the time you delivered the