Marriage and Removal to Philadelphia
MAKEIAGE COLLEGE LABOUES PEEACHING CALL TO PHILADELPHIA SET-TLEMENT IN PINE-STEEET CHTTECH LABOUES IN PHILADELPHIA
EVANGELICAL SOCIETY ASSOCIATES — STUDIES — PKOGEESS.
ON the fifth day of April, 1802, he was married to Janetta Waddel, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Waddel of the county of Louisa. It may be safely said that no man was ever more blessed in such a connection. If the uncommon beauty and artless grace of this lady were strong attractions in the days of youth, there were higher qualities which made the union inexpressibly felicitous during almost half a century. For domestic wisdom, self-sacrificing affection, humble piety, industry, inexhaustible stores of vivacious conversation, hospitality to his friends, sympathy with his cares, and love to their children, she was such a gift as God bestows only on the most favoured. While during a large part of middle life he was subject to a variety of maladies, she was preserved -in unbroken health. When his spirits flagged, she was always prompt and skilful to cheer and comfort. And as his days were filled with spiritual and literary toils, she relieved him from the whole charge of domestic affairs. Without the show of any conjugal blandishments, there was through life a perfect coincidence of views, and a respectful affection which may be recommended as a model. It pleased God to spare to him this faithful ministry of revering love to the very last, and when the earthly tie was broken to make the separation short.
In the month of May, 1802, he removed to Hampden Sidney, and resumed his charge of the college. Mr. Kice was still his principal coadjutor, as Mr. Speece had removed to a pastoral charge in Maryland. Of the ensuing years we have slender records. Their colour was probably not very different from those which have been noticed. Besides the perpetual demand for pulpit labours, in a region where to this day ministers travel far to preach the Word, there was a necessity for unwearied application to the difficult branches of public instruction. His field of knowledge was enlarging its limits, and his opinions on all subjects were taking their settled forms. Having resided in the same region many years since, we can testify that his reputation as a preacher was extraordinary. Making all the abatements which may be needful, it must still be acknowledged that for vigour, animation and charm of delivery, his efforts at this time were surpassed by none during his whole career. His health had been invigorated, he had acquired a confidence which had been wanting in his earlier efforts, his person was attractive, and the vehemence and decoration of discourse were greater than in later years.
The letters of this time which remain are, few indeed; which enhances the value of that which follows, short as it is.
MR. ALEXANDER TO MRS. GRAHAM.
“Hampden Sidney, July 19, 1803.
“Dear Sister: —
“By John Chavis I received yours, and pass over all the rest to answer that part in which you express some uneasiness at my entertaining doubts respecting the genuineness of the Kentucky revival.
“In answer, I observe, that I have never at any time expressed such doubts, though it is more than probable that I have said what some would suppose to indicate such a state of mind. I have not doubted that much good has been done in that country, and that a considerable number have experienced true religion. All these effects I attribute without hesitation to God. And in proportion as I obtain evidence of the existence of such effects, I am confirmed in the opinion that the Spirit of God has been poured out. But I have supposed, and now think, that those extraordinary bodily appearances furnish no evidence of a saving operation of the Holy Spirit. If I should not be able to account for them upon common and natural principles, I yet have no right to ascribe them to the immediate agency of divine power, unless they are among effects promised to be produced. If no stress be laid on them, I have nothing to say in relation to them. If they furnish no evidence in favour of a work being of God, they can, I presume, afford
none that it is not. If they are ranked with tears, crying, &c., the common effects of religious passions, I am neither offended with them, nor am I much delighted with them. I have moreover supposed, and do still suppose, that many measures were adopted by the conductors of this work, which were imprudent and unwarrantable. When people are under strong religious impressions, there is more need of regulation and restraint than of encouragement. To give an instance — six or ten persons exhorting at once — five hundred praying as loud as they can cry; these things occurred in Carolina. My opinion is that the fruit of this revival will by no means answer the appearances, and that the declension will be so apparent, that the unbelieving will be greatly hardened. In all these opinions, however, I have a reserve. I have not been an eye-witness to the work; if I were, I might judge differently of many things.
“I remain your affectionate brother,
“A. A.”
“About this time,” says he,” the conduct of the students became very irregular, and I grew weary of governing them. I had been invited in the spring of 1806, to visit the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, made vacant by the removal of Dr. Milledoler to New- York.* I declined the invitation, but in September I was again requested to visit the city, as there was no hope of fixing upon any other candidate. This came just at the time when our students
* The call was approved by the Presbytery, Oct. 22d, 1806.
were in a state of much turbulence and insubordination. Without consulting any of my friends, I set out for Philadelphia, where I preached for two Sabbaths as well as during the week.” The result was a unanimous call to the church in Pine Street. Immediately on his return home he procured a meeting of the Presbytery, and the Trustees of the College met on the same day, when he requested to be dismissed from both charges. In all this proceeding he seems to have acted with much decision of purpose; so that his friends did not venture to lay any obstacle in his way, while they were by no means convinced that he was wise in the removal. The step was an important one, as it severed him from his native State, and led the way to those more important engagements as a theological instructor, for which Providence had all along been preparing him.
In subsequent years, and even to the close of his life, he recurred to these years of ministry in Virginia with fond emotion. They were connected with his most animating labours and most visible success. He never could cease to lament the loss of that peculiar warmth and cordiality which belonged to Southern Christians; and he was often heard to say, that although he believed he had attained greater usefulness by his removal, he had sustained a great loss as to personal and social comfort. In all those things which attract the observation of the public, these were his best days. An exuberant hilarity made his companionship delightful, as will be readily believed by those who remember the clear loud laugh even of his latter years. The circumstances in which he had grown up in his early ministry, among a number of active and inquiring minds, rendered controversy inevitable; and we can recall the days in which debates on theological topics were carried to all the lengths of excitement, which are not inconsistent with good nature and Christian friendship. We regard the period which we now bring to a close, as that in which, with regard to every important trait and faculty, his mind and character took their form. Wider range of knowledge, richer stores of accumulation, sounder experience, keener sagacity, more prophetic forecast, there may have come with advancing years, but in whatsoever can attract in the man, or impress in the preacher, he was just now at a point of culmination.
Another remark is still more obvious; this was the eventful period of his life. From this time forward, and especially after the single remove to New Jersey, there was no more change of place or occupation, but life flowed on in a placid current. Up to this time on the contrary, events had followed one another in very rapid succession. Indeed, from his very boyhood, he may be said to have been in a continual change. This served in a very remarkable degree to form his character, to enlarge his views, to afford sides of approach to various persons and influences, and to redeem him for all his years of study from every thing like the narrowness, pedantry and stiffness of the schools and the closet. As it regards the most important of all qualifications, it may be affirmed without hesitation, that these were years of spiritual advancement. He was incessantly engaged in efforts to do good as an instructor of ytfuth and as a preacher, in public and private. The savour of his unobtrusive piety remained
278 l JOURNEY.
as a holy fragrance in that part of the church, long after he had removed from it, and a few aged persons still survive, who love to relate how his face seemed to shine from acts of private communion, and how his discourse, even more freely than in later years, broke forth in eloquent and pathetic appeals upon divine subjects. We are induced to believe that the very trains of thought, which went to constitute those practical sermons, which were singularly admirable for the intertexture of doctrine and experience, were constructed during the meditations and labours of this period. By all this process, Grod was preparing him for the important post, at which his closing years were to be spent.
Having determined to leave Virginia, Mr. Alexander hastened to effect a speedy settlement in his new home. His little family had already been taken to Hopewell, and did not return to Prince Edward.
We have happily recovered a letter to Mrs. Graham, which supplies some facts of this period. “We set out from Dr. Waddel’s,” so he writes in 1807, “on November 24th, and reached Philadelphia on the 8th of December; the roads were deep and the weather unfavourable. We were detained two days in Fauquier by high water, and two more at Leesburg by bad roads. At the last mentioned place, Mr. Mines is settled, but his situation is by no means comfortable. His expectations have not been realized, either as to support or usefulness. We staid at his house, and were treated with the greatest kindness. There are here some excellent Christians, and upon the whole, the village contains as many respectable families as any one of the same size in Virginia.
“Before I left Prince Edward, I wrote to the people here to meet me with a carriage at Little York, expecting to arrive there by the first day of December; but we were so much retarded by the causes already stated, that we were still in Virginia at the appointed time. After passing Fredericktown a few miles, the axle-tree of our carriage snapped in two, and we were obliged to walk half a mile back to get to a house, and to contrive some means of getting the carriage to Fredericktown to be mended. We felt very little disconcerted, although the prospect was gloomy. I left Janetta and the children in the house, and took a young man back with me to the carriage. We were engaged in fastening it as well as we could, when I lifted up my eyes and saw an empty carriage approaching. As soon as I saw it I said, ( There is the carriage from Philadelphia, which was to meet us! ‘And so it was. We now understood the reason why our axle-tree broke; for half a mile before us there was an ugly little river which had been much swollen by the rains, and which we should have crossed with danger, our horses being jaded. Besides, on that very night a very heavy snow began to fall, through which we could have made no progress without an excellent driver and good horses; and we were much pleased to have it in our power to send Scipio home from this place instead of taking him further, as something might have happened to him. So this little disaster, as it seemed at first, gave us much pleasure in the end. The remainder of our journey was dreadful, as to roads and weather, but we suffered no injury. Janetta wearied herself in carrying William more than was necessary, but she and the children remained perfectly well, and through Grod’s blessing are so still. As for myself, I caught a violent cold in Leesburg which affected my breast very much, as I had much preaching to do upon my arrival here. Living in a large city has in it many things agreeable to me, and some which are not. My principal objection to it is, that I am not sufficiently master of my own time; but this inconvenience is of course greater just now than it will be hereafter. Our people are, with few exceptions, of the middling class. They do not affect the modes of high life, but glory in being plain and unceremonious. They are remarkable for attachment to their minister, and for affection to one another. There is not a person in the congregation who is not friendly to warm evangelical preaching; and this they must have fresh from the mint, for they are greater enemies to the reading of sermons than the Yirginians themselves. I find that Dr. Smith’s and Dr. Millecloler’s labours have been uncommonly useful. We have also some hopeful appearances at present. The attention to preaching is great, and a few persons seem to be impressed.”
His connection with the institution of slavery was not such as to present any serious hinderance to removal, but one of its incidents is too instructive to be omitted. There was in the family a young woman named Daphne, who had been the attendant of Mrs. Alexander from her childhood, and was treated more as a friend than a servant. When it was left to her choice, she determined to accompany her master and mistress to the North; and as she had been married to a young man in Prince Edward, she went with hopes that he might in some way obtain his freedom. We shall anticipate so far as to complete her remarkable story. Soon after arrival in Philadelphia, she found many, some being of the Society of Friends, who deeply sympathized with her in the separation from her husband; and there were some who proposed that she should go round among the benevolent with a subscription towards his redemption from slavery. John Boatman was regarded as a valuable servant, and was accordingly held at a high price; but the money was raised, and the master struck off something from the sum which he might have obtained. John, who was a brawny and ill-favoured black, was sent on to accompany the family in travelling northward. Mr. Alexander kept them both as hired servants upon wages. But John discovered that he could procure larger amounts elsewhere, and was immediately released to become the coachman of Governor McKean. Daphne, who was of light complexion and persuasive manners, began to associate with the ladies of colour in Philadelphia, and learned to entertain more lofty thoughts. She soon left her kind protectors and set up for herself. The husband went rapidly astray, forsook his wife, and was cast into prison. Daphne fell into ill health, became unable to work, and at length found a place in the almshouse. Here she was during the earlier part of Dr. Alexander’s residence in Princeton. During her retreat in this public institution she was led to reflect on the quiet and ease which she had enjoyed under a nominal bondage, so that when she was visited by two daughters of Dr. Waddel, she embraced with joy the proposal that she should return and find a shelter amidst the scenes of her youth, where her mother and several brothers and sisters still lived. “We agreed,” says Dr. Alexander, “to make up among us the sum which was necessary. But I told her that she could not go back as a free woman, as the laws prohibited the return of free negroes to the State; but that she knew what freedom was, and what slavery was, and might again exercise her choice whether to remain free or to go back as a slave. There had been no formal act of manumission when she was brought away. She did not hesitate a moment. She knew that she had never been a slave except in name, and she felt a strong desire to be with her kindred and the children of her young master.” Daphne accordingly returned, and has found a happy home ever since in the family of Dr. Addison Waddel of Staunton, working for herself and going wherever she pleases. She still survives at the time of the present writing, and has always borne the character of an affectionate and humble Christian.
Kesuming our narrative, we have to state that Mr. Alexander has recorded his belief that the suddenness of his removal was not without some human impatience and precipitancy. “But,” he adds, “what I did rashly, Providence ordered for good.” Upon arriving in Philadelphia he found himself embarrassed by the novelty of his domestic circumstances, and the common difficulty of obtaining proper servants. He moreover began his labours with a violent cold, which, however, did not prevent his opening his new career of labour. He was received as a member of the Presbytery of Philadelphia on the 21st of April, 1807. His installation as pastor took place on the 20th of the next month on which occasion the Rev. George C. Potts delivered the customary sermon, the Kev. Jacob J. Janeway presided and gave the charge to the minister, and the Kev. James P. Wilson, D. D. gave the charge to the people.
MR. ALEXANDER TO MRS. GRAHAM.
“Philadelphia, March 5, 1807.
“Dear Sister: —
“My time is very much occupied here, but the business on which my duty obliges me to attend is not disagreeable. Almost every day some sick persons are to be visited. Funerals are frequently to be attended, and sometimes persons under spiritual trouble apply in order that they may be advised and comforted. There is a very wrong opinion frequently entertained of congregations in such a place as this; as if all the members were well informed people. The truth is, there is much less religious knowledge among the bulk of the people here than in the country. Multitudes grow up with very little knowledge of the doctrines of religion, and many after they are grown join themselves to a congregation by taking pews, who were never instructed at all. These require very plain preaching, and when they become serious need to be taught the very first principles of the doctrine of Christ.
“I have just now returned from visiting a woman, who sent for me to converse about her being baptized, as this had been neglected in her infancy. I found her very ignorant of every thing except that she felt herself to be a lost sinner, and trusted in Christ alone for salvation. She was so affected when she attempted to speak, that she could utter only a few words at a time. She handed me a book, which she said contained a description of her exercises. It contained Wright on the New Birth, and Haweis on the Sacrament, bound together. I had never seen either of them, and therefore looked a little into the volume, and found it to be sound and very plain. I told her it was well, and that I would baptize her on the next occasion.
“This morning I was a good deal encouraged by an account which I saw in a letter from a gentleman in East Jersey to his cousin, one of our elders. This man paid a visit to his cousin in this city last month; and although he was deistically inclined, and never went to a place of worship at home, he was induced by his relative, who is fervent in piety, to attend our meetings. Since he went home, he has written that he has determined to turn his attention to religion and to change his manner of life. He was educated in Glasgow for the ministry, but became skeptical, as his cousin informs me, and devoted himself to trade. We have several instances of awakening and hopeful conversion since I arrived here. Two men, particularly, who were considered the most worldly in their disposition of any in their circle, have become serious. One of these professes to have experienced a thorough change. The other has been almost in despair, but begins now to be a little comforted. I have frequently visited a man and his wife, who appeared to me as ignorant as any I ever saw in a gospel land; but they have, I trust, obtained eyes to see; and knowledge may be expected to follow of course. I have attempted to mention the principal encouraging cases which have fallen under my observation. But I do not yet know one [half of my] people. They do not know one another; for [many of them] never meet any where but at church. Among the poor I have found some choice spirits, real heirs of the kingdom; one man in particular, who is too infirm to come out, and who [is supported by the] congregation, edifies me every time I call to see him, and is all alive in religion. I find myself greatly benefited by my visits to the sick and afflicted; and it leads me to preach in a strain which otherwise I should not have thought suitable to a great city. My love to all friends. Grace, mercy and peace be with you and yours.
“A. A.”
TO THE SAME.
“Philadelphia, Jan. 23, 1811.
“Dear Sister: —
“Religion in this place is at present in a languid rather than a thriving state. The additions to the church have been less considerable during the last year than for any year since I came here. Mr. Burch continues here, and is, I think, very useful. His people are still fond of him, and are building a- beautiful church. People at a distance are much mistaken about the kind of preaching which suits this place. Some congregations, it is true, require men of the best learning and talents, but many others demand preaching of the plainest kind, and less learning and polish than almost any country congregation however remote. We need at this time another preacher of the same stamp as Mr. Burch, to preach to the people in the suburbs.
“We have been pleasing ourselves with the prospect of a trip to Virginia next summer; but whether our hopes shall be realized remains to be discovered. If we should be able to accomplish our wish, you may expect to see us in August. Time glides rapidly along; year succeeds year in swift succession. We must soon begin to descend towards the grave, according to the general course of nature. Lately, as it seems in the retrospect, we were young; but soon, if our lives are prolonged, we shall be old. Well, if ‘we can but live usefully and die comfortably, we need not be concerned
how soon we finish this pilgrimage.
“A. A.”
The materials for constructing a full and connected narrative of this new period are unfortunately wanting. Dr. Alexander seldom retained a copy of his own letters. And what is still more painfully felt by us in prosecuting our work, the autobiography breaks off about this point, and we henceforward journey on without the guiding thread of his own record which has thus far conducted us.
Philadelphia, though far less populous than in our day, was nevertheless the chief city of the land, and was distinguished as for many years the permanent seat of the General Assembly. Its churches were among the most distinguished in our communion, and were served by clergymen of note. There were at this time four Presbyterian congregations. The pastor of the First Church was the Kev. James P. Wilson, D. D., in some respects one of the most remarkable ministers whom our connection has produced. After having been a lawyer for fifteen years, he devoted himself to the work of preaching the Gospel, and laboured with great acceptance and the admiration of many cultivated minds, until the decline of health brought his active service to a close, when he was succeeded by the Kev. Albert Barnes. Dr. Wilson was a man of varied and recondite learning. Between him and Mr. Alexander there were many sympathies, and a familiar literary commerce was kept up between them. Both were strongly inclined to the study of language, in which Dr. W. was a great proficient, and both addicted themselves to Scriptural exegesis, which was then beginning to receive the new lights of continental editors and critics. They had moreover a community of interest as to their mode of preaching, for at this time, both exercised their pulpit gifts without the use of any manuscript. The Second Church, then at the corner of Third and Arch streets, had for its pastors the Keverend Drs. Green and Janeway as colleagues. Dr. Green was an able and popular preacher, and always threw his influence decidedly into the scale of vital piety. Dr. Janeway, who was like-minded, still lives in an honourable old age. The pastor of the Fourth Church was the Kev. George C. Potts, a clergyman of great worth and benevolence, for whom Dr. Alexander retained a warm regard as long as he lived.
The Third Presbyterian Church was not distinguished in any worldly sense. It was in the southern part of the city proper, and at that time contained a great number of persons from the neighbourhood of the Navy-yard, with a goodly proportion of shipmasters and pilots. The predominating ingredient in the congregation was the old-fashioned
Scotch and Irish Presbyterianism, with its salient points of good and evil, with which the new pastor was familiar. There was all possible zeal or tenacity respecting covenanted doctrine and ancient usage, with a disposition on the part of some to look with distrust on hortatory preaching, and any measures toward revival, as savouring of newlight and methodism. The communion seasons were like those of Scotland, with long tables and.’ tokens, There were not wanting, however, some bright specimens of a piety which has never flourished more than amono; Christians of this lineage. But the situation was one fitted to make a young Virginian minister feel the transition from a religious climate of great fervour and freedom.
Among the excellent private Christians who were members of this church, Mr. James Stuart deserves honourable mention. He was a native of Ireland, and long occupied the place of ruling elder. To a natural temperament of great ardency, he added evangelical knowledge and a remarkable disposition to be useful. He was gifted in prayer, assiduous and affectionate among the poor and suffering, and a valuable aid to his pastor. It is but a few years since he died, full of years, and venerated by all who knew him. Mr. John McMullen was another elder; a man of gentle manners, unfeigned piety, and unusual consistency of character. Capt. Benjamin Wickes belonged to the same church; he was well known as one of the few truly religious captains who in that day sailed from our ports, and was honoured with the charge of conducting numerous missionaries to the East Indies and. China. Joseph Eastburn, the first who devoted attention to the spiritual wants of seamen, was forward in every good work at this day, and was in close intimacy with Mr. Alexander. With some families of his congregation he maintained affectionate relations to the very close of life; and among these a prominent place is due to the name of Mr. Thomas M. Hall, in whose house even after the decease of this worthy man he was a welcome guest for more than forty years.
A brisk epistolary exchange continued to be kept up with his bosom friends Kice and Speece. Of letters written by the former, we have more than fifty, being all that remain of some hundreds. These show that their communications turned on matters of experimental and ministerial religion and on literature; and they evince a zeal in the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, which is as rare as it is stimulating. These earnest young men employed their friend, as near the learned marts, to be on the watch for books in every department. In 1808, we find Mr. Rice writing for Eusebius and Wetstein; and in 1810, saying,” Yes, Sir! If it please God to give me health and strength, I am resolved to be master of those languages in which the truths of Divine revelation were originally recorded, and I am very anxious to get all the helps in these studies that can possibly be procured. I must beg your assistance in this business. If you will accept of it, I hereby give you carte blanche, a full commission to buy for me, at any price that you think proper to give, any book which you can find, that it will in your opinion be important for me to have. I have been very anxious to get Horsley’s new Translation of Hosea. Are any copies to be found in your city? Be on the watch;
if you please, for a Syriac New Testament, for Trommius’s Concordance, for Wetstein’s Greek Testament; I do not know whether it is worth while to mention Calasio’s Concordance, and MichaehVs Hebrew Bible. I question if they are by any means to be obtained,”
A literary project of Mr. Alexander, which he had entertained before leaving Virginia, was matter of much entertainment in his little circle of intimates. He had begun, and perhaps had completed, a work of fiction, answering exactly to what has since been called the religious novel. It was entitled “Eudocia,” and purported to be the history of a young lady of wealth and beauty, who is led through various changes and degrees, from giddy ignorance to piety and peace. The plot was engaging; there was a thread of romantic but pure love, running through the whole; it abounded in graphic description and lively dialogue. Some of the scenes were eminently pathetic; and Mr. Speece was known to burst into tears, when it was read aloud. The whole was made subservient to the inculcation of evangelical truth. The author finally determined to suppress it. The manuscript was not destroyed, but the delay — beyond the nonum prematur in annum — resulted in the destruction of more than one half. What remains would fill a good duodecimo. The allusions which follow will now be manifest.
MR. SPEECE TO MR. ALEXANDER.
“Powhatan, August 15, 1808.
“Dear Sir : —
“I received your acceptable and instructive sermon some time ago in Prince Edward, where Dr. Hall left it for
MR. speece’s letter. 291
me on his way home. But your letter of June 8, I did not get, till two days ago. The single reason of my not having written to you during so long a time, was the want of any matter which I could think sufficiently interesting. I persuaded myself, however, that you as well as I could conceive how an affectionate regard might subsist between distant friends, though there were not a frequent intercourse by letter.
“Your approbation of my presbyterial sermon affords me much pleasure. I will remark to you that one reason of my swelling that sermon with so many long doctrinal paragraphs, was a wish to remove some suspicions, which you perhaps remember, that I was verging too much towards Arminianism. I have given a kind of confession of my faith, and hope the motive I have mentioned was not improper.
“I am delighted with the prospect of seeing your sweet Eudocia presented to the public. Before I received your letter I had resolved to write to you soon, principally to entreat that the door which confined her might be opened, that she might walk forth for the entertainment an,d edification of the world. I hope the humorous and satirical parts of the work will be retained. They will be useful in themselves, and will render the book alluring to a larger number of readers. And though I should not like to differ in a point of taste from Mrs. Alexander, allow me to put in a word in behalf of the dream, or dreams, which you read to me from the manuscript. Dreaming is indeed a delicate subject, both in philosophy and religion. But we believe that God does sometimes speak to men, ‘in dreams and visions of the night, to fasten important instruction upon their hearts.
“I have been long collecting ideas for a dissertation on Liberty and Necessity; not to increase the mass of metaphysical subtilties on the subject, but if possible to diminish it. But I have another design in hand, more likely to be executed; namely, to write a sermon or dissertation on the doctrine of Election. Presumptuous as it may appear, I cannot but think I could produce something more satisfactory than I have met with on that doctrine; especially in the business of answering objections against it.
“Our Magazine is dead indeed; solely, I think, for want of zeal in the members of our Synod. I have long believed it possible to make a better one, under the auspices of Hanover Presbytery. The plan you suggest deserves attention. I had thought of trying to get a suitable printer, who should be furnished with matter and editorial direction, and print and distribute the work at his own charge, and for his own sole profit. The times are so discouraging to most things which require money, that I fear we can do nothing shortly in such a design. Mr. Hoge’s reputation as a preacher is rising rapidly with the public, and I hope he will do well as the president of the college.
“I have seen the collection of books which you purchased for Mr. Bice. The cheapness of such a mass of literature quite astonished me. When I can find an opportunity of sending you some money, I shall probably request you to exercise a similar kindness towards me.
“I do not know any interesting news to send you from
MB. rice’s letter. 293
this quarter, either on the state of religion, or any thing else. Where is to be the end of Buonaparte’s tremendous career? But our God reigns, and we will rejoice. Mention to Mrs. Alexander my affectionate remembrance of her, and believe me
“Yours sincerely,
“Conrad Speece.”
mr. rice to mr. alexander.
“Charlotte, January 28, 1810.
“My Dear Sir: —
“I sometimes feel backward to write to you, because I have so little to communicate that can be at all interesting. But the pleasure which your letters afford me is so great, that, frequently when I have no other reason, I write that I may receive an answer from you, and hear something from Mrs. Alexander and your boys. If you think this is my motive at present, you will not wander far from the mark.
“Three days ago I finished the perusal of cCcelebs.’ Miss Lightfoot Carrington, who is now in Kichmond, met with it there, and sent it to me. I had often laughed at her for spending so much time in reading novels. When she got C celebs, e Here, says she, c is a novel at last which I know that Mr. Kice will be pleased with; ’ and accordingly despatched it to Charlotte. I read it with more pleasure than any thing of the author’s writing. It delighted me; I trust it improved me too. It put me much in mind of a certain Miss Eudocia, whom I have been longing to see for some time past. The rage for novels is so great that I have long wished to see that species of writing converted to a better purpose. Miss Hannah More has very completely answered my wishes, and has, by the way, obtained that credit with the religious world which I think in all reason belonged to you. If you differ with me on this point, we will discuss it after we shall have talked over this new-fashioned school affair and other matters; which I hope to do in May next. At that time Mr. Speece and I hope to be with you, and then — ! I give you notice that Mr. Speece will come with his pockets loaded with money, in the full spirit of trade. I know that he intends to make some grand speculation, for he has within the year past sold nearly two hundred dollars’ worth of books, with a view of taking the money to Philadelphia.
“I think the state of religion in this country worse by some degrees than when you left it. Presbyterian congregations are decreasing every year, and appear as if they would dwindle to nothing. The Baptists and Methodists are at a stand. A strange apathy has seized the people. The judgments with which our nation has been visited, and the more awful ones which impend, have produced no effect; or if any, a most disastrous one. Instead of being a blessing they are a curse. The people feel about nothing but money. As to religion, the very stillness of death reigns amongst us. I can find no resemblance to this part of the country, but in Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. I am sure you do not forget your old friends. Kemember them, then, at the throne of grace, and let me, particularly, have an interest in your
prayers.
“I am affectionately yours,
“John H. Bice,”
The years spent in Philadelphia were doubtless important both as to direct usefulness and the formation of character. Yet a change thus abrupt brought with it not a few privations and annoyances. His children were sickly, the salary was small, the modes of domestic management were novel and embarrassing, and he was often tempted to wish himself back among the wide plantations and open forests of Lower Yirginia. u But these,” says he, u were small matters. I enjoyed health, and had on the Sabbath large assemblies of attentive people; and the preaching did not seem altogether without saving effect. The congregation appeared one and all to be pleased with my services, and many strangers as well as members of other churches came to hear me,” It may be safely said, that these expressions much underrate the degree of acceptance and popularity which attended his public ministrations. The vivacity and freedom of his discourses, always during this period pronounced without the aid of any manuscript, attracted very general admiration; and their solid contents and evangelical unction made them peculiarly welcome to experienced Christians. He was, moreover, silently acquiring reputation as a theologian, of original and clear views, and strict adherence to the Be formed tenets; and was thus preparing for the important career for which he was destined by Providence.
Being now brought nearer to libraries, learned men and the means of acquiring books, he entered with great freshness of zeal into several interesting walks of clerical study. In every thing connected with the criticism and interpretation of the sacred text, he used assiduous application; taking Hebrew lessons of a learned Jew, perusing the Septuagint, collecting other versions, and pushing more deeply those researches which he had long before commenced, into the original of the New Testament. His shelves began also to till themselves with those folios and quartos, bound in vellum, of Latin theology, which always continued to be characteristic of his library. In some departments of learning he was no doubt surpassed by many of his brethren; but it is believed that none of his coevals had read more extensively in the theology of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; including Komanist and Lutheran, as well as Keformed divines. The practice of preaching without writing produced in him one of its ordinary effects, namely, an indisposition to commit his thoughts to paper. Consequently his judgment and taste in composition so much outstripped his ability to execute, that it was many years before he could bring himself to give any thing willingly to the public. He always wrote with ease and even with rapidity, but never to his own satisfaction. During his residence in Philadelphia, therefore, it is not known that he committed any thing to the press, except two sermons, one at the opening of the General Assembly of 1808, and the other on the conflagration of the Kichmond theatre, and a few papers in the old Assembly’s Magazine, which cannot now be pointed out with certainty.
In his pastoral work he found increasing satisfaction, and was surrounded by good auxiliaries. “Of my own people,” says he, “William Haslitt and John McMullin were my unwavering friends. James Stuart was warm-hearted and very zealous, and often showed me the way to the houses of the poor, the widow, and the suffering; and in the prayer-meetings he was my right-hand man. Joseph Eastburn, who was a kind of city missionary, was often at our social gatherings; his heart was warm and his feelings were kind. Though this truly good man had read scarcely any thing but his Bible, he preached more acceptably and profitably than many learned men. He was originally a member of Arch Street church, but falling into scruples about his infant baptism, he went into the country and got a Baptist minister to immerse him, but on condition that he should remain a Presbyterian, as he did to the day of his death. When the Methodists occupied the old Academy which once belonged to Whitefleld, Eastburn, who was his follower, began to exhort publicly, and spoke with so much warmth and tenderness that the people were much impressed. All seemed to think that he ought to be licensed as an exhorter, which was then a new thing in the church. The Presbytery gave him authority to preach in the jail, almshouse, and other institutions. But he could not confine himself to these, and spoke at prayer-meetings, and sometimes supplied the place of ministers, when they were absent or indisposed. He even attended Quaker meetings, and was moved to speak there, so often as to give some umbrage to the old broad-brims. An old Quaker lawyer said “he was afraid that friend Joseph spake sometimes before he was moved by the Spirit.”
A surviving member of the congregation thinks that Mr. Alexander read but three discourses during his ministry in Pine street. Dr. Milledoler’s preaching had brought in a a number of young persons; the success of Mr. A. was chiefly among those of riper years. At one of the early communions, out of twenty-seven who professed their faith, only one was in youth. The same informant recalls the interest taken by Dr. Benjamin Kush in the performances of Mr. Alexander. He augured his future eminence, and when told that the discourses were very simple, quoted the Latin adage, Ex pede Herculem; adding that he was reminded of what John Newton says in his Cardiphonia, that in his own preaching he followed the advice of a minister who fixed his eye on one of the humblest of his audience, and adapted his language to this hearer. From another venerable Philadelphian, Mr. William Bradford, a friend has derived a second anecdote. Dr. Kush and Dr. Abercrombie were in a carriage at a funeral, when Dr. Kush said, pointing to the Pine street Church, “That is the church Mr. Alexander is coming to.” “Do you call that a church?” said the clergyman. “Yes, sir,” replied Kush; “wherever two or three old women meet together in the name of Christ, there is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” On another occasion, when some one spoke of the crowds who came to evangelical preaching, Dr. Rush replied, “Yes, in this sense also, unto Shiloh shall the gathering of the people be.”
He was naturally awakened to compassion by observing the great religious destitution prevailing in the outskirts of Philadelphia. It was not a time of revival, and missionary zeal had scarcely dawned upon our churches. Some of his efforts for the spread of the Gospel in the city are thus modestly related in a memorandum of his own. “After coming to Philadelphia, I formed acquaintance with a number of pious men of other churches, and heard a general complaint concerning the want of activity and enterprise. It occurred to me that there was much which might be done by pious laymen. Sabbath schools had not then been introduced. I sat down one day and drew up a constitution for an c Evangelical Society, not to raise funds, nor to employ others to work, but an association of which every member was to be a working man. I communicated the constitution to the Presbyterian ministers, in order to secure their approbation, which was readily granted. I then sent an invitation to about twenty gentlemen of zealous character in the different congregations, most of whom came together. When I read to them my plan, they seemed greatly pleased, and all expressed a willingness to do something. The first step was to divide the members into committees of two each, to go out in the evening of the Sabbath, to gather the children of the poor in some convenient place, to talk with their parents, and read the Scriptures and other good books. We met the first evening of each month to hear reports and to confer about new methods of doing good. This society operated successfully and without any serious interruption for a number of years, and still exists in a feeble state.” Its operations have since been merged into the more extensive plans of the Sunday School and City Mission enterprises. Several important measures were carried into effect by its exertions, particularly the erection of an African church. Several eminent laymen were trained in these efforts for subsequent usefulness; among whom may be named James Moor and Francis Markoe. The bearing of this humble endeavour on the great work of city- missions, has induced us to glean a few additional particulars from one of the surviving labourers. Until this society was formed, it had been very unusual among Presbyterians to have any religious meetings in the evening; and these were even opposed by some good people. The Sunday evening services, when once commenced, were exceedingly popular and much crowded. Several licentiates began their ministry in /these labours among the destitute, which gave origin to new churches now in existence.
The enterprise was so novel and simple, and so foreshadowed later measures for church-extension and education, that we gladly add the view derived from a memorandum for which we are indebted to the venerable Dr. Janeway. “When your father,” says he to the editor,” came to Philadelphia, there was in existence a society embracing members of different denominations of Christians, and styled ‘The Humane Society, As its name imports, it was to relieve the wants of the poor. Your father originated a society, called ’ the Evangelical Society, In a certain stage of its development both Dr. Green and I became members, and regularly attended its meetings. It then met in the sessionroom of the Second Presbyterian Church, adjoining the church edifice, which then stood at the corner of Arch and Third streets. The object of this society was to carry the knowledge of the Gospel to the destitute in various parts of the city. The members went, two and two, to particular districts, assembled individuals where they found convenient places, read to them out of the Scriptures and evangelical sermons or portions of books, and conversed and prayed with them. These committees regularly reported to the Society the result of their labours.
“To refresh my recollections, and especially to get a knowledge of the origin of the Society, I have twice conversed with Mr. Nassau, senior, who was a member of the Third Presbyterian Church, under the ministry of Dr. Milledoler, and of course when your father succeeded him as pastor of that church. He gives the origin of the Society thus On a certain clay, I think from the pulpit, your father invited some of his church members to meet at his house. When convened, he said to them, c Brethren, I have been looking over the congregation, and think that a number of the pious members may be very usefully employed in promoting the interests of religion in different places among the poor and ignorant, He detailed the plan, and they proposed that he should act as their president; but this he declined, as a needless formality. Another meeting was held, to which more were invited. It was afterwards proposed to embrace in the Society members of other Presbyterian churches. The Society continued to act, I think, until your father’s removal to Princeton in 1812/’ *
We find by examination of the Religious Remembrancer,
* Letter of the Rev. J. J. Janeway, D. D., July 23, 1853.
that the Society was instituted on the eleventh day of April, 1808. The same journal, under date of September 18, 1813, says that “some of the Committees, finding the work to increase on their hands, have thought it expedient to devote an additional evening to the children,” and adds, that “several convenient houses on different sites have been erected,” for accommodating them. And it is said, October 16, that “at the first formation of the Society a small sum was subscribed, which was applied to the republishing of several tracts.”
Mr. William Bradford remembers that Mr. Alexander was present at the opening of the Society’s Sunday evening meetings, for preaching and teaching, at the corner of Buttonwood and Eighth streets. The enterprise was novel, and the meeting was so much threatened that two constables were employed to keep the peace. It was a neighbourhood of butchers, and some one said of it, “The people will attend, and butcher the Evangelicals afterwards.” These particulars, however slight in themselves, have a manifest bearing on the rise of certain great charities among us.
Among the manuscripts which belong to this period, is one which evidently connects itself with what has just been recited, and with the great work of City Missions. It is in the handwriting of Dr. Alexander, and is subjoined without comment.
“It is a truly lamentable consideration, that there are thousands of unhappy persons in and about this city who rarely or never hear the Gospel. This is especially the case with respect to many poor people who are unable to obtain pews in the churches, or who are so careless about their saltation as never to have sought this privilege. Whilst with a laudable zeal we are sending the Gospel to the heathen, and to the ignorant on our frontiers, is it not also incumbent on us to endeavour, by all practicable means, to bring within its sound the multitudes in this city who are nearly as ignorant as heathens? Will it not be proper to show charity at home, and to use efforts to secure perishing souls from impending ruin?
“It is believed that it would be productive of much good to this class of people, to erect a free church, a church, the pews or seats of which should never be appropriated to particular persons, but left open for all who might choose at any time to occupy them. Such a church might easily be supplied with preaching every Sunday evening by the ministers of the city, and frequently in the day by strangers who may happen to spend the Sabbath in the city.
“In order to provide such a house, and to devise and execute other plans for the extension of religious knowledge among the poor and ignorant in the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, we whose names are hereunto subscribed do agree to form ourselves into a Society; and to regulate our proceedings we have adopted the following rules:
“1. The style of the Society shall be, The Society for promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor.
“2. Any person may become a member of this Society, who shall contribute a sum for the purpose of building a free church not less than ten dollars.
“3. As soon as twenty subscribers shall be obtained, a meeting stall be held, at which it shall be determined, whether there is a sufficient prospect of success to proceed with the undertaking.
“4. If it shall be determined to make the attempt, a Committee of five persons shall be chosen by a majority of the subscribers present, to whom the whole arrangement of the business shall be committed, and who shall continue in office until the next regular meeting of the Society, when a new choice shall be made.
“5. When the church contemplated is erected, and fit to receive a congregation, it shall be the duty of the Committee already mentioned, to endeavour to have it supplied with gratuitous preaching, at least on every Sunday evening.
“6. Any three members of the Committee shall be authorized to invite any preacher of any Christian denomination to preach in the aforesaid church.
“7. The Committee shall also take the most effectual means to give notice of sermons to that class of people whose benefit is contemplated, and to use every proper measure to induce them to attend.
“8. Subscriptions of sums less than ten dollars will be thankfully received, but will not entitle the contributor to a vote in the deliberations of the Society.”
Mr. Alexander was a commissioner to the General Assembly in 1807, 1808 and 1811, and a tthe first of these meetings was elected moderator. The following year, agreeably to custom, he delivered the discourse at the opening of the Assembly. It was published, and is upon the text, 1 Cor., xiv. 12, “Seek that ye may excel, to the edifying of the church.”
In the year 1810, Mr. Alexander received from the College of New Jersey the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity the same distinction being at the same time conferred on his friends the Kev. Moses Hoge, and the Kev. Leonard Woods.
Among other projects of his scheming and inventive mind, we find one or two mentioned in his private reminiscences, which connect him with enterprises that have since become very important. Speaking of the Philadelphia Bible Society, of which Dr. Kush was the chief founder, and which is the oldest in the hemisphere, he adds: “I made some exertion to have a small Tract Society established, but the attempt was not successful. William Bradford did indeed print a few tracts, and Alexander Henry aided in paying the expense.” Mr. Bradford, who still survives, relates that about 1808 or 1809, Mr. Alexander urged him to print Mrs. More’s “C celebs,” in order to correct the taste of female readers for romances; which he accordingly did. Having printed the tract “Jack Covey,” he applied to Mr. Alexander to fill two blank pages with prayers. The reply was that he had never written one, but the next day he brought him a prayer of a pious seaman before, and another after a storm, which were printed. Mr. Alexander strongly encouraged the primitive Tract Society, the “Philadelphia Tract Society,” which had its origin in Mr. Bradford’s reprinting of that incomparable narrative, “Poor Joseph,” which he received from Dr. Green.
“In considering the wants of the people and the difficulty of reaching the multitude with religious instruction, I conceived the plan of a religious [newspaper], a thing at that time unknown in the world. But as the thing was new, I mentioned [it] to none but two or three of my elders; and it met with approbation. It was suggested that we had a printer, who was a well informed young man, John W. Scott. I conversed with him, and he drew up a well- written but rather florid Address, to accompany a Prospectus. Before the plan was carried into effect, I was removed to Princeton; but Mr. Scott went forward with the enterprise, and published for a number of years, before any other work of the kind was thought of, The Christian Remembrancer. We talked of getting some tracts for the sailors, and I composed a few prayers for their use, which Mr. Bradford printed. We then saw no way of extending religious instruction to that class of men; but Providence afterwards opened the way for much good, by means of Bethel meetings, and the like.”
It is worthy of record, that in the year 1810, Mr. Alexander was elected President of the University of Georgia, and was solicited with importunity to assume that important place. The fact was unknown even to his children, until revealed by his posthumous papers.
During the last year of Dr. Alexander’s abode in Philadelphia, an event of signal calamity drew his sympathies towards his native State. It is thus related in a journal of the day. “On the night of December 26, 1811, the theatre in the city of Bichmond, Virginia, was unusually crowded; a new play having drawn together an assembly of not less than six hundred persons. Toward the close of the performance, just before the last act of the concluding pantomime, the scenery caught fire from a lamp inadvertently raised to an improper position, and in a few minutes the whole building was wrapped in flames. The doors being few, and the avenues leading to them extremely narrow, the scene which ensued was truly one of horror. It may be in some degree imagined, but can never be adequately described. About seventy-five persons perished in the flames. Among these were the Governor of the State; the President of the Bank of Virginia; one of the most eminent attorneys belonging to the bar of the commonwealth; a number of other respectable gentlemen; and about fifty females, of whom a large portion were among the ladies of the greatest conspicuity and fashion in the city.” When the direful news reached Philadelphia, a meeting was held on New Year’s Day, of more than one hundred Virginians, being part of the Medical Class of the University of Pennsylvania, who, after suitable resolutions of condolence, requested Dr. Alexander to deliver a discourse on the mournful occasion. We well remember the solemn procession from the University to the church, and the throng of the agitated assembly. The sermon was published, and though unquestionably the most hurried production of its author, contains some passages which deserve to be remembered. The text was Komans xii. 15, “Weep with them that weep;” and it was introduced by some remarks on the sympathetic benignity of the Gospel.
“One leading difference between the system of morals prescribed by the Stoics, and that inculcated by Christianity, is, that while the former aims at eradicating the passions, the latter endeavours to regulate them and direct them into their proper channels. The great Author of our being has implanted the principle of sympathy deeply in human nature, and has made the susceptibility of feeling the sorrows of another, as extensive as the race of man. It is common to the untutored savage and the man of refinement and education; and traces of it are discovered even in the animal creation. This principle of sympathy, while it indicates the unity of our species, seems to form a mysterious bond of connection between all its members. The spectacle of suffering humanity, however great a stranger the object may be, will always excite our sensibility, unless the feelings be blunted by vicious indulgence, restrained by prejudice, or extinguished by the long prevalence of malignant passions. Genuine pity, and compassion for objects of real distress, have been perverted and almost quenched, in a multitude of persons, by the artificial excitement of spurious feelings, produced by scenes of fictitious distress; which tend to no valuable end, and are sought only for the momentary gratification of the possessor. But; however sympathy may be abused, it has its proper and legitimate exercise, to which we are not only prompted by nature, but directed by reason and exhorted by religion. There are occasions, when not to ‘weep with them that weep,’ would be rebellion against every principle which ought to govern us. If the sufferings of an enemy may be such as to affect us — if we are excited to weep at the woes of a stranger — what must our feelings be, when we recognise in the cry of unutterable anguish the well-known voice of an acquaintance, a friend, a brother 01 a sister? Such a cry of distress, from the capital of our native State, has pierced our ears, and filled our hearts with grief. The sons of Virginia, resident in this place, are to-day called upon to mourn, and to mingle their sympathetic tears with those of the whole State.”
After some allusion to the distinguished names in the catalogue of the dead, the preacher indulges in a few rapid pictures, which however uncommon in his severer printed works, were not unfrequent in his extemporaneous discourses, and which for this reason ought to be preserved. “That,” he continues, “which winds up our sympathies to the highest pitch, is, that the greater part were young women in the very bloom and prime of life. About one half the names in the whole catalogue are of this description. 0! who can think, without exquisite anguish, of so many gay and blooming virgins, decorated with the charms of beauty, accomplished by the refinements of art, tender and delicate to excess, and accustomed only to endearments and caresses, perishing by a death so cruel, and by torments so excruciating! Who can describe the chasm which has been made in numerous families, and the agony which has been, and is still endured! Tell us, ye bereaved mothers (if words can express it), the pangs which have rent your breaking hearts, since you beheld the scorched, bruised, and disfigured remains of your once beautiful daughters. c In Kama, of old, 1 a voice of lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, SERMON.
was heard; Kachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not, How many inconsolable Eachels are there this day, who weep for their children and refuse to be comforted. The hoary head of the indulgent father too must now come down with sorrow to the grave. Perhaps the last prop and solace of his declining years, as well as the darling of his heart, is for ever gone from his sight. The helpless widow and the orphan children also lift up their deploring hands and their streaming eyes to heaven, expressing thereby feelings of grief and agony, to which all words are inadequate. And why need I attempt to describe the poignant pangs of the disappointed lover (the day of whose nuptials perhaps was fixed), as he beholds the form which he idolized changed into a frightful skeleton.
“But the shock is felt not only in the city of Kichmond, but in remote parts of the State. Several who perished in the flames resided at a distance. With some, perhaps, it was the first visit of any length which they ever made from their father’s house. Methinks I see the fond mother taking the last leave of her beloved daughter, little suspecting that it is the last. Or shall I fancy that some unaccountable foreboding seizes her mind and oppresses her heart, as the object of her hopes and fears is carried from her sight?
“But who shall imagine what her situation and feelings are, when the day arrives which shall bring a letter from her affectionate child! A letter comes, it is true; but what horror chills the blood, when it is seen not to be inscribed in the well-known hand of the dear girl, and to be addressed to the father instead of the mother. I see his veteran hand tremble while he breaks the ominous seal. And tjie countenance which had remained unmoved, while death was braved at the cannon’s mouth, now turns pale as ashes, when he reads the few incoherent sentences, by which he is made to realize more than ever the gloomiest hour had painted on his imagination. These remarks are suggested by the recollection of a modest and amiable young lady, whom I happened to see last summer, in company with a pious mother, at a solemn religious meeting, where she appeared to be deeply interested, and to enter very devotionally into the exercises of the day; but alas! in looking over the melancholy list, I find her name enrolled. She perished in the flames on the fatal twenty-sixth of December.
“I feel it to be incumbent on me .... to give my public testimony against [theatrical exhibitions] as being, notwithstanding the partial good which may result from them, unfriendly to piety — unfriendly to morality — unfriendly to health — unfriendly to domestic happiness — and unfriendly to true delicacy and genuine refinement.”
The peroration is as follows. “Finally, permit me to conclude this discourse, by considering the dispensation, which has convened us this day, in the light of a solemn warning. Yes, my hearers, if ever the trumpet of a righteous Providence sounded loudly in our ears, it doth so this day. The voice is alarming. Let no weak notions of accident and second causes keep you from observing the frowns of heaven, which lower over us. Think not that these were sinners above all who dwell in the land, because they suffered such things. c I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish, “Often, since the ominous and fatal handwriting on the wall caused the proud king of Babylon to shake with terror in the midst of his profane mirth and riot, has the awful transition from the gay scenes of dissipation, to the shades of death, been made in the period of a single night. Often have the votaries of pleasure been hurried from the festive board, the merry dance, the opera and play — and what is still more dreadful, from scenes of excess and debauchery — into eternity, to answer for their deeds before the tremendous bar of God. Receive the warning, then, and c suffer the word of exhortation, The views and impressions produced by this deplorable occurrence, however painful at the present, may be precious in their effects, and should not be allowed to pass off without originating such resolutions and purposes, as shall become the foundation of a new course of life. You may never in the whole period of your lives find a season so favourable, to shake off the undue influence of the world, and to break with every darling lust and besetting sin. My last advice, therefore, is, become real Christians. Make religion a personal concern. Attend to it without delay. ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, And may the God of all grace crown the exercises of this day with his blessing, for Christ’s sake! Amen,”
It is worthy of note, as belonging to a parallel between two long and blended lives, that the Reverend Dr. Miller in New- York preached and published a discourse, commemorative of the same afflictive event. It was upon Lamentations, ii. 1 — 13, and contains an able and elaborate argument against theatrical amusements.