If you think these reminiscences will give any satisfaction to your friend, you are at perfect liberty to send them to him, for I have only recorded them for the sake of your request. Very cordially yours, H. A. HOMES.

To Rev. C. Hamlin, Bebek.

CXXV.

Extract from a letter dated Bebek, April 2d, 1845, from the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin to the Rev. S. Olin :

MY DEAR FRIEND,-I forwarded to you by the post of March 17th some important testimony in regard to your controversy with Dr. Robinson; but lest it should by some accident fail of reaching you, I send you by this post duplicates. I ought, perhaps, to have remarked, in the accompanying note, that when Mr. Homes first mentioned to me the assistance which he had rendered to Dr. Robinson in Jerusalem, Dr. Robinson had not yet published his "Researches." After the publication of his work, Mr. Homes was, of course, a little surprised at the introduction of his name in connection with unimportant particulars, and its entire omission in connection with this arch, the discovery of which Mr. Homes regarded as the most important aid which Dr. Robinson received in Jerusalem.

The note of Mr. Homes which I forwarded to you, and a duplicate copy of which is here inclosed, was written entirely from recollection. Since then Mr. Homes has shown me the journal of his residence in Syria, and under date of May, 1837, among a number of things noted as worthy of special examination, is this brief minute: "THE BRIDGE CROSSING FROM MOUNT ZION TO MOUNT MORIAH." The entry was made at the time when he first began to regard the arch as a remnant of that bridge, and that was nearly one year previous to Dr. Robinson's visit to Jerusalem. He afterward revisited it repeatedly, sometimes in connection with travelers; and when Dr. Robinson arrived in Jerusalem he brought

it to his notice as a remnant of the bridge spoken of by Jose phus.

CXXVI, TO THE REV. S. OLIN, D.D.

New York, May, 1845. MY DEAR SIR,I have received your note on the subject of the remains of the ancient bridge in Jerusalem, and calling my attention to your reply to some strictures in the North American Review, in which you say that I had mentioned to you in conversation that I saw this monument during my visit to Jerusalem, and regarded it as the arch of an ancient bridge, as did other persons with whom I conversed on the subject. You ask me whether this statement corresponds with what I said to you on this subject. I answer that it does in all respects.

Yours, faithfully,

F. CATHERWOOD.

CXXVII. TO MR.

Middletown, May 27, 1845.

You will hardly feel disappointed on learning that I have been let into the important secret which you have so recently revealed to your family. At least, you are likely very soon to be in the way of learning, that what a man's wife knows will probably be communicated, with due injunctions of secrecy or of discretion in the using, to the faithful partner, not of her life only and her interests, but of nearly all things, small and great, that happen to pass through her head or to find a lodgment in her heart. At any rate, I hope better things of your chosen friend and of you, than to believe either that she will be so prudent a wife as to exclude you from the fullest participation in all that makes or mars her woe or weal, or that you will be a husband of such dignity as can not listen reverently to pretty much every thing that comes under the comprehensive genus of conjugal small-talk. So, then, without intending any such thing in the beginning of

this sentence, I have fairly been surprised into announcing a matrimonial maxim for your future use.

I intended to congratulate you on the happy prospect which has opened before you, and to express my satisfaction at your engagement. I can not doubt that you have devoted yourself to a worthy object. Your family, I see, are well pleased with your choice, and mother and sisters are full likely to exercise a watchful supervision over such a movement. It was a little odd that I did not become acquainted with one to be brought into so near a relation to us when I was introduced to her sister, at your father's. I liked the sister very well. I doubt not that your friend is equally worthy of admiration, since you go the length of practically pronouncing her more so. I need not say to you that my best, most affectionate wishes, and my fervent prayers, will attend your entrance on this new and interesting relation.

You are now, in a very important sense, to begin life anew. You are about to come under the influence of stronger motives and higher responsibilities than are within the sphere. of an unmarried man. It is a great thing to assume the responsibility of taking care of another's welfare, another's happiness, another's soul; and all of this, in a very high sense, you propose to do. Need I suggest to a thoughtful mind like yours, that, in addition to virtuous principles, and high purposes, and pure morals, which I am sure you already possess, you will need the aid of religion in your new sphere? Your entrance on married life will constitute an era in your history, and a most favorable occasion for revising the past, and adopting all improvements that may be of use in the future. Let me beg of you to seek, at such a time, the helps and supports to be had from above. Let religion enter into all your new plans of life. Set up an altar for prayer at once, and let all the pleasures of domestic life be hallowed by the recognition of God your Savior. I am sure your new prospects will minister additional impulses to the labors and studies of

your profession. It is, I think, just what you need in order to insure success. The first years of professional life are commonly very trying to one's patience, and I think him fortunate who has the strongest motives to endure and to labor. You will henceforth have a new and powerful incentive to follow resolutely the orderly and industrious habits with which you have begun your career, and to become a thorough learned lawyer, to which you no doubt aspire.

Will you make my most respectful affectionate salutations to Miss ? Shall we not see you here? and will she not, somehow, be of Margaret's party or of yours?

CXXVIII. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE AND

JOURNAL.

July 8th, 1845.

Once only, during the year of distress and agitation which has elapsed since the adjournment of the General Conference, have I ventured to obtrude my opinions in regard to the great controversy upon the readers of the Christian Advocate and Journal. I have felt inclined to speak-sometimes almost impelled-but have been deterred hitherto, less by any distrust in my own conclusions on the questions at issue, than from a despair of being heard, when so many warm passions were in active play, and so many wiser and better men had preoccupied the public ear. The session of the Louisville Convention has brought on a new crisis, in view of which I once more feel inclined to express my opinions. If they shall not fully coincide with yours, the result of reflection so much more mature, and of experience so much more ample, I have yet the fullest confidence that you will favor free discussion, and will readily, and even gladly, open your columns to the humblest son of the Church, of whose fidelity to its interests you may have no reason to entertain doubts. I would inquire, what is the present duty of the Church which has rent it in twain? Without stopping to controvert the opinions of others, already expressed, I an

nounce it as my most deliberate, prayerful conviction that this controversy should cease, now that it no longer holds out the most distant promise of good to either party. Nobody expects to prevent the disruption of our connectional ties. We are already divided, for evil or for good, which we must wait for the future to disclose. The Southern Conferences have proclaimed their independence, and set up a distinct organization. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, lacks only a formal recognition by the constituents of the Louisville Convention, if, indeed, it lacks any thing, to the completeness of its arrangements for separate, independent operations. There is no power under Heaven competent to arrest this great movement; and if there were, it would still be a question whether it is wise to struggle any longer against tendencies which, if they are not strictly irresistible, are plainly incompatible with kindly, fraternal co-operation. Time may possibly diminish or remove these obstacles to harmony; but controversy, which has wholly failed to prevent this distressing crisis, can only aggravate its insuperable difficulties. Peace, now that union is confessedly out of the question, is the great want of the Church.

History will not fail to do justice to both North and South, and its awards may, perhaps, come soon enough for either party; but the time has already arrived when, for all practical purposes, we have less to do with the past than with the present and the future. All the precious interests of the Church and of our common Christianity imperatively demand that our contentions shall now come to an end, and the public mind be allowed, as soon as possible, to revert to its natural state of repose. This, as it seems to me, is an indispensable prerequisite to the return of prosperity. God seldom or never pours forth his Spirit upon a people agitated with controversy and passion. These, continued too long, impress their character upon a people, and sadly pervert the general conscience and heart of the Church. We must, then,