IRE NIC MOVEMENTS 131 



This passage reveals Hall far in advance 

 of the general sentiment of his day. 



A beautiful irenicon was that of an 

 American lawyer of the Reformed Church, 

 Abraham Van Dyke, Esq., who in 1836 

 published a book entitled, "Christian 

 Union ; or an Argument for the Abolition 

 of Sects." It was dedicated to the Rev. 

 David Abeel, a missionary of the Dutch 

 Reformed Church in the East. It is an 

 earnest and pious plea for Christian union. 

 Van Dyke had also the faith to believe that 

 such a union would in fact soon be realized. 

 This was a more daring faith sixty years 

 ago than now. He considers every objec- 

 tion, and modern discussion has added but 

 little to his systematic and large-minded 

 presentation. 



The irenic proposals of Van Dyke met 

 with serious opposition from two influen- 

 tial sources. One was the opposition of 

 the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Ken- 

 tucky, Dr. B. B. Smith. 1 He welcomed 

 the book as an evidence of dissatisfaction 

 with the present position of Protestantism, 

 but he had no faith in the peaceable and 



1 Review of Van Dyke's book in Literary and TheoL 

 Rev. ed. by L. Woods, Jr., Sept. 1835. 



