1857.] MINISTERIAL FREEDOM. 157 



belief in a selection of sentences from Dr. Channing — the last 

 man to wish his words to be adopted as a creed ! He con- 

 cluded his letter thus : " I call upon the dissentients to do what 

 they have to do forthwith, and then cease. It is not right that 

 I should be any longer prevented from visiting my flock, lest 

 I should be accused of making up a party ; that I should 

 scarcely dare to perform the most trivial acts of kindness, 

 because they are taken as a bribe ; and that the time which 

 I ought to devote to the public service should be consumed 

 in mere contention. They know that I am carrying through 

 the press two works of great scientific research,* and pre- 

 paring an important gift for our National Museum, both 

 requiring a vast devotement of care and thought ; that I have 

 to rearrange a considerable part of our Town Museum ; that 

 I am engaged, week after week, in writing a course of lectures 

 on the Gospel History, at the request of the congregation ; 

 and all this in addition to various classes and unusually 

 pressing calls on my pastoral service, through sickness and 

 other wants. It is neither right that they should take up the 

 time which the public had previously engaged, nor fair that they 

 should prevail merely by wearying out the flesh. They have 

 taken their stand by attempting to shackle (1) a Christian 

 society by a Money Test, and (2) its minister by a Human-Nature 

 Test. My stand remains where it has always been, on the 

 full liberty to preach required by the Presbyterian trust, and 

 solemnly guaranteed by the congregation. Let every honest 

 Christian man and woman that cares for these principles judge 

 between us ; and if I can be proved to be unfaithful to my 

 trust, I will resign at once." 



He had said that if, in an earlier stage, any considerable 

 portion of his congregation had expressed their objection to 

 his preaching, he should have felt himself free to resign ; but 

 he now considered that to resign would be to betray principles 

 of paramount importance. 



After writing to his sister Mary, who was reprinting her 



* The Report to the British Association, and the Catalogue of Mazatlan 

 Shells. See pp. 1 41-146. 



