weight of responsibility which now rests upon me. But I do believe that the Lord has placed me here: he it is who calls me to the arduous duties in which I am now to engage; and I desire, I think I feel in some degree enabled, to trust in him for wisdom and strength to guide and sustain me.

I have as yet seen but few of Mr. H.'s congregation; but if I may form a judgment from those who have called, I think I shall find among them many who cherish an ardent attachment to the doctrines, and maintain a consistent practice of the duties, of the Gospel, unmoved by the prevalence of error many real disciples of the blessed Jesus. I do not doubt, therefore, but I shall be happy; for it is chiefly the society which renders a place agreeable or unpleasant.

TO ANOTHER SISTER-IN-LAW AT N. L.

Boston, July 20, 1809.

You are already acquainted with Boston and some of its inhabitants, together with my feelings respecting them, and have been informed that I am pleased and contented in my situation. The town is pleasant, the people hospitable and friendly; and, could I feel as much complacency in myself as I do in some of them, I should be very happy. But you know, my dear E. that to be sensible of our deficiencies is one step taken toward their removal. do feel that mine are many and great. May I not rest satisfied with merely acknowledging, but strive and be enabled to amend them.

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I

There are a few here (as is generally the case

where impiety or error prevails, if there are any righteous found there,) who appear to be decided in their attachment to real religion, and strenuous in its support, uninfluenced by the opposition or the flatteries of the contemners and perverters of the faith. Dr. G. has frequently preached in town of late. I have strong hopes that much good will result from his exertions, and those of other clergymen who are labouring to promote the cause of truth. It is melancholy to see people disputing about that Gospel which was designed to produce nothing but peace on earth. But I believe that the over-ruling providence of God frequently causes the most salutary effects to arise from religious controversy. Truth never suffers by investigation; and it is evidently better to hear people inquiring what is truth, than quietly embracing error, without endeavouring to ascertain whether they are right or not.

In July of this year, Mrs. Huntington made a visit to her parents. While with them she wrote several letters to her friends in different parts of the country.

TO A SISTER-IN-LAW AT N. L.

Killingworth, August 1, 1809. Ir is a week to-day, my dear E. since I bade adieu to your pleasant town: and I am the more desirous of taking this early opportunity to write you, as I suppose you will be anxious to know

whether I reached home in safety. That I left your family with regret, you will not doubt; but that the parting would have been so painful as it was, I could not have imagined. It was justifiable in me to suffer myself to become attached to you; situated as I was, it would have been unpardonable if I had not. But I believe, that if we would not suffer our affections to become so ardent as we sometimes do for those whose society we cannot long enjoy, the separations we must experience in this life would be far less distressing. Some, however, would say, and perhaps not without reason, this would be the philosophy of a stoic.

Our ride was as pleasant as could be expected, and our sail as agreeable as high and adverse winds would permit. I found our family well, and happy to see me, and my dear little native village appeared very lovely, after my short residence amid the noise and bustle of a giddy metropolis. Did I not believe, with Milton, that the mind is its own place, and in itself can make every circumstance and situation, merely temporal, productive of happiness or misery; and did I not also believe the more consolatory doctrine, that all things and events are under the direction of ONE who cannot err, I should sometimes be almost disposed to sigh for the solitude to which my mind and feelings are so well adapted. But I trust that the situation in which Providence has placed me, if it exposes me more to temptation than my former one, will also lead me to more watchfulness and caution; and that I shall be enabled to fill properly that station which is "a call to duty, not a discharge from care."

Killingworth, September 9, 1809.

You will be pleased to hear that the attention to religion in this place rather increases than subsides. New instances of conviction occur almost daily. I trust that the shower of divine grace, which is but just begun, will not cease until it has plentifully watered this dry and thirsty ground. Heaven grant it may not. It is a cause of lamentation, that the Christian world is so divided in opinion, and that the religion of Jesus, which is calculated to produce only peace among its disciples, should so often be made, by them, an occasion for animosity and dissension. But so it is, and will be, so long as men are subject to deception, and possess the frailties of fallen humanity. We see that the world is torn with civil as well as religious dissensions, and that people disagree about every thing else, as well as about religion; and therefore we know that it is not Christianity which produces the tumults of controversy.

The essential doctrines of the Gospel should be earnestly, though prudently maintained, for these are the foundation of the Christian system; as, for instance, the deity and the atonement of Christ, and the entire depravity of human nature. Take away either of these, and the whole Gospel system is levelled with the dust. When pleading for charity and liberty of conscience, we must be careful not to suffer ourselves to consider doctrines as unimportant; for if, as is often said, it is no matter what a man

believe, if he is only sincere, we might as well, so far as our prospects for eternity are concerned, be groping in the darkness of Paganism, as sitting under the sunshine of the Gospel. This is a charity of which Christ and his apostles certainly knew nothing; and it is as prejudicial to the cause of religion, as it is absurd in the view of reason. But about forms, it appears to me, we are by far too fastidious. Faith and repentance are required of us in order to salvation, and these may be experienced in every denomination where the fundamentals of Christianity are received.

The reason, my dear E. of my making these remarks is, that I was thinking how unhappy it is that there is so much disputing here about baptism and communion. The virulence of party spirit is exceedingly apt to eat out the vitals of pure religion; and it pains me to behold many, apparently, more desirous to gain disciples to their own distinctive, but unessential opinions, than to direct perishing souls to Christ. There is no doubt that some of the various modes of worship are more agreeable to the example of the primitive Christians and the spirit of the New Testament than others, and it is unquestionably desirable to ascertain and practise those modes. Yet if, by the influence of circumstances, we are led to prefer worshipping God in some of those other ways, I cannot think it is an error for which we shall be condemned. I could wish all Christians were united in worshipping Jehovah in the same manner; but I esteem it the principal thing to worship him in spirit and in truth.