made by Dr. Tappan in his visits, about the invitation or the spirit, separate from the act.

D. WILLIAMS said that the committee were constrained to believe that the mitigating circumstances, attending the withdrawal of Judge W. and his wife, were nearly enough to excuse them; though they did not make out an entire justification.

J. H. HARTWELL. Though the report is not satisfactory to me, yet as the committee are unanimous, I move that it be accepted.

T. LITTLE. With the explanations given, I second the motion.

PASTOR.

If there is any dissatisfaction with the report, it had better be expressed, so that the committee may remove it.

D. WILLIAMS called for the reading of the report so that all might understand it.

Here the report was read by the Pastor.

DEA. T. I wish to make a remark or two. The complaint was made by me. I thought there was cause of grief, and knew that others were grieved; and when 1 told it to the church, I thought I had presented to Mrs. W. the cause of grievance. I think so still. I did not see, nor do I now see, how you can separate what was said and done from the quo animo. He then illustrated. He supposed a particular sort of fruit was offensive to him, and to other members of the church, and a member who knew that fact should have a party and offer the fruit. Would not that be a breach of christian fellowship? Now, said he, is not that case parallel with the present? Were not the church opposed to this amusement?-and was not here a party?-and did not the amusement take place? I go and express my grief; and what is the answer? Why she says I did not do it to grieve you, and if I have done so, I am sorry for it, but you have no right to be grieved, and when the church expressed the opinions they did, against dancing, they acted out of their province. I reply that we have not

acted out of our province and she insists that we did. What kind of satisfaction is this?*

C. DOLE. The great difficulty is whether Dr. T. conveyed his meaning. No doubt he thinks he did. As to the question of veracity, there is no necessity of supposing any want of truth on either side. Every thing is explainable in a manner consistent with the entire sincerity of both. I may have an idea in my own mind, clear and distinct; and yet not present it fully to another. I am not aware that the committee have touched this subject, but believe they acquit Dr. T. of any bad motives.

PASTOR. I wish to read a single passage from Mrs. W.'s first statement, to show that she did apprehend that it was her spirit that was the cause of grief. He then read the following sentence (see page 69). "The subscriber told him she did not invite them for the purpose of dancing, nor to show the majority of the church, that she disregarded their feelings."

C. DOLE remarked that that did not remove the difficulty.

D. C. WESTON (here addressed the Pastor.) If you had finished the sentence you quoted, perhaps it would

* Mark the illustration and this whole statement of the Deacon, and see how perfectly it coincides with the statements of Mrs. W., and how utterly inconsistent it is with the story that nothing was further from this man's heart "than to interfere with the amusements in Judge Weston's family?" (See page 144.)

How was it possible for Mr. Dole to say this immediately after the remarks of Dea. T. ?

Dea. T., in the course of his long conversations with Mrs. W., maintained that no church member could allow dancing after the acceptance of the report on that subject. To allow dancing, he declared, was to set up her views as more to be relied upon, than those of the great majority of the church, and was showing a disregard of their sentiments;-and that they could not permit it. She then used the language which Mr. T. quoted; but that made not the slightest difference with Dea. T., inasmuch as his only object was, to make her say she was sorry for what she had DONE and that she would not do so again. It was astonishing after all that had passed, and after the Pastor had read such a strong paper against dancing, (page 89) that he should persist that there was any other issue than whether Mrs. W. should be permitted to allow dancing or not.

have been as well. But if it was true that Dea. T.'s whole cause of grief consisted in the idea that Mrs. W., intended to injure the feelings of the church, why was not her disclaimer of any such intention sufficient-admitting as he did that she spoke with entire sincerity? PASTOR. Those in favor of the report of the committee please to manifest it—it is a vote.

JUDGE R. then moved the following:

"Resolved, that in thus parting with these ancient members of the church, we affectionately commend them to the protection and guidance of our God, praying, that by the trainings of His providence and the influences of His spirit, they may be ripened for a peaceful immortality."

D. WILLIAMS seconded the motion-which was put and carried.

The end was not yet.

Adjourned.

CHAPTER XVIII.

"Then said Mr. Godly-fear as follows: "Sir, if you were not destitute of an honest heart, you could not do as you have done and do."

Bunyan's Holy War.

Had Mr. Tappan allowed this unpleasant controversy to have dropped here, the reader would, perhaps, have been spared the pain which this disclosure must have occasioned: and the reporter saved the labor of the publication. There are points beyond which endurance ceases to be a virtue.

In the number of "the Christian Mirror" (published at Portland) issued Oct. 22, 1840, is a "report of the state of the churches, connected with the Kennebec Conference, presented at its annual meeting, Sept. 30, 1840," from which the following is extracted.

* * * *

"To the church in South Augusta, 13 have been added by profession, and 7 by letter; 8 have been dismissed, and two excluded." "For several months the attention of the church has been occupied with cases of discipline. Hereby much feeling has been excited in the community; a few families have left the society, and the church has been, in various ways, severely tried. The prospect now is, that all the cases of discipline, just referred to, will soon be disposed of, and we are not without the hope, that the whole affair, painful as it has been, will be made subservient to our greater good. The most discouraging circumstance is the want of faith, and spirituality and prayerfulness among ourselves. We have felt, and we still feel, that we have special claim upon the sympathies and prayers of sister churches."

It further appeared from this "report," that five had been "excommunicated" from the other churches belonging to this "Conference"; and in the recapitulation, these are added to the two "excluded" froin "the church in South Augusta," making seven in all.

When this "report" came to the knowledge of Judge Weston, the following correspondence took place.

JUDGE W.'S NOTE TO THE PASTOR.

"Judge Weston asks the favor of Mr. Tappan to be informed, if he is the author of a paragraph, which appeared in the Christian Mirror of the 22nd instant, in relation the South Parish Church in Augusta, and if so, who are the two individuals, there stated to have been "excluded" from that church,

October 27, 1840."

THE PASTOR'S REPLY.

"In reply to Judge Weston's inquiry, Mr. Tappan would inform him, that he did furnish the account referred to, of the South Parish Church in Augusta, and that the two individuals intended were Judge Weston and wife.

October 27, 1840."

CHAPTER XIX.

"And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him." Acts xxii: 22, 23, 24.

CASE OF D. C. WESTON.

The reporter was, by this time, tired of noting upon paper the performances of the church, and abandoned his previous system of accurately taking down everything that was said and done. A few things however were reduced to writing and preserved.

The church had several adjournments, but a few strokes of the pen only, are needed to show the occurrences apart from the documents, which of themselves sufficiently explain the nature of the case.

Mr. Weston in the first place asked a dismission and recommendation to St. Marks, and requested a speedy investigation of his case with a view to that object.

[For the complaint see page 39.]

At the commencement of the case, Dea. Tappan was asked by Mr. W. if in their interview the latter did not disclaim all intention of wounding his feelings, and express regret that anything he had said or done had produced that effect. This was admitted by Dea. T. in its fullest extent, but he insisted that it was not sufficient satisfaction. He thought he had a right to demand (and in this he was joined by the Pastor) that Mr. W. should admit that he had done wrong. Certain things they declared were charged in the complaint as true; and if so, Mr. W. should not only express regret that he had wounded the feelings of a brother, but acknowledge the