Christ in behalf of his Church and upon the soul and life of the believer; revivals of religion; and the doctrine of future retribution." We do not pretend that he means the same by these words that we do, nor that he is consistent. We are glad he can put any meaning to such words; and we claim that while Unitarianism can never be expected to return to the extreme of Calvinism, it is not too much to expect that it will meet relenting Calvinism half way, in the safe medium ground of truth.

ART. V.-THE EARLY CAMP-MEETING SONG WRITERS. THERE lies upon our table a little volume of which it is probable there are at the present date but few duplicates. The title is as follows: "The Pilgrim Songster; or, a choice Collection of Spiritual Songs, from the best Authors. A new edition, corrected and enlarged, with many Songs never before in print. By Thomas S. Hinde."

The volume is a 24mo., containing two hundred and forty pages, and from the press of Messrs. Morgan, Fisher, and L'Hommedieu, Cincinnati. 1828. This copy is of the third edition of the work. The first edition was published in 1810, the second in 1815. It appears, from remarks made by the editor in the preface, that sev eral editions had been surreptitiously published in Baltimore and Philadelphia. The three Western editions reached a circulation of not less than ten thousand copies, a very large circulation for the period.

We look upon the volume with no small degree of interest. The binding, which was never firm, is now nearly destroyed; the leaves, time-stained, worn, and dog-eared; but we remember well the day when a dignified Kentucky matron, trembling with age, took it down from a shelf over the high mantel-piece, and entertained us till midnight, reading its songs, interspersing the reading with remembrances of the days when Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree, and Burke, Wilkinson, Sale, Lakin, Taylor, and many others, long since resting from their labors, sat beside the same fire-side, or stood beside the little stand, now preserved as a relic of those days, and preached the word of life in her humble cabin. She would sometimes say with a sigh that she wished she might see such preachers again. Her wish has been gratified; she has joined them in the land of eternal rest.

Ellis, p. 47.

The mind goes back to a period in the West when a great spiritual awakening gave new pulsations to the energetic life of its thinly populated wilderness. This book was then a hoarded treasure in the cabins of those hardy settlers; in frequent use not only on camp-meeting and revival occasions, but in the prayer-meeting, the social circle, the class-meeting, and often in the public congregation on the Sabbath day, or at the regular week-day appointments.

The compiler, Rev. Thomas S. Hinde, was at that time a resident of Newport, Kentucky, and a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a man of superior mental abilities, and had received the advantages of a good education, as good as the West could at that time afford.. No one in his day was better acquainted with the early religious condition of the people, or more interested in its religious history, and he had made it his special study. His sketches, published in the early volumes of the Methodist Magazine and in our Church newspapers, under the signature of Theophilus Arminius, are among the most reliable records that we have. He died a few years ago at Mount Carmel, Illinois.

The volume contains one hundred and twenty hymns. Of these nearly one half were composed by persons unknown to the compiler. Most of these are destitute of poetical merit, but they were treasured in the memories of the people, and were popular at a time when such compositions were in great demand. The Wesleys and John Newton contribute each a few hymns, and the remainder, more than one third of the whole, were composed by John A. Granade and Caleb Jarvis Taylor. We propose furnishing for the reader short sketches of these poets, with a notice of their poetical writings, and their relation to the great camp-meeting revival which swept over the West during the earliest years of the present century.

I have not been able to obtain any information of John A. Granade beyond a few anecdotes, and the very slight notices of him as a minister in the "Journal" of the old Western Conference. When about thirty years of age he was' admitted on trial into the traveling connection, at a session of the Western Conference held October 1, 1801, at Ebenezer, in the State of Tennessee. He continued in the itinerancy three years, traveling Green, Holston, and Hinckstone circuits, each one year. At the end of his third year he asked and obtained a location, desisting from the active ministry on account of temporal affairs. He now settled in Southwestern Tennessee, engaged in the practice of medicine, devoting his leisure hours to the care of his farm. I have never seen any account of his death, and do not know the date of it.

All accounts agree in representing Mr. Granade as a man of vigorous mind, much improved by reading and observation. He was deeply melancholic in temperament, and of marked eccentricity. His piety was striking, and went far in counteracting "a hardness and stubbornness in his temper" which otherwise was calculated to give great offense, and nearly precluded his entrance. into the traveling connection. Like most of the itinerants of his day, he was ardent and zealous in doing good, for nothing less than a liberal endowment of zeal, indeed almost a consuming desire to save souls, could carry the itinerant over the large circuits, and enable him to bear the privations incident on his employment.

Early religious experiences had made a deep impression on his mind, and gave an almost unnatural tinge to all his exercises as a preacher and poet. His first religious convictions were powerful, but were resisted with all the energy of his nature. Then followed a season of intense spiritual darkness, and temptation from which his moral nature revolted, and for a time he believed himself sealed to eternal condemnation by the Holy Spirit. Almost maddened by this conviction, the society of men became a burden to him, and he fled to the mountains, his despairing soul giving vent to his agony in mournful songs. Most of his friends concluded that he was hopelessly insane. But in the midst of it all his soul sought after God, and the Heavenly Father was not unmindful of his struggles. Alone, upon the mountain side, as he lay upon the damp ground, insensible to all earthly impressions, faith grew strong, and the light from Calvary shone upon his path. Now the light was as brilliant as the darkness had been dense, the joy as rapturous as the despair had been distressing, and henceforth he sang of love, joy, and hope. That he, a reprobate, rebelling against God, had been pardoned, satisfied his mind that every sinner might obtain deliverance; he saw the value of his new possession, and desired all to enjoy it with himself. So he determined to devote his life to the proclamation of divine mercy, and he became a minister of the "glad tidings."

Caleb Jarvis Taylor was born on the 20th June, 1763, in St. Mary's County, Maryland, of Irish parents. He was diligently instructed in the Roman Catholic faith by his parents, but it never seemed to take a firm hold on his mind and conscience. Although he passed his early life on a farm, yet he obtained what was considered a good education, and left home at the age of eighteen to enter upon the career of a professional school teacher. While teaching school in Virginia and Pennsylvania he was thrown into the company of the Methodists. At first he attended preaching irreg

ularly out of curiosity; but the truth was not long in finding access to his heart; he sought pardon, was converted, joined the Church, and was soon after licensed as a local preacher. He was not yet twenty years old. In 1792 he came to Kentucky and resided near Maysville. He at once became known as a superior teacher, and an active local preacher. At the Western Conference of 1810 he was admitted on trial into the traveling connection, but at the close of his second year he located. This record, however, does not give any proper notion of the amount of his labors in the itinerancy; for during a number of years he served as a supply to various circuits in the State of Kentucky. His family were too large to be fully provided for by the scanty pay given to a preacher in those days, so, when he became pressed in money matters he was accus tomed to engage in school teaching.

His last days were spent at his home in Kenton County, Kentucky, about sixteen miles south of Cincinnati. During the greater part of the last year of his life he was subject to more or less mental affliction, a deeply settled melancholy; but about a week before he died the gloom passed away, and, although suffering acute pain, he departed in triumph to the inheritance of the saints. He was buried on an eminence in the vicinity, a spot which in his lifetime had been a favorite resort, to which he had given the name of Solitary Hill." A willow twig, planted at the head of his grave by a loved friend, the noble woman to whom I was indebted for the little volume under review, has grown into a large tree and droops mournfully over his grave.

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Mr. Taylor stood in high estimation among his brethren, not only on account of his poetical talents, but also for his skill in a species of satirical controversial writing, which often produced greater effect upon the early Western mind than the most weighty argument. He published, some time in 1803, at Lexington, Kentucky, a pamphlet entitled "News from the Infernal Regions;" and some years later, "The Sentimental Deist," a series of articles in the Fredonian, a weekly paper conducted by Thomas S. Hinde, at Chillicothe, Ohio. Never having seen copies of these works we can form no judgment of their literary ability, but they created no small sensation at the time they were published.

As a preacher Mr. Taylor was deservedly popular at a time when the Western Conference was not at all deficient in talent. To a character of unobtrusive but unquestioned piety, he brought a clear understanding of the Scriptures, a very pleasant manner of speaking, and a sanguine temperament. He not only convinced the mind, but had great skill in moving the heart, frequently exciting

his whole congregation to tears. But it was in the public discussion of Christian doctrines which were a prominent feature of his times the defense of Arminianism against Calvinism, of the three modes of baptism against immersion as the only mode, and like subjects, that he was most at home. He was a cool and ready debater, not hesitating to break a lance with the most daring of his opponents. Taking his position with prudence, and skillfully advancing his arguments, combining wit, humor, and sarcasm in the assault, he rarely failed to drive his opponent before him. A man of ready wit, genial humor, and pleasing address, he surrounded himself with many loving hearts, receiving kindnesses and imparting good.

Singing, as a part of divine worship, is not to be considered a device of man's invention, but a product of the activities of his spiritual nature when it disposes itself for worship. The hymns of the Church are not primarily designed to afford instruction in doctrine, but to open a channel for the expression of feeling; and we find that those which the Church has permanently incorporated into her devotions have been the production of individual minds deeply imbued with piety, the outflowing of the many phases of religious emotion, glowing with passion purified by the new life. So it often happens that when singing has degenerated into a lifeless ceremony, inherited from better times, it has a singular power to awaken in the soul aspirations for a better life. Many of the hymns which the Church cherishes as a peculiar sacred treasure, have been condemned by those who have no personal experience of redemption, as too sensuous for the worship of a holy, spiritual being. Such strains as "Jesus, Lover of my Soul," jar upon sensibilities made delicate by mere art culture, but they defy age and criticism, securing a firmer hold upon hearts as the multitude increases whose thoughts and hopes are turned heavenward. For these hymns are themselves a manifestation of Christian life, and as long as the hopes and fears of such a life remain, and the love of God lives in the souls of men, there shall not be wanting the melody of song-song expressing itself in pleadings for pardon and choruses of joy, agonizing cries for deliverance and rapturous peans of triumph, simple breathings of childish trust, and bold approaches to the mercy-seat.

Looking over the past, we perceive that every considerable revival of the spiritual life of the Church has not only restored vitality to singing as a necessary part of worship, but has also given birth to hymns specially indicative of the most prominent features of the awakened life. Generally the leaders of the awakening have themselves taken up the harp in the interval of their pulpit labors, and FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XI.-27