founders, and set forth, before all men, the true principles of her organization. It was reserved for John Emory to do this work. He did not interfere in the controversy until the demand for his services became urgent, and then he interfered effectually. The "Defense of our Fathers," designed, primarily, as an answer to Mr. A. M'Caine's "History and Mystery of Methodist Episcopacy," took a wider view of the subject than was necessary to refute that malicious production. Mr. M'Caine went far beyond his associates in violence and effrontery. No calumny was too foul to find currency through his means, if it would only serve his purposes of defamation. An honorable character formed no defense for the living against the shafts of his malice; the grave itself was no sanctuary for the venerable dead. His soul had not honor enough to bless the turf that wrapped their clay;" it could only find utterance, over the tomb, in a hideous howl of slander. But there were many who knew little of the men whom he traduced or the events which he misrepresented; and, in the absence of other information, the very boldness of his assertions gained them credence for a time. "At the instance of some who had taken the deepest interest in the existing contest, Mr. Emory undertook to expose the falsity of his statements and the fallacy of his arguments." In a very short time the "Defense" appeared, and although prepared so hastily, amid the laborious engagements of the book agency, it fully sustained the reputation of its author, and, what is more important, triumphantly vindicated the fame of the founders of the church. The work at once produced a great sensation; friends were delighted, foes were alarmed. It has since been made a part of the preachers' course of study, and has taken its place, deservedly, among the standard writings of the church. The biography before us gives a clear outline of its contents, and the work itself is well known to most of our readers, so that we need do nothing more than express our opinion in regard to its merits. It has the same points of excellence that distinguish all Mr. Emory's writingsclearness of arrangement, fairness of statement, soundness of logic, and conciseness of expression. Nor does it lack pungency of satire and severity of rebuke; and these are combined with deep feeling in the remarkably eloquent passage at the close of the volume. On the whole, this tract, considering the time of its publication, the subjects of which it treats, and the effects which it produced, may be regarded as one of the most important publications that have appeared in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

But Mr. Emory's defense of the church did not end here. At

the General Conference of 1828 he was made chairman of the committee on reform, and presented, as the result of the labors of that committee, the celebrated "Report on Petitions and Memorials." This document, while it sets forth in the clearest terms the inexpediency of lay delegation, and maintains with great boldness the prerogatives of the divinely instituted ministry, is also an invaluable bill of rights for the membership. It is therein declared that the General Conference has no strictly legislative powers-that it can make no laws affecting life, limb, or property of the membershipthat the laity have full liberty of speech and of the press, subject. only to the restrictions imposed by the laws of the land, of the gospel, and of Methodism-and, in short, that the ministry assume no authoritative control whatever over the membership-governing no man without his consent. The doctrines of this Report cannot be too well understood among us; we are very much mistaken if any one of them is erroneous; and its unanimous adoption by the General Conference, seconded, as it was, by the universal consent of the church-ministers and laymen-has given it the authority of law, if any principles have that authority under our constitution. The eleventh chapter of the Life, containing that Report and the substance of Dr. Emory's writings in the Quarterly to which it gave rise, is one of the most valuable in the book.

The posthumous tract on Episcopacy exhibits Dr. Emory as the defender of the church against assaults from without. Incomplete as it is, it does no discredit to its author; there is enough to show that he was master of the subject, and would have disposed of the controversy satisfactorily had he been allowed to complete his design. The latter and better portion of the tract, containing a partial examination of Dr. Onderdonk's "Episcopacy tested by Scripture," is, in our judgment, as far as it goes, the ablest answer that has yet been given to that ingenious but overrated production. The high Churchman's weak points were clearly perceived by Bishop Emory, and he attacked them with great weight of metal and directness of aim. May we not express the hope that the work left unfinished by the father will be completed by the son? In some respects, we are sure, the father's mantle has fallen upon his shoulders, especially in regard to the power of analysis and logical argumentation, and if he would enter upon this controversy with all his energies, disciplined as they are, and strengthened by the learning requisite to grapple with the question, we cannot doubt that much more would be done toward settling this question.

In the language of his biographer, "Mr. Emory's connection with the Book Concern, whether it be considered with reference

to its influence upon that establishment and the church at large, or its influence upon the development of his own character, must be regarded as one of the most important periods of his life." The author's chapter on the Book Concern, while it in no respect depreciates the services of others, shows that the present commanding position of the establishment is mainly to be attributed to Dr. Emory.

1. The Publishing Fund originated with him. Its origin and objects are set forth in his admirable address to the church and its friends in behalf of the Bible, Tract, and Sunday School Societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and though its results have not fully equalled the expectations at first cherished, they have sufficed to evince the sagacity of the measure.

2. The Methodist Quarterly Review, which now exerts so powerful an influence, and is destined hereafter to do still greater things for the literature of the church, owes its existence to Dr. Emory, who commenced the publication of its first series in 1830. Most of the original articles, up to 1832, were from his pen, and some of them were written with distinguished ability. The present series of this journal is, to be sure, greatly in advance of the first, but the advance is by no means as great as that of the latter over its predecessor, the papers contributed by Dr. Emory having hardly been surpassed by any that have since appeared.

3. A comprehensive sketch of the history of the Book Concern, from the pen of Bishop Waugh, is given in the volume before us. From that outline, and the more extended account in Dr. Bangs' History, vol. iv, we learn that between the years 1823 and 1828 there was a great expansion of the business of the Concern, to meet which a building was purchased in Crosby-street, and a printing office and bindery established on the premises. During this period Dr. Emory was junior book agent. But

"this extension of business had not been accomplished without an increase of debt, and although there was now greater energy in the institution to effect its discharge, it may well be doubted whether this result would not have been wholly prevented by the system on which the business was conducted."-P. 238.

The debt of the establishment in 1828 was $101,200 80, twothirds of which sum was at interest. Its nominal assets amounted to $456,898 30, of which only $59,772, 28 were in fixed capital, cash, and notes receivable; the remainder consisting of stock on hand, and accounts, mostly for books sent out from New-York on commission, from which immense deductions had to be made in order to any thing like a true estimate of their value. Indeed the

agents estimated the real capital of the establishment at only $130,002 02, we suppose, of course, exclusive of its debt. The commission system of business gave rise to a vast amount of credit to a multitude of persons throughout the land, and had it continued, this credit must have gone on increasing from year to year. No skill or industry could, under these circumstances, have paid the debts of the institution and kept up its capital. The inevitable alternative must have been, either the curtailment of the business or the destruction of the Concern. Dr. Emory proposed the bold, but necessary measure of an entire revolution in the mode of doing business, and suggested to his colleague the abolition of the commission system, and the adoption of one founded on the principle of actual sales for cash or its equivalent. In the language of Bishop Waugh,—

"The two great objects which Dr. Emory aimed to accomplish were, first, the extinguishment of the debts due from the Concern, and second, the actual sale of the stock on hand, and especially that part of it which was daily depreciating, because of the injuries which were constantly being sustained by it, in the scattered and exposed state in which most of it was found. The ability, skill, diligence, and perseverance which he displayed in the measures devised by him for the accomplishment of these objects, have seldom been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed by the most practiced business man. His success was complete. Before the meeting of the General Conference he had canceled all the obligations of the institution which had been so opportunely intrusted to his supervision. He had greatly enlarged the annual dividends to an increased number of conferences. He had purchased several lots of ground for a more enlarged and eligible location of the establishment, and had erected a large four story brick building as a part of the improvements intended to be put on them, for the whole of which he had paid. It was his high honor, and also his enviable satisfaction, to report to the General Conference, for the first time, that its Book Concern was no longer in debt."

Such were the immediate results of Dr. Emory's agency. We have one word more to say of it. The energy, efficiency, and method which he infused into all the operations of the Concern remain to this day. He has left his mark upon it. His admirable plans had only to be carried out to place the establishment beyond the reach of ordinary contingences. His able successors have done their work in his spirit, and developed the resources of the institution to an extent formerly unhoped for; so that it has stood the ordeal of an immense loss by fire, and of a long period of commercial distress, without even shaking; and to-day it is, to the best of our knowledge, the greatest book-making and book-selling establishment in America.

4. The cause of education always lay near Bishop Emory's heart. His share in the organization of the New-York University, the Wesleyan University, and Dickinson College, evince the interest that he took in general education. In addition to this he drew up the outline of a plan for an education society in the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he designed to aid our ministers and others in educating their sons, and which, we hope, will yet be made the basis of such a society among us. But his efforts for the improvement of the ministry deserve more than a passing notice. Though the education of its ministers had always been an object with the church, its plans for that purpose had always been defective, and were imperfectly carried out. Soon after his election to the episcopacy, Dr. Emory devised a course of study for candidates for deacons' and elders' orders, in which, with his usual discretion, he did not hazard every thing by attempting too much. In due time the course will doubtless be greatly enlarged, and its natural result will be an elevation of the standard of ministerial knowledge among us, corresponding, partially at least, with the general advance of society. In some sections of the country the movement will be more rapid than in others, but we have no doubt whatever that the church will ultimately settle down upon the plan of our British brethren, or upon some better one, for the theological training of its candidates. We have no doubt, either, that Bishop Emory foresaw this result, and would have hastened it had he lived.

5. Dr. Emory's career in the episcopacy was brief, but brilliant. His appointment was hailed with joy throughout the connection. Great expectations were indulged; and we believe that in the three episcopal tours which he was allowed to make, they were entirely satisfied. His powers as a presiding officer were tried on the last night of the General Conference of 1832, when he occupied the chair, and gained the admiration of the delegates as well as of the immense concourse of spectators, by the dignity and firmness with which he discharged its duties. Dignity, indeed, was part of his nature, and it could not forsake him. "I hurry nothing, but endeavor to keep strict order, and every man close to business," was a statement, by himself, of his method of doing business, and admirably did he carry it out. His efforts for educating the candidates for orders have already been noticed; he formed a plan, also, for training the local preachers, which, with an argument for the four years' course of study for the traveling. preachers, is set forth in his excellent address to "the Preachers within the Virginia, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York, New