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light, could not be retained in Christian fellowship in any church, without its incurring the blame of conniving at sin, and receiving the censure of him who has commanded "to put away that wicked person from amongst you." For the members of a church to treat a brother thus guilty as a righteous person, would be to make themselves partakers with him in his iniquity, and would equally incur the frowns of avenging justice. Nor, for the same reasons, could sis. ter churches fellowship a church so reckless of consequences. But may we not hope that our brother querist is presenting us with an ideal, rather than a real difficulty? A. W. C..

DISTURBANCE IN BETHANY COLLEGE.

So many statements have appeared in different quarters concerning the recent disturbance in Bethany College, caused by the indiscreet zeal of a few inexperienced young men, in the agitation of the much vexed question of slavery, and so imperfect and unjust is the impression which these seem to have made upon the public mind, that it becomes our duty to briefly narrate the whole case, precisely as it occurred. This is due, especially both to the Faculty of Bethany College and to our numerous friends, North and South, who have hitherto approved our policy on this subject. Our apology for not having done so at an earlier day, is-first, that we left home a few days after the occurrence and have just returned; and second, that we did not think it necessary to give, in advance, a public explanation for what was simply wholesome and ordinary College discipline in like cases, in every College of any respectability known to us, either North or South. The perverted representations so gladly circulated by the common enemies of Bethany College and the cause we plead, render it now proper that we should say a few words for the consideration of the candid and unprejudiced reader.

The policy of Bethany College, from the commencement, has been to maintain a strictly literary, scientific and religious character. The discussion, by the Students, of difficult and exciting questions of sccial and public policy, especially those of a sectional peculiarity, has been uniformly discouraged by the Faculty, as not only without the pale of our collegiate course, but as unfit for the immature minds and undisciplined tempers of students, who come to learn and to be taught, and not to teach. Our views on all these subjects have been laid fully and fairly before the brethren. Especially on the subject

of slavery and its introduction and discussion in the churches, have our views been fully elaborated and canvased for now many years, and we are happy to know that they have not only withstood all factious opposition, but have also found a very general and almost universally harmonious concurrence among the well informed and enlarged minds of the entire brotherhood, both North and South. We stand on these subjects unchanged. Still, in the government and discipline of the College, the Faculty have preferred to let the matter rest rather upon its own evidences of propriety, and trusted rather to moral influence and the good sense of the students, than to the arbitrary rule of a positive law. The students have known our views, and feelings, and principles on these subjects, and generally so far respected them as to render any formal interference, on the part of the Faculty, unnecessary. Occasionally, however, the subject of slavery, though never formally proposed for discussion, has been collaterally introduced, both by Northern and Southern students, in their Society debates. The sensitiveness of the opposing parties generally served to restrain its agitation, except in this allusory way, and it produced no trouble.

Recently, however, the College has had an accession of a few precocious youths, who seem to have come, rather in the spirit of patriots and social reformers, than that of students. Among the number was a Scotchman, Mr. Philip Burns, whose extreme principles of liberty are such, that though now a resident of the United States, he cannot conscientiously sign the American Declaration of Independence! Last session, his imprudent agitation of the subject of slavery in the Adelphian Society, produced some little discussion and unpleasant feeling amongst its members, but it was adjusted without coming before the Faculty. This session, some three or four kindred spirits combined with him in continuing the agitation. As usual in such cases, some students on each side became excited, and hard speeches passed freely between both parties. Still, the matter was confined to the performances of their respective Societies, and was controlled by their own laws of order and debate, till a Mr. Way, from Portage county, Ohio, introduced it into the pulpit, in a discourse delivered by him on Sunday evening.

The Adelphian Society is composed of young men who are preparing for the ministry, and it is a regulation among them, that one of their number, taken in alphabetical order, shall deliver a public discourse in the church in the village every Lord's day evening. Mr. Way's name was not the name in order, but by some means he was put forward to speak very soon after his arrival here. He was an entire stranger to the Faculty and three-fourths of the students, and so well known were our views, and so long established was the usage of

the church here with respect to the discussion of slavery in the pulpit, that no one dreamed that it was his object to introduce such a subject; but so he did, and in a manner very offensive to many of his hearers. Yet he was patiently and respectfully listened to, and no further notice was taken of the matter that we then heard of. It is now stated that he received, some days after, an anonymous communication threatening him with summary punishment, if he did not keep his offensive sentiments to himself. This communication was signed "80 Students," but with no name. It was regarded as an idle trick at the time, such as is common in all institutions where many young men are convened from different parts of the Union. Five or six weeks elapsed, and Mr. Way was treated with as much respect and confidence by his fellow-students, as if nothing of the kind had happened.

Early in the month of November, the two Literary Societies held their Anniversary celebrations. These were held in the College Hall, and were public. The speaker on behalf of one of them was a Kentuckian, and he indulged in a good deal of very harsh language towards the Abolitionists, especially the disunionists and those of the "underground railroad" order. This was warmly cheered by many, and slightly hissed by a few.

A few evenings after this the American Society held its celebration, also in the College Hall, and public. Their speaker was from Illinois, and he, not with the purpose of discussing or introducing slavery, but as best illustrating his subject, recounted the merits of Uncle Tom's Cabin, as a literary production, and applied his characteristic tests of literary excellence to explain the extraordinary hold which this work had taken, not only of the American mind, but mankind generally. This, too, was a good deal applauded, and thus the matter passed, not, however, without the very decided disapprobation of the Faculty, at this unwarranted introduction of the subject of slavery into performances of the Societies, on these purely literary occasions-especially at the purely political and sectional spirit of the address first alluded to. The Faculty hoped that this would be sufficient, as it had been on former occasions, to prevent any further agitation of this subject, especially as the large majority of the more influential students from the South seemed satisfied that such a course could result in nothing but evil to the institution, and discord among themselves. But we had mistaken the purpose of some of these young social reformers.

On the following Lord's day, just before the congregation was dismissed, a notice was handed to me, that Mr. Burns would "Lecture" that evening, "on the true principles of Liberty." Although it was

altogether unprecedented, that a student should thus announce his subject, I did not suspect but that he meant the liberty of the gospel. Other brethren, however, who were better acquainted with the spirit of Mr. Burns than I was, suggested to me that it was designed to be an anti-slavery lecture. I could not believe it, yet, as a matter of prudence, I requested a brother elder to call upon him and let him know that such a course could not be allowed. Notwithstanding this (whether from some misunderstanding of Mr. Burns or not, I cannot say) he did speak as appointed; and it was this "Lecture" which led to the disturbance, about which so much perversion and misrepresentation have been published in the columns of our enemies, to the mortification of the brethren and the delight of infidels, sceptics, sectarian bigots, and all sorts of opposers and calumniators, both North and South.

It was generally understood, as I afterwards learned, that the Lecture was to be an anti-slavery Lecture; and though Mr. Burns was by no means popular, there was an unusual turn out to hear him. He approached the subject indirectly, by alluding to various kinds of slavery, and dwelt with his utmost severity upon the horrors of West India slavery. He described it just as American Abolitionists describe American slavery, and treated the whole matter in such a manner as to give offence to four-fifths of his audience. He spoke in very contemptuous language of the morality, &c., of the oldest and most favored church in the Reformation, and though in general terms, in such a style as to produce the almost universal impression that he was all the time referring, under this covert of generalities and remote cases, to American slavery and the church at Bethany, or to a certain class of its members. We pretend not to give, even a synopsis of this Lecture. It was most illjudged and unwarranted under all the circumstances, and the result was that twenty or thirty of the congregation rose, almost simultaneously, and went out a few of them walking heavily, and making an unusual degree of noise, both with their feet and canes. Before this took place, some noise was made in the back part of the house by scraping the feet on the floor, and there was some hissing, but nothing was said. When those who left went out, Mr. Burns paused, but one of his friends cried out very loudly, "Go on! we will hear you through." This was the only thing said in the house during the Lecture, save by Mr. Burns himself. Soon after this a window on the side of the pulpit, some twenty feet off from the speaker, was pushed up with a stick. It slipped off and fell, breaking two panes of glass. This was supposed, by some, at the time, to be those without throwing stones, but it was a mistake; nothing of the kind was done during the evening. At this juncture

one of the Professors, of whom two were present, went out to see if there was any probability of further disorder. There had been, also, some loud talking and some shouting out of doors, though not of such a nature as at all to interrupt the speaker. The night was dark, and the Professor saw some two or three persons retreat from the window, but could not identify them. The main body of the students who had withdrawn from the church, he found talking together, some distance in front of the door, and on speaking to them, they assured him of their purpose and desire to preserve and maintain order. There is a small excavation under the end of the church, remote from the pulpit, and some one entered it and struck up against the floor with a stick, so as to be heard by some of the audience in that part of the house. Some one also rapped several times on the windows at that end of the house, with something like a switch, but not hard enough to break the glass or disturb the speaker. The whole disorder consisted in some scraping of feet in the back part of the house, some hissing, a boisterous mode of leaving the house on the part of a few, some loud talking and shouting by a few out of doors, the hoisting of one window with a stick, tapping at another with a switch, and some thumping against the floor from the excavation at the back end of the house. All this was, of course, unwarranted and justly deserving of the censure and reprobation of the Faculty, which they promptly and most decisively pronounced against it; but no one could be identified as guilty of the offensive conduct described as occurring out of doors, and all, at all acquainted with the discipline of Colleges, know how almost impossible it is to discover any thing relating to the conduct of a student, when it is known only to themselves.

Unjustifiable and rude as this conduct unquestionably was, it was not such as to interrupt the speaker. He went on to the end of an unusually long harangue, and was listened to patiently by a majority of the Southern students, who remained. The meeting was closed with singing and praying, as usual, and in good order, and Mr. Burns and the congregation went quietly and peaceably home. There was no attempt to mob him-there is not the shadow of evidence that such a thing was at all seriously contemplated by any body, and though it is alleged that he was threatened with violence as he proceeded to his lodgings, several gentlemen, who walked along from the church close beside him, testify that there was not a syllable of reproach, insult, or threatening spoken to him. His martyrdom was all in his own imagination. He and his friends went quietly to their lodgings, and there was not the least manifestation of any design to annoy, much less to injure him or them. Mr. Burns did get an anonymous communication, threatening him, if he did not leave, with "consequences

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