THE LATE SECESSION. 189 ject them. Is it not putting matters of minor importance in the place of essen- tials ? while perhaps by the disputants on both sides, essentials are not always held with so firm a grasp, or at least are not debated with such unkind per- tinacity. We have hitherto alluded to difference of opinion between pious men, men who on both sides are in earnest in their re- ligion. But are there not men of little piety to be found, who side with one or the other party, and become the hottest controvertists, while they take little real interest in vital religion ; who oppose without belief, and defend without con- viction, merely because they wish to be appended to that side which they happen to think most creditable, most popular, or most profitable ? Let us then love in each other now what God loves in us, and bear with the rest. The cultivation of this spirit of kindness would so sanctify the tem- per that we should forgive and over-
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