olleagues
and this man's friends, and succeeded for a time, but they obliged me at
last, either to sanction what I felt to be wrong, or openly to protest
against their proceedings. I protested. And now the unsubstantial peace
which had existed between us for a time was followed by a very unhappy
rupture, which left deep and angry wounds in the hearts of all the
contending parties.

26. But to give all the incidents which proved the occasion of bitter
feeling and alienation between me and a number of my brethren would
require a book. They were happening almost continually. When once people
have ceased to regard each other with love and confidence, they can
neither speak nor stir without giving each other offence. And this was
the state to which I and several of my brethren had come. Indeed such
was the unhappy state of our feelings, that we had ceased to take
pleasure in pleasing, and had come almost to take delight in trying one
another. Instead of coming as near together as we could, we got as far
as possible apart. We came at length to feel a kind of gratification in
finding what appeared good reasons for differing from one another. The
consequence was, we came to differ from each other so much, that it
became impossible for us to work together to any advantage.

And there was no one with wisdom and piety sufficient to interpose and
heal the breach, or even to prevent it from getting continually wider.
The gentleman who had acted as mediator and moderator when my article on
_Toleration and Human Creeds_ was arraigned, and who had also brought
about the temporary settlement of a more serious dispute at the
Conference following, now found the case beyond his powers, and made no
further attempts at reconciliation. He saw it necessary, if he would
retain his influence in the Body, to become a partizan, instead of a
mediator, and he chose the side of my opponents. There were two other
men--two of the oldest and ablest of our ministers--and two of the most
exemplary Christians in the Body--who saw the danger of the tempest that
was raging against me, and who would have been glad to screen me from
its violence, but they were afraid to interpose. They loved me and
esteemed me, and sympathized with me in many of my views; but to have
attempted to save me from the fury of my opponents, would have been to
risk their own reputation and position. One of them had already suffered
in consequence of the freedom with which he had exp