this Article is strikingly similar; as far gone aspossible' for man to go-as far as was compatible with his having any redeemable qualities left in him. To talk of man's being utterly lost to good is absurd, for then he would be a devil at once.'*

The same distinctive difference is shown to exist in regard to the doctrines of grace' and 'final perseverance;' the Church holding, on these points, language as far removed from the Pelagian heresy of the innocence of man, or the Papal error of his natural strength, as it is from the Calvinistic extreme, on the other hand, of his total impotence and passive obedience to the workings of irresistible grace.

On the other topics of the sermon,-the ministry and worship of the Church,-there is the less reason to enlarge, as the preacher's sentiments are well known, and frequently, in the course of this narrative illustrated. It is sufficient to say that it is a calm and temperate exposition of both, as founded upon apostolic and primitive usage. In his argument there is nothing militant nothing that ought to have provoked attack from without, except such provocation be found in his praise of the Liturgy as calculated to restrain the aberrations of the

* 'Table Talk,' p, 54.

weak and presumptuous;' those voluntary dictates,' as Hooker terms them, which proceed from man's extemporal wit.' Certainly, however, nothing offensive was meant, yet in the following number of the Christian's Magazine,' edited by Dr. Mason, the notice of this part of the discourse is as follows;-'Then comes the Liturgy. Five mass books, viz. the Roman Missals of Sarum, York, Hereford, Bangor, and Lincoln, are the sources from which it was collected by Cranmer, and a few others, and presented to the King. If we are not mistaken, Dr. Hobart will find the best authority for the Liturgy of his Church, not in the Bible, but in the Statutes of the house of Tudor.'*

As member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College, his duties about this time were not without anxiety, and seldom was his influence put to so nice a proof. That influence in the Board had been gradually and slowly acquired, and proved but just sufficient to stay, at the very moment of its execution, a project which would probably have proved fatal to the best interests of the College.

* Vol. iii. p. 635.

Upon the prospective vacancy in the station of President, arising from Bishop Moore's increasing infirmities, in the year 1810, the conspicuous talents of Dr. Mason, and his long connection with the institution, naturally pointed him out both to the Trustees and to the public as the most prominent candidate for that office. His admirers went even so far as to maintain that he was the only man capable of raising the College out of that depressed condition into which, from many causes, as already referred to, it had sunk. Under Bishop Moore, whose duties as President had been confined to official occasions, discipline had necessarily become relaxed, and it was now urged, as the only means of restoring it, the appointment of a resident and working President, with high and almost dictatorial powers; one who, with an ample salary, and unlimited authority, might devote to its duties his undivided time and talents, and thus be enabled to stamp upon the institution the impress of his own high character. None doubted of the correctness of this reasoning; few, of the individual best fitted to carry it into effect. All eyes, in short, were turned to Dr. Mason, who, at this time, stood more than ordinarily prominent in the affairs of the Board, by an able and eloquent report, which, as chairman of a committee, he had recently brought before

the Trustees, detailing the evils into which the College had fallen, and pointing out the only means by which they were to be met and remedied.

But to the elevation of Dr. Mason, however desirable or desired, there existed an impediment apparently insurmountable. The legal condition on which the College held its property from Trinity Church was, that the President should be an Episcopalian. With a view to the avoidance of this annoying restriction, various schemes were suggested and canvassed. The bolder members of the Board were for breaking through and disregarding it; the more prudent for applying to the Legislature to amend it; while others again were for bribing Trinity Church with a portion of their own gift to release them from it.

All these schemes Mr. Hobart thought were pregnant with evil; he therefore opposed them all; he protested against a breach of the condition; he dreaded the interference of the Legislature, and had the credit of defeating their application for it; he deprecated the division of the property, though he still looked to this movement as his last resource; but above all, he opposed, because he more than doubted, the fitness of the individual whom all were struggling to advance to this high station. In the

mean time a majority of members stood ready to force the way if Mr. Hobart did not recede, and at any hazard to make Dr. Mason President.

Agitated by these contending evils, Mr. Hobart was driven almost to despair: the day of election approached, and no remedy was found. Lying sleepless and restless, as he himself stated to the writer, the greater part of the night preceding that eventful day, as he revolved within himself how the evil might yet be avoided, or which was the least to choose, suddenly the idea came into his mind of the creation of a new and temporary office in the government of the College, to be termed the Provostship,' into which Dr. Mason might be elected, with whatever salary and measure of power his friends might see fit to give. This, he thought, would probably satisfy both them and him, and permit the experiment to be tried of his government of the College, while it would leave the charter and property untouched, the condition being complied with, by means of a nominal President of the Episcopal communion.

The plans of Mr. Hobart, once matured, never slept. He accordingly arose before day, and crossing the river to Long-Island, drove twelve miles to the seat of Mr. Rufus King, at Jamaica, whose influence in the Board was among the first; satisfied him during breakfast, of the

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