The Exeter controversy, in consequence of the appeal made by both parties to certain ministers in London, was the means of bringing on a very vehement struggle on the general question, which was debated at great length in a multitude of publications, some very able, others displaying a degree of bitterness and party spirit which it is mortifying to observe in the avowed ministers of the gospel of peace. This dispute created a breach between the contending parties which was never entirely healed; and there can be little doubt that it tended materially to weaken the political weight and influence of the Nonconformists of that day, taken as a body. But, on the other hand, it is not less evident that, in the midst of the din of contending factions, the voice of truth was heard by many. The general attention was forcibly directed to important principles, some of them hitherto unsuspected, and others, though tacitly acknowledged, yet never before pursued to their practical consequences; so that what the friends
