the most important publications that have appeared in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

A posthumous tract on episcopacy exhibits Dr. Emory as the defender of the Church against assaults from without. Incomplete as it is, it does no discredit to its author; there is enough to show that he was master of the subject, and would have disposed of the controversy satisfactorily had he been allowed to complete his design. The latter and better portion of the tract, containing a partial examination of Dr. Onderdonk's "Episcopacy tested by Scripture," is, in our judgment, as far as it goes, the ablest answer that has yet been given to that ingenious but overrated production. The high Churchman's weak points were clearly perceived by Bishop Emory, and he attacked them with great weight of metal and directness of aim.

At the Conference of 1824 Mr. Emory was elected Assistant Book Agent, with Rev. Dr. Bangs as senior; and in 1828 he was elected Agent, with Rev. Beverly Waugh as Assistant. In the language of his biographer, his "connexion with the Book Concern, whether it be considered with reference to its influence upon that establishment and the Church at large, or its influence upon the development of his own character, must be regarded as one of the most important periods of his life." The chapter on the Book Concern in his biography, while it in no respect depreciates the services of others, shows that the present commanding position of the establishment is mainly to be attributed to Dr. Emory.

The Publishing Fund originated with him. Its origin and objects are set forth in his admirable address to the Church and its friends in behalf of the Bible, Tract, and Sunday-School Societies of the Methodist Episcopal

Church; and though its results have not fully equalled the expectations at first cherished, they have sufficed to evince the sagacity of the measure. The Methodist Quarterly Review also owes its existence to Dr. Emory, who commenced the publication of its first series in 1830. Most of the original articles, up to 1832, were from his pen, and some of them were written with distinguished ability.

A comprehensive sketch of the history of the Book Concern, from the pen of Bishop Waugh, is given in the "Life of Dr. Emory." From that outline, and the more extended account in Dr. Bangs's History, vol. iv, we learn that between the years 1823 and 1828 there was a great expansion of the business of the Concern, to meet which a building was purchased in Crosby-street, and a printing office and bindery established on the premises. During this period Dr. Emory was junior Book Agent. But "this extension of business had not been accomplished without an increase of debt, and although there was now greater energy in the institution to effect its discharge, it may well be doubted whether this result would not have been wholly prevented by the system on which the business was conducted."

The debt of the establishment in 1828 was $101,200 80, two-thirds of which sum was at interest. Its nominal assets amounted to $456,898 30, of which only $59,772 28 were in fixed capital, cash, and notes receivable; the remainder consisting of stock on hand, and accounts, mostly for books sent out from New-York on commission, from which immense deductions had to be made in order to anything like a true estimate of their value. Indeed the agents estimated the real capital of the establishment at only $130,002 02,