made subject of remark in the "Presbyterian Herald," Louisville, Kentucky,
to which I replied at length in the "Presbyterian Witness," Knoxville,
Tennessee. No rejoinder was ever made to that reply. But, recently, an
extract from the younger Edwards was submitted to me. To that I gave the
following letter. The subject is of the first and the last importance, and
bears directly, as set forth in my New York speech, on infidelity, and, of
course, the slavery question:--

Mr. Editor:--In your paper of Tuesday, 24th ult., there is an article,
under this head, giving the argument of Edwards (the son) against my views
as to _the foundation of moral obligation_.

I thank the writer for his argument, and his courteous manner of
presenting it. In my third letter to Mr. Barnes, I express my preparation
to meet "_all comers_" on this question; and I am pleased to see this
"_comer_". If my views cannot be refuted by Edwards, I may wait long
for an "_uglier customer_."

A word, introductory, to your correspondent. He says, "His [Dr. Ross's]
theory was advanced and argued against in a former age." By this, I
understand him to express his belief that my theory has been rejected
heretofore. Well. It may, nevertheless, be the true theory. The Copernican
astronomy was argued against in a former age and rejected; yet it has
prevailed. Newton's law of gravitation was argued against and rejected by
a whole generation of philosophers on the continent of Europe; yet it has
prevailed. And now all school-boys and girls would call anybody a fool who
should deny it. Steam, in all its applications, was argued against and
rejected; yet it has prevailed. So the electric telegraph; and, to go back
a little, the theory of vaccination,--the circulation of the blood,--a
thousand things; yea, Edwards's (the father) theory of virtue, although