State Journal

ZION'S WATCHMAN.—At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the New York Wesleyan Society, held August 30th, 1836, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted, and ordered to be published:

Whereas, It has come to the knowledge of the committee, that repeated attempts have been made to retard the circulation of Zion's Watchman, among the ministers and members of the Methodist E. Church; and

Whereas. The proprietors of this paper are members of the Methodist E. Church, and firmly attached to its discipline and doctrines; and

Whereas, Zion's Watchman is edited by a regular member of one of the Annual Conferences, and devoted to the interests of the church aforesaid, and it differs from no other Methodist paper in this country, except so far as it is open to the discussion of questions which are not discussed in our regular official paper—and so far, also, as a liberality of sentiment, and other circumstances may serve to render it paramount in its claims to public patronage;

Therefore, Resolved, 1. That we view with alarm, the repeated attempts which have been made by certain members of the New York Annual Conference, to prevent the circulation of Zion's Watchman among the ministers and members of the Methodist E. Church.

Resolved, 2. That we cannot but consider these attempts as aimed at the freedom of speech and of the press, and against one of the dearest principles of Protestant Christianity.

Resolved, 3. That these attempts are peculiarly wanting in magnanimity and fairness, inasmuch as the Christian Advocate and Journal, (the medium through which they have been made,) has from the beginning, repeatedly refused to publish any thing, and all that those whom it has censured, have felt it duty to say in explanation or self defence. Nay, more; it has, for two years past, published numerous articles on one side of a controverted subject, in which the whole Christian community are deeply interested, and at the same time, it has refused to publish any thing on the other side, even when it had censured and condemned many of our ministers, not excepting even the Annual Conferences of the Methodist E. Church.

Resolved, 4. That we have the fullest confidence in the piety, talents, and moral worth of the Rev. La Roy Sunderland, the editor of said Watchman, who by his zealous labors in the ministry for many years, and by his services already rendered in editing this paper, has established a claim to the confidence of the religious public, not to be destroyed by the persecutions directed against him.

Resolved, 5. That we are more than ever convinced of the necessity of such a paper as Zion's Watchman—as in our opinion, on its success depends, in a great degree, the purity, honor, and prosperity of the Methodist E. Church; and we do, therefore, hereby pledge ourselves anew to the labors and sacrifices necessary for its support.

Resolved, 6. That, struggling as we are for the maintenance of great moral principles, which concern the rights and peace of all Christian people, in every church, we look with confidence for countenance and support from a liberal Christian public.

Resolved, 7. That the editors of papers which exchange with the Watchman be, and they are, hereby respectfully requested to give the foregoing preamble and resolutions a place in their papers, respectively.

JAMES W. BARKER, Secretary.

N. B. Zion's Watchman is published weekly at 96 Nassau street, New York, by the Executive Committee of the New York Wesleyan Society. Terms $2 per year in advance.