principles, and moral character are unex- | heard all these faults committed by those ceptionable; and 3. I am deeply aware | whose piety I had the most sufficient reason the infirmity of man renders him extremely to believe was genuine. hable to run into extremes; and that persons of warm passions are not more apt to be excessively animated, than those of the opposite description are to be dull and frigid; and as one is a fault equally as considerable as the other, the same degree of indulgence ought to be extended to both. P. I acknowledge the propriety of your remarks; but must maintain, at the same time, that a similar apology cannot be made for excessively loud praying: for as prayer is addressed to an omnipresent and omniscient Being, an extraordinary exertion of the lungs can no more be necessary to convince Him of our sincerity, than to accommodate the faculty by which he hears us; besides, the bold and bawling manner in which some people offer up their petitions, to me discovers excessive irreverence, and is highly unsuitable to the character of guilty and dependent creatures supplicating mercy. C. I readily admit that the tone, and indeed the whole manner, of a person who is engaged in prayer to God, should be indicative of the profoundest reverence and humiliation; and I do not deny, that there is something manifestly indecorous in a vociferating mode of praying. But I attach more importance to the language and the sentiments that are uttered, than to the loudness of the voice; and, I confess, in these particulars I have sometimes observed a shocking want of reverence. For instance, I have occasionally heard people address themselves to God, with something like a familiar pertness, or in some such manner as you would talk to one who is not quite your equal; others I have heard express themselves in a boisterous and threatening manner, as you would talk to one you were scolding. Some people betray a want of reverence in pronouncing the name of God. Generally, when we mention that awful name, it should be accompanied with the mention of some of his high attributes; that we may by this means recall to our minds, and those of our fellow-worshippers, the majesty of that Being we are worshipping: but to pronounce the name of God in that bold and careless manner which some people are in the habit of doing, is to offer him a real indignity. Finally, I am always grieved to hear people pray in a style that seems to be laboured and fine; for this would seem as if the worshipper was preposterously endeavouring to gratify the taste of his fellow worms, when he ought to be presenting their sincere and ardent desires for mercy. But, after all, I have P. I am glad that these glaring evils meet with your unqualified discountenance. I wish to have your sentiments on another subject; I refer to what is called a revival. You know, that in these revivals, divine worship is conducted in a very noisy and disorderly manner-that people will cry, or roar out, in the most hideous manner, and, after a number of people have bustled and prayed about them for some time, they are declared to be converted. Now, in such proceedings, there is no resemblance of the order and reverence with which sinful creatures should worship their Creator.-C. You would have no sinner, then, cry for mercy, so as to be heard; but have you forgot, that when the jailer was awakened, he cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" and that, under one sermon of St. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, 3000 were pricked to the heart, and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do!" Your conversion might have been brought about in a more silent and gradual manner; but you must not limit the operations of Jehovah, nor forget that he often proceeds in the accomplishment of his purposes in a way that, to human wisdom, might seem foolish. If you were in the condition of some notorious sinner, when he was suddenly visited by the spirit of conviction, when his enormous guilt and numberless crimes were exhibited to his view; when he was overwhelmed with a sense of the wrath of God, and the alarming apprehension of dropping into hell-you might then be constrained to "roar out for the disquietude of your soul,” and be thankful for any serious person to unite his prayers with yours for mercy. At the same time, I will not deny, that in these revivals there may often be a good deal of human folly and infirmity displayed; some apparent confusion is necessarily connected with an extraordinary out-pouring of the Holy Spirit; but much of the wildness, noise, and disorder that is witnessed on such occasions, may arise from mere human and ungoverned passion.-P. But serious mistakes, I apprehend, are committed relative to what are called sudden conversions. To me, it seems absurd to suppose, that a vile sinner may experience, in a few minutes, a change so marvellous as to entitle him to the appellation of a saint of God. Such an idea of conversion, is not that which we obtain from the Bible, which continually represents a man's whole life as a period not more than sufficient for the great business of preparing for eternity. The inspired writers compare the operation of divine grace in the soul, to the operation of leaven, and to the growth of corn, both of which are gradual. Reason also corroborates this representation. What is holiness? Not the performance of so many single acts; but the possession and exemplification of holy habits. Now habits of holiness, like habits of sin, and like all other habits, are never formed instantly, but by a persevering_repetition of holy actions. The principle, I confess, namely, the desire and the love of holiness, as it is divine in its origin, may be communicated instantly; but no one would call that man converted, on whom the first dawnings of divine grace have but just risen. C. You confound two things that are distinct; namely, the conversion of a sinner, and the progressive sanctification of a believer the latter must be gradual; but the former may be instantaneous. Indeed you grant this, when you admit that the divine influence may suddenly descend upon the soul of a sinner. For instance, under one sermon, or by a single sentence, a man may receive an awakening discovery of his guilt and danger, when, groaning for redemption, he may in the same hour receive power to trust in the meritorious sacrifice of Calvary, and to believe with his heart unto justification. Now, such a person is converted, and is a saint of God. It is true, he is not a mature Christian; but though a babe, he exhibits the perfect image of a child of God; his heart has undergone a thorough change, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, and all things have become new. I acknowledge, in these sudden transitions from darkness to light, the agency of the divine Spirit is so pre-eminently visible, that to an ignorant observer, the man might seem to be entirely passive; but though there is nothing of that gradual formation of habits, towards which our own unwearied efforts are indispensable, yet there is a concurrence with the Spirit's operation-a yielding to conviction, and an obedient reliance on Christ. Habits are in general formed gradually; but not always so. Important habits may be strongly formed in a very short time, when the mind is under the influence of strong impression. This is often verified in the conversion of sinners. We have seen wicked persons suddenly converted, and from that time exhibiting habits of virtue as uniform and inflexible as if they had been the product of an age. In this case, strength of impression, or rather the power of divine grace, effects what generally requires years to accomplish. W.R. "If we calculate that the average attendance at each place is 500 persons, which is certainly the greatest extent we can allow, and add 250 more for the fluctuating hearers at the several services of each Sabbath, it will give a 'result of 300,000 persons. Now, the population of this wide-spread metropolis is estimated, by the last census, at 1,274,800 souls; from which subtract the feeble minority above, and we find NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY- FOUR THOUSAND EIGHT HUN bath :-"It appears, DRED persons neglecting the public worship of God! And though considerable deductions are to be made for young children, sick persons, and the aged and infirm, yet, after all, the multitude without even the forms of religion, around us, is will illustrate the occupations of the Sabmost appalling. The following statement that of the papers at present published in London on the Sunday, there are circulated, on the lowest estimate, 45,000 copies, and that, upon 2 and 300,000 readers of these papers are the most moderate computation, between to be found in the metropolis alone, while the great number of pressmen, distributors, master-venders, hawkers, and subordinate agents, of both sexes and of all ages, who are necessarily employed on the Sabbath, all tend to the most flagrant breach of the day of rest.' "In such a state we cannot wonder at the report of Mr. Wontner, the excellent governor of Newgate, by which it appears, that during the year 1826 there were committed to that gaol, Males under 21 years of age 1227 442 1092 166 2931 Being an increase of 547 commitments in the past year!" AMONG the many important circumstances which are at present transpiring in the world, the zeal with which the emissaries of infidelity are endeavouring to increase their numbers, is peculiarly deserving the attention of all who feel interested in the happiness of mankind. If the deluded votaries of this wretched school, are not, at the present day, possessed of the intellect which is displayed in the works of such men as Voltaire, D'Alembert, Volney, Hume, Gibbon, Paine, and other distinguished champions of infidelity, who flourished in the course of the preceding century,—their deficiency of talent is perhaps more than counterbalanced by the intense enthusiasm with which they propagate their pernicious principles. There is an opinion at present too mournfully prevalent among the genuine friends of Christianity, that the character and talents of those who are now so industriously engaged in the circulation of infidel tenets, are such as to render their sophistry wholly undeserving of the slightest notice. None can form a lower estimate, than the writer, of the character and talents of the present avowed disciples of the infidel school; but he is not certain whether there be not, on this very account, more danger to be apprehended from their zealous exertions to propagate poisonous principles throughout the world. It is a fact incontestably demonstrated by daily observation, that those men whose character and abilities are of this description, feel least hesitation with regard to the honourableness of the means which they employ for the accomplishment of their unhallowed purposes; and making, as they do, a fixed principle to come in contact with the thoughtless, and inexperienced in life, with the view of inculcating, as their own, the second-hand arguments of the individuals whose names have just been mentioned, together with their own disgusting ribaldry; their diabolical exertions, are, it is to be feared, in too many instances unhappily attended with success.r 103.-VOL. IX. The writer is aware, that the most conclusive evidences for the truth of the Christian dispensation, have already been triumphantly stated by Butler, Doddridge, Paley, Watson, Chalmers, and others; and were it not that their treatises are too abstruse and lengthened for some, and are inaccessible to others, they would almost supersede the necessity of further argumentation on the subject. This, therefore, under the impression that the following observations may meet the eye of some who have not sufficient time or opportunity, for bestowing an attentive perusal on the works of the authors referred to, or any others of a similar description, that they are submitted to the consideration of all unprejudiced inquirers after truth; and, though he can scarcely presume to persuade himself that they will be the means of reclaiming the confirmed infidel, they may, under the accompanying agency of the Divine Spirit, be rendered subservient to the establishment of some wavering Christian, or may serve asa preservative to some inexperienced mind, against the plausible insinuations of mo dern deism.; Having made these preliminary obser. vations, the writer will now endeavour as concisely as possible to demonstrate the necessity of a divine revelation; and the strong probability that such a revelation would be vouchsafed to mankind. There are few probably of the intellectual portion of the modern infidel school, who affirm, as Tindal and others have done, that the light of nature is of itself amply sufficient to lead to happiness: the more enlightened deists of the present day have abandoned this position, from a conviction of its utter untenability-and they feel themselves compelled to admit that some kind of supernatural revelation or other, was absolutely necessary for the world. And indeed this important fact is undeniably evident from the well-authenticated records of profane, as well as from the testimony of sacred history.`··· To place this momentous part of the subject in a sufficiently clear and con 2 Q clusive light, we have only to advert to the circumstances in which the heathen are at this moment situated, and to observe their conduct under those circumstances, in order to form a correct estimation of the condition of mankind, previously to their being favoured with a revelation from heaven. The world, at that period of its existence, was enveloped in the densest moral darkness, and its inhabitants were addicted to the most revolting prac tices. Every trace of the image of the Supreme Being, which had originally been impressed on the mind of man, had been obliterated; and if some of them had any ideas of a future state, their knowledge on the subject only amounted to something like dark intimations that such a future state might possibly exist; at all events, it had not attained such firm conviction in their minds as to have the slightest beneficial influence on their conduct. The nations of antiquity, like the heathen nations of the present day, were addicted to idolatrous worship in its most debasing and revolting forms. The bare recital of those sacrifices they offered, and the homage paid, to those portions of inanimate matter which, in the climax of their mournful infatuation, they invested with the attributes of deity,-is irresistibly calculated to inspire the human mind with emotions of the deepest horror. Nay, in proportion as they excelled each other in the cruelty of the modes in which they worshipped their imaginary gods, they persuaded themselves would be the extent to which they would be propitiated. Hence, their imaginations were exerted with the utmost vigour in the invention of those forms of self-torture which blacken the annals of their history. Nor did the votaries of ancient heathen idolatry confine their appalling mode of worshipping their deities, to themselves: they extended it to all of their fellow men over whom they exerted sufficient influence. The husband, with a kind of fiendish exultation, beheld in anticipation the partner of his life, extended on the immolating pile, or crushed to pieces by the wheels of some mighty car. And with emotions of the same description, the mother has witnessed the child of her womb undergoing the same or a similarly excruciating death. In striking conformity with their horrific modes of invoking the favour of their incensed deities, were the other parts of their conduct in life. Every crime which has a tendency to sink humanity still reper in the mire of moral debasement, --which could bespeak its assimilation to the spirit and practices of the demoniac population of the nether regions; — and which is calculated to render one lovely part of heaven's creation, a representation, to some extent, of the abodes of ceaseless despair, was daily and hourly practised by them. Robbery, adultery, polygamy, murder, deeds of revenge, and those other crimes which constitute the deepest guilt in the black catalogue of human delinquencies, were the occurrences of every moment of their being. In a word, they were in that mournful state so forcibly depicted by the apostle Paul in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans. Now, we appeal to the common sense and common candour of mankind, whe ther the world, under such circumstances, did not stand in the greatest need of some supernatural revelation, to exterminate from their minds such horrible opinions, and to lead them into the path of truth, duty, and happiness? Or, to present the same question in another form, we ask, whether the heathen nations of the present day, in whose minds there is not a vestige of the knowledge of the Supreme Being, or any idea of the legitimate rules of life, or any knowledge respecting a state of future rewards and punishments, even according to the acknowledged sentiments of deists themselves on these subjects,we ask, whether under such circumstances, they do not stand in need of some special divine interposition in their behalf? The great majority of enlightened deists answer this important question in the affirmative, although they reject the claims of Christianity to a divine origin. Admitting, then, that the state of the world was such as to stand in urgent need of some dispensation superior to the mere light of nature, the question fairly arises, Is there any probability that such a supernatural revelation would be vouchsafed to mankind? To this question it is replied, that there is abundant reason, both from the character of the Divine Being, and from the relation in which the dictates of natural religion represent him as standing to his rational creatures, to believe that he would, in this respect, make some special interposition in their favour. Purposely waving the consideration of many of those attributes of the Supreme Being, which constitute strong presumptive evidence in favour of the probability that he would condescend to reveal his will to his rational creatures, the evidence arising from the mere contemplation of his perfections of unbounded goodness, almighty power, and infinite wisdom,amounts to something like moral certainty, that a supernatural revelation would be given them. That Jehovah is a Being of unbounded goodness, is an admission which infidels themselves are among the foremost to make. This attribute of the divine character is so incontestably demonstrated by the innumerable mercies which we behold him conferring on the world, that we question if there be an individual in existence who feels the smallest scepticism on the subject. And is there not then, it may be asked, something inconceivably monstrous in the supposition, that his goodness should extend to every part of our world, in infinitely diversified forms, and yet that he should withhold from his accountable creatures such a revelation of his will and their duty, as was indispensably necessary for their present happiness, as well as for their future felicity? This would be nothing more or less than to represent the Divine Being as conferring just so many of his blessings on his rational offspring, as would preserve their existence, in order that they might participate of the evils of the present life, and be rendered amenable to the misery of a future state of being. It will be readily admitted, indeed, that Jehovah is laid under no necessity to favour his creatures with a revelation of his will by their culpability they have already forfeited all claims to his favour; and he might, according to the principles of the most rigid justice, have left them to reap the direful consequences of their own guilt; and ere now have justly inflicted on them the deserved punishment; but if there be one attribute of the divine character, which shines forth with a greater lustre than another, it is the attribute of his mercy or goodness; and the manifestations which have already been made to us, of this attribute of divinity, lead us to regard it as in the highest degree probable, that it would be exercised in a subject of infinite and eternal importance. In order, however, to the communication of a special revelation from God, it is necessary that he should also possess the attribute of sufficient power. Now, that the Deity is invested with this perfection, infidels are as ready to admit, as they are to allow the preceding position. The mere circumstance of his having created innumerable worlds, gives evidence of his omnipotence, and furnishes an unanswerable demonstration of his almighty power to confer a special revelation of his will on mankind. Now, as he is unbounded in goodness and almighty in power, we may deduce it as extremely probable, that a supernatural revelation would be vouchsafed to men,-unless it can be shewn that he is deficient in wisdom. But his possession of infinite wisdom is as clearly demonstrated from the works of creation and providence, as any other attribute of his character, and, therefore, we are fully warranted in concluding, that as he is possessed of unbounded goodness to suggest, and infinite power and wisdom to carry into complete execution his gra cious purposes, we have the highest probable degree of evidence to believe that such a revelation would be given to mankind. And we are still further warranted in regarding such a dispensation as extremely probable, from the relation in which Jehovah stands to us. It is equally a dictate of natural as well as revealed religion, that as the Supreme Being is our Creator, Preserver, and bountiful Benefactor, he is likewise our Governor; and that in return for all the blessings of his creation and providence, he should require of us the homage of our hearts, and obedience to his laws, especially as he has endowed us with faculties of mind for the purpose. Now, we cannot conceive of the bare possibility of serving him acceptably without having previously a knowledge of his will; and as the history of the world does not furnish us with a single individual's having, by his own unassisted efforts, attained to the knowledge of the will of the Supreme Being,-even according to the deistical notions of it, it is surely most consonant to every principle of sound reasoning to expect, that he would have vouchsafed such a revelation of his will to his rational and responsible creatures. Agreeably to this supposition, we find that an opinion has been very prevalent among many nations of the world, that some superior power would favour mankind with a revelation of the path that leads to virtue and happiness; and surely the Supreme Being could not have implanted such a principle in the human mind in vain. 3 But it will, perhaps, be objected, that if it were so exceedingly probable that Jehovah should vouchsafe to favour his rational creatures with a supernatural revelation of his sovereign pleasure, and if the Christian dispensation constitutes that revelation, wherefore is it that it was not communicated at once, and conferred on all |
