diff options
Diffstat (limited to '49126-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 49126-0.txt | 6052 |
1 files changed, 6052 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/49126-0.txt b/49126-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23708cb --- /dev/null +++ b/49126-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6052 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Duty of a Christian People under Divine +Visitations, by Newton Smart + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Duty of a Christian People under Divine Visitations + + +Author: Newton Smart + + + +Release Date: June 3, 2015 [eBook #49126] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE +UNDER DIVINE VISITATIONS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1832 J. G. & F. Rivington edition by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE + DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE + UNDER + DIVINE VISITATIONS. + + + * * * * * + + BY THE + REV. NEWTON SMART, M.A. + OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. + + * * * * * + + “WHEN THY JUDGMENTS ARE IN THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE + WORLD WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS.” + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, + ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD, AND WATERLOO-PLACE: + AND SOLD BY J. HATCHARD & SON, PICCADILLY; PARKER, & TALBOYS, + OXFORD; ANDREWS, DURHAM; CHARNLEY, NEWCASTLE; + RENNEY, SUNDERLAND; AND OTHER BOOKSELLERS. + + * * * * * + + 1832. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY GILBERT & RIVINGTON, + ST. JOHN’S SQUARE. + + * * * * * + + TO + THE REVERED MEMORY + OF + ONE OF THE KINDEST AND BEST OF MOTHERS, + WHO + RECEIVED HER CHILDREN AS A GIFT THAT COMETH OF THE LORD, + AND PRAYED AND LABOURED, + WITH EARNEST AND FAITHFUL DILIGENCE, + TO BRING THEM UP IN THE NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD, + THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED + WITH THE DEEPEST FEELINGS OF FILIAL LOVE, GRATITUDE, + AND VENERATION. + + “THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED.” + + + + +THE +DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, +&c. + + + _Isaiah_ x. 3. + + “WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE DAY OF VISITATION AND IN THE DESOLATION WHICH + SHALL COME FROM FAR? TO WHOM WILL YE FLEE FOR HELP?” + +THE aspect of the times, upon a careful survey, presents, to the +thoughtful mind, cause of anxiety for the safety and welfare of the +empire; and, to the religious mind, ground for apprehension, lest the +Almighty should be about to visit, for the sins of the nations, by +“pouring upon them the vials of His wrath.” {3a} In the emphatic +language of our Lord’s prediction of the latter days; there is, +throughout Europe, “distress of nations with perplexity; men’s hearts +failing them for fear; and for looking after those things which are +coming upon the earth.” {3b} In this country, to an alarming state of +popular excitement, there has supervened a new cause of dread, so great, +as almost to absorb, for the present, all subjects of merely temporal +interest. A fearful and most fatal pestilence, which had extended far +and wide in Asia, has been gradually spreading throughout Europe, and +steadily advancing towards our shores: there exists a difference of +opinion as to whether or not it has reached them; but thus much is +certain; an epidemic, similar in character, and hardly less malignant and +fatal, has broken out in one of the seaports of the kingdom, and extended +to some of the neighbouring towns and villages; thus appearing to +establish its identity with the Continental disease. + +Under circumstances so calculated to produce general apprehension, and so +full of danger to the community at large, it becomes a matter of vital +importance to enquire, What is the course a Christian people should +adopt? To such an enquiry, the sincere Christian,—who is satisfied, that +the safety of nations and of individuals is, at all times, in the +protection of the Almighty; and who believes, that the sword, the famine, +the earthquake, the tempest, and the pestilence, are but instruments in +the hand of God to execute His sovereign and gracious will,—may justly +reply in the words of a prophet of old, speaking in the name of the Most +High: “THEREFORE, ALSO, NOW SAITH THE LORD, TURN YE EVEN TO ME, WITH ALL +YOUR HEART, AND WITH FASTING, AND WITH WEEPING, AND WITH MOURNING. AND +REND YOUR HEART, AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS, AND TURN UNTO THE LORD YOUR GOD: +FOR HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS, +AND REPENTETH HIM OF THE EVIL.” {5a} And how is a whole nation to be +called upon to humble themselves before God in the day of their +visitation? Let the same Prophet return the answer; “BLOW THE TRUMPET IN +ZION, SANCTIFY A FAST, CALL A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY, GATHER THE PEOPLE, +SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION, ASSEMBLE THE ELDERS, GATHER THE CHILDREN. LET +THE PRIESTS, THE MINISTERS OF THE LORD, WEEP BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE +ALTAR, AND LET THEM SAY, SPARE THY PEOPLE, O LORD.” {5b} + +As the Almighty, “with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning,” +{5c} is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;” {5d} as “whatsoever +things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we, +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope:” {5e} +let the people of this kingdom, strong in faith, raise, on an appointed +day, their united voice in prayer; and in the language of sorrow, +humiliation, and repentance, cry, O Lord, “we have sinned with our +fathers, we have done amiss and dealt wickedly;” {5f} but “Thou, Lord, +art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them who +call upon Thee!” {5g} Alas! because we see not the “outstretched arm” of +Omnipotence, which governeth the nations; because we hear not the “mighty +voice” which universal Nature obeys; we too often forget that “the Lord’s +hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it +cannot hear:” {6a} we too often forget that it is “God that ruleth in +Jacob, and unto the ends of the world.” {6b} + +But is it sufficient to call upon a people, suffering under the +apprehension or infliction of Divine judgments, to assemble in the courts +of the Lord’s house, to acknowledge the justice of their punishment, and +to humble themselves before their God? Let the volume of inspiration +again reply, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto +me? saith the Lord?” {6c}—“WASH YE, MAKE YOU CLEAN, PUT AWAY THE EVIL OF +YOUR DOINGS BEFORE MINE EYES; CEASE TO DO EVIL, LEARN TO DO WELL, SEEK +JUDGMENT, RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED, JUDGE THE FATHERLESS, PLEAD FOR THE +WIDOW.” {6d} “BEHOLD, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, AND TO HEARKEN +THAN THE FAT OF RAMS.” {6e} + +Much has been effected when a nation has been brought to prostrate itself +before God, and, through a deep sense of its guilt, weakness, and misery, +to flee unto Him, who alone is mighty to save; but incalculably more has +been accomplished, when to the prayer for mercy has been added one for +grace; and it has been truly, not less the language of the heart than of +the lips, “Sanctify to us this thy fatherly correction, that the sense of +our weakness may add strength to our faith, and seriousness to our +repentance.” {7a} May God, of His great mercy, vouchsafe to the people +of this land, “to know the time of their visitation;” {7b} to humble +themselves before Him, who “in faithfulness has caused them to be +troubled;” {7c} to “seek the Lord while He may be found, and to call upon +Him while He is near;” {7d} and to “repent and turn themselves from all +their transgressions: so iniquity shall not be their ruin.” {7e} Oh that +the practical infidelity, which exists to such a fearful extent in the +present day, may not withhold from a suffering people the deliverance and +blessing which God alone can bestow! A neglect and distrust, if not a +denial of God’s Providence, in the preservation and government of nations +and individuals, is one of the most crying sins of the day. Because the +natural eye does not perceive the visible workings of a Divine economy in +the course of events, it practically ascribes all to human means, and +relies on human aid. But, as if “the finger of God” was to be revealed +as pointing in wrath to this great truth of natural and revealed +religion—a Divine providence—one of the most remarkable and terrible +features of this fatal pestilence, through which so many millions of +human beings have been swept away, is, that whilst human prudence has +been completely baffled in its plans of prevention, human science has +failed in its attempts at cure. What a salutary lesson does this teach, +in a day when earthly is often elevated above heavenly wisdom in the +estimation of men, and when the arm of flesh appears more confided in +than the arm of Omnipotence, for the accomplishment of events! + +May the great Disposer of events, who, in the dispensations of His +Providence, is graciously pleased to educe real good from seeming evil, +make this awful visitation productive of religious advantage to this and +other nations. May earthly sovereigns learn that the Lord, by whom +“kings reign, and princes decree justice,” {8a} is their defence, and +“the Holy One of Israel, their King:” {8b} may the rulers of the people +remember, that “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in +vain.” {8c} + +For although God’s providence governs all things in heaven and in earth, +still the great Sovereign of the universe, “the King of kings, and Lord +of lords,” “waiteth to be gracious,” nor suffers His truth to fail. He +shuts not up His loving-kindness in displeasure, but listens to the +prayers of the meanest of His servants; and in answer to them, He often +suspends, and sometimes averts his just judgments. The guilty cities of +the Plain would have been spared for the sake of ten righteous, if that +number of the servants of the true God could have been found amongst the +inhabitants. {9a} Nor is the prayer of humble and contrite guilt +disregarded. The judgments impending over Nineveh were suspended, when +that mighty capital, at the preaching of a prophet, acknowledged its sin, +and humbled itself before the Lord. {9b} + +Let, then, the prayer of repentance, faith, and submission, arise to the +throne of Divine grace, from the united people of the land; and, soon as +the merciful object of this visitation is answered, we may humbly trust +the command, as of old, will be addressed to the destroying angel, “IT IS +ENOUGH, NOW STAY THINE HAND.” {9c} For the Almighty has himself +declared, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and +concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: +if that nation, AGAINST WHOM I HAVE PRONOUNCED, TURN FROM THEIR EVIL, I +WILL REPENT OF THE EVIL THAT I THOUGHT TO DO UNTO THEM.” {9d} + +May, then, this nation receive grace, in this their day of trial, to +“TURN FROM THEIR EVIL,” before the Lord “allow His full displeasure to +arise.” May they learn and acknowledge, that their only hope of safety +is in the mercy and long-suffering of God, who alone can preserve them +from “the pestilence which walketh in darkness, and from the sickness +which destroyeth in the noon-day.” May they “offer faithfully,” and the +Lord “receive acceptably,” their prayer for deliverance: “Have pity, O +Lord, have pity upon Thy people, both here and abroad; withdraw Thy heavy +hand from those who are suffering under Thy judgments; and remove from us +that grievous calamity, against which, our only security is in Thy +compassion!” {10a} And may our gracious and long-suffering Lord be +pleased to arrest in its course the pestilence, now confined to few +places, and to permit it not to spread dismay and death through the towns +and villages of the kingdom. + +Thus far, the duty of a Christian people _collectively_, under Divine +judgments, has been shewn; it remains to consider their duty +_individually_; which involves the consideration of what man owes to his +God, his country, his neighbour, and himself, under any general +visitation of Divine Providence. The Christian’s duty towards God, when +His judgments are abroad, is a recognition of, and submission to, His +chastening hand: to his country, unwearied exertion for the removal of +the evils which appear to have called down the Divine vengeance: to his +neighbour, friendly assistance, religious exhortation, and spiritual +consolation: and to himself, through Divine grace, humiliation, +repentance, amendment, and daily preparation for death and judgment. + +These several duties, being all dependent upon each other, and intimately +blended in their operation, may, perhaps, be not unfitly considered, as +embraced by the public and private obligations of Christians under +afflictive dispensations; which may be briefly stated to be—earnest +prayer and incessant labour to effect a PERSONAL REFORMATION, and, as far +as in them lies, a NATIONAL REFORMATION; which are proposed to be +considered, as follows, more at large. + +Let individuals “humble themselves under the mighty hand of God;” {11} +let them acknowledge the extent of their sinfulness, and the justice of +their punishment; let them confide in God’s mercy, and commit themselves +to His safe keeping; let them seek for grace to reform, in their lives +and conversation, whatever is at variance with the Gospel; from which, +and not from the maxims of men, let them learn what is required of +Christians. + +Let them publicly bear testimony at once to the justice and mercy of +God’s judgments, and strive earnestly to rouse the nation to a sense of +its guiltiness, which has exposed it to the Divine displeasure; let them, +in dependence on the blessing of Heaven, labour to eradicate all infidel +and heretical opinions; to advance a reformation of public morals; and to +promote a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful +knowledge. + +Too justly does the language of Isaiah, addressed to the rebellious and +guilty house of Judah, apply to our own times: “Ah, sinful nation, a +people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are +corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One +of Israel to anger, they are gone backward.” {12a} May He, “who alone +can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men,” and convert +them from the evil of their ways, “pour upon all flesh the spirit of +grace and supplication;” {12b} that individual may extend, until it +become national repentance, and the whole nation worship before Him. +Then will the scourge of His wrath prove the harbinger of His mercy, and +we shall become a chosen people, a holy nation unto the Lord. Then may +our gracious and long-suffering God allow us, without presumption, to +draw comfort from those words of favour and forgiveness, spoken to His +people when humbled and contrite: “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; +for thou art my servant; I have formed thee, thou art my servant: O +Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me: I have blotted out as a thick +cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins: return unto me, for I +have redeemed thee.” {13a} + + + +I. The Christian’s duty of personal reformation under Divine judgments. + + +It is from the volume of inspiration—whence he derives all the light +which he enjoys, as to the providence, beneficence, and love of God; +whence he draws all the knowledge he possesses as to the nature of his +own being, the object of his present existence, and the place of his +final destination;—man must learn his duty under the Divine +dispensations. The Holy Scriptures are to the true Christian “a lamp +unto his feet, and a light unto his paths.” {13b} When pursuing his +heavenward journey through this vale of tears, the prospect often appears +uninviting and gloomy, the sky dark and troubled, and the way, always +narrow, becomes sometimes a thorny and tangled path. Dangers also, more +or less near and alarming, keep the pilgrim often under apprehension, and +always on his guard. Still, he pursues a straight-forward course, from +which he deviates little—for he possesses a guide more unerring than the +compass of the mariner, and that guide is the infallible Word of God. +When darkness obscures, difficulties perplex, and dangers environ his +road, in his unfailing “lamp” he finds light, guidance, and safety. + +At this moment, a dark cloud hangs over this country:—nay, more, the +storm of Divine displeasure has already commenced. Lest, therefore, it +should burst upon us in its full “fury,” let all betake themselves to +that blessed light, which, amid the thickest darkness and most appalling +storm, can “guide our feet into the way of peace.” {14a} Let the enquiry +be made as to the course to be adopted in the words of a Prophet: “_What +will ye do in the day of visitation_, _and in the desolation which shall +come from far_? _To whom will ye flee for help_?” {14b} Let the same +Prophet reply: “TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER, FOR IN THE LORD JEHOVAH IS +EVERLASTING STRENGTH.” {14c} + +Trust in God is the necessary fruit of faith, which is the only basis on +which religion can rest: “he that cometh to God must believe that He is, +and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him:” {14d} thus, +except with one philosophical school of antiquity, a belief in the being +of a God has, even amongst the Heathen, always been accompanied by a +trust in His Providence. In the Christian scheme, this trust is a fixed, +governing principle. “To take notice of the hand of God in every thing +that befalls us,” says the learned and excellent Sherlock, “to attribute +all the evils we suffer, and all the good things, to His sovereign will +and appointment: this is the foundation of all the other duties which we +owe to Providence, and the general neglect of this makes us defective in +all the rest.” {15a} + +This passage supplies a clear view of Christian duty under afflictive +dispensations. As faith recognises an Almighty Father’s will in the +appointment, and His hand in the direction of events, the believer refers +equally national and individual prosperity and adversity, mercies and +visitations, to Him, “whose power ruleth over all.” And as he refers all +events to the will and appointment of the great Governor of the Universe, +he endeavours to receive whatever befalls him, as coming from His hand, +with patient submission and humble thankfulness: for he knows how +immeasurably his punishment falls short of his deserts; and he is +assured, that “_God chastens us for our profit_, _that we might be +partakers of His holiness_.” {15b} At the same time, therefore, that he +relies with firm dependence on the tender mercies, the blessed guidance, +and sure protection of his Heavenly Father; he seeks for grace to improve +to the spiritual advancement of himself and others, the divine +chastisements,—“chastisements which originate in love, and are tempered +with mercy:” {15c} “_For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth_, _and +scourgeth every son whom he receiveth_.”{16a} He enters, therefore, anew +upon a careful review of his past life, and again summons before the bar +of conscience, “the sins of his youth, and the offences of his riper +age;” he recalls to mind the warnings he has had, the privileges he has +enjoyed, and the mercies he has received; and he institutes a rigid +scrutiny into his present life, which he tries by the unerring test of +God’s holy word. And if he be sincere and honest, and not a dissembler +with God, and a deceiver of himself, the language will spontaneously +burst from his lips; “It is good for me that I have been in trouble, that +I may learn Thy statutes.” {16b} “Oh, Lord, my strength and my fortress, +my refuge in the day of affliction,” {16c}—“Turn Thee unto me, and have +mercy upon me, for I am desolate and in misery. The sorrows of my heart +are enlarged; oh, bring Thou me out of my troubles; look upon my +adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin.” {16d} + +Not that probably his life has been stained with deeper or more numerous +offences than the generality of men: it may be that he has been “brought +up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” and has never departed +from serving his God; it may be that he has long ranked amongst those who +strive to be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in +the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, amongst whom they shine as +lights in the world.” {17a} But still there lives not the man who has +not much to repent of, and to humble himself for, before the Lord. And +when the sorrows of life, the judgments of God, or the approach of death, +loosen the hold of earthly ties upon the affections, and the attention +becomes intently fixed on that invisible world of spirits, whither all +are hastening: then, even he, who has long sought to serve his God with +devout reverence and holy obedience, feels with stronger force, and sees +with clearer view, the fearful extent of his omissions of duty and +commissions of sin. When he considers that one moment may suffice to +usher him into the presence of that Great Being, of infinite purity, in +whose sight the heavens are not clean; when he remembers the condemnation +passed on all sin by a righteous law;—conscious guilt compels him to bow +before the Lord with the deep self-abasement of him who “smote upon his +breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner;” {17b} and conscious +weakness makes him call to the Saviour, with the imploring voice of him +who cried, “Lord, save me.” {17c} For when the conscience is fully +enlightened, and the heart sanctified by Divine grace, a clear perception +of the holiness of God’s law, and a deep sense of personal unworthiness, +are produced in the believer, which at once humble him to the dust, and +lead him to throw himself entirely on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus +our Lord. Then it is that he labours to devote himself more entirely to +his Master’s service, “and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all +things:” {18a} then it is he “sets his affections on things above:” {18b} +“looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great +God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might +redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, +zealous of good works.” {18c} And then it is that he takes for his song +in the house of his pilgrimage, “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are +right, and that Thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be +afflicted.” {18d} “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward +man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light +affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more +exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things +which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things +which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are +eternal.” {19a} + +Such is the conduct of the true believer under the chastening hand of the +Lord; such the improvement which, through the Divine blessing, he is +enabled to make of those afflictive dispensations, which are sent in +mercy to remind him, that he is only a “stranger and pilgrim upon earth,” +and must “desire a better country, that is an heavenly.” {19b} And when +God’s judgments are upon the land, when He has smitten the people with +pestilence, the servant of the Lord rests with firm faith on the +protection of Him, who has promised, as “thy days, so shall thy strength +be.” {19c} He knows that whatever happens to him is by the appointment +of God, without whom even “a sparrow shall not fall on the ground;” {19d} +he has further, the blessed assurance, that “all things work together for +good, to them who love God;” {19e} therefore he has all “the joy and +peace in believing” of those, whose minds being “stayed on God,” {19f} +abound in hope through “the power of the Holy Ghost.” {19g} Not that he +supposes he will possess a necessary exemption from the power of the +pestilence; this would be to presume on God’s protection: not that +trusting to Divine Providence he neglects all human precautions, and +unnecessarily exposes himself to danger; this would be, in the strong +language of Scripture, to tempt God: not that he relies on human +precautions as supplying any ground of security; this would be to +distrust God. But believing that the pestilence can have no power over +him, except by the Divine appointment; and being assured, that, if such +be the Divine will, it will prove for his final and eternal welfare; he +uses, with entire dependence on the Divine blessing, the precautions +which prudence dictates; and commending himself to the safe keeping of +God, he faithfully and diligently discharges the duties of his station +and office, whether of pastor, magistrate, citizen, physician, or +servant, or, as they may be included in one word, of Christian. Not that +the believer, whilst he “wears this veil of flesh,” is elevated so far +above human infirmity, that, through the power of faith, he knows neither +weakness nor fear in the hour of danger, and in the discharge of duty. +St. Paul—in allusion to the marvellous change wrought in the soul, “by +the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus +Christ,”—says, “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the +excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on +every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; +persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always +bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also +of Jesus might be made manifest in our flesh.” {21a} Still, they who +have learnt, through grace, to confide, with the simplicity of a child, +on the power, care, and love of their heavenly Father, will, amid +difficulties and dangers, “prove more than conquerors, through Him who +loved us, and gave Himself for us;” and will repose, with firm faith, +pious hope, and holy confidence, on His protection, IN WHOSE HANDS ARE +THE ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH; and who has said, by the mouth of his +prophets, “THOU SHALT NOT BE AFRAID FOR ANY TERROR BY NIGHT, NOR FOR THE +ARROW THAT FLIETH BY DAY; FOR THE PESTILENCE WHICH WALKETH IN DARKNESS, +NOR FOR THE SICKNESS WHICH DESTROYETH IN THE NOON-DAY. A thousand shall +fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not +come nigh thee.” {21b} + +There are some sincere Christians, who, from natural timidity of +disposition, or from constitutional debility, are peculiarly susceptible +of fear; and distress themselves by considering such fear a proof that +they do not possess the favour of God. Let them earnestly pray for that +holy and firm faith, which disarms apprehension under great and imminent +peril; but if they do not obtain it, let them not despond, but continue +their prayers; it may be a blessing which Heaven has still in store for +them. But if not, _having learnt submission to the Divine will_, let +them draw comfort from words which should be so deeply engraved on the +memory, as to be ever remembered, and speak peace, in their moments of +doubt and alarm, to their troubled souls: “FEAR THOU NOT; FOR I AM WITH +THEE: BE NOT DISMAYED, FOR I AM THY GOD: I WILL STRENGTHEN THEE; YEA, I +WILL HELP THEE; YEA, I WILL UPHOLD THEE WITH THE RIGHT HAND OF MY +RIGHTEOUSNESS.” {22a}—“The truth is, the greater our fears and sorrows +and aversions are, the greater is our submission to God: it may be +thought a great weakness of nature to be so afraid of our sufferings; but +it argues the greater strength of faith, and is a more glorious victory +over self, to make our very fears and aversions submit to the Divine +will. Submission to God does not consist in courage and fortitude of +mind to bear sufferings, which many have, without any sense of God, and +which the profoundest reverence for God will not always teach us; but he +submits, who receives the bitter cup and drinks it, though with a +trembling heart and hand.” {22b} + +Thus much having been stated, that the timid mind or the sickly frame; +the tender plant of grace or “the bruised reed;” may not sink under a +weight of obligation, the fulfilment of which is above their present +strength; and may not despair, because they fear they can never attain to +that measure of faith, “which, whilst it kisses with filial reverence the +rod of correction,” can, in the strong language of St. Paul, “_glory in +tribulation_ also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and +patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, +because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost +which is given unto us.” {23a} Let it be remembered, at the same time, +that though none should despond, because they possess not a strength of +faith bestowed only on the most highly-advanced Christians; still, all +must earnestly seek grace to be enabled to “go on unto perfection;” {23b} +by having implanted in their souls that “perfect love, which casteth out +fear.” {23c} And, as undoubting faith, unrepining submission, and +unwearied supplication, are amongst the leading features of the true +Christian character, they alone can enjoy the consolations of the Gospel +of peace, who are “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing +instant in prayer.” {23d} + +It is a painful, an awful consideration, how many, in this Christian +land, “care for none of these things.” {23e} I speak not merely of the +profane, the scoffer, the sceptic, and the infidel; of those who “make a +mock at sin,” and, disputing or disbelieving the truth of Christianity, +“live without God in the world;”—I speak also of the gay, the +thoughtless, and the proud; of the worldly, the avaricious, and the +sensual; of the envious, the malicious, and the censorious; and, with +shame be it said, of unworthy and false professors and teachers; of the +unsound in faith and morals; of the lukewarm, the self-righteous, and the +hypocritical; in short, of all who, declaring a belief in the Christian +faith, either mistake its doctrines, disregard its spirit, abuse its +privileges, or live unmindful of its strict and holy obligations. +Against all such the Gospel denounces condemnation and woe. How, then, +are they prepared to meet the awful dispensation of Divine Providence, +which has fallen upon the nation? Let the prophet’s enquiry be addressed +to them:—“What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation +which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help?” Will ye dare +to say, “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of +affliction?” What! can ye in sickness apply to God for relief, who in +health were “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God?” {24} Can ye in +affliction seek comfort of God, who in joy have by your actions denied +God? Can ye in adversity flee to God, who in prosperity had not God in +all your thoughts? {25} They who have never really sought, and submitted +to the guidance of the Gospel, cannot hope to possess its support and +consolations in the first hour of need. How dark, therefore, to such, is +the season of sickness, of sorrow, and of adversity: they enjoy no light +from above, no comfort from within, no consolation from without, which +can brighten the gloomy mind, cheer the desponding heart, and soothe the +alarmed conscience. Faithful and busy memory serves only to supply a +painful retrospect of opportunities neglected, and warnings despised: and +conscience, which had long slumbered in a deadly lethargy, often now +inflicts her sharpest stings upon the wretched sufferer. And should they +be arrested by the sudden stroke of a fatal malady, when living in +forgetfulness of God, and intently occupied with the pursuit of pleasure, +honour, or of gain; how terrible is the approach of death! How often, as +this life is fading from the darkening eye, do the realities of the next +burst upon the mind, with a distinctness and force never felt before! +How often, as the soul is trembling on the fearful verge of eternity, is +a vain wish entertained for the return of a brief portion of that time +which has been spent in sin, folly, or the acquisition of what will not +profit in a dying hour! But is the prayer for mercy, extorted by fear +and suffering, never heard; is the tardy repentance never accepted? On +the contrary, we believe the prayer of humble and contrite guilt to be +never rejected: but, be it remembered, at the same time, that repentance +is the gift of God, and that those who long trifle with their day of +grace, and by silencing the admonitions of conscience, resist the Spirit, +may be visited with the fearful punishment of judicial blindness and +final impenitence. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have +stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all +my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your +calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh; _when your fear cometh as +desolation_, _and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind_, _when distress +and anguish cometh upon you_. _Then shall they call upon me_, _but I +will not answer_; _they shall seek me early_, _but they shall not find +me_: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the +Lord; they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof.” {26} + +From this fearful denunciation of Divine wrath upon obstinate and +hardened disobedience, what an awful lesson may be learnt, under the +present circumstances of this country. How descriptive are many of the +terms employed of that fatal pestilence which has broken out in the land! +in the suddenness of the seizure, it resembles “THE WHIRLWIND;” by its +destructiveness, it causes “DESOLATION;” and from the intensity of the +sufferings which it produces, arise “DISTRESS AND ANGUISH.” God grant +that the threatened vengeance be not equally verified;—“THEN SHALL THEY +CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER; THEY SHALL SEEK ME EARLY, BUT THEY +SHALL NOT FIND ME.” Oh! let not any individual risk incurring such a +fearful doom by delaying his repentance! The Lord now calls every one +with a voice that all must hear; He has “bared an arm,” which all must +see; let not any longer refuse, let not any longer disregard, lest they +should fill up the measure of their iniquity, and be swept away by the +blast of Divine displeasure! Let not any trust to that, at all times +presumptuous, if not always fallacious, hope, a death-bed repentance. +That man, whose existence hangs upon a thread, which a moment may suffice +to snap, should defer his preparation for death and judgment, is such an +act of madness, that nothing but a knowledge of its certainty could make +a religious mind credit the fact. What! risk an eternity of joy or +misery on the chances of a moment! for beyond the present moment, man +possesses no security of the continuance of life. And the very +presumption which leads him to calculate upon long years to come may call +forth that awful sentence,—“Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be +required of thee.” But if the postponement of turning and calling upon +God be, under ordinary circumstances, full of presumption and danger, +what is it now in times of pestilence? From the many instances of +mortality which encompass us on every side, “there comes a voice, which +solemn sounding bids the world prepare.” The judgments of the +Almighty,—to those who are living in forgetfulness of Him, and +disobedience to His commands, but have not entirely thrown off His +service,—speak the language addressed to Jonah, “What meanest thou, O +sleeper? Arise, and call upon thy God.” {28a} But to those who refuse +to turn, who “harden their necks against the reproof, and will have none +of the counsel of God;” they resemble the characters of flame upon the +walls of the palace of Belshazzar, which announced the terrible +decree,—“THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES, AND ART FOUND WANTING.” {28b} + +The Christian writer, judging from the experience of the past, cannot +close his eyes to the sad truth, that there are some whom mercy softens +not, whom threatening warns not, whom danger alarms not. Who amidst +manifestations of Divine wrath, display hardened unconcern or desperate +wickedness. What a striking proof have we here of the effects of sin in +hardening the heart, and deadening the conscience. But let not any +imagine that such men will view the approach of the fatal malady without +alarm. The bodily anguish will probably supply no parallel to the mental +terror, when they find themselves clutched, as it were, in the grasp of +the mortal disease which is destroying them. And in the ordinarily brief +interval between seizure and that death, which so often ensues, if +conscience resume her power, how terrible must be the remorse, how +unutterable the anguish of the affrighted soul, which sees death, death +eternal in view, and yet cannot pray: or if the cry for pardon and help +to their long-forgotten God, burst from the quivering lip, it is the +bitter cry of almost despairing terror. Sad as are many of the scenes +which human life presents in its passage from the cradle to the tomb; and +harrowing to the feelings of beholders as is the sight of corporeal +anguish; how immeasurably do other scenes of human suffering fall short +of the union of bodily and mental agony, often witnessed on the death-bed +of terrified guilt! but still, to the religious mind, there are two +death-beds still more fearful, as being more hopeless; and they are, when +desperate wickedness, at its last hour, evinces hardened indifference or +blasphemous despair; when no prayer is offered, or when curses are +mingled with the prayer. + +May the fear of such death-beds act, through the grace of God, as a +salutary warning to those who are living in sin, and neglecting to +improve the call to repentance sent in mercy: and let their thoughts +extend beyond the present life, and draw further instruction from the +awful truth—that whilst death terminates to impenitent guilt its present +sufferings, it commences others far more terrible. + +Were it permitted to a living man to pass the portals of the dark +prison-house of disembodied spirits, and witness the punishments of the +condemned,—the unceasing gnawing of the undying worm, the unremitting +burning of the unquenched fire;—what words could express the joy and +thankfulness of that man, on returning to the land of the living and the +place of hope! Would he lose a moment in fleeing to the cross of Christ, +for deliverance from sin, and refuge from the wrath to come? Would he +still defer seeking for “repentance towards God, and faith towards our +Lord Jesus Christ?” {30} The terrible realities he had witnessed of that +state of untried being on which the soul enters at death, would doubtless +haunt his waking and his sleeping hours, and he would find no rest till +God, by his Spirit, had spoken peace to his affrighted soul. And then, +long as life lasted, it would be his daily subject of grateful +thanksgiving to his gracious long-suffering Lord, that he had borne with +his iniquities, and had not cut him off in the midst of his sins: but +through the Divine mercy he was allowed on earth “to praise the Lord with +joyful lips,” instead of “in hell, lifting up his eyes, being in +torments.” {31} + +But such a visit to the place of condemned spirits is not necessary to +learn all that in our present state of being it concerns us to know. The +volume of inspiration has revealed the awful truth, that an eternity of +torments awaits the condemned in a future world. + +Will not, then, this suffice to rouse thoughtless and sinful men to a +sense of danger? The judgments of the Almighty now upon the land; death +approaching many under a fearful form; the presumption and sinfulness of +trusting to a late repentance; the danger of the infliction of judicial +blindness; the horrors of a guilty death-bed; the torments of the damned, +have all been urged as so many calls to repentance, and may God accompany +them with his grace, that they may not be urged in vain; but all of these +equal not the awfulness and terribleness of AN ETERNITY OF TORMENT. +There is something overpowering in the idea of unmitigated unmitigable +woe; it is so terrific, that it astounds, it is so vast, that it +overwhelms the mind: for the finite faculties of man cannot grasp +eternity: they are lost in the maze of millions of years rolling on in +endless succession. But if there be any who have tost, for one night, on +a bed of suffering; any who have experienced, for one hour, the racking +torture of intolerable pain; let them ask themselves how they would +endure, in the immensity of endless time, “the worm which dieth not, and +the fire which is not quenched.” + +May this awful consideration have its due weight upon every reader; may +those who have not yet been “turned from darkness to light, and from the +power of Satan unto God,” obtain grace to seek pardon and peace through +the Saviour who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel; +that, through Him they may escape “the fire prepared for the devil and +his angels.” {32a} + +“Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men,” {32b} +says St. Paul: who afterwards adds, “Now, then, we are ambassadors for +Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s +stead, be ye reconciled unto God.” {32c} It is thus the Christian +minister declares the denunciations of Divine vengeance, and the +certainty and eternity of Divine punishments, that he may prepare the way +for a joyful acceptance of the offers of Divine mercy. This two-fold +duty of the ministerial office, is beautifully described by Cowper: + + “There stands the messenger of truth, there stands + The legate of the skies! His theme divine, + His office sacred, his credentials clear. + By him the violated Law speaks out + Its thunders: and by him, in strains as sweet + As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.” {33a} + +The dispensations of the Almighty are at once the inflictions of his +displeasure, the warnings of his love, and the invitations of his mercy: +to every sinner they address the enquiry, “Despisest thou the riches of +his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the +goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and +impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of +wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?” {33b} May the +Almighty give his blessing upon the afflictive visitation He has sent +upon this land, that sinners may be roused to a sense of their danger, +and brought to embrace thankfully the offers of pardon and salvation, +made through Christ Jesus our Lord! + +The Holy Scriptures present at once the most earnest calls to repentance +and the most gracious offers of forgiveness. “As I live, saith the Lord +God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked +turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for +why will ye die, O house of Israel?” {34a} “O house of Israel, are not +my ways equal, and are not your ways unequal? saith the Lord. Therefore +I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, +saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your +transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you +all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new +heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? for I +have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. +Wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye.” {34b} “Come now, and let us +reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they +shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be +as wool.” {34c} + +Such are some of the invitations of the Holy Scriptures to turning and +calling upon God. Let us, then, suppose the case of one who is alarmed +by the Divine threatenings; who, conscious of his guilt, sees as it were +the gulf of perdition yawning beneath his feet; but is deterred, by a +sense of the heinousness of his sins, from seeking the pardon which he +despairs of obtaining. How is he to be addressed? The love and mercy of +God, as shewn towards a guilty and perishing world, in the mysterious, +but most gracious, plan of redemption, through the Saviour, must be +pointed out, and largely dwelt upon. Under the severer dispensation of +the Law, amid the awful splendours of its promulgation, the Lord was +proclaimed to be “the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, +long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for +thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by +no means clear the guilty.” {35a} Under the Gospel dispensation, it is +emphatically said, “GOD IS LOVE:” {35b} that “God so loved the world, +that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him +should not perish, but have everlasting life.” {35c} Let not, therefore, +the heinousness of past sins, and the sense of present unworthiness, +deter any from coming to the Saviour: for “God sent not his Son into the +world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be +saved.” {35d} And that gracious Saviour has authoritatively declared, +what is the sole condition of acceptance, through His infinite merits: +“Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting +life:” {35e} and has tenderly invited all to flee unto Him who labour +under the yoke of sin, or the burden of sorrow; “Come unto me, all ye +that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest: take my yoke +upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall +find rest unto your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” +{36a} Before the nativity of our blessed Lord, the command was conveyed +by an angel, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His +people from their sins.” {36b} Agreeably to which, He Himself says, “I +am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” {36c} And +St. Paul prefaces his delivery of the great truth he was commissioned to +teach, in a manner befitting its importance: “This is a true saying, and +worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world +to save sinners.” {36d} If the Gospel did not contain a free pardon for +sin, little would it be in accordance either with its name, _good news_, +or with the proclamation of the heavenly host, which heralded the birth +of the Messiah: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which +shall be _to all people_, for unto you is born this day in the city of +David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” {36e} To every penitent the +promise is addressed—“Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” +{36f} The Divine mercy towards repentant sinners knows no restrictions; +the cleansing power of the Saviour’s blood, no limitations. + +If there be any self-convicted and self-condemned sinner, still +hesitating to throw himself upon the mercy of God in Christ, let him hear +the Psalmist, who has represented under the most striking and affecting +images, the love of God towards man: “The Lord is full of compassion and +mercy; long-suffering and of great goodness. He will not always be +chiding, neither keepeth He his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with +us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickednesses. For +look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth, so great is His +mercy also toward them that fear Him. Look how wide also the east is +from the west, so far hath He set our sins from Him. _Yea_, _like as a +father pitieth his own children_, _even so is the Lord merciful unto them +who fear Him_. For He knoweth whereof we are made, He remembereth that +we are but dust.” {37a} Let him hear St. John, who has stated the full +extent of Christ’s atoning and mediatorial power: “If _any man sin_, we +have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is +the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the +sins of the whole world.” {37b} Let him hear St. Paul, who has supplied +a sure ground of unfailing trust in God: “_He that spared not His own +Son_, but delivered Him up for us all, how _shall He not with Him also +freely give us all things_?” {37c} Should any one still hesitate to come +unto Christ as their Saviour, let him hear His merciful expostulation, +“_Ye will not come to me that ye might have life_.” {38a} Let him listen +to His gracious enquiry, “_Wilt thou be made whole_?” And if he still +cannot persuade himself, that there is mercy in store for such a sinner +as himself, let him at last draw comfort from the assurance, that “the +_Son of Man is come to save that which is lost_,” {38b} and seeks after +perishing sinners, as the faithful shepherd after the sheep which have +wandered from the fold. Nor is this all: not only does our gracious Lord +_seek after guilty and lost sinners_, but “_likewise there is joy in the +presence of the angels of God over_ ONE SINNER _that repenteth_.” {38c} +What a proof have we here of the value of the soul in the sight of God! +His incarnate Son dying to redeem it from eternal misery; when restored +to His Father’s right hand, watching over it with constant care; and +seeking, with tender gentleness, to bring back the wanderers from the +fold of grace: and when the slave of sin breaks his fetters, and through +grace given unto him, falls repentant and humbled at the foot of the +cross, then joy is felt in the court of heaven, and the seraphic choir +give praise, and honour, and glory, to “Him who sitteth on the throne, +and the Lamb;” {38d} because a poor sinner has been turned, by the +marvellous grace of the Gospel, “from darkness to light, and from the +power of Satan unto God; that he may receive forgiveness of sins, and +inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ +Jesus.” {39a} + +The gracious and unmerited invitations of Divine mercy are addressed to +all sinners by “God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and +to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” {39b} Let not therefore any +one say, my sins are too great to be forgiven; this is to limit the +atoning efficacy of Christ’s blood, which is illimitable: let not any one +say, I am not yet fit to come unto Christ; this is to mistake the nature +of the Gospel, which is designed to remedy man’s natural unfitness: but +let all betake themselves to Christ for pardon of past sins, through His +blood; and for strength against future temptations, through His grace. +Nor let it be thought that these observations apply only to gross +sinners. One description of man’s natural condition, and only one, +applies to the whole human race;—“All have sinned and come short of the +glory of God:” and one means of restoration to the lost favour of God, +and only one, is offered to the whole human race;—the “being justified +freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: whom +God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to +declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, +through the forbearance of God.” {40a} Those who refuse to come unto +Christ as sinners, stand self-excluded from all benefit of His atonement. +To such the Saviour addresses the words,—“Because thou sayest I am rich, +and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and _knowest not that +thou art wretched_, _and miserable_, _and poor_, _and blind_, _and +naked_. _I counsel thee to buy of_ ME gold tried in the fire, that thou +mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that +the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with +eye-salve that thou mayest see.” {40b} Man’s natural weakness and +sinfulness is the fundamental truth on which the Christian plan of +redemption is built; for if he had possessed inherent power to overcome +his natural depravity, and keep the commandments of God, the sacrifice of +Christ would not have been necessary for the atonement of his sins, and +for his escape from eternal condemnation. Did we not know that pride, +based upon a poor and defective system of morality, generally shows the +most decided hostility to the humbling doctrines of the Gospel, it would +hardly be believed that any would refuse to come to Christ as sinners. +How much at variance are such self-righteous feelings with the spirit of +the confession of our Church, in which, under the appropriate and +affecting figure of sheep wandered from the fold, we are accustomed to +entreat the pity, protection, and guidance, of the great “Shepherd of our +souls.” There are two considerations, however, which may, with the +Divine blessing, if duly weighed, bring such persons to the foot of the +cross with deep self-abasement and acknowledgment of sin: one is, that in +the Gospel the motive determines the value of an action; and the +Christian’s motive is, to do all to the glory of God: the other is, that +man is accountable, not only for his actions, but for his omissions; not +only for every idle word, but for every sinful wish; nay, more, for every +impure thought indulged and cherished. Let those who think their +failings few and venial, their merits great, and deserving of reward, +apply to their lives these two great tests of Christian holiness—praying, +at the same time, to “the Father of lights,” for grace and knowledge: and +if they be not brought to admit, that “in many things we offend all;” +{41} if it be not the language of their hearts, “We acknowledge and +bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, +most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy +Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against +us;”—they are ignorant of the spirit of the Gospel, and far from the +kingdom of God. For, like the Jews of old, “they have a zeal of God, but +not according to knowledge: for they, being ignorant of God’s +righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have +not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. _For Christ is +the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth_.” {42a} +“That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ +Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and +sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, he that +glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” {42b} + +To true believers, “CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL:” {42c} on His atonement they +rest for pardon before God; on His grace they rely for strength; and to +His merits they trust for salvation. Their truly Christian hope is built +upon a lively faith; they believe “that man is very far gone from +original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so +that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit, and therefore in +every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and +damnation.” {42d} That “the condition of man, after the fall of Adam, is +such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural +strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God; wherefore we have +no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the +grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and +working with us when we have that good will.” {43a} “That we are +accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works and deservings: +wherefore that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome +doctrine, and very full of comfort.” {43b} And “albeit that good works, +which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put +away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgments; yet are they +pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily +of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be +as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.” {43c} + +Such are the four Articles of the Church of England which declare man’s +natural corruption; his just exposure to Divine condemnation; his means +of restoration to God’s favour; the meritorious cause of his salvation; +and the inseparable union of faith and good works. From which may be +drawn these two fundamental principles of the Christian faith—salvation, +alone through the all-sufficient merits of Christ; and sanctification, +alone through the renewing power of the Holy Ghost. Man is, in every +respect, a dependent being: the same Almighty Power which formed his body +from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of +life; can alone enlighten, renew, and sanctify his soul. Thus +faith—which is the rock on which the Church of Christ is built, and +without which we shall never believe the promises, accept the offers, or +attain the salvation of the Gospel—is the gift of God, and wrought in our +souls by the Holy Spirit. United with faith is true repentance, which is +no less the work of grace; for unless God enlighten the understanding, +there will be no just sense of sin; unless He soften the heart, there +will be no contrition: and from a true repentance there always springs +holy obedience, which is also produced by the Spirit: for the same +blessed Power which enlightens the darkness of the understanding and +softens the hardness of the heart, also rectifies the perversion of the +will, and sanctifies the corruption of the affections, that the believer +may know, choose, obey, and love, the way of godliness. And thus we +arrive at that blessed change in the life of a penitent, when he becomes +“a new creature in Christ Jesus,” when “old things have passed away, and +behold all things have become new;” when he has “put on the new man, +which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” + +The renewal and sanctification of the soul is the only sure ground on +which the Christian can build his unfailing hope of salvation. Not that +any may presume to limit the extent of the Divine mercy, or state a +definite time for the operations of the Holy Spirit. The first is as +boundless as it is unsearchable; the second may be as instantaneous as it +is incomprehensible. Thus much we know with certainty, that when that +most encouraging call to repentance was addressed to the Jewish +people,—“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon +him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon;”—there was added, +“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, +saith the Lord: for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my +ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” {45} +Still, all who have time and opportunity must prove the sincerity of +their repentance, and the soundness of their faith by the holiness of +their practice. Nor can it be too earnestly insisted upon, that it is +only by the gift of a new and holier nature, man can rise above the +pleasures of sense and things of time, and set his affections on the joys +of immortality; and that the new and holier nature is implanted, when the +gracious promise is fulfilled—“I will give them one heart, and _I will +put a new spirit within you_; _and I will take the stony heart out of +their flesh_, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in +my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my +people, and I will be their God.” {46a} It is to the use of palliatives +much of the insincere repentance and imperfect reformation of men is to +be ascribed. When their fears are alarmed, they set about correcting +some flagrant sins, and it may be, become outwardly moral, and even +attentive to religious duties; but the renewal of the heart, through +grace, and the dedication of its affections to God, are never thought of; +and yet they are satisfied with this condition. Such persons are only to +be roused by preaching conversion or condemnation. They must be taught +to pray, with repentant David, “_Make me a clean heart_, _O God_, _and +renew a right spirit within me_. Cast me not away from thy presence; and +take not thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of thy help +again, and stablish me with thy free Spirit.” {46b} + +The great work of the renewal and sanctification of the soul is +ordinarily accomplished by a progressive growth in grace; during which, +the believer is gradually enabled to obtain the mastery over the corrupt +affections of his nature, to acquire the graces and perform the duties of +the Christian character, and “to set his affections on things above,” +ever “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God +in Christ Jesus,” {47a} and endeavouring to “come in the unity of the +faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto +the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” {47b} In the life +of some of those who have been “brought up in the nurture and admonition +of the Lord,” {47c} and have never departed from serving their God, there +may be no clearly defined transitions, no strongly-marked shades, in the +harmoniously-blended colours, in which has been traced the even tenor of +their way. But such cases are probably rare—for those who attain to a +very high degree of spiritual-mindedness, can generally fix upon some +definite period in their religious life, when they obtained clearer views +of their personal unworthiness, and of the holiness of God’s law; of the +insufficiency of the things of earth to minister to the wants of an +immortal soul; and of the inestimable value of the “treasure in heaven,” +than they ever possessed before; and when they learnt to rely on their +Lord more confidently, to love Him more devotedly, to advance His cause +more zealously, and to obey Him more steadily and implicitly. In the +case of those, who have either deserted the God of their youth for a +“world lying in wickedness,” but, like the prodigal, upon abandoning its +vices and follies, have been received and pardoned by a merciful Father; +or who have been brought up in ignorance of religion, but have been +plucked like a brand from the burning, by one of those afflictive +dispensations which God often sends in mercy to awaken sinners; the time +and circumstances of their conversion {48a} will be clearly marked and +ever remembered: “it is too momentous an event,” observes Paley, in +writing of such conversions, “to be forgot: a man might as easily forget +his escape from a shipwreck.” {48b} + +The knowledge of the time, however, when conversion takes place, is +principally of importance, as far as it goes to establish the fact, the +certainty of which must always be determined by the effects produced; for +it is easy in this, as in every other particular of religious experience, +to be deceived. But there can be no deception when the believer is at +once conscious of a change in his heart, and exhibits a reformation in +his life; for then he may say, this I know, that whereas I was dead, now +am I alive in the Lord: he possesses an internal witness to his being +born of God;—“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of +God;” “He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness—in himself;” +and His life affords external proof of his sonship;—“Whosoever is born of +God, sinneth not.” {49a} He rejoices, therefore, in the glorious +privileges of the Gospel, through which “there is, therefore, now no +condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the +flesh but after the Spirit;” through which, “as many as are led by the +Spirit of God, are the sons of God;” {49b} and through which, “the Spirit +itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God; +and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus.” + +Let, then, the reformed examine strictly into their lives, as to whether +they exhibit decisive proofs of a genuine conversion; of conversion, not +used in its limited sense, as implying a sudden or even violent change, +but in the more extended sense, of a recovery from sin, and of a full +development of the Christian character:—a conversion which, in its +completion, is equivalent to the renewal of the soul in righteousness; +the progress of which may be, in some, so gradual, as almost to be +imperceptible, but must be, in all, so certain, as to be unquestionable. +Let those, who, through the grace of God, have endeavoured to live ever +mindful of their baptismal engagements, and duly sensible of the blessed +privileges of the Christian covenant, institute a no less rigid +examination into their lives, as to how far they manifest a continued +growth in grace; an increasing in every good word and work; a growing +conformity to the example of Christ; a visible ripening for heaven; and a +gradual restoration of the lost image of God in the soul. And what is to +be said to those who have either never learnt, or have wilfully violated, +their baptismal engagements; and during a long course of sin, have +neglected, disobeyed, and forgotten God, whose calls to repentance they +still disregard? The same language must be addressed to the habitual, as +was applied to the externally reformed sinner;—whose heart was still the +seat of vain or impure desires, of base or malignant passions;—CONVERSION +or CONDEMNATION. “Of the persons in our congregations,” says Paley, “to +whom we not only may, but must, preach the doctrine of conversion, +plainly and directly, are those, who with the name indeed of Christians, +have hitherto passed their lives without any internal religion whatever; +who have not at all thought upon the subject; who, a few easy and +customary forms excepted (and which with them are mere forms), cannot +truly say of themselves, that they have done one action, which they would +not have done equally, if there had been no such thing as a God in the +world; or that they have ever sacrificed any passion, any present +enjoyment, or even any inclination of their minds to the restraints and +prohibitions of religion; with whom, indeed, religious motives have not +weighed a feather in the scale against interest or pleasure. To these it +is utterly necessary that we preach conversion.” {51a} “The next +description of persons to whom we must preach conversion, properly so +called, are those who allow themselves in the course and habit of some +particular sin, with more or less regularity in other articles of +behaviour; there is some particular sin, which they practise constantly +and habitually, and allow themselves in that practice. Other sins they +strive against, but in this they allow themselves. Now no man can go on +in this course consistently with the hope of salvation; therefore, it +must be broken off. The essential and precise difference between a child +of God and another is, that the true child of God _allows himself_ in no +sin whatever; cost what it may, he contends against, he combats all sin; +which he certainly cannot be said to do, who is still in the course and +habit of some particular sin; for as to that sin, he reserves it, he +compromises it. Here then we must preach conversion.” {51b} “In these +two cases, therefore, men must be converted and live, or remain +unconverted and die.” {51c} + +Let then all those who are living in ignorance of the spirit, and +consequently in neglect of the obligations of the Gospel, lay this to +heart; and let them not imagine that it is only intended to alarm their +fears. The scoffer, the profane, the sceptic, and the infidel, can hope +for nothing through a Gospel which they ridicule, despise, or reject. +But the gay, the thoughtless, and the proud—the worldly, the avaricious, +and the sensual—the malicious, the censorious, and the envious—all +profess to believe the Gospel; and the lukewarm, the self-righteous, and +hypocritical, pretend to make it their rule of life. “To the law, and to +the testimony,” to see whether these must all be converted or condemned. +“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the +kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in +heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not +prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy +name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I +never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” {52a} It +appears, therefore, possible to exercise some of the highest functions of +Christianity, and yet to be cast away. “Not the hearers of the law are +just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” {52b} “Be +ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” +{52c} Hence, then, we learn the worthlessness of a mere profession of +the Gospel. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the +world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” +{53a} Here we are taught the incompatibility of the love of the world +with the love of God. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which +are these;—adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, +witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, +heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of +the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that +they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” {53b} +This fearful catalogue of offences, which exclude from heaven, passes +sentence of condemnation upon all who live in the indulgence of any known +sin. From these, and many other passages of Scripture, as well as from +its general tenor, we arrive at the conclusion, that the various classes +of men which have been described, are all exposed to the righteous +judgment of God, ready to be revealed at the last day. They bear the +Christian name, it is true, but that is all they possess of a blessed +dispensation, which was ushered in by the preaching of repentance:—“The +time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, _repent ye and +believe the Gospel_;” {53c} and which has always imposed upon its +converts personal holiness, as a universal obligation, and inseparable +from its promises and rewards; “_Wherefore follow holiness_, _without +which no man shall see the Lord_.” {54a} “For the grace of God that +bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that denying +ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and +godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the +glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who +gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and +purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” {54b} As +being destitute, therefore, of the essentials of the Christian faith, the +powerful writer, who has already been quoted at such great length, says, +“these persons are really in as unconverted a state as any Jew or Gentile +could be in our Saviour’s time. They are no more Christians, as to any +actual benefit of Christianity to their souls, than the most hardened +Jew, or the most profligate Gentile, was in the age of the Gospel. As to +any difference in the two cases, the difference is all against them. +These must be converted before they can be saved. The course of their +thoughts must be changed: the very principles upon which they act must be +changed. Considerations which never, or hardly ever, entered into their +minds, must deeply and perpetually engage them. Views and motives, which +did not influence them at all, either as checks from doing evil, or as +inducements to do good, must become the views and motives which they +regularly consult, and by which they are guided;—that is to say, there +must be a revolution of principle: the visible conduct will follow the +change, but there must be a revolution within.” + +These observations are made by Paley, with reference to those persons +“who have hitherto passed their lives without any internal religion +whatever;” with whom, in short, religion has not been the rule of life. +Oh! that the countless multitudes within this kingdom, to whom this +description applies, and who are living regardless, if not ignorant, of +the eternal condemnation impending over their unconverted souls, “would +be wise and consider their latter end.” Oh that they would be persuaded +to learn from the word of God, what the holy name which they bear +requires of them; and consider what the vows made in baptism bind them +to, if they wish to be partakers of the precious benefits purchased for +his faithful servants by Christ, at the costly price of his blood. “Ye +do err, not knowing the Scriptures,” is a reproof which applies to them +all. For, unfortunately, the generality of men are content to receive +from others all they know of religion: they do not enquire for +themselves; but willingly acquiesce in the most indulgent views of human +duty. And if they do sometimes read the Bible, yet they do not study it, +and pray over it, with an anxious desire to be brought to a knowledge of +the truth; with a firm determination to receive the truth, however +unpleasant, however opposed to their present opinions; and with a +resolution, not suddenly taken, but after mature and anxious +deliberation, and not formed in dependence upon themselves, but upon +Divine grace, to build their faith and practice on its holy doctrines and +precepts. To all such, however, we would say, “This do, and ye shall +live:” let the time past of your lives suffice to have past in ignorance +or neglect of God’s gracious revelation to man; now delay not longer: +“The night is far spent, the day is at hand;” may the day-spring from on +high visit you, and the day-star arise in your hearts to give light to +you, who, whilst the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are shining around +you, are still lying in darkness and the shadow of death. “Search the +Scriptures,” and learn from them, and not from the opinions and conduct +of men, what is the hope of the Christian calling; search the Scriptures, +and from them learn, that ye must repent or die eternally. + +May the profane, the scoffer, and the sceptic, have the veil of darkness +removed from their understandings, by which “the god of this world hath +blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the +glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto +them.” {57a} May they not be left in wilful blindness, until that +terrible day, when the enemies of the Lord shall find, to their +everlasting confusion, that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven +against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in +unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; +for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from +the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the +things that are made, _even His eternal power and Godhead_: so that they +are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him +not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, +and their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise, +they became fools.” May + + —“The gay, licentious, proud, + Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround,” + +learn “how hardly shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of +God!” {57b} For they too often forget they are God’s stewards, and +accountable for all they possess. The day will come when to all of them +will be addressed the command, “Give an account of thy stewardship;” and +how terrible will be their lot, should they, “having been unfaithful in +the unrighteous mammon,” lose “the true riches,”—treasure in heaven. Our +Lord himself has said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he +will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and +despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” {58a} They, +therefore, who in their day of trial have forgotten that their rank or +affluence are so many talents, for which they are to give account to +their Master in heaven, must expect fearful retribution, unless, while +the day of grace remaineth, they obtain pardon and peace through their +long-neglected Lord. Let them now learn that the friendship of the +world—whose smile they have courted, whose honours they have coveted, +whose pleasures they have enjoyed—“is enmity with God.” “For all that is +in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the +pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world +passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God +abideth for ever.” {58b} May the avaricious and the sensual, whose +grovelling, sordid, and impure minds, have not a thought, a wish, beyond +this earth, where they would willingly live for ever; see their sin and +folly before it be too late. Let them hear the awful denunciations of +Scripture; and may that Scripture, through God’s grace, bring conviction +to their minds and repentance to their hearts. “Go to now, ye rich men, +weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches +are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is +cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you; and shall +eat your flesh as it were fire: ye have heaped treasure together for the +last day.” {59a} “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a +snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in +destruction and perdition.” {59b} “Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as +strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the +soul.” {59c} “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have +wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, +lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable +idolatries.” {59d} “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because +of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of +disobedience.” {59e} May those who now rise up early, and late take +rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, that they may increase their +worldly store, receive grace “to lay up treasure in heaven,” not +“trusting in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us +richly all things to enjoy:” {60a} and may those who, placing few or no +restraints upon the appetites and passions of their animal nature, +ardently pursue impure, debasing, and guilty pleasures, have their souls +so sanctified, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that, “cleansed from +all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear +of God,” {60b} they may desire only “the joys unspeakable, and full of +glory, which are at God’s right hand for evermore.” And may the envious, +the censorious, and the malicious, who cherish in their hearts hostility +and malignity towards their fellows, acquire the spirit of Christian +charity! For “charity _suffereth long and is kind_; _charity envieth +not_; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave +itself unseemly; seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, _thinketh +no evil_; _rejoiceth not in iniquity_, _but rejoiceth in the truth_.” +There exist no passions in the human breast, which in every age have +excited so much scorn and reprobation amongst generous and noble spirits +as envy and malice: there is a meanness in them which renders them +contemptible; there is a malignity which makes them detestable: the +virtuous heathen, therefore, viewed them with contemptuous indignation; +but the Christian must mourn over such bitter fruits of an unchristian +temper; he must admonish those who foster them, that these sins of the +heart, as more difficult to be repented of, are more likely to exclude +from heaven than the failings which they gloat upon with secret pleasure, +and publish with malicious satisfaction. The sins of uncharitableness +cannot but be peculiarly odious in the sight of Him, whose religion +inculcates the purest and kindest spirit of brotherly love, and who has +made our forgiving our brother his trespasses, the ground of our asking +the forgiveness of our own. We are, therefore, strongly and repeatedly +warned in Scripture against anger, envy, hatred, revenge, and malice; +whilst the opposite virtues are urged upon us with equal force of +exhortation and tenderness of entreaty. “I, therefore, the prisoner of +the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye +are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, +forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the +Spirit in the bond of peace.” “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, +and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, +and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, +even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.” {61} Let such, +therefore, remembering that their only hope of forgiveness consists in +their obtaining grace to overcome their uncharitable temper and habits, +hear also and obey the similar admonition of another apostle: “Wherefore, +laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and +all evil-speaking; as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, +that ye may grow thereby.” {62} + +May all those who make a decided profession of religion, but whose heart +is not right before the Lord; the lukewarm, the self-righteous, and the +hypocritical; learn that God will never accept of a divided heart; that +He will never approve of a self-righteous spirit, and will never receive +the incense of feigned lips. Hypocrisy must be peculiarly offensive, as +it is peculiarly insulting, to the Majesty of an omniscient and +omnipresent God. That one of his creatures should dare to make His name +or service a cloak to cover his selfish and worldly views; should profess +a great reverence for Him, only to secure the applause, or procure the +assistance of men, is at once such a bold and impious fraud, as must +excite the displeasure, and call down the vengeance of an insulted and +offended Deity. What! shall the weak and miserable creature who has been +graciously allowed to approach his great Creator, and “tell out his wants +and unburden his sorrows to Him in prayer,”—shall he pervert to his base +ends this high and holy privilege, and “make long prayers, that he may be +seen of men!” Such a fearful profanation resembles that of Belshazzar, +when he used, at his unholy banquet, the sacred vessels taken from the +Temple at Jerusalem, and with them gave honour to his false gods. {63} +For the hypocrite, who worships in the sanctuary to advance his worldly +interest, is employing the holy ordinances of the Lord in the service of +Belial, who is his god. + +It may be hoped that hypocrisy of this impious nature is rare; but +neither its criminality nor its extent are sufficiently regarded by men +in general. For what, in reality, are all who make merely an outward +profession of religion? they are all hypocrites: they do not attend +religious worship to offer their sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to +their Preserver and Benefactor; but they pretend to do so; and perhaps +might consider themselves unjustly stigmatised, if the real cause of +their being in the courts of the Lord’s house was stated to be, either +regard for reputation, to set an example, general custom, or the force of +habit. But if men go not to the house of prayer for worship—and those +who make merely an outward profession of religion cannot be sincere in +offering up any prayers—it remains that some other motive must have drawn +them there; and whatever that may be, as the real but not ostensible +motive, it stamps them as hypocrites. There also are, it may be feared, +other hypocrites, of a very different description, who lay claim to more +religion than they possess; and, in the cause of the Lord of Hosts, +profess more zeal for His honour than they feel. All such—more +especially if they assume a character of which they know themselves to be +totally unworthy, seeking to gratify their pride or advance their +interests; for then they are hypocrites of the worst description;—expose +themselves to the righteous displeasure of the Lord. May men, therefore, +learn, that the profession of religion, without regard to its principles, +will, sooner or later, bring down upon them swift and sudden destruction; +for “the prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord,” when +“they take the law of God into their mouths, but hate to be reformed in +their hearts.” And whilst their principles must always correspond with +their profession, their practice must be in accordance with both. The +repentance of the hypocrite is extremely difficult: he has profaned, to +his own ungodly purposes, all the means of grace; and sometimes, so +perfect becomes the delusion of lengthened deception, he almost believes +himself really to be the character he has falsely assumed. Nothing but +Divine grace can rescue him from his alarming state; for he resembles one +who has himself poisoned the wholesome aliment intended for his +sustenance; still the Great Physician of souls is a sure refuge. May he, +through Him, obtain mercy and pardon, and escape having “his portion with +the hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” + +Amongst the Pharisees it appears, from the severe reproofs our blessed +Lord directed against them, that both an hypocritical and self-righteous +spirit prevailed to a great extent. Such will ever be the case where the +forms are substituted for the spirit of religion. It will then quickly +degenerate into a number of lifeless observances, and the shadow of the +religion will remain whilst the substance will be lost. +Self-righteousness, in this day, rests nearly upon the same foundation as +in the time of our Saviour. Amongst ourselves it is often built upon the +groundwork of regularity and strictness in religious observances, and of +belonging to a particular sect or party. It is often characterised by an +appearance of much self-complacency and spiritual pride; still it is at +the same time distinguished generally by a correct standard of morals, a +due regard for decorum, and a strict attention to religious duties. +Alas! every one must lament that the spirit is wanting which will give +acceptability to these services in the sight of God: for “thus saith the +high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell +in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and +humble spirit; to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the +heart of the contrite ones.” {66a} There exists not in the heart of man +a feeling more perfectly irreconcileable with his corrupt and fallen +nature, than spiritual pride. In the first place, “who maketh thee to +differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now +if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not +received it?” {66b} And in the second, “Who can tell how oft he +offendeth? O cleanse thou me from my secret faults! Keep thy servant +also from presumptuous sins, lest they get the dominion over me: so shall +I be undefiled, and innocent from the great offence.” {66c} One of the +first Christian virtues is humility; and he must be equally ignorant of +his own heart and of the spirit of the Gospel, who prides himself upon +his excellences, instead of lamenting his deficiencies. A deep +consciousness of personal unworthiness; a fearful sense of his little +progress in holiness, in comparison with the advantages which have been +afforded to him; a humble thankfulness that God has enabled him to +advance some way in his Christian calling; and an entire dependence on +his Saviour for grace, for strength, and guidance, for the time to come, +generally characterize those most favoured servants of the Lord who have +reached the highest attainments in piety, and best served their +generation. May the self-righteous receive grace “to learn of Him” who +was “meek and lowly of heart,” and then they will find present and +eternal “rest unto their souls.” + +“How long halt ye between two opinions?” was the indignant enquiry +addressed to the Israelites by the Prophet Elijah: “If the Lord be God, +follow Him; if Baal, then follow him.” {67} In every age there have been +too many lukewarm in religion, to whom the same enquiry might be +addressed, for there has ever been the same disposition to make a +compromise between God and Mammon. They are unwilling to forfeit all +hope of the fair “inheritance of the saints in light;” they are afraid to +encounter the awful terrors of the blackness of darkness for ever; still +the world, with its seductive pleasured and engrossing cares, takes a +strong hold upon the heart, and is like a withering blight upon the +blossoms and fruit of genuine piety. + +There is no vitality of religious principle, and no consistency of +religious conduct. They profess the Gospel, it is true; but they are +desirous to accommodate it to their own views and wishes, that it may not +interfere with their worldly advantage, not interrupt their present +enjoyments. But such a cold and calculating spirit, which appears ever +to ask, “How little can I do, and yet get to heaven?” has nothing in it +of the Gospel of Christ. Our blessed Lord employs, in the Revelations, +terms expressive of the most contemptuous rejection of the works of the +Church of Laodicea, because it was “lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot.” +{68a} The whole tenor of Scripture inculcates the duty of obedience to +“the first and great commandment”—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with +all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” {68b} And +they can know little of the glorious and blessed privileges of the +children of God by adoption and grace, who do not habitually look up to +Him as “a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus our Lord;” who do not cry +with humble but firm and confiding faith, “Abba, Father;” and who do not +obey, with willing and joyful readiness, the command, “My Son, give me +thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” There is a necessary +union between adoption and grace, between grace and holiness, between +holiness and love: “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the +sons of God:” “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that +the Spirit of God dwell in you:” “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, +peace.” They, therefore, who do not manifest in their hearts and lives +those blessed proofs of the indwelling of the Spirit, renewed minds, +sanctified affections, and holy obedience, cannot be said to “walk after +the Spirit.” “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none +of his:” he is “carnally minded;” and “to be carnally minded is death;” +“because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to +the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the +flesh cannot please God.” + +Oh, how does the faithful servant of the Lord mourn over the lukewarm in +religion, a class which may sometimes embrace those dearest to him on +earth—united to him by the closest ties of blood—by the sweetest bonds of +affection. He feels for them, for he remembers the time when he had “set +his affections on things of earth:” He estimates fully the difficulties +they have to surmount, for he knows how hard it is to “set the affections +on things above.” For this world invites us, through the medium of the +senses, with objects present, visible, and palpable; but it is only by +the power of abstraction, and through the medium of faith, we can even +contemplate the future invisible and unpalpable realities of a spiritual +world, whose rewards and joys are covered with a veil which revelation +has only raised so far as to show, that whilst their nature transcends +the power of human conception, their extent exceeds the limits of human +comprehension. He fears, therefore, lest, bewildered by the false glare +of earthly attractions, they may never be able to fix the steady eye of +faith upon what human “eye hath not seen, nor hath it entered into the +heart of men to conceive;” he fears lest, still impelled forward in the +broad way of destruction by semblances of happiness, as alluring but as +illusive as the mirage of the desert, they may never enter upon the +narrow and often thorny path of life, which leads to the Zion of our God. + +How earnestly, therefore, does he entreat them not longer to linger in +the outward courts, but to enter at once into the temple of our faith; +not longer to starve themselves with “the beggarly elements of the Law,” +to which they secretly cling, but to refresh and invigorate their souls +with the “rich mercies” of the Gospel dispensation, which supplies every +want, and satisfies every desire, when fully understood, firmly believed, +thankfully received, and implicitly obeyed. For it is not generally that +they seek to escape the obligations to personal holiness, for they are +moral men: it is not that they wish to avoid the observances of religion, +for they are regular in their attendance on divine ordinances; but they +will not submit themselves to the sole guidance of that Holy Spirit which +can alone consecrate their prayers and sanctify their obedience. Their +case is stated by St. Paul in a few words: they have “the form without +the power of godliness;” and being destitute of its power, they enjoy not +its present consolations,—they will possess not its future rewards, +unless, by the transforming influence of divine grace, they are enabled +to give their, at present, divided hearts to God. A merely formal +profession of the Gospel never yet supplied comfort in the hour of +affliction—never cheered the sufferings of the bed of pain—never took +away the fear of death. It may be, that when the understanding is +blinded, or the heart hardened, exhausted nature sometimes willingly +seeks relief from present suffering in death; but such is an awful sign +of spiritual insensibility. When the conscience is fully awake, and the +mind, in full possession of its powers, is conscious of the rapid +approach of death; the Gospel of Christ alone has power to divest the +destroyer of his terrors by robbing him of his sting, and the grave of +its victory. Still it is only a heartfelt profession of the Gospel, in +which the approval of the understanding, and the desire of the heart, +accompany the utterance of the lips, from which issue no lifeless words, +but the earnest prayer for mercy and forgiveness for faith and hope, for +sanctification and submission; which, proving that grace is employed in +its blessed and holy work of the soul’s renewal, supports and comforts in +that awful hour, when the soul is preparing to meet its God and Saviour. +Oh that this consideration may have its due weight to rouse the lukewarm +from their state of apathy! Can they imagine that their languid and +lifeless services will be acceptable in the sight of that God, who is +Himself love, and whose motive, in offering them eternal life, is love? +Can they suppose their weak faith in the Saviour, their cold reception of +His inestimable blessings, will satisfy Him, who referred the ignominious +and painful death He endured to the greatness of His love,—“greater love +hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” +{72} If, in the various relations of social life, the little services of +affection are valued infinitely higher than the more costly benefits +which spring only from a cold sense of duty:—if the willing obedience, +the watchful attention, and the tender offices of love are prized, beyond +all comparison, above the forced submission, the reluctant compliance, +and the unwilling attendance of fear:—can we think for a moment that He, +who has admitted us to all the privileges of sonship, and has allowed us +to approach Him in the endearing character of children, and cry, Abba, +Father, will regard favourably the services which spring from slavish +fear, and not from filial love? It might be thought that the +consideration of the infinite love of God towards man, and of the +precious benefits conferred upon us by the Saviour, would fill every soul +with gratitude and love: to think that weak, sinful, and guilty man, +should be elevated to so exalted a relation to God as that of son; to +remember that his title to his high dignity was purchased, by no less a +sacrifice than the atonement made by Him, who is the brightness of His +Father’s glory, and the express image of His person,—present to the mind +such an astounding, and yet transporting view, of “the length and +breadth, and depth and height,” of “the love of God, which passeth +knowledge,” that we are constrained to exclaim, “Such things are too +wonderful for me; I cannot attain unto them.” And yet, they affect not, +they influence not, that large class of men, the lukewarm in religion! +God now calls them by “His judgments, which are in the earth,” to “turn +unto Him with all their heart.” May they all receive grace, to obey the +call, and seek forgiveness at his hands; for there is impending over them +a most terrible curse—a curse which repentance only can avert. “If any +love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” {73} + +Let, then, all the several classes of men, who, as constituting the +leading divisions of those who believe not, or practise not, the truth as +it is in Christ Jesus our Lord—have been exhorted and warned “to flee +from the wrath to come,” be now earnestly intreated to imitate the +example of the Bereans of old, who “were more noble than those in +Thessalonica, _in that they received the Word with all readiness of +mind_, _and searched the Scriptures daily_, _whether those things were +so_.” {74a} + +And may God accompany with his grace and blessing such study of the +Scriptures, that they who have heretofore neglected, perverted, +disobeyed, or rejected the Gospel, may, through “its marvellous light +become wise unto salvation!” + +“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for +doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, +that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good +works.” {74b} In the “lively oracles of God,” therefore, they will find +instruction how to proceed in the difficult work of true repentance. Let +them not, however, be dismayed at the difficulty of the undertaking, for +“He who worketh in them to will and to do of His good pleasure,” is ever +ready to succour and omnipotent to save, “all who come unto Him” through +Christ, “who is the way, the truth, and the life.” Let them not fear the +power of the great adversary of man, whose galling yoke they long +willingly bore; “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but +mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down +imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the +knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity every thought to the +obedience of Christ.” {75a} Still, at the same time, let them underrate +neither the difficulties nor the dangers which await them. Spiritual as +well as worldly prudence is shewn in rightly estimating difficulties, +that they may be the more certainly overcome; and real courage, whether +carnal or spiritual, in learning the extent of danger, that it may be, as +the case requires, carefully avoided, or manfully combated. + +The prophet Jeremiah, to prove the difficulty of a late repentance, has +used a figure which places it in a strong light; “Can the Ethiopian +change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that +are accustomed to do evil.” {75b} The apostle Peter, to shew the extent +of danger to the Christian, employs a simile not less striking, “Your +adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may +devour.” {75c} And St. Paul accumulates the most forcible expressions to +convey an adequate idea of the dangerous nature of our spiritual warfare, +“for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, +against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against +spiritual wickedness in high places.” {75d} It is most true, that when +the corruption of man’s nature has been increased in malignity by the +long indulgence of its sinful appetites and passions; when his habits +have become confirmed, inveterate, and almost second nature through time; +and when his severe master, the devil, seeing him planning rebellion +against his authority, and escape from his power, employs his subtle arts +to retain his dominion over him: we have a case in which unassisted human +nature must despair. Passion is not tameable at the will of man, +appetite is not mortified at his bidding, habit is not overcome at his +command, the devil is not vanquished by his power. On the contrary, they +all reign and rule in the heart of the unconverted, who have grown old in +sin: there passion is ungovernable, appetite irresistible, habit +invincible, the devil dominant and triumphant. + +Well may every sinner start at this appalling picture of human weakness +and depravity, and well will it be for him, if, through grace, he be +thence led to exclaim—“Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me +from the body of this death!” {76a} and if he be enabled to apply to his +own case the answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. “With +man it is impossible” to escape from the debasing and enslaving effects +of sin, “but with God all things are possible;” {76b} and “thanks be to +God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus.” {77a} + +Through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, we shall prove more +than conquerors over the great enemies of our salvation. By the +transforming power of divine grace the will becomes renewed, the passions +subjugated, the appetites mortified, the habits changed; and the devil +vanquished by the great Captain of our salvation, loses his dominion over +the sanctified soul. Such is the mighty change wrought in fallen and +sinful man, when grace has done her perfect work; and “renewed in the +spirit of his mind,” he both “proves what is the good and perfect and +acceptable will of God,” and “presents his body a living sacrifice, holy +and acceptable unto God.” {77b} + +“REPENT YE, THEREFORE, AND BE CONVERTED, THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE BLOTTED +OUT, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the +Lord.” {77c} Repent ye, who have heretofore put conviction far from you, +and have refused to receive the Gospel as your standard of faith, your +sole rule of life. It may be, that to you, “behold now is the accepted +time, behold now is the day of salvation;” it may be, that if ye will not +hear His voice, but still harden your hearts, upon you may be passed the +terrible and irrevocable sentence—“it is a people that do err in their +hearts; for they have not known my ways; unto whom I sware in my wrath, +that they should not enter into my rest.” {78} + +“GO THY WAY FOR THIS TIME, WHEN I HAVE A CONVENIENT SEASON I WILL CALL +FOR THEE;” was the language of Felix, when he “_trembled_,” as Paul +“reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” And such +is the course adopted by thousands; they do not violently repress the +convictions of conscience; but endeavour to lull them by that “deceitful +opiate—good resolves.” NOT NOW, is still the cry, when conscience warns +them; not now, to-morrow, next year,—and thus repentance determined upon, +but still deferred, flits before them like the treacherous light which +often misleads unwary travellers, and lures them on with false hopes, +until they plunge into the black gulf of horrible anguish and despair. + +This insane procrastination, which is so common and so fatal, that it has +been said, “hell’s road is paved with good resolutions,” arises +principally from man’s natural wickedness, indolence, sinfulness, and +love of sin; but it is much promoted by mistaken ideas as to the nature +of repentance, which, by some, is considered at all times in their own +power. This fatal error—the grand cause of which is ignorance of +Scripture—is much favoured by the various senses in which the term +repentance is employed: it is used to express simply sorrow, sorrow and +amendment, change of heart and life. Now this latter sense exactly +corresponds with conversion, and the evil might, in some degree, be +remedied, if there were adopted, in the case of habitual sinners, the +definition of repentance given by Hammond: “A change of mind, or a +conversion from sin to God; not some one bare act of change, but a +lasting, durable state of new life.” For men would have a difficulty in +resting satisfied with indefinitely postponing repentance, if they knew +that repentance to consist not merely in sorrow for sin, not merely in +external amendment, but in a change of the heart, in a renewal of the +mind, wrought by the Holy Ghost, and which man possesses no inherent +power to effect, but which is the gift of God through Christ. + +REPENT YE, THEREFORE, AND BE CONVERTED, THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE BLOTTED +OUT: all who have heretofore drawn your motives and rules of actions from +the world, and not from the Book of Life—and as you value your immortal +souls, consider no proofs of conversion to be depended upon, except faith +in the Saviour, and reliance on His merits alone for salvation; love of +God as a reconciled father in Christ Jesus our Lord, shed abroad in the +heart by the power of the Holy Ghost; constant study of the Scriptures as +the rule of life; indulgence of no known sin; and dependence on divine +grace for spiritual guidance, strength, and consolation. Such an entire +conversion of the whole man to God is generally not only a progressive, +but a slow operation: during which partial relapses into old habits, +which conscience soon compels them to abandon;—unscriptural views of +reconciliation with God, in which the soul cannot rest satisfied;—and +artful stratagems of the great enemy of man to win them back to wear +publicly their badge of servitude, or retain them in the camp of the +faithful, as in reality, though unknowingly, his deluded and secret +followers;—all impede, perplex, and endanger their course. + +As the heart only knows its own bitterness, so each believer only knows +the mode of God’s dealing with him in bringing him to a knowledge of the +truth as it is in Jesus. {80} But the following sketch may be received +as presenting the outlines of a sincere conversion; and may the future +experience of those who are now earnestly and affectionately entreated to +“turn unto God with all their hearts,” fill up the details. The +conscience is first troubled through the grace of God accompanying some +strong appeal; fear is excited; an examination is made into the state of +life, and the awful truth flashes upon the mind, that he is in “the broad +way which leadeth to destruction,” and “what is a man profited, if he +shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” {81a} He now, +perhaps, attempts to appease his conscience by a compromise, by +reforming, in part, his life, but retaining his darling sins; this unholy +alliance between Christ and Belial may not be, and he is ill at ease. He +examines, therefore, more carefully the word of life, and feels satisfied +he merits only eternal condemnation at the hand of a righteous God. His +alarm becomes terror, and he sets to work in good earnest to effect an +entire reformation of life, but too much in dependence on his own +strength. He fails, and again and again is betrayed into his old sins, +through the weakness of his nature, the power of temptation, and the want +of spiritual strength. The repeated failures at length convince him of +his own weakness and utter helplessness, and he begins to distrust +himself, and trust more and more in his Saviour. The dark prospect now +begins to brighten by the dawning of a better day, and slowly the sun of +righteousness rising upon his soul, dispels the mists of error, +prejudice, and passion, and reveals the Saviour as “THE WAY, THE TRUTH, +AND THE LIFE.” {81b} He sees his road more clearly, he better +understands how God “made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we +might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” {81c} and joyfully +accepts the free, unmerited, and most gracious offers of salvation made +in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom, “being justified by faith, we +have peace with God.” {82a} He increases in faith, he rejoices in his +privileges, he grows in grace, but he is still watchful and sober-minded: +whilst he throws himself entirely on the mercy of God in Christ in whom +we are “complete;” and relies on Him for His “grace, which is sufficient +for us, for it is made perfect in weakness;” {82b} he remits not his +vigilance, he relaxes not his endeavours, but “forgetting those things +which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, he +presses toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in +Christ Jesus.” {82c} He earnestly prays and labours to be enabled to +adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; to perfect holiness +in his faith and fear, and to have his conversation in heaven, from +whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: “who shall +change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious +body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all +things unto Himself.” {82d} + +The combat which awaits the young convert is severe, but not alarming, if +he take the whole armour of God; “Wherefore take unto you the whole +armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and +having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt +about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and +your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, +taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the +fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the +sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all +prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all +perseverance.” + +Clad in the full panoply of the Gospel, the Christian warrior has nothing +to dread: for his armour is of heavenly temper; the arm of Omnipotence +sustains him; and the glorious shield of the Saviour “will cover his head +in the day of battle.” But if the danger appear slight, let him not +presume; if appalling, let him not despair; excessive confidence often +risks, and despondence often loses, the battle won by undaunted, but cool +and cautious courage: and of such a nature is Christian faith, by which +the soldier of the cross is enabled to fulfil his baptismal vow, “not to +be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to +fight under His banner, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to +continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end.” {83} + +Let not, therefore, the penitent suppose the dangers and difficulties +which await him to be so great as almost to be insuperable; nor yet that +they are so small as to be easily overcome: it is sufficient for him to +know, that that Master whom he serves, and who appoints his lot, will, if +he commit himself to Him as a faithful Creator, supply him with strength +equal to his trials, and make those trials help him forward on his +heaven-ward journey. Upon setting out, however, let him be admonished, +that there are three things which he ought to bear in mind. + +First: let him not mistake transient feelings for settled principles, nor +partial amendment for complete reformation: the sanguine sometimes, +through natural temperament, are unduly elated; the desponding, through +the same cause, unduly depressed; and thus both form false estimates as +to the degree of their advancement in spiritual life. Whilst it also +sometimes unfortunately happens, that after the first terrors of awakened +conscience pass away, the fervours of devotional feeling subside, and +there ensue listlessness, negligence, and a return to former evil +courses: “he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he +that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not +root in himself, but dureth for a while.” {84} Let him, in the second +place, be especially on his guard against partial or perverted views of +the doctrines and duties of our holy faith: some, because we are saved +through faith in the merits of the Saviour, have abused the grace of God, +by an unholy profession, or have under-rated the value of Christian +graces and virtues; and others, because of the obligations to personal +holiness, and of the rewards held out to faithful servants, in the +Gospel, have depreciated the value of faith, and have reduced the great +scheme of salvation to little more than a moral obedience. And lastly, +let him take care, that when, through divine grace, he has surmounted the +difficulties which attend his first entrance upon the “narrow way which +leadeth unto life;” and his ardent and confident spirit is full of eager +anticipation of the eternal rest and peace which await him on his arrival +at the “city of the Living God,” {85} whose fair bulwarks the eye of +faith may already have descried at an immense distance; let him “be not +high-minded, but fear:” enemies, though invisible, still surround him; +dangers, though hidden, still lurk in his path. Should, on the other +hand, the journey prove toilsome, and his spirit be often perplexed with +doubts, and alarmed with fears; should no distant prospect of the +mansions of eternal rest break upon his enraptured view, solace his weary +soul, and brighten his cheerless path: let him not be dismayed, but hope: +a “friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” {86a} though unseen, is +near; the city of refuge, though undiscoverable by his anxious eye, is +nigh at hand. If, in the first case, he “persevere unto the end;” if, in +the second, “he faint not;” he will reap an “eternal and exceeding weight +of glory;” {86b} for, on his approach, the bright portals of the new +Jerusalem shall be thrown open, and he will be welcomed by the Celestial +King, with the transporting words, “Well done, thou good and faithful +servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” {86c} + + + +II. The Christian’s duty of labouring to advance, as far as in him lies, +a national reformation, under Divine visitations. + + +The duty _of personal reformation_ under Divine visitations, has been +dwelt upon at considerable length; at once from its private and public +importance: for it is thus only a national reformation can be effected. +The good Christian will ever discharge equally faithfully all the duties +and obligations which attach to him as an individual and as a member of +society. Little is he acquainted with the Catholic spirit and scope of +Christianity, who supposes the believer to be occupied solely in securing +his own salvation. Such conduct would defeat its own purpose, as being +incompatible with the very nature of Christian duty; which is not limited +to the individual, his family, his friends, his neighbourhood, nor yet to +his country, but extends to the whole household of faith; to the great +family of Christ; to the whole world for which the Saviour died, and in +which all should labour to promote the advancement of true religion. +Whilst, therefore, the Christian is striving in secret, by means known +only to God and to himself, to “enter in at the strait gate,” “to make +his calling and election sure;” he considers it an imperative obligation, +the neglect of which would involve certain condemnation, to “labour to +advance the glory of God, and the present and future welfare of mankind.” +If, then, the command, “let your light so shine before men, that they may +see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,” {87a} +is to be obeyed under ordinary circumstances; when “GOD’S JUDGMENTS ARE +IN THE EARTH,” extraordinary exertions must be made in the hope that, +through the Divine blessing, “THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD WILL LEARN +RIGHTEOUSNESS.” {87b} Oh! what extensive and blessed effects would arise +if this holy principle of our faith were more generally acted upon +amongst Christians; and all, at the same time, “walked worthy of the +vocation wherewith they are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with +long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the +unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” {88a} God grant that in times +which require such perfect union and co-operation amongst Christians, +they may receive grace to lay aside their rivalries, their divisions, +their jealousies; and as there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one +God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all;” +{88b} so they may seek but one object, the extension of the Messiah’s +kingdom; they may employ but one means; the diffusion of the light of the +Gospel; and they may know but one spirit, the spirit of charity and +brotherly love. + +Let then all Christians be now very zealous for the honour of the Lord of +Hosts, and direct their combined efforts against the prevailing sins of +the day. True believers “are the salt of the earth;” and the more +abundantly they are sprinkled over the land, the more effectually the +corrupting effects of sin will be counteracted: they are the “leaven” of +the Gospel; and the more thoroughly they are diffused through the whole +mass of society, the more certainly a national reformation will be +produced. + +How great is the improvement which an active and pious individual +sometimes effects in a neighbourhood!—an improvement which, commencing in +one place, often spreads far around. How extensive then might be the +blessed effects of the true servants of God acting in full and unanimous +co-operation!—General alarm has caused much good to be done, in cleansing +the towns and villages of the kingdom from physical pollutions; let there +be shown the same zeal and energy in the removal of moral pollutions, so +much more pernicious and fatal, as being destructive of both body and +soul. And then this visitation “shall turn” out—as does every +visitation, when duly improved—“to the profit, and help forward in the +right way that leadeth unto everlasting life,” {89a} thousands who might +long have continued in a thoughtless and guilty neglect of God. For how +beneficial has the furnace of affliction been often found! it is a +certain assayer of religious principles; it detects the base coinage of +the world, which bears indeed the Divine superscription, but is neither +formed of the pure ore of the Gospel, nor stamped with the seal of the +Spirit; and proves the intrinsic value of the unadulterated metal of the +heavenly treasury which “cometh forth as gold.” {89b} + +The leading heads of the duty of believers, as members of society, under +circumstances like the present, have already been thus generally stated: +let them publicly bear testimony at once to the justice and mercy of +God’s dispensations; and strive earnestly to rouse the nation to a sense +of its guiltiness, which has exposed it to the divine displeasure: let +them, in dependence on the blessing of Heaven, labour to eradicate all +infidel and heretical opinions; to advance a reformation of public +morals, and to promote a general diffusion of true religion, sound +learning, and useful knowledge. Upon these several heads it is proposed +now to offer some brief observations: And may HE, who blesses the +feeblest efforts made in dependence on His gracious aid, and for the +honour of His great name, bless this humble endeavour to rouse some to a +more active and faithful discharge of the duties of their stations; and +to excite in others a spirit of enquiry, and draw forth from them a +declaration of opinion, as to the course which this Christian people +should adopt under the present Divine visitation. England has been long +highly favoured and greatly blessed; she has been placed as an ensign +amongst the nations, and as a city set on a hill; she has been a +depositary of genuine Christianity, and has been instrumental, in the +hands of Providence, in conveying the light of the Gospel to nations +“lying in darkness and the shadow of death.” To her may our blessed +Lord’s pathetic lamentation over Jerusalem never apply: “And when he was +come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying; if thou hadst +known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto +thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes:” {91a} rather, in this +our day, may “the Father of Lights,” {91b} from whom “every good gift, +and every perfect gift cometh,” impart to all that are in authority, “the +spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” {91c} Rather, +may He enable all persons to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as +wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil;—to be not unwise, +but understanding what the will of the Lord is;—giving thanks always for +all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; +submitting themselves one to another in the fear of God.” {91d} Then may +the storm now gathering, prove at once a punishment and a blessing from +the hand of God. Seasons of danger and suffering to churches and nations +have often resembled the storms of the natural world, which, however +alarming and destructive at the time, are productive of subsequent good, +by freeing the atmosphere from the impurities accumulated during a long +season of calm and sunshine. + +“What will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which +shall come from far, to whom will ye flee for help?” Such is the enquiry +which has been already addressed to the nation at large; to real, and to +nominal Christians; let the faithful servants of the Lord throughout the +land cause it to be sounded in the ears of a sinful nation; and let each +use the utmost extent of his individual influence, in co-operation with +others, to endeavour to rouse, through the Divine blessing and guidance, +a people sunk into religious indifference and apathy. They are +“visited,” and that not “after the visitation of all men;” for a +pestilence as new in character, as fatal in its effects, has overtaken +them; and their visitation has indeed come from far, for it has travelled +from the remote bounds of their colonial empire. Still we have too much +cause to apprehend that there are thousands who have never considered the +awful character of the visitation, nor asked themselves the question, to +whom shall we flee for help? + +An irreligious age is little inclined to recognise the hand of God in the +course of events, which are generally ascribed to natural causes and +human means. But philosophy as well as Revelation will satisfy the mind +of every impartial and deep enquirer, that nature must work under the +control and direction of the great Author of nature. It would be to +practically deny that God was the great governor of the universe, to +suppose that nature or chance was allowed, unchecked and unguided, to +produce the mighty results often referred to its sole agency. Sherlock +has stated this with great force and clearness. “The same wisdom and +power which made the world must govern it too: it is only a creating +power that can preserve: that which owes its very being to power must +depend upon the power that made it, for it can have no principle of +self-subsistence independent of its cause: it is only creating wisdom +that perfectly understands the nature of all things, that sees all the +springs of motion, that can correct the errors of nature, that can +suspend or direct the influence of natural causes, that can govern +hearts, change men’s purposes, inspire wisdom and counsel, restrain or +let loose their passions. It is only an Infinite Mind that can take care +of all the world; that can allot every creature its portion; that can +adjust the interests of states and kingdoms; that can bring good out of +evil, and order out of confusion.” {93} It would, therefore, be not less +unphilosophical than unchristian to ascribe to any spontaneous operations +of nature, a new and terrible pestilence, which has swept away more than +twenty millions of human beings from the face of the earth. Nor may it +be accounted for by an extraordinary combination of accidental +circumstances; for “the most unexpected events, how casual soever they +appear to us, are foreseen and ordered by God.” “For can we think +otherwise, when we see as many visible marks of wisdom, and goodness, and +justice, in what we call chance, as in any other acts of Providence? +Nay, when the wisdom of Providence is principally seen in the government +of fortuitous events? When we see a world wisely made, though we did not +see it made, yet we conclude, that it was not made by chance, but by a +Wise Being; and by the same reason, when we see accidental events, nay, a +long incoherent series of accidents concur to the producing the most +admirable effects, we ought to conclude, that there is a wise invisible +hand which governs chance, which of itself can do nothing wisely. When +the lives and fortunes of men, the fate of kingdoms and empires, the +successes of war, the changes of government are so often determined and +brought about by the most visible accidents; when chance defeats the +wisest counsels and greatest power; when good men are rewarded, and the +Church of God preserved by appearing chances; when bad men are punished +by chance, and the very chance whereby they are punished, carries the +marks of their sins upon it, for which they are punished; I say, can any +man in such cases think that all this is mere chance? When, how +accidental soever the means are or appear to be, whereby such things are +done, there is no appearance of chance at all in the event; but the +changes and revolutions, the rewards and punishments, are all as wisely +done, as if there had been nothing of chance and accident in it. This is +the great security of our lives amidst all the uncertainties of fortune, +that chance itself cannot hurt us without a Divine commission. This is a +sure foundation of faith, and hope, and trust in God; how calamitous and +desperate soever our external condition seems to be, that God never wants +means to help; that He has a thousand unseen ways, a whole army of +accidents and unexpected events at command to disappoint such designs, +which no visible art or power can disappoint, and to save those whom no +visible power can save.” {95} Nor may we suppose that this fearful +pestilence is merely permitted, and not appointed and directed by God. +“God’s government of events consists in ordering and appointing whatever +good or evil shall befall men; for according to the Scripture we must +attribute such a government to God, as makes all these events _His will +and doing_; and nothing can be His will and doing, but what He wills and +orders. Some men think it enough to say, that God permits every thing +that is done, but will by no means allow that God wills, and orders, and +appoints it, which, they are afraid, will charge the divine Providence +with all the evil that is done in the world; and truly so it would, did +God order and appoint the evil to be done; but though God orders and +appoints what evils every man shall suffer, He orders and appoints no man +to do the evil; He only permits some men to do mischief, and appoints who +shall suffer by it, which is the short resolution of the case. To +attribute the evils which some men suffer, merely to God’s permission, is +to destroy the government of Providence; for bare permission is not +government.” {96} We arrive, therefore, at the conclusion, that this +malady, which has traversed nearly the whole of two continents, is by the +will and appointment of God. And none need inquire wherefore it has been +sent. The dispensations of the Almighty are to reward or punish, warn +and amend nations and individuals. The fearful character of the +pestilence proves that it is to punish and warn the offending nations, +and may it also amend and lead them, through the grace of God, to humble +themselves under His mighty hand, and bow with submission to His just +judgments on a guilty world! + +It is, therefore, the bounden duty of the servants of the Lord, every +where, privately and publicly, to bear testimony to God’s government of +nations and individuals. It is not sufficient that they believe, act +upon, and inculcate in their families, a trust in Divine Providence. The +great truth, that “THE MOST HIGH RULETH IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN,” {97a} +should be bound “for a sign on their heads, and as frontlets between +their eyes.” {97b} They should proclaim every where, that upon this +great fundamental principle, rest the prayer and worship addressed to +God.—“This much is certain,” observes Sherlock, “that without this +belief, that God takes a particular care of all his creatures, in the +government of all events that can happen to them, there is no reason nor +pretence for most of the particular duties of public worship. For most +of the acts of worship consider God not merely as an Universal Cause, +(could we form any notion of a general providence, without any care of +particular creatures, or particular events), but as our particular +Patron, Protector, and Preserver. + +“To fear God, and to stand in awe of His justice; to trust and depend on +Him in all conditions; to submit patiently to His will, under all +afflictions; to pray to Him for the supply of all our wants, for the +relief of our sufferings, for protection and defence; to love and praise +Him for the blessings we enjoy, for peace, and plenty, and health, for +friends and benefactors, and all prosperous successes: I say, these are +not the acts of reasonable men, unless they believe that God has the +supreme disposal of all events, and takes a particular care of us. For +if any good or evil can befall us without God’s particular order and +appointment, we have no reason to trust in God, who does not always take +care of us; we have no reason to bear our sufferings patiently at God’s +hand, and in submission to His will; for we know not whether our +sufferings be God’s will or not; we have no reason to love and praise God +for every blessing and deliverance we receive, because we know not +whether it come from God; and it is to no purpose to pray to God for +particular blessings, if He does not concern Himself in particular +events; but if we believe that God takes a particular care of us all, and +that no good or evil happens to us but as He pleases; all these acts of +religious worship are both reasonable, necessary, and just.” {98} + +The great duty of believers every where to declare and maintain, that +“GOD GOVERNETH ALL THINGS BOTH IN HEAVEN AND EARTH,” is dwelt upon more +at large, because a neglect,—if not a disbelief,—of a particular +Providence, which constitutes practical, and often tends to avowed +infidelity, has been already stated to be one of the most crying sins,—I +may almost say the most crying sin—of the day. Some openly disclaim all +belief in God’s government of the world; others admit it, but are not +influenced by it; and others acknowledge a general, but deny a particular +Providence. These latter appear not to be aware of the manifest +contradiction which their belief involves. “To talk of a general +Providence without God’s care and government of every particular creature +is manifestly unreasonable and absurd; for, whatever reasons oblige us to +own a Providence, oblige us to own a particular Providence. If creation +be a reason, why God should preserve and take care of what He has made; +this is a reason why He should take care of every creature, because there +is no creature, but what He made; and if the whole world consist of +particulars, it must be taken care of in the care of particulars; for if +all particulars perish, as they may do, if no care be taken to preserve +them, the whole must perish. And there is the same reason for the +government of mankind; for the whole is governed in the government of +parts; and mankind cannot be well governed without the wise government of +every particular man.” {99} + +We may hope that secret disbelief, or open denial, of a Divine +Providence, does not exist to a great extent; but of this every observer +must be satisfied, that a practical disregard of God’s providential care +and government is gaining ground in this country. Nor are its effects to +be seen only in the conduct of individuals, they may be observed in the +proceedings of public bodies. Nothing can bespeak this more strongly, +than the altered language of the day as regards society, business, and +public transactions. + +The time was when it was carefully framed in accordance with the +apostolic injunction, “for that ye ought to say IF THE LORD WILL, we +shall live and do this or that.” {100} Now it is evidently dictated by +that bold spirit of self-confidence, which “having not God in all its +thoughts,” says “to-day or to-morrow _we will go_ into such a city, and +continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain.” Nor do the +actions of men in their public and private capacities contradict their +language. The time was, when this nation, sensible how highly it had +been blessed by Providence, and deeply grateful to the Giver of all good, +made it a rule to recognise the hand of God in all things. When His +chastisements were upon the land, there was a fast; when deliverance was +vouchsafed, there was a thanksgiving; every visitation was received as a +just infliction; every escape as an unmerited blessing. Such was the +conduct of the people and government, during their late struggle of +unexampled difficulty, through which the Providence of the Almighty +carried them in safety, and during which the soil of England alone was +untrodden by the foot of the invader, unstained by the blood of her sons. + +Let, then, all the faithful servants of God, who believe in the +government and confide in the protection of His Providence, “be instant +in season and out of season,” to counteract this evil principle which +corrupts, paralyzes, and nullifies faith; which produces pride, +self-confidence, and self-complacency; and exposes to the severe +displeasure and heavy judgments of Him whom it “robbeth of the honour due +unto His name.” History, viewed by the aid of that light which +revelation has shed upon it, proves this incontestably, by supplying both +individual and national examples, with the latter of which we are, at +present, alone concerned. + +All nations are under the government of the King of kings and Lord of +lords. “His kingdom ruleth over all;” all are instruments in His hand to +accomplish the secret purpose of His will. They may be rebellious and +disobedient, but they cannot harden themselves against God and prosper. +He exhorts and warns, He threatens and visits; but if they go on still in +their wickedness, they soon fill up the measure of their iniquity; the +messenger of justice speeds forth, the sentence is delivered, and they +cease to be a nation. It is thus great empires in succession have passed +away; human reason discovers in their rise, their progress, their decay, +and their destruction, nothing more than the ordinary operation of +natural causes; revelation raises the veil which envelopes the records of +remote antiquity, and discovers the workings of a Divine agency, by which +Providence overrules the selfish and short-sighted policy of man, to the +development of the mighty and mysterious plans which embrace the +government of the world. And that blind and presumptuous man may have no +ground to suppose, that the fate of empires is dependent solely upon +human causes, the overthrow of the guilty nations of antiquity, by the +Divine command, was foretold, and exactly fulfilled. Hence we may learn +the sudden and swift destruction, which neglect of Providence, disregard +of the authority, and disobedience to the commands of Him, who has said, +“I am the Lord, I change not,” {102} will, at last, bring upon any +Christian nation, which long continues to refuse the overtures of pardon +and reconciliation, made by a gracious, a merciful, and long-suffering +God. Predicted destruction overtook the Assyrian and Babylonian empires; +and the final desolation of their capitals was foretold. The book of the +prophet Nahum opens with “the burden of Nineveh,” which abounds with the +most powerful descriptions of the terrible overthrow of the Assyrian +empire, and the utter desolation of its vast and splendid capital. +Zephaniah looks still further into futurity, and presents a sad but +faithful picture of its final doom. “THE LORD WILL BE TERRIBLE UNTO +THEM:”—“_And he will stretch out his hand __against the north_, _and +destroy Assyria_; _and will make Nineveh a desolation_, _and dry like the +wilderness_. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the +beasts of the nations; both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in +the upper lintels of it: their voice shall sing in the windows, +desolation shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the +cedar-work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said +in her heart, _I am_, _and there is none beside me_: how is she become a +desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in; every one that passeth by +her shall hiss and wag his head.” {103a} So literally have these +striking images of entire and lonely desolation been fulfilled, that in +the second century, the very site of the once proud and famous capital of +the Assyrian empire was matter of dispute. And as the ruin of Babylon +was equally complete, so the language of prophecy is equally clear and +descriptive of its entire destruction, “O thou that dwellest upon many +waters, abundant in treasures, thy end is come and the measure of thy +covetousness. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she +should fortify the height of her strength, _yet from_ ME _shall spoilers +come unto her_, _saith the Lord_. Oh Lord, thou hast spoken against this +place to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, +but that it shall be desolate for ever.” {103b} + +Nor was the fate of these empires and cities alone foretold: the long +degradation of Egypt, which has been so exactly fulfilled, was predicted: +“it shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself +any more above the nations: FOR I WILL DIMINISH THEM, THAT THEY SHALL NO +MORE RULE OVER THE NATIONS.” {104a} The evils impending over rich and +proud Tyre, whilst still in the plenitude of her power and greatness were +announced by Isaiah in terms very applicable to that great emporium of +commerce: “Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? +her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this +counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, +whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth? THE LORD OF HOSTS +HATH PURPOSED IT, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into +contempt all the honourable of the earth. HE _stretched out His hand +over the sea_; HE _shook the kingdoms_: _the_ LORD _hath given a +commandment against the merchant city_, _to destroy the strong holds +thereof_.” {104b} But it was reserved for Ezekiel to foretell the full +extent of the fearful ruin which was to overtake this renowned city: and +he has done so, in terms so brief, and yet so minutely descriptive of its +present state, as to have excited the observation of all modern +travellers: “_it shall __be a place for the spreading of nets in the +midst of the sea_, FOR I HAVE SPOKEN IT, SAITH THE LORD GOD: and it shall +become a spoil to the nations.” {105a} “I WILL MAKE _thee like the top +of a rock_: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon, thou shalt be +built no more; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.” {105b} +Thus, when Maundrell visited the ruins of Tyre, he found “its present +inhabitants to be a few wretches, subsisting chiefly by fishing, who seem +to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument +how God has fulfilled His word concerning Tyre.” + +Nor were the predictive denunciations of Divine vengeance upon sinful +nations, confined to times of a very remote antiquity:—the prophet’s eye +glancing through the long vista of coming years, foresaw, and his voice +foretold, the empire which the Ruler of the destiny of nations had +decreed to Greece and Rome. But there is a people which remain unto this +day, at once a living testimony to the truth of Divine revelation, and a +living monument of the certainty of Divine punishment. From the Jews +this country may draw a very instructive lesson; for there are some +striking points of agreement in their earlier history, and would that +there the parallel might stop! The Jews were the peculiar people of +God.—“Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: _the Lord thy God +hath chosen thee_ to be a special people unto Himself, above all people +that are on the face of the earth:” this kingdom has also long enjoyed an +extraordinary degree of favour, protection, and blessing, at the hand of +God. “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, _because +ye were more in number than any people_, _for_ ye were the fewest of all +people: in like manner the population of this country was small in +comparison with that of many of the surrounding nations. The Jews were +selected that unto them might be “committed the oracles of God:” so also +this country appears to have been appointed, by Providence, to preserve +the holy Scriptures from misinterpretation or perversion. The Jews were +employed to convey to the Gentiles some knowledge of the one true God: in +like manner this country appears to have been raised up to diffuse +amongst distant nations the light of the Gospel. When grateful for +Divine blessings, mindful of the Divine government, and obedient to the +Divine laws, the Jews were abundantly blessed, and their wealth and +greatness were far more than commensurate with the extent of their +territory; and the resources of the kingdom: in like manner God has +elevated this country to a rank amongst the nations to which her native +dominions did not justify her aspiring. He has enriched her with the +treasures of the world, and has invested her with an empire upon which +the sun never sets. So far the points of agreement are striking on the +bright side of the picture of Jewish history; but there is also a dark +side; let that also be examined, to see if there can be discovered any +shades of resemblance. The Jews were thus exhorted and warned:—“When +thou hast eaten and art full, _then thou shalt bless_ THE LORD THY GOD, +for the good land which HE HAS GIVEN THEE. Beware that thou forget not +the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and +His statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten +and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein: and when +thy herds and thy flocks multiply; and thy silver and thy gold is +multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied: _then thine heart be +lifted up_, _and thou forget the_ LORD THY GOD,—_and thou say in thine +heart_, _my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth_. +_But thou shalt remember the_ LORD THY GOD, _for it is_ HE THAT GIVETH +THEE POWER _to get wealth_. And it shall be if thou do at all forget the +Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship +them, I testify against you this day that _ye shall surely perish_.” +{107} Nor were they left in ignorance as to what would be the ministers +of Divine vengeance; unfruitful seasons; and deadly pestilence; and +foreign invasion, with its fearful attendants, the slaughter of the +inhabitants, and the devastation of their land, were all declared to be +instruments, in God’s hand, to punish His ungrateful and rebellious +people. Nor did the fearful enumeration of judicial inflictions stop +there; they were forewarned of lengthened sieges, of the most frightful +extremity of famine, of long and weary captivity in distant lands. Still +there was reserved for them,—if they would not know their day of +visitation,—a heavier, a more lasting and more terrible punishment. “THE +LORD _shall scatter thee among all people_, from the one end of the earth +even unto the other.” “_And thou shalt become an astonishment_, _a +proverb_, _and a by-word among all nations_, _whither the Lord shall lead +thee_.” {108} + +The literal fulfilment of this prediction is matter of history;—nay, +more, the accomplishment of the last and most terrible threat is matter +of present experience; we have, unto this day, the Jews scattered amongst +all people, distinct in religion, polity, and customs; unmingled with the +population, unincorporated in the institutions of the nations amongst +whom they sojourn: we see them a byword, a proverb, and an astonishment, +in every land: and can it be that we do not discover in them a living +memorial of the Divine government of the world, and of the Divine +justice, which sooner or later overtakes every nation, which does not +recognise God’s authority in all things, and study to obey His laws. The +condition of the Jew speaks to the Christian the language of warning and +admonition: “you possess privileges I once enjoyed: I forfeited them by +trusting to my own right arm, by forsaking God, by not knowing the day of +my visitation: take heed lest ye come into the same state of +condemnation; for it is God who ruleth in Jacob, and unto the end of the +world.” + +Let not the warning be addressed in vain: there are fearful points of +resemblance between this country and the Jews in the darker side of their +national character, when the chosen people of the Lord. We are too much +disposed “to say in our hearts, my power, and the might of my hand, hath +gotten me this wealth:” and there is a love of the world, which falls +little short of idolatry;—there is a trusting to fortune, and an +ascribing events to chance and natural causes, which almost amount to +deifying fortune and nature. Let, then, all the true servants of God, by +their prayers, and their labours, seek, in dependence on God’s blessing, +a remedy of these great and growing evils. Let them appeal to the +experience of the past; let them prove from sacred history that nations, +which exalted themselves, have always been abased, which humbled +themselves, have always been exalted: let them shew from our own history +how we have been blessed and preserved, and how we have prospered and +flourished, when our trust has been in God, who alone “IS HE THAT GIVETH +STRENGTH AND POWER UNTO HIS PEOPLE: BLESSED BE GOD!” {110a} Let them +bear public testimony at once to the justice and mercy of His +visitations; for whilst the pestilence speaks the language of wrath: “WOE +TO THE REBELLIOUS CHILDREN, SAITH THE LORD, THAT TAKE COUNSEL, BUT NOT OF +ME, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may +add sin to sin:” {110b} it speaks also the language of merciful warning +and gracious exhortation: “As MANY AS I LOVE, I REBUKE AND CHASTEN: BE +ZEALOUS, THEREFORE, AND REPENT.” {110c} + +It has been stated, also, to be the duty of believers, to employ every +means in their power to eradicate all heretical and infidel opinions; to +advance a reformation of public morals; and to promote the diffusion of +true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge: which are all so +dependent one upon another, that they may be viewed in connexion, when +considering the course the faithful servants of the Lord are called upon +to adopt, under circumstances of almost unexampled difficulty, in this +country. Once more, let them be admonished, that their lot is cast upon +times which require the highest degree of energy, activity, zeal, and +fidelity, in their Master’s service. Let no one imagine his station in +life so low, that he possesses no influence, nor consider his talents so +small that he can be of no use: much would be gained if the friends of +religion would all openly range themselves on the side of the Lord; for +such a demonstration of strength would overawe the enemies of the faith. +But how great would be the triumph if all, whose hope is in the Lord’s +Christ, raised throughout the land, their voice and hands in his most +holy cause! The fact cannot be mistaken—and to disguise it would be +culpable—that up to this time that decided movement has not been made by +the servants of the Lord, which the awful crisis at which we have arrived +so imperatively demands. Some appear to look on, whilst a furious +assault is made upon the Sion of our God, with the heartless selfishness +which says, “it will last my time;” others gaze with a strange apathy; +others, bewildered with fear, know not how to act; and others seek only +to defend and preserve their own party and property, forgetful that, if +the common cause fail, they will be involved in the common destruction. +But the Church of Christ is built upon a rock, “and the gates of hell +shall not prevail against it.” {111} If the alarm were only sounded +generally through the kingdom, the cause of the Lord would not want +defenders, both numerous and powerful, and the discomfited emissaries of +Satan would be driven from the field. + +Mankind are always disposed to close their eyes against unpleasant +objects,—to shut their ears against unwelcome truths. Thus we are +willing to be deceived: if we see evils increasing, we still hope they +are only partial and temporary; if alarming reports reach us, we persuade +ourselves that they must be false or exaggerated. And if the danger +become so near as to menace our personal safety, such is the indolence, +weakness, and timidity of many, we often try to escape rather than to +combat, to avert rather than to overcome, even when we know our only +reasonable prospect of success is not in flight but in resistance, not in +making terms with, but in vanquishing the enemy. The announcements, +therefore, which have from time to time been made of the increasing +activity of the emissaries of infidelity, and of the extensive +circulation of sceptical, profane, and blasphemous publications, appear +to have been met by the public at large either with indifference or +incredulity; but the prospect is now so alarming, the peril so imminent, +that all must rouse themselves, and acquit themselves like men, or they +may too late have to mourn the folly of incredulity, and the sinfulness +of indifference, when warned and appealed to in behalf of religion. + +Let not these observations be considered otherwise than as offered in the +spirit of a faithful discharge of duty: there is far from any wish to +create unnecessary alarm; there is a strong feeling that to give +uncalled-for admonition, would be presumptuous, and to pass unmerited +censure, would be criminal; but he who undertakes to state the duty of a +Christian people under a Divine visitation, whilst he entreats and +exhorts with all meekness, and love, and reverence, must fearlessly +pursue an impartial and unprejudiced course; for terrible would be his +condemnation if he intentionally extenuated the evil or compromised the +truth: he would resemble the false teachers of old, who “healed also the +hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, PEACE, PEACE, WHEN +THERE IS NO PEACE.” {113} + +To prove, however, that these are neither the unauthorized +representations of mistaken views, nor the groundless creations of false +alarm, let the opinions of writers, as to the dangers which threaten the +cause of religion in this country, be heard,—of writers, whose station +and reputation entitle them to respect. “The signs of the times,” +observes the Bishop of London, in his Charge of last year, addressed to +the clergy of his diocese,—“the signs of the times are surely such as to +indicate to him who attentively observes the movements of God’s +providence, the approach, if not the arrival of a period pregnant with +important consequences to the cause of religion. The spirit of +infidelity, which at the close of the last century unhinged the frame of +society, and overturned the altars of God in a neighbouring country, but +was repressed, and shamed, and put to silence, by the Christian energies +of this country, is again rearing its head; and the truths of the Gospel +are denied, and its doctrines derided, and its blessed Author is reviled +and blasphemed by men whom the force of human laws has been found unable +to restrain. And if it be said that these are few in number, and +insignificant in point of talent and learning, there is a more numerous +class amongst us, who look upon religion merely as a necessary part of +every system of government; who would introduce the principles of a +miserable political economy into its institutions and ministry; and who +take no personal interest in its consolations or its ordinances. And +there is also a powerful and active body of men who are attempting to lay +other foundations of the social virtues and duties than those which are +everlastingly laid in the Gospel, and to propose other sanctions, and +other rules of conduct, and other rewards, than those which are proposed +in the Word of Revelation.” {114} + +The Bishop of Durham, in his Charge, delivered during the autumn of the +present year, thus addresses his clergy:—“Yet while we would thus fain +bury the past in oblivion, can we shut our eyes to the existing dangers +which beset us, from whatever cause they may have arisen? Can we look +around and see Infidelity and Atheism on one side, Fanaticism on another; +Popery advancing in this direction, Socinianism in that; dissent, +lukewarmness, apathy, each with multitudes in its train, without +perceiving such an accession of strength to our adversaries, as none of +the present generation have ever before witnessed? To exaggerate these +evils, or to oppress the friends of religion and social order with +excessive apprehensions of danger, can never be the policy of considerate +men. But neither are we justified in saying ‘peace, peace,’ when there +is no peace; or in holding out illusory representations which every +discerning observer must perceive to be unfounded.” {115} + +And after stating the “duties to which we are now indispensably called,” +the Bishop continues:—“that, in a Christian country like this, and in so +advanced a stage of mental cultivation, as is the boast of the present +day, it should be needful to press these admonitions, is indeed grievous. +And if we enquire how it has become needful, the answer is but too +obvious. The main root of the evil lies in a want of sound, sober, and +practical _religious_ feeling; operating steadily throughout the +community, and influencing the conduct in all the various departments of +social life. The want of this is discernible in attempts to carry on the +work of _popular education_, without teaching _religion_ for its basis; +in the systematic and avowed separation of civil and political from +_Christian_ obligations; in the disposition to consider all truths, on +whatever _sacred authority_ they may rest, as matters of mere _human +opinion_; and in a persuasion that the whole concern of government, of +legislation, and of social order, may be conducted as if there were no +MORAL RULER OF THE UNIVERSE controlling the destinies of men or of +nations: no other responsibilities than those which subsist between man +and man, unamenable to a higher tribunal. So long as these pernicious +sentiments obtain currency amongst us, (and who will say that they do not +fearfully prevail in every rank and every station?) it is impossible for +any believer in a righteous Providence not to look on such a state of +things with unwonted misgivings.” {116} + +The statements as to the number, power, and malignity of the enemies of +religion, made by these two Prelates, supply the powerfully sketched out +line of a terrible picture, which becomes still more terrific when filled +up with the details which may be derived from other sources. “There is +another subject,” says an able writer, in the British Critic, “which +gives us, we confess, more uneasiness, and becomes every day more +difficult and painful, and that is the renewed and increasing efforts +made by scoffers and infidels, not only in our country, but others, to +profit by the disturbed state of the public mind, and to disseminate as +widely as possible their infernal poison amongst the needy, the ignorant, +and the profligate; at once goading them to cruel disorders and excess, +and robbing them of all hope of an hereafter. It cannot be known, +excepting to those who make it their business to enquire, what pains, and +patience, and ingenuity, are now bestowed upon this accursed work. +Infidel books, and infidel teachers, we have always had; but certainly +there never was a moment when the art of corrupting the minds of the +people was carried to so high a pitch, or exercised with so much +effrontery; nor ever were the fruits of it so frightfully conspicuous. +It is revolting to think of them, and it were a task to make the heart +sick to detail them; but it may suffice to state, that besides the public +discourses which are delivered almost daily by the great masters of the +school in the Rotunda, and in other places amongst the crowded outskirts +of the metropolis, _for the avowed specific purpose of advocating __the +cause of infidelity_, it is a well known fact, that blasphemous and +profane lectures are delivered three times a week, in the City itself, to +large audiences of labourers and artizans, after their daily task is +done, from each of whom a penny a piece is collected, under the head of +infidel rent. + +“Nor is the press behind-hand with them in their course: for whilst +numerous hawkers and other emissaries scatter unsparingly in lanes and +alleys their pennyworths of profanation, the great emporium blazons forth +its more elaborate blasphemies with fresh spirit, in characters which +those who run may read—a standing monument of its interminable hostility +to the Gospel, and of the utter hopelessness of all legal measures to +restrain it.” + +Such was the account laid before the public in the beginning of this +year, of a scheme, skilfully planned, and actively conducted, for +corrupting the religious principles of the working population of the +country, and thus paving the way for the ruin of social order, and the +subversion of civil society. Since then the strong arm of the law has +seized upon the arch infidel, but his murky den still remains: the +Rotunda is said to be made the scene of more horrible impieties than +ever; and the great work of teaching and disseminating infidelity, though +more covertly, is equally extensively carried on. + +We possess, then, certain information, supplied by these and various +other distinguished writers, as to the two facts—the progress of a secret +undermining of the influence of Christianity now going forward in the +middle and higher classes of society; and in the lower, of an organized +system of open and violent aggression, not merely upon the principles of +religion, but the decencies of life. Surely this should fill with alarm +and rouse to exertion all who fear God and love their country; for the +preservation of the national faith is essential to the continuance of +national and individual happiness and prosperity. Before, however, +examining further into these frightful evils, and offering some +suggestions as to the course believers should adopt, let an enquiry be +made as to their probable influence upon the moral state of the great +bulk of the people. + +Degeneracy of public morals must always necessarily follow corruption of +public principles. As soon might you expect to draw pure water from a +polluted fountain, as virtuous actions from unsound principles. Remove +the restraint of conscience, and what does man become? a fickle and +wicked being, of wild passions, selfish feelings, and ungovernable +appetites: he has lost the ruling principle which regulated and directed +his actions; and thus resembles a boat without rudder or oars, tost upon +a stormy sea, which, impelled in different directions as the winds, +tides, or currents happen to prevail, possesses neither certainty of +direction nor steadiness of course. + +It is true, when the law of God ceases to be the rule of right, men +profess to substitute for it the law of honour and the law of the land. +But to ascertain the value of the law of honour as the guide of life, let +some of the cases of daily occurrence be observed, in which the rights of +hospitality have been abused with shameless unconcern, the confidence of +friendship repaid with base ingratitude, and the dearest ties of life +broken with base and heartless exultation, by men of honour. Words +cannot express the load of deep, of agonizing woe, which the partial +substitution of the law of honour for the law of God has inflicted upon +this Christian land. Families, through it, have had to suffer privations +from the extravagance, and poverty from the gambling of parents; to weep +for the untimely death of a father by the hand of the duellist; to mourn +and blush for the indelible stain of a mother’s shame. + +Such are some of the terrible effects of the law of honour, as the guide +of life, which, if it sanction not, tolerates the betrayal of innocence, +the ruin of a family, and the murder of a fellow-creature. + +Let an inquiry be now made into the value of the law of the land as a +rule of right. Here the records of our courts of justice might suffice +to shew, that severe laws do not deter from the commission of crime. +This is as might be fairly calculated upon; because the fear of uncertain +or distant punishment, will never operate as an effectual restraint upon +an unprincipled mind: it is not, that the law is without its terrors to +offenders, but it is, that under the influence of some powerful +inducement, the salutary effect of those terrors is lost, from their +being viewed at a distance, from the hope of escaping detection, and from +the power of present temptation. These observations regard principally +more heinous offences; but if the effect of the criminal code be found to +be, that it operates more for the punishment than the prevention of +crime, what would be the state of society, if the civil law was our great +guide in transactions between man and man. + +If careful only to keep within its enactments, we made inclination or +interest our guide, where would be all the kind offices of Christian +charity, where the interchange of friendly services, where the joys of +Christian sympathy. Sad, indeed, would be the change, if, making the law +of the land his sole rule of right, man, naturally weak, selfish, and +sensual, gave the reins to his desires, and sought only his personal +gratifications. There might, indeed, be some exceptions, but the general +rule would be, “let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” In +illustration of this view of the probable effects of such a system upon +society, let the case of a litigious man be supposed: what annoyance, +what ill-will, what animosities, does his vexatious enforcement of the +law, in the most minute particulars, often excite in a neighbourhood: but +if, in addition to his being litigious, he be also irreligious,—if he be +without a belief in a future state, a judgment to come, and final rewards +or punishments—what a fearful aggravation of the evils at once takes +place: suppose, however, further, that it is not the spirit, but the +letter of the law he regards; nay, more, that it is only its punishments +he fears; and that he breaks the law, whenever secrecy affords hope of +escape, or the weakness of the party injured, chance of impunity: what a +pest to society would he be!—And yet, however odious and disgusting the +picture, such would the great bulk of mankind become, if they could be +once brought to consider conscience a bug-bear, and Christianity an +imposture. + +What is it restrains appetites, the indulgence of which produces so much +misery?—Christianity. What is it subdues the desire of revenge, which +thirsts for blood?—Christianity. What is it arrests the course of secret +crime?—Christianity. What is it expands the contracted views and wishes +of selfishness, and unlocks the sympathies of cold +uncharitableness?—Christianity. Have the law of honour, or the law of +the land, power to produce such mighty effects? They even lay not claim +to such a power. But the benefits of Christianity stop not here. It is +true, its transforming power, when its hallowing influence is fully felt, +is the grandest phenomenon of the moral world:—“the wicked are like the +troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt:” +{123} but above the storm, a voice is heard—the command is +uttered,—“Peace, be still!” the winds of passion are hushed, the waves of +appetite subside, and a holy calm reigns in the mind and heart. Still, +the power of Christianity, heaven’s best gift to man, produces other +benefits. It heals all the wounds which physical and moral evils cause +to poor human nature. It soothes the pain of sickness, it lightens the +pressure of privation, it cheers the sorrows of affliction; and, at that +awful hour, when human aid is unavailing, and when the soul, trembling on +the brink of eternity, can repose only on the firm stay of eternal truth, +it administers solid comfort, supplies pious confidence, and whispers +holy peace.—A dying hour is a severe test of principles; and it is at +that hour, which unmasks hypocrisy, and proves the weakness of +philosophy, the power of genuine Christianity is clearly seen:—it is at +that hour, when all the world seeks for as happiness, is found to be +vanity, all it calls glory, fades into insignificance, its value is fully +felt; it is at that hour, when a recollection of past sins, long forsaken +and repented of, is present to the humble and contrite, and a +consciousness of extreme unworthiness afflicts the soul which still +confides in Jesus, its victory is complete. + +Well might Bishop Watson ask Gibbon, “Suppose the mighty work +accomplished, the cross trampled upon, Christianity every where +proscribed, and the religion of nature once more become the religion of +Europe; what advantage will you have derived to your country or to +yourselves from the exchange?—I will tell you from what you will have +freed the world; you will have freed it from its abhorrence of vice, and +from every powerful incentive to virtue; you will, with the religion, +have brought back the depraved morality of Paganism: you will have robbed +mankind of their firm assurance of another life; and thereby you will +have despoiled them of their patience, of their humility, of their +charity, of their chastity, of all those mild and silent virtues which, +(however despicable they may appear in your eyes) are the only ones which +meliorate and sublime our nature; which Paganism never knew, which spring +from Christianity alone.” {124} Nor does this able writer, in his +Letters to Paine, state less clearly and forcibly the evils which the +infidel school inflict upon society. “In accomplishing your purpose you +will have unsettled the faith of thousands; rooted from the minds of the +unhappy virtuous all their comfortable assurance of a future recompense; +have annihilated, in the minds of the flagitious, all their fears of +future punishment; you will have given the reins to the domination of +every passion; and have thereby contributed to the introduction of the +public insecurity, and the private unhappiness usually, and almost +necessarily, accompanying a state of corrupted morals.” {125} + +Would that the anti-christian school of this day could be induced to +forego their unwearied exertions to make proselytes, by considering the +poor substitute they have to offer for an holy faith, which is the hope +of the prosperous, the consolation of the afflicted, the comfort of the +sick, and the support of the dying! To man, who feels his want of some +holy light to guide his erring steps, some blessed solace to cheer an +aching heart, in a world of perplexity and woe, the infidel has nothing +to offer but the laws, for the guidance of his public conduct, and for +his internal monitor and comforter,—a poor philosophy. But what to teach +him how to die? Nothing: for he has nothing to offer but the trite +aphorisms of heathen philosophers. What to take away the fear of +something after death? Nothing: for he who believes nothing which +Christianity has revealed can know nothing of a state of future +existence, uncognizable by unassisted reason. + +Miserable men! the Christian mourns over the wilful blindness which, in +the full blaze of the meridian sun, continues in darkness, a state which +is but a faint emblem of “the blackness of darkness for ever.” Most +guilty men! the Christian burns with holy indignation against their +perverted and wicked zeal for proselytism, of whom it may be said, “Ye +compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make +him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” {126} If the +infidel reflects, what must be his state of mind, when he remembers, how +often, whilst feeling the utter wretchedness of his dark and cheerless +creed, he has sought with artful sophistry to bewilder the understandings +of the ignorant, and, with cold heartlessness, to blast the hopes of the +virtuous! He who openly stabs or secretly poisons an associate, incurs a +less load of moral guilt than he who inflicts a wound or instils a +poison, which, rankling, causes misery in this life, and in the next, +anguish unutterable and interminable. + +Fatal, however, as such a creed must be to the best interests of society, +wherever its influence prevails, it assumes a still more alarming aspect +as inculcated by those infidel teachers, who, disseminating their +pestilent doctrines amongst our working population, not only seek to +destroy all the hopes and fears of an hereafter, but to stimulate their +evil passions, and to produce a contempt not less for human than Divine +laws. If once principles so subversive of the civil and religious +obligations of man, as a member of a Christian community, were allowed +gradually to leaven the great mass of the population; not only would the +cause of religion and morals be deeply injured, but eventually the altars +of God would be overthrown, the bonds of civil society broken, and +anarchy, spoliation, and bloodshed, reign through the land. With the +great bulk of mankind, the sense of responsibility, present and future, +is the great restraint upon their evil inclinations. Philosophers may +talk of the eternal fitness of things, the beauty of virtue, the value of +the distinctions of rank, of unequal divisions of property, and the +necessity of order, subordination, and industry, for the well-being of +society: but once remove from the minds of the lower classes their fear +of punishment,—by destroying all belief in a future state of retribution, +and all dread of the laws of the land, the execution of which they +overawe, defeat, or defy, by their numbers,—and there will be confusion, +aggression, outrage, and a general attack upon property. Constituted as +man is by nature, and constituted as society is by law and custom, in a +Christian country, as soon as Revelation is rejected by the great bulk of +the people, the work of disorder and disorganization must be rapidly +carried on, until the whole frame-work of society be broken up. + +The grand principle by which society is held together, in a free country, +is religious and moral influence controlling and directing physical force +to the good of the whole community. Emancipate physical force from the +salutary restraints and guidance by which its violence and turbulence are +checked, and its mighty energies beneficially directed and employed, and +the same results will ensue, as would occur, were that mighty engine,—the +proudest boast of modern science,—the steam-engine, deprived of the nice +adjustments and counterbalances which have rendered its formidable powers +of easy, safe, and useful application. The frightful destruction which +attends the explosion of a steam-engine, would be more than paralleled by +the sudden rending asunder of the bands of society, when physical force, +released from the government of religious and moral influence, bursts +forth with the full sweep of its tremendous powers. Abstract principles, +and philosophical theories, weigh not a feather with the great bulk of +mankind, who are far more under the direction of their passions than +their judgment. Suppose the case of one man rich,—and it may be, +possessing more than he appears to require,—surrounded by many who are +poor and needy. What prevents the many from plundering the one? not +abstract principles of natural justice, not a philosophical respect for +the rights of property, but regard for Divine and human laws: remove the +restraints of conscience, and the fear of punishment, and the many poor +will rush upon the rich few, like a pack of hungry wolves upon, scattered +and defenceless sheep. + +This admits of easy proof: it is an undeniable axiom in morals, that vice +brings with it its own punishment; how then does it come to pass that it +abounds to such a fearful extent in society? It needs not any very +extensive acquaintance with life to return the answer, which appears to +be the true one,—that where there is not religious principle the truths +of morality are less powerful than the impulses of passion, and present +gratification is willingly purchased, even at the expense of much after +suffering. Suppose, then, both religion and morals discarded; and man +left, not merely to the unrestrained indulgence of his evil passions, but +those passions excited by intoxicating and maddening stimulants, what +then would be the consequences? The heart sickens whilst the mind +pictures to itself some of the frightful excesses, the horrible +enormities, of which one man may be capable under such circumstances. +Suppose, further, not one man only, but a large proportion of the +labouring population of a country exposed to the artful and wicked +devices of infidel and seditious demagogues, corrupting the principles, +by profane and blasphemous writings; exciting angry and vindictive +feelings by exaggerated or false tales of injustice and wrong; fostering +hatred and malignity towards the rich, by representing them as the +oppressors and robbers of the poor, by whose labour they live; and +stimulating their natural cupidity and sensuality by hopes of plunder, of +ease, and of enjoyment; what, then, would be the consequences? Let the +history of France return the answer, for it is written in characters of +blood, in her annals, when, through the influence of a party, at first +small, and apparently contemptible, she became revolutionised, +demoralised, unchristianised. Birth, rank, and wealth, were alone +sufficient to expose their possessors to democratic violence and fury; +when all laws, human and Divine, broken,—all institutions, civil and +religious, overturned, regicide and apostate France subverted the throne, +and trampled upon the cross; and the demons of disorder, spoliation, and +butchery, stalked through her land, deluged with the best blood of her +children. + +The conclusion, then, at which the impartial and dispassionate enquirer +will arrive,—a conclusion which has received the terrible sanction of +experience,—is, that the most horrible consequences will result to +society when physical force is released from the salutary restraints of +religious and moral influence. + +When unchristianised, man becomes a sort of demon: he riots in the +licentiousness of his assumed freedom from obligations Divine and human; +and if leagued in a diabolical conspiracy against religion, laws, and +property,—against all that is virtuous, noble, and praiseworthy,—he is +involved as he advances, deeper and deeper in danger and guilt; as the +crisis approaches, he is impelled forward in his headlong career, with a +rapidity which allows no time for reflection, with a force which defies +resistance, until at last he is swallowed up in the wide ruin of +universal tumult and disorder: like one who commits himself to the +guidance of a stream, ignorant or regardless of the distant cataract, +towards which it is flowing: borne along by its powerful current, he is, +at first, delighted with his swift and unchecked progress, but as he +proceeds, the rapidity and force of the stream fearfully increase, until +at last, drawn within the full influence of the fall, he is swept along +with tremendous violence towards the verge of precipitation, whence he +shoots into the boiling gulf below—a gulf which is no unfit emblem of +society, heaving, foaming, and roaring, under the domination of physical +force. + +Let not, however, the useful and awful lesson which the French revolution +teaches be thus hastily dismissed: human nature is always the same, and +similar causes will produce similar results, however modified by +circumstances. A length of time was required in that country to sow the +seeds of infidelity, but as soon as they had taken deep root in the +public mind, their effects were apparent; their growth was as rapid as it +was luxuriant, and they bore such a deadly crop as fills the mind with +disgust and horror. Nor was the field of operation of the antichristian +conspiracy confined to France, the great object of which was, every where +to accomplish the defamation and discredit of the Christian religion, +where it could not effect its entire overthrow. + +Let the portrait, therefore, be examined which Bishop Horsley has +supplied us with of those times, which must be still fresh in the +recollection of some; it is drawn with the power and effect of a master +in his art; would it were only interesting as a vivid sketch by a +contemporary, of dangers passed away! it speaks even now with a warning +voice to this country. + +“The whole of Europe, with the exception of France only, and those +miserable countries which France has fraternized, is yet nominally +Christian: but for the last thirty years or more, we have seen in every +part of it but little correspondence between the lives of men and their +professions; a general indifference about the doctrines of Christianity; +a general neglect of its duties; no reverent observance of its rites. +The centre from which the mischief has spread is France. In that kingdom +the mystery of iniquity began to work somewhat earlier than the middle of +the century which is just passed away. Its machinations at first were +secret, unperceived, disguised. Its instruments were persons in no +conspicuous stations. But by the persevering zeal of an individual, who, +by an affectation of a depth of universal learning which he never +possessed—by audacity in the circulation of what he knew to be falsified +history—by a counterfeit zeal for toleration; but above all, by a certain +brilliancy of unprincipled wit, contrived to acquire a celebrity for his +name, and a deference to his opinions, far beyond the proportion of what +might be justly due either to his talents or attainments, though neither +the one nor the other were inconsiderable;—by the persevering zeal, I +say, of this miscreant, throughout a long, though an infirm and sickly +life of bold active impiety, a conspiracy was formed of all the wit, the +science, the philosophy, and the politics, not of France only, but of +many other countries, for the extirpation of the Christian name. The +art, the industry, the disguise, the deep-laid policy with which the +nefarious plot was carried on; the numbers of all ranks and descriptions +which were drawn in to take part in it—men of letters first, then +magistrates, nobles, ministers of state, sovereign princes: last of all, +the inferior ranks, merchants, attornies, bankers’ clerks, tradesmen, +mechanics, peasants; the eagerness with which, under the direction of +their chief, all these contributed their power, their influence, their +ingenuity, their industry, their labour, in their respective situations +and occupations in life, to the advancement of the one great object of +the confederacy, are facts that are indeed astonishing.” {134a} + +“The success of this vast enterprise of impiety was beyond any thing that +could have been expected by any but the first projector, from the +littleness of its beginnings.” {134b} “The apostacy of the French +nation, and the subversion of the Gallican Church, however unexpected at +the time in Europe, was not a sudden event: it was not one of those +spontaneous revolutions in public opinion which are to be traced to no +definite beginning, to no certain cause: it was not the effect of any +real grievance of the people, proceeding as hath been falsely pretended, +from the rapacity and the ambition of their clergy: it was the +catastrophe and accomplishment of a premeditated plot—a plot conceived in +mere malice, carried on with steady, unrelenting malignity, for half a +century.” {134c} + +Such is the account which one of the ablest writers England ever produced +has left behind him, of the origin and progress of a conspiracy against +Christianity, the effects of which he also witnessed in this country, but +by the blessing of God on the labours of himself and others, lived to see +happily counteracted. There is much, it is true, which does not +correspond with the aspect of the present times; with which, however, a +very superficial acquaintance will satisfy every enquiring mind that +there is also much which applies to them too well. It is not likely that +the operations of infidelity will be precisely the same at different +periods, though the object remains unaltered: still even in their plans +and machinery, there will often be found great resemblance. The infidel +scheme in France was commenced by men of letters; in this country at +present, its most open and fierce advocates are amongst the low and +half-educated classes: still we have seen that in the middle and higher +classes there is gaining ground not “a direct attack on the evidences of +Christianity or on the value of its doctrines;” but “the distinctive +character of modern unbelief is the attempt to supersede Christianity, +and to make men moral without its guiding and restraining influence.” +{135} There is here a much greater resemblance than might be at first +supposed, between the two plans of operation, now and at the close of the +last century. The attack was then made with the most masterly skill: +care was taken that the prejudices of education, as they were considered, +should at first be treated with tenderness; and the way gradually +prepared for the reception of opinions, which, if at once presented to +the uncorrupted mind, would have been rejected with horror. To use an +illustration in perfect accordance with their views, the light of impiety +was to be gradually let in upon an eye, which had long been clouded by +the cataract of superstition, lest it should prefer the darkness of error +to the full blaze of truth. We find, therefore, no premature development +of immoral and impious doctrines: superstition, bigotry, intolerance, +were strongly condemned; clerical abuses and exactions fiercely inveighed +against; but pure religion and morality were commended. “In this +country,” writes Horseley, “I believe they know very well that bold +undisguised atheism, proceeding directly and openly to its horrid +purpose, will never be successful. They must have recourse, therefore, +to cautious stratagem; they must pretend that their object is not to +demolish, but reform: and it was with a view of giving colour to this +pretence, that the impudent lie—for such I have proved it to be—has been +propagated in this country of their reverence for pure Christianity, and +for the Reformation.” But there was one invariable feature of all their +proceedings, never lost sight of, a rancorous and malignant hostility to +the established Church; and unwearied exertions “to alienate the minds of +the people from the established clergy, by representing them as sordid +worldlings, without any concern about the souls of men, indifferent to +the religion which they ought to teach, to which the laity are attached, +and destitute of the Spirit of God.” {137a} Here, then, we have a direct +parallel between those times and the present, in which, indeed, the +balance of evil is against us, for, “the Church of England,” observes a +living prelate, {137b} “never, perhaps, hitherto has had to contend with +so great a number of open and avowed enemies; who, in their reiterated +and persevering attacks, stop short of no misrepresentations, however +flagrant, which tend to hold it up to public scorn and indignation.” + +After making every allowance, indeed, for the popular excitement, which +may be of only temporary duration; for the resentful feelings, which may +pass away with the occasion which has excited them; still there remains +sufficient to justify the worst apprehensions, and to demand the most +strenuous exertions at counteraction of the friends of order and +religion. It is not merely that there is a want of veneration, love and +value for the Church; but a rancorous hatred, spurred on by eager desire +of spoliation, is manifested, wherever infidel teachers have made +proselytes to their wicked creed. Respect, also, for constituted +authorities, is destroyed, by their inculcating the audacious falsehood, +that civil government has been framed, to enable the few to rule the +many. Value for the laws has been lessened, by their declaring, there is +one law for the rich, and another for the poor. And the bonds of +affection and kind offices, which united the pastor and the parishioner, +the landlord and the tenant, have been almost every where weakened, and +in some places broken, by more than the base insinuation, by the +assertion, that the forbearance and kindness shown, originate not in +friendly regard and Christian charity, but in the ignoble wish of buying +golden opinions,—in the pusillanimous desire of propitiating men roused +to a sense of their injuries,—of disarming of their angry passions men +panting for retaliation and revenge. Thus the force of the public and +social obligations of life has been impaired, and those kind ties and +sympathies, which bind man to man in their several relations, are +converted by the poison of infidel principles, into food for malignant +feelings, which inwardly rankle in the heart, and which outwardly evince +themselves by discontent, distrust, and dislike; and when the opportunity +presents itself, by violence, aggression, and outrage. The effects of +such a state of things, if not counteracted, cannot be contemplated, +without the most painful apprehension, for, as it has been powerfully +expressed, “fatal must be the consequences, if the monstrous fiends of +blasphemy and disorganization now going about seeking whom they may +devour, and stalking openly through the land, with menace and defiance, +be suffered to take undisturbed possession of our peasants and +artificers, or of those on whom they immediately depend for their +support.” + +We have already seen the system of extensive combinations carried on in +defiance of the laws;—organized bands and tumultuous assemblages of +peasantry, extorting money, and enforcing their demands with threats of +violence;—wanton destruction of property, in the breaking of machinery, +in attacks upon private houses, and in the far more horrible crime of the +nocturnal incendiary;—violence and excesses in many towns;—and riot, +pillage, and arson, defying for some days, in a great city, municipal +authorities and military force. + +Now when all these fearful evils are viewed in connection with the +general increase of crime, more particularly of juvenile delinquency; +with the abuse and profanation of the sabbath, and neglect of the public +ordinances of religion, and with the unsound views in faith and morals +which extensively prevail—the shades of the gloomy picture gradually +darken. But it is capable of receiving some further tints, and then the +moral state of the kingdom, which has been studiously kept as far as +possible distinct from the political, will stand forth, it is believed, +under such an appalling aspect as to satisfy men, of all parties, of the +necessity of prompt and vigorous exertion, of strong and efficient +remedies. Amongst the great body of the people have sprung up contempt +for antiquity, disregard for established usages, disrespect for rank, +love of innovation, clamorous discontent, and fierce desire of change, +which impel them forward with blind and presumptuous confidence in their +own wisdom, and with reckless indifference as to what may be the +consequences of their precipitation and rashness. The public press, +which exercises a fearful despotism—and political leaders, whose +authority is scarcely less absolute—urge forward an already over-excited +people, instead of attempting to allay the rising storm which threatens +to involve all in the common ruin of social order, public property, and +national credit. + +The urgent importance of the question, What is to be done? cannot but +force itself upon the attention of the most supine—of the most +indifferent to their country’s safety and welfare; and surely only one +answer can be returned—repair any injuries which time may have caused to +the goodly edifice of the Church, or to the fair fabric of the +Constitution, striving, at the same time, by a general diffusion of true +religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge, to secure the eradication +of heretical and infidel opinions, and the reformation of public morals; +and by the blessing of God, the storm will pass away, and leave the +Church and Constitution unscathed. True Christian wisdom revolts from +any concession of principle, but not less so from any defence of error; +it yields not to popular clamour and threats in matters of duty, but it +thankfully receives the admonition given in the spirit of kindness, and +profits even by the warning of an enemy, to remove any slight blemishes, +which, affecting not the foundation of the Church built on a rock, appear +externally, and tempt the rash and rude hand of bold and unhallowed +reparation. + +It is the height of political wisdom to know when to refuse, and when to +concede popular claims. To refuse just claims is equally wicked and +unwise; it is not only an act of injustice, as debarring the people from +their rights, but it destroys confidence and respect—it produces fierce +discontent, exasperation, and vindictiveness towards their rulers; and, +in the end, if the claimants be powerful, that is extorted as a right +which was first asked as a boon. To concede unfounded claims is equally +weak and unwise; it stimulates the eager and grasping spirit of demand, +it rarely conciliates for the time, but never satisfies; it causes that +unsettled expecting and excited state of the public mind so unfavourable +to national contentment, happiness, and prosperity; and if the system be +long continued—and every new concession, by weakening the strength of the +yielding party, will make it more difficult to change the system—security +after security, privilege after privilege having been surrendered, the +petitioners will become the framers of the laws—the claimants, the +dispensers of privileges—the governed, the governing power in the +kingdom. At the awful crisis at which we have arrived it is the bounden +duty of all men to forget party distinctions, to divest themselves of +party spirit, to have no object in view but the honour of God and the +general good. Let, therefore, the claims of the people be +dispassionately and impartially weighed; not, however, abstractedly, but +with relation to the general good; and let these claims be conceded so +far as they may be granted consistently with the rights of property, the +integrity of the constitution, the interests of religion, and the welfare +of the empire. And having made every concession which justice demands, +and which the real interests not only of the claimants, but of society at +large, sanction, let the whole energies of government and the nation be +directed to crushing the seditious and blasphemous associations which are +actively employed in exciting discontent and insubordination, and in +corrupting the principles of our agricultural and manufacturing +population; and let every means be employed to calm the agitation of the +public mind—to restore it to that peaceful, healthful, and contented +state, which once so much distinguished the people of England. + +To effect, however, this great object, the co-operation of that mighty +engine of good or evil—the public press, is essential. When the +information, the talent, the eloquence, which are so conspicuous in many +of our leading journals are considered, we cease to wonder at the immense +influence they possess over the public mind; for partly through +indolence, partly through ignorance, a large proportion of men are +disposed to adopt, without examination, opinions which come recommended +by the authority of a name they have been accustomed to respect and +value. How beneficial, then, would be the consequences to society, if +the public press would use more moderation; if instead of swelling the +storm which is raging through the land, it would pour oil upon the +heaving and troubled waters; if, instead of advocating the interests of a +party, the public good was made of paramount importance. It is +melancholy to observe the pernicious influence of party spirit upon the +public press of this country: it is not only that it excites rancour and +bitterness of feeling, but even truth, viewed through the medium of its +jaundiced eye, appears like falsehood—beauty, like deformity—virtue, like +vice. Of this we have at present a too complete proof in the +misrepresentations, the misstatements, the calumnies, which have been +directed against the Established Church. The writers cannot be so +ignorant as not to know the charges are substantially false,—they cannot +be so dishonest as to give circulation to what they know to be untrue, +and therefore, as they publish the most false and calumnious allegations +against the Clergy, it can only be, that the mists of party distort +objects,—the prejudices of party misconstrue motives,—the spirit of party +perverts facts. Let it not be said that the liberty of the press has +degenerated into such licentiousness, that many public journals have +willingly and premeditatedly been guilty of the monstrous wickedness of +traducing and vilifying, and holding up to public scorn and reprobation, +the Clergy of the Established Church, but rather that, under the delirium +of a political fever, they have unconsciously loaded with unmerited +opprobrium, and most unjustly held up to public odium, the Clergy, who, +as a body, are distinguished for their talents, their learning, their +piety, and their zeal in their Great Master’s holy cause. + +A deep debt of justice remains due to the Established Church; and to the +sense of right, and to the good feelings of those who have joined in the +cry against it, this appeal is made. There is not any disposition on the +part of the Clergy to ask for undue favour or commendation:—no wish, that +abuses, if they exist, should be spared,—that delinquency, if any case +occur, should escape punishment. But they protest against the manifest +injustice with which they have been treated. The most extravagant +over-statements of a few valuable appointments have been industriously +circulated, as a proof of excessive and overgrown wealth, whilst the +poverty of some high dignities, and a large proportion of benefices, has +been studiously kept back; the failings and offences of a few +individuals, under every form of exaggeration and perversion, have been +dwelt and enlarged upon with evident satisfaction, whilst no just meed of +praise has been bestowed upon the body, to which rather the censure, due +only to some few members, has ingeniously, but wickedly, been made to +attach. All which misrepresentations apparently have in view one +object,—that the charges of excessive wealth and extreme worthlessness +may stimulate and justify spoliation and subversion. And yet no angry +recriminations, scarcely any indignant remonstrances, have issued from +the injured party: when they have spoken, it has been in the calm +language of conscious rectitude; and the great body have forborn to reply +to insult and invective, relying on the goodness of their cause, to which +they feel assured the people of England will, sooner or later, do full +justice. If aught could soften the harsh severity, could shame the cruel +injustice with which the Clergy have been censured, vilified, and +persecuted, surely it should be the Christian meekness and patience with +which they have borne the heavy load of wrong that has been cast upon +them. Full many there are who, unmoved by clamour, unprovoked by +injuries, and unappalled by dangers, are pursuing the even tenor of their +way, in the diligent and faithful discharge of their sacred duties. But +silence under grievous charges is often interpreted into an admission of +their truth, and meekness under heavy reproaches a proof of their +justice. There are times, therefore, when the Clergy should raise their +voice in self-vindication; not merely for their own sakes, but that of +their flocks; for if they allow their office to be degraded, and their +characters aspersed, without maintaining the one and defending the other, +their influence will be seriously weakened, and their usefulness, in the +same degree, diminished. Hence it has ever been the artful policy of the +infidel school to attack religion through her ministers; and such is the +course which is adopted now, and those ministers will aid and abet the +cause of the enemies of their faith, if they repel not the darts which +are meant to reach, through their bodies, the altars of their God. And +would that that portion of the press, which has long assailed the Clergy +with much unmerited severity and abuse, could be persuaded to make a +tardy reparation for the wrong they have done,—for the injury they have +inflicted on society! The public journals now reach the remotest corners +of the island; and in many distant parishes, in which the incumbent alone +spends the income drawn from the soil, alone dispenses his charity, +visits the sick, instructs the ignorant,—even there the blighting +influence of calumny extends, and the work of Christian benevolence and +charity is neutralized by the splenetic effusions, or foul and false +charges of the public press. Oh! that the awful circumstances of the +present times would teach forbearance, if not justice,—would induce +silence, if not commendation. If they love not religion for its own +sake,—if they respect not its ministers for their own sake,—let the value +of both be admitted in stemming that fearful tide of sedition and +infidelity which threatens to overturn the civil as well as religious +institutions of the country. And there is another consideration not to +be forgotten: in times of pestilence, the ministers of God have ever +proved faithful to their trust, and a blessing to the sick and dying: +that scourge of the Almighty is now upon the land; let the press then +seek to heal the breach they have made between the pastor and his flock, +lest by the baleful suspicions and hatred they have caused in the minds +of the latter, they may be the means of intercepting the stream of Divine +mercy,—of darkening the light of Divine truth. + +Vain will be all the efforts of the friends of religion and order to +counteract the present evils, which endanger the best interests of +society, and to introduce a better order of things, if a large proportion +of the public journals continue not only to excite the public mind, but +to prejudice it against the Clergy, by imputing to them unworthy motives, +and by bringing against them heavy and unsubstantiated charges. In many +places at present, the plans of the Clergyman for the benefit of his +parish are entirely frustrated; a large proportion of his parishioners +being like men labouring under a fever caused by injudicious +treatment,—the wholesome aliment, which would give nourishment and +strength in a healthy state, injures rather than benefits; and even the +medicines which should cure the disease are rejected, through distrust of +the physician who prescribes them. But let those who have injured the +patient, by supplying stimulants when they should have administered +sedatives, by exciting suspicion when they should have inspired +confidence, endeavour to repair the evil they have produced, and then the +ministers of the Great Physician of souls will recover their proper +influence, and will be able beneficially to exercise their important +functions. + +It is impossible to estimate the advantage of the ministerial office to +society, until the aggregate of the services of men, who have all their +allotted field of action throughout the kingdom, be well weighed. Let +any one examine minutely into the benefit which one parish receives from +a resident incumbent, who faithfully discharges the duties of his office; +and if all do not so, it is the fault of the individual, and not of the +system:—let him observe, not merely the general advantage derived by all +from the residence amongst them of a well informed and well conducted +man,—at once the scholar, the gentleman, and the Christian,—but of one +who is the authorized medium through which abuses are to be checked and +corrected, vice discountenanced and reproved, virtue encouraged and +rewarded, relief administered to distress, instruction to ignorance, +comfort to sorrow, and the light of the Gospel diffused amongst all,—its +offers addressed to all, its consolation imparted to all. Then let him +attempt to calculate the amount of instruction conveyed through “the +alacrity, the zeal, the warm-heartedness which the Established Clergy +have manifested for the education of the poor;” {149} of comfort derived +by suffering in its hour of need and sorrow, from its faithful pastor; +and of benefit imparted to all, either directly or indirectly, either +temporally or spiritually, by the appointed and responsible teachers of +the Gospel, throughout the parishes in the kingdom. And then let him +form a judgment as to what degree of confidence is to be placed in the +wisdom, what sense of obligation is to be entertained for the +services,—_not of those_ who are labouring with _earnest_ diligence to +“feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers,”—_of +those_ who by impoverishing the Clergy would deprive them of the means of +affording temporal assistance to the poor and needy; and by calumniating +the Clergy would impede the discharge and frustrate the efficacy of their +spiritual ministrations. Alas! it is because the full value of the quiet +and unobtrusive labours of all ranks in the Church is so little known by +those who are actively engaged in public life, that plans are devised, +which, possessing some plausibility, and coming recommended with much +eloquence, are eagerly embraced by many, who would indignantly reject +them were they aware that, if adopted, they would injure the present and +endanger the eternal welfare of millions. As men, as statesmen, and as +Christians, let all who have inconsiderately joined in the cry against +the Church forbear, until they have ascertained for themselves, by minute +and impartial investigation, whether it is as wealthy and proud, as +grasping and worldly, as bigoted and intolerant, as intermeddling and +domineering, as inefficient and corrupt, as its enemies have represented +it to be. Could it be proved to be such, every sincere Christian, +whether cleric or laic, would at once say, free it from the abuses which +disgrace its character and impair its efficiency. But of the charges +brought against it, the large proportion originate in the hostility, +hatred, and malignity of its enemies; there may be some defects, but they +are incidental, not inherent, and are at present occupying the deep and +anxious attention of the heads of the establishment, who are most +desirous to correct whatever may limit the influence or lessen the +usefulness of that pure and reformed branch of the Church of Christ +established in this kingdom. + +If the enemies of the Church, who profess to be the friends of mankind, +are sincere, as we are bound to consider them, in the expression of their +wish to benefit their fellow-men, they must not impede the operation of +an establishment which every where diffuses a knowledge of that Gospel, +the salutary influence of which extends through society, as the only cure +of the ills to which flesh is heir. They may closely watch and severely +scrutinize the proceedings of the Church; but, as men and Christians, +they are bound to do it justice, and give it their support as a powerful +agent, in lightening the load of misery which too often exists in this +commercial country to a frightful extent. “Compare,” says the present +Bishop of Chester, “compare the ignorant and unreflecting peasant, who +moves in the same dull, and too often sinful track, with no ideas beyond +the ground he treads upon, the sensual indulgences which he gratifies, +and the day that is passing over his head;—compare him with his +enlightened neighbour, nay, with himself, if happily he becomes +enlightened, when he follows the same path of active industry, but makes +it a path towards his heavenly Father’s kingdom;—and then perceive, by a +visible example, what the grace of God effects through the agency of man; +or take a case, too common, alas! too familiarly known to many who hear +me. Take the case of those who see their occupation sinking from under +them; their means of support annually decreasing, and little prospect of +its melioration. Suppose that the views of these, and such as these, are +bounded by this present world, what can they be but unhappy, restless, +discontented; defying God, and murmuring at man; distressing the +philanthropist, because he sees no comfort left to them; distressing the +statesman, because he can devise no remedy for their relief; above all, +distressing the Christian, who sees the future prospect far darker than +the present gloom? Suppose the case of one thus circumstanced, having no +hope beyond this world; and then contemplate the change which would be +produced, if any of the means by which grace is communicated to the heart +should inspire the same person with the principles and the faith of the +Gospel; converting him from whatever is evil in his ways, and thus +removing all the accumulation which sin adds to poverty: reconciling him +to hardships and privations as the intended trial of his faith, the lot +of many of God’s most approved servants; and lighting up the darkness of +this world by the rays which precede that which is to come, the earnest +of a brighter dawn.” + +May those who have been so far misled as to become either hostile or +indifferent to their Church now do tardy justice to her, which, through +good report and evil report, is still true to her righteous and holy +cause, and dispenses through the land the light and blessing of the +Gospel of peace: may those who love, cherish, and venerate the religion +of their fathers—the Church of their God—approve themselves zealous and +faithful sons; our Zion requires active, stanch, vigilant, and +experienced defenders: her enemies are numerous, persevering, powerful, +malignant, implacable; their attacks are sometimes open, sometimes +insidious, but always skilfully planned, and ably conducted; still, +whilst the Church continues true to God and His Christ, she has nothing +to fear, for “greater is He who is for her than he who is against her.” +“The Lord is her shield and buckler,” and Christ has promised to be +always, even unto the end of the world, with his Church, which is founded +on the rock of faith, and against which “the gates of hell shall not +prevail:” in humble, but firm reliance, therefore, upon Him, of whose +mystical body she forms a portion, the Church of England, amid the +strifes of political changes, amid the distractions of civil contentions, +amid the storms of popular clamour and fury, remains stedfast through +faith, and joyful through hope: + + “As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, + Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, + Tho’ round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, + Eternal sunshine settles on its head.” + +Whilst, however, we rely with firm and holy confidence upon the Great +Author and Finisher of our Faith, for the protection and preservation of +His Church; zeal, energy, and discretion, in defence of religion, are not +the less requisite in believers, who labour under their Heavenly Master +for the furtherance of His Gospel. As the Almighty is pleased to employ +human agents for the accomplishment of His gracious designs towards His +creatures; His faithful servants hoping to prove instruments, in His +hands, of good to their fellow men, must use every means in their power +to frustrate the evil designs of the enemies of the Lord; and to induce a +sinful nation, suffering under a Divine visitation, to put away from them +“the evil of their ways,” which has called down the Divine displeasure; +and humbling themselves before God to implore His mercy, “that the plague +may be stayed from the people.” {154} Let, then, all the servants of the +Lord, at this alarming and awful crisis, “be very jealous for the Lord +God of Hosts;” {155} and pray and labour incessantly for the defeat of +the devices of unbelief; which, whether under the form of an irreligious +spirit seeking to do without Christianity, or under the bolder aspect of +open infidelity, striving to subvert Christianity, is the main cause of +the evils which now endanger the safety of the civil and religious +institutions of the kingdom. We have seen that, in the case of the lower +classes of society, the tide of profaneness has been setting in with a +force and fury which threaten to overturn all the defences of religion, +morals, and laws, which have long withstood their fierce assaults—their +destructive ravages. Can it be that the emissaries of Satan shall be +found more zealous and indefatigable in disseminating the poison which is +to destroy both body and soul, than the servants of God are vigilant, +active, and unwearied, to prevent the bane or supply the antidote? Can +it be that the slaves of sin and darkness, under the galling yoke of him +who is a hard master, will manifest a more willing and prompt obedience, +than the servants of God, in the cause of their blessed Lord, whose +“burden is light,”—“whose service is perfect freedom?” We have seen, +also, that in the middle and higher classes of society there appears to +be an equally effective, though less conspicuous, agent at work—a deep +and silent current, which is gradually, though secretly, undermining that +great foundation of Christianity, that the law of God is to be the rule +of life. This great engine of evil, as more insidious, is, in reality, +more dangerous than the noisy turbulence of infidel assemblies, or the +open circulation of blasphemous publications; the power of the spirit of +darkness, when, “as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may +devour,” is less to be dreaded, than when he employs the noiseless +gliding of “the serpent,” which discovers itself only by the sting of +death. Can it be that any of the friends of religion will shut their +ears against these representations of great and alarming danger—delude +themselves with the groundless anticipations of unjustifiable +hope—deceive themselves with the distant plans of culpable +procrastination—or shroud themselves beneath the covering of indolent +supineness and heartless indifference? Too long palliatives have been +employed instead of remedies, expediency has been substituted for +principle, and worldly wisdom has encroached upon the province of Divine +Revelation. As a Christian nation our laws and institutions should be +all essentially Christian; the foreign and domestic policy of the State, +and the public and private conduct of individuals, should be all animated +by a Christian spirit, and guided by Christian rules and precedents. + +Let us, therefore, enquire by what means is the predominance of +Christianity to be restored, when it is threatened with still further +depression; when it has great and powerful enemies all plotting its +destruction in this country? + +There is one mean—to which reference has been already made, as being the +great object the believer should have in view—which would, with the +blessing of God, upon whom alone dependence must rest for success against +His enemies, be effectual in accomplishing this great end, and that is +the zealous and unanimous co-operation of all Christians for the general +diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. A very +brief examination into the cause which has contributed largely to the +present state of things, so unfavourable to the interests of genuine +Christianity, may suffice to place this in a clear point of view. + +Religious error generally receives its distinguishing features from the +literary character of the age: and an age which abounds with sciolists is +very fertile in sceptics. For it has been always found that the effect +of superficial knowledge is rather to unsettle, of profound knowledge to +confirm, belief in Revelation; as was well observed by that mighty master +in philosophy, Bacon, who says, “a little philosophy inclines us to +atheism, and a great deal of philosophy carries us back to religion.” +And the reason of this is obvious; there are certain difficulties of +every subject which lie upon, or nearly at, the surface; slight labour +and research, therefore, put the enquirer in possession of little more +than those difficulties; whilst if the spirit of patient and accurate +investigation had carried him further, he would have found them gradually +disappear before the light of truth breaking by degrees upon his mind, +and leading him to just and certain conclusions, drawn from a long series +of proofs. Now the present age appears to be characterized by a wide +diffusion of elementary knowledge amongst all classes of society; by a +preference of an extensive, though necessarily superficial, acquaintance +with general literature and the elements of modern science, to an +accurate and profound knowledge of a few leading branches of study; and +by a tendency to elevate the pursuit of physical above that of moral and +religious truth. From the proposition laid down, of the ordinary effects +of superficial knowledge upon the mind in the investigation of religious +truth, we should conclude, that such a system of popular instruction is +calculated to indispose towards the full reception of a Divine +Revelation; that the mind, either bewildered by a variety of pursuits, or +dissatisfied by diversity of opinions, will consider all knowledge +uncertain, and all theories unsatisfactory; or influenced by that +intellectual pride and presumption which are amongst the most bitter +fruits of defective knowledge, deem itself competent to decide summarily +upon whatever passes under its observation. For if it has been found—as +it has been too often found—that minds, otherwise highly gifted, but +destitute of religious principles, when long accustomed to demonstration, +are apt to underrate the value of moral proof; and when long familiar +with natural causes, sometimes forget the great Architect, who formed and +put in motion our globe; sometimes forget the great First Cause, which +gave nature her powers and properties, and now preserves and directs them +to a beneficial end: what must we expect when far inferior minds, without +mental discipline and profound knowledge, those happy results of +laborious and patient study; but with vanity flattered by appeals made to +its judgment, and with pride fostered by the acquisition of a poor +modicum of science, deem themselves competent not merely to decide upon +the most difficult questions of government and legislation, but upon the +most profound truths of natural and revealed religion? The result may be +easily anticipated; if this empty vanity, this presumptuous pride of +intellect, reject not Christianity at once, it ordinarily takes an +heretical direction, and assuming the specious guise of love of +investigation, and value for the powers of reason, it makes the deep and +awful mysteries of our holy faith the subject of crude theories and +daring speculations; and with powers confessedly unequal to the +explanation of some of the lowest wonders of the material world, seeks to +penetrate within the veil drawn around the Godhead, and reduce to the +level of human comprehension the very nature of the Divine essence. +Should it, however, take one step further, and that an easy step, it +rejects the truths it had long distorted, it resigns the shadow of which +it had never known the substance, and declaring Christianity to be “a +cunningly devised fable,” it becomes the advocate of heartless, hopeless +infidelity. + +This is no imaginary picture, but one, of the reality and fidelity of +which the present state of society affords too abundant proof. Not that +superficial acquaintance with science is a thing of new occurrence; not +that pride of intellect—ever a luxuriant weed in rich but ill-cultivated +soils,—is a growth peculiar to our times; not that heresy and infidelity, +its bitterest fruits, never till now spread their poison through our +land; but never before was the field so large, the weeds more rank, and +the crop so abundant. Formerly, science flowed in a few deep and noble +rivers, of whose copious waters the nation at large sparingly drank; we +still have many rich streams which fertilize the land, but in addition to +them there is an infinity of small rivulets, some of which, like mountain +torrents, after a thunder-storm, are brawling and turbulent, covered with +much foam, mixed with much impurity, often rising over their banks, and +spreading havoc and barrenness, where all was fertility and beauty. Such +streams may serve to illustrate the effects, upon society, of the +violence and turbulence of those, whose imperfect acquaintance with +science has first shaken their own belief, and has then been made +instrumental to the spread of infidel doctrines, amongst those who had +lived in happy ignorance of “science, falsely so called.” But would any +one, therefore, be so unwise as to endeavour to keep these turbulent +brooks pent up? The destruction would be only wider and heavier when +they at last burst over the mounds that restrained them: but it is at +once the course of wisdom and of humanity to confine them within their +banks, and give them a due direction, and then, as they descend towards +the plain, gradually the brawling ceases, the froth disappears, the mud +subsides, and you have a pure and quiet stream diffusing the riches, +refreshment, and beauty of science over the land. No calumny has, +perhaps, been more frequently repeated in the present day than that those +who expose the perversion, are the enemies of science. But in spite of +interested clamour and unjust censure, the Christian is bound to +maintain, that knowledge is valuable in the degree in which it makes men +not merely wiser but better: and that however he may approve of literary +and scientific pursuits, however ready he may be to extol their value, +for great indeed is their value, still their highest value is in proving +subsidiary to the acquisition of Christian knowledge. Whilst, therefore, +he recommends their attainment, because they are calculated to enlighten +and invigorate the mind, correct and refine the taste, exalt and dignify +the character, to supply a rational and unfailing source of relaxation +and enjoyment, he must ever maintain, that unless hallowed with some +portion of that “wisdom which is from above,” they will be useless to +their possessor, and may, by a mischievous perversion, not only be fatal +to his present and future happiness, but injurious to the best interests +of a community. + +That the extension of education has contributed to the production of such +evils is true, but it is not less true, that education is not fairly +chargeable with accidental and separable consequences. The fault has +been, that the provision for the religious instruction of the age, +notwithstanding the zeal and activity shewn to accomplish this great +object, has not increased in the same ratio with that for its advancement +in literature and science. The supply of the mental wants of the middle +and lower classes of society, which have received this powerful impulsion +towards knowledge, has been too much in the hands of those who avowedly +exclude religion from their system of popular education. Thus, a much +neglected soil has been broken up, and prepared for cultivation, but +“whilst men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares in the field;” the +Lord’s labourers, however, are not therefore to desert the field, but to +employ, for the future, more watchful vigilance, more earnest zeal, and +more assiduous labour. There is no benefit nor blessing which is not +capable of perversion and abuse; but it would be a strange act of folly +to refuse a manifest advantage, through fear of contingent evil, both the +prevention and correction of which are in our own power. “The almost +universal diffusion of elementary knowledge furnishes the enemies of +revealed religion with abundant materials to work upon: but then it also +furnishes the friends of truth with the obvious means of counteracting +the influence of erroneous doctrines, and of instilling sounder +principles into the bulk of the community. Any attempt to suppress, or +even to check, the spirit of inquiry, which is abroad in the world, would +not only be a vain and fruitless attempt, but a violation of the +indefeasible liberty of the human mind, and an interference with its +natural constitution. To impart to that spirit a right direction, to +sanctify it with holy motives, to temper it to righteous purposes, to +shape it to ends which lie beyond the limits of this beginning of our +existence, will be the endeavour of those who desire to make the +cultivation of intellect conducive to moral improvement, and to establish +the kingdom of Christ at once in the understanding and affections of +mankind.” {164} + +Let, then, all the friends of religion employ some portion of their time, +their influence, and their wealth, in zealously labouring to promote a +general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. +Let them be assured that the mental cultivation of the population of a +country, when properly conducted, will, by elevating the moral character, +always have a beneficial influence upon society; that it can only be +properly conducted when religion forms the basis of the system of +instruction; and that the present ardent thirst for knowledge will be +productive of lasting evil or good to the best interests of England, +accordingly as it is, or is not, directed as to an object of paramount +importance, to that fountain of “living water” which floweth for our +salvation. + +When religion has been made the basis of education, and the principles of +revelation have been clearly understood, and cordially embraced, a slight +acquaintance with science not only ceases to have any injurious effect +upon the mind, but benefits it, as the acquisition of useful knowledge +must always do: in the humility, faith, stability, and knowledge of true +religion, there is a safe-guard against the evils usually attendant upon +a superficial acquaintance with natural philosophy in minds +ill-disciplined and ill-informed. Nor is it only that physical science +benefits minds early imbued with religious principles; a knowledge of +many of its departments opens a new and unfailing source of high and pure +enjoyment; it supplies, as it were, a new sense: before, Creation +presented a beautiful and varied picture, delighting the eye, and filling +the heart with gladness. But it was in a degree like the picture of a +great master, to one unacquainted with painting; the general beauty, and +happiness of effect, were discoverable, but there was not the full +satisfaction which the connoisseur derives from his knowledge of the art; +upon the former, the general effect principally makes an impression; with +the latter, not only the general effect, but all the variety of details, +all the happy combinations, which have united to produce that effect, are +seen, understood, and appreciated; and there results the high +gratification felt by a cultivated mind, when the eye is pleased, the +understanding exercised, and the judgment satisfied. However inadequate +every illustration, drawn from art, must be to convey any just conception +of the impression which the works of nature are calculated to make upon +the enlightened mind; still this may afford a faint parallel of the +advantage which scientific men possess over those who have never studied +the book of nature. For physical science improves the perception of the +beauties, whilst it unfolds the wonders, of creation: not only do the +great results of nature’s works become, through it, better understood; +but the causes and modes of operation, by which those results are +accomplished, are discovered: and the student becomes more full of +delight and admiration, the further his researches extend; he traces the +nice connexion, which every where exists between causes and effects; and +surveys, with wonder and praise, the beautiful contrivances, the +admirable adaptations, the perfect harmony, which reign throughout the +creation of God. His mind thus becomes deeply and powerfully impressed +with the uniform perfection visible in the works of the Deity: if he +observe with his telescope a planet,—one of those bright bodies which gem +the canopy of heaven,—or examine with his microscope an insect,—one of +the minutest beings which sport in the summer’s sunshine,—he still sees +the same perfection; “those rolling fires on high” perform their +appointed revolutions, in their several orbits, directed by unvarying +laws; and the tiny insect, equally complete in its organization, +exercises, with an instinct as unerring, its allotted functions. + +The whole material universe supplies the student of nature with a rich +field, at once, of investigation and enjoyment: the mineral, the +vegetable, and the animal kingdoms, all disclose their treasures to his +inquiring mind; which is not, however, limited by the narrow bounds of +our terraqueous globe, but ranges through the fields of ether, far as the +eye can penetrate into the distant regions of illimitable space. +Throughout he is delighted to trace the hand of the Creator; to observe +every where design and arrangement; nothing superfluous, nothing in vain, +but the mighty machinery of a stupendous system; in the great principles +of which there is sublime simplicity, in their operations unvarying +accuracy and matchless contrivance, in their details endless variety and +infinite combinations, and in their effects utility, beauty, grandeur, +and magnificence. The works of the Almighty far exceed the full +comprehension of finite intelligence, but much further do they transcend +adequate description in uninspired language: man feels all his feebleness +of intellect and of expression, when he attempts to penetrate deeply +into, or to describe accurately, the mighty works of God; he is then +constrained to confess, “such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent +for me; I cannot attain unto it.” {167} “Oh Lord, how manifold are Thy +works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy +riches; so is the great and wide sea also.” {168a} “The heavens declare +the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy-work.” {168b} “By +the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by +the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as +it were upon an heap, and layeth up the deep, as in a treasure-house. +Let the earth fear the Lord: stand in awe of Him, all ye that dwell in +the world. For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood +fast.” {168c} And he breaks forth in the devout hymn of the Psalmist; +“Praise the Lord, oh my soul: oh Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding +glorious: Thou art clothed with majesty and honour. Thou deckest Thyself +with light, as it were with a garment: and spreadest out the heavens like +a curtain. Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, and +maketh the clouds His chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind.” + +When philosophy is thus sanctified by Christianity, the volume of nature +presents, after the volume of inspiration, the most instructive and +delightful study of man; in both he can read, as if written by a +sun-beam, the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of the Most High. +Would, then, any wish to debar others from the high intellectual feast +which nature bountifully spreads before all, and of which she pressingly +invites all to partake? Such would be to limit or to divert the streams +of Divine bounty, whilst flowing in their proper channels: such would be +to make a monopoly of one of heaven’s best and freest gifts to man, +whilst a pilgrim in this world of woe,—the admonitions which nature +addressing to the enlightened and thoughtful mind, + + “Leads it upward to a brighter day.” + +Would any say, Gaze as long as you like upon the beauties and wonders of +nature, but attempt not to explore its hidden secrets—to examine the +latent springs of its vast and complicated machinery? Such would be, as +if a man possessing a curious and exquisite piece of mechanism were to +direct the observers to remark the beauty of the material, the regularity +of the movements, and the certainty of the results, and yet to forbid +them to examine into the principle of construction and the mode of +operation, on which those movements and that certainty depend. For the +proportion, in which he who has studied the structure of the globe, the +wonderful mechanism of the universe, as far as Revelation and reason have +enabled men to go, derives from its contemplation greater enjoyment and +instruction than he who treads the earth, traverses the seas, and gazes +upon the heavens, ignorant of all philosophy can teach, is the same as +that in which he who understands mechanics receives greater pleasure and +information, than he who understands them not, from examining the process +of a masterly application of the powers of that science. + +Let, therefore, the knowledge of physical science be widely diffused, but +let the basis of Christian principles be first laid; for thus not only +may the evil of scepticism be provided against, but the field of moral +and intellectual enjoyment and improvement will be enlarged to the +student; for never does the study of the material universe more elevate +the mind, and expand the heart, than when we are accustomed to refer +every thing to a great and gracious Creator,—to look habitually + + “Through nature up to nature’s God.” + +“We know that there is a superficial philosophy, which casts the glare of +a most seducing brilliancy around it; and spurns the Bible, with all the +doctrine and all the piety of the Bible, away from it; and has infused +the spirit of Antichrist into many of the literary establishments of the +age: but it is not the solid, the profound, the cautious spirit of that +philosophy, which has done so much to ennoble the modern period of our +world; for the more that this spirit is cultivated and understood, the +more will it be found in alliance with that Spirit, in virtue of which +all that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God is humbled, and all +lofty imaginations are cast down, and every thought of the heart is +brought into the captivity of the obedience of Christ.” {171} + +The first great principle, therefore, which all must steadily keep in +view and strenuously advocate, is that _the Bible should form the basis +of education_. It is not sufficient to say, that education is to be +conducted on religious principles, for on the subject of religion there +exists, in this day, a most unfortunate and mischievous variety of +opinions, which would be much diminished if the Holy Scriptures were made +the real, as they are the professed, groundwork of every system of +Christian instruction. Two other great principles, which the true +servants of God should strongly recommend and enforce, as being +intimately and necessarily connected with the first—that the Bible is to +be the basis of education,—are, that _the Bible is to be the rule of +faith_, _and the guide of public and private life_. From a neglect of +these three great principles of Christian conduct, it is hardly too much +to say, that almost all the evils which afflict society have arisen: for +they all reciprocate, and mutually contribute to their common +perpetuation. The man of the world educates his son in the way best +calculated to promote his temporal advancement: and that son, in his +turn, when he becomes a father, is regardless of the eternal interests of +his child, which he has never been taught to value. For the system begun +in childhood is continued through all the stages of life; and “the spirit +returns unto God who gave it,” having been occupied almost to the last +moment of human existence with the pursuit of worldly advantage and +enjoyment. Here we have, consequently, only the name of Christianity; +for neither do its motives influence, nor its rules guide the conduct: +there may be the external form, but there is not the power of godliness; +there may be the cold and lifeless statue, there is not the living +Christian, possessed of intelligence, volition, and motion, and animated +by faith and hope,—the origin, exercise, and direction of which belong to +the Spirit of God. This is a necessary consequence of that neglect of +the Bible, which has been already noticed as being such a prolific source +of error. There is very general in the world a standard of faith and +morals, which Scripture does not recognize, and a reliance upon Divine +mercy, which Scripture does not sanction. Thus the world calls vices +venial, which Scripture says shall exclude from heaven; and the world +speaks peace, where Scripture pronounces woe. Take, however, the life of +a large body of men, trace it from the cradle to the grave; observe in +childhood its toys, in boyhood its sports, in youth its pleasures, in +manhood its occupations and enjoyments, and in age its employments; all +in succession deemed of supreme importance, and the excessive indulgence +of which has never been considered criminal: then take the Bible, and +compare the survey you have made with what it reveals of the nature and +object of man’s probation; and the conclusion will force itself +irresistibly and painfully upon you, that as life is to be a state of +moral discipline to fit the heir of immortality for his bright +inheritance, the life, which has been depicted, is not that which will +lead to the blessed mansions of heaven. + +Against this spurious Christianity, let the friends of true religion +every where raise their voice, for like a currency of base coin, it is +not only without value in itself, but deludes its possessor with the +false idea of possessing wealth. Let them point out the folly and the +danger of receiving religious opinions from the world, instead of from +God’s book; for as the light of the sun is coloured by the stained glass +through which it passes, so the rays of Divine truth, being tinged by the +perverted medium through which they are received, may deceive those who +imagine they are enjoying the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. +And let them warn all against walking by another’s light,—though he may +appear “a shining and a burning light”—instead of searching for +themselves the lively oracles of Scripture; it may be, as in the case of +a party in a dark and dangerous cavern, where few only possess lamps, +that the whole may proceed in safety; but surely the security is not so +great as if each possessed his own lamp; and great would be the folly of +him, who warned of the danger, and assured of the necessity of having a +lamp of his own, rejected the friendly offer of assistance, which would +guide him in safety, and trusted to the uncertain light of another, +which, falling on broken and uneven ground, deceived the eye, and risked +his precipitation into some deep abyss, from which extrication was +impossible. + +Let them every where teach and impress, as a duty of paramount +importance, that not only the education of all classes, from the prince +to the peasant, should be conducted on the principles of the Bible; but +that all should acquire that knowledge of the evidences as well as +doctrines and duties of Christianity, which may fit them in their several +stations to overcome, through the grace of God, the temptations to +unbelief or immorality, which are likely to assail them. It is a painful +reflection, how many youths of bright prospects, great talents, and +amiable dispositions, have made shipwreck of their present and eternal +hopes, from a want of early religious instruction. How many are less +ashamed of being found ignorant of the Bible than any other book, and +whilst they would blush not to be acquainted with some new, though +unimportant, discovery in science, feel no shame in never having learnt +the important discoveries made by Revelation to man. And how many, in an +evil age, want courage to admit a knowledge of the Bible, with the great +truths of which they have been made imperfectly acquainted, but have +neither learnt their value nor imbibed their spirit. + +Let, therefore, the true servants of the Lord labour diligently to +counteract the rationalizing spirit in theology, the neglect of Divine +Providence, the ascription of every thing to natural causes, the +endeavour, in short, to do without Christianity in the affairs of life, +which so extensively prevail. And let them discountenance and repress, +and, when fitted by previous education and study, refute the objections +which scepticism and infidelity now advance in society, not only +unblushingly avowing their unbelief, but attempting to spread its poison +in private families. It would not be for the advantage of religion to +commit to inexperienced hands the weapons of controversy, for the great +strength of infidelity lies in perplexing subtilities and ingenious +sophisms, which are calculated to puzzle an ill-read and illogical +disputant. But every Christian should “know the certainty of those +things wherein he has been instructed.” {175} “And be ready always to +give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in +him, with meekness and fear.” {176} The neglect of instruction in the +evidences, in the general system of religious education, is at once most +unwise, and most calculated fearfully to promote the spread of unbelief: +in the first place, it is like attempting to build a house without laying +a good foundation: the winds and floods of infidelity assail it, and it +falls, because built on sand: in the second place, the fall of one house +generally more or less injures those adjoining: thus the cause of +unbelief is advanced, not only by the accession of every new convert, but +by the shock which his fall occasions to the faith of his friends and +acquaintance. Let, therefore, the friends of religion at once secure to +the evidences their proper place in every system of education, and also +take care that their own principles be fortified by that sound “knowledge +which maketh not ashamed.” Let them never suffer the cause of God to be +blasphemed, or the truth of religion denied in society, without entering, +at least, their protest; and let them never suffer the questions and +doubts of scepticism to be propounded in their families, without at once +silencing the dangerous inmate, who seeks to spread his secret poison, by +inviting enquiry and provoking discussion. It is true many of the +objections urged in society are of a nature which little learning, in +addition to good common sense, may suffice to answer. As, for instance, +the existence of mysteries in Christianity; whilst, in truth, the absence +of mysteries in a Revelation would be a strong argument against its +Divine origin: the terms employed in creeds and articles, the form of +worship and the discipline of the Church; for all of which Christianity +is not strictly liable, as, though in perfect conformity with, some of +them have been engrafted upon, Revelation: and the sins into which +believers, who disgrace their profession, are betrayed; for which +Christianity cannot be to blame, as it would be most manifest injustice +to visit upon a Revelation, the offences of unworthy members, of which +their own sinfulness is the sole cause. But such is the mode of warfare +of the light troops of the infidel host, who dare not attack directly the +evidences, doctrines, and precepts of the Gospel; and yet from their +numbers, activity, and malignity, have deeply injured the cause of +religion, by insinuating doubts, and instilling suspicions into +ill-informed and inexperienced minds. + +If those who bear the Christian name and believe the Christian faith +would unite against this legion of evil spirits, and employ their rank, +influence, talents, and learning, in bringing them into subjection to +Him, whose easy yoke they have thrown off, for the service of Satan, the +cause of religion would be immensely benefited. Not only because many +unbelievers would probably be converted, but because the work of +proselytism would be checked: at present, from the culpable supineness +and indifference of many Christians, even in private families, infidelity +is sometimes heard, unblushingly, to avow its detestable principles; but +if the ban of proscription was placed upon its creed, the ears of +believers would not be shocked, and the principles of the inexperienced +endangered by direct or indirect attacks upon the great truths of our +most Holy Faith. + +To effect a general co-operation of the great body of Christians, in the +cause of religion, would be, necessarily, a work of immense difficulty +and labour. Much, however, might be accomplished, if more of those, whom +God has blessed with power and influence, set an example of labouring +zealously to promote His glory and the advancement of His kingdom. How +often, amongst the higher and middle classes of society, has the +influence of a single individual, of talents and learning, but of still +more eminent piety, been employed with the most beneficial effects. “A +word spoken in due season, how good is it,” {178} has been fully proved, +in the case of many, who, vibrating, as it were, in such perfect +equipoise between good and evil, that a feather would almost suffice to +incline the balance, have been led to “choose that good part, which shall +not be taken away from them;” {179a} by having books recommended or +supplied, by receiving friendly advice and encouragement, or by that most +eloquent and attractive of the modes of conveying instruction—the winning +grace and beauty of Christian example. If, therefore, even a few +individuals or families, in any place, resolved that, by Divine grace, +“as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;” {179b} I will not be +“unequally yoked with unbelievers;” {179c} as far as in me lieth, no one +shall blaspheme the Holy Name by which I am called, nor malign the holy +cause which in baptism I have sworn to defend; infidelity would be much +put to shame and silence. And it is the duty of all sincere Christians +to adopt this course, for they are bound to use every means in their +power, to discourage infidelity; they must not admit it into the intimacy +and confidence of domestic life; the sacrifice may sometime be painful, +but it must be made; there may not be any compromise of Christian +obligations, which forbid every unholy alliance: “for what fellowship +hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light +with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part +hath he that believeth, with an infidel?” {179d} Believers must warn, +exhort, entreat, and, if in their power, instruct the unbeliever; but, if +in vain, then the divine command applies, “come out from among them, and +be ye separate:” if both parties be sincere, the contrariety of habits, +feelings, sentiments, and even of enjoyments, which exists between them, +must render familiar intercourse little agreeable or profitable to the +servant of God; who, if he be a weak or wavering disciple, may receive +much injury, where he cannot benefit; and, if he be a firm and +established disciple, when he finds his efforts to convince the gainsayer +fruitless, however ready he may still continue to be to lend assistance, +to admonish, and to observe all the courtesies of life; yet he cannot +assign a place in his heart, or receive as a chosen and favoured +associate, one who is not united with him in the sweet bonds of Christian +fellowship: there exists a bar, for the present, insuperable, why such +may not be addressed in the affectionate language of the Psalmist, “thou, +my companion, my guide, and mine own familiar friend;” and that bar is, +they cannot “take sweet counsel together, and walk in the house of God as +friends.” {180} + +To defeat, however, the devices and to frustrate the labours of the +emissaries of infidelity amongst the labouring population of the country, +religious associations should be formed: for an evil of such magnitude +will never be remedied, until there are the more extensive and effective +results of well concerted and combined operations, in the place of the +desultory movements of partial or individual zeal. This it may be said +is already done by societies, amongst which the venerable Society for +Promoting Christian Knowledge has stood forward with the most +praiseworthy zeal and activity to stem the tide of infidelity, which has +been, during the last year, spreading poison and death. But increased +efficiency would be given even to the labours of this valuable Society, +by associations of the nature proposed; the object of which would be, not +only the present remedy, but the prevention of evils so dangerous to the +best interests of society. And how great might be the blessed effects, +in checking the secret and open enemies of the Gospel, if its true +friends stood forward, and united heart and hand with their appointed +pastors—giving them all the aid of their rank and influence, and acting, +under their superintendence and direction, in the discharge of duties, +which may with propriety be delegated to laymen! + +A writer, who has been already quoted at considerable length, to shew the +deep devices, the bold effrontery, the unwearied zeal, and the alarming +success of infidel teachers in the metropolis, asks the important +question, “what is to be done in a state of things like this? Shall we +look calmly on, and say, let them alone; the authors and propagators of +the mischief are profligate and worthless men, whom nobody will trust; +and, therefore, too contemptible to be noticed. Alas! we should only +deceive ourselves, and be led to neglect others, by taking this +flattering unction to our souls.—It is clear, therefore, that some active +and present remedy must be brought to meet the evil; and there is none +which presents itself so readily and so naturally, as that which may be +derived from the arguments, and the testimony, and the advice of the true +friends of Christianity, particularly of the ministers.” But the whole +labour must not devolve upon the clergy: not from any wish to spare them, +whose duty it is ever to be found in the van, in every attack upon the +enemies of the Lord,—and ever to bear the brunt of the battle; but +because the active co-operation of the laity is essential to the success +of the undertaking. It has been the artful policy of the infidel +teachers to endeavour to persuade their ignorant auditors that our holy +religion is a system of priestcraft; in the preservation of which its +ministers will always, necessarily, be actively engaged, because they are +deeply interested. The deluded followers, therefore, of this satanic +school, may look with more than a suspicious eye upon the anxious labours +of their pastor to undeceive them; they may read in it a direct +confirmation of what they have heard, and ascribe solely to self-interest +what emanates from the pious zeal and sense of duty of him who “watches +over them as one that is to give account.” But when they see associated +with the minister, in the work of Christian charity and instruction, +laymen, whom they know to have no inducement to support a system of +fraud, and whom they may believe to be too honest and honourable to +promote the cause of error, they are more likely to banish the suspicion +of unworthy motives, which, in the present distempered state of their +minds, opposes an insuperable bar to the reception of religious truth. + +We have had in all our towns, and even in many large villages, boards of +health formed to visit and enquire into the state of the poor; let +similar religious boards be established under the direction of the +parochial clergy, to promote their spiritual health. Numerous and great +are the evils which have arisen from the population of many parishes +having increased beyond the means of accommodation in the parish churches +and almost beyond the personal visitation and superintendence of the +parochial clergy. It has given rise to much almost compulsory secession +from the Church, has weakened the influence of the Clergy, and has been +productive of the still greater evils of immorality, irreligion, and +impiety. Plans, therefore, have been drawn up and acted upon with the +most happy effect in some places, for the formation of visiting +societies. These have already received the sanction of two prelates, who +preside over populous dioceses, the Bishops of London and Chester, who +have both recommended them in their Charges to their Clergy. “The +vastness of the field,” observes the Bishop of London, “which demands +their exertions, and their own insufficiency to meet that demand +according to the promptings of their conscience, and the impulse of a +truly Christian charity, are matters which lie heavily upon the mind of +many faithful zealous clergymen. In the discharge of those duties which, +in a populous parish, far exceed the physical abilities of the strongest +and most devoted minister, great assistance may be derived from parochial +visiting associations, acting in subordination to the Clergy. By kind, +yet not intrusive enquiry into the wants, both temporal and spiritual, of +the poor; by well-timed aid, by encouragement, and counsel; by +exhortations to the duty of reading the Scriptures, of public worship, of +sanctifying the Lord’s Day, of regulating the behaviour of their +children; by directing them, in cases of sickness, or of ignorance, or of +troubled conscience, to their appointed pastor, such an association may +work incalculable good, and become powerfully, though indirectly, +instrumental in preaching the Gospel to the poor. But it is incumbent on +me to caution the parochial Clergy against relinquishing the +superintendence and direction of these auxiliary labourers; and against +delegating to them their own peculiar functions and duties, as the +commissioned interpreters of Scripture, as the Lord’s remembrancers for +his people, and as the appointed guides of their devotion. There is a +special promise of blessing annexed to ministerial service; and the sense +of that specialty ought not to be effaced from the minds of our flocks, +by the permitted intrusion of laymen, however pious and zealous, into +that which belongs to our own peculiar office. If this be not attended +to, you must expect that tares will spring up in the wheat, and that your +visiting societies will become so many nurseries of schism.” {185} + +The Bishop of Chester, after giving a striking description of the +transforming power of Divine grace, thus continues—“And can these things +be? ‘O Lord God thou knowest.’ Earnestness, disinterestedness, +simplicity, godly sincerity, patience in teaching, watchfulness in +seizing the favourable moment for counsel, are known to overcome even +that which seems most hopeless; the effects of natural corruption, +inflamed by evil example, and strengthened by habits of wilful +disobedience. + +“It will be asked, however, ‘Who is sufficient,’ physically ‘sufficient +for these things? Certainly in our larger parishes it is not possible +for the strength or activity of the Clergy alone to provide for such +individual instruction. But, there is a resource at hand: when the +population is moderate, nothing is wanting but resolution and +contrivance; and in the case of a denser population, the bane and the +antidote, the evil and the remedy are found together. The same +population, which presses so heavily, affords also that variety of ranks +and degree of superior education, that many fellow-workers may assist the +minister, and diminish his labours. In this manner the Apostles were +enabled to execute the manifold concerns which lay upon them.”—“They have +left us an example. Let the minister of a populous district, using +careful discrimination of character, select such as ‘are worthy,’ and of +‘good report,’ and assign them their several employments under his +direction: they may lessen his own labour by visiting and examining the +schools, by reading and praying with the infirm and aged, by consoling +the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and pursuing the many +nameless ways by which it is in the power of one Christian to benefit and +relieve another. Such charity, even more than any other charity, is +useful to the giver as well as to the receiver: it occupies minds, which, +for want of engagement, might otherwise prey upon themselves: and it +occupies them in a way which better fits them for eternity: in religion, +as in worldly matters, we often learn our best lessons by teaching. What +image more exemplifying the reality of pastoral care, what more truly +Christian picture can be presented to our contemplation, than that of a +minister uniting with himself the best disposed and the most competent +portion of his parishioners, and superintending counsels, and directing +plans which have God for their object, and the eternal welfare of his +people for their end; seizing every opportunity of general and individual +good, correcting mischiefs at their first rising, providing for the +spiritual wants of every different age and class, and thus striving, as +far as may be allowed, to ‘present every man perfect in Christ +Jesus?’”—“Nor is this any visionary notion; pleasing in idea, but +impracticable in reality. Numerous parishes, of different degrees of +population, have been brought under such discipline with more or less +success. And I feel convinced that whoever is anxious to promote the +glory of God, to assist the most important interests of his +fellow-creatures, to confirm the security of his country, or maintain the +stability of his Church, can ensure none of those great objects more +effectively than by means like these. Without them, in some of our +crowded districts of dense and extended population, the Church is lost +sight of, parochial distinctions are obliterated, and the reciprocal +charities and duties of the pastor and the flock are forgotten by the +people, because it is physically impossible that they should be +satisfactorily discharged.” + +The awful visitation which has fallen upon the country renders such +societies at this time of increased value and importance. They are +calculated powerfully to assist the labours of the Clergy in endeavouring +to improve, to the religious advantage of their flocks, the apprehension +which is so general. Seasons of alarm and affliction are often +peculiarly favourable for the reception of Christian instruction: “the +fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;” and when men look around +them and see or hear of death under its most terrible forms, and discover +the insufficiency of human means to prevent or remedy the evil they +dread, they may “fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in +hell;” {188a} and thus be led to flee to Him who is able also to save +them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. {188b} Immense might be +the benefit, which would, through the blessing of God on their labours, +accrue to the cause of religion, if parochial visiting associations were +established generally throughout the kingdom, under the direction of the +Clergy. They might form channels through which the valuable tracts +against vice and infidelity, which the Society for Promoting Christian +Knowledge is now circulating, might be more widely distributed; through +which short addresses, and strong appeals to the conscience, and earnest +calls to repentance, in direct reference to the pestilence, might be +brought home to every family. They might constitute a medium through +which the parochial Clergy might communicate with every part of the most +populous and extensive parishes regularly and frequently; through which +they might diffuse much bounty, kindness, instruction, and exhortation to +their poor and ignorant parishioners. It is impossible not to see at +once that such associations might be so framed as to be productive of the +most extensive and beneficial results to the Church and people of +England; they are calculated to restore the influence of the Clergy, and +extend their sphere of usefulness amongst their flocks. Notwithstanding +all the arts of the enemies of our Establishment, the people of England +always have loved, and still love their Church: wherever a contrary +feeling subsists, it may be always traced to a local or temporary cause; +but still it must be admitted, that the immense population of some +parishes, under existing circumstances, is likely to produce estrangement +from the appointed pastor; an evil, which the visiting societies are +admirably adapted to remedy. Some may object to such associations as +being likely to encroach upon the separate and peculiar duties of the +ministerial character: such would be an evil of the most serious nature, +for no one must presume to intrude himself uncalled upon the priest’s +office: but, though it is true every good is capable of abuse, this is an +abuse which may be always especially guarded against by the clergyman who +selects and controls the visitors, receives their reports, and +superintends their operations: whilst as a further security against the +perversion of such associations to party or sectarian views, it might be +made a standing rule, that no tract should be circulated in any parish, +which had not received the sanction of the incumbent or his curate. To +arrange the machinery and frame the laws of a general system of parochial +visiting societies, must be a work of time; but experience has already +proved that they may be so framed and conducted as to be productive of +great and unmixed advantage. And never could such aid come more +opportunely than at the present time: we have already seen the number, +fierceness, and malignity of the enemies, who beleaguer our Zion, “and +cry, down with her, down with her, even to the ground.” The assistance +of the laity, who are faithfully attached and devoted to the cause of +true religion, will, therefore, be invaluable, at such a time, in +defeating the designs of those who seek to alienate the minds of the +flock from their regular pastors, to corrupt their principles, and make +them ready instruments for the execution of their deep and wicked +schemes: nor will the co-operation of pious laymen, with the clergy, in +using every means to bring the great bulk of the people to humble them +selves before God, in the day of their visitation, be a less important +service. The Christian minister resembles a beacon on a dangerous coast, +which warns against sand-banks, sunken rocks, and precipitous shores: in +fair weather, its single bright and steady light, which, shining through +the darkness, guides in safety the passing vessels, is alone sufficient; +but when the tempest rages, when fogs obscure its brightness, when some +vessels, having struck on sunken rocks, are foundering; when others have +grounded on sand-banks, and others are stranded amid— + + “The impervious horrors of a lee-ward shore;” + +then other, and most prompt assistance, is required; signal guns are to +be fired, the life-boat launched, and the various life-preserving +apparatus prepared. God has seen fit to cast our lot on troublesome +times; the storms of passion howl around our Church, and her light cannot +penetrate the mists of prejudice: the barks of thousands, therefore, +committed to the stormy ocean of life,— + + “Youth at the helm, and Pleasure at the prow,” + +are in danger of striking on the sunken rocks of secret doubts, or of +being wrecked on the exposed and rugged shore of dark despairing +infidelity: gladly, therefore, will “God’s watchman,” who looks with +alarm and distress from his watch-tower, on this scene of imminent +danger, avail himself of the friendly hand which offers to aid him in +affording rescue from the impending destruction. Oh! to the ministers of +the Gospel,—who feel how much the value and responsibility of their +sacred office is increased in times like the present; who are almost +overwhelmed by a sense of what is required of them as “overseers over +God’s heritage,” as “watchmen in Israel,” as “ministers of Christ, and +stewards of the mysteries of God,”—assistance from pious, zealous, and +discreet laymen, acting under their direction, must be peculiarly +valuable and acceptable. Oh! only those who “have always in remembrance +into how high a dignity and to how weighty an office and charge they have +been called, to teach and to premonish, to feed and to provide for the +Lord’s family; to seek for Christ’s sheep that are dispersed abroad, and +for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world that they may +be saved through Christ for ever,” {192} can fully estimate the value of +any aid, however feeble, which comes to them at a time, when maligned and +vilified, they find the difficulty of a due discharge of their sacred +duties immensely increased by the impediments thrown in their way by the +enemies of the Gospel. + +Perhaps there never was a time which more than the present required zeal +blended with discretion, firmness tempered with meekness, and +faithfulness softened by charity, in the Christian minister: well does +the admonition of our blessed Lord to his disciples apply to those whom, +in this day, he has called to be pastors under Himself—“be ye wise as +serpents and harmless as doves.” There are two other passages of +Scripture which appear to present a striking view of an important duty of +the clerical office in times like the present, and of the mode in which +it is to be exercised: the command addressed to Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare +not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their +transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.” {193a} And the +instructions given by St. Paul to Timothy, “The servant of the Lord must +not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in +meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God, peradventure, +will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth.” {193b} It +is the duty of Christian ministers to exhort and console each other in +the difficult work they have to perform; “to put one another always in +remembrance;” to “bear one another’s burdens;” to “admonish one another +in the spirit of meekness and brotherly love.” How high is the dignity +of the ministerial office! “Let a man so account of us, as of the +ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” {194a} “Now +then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, +we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled unto God.” {194b} How +awful its responsibility! “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto +the house of Israel; therefore, hear the word of my mouth, and give them +warning from me: when I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and +thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his +wicked way to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his +iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” {194c} “Take +heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the +Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He +hath purchased with his own blood.” {194d} How great the satisfaction, +how sweet the joys of a successful ministry! “For what is our hope or +joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord +Jesus Christ, at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” {194e} +“Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction +and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the +Lord: for what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the +joy, wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God?” {195a} “Therefore, +my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand +fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.” {195b} “Holding forth the word of +life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in +vain, neither laboured in vain.” {195c} And how rich its reward! “Let +him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways +shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” {195d} +“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, +and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and +ever.” {195e} Many distinguished bishops and pastors, who have shone as +bright lights in our church, have strongly recommended that every +clergyman should have his appointed seasons in which he “communes with +his own heart, and in his chamber, and is still;” meditates deeply upon +his important, responsible, and sacred office; reads, studies, and prays +over the ordination service; and diligently, strictly, and impartially +examines into how far he has been, through Divine grace, enabled to keep +his ordination vows—to perform his ordination obligations. Such a +practice is of such manifest propriety and use, that doubtless it +prevails extensively: and high indeed, is the standard of duty, and +strict the requirements of service, which our Church imposes upon every +minister: “See that you never cease your labour, your care, and +diligence, until ye have done all that lieth in you to bring all such as +are committed to your charge unto that agreement in the faith and +knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, +that there be no place left for error in religion, or for viciousness of +life.” {196a} + +The prophet Isaiah thus prays to the Lord: “Yea, in the way of Thy +judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the desire of our soul is to +Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired +Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me, will I seek Thee early; +FOR WHEN THY JUDGMENTS ARE IN THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD +WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS.” {196b} How “instant in season, and out of +season,” must all the ministers of the Gospel be, that through the +blessing of God, they may make the Divine visitation, which has fallen on +the land, conducive to the religious improvement of their several flocks. +The very fear of the consequences of intemperance, as being considered to +predispose the system towards this dreadful disease, has, in many places, +operated to the production of a great external reformation of the habits +of life; let then the favourable moment be seized, and every means used, +that the inner man may be converted to God. It is not sufficient, that +the pestilence should be considered as a judgment, and thus made the +occasion of private and public exhortation; the press should teem with +tracts on this most important and engrossing subject; and there should be +diffused throughout the country, under every form, and adapted to every +rank in life, admonition and entreaty for all to improve to their soul’s +health the spread of a pestilence, which so often destroys the body which +it attacks. Every clergyman has his own sphere of influence within +which, at least, his labours may be beneficially exercised; and if, by +publishing, he benefits only those who are principally dependent on him +for religious instruction, he should consider himself well repaid:—but +who know how far they may be instruments in God’s hands for good to their +fellow men? The Almighty often selects feeble agents to accomplish great +results, that it may be seen, that “neither is he that planteth any +thing, neither he that watereth: but God that giveth the increase.” {197} +And oh! what a source of joy there is to the true believer in hoping he +may be an humble instrument in God’s hands of “winning souls to Christ.” +The excellent Doddridge, in the preface to his “Rise and Progress of +Religion in the Soul,” says, he should consider his labour far more than +amply compensated, if his work, through the Divine blessing, be made +instrumental to the conversion _of one sinner_. What a field is now +opened to the ministers of the Gospel, in which they may hope, through +God’s grace and blessing, “_to turn many to righteousness_;” for in times +of great national apprehension and danger the cause of true religion +often advances and flourishes. And oh! how sweet in such seasons, how +doubly blessed—blessed both to those who minister, and to those who are +ministered unto—is the faithful and zealous discharge of the duties of +their high and holy calling, who are commissioned to pour the balm of +consolation on the wounded spirit, to bind up the broken-hearted, to +sooth the terrors of affrighted conscience, and to lead the humble, and +contrite, and heavy-laden, to the Saviour, that they may take His yoke +upon them, and find rest unto their souls. + +Archbishop Leighton, the bright ornament of Scottish Episcopacy, has +forcibly stated the nature and obligations of the Christian ministry, in +commenting upon that most instructive passage in the First general +Epistle of St. Peter, “Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking +the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy +lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, +but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall +appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” {199} +“The duty enjoined,” writes the Archbishop, “is, _Feed the flock of God_. +Every step of the way of our salvation hath on it the print of infinite +majesty, wisdom, and goodness; and this among the rest, that men, sinful, +weak men, are made subservient in that great work of bringing Christ and +souls to meet; that by the foolishness of preaching (or what appears so +to carnal wisdom), the chosen of God are called, and come unto Jesus, and +are made _wise unto salvation_; and that the life which is conveyed to +them by the _word of life_, in the hands of poor men, is by the same +means preserved and advanced. And this is the standing work of the +ministry, and this the thing here bound upon them that are employed in +it, _to feed the flock of God that is among them_. Jesus Christ +descended to purchase a Church, and ascended to provide and furnish it, +to send down his Spirit: _He ascended_, _and gave gifts_, particularly +_for the work of the ministry_, and the great use of them is, _to feed +the flock of God_.” + +“Not to say any more of this usual resemblance of a flock, importing the +weakness and tenderness of the Church, the continual need she stands in +of inspection, and guidance, and defence, and the tender care of the +Chief Shepherd for these things; the phrase enforces the present duty of +subordinate pastors; their care and diligence in feeding of that flock. +The due rule of discipline not excluded, the main part of feeding is by +doctrine, leading them into the wholesome and _green pastures_ of saving +truths, revealed in the Gospel, accommodating the way of teaching to +their condition and capacity; to be, as much as may be, particularly +acquainted with it, and suit diligently and prudently their doctrine to +it; to _feed the sheep_, those more advanced; _to feed the lambs_, the +younger and weaker; to have special care of the infirm; to learn of their +Master the Great Shepherd, to _bind up that which is broken_, _and +strengthen that which is sick_, {200a} those that are broken in spirit, +that are exercised with temptations, _and gently to lead those that are +with young_, {200b} in whom the inward work of grace is as in the +conception, and they heavy and weak with the weight of it, and the many +difficulties and doubtings, which are frequent companions and symptoms of +that work. Oh! what dexterity and skilfulness, what diligence, and above +all, what affection, and bowels of compassion, are needful for this task! +_Who is sufficient for these things_? {200c} Who would not faint, and +give over in it, were not our Lord the _Chief Shepherd_; were not all our +sufficiency laid up in His rich fulness, and all our insufficiency +covered in His gracious acceptance?” {201} Animated by a high sense of +duty, and enlightened, strengthened, and guided by an abundant outpouring +of Divine grace, may all the “pastors and teachers,” who have been +ordained, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the +ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ;” “Preach the word, be +instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all +long-suffering and doctrine;” “Till we all come in the unity of the +faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto +the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth +be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind +of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they +lie in wait to deceive: but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into +Him in all things which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole +body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint +supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every +part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.” +God grant that none of His servants may faint or grow weary under the +increased weight of duty laid upon them by the circumstances of the +times! May they all labour, and “pray without ceasing for the church and +people of God,—remembering that the effectual fervent prayer of a +righteous man availeth much!” When faithful to their great Master, they +have high encouragements to excite, holy consolations to cheer, and +heavenly aid to direct and bless their unremitting exertions in His +service, whose weak and “unprofitable,” but still faithful and attached +“servants” they are. Let not any such fear but that they will obtain a +blessing on their labours, an answer to their prayers, from that gracious +Being whose ministers they are, and the advancement of whose kingdom they +seek. Never did the Lord fail his servants; His “exceeding great and +precious promises” are all sure and steadfast, are all “yea and in him, +Amen.” “For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; so +that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what +man shall do unto me:” {202a} He hath said, “Lo, I am with you alway, +even unto the end of the world, Amen.” {202b} May each individual pastor +of the Church of Christ have grace to receive and act upon, as addressed +to himself, the concluding admonition of St Paul to Timothy: “Watch thou +in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make +full proof of thy ministry:” then “The Lord shall be unto thee an +everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” {202c} And when the time of +his earthly stewardship is on the eve of completion,—the period of his +allotted ministry about to expire, then he may hope that upon his last +hours will be poured some portion of the joyful testimony of an approving +conscience; some measure of that blessed assurance of confirmed faith, +which cheered and supported the dying Hooker; “I plead not my +righteousness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness through His +merits who died to purchase pardon for penitent sinners. Let not mine, O +Lord, but Thy will be done! God hath heard my daily petitions; for I am +at peace with all men, and He is at peace with me. From such blessed +assurance, I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor +take from me. My conscience beareth me this witness; and this witness +makes the thoughts of death joyful.” Then he may hope that the approach +of the dark shadows of death will be illumined by some beams of that +light from above, which, with the full blaze of triumphant faith, shed a +holy flood of radiance and glory over the close of the ministry of the +great Apostle of the Gentiles: “I am now ready to be offered, and the +time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have +finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up +for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, +shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all those who love +his appearing.” {204a} + +Let the laity also be reminded of what they owe to God and society at +this eventful time. There are various modes by which they can advance +the cause of religion. The value of their services in co-operation with +the Clergy in forming visiting societies, has been already stated. But +as their situation and engagements in life preclude many from taking an +active part in any work of Christian charity, it must be a high +satisfaction to them who are humble disciples of that blessed Lord, “who +went about doing good,” {204b} to have an opportunity of endeavouring at +once to follow His example, and obey His commands, by means of public +societies and institutions. The best interests of man would be much +promoted, if the noble, and great, and affluent in the land, who fear +God, would make a more decided demonstration of their sentiments; and +give the full weight of their rank and influence, and contribute +liberally, to the support of societies, the object of which is the +advancement of true religion. In such times as the present, it is awful +to witness the apathy, supineness, and indifference in the cause of the +Lord, which prevail so extensively in the world, amongst those who +profess themselves to be His servants. But disregard for the spiritual +wants of others, at all times highly sinful, is doubly so now; and +unwillingness, through fear of ridicule or misconstruction, to manifest a +warm zeal for the honour of the Lord and a decided devotion to His +cause—at all times a wretched weakness—must, when His enemies are active +and powerful, be peculiarly offensive to Him, who has said, “Whosoever, +therefore, shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous +and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when +he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” {205a} Let, +therefore, all lukewarm professors of religion be addressed in the words +of Joshua, “If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose this day +whom ye will serve:” {205b} let them be warned in the words of the +Saviour, “He that is not with me, is against me, and he that gathereth +not with me, scattereth abroad.” {205c} + +It is the high and peculiar distinction of our country, that we have not +only charitable institutions for the prevention and cure of many of the +physical evils, and for the relief and solace of many of the moral evils +of life; but we have societies for the supply of the religious wants of +our home population, of our colonies, and of the whole family of man, +wherever British commerce, and, with it, British influence, extend. This +is not the place to enter upon the subject of all these societies; their +bare enumeration, with the most brief statement of their several objects, +would fill many pages; perhaps, therefore, to particularize any, where +all have merit, may be deemed unjust towards others; but every consistent +member of the Church of England is bound strenuously to support, and +every clergyman zealously to advocate, societies, whose professed object +is the inculcation of doctrines which he firmly believes, the use of a +ritual which he fondly loves, the observance of ordinances which he +highly values and reverences. Of these it may be right to make some +brief notice, not only because some of them have not received that +encouragement and support to which their importance entitles them, but +because they are peculiarly calculated to remedy the existence, and to +prevent the recurrence, of many of the evils which at present endanger +our civil and religious institutions. First in order stands the National +Society for promoting the education of the poor in the principles of the +Established Church. Then, ascending to a higher grade in society, we +have an institution, King’s College and School, to supply the youth of +the middle classes, in the metropolis, with a liberal education, founded +on the basis of religious knowledge. This institution is only in its +infancy, but if properly supported, it might extend its ramifications +throughout the kingdom, diffusing every where the beneficial fruit of +true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. It is much to be +wished that similar colleges and schools, in connexion with King’s +College, were established in all our great towns, in like manner as +schools every where throughout the kingdom have sprung from that prolific +parent, with which they are in union, the Central School in Baldwin’s +Gardens. Our National Schools are well calculated early to train +children in the path of godliness; to accustom them to habits of +cleanliness, neatness, and order; to excite them to industry and +application, to habituate them to proper restraint and discipline, to +supply them with the knowledge suitable to their station in life; and, +above all, to impress deeply the mind with the great truths of the +Gospel, and to store it richly with passages of Scripture, which, once +thoroughly learnt, are rarely forgotten, but may, in after life, prove in +the hour of temptation a safeguard, and in seasons of sickness or of +sorrow, a sweet and never-failing solace. If the minds of our +manufacturing and agricultural population had been fortified with the +principles which are now instilled in these schools, into the children of +the poor, the success of the teachers of infidelity and sedition would +have been far different from what it has unfortunately proved. The +system of instruction adopted in King’s College is precisely the one +which has been recommended as alone affording any security that education +will be rendered conducive to the advancement of the best, the eternal +interests of man. Every facility is afforded for the acquisition of +knowledge, but the relative importance of its several departments is +steadily kept in view, and the balance of studies is carefully adjusted, +that, if possible, none may be pursued to the neglect of others, but all +receiving their due degree of attention, religion and morals, literature +and science, may occupy their proper place in the plan of education. +This institution, through the Divine blessing, may be of great value in +checking the progress of unsettled and unsound opinions amongst a class +of men which is daily becoming more influential in society; whilst there +will be also a better safeguard for the future, in the foundation of +sound religious principles, which is designed to be laid; and which +should ever be a primary object, for not only is the prevention easier +than the cure, but the poison may spread where the antidote is never, or +fruitlessly, applied. If we view then in connexion, our Infant, +National, and Sunday Schools, in full operation; King’s College adapted +to branch into similar institutions in our great towns; and our +old-established Grammar Schools and Universities continuing to flourish; +we shall see that these are calculated to form one vast chain, which, in +its concatenation, would unite the great bulk of the population of the +country with the established Church. + +Nor is the attention of the Church confined to the education of the youth +of her communion. She has a Society also to afford the poor adequate +accommodation when attending religious worship, of which, in some places, +the great proportion of them were long deprived, from the increase of +population, and want of free seats, in the parish churches. Parliament, +with proper liberality, has at different timed placed certain sums at the +disposal of Commissioners; to assist in remedying this great evil, which +has inflicted the severest injury on the moral and religious character of +the lower classes in England. Much has, therefore, been done, but still +more remains to be done; and though perhaps the least regarded, still the +Society for building and enlarging churches is of great importance to the +interests of religion, and therefore well deserving of the support of the +friends of the Establishment. The valuable and venerable Society for +Promoting Christian Knowledge completes the work of Christian charity and +instruction, by accompanying, as it were, the poor man to his home, +supplying, either gratuitously or at very reduced prices, the Holy +Scriptures, the book of common prayer, and tracts and works designed to +correct erroneous opinions and immoral habits, and to promote soundness +of faith and holiness of life. Nor is this the utmost limit of the +Society’s labours among our home population: parochial lending libraries +have been also established by it; that in every parish where the desire +of knowledge has been called forth by the national schools, works which +combine amusement with instruction—works which inform the head and +improve the heart—may be accessible, free of all cost to the poor man, in +his hour of leisure. It is thus these two most valuable Societies, +acting in co-operation, aid in the due and effective discharge of their +important duties the parochial clergy, who are thereby enabled to diffuse +amongst the indigent and ignorant of their several parishes—to a degree +far beyond what the exertions of individuals, however pious and wealthy, +are likely to effect—the blessings of Christian education and Christian +knowledge. Great are the claims, therefore, of these societies upon the +members of the Church of England, for their support, that all of her +communion may be educated, nourished, and preserved in those principles +of saving faith and holy obedience, which, drawn directly from Scripture, +are summed up in the articles, embodied in the liturgy, and explained in +the homilies of our pure and reformed branch of the church of Christ. + +The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge extends her operations +beyond our home population: in co-operation with the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, it has laboured most +diligently and with very encouraging success, in the wide and waste field +of our numerous colonies. Missionaries, catechists, and schoolmasters, +are sent into every land where we have possessions; and congregations +have been formed and churches built where the glad tidings of the Gospel +had never before been heard. But, however cheering what has been done +and is doing for the spread of Christianity may be, the painful +confession must be made that this country has never yet, in any adequate +degree, discharged the religious obligations she owes her colonies. {211} +The sceptre of Great Britain rules over one hundred millions who are said +to be ignorant of the Gospel. Great and splendid have been the instances +of individual liberality, but as a nation we have not made those +strenuous exertions, those sacrifices which duty requires: we have been +unmindful of the heavy debt of gratitude and service which we owe to the +Ruler of nations. Why are we to suppose that Divine Providence has +bestowed upon us such a vast colonial empire? Not to swell the pomp and +increase the power and wealth of a little island, which has been proudly +styled, + + “The Island, Empress of the Sea:” + +but that we may be instruments in the hands of the Great and Gracious +Lord of the whole human race in benefiting mankind. And how can we best +accomplish this great end? A Christian nation should make it an object +of paramount importance to diffuse the light of that Gospel, in which it +has itself for ages rejoiced as the best gift, the holiest privilege, it +enjoys at the hands of God. Has then this Christian nation so acted? +Alas! there is one circumstance, which painfully occupies at this moment +the attention of the friends of Christianity, here and in India, which +may suffice to answer in the negative. Bishop after bishop has been +allowed to go forth, with the spirit of a martyr, and to meet a martyr’s +death in India, where the diocese is admitted by all to be so extensive, +that the strongest constitution must, from the effects of the climate, +sink under even an imperfect discharge of the overwhelming load of duty. +And yet repeated applications for the appointment of bishops to the +several presidencies, by which the cause of religion amongst the +Christian, and the spread of the Gospel amongst the Heathen population, +would be very greatly advanced, have been up to this time refused, it is +much to be feared, from an unwillingness to incur the expense of further +episcopal appointments. May Bishop Turner be the last, who, humanly +speaking, is to be thus sacrificed! For it would inflict a heavy load of +sin upon a Christian people to be not only lavish of life, of talents, +and of piety, but to prefer to the cause of God, who has so abundantly +blessed us, an economy, which, however wise and proper when rightly +practised, becomes miserable and wicked when allowed to operate to the +hinderance of the Gospel. An appeal is never made in vain to the good +feelings of the people of England, and the present is an occasion, on +which all who value not merely the cause of religion, but of humanity, +should make a declaration of their opinions; and come forward liberally +to the support of Societies whose object is so important and +praiseworthy, and whose means are so inadequate to several claims upon +them. The reports of the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, +and for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the year +1831, cannot be too strongly recommended to the attention of the public. +The comparatively small support which the latter receives from annual +subscription must be mainly ascribed to the nature and extent of its +labours being so little known; for it is not the character of the English +people to allow a valuable Society to languish from want of funds. And +yet, during the past year, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel +in Foreign Parts must have suspended in some places the great work it is +carrying on, if it had not allowed its expenditure to exceed greatly its +receipts. Such is the sad truth we learn from the report now before the +public, which pleads the cause of Christianity in distant lands, so +powerfully, and yet so meekly, that it cannot fail to awaken sympathy in +every religious breast, and call forth assistance from every liberal +hand. “According to its power, yea, and beyond its power,” it has opened +the hand of Christian bounty in answer to the numerous and pressing calls +that have been made upon it: and the consequence has been that the means +of meeting such calls have become every year more insufficient. Even on +the supposition (a supposition, however, which benevolence will not allow +to be entertained for a moment), that all new applications for its +assistance are to be disregarded, the Society will require an addition of +at least 10,000_l._ to its yearly income for the fulfilment of +engagements into which it has entered. Its deficiencies for many years +have been supplied by large reductions of its capital. The single fact +that it has been compelled to sell nearly 70,000_l._ stock must fill its +friends with serious uneasiness. For unless its funds are very largely +increased, it is manifest that they must soon be exhausted. But, surely, +so sad a result can never be allowed! There is too much benevolence in +the Christian public of this favoured nation, to permit the abandonment +of so great a work as that by which the light of the Gospel, in its +purity, is communicated to the benighted nations of the East. Who among +us will be wanting, in most earnest efforts, to save our brethren in the +colonies from so sad an injury as the loss of that religious instruction, +and those means of grace which are to be regarded as their birthright? +Who will allow the many excellent men who have left their native country +as missionaries, with the purest zeal, and the most earnest desire to +promote the spiritual welfare of their fellow-creatures, through +incessant toil in distant lands, to be deprived of the moderate but +necessary support, that has hitherto been afforded by this Society? Who +will allow the no less valuable persons, who have been diligently trained +in the colonies, almost from their cradles, to carry forward the same +Christian designs, as missionaries, and catechists, and school-masters, +to be now cast upon the world, and exposed to all the miseries of want? + +“What shall be said, if it fail of attaining its full measure of good, +through the indifference of those whom God has not only ‘blessed with all +spiritual blessings in Christ,’ but to whom He has also largely afforded +the temporal means of imparting those blessings to others? What shall be +said if they, who by the abundant mercy of God are themselves supplied +with the bread of life, suffer their fellow-creatures, whose necessities +are plainly pointed out to them, to perish with hunger? Your committee +will not contemplate the possibility of such a deplorable case as this. +Grateful for the support which the Society has already received, and +through which it has been enabled to effect so much, they will not allow +themselves to doubt, but that Providence will now, and from time to time, +raise it up friends who will furnish it with more ample and effectual +means for the continuance and extension of its ‘labours of love.’” + +Every friend of religion must earnestly pray that a hope so humbly and +devoutly expressed may be fulfilled, and that the Lord may bless and +prosper these Societies, in sowing the good seed of the word, in a field +of immense extent, and, in many parts, of the most unpromising +barrenness. For they embrace—to particularize only the most important +missions—the widely dispersed population of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, +and the Canadas; the numerous islands of the West Indies; the great +Peninsula of India; and the various settlements in Australia. And it is +gratifying and highly satisfactory to be able to quote the impartial +testimony of a distinguished individual, the late Governor of Nova +Scotia, to their efficiency and value: “In countries in which I have +resided, and which I have visited—in remote and almost desert places, I +have witnessed the blessings and comforts of our holy religion, +dispensed, by your servants, to persons who otherwise might pass from the +cradle to the grave, without the blessings or benefits, the comforts or +the consolations of any appropriate holy office, to sanctify their +entrance into life, to receive them into the Christian family, to +solemnize those connexions, on the proper observance of which the moral +constitution of society essentially depends, and finally to perform the +last sad offices over departed humanity. In my own person—in my own +family—in visitations the most awful—in severe domestic affliction, I +have partaken of those blessings and consolations, administered by your +servants.” Let, therefore, the parliament and people of the United +Kingdom contribute liberally, not merely towards the continuance, but the +extension, of the important labours of a Society, whose only fault has +been,—if it be a fault,—that it has so shrunk from any appearance of +obtruding its wants, that it has not sufficiently made known its claims +upon the friends of religion; who must be at once desirous that our +countrymen in our distant dependencies should not be debarred from the +exercise of religious worship; and that the light of the Gospel may be +shed upon those, who, though living under the government of Great +Britain, are lying in darkness and the shadow of death. And if there be +any whose hearts expand not with that diffusive spirit of Christian +philanthropy, which ardently desires to promote the spiritual welfare of +the whole human race; let them at least be sensible to the religious +wants, and alive to the religious improvement of their countrymen, who +are established in some of the numerous colonies of this vast empire. In +this great commercial country, in which the spirit of enterprise or the +calls of duty lead so many forth often at an early age into distant +lands, there must be an immense number of influential persons, who have a +direct interest in this provision for the religious instruction of the +residents in our several dependencies. And oh! how consolatory must it +prove to the heart of a parent, or even of a friend, who sends forth a +youth to seek his fortune far from friends, kindred, and home, to know +that he will not be deprived of the public exercise of those religious +duties in which he has been early trained. Oh! how immeasurably would +the pain of separation, which may be for life—which may be for ever—be +increased, if there was a melancholy certainty, that at the most +dangerous period of life, when the passions are strong, the judgment +weak, and the principles often unsettled; and where the temptations to +sensual indulgences abound, and the restraints of parental authority are +removed; there was no religious monitor, no duly ordained pastor, to +instruct in health, to cheer in sorrow, to strengthen in sickness, and, +it may be, to support and console in death, those who are pursuing an +useful and honourable course far from their dearest earthly ties, far +from what is ever dear to the heart of all—their native land—the land of +their fathers. + +In entering thus more at length on the subject of the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts than on any other Society, an +exception has been made in its favour, because it has never yet received +that encouragement and support to which its most important object and +valuable labours so well entitle it: but imperfect as the notice of other +Societies has been, it would be still more so if concluded without any +mention of the Church Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign +Bible Society. The first of these is formed with the design of +endeavouring to obey to the fullest extent the parting command of our +blessed Lord, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every +creature:” {219} it is not confined by any limits, but wherever the +opening presents itself, thither the indefatigable, zealous, and faithful +missionary is sent: and the Lord has greatly prospered their labours. +The latter, whether we regard its scope or its machinery, is a mighty and +wonderful engine, capable of producing immense benefit to the whole human +race: its scope is not merely the supply of the inhabitants of the +British dominions with the Scriptures, but their translation into every +language, their dissemination in every land; and its vast and complicated +machinery has been put into operation in every quarter of the globe. It +may suffice to state, that the grand, the beneficent, and most Christian +end, which these two Societies have in view, is to evangelize the world: +the one sends its missionary either instructed, or to be instructed, in +the language of the country where is to be his field in which he is to +sow the good seed of the word of life; and the other supplies the sower +with that seed of the word of life translated into the language of the +country. The difficulties they have to encounter are immense; and the +danger of the neglect of the legitimate object, or of perversion of the +power and means of these Societies, may be considerable; but still the +enterprise of Christian love is not to be abandoned, because it is +difficult; nor the means of Christian usefulness sacrificed, because they +are capable of abuse: rather let those who rejoice in the light of the +Gospel, and thank God every day of their lives for having the high +privilege of reading His Book, labour to provide missionaries so well +fitted for their office, as to afford reasonable hope that through Him, +on whose assistance and blessing they alone depend, they may surmount the +many and arduous difficulties which impede their progress: rather let +them exercise increased vigilance, and employ greater care and attention, +that if any error exist, it may be corrected, that if any abuse has crept +in, it may be reformed. Let these Societies be only faithful to their +trust—true to the one great object they are ever to keep in view, and +they may fully rely upon Him, whose kingdom they labour to advance, whose +word they seek to publish—to bless their work and ensure their success. +But let them remember that no unsound principles of expediency, no +unworthy means to excite popularity, or to gain support, must be had +recourse to; such would be to apply to their goodly edifices the +“untempered mortar,” which would end in their destruction: let them go +forth in the strength of the Lord, and in his strength only; let them +seek the extension of Christ’s kingdom, and of His kingdom only; and then +all who love the Lord’s Christ, honour His name, and seek to promote His +glory—if they can do no more, will at least say, we “bid you God speed.” + +The increasing exertions which are making, in this country, for the +diffusion of vital religion amongst Christians, and for the spread of the +Gospel amongst the heathen, will form one of the brightest pages in its +history. And truly at this moment it presents almost the only subject on +which the Christian’s anxious eye can rest with unmixed satisfaction and +with joyful hope. The prospect around is in many parts dark and +discouraging, but in one direction is illumined by a bright and holy +light—“the sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings,” upon +the “nations which sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” {221} +England appears to be selected by God for this great and glorious work. +As the Roman Empire was raised up and employed by the Great Governor of +the Universe for the first promulgation of the Gospel; and as the Greek +language was made the medium through which that Gospel was extensively +diffused: so we may hope that the British Empire, so greatly increased, +may be employed, and the English language, so widely spread, be made a +medium, for that final promulgation which is to take place, and the +result of which is to be thus complete—“the earth shall be full of the +knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” {222} But however +this may be—for ill does it become short-sighted man to speculate on the +unfulfilled prophecies of Holy Writ—our line of duty is plain: we must +make the most strenuous exertions, trusting to be instruments in the +hands of the Almighty in the conversion of the heathen. The labour of +love, which springs from gratitude to God, which is directed by faith in +His promises and animated by hope of His blessing, will never be +fruitless: if it please not the Divine Providence to give it a prosperous +issue to those for whose benefit it was designed, it will return as a +blessing—“good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running +over”—into the bosoms of those, who planned, supported, and conducted it, +with a sole view to God’s glory and the salvation of men. This physical +pestilence has travelled from India to England: does it not in awful +terms reproach us, for having, as a nation, done so little to arrest and +heal the moral pestilence which rages throughout that great Peninsula? +Oh! let every means be used by the friends of religion to rouse a sinful +people to a due sense of what they owe to their home population, to their +colonies, and to the world at large. Whatever be the channel in which an +individual may wish the stream of his bounty to flow, he will find +Societies through which he will best accomplish the good he has in view. +Let, therefore, all be active, liberal, and zealous, in the cause of +religion: let all, according to the ability which God supplieth, +endeavour to promote the present and eternal welfare of all mankind! +“Charge them,” says St. Paul, “who are rich in this world, that they be +not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, +who giveth us richly all things to enjoy: that they do good, that they be +rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate: laying +up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, +that they may lay hold on eternal life.” {223}—“But this I say, he which +soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and he which soweth +bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he +purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, +for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace +abound towards you; that ye always having all-sufficiency in all things, +may abound to every good work.” {224a} “Let every one that nameth the +name of Christ depart from iniquity:” let all in their several vocations +endeavour to improve, to the spiritual advantage of themselves and +others, this Divine visitation; that thus its great object being +accomplished—for the language of God’s chastisements, whether national or +individual, is “be zealous and repent,”—we may humbly hope that our +gracious Lord God will be pleased to withdraw His heavy hand from His +humbled and contrite people; the duty of each of whom has been shown to +be, to effect, through the Divine blessing, a personal reformation; for +the sins of each individual form fractions of the immense integral of +national guilt, which has called down the Divine displeasure; to employ +their rank, influence, and a due proportion of their wealth, in labouring +to advance, by their personal exertions, and through the medium of +societies, a national reformation; and to diffuse throughout the world +the knowledge of the Saviour, that “the kingdoms of this world may become +the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ.” {224b} + +And how are they to be addressed who are the enemies of the Lord and of +His Christ—who trample under foot his cross, and, at present, stand +excluded from all benefit of the great atonement by “counting the blood +of the covenant an unholy thing”—how are they to be addressed who deny +the Lord who bought them, and secretly maintain, or openly espouse, the +doctrines of infidelity? In the language of friendly warning and +exhortation. Sometimes the Christian advocate has erred by employing a +tone of conscious superiority, of cold severity, or of keen satire: the +first offends, the second hardens, the third irritates the proud spirit +of unbelief: the voice of remonstrance is often listened to, when +authority commands in vain. Let, therefore, whatever has been said, in +these pages, be considered, not as intended in the least degree to wound +or insult the feelings of any one, but as written in the honest and +faithful discharge of Christian duty. And in the spirit of meekness and +charity let me entreat those, who reject Christianity, to pause, reflect, +and examine deeply into the grounds on which they have come to a decision +which involves their eternal destiny. Let me ask them whether they have +ever duly considered, first, _the possibility of Revelation being true_; +and, secondly, _the consequences of Revelation being true_. Surely a +creed, which numbers amongst its defenders laymen, who hold the highest +place in England’s proud annals of science and philosophy, is not lightly +to be rejected by ordinary minds: surely where Bacon, Milton, Boyle, +Locke, and Newton, have been believers, there is room to admit _the +possibility_ of the creed being true. When intellects of the most +powerful grasp, disciplined by the most arduous studies, and stored with +the richest fruits of human knowledge, have received with humility, +gratitude, reverence, and faith, the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, +some doubts may flash across the mind of the infidel, as to whether he +has arrived at a just conclusion, in refusing to believe that Bible. And +oh! if there do arise a doubt, let him now be entreated to re-examine +this most important subject, on which the interests of eternity depend; +to reconsider the grounds on which he denies a faith in which, during +eighteen hundred years, millions have lived and died. + +There is, however, a second point of consideration, and that a very +important one, which ought not to be lost sight of, _the consequences of +Revelation being true_,—the unutterable anguish of hopeless, endless +despair and torment. Infidels often speak with much levity, and +sometimes with profaneness, of the awful punishments of a future world, +denounced in Scripture against impenitent guilt; but, if they searched +deeply into their own hearts, they would find not only that they were +less happy than they were before they shook off their belief in +Revelation; but some might discover, almost, the commencement of the +gnawing of the undying worm. In health, this may be scarcely perceived, +but when the hour approaches, which generally tears away the mask which +has concealed internal feelings long kept secret, the hideousness of +infidelity is fully seen. Some appear to have acted their part to the +last; thus Hume was said to have spent some of his latter hours in +reading “the Dialogues of the Dead,” of the Apostate Lucian; but what an +employment for one who professed to be a philosopher! At a time, when +the eyes are about to close for ever on all that the heart has held dear +in life, “drollery, in such circumstances, is neither more nor less than + + Moody madness, laughing wild + Amidst severest woe.” {227} + +But such cases are, generally, of rare, occurrence: as the sombre shades +of the evening of life gathered around Gibbon, this melancholy confession +escaped him,—the past is gone, the present is but for a moment, and the +prospect of the future is dark and doubtful. Paine, who had vauntingly +proclaimed, that, during an illness, expected by himself and those around +him to be fatal, he had rejoiced that he had published his Age of Reason, +when the hour of death really arrived, endured all the agonies of +remorse, evincing a horrible combination of awakened terror and +blasphemous despair. And that renowned champion of infidelity, Voltaire, +who was smitten, in his hour of pride and triumph, suffered in his last +hours such intolerable anguish and such overwhelming terror, that the +alarmed physician declared, that the furies of Orestes could not equal +the horrors of such a death-bed. + +Should the consideration of the possibility and consequences of the truth +of Revelation, and of the certainty of the present wretchedness of +infidelity, awaken in some readers feelings of apprehension,—lest, whilst +in imagination they have been releasing themselves from the trammels of +superstition, they have in reality been fastening round their own necks +the heavy yoke of that hard task-master, the great enemy of the human +race; let them be entreated to institute now a strict enquiry as to the +unanswerableness of the objections against Revelation, on the strength of +which they have withheld their belief; and as to the certainty of those +conclusions of unassisted reason, on which they have been content to +build their opinions as to an hereafter, unmindful that, + + “Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars + To lonely, weary, wandering travellers, + Is reason to the soul.” + +Alas! it is melancholy to think how many reject Christianity without due +examination: but let the infidel be assured that, whether he is involved +in the mazy labyrinth of metaphysical subtleties, perplexed with the +false conclusions of materialism, startled by the apparent extent of +physical and moral evil, or offended, with the multitude of sceptics, at +mysteries, creeds, and articles; he will find answers to all his +objections and difficulties in the various treatises which have been +written on the evidences of Christianity. But let him not enter upon the +subject with a prejudiced mind, in the pride of human reason, or under +the influence of human passions. Is it likely that the Great Author of +light and life will vouchsafe to illuminate understandings, which +prejudice darkens, and pride renders presumptuous; or convert and +sanctify hearts, which sensuality debases and pollutes? They who +approach the Great Governor of the Universe to be instructed, in what +belongs to their everlasting peace, must come with humility, reverence, +and awe; they must strive to divest themselves of prepossession, +prejudice, and passion; and pray to be guided unto all truth: and if they +persevere in patient and dispassionate examination of the evidences of +Christianity, and in an humble and careful study of the Scriptures +themselves, accompanied with sincere and earnest prayers, in God’s good +time, the light of Divine grace will break upon their darkened +understandings; they will see how wonderfully the conflicting attributes +of justice and mercy have been reconciled in the Divine plan for the +restoration of a guilty world to the favour of its offended God; they +will be filled with devout admiration of that love of God, which passeth +all understanding, which has provided for the most heinous offenders a +means of escape from eternal condemnation; and they will thankfully and +joyfully embrace the offers of salvation through the Saviour, published +in the Gospel. + +But if there be any who refuse to return to the God of their youth; any +who close their ears against every admonition to examine, deeply, into +those principles of infidelity, which they have adopted,—principles too +dear to man’s natural pride, too favourable to his natural corruption, to +be willingly or easily resigned—let them at least be persuaded not to +attempt to make proselytes to their creed. The time may come when they +shall be convinced of the truth of Christianity; and oh! how will the +weight of guilt, which, in the sad and dark hour of a late repentance, +almost overwhelms the soul, be increased, if they have been instrumental +in destroying the belief of others, which they have not the power to +restore! There is no crime of so deep a die as the ruin of an immortal +soul; none which subjects to the same dreadful remorse; none which +presents the same terrible impediment to our obtaining pardon and peace: +for what present peace can there be to him, who sees one soul exposed to +eternal condemnation, through his means? What to him who sees many? +What to him, who has the agonising conviction ever present to his mind, +that he has no longer the power to attempt to repair the evil he has +done, for they have been summoned to judgment, whom he had led astray? +There is also another consideration which may have some weight with those +who promulgate infidel doctrines, which is, that they blast the present +as well as eternal happiness of their miserable converts. “Perhaps our +modern sceptics are ignorant, that without the belief of a God and the +hope of immortality, the miseries of human life would often be +insupportable. Yet this I must suppose, or I must believe them to be the +most cruel, the most perfidious, and the most profligate of men.” It is +most true, that if you rob a man of his religious principles, you deprive +him of what “has both the promise of the life which now is, and of that +which is to come,” his peace of mind, his trust in God’s protection, his +faith in the Saviour, his hope of glory, all that consoles, improves, +elevates, and ennobles our nature—all are gone, and in their place are +substituted lawless passions, disappointed hopes, and bitter regrets. +If, therefore, no other consideration will avail to induce the infidel +school to forego their plans of proselytism, let regard for their +philanthropy, of which they make such boast, be urged to prevent their +rendering men less happy than they are at present, under the mild and +benignant rule of Christianity. May that blessed Lord, who “willeth not +the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live, +have mercy upon all infidels and heretics, and so fetch them home to His +flock, that they may be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ +our Lord.” + +The duty of a Christian people, under Divine visitations, however feebly, +has been faithfully stated, according to the conscientious belief of the +writer: may He, in dependence upon whose blessing, and to promote whose +kingdom it has been written, make it instrumental to the production of a +religious improvement of the afflictive dispensation sent upon the land. +The nature of the disease has ceased to be doubtful, and the pestilence +which has been so long advancing towards us is admitted now by all to +have reached our shores. Once more, then, let the question be asked, +“What will ye do in the day of visitation when your desolation shall come +from far, to whom will ye flee for help?” Oh that one simultaneous cry +would respond from the inhabitants of this kingdom—“WE WILL TRUST IN THE +LORD FOR EVER, FOR IN THE LORD JEHOVAH IS EVERLASTING STRENGTH!” When +Solomon, on the dedication of the temple, prayed, “If there be in the +land famine, if there be pestilence, or whatsoever sickness there be: +then what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy +people Israel, when every one shall know his own sin, and his own grief, +and shall spread forth his hands in this house; then hear Thou in heaven, +Thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and render to every man according unto +all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou only knowest the hearts +of all men.” {233a} The Lord returned the gracious answer: “I have heard +thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of +sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command +the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people: +if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and +pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear +from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” +{233b} + +Prayers, set forth by authority, are offered up to the throne of grace, +throughout the kingdom, and it has pleased the Almighty to deal +graciously with His people, in mitigating the virulence of the +pestilence: let a fast be proclaimed, that on an appointed day the whole +nation may “humble themselves, and pray, and seek the Lord’s face:” let +associations be formed to assist the ministers of God’s Word and +Sacraments, to exhort and entreat the people to “turn from their wicked +ways:” and if “the Lord’s people, which are called by His name,” humbled +and contrite turn unto Him, with all their hearts, and with mourning and +fasting, and cry, “Spare us, O Lord, spare Thy people, whom Thou hast +redeemed with Thy most precious blood; turn us, O God of our salvation, +and cause Thine anger towards us to cease;” “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, +and just are Thy judgments:” if they “cease to do evil, and learn to do +well,” then in God’s good time the gracious promise will be fulfilled, +for “the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,”—I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND +WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN, AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND. + +Oh may it not be, that the wickedness of the land shall avert from it the +mercy and blessing of the Most High! May it not be, that the fearful +words shall become applicable to us, “Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy +One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and +in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not!” Oh! rather may +“the spirit of grace and supplications” be poured upon the people, for +“Will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will +He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of +judgment; blessed are all they that wait for Him.” Then shall the Lord’s +people derive joy and peace from those transporting words of comfort: +“For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I +gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but +with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord Thy +Redeemer.” + +“God’s judgments are in the earth.” In many places there has been a +literal fulfilment of those terrible predictions, the application of +which is not to be considered limited to any time or nation: “All joy is +darkened, the mirth of the land is gone: in the city is left desolation, +and the gate is smitten with destruction.” {235a} Truly in our case it +may be said, “the isles saw it and feared, the ends of the earth were +afraid.” {235b} Oh! without experiencing the extreme severity of the +scourge, may this nation learn the lesson it is meant to teach! “They +shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, +they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord; even +the name of the Lord God of Israel, in the isles of the sea.” “Trust in +the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous +redemption.” Proclaim every where “God is our hope and strength,” a +“sure refuge in the day of trouble.” “Then shall the inhabitants of the +world learn righteousness.” Then shall they know that “the Lord is a +very present help in trouble; blessed are the people whose trust is in +Him.” Then, God grant that it may be said of this land, long favoured +and blest of heaven, thou “hast glorified God in the day of visitation;” +{236a} therefore, thou shalt “obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and +mourning shall flee away.” {236b} “Then shall thy light break forth as +the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily: and thy +righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy +rere-ward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt +cry, and He shall say, HERE I AM.” {236c} + +May God, whose gracious and never-failing Providence orders all things +both in heaven and earth, of His infinite mercy, accomplish this great +end of all His visitations, that we may become a “righteous nation unto +the Lord.” May those who are slumbering in the fatal lethargy of sin +“awake to righteousness and sin not:” alarmed by the judgments impending +over them, may habitual sinners seek for grace, “to turn from the evil of +their ways,” before “the Lord be revealed from heaven, in flaming fire, +taking vengeance on the wicked, and those who know not God.” May the +lukewarm, who, even in the hour of danger, still “halt between two +opinions,” cleave to the Lord, lest their souls should be required of +them, whilst yet balancing the claims of God and mammon. May the +faithful trim their lamps, “have their loins girded, and their lights +burning, and be like unto men that wait for their Lord: blessed are those +servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching.” And may God +pour His especial grace and blessing upon the nation at large: that all +may recognize His hand, submit to His will, depend on His protection, +profit by His chastisements, and endeavour to promote His glory here and +abroad, now and for ever. “Now the God of peace that brought again from +the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the +blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to +do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, +through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” {237} + + + + +A PRAYER +IN TIMES OF +PESTILENCE OR GREAT SICKNESS. + + +O ALMIGHTY and Everlasting God, whose gracious and never-failing +Providence orders all things, both in heaven and earth; we, Thy unworthy +servants, most humbly beseech Thee, to look with an eye of pity upon thy +afflicted people. We have sinned, O Lord, and done wickedly; in the days +of our prosperity we have forgotten Thee, the bounteous Giver of all +good: but Thou dealest not with the sons of men after their sins, nor +rewardest them according to their iniquities. Have mercy, therefore, +upon us, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness: according unto the +multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out our transgressions. We know, O +Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou, in faithfulness, hast +afflicted us. But, O Lord, rebuke us not in Thy wrath, neither chasten +us in Thy hot displeasure. Let mercy rejoice against judgment. And turn +Thee unto us, and have mercy upon us: for we are desolate and afflicted. +The troubles of our heart are enlarged: oh bring Thou us out of our +distresses. Look upon our affliction and our pain, and forgive all our +sins. + +O Heavenly Father, our only dependence is upon Thy compassion. Thou art +merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. For Thou +knowest our frame; Thou rememberest that we are dust. We come before +Thee, therefore, trusting in the multitude of Thy mercies, and encouraged +by the abundance of Thy great and precious promises. Incline Thine ear, +O Lord, and hear the supplications of Thy people. Turn us, O God of our +salvation, and cause Thine anger towards us to cease. Of Thy only gift +it cometh that Thy people can do unto Thee true and acceptable service. +Pour, therefore, we humbly beseech Thee, upon this land, the spirit of +grace and supplication, the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the +knowledge of the Lord, that it may know, in this its day, the things +which belong unto its peace; and may flee to Thee for deliverance from +the floods of immorality, profaneness, and infidelity, which threaten to +overflow its borders. O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly +wills and affections of sinful men, shed abroad, in the minds and hearts +of this people, the enlightening, renewing, and sanctifying influence of +Thy grace, that, recognising Thy judgments, submitting to Thy will, and +profiting by Thy chastisements, we may humble ourselves under Thy mighty +hand; and putting away from us the evil of our ways, may turn unto Thee +with all our heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with +mourning. And then, O merciful and long-suffering Lord, who willest not +the death of a sinner, but rather that all should repent and live; spare +us, good Lord, oh spare Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy +precious blood; and hear from Heaven, we implore Thee, and forgive our +sin, and heal our land. + +Furthermore, we earnestly address Thee, O gracious God, whose kingdom +ruleth over all, in behalf of the whole race of mankind. Be pleased, of +Thy great goodness, to grant, that now, when Thy judgments are in the +earth, the inhabitants of the world may learn righteousness: and in every +land they may receive grace to glorify Thee in the day of visitation. Oh +bless and prosper, we pray Thee, the means employed for the spread of the +light of Thy Holy Gospel, here and abroad,—for the promotion of Thy +glory, and the extension of Thy kingdom. That, in Thy good time, the +kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His +Christ. + +Finally, we beseech Thee, of Thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour +all them, who, in this transitory life, are in trouble, sorrow, need, +sickness, or any other adversity;—more especially those who are set in +the midst of so many and great dangers, by reason of the pestilence which +it hath pleased Thee to send upon the land. Oh be Thou unto all Thy +servants a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Be +merciful unto us, O God, be merciful unto us, for our souls trust in +Thee; yea in the shadow of thy wings will we make our refuge, until these +calamities be overpast. Thou art our hope and our stronghold, our God, +in Thee will we trust. O Lord, who art rich in mercy and goodness, +suffer not, we entreat Thee, any evil to happen to us, neither any plague +to come nigh our dwelling. And graciously produce in us such firm trust +in thy mighty aid, amid all the trials and dangers of this mortal life, +and such a blessed assurance, that, under Thy divine control, all things +shall work together for our eternal good, that we may not be afraid for +the terror by night, nor the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the +pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth +at noon-day. But that filled with joy and peace in believing, we may +rest with humble and firm dependence, Heavenly Father, upon Thy sure +protection, Thy blessed guidance, and Thy tender mercies, now and ever. +So that when the hour of our departure shall come, we may humbly trust, +through Thy grace, to meet death without fear or amazement; and stedfast +through faith, and joyful through hope, to commit our souls to Thy +safekeeping, O blessed Lord, as unto a faithful Creator and Redeemer, +when Thou, in Thy infinite wisdom and goodness, shall see it fitting to +take us unto Thyself. Vouchsafe, we earnestly implore Thee, O Almighty +and most merciful God, to receive favourably these our humble petitions +for ourselves and for all mankind, offered with deep humility and +self-abasement to Thy divine Majesty, in the name and through the +mediation of Thy Son, our most blessed Lord and Saviour, to whom, with +Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as is most due, all honour and +glory, dominion and power, thanksgiving and praise, and humble adoration, +henceforth and for evermore. Amen. + + * * * * * + + _A Prayer_, _which may be used in Health or in Sickness_. + +O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, who so loved the world, that Thou +gavest Thy only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not +perish, but have everlasting life, grant unto us, Thy weak and sinful +servants, we most humbly beseech Thee, sincere repentance and lively +faith; that coming to our blessed Lord, as the Way, and the Truth, and +the Life, we may, through His infinite and most precious merits, obtain +pardon and peace. We are sensible, O Lord, of our natural corruption and +hardness of heart, of the number and heinousness of our offences, and yet +we are little acquainted with the extent of that corruption and guilt; +for who knoweth the deceitfulness of his wicked heart, or who can tell +how oft he offendeth? We deserve at Thy hand, O God, nothing but +condemnation; and should utterly despair, were it not for the gracious +assurance given in Thy Holy Scriptures, that Thou, O Lord, waitest to be +gracious, and that the blood of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, cleanseth us from +all sin. + +We know that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of +ourselves, but that our sufficiency is of Thee, who workest in us both to +will and to do, of Thy good pleasure. We beseech Thee, therefore, O God, +to be graciously pleased, for Christ’s sake, to enlighten, by Thy +heavenly grace, the natural darkness of our understandings, to rectify +the perversion of our wills, and to sanctify the unholiness of our +affections. We deplore, O Lord, our deadness to spiritual things: oh! of +Thy great goodness, strengthen, we pray Thee, our faith, quicken our +zeal, increase our love, and improve our obedience. Oh! grant us, +according to the riches of Thy glory, to be strengthened with might by +Thy Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by +faith; that we being rooted and grounded in love, may be filled with the +fruits of the Spirit, may adorn in all things the doctrine of God our +Saviour, and may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. That, +having received the adoption of sons, the Spirit may bear witness with +our spirit, that we are Thy children, O gracious God, to whom looking as +unto a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus, we may cry, Abba, Father. And +we may have our conversation in Heaven, from whence also we look for the +Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it +may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, +whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. + +O Lord Jesu Christ, the Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the +world, have mercy upon us, and cleanse us by Thy precious blood, from the +defilement of our past offences: Oh! enable us to come boldly unto the +Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time +of need. O Almighty and merciful God, who art faithful, and who wilt not +suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but wilt with the +temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it: we +cast all our care on Thee, who carest for us: And oh! mayest Thou, +Heavenly Father, who hast, of Thy free and unmerited mercy, begun a good +work in us, perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. + +Of Thy tender mercy, we beseech Thee, shed abroad in our hearts the +consolations of Thy Gospel, and enrich us with Christian graces, that we +may be supported under whatever afflictions Thou mayest be pleased to +send, and receive them, and seek for grace to benefit by them, as being +sent, gracious Lord, by Thee, in mercy and for our profit. That, under +Thy most mighty protection and blessing, we may fight the good fight of +faith, lay hold on eternal life, and finish our course with joy; by Him +and through Him, to whom has been given a name that is above every name, +that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and +things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should +confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. +Amen, Amen. + + * * * * * + + THE END. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, + St. John’s Square, London. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{3a} Rev. xvi. 1. + +{3b} Luke xxi. 25, 26. + +{5a} Joel ii. 12. + +{5b} Joel ii. 15–17. + +{5c} James i. 7. + +{5d} Heb. xiii. 8. + +{5e} Rom. xv. 4. + +{5f} Psalm cvi. 6. + +{5g} Psalm lxxxvi. 5. + +{6a} Isa. lix. 1. + +{6b} Psalm lix. 13. + +{6c} Isa. i. 11. + +{6d} Isa. i. 16, 17. + +{6e} 1 Sam. xv. 22. + +{7a} Service for the Sick. + +{7b} Luke xix. 44. + +{7c} Psalm cxix. 75. + +{7d} Isa. lv. 6. + +{7e} Jer. xviii. 30. + +{8a} Prov. viii. 15. + +{8b} Psalm lxxxix. 19. + +{8c} Psalm cxxvii. 2. + +{9a} Gen. xviii. 32. + +{9b} Jonah iii. 10. + +{9c} 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. + +{9d} Jer. xviii. 7, 8. Psalm xci. 6. + +{10a} It is much to be desired that the prayers set forth by authority, +or others of a similar character, should be generally used in family +worship. + +{11} 1 Pet. v. 6. + +{12a} Isa. i. 4. + +{12b} Zech. xii. 10. + +{13a} Isa. xliv. 21, 22. + +{13b} Psalm cxix. 73. + +{14a} Luke i. 79. + +{14b} Isaiah x. 3. + +{14c} Isaiah xxvi. 4. + +{14d} Heb. xi. 6. + +{15a} Sherlock on Providence. + +{15b} Heb. xii. 10. + +{15c} Bowdler’s Remains. + +{16a} Heb. xii. 6. + +{16b} Psalm cxix. 71. + +{16c} Jer. xvi. 19. + +{16d} Psalm xxv. + +{17a} Phil. ii. 15. + +{17b} Luke xviii. 18. + +{17c} Matt. xiv. 30. + +{18a} Titus ii. 10. + +{18b} Col. iii. 2. + +{18c} Titus ii. 13. + +{18d} Psalm cxix. 75. + +{19a} 2 Cor. iv. + +{19b} Heb. ii. 16. + +{19c} Deut. xxxiii. 25. + +{19d} Matt. x. 29. + +{19e} Rom. viii. 28. + +{19f} Isaiah xxvi. 3. + +{19g} Rom. xv. 13. + +{21a} 2 Cor. iv. + +{21b} Psalm xci. + +{22a} Isa. xli. 10. + +{22b} Sherlock on Providence. + +{23a} Rom v. 3. + +{23b} Heb. vi. 1. + +{23c} 1 John iv. 18. + +{23d} Heb. xii. 12. + +{23e} Acts xviii. 17. + +{24} 2 Tim. iii. 4. + +{25} Psalm x. 4. + +{26} Proverbs i. + +{28a} Jonah i. 6. + +{28b} Daniel v. 27. + +{30} Acts xx. 21. + +{31} Luke xvi. 23. + +{32a} Matt. xxv. 41. + +{32b} 2 Cor. v. 11. + +{32c} Ibid. v. 20. + +{33a} The Task. + +{33b} Rom. ii. 4, 5. + +{34a} Ezek. xxxiii. 11. + +{34b} Ezek. xviii. 29. + +{34c} Isa. i. 18. + +{35a} Exod. xxxiv. 6. + +{35b} 1 John iv. 8. + +{35c} John iii. 16. + +{35d} John iii. 17. + +{35e} John vi. 47. + +{36a} Matt. xi. 28. + +{36b} Matt. i. 21. + +{36c} Matt. ix. 13. + +{36d} 1 Tim. i. 15. + +{36e} Luke ii. 10. + +{36f} John vi. 37. + +{37a} Psalm ciii. 8. + +{37b} 1 John ii. 1. + +{37c} Rom. viii. 32. + +{38a} John v. 40. + +{38b} Matt. xviii. 11. + +{38c} Luke xv. 10. + +{38d} Rev. v. 13. + +{39a} Acts xxvi. 18. + +{39b} 1 Tim. ii. 4. + +{40a} Rom. iii. 24, 25. + +{40b} Rev. iii. 17, 18. + +{41} James iii. 2. + +{42a} Rom. x. 2, 3. + +{42b} 1 Cor. i. 29. + +{42c} Col. iii. 11. + +{42d} Article IX. + +{43a} Article X. + +{43b} Article XI. + +{43c} Article XII. + +{45} Isa. lv. 7, 8. + +{46a} Ezek. xi. 19. + +{46b} Psalm li. + +{47a} Phil. iii. 14. + +{47b} Ephes. iv. 13. + +{47c} Ibid. vi. 4. + +{48a} The term conversion is here employed to express that change of +will, heart, and life, wrought by divine grace in those, who, when living +in ignorance or neglect of God, are brought to believe, obey, and love +the Gospel, the spirit of which they had never before truly known, the +power of which they had never before really felt. + +{48b} Sermons, p. 125. + +{49a} 1 John v. 1. 10. 18. + +{49b} Rom. viii. 1. 14. + +{51a} p. 123. + +{51b} p. 126. + +{51c} p. 128. + +{52a} Matt. vii. 21. + +{52b} Rom. ii. 13. + +{52c} James i. 22. + +{53a} 1 John ii. 15. + +{53b} Gal. v. 19–21. + +{53c} Mark i. 15. + +{54a} Heb. xii. 14. + +{54b} Titus ii. 11. + +{57a} 2 Cor. iv. 4. + +{57b} Mark x. 23. + +{58a} Luke xvi. + +{58b} 1 John ii. 16. + +{59a} James v. + +{59b} 1 Tim. vi. 9. + +{59c} 1 Pet. ii. 11. + +{59d} 1 Pet. iv. 3. + +{59e} Ephes. v. 6. + +{60a} 1 Tim. vi. 17. + +{60b} 2 Cor. vii. 1. + +{61} Ephes. iv. + +{62} 1 Pet. ii. 1. + +{63} Dan. v. + +{66a} Isa. lvii. 15. + +{66b} 1 Cor. iv. 7. + +{66c} Psalm xix. 12. + +{67} 1 Kings xviii. 21. + +{68a} Rev. iii. 16. + +{68b} Matt. xxii. 57. + +{72} John xv. 13. + +{73} 1 Cor. xvi. 22. + +{74a} Acts xvii. 11. + +{74b} 2 Tim. iii. 16. + +{75a} 2 Cor. x. 4. + +{75b} Jer. xiii. 23. + +{75c} 1 Pet. v. 8. + +{75d} Eph. vi. 12. + +{76a} Rom. vii. 24. + +{76b} Matt. xix. 26. + +{77a} 1 Cor. xv. 57. + +{77b} Rom. xii. 2. + +{77c} Acts iii. 19. + +{78} Psalm xcv. 11. Acts xxiv. 25. + +{80} Ephes. iv. 21. + +{81a} Matt. xvi. 26. + +{81b} John xiv. 6. + +{81c} 2 Cor. v. 21. + +{82a} Rom. v. 1. + +{82b} 2 Cor. xii. 9. + +{82c} Phil. iii. 13. + +{82d} Tit. ii. 10. + +{83} Baptismal Service. + +{84} Matt. xiii. 20. + +{85} Heb. ii. 10. + +{86a} Rev. xviii. 24. + +{86b} 2 Cor. iv. 17. + +{86c} Matt. xxv. 21. + +{87a} Matt. v. 16. + +{87b} Isaiah xxvi. 9. + +{88a} Ephes. iv. 2, 3. + +{88b} Ephes. iv. 5, 6. + +{89a} Service for the Sick. + +{89b} Job xxiii. 10. + +{91a} Luke xix. 42. + +{91b} James i. 17. + +{91c} Ephes. i. 17. + +{91d} Ephes. v. + +{93} Page 4. + +{95} Page 46. + +{96} Page 61. + +{97a} Dan. iv. 17. + +{97b} Deut. vi. 8. + +{98} Page 71. + +{99} Page 69. + +{100} James iv. 15. + +{102} Malachi iii. 6. + +{103a} Zeph. ii. 13. + +{103b} Jer. li. 13. + +{104a} Ezek. xxix. 15. + +{104b} Isaiah xxiii. 7. + +{105a} Ezek. xxvi. 5. + +{105b} Ibid. xxvi. ver. 14. + +{107} Deut. viii. + +{108} Deut. xxviii. 37. + +{110a} Ps. lxviii. 35. + +{110b} Isa. xxx. 1. + +{110c} Rev. iii. 19. + +{111} Matt. xvi. 18. + +{113} Jer. vi. 14. + +{114} Page 8. + +{115} Page 15. + +{116} Page 44. + +{123} Isaiah lvii. 20. + +{124} Apology for Christianity, p. 122. + +{125} Apology for the Bible, p. 2. + +{126} Matt. xxiii. 15. + +{134a} Charges, p. 117. + +{134b} Ibid. p. 128. + +{134c} Ibid. p. 134. + +{135} Rose’s Prevailing Disposition towards Christianity, p. 77. + +{137a} Page 145 + +{137b} Bishop of Durham. + +{149} Lord Brougham’s speech in the Commons, on the Education of the +Poor. + +{154} 2 Sam. xxiv. 21. + +{155} 1 Kings xix. 10. + +{164} Bishop of London’s Charge. + +{167} Psalm cxxxix. 5. + +{168a} Psalm civ. 24. + +{168b} Ibid. xix. i. + +{168c} Ibid. xxxiii. 8, 9. + +{171} Chalmers’ Revelation viewed in connexion with Modern Astronomy. + +{175} Luke i. 4. + +{176} 1 Pet. iii. 15. + +{178} Prov. xv. 23. + +{179a} Luke x. 42. + +{179b} Joshua xxiv. 15. + +{179c} 2 Cor. vi. 14. + +{179d} 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. + +{180} Psalm lv. 14. + +{185} Page 21. + +{188a} Matt. x. 28. + +{188b} Heb. vii. 25. + +{192} Ordination Service. + +{193a} Isaiah lviii. 1. + +{193b} 2 Tim. ii. 24. + +{194a} 1 Cor. iv. 1. + +{194b} 2 Cor. v. 20. + +{194c} Ezek. iii. 17. + +{194d} Acts xx. 28. + +{194e} 1 Thess. ii. 19. + +{195a} 1 Thess. iii. 7. + +{195b} Phil. iv. 1. + +{195c} Ibid. iii. 1. + +{195d} James v. 20. + +{195e} Dan. xii. 3. + +{196a} Ordination Service. + +{196b} Isaiah xxvi. 8, 9. + +{197} Cor. iii. 7. + +{199} Pet. v. 2. + +{200a} Ezek. xxxiv. 16. + +{200b} Isaiah xl. 11. + +{200c} 2 Cor. ii. 16. + +{201} Commentary upon the 1st Epistle of St. Peter, p. 280. + +{202a} Heb. xiii. 5. + +{202b} Matt. xxviii. 20. + +{202c} Isaiah lx. 19. + +{204a} 2 Tim. iv. 6. + +{204b} Acts x. 38. + +{205a} Mark viii. 38. + +{205b} Josh. xxiv. 15. + +{205c} Matt. xii. 30. + +{211} Barbadoes has, at this time, most urgent claims upon the British +nation for assistance: it is estimated that the injury sustained by +churches, schools, and the buildings of charitable institutions, during +the late hurricane, cannot be repaired under a less cost than 40,000_l._ +A subscription has been opened in London for rebuilding the churches and +school-houses. + +{219} Mark xvi. 15. + +{221} Mal. iv. 2. + +{222} Isaiah xi. 9. + +{223} 1 Tim. vi. 17–19. + +{224a} 2 Cor. ix. 6–8. + +{224b} Rev. xi. 15. + +{227} Bishop Horne’s Letter to Adam Smith. + +{233a} 2 Chron. vi. 28. + +{233b} Ibid. vii. 12. + +{235a} Isaiah xxiv. 11. + +{235b} Ibid. xli. 5. + +{236a} 1 Pet. ii. 12. + +{236b} Isaiah li. 11. + +{236c} Ibid. lviii. 8. + +{237} Heb. xiii. 20. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE UNDER +DIVINE VISITATIONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 49126-0.txt or 49126-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/9/1/2/49126 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |