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TRUE REGENERATION.

How different from this, the true regeneration, arising out of an internal conviction, which no man can give to himself, but only yield to it, when given him from above; the conviction that the soul, seeking its own self, and that which belongeth to self, is altogether out of its true position; that God, the centre of all things, being in all things, and having power over all, is alone able to seek the creature with that search, by which it will be found, and restored to eternal perfection, peace, and joy; that the creature, on the contrary, is unable to seek any thing but God, without sin, and without regard to self. This conviction, -together with the apprehension of the power and holiness of God, on one hand, and of his mercy and loving kindness on the other, overwhelming the soul, the idea of self, and the feeling for self, are annihilated: the motives derived from self cease, because their source is, as it were, dried up; and the well of everlasting life begins to spring up inwardly, giving man the will and the power to love God as a child does his father: to love himself as a vessel of the divine life, and as an object of its regenerating influence, and his neighbour, in the same sense, as an instrument for his correction, and reciprocally, as an object of his improving influence, by a mutual intercourse through and in God. Here there is not a mere change of objects; there is a change of spirit; the creature has ceased to seek itself, or any thing belonging to self-it seeketh none but God, into whose hands it has given itself up entirely, not with a view to get the blessings, which he can give, and will give; but from a conviction, that this entire devotion is the only true position for the creature, to stand in to its Maker and its Saviour. Gratification is no longer an object of pursuit, though received in thankfulness-the whole tendency of the soul being directed towards conformity with the divine will, towards similitude, and union with God. This is truly seeking first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." The distinction, then, between false and true regeneration, is clearly this; that the former is an endeavour on

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MODERN PHARISAISM A NATIONAL EVIL. 243

the part of the creature, as it were, to lay hold of God for itself, self being the mainspring of its religion now, as it was before of unbelief and sin; whereas, the latter is a yielding up of the soul to God, whose holy spirit becomes the spring of a new life within it. The former is a selfmade, and selfish religion, in fact no religion at all; the latter is a religion, whose source and object is God; that is to say, the only true religion. Hence, it follows, that the illumination of the latter must be true and real, and that of the former false and illusory, which, though it does not prevent a close resemblance, in the literal expression of doctrinal points, yet produces an immense difference in practice, as well as in the internal feelings of the soul. To which of these two religions we ought to show the way to the rising generation, cannot, for a moment, be hesitated about; the only question is, what we must not do, that we may avoid the one, and what we can do, that we may attain the other. This leads me to an inquiry, which I had before intended to introduce, concerning the causes, which have led to so general a spread of that spirit of Pharisaism, which I have endeavoured to trace to its origin in the human heart, individually. It is a sad reflection to think, that a nation, to whom such power is given, for the spread of the Gospel over the world, should, instead thereof, propagate, as I fear is the case in most instances, a system of spiritual selfishness, which, although, by its outward accordance with the letter of revelation, it has a form of Godliness, yet in its true nature denies the power thereof, and is calculated to keep the world in ignorance even of the existence of such a power. For, let it be remembered, that words and names add nothing to the knowledge, much less to the state, of the soul; that a man may talk of the operations of the Holy Spirit, nay, and write volumes, and wellwritten volumes too, on the subject, and yet he may not know any thing of the Holy Spirit; on the contrary, if he associate with those words all the ideas and feelings of that fancied illumination, which accompanies a false regenera

244

MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION.

tion, the reality of his illusions, which he is unable to discern from the reality of the reality, will only tend to insure the perpetuity of his ignorance; for none are so unwilling and unfit to learn. as those who fancy they know already. Woe unto our children, because such is the knowledge by which, and in which, they are educated! They are taught religion by names and words, not by life and spirit; those that are destined to become the teachers of the people, are told of the Lord God, and of his marvellous works, in the same style, in which they are made acquainted with the fables of Jove and Hercules; the youthful imagination is imbued with both at the same time, so that the latter, which is the more palpable, is almost sure to make a deeper impression; the importance of both, must, from the solicitude evinced by the teacher, appear, at least, equal to the pupil, and the shame attached to ignorance of mythology, even if there was never any attached to the knowledge of religion, will cause the balance to sink on the side of the former.Is it, then, I ask, to be wondered at, that, from such schools, a Robert Taylor issues forth, who can make no distinction between mythology and revelation, and is insane enough to reject the latter, because he has sense enough to see the futility of the former ?-And let it not be supposed, that this reproach falls upon the Establishment only; if the Dissenters have not equalled it in "classical attainments," it is only because they want the means; not because they see the impropriety, and the danger, of filling a youth's head with "cunningly devised fables,” before he has acquired any knowledge of the truth, to the test of which they must be brought, if they shall at all be made available for instruction. And yet, it seems not very difficult to conceive, that it is a heavy sin, to acquaint the child with a number of idol-gods, created in the corrupt fancy of man, and after the corrupt image of man, before he has had time vitally to apprehend the all-important truth, that man was originally created after, and is destined to be restored to, the likeness of the one true and living

OUR CHRISTIANITY YET CARNAL.

245

God. But none are so blind as those that will be blind, and the more the light stares them in the face, the greater is their blindness.

The poor, it is true, have this advantage, that the snares of heathenism are withheld from them; but if they have a bad thing less, have they, therefore, a good thing more? What is the condition of their religious instruction? Are they not made to run over the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and Catechism, in the same manner, as over the pence and multiplication table; and do they understand any more of the former than of the latter? What can they, from the character of their tuition, possibly learn on the subject, but that these are words, which are required to come forth from their lips? About their meaning they concern themselves the less, as their mind is wholly taken up with the apprehension of the punishment, or the hope of the reward, that awaits a deficient, or perfect, performance, of this unhallowed babbling of things most sacred.

But, leaving all these incidental defects of our much lauded Christian instruction out of the question, I would ask: Where is the school, in which children are received in the name of Christ, in the true sense of the word? Where is the teacher, who abstains from inculcating any human system, but, contenting himself with laying before the pupil, in a plain and intelligible manner, the facts of revelation, leaves the interpretation of them to the Spirit of the Lord God, having faith that the child has some part in that Spirit? Where is the teacher, or the parent, that is contented to see a child become a Christian, without caring, whether he profess himself of this or that denomination, or of any denomination at all? Or, rather, I should ask, where are the people, in this enlightened age, that can believe a man to be a Christian, if he be of no denomination? That is to say, where are they that will acknowledge a man to be a Christian, if he choose not to be a

carnal Christian after their fashion?

Have they not-so

great is the want of classing men in denominations-col

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THE DIVINE PATTERN OF EDUCATION.

lected all those, who profess to be of none, under the queer denomination, "Nondescript," of whose tenets, I apprehend, it would be difficult to give an accurate account? One question more, on this tender point, the carnality of the Christian world: If there were no earthly interests mixed up with religion, would men be so anxious to give, or to receive, from each other, outward pledges concerning it? I apprehend not. If it was purely for the sake of Christ, and of the salvation of souls through him, the denomination would become less important, and from this very reason, the Christian character itself would have greater weight. As it is, however, there are but few who can understand, that the inward does not come by the outward, and still fewer who can conceive of the inward existing without the outward, or independently of it. Here is the great point. Because we are anxious to make our children Churchmen, or Baptists, or Independents, or Friends, and so forth, therefore we fail of making them Christians, as, otherwise, by the blessing of God, we might be enabled to do. Because we teach religion, without faith in the indwelling of the everlasting light, in the child's darkness, therefore that light faileth to shine upon our instruction, as we have the promise that it would do, if we were to teach truly in the name of Him, who has been made manifest in the flesh, as the true light.

It is a remarkable fact, that whilst every man, who chooses to start a new system of education, or instruction, is sure to find followers, there has not yet been any attempt made, at least not professedly, or consciously, to take for a model, that great pattern of education, which God himself has laid down, in his marvellous guidance of the human species, from darkness to light. If He, whose is the kingdom and the power, has condescended to prepare mankind, during ages, for the reception of that important revelation, by which the way of salvation was thrown open to all men, why should we, his feeble instruments, be so loth to take a similar course with the child, and, instead of