have formed here; that they must then perceive and feel what they have done, what they have been, and what they are; that conscience aroused, purged, and armed with vengeance will then do its office most faithfully; and they will be made to see in its darkest colours the odiousness, the folly, the infamy, the ingratitude and baseness of sin; and observe that they have gained nothing and that they have lost every thing; that their doom is now sealed; that all is now over with them; regret comes too late; that the disastrous consequences of their sins are unlimited and irretrievable, and that they are now left to feed upon them and upon them alone in all their bitterness;-if they are not moved by such doctrines, it cannot be because these doctrines have no terror in them; for with these mental agonies, these moral privations, what physical sufferings can bear a comparison? If they are not moved by them, it is because they have no understanding to discern between things that differ, and no heart to feel this difference. If such doctrines as these, which are the doctrines of rational christians, have no terror in them for the guilty and impenitent, we know not what is terrible; and these doctrines, being simple, and rational, and perfectly conformable to all their present experience so far as it is applicable to the subject, cannot fail to be more impressive upon every mind, which is capable of understanding them, than any representations on these subjects of a sensible or metaphorical nature.

IV. It is objected, in the fourth place, that our religious views are too abstract, in the technical sense of the term too philo, sophical, have too little to do with the affections to be a religion for the poor.

We are persuaded that it is with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; that any religious belief which ends in speculation only, will be of little use as a practical principle. Our religion, in order to become a rule of life, must be not merely the assent of the understanding, but a deep persuasion of the heart; a principle, and more than that, a sentiment; must rest not on the convictions of the judgment merely, but have its seat among our warnest and best affections. A religion of this character is particularly necessary to the unlearned; having neither the means nor the ability for religious inquiry, we can expect to bring them under the power of religion only as we engage in its behalf their feelings and affections.

Our religious views give no encouragement to mysticism or to fanaticism; but there is a profound sense of religious duty, and a holy and lofty enthusiasm, which connects itself with every thing that is connected with religion, which they are adapted to enkindle and cherish,

When our religion begins, therefore, not with teaching men. in regard to the Deity, one of the boldest and most impenetrable mysteries, we need not say we refer to the doctrine of the Trinity; not with proclaiming the divine sovereignty, exercised most arbitrarily and without any regard to the moral deserts of men; not with declaring God's implacable vengeance towards his creatures, which, in order to be appeased, required the sacrifice of a perfectly good being, his dearly beloved son; but in the place of these doctrines, exhibits him as our kind father, cherishing, pitying, loving his creatures with more than parental tenderness; compassionating their frailty, pardoning their sins upon their repentance, going out indeed to meet with open arms and with unmixed kindness the returning prodigal; caring for all, blessing all, dispensing even his severest chastisements in mercy, and providing only for the virtue and the happiness of his creatures; we know of no doctrines more touching, nor how it could make a more powerful appeal to our love, confidence, gratitude, and devotion. Further, when our religion, instead of exhibiting to us a Saviour, under so mysterious, anomalous, and mixed a character, that we are at a loss how to approach him; and of so exalted and divine a nature, that we are discouraged with the thought that the example of a God is to be the measure of our duty; when, instead of such doctrines, it discovers to us a Saviour, who condescends to call us brethren, and who presents an example in human nature of what we ought to be and to do; and who, touched with the infirmities of our nature, and tempted as we are, is able to succour those who are tempted; and who is not represented as dying in an unintelligible and incomprehensible sense as God-man, but sacrificing his life in the cause of truth and duty, for the noblest ends, and in the most disinterested manner, it presents to our feelings an object adapted to call them forth in the most powerful degree; it provokes the deepest sympathy; it inspires the most profound admiration; it enkindles a noble emulation; it excites and enchains our purest and strongest affections. It is in such a Saviour that even children may be early taught to feel the deepest interest; it is to such a Saviour that the poor and uneducated will look as a source of invaluable consolation under the troubles of life, and as an infallible guide to wisdom and virtue, contentment and peace; and it is under the government and providence of such a Father, that they will enjoy a sublime security amidst all the changes of life, an immoveable confidence in a beneficial result of all that they do and suffer here, provided that they are but faithful to themselves; and that even the most desolate and afflicted, to whom the world is only a scene of disappointment and

misery, of privation and hopelessness, will feel that they are not utterly friendless and alone.

We are aware that to a subject of this nature it is impossible to do justice within those limits, to which we are here confined. We present only the outlines of the picture, leaving the completion of it to the reflections of our readers. For the reasons, which we have stated, we think it cannot be said of the views, which we entertain of christianity, that they are not sufficiently definite and intelligible, nor practical, nor serious, nor affecting. But whether the arguments, which we urge on this subject, be or be not such as to satisfy those, who differ from us that our religion in these respects is what it ought to be, it is in our power and it is an imperative duty to give an irresistible proof of it in our lives and characters. On our own personal religion we must rest our chief hopes of recommending our principles to

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We are compelled to hear it often asserted, that the friends of rational christianity are deficient in religious knowledge, in vital piety, in a serfous regard to futurity, and in feeling and interest in religion. If it be so, it is not the fault of our principles. It does not become us to repel such reproaches by insinuations against the virtue or piety of those who differ from us- -God forbid that we should ever have any satisfaction in thinking discovering that any of our fellow christians are not so good as we could wish them to be. But it does become us to show by our lives that they have no foundation. It is an important duty with those, who have the ability and the means of religious knowledge, to settle with themselves as accurately as possible, what they believe, and on what grounds they believe it; and to form such exact views of religion, as to be able to give to every inquirer a reason for the hope that is in them. It becomes us to make our religion the supreme guide and rule of our lives. It is of no value but as it produces the fruits of virtue and piety. We should live always under a profound sense of the solemn sanctions by which its precepts are enforced; and it should be, as its doctrines are designed to render it, the subject of our deepest interests, the source of our richest consolations, and the centre, around which our affections hover with an unquenchable ardour and an inflexible constancy. Religion is the highest law of our being. Christianity is the only full and exact interpreter of this law. It comes as the equal friend of all men, of the prosperous and the afflicted, the enlightened and the unlearned, the rich and the poor, the exalted and the humble. Let us endeavour that none shall be shut out from its light, its consolations, its privileges and hopes; and especially those of our breth

ren of the human family, to whom it seems most needed to supply the place of other blessings, which are withheld from them. It is the moral nature of man, which gives to human existence its only value; and this moral nature is the common gift of heaven to all men. It is the great object of christianity to improve this gift, and to bring man to an assimilation with that Being, who is the sum and centre of all moral excellence. By freeing it from those corruptions which have tarnished its lustre and impeded its influence, and by an exhibition of its true character, let us endeavour that none shall want its advantages and its blessings. God designed it as an universal religion; and let us not be deficient in every reasonable and possible effort to diffuse its influence into every department of human society; that it may throw a fairer splendour over its brightest scenes; and above all, that it may send its hght into its most obscure recesses, and purge its most polluted places, and cause the voice of contentment and hope, of thanksgiving devotion and joy in God and in Christ to be heard, where ignorance and poverty, vice and wretchedness have hitherto held common and undisturbed dominion.

C.

A FEW RULES IN REGARD TO PRIVATE PRAYER.

1. For every duty that we are daily to perform, there must be an alloted time of every day; and as private prayer is a duty of every day, there must be a time, or times of every day, appropri ated for it.

Some devotional writers have warmly recommended, not only the appropriation of certain times of every day for private prayer, and not alone the appropriation of a particular apartment to which we should retire for this exercise, but that there should also be one place in that apartment, where we should always perform the duty. The design of this is, that by the strong associations that would be formed with this place, we may be reminded, as often as we see or think of it, of the prayers we have there offered; and thus excited to maintain a spirit and conduct, corresponding with our prayers. I do not however recommend this practice, because I think that devotional associations should not be so confined to any place; because I fear, if such a habit is formed, devotional feelings will not be so easily, nor so strongly excited in other places, where we may be called to offer our prayers; and because a true spirit of prayer is not dependent on such arbitrary associations. There must indeed be a place, as well as a time, for our daily deliberate offerings of prayer. But New Series-vol. V.

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he who has a spirit of prayer, and specified times of every day for its particular exercise, will seldom be at a loss in regard to place. Let it, for example, be included under our first rule, that the first exercise of our thoughts and cares in the morning, and the last at night, shall be in secret communion with God. We shall then either pray as we lie in our bed; or kneel beside it when we have risen, and when we retire for rest. Here then we have provided for the regular exercise of the duty twice in every day. But every one can have, and every one should have, at least one other time of the day, in which he should retire for private prayer. The hour that is convenient to one, may be inconvenient to another. But who could not find a few minutes even in the busiest day, to ask of God the gratification of some temporal want, if he were sure that he could thus obtain it? would ask any man who objects, that he can find no favourable opportunity for this retirement, whether equal difficulty would be felt, if by his daily prayers he could increase his property, or fame, or mere animal pleasure. And are the objects of private prayer of less interest and worth? Here then I leave the first rule; adding only, that the duty for the performance of which we have no specified time, will easily be neglected, and soon forgot

ten.

II. Prayer should be preceded by at least a moment or two of recollection, and consideration of the service in which we are to engage, that we may distinctly understand our own purpose in prayer.

Every well disposed mind will perceive at once the reasonableness of this rule, and its great importance.

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No man who would obtain a character for sense, judgment and consistency, would allow himself in rash, hasty and inconsiderate language, even in the freest and most familiar intercourse. Above all, no one who feels that he is addressing, or is about to address, his superiour among men; that he is about to express his gratitude to a benefactor, or to ask a favour of one on whom he is dependent, or to acknowledge a fault for which he would ask forgiveness; could approach this superiour for either of these purposes, without first dwelling upon the purpose, and having distinctly and fully in view the object of the address he is to offer. And is less consideration to be exercised when we are about to pray? A prayer that is without object, without design, is necessarily also without spirit and life; and unproductive of any good to him that offers it. Let us ask, then, before we pray, What is our purpose? Have we the affections which we would express to God? Consider what they are. Would we give thanks to him? Consider what are the blessings for which we would express our