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snug and comfortable times when they lolled in lined pews, and dwelt in ceiled houses, enduring little besides the imaginary diseases of spiritual hypochondriacism are fast passing away. Already from church to church the ominous sound is heard. "Curse ye Meroz," said the angel of the Lord," curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." No sooner has the student emerged from the walls of college than he feels he must be at work. He has no time to loiter. The lighter employments of literature must be thrown aside. Popery and infidelity fraternize as readily in America as in Europe, and every day the unnatural league is more closely cementing. There is but one remedy,—the universal diffusion of the gospel-the evangelization of the people-a multiplicity of conversions-in a word, revivals of religion.

The promotion of revivals, or, as it may be expressed less technically, the conversion of sinners, is then, in most cases, the one idea which occupies the mind of a young New England clergyman. It is obvious that his preaching will be modified accordingly. His attention is naturally turned towards those men whose ministry may seem to have been most blessed to the unregenerate, and the writings of Edwards, Bellamy, Davies, and others, become, in subservience to the Bible, his text-books. He marks their theological peculiarities. He sees that they continually drew a broad and affecting line of demarcation between their converted and unconverted hearers, and he does the same. He finds that they fearlessly pressed upon men the im

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mediate and evangelical performance of their obligations to God, as duties which belong to the creature, irrespective of any decrees of the Creator, and exhortations of this character form a prominent part of his ministrations. They dwelt much on the absolute sovereignty of God in the disposal of his blessings, and on this topic he frequently enlarges. In short, before he is aware, he is treading in their steps. It is unnecessary to particularize the sentiments of men with whose works every theologian is familiar. It is sufficient to observe, that this is the school in which the great majority of American divines have evidently been trained. They have adopted these men as their models, not less from a persuasion that their mode of presenting truth is in accordance with the revealed will of God, than because their sentiments seem to have been eminently marked out in the history of the Church by his approval.

Were we obliged to fix upon some one particular in which the American differs most widely from the British preacher, we should say it was in the handling of the cross. To illustrate our meaning, we will take two faithful and evangelical ministers of the Gospel, the one trained in the severe school of Edwards and Bellamy-a New England theologian; the other educated in an English dissenting college. Both of course hold that the preaching of Christ crucified is, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, the grand instrument of conversion; but they differ as to the mode in which this glorious mystery is to be presented to the sinner. former considers it primarily an instrument of conviction, and, with Peter, seeks to prick his hearers to the heart, by bringing home to them the accusation of having

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crucified the Lord of Glory. The latter tries to win over the sinner to God by the offer of reconciliation. The one holds that there is a peculiar adaptation in the cross of Christ, to melt the stubbornness of the unrenewed heart-that it is "a mighty principle of attraction, brought to bear upon a nature that might have remained sullen and unmoved under every other application." As if God who knows what was in man, seemed to have known that in his dark and guilty bosom there was but one solitary hold that he had over him; and that to reach it, he must just put on a look of graciousness, and tell us that he has no pleasure in our death, and manifest towards us the longings of a bereaved parent, and even humble himself to a suppliant in the cause of our return, and send a Gospel of peace into the world, and bid his messengers to bear throughout all its habitations, the tidings of his goodwill to the children of men." This he says is the "manifested goodwill of God to his creatures, the band of love and the cord of a man by which he draws them." The other, agreeing in all that is said concerning the love of God, thus wondrously manifested, maintains that this demonstration of goodness, so far from "wooing man into a reciprocally warm and confiding attachment,"only affords, in its universal rejection, a more complete illustration of the desperate nature of that depravity which will NO MORE be won by love, than it will be subdued by terror.

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In this particular, we are inclined to think our transatlantic friends are right. At all events it is of importance that this subject should be thoroughly discussed, for the settlement of it has much to

* Dr. Chalmers.

do with our mode of presenting the Gospel. If the obstacle to man's reconciliation with his Maker were some error of opinion regarding the true character of God, a clear demonstration of his wondrous love in Christ Jesus would certainly be better adapted to remove it, than the additional of any pressure weight of obligation; but arising, as it does, from the most desperate enmity of heart, both to God and goodness, this display of tenderness only falls upon an unrenewed soul like the pale and sickly beam of a wintry sun. It may enlighten the understanding, or it may lead to a speculative and inoperative faith; and we do not deny that out of this dead faith, has frequently sprung up, under the quickening beams of the life-giving Spirit, a living flame never to be put out. But we firmly believe that more commonly it is greedily seized

upon as an opiate to a wounded conscience, and being unaccompanied by any direct and immediate interference on the part of the Holy Spirit, working a thorough change of the affections, it proves only a savour of death unto death."

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It is allowed on all sides, that wherever the Holy Spirit enters the heart, his first work is to convince of sin. Upon this admission, our American friends argue that it is the preacher's duty to follow the line of the Spirit, and dealing with the sinner as Paul dealt with Felix, to press directly upon his conscience those topics which are most calculated to leave a very painful sense of his obligations, and to make him either cry out, "What shall I do to be saved?" or oblige him to say, "Go thy way for this season.

To these views we are aware that many objections have been made, and the lifting up of the

brazen serpent in the wilderness has frequently been brought forward as indicative of another mode of presenting the Gospel. We do not, however, see much force in this. The wounded Israelites were representative of sinners deeply convinced of sin-smarting under its bite, and conscious of their wounds; and we do not see that they at all prefigured careless slumberers. The Philippian jailer too, is a case equally inapplicable. His distress of mind arose, not, as some would have us to believe, simply from terror at the earthquake, accompanied by a fear that his prisoners would escape, but from the workings of that Divine Spirit, who seized upon this incident to arrest him in a moment by convictions as deep and as sudden as those which in former years had smitten his prisoner to the ground on his way to Damascus. Let a man be in this state of mind, crushed under the weight of a violated law, and there is but one sentence suited to his case, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

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The first aim, then, of an American preacher is to produce convictions of sin. In order to do this, he is continually opening up, and pressing the obligations of the sinner, and urging him, in the most direct terms, and by every motive which Scripture will sanction, to the exercise of evangelical repentance without a moment's delay.He fearlessly tells him to repent, to pray, to believe, to turn, to choose, to strive-in short, in the language of Scripture, to make himself a new heart; and he tells him that if he is finally lost, it will not be for committing sins which he could not avoid, but for refus ing and neglecting to do that which he could have done. He goes on, demanding for God the affections

of the sinner, and pleads the right of the Creator to be loved, not merely on condition that he will love the sinner, but because his character, in ALL its aspects, is inexpressibly lovely, and infinitely worthy of his regard.

This style of preaching it is evident will materially affect the phenomena of conversion. It is by no means inconsistent with a full recognition of Divine Sovereignty to assert that the peculiar circumstances which mark conversion, as well as many points in the future character of the converted, are commonly decided by the influence of the ministry under which the change has been accomplished. The fine gold which comes out of the crucible is all purified alike by the refiner's fire, but the outward fashion of it depends on the mould into which it falls. Thus it is in conversion. A sinner converted under a New England preacher is, in many respects, differently fashioned from one who is equally made a new creature in Christ Jesus under the ministry of a dissenting minister in England. The same observation holds true, with regard to different denominations. A Churchman, a Wesleyan, an Independent, and a Scottish Presbyterian, may be all equally born again under the same gospel, and yet there will be in them certain important differences which may be traced most clearly and decisively to the character of the ministry, and the discipline of the Church under the instruction of which they have been regenerated.

With these views, we consider it by no means unimportant to inquire what style of preaching is best adapted to form strong men in Christ Jesus,-what mode of treatment will be most likely to secure a healthy spiritual progeny. As there are some who never get be

yond the character of babes in Christ, so there are others who, through the ignorance or negligence of their spiritual nurses, are all their days ricketty children.We trust we shall not be misunderstood. We are serious, on a serious subject, and if we use familiar illustrations it is only because others do not occur equally expressive. We deeply feel that we have yet much to learn in the divine art of nourishing and bringing up the young and sickly of the flock.

In the accounts which have reached us of American revivals, nothing has excited more surprise than the depth of sorrow which the subjects of them seem to experience. Under sermons which have been read from the manuscript, without a single gesticulation, the hardy sons of the forest have cried out aloud in distress; and hundreds and thousands, under the pressure of emotions like these, have found all the claims of appetite forgotten, and sleep banished from a couch wet with the tears of unfeigned sorrow. this is not all. A few days have elapsed, and perhaps at midnight, perhaps in the solitude of the woods, or it may be in the house of God, the whole scene changed; the clouds have rolled away; the cheering beams of the Sun of Righteousness have shot into the soul, and the heart, which but yesterday was fit to break with anguish, now, unable to restrain its joy, bursts forth into singing.

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It has often been asked, why emotions of this powerful kind should so rarely be found among ourselves, and various solutions of the difficulty have been offered. Some have resolved the matter altogether into Divine sovereignty; others have associated these powerful awakenings with certain local

and national peculiarities; and others again have ascribed the apparent absence of extreme distressor lively joy in English converts, to that habit of concealment which is induced by a refined and highly artificial state of society. We should rather look for an explanation in some of those characteristics which we have pointed out, as distinguishing the Christian ministry of the respective countries, and as a natural consequence in the different treatment which an awakened sinner would experience from his spiritual advisers. In the one case his wounded conscience would be unsparingly cauterized, in order that, if healed, it might be healed every whit. In the other, tenderness would throw aside the knife, and apply a balsam, and the wound, however mollified by sweet ointment, is consequently in continual danger of opening and bleeding afresh. In many cases we fear the readiness with which first convictions of sin have been accounted proof of a saving work of God, and been treated accordingly, has led to false and imaginary conversions. The sinner, soothed by promises which do not belong to him, has been bribed into a speculative faith, which for a time has quieted his fears, and given him peace. But, after a while, conscience has again lifted up her voice, and then nothing will satisfy him but a continual opiate. Every sermon which presses obligation irritates, until at length the lap of Antinomian heresy is the only place in which he can slumber in peace. We can never be too particular in pressing the necessity of distinct convictions, leading to a loathing and habitual turning away from sin. It is generally taken for granted, that a sinner's distress arises from erroneous conceptions of the Gospel. But

this is not the fact. His despair is commonly occasioned, not by an opinion that Christ is unable or unwilling to save him, but from a fear, certainly well founded, that Christ will not save him without entire submission, unfeigned repentance, and a new heart. In the absence of any evidence that this great change has taken place, to comfort him with promises which belong only to the believer, is to oppose the spirit of God.

But it is not in the treatment of the unconverted merely, that this severity of character is visible. It is equally prominent in exhortations to the believer. It gives a tone to Christian society, and most of all it distinguishes the minister himself, whether in or out of the pulpit. The firm pressed lip, the sepulchral tone, the air of deep solemnity which belong to the severe New England preacher, are as unlike the benignant smiles, and fluent utterance of an English dissenter, as are the stern and lean physiognomies of our puritan forefathers, to the complacent and good - humoured countenances which adorn a modern magazine.

But we must check ourselves. We set out with the intent of exhibiting what we considered distinctive features in the two national preachers which lie before us-but we have wandered, we scarcely know whither good Dr. Payson must bring us back again.

It will be impossible to do more than briefly notice his valuable discourses. We can quite suppose that they will disappoint the highwrought expectations of those who have had the privilege of listening to the living voice of the preacher; for the indescribable solemnity which attended their delivery, "the unaffected earnestness, the glowing intensity of feeling, the peculiarity of expression and utterance,

and the prayers which disarmed criticism," are all absent. Besides, these discourses were not written for the press. There is, however, enough to show us, that had it been Dr. Payson's concern to produce great sermons, few could have surpassed him; and there is still more to demonstrate that the one object he had in view was to save the souls of those that heard him.

We could find in these sermons many illustrations of the remarks which we have thought it right to make on what a sermon should be; but we need not make such a selection. Those who may think it worth their while carefully to analyse the volume, will discover them; and we can assure them, that time thus spent will not be wasted.

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Once again would we earnestly urge upon our beloved young friends who are so soon to supply the vacant places of living ministers, the importance of seriously investigating all the circumstances which tend to promote or to impede ministerial efficiency. They will perhaps allow us to suggest, in a spirit, we trust, of Christian love, some things which we have long considered hindrances to the usefulness of young preachers. And first, we have observed a prevailing confusion of idea as to what ought to be denominated means of grace; what the precise use of the word is to the unregenerate; and what exertions an unconverted man can make for his own salvation. The want of clear and distinct conceptions on these points has led to a generalizing mode of address; and hence, vague appeals to the sinner to believe on Christ; or, (what is still more common) loose dissertations and reflections on various texts, without sufficient point or object,

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