And, perhaps, there has seldom been less genuine piety in the church than when intricate and theoretical points in theology have been most pertinaciously discussed. This is not contending for the faith once delivered to the saints," but diverting the attention from faith, and alienating the heart from charity.

We do not mean to censure a spirit of inquiry, nor to repress earnestness, in the solution of difficulties. It is indeed the very essence of an inquiring mind freely to start doubts, as it is of a learned and enlightened age rationally to solve them. On this point we are quite of the opinion of a good old divine, that "nothing is so certain as that which is certain after doubts. " But compared even with the latter period of religious light and information, how far superior is our own? We who have the happiness to live in the present age, live, when truth has had time to force its way through all the obscurities which had been raised about it, to prevent its access to the understanding. If we rightly appreciate our advantages, we shall truly find that no country, in any age, was ever placed in a fairer position for improvement in wisdom, in piety, and happiness. A black cloud indeed, charged with sulphureous matter, for a long time was suspended over our heads; but, providentially directed, it passed on, and bursting, spread conflagration over other lands. By the most exact retributive justice, those very countries in which the modern Titans first assaulted Heaven, became the first scene of total desolation. In other places we have seen experiments tried, new in their nature, terrible in their progress, and worse than fruitless in their results. We have seen a great nation endeavoring to show the world that they could do without God. We have seen them exclude the Maker from his own creation! and to complete the opposition between their own government, and his whom they gloried in dethroning, they used their impiously assumed power for the extermination of the species which he had created, for the destruction of the souls whom he had sent his Son to redeem.

If, however, in our own age, and perhaps our own country, Christianity has not only been boldly opposed, but audaciously vilified, it has been only so much the more seriously examined, so much the more vigorously defended. If its truth has been questioned by some, and denied by others, it has been only the more carefully sifted, the more satisfactorily cleared. The clouds in which sophistry had sought to envelope it, are dispersed; the charges which skepticism had brought against it, are repelled. The facts,

arch-like, have been strengthened by being trampled upon. Infidelity has done its worst, and by the energy of its efforts, and the failure of its attempts, has shown how little it could do. Wit, and ingenuity, and argument, have contributed each its quota to confirm the truths which wit, and ingenuity, and argument, had undertaken to subvert. Talents on the wrong side have elicited superior talents on the right, and the champions of the Gospel have beaten its assailants with their own weapons. Phyrrhonism has been beneficial, for by propagating its doubts it has caused them to be obviated. Even atheism itself has not been without its uses, for by obtruding its impieties, it has brought defeat on the objections, and abhorrence on their abettors. Thus the enemies of our faith have done service to our cause, for they have not advanced a single. charge against it, which has not been followed by complete refutation; the shaking of the torch has caused it to diffuse a clearer and stronger light.

Let us once more resume the comparison of our advantages, and the use we make of them, with the advantages and the conduct of these ancient servants of God, in considering whom, perhaps, we mingle envy with our admiration. How fervently did these saints of the Old Testament pant for that full blaze of light under which we live, and for which we are so little thankful!-"I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!" was the heart-felt apostrophe of a devout patriarch. The aged saint who "waited for the consolation of Israel, and rapturously sung his Nunc dimittis," the ancient prophetess, who departed not from the temple, who desisted not from prayer day or night;the father of the Baptist, who "blessed the Lord God of Israel that he had visited and redeemed his people; "*. how small were their advantages compared with ours. How weak is our faith, how freezing our gratitude compared with theirs! They only beheld in their Saviour a feeble infant; they had not heard, as we have heard, from the most undeniable authority, the perfections of his life, nor the miracles of his power, nor the works of his mercy, nor his triumph over death, nor his ascension into heaven, nor the descent of the Comforter. They had witnessed a large portion of the globe brought within the Christian pale by the preaching of that Gospel, the dawn of which so exhilarated their overflowing hearts. If full beatitude is promised to them who have not seen, and yet have believed; what will be the state of those who virtually have seen, and yet have not believed?

* Luke ch i

† Luke ch. ii.

Had any patriarch, or saint, who was permitted only some rare and transient glimpses of the promised blessing, being allowed in prophetic vision to penetrate through the long vista of ages, which lay in remote futurity, before him-had he been asked whether, if his power concurred with his choice, in what age and in what nation he would have wished his lot assigned him—is it not more than probable that he would have replied-IN GREAT BRITAIN, IN

THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

May we not venture to assert, that there are, at this moment, on the whole, more helps and fewer hinderances to the operation of Christian piety, than at any preceding period? May we not assert, that at no time has the genuine religion of the Gospel been more precisely defined, more completely stript of human inventions, more purified from philosophical infusions on one hand, and on the other more cleared from superstitious perversions, fanatical intemperance, and debasing associations? That there still exist among us philosophists and fanatics, not a few, we are far from denying; but neither is the distortion of faith in the one party, nor its subversion in the other, the prevailing character; good sense and right mindedness predominate in our general views of Christianity.

If it be objected that there is a very powerful aid wanting to the confirmation of our faith, which the age of the apostles presented-that of miraculous gifts-the obvious answer is, that if they have ceased, it is because they have fully answered the end for which they were conferred: and is not the withdrawing of these extraordinary endowments more than compensated by the fulfilment of so many of the prophecies of the New Testament, and the anticipation of the near approach of others, yet unaccomplished? In the meantime have we not the perpetual attestation of those living miracles, the unaltered state of the Jewish church, and the frequent internal renovation of the human heart?

There is not a more striking feature in the character of the Royal Psalmist, than the fervent and reiterated expressions of his love and admiration of the holy Scriptures. In what a variety of rapturous strains does he pour out the overflowings of his ardent soul! "Oh! how I love thy law! Thy word is a lamp to my feet-Oh teach me thy statutes! Thy words have I hid within my heart-open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law!" To give a full view of his affectionate effusions, would be to transcribe the larger portion of the Psalms

To paraphrase his words, would be to dilute essential spirit

Let us pause a moment, and while we admire this holy fervency, let us blush at our own ingratitude for advantages so superior: let us lament our own want of spiritual sensibility. Let us be humbled at the reflection, how very small was the portion of Scripture with which David was acquainted! How comparatively little did he know of that divine book, yet what holy transport was kindled by that little! He knew scarcely more than the Pentateuch, and one or two contemporary prophets. Then let us turn our eyes to the full revelation under which we live, and be grateful for the meridian splendor.

Had David seen, as we see, the predictions of the late prophetical writers, those of Isaiah especially, to say nothing of his own, fulfilled-had he seen, as we have seen, their glorious accomplishment in the New Testamentthe incarnation and resurrection of Christ, the plenary gift of the Holy Spirit, the fulfilment of types, the substantiation of shadows, the solution of figures, the destruction of Jerusalem, the wide propagation of the everlasting Gospel, and that in far more tongues than were heard on the day of Pentecost,-had he seen a Bible in every cottage-a little seminary of Christian institution in every village-had he beheld the firm establishment of the Christian church, no longer opposed, but supported by secular powers, after having conquered opposition by wea pons purely spiritual-had he seen a standing ministry continued in a regular succession, from the age of the apostles to the present hour-had he seen, in addition to these domestic blessings, England emancipating Africa and evangelizing India, commerce spreading her sails to promote civilization, and Christianity elevating civilization and sanctifying commerce-had the royal saint witnessed this combination of mercies in one single country, what had his feelings been?

He who so passionately exclaimed, "Oh how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of Hosts!-my soul hath a desire and a longing to enter into the courts of the Lordblessed are they that dwell in thine house-one day in thy courts is better than a thousand-one thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit his temple"-this conqueror of the heathen, this denouncer of false gods, this chosen monarch of the chosen people, this fervent lover of the devotions of the sanctuary,

this hallowed poet of Sion, this noble contributor to our public worship, this man after God's own heart, was not permitted to build one single church- we in this island only, possess ten thousand.

But some may say, the apostles had supernatural supports, which are withheld from us. Their supports were doubtless proportioned to the fervency of their faith, and to the extraordinary emergencies on which they were called to act. But as we had occasion to remark in a former chapter, these assistances seem to have been reserved for occasions to which we are not called; and to be dispensed to them for others rather than for themselves. We do not find that they who could cure diseases, were exempted from suffering them; that they who could raise others from the dead, escaped a violent death themselves. We do not find that the aids afforded them, were given to extinguish their natural feelings, to lighten their burdens, to rescue them from the vicissitudes of a painful life, from poverty or sorrows, from calumny or disgrace. Though St. Paul converted the jailor, he had nevertheless been his prisoner; though he had been the instrument of making "saints even in Cæsar's household," he was not delivered from perishing by Cæsar's sword.

It does not appear that in their ordinary transactions they had the assistance of more than the ordinary operations of the Spirit. These, blessed be Almighty Goodness! are not limited to prophets or apostles, but promised to all sincere believers, to the end of the world: communicated in a measure proportioned to their faith, and accommodated to their exigencies. The treasures of grace, unlike all other treasures, are not to be exhausted by using; but like the multiplication of loaves, more is left to be gathered up after the gift is used, than was imparted in the first instance.

CHAP. XXII.

Conclusion.-Cursory inquiry into some of the causes which impeded general improvement.

IF we, in this favorite country, and at this favored period, are not as internally happy as we are outwardly prosperous; if we do not reach that elevation in piety; if we do not exhibit that consistency of character, which, from the advantages of our position, might be expected; if innumerable