383

CHAP. XXII.

CONCLUSION.

CURSORY ENQUIRY INTO SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH IMPEDE GENERAL IMPROVEMENT.

Ir we, in this favoured country, and at this favoured 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 providential distinctions are conferred without being proportionally improved; if we are rejoicing for public blessings without so profiting by them, as to make advancement in private virtue and personal religion;

- should we not diligently enquire in what particulars our deficiencies chiefly consist, what are the obstructions which especially impede our progress? And will a short digression, with a view to this enquiry, be considered as too wide a departure from the general subject?

That middle course which the lukewarm Christian takes, he takes partly because it seems to carry with it many present advantages which the geniune Christian loses. This measured conduct obtains for him that general

popularity, the desire of which is his main spring of action. He secures the friendship of worldly men because he can accommodate his taste to their conversation, and bend his views to their practices. As he is not profligate, the pious, who are naturally candid, judge him favourably, and entertain hopes of his becoming all they wish; so that he unites the credit of their good opinion with the pleasure derived from the society of the others. A neutral character thus converts every thing to his own profit, avoids the suspicion attached to saints, and the disgrace inseparable from sinners. To disoblige the world is, upon his principles, a price almost too high for the purchase of heaven itself. Is it not doubtful whether he who accounts it so easy a matter to be a Christian is a Christian in reality? To such an one, indeed, it is as easy as it is pleasant, to reckon upon heaven; but can any, without faith and without patience, be followers of them who, "through faith and patience, inherit the promises?"

The truth is, mere men of the world do not conceive a very formidable opinion of the real evil of sin; they think slightly of it, because it is so common; they even think almost favourably, at least they think charitably of it, when they see that even good men are not altogether exempt from it. From carelessness, or an erroneous kindness, they entertain a tender opinion of what they perceive to be a constant attendant

on human nature; they plead in its vindication the mercy of God, the weakness of man, the power of temptation, the strength of the passions; and are apt to construe a strict judgment on the thing into an uncharitable harshness on the man. For this forbearance they expect to be paid in kind, to be paid with interest; for their very charity is usurious. The least religious, however, often resent keenly those crimes which offend against society; of sins which affect their own interest they are the most forward to seek legal redress. But they do not feel that some of the worst corruptions are of a spiritual nature; and to those which only offend God, they never show themselves tenderly alive.

But if they were brought to entertain just notions of the glorious majesty of God, they would soon learn to see how sin dishonours it; nor could an adequate view of his unspeakable holiness fail of leading them to a thorough hatred of every thing which is in direct opposition to it. If, however, their own impure vision prevents them from perceiving how deeply sin must offend the infinite purity of God, they might at least be awfully convinced of its malignant nature, by contemplating the wide and lasting ravages it has made among the human That can be no inconsiderable evil which has been perpetuating itself, and entailing misery on its perpetrators for nearly six thousand

race.

Many are too much disposed to confound a confident feeling of security with religious peace. Conscience, whose suggestions were, perhaps, once clamorous, may, from long neglect, have become gradually less and less audible. The more obtuse the feelings grow, the less disturbance they give. This moral deadness assumes the name of tranquillity, and, as Galgacus said of the Roman conquerors, in his noble speech on the Grampian hills, "when they have laid all waste, they call the desolation Peace."

Is there not a growing appearance that many are substituting for the integrity of Christian doctrine as taught in the Gospel, a religion compounded chiefly of the purer elements of deism, amalgamated with some of the more popular attributes of Christianity? If the Apostle, after all his high attainments, was "determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified," shall a deteriorated, or, as it is pleased to call itself, a liberal Christianity, lead its votaries to be satisfied with knowing every thing except him; that is, to be satisfied without knowing him in such a manner, as at once to hallow him as a priest, to believe in him as a prophet, and to be ruled by him as a king; at once to obey him as a teacher, and trust in him as a Saviour?

On the other hand, let us remember that we may be correct in our creed, without possessing

a living faith; we may be right in our opinions, without any cordial concurrence of the heart, or any obedient subjugation of the will; we may be regular in the forms of devotion, and irregular in our passions. We may be temperate in what regards the animal appetites, and intemperate in the indulgence of evil tempers. We may be proud of our own orthodoxy, while we ridicule a serious spirit in another professor of the same opinions. We may maintain a customary habit of prayer, while we are destitute of that spirit without which prayer is unavailable. May not some pray without invoking the mediation of the great Intercessor? May he not say to some now, as he said to his disciples, Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name. We do not mean so invoking him as to round the closing period with his name, but so regarding him, as to make him the general medium of our intercourse with heaven.

And is it not an increasing evil, that there seems to prevail among some a habit, so to speak, of generalising religion, of melting down the peculiar principles of Christianity, till its grand truths are blended in the fusion, and come out of the crucible without any distinctive character? A fundamental doctrine of our religion is, with many, grown not only into disuse but discredit. But unless a man can seriously say that his natural powers are fully effectual for his practical duties; that he is uniformly.