Being, who knows our frame, overlooks and forgives them." pp. 222, 223. un In the course of our labours we have taken frequent occasion to remark, that religion in our days is more often instilled by means of early education, than it was in the time of the apostles; that the seed groweth up, a man knoweth not how; and that there is much danger of mistaking "the mere emotion of the animal feelings and passions," to borrow an expression of our author, for true repentance and conversion. So far, therefore, we are agreed with him; and we feel obliged to Dr. Rees, or to any one, who contributes to place this subject in a more perspicuous light. But the above passage is, in our judgment, most guardedly expressed; and, if coupled with all that goes before and that follows after, is of most dangerous tendency. Dr. Rees speaks of those "who have pursued, with few intermissions, &c. a regular course of unoffending and irreproachable virtue." We do not altogether love this word "virtue," in the place in question. We have no objection to the occasional use of it: we by no means exclude it from our own vocabulary: but we apprehend that great evil may arise from employing it, after the manner of Dr. Rees in this place, as the generic term for goodness; as if it were another name for piety, for Christian faith, for holiness, for universal godliness. It is true, that our jealousy is lessened by our perceiving, that, a few lines afterwards, the expression "under the influence of religious principles," is slipt in. Even these terms, however, as we have had frequent occasion to be convinced by actual observation, is so general as to be in danger of being construed to mean but little. The man who violates no specific law of outward morality; who conforms to the general standard of the surrounding circle; and attains even to this low degree of virtue by the aid principally of re gard to reputation (a motive, which, we are sorry to say, is too much accredited by Dr. Rees in many parts of these volumes); is pretty sure to refer his own virtuous practice to a certain degree of latent religious principle, when compelled to a little temporary seriousness on the subject. Now, it seems to us to be one of the leading duties of a modern minister of Christ to unmask superficial characters of this class, for they constitute a great multitude; and to point out to them that they need that repentance, which they conceive to be only necessary for the publicans, and sinners. We live in a country, of which the very constitution is fa vourable to the profession of a certain measure of worldly virtue; in. an age, in which civilization has done much towards the improvement of the external manners; and under a dispensation of religion, which has indirectly meliorated the general mass even of those who in their hearts pay no submission to its authority: we are therefore in peculiar danger of mistaking a mere conformity to the prevailing taste in religion and morals, for Christian faith and practice, especially if we are of the number of those who duly attend some place of Christian worship. But are we therefore Christians? Is this to be "born again?" to be "renewed in the spirit of our minds?" to put off the old man," and to put on that "new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true bo-. liness?" Does it not follow, from the circumstances just stated, that it will be the great object of many persons in the present day to maintain appearances; to present a decent and polished exterior to the eye of that world in which they move, and in which every one is ambitious to rise, rather than to cultivate the internal graces of the soul-Men do not now sin (we speak especially of persons in the middling and higher ranks) exactly after the manner of their ancestors. They do not literally slay the innocent;" they do not "wash their feet" in the blood of their adversaries; they do not keep back by fraud the hire of the labourer: the law of the land is too well executed to allow of their doing it. They do not, in general, run headlong into every excess of riot." They have learnt to moralize on almost all subjects. They are become discreet and measured in their conduct. They do much, that is in itself good, from a wrong motive. They have devised soft and creditable names for all the practices and habits to which they are addicted. Are they covetous?- they think that they are providing for their family. Ambitious? they profess to aim at a station of greater usefulness, as well as more worthy of their abilities. Selfish? - they take the prudent side. Unreasonably angry?-they think it their duty to shew a proper and manly spirit. Are they wanting in humilty, and Christian charity?-they conceal from themselves the lamentable deficiency, by that general urbanity of manners, by that polite and unassuming phraseology, and by that real preference of others over themselves in a variety of litthe matters, which the school of the World has taught them; With lean performance apes the work of love." They moreover deny the obligato any very strict practice. The ancient virtue of the Gospel, they account to be puritanism: hey explode it, as unfit for these eral and enlightened days. They remove the land-marks which seriChristians of former days had established and having enlarged heir territory, they roam at pleare over their own extensive dishet; they disport themselves with these ample bounds. In short, taving no great temptation to comit the grosser vices from which CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 97. their very love of reputation re quires them to refrain, they do almost every thing they like: and they claim at the same time, not indeed to be very pious or devout, but to be most honourable and respectable men, most amiable and exemplary women. ——— These, for the most part, are the persons who in their own eyes need no repentance; who constitute the great mass of "the unoffending and the virtuous." We are apprehensive that not a few of them, if they were to read this discourse, would fancy, and not unjustly, that they had a patron in Dr. Rees. Some of them, indeed, are too far removed from the contemplation of religious subjects to purchase any thing so grave as a book of sermons; and a large proportion of them, perhaps, will be preserved from the peril of which we are speaking, by the dread of Dr. Rees's heterodoxy ;- a dread unaccompanied by any corresponding fear of his teaching laxity of practice. The Doctor, we allow, is often much too strict for many of these orthodox Christians. We perfectly agree with Dr. Rees, that " innocence innocence is undoubtedly preferable to repentance;" and that "it is better not to offend, than to be sorry for having offended;" and are well pleased to have an opportunity of reminding our readers of this simuseless, when it is intended to imply, ple truth; which, though worse than as it is on the present occasion, that there are individuals to be found, who have been innocent and void of offence in the sight of God, constitutes, nevertheless, a most important and salutary maxim, applicable to the daily, and even hourly occurences of life. Let it ever be remembered, that the call to repentance is universal in the New Testament. John the Baptist went forth, and preached it, without the least limitation of his expressions, as a preparative for the coming of Christ. Our Saviour no sooner appeared, than he adopted, in this respect, Ꮐ the very words of his forerunner. He warned his hearers not to think that the duty was confined to a few special offenders: "Think you that they were sinners above all the men that dwelt in Judea? I tell you may; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." He delivered the parable of the Pharisee and Publican for the sake of discountenancing the plea of those who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous." Before he left the world, he enjoined the ordinance of Baptism;-a rite typical of repentance, and the inward purification of the Spirit, in the case of all who should be called into the Christian faith. And after this period we find the apostle expressly coupling "repentance towards God" with "faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;" these two expressions being evidently intended to designate the two great features of that Gospel which he was employed to teach. We, Protestants, deem the Papists guilty of a departure from Scripture, when they refuse to the laity the communion in both kinds, inasmuch as our Lord united in one precept the command to take both the bread and the wine, and addressed it generally to his disciples: - have not the Scriptures also united the precept" to repent" and to believe;" and must we not, therefore, under all the cir.cumstances of the case, consider each of these duties as co-extensive with the other? We should all believe, says Dr. Rees; and we should some of us repent. fle is something of an unitarian in this sense he is, in certain cases, for communion only in one kind. To the argument, that there are many persons" of unoffending and irreproachable virtue," whom an indiscriminate call to repentance may too much discredit and discourage, we reply, That there were also men of religious integrity in the days of Christ; but that the precept, nevertheless, was not modified for their sakes; and that their minds un doubtedly were not embarrassed o misled. We do not read that either the holy Simeon, or the devout Anna, o the upright Nathaniel, deemed the universality of the terms in which repentance was proclaimed, the smallest matter of offence. They doubtless had a strong sense, no only of their own past offences, bu of their own tendency to evil, and of the surrounding iniquity of even the nominal church of God, and would rejoice to hear the wholesome doctrine so broadly and so vehemently urged. Our author appears to us to have fallen into a material misconception respecting the meaning of one sen tence of his text: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." He considers this expression as intended to signify that the elder son, or Jew, "had never deserted him, and had never wilfully offended him;" and that he "was therefore the object of his Father's unabated and distinguished regard." Now the New Testament teaches us, that the Jewish nation were at this very pe riod about to be cast off for their sins, and especially for the sin, if Dr. Rees will allow us so to call it, of claiming salvation on the ground of their assumed obedience to all the works of their law. The Gentiles, who renounced this species of claim, are said by the apostle Paul to have "attained unto righteouness; but Israel did not attain it. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone." It seems necessary, therefore, to limit the meaning of the expression, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." It may be construed as referring to those superior opportunities which were afforded them; inasmuch as they had much advantage every way and the first offer of the Gospel was also made to them: of these privileges they might or might not reap the benefit. The language of Scrip ture, in the secondary and inciden trust; the aids of his power and the com- tal parts of the parables, is often purposely negligent; of which we have a remarkable proof in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, which is extremely illustrative of the passage now under consideration. There the several labourers are first represented as receiving each a penny: in the sequel, the labourers who came first into the vineyard- namely, the Jews-are described as complaining of the communication of the same benefit to the labourers who came in at the late hour-namely, the Gentiles; and in the conclusion it is plainly intimated, that the same men who had at first been said to receive their penny, would ultimately fail to obtain any share of the benefits of the kindom of Christ. The children of the kingdom, it is "For the first shall be last, and the last first; for many are called, but few chosen." The next sermon, on nipresence of God," is generally good. We must except, however, a passage, which, as is usual with this writer, describes far too weakly the frailty of man. The following is the concluding paragraph.— *The presence of God should animate us raidst the weaknesses of our nature, and the trils of our state. It should inspire us with an emolation, urging us to aim at high degrees of religious and virtuous attainments, rendering us ambitious to excel in the culti-. vation and practice of whatever God requires and approves, and encouraging us under a sense of our frailty and in our conLet with the difficulties and temptations to ich we are liable. God is with us as our said, would be cast out: "the Om coserver and our helper. What farther enuragement can we need or desire, in any Yent of service, in any season of trial, that 2.47 get await us? "Amidst all the vicissitudes of our condi, as well as the conflicts to which a se of integrity and obedience may exus, the presence of God will administer consolation and delight, and it will engage var trust and acquiescence. Far from huan help, or in circumstances where human power can be of no avail, the thought of God's presence with us will be animating Ed delightful. To him let us direct our We shall thus be spirits to God through Jesus Christ, in the way of well-doing, may they be safely conducted to those mansions in which the pre sence of God, and of the Redeemer, and of a multitude of glorified and happy beings, and everlasting felicity. Amen.” pp. 254-6.. will be a source of unmixed, uninterrupted, The sermon on " Practical Atheism" furnishes some degree of antidote (but a very weak one, in our judgment) for the evil which the sermon on Repentance is likely to produce. The two discourses on "The Progress of Vice" partake of the faults common to this author. Here, also, he speaks of " repentance and reformation' being only the means which the goodness of God, and the grace of the Gospel, have provided for our obtaining benefits, which would be more easily and more ef fectually secured by rectitude of conduct." The following descrip tion of progress in sin, however, is just, as well as striking: "A person, when he first enters into such society" (that of the ungodly)" is thoughtful and timid. Remorse and self-reproach disturb his peace and retard his career. He cannot at once divest himself of those principles and feelings, which are the effects of early culture and the attendants on innocence and virtue. He is a bashful, trembling, selfconvicted transgressor. He is conscious of Vews. In his providence let us repose our an antipathy to the course which he is pur Saing. What his associates applaud, he secretly condemns. He hesitates in yielding to their seductions. He occasionally declines partaking of their guilty pleasures; and does not run with them into the same excess of riot. But repeated acts ripen into habits. Unruly passions gain the ascendancy. Reason and conscience feebly remonstrate; and he gradually disengages himself from those restraints, which he finds, by daily experience, to answer no other pur pose besides that of perplexing and disquiet ing him. Instances of misconduct, that were once the effects of accident more than of design; that proceeded from the sudden attack of an unexpected temptation; that originated more in the seduction of others than in his own inclination and purpose; and that were occasional and infrequent, now become intentional and wilful, deliberate and habitual. He, who once trembled, is now bold. He, who was once reluctant in yielding to his seducers, readily consents, and seeks the temptation which he shunned. He, who was in the rear of a band of licentious associates, and followed at a distance and with faultering step, now takes the lead and occupies the foremost rank. He, whose reflections often pained and shamed him, has now few, if any, intervals of self-condemnation and self-reproach. He, who was orice ensnared and deluded by the wiles of others, is become a tempter himself." pp. 298-300. The following passage, in the sermon on Contentment, is well worthy of the observation of men of wealth: "We may not probably err in asserting, that the most exemplary and useful charac the circumstances that attend it, are not favourable to general usefulness. What is the dictate of fact and experience? Allowing for instances that ought to be excepted, some of which have fallen under our own notice; are we warranted in affirming, that men's usefulness, with respect either to their example or their beneficence, has increased in proportion to their possessions? Have we not observed and lamented the pernicious effects of affluence? Has it not separated some from the profession of their youth and riper years? Has it not made them indifferent to a cause, which, in less conspicuous stations and with inferior abilities, they have liberally and laudably supported? Where, then, are the children and descendants of those, who, whilst they were acquiring opulence, were exemplary in their religious profession, and zealous in their attachment to it? Are the principles of their parents and ancestors less true and important now than they were, when they produced visible effects? Is the cause to which they were devoted, less deserving of support? Does it less need the countenance of their example and the concurrence of their liberality? Why, then, is the house of God forsaken ? Why do we survey our religious assemblies with regret? and wish, but wish in vain, to find the places of the friends of our youth occupied by their descendants? What but the baneful influence of wealth has produced these pernicious, these deplorable effects?" pp. 399–401. Our author indicates, in a very pleasing manner, the same feelings of regret at the declension of many of the rising generation, in his sermon entitled, on " The Anxi ety of Parents for the Virtue of their Children." ters are not generally found amongst the most exalted and affluent-amongst those, We have thus travelled through whom wealth corrupts and misleads; whom rank separates from the multitude; whose the first volume of these sermons, station estranges them from the humble and have put our readers in possesabodes of poverty and wretchedness; and sion of the general character of the whose abundance renders them insensible to divinity of the author. We shall wants, which they have never experienced, be more brief in our comments on and which they have had no opportunity of the remaining volume: there, neverfamiliarly and frequently observing. Consi-theless, are so many parts of it which derations of this kind should teach us candour in passing judgment on those whose condition elevates them above the common ranks of society, and from whom, at the same time, more is usually expected than any have a right to claim. But they also lead us to conclude, that affluence, and all claim our attention, and will also call for farther animadversion, that we have found it necessary to defer the remainder of the review to another number. (To be continued.) |
