mencing in revivals or not,-and all which will exist to the millenium, will be just such religion as is described by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount, and just such as Paul describes, when he tells us what are the fruits of the Spirit, and such as is described in the various passages above cited, and in other passages of scripture relating to the same subject. If we possess this religion, we are happy here and hereafter. If not, whatever our present appearances and hopes, we have no part or lot among the heirs of heaven.

The Lectures which follow, I have read with an uncommon degree of pleasure. I regard it as a circumstance highly auspicious to the cause of revivals, and to all the interests of religion, that the author has, through the grace of God, been enabled to write and preach a series of Lectures so judicious, candid, and impressive, and, what is still more important, so scriptural; and that he has consented to give them to the public. It is my earnest hope that they will be read with attention and profit by our religious community, far and near, and that their usefulness will extend to other nations. I would devoutly commend them, together with these prefatory remarks, to the blessing of God.

Theol. Seminary,

Andover, March 10, 1832.

LEONARD WOODS.

LECTURE I.

NATURE OF A REVIVAL.

ISAIAH XLV. 8.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.

The final and complete triumph of the church was a theme at which the mind of this prophet was always ready to kindle. So infinitely superior did he regard it to any thing that respects merely the present world, that when his predictions relate immediately to temporal mercies, they often look farther to spiritual blessings; and sometimes we find him apparently forgetting himself for a moment, and passing abruptly, and almost imperceptibly, from some national deliverance to the salvation of the gospel. In the verses immediately preceding our text, there is a manifest reference to the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon; but in the text itself, there is a sudden transition to a subject of far higher import, even the blessings of Christ's salvation; and this latter subject continues to engross the

pro

phet's mind to the close of the chapter. "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together."

There was some partial fulfilment of this prediction in the revival of true piety which attended the return of the Jews from Babylon; though it is evidently to be considered as referring principally to the more extensive prevalence of religion under the gospel dispensation. It may be regarded, in a general sense, as denoting the abundant grace by which the gospel would be attended, casting into the shade all previous measures of divine influence which had been enjoyed by the church; or it may be considered more particularly-as referring to special occasions, on which the agency of the Spirit would be signally manifest. In this latter sense, it may be applied to the wonderful effusions of the Holy Ghost which attended the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost; and to what in these latter days we are accustomed to denominate revivals of religion. It is in its application to revivals that I purpose to consider it at the present time.

I here commence a series of discourses, in which it will be my object to present before you, in its various bearings, the subject of REVIVALS OF RELIThe reasons which have determined me to this course, and the grounds on which I beg leave to commend this subject to your special attention, are the following:

GION.

1. It is a subject in which the church, especially in this country, is, at this moment, more deeply and practically interested than almost any other. You cannot look back upon the history of our American church, and compare the past with the present, without perceiving that within the last half century a wonderful change has taken place in the order of God's providence towards it. It is true, indeed, that through the ministry of Whitfield and others, there was a revival of considerable extent in this country, a little before the middle of the last century; but owing to various causes, which I shall not now stop to specify, the fruits of it were, in no small degree, blasted; and from that period till near the beginning of the present century, the church was only enlarged by very gradual additions. But at the period last mentioned, a different state of things seemed to commence, in the more copious and sudden effusions of the Holy Spirit; and now it has come to pass in these days in which we live, that far the greater number of those who are turned from darkness to light, so far as we can judge, experience this change, during revivals of religion. It is for revivals that the church is continually praying; and to them that she is looking for accessions both to her numbers and her strength. The praise of revivals is upon her lips, and upon the lips of her sons and daughters, who come crowding to her solemn feasts. Such being the fact, no one can doubt that this is a subject which she ought well to understand;

which all should understand, who care for Zion's prosperity.

2. This is a subject in which the church is not only deeply interested at the present time, but is likely to be more and more interested for a long time to come. The cause of revivals has hitherto been gradually and yet constantly gaining ground. The last year has been, in this respect, unparalleled in the annals of the church; and there is much in prophecy to warrant the conviction that, as the millenial day draws near, these effusions of the Holy Spirit will be yet more frequent and powerful. Every thing decides that this is to be a practical subject, not with the present generation only, but with many generations to come. It is desirable, therefore, that we should form correct views of it, not merely for our own sake, but for the sake of those who come after us; for our views no doubt will, to a great extent, be propagated to future generations.

3. The views which we form on this subject, and the course we adopt in respect to it, must determine, in a great measure, the actual effect of revivals upon the interests of the church. This is a matter in relation to which God is pleased to leave much to human instrumentality. It is possible that his people may co-operate with him in carrying forward a revival, by such means that there may be many sound and scriptural conversions, and that his cause may thereby be greatly advanced; and it is possible that, by the neglect of duty, or by the adoption