into which I purpose to lead you in respect to the results of revivals. These results I will endeavor to present before you as they are developed,

I. In the present world.

The grand result to which revivals are here tending is the complete moral renovation of the world. This result is to be accomplished,

1. By their direct influence, in elevating the intellectual, spiritual, and social condition of men.

There is a sluggish tendency in the human mind which it often requires a severe shock effectually to counteract. Most men choose almost any other labor than the labor of thought; and hence no doubt many an individual in whom there is the germ of a noble mind, never actually rises above a very moderate intellectual stature. Now it is the tendency of a revival of religion to bring the faculties into vigorous exercise. Let the Spirit of God be poured out upon a community, and you will find that the public mind there is in a wakeful state; that men seem to have lost their aversion to thinking, and have shaken off their accustomed sluggishness, and are earnest in making inquiries, and cannot rest till those inquiries are answered. There is an intellectual excitement at such a time pervading the whole community; for while convinced sinners are set upon a course of deep and earnest thought in respect to their salvation, the minds of Christians are laid under contribution by the demand that is made upon them for counsel and aid; and even those who are not specially awakened by the Holy Spirit, are usually to a greater or less extent, brought into the posture of reflection or inquiry. And the subject which occupies the mind in this case, let it be remembered, is of the noblest kind. The intellect no

doubt may be vigorously employed upon subjects of an unimportant character, and the exercise which it thus receives, may serve to develope and quicken its powers; but in a revival of religion, the subject also is fitted not only to develope and quicken, but to elevate; for it brings the mind in contact with higher orders of being and higher states of existence. Yes, in such a scene, men are not only trained to deep reflection, but to reflection upon matters of infinite moment; and the intellect and the heart get warm together; and while the deep and strong sensibilities of the soul are roused by means of the light that blazes in the understanding, the feelings in turn send back into the mind an influence that is fitted to render its perceptions more distinct and vivid. I appeal to the subjects of revivals every where for evidence of the fact, that the mind is never more active than during a season of the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit

But revivals of religion are favorable to intellectual culture, not only as they bring the mind at the time into vigorous exercise, but as they originate in the subjects of them moral feelings and habits which are peculiarly favor able to the acquisition of useful knowledge. Every true subject of a revival has been brought to realize that his intellectual powers and all the means he enjoys for their improvement, are a talent from the great Master, for which he will be responsible; and this impression will of course be favorable to the highest degree of diligence. And then again, that calm state of the affections which is thereby induced, is peculiarly favorable to a habit of intellectual abstraction, and to all high mental efforts and hence I should expect with great confidence that of two individuals, one of whom had been a sharer in the blessed effects of a revival, and the other was a stranger to the power of religion-other things being equal-the former would be far

more successful in acquiring any branch of useful knowledge than the latter; besides the fact that in the one case there would be a security, and in the other none, that the acquisitions which were made would be consecrated to the cause of truth, virtue and happiness. And what would be true of a single subject of a revival, would be true of its subjects generally they have experienced an influence which is fitted more than any thing else to bring out their intellectual energies, and give them a right direction.

Moreover, as it is the tendency of a revival to impress those who share in it with their obligations to cultivate their own powers as God gives them opportunity, it is adapted also to awaken in them an active desire for the general promotion of useful knowledge. For though they know that knowledge is capable of being perverted to the worst. purposes, and renders a bad man a much more formidable enemy to the cause of virtue and happiness than he could be without it; yet they also know that knowledge in itself is an important auxiliary to that cause; and that it were as unreasonable to object to it because it is occasionally perverted to bad ends, as it would be to call in question the utility of the sun because in his march through the heavens he sometimes lights the path of the robber or the assassin. Hence we find that in our own country at least, many of the most active promoters of useful knowledge at the present day are to be found among those who have been practically taught the great lesson of human responsibility in a revival of religion; and it is reasonable to conclude that in the progress of revivals not only religious knowledge, but every other species of knowledge that is fitted to adorn and bless society will be regularly advanced.

But if revivals serve to elevate the intellectual condition of men, they operate still more benignly as well as powerfully upon their spiritual condition. All who are the sub

jects of them, were previously lying under the curse of God, and exposed to his everlasting displeasure. They were polluted in their whole moral nature; were liable not only to the fierce upbraidings of a guilty conscience, but to the tyranny of worldly lusts, and sometimes even to a storm of malignant passion. In the hour of affliction they had no refuge; in the prospect of death, they saw nothing but agony-to say nothing of the agony of dying forever. And what has the revival done for them? It has changed their relations to God, and brought them within the arms of his forgiving mercy, and filled their hearts with the spirit of adoption, and opened their lips in thanksgiving and praise. It has clothed them with the beauties of a renovated nature, has delivered them from their bondage to the earthly, and brought them into close alliance with the heavenly; it has secured to them living consolation in all their trouble, and given them a pledge that there shall be nothing to harm them even in the valley of death. And those who had already begun to live to God, it has quickened to a higher tone of feeling and action, impressing upon them more deeply their Redeemer's image, and rendering them more fit to breathe the atmosphere of heaven. This it has done not for a solitary individual, or for a few individuals only, but for a multitude; thus changing the spiritual condition sometimes of entire families, and not unfrequently of a large part of an extensive community. True it is that this change relates especially to the hidden man of the heart, and is for the most part beyond the reach of mortal vision; but it is not the less real-not the less momentous: indeed it may be considered in an important sense, as the germ of all the blessing which a revival of religion secures.

Equally true is it that the influence of a revival extends to the social condition of men. Intelligence and virtue are the two main springs of public happiness. But we have

already seen that it is the tendency of revivals to put the mind into active operation on the one hand, and to purify the fountains of moral conduct on the other. If the heart is changed from the love of sin to the love of holiness, it must necessarily result that this change will discover itself in all the Christian virtues; in that very course of conduct which makes man a blessing to his fellow man, and converts all his social relations into so many channels of benign and healthful influence. Hence it is found, in point of fact, and in instances almost innumerable, that a revival has renovated not only the moral but physical aspect of a community; has driven away vice; has encouraged industry; and has caused the social virtues to look forth in smiles, where chilling selfishness, or hateful discord, or unblushing crime, seemed to have established a perpetual reign.

ment.

Revivals also exert an influence in favor of social hap piness, somewhat less direct, but not less efficient, as they have a bearing on the whole machinery of civil governThis is an engine of tremendous power; and must almost of course secure to a people great good or bring upon them great evil; and which side of the alternative is to be realized in any given case, must depend on the character of the rulers on the one hand, and the character of the people on the other. Revivals number among their subjects not a few men of intellectual distinction, who are qualified for the higher stations in society; and there are many others equally gifted, whose character they help to form and elevate, who nevertheless do not profess to have realized their highest benefit. And while the influence of revivals eminently fits these men for office, by bringing them under the power of moral or Christian principle, it is also some pledge of their elevation to office, as it serves to enlighten and purify moral sentiment throughout the com. munity. And after they are actually elevated to public