of sinners with those truths which show them their guilt, and their immediate duty to repent and believe. The whole man has been addressed-his understanding, his conscience, and his affections. The general strain of preaching has been far from what is usually denominated declamatory; and it has been equally far from what is styled, by the gay, the flippant, and the superficial part of the community, oratorical and popular. There is a style of preaching, under which such hearers will feel strongly, and ove to feel; and under which they may even weep, as they would over a favourite novel; and from which they will retire, delighted with the powers of the speaker, and the beauties of his composition. But such is not the preaching, under which sinners have been pricked in their hearts, and led to cry out-" Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 5. This revival has been characterised by a remarkable spirit of prayer. Often has it been said "Christians pray as they have never prayed before." Many have been in deep distress, and felt what it was to travail in birth for souls. With this burden pressing upon their hearts, they have cried to God for help, feeling they could not let him go without a blessing; and where Christians have been united and persevering in their supplications, astonishing, and in some instances, overwhelming influences of the Spirit have been witnessed. So great, and so general has been the excitement, that worldly business was in a considerable degree suspended, and religion was the common topic of conversation in all companies and in all places. 6. Unusual strength of faith in the promises and threatenings of God has been manifested in many of our churches. Christians have not only assented to the testimony of God, that there is a heaven and a hell; but they have seemed, in many instances, to have such a spiritual conception of these amazing truths, and others connected with them, that they have rejoiced with trembling. With the eye of faith open upon the eternal world, they have laid hold of the arm of the Lord, with a grasp which seemed to say-It is a case of life and death with our friends and neighbours; we cannot be denied. They have not been denied. The ear of the Lord was open unto their prayer," and "his arm brought salvation." 66 7. An unusual spirit of prayer has prevailed among converts, and they have manifested a disposition to converse with their friends and others on the subject of religion. It has often been remarked of them, that they were born praying. Many of them appear to have the strength of spiritual manhood, and promise to be among the brightest ornaments of our churches. 8. This revival has extended to all classes of society. Some have been born again in old age. Many, very young, have given satisfactory evidence of piety, especially among those who have been trained in religious families, and in our Sabbath-schools. Many men of wealth, and learning, and talents, have been converted, and become like little children. Many, who in common parlance were moral men, have seen that their morality was devoid of that holiness of heart, "without which no man shall see the Lord," and have cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Many, who had embraced universalism and other errors, have fled from their refuges of lies, to lay hold of the hope set before them in the Gospel. These facts should encourage ministers and churches to pray and labour for the salvation of all men, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the moral and the profane, animated with the thought, that "he that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins." 9. Great heart-searchings among professors have characterized this revival. This we have seen in former revivals, but never before to so great an extent. It has been very common to hear professors say, with a solemn, downcast countenance, "I have no religion." They have had severe seasons of conviction. Some probably have, for the first time, been brought to repentance. Most, however, have, after a short time, given evidence of an increased devotion to God; and such have been eminently useful in promoting the work. Those ministers, also, in whose societies the revival has been powerful, have been led to close self-examination, and been apparently deeply humbled for past unfaithfulness. 10. Converts, especially during the greatest excitement, have manifested more joy and stronger hopes, than in any preceding revivals among us. Strong hopes have been considered by many an unfavourable indication. Whether this be a correct opinion, we shall not undertake to determine. But it is worthy of consideration, whether the faint hopes of converts may not arise from not being earnestly pressed with truths adapted to their case, and from the want of more spiritual strength in the church, in wrestling with God in prayer for their deliverance from sin, rather than from deep humility, and a just sense of the danger of deception. 11. Much opposition has been made to this revival. This appears from the narrative. But the half is not told, and for the honour of the county, we think, ought not to be told. False reports have been circulated. Gross misrepreN. S. No. 32. to sentations have been made of the preaching, and other means which have been employed to promote the work. Prejudices have thus been excited in the minds of some, who are doubtless the friends of religion, but who have not been in circumstances favourable judge for themselves. It is not to be expected, that men actuated by the best motives, and pursuing with hallowed zeal the most noble objects, should act with perfect wisdom and discretion. But from the published accounts, and from personal observation, the committee feel warranted in saying, that ministers and churches have exhibited as much sound wisdom and discretion, as has ever been exhibited in any revival of which they have any knowledge. Yea, we believe that there has been an unusual spirit of prayer to God for that wisdom which is profitable to direct. It would savour of weakness and spiritual pride in our churches, to justify every thing which has been said and done, in public and private, by the friends of the revival. But we believe it a duty we owe to the cause of truth, to say, that most of the opposition has been excited by that preaching, and those means, which have met the approbation of the great Head of the Church. Indiscretions, real or apparent, are the only things which have given most of the opposers any pleasure. Their consciences, could they speak, would tell the world, that ninety-nine hundredths of all the stir they have made, has originated from a naked exhibition of Gospel truth, and from the agonizing prayers and faithful exertions of the people of God for the salvation of their fellow-men. It is not the wish of the committee to dwell upon this opposition. Care has been taken to guard the churches from talking much about the opposition, and 3 H 66 allowing their personal feelings to become enlisted by the falsehood and abuse of opposers. But we have said thus much, to give the Christian public what we verily believe a just representation of this outcry, and to prevent any from being alarmed at opposition to revivals, and neglecting to use means which God blesses in promoting them. We believe, from the history of the church, and facts that have occurred in this revival strengthen the belief, that the elements of opposition to a revival of pure and undefiled religion," exist in the most enlightened and moral districts of Christendom, and are to be found in that pride, and worldliness, and ambition, and love of pleasure, which reign predominant in the hearts of the unrenewed, and which exist to an alarming extent among ministers, elders, deacons, and private members of the church of Christ. Many, in Christian as well as heathen lands, have their idols, and they are too strongly attached to them to give them up without a severe struggle. Those who would attempt the work, must count the cost, and make up their minds to put on the whole Christian armour, and prepare to receive many fiery darts from the enemy, before he will submit. ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. No. II. THE View given in a former paper, of the powerful influence of a deep personal and heartfelt interest in the truths of the gospel, is confirmed by the reasonings of the sacred writers, in reference to the nature and tendency of the great doctrine of justification by faith. In that doctrine we are explicitly taught, that all who believe in Christ are treated as though they had died when he died, and had been raised when he was, inasmuch as they obtain the benefits of his death and resurrection as really and as fully as if they had suffered the penalty themselves. They are said to be "crucified with him," because he suffered on the cross as their surety and representative, and they are said to be quickened with him, through faith in the operation or act of God, by which he was raised from the dead, inasmuch as he rose from the dead in the same public character, the benefit of which is thus obtained. By his obedience unto death, he fully satisfied the demands of the law, and in his resurrection he receives his discharge, and all who believe in him are treated as legally, one with him, and hence they are freed from the curse, and accepted as righteous on the ground of his mediatorial work. The Redeemer died by the stroke, or under the condemnation of sin, and he now liveth by the power of the very Judge, under whose hand he suffered unto death; and he thus died that his people might be freed from the condemning sentence "For," as consequent on guilt. the apostle reasons, "he that is dead, or he who hath paid the penalty of the law, "is freed from sin," or according to the marginal reading, "is justified from sin,' Rom. viii. 7. As when a man has suffered the penalty of the law, it has no more claim upon him in order to judicial satisfaction, so believers, being treated as one with their surety, and as having suffered the penalty in him as their substitute, the law has no farther claim upon them in order to satisfaction for sin. And what stronger proof can be given that the whole penal demands of the law have been answered, than that which is exhibited in the resurrection of their head and representative? The surety has been released by the judge himself, and this one approving judicial sen tence, pronounced on the righteousness of Immanuel as a federal head, secures the forgiveness and blessedness of all who are connected with him in that public character. Now, it is the doctrine concerning his work as a public representative, which is employed by his spirit as the moral means of renovating the heart. His spirit purifies the heart by faith. And what is the gospel, by the faith of which the hearts of sinners are purified, but the declaration that Jesus, in his public character, died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures?" There may, indeed, be vague notions of this blessed truth floating in the head, while the heart is untouched; but when we unite with the divine testimony the influence of the Holy Spirit, giving a spiritual discernment of its glorious import and its high value, we can be at no loss to see how the whole powers of the soul are hallowed by means of this revelation. This heavenly agent "takes of the things of Christ," and enables the subject of his influence to discern the excellence and glory of divine truth; he leads him to place himself, as it were, in the condition of the Saviour, and to reckon himself wholly indebted to the justifying mercy of God for his deliverance from guilt, not by an act of mere will, or of arbitrary authority, but through the wondrous mediation of his surety; and he powerfully shows him, that one great design of this mediatorial plan must have been to put a stop to the progress of rebellion even by the very means of forgiveness; and he thus appeals at once to his conscience and his affections, and impresses him with a firm and influential conviction that he is freed from guilt in this remarkable manner, that being joined to his risen Redeemer, he might become the willing and devoted servant of heaven, Rom. vii. 4. The grand reason why the gift of a title to the heavenly inheritance is connected with the belief of the gospel is, that such is the nature of the gospel, that when really believed it produces holy meetness for that inheritance. While so believing in Christ, sinners are treated as one with him in law, and hence are justified through his blood, this very faith in the atonement is the means of effecting a moral union between them and their legal surety. By the influence of the spirit of God, the sinner is in the first instance led to believe in the Saviour, and believing in him, he is no longer dead in law, "but is passed from death unto life," inasmuch as he is freed from condemnation. And at the same time this heavenly agent, by the influence of love, makes the character of Christ, as displayed in the gospel, so to attract the faculties of the mind, and so to occupy the thoughts and affections of the heart, as to mould them all into its own likeness. If "faith worketh by love," and if what we love we dwell upon, and seek to imitate, can the faith of the gospel fail to purify the heart? What so assimilating as strong attachment? We naturally take the likeness of the qualities we contemplate, and are attracted to the object we adore, like fire, the object of affection reduces every thing which is united to it into its own nature. And what more natural than that the faith which, by a divine constitution, brings us into a state of legal union with the Saviour, should be employed by the Holy Spirit as the means of effecting a moral union between us and our surety, since the object of belief is so admirably fitted to command the affections of the heart. The feelings produced by a spiritual perception of the glories of the cross, are not to be confounded with the deeds and sufferings of with that speculative esteem for the Saviour, the truth appears to character, that admiration of him as altogether new, its unuttersplendid deeds, or that sympathy able importance to himself is imwith suffering innocence, which printed on his heart, and in yieldthe history of a martyr or a hero ing to its influence he is fired at might excite. The subject of once with gratitude for kindness divine influence feels a deep per- so unparalleled, and esteem for sonal interest in the character of worth so incomparable. Christ. It is seen to bear upon his own character and his everlasting destiny. It awakens the most powerful convictions of individual guilt, and produces the most trembling impressions of personal unworthiness, while it commands the confidence of the heart; and by its attractive influence so hallows the desires and affections of the soul as to assimilate them to itself. The unalterable importance of what the cross discovers, makes the whole of its precious lessons be turned to personal account. In contemplating what is there displayed, it is not mere abstract worth which commands the regard of the sinner, but the worth of his own representative, and his affectionate friend and brother, so that he cannot but enter with the deepest interest into all his feelings, views, and desires. The excellencies which engage his heart were developed by sufferings endured by his surety in his stead. He feels himself to be the subject of the mighty combat in which the Captain of Salvation most signally exhibited his moral greatness, and to be the prize of that noble victory which was achieved by the development of those saered principles which constitute the glory of God, and are the means of rescuing slaves of Satan from their fearful bondage. He may have heard the gospel before, but such was the distance at which it was seen, that at best it only glided before him in visions of indistinct sublimity. But it is now brought home to him with powerful energy, and feeling that his own everlasting interests are bound up When the spirit of God, by thus influencing the affection, brings us into a state of moral union with our legal surety, we are enabled so to identify ourselves with him, as to enter into his views and feelings when he died for sin, with a distinctness which could not otherwise be attained. He who believes in Christ, is led by a sanctified sympathy to place himself, as it were, in the condition of his Lord, when he suffered for him in the flesh.” And the divine spirit so occupies his mind with the character which was then exhibited in the work of his redemption, that he has a vivid impression of the solemn circumstances of the surety of sinners, when approaching the offended judge in their behalf; he imbibes his sacred principles, and in a measure feels as he did when drinking the bitter cup of expiation. He is brought to judge as he did of the character of God, of the nature and claims of the divine law, of the evil and desert of sin, and of the nature and spring of misery on the one hand, and of genuine felicity on the other. He sees, and he cordially admits, that God is in the right and himself in the wrong-that sin is exceeding sinful, and that in no other way than by sovereign mercy, flowing through the blood of atonement, can he be saved from merited perdition. He is led to "reckon himself to be dead indeed unto sin," or rather to have suffered death in his surety by the stroke of sin; and he is also led to reckon himself to be now "alive unto God through Christ," or to be now alive in law, |