“What will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far, to whom will ye flee for help?” Such is the enquiry whichhas been already addressed to the nation at large; to real, and to nominal Christians; let the faithful servants of the Lord throughout the land cause it to be sounded in the ears of a sinful nation; and let each use the utmost extent of his individual influence, in co-operation with others, to endeavour to rouse, through the Divine blessing and guidance, a people sunk into religious indifference and apathy. They are “visited,” and that not “after the visitation of all men;” for a pestilence as new in character, as fatal in its effects, has overtaken them; and their visitation has indeed come from far, for it has travelled from the remote bounds of their colonial empire. Still we have too much cause to apprehend that there are thousands who have never considered the awful character of the visitation, nor asked themselves the question, to whom shall we flee for help?
An irreligious age is little inclined to recognise the hand of God in the course of events, which are generally ascribed to natural causes and human means. But philosophy as well as Revelation will satisfy the mind of every impartial and deep enquirer, that nature must work under the control and direction of the great Author of nature. It would be to practically deny that God was the great governor of the universe, to suppose that nature or chance was allowed, unchecked and unguided, to produce the mighty results often referredto its sole agency. Sherlock has stated this with great force and clearness. “The same wisdom and power which made the world must govern it too: it is only a creating power that can preserve: that which owes its very being to power must depend upon the power that made it, for it can have no principle of self-subsistence independent of its cause: it is only creating wisdom that perfectly understands the nature of all things, that sees all the springs of motion, that can correct the errors of nature, that can suspend or direct the influence of natural causes, that can govern hearts, change men’s purposes, inspire wisdom and counsel, restrain or let loose their passions. It is only an Infinite Mind that can take care of all the world; that can allot every creature its portion; that can adjust the interests of states and kingdoms; that can bring good out of evil, and order out of confusion.”[93]It would, therefore, be not less unphilosophical than unchristian to ascribe to any spontaneous operations of nature, a new and terrible pestilence, which has swept away more than twenty millions of human beings from the face of the earth. Nor may it be accounted for by an extraordinary combination of accidental circumstances; for “the most unexpected events, how casual soever they appear to us, are foreseen and ordered by God.” “For can we think otherwise, when we seeas many visible marks of wisdom, and goodness, and justice, in what we call chance, as in any other acts of Providence? Nay, when the wisdom of Providence is principally seen in the government of fortuitous events? When we see a world wisely made, though we did not see it made, yet we conclude, that it was not made by chance, but by a Wise Being; and by the same reason, when we see accidental events, nay, a long incoherent series of accidents concur to the producing the most admirable effects, we ought to conclude, that there is a wise invisible hand which governs chance, which of itself can do nothing wisely. When the lives and fortunes of men, the fate of kingdoms and empires, the successes of war, the changes of government are so often determined and brought about by the most visible accidents; when chance defeats the wisest counsels and greatest power; when good men are rewarded, and the Church of God preserved by appearing chances; when bad men are punished by chance, and the very chance whereby they are punished, carries the marks of their sins upon it, for which they are punished; I say, can any man in such cases think that all this is mere chance? When, how accidental soever the means are or appear to be, whereby such things are done, there is no appearance of chance at all in the event; but the changes and revolutions, the rewards and punishments, areall as wisely done, as if there had been nothing of chance and accident in it. This is the great security of our lives amidst all the uncertainties of fortune, that chance itself cannot hurt us without a Divine commission. This is a sure foundation of faith, and hope, and trust in God; how calamitous and desperate soever our external condition seems to be, that God never wants means to help; that He has a thousand unseen ways, a whole army of accidents and unexpected events at command to disappoint such designs, which no visible art or power can disappoint, and to save those whom no visible power can save.”[95]Nor may we suppose that this fearful pestilence is merely permitted, and not appointed and directed by God. “God’s government of events consists in ordering and appointing whatever good or evil shall befall men; for according to the Scripture we must attribute such a government to God, as makes all these eventsHis will and doing; and nothing can be His will and doing, but what He wills and orders. Some men think it enough to say, that God permits every thing that is done, but will by no means allow that God wills, and orders, and appoints it, which, they are afraid, will charge the divine Providence with all the evil that is done in the world; and truly so it would, did God order and appoint the evil to bedone; but though God orders and appoints what evils every man shall suffer, He orders and appoints no man to do the evil; He only permits some men to do mischief, and appoints who shall suffer by it, which is the short resolution of the case. To attribute the evils which some men suffer, merely to God’s permission, is to destroy the government of Providence; for bare permission is not government.”[96]We arrive, therefore, at the conclusion, that this malady, which has traversed nearly the whole of two continents, is by the will and appointment of God. And none need inquire wherefore it has been sent. The dispensations of the Almighty are to reward or punish, warn and amend nations and individuals. The fearful character of the pestilence proves that it is to punish and warn the offending nations, and may it also amend and lead them, through the grace of God, to humble themselves under His mighty hand, and bow with submission to His just judgments on a guilty world!
It is, therefore, the bounden duty of the servants of the Lord, every where, privately and publicly, to bear testimony to God’s government of nations and individuals. It is not sufficient that they believe, act upon, and inculcate in their families, a trust in Divine Providence. The great truth, that “the most high ruleth in the kingdom ofmen,”[97a]should be bound “for a sign on their heads, and as frontlets between their eyes.”[97b]They should proclaim every where, that upon this great fundamental principle, rest the prayer and worship addressed to God.—“This much is certain,” observes Sherlock, “that without this belief, that God takes a particular care of all his creatures, in the government of all events that can happen to them, there is no reason nor pretence for most of the particular duties of public worship. For most of the acts of worship consider God not merely as an Universal Cause, (could we form any notion of a general providence, without any care of particular creatures, or particular events), but as our particular Patron, Protector, and Preserver.
“To fear God, and to stand in awe of His justice; to trust and depend on Him in all conditions; to submit patiently to His will, under all afflictions; to pray to Him for the supply of all our wants, for the relief of our sufferings, for protection and defence; to love and praise Him for the blessings we enjoy, for peace, and plenty, and health, for friends and benefactors, and all prosperous successes: I say, these are not the acts of reasonable men, unless they believe that God has the supreme disposal of all events, and takes a particular care of us. For if any good or evil can befall us without God’sparticular order and appointment, we have no reason to trust in God, who does not always take care of us; we have no reason to bear our sufferings patiently at God’s hand, and in submission to His will; for we know not whether our sufferings be God’s will or not; we have no reason to love and praise God for every blessing and deliverance we receive, because we know not whether it come from God; and it is to no purpose to pray to God for particular blessings, if He does not concern Himself in particular events; but if we believe that God takes a particular care of us all, and that no good or evil happens to us but as He pleases; all these acts of religious worship are both reasonable, necessary, and just.”[98]
The great duty of believers every where to declare and maintain, that “God governeth all things both in heaven and earth,” is dwelt upon more at large, because a neglect,—if not a disbelief,—of a particular Providence, which constitutes practical, and often tends to avowed infidelity, has been already stated to be one of the most crying sins,—I may almost say the most crying sin—of the day. Some openly disclaim all belief in God’s government of the world; others admit it, but are not influenced by it; and others acknowledge a general, but deny a particular Providence. Theselatter appear not to be aware of the manifest contradiction which their belief involves. “To talk of a general Providence without God’s care and government of every particular creature is manifestly unreasonable and absurd; for, whatever reasons oblige us to own a Providence, oblige us to own a particular Providence. If creation be a reason, why God should preserve and take care of what He has made; this is a reason why He should take care of every creature, because there is no creature, but what He made; and if the whole world consist of particulars, it must be taken care of in the care of particulars; for if all particulars perish, as they may do, if no care be taken to preserve them, the whole must perish. And there is the same reason for the government of mankind; for the whole is governed in the government of parts; and mankind cannot be well governed without the wise government of every particular man.”[99]
We may hope that secret disbelief, or open denial, of a Divine Providence, does not exist to a great extent; but of this every observer must be satisfied, that a practical disregard of God’s providential care and government is gaining ground in this country. Nor are its effects to be seen only in the conduct of individuals, they may be observed in the proceedings of public bodies. Nothing canbespeak this more strongly, than the altered language of the day as regards society, business, and public transactions.
The time was when it was carefully framed in accordance with the apostolic injunction, “for that ye ought to sayif the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.”[100]Now it is evidently dictated by that bold spirit of self-confidence, which “having not God in all its thoughts,” says “to-day or to-morrowwe will gointo such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain.” Nor do the actions of men in their public and private capacities contradict their language. The time was, when this nation, sensible how highly it had been blessed by Providence, and deeply grateful to the Giver of all good, made it a rule to recognise the hand of God in all things. When His chastisements were upon the land, there was a fast; when deliverance was vouchsafed, there was a thanksgiving; every visitation was received as a just infliction; every escape as an unmerited blessing. Such was the conduct of the people and government, during their late struggle of unexampled difficulty, through which the Providence of the Almighty carried them in safety, and during which the soil of England alone was untrodden by the foot of the invader, unstained by the blood of her sons.
Let, then, all the faithful servants of God, who believe in the government and confide in the protection of His Providence, “be instant in season and out of season,” to counteract this evil principle which corrupts, paralyzes, and nullifies faith; which produces pride, self-confidence, and self-complacency; and exposes to the severe displeasure and heavy judgments of Him whom it “robbeth of the honour due unto His name.” History, viewed by the aid of that light which revelation has shed upon it, proves this incontestably, by supplying both individual and national examples, with the latter of which we are, at present, alone concerned.
All nations are under the government of the King of kings and Lord of lords. “His kingdom ruleth over all;” all are instruments in His hand to accomplish the secret purpose of His will. They may be rebellious and disobedient, but they cannot harden themselves against God and prosper. He exhorts and warns, He threatens and visits; but if they go on still in their wickedness, they soon fill up the measure of their iniquity; the messenger of justice speeds forth, the sentence is delivered, and they cease to be a nation. It is thus great empires in succession have passed away; human reason discovers in their rise, their progress, their decay, and their destruction, nothing more than the ordinary operation of natural causes; revelation raises the veil which envelopes the records of remote antiquity,and discovers the workings of a Divine agency, by which Providence overrules the selfish and short-sighted policy of man, to the development of the mighty and mysterious plans which embrace the government of the world. And that blind and presumptuous man may have no ground to suppose, that the fate of empires is dependent solely upon human causes, the overthrow of the guilty nations of antiquity, by the Divine command, was foretold, and exactly fulfilled. Hence we may learn the sudden and swift destruction, which neglect of Providence, disregard of the authority, and disobedience to the commands of Him, who has said, “I am the Lord, I change not,”[102]will, at last, bring upon any Christian nation, which long continues to refuse the overtures of pardon and reconciliation, made by a gracious, a merciful, and long-suffering God. Predicted destruction overtook the Assyrian and Babylonian empires; and the final desolation of their capitals was foretold. The book of the prophet Nahum opens with “the burden of Nineveh,” which abounds with the most powerful descriptions of the terrible overthrow of the Assyrian empire, and the utter desolation of its vast and splendid capital. Zephaniah looks still further into futurity, and presents a sad but faithful picture of its final doom. “The Lord will be terrible unto them:”—“And he will stretch out his handagainst the north,and destroy Assyria;and will make Nineveh a desolation,and dry like the wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations; both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it: their voice shall sing in the windows, desolation shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the cedar-work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart,I am,and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in; every one that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his head.”[103a]So literally have these striking images of entire and lonely desolation been fulfilled, that in the second century, the very site of the once proud and famous capital of the Assyrian empire was matter of dispute. And as the ruin of Babylon was equally complete, so the language of prophecy is equally clear and descriptive of its entire destruction, “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thy end is come and the measure of thy covetousness. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength,yet frommeshall spoilers come unto her,saith the Lord. Oh Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.”[103b]
Nor was the fate of these empires and cities alone foretold: the long degradation of Egypt, which has been so exactly fulfilled, was predicted: “it shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations:for I will diminish them,that they shall no more rule over the nations.”[104a]The evils impending over rich and proud Tyre, whilst still in the plenitude of her power and greatness were announced by Isaiah in terms very applicable to that great emporium of commerce: “Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.Hestretched out His hand over the sea;Heshook the kingdoms:theLordhath given a commandment against the merchant city,to destroy the strong holds thereof.”[104b]But it was reserved for Ezekiel to foretell the full extent of the fearful ruin which was to overtake this renowned city: and he has done so, in terms so brief, and yet so minutely descriptive of its present state, as to have excited the observation of all modern travellers: “it shallbe a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea,for I have spoken it,saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.”[105a]“Iwill makethee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon, thou shalt be built no more; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.”[105b]Thus, when Maundrell visited the ruins of Tyre, he found “its present inhabitants to be a few wretches, subsisting chiefly by fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled His word concerning Tyre.”
Nor were the predictive denunciations of Divine vengeance upon sinful nations, confined to times of a very remote antiquity:—the prophet’s eye glancing through the long vista of coming years, foresaw, and his voice foretold, the empire which the Ruler of the destiny of nations had decreed to Greece and Rome. But there is a people which remain unto this day, at once a living testimony to the truth of Divine revelation, and a living monument of the certainty of Divine punishment. From the Jews this country may draw a very instructive lesson; for there are some striking points of agreement in their earlier history, and would that there the parallel might stop! The Jews were the peculiar people of God.—“Thou art a holy peopleunto the Lord thy God:the Lord thy God hath chosen theeto be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are on the face of the earth:” this kingdom has also long enjoyed an extraordinary degree of favour, protection, and blessing, at the hand of God. “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you,because ye were more in number than any people,forye were the fewest of all people: in like manner the population of this country was small in comparison with that of many of the surrounding nations. The Jews were selected that unto them might be “committed the oracles of God:” so also this country appears to have been appointed, by Providence, to preserve the holy Scriptures from misinterpretation or perversion. The Jews were employed to convey to the Gentiles some knowledge of the one true God: in like manner this country appears to have been raised up to diffuse amongst distant nations the light of the Gospel. When grateful for Divine blessings, mindful of the Divine government, and obedient to the Divine laws, the Jews were abundantly blessed, and their wealth and greatness were far more than commensurate with the extent of their territory; and the resources of the kingdom: in like manner God has elevated this country to a rank amongst the nations to which her native dominions did not justify her aspiring. He has enriched her with the treasures of the world, and has invested her withan empire upon which the sun never sets. So far the points of agreement are striking on the bright side of the picture of Jewish history; but there is also a dark side; let that also be examined, to see if there can be discovered any shades of resemblance. The Jews were thus exhorted and warned:—“When thou hast eaten and art full,then thou shalt blessthe Lord thy God, for the good land whichHe has given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein: and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply; and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied:then thine heart be lifted up,and thou forget theLord thy God,—and thou say in thine heart,my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.But thou shalt remember theLord thy God,for it isHe that giveth thee powerto get wealth. And it shall be if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day thatye shall surely perish.”[107]Nor were they left in ignorance as to what would be the ministers of Divine vengeance; unfruitful seasons; and deadly pestilence;and foreign invasion, with its fearful attendants, the slaughter of the inhabitants, and the devastation of their land, were all declared to be instruments, in God’s hand, to punish His ungrateful and rebellious people. Nor did the fearful enumeration of judicial inflictions stop there; they were forewarned of lengthened sieges, of the most frightful extremity of famine, of long and weary captivity in distant lands. Still there was reserved for them,—if they would not know their day of visitation,—a heavier, a more lasting and more terrible punishment. “The Lordshall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.” “And thou shalt become an astonishment,a proverb,and a by-word among all nations,whither the Lord shall lead thee.”[108]
The literal fulfilment of this prediction is matter of history;—nay, more, the accomplishment of the last and most terrible threat is matter of present experience; we have, unto this day, the Jews scattered amongst all people, distinct in religion, polity, and customs; unmingled with the population, unincorporated in the institutions of the nations amongst whom they sojourn: we see them a byword, a proverb, and an astonishment, in every land: and can it be that we do not discover in them a living memorial of the Divine governmentof the world, and of the Divine justice, which sooner or later overtakes every nation, which does not recognise God’s authority in all things, and study to obey His laws. The condition of the Jew speaks to the Christian the language of warning and admonition: “you possess privileges I once enjoyed: I forfeited them by trusting to my own right arm, by forsaking God, by not knowing the day of my visitation: take heed lest ye come into the same state of condemnation; for it is God who ruleth in Jacob, and unto the end of the world.”
Let not the warning be addressed in vain: there are fearful points of resemblance between this country and the Jews in the darker side of their national character, when the chosen people of the Lord. We are too much disposed “to say in our hearts, my power, and the might of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth:” and there is a love of the world, which falls little short of idolatry;—there is a trusting to fortune, and an ascribing events to chance and natural causes, which almost amount to deifying fortune and nature. Let, then, all the true servants of God, by their prayers, and their labours, seek, in dependence on God’s blessing, a remedy of these great and growing evils. Let them appeal to the experience of the past; let them prove from sacred history that nations, which exalted themselves, have always been abased, which humbled themselves, have always been exalted: letthem shew from our own history how we have been blessed and preserved, and how we have prospered and flourished, when our trust has been in God, who alone “is he that giveth strength and power unto his people:blessed be God!”[110a]Let them bear public testimony at once to the justice and mercy of His visitations; for whilst the pestilence speaks the language of wrath: “Woe to the rebellious children,saith the lord,that take counsel,but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin:”[110b]it speaks also the language of merciful warning and gracious exhortation: “Asmany as i love,i rebuke and chasten:be zealous,therefore,and repent.”[110c]
It has been stated, also, to be the duty of believers, to employ every means in their power to eradicate all heretical and infidel opinions; to advance a reformation of public morals; and to promote the diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge: which are all so dependent one upon another, that they may be viewed in connexion, when considering the course the faithful servants of the Lord are called upon to adopt, under circumstances of almost unexampled difficulty, in this country. Once more, let them be admonished, that their lot is cast upon times whichrequire the highest degree of energy, activity, zeal, and fidelity, in their Master’s service. Let no one imagine his station in life so low, that he possesses no influence, nor consider his talents so small that he can be of no use: much would be gained if the friends of religion would all openly range themselves on the side of the Lord; for such a demonstration of strength would overawe the enemies of the faith. But how great would be the triumph if all, whose hope is in the Lord’s Christ, raised throughout the land, their voice and hands in his most holy cause! The fact cannot be mistaken—and to disguise it would be culpable—that up to this time that decided movement has not been made by the servants of the Lord, which the awful crisis at which we have arrived so imperatively demands. Some appear to look on, whilst a furious assault is made upon the Sion of our God, with the heartless selfishness which says, “it will last my time;” others gaze with a strange apathy; others, bewildered with fear, know not how to act; and others seek only to defend and preserve their own party and property, forgetful that, if the common cause fail, they will be involved in the common destruction. But the Church of Christ is built upon a rock, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”[111]If the alarm were only sounded generally through the kingdom, the cause of theLord would not want defenders, both numerous and powerful, and the discomfited emissaries of Satan would be driven from the field.
Mankind are always disposed to close their eyes against unpleasant objects,—to shut their ears against unwelcome truths. Thus we are willing to be deceived: if we see evils increasing, we still hope they are only partial and temporary; if alarming reports reach us, we persuade ourselves that they must be false or exaggerated. And if the danger become so near as to menace our personal safety, such is the indolence, weakness, and timidity of many, we often try to escape rather than to combat, to avert rather than to overcome, even when we know our only reasonable prospect of success is not in flight but in resistance, not in making terms with, but in vanquishing the enemy. The announcements, therefore, which have from time to time been made of the increasing activity of the emissaries of infidelity, and of the extensive circulation of sceptical, profane, and blasphemous publications, appear to have been met by the public at large either with indifference or incredulity; but the prospect is now so alarming, the peril so imminent, that all must rouse themselves, and acquit themselves like men, or they may too late have to mourn the folly of incredulity, and the sinfulness of indifference, when warned and appealed to in behalf of religion.
Let not these observations be considered otherwise than as offered in the spirit of a faithful discharge of duty: there is far from any wish to create unnecessary alarm; there is a strong feeling that to give uncalled-for admonition, would be presumptuous, and to pass unmerited censure, would be criminal; but he who undertakes to state the duty of a Christian people under a Divine visitation, whilst he entreats and exhorts with all meekness, and love, and reverence, must fearlessly pursue an impartial and unprejudiced course; for terrible would be his condemnation if he intentionally extenuated the evil or compromised the truth: he would resemble the false teachers of old, who “healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,peace,peace,when there is no peace.”[113]
To prove, however, that these are neither the unauthorized representations of mistaken views, nor the groundless creations of false alarm, let the opinions of writers, as to the dangers which threaten the cause of religion in this country, be heard,—of writers, whose station and reputation entitle them to respect. “The signs of the times,” observes the Bishop of London, in his Charge of last year, addressed to the clergy of his diocese,—“the signs of the times are surely such as to indicate to him whoattentively observes the movements of God’s providence, the approach, if not the arrival of a period pregnant with important consequences to the cause of religion. The spirit of infidelity, which at the close of the last century unhinged the frame of society, and overturned the altars of God in a neighbouring country, but was repressed, and shamed, and put to silence, by the Christian energies of this country, is again rearing its head; and the truths of the Gospel are denied, and its doctrines derided, and its blessed Author is reviled and blasphemed by men whom the force of human laws has been found unable to restrain. And if it be said that these are few in number, and insignificant in point of talent and learning, there is a more numerous class amongst us, who look upon religion merely as a necessary part of every system of government; who would introduce the principles of a miserable political economy into its institutions and ministry; and who take no personal interest in its consolations or its ordinances. And there is also a powerful and active body of men who are attempting to lay other foundations of the social virtues and duties than those which are everlastingly laid in the Gospel, and to propose other sanctions, and other rules of conduct, and other rewards, than those which are proposed in the Word of Revelation.”[114]
The Bishop of Durham, in his Charge, delivered during the autumn of the present year, thus addresses his clergy:—“Yet while we would thus fain bury the past in oblivion, can we shut our eyes to the existing dangers which beset us, from whatever cause they may have arisen? Can we look around and see Infidelity and Atheism on one side, Fanaticism on another; Popery advancing in this direction, Socinianism in that; dissent, lukewarmness, apathy, each with multitudes in its train, without perceiving such an accession of strength to our adversaries, as none of the present generation have ever before witnessed? To exaggerate these evils, or to oppress the friends of religion and social order with excessive apprehensions of danger, can never be the policy of considerate men. But neither are we justified in saying ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace; or in holding out illusory representations which every discerning observer must perceive to be unfounded.”[115]
And after stating the “duties to which we are now indispensably called,” the Bishop continues:—“that, in a Christian country like this, and in so advanced a stage of mental cultivation, as is the boast of the present day, it should be needful to press these admonitions, is indeed grievous. And if we enquire how it has become needful, the answeris but too obvious. The main root of the evil lies in a want of sound, sober, and practicalreligiousfeeling; operating steadily throughout the community, and influencing the conduct in all the various departments of social life. The want of this is discernible in attempts to carry on the work ofpopular education, without teachingreligionfor its basis; in the systematic and avowed separation of civil and political fromChristianobligations; in the disposition to consider all truths, on whateversacred authoritythey may rest, as matters of merehuman opinion; and in a persuasion that the whole concern of government, of legislation, and of social order, may be conducted as if there were nomoral ruler of the universecontrolling the destinies of men or of nations: no other responsibilities than those which subsist between man and man, unamenable to a higher tribunal. So long as these pernicious sentiments obtain currency amongst us, (and who will say that they do not fearfully prevail in every rank and every station?) it is impossible for any believer in a righteous Providence not to look on such a state of things with unwonted misgivings.”[116]
The statements as to the number, power, and malignity of the enemies of religion, made by these two Prelates, supply the powerfully sketched outline of a terrible picture, which becomes still more terrific when filled up with the details which may be derived from other sources. “There is another subject,” says an able writer, in the British Critic, “which gives us, we confess, more uneasiness, and becomes every day more difficult and painful, and that is the renewed and increasing efforts made by scoffers and infidels, not only in our country, but others, to profit by the disturbed state of the public mind, and to disseminate as widely as possible their infernal poison amongst the needy, the ignorant, and the profligate; at once goading them to cruel disorders and excess, and robbing them of all hope of an hereafter. It cannot be known, excepting to those who make it their business to enquire, what pains, and patience, and ingenuity, are now bestowed upon this accursed work. Infidel books, and infidel teachers, we have always had; but certainly there never was a moment when the art of corrupting the minds of the people was carried to so high a pitch, or exercised with so much effrontery; nor ever were the fruits of it so frightfully conspicuous. It is revolting to think of them, and it were a task to make the heart sick to detail them; but it may suffice to state, that besides the public discourses which are delivered almost daily by the great masters of the school in the Rotunda, and in other places amongst the crowded outskirts of the metropolis,for the avowed specific purpose of advocatingthe cause of infidelity, it is a well known fact, that blasphemous and profane lectures are delivered three times a week, in the City itself, to large audiences of labourers and artizans, after their daily task is done, from each of whom a penny a piece is collected, under the head of infidel rent.
“Nor is the press behind-hand with them in their course: for whilst numerous hawkers and other emissaries scatter unsparingly in lanes and alleys their pennyworths of profanation, the great emporium blazons forth its more elaborate blasphemies with fresh spirit, in characters which those who run may read—a standing monument of its interminable hostility to the Gospel, and of the utter hopelessness of all legal measures to restrain it.”
Such was the account laid before the public in the beginning of this year, of a scheme, skilfully planned, and actively conducted, for corrupting the religious principles of the working population of the country, and thus paving the way for the ruin of social order, and the subversion of civil society. Since then the strong arm of the law has seized upon the arch infidel, but his murky den still remains: the Rotunda is said to be made the scene of more horrible impieties than ever; and the great work of teaching and disseminating infidelity, though more covertly, is equally extensively carried on.
We possess, then, certain information, supplied by these and various other distinguished writers, asto the two facts—the progress of a secret undermining of the influence of Christianity now going forward in the middle and higher classes of society; and in the lower, of an organized system of open and violent aggression, not merely upon the principles of religion, but the decencies of life. Surely this should fill with alarm and rouse to exertion all who fear God and love their country; for the preservation of the national faith is essential to the continuance of national and individual happiness and prosperity. Before, however, examining further into these frightful evils, and offering some suggestions as to the course believers should adopt, let an enquiry be made as to their probable influence upon the moral state of the great bulk of the people.
Degeneracy of public morals must always necessarily follow corruption of public principles. As soon might you expect to draw pure water from a polluted fountain, as virtuous actions from unsound principles. Remove the restraint of conscience, and what does man become? a fickle and wicked being, of wild passions, selfish feelings, and ungovernable appetites: he has lost the ruling principle which regulated and directed his actions; and thus resembles a boat without rudder or oars, tost upon a stormy sea, which, impelled in different directions as the winds, tides, or currents happen to prevail, possesses neither certainty of direction nor steadiness of course.
It is true, when the law of God ceases to be the rule of right, men profess to substitute for it the law of honour and the law of the land. But to ascertain the value of the law of honour as the guide of life, let some of the cases of daily occurrence be observed, in which the rights of hospitality have been abused with shameless unconcern, the confidence of friendship repaid with base ingratitude, and the dearest ties of life broken with base and heartless exultation, by men of honour. Words cannot express the load of deep, of agonizing woe, which the partial substitution of the law of honour for the law of God has inflicted upon this Christian land. Families, through it, have had to suffer privations from the extravagance, and poverty from the gambling of parents; to weep for the untimely death of a father by the hand of the duellist; to mourn and blush for the indelible stain of a mother’s shame.
Such are some of the terrible effects of the law of honour, as the guide of life, which, if it sanction not, tolerates the betrayal of innocence, the ruin of a family, and the murder of a fellow-creature.
Let an inquiry be now made into the value of the law of the land as a rule of right. Here the records of our courts of justice might suffice to shew, that severe laws do not deter from the commission of crime. This is as might be fairly calculated upon; because the fear of uncertain or distant punishment, will never operate as an effectual restraintupon an unprincipled mind: it is not, that the law is without its terrors to offenders, but it is, that under the influence of some powerful inducement, the salutary effect of those terrors is lost, from their being viewed at a distance, from the hope of escaping detection, and from the power of present temptation. These observations regard principally more heinous offences; but if the effect of the criminal code be found to be, that it operates more for the punishment than the prevention of crime, what would be the state of society, if the civil law was our great guide in transactions between man and man.
If careful only to keep within its enactments, we made inclination or interest our guide, where would be all the kind offices of Christian charity, where the interchange of friendly services, where the joys of Christian sympathy. Sad, indeed, would be the change, if, making the law of the land his sole rule of right, man, naturally weak, selfish, and sensual, gave the reins to his desires, and sought only his personal gratifications. There might, indeed, be some exceptions, but the general rule would be, “let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” In illustration of this view of the probable effects of such a system upon society, let the case of a litigious man be supposed: what annoyance, what ill-will, what animosities, does his vexatious enforcement of the law, in the most minute particulars,often excite in a neighbourhood: but if, in addition to his being litigious, he be also irreligious,—if he be without a belief in a future state, a judgment to come, and final rewards or punishments—what a fearful aggravation of the evils at once takes place: suppose, however, further, that it is not the spirit, but the letter of the law he regards; nay, more, that it is only its punishments he fears; and that he breaks the law, whenever secrecy affords hope of escape, or the weakness of the party injured, chance of impunity: what a pest to society would he be!—And yet, however odious and disgusting the picture, such would the great bulk of mankind become, if they could be once brought to consider conscience a bug-bear, and Christianity an imposture.
What is it restrains appetites, the indulgence of which produces so much misery?—Christianity. What is it subdues the desire of revenge, which thirsts for blood?—Christianity. What is it arrests the course of secret crime?—Christianity. What is it expands the contracted views and wishes of selfishness, and unlocks the sympathies of cold uncharitableness?—Christianity. Have the law of honour, or the law of the land, power to produce such mighty effects? They even lay not claim to such a power. But the benefits of Christianity stop not here. It is true, its transforming power, when its hallowing influence is fully felt, is the grandest phenomenon ofthe moral world:—“the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt:”[123]but above the storm, a voice is heard—the command is uttered,—“Peace, be still!” the winds of passion are hushed, the waves of appetite subside, and a holy calm reigns in the mind and heart. Still, the power of Christianity, heaven’s best gift to man, produces other benefits. It heals all the wounds which physical and moral evils cause to poor human nature. It soothes the pain of sickness, it lightens the pressure of privation, it cheers the sorrows of affliction; and, at that awful hour, when human aid is unavailing, and when the soul, trembling on the brink of eternity, can repose only on the firm stay of eternal truth, it administers solid comfort, supplies pious confidence, and whispers holy peace.—A dying hour is a severe test of principles; and it is at that hour, which unmasks hypocrisy, and proves the weakness of philosophy, the power of genuine Christianity is clearly seen:—it is at that hour, when all the world seeks for as happiness, is found to be vanity, all it calls glory, fades into insignificance, its value is fully felt; it is at that hour, when a recollection of past sins, long forsaken and repented of, is present to the humble and contrite, and a consciousness of extreme unworthiness afflicts the soul which still confides in Jesus, its victory is complete.
Well might Bishop Watson ask Gibbon, “Suppose the mighty work accomplished, the cross trampled upon, Christianity every where proscribed, and the religion of nature once more become the religion of Europe; what advantage will you have derived to your country or to yourselves from the exchange?—I will tell you from what you will have freed the world; you will have freed it from its abhorrence of vice, and from every powerful incentive to virtue; you will, with the religion, have brought back the depraved morality of Paganism: you will have robbed mankind of their firm assurance of another life; and thereby you will have despoiled them of their patience, of their humility, of their charity, of their chastity, of all those mild and silent virtues which, (however despicable they may appear in your eyes) are the only ones which meliorate and sublime our nature; which Paganism never knew, which spring from Christianity alone.”[124]Nor does this able writer, in his Letters to Paine, state less clearly and forcibly the evils which the infidel school inflict upon society. “In accomplishing your purpose you will have unsettled the faith of thousands; rooted from the minds of the unhappy virtuous all their comfortable assurance of a future recompense; have annihilated, in the minds of the flagitious, all their fears of futurepunishment; you will have given the reins to the domination of every passion; and have thereby contributed to the introduction of the public insecurity, and the private unhappiness usually, and almost necessarily, accompanying a state of corrupted morals.”[125]
Would that the anti-christian school of this day could be induced to forego their unwearied exertions to make proselytes, by considering the poor substitute they have to offer for an holy faith, which is the hope of the prosperous, the consolation of the afflicted, the comfort of the sick, and the support of the dying! To man, who feels his want of some holy light to guide his erring steps, some blessed solace to cheer an aching heart, in a world of perplexity and woe, the infidel has nothing to offer but the laws, for the guidance of his public conduct, and for his internal monitor and comforter,—a poor philosophy. But what to teach him how to die? Nothing: for he has nothing to offer but the trite aphorisms of heathen philosophers. What to take away the fear of something after death? Nothing: for he who believes nothing which Christianity has revealed can know nothing of a state of future existence, uncognizable by unassisted reason.
Miserable men! the Christian mourns over the wilful blindness which, in the full blaze of the meridiansun, continues in darkness, a state which is but a faint emblem of “the blackness of darkness for ever.” Most guilty men! the Christian burns with holy indignation against their perverted and wicked zeal for proselytism, of whom it may be said, “Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”[126]If the infidel reflects, what must be his state of mind, when he remembers, how often, whilst feeling the utter wretchedness of his dark and cheerless creed, he has sought with artful sophistry to bewilder the understandings of the ignorant, and, with cold heartlessness, to blast the hopes of the virtuous! He who openly stabs or secretly poisons an associate, incurs a less load of moral guilt than he who inflicts a wound or instils a poison, which, rankling, causes misery in this life, and in the next, anguish unutterable and interminable.
Fatal, however, as such a creed must be to the best interests of society, wherever its influence prevails, it assumes a still more alarming aspect as inculcated by those infidel teachers, who, disseminating their pestilent doctrines amongst our working population, not only seek to destroy all the hopes and fears of an hereafter, but to stimulate their evil passions, and to produce a contempt notless for human than Divine laws. If once principles so subversive of the civil and religious obligations of man, as a member of a Christian community, were allowed gradually to leaven the great mass of the population; not only would the cause of religion and morals be deeply injured, but eventually the altars of God would be overthrown, the bonds of civil society broken, and anarchy, spoliation, and bloodshed, reign through the land. With the great bulk of mankind, the sense of responsibility, present and future, is the great restraint upon their evil inclinations. Philosophers may talk of the eternal fitness of things, the beauty of virtue, the value of the distinctions of rank, of unequal divisions of property, and the necessity of order, subordination, and industry, for the well-being of society: but once remove from the minds of the lower classes their fear of punishment,—by destroying all belief in a future state of retribution, and all dread of the laws of the land, the execution of which they overawe, defeat, or defy, by their numbers,—and there will be confusion, aggression, outrage, and a general attack upon property. Constituted as man is by nature, and constituted as society is by law and custom, in a Christian country, as soon as Revelation is rejected by the great bulk of the people, the work of disorder and disorganization must be rapidly carried on, until the whole frame-work of society be broken up.
The grand principle by which society is held together, in a free country, is religious and moral influence controlling and directing physical force to the good of the whole community. Emancipate physical force from the salutary restraints and guidance by which its violence and turbulence are checked, and its mighty energies beneficially directed and employed, and the same results will ensue, as would occur, were that mighty engine,—the proudest boast of modern science,—the steam-engine, deprived of the nice adjustments and counterbalances which have rendered its formidable powers of easy, safe, and useful application. The frightful destruction which attends the explosion of a steam-engine, would be more than paralleled by the sudden rending asunder of the bands of society, when physical force, released from the government of religious and moral influence, bursts forth with the full sweep of its tremendous powers. Abstract principles, and philosophical theories, weigh not a feather with the great bulk of mankind, who are far more under the direction of their passions than their judgment. Suppose the case of one man rich,—and it may be, possessing more than he appears to require,—surrounded by many who are poor and needy. What prevents the many from plundering the one? not abstract principles of natural justice, not a philosophical respect for the rights of property, but regard for Divine and humanlaws: remove the restraints of conscience, and the fear of punishment, and the many poor will rush upon the rich few, like a pack of hungry wolves upon, scattered and defenceless sheep.
This admits of easy proof: it is an undeniable axiom in morals, that vice brings with it its own punishment; how then does it come to pass that it abounds to such a fearful extent in society? It needs not any very extensive acquaintance with life to return the answer, which appears to be the true one,—that where there is not religious principle the truths of morality are less powerful than the impulses of passion, and present gratification is willingly purchased, even at the expense of much after suffering. Suppose, then, both religion and morals discarded; and man left, not merely to the unrestrained indulgence of his evil passions, but those passions excited by intoxicating and maddening stimulants, what then would be the consequences? The heart sickens whilst the mind pictures to itself some of the frightful excesses, the horrible enormities, of which one man may be capable under such circumstances. Suppose, further, not one man only, but a large proportion of the labouring population of a country exposed to the artful and wicked devices of infidel and seditious demagogues, corrupting the principles, by profane and blasphemous writings; exciting angry and vindictive feelings by exaggerated or false talesof injustice and wrong; fostering hatred and malignity towards the rich, by representing them as the oppressors and robbers of the poor, by whose labour they live; and stimulating their natural cupidity and sensuality by hopes of plunder, of ease, and of enjoyment; what, then, would be the consequences? Let the history of France return the answer, for it is written in characters of blood, in her annals, when, through the influence of a party, at first small, and apparently contemptible, she became revolutionised, demoralised, unchristianised. Birth, rank, and wealth, were alone sufficient to expose their possessors to democratic violence and fury; when all laws, human and Divine, broken,—all institutions, civil and religious, overturned, regicide and apostate France subverted the throne, and trampled upon the cross; and the demons of disorder, spoliation, and butchery, stalked through her land, deluged with the best blood of her children.
The conclusion, then, at which the impartial and dispassionate enquirer will arrive,—a conclusion which has received the terrible sanction of experience,—is, that the most horrible consequences will result to society when physical force is released from the salutary restraints of religious and moral influence.
When unchristianised, man becomes a sort of demon: he riots in the licentiousness of his assumedfreedom from obligations Divine and human; and if leagued in a diabolical conspiracy against religion, laws, and property,—against all that is virtuous, noble, and praiseworthy,—he is involved as he advances, deeper and deeper in danger and guilt; as the crisis approaches, he is impelled forward in his headlong career, with a rapidity which allows no time for reflection, with a force which defies resistance, until at last he is swallowed up in the wide ruin of universal tumult and disorder: like one who commits himself to the guidance of a stream, ignorant or regardless of the distant cataract, towards which it is flowing: borne along by its powerful current, he is, at first, delighted with his swift and unchecked progress, but as he proceeds, the rapidity and force of the stream fearfully increase, until at last, drawn within the full influence of the fall, he is swept along with tremendous violence towards the verge of precipitation, whence he shoots into the boiling gulf below—a gulf which is no unfit emblem of society, heaving, foaming, and roaring, under the domination of physical force.
Let not, however, the useful and awful lesson which the French revolution teaches be thus hastily dismissed: human nature is always the same, and similar causes will produce similar results, however modified by circumstances. A length of time was required in that country to sow the seeds of infidelity, but as soon as they had taken deep root inthe public mind, their effects were apparent; their growth was as rapid as it was luxuriant, and they bore such a deadly crop as fills the mind with disgust and horror. Nor was the field of operation of the antichristian conspiracy confined to France, the great object of which was, every where to accomplish the defamation and discredit of the Christian religion, where it could not effect its entire overthrow.
Let the portrait, therefore, be examined which Bishop Horsley has supplied us with of those times, which must be still fresh in the recollection of some; it is drawn with the power and effect of a master in his art; would it were only interesting as a vivid sketch by a contemporary, of dangers passed away! it speaks even now with a warning voice to this country.
“The whole of Europe, with the exception of France only, and those miserable countries which France has fraternized, is yet nominally Christian: but for the last thirty years or more, we have seen in every part of it but little correspondence between the lives of men and their professions; a general indifference about the doctrines of Christianity; a general neglect of its duties; no reverent observance of its rites. The centre from which the mischief has spread is France. In that kingdom the mystery of iniquity began to work somewhat earlier than the middle of the century which is just passedaway. Its machinations at first were secret, unperceived, disguised. Its instruments were persons in no conspicuous stations. But by the persevering zeal of an individual, who, by an affectation of a depth of universal learning which he never possessed—by audacity in the circulation of what he knew to be falsified history—by a counterfeit zeal for toleration; but above all, by a certain brilliancy of unprincipled wit, contrived to acquire a celebrity for his name, and a deference to his opinions, far beyond the proportion of what might be justly due either to his talents or attainments, though neither the one nor the other were inconsiderable;—by the persevering zeal, I say, of this miscreant, throughout a long, though an infirm and sickly life of bold active impiety, a conspiracy was formed of all the wit, the science, the philosophy, and the politics, not of France only, but of many other countries, for the extirpation of the Christian name. The art, the industry, the disguise, the deep-laid policy with which the nefarious plot was carried on; the numbers of all ranks and descriptions which were drawn in to take part in it—men of letters first, then magistrates, nobles, ministers of state, sovereign princes: last of all, the inferior ranks, merchants, attornies, bankers’ clerks, tradesmen, mechanics, peasants; the eagerness with which, under the direction of their chief, all these contributed their power, their influence, their ingenuity, theirindustry, their labour, in their respective situations and occupations in life, to the advancement of the one great object of the confederacy, are facts that are indeed astonishing.”[134a]
“The success of this vast enterprise of impiety was beyond any thing that could have been expected by any but the first projector, from the littleness of its beginnings.”[134b]“The apostacy of the French nation, and the subversion of the Gallican Church, however unexpected at the time in Europe, was not a sudden event: it was not one of those spontaneous revolutions in public opinion which are to be traced to no definite beginning, to no certain cause: it was not the effect of any real grievance of the people, proceeding as hath been falsely pretended, from the rapacity and the ambition of their clergy: it was the catastrophe and accomplishment of a premeditated plot—a plot conceived in mere malice, carried on with steady, unrelenting malignity, for half a century.”[134c]
Such is the account which one of the ablest writers England ever produced has left behind him, of the origin and progress of a conspiracy against Christianity, the effects of which he also witnessed in this country, but by the blessing of God on the labours of himself and others, lived to see happily counteracted. There is much, it is true, whichdoes not correspond with the aspect of the present times; with which, however, a very superficial acquaintance will satisfy every enquiring mind that there is also much which applies to them too well. It is not likely that the operations of infidelity will be precisely the same at different periods, though the object remains unaltered: still even in their plans and machinery, there will often be found great resemblance. The infidel scheme in France was commenced by men of letters; in this country at present, its most open and fierce advocates are amongst the low and half-educated classes: still we have seen that in the middle and higher classes there is gaining ground not “a direct attack on the evidences of Christianity or on the value of its doctrines;” but “the distinctive character of modern unbelief is the attempt to supersede Christianity, and to make men moral without its guiding and restraining influence.”[135]There is here a much greater resemblance than might be at first supposed, between the two plans of operation, now and at the close of the last century. The attack was then made with the most masterly skill: care was taken that the prejudices of education, as they were considered, should at first be treated with tenderness; and the way gradually prepared for the reception of opinions, which, if at once presented to theuncorrupted mind, would have been rejected with horror. To use an illustration in perfect accordance with their views, the light of impiety was to be gradually let in upon an eye, which had long been clouded by the cataract of superstition, lest it should prefer the darkness of error to the full blaze of truth. We find, therefore, no premature development of immoral and impious doctrines: superstition, bigotry, intolerance, were strongly condemned; clerical abuses and exactions fiercely inveighed against; but pure religion and morality were commended. “In this country,” writes Horseley, “I believe they know very well that bold undisguised atheism, proceeding directly and openly to its horrid purpose, will never be successful. They must have recourse, therefore, to cautious stratagem; they must pretend that their object is not to demolish, but reform: and it was with a view of giving colour to this pretence, that the impudent lie—for such I have proved it to be—has been propagated in this country of their reverence for pure Christianity, and for the Reformation.” But there was one invariable feature of all their proceedings, never lost sight of, a rancorous and malignant hostility to the established Church; and unwearied exertions “to alienate the minds of the people from the established clergy, by representing them as sordid worldlings, without any concern about the souls of men, indifferent to the religionwhich they ought to teach, to which the laity are attached, and destitute of the Spirit of God.”[137a]Here, then, we have a direct parallel between those times and the present, in which, indeed, the balance of evil is against us, for, “the Church of England,” observes a living prelate,[137b]“never, perhaps, hitherto has had to contend with so great a number of open and avowed enemies; who, in their reiterated and persevering attacks, stop short of no misrepresentations, however flagrant, which tend to hold it up to public scorn and indignation.”
After making every allowance, indeed, for the popular excitement, which may be of only temporary duration; for the resentful feelings, which may pass away with the occasion which has excited them; still there remains sufficient to justify the worst apprehensions, and to demand the most strenuous exertions at counteraction of the friends of order and religion. It is not merely that there is a want of veneration, love and value for the Church; but a rancorous hatred, spurred on by eager desire of spoliation, is manifested, wherever infidel teachers have made proselytes to their wicked creed. Respect, also, for constituted authorities, is destroyed, by their inculcating the audacious falsehood, that civil government has been framed, to enable the few to rulethe many. Value for the laws has been lessened, by their declaring, there is one law for the rich, and another for the poor. And the bonds of affection and kind offices, which united the pastor and the parishioner, the landlord and the tenant, have been almost every where weakened, and in some places broken, by more than the base insinuation, by the assertion, that the forbearance and kindness shown, originate not in friendly regard and Christian charity, but in the ignoble wish of buying golden opinions,—in the pusillanimous desire of propitiating men roused to a sense of their injuries,—of disarming of their angry passions men panting for retaliation and revenge. Thus the force of the public and social obligations of life has been impaired, and those kind ties and sympathies, which bind man to man in their several relations, are converted by the poison of infidel principles, into food for malignant feelings, which inwardly rankle in the heart, and which outwardly evince themselves by discontent, distrust, and dislike; and when the opportunity presents itself, by violence, aggression, and outrage. The effects of such a state of things, if not counteracted, cannot be contemplated, without the most painful apprehension, for, as it has been powerfully expressed, “fatal must be the consequences, if the monstrous fiends of blasphemy and disorganization now going about seeking whom they may devour, and stalkingopenly through the land, with menace and defiance, be suffered to take undisturbed possession of our peasants and artificers, or of those on whom they immediately depend for their support.”
We have already seen the system of extensive combinations carried on in defiance of the laws;—organized bands and tumultuous assemblages of peasantry, extorting money, and enforcing their demands with threats of violence;—wanton destruction of property, in the breaking of machinery, in attacks upon private houses, and in the far more horrible crime of the nocturnal incendiary;—violence and excesses in many towns;—and riot, pillage, and arson, defying for some days, in a great city, municipal authorities and military force.
Now when all these fearful evils are viewed in connection with the general increase of crime, more particularly of juvenile delinquency; with the abuse and profanation of the sabbath, and neglect of the public ordinances of religion, and with the unsound views in faith and morals which extensively prevail—the shades of the gloomy picture gradually darken. But it is capable of receiving some further tints, and then the moral state of the kingdom, which has been studiously kept as far as possible distinct from the political, will stand forth, it is believed, under such an appalling aspect as to satisfy men, of all parties, of the necessity of prompt and vigorous exertion, of strong and efficient remedies.Amongst the great body of the people have sprung up contempt for antiquity, disregard for established usages, disrespect for rank, love of innovation, clamorous discontent, and fierce desire of change, which impel them forward with blind and presumptuous confidence in their own wisdom, and with reckless indifference as to what may be the consequences of their precipitation and rashness. The public press, which exercises a fearful despotism—and political leaders, whose authority is scarcely less absolute—urge forward an already over-excited people, instead of attempting to allay the rising storm which threatens to involve all in the common ruin of social order, public property, and national credit.
The urgent importance of the question, What is to be done? cannot but force itself upon the attention of the most supine—of the most indifferent to their country’s safety and welfare; and surely only one answer can be returned—repair any injuries which time may have caused to the goodly edifice of the Church, or to the fair fabric of the Constitution, striving, at the same time, by a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge, to secure the eradication of heretical and infidel opinions, and the reformation of public morals; and by the blessing of God, the storm will pass away, and leave the Church and Constitution unscathed. True Christian wisdomrevolts from any concession of principle, but not less so from any defence of error; it yields not to popular clamour and threats in matters of duty, but it thankfully receives the admonition given in the spirit of kindness, and profits even by the warning of an enemy, to remove any slight blemishes, which, affecting not the foundation of the Church built on a rock, appear externally, and tempt the rash and rude hand of bold and unhallowed reparation.