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to illustrate and enforce old truths in a new and engaging manner. It is perfectly idle to talk, as some do, when captivated by a favourite preacher, about his advancing religious sentiments which they never thought or heard of before. If what they say is true, either the preacher's discourse had little or nothing to do with the gospel of Christ, or, his admiring hearers were grossly ignorant of its truths.

For success in his ministrations, it is not to be forgotten, that the christian preacher is wholly dependent on the special influences of the Holy Spirit, which he may reasonably expect will be bestowed in the humble, prayerful, diligent and judicious use of those means, and those only, which are of Divine appointment. An extraordinary multiplication even of authorized means, but especially of those that are merely of human invention, for the purpose of producing or promoting a revival of religion, while a sort of mechanical power is attributed to them, as though the desired result will certainly follow, and be proportionable to the amount of instrumentality employed, it seems to us, is an error of no inconsiderable prevalence in our day, and that is fraught with incalculable mischief. It is perfectly possible for a minister to preach too much as well as too little, both on his own account, and that of his hearers:-too much for himself, because by an extraordinary multiplication of religious services, he will be subjected to the necessity of preaching without a due regard to his preparation, and will be in danger of falling into a loose and slovenly performance of the duties of his sacred profession ;—and too much for his hearers, because they will be apt to regard with indifference, if not with dislike, those services, however excellent,

which are so common, and dealt out with such cheapening prodigality. Were the heavens to be constantly filled with peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, "the dread artillery of Jehovah" would soon cease to excite emotion. We may surfeit the mind. as well as the body. Manna is loathed when the supply is profuse.

From an inattention to this feature in the constitution of our nature have probably arisen, in no small degree, those seasons of spiritual declension, those dreadful collapses which have spread the chill of the second death over whole congregations, after a period of feverish and forced excitement has been produced by an injudicious use either of authorized, or unauthorized means of grace, or perhaps of both combined.

To suppose, as some appear to, that revivals of religion are liable to no evils that can form a reasonable ground of complaint, and that any, and every thing that is done to promote them must either be warmly applauded, or silently acquiesced in, betrays, to say the least of it, a censurable ignorance of human nature, a culpable inattention to the experience of the past, and, above all, an inexcusable disregard of the plain instructions of God's word. The heavenly spirits of Dwight and Edwards, who, when in the flesh, were the active promoters and the able defenders of revivals of religion, thought differently from the ardent abettors of the sentiment to which we have just adverted; and each, in his day, during a season of unusual religious excitement, raised a warning voice against extravagancies that seemed to them to threaten the church. Nor let it be thought that the present generation is so much wiser and bet

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ter than any that has preceded it, that, on this subject, there is no longer any room for apprehension. Even at this moment the Grant Adversary, who is not yet bound, is busily employed in attempting to introduce unauthorized and unscriptural practices into the church of Christ; and spirits similar to those of Dwight and Edwards have risen and sounded the alarm. We hope that our American Zion will listen to their voice, and that proving all things, she will hold fast that only which is good. If determined to try the spirits whether they are of God, and to bring all opinions and practices to the touchstone of Eternal Truth, revivals of religion, which we doubt not are the work of God's Spirit, we may confidently anticipate, will have a deserved and an increasing popularity. Disencumbered of all inventions of men, and freed from fanaticism and folly, by their purity and their power, they shall commend themselves to the judgments and consciences of the wiser as well as the weaker class of minds, and those animating predictions concerning the prosperity of the church in the latter day, will receive their accomplishment, when "the glory and the honour of the nations" shall be brought into her,-when kings' daughters shall be among her honourable women, and upon her right hand shall stand the queen in gold of Ophir,-when the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents, and the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts-when these shall become her fostering fathers, and queens her nursing mothers.

But there are other duties besides preaching, that devolve on the ministers of Christ, that are implied in the text. Reading the scriptures, prayer, singing,

and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, are important parts of Divine worship, the whole of which, with the exception of singing, are to be performed by the pastor, and even over that he is to exercise a superintending control.

The sacraments, we think, should be administered publicly, and in the presence of the whole congregation, especially that of the Lord's Supper, which is a means of grace no less than the preaching of the word, and is designed to show forth the Lord's death till he come ;—a design which is partially frustrated in many churches, by improperly dismissing the congregation, and thus encouraging all to retire but the communicants, when this interesting ordinance is about to be celebrated.

The exercise of singing, also, is a part of public worship in which all the congregation should be taught to feel that they have an immediate concern, and, as far as practicable, should unite in its performance. Promiscuous singing, in worshipping assemblies, it has appeared to me, is more conformable to primitive usage than the restriction of this service to a select choir, and is more effectual in exciting the feelings of devotion.

With respect to the exercise of prayer, and reading the scriptures, I am disposed to believe that we are not sufficiently careful in endeavouring to inculcate upon our congregations an idea of their relative importance as parts of public worship. The sermon is the exercise to which they are accustomed to look for their chief entertainment, and all the accompanying parts of divine service are regarded only as the prologue to the drama, which they wish to be as few

and as hastily disposed of as possible. As ministers, we are too apt to comply with these mistaken views, and, I may say, sinful inclinations of our hearers, particularly in either entirely omitting to read the scriptures, or in reading but a very inconsiderable portion of them. Other denominations, in this respect, we are constrained to acknowledge, are distinguished for a practice decidedly superiour to our own. What, it may be asked, is worthy of the attention of a worshiping assembly, if it be not the Word of the Living God! It is thisWord, it should be remembered, when read, as well as preached, that proves as a fire and a hammer,-and is able to make men wise unto salvation. And it is still further deserving of notice, that a very large proportion of those who constitute our religious assemblies scarcely ever read the holy scriptures, or hear them read, except they are constrained to listen to them in the house of God.

In this place it may not be improper to advert to a practice, which has recently been introduced into some of the churches of our own denomination, of occasionally spending a portion of the time allotted to public worship in, what has been called, silent prayer. No such seasons or exercises, if we are not greatly mistaken, were ever observed by any religious assemblies of whose proceedings we have any account in the scriptures. The practice which seems to us to bear to it the nearest resemblance of any of which intimation is given in the Bible, is that of praying in an unknown tongue, which, inasmuch as it was not to edification, the Apostle proscribes among other disorderly practices that prevailed in the Corinthian church. But if praying in an unknown tongue is unlawful, because not to edification,

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