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AUTHOR: [WHEELER, SAMUEL] TITLE: THE TRIANGLE; SECOND SERIES OF NUMBERS PLACE: NEW YORK DA TE : 1821 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # DIDLIOGRAPIIIC MICROFORM TARCFT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 938.12 V/56 [Yiliceler, Ga^nucl 3 The tri«-inr.lc ; second series of numbers by InYcstir;a.tor \\. \. 1021 B1 p I ,# n ^" < \ ^ 1_ u Restrictions o:\ Use: TECHN IcXfivllCROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: Jt^j^jrv_ __ REDUCTION RATIO: y/_?C IMAGE PLACEMENT: I A QM) IB II 13 DATE FILMED: ^/Si^fJi^ INITIALS___7?»f FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS, INC VVOODBRIDGE. CT n Association for Information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue. 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William Grattaut PrirUir. 1821. i v> i TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW- YORK. ^ -■<:<. ./ V I HAD almost concluded to issue this Triiuigle, which the reader will perceive is the true and real Triangle, without any rtrfcfrc55, advertisement, adlec- torem, or prejace ; but I feared it would resemble a door without a threshold, or a building without a court-yard or portico. It is not worth while for a writer to say much about his motives in his preface. It would be like a man who was conducting you into a Museum, who should stop you at the door to tell you what was to be seen : it would be quicker work to let you in. And Johnson's saying, that a book will fix its own age and country, is generally true. This book is not a " Habeas corpus ad responden- dum,'^'' but rather a Habebunt corpora ad vivendum, I fear the lawyers will not comprehend this phrase, but the divines will, ^' and that ivill do,'''' as the great Wellington said when he laid his hands on the pom- mel of his saddle. The Hopkinsians are a very clevc r set of men ; all they want is to live, and " let live," They are disinterestedly benevolent. They IV wish people to know the truth, merely for the truth's sake. They, to be sure, do not wish all their necks to be made into one, and that put at the option of Nero. A Dey of Algiers once put the Spanish Am- bassador into a great mortar, and shot him away at the Spanish fleet. Now, no man likes to be sent out of a city in this style. I use these little meta- phors to convey my ideas : nobody believes that we have a Nero or the Dey of Algiers to contend with ; but we perceive they aim at thorough work, and that in a summary way ; we must, therefore, do a little— hence the Triangle. ^ k THE TRIANGLE. SECOND SERIES. No. I. I FEEL a concious pleasure in addressing the people of this noble and flourishing city — the first in the New WoHd, and the fairest on the globe; And let it not be understood that I con- sider myself as environed with crosseyed selfishness; as im- mured in a region of gloomy prejudice ; as condemned to wear the gaUing chains forged by iron-hearted intolerance, and rivet- ed by the hand of sturdy ignorance. Of these imperious and unsightly demons I feel no fear ; yet I revere and admire the varied talents I see conspicuous in every profession and call- ing, in every art and science, both Uberal and mechanical — " Where Liberty dwells there is my country." There is not wanting liberality of sentiment, magnanimity of] character ; nor is this city wanting in its portion — nor is it a scant- ed and measured portion of intellect, adorned wiih the beauty of virtue, enlightened with the glory of benevolence, and fairly loosened from the gordian knot of interest and seltish conside- ration. And I rejoice to say, that many whose theory allows them but a cable's length of range, are, nevertheless, in heart and practice, floating at large on the main ocean of real benevo- lence. f 6 Else why do I see these asylums for the sons and daughters of affliction — these grand and extensive hospitals, alms-houses, and receptacles for every class of the wretched from the keen and blighting storm of misfortune, whose extended and lofty walls might vie wiili the palace of a monarch ? whose nume- rous apartments, and ample provisions, seem to promise repose and comfort to all that need? Else why do I see long ranks of poor children, of helpless orphans, enfilading the streets, to be instructed on the sabbath ; and that by gentlemen, and even ladies, of rank and fortune, whose only remuneration is the pleasing consciousness of benefiting such as, by their tender and helpless years, can have no knowledge of the extent of the benefit intended ? There is a nobleness of soul, a grandeur of sentiment, a dis- interestedness of heart, which soars as far above all considera- tion of self as the heavens are above the earth. An hour's en- joyment of that sublime pleasure is worth more than a Roman triumph — more than all the years through which ambition toils and climbs, even though it gain the summit. There is such a thing as doing good for the sake of the pleasure it brings ; und he who knows not what that means is a stranger to pleasure. Let me here, for the sake of those who have never read it, re- peat the story of Carazan ; and which, though F cannot reach the style of its author, and may give it but imperfectly, (having no book before me,) may furnish a useful lesson to some who may read it. Carazan was the richest merchant in Bagdat, with no chil- dren or dependants ; his expenses had been small, and, with a prosperous run of business in the silk and diamond trade of In- dia for many y<*ars, he had amassed immense treasures. He met with no losses, his caravans were expeditious, traded with success, and returned in safety. One enterprise made way for another; every successive project was formed on a greater seal**, and all were terminated with success. Business was swayed by his influence ; merchants depended on his will ; no- bles and princes envied his magnificence, and even the caliph feared his power. • i^ r But Carazan lived only for himself. His maxim was never to move but with a prospect of advantage. He never gave to the poor; he never listened to the cries of distress ; calls on his beneficence were repelled with a frown, and the poor had long learned to shun his dwelling. But the city was suddenly surprised with a great change in his conduct. He removed to a principal square, in the centre of the city, and made proclamation to all the poor to resort to his palace. They flocked together by hundreds, and by thou- sands ; and what was their surprise to find his halls set out with tables loaded with provisions; and such things as were most needed were dis[)ersed in his porches and court-yards, and in the adjoining streets. People of all ranks were astonished, but could form no estimate of the motive of all this liberality and profusion. On the second day Carazan made his appearance, and mount- ing a scaflbld, raised for the purpose, he beckoned with his hand, and the murmur of applause and admiration suddenly ceased. " People of Bagdat," said he, " I have hitherto lived to my- self, henceforth I intend to live for the good of others. Listen attentively to the cause of the change you see. As I was sit- ting in my counting room, and meditating on future schemes of accumulating more wealth, I fell asleep ; immediately I saw the angel of death approaching me like a whirlwind, and, ere I had time for recollection, he struck me with his dart. My soul instantly forsook my body, and I found myself at the bar of the Almighty. A dreadful voice from the judgment seat addressed me thus ; * You have Hved entirely for yourself; you have done no good to others, and, for your punishment, God ordains that you be eternally banished from all society.' By a resistless power I felt myself driven from the throne, and carried, with inconceivable swiftness, through the heavens. Suns and systems passed me, and in a moment I was on the borders of creation. The shadows of boundless vacuity be- gan to frown and deepen before a dreadful region of eternal silence, solitude, and darkness. In another moment the faint- est ray of creation expired, and I was lost for ever. 4 « 8 '* ! stretched out my hands towards the regions of existence, and implored the Lord of creation to change my punishment if it were but to the torments of the damned, that I might es- cape that frightful solitude ; but my horror was too dreadful for a moment's endurance, and I awoke. I adore the goodness of the great Father who has thus taught me the value of society, while he allows me time to taste the pleasures of doing good." I am not about to improve this story by recommending it to my reader to dream for the sake of reformation. Indeed, I would hope there are no Carazans in the city ; and yet I can- not but fear there are some to whom so pungent a dream would be very useful. Dreams will come when they will, and 1 am not certain I shall not have a proxysm of dreaming be- fore I get through these numbers. But there is a mode of gaining information at the option of every person, and that I am about to recommend — I mean reading. Every person, it is well known, has not leisure for general reading, but every person can read enough to answer the purpose of the present recommmendation. The unhappy prejudice subsisting in this city against New-England sentiments would infallibly yield, and be completely dissipated by a proper acquaintance with the books in which those sentiments are contained. These prejudices have not been planted so deep, and cherished with such vigour, by the perusal of books, but by deriving an ac- count of their books and tenets through a medium which has given them a stain foreign to their nature. It has been done by perversion. True, indeed, a mind already prepossessed, and strongly opionated in error, may not be convinced by reading a book wherein the truth is stated. But even this will not hold good as a general rule, and in application to great bodies of people. The public mind, depraved as men are, will, generally, soon gel right where the proper means of information are afforded. I earnestly recommend to the people of the city to direct their attention to some of the books I shall hereafter name. They may rest assured that, even provided they should begin to read them with prejudice and disgust, they will end with pleasure and conviction 3 will rise up from the perusal acknow- ir \ 9 ledging themselves instructed and cured of their antipathy. They may be assured that those persons whom they hear dai- ly condemning those writings, have never read them. They are imposed upon in this business, and their credulity is shame- fully abused. They are exactly like the man I have heard of within a day or two, who was strongly condemning the Trian- gle, and a person present asked him if he had read it; he said no, but had his account from IMr. Honeygall : well, but had Mr. Honeygall read it ? Why no, he had not read it because he would not read so huge a thing; it would be wicked to read it. (Aside.) He never reads any thing. So, reader, it is just as wicked for these sage censors of books to read the New-England books ; and my word for it. they have not that sin to answer for. I ask the great and learned Dr. Buckram, (not that there is any such man in reality, I only use that name in a kind of allegorical or metaphysical sense;) I ask him whether he has ever read " Edwards on the Will ?" Hah ! he must think of it. I must here let the good people into a secret of us book- men which, perhaps, they don't know. It is the practice of some great readers, when ihey have read the title of a book and its contents, and cut into a paragraph, here and there, to sav they have read it ; nor do they tliink it lyinff. Some, I believe, venture so far as to say they have read a book, when they have only read the letters on the backside; but that is goinf^^ too far ; I never do that. A powerful appeal lies from this subject to the patriotic feel- ings of every American. Were any of us in France or Eng- land and should hear them commending the writers of our own country, we should feel a secret gratification arising from our national attachment; we should feel it an honour done to ourselves ; and so it would be. W^e feel a pleasure in hearing the greatness of Washington, the talents of Franklin and Rit- tenhouse, extolled. Every American is gratified at hearing the eloquent Chatham declare, in the British parliament, the Ame- rican Congress to be one of the noblest bodies of men ever as- II / 1 10 seinbled.' We are not backward to assert the equality, if not the ascendency, of our naval and military character. Me boast of our inventions in the arts— of our success in manufactures. And with such varied excellence of talent, would it not be f'xtraordinary if, in the theological department, something im- portant and respectable had not been achieved ? The fame of exhibiting to the world the first perfect experiment of religious freedom and toleration cannot be denied us ; and Europe her- self has enrt>I!ed and immortalized the name of our first theo- logical writer. Is tlie thought incredible that such a man as Edwards should kindle the genius and rouse the talents of his countrymen ? He did it ; and has been foUowtd by a constella- tion of divines and writers on theology, to whom, if the imma- turity of our seminaries denied the most perfect classical ex- cellence, nature had not denied intellectual powers of the first order, and posterity will not deny the honour of the first grade of usefulness and importance in their profession. The perusal of their WMitings, by the people of this city, will be attended with several good effects which I shall particu- larly distinguish. 1. It will diminish, if not exterminate, their prejudices, against New Dicinitif. For they will be surprised to find their great and leading doctrines, such as a general atonement, &c., to be the same as taught by the ablest and most orthodox divines since the reformation. The notion of moral inability was ne- ver a fabrication of the New-f'.ngland divines; they will find in the clearest and best writers of England, the same idea. 2. They will find themselves instructed and pleased. Books and Essays written, and Sermons delivered, in places where the work of God is carried on, cannot but derive an unction, a life and spirit, from the occasions that gave them birth. As the face of Moses shone when he descended from Sinai's glorious vision, so men greatly employed and honoured in the work of God, will transfuse through their writings the spirit of that work. * At the commencement of the revoluiion. ■| 11 It is a mournful tact, and will one day be as deeply deplored by those who have done it, as by those against whom it has been done, that the standard of opposition against those men and their writings should be lifted in New-York : that this high- ly-favoured city should be made the opposing bulwark — the breast-work of opposition. I rejoice to think that such walls as men build are not high, nor their foundations deep. I have no fear for the ultimate success of truth ; but I fear for those who are opposing its progress — especially for those who are held in darkness by the craft and ambition of others. The chariot of salvation will not be impeded ; it is guided by one who can save and can destroy. It shall be the object of this Number to state to the good people of this city, and of the country and nation, wherever these presents shall come, what documents, and honks, and wri- tings — in short, what resources may be resorted to, in order to discover what those sentiments i^re which are falsely called new divinity, and, very unappropriately, Hopkinsianism, To this 1 now solicit the reader's attention. Jonathan Edwards, I have elsewhere said, was the great mas- ter spirit of his day. Perhaps no man ever evinced more ca- paciousness of understanding and strength of intellect than he. This is the opinion of very competent judges, and probably will not be denied. His writings are numerous, among which his Inquiry concerning the Will was his greatest production, and may be considered as forming the basis of the distinguishing tenets of New-England divinity, as far as it contains any dis- tinctive features. Of this I have spoken in the former series. After this, his work on Religious Affections may perhaps be next in point of importance. Had this been the only book he published, it would have rendered his name immortal. On this ground, explored by thousands of writers, he was often original, generally interesting, and always unanswerable. His History of Redemption, a work left immature, was sufficient to show the force and splendour of his talents. Various other important works were also publislied by him, which brevity forbids me to enumerate; but his numerous sermons, as many of them were delivered in periods of religious revival,, and were more blessed 12 as instrumental to that great work, it" wc except Whitelield's, tlian any ever delivered in this counlry, are without ail parallel among American sermons; and lor depth of thought, force of argument, and brilliance of imagination ; for a ma|Vslic display of truth, solemnity of address, and power to arrest the conscience, they have never been surpassed. He had the n.re talcnl of unit- ing metaphysical discussion with practical and experimental truth ; of uppealing with equal force and propriety to the un- derstanding and to the passions. The style of Edwards is plain and simple, and evinces to the judicious reader the progress of a gigantic mind moving through fi.lds of truth, careless of the artificial ao!cs and some dacumaUs whereby toj.idge of flopkinsian tenets. Samuel Hopkins, whose dreaded and execrated name is so often pronounced with strange horror by thousands of people who never read a pa^e of his writings, so often held up to cen- sure and obloquy by an eq.al number of men who boast of having read his works, but are equally ignorant of what they comain-Samuel Hopkins wrote and published a iJody of Divi- n..y. I shall here say little of this work ; it is sold in several bookstores, and is in many libraries of this city. I may safely say, however, that it is one of the noblest bodies of divinity in i 18 ihe Knglish language ; and I will venture to predict that it will stand as high on the shelves of future libraries, and be regarded as a work of as much utility and merit, as Pictete, Ridgely, and Turetin, when the ignorant and maniacal rage against Hopkin- sianism shall have subsided; and especially when it shall have the good fortune to be judged by those who have read it. With regard to the leading sentiments of no})kins, they do not differ materially from the most approved and orthodox di- vines, and the most eminent and standard writers since the re- formation. Hopkins surely did not agree with them in every point, nor did any two important writers, that ever wrote, agree in all points, Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, Eeza, Zuinglius. Bucer, Carolstadt,all differed from each other; nor less did Bax- ter, Flavel, Owen, Watts, Podriddge, &c. difler. With reverence be it spoken, even Mason, Ely, Roraeyn, and Milldoler, do not agree in all points. Besides a body of divinity, Hopkins wrote various tracts and sermons, in all of which the grand and fundamental truths of religion are judiciously and ably handled. As a faithful minis- ter of Christ, a public teacher, and an elementary writer on the- ological and moral subjects, the Ameiican church has had few more useful or more distinguished men. His style is plain, un- ornamented, and simple; with less strength and originality of conception than Edwards, his style verged nearer towards neat- ness and precision. In reading his pages, you do not perceive inanity of mind, carefully concealed by an elaborate texture of smooth and spider's-web phrases; nor an eternal and dead level of common places solemnly trimmed with insipid pomp, and the soporific monotony of easy periods, rounded as regularly as a thousand rolls of gingerbread. He wrote like a man of sense, who dared to think for himself; like a man of thought, who was master of his subject; like a man of piety, who regarded the truth ; and if sometimes he justifies the suspicion of affect- ing to trace new paths, to launch into new speculations, show me the writer of eminence who is not more or less susceptible of that kind of ambition, or whose powers of mind rendered similar endeavours more successful, and, of course, more war- rantable. 14 15 |l An«r Edwards, and Hopkins, Bellamy may next be noticed as a wr ,er of the samo order, or school, if you please. His pr.nc.pal work is True Religion Delineated. Though ,hi. book .s doubtless not received as a piece of divine inspiration yet .t .s considered by many as a standard work : and such it ought to be. anf was not to be expected that one nation should produce more than one man equal to his father; if it was impos- s.ble for h.m to raise, yet he sustained the name, by the vigour and acuteness of his litera.y productions. What he seemed to want .n greatness and extent of understanding he made up by sagacity of judgmen. and acu.eness of reasoning ; and I shall scarcely be ron.radic.ed when I say, .ha. in penetration and force of .ntellect he has rarely been surpassed. His publications on the Atonement, and against Dr. Chaun- cy, have affoided to his adversaries the most unpleasant speci- mens and proofs of his reasoning powers. Edwards, Hopkins, and Bellamy, have long since retired from the,r stations in the church militant, and, I trust, are now reap- ing the fruits of their labours in the mansions of joy and rest together with many souls, the seals of their ministry on earth.' And .t IS matter of consolation, to reflect that the idle clamours and reproaches which envy, pride, and ambition, are incessant- ly venting against these men and their doctrine, cannot poUut* I Y ihe air nor disturb the repose of those peaceful mansions. And if their persecutors and opposers would, for once, institute a just comparison between the tokens of divine approbation bestowed on the labours of these men, and on their own, it would give a chill to their ambition— would rebuke their pride, and change the voice of vituperation into confession and self reproach. Besides the writings of these men already enumerated, there are many writers of the same class now living, which circum- stance ought, perhaps, rather to impose silence. Their theological magazines, religious tracts, and periodical publications, the work of associations of ministers of that de- scription, in which all their sentiments are abundantly disclosed, are immensely numerous. Sermons, however, form the princi- pal department of their writings ; and although it cannot be de- nied that they have publii^hed sermons which in point of execu- tion are but ordinary, and perhaps sometimes incorrect in senti- ment, yet they have also published sermons, which, in defiance of the overwhelming charge of" verbiage, tautology, and non- sense," will assume and maintain their station in the first class of that order of composition. If limmons has been charged with some peculiarities of sen- timent, it should be remembered that those peculiarities are not chargeable on him as a Hopkinsian, but as a writer. I say this for the man of sense and candour who may read these pages. As for the bigot, blind with prejudice, and mad with intolerance, and who, like the countryman in Boston, would be liable to mistake the stuifed skin of a quadruped for the charter of Mas- sachusetts, I leave him to hug his prejudices. Any peculiar notions entertained by Emmons, are no more chargeable to Hopkinsianism, than the peculiar notions and reveries of Stub- ner, or Blandrata, were chargeable to the doctrines of the Re- formation. Stubner was among the reformers, and so is Em- mons among the Hopkinsians. I shall not pronounce on the peculiar opinions of Emmons. Whether they are correct or not, I leave to the decisions ot that day which shall rectify every error, and bring truth to light. But they are surely not of a nature which ought to interfere with christian fellowship and communion. But Emmons, re- 16 garded as a sennoinzer, is surpassed by few writers ol that Class, eHher I.v.ng or dead ; and few sern.ons, considered in a respects, are superior to his. His subjects, generally .npo t^m prate text. H.s sermons are read with ease and pleasure- wnpleas,re, because his object is perfectly obvious, he . nith ease, because short, and always rapidly progressing. '' Semper fcsthiat ad evenium/' Emmons is an original of the noblest class, and certainly one of the most deeded character. No candid reader, who reads for .nstruct.on, is disappointed, or rises from the pe^.sal of one of his sermons w.thout some benefit. IJis sermons generally md-cate extensive knowledge and acuteness of judgmJl.t. ' tye. neat appropriate, pure, and correct, thoughtless elegant and sp enu,d than that of Hall, and less easy and graceful, per- haps, than that of Jay. I„ fe.vency and pa'ho., we m.v have some n. our own country who excel him; and his sermons are perhaps, too d.dactic^too much the essay, and not sumciemly the popular address to answer, in the best manner, all the end ol preachmg. \\ ah less of the flowers of May, or fruits of Octo- ber, than some others, his sermons may be compared to the a;end,an hour of a clear day in June, when the sun puts for h h s s,,ength, the summer displays her maturity, and vegetation all her energy. I say nothing of any uncommon turn tcf a pas age of scnpture he may give-of any new distinction, or mo- dification mpomt of speculation; for we hve in a day when disputes between Monothelites and Monophi.ites, Reali-sts and .Nominalists, no longer terminate on the rack or gibbet- when wars between Troglodytes and Brobdignagoreans no m^re lay was^e ca.es; nor are the differences of Bigendians and Littlen- dians to be considered as heresies. The reader of Emmons' Sermons is like one passing over an extensive and well cultivated farm ; the fences are substan- tml and erect; the fields are verdant, square, and regular, not Inan^ular; the meadows are separated from the woodlands 17 and the pastures from the tillage: the mansion house is not lofty, but neat and spacious, and speaks itself the seat of wealth but not of dissipation — of happiness, but not of ambition. The prospects are diversified with hills and valleys, and enriched with springs and rivulets. The audiences who heard Emmons have heard more truth, and are better instructed, waving all peculiar and discrimi- nating points, than those who heard Davies, or VVeatherspoon ; and trusting that time will cure prejudices, and assured that sel- fishness will soon yield the ground to a benevolence purely dis- interested, I frankly declare, that I would as leave be thought the writer of the sermons of Emmons, as of Watts or Baxter, Hall or Fuller, Sherlock or Tillotson, Saurin or Claude, Bos- suet or Bourdaloue. After the critic has screwed up his nose, scowled, hissed, snuffed, tossed, and pronounced a few such phrases as "igno- rance ! — no taste ! — impudence !" and the like, I would request him to read a sermon of Davies, of Saurin, of Baxter, of Sherlock, of iMassilon, and of Emmons ; and then ask himself which of thera conveys the most important truth, with fewest words, most simplicity an<^ force, least aflfectation and labour, and greatest clearness. I must caution him, however, to break fairly through the blinding halo that surrounds great names; to be on his guard against the splendour of the great assemblies of London and Paris, where nobles and monarchs worship ; to for- tify his auditory nerves ae^ainst the titilation of pompous phrases- and majestic circumlocution, which add little to the force, beau- ty, or impression of truth. A sermon is not the greater, be- cause a monarch heard it, nor the better because he admired it. A sermon is, or ought to be, a portion of the gospel of Christ adapted to the attention of a public audience : its style and man- ner may be compared to the vessels on which a public feast is^ served up. Important trulli is the food itself. Now, the service of dishes may be of gold, silver, porcelain, or common earthen- ware, pewter, or even wood. Some forty years ago, when the good people of this country used to eat on wooden trenchers, even a pewter service was thought quite splendid and luxuri- ous. Emmons treats his audience in a handsome service «f 3 M »1^ iB Silver; and ittliere are those who can go as hii-h as gold, en riched with diamonds, I am glad. Let it be rtniembered, how- ever, that very indifferent food may be served up in gold, and many a deadly draught has lurked in a goldt u goblet. The pious and venerable West, " whose praise is in all the churches'' where he is known, and whose full value cannot be known, but by personal acquaintance, now more than eighty years of age, is^still discharging the duties of the sacred office. Three times has his congregation heard him pass through the New Testament, expounding verse by verse the sacred oracles; illustrating and enforcing them with a propriety, acuteness, and vigour, of which this country has seen no parallel : nor has any minister of tho present day a happier talent in that most useful branch of public instruction, or is" mightier in the scriptures." Dr. West's publications have not been numerous ; but what tew things he published, will be sufficient to perpetuate his name with honosir. His treatises on moral agency, and on the atone- ment, will best show their force in an attempt to answer them. With that inattention to the ornaments of style characteristic of his early time, he evinced great vigour of tiionght, and jus»tness of reasoning. Christ has honoured tliis worthy man in an extraordinary man- ner : for the space, I believe, of sixty years, in which he has discharged, without a stain, the work of the ministry, he has from time to time seen the work of God carried on amongst his people; and very many souls have been given him as seals of his ministry, who will be stars in the crown of his rejoicing in the day of the Lord. Though I would willingly dispense with mentioning the names of persons living, from delicacy to their feelings, yet that si- lence, any further than is imposed by brevity, cannot comport with llie design of this enumeration, which is to show how re- mote from candour and trutli are those rtflfctions and sneers, which deny to New-Kngland the name of writer or theologian. And 1 feel it my duty to a^k many young men of education and talents, but recently from that quarter, who have established themselves in this city in the various branches of business ; I 11 i i I L 19 ask them, whether it gives them pleasure to hear such reflec- lions- « " Tossed in the jest from wind to wind r" I ask them, whether they have become so triangular — so sealed with prejudice, as really to believe there are no writers there? They peradventure may have heard of the name of Dwight, the maternal grandson of the great Edwards ; perhaps they may have been educated under his eye and instruction, and, if so, they have heard his course of theological lectures : shall I be- lieve, that since they have come within the radiance of superior luminaries, that they are trul) converted to the belief, that there is nothing in Nctc-England—thdit all there is " verbiage, tau- tology, and nonsense" — " no books, no documents, no writ- tings ?" Some of them I know to be sons of New-England cler- gymen of eminence and distinction. But here, alas ! they have learned the humiliating fact that their fathers knew nothing, and were nothing; or, if any thing, in comparison as a glow- worm to a star. They are, perhaps, almost ready to wrangle with their fate, and wish that Bamfylde Carew had been their father. Take courage, young men, and hold up your heads ; though a New-England Clergyman claim you, dare to own your parent- age, dare to think yourselves educated, though educated by a Dwight. This language may seem enigmatical to persons at a distance : here it will be well understood, and will, I trust, pro- duce a salutary effect. For I do tirmly believe that so great a perversion of truth, so unaccountable a concealment of fact, never was practised or achieved under circumstances so extra- ordinary, in any other place on the globe. And whatever the reader may think, he may rest assured that we have before us the true ground of the controversy with New-England. I there- fore said in the former series, that it all arose from ambition and envy. Our adversaries seem not to be aware that there is a great distinction between commerce and theology ; nor yet is New-England altogether ignorant of commerce. . The man whose name has been meotioned would be an ho- f^ 20 nour to any state or nation. An example so bright, a pattern s« illustrious, will long be remembered by hundreds who have felt its powerfulinfluence ; will long flourish in the talents he has elicited and matured ; will long be ci^Iobrated by the genius he has fostered. Dr. Dwight, for gone ral erudition and correct taste, for powerful talents and uncorrupted integrity, is surpass- ed by no man in our country. Though he may have less starch in his composition than Dr. Buckram ; though he may be less susceptible to the courtier's rvntle touch than Dr. Weathercock; for he is not a man f!iat says one thing and does another, yet he is, " take him for all in all," as great as theGreat Gun himself. The sermons, and other productions of his pen, are brilHant specimens of a great and vigorous intellect, and not unworthy of a descendant of f\dwards. Since the writings of New-England are accused of consist- ting of nothing but " verbiage, tautology, and nonsense," I will mention one writer, at least, whose sermons, if the reader may give himself the trouble to examine, F can assure him he will acquit of his heavy charge. Smalley's Sermons are able and handsome specimens of clear and conclusive reasoning; they abound little in bold assertions, and his deductions are made with caution and correctness. Noihing but the |)reji,dire of the day withholds from those sermons the high repulalion due to solid reasoning, and an able and masterly display of important truth. Warburton reasoned with more erudition, and Sherlock certain- ly wilh many more adventitious advantages, but I request the "Great Gun" himself to lay a sermon of Smalley side by side with' one of Sherlock's, or of Tillot^on^ or of his own, if he pleases; compare them by paragraphs, and I put him upon his honour, as a gentleman, where I am happy to say I do not scru- pie him, though I do murh as a metapiiy^ician, to say which of them resembles most the progress of Euclid through his 47th. There is scarcely a wrirer who carries more of demonstration through every successive period ; nor would there be a better test of this, than would result from an attempt to show where his argument fails. Doctor S. Spring's « M .,al Disquisitions," at the very sound of which some nervous people, I suppose, will fall into the moral- f i 21 phobia, is the last thing T shall mention. This sniaii book, if read with attention and candour, will not fail to carry convic- tion to the mind ; it dwells on those grand points in which New- Enijland divinity is made the subject of censure. But its fate has been to be condemned by those who have not read it. There are many writings and publications, the productions ot a much younger class of men, which, while ihey exhibit hand- some specimens of classical excellence, maintain and fully illus- trate the same strain of sentiment and doctrine; but brevity forbids their enumeration. New-England in a space of two hundred and fifty miles square, has, in fact, produced more ser- mons, essays, religious tracts, and theological publications, and those which are respectable and important in their kind, than all the rest of America. Nor is there a peo{>le on earth, whose religious tenets are better known, or more ably defended. Yet, we are solemnly assured by an Anti Mopkinsiau >~ectarian. that there are no books, documents, &c., by which their principles can be known. The truth is, there is no such sect of people on earth as Hopkinsians, and I would to God there had never been such an appellation known among Christians as Calvinists ; especial- ly, without they had adopted the name of a more lovely and Christ-like man. This rage for nick-naming sects, and exalting the opinions and authorities of men, is but a younger shoot of the grand apostacy. The books and writings I have mentioned in the very imper- fect sketch above, are not censured or exploded, on account of their faults, regarded as literary productions; far from it : that is the least of all the fears of their adversa:ies. On the contrary, the known conviction they carry with them, the force of native genius they evince, and the spiiit of piety they breathe, is what renders them so much dreadtd, and is the real clue to the motive of those unwearied endeavours to keep them out of sight, and to hiss them into silence. Perhaps I ought not to close so copious an account of writers, without saying something about the Investigator. It was a rule with the Spectator, that, so long as he was unknown, he might say what he pleased of himself; might even applaud his own I 41 22 writings at pleas... r -, and i.e oArn did it. 1 see no , eason why I have not the same ,ight; and perhaps it is even more neces- sary for rae to do it, than it was for him : however, as to that I shall do as I please. In the mean time, I shall say a few things. In the first place, they may say n.any unpleasant things, but they cannot say I am not a writer. As a proof that I can write, here is the Triangle. It has been written, and it will be read ; h will spread wide, and will be remembered. In the second place, this thing has not been excited merely as an attack on error- it is oftered to the public as a detergent to an intolerant, bigot' ed, and pn-secuting spirit 5 as a diluent to the moral buckram with which some minds are most dreadfully encased ; as a re- frigerent to the calenture of ambition ; as an emulgent to a self- ish heart; as a sudorific to the sedative frigidity of hatred ; as a tonic to the atony of general benevolence; as a laxative to' the gripe of spiritual pride : in fact, as a universal nostrum against meddling with those who are disposed to think for themselves. And. frnm concurrent prognostics, I think it must produce a good effect. In the last place the Investigator is a physiognomist ; gives lectures on heads, and can draw portraits. No portrait has yet appeared, though 1 perceive some rough etchings in the former series have been readily claimed. One thing I engage, if I hereafter draw a portrait, the true Bucephalus will instantly, as of old, neigh at his own likeness. LNVESTIGATOR No. II. 1 SAID, in a foimor number, that attempts had been made to excite an odium against flopkinsianism. To many, no doubt, this appears an unjust accusation. But, however it may appear it is true, and can be f.dly vindicated. They say that Hopkin- sians hold that a Chrisiian ou^ht to he willing to be damned. The most that llopkinsians contend for is, thatjhere mmj be a r k 23 turn when a Christian may fed in his heart to acquiesce in the justice of God, even though God should cast him of for ever. Let us examine this point. The clamours on this subject are too absurd and r.d.rulous to be heard with patience. I said, perhaps, enough in a former number; but I will here repeat, that the HopUinsians hold no mo.'e, relative to ihi^ matter, than must be admitted by all who believe in divine providence. Their teachers are in the habit of insisting much on the doc- trine of submission to the divine will; which, I hope, will not be considered as an error. They hold, that all rational crea- tures ought lo feel perfect resignation to the will of God. But resignation implies holiness, and God has manifested it to be his will, that holv creatures should be happy. A holy creature, therefore, is not required to be willing to be damned, beca.ise it is not God's will that he should be damned. They dwell m..ch on this point, that eve.7 real Christian entertains a strong sense of his own desert, and of the justice of God, in his condem- nation, as a sinner; and they believe that a Christian may be rightly disposed towards God, i. e. may love him supremely be- fore he has anv evidence that God will save him. In this case, therefore, the converted sinner sees, and f.aiy acquiesces 111, the justice of God : nay, is often heard to say, " 1 feel that God would be just in my condemnation ; I feel and know that I deserve his wrath; and I see clearly the beauty and the glory of his justice, as well as of his mercy." The elements, and every point in this whole business, are now befoie the reader, and may be reduced to a set of definite pro- positions, which, for the sake of perspicuity, I will here ?et down. 1. Every rational creature ought to feel perfect resignation to the will of God. Will anv one depv this ? 2. Perfect resignation to God's will implies holiness, /. r. love to God. 3. It is the will of God thnt creatures who love him shall not be miserable. This will not be denied. 4. Eve.y good man has a strong sense of the justice of God f X" 2J 25 m h.s condemnation as a sinner, for ^.i.hou. this he would have no idea of grace in his salvation. This cannot be denied. The pronnse of God to save a believer, by grace, cannot dnnnnsh that beluver's sense of his o»n desert. Even pardon clearly .mphes the justice of punishment, or else there can be no grace in pardon. 5. The Christian may feel rightly disposed towards God and h.s government, that is, may love God, before he has an evi- dence that God will save him. This is out of the tnanffle, and will be denied. But J beg the reader, as he values the truth, fo attend with candour to this point. It may affect h.s own re- hcon attd hopes more than he is aware of. This proposition .s denied because it militates against the grand fortress and strong hold of what I call selfishness. I justify the proposition by the following reasons : 1. The real Christian may judge incorrectly of his own ex- erc.ses and feelings. They may be of the right kind, without h.s havmg any degree of confidence in them. Thus I have no do„b, ,t happens, that many a converted soul does not come to a due estimate of his exercises towards God, for hours, nay, days and months after his conversion. He has the feelings of a child, but no confidence in those feelings. It is a verv rare thing that a renewed sinner is able to say, « This is failh-this IS love-this h holiness-I am born again," immediately, the first moment after his regeneration. When I see a Christian com. forward in that manner, I am doubtful, and have reason to tear he is deluded. Nor will he be very readv to give in to the opinion of any one who may ofiiciously tell him^ he is a renewed man ; and such persons there are always at hand. He Will perhap, say, " f think I love God-I seem to perceive the glory and fulness of Christ, but the matter is too important; I fear I am mistaken." 2. The Christian's confidence of salvation is not the cause, but the effect, of his love to God. There is not a more fatal error in the chur, h, and to the souls of men, than the supposi- tion, that the ..„:i,,r begins to love God in consequence of dis- covering that God is going to sa.ve him. The thing itself speaks and shows slictr selfishness, with the broade.t grin. I am '■I t| I! 7 amazed that the bare suggestion should not excite alarm and suspicion, distrust and aversion. What says our Saviour? "If ye love thera that love you, what thank have ye?" Do not even sinners love those that love them ? Such a kind of love is no sign of grace. 1 hat which I feel towards God, when I see that he will save me, is gratitude. Nothing can be more certain than that all the wicked on earth, and that all the devils in hell, could they discover that God was going to make them eternally happy, would love him for it, would feel very grateful, would think him a very good being. Let those who trust in such a kind of love to God be assured, that their foundation is sand. 3. The nature of that love, which is due to God fiom all creatures, shows, with the brightness of a sunbeam, that it is far above gratitude, or any return or reflection of kindness. What is the ground of the most perfect and exalted friendship among men ? Is it a mere requital of kindness, a reflection of inte- rest ? Does it rest on the narrow ground of reciprocal benefits? Is it not grounded on the high and estimable qualities which two persons may discover in each other ? What, if General Washington had reprieved a criminal from death or paid his ransom, would that criminal perceive in that generous act the highest and utmo«^t ground of respect ? Robespierre, or Cateline, might have done him the same kindness. In truth, all that God has done for one sinner bears no more proportion to the grounds of regard discoverable in his nature and character, than a single grain of sand bears to the universe. Hence, 4. Love to God is not the effect or consequence of faith ; it is coeval with it, nay, it is in, and belongs to the nature of faith. Faith without love is good for nothing — is dead — is no belter then the faith of devils. As there can be no holiness in the heart previous to love, and as nothing can be acceptable to God without holiness, we may rest assured that holiness is not only a concomitant, but a constituent of faith. It may further be observed, that consequent on regeneration there cat J:ie no earlier exercise of heart than love to God; and, I leave it to the acute and able theologian to say, whether he can perceive any thing in regeneration itself, but a change of iieart from hatred to the love of God. But by love, here, I i 26 mean not only the effect, but the cause ; not only the exercise, but the agency by which it is produced, that is, " the love of God shed abroad in the heart, by the Holy Ghost." " For he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." I have, 1 trust, shown, that love to God is not the effect of faith. The arguments might indeed have been amplified, but that I deem unnecessary, till I shall see stronger reasons brought against them. And, if the love of God be considered object- tively, it will be seen, that it cannot arise from a conviction that God is going to save the sinner. This, indeed, has been already stated, but the importance given to this point by the dispute before us, renders it necessary to be more explicit. T.he unregenerate man is in a state of condemnation, of course, he has no evidence to believe that God will save him. If regeneration be an instanianeous work, which those admit with whom I am at issue, a moment of time does not intervene be- tween the last sinful exercise of the unregenerate, and the first holy exercise of the regenerate man, or love to God : in a mo- ment he finds himself loving God, and feels delight in the ex- ercise. The first intellectual apprehensions of the ?iew man are allowed to be various, by most orthodox divines, old as well as new: and this must be allowed from the nature of the case, and is confirmed by constant experience. I seldom ever heard two Christians relate having had similar apprehensions, either in the first moments, or first hours or days, of their Chris- tian experience. Their first views may be supposed to take their complexion very much from their state of knowledge, and general haf)ils of thinking. But though these cases doubtless embrace an endless variety, yet there is reason t<» believe, that God is the grand object of the'r apprehension j and that them- ?elves are generally, if not entirely, out of the question, and not thought of. I first mention the case of those persons who pretend to no re<;ollection of the time of their conversion ; and many such there are who give abundant evid«-nce of piety. 1 liAgh they did not know it, there was a time when they were renewed by the llUy Ghost : no thought occurred to them, however, that they wei*: Jjorn again, or were going to be saved ; so far from # i /i 27 it, that if any one had told them they were Christians, they would have spurned the idea, and would have said, ^' you flatter and deceive me." What may we suppose were their exercises during this time ? Why, at times they had clear and affecting views of the loveliness and glory of God, of the person and character of Christ, of his fulness and all-sufficiency as a Sa- viour ; but, then, they dare not trust to these views and feelings. I next mention the case of such as suppose they know the time of their conversion. What were their first views ? «' There was a God;— he was an infinitely lovely and excellent being. The world was his;— all nature was beautiful and glorious ;—■ all creatures seemed to praise him. The Dible was a new book. There was a Christ willing and able to save the vilest sinner. The gospel was free ; the lault was all in the sinner." And I declare to the reader, that not one only, nor two, nor ten per- sons have I heard say, that their view of Christ*s sufficiency was such, that they thought they could persuade their friends immediately to embrace him. But while the new-born Christian had these views, what of himself? Did it occur to him, at the very first instant, that God was going to save him, and, therefore, that he loved God for it? Was it his very first apprehension that he should be saved ; and was that the cause of his joy and love ? The idea is shock- ing, find from my soul, I believe, is revolting to every pious mind ; nor do I believe there is a Christian on earth whose re- collection of his own experience will confirm it. I readily grant, the Christian's first apprehension may be of the Saviour; but then it will be of him as the son of God. " If thou believest in thine heart that God has raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, thou shalt be saved." "But," said Christ to Peter, "whom do ye say that I am ?" " Thou art the son of God; thou art the king of Israel." " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona ; flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Christ's person, character, and work, together, form the great object of faith ; the assent of the understanding, and cordial con- sent of the heart to it, form the exercise. But the notion of appropriating faith, so called, i, e. that Christ died for me, and 28 29 laying this as the crround and motive of my love to Christ, and prior to it, and these points, in connexion with the doctrine of particular atonement, make out a dead faith and selfish love to the Christian, and an innocent unbelief to the sinner. To perceive beauty, is to love. Whatever the soul's first ap- prehension of God is, it is attended with a coeval perception of his glorious excellence and beauty. I wish the candid and in- genuous reader to observe that arts, in no case, are the proper object of love. A series of great actions indicate a great be- ing; but it is not the actions, but the actor we love. But a good action done to me indicates no more goodness than as though it were done to some other man. I ought, in fact, to love God as much for doing good to my neighbour as to myself; and this I certainly shall do, if I *' love my neighbour as myself.'* If this be not correct, let its error be made out. This brings into view an idea of what is usually termed disin- terested love, airainst which a more unreasonable clamour has been raised, and justified by more ridiculous shifts, and more groundless and shameless arguments, than are usually seen marshalled in the field of controversy. Be it admitted, though it is by no means always true, that the new born souPs first appre- hension is of Christ — his first exercise of love is towards Christ ; yet there is no otherwise an act of appropriation than what is implied in the perception, *Mhat the Saviour is infinitely glori- ous and excellent, willing, and all-sufl^cient to save ; the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely." He looks up to God, and beholds him a God of love, ruling his kingdom with perfect goodness ; that all creatures are safe ; that all interests committed to him are secure. It does not, at this time, occur to him that he is born again, or shall be saved. His mind is filled with objects infinitely more glorious and majestic than any consideration of his own interest or salvation. And, al- though a great leader of the Triangular scheme has lately cau- tioned his hearers, from his pulpit, to be aware of that *' base and absurd philosophy, which ou^rht not to be dignified by the noHkt of philosophy, which teaches nien to leave their own hap- ) piness and interest out of the question f^* yet it is a truth which every Christian should know and feel, that a view of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, breaking forth on the mind of the sinner, and especially for the first time, will leave him a little room to think of his own dear self, or of his in- terest or salvation. Job seemed to have a great deal of ♦hat base and absurd phi- losophy, when he said, " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor my- self, and repent in dust and ashes." David, also, had much of that philosophy, when he exclaimed, *' when I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast made, Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him ?" &c. In that solemn hour a sense of the vileness and desert of sin falls upon the renewed soul with the weight of mountains; he is amazed at the mercy that has preserved him, and he ex- claims, with all the feelings of his heart, and energies of his soul, " God would be lovely if he should cast me ofi" for ever." How little is he inclined, at that time, or any other time, to seize upon some divine promise, and boldly and arrogantly threaten to keep Christ to his word. I use this phrase because it was very recently used by another Triangular, who boldly exhorted his Christian hearers lo keep Christ to his icord, i. e. to make him fulfil his promises. Alas ! whither does this strain of Antinomianism tend ? What bavock it has already made, and what ruin it threatens ! But is there need to exhort mankind to be more selfish ? is there ground to fear that they will not interpret the bible sufiiciently favoura- ble to their own character and state ? Shall they be exhorted, if I may so say, to toe the mark, and challenge the Saviour to come and meet them upon his peril ? Let that great master in Israel be assured, that he need be under no apprehensions lest his hearers shall not be sufficiently alive to their own interest and happiness. They will do that in obedience to man's rulin^^ passion. '* Dr. MasoK. '^ 30 •I have dwrelt long on tins subject 5 have gone carefully ovri *' Why," said he, " in Scotland, my native country, some call it the ministerial root, because so very convenient to cuhivate on their glebes ; it succeeds well on lands which will produce nothing else, and will, in this country, soon be thought more valuable than the potato ; and a man that does not like it must be a fool." He further added, that he had recommended it, with great success, in this country ; that he, and several others, were determined to bring it into general cultivation and use. In a region in all respects so perfectly trigonal, the effect was wonderful. I could not repress my curiosity, and I feared I should give offence by appearing to inspect the various little ar- ticles which lay about my plate, not to say that a three-square spoon did not very well suit my mouth. As the landlord seem- ed willing to converse, I at last summoned suflicient confidence to inform him, that my curiosity and admiration had been not a little excited at the very singular form of his house and fur- niture; and I hoped he would not think me impertinent, in wish- ing to know the motive for adopting this figure. After a little pause, with a serious look, he replied, that I was right in wishing an explanation, and that no ofience would be taken. " This mode of building, sir,*' said he, ^' I have received from my ancestors, as they did from their's ; and you must know it is the true primitive form. Our first and grandest maxim is, never to admit of innovation.^^ This maxim is founded in the fact, that although a little good may come, yet a world of evil does actually come from innovations. "' Why sir," continued he, with increasing earnestness, " all the bad practices in the whole world are but innovations. Satan was the first innovator, and his first innovation was made in heaven itself. Then, our mo- ther Eve made a sad innovation on the tree of knowledge, and drew Adam, our father, into it. All human knowledge, sir, is but innovation upon man's primitive state, which was pure ignorance ; and * ignorance is the mother of devotion.' With regard to this house, sir, it is of the true original, nn- corrupied Tuscan order. Three posts were first set on the ground, and their tops fastened together: some say /o^/r, but, sir, I say three, which I can demonstrate from the composition 36 and resolution of forces?; besides, three is the simplest form, and three denotes union, strength, and perfection; it is a mysteri- ous number, as every body knows. When four-square build- Ing^ came in fashion, this f)rlmiiive form was forced to flee into the wilderness, just a< the true church did, when the great whore of Bab>lon usurped her place; and they will remain there, and emerge together." He paused here, and waited for my reply. 1 lold the landlord, he had satisfied me with the account he had given of his house. He acknowledged, that there were some inconvenience^ attending this fitjure of things; but, then, he said, that the beauty and charm of uniformity carried every thing before it; and, for his part, his object was to have but one standard: every thing must be alike. *' But, sir," said he, '' we carry this point farther than you imagine; for soon after our children are born, we have a triangular box, or hat, if you please, made for their heads, which they wear till the head grows in the box into the shape we wish ; and, as they grow large, we enlarge those helmets according to their years, till at lenuth the head becomes settled in the shape you see mine, which form we consider as hi^rhly favourable to acuteness of intel- lect." I then noticed, that the osfmntis and os occipitis of his head formed the upper angles, and his chin the lower; so that the top of the head formed the base, and the chin the apex. In the course of the evening, I had opportunity to e exactly on it; and, as for the properties of the triangle, philo>ophers, from the days of Euclid, and long before until now, have never been able to explore them. By the triangle, the mariner guides his ship across the ocean, the sur- veyor measures the earth, and the astronomer the heavei s. In a word, I take the triangle to be the symbol of strength, wis- dom, and perfection ; and I am strongly inclined to believe, that the soul of man is a perfect spiritual triangle." Perceiving his enthusiasm, equal to that of Dr. Primrose for monogamy, or Don Quixote for chivalry, I nodded assent to his arguments, and presently desired I might be shown mv lodg- ings. The landlord here informed me, that his beds, which were numerous, were all pre-occupied ; and, unless I could accept of a fellow lodger, he could make no arrangement that would be convenient. In fact, he said, his usual custom was to put three in each bed, corresponding to the three sides of the tri- angle; when, in order to avoid mixing head and feet, each one must bend himself into the true figure. I assented, however, to take one, and a gentleman present ascended with me to the chamber, of which, I understood, there were about 20 or SO in the house. But here, a difficulty arose: the bed was a perfect triangle, and so scanty, that even the sides of it were not as long as its intended occupants; however, ec^ch of us took an angle for our heads, and let our feet contend in the remaining angle ; and they were antipodes, with a witness. A query arose, whether these were not the beds spoken of in scripture, where it says, " their bed is shorter than that one may stretch hiniself upon it, and their covering narrower than that he can wrap hi»nsel( therein." ' My fellow lodger told mc that the landlord was invincible in 88 this whim, that he would have every bed in his house of the same size and shape ; that it happened, not long since, that some o-entlemen travelling, who had |»,ortable bedsteads with them of the usual form, had put up there, and, for their own convenience, had erected and prepared their own beds. The landlord find- ing it out, went up to their chamber in a rage, and by the aid of his servants, drew them out of bed, threw their furniture out of the window, and expelled them from his house.* Our situation was such as promised little comfort ; but being weary, I soon fell asleep, and had the following very extraor- dinary dream, which may be called a dream two stories high, or Somnium in Somnio. I fancied myself in a region of great darkness, saving what dubious light arose from distant fires, whose pale and curling flames immediately brought to my m'nd the Tartarean lake. Before I could look round me a second time, a peal of thunder shook all the region, and a glare of light showed me thousands ©f beings seated round a vast amphitheatre facing a central throne. The lofty arches of Pendamonium, sustained on pillars of gold, and illuminated by corruscations of flame, from the burning lake, rr^sembled a structure of solid fire. The perpe- tual noise of distant thunders and tempests, which shook the fabric, prevented my hearing the debates and consultations. At length, however, a voice more shrill than the loudest trumpet reached my ear. " Repair to your stations, and discharge your duties, or the city is lost to my kingdom. Show yourselves worthy of your prince, and, since it is the will of fate that you contend against a superior foe, ac- quire fame by boldness and perseverance. Address yourselves to every individual, and yield to nothing but almighty power. Be off, and let us see What reinforcement we can gain from hope If not, what resolution from despair." The session was closed in a manner not very agreeable to spectators in the gallery, for no sooner was the last word pro- ^ He would not endure them, " no, net for an hour." t1 39 liounced, than the vast assembly rose with a noise and rapidity equal to the explosion of a thousand magazines of powder; and each one, in departing, resembled the track of a meteor. I know not what became of me, till, sometime after, I found my- self walking down the park on that side next to Broadway, when, as usual, many people were moving up and down the street. The sun from his meridian throne smiled with peculiar radiance, and the prospect was gay and interesting. What most engaged my attention was innumerable winged genii, drest in the robes of Tris, with golden drapery floating around them, which seemed soft as air, and in a long train gradually melted into the invisible beam of the sun. One of these flew merrily about the head of each person I saw, keeping pace, as they walked, and acted much like bees, when busied in extracting the mellifluous dew from the heads of clover in a meadow : sometimes at one ear, and then at the other, sometimes for a moment perching on, then vaulting over, and flying round the head. The ladies' large bonnets appeared to form for them a pleasing v.'hicle, resembling an airy chariot below, and, when thus perched, they might be mistaken for a lofty and elegant plume. Excepting a little cloven foot, very sharp and threaten- ing talons, which were, however, generally concealed, and a proboscis resembling an exquisitely fine dagger, I could see nothing about them which looked suspicious. Although nothing is extraordinary in a dream, in which wayward fancy delights to sport with the laws of reason, 1 was surprised at what I saw, and recollected the words of the poet : " Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep." At that moment my curiosity was awakened to know whe- ther I had not one of these aerial attendants about my head; and, looking round, I saw behind me a vast figure of terrific form and aspect, whom I could not for a moment mistake for his infernal majesty. He has been so ofiein described that I suspect I should add nothing new. 1 will only say, that his glowing and protruded eyeballs evinced an ardour and penc- 40 41 tralion of vision, not very pleasant to look at, or easy to srru- tinize; and his whole form reminded me of '^ the sun eclip><.d,'* or " archangel ruined." My astonishment was increased when I perceived in his hand a little book, which I immediately k fw to he the TRiAN ihe author of that hook. " Great Lucifer," said I, ** if your knowl^^di>e is as great as is generally imagined, you surely must know who wrote it." " Yes," says he, " I well know that you wrote it. and I am now come to lake vengeance." There is a vulgar notion prevailing that no living person can speak to a spirit ; but as thi^ vision came up through the*' ivory gate," the reader will not be surprised at this dialogue. I asked him what fault he found with that book. ^ Fault," said he, " it is an audacious attack on some of my best friends; and you have outdone the devil himself in lies and slander." " Very well," I replied, *' if you will show me a falsehood, in all that book, you may take me where you please." I had often, in the course of my life, raised a query, in my own mind, whether the devil could read ; being strong- ly persuaded, that, like many of his followers, he had con- demned books which he had never read; and assured that to prevent people from reading was one of his devices ; though somewhat afraid of incensing him, I made bold, however, to ask him if he could read. *' You shall soon know," replied he, " whether I can read." With that he turned to the 23d pag^e; " There, you say that a rat's tail was never measured : which is false ; the zoologists have measured it a hundred times, for they measure all animals, even the legs of a grasshopper. You have told, sir, as great a lie as Goldsmith did, when he said that the horned cattle of America shed their horns every year; or as did, when he said that the ants in South America would carry off every vestige of large villages of houses in three years." I told him, however, that T did not mean to assert that a rat's tail was absolutely never measured, but that Hopkins and Cal- vin never measured it. " Hah," replied he, very quick, " How i do you know that Hopkins and Calvin never did it ? And how dare you assert what you do not know ? Hopkins and Calvin did things of less importance than measuring rats' tails, and as for you, you cannot say that they did not spend half their time in that business.*' " But, sir,'' said I, for we now began to grow somewhat polite, " if that book is full of lies, do you not like it the better for that, for it is said that you are the father of lies ?" — " Come, come,'' said he, " those that wish to plea^^e me must tell lies about my enemies, not my friends ; at any rate, they must lie to suit my purposes. I don't, indeed, care about abstract and metaphysical truth ; that I confess 1 hate as most of my best friends do — but truth or falsehood which suits my interest, [ approve of. For, sir, you must know that I am a selfish being." 1 was going to tell him that I presumed I had now discovered the true cause of his resentment towards that book ; but he sternly interrupted me, " Come along, you nre convicted ;'' and I believe he would have laid hands upon me had he not been prevented by another phenomenon. At that moment the ground shook, and a superior light, that cast no shadow, seemed breaking on the heavens. A cloud appeared on the northern hemisphere, whose arching sides and silvered edges gradually rose to a summit, on which sat a per- sonage, which every eye, as by intuition, perceived to be im- mortal Truth. Her throne seemed ivory, and over her white robes floated an azure mantle besprinkled with drops of heavenly lustre. On her head was a chaplet of such flowers as sprii^g in the regions of bliss; and the summit of the diadem was distinguished by a centre of rays that resembled the morning star. The bloom of eternal youth was in her countenance, but her majestic form can only be described in the language of that world where she is fully known. In her right hand was '^ the sword of the spi- rit,"' and at her side the symbols of power and majesty Be- neath her feet the clouds were condensed in awful darkness, and her chariot was borne along by the breath of the Al- mighty. I saw no more of the demon or his genii, and while every eye belieUl tiiis glorious personage from afar, a gentle, but nia- 6 42 48 § |l jestic voice, in slovr and solemn accents, was borne to every beholder along the whispering breeze. " Unhappy people ! Truth alone conducts you to happiness ; Her path is plain — her progress is pleasant — her end is glorious. Other guides obtrude upon you their services, but they impK)se on your credulity, and will betray your confidence. Ignorance was born blind: Prejudice has put out her own eyes: Error speaks but to deceive, and allures but to destroy : Ambition seeks you as her prey : Tradition is importunate without rea- son : Pride is the sister of Folly, and without goodness, and al- ways carries about with her the weapon on which she will one day fall : and Selfishness, with facinating smile, presents you with her bowl of deadly poison. Too long have you followed Uiese fallacious guides. I am Truth : — It is my province to conduct you in the path of life, to the bosom of the God of truth and love." She ceased, and while thousands yet listened for something more, her softened close seemed to die away in a distant strain of heavenly music. But for my triangular bed, this delightful dream might have continued, but here the antipodes of my bedfellow gave me so violent a shock that I awoke, and behold it was a dream ! But having now got back to the first floor of my dream, it appeared that I had been waked at a very critical moment ; for I heard a great uproar and running about the house below, and somebody broke into our chamber, and, in great haste, told us that the house was all on fire, which the bursting of smoke and" flame into our chamber but too well confirmed. We sprung out of bed, and hastened down stairs, where we learned that the landlord, who always slept in the apex, or upper angle of his huuse^ because he loved a lofty situation, was hemmed in by the flames, and likely to perish. How it proved I cannot say, for here the cry of fiie and ringing of bells, m the city, awaked me in good earnest. I have heard it remarked by an old observer, that the first thought which strikes the mind after waking, is generally the best clue to the interpretation of a dream. Whether the first of these dreams is allegorical, I leave it for the reader to judge j and whether tiie second is prophetic, events will de( lare. INVESTIGATOR. ih No. IV. Why is the word of God called « the word of the Spirit ?" There is great force, appropriateness, and beauty in this meta- phor. In ancient warfare, the sword was the principal weapon ; was of such use an.l importance, that it is often put for thewhole offensive armour ; and persons slain in war, are said to be sla.n of the sword. The scriptures speak of pestilence, sivord, and famine, as the three great scourges of n.en. The sword ofthe Spirit is that weat-on in the hau.l of (Jod by which his enem.es are subdued, and brought to bow to the sceptre of his grace. « The word of God is qi.ick. and powerful, sharper than a two- edged sword." The object of this number is a solemn appeal to all who shall read it :— to the friends and the enemies of truth, to the people of this country at large, to this city, and to the men m this city with whom this controversy principally lies. I appeal to their consciences before God, and I ask them, what general strain of preaching-what scheme of doctrine, in our own country, has had most influence in promoting the great work of reformation -in turnini. many to righteousness ? What stram of doctrine has hapiest influence in turning mankind from their vices, and causing then, to assun.e the profession, and exhibit the evidences, of religion, in their life and conver- sation ? r.id.r what strain of preaching, and thiough what parts of the union do Subbalh-breaking, inieniperance, |,.ofan.ty, de- bauchery, and gan.bling, least prevail ? Ma. '" this win be read by many, probably, with a careless reflection abo.. provinchil prejudices. But the truth ca.,not be ..Ucrec' Vnd ihe t.uth is, that what is here usually intended by the Ne,r.i:,'glan,l xir.mi .f 'loctrine, in.ludlug d.vme sove- reignty, genei-ai a.onemen., luorai inability, a probationary sia.e the iuvllaiion ofthe gospel to all n.en, and their cola.e.al points, have been the doctrines In this country wbuh have been attended v.uh .evKals of religi...., aud g.eat relormat.ous, 44 45 i^ : I *| ■amoug all ranks of people. Wherever these doctrines have been faithfully preached these salutary effects have followeci. On the contrary, show nie the city, the town, the village, the tract of country, where these doctrines have not been preached, but where they have been opposed, beat down, ridiculed, and cast out, as many in this city endeavour to do by them, and I will show you a place where relijrjon is little thought of, where the sword of the Spirit has lain dormant, where the work of God has rarely, if ever, been carried on. God is a sovereign, and surely is not limited to any certain course of means ; yet, ordinarily, where the proper means are used, the desired effects will follow. From the day^ of Edwards till this time, in those parts of this country where these doctrines have been preached, there have been frequent reformations — extending often through the towns of a county ; sometimes for an hundred miles in ex- tent ; sometimes, indeed, limited to a town or neighbourhood. At the present moment, indeed, for several years past, and al- most without intermission, large districts have been favoured with what, from their fruits and effects, we are authorized to call outpourings of the Spirit of God. And, I ask, for 1 will not be deterred by a false delicacy, or by the fear of what prejudice or malevolence may say ; I ask, what is, and has been, the religious state of those parts of our country where these doctrines have never been heard ? Though, indeed, as I said in a former number, these doctrines have been disseminated, more or less, though in some places but transiiently, in every part of the union; and I repeat, that, in every part of the union, they have been, more or less, favoured with tokens o( divine approbation. With regard to these revivals of religion, I am aware that various opinions are entertained. I am by no means about to deny that some persons, who. on these occa>ions, espouse and profess religion, do not continue afterwards to give evidence of sincerity; yet, every man is awfully conceiued to see to it, that in speaking against these revivals, he does not speak against the work of the Spirit of God, and thereby blaspheme the Holy Ghost. U these revivals arc not attended with indications and fruits, whirh every Christian will allow must attend religion, let them be dishonoured with the name of delusion : for instance, they are usually accompanied with seriousness, anxiety, and alnrm. But is this an evidence of delusion ? When a man be- comes convinced that he is a sinner, and exposed to eternal perdition tliereby, is it unreasonable to suppose he will feel great alarm ? Are his fears groundless ? Rather, are not those who feel no anxiety, aliliouffh exposed to God's eternal wrath, in a state of complete infatuation ? Was ever delusion so great as that which reigns over the n>nn that can despise, equally, both the favour and the wrath of God ? Relic;ious awakeninjTs are usually attended with seriousness; a desire to frequent places of public worship and instruction ; an.l a total cessation of ordinary amusements, and even some- times: of business. But, are these signs of delusion? Would it not be happy for all men, if they would seek first the king- dom of God, with great importunity ? Are not the hopes of heaven, and the fears of heil, when brought home to the mind, stronger motives of artion than our ordinary amusements and pursuits ? '^ What is a man protited, if he gain the whoje world, and lose his own soul ?" If these reformations do not reform mankind, they certainly ore not the work of God. If they do not cause the drunkard to become te^uperate, the thief and the cheat to become ho- nest men, tht> debauched and the lascivious to become chaste, the swearer to become decent in his language, the immoral to !,ecome regular and exemplary ; if they do not make the re- 'tHfions of life more endearing, by being sustained better, and the duties of life delightful, by a habitual performance of them, they have no rlaim to be of God. But, if they produce these ef- t\Ht- and actnallv make men better, more punctual m the dts- . hargeof x\w duties of the first and second table, they are not the work of the devil ; but it is the work of the devil to cen^ sure nnd despise them, and bring them into disrepute. It is the work of the devil to h,:omf), spltU'loar, and cere- mony as you please; but he must go thnuigh tho>e forms with as little ardour, and as lifeless a tnonotony, as the moouliuht shadows of the churchyard move over the congregation of the dead. Whether the revivals of reii;jinn in this country have been productive of good, which, at leost, would be evidence in iheir favour, I leave those who possess the means to judge for them- selves; and, in the silent hour of calm relliction, they will judge justly. In the heat of controversy, aud under the pain- ful stimulus of contradiction, good men err in judgment by overlooking the evidence of farts; but when these casual clouds are past over, the sun breaks foith. But, wherever reformations are diiscountenanced and spoken against by public teachers, they are seldon) observed to take place; and, I call upon the reader of these numbers to look around him in this city, and mark in what congregation these appearances have occun ed ; for, wiiile I mean to cast no re- iections. I neither mean loftaiter the vanity of men. The truth will bear its own weight, and will approve itself to every man's conscience before God. The strain of preaching which, in the tV.ruier series, I have stvled triangular, because incessantly urging three grand points, which 1 consider as erroneous, as far as I have been able to ob- serve, is rarely, if ever, attended with salutary effects: it does not carry conviction to tiie mind ; men's understandings revolt from it. Tell men that they are condemned for a crnne they never committed: that they will be punish»'d for what they can- not do ; or, that they will be doubly and aggravatedly con- demned for not believing in a Saviour who never died for them, and they will feel no conviction. However they may force themselves into an involuntary assent, into an artiticial, as I have already said, a kind of lechnical belief of such piopo itions. 49 ihere will be no conviction of the understanding; for there can be none. They may, indeed, say, and perhaps truly," my teach- er is a great divine, has studied these things, and surely ought to know; and 1 have nothing to do but to surrender my under- Standing to his opinions and doctrines." But, alas ! the mind drawn up to this tension is like an elastic bow, which owes its figure to the cord which holds it; its strength is overpowered, but not its tendency. Many of the doctrines of revelation are such, as human rea- son would never reach, unaided by divine light ; but being re- vealed, there is no doctrine of revelation apparently absurd or repugnant to reason. The three grand points, however, which form the triangle, are not the only ones which, in their convic- tion on the mind, remind me of the bended bow : their notion of faith is inexplicable, and their idea of justification covered with mist. As for faith, it is not opinion, assent^ reason, know- ledge, nor love; it is nothing which properly belongs to human perceptions, nor exercises : I have sometimes heard them call It a divine principle, but never could learn what principle was, or wherein it consisted. If I have been able to learn what they mean by justification, it is, that a certain quantity of Christ's righteousness is taken and put into the Christian, on account of which he is justified. The scriptures teach us that Christ has atoned for sin, and the sinner is fully pardoned and freely justi- fied, in consideration of what Christ has done to magnify the law of God : but the notion of a transfer of Christ's righteous- ness, so as to make it the righteousness of the sinner, is using words without ideas. Opposition to the doctrines, which have almost uniformly marked the course of reformations in this country, and, in the hands of God, have been the cause of those reformations, can be regarded in other light than as a deadly aim at reforma- tion itself. He who strikes at the cause, strikes with a bolder hand, and with higher aim, than he who strikes at the effect. He who proves that a reformation, so called, is but an excite- ment of natural passion, and that its subjects may apostatize from their profession, proves little; at least, but a local fact : but he who makes war on that strain of pleaching and scheme 7 50 o( doctrine, which has been followed by nearly all the revivals of religion in a nation, if he succeed, will not be troubled with apostacies, for he will see no reformations ; he will have the pleasure, if it may be called a pleasure, of seeing people go carelessly on through life, with no troubjesom*' anxieties about religion, or the life to come; he will tell thera, from sabbath to sabbath, that " Christ died for none but the elect ; that he died for them, because they were the elect ; and that when he makes known to them their election, then they ought to love and obey him :*' they will make their own improvement, " that all anxieties about salvation are useless and vain. Why should we borrow trouble, or anticipate evil ( Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. If he has died for us, he will make it known to us in time ; if not, then we owe him no gratitude ; and as we were all con- demned in Adam, we have nothing on our own account to regret." That people will quiet their consciences, and repose calmly, and sleep soundly on this triangular bed, is as sure as that the sun rises and sets. This triple, nay, quadruple thraldom, in which their own voluntary agency is in no way implicated, soothes their slumber, and not a little gratifies their pride; still more so does the soporific dose ** descend into their bowels like water, and like oil into their bones,'* when a religion is held up before them which is no business of theirs ; which gives them a happy passiveness, and is every whit, and in all respects, ai distinct from their moral feelings and powers, as the state to which it offers a remedy is without their accountability or blame. As they had nothing to do in bringing them.^elves into sin ; nothing to do in getting themselves out of it, so they are highly satisfied to learn, that they have nothing to do when fairly out of it. As for faith, which is the body of their religion, it is no exercise of theirs, and lias no connexion with their moral exercises in its origin, nature, or object, for it is neitlirr per- ception nor volition, knowledge nor love. They have no virtue, for there is no such thing ; and, in fine, they seem to be allowed to have nothing on earth, properly to be called theirs, but a little selfishness. Such a strain of preaching will scarcely be followed by a spirit of reformation. The process of conversion andofChris- 51 lianizing under these tenets will, indeed, makelittle noise : a perv- son goes to his minister, and tells him he has some thoughts about religion. The clergyman asks him, <'Do you verily believe that all men are justly condemned for the sin of Adam ?" <* Yes." " Do you acknowledge yourself worthy of endless misery for what he did r" " Yes." " Do you believe yourself totally incapacitated to obey God, or do any thing which he re- quires?" " Yes." " And can you not love Christ, who has been so good as to die for you, and has done, and will do every thing for you, and will carry you to heaven, and make you eternally happy there?" "O yes, I should be very ungrateful not to love one who died for me, and will save me." '' Very well ! you have nothing to do but confirm yourself in these sentiments ; you had better join the church ; there is reason to believe you are one of the elect." Let it not be understood that I here pretend to give all the words that pass between the catechist and his catechumen, but I give the great features, and the leading points. Enough more words are used ; but as he is never made to feel the true blame of his condition, he never feels a proper repent- ance, neither can he have just conceptions of the nature or application of the remedy. These convictions are sufficiently silent for the most fastidious, and are followed by conversions to a selfish, opinionated, intolerant temper and character; even, sometimes, to that degree, that a candid observer is at a loss whether such a conversion is more the subject of felicitation than of regret. If not twofold more a child o( hell, he is, at least, twofold more a child of prejudice, bigotry, and persecu- tion. If some men shall flutter and flounce remarkably in reading these remarks, let them see to it, lest they confirm the suspi- cion that they are the " wounded birds." As this Number is an appeal to the eye of the piil)lic respecting the usefulness and importance of revivals of religion, I deplore that I am compelled to add, that the instances which have come under the inspection of this city, are mournfully few. Look into those large rongrrgations u)h>-o fame has bce;i 52 spread wide by the splendour of the great names of the men, who are " the angels of those churches/* And, 1 ask those " angels" whether they would not rejoice to see one general reformation pervading all their assemblies, and spreading through the hundreds and thousands of tiieir congregations ? I am certain the angels of heaven would rejoice. Would they not be glad to see all their people roused at once, to secure the interests of their souls ? Would they not rejoice to see the whole population of this capital moved, as by one spirit, to se- cure one grand object ? Surely, such a moment would not be greater than the weight of the concern depending. A heathen monarch, of a much greater city than this, once rose up from his throne, and covered himself with sackcloth—was followed by his court and nobles, and by all the people ; even food was interdicted in a solemn fast, for three days. This was done because God had declared that Nineveh should be destroyed. And is there no reason to believe that God's anger burns against this city? Has not the cry of ils wickedness gone up to heaven ? And would not a reformation that should visit every house, and forcibly seize every mind, be desirable ? Would it not occasion joy in heaven ? What, if all the immense crowds that move through the streets were suddenly and strongly im- pressed with the belief that they were infinitely vile in the sight of God; that they were hastening to the bar of judgment, and to an eternal world of retribution ? What sudden alterations should we see ! Would our streets resound by night with hor- rible oaths and execrations ? Would hundreds of houses be crowded with scenes of drunkenness, debauchery, violence, and obscenity? Would our docks, and vessels, and lanes, and alleys, teem with wretched people in whom, the last efforts of vice have left the semblance of humanity, but identified with evpry thing loathsome and detestable ? Would even crowds of children be heard profanely vociferating the awful name of God in their common sports and pastimes ? Alas ! it is not con- sidered that the interests and destinies of every one of these 8(»uls are as truly great as those of the first rank of people. The shadowy vale of death once past, and the soul di.^cumber- 58 ed of its adventitious advantages, there will appear little dis^ tinction between the prmce and l)eggar. But what would be the effect of such a reformation as this : W^ould it not be the theme of general conversation ? What crowds would throng the churches ? And would it be admi- rable, if, under the strong impulse of a general sensation, it shouM become what mav be termed a public passion ? Per- haps even business, for a while, might be, in a manner, sus- pended ; and the ordinary, even the innocent, amusements and diversions of the city would be forgotten. A gloomy scene ! methinks I hear some one say 5 and yet, reader, every one of these gay people will soon see gloomier scenes than this. The hour of death, and the solemn audit be- fore the throne of judgment, will be more gloomy and dreadful, and without reformation, there will be eternal gloom and hor- ror Nor yet wouhl such a scene as this be attended with so much t^loom and misery as now pervades the city. Ineffable ioy and pleasure would fill every pious mind at the prospect of thousands of people forsaking wickedness and turning to God. Religion is not of a gloomy, melancholy nature, and the con- cern and anxiety attending reformations is caused, not by reli- gion, but by a consciousness of the want of it. Be it that such a reformation, in this city, would be attended with some instancesofdelusion-some indications of fanaticism; how much deeper is the delusion that now reigns over the great mass of people, while they neglect their eternal interests, and de.pise, and dishonour the God that made them. A stronger fanaticism hurries them onward towards eternal rum thnn at- tnids the religious enthusiast in the favour of his devotions The stern and loftv front of wickedness everywhere displayed ^everywhere mena. ing-everywhere daring and obtrusive defies ;verv thing short of almighty power But belore the spirit ofGJd be sent "to reprove the world of sin, of nghteou - and of judgment," it shall melt like wax^-U shall vanish ;;i;%Lke,<\o^trongish.^ ''such nn event could not take place but with a general and In Anv iudee of human nature will percaive strong sensation. Any Juuk,» 54 that an irreligious— a wicked man, cannot suddenly pass iroin that to a religious state without great anxiety and alarm ; with- out unusual agitation of mind. It is not merely to say, *^ I will now become religious/' and the work is done : habits corroborated by time, and identified with nature, are not thus broken through. The allurements of wickedness are strong, and are known, from all experience, to be formidable. A drunk- ard does not lightly say, «I will from this day become tempe- rate:" the profane blasphemer, "I will henceforth use no more profane language:" the dishonest, the dissipated, the covetous, the liar, " I will now niter my course." I mention these classes, as pre-eminently wicked, but every man, even with a much fairer exterior, in his train of feelings, in his heart and affections, is as truly irreligious as these classes. Religioiis awakenings and fears are by no means delusion nor enthusiasm. They do but present truth and reality to the mind with their proper interest and influence. A man on his death bed is greatly alarmed, feels strong fears, and calls for advice and prayers. Even courts of justice and legislatures, when a man is condemned, and going to execution, appoint him religious instruction; send him a clergyman to prepare him— for what ? For the very same event to which every soul in this citv is hastening: to prepare him for death — for the solemn trial for eternity ! Who objects to the propriety of this humane regulation ? Who dares not think it decorous, nay, awfully im- portant, that a man on his death bed should feel solemnity, anx- iety, earnestness, fear — should pray, should ask prayers? His eternal state is now to be decided ; he is now to stand that trial where there is no disguise; to hear that sentence from which lies no appeal. But the thousands that swarm in this city are in that same state. Thev may, indeed, and some will, no doubt, live longer, and some perhaps not. Many of lliem will go as suHdi'nly, far more unexpectedly, and the danger is that llioy will ro without preparation. A dreadful infatuation reigns over mankind. The interest-s of the soul, its good e.^tate, and salvation, are as much "renter, more imperative, and grand, than any temporal concern. 55 as eternity is longer than time, as endless pains and pleasures are more important than those of a moment. The truth is, if all the inhabitants of this city had but a cor- rect idea of their state and prospects, they would universally feel that deep and trembling anxiety which a man f.els on a death- bed, or a criminal under sentence of death. When compared with a vast and boundless futurity, every concern of life would shrink into nothing. They would feel as though the change was present; the next step and eternal scenes would open; hfe is past, and the dread tribunal is before them. Then, all must depend on the favour of the Almighty Judge. But have they done any thing to secure his favour or deprecate h,s wrath ? No^ The great body of them have equally neglected h.s favour and his wrath, have equally despised his anger and his love ; have felt no regrets for sin ; have never made a prayer ; have seldom used the name of God put in a profane oath. And are such people fit for heaven ? A glimpse of their condition would con- vince them that they were suited to no place but a region of sin and misery. .1 „, Then they would think of the Omniscient eye that sees them- the Almighty power that holds them. They would think what goodness had been answered with what ingratitude, what favour by what perverseness, what love with what hatred. It woukI occur to them that perhaps their crimes are already past for- eiveness, and that divine displeasure may now be ready to cut them otr. With such impressions they could for a moment en- tertain no resolution but that of devoting so late an hour to so important an exigence. I need not tell what they would do or sav • every reflecting mind will for itself strike a general out- liBe of the course they would take. It is the course generally pursued by persons who are the subjects of great awakenings. «' Who " says Mr. Locke, "could come within the bare poss.b.ln% of infinite misery" without fear and alarm ? But if all the mult- tudes in this city, excepting the comparatively small number of truly pious, were convinced that they were not only " w>th- in the bare bossibility" of endless misery, but were under sen lence of the law of God, as well as hastening by their own vo- luntary course to that end ; that it was not only possible, bu' 56 highly probable, that that would be their condition ; nay. thae there was no possibility of their escape but bv deep repentance, and thorough reformation, but by the pardon and acceptance of (lod through Jesus Christ, they would feel and manifest the i^reatest alarm and amazement. That this would be the case here, w^ may be assured from the experience of all Christendom since the reformation ; and, if possible, more from the experience of former years, and other countries. " There were great awakenings,'' says President Edwards, " in l625, in the west of Scotland, when it was a com- mon thing for people on hearing the word of God preached to be seized with great terror and alarm, and who became, after- wards, most solid and lively Christians." The same author in- forms of many in France that were so wonderfully aflected with the preaching of the gos[>el, in the times of those famous divines, Farel and Viret,that, for a time, ilie^ could not follow their secular business. The same writer mentions similar ac- counts from Ireland and other places. President Edwards also quotes a letter from his father, in which his father observes, that *' it was a common thing, when the famous Mr. John Rogers was preaching, for some of his hear- ers even to cry out under the greatness of their alarm and ter- ror. And by what I have heard," continues he, " I conclude it was usual for many that heard that very awakening and rousing preacher of God's word, to make a great cry in the congregation.'' A religious attention, thus excited in great bodies of people, cannot be safely ascribed to any cause but the influence of the Spirit of God. The reasoning used by Christ himself, in answer to those who blasphemously ascribed his casting out devils to Beelzebub, the prince of devils, applies, at least, if not with equal force, to this case. He said, " if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; and how can his kingdom stand ?' I do not say that when a village, a town, a city, or a district of people are religiously affected, that Satan is cast out; but 1 say that his influence is weakened and his kingdom totters. It pre- sents an immediate check ; as far as it extends to the exuberance of vice, to the enormity of visible wickedness. In all ihe sta- ijes of it<; r>rogress and operation, it holds a favourable aspect 67 towards deep and permanent reformation. Experience m\l warrant the assertion, that in these general awakenings, by far the greater number of those who come forward in a public pro- fession of religion, are found afterwards to adorn that profession, and to give evidence of its truth and sincerity. It is also known to be a fact, that the greater part of those who are the subjects of the awakening, are found eventually to give evidence of a real conversion to God. Even those who admit regeneration to be a progressive work, and believe that the agency of the sinner is more or less con- cerned in it ;— in whatever way men are turned from sm to ho- liness, and from the service of Satan to the service of God ; every one who wishes to see the great work brought about in some manner or other, cannot but be glad to see a general at- tention to religious concerns. For if it does not take that form with which they are most pleased, il takes some form, and can- not but result in raising the standard of public morals, and m checking the torrent of vice which threatens to bear all before it, an«l which, in great cities, becomes rapid and resistless as a flood. , . I • •. 1^ A reformation extending to every house in this city, would be the noblest sight the lover of humanity ever saw. Its indica- tions would be strong and decisive. The reign of vice, which now regards no limit, but throws its malign influence with.n every enclosure, would on all sides be curtailed. Ihe horrid clang of profaneness, the bloated features of dissipation, the haggard spectacle of prostitution, the inanity of vicious idleness the menace of unbridled passion, deliberate revenge, curtained behind human features, and heard remote, son.e.imes h.e thunders in the bosom of darkness j-in fine, the conflicts of interest, the wiles of dishonesty, the deep-laid snares of covet- ousness, which now, at every step, arrest your attention, ,1 not endanger your repose, would suddenly disappear. What if there were even a temporary suspension of business, a circumstance I have known to attend the piogress o( such a work ? Would that be any evidence against it ? is tins world of darkness and sin so vastly important that nothing lor a mo- ment must ever interrupt man's complete and universal .ervi- 8 5tf tude to its toils and cares, till he plunges into eternity ? Must a man be the subject of sarcasm and contempt, because in the first hours of his solicitude to secure eternal felicity, in the first days of his espousal to the adorable Redeemer, he has neglect- ed worldly pursuits ! Alas ! those that bring this objection, I fear, have never been informed that " the love of money is the root of all evil ;" have never considered, that " it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Christians belong to a kingdi)m which is not of tliis world; and shall they not some- times make every thing give way to the interests, pleasures, and joys of that kiugdom? tsperially, whilst their interests in it are apparently insecure; whilst they are solicitously and painfully endeavouring to obtain " a name and a place" in that kingdom, shall they not consider this world's wealth and enjoyments as " loss, and dung, and dross ?" When were the people of this city known to relax their at- tention to business, under the powerful sway of religious im- pulse ? Does devotion to God, and the solemn acts of worship, infringe on the days of the week; or do the schemes of amass- ing wealth, the delirium of incessant business, still fever their souls on the Sabbath, distract their attention, and palsy their de- votions in the house of God, and surcharge their conversation in the intervals of worship ? Nor yet does it all avail them : for in this perpetual and endless whirl of business, they resemble the conflict of tho-isands endeavouring to gain a slippery sum- mit, where there is not room for hundreds to stand. When half way up the hill, they suddenly slide into the vale of pover- ty, and from thence sink to the grave. The King of heaven himself is the dispenser of all the bless- ings of this life, as well as the life to come, lie has said, '' Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed ; but seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, and all these things shall be added unto you.'' Accordingly, it has been ac- tually and repeatedly observed, that those towns and villages who, seemingly, neglect their business, in times of religious aw^ening, have been favoured with abundance and peculiar 59 prosperity in those seasons. There is, indeed, the promise of God to this effect ; and 1 assert what is known to many. While I figure to myself all the inhabitants of this city, de- voutly and earnestly attending to the most important of all con- cerns, I cannot but consider in what a variety of respects this would be, by far, the happiest city on the globe. The great and .<^.udden diminution of the number of the miserable victims of vice— of criminals which throng our courts, and crowd our prisons— of invalids whirh fill our hospitals— of paupers in our alms-houses and asylums— of helpless age, without provision— and infancy, without protection—of beggars patrolling the streets, whose story is, generally, but a veil to their faults; but, most of all, of that numerous banditti of thieves, robbers, swindlers, pilferers, incendiaries, burglars, and ruffians, uhose conceal- ment from the public eye alone prevents a general alarm. The immense accumulation of human masses of the above description, in great cities, and which make incessant demands on the justice and vigilance, as well as the charity and liberali- ty of society, become at length, like a putrid diathesis in the human body; or, to say the least, the perpetual recurrence of these loathsome objects is one of the pests and torments of great cities. Yet, the immortal so.ils of all these miserable people are of immense value; the reformation that should reach and recover them, would plant new stars in the firmament of glory. And how delightful the thought, that the light of truth should dispel the gloom from th-^se dungeons, and, through such wide departments of pain and horror, should pour the healing balm of salvation. Far above these Augean stables of sin and pain, and which no Herculian labour could cleanse, there is another department of vice in this city, but connected with the former by innume- rable doors and headlon- steps. This region appears brilliant and fair; its precincts resound with hilarity, feast, and song, and it contains thousands of the opulent, the fashionable, the young, and the gay. Vice is clad in splendour, and a sp,nt reiffns here which knows no moral law but inclination, and re- cognises no god but pleasure. But one use is made here of Jehovah's awful name, and that is to give bravery and rehsh to !» I 60 the idle clamour of folly— to embellish the fulmin^itions of wit and mirth, and to give force and grandeur to the language of passion, rage, and falsehood. Is this the abode of happiness? Its chief characteristics are restless pride without gratification- ostentation without motive or reward— professions without sin- cerity—ceremony without comfort— laughter without joy- smiles which conceal rancour— approbation alloyed with envy, and vociferous praises dying away into the whispers of ca- lumny. <' Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing fsquare, The rattling chariots clash, tlie torches glare." What changes a work of God's spirit would cause in this numerous class; and, O! how greatly to be desired, even for the purposes of present happiness ! But do you think that these gay people, on whose countenances often dwells the smile of peace— whose every step appears light and airy as the radiant footstep of Aurora— whose very form and features are luminous with contentment and hope; do you imagine they live other- wise than in a contintial round of unmingled enjoyment? How false is the estimate made of human happiness ! These people are as mistaken in their pursuit of pleasure as others are in judtfing of their fehcilies from their exterior. They are strangers to happiness ; and I am in no fear of contra- diction. No, the immortal mind is not thus made. The ghtter of dress— the splendour of apartments— the loftiness of houses— the beauty of equipage, have all the potency oftheir charms from the supposed admiration they excite in the eyes of spectators ; and even here their vain possessors are grossly mistaken; for more than half that admiration is the most unlovely envy. The bril- liance of all these things strikes the eye, but carries no pleasure to the heart ; the immortal spirit within well knows they are but dust ; and, in the midst of these baubles, indignantly retires within itself, and refuses to be condoled with a portion no bet- ter than what lulls to the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the earth. 61 Religion is man's greatest good ; it pays the most respect to his most important interests; brings the soul to the knowledge and possession of her proper enjoyments, and points her up- ward to her eternal inheritance. Without religion, the wealth of Croesus cannot save a man from the deepest poverty ; with it, the beggar Lazarus possesses boundless wealth, and shall be eternally blessed. With this idea, the object before me becomes important, in no ordinary degree; and as I see crowds passing by my window, of all ages and conditions; their high destiny and immortal pow- ers, of which they appear to be scarcely conscious, rises upon ine'in solemn prospect : I cannot but rellect where these per- sons, and all the multitude that I see move about these streets, will be after the mighty lapse of ten thousand ages. Stupidi- ty may laugh, and infidelity sneer, at such a suggestion, but a heathen monarch wept at the thought that all his army, the greatest ever assembled, would die in a hundred years.* And a greater than a heathen monarch wept over a city, doubtless less guilty before God than this. Yes, after the full period of ten thousand ages has rolled away, not a soul now in this city shall be extinct, or, shall fail to make one of the number des- tined to eternal ages of happiness or misery. I cannot but reflect how impt)rtant these days are to the thou- sands I see about me, perfectly unconscious of their value, be- cause thoughtless of the great purposes to be answered by them, and of the great work to be done in them. As it is with the whole of life itself, so it is with the business of every day; they have an ulterior relation to our eternal state. I am fully aware that the effusions of the holy spirit are not at the option of men : it is not in the power of man to cause a reformation in this city. But when I consider the boundless fulness of gos- pel provision, the explicit and earnest invitations of the gospel : when I know that God is long suffering, " not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance:" when I consider how this city has been distinguished by great and spe- cial blessings of providence ; shielded in war, delivered from '' Xerxes the Great. li 1 62 pestricnce. prov-pered in peace, and rWin^ to greatness, 1 cannot but advert to the stupidity and wickedness, which were never more visible and triumphant than at tlie present time, with alarm and foreboding. And let it be called prophesying, or by any other opprobrions name, God will not sufl'er such blessings to be answered by such ingratitude with long impunity. There will be changes, and the sword of divine displeasure, is, I fear, already drawn ; in what way it will strike, or how it will tall, in- finite wisdom only knows. Be it that God's own work is in his own hands, and that he will carry it on when and where he pleases : Christians ought to know that God works by means, otherwise of what use is a gospel ministry? The Almighty and ever blessed God has pro- mised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. But let any one, to whom a thought so improbable as a general reformation in this city, may occur, who may feel a desire for the salvation of this great people; let jim look round him and ask, why it is that sinners are surrounded as with a wall so adamantine, so im- penetrable, so impervious to conviction ? Why are the impedi- ments so numerous? Why is it so awfully imjirobabie that we shall see a general reformation here ? Why does it appear so discouraging, so hopeless, so morally impossible, as almost to paralyze the conception of de.ire, or the secret wrestlings and agonizings of prayer ? There surely is a cause, nor is tliat cause invisible in its operation. Religion is everywhere the same. The. e is '* balm in Gilead, and a physician there." God is no more hostile to cities than to villages : his spirit is as free, and his otVers of salvation as full, to the people of a crowded city as of the open country. Nor are the people in cities more averse to religion than in the country. Human nature is, indeed, much the same in all places; but if there is any difference, the people of large cities have more sensibility, are certainly more alive to the finer feelings, and to the impulse of public sensations, and are more quick and sus- ceptible to sentimental impressions. They are naturally no more wicked, no more inaccessible to conviction, no more ar- dent in worldly pursuits, no more insensible to the solemn 63 themes of evangelical truth, or to the condition and prospects ofihe soul, than the inhabitants of the country at large. The difference which sinks the scale of the city to a depth so In)peless, in tliis conijiarison, is owing, in a great measure, to a diflerence in the means used to promote religion ; in ihort, to a ditFerence in what is denominated the means of grace. If the reader will recur to the first numbers of the Triangle, first series, he will there find stated the cause to which 1 here allude. 'IMie strain of doctrine there described, and which has, in a measure, formed the current of opinion and lone of feeling in a very great body of people in this city, suffice it to say, has not been attended with Many indications of reformation, and has, to all appearance, presented no barrier to the overwh«rlm- ing flood of vice which threatens the city. It will be easy to contradict this assertion, but not easy to show that it is not true : " cum res ipsa loquitur:' and I shall dismiss this subject with expressing my firm belief, that these doctrines continuing to be disseminated, enforced, and maintained in the manner and form they have been, for years past, there will be no reformation. I have no expectation that God will honour them with that mark of his approbation; and as for the merit they claim, in point of moral suasion, or the prospect of any cflfect they will produce in that way, I should expect as much effect from the Arabian proverbs delivered in their native tongue. They are not the doctrines of the frequent and great reforma- tions which have been in our days, and in our country. They are not " the sword of the Spirit." The more these doctrines prevail and gain credit, the more men are contracted by selfishness, which always brings intole- rance in its train ; the more noise is made about depravity, and the greater the ostentation of setting human nature low, the more is the hearor and the convert flattered in his pride and quieted in his conscience, and made to sleep, by a potent anti- dote, against even the thunders of truth : the more that is made of faith, the less of personal holiness, and that true moral ex- cellence, which gives religion its beauty and heaven its felicity. So that in leadini^ the sinner to contemplate his own depravity, they furnish him with excuses instead of overwhtluiing hina 64 with conviction ; and in leading the Christian to consider the gracious promises of God, they putVhim up with pride, and em- bolden him audaciously to demand salvation, and exhort him to "keep Christ to his word.'' INVESTIGATOR. No. V. Among all the words wliich give offence to the advocates of the triangular scheme, the term Metaphysics stands foremost. They abhor it even more than they do morality, virtue, or even disinterestedness. This prejudice against some, and so many of the best words in our language, is not a mark in their favour: and especially when it is considered that their antipa- thy does not stop at the word itself, but goes far beyond, and aims at the very things these words are used for. Concerning these offensive words I have said something in former numbers; but as somewhere on this ground, they have erected one of their strongest fortresses, from whic h they kvep up a perpetual and running Are of random shot, I shall sit down before it in this number : nor do 1 expect to find it as impreg- nable as the den of Cacus. About the word dmnterested, I think I have already discharged my duty. It is a terra, and conveys an idea, well understood, in all our best writers. Ad- dison and Johnson use it frequently in the same sense we use it. A man sees two men in a quarrel, and fiercely contending. He steps in between them, and says, *' Gentlemen, I have n« interest in the result of this contention ; I am well disposed to- wards you both. Permit me, then, to act as a mediator be- tweeu you." This man will be likely to have influence with both these men, because they perceive that he is entirely disinterested. I therefore said that no ^^ord in our language was better un- derstood, or more immoveably fixed m iis true import. I have 65 not seen a more handsome illustration of this word than I lately read in Cox's lifeof Melancthon, where he sums up and finishes the character of that great man by observing, that he generally acted under the influence of a purely " disinterested benevo- lenre " But some of our grf^at divines would tell Cox a dif- ferent story. Those men, who have eaten freely of the Amor sw\ pretend that it is either a phrase of false import, or else of no import at all. The word morality has not fared better. They have con- demned all its family : for moral, moral agency, moral fitness, moral depravity, and the hke, are all considered as Amalekites, and proscribed. Especially the phrase moral virtue, made up of two most offensive words, they regard as bad as the union of Herod and Pilate. The word moral we derive from the Latin moralis, which is from mas, a law or custom. Morality is conformity to law, and used in this sense. But has the Chris- tian no morality / Alas ! some professing Christians have not much. But what did Christ say ? " Think not that I come to destroy the law," &c. He goes on to show, that he insisted on a purer morality than even the Pharisees, who make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but what is within ? — Extor- tion and excess. The great command of the law is love : and says the eloquent Dr. South,* " Love is not so much an affec- tion of the Christian, as it is the very soul of the Christian; he does not so much feel it, as he is in it.'' Moral virtue is a conformity to the divine law, or in other words comformity to God. For as God is love, he that dwell- eth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Perfect morality, therefore, is perfect love to God, by which I understand perfect moral virtue. This is also sometimes called charity ; and as much as St. Paul insisted on faith, he had no diminutive opi- nion of it. " Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." But the principal object of this number is Metaphysics, a term against which an odium has been excited, and by means •f which incalculable mischief has been done. Before I enter * « An old divine." 9 66 on this subject 1 cannot but remark, that I consider this as one ol the most oxrjaor binary controversies ever carried on , not so much from ils nature as from its means and methods. An attempt to carry measures by exciting strong prejudice^ agamst words, ai the stime time exac^ueratinu and uiisrepresentinjjj the notions pretended to be affixed lo those words, and keeping the grand points of diiTerenre wholly out of sight : thi>(ourse persisted in for year^, and pursued wiih boldness and abundant success : I say, these circumstances render this controversy, perhaps, without a parallel. The same thinars, however, which render this a singular con- troversy, render it not a hopeless controversy : for while I am perfectly as-ured that it results from misinformation, in very great numbers, I am assured, with a certainty nearly equal, that tliev want noihine: but a right understanding of the case to come into, and adopt the truth. Whatever pride of character may do wilb a few men, with whom it may far outweigh the solemn dic- tates of conscience, the great body of the people have no motive, I miglil almost say, no selfish motive for preferring error to truth. And I am well assured that, at least, some may be con- vinced that their credulity has been imposed upon, and that they have been deceived. They may be convinced that error has held an ascendancy over truth, not by argument, but by efforts of influence from men riding on the shoulders of public confidence. The case now to be mentioned is one of a most extraordi- nary nature. I appeal to the people of this city at large, that they have been led into the liabit of believing that metaphysics have no connexion witli religion : — that every thing metaphy- sical i> ini(>roper and unbecoiniiig the pulpit, or a gospel ser- mon : and thai tlie Hopkinsians have little else but metaphysics in their sermons. They are very different from the good old woman I once heard of, who, hearing her minister, in whom she had great confidence, say something about metaphysics, re- plied, " O yes, 1 know that Christ is both meet and phi/sic for the poor sinner.'' They do not, however, think quite so well about metaphysics as to think it is both meet and physic for 67 the sinner. aUhous^h quite as much mistaken with regard to what ni-^taphysics are. 1. ** Met.iphy-ics, or or»to!oirv." says Johnson, " is the science whi«h treats of thr^ affections of br:iug in general" In st»jit- nt-ss. the w)iole of truth mav be said to be d:vid«'d into physi- cal and Tnf'(aphv«^i<*al ; and to say ihe least, many o\ the doc- trines of religion come properly and strictly wiuiin ihe depart- ment of metaphysics. The term aff^rtion, as used in the above definition, is taken in its larger sen-e, and in rpJafion both to artion and passion. " By the aff •« tions ol bein^," says Dr. Watts, ^' are meant all powers, properties, a«^«'idents , re- lations, actions, passions, dispositions, internal qualities. ex!»>r- nal adjuncts, considerations, conditions, or circumstances what- soever." (See vol. 5. p. 6.^9.) As it is one objt^ct of this number to do avay the prejudice and opposition in many minds against metaphysics, by sUow- in*>- to those who have not the advantage of general reading wliat metaphysics truly are; and. as 1 have this moment before me the Beleic tlncyclop^dia, published :n the year lG20, and dedicated to the lords of the Belgic Le i^jue, and also Dr. Watts' System of Metaphysics, I think it will be useful to lay before the reader a compendious view of the subjects of vviiich that science treats. If the reader will keep in mind thai it is not Ldvv-rds nor Hopkin«, and if he has not regnlarly studied metaphysics, I presume he will not think his labour lost in perusing this shetch. Metaphysics, or ontology, treats of being, of esr ence, or nature; of mode and form; of existenendeut, whence ari- ses the distinction between the being of Gori and of lii> crea.ures. In the next place, it considers duraiion, creation, and preser- vation ; and, reader, is all this chaff am! non « n>e r It then considers unity and union; but what :olers. It iieais oi truth, gouaiiess, 68 69 ill |W ^ and perfection ; principles, causes, and efl'ects ; of subject and adjunct; of time, place, and ubiquity; of sameness, agree- ment, and difference; of number and order; of menial lela- tions; of abstract notions, siijns, words, and terms of art, ^i<'al. Man is a creature, finite, dependent, muta- ble, and ignorant ; G<»d is the creator, infinite, independent, im- mutable, and infinitely wise. Now, in all these, and in all other affections and relations, just and correct metaphysical no- tions are essentially important to a proper understanding of truth. An idea, or notion, or proposition, or argument, is called metaphysical, not from any abstruseness or obscurity belonging to it, but from its natural arrangement with a great class or or- der of truths. Nor has it been a little conducive to the progress and state of knowledge in modern limes, that classification, or, as it may be called, generalization, has made such advances ; and it was this that suggested to the great Leibnitz the idea, that a universal language was attainable, and would one day be discovered. Having given a general outline of the proper subjects of meta- physics, I have, under this particular, onlv to observe, that the want of correct views of metaphysical subjects is one source of the wretched darkness in that theological system which I have styled triangular. As I have said in former numbers, the divines advocating that system are essentially wanting in their knowledge of the powers, affections, and relations of rational beings. And, if we can admit their honesty and integrity, we have only to conclude that their contemptuous slangs at meta- physics, and the still more wretched work they make when they exhibit a specimen of their own metaphysics, must arise from their profound ignorance of that most important science. 2. The infinitely wise and ht)ly spirit of inspiration, by whom the sacred scriptures were dedicated and inspired, having furnish- ed the proper means, has left man to the use of his own facul- ties in his discovery of natural knowledge ; deeming it alto- gether unimportant to arrange and classify, to distinguish and' name, the different departments of science, as mathematics, as- tronomy, metaphysics. Yet the science of metaphysics, at least, above all others, is abundantly grounded on the scrip- tures. The grand and leading truths on which that science rests, are not the mere assertions of Edwards, or Locke, or Mal- branrhe, or Stewart, or Baron, they are laid down in the word of God, either bv facts or inductions. " Metaphysics, or ontology, is the science of being, regarding it in reference to all its powers, properties, accidents, relations, artions, passions, dispositions, qualities, conditions, and cir- cumstances.'' Beings, are God and his creatures. Now, I hope that our learned adversaries will be willing to admit that the Bible teaches something concerning God and his creatures; and, beginning with the first of all propositions, that being exists, which, I think, the Bible proves, there is not a power, property or accident, a relation, action, passion, a diposition, considera- tion, or condition of any being, which does not afford an article of metaphysical truth and knowledge. Reserving the consideration of this subject to a future occa- sion, when lean bestow on it that time and attention which arc due to its vast importance, I shall here only observe, that a great part of the truths laid down in the scriptures, are meta- physical truths ; and the grandest arguments there found, come under the science of ontology. I instance the deputation be- tween Job and his three friends ; the argument and expostula- tions of Ezekiel; the reasonings of St. Paul, and even of Christ himself. That love is an affection of rational being, is a meta- physical proposition: that God loves his kingdom, and that per- fect moral virtue consists in the love of being, are equally so. That men are under obligation to love God supremely, and their neighbours as themselves, are propositions purely metaphy- sical. In short, the grandest of all propositions, viz., that God is love, is, in the highest sense, a purely metaphysical proposi- tion : and the arguments by which all these propositions are roai'itained. and. in fact, all abstract terms and ideas, belong to the .same class or order. That I may not be misunderstood, and to save the objector 70 i a little breath, let me furtlier observe, 1 am fully aware of the ditrerence between the consideration of the affections ot' being regarded abstractly and in themselves, or in their concrete form when considered in conduct and character. In this latter state they give rise to minor distinctions. Thus says Dr. Watts, ^* when they relate to kings, subjects, laws, rebellious, allegi- ance, treason, &c., they are called poUtical ; when they relate to God, holiness, Christianity, repentance, gospel, and salvation, they are denominated theological;" but they still belong to the far more comprehensive class, metaphysical. A discourse or discusion on the affections of beings, consi- dered abstractly, in which their nature, principles, operations, and laws, are professedly set forth, may be styled a discourse on metaphysics, or ontology ; but a religious essay, or sermon, or body of divinity, in which metaphysical truths and reason- ings are employed, is, nevertheless, denominated theology. But what havock a theologian will make, who has no correct knowledge of metaphysics, daily experience shows us; and two volumes of sermons, lately published in this city, would form an incomparable book of reference: of which I will here- after give some specimens. 3. From the character of God, the nature of his government ; from the character, duty, and obligations of men : from the com- mands, threatenings, and expostulations of scripture, and from similar sources found in sacred writ, may be dedtjced the opi- nions which the ablest and most judicious metaphyscians have advanced concerning the powers and faculties of the soul. Yet, as I said, the spirit of truth did not instruct men how to name and classify them, nor with what other sciences to jiive them a place. But, notwithstanding these advantages, numerous errors, and some of them the most dangerous and fatal, have ever in- fested the Christian church. Some of these errors arose during the apostolic age: they have been varing their form and influ- ence, and maintained their ground through the German refor- mation. To them, in a great measure, are owing much of the myste- cism and absurdity conveyed down from age to age, about ori- ginal sin. which term Culvin himself acknowledges is not in the 71 scriptures, but was invented by Angustin. Some have denied the spirituality of the soul : others have asserted it to be a par- ticle or emanation of the Deity, and, of course, incapable of moral stain, or final misery. Some have denied its immortality altogether ; and others have supposed it to sleep in the grave with the body till the resurrection. Some have maintained, that all ihe souls of the human race were made at once, and are kept somewhere till bodies are leady to reieive them : and others, that the souls of the human race are one of the inferior orders ofoeons, or angels that fell, who are thrown into a state of forget fulness, and sent into bodies prepared for them, in or- der to a second probation ; and it must be confessed that much of human conduct favours that idea. To this mass of opinions concerning the soul, may be added, that some think that there is no such thing as freedom or moral agency among creatures; that they are all like so many ma- chines, or automata, moved entirely by superior agency. Others, and they are not much more consistent, believe, that, since the fall, men are free to do wrong and not to do right. But Bible metaphysics teach, that sinful creatures are, in all re- spects, as free as holy ones. It is sufficient to render an action accountable, to know that it was voluntary, A holy creature loves to do right, as well as a sinful one does to do wrong. We hear none of this metaphysical jargon before courts of jus- tice, when a man is convicted of a crime. We never hear it urged that he did it because he was not a moral agent to do right. If the reader will turnback to the contrast of sentiment, at the commencement of the third number, he will perceive that the true origin of nearly all the difference, arises from false me- taphysics. Nor do I think, that even the notion of linn'ted atonement is altogether independent of that prolific source of error, as 1 shall hereafter show. Nothing can be more alarming, nothing more ominous to the friends of truth, or more hostile to the great doctrines of the Gospel, than the efforts of many to banish metaphysics from theology, and render them disgusting. Artful and designing men know the efficacy of this practice. In the first place, they T2 78 4' : infuse into the minds of the mass of people, that metaphysics are something odious and foreign to religion : that any thing metaphysical is not preaching Christ. They then go on to ex- tend and deepen this prejudice. Any thing argumentative, any train of close reasoning, however demonstrative, however con- ducted in the strong light of intuitive evidence, it is no matter, they have but one sentence to pronounce, they can refute it all in a moment. They need only say, "Ah! this metaphysical reasoning is not the Gospel." And to the mind duly prepared by prejudice, and ignorant of the nature of metaphysics, it is all answered and refuted. There are books now in this city, there is Edwards on the Will, in which the grounds taken are as demonstrably and unanswerably maintained as any argument found in Euclid : and many of these anti-metaphysical declaim- ers, when in companies where they are ashamed to say other- wise, will freely own it : yet the same arguments which Edwards uses, when used by others, these same men, when in other com- panies, will refute in a moment — " Ah ! it is all metaphysical jargon ! It is not preaching Christ !" Thus they have found out a way in which they can easily confront the eloquence of Whitefield, or the argument of Warburton. They have only to say to their infatuated admirers, " It is too metaphysical j this is not the Gospel ;" and the work is done. But the worst evil, and that which will increase it in a geo- metrical ratio, is still untouched. This abhorrence and pro- scription of metaphysics, is spreading into a much wider circle. Young men, educated for the ministry, are carefully imbued in this aqua turbida, and they will soon cast up rnire and dirt enough, in their sermons. Instead of reading Locke and Ed- wards, which, either with or without teaching, they will be made to abhor, they are kept for months or years poring over rusty folios of modern Latin, whose very style might either cause or cure a Tertian ague ; and which, if put into an alem- bic, till all their crude notions and common places had passed over, would come out a moderate duodecimo of excellent matter. From these lovely folios, they must next trudge through the Herculean labour of copying, perhaps, Dr. "Verbiage's'* vapid, manuscript lectures on moral philosophy, or somethincr ^l^e, a ta-^.i as un hear about " imputed guilt" — natural inability — moral agency to do wrong — limit (d atonement — percnissive dek I encounter by taking this ground, and c<»ming out in such plain language : I have counted the cost, . and am prepared to meet the consequenres. I have been long a spectator on this ground, and have niarked, with undesjMibable emotions, the [irocress ot this whole busine^^s; and it is not a hasty re>olution that I have taken to liy it belore the public VV^hen f hear one with an easy, nay. careless slang, explode the truths of God, and the dictates of hi< everlasting gospel under the slur of metaf)hy>ics — when 1 hear metaphy- sics themselves brattded as error or non^ense, by many w ho are grossly ignorant of what they are, and by other*?, who, if they are ignorant, are wiltully and criminally so— when I know they doit to answer a purpose so taial in its nature and hall give a lew instances. The public kncuvs the upioar that is raided auainst the Ho|)- kinsians, for hohling thai the divine agency was concerned in the origin of evil. But have the^e humble, modest, unassuu.ing people, no ideas about that point ? What sa\s iheir .'standard? their almost inspired assembly ot divines, in their catechism.''— • See Komuey's Seinions, vol. 1. p. 69; at top. 10 ^ 74 fheir assembly of divines, on whose incomparable skill andpr#. fundity tliey lav sin h stress ? «» The decrees of God are his eter^ nal purpose, wherehif, for his oim gfort/, he forefrrdains whatso- ever comes to pass.'" And the apostle Paul, no doubt, ht^ars them out in this declaration ; for he declares, that God ** works all things after the counsels of his own will." Now, according to the assembly, sin was foreordained, for it has surely come to pass, *'0, ni>, tliat is metaphysics !" Any reasonable mind may perceive, that nothing can destroy the connexion between the action of a creature, and the agency of an infinitely wise and powerful Creator, who made him, and constituted his pow- ers and faculiies. *»0, no, that is metaphysics!" Admit that a creature acts freely, G(»d ordained and decreed that he should act freely, and his acting one way no more frustrates the decree than his acting another. '» O, no, that is metaphysics !'' God's decree no more impairs the accouniableness or moral quality of a sinful than a holy action. " () no, that is metaphysics !" The scripture declares that God decreed some wicked actions ; and if so, why not all.? *' O, no, that is metaphysics !" Sin was either decreed, or it was not decreed. *• O, no, that is metaphysics!' If it was decreed, and the divine agency no- ways concerned in bringing it to pass, then Paul was mistaken, for God does not work all things after the counsels of his own will, but, on the contrary, he works many tilings after the coun- sels of some other being. <* O, no, that is t(K> metaphysical !" But let us see how they talk about this matter. They say, that sin was merely the fruit of the free agency of a creature. And so, I answer, is every other act of his, when his will is not inclined by superior power. But who is the author of that free agency .> " O, that is metaphysics again!" But their meta- physics will fairly make out that neither the purposes, nor the agenry of God, is at all concerned with the free actions of crea- tures, and will effectually overturn the doctrine of decrees and establi>h, not Arminianism, but some ism far beyond it : will not only ilestroy all true metaphysics, but contradict a multi- tude of pa? sages of scripture. Some have set up, and dwelt upon the idea, that it has been better, oiji the wljolc; for (iod's kingdom, that sin has taken ii 75 place. I mention this, however, not as any distinffnishing seQ» timent of the Hopkinsians, but merely as an opinion wh.eh some of them have advanced. Against this, an outcry has been made, and a " strange horror" excited, because it is metaphy- sical. And, reader, I appeal to a.iy man^s understanding, whether this is not a reasonable, and almost a self evident sup- position. If the assembly of divines are correct, and if God has " for his own g^lory foreordained whatsoever comes to pass," which is as metaphysical a proposition as ever was in print then surely he foreordained sin, because he saw it would be' for his iflory. And what have been the consequences of the existence of sm ^ I answer, the infinitely glorious work of redemf)tion; the union of the divine and human natures; the most glorious ma- mlestation of God to his moral kingdom, through Jesus Christ. Ihis IS metaphysical ; but is it therefore incorrect ? Let US see by what kind of metaphysics this is refuted A gieat Doctor comes forward and asserts, that it is not proper to say that the whole plan of divine administration is the best pos- sible; for we do not know but that God might have made a dif- ferent plan equally good, or perhaps better. If God is good, that goodness would lead him to prefer a good plan to a bad one ; and equally so, to prefrr a greater to a smaller degree of good : but if his goodness be equal to his power, and both are infinite, then the same goodness which would lead him to prefer a greater to a less degree of good, would lead him to prefer the greatest possible degree of good in his entire plan. As to alterations or differ- cnces, we are compelled to believe that the divine scheme, as h is, was preferred to all others, for such reasons as infinite wis- dom approved. Our ignorance furnishes no more objection to saying that God's plan is the best possible than it is to our say- ing that it is a good plan. To say, therefore, that it would have been as well or better for God's kingdom, if sin had never tak- en place, is an impeachment of the wisdom and goodness of God. What kind of metaphysics are brought against the doctrine t^( moral inability? Why, they say that a sinner is not a moral ' *S- 76 aQ:<*nt to do rieht. but is onp to do wrong. Some, indeed, deny the sinner's moral agency, together with his probaiionarv state. J rannot here descend to a con*^ideration of their arguments; but how remote from the g-eneral strain i)f divine truth revealt^d in God's worist- less force of demonstrative argument : and if certain men have found themselves urged to dwell upon the artrnmenlative strain, it has been owincf to the obtru'^ive and imptutunate efforts of error to behold and extend the dominion of darkness. And it is rare that Satan has ever resorted to ^o subiile. so dangerous, or so successful an artifice. What method can be more con- venient, or more summary, to clo^^p the ear of thousands against convirtion, than to say this argument is metaphysical; ah! tliaf book is nothincT but metaphysics .' The prejudice that has been excited, with efforts protracted through a series of years, and cherished with such care and zeal : the pr»-judice of every man in this city against New-Kngland sentiments, has been owintr, in a great measure, lo the ceaseless opeiation of this mi>chievous enirine. The pepetual fire of Vt^-ta was never watched with such sleepless eyes, nor nou- rish. d with such abundant fu^l. And what harvest has grown up and ripened from this assiduous cultivation ? Shall \ say a harvest of errois ' The mixtures of religion of any sort are hardly suflTi.ient to include theolog^ical errors : there is inanity of sentiment; there is emptiness of mind; there is negation ofihouffht; ()eople are not instructed. The New-t:ngland Sermons, Essays, and Tracts, which here are absolutely and roundly condemned, as metaphysical hair- Splifiing, are in fact able and unanswerable demon>frations of the most important truths of God's word j carried home to the 77 understandinqr and conscience by evidence; and as secure from refutation as the solid ^hores that bound the ocean are from the wav.s that break upon them. I cannot but think it inevitable, tha, the publu. ey. will be stru. k with two volumes oftnan^.^lar senuons lately exhibited in thi> city. I entreat the reader of .er- mon^ to lay them by the side of a hook of the sermons of F d- wards, or ot Emmons, a.td have .he patience to examine and compare I tru.t the white pa.er and conspicuous print will not be adm.tted to have any weight in the comparison, and I have nothing more to ask, and nothing to fear. The reader cannot but perceive the gaunt sides, narrow figure and sharp corners of the trianule. Xo pt^opitiation for the sins of the whole wo. Id will there meet hi. eye. The non-elect is indeed, in one place, insulted with the declaration that he will be punished for not helievin^ that Christ died for h^m. (P 109 vol. 1. 6th hue from the top.) The beauty and glory of .eli^ gron. as consisting in the whole train <,f loveK- virtues and graces, beutuu.ne with supreme love to God. no where meets the eye ar.d captivates the heart. But, on the contrary, the reader is' toll .hat .^ the righteousness of faith is the radical principle of revealed reh^cn, from Genesis to Reflation." f\o\ 1 p 6Q at -p ) A., J w.ll here stop to tell him that there is one place,' a Last w ere a more radical principle is mentioned, (i Cor! X 13.) Now ab.dethy«,M, hope, charity, but the greatest of these IS charity." ^ The author himself seems aware of his trian^rular figure when he observes, in his Preface, that there will be perceived a recurrence of the same thoughts and often of the same |nanner of expression." This he accounts for by observing, that .^ Great and general principles are closely connected, and so .ncorporated with the re.nhs of these principles, that it is DO. ,K,ss,t,le for a person whose opinions on these principles auly. now spreading its branches to the east and west, to the north and to the south, with a prospect of a boundary that may still expand for ages ? Where are t!ie crpeat and benevolent founders of these Synods and of this Assembly ? Has the angel of heavenly loye, and charity, and peace, together with them, taken her flight for ever? Ye spirits of Davies. and Witherspoon, and Finley, of Rodgers and M'Whorter, undrr whose mild and harmonizing influence this tree was planted, unless removed from all knowledge of Us prospects and danLfrs — from all sympathy with this region of sin and death, can you behold a devouring flame kindled in its central boughs, and not feel a momentary thrill of anxiety ? I cannot !)ut indulge in reflections like these, when J advert to tlie character, the temper, the spirit, the wisdom of the men, wlio, under God, were the founder^ of these religious institu- tions. 1 meidi(»n these men, not bemn^p they were the only 81 men concerned in that great and benevolent work; there were many others equally engaged, and perhaps some equally useful. The reader w.ll now perceive the justice of the remarks made ,n the former series, concerning the opposition made to the stram of doctrine called Hopkinsian. In this number I shall callhis attennon to a few remarks on this Pastoral Letter of the Synod of Philadelphia. L It is impossible not to perceive that Hopkinsianism is the grand error aimed at in that letter. They declare in the same letter that there never was but one Socinian Society within the bounds of the Synod, and it could not be thought necessary to 3end a crcular letter to all the congregations in the Synod, and, ,n fact, to all theconiinent, on account of one Antitrinita- nan Society. An act so official and formal, for a single con- gregation, and that, perhaps, a very small one, would scarcely appear decorous. As to Arianism, it is doubful whether they have an mdividual of that heresy in all their bounds. They certamly have not a congregation of that order. Nor did I ever know till now, nor was there ever a solitary instance, as I have heard, of any public body, in ^he United States, publishing a formal denunciation of Arminianism as heresy. The term Arminian is variously used and understood, and is applied to various shades of difference, from Arminius, the founder of the sect. Few,ifahy, of the protestant churches have chosen to censure Arminianism as a damnable heresy ; and it has never been done, before the present instance, in this country. The Philadelphia Synod seem to have forgotten that every large and respectable bodies of Christians, in our own country, such as the Episcopalians, Methodists, and several others, are' usually denominated Arminians. All these they have con- demned, in the severest and strongest terms, as heritics; have held them up to public odium and abhorrence. Whatever that Synod may think, I cannot but esteem them Christian ^ churches comprising many members of great piety, and having * many divines of distingui>hed eminence. It has pleased God tomakethechu.ch of England, or the nation professing that faith, the grand barrier of the Protestant cause in Christendom .V \ «l 82 for ages past, and many of their divines are amonpr the bright- est ornaments of the church of Christ j God forbid that I should call them, or think them, heretics. 2. Had this language been held in some anonymous publica- tion ; had it appeared in the writings of some individual, as his own private opinion ; had it appeared in a public journal ; had it been delivered in a sermon from the desk, the individual roie:ht have been thoue^ht over heated in his zeal, and carried beyond the bounds of his own cool reason. But what is it ? In what form does it meet our eye ? It is the act of a great num- ber; the act of professed ministers of Christ and ambassadors of God ; it is the act of an ecclesiastical court, the central Sy- nod of the union ; it is in the nature of a law, or rule, and set as a precedent for all other ecclesiastical courts, and for all fu- ture time. 3. It condemns, at one stroke, an immense body of Chris- tians in New- England, where, it is well known, thi* strain of sentiment prevails ahnost universally, and that whole body, in its various sections, are amicably represented in the general assembly ; and their representatives, from year to year, set on the same seats by the side of members of this Synod. More- over, the assembly is also represented in the various conven- tions, or associations, of the New-England churches, whenever they assemble. But this would be a small consideration in comparison with another : Many ministers and ciiur( lies, who actually belong to the general assembly, perhaps one third, perhaps one half, are full in this strain of doctrine, and are con- demned as heretics by this pastoral letter. 4. The sentiments usually denominated Hopkinsian were never considered as heresy by the founders of the Presbyterian church in America, nor by the wisest and ablest divines who differed with them, in any subsequent period, in Europe or America. Nothing was ever f«irther from their thoughts than any idea of making thera at all a breaking point in church com- munion and fellowship. Candidates for the ministry were ne- ver impeded in their progress, or censured for holding them. Ordination, or licensure, was never refused to a man who pro- fessed them, nor was any bar laid in the way of his acceding to any vacant church which had given him a call. Names, suf- V <'i Jl 83 ficient to fill his papers, are now in mv recollection of ministers and licentiates coming from New England, and fettling within the bounds of the general assembly, who are full in these sen- timents; and of ministers and licentiates going from the bounds of the general assembly, to settle in the congregational churches of New-England. No test, abjuration, or oath of purgation, has ever been imposed or taken in either case; nor dark suspicions or jealousies; no whisperings or calumnies resorted to in the general operation of these removals in this wide extent of country. The trustees of Princeton college did not start and shudder with horror at Jonathan Edwards when they called him to the high and honourable station of president, although the heresies of his sentiments had been long promulgated and known. But I shall not descend to names, otherwise I might introduce a list of great length and equal respectability, which might have cooled this fervid ebullition of ecclesiastical censure and proscription. 5. The measures taken by the Synod of Philadelphia are pregnant with mischief, misery, and ruin ; and. all circumstan- ces considered, I question whether the annals of the Christian church affords a greater instance of rashness, imprudence, im- policy, or injustice. Do they, indeed, imagine that this watch- word will be taken from them, and that all the Synods in this connection will ring with this dreadful denunciation, " Here- sy, and the means by which, if it were possible, the enemy of souls would deceive the very elect?'' What are we to expect next, provided this Synod act in character with their sentence and injunction? What is the rule of the everlasting gospel? " A heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.'* What is to be the regular operation of this business, provided all who differ from Hopkinsianism shall condemn it as heresy ? Individual members are to be hurled out of churches ; churches are to be rent with disputes and divisions, and some of them severed from Presbyteries ; Presbyteries are to be turned out of Synods, and Synods divided ; and by this time, what be- comes of the Assembly itself? Its full orb will wane, and pre- sent a fading and sickly crescent ; " will become a proverb and by-word, a reproach and astonishment" to all mankind. / 84 And what impression will this measure make on the public mind ? How will it appear to this young and rising nation, whose struggles for her own independence and freedom are not yet forgotten ? How will it strike at the feelings of the grt* at and highly respectable fraternity of the Episcopal Institution, who are carelessly anathematized as heretics, merely for a handsome pretext to lengthen out the rod over their shoulders to reach others ? For it is not to be doubted that that form of speech, " Arians, Socinians, Arminians," &c,, was resorted to merely to make the bundle of heretics as huge'as possible, that, by a kind of indiscrimination, the censure, the single censure on the heads of the Hopkinsians might not seem solitary and par- tial ; in short, that it might appear one sweeping stroke at all heresy. But I asked, in a former paragraph, whether we were to un- derstand this as the voice and sentiment of the fathers and counsellors of the Presbyterian church. I rejoice to say, for the honour of my country, and for the religion I profess, that nothing is farther from it. I recognise, in this act, the features of some fierce and furious spirits, who, in an inauspicious hour of darkness and incaution, gained so much the ascendant in that body as to procure this abortion of a Bully who has faintly roared once, and never will be heard again. I have no doubt that its authors, ere this, do, even in their closets, shudder be- fore the bar of public sentiment; that they, severally and indi- vidually, wish that, at that moment, they had been a day's jour- ney from ^that Synod, and employed in a manner, if it would not promote, that would not endanger the prosperity and exist- ence of the church. INVESTIGATOR. I COLUMBIA UN ERSITY 0025981218 Vir IT V^-' - ^.-f ■■' X M^' 1V> -.^'i, ^^ '.%i H( ■:;.«». ;;*^t;^ -» *" ^3^. J f^.M