ed, not only to receive pleasure, but profit too, by a stated attendance on social worship; and indeed have had their esteem of it increased by the longest use. The truth is, the purpose for which we should attend on this duty is to improve our hearts, rather than our understandings; and he who supposes that his heart wants no improvement, demonstrates incontestably that he never knew it. It is to quicken and animate devotion; it is to recal truths that in the hurry and tumult of life we overlook; it is to renew and deepen impressions that are apt to be effaced; it is to meditate on truths that we know; it is to see them in new and various lights, and thus obtain a full perception of their excellence, extent, and connexions; it is to increase and strengthen the force of good habits; it is, by joining in social worship, to take our part in, that service of God which is due from a social and rational being to his Creator-These are the great purposes for which we should assemble ourselves together; and he who considers them as unimportant in their nature, or useless to himself, must either be an enemy to all religion in his heart, or wholly unacquainted with the principles of human nature and human conduct. A well informed Christian may derive benefit from every religious exercise of publick worship on which he attends, although he receive not a single new idea in a year. It is indeed one object of publick preaching to instruct the ignorant, to improve the instructed, and to suggest to the improved, hints which their own meditations will pursue, perhaps beyond the views of the speaker. But to all, the principal object is to better the heart, and by combining instruction with devotion, to lead the soul, under the influence of religious truth, 'to God, the fountain of truth, that by the influences of his Holy Spirit, the truth may trausform and sanc tify the soul. This devotional part of the publick exercises of religion, is what those who would refuse the assembling of themselves together, because they are already sufficiently instructed, do not take into their account. Alas! their wisdom will avail them little, if they have become too wise to pray,-too wise to feel their necessity of the constant aids of Divine grace, which are sought and obtained by prayer. Beside, it ought to be remembered, especially by those who value themselves on their attainments in knowledge, that the influence of example on the publick mind, is great and commanding. A wise man will often be found very attentive to exercises, not the most important to himself, that he may draw to an attendance on them those to whom their use is great and indispensable. If therefore publick worship be useful and indispensable to the multitude, the example of those who have influence with the multitude, should encourage and enforce it upon them. This consideration has had so much weight with many wise and good men, that they have continued their attendance on publick worship, even after their bodily infirmities had rendered it difficult for them to get to a place of worship, and incapable, when there, of joining fully in the exercises. We have known men of eminent piety regular in their attendance in the house of God, after nearly a total loss of the sense of hearing. 2. Another favourite plea with many for the neglect of publick worship is, that they can prout more by the religious exercises which they may perform in private. It is said "We can read a better sermon at home than we can hear at church; and we can be as devout and thankful in our closets and families, as we can in the congregation." Here again, it is presumed we shall not violate the laws of charity, in affirming that this excuse is most frequently offered by those who are not most exact in their private devotions; nor most remarkable for reading religious discourses, even during the time that they absent themselves from church on the Sabbath. But admitting that the hours of publick worship were carefully and strictly appropriated to reading and devotion in private, we may safely affirm that the advantage contended for is not received. The divine blessing, it should be recollected, is essentially necessary to render any means, however excellent in them selves, useful to our souls. With out this, the eloquence of Michael, and the songs of seraphs, although they might entertain and please us, would produce no real or lasting benefit. You may, no doubt, read in secret better discourses than you will commonly hear from the desk, and you may, if you are so disposed, attempt devotion. But while all this is put in the place of one of God's ordinances,-in place of meeting with the assemblies of his saints -it is a proud opposition of your appointment to his, and he will never confer his blessing on it. With his blessing the feeblest means shall profit the souls of his obedient people, while your rebellious hearts, wanting his blessing, shall receive no benefit from the ablest exhibitions of divine truth. It is this, precisely, which puts a difference between the private exercises of religion that are adopted from necessity, and those which are the effects of choice. When God's people are of necessity excluded from his house and worship, they may, and often do, meet him in private; and find his rich blessing attending the helps and means that are still left in their power. But when absence is unnecessary and voluntary, there is, in fact, but little disposition usually to read or pray in private; and if the attempt be even made, his blessing is withheld from those who have refused to seek it, in the way which he hath prescribed-This I take to be a matter which is as fully verified by observation and experience, as any of a moral or religious kind, that can be made the subject of our attention. The 3. On the whole, therefore, it is of the utmost importance for us all to remember, that in attending on social worship, the principle by which we are to be governed in giving that attendance, is, an obedience to the command of God-That we go to this worship because it is a divine ordinance or institution, appointed for our benefit and his glory-That regarding and observing it in this manner, we have good ground to hope and pray for his blessing to attend it-And of course, that there is no attainment of knowledge or grace that can render this institution unnecessary, and no voluntary substitution of other exercises in its place, which can be a compensation for the want of it. view of the subject which we are here taking, is of unspeakable practical importance. It is because the true design of assembling ourselves together is not realized, that many who attend on publick worship derive from it so little advantage. If the service of the sanctuary were really treated as a divine ordinance, if we attended on it looking and praying for the divine blessing, if our views were truly to worship God in our social capacity, and to hear what God the Lord would say by the mouth of his servants, we should not receive so little benefit from this important institution. And if these views were really entertained of its nature and intention, excuses for neglecting it would vanish; formality in attending it would cease; complaints of the want of novelty or entertainment in the exercise would seldom be heard; and our souls would be truly fed from the provisions of the house and ordinances of the Most High. (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Advocate. A CASE OF CONSCIENCE. Dear Sir, I make no apology for this intrusion:-I have known too many instances of your kindness, and am too well persuaded of your willingness to contribute in the least degree to the comfort and edification of the weakest believer, to deem any necessary. I feel that I can address you with all the affectionate confidence of a child coming to its own parent, sure of a kind reception, and of obtaining the aid it seeks. Sir, I am wont very frequently to examine my heart, and from the evidence I find, I cannot doubt, that though a very imperfect one, I am still a real Christian. I know that whereas once I was blind, now I see. Once I was dead to spiritual things, now I am keenly alive to them. I feel perfectly conscious that I am a new creature whether a new creature in Christ, I do sometimes query. It is true I have no new faculties, but the direction that is given to them is altogether different from what it was formerly. My will is changed; it chooses and refuses objects, perfectly opposite to what it once did. My affections are set upon new, and moved and influenced by different objects. In short, I have new views of God, of Christ, of myself, of sin, of life, of death, of time, of eternity, of heaven, of hell. And these views are not altogether speculative-they influence my actions they regulate my conduct. I think I see sin, as infinitely odious and hateful. I feel that were its power equal to its malignity, it would dethrone the God of heaven, desolate the universe, and deluge the world with blood-And it is often a matter of express thanksgiving to God, that I am within his grasp a weak, impotent creature. I think I see Christ as an all sufficient, all glorious, all willing Saviour that I can submit to him, and trust myself wholly in his hands. From my deepest degradation, I can look to Him who was exalted on the cross, that whosoever believeth on him may not perish, but have everlasting life: from the midst of my pollution, I can fly to his blood which cleanseth from all sin. These are some of the reasons I have to believe that I am a regenerated creature, a child of God; and yet, sir, I have at times, a feeling which alarms me, and often induces the conclusion, that the whole of my experience is a delusion! that I am still a child of wrath, even as others. It is this; the truths and doctrines of God's word that I love, and in which I habitually delight, do at times produce a feeling of strong dislike and opposition. I have taken those truths, and reflected on them as deeply as I was capable-viewed them in every possible light, and during the process, narrowly watched the state of my heart, and could detect nothing, but unmingled satisfaction and complacency; yet when my mind has come suddenly in contact with them, I have been sensible of a revulsion of feelinga kind of recoiling from them. Meditating in my chamber, on the glory of God, and of Christ, of the holy employments, and blissful enjoyments of heaven, I have often been, as it were, constrained to sink from my seat to the floor, quite overpowered with the views I have had; yet in relation to these, I have experienced the feeling just mentioned. It is strange, and to me perfectly unaccountable. I cannot compare it to any thing but a flash it comes suddenly, and as suddenly goes. I have for years been trying to get hold of it, but it seems wholly intangible. By no process of examination, can I get any clue to its source, or learn whence it springs. If it would abide five moments, I could subject it to inspection; but no-the moment I am conscious of it, it is gone. A few mornings since, I was singing the hymn," O Zion afflicted and toss'd," &c., in which are embodied some of the exceeding great and precious promises to the church, with inexpressible pleasure. As I sang my eyes overflowed with tears, at a view of the love, and goodness, and condescension of Christ to his church, and to me, a most unworthy member of it; and I took up the Bible to feast myself anew with my favourite passage, Isaiah xlix. In turning over the leaves, my eye glanced upon one of the Psalms, and immediately the whole train of thought and current of feeling, was broken by the sensation I have above described. If it were from Satan, it was truly malicious: he succeeded in disappointing me of some moments of rich enjoyment. I am not prone to attribute the motions of my own corrupt nature to the injections of that evil spirit; what I dread is, lest the work of conversion should be but half done-lest it be superOficial-not deep and thorough. I fear, lest the wound shall be proved to have been but slightly healedlest there be found lying deep, and hidden in my heart, some principles of corruption, not yet known and exposed, the existence of which is wholly inconsistent with a gracious state. Dear sir, I apply to you. From the many advantages you have had, in consequence of your sacred office, you must be acquainted with all the varieties of Christian experience-Can you, or if you cannot, can any of the numerous readers of your magazine, give me any assistance in this matter? Although I think I am willing to give up my hope, if it be a false one, yet I tremble at what may be the result of this communication. You, or some other, who are deeply skilled in the mysterious workings of the human heart, may be able to penetrate the thin covering which self-love has drawn over my defor VOL. V. Ch. Adv. mity, and prove me, to myself, a hypocrite a vile deceiver! Well! let it be! It is of infinite importance to me that I know it now-in time before the light of eternity flashes conviction upon my soul. May I be prepared to receive the truth whatever it be! Your already deeply indebted Remarks by the Editor. Lucilla greatly overrates our ability, but not our disposition, to afford relief to labouring consciences. We have attentively considered her case, and shall endeavour to give our thoughts upon it, with explicitness and candour. If our opinion shall differ from that of any of our readers and correspondents, we will insert their remarks, if communicated to us briefly and tenderly, with as much readiness as we do our own. On the supposition that the first part of Lucilla's statement is fairly made, of which we see no reason to doubt, as well as from the whole tenour and complexion of her communication, we think we ought to conclude, that she has been born and taught of God, and is a new creature "in Christ Jesus." We are well aware that great changes, both of life and temper, sometimes take place, while yet the subject of them is not regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost. The profligate may become staid, and outwardly reformed; the drunkard may become sober; the hasty and irascible may restrain passion and learn self command; the immoral, in whatsoever form his immorality may have existed, may not only forsake every course that is openly vicious, but really cultivate inward principles and dispositions, different from and more praiseworthy, than those which he once indulged and cherished; and with all this, he may still know nothing of that renovation, which 3 K is wrought only by the operation of the Spirit of God, and in the Sacred Scriptures is denominated being "born again."-The whole may have been produced by a conviction, such as the natural powers of man may achieve, without. any special divine agency, that the present course of life and habits of mind are unfavourable to temporal happiness, and that great advantages of various kinds will follow from a change. It is easy to perceive that the entire alteration here, is only from the love and pursuit of one set of earthly objects, to another from those which are base or ruinous, to those which are favourable to respectability and happiness in the present life. The affections are as really and supremely set on the things of time, after the change, as before it. And if, as sometimes happens, such a reformation as we here consider, is believed to be all that the gospel requires, to warrant the hope and expectation of eternal life, the delusion is gross, and if continued must be fatal. But Lucilla says, "I have new views of God, of Christ, of myself, of sin, of life, of death, of time, of eternity, of heaven, of hell; and these views are not altogether speculative-they influence my actions they regulate my conduct. I think I see sin as infinitely odious and hateful, &c.-I think I see Christ as an all-sufficient, all glorious, all willing Saviour-that I can submit to him, and trust myself wholly in his hands. From my deepest degradation I can look to him," &c. We do not believe that any unrenewed or unsanctified person, can ever truly say all this-If he can, we should be at a loss to show in what a regenerated state consists. It appears to us, that here is a description of spiritual views and exercises, such as the natural man never knows. It remains then, to account for the other part of Lucilla's case, in consistency with the supposition that she has really been renewed in the temper of her mind; and in doing this we find, for ourselves, no real difficulty whatever-Difficulty enough we should indeed have, if we attempted to explain the causes, and the manner of their operation, by which it comes to pass that the same mind, at different times, experiences such opposite feelings or emotions, as those which our correspondent describes. But we think it is not difficult to show, from Scripture and experience, that such a difference there is in fact. "When I would do good"-says the Apostle Paul-"evil is present with me" And in connexion with this expression, he gives such a description of his inward conflicts, as would almost seem to intimate that he had two souls, of opposite dispositions and tendencies: But he twice expresses the conclusion, in regard to the working of his evil propensities" It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Those who are familiar with books or questions of casuistry, know how much has been written on the subject of those sudden, horrible and blasphemous thoughts or imaginations, of which persons eminent for holiness of heart and piety of life, have often complained. With these, in our judgment, the case of our correspondent must be classed. Persons who have a melancholick temperament, or who are subject to nervous affections, are commonly most exposed to these afflictive thoughts and feelings. But yet they sometimes occur to those whose constitution is sanguine and whose health is vigorous. In our reading, we have found Luther, Baxter, Boyle, archbishops Tillotson and Secker, as well as the excellent John Newton and John Bunyan, treating of these strange mental affections. The celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson, too, in a number of the Rambler, takes notice of them. With one consent, all the writers we have mentioned agree in two things-The first is, that the |
