their sorrow. We cannot, by any mere exertion, direct or indirect, of our voluntary power, produce in ourselves any affections we may wish, except such as are in accordance with the state of the mind. We can, indeed, excite a great variety of affections in ourselves by the exercise of our voluntary agency in the manner above described; but they will all be consonant to our predominant disposition. Take the case of confirmed hostility to the Christian religion, such as appeared in the leading infidels of Europe half a century ago. Was it in the power of the most convincing arguments or the most persuasive eloquence to produce in their hearts, while unchanged by the Holy Spirit, the affection of true love to Christ and his religion? Take the case of an inveterate miser, and suppose him to continue, as he is likely to do, in his present state of mind. Can you present any motives before him which will produce in his heart a sincere affection for the word of God, and a readiness to give away his treasures to send it to the destitute? Take the case of the wicked at the last day. Their attention will be powerfully arrested by the most excellent, glorious, and moving objects. But they will have no right feeling, such as will arise in holy minds. Amid all the light and glory of that day, they will have no emotions but those which correspond with their sinful disposition. Satan is a moral agent of high intellectual powers. Now suppose, with his state of mind, he could be admitted into the heavenly world, and see all that the angels see and enjoy. What would be his feelings? They would be totally malignant and wretched, -feelings of hatred, envy, and remorse. Whence this dif ference between the feelings of Satan and the feelings of angels, in view of the same objects? Whence, but from their different states of mind?

The important principle which I have endeavoured to illustrate, is often exemplified in the experience of sinners. under awakenings of conscience. They are conscious that their affections towards divine things are siuful; and from their natural dread of misery, and love of happiness, and not because they are pleased with holiness, they in a sense desire such affections as God will approve, and, for the purpose of producing them, they apply themselves to a diligent and serious consideration of the character of God, the merciful interposition of the Redeemer, the holy law, and the precious blessings of salvation. But if the renewing of the

Holy Spirit is withheld, and they are left in their natural state, they will have no right affections. Those divine objects which they contemplate, will, through their perverseness, be the occasion of exciting dislike and opposition in their hearts, and so prove "a savour of death unto death." "He that loveth is born of God," and this implies, that he only who is born of God, loveth. No considerations however mighty, no motives however powerful and touching, if unaccompanied by the renewing influence of the Spirit, will ever have power to produce any right affections in unregenerate men. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And it is equally true, that except a man be born again, he cannot have holy affections; for the want of this is all that prevents his seeing the kingdom of God. If now we say or do any thing to lead sinners to think, that any ability or voluntary agency of theirs, or any power of excitement or persuasion which they can use with themselves, or which others can use with them, will ever bring them truly to love God, or believe in Christ, without the new creating agency of the Spirit; we practise a dangerous delusion upon them; and in this way, we show too, that we ourselves labour under a great mistake, and that we forget what Scripture and experience both teach, the desperate wickedness of the heart. Such is the state of the posterity of Adam, that if they become holy, their holiness will not be "from the will of the flesh, or the will of man," not from any disposition or voluntary agency of theirs, but from the Spirit of God; and the whole of their salvation will result, not from any works of righteousness which they have done, but from the purpose and grace of God. Christian ministers should remember this, and should learn to rely wholly upon divine power and mercy for the conversion and salvation of sinners. If they do not remember this, they do not remember a most important truth. And if, on any pretence whatever, they do not plainly and faithfully declare it both to saints and sinners, they fail of declaring an essential part of the counsel of God.

I cannot close this number without remarking distinctly, though briefly, on the mistake of those writers on mental philosophy, who make up their systems without recognizing the peculiar facts which are disclosed in the Scriptures, and in the history of the church. No systém of mental philosophy can be considered as complete, which overlooks any of

the principal phenomena which the human mind has exhibited. But time would fail me to speak of all those writers on intellectual and moral philosophy, who entirely neglect the peculiar mental operations and states so fully disclosed in the Scriptures, and whose systems are just what they would be, if man had no natural alienation from God, and were not dead in sin, and just what they would be, if there were no such thing as conviction of sin, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and a warfare, throughout the life of Christians, between the law of their sanctified mind and the law of sin in their members. I shall give a single example of the fault of their system. They very properly notice it as a law of the mind, that the affections are elicited by a view of proper objects; and then, without considering that man is morally depraved, they represent the clear exhibition of divine truth to the understanding, and the serious consideration of it, as all that is necessary to call forth right affections, overlooking that special divine influence which is proffered in the Gospel, and which is the only efficient cause of holiness in the heart of man. Now this is as palpable a mistake of theirs, as it would be in writers on health, to represent that wholesome food is all that is necessary to promote vigour and activity in those who are sick of a fever. If there are any facts which ought to be made prominent in a system of mental philosophy, surely they are those which are made prominent in the infallible word of God. For does not He who made, and He who redeemed the mind, know what are its powers and capacities, its dispositions and states, and the laws which govern its operations? And can any one who believes the Scriptures, especially any minister of the Gospel, deem it proper to disregard those pre-eminently important facts which result from man's apostacy, and from the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in man's salvation? These facts, and the laws of the mind respecting them, which are all involved in sound Christian experience, are as certain and as worthy of consideration in a system of mental philosophy, as the laws of the understanding, of the memory, of conscience, or of the natural affections. And a system which overlooks the former is as defective and as much at variance with the truth, as one would be which should overlook the latter. There is no right mental philosophy, but that which has its chief foundation in the facts revealed in the word of God. The sacred

writers, taught by their own experience, and by the Divine Spirit, understood the true philosophy of the human mind, and spoke and acted according to it. And if we would understand it, and apply it to its proper uses, we must learn to think, and reason, and speak, and act, as they did.

ART. VII.-APPLICATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO INDI

VIDUALS.

By ELEAZAR LORD, Esq. New-York.

In an article in the last number of this work, “ On Efforts by the Church to reform the World," it was attempted to be shown, that the reforming efficacy of Christianity proceeds from its applicability to individual man, that it removes evil by sanctifying the hearts and lives of its converts, and that combined and public religious exertions specially directed against prevailing and legalized customs of the world, are not consonant to its genius and design.

Considered in this manner, Christianity is not only adapted to supplant and remove the evils and miseries of the human family, but its glory as a counteracting, renovating, remedial system, is strikingly manifest. It comes forth from the bosom of Infinite goodness, depending on the divine influence for its efficacy, to regain the affection and obedience of a revolted race. The most striking feature of the system is that of its overcoming evil and opposition in the hearts of men, by love. Towards alienated, guilty man, led captive by the great Adversary, and obnoxious to the claims of eternal justice, it manifests the tenderness of boundless compassion, and turns upon his averted affections the burning flame of kindness and good will. It invites and urges him to look up from the depths of sin and condemnation, and behold the Lamb of God, through whom there is redemption and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. It brings life and immortality within his view, calls him to repentance, and urges him, by every appropriate motive, to obey and live. Its claims and appeals are addressed to each individual as an accountable agent; and as the same change

is equally necessary in every one, so this remedy is as well adapted to cure the disorders of one heart as of another.

Were the whole human race converted and brought into a state of cordial obedience to the Gospel, the evils and miseries of the world would be done away, giving place to universal holiness and happiness. But were such a consummation to be effected in ever so short a period, it would be effected by the same process of individual conversion, as obtains in the present state of things. In proportion, then, as individual conversions are multiplied, progress is made towards the conquest of the world, and the removal of its corruptions and miseries. Christianity, therefore, by its appropriate bearing upon individual man, is perfectly adapted to overcome the obstacles in its way, and to effect all the good which it proposes. It produces its proper effect only to the extent that individuals are converted and sanctified. Though its light, like that of the sun, falls both on the evil and the good, and like the rain, its beneficent and softening influence extends, in some respects, both to the just and to the unjust; yet as the light, heat, and showers in the natural world produce no fruits from rocks and deserts, so the influence of the Gospel is lost upon stony and unyielding hearts. Its incidental benefits and public influence do not cure the evils of the world. Its sphere, as the power of God, is in the hearts of them that believe.

Could the vast and eternal benefits of Christianity be secured to man by any change of public opinion, and of the fashions and customs of the world, by an outward renunciation of idolatry on the part of the heathen, and of false systems of philosophy by civilized nations, by a general submission to the rite of baptism, or by any conventional changes, in the opinions and customs of society, an entirely different scene would present itself, and an entirely different course of measures would be requisite. None of the peculiarities of the Christian system or of the kingdom of Christ, as a spiritual kingdom, would in that case remain; and in order to convert the world, the method pursued by Mahomet would be the most eligible in some countries, and that of more modern philosophers politicians, and reformers, in others.

Yet how great a portion, even of educated and intelligent men in Christendom, seem to regard the subject substantially in this light! How many of those who conduct