nature of prayer!--how few engage in this holy exercise from
choice, or derive from it that satisfaction and delight which it
is calculated to impart!" Looking at me with calm earnestness, he
added, "Such is the magic influence which the fleeting events of
life have over us, that we remain comparatively indifferent to the
realities of an eternal world, till some disaster arises to break
the charm. The afflictive dispensation which deprived me of all my
property, and left me dependent on my children, though severe, has
proved the most beneficial occurrence of my history. It has taught
me the vanity as well as the instability of all earthly possessions;
it has led me to seek pure and substantial happiness in fellowship
with the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ."
He then informed me that, from his childhood, he had been a regular
attendant at his parish church, and endeavoured to practise the
relative virtues which he so frequently had heard inculcated. But,
during the whole of this time, he had no just conception of the evil
of sin, or of the degeneracy of his nature, or of the necessity of
that faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ which purifies the
heart. He was religious from habit, not from conviction; and he paid
respect to the ceremonies of public worship because others did so,
rather than from any benefit which he expected to derive from them.
The cottage he now occupied was at a considerable distance from the
parish church, and on his removal to it he felt quite free from the
control of the opinion of others, and usually spent his Sabbaths at
home. One day, however, his curiosity was excited by some rumours
which reached him respecting the rector, and he resolved to go to
hear him. "We all walked together," said he, "and on entering the
church we were struck with the size of the congregation, and the
unusual seriousness of the clergyman, who was officiating in the
desk. But it was when in the pulpit that he displayed the fervid
and impassioned eloquence of a holy man of God. There he exhibited
the word of life with such clearness, and with such power, that we
were delighted; and though he advanced some things that were new to
us, and which did not exactly agree with our own opinions, yet we
could not refrain from going again on the following Sabbath. Since
that day we have never absented ourselves, except when illness has
compelled us; and now I can adore the wisdom and the love of HIM
who broke up my former establishment, in which I lived a useless
life, and fixed my residence in this humble retreat, where I have
been brought to hear the pure gospel, which has been the means of
infusing spiritual life into every member of my household."
"The ways of heaven," I remarked, "are sometimes dark and
mysterious; but when their ulterior design is accomplished, the
obscurity vanishes, and we are enabled to perceive marks of infinite
wisdom and benevolence in the events which, at an early stage,
appeared as the precursors of judgment and of woe."
"Yes, Sir, the dispensation by which I lost my property was, indeed,
dark and mysterious; it involved me in the depths of trouble, and
I had no resources of consolation opened to me, but the sympathy I
received from my children. It did not occur to me that a gracious
Providence was intending to promote my happiness by smiting the
prosperity which I was enjoying. I reproached the agents of fraud,
who had deceived me, and I reproached myself for being deceived. I
was stung to the quick by the disgrace into which I was plunged;
and when I retired to this cottage, I felt more disposed to murmur
against the providence of God, than to offer the tribute of a
grateful heart."
"It is the influence of religion which induces within us a
disposition of mind in accordance with the sovereign will of our
heavenly Father, and which teaches and inclines us to derive our
purest enjoyments from the manifestations of His favour. Hence, he
who possesses the religious principle in full energy, is fitted to
meet any trial, however severe, and to reside in any place, however
humble, because he believes that all things are working together for
his good, and that there is no spot in the universe from whence the
God of providence and of grace is excluded."
"In my former country residence, to which I had retired with a large
fortune, I soon began to feel out of my element. The decoration of
my house, and the laying out of my gardens and pleasure-grounds,
kept me employed for a time, but when these were completed, I
found that the inactivity of a retired country gentleman was ill
suited to my active habits. I became unhappy, and was glad to
leave the country to enter again into commercial pursuits. When
I came here I dreaded a renewal of the experiment; and though I
believed that adversity would assume and retain a powerful influence
in reconciling me to my fate, I soon found that adversity alone
could not induce submission to the will of heaven, nor produce
contentment. The mind cannot derive support from the cause of its
depression. This must come from some other source. I have found it,
or rather it was given me, when and where I looked not for it. I now
can say, what I never could say when in the height of my prosperity,
that I am really happy and contented. I have no wish to return again
to the busy world."
"Solitude," I remarked, "is most favourable to the spirit of
devotion; yet there are many of the virtues of the Christian
character which cannot be displayed but before the public eye--such
as candour, and benevolence, and zeal; and as we are not to live to
ourselves, do you not think, Sir, it is our duty to go forth and let
our light shine before others?"
"Most certainly, Sir; and though WE are apparently shut out from
the world, and have but few of its temptations to allure, and none
of its cares to distract us, yet we live quite near enough to its
evils to afford us an opportunity of displaying those graces of the
Christian character to which you have alluded. Our nearest neighbour
is a man of wealth, and of extensive influence in the parish; but
he looks down on us with contempt, because we have embraced what he
calls _this new religion_, and he does everything in his power to
irritate and mortify us. Just over yonder hill there are several
cottages, which are inhabited by coal-miners, who are as ignorant
and as depraved as any description of persons I have ever known; and
where ignorance and vice abound there is sure to be wretchedness.
Hence, though we do not occupy any prominent station in the eye of
the public, we are not exempted from the privilege of attempting to
do good to others, nor from the honour of suffering persecution for
righteousness' sake."
"As you are now in the possession of a larger portion of happiness
than you ever previously enjoyed, do you not feel a stronger
attachment to life than you ever felt?"
"Yes, Sir, I do; because I now perceive that our life is given for
a nobler purpose than I ever conceived before. I used to think that
it was given us for the acquisition of wealth and honour, and for
the gratification of the taste and feeling; but now I believe that
the original design of its bestowment is that we may honour and
love God, and, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, be prepared
to enjoy His presence in the eternal world. But though I am more
attached to life than ever, I have no objection to resign it, when
it may please God to call me to do so. At my advanced age, though
my health is good, and my constitution unbroken, I cannot expect to
live many years; yet I feel the strong pulsation of a life over
which neither the first nor the second death have any power. I
should like to live on earth, if it were the will of God, till I see
my dear children embrace the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; but if
I should be removed before that event takes place, I have no doubt
but I shall unite with the ministering angels and the spirits of the
redeemed in celebrating it in HIS presence."
"I am happy to hear you speak with so much confidence on such an
important subject, as I have long thought that the fears which
Christian parents so often and so long cherish respecting the
salvation of their children, are no less dishonourable to God than
destructive of their own peace. He has commanded us to use the means
for the conveyance of truth to their minds; and he has given us many
promises of sure success; and ought we, after all this, to despair?
He may withhold the renovating power, to make us more importunate
in prayer, and to convince us that human means alone will not prove
effectual; but still it is our duty and our privilege to expect
that his word shall not return unto him void, but that it shall
accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto
he sends it."
I was much interested by the conversation of my host, and my
gratification was increased by hearing that he attended the ministry
of the Rev. Mr. Guion, of whom he spoke with all the warmth of
filial attachment; that he was personally acquainted with my
esteemed friend, the Rev. Mr. Ingleby; and had often heard of Mr.
and Mrs. Stevens, though he knew them not. I now bade this aged
couple farewell, and set out to retrace my steps to Fairmount,
highly pleased with the adventures of the day, which I found as
conducive to my mental and spiritual improvement, as they had been
beneficial to my health.
SPIRITUAL REGENERATION A REALITY.
An occurrence took place in the course of the day which revived the
question of the preceding evening. Two funerals passed along the
road in front of Mr. Roscoe's mansion. The first was that of a man,
who died in the prime of life; and the second was that of an infant,
who expired soon after its birth. The man had been a poacher, and,
like most who devote themselves to illicit practices, he had lived
a dissolute life. He rarely if ever attended church; usually spent
his Sabbaths in idleness, or in the indulgence of his vicious
propensities; was notorious for the vulgarity and impurity of his
manners; and such was his aversion to religion, that when the Rev.
Mr. Cole called to see him, only a few days before his death, he
bluntly told him that as he had lived without religion, he had made
up his mind to die without it.
The infant was the first-born of an interesting couple, who had been
married little more than twelve months. They lived in a genteel
residence at the farther end of the village, and were celebrated
amongst their neighbours no less for their affection for each other,
than the sufferings which they endured before their union was
consummated. The cupidity of their parents kept them apart for a
period nearly as long as Jacob served for his beloved Rachel, when
death came, and by leaving them orphans, broke down the barrier
which had obstructed their union. But they were both too deeply
affected by their loss to evince any symptoms of pleasure; and such
was the respect in which they held the memory of their parents, that
they permitted one year to pass over their heads before they were
married. On the nuptial morning, a large number of the villagers
greeted them with their simple benedictions as they left the
church; and when they alighted from the carriage to enter their own
dwelling, they were surrounded by a group of females dressed in
white, who presented them with a garland of flowers--expressing, at
the same time, a wish that their joy might prove of a less fading
nature.
"It is," said Mr. Roscoe, "by bringing the incidents and facts of
real life to bear on the doctrines of our belief, that we are able
to test them. The man who has just gone to his grave was the son
of the parish clerk, and I well remember when he was baptized. If
regeneration takes place when the ceremony of baptism is performed,
he was then made a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom
of heaven. But what moral good resulted from this supposed change
in his state and character? None. He grew up a wild lad--he lived
without religion--and without it he died. But the child whose
funeral we have just seen pass--this babe, the first-fruits of
conjugal bliss, which just made its appearance in this valley of
weeping, a branch too tender to thrive in such an uncongenial soil,
after languishing for a few seconds, experienced a premature decay.
It was a branch from the wild olive, and required the same spiritual
grafting to fit it to luxuriate in the garden of the Lord as a more
hardy plant. But if this spiritual operation cannot be performed
except when the sacrament of baptism is administered, as some
assert, then is this tender scion a brier or a thorn, whose end is
to be burned, for it withered and died before the waters of healing
could be procured. The impure and impious ruffian, who dies in the
act of scornfully rejecting the Christian faith, passes at once into
the kingdom of heaven, and takes rank with prophets, and apostles,
and martyrs; while the little lovely babe, when waking up into a
state of consciousness, instead of feeling the tender embraces of a
mother, is startled into terror and anguish, by the sight and sound
of infernal and lost spirits! Really this baptismal regeneration
of the Tractarian churchman is such a monstrous doctrine, that I
am at a loss to conceive how any man of common sense and humane
feeling can appear as its advocate; it is a libel on the Christian
faith, a daring outrage on parental feeling, and altogether a fatal
delusion."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I have been reviewing my opinion on the
question of baptismal regeneration since our last discussion, and
I find the difficulties in which it is involved too numerous and
too formidable to be fairly overcome. I find I must abandon it; but
in doing this I am plunged into deep perplexity; for I am utterly
incapable of conceiving _what regeneration can be_, unless I imbibe
the notions of the evangelical clergy, which I never can do."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"To object to truth, attested by conclusive evidence,
merely because it is admitted by a class of men against whom strong
antipathies are improperly excited, is a mark, not of wisdom, but of
folly; and if you push such a determination to the full extent of
its application, you will be reduced to the necessity of giving up
your belief in the existence of a God--the Divine mission of Jesus
Christ--the doctrine of providence--the resurrection and the final
judgment--as they believe these doctrines in common with you."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Very true; but you know that prejudice is more
difficult to subdue than reason; and hence it may be termed the
forlorn hope of truth, which but few can take. But as the question
is one of paramount importance, and we have leisure to discuss it, I
wish it to be pursued, and I shall be glad if you will give me your
definition of regeneration."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"The word regeneration rarely occurs in the New
Testament; but there are many other terms employed, which convey
the same leading idea; such as, being born again--born of the
Spirit--born of God--being made a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Hence, when the apostle had exhorted the Ephesians to put off,
with respect to their former conversation, 'the old man, which is
corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts,' he adds, 'and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after
God,' or in conformity to His image, 'is created in righteousness
and true holiness;' and in his address to the Romans he says,
'and be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God.' These passages decidedly
prove, at least in my opinion, the necessity of some _moral change_
in the principles, and dispositions, and tempers of our mind; and I
am not aware that I can give you a better definition of it than you
will find in the preface to a volume of discourses which I have in
my library:--'_By regeneration is meant, a prevailing disposition
of the mind to universal holiness, produced and cherished by the
influence of the Divine Spirit operating in a manner suitable to the
constitution of our nature, as rational and accountable creatures._'"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"The passages which you have quoted
unquestionably imply the necessity of some moral change; and I can
conceive a propriety in their application to the Jews, or to pagan
Gentiles of ancient times; but they cannot, with any show of reason,
be applied to us, who are born Christians, and educated in the
belief of Christianity."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"No, we are not born Christians. We are born in
a country where Christianity is professed, and of parents who
bear the Christian name, and we have been educated in a belief of
Christianity; yet no one is a Christian until he is renewed in the
spirit of his mind, and is in some measure conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ, who was holy and undefiled. To prove the correctness
of this statement, I will refer you to our old friend, Mr. Trotter.
His father, you know, was a good man; but he himself, with all his
excellencies, was an avowed sceptic; and his brother was no less
dissolute in his habits than he was corrupt in his principles.
You will admit, I presume, that some moral change is necessary in
relation to such men."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Certainly; if a man be a sceptic, his opinions
must be changed before he can become a believer; and if his habits
are depraved, they must be changed before he can become a Christian.
But the majority are virtuous, and to these I suppose you do not
intend to apply the doctrine."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"You may know many whose characters are adorned
with the various traits of excellence, but have you ever known a
perfect man?--a man in whose temper there is no flaw--in whose
disposition there is no perversity--in whose principles there is no
obliquity--one who uniformly, and on all occasions, displays the
most entire and irreproachable goodness?"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"No, I must confess that I do not know such a
one. I quite admit that the most perfect and the most amiable men
I have ever known, have, on close acquaintance, disclosed some
imperfections of character, more or less."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"And may not a person acquire a high degree of virtue
even while he is destitute of every _religious_ principle? Our
friend, Mr. Frowd, as you may well remember, was a most excellent
and virtuous man, and even a zealous Churchman; but you know that he
rejected the Divine origin of Christianity, and supported the church
as a mere human establishment, which served to give stability to
the government, by operating on the prejudices and passions of the
masses of the people through the medium of her clergy. Hence we must
not confound morality and religion, as though they were essentially
the same thing, seeing that the most moral may be as sceptical in
their opinions as the most impure, and are often even more unwilling
than they, to receive the humiliating doctrines and self-denying
precepts of the gospel."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I admit the correctness of your statement,
and I assure you that this view of the matter has often excited my
astonishment. I have in my parish a gentleman, who is very humane
and benevolent--a faithful friend--beloved by all who know him; but
he has not been to church for nearly twenty years, except when he
came to receive the sacrament, on his being elected sheriff of the
county. I have sometimes spoken to him on the subject of religion,
but he shrewdly gets away from my arguments by saying, 'Sir, you are
to be commended for doing your duty.'"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"And will not these facts convince you that the moral
disorder of our nature lies in the heart, which may be deceitful
and desperately wicked in the sight of God, even while some of the
virtues adorn the character. Have you yet to learn, my brother,
that pride, which disdains vulgar vice--that a love of fame and
that self-interest may generate many social and domestic virtues,
even while the inner man is enmity against God, neither recognizing
the authority of his law, nor embracing the truths of the gospel?
On this subject I can speak with strong personal feeling; and if
I may refer to a passage in my own history, it is not to gratify
vanity, but to illustrate the distinction which the Scriptures
preserve between morality and personal religion. I lived for many
years a virtuous life, attached to the church, and devoting much of
my time to the study of the Scriptures, reverencing God as a great
and good being, and believing in the Divine mission of Jesus Christ;
but during the whole of this time I was ignorant of the alienation
of my affections from God--of the actual depravity of my heart--of
the essential evil of sin; nor could I understand how we are to be
saved by grace, through faith, until it pleased God to enlighten my
understanding; then all obscurity vanished, and now, I trust, I know
the mysteries of truth more perfectly."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"You who embrace what are termed evangelical
sentiments, always employ a mystical phraseology of speech, which
no one can understand but the initiated; and this is one principal
cause of the prejudice which prevails against them amongst the more
intelligent and less enthusiastic part of society."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"But our mystical phraseology of speech, as you
are pleased to term it, is the very language of Scripture; and
the inspired writers who have employed it, would doubtless use it
now, if they were speaking to us. You, then, ought to transfer
your objections from us to them; but in doing so, you would be
encountering an authority which you profess to venerate. But, after
all, the objection is less against the phraseology of Scripture,
than against the truth of which it is the appointed vehicle of
communication. Pride, under some peculiar modification, is the
epidemic disease of our nature; but none are more under its dominion
than men of intelligence, of taste, and of virtue; and it is against
this passion that the gospel of Jesus Christ directs the thunder
of its power. How mortifying to a man of intellectual fame, whose
superior genius feels equal to the comprehension of whole systems
of truth, by a single exertion of its power, to be told that
'_whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
shall not enter therein!_' How mortifying to a man, whose amiable
temper, whose social habits, whose fascinating manners, whose
constitutional virtues have combined to raise him far above his
fellows, to be told that he must come down from his vantage-ground,
to kneel at the same throne of grace with publicans and harlots, and
implore forgiveness in language equally humiliating with that which
they employ!"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I have always thought that the cultivation
of the virtues predisposed the mind to receive the truths of
Christianity; but if your statement be correct, a virtuous man may
be no more fit for the kingdom of heaven than a profane one."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Nor can he be, _unless he is born again_. He may,
like the Pharisee in the gospel, trust in the merit of his virtues
for salvation, instead of trusting in the redemption made by Jesus
Christ; but having no just perceptions of the degeneracy of his
nature, he repudiates with disdain the doctrine of regeneration,
which Jesus Christ asserts to be universally necessary."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Then you believe that _all_ men are depraved,
though not _equally corrupt_; and that all, notwithstanding their
various shades of excellence, stand in equal need of the moral
change which you think regeneration denotes?"