Sermons on revivals

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SERMONS ON REVIVALS.

SERMONS ON REVIVALS.

REV. ALBERT BARNES,

WITH AN

INTRODUCTION

BY

REV. JOEL PARKER, D. D.

President of the New York Union Theological Seminary.

NEW YORK:

JOHN S. TAYLOR, AND CO,
{Brick Church Ckapel, 145 Nassau St.)

1841.

F.ntered according to the Act of Cjnsfrcss, in the year

1841, by

J o ri N S . T A Y r, O R & c o .

in the Clerk's Office of liic Dii«lrict Court for tlie South-

cm District of New Yi^'':.

BY

3110
333

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Publishers of these Permons, believmg"
them eminently calculated to do good — will
make a very liberal discount, from the regular
price, to Superintendants and Teachers of Sab-
bath Schools, and to the benevolent, who may
wish to purchase for gratuitous distribution.

It is believed that the friends of revivals,
will perform an important service to the church
and to the world, by giving to this work an
<;xtensive circulation.

PREFACE

There is not upon the earth a more interest-
ing phenomenon than a revival of religion.
When God visits a people with his grace, the
whole commimity participates in the blessing,
though none but those who wisely improve
the heavenly influence, are ultimately and
eternally benefited. Yet, in an important re-
spect it resembles the sun-light and the rain
that are shed forth alike upon the good and
the unthankful. Many of those who are en-
tirely unthoughtful in respect to the source of
their enjoyments, are sharing largely in the
benefits derived through a revival of religion
from purified domestic affections, and the re-
straints of passion, and a quickened sense of
right pervading the public mind. Nor do
they merely derive benefit, incidentally from
the good influence exerted upon others. Their

X I'HEl'ACE.

own tone of feclinfr, and their moral habi-
tudes, are often vastly improved, and many
such, even while unconverted, seem to stand
forth like unconscious plants that show by their
erect position and bright verdure that they
have felt the invigorating power of light and
the genial warmth of the sun, and the re-
freshment of the dews. When one of these
delightful seasons has for the most part pas-
sed away, many that are unconverted are left
with kinder feelings towards the Gospel, and
are ever after more susceptible to the iiifluencc
of the ordinary means of grace.

It is obvious, however, that a revival of re-
ligion has seemed, at times, to exert upon
worldly minds an influence of an opposite
character. For this, two reasons may be as-
signed. There are some minds, which, in
consequence of former prejiidice, or from a
peculiarly malignant cast of depravity, have
caused the most softening and subduing in-
fluences only to aggravate their disease and
enhance all the difficulties of their conver-
sion. In such cases it is manifest that the
revival is, like any other perverted blessing,
only the innocent occasion by which those re-

PREFACE

fered to, inflict injury upon themselves. Then
again, in genuine revivals of religion, where
the blessed Spirit has seen fit greatly to exert
his power, ^^there has often been, it must be
confessed, a want of wisdom in the instru-
ments which has, iii no small degree, marred
the work. Indiscretions of language have oc-
curred, and unhappy methods of acting on the
public mind have been adopted. Hence, though
a revival of religion, which is nothing else
than an increase of piety in a community, is
itself unmingled good, yet, if the phrase be
applied to the whole complex state of the
public mind during such a season, good and
evil will be found to be mingled in various
proportions. It has been supposed by some
theorists upon this subject that if a revival of
religion be a genuine product of Divine influ-
ence it must be free from extravagance, and se-
rious error. But observation and experience,
and the word of God plainly evince that the
Holy Spirit often operates through what is
good in a course of means where many things
in that course are marked by the most serious
misjudgment. Revivals of religion, then,
hold a relation to our investigations not dis-
2*

similar to tliat u[ a branch of science. The
phrase, science of revivals, would doubtless
be regarded by many as an improper expres-
sion, and the art of producing ti revival would
shock serious minds. And yet there are prin-
ciples involved in these interesting phenoraeua
that may be discussed with as much advan-
tage as the principles of any branch of men-
tal and moral science ; and there are specific
adaptations of means for the production of any
given spiritual phasis of the public blind which
may be as well nnderstood and as skilfully ap-
plied as any other means that can be brought
to»bear upon mingled masses of human be-
ings. So far as means are concerned, it may
be said that they accomplish nothing only as
instruments ; but, beyond a doubt, God works
by means in such a sense that the peculiar
character of the instrumentality is impressed
upon the result.

You shall see some ministers of the Gospel
whose style of effort resembles that of a hus-
bandman that carries forward the planting and
various culture and harvesting of a given pro-
duction at the same time. He sows a few
seeds, cherishes some plants whose progress he

PREFACE. XUl

IS watching, and gathers daily others as they
successively ripen for the harvest. Under
such an instrumentality religion has gradually
gained influence, till, like a little concealed
^eaven, it has wrought a mighty change in the
whole community. One who chooses to di-
rect his endeavors in such a manner, may be
thought by some to be very cold in his re-
gards for a revival of religion, and yet such a
method of procedure may be prosecuted with
great fidelity, and self-denial, and spirituality,
and success. It is also attended with fewer
hazards in the hands of most men, and will
commonly result sooner or later in an in-
crease of religion of so rapid and powerful a
character, that all will acknowledge it as a re-
vival. Such was the course of the devoted
and successful Leigh Richmond. His zeal
was a pure and steady flame. The influence
of his labors was seen in a constant present
success, and the ultimate result was a power-
ful and extensive work of grace.

There is another mode of action, which
more resembles the labors of a husbandman
who first prepares large fields by sowing, and
then brings them forward by irrigation and

)C1V TREFACK.

various culture, and afterwards devotes a sea-
son entirely to the work of harvesting. If the
instrumentality be put forth after this impul-
sivc manner, the Holy Spirit will operate by
a method corresponding to the means em-
ployed. Nor does the fact that a revival of
religion is conforrAed to one of these methods
or the other, create any presumption for or
against the genuineness or the degree of
purity of the work. In either case, other
things being equal, he that pours the greatest
amount of pure gospel instruction into the
minds of his hearers, and deals most faitlifully
with them in discriminating between true and
false religion, will be the safest spiritual guide.
The impulsive method is doubtless more pow-
erful, as it employs more largely the social
sympathies, and uses the influence of numer-
ous contemporaneous examples in eliciting
attention to the subject, and in removing pre-
judices. It tends also to unite the church
more closely in supplication. United prayer
is a means of such indispensable necessity' and
power in a revival, that every thing which
tends to bring the greatest number of chris-
tians to be ' of one accord in one place,' tends

PREFACli. XV

most surely to secure a large communication
of Divine influei\ce. The work of grace which
occurred under the ministration of President
Edwards, at Northampton, was of this charac-
ter; and it is very easy to perceive that his
labors at that time, and his tl'eatise on the
subject, which is so deservedly exerting a
great influence, tend to this peculiar charac-
ter of religious revivals.

Mr. Barnes has exhibited in his discourses,
in a very happy manner, the philosophy of
this subject. He has emplo^/ed his rich re-
sources and various learning in illustrating
his topics and in overcoming those prejudices
which spring up from apprehensions of disor-
der and extravagance and fanaticism in con-
nexion with everything like a revival of reli-
gion.

It is encouraging to perceive such a demand
for works of this character that a Publisher in
the prosecution of his ordinary business finds
it for his advantage to gather up these dis-
courses, which were reposing in the dust of
an old periodica], and send them forth in the
form of an inviting volume.

The reflecting part of the ministry, in all

XVI PREFACE.

our evangelical denominations, lias come to
feel that revivals of religion open a broad field
of observation, and demand the best exercise
of their judgment and the closest application
of practical skill. If revivals of Pentecostal
power should now be granted we hope there
are not a few who would recognize in them
the operation of familiar principles, and whose
'joy of faith' would be in no degree abated by
the apprehension that every thing extraordina-
ry must result in extravagance.

The subject derives great interest also from
the advanced position of this country in res-
pect to revivals ; and, if we except now the
Sandwich Islands, there is no country on the
globe that has enjoyed such seasons of spirit-
ual refreshing. This is of the greater conse-
quence because an advance upon former modes
of action is more likely to spring up among a
young people where the national character
like that of a youthful individual is still flexi-
ble and generous. Our country is acting with
greater power than any other in modifying the
character of the civilized world.

The age in which we live is characterized
by two thin.c[s that are sometimes regarded as

incompatible Avith one another. It is highly-
impulsive in its movements, and yet men are
acting in masses of continually augmented
magnitude. The facilities of intercommuni-
cation between all those portions of the Avorld
where the English tongue is spoken, have be-
come so great, and so numerous ; commerce
is so rapid in its movements ; travel is so in-
creased both in its amount and in its speed ;
and the press is so fluent that whenever a great
impulse is produced it moves like a rapid
mountain wave, and ceases not in its progress
till it strikes on every side of Christendom,
against the rocky barriers of barbarism.

Thus our temperance movement has sent
its mighty impulse all over the British empire
and the continent of Europe. Our revivals of
religion, we are well assured, are not without
their influence ; and we hail every increase
of their power and purity, and every discus-
sion like that contained in the following pages
as a harbinger of that great work of revival,
when

' One song employs all nations ; and all cry
Worthy the Lamb, for lie was slain for us :
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks

Sliiut to •' 'cii nilif r, a»ifl flu: moi
Fr.iiti (iis'uiit nioiiiilaiiis calrh tiiu Uj. .i: : ji.'V ;
'l'i!l na1i»ii alter iialiuti taii^riit the Ktrain,
P'artl) rnl!:j the rapturous Ilosanna roun I.'

JOEL PARKEK.

.Acw York, May 1, 1841.

SERMON I.

THE THEORY OF REVIVALS.

'" Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and lei
the skies pour down righteousness : let the
earth open, and let them bring forth salva-
tion, and let righteousness spring up to-
gether y — isa. xlv : 8.

This beautiful passage of scripture may be
regarded partly as the expression of pious
feeling, and partly as a prophetic description.
It is the language of one who greatly desired
an increase of piety, and who was accustom-
ed to look forward to times Avhen pure reli-
gion would shed abroad its influence on earth
like descending showers from heaven. This
prophet, more than any other one, fixed his
3

20 THEORY OF REVIVALS,

eye on the times of the Redeemer, and fie
delighted to describe scenes which would oc-
cur when he should appear. With deep
interest he threw himself amidst those future
scenes, and with a heart full of faith he ut^
tered the language of our text, ' Pour down,
ye heavens, from above like descending show-
ers, and ye skies distil righteousness like fer-
tilizing rains ; let the earth open her bosom,
and let salvation spring forth as an abundant
harvest.'

From these words 1 propose to commence
a series of discourses on revivals of reli-
gion. Several considerations have induced
me to enter on the discussion of this subject.
One is, that they are the most remarkable
phenomena of our times, and that they have
done more than any other single cause to form
the public mind in this countrj'. Large por-
tions of the community have been shaken to
their centre by these religious movements :
and society has received some of its most
decided directions from these deep and far
pervading revolutions.

Another reason is, that every christian has
the deepest interest in the question about re'

THEOUY OF UEVIVALS. Bl

vh^als of religion. If they are the Gfenuine
work of God ; if they accord with the state-
ments in the Bible ; if they are such results
as he has a right to expect under the preach-
ing of the Gospel, he is bound, by all the love
which he hears to his Saviour and to the souls
of men, to desire and pray for their increase
and extension.

Another reason is, that there are many
various and contradictory opinions in regard
to these religious movements. It is not won-
derful that, in a community where every thing
is subjected to free discussion, and every man
IS at liberty to form his own judgment, they
should haA'^e given rise to great variety of
opinion. By some they are regarded as the
mere work of enthusiasm. By some they are
supposed to be originated by a strain of
preaching, and an array of measures adapted
to operate on easily excited feelings, and fit-
ted to influence only the weaker portions of
the community, and to be imworthy the at-
tention of the more refined and intelligent
Tanks of society. By others they are con-
sidered to be in accordance with all the laws
of mind ; regarded as having a foundation in

22" TiriiORY OF REVIVALS.

the very nature of Christianity in its adapted"-
ness to the world ; na produced by the agency
of the Holy Spirit, and as connected with the
best hopes of mankind. Even among profes-^
sed christians it canuot be denied that some
look upon them with distrust and alarm ; oth-
ers regard them as the glory of the age, and
as identified with alt that is cheerinr: in the
prospect of the conversion of the world to
God. Some see in them the last hope of this
republic against a tide of ills that is rolling
in with rapid and desolating surges upon us ;
and some regard them as amo-ng the ills which
religion, unsupported by the state, has pro-
duced in a country w^here all is wild, asttd free
even to licentiousness. Perhaps there is
scarcely any excitement of the public mind
that has produced a deeper attention ; none-
that can by a christian or a patriot be regard-
ed as of higher moment, or as more likely to
affect the best interests of man. The friend
of revivals regards it as a fact of deep inte-
rest, that scarcely a village iqniles upon the
American landscape that has not been conse-
crated in early history bj'^ the presence and
power of the Holy Ghost in a revival of reli-

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 23

gion. He discerns in the spire that points to
heaven, proof that that is a place perhaps
more than once honored by the presence of
Israel's God. He sees in the reigning order,
peace, and prosperity, proofs that the power
of God has been felt there. He finds in its
schools, its industry, its morals, its benevo-
lence, demonstration that Christianity there has
struck its roots deep in some mighty work
of God's Spirit, and, as the result is sending
out branches bending Avith rich and mellow
fruits. He can recall there some thrilling pe-
riod in its history when a spirit of prayer and
seriousness gave its character to the growing
village, and when, under the influence of such
a revival, a moulding hand was extended over
nil the social habits of the place. If such is
their influence, it is an act of mere justice
that Christianity should not be deprived of the
claims which it has on the gratitude of the
nation ; it is a duty which we owe to ourselves
and our country to understand and to ap-
preciate causes so deeply affecting our wel-
fare.

There is one other reason why I propose
to bring this subject before you, and indeed
3*

24 TfinoRV OF REVrVALS-

thc main reason which has opcralcd on my
mmd in doing it. It is whether it is to be ex-
pected that such scenes will be witnessed in
large cities and towns, or whether there are
in the very nature of a city population insu-
perable obstacles to the existence of revivals
of religion there, it is certain that in our
own land they have occurred mtieh njore fre-
quently in the comparatively quiet retreats
of the country ; and that such scenes as are
characteristically known as revivals of reli-
gion are scarcely known in large cities like
the one where wc dwell. Knowing as we do
the effect which cities must have, and do have
on religion, the chastity, the temperance, the
intelligence, and the liberty of a nation ; and
knoAving as we do the ten thousand obstacles
Avhich exist there to the promotion of true re-
ligion, it is a question of deep interest whe-
ther christians are to expect now, in such pla-
ces, scenes like that on the day of Pentecost
in Jerusalem. It is with main reference to
this inquiry that I have commenced this course
of lectures ; and my general plan will be, to

STATE THE NATURE OF A REVIVAL OF RELIGION J
TO CO.NSIDER THE RELATIO.N OF REVIVALS TO

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 25

THIS COUNTRY ; TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF
PROMOTING RELIGION IN CITIES ; TO SHOW WHAT
IS THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF CITIES WITH
PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THIS INQUIRY ; TO
CONSIDER WHETHER REVIVALS MAY BE EXPECTED
TO OCCUR IN CITIES : AND TO SHOW THE DESIRA-
BLENESS OF SUCH WORKS OF GRACE THERE.

The following things will express what is
meant by a revival of religion ; or the follow-
ing truths are essential elements in the theory
of such a revival :

I. There may be a radical and permanent
change in a man's mind on the subject of re-
ligion. This change it is customary to ex-
press by the word regeneration, or the new
birth. It supposes that, before this, man is
entirely alienated from God, and that he first
begins to love him when he experiences
this change. The previous state is one of sin.
The subsequent is a state of holiness. The
former is death ; the latter is life. The for-
mer is the agitation of a troubled sea, which
cannot rest ; the latter calmness, peace, joy.
This change is the most thorough through
which the human mind ever passes. It effects
a complete revolution in the man, and his op-

26 theohy of revivals.

positc states are characteTized by words that
express no other states in the human mind.
This change is instantaneous. The exact mo-
ment may not be known ; and the previous se-
riousness and anxiety may be of longer or
sliorter continuance ; but there is a moment
when the heart is changed, and when the man
that was characteristically a sinner becomes
characteristically a christian. This change
is always attended with feeling. The man
is awakened to a sense of his danger ; feels
with more or less intensity that he is a
sinner ; resolves to abandon his sins and seek
for pardon ; is agitated with conflicts of
greater or less intensity on giving xnp his sins ;
finds greater or feebler obstacles in his way ;
and at last resolves to cast himself on the
mercj'^ of God in the Redeemer, and to be-
come a christian. The result is, in all cases,
permanent peace and joy. It is the peace
of the soul when pardon is pronounced on
the guilty, and Avhen the hope of immortal
glory first dawns on a benighted mind. It
may be beautifully illustrated by the loveliness
of the landscape when the sun at evening
breaks out after a tempest ; or by the calm-
ness of the ocean as it subsii^'^'^ ^r,^~. <u^

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 27

storm. In the fact that such a change may
occur all christians agree ; in such a change
is laid the whole theory of a revival of reli-
gion. Let many sinners simultaneously turn
to God. Let conversions to Christ, instead
of being few and far between, become nu-
merous, rapidly occurring, and decided in
their character, and you have all that is usu-
ally meant when we speak of revivals, so far
as conversions are concerned. Still these are
all individual conversions, accomplished in
each case by the Holy Spirit, and in exact ac-
cordance with the design of the Gospel, and
evincing its glory. Each one is converted in
the same way, by the same truth, by the same
great agent, the Holy Spirit, as though he
were alone, and not another mind had been
awakened or converted. It is the conversion
of a number of individuals from sin to holi-
ness, and from Satan unto God. Look on the
heavens in a clear night, and you will have an
illustration of what we mean. The stars that
are set in that broad zone of light which
stretches over the firmanent — the milky way
— arc single stars, each subject to its own
laws, moving in its sphere, glorious, probably,

28 THROnV OF nKVIVAT-S.

in its own array of satellitos ; but their raj's
meet and mingle — not less beautiful because
the light of millions is blended together.
Alone, they all show God's power and wis-
dom ; blended, they evince the same power
and wisdom when he groups all their beauties
and wonders into one. So in conversion
from sin to God. Take the case of a single
true conversion to God, and extend to a com-
munity— to many indivilnals passing through
that change, and you have all the theory of a
revival of religion. It is bringing together
many conversions ; arresting simultaneously
many minds ; perhaps condensing into a sin-
gle place, and into a few weeks, the ordinary
work of many distant places and many years.
The essential fact is, that a sinner may be
converted by the agency of the Spirit of God
from his sins. The same power which chan-
ges him, may change others also. Let sub-
stantially the same views, and feelings, and
changes which exist in the case of the indi-
vidual, exist in the case of others ; let a deep
seriousness pervade a community, and a spirit
of prayer be diffused there ; let the ordinary
haunts of pleasure and vice be forsaken for

THEORY OF KEVIAALS. 0,9

the places of devotion, and you have the
theory, so far as I know, of a revival of reli-
gion.

2. The second fact is, that there may be
times in the life of a Christian of unusual peace
and joy. To whatever it may be owing, it
will be assumed as a fact — for the truth oC
which I now depend on an appeal to the Chris-
tian's own feelings — that there are times in his
life of far more than usual elevation in piety ;
tiines, when his ' peace is like a river,' and his
love to God and man 'like the waves of the
sea.' There are times when he feels an irri-
sistible longing for communion with God j
when the breath of praise is sweet ; when ev-
ery thing seems to be full of God ; when all
his feelings prompt him to devotion ; and
when he becomes so impressed with the
great truths of Christianity, and filled with tlie
hope of heaven, that he desires to live only
for God and for the skies. Earthly objects
lose their lustre in his view ; their brightest,
gayest colors fade away ; and an insatiable
panting of soul leads him away from these to
hold communion with the Redeemer. A light,
pure, tranquil, constant, is shed on all the

30 TIIEORV OF RKVIVALS.

truths of rclijrion, and the desire of the salva-
tion of children, partners, parents, friends, of
the church and of the world, enchains all the
affections. Then to pray is easy, and to con-
Verse with christians and with sinners is easy,
iand the prospect of boundless wealth and of
the brightest honors would be gladly exchang-
ed for the privilege of converting and saving
a single soul.

When this occurs in a church, and these
feelings pervade any considerable portion of
the people of God, there is a revival of reli-
gion so far as the church is concerned. Let
christians, as a body, live manifestly under
the influence of their religion ; let a feeling of
devotion pervade a whole church, such as you
have felt in the favored times of your piety,
tmd there would be a revival of religion — a
work of ffrace that would soon extend to other
Ininds, and catch, like spreading fires, on the
altars of other hearts. Let a christian com-
munity feel on the great subject of religion
what Individual christians sometimes feel, and
should always feel, and, so far as the church
is concerned, there would be all the pheno-
tnena that exist in a revival of religion. A

THEOfty OF REVIVALS. 31

revival in the church is a revival in individual
hearts — -and nothing more. It is when each
individual christian becomes more sensible of
his oblig-ations, more prayerful, more holy,
and more anxious for the salvation of men.
Let every professing christian awake to what
he should be, and come under the full influ-
ence of his religion, and in such a church
there would be a revival. Such a sense of
obligation, and such joy, and peace, and love,
and zeal in the individual members of a church
loould be a revival. But in the most earnest
desires for your own salvation there is no
violation of any of the proper laws of christian
action. In great, strenuous, and combined
efforts for the salvation of others, in unceas-
ing prayer for the redemption of all the Avorld,
there is no departure from the precepts of
Christ, nor from the Spirit which he manifest-
ed on earth.

3. The third feature that occurs in a revi-"
val of religion to which it is proper to direct
your attention is, that an extensive influence
goes over a community, and effects with seri*
ousness many who are ultimately converted
to God. Many individuals are usually mad^-
4

32 THEORY OF REVIVALS.

serious ; many gay and worldly amusements
are suspended ; many persons, not accustomed
to go to the place of prayer, are led to the
sanctuary 5 many formerly indifferent to reli-
gion, or opposed to it, are now willing to
converse on it ; many perhaps are led to pray
in secret and to read the Bible, who before
had wholly neglected the means of grace.
Many who never enter into the kingdom of
God seem to be just on its borders, and hesi-
tate long whether they shall give up the world
and become christians, or whether they shall
give up their serious impressions and return
to their former indifference and sins. The
subsiding of a revival, or the dying zeal of
christians, or some powerful temptation, or
a strong returning tide of worldlincss and
vanity, leave many such persons still Avith the
world, and their serious impressions vanish — ■
perhaps to return no more.

4. It remains only to be added as an essen-
tial feature in a revival, that it is produced by
the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not the
work of man, however human agency may be
employed. Imperfections there may be, and
things to regret there may be, as in all that man

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 33

touches there is — but the phenomenon itself we
regard as the work of the Holy Ghost, alike
beyond human power to produce it and to
control it. ' The wind bloweth where it list-
eth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and
canst not tell whence it cometh or whither
it goeth ;' and such is the work of the Spirit,
alike in an individual conversion or in a revi-
val of religion. The wind, sometimes gentle,
sometimes terrific, sometimes sufficient only
to bend the heads of the field of wheat, or to
shake the leaf of the aspen, sometimes sweep-
ing in the fury of the storm over hills and
vales, illustrates the way in which God's
Spirit influences human hearts. You have
seen the pliant osier bend gently before the
zephyr, and the flowers and the fields of grain
gently wave in a summer's eve. So gently
does the Spirit of God breathe upon a church
and a people. So calm, so lovely, so pure>
are those influences which incline the mind
to prayer, to thought, to Christ, to heaven.
You have seen the clouds grow dark in the
western sky. They roll upward and onward,
infolding on themselves, and throwing their
ample volumes over the heavens. The light-

v?4 TTIF.ORV OF r.F.VIVAT,?.

nings play, and the tliunder rolls, and the tor-
nado sweeps over hills and vales, and the
proud oak crashes on the mountains. ' The
wind blows where it pleases;' and thus, too,
the Spirit of God passes with more than hu-
man power over a community, and many a
stout-hearted sinner, like the quivering elm or
oak, trembles under the influences of truth.
They see a dark cloud gathering in the sky ;
they hear the thunder of justice ; they see
the heavens flash along their guilty path ; and
they are prostrated before God, like the forest
before the mighty tempest. The storm passes
by, and the sun rides serene again in the
heavens, and universal nature smiles — beauti-
ful emblem of the effect of a revival of reli-
gion.

Such is a brief description of what actually
occurs. 1 shall now proceed to show that
these phenomena are such as we have reason
to expect from the manner in which the hu-
man mind is constituted, and society organ-
ized.

I first call your attention to the manner in
Avhich society is constituted, and to the in-
quiry wliether such a work of grace is in any

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 35

way adapted to its original laws and propen-
sities. The idea which I wish to illustrate is,
that God has adapted society to be moved sim-
ultaneously by common interests. He might
have made the world differently. He might
have peopled it with independent individuals
— bound together by no common sympathies,
cheered by no common joys, impelled to ef-
fort by no common wants. All that is tender
in parental and iilial atiection ; all that is mild,
bland, purifying in mutual love ; all that is ele-
vating in sympathetic sorrow^ and joy ; all that
is great and ennobling in the love of the species,
might have been unknown Isolated indivi-
duals, though surrounded by thousands, there
might have been no cord to bind us to the
living world, and w-e might have wept alone,
rejoiced alone, died alone. The sun might
have shed his beams on us in our solitary
rambles, and not a mortal have felt an interest
in our bliss or wo. Each melancholy indi-
vidual might have lived 'unbenefitted by the
existence of any other, and with no one to
shed a tear on the bed of moss, when in dis-
ease he would lie down, and when he would die.
But this is not the way in which God has
4*

36 TIIF.ORV OF nEVIVAL<?.

chosen to fit up the world. He has made the
race one great brotlicrhood, and each one has
some interest in the obscurest man that lives,
in the wildest barbarian that seeks a shelter
beneath a rock, or that finds a home in a cave.
Pierce their veins. The same purple fluid
meanders there. Analyse their feelings. Un-
known to each other, they weep over the same
distress ; strangers in other things, they min-
gle their efforts to save the same fellow-mortal
from death. This great common brotherhood
God has broken up into communities of na-
tions, tribes, clans, families — each with its
own sets of sympathies, with peculiar inte-
rests, with peculiar sorrows and joys. One
design of this is to divide our sorrows ; an-
other to double our joys ; another to pepetu-
ate and to spread just sentiments — to diffuse
rapidly all that Avill meliorate the condition of
the race. Sorrow hath not half its pangs
when you can mingle your tears with those of
a sister or a wife ; and joy has not diffused
half its blessings until yoxir joy has lighted up
the countenance of another — be it a son, a
father, or even a stranger.

Now there was no way conceivable in which

THEOrLY OF REVIVALS. 37

just sentiments and feelings could be so rapidly-
spread as by this very organization. Suscep-
tible as it is, like every thing else, of being
perverted to evil purposes, yet still it is strong-
er in favor of virtue than of vice, of religion
than of irreligion. We appeal, then, to this
organization, and maintain that the way to
propagate and secure just sentiments in a
community is to appeal to common sympa-
thies and common feelings. If you wish to
spread any opinions and principles, you will
not do it by appealing to individuals as such,
you will call to your aid the pov/er of the so-
cial organization. You will rouse men by
their common attachment to country ; you
will remind them of dear-bought liberty ; you
will lay before them their common dangers ;
you will awaken a common feeling, and endea-
vor to lead them forth to the martial field to-
gether. When danger presses, you will strike
a cord that shall vibrate in every heart, and
you will expect sympathy, concert, united
action. I have seen during the last few years
a common sympathy extend through all the
commercial world. I have seen the merchants
of our citties and towns agitated by a common

38 TULORY OF REVIVALS.

apprehension of danger, and their hearts vi-
brating with a common emotion, from Bangor
to New Orleans. I ask why there may not
be as deep common feeling on the cubject of
religion 1 1 have seen, during the past few
tnonths, this whole community agitated on
the eve of a pending election. Two great
parties, vigilant, active, energetic, fired with
the hopes of victory, and each feeling that
the destiny of the nation depended on the re-
sult, were arrayed against each other. Com-
mittees were appointed to make arrangements ;
public meetings were held, and the flagging
faith and zeal of vast assemblies were roused
by appeals to patriotism and the love of coun-
try or of party ; names were registered, and
the sentiments of every man were ascertained,
and the whole community was roused in the
exciting struggle. Every man felt himself at
liberty, or called on in duty, to speak to his
neighbor, to soimd his sentiments, and to en-
deavor to bring him to the polls. I blame not
this zeal, — but I refer to it to ask why the
same zeal and interest should be deemed im-
proper on the subject of religin ] Assuredly
not because it is less important, or because it

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 39

is less proper to propagate great and noble
sentiments by an appeal to the common feel-
ings of men. Let the same zeal and ardor be
manifest in religion ; let the churches evince
the same anxiety for the honor of their Lord
and Redeemer, and for his ascendency in the
hearts of men, which political organizations
have done ; or even let the members of the
churches in this land be v/armed with the
same solicitude for the prevalence of religion
which they have shown for the triumph of
their party, and, I was about to say, it would
be all that we could pray for in a revival of
religion.

Certainly, after Avhat our eyes have seen
during the last year, no one should ever blame
the ardor and zeal of the friends of Christ, or
object against men's being simultaneously ex
cited and moved on the subject of religion.
Not till the zeal of christians approaches in
some measure this political zeal, and not till
the anxiety of men to save their souls be-
comes something like the anxiety to secure
the election of a favorite candidate, should
the note of opposition be heard against revi-
vals of religion. — So I see, in the history of

40 THEORY OF RHVIVALS.

the past, tlie dying spark of freedom often
kindled to a flame, and liberty come out of
great common public excitement. Thought
rouses thought, and mind acts on mind, and
truth presses on truth, till a country is roused
and its great interests are safe. In time of
danger, I see men with common feelings rush
to the standard of freedom. The plough is
left in the furrow ; and the counting-house is
forsaken ; and the ship is moored to the
wharf; and the tools of the mechanic are
dropped; and the places of amusement are
closed ; and home is abandoned ; and the hold
on gold is loosed ; and men of affluence seize
the sword ; and the professions yield up their
men of talents to take the place at the head
of armies ; and the earth trembles under the
mighty tread of the advancing legions — for
the great common interests of a nation are in
danger. Then deeds of self-denial become
the theme of the eloquent, and the names of
these men are given in charge to history, to
be transmitted to future times.

I speak not of this to blame it. I ask only,
why should not religion he expected to bo
extended and perpetuated by some such ap-

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 41

peals to the common feelings and sympathies
of menl But if so, there would be a revival
of religion.

In further illustration of this, I observe,
that however solitary and dissocial infidelity"
may be, this is not the nature of Christianity.
Infidelity may appeal to no sympathies and no
common hopes, but this is not the nature of
the christian religion. Infidelity may have
no power to increase the tenderness of at-
tachment, to purify friendship, to bind the
cords of love more closely ; but it is not so
with Christianity. Infidelity has always loved
to snap the cords of social life rudely asun-'
der, but Christianity has loved to make strong*
er those silken ties, and to deepen all the ten*
der sympathies of the heart. There is not
one of the sympathies of our nature that
Christianity does not make more tender, not
one of the social affections that it does not
design to strengthen and to purify. It aims
to sanctify all that is social, kind, and tender
in men.

I know the objection that is brought against
revivals, that they are the work of sympathy
alone. But I am yet to understand why re*

4-2 THEORY OF UEVIVALS.

ligion is to be spread through the world by
denying it the aid of the social sympathies,
and of those tender feelings which facilitate
ihe propagation of other just opinions and
feelings. I am yet to learn, when the flame
of patriotism is made to burn more pure and
bright by appealing to all that is tender and
sympathetic in our nature, why religion is to
be regarded as suspicious and tarnished
because the pleadings of a father or mother,
or the tears of a sister have been the occa-
sion, though amidst deep excitement, of di-
recting the thoughts to eternity. To me it
seems there is a peculiar loveliness in the
spread of religion in this way ; and I love to
contemplate christianitj'- calling to its aid
whatever of tenderness, kindness, and love
there may be existing in the bosom of fallen
and erring man. These sympathies are the
precious remains of the joys of paradise lost ;
they may be made invaluable aids in the work
of securing paradise again. They serve to
distinguish man, though fallen, from the dis-
social and unsympathising apostacy of beings
of pure malignancy in hell, and their exist-
ence in man 7nay have been one of the rea-

THEORY or REAaVALS, 43

sons why he was selected for redemption^
while fallen angels were passed by in their
sins. On no subject have we so many com'
mon interests at stake as in religion. I look
upon a family circle. What tender feelings I
What mutual love ! What common joys !
What united sorrows ! The blow that strikes
one member strikes all. The joy that lights
up one countenance, diffuses its smiles ov^er
all Togther they kneel by the side of the
one that is sick ; together they rejoice at his
recovery 5 or they bow their heads and weep
when he dies, and put on the same sad habili-
ments of grief and walk to his grave. Nor
are these all their common joys and woes.
They are plunged into the same guilt and
danger. They are together under the fearful
visitations of that curse which has travelled
down from the first apostacy of man. They
are going to a common abode beneath the
ground. And that guilty and suffering circle,
too, may 6e, irradiated with the same beam of
hope, and the same balm of Gilead, and the
same great Physician, may impart healing
there. Now we ask why they may not be-
eome christians together 1 Sunk in the same
5

44 TiTF.oRv or PirvrvAr.?.

woes, why may they not rise to thf same im*
mortal hope 1 When one member is awa^
kencd, why should not the same feeling run
through the united group "? When one is
impressed with the great thoughts of immor-
tality, why should not the same thoughts
weigh on each spirit 1 And when the eyes of
one kindle with the hope of eternal life, why
should not every eye catch the immortal ra-
diance, and every heart be filled with the hope
of heaven 1 And why may we not appeal to
them by all the hopes of sitting down toge-
ther in a world of bliss, and by all the fears
of being separated to different destinies in an
eternal heaven or hell 1 And yet let this feel-
ing go through this family, and produce its
appropriate results, and there would be a re-
vival of religion.

The truth is, there are no sympathies so
deep on any other subject as on the subject
of religion. The sympathies of the human
heart are never met and satisfied, till they are
met by religion. The hopes, the fears, the
joys of man never find a corresponding object
till he looks away from time and is filled with
the hope of heaven. That aged man once

THEORY OF REVIVALS. 45

full of hope in the cheerful visions of early-
life, now sits down and weeps, that in all life's
ambition, its honors, aiad its joys, he has ne-
ver realized what he anticipated. The big
tear rolls down his cheek, worn with age and
care, when he remembers how the world has
flattered and betrayed him; and there he sits
at the close of life on the borders of abound-
less ocean, Avaiting to be borne to some land
of bliss which he has never yet found. He
has had sympathies, hopes, fears, anticipations,
w^hich have never been satisfied by this world,
which nothing now can satisfy, until the eye
is fixed on immortality, and he can look to a
heaven of boundless glory as his home. That
family so tender, so amiable, so lovely, so
united in sorrows and in joys, has sympa-
thetic emotions which can never be met but by
the united hope of heaven. Never will they
know the richness of pure attachment to each
other until they are united in the service of
God, and can look forward to the same hea-
ven as their home. Never will their sorrows
produce what they should produce, or their
joys be folIoAved with the blessings which they
should convey, until all their sympathies are

46 THEORY 01' KKVIV.\LS.

sanctified by the Gospel of peace, and parents
and children alike hope to strike together the
harp of praise in heaven. Society every
where is full of anticipations, sympathies, and
hopes, that are never fully met until a tide of
religious feeling flows over the community,
uniting many hearts simultaneously in the
hope of heaven.

In conclusion 1 would observe, that if the
views which have now l;<»en presented are cor-
rect, you will accord with me in the senti-
ment, that such a work should be an object of
the fervent prayer of every friend of the Sa-
viour. If, then you have ever felt in your
own hearts the power of divine grace ; if
you have ever felt the worth of the soul ; if
you have felt that you are soon to meet your
felloAV-mortals at the judgment-seat ; if you
have any love for your children and friends,
for the church and the world, for the thought-
less multitudes amidst whom we dwell, let me
entreat you to cry unto God without ceasing

FOE A KEVIVAL OF PUKE EELIGIO^•.

SERMON n .

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS, AND THEIR INFLUENCE
■ ON THIS COUNTRY.

" Drop down ye heavens, fi-o?7i above, and lei
the skies pour down righteousness : let the.
earth open, and let them bring forth salvu'
tion, and let righteousness spritig tip toge^
ther.^^ — Isaiah, xlv : S.

In resuming the subject discussed in my last
discourse, I propose to submit some additional
considerations, adapted to show the nature of
revivals of religion, and to vindicate them
from objections. My general aim v.dll be to
show that they are the regular and proper re-
sult of the means which God is employing 5
that they are promised in the Bible as invalu'
5*

48 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS

able blessings ; ^ind that their value has been
evinced by their cfTects in the history of the
church, and especially by the history of our own
country. This will be attempted in a series
of propositions, which will be intended as a
continuance of those which ^\'x?re oflered in
my last discourse.

I. My first remark is, that the dealings of
God in his providence are fitted to produce
revivals of religion. The phenomenon which
I am endeavoring to describe, you will recoh
lect, is the simultaneous conversion of many
souls to Christ, and a rapid advance in promo*
ting the purity and zeal of christians. The
question now is, whether there is any thing
in the dealing of Providence which is fitted,
if a proper impression Avere made, to produce
this result.

Let me for one moment refer yon to facts
which are constantly passing before your
eyes. Here falls, struck down by the hand of
an unseen God, soma endeared member of a
family — a father, a brother, a sister, or a
mother. What is the effect \ There is a
common lamentation around the dying bed
of the friend, and a united, sad, and slow pro'

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 49

'tfession to the tomb. There is a sundering at
■once of many ties ; a common feeling in view
of a common loss ; and together they bow
the head and weep. The attention of the
whole group is turned away from scenes of
vanity, gain, and ambition 5 a palsying blow
is laid on half the comforts of life, and the
weeping group sit down in sackcloth and ash-
es. The theatre, th-e ball-room, and the splen-
did party are forsaken ; and gloom is spread
over the counting-room, and the man leaves
the scene of his domestic grief reluctantly to
go there. He has no heart now for amuse-
ment or pleasure, or even for the usual much--
loved scenes of his business and ambition.
God has for a time sundered the tie which
bound the united group to the living world,
•and has made an awful chasnl in their cir-
cle.

Does this affect a solitary individual "? No.
It affects a community. Is it designed to be
the whole effect of this affliction to produce
grief 1 Too well we know the purposes of
that benevolent Father who has caused these
tears, to believe this. It is to arrest the at-
tention, and direct it to better things — to

Sfl VINUICATIO?; OF REVIVALS.

God, to Christ, to heaven. It is to lead t-y
reflection on sin, and death, and the judgment,
and eternity. It is to admonish all the weep-
ing group to prepare to die. The scene is
fitted to lead to a serious life, to religion, to
God. But is it fitted, to inalce one only a
christian — is it an appeal to solitary, inde-
pendent emotions 1 No. It extends lo the
total group. And if a suitable impression
were made by it on all, it would lead them
together to the Saviour. Yet here would
be all the elements of a revival of reigion ',
and here is an event fitted to lead a commu'
nity up to God.

So, when pestilence spreads among a peo-
ple, and thousands die ; so when famine is
abroad on the earth, there is an appeal made
to communities ; and the thoughts of men, if«
any suitable impression were made, would be
directed to God and to a better world. So —
to change the theme — the earth renewed in
spring-time ; the fresh proofs of the goodness
of God ; the bounties of his hand — new every
morning, repeated every evening — all are fit-
ted to lead men to God, and are an appeal to
them as comrminities. And there is neither »

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. O'l

judgment of the Almighty, nor a blessing
that comes from our great Father's hand, that
is not fitted to impress communities with the
importance of religion, and to lead alienated,
social man, back to God. Thus, threatened
ruin roused Ninevah to repentance ; and thus
Ood visits the earth alike with judgment and
mercy, to rouse the attention of comimunities,
and direct their thoughts to eternity and to
heaven-

11. But whatever may be said of providen-
tial dealings, one thing is clear — the truth of
God is adapted to promote revivals of reli-
gion. That great system of glorious doc-
trines which constitutes " the everlasting
Gospel,' is adapted to produce every where
such works of grace among men. It began
•its career in a glorious revival of religion on
the day of Pentecost. It showed its power
moving communities, and especially the com-
imunities made tip of cities and large towns,
in Jerusalem, in Samaria, inAntioch, inEphe-
sus, in Corinth, in Rome. The Gospel was
propagated at first by a succession of most
signal works of grace, carried on alike among
••"he most degraded and the most refined poi'-

52 VLNDICATION OI' REV IV/.LS.

tions of mankind ; and it has continued, as we
shall yet see, to extend its power and influ-
ence mainly in this manner.

Even now, if the truths of the Bible were
applied by the Spirit of God to the hearts of
the people in this house, the scenes of the
day of Pentecost would be renewed here. If
that same truth were applied, as it might be,
to the inaabitants of our great cities, the in-
teresting, though deeply agitating scenes
which occurred in Jerusalem and in Ephesus,
would be renewed in Philadelphia, in New
York, iii Boston, in New Orleans. Should
the great truths affecting your welfare, my
hearers, now put forth their power j should
every one here feel as he should feel in view
of the reality of his situation, a deep solem-
nity would come over this house,, and there,
would be a simultaneous rushing to the cross ;
a burst of feeling in every part of this house,
like that which agitated the bosom of the
jailer at Philippi, Avhen he said, ' What musi
I do to be saved 1' Kecall a fevv' of those
truths. You are sinners — sinners deeply de-
praved, and under the condemning sentence
of a most holy but violated luw. What if ev-

VIXBICAtlOX OF HEVIVALS. ^3

•ery iiiaii, and woman and child here should
feel this. What deep emotion would agitate
their bosoms ! What anxiety w^ould be de-
picted on every countenance ! . How would
the now roving eye be fixed in solemn
thought, and the now gay and thoughtless
heart prompt the deep inquiry, What is to be
my dooml Yet this is just such a scene as
occurs in a revival of religion.

Again : You will die— all, all die. You
will die soon. You have but few more plans
to form and execute, or more probably to
leave half-executed or but just commenced —
before you will die — inevitably die. Were
this truth felt by all, what emotion would
there be in this rooln ! What bosom but
would swell with the anxious inquiry, what is
it to die ; and Avhat must 1 do to be prepared
for death 1 Yet here Avould be such a scene
as occurs in a revival of religion. Another
truth. You will go to another world. You
will stand at the bar of God. You will give
a solemn account for all the deeds done in
the body. You will bow with willing or con-
strained submission to the eternal doom pro-
nounced on men by Jesus Christ. You will

6^ vrNDICATION OF KKVIVALS.

go from that tribunal to heaven or to hell.
Perhaps in a week, a day, an hour, you may
know fully Avhat is meant by those mysterious
and awful words, death, judgment, eternity —
what it is to die, and to stand before God.
And can any one doubt that if all here felt
the force of these truths, there would be a
simultaneous impression on the subject of re-
ligion, and hundreds of voices here crying
out, ' What must we do to be saved V These
truths are in their nature fitted not to impress
one, but all ; not to lead one only to prepare
to meet God, but to conduct all at the same
time to the throne of mercy. Yet here would
be a revival of religion. — And why should it
not be so 1 What law of our nature, or of
Christianity, is violated whcxi such scenes oc-
cur % We have sinned together ; and why
should we not arise together and seek for-
giveness 1 We are travelling together to the
grave and to the judgment-bar ; why should we
not resolve to go together to heaven \ The
Redeemer has died for us all, and Avhy should
we not together seek for pardon through his
blood'? We shall lie in a common grave,
mingle with the same dust of the valley, hear

Vindication of revivals. 55

ihe sound of the same trumpet of the arch''
angel in the day of judgment ; and why should
we not feel a common interest in such scenes
now, And gather around the same cross, and
lay hold together on eternal life 1 If it be
reasonable for an individual to do it, why not
for many — for all 1 Why should not the
common feeling go from heart to heart, and
all resolve by the grace of God to secure the
salvation of the souil What law of our na-
ture would be violated should this be done 1
Yet here would be all the phenomena of a re-
vival of religion.

III. In the third place, there are evils of
sin in all communities which can be overcome
only by such influences as attend a revival of
religion. I refer to evils of alliance ; of com-
,pact ; of confederation ; the sins of associa-
tion and of common pursuit, where one man
keeps another in countenance, or one man
leads on the many to transgression. Sin is
never, perhaps, solitary. One sin is inter-
locked with others, and is sustained by others.
This is especially the case when the world
becomes gay and giddy ; Avhen the ordinary
■means of grace fail to make an impression ,

56 VINDICy\TI<>.N ()]■ liKVIV .\l.^^

when luxury spreads its temptations over a
community ; when the public mind becomes
intent on gain ; when political strife rages
throughout a community ; or when some bold
and daring allurement of vice engrosses the
public mind, and the laws of God and man
are alike set at defiance. Such scenes occur
peculiarly in cities and large towns. Rarely
is it here that one form of iniquity stands by
itself: it is interlocked with others. Such
combinations of evil can be met only by the
power that goes forth in a revival of religion.
To meet it and overcome it is beyond the
power of man, and beyond the ordinary influ-
ences even of the Spirit of God. The only
resource of the church, then, is in the right
arm of the Most High, and in the power
which God displays when hundreds are made
to bow simultaneously to the Son of God.

Thus it has usually been in the world.
When some chieftain of wickedness has col-
lected a clan of evil-doers ; when infidelity
has marshaled its forces ; when vice and
crime triumph in a community, then the
church has lifted its voice of prayer, and God
has heard its supplications, and has poured

TINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 57

down righteousness like the rain, and the des-
olate world has been made to smile under the
influence of truth and salvation. The Gospel
of Christ is fitted to meet all those combined
evils ; and is invested with a power that can
disarm every chieftain of wickedness, and
break up every combination of evil, and con-
vert the gay and thoughtless multitudes to
God. But it is the Gospel only when it puts
forth its most mighty energies. It is the
power of God evmced when the church is
yoused, and when combined efforts to save
souls are opposed to combined energies of
evil ; when the church rises in its strength,
and with one voice calls upon God, and with
one heart engages in the work of the salva-
tion of men. And it is a truth which cannot
be too deeply impressed on the heart of each
christian — a truth, alas I too often forgotten
— that the only power in the wide universe
which can meet and overcome such combined
evil, is the power of the Spirit of God. There
are evils of alliance and confederation in
every city, which can never be met but by a
general revival of religion. There are evils
in all our churches which can never be remov-

58 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

ed but by such a work of grace. There arc
thousands of the young of both sexes to
whom we have no access, and who can never
be reached but by the Spirit of God descend-
ing on them with almighty power — a power
that goes forth only when the church is great-
ly impressed with a sense of existing evils,
and when it comes with fervent entreaty to a
throne of grace to ask the interposition of
the Almighty arm. In ordinary times, the
world, especially in cities, presents such
scenes as these. None pursues a solitary,
scarcely any one an independent course of
evil. One form of sia is interwoven with
another ; one countenances another ; one
leads on another ; and all stand opposed with
solid front to the Gospel of Christ. The
world is arrayed in hostility against God : and
not even on the flanks of the inamense army
can an impression be made ; scarce a strag-
gler can be found who can be brought under
the influence of the Gospel. Meantime the
church slumbers ; the mass of professing
christians feel no concern ; and if here and
there an active christian is seen, his efforts
are solitary and unaided ; he is without couu-

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 59

sel or concert with others ; and he makes no
impression on the combined evil around him.
In such scenes we are not to wonder that sin
triumphs, and that the world moves on undis-
turbed to death.

Thus far the argument has been to show
that revivals of religion are not inconsistent
with the laws of the social organization and
of the human mind. I shall now change the
course of the argument, and adduce illustra-
tions from other sources.

IV. I make my appeal, in the fourth place,
to that argument with which, perhaps, I should
have commenced — the testimony of the Bible.
The question i&, whether the Scriptures speak
of such scenes as are known in modern revi-
vals of religion as to he expected under the
influence of the Gospel of Christ. I cannot
go at length into this part of the argument ;
but I will group together, first, a collection of
passages of Scripture chiefly from one proph-
et, to show how he felt on the subject, and
what were the views which he entertained of
the effects of the true religion when the Mes-
siah should have come. I refer to Isaiah.
^ Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let
6*

€0 VINDICATION OF REVrVALS.

the skies pour doAvn rig-hteousncss ; let the
earth open, and let them bring forth salvation^
and let righteousness spring up together.' So
the effeci of such a work of grace is described
in a song of praise in the mouth of the church.-
' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord^ my soul
shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath cloth-
ed me with the garments of salvation, he hath
covered rae with a robe of righteousness, as
a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jew-
els. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
and as the garden causeth the things that are
sown in it to spring forth ; so the Lord God
will cause righteousness and praise to spring
forth before all the nations.' Ch. 61 : 10,11,
Who hath not seen the beautiful efiect on the
dry and parched earth of refreshing summer
showers 1 Such effects, the prophet said,
w^ould be witnessed under the Gospel ; such
effects have been witnessed in hundreds of
the towns and villages of our own land. Lis-
ten to another description of such a work of
grace — a description Avhich seems to be a
beautiful prophetic record of what has occur-
red often even in our own times. It is the

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 61

language of God himself. ' I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the
dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring :
and they shall spring up as among the grass,
as willows by the Avater courses. One shall
say, I am the Lord's 5 and another shall call
himself by the name of Jacob ; and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord,
and surname himself by the name of Israel.'
Ch. 44 : 3-5. ' For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.'
Ch. 55: 10, 11. Such descriptions were the
prophetic visions of future times ; descriptions
of what has since occurred, as unerring
as were those which foretold the doom of
Babylon, of Tyre, of Idumea, from the lips of
the same prophet. And as the words of that
singularly endowed and favored prophet are
now the best possible to describe the condition
of Babylon and Idumea, so they are still the

62 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

best which can be selected to describe a revi-
val of religion.

But it was not in general language, or by
one prophet only that such scenes Avere fore-
told. There was one prophet, in general
much less favored with a view of future times
than Isaiah, that was signally favored in re-
gard to the scenes evinced in a revival of re-
ligion. I allude to the prophet Joel. In the
following glowing language he describes what
we know on the best authority was designed
to be a description of the v»-ork of the Holy
Ghost simultaneously affecting tlie hearts of
many sinners. 'And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit up-
on all flesh J and your sons and your daugh-
ters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions :
and also upon the servants and upon the hand-
maids in those days w'ill I pour out my Spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and
in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into dark-
ness, and the moon into blood, before the
great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 63

shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
delivered : for in mount Zion and in Jerusa-
lem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath
said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall
call.' Joel, 2: 28-32. This description is
expressly applied by an apostle to the first
great revival of religion that occurred after
the ascension of the Saviour on the day of
Pentecost. Acts, 2. On that memorable day,
and in that memorable place, was the proto-
type and the exemplar of all true revivals of
religion. I am aware that some have suppos-
ed that that whole scene was miraculous, and
that it cannot be expected again to occur,
since the days of miracles have ceased. But
I am ignorant of the arguments which dem-
onstrate that there was aught of miracle in
this, except in the power of speaking in for-
eign languages, conferred on the apostles — a
power which of itself converted no one of
the three thousand who on that day gave their
hearts to the Saviour. The power of speak-
ing foreign languages had but two effects, one
was, to furnish evidence that the religion Avas
from G od ; the other to enable them to make
known its truths in the ears of the multitude

64 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

assembled from different parts of the world.
It was by the proper influence of truth that
the multitudes were alarmed and awakened ;
and why should not the same truth produce
the same effect now 1 It was indeed by the
power of God. But that same power is exer-
ted in the conversion of every sinner; and
why may it not now be employed in convert-
ing many simultaneously % It was indeed by
the Holy Ghost ; but no sinner is awakened
or converted now wdtliout his power ; and
why may not that be exerted still on many as
well as on one 1 The great fact in the case
was, that several thousands were converted
under the preaching of the truth by the influ-
ence of the Holy Ghost. Miracles changed
no one. The laws of mind were violated in
the case of no one. No effect was produced
which the truth was not adapted to produce.
And why should not the same effect be again
produced by the preaching of the same truth,
and by the power of the same sacred Spirit 1
Remember, also, that on scenes like this
the heart of the Saviour was intently fixed.
To prepare the way for this ; to furnish truth
that might be presented in times like this, he

VINDICATION 01' REVIVALS. 65

preached and toiled ; to make it possible that
scenes like this should be witnessed among
men, he died ; to secure the presence of the
Holy Ghost in this manner, he ascended to
heaven. ' It is expedient for you,' said he,
' that I go away : for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you 5 but if I
depart, I will send him unto you. And when
he is come, he will reprove, i. e. convince, the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment.' John, 16 : 7, 8. The Saviour did
depart. He ascended to his native skies.
His disciples Avaited for the promised bless-
ing, at once the source of comfort to their
disconsolate hearts, and the pledge that their
Lord and Master had reached the courts of
heaven. Fifty days after his resurrection-
ten days only after his ascension, lo ! the
promised Spirit descended, and the conver-
sion of three thousand in a single day, on the
very spot where the hands of men had been
just imbrued in the blood of the Lamb of God,
and a part of whom had been concerned,
doubtless, in enacting that horrid tragedy,
showed that the human heart was under his
control, and that the most wicked men, in one

66 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

of the m03t guilty cities on the earth, might
be simultaneously swayed and changed in a
revival of religion.

Were there time, wc might follow the apos-
tles as they went forth from that place fresh
from the presence of God, after having thus
had a living demonstration of what the truth
was fitted to effect on masses of mind. Let
any one look at the record made respecting
Samaria, Antioch, Ephcsus, Corinth, Philippi,
and he will see that the Gospel was propaga-
ted there amidst scenes that resemble, in all
their essential features, modern revivals of
religion. Indeed, there was no other way in
which it could be done. The apostles never
contemplated the conversion of solitary, iso-
lated individuals. They expected to move
masses of mind, interlocked and confederated
communities of sin; and it was done.

V. I have reserved for a fifth argument or
illustration, the state of things in our own
countryj to show by an appeal to facts here,
the desirableness and the genuineness of such
n work as I am endeavoring to describe. The
question is, has the history of religion in our
own land shed any light on the inquiry wheth-

VmOlCATION OV REVIVALS* GTf

er such effects are to be expected to attend
the preaching of the Gospel, or whether it is
desirable that christians should labor and pray
that revivals may be witnessed in the cities,
towns, villages, and hamlets of our republic 1
To us, and to the Avorld at large, this is a
deeply interesting question ; for the fame of
American revivals has crossed the ocean and
reached the ears of our christian brethren be-
yond the waters, and their plans and labors
are receiving direction from what their own
travellers and our books report to them as the
mode of maintaining religion here. And it is
not too much to say, that on the purity of re-
vivals here will depend the efforts of no small
part of the protestant world, and that their
influence will be felt at every missionary sta-
tion on the globe. No one, therefore, can
over-estimate the importance of just senti-'
ments on this subject here.

For another reason it is important to know
what is taught about the value of revivals in
the history of our own country. In every
thing pertaining to the welfare of man, other
nations are looking with deep interest to our
institutions. Statesmen are taking lessons
7

68 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

from our liistory; the friends of freedom are
exchanginof congratulations on our prosperity ;
and the world stands in admiration of the vi-
gor of our movements. Religion, too, has
assumed new relations to the state. It is dis-
severed from civil institutions, and suffered to
move by itself. On this our greatest, and in
the eyes of other nations, our most hazardous
experiment, that of committing religion to
the blessing and patronage of its God and Sa-
viour, the eye of the world is intently fixed.
Hence foreigners speak with great interest of
all things connected with religion here ; and
they speak of revivals as almost peculiar to
our republic, k'ome have thought and spoken
candidly of these scenes ; but the great mass
have ridiculed and caricatured them — " under-
standing neither what they say, nor whereof
they affirm." Most foreign travellers have
been as little qualified to speak of our reli-
gion as they have of our civil institutions.
Most of them have never witnessed a revival
of religion. Almost all have received their
impressions from the enemies of revivals, and
have characterized them as gross fanaticism
and wildfire. They have gone and reported

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 69

to the world abuses and disorders as the ordi-
nary characteristics of such scenes ; and the
M^orld has received its impressions from such
reports. Unhappily it is one of the charac-
teristics of our people to look to foreigners
for an account of our own institutions ; and
many an American deems the record of such
impartial foreigners of much more value than
the testimony of his own eyes about what is
occcurring at his very door. Books distin-
guished for gross abuse of our religion and
our country at large ; books made to produce
an impression across the ocean, and designedly
filled with calumny, are here caught up, re-
published, placed in Athenaeums, and on cen-
tre-tables, and become the authority for what
exists in our own land and under our own eye.
And I should not be surprised if a large part
of the fashionable reading world — and in that
appellation I include the fashionable reading
christians of our cities and large towns — had
formed their opinions of revivals in their own
country from the testimony of such impartial
and candid witnesses as the TroUopes, and
the Fidlers, and the Martineaus of the old
world ; persons having as few qualifications

70 VINDICATION OF HF.VTVAT.P.

for being correct reporters of revivals of reli-
gion as could be found in the wide world.
Perhaps many christians have yet to learn
that such a historian of revivals as President
Edwards ever lived. It is of great impor-
tance, therefore to know exactly what place
revivals have occupied in this land, and what
has been their general character.

The history of religion in this country may
be divided into four great periods, during
which the influence of revivals would be seen
to have exerted a moulding power on our in-
stitutions and our habits as a people.

I. The first period, of course, is that when
our fathers came to these western shores. I
speak here more particularly of those whose
opinions have had so important an influence
in forming the habits of the people of this
land on religious subjects — the pilgrims of
New England. The pilgrim was a wonderful
man ; and remarkable, among other things, for
the place which religion, as well as science,
occupied in his afiections. In his eye religion
was the primary consideration. One of the
first edifices that rose in the wilderness where
he stationed himself was the house of God ;

VIXBICATION OF REVIVALS. 71

near to it the school-house, the academy and
the college. Around the house of God, as a
nucleus, the village was gathered ; and from
that, as a radiating point extended itself into the
surrounding wastes. From that point the
forests disappeared : around that point the
light of the sun was let down to the earth that
had not for centuries felt his heams, so dense
had been the shades of the interminable wil-
derness. Religion was the primary thing — •
primary in each house, each school, each set-
tlement, each city, each civil institution. The
pilgrim had no higher aim than to promote it ;
he had no plan which did not contemplate its
perpetuity and extension as far as his descen-
dants might go. Such was the feeling when,
more than two hundred years since, the greiat
forest trembled first under the axe of the
foreiofner, and new laws and new institutions >
began in the Avestern Avorld.

That this should continue to be always the
leading feature among a people situated as
they were, was not perhaps to be expected.
He knows little of the propensities of our na-
ture who would be surprised to learn that re-
ligion began before long to occupy a secon-

72 VINDICATION OF TIEVIVALS.

dary place in the public miiul. Doomed to
the hard toil of felling the forests, and reduc-
ing a most perverse and intractable soil to a
fit state for cultivation ; feeling soon the in-
fluence of that then infant passion which has
since in this country expanded to such giant
proportions — the love of gain ; engaged in
conflicts with savages, and subject to the ra-
vages of war — of that species of war which
showed mercy neither to age nor sex — it was
not wonderful that their early zeal should die
away, and that iniquity should come in like a
flood. Such was the fact. Within less than
a hundred years a most sad change had oc-
curred in this country on the subject of reli-
gion. Extensively in the churches of New
England, and in all the churches, there was a
most mclancholly decline. From this state of
apathy nothing could rouse them but a series
of mighty movements like that on the day of
pentecost ; and it was then — now just a hun-
dred years ago — that those wonderful dis-
plays of divine power in revivals of religion,
which have so eminently characterized our
own country, and which were the pledge that
God meant to perpetuate the religious institu-
tions of our land, commenced.

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 73

II. This was the second period in our reli-
gions history. It began under the ministry of
AVhitefield, Edwards, the Tennants, and their
fellow-laborers, and continued from about the
year 1730 to 1750. Of this great religious
excitement, which extended from Maine to
Georgia, and which created the deepest inter-
est in Britain and America, I need now to say
little. The history has been written by that great
man who was a principal actor in those scenes
— 1 mean President Edwards. I will just add,
that the character and talents of the men en-
gaged in those religious movements Avere
such as to place them above the suspicion of
their being the work of feeble minds, or the
productions of fanaticism. The Tennants
were among the most able ministers of the
land. Davies, afterwards the successor of
Edwards in Princeton College, was one of
the most eloquent and holy men that this coun-
try has produced. Edwards, as a man of
profound thought, as an acute and close rea-
soner, has taken his place by the side of
Locke, and Reid, and Dugald Stewart, if he
has not surpassed them all : and his name
is destined to be as immortal as theirs.

74 VINDICATION OF REVIVALS.

Probably no man in any country or age has
possessed the reasoning faculty in such per-
fection as Jonathan Edwards ; a man raised
up, among other purposes, to rebuke the
sneer of the foreigner, when he charges Ameri-
ca with the want of talent, and to show that
the most profound intellect is well employed
Avhen it is engaged in promoting revivals of
religion. From those profound disquisitions,
those abstruse and subtle inquiries which have
given immortality to his name, he turned with
ease and pleasure to the interesting scenes
when God's Spirit descended on the hearts of
men. The name of Whitefield is one that is
to go down, as an orator, as far as the name
of Demosthenes or Cicero. Garrick, first of
dramatic actors, rejoiced that he had not cho-
sen the stage, confessing that if he had, his
oAATi fame would have been eclipsed ; and
Franklin — that great philosopher — sought eve-
ry opportunity to listen to the eloquence of
that wonderful man. He influenced more
minds than have ever before or since been
swayed by any public speaker ; and diffused
his sentiments through more hearts than anj-
other orator that has lived. It pleased God

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 75

that these revivals should be produced and
carried on under the ministry of the most pro-
found reasoner and the most eloquent man of
the age, that scepticism itself might be dis-
armed, and that the world might have a pledge
that they were not the Avork of enthusiasm.

The effect of those revivals was long felt
in the American churches. Yet other scenes
Avere drawing near of great interest in this
land, and deeply affecting the vitality of reli-
gion. Soon the colonies Avere agitated with
the calamities incident to the Avar with France,
and then soon again Avith the absorbing CA^ents
of our OAAai revolution. Throughout the land
the effects of those scenes Avere felt in the
churches and on religion. In not a few in-
stances churches Avere disorganized ; their
members Avere led to the battle-field; their
ministers Avere compelled to leave their char-
ges ; the houses of God Avere converted into
hospitals ; the public mind AA-as engrossed with
the CA'ents of AV'ar ; the public strength was
consecrated to the defence of violated rights;
and time, and influence and property Avere
demanded to achieve our independence. As
in all Avars, the institutions of religion were

76 VINDICATION OF KEVIVAT.S.

neglected : the Sabbath ceased extensively to
be a day of holy rest ; and profaneness, and in-
temperance, and licentiousness — every where
the attendants of war — spread over the land.
In the scenes which characterized the Ameri-
can revolution, revivals of religion could not
be expected to occur, nor could it be other-
wise than that a state of apathy on the subject
should characterize the American people.

There was another cause immediately suc-
ceeding this, that tended still more to shake
the firmness of our religious institutions. I
allude to the French revolution. From the
first, the American people deeply sympathi-
zed with that nation in their struggles for
freedom. To them we had been bound by
ties of gratitude for valuable services, no less
than by the sympathies which in this land we
always must feel for those who pant for liberty.
The consequence was obvious ; and though
alarming, inevitable. The opinions of their
philosophers became popular : their books
were kindly entertained, and their doctrines
embraced. The revolution in France was
conducted on infidel principles, and with inn-
dels and atheists as the sruides of the nation.

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 77

In our love for liberty we forgot our hatred of
infidelity ; and in our ardent wishes for sue*
cess in the cause of freedom, we forgot that
our own freedom had been achieved under
the guidance of other men than Voltaire, Di*
derot, and D'Alembert ; and that we had ac-
knowledged another Divinity than the " god-
dess of reason." And the result was what
might have been foreseen. In the years that
succeeded our revolution, the nation was fast
sinking into infidelity ; and Paine's " Age of
Reason" was fast supplanting the Bible in the
minds of thousands of our countrymen. A
conflict arose between Christianity and infi-
delity. The argument Avas close and long,
and infidelity Avas driven from the field, and a
victory was achieved not less important than
the victories in our revolution. That intel-
lectual warfare saved the churches in this
land J and the result furnished a pledge that
infidelity is not to triumph in this western
world.

III. Yet it was not by argument only that
this speculative infidelity was met. And this
leads me to the third period in our religious
history. The Holy Spirit sealed that argu-

78 VLNDICATION OV KKVIVALS.

ment, and engraved that truth on the heart in
the revivals of religion that characterized the
close of the last and the beginning of the pre-
sent century. Of the favored agents in that
time, it is necessary only to mention the
name of Dwight — a name that was a pledge
that solid piety, sober views, elevated char-
acter, a brilliant fancy, high integrity and
moral worth, might deem itself honored to
be engaged in a revival of religion. Under
a single sermon of his, it is recorded that no
less than three revivals of religion commenced ;
and in Yale college — a place where least of
all we should look for enthusiasm and fanati-
cism, no less than four revivals occurred un-
der his presidency, resulting in the conversion
of two hundred and ten young men, who, in
their turn, have been the instruments of the
salvation of thousands of souls. It was in
such scenes that God interposed to save the
churches and our country. And but for such
works of grace at the fountains of intelligence
and power, infidelity would have diffused its
rank and poisonous weeds over the land.

IV. The other period in our religious history
is more directly our own times — times that

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 79

have been eminently characterized for revivals
of religion. I cannot go at length into a
statement of the features of those revivals,
nor of their influence. I can only say, that in
one part of our land, and in the oldest semi-
nary of learning in our nation, there had been
a deplorable apostacy from the sentiments of
our fathers ; that the deity and atonement of
the Son of God was denied ; that this form of
pretended christian doctrine advanced with
great pretensions to learning, to exclusive
liberality, to critical skill, to refinement, to
courtesy — that it appealed to the great and
the gay, and sought its proselytes in the man-
sions of the rich and the homes of the refined ;
and that it stood up against revivals of religion,
and all the forms of expanded christian bene-
ficence. This scheme was met by argument,
and learning, and critical power equal to its
own. But not by that alone. It has been
met by revivals of religion, and its progress
checked by the work of the Holy Ghost on
the hearts of men.

Another feature of our times. We were fast
becoming a nation of drunkards. We could
ascertain that there were three hundred thou-
8

80 VINDICATTON DF REVIVALS.

sand drunkards in our land, and that from ten
to twenty thousand were annually consigned
to drunkards' graves. And this mighty evil
has also been met by revivals of religion.
Hundreds of churches have been visited by
the Spirit of God as the result of their effbrts
in the temperance reformation ; and hundreds
of thousands of our young men have been
saved from the evils and disgraces of intem-
perance because God has visited the churches
with the influences of his Spirit.

There was another dark feature in our reli-
gious prospects. The love of gain had be-
come, and is still our besetting sin. This
passion goads on our countrymen, and they
forget all other things. They forsake the
homes of their fathers ; they wander away
from the place of schools and churches to the
wilderness of the west ; they go from the
sound of the Sabbath-bell, and they forget the
Sabbath and the Bible, and the place of prayer ;
they leave the places where their fathers sleep
in their graves, and they forget the religion
which sustained and comforted them. They
go for gold, and they Avander over the prairiej
they fell the forest, they ascend the stream in

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS. 8!

pursuit of it, and they trample clown the law
of the Sabbath, and soon, too, forget the laws of
honesty and fair-dealing in the insatiable love
of gain. Meantime every man, such is our
freedom, may advance any sentiments he
pleases. He may defend them by all the pow-
er of argument, and enforce them by all the
eloquence of persuasion. He may clothe his
corrupt sentiments in the charms of verse, and
he may make a thousand cottages beyond the
mountains re-echo with the corrupt and the
corrupting strain. He may call to his aid the
power of the press, and may secure a lodg-
ment for his infidel sentiments in the most
distant habitation in the republic. What can
meet this state of things, and arrest the evils
that spread with the fleetness of the courser
or the wind 1 What can pursue and overtake
these wanderers but revivals of religion — but
that Spirit which, like the wind, acts where it
pleases % Yet they must be pursued. If our
sons go thus, they are to be followed and re-
minded of the commands of God. None of
them are to be suffered to go to any fertile
vale or prairie in the west without the institu-
tions of the Gospel ; nor are they to be suf-

82 VINDICATION OF REVIWLS.

fered to construct fv hamlet, or to establish a
village, or to build a city that shall be devoted
to any other God than the God of their fath-
ers. By all the self-denials of benevolence ;
by all the power of argument ; by all the im-
plored influences of the Holy Ghost, they are
to be persuaded to plant there the rose of
Sharon, and to make the wilderness and the
solitary place to be glad, and the desert to bud
and blossom as the rose. In such circum-
stances God HAS interposed; and he has thus
blessed our own land and times with signal
revivals of religion.

The remarks thus far made conduct us to
this conclusion, that we owe most of our re-
ligion in this land to revivals ; that the great
and appalling evils which have threatened us
as a people have been met and turned back by
revivals ; that every part of our country has
thus, either directly or indirectly, felt the in-
fluence of revivals. Scarce a village or a city
smiles on all our vast landscape that has not
been hallowed in some parts of its history by
the deep-felt presence of Israel's God. And
he Avho loves his countrj'^, who looks back
with gratitude to those periods when the God

VINDICATION OF REVIVALS, 83

of salvation has conducted us through appal'
ling dangers j or who looks abroad upon our
vast land and contemplates the mighty move-
ments in the pursuit of gold, and pleasure,
and ambition ; who sees here how inefficacious
are all ordinary means to arrest the evils which
threaten us, will feel the necessity of crying
unto God unceasingly for the continuance and
extension of revivals of pure religion.
8*

S E R iM 0 N 111.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

" ^nd that repentance and remission of sim
should be j)reached in his name among all
nations^ beginning at Jerusalem. — Luke,
xxiv : 47.

In two previous discourses I have endeavored
to explain the nature of revivals of religion t
to show that they arc in accordance with the
laws of the human mind and the mode in
which society is organized ; that th ey are de-
scribed in the Scriptures as inestimable bless-
ings ; and that their value has been shown in
a special manner in the history of religion in
our own country. My particular object in
this course of Lectures, however, was not so

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 85

"much to vindicate revivals in general, as to
•consider their relation to cities and large
towns ; and I propose now to enter on this,
the main part of our subject. The point
which will be before us at this time will be

THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS OF RELIGION IN

•CITIES AND LARGE TOAVNS. On a subject so
copious, I scarcely know where to begin, or
what topics of illustration to select out of
the numbers which at once present themselves
to the mind. But passing by a great variety
of considerations which cannot be urged in
the short time allotted to a single public ser-
vice, or reserving them to illustrate other
parts of our main subject, I shall select a few
designed to ascertain the Redeemer's view of
the im.portance of cities ; the view of the
apostles on the same subject 5 and the bearing
which the state of religion in cities must have
on the world at large.

I. I begin with the view which the Saviour
had of the importance of special efforts for
the conversion of cities.

Our text contains an expression of his views
about the importance of revivals in cities.
When it was uttered, he was about to finish

86 iAn»0RTAXCE or p.F.vrvAr.s.

his work on earth. He had made an atone-
ment for sin : ho had risen from- the dead ; he
was soon to ascend to heaven ; and he was
about giving to his disciples his parting charge
and directing them in regard to thoir plans
and labors for the conversion of the world.
It is natural to suppose that he would suggest
to them the most feasible and economical
itiode of expending their stren-gtU and farm-
ing their plans ; and that he would direct
them how to act in the most ejfficient manner
on the strong points of influence in the world.
Our text contains the sum of his kislructions.
Repentance and remission of sins were to be
preached among all nsttions, beginning *t Je-
rusalem. That was the capital of the nation :
that the place where he had been put to death j
that a city pre-eminent in wickedness and in
influence ; and that, therfore,. was the place to
which their attention was to be first directed^
It is worthy of remark also,, as an illustration
of our subject, that he designed that they
should labor there, with special reference tO'
a revival of religion in that city. There they
were to tarry " until they were endued with
power from on high," (verse 49,) and there to

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 87

■" wait for the promise of the Father." Acts,
1 : 4. In that great and guilty metropolis
they M'^ere to remain mitil the great move-
ment for the conversion of the world to God
was to be commenced in a glorious revival
of religion.

The Redeemer's views of the importance
of religion in cities were further illustrated
by his own personal labors when on earth.
He had designed a personal ministry that was
to continue but three or four years ; and it
was manifestly a question with him where
that period could be most advantageously
spent for the great objects which he had in
view. Thirty years he had spent, before he
entered on his public work, in the quiet re-
treats of an obscure and hmiible country vil-
lage ; far from the noise and bustle of a large
tOAvn ; far from the excitements of the capi-
tal ; far from the distractions and anxieties of
a populous city. He had loved — we may
suppose without much danger of indulging in
mere fancy — the hills and vales, the fields and
groves, the shady retreats, the stillness and
quiet of the region around Nazareth — a love
in which all those who desire to cultivate

'88 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

meek, and humble, and pure relifrion li)ie hi'y
will participate — for such scenes are niosrt fa-
vorable to communion with God. Is it im-
proper to suppose that the feelings which
made the Redeemer delight in a place like
Nazareth were such as prompted the follow^
ing lines from the sweet christian poet Cow-
per :

" Far from, tljc world, O hand, I flee ;.

" From strife and tumult far ;
" From Fceries where Satan wages still

" His most successful war.

" Tiie calm retreat, the silent shatle,

" With prayer and praise agree ;
" And seem by thy sweet bounty made

" For those who follow ihce."

But when he entered on his public work, he
emerged {vovci this obscure and humble life.
He made his permanent home in Capernaum,
a central city in Galilee, at tlie head of the
sea of Tiberias. He preached in all the
cities which skirted the lake of Genne-
sareth ; in the large towns which were be-
tween them and the capital ; and he preached

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 89

Vnuch amidst assembled thousands on the
great festivals in Jerusalem itself. His mighty
works were in the vicinity of these large
towns, where thousands could easily be as-
sembled to hear him. He Avas found in the
busy haunts of men ; his walks were along the
shores of that lake where stood Capernaum
Chorazin, Bethsaida ; and his aim was to car-
ry at once the influence of his Gospel to the
centres of influence and power. The sum of
his views on this subject are expressed in the
following passages of the New Testament :
■ And it came tt> pass," says Matthew, ' when
Jesus had made an end of comnaanding his
twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach
and to preach in their cities.' Chapter xi : 1.
'-• 1 must preach the kingdom of God,' said he,
* to other cities also, for therefore am I sent.'
Luke, iv : 43. ' How often,' said he of Jeru-
salem, ' how efteti would 1 have gathered thy
CHILDREN together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not.' Matthew xxiii 37, Luke, xiii. : 34. So
it is said respecting most of the works of
his public ministry. ' Then began he to up-
braid the cities wherein m-ost of his mighty

§0 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS,

works were done, because they repented not/
Matthew xi : 20. It is a circumstance also
which may throw some light on the divine es-
timate of the importance of cities, that it was
predicted that the announcements of the Gos-
pel would be first made to them. ' O thou
that bringest good tidings to Zion, get thee
up into the high mountain ; O thou that tel-
lest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy
voice with strength ; lift it up, be not afraid :
say UNTO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, Behold your
God !' Isaiah, xi : 9.

The same thing in regard to the views of
the Redeemer is every where evinced in his
instructions to his disciples. It is manifest
that he anticipated that the principal sphere
of their labors would be in cities and large
tOAvns. ' Into whatsoever city or town ye
shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy." Matt.
10: 11. "After these things the Lord ap-
pointed other seventy also, and sent them two
and two before his face into every city and
place wither he himself would come." John.
10 : 1. " When they persecute you in one
city, flee ye into another ; for verily I say
unto you, ye shall not have gone over the

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 91

■^ities of Israel till the Son of man be come."
Matthew. 10 5 23. From these and numerous
similar passages of Scripture it is evident
that the Saviour felt that it was of special im-
portance that great efforts should be made
for the conversion of cities, and that he no^
only spent a large portion of his own public
ministry there, but anticipated that his apos-
tles would also. We shall not err, therefore, in
the conclusion, that he felt that it was of spe-
cial importance that <iities and large towns
should be pervaded with his Oospel, and that
■in those places were to be witnessed signa]
displays of his saving power.

11. The same conclusion will be reached,
if we examine the views which the apostles
had of the importance of these fields of labor.
I need not say that a large part of the labors
of the apostles, so far as the Scripture record
informs us, was devoted to cities and large
towns, and that the most signal success of the
Gospel was there. All that is needful for the
illustration of his part of our subject, is the
most summary reference to the labors of the
apostles and to the character of the large
cities where they labored. 1 by no means
9

92 fMPORTANCE OF REVrvXL9

mean to say that the apostles did not feel k
important to preach the Gospel in country-
villages and neighborhoods. Their commis-
sion extended to all the world, and we know
that Paul preached the Gospel in all the pla-
ces where he travelled. But the idea is, that
they felt that cities were central places of
power and influence ; that they were the
strong holds of the enemy of man ; that
wickedness was concentrated there ; and that
their object was to go from city to city until
they reached the capital of the world, the
very seat of imperial power, and formed their
plan with a des-ign that the banners of the
faith should, if possible before they died, be
seen streaming from the palaces of the Cesars.
They acted on the principle on which Alex-
ander and Cesar, and all the great conquerors
of all times act, that of seizing upon the
strong places of power and holding thiem in
subjection, with the assurance that all other
places will then become an easy conquest.

A slight glance at the labors of the apos-
tles and at the principal places where the Gos-
pel triumphed at first, will show the estimate
which they affixed to cities and large towns.

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. *M

and their views of the proper places where
special efforts for the spread of the Gospel
should be made. The Gospel was first preach-
ed, after the ascension of the Redeemer, in
Jerusalem, a city ten miles in circumference,
and esteemed the thdrd city of the age, the
largest city of the land in which he lived, and
the capital of the nation. The apostles went
to Antioch, on the Orontes, the capital of
Syria, and made that a centre of christian in-
fluence. They preached in Ephesus, regarded
as the ornament, and in fact the most proud
and splendid city in Asia Minor, and estab-
lished a church there. There stood one of
the seven wonders of the world, and there
idolatry was intrenched with a power and sus-
tained with a magnificence not surpassed in
any part of the earth. They preached in
Derbe, in Lystra, and in Iconium — cities in
the same region. They founded churches in
Smyrna, the commercial capital of Asia Mi-
nor ; in Pergamos, the literary capital of Asia
Minor ; in Thyatira ; in Sardis, the once
splendid capital of Croesus; in Philadelphia;
and in Laodicea. They preached in Philippi
;and Thessalonica, and founded churches there.

94 IMfORTANCfi OK REVIVALS.

They preached in Athens, the distinguishetf
seat of philosophy, science and art, and where
the Gospel would be opposed hy the most
subtle and refined philosophy of the world ;
in Corinth, the splendid capital of Achaia, and
the very centre of refinement, of luxury, and
of licentiousness — the Paris of antiquity ; and
they carried the Gospel to the very capital of
the world, and established a church in Rome
itself. Now in the records which we have in
the Acts of the Apostles, it is remarkable that
a large part of the narrative is occupied in
detailing the labors of the apostles in these
and in other cities ; and it is as remarkable that
notwithstanding all the difficulties in the case^
and all the obstacles to the Gospel in cities
and lage tOA\Tis, its most signal triumphs were
there.

From this allusion to the labors of the apos-
tles the following things are demonstrated r
(1.) That they deemed cities and large towns
to be worthy of their special attention and
their special efforts. (2.) That they had- the
utmost confidence in the truth of the religion
which they preached. They had no conceal-
ment ; they had no fear of submitting the cvi -

IMrORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 95

dences of their religion to the most learned,
acute, and philosophic portions of mankind,
They sought to submit the proofs of Christi-
anity to the philosophers in Athens, in Corinth,
and in Rome ; they desired to exhibit them to
the priests of pagan idolatry, to the literati of
the world, and to princes, nobles, and mon^
archs ; they performed their miracles in the
most open manner, and adduced the evidence
of the resurection of their Master on Mars'
Hill and in the Roman forum, as well as in
Jerusalem : and they confidently expected that
if they could gei a hearing, they could con-
vince the most learned and philosophic por-
tions of mankind of the truth of the christian
religion. Such was not a work of impostors;
it was a course pursued only by men who
were honest, and who had the most unwaver^
ing conviction of the truth of the system which
they preached, (3.) Their course demon-
strates that the Gospel has power to meet all
forms of sins and corruption, and that there
is nothing in cities and large towns that con-
stitutes an insuperable obstacle to a revival
of religion. That Gospel which had power
to overcome the pride and deep corruption of
9*

96 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

the Jewish capital, when the Redeemer had
just been put to death, which could triumph
in gay and voluptuous Corinth, in the splendid
capital of Asia Minor, and in Rome itself, has
power to meet any form of gayety, licentious-
ness, corruption, fashion, idolatry, and com-
bined sin of any city in nominally christian
lands, and in the heathen world. They who
doubt that mighty revivals of religion may
exist in large cities and towns, doubt in the
face of all history, and belie all the records of
the early propagation of their religion,

III. Having thus endeavored ta ascertain
the sense of the Redeemer and of the apostles
in regard to the importance of special efforts
for the conversion of cities and large towns,
I proceed, in the third place, to remark that
that importance is seen from the fact that vast
wealth is concentrated in those places, and
that the purposes of Christianity require that
that wealth should be consecrated to the Re--
deemer. When I speak of this. I do not mean,,
of course, that the principal wealth of any com-
munity is in such places. That must lie scat-
tered over vast surfaces, and be in many handf-
jn order to maintain cities and larafe towns.

IMPOKTANCE OF REVIVALS. 97

But I speak of that wealth which is concentrated
in the hands of the comparatively few ; of the
wealth which is available for the purposes of
christian benevolence ; of the wealth which
has the principal power of corrupting or sav-
ing, of destroying or blessing the world. This
world is to be converted to God, and it is in
vain to attempt this without large and liberal
benefactions. To a great extent, the large
sums needed for that object must and will be
derived from the dwellers in cities. It is
there that we expect that money will be freely
given ; whether it be for christian charity ;
for schools, and colleges, and seminaries of
learning ; or whether it be for political pur-
poses, for the patronage of fashion and vice,
for the maintenance of the theatre, or for the
support of profligacy and atheism. The effect
of true religion is to lead men to consecrate
their property honestly and wholly to God j
nor can there be any true religion where
this is not done. Now one has only to cast
an eye over the large cities and to\vns of this
land, to see hov/ important it is that the mighty
power of the Gospel should be felt there in
constraining the rich to devote their property

98 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

to God. Let him a moment reflect on the
abuses of that property; on the immense sums
which are expended in luxury of living ; in
splendor of dwellings, equippage, and apparel ;
in intoxicating drinks ; in the patronage of
the theatre and various corrupting forms of
amusement ; and it will be no difTicult matter
to see how important it is that the influence
of religion should be felt in the cities of our
land. It may seem startling, but it is probably
true, to say, that all expenses of the various
benevolent societies in this land for the propa-
gation of the Gospel in the heathen world,
Avould be more than met by the annual ex-
penses in one of our large cities for the single
article of intoxicating drinks. In the city of
New- York, during the last year but two, it is
ascertained that the amount paid to support
its four theatres was more than was contri-
buted by all the benevolent societies in this
country for the spread of the Gospel. That
wealth now all goes to corrupt and destroj'
the morals, the peace, and the souls of men.
It is in citties eminently that its debasing
power is felt. It is there that it alienates the
soul from God, and opens fountains of corrup-

iMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS, 99

tion before the unwary and the young. It is
there on every hand that we see its abuse to
purposes of infamy ; there that it eminently
resists the Gospel ; and there that it sustains
the empire of Satan on earth. It is there that
foreigners — dancers and actors — who come to
debase and corrupt the young with the lax
notions of morals which prevail in the licen-
tious capitals of Europe, are chiefly found.
And while I speak of this, it is not less impor-
tant to make another remark on the necessity
of revivals of religion in cities. A large por-
tion of that wealth is held by the members of
the christian church, and it is a fact, that the
constantly recurring objects of christian be-
nevolence are sustained by a very few men
out of the many hundreds who are members
of the churches. To re-convert those who are
in the church ; to teach them the true value of
property, and the true intent of the Giver in
bestowing it on them ; to show them " a more
excellent way" than to hoard it or to expend
it for luxury and magnificence j and to impress
on their hearts, as a great vital principle, that
all they have belongs to God, and to him alone,
is now one of the most desirable objects of

100 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

christian benevolence, and one of the chief
things to be accomplished by the agency of
the Holy Spirit in our land. O if all the wealth
in these cities were truly consecrated to God,
what desolate fields of heathenism are there
in the wide world which would not soon smile
under the blessings of the Gospel 1 what de-
sert and solitary place is there that would not
bud and blossom as the rose 1

IV. The talent concentrated in cities and
large towns is a fourth reason why special
efforts should be made for their conversion.
Before I am through with what I wish to say
on this head, I shall not be suspected of a de-
sign to flatter the inhabitants of such places
as being in general superior to all the rest of
mankind in intellectual strength or in solid at-
tainments. I have passed three-fourths of my
life and one-third of my ministry in the coun-
try ; and I have endeavored to observe the
comparative amount of intellect and good
sense in the two situations. When I speak,
therefore, of the talent in cities as a reason
for special effort for their conversion, or to
show their importance, I by no means wish to
be understood as affirming that the inhabitants

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 101

of cities are pre-eminently clistinguished for
what Mr. Locke calls " large, sound, round-
about sense." I do not mean that there is, in
general, more power to appreciate a solid ar-
gument or close reasoning ; or that there is
•a better acquaintance with the Bible ; or a
higher appreciatioix of the maxims of sound
morals ; or more patient reflection on the du-
ties of life ; or a more attentive contemplation
of the relations which men sustain to their
Maker ; or a higher power of detecting so-
phistry, or of pronouncing on that which is
characterized in public discourses by mere
sound, or by false and shallow attempts at
reasoning. And to apply my remarks to the
immediate subject before us, I by no means
mean to say that the mass of people in this
land in the country are not as fully able to
appreciate good preaching as their more fa-
vored and perhaps envied city brethren. Nor
do I mean to say that the hurry and bustle of
a city life is well adapted to train men for pa-
tient thought ; or that the kind of education
which the mass of those in the so-called more
elevated ranks in cities receive, peculiarly
qualifies them for the office of judging of the

i02 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

truths of religion, in comparison with tlios^
who have been trained in what are esteemed
the hmnbler walks of a country life. The
truth is, neither situation in itself makes men
qualified for patient and sound reflection, nei-
ther situation makes them of course fools.
Alike in city and in eountry in this land, there
are multitudes — it is the condition of the mass
of the people — who are endowed with good
sense, with sober views, with patient thought,
and with appropriate education, to fit them to
understand the truths of religion, to weigh
well its evidences, and to appreciate a sensi-
ble argument when a sensible argument is
urged ; nor do I know that one situatioji can
claim priority over the other.

It is true, moreover, that the talent in a city
is often greatly over-rated ; and I do not mean
to say that the Saviour or the apostles ever
sought a city because they supposed the mass
of intellect there was more elevated or culti-
vated than elsewhere. It is true that minis-
ters often over-rate the amount of talent in a
city, and that they sometimes evince an anxi'
ety to be city pastors — which is anything but
a commendation of their own discernment, or
their qualifications for the office, or of their

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 103

power of judging of the place where true
happiness is to be found — for, I take it, the
brightest picture of happiness in this world
is in the image of a much loved and venerated
pastor in the quiet retreats of a country par-
ish. It is true, also, that there is sometimes a
fear of a city congregation and of a city
dwelling — which operates much to prevent a
faithful application of the truth — as if splen-
did apparel was necessarily connected with
profound intellect ; or sofas, and ottomans,
and marble mantels, and well ladened centre-
tables necessarily implied cultivated minds ;
or gay and gorgeous equippage conferred the
power of criticising profoundly and judging
correctly of moral subjects. The truth is
that patient thinking, long-cherished recollec-
tions of an apt illustration or a solid argu-
ment, and just appreciation of a sound dis-
course, are often found most perfectly in the
farmer who is all the week at his plough, and
not in the whirl of fashion and business of a
city life ; a life where with the scenes of busi-
ness of Monday morning are obliterated all
the arguments, and illustrations, and impres-
sions of the previous day.
10

104< IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

But while this is true, it is true, also, that
in this land and in all others the talent that
most decidedly directs public opinion, and
that acts with most power on the public
mind, is found concentrated usually in cities
and large towns. The most decided and in-
fluential talent in Judeawas undoubtedly found
in Jerusalem ; the most profound intellect in
Greece was in Athens and in Corinth ; the
most mighty minds in the Roman empire were
concentrated in Rome itself and in the sur-
rounding towns and villas. It was from these
centres that the power of talent — more then
than now — at the bar, in the forum, in the
senate-chamber; the power of talent in phil-
osophy, in the drama, in eloqence, and in
song was diffused throughout the world. Such,
though to a less extent comparatively, is the
case now. The principal talent in the medical
and legal professions will seek cities and large
towns as the places where it may be exercised
to advantage — whether the purpose be gold
or fame. Science and literature, for obvious
reasons, Avill be found there ; and the talent
which seeks to influence great masses of
mind ; to direct public opinion ; or to rise to

IMPORfANCE OF REVIVALS. 105

sudden affluence and fame, will flow to such
centres. All this is obvious and indisputable ;
and it is as obvious and indisputable, that it is
desirable that special efforts should be made
that that talent should be converted to God.
It is not that the soul of a profound philoso-
pher, or of a man of eminent legal attain-
ments, or of a man distinguished in the medi-
cal profession, or of a man distinguished for
science or eloquence, is of more value, or
cost the Saviour more pangs to redeem it,
than their humblest client or patient, or the
most unlettered man in the cottage of pover-
ty ; but it is that that talent is endowed with
higher power for good or evil, and that its in-
fluence must be wider spread in promoting or
retarding true religion.

V. I add, as a fifth consideration, the fact
that cities and large towns are places where
strangers resort in great multitudes, and that
revivals of religion are especially needed
there for their conversion and for a healthful
moral influence on their minds. It will be
recollected that in our text the Saviour directs
his apostles to begin the work of preaching
the Gospel " at Jerusalem." Turn now to

106 IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS.

the second chapter of the Acts of the Apos-
tles, and you will see at least one reason why
this direction was given. The feast of Pen-
tecost was near, and on that occasion it was
arranged by the Redeemer, that the Holy
Ghost should descend in the first great and
glorious revival of religion. Yet on that oc-
casion we are told " there were dwelling
(or sojourning,) at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation under heaven."
Acts, 2:5. " Parthians, and Medes, and
Elamites," we are told were there ; " and the
dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and
Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and
Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya
about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews
and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians." Acts,
2: 9-11. It was not without design that the
Gospel was to be first proclaimed with power,
and that the Holy Ghost was to descend when
these strangers were there. What Avould be
the obvious effect of their conversion 1 The
Gospel would soon be borne by them to the
farthest part of the then known world. Those
strangers were soon to disperse and return to
their homes — ^just as the flitting multitudes do

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 107

that sojourn in this city for a little while for
business or for pleasure. But the Saviour
saw that if those multitudes were brought un-
der the influence of a revival of religion ; if
while they were in Jerusalem they were led
to embrace the true Messiah ; if while there
their minds were directed to the eternal wel-
fare of the soul, and they should return to
their homes imbued with the spirit of the
Gospel, the effect would be immediate almost
on the remotest portions of the world. How
different would be the influence on the destiny
of mankind from what it would have been
had those " strangers" been invited by the
professing christians to splendid entertain-
ments and parties of pleasure ; or had they
been introduced as distinguished strangers of-
ten are in our cities now — and 1 fear some-
times by professing christians too — to thea-
tres, or invited and tempted, as they are now,
to drink deep of the intoxicating bowl !

What would be the effect on the strangers
that crowd this city of a continual revival of
religion here 1 What would be the effect on
their minds and hearts if they should be con-
strained to feel when they enter our houses
10*

108 IMrORTAiN'CE OF REVIVALS.

of worship, that the Spirit of God was there
as he was in Jerusalem on the day. of Pente-
cost 1 What would be the effect if in their
transactions of business here they should find
all our merchants — or even all our professedly
christian merchants — governed only by the
pure and holy principles of the Gospel \
What would be the effect,, if, when they arc
invited to our dwellings, they should see the
decanter banished from every side-board and
every table, and the style of living regulated
by a conscientious regard to the will of Christ ;
and the Gospel, the whole Gospel, and noth-
ing but the Gospel controling us in our dwel-
lings \ What would be the effect if one
mighty and far-pervading revival of religion
here, like that on the day of Pentecost, should
make the visiters to the theatres so few that
they would be closed, and should make it dis-
reputable for a stranger or a citizen to patron-
ize a place of corruption and infamy ? How
soon would the effect be visible in the extrem-
ity of the land and the world ! To see this,
let these facts be borne in mind: (1.) Great
numbers of strangers are in all our large ci-
ties, at all times, from every part of our land

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. 109

and the world. I preach the Gospel every
year to many hundreds of such persons ; and
probably I am not exceeding the truth when I
say that the aggregate of such persons is con-
siderably more than the number of my regu-
lar hearers. To a great extent this is true of
all other pastors in this city and in other ci-
ties. I trust and believe that the eflect of
their worshipping with us has not had an un-
happy influence on their minds (if I may use
the language of Paul as descriptive of what
I mean) while they have been " beholding
your order, and the steadfastness of your faith
in Christ ;" (Col. 2:5;) and I have been per-
mitted to know of some most happy, and I
trust saving influences on the minds of stran-
gers resulting from their worshipping with us.
But it is not unkindness to ask what v:ould
have been the effect on the multitudes which
have been with us, had they witnessed here
scenes like those on the day of Pentecost 1
(2.) Again, those strangers are usually men
of influence, wealth, und power at home.
They are the centres of opinion to large cir-
cles there. They control the habits, or the
fashions, or the religieus opinions of those by

no IMPORTANCE OF REVIVy\LS.

whom thgy are surrounded. A large portion
of those to whom / preach in this manner are
the respectable and influential merchants of
the west ; men who are doing- as much as any
others to form the habits of the mighty em-
pire that is rising up beyond the mountains ;
men who are moulding that vast population
that is soon to give to this nation its presi-
dent, its great officers of government, and its
laws ; and men who in that vast region are
either to stay the tide of infidelity and sin, or
to urge it onward ; for if we are ever to be a
nation of slaves, the chain that is to bind us
is to be forged beyond the mountains. They
are the men who are to be the patrons of or-
der and education, of common schools, of
colleges, and of the institutions of religion ;
— many of them are men who are pillars in
those churches, and whose piety is to receive
an impression that shall be lasting, even du-
ring a temporary sojourning with us. It is
needless to ask what would be the influence
on such men if they found this city and all
these churches blessed with revivals of reli-
gion like rains and dews of heaven.

III. Again. If I address one such stran-

IMPORTANCE OF REVIVALS. Ill

ger now, he will pardon me if I make a re-
mark particularly applicable to himself, if I
do not address such an one, the remark will
be useful to others, as reminding them of
what is the fact in regard to such strangers,
and of the need of a pure, heavenly, christian
influence in all our churches here. The re-
mark is, that even christians are not always as
consistent and circumspect when they are
abroad as when they are at home. They are,
or suppose they are, unobserved. They are
away from the vigilant eye of a wife, a neigh-
bor, a child. They feel that there is less de-
pending on their example than when they are
under the well known eye of a vigilant pub-
lic opinion. Members of the churches some-
times travel on the Sabbath when away from
home, and when they suppose it possible they
will not be known as professing christians.
They sometimes attend church but a part of
the day when in cities, and the remainder of
the day is devoted to sight-seeing. It is an
obvious plea with them that they are engaged
in business during the week, and that it cannot
be very improper for them to visit public places
once on the Sabbath when they are unknown.

112 IMPORTANCE OF IlEVIVALS.

And it is not improbable that of a Sabbath af-
ternoon, in the spring or summer, enough such
professors might usually be found at the pla-
ces of public resort to constitute a church
respectable enough in numbers to celebrate
the Lord's supper. They sometimes also vi-
sit places of somewhat doubtful morality, and
where, if at home, they never would be found.
It is not impossible that christian ministers
and other members of the churches sometimes
visit the opera in Paris or in Italy, who would
have many misgivings about recommending
such a course to the more spiritual part of
their flo ck or their brother christians at home,
and Avho themselves, when there, are most
conscientious in abstaining from such amuse-
ments. And I may ask, are professors of re-
ligion and officers of the churches from other
parts of our land never found in the theatres
of our cities 1 It is very doubtful whether
a single theatre could be sustained for a month
in this city if it were not for the patronage of
strangers. But if this be the fact, then the
importance of revivals here, of a healthful, con-
stant, unceasing heavenly influence in all our
churches, is apparent. To influence the stran-

IMPORTANCa OF REVIVALS. 113

ger christian ; to incline his heart more and more
to the ways of God ; to keep him from temp-
tation when here ; and to send him back to
his home, blessed not only by our hospitality
but with more of the Spirit of his Master,
we should pray unceasingly for the descend-
ing influences of the grace of God on all our
churches and on all the population of this
city. To save the stranger that comes among
us from the dram-shop, the theatre, the house
of infamy, we should beseech the God of
heaven that he may be greeted when he comes
here with the influence of religion ; that every
christian whom he may meet may show that
his heart is deeply engaged in the work of the
Lord, and feels a deep interest in the salvation
of souls ; and that throughout all our cities
and towns there may be felt the power of the
presence of the God of revivals.

SERMON IV.

The desirableness ol revivals.

" 0 Lord, revive thy work in (he midst of the
years, in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy.'' — Hab. iii : 2.

The sentiment of this text, in the connec-
tion in which it stands, is, that a revival of
pure religion was desirable ; and particularly
in view of tiie awful judgments of God, and
the manifestations of his majesty and justice
which the prophet saw in vision. God is seen
by the prophet approaching amidst many ter-
rors to take vengeance on the wicked. His
glory covers the heavens, and the earth is full
of his praise. His brightness is as the light ;

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. llS

and there are bright beams (marg.) like play^
ing lightnings at his side. Before him goes
the pestilence, and burning coals at his feet.
The nations are driven asunder ; and the ever-
lasting mountains are scattered ; the perpetual
hills bow ; and the deep lifts up its voice*
The sun and the moon stand still in their hab--
itation ; and the universe is in consternation
at the awful presence of Jehovah. In view
of these sublime and awful manifestations,
the prophet pleads with God to revive his
work, and to remember mercy in the midst
of wrath. It was only by a revival of religion
that his wrath could be averted j or that his
people could be prepared for these sublime
exhibitions of their God.

I shall take occasion from these words to
address you on the desirableness of revivals
of religion, particularly in cities ; and shall
endeavor to adhere so far, at least, to the sen-
timent of the text, as to keep before the eye
the desirableness of such works of grace from
the awful displays of Divine justice which the
inhabitants of guilty cities have reason to
apprehend. My last lecture on this general
subject was on the importance of cities and
11

116 UESIKAHLENKSS OF llEVIVALS.

large towns, particularly witli reference to re-
ligion. My design in this discourse is to
state some reasons why such works of grace
as I have endeavored to describe as inclu-
ded under the word revivals, are desirable
in such places.

Who doubts this 1 it may at once be asked ;
And what is the necessity of discoursing on
so plain a topic to a christian people 1 Are
there any christians who doubt that a revival
of pure religion in a city is desirable 1 And
can there be a necessity to occupy the time
of an entire service on a point w'here there
can be but one opinion ] These questions, I
doubt not, would be asked by many, in a can-
did and not a captious spirit ; and they demand
an answer in the same spirit. In a word, then,
1 would reply, (1.) That men often admit
that to be true in relation to which they have
little feeling or emotion ; and my w'ish in re-
gard to a large portion of my hearers, is not
so much to convince their understandings on
so plain a pointy as to enkindle in the heart an
earnest desire for such works of mercy. It
may be that the main point of my discourse
would be at once admitted to be true without

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 117

argument ; but it may be, also, that its force
may be more deeply felt by the contemplation
of the views which I shall exhibit. (2.) To
the candid questions Avhich I have snpposed
to be submitted to me at the outset of my
argument, I wish also to propose one or two
in reply, in a spirit and manner as candid and
as free from captiousness. Is it true, then,
that all professed christians really desire a
revival of religion of the kind which I have de-
scribed \ Are there none who start back at the
word REVIVAL, and who feel an instinctive dis-
like to the name % Are there none in Avhose
minds the word suggests the idea of mere
excitement ; of scenes of enthusiams and dis-
order ; of irregularity and wildfire % Are there
none who, when they pray, and with very
honest intentions in the main, for a revival,
do it with many qualifications and mental re-
servations, and Avith an apprehension or fear
that the prayer may be answered ; — who pray
from the custom of using such language, ra-
ther than from any intelligent and sincere wish
that such scenes as that on the day of Pente-
cost may be witnessed \ And I cannot but
ask one more question. When prayers are

118 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

offered for revivals, are there no prayers
against them 1 While the fervent petitions of
a portion of an assembled church ascend to
heaven for the descent of the Holy Spirit like
floods and showers, are there no prayers as-
cending to heaven, or no secret desires, that
such influences may be restained 1 no counter
petitions that cross and recross the prayers of
those who love revival ;, as they ascend up to
God \ It is not given to men to know the
hearts, nor the real feelings and desires of the
professed people of God ; but if it could be
ascertained, it would not be uninteresting to
know what portion of professed christians, in
deep and fervent sincerity, daily pray, " O
Lord, revive thy work !"

I do not consider it, therefore, superfluous
to state some reasons why revivals of religion
are desirable.

But what would be the scene, should there
be a revival of religion in a city like this \ I
have, on a former occasion explained at length
my views of the nature of a revival. To the
success of my argument at this time, it is
quite material that we have some distinct

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 119

idea of what would actually occur in such a
case.

It would not be mere excitement. I have
no fondness for mere excitement. 1 do not
advocate it. Indeed a very large part of my
ministerial labors is directed against excite-
ment, and intended to allay and restrain its
feverishness. I refer to the agitations pro-
duced by the love of gain, and those which
are exhibited in the political world, and in the
excited and excitable world of gayety and
fashion. I have never uttered a word in fa-
vor of disorder, lawlessness, irregularity, ec-
centricity, or of any religious movement which
would be a violation of decency and order. I
am no advocate for suspending the proper
business of life, or of breaking in upon regular
employment in honest and honorable industry.
I have no views of religion or of revivals
which would not make men more sober, and
honest, and industrious, and chastened in their
lives. I have not one word to say in disregard
of the urbanities and civilities of social life ;
of the respect due to rank and office ; not one
word to say in favor of what has sometimes
been charged on the promoters of revivals —
11*

120 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

falsely in general — a contempt for the courte-
sies of life, and an outrage on the feelings of
others. I hold no views of religion which
would not make men more courteous, refined,
and truly polite and respectful in revivals and
at all times. I advocate no excitement but
that which truth produces — and not half as
much as prevails in the gay world ; I advocate
the necessity for no new doctrines to carry on
such a Avork — no doctrines but such as were
preached by the Redeemer and his apostles ;
I advocate no means and measures but such
as are best adapted to secure to the Gospel —
the pure Gospel — access to the human heart,
and such as are in accordance with all the
settled institutions of Christianity j and I ad-
vocate no style of preaching that is vulgar in
diction or action ; that is offensive to good
taste in tone and manner ; that is not the result
of careful preparation ; that is not character-
ized by the condensation of as much truth as
can be made, to reach the hearts of men ; no
preaching where the preacher is not much
impressed, as conscious of his awful charge,
and anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
should feel it too.

DESIRABLENESS OP REVIVALS. 121

What effects, then, should we anticipate
from a general revival of religion in a city 1
There are in this city, for illtistration, and its
surrounding districts and liberties, somewhere
about twenty-six thousand families. What is
the character of a large portion of them, I
need not now pause to say. Now the effect
of a revival of religion that should pervade
the whole population, would be seen at once
m those families, and inallthe influences that
go from the family hearth and altar, and would
be diffused from those centres over all the
walks of life. Every family, if religion were
to diffuse its influence there, would be a fa-
mily of prayer. The morning and the evening
sacrifice would ascend to God. Grateful
praise would be poured on the ear of Jehovah
in all these dwellings, as the beams of the
new morning sun diffused their radiance over
the world ; and in the stillness of the evening,
the works and duties of the day again per-
formed, the interesting group would come
around the altar again to render praise, and to
commend themselves to the protecting care of
Him who never slumbers nor sleeps. Each
day they would go forth to its duties and

122 DESIRABLENESS OF KEVIVALS.-

trials consecrated by the morning offering of
praise and prayer under the protection of the
unslumbering eye of God, in each scene of
sorrow or night of calamity they would bow
submissively to his will. Children would be
taught 'y taught in proper human learning ;.
taught the Bible ; taught the ways of virtue^
religion, temperance, purity, and industry j
taught to fear the name of God, to hate a lie^
to prepare for an hor^prable career in the va-
rious walks of life. The Sabbath would re-
turn to bless each house hold with its influences
of mercy ; and the sanctuary would deepen
the lessons of family instruction ; and the
universal rest from toil would be a sweet type
of the heaAenly world. Temperance would
be promoted ; and the fountains of poison that
now flow every where to corrupt and destroy,
would be closed for ever. The houses of pol-
lution and infamy would no more open to
allure and decoy the young to death ; and
their inmates, made living and pure members
of the body of Christ, would be preparing to
walk before him in white robes in heaven.
The theatre would no more open its doors to
invite the young, the stranger, and the de-

I»ESIRABLEN£SS OF REVIVALS. 123

fenceless to forget a father's prayers and a
mother's counsels, and to become the com-
panion of the unprmcipled and the vile. So-
ber industry Avould take the place of idleness ;
chastity the place of impurity ; hope would
irradiate the countenance where now sits va-
cancy or despair ; intelligence would take the
place of ignorance ; plenty and comfort would
succeed to want ; decency of apparel to
penury and rags ; beauty and health would re-
visit the countenance now bloated and hag-
gard ; and peace, the heart that now hath wo
and sorrow from intemperance ; thought —
sober, rich, pure, heavenly thought, — would
succeed to gayety ; honesty to fraud ; integ-
rity to baseness ; universal charity to suspi-
cion, inuendo, and slander ; and a disposition
to do good to all, and to spread the Gospel
around the world with all its healing influen-
ces, would succeed the disposition to spend
the wealth which God gives in the scenes of
dissipation, revelry and sin. Talent that now
is wasted and blasted by sensuality, or per-
verted by ambition ; genius whose fires are
now kindled, and which now burn for nought,
.would be converted to noble purposes. That

124" DSSIRABLENESS OF REVrVALS.

vi^or of frame which is now wasted in scenes
of dissipation, would prepare itself to brave
the snows of the north or the j-ands of the
equator, in making known a Saviour's love j
and from- lips whexe now heavy curses roll, the
Gospel would soon whisper peace.

Meantime a revival of religion would de-
stroy or injure nothing that is truly valuable,
It would not interfere with one rational enjoy-
ment. It would not close one school. It
would not diiuinish the interest in an orphan
asylum, a hospital, a college, a charitable en-
dowment, but would augment the interest in
all. It Avould moor no ship to the wharf; ar-
rest no car, and no steam-boat, — except on the
Sabbath ; and stay none of the wheels of com-
merce or of honorable and honest enterprise,

In one word, ' a reformation extending ta
every house in the city would be the noblest
sight the lover of humanity ever saw. The
reign of vice which now regards no limit, but
throws its malign influence within every en-
closure, would on all sides be curtailed. The
liorrid clang of profaneness, the bloated fea-
tures of dissipation, the haggard spectacle of
prostitution, the inanity of vicious idleness.

Di:siRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 1'25

^he menace of unbridled passion, of delibe-
rate revenge, curtained behind human features,
and heard remote, sometimes lik« thunders on
the bosom of darkness — in short, the conflicts
of interest, the wiles of dishonesty, the deep-
laid snares of covetousness,' Avhich now meet
us on every hand, would disappear. Two
hundred thousand immortal beings, a large
portion of whom are now pressing hard on
each other in the broad and much'trodden
way to death, now with conflicting interests
and agitated passions, would at once com-
mence the march to immortality. Hand in
hand, with peaceful step and tranquil heart, —
with many songs of praise and many players,
— they would tread along the banks of the
river of life, calm in view of the shadoAvy vale
of death ; elevated witli the hope of immortal
peace.

Our main inquiry now returns. Would
such a work of grace be desirable in a city
like this, or in any or all of the cities of our
land V In answer to this inquiry,

(1.) I suggest, first, the influence on a
city or the country at large. I need not at-
tempt* to prove that that influence is vast. In

126 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

all that pertains to fashion, to literature, to
morals, to religion, the influence of a city is
incalculable. A large part of the fashions of
the land, embracing a great many questions
about economy and the proper modes and ob-
jects of life, and about honesty^ too, in con-
tracting and paying debts, are controlled by
cities. Paris, on one subject, has given law
to the most of Europe and of the world ; and
this city influences hundreds of thousands of
immortal beings, either direcsly or indirectly,
in the same manner. Say what we will, a
large portion of mankind is guided by what
is implied by the wovdfashion. Who can es-
timate the importance, therefore, of such an
influence of religion as shall eiTectually check
extravagauGe of life, and turn the thoughts of
men to the sober objects for which they should
live 1 On the literature of a people, no less
than on its fashions, cities give law exten-
sively. A large portion of the light reading
of the world is formed, first, for the inhabi-
tants of cities, and then for those portions of
the country that can be made to imitate them.
From cities, as from centres goes forth that
vast amount of romance and poetry which is

DESIRABLKNESS OF REVIVALS. 1^27

doing so much to undermine all just morality
in this nation, and to destroy the souls of
men. The prevalence of pure Christianity in
our cities, pervading all hearts, V\'oulcI arrest
to a great extent this influence, and turn the
attention of men to subjects more worthy of
their immotal nature^ The power of the
newspaper press in cities is felt also through'
out the land. It gives tone and character to
thousands of presses in the smaller towns and
villages. Who can estimate the effect that
would be produced, if there was such a reli-
gious influence in cities as should make those
fountains always pure I Such it would be, if
the sentiments of the community were right ;
and one general revival of religion in our cities
that should secure such an influence on the
press as should close every newspaper estab-
lishment on the Sabbath ; as should exclude
all commendation of the theatre, and as
should banish every advertisement and senti-
ment, such as a christian father would be un-
willing his sons or daughters should read,
would send an influence throughout the land.
I need not say that the influence of a city
is direct, and almost omnipotent on a large
"■ 12

128 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

circle of surrounding villages. Could the
mighty population, which, in the summer
months, is poured out from our cities on the
Sabbath by steam-boats, and cars, and other
vehicles, be restrained by the influence of re-
ligion ; could they be induced to enter the
sanctuary themselves, and spend the day in
the worship of God, what a change would be
produced at once in a wide circle of towns
around us ! How peaceful to them would
the Sabbath become 1 What a corrupting in-
fluence would be at once withdrawn ! Then,
indeed, a village near a city would not be re-
garded as necessarily accursed. Then it
would not have occasion to complain of the
obvious injustice done by its overgrown neigh-
bor, in pouring forth its legions of the profane,
the unprincipled and the intemperate, to dis-
turb the peace and corrupt the morals of
others.

I observed, also, before, that in a large city
almost every portion of the land has its repre-
sentatives. From all parts of the couutry and
the world they come for business or for plea-
sure. Who can calculate what would be the
influence of a general revival of religion in

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 129

those minds, and on the portions of the land
from whence they came 1 The revival in Je-
rusalem on the day of Pentecost was felt al-
most immediately in all parts of the then known
world, by the return of the " strangers" who
were converted there. There is scarcely one
nook or corner of our vast republic that would
not be influenced by such a work of grace.
Cities in a nation are like the heart in man.
Each stroke at the centre of life sends out
influences for good or evil to the extremities,
and is felt with healthful or dstructive influ-
ence there. I need not add, if this be so,
how responsible is the work of christian min-
istry here ! how solemn the obligations of
every member of the church of Christ !

II. A second consideration to which I refer,
is the worth of the souls of the multitudes
congregated in cities. I by no means mean
to be understood as saying that a soul is of
more value here than elsewhere ; of any more
worth in the most splendid mansion than in
the humblest abode of the poor. But what 1
wish to say is, that we may be more deep-
ly affected with their value : we may be-

130 DESIRABLENESS OF RFV'n'ALS.

come more deeply impressed with a sense of
their danger. The scene itself is more im-
pressive : the events that are passing daily
before the eyes arc better adapted to affect
the heart. Immortal beings are crowded to-
gether ; the busjr, thoughtless multitude is
constantly moving on before the eyes. The
dense throng is passing by, regardless of ad-
monition, and deaf to entreaty and to warn-
ing. A man travelling over an uncultivated
prairie, or a waste of sands, might meet here
and there, at far distant intervals, a stranger —
and then pass on again amidst the lonely
wastes. There would be little to rouse the
mind in regard to the necessity of a mighty
heavenly influence on the soul of the solitary
man ; and if he Avere disposed to present to
him the subject of religion, there would be
nothing in the circumstances to crowd it from
the mind. But when a city is entered, how
different is the scene ! I look out of mj' win-
dow, and the dense throng of rJl ages and
conditions rashes on. Strangers to me and
to each other, they are moving on, an unbro-
ken procession all the day to eternity. I pass
by the door of a theatre, and hundreds of

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 131

immortal beings, thoughtless and unconcerned
about the future, are leaving the place of
amusement and corruption. I go into the
marts of business, and there is a dense and
jostling crowd anxious only for gain. I think
of the brilliant party, and of the assembly-
room, and there is another throng " with steps
light and airy as the footsteps of Aurora,"
not less regardless of their immortal destiny.
I think of the glitter of dress there, and the
splendor of apartments, and the charms of
music, and the brilliancy of wit, and the grace
fulness of the dance, and all these are uncon-
cerned about their undying doom. I think of
the low places of sensuality and wretched-
ness ; of beastly intemperance, and of degra-
ding vice, and there is another group equally
regardless of their immortal destiny. Wherev-
er you go, a dense throng surrounds you — a
busy, active, restless, unhappy, dissatisfied
multitude ; a vast procession going to the
grave — all under sentence of death — all sin-
ners— all exposed to the eternal wrath of God.
Each one of them has a soul whose value no
numbers can compute ; a soul of more worth
than all the riches which commercial talent,
12*

132 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

all combined, lias ever gtiiacd or ever can gain
in this city, and which shall live in bliss or
in woe when all that wealth shall be forgot-
ten. Of their high powers, of their immortal
destiny, of what God the Saviour has done
for them, they are unconscious ; or if they
are conscious, they disregard it all. They
are living for other objects ; and their atten-
tion can by no human means be turned to the
subject of their own soul's salvation.

Now it is not madness to ask where they
will be a thousand years hence ; nor to in-
quire what is probably to be their doom \ In-
fidelity may sneer at such a suggestion 5 and
stupidity may laugh ; but a heathen monarch
wept at the thought that his army, the great-
est that had been ever raised, would be dead
in a hundred years; and a greater than any
heathen monarch wept over the destiny of a
great and guilty population passing on like
this to the bar of God. All the great inter-
ests of this thoughtless throng lie beyond the
tomb. If they have none there, their life is a
bubble, a vapor, a gorgeous illusion, a chang-
ing cloud, a mist on the mountain side. All
in which they are now so busy is soon to van-

DESIRABLENESS OF KEVIVALS. 133

isli away. Whether they are rich or poor,
honored or despised, bond or free, caressed
or hatred, can make no difference with them,
in a few years, Wliether there is an eternity
or not, these things are of trifling importance.
How soon is the most exquisite earthly pleas-
ure passed ! The charm of the sweetest mel-
ody, how soon it dies away on the ear ! The
tenderest ties of friendship, how soon are
they severed! The most princely wealth,
how soon must it be left! The widest repu-
tation, how soon must we cease to enjoy it !
And so with the bitterest grief, the keenest
sorrow, the most agonizing pain, how soon is
it gone ! And of what real importance are
all these to the throng that is seeking them as
the grand business of life 1 The vapor that
you see in tiie morning as it lies on the moun-
tain side, of what importance can it be whether
it be admired by a few more or a few less mor-
tals, or whether it roll a little higher or a little
lower, since it will soon vanish in the beams of
the morning sun 1 So of the vapor of life. Soon
is it gone ; and another generation shall suc-
ceed ; as to-morrow another short-lived mist
shall be seen, where to-day that vanished

134 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

away. The cloud that you see lie along the
western sky as the sun sinks behind the hills
in a summer's eve, so gorgeous, so changing,
so beautiful, so lighted up witli ever-varying
richness of hue by the lightning of the sum-
mer eve, of what importance is it whether a
few more or less tints be painted on it, or
whether a few more or a few less eyes gaze
upon it, for the darkness of midnight will
soon conceal it all. The insects that you see
flutter in the evening rays, so happy, so calm,
so still, so graceful in their motions, are mo-
ving with the shades of night to be seen no
more. So move on the dense, the busy mul-
titudes of this city ! And I was about to say,
O that they were, like that vapor, to vanish
for ever ; or that gorgeous cloud, to sink un-
consciously into night ; or the insects of the
evening, to live no more ! But it is not so.
That vapor vanishes, and is not seen again.
That changing cloud is dissipated, and the
tiny nations die, not to live again. But not
so with the multitudes here. To the shades
of the night of death they move on, but they
emerge in an immortal existence beyond ;
and all their srreat interests are there. There

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 135

they begin to live. There they will live on
when stars and suns cease to shine, and when
rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away ;
when the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll, and when the throne of God occupied
by the dread Eternal King, shall be revealed.
Yes, thoughtless trifler, yes, as long as God is
to endure you are to live ; and as sure as it is
that God himself shall never die, so sure it is
that your soul shall never cease to exist.

Now who can say that it would be irration-
al or undesirable that all this multitude should
be simultaneously impressed with the impor-
tance of religion and the worth of the soul %
Suppose it should be attended with a tempo-
rary suspension of the business, or with a
permanent suspension of what now consti-
tutes the main pleasures of this life. Is it to
be deemed fanatical that the affairs of this
life should be allowed to give way, for a little
Avhile, for the more important things of anoth-
er world % Is this world of darkness and of
sin so vastly important that none of its affairs
are ever to be suspended for the purposes of
another world 1 Is the struggle for place,
and pojver, and wealth never to be arrested to

13G DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

attend to more important interests'? I do not
believe that a general revival of religion in
our cities -would interfere really with any-
thing necessary to their prosperity, or would
cause even a temporary suspension of any
thing truly valuable to the welfare of society.
But if it did, shall man say that these things
are never to be suspended to attend to more
important concerns '? Not thus determines the
great Law-giver of men, and the best judge of
what is needful for human welfare. If his
judgment were followed, and his counsel and
command obeyed, all labor would be suspen-
ded for one day in seven. The counting-
room, the assemblj^-room, the places of amuse-
ment every where would be closed ; the
steam-boat, the car, the stage-coach, would
stand still ; the axe, the hammer, and the
chisel would be laid aside ; and the world,
calm and peaceful like Eden, would give itself
to the labors of charity, and to a preparation
for heaven. Does God never arrest the ac-
tive movements of the world in any other
way 1 What does he when the stout man is
laid on a bed of pain"? "What means the
scene when all his worldly plans are arrested,

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 137

and he is pale in deaths The truth is, if
man's great interests are beyond the tomb,
no law of propriety is violated if these great
interests are allowed to press upon the soul,
and even to arrest, if need be, his incessant
care for worldly gain and for fame.

But there would be excitement, it may be
said, if this great multitude were to attend to
the subject of 'religion, and if there were a
a general revival. There are excitements, it
is said, in all revivals. But, I pray you, is
there no excitement in these cities now 1
From whence comes the objection that revi-
vals are mere scenes of excitement? From
that man excited throughout the whole week
in pursuit of gain— feverish and restless, and
unacquainted for one whole hour at a time
with calm thought and repose ; from that man
whose life is spent in the whirlwind of politi-
cal controversy or in the career of ambition ;
from that calm and interesting group prepar-
ing for the splendid party and the dance. O
thei'e all is calm and serene ; but in religion
all is excitement and commotion ! Well may
this objection be heard from the excited, agi-
tated, tumultuoiis population of a city ; a po-

138 DESIRABLENESS OF REUIVALS.

pulation more than any other on earth living
in scenes of excitement ; unhappy when they
are not excited; fostering every where the
means of excitement ; and resisting all the
means which the friends of religion can use
to bring them to sober thought and calm re-
flection. What we aim at is that this excite-
ment may be laid aside, and that the now busy
multitude may be brought to think soberly
about the immortal destiny beyond the tomb.
We aim that they may lay down the exciting
romance or novel, and take up the Bible— full
of sober truth ; that they may forsake the
theatre — a place of mere excitement, and find
happiness in the calmness of the closet, and
the sober employments of the fire-side ; that
may turn away from the agitating scenes of
political strife, and from the exciting of envy,
and malice, and green-eyed jealousy, and am-
bition, and from the intoxicating bowl and the
dance of pleasure, and devote themselves to
the sober business of religion. Excitement,
say j'ou, in a revival ! O, if Clirist required
me to endeavor to produce such an excite-
ment in a revival as I see every day in this
city J if he required that men ehould give

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. ISSf

themselves up to the mere influence of feelmg,
and day-dreams, and agitating passions, and
unfounded hopes, as they are required to by
the world ; I should expect to hear the objec-
tion that it was all mere excitement, and that
such a work could not be the woi'k of God.
But no. I plead for soberness of thought ;
for calm investigation ; for a state of mind
where every improper emotion may be allayed,
and where the soul may be brought to look
calmly and soberly at the great realities of
eternity. Do I address one here who does not
know that such sober feeling would become
the condition of man, and that it is desirable
that such deep emotion should take the place
of the agitated and tumultuous feelings which
reign in a great community like this ]

III. A revival of religion is desirable in cities
in order to avert the wrath of God and save
them from the judgments of heaven. Evils
pour into our great cities like floods from all
quarters of the world ; and who can be igno-
rant of the doom of cities in times past 1 It
has been on cities that the most fearful of all
the plagues of heaven have fallen ; and not a
few dilapidated walls, or half ruined temples
IS

140 DESIRABtENfiSS -OF RKVIVAL9.

stand now amidst far extended ruins as monu-
ments of the wrath of heaven. Not a few
have been blotted out, and the places where
they stood mnde pools of water m- iminhabi-
table deserts, by the vengeance of heaven.
Who can forget Sodom and Gomorrah, or
Babylon, or Tyre, or Thebes, or Memphis, or
Petra 1 And who can be ignorant of the de-
solations by plague and the pestilence that
have s\\'ept through these abodes of congre-
gated human guilt 1 The reason has been that
God could smite many guilty there while few
of the innocent would sufler. All over the
world the principal monuments of the divine
vengeance have been cities and large towns.
Long may the walls of a city stand, but death
shall have done its last work within ; long
may temples, like that at Baalbec, stand, while
all the worshippers, long since smitten by the
wrath of God, may sleep with the dead ; long
may a city be marked out and distinguished
hy its ruins and its sepulchres, like Petra,
"without a solitary living inhabitant, a city of
the dead. All over the ancient world the
plains are strewed Avith the ruins of cities, the
monuments of indignant heaven against their

DESIK.ABLENE.SS OF KEVIVALS. 14*1

follies, their pride, their luxiuy, and their
sensuality.

We know what would have saved them.
Ten righteous men would have saved one of
the v/orst of them. Ninevah was saved by-
repentance ; Babylon might have been spared
if she had humbled herself; and Jerusalem
would have been saved if she had not cruci-
fied the Son of God. Religion promoting to
temperance, and industry, and chastity, and
honesty and prayer, would have saved' Baby-
lon, and Tadmor, and Tyre, and Ephesus, and
Alexandria, and Athens ; and, occupying as
they did the most elligible situations on earth
for commerce, they might to-day have been
splendid cities smiling- under the favor of the
Almighty.

And what can save the cities of our land 1
The same thing only that would have saved
Gomorrah and Babylon. Let us not dream
that they are beyond the wrath of God. Let
us not suppose that the eyes of God are closed
on the enormous masses of guilt in these
abodes of congregated sinners. Babylon was
once as secure as we are, and as confident of
her future glory as we can. be of the pros-
perity of this beautiful city.

142 DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS.

The iiihabilanls of Rome once breathed as
pure an air as we do, and Tyre commanded
as wide a commerce as any se;i-port in our
land. The God who turned Babylon into
standing pools and made wild beasts cry in
her desolate houses, and satyrs dance tliere,
(Isa. xiii: 21, 22,) and who has caused the
malaria to settle around Rome, spreading
death on the once healthful plains of Italy,
and has made Tyre a barren rock where the
solitary fisherman dries his net, can as easily
destroy our commerce, or fill our streets with
pestilential air. Have our aged men forgot-
ten the sad desolations of 1793, when the
angel of death walked through tliese streets
as he did once in the camp of Sennacherib ?
Have we ceased to remember the scenes iu
1832, when tho pestilence that walketh in
darkness and the destruction that wasteth at
noon-day spread a universal gloom over this
city % How easy for that God to visit us
again !

IV. I refer to one other consideration, show-
ing the desirableness of revi^^als of religion in
the cities of our land. 1 refer to their in-
fluence on future times. The question whether

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 14^3

revivals of religion may exist there, and in
what way they may be promoted, is of not less
importance than any other which pertains to
the welfare of our nation. Look over the
map of our country. Only about two hundred
years have elapsed since the foot of the pil-
grim first trod these western shores. Then a
vast interminable forest spread its shades all
over this land — broken in upon only by the
prairies or the lakes that opened their bosom
to the sun, or by the floods that rolled on to the
ocean. There the sound of the woodman's
axe had not been heard. The vast solitude
had been disturbed only by the savage war-
cry. Not a bridge was thrown over the
streams ; not a road penetrated the deep
forest ; not a sail whitened these bays and
seas ; not a boat save the fragile bark of birch,
was upon the waters ; not a city sent its hum
up to heaven; not a village, save the tempo-
rary abodes of wandering savages, was on the
vast landscape. Two centuries have gone,
and how changed the scene ! Our cities al-
ready rival those of the old world ; and when
some half a dozen on other continents are
named, ours come next in the numbers of
*13

144 DESIRABLENESS OF KEVIVALS.

their population, and are already amoug tlie
first ill commercial importance. As if by ma-
gic they start up all over the land ; and even
while the remains of the forest stand around
them palaces rise, and wealth flows there as
to a centre, and the din of commerce is heard
afar.

Can any one fail to see in this fact the ne-
cessity of revivals of religion in those cities \
How else shall it be propagated, but by that
rapid mode where the Spirt of God bears the
truth to the hearts of multitudes, and turns
them simultaneously to God \ They are adapt-
ed to the excited and ardent movement every
where manifested in our land. All in those cities
is free, and generous, and active, and mighty.
There is an energy and zeal in the afTairs of
the world, which is fitted to make men great
and glorious in religion as in commerce.
There is an ardor that needs only to be di-
rected to the concerns of the soul, to be
adapted to the times in which we live, and to
the great enterprise of the conversion of the
world.

What vast multitudes are yet to swarm in
those cities! What countless numbers are

DESIEABLENESS OF REVIVALS, 145'

there to live and to die ! How soon will the
present busy generation be gone, to give place
to another as busy, as active, as immortal !
What is be the doom of the advancing mil-
lions 1 That inquiry is to be answered in part
by the character of the present generation,
and by the answer to the question, whether
the Spirit of God shall descend in glorious re-
vivals of religion. In these streets other ge-
nerations are to tread — as busy as we are.
They will occupy the stores which you now
occupy; dwell in the houses where you now
dwell — until the time shall come for them to
pull down those houses and stores, and to
build new ones for other generations to come.
They will moor their vessels to the same
wharfs — until those vessels shall be useless,
and shall give place to others. They will go
forth and look upon our graves ; read the let-
fers on our tombs until they become illegible :
and then they will lie down in the grave, to be
superseded, and in their turn, too, to be for-
gotten. Unless some judgment is stirred up
in heaven, ' red with vmcommon wrath,' that
shall sweep this city Avith the besom of de-
struction, more millions by far may yet live

14(3 DESIRABLENESS OK KKVIVALS.

here than now comprise the whole iiihabitaDts
of our country. We are just beginning our
career. The cities of our land arc just start-
ing into being. In the far distant future 1 see
the shadowy fornas of advancing millions of
men. They are coming to enter into our
houses, and churches, and stores, and to re-
ceive their impressions from what they shall
find tliere Avhcn they arrive.

Now Avhat I wish to say is, that these cities
can be saved from being corrupting spots ;
concentrated pests in our land, only by the
influence of religion ; and religion now. Tell
me, ye who doubt this, whether pow6r and
wealth saved Babylon and Rome. Tell me,
whether the ship laden with gold and the mer-
chandise of the East saved Tyre. Tell me
whether philosophy and learning saved the
cities of Greece and Egypt. Tell me whether
the chisel of Phidias and Praxiteles saved
Athens. Tell me whether the Colisaeum saved
Rome, or its splendid marble structures saved
Corinth. O no, — not one of them: nor will
colleges, or schools, or marble palaces, or
fountains or luxury, or wealth save one of the
cities of our land. Without religion they will

DESIRABLENESS OF REVIVALS. 147

lie as corrupt and corrupting masses on the
bosom of the nation, till heaven can bear it no
longer ; and then they will be swept with the
vengeance of an offended God. Religion, re-
ligion only — the pure religion of the cross —
descending like floods, and flovvring like rivers,
only can save these cities from destruction..
When we think of these things ; when we
look over the numbers of the cities of our
land j^ when we remember their accumulating
guilt ; when we look onward to future times,
and see what they are destined yet to be, and
backward and see the memorials of wrath
standing thick where cities once stood on the
plains of the old world, how appropriate the
petition of our text, ' O Lord, revive thy work,

IN THE MIDST OF THE YEARS, IN THE MIDST
OF THE YEARS MAKE KNOWN ; IN WRATH RE-
MEMBER MERCY !'

SERMON V .

THE IlINDERANCES TO REVIVALS THERE.

"^ And when he was come near, he beheld the
city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong to thy peace.'' Luke,
xix : 41, 42.

* 0 Jerusalem ! Jerusalem I thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would

not .'' Matt, xxiii : 37.

What tender and affectionate language is
tliis! What love and compassion are here
evinced ! What a scene is here presented ! The

{flNDERANCES TO REVfVALS. 1451

Son of God in tears ! The Eedemer weeping
in view of the impending doom of a great
and guilty city ! Why were those tears % And
why these expressions of love and tender-
ness 1 It is not difficult to answer the ques-
tions. In no situation can we well conceive
of more emotions crowding into a human
bosom than struggled in the heart of the Son
of God, and that constrained him to weep.
Before him was the capital of the nation ; the
temple was standing with rich magificence ;
the altar of sacrifice; the place were the
praises of Jehovah had been celebrated for
ages. In that city he had preached the Gos-
pel, and called the inhabitants to embrace- him
as the Messiah — but in vain. There he
sought to turn them to God, and thus to avert
the heavy doom impending ov6r them for
their sins. But all in vain. He had been
there rejected, his ministry despised, and
his claims set at nought ; and he saw that
there the great act of national ci'ime, which
outpeers all other deeds of guilt, Avas about
to be perpetrated — by his own murder ; and
that for these things the city was to be filled
soon with wo, and blood, and horror ; the

150 1IINDERANCE6 TO REVIVALS.

temple fired and razed to its foundations ; the
impohing rites of religion to cease ; and the
inhabitants of the city and the land that should
survive the siege to be borne into captivity, or
scattered to the ends of the wor'd, to be re-
gathered to the land of their farthers no
more. Ivlore than this, he saw heavy judg-
ments impending over them as sinners ; and
the fearful doom awaiting the rejecters of the
Son of God in the future world. For these
things his eyes run down with tears ; and of
all the scenes of moral grandeur ever wit-
nessed in this world, none have equalled that
when the Son of God, seated on the Mount
of Olives, cast his eyes over the city spread
out before him, and gave vent to his feeling
in a flood of tears.

1 see no reason to doubt that, if he were
again on earth he would evince the same feel-
ings in surveying the great cities that now
exist. I doubt not that in Paris, in London,
in Canton, in New York, in Philadelphia, in
Baltimore, in Cincinnati, he would see much
that would peculiarly excite to tears. I do
not see why Jerusalem was so pre-eminent
-either in numbers, in wickedness, or in the

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 151

approaching doom of its inhabitants, as to
claim exclusively the compassion and call forth
the tears of the Son of God. The same thing
substantially will be found to exist in all these
cities as in Jerusalem ; the same combined
resistance of himself and his Gospel ; the
same concentrated wickedness; the same ac-
cumulation of vice, licentiousness, pride, and
sensuality : and the same awful doom impen-
ding over the congregated masses of guilt.
07ie reason of his weeping then was, that
his Gospel had been there so unsuccessful.
He had preached in Galilee ; he had trod the
shore of the lake of Gennesareth; he had
proclaimed his message in numerous country
villages^ and among the hamlets of the poor,
with eminent success. But in the great tOAvns,
in Capernaum, in Berthsaida, in Chorazin, and
pre-eminently in Jerusalem, he had met with
peculiar obstacles to the success of the Gos-
pel ; and which in one case called forth the
heaviest denunciations which ever fell from
his lips : ' Wo unto thee, Chorazin ; Wo unto
thee, Bethsaida ;' and which in the other ex-
cited him now to tears !

I derive from the text the sentiment that
14

152 HINDEKANCES TO BEVIVALS.

Christ found peculiar obstacles to the recep-
tion of his Gospel in cities and large towns ;
and my object al this time is to show what
some of those obstacles arc. My last Lecture
was on the importance of revivals of religion
in cities and large towns. The present Lec-
ture will be a continuation of the same sub-
ject in general, or another aspect of it, by
showing the peculiar hinderances to religion
existing there, and hence the importance and
necessity of kevivals to meet and overcome
those hinderances.

I. I invite your attention, in the first place,
to the obstacles to revivals arising from the
very constitution or organization of cities and
large towns. The idea which I wish to pre-
sent is, that there is a large portion of the
population that is almost entirely inaccessible
by the Gospel, or designedly beyond the reach
of the ordinary means of grace.

' God made the country, and man made the
towni,' said the sweetest of British bards,
though in this case with perhaps rather more
truth than poetic beautj'. Christ found, as
has already been observed, a coimtry and a
village population accessible to the Gospel,

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS, 153

and the triumphs of his personal ministry were
mainly there. There are few, comparatively,
of very elevated rank there; few in affluence.
There are fewer low and debasing vices ; few
comparatively of the more fascinating allure-
ments; few extended and compacted combin-
ations of guilt ; few to whom and to whose
dwellings those who are disposed to do good
may not find a welcome and ready access.

But the moment you enter a city, with all
its external beauty and splendor ; with all its
courtesy and refinement ; with all its science
and art ; nay, with all its healthful institutions
of morality and religion, you are struck with
the almost entire exclusion of the extremes of
the population from all access by the Gospel
and the means of grace. On the one hand
there is that vast portion of a city population
which may be regarded as the lower stratum
of society — I mean that dense and dark mass,
the population of alleys, and cellars, and gar-
rets— the ignorant, the degraded, the grossly
sensual, the idle, the worthless — the refuse
of society, and ' the ofFscouring of the world,'
always existing in a city, though often con-
cealed from the stranger, and whose existence

IS^ IIINDERANCES TO KEVIVALS.

is disregarded, or whose condition is un-
known, by that half of the race who ' know
not how the other half lives,' Could the veil
be suddenly lifted from the crime and abom-
ination, the degraded vices and the low scenes
of guilt and profligacy with which even a city
like this abounds, and could we see it as the
All seeing Eye sees it, we should start back
with horror, familiar as we in some degree be-
come with it. Let an individual go at leisure
through our streets, and lanes, and alleys ; let
him go to the foul retreats of drunkenness,
gluttony, and pollution ; let him look on the
wretches burrowed in these foul recesses j let
him look at the houses of infamy, and see the
thousands that visit those houses — they alike
with their inmates inaccessible to all the
means of salvation, and with consciences
' seared as with a hot iron,' — and he will have
some idea of the obstacles which stand in the
way of revivals of religion in cities. Let
him think of the criminals which throng our
courts and crowd our prisons ; the paupers in
our alms-houses, most of them made such by
intemperance ; the beggars patrolling our
streets, whose story is, in general, but a veil

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 155

to their faults ; but most of all, of that numer-
ous banditti of thieves, robbers, swindlers,
pilferers, incendiaries, burglars, and ruffians,
whose concealment from the public eye alone
prevents alarm — the thousands, and perhaps
tens of thousands, who arc here congregated
and and affiliated in various Avays in infamy
and crime, and he will be at no loss to under-
stand some of the obstacles which exist here
to the spread of all religion, and especially to
revivals.

A very large portion of this class is inac-
cessible by any means which are used, or
which can be at present used, to spread
among them the gospel. They enter no
church from year to year. Many an individ-
ual has lived more than twenty years in this
city and never entered a place of public w^or-
ship. Multitudes of them have no Bible ; or
if they had, they could not read it, or v/ould
immediately pawn it to procure the means of
intoxication. Multitudes of them spurn a
tract, or if they did not, it would be useless
to them. Multitudes of them study conceal-
ment ; practise crimes which cannot be ex-
posed to the light of day ; and alike shrink
14*

156 inNDERA>'CKS TO REVIVALS.

away from a police-officer and from a minister
of religion.

But I wish especially to remark, not on
their inaccessibility, but on the fact that they
are not in a condition where revivals of reli-
gion can be expected, such as I am advoca-
ting, and such as have hitherto, in general,
blessed this land. The most powerful revi-
vals of religion in this country have occurred
in those places where the mass of the people
are the best educated, and where they are
most sober in their lives, most virtuous and
industrious, and regular in their attendance
on the house of God. But this has not been
the general character of revivals in this land.
They have been the fruits of sound instruc-
tion, and of a careful training in common-
schools and in Sabbath-schools ; they have
occurred where the Gospel has been long and
faithfully preached, and those who have been
converted have been usually those whose
minds have been most sedulously taught by
the labors of the ministry ; they have occur-
red eminently in our colleges and higher fe-
male sminaries — places far removed from
mere enthusiasm, and places where God has

HIA'DERANCES TO REVIVALS- 157

made intellectual culture contribute to the
purity and power of revivals. But how dif-
ferent all this from the wretched, untaught,
and degraded population of our cities ! Even,
therefore, if we had access to this immense
mass 5 if we had ministers enough to go to
them and preach ; or if every christian should
become a missionary to them, and bear the
tidings of salvation, their very ignorance and
degradation would oppose a most formidable
barrier to pure revivals of religion. That
dark mass must be elevated 5 these hordes of
wandering and wretched children must be
gathered into schools and taught ; these foun-
tains of poison, now pouring desolation and
wo into so many dwellings, must be closed ;
the Bible must be placed in these houses, and
the inmates taught to read it ; and a long pro-
cess of most self denying instruction must be
gone into, before, in our cities, there will be
witnessed the revivals of purity and power
which have so abundantly blessed the smaller
towns and the villages of our land.

I have spoken of the low and degraded part
of our population as opposing one obstacle to
revivals. This is one extreine. And here is

158 iriNDERANCES TO REVIVALS.

one great department of christian effort where
all our prayers and all our self-denials are de-
manded.

But there is another class at the other ex-
treme of society, in our cities, that is not less
inaccessible by the Gospel of Christ. It is
that great department ' far above these auge-
an stables of sin and pain, which no Hercule-
an labor can cleanse, but connected with it by
innumerable doors and headlong steps. This
region appears brilliant and fair ; its precincts
resound with hilarity, music, and songs ; and
it contains thousands of the opulent, the fash-
ionable, and the gay ; vice is clad in splendor
here and a spirit reigns which knows no mor-
al law but inclination and recognizes no god
but pleasure.' For guilt often treads flowery
paths, and goes up the heights of honor and
ambition. It reclines on a couch of ease ;
rests on a bed of down ; puts on robes of
adorning; is seen in the joj'ousness of the
mazy dance ; and moves amidst the civilities
and courtesies of refined life. For this class
distant climes pour in their luxuries ; the
theatre opens its doors ; splendid mansions
rise — the cost of tens of thousands of dollars

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 159

— with gorgeous decorations, to furnish pla-
ces for dances and revelry ; for this class art
is exhausted ; night becomes more brilliant
than day: and the cup of pleasure is drunk
deep and long, and music lavishes her charms
to give pleasure to the ear and joy to the
heart. In such circles we look in vain for
prayer ; for the serious reading of the Bible ;
for an anxious concern for the soul ; for a
humble and penitent sitting at the feet of the
Redeemer. And we look as really in vain
there for solid happiness. What are often the
characteristics of such circles 1 It is a world
of splendor without enjoyment ; of profess-
ions without sincerity ; of flattery wdthout
heart ; of gayety which mocks the real feel-
ings of the soul ; and of smiles when the
heart is full of envy and chagrin ; a cup of
hilarity whose dregs are wormwood and gall ;
scenes of momentary pleasure to be succeed-
ed by long nights of painful reminiscenes and
by despair. There is ' restless pride without
gratification ; ostentation without motive or
reward ; ceremony Avithout comfort ; laugh-
ter without joy ; smiles which conceal ran-
cor ; vociferous praise alloyed with envy, and

160 hindera: cEs oi revivals.

dying away with the wliispers of calumny ;'
and compliance with the laws of fashion
which are hated ; and a servitude to customs
where the chains cat deep into the flesh.
Think you that these people, ' whose every
step appears light and airy as the radiant
footstep of Aurora, — whose very form and
features are luminous Avith contentment and
hope,' are happy ^ Do they live on in a con-
tinual round of unmingled enjoyment 1 No.
The immortal mind is not thus made. The
brilliance of these things strikes the eye, but
conveys no pleasure to the heart ; and in the
very midst of all this external show and glit-
ter, the conscience, true to itself and to God,
may be uttering the language of rebuke, and
the recollection of all this folly may bathe
the cheek and the pillow in tears.

But my principal object is not to remark on
the folly of these scenes : for, so far as their
fellow-mortals are concerned, men and wo-
men have a right to spend their money and
be as foolish as they please ; nor do I wish to
remark on the hollowness of all this, and its
destitution of happiness, but on the fact that
it stands in the way of revivals, and of reli-

HIINDERAKCES TO REVIVALS. 161

gion, in all forms. Unlike the other descrip-
tion of the population of a city already ad-
verted to, in most respects they are like them
in this. Thousands of them aro as ignorant
of the Gospel-as they are. The Bible is in-
deed in their habitations, but it is not read ; not
because they cannot read it, but because they
will not. They enter no sanctuary ; and no
one bears the Gospel to them.

A nominal connection may be held with
some christian congregation to secure some
right of burial — for there is some thinking
about death as a matter in which property is
involved — but they are strangers to the house
of God. Many a splendid mansion in this
city is tenanted by those who enter no house
of worship. And Avho carries the Gospel to
them % Who tells them that they have a soul '?
Who reminds them that they are going to the
judgment-bar, or to hell 1 Alas ! the messen-
ger that bears the Tract to the humble man-
sion of the poor, is often turned rudely away
from the splendid abode of the rich. The
minister of religion goes not there ; for to do
it would be to violate a law of etiquette, Avhich,
as a stranger, he may not disregaird ; or, if he

162 IIINDERANCES OF REVTVALS.

goes, daunted, it may be, by wealth, and
splendid furniture, and rank, and perhaps by
high intellectual endowment, he seeks to re-
lieve his conscience: by some time-serving
message ; speaks, if at all, in flattering ac-
cents of the cross, and would quail before an
anticpated frown or rebuke, should he faith-
fully speak of sin and of the judgement to
come. In scenes like these, too, who looks
for friendship for revivals of religion 1 Who
is disappointed to find them regarded there as
wildfire, fanaticism, and disorder 1. In the
character, therefore, the habits, the manners,
the inaccessibility of these large classes of a
city population, is found the first obstacle to
revivals of religion in a city, and is an obsta-
cle which nothing but the mighty power of
God can overcome.

11. A second great hinderance to revivals,
growing out of the nature of a city organiza-
tion, arises from what may properly be cal-
led the want of sympathy, or common ties in
such a community. It strikes a stranger as
singular, that people separated only by the
wall of a dwelling should be strangers to each
other ; and that in a dense and crowded popu-

IIINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 163

.ation there should not be the strongest con-
ceivable ties binding together man and man.
Yet the estrangement and want of acquain-
tance are familiar; and it would not be diffi-
cult to explain it ; but the fact itself is all that
is needful to our purpose now. All know that
neicrhbors are often strangers ; and that the
mere fact of worshipping in the same church
edifice, or of sitting down at the table of the
same Master, does not of necessity produce
acquaintanceship, and create bonds of sympa-
thy and love. Almost unavoidably, diflerent
ranks of life, even in the church, keep sepa-
rate from each other ; often there is a melan-
choly coldness and distance that is chilling to
a stranger, or to a warm-hearted christian ;
and while there may be, and usually is no
bad feeling, and no root of bitterness, yet
there is the want of that intimate acquain-
tanceship, and that strong common sympathy
which Christ contemplated when he prayed
for his disciples ' that they all might be one,'
and of that actual and active love which he
contemplated when he commanded them to
' love one another, as the Father had loved
him,' and which was so striking among the
15

164 HINDERANCES TO HEVIVALS,

early christians when the hcathfii persecutors
were constrained to say, ' IJehold how these
christians love one another !'

Now revivals of religion are not caused by
mere sympathy ; but, as 1 have endeavored in
a former Lecture to sho\v, they call into ac-
tion some of the most powerful and pervading
sympathies of our nature. They are closely
connected with the fact that God has grouped
men together into families, circles of friend-
ship, neighborhoods, and churches. They are
intimately connected with the fact, that when
one part of the social circle is afTected, either
by joy or grief, the emotion kindles from heart
to heart, and family to family, and circle to
circle, until the whole community is pervaded
by a common feeling. And where in a com-
munity there are, if 1 may so speak, indepen-
dent strata of society., it often happens in a
revival that one is aflected and not another ;
Avhere all have common sympathies and feel-
ings, all partake of the common emotion.
That this should be found in a country popu-
lation Avhere men are, in general, on the same
level ; where every man knows his neighbor,
and is accustomed to sympathize in all his

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS, 165

Avants, and Avoes, and joys ; where difference
of rank never separates them ; and where the
joy of conversion will strike a responsive
cord throughout the community, is not to be
Avondered at. That such might not be the
case in the population of a city, and especially
in a city church, I shall not deny. I speak
only of the fact as it actually exists.

I can never, AA'hile ' life, and breath, and be-
ing last, or immortality endures,' forget the
time Avhen God Avas pleased to bless my labors
in a most remarkable and extensive revival of
religion in a large country congregation. 1
had at its commencement some five hundred
members of the church, and near five hundred
families that Avere nominally connected Avith
my charge, coveringaregionof country nearly
texi miles in diameter. For more than a hun-
dred years the Gospel had been faithfully
preached there, and Avdth eminent success.
Revival after revival had croA\med those la-
bors ; and since the days Avhen God so bles-
sed this land under the ministry of Whitefield
EdAA'ards, and the Tennants, scarce ten years
had elapsed in Avhich there had not been a
revival there. At the time I speak of, a simul-

1G6 III.NDI-KANCES TO KEVIVALS.

tancous impression was produced, under tho
ordinary preaching of the Gospel. There
was an unusual spirit of prayer ; a deep
anxicly on the part alike of the pastor and of
the church members for the salvation of souls.

The emotions deepened, until the heart be-
came full ; and all in the community were
willing to converse on the subject of religion.
Scenes of amusement and pastime gradually
gave way to the deep business of religion; no
voice was raised in opposition ; no noise, no
disorder characterized the places where men
had assembled to ponder ihe great question of
their salvation. On all the community an
influence had come down silent as the sun-
beams, and gentle and refreshing as the dews
of heaven. There was deep sympathy in all
that community ; a calm, subdued, serious and
holy spirit of conversation, which showed
that the ' God of peace' was there.

Who can doubt that if such a power were
to descend on the population that occupies the
same extent of territory here ; — if the same
heavenly influence should pervade the two
hundred thousand here that pervaded the com-
paratively few hundreds there ; and if the

HINDERANCES TO KEVIVALS. 167

same deep enquiry were to exist here on the
topics pertaining to our eternal welfare ; — if
the effects were to be seen in closing the
places of sinful amusement, in directing the
steps of the guilty to the house of God, and in
bringing out the lost and loathsome victims
of crime, and lust and disease, to the light of
heavenly day ; and in filling the mansions of
the rich and the gay with the sweet peace of
religion, and of holy com'n^iunion with God,
who can doubt that such a scene would be in
accordance with man's exalted nature, and
would be a spectacle on which hovering an-
gels would look with wonder, gratitude, and
joy 1 But alas ! tens of thousands here are
far away from any such heavenly influence ;
thovisands sneer at the name of revivals, and
perhaps some hundreds of professed chris-
tians would have no sympathy in such a Avork
of grace.

III. I mention as a third obstacle resulting
from the nature of a city organization, the
fact that wickedness is concentrated, orga-
nized, and embodied there. If there is any
peculiar guilt on earth, it will be found there.

If there is any that can exist only by com-
15*

168 niNDER^NCES TO REVIVALS.

bination and alliance ; any that depends on con-
federacy and organization ; any that shrinks
from the light of day, it would be found in
the large capitals of the world. If there is
any crime peculiarly dark, deep, oflcnsive,
loathsome in the sight of heaven, it will be
found in such places. If Satan has any strong
holds which he fortifies with peculiar care,
and guards M-ith peculiar vigilance, they are
the large cities of the world. In all ages they
have constituted, as they do now, the princi-
pal obstructions to the spread of religion ; and
many, many a city has been doomed to de-
struction by God on account of its consum-
mate wickedness, and because there was no
other way to maintain his religion here below,
than to sweep it with the besom of his wrath.
So it was Avith the cities of the plain — in the
time of Abraham the principal barriers to the
progress of righteousnes, and the very sewers
of iniquity. So it was with Babylon — the
proud oppressor — doomed to ruin irretrieva-
ble and eternal, on account of its pride, cru-
elty, and oppositioi> 'to God. So, as has al-
ready been remarked, Christ found the princi-
pal obstruction to his preaching in Chorazin,

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 169

in Bethsaida, in Capernaum, and in Jerusalem.
There was consummate wisdom in the plan
of the builders of Babel when they said, ' Go
to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose
top may reach unto heaven ;' (Gen. xi : 4 ;)
for the very object of building a city was to
contravene the Divine purpose, and set God
at defiance ; as it would seem, almost, had been
often the desisfn in the great cities of the world.
Since that time, it would almost seem as if
the design for which they had been founded
had been to concentrate evil, and oppose reli-
gion on the earth. Tacitus long since de-
scribed Rome as the colluvies gentium — the
sink of nations — a description, the truth of
which no one will doubt who is familiar with
his history, or that of Gibbon. Dr. Johnson
in a similar manner characterized London.

London ! the needy villain's general home,
The common sewer of Paris and of Rome I
With ea^er thirst, by folly or by fate,
Slicks in the drc^s of each corrupted state.

All that at home no more can beg or steal,
Or like a gibbet better than a wheel ;
HisK'd from the stage, or hooted from thecourf,
Their air, their dress, their politics import ;

170 IIINDERANCES TO REVIVALS.

01).stfiuioiis, aiifiil, voluble and gay,

On Britain's fond credulities llicy [>rey. London.

That beautiful poet, too, who perhaps never
erred in describing the characters and customs
of men, or of society — Cowpcr — lias told us
what a city is in the following lines :

Thither flow,
As to a common and most noisomo pcwer,
The dregs and feculence of every land.
In cities, foul example in most minds
Begets its lik<;ness. Rank abundance breeds
In gross and pampered cities ; sloth, and lust,
And wanlonncss, and gluttonous excess.
In cities, vice is hidden with most case.
Or seen with least reproach ; and virtue, taught
By frequent lapse, can hope no triumph there
Beyond the achievements of successful flight.
I do confess them nurseries of the arts,
In wliich they flourish most ; where in the beams
Of warm cncouracemenl, and in the eye
Of public note, they reach their perfect size.
Sucli LonJon is, by taste and wealth proclaimed
The fairest capital of all tlic world,
By riot and incontinence the worst. Task, B. 1.

On this fact, in regard to cities as they have
always existed, it would be needless here to
dwell. Beautiful as they often are ; rich.

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 171

splendid, magnificent ; the home of refine-
ment, of courtesy, and accomplishment ; the
seats of science, and the nurse of the arts ; I
add, too, with thankfulness to God, the home
often of deep piety and rich and liberal-heart-
ed benevolence ; yet they are the home, also,
of every kind of infamy, of all that is false
and hollow, and of all that fascinates, allures,
and corrupts the hearts of men. There are
fovmd men of all nations, colors, characters,
opinions. There men of splendid talents live
to corrupt by their example and their influ-
ence ; there unbounded wealth is lavished to
amuse, betray, and ruin the soul ; there are
the vortices of business and of pleasure that
engulf all ; and there are the most degraded
and the worst forms of human depravity.

I speak here particularly of sins of combi-
nation and alliance, of sins so allied and inter-
locked that nothing can meet and destroy
them but the mighty power of God in a revi-
val of religion : sins Avhich stand peculiarly
opposed to the prevalence of religion. The
infidel in the country village usually stands
almost alone. He may gather a few disciples ;
but their character usually testifies to the na-

17'2 HIMDERANCES TO REVIVALS.

ture of the opinions held, and prevents the
extension of the evil. In this land, a frown-
ing public opinion usually rests on him and
his doctrines. But in this city, he may make
as many converts as he pleases. He may al-
ways find enough to gratify his vanity as a
leader ; always find enough to enable him to
brave public opinion, and to keep him in coun-
tenance. The man of profaneness in the
country village is usually almost alone. He
mocks and curses his Maker with few to
countenance him, and the burning lens of
public indignation usually meets him where-
ver lie goes. If he has a few companions they
are known, and their known character is a
sort of check on the extension of the profane-
ness. But not so in the city. If he chooses
to curse his Maker, he can do it when he
pleases, and be sustained by as many as he
chooses. If he prefers to do it on the wharves
and in the gutters, he will find enough there
to countenance him ; if he chooses to do it
in the streets, alas, he may find a patron every
where, and can scarce turn a corner without
being greeted by a fellow-laborer in the work
of cursing. If he prefers to think that it is

HINDERANCES TO KEVIVALS. 173

an accomplishment for a gentleman, he wilh
find gentlemen enough — so called, — who will
keep him in countenance. In the country-
village or neighborhood the licentious young
man is known. His character is understood ;
and he is usually a solitary monument of infa-
my. There is no organization for the purpo-
ses of licentiousness. The deed of wicked-
ness is solitary, marked, hated. But what
shall I say of a city — of all cities 1 Who can
guage this evil there, and report to us the es-
timate 1 Who can acquaint us with the or-
ganizations designed to prevent impurity of
life and licentiousness of morals'? Who can
take any accurate census of the actual number
of abandoned femaliss ; who of this far greater
number of abandoned men — young and old
— who are living in gross violation of the
laws of heaven 1 Every great metropolis of
the world in this respect bears a striking re-
semblance, to Sodom ; and it is matter of
amazement that every great city does not
meet its righteous doom, I might go over
the whole catalogue of crimes that are marked
on the calendar of human guilt, and we should
find them all concentrated, organized, consol-

174 iiiNDnnANCF.s to revivals,

idated in our cities and large towns. There
foul and ofTeusivc exhalations rise from the
receptacles of human depravity ; there vol-
umes of curses roll up toward heaven ; there
the seducer practises his arts to inveigle the
young ; there tens of thousands riot in intem-
perance and curse their j\Iaker ; there multi-
tudes practise all arts of fraud and infamy ;
and there Satan, knowing the power of cities
in all the surrounding regions, has established
his strong holds, and fortifies and guardes his
possessions with all that skill and art can do.

Now, it is not so much to affirm that the
proportion of the wicked in cities is greater
than in the country, that 1 have dwelt on this
point; it is to fix the attention on two or
three features of the fact directly bearing on
the subject before us.

One is, that sin exists here in combination
and alliance. It is not dissocial and solitary.
It is united, and interlocked, and interwoven
with numerous customs of society. The point
of my remarks, therefore, is, that sin in cities
presents a solid front to the Gospel of Christ.
It is kept in countenance. It resists the Gos-
pel, confident that it may he resisted. Hence

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS.' 175

the necessity of revivals of religion. O what
shall ever meet and destroy this combined
and consolidated wickedness, but the power
of the Spirit of God descending on the whole
community in answer to the prayers of Chris-
tians, and inclining these ten thousand alien-
ated hearts to seriousness and to God!

Another feature is, that the arrangements
for sin in a city peculiarly contemplate the
young. Well does the enemy of God know
that the church looks to them for its increase.
Its hopes are these. Its prospects of purity^
fervor, and of the final conquest of the world,
are these. Cast an eye now over a city, and
ask for whom are the institutions of sin, licen-
tiousness, and intemperance designed ^ Who
are to be the victims! Who is to sustain
them ] Not much care is shown to propitiate
the aged. Age has few passions that can b&
excited; and it is either fixed in principle be-
yond the hope of being seduced to profligacy,
or it is already corrupt and ruined. An old
man must soon leave the stage of action, and,
Avhether virtuous of vicious, his opinions can'
not long influence the world. Not so the
young. There are passions in youth that may
16

176 J^INDERA^'CES TO REVIVALS.

easily be enkindled ; there arc alluring' arts
that may readily be made to decoy them; and
the wicked world looks to- them to patronize
and sustain them. Who is to sustain the
numberless dram-shops licensed here under
the authority of the laws in our city, and to
license the future drunkards Avhose oaths and
blasphemy are to roll up towards heaven 1
Our sons, if ten thousand arts of the tempter
can break them away from the restraints of
home, and can neutralize the effect of Sab-
bath-school instruction, and put back parental
prayers unheard. Who are to be the patrons
of the theatre \ Your sons and daughters ;
and unless the love of pleasure can be im-
planted more than the love of God, soon
might their doors be closed, to be opened no
more. Thus every vice looks to the young
for patronage; and ten thousand arts concen-
trate their influence to alienate the young
from God, and to draw them down to death.
Another feature is the ease with which guilt
here may be concealed. The most powerful
protection of virtue in the country is public
opinion, and the assurance that the guilty
there cannot escape from it. An eye of public

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 177

vigilance is on every man, and his character
is known and understood. Not so here. The
guilty may flee away from every being but
God, and practise his deeds of evil unknown.
In a cellar, a garret, or a palace, at his pleas-
ure, he may hide himself, and who can drag
him out to the light of day 1 What is more,
he may so conceal his guilt that his Infamy
shall not be suspected ; or what is more and
worse still, he may so combine with others as
to modify public opinion, and make virtue
cease to blush when she gives him the hand.

When one looks on these facts he will
cease to wonder that cities have every where
presented formidable obstacles to revivals of
religion. One question I have to submit, in
conclusion, to those who bear the name of
christian. It is, whether their hearts would
feel any joy at a work of grace that should
pervade all this population, and fill these
streets and dwellings with seriousness and
the fear of Godl A heathen monarch of a
much greater city than tliis, once rose up
from his throne, and covered himself with
sack-cloth, and was followed by his court and
nobles, and by all the people, in a solemn fast

178 HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS,

for three days. Who adjudges that the bosom
of the king of Nineveh in this was swayed by
any improper feeling 1 Another heathen mon-
arch, at the head of two millions of men, sat
down and wept. In an hundred years, said
he, all that mighty host will be dead. The
vision of Xerxes extended no farther. He had
no tear to shed over their doom beyond the
grave. How different that feeling from the
view which excited the Redeemer to weep !
His tears fell because he could see beyond
the tomb; because he saw the unending
career of the never-dying soul ; and knew
what it was if the soul should be lost. And
this multitude that we see in this city; this
gay, busy, thoughtless, volatile, unthinking
throng that sweep along these streets, or that
dwell in these palaces, or that crowd these
theatres or these assemblj'-rooms, where, O,
where, Avill they be in a hundred years \ Dead ;
all dead. Every eye will have lost its lustre ;
every frame its vigor; every rose shall have
faded from the cheek; the charms of music
shall no more entrance the ear; the fingers
shall have forgotten the melody of the lute
and the organ. Where will they be ? In yon-

HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS, 179

der heaven, or in yonder hell — part, alas ! how
small a part ! with ears attuned to sweeter
sounds, and with eyes radiant with immortal
brilliancy, and with a frame braced with the
vigor of never-dying youth. Part, alas ! how
large a part! in that world, a view of whose
imutterable sufferings drew tears from the
eyes of the Son of God ! Each man that dares
to curse Jehovah on his throne ; each victim
of intemperance and lust ; each wretch on
which the eye fastens in the lowest form of
humanity, has an immortal nature that shall
live beyond the stars, and that shall survive
when ' the heavens shall be rolled together as
a scroll!' The shadowy vale of death will
soon be past, and the thoughtless and guilty
throngs will be found amid the severe and
awful scenes of eternal justice! Christian^
pray, pray, 0 pray for a revival of pure re-
ligion IN the guilty cities of our land.
l(i*

SERMON VI

THE DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS IN REGARD TO
REVIVALS THERE.

^ JSI'oiv while Paul waited for them at Jlthens,
his spirit was stirred within him when he saw
the city wholly given to idolatry.^ — Acts,
xvii : 16.

Two very opposite effects are produced on
different minds by difficulties and embarrass-
ments. One is to dispirit and dishearten, the
other is to animate with augmented ardor and
zeal. The former is the effect produced on
the mass of mindj the latter is that produced
on the few. The multitude become intimida-
ted, and give over effort as hopeless ; the few
who are bold and resolute, who act from con-

BUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 181!

victions of principle and conscience, or who
see a prize worth exertion, are stimulated to
greater efforts by every new difficulty, and
develope resources of invention and talent be-
fore unknown to themselves, and surprising to
their friends. This it is to be great ; and this
constitutes the real greatness of the few Avho
have deserved and received the name.

The record of the visit of the Apostle Paul
at Athens, furnishes an illustration of this
principle ; and I know not that a better one
can be found.. It was the first time when he
had been there ; but not the time when he first
learned its fame. He himself had been born
in a city whose schools rivalled those of
Athens ; and there is reason to think that at
some period of his life he had been familiar
with the more distinguished classic produc-
tions in the Greek language ; and he was cer-
tainly not disqualified for appreciating the elo-
quence, and the elegant arts of that city. —
Longinus thus speaks of Paul : ' The following
men are the boasts of all eloquence, and of
Grecian genius, viz : Demosthenes, Lysias
-iEschines, Hyperides, Isccus, Anarchus, Iso-
crates, and Antiphon, to whom may be added

182 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

Paul of Tarsus,^ certainly qualified to appre-
ciate what to a classic inind must have been
interesting, nay, almost entrancing, in Athens.
Her schools, licr academic groves, her won-
ders of art, it might have been supposed, would
have attracted the attention of such a mind.
What an opportunity of examining for the
first, and perhaps the last time, the immortal
works of Phidias and Praxiteles! What an
opportunity for mingling in the circles of the
most refined society in the world ! How vain
Avould it appear to be for such a stranger, a
solitary and unknovv-n man, to attempt to pro-
duce a change in the religious condition of
that city, or to produce there a revival of re-
ligion !

The effect on his mind of a survey of the
state of things there is described in my text.
' His spirit was stirred within him, when he
saw the city wholly given to idolatry.' The
spirit of Paul was roused here, as it was every
where, by the prevalence of sin, and he was
led to put forth augmented efforts, in view of
the very difficulties before him.

In this instance we have an illustration of
the feelings which a christian should cherish

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 183"

in the midst of a great city. They were feel-
ings such as Paul himself cherished in the
midst of gay and voluptuous Corinth, M'henhe
resolved that he would know nothing there
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified ; — which
he had in Ephesus, where he labored so assid-
uously for the overthrow of idolatry, and for
the conversion of its multitudes to God ; and
which he had in Antioch, in Philippi, and in
Rome. I wi«h at this time, from the feelings
thus manifested by Paul, to offer some remarks
on the duties of christians in cities and large
towns, particularly with reference to revivals
of religion ; and I shall set my views before
you in a series of observations all bearing on
this point, to show what christians ought to do
to promote revivals of religion in such places.
I. My first observation is, that relig'ion first
showed its power, and especially in revivals
of religion, in cities and large towns. There
the Gospel met every form of human wicked-
ness, and showed its power to triumph over
all. In Jerusalem, the seat of pharisaical
pride and hypocrisy, and of dependence on the
mere forms of religion ; in Antioch, the rich
and commercial emporium of Syria, and the

181" ijUties of christians.

seat of all the affluence and luxury that com-
merce produces ; in Ephesus, the strongest
hold of idolatry, and the place to which tens
of thousands resorted to pay their worship at
the shrine of the most splendid temple in the
heathen world ; in Philippi, long the capital
of Macedonia, and filled with all the sins that
usually pertain to court ; in Corinth, the most
gay, and voluptuous, and sensual, and dissipa-
ted city of the age — the Paris of antiquity ; and
in Rome itself, the capital of the world, and
like London, the common sewer of the nations,
as it was characterized by Tacitus ; in all these
places the Gospel showed its power, and
achieved its earliest triumphs. In each of
these flourishing churches were established,
and in each one, under the apostolic preaching,
w^ere witnessed all the phenomena that charac-
terize religion now.

It must continue to be so, till the whole world
is converted to God. Cities are, and will be,
the centres of moral power: and their influ-
ence must be felt over all other portions of
the world. Missionaries now go to great ci-
ties just as the apostles did, and begin their
work there. It is in such places as Constan"

DUTIES OF CHRISTIAKS. 185

tinople, and Jerusalem, and Calcutta, and Can-
ton, and Bankok, and Cairo, that the triumphs
of the Gospel are expected; and to secure
such places of influence is deemed as needful
as it is for an invading army to seize upon the
strong fortresses of aland. In our own coun-
try, therefore, and in other lands, christians
are to labor and pray now, as the apostles did,
for the promotion of religion in cities and large
towns.

II. My second remark is, that there is the
same need of a revival of pure religion in
these places, that there was in the cities that
were visited by the apostles, and the same
things to excite christians to effort for their
conversion which there was then. Were Paul
to come now and visit this city, or any of the
great cities of our land, as he did Athens,
Avhat would he find 1 What honor would he
see put on God % What would he see to be
the great and prevalent object of living 1 And
what, with his recorded views of the character
of men, and of the final destiny of the guilty,
would he regard as the doom of the multitudes
here '( We may take this great city as a fair
and favorable specimen of the character of the

186 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

cities of our land. What would he find here 1
He would find indeed no idols, and no temples
reared to false gods. Thanks to the God of
our fathers, who directed hithcrward the steps
of men who feared his name, not aw idol god
has been made, nor an idol temple reared,
since the white man first penetrated the forests
of the new world ; and amidst ail the works
of art in our cities, the chisel of the sculptor
has never been employed to engrave a god of
stone. But in this city he would find more
than an hundred thousand people without any
form or semblance of religion. They enter
no sanctuary ; they worship no God, true or
false. They have npt even gone so far as to
rear, as the Athenians did, an altar ' to the un-
known God,' — the unknown God, amidst their
rabble of divinities, who, they supposed, had
come to save them from the pestilence. Along
these streets the pestilence has also spread,
perhaps in as frightful a form as that described
by Thucydides in Athens ; and God, the true
God, has enterposed to save , but the multi-
tude that were spared erected no altar to their
unknown God to commemorate the event. He
might go into some thousands of houses, and

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 187

he would find no shrines, no Lares, no Penates,
no form or mode of devotion. He would find
their inmates devoted to idols, but idols with-
out temples, save the temple of the heart. To
Mammon or to Bacchus he might find them
devoted, with an ardor never witnessed at
Athens ; but to these they have erected no al-
tars. He would find many a splendid house
where dwells a whole family with no form of
devotion ; Avho enters no sanctuary ; who have
no Sabbath except for amusement ; who live
as though it Avere not worth inquiry or argu-
ment whether there be a God and an eternity.
He would find many who live to feast on the
bounties of Providence without thanksgiving ;
who riot on the verge of the grave imalarmed ;
and who attend even their departed friends to
the tomb with no more personal anxiety about
their own preparation to die, than though the
inscription made on the entrance to a cemetry
in the capital of France during the revolution,
' Death is an eternal sleep,' were settled to be
the truth, and ought to be inscribed over every
dwelling-place of the dead. But are they
idolaters 1 As degrading, and often as sunken
as though they worshipped blocks of wood and
17

188 DTTTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

stone, for they fix on other objects the affec-
tion due to God. Many even in tliis city liave
sunk to a depth of debasement to which the
vilest form of idolatry rarely consigns its vo-
taries ; for even a hud religion has some res-
traints— irreligion has none. Part worship
wealth, part fashion ; part do homage to low
and debasing pleasures. And amidst the idol
worship of Athens there was not a more effec-
tual exclusion of the true God from the soul,
than there is from the hearts and habitations
of tens of thousands in this city.

III. My third remark is, that it is chiefly on
christians that dependence can be placed to
rouse the great and thoughtless multitudes of
a city population to a sense of their guilt and
danger. I say chiefly ; for though we may
hope something from the effects of the vari-
ous dispensations of Providence in afflictions
in arousing men ; though we may rely some-
what on the fact that the consciences of men
may be alarmed in view of their guilt and
danger, and in the prospect of death ; though
we may hope that thoughtful inquiry may be
aroused by the Divine Spirit in some minds
without any visible means used ; and though

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 189

(ve may hope that some of the great mass may
Tom time to time become sick of the vain
.vorld, and in their disgust inquire whether
ihere is not comfort to be found in religion,
yet the main hope is, that christians will use
their influence to bear the truth to them, con-
vince them of their danger and their folly, and
direct them to the Lamb of God. I say chris-
tians— meaning to include in this term the
ministers of religion — with all the influence
which can be derived from personal piety,
learning, and eloquence, and all that can be
derived from the respect which their office
creates ; other officers of the churches, with
all the influence which their office creates, and
with all that their private worth can add to
their official influence ; Sabbath-school teach-
ers, with all the advantages which are furnish-
ed them from their access to the hearts of
large numbers of the young ; christian parents,
with all that there is of authority and tender-
ness in their relation to their children — all of
which should be tributary to the Gospel ;
christian physicians, with all the influence
which they may have in the houses of the sick
and the dying 5 christian magistrates, with all

190 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

the power of iheir office in restraining vice
and recomuiending virtue ; the aged with their
ripe experience, the young with their ardor,
and the middle-aged with the maturity of their
judgment ; man with his energy and talent,
and w^oman with her patience and tenderness
in visiting the abodes of poverty and want.
These constitute the reliance, under God, in
promoting religion among the thoughtless
masses of a city population. They are the
enrolled, the disciplined, and the officered ar-
my which has been appointed here to fight the
battles of the Lord. This constitutes the or-
ganization for all that is lovely and of good
report against the numerous organizations for
evil in a city like this : and this is what the
Saviour relies on in the great work of secur-
ing for himself those centres of influence and
power. They can feel, and should feel for the
condition of those around them. They have
influence and power given them for this end
by the Head of the church. In Athens, Paul
was probably the only man who had any just
view of the guilt and danger of the multitudes
that thronged the streets of that city ; the only
man that had any just view of God, and any

DUtlES OF CHRISTIANS. 191

knoAvledge of the plan of redemption ; and
the only hope of rousing that vast population
of idolaters rested on the voice of this solitary
stranger, a man unknown and without influ-
ence, or if known, despised. It is not so here.
God has placed here more than twenty thou-
sand, all of whom, according to their profes-
sions, should have the same feelings as Paul
had in Athens. They profess the same reli-
gion ; they worship the same God ; they have,
or should have, the same views of the guilt
and danger of man, and of the necessity to be
prepared to meet God. They are each one in
possession of the same knowledge of the plan
of salvation, and of the same hope of heaven ;
and there is not one of them, old or young,
who is not, or should not be able to tell his
neighbor the way by which he might be made
everlastingly happy. Every parent can tell
this to his children ; and every Sabbath-school
teacher to his scholars ; and every man to his
neighbor, to the poor, to the outcast, and to
the vile. And how obvious it is, that, in the
possession of this knowledge, it is their duty
to seek that the whole population should be
pervaded with christian influence, or that there
17*

192 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

should be a revival of relifrion spreading
throutrhout this entire communitj' ! It is as
if the pestilence had come in upon the whole
population, and was cutting off the inhabitants
at a fearful rate every day, and God has en-
trusted to twenty thousand the knowledge of
one infallible remedy for the disease. Who
would feel himself blameless if a single one
should die by his neglecting to communicate
a knowledge of that remedy \

IV. My fourth observation is, that in cities
and large towns christians are exposed to pe-
culiar temptations and dangers.

Temptations to unfaithfulness exist every
where. The country village has its tempta-
tions, and the city has its own. Which are
the greatest, it is not needful now to inquire.
The only point of inquiry before us here is,
what dangers beset christians in cities and
large towns'? Especially what dangers in re-
gard to the direct efforts for the promotion of
religion! What is there to chill and para-
lyze our efforts in reference to the cause of
revivals'?

I here arc many; and to siiow ;he na> ,.^ ..i
all these temptations and dangers fully, would

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 193

far transcend the proper limits of a whole dis-
course, and can here only be glanced at. They
are such as the following:

I. The danger of soon being discouraged
by the magnitude of the evils around us.
They are so numerous, and they pertain to so
many subjects, and they are so fortified by
prevalent customs, that the spirit of christians
soon sinks and faints within them. To rouse
a city — to promote a reformation there — to
secure a general revival of religion, seems
like an attempt to lade out the ocean, or like
an efibrt to remove quicksand where it fills in
as fast as you remove it.

II. We become familiar with the evils, and
cease to feel appalled by their naagnitude. A
warm-hearted christian on going to Paris is
shocked and pained at the gayety and licen-
tiousness there ; a christian from the country
is shocked at the amount of sin in a great city,
and pained at the condition of its thoughtless
thousands ; a young convert, just from his
first view of the cross, and of the dying Sav-
iour,, and with -d conceptions of the
worth of the suui, u\ c^,.s over the condition
of the tens of thousands around him, and

194' DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

feels, like young Mclancliton, that he can per-
suade them all to turn to God. But how soon,
as a general rule, does your stranger chris-
tian in Paris, and he that comes to us from
the country, and the young convert, lose all
this ardor! these thousands we see walk the
streets almost forgetting that they have souls.
The young and the accomplished we see
crowd the abodes of fashion, and we seem to
forget that for them Christ died, or that there
can be for such gay and happy throngs any
such places as a sick bed or a grave ; the rich
we see roll along in splendor, and cease to
feel almost that there is a God before whom
they must appear, and a hell where the rich
man that is impenitent will lift np his eyes in
torment ; and soon Ave sleep as calmly in our
beds as though all this multitude were on the
way to heaven.

III. We are appalled by the fact that evils
are combined and confederated^ and that it
seems almost hopeless to attempt to break
them up. It is not that you have to meet an
army of profane men, and that when they are
reformed the field is clear, and the victory
gained. It is not that you must meet a host

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 195

of Sabbath-breakers, and that when they are
restrained the victory is won. It is not that
we must ferret out and reform some thou-
sands of the impure and hcentious, and that
then the work is done. It is not tliat you
must vanquish an army of atheists, and infi-
dels and scoffers, and that when you have
convinced them of the truth of Christianity
the task is completed. Nor is it that you
must meet with fashion, and vanity, and the
love of the w'orld, and substitute for all this
the love of God. The difficulty is, that they

ARE ALL IN THE FIELD TOGETHER. They are

parts of one great army — the army of the foe
of God; they are imder the control of one
master mind — the great apostate spirit — that
marshals them for his war against virtue and
against God ; and imless all are driven from
the field the victory caimot be won; and see-
ing this, christians soon become disheartened.
Connected with this is the fact that sins are
interlocked and confederated together. They
never appear alone. You cannot meet one
form of evil by itself, and destroy it as if it
were alone. When, for example, you make
war on intemperance, it is not on intempe-

If)() DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

ranee alone. It is a war at the same tinne on
avarice and covetousness, and on all the forms
of traffic and of business by wlii'ch it is sus-
tained, and on all the customs and vices that
walk in the train of intemperance. You make
war on profaneness, and licentiousness, and
Sabbath-breaking, and the theatre, and on the
love of money in some of its worst forms,
more than half of all which evils are connect-
ed with indulgence in intoxicating liquors.
How long could a theatre be sustained if in-
toxicating drinks were not accessible 1 How
few, comparatively, would be profane if they
were never excited by intoxicating drinks 1
And how closely connected are intemperance
and licentiousness every where 1 Attack one
form of sin any where, and you attack a host
of affiliated vices, and all their friends are
roused to oppose you. Cicero long since re-
marked that there was a ' common bond '
among the virtues. They are united — a fam-
ily of sisters — always strengthening each
other — always found in each other's com-
pany, and always diffiising around smiles and
joy. They arc like a parterre of commingled
flov>ers, when you breathe the fragi-ance emit-

DUTIES OF CIIRISTIAXnS. 197

ted by them all. And so there is a, common
bond among vices. They are of one family,
of one bad parentage. ¥/hen you meet with
one you may be sure that others are not far
off — not, indeed, a family harmonious and
happy, like the virtues, but still united and as-
sociated. You caanot meet one without rous-
ing up all j and hence the difhculty every
where of putting down vice and promoting a
reformation, and hence the friends of virtue
become intimidated and appalled.

IV. A fourth danger in cities is, that of con-
formity to the evil customs that prevail around
us. I do not mean that christians, whom God
has set in cities to carry forward his work
and to save souls, fall into open sinj but I
refer to what the Bible calls ' conformity to
the world.' There is a gi'eat deal of piety in
the world — in the main connected with honest
intentions — that is like the chameleon, taking
its hue from surrounding objects. Or I may
use, perhaps, a better illustration. It is like a
precious gem set in foil. The jeweller spreads
beneath it a colored substance, and the gem
partakes of that color. It sparkles and is
beautiful. It has an original beauty, but its

198 nTTTIF.S OF cnRI.STI;\NS.

peculiar hue is borrowed from the foreign
substance in wliich it is embedded. Not a
little of the religion of this world is like this
gem. It is genuine, and in itself beautiful
and valuable. But it borrows its appearance
from the things around it, and when the set-
ting happens to be bad, the whole brilliancy
is gone, and the beauty disappears. In a high
state of religious feeling in a church, or in a
time of revival, that religion sparkles like the
diamond. When the christian church is rous-
ed to seek the salvation of the world — when a
pure love flows from heart to heart — when all
are engaged in promoting the salvation of sin-
ners, then it shines brilliant as a gem of the
purest water. But when the church slumbers,
and its zeal languishes, and iniquity abounds,
then it is a precious stone badly set, and the
dark foil dims all its lustre and mars all its
beauty. It requires a high order of religion
not to be conformed to the world. We are
with the people of this world; we transact
business with them; we converse with them;
we are invited to partake with them of the
pleasures in which they find their only enjoy-
ment; we mingle with them in the social

DTJTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 199

circle ; we ' catch the manners living as they
rise,' and we suffer the world of vanity and
fashion to give us laws about the style of
living, and conversation, and dress, and amuse-
ment. Piety that would have shone with the
brilliancy of the diamond in the persecution
of Nero or of Mary, may be dull and dim
while the world caresses or flatters ; and zeal,
that Avould beam like that of a seraph were
the whole church alive to God, sinks away
into a flickering and almost expiring flame
when the church slumbers. In no place does
the world have such influence over christians
— or rather, perhaps, I ought to say, in no
place is there so much danger of the influ-
ence— as in cities. I such places, eminently,
' iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes
cold.'

V, Connected with this is a fifth danger, in
regard to the mass of christians. It is seen
in a disposition to palliate sin, or to apologize
for it, or to speak of it in a language that shall
not imply reproof. The nomenclature of sins,
like that of chemistry, is often changed ; and
the characteristics of an age can often be de-
termined by the appellations given to vice.
18

200 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

An age of great refinement — the golden or
tinsel age of society — is often characterized
by great fastidiousness and great delicacy — in
plainer language, great prudishness. Crimes
change names ; faults are apologized for under
names that border on virtue; and words which
suggest the idea of sin or wrongs are ex-
changed for names that suggest any thing but
the thing referred to ; and so the gay and the
christian world together ' wrap it up.' When
iniquity abounds ; when it goes up into places
of affluence and rank, the world demands the
language of gentleness and apology. ' Pro-
phesy unto "US smooth things' becomes the
common wish : and the kind of reproof, and
fidelity in preaching, where things are called
by their right names, and where the iniquity
of the heart is laid open, and men are warned
with appropriate earnestness to flee from the
wrath to come, is set down as fanaticism and
extravagance. How difficult it is to reach
some far-pervading sins in the community,
sins that endanger the salvation of thousands
in all our cities, and how difficult to rouse
christians to a sense of their existence, or the
dangers thatattend their indulgence!

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 201

I had hoped to have had time to speak of
other dangers of the members of the churches
in regard to the promotion of religion in pur
cities, arising from the love of gain ; from the
temptations to neglect secret prayer ; from
the tendencies to neglect the careful study of
the Bible ; from the fact that the impressions
made by preaching are so soon obliterated
from the mind by business and the influence
of the world ; and I would have spoken also
of the difficulties of promoting religion, from
the organized resistances, and from the want
of the kind of social influences that prevail in
country neighborhoods and villages. But I
have already trenched much on the time that
should have been allotted to what was design-
ed to be the leading purpose of this discourse.
That remains to be considered ; and a few
brief hints must now be all.

It is, the duties of christian in cities in
regard to the promotion of revivals of reli-
gion. They are such as the following :

I. To form and cherish just views about
the possibility, the desirableness, and the im-
portance of revivals of religion here. It is
oiot too much to suppose that large numbers

202 DUTIKS OV CHRISTUN'S.

of professing christians in the diflereat
churches have no definite views on these
points. They have never made them a mat-
ter of distinct thought or inquiry. They
have never gone to the New Testament to
find out what was done in the time of the Sa-
viour and the apostles^ and wliat was said
about the possibility and the vaUie of such
works of grace. Perhaps many have obtained
all the views which they have ever had of
such works of grace from, the observation of
foreign tourists, or from the tone of the
worldly society around them. And it is to
be feared that not a few professing christians
in all churches in cities regard, at heart, revi-
vals of religion as of doubtful value, or as
scenes of wild-fire and fanaticism. Is it un-
charitable to ask how many christians there
are in any of our churches that would stand
up amidst the rich and the gay, in the bril-
liant circles where they are sometimes found,
as the firm advocates of revivals of religion
if they were attacked ? Are there not many
that would concede all that the sceptical or
the scoffiing opponent Avould desire to have
conceded] Now it is much, it is every thing,

DtTTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 203

when christians intelligently, and on settled
grounds, believe in the value and existence of
revivals of religion ; when they have so ex-
amined the subject, so read the New Testa-
ment, and so made it a matter of prayer, as
to see that, in the estimation of the Redeemer,
the descent of the Holy Ghost on the world,
in powerful revivals of religion, was to be the
triumph of his work, and a blessing worth the
self-denials and toils of this life, and his un-a
speakable agonies on the cross. Such a feel*
ing in the churches is usually a precurser
of such a work of grace 5 and we cannot
hope for such descending influences on our
cities until christians shall think as the Sa-
viour thought, and feel as the Saviour felt.
This is the great thing now needed among
christians; and that day which shall convince
all, or the great body of professing christians
in cities, of the reality and desirableness of
revivals of religion, will constitue a new era
in the history of religion, and will precede the
manifestations of the power of God like that
on the day of Pentecost.

2. For the promotion of religion in places

204 DUTIES OF CIIIUSTIA.NS.

like this, christians should be firm and settled
in the principles of religion. There should
be no yielding of principle, no improper com-
pliance, with the customs around us. Our
views of religion should be drawn from the
Bible, and not from the books which uninspir-
ed men have written, or from the views which
the gay and fashionable, the rich and vain,
and even the literary and scientific world may
entertain of religion and its duties. Litera-
uire and science, poetry and the arts, are to
be allowed no more to give us our views of
religion than gayety and fashion. From the
Holy Bible — the unerring word of the living
God — christians are to derive their views of
the nature of religion. There we are to go to
learn what the soul is worth ; what it cost to
redeem it ; what is its condition as it comes
into the world ; what is the state of man by
nature ; what dangers beset him ; why man is
placed on the earth, and for what objects
christians are to live. Fresh with the views
drawn from the living fountains of tiiith, what
estimate should we 'form of tlie multitudes
around us ? — what but that they are lost, ruined,
dying, and that everj- thing should be done that

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 205

can be done for their salvation 1 And when
we have drunk deep at that living fountain^
what views should- we derive of the duty of
christians here ] That they should be every
where the firm and unwavering friends of
God ; the advocates of truth and holiness ;
the rebukers of sin by their lips and by their
lives ; and the laborers in the vineyard of
their Lord to save souls from death. On all
the questions that divide the religious from the
irreligious world, the christian should have
settled views, and should abide by them, come
contempt, or cursing, or flame. There sliould-
be no vacillating ; no Avavering ; no taking
sides with the foes of the Redeemer ; no
yielding a point which the Redeemer would
not yield. In the great questions pertaining
to the new birth and the atonement ; to revi-
vals of religion and to missions j to temper-
ance, chastity, and the Sabbath ; to the spread
of the Bible and to Sabbath-schools; in regard
to the theatre, the ^all-room, and the splendid
gayety and folly, there ought to be singleness
and uniformity of opinion and conduct among
the friends of the Redeemer. It ought to be
known where each friend of Christ could be

206 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

found. There ought to be tlic same views
and feelings which the Redeemer would have ;
the same course of life which he would ad-
vise and recommend. Is it so 1 So far from
it, that you can hardly go into a promiscuous
assemblage of professed christians without
finding on many of the most important of
these points as many different views as there
are different minds ; and so far from it that
you cannot calculate on the efficient and bar-*
monious co-operation of any considerable
portion of such a group to put down any one
of these evils. So it ought not to be ; so it
was not in the days of apostolic decision and
independence in religion.

III. It is the duty of christians to provide
means for the religious instruction of the
masses of mind that are thrown together in
cities, the means of bringing all under chris-
tian influence. Just now, not very far from
one half of tbe population in all our cities
would be excluded from places of Avorship,
should they be disposed to attend, for the ab-
BoJutc want of room. Now it is in the power
of the various denominations of christians in
this city, and in other cities, to provide ample

I>UTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 207

accommodations for all the population that
could attend on public worship. It is in their
power to get all the wandering and neglected
children into Sabbath-schools. It is in their
power to place a Bible in every family. It is
in their power to keep up prayer-meetings,
and other religious services, in every lane and
alley where it would be desirable. It is in the
power of christians, aided by what they might
depend on in other classes of the community
favorable to morals, to close the thousands of
dram-shops and low taverns that infest us.
What can be done should be done ; and I am
saying only that which all men will admit to
be well-founded, when I say that all these
things should be done in this city, and when
done we might look for a general revival of
religion.

IV. It is the duty of christians in a city, as
every where, but principally here, to bring the
influence of religion to bear on the members
of their families. We look abroad, but let us
also look at home. If we wish a revival of re-
ligion, it must be sought in our own hearts j
m our own dwellings. Whatever there is in
our hearts that grieves the Holy Spirit of God

208 DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

should be removed, and what there is we may
easily know. If we have forgotten our first
love ; if we have laid aside the simplicity of
our confidence in the Lord Jesus ; if we have
neglected prayer; if our secret devotions are
cold, formal, heartless, often intermitted ; if
we are seeking the world, its wealth, its plea-
sures, its honors 5 if we have become rich, and
at the same time proud and self-confident ; if
avarice has grown as covetousness has been
gratified ; and if for our families we are seek-
ing the world rather than heaven, it is time
for us to pause, and to retrace our steps, and
with penitent hearts to begin life anew. —
These things hinder religion ; these things
prevent revivals. And Avhatever there is in
our families that grieves the Spirit of God
should be laid aside. The God that sees all
knows what that may be. If family devotion
is cold and formal, or is not maintained at all ;
if the love of dress, and vanity, and parties of
pleasure, and the gayeties of the world have
seized upon the minds of our children, and if
we feel that they must be indulged ; these, then,
are things that prevent religion : these the
things that shut the heavenly influences from

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS. 209-

our dwellings and from the city of our habita-
tion.

V. There should be prayer for a revival of
religion ; prayer distinctly and definitely for
that. O could twenty thousand christians in
this city unite in that one supplication, ' O
LoED REVIVE THY WORK,' Avould not the ear of
God be open to their cry % When shall this
be 1 When shall the time come that we can
feel that such a prayer ascends to God from
the hearts of the thousands of his professed
friends in a city like this 1 This, brethren, is
what we need ; the spirit of that ancient man
that wrestled till the break of day, saying, 'I
cannot let thee go except thou bless me ;' the
spirit of that prophet of the Lord, who in the
name of the church said, 'For Zion's sake
will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's
sake will I not rest, until the righteousness
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salva-
tion thereof as a lamp that burneth.' — Isaiah,
Ixii: 1.

Christians, God has placed you in this city
to do good ; to show the power of his Gospel 5
to promote religion. What are the prospects
of the immortal souls around you 1 Where
will they soon be 1 Soon they and you will

'ilO DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.

be together at the bar of God. You will meet
when the gaycties of life shall have died away;
when fashion and wealth shall have lost their
glitter ; when the eternal doom of the soul is
to be pronounced, and when your chief joy
then will be found in the reflection that you
have done as much as possible for their sal-
vation.

If religion is to be revived, it is to begin at
the house of God. There are the hopes of
man in regard to his immortal welfare. There
is not a vice in this city that might not be
crippled or destroyed if every christian had
the burning zeal of Paul. Christians should
drink anew of the fountain of the waters of
life. Time Avas, in the days of the martyrs,
when a female, trained in the refinements of
the Roman capital, would not throw a grain of
incense on a pagan altar to save her body from
the flames. O come those times again ; times
when all who bear the christian name shall,
with such firmness, resist all the forms of sin.
Come those times when every christian, dead
to the world but alive unto God, shall resist
sin, if need be, 'even unto blood,' and when
he shall labor and pray unceasingly for a re-
vival OF PURE religion !

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