1829. 
no longer that reverence for their parents’ 
commands, nor parents that command over 
their children, which, in times past, was 
sufficient to keep them from the open ways 
of iniquity. The fourth is the frequency of 
infant schools and Sunday schools. These, he 
considers, as they truly are, indications of a 
diseased and disorganized state of family ties. 
These, which are regarded as improvements 
of the age, he justly describes as the best 
proof of its decline. He is glad such reme- 
dies for parental neglect exist—but would 
be more so if there were no diseases calling 
for such remedies. 
But the pious efforts of the religious 
world are the especial object of his scrutiny. 
In the sermon on the covetous, he sud- 
denly asks—‘ What is the first subject of 
conversation in all their meetings, and the 
great theme of their delight ?_ Is it not the 
state of their funds? What the great end 
of their speeches? The increase of dona- 
tions and subscriptions. What the great 
labour of their travellers, and what the 
proof of their success? The amount of 
their in-gatherings. What the qualification 
for honourable office ? The amount of your 
contributions. What the great fear and 
apprehension ? Lest the funds should fall 
off. If these things do not betray a covet- 
ous spirit, I know not where it is to be met 
with elsewhere,” &c. 
Again :— 
Outside, indeed, asin the reports of societies, 
they are truly spiritual; but, inside, in the ma- 
nagement, they are truly carnal and legal. Any 
body knows this, who will be at the pains to 
examine. So also it is in the management of 
chnrehes and chapels—the pulpit must be evan- 
gelical, but behind the scenes the management is 
legal. Look, for example, at the Sunday-school 
institutions—be present in their public meetings— 
read their reports—their published books—and 
~ you will find nothing but the most holy, evangeli- 
eal spirit. In the Bible Society, to take another 
example, which assumeth such a holy, Catholic 
appearance—it is not long since it was applauded 
as the true doctrine, and may, perhaps, be so ac- 
counted still, that it really was not a religious so- 
ciety at all—and certes this seemeth to be truth, 
whereas they contend to the uttermost against 
their meeting with prayer. I am quite willing to 
go the round of every other evangelical, spiritual 
work, which hath given so much celebrity to these 
latter days, and to shew that they are /egal, 
worldly, yea, and often hard-hearted in their ad- 
ministrations—insomuch, that after much expe- 
rience, Ido uniformly dissuade, when asked ad- 
viee upon the subject, from entering into their 
service. Not that I love the missionary cause 
less than they, but because I do not love that the 
evangelical and legal spirit should be mingled and 
confused. And so exceeding overwhelming in 
its influence is this spirit become, that it seems 
to change the very aspect of womanhood itself ; 
yea, even of tender-hearted mothers, whom, 
when clubbed into a committee, I have known 
guilty of the cruellest things towards even the 
most deserving of their own sex, 
Domestic and Foreign. 
311 
“ Tove we good men ?”’ he asks, in ano- 
their place :— ‘ 
I think it is departed wholly, for the love of 
gifted men, men of talents and of understanding, 
on the one hand; and for the love of benevolent, 
ana charitable, and useful men, on the other. 
Instead of dreading unsanctified talent, as the 
most adverse unto God, and friendly unto satan, 
of all the possessions of man, and keeping by the 
good old maxim of our forefathers, that gifts are 
not graces, the men of these times set their af- 
fections, and pay their respects to men of great 
talents, of great eloquence in the senate, of great 
wealth, of great skill in affairs, of great weight 
and influence in the state. I myself have had 
opportunities of witnessing this, which made me 
weep. Ihaveseen good men rush into the arms 
of open reprobates ; nay, sue them and woo them 
unto the unnatural and hideous alliance; entreat 
them to become their patrons, and the patrons of 
their societies, and the patrons of their seats of 
learning; for all which they should have looked 
out for good men, and accepted of good men only. 
You know, my brethren, without my going about 
to enumerate the instances, to what an awful 
height this love, this endurance of unsanctified 
talent, hath arisen. For once I have been en- 
treated to serve any society for the worth or in- 
tegrity of my character, I have been a thousand 
times, without exaggeration, for the talents which 
they supposed me to possess, or for the popularity, 
the transient popularity, which I might chance to 
have at the time, &c. 
In the sermon—lovers of pleasure—where 
he glances at the literature of the day, there 
are some admirable morsels. 
The poetical justice, the moral of the tale, the 
purity of the sentiment, and, in one word, the mo- 
ral and spiritual of the composition, are all lost 
sight of, in the entertainment, the power, the fer- 
tility, or in one word, the pleasure which is set be- 
fore us. They call it an intellectual age; but 
they should call the age of the love of pleasure, in 
which the intellect is constrained to contribute its 
share to the great banquet of pleasure that is 
served up. It is not for the discovery of the 
truth, it is for the admiration of moral worth, not 
for the discernment and taste of what is beautiful, 
but for the gratifications of our likings and dis- 
likings, that we write and read in these times.—I 
think it is not many years since we first had a 
book entitled the Pleasures of the Imagination ; 
and now, I may say, that we have Pleasures of 
Hope, of Memory, and even of Religion—every 
thing brought to contribute its portion to the love 
of pleasure, rather than to the loye of God.—Tf, 
again, we look to the lust of the eye-~we find that 
men seem no longer to dread any evil in this 
quarter, nor to guard against it; but rather to 
think that the elegance and beauty of the object 
seen, isa complete justification of the time, the 
expense, and the honour bestowed upon if. For 
example, of beautiful pictures and precious sta- 
tues, of ornamental objects in our apartments, 
of outward decorations in our habitations, and 
of every other thing pleasant to the eye, the in- 
erease which hath taken place within these thirty 
years, abstracting the minds of our nobility and 
gentry, and well conditioned people, from the study 
of homely household economy, from family cares, 
