The State of Religion in His Youth Contrasted with Its Advanced State

My dear Children, — You have expressed a wish to have my opinion comparatively of the state of things when I commenced my piihhc labours, and now I am withdrawing from them.

I am fully persuaded that, by the good providence of God, we have experienced a thousand beneficial changes. Our Code of Judicial Law has been revised, and many of its sanguinary penalties repealed. Our Civil Legislation, and our poUtical arrangements, have been much improved. Various wrongs have been rectified, and rights have been equalized. Freedom has largely gained. Trade and Commerce have exceedingly multiplied; while the amazing advancement in Science and Arts has added much, not only to our fame, but also to our accommodation and comfort — philosophy has rendered every element subservient to our use.

It is needless to attempt to enumerate or specify these advantages. My way lies in another direction; and I would only glance briefly at the bearing of things viewed morally, religiously and evangelically; and I cannot look at various progressions without exclaiming, “What has God wrought! ‘^ And here I must censure some good persons whose forebodings and complainings, with regard to the times, appear unjust, improper, and ungrateful. When we consider that our ^’ whole world lieth in wickedness; ‘’ and that as a country, we have been ‘^ a sinful people, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters; ‘’ the wonder is that He has not long ago abandoned us; and surely we ought to notice thankfully every token for good with which we are favoured. Is it meet to be silent towards a benefactor on whom we have no claims; or to say by our manner, Is this all thou hast done for us? Surely the way to obtain more of his gracious influence and operation, is to praise him for the favour he has already done us; and thus ask for more. We are, therefore, directed” in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving J to make our requests known unto God.^^ How offensive and grievous, then, must it be to his Holy Spirit, to deny, or speak meanly, or lightly, of his goodness, when he has done so great things for us, whereof we should be glad!

Though the day far exceeds the dawn, the dawn will not be unnoticed or undervalued by those who have seen and felt the darkness of the night. Some are not old enough to look back upon the past, and form comparisons which must prove no less than contrasts with the present. Though not a prodigy of age, I have had an opportunity to see some blessed fulfilments of the promise,” The wilderness and the solitary place shall be made glad: and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.^’

And can we believe this, and see this, and be ungladdened and ungrateful? Or shall we suffer a few private or public burdens and trials to keep us repining and murmuring, when in Judah things go well, and the walls of the temple rise though in troublous times? The evils of which some seem almost exclusively sensible, are the more easily seen, and the more deeply

felt, because of the presence and prevalence of so much good. And what good!

When I first went to London there were no Missionary Societies but those of our Moravian and Wesleyan brethren; but now we have the Baptist, the London, the Episcopalian, Missionary Institutions; all sending forth the truth as it is in Jesus; and all depending for success upon the Spirit of the living God, and, therefore, all carrying on their operations with prayer, and all crowned with encouragement and success, proportioned to their means and endeavours.

Then, too, we had not the noblest of all institutions since the apostolic era, the Bible Society; nor the Tract Society; nor the Jewish Society; nor the Hibernian Society; nor the Irish Evangelical Society; nor the Home, nor the Colonial, Missionary Society; all of which have for years been in full operation.

Here we have not mentioned the Anti- Slavery Society, nor the Peace Society; but though these are not formally and immediately religious institutions, they indirectly aid them; they are congenial with them, and are sanctioned by all their provisions and commands; yea, they have been derived from their spirit.

We also pass over the numerous local and private Societies attached to our several congregations; — and what congregation is there among us without some of them? Most of which, besides a charitable aim, have also a religious: — for instance, societies for visiting the sick, not only affording temporal succour, but furnishing also spiritual instruction and prayer, when the mind is prepared by affliction to receive it, or peculiarly needing it. Sunday Schools also not only teach poor children to read their Bible, but inform their minds in the leading truths of the Gospel; and I have never met with a religious interest without a Sunday School, while many of these Schools now are formed in the villages where, at present, there is no religious interest; and wliicli are attended to by persons who go from our cliurclies on the Lord’s day, and consecrate a good portion of the Sabbath to this work and labour of love; and find the reward of their journey ings and toU in the pleasure of doing good.

Think of the spread of the Gospel in the Establishment, and compare Mr. Romaine’s total of fifty Gospel clergymen, with the number in the same church now! Think what an amazing multiplication of Dissenters there has also been! And if there has not been such an increase in their light as in that of some other connexions, (and which was less needed,) there has been a glorious one in their liberty, liberality, and life, and usefulness. What a diminution have I known of heterodox congregations; and what additions to those who know nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified! The number of new places, at the opening of which I have preached, and the number of enlarged places, at the re-opening of which I have preached, would appear hard of belief. Yet others of my brethren have been employed in the same work, in their respective neighbourhoods and connexions, all through the land. Several new schools also, or, to modernize — “colleges,^’ for the sons of the prophets, have been established; and ampler provision made for those completer preparations for the ministry which the day demands.

And what a change has there been in public spiritedness and generous contributions! How would some of the good men, who lived eighty or ninety years ago, have been astonished, could they have been told of the sums obtained at one anniversary meeting; or what is now raised by a single congregation annually! Where one collection was formerly made at the doors of the sanctuary, twenty are now made. The same propprtion would hold in the number of applications made personally to individuals, and seldom made entirely in vain.

Love also has abounded more and more, in knowledge and in

all judgment. How much less stress is laid on minor and circumstantial things in religion than once! And how much more disposed are the various parties to unite and hold intercourse with each other! I remember how it was wondered at, when Mr. Eyre of Homerton, of Calvinistical sentiments, was asked to preach at Mr. Wesleys chapel, in Moorfields, and preached without giving offence, from Gal. i. 8, — “If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!” Now, without abolishing our distinctions, we have learned to hail, and bless, and help each other. We have agreement without compromise. Our regiments retain their own colours and officers, but fight against a common foe, and for the same King of Glory.

I am aware that some will say, ^’ all is not gold that glitters,^^ and there is much more hearing, and talking, and show, and profession. In a degree this is as true as it is lamentable. There have been also abuses and excesses. These will always grow out of awakenings, while human nature remains as it is. But that there has been a remarkable revival and extension of genuine religion, since the rise of what is called Methodism, notwithstanding the imperfections attending it, what can induce us to deny? The dead have been enlivened; the sleeping have been aroused; the form of godliness has not been without the power, though, in some instances, the power has had too little of the form. Faith has not been a cold assent of the understanding to certain dogmas, but a vital principle in the heart and life. The professors of it have denied themselves, and taken up their cross, and followed the Redeemer in the regeneration. We proclaim not perfection; but this renovated religion has been essentially and eminently of the right kind — evangelical in doctrine, practical in operation, lively in experience, and noble in effects.

But there are persons who, though they allow of some reality in this statement, yet think that modern Christians are much inferior to those who lived in the times of our forefathers. Instead of speaking disparagingly of these men, we would have inscribed on their tombs,” Of whom the world was not worthy V They were martyrs for conscience; the word of God dwelt in them richly; they had much to do with their own hearts; and were distinguished by their domestic and private devotions. But they would not, and could not, have abounded so much in some even of their own excellencies had they lived in a later day. The stream, then rendered deeper by confinement, has since widened; and the water flows over more surface. They had not so many openings and calls for action abroad; and their spirit partook something of their state. The chm*ches then seemed to feel little or nothing of the missionary character; and to some it may seem surprising how little is found in the letters, diaries, and sermons of that period, but what almost exclusively regards the defeats or prosperity of their own souls, or immediate communities. And how little even they who made mention of the Lord obeyed the injunction, ‘^ keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the whole earth.’’ The time, the set time to favour her was not yet come. Zion was not in labour to bring forth. She had hardly conceived. But now —

“All the promises do travail
With a glorious day of grace.”

And, to drop metaphor, — of late years, persons are not allowed to look only on their own things, but constrained also to look on the things of others; and especially the things that are Jesus Christ’s. And they are to be judged of by the manner in which they do the work of their own day, and not by their conformity to others who lived imder a different order of things.

But were not Christians who lived at the commencement of

this new and evangelical era superior in experience to those who have followed them? I am not entirely unprepared to answer this question. A number of the original converts of Wesley and Whitfield were yet living when I began to appear in public, and some of them I knew intimately; and they made too deep an impression upon me to be forgotten. They were certainly better acquainted with, and more endeared to, each other, than the larger proportion of professors now are; but two reasons may be assigned for this, without making the dead, even by implication, to depreciate the living.

It was first, in some degree, owing to the persecution and reproach of the world, that they were drawn together for intercourse and comfort. It also, secondly, arose from the paucity of their numbers. When religious parties are smaller, they partake more of a family character; and the members know, and are known, of each other. But this cannot be equally the case in large societies, and where multitude prevents intimacy. But then these larger societies have other advantages. They are more public, more known; they are more firm, independent and active; they attract more attendants, are capable of more enterprise, and can raise more for the cause of God at large, in the support of charities, schools, missionaries, and evangelists. It is in vain to expect every recommendation united in any species of excellency, or department of agency.

But to return to these earlier converts. There was something rather peculiar and specific about them. They seemed to feel that they were fast and tried disciples, and had a right to be heard. They were fond of going back, and referring to their first love, and first enjoyments and exercises. They talked rather too frequently of their own experience, and made it too much a standard for others, and were too positive and unyielding, in some little and indifferent points, to which they attached undue importance. But who could help admiring their deadness to the world? — their heavenly mindedness? — the readiness and zest with which they entered into religious conversation? — the manner in which they invariably spoke of the Lord Jesus as all their salvation and all their desire; and with whom they had to do immediately in all the concerns of the spiritual life? — their forwardness to relieve the poor, and visit the afflicted, and to be content with such things as they had? — and their patience and cheerfulness in tribulation?

I was also much struck with their general freedom from the fear of death. They never seemed unwilling to be reminded of its approach. They spoke of it with pleasure; and in conversing with their dying friends, they appeared concerned to reconcile them to the thought of recovery (should this be the event,) rather than to their dissolution. They rejoiced with them in the prospect of their speedy release from a wicked world, and an evil heart, and of their going so soon home, and seeing the Saviour, and being for ever with the Lord. And when they followed them to the grave, they sorrowed more for themselves, that had sustained the loss, than for their connexions, whose death they knew was gain. And does not even Paley allow, that in all this they much resembled the first Christians? Their attachment also to the means of grace was intense; nor would they suffer distance, or weather, or slight indispositions to detain them. The Sabbath was their delight, and they numbered the days till its arrival. And as to the poorer of them —

“Though pinch’d with poverty at home,
With sharp aiflictions daily fed;
It made amends, if they could come
To God’s own house for heavenly bread.”

Nor were these services only pleasing to them in the performance, They were remembered and talked over for days and weeks after. For the sermons they heard, if not highly

polished, left effects which were as goads, and as nails fastened in a sure place, by the hand of the Master of assemblies.

They also seemed to have more veneration for the Scriptures; and to peruse them with more directness, simplicity, and docility, — for the Bible, as yet, had not been turned into a work of science, rather than of faith; and of everlasting criticism, rather than of devotion; nor were thousands of tutors and multitudes of volumes found necessary to explain a simple book, designed for *’ the poor ^’ and the common people,^^ by the only wise God himself.

What is the simple and grand design of revelation? “These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.^^ What care is needful to keep the reader from being diverted by a thousand subordinate notices from the inquiry —” What must I do to be saved?’’

Excuse the freedom of this letter, and the preference I have given (but not in all things) to a body of Christians with whose modified descendants I have been more called to mix and co-operate. And let us serve our own generation, by the will of God; seizing its advantages, and endeavouring, instead of quairelling with a few comparative evils, to rejoice that so much has been done; and that ‘^ blessed are our eyes for what they see, and our ears for what they hear.’^

I am, &c.

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