Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1818-12-22


amongst the multitude OF his other reve-
RES, may love to hear Of the eternity,
where sorrow and separation are alike I'M
known. He who has been trained IRON
his infant days, to remember the Sabbath,
may love the holiness of its aspect and
associate himself with all its observances 5;
and take delighted share in the mechan-
ism Of its forms. But, let not these think
because the tastes and sensibilities which
engross them, may be blended with reli
gion. that they indicate either its strength
or its existence within them. | recur TO
the test. l press lis imperious exactions
upon you. call for fruit, and demand
The permanency of a religious influence on
The habits and the history. Oh! how
many who take fattering JUNCTION to
their souls when they think OF their a.
miable feelings, and their becoming OBJ
servations, with whou this severe touch
stone would like the head Of Meduss, put
10 flight all their complacency. The af-
flictiye dispensatioD is forgotten-and be
Cd whom i! was laid, is practically as liz
| different TO God and TO eternity as before.
The Sabbath services come to close;
and they are followed by the same rou-
tine of weekday worldliness as before.
In neither the one case nor the other, do
we see more of the radical influence of
Christianity, than ia the sublime aud
melting influence Of sacred music upon
the soul !; and all this tide of emotion is
found TO die away from the bosom, like
the pathos, or like the loneliness of a
song.
The instances may be multiplied with
out number. A man may have taste
for eloquence, and eloquence the most
touching-or sublime may lift her pleading
voice on the side of religion. A man may
love TO have his understanding stimulated
by the ingennities, or the resistless ur-
gencies oil an argument: an argument the
most profound and the most overbeariDg,
may put forth all the might of con-
straining yehemence in behalf of religion.
A man may feel the rejoicing of con-
scious elevation, when some ideal scene
of magniicence is laid before him and
where are these scenes so readily to be
met with, as when led TO expatiate in
thought over the tract of eternity, or to
survey the wonders of creation, or to
look to the magnitude of those great and
universal interests which lie within the
compass of religion A man may have
his attention rivited and RECALLED by that
power of initiative description, which
brings all the recollections Of his own ex-
perience before him; which presents him
with faithful analysis of his own heart
which embodies in language such intima-
cies Of observation and of feeling, as have
often passed before his eyes, or played
within his bosom, but had never been so
truly or SO ably pictured to his remem-
brance. Now, all this may be done in
the work of pressing the duties of reli.
gion in the work of instancing the appli-
cations OF religion; in the work Of point
ing those illusions to life and to manners,
which manifest the truth to the con-
science, and plant such a conviction of
sin as forms the very basis Of sinners
religion. Now, in all these cases, | see
other principles brought into action, and
which may be in state Of most lively and
vigorous movement, and be yet in state
of entire separation from the principle Of
religion.
will make bold TO say, on the strength
of these illustrations, that as much de-
light may emanate from the pulpit on an
arrested audience beneath it, as ever
emanated from the boards of theatre
aye, and with as total disjunction of mind
too, in the one case as in the other, from
the essence of the habit of religion. re-
cur TO the test make my appeal to ex-
perieDce; and / put it to you ali, whether
your finding upon the subject do not
agree with my saying about it, that a man
may weep, and admire, aud have many
of his faculties put upon the stretch Of
heir most intense grati6cation-his judg-
mert established, and his fancy enlivened,
and his feelings overpowered, and his
hearing charmed as sby the accents Of
heavenly persuasion, and all within him
feasted by the rich and varied Injuries Of
an intellectual banquet! Oh! it is cruel
to frown unmannerly in the midst of SO
much satisfaction. But / must not forget
that truth has her authority as well as her
sternness; and she forces me to affirm,
that after all that has been felt and gone
through, there might not be one princi-
pie which lies at the turning point of con-
yersation, that has experienced single
moment--not one Of its doings being ac-
complished mot one step of that repent
anee which if wa havo oot xpe m orieh en-
much as entered upon-not one announce
ment of that faith, by which we are saved,
admitted into real and actual possession
by the inner man. He has had his hours
entertainment and willingly does he award