cherished in his memory, the various means which were adopted to interest his mind in the subject of religion; the catechism, the hymns, the daily reading of the word of God, the faithful preaching of ministers, the solemn exhortation and prayers of parents. At Andover, while preparing himself for college, he enjoyed peculiar means of religious instruction, and the solemnities of a revival of religion, with which the academy was at that time blessed, made some impression on his mind. While a member of college, he was effectually restrained by his early education, from yielding to the temptations with which the young and inexperienced are so often assailed. He was distinguished for correctness of deportment, and a regular attendance on public worship and other religious exercises. At this period, and afterwards during his residence at Monson, he witnessed one of those solemn scenes, in which the power of God is manifested in reviving the graces of his children, and leading the impenitent to forsake their sins, and enter into his service. During his tutorship, he had many seasons of great solemnity of feeling; and such was his observance of moral duties, his profound respect for religion, and the readiness with which he conversed on religions subjects, that some of his christian friends hoped that they saw in him a christian brother.

Such was the state of Mr. Pettingell's feeling on religious subjects, at the commencement of the revival of religion in Yale College, in the spring of 1831. We well remember that period, and shall barely allude to what we then witnessed. The certainty that the Spirit of God was striving in the hearts of many around them, filled the most insensible with awe. The order and stillness which prevailed, rendered the whole place sacred. It was such order as men observe who are engaged in sober realities. It was the silence of those who were deciding upon interests as enduring as eternity. With what feelings did the frequent sound of the bell, inviting to the place of worship, fill the mind! With what thrilling interest was it heard, that this and that friend or companion, were rejoicing with a joy they had never known before! It was almost impossible to be unaffected amongst such solemnities. In addition to the general feeling which pervaded almost every heart, a suggestion to Mr. P. that the students under his more immediate care, were less interested than others in the seriousness around them, awakened in his mind the most solemn reflections, for it suggested the alarming thought, that he might be a stumbling block in their way. But we shall use his own language in describing the operations of his mind at this period, as we are anxious to represent them precisely as they were. He says, "On fast day, (the fast for colleges, Feb. 24,) I made VOL. IV.

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a specific determination to come to a definite decision on the subject of personal religion. I wrote a letter home to this effect, but hesitated to send it, and thought of retracting my resolution. Finally, however, I decided to send it. I spent the next sabbath in close contemplation, and had an unusual control over my thoughts. This was a different sabbath from any one I ever before enjoyed. By the influence of the Spirit of God, I obtained a visible victory over my worldly affections. The Monday succeeding, which was the monthly concert, I enjoyed the meeting much, particularly the singing of Bishop Heber's missionary hymn, which after the gratifying intelligence of God's doings throughout the country, fairly lifted me away from earth. For one or two days, I was in an ecstacy of pleasurable emotions. The effervescence of my feelings gradually subsided, and by a frequent perusal of the scriptures and social and private prayer, an attendance on public worship and plain preaching, with, I trust, a full and sincere purpose of consecrating all my being to Christ and the building up of his cause and kingdom, I have some ground to hope that I have enjoyed the comforts of religion." To make the sketch more complete, we extract from the sermon of Mr. Dimmick, quotations, which are given from the letters Mr. Pettingell wrote home at this period. "The great subject of religion which has always weighed much on my mind, has assumed a new and increasing interest, and I have some faint reason, I think, to believe that I have reaped some of the consolations of faith in Christ. I think I feel a sensible delight in contemplating the character of Christ, the merits of his death, and through him, the hopes and joys of the future life. Though my past life has been unexceptionably moral to the human eye, yet upon that I look as a meager foundation for the hopes of the gospel. Christ crucified is the only hope; faith in him and repentance of sin, is the only true foundation, for the expectation of pardon." At first his views respecting his change were cool and deliberate, and were expresssed with caution. "I have no sudden raptures," he says, "no strange ecstacies to recount to you. But I feel, that a calm and collected hope of forgiveness, founded on the great atonement, and a rational satisfaction in the things of religion, can afford a proper foundation for believing, that one may be a pardoned sinner." Soon, however, his piety was kindled into a more fervent glow. "I feel as though I could call on you," he says, "and all my christian friends, to rejoice with me, that I have found the pearl of great price. I esteem Christ the chiefest among ten thousands, the one altogether lovely. My heart is full, it is overflowing. I feel a kind of enjoyment, I never dreamed of before. I feel as though there was an excellency in religion,

which can give golden joys, which can almost imparadise the soul."

Here we would pause for a moment, and present the case of Mr. Pettingell to those who believe in the native goodness of the human heart, and who throw contempt on the doctrine of instantaneous conversion. That he was a man of the soundest judgment-eminently qualified to decide what were his real feelings before and after the change described above, all who knew him can testify. Before that change, as we have already stated, he was distinguished for his amiable affections, his deep sense of the importance of religion, his reverence for the word of God, his habitual observance of prayer, and his readiness to converse on spiritual subjects. Very few persons, we are sure, would be sooner selected by the opponents of instantaneous regeneration, to exemplify their favorite doctrine of a progressive transformation of the soul into the image of God. Yet it was his uniform testimony, that up to the time in question, his heart was fixed supremely upon the world. He knew and declared, that the governing principle of his soul had never been love to God. All his upright conduct, his amiable affections, his serious regard for religion, had resulted, he was certain, from a mere intellectual conviction, that these things are useful and right; and not from a hearty, permanent choice of GOD as the portion of his soul, and His law as the guide of his life. Such a choice he believed himself, through divine grace, to have made at the period alluded to above. If really made, it was a change in the whole moral man; for it was a change in that permanent governing principle of his soul, from which all moral actions derive their character. He felt entirely conscious of being governed, in the two periods into which his life may be divided, by the two opposing principles described above-principles so different, that from the one he had no hope, from the other a hope full of immortality. Was he mistaken as to his own consciousness? Did he delude himself as a fanatic? Has he misrepresented as a party man? Let our readers look at the character we have now given him, a character which all who knew him, will say is founded on fact, and then judge. The effects resulting from these two principles of action, in the case of Mr. Pettingell, show them to be totally distinct. View their influence on his enjoyments. To him had been opened sources of happiness, which are regarded by philosophers, as the most abundant and refined ;-the cultivation of taste and letters, the gratification of an elevated ambition in the success of whatever he had undertaken, the respect and admiration of numerous friends and acquaintance, and the consciousness of possessing a character above reproach. And he had derived pleas

ure from these sources. But suddenly, higher and intenser joys fill his mind. He feels a happiness which he never knew before; a happiness which outlives excited feeling, and increases as it is enjoyed. View their effects on his life and actions. We have already seen what he was, when actuated by no higher principles than those of natural conscience. We hope before we close, to show the practical influence of his new state of feeling. It is enough here to state, that the contrast in this respect was as great and striking, as the one exhibited in his enjoyments. Let any one now say, whether so complete a breaking up of the great purpose of life and ruling principle of action, and so obvious an assumption of another-such a filling of the soul with enjoyments before unknown, and such an impelling of the whole man to actions before shunned and unattempted, is not justly called in the strong language of the scriptures, a REGENERATION. Let any of our readers say, if they should experience a permanent change of this nature, whether they would not feel themselves to be 'new creatures.' And if such a person as Mr. Pettingell was the subject of such a change, if it was indispensable in his case to a preparation for everlasting happiness, who is there that does not need it? With what reason has our Savior declared, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God!"

There are many, however, not only among the opposers of this doctrine, but even among those who have been taught from childhood to admit its truth, who have yet very erroneous conceptions of the nature of the change for which we here contend. Strong and figurative expressions are in general use to mark the greatness and permanency of this moral transformation. Such expressions are sometimes taken in too literal a sense; and the doctrine of "the new birth" has been supposed by many to imply, that the very structure and constitution of the soul are formed anew in regeneration, by an exertion of that very kind of power which first called them into being. But the experience of every christian shows how erroneous is this opinion. It teaches him, that the change in question lies not in the faculties of his soul, but in the principles by which they are impelled to action; not in the constitution of his affections, but in the direction which is given to their exercise. In the case before us, Mr. Pettingell plainly had no new powers or faculties; those which he had always possessed, were simply employed on nobler objects and actuated by purer principles. The energy and activity of mind which had carried him so rapidly over the fieids of human learning, still distinguished his labors, and animated him to soar even with new vigor in those higher regions which religion had opened to his view. The strength of feeling which was manifested in the ardor

of his friendship and the warmth of his desires for the welfare of others, was controlled and expanded, but not changed in its constituent properties, by divine love. It glowed with a new fervor, though excited by different objects. It made him wish that the friendships of earth might be perfected in heaven, and the welfare of men be centered entirely in the salvation of the soul. The cheerfulness and amiability of his disposition remained, but invested with new attractions. His capacity for enjoyment was the same, but it found its gratification in laboring to obtain the proinise, 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.' The habit of applying his mind with all its energy to whatsoever he chose, now assisted him to contemplate with unwavering attention all the subjects of religious meditation, and thus to present them distinctly to his mind as present realities. His early and subsequent religious education, his acquaintance with the bible, although hitherto they had not brought forth heavenly fruit, now produced it a hundred fold. They interwove the strong associations of youth and parental kindness with the feelings of religion. His theoretical knowledge of divine things now became instinct with life. Neither had his extensive learning been acquired in vain; for it armed him at his first entrance on the christian warfare with heavenly weapons. In a word, though the change had made him a new creature, he was yet a man.

We know not whether Mr. Pettingell ever entertained those grossly physical views of regeneration, to which we have now alluded. It is certain, however, that he considered himself as having been misled for many years previous to his conversion, by a false philosophy on the subject, which borders very closely, at least, on such views. Sin and holiness he supposed to reside in some state or quality of the soul distinct from the faculty of the will, and antecedent to its exercises, as their impulsive cause. Here of course, in his view, was the seat of regeneration. The cause of moral action was to be changed, a cause lying back of the will, and totally beyond its reach or control. Conscious that he had no power of any kind over a state of mind thus independent of the will, he felt that all exertions on the subject were vain and useless. When pressed with the commands of God, "make you a new heart," "turn ye, for why will ye die," etc. the power of divine truth over his mind was neutralized and destroyed by this false philosophy. Whether guilty or not for remaining in disobedience of these commands, he felt himself as powerless to do any thing towards producing a cause of action within him thus independent of his will, as to create a world. He did, therefore, as thousands of others have done under the same delusion; he sat