less revolutions, and to escape the fires of faction that consumed them, took refuge in despotism.

"Will patriotism and love of national glory do it? I know that this is a principle of great efficacy, to which warriors and poets are wont to appeal. But this sentiment of itself, is no basis for good government. Whose tongue does it keep from perjury? whose hand from theft or murder?-Conscience,―a public conscience, that regards God with reverence, can make good citizens, and nothing else can do it. Short of this, theories that presume on the perpetuity of our institutions, because the people are enlightened and free, may do for political declaimers, but they are mere talk. There must be some principle that goes deep to the springs of moral action, and derives efficacy from a perfect law, and an eternal retribution."

In these discourses, the author is exhibited, not only as an enlightened Christian, but as, in the best sense of the term, a PATRIOT. We would that the sentiments he has uttered were echoed, in notes of thunder, through the length and breadth of the land.

5. Memoirs of Mrs. Susan Huntington, of Boston, Mass., designed for the Young. By an Early Friend. New-Haven: A. H. Maltby. 1831. pp. 129.

The design of this little work is to " portray the character of Mrs. Huntington in her childhood and youth, with more minuteness than was found convenient in the larger volume." It is intended particularly for the benefit of the young, and can hardly be read by them, especially by young females, without interest and profit. It is of great importance, as the authoress observes, "that the lives of those who were pious in childhood be presented to the young; that, at this erring period, they may have models continually before them, not only of ministers, missionaries, and martyrs, who have fought the good fight, but of little children and youth also, who were beset with temptations like their own, and were enabled to triumph over them."

REVIVALS OF RELIGION.

We cannot be supposed to have been indifferent spectators of the recent Revivals of Religion, with which God has been pleased to bless our country, and to distinguish our age, beyond that of almost any other since the times of the Apostles. So far from indifference, we have watched these Revivals, their origin, their progress, and the means used to promote them, with intense interest. Hitherto we have neglected, partly from necessity, and partly by design, to speak of them in our pages. A reasonable portion of several succeeding numbers will be devoted to the subject of Revivals.

A REVIVAL of Religion is a season when the children of God are specially engaged in the duties of religion, and feel and exemplify in an unusual degree its power; and when sinners, in considerable numbers, are awakened and converted. It is evident both from scripture and facts, that revivals of religion are to be attributed to the special operations of the Spirit of God, exerted through the instrumentality of truth, and with the concurring prayers and labors of his people.

Revivals of religion have not been peculiar to any country or period of the church, but in every place, and in every age, when the people of God have awaked to their duty, and his ministers have faithfully dispensed his word, he has followed their labors with a blessing. The primitive age of the church was a season of special and powerful revivals of religion. The Spirit of God was gloriously shed forth, sinners in vast numbers were converted, and the religion of the cross spread, in a few centuries, over the greater part of the then known world.

The reformation from Popery was accomplished, in no small degree, by revivals of religion. The phraseology at present applied to them was not, indeed, at that time in use, but the things signified by it were every where visible. God's ministers were excited to great earnestness in prayer, and boldness and faithfulness in preaching the gospel, and their labors were eminently successful. Sinners by hundreds and thousands were converted, churches were purified and established, and the professors of a corrupt religion were induced to forsake it and embrace the gospel.

Near the commencement of the eighteenth century, there were powerful revivals of religion in some parts of Germany, in connexion with the labors of Arndt, Franke, Spener, and others.-The history of the Moravians, and of their various settlements, is little else than a continued narrative of revivals of religion. The times

1

of Owen, Bunyan, and Baxter were seasons of spiritual refreshing in many parts of England. No one can read the accounts of Baxter's labors and success at Kidderminster, without perceiving that the scenes there exhibited, in every thing except the name, resembled the modern revivals of religion. In the next century, religion was greatly revived in England, under the ministry of Whitefield and the Wesleys.

ness."

There have been revivals at different periods in Scotland, from the Reformation to the present time. Mr. Fleming records "an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit in the West of Scotland about the year 1625," called by the "profane rabble the Stewarton sickHe also mentions a season of "communion at the Kirk of the Shots, June 20, 1630," when as many as five hundred were hopefully converted in a day.* In the Christian History, a periodical published in Boston, in the year 1743-4, more than forty places are mentioned in Scotland in which revivals of religion were at that time in progress.—A revival took place in the north of Ireland, about the year 1628, which Mr. Fleming regards as "one of the largest manifestations of the Spirit, and of the most solemn times of the down-pouring thereof, that hath been seen, since the days of the Apostles."-There have been frequent revivals of religion, during the last half century in Wales, by means of which the number of hopeful Christians in the Principality has been greatly increased. A revival commenced there so late as 1827, in consequence of which, within about fifteen months, more than 3000 persons were added to the independent churches.-"There is," says a sensible writer, a nearer approximation to what are called revivals of religion in some of the Congregational churches in England, than is usually supposed in this country. The admission of two hundred members in one year to a single church, as at Manchester, would be thought a Revival in America. Yet it was not spoken of as such in the religious circles in England.”—The revivals which have occurred, within a few of the last years, at the Society and Sandwich Islands, at Ceylon, and at various other places among the heathen, show also, that these visits of mercy are not, as has sometimes been sneeringly represented, peculiar to the United States, but are enjoyed in every place, where there is earnest effectual prayer, connected with the faithful ministration of the gospel.

It would be wrong, however, not to admit, with humble gratitude and joy, that our country has been distinguished, perhaps above every other, by the special operations of the Divine Spirit, and by the frequency and power of revivals of religion. Revivals commenced here almost as soon as the country was settled. "It pleased the Lord," says Gov. Winthrop, " to give special testimony of his presence in the church of Boston, after Mr. Cotton was call

* Fulfilling of the Scriptures, p. 302.

ed to office there. More were converted and added to that church, than to all the other churches in the Bay. Divers profane and notoriously evil persons came and confessed their sins, and were comfortably received into the bosom of the church." It It appears from the records that thirty-seven were added to the church in Boston (for there was then but one church) in the space of three months. Similar tokens of the presence of the Holy Spirit were manifest at that early period in Dorchester, in Cambridge, and at several other places.*

The general and powerful revivals with which our country was visited near the middle of the last century, have been often described. The work commenced in Northampton, under the searching and powerful ministry of Mr. Edwards. Here it continued and prevailed, "till there was scarcely a person in the town, either old or young, that was left unconcerned about the things of the eternal world." In the spring of the next year, it extended into the neighboring region, and nearly all the towns in old Hampshire county were visited and revived. It also prevailed in different parts of Connecticut, and in New Jersey.

In 1738, the celebrated Mr. Whitefield first visited the country. He commenced his labors in the southern provinces, and did not visit New England, until the autumn of 1740. During his first visit, his labors in Boston and other places, were followed by a very unusual and general attention to religion. "Multitudes were greatly affected, and many awakened, with his lively ministry. Great numbers in Boston," says Mr. Prince, "were so happily concerned about their souls, as we had never seen any thing like it before." In the winter following, Mr. Gilbert Tennent came into New England, where his labors also were abundant, and were greatly blessed. The revival in Boston exceeded any thing ever before witnessed in this part of the country. "The very face of the town seemed to be changed," so as to occasion "great surprise" to the strangers who visited it. From Boston the work spread in every direction over the settled portions of New England. In the Christian History, mention is made of nearly fifty towns in the several provinces,

* Mr. Roger Clap, speaking of events which took place soon after the settlement of Dorchester, says, "In those days, did God manifest his presence among us, in converting many souls; and in gathering his dear ones into church fellowship by solemn covenant." "Our hearts were taken off from old England, and set upon Heaven. The discourse, not only of the aged, but of the youth also, was not, 'How shall we go to England' ? but 'How shall we go to Heaven? Have I true grace wrought in my heart? Have I Christ or no'? O the many tears that have been shed in Dorchester meeting house at such times, both by those who have declared God's work on their souls, and by those who have heard them"!

Of Mr. Shepard of Cambridge Mr. Prince observes, "I was told when a youth by elderly people, that he scarce ever preached a sermon, but some or other of his congregation were struck with great distress of soul, and cried out aloud in agony, 'What shall I do to be saved'? And when the people returned from meeting, it was a question which those who had been detained at home were wont to ask them, 'Whether any body appeared to be wrought upon to day? Whether there were any visible effects of the word?" Christian History, vol. i. pp. 72, 216.

on which the Spirit of God was specially poured out, nearly at the same time.

From the close of this season of refreshing, until after the termination of the revolutionary war, the work of God in this country was fearfully at a stand. The minds of people, ministers and others, were engrossed with other subjects, and the interests of religion and the soul were neglected. But near the beginning of the present century, a new era seems to have commenced. Revivals became more frequent, and were marked with more signal tokens of the Divine presence and power. And from that period to the present, the work may be said, in general, to have continued and increased. There have been intervals, indeed, of religious declension, and the withdrawment of the Holy Spirit; but these have been followed, in most instances, with humiliation and prayer, and by a speedy renewal of the Divine blessing.

The year 1829 was one of uncommon spiritual desertion. The number of revivals was comparatively few, and the inquiry was often urged upon the hearts of Christians, Wherefore is the Lord contending with us'? Near the commencement of the last year, the prospect became more cheering. Drops of mercy were scattered here and there, and revivals occurred in different places. It was not, however, till the latter part of the year, that these drops began to thicken, and to show indications of a general shower.

The recent revivals of religion, as they have been termed, appear to have commenced in the Western part of New York, in Rochester and the surrounding region, in the autumn of 1830. During the next three or four months, the work spread rapidly, and extended itself over a considerable portion of the state. In the course of the winter, favorable appearances were observed in the city of New York, which, at the opening of the spring, assumed a most cheering and decisive character. Nearly all the evangelical churches in the city have shared in the revival, and thousands, it is hoped, have been born of God. Whilst the work was thus pervading the city and state of New-York, it made its appearance in the Western parts of Massachusetts, and in various places in Connecticut. At the same time, the tokens of God's presence and power were displayed in some of the principal towns in Maine. About the first of March, an unusual spirit of prayer was imparted to the churches in Boston, and it began to be apparent that the Lord was there. From that time, the work has been in progress in Boston, and the surrounding region, and many have been made the happy subjects of renewing grace. At the same time that the revival was thus extending itself Eastward, it was also spreading to the South and West. Philadelphia, Charleston, the District of Columbia, Cincinnati, and various places in the Middle, Southern, and Western States have been visited, and in nearly every place to which the work has come, it is still in progress. It has been estimated