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ening repetition, that the people have at length determined to let us know that they are indeed our sovereigns in the broadest sense of that word; that they are, in reality, above all law and order, superior to the magistrate, and have the right to act in their collective capacity without any reference to either law or justice. Hence the mobs which have disturbed and disgraced our country. Hence civil courts have been set at defiance, magistrates insulted, the regular process of justice impeded and outraged, while the echo from our halls of legislation, "the sovereignty of the people," has been made the basis of these riotous proceedings. Such are the perversions of truth! Such the abuses of those principles which lie at the foundation of our social and civil compact!

But we do not wish to be misunderstood upon this topic. We mean not to say that the people do not possess the original right of self-government, and that, therefore, the government did not emanate from them. This is admitted. But what we mean to say is, that having declared their preference for the form of government which they wish to "reign over them," they are bound to submit to it; to have it administered as the constitution of their own framing has directed; and to allow the laws to have their full "force, power, and virtue," according to their meaning and design; and to acknowledge that whenever an attempt is made, by a tumultuous assemblage of the people, to usurp the powers of government, to control the magistrate in the lawful exercise of his high trust, or to supersede his powers by the interference of a mob, and thus to trample the laws beneath their feet, they are rising against the government of their choice, and contributing most effectually to prostrate the liberties guarantied to them by the constitutional compact. Against this evil, therefore, let every true man raise his voice.

4. We are not certain that crime increases in our country; but it is unquestionable that virtue is essential to the stability of our institutions. Read the history of the world, and you will find that the prevalence of wickedness, and the indulgence of luxury, idleness, and profaneness, have always been the precursors of the downfall of nations. It is easy to see how these things naturally work the destruction of good governments. Riches beget pride, and pride leads to the gratification of the senses, and this to all manner of licentiousness; and all these together produce that effeminacy of spirit and manners which incapacitates man for either self-government or for defence against the invasions of an enemy. As wealth, therefore, increases among us, habits of industry are laid aside, and indolence, self-indulgence, and licentiousness, with all their train of evils, will pour in upon us like an overflowing flood, and sweep our institutions from the face of the earth. In addition to the natural results of these vices, they provoke God to anger against us, and thereby expose us to that destruction which comes upon those against whom his wrath is kindled. The awful judgments which came upon the Israelites, at different times, as punishments for their defection from the laws of their God, should admonish us of the danger to be apprehended from similar provocations of his just indignation. He is not only just, but also impartial in the distribution of his rewards and punishments. And think you that He, who punished the old world for their shameful defection from his laws, their rebellion

against his government, and so often interposed his authority when the descendants of Abraham gave themselves up to their own hearts' lusts, will spare us if we provoke him to anger by similar acts of rebellion against his righteous government? The very thought that he will do so is an indication that his judgments linger not, because it is an impeachment of the holiness and justice of his character.

5. What tends to enhance our wickedness, and to hasten the day of retribution, is the introduction of a vicious foreign population. We have no objection to an increase of population. Were it of the right character,-intelligent, virtuous, and industrious,-it would augment our national strength, and thereby add to our capabilities to defend ourselves against foreign aggressions. But is this the character, generally, of that flood of immigration which is inundating our country? Very far from it. The greater proportion of those who come among us are an ignorant, vicious race of beings, who are encouraged by their own governments to people our shores because they are a nuisance at home. These bring their vices with them; and, however insignificant they may appear in the estimation of some, they are no sooner naturalized here, which, indeed, requires but a short probation, than they have as much weight at our polls, and thereby have as great a share in the government of the country, as the wisest and best among us. This, therefore, is an evil of almost an uncontrollable character. They corrupt our morals, and, uniting their suffrages with those of our own citizens, who are equally reckless of the character and interests of their country, they often exert a preponderating influence over our municipal and state authorities.

To say nothing of their religious principles, which, in general, are averse to that republican simplicity by which our nation should be distinguished, their very political breath has a contagious influence, breeding civil disease and death wherever it is inhaled. As to their religion, if we may judge of its character by its fruits, it has none of that purifying and hallowing influence which pure Christianity always carries with it, and which tends to exalt man to his true dignity, and secure to him his rights and privileges. Surely a foreign population of this character, unless proper means are adopted to purify its morals, to rectify its principles, and to correct its political biases, must exert a deleterious influence upon our republican institutions, and should, therefore, be guarded against with all that vigilance which true patriotism always inspires.

In the midst of these alarming evils which prevail in our land, and threaten to undermine our free institutions and prostrate our civil and religious liberties, the lover of his country anxiously inquires, Is there no remedy? To this important inquiry we answer, most emphatically, There is. CHRISTIANITY IS THAT REMEDY. Let its pure and hallowing principles be promulgated. Let its renovating power be felt in the hearts of our fellow-citizens, and its holy precepts exemplified in practical life, and all is well. This divine system of religion presents an invulnerable shield to the Christian patriot, which will ward off every blow of the adversary of his country's rights, and enable him to defend himself against every intruder into the fair fields of liberty and happiness. What does it inculcate ? It makes the laws of eternal truth, justice, and

goodness, the basis of all human conduct; and though it finds man in possession of passions and propensities which lead him to war against these laws, yet it proposes a remedy even for these heart evils; and no sooner are its prescriptions taken and its injunctions obeyed, than the disease is removed, and the patient is restored to sound moral health. This is, therefore, the sovereign remedy for every evil we have mentioned. Do not all men see, that whenever the ruler and the ruled are governed by these laws all unrighteousness must cease? Let love, peace, and good will pervade all hearts, and actuate every man in his intercourse with his fellow, and where is there any room for rebellion against the laws of truth, justice, and goodness? This is so manifest in itself that it needs no argument to make it more so.

The conclusion, then, is this:-That it is the imperious duty of all who wish well to their country, to use their influence to propagate this religion far and near. Let the press aid the pulpit in this grand enterprise. Let those of its conductors who see and deplore the evils arising from the abuse of this powerful engine, lift up their voice in favor of just laws and civil and religious order. If all such were to unite their energies to suppress the licentiousness of those presses which pour forth their slanders, and propagate their political and moral heresies over our land, who can calculate the amount of good they might do?

What shall we say to the professedly religious press? We say, Let its conductors cease their bickerings one against another. Let these set an example to the others of their love of truth, of Christian moderation, of respect for the personal reputation of their fellow-men, their Scriptural regard for magistrates, for the laws of their country, and for that order and subordination which are essential to social existence, and they shall contribute mightily to advance their country's welfare. Let them all unite to inculcate a suitable reverence for the constitution of their country, a love for its civil and religious institutions, and a just regard for its enactments. Let all the secular and religious conductors of the press unite in frowning indignantly upon those editors who pollute their pages with personal abuse, with detraction of individual character, and with sentiments of immoral tendency, and which lead to insubordination and anarchy and to rebellion against the constituted authorities. If we can succeed so far as to make these vehicles of slander and abuse unpopular, we shall have rendered a service to the rights of humanity, to the interests of our country, and to the happiness of the present and future generations, of an untold amount. Let, then, theeffort be made. The cause is worthy of a mighty effort. If we succeed, we shall have saved our country. If we fail, we shall have deserved success by the very effort we made in so noble a cause, and, therefore, our reward is no less certain.

We would call upon all men who value their country's welfare, and who have the smallest influence, to use that influence in a cause so deeply interesting as this. Let the presidents of our colleges, the principals of our academies, the teachers of our common schools, together with all that are concerned in the education of our youth, employ their great influence in teaching the fear of God, a reverence for Christianity, a love of justice, truth, and goodness, and

veneration for magistrates, and a just regard for law and order. Let them feel and fully realize that their individual interests are identified with the interests of their country, and that both are involved in the propagation of the pure principles of Christianity. Let all parents and guardians of youth enlist in the same cause, and the work shall be done. If it be true that the people are the fountain of civil power, how indispensable is it that this fountain should be pure! How else can the government be in the hands of good men? If, then, we allow a foreign population, destitute of religious and political knowledge and principle, to infect us with their poisonous breath; if we allow our youth to riot with them in indolence, luxury, and wickedness; if we neglect to raise them to the dignity of intelligent and responsible beings, by the appliances of intellectual, moral, and religious culture; then may we expect the fair fields of our extensive and constantly extending republic to be speedily overrun with the briars and thorns of religious and political heresies, which will ultimately destroy those trees of liberty planted by our fathers, and which have been nurtured by our patriotic statesmen.

How shall this corrupt mass be purified? Can philosophy do it? In the ten thousand experiments which it has tried, it has been found a "physician of no value." Can mere mental culture do it? This is equally inefficient. Neither of these can reach the seat of the disease. They may, indeed, enlighten the understanding in political science and civil jurisprudence; but they cannot reach the heart, where is the chief seat of the disease. Here, therefore, to the heart the remedy must be applied; and Christianity alone can do the deed. This applies itself to the heart; and, if its remedies be taken, and its prescriptions followed, a radical cure is effected here; and if "the tree be made good, the fruit will be good also." Then, when the heart is changed from bad to good, if the understanding is enlightened, the judgment accurately informed on the principles of moral and political science, as well as on the great fundamentals of religion, the people will be prepared and qualified to discharge their duties with an enlightened patriotism, whether in or out of office. That magistrate who is under the influence of these principles, and is actuated by the motives inspired by love to God and man, can be guilty of no acts of cruelty, of sanctioning no oppressive measures, nor of neglecting those duties which are essential to the welfare of the state. And those citizens who are under the influence of the same judgment and mo tives, will most cordially co-operate with all such magistrates in seeking the peace and prosperity of the community at large.

Under these impressions, we once more call upon all who love their country, to use their best endeavors to diffuse this Christianity among all orders and ranks of men. Let the ignorant be instructed in its doctrines and precepts, the profligate reformed by its power, and all regulated in their social intercourse by its morals, and the state shall be safe, the country shall be blessed and happy, and our civil and religious institutions shall be preserved from deterioration, and be handed down to future generations in all their purity and integrity. Thus shall we bequeath to our posterity an inheritance more precious than gold, and more enduring in the blessings it confers upon man. kind than the everlasting hills.

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For the Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review.

ART. VI-LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR ON THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

MR. SPECTATOR,-There is one truth which the discussion respecting the witness of the Spirit between you and ourselves is well calculated to evince. It is this: that controversy, unless carefully guarded from degenerating into a mere utterance of the spirit of strife, is a twoedged sword, cutting one way as well as another-injuring the right as well as the wrong. It is likely to produce this effect, particularly when carried on through the medium of works issued at regular intervals, perused by distinct classes of readers, who read what is sent them, not because they desire information on any particular subject, but seek information because they have already bought the vehicle which conveys it. In such a case each writer has every advantage with his own readers, and none with his adversary's. For the former, he is so deeply concerned as to seek their good opinion by any means in his power; for the latter, so little as to give himself no concern as to what they think or how they feel.

It is possible, in any controversy, for those who have the truth, to defend it by insufficient arguments, or by arguments which, though they go not the whole length of conviction, are yet of some force. It is quite possible, even for those who are in the right, to misplace a word, to distort an illustration, or having a complete view in their own minds, yet not to state it fully to others. It is possible (for there is no man that liveth and may not sin) that though generally courteous and fair, they may occasionally give rein to bitterness of feeling and expression.

Under such circumstances, as flies pass over all a man's sound parts to light on the sores, so the opposing party, all for himself and for the truth only as it serves himself, may feel as though it were his privi. lege to display in full proportion the unsound, giving his reader no hint that there is a sound argument which he cannot answer; to dilate upon and magnify the harshness of his opponent's spirit and expression, without any intimation that though that spirit is occasionally irregular, yet it is generally such as it should be. This is the trick of the trade; and that class of men who in all professions can understand nothing of a trade but its tricks, will not fail to resort to it.

In rigid fairness, the whole argument on both sides should be placed before all who read on either side. The necessity, however, of this (which cannot perhaps be expected in all cases) may be obviated in a great degree by a fair and ample statement, on each side, of the arguments, objections, and illustrations on the other.

But I am not about to inflict upon you any lengthened exhortation to duty in this respect. What I think of you, and of your manner of treating the present subject, will appear shortly. Only let me observe, that as in your first piece there was not any such quotation as the case required from Mr. Wesley, whose doctrine you professed to be examining, so in your last, though there be a few curtailed extracts. VOL. VIII.-October, 1837.

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