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services are valuable in any other respect, than as they tend to promote some further purpose, is to confound the notion of religion with the demands of a superior. Christianity demands religious services, not for their value in themselves, but to answer some higher purpose, either of improvement or comfort. The gospel does not confine our consciences to these religious rites, as the whole of our duty; nor does it require us to consider the time which is not spent in acts of this kind as lost or wasted. Nor does the gospel encourage us to judge of our progress in virtue by the number of these external acts of worship, or our disposition to multiply them. In this I am not discouraging the most diligent attention to these duties. God knows they require to be in every way encouraged and awakened; but I would dispel the illusion which prevails in some minds, that the value of a man's religion is to be estimated from the turn of his mind for external acts of worship, or by the time he employs in them; and to impress the conviction, that our duties toward God are of no value, unless the effect of them is perceivable in our affections in general, and the whole conduct of life.

Some seem to make christian ity a pure dispensation of mercy, designed only to pacify the terrors of conscience, or administer comfort to the sick and the dying. Hence the long delays of attending to a subject which is expected to present itself at last, as the angel of mercy, to wipe away tears, and bear away the departing

spirit in the arms of love. Such persons seem to consider the minister of religion as a messenger of consolation to the distressed spirit on its departure. He is called to appear at the couch of the dying, provided with every balm and balsam for the terrified conscience; and with tears of sympathy and words of love for the bereaved. Perhaps too the dying man had, till he was confined by his last illness, stood aloof from the minister, from the house of God, and from all the means of religion. Thus relig ion and the minister of it, are regarded as something provided only to relieve, to comfort, and to give hopes of salvation; as something which may be grasped just as we are compelled to let go our hold of the world, and every thing else we have held dear-an ultimate blessing-a provision for a moment of destitution, despondency, or necessity. To correct this most dangerous misapprehension, it is sufficient, I hope, to have stated it. Let no one indulge the idea that he may at last adopt religion as a medicine, if he will not use it as a nutriment; or think that it was provided only as an opiate for his last agonies.

By some persons religion is regarded as a business so separate from the ordinary occupations of life, that peculiar circumstances or situations are necessary to attend to its duties. Now that man has unquestionably a mistaken notion of religion, who supposes it to be impracticable in any lawful condition of life. It must first be regarded as the rule of life, and then it must be

made the business of life; and when it is properly understood, it will regulate, and not banish, our lawful and customary oceupations. Religion may be incorporated with all the vanities of useful and innocent occupations; controlling, limiting, inspiring and purifying the whole course of the thoughts, the conversation and the actions. It is this false idea of the separate existence of the religious character, that has generated the swarms of unprofitable ecclesiastics, mysties, monks, devotees and fanatics in the papal church. It is this which leads the sensual and worldly to say to the faithful monitor, I look forward to the day when I shall have more time to attend to the subject.

Another incorrect notion of religion is, that it consists in certain unexplained impulses of the mind, or sensations of pleasure in particular views of christianity, which cannot be explained. This view of things seems to remove the tests of real goodness out of the observation of the world, and to place them in the heart, where it is accessible only to him who is the subject of these impulses. It seems to imply, that for the purpose of attaining truth on the subject of religion, or rather to perceive in all its force the truth as it already exists, a new faculty must be created in the mind, the operations of which are not to be regulated by the laws of common belief, or explained in analogy with the common nature of mén. By these remarks, hewever, I am far from asserting that the feelings, sympathies,

hopes and fears of a man, truly religious, are not very different from those of him who has never made religion a subject of se rious reficction, or who has never resolved to guide his conduct by its rules; they must be so of course. I mean only to assert, that there is nothing in a relig ious habit of the mind, which may not be explained by the common laws of the human character, by the operation of relig ious motives, and the genuine influence of hope, fear, and love, accompanied by a knowledge of our duty, and grounded on the simple truths of the gospel.

But from what has been said on this subject, I beg it may not be concluded, that I am insensible of the importance of the affections. I know that without them, we shall never find the ways of religion ways of pleas autness and all her paths peace. I only contend against that vanity, which would make one man's feelings the test of another's sincerity, or which spends itself in unprofitable attempts to effect glow or frame of mind, which produces no other good to ourselves or others, than merely to exhilirate while it lasts.

To conclude, I cannot forbear saying, that no mistake of the nature of christianity, which is at the same time consistent with a supreme fear of offending God, or with a solicitude for everlasting salvation, or with an unaffected love of the well being of others, is half so much to be dreaded, to be lamented, to be deprecated and condemned, as that state of profound supineness, that gross unconcern and indifference to re

ligion, which sometimes assumes the name and the honors of liberality and superior wisdom. Any existing superstition, any of the common stages of fanaticism, is to be preferred to that dead, profane, sensual, worldly heart, which has never feared, never thought, never resolved upon the service of God. I would rather you would count your beads, and macerate your bodies, and pour out your prayers to the virgin and the whole calendar of saints, and even admit all the absurdities of scholastic theology, than that you should claim to yourself the merit of superior wisdom, because you can laugh at absurdity, and think there is nothing left of religion, when stripped of these corruptions. I would rather you would sink into the depths of mystical devotion, than that you should imagine a religion may be tolerated by the God of love, in which your affections have no share. I would rather you should suffer the terrors of superstition, and hear the voice of an angry God in every blast that passes by

you, or see a ghost in every dream and every solitude, than that you should live on without God in the world, without thought of eternity-in luxury, in dissoluteness, in secret sins with the vain hope that religion will come at last, and offer you mercy and salvation in a dying hour. I would rather your life should be spent in the most vulgar and childish acts of devotion, or that your religion should consist in a succession of the most fanciful impulses and dreadful agitations of mind, than that you should live on without ever having asked the question, "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." "If you do this, you will find the fruit of the spirit of religion to be "love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;" against which there is no law.

B.

LIFE OF DR. CAMPBELL.

IN several of the preceding Numbers of our work, we have given extracts from the writings of Dr. Campbell. Believing that our readers must desire to be admitted to a more intimate acquaintance with this great and good man, we have collected from his biographers, the follow, ing notices of his life and char.

acter.

George Campbell, D. D. was born at Aberdeen on the 25th of

December, 1719. His father, who was one of the ministers of that city, and was a man of great simplicity of manners and benevolence of character, died suddenly in 1728, and left his family, consisting of three sons and three daughters, in circumstances not very affluent. This event, which

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at first bore an unfavorable aspect on the future fortunes of the subject of this article, who was the youngest son, proved advantageous to him by the necessity of personal exertion which it imposed, and by the early and powerful stimulous which it gave to the innaté energies of his mind. He studied the languages at the grammar school and university of his native place, and there laid the foundation of that critical erudition, by which he was afterwards so much distinguished. At first, he intended to follow the profession of the law, and actually completed his course of preparation for it; but he soon abandoned his situation, and began to qualify himself for the clerical office. The short time, however, which he spent in'study ing law, was advantageous to him, as it furnished him with a general knowledge of that important subject, accustomed him to closeness and ingenuity of reasoning, and gave him the faculty of drawing up papers with accuracy and skill.

Having attended the theolog. ical classes both at Edinburgh and Aberdeen, during the requisite number of years, and having undergone the probationary trials, prescribed by the laws of the church in such cases, he was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Aberdeen on the 11th of June, 1746. On the 2d of June, 1748, he was ordained minister of Banchory Tarnan, a parish in Kincardineshire, 17 miles from Aberdeen. In this situation he was chiefly distinguished by his powers of leetur ing, or expounding the scrip

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tures, a practice which forms a regular part of the service of the church of Scotland. Here he formed the plan of his translation of the four gospels, and here he also drew up a part of his Philosophy of Rhetoric. During his settlement in this parish, he married a lady, who contributed in a very great degree to the prolongation and happiness of his life, and who was spared to him till a very few years before his death.

After he had been nine years the minister of this place, he was translated to Aberdeen, June 23, 1757, and became one of the ministers of that city. This new situation, in which he had easy access to books, enjoyed the opportunity of associating with literary men, and lived in the immediate neighborhood of twe universities, stimulated him to greater efforts, and led him on to higher attainments than he conld have been expected to make in the narrow sphere to which he had been hitherto confined. Here his reputation as a lecturer, or expounder of holy writ was established and inereased, and whilst he was sedulously attentive to the pe culiar duties of his profession, he cultivated, with diligence and success, the taste he had alrea dy indulged for literature and philosophy.

About a year after his settlement in Aberdeen, a society was formed, which afforded him the means at once of improving his mind, and displaying his talents. Among his associates in this soeiety, were Reid, Gregory, Gerard and Beattie, and here were

first conceived and partially produced, many of those writings by which these eminent men have done honor to themselves and service to mankiud.

In 1759, he was made Principal of Marischal College, then vacant by the death of Principal Polloch. Hitherto he had published nothing but a sermon, preached before the synod of Aberdeen in 1953, on the character of a minister as a teacher and pattern; and he himself thought so little of it, as to exelude it from the collection of sermons which he made a little before his death.

Soon after his appointment to the office of principal, he published his celebrated Dissertation on Miracles, in answer to Mr. Hume's essay on that subject. The substance of it was delivered in a sermon before the provincial synod of Aberdeen in 1760, and afterwards moulded into the form of a dissertation. Before it was published, a copy of it was sent to Dr. Blair of Edinburgh, and communicated to Mr. Hume; and when the author had availed himself of the remarks both of his friend and his opponent, he presented it to the public in 1763. Previous to this, he had received, without any solicitation on his part, the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the neighboring university of King's college in Old Aberdeen; a title which he was more ambitious to deserve than to obtain.

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The dissertation on miracles has passed through many editions, and has been translated into the French, Dutch and German languages.

For twelve years Dr. Campbell continued to discharge the offices of principal of Marischal college, and one of the ministers of Aberdeen; which he did with great honor to himself, and satisfaction to those with whom he was connected. During this time, he became a proficient in the science of Botany, and afterwards found it highly useful in the critical illustration of scripture. He also improved his acquaintance with the Greek and Latin, acquired a thorough knowledge of the Hebrew, and made himself master of the French and Italian languages. In the discharge of parochial duty he was assiduous and attentive, and was not above listening to the calls of humanity when made by the poorest of his hearers.

On the 26th of June 1771, he was elected Professor of Divinity in the Marischal college in the room of Dr. Gerard. This appointment was attended with the resignation of his pastoral charge as one of the ministers of Aberdeen. But as minister of Grayfriars, an office connected with the professorship, he was obliged to preach once every Lord's day in one of the established churches.

As a professor of divinity, he made great exertions to be useful. He nearly doubled the number of lectures which the students had been accustomed to receive, and introduced several improvements, which discovered the soundness of his own judgment, and the zeal with which he labored for the advancement of his pupils. His manner of delivering his lectures was such

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