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    it has passed through another and another crisis , " And what has heen the issue ? It is true that infidelity holds still itr ground in the United States as in Europe ; and there , as in Europe , keeps company with whatever is debauched , sordid , oppressive , reckless , ruffian * like . But , at the same time , Christianity has gained rather than lost ground , and shews itself there in a style of as much fervour and zeal as in England ; and , perhaps , even has the advantage in these respects . Wherever , on that continent , good order and intelligence are spreading , there also the religion of the Bible spreads . And if it he probable that the English race , and Ian * eruage , and institutions , will , in a century , pervade its deserts , all appearances favour the belief that the edifices of Christian worship will bless every landscape of the present wilderness that shall then ' blossom as the rose . "' - — P . 265 .

    Is there , therefore , enthusiasm in the belief that by the labours of Christians their faith may he made victorious over the false systems of religion in Heathen countries ? If we believe our faith destined to prevail , it is reasonable to hope that labours to diffuse it will not be in vain , if they be undertaken and prosecuted in the spirit , not only of love , hut of a sound mind . As to the duty of extending to benighted minds the blessings of the gospel , there can be no question : the doubt has been , whether the best

    way to fulfil this duty is to send missions to the Heathen in the modes which have been adopted during the last forty years . Our author replies in the affirmative ; and we think that while he unanswerably proves the obligation of all Christians to assist , according to their power , in the work of evangelizing the nations , he takes for granted too readily that the means made use of have been judiciously selected and controled . Much , we believe , has been done , especially in the way of preparing the nations for the great moral revolution which awaits them I but more , much more , might have been

    accomplished had the hearts of the unconverted been appealed to through the reason instead of the imagination . The incomprehensible doctrines of orthodoxy , which to the Heathen appear no more venerable than the enigmas of ancient superstition do to us , may excite their imaginations , and lead them to entertain a religious enthusiasm destined to perish like seed let fall oh rocky places ; but the only way to make them Christians in truth , is to present Christianity to them in its simplicity and purity ; to speak

    to them from the Bible , and require them to believe nothing which is contrary to their reason . Their reason , like their other faculties , is weak and undisci plined , and they must , therefore , be led on by a gradual ascent to that state when we may hope that their principles are firm and their belief efficacious . They must be gradually prepared for their Christian liberty , or their emancipation from Superstition will onl y be the precursor of their slavery to Enthusiasm or Atheism ; instead of faith they will have credulity ,

    and instead of devotion , hypocrisy . That these consequences have attended orthodox preaching in Heathen countries is well known . We hope and believe that the mischief has been more than compensated by the good effected , and that a way has been opened for an unlimited progress . Those of our readers who have watched the introduction of pure Christianity

    into India , will read the section now before us with an animating conviction , " that a pure theology , and a pure morality , shall inevitably , if zealousl y diffused , prevail till they have removed all superstitions , with all their corruptions ; " and will feel themselves called on to use every exertion to pro- * roote the spread of true religion in that country , now degraded , hut rich in its resources , and unbounded in its capabilities .

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    Natural History of Enthusiasm ? 481

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    VOL . in . 2 L

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 481, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/33/