It has been stated, also, to be the duty of believers, to employ every means in their power to eradicate all heretical and infidel opinions; to advance a reformation of public morals; and to promote the diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge: which are all so dependent one upon another, that they may be viewed in connexion, when considering the course the faithful servants of the Lord are called upon to adopt, under circumstances of almost unexampled difficulty, in this country. Once more, let them be admonished, that their lot is cast upon times which require the highest degree of energy, activity, zeal, and fidelity, in their Master’s service. Let no one imagine his station in life so low, that he possesses no influence, nor consider his talents so small that he can be of no use: much would be gained if the friends of religion would all openly range themselves on the side of the Lord; for such a demonstration of strength would overawe the enemies of the faith. But how great would be the triumph if all, whose hope is in the Lord’s Christ, raised throughout the land, their voice and hands in his most holy cause! The fact cannot be mistaken—and to disguise it would be culpable—that up to this time that decided movement has not been made by the servants of the Lord, which the awful crisis at which we have arrived so imperatively demands. Some appear to look on, whilst a furious assault is made upon the Sion of our God, with the heartless selfishness which says, “it will last my time;” others gaze with a strange apathy; others, bewildered with fear, know not how to act; and others seek only to defend and preserve their own party and property, forgetful that, if the common cause fail, they will be involved in the common destruction. But the Church of Christ is built upon a rock, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” [111] If the alarm were only sounded generally through the kingdom, the cause of the Lord would not want defenders, both numerous and powerful, and the discomfited emissaries of Satan would be driven from the field.
Mankind are always disposed to close their eyes against unpleasant objects,—to shut their ears against unwelcome truths. Thus we are willing to be deceived: if we see evils increasing, we still hope they are only partial and temporary; if alarming reports reach us, we persuade ourselves that they must be false or exaggerated. And if the danger become so near as to menace our personal safety, such is the indolence, weakness, and timidity of many, we often try to escape rather than to combat, to avert rather than to overcome, even when we know our only reasonable prospect of success is not in flight but in resistance, not in making terms with, but in vanquishing the enemy. The announcements, therefore, which have from time to time been made of the increasing activity of the emissaries of infidelity, and of the extensive circulation of sceptical, profane, and blasphemous publications, appear to have been met by the public at large either with indifference or incredulity; but the prospect is now so alarming, the peril so imminent, that all must rouse themselves, and acquit themselves like men, or they may too late have to mourn the folly of incredulity, and the sinfulness of indifference, when warned and appealed to in behalf of religion.
Let not these observations be considered otherwise than as offered in the spirit of a faithful discharge of duty: there is far from any wish to create unnecessary alarm; there is a strong feeling that to give uncalled-for admonition, would be presumptuous, and to pass unmerited censure, would be criminal; but he who undertakes to state the duty of a Christian people under a Divine visitation, whilst he entreats and exhorts with all meekness, and love, and reverence, must fearlessly pursue an impartial and unprejudiced course; for terrible would be his condemnation if he intentionally extenuated the evil or compromised the truth: he would resemble the false teachers of old, who “healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.” [113]
To prove, however, that these are neither the unauthorized representations of mistaken views, nor the groundless creations of false alarm, let the opinions of writers, as to the dangers which threaten the cause of religion in this country, be heard,—of writers, whose station and reputation entitle them to respect. “The signs of the times,” observes the Bishop of London, in his Charge of last year, addressed to the clergy of his diocese,—“the signs of the times are surely such as to indicate to him who attentively observes the movements of God’s providence, the approach, if not the arrival of a period pregnant with important consequences to the cause of religion. The spirit of infidelity, which at the close of the last century unhinged the frame of society, and overturned the altars of God in a neighbouring country, but was repressed, and shamed, and put to silence, by the Christian energies of this country, is again rearing its head; and the truths of the Gospel are denied, and its doctrines derided, and its blessed Author is reviled and blasphemed by men whom the force of human laws has been found unable to restrain. And if it be said that these are few in number, and insignificant in point of talent and learning, there is a more numerous class amongst us, who look upon religion merely as a necessary part of every system of government; who would introduce the principles of a miserable political economy into its institutions and ministry; and who take no personal interest in its consolations or its ordinances. And there is also a powerful and active body of men who are attempting to lay other foundations of the social virtues and duties than those which are everlastingly laid in the Gospel, and to propose other sanctions, and other rules of conduct, and other rewards, than those which are proposed in the Word of Revelation.” [114]
The Bishop of Durham, in his Charge, delivered during the autumn of the present year, thus addresses his clergy:—“Yet while we would thus fain bury the past in oblivion, can we shut our eyes to the existing dangers which beset us, from whatever cause they may have arisen? Can we look around and see Infidelity and Atheism on one side, Fanaticism on another; Popery advancing in this direction, Socinianism in that; dissent, lukewarmness, apathy, each with multitudes in its train, without perceiving such an accession of strength to our adversaries, as none of the present generation have ever before witnessed? To exaggerate these evils, or to oppress the friends of religion and social order with excessive apprehensions of danger, can never be the policy of considerate men. But neither are we justified in saying ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace; or in holding out illusory representations which every discerning observer must perceive to be unfounded.” [115]
And after stating the “duties to which we are now indispensably called,” the Bishop continues:—“that, in a Christian country like this, and in so advanced a stage of mental cultivation, as is the boast of the present day, it should be needful to press these admonitions, is indeed grievous. And if we enquire how it has become needful, the answer is but too obvious. The main root of the evil lies in a want of sound, sober, and practical religious feeling; operating steadily throughout the community, and influencing the conduct in all the various departments of social life. The want of this is discernible in attempts to carry on the work of popular education, without teaching religion for its basis; in the systematic and avowed separation of civil and political from Christian obligations; in the disposition to consider all truths, on whatever sacred authority they may rest, as matters of mere human opinion; and in a persuasion that the whole concern of government, of legislation, and of social order, may be conducted as if there were no moral ruler of the universe controlling the destinies of men or of nations: no other responsibilities than those which subsist between man and man, unamenable to a higher tribunal. So long as these pernicious sentiments obtain currency amongst us, (and who will say that they do not fearfully prevail in every rank and every station?) it is impossible for any believer in a righteous Providence not to look on such a state of things with unwonted misgivings.” [116]
The statements as to the number, power, and malignity of the enemies of religion, made by these two Prelates, supply the powerfully sketched out line of a terrible picture, which becomes still more terrific when filled up with the details which may be derived from other sources. “There is another subject,” says an able writer, in the British Critic, “which gives us, we confess, more uneasiness, and becomes every day more difficult and painful, and that is the renewed and increasing efforts made by scoffers and infidels, not only in our country, but others, to profit by the disturbed state of the public mind, and to disseminate as widely as possible their infernal poison amongst the needy, the ignorant, and the profligate; at once goading them to cruel disorders and excess, and robbing them of all hope of an hereafter. It cannot be known, excepting to those who make it their business to enquire, what pains, and patience, and ingenuity, are now bestowed upon this accursed work. Infidel books, and infidel teachers, we have always had; but certainly there never was a moment when the art of corrupting the minds of the people was carried to so high a pitch, or exercised with so much effrontery; nor ever were the fruits of it so frightfully conspicuous. It is revolting to think of them, and it were a task to make the heart sick to detail them; but it may suffice to state, that besides the public discourses which are delivered almost daily by the great masters of the school in the Rotunda, and in other places amongst the crowded outskirts of the metropolis, for the avowed specific purpose of advocating the cause of infidelity, it is a well known fact, that blasphemous and profane lectures are delivered three times a week, in the City itself, to large audiences of labourers and artizans, after their daily task is done, from each of whom a penny a piece is collected, under the head of infidel rent.
“Nor is the press behind-hand with them in their course: for whilst numerous hawkers and other emissaries scatter unsparingly in lanes and alleys their pennyworths of profanation, the great emporium blazons forth its more elaborate blasphemies with fresh spirit, in characters which those who run may read—a standing monument of its interminable hostility to the Gospel, and of the utter hopelessness of all legal measures to restrain it.”
Such was the account laid before the public in the beginning of this year, of a scheme, skilfully planned, and actively conducted, for corrupting the religious principles of the working population of the country, and thus paving the way for the ruin of social order, and the subversion of civil society. Since then the strong arm of the law has seized upon the arch infidel, but his murky den still remains: the Rotunda is said to be made the scene of more horrible impieties than ever; and the great work of teaching and disseminating infidelity, though more covertly, is equally extensively carried on.
We possess, then, certain information, supplied by these and various other distinguished writers, as to the two facts—the progress of a secret undermining of the influence of Christianity now going forward in the middle and higher classes of society; and in the lower, of an organized system of open and violent aggression, not merely upon the principles of religion, but the decencies of life. Surely this should fill with alarm and rouse to exertion all who fear God and love their country; for the preservation of the national faith is essential to the continuance of national and individual happiness and prosperity. Before, however, examining further into these frightful evils, and offering some suggestions as to the course believers should adopt, let an enquiry be made as to their probable influence upon the moral state of the great bulk of the people.