gion, are fast becoming obsolete; the world has outgrown them; and they will soon be cast off. Men will have a more rational system, or they will have none. Of the latter, we trust, there is no danger. The present is decidedly, and remarkably, a religious age. We do not believe there has been a time since the introduction of Christianity, when the sense of religious obligation, and the conviction of its essential importance to the well being of man, was so general, and so deep as at present. The reign of scepticism and irreligion has passed away. This spirit has sown its seed, and reaped its harvestthe wind, and the whirlwind. The world is satisfied with the experiment; and will hardly be induced to repeat it. Reason has returned to its natural alliance with piety and devotional feeling; an alliance, which, for the benefit of both parties, we trust will never be dissolved, On these grounds rests our confidence in the final triumph of rational Christianity. A thick cloud, we are aware, has long rested on the religious world; but we behold the bow of promise spreading its beautiful arch athwart the dark surface, and brightening as it expands. We see the lifting' of the mists, even from those tracts where they have hovered longest and gathered thickest. Bright breezes, we doubt not, will soon spring up, and the dark masses roll away for ever. A C C E P T A NCE WITH GOD. BY NOAH WORCESTER, D. D. PRINTED FOR THE American Unitarian Association. BOSTON: CHARLES BOWEN, 141 WASHINGTON STREET. Price 4 Cents. THE OCCASION OF THIS TRACT. THIS Tract was occasioned by the following circumstances. After having spent many months in inquiries relating to the ground of acceptance with God, and the truth of the popular hypothesis that the righteousness of Christ is the only ground of the sinner's justification, I happened to read a little book, entitled Incidents in the Life of President Dwight,' which contained the solemn testimony that I have copied in the following pages. I had previously written a series of about twenty numbers, which I intended to prepare for publication. But the testimony of Dr Dwight, in opposition to my views, seemed to demand my attention; and it was given in a form, which afforded an opportunity for what appeared to me a striking contrast between his testimony and that of the Messiah. By exhibiting the contrast, I thought I should have opportunity to make my own views on the subject intelligible to Christians in general, and this in a form both concise and perspicuous. I therefore resolved to give a summary view of the different opinions on the subject, in the form of a Tract. Dwight was a man of eminence in public estimation, and he was so in mine. Hence there is the greater obligation to try to correct what was erroneous in his writings; and hence, too, I have been free from all temptation to write a single word reproachful to his character. To correct what was erroneous in his opinions, is not reproaching his character; it is but doing what I would that others should do to me. 1 Dr The article entitled Paul's Ground of Rejoicing,' had been written (excepting the N. B.) prior to my seeing the testimony of Dr Dwight. It may properly be given in connexion with other testimonies from the Neighborhood of the Eternal World;' for a great part, if not all I have quoted from his testimony, was written when he was such an one as Paul the aged,' and one who lived in expectation soon to finish his course.' TESTIMONIES FROM THE 'NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE ETERNAL WORLD.' PRESIDENT DWIGHT'S TESTIMONY. BEFORE his last sickness, President Dwight had a severe attack of disease, which brought him near to the grave. But from this sickness God so far restored him, that he was again able to preach; and he took occasion to preach to his students with direct allusion to his then recent sickness, and the views he entertained in the prospect of speedy dissolution. The following is an extract from his address, at the conclusion of the sermon. Speaking to the scholars of what might be their views and feelings on a death bed, he observed: 'But no acts of obedience will then appear to you to have merited, in any sense, acceptance with God. In this view, those acts of my life concerning which I had entertained the best hopes, which I was permitted to entertain, those which to me appeared the least exceptionable, were nothing and less than nothing. The mercy of God, as exercised towards our lost race |