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No. 15.— m Vol 111. EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY NATHAN S. S. BEMAN Sf CO. xw%ww The Terms of “ The Missionary” are Three {Dollars a year if paid in advance, or within sixty days from the time of subscribing; os Three Dol lars and Fifty Cents at the end of the year. No Subscription will be received for a short er time than one year, and no papei discontinued until all arrearages are paid. Advertisements will be inserted, by the % square, at 62 1-2 cents for the first insertion ; and * /or every subsequent insertion 43 3-4 cents. Those who furnish standing advertisements for the year, shall be entitled to a deduction of one quarter of the amount from the above rates. All Communications and Letters relating to the Office, will be directed to N. S. S. Beman A Cos. and whether enclosing money or not, must come POST PAID: Should any neglect to do this they will he charged with the postage. ‘FhiNTTno for Publick Officers and others will be done on the most liberal terms. AGENTS FOR THIS PAPER. AUGUSTA, 3. & ff. Ely. COLUMBIA, J.Bynom,Esq.PM.ColumbiaC.H. GREENESBOROUGH, A. H. Scott. SPARTA, Cyprian Wilcox. iR ‘VINTON, Wilkinson Th. Sherrer, Esq. PM. HARTFORD, Gardiner Esq.PM. POWELTON, S. Duggar, Esq. P M. CLINTON, Jones Cos. J. W. Carrington. SAVANNAH , S. C. & J. Schenck. JEATPNTON, C. Pendleton, Esq. P M. < ALFORD'S P.O. Greene , C. Alford, Esq. PM. ABBEVILLE, (S. C.) Rev. H. Reid. SAyDOFER, Abbeville , S. C Mai. U. Hill. MARION, Twiggs, S. Williams, Esq. PM. JEFFERSON, Jackson, Rev. E. Pharr. LIBERTY-HALL, Morgan, C. Allen, Esq. WATKINSVILLE , Clark , H. W. Scovell, Esq. P. M. RICEBORO', Liberty, Win. Baker, Esq. F M. G RANTSVILLE, Greene, Samuel Finley. PENDLETON \ S.C. Joseph Grisham, Esq. PM. DANIELSVILLE, Madison, J.l.ong, Esq. PM. ERVINSVILLE, Rutherford, N. C. Rev. Hugh Quin. ATHENS, Clarke, B. B. Peck. MADISON, Morgan , Milus Nesbit. L INCO LNTON, Lincoln.Y eter La mar,Esq. PM. SPAR TANBURGH, S.C. J.Brannon,Esq. PM. MILLEDGEVILLE, Leonard Perltins. ELBERTON , George Inskeep, Esq. P M. DUBLIN, Laurens, W. B. Coleman, Esq. P M. LOUISVILLE, Jeff ‘n, John Bostwick,Esq.PM. MALLORYSVILLE, Wilkes, Asa Dearing, Esq. P M. WAYNESBORO SamueI Sturges, Esq. P M. LAURENS, s. C. Archibald young, Esq. WRIGIITSBO RO\ Q. L. C. Franklin, Esq. MONTICF.LLO , Greene TANARUS). Brantley, Esq P vl. CARS ESVILLE, Henry Freeman, Esq. P. M. SALEM, Clark, Raleigh Green, Esq. P. M. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. OBSERVATIONS ON HIS CHARACTER AND DEATH. Extracted from Wilks’s Christian Essays. The case of our great English moralist is a most decisive illustration of the impossi bility of discovering anymore of solacing a scripturally enlightened conscience, except that which the gospel has revealed. Had Dr. Johnson been ignorant of his sinfulness in the sight of God, he might have expired, as thousands every day expire, in a blind and fatal repose ; or had he been inclined to infidelity, he might have jested, like Hume and others of a similar school, on the subject of his approaching dissolution. Neither, however, of these effects would have constituted that true peace which his spiritually-directed mind so eagerly sought, .and which, before his death, he most cer tainly obtained. A few practical remarks upon the subject of the last hours of this illustrious man, will not only be a forcible comment upon the foregoing propositions, but will tend to shew that what Dr. Johnson’s best friends and biographers have been almost ashamed to confess, and have industriously exerted themselves to palliate, constituted, in truth, the most auspicious circumstance of his life, and was the best proof of his increase in religious knowledge and holiness of mind. Whoever considers with a Christian eye, the death of Dr. Johnson, will readily per ceive that, according to the usual order of Providence, it could not have been free from agitation and anxiety. Johnson was a man of tender conscience, and one who, from his very infancy, had been instructed in Christian principles. But he was also, the strict judgment of revealed religion, in inconsistent man. Neither his habits nor his companions had been such as his own conscience approved; and even a short time before his end, we find one of his biograp'urs lamenting that “ the visits of idle and some worthless persons were never unwelcome to him, on the express ground that these things drove on time.” His ideas of morality being of the highest order, many things, which are considered by men at large but as venial offences, appeared to him as positive crimes. Even his constitu tional indolence and irritability of mind were sufficient of themselves to keep him constantly humbled and self-abased ; and though among his gay or literary compan ions he usually appears upon the compara tive! v high ground of a Christian moralist, fend the strenuous defender of revealed reli gion ; yet, compared with the Divine stand ard and the test of truth, he felt himself both defective and disobedient. Together with this conscientious feeling he hail adopted certian incorrect, not to say superstitious ideas, respecting the method of placating the Deity. He seems, fur ex ample, to have believed that penance , in its confined and popish 6ense as distinguished from simple penitence, is of great avail THE MISSIONARY. in procuring the Divine favour and forgive ness. Thus, when his conscience distres sed him on account of an act of disobedi ence to his parent, we find him many years afterwards remaining a considerable time in the rain, exposed in the publick streets to the ridicule and the conjectures of every spectator. As far as filial affection and true amiableness of mind are concerned, the actor in such a scene deserves and en sures universal veneration and esteem. Even while we smile at the somewhat ludi crous nature of the action, we instinctively feel a sympathy and respect, which perhaps a wiser, bat less remarkable mode of exhib iting his feelings, might not have procured. But Johnson seems to have performed this humiliation from higher considerations than mere sorrow for the past; for he emphati cally adds, “in contrition I stood, and I hope the penance was expiatory .” If these words really mean any thing and when did Dr. Johnson utter words with out meaning?—he must have intended by them to express his hope that the previous fault was really atoned for , in a religious sense, by the subsequent acts of self-denial; or, in other words, that God accepts human penance as an expiation for human sins ; a doctrine to which revealed religion gives no sanction whatever. Johnson’s system appears, at this time, to have been, as it were, a sort of barter between himself and Heaven, and consequently his chief fear was less the equivalent which he presented should not be sufficient to entitle him, in the Divine mercy, to the pardon of his trans gressions. His trust on the Redeemer, though perfectly sincere, does not appear to have been either exclusive or implicit; for though all his prayers for mercy and acknowledgments of blessings were offered up solely through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, be seems, in point of fact, formany years to have viewed the atone ment rather as i medium, through which God is pleased to accept our imperfect ser vices, and to make them adequate, by the conditions of a remedial law, to the pur chase of heaven, than as a sacrifice through which alone heaven is fully secured and freely given to the beliving penitent. Dr. Johnson’s line ol reading in Divinity was, perhaps, unfavourable to a full perception of Christian truth. The writings of Mr. Law in particular, which he had studied with some attention, were by no means well adapted to his peculiar case. For a thoughtless, a frivolous, or an impenitent sinner, the “ Serious Call” might have been eminently useful in exciting a deep consciousness of guilt, a salutary remorse for the past, and holy resolutions for the future ; and as far as these elements of re ligion extend, the perusal of this celebrated book might doubtless have had some good effect upon the mind of Dr. Johnson. But in the consolatory parts of the gospel; in the free and undisguised exhibition of a Redeemer, whose sacrifice is perfect and all-snfficient; in the inculcation of the gra cious promises of a reconciled Father to the returning prodigal, Law, and other writers of a similar school, are undoubtedly defective; and the same defect seems to have characterized, for many years, the views of our illustrious moralist. He lived in a perpetual dilemma, by trusting to works which his well-informed conscience told him were not good, and yet on the goodness of which, in conjunction, at least, with the merits of Christ, he placed his de pendence for eternity. To give, therefore, comfort to the mind of such a man as Dr. Johnson, there were but two modes ; either by blinding his con science, or by increasing his faith ; either by extenuating his sins, or by pointing out in all its glories the sufficiency of the Chris tian ransom. The friends who surrounded this eminent man during (he greater part of his life, were little qualified to perform the latter, and therefore very nattrally re sorted to the former. They found their patient, so to speak, in agony ; but instead of examining the wound and applying the remedy, they contented themselves with administering anodynes and opiates, and persuading their afflicted friend, that there existed no cause of if ger or alarm. But Johnson was ri thus deceived. The nostrum which has'mlled its millions to a fatal repose, on him, by the mercy of God, had no effect. His convictions of sin were lasting as they were deep; it was not, therefore, until he had discarded his natur al and long cherished views of commutation and human desert, and had learned to trust humbly and exclusively to his Saviour, that his mind became at peace. GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. -Jesus Christ. MOUNT ZION, (HANCQjCK CO. Y, SEPTEMBER 17, 1821. Let us view some of the recorded cir cumstances of the transaction ; and in so doing, we shall, as Christians, have much more occasion to applaud the Scriptural correctness of Johnson’s feelings respecting the value of his soul, the guilt of his na ture, and the inadequacy of man’s best mer its and repentance, than to congratulate him upon the accession of such “ miserable comforters” as those appear to have been, who surrounded his dying pillow. Finding him in great mental distress, “ l told him,” remarks one of his biographers,* “of the many enjoyments of which 1 thought him in possession, namely, a per * Sir John Hawkins. manent income, tolerable health, a high degree of reputation for hie moral qualities and literary exertions,” &c. Had John son’s depression of mind been nothing more than common melancholy or discontent, these topicks of consolation would have been highly appropriate; they might also have been fitly urged as arguments for gratitude and thanksgiving to the Almighty on account of such exalted mercies. In either of these points of view, the piety of Dr. Johnson would, doubtless, have promp ted him to acknowledge the value of the blessing, and the duty of contentment and praise. But, as arguments for quieting an alarmed conscience, (hey were quite inade quate, for what would it have profited this distinguished man to have gained all his w*dll-merited honours, or, even were it pos sible, the world itself, if after all, he should become, as he himself afterwards expres sed it, “ a cast-awav.” The feelings of Dr. Johnson on this sub ject were more fully evinced on a subse quent occasion: “One day in particular,” remarks Sir John Hawkins, “ when I was suggesting to him these and the like reflec tions, he gave thanks to Almighty God, but added that, notwithstanding all the above benefits, the prospect of death, which was now at no great distance from him, was be come terrible, and that he could not think ofitbut with greatpain andtroubleof mind.” Nothing assuredly could be more correct than Dr. Johnson’s distinction. He acknowl edged the value of the mercies which he enjoyed, and he gratefully “gave thanks to Almighty God” for them ; but he felt that they could not soften the terrors of a death-bed, or make the prospect of meet ing his Judge less painful and appalling. Hawkins, who could not enter into his illus trious friend's more just and enlarged views of human guilt and frailty, confesses himself to have been “ very much surprised and shocked at such a declaration from such a man;” and proceeded, therefore, to urge for his comfort the usual arguments of ex tenuation. He reports that he “ told him that he conceived his life to have been a uniform course of virtue; that he had ever shewn a deep sense of, and zeal for religion; and that, both by his example and his wri tings, he had recommended the practice of it; that he had not rested, as many do, in the exercise of common honesty, avoiding the grosser enormities, yet rejecting those advantages that result'from the belief of Di vine revelation ; but that he had, by prayer and other exercises of devotion, cultivated in his mind the seeds of goodness, and was become habitually pious. This is the rock on which numberless professed Christians have fatally split; and to the mercy of the Almighty must it be as cribed that the great and good Dr. Johnson did not add one more to the melancholy cat alogue. For what was the doctrine which the narrator attempted to inculcate but this ? that his friend, like the pharisee in the Gos pel, ought to place his confidence upon his being more meritorious than other men, & instead of attributing the praise to Him, who had “ made bim to differ,” was to “ sac rifice to his own net, and burn incense to his own drag.” Can we wonder that, with such flattering doctrines constantly sounding in his ears, Dr. Johnson was suffered to un dergo much severe mental discipline, in order to reduce him in his own es teem to that lowly place, which as a hu man, and consequently a fallen being, it was bis duty, however high his attainments, or his talents, to occupy. The snare of spiritual pride, which Sir John Hawkins thus unconsciously spread for his dying friend, was the more seductive, from the circumstance of Dr. Johnson’s life having beeD, upoD the whole, correct and laudable, and from his writings having been eminently useful for the promotion of mo rality and virtue. The convictions of a profligate man might have been supposed too keen and alarming to be quieted by such common-place soporificks; but where there was really so much apparent cause for self-complacency and gratulation, as in the case of Dr. Johnson, it must appear al most wonderful that the self-righteous de lusion did not succeed. It would undoubtedly have given this biographer much satisfaction to have heard from his friend the usual language of an un subdued heart. “ I thank God, that, upon the whole, I have acted my part well upon the stage of life. We are all frail and fal lible ; but I have no great sins to account for, I have been honest and charitable ; my conduct, I trust, has been, with some few exceptions, ‘ one uniform course of virtue 1 therefore die in peace, looking forward to that happiness which, { trust, my actions have ensured, from a God of infinite mercy and compassion.” But to the humble and well-informed Christian, the penitential sorrows of Johnson, (springing as they did, from a heart ill at ease with itself; not so much on account of any one flagrant sin, as from a general sense of the exalted nature of the Divine law, and imperfections of the best human obedience,) will appear a hap pier and surer pledge of his Scriptual reno vation of mind than the most rapturous ex pressions which pharisaick confidence could have produced. The self-righteous arguments of Haw kins could not, however, touch the case of Johnson. “These suggestions,” he con tinues, “made little impression on bim ; he lamented the indolence in which he had spent his life, talked of secret transgres sions, and seemed desirous of telling me more to that purpose, than 1 was willing to hear.” Happy was it for Dr. Johnson that bis confessor’s arguments produced so little effect, and that he was, at length, instruct ed by a better guide than his well-meaning but inexperienced friend. Had the argu ments of Hawkins effected their intended operation, we should have seen one of the greatest and most powerful mmds that ever animated a human frame, quitting its frail receptacle in a flimsy robe of self-righte ousness, which must have fallen from its grasp immediately after death, leaving the soul naked, and guilty, and defenceless, before its Almighty Judge. It is easy to conceive the language of a plain practical Christian, while he stood be side the death-bed of 6uch a man as Dr. Johnson, and poured in the balm of religious consolation. “ I fully admit,” he might have said, “ your sins, yet 1 would point you to an all-powerful Saviour, and turn those very apprehensions and that godly sorrow into motives for repose. True, you are in yourself all that you have confessed yourself to be ; and if you were not, a Re deemer would be of no value, for Christ came ‘not to heal the whole, but them that are sick.’ I rejoice that you thus feel and acknowledge your transgressions; for though beyond most men you have cause for gratitude, though you have enjoyed God’s highest gifts, though by his prevent ing grace, operating through the medium of a religious education, and a tender con science, ycu have been enabled to preserve a moral deportment, yet your ‘ righteous ness extendeth not unto God.’ What you have, you have received, and great, there fore, as may have been your talents, and useful as may have been your life, you have nothing so good and perfect as to be fit to offer to the Almighty as a claim to Heaven. Yet, on the other hand, is not your very consciousness of guilt the best hope of safety, the brightest omen of par don ? Has it not bowed you down in contri tion ? Has it not taught you the inestimable value of the Redeemer’s sacrifice and death ? You acknowledge yourself a sinner, and what is the characterislick of the gos pel, but that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin ? On this rock only can you find a firm foundation for the hopes of a human soul; but here it may build securely amidst all the agitating storms of an alarmed conscience and a tempestuous world. Re pose, then, upon your Saviour, in simple and firm reliance, knowing that he posses ses the same ability and will, to be merciful to you as to him, who, like you, confessed himself the ‘ chief of sinners,’ but who, nev ertheless, found peace in his Redeemer, and was eventually filled ‘with joy un speakable and full of glory.’—Look, then, to Him who is 1 the Author and Finisher of our faith,’ and to Him from whom ‘ all good desires proceed;’ contemplate the end, the nature, the extent, the value of the sacrifice of Christ, and see whether there be any scriptural reason why you should be excluded from its benefits. Look also to that Divine Spirit, who is the guide, the enlightener, the consoler, and the sanc tifier of the Christian church, to subdue unbelief, to increase faith, and to implant a never-ending hope, which shall support you amidst aU the afflictions of life, and raise you far above the terrors of the grave.” Thus, a plain and honest religious friend might have gone on to ‘ preach the gospel’ in that simplicity with which it was at first dispensed, and to exhibit in all their ampli tude and freedom the grace, the mercy, the compassion of God; the atonement and intercession of Christ; the promised influ ence of the Holy Spirit; with every other topick connected with the salvation and happiness of a penitent transgressor. There might, indeed, have been nothing remarkably novel or inviting in the man ner of stating these simple truths; yet, coming from a warm and honest heart, and being accompanied with that Divine bene diction which is never warning where the soul has been prepared by contrition for its reception, they might have produced the happiest effects,when philosophick suasion, and human advice had exerted themselves in vain. In moments of great mental dis tress, arguments, which even a child in re ligion could readily discover and apply, might be wauting to quiet the mind of eveii such a man as Dr. Johnson himself. But in the narrative of Hankins, and in the arguments which we find him proposing to the dying moralist, these and similar topicks of genuine consolation appear to have had no place. That 4 blood which cleanseth from all sin’ is scarcely, or only incidentally mentioned. We find the nar rator continuing, in the following strain, his inefficient consolations: ‘ In a visit which I made him ip a few days, in consequence of a very pressing re quest to see me, 1 found him labouring un der very great dejection of mind. Me bade me draw near to him, and said he wanted to enter into a serious conversation with tne ; aud upon my expressing my wil lingness to join in it, he, with a look that Price, ° T 'l l $3,00 hi advance, > cut me to the heart, told me ibal he had the prospect of death before him, and that be dreaded to meet his Saviour. I could not but be astonished at such a declaration, and advised him, as i had done before, to reflect on the course of his life, and the services he had rendered to the cause of religion and -virtue, as well by his example as bis writings; to which he answered, that he had written as a philosopher, but had not lived like one. In the estimation of his offences he reasoned thus: ‘ Every man knows his own sins, and what grace he has resisted. But to those of others, and the circumstances under which they were committed, be is a stranger.—He is, therefore, to look, on himself as the great est sinner that he knows of.’ At the con clusion of this argument which he strongiv enforced, he uttered this passionate (im passioned) exclamation: ‘Shall l,who have been a teacher of others, be myself a cast away ?’ ” In this interesting passage—interesting as detailing the religions progress of such a mind as Dr. Johnson’s—how many im portant facts and reflections crowd upon the imagination ! We see the highest human intellect unable, at the approach of dc-ath, to find a single argument for hope and com fort, though stimulated by the mention of all the good deeds and auspicious forebod ings which an anxious and attentive friend could suggest. Who yet beholds this emi nent man, thus desirous to open his mind, aud “ to enter into a serious conversation” upon the most momentous of all subjects which can interest an immortal being, but you must regret that he had not found a spiritual adviser who was capable of full/ entering into his feelings, and administering scriptural consolation to his mind. The narrator informs us in this passage that “ he could not but be astonished at such a declaration,” as that which Dr. Jobtm* had made. But in reality where was the real ground for astonishment ? Is it aston ishing that an inheritor of a fallen and cor rupt nature,who is about to quit the world, and to be “ judged according to the deeds done in the body,” should be alarmed at the of the event, and be anxious to undeaPmd fully the only mode of pardon and acceptance ? Rather, is it not astonish ing that every other intelligent man does not feel at bis last hour the same anxieties which Dr Johnson experienced ? Unless, indeed, they have been previously remov ed bv Ihe hopes revealed in that glorious dispensation which alone undertakes to point out in what way the Almighty sees fit to pardon a rebellious world. No man would, or could have been astonished who knew his own heart ; for, as Dr. Johnson truly remarked, every Christian, how fair soever bis character in the estimation of others, ought to look upon himself as the “ greatest sinner that he knows;” a re mark, be it observed, which shews how deeply Dr. Johnson had begun to drink in to the spirit of that great apostle, who amidst all his excellencies confessed and felt himself, as. was just remarked, “ the chiefofsinners.” What a contrast does the advice of Haw kins. as Mated by himself in the preceding passage, form to the scriptural exhortation of our own church ? Instead of advising his friend seriously to examine himself“ wheth er he repented him truly of his former sins, steadfastly purposing, (should he survive,) to lead anew life, having a lively faith in God’s mercy, through Christ, with a thank ful remembrance of his death, and being in charity with all men;” he bids him look back to Lis past goodness, and is astonished that the survey is not attended with the hope and satisfaction which he had anticipa ted. But the truth was, that on the sub ject of religion, as on every other, Dr. Johnson entertained far more correct ideas than the friends around him ; and though he had not hitherto found peace with his Creator, through the blood of Jesus Christ, yet he could not be satisfied with the ordin ary exertions of an uninformed or pharisaick mind. The sun did not, however, set in this Icng-continued cloud, for Johnson at length obtained comfort where alone true comfort could be obtained, in the sacrifice and me diation of Jesus Christ; a circumstance to which Sir John Hawkins transiently alludes; hut the particulars of which roust” be sup plied from the narrative of Boswell, whose words are as follows: “ Dr. Brocklesbv, who will not he sus pected of fanaticism, obliged me with the following account : For some time before his death all his fears were calmed and ab sorbed by the prevalence of his faith : and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Jesus Christ. He talked often to tne about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of Je sus ; as necessary beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind.” Even allowing for the brevity of this statement, and for the somewhat chilling circumstance of its coming from the pen of a man, who “ will not be suspected of fa naticism,” what a triumph was here for the plain unsophisticated doctrines of the Gor pel, especially that of free justification by faith in Jesus Christ! After every other means had been tried, and tried in vain, a simple, penitential reliance upon the sacri fice o! the Redeemer, produced in th