artificial excitements, or on excitements of any kind, requires that these excitements should be continually varied and increased, in order that the unnatural cravings they create may be met and satisfied. As for talent or ability, it will not be pretended, of course, that Mr. Burchard has given evidence of possessing any thing like a general power, or accuracy, or enlargement of mind; but for the single business of agitating a not very enlightened population, his gifts are certainly considerable, and his experience and training such as to turn them to the best account; his very want of intellectual and moral refinement being one of the secrets of his success. Of his early history we know nothing more than what he has told us himself. "I was as abominable a rebel against the law of God, till I was four-and-twenty years old, as ever trod the earth, rushing headlong to eternal perdition." His air, and manner, and personal appearance, are thus described by Mr. Streeter, in giving an account of his first discourse at Woodstock.

"When Mr. Burchard made his debut, his appearance was so different from what was expected by some, and feared by others, that they were taken by surprise. To the superficial observer, his appearance was prepossessing. He has a good forehead, dark searching eyes, and a stern expression of countenance. He was dressed in dandy-like form. All his movements were slow and studied to theatrical exactness. He opened his psalm-book wide to read, bringing the lids nearly in contact; and uttered his words generally in a low, impressive voice. His first prayer was singular in the extreme. It was delivered in a key barely above a whisper, as though he were afraid of disturbing the Object or objects of his devotion." - Mirror, &c., pp. 14, 15.

"It must continually be chard, 'manner is matter.'

He

borne in mind, that with Mr. BurHe came here fresh to the work, having rested and restored himself a week at Windsor. spake with great emphasis, and made small words appear large as mountains. His discourses were perfectly familiar to him, having been preached hundreds of times. He knew exactly how to pronounce every sentence, so as to produce the greatest effect. He was theatrical' in the highest possible degree. He frequently struck his hands together, making a loud report. Every nerve and muscle was called into requisition, and though his action was unsuitable for the pulpit, it answered his purpose. The house

at once became a theatre, and the news went out as on wings of lightning, that Mr. B. had performed in twelve theatres,' to universal acceptance, but 'got religion' a few years since, and is now the greatest preacher in the world."-Ibid., pp. 16, 17.

Another and more painful question now arises, on which both the books before us are intended to throw some light; we mean, as to the degree of honesty and sincerity he must be supposed to bring to these efforts. If any confidence is to be placed in the following statements, certified under oath, it is plain that his notions of commercial integrity are not such as to reflect much credit on his character and professions in other respects. That the reader may understand these statements, it is only necessary to premise, that Mr. Burchard, after much importunity, had succeeded at last in purchasing of Mr. Tenney, the stenographer employed by Mr. Goodrich, the shorthand notes of several of his own discourses, which Mr. Tenney had already taken for Mr. Goodrich.

"Mr. Burchard wished to conceal the fact, that he had bought the manuscripts, (not knowing that any one else was in the secret except Mr. Tenney,) and, with a view to this purpose, proposed the following arrangement. Finding that Mr. Goodrich was wholly unacquainted with stenography, Mr. Burchard proposed that, on his return from his journey, Mr. Tenney should offer him counterfeit sermons, which were to be made simply by scribbling over a number of the books, such as had been used in writing down the sermons, with stenographic characters, put down at random. These were to be given to Mr. Goodrich on his return, as the genuine manuscripts. Mr. Burchard told Mr. Tenney that this was the only means by which he (Burchard) could conceal the fact, that he had bought the manuscripts, and that, when Mr. Goodrich called on him to write out the notes for the press, he must tell him that he could not conscientiously do it,—that he had altered his mind, as to Mr. Burchard and his measures, and that as he had made no agreement to copy them for the press, he would not do it.' Mr. Tenney objected, that if he should desist from taking his sermons at any time before the meeting closed, people would at once conjecture that he (Burchard) had hired him to do so. This difficulty was to be removed by the following arrangement. Mr. Burchard marked a number of small books, such as were used in taking down sermons, with a private mark, and Mr. Tenney was to continue, as usual, to write in the church, and to use the books which Mr. Burchard had marked. These were to be handed to him at the anxious-seats, if it could be done without observation; if not, they were to be delivered to him after the meeting, or in the crowd, while the people were going out. For these sermons also, counterfeits were to be prepared and presented to Mr. Goodrich as genuine, as before stated. In order to enable Mr. Tenney to do this, Mr. Burchard supplied him with the texts of all the sermons he had preached in this place." -Sermons, &c., pp. 83, 84.

Many other facts are stated, which will go far to create a suspicion in some minds, that he is never less serious, than when for obvious reasons he puts on the appearance of being most so. Take, for example, an extract from an account of a scene in the Inquiry Room, given by Mr. Metcalf, the gentleman referred to therein, and known at the time by Mr. Burchard to be unaffected by what was going on around him, and to be capable of seeing through the whole.

"Having gained such a victory, he returned to me again and said, ‘O, friend Metcalf, I wish you could give up your heart; but I suppose you can't,' and smiled.*

"Then, all those who had given their hearts to God, were told to rise up, and when Mr. B. had questioned and advised each one, Mr. Southgate registered the names among the hopefully converted. Standing near me, he commenced with a large lad or young man, who was next at hand, by saying, 'Now, you have given your heart to God; and it is infinitely the most solemn act of your whole life.' (The young man was sighing and sobbing, and Mr. B. put his hand upon my knee, and gave it a gentle grip.) 'If you go back into the world and live as you did before conversion, you will sin against the Holy Ghost, and be damned for ever; for that sin can't be forgiven. Now, young man, do you give yourself up to God, to be saved or damned, as God may see fit?' 'Yes, Sir,' was the reply, in a whimpering voice; and Mr. B. gave my knee another grip. I could hardly keep my countenance; not knowing whether the sign was gracious or roguish. The young convert was finished off with a prayer, and the scribe directed to put down his name. He went over with the whole, a dozen or more, in the same way, calling each one by name in prayer, and implying that their souls were saved, and their sins were forgiven." — Mirror, &c., pp. 130 – 132.

We cannot omit to notice, in this connexion, another charge, often advanced or insinuated in the book last quoted, and confirmed from other sources. "The matter is now conceded," says Mr. Streeter, "that Mr. Burchard is upon a money-making game. At the rate he is going on, he and his Episcopalian lady, will clear three or four thousand dollars in a year. Their wages here, were not less than four hundred dollars per

month!"

After all, however, we cannot bring ourselves to believe, but that Mr. Burchard is, in the main, sincere and honest in that sense in which alone most of the one-sided, "one idea" zealots of the present day can be said to be so. The history

"He then told me a long story about a club of opposers whom he converted, one after another, at Lockport, called 'the five hard heads.""

of the apparent and real moral obliquities of this description of persons, (and society was never more plagued with them on all sorts of subjects than now,) would seem to be this. By dwelling almost exclusively on one measure or project, and greatly exaggerating its relative importance, and allowing themselves to become unduly excited respecting it, they gradually lose the power of accurate moral discrimination, at least in regard to all questions implicated in the matter in hand. At length the judgment, and conscience, and whole mind, become radically and permanently disordered; so that right will often strike them as wrong, and wrong as right, according as it promises to hinder or promote the desired object. And in such a case we cannot properly say, that they are insincere or dishonest in regard to this or that particular act: we can only say, that by a blind zeal, often aided doubtless by ambition, and vanity, and still more sordid interests, their whole intellectual and moral nature has become perverted and corrupted

in itself.

Some, we are aware, would prefer to have no notice whatever taken of a fanatic whose ignorance and coarse taste mark all his performances; but such persons are more fastidious than wise. Considered merely as a study elucidating the natural history of religion, and indicating the liability of tolerably enlightened communities to contagious delusions, it certainly is neither uninteresting nor useless to trace the causes and effects of every new manifestation of the revival principle. Besides, Mr. Burchard on many accounts is not a man to be despised; his ability to do mischief is not to be measured by his ability to do good, and the best security of the public against it is to be found in apprizing them beforehand of the true character and tendency of what is peculiar in his spiritual mechanics. There is more to alarm us in the vaunt than in the argument contained in the peroration of his introductory sermon at Woodstock.

"So you see, my friends, that I have only taken your hearts right out, and held them up NAKED before you, and turned them over and over, that you might see them. There's no mystery no charm about this matter. You can all understand it. I do here, just as I did at Springfield, Acworth, Perkinsville, and Grafton, where God poured out his Holy Spirit with power, and lawyers, physicians, merchants, farmers, mechanics, &c. were converted and enjoyed the hope of salvation in their souls. Was it not the work of the Holy Ghost there, or were these men of intellect

and learning such fools as to come right forward and take the anxious-seats and give their hearts to God, when it was the effect of mechanism and fanaticism, instead of the Spirit of God? Hark! look here; I have seen men of the greatest intellect — judges, and senators, and generals, and colonels, and captains, come and get down upon their knees and ask prayers of a feeble piece of clay, and God Almighty sent the Holy Ghost right into their souls, and they were converted [slapping his hands together] in a moment."- Ibid., pp. 27, 28.

Mr. Burchard complains, that the most formidable opposition encountered by him wherever he goes, is not from sinners and misbelievers, but from the lukewarmness of men professing to be orthodox, and friendly to revivals "in the abstract,' though not to his revivals. Accordingly, he does not hesitate to denounce these mincers of Calvinism, as no better than temporizers and "dumb dogs."

"Some preachers" says he, " are afraid to preach the plan of salvation, as the Scriptures declare it. They darsn't say to transgressors, you will go to hell and be damned eternally, unless God has elected you to eternal life, and decreed your salvation according to his unalterable purpose. They are afraid of offending some of the church that can't bear this doctrine, or some of the congregation that don't like such harsh preaching. So they fritter, and fritter, and fritter away the doctrine of election and decrees and endless damnation, till it is good for just nothing at all. They are afraid to say, 'Sinner, you will go to hell and be damned for ever, unless God Almighty elected you to eternal life, before the world was made, the planets moved, or the sun shone in the firmament.' They want to please everybody, — so they speak smooth things, and spend a whole week in writing one or two discourses, which they deliver on the Sabbath in such a genteel way, that nobody is offended. The hearers say, 'What a mild preacher we have got here; how pleasantly he speaks. He don't preach about decrees, and purposes, and eternal damnation. He is a fine man; Come, let us go over to the tavern and take something to drink.' Ha! that's the way then, is it, to teach transgressors?—The way to lead them to hell!! Never was a sinner truly converted to God, by such miserable stuff. I have no allusion to the preaching here, nor to any person now present. But I tell you that I an't afraid to preach Calvinism. Thank God, I am a Calvinist, and an't ashamed to own it."- Ibid., pp. 76, 77.

He not only avows his innovations on the practice of other revivalists, particularly as regards the summary manner in which he hurries through the processes of conviction and conversion, but alleges reasons for the same, which those who