LETTER VI. REVEREND SIR, HAVING already exceeded the limits which I had prescribed to myself, I should have terminated my remarks with the last Letter: but on reviewing your charge, I perceived one point which I have not yet noticed; a point which, though notoriously incorrect, and therefore not likely to injure any who are acquainted with the Bible, yet possibly may do harm to those readers who, unlike the noble Bereans, do not search the scriptures, to see whether the thing is so. The point referred to is on page 28. "Did the truly inspired teachers," you ask, "ever thunder out hell and damnation to those who refused to be converted?" If they did not, they were unfaithful in the execution of that commission which they had received of the Lord. "Go ye," said Jesus, "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." According to this commission they were bound to "thunder out hell and damnation to those who refused to be converted;" for to refuse to believe in Christ is, to all intents and purposes, to refuse to be converted. But although this commission is exceedingly plain, yet it seems that "neither the gospel, nor any other part * Mark xvi. 15, 16. of the scripture, gives us any example" of such kind of preaching. To the law and the testimony. What saith the scriptures? "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!" Why? Because they “refused to be converted ;" "for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."* "These mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."+ "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." "I said unto you, that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believe not the truth."¶ "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”** : To quote all the passages of scripture which directly or by the most obvious implication, "thunder out * Matt. xi. 21. † Luke xix. 27. ‡ John iii. 36. John viii. 24. § 2 Thess. i. 7-9. ¶ 2 Thess. ii, 11, 12. **John xviii. 3. hell and damnation to those who refuse to be converted," would far exceed the limits of this letter. And as the apostles were not like those who corrupt the word of God, but spoke according to the divine oracles, we may fairly conclude that, "knowing the terrors of the Lord, they persuaded men," not only by the hope of heaven, but also by the fear of hell. The scriptures abound with a variety of motives to piety, admirably adapted to the different passions. One addresses our loveanother our fear-a third our hope, and so on. And shall we with sacrilegious hands destroy either the one or the other of these? God forbid. We need the aid of all. Let that be destroyed which you reprobate, and, in the opinion of a late eminent man, whose judgment you will respect, your labours among the multitude will in general be without effect. I refer to Dr. Johnson. On Boswell's making some observations on the success of the Methodists, the Dr. said, "Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which the clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congregations: a practice for which they will be praised by men of sense. To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it degrades reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness, and shew them how dreadful that would be, cannot fail to make a deep impression.' * Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. 1. p. 435. 8vo. Edit. I Let it not however be supposed that the venerable founders of Methodism always dealt in the terrible. No: they taught "every man in all wisdom." They varied their manner of teaching according to the supposed state of their hearers. Where the knife and the caustic were necessary, they used them; and where the Balm of Gilead was wanted, they poured it in. Now they were sons of thunder, then sons of consolation. At one time they would take their stand as on Mount Sinai, from whence they proclaimed the divine law, and pronounced the transgressors accursed; and at another time they would stand as on Mount Zion, uttering the invitations and promises of the gospel. Nor were they ever more in their element, than when preaching" the unsearchable riches of Christ." Christ, and him crucified, formed the grand theme of their ministry; and to win souls to Christ was their ceaseless object. And did they labour in vain? Let facts speak-Let the hordes of miners in Somersetshire, Staffordshire and Northumberland, who through their ministry were raised from the depths of moral and mental degradation, speak-let the conversion of thousands of the middle ranks of the community from sin to holiness, speak-let the increased attention to religion which, in the last as well as in the present century, was visible both among dissenters and in the church of England, speak-let some of the best ornaments of the Christian ministry, both in and out of the established church, of the former as well as the present age, speak-let the prisoner, the stranger, the afflicted, and the dying, speak:-let thou sands of Negroes in the West Indies, who, through the ministry of the Methodists, have been raised to the liberty and dignity of children of God, speak-let Benevolent Societies and Sunday Schools-speak. Sir, the extent of their usefulness will never be fully known till the arrival of that day when every man's work will be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.”† One thing more I must not omit. In the course of your charge, you very often remind your readers, that the clergy of the church of England are the successors of the apostles, on which you affect to be very serious, and on which you plume yourself not a little. That which is a serious subject to some people, is a very ludicrous one to others.* If by a successor of the apostles you mean one whe follows the apostles in or +1 Cor. iii. 13. *At the reformation, when England and Scotland separated themselves, or made the great schism from the Romish church, disputes ran high on the mode of governing the new societies, whether by presbyters without bishops, or by bishops with presbyters. The church of Englaud contended, that the parent church retained the ancient mode of government from the time of the apostles, and bishops were conse quently a SINE QUA NON in the church. They were also indispensably necessary, because the priests and deacons could be invested with certain powers only by bishops, and these bishops could not confer that power, unless they had received the power of conferring the power from mouth to mouth in regular succession down from one of the apostles. Unfortunately for the church of England, the only ladder by which she could climb to the throne of an apostle was in the possession of the church of Rome, who in very civil language told her, that the ladder was indeed at Rome situated on a rock; but, in somewhat rude terms, assured her that she should never set her foot on the lowest step of it, unless she previously kissed the toe of his holiness. On the other hand, the kirk, under no concern about this ladder, endeavours to soothe her sister: my dear lady, says she, why do you so distress yourself about a trifle. Don't you remember, when we were girls, and |