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shops and the traffic of business, as on other days -you think there is nothing wrong in suffering droves of cattle to pass through the heart of the town on the Sabbath morning for the next day's market at Loddon Bridge-you are not displeased with the loaded wagons which are frequently passing on the public roads, in defiance of all law, human and divine-you do not complain of the many over-loaded coaches, and the thousands of persons who are profaning the Sabbath by travelling for business or pleasure!-Here, however, you probably reply to me" Well-but have you not understanding to discover that in the former instance they are Methodists who are going to public worship, and who are driving their carts for this purpose in open violation of the Sabbath; whereas in the latter they are all exemplary members of society, adhering to the Established Church. Cannot you discriminate ?"— O Sir, I crave your pardon-I see, the case is altered!

I am, Sir, &c.

LETTER VI.

SIR,

I SHALL begin this letter with the most difficult and important part of my work, that of administering reproof for your having presumptuously and awfully ridiculed some of the essential doctrines of revelation. The first which you mention, are, the divine grace and the new birth; marked in your usual ironical mode. But before I enter on the defence and explanation of particular passages, I shall make a few observations in general on the subject of your turning into ridi cule the word of the BLESSED GOD. The Scriptures were indited by the Holy Spirit; for holy men spake as they were moved by his agency. In ridiculing the Scriptures, therefore, you ridicule the Holy Spirit who is the Author of them. Let us with seriousness open the volume of inspiration. Let us turn to the testimony it contains of one of the conversations of the Son of God. He is arguing with his opposers-with those who had attributed his wonderful and beneficent miracles to the agency of the evil spirit." Wherefore, I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons

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of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoso speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come he hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." These, tremen

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dous declarations of our Lord have been considered as being very difficult to be understood; but they are probably less so than has been generally imagined. The blessed Jesus, before he spake these words, had been casting out devils from some who had been possessed of these malignant spirits; and thus had he manifested his compassion towards the afflicted, exhibited a proof of his authority over devils, and afforded a demonstration of his, mission from God. But the Scribes and Pharisees, instigated by malice, and blinded by prejudice, imputed his miracles to a confederacy with the Devil-How did the compassionate Saviour of men act on this occasion? He condescended meekly to reason with them on their sin, and to warn them of their danger. He told them that all manner of blasphemies and sins might obtain forgiveness, with the exception of one only; that the blasphemy which they had now uttered against the Son of man in his present state of humiliation,

TO S

Matth. 12, 31, 32. Mark 3. 28, 29.

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might be forgiven them; but that if they should continue to act towards the Holy Spirit, whom he would send after his ascension, as they had acted towards himself, they should never have forgiveness, in time or in eternity. He purposed to send the Holy Spirit to testify the truth of his mission, to enable his apostles and disciples to work miracles, to render his work, as the Redeemer, efficacious for the salvation of sinners; and therefore if they blasphemed Him, and represented Him as an evil spirit, nothing more would be done for them, and consequently they must inevitably perish. It is the sovereign decree of heaven, that this sin should never be pardoned :—it is impossible in the nature of things that it should be so, because it is a contemptuous rejection of that salvation by which alone men can obtain forgiveness. The gracious God has provided salvation for his sinful creatures through the blood of his Son and the influences of his Spirit; but if men despise this only method of deliverance, and áccount it a devilish delusion, what more can be done for them? There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, nor any other mode of rendering that sacrifice effectual for individuals. Do you ask, What is inferred from this comment on a text of the New Testament? Why, Sir, it is inferred, that when men oppose religion and the sacred truths of the word of God, they come very near to a sin which the Author of Christianity and the

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Judge of man has declared to be unpardonable. I would not assert that you have committed what by way of eminence is denominated “THE sin against the Holy Ghost," because perhaps you may have acted" in ignorance and unbelief;" but this I scruple not to aver, that if you die in the same spirit of unbelief and enmity against the Christian religion by which you were influenced when you wrote the "Stranger in Reading," futurity will convince you that it would have been better for you to have had a mill-stone tied about your neck, and to have been cast into the depth of the sea, than for you to have taken up your pen to compose the book you have publisheda book which indubitably demonstrates to every believer in the New Testament, that its writer, at the period of its composition, was "in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity."-If you have not sinned the "sin unto death,"* grant you repentance unto life..

may God

You have attempted to throw contempt and ridicule on the doctrine of divine grace. And what, Sir, is divine grace?-This blessed principle is that assistance and influence which the compassionate Deity bestows upon apostate man from his own free favour and sovereign mercy. By this influence, men are convinced of their sins, and led to the knowledge of the Redeemer. By this, they are restored to the service, the favour, and

* 1 John 5. 16.

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