DEAR SIR, LETTER XII. Cork, Ireland, June 8th., 1842.* SEVERAL years ago, an ecclesiastic, belonging to a neighbouring nation, when zealously engaged in making proselytes to popery, in the wilderness of North America, said, that his calling was, la conquista espiritual. This, I trust, in a high and scriptural sense, is my aim; the conquest of souls! Not such a conquest, however, as shall deprive other churches of their members, by the "annexation" of them to Methodism. With this aim I think no one will charge me, who has paid any attention to the matter and manner of my preaching, in those places I have visited in this country. I have treated other denominations with respect and kindness, and so I intend to do, by the grace of God, while in this city, and during my tour through these kingdoms. Ever since God converted my soul, I have been of the opinion of a certain old blacksmith: "No matter, there are two sides to the river;" was his reply to one who had assailed him, while engaged at his anvil, on the evils of having so many denominations, and the consequent separation of good men, whose hopes and interests are the same: "No matter, there are two sides to the river!" An excellent apology! He meant, I suppose, that the many churches of Christendom are encamped along each side of the river of life, but the inhabitants of both banks accompany it into heaven. It did not, therefore, make much dif *The "subject matter" of this and the few following letters, will, I hope, be a sufficient apology for their insertion, although they cause a break in the dates, with regard to the regular course of the Letters. J. C. ference, which bank they occupied, if, in reality, they drank of the healing and refreshing waters. Now, to carry out the idea of the good man, perhaps farther than he intended; one side may indeed be rougher than the other, with higher banks, jutting promontories, deeper intervals, and much circuitous travel to come at the "water of life," but when they reach it, it is as sweet and wholesome on that side, as on the other, where are better and more convenient accommodations. Now, of course, I think the Methodist church occupies the best side of the river; and although I expect to meet multitudes in glory from the opposite side, it cannot be that I should not wish, however vain that wish may be, that they would take the boat of Charity, sometimes named Liberality, and cross over, and try the waters on the Methodist side of the river. But as such an event is not likely to come to pass, at least so as to become a universal thing, I often lift my voice so high that they can hear such sentiments as the following on the other side: "If it be not your will to come over and drink of the 'living waters' on our side, stay where you are; only take care that you do not perish with thirst, while there is plenty in the river. But if you can, on that untoward bank, obtain sufficient to keep your souls alive, your side stretches into heaven as well as ours; there we hope to meet you : : And bathe our weary soul In seas of heavenly rest, Across our peaceful breast.' And for this, some have been offended, and have called me many hard names, among the softest of which is that of" an illiberal and superstitious man.” This is most unreasonable! The impression has been deepening in my mind for several years, that it is pos sible for a man to become deeply concerned about his soul, and that during the progress of his uneasiness, he may be led to give up many of his sins, and exhibit an external and visible reformation, and yet stop short of Regeneration. The visitations of the Holy Spirit, and the rebukes of his conscience, may have constrained him to renounce the company of the wicked and profane, and to give a decided preference to the society of real Christians. Having united with some branch of the church of God, his career may be marked all along by a regular attendance upon all her ordinances; in searching the scriptures also, as well as in family prayer, in asking a blessing at his table, in private prayer, and in the entire government of his household, there may be all that is becoming the real Christian; and yet he may still remain an unpardoned and un converted sinner; the whole of his visible performances being, in the estimation of God, like a body without the soul, because of the absence of that animating spirit, the love of God shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him. A conviction of the tremendous truths of eternity, and the priceless value of his own soul, may indeed have taken fast hold of his conscience, but the "one faith," by which a penitent is freely forgiven all his sins, through the redemption that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, has never yet been once exercised by his pensive and restless mind. Justification by faith, all this time, has been to him a mystery unexplained. The man has been seeking rest in the "outward law," but entirely ignorant of its "deep design." It has indeed, condemned him; it has left its curse upon his conscience, but it has not been the "schoolmaster to bring him to Christ." Throughout his entire efforts, the Spirit of God has never made a single visitation to his heart, as a witnessing Spirit that he is a child of God. He has indeed received" the Spirit of bondage again to fear," but not "the Spirit of adoption," whereby he is enabled to cry, "Abba, Father ;"" the Spirit itself," doth not "bear witness" with his spirit, that he is one of the children of God. Rom. viii. 15, 16. It would be a relief, my dear Sir, if we could limit such characters to two or three in a church. Alas! I find them very numerous, in every denomination with which I become acquainted; and few things occur more frequently than the exclamation, with Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" when the doctrines of the new-birth are pressed home upon the conscience. But my observations, during the tour in which I am engaged, have extended to another class of professors of religion, some of whom are members of various churches; and, dangerous as is the state of the former, the latter is still more so. I mean those who are living in the neglect of the duties of religion, and who, by the looseness of their lives, afford mournful evidence that they have not even been awakened to a serious concern for salvation. Some, of both classes, I have found, who entertain no expectation of being saved through faith in the merits of Christ alone, but through the "good mercy of God;" others, I have observed, have some crude notions about faith, but mixed up with the neutralizing idea of the merit of works; while most have denied the possibility of any person knowing his sins forgiven, by the witness of the Spirit. And to rivet them in their unbelief, there have not been wanting ministers of the gospel, and men called " evangelical" too, who have positively assured some of the above, who were brought to a concern about their souls, that there is no possibility of any person knowing in this world, that God has accepted him; denying, most roundly, the witness of the Spirit, and affirming vehemently, that the only evidence of being saved from guilt, which any individual can have, is that of his moral conduct, and those deductions, which he is at liberty to draw therefrom. It is not necessary I should, in this letter, call forth those passages which prove, that, "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself," (John v. 10,) because I know not that you desire it. But my object has been to unfold to you the real state of the case, so far as such matters have come under my own observation. I have no doubt whatever, that multitudes join the various churches of this land, live and die in union with them, without having been born again; and what have they gained by it, but a deeper damnation ? Such unhappy persons may be fitly compared to the beasts which entered Noah's ark; neither their embarkation, nor the terrors of the deluge, -the mercy of the Lord displayed in their preservation, while other brutes perished; nor the voice of prayer and praise by Noah and his family; wrought any radical change in these animals. They went in brutes, and they came out brutes; they entered the ark wild and unclean, and they departed wild and unclean. Be it so; they were only brutes, and the God that made them, never designed they should be anything else. This is not the case with the sinners in Zion; they may be converted, and become saints of the most high God! But a vast number of both classes, already described, enter the church of God, and remain there unchanged in their nature; and leave it for another world with an unchanged nature, and with as great a distaste for God and godliness, as characterized their carnal mind through life. We have seen some of them stretched upon the bed of their last sickness; even those who had led a moral life; but now, unexpectedly called to die, they have realized the inefficiency of all their past performances, to bring tranquillity to their conscience, or to sustain effectually |