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LETTER FROM A CLERGY MAN'S WIFE.

SIR,-About six months ago,
it pleased God to remove my
dear wife by death. In subse-
quently looking over some of her
papers, I found the copy of a
letter she sent to one of my
parishioners, when I was the cu-
rate of a small country parish.
The person to whom it was writ-
ten died some years since; he was
a farmer, and his conduct gave me
considerable uneasiness. His be-
haviour was always outwardly
respectful; but he was obviously
opposed to the truths of the gos-
pel. Seeing that all my efforts
were unavailing, my dear wife
addressed a letter to him, and
(for good reasons which she after-
wards gave) without first men-
tioning her intention to me. It
has occurred to me that other
clergymen may be similarly cir-
cumstanced with some of their
parishioners, and that the publica-
tion of the letter may be of use.
If
you think so, perhaps you will
let a copy of the letter, which I
send you herewith, appear in your
next number.

I am, dear Sir,
Your's very truly,
J. G. N.

January 14, 1828. MY DEAR SIR,-You will no doubt be surprised to receive a letter from me; but your best interests have long been a subject of deep concern to my mind, and I have resolved again and again to endeavour once more to rouse you to a sense of your awful condition before God. Perhaps you may think that this is strong language; but what can I suppose the state of that man to be, who Sabbath after Sabbath allows himself to neglect the house of God, and who, I fear, not only omits religious duties; but employs his time in prosecuting his worldly affairs.

Oh, my

dear sir, permit me to remind you that there is a day fast approaching when you must find time to die. The sudden and painful removal of your dear wife, whose memory I shall ever cherish with the most affectionate regard, I had hoped would have made a durable impression on your mind; but, alas! your resolutions were made in your own strength, and therefore did not stand against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The object of my writing now is to beg of you no longer to trifle with God, your soul, and eternity. Think, I beseech you, that it is not man you offend against, when you break the Sabbath, but GOD. He has said in the fourth commandment, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day," &c. Now this command is binding upon every human creature under heaven, especially upon masters and heads of families. It is true your children attend the house of God; but what does your example teach them? And is it not natural to suppose that the conversation they hear on their return home is calculated to choke the seed of the gospel sown in their hearts ? Let me intreat you to look back to the time when you attended your church regularly twice a day, and when you would listen with some degree of attention to the sweet voice of religion, and let conscience speak, were not those your happiest days? Yes, I know they were. The scripture says, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." God has mercifully spared you another year; but, do not presume on this; before the year closes, you may be numbered with the dead. If this should be the case, where must your soul be, if you die without an interest in Christ? There are but two classes

of persons in the world, the righteous and the wicked; and but two places after death to which they must go,-heaven and hell. To which of these are you hastening?

Oh! that God may be pleased, in his infinite mercy, to give you space for repentance! Oh that you may with the Philippian jailor cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" The invitations of the gospel are as free as the air we breathe. "Come unto

me all ye," &c. "Him that cometh," &c. Nothing but a strong desire for the salvation of your precious soul could have induced me thus to address you. My dear husband knows nothing of my writing; but his prayers constantly ascend to the throne of God for your salvation. Consider how painful it must be to your minister to see your seat empty every Sabbath day, and to know that you despise both him and his blessed Master. Consider also that your conduct is very injurious to the parish at large. Example

does more than precept. Remember the dying intreaties of your beloved wife. Forget not the admonitions you have received both publicly and privately from your minister. Suffer not your Bible to be longer dusty in your house. Do not continue to absent yourself from the house of God; but earnestly pray to him to enable you to strive against every sin, and may he give you that repentance for sin which needeth not to be repented of. If you knew the effort it is to me to write at this time, it would fully convince you that it is only your good I seek. Having lost the sight of one eye, I can scarcely see to finish this letter. To God I commend this feeble attempt. May he fasten home some truth upon your heart, and give you to see that those are your best friends who seek the salvation of your soul. This is the prayer of one who longs now to see you holy, that you may be eternally happy.

Believe me, my dear sir,

your sincere friend.

WESLEY ON SCHISM.

EXTRACTED FROM HIS SERMON ON 1 COR, XII. 25.

O beware, I will not say of forming, but of countenancing, or abetting any parties in a Christian Society! Never encourage, much less cause, either by word or action, any division therein. In the nature of things there must be divisions among you; but keep thyself pure." Leave off contention before it be meddled with," shun the very beginning of strife. Meddle not with them that are given to dispute, with them that love contention. I never knew that remark to fail He that loves to dispute does not love God.' Follow peace with all men, without which you cannot effectually follow holi

ness.

Not only seek peace but

"" ensue

it;

if it seems to flee from you, pursue it nevertheless. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Happy is he that attains the character of a peacemaker in the Church of God. Why should not you labour after this? Be not content, not to stir up strife; but do all that in you lies, to prevent or quench the very first spark of it. Indeed it

is far easier to prevent the flame from breaking out, than to quench it afterwards. However be not afraid to attempt even this: the God of peace is on your side. He will give you acceptable words, and will send them to the hearts of the hearers,'

ESSAYS AND DIALOGUES ON POPERY.

No. XVIII.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION; AND THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

Prot. We have now arrived at the consideration of that grand corruption of the Romish Church which closed and completed her career of apostacy; which gave the last and finishing stroke to the work of Satan; and which constituted the chief ground of contest throughout all the struggles of the Church's regeneration. The simple rite of the Lord's Supper, the canon and order of which is comprehended, in Scripture, in three or four verses in each Gospel, and as many in one of St. Paul's Epistles, is to be considered on the one hand; and on the other, that immense mass of ceremonial, and that alleged awful; import and value, which is assigned in the Romish Church, to what is termed "the sacrifice of the mass."

Inq. But as this seems rather a large subject, in what way or order do you propose to conduct the enquiry?

Prot. I think that the natural order will be this:-first, to deal with the main question of transubstantiation, or the alleged change in the sacramental elements; and then to pass on to the remaining question, the sacrificial nature of the rite, and its alleged worth and power.

Rom. Agreed; and if your mode of dealing with the first of these questions be but simple, candid, and clear, we shall not be long detained upon that branch of the enquiry. It is only necessary for any one to take the plain text of either of the Evangelists, and if he does but address himself to the investigation with a humble and submissive mind, he cannot be long at a loss as to a doctrine so clearly and so positively stated. NOVEMBER, 1838.

Prot. Softly, my good friend, do not let us anticipate the argument, or imagine that we can dispose of a question in half a sentence, which has occupied the minds of some of our greatest theologians for their whole lives. Let us begin the subject with method and order; and these will be best consulted if I read to you the authoritative statements of the opposing churches, on both sides of the question.

In the first place, hear the solemu decree or canon of the Council of Trent, on this subject. "If any shall deny, that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, there is contained, truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so whole Christ; but shall say that he is only in it in sign, or figure, or power-let him be ACCURSED,'

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"If any shall say, that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. there remains the substance of bread and wine, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and shall deny that wonderful and remarkable conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, while only the appearance of bread and wine remain; which conversion the Catholic Church most aptly styles Transubstantiation; let him BE ACCURSED."

Such is the doctrine of the church of Rome on this subject. Now hear the decision of the church of England:

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Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of the bread and wine) in the supper of the

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Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions."

"The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the supper, is Faith."

Thus is the issue joined. Shall I ask you to begin, by informing us as to the grounds on which the Church of Rome has adopted her view of the matter.

Rom. You have already remarked that the Scriptural proofs on this subject are very limited. The whole number of passages of Scripture which bear on this question are only three or four, and about twenty verses comprehend the whole. But our case finds its strength in its simplicity. We rest the whole on the plain words of the Lord himself, "Take, eat, THIS IS MY BODY. Drink ye all of this, for THIS IS MY BLOOD of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many." (Matt. xxvi. 26.)

This is our case, and I feel it difficult to add any reasonings of my own without impairing its strength. To construct an argument on these words," says Dr. Wiseman, "is difficult; simply and solely for this reason, that it is impossible to add strength or clearness to the expressions themselves. It is impossible for me, by any commentary or paraphrase that I can make, to render our Saviour's words more explicit, or reduce them to a form more completely expressing the Catholic doctrine than they do of themselves. "This is my body-this is my blood," The Catholic doctrine teaches that it was Christ's body and that it was his blood. It would consequently appear as though all we had here to do, were simply and exclusively to rest at once on these

words, and leave to others to show reason why we should depart from the literal interpretation which we give them." *

Prot. Assuredly this is a very simple and easy way of conducting the argument, when you have only your own followers to deal with, whose acquaintance with scripture language and modes of speech is limited by your own restrictions. But you cannot imagine that this superficial view of the question will suffice, when you are addressing those who have the Bible in their hands.

Inq. You allude, I suppose, to the frequent use of figurative language in the New Testament, and to the consequent uncertainty that must exist, until a careful consideration has been had, whether these words of Christ are to be taken in a literal or in a figurative

sense.

Prot. I do. Dr. Wiseman had before remarked, that "the groundwork of all the science of interpretation is exceedingly simple, if we consider the object to be attained. Every one will agree, that when we read any book, or hear any discourse, our object is to understand what was passing in the author's mind when he wrote or spoke those passages,—that is to say, what was the meaning he himself wished to give to the expressions he then wrote or uttered."+ Now the best way of ascertaining this point, must be, to examine carefully the other writings or sayings of the same author, and thus to gain an insight into his mode of ex pressing his thoughts.

With this view I will take the simplest possible course: Do you, sir, open the New Testament at its very commencement, and pass your eye over the discourses of Christ; and endeavour to learn what were the prominent features

*Wiseman. Lecture xv. p. 174. † Wiseman. Lect. xiv. p. 137.

of his ordinary style or mode of expression.

Ing. I have opened at St. Matthew, but I see nothing whatever of our Saviour's words in either of the first four chapters. At the fifth chapter Jesus begins to speak.

Prot. Well, look at the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th verses of that chapter.

Inq. In the 13th verse, Christ tells his disciples that they are "the salt of the earth." In the 14th, that they are "the light of the world." And in the 15th and 16th, the same figure is maintained.

Prot. Pass on, then, to the next chapter, and look at the 20th

verse.

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Inq. We are there exhorted to lay up treasures in heaven,”. which of course is a figure.

Prot. Go on to the next, and look at verse 6, and several others.

Inq. I see that in that verse we are taught not to "cast pearls before swine," which, literally, I suppose no man would ever think of doing. At the thirteenth verse we are exhorted to "enter in at the strait gate," which is clearly another figure. In the fifteenth, the false prophets are said to come "in sheep's clothing, but inwardly to be ravening wolves." I suppose I may as well pass on to chapter viii. where I see at the 23d verse, that Christ tells one of his disciples to "let the dead bury their dead," which, taken literally, would be a mere absurdity. In the ninth chapter he calls himself, (verse 15,) a bridegroom," and his disciples "children of the bridechamber." And at 37th and the 38th verses, he speaks of the "harvest," and of "labourers in the harvest," with reference to the preaching of the gospel. In the xth chapter he sends forth his disciples, and tells them to " go unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." In the next

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Prot. I think we need scarcely proceed farther. You have al

ready seen, that as Jesus "spake always unto the multitude in parables," so to his own disciples he constantly used figurative language. So constantly, indeed, that wherever you have found his words, in all these chapters, you have immediately lighted upon a figure. Now let me ask, whether it is a just or reasonable way of treating the subject, to take up an isolated expression of our Lord's, after seeing that he never speaks without using figurative language, and to demand, as a matter of course, that that isolated expression shall instantly and implicitly be taken in its literal sense?

Inq. No, assuredly not. The fact being beyond dispute, that our Lord was in the habit of continually using figures, it is surely only reasonable, to suspend our interpretation for a moment, until we can gather, from the chief features of the case, whether the passage in question ought to be taken literally or figuratively.

Prot. You conclude, then, that the common arguments of the Romanists, that the bread in the Lord's Supper must be actually our Lord's flesh, merely because he himself said, "This is my body," is not of any force or value.

Inq. Certainly, it seems to me a mere assumption of the main point in dispute.

Prot. I may proceed then, to apply to the passage in question, the usual test of a comparision with like passages. This is, beyond doubt, the surest way of discovering the sense in which our Lord used these words.

Now there is nothing more clear, or better known to a student of the Bible, than the constant use of figurative language implying hunger and thirst, food and water, when nothing else than spiritual wants and spiritual supplies are really intended. The whole Scripture abounds with such passages. "Thy words are sweeter than

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