GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.

TO HIS FATHER.

Lymington, May 19, 1811.

MY DEAREST FATHER,-It is with pleasure that I answer your very delightful letter; and, first of all, allow me to express my ardent hopes, that ere this your cold has bidden you adieu, and that, too, without casting one longing, lingering look behind. In the next place, I would wish to give you, as far as I am able, an exact delineation of my own religious sentiments; and I sincerely pray that the Almighty would enable me now, and at all times, to express those opinions with humility and meekness; for however erroneous my practice may be, my conviction is clear, that "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God," that his religion is a mere empty form, that partaketh not of the nature of Him whose name is "Love." Your objections to Calvinism I know are too deeply rooted to be easily shaken. I shall not make the attempt, for, believe my most solemn assertion, I am not its friend. And whenever the subject is started, and you hear me in some degree advocating its cause, impute it only to my most earnest desire to extend the right hand of fellowship and peace to so highly useful a body as our Calvinistic brethren. I confess it vexes me to the very soul to remark the indifference with which carelessness and neglect in our body are considered, and the bitterness, rancour, and malevolence with which the most active among the clergy are stigmatized, if

tainted with this erroneous principle. Their sober and holy lives, their strenuous exertions in the cause of the Gospel, their active and unwearied benevolence, are nothing, although their sermons uniformly evince that holiness is the only sure test of election, sanctification of justification, conformation to the image of God of predestination to life eternal; yet since they at all believe that election and predestination are in the counsels of the Most High, they are therefore teachers of damnable doctrines, and, by the countenances of their detractors, very little better than damnable themselves. Calvinism-if by this indefinite term should be meant the doctrines of John Calvin, whole and undefiled-I have reason to think is not believed by ten clergymen in England. I speak the opinion of one who is well acquainted with the religious world, Mr. Biddulph. I will also agree with another sentiment of his, in which he sincerely wished that the term Calvinist were altogether abolished. If I were to converse with a serious clergyman, I should as willingly ask him if he were a necromancer as a Calvinist. Were he to say that it was God who, by His Holy Spirit, first led him into the way of truth; were he to say that it was God who, by His Spirit, still sustained him there; were he to say that salvation is wholly of grace, from beginning to end, I should agree with him from beginning to end. 'Tis true that I should be still more satisfied were he to say that he nevertheless had daily reason to take heed lest he fall, that with trembling he should beware lest his name be blotted out of the Book of Life.

I perfectly and cordially assent to the necessity of simplifying the doctrines of the Gospel. The road to heaven cannot be made too plain; and though it is the Spirit of truth who can alone guide us into all truth, the appointed means of grace—and among these religious instruction is by no means the least, are not therefore to be neglected. The plan which I have already adopted is the following:-When I first preached at Milford, I began with the importance of Holy Scripture, and the several duties of the hearer and the teacher. I then endeavoured to unfold the extent of our duty, as revealed in the commandments, in order to convince my hearers of their breach of it. The

penalty incurred by that breach, even everlasting death, naturally succeeded. Following the guidance of Scripture, I wished to impress on my hearers that "the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ," that till we really and truly feel that we have broken and are under the curse of the law, we shall never sincerely and cordially apply ourselves to Him for pardon, peace, and holiness. It has been my endeavour-God grant that in some degree I may have succeeded-to convince them that faith is not a barren, mysterious principle; that as the dying Israelites, without applying to any human means of deliverance, looked simply to the serpent and were healed, so do we, if under a deep sense of our dying condition, feeling a deep sorrow for, and hatred of, our former sins, without relying in the least on any fancied goodness of our own, earnestly implore pardon through Him who died upon the cross, pardon, reconciliation, and peace are immediately extended. I have endeavoured to assure them, on the testimony of God's own Word, that the conviction of this assurance is not to depend on feelings and impulses, but on progressive holiness, that the wilful indulgence of any one sin proves the barrenness and nullity of faith, and as the offender is not in a state of grace, he is under the curse of the violated law; that conversion, however, is a gradual work. A man may be a true convert and yet sin, but he will not allow himself in sin; he abhors it, he prays for additional grace, he strives against it, he had rather die than yield himself a willing captive. Such is my religion. May God give me grace to fulfil its extensive demands !-Your's, &c.,

J. H. EVANS.

TO HIS FATHER. -ON GOOD WORKS.

Milford Vicarage, February 3, 1813. MY DEAREST FATHER,-Many thanks to you for the draft and the hare. They were doubly acceptable from the assurance with which they were accompanied that you were well, and had not quite forgotten us. I grieve to think that it is now four months since we saw each other. Occupation, they say, keeps the soul from rusting; but if that were true, mine would surely be much

brighter than it is, for my employments are of late more various than ever. But if occupation does not usurp the place of the spirit it does at least something; it prevents the mind from feeding on itself-to which it is so prone; it stimulates the faculties; and, when under Divine impulse, gives evidence to others of the sincerity of faith, and fulfils the glorious work which the believer has to perform. This, I apprehend, is the sole office of works, for I can never imagine that they can yield any solid comfort to the believer himself; for this would be to suppose him taking comfort from imperfection. Let any man under the teaching of God's good Spirit take a review of any day's occupation; will he not see so much frailty, so much love and fear of the world, so much hypocrisy and sin, as to shut out all comfort from this source? Whence, then, it may be asked, is the Christian to derive his consolation and his peace? From the simplicity and the sincerity of his faith. As this faith is the gift of God and the fruit of His Spirit, and is the appointed means of justifying the sinner, whether weak or not, it must be perfect as far as it goes, and if so, cannot be tried by what is imperfect; but works are an evidence to the world of the reality of the believer's hope, and must as certainly flow from faith as fruit is gathered from a tree,-water runs from a spring. The great question, therefore, amidst all my occupation—a question which, I hope, the Spirit will bring more and more home to my heart-is this: Is my faith a scriptural faith, or is it not? Do I really consider my sins pardoned in the blood of Christ, and that God looks upon me as a dear child, or am I still doubting? Why should I doubt? It is not of works, lest any man should boast. Christ came to save sinners, sinners as sinners, because sinners. Why, then, should I doubt? Am I to recommend myself? Is it not said, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely?" Lord, who worketh in us to will and to do, work in me that will, that, seeing more and more clearly how entirely salvation is not of debt but of grace, I may, with affections set upon Thee, be more and more holy in all manner of conversation. With much gratitude ought I to acknowledge, my ever dearest father, the goodness and mercy of God in giving

me to taste more and more of this inward peace and comfort. I think that I may say, and with all humility, as from a due sense of my own vast imperfections should I say it, that I have of late, since, indeed, the death of my dear child, seen a pleasantness and peace in the ways of religion to which I was before that time an entire stranger. It is not of course always thus. The evil heart of unbelief will not permit such a state of blessedness. You will be glad to hear that there is certainly an alteration for the better in different parts of the parish. There are many seemingly serious who were formerly much otherwise-I say seemingly, for appearances often deceive; fire will, however, prove whether the work be of man, or whether it be of God; whether it be hay, wood, or stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones; the minister, however, must always hope. I shall hope to receive a good long letter from you soon, and ever believe me,

Your dutiful and affectionate Son,

J. H. EVANS.

TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW.-ON THE LOVE OF MONEY.

Milford Vicarage, January 11, 1814. I ARRIVED here safely on Saturday evening, I thank God, without the least accident, and found our dear Caroline and baby quite well. Anxious shall we be to hear by this day's post that you are gradually recovering, and have experienced no return of your old complaint. Indeed, when I reflect on the danger in which you were, how near, to all appearance, to the borders of the invisible and eternal world, I can but look back on the event as a very awful visitation. I would fain, too, consider the dream as a warning for my dear father's everlasting good, and would hope that this sickness, severe as it has been, has been sent in mercy. That this hope should be realized, that we should see one whom we so tenderly love as we could wish, as he himself will wish when he and his dear children and wife shall meet before the bar of a heart-searching God, how readily would those children sacrifice every earthly comfort and become the poorest of the poor. How does one serious thought of eternity sink this world to nothing! My dear father's life has been one un