felt the truth of this in my own case. I said, "My father is right and I am wrong. O! let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his !" The bye conversations in a family are, in this view, of unspeakable importance. On the whole, arguments addressed to the heart press more forcibly than those addressed to the head. When I was a child, and a very wicked one too, one of Dr. Watts's hymus sent me to weep in a corner. The lives in Janeway's Tokens had the same effect. I felt the influence of faith in suffering Christians. The character of young Samuel came home to me, when nothing else had any hold upon my mind. THE FRENCH INFIDEL RECLAIMED. "My religious opinions have not always been the same as they are at present. Offended by the abuses of some institutions, and the vices of some men, I was formerly betrayed into declamation and sophistical arguments against Christianity. I might throw the blame upon my youth, upon the madness of the revolutionary times, and upon the company 1 kept: but I wish rather to condemn myself, for I do not know how to defend what is indefensible. I will only relate simply the manner in which Divine Providence was pleased to call me back to my duty. "My mother, after having been thrown, at 72 years of age, into a dungeon, where she was an eye-witness of the destruction of some of her children, expired at last upon a pallet, to which her misfortunes had reduced her. The remembrance of my errors diffused great bitterness over her last days. In her dying moments, she charged one of my sisters to call me back to that religion in which I had been brought up. My sister, faithful to her solemn trust, communicated to me the last request of my mother. When her letter reached me beyond the seas, far distant from my native country, my sister was no more; she had died in consequence of the rigours of her imprisonment. These two voices issuing from the tomb; this death, which served as the interpreter of death, struck me with irresistible force: I became a Christian. I did not yield, I allow, to great supernatural illuminations, but my conviction of the truth of Christianity sprung from the heart. I wept, and I believed." REMARKS ON MR. THOMAS OLIVER'S WORKS, AND RECOMMENDATION FOR THEIR PUBLICATION. To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. DEAR SIR, The re-publication of valuable and scarce theological works, which of late years have been presented to the world in respectable attire, has, certainly, laid the religious part of the publick under no inconsiderable obligations: and those gentlemen, whose exertions have + been directed to this laudable object, have merited the thanks and esteem of their country. In connection with this subject, the names of Parsons, Pratt, Farmer, &c. &c. immediately present themselves to our recollection. And it is impossible that the Methodist Connexion should forget your "labour of love," in editing uniform editions of Wesley's, Fletcher's, and Sellon's Works; and now, that most invaluable collection of Practical Divinity, "The Christian Library." But, although so much has been done, you will, no doubt, confess with me that there still remains much of the same kind to be performed. I have been induced to make these remarks from having just risen from the perusal of part of Mr. Thomas Oliver's Works, which I think deserve a more extensive circulation than that which it has been their fate hitherto to obtain. The volume in my possession contains the life of Mr. Olivers, written by kimself; a speech on Methodism, delivered at a debating society; and a discourse on the epistle to the Hebrews. The narrative of his life is very interesting, and exhibits some traits in his character which are at once original and exemplary. The speech on Methodism displays a degree of courage, presence of mind, and argumentation, and a well-tempered zeal, which is truly admirable. The work on the Hebrews is above my commendation; I may, however, be permitted to say, that I am impressed with the conviction that the author has completely succeeded in proving his point beyond confutation. I was struck with the close, connected, clear, and cogent style, in which all his arguments are conducted. The dexterity which he displays in drawing his conclusions, in refe. rence to the subjects of election and unconditional perseverance, is truly striking, and the application of its principles overpowers the judgment with irresistible conviction. The references which he makes to the writings of the Greek and Latin Christian fathers; to reformers, commentators, and divines, both of the Calvinian and Arminian schools; and the quotations he makes from them, prove him to bave had a mind capable of patient research, possessed of various and extensive knowledge, and the nicest discrimination. In concluding these remarks I would beg leave to recommend to your consideration, in conjunction with that of the Book Committee, the propriety of publishing the whole of Mr. Oliver's Works, uniformly with Wesley's, Fletcher's, and Sellon's. He stood in the same ranks with those illustrious champions; he engaged in the same conflicts, with them he was victorious, and with them he is now crowned. Under these circumstances, certainly, there could be no impropriety in collecting, and preserving those instruments with which he fought so successfully, with those of his cotemporaries. The appearance of the works in question would extend our knowledge of Methodism, and cast additional light upon the points then so warmly controverted. It unquestionably would not be desirable to revive that controversy; nor, indeed, is there any danger of a systematical revival of the Calvinian contest, at the present period, at least, in our country. Happily, for our times, an increasing degree of union exists amongst the various sects into which the Christian world is divided; an union, not founded on the abandonment of principle as its basis, but on a deep-rooted benevolence, which has for its object the illumination and conversion of the world, by efforts the most wise, disinterested, and godlike. That truth and unity may more and more prevail, is the constant wish and fervent prayer of, Dear Sir, your's, J. PORTER. December, 1819. To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. SIR, Your correspondent, R. W. and myself, are perfectly agreed upon the fact of the fall of man, and his consequent depravity; we are also agreed upon the fundamental truth, that all our helps and hope arise from the redemption and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. We are also, I think, agreed upon the scope of St. Paul's argument, in Romans, 3d chap. namely, that every objection, whether from Jew or Gentile, against the new dispensation, then revealed by mercy and by power, should be silenced, since the whole world, under its best helps and the boast of superior intellect and information, must be declared guilty before God the Gentiles, even when viewed as philosophers who professed to teach the science of virtue; and the Jews, even in that period of their history, when favoured with kings and prophets of Divine appointment. The inefficacy of human science, and of religious observances, though of Divine origin, to bring man back to God, evinced the need of more powerful helps; and this argument, as it related to the Jews, is amplified and fully illustrated in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was comparatively easy to convince a Gentile of his need of further help and illumination; but, not so the Jews, who considered themselves the instructors of the world, and who ought to have been such. But when R. W. speaks of Divine influences, which fall short of conversion, and of human responsibility, grounded on this preventing grace, as being expressions to which he can attach no idea," I confess myself at a loss. Had I read this in the Evangelical Magazine, I should fully have understood and believed the writer; and knowing, as I do by long experience, how the opposite opinions are interwoven with every thing a pious Calvinist holds sacred, I should have despaired to have given a satisfactory answer in the compass of a page, or probably in that of a volume: but, to a correspondent in a work, which I consider belonging to a people who are called to bear an open testimony in the "meekness of wisdom," against the popular, but fundamental errors of the day, I can only say, that it furnishes to me an additional matter of regret, that the inestimable works of Mr. Fletcher are not more studied by persons who revere his memory, and who have leisure and capacity to profit by them. See page 998 of the number for December last. Allow me respectfully and affectionately to recommend to R. W. the following considerations : However sinful and depraved a man may be, yet, if no moral power is vouchsafed him, he cannot be considered guilty; for, guilt arises from the neglect or abuse of moral power. On this account, it is the labour both of infidels and Socinians to establish the belief of a system of necessitating causes, which excludes all moral power, and thereby identifies sin with physical evil. Having by this means got rid of guilt, the thing of all others most to be dreaded (seeing they reject its true remedy) it costs them little to treat the doctrine of atonement as a corruption of Christianity, or to consider Christianity itself as what the world can now do much better without. It there, fore is become the imperious duty of truly religious persons to look well to their foundations, for an error admitted into first principles, entwines with all its subsequent ramifications. I am, Sir, respectfully your's, December 4, 1819. C. L.. P. S.-Innumerable gradations interpose between pertinacious resistance to, and full improvement of, the gracious helps, internal and external, afforded to man. These gradations constitute a neutral ground, which R. W. must not term " hybrid Christianity." Our Lord spoke of one who was nigh unto the kingdom, and of others who, seeking to enter in, "were hindered," of which we have many lamentable examples. Resolving all the hearers of the Gospel into two grand divisions, may be easy, but it is dangerous; because, contrary to the existing facts. To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. DEAR SIR, No one deserving the Christian name, can observe the very numerous Christian institutions formed in this country, especially those which embrace the spiritual wants of mankind, without indulging the most exhilarating anticipations. Yet it would ill become a sober-minded Christian, to found these anticipations upon these efforts, as those of any number, or of any denominations of Christians, after the experience of so many disappointments; all so strongly confirming our Lord's language, "Without me ye can do nothing. Among these institutions, those which are especially directed to the conversion of men, are so manifestly dependant for every vestige of hope on him who giveth the increase, and who claims the sole prerogative of shining into the hearts of men, that it might be hoped that our sense of this dependance would suppress every particle of glorying in man; and fill our minds with the utmost simplicity of aim, and that deep anxiety for the event, which men ever feel when they wholly rely for success on the interposition of another. He who feels aright on such a subject, will reckon nothing upon his own means and resources; but will be anxiously and incessantly looking for the appearance of that influence, without which he expects nothing but certain and positive disappointment. I hope, Sir, that I shall be forgiven, if I express my fears that this necessity of the Divine aid has been too much lost sight of in the eclat of publick meetings, and the bustle of preparation for the conversion of the Heathen world. I do not apprehend that any denomination is insensible to this necessity; but I fear that the immense importance of this aid, and its imperious claims on our incessant attention, have not had their due weight on our hearts; have not been sufficiently realized, so as to have excited that spirit of supplication in all our churches, which the case requires. The necessity and suitability of the Divine influence to meet the case of the Heathen, so ignorant and so superstitious, is universally allowed. As none but God could redeem, so none but Jehovah can quicken and renovate a mind dead in trespasses and sins. Do the Heathen live in a state of awful levity and indifference as it respects their spiritual interests? We know that the Divine Spirit produces in the awakened mind, a deep thoughtfulness and anxiety on this subject. Are they involved in the most deplorable blindness and error? He, as the Spirit of truth, brings the soul which is under his teachings into marvellous light. Are they prejudiced against their European teachers? It is the nature of his influences to open the heart of the hearer, and to convince him, that these men are the servants of the Most High God, shewing the way of salvation. Are they dead, and in a state totally beyond the reach of human agency; "dry bones"? We know that he quickeneth the dead, and imparteth a life, which makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus. Have they been long the slaves of sin, and of the powers of darkness? By his agency they become the living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. That all these effects have been produced on the Heathen, let the hearers of Brainerd, of the Moravians, and of those of the different denominations now labouring in the Heathen world, the North American Indians, the Greenlanders, the Esquimaux, the Africans, and the Hindoos bear witness. But who, that knows the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Divine Word, respecting the out-pouring of the Divine Spiritwho that knows the state of the heathen congregations in all parts of the world-who that feels for those who are labouring in those inhospitable regions-who that ever entered into their difficulties and discouragements-but must anxiously wish for a far greater spirit of prayer in our churches in reference to this indispensably necessary and crowning blessing? Very important means, and numerous agents have been raised up by a gracious Providence; but from one extremity of the heathen world to the other, who does not see, who does not feel the necessity of a more general out-pouring of the Divine influence? And when it is considered what mighty effects have beer produced, where this blessing has been bestowed; that thousands have been converted at once; whole congregations deeply affected, yea, at the satue moment, whole villages and towns; and that nothing but Divine influence is adequate to these saving effects, it might be expected that all the friends of Missions throughout the word would be moved simultaneously, and would crowd to their places of worship, to sit and wait there in a state of impressive silence, like the apostles on the day of |