is gone a great way. Some people, I can tell you, suspect you for a Deist; if you are so, I then ask, Do you act devoutly on your own principles? Do you pray to God daily? This every Deist will allow to be necessary; and, till you have habituated your mind to prayer, I shall have little expectations of doing you that important service, which you must be sensible by my writing this letter I am very desirous of doing, as far as in me lies. The rest must be left to a superior agency, I mean the operation of God's Holy Spirit on your heart."

No answer has yet been returned by Mr. to this letter. I believe he is puzzled how to act. He cannot well pass it by in silence; and to give any thing under his hand on so interesting a subject as religion, will be to a man of his turn very ineligible.

You see by the papers, that our great wit is dead. Is it not a little remarkable, that so long before his death he should be deprived of his senses? deprived of them at the very time he was about writing a most pernicious book, which, I am told, he intended to have published with this ludicrous title, viz. "The Memoirs of the Rev. Mr Jephtha Quixote, SaintErrant; the true and undoubted son of the renowned Don Quixote, Knight-Errant; who inherits all his father's virtues." The design of which was to burlesque things sacred, and to set in a ridiculous light some of the most exemplary Christians, under the notion of saint-errantry. This would have been a most malicious piece of wit; and being the production of so celebrated a genius, would have spread like wildfire, pregnant with infinite mischief; for, as Horace has justly remarked,

"For ridicule shall frequently prevail,

And cut the knot when graver reasons fail.

FRANCIS' Har.

When you reflect on this and other attempts to discourage good men, and to render religion contemptible in the eyes of worldlings, are you not apt to say with the Psalmist, "The Lord that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn?" Psal. ii. 4. He, though

unseen, directs the whole by his wise providence ; turneth men's hearts as seemeth good unto him; and in his hands are the appointments of life and death. To his guidance and to his protection I commend you, my dear sir, and yours very sincerely.

LETTER CLVII.

Weston, 1756.

DEAR SIR, I CONFESS I am covetous, and, like covetous people, unreasonable; I was in hope of receiving another favour from your pen, before I troubled you with a fresh solicitation. But an affair has lately happened, or rather a project has started in my mind, which I will lay before you. On Sunday last a neighbouring clergyman sent me for my perusal, a sermon preached by Dr T-, before the House of Commons, on the late* public fast. When I perused it, and saw not a single mention of Christ, nor a single hint of an evangelical nature, I was surprised and grieved; and so much the more, as it was preached by one of the most celebrated divines in the kingdom, and before the whole kingdom convened in their representatives. I thought it was a pity, that such a notorious slight, put upon our most glorious Redeemer, should pass without animadversions. I could not forbear wishing that the Lord would enable me, even me, (the least and weakest in my heavenly Father's house), to bear my testimony for Jesus who was crucified. I therefore conceived some thoughts of publishing a sermon preached at Weston, upon a subject somewhat similar to his; for though mine is designedly plain, and destitute of the polite Doctor's embellishments, yet it has more of Christ and his gospel. I also apprehend, if to this were prefixed or subjoined some remarks upon the Doctor's performance, it might not be unseasonable nor unprofitable. Now, my dear friend, if you approve the design, would you draw up some remarks upon the Doctor's discourse, while I am endeavour

The public fast in February 1756.

ing to retrieve my sermon from a few hints, which I happened on that occasion to put down in shorthand? I will own to you, my heart almost trembles at the prospect of appearing in print against so eminent a man. And if you do not think it proper to be my helper and abettor, I must drop the design. May the Lord Jesus, whose honour is concerned, whose blood and righteousness, whose spirit and grace have been disregarded, and treated as ciphers; may he direct your determination, fructify your invention, give you all knowledge and all utterance ! What think you of this method of proceeding? Making remarks upon the evangelical passages; pointing out the places where an opportunity offered of enlarging upon gospel topics; exemplifying this gospel manner, and shewing that it would be no prejudice, but give infinite, weight and force to the argument. But I leave all to the blessed God, and my dear friend. Your last, I think, is a most masterly piece of controversy, for which I am your debtor. May you now be enabled to outdo yourself. The subject and the occasion are of the last importance: if you are inclined to exert yourself, pray let it be in the courtly manner. Your last pen was dipt in vinegar, let this be dipt in oil.

My sermon was on that text, Ezek. xviii. 27. I shall wait, with incessant prayer to him whose name is WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, till I receive your answer; and am most affectionately. yours, &c.

LETTER CLVIII.

[Mr Hervey's friend, on considering the proposal in the preceding letter, wrote the following, and addressed it to Dr T, the preacher of the fast sermon in 1756, on Jer. xviii. 7, 8. It is here printed, as the observations therein contained may possibly be in some measure productive of the good which Mr Hervey intended by such like remarks. *]

REVEREND SIR,-SOME time ago was put into my hands a sermon of yours, on Jer. xviii. 7, 8.

* See Preface to the Letters, Vol. V.

preached before the honourable House of Commons on the day of the late public fast; wherein I thought I saw some very material omissions and mistakes, which I feared might hinder the success of your ingenious performance; and therefore, as I would neither have you to labour in vain, nor the best use of such alarming calls of Divine Providence neglected, I could not but give you the trouble of a letter upon this occasion.

Nothing can be more proper, at such seasons, than serious discourses upon repentance and reformation. Times of affliction are most likely to be times of reflection; and when it pleases the Most High thus to open the heart, it is then the time for his servants to sow the good seed of his word. To prepare men for this, God's judgments fly swift as the light. To prepare men for this, he hews by his prophets, and slays by the word of his mouth: and happy, eternally happy, are those who are influenced thereby to return from their evil ways, and to make their ways and their doings good: for thus runs the divine promise," At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; if that nation against whom I have pronounced this, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them," Jer. xviii. 7, 8.

Such is God's gracious declaration, which no gospel minister can read, but it must remind him of two things: First, that this promise is made in Christ Jesus, and therefore can belong to none but those who forsake their sins, and return unto God by him: Then, this return from evil must be accomplished through the grace and Spirit of Christ. And,

First, The mention of this, and every other promise in the book of God, must remind the gospel minister that it is made in Christ Jesus. St Paul hath assured us, that "all the promises of God in him are yea" (made), "and in him amen" (confirmed); and if all the promises of God are made and

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confirmed in him, then this, as one, must be made in him. The Redeemer himself has informed us, that "he is the way, and the truth, and the life," and that no man can come unto the Father but by him." But to turn from evil, and to come unto the Father, are terms of the same import. Besides, we know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have peace with God, and that it is only through Jesus Christ that God has reconciled the world to himself. Can two then walk together except they are agreed? Can God sheath the sword of his justice before he is reconciled to us? If not, how can he repent of the evil that he thought to do unto us? And if he repents not of the evil which he thought to do unto us, where is our interest in the promise? But what need of any more words, when it is most evident that it is the Son of God who here speaks by the prophet? The same person promises mercy, who had threatened to destroy with the severest judgments: Now we know that "the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son; that all men should honour the Son, as they honour the Father." It is very plain then, that all who return from evil, must return by Christ; they must return with his price in their hands, and his robe upon their backs; and then, and not till then, they are safe, safe for time and eternity.

Again, when the gospel minister reads this gracious promise, he will remember that such a returning from evil must be accomplished through the grace and Spirit of Christ. How can we, who are not sufficient of ourselves to think a good thought of ourselves, think of returning to God and holiness? Can the captive, who is in love with his chains, long for liberty? Can the sinner, who is fond of his sins, desire to relinquish them? No; it is as possible for the Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots, as for us, who are accustomed to do evil, to learn to do well. Nay, far more possible; for to accomplish this, they need only to change their hue;