517 performance of these things? He is also to live in the Spirit; from which a spirit of gaming and folly is very different. Nor is even this all. It is a perfect mystery to know what we are to understand by denying ourselves, by taking up our cross, and by following Christ, if a renunciation of such things be not implied. Unless we are to forsake these, the Scriptures are obscure. If we can trace Jesus Christ to the gaming-table, to hunting down animals, or footing it at a dance, then-and not till then, will those things be expedient, and we be justified in the use of them as his followers. "For even hereunto are we called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps." It is possible the ingenuity and accommodating spirit of Mr. W. may apply this passage to the primitive Christians; thus denying them almost every gratification, and indulging the present generation with almost every thing the foolish mind of man has invented.

Equally correct are those who argue upon them as forbidden, and consequently unlawful. "This I say then," observes the apostle, "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."+ After this he enumerates a variety of gross vices, and then adds-" and such like." Every thing that rises from the flesh is suited to the nature of the flesh; and all the works of the flesh are forbidden. To follow the games of the world is to be conformed to it, all which conformity is prohibited. But waving every other text on this particular, there is one in the epistle to the Colossians which is sufficient to decide the question: "And whatsoever ye do in wORD or DEED, do ALI. in the NAME of the LORD JESUS, giving THANKS to GOD and the FATHER by him." Here, Sir, I place my foot. If foolish games and amusements, such as those for which Mr. W. pleads, can be commenced, carried on, and ended, in the name of Christ, and to the glory of God, let them be pursued to their utmost extent. Their unlawfulness appears from hence," Whatsoever is NOT of FAITH is SIN. Thus, by the law of faith, they are condemned; for they are neither of faith, nor enjoyed in the power of it. St. Peter reminded those to whom he wrote, that it was not lawful to follow those things which had previously engaged their attention; "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts, in your ignorance."

The last view taken of them is, that they are unedifying. They may edify in the knowledge of gaming, and enable a man to become more than a master-a knave; but where is the honour in being called a gamester? where the edification to the Christian himself? where the advantage to others? where the consolation

imparted in an hour of affliction, or in the article of death? They have just as natural a tendency to produce any of these effects, as a nettle has to allay the sting of a fly. Persons who indulge in them may talk like angels, but they will only prove stumblingblocks to others.-But it is still reiterated,-They are only amusements, recreations, diversions! True, they amuse; but it is so as to attract the attention from the one thing needful: they recreate, but it is so as to make a professor conformable to this world, and to stimulate him to walk after the course of it: they divert, but it is in such a manner as to turn the soul aside from following Christ. Fine diversions for new creatures! Let every one please his neighbour for his good to edification. In gaming, people countenance others, and please themselves; and such as join with them, are pleased to their destruction. So far are they from edifying, that, as has just been observed, they stumble. And yet those who indulge in them will have the effrontery to ask, What harm have we done? Or with Paul, "For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?"* Such should recollect, that Paul never meant a liberty that was an occasion to the flesh -a liberty contrary to that love which edifieth in the faith-a liberty which wounds others, any more than a liberty to worship the goddess Diana, to cut off a brother's ears, or set the city of Corinth on fire. For he says, "When ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak consciences, ye sin against Christ." How was it that they offended the weak, and sinned against Christ? By sitting at an idol's table. This, though indifferent in itself, gave offence; and hear the pious breathings of Paul, "Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." The apostle found it necessary repeatedly to dwell upon this topic. "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:-Abstain from all appearance of evil :-See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil:Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsover things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God's." These texts but ill accord with the system of Mr. W., which proceeds on the supposition, that there is now more liberty-a gospel more accommodating-a Judge less severe. It is of such as Mr. W. and his followers, that Cowper speaks, in his piece on "THE

1 Cor. x. 29.

+1 Cor. viii. 12.

+ Verse 13.

1 Cor. x. 32, 1 Thess. v. 22, Ephes. v. 15, 16, Phil. iv. 8, 1 Cor. vi. 20.

LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED;" a perusal of which is recommended.

"Thus says the prophet of the Turk,
Good Mussulman, abstain from pork;
There is a part in every swine
No friend or follower of mine
May taste, whate'er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication.
Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety eat the rest;
But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr'd;
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Much controversy straight arose,
These choose the back, the belly those;
By some 'tis confidently said
He meant not to forbid the head;
While others at that doctrine rail,

And piously prefer the tail.

Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.

"You laugh-'tis well-The tale applied
May make you laugh on t'other side.
Renounce the world-the preacher cries.*
We do a multitude replies.

While one as innocent regards

A snug and friendly game at cards;

And one, whatever you may say,
Can see no evil in a play;

Some love a concert, or a race;
And others shooting, and the chase.
Revil'd and lov'd, renounc'd and follow'd,
Thus, bit by bit, the world is swallow'd;
Each thinks his neighbour makes too free,
Yet likes a slice as well as he:

With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten."

These remarks, Sir, I shall now close. One letter might have been quite sufficient, as an answer to some writers; but when every part of Methodism is attacked, every part of Methodism must be defended. It is not a paragraph or two that will defend a system so varied and comprehensive. Had Mr. W.'s principal objections been omitted, it might have been inferred that they were unanswerable. In opposition, therefore, to my own views and feelings which are in favour of any thing short, I have entered the more fully into the subject, to prevent any false conclusion; and, if possible, a second attack from the reverend gentleman. It is the love of truth, not the desire of fame, that has emboldened me to take up the pen. My prospects of the latter are far from flattering; and still less so, if the author of the Rambler be correct. "It is indeed," says he, "the fate of

*Not Mr. W. but a Methodist Preacher,

controvertists, even when they contend for philosophical or the ologial truth, to be soon laid aside and slighted. Either the question is decided, and there is no more place for doubt and opposition, or mankind despair of understanding it; and growing weary of disturbance, content themselves with quiet ignorance, and refuse to be harassed with labours which they have no hope of recompensing with knowledge." But, Sir, though I have no hope of permanent fame, I do not altogether despair of present effect-that effect, whatever it may be, and to whatever extent, I leave with God.

Hull, 1819.

Your's, affectionately and respectfully,
JAMES EVERETT.

THE WORD OF GOD ILLUSTRATED.

To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine.

Perhaps the following extract from Bishop Horsley's Sermons, may be edifying to some of your readers.

Newcastle,

Staffordshire, April 7, 1819.

I am,

respectfully, your's, JOHN DONCASTER.

Explication of Matthew xvi. 16-19-" And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c.

"It is much to be lamented, that the sense of this important text, in which our Lord, for the first time, makes explicit mention of his church, should have been brought under doubt and obscurity, by a variety of forced and discordant expositions, which prejudice and party-spirit have produced.-Writers in the Roman communion have endeavoured to find in this passage, a foundation for the vain pretensions of the Roman Pontiff; and Protestants, on the other hand, have been more solicitous to give it a sense which might elude those consequences, than attentive to its true and interesting meaning. We may venture to assume a confident tone; nor scruple to assert, that St. Peter, upon this occasion, (ver. 16,) answered, only for himself,-the blessing he obtained, (ver. 17,) was for "himself singly," the reward of his being foremost in the faith which he confessed;-that, to be the carrier of the keys of the kingdom-to loose and bind on earth, in any sense which the expressions may bear in this passage-were personal distinctions of the venerable primate of the Apostolic College, appropriated to him in positive and absolute exclusion of all other persons, in exclusion of the apostles his contempories, and the bishops of Rome his successors.-Any interpretation of this passage, or of any part of it, founded upon a notion that St. Peter, upon this occasion, spoke, or was spoken to, as the representative of the apostles, is groundless and erroneous.

"The keys of the kingdom of heaven, here promised to St. Peter, must mean something quite distinct from that with which it hath generally been confounded-the power of the remission and retention of sins, conferred by our Lord, after his resurrection, upon the apostles in general.

"St. Peter's custody of the keys was quite another thing.--It was a temporary, not a perpetual authority: its object was not individuals, but the whole human race. The kingdom of heaven upon earth is the true church of God.

"It is now, therefore, the Christian church. Formerly the Jewish church was that kingdom.-The true church is represented in this text, as in many passages of holy writ, under the image of a walled city, to be entered only at the gates.

"Under the Mosaic economy these gates were shut, and particular persons only could obtain admittance,-Israelites by birth, or by legal incorporation.

"The locks of these gates were the rights of the Mosaic law, which obstructed the entrance of aliens. But, after our Lord's ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost, the keys of the city were given to St. Peter, by that vision which taught him, and authorized him to teach others, that all distinctions of one nation from another were at an end.-By virtue of this special commission, the great apostle applied the key, pushed back the lock, and threw the gates of the city open, for the admission of the whole gentile world, in the instance of Cornelius and his family. Acts x.

"To this, and this only, our Lord prophetically alludes, when he promises to St. Peter the custody of the keys.

"With this, the second article of the promise, the authority to loose and bind, is closely connected.

"This again must be a distinct thing from the perpetual standing power of discipline, conveyed upon a later occasion to the church in general, in the same figurative terms.

St. Peter was the first instrument of Providence in dissolving the obligation of the Mosaic law in the ceremonial, and binding it in the moral part.

"And this was his personal commission to bind and loose, Acts xv.

"No authority over the rest of the apostles was given to St. Peter, by the promise made to him, in either, or in both its branches; nor was any right conveyed to him which could descend from him to his successors in any see.-The promise was indeed simply a prediction that he would be selected to be the first instrument in a great work of Provide, which was of such a nature as to be done once for all; and being done, cannot be repeated. The apostle fulfilled his commission in his life time; he VOL XLII. JULY, 1819.