the image of God-by this, they bring forth the fruits, called likewise the graces, of the Spirit; "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." By this principle they run in the way of the divine commandments, and persevere in their Christian course till they arrive at the habitations of glory. —And do you, Sir, ridicule the doctrine of divine grace? Unless you possess it, before you quit this mortal state, it may be said of you, as the Son of God asserted of Judas Iscariot-" It had been good for that man, if he had never been born.”I shall reserve my observations on the new birth to another part, where you challenge an explanation of that scriptural phrase.-In the mean time, I subscribe myself,

Sir, your well-wisher, &c.

LETTER VII.

SIR,

IN page 138 of your book, you déclare, respecting the society on which you are animadverting, (the congregation of Castle-street Chapel,) that there are some "who, having passed their youthful days in debaucheries and profligacy, are glad to find shelter in a religious society, which affords a prospect of impunity in a future state, provided they have faith, which they pretend is a sufficient atonement for the past, without the performance of moral duties, or the other criterions of a Christian spirit, for the time to come." -How long will you continue to vilify a body of Christians, many of whom are as exemplary for their attention to moral duties and their exercise of Christian benevolence, as any persons that can be pointed out, whether among the inhabitants of Reading, or strangers. Whatever may have been the character of some of the worshippers at the chapel in relation to "the debaucheries and profligacy of the former part of their lives," (for your assertions respecting which your readers will probably give you as much credit as they will for

many other parts of your narrative,) I inform you, Sir, that in charging them with the diabolical sentiments you have asserted they maintain, you are guilty of a most gross falsehood. Though totally unconnected with the congregation you are thus charging with things they know not of, I am sufficiently acquainted with their sentiments to aver, that out of the thousand persons you are thus wickedly libelling, probably not one can be found who holds the opinion which you have not scrupled to charge upon the whole. They maintain, Sir, that there is no other atonement for sin than that which has been made by the Son of God, to be interested in which they consider faith in the Saviour necessary, wherever a Saviour is proclaimed; but they strenuously assert that such a faith, when real and genuine, is necessarily connected with a life of morality and holiness. You may think me, Sir, a very unpolite opponent, to bring against you the positive and serious charges I have done; but when a man grossly defames, again, and again, by the most flagrant untruths, a body of persons, many of whom rank high in the estimation of all to whom they are known for their respectability, integrity, generosity, benevolence, and piety, it would be highly improper in a Christian reprover to hesitate in making, distinctions in relation to the retort courteous, the quip modest, the reply churlish, and the other shades of difference which the. English theatrical bard has wittily

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pointed out in the different manners of offering contradiction. With the omission of buts and ifs, I assert unequivocally that your book contains the most gross and palpable untruths. Nor have I wish to be covered under an anonymous sigany nature; and therefore as soon as the "Stranger" discovers himself, his "Detector" will no longer remain concealed. Every friend to truth, morality, and religion, must admit that you need to be sharply reproved, and faithfully warned. When I purposed, therefore, to enter the lists of controversy with you, I determined occasionally to use the sword of the Spirit. There is none like it; and therefore I now lay hold of it:-" Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

"All liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone."

You next assert, with your usual regard to veracity, that they "express eagerness to receive into their body every one that offers to join them, for the purpose of swelling their annual returns." -Let me here rectify your mistake, Sir, by informing you, that the persons, with whose proceedings you seem so intimately acquainted, and whose conduct you appear to describe with so much accuracy, have been so far from making an annual return of their numbers, that they have never made any such return at all. For to whom should they make it? The congregations of this denomination are totally unconnected with each

other. You have presumed, Sir, to write an account of the Methodists, while you are perfectly unacquainted with your subject. You confound the Reading Methodists with the Wesleians or Arminians, of which there is no congregation, and scarcely a family, in this town. The Wesleians never could raise a society of any continuance in the borough of Reading: a very few individuals, therefore, who held their doctrines, are now lost among the other congregations, and have perhaps adopted different sentiments. These Arminians, who style themselves Methodists, and in fact consider themselves the only proper persons who ought to bear the name, undoubtedly make annual returns of their numbers, by which in this respect a more particular account can be given of them than of other denominations.

You have concluded the page on which the above strictures have been offered, with the following assertion:-"To the Methodists may be applied, with more propriety, what has been said of the Calvinists, that they profess a religion without morality, and worship a God without mercy."-Your consummate ignorance of the religious parties you are libelling, and your total inability to classify them, shall be noticed presently when we speak of the Calvinists. At present I remark, that the Methodists and Calvinists profess the same religion, and worship the same God. But the "father of lies” himself has never yet at