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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6095df5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63746 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63746) diff --git a/old/63746-0.txt b/old/63746-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 70c129c..0000000 --- a/old/63746-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1010 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Reply to Dr. Vaughan's "Letter on the late -Post-Office Agitation", by James Roberts Pears - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: A Reply to Dr. Vaughan's "Letter on the late Post-Office Agitation" - - -Author: James Roberts Pears - - - -Release Date: November 13, 2020 [eBook #63746] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REPLY TO DR. VAUGHAN'S "LETTER -ON THE LATE POST-OFFICE AGITATION"*** - - -Transcribed from the [1850?] James Nisbet and Co. edition by David Price - - - - - - A REPLY - TO - DR. VAUGHAN’S - “LETTER ON THE LATE POST-OFFICE - AGITATION.” - - - * * * * * - - BY - JAMES ROBERT PEARS, M.A., - - MASTER OF THE BATH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AND LATE FELLOW OF - MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD. - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - LONDON: - JAMES NISBET AND CO. - BATH: BINNS AND GOODWIN. - - * * * * * - - _Price Sixpence_. - - * * * * * - - BATH: PRINTED BY BINNS AND GOODWIN. - - * * * * * - - - - -A REPLY, &c. - - -REV. SIR, - -Three years ago the Hon. GRANTLEY F. BERKELEY published a letter to the -Postmaster-General in opposition “to the attempt (as he wrote) which was -making in Bath and its vicinity to prevent the delivery of letters on a -Sunday.” And we were taught by this publication that there were men, and -perhaps many men, among our legislators, who were uninformed as to the -origin, nature, and moral effects of that precious ordinance of a day of -rest. Such men needed to be instructed with kindness, and patience, and -compassion. - -We must, indeed, be fearfully devoid of the best gift of God to man, if -we do not feel compassion for men who, in a land of open bibles, and -professed obedience to the Gospel, have been deprived, by a vicious -education, a life of excitement, and the cold indifference of those about -them, of the vast enjoyment realized by the spirit of man when it rests -in communion with the Almighty. - -But when I undertook the easy and pleasant task of replying to that -opponent, I certainly thought that the sentiments of that gentleman were -confined to men whose education had been so unhappily restricted. - -It would have been to me utterly incredible, if I had been told that his -views would find sympathy and support in a man educated in the most -liberal course, and trained to the full exercise of intellectual energy, -accepted as a popular instructor of the rising Aristocracy, and even -accounted an able preacher of the Gospel of HIM, who gave the day of rest -and blessed it. And here you must accept the assurance of my unfeigned -regret if the following remarks necessarily assume somewhat of a personal -character. My own feelings would lead me to limit myself entirely to the -discussion of facts, principles, causes, and results: but that period in -the discussion is past. The nature, obligation, privilege, and blessing -of the Lord’s day has been the subject of deep interest and enquiry to -every temper of mind, with an infinite variety of views, among all -classes of men from the palace to the workshop. - -Nothing remains for us but to apply to individuals principles already -admitted, and arguments no longer disputed. Nor is any exception to be -made in favour of a disputant, who has contrived to escape from all -perception of the various stages of the enquiry, and with feminine -pertinacity repeats at the end the question which opened the discussion. - -The debate has come to a close, and the question is now put to the vote. -The multitude catch at every leading voice which authorizes their -self-indulgence, and neglect of duty, and our only effort is to make such -leaders retract their vote with honest repentance, or to make the many -ashamed to follow them in palpable error. - -Your name and reputation make it indeed imperative on us to notice, in -the fulness of courtesy, the points you have brought forward; but I -cannot conceal from myself that the only conceivable importance to be -attached to the publication before me arises from your personal position -and personal character: it begins and ends with yourself. - -The letter itself would be a harmless echo of the minute of Mr. ROWLAND -HILL but for the Preacher’s name on the title-page, and the -advertisements of sermons, by the same Author, on the cover. To that -sacred document, “_the minute_,” you are willing to be indebted for -facts, principles, and arguments;—an implicit submission to the written -word of authority, which in the sermons would be the wisdom of faith, but -in the present instance savours more of the simplicity of credulity. -“You could wish that that minute had been more generally studied by those -who pronounced a judgment upon the question.” - -A wish in which I heartily concur, under the fullest conviction, that -every honest and intelligent mind would pronounce it to be as -contemptible a piece of official mystification as ever proceeded from a -public office. - -We have in one paper a desultory reference to every part of the -Post-office duties; facts the most unconnected in their nature united -together; and conclusions arrived at by a process peculiar to those who -know the credulity of the many; while the only thing which we learn with -any degree of certainty, we ascertain from its ostentatious repetition, -that to compensate for the contempt of the command of Jehovah, and the -ruin of men’s souls, we shall have a saving of £148 per annum _by the -discontinuance of the Newport-Pagnell Mail-cart_. - -One principle, however, shows itself in something like a definite form, -which you have yourself adopted—the principle of compensation in the -matter of obedience to the word of God;—of striking a balance with -Jehovah. It runs through the minute, it constitutes the only approach to -an argument in your letter. Is it possible, Sir, that your mind was not -startled by the train of thought which you permitted to pass through it? -A man, whose whole energies have been unhappily devoted to secular -business; whose affections are wrapped up in questions of profit and -loss; who forgets the eternity which is to come in the contemplation of -the saving of the Newport-Pagnell Mail-cart: such a man may, perhaps, -think that “the Lord is even such an one as himself.” But you know that -the Spirit of our Creator, and our Judge, has asked, “What is a man -profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” - -You cannot go into your closet, and meet the God of your salvation there, -with an offer of a lesser sin instead of a greater. You shudder at the -thought, or smile at the absurdity, as your temper may be; but this is -merely the specious profession of Mr. HILL’S minute, as adopted by -yourself, stripped under the light of Divine truth. - -You have yourself spoken with approbation of those in whom is “a -trembling anxiety to be right for eternity, which forbids them to rest in -that dim unrealized twilight which satisfies the eye less intently fixed -on the future and the spiritual.” {7a} And if these words are anything -beyond an elegant close to a period, you will agree with me, that it is a -fearful calamity for a teacher of God’s truth to have vague and -indefinite notions of duty towards God; and an awful offence in such a -man to consent to and to authorize the prevalence of such uncertainty. - -Man, when once brought to a sense of responsibility, is too ready to -escape from it under the cloudy varieties of opinion. The poor country -labourer defends his carelessness by asserting that “we must do the best -that we can;” and his educated fellow-man tells us that “the question is -whether, on the whole, the aggregate of gain or loss will preponderate.” -{7b} No, Sir, that may be the question for Mr. ROWLAND HILL; but it is -not the question for you or me. I earnestly entreat you to consider this -matter again. The elegant poet of a heathen court declared of the -virtuous man, which his imagination delighted in, “_Si fractus illabatur -orbis_, _impavidum ferient ruinæ_.” We have repeated, as before God, -thousands of times, “Thy will be done.” And what did we mean? Less than -Horace? I trust not. “Thy will be done;”—though all the conveniences of -society are sacrificed,—all the communications of friends cut off,—all -the prosperity of nations overthrown:—“Thy will be done.” - -“If twenty-five _additional_ servants are required in the _London_ Office -on the Sunday, and _twice_ twenty-five can be _relieved_ on that day in -the Provincial Offices, the change, so far as it extends, is salutary. -Now if this obvious principle be granted, the question is decided at -once,” {8} is your own statement of the matter; and though I utterly deny -that such a relief can be realized, or was expected, I am willing to take -it as a mere moral thesis of your own, that I may remind you that very -_obvious principles_ in the matters of this world are not very obvious -principles in our dealing with God. - -You dare not go into the presence of God with this obvious principle in -the face of His express and unqualified command. You tell me that “it is -necessary to take a national view of such a question.” I answer, that -for us, Ministers of the Gospel, it is necessary to take a scriptural and -spiritual view of this and every question. And you must not suppose that -I am assuming anything here as to the obligation of the Lord’s-day. You -admit that the increase of work in the London Post Office is an _evil_, -and you look upon the relief from such work in the country offices as a -counterbalancing _good_. As a minister of Christ, you must mean _good_ -and _evil_ in reference to the will of the God of the Bible; you must -therefore understand _positive_, _eternal_, _unchangeable good and evil_. -You incur a vast and fearful responsibility if you teach man that man’s -obedience, in regard to Divine declarations of good and evil, is left -undefined, and dependent upon circumstances, or man’s judgment. You must -not teach them to seek a good of their own by a balance of disobedience -and obedience, and such an approximation to the Divine will as they find -convenient. - -Of all the forms in which the perverseness of man’s nature is exhibited, -none is so painful to contemplate as the incapacity of an acute intellect -and cultivated mind for comprehending the nature and power of the -communication between the Creator and the spirits of His creatures. We -read the clearest statements of the one truth that “the world by wisdom -knew not God,” and we submit to them rather as a salutary warning against -possible error, than as declaratory of a sure result. But when we see -the truth exemplified in an individual; when we look upon faculties and -qualities which we are led to envy, to admire, and to love, and find the -man even in one point closed against the communication of God; our spirit -endures the most bitter disappointment of which it is susceptible. We -see strength which defies our efforts, and a moral and intellectual -position above our reach, and yet feel that such strength is the -intensity of weakness, and such a position the most slippery of those -“slippery places,” of which the Psalmist was instructed in the sanctuary -of God. - -Few years have passed since we rejoiced in the emancipation of minds from -the thraldom of the traditionary ideas of the past; men began, after a -long interval, to think for themselves. We have already lived to see -many of the finest minds lost through their liberty. It is better to be -limited to the well defined truths borrowed from other minds, than to -wander in a wilderness of free thought, where truth and error, good and -evil, are undistinguished but by the casual intuitive perception of the -wanderer. - -It is a matter of vast national importance that one of the first -instructors of youth should subdue his own mind to well defined -conceptions of duty. - -Surely there must have been something which materially interfered with -the calmness of your judgment when you stated conspicuously that the -alteration in the transmission of letters would cause a great diminution -of the former amount of letters written and read in the country on -Sunday! And when you intimated that the opponents of the measure, who -will not consent to the doing of evil that good may come, are chargeable -with the same folly. You ask, “Are you not, in _resisting_ the proposed -relief of the country offices, on the plea of regard for that of London, -doing, in fact, a great evil—not that a small good may come; but that a -small evil may not come?” {10} - -Whence did you learn, Sir, that we resist the proposed relief of the -Country Offices, for which we have contended for years? Who told you -that we dared impiously to resist any act of obedience to the Lord? -Nothing could be further from my mind. Many of us, as I can venture to -assert, whether right or wrong in our judgment, have a clear, defined, -invariable rule of obedience to the will of God, by which we desire to be -guided, and desire others also to be ruled, as the best wish we can -express for them. - -It is impossible from your letter to conjecture what may be your view of -the ordinance of the Lord’s-day. You have indeed told us in another -place, in sufficiently general terms, that “without that ordinance, -indeed, without that weekly memento, visible in all things around us, of -realities unseen but eternal, no other memorial of God’s love could, in a -world like ours, find room and scope for its operations.” {11} But this -does not supply the want. I cannot conjecture whether you look upon the -observance of that day as enforced by command, or instituted as a -privilege, or appointed as a type, or a mere human institution. I reject -the latter supposition as impossible, for I cannot suspect a minister of -our church of the base hypocrisy of using her services while he holds the -Lord’s-day to be merely of man. You therefore think that, in one way or -other, it has a Divine sanction, and is a part of the Divine purpose. -The Word of the Spirit appears to give great latitude upon the subject, -when we read, “One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth -every day alike.” But we must read on, “Let every man be fully persuaded -in his own mind.” Yes, Sir, we have surely a right to expect from a -teacher of Divine Truth a clear expression of _the full persuasion_ of -his own mind, when he publicly treats on such a subject. - -There is nothing which irritates an earnest, intelligent mind more than a -weak exhibition of moral duties upon untenable grounds, or by unsound -arguments. It is possible that a vague outcry upon the subject of the -Post Office desecration of the Lord’s-day may have provoked you to make -and print the inconsiderate reply, which is now before me. And all who -esteem your reputation will regret that any outcry, however vague and -unreasonable, should have drawn from an instructed mind a reply without -one single definite statement of truth, or of duty. You must pardon me, -therefore, if I state for you a few positions, which you certainly do -hold in common with myself. - - * * * * * - -You will not hesitate to assert, - - I. That no combination of circumstances can possibly make it right to - do that which is evil in the sight of God. - - The contrary supposition necessarily asserts imperfection in His mind, - or His government. - - II. That our obedience to His will is no obedience, unless it be in - spirit and in truth, without even a desire for evasion. - - III. That each human being shall exist to eternity, in the blessedness - of the kingdom of Christ, or in the misery of the damned. - - IV. That they shall perish eternally who know not God, and obey not - the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. - - V. That God has mysteriously connected deliverance from eternal death - with the hearing of the Gospel. - - VI. That He has likewise connected obedience to His will, and His own - glory in His people, with the knowledge of His word. - - VII. That it is of _infinite_ importance that every man should hear - the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to them that - believe. - - VIII. That the Lord’s-day is especially set apart, under Divine - sanction, for the hearing of the word, and for the turning the mind of - men from the things of the world to God. - - IX. That it is better for “sixty thousand letters” to be burned, - unopened, than for one Post Office Clerk to perish in hell for ever. - -I can venture, Sir, to tell the world that your mind is quite made up on -all these points. And the world will wonder that you should hitherto -have failed to use all your faculties and influence for the deliverance -of those poor men, whom the requirements of a godless or thoughtless -multitude have shut up in the Post Office from the sound of the Gospel. - -You have told us most truly of the effects of six days’ worldly -excitement. “Who has not found himself, at the end of the week of hard -work, or of abounding excitements, left cold and almost lifeless towards -God? Who has not found himself, at such a time, so tied and bound with -the chain of this world, that, without some change, some voice coming and -speaking to him, whether he will hear or no, he could not shake off the -yoke with which he is fettered?” {13} - -And what must be the effects of months and years uninterrupted by one -real Sabbath from such excitement and fatigue? Practical men know the -effect,—they have seen one after another demoralized, degraded, -brutalized, in this life. And what can they hope is to follow in the -next? A liberally-minded man is disgusted at the idea of wearing out the -life of his horse, using him up—as men say. What do you think of -wilfully employing fellow men in a work, which wears out physical energy -and moral sense,—which _uses up_ body, _mind_, and _soul_,—and consigns -the poor exhausted wretch to destruction? But I am met by these words, -“that attendance, you will observe, is voluntary.” {14} And I read them -with feelings of the most hearty sorrow, that such words could have -fallen from the pen of a brother in the ministry of the blessed Gospel of -Love—from his _pen_—for I am sure that your heart never conceived -them—your head never weighed them—and yet what was a mere specious -afterthought of Mr. HILL’S, is put prominently forward by yourself—_their -attendance voluntary_—their ignorance voluntary too?—their ungodliness -voluntary too?—their eternal ruin voluntary too? One moment’s thought -would have made you tremble at the consequences of this defence. -Multitudes of the young prefer a course of idleness and folly which will -inevitably lead to ruin. Let them alone! _You observe that it is purely -voluntary_. Multitudes of our hearers prefer to live according to the -lusts of the flesh—let them alone! . . . their destruction is _entirely -voluntary_. The hardened reprobate, who seduces the simple country girl -by gratifying her taste for finery and idleness, may attempt to throw off -the guilt by the cruel retort that she was willing to sin; but he only -calls forth a double portion of indignation and contempt from every -honest man by the cold-blooded, false-hearted insult. And yet he is -guiltless in comparison with a man, who could deliberately see his fellow -man destroying his hopes for eternity, and sacrifice his soul for a -trifling stipend; could make use of the poor wretch’s suicidal labor for -his own little convenience, and satisfy his conscience with the thought -that _the man was willing_. - -No, Sir, no man who has ever heard your name will suspect for a moment -that you ever weighed the expression you were borrowing; and what I have -written, I have written not for yourself, but for many who need to be -warned of the guilt of their ordinary habits; who need to be taught that -man can indeed form no calculation of the innumerable minute causes which -combine to produce the destruction of a soul; but that the INFINITELY -WISE GOD sees every part of the load which presses downward the poor -sinner, and attributes with unerring accuracy every particle, however -imperceptible to us, to the hand which cast it upon the perishing wretch. -But I must submit to you that the inadvertent advocacy of this measure -lays you under an obligation to make an honest effort to remove moral -evils, which you now see that you have unintentionally encouraged. - -If any one thing is essentially our business above all others, it is to -resist, by the Word of the Lord, the _will_ of the man who chooses his -own destruction. And surely we may be content, if any men, to submit to -the vulgar retort, and mind _our own business_; for what can be a more -glorious office, than that of a messenger who comes from God, to entreat -the rebels, over whose head the sword of vengeance hangs, “be ye -reconciled to God.” Are we not called upon to use every means to turn -the sinner from the error of his ways? In season out of season; by -argument and example; by reproof and entreaty; by patience and by love, -to endeavour to deliver our fellow sinners “from darkness into light, -from the power of Satan unto God?” And if God has indeed put us in trust -with the Gospel, we can testify that we also once were such, _willing_ to -serve divers lusts and pleasures, walking according to the flesh, never -turned _willingly_ to God, but converted by the sovereign efficacy of His -grace. - -I must not, however, close this letter without a few words on “the -minute,” in which you appear to place such entire confidence. - -You ask, “May we not be permitted to learn the object of a measure from -its author? Are we justified in imputing to any man, I do not say -motives which he disavows, but motives of which he professes the very -opposite, and against which his own previous and subsequent acts -obviously militate?” and I conclude, that you would imply your own belief -that the purpose of Mr. ROWLAND HILL was to relieve as many persons as he -could from labor on the Lord’s-day. - -I wish from my heart that I could believe that the object of that -gentleman was the glory of our God and Saviour in the promotion of His -worship, and the saving work of the Gospel. - -But it requires a mind above or below humanity to believe, that a man -truly desires and seeks the glory of God, who consents to occupy such a -post in the one department of our Government, which is most conspicuous -for its desecration of the Lord’s-day, and its contempt of the claims of -the Gospel. - -You seem, however, to limit your attention to the one document before -you. But, for my part, if I could detach my mind from previous events, -and take up this single paper for judgment, I confess that I should be -totally unable to comprehend the connexion between the measures -contemplated and the care for the observance of the Lord’s-day, which is -put so prominently forward; and I should necessarily suspect, either that -the writer had in his mind a very strange jumble of heterogeneous -subjects, or that there was some underhand motive for his curious preface -to the document. - -I cannot, however, forget that this minute comes out at the close of a -long series of earnest appeals to the Government for the removal or -diminution of Sunday labor in the Post Office; that the duty of such -reform has been urged by numbers, which could not be neglected, and by -individuals, whose rank and station made some satisfactory effort, if not -some concession, imperative upon the authorities. Promises have long -been held out of such changes as, it was hoped (so they told us) would -meet the wishes of the Christian remonstrants. And this minute is not -the spontaneous act of piety which you suppose, but the evasive reply to -the urgent and often repeated remonstrances of tens of thousands of -thoughtful Christian men, and men deeply interested in the prosperity of -the country. Instead of boasting of the “total suspension of all money -orders on the Sabbath,” it would be wiser and more becoming to endeavour -to forget that disgraceful matter for ever. - -It was not only an outrage of the Divine law, it was an insult on a -Christian community, that when every bank and office was closed, and a -respectable tradesman would have been ashamed to look for gain on the -Lord’s-day, the one place open in every town for petty traffic should be -the Government office of the British Empire. - -The offence was totally unnecessary, and every respectable man was -ashamed of it. And one cannot but smile at the pretty simplicity with -which Mr. ROWLAND HILL informs us that “it is very satisfactory to remark -that neither the announcement of the change, nor the experience of it -thus far, has brought on the department a single complaint from the -public.” {18} - -It is not necessary to go through the details of “the minute,” nor to -notice the fallacies, which have exposed themselves already in the -experiment. The writer of that paper could not have been so ignorant of -Post Office work as to suppose that twenty-five persons would accomplish -all that was contemplated in London; nor had he any ground for promising -any relief in the provinces worthy of the name. It rather seems that in -his haste to attain to his ultimate object, he was peculiarly incautious -as to the statement of minor details. - -What that object really is may easily be conjectured from a review of the -past. “This is,” as you remark, “a part of a more general scheme.” - -For years past a strong body of serious men have combated the Post Office -desecration of the Lord’s-day, and their efforts have been firmly -resisted by those in authority, with a few honourable exceptions. - -In that contest the strong argument of the advocates for a cessation of -Post Office work has been the closed office in London; and those who have -defended the profanation of that day have never been able to get over -that great and unanswerable argument. The office in London has been -considered as _uniformly at rest_, and always spoken of as such by both -parties, the slight exceptions being not of a nature to be cited honestly -against that position. - -So that “the conscience of the Christian community has _not_ left these -practices unchallenged and unnoticed until now,” {19a} as you think; but -as far as the cognizance of the Christian community goes, this is the -first attempt at the sin in London, and is resisted as such. And we -think that this is _the proper time for meeting the evils_, and act -therefore on your own advice. {19b} - - “Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur, - Cùm mala per longas convaluere moras,” - -is not the less valuable advice because often repeated; and no man should -know the truth of it better than yourself. - -I need scarcely mention the _voluntary labors_ (which was a mere -palliative afterthought): for he must be a very prejudiced man who calls -the poor clerk a voluntary agent in the matter, when he is enticed by a -bribe, which his small salary makes an irresistible temptation, or -compelled by the fear of the loss of his only means of subsistence. - -And here I may leave the minute; for you now know how honest men value -it, and why they resist it. It is one move in the contest for the -mastery, wherein the question is, whether the will of the Lord or the -petty gains of the Government shall rule in the Post Office on the -Lord’s-day. - -It is scarcely possible that the writer of that minute could have -abstained from laughing when he read the first two paragraphs of his own -paper, and saw with what ingenious affectation he was entrapping his -religious adversaries. But the craft is too transparent; and he has -neither evaded their vigilance by the mystery of his statements, nor -disarmed their opposition by his specious profession. - -Neither the minute, nor your own letter, enters upon the question of -_works of necessity_, and _of mercy_; and I am, therefore, not called -upon to meet those hackneyed and misapplied expressions. I must, -however, be permitted to lay down one or two points, as necessary -elements in the discussion whenever these terms are used. - -Nothing can be necessary which is not in accordance with the will of the -Omnipotent Ruler of all things. - -Nothing can be an act of mercy which does not emanate from the God of all -grace. - -When men find necessity, or mercy, militate against duty, it must be from -their own ignorance. - -Men persist in deceiving themselves by mixing together things essentially -distinct. - -You may show me ten thousand acts of mercy which seem to you connected -with the maintenance of Sunday labor in the Post Office; but you can -never show that it is an act of necessity, or mercy, to shut up one clerk -where he shall be kept away from the sound of the Gospel,—the one sound -which can call him from eternal misery to eternal peace. - - * * * * * - -And here, Sir, I must close this hastily-written letter; hastily written -from the pressure of necessary duties: but containing opinions most -maturely weighed, and principles on which I have long endeavoured to act. - -If I appear to treat your letter with severity, I beg to assure you that -I do it with extreme regret. But, however anxious I may be to show all -possible respect for the writer, I cannot forget that errors, in -themselves trivial, receive importance from the character of him who -propagates them. - -The greater his merited reputation may be, the more needful it is that -his errors be unsparingly dealt with. - -Where I cannot comprehend a good motive, and cannot suspect a bad one, I -do not venture to assign any; and, in fact, I should rather conjecture -that some works are so hastily undertaken, that their author himself -could scarcely assign his own motives. - -It is, indeed, an unhappy coincidence when the favor of this world is, by -any accident, associated with the maintenance of Divine truth. The most -single-hearted men are unable to engage in that holy duty without -incurring a suspicion of sordid motives. But when men of unblemished -reputation, by an unhappy eccentricity of mind, are led to uphold the -questionable theories of those who dispense worldly wealth and -honor;—when they exhibit in their support an unusual dulness of -perception of Divine truth;—we can only (as the kindest alternative) -attribute their conduct to some unaccountable infatuation, or intemperate -haste. - -The judgment of charity is best expressed by speaking the TRUTH in LOVE. - -Many Christian men have looked, with sanguine expectation, for a blessing -upon the country from your labors at your important post. Those hopes -have been for a moment disappointed, but will not easily be abandoned. - -There is no hope for the country but from men of master minds, and -powerful talents, submitting their powers to the guidance of the Holy -Spirit, and devoting their energies to the services of their God and -Saviour. That this may be your high and happy calling, is the prayer of -many, as it is my own. I hope, and believe, that you will yet know the -power and enjoyment of that _Sabbath_ which the children of the kingdom -enjoy in the finished work of Jesus, even here on earth. And will be -enabled to look with confidence to an abundant entrance into that rest -which remaineth for the people of God. - - Yours, in Christian fidelity, - - JAMES ROBERT PEARS. - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - BATH: PRINTED BY BINNS AND GOODWIN. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{7a} Nine Sermons, &c., p. 60. - -{7b} Page 9. - -{8} Page 9. - -{10} Page 10. - -{11} Nine Sermons, p. 203. - -{13} Nine Sermons, p. 202. - -{14} Page 7. - -{18} Minute, 2. - -{19a} Page 8. - -{19b} Page 14. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REPLY TO DR. VAUGHAN'S "LETTER ON -THE LATE POST-OFFICE AGITATION"*** - - -******* This file should be named 63746-0.txt or 63746-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/3/7/4/63746 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: A Reply to Dr. Vaughan's "Letter on the late Post-Office Agitation" - - -Author: James Roberts Pears - - - -Release Date: November 13, 2020 [eBook #63746] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REPLY TO DR. VAUGHAN'S "LETTER -ON THE LATE POST-OFFICE AGITATION"*** -</pre> -<p>Transcribed from the [1850?] James Nisbet and Co. edition by -David Price</p> -<h1>A REPLY<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br /> -DR. VAUGHAN’S<br /> -“LETTER ON THE LATE POST-OFFICE<br /> -AGITATION.”</h1> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br -/> -<b>JAMES ROBERT PEARS, M.A.,</b></p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">MASTER OF -THE BATH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AND LATE FELLOW OF</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD.</span></p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> -JAMES NISBET AND CO.<br /> -BATH: BINNS AND GOODWIN.</p> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><i>Price Sixpence</i>.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><a name="page2"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 2</span><span class="GutSmall">BATH: PRINTED -BY BINNS AND GOODWIN.</span></p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<h2><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>A REPLY, -&c.</h2> -<p><span class="smcap">Rev. Sir</span>,</p> -<p>Three years ago the Hon. <span class="smcap">Grantley F. -Berkeley</span> published a letter to the Postmaster-General in -opposition “to the attempt (as he wrote) which was making -in Bath and its vicinity to prevent the delivery of letters on a -Sunday.” And we were taught by this publication that -there were men, and perhaps many men, among our legislators, who -were uninformed as to the origin, nature, and moral effects of -that precious ordinance of a day of rest. Such men needed -to be instructed with kindness, and patience, and compassion.</p> -<p>We must, indeed, be fearfully devoid of the best gift of God -to man, if we do not feel compassion for men who, in a land of -open bibles, and professed obedience to the Gospel, have been -deprived, by a vicious education, a life of excitement, and the -cold indifference of <a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -4</span>those about them, of the vast enjoyment realized by the -spirit of man when it rests in communion with the Almighty.</p> -<p>But when I undertook the easy and pleasant task of replying to -that opponent, I certainly thought that the sentiments of that -gentleman were confined to men whose education had been so -unhappily restricted.</p> -<p>It would have been to me utterly incredible, if I had been -told that his views would find sympathy and support in a man -educated in the most liberal course, and trained to the full -exercise of intellectual energy, accepted as a popular instructor -of the rising Aristocracy, and even accounted an able preacher of -the Gospel of <span class="smcap">Him</span>, who gave the day of -rest and blessed it. And here you must accept the assurance -of my unfeigned regret if the following remarks necessarily -assume somewhat of a personal character. My own feelings -would lead me to limit myself entirely to the discussion of -facts, principles, causes, and results: but that period in the -discussion is past. The nature, obligation, privilege, and -blessing of the Lord’s day has been the subject of deep -interest and enquiry to every temper of mind, with an infinite -variety of views, among all classes of men from the palace to the -workshop.</p> -<p>Nothing remains for us but to apply to individuals principles -already admitted, and arguments no longer disputed. Nor is -any exception to be made in favour of a disputant, who has -contrived to escape from all perception of the various stages of -the enquiry, and with feminine pertinacity repeats at the end the -question which opened the discussion.</p> -<p>The debate has come to a close, and the question is <a -name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>now put to the -vote. The multitude catch at every leading voice which -authorizes their self-indulgence, and neglect of duty, and our -only effort is to make such leaders retract their vote with -honest repentance, or to make the many ashamed to follow them in -palpable error.</p> -<p>Your name and reputation make it indeed imperative on us to -notice, in the fulness of courtesy, the points you have brought -forward; but I cannot conceal from myself that the only -conceivable importance to be attached to the publication before -me arises from your personal position and personal character: it -begins and ends with yourself.</p> -<p>The letter itself would be a harmless echo of the minute of -Mr. <span class="smcap">Rowland Hill</span> but for the -Preacher’s name on the title-page, and the advertisements -of sermons, by the same Author, on the cover. To that -sacred document, “<i>the minute</i>,” you are willing -to be indebted for facts, principles, and arguments;—an -implicit submission to the written word of authority, which in -the sermons would be the wisdom of faith, but in the present -instance savours more of the simplicity of credulity. -“You could wish that that minute had been more generally -studied by those who pronounced a judgment upon the -question.”</p> -<p>A wish in which I heartily concur, under the fullest -conviction, that every honest and intelligent mind would -pronounce it to be as contemptible a piece of official -mystification as ever proceeded from a public office.</p> -<p>We have in one paper a desultory reference to every part of -the Post-office duties; facts the most unconnected in their -nature united together; and conclusions arrived at by a process -peculiar to those who know the <a name="page6"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 6</span>credulity of the many; while the only -thing which we learn with any degree of certainty, we ascertain -from its ostentatious repetition, that to compensate for the -contempt of the command of Jehovah, and the ruin of men’s -souls, we shall have a saving of £148 per annum <i>by the -discontinuance of the Newport-Pagnell Mail-cart</i>.</p> -<p>One principle, however, shows itself in something like a -definite form, which you have yourself adopted—the -principle of compensation in the matter of obedience to the word -of God;—of striking a balance with Jehovah. It runs -through the minute, it constitutes the only approach to an -argument in your letter. Is it possible, Sir, that your -mind was not startled by the train of thought which you permitted -to pass through it? A man, whose whole energies have been -unhappily devoted to secular business; whose affections are -wrapped up in questions of profit and loss; who forgets the -eternity which is to come in the contemplation of the saving of -the Newport-Pagnell Mail-cart: such a man may, perhaps, think -that “the Lord is even such an one as himself.” -But you know that the Spirit of our Creator, and our Judge, has -asked, “What is a man profited if he gain the whole world, -and lose his own soul?”</p> -<p>You cannot go into your closet, and meet the God of your -salvation there, with an offer of a lesser sin instead of a -greater. You shudder at the thought, or smile at the -absurdity, as your temper may be; but this is merely the specious -profession of Mr. <span class="smcap">Hill’s</span> minute, -as adopted by yourself, stripped under the light of Divine -truth.</p> -<p>You have yourself spoken with approbation of those <a -name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>in whom is -“a trembling anxiety to be right for eternity, which -forbids them to rest in that dim unrealized twilight which -satisfies the eye less intently fixed on the future and the -spiritual.” <a name="citation7a"></a><a href="#footnote7a" -class="citation">[7a]</a> And if these words are anything -beyond an elegant close to a period, you will agree with me, that -it is a fearful calamity for a teacher of God’s truth to -have vague and indefinite notions of duty towards God; and an -awful offence in such a man to consent to and to authorize the -prevalence of such uncertainty.</p> -<p>Man, when once brought to a sense of responsibility, is too -ready to escape from it under the cloudy varieties of -opinion. The poor country labourer defends his carelessness -by asserting that “we must do the best that we can;” -and his educated fellow-man tells us that “the question is -whether, on the whole, the aggregate of gain or loss will -preponderate.” <a name="citation7b"></a><a -href="#footnote7b" class="citation">[7b]</a> No, Sir, that -may be the question for Mr. <span class="smcap">Rowland -Hill</span>; but it is not the question for you or me. I -earnestly entreat you to consider this matter again. The -elegant poet of a heathen court declared of the virtuous man, -which his imagination delighted in, “<i>Si fractus -illabatur orbis</i>, <i>impavidum ferient -ruinæ</i>.” We have repeated, as before God, -thousands of times, “Thy will be done.” And -what did we mean? Less than Horace? I trust -not. “Thy will be done;”—though all the -conveniences of society are sacrificed,—all the -communications of friends cut off,—all the prosperity of -nations overthrown:—“Thy will be done.”</p> -<p>“If twenty-five <i>additional</i> servants are required -in the <a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -8</span><i>London</i> Office on the Sunday, and <i>twice</i> -twenty-five can be <i>relieved</i> on that day in the Provincial -Offices, the change, so far as it extends, is salutary. Now -if this obvious principle be granted, the question is decided at -once,” <a name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8" -class="citation">[8]</a> is your own statement of the matter; and -though I utterly deny that such a relief can be realized, or was -expected, I am willing to take it as a mere moral thesis of your -own, that I may remind you that very <i>obvious principles</i> in -the matters of this world are not very obvious principles in our -dealing with God.</p> -<p>You dare not go into the presence of God with this obvious -principle in the face of His express and unqualified -command. You tell me that “it is necessary to take a -national view of such a question.” I answer, that for -us, Ministers of the Gospel, it is necessary to take a scriptural -and spiritual view of this and every question. And you must -not suppose that I am assuming anything here as to the obligation -of the Lord’s-day. You admit that the increase of -work in the London Post Office is an <i>evil</i>, and you look -upon the relief from such work in the country offices as a -counterbalancing <i>good</i>. As a minister of Christ, you -must mean <i>good</i> and <i>evil</i> in reference to the will of -the God of the Bible; you must therefore understand -<i>positive</i>, <i>eternal</i>, <i>unchangeable good and -evil</i>. You incur a vast and fearful responsibility if -you teach man that man’s obedience, in regard to Divine -declarations of good and evil, is left undefined, and dependent -upon circumstances, or man’s judgment. You must not -teach them to seek a good of their own by a balance of -disobedience <a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -9</span>and obedience, and such an approximation to the Divine -will as they find convenient.</p> -<p>Of all the forms in which the perverseness of man’s -nature is exhibited, none is so painful to contemplate as the -incapacity of an acute intellect and cultivated mind for -comprehending the nature and power of the communication between -the Creator and the spirits of His creatures. We read the -clearest statements of the one truth that “the world by -wisdom knew not God,” and we submit to them rather as a -salutary warning against possible error, than as declaratory of a -sure result. But when we see the truth exemplified in an -individual; when we look upon faculties and qualities which we -are led to envy, to admire, and to love, and find the man even in -one point closed against the communication of God; our spirit -endures the most bitter disappointment of which it is -susceptible. We see strength which defies our efforts, and -a moral and intellectual position above our reach, and yet feel -that such strength is the intensity of weakness, and such a -position the most slippery of those “slippery -places,” of which the Psalmist was instructed in the -sanctuary of God.</p> -<p>Few years have passed since we rejoiced in the emancipation of -minds from the thraldom of the traditionary ideas of the past; -men began, after a long interval, to think for themselves. -We have already lived to see many of the finest minds lost -through their liberty. It is better to be limited to the -well defined truths borrowed from other minds, than to wander in -a wilderness of free thought, where truth and error, good and -evil, are undistinguished but by the casual intuitive perception -of the wanderer.</p> -<p><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>It is a -matter of vast national importance that one of the first -instructors of youth should subdue his own mind to well defined -conceptions of duty.</p> -<p>Surely there must have been something which materially -interfered with the calmness of your judgment when you stated -conspicuously that the alteration in the transmission of letters -would cause a great diminution of the former amount of letters -written and read in the country on Sunday! And when you -intimated that the opponents of the measure, who will not consent -to the doing of evil that good may come, are chargeable with the -same folly. You ask, “Are you not, in -<i>resisting</i> the proposed relief of the country offices, on -the plea of regard for that of London, doing, in fact, a great -evil—not that a small good may come; but that a small evil -may not come?” <a name="citation10"></a><a -href="#footnote10" class="citation">[10]</a></p> -<p>Whence did you learn, Sir, that we resist the proposed relief -of the Country Offices, for which we have contended for -years? Who told you that we dared impiously to resist any -act of obedience to the Lord? Nothing could be further from -my mind. Many of us, as I can venture to assert, whether -right or wrong in our judgment, have a clear, defined, invariable -rule of obedience to the will of God, by which we desire to be -guided, and desire others also to be ruled, as the best wish we -can express for them.</p> -<p>It is impossible from your letter to conjecture what may be -your view of the ordinance of the Lord’s-day. You -have indeed told us in another place, in sufficiently general -terms, that “without that ordinance, indeed, <a -name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>without that -weekly memento, visible in all things around us, of realities -unseen but eternal, no other memorial of God’s love could, -in a world like ours, find room and scope for its -operations.” <a name="citation11"></a><a href="#footnote11" -class="citation">[11]</a> But this does not supply the -want. I cannot conjecture whether you look upon the -observance of that day as enforced by command, or instituted as a -privilege, or appointed as a type, or a mere human -institution. I reject the latter supposition as impossible, -for I cannot suspect a minister of our church of the base -hypocrisy of using her services while he holds the -Lord’s-day to be merely of man. You therefore think -that, in one way or other, it has a Divine sanction, and is a -part of the Divine purpose. The Word of the Spirit appears -to give great latitude upon the subject, when we read, “One -man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day -alike.” But we must read on, “Let every man be -fully persuaded in his own mind.” Yes, Sir, we have -surely a right to expect from a teacher of Divine Truth a clear -expression of <i>the full persuasion</i> of his own mind, when he -publicly treats on such a subject.</p> -<p>There is nothing which irritates an earnest, intelligent mind -more than a weak exhibition of moral duties upon untenable -grounds, or by unsound arguments. It is possible that a -vague outcry upon the subject of the Post Office desecration of -the Lord’s-day may have provoked you to make and print the -inconsiderate reply, which is now before me. And all who -esteem your reputation will regret that any outcry, however vague -and unreasonable, should have drawn from an <a -name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>instructed -mind a reply without one single definite statement of truth, or -of duty. You must pardon me, therefore, if I state for you -a few positions, which you certainly do hold in common with -myself.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p>You will not hesitate to assert,</p> -<p class="gutindent">I. That no combination of -circumstances can possibly make it right to do that which is evil -in the sight of God.</p> -<p class="gutindent">The contrary supposition necessarily asserts -imperfection in His mind, or His government.</p> -<p class="gutindent">II. That our obedience to His will is -no obedience, unless it be in spirit and in truth, without even a -desire for evasion.</p> -<p class="gutindent">III. That each human being shall exist -to eternity, in the blessedness of the kingdom of Christ, or in -the misery of the damned.</p> -<p class="gutindent">IV. That they shall perish eternally -who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus -Christ.</p> -<p class="gutindent">V. That God has mysteriously connected -deliverance from eternal death with the hearing of the -Gospel.</p> -<p class="gutindent">VI. That He has likewise connected -obedience to His will, and His own glory in His people, with the -knowledge of His word.</p> -<p class="gutindent">VII. That it is of <i>infinite</i> -importance that every man should hear the Gospel, which is the -power of God unto salvation to them that believe.</p> -<p class="gutindent">VIII. That the Lord’s-day is -especially set apart, under Divine sanction, for the hearing of -the word, and for the turning the mind of men from the things of -the world to God.</p> -<p class="gutindent"><a name="page13"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 13</span>IX. That it is better for -“sixty thousand letters” to be burned, unopened, than -for one Post Office Clerk to perish in hell for ever.</p> -<p>I can venture, Sir, to tell the world that your mind is quite -made up on all these points. And the world will wonder that -you should hitherto have failed to use all your faculties and -influence for the deliverance of those poor men, whom the -requirements of a godless or thoughtless multitude have shut up -in the Post Office from the sound of the Gospel.</p> -<p>You have told us most truly of the effects of six days’ -worldly excitement. “Who has not found himself, at -the end of the week of hard work, or of abounding excitements, -left cold and almost lifeless towards God? Who has not -found himself, at such a time, so tied and bound with the chain -of this world, that, without some change, some voice coming and -speaking to him, whether he will hear or no, he could not shake -off the yoke with which he is fettered?” <a -name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13" -class="citation">[13]</a></p> -<p>And what must be the effects of months and years uninterrupted -by one real Sabbath from such excitement and fatigue? -Practical men know the effect,—they have seen one after -another demoralized, degraded, brutalized, in this life. -And what can they hope is to follow in the next? A -liberally-minded man is disgusted at the idea of wearing out the -life of his horse, using him up—as men say. What do -you think of wilfully employing fellow men in a work, which wears -out physical energy and moral sense,—which <i>uses up</i> -<a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>body, -<i>mind</i>, and <i>soul</i>,—and consigns the poor -exhausted wretch to destruction? But I am met by these -words, “that attendance, you will observe, is -voluntary.” <a name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14" -class="citation">[14]</a> And I read them with feelings of -the most hearty sorrow, that such words could have fallen from -the pen of a brother in the ministry of the blessed Gospel of -Love—from his <i>pen</i>—for I am sure that your -heart never conceived them—your head never weighed -them—and yet what was a mere specious afterthought of Mr. -<span class="smcap">Hill’s</span>, is put prominently -forward by yourself—<i>their attendance -voluntary</i>—their ignorance voluntary too?—their -ungodliness voluntary too?—their eternal ruin voluntary -too? One moment’s thought would have made you tremble -at the consequences of this defence. Multitudes of the -young prefer a course of idleness and folly which will inevitably -lead to ruin. Let them alone! <i>You observe that it -is purely voluntary</i>. Multitudes of our hearers prefer -to live according to the lusts of the flesh—let them alone! -. . . their destruction is <i>entirely voluntary</i>. The -hardened reprobate, who seduces the simple country girl by -gratifying her taste for finery and idleness, may attempt to -throw off the guilt by the cruel retort that she was willing to -sin; but he only calls forth a double portion of indignation and -contempt from every honest man by the cold-blooded, false-hearted -insult. And yet he is guiltless in comparison with a man, -who could deliberately see his fellow man destroying his hopes -for eternity, and sacrifice his soul for a trifling stipend; -could make use of the poor wretch’s suicidal labor for his -own little <a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -15</span>convenience, and satisfy his conscience with the thought -that <i>the man was willing</i>.</p> -<p>No, Sir, no man who has ever heard your name will suspect for -a moment that you ever weighed the expression you were borrowing; -and what I have written, I have written not for yourself, but for -many who need to be warned of the guilt of their ordinary habits; -who need to be taught that man can indeed form no calculation of -the innumerable minute causes which combine to produce the -destruction of a soul; but that the <span -class="smcap">infinitely wise God</span> sees every part of the -load which presses downward the poor sinner, and attributes with -unerring accuracy every particle, however imperceptible to us, to -the hand which cast it upon the perishing wretch. But I -must submit to you that the inadvertent advocacy of this measure -lays you under an obligation to make an honest effort to remove -moral evils, which you now see that you have unintentionally -encouraged.</p> -<p>If any one thing is essentially our business above all others, -it is to resist, by the Word of the Lord, the <i>will</i> of the -man who chooses his own destruction. And surely we may be -content, if any men, to submit to the vulgar retort, and mind -<i>our own business</i>; for what can be a more glorious office, -than that of a messenger who comes from God, to entreat the -rebels, over whose head the sword of vengeance hangs, “be -ye reconciled to God.” Are we not called upon to use -every means to turn the sinner from the error of his ways? -In season out of season; by argument and example; by reproof and -entreaty; by patience and by love, to endeavour to deliver our -fellow sinners “from <a name="page16"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 16</span>darkness into light, from the power -of Satan unto God?” And if God has indeed put us in -trust with the Gospel, we can testify that we also once were -such, <i>willing</i> to serve divers lusts and pleasures, walking -according to the flesh, never turned <i>willingly</i> to God, but -converted by the sovereign efficacy of His grace.</p> -<p>I must not, however, close this letter without a few words on -“the minute,” in which you appear to place such -entire confidence.</p> -<p>You ask, “May we not be permitted to learn the object of -a measure from its author? Are we justified in imputing to -any man, I do not say motives which he disavows, but motives of -which he professes the very opposite, and against which his own -previous and subsequent acts obviously militate?” and I -conclude, that you would imply your own belief that the purpose -of Mr. <span class="smcap">Rowland Hill</span> was to relieve as -many persons as he could from labor on the Lord’s-day.</p> -<p>I wish from my heart that I could believe that the object of -that gentleman was the glory of our God and Saviour in the -promotion of His worship, and the saving work of the Gospel.</p> -<p>But it requires a mind above or below humanity to believe, -that a man truly desires and seeks the glory of God, who consents -to occupy such a post in the one department of our Government, -which is most conspicuous for its desecration of the -Lord’s-day, and its contempt of the claims of the -Gospel.</p> -<p>You seem, however, to limit your attention to the one document -before you. But, for my part, if I could detach my mind -from previous events, and take up this single paper for judgment, -I confess that I should be <a name="page17"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 17</span>totally unable to comprehend the -connexion between the measures contemplated and the care for the -observance of the Lord’s-day, which is put so prominently -forward; and I should necessarily suspect, either that the writer -had in his mind a very strange jumble of heterogeneous subjects, -or that there was some underhand motive for his curious preface -to the document.</p> -<p>I cannot, however, forget that this minute comes out at the -close of a long series of earnest appeals to the Government for -the removal or diminution of Sunday labor in the Post Office; -that the duty of such reform has been urged by numbers, which -could not be neglected, and by individuals, whose rank and -station made some satisfactory effort, if not some concession, -imperative upon the authorities. Promises have long been -held out of such changes as, it was hoped (so they told us) would -meet the wishes of the Christian remonstrants. And this -minute is not the spontaneous act of piety which you suppose, but -the evasive reply to the urgent and often repeated remonstrances -of tens of thousands of thoughtful Christian men, and men deeply -interested in the prosperity of the country. Instead of -boasting of the “total suspension of all money orders on -the Sabbath,” it would be wiser and more becoming to -endeavour to forget that disgraceful matter for ever.</p> -<p>It was not only an outrage of the Divine law, it was an insult -on a Christian community, that when every bank and office was -closed, and a respectable tradesman would have been ashamed to -look for gain on the Lord’s-day, the one place open in -every town for petty traffic should be the Government office of -the British Empire.</p> -<p><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>The -offence was totally unnecessary, and every respectable man was -ashamed of it. And one cannot but smile at the pretty -simplicity with which Mr. <span class="smcap">Rowland Hill</span> -informs us that “it is very satisfactory to remark that -neither the announcement of the change, nor the experience of it -thus far, has brought on the department a single complaint from -the public.” <a name="citation18"></a><a href="#footnote18" -class="citation">[18]</a></p> -<p>It is not necessary to go through the details of “the -minute,” nor to notice the fallacies, which have exposed -themselves already in the experiment. The writer of that -paper could not have been so ignorant of Post Office work as to -suppose that twenty-five persons would accomplish all that was -contemplated in London; nor had he any ground for promising any -relief in the provinces worthy of the name. It rather seems -that in his haste to attain to his ultimate object, he was -peculiarly incautious as to the statement of minor details.</p> -<p>What that object really is may easily be conjectured from a -review of the past. “This is,” as you remark, -“a part of a more general scheme.”</p> -<p>For years past a strong body of serious men have combated the -Post Office desecration of the Lord’s-day, and their -efforts have been firmly resisted by those in authority, with a -few honourable exceptions.</p> -<p>In that contest the strong argument of the advocates for a -cessation of Post Office work has been the closed office in -London; and those who have defended the profanation of that day -have never been able to get over that great and unanswerable -argument. The office in London has been considered as -<i>uniformly at rest</i>, and <a name="page19"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 19</span>always spoken of as such by both -parties, the slight exceptions being not of a nature to be cited -honestly against that position.</p> -<p>So that “the conscience of the Christian community has -<i>not</i> left these practices unchallenged and unnoticed until -now,” <a name="citation19a"></a><a href="#footnote19a" -class="citation">[19a]</a> as you think; but as far as the -cognizance of the Christian community goes, this is the first -attempt at the sin in London, and is resisted as such. And -we think that this is <i>the proper time for meeting the -evils</i>, and act therefore on your own advice. <a -name="citation19b"></a><a href="#footnote19b" -class="citation">[19b]</a></p> -<blockquote><p>“Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur,<br -/> -Cùm mala per longas convaluere moras,”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>is not the less valuable advice because often repeated; and no -man should know the truth of it better than yourself.</p> -<p>I need scarcely mention the <i>voluntary labors</i> (which was -a mere palliative afterthought): for he must be a very prejudiced -man who calls the poor clerk a voluntary agent in the matter, -when he is enticed by a bribe, which his small salary makes an -irresistible temptation, or compelled by the fear of the loss of -his only means of subsistence.</p> -<p>And here I may leave the minute; for you now know how honest -men value it, and why they resist it. It is one move in the -contest for the mastery, wherein the question is, whether the -will of the Lord or the petty gains of the Government shall rule -in the Post Office on the Lord’s-day.</p> -<p>It is scarcely possible that the writer of that minute could -have abstained from laughing when he read the first two -paragraphs of his own paper, and saw with what <a -name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>ingenious -affectation he was entrapping his religious adversaries. -But the craft is too transparent; and he has neither evaded their -vigilance by the mystery of his statements, nor disarmed their -opposition by his specious profession.</p> -<p>Neither the minute, nor your own letter, enters upon the -question of <i>works of necessity</i>, and <i>of mercy</i>; and I -am, therefore, not called upon to meet those hackneyed and -misapplied expressions. I must, however, be permitted to -lay down one or two points, as necessary elements in the -discussion whenever these terms are used.</p> -<p>Nothing can be necessary which is not in accordance with the -will of the Omnipotent Ruler of all things.</p> -<p>Nothing can be an act of mercy which does not emanate from the -God of all grace.</p> -<p>When men find necessity, or mercy, militate against duty, it -must be from their own ignorance.</p> -<p>Men persist in deceiving themselves by mixing together things -essentially distinct.</p> -<p>You may show me ten thousand acts of mercy which seem to you -connected with the maintenance of Sunday labor in the Post -Office; but you can never show that it is an act of necessity, or -mercy, to shut up one clerk where he shall be kept away from the -sound of the Gospel,—the one sound which can call him from -eternal misery to eternal peace.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p>And here, Sir, I must close this hastily-written letter; -hastily written from the pressure of necessary duties: but -containing opinions most maturely weighed, and principles on -which I have long endeavoured to act.</p> -<p><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>If I -appear to treat your letter with severity, I beg to assure you -that I do it with extreme regret. But, however anxious I -may be to show all possible respect for the writer, I cannot -forget that errors, in themselves trivial, receive importance -from the character of him who propagates them.</p> -<p>The greater his merited reputation may be, the more needful it -is that his errors be unsparingly dealt with.</p> -<p>Where I cannot comprehend a good motive, and cannot suspect a -bad one, I do not venture to assign any; and, in fact, I should -rather conjecture that some works are so hastily undertaken, that -their author himself could scarcely assign his own motives.</p> -<p>It is, indeed, an unhappy coincidence when the favor of this -world is, by any accident, associated with the maintenance of -Divine truth. The most single-hearted men are unable to -engage in that holy duty without incurring a suspicion of sordid -motives. But when men of unblemished reputation, by an -unhappy eccentricity of mind, are led to uphold the questionable -theories of those who dispense worldly wealth and -honor;—when they exhibit in their support an unusual -dulness of perception of Divine truth;—we can only (as the -kindest alternative) attribute their conduct to some -unaccountable infatuation, or intemperate haste.</p> -<p>The judgment of charity is best expressed by speaking the -<span class="GutSmall">TRUTH</span> in <span -class="GutSmall">LOVE</span>.</p> -<p>Many Christian men have looked, with sanguine expectation, for -a blessing upon the country from your labors at your important -post. Those hopes have been for a moment disappointed, but -will not easily be abandoned.</p> -<p><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>There -is no hope for the country but from men of master minds, and -powerful talents, submitting their powers to the guidance of the -Holy Spirit, and devoting their energies to the services of their -God and Saviour. That this may be your high and happy -calling, is the prayer of many, as it is my own. I hope, -and believe, that you will yet know the power and enjoyment of -that <i>Sabbath</i> which the children of the kingdom enjoy in -the finished work of Jesus, even here on earth. And will be -enabled to look with confidence to an abundant entrance into that -rest which remaineth for the people of God.</p> -<p style="text-align: center">Yours, in Christian fidelity,</p> -<p style="text-align: right">JAMES ROBERT PEARS.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BATH: -PRINTED BY BINNS AND GOODWIN.</span></p> -<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> -<p><a name="footnote7a"></a><a href="#citation7a" -class="footnote">[7a]</a> Nine Sermons, &c., p. 60.</p> -<p><a name="footnote7b"></a><a href="#citation7b" -class="footnote">[7b]</a> Page 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8" -class="footnote">[8]</a> Page 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10" -class="footnote">[10]</a> Page 10.</p> -<p><a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11" -class="footnote">[11]</a> Nine Sermons, p. 203.</p> -<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13" -class="footnote">[13]</a> Nine Sermons, p. 202.</p> -<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14" -class="footnote">[14]</a> Page 7.</p> -<p><a name="footnote18"></a><a href="#citation18" -class="footnote">[18]</a> Minute, 2.</p> -<p><a name="footnote19a"></a><a href="#citation19a" -class="footnote">[19a]</a> Page 8.</p> -<p><a name="footnote19b"></a><a href="#citation19b" -class="footnote">[19b]</a> Page 14.</p> -<pre> - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REPLY TO DR. 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