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deavouring to aid him if we have it in our power. We cannot indeed promise our venerable friend that his English brethren can do much for Illinois amidst paramount home claims; for it is not "a stingy world" that is most pressed, but those who cheerfully endeavour to exert themselves according to their ability. We do hope, however, that a few English gleanings will yet be found to cheer him amidst his toils and privations; for nothing makes the heart more sick than complimentary common-places reiterated from year to year, but which lead to no practical benefit. Bishop Chase, as a servant of God, and a labourer in that portion of his Saviour's vineyard which adjoins our own without any separating hedge or pale, has toiled zealously, and made personal sacrifices in the common cause; and if those who are interested in that cause among his countrymen, would plan some feasible measure for relieving his declining years as much as possible of worldly anxieties, and enabling him to devote them to his great work, we doubt not some of the venerable Bishop's English friends would rejoice to co-operate with them.

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM THE LATE REV. BASIL WOODD TO A LADY.

For the Christian Observer.

THE late Rev. Basil Woodd was known personally to many of our readers; as well as by his obituary notices of several members of his family, and some other papers, in our pages. * His little books had an

* Among those papers there were two in our volume for 1827, (the latter with his name) in reply to some doctrinal statements in Dr. Malan's "Conventicle of Rolle;" the following passages from which relate to some questions still much discussed.

"There is a defect of definition throughout the book. I discover no distinct statement of the nature of faith; there is scarcely a syllable respecting the nature and duty of repentance; and even love to God and Christian obedience are clothed more in the style of rhapsody than stated as practical duties.

"Under this head I may remark, that the author's proposition 'no works in order to salvation,' is not correct. It ought to be, no works in order to justification. The proposition is contrary to Scripture'; for the Sacred Scriptures assert, Work out your salvation' (Phil. ii. 12). We labour to be accepted' (2 Cor. v. 9). If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' that doeth, &c. shall enter the kingdom of heaven.'

He

"The author's exhibition of faith is fallacious. Faith in God must have respect to all which God declares and commands. The manifestation of God to Abraham involved a promise and a command. The promise was (Gen. xv. 1,)

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I am thy shield, and (5) so shall thy seed be. The command was, Walk before me, and be thou perfect. (Gen. xvii. 1-7, &c.) M. Malan exhorts, 'Believe in God, as Abraham believed'and yet he has given no definition of what the faith of Abraham was. Faith believes the promise, obeys the precept, and receives comfort and edification from both.

"It is erroneous and dangerous to assert, that faith consists in believing and applying the promises of the Gospel, as if they were spoken of God, absolutely, personally, and individually to ourselves. The promises of the Gospel are of a general, and also an individual, application.

"The Bible declares, God loved the world; Christ is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world; God sent not his Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John iii. 14-16; and 1 John ii. 1, 2). These promises are all of general application; it is the duty of all men, to believe them, to repent and trust in the Son of God. (Acts xvii. 30; 1 John iii. 23). In proportion to the humble consciousness which I may possess, that I do believe the Holy Scriptures to be the word of God; that I do believe these general promises therein exhibited; that I do repent and turn to

extensive circulation. In an old list we see that his tract on Confirmation had then gone through thirty-six editions; his "Day of Adversity," through forty; and his "Questions on the Church Catechism," through forty-six; and the last two tracts have been since largely circulated by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He was a devout, affectionate, and zealous pastor; an attached and consistent churchman ; a well-read and scriptural theologian; and eminently a man of peace and love. See our memoir of him in our volume for 1831; pp. 249, 293,

and 303.

The following letters-spread over a series of years-were written to a lady whom he never saw upon earth; but who is now awaiting in advancing age her summons to that world of light and joy, where we doubt not those who "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," will recognize each other, and, with gratitude to their Almighty Preserver, commune upon the way which the Lord their God led them in the days of their mortal pilgrimage. Nor will the least joyous of those greetings, we may well conceive, be in the meeting of those who have ministered, and those who have received, spiritual benefit; and this perhaps oftentimes unknown to the former, who "cast their bread upon the waters," by a sermon, a book, a tract, a letter, or some other instrument of Christian benevolence, and "find it after many days" where and when they least expected it.

As we shall not mention the name of the party to whom these letters were addressed, we may, without impropriety, state how they came into our hands. An individual who cherishes in much affection, and almost filial reverence, the memory of Mr. Basil Woodd, was lately visiting in a dense district in London, in an abode of poverty, an elderly afflicted person, for the purpose of affording her temporal relief and spiritual consolation. It appeared from her statements, and from various papers in her possession, that she had, in the customary phrase, seen better days;" but domestic calamities, law-suits, and the death of relatives and friends, have left her deserted, in her declining years, in a

God; that I do trust in the name of the Son of God for pardon, and acceptance through his death and merits; and that I do endeavour to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world;in proportion to the degree of this humble consciousness of faith, repentance, trust in Christ, love, and obedience, I may be assured, I may really believe, that this promise refers to me, and that I am a child of God, and an heir of glory, through Divine grace and special mercy.

"The Sacred Scriptures never speak of salvation as already obtained, but simply as an object of hope and future expectation. He that believeth shall be saved.' (Mark xvi. 16.) He that endureth to the end shall be saved.'

"These Scriptures speak of salvation, not as a matter of present possession, but of eventual and conditional attainment; for example, 'If ye do these things, ye shall never fall,' &c. (2 Pet. i. 10.) The truth of sound doctrine, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 63.

66

on the various points above adverted to,
I conceive to be as follows:-1. All
have sinned and come short of the
glory God. 2. No works, sufferings,
amendments, or repentance, can take
away sin.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ
has made a full atonement, a perfect re-
demption. 4. The covenant of grace

that is, the Gospel-freely offers this redemption to the whole world on the terms of repentance and faith. This gives the interest, pardon, acceptance, hope of glory. 5. In proportion as we ascertain the evidence of faith, repentance, holiness, and obedience, we may know that we are passed from death unto life. 6. Redemption is finished; but salvation will not be finished, till God has accomplished the number of his elect,' and the Church triumphant in one grand chorus shall exclaim, Thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

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bleak world. In speaking of the comfort and support which religion has afforded her in her sufferings, she referred to a series of letters, which she had received, in her younger days, from the late Rev. Basil Woodd, whose hand-writing is familiar to the visitor. She states that she became acquainted with Mr. Woodd in the following manner. About forty five years ago, she was on a visit in London to Lady Camelford, (there is nothing in the statement to render the introduction of the name of this deceased lady inconvenient,) and was introduced to the frivolous gaieties of the fashionable circles which frequented Camelford-house. But on the arrival of Sunday, she expressed a wish to go to church, as she was accustomed to do in the country; and she was accordingly taken by a relative of the family to Bentinck Chapel, which was within a convenient distance, and was at that period attended by many persons of rank, some of whom had no partiality for Mr. Woodd's doctrine; but the parish of Marylebone contained only one very small parish church, and here and there an episcopal chapel, so that a large number of persons, even in the better conditions of life, must in those days have been churchless. Lady Camelford was suffering under a chronicdisorder which prevented her going to church; and her Lord was not a church-going

man.

Miss P. was intensely affected by Mr. Woodd's preaching; and could not shake off the impression. She had never heard anything of the kind before. The sinfulness of man, the mercies of God, the redemption that is in Christ, the character and hopes of the believer, and the glories of heaven, were new themes to her; and upon her return to her home, near Worcester, instead of entertaining her friends, as they expected, with details of all that she had seen in London at the theatres, and other places of giddy dissipation, she had but one prominent feeling in her mind-"What shall I do to be saved?" Knowing of no clergyman in her neighbourhood who could administer to her the instruction and consolation which she needed, she wrote to Mr. Woodd, without disclosing her name; and she continued to receive from him, during many years, packets of books and tracts, together with the occasional letters which form the following series.

The correspondence, she states, ceased in consequence of her being much engrossed for several years in some harassing affairs arising out of the death of her brother, a post-captain in the Royal Navy; and her unwillingness, knowing the many claims on Mr. Woodd's time, to encroach on his kindness by renewing it. We have seen a letter from the Admiral under whom Captain P. served, in which he gently breaks to her the probability that the Captain's ship had been wrecked in a storm on the coast of Norway, aud that all on board had perished; which doubtless was the case, as the vessel was never heard of. The Admiral says that himself, and all who knew the Captain, lamented the loss of a "brother," and of a man who was an ornament to his profession.

Mr. Woodd's letters, as they were written rapidly, amidst pressing pastoral labours, and with no view of their being seen by any third person, might bear some revision; but our readers know our disapprobation of tampering with the writings of deceased persons while using their name. As to their substance, they are sound, scriptural, and judicious; true to the hopes and fears, the joys and the trials, of the practical Christian; describing to use the words of the writer's favourite author, Bishop Scougal-"the life of God in the soul of man;" but without fanaticism, or any reliance upon a religion of "frames

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and feelings." Some persons may feel offended at Mr. Woodd's remarks upon the mournful deficiency, at the period when he wrote, of scriptural doctrine and practical godliness-or as he phrases it, "a lively evangelical ministry"-in the Anglican church; and others, that he did not therefore recommend his correspondent to desert its communion; but we happen to know that he judged it most honest and useful, to make the humiliating confession; adding at the same time, "Dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."

No. 10, Paddington Green, near London; March 8, 1798. MADAM,-On such a subject all apologies were needless. I received and read your letter this morning, with very great pleasure, both to myself and to Mrs. Woodd. We both join most sincerely in praying that the spiritual delight which you experienced in the worship at Bentinck Chapel, may prove the beginning of a work of grace on your heart, and that it may finally terminate in your everlasting salvation.

By the general style of your letter, I conceive that you have been, till of late, (though probably amiable, decent, and moral) equally unacquainted with your own heart, your need of a Saviour, and the glories of the Gospel of Jesus. God, I trust, has now condescended to visit you by his Holy Spirit, and your first religious impressions have been a sense of that sublime happiness which is only to be found in him. You have "tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is." Ps. xxxiv. 8.

God's ways are various; he deals with many as he has with you. He dealt so with me. When a boy of thirteen years old, I was drawn by the cords of his love; and it was not till years after, that I was taught the depravity of my nature, and how much need I stood in of a Saviour. As I trust God is leading you in the sane road, you must not be cast down if he sees fit shortly to withhold your lively joys, and teach you that safe but humbling lesson, self-knowledge. Every disciple of Christ must be brought to St. Paul's experience (1 Tim. i. 15, 16.) We are only brought to this by a sense of our sinfulness and unworthiness; and when you can cordially acknowledge the confession in our Communion Liturgy, you will rejoice that there is a Saviour, and that you, as a sinner (penitent and cast down) may yet hope in him.

Your being dissatisfied with the general style of preaching, is a necessary consequence of Divine teaching. Our clergy have awfully departed from the doctrines of the Gospel. The Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies, are pure and evangelical; but our pulpits too often substitute mere flimsy moral essays in the place of the Gospel of the blessed Jesus; and such discourses will never satisfy a soul which is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and feels there is no rest but in God. They can no more satisfy a soul taught of God, than public amusements, which, while eternal things engage your attention, you will feel no difficulty in renouncing. I do not recollect having heard of any evangelical clergyman at Worcester, except one of the name of Stillingfleet; but whether he now resides there, I cannot tell. Let me just forewarn you, that if you resolve to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus, you must expect the ridicule of the world; they will call all your spiritual joys and anxieties by the opprobrious name of Methodism, &c. But remember you are acting for eternity; and if in the world you have tribulation, in Christ you shall have peace. Private prayer and waiting upon God, with study of the Bible, will compensate and make you happy, &c.

I will beg your acceptance of a small parcel of books, which I will send

the week after next, according to the direction of this letter, unless I hear to the contrary from you in the mean time. Should you come to town, Mrs. Woodd and myself will be happy to see you, if agreeable to your feelings. We are always at home on Fridays: I have a lecture on Friday evenings at the chapel. As to your name and residence, I waive idle curiosity; only may God grant that your name and mine may be found written in the Lamb's book of life. Wishing you all the blessings of the love of the Lord Jesus,

I remain, Madam, your's for his sake,

BASIL WOODD.

Paddington, March 20, 1798.

MADAM,-Your answer to my letter gave me great satisfaction; and I should be happy to reply more fully, but I have been so much engaged, that I have not had time to take up my pen; therefore as this is Tuesday night-and unless I send by to-morrow morning the parcel of books cannot arrive till the end of the week-you must excuse a longer letter. I can only say, that whenever you have leisure, I shall be glad to hear how you go on, and that your soul prospers; when I will endeavour to take time and write more explicitly. God, I trust, has begun a good work in and will you, carry till the day of Jesus Christ. Trials you must expect; we must be weaned gradually from our self-dependance and from the world, and brought to look to Jesus Christ alone for pardon and happiness. Mrs. Woodd unites with me in best wishes for your temporal and spiritual welfare.

it on

I am, Madam, your sincere and obedient,

B. WOODD.

P.S.-I have a copy of each of my little publications, and two or three other books, which I request your acceptance of. As your letter does not express in what manner I should address you-whether as Mrs. or Miss P., or where-I have directed it according to the former mode.

[The following is on a wrapper, and we are not quite sure where it comes in; as the writer appears to have sent books to his correspondent on several occasions.]

As you mention that my little publications met with an acceptable perusal, I have sent you a small packet of them, wishing that it may please God to make them of use.

I cannot make out the date of your letter, therefore shall direct this after the former manner. I am very happy to hear that what I sent has been approved by your family. I wish you had a lively evangelical ministry to attend; but God is sufficient to carry on his own work. Should you wish to be acquainted with Mr. Stillingfleet, I could easily introduce the acquaintance by a letter; and I am persuaded he would cheerfully call at your house. But I should not mention it to him, unless I previously knew it was agreeable to yourself and the family.

When you write again, I wish you would mention what day you were at Bentinck Chapel, and the text, if you recollect it.

Paddington, [date gone.]

DEAR MADAM,-Various occurrences have delayed my answer to your last favour. I am glad that you received the books safe, and have perused them with satisfaction and pleasure. The work of grace in the

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