Part 2

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.

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* * * * *

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.