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loving, tender, and pitiful Father in Christ Jesus. He will soon raise thee to hope; and hope secures salvation, "For we are saved by hope." And the deeper you sink in trouble, the higher will you rise in joy; and when love comes, then you will know what it is to be born again. Shun the world and its vanities, and seek Christ by confession and prayer, by reading and meditating.

My kind love to granny. I never forget you in my poor prayers. Love to mother, Becky, William, &c.

Ever yours to serve in Jesus,

W. H. S.S.

DEAR HENRY,

DCXI.

Grace and peace be with thee through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is the promise of God, that the name of his dear Son shall be great among the Gentiles, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and that all generations shall be blessed in him. An interest in his favour, in his sacrifice, his salvation and the fulness of his grace, is the one thing needful; for this secures our souls from wrath and ruin, and makes heaven and eternal glory our own. It secures the blessing of peace and hope in our own hearts, and the blessing of God upon all that we have in this world. Christ, who is the Son of God, and who joined our nature to his own, is the heir of all things-King of grace and King of glory; and in him God hath given us all things pertaining to this life and the next; and therefore all the world without this is no gain, but loss. He promises most faithfully to be

DCX.

February 19th, 1807.

MY DEAR HENRY,

GRACE and mercy be with thee. I am but poorly, and my hand shakes, so that I scribble badly; but I must send a line to my young friend. You are now sensibly in the hand of God, and under his rod, his correction, his discipline, and his tuition; which is the lot of all his children. All that he loves he rebukes and chastens, and scourges all that he recieves to favour; and those that escape the rod in this world are bastards and not sons, and will be beaten with many stripes in the world to come. There are five things God aims to destroy by affliction; first, all false confidence, Job xviii. 14. Jer. ii. 37; false hopes, Prov. xi. 7; and selfrighteousness, Isa. lvii, 12; human power, Isa. xl. 29; and, lastly, he destroys all our false notions of God, for we think him just like ourselves, Ps. 1. 21; which are nothing else but the idols of our brain, and therefore he says, "From all your idols will I cleanse you," Ezek. xxxvi. 25.

now going on in thee, and do thou attend to it, and quench not the Spirit in his work. Thou wilt feel in thyself the strict justice of God, that he is just to his law, and will pu nish sin, either in us or in Christ our surety. You will feel his anger and terrible majesty, and will tremble at it. He will make you feel his holiness, and how true he is to all his words, and that he is of one mind, and there is no changing or turning him. Now God is all this as our law-giver, and as revealed in a broken law; and I doubt not but you feel something of this. But this is not all; there is his rich mercy in Christ Jesus, which will find thee out, and will move thee; it will melt thy hard heart, soften thy soul, make thy will pliable, and give thee such sweetness as will fill thee with wonder, which is called tasting that the Lord is gracious. And after this thou wilt find God's eternal love in Christ Jesus, which is no less than heaven upon earth.

I would have thee to observe, watch, and attend to, the work that is going on, and take notice if any promises come to encourage and comfort thee; put them down in writing, they will afford thee much support in time to come. God will give you many

loving, tender, and pitiful Father in Christ Jesus. He will soon raise thee to hope; and hope secures salvation, "For we are saved by hope." And the deeper you sink in trouble, the higher will you rise in joy; and when love comes, then you will know what it is to be born again. Shun the world and its vanities, and seek Christ by confession and prayer, by reading and meditating..

My kind love to granny. I never forget you in my poor prayers. Love to mother, Becky, William, &c.

Ever yours to serve in Jesus,

W. H. S.S.

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