will feel me out, and from whom these things are not hid; who is deep in this secret of the Lord, and who has heard God's voice in the secret place of thunder. The God of all grace, who has known my soul in adversity, is still with me, and has made the last sifting time work for my good. My dearest friends gave me 3007. and an old lady left me by will 2007. more; so that my chapel debt, which was an intolerable burden (blessed be God) is now paid off. Those who left us, and those we dismissed, are blasted, withered, and dried up like a potsherd. But those who in heart and soul are with me, and abide with us, do, and ever shall, abide in safeguard. I know who set me to work, and who keeps me at it.

Your brother is pretty well; he abides by his master's crib, among the rest of the young asses that love clean provender, which has been well winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. God bless thee, and keep thee, and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, is, and ever will be, the earnest prayer of,

Dear Brother, yours in Christ Jesus,

DXCIV.

My dear Brother in Christ,

You know not what I felt at the sight of your letter when I came to these words, "I write to let you know that I am alive, and I trust spiritually so." I was fully persuaded that there was life before thy confession came; but I know it is not easily perceived, nor easily believed; but sure I am that the discoveries that are made in thy heart of the depravity of thy nature, and the reproofs and rebukes that are given for thy past follies, is not the light of nature, nor the light of the law only, nor the light of Balaam, or of any other hypocrite; but it is the light of life, because it is attended with the keenest sensations, fervent motions, spiritual hungerings and thirstings, tender feelings, and cordial affections. Though his divine love is not shed abroad in the heart to draw them forth, yet the flax will smoke till the live coal and cloven tongue set it all in a flame; then "his glory shall cover the heavens, and the earth shall be full of his

Convictions, fastened by the Spirit of God, will hold the rebel fast at the bar of the law and of his own conscience, as guilty and condemned, in spite of every "Lo here and lo there;" in spite of all plaisters, daubers, kerchiefs, and false cries of "Peace, peace,' until the Advocate's all-prevailing plea is attended with the atonement, with the imputed righteousness of Jesus, and until a sense of his discriminating and dying love is heard; against these no accusations can be heard, therefore it is the application of these things that will release him and let him go. A deep sense of the need of these things is felt under the quickening operations of the Spirit. And the same Spirit works a hope and expectation of these things; produces earnest prayers, and helps our infirmities in supplicating for them. He enlightens our eyes to see them held forth in the scriptures, and raises all our hopes to expect them from Christ, and the enjoyment of them from the revelation of Christ; in hope of whose manifestation to our souls he keeps us longing and desiring, till the desire be accomplished, and the tree of life springs up in our souls. Now, as this is the Spirit's quickening work, the prophet asks, "Wherefore doth a living man complain; a man for the

And

Christ, my dear Brother, must be faithful to him that appointed him: he came down from heaven not to do his own will (as man), but the will of him that sent him, that he might appear to all his family to be the faithful and true witness. To some he is not sent; he came not to call the righteous; the whole do not need the physician. Wo to the full; wo to the wise in their own eyes, and to the prudent in their own sight. Those who boast of the light of nature, and ask, “Are we blind also?" their sin remains. Those that say, “Stand by, I am holier than thou," are a smoke in his nose. those that purify themselves shall go to confusion together. They that trust in their own heart are fools, and those that trust in their own arm are cursed of God. They have nothing for Christ to do, nor is he sent to such ; but to another sort of people, whom he must visit and save; for he came to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work, which is as follows: "He hath sent me to preach good tidings to the meek," who are debased, humbled and brought so low, that they cannot bear a hard or harsh word. "He hath given me the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that is

of the house of Israel, and to the lost sheep among the Gentiles, which are not of that fold, and them 1 must bring, and they shall hear my voice."

Lost ones are not only those that have strayed, but those that are so confused and confounded, that their faculties are impaired, their recollection, judgment, and understanding clean gone, quite bewildered in their minds, lost to the world, and lost in the world, and in their own apprehensions lost for ever, so as never to be either sought after, looked up, or found in Christ, nor by Christ, being (as they imagine) lost and undone for ever. He is "to bind up the broken hearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening the prison to them that are bound." Those that cry, under the killing sentence of the law, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. Again, “And I will feed you, O poor of the flock," for " they shall come that were ready to perish." Hence it is that he blesses them that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and they shall be filled. But the fat and the strong he will feed with judgment.

Forget not, my dear Brother, the language of the covenant: a must, and a shall, is