may know how thou wilt behave, but that thou mayest know what he hath done for thee; and that, by his going and coming, by his abfence and his presence, thou mayeft come to a more perfect knowledge of him, and at a more familiar acquaintance with him. At his departure the old man will fhew his head; and when the Lord vifits thee he will creep into his holes; for he is truly a night-bird. He cannot endure the light, nor fhew his head where divine confolations abound. But, as foon as ever the good man takes his bag of money with him, and withdraws from his spouse, then the owls, bats, and evening wolves, creep forth; but, when the fun arises, they lay themselves down in their dens. At fuch times we must pray, watch, wait, and look, even "from the lion's dens, and from the mountains of the leopards;" for at these feasons the legal fpirit works in a very unobferved way. The foul fenfibly feels its lofs; its love, joy, and comfort, abated. Confequently it doth not perceive the Lord, as ufual, working in it both to will and to do. What is it then? Why, if he be not working in us, we muft work for him. Then corruptions rife up, and interrupt us in the performance of our task. At this anger rifes; then confcience accuses; then unbelief prevails, and hardness of heart and rebellion follow; and the wrath and the bondage of the law come on, and hold faft; and now we are discontented, and fret at every thing, even against

the Lord himself. The more difcontented we are, in our deserted ftate, the more we ftrive, being driven with a hafty spirit; and the more we strive, the fafter we are bound; till the light of his bleffed countenance darts another healing ray, and the voice of peace rebukes and becalms the ftorm. Then the Lord returns with double love, and we diffolve in double gratitude. Now Mofes holds his peace, and is content. and is content. The lion fculks off to his thicket, and the old man faints and dies once more, while we look to the crofs. The nails pierce him, the fpear lays at him, the cancelled debt-book filences him, and God, fhining reconciled in the face of Chrift, banishes him. Our old man is crucified with him: but crucifixion is a long lingering death, and the old man dies hard. He is of the fame lineage, and in the same state, as the devil his father; both are condemned, both curfed, both are deftroyed; and yet both are in being, and we know it to our forrow. God was with Judah, and they drove the Canaanites out of the mountains; but they could not drive them out of the vallies, because they had chariots of iron. To keep them out of the mind and affections is a great thing; but to root them out of the heart is a work not to be done till we en

gage the laft enemy; I mean death for, though there is no discharge from that war, yet there will be a full discharge when that war is over; and then there fhall be no more the Canaanite in the

house

house of the Lord of hofts. This encounter completes the victory, and the crown awaits the conquerors. Sin and death entered the first paradife, but both fhall be debarred the fecond.

The firft

Adam let them in, and the last Adam fhall drive them out. O long looked-for, blessed, and happy day, when and where the inhabitants fhall no more fay, "I am fick !" fighing fhall flee away."

Where" forrow and Where we shall fee the luftre of a million funs, who shall shine on us, and shine through us, and with all his fulness fatisfy us, and that for ever and ever. So prays

Thy ready fervitor

The Defart.

NOCTUA AURITA.

LETTER II.

To NOCTUA AURITA, of the Defert.

I RECEIVED your very kind letter; and may the Lord reward your labour of love to me, one of the most unworthy creatures that ever the Lord condefcended to work upon. All that you tell me, concerning what are the effects of

cleaving

cleaving to Mofes, I have found in my own experience, in the course of two months before my journey to Gaffon's Bower. It is a mystery to me how I got there. But the Lord bleffed the converfation I had with you the morning we all walked in the fields together, and gave me light to fee how I was entangled; and I believe Satan will never bring me into that fnare again. He must come in a different way the next time, if ever he gets me there again; which God in his mercy prevent! However, I am not at that mount now, and dread the thoughts of ever going there again. I know the Lord fent you to Gaffon's Bower, and me too. It was a happy season to my foul, for the Lord was with us. If you recollect, I told you a dream I had had, which I was fure was from the Lord. What was most remarkable in the dream, the fabbath-day's portion, that you faid to me (in my dream) I should enjoy; and I dreamt that you tried to encourage and to comfort me under the fore trial I was then in. It was above ten days before you came down that I had the dream. I knew I had loft what was dearer to me than all the world; I mean that nearness to God, and communion with him, which I had once enjoyed. But the other part of my dream was fomething I was expecting the enjoyment of; and my expectation has not been cut off, as you will fee by what I will relate to you. I had not fet out on my journey to Gaffon's Bower one hour before

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before I felt fuch a spirit of uniting love flow into my heart to those that were with me, and to those I expected to meet, as I have not words to exprefs; and your fermon that evening in the barn was a feal and confirmation of all that I had felt. It was the new commandment indeed, written with the finger of God on my heart. And, as I faid before, a happy season I had. Moses' bands began to burft, for I could be holden no longer with them; and from Elijah's cave in the wilderness I was brought, and God has put me into the cleft of the rock, the sweet place you told me of. I find it is a sweet place; for he is making all his goodnefs to pass before me, and proclaiming his name to be merciful and gracious, &c. and what I now enjoy can be nothing lefs than an earneft of that reft in endless glory which the fabbath-day is a type of. And therefore the words which you told me in my dream are fulfilled; for I do enjoy "a fabbath-day's portion." The Lord is pouring down fuch a bleffing, that there is not room to receive it. I want my coaft enlarged. Jabez prayed for it, and had it; and, my dear friend, do afk it for me; for I must be enlarged, or die under it, and that God knows. Surely this is finging in the heights of Zion, and feeding on the high places. I hope the Lord will never remove me from this cleft of the rock till he takes down this clay tabernacle, which I feel to be fuch a clog as I never felt it before. What I enjoy is fome

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thing