them, would come to me for my counfel and my prayers; and, further, that I fhould be a favour of death unto death to them in my miniftry, and a witness against them in the day of judgment: the former has come to pafs already, and fo will the latter. When Europe appeared in fuch confufion under the influence of that fpirit of rebellion which the devil, by the inftrumentality of Tom Paine, poured out upon men, I had long begged of God to fhew me what part of his word contained this perilous time, and he told me it was "the hour of temptation," as is related in a fermon lately published by me. And it was explained to me as being the fame trial as came upon the Jews in the days of Jeremiah; and that it was fent to try the obedience of profeffors, and the loyalty of the nations; and I foon perceived that no class of men in this nation were more easily taken, nor more effectually bound in these bonds of iniquity, than the hypocrites in Zion, and impoftors in the miniftry; and the calamity of both will come fuddenly upon them. Thus my dear fifter may fee that what God fpeaks and applies comes to pafs. But all the fearful predictions which came to me from Satan, in the days of my trouble, fell to the ground. And, as Satan can apply scripture, fo can he also work by dreams. All the fearful and miferable dreams which he tormented me with, fuch as dying by fuicide, being thrown into wells, wells, and down 'unfathomable precipices, and being burnt alive, and of coming to the worst of ends, and dying innumerable deaths; have none of them, as yet, come to pass; nor do I believe they ever will; whereas the dreams which came from God all came to pafs. One which I had in my diftrefs was, I was climbing up the outfide of a moft fpacious fine building, but many enemies oppofed me; but I gained the height in fpite of them all. Another was a moft furious attack of a dreadful and formidable monfter to devour me; but, though he made feveral attempts, yet he could not come near me by feveral feet. I wondered at this, and, looking up, faw a beautiful man fmiling at me, and holding a chain in his hand, which chain was round the body of the beaft, juft as a monkey is chained. And I believe the Saviour holds the devil in chains to this day; fo that he cannot deftroy God's people, though he often tries. I had another dream, which was that of two innumerable armies drawn up to engage on a very high and fpacious plain. I was there to watch their motions, and to bear tidings; and, as foon as they began to engage, off I fet over the plain and down into a narrow road, through a low and hollow field: the cannon and mufkets roaring as I ran, I thought they might kill me; but, looking towards the plain, I faw a very high ftone 7 Soon ftone wall between me and the plain, and that the plain was level with the top of the wall, and the village to which I bore tidings was in a lane at the bottom of the field in which I was. after this the war broke out; and I have bome tidings throughout this war, and the wall of falvation hath protected both me, and those who have received my tidings, even to this day. Soon after this I had another dream, which was, that I faw a very high and strong fence, fomewhat like pofts and rails, but exceeding ftrong, and the top of it reached to the clouds; on the other fide I faw a numerous herd of black bulls, exceeding fierce, and they leaped, many of them, clear over this high fence. When I awoke, I conceived the high fence to be the laws of nations, and the boundaries or frontiers of countries; and, when I heard how the French overran divers nations, and how the difaffected were let loofe here among us, I thought of the fat bulls of Bafhan, mentioned in the Pfalms and other fcriptures. Some I faw in my dream could not leap over, and thofe that did could not deftroy the fence, for that food firm, juft as it was. And fo I have fcen it: the bulwarks of national laws ftand as they did; and our difaffected, who tried hard to leap over, could not; and thofe that did will never leap back again. This my dream came fresh to my mind when I faw in the newspapers that the French commander in Italy informed the Directory Directory of his engagement on the mountains, faying that "his army fought above the clouds." Thus I have informed my dear fister of the various applications of the moft terrible paffages of scripture to me in my deepeft diftrefs, and of the fearful dreams; neither of which came to pafs, being the work of the devil, to keep me from Chrift. And this I was confirmed in by the Lord's vifits to me; for every glimpfe that I had of the Saviour difperfed thefe difmal things; but, when he withdrew, then they came again. It is with the feeking finner as it was with the lunatic in the gospel, while he was coming to Chrift the devil threw him down. Luke ix. 42. Furthermore: not only by fearful dreams and false applications hath Satan diftreffed me, but even by horrible fenfations in the night; and that even when I have gone to my bed in the most profound peace and tranquillity, without the least fenfe of any guilt, fhynefs, or distance, between me and my God; yea, and fometimes when I have been much favoured with his fenfible prefence overnight. I have often, in former years, waked up in the dead of the night, and felt that my comforts were all gone, and a moft melancholy and difmal gloom hung upon my mind, and fuch horrors and terrors had fucceeded as quite terrified me, and fuch darkness as might be felt, with a multitude of the moft ghaftly spectres drawn upon my imagination, with death and the grave represented in their moft moft dreadful forms and awful confequences. These things drove me to examine myself, and to feek the face of the Lord; and, when I found that prayer difpelled them, and the Lord appeared ftill. propitious to me, and that none of these things brought any guilt on my confcience, and that they were not attended with the burden of unpardoned fin, nor with the piercing fenfations of unappeased wrath, nor with the curfe of the law, nor with the apprehenfions of an angry God, nor with any dread of damnation; I concluded that they came from the devil, and the word of God bore me out: "He that dwelleth in the fecret place of the Moft High shall abide under the fhadow of the Almighty; fuch fhall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the peftilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the deftruction that wasteth at noon day." Pfalm xc. I was not a little exercifed with very foul dreams alfo, but prayer removed them all; and Satan hath dropped this method of proceeding against me for many years, for he knows that I am, in fome measure, up to it. Now, as Satan thus works against fenfible finners, whose hearts are honest, and who come conftantly to the light to have their real ftate difcovered, and who are made willing to take up the crofs, to follow Chrift, and to be faved by him; I fay, as Satan works against thefe by fearful dreams, |