The old year is gone; and if we look back, what a nothing it appears! Departed as a tale that is told. Thus will our whole life appear, when our end approaches, and eternity opens: but eternity will never expire; eternity will last world without end. When millions, unnumbered millions of ages are passed away, eternity will only be beginning. And this short life, this little span is the seed-time of the long, long eternity. What we sow in this state, we shall reap in the eternal state. Should we not therefore be careful, very careful, to improve our time, and make the best provision for an eternity of happiness? Should we not be careful to get faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; to get the love of God shed abroad in our hearts; and our souls renewed according to the amiable example of our blessed Redeemer? This, and nothing but this, is true religion. Going to church, hearing sermons, and receiving sacraments, profit us nothing, unless they promote these desirable ends. Fix, dear sister, this truth in your memory: A true faith in Christ, an unfeigned love of God, and a real holiness of heart, are the greatest blessings you can desire. Without them we shall not, we cannot, enter into the kingdom of heaven. These you should incessantly, you should earnestly seek, through the whole advancing year; and these I most sincerely wish you, who am your very affectionate brother, &c,

LETTER LXXIX.

London, Feb. 5. 1751. DEAR MRS I RECEIVED your valuable letter, and thank you for it. I am exceeding glad, and bless the unspeakable goodness of God, if he has made my poor ministry in any degree serviceable or comfortable to your soul. I accompany my former labours (if such extremely feeble attempts may be called labours) with my repeated prayers; and bear my little flock on my supplicating and

affectionate heart all the day long. O that the gracious God may fulfil in them all the good pleasure of his will, and the work of faith with power!

I rejoice to find that you know the truth. May you know it more and more; be established in it, and experience the efficacy of it. May the truth make you free! free from the prevalence of unbelief, the dominion of sin, and the oppression of sorrow! Give glory to God for opening the eyes of your mind, and bringing you to the riches of Christ. Take to yourself the comfort of this inestimable blessing, and by no means reject your own mercy. Pray do not harbour hard thoughts concerning the blessed God, nor cherish desponding apprehensions concerning yourself, though always frail, and in every respect imperfect. The great and good Father of our spirits knows whereof we are made: he remembers that we are but dust; and will not be extreme to mark what is done amiss. Extreme to mark ! so far from it, that to those who seek him in sincerity, seek him through his dear Son, he is tender and compassionate beyond all imagination. "As a father pitieth his own children, so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him," Psalm ciii, 13.; and "as a mother comforteth her son, so will the Lord thy God comfort thee," Isa. lxvi. 13. Since we want lovingkindness and mercy to follow us all the days of our life, blessed, for ever blessed be the God of heaven, in these he delighteth, Jer. ix. 24.

Ocast thy burden upon the Lord," says the Holy Spirit. Cast it upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an art which the Christian should be diligent to learn and watchful to practise. Christ is a Saviour, but we neglect to make use of him: we are come to him, but we forget to walk in him. When guilt accuses us, or guilt overtakes us, instantly let us fly to Christ, as the Israelites, when wounded, looked to the brazen serpent. There, let us say, there is the propitiation for this abominable sin. For this, and for all my other iniquities, his heart was pierced,

and his blood spilt. The vials of wrath, due to my provocations, were poured upon that spotless victim; and by his stripes I am healed. If our own obedience is deplorably defective, so that we are sometimes ready to cry out with the prophet, "My leanness my leanness! woe is me!" let us turn our thoughts to the great Mediator's righteousness: this is consummate and divine; this was wrought out for us; this is imputed to us; in this all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and in this should they glory. If your prayers are dull and languid, remember the intercession of Christ. He ever appears in the presence of God for you; and how can your cause miscarry which has such an advocate? If the poor widow was heard, even by the unjust judge, shall not the dearly beloved Son of God prevail when he makes intercession to a most gracious Father? a Father who loves both him and his people. If you want repentance, want faith, want holiness, Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, and to give all these desirable blessings. He has ascended up on high, has led captivity captive, and received gifts, spiritual gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, for the rebellious. It is his office to bestow these precious graces on poor sinners; and he is as ready to execute this office as the mother is ready to administer the breast to a sucking child. Do you read the Scriptures? Still keep Christ in view. When dreadful threatenings occur, say, These I deserved; but Christ has bore them in my stead. When rich promises are made, say, Of these I am unworthy; but my Redeemer's worthiness is my plea; he has purchased them for me by his merits. All the promises of God are yea and amen (sure and certain to the believing soul) in Christ Jesus.

To make such a perpetual application of Christ, is to eat his flesh, and drink his blood. Thus may you, may I, may all my dear people, be enabled to pass the time of our sojourning here below! deriving our whole spiritual life, our pardon and sanctifica

tion, our hope, and our joy, from that inexhaustible fountain of all good. Though I am not with you in person, I am often with you in spirit ; and daily commit you to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls; who is ten thousand thousand times more condescending, compassionate, and faithful, than your truly affectionate friend, &c.

DEAR

LETTER LXXX.

I RECEIVED your kind letter, and am glad to find that you, and Mrs, and Mrs often meet together, and, like the people mentioned by the prophet, speak one to another of the things of God. O let us exhort one another to faith, to love, and to good works; and so much the more, as we see the day, the day of eternal judgment, approaching. Ere long we shall hear the shout of the archangel, and the trump of God. O let us imitate the wise virgins, and get oil in our lamps, true grace in our hearts; that we may be prepared for our Lord's second coming, and not dread, but love his appearing.

My departure from Northampton was sudden and unexpected. Could I have seen my people, and given them my parting advice, it should have been in the words of that good man Barnabas, who exhorted all the disciples, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

Cleave, my dear friends, to the Lord Jesus Christ; cleave to his word; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and be your meditation all the day long. Let the Bible, that inestimable book, be often in your hands, and its precious truths be ever in your thoughts. Thus let us sit, with holy Mary, at the feet of Jesus; and, I hope, we shall experience his word to drop as the rain, and distil as the dew.

Cleave to his merits. Fly to his divine blood for pardon; it is the fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness. It purges from all guilt, takes away

all sin, and, blessed be God, it is always open, always free of access. Fly to his righteousness. Let us renounce our own, and rely on his obedience. What unprofitable servants are we! how slothful in our whole life! how imperfect in every work! But as for Christ, his work is perfect; it is complete, and infinitely meritorious. In this shall all the seed of Israel, all true believers, be justified; and in this shall they glory.

Cleave to his Spirit. Seek for the divine Spirit; cry mightily to God for the divine Spirit. Let them that have it pray that they may have it more abundantly, and be even filled with the Spirit. This blessed Spirit reveals Christ, strengthens faith, quickens love, and purifies the heart. Christ died to obtain this Spirit for us; he intercedes for us that we may receive it; and his heavenly Father, for his sake, has promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask it. He has promised (O glorious privilege!) to give it more readily than a parent gives bread to a hungry child.

Cleave to his example. Study his holy life, eye his unblamable conduct, observe his amiable tem-pers; look to this heavenly pattern, as those that learn to write look to their copy; and God grant that we all, beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, may be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord!

Thus let us cleave to Christ the Lord; cleave with full purpose of heart, incessantly, closely, inseparably. Let us say with our father Jacob, I will not let thee go. Let us imitate the Syrophoenician woman, whom no discouragements could divert from her purpose. Temptations, difficulties, all the assaults of our enemy, should make us hasten to, and abide in the strong-hold, the city of refuge: And he has promised, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." He will gather us with his arm, and lay us in his bosom. He will guide us by his grace, and