favour, a welcome favour, I am very sure, it would be to, dear sir, your much obliged, and truly affectionate friend, &c.

LETTER CL.

Weston-Favell, Dec. 13. 1755.

MY DEAR FRIEND,-I received your last valuable favour in due time. I should have made my acknowledgments sooner, but I staid to get the enclosed little pamphlet, *which I want much to have you peruse, and to have your opinion concerning it.

There seems to me to be much good sense and solid argument, much more than, I apprehend, could have been produced on the occasion. I read your remarks with great attention, and I humbly trust that God will execute the office, and accomplish the blessing mentioned in the portion of Scripture which gave a relish to our breakfast this morning.

“DOTH ADAM HEMLAMAD."-Psalm xciv. 10.

I read the passage in a small Hebrew Bible without points; and the first word in the verse seemed to me, not "TISEK," but "HE-ISED," which, in my opinion, yields the best sense: He that "made, upholds, establishes the nations," &c. I have consulted Houbigant, but he makes no alteration.

Indeed we have need of divine teaching. Amidst the variety of opinions, which ever did, and perhaps ever will subsist in our imperfect state, he only who is the wonderful Counsellor, possesses the unerring clue. A letter from Dunfermline in Scotland, received by the last post, and written by a stranger, informs me, that upon the doctrine of sanctification there is a standard book; and this standard book, he adds, is Marshall's Gospel Mystery. Mr Moses Browne tells me, he is publishing a little piece of poetry, entitled Percy Lodge, the Duke of Somerset's seat; [wrote at the desire of the late duke and duchess, in the year 1749. Had they lived, poor

* A little pamphlet on the Marks and Evidences of Faith, wrote by Mr Cudworth of Norwich.

Browne would have met with the encouragement he deserves. They loved him, and fully intended to have served him.] When it makes its appearance, I will desire you to accept of a copy. I am, &c.

DEAR

LETTER CLI.

THIS letter will come to your hands, as the blessings of the everlasting gospel are offered to our souls, without money and without price.

Be under no concern about the report you mention; it gives me not one moment's uneasiness. We have acted, I trust, as faithful stewards of our Master in heaven; and if he approves, how very insignificant is the censure of men! And what, ah, what is a little misrepresentation, or a few lashes from tattling tongues, compared with those cruel mockings which our divine and dying Redeemer bore!

You are, I find, as I too often am, in poor Peter's condition, when our Lord addressed him with that tender rebuke, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Wherefore indeed do we doubt? Is he not an all-sufficient Saviour? Is not his death a complete atonement, sufficient to take away the sins of a whole world? Is not his righteousness a perfect righteousness, able to justify even the most ungodly? Does not his Godhead impart an infinite dignity to both? rendering them more powerful to save than millions, unnumbered millions of sins are to destroy?

Is he not a willing Saviour? How willing was Joseph to give the good of the land of Egypt to his aged father! How willing was Jonathan to screen his beloved David from Saul's wrath! How willing is an indulgent parent to deal out bread to his hungry child! Equally willing, abundantly more willing is Christ to give himself to our souls, to reconcile us to his Almighty Father, to fit us for his kingdom, and take us to his glory. A parent does not chuse to die for his child; Jonathan never spilt his

blood for David, nor did Joseph lay down his life for that good old man Jacob. But this, all this, the Lord Jesus Christ freely undertook, freely underwent for us. What could he do more to assure us of his love? Let us contemplate the story of his bitter, bitter passion. Let us view him prostrate, in an agony of sorrow, on the cold ground; extended, with racking torture, on the accursed tree; laid, all pale and mangled with wounds, in the gloomy sepulchre; And sure we shall have a stronger proof of Christ's willingness to save us, than the testimony of ten thousand ministers preaching on earth, or of ten thousand angels speaking from heaven.

Is he not a faithful Saviour? Having loved his own, he loveth them even unto the end. As his eyes never slumber, nor sleep, so his care for his people is never intermitted; he has written their names on the palms of his hands, and their eternal interests are ever before him; he will never, never, never leave nor forsake them; no, not in any circumstance, nor on any account. They are his peculiar treasure, and the ransom of his own dear life; they are the recompense for all his sufferings, and are to be the jewels in his mediatorial crown; therefore they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his hand. Neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate them from his love, from his bosom, from his heart. Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord? who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; surely then thou mayest dwell in safety," Deut. xxxiii. 27, &c. Are we unworthy sinners? We readily own it, and oh that we may deeply feel it! But did not Christ chuse to converse with publicans and sinners? Did he not come to seek and to save that which was lost? The same spirit which actuated him on earth, he retains now he is exalted into heaven; let not therefore our deplorable vileness be our hinderance, but our incitement to

apply to the ever-gracious Friend of sinners. Indeed, if we were not sinners, we should not be proper objects for the Saviour. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick :" for such he made his soul an offering, and for such he brought in everlasting righteousness: he makes intercession, not for the righteous, but for transgressors; and those that are afar off, in rebellion and apostasy, are brought nigh; nigh to God, and home to heaven, by the blood of Christ.

May these considerations sink into our hearts, and be made the seed of a lively, growing, and joyful faith! And " may the Lord direct" us both (as we both groan in this tabernacle, and are burdened) "into the love of God, and the patient waiting for of Jesus!" when this languishing, this corruptible body will lie down in peace, and rest in hope; and the soul, delivered from every conflict, cleansed from every stain, will be ever, for ever with the Lord. Amen and amen, says yours, &c.

LETTER CLII.

Weston-Favell, Dec. 15. 1755. MY DEAR FRIEND, I RETURN you my best thanks for sending me a copy of so smart and sensible a letter, which came to me very a-propos; and which I think is so likely to do good in this disputatious age, that I wish it was printed in some of the magazines and public papers. I am much obliged to you for your kind caution against my being drawn into a controversy, particularly by the very warm and overbearing Mr -, who is now grown impatient of the least contradiction, and far from being a desirable companion or correspondent.

Controversy is as much my aversion as it can be yours; for where that begins, religion too often ends; and I shall not enter the lists, I promise you, with any one, unless I am absolutely necessitated to it. But if I am compelled to appear in print on

such an occasion, I shall endeavour to pay due regard to Solomon's excellent advice, viz." A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger," Prov. xv. 1. Instead of exasperating my adversary by cutting reprehensions, I will, if possible, constrain him, by a candid and respectful treatment, to moderate his temper; and, by a coercive propriety of arguments, persuade him to relinquish such tenets as I think erroneous.

God grant that I may never behave with an indecent resentment, how great soever may be the provocation of my gainsayers; but that, in all my writings and conversations, I may avoid the hasty spirit, lest I injure my own peace of mind, and disgrace my profession as a Christian and a minister.

It is a rule with me always to speak well of the good qualities even of bad men, especially when others are censuring them with an unmerciful severity; and I could wish that every controversialist would learn so much candour, as to put the best construction on his opponent's book, and to embrace what was in general good in it, however he might doubt or censure some particular opinions of the contending author.

To live peaceably with all men, is my earnest desire and my daily prayer; and in order to do this, I am more and more convinced of the necessity of candour, humility, and a conscientious regard to the example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am, my dear friend, affectionately and inviolably yours.

A copy of the letter above-mentioned, never before

printed.

DEAR SIR, I HAVE a strong and settled aversion to all matter of dispute, in things that relate to a message of perfect peace and love. The kingdom of God is no more opinion, than it is meat and drink; and argumentation can have little to do, where a new heart, and a right spirit, is the business or work to be performed.