The divine and essential Word has taken our nature into God; and there is a divine nature lodged in all the saints, and no separation can be made, either by life or by death. O my brother, my mouth is opened to thee, my heart is enlarged; thou art not straitened in me, but in thy own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, I speak

as to my beloved son, be ye also enlarged. Adieu.

Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and endure hardness as a good soldier. The Captain has overcome the world, and the victory is yours. Ever thine in him,

W. H.

LETTER IX.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS, Lewes, Sussex.

FELLOW-SERVANT AND FELLOW-SUFFERER, COMPA NION IN TRAVAIL AND TRIBULATION, PEACE AND TRUTH BE WITH THEE.

AM glad that you approve, and that any thing clear, harmonious, consistent, informing, or establishing, appears to you. I shall, therefore, propose to bring forth what little yet remains on my mind, or may yet occur on the sublime subject.

Reason, or the dim light of nature, is a poor guide in this mystery. Light in the head, without love and reverence in the heart, has a tendency to exalt. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." A high look, a stiff neck, and a proud heart God will not suffer; but he will dwell with the humble and the contrite, and will own and acknowledge those that reverence, love, and fear him. In his light we see light; and if teachable and tractable, he will guide us with his eye, and lead us by his Spirit; while the inward anointing, which is the illuminating, renewing, softening, and humbling influences of his grace and Holy Spirit, which the saints experience, will teach them all things necessary to be known, or essential to salvation. Our sufficiency is of God, who can make us able ministers of the New Testament; and, if he does not make us so able as some are, yet we must minister as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. iv. 11. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and our unctuous experience of his divine impressions and influence, must regulate all our views, opinions, and conclusions upon divine subjects. Whatever the understanding discovers, and the mind conceives, is always handed down to the soul's experience of divine power; the Spirit's work on the soul being an exact and an infallible copy of the revealed mind and will of God in the scriptures of truth; on which account the church is called the pillar and

ground of the truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15. The Spirit is the author of the scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New. The gospel is the ministry of the Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 6. And the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of the Old Testament, testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow, 1 Pet. i. 11. And we are told that, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Therefore, whatever the enlightened understanding discovers, and the mind perceives or conceives, it is immediately handed down to the experience of the Spirit's teaching within to see if it be consistent with the anointing which teacheth all things; and, if it agree with the anointing, and has the sanction of the Holy Spirit, immediately the mind is led to the written word for support and confirmation, and the Spirit brings some word home to the mind which proves and establishes it; and this witness of God is greater than the witness of all the men in the world; but, if it agree not with the anointing, and if it receive not the Spirit's sanction, nor any word come in to confirm it, it is rejected and cast out, as being contrary to the anointing. "And ye need not that any should teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you," 1 John ii. 27. Whatsoever, therefore, contradicts the Spirit's work and his teaching is to be rejected. If my dear brother will attentively observe this inward teaching, he will perceive something of it all the day long; and, without this divine compass, it is in vain to launch out

into the profound depths of divine mysteries, and especially that of the Holy Trinity. "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea," Job xi. 7, 9. "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever," Deut. xxix. 29. And God has promised that he will give us a heart to know him, for he will pardon them whom he reserves. And again, "For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more," Heb. viii. 11, 12. I was led into the glorious mystery of the Holy Trinity by the teaching of God in my own soul. It is written in the prophets, "All thy children shall be taught of God." This passage our Lord quotes, "It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." And it is added, "No man "No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him," John vi. 44, 45. Now, from this divine teaching there is none of God's elect exempted; they shall be all taught of God. And the Saviour informs us, that, by God here, God the Father is meant; and he adds, "Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." He must both hear and learn of the

Father before he comes to Christ; nor can any man come to Christ except the Father draw him; and all such, says Christ, "I will raise up at the last day." From hence we learn that all the elect are taught of the Father; and that every one of the Father's pupils come to Christ; and, without being drawn by the Father, they cannot come; and those that do come shall be infallibly saved and raised up at the last day.

But then where is the Father's teaching described? How does he teach us? And what do we hear and learn of him? This is what I will endeavour to make plain. "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teacliest him out of thy law; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked," Psalm xciv. 11-13. Now the schoolmaster, by which God teaches us, is the moral law; as for the ceremonial law, that was never enjoined to the Gentiles. Out of this law are we taught of God the Father; and our lessons are prefaced with his chastening rod, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, and teachest:" and Christ says, we both hear and learn of the Father. Two things we hear; first, the chastening rod. "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it," Micah vi. 9. Here is the voice of the Lord crying to the chosen, calling the city of Zion; and here