nearer home. The Coalheaver rejoiceth in his fon a wife fon maketh a glad father, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. God blefs and keep thee, be gracious unto thee, and lift the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, is the prayer of

W. H.

LETTER XXXIII.

THE Doctor ftill holds his integrity, and will by no means change his voice; but affert that my boafting before Titus is found a truth, that my poor little one is the most excellent of all my fcraps; and, like Samfon, he will kill more at his death than he has in all his life. Paul begat many in his bonds, but my scrap has begotten an old woman in the pains of death; heaps upon heaps. But he complains that his fweet frames of meeknefs and contrition are shortlived. Not fo, if he was a private believer. God not only ftores the mind of his fervants with fresh views of things, new and old; he not only discovers fresh ground of standing, and fires the mind with energy, and fills the mouth with utterance; but there is a fecret dew, a moisture that attends

meekness and godly forrow; this is to refresh the bowels of the faints. Speaking the words of life is thus expreffed, "There is that scattereth, and yet increateth :" this is fowing the word; but moisture is needed, and that is thus expreffed, "He that waters, fhall be watered alfo himself." Now in preaching, not only do the words go from the memory, but all the dew from the foul. When paftor and flock are in union, and in the bond of the covenant, the dew of Hermon goes even to the skirt: that which would keep your foul a whole week, like a watered garden, will not laft one hour in a pulpit. I will water them every moment: this is done chiefly by preaching the word. An old bachelor, who has none to feed but himself, a half-peck loaf may serve him for a week; but the father of a family in Ifrael will confume it in an hour: this is our cafe, all our incomes are for the good of the public. I have often gone to work far more than myself, and bold as a lion; but when I had done, fo fhorn and drained, that I have been ashamed to look any one in the face; and at these times faints often flock round you with their joys, fmiles, and fluent words, triumphing in the treasure they have got from your heart, for your crufe is emptied to fill them. And when meditation has been fweet, views many, and dew much, I have longed for the pulpit as much as a cow at grafs longs for the milk-maid. But I have been at fuch times.

among a barren fet; the fincere milk went not down, there being no mouth of faith to draw it; but those that go forth, and grow up like calves of the ftall, will fetch it down, and out to. God fave my fon.

W. H.

LETTER XXXIV.

I AM now all alive with hopes and expectations of feeing the Vicar once more. I have of late had fome dead hours, fome barren times, which are not fit to come into the days of the week, or to be joined with the number of the months. But he will not always chide, he will not be always wroth, he will not keep his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. But in his own time he came again with fresh life, with seasonable support, and with fenfible relief. At which the heart expanded, the affections glowed, the mind was exhilarated, confcience charmed, and himself more fweet, more precious, more dear, more bleffed than ever. What poor creatures we are, and yet what love, what kindness, tenderness, faithfulness, and truth, does he fhew

and confirm to us! And how does the heart enlarge and close, rife and fall; take courage or faint, fix or waver, according as he goes or comes, frowns or fmiles, fhines or eclipfes, fhows his pleasure or his displeasure. This, my dearly beloved, is our union, communion, and fellowship, both with the Father and with his Son Chrift Jefus; and furely they must have life in him who have their fouls fo quick, fo fenfible, fo tender, fo foft, fo fufceptible as this. By love we come to God, the Judge of all; by faith we come to the Mediator of the new covenant; and by the witness of adoption we come to the cry of Abba, Father this, my beloved, is the life and foul of our profeffion, and this profeffion will never caft its leaves, nor cease from yielding fruit; for they are grafted, bound up, joined to, and made one fpirit, with the Lord our God, and in God is all our fruit found. And by virtue of our union with him fresh life and heat, fupport and power, are communicated to us; hence it is that the heart is led to truft in him for, and hope to expect, all promised help in time of need. The life he gives animates us, encourages us in the fight, ftrengthens us, and promotes appetite; and as we feed we are more and more fatisfied that we shall not perish; and fometimes more than fatisfied on this head, and then we are faid to be full and abound. Yours in him,

W. H.

LETTER XXXV.

To my dearly-beloved fellow-foldier and fellow-fervant, true yokefellow and companion in tribulation.

THOU art now a living witnefs that God's fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerufalem. God's eternal choice of us is to be made manifeft in the furnace; here God brings us to teach us the use of the fword, the fhield, the helmet, and the bow. But the whole armour of God is put on us, and the incorruptible feed is put into us, before we go into this fiery trial. Every man's work fhall be made manifeft, for the day fhall declare it; because it fhall be revealed by fire, and the fire fhall try every man's work of what fort it is. But of this be affured, that unhallowed fires do not work but under the management of the spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning; nor yet without the fire of divine love these latter are both with us in the furnace, or else the veffels must be either wood or earth; and both these would confume in a moment. Nothing but the immortal Spirit, and his incorruptible seed of grace, can ftand this furnace. Gold and filver abide the fire, but not wood; and both these take poffeffion of us be