incomparable teaching, "an honeft heart," or an honeft confcience, for that is what is meant by an honeft heart: and when the Holy Spirit entered the heart, the heart was made good by his entrance, and honeft by his influence. Confcience, receiving authority, light, and information, by the Spirit, magnified his office, and did his duty. He condemned your finful life and finful nature, your false profeffion and your fuperficial preaching; and you confeffed all these both to God and man; and you forfook all these things, and such shall find mercy. All this I discerned in you at the first interview, and our Lord's parable convinced me, and affured me, that "the ground was made good ;" and in this confidence I have continued to this day. Nor did the Almighty leave thee here; he gave you repentance for all the above things, and to the utmoft of your power you made reftitution, in labouring to undeceive others; and though your fuccefs in this did not fucceed according to your wishes, yet you may reft upon this, that the elect of God will neither be finally deceived nor destroyed: and as for the contrary part, no means, either human or divine, will ever leffen their number or alter their state.

Ever yours,

W. H. S. S.

LETTER XXVIII.

My filence to my best beloved was in obedience to his own orders, as I concluded he was weary of so many fcraps, and therefore I waited till I had further orders. No man goes on better than my fon; he is not dead, but quickened; and unto God the Lord belong the iffues from death. He is begotten to a lively hope, and that hope is exhilarating, and goes forth in watching, waiting, and expecting, and will not fuffer defpondency, when thy peevishness would give all up, fink, and even try to defpond; yea, when thy mind is bent upon it, heart and confcience both forbid it, counteract it, and stand firm and unmoved, even when thou tempteft them to give way. And all this thou canst not deny. Learn to diftinguish between head and heart, and between mind and confcience; and thou wilt find the heart firm when the mind is moved. The nearer the birth, the fharper the pains, and the longer the intervals; and the fharper the pains, the fweeter the cordials; and when these are withheld, the greater the lofs, and the more fevere the disappointment; but a daily crofs is allotted, and we are fure to be in the way while the cross abides. My fon comes

behind in no gift; every bleffing, every grace, and all truth, are in my fon. He could never war with the world, the flesh, and the devil, if he had no faith. He could never perfevere in prayer, when heaven and earth appear to combine against him, without ftrong faith: my fon takes no denial, nor will he reftrain prayer; the kingdom fuffers violence, and the violent take it by force; nor will my fon cease befieging, withdraw his forces, or raise the fiege. And, if he be blind, how comes he to fee fuch comeliness in the beauty of Ifrael? and if no love to the Holy One, why all this labour and toil to gain him? and if no hope of reaching the haven, why all this unabated, unwearied failing against wind and tide? My fon will reply, I know that I fhall perish without him; and fo do thousands more know this as well as you; but, being deftitute of every divine and heavenly influence, God's prefence, and even heaven itself, would give them more pain than the company of hell; because there is in them no meetness, nothing that will join or unite with the powers above. And if no life, why all this tenderness, this craving appetite; and how comes my fon to relifh all the fweet, the choice, the fat, the favoury morfels? Life divine is fed, nourifhed, ftrengthened, fupported, entertained, and delighted, by the bread of God, by the word of God, by the fatisfaction and facrifice of Chrift, by the presence of God: the children of the

bridechamber never faft in the bridegroom's prefence; they feed upon the Lord's vifits, upon every influence of the Holy Spirit, upon his delivering mercies, upon the fmiles of his providence; and the reverse of these is their fafts and their famine. This houfe of mine is to be fold in May next. Every habitation that I have had fince I have been in town has been fold over my head. Thus the god of this world is fuffered to disturb me in all my dwellings; but the house that is from above is out of his reach. my fon.

God bless

W. H.

LETTER XXIX.

My beloved's epiftle came to hand; and I find from all quarters that he is weak, and yet ftrong; faint, yet pursuing; a reed fhaken by the wind, yet more than man. But the grand object is not obtained, namely, this: he wants to be meekened, foftened, humbled, and melted down, under the influence of regenerating, renewing, and all fin-subduing mercy; and to continue under the weeping willow many days; and then to

have the fun, with all his healing rays, fhining in his full ftrength; and this to be attended with fuch love as to caft out all fear and torment for evermore; and for all these rays of light, flames of heat, and firft fruits of glory, to attend and appear upon him in the pulpit, and that for many months together, ten at leaft; and that those that hate him might fee thefe tokens for good, and be afhamed; because the Lord upholds him, and comforts him. These are the things which he has imagined, and he reaches out after these things which are before; not that he has already attained, or is already perfect, but he preffes forward. I have my doubts whether all this furniture would fuit every fheep in the Lord's fold; a few difcourfes upon thefe discoveries might do for a lamb in the bofom, but not for thofe that are with young. They might fuit a bride juft efpoused, but it would not be to each of the household a portion of meat in due season. There is a difference between a private and a public character; between a rural fhepherd and a chamberlain of a city; and between a faint in private life and one in the public miniftry. All that the private faint gets, he marks, learns, and inwardly digefts for himfelf; and one vifit with the bridegroom's prefence may feed and feaft him for many days; for all that he gets he keeps, having none to feed but his own foul. This is the cafe with private believers, but not with public