at their carnal offer, 2 King ii. 17; and if he were here, we should make him blush again, for we have many strong men. Some are for steadying the ark with pharifaical conformity, left the rough paths of tribulation shake it too much; and others are holding out the arm of free-will, as if it were omnipotent, to catch at thofe, who by riding too high in the chariot of unconditional and eternal falvation, are in danger of getting overthrown: howbeit, no fuch paffengers have ever yet been beholden to any of these proud helpers, Job ix. 13; and I am fure they never will.

And now may the ever-bleffed Spirit of all holy unity unite our fouls to Chrift, and to each other; that he may be to us as the precious ointment on the head, even Aaron's head, which ran down to his beard, and went even to the fkirts of his cloathing, as the blessed dew of Hermon, which fell on the chofen mountain of Zion; where God commanded the best of bleffings, even the Spirit of life for evermore, Pfalm cxxxii. Amen, and amen, fays thy affectionate father in the unalterable bond of everlasting love,

W. H.

LETTER

LETTER VII.

Dear Brother in Chrift,

Winchefter-Row.

YOUR's I received, and am glad the fan has been among you; the floor is now purged, and the hypocrites are gone. Let them go ;-he that has the moft chaff, has got the worst heap. That man who fweeps God's house, and runs away with the uncircumcifed and the unclean, gives great room to fufpect that he is a minifter after the order of Satan; becaufe God ufes him as a fan, and his errors as a wind, to purge his floor, and blow away the chaff. If God is with thee, they that are of God will hear thee; but they that are of the world, will hear no doctrines but the commandments of men. If your flock is pure, they will know the fhepherd's voice; and the purer the doctrine is, the better they will feed upon it.-There is no fuch thing as keeping a herd of hypocrites together, without dealing deceitfully in God's covenant; they must have fmooth things prophefied to them: -Prophecy deceits, was the cominand of their forefathers, and pofterity approve their fayings, and love to have it fo, Jer. v. 31. Therefore, that preacher who feeds them, muft do it at the peril

of

of his foul; for a falfe witness, that speaketh lies, is one of the abominations that God hates, Prov.

vi. 19.

I am forry to find you nettled, because the giddy youth, at the head of a party, triumphs in your affliction; you must commit him, by prayer, to the mercy of that God who has promised, be that is glad at calamities fhall not go unpunished, Prov. xvii. 5. A man in search after his own glory, or any other branch of felf-feeking, who wants to raise a party by a false zeal and bigotted fpirit; who will, in behalf of any non-effential point, divide and scatter a flock, and break the bond of peace, and the more perfect bond of gospel love, which binds all the body myftical to the head, and to each other, (notwithstanding all his talk about gofpel order) is the author of confufion, and appears the oppofer of him who is the author of peace. -He that gathereth not with me, fcattereth.

I have narrowly watched the hand of God that has visibly gone out against several, who ran away at the head of a party; and foon faw many of those, who first cried out Hofannah to their leader, appeared the first also who cried away with him.But be fure of this, that as he measures to others, fo fhall it be measured to him; and as he gave the first offence, he shall have the greatest measure of contempt;-let him reproach, it shall return upon his own head; preffed down, fhaken together, and running over, fhall men measure to him:-for the Lord God of recompences fhall furely requite. I

have watched the hand of God in this matter, and seen it in the most minute circumstances; yea in more than a thousand inftances. If Jacob will appear to be Efau, Leah fhall appear to be Rachel; and if he takes the advantage of his father's blindnefs, the fore-eyed wife fhall deceive him in the dark. But you will fay that Jacob had a right to the bleffing; true:-but Jacob had no command from God to tell lies to get it. It was a rod from God upon Ifaac, to permit him to be deceived by Jacob, because he was partial to Efau. -David lay with Uriah's wife in fecret; and Abfalom fhall lie with his wives upon the house top, in the open face of the fun. David cut off the life of Uriah, and Joab fhall cut off Abfalom, David's favourite; and though the father gives a charge concerning the young man, yet a living gallows fhall receive him; and his fine head of hair, too much admired, shall ferve inftead of a halter to hang him in the oak. Mercy fhall be fure to David's foul, and the rod as fure to David's fin. I will chastise them with the rod of men. Whofoever he be that appears a rod to others, is fure to make one for himself; and if God does not pay him double in this world, he will pay him triple in the next. To pray for fuch, is the way to get an answer in our own bofom, and to heap coals on their head; therefore pray for him in private, and withstand him in public, for his way is perverfe before the Lord. But be fure never to rejoice

when

when evil finds him, nor fuffer thy lips to fin, by wishing a curfe to his foul, Job xxxi. 30.

Thou must never expect to ftand on the tongue of hypocrites, nor take a false flight on the wings of fame; if we receive the witness of men, the witnefs of God is greater. That matter we get from God, in answer to the humble prayer of faith, put up under a sense of our ignorance, and inability for the important work, we may, (if scripture bear us out) venture to deliver: God will never give us a stone for bread, a serpent for a fish, nor a fcorpion for an egg. If a man lack wisdom, let him afk it of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. The matter I obtain this way I am bold to preach, though it differ from the judgment of commentators. Paul owns he knew but in part, and prophefied in part; and those who have undertaken to explain the whole Bible were not infallible; nor did wisdom die with them, Job xii. 2. Give heed to the more fure word of prophecy, until the day-star arise in your heart, and then follow that; it will lead you to every mystery where the Saviour lays; and when you have found him, hold him forth to poor finners, without money and without price, as a good fteward of the manifold grace of God, which is treafured up in Chrift Jefus.

A fermon borrowed from commentators is but a dry breast; it is neither wet with dew, nor warm with love. All that a man learns by rote is too weak to hold his foul in a ftorm; but one fingle promife

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