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DCCVIII.

Grantham.

DEAR BECKY,

You must excuse my not answering yours before, as Mr. Barston was at Cricklewood a whole month; then came poor Jenkins, who staid three weeks; and when he went I started for Grantham, Newark, and Leicester; and cold, wet, and bad weather I have had. My lungs are weak, and my breath short; and a whole tribe of the infirmities of old age are gathering thick and hard upon

me.

But hope never dies, faith must prevail, and the imputed obedience of Christ never decays. The inward man shall revive when the outward man moulders to dust. The good Spirit will perfect his own work; light and life shall abide; nor will he suffer us to lose sight of sinful self, nor to cease hungering and thirsting after the living God, until we are filled with his fulness above. Then and there we shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more; there shall be no more

under all our afflictions and infirmities, which are but for a moment when compared with the eternal weight of glory. And remember -the reward is promised to all that fear his name, small and great.

As to myself, I pass through many changes: sometimes earnest, devout, and powerful in prayer; then again barren, backward, dead, and dry as the heat of summer; but, dead or alive, I pay my visits constantly at the throne, though much against the grain. Sometimes my mind is spiritual, quiet, easy, and my meditations are sweet, with fresh views, glorious harmony, and much gratitude to God for all; with meekness, humility and self-abasement; and I can weep tears of love over him whom my soul adores. But soon after comes Satan, and fills me with every youthful lust; with all that is vile, foul, or filthy; and this I call my sorrowful meat; but can neither subdue it, banish it, nor get from it. And Satan, being cursed of God, and given up to all sin and uncleanness, this, with rebellion and false doctrine, are all that he can feed upon. "Dust shall be the serpent's meat," says God, and flesh is but dust and ashes. No prayer will ever prevail, so as to drive out all these evils for

good and all. God has made us complete in Christ, but not perfect in the flesh, lest any man should boast.

Kind love to Henry, Granny, Becky, and William.

W. H. S. S.

DCCIX.

I RECEIVED my dear friend's kind epistle, and am always glad to hear from her; for, though so distant, yet am I often present; absent yearly in body but present daily in the Spirit. No distance divides or separates kindred souls; they all look to one object for help; here their eyes all meet, they all expect salvation by Christ, and can hope in no other object; and here we are all called in one hope of our calling. Christ is the centre, where all the lookings, longings, and cravings, of faith meet, till we all come into the unity of the faith, and unto the knowledge of the Son of God-unto a perfect man in Christ Jesus. One mystical body, made up of many members, and bound together in the bond of mutual affection— the bond of love and of all perfectness; which love of ours flows from the love of God our Father in giving his Son a sacrifice for us, and for a covenant to us; and from the love of Jesus, who laid down his life for us; and from the love of the Holy Ghost,

discover our corruptions, and to convince us of the evil of them.

This, Becky, is the threefold cord which the world, the flesh, and the devil, labour so hard at; saying, "Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us." But a threefold cord cannot be broken; "this their way is their folly," and in this "the people imagine a vain thing, for he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision; then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." That holy hill is the souls and affections of his own people, and no other; for God says unto Zion, "Thou art my people." Isa. li. 16. In their souls, Paul says, God reveals his Son. "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen." " Believe," says Christ, "that I am in you, and you in me." Again, "The kingdom of God is within you." There is the kingdom, and there is the King. Oh! how few highflying professors know any thing of this! If they did, they would never oppose my poor island friends.

But there are two mystical kingdoms

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