Oh! for this love let rocks and hills And all harmonious human tongues Yes, we will praise thee, dearest Lord, The apostle well knew the force of his argument to a believing soul, when he said, "I beseech you, there fore, brethren, by the mercies of God." Surely nothing can be more reasonable, than that we should live to him who thus died for us. Shall we, we who are redeemed from hell at such a price, shall we continue in sin? God forbid! Shall we not rather say, "The "love of Christ constraineth us" to devote ourselves, our all, to him alone; to abstain from all appearance of evil; to hate every false way, and to know, study, desire, and love nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, that we may feel the power of his resurrection, have fellowship in his sufferings, and be made conformable to his death. What you observe of the way in which the Lord makes his precious promises food to his children's faith, namely, by inclining their hearts to watchfulness and diligence in all his appointed means, and enabling them to walk unspotted from the vanities and pollutions of the world, waiting for the consolations and teaching of his Holy Spirit, is, I hope, the very sense of my soul. The promises were not given to slacken our endeavours, but to animate us to earnestness. An evangelical dependence on the Lord for righteousness and strength, and an evangelical obedience to his commands, are well suited to each other; they are, indeed, inseparable, and in equal proportion; where one declines, the other cannot flourish. Too many, as you say, are for sepaFating what God has joined together. But let their mistakes humble and warn us, and show us the necessity of keeping close to the Lord. We must not presume; for our hearts are as deceitful as others. Yet we need not be terrified; for the Lord whom we serve is able to keep us from falling, and to preserve us from every evil. We live in dangerous times; the work of the Lord is greatly on the revival in many places, and therefore errors and offences abound; for where the good seed is plentifully sown, the enemy will always find means to sow his tares. But our Lord will keep his own children that wait upon him for strength and direction every day. He will give us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of his truth; and by the words of his lips we shall be kept from the paths of the destroyer. cease. હ Let us further comfort ourselves with the prospect of a future time when every evil and infirmity shall You know who hath said, "Surely I come quickly." And do not our hearts echo to his words? Do not the Spirit and the bride agree? Yea, "Amen, Even so come Lord Jesus." Come and put an end to our fears and failings. Come and deliver us from this scene of strife and confusion. We are weary of living in the tents of Mesech. We are weary of ourselves. Oh! we can hardly bear to pass day after day with such faint unworthy apprehensions of thy beauty and thy goodness. We are weary and ashamed of our holy things. So much coldness and wandering in prayer, in reading the word, in thy public ordinances, that we cannot but say,-Oh that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly far away from this vain ensnaring world! When will this conflict cease! when shall all our tears be wiped away! when shall we see thee as thou art, and be formed into thy complete resemblance! Well, the time is short, and passing fast away. Hold out, faith and patience, a little longer, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. In the mean time, may we have grace to improve the present, as the only opportunity we can have of glorifying our Lord and Saviour in a sinful world. When we get safe home, weshall not think we have done and suffered too much by the way. I am yours. Dear Madam, LETTER VIII. To Miss M**** June 11, 1763. SINCE my return from Yorkshire, I have had but little leisure to recollect all I have seen, and heard, and been partaker in, for near these two months past. These occasional opportunities are now at an end for a season; and my principal intercourse must be with him who is always near.-Oh! for grace to improve this high privilege aright; then I shall have no need to regret the defects or loss of creature-converse. The Lord has led me to many pleasant streams; but I desire especially to rejoice in liberty to draw nigh to the fountain. Methinks my heart joins with the desire of those who said, "We would see Jesus." When we come to heaven, without doubt we shall find great plea sure in communion with the "general assembly of the "church of the first born;" but the very heaven of all will be to behold him who for our sakes was crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross. All the rest would be but poor company if he were absent. And thus proportionably I find it to be on earth. I delight in his people; but they can only profit me so far as I am enabled to see him in them, and to feel his presence in my own soul. My whole study and desire is comprised in this short sentence-" To walk with God"-to set the Lord always before me; to hear his voice in every creature, in every dispensation, ordinance, and providence; to keep him' in view as my portion, sun, and shield; my strength, advocate, and Saviour. And alt my complaints may be summoned up in this one-a proneness to wander from him. This is too frequently the case with me, I hardly know how or why. Through mercy, I am in a measure delivered from the love of this present evil world; the desire of my heart is towards God; I account his loving-kindness to be better than life, and esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right, and just, and good. I do not even wish for a dispensation to admit any rival into my heart; he richly deserves it all, and I am willing and desirous to be his alone, and to be wholly conformed to him. Yet still I find the effects of a depraved nature; and notwithstanding all my struggles against inward and outward evil, I am too often carried away from the point of simple faith and dependence. The lively experience of a Christian is not hard to be described; neither is it hard to say much about it. But to feel what we say, to sit down under the shadow of the tree of life, to abide in Christ, to feed on him in my heart by faith with thanksgiving, this I find a rare attainment, easily lost, and not so soon. regained. I know enough of it to make me desirous of more, and yet so little, that I have frequent cause to cry out, My leanness, my leanness! and to lie low in the dust before God. A remaining root of pride and selfrighteousness often springs up and interrupts my peace. Indeed, as to the ground of my hopes and acceptance, I' am mercifully kept from doubts and fears; I trust in him who has wrought out a perfect righteousness for my justification, and has stretched out an everlasting arm for my salvation. I see the honour of the divine attributes effectually secured, and that God is not only merciful and good, but faithful and just, in saving an unworthy believing sinner. But what I want, is not only to expect a heaven hereafter, but to experience a heaven begun below, to live up to the privileges of the Gospel, to have enlarged desires after holiness, and those desires abundantly answered. I want more of the influences of the Holy Spirit, under his various characters, as the teacher, quickener, comforter, and sealer of the people of God. I want to know more clearly what the apostle desired for his friends in those two comprehensive prayers, Eph. i. 17—20, and iii. 16-19. How little do I understand of that height and depth, and breadth and length, he there speaks of! How faint are my ideas of the glorious hope of his calling, and the exceeding greatness of his mighty power! Well, blessed be God for the little. I have; I trust it is an earnest of more; he has given me to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and he has said, I shall be filled. I remember the time when I was easy enough about these things; the language of my heart was, "Depart from me." Yea, I resisted his Spirit, despised his mercy, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. But, oh! he "was found "of me that sought him not." He passed by me, and |