PREFACE.

THE first of the following letters is so well adapted an introduction to the rest, that to trouble the reader with a long preface would be quite needless and impertinent. I will therefore detain him from entering upon the delightful and instructive relation which the following sheets present him with, little longer than while I assure him, that the narrative is quite genuine, and that the following letters were written to me at my request. Some verbal relations of the facts awakened my curiosity to see a more connected account of them, which the author very obligingly consented to, having at that time no intention of its being made pub, lic.-But the repeated solicitations of friends have at last prevailed and indeed the publication is the more needful, as several imperfect copies have been handed about, and there has been cause to think some surreptitious edition might steal through the press into the hands of the public.

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I have therefore, with consent of the author, now sent these Letters abroad in their original form. They were written in haste, as letters of friendship, to gratify my curiosity; but the style, as well as the narrative itself, is so plain and easy, that corrections were thought needless. I can only add my best wishes, that the great truths they contain may prove as edifying as the facts are striking and entertaining,

Aldwinckle, Aug. 1764.

T. HAWEIS.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

LETTER I.

Reverend and Dear Sir,

I MAKE no doubt but you have at times had pleasing reflections upon that promise made to the Israelites, Deut. viii. 2. They were then in the wilderness, surrounded with difficulties, which were greatly aggravated by their own distrust and perverseness: they had experienced a variety of dispensations, the design of which they could not as yet understand; they frequently lost sight of God's gracious purposes in their favour, and were much discouraged by reason of the way. Το compose and animate their minds, Moses here suggests to them, that there was a future happy time drawing near, when their journey and warfare should be finished; that they should soon be put in possession of the promised land, and have rest from all their fears and troubles: and then it would give them pleasure to look back upon what they now found so uneasy to bear:-"Thou shalt remember all the way by which "the Lord thy God led thee through this wilderness."

But the importance and comfort of these words is still greater, if we consider them in a spiritual sense, as addressed to all who are passing through the wilderness of this world to a heavenly Canaan; who by faith in the promises and power of God, are seeking an eternal rest in that kingdom which cannot be sha

ken. The hope of that glorious inheritance inspires us with some degree of courage and zeal to press forward to where Jesus has already entered as our fore-runner; and when our eye is fixed upon him, we are more than conquerors over all that would withstand our progress. But we have not yet attained; we still feel the infirmities of a fallen nature; through the remains of ignorance and unbelief, we often mistake the Lord's dealings with us, and are ready to complain, when, if we knew all, we should rather rejoice. But to us likewise there is a time coming, when our warfare shall be accomplished, our views enlarged, and our light increased then with what transports of adoration and love shall we look back upon the way by which the Lord led us! We shall then see and acknowledge, that mercy and goodness directed every step; we shall see, that what our ignorance once called adversities and evils, were in reality blessings, which we could not have done well without; that nothing befel us without a cause; that no trouble came upon us sooner, or pressed us more heavily, or continued longer, than our case required; in a word, that our many afflictions were each in their place among the means employed by divine grace and wisdom, to bring us to the possession of that exceeding and eternal weight of glory which the Lord has prepared for his people. And even in this imperfect state, though we are seldom able to judge aright of our present circumstances, yet if we look upon the years of our past life, and compare the dispensations we have been brought through, with the frame of our minds under each successive period; if we consider how wonderfully one thing has been connected with another, so that what we now number amongst our greatest advantages, perhaps,

took their first rise from incidents which we thought hardly worth our notice; and that we have sometimes escaped the greatest dangers that threatened us, not by any wisdom or foresight of our own, but by the intervention of circumstances which we neither desired nor thought of:-I say, when we compare and consider these things by the light afforded us in the holy Scripture, we may collect indisputable proof, from the narrow circle of our own concerns, that the wise and good providence of God watches over his people from the earliest moment of their life, over-rules and guards them through all their wanderings in a state of ignorance, leads them in a way that they know not, till at length his providence and grace concur in those events and impressions which bring them to the knowledge of him and themselves.

I am persuaded, that every believer will, upon due reflection, see enough in his own case to confirm this remark; but not all in the same degree. The outward circumstances of many have been uniform, they have known but little variety in life; and with respect to their inward change, it has been effected in a secret way, unnoticed by others, and almost unperceived by themselves.-The Lord has spoken to them, not in thunder and tempest, but with a still small voice he has drawn them gradually to himself: so that, though they have a happy assurance of the thing, that they know and love him, and are passed from death unto life; yet of the precise time and manner, they can give little account. Others he seems to select, in order to shew the exceeding riches of his grace, and the greatness of his mighty power: he suffers the natural rebellion and wickedness of their hearts to have full scope; while sinners of less note are cut off with little warning,