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and the vessel was brought home with great diffi culty.

As I was now disengaged from business, I left L- and spent most of the following year at London and in Kent. But I entered upon a new trial.

-You will easily conceive, that Mrs. N***** was not an unconcerned spectator, when I lay extended, and, as she thought, expiring upon the ground. In effect, the blow that struck me reached her in the same instant: she did not indeed immediately feel it, till her apprehensions on my account began to subside; but as I grew better, she became worse: her surprise threw her into a disorder which no physicians could define, or medicines remove. Without any of the ordinary symptoms of a consumption, she decayed almost visibly, till she became so weak, that she could hardly bear any one to walk across the room she was in. I was placed for about eleven months in what Dr. Young calls the

-dreadful post of observation,

Darker every hour.

It was not till after my settlement in my present station, that the Lord was pleased to restore her by his own hand, when all hopes from ordinary means were at an end. But before this took place, I have some other particulars to mention, which must be the subject of the following sheet, which I hope will be the last on this subject, from, &c.

February 1, 1763.

LETTER XIV.

Dear Sir,

By the directions I had received from my friend at St. Kitt's, I,soon found out a religious acquaintance in London. I first applied to Mr. B

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and chiefly attended upon his ministry when in town. From him I received many helps, both in public and private; for he was pleased to favour me with his friendship from the first. His kindness, and the intimacy between us, has continued and increased to this day; and of all my many friends, I am most deeply indebted to him. The late Mr. H -d was my second acquaintance, a man of a choice spirit, and an abundant zeal for the Lord's service. I enjoyed his correspondence till near the time of his death. Soon after, upon Mr. Wd's return from America, my two good friends introduced me to him; and though I had little personal acquaintance with him till afterwards, his ministry was exceeding useful to me. I had likewise access to some religious societies, and became known to many excellent Christians in private life. Thus, when at London, I lived at the fountain-head, as it were, for spiritual advantages. When I was in Kent it was very different; yet I found some serious persons there: but the fine variegated woodland country afforded me advantages of another kind. of my time, at least some hours every day, I passed in retirement, when the weather was fair; sometimes in the thickest woods, sometimes on the highest hills, where almost every step varied the prospect. It has been my custom, for many years, to perform my devotional

Most

exercises sub dio, when I have opportunity; and I always find these rural scenes have some tendency both to refresh and to compose my spirits. A beautiful diversified prospect gladdens my heart. When I am withdrawn from the noise and petty works of men, I consider myself as in the great temple which the Lord has built for his own honour.

The country between Rochester and Maidstone, bordering upon the Medway, was well suited to the turn of my mind; and was I to go over it now, I could point to many a place where I remember to have either earnestly sought, or happily found the Lord's comfortable presence with my soul. soul. And thus I lived, sometimes in London, and sometimes in the country, till the autumn of the following year. All this while I had two trials more or less upon my mind: the first and principal was Mrs. N*****'s illness; she still grew worse, and I had daily more reason to fear that the hour of separation was at hand. When faith was in exercise, I was in some measure resigned to the Lord's will; but too often my heart rebelled, and I found it hard either to trust or to submit. I had likewise some care about my future settlement: The African trade was overdone that year, and my friends did not care to fit out another ship till mine returned. I was some time in suspense; but indeed a provision of food and raiment has seldom been a cause of great solicitude to me. I found it easier to trust the Lord in this point than in the former; and accordingly this was first answered. In August I received an account, that I was nominated to the office of. These places are usually obtained, or at least sought, by dint of much interest and application; but this came to me unsought and unexpected. I knew, indeed, my good friend in L had endea

voured to procure another post for me, but found it pre-engaged. I found afterwards, that the place I had missed would have been very unsuitable for me; and that this, which I had no thought of, was the very thing I could have wished for, as it afforded me much leisure, and the liberty of living in my own way. Several circumstances, unnoticed by others, concurred to show me, that the good hand of the Lord was as remarkably concerned in this event, as in any other leading turn of my life.

But when I gained this point, my distress in the other was doubled: I was obliged to leave Mrs. N***** in the greatest extremity of pain and illness, when the physicians could do no more, and I had no ground of hope that I should see her again alive, but this,-—that nothing is impossible with the Lord. I had a severe conflict; but faith prevailed: I found the promise remarkably fulfilled, of strength proportioned to my need. The day before I set out, and not till then, the burden was entirely taken from my mind; I was strengthened to resign both her and myself to the Lord's disposal, and departed from her in a cheerful frame. Soon after I was gone, she began to amend, and recovered so fast, that in about two months I had the pleasure to meet her at Stone, on her journey to L

And now I think I have answered, if not exceeded your desire. Since October 1755, we have been comfortably settled here; and all my circumstances have been as remarkably smooth and uniform, as they were various in former years. My trials have been light and few;-not but that I still find, in the experience of every day, the necessity of a life of faith. My principal trial is-the body of sin and death, which makes me often to sigh out the Apostle's complaint, " O

"wretched man!" but with him likewise I can say, "I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord." I live in a barren land, where the knowledge and power of the Gospel is very low: yet here are a few of the Lord's people; and this wilderness has been a useful school to me, where I have studied more leisurely the truths I gathered up in London. I brought down with me a considerable stock of notional truth; but I have since found, that there is no effectual teacher but God; that we can receive no farther than he is pleased to communicate; and that no knowledge is truly useful to me, but what is made my own by experience. Many things I thought I had learned, would not stand in an hour of temptation, till I had in this way learned them over again. Since the year 1757, I have had an increasing acquaintance in the West-riding of Yorkshire, where the Gospel flourishes greatly. This has been `a good school to me: I have conversed at large among all parties, without joining any; and in my attempts to hit the golden mean, I have sometimes been drawn too near the different extremes; yet the Lord has enabled me to profit by my mistakes. In brief, I am still a learner, and the Lord still condescends to teach me. I begin at length to see that I have attained but very little; but I trust in him to carry on his own work in my soul, and by all the dispensations of his grace and providence, to increase my knowledge of him, and of myself.

When I was fixed in a house, and found my business would afford me much leisure time, I considered in what manner. I should improve it. And now having reason to close with the Apostle's determination, to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucifi"ed," I devoted my life to the prosecution of spiritual

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