sistent with your voluntary engagements, this difference of time perhaps I have learned and have more peace of mind, and humble something more of the heart, the world, and intercourse with God, in watching over a the devices of Satan, than you have had an flock which he has committed to you, than, opportunity for. I hope I would not damp by forsaking them, to wander up and down your zeal, but I will pray the Lord to direct the earth without a determined scope. it into the best channel for permanent usefulness. I say permanent: I doubt not that you would be useful in the itinerant way: but I more and more observe great inconveniences follow in that way. Where you make a gathering of people, others will follow you; and if they all possessed your spirit, and had your disinterested views it might be well. But generally an able preacher only so far awakens people to a desire to hear, as exposes them to the incursions of various winds of doctrine and the attempts of injudicious pretenders, who will resemble you in nothing but your eagerness to post from place to place. From such measures in time proceed errors, parties, contentions, offences, enthusiasm, spiritual pride, and a noisy ostentatious form of godliness, but little of that power and life of faith which shows itself by humility, meekness, and love.

Thus far I have been more attentive to the utile than the dulce. I should now return to join you in celebrating the praises of poetry, and the other subjects of your letter; but time and paper fail together. Let me hear from you soon, or I shall fear I have displeased you, which, fond as I am of poetry, would give me more pain than I ever found pleasure in reading Alexander's Feast. Indeed I love you; I often measure over the walks we have taken together; and when I come to a favourite stile, or such a favourite spot upon the hill-top, I am reminded of something that passed, and say, or at least think, Hic stetit C-I am, &c.

LETTER V.

DEAR SIR,-By your flying letter from London, as well as by your more particular answer to my last, I judge that what I formerly wrote will answer no other end than to be a testimony of my fidelity and friendship. I am ready to think you were so far determined before you applied to the Bishop, as to be rather pleased than disappointed by a refusal which seemed to afford | you liberty to preach at large. As your testimonium was not countersigned, the consequence was no other than might have been expected; yet I have been told (how true I know not,) that the Bishop would have passed ever the informality, if you had not, unasked by hin, avowed yourself a Methodist. I think, if you had been unwilling to throw hinderances in your own way, the most perfect sunplicity would have required no more of you than to have given a plain and honest answer to such questions as he might think proper to propose. You might have assisted Mr. for a season without being in full orders; and you may still, if you are not resolved at all events to push out. He wrote to ine about you, and you may easily judge what answer I gave. I have heard from him a second time, and he laments that he cannot have you. I likewise lament that you cannot be with him. I think you would have loved Lim; and I hoped his acquaintance might not have proved unuseful to you.

If you have not actually passed the Rubicon; if there be yet room for deliberation, I once more intreat you to pause and consider. In many respects I ought to be willing to learn from you; but in one point I have a little advantage of you: I am some years older, both in life and in profession; and in

A parochial minister, who lives among his people, who sees and converses with them frequently, and exemplifies his doctrine in their view by his practice, having knowledge of their states, trials, growth, and dangers, suits himself to their various occasions, and, by the blessing of God, builds them up, and brings them forward in faith and holiness. He is instrumental in forming their experience; he leads them to a solid, orderly, and scriptural knowledge of divine things. If his name is not in so many mouths as that of the itinerant, it is upon the hearts of the people of his charge. He lives with them as a father with his children. His steady consistent behaviour silences in some measure the clamours of his enemies; and the Lord opens him doors of occasional usefulness in many places, without provoking our superiors to discountenance other young men who are seeking orders.

I now wish I had taken larger paper, for I have not room for all I would say. I have no end to serve. I am of no party. I wish well to irregulars and itinerants who love and preach the gospel. I am content that they should labour that way, who have not talents nor fund to support the character and fill up the office of a parochial minister. But I think you are qualified for more important service. If you had patient faith to wait a while for the Lord's opening, I doubt not but you might yet obtain Priest's orders. are hasty like children; but God often appoints us a waiting time. Perhaps it requires as much or more grace to wait than to be active; for it is more trying to self. After all, whatever course you take, I shall love you, pray for you, and be glad to see you.—I am, &c.

We

LETTERS

TO MRS.

LETTER I.

July -1764.

MY DEAR MADAM,-The complaints you make are inseparable from a spiritual acquaintance with our own hearts: I would not wish you to be less affected with a sense of indwelling sin. It becomes us to be humbled unto the dust; yet our grief, though it cannot be too great, may be under a wrong direction; and if it leads us to impatience or distrust, it certainly is so.

conflict which his word informs us will only terminate with our lives.

Again, some of the first prayers which the Spirit of God teaches us to put up, are for a clearer sense of the sinfulness of sin, and our vileness on account of it. Now, if the Lord is pleased to answer your prayers in this respect, though it will afford you cause enough for humiliation, yet it should be received likewise with thankfulness, as a token for good. Your heart is not worse than it was formerly, only your spiritual knowledge is Sin is the sickness of the soul, in itself increased; and this is no small part of the mortal and incurable, as to any power in hea-growth in grace which you are thirsting after, ven or earth but that of the Lord Jesus only. to be truly humbled, and emptied, and made But he is the great, the infallible Physician. little-in your own eyes. Have we the privilege to know his name? Farther, the examples of the saints recordHave we been enabled to put ourselves into ed in scripture (and indeed of the saints in his hand? We have then no more to do but to general) prove, that the greater measure any attend to his prescriptions, to be satisfied with person has of the grace of God in truth, the his methods, and to wait his time. It is law-more conscientious and lively they have been; ful to wish we were well; it is natural to and the more they have been favoured with groan, being burdened; but still he must and assurances of the divine favour, so much the will take his own course with us; and, how-more deep and sensible their perception of ever dissatisfied with ourselves, we ought still to be thankful that he has begun his work in us, and to believe that he will also make an end. Therefore, while we mourn, we should likewise rejoice; we should encourage our selves to expect all that he has promised; and we should limit our expectations by his promises. We are sure that when the Lord delivers us from the guilt and dominion of sin, he could with equal ease free us entirely from sin if he pleased. The doctrine of sinless perfection is not to be rejected, as though it were a thing simply impossible in itself, for nothing is too hard for the Lord, but because it is contrary to that method which he has chosen to proceed by. He has appointed that sanctification should be effected, and sin mortified, not at once completely, but by little and little; and doubtless he has wise reasons for it. Therefore, though we are to desire a growth in grace, we should at the same time acquiesce in his appointment, and not to be discouraged or despond, because we feel that

indwelling sin and infirmity has always been; so it was with Job, Isaiah, Daniel, and Paul. It is likewise common to overcharge our selves. Indeed we cannot think ourselves worse than we really are; yet some things which abate the comfort and alacrity of our christian profession are rather impediments than properly sinful, and will not be imputed to us by him who knows our frame, and remembers that we are but dust. Thus, to have an infirm memory, to be subject to disordered, irregular, or low spirits, are faults of the constitution, in which the will has no share, though they are all burdensome and oppressive, and sometimes needlessly so, by our charging ourselves with guilt on their account. The same may be observed of the unspeakable and fierce suggestions of Satan with which some persons are pestered, but which shall be laid to him from whom they proceed, and not to them who are troubled and terrified because they are forced to ter them.

Lastly, it is by the experience of these | Lord may give you a secret witness in their evils within ourselves, and by feeling our ut- consciences; and something they observe in ter insufficiency, either to perform duty, or you, or hear from you, may set them on thinkto withstand our enemies, that the Lord takes ing, perhaps after you are gone, or after the occasion to show us the suitableness, the suf- first occasion has entirely slipped your meficiency, the freeness, the unchangeableness mory, Eccles. xi. 1. For my own part, when of his power and grace. This is the infer- I consider the power, the freedom of divine ence St. Paul draws from his complaints, grace, and how sovereign the Lord is in the Rom. vii. 25, and he learned it upon a try- choice of the instruments and means by which ing occasion from the Lord's own mouth, 2 he is pleased to work, I live in hopes from Cor. xii. 8, 9. day to day of hearing of wonders of this sort. I despair of nobody; and if I sometimes am ready to think such or such a person seems more unlikely than others to be brought in, I relieve myself by a possibility that that very person, and for that very reason, may be the first instance. The Lord's thoughts are not like ours: in his love and in his ways there are heights which we cannot reach, depths which we cannot fathom, lengths and breadths beyond the ken of our feeble sight. Let us, then, simply depend upon him, and do our little best, leaving the event in his hand.

Let us, then, dear madam, be thankful and cheerful, and, while we take shame to ourselves, let us glorify God by giving Jesus the honour due to his name. Though we are poor, he is rich; though we are weak, he is strong; though we have nothing, he possesses all things. He suffered for us; he calls us to be conformed to him in sufferings. He conquered in his own person, and he will make each of his members more than conquerors in due season. It is good to have one eye upon ourselves, but the other should ever be fixed on him who stands in the relation of Saviour, Husband, Head, and Shepherd. In him we have righteousness, peace, and power. He can control all that we fear; so that, if our path should be through the fire or through the water, neither the flood shall drown us nor the flame kindle upon us, and ere long Le will cut short our conflicts, and say, Come up hither. "Then shall our grateful songs abound, and every tear be wiped away." Having such promises and assurances, let us lift up our banner in his name and press on through every discouragement.

With regard to company, that have not a savour of the best things, as it is not your choice, I would advise you (when necessary) to bear it as a cross. We cannot suffer by being where we ought to be, except through our own impatience; and I have an idea, that when we are providentially called among such (for something is due to friends and relations, whether they walk with us or no,) that the hours need not be wholly lost. Nothing can pass but may be improved: the most trivial conversation may afford us new views of the heart, new confirmations of scripture, and renew a sense of our obligations to distinguishing grace, which has made us in any degree to differ. I would wish, when you go amongst your friends, that you do not confine your views to getting safe away from them without loss, but entertain a hope that you may be sent to do some of them good. You cannot tell what effect a word or a look may have, if the Lord is pleased to bless it. I think we may humbly hope, that while we sincerely desire to please the Lord, and to be guided by him in all things, he will not suffer us to take a journey, or hardly to make a short visit, which shall not answer some good purpose to ourselves or others, or both. While your gay friends affect an air of raillery, the

I cannot tell if you know any thing of Mrs.

In a letter I received yesterday, she writes thus:-"I am at present very ill with some disorder in my throat, which seems to threaten my life; but death or life, things present or things to come, all things are mine, and I am Christ's, and Christ is God's. O glorious privilege! precious foundation of soul-rest and peace, when all things about us are most troublous! Soon we shall be at home with Christ, where sin, sorrow, and death have no place; and in the mean time our Beloved will lead us through the wilderness. How safe, how joyous are we, may we be, in the most evil case!" If these should be some of the last notes of this swan, I think them worth preserving. May we not with good reason say, Who would not be a Christian? The Lord grant that you and I, madam, and yours and mine, may be happy in the same assurance, when we shall have death and eternity near in view.—I am, &c.

LETTER II.

September, 1764. MY DEAR MADAM,-Your welfare I rejoice in; your warfare I understand something of. St. Paul describes his own case in few words, "Without were fightings, within were fears." Does not this comprehend all you would say? And how are you to know experimentally either your own weakness, or the power, wisdom, and grace of God, seasonably and sufficiently af forded, but by frequent and various trials? How are the graces of patience, resignation, meekness, and faith, to be discovered and increased, but by exercise? The Lord has chosen, called, and armed us for the fight;

more.

daily prayers. Would you have assurance! The true solid assurance is to be obtained no other way. When young christians are greatly comforted with the Lord's love and presence, their doubts and fears are for that season at an end. But this is not assurance: so soon as the Lord hides his face, they are troubled, and ready to question the very foun

conflicts, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord's power and goodness to save: when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety, and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God, beyond and against appearances; and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance, for even assurance has degrees.

and shall we wish to be excused? Shall we not rather rejoice that we have the honour to appear in such a cause, under such a captain, such a banner, and in such company? A complete suit of armour is provided, weapons not to be resisted, and precious balm to heal us if haply we receive a wound, and precious ointment to revive us when we are in danger of fainting. Further, we are assured of the|dation of hope. Assurance grows by repeated victory beforehand; and O what a crown is prepared for every conqueror, which Jesus, the righteous Judge, the gracious Saviour, shall place upon every faithful head with his own hand! Then let us not be weary and faint, for in due season we shall reap. The time is short; yet a little while, and the struggle of indwelling sin, and the contradiction of surrounding sinners, shall be known no You are blessed, because you hunger and thirst after righteousness: he whose name is Amen has said you shall be filled. To claim the promise is to make it our own; yet it is becoming us to practise submission and patience, not in temporals only, but also in spirituals. We should be ashamed and grieved at our slow progress, so far as it is properly chargeable to our remissness and miscarriages; yet we must not expect to receive every thing at once, but wait for a gradual increase; nor should we forget to be thankful for what we may account a little in comparison of the much we suppose others have received. A little grace, a spark of true love to God, a grain of living faith, though small as mustard-seed, is worth a thousand worlds. One draught of the water of life gives interest in and earnest of the whole fountain. It becometh the Lord's people to be thankful; and to acknowledge his goodness in what we have received, is the surest as well as the pleasantest method of obtaining more. Nor should the grief arising from what we know and feel of our own hearts, rob us of the honour, comfort, and joy which the word of God designs us, in what is there recorded of the person, offices, and grace of Jesus, and the relations he is pleased to stand in to his people, Psal. xxiii. 1, Isa. liv. 5, Cant. v. 16, John xv. 15, 1 John ii. 1, John xv. 1, Jer. xxiii. 5, 1 Cor. i. 30, Matt. i. 21-23. Give me leave to recommend to your consideration Psal. lxxxix. 15-18. These verses may be called the Believer's Triumph: though they are nothing in themselves, yet having all in Jesus, they may rejoice in his name all the day. The Lord enable us so to do! The joy of the Lord is the strength of his people; whereas unbelief makes our hands hang down, and our knees feeble, dispirits ourselves, and discourages others; and though it steals upon us under a semblance of humility, it is indeed the very essence of pride. By inward and outward exercises the Lord is promoting the best desire of your heart, and answering your

You have good reason, madam, to suppose that the love of the best christians to an unseen Saviour is far short of what it ought to be. If your heart be like mine, and you examine your love to Christ by the warmth and frequency of your emotions towards him, you will often be in a sad suspense whether or no you love him at all. The best mark to judge, and which he has given us for that purpose, is to inquire if his word and will have a prevailing, governing influence upon our lives and temper. If we love him, we do endeavour to keep his commandments; and it will hold the other way, if we have a desire to please him we undoubtedly love him. Obedience is the best test; and when, amidst all our imperfections, we can humbly appeal concerning the sincerity of our views, this is a mercy for which we ought to be greatly thankful. He that has brought us to will, will likewise enable us to do according to his good pleasure. I doubt not but the Lord whom you love, and on whom you depend, will lead you in a sure way, and establish and strengthen, and settle you in his love and grace. Indeed he has done great things for you already. The Lord is your Shepherd;-a comprehensive word. The sheep can do nothing for themselves; the shepherd must guide, guard, feed, heal, recover. Well for us that our Shepherd is the Lord Almighty. If his power, care, compassion, fulness, were not infinite, the poor sheep would be forsaken, starved, and worried. But we have a Shepherd full of care, full of kindness, full of power, who has said, I will seek that which is lost, and bind up that which was broken, and bring again that which was driven away, and will strengthen that which was sick. How tender are these expressions, and how well fulfilled! His sheep feed in the midst of wolves, yet are preserved safe; for though they see him not, his eyes and his heart ale