O purify my motives, and let my whole heart, soul, body, substance, and influence in the world, be devoted to thee! O empty me of every thing that is my own, and let Christ live in me, the hope of glory, and let the glory of thy workmanship in my soul, redound to thee, and thee alone! Amen.

August 13, 1796.

COLOSSIANS, ii. 6. As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rcoted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

O Lord, this is what I pant after! I would fain have done with wandering. Lord, thou knowest, for the work is thine. I have received the Lord Jesus as thy gift to a lost world, as thy gift to me, an individual of that world; as having made peace by the blood of the cross, I account it a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I have received thee as the Lord my righteousness, crediting thy own word, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, and that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I have received thee as the covenant given of the people. In all the relations by which thou art held out to me in this Bible, so far as I know, or understand, I have received thee. I have no hope in myself, no trust in myself, nor any views of communication from God of any kind, but through the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

O my God, what is my life, what is my happiness, but a continual receiving! Thou art the bread of life, that must keep alive the living principle in my soul. In

thee dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Thy people are complete in thee; thou art their head, they are thy body, and by joints and bands have nourishment ministered to them, and are knit together, and increase with the increase of God.

This, O this, is what my soul pants after, closer and more intimate union and communion. I would be transformed into thine image; I would be thy temple ; I would have thee live in me; walk in me; make me one with thee I would be delivered from self-will, selfwisdom, self-seeking: I would be delivered from that philosophy and vain deceit, which spoils souls, and leads them off from their head. Lord, teach me a continual receiving; then, and not till then, shall I cease to wander, shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Then shall I run in the way of thy commandments, and no longer turn aside to crooked ways. Then shall I eat and drink, work and recreate all to thy glory. Lord, send thy Spirit into my heart, that he may continually take of the things of Christ, and shew them unto me; that I may grow, and be no longer a babe, but arrive at fulness of stature in Christ Jesus, and more steadily, and more purely, and more zealously, and, O! more humbly, live to God, and glorify him in the world. Amen.

any

April 14, 1797.

ETERNITY Seems very near. I have often thought so, without visible cause. Well, it will come; a few more rolling years, months, weeks, or days, will assuredly land me on Canaan's happy shore. O then, shall I know and enjoy, what ear hath not heard, eye seen, nor heart conceived, even the blessedness that is

at God's right hand. I have desired, although I know not that I have asked, to glorify God on my death bed, and to leave my testimony at the threshold of eternity, that not one word of all that my God has promised has failed. He has been, O what has he not been! In all my trials, all my afflictions, all my temptations, all my wanderings, all my backslidings, he has been all that the well-ordered covenant has said. Let this Bible tell, what God in Christ, by his Spirit and his providence, has been to me; and let the same Bible say, what he will be to me, when flesh and heart fails; yea, when the place that now knows me, shall know me no more. Perhaps, when the messenger does come, I shall not know him, but depart in silence. Well, as the Lord wills, he knows best how to glorify himself. Jesus shall trim my lamp, and perfect his image on my soul, sensible or insensible. I shall enter into his presence, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, and my sanctification perfected. I shall see him as he is, and be like him.

Mourn not, my children, but rejoice; gird up the loins of your mind, and set forward on your heavenly journey through this wilderness. So far as I have followed Christ, so far follow my example; still living on Christ, depending on him for all that is promised in the well-ordered covenant. O stumble not into the world, except when duty calls; at best it is a deadly weight, a great hinderance to spiritual mindedness, and in as far as it gets footing in your heart, it will not only mar your progress, but your your comfort. Lord, feed my children constantly with thy flesh and thy blood, that they may never hunger nor thirst for this world, but grow in the divine life, and in the joy and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

October 20, 1797.

How condescending is our covenant God! All we have or enjoy, is from his hand; he gave us our being; our lives, although forfeited a thousand times, have been preserved. Our bread has been given us, and our water sure; and not only these necessaries, but many comforts, and good temporal things have fallen to our lot; thou hast furnished our table; hast provided medicines and cordials when sick. Lord, I thank thee for all these mercies, but above all, that we can call thee our reconciled Father; that we have them not as the world have them, who are far from thee, and have no portion among thy children, nor interest in thy wellordered covenant; but that we have them as thy redeemed, as part of covenant provision, and with a covenant blessing, and among the all things that work together for our good. Lord, enable us to be rich in good works. How condescending, that thou acceptest a part of thine own as free-will offerings, and hast annexed promised blessings to those who consider the poor; hast condescendingly said, he who gives to the poor, lends to the Lord.

I thank thee, that thou hast laid to hand a sufficiency, to enable me and mine to eat our own bread; even that, which, according to the regulations of society, men call our own. Thou only hast a right to call it not so, for we are thine, and all that thou hast given us; but of thy free bounty and kind providence, thou hast laid to hand a sufficiency to provide things honest and of good report in the sight of all men, and part to give to them who need.

I trust thy Spirit has directed my judgment in the determination I have taken, to set apart from time to O

time, this portion, according as thou prosperest us in business, and preservest us in health and ability to pursue it. I bless thee for indulgent, encouraging appearances, that since I began the practice, thou hast added to my stock, and that which I have given, has never straitened, but thou hast prospered more and more. My poor's purse has never been empty when called for, neither has my family purse. Of thine own I give thee, and bless thy name for the privilege.

Grant direction with respect to whom, and how much to give.

1797.

As ye have received the Lord Jesus, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Yes, just so, and no other way, shall any poor corrupted creature attain holiness, in the very same manner that he received the Lord Jesus at first. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending.

O Lord, my Saviour, my complete Saviour, and in whom I am complete! I received thee as my expiatory sacrifice, by whom atonement was made for my sins; by whom reconciliation was made; I, reconciled to God, and God to me. I was then delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear son, and have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This same blood must cleanse my daily spots, must cleanse my very best services; this same blood must cleanse my conscience daily, and give me confidence in God, as my reconciled father. By this