is he often out of his way. Hence his capital swells, his reputation is extended, the sources of his wealth are multiplied, and he classes with the great. May your conversation be in heaven, and may you be skilful and indefatigable in a calling that is transcendently excellent and honourable, beneficial and gainful; and then, when the most skilful and successful worldling shall find his gold become dross, you shall have a hope in death, and take your leave of the world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, and amidst dissolving nature stand in your lot among the wise who shall shine as the light in glory, with your glorified Lord for ever.

Ir would afford me very great satisfaction to be often corresponding with you by letter; for indeed you, and whatever relates to your interest and comfort, lie very near my heart; but regular and unavoidable business, various and pressing, prevent

my doing in this respect the things that I would. Blessed be God, who so graciously condescends to mine infirmities, and, by the supplies of his Spirit from day to day, proportions my strength to the service he calls me to perform: a promise-fulfilling God he has indeed been to me, and in past experience provided me with powerful arguments for further exercises of cheerful faith. O may I honour him, under whatever future trials may await me in life or in death, with meekness of resignation, and unwavering confidence, as Jehovah the God of truth the sweet accents of that name he has long proclaimed, in his care and conduct of his people; and that name, even though every other refuge should fail, will be a "strong tower, to which the righteous may flee, and be safe." Rejoice, my dear children; He that is our God, is the God of salvation; he has promised salvation, and every good thing in connection with it. The promise is, I trust, to us a sealed promise-not on our part only by the credit we have given it, the cordial affection with which we have embraced it, and the solemn manner in which we have repeatedly and publicly declared it to be all our salvation and all our desire;-but on His part likewise, in giving us the Holy Spirit of promise, as the earnest of all the grace and glory it contains. O wondrous grace! heaven in the promise of an infinite God; and the hope of heaven, the earnest of heaven, in our hearts! This is a

goodly heritage! What, when compared with it, are all the wealth, and pomp, and pleasure of this world? This can afford perfect security and peace, amidst raging storms and tempests; nay, this will controul winds and waves, and cause them to favour our progress towards the desired. haven. Eternal truth is established in the heavens, and it will invariably pursue its course, until it has seen all the heirs of promise safely entered into rest. Oh, to feel daily and increasingly, the influence of this promise on our souls; that whatever labours, and griefs, and troubles, may await us below, we may enjoy (as far as the present state will admit), an unclouded sky! And oh, for more of the sweet influence of the Spirit of promise! Then our souls would not cleave to the dust, as they often do; we should not faint in the day of adversity; we should not draw near to God with a cold, a lifeless heart, nor return comfortless from precious ordinances: we should run in the way of God's commandments with great delight:"" we should live by faith, and rejoice in hope, though the report of sense should be never so discouraging. My dear children, I rejoice to think that you are not strangers to these precious grounds of strong consolation: they have been long tried, and they are never-failing. May your souls abide on this eternal rock, and be daily refreshed by its plenteous streams! Then you will find your cares lighten, and be kept from the fear of evil; then you will be able

to beguile the labours of your way, with the songs of Zion, and enjoy much of heaven while in your way to it. I trust we shall at last mingle our joys and our songs together. Oh! how high will be our joys, how loud our songs, when we behold the mercy and truth which have attended us in their unveiled glories! I remain, my dear children, in the closest, dearest bonds,

I MOST tenderly sympathize with you in the circumstances of the severe trial by which you have been exercised. Sharp, indeed, must have been the conflict. Your pleasing hopes, instead of being realized, after long-continued agonies of suffering, have met with piercing disappointment. Distressful fears have been awakened, and, perhaps, are not yet wholly subsided: but you know who has said, and that with emotions of sympathy never equalled in merely human breast, "Let not your heart be troubled." Great reason you have doubtless had under this affecting visitation to say, that in the seve

rity of your conflict, your Jesus was lifting up his hand in the celestial mount. Hence it is, that your strength has been proportioned to your trial, and you are enabled even to sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Perhaps you will recollect, that in the extremity of your distress, when the stormy winds and waves were most tumultuous, your minds were furnished with considerations sweetly supporting and pacifying; as if you had heard the well-known voice of this best of Friends, whispering, "Be not afraid, it is I!" Blessed be his Name, he does not afflict willingly. He, for our sakes, passed through the fire of God's infinite wrath; for our sakes, he drank wormwood and gall without mixture; but he puts a cup of blessing into our hands, without one bitter ingredient, but such as Infinite Wisdom prescribes, and the tenderest love acquiesces in, as beneficial. He, my dear children, has been pleased to blast your hope in the bud. Yes: but he has spared the stock-the root. He has disappointed your fond expectation from a creature-stream; and "ye now therefore," says he, " have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." He has called on you for a sacrifice, an Isaac, when you could scarcely call him your own; and I am sure your reflecting minds regard nothing too precious to resign at his call who has given himself, his Spirit, his covenant, his heaven, to you. There is yet another view of this dispensation, which is calculated not only to pacify, but to gladden, the heart.