derneath us, his watchful eye is upon us, and he says to the enemy, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." He will not suffer us to be tempted, or tried, beyond what he will give ability to bear, and he will graciously provide for our escape. Happy is the man who trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is :-worm Jacob, if called out to the contest, shall thresh the mountains, the most gigantic foes. Of ourselves we are incompetent to the smallest trials or difficulties-but, trusting in the Lord, we may surmount the greatest. The Lord is our keeper, and defender-or we should have been borne down long ago: and he will keep us, in the midst of all storms, dangers, and conflicts, even to the end. His wisdom and power, his faithfulness and love, are all engaged for the safety and protection of his weak, depraved, and helpless people. And by how much the more sensibly we feel our depravity and insufficiency, by so much the more are we led to admire and adore his wisdom in defeating the machinations of satan-his power in upholding such weaklings, as we are, against all opposition-his faithfulness and love in not leaving us a prey to our

enemies, and in multiplying his pardoning mercy, from day to day.

The gospel scheme excludes all boasting, and the weaknesses and imperfections we continually experience in ourselves and in all we do, teach us, in the most, I may say in the only effectual manner, to accede to this scheme, and to boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and give all the glory of our salvation to him alone. It is easy to say, by rote, we are saved by grace, not of ourselves, but Christ is all in allbut this lesson, though short, is never sa vingly learned, but by sensible experience; and did not experience continually repeat it to us, we should be apt to forget it again, to our great loss and damage.

But, you are ready to say, "I feel the evils you speak of I have repeated proofs of my weakness and great imperfectionsof my ingratitude and insensibility, &c.They are a plague and a sore burden to me --but is there no way to get clear of, or at least to remedy, these evils while here in the body?" True the gospel affords many great and precious promises, that by these we may be partakers of the divine nature; and we are exhorted to grow in grace and to improve in holiness and maturity in the. new man: and moreover, we are encourag

ed to look for and expect a growing improvement in in every christian grace. And if we diligently use the means appointed for this end, we shall not fail of success-we shall most assuredly receive increasing measures of light, strength, knowledge and love, and all other things essential to our establishment and maturity in grace, and ripeness for glory in the celestial world.But I do not suppose that by growing in. grace we shall acquire a better opinion of ourselves than we have now, but the reverse. I believe, the more spiritual light and discernment we gain, the more sensible we shall be of our own insufficiency and imperfections, and the turpitude of our best actions. We are to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ: and, in my judgment, we grow in the knowledge of Christ in proportion to the knowledge we have of our need of him; and this knowledge of our need of him is in just proportion to the sight and sense we have of our own weakness, wretchedness, depravity, and total helplessness. So that was I to describe what growth in grace is, in a few words, I should say, it is to have lower thoughts of ourselves, and higher thoughts of Christ. To trust less to our own righteousness and strength, and to rely more on

him for both. That we may thus grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, so as to walk more humbly under a sense of our own weakness and depravity, and rely on him more entirely, is the prayer of

Your constant friend,

March 5th, 1796.

D. JARRATT.

T 2

Virginia, May 19th, 1795

MY EVER DEAR FRIENDS

YOUR brother Williamson was kind enough to send your letter of the 28th ult. to me, the last evening, which I read, and was thereby informed of the state of your family and yourself. Among other matters, you tell your brother you hoped to have had a letter from me, before the date of your's, &c. I am always fond to embrace every opportunity of writing-but take it once for all, you may rest assured that, whether I write often, seldom, or not at all, my attachment to you is always the same, and, I believe, ever will be so; on the other hand, however pleasing your letters are to me, yet, though I should not be favored with one as often as I could wish, for my own sake, I will attribute your silence to the distance, want of proper means of conveyance, or any other cause, rather than to any alteration of your former affection and esteem. However before this reaches you, I expect you will have such a packet from me, in your hands,