us not only to fuffer patiently for his fake, but to pity and pray with true compaffion of foul for the eternal welfare of our perfecutors. Exceeding great and precious are the promises of God to his fervants, and we know that he is faithful, and will never fail, nor forfake his children, that all things fhall certainly work together for their good, and that for his own name fake, he will keep them by his power thro' faith unto falvation, - What shall harm you, (faith the apostle Peter) if you are followers of that which is good? And again, it is faid, You shall reap if you faint not t: therefore again I repeat it, let us walk close with God, and let us not be afhamed to confefs a crucified Chrift, and that not only with our lips, but in our lives, by devoting all the faculties and powers of our fouls and bodies to his fervice. Let it be our constant employment to confider his divine excellencies, and his infinite love to wretched bewildered man, and to our felves in particular. Let us duly examine and try our felves whether our evidences from heaven are fure or not; whether the life which we now live, is by faith in the Son of God; whether his Spirit dwells in us, witneffing with our fpirits that we are his, one with him, as he and the Father are one. If fo, then have we put off the old man, our former and corrupt affections, and are renewed in the fpirit of our minds, and walk no more according to our former lufts, but * 1 Pet. iii. 13. + Gal. vi. 9. according according to the will of him who hath changed, fanctified, and created us in Chrift Jefus unto good works. If these evidences are in us then are we happy indeed, and may affure our hearts before him, that we are paffed from death unto life, and that neither angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor life, nor death, fhall ever be able to feparate us from the love of God, which is in fefus Christ our Lord. But let us never reft short of this happy ftate, nor flatter our felves with fafety without thefe evidences of our divine union, but let us be reaching forward, ftriving continually for the mark of the prize of our high calling of God in Chrift Jefus, and let us not loiter in his fervice. If the rays of his love here fhining into our fouls fill us with extacies of joy far exceeding the greatest delights of worldly good, then how much greater will the full enjoyment of God be, when we shall fee him face to face? Eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man to conceive the great good which God hath prepared for those who love him. That he may comfort your heart with his love, and ftrengthen, establish and build you up more and more daily, in your most holy faith, to his eternal Glory and your inexpreffible confolation, is the prayer of Your loving Brother in Christ, H. B. NUM B. Rom. viii. 38, 39. + 1 Cor. ii. 9. NUM B. VIII A letter from Mr. Hugh Bryan to his Sifter Mrs. M-- B Dear Sifter, I Heartily fympathize with Heartily sympathize with you in your conflict. May God be your fupport! I hope before this time he has difpell'd the clouds of darkness, and has restored the rays of the glorious fun of righteousness to warm, comfort, and rejoice your foul. God to humble his dear children, and to try their faith, hides his face, fhows them their own vileness and insufficiency, and fuffers them to go mourning, until they cry out with David, Pfal. xxxviii. ver. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10. Thine arrows fick faft in me, thy hand prefeth me fore, - there is no foundness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there any reft in my bones, because of my fins, my wounds flink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness, I am troubled and bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, my heart panteth, my strength faileth; as for the light of my eyes, it is also gone from me. And again Pfal. lxxxviii. ver. 1, 14, 15. O Lord God of my falvation, I have cried day and night before thee, Lord, why cafteft thou off my foul? Why hideft thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die; while I fuffer thy terrors I am distractedThus doth God bring us low, and make us vile and miferable in our own eyes, that we may the better better understand the exceeding greatness of his loving kindness in Jesus Christ, and in the great and glorious bleffings which we enjoy thro' him, and that we may walk more circumfpectly under the light of his favour, especially when filled with the rays of the fun of righteousness shining in ftrength and glory into our fouls. Dear Sifter, take care of distrusting his mercy; this proceeds from want of faith. Remember he faith, that no temptation befalleth us but fuch as is common to men— that his grace fhall be fufficient for us, that his Strength fhall be made perfect in our weaknessthat he will not fuffer us to be tempted, above what we are able to bear, but will with the temptation give us a way to escape that the very hairs of our head are all numbered &c. that all things fhall work together for good to them who love him- true, he bideth his face from us, and we are troubled, becaufe his light is departed, yet he hath affured us that his everlasting leve he will never entirely take away from us, he will furely return with mercy to bind up the broken hearted, and reftore the joys of his falvation. His gifts and callings are without repentance, and whomfoever he loveth, he loveth to the end- and with him there is ableness nor fhadow of turning. Comfortable is that prayer of our dear Redeemer. St. John, chap. xvii. Holy father, keep thro' thine own name, those whom thou has given me, that they may be one, as we are, those that thou gavest me I have kept, &c. I pray n't that thou should't take them out of the world, but that thou no vari thou should'st keep them from the evil,- fanctify them thro' thy truth. Thy word is truth,— neither pray I for thefe alone, but for them alfo which shall believe on me thro' their word, that they all may be one, as thou father art in me, and I in thee; that' they alfo may be one in us, I in them, and thou in me; that they be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast fent me, and haft loved them as thou hast loved me,- and. again, thou loved'ft me before the foundation of the world. Verfes 11, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24. Certainly our dear Lord did never pray in vain, and these his petitions are granted unto all believers in him. As a father pitieth his children, even fo (and with greater compaffion) the Lord pitieth them that fear him.- Jefus, touched with a fellow feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted, and made like unto us, fin only excepted, though he may hide his face from us for a time, yet he will never withdraw entirely that love wherewith he loved us in the day of our efpoufals. Call to mind your former experiences. Plead before him your misery and his gracious promifes, and stay your foul on his faithfulness, whofe promifes. are all Yea and Amen. Look not on your own unworthiness, but on his all-fufficient fullness, who is the true antitype of the brazen ferpent that was lifted up in the wilderness for the healing of the people, that whofoever looked upon it might be. faved from death. God's glory is then moft magnified in us, when we act faith in him under the greatest trials and de |