was from the consolation of Israel. 'But now all is gone, and you are in a worse state than ever.' No, my son, this is the best change that ever rolled over thee yet; the next visit sets thee upon the second round of Jacob's ladder; every future embrace will be attended with a sweet flow of godly sorrow, which will lead on to a cordial reception into the divine favour, and into the happy enjoyment of pardon, peace, and love, and then comes repentance that needs never to be repented of.

But thou art too bold.' Not at all, my son; the self-lost, self-despairing sinner, who sues for hope in Christ, and puts his mouth in the dust to get it, may come boldly to the throne of grace; the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence to such, and the violent take it by force.

For thee to be the drudge to hunt them out of their refuges, and then for them to come forth before thee,' is, doubtless, enough to provoke thee to jealousy, considering that thou art the shepherd, pastor, and leader of the flock. However, there must certainly be some discoveries of the beauty, comeliness, and excellency of Christ, or there never would be these debates, contentions, and scuffles, to know who shall step in first at the moving of the waters. Go on, my son, strive, run, wrestle, any how, so as thou canst but win Christ, and be found in him; and if thou canst not get first out, act Jacob's part, catch hold of

the heel of every one that aims at the blessing, and tell them, that if they strive for mastery, they shall not be crowned except they strive lawfully.

'But thou wast angry with me for comforting them.' Pray forgive me this wrong, for I was only the voice of one crying in the wilderness; Jehovah is the God of all comfort, as well as the Father of all mercies. There are many more grievous things in thine epistle, but they are all briefly comprehended in this saying, "Jealousy is the rage of a man." My hope of thee, my son, is steadfast; none of these things move me; I have thee in my heart, to live and die with. I shall counsel thee to shew a little lenity; that is, after thou hast pulled their hair, smitten, wounded, and stript them, that thou wilt endeavour to make restitution to them as soon as the Lord shall comfort thee again, that they may receive damage by thee in nothing; and you can take this text, "If we are comforted, it is for your edification. &c.

God bless thee, my son; ever thine,

W. H. S. S.

LETTER XXXVII.

To the Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON.

MY VERY DEAR AND REVEREND SIR,

Ir is an unspeakable blessing that ever your works fell into my hand, and more particularly that I have had the opportunity of hearing you preach; for I have been in bondage more than six years through the fear of death, and not knowing whether I should be saved or lost; but, blessed be God, when you was at G--, it pleased the searcher of hearts to give you a text to suit my case, both in the first and second sermon, on the prodigal son. I heard a discourse from the same text a little more than seven years since, but as the preacher did not appear to know either the prodigal or his Father, he could only preach to please men. I heard him again, but did not like him, for he was an Arminian; but my wife used to attend such men, and I used to go with her now and then, till at length we entered into some contention about religion, and I told her that my father knew the scriptures; but she said she hated to hear him talk about them, which staggered me greatly. Upon this I found that I was ignorant of the right way, and secretly prayed to God to teach me what was right, and I diligently read my Bible; but at

length I got hold of an old book, written by a tinker, the title of it is 'The Sighs and Groans of the Damned.' In reading that book and my Bible, and praying to God, I got into a desperate state; and the author, speaking in the person of Dives, came so home to me, that I thought I was the very man; and it stirred up my conscience, and set me to work, to do something for Christ; and I used to say to myself, O, if I did but know what I might do for Christ! And, in this fruitless toil, I got worse and worse; for the wickedness of my own heart, the blasphemies of the devil, and vile representations of the Saviour, that were presented to my view, made me hang down my head like one melancholy, not knowing from whence these evils came; and in this labour I got farther and farther from God, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Some time after this, I was at work in the capacity of a mason's clerk, and suffered many hardships on that account, for I fled from my own business for conscience sake, because I could not work on the Lord's day; and one day, as I was ruminating on my state, and pondering over these things, it appeared as if a dim cloud dropt from off my face, or, as Paul says, scales fell from my eyes, and then I saw where I was, and on what ground I stood, for God was come near to me to judgment; and an awful figure I cut before him, for all my sins stood in battle array before me, which brought this scripture to my mind, "Men shall give account

for every idle word; this I found was true, for I had often questioned the truth of that word before, thinking Ged could not remember them all, for I thought him to be such an one as myself. But, alas! all my actual transgressions stared me in the face, first one came up, and then another, yea, all my sins from my childhood; then I saw the Bible with new eyes, and I had a hell in my conscience because of the sins I had committed, for they were done so willingly, and with such delight, that I had not one excuse to make, but begged for mercy; and, blessed be his name, he did shew me mercy; for, in a few days after, as I was at my work, all on a sudden Jesus Christ came into my soul, like the rising sun, and brought such love, joy, and peace, as I can never describe, for it was unspeakable, and full of glory. Then I had rest in my soul, for I knew that my sins were pardoned; and I had quietness and confidence, yea, a full assurance as long as it lasted; and this scripture came into my mind, I am found of them that sought me not. Now Now my heart and affections were drawn up into heaven in a wonderful manner, but I have since had as hard work to get them from earth to heaven. These things I had; but, alas! I soon took my journey into a far country, and there wasted my snbstance with riotous living. And I will tell you the way by which I lost sight of these things. There was a man in our town who appeared to be very godly and circumspect in his life, which secretly drew