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God; and all his charges, whether true or false, are sapped at the foundation; and our adoption of sons is manifest in the consciences both of saints and sinners, as the scriptures witness: “And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed," Isa. lxi. 9. My dear friend sees here how our adoption, and the witness of it, are spread and made known abroad in the world: "All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed."

The voice of God the Father is the voice of love; he promises to circumcise our heart to love him with all the heart and with all the soul, that we may live. This love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us; and its voice is, "Yea, I have loved thee,” Jer. xxxi. 3; aud this is a cleansing us from all idols; for, when the whole heart and whole soul loves God, there is no room left for them. The Father's voice of love in the heart gives the finishing stroke to spiritual death; God circumcises the heart to love him, that we may live; the blood of Christ removes the sting of death, and his righteousness imputed takes away the sentence of death; but nothing but love will cast out the fear of death. This is our enlargement and our freedom, being now drawn and not driven; running with delight, and not dragging in chains;

constrained by divine goodness, and not pursued by wrath. The mean, low, servile spirit peculiar to slaves, servants, and the base-born, gives way to this noble and princely spirit when this love comes into the hearts of the heirs of promise; and what our Lord says of his works is true of this work of God our Father in us: "But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me," John v. 36. And so does this work of love in us; it cleanses us from all idols, and gives us possession of the one God; for, "He that loveth dwelleth in God, and God in him." It gives us enlargement, and glorious liberty from bondage. It is the bond of the everlasting covenant, the church's wedding ring, the image of God, and Zion's inward glory. These things make us God's husbandry, and God's building, as it is charity that edifieth and buildeth up Zion, and in which God appears in his glory; and thus are we circumcised by God the Father, baptized by God the Son, with God the Holy Ghost: "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God."

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Upon these things, my son, I have long kept a watchful eye, believing these to be the summit and the blessings of Zion's hill; and the promise is, "Upon the mount it shall be seen;" namely, the provision that God has made for us. And he that dwells on high shall see all this when he sees

the King in his beauty, whose glory covers the heavens, and fills the earth with his praise.

These deep things were ordained of God before the world for our glory, and God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit; "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." And these deep things, when experienced in the power of them, and enjoyed in their sweetness, establish the heart, and baffle the attacks and attempts of heretics; they undermine the ministry of the letter, and repel the cold chills of the sons of death, and discover the withered impostor upon the house-top, defying all to gain admittance to the affections, or to obtain the approbation of the judgment, or the testimony of conscience, unless Christ speaks by them. If these things were more observed and attended to, there would be more establishment in the minds of many than now there is; and to settle a soul short of these things is no less than confirming it in the sleep of death.

According to my son's account, he has been long spending money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not, Isa. lv. 2; and of this God complains, "My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place." These shepherds have caused Christ's flock to go astray; for all that are against Christ are sure to

scatter from him. This work was done on the mountains by the blind watchmen of Zion, who are shepherds that cannot understand; and by following their directions they went from mountain to hill. Some sent them to the worship of idols on the high places; these burnt incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed God upon the hills, Isa. lxv. 7. Others were sent to Sinai and Horeb for life and salvation; the scribes called the law life itself. And others led them to trust in local Zion, because of the holiness of the place, and so brought them to trust in lying words, and then they cried, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these," Jer. vii. 4; and this puffed them up, and made them haughty, because of the holy mountain. "Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel," Jer. iii. 23. Christ is the mountain of the Lord's house, and the stone cut out without hands, which will one day become such a mountain, in the setting up and establishing of his kingdom, as shall fill the whole earth. My son, farewell. Grace and Grace and peace be with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So

pray's

THE COALHEAVER.

LETTER LI.

To Mrs. MASON, No. 152, Fleet Street, London.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Leicester, Sept. 25, 1809.

My sister wishes me to write to you, as she herself at this time is not able. About three weeks ago she returned from Matlock bath, but was not in the least benefited by her journey. Since her return home she has got much worse, and within this last week has gone off very fast; she is so extremely weak that she cannot do the least thing towards dressing herself, nor walk in her room without leaning upon some one. Many things have been tried, but nothing seems to do her any good, so as to give any hope of her recovery. What she takes sometimes seems to give her ease, and for a little time she appears better. Last week she suffered much from a violent pain in her bowels, and also in her head, that at times she was not herself; but, thank the good Lord, she is rather better, and the pain is a good deal removed since she has had two blisters. This morning she is very weak, having had an indifferent night. She does not keep her bed at present. The physician told me on Saturday he had no hope he could do her any good. She herself does not expect to recover, nor do I think myself she ever

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