sound words; hold fast thine attainments, the faithful word, and the profession of faith without wavering, &c. Let not thine hands faint; strengthen them by prayer, reading, meditation, and looking to him who is our strength.

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." The Lord who subdues all other of our lords, human and infernal, who would lord it over conscience; " Other lords have had dominion over us," &c. Thy God; here we see the deity of the Lord God and Saviour, which are manifest by his works of creation, of providence, of grace and glory. He is, in the midst of thee; that is, preaching in the days of his flesh, and afterwards by his Spirit and presence, and in his disciples' hearts by faith, and the hope of glory. He is mighty; he will save from sin, guilt, death and wrath. "He will rejoice over thee, as the bridegroom doth over the bride;" "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom," &c. Or like the joy of harvest, I have sowed, and ye have reaped, and both rejoice together, John iv. 36. “Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast revealed these things unto babes;" Rejoice with me, friends and neighbours," angels and saints, "for I have found my sheep which was lost." "He will rest in his love;" not in Shiloh, nor in the tabernacle of David, nor in the house of Solomon. "What house will ye build me? or where is the place of my rest?" "Zion is my rest for ever," &c. I will win their hearts,

and discover my love; unite them to me, and rest in my own love shed abroad in their hearts. "He will joy over thee with singing;" "With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you." "Drink ye all of this." I will not drink of it until it is fulfilled in my Father's kingdom. When my humanity is in the fulness of joy, and you are filled with the Holy Ghost, then we shall drink together the new wine in my Father's kingdom; I in glory, and you in glorious grace. And he sung a hymn and went out, and so rejoiced over them with singing. We looked for Mr. M. and Mr. B. according to promise, but all in vain.

God bless thee, and pray for

W. H. S. S.

LETTER LV.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

I RECEIVED my dear brother's epistle, and said in my heart, I wish he was with me, that I might doctor him, and nurse him myself, as I have bought him a new bed, blankets, mattress, bolster, and pillows, &c. for his reception. He did not tell me whether he received my last letter.

No small stir is in London about my last discourse; two men are about to answer it. Hand

T

bills are stuck up at every corner about the subject to be debated at the Westminster Forum, viz. Which hath done most injury to Christianity by preaching and writing, W. H. S. S. or Tom Paine? the entrance money, sixpence per head, which amounts to fifteen pounds per night. Last Lord's day morning I laboured from 2 Peter ii. 9, 10; on Sunday evening from Jeremiah xviii. 7, 8; and last night from Isaiah xxvi. 9, 10. On Tuesday night from the 91st Psalm, 4th verse; that Psalm hath many excellent texts in it: it sets forth our dwelling-place, and calls it a secret one; it was the ark formerly, but it is Christ now, and God says they shall abide and not go out; abide under the shadow, the wings of the cherub formerly, but the shadow of a great rock now, and so on. I have had my health charmingly this winter compared with what it used to be; blessed be God for his undeserved and unexpected goodness. The things which you complain of are the members of old Adam, which are the constant inhabitants and constant attendants on one; every evil which you find and feel are in my heart as well as in yours; for though I never let lodgings, and detest the thought of it, yet these occupy at times every room in my house. If I hire a coach they all get in with me; I am never free from them, but when preaching in the pulpit, and not always then; they often follow me to the door, and sit with me till I begin, and then at times

they disappear, but not always: Thou wilt find

these, my son, on thy death-bed; a believer is never alone; if the good man is not at home the bad man is, and if the new man be put off the old man is put on. No, my son, though I believe thou hast got in thee that faith that is born of God, and overcomes the world; and that hope that God begets his children to, and which grace is born of the Spirit also; and this new man hath been produced in thee since thou hast been in England, and may therefore with propriety be called an Englishman, yet the old Welshman will plague him, and call him a Saeson, or a Saxon, and bear a pique and a grudge against him. I wish he was in his own country among the black cattle; but, alas! though he will pursue thee, under God he may be of great use to thee; he is a weight to keep us down, a check to keep us back, a cord to prevent us from swelling too big, a shaver to discover our baldness, and a troubler to make us cry and pray: yea, he hath a great hand with our hearers; it is often through his policy they get an appetite, and long for Sunday; if free from him they would get idle, get full, and get whole, and the pews would be empty. When this devil has plagued me the most he leaves no guilt, God will not impute it; and after the hardest battle with him, I expect the best times in the pulpit, and so it generally happens. "By these things men live, and in all these is the life of our spirit; so wilt thou revive us, and cause us to live," for without these we should be dead.

These make us cry, watch, wait, tremble, examine, fear, faint, despair of self, and of every thing else but Christ; and the more we are plagued with these, the more power we have, by which we are kept; these things make us live out of self, and upon Christ and his righteousness; they make us sick of all besides, and dead to all but himself. I have heard lately of the awful confession of one of Winchester's converts, who died some time ago, namely, that there was a hell, and he knew that he was going into it, and that he was as sure that there would be no coming out of it. But who makes us to differ? O what debtors to grace! Should you continue hoarse long I wish you would come up in the stage, and spend a few days with me.

Ever yours,

W. H.

my

LETTER LVI.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

BEFORE dear brother's letter came, for some few days I had been indulged in a very peculiar way; the King of kings humbled himself indeed, not only to behold the things done in heaven, but even to the greatest familiarity with the meanest on earth. I continually felt for him, and there