bodily afflictions; nothing shall ever damn a soul but a mind armed with enmity against God, a will furnished with rebellion against Christ, a conscience defiled with unpardoned sin and guilt, and the affections alienated from the life of him, and fixed upon pleasures, sin, Satan, and the world. The work of regeneration is begun, carried on and will be perfected on the mental powers above described. Hence he is called the Spirit of power in the will, making the sinner willing. The Spirit of a sound mind, putting the law of faith into the mind, and making it sound in the faith. The Spirit of revelation in the understanding. The Spirit of love in the affections; and the Spirit of peace and sanctification in the conscience. And this his work is perfect; and it is done for ever; nothing can be added to it, or taken from it.

Ever yours,

W. H.

LETTER LXXXVI.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

THIS is Thursday morning: the double letter was written yesterday. But, having just been to prayer, and finding some nearness and freedom in that glorious privilege, I laboured hard to make intercession for my poor afflicted friend; and, if

kind indulgence can speak; if meekness and humility are any proofs; if the assistance of the Spirit and divine energy have a voice, and if faith and conscience are admitted as witnesses in this business; then I tell my friend that God has heard my prayer in his behalf, and he himself will own and acknowledge it; and I write this in confidence, and with gratitude to my God, for giving me this persuasion-that God will revive the soul of my much esteemed brother in Christ Jesus. How wonderful are the operations of the most Holy Spirit of God. What lifeless lumps are we in and of ourselves before the throne: how dead and barren of every divine influence, affection, or devotional frame, unless this sovereign wind blow and move his own crop; no grace in exercise, nothing seen or felt but our own inherent corruptions; but grace shall reign over sin, and divine love shall destroy hellish hate. God has known our souls in adversity, and has acknowledged us in many trying hours; nor has he suffered our enemies to triumph over us above their allotted time; "The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment," and our light afflictions bear the same date. The sweet operations from above which my soul is so doatingly fond of, are very changeable and transient with me, seldom of long duration; but they are always welcome to the soul that sits solitary and in widowhood. I appear but a mere machine when my Lord is gone. God receives no sacrifices, he reaps no fruits, his sub

jects pay no revenues, but from his own implanted grace, and from the operations of his own most Holy Spirit upon that grace. There is no one thing in men that can ascend to God; our ascension and descension is under the influences of God's Spirit, and through the mediation of Christ Jesus. Farewell! Grace, mercy, and peace, be with thee!

W. H. S. S.

LETTER LXXXVII.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

I HAVE only time to send my beloved a scrap, as I am at this time much engaged, in making provision for the pulpit. I am very dark, yet am ordered to sow light for the righteous. I am in much want myself, but I must feed the sheep. I am as weak as water, but my work is to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. I am often in the worst confusion, but I am to be an ambassador of peace; I am stuffed with enmity, but I must preach the gospel of reconciliation to others; I often cavil and murmur at God himself, but I must find fault with all murmurers: and thus I am like a man that rows in a boat, I look one way, and go another. But even this hypocritical dealing shall not prove my ruin; why not?

"Because the things which I do, I allow not." My will is bent God-ward, and in this will is a divine power. My mind serves the law of God, because God has given me the Spirit of love and of a sound mind; and this, also, is the mind of Christ. "I delight in the law of God after the inner man;" why? because that says, "I will shew mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;" and love keeps them all, and "Love is of God;" or the real affections of the new man come from God. Accept these fragments, for I have written much this day; but am always the same to his Excellence.

W. H

LETTER LXXXVIII.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

A DAILY Cross is the common lot of all the family; and a daily cross falls to my share: for, when I have preached Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and get home dry, barren, and weary, then Wednesday and Thursday are spent in writing letters. And if, by Thursday evening, I have written twelve or fifteen letters, I then conclude I have done, and look out for Sunday; then come in more demands, which keep me on till Saturday noon, and then I go barren to feed my hungry

flock. This is sure to be my cross; and a cross every one must have that follows Christ in the regeneration; and this the scriptures witness, and conscience says the same. And were you delivered from all temptations, and the risings of corruption, and free from the rod, the cross, and the furnace, there would be an end to your preaching in one week; pride would not suffer you to speak; you would stink of self, and of fleshly savour, to all the heirs of promise. If it is by afflictions men live, and in all these things is the life of our spirits; how can you expect divine life to flourish, but in the death of the body of sin? "By these things men live; and in all these things is the life of our spirit." If this be true, then all our energy, fervour, earnestness, life, power, struggles, appetite, longings, hungerings, thirstings, strivings, and importunities, lie in our soul's conflicts; and if God be a present, yea, a very present help in times of trouble; and if the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, and maketh intercession for us when we cannot speak or utter our complaints, then it is plain to me that my friend complains of his greatest privileges; he complains of the life of his soul, and of all the purging draughts that belong to the branches of the living vine, and of all the energy of the Holy Spirit; of all the exercise of grace, of the power of God, and of all the self-emptying flames of the soul-renewing furnace. But enough of this; for there can be no greater curse dropped upon our heads than that of giving us over to our own way, and leaving us to our own will. I am going next Wed