LETTER LXXIII.

To the Rev. Mr. J———

MY DEAR BROTHER,

You know not with what heartfelt fatisfaction I beheld you laft; thy meditations of terror are nearly exhausted, the horrible pit will foon be exchanged for the Rock, and thou wilt quit the dark cells and the difmal regions. Tell me, did not the good Shepherd give thee a token for good the last vifit at Mwas it not a Bethel? did he not almost break thy yoke, and burst thy bands? When these are gone, thy health fhall spring up speedily; thy mind is reclining and refting on the discoveries and manifeftations of dying love, hope abounds, and thy heart enlarges; budding hope terminates in open love-Ifrael fhall bud and bloffom as the rofe, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

You fee, my dear brother, the fruits and effects of your prefent miniftry. Some of the Hebrews are crawling out of their holes, fome have broken forth, and others are come to the birth, but want the strength of allfubduing love; but fhall I bring to the birth, and not caufe to bring forth? No, faith the Lord,

Lord, as foon as Zion travailed fhe brought forth ber children. A fpirit of jealoufy will be fpread at the report of Zion's delivery, which will provoke very many, and add fervour to their prayers, fo that thou wilt see the spirit of the living creature in the wheels, as well as in the cherub; for jealoufy is one part of the coals of fire which go up and down among the wheels-the Lord fhall ftir up jealoufy like a man of war; and, under thefe burning influences, every one that is truly affected will be catching at the skirt of the Jew.

I believe in my heart that there hath been more power difplayed, and more execution done, in that part of the world within thefe two years, than hath been done for the space of thirty years before; and what seems very remarkable is, that thofe who are brought forth, and those who are ftill labouring, are, to an individual, those that have been daubed up with untempered mortar, and healed flightly by a cry of, Peace, Peace. O! the goodness of God in undeceiving them, and ftripping them of the sheepfkin; but no rival, no enemy to the bridegroom, fhall ever finally feduce the objects of his loverighteoufnels will be lay to the line, and judgment to the plummet; and the hail fhall fweep away the refuges of lies, and the waters fhall overflow the hiding places, and their covenant with death fhall be difanulled, and their agreement with hell fhall not ftand. This line and plummet try the foundation, and the ftorm drives

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drives us to feek for fhelter: the bed of carnal fecurity appears too fhort to ftretch ourselves on it, and the fcanty covering too narrow to hide our fin and fhame. How visibly do you fee the apoftle's affertion-if any man build upon this foundation, gold, filver, precious ftones, wood, bay, stubble: every man's work fhall be made manifeft; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire fhall try every man's work, of what fort it is. All the king of Ifrael's fpoils must go through the fire, and nothing will stand the fire but gold, filver, and precious ftones; the wood, hay, and ftubble, are all confumed. Pray, what is left of all the former work? Juft nothing; the wall is down, and where is the daubing? All the wounds flightly healed have been laid open again; and the cry of Peace, Peace, has been no defence against the curfes of a broken law. However, this fhall work together for their good; for they will be the better able to difcover the delufive heat of ftrange fire; they have been long encompassed about with the sparks of head notions, and with that light which ftirs up the fleshly affections of nature, which has caufed many, to their grief, to go to bed, and lie down in forrow. Nothing can stand but the power of God; in this his kingdom ftands, for his gofpel is the power of God unto falvation to every one that believeth; and he that is deftitute of this power is an utter ftranger to the gofpel of Chrift. The devil is aware of this, and therefore

therefore to counterfeit it is the masterpiece of all his works: and the academies are the forges, where he fits his apes for his business, who are taught to play upon the paffions of poor fenfelefs finners with empty oratory, affected speeches, great fwelling words, counterfeited joy, and diffembled love-fuch glory in appearance, but not in heart. God hath led thee to discover, detect, and spit upon this strange fire; and under God thou haft put it out; and thou shalt be a good minifter of Jefus Christ, nourished up in the words of truth and of found doctrine. And thofe who have oppofed thee, and abused thee, will, by the bar of prejudice, and by that envy which refts in the bofom of fools, be kept at a distance; while those who have been grieved for the afflictions of Jofeph will now share in the goodness which God procures to Ifrael: but the others will burn with rage, and feel vexation in their fouls, when they hear the report. He bringeth out thofe that are bound with chains; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Those that love the power, and make the Lord their trust, fhall be as a tree planted by the waters, that fendeth forth its roots by the rivers; its leaf fhall be green, nor fhall they ceafe from yielding fruit. But those that despise the power, and make flesh their arm, shall be as the dreary defert and barren heath, and shall not know when good cometh: and thou wilt see these things made manifest before C c

VOL. II.

thine

thine eyes. And do thou obferve these things minutely, and they will furnish thee with many a fuitable fubject; for daily, in the church, and among the enemies of it, as well as in thy own foul, wilt thou fee the Lord in his goodness pass before thee, and his word opening and fulfilling, yea, all the day long.

God bless thee, and keep thee, is the earnest prayer of thy fellow-labourer and companion in the kingdom and patience of Christ.

W. H. S.S.

LETTER LXXIV.

To the Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON.

MY MOST BELOVED FRIEND,

THIS morning I received your epiftle, and have read it over, and truly it has been a fweet repaft to me; the matter of it, without contradiction, is truth; and the spirit of it exceeding sweet to my tafte, sweeter than the honey, yea, than the honey

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comb.