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not the great Physician, but when our whole nature is laid open, we are devils indeed; and none in earth or hell, appear half so bad. This is God's teaching, and blessed learning it is; there is no guile, deceit, or hypocrisy in these wholesome lessons. We see, we feel, we rue, we lament the pollution, and tremble at the consequences; and with such trembling ones will God dwell; this makes the heart and mouth honest, conscience tender, and the Saviour precious. Such as these, and no other, will Christ accept.

'Sinners are high in his esteem,
And sinners highly value him.'

Accept my love.

W. H. S. S.

LETTER XII.

WHAT the poor man says, is true in me, The Lord took great pains to engross my whole soul, and pleasingly captured every affection; every thought, and every sense. All my will, my wishes, my desires, and every appetite was replenished, satisfied, and filled with real substance. Under this I became crucified and

dead to all creatures, and to all things. Nothing seemed to be alive in heaven or earth, within me or without, but Christ himself. His presence filled my soul, his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Sin was purged, devils banished, death swallowed up, hell out of sight and out of mind, and every corruption of nature dead and buried; no revival or resurrection ever thought of, much less expected; and as I felt so I dreamed, and so I sung; and as I then thought, all the prophecies and promises sung the same.

But this was thinking, and speaking as a child, for it was no more than the day of our espousals, and so watchful, and attentive, and. tender was the Lord's dealings, that no enemy perplexed me, but an addition of oil was poured in; and not a tear except the tears of love and joy, were suffered to hang on my cheek. But soon these joys were mingled with bitterness, the whole crop of corruption shewed their heads, legal bondage and slavish fear returned, the devil appeared to re-enter his house, a throne of grace became irksome, prayer was straitened, and I met with neither relief nor release. My Lord became shy, and appeared to shun me; " I sought him but I found him not, I called him, but he gave me no answer." My old task-master often saluted me, not with a, 'How do you do Doctor,' but with a, " Where is

now thy God?" and then set the great transgression before me, and insisted upon it that I was the man; and as the Advocate did not silence him, he went on lying, for in my mouth were no replies, nor reproofs.

At this time, I had put my hand to the plough, and was now looking back; this work had brought the eyes, the malice, and the contempt of fools upon me, which made me afraid. In this plight I went to coal-carrying, harder work, and worse living,, and my apparel like that of a Whitechapel bird-catcher. This was truly Peter's strange thing that happened unto me, 1 Pet. iv. 12; but after many days he came again, when I was quite overwhelmed, and brought heaven, and all the glories of it, with him; and abode many days, and told me before he went away, saying, " I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, but thou art rich." One thing appeared strange to me, which was, that in my happiness the whole contents of the bible seemed to be eternal comfort; but in my misery it seemed to contain nothing but tribulation: and as it appeared that we must enter the kingdom through much tribulation, I chose to endure it, rather than miss him at last.

W. H. S. S.

LETTER XIII.

I RECEIVED your letter, and am thankful to God that the fire did no more damage; God's hand shall be known toward his servants. We have finished our mowing, and are pretty well settled for the present. My good God is amazing kind to his poor, unworthy servant; every obstacle is out of the way, between my soul and her God; the path of life is cast up; the mountains of Sinai and of sin, are made low; the valley of the shadow of death is exalted; and immortality is brought to light. A glorious hope, and a mass of corruption which formerly appeared such a crook, now lays straight; the one discovering the other, the one exalting the other, and the one reigning to the final destruction of the other; "The elder shall serve the younger," the old man shall serve the new one. Sin shall make us pray, watch, and wait; and prayer shall support, strengthen, and increase faith; and faith shall overcome the world.

The devil has but two main springs in all his usurped empire, which are corrupt affections, and carnal enmity; or in plain English, a love to sin, and hatred to God. I do get clearer and clearer, deeper and deeper into these things; and every seal that is open to me, I am like the Boanergeses in the Revelations, I cry, "Come and see:" but I am obliged to cry two or three times, before they can be made to see as I do. I am thankful to God for this; formerly he inclined my heart much to reading, but now my eyes waxing dim, he leads my mind wonderfully by thinking; and my texts and subjects, come flying into my mind generally this way.

It is a strange passage in Habakkuk; "Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck," Hab. iii. 13. The cursed head in the whole house of the wicked is satan, as Christ is the head of the church; Christ bruised and wounded this head, that is, marred all his plans. The foundation of satan's empire, is, love to sin, and hatred to God; and corrupt affections is the bond of iniquity, or the neck that holds that head, and the house of the wicked together: this, this the Lord discovers, and this light wounds the head, bruises the heel, chafes the infernal mind, and translates us from darkness to light; and this translation mars the schemes and plots, contrived by the wise head of the serpent. But this work shall go on; Christ is still in his war-chariot, riding forth to

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