brook; and that moisture that accompanies the root of the matter in the heart will likewise attend a reason of the hope from the mouth.

Thou hadst no call to inform me what instrument God used in framing thy soul for his temple; the whole pattern was shewed first to me in the holy mount, and thine is nothing but an abridgement of it. The features, the family-likeness throughout thy mystical pedigree, parentage, and education, are conspicuous enough. If I had heard thee giving an exhortation when locked up in a closet out of my sight, and even in the East Indies, I should have known both thy voice, and the voice of thy progenitor, for thy speech betrayeth thee. Thou art the Coalheaver's own child, begotten to a lively hope by the Father of all mercies in my bonds: a true copy, a living epistle, known and read of all men; and made manifest to be the epistle of Christ ministered by me; written not with ink, but by the Spirit of God; not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart. When the Almighty first found me in Egyptian darkness, I spake a language that he understood not, Psal. lxxxi. 5: but he set me down at his foot, and taught me out of his law; and when he put a new treasure into my heart, he convinced me that I wanted a new tongue to bring that treasure forth; and when the cloven tongue of fire came, I spake a new language, and it was this language which so much puzzled thee at thy first hearing me, and

so it has thousands more as well as you; but certain I am that it is the language of Canaan, the language of the better covenant, which was spoken by Melchisedec and by Abraham in that country, and by all the prophets afterwards, and by Christ and his apostles, and is peculiar to the promised land, and to the Israel of God, and to none else; for though other people may have learnt a smatch of it, yet by them it is always adulterated with the dialect of Ashdod: a mingled seed will speak an impure language, mixing it with the native brogue of their own country. And I was (and so was another person in company with me) much surprised at reading your epistle, and were not a little struck with astonishment at the pureness of the language, the clearness and cleanness of the style, and especially at the weight of the emphases, the determination of the points, and the eloquent punctuation of the accents, knowing that it is a language hard to learn, and the pronunciation of it difficult to obtain.

But is there

any thing too hard for the Lord? No, there is not; "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon my name, and serve me with one consent;" and what divine veracity hath promised, omnipotence hath performed, and thou art a living witness of this truth. We may call it the holy tongue, and sure I am that the same will be spoken in heaven; for, although it be said, “If there be tongues, tongues shall cease;" that is, the jargon and confusion of

We

tongues shall cease at the destruction of Babel and Babel-builders, yet the pure language, the holy tongue, and the words which the holy Ghost teacheth, shall never cease; this language shall be spoken in Paradise, or else how shall we sing hallelujahs and salvation to God and the Lamb for ever and ever? Or how shall we awake in the great day? And how shall our tongue awake which is our glory, Psal. lvii. 7, 8; and of which we glory above all the creatures that God hath made in this world? When we receive the end of our faith we shall admire the end of our conversation also; and, with Paul in the third heavens, not only hear things which are not possible for a man to utter 2 Cor. xii. 4, but be able to utter them; for it will be both possible and lawful to utter them when we get into that country; for although their purity greatly exceeds ours, yet ours is the only dialect of that mother tongue.

He that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him, and a wise son maketh a glad father, and I hope I shall have joy of thee. But there are such things as false conceptions and false brethren, and sure I am that the father of a fool hath no joy; for a fool is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. But neither a faithful ambassador, nor the incorruptible seed of divine truth, nor Zion's prolific womb, can ever be the origin or fountain of such monstrous productions; witness Judas, who sprung up under the ministry of the everlasting Father himself, and who got

upon the knees of gospel Zion, even among the first offspring, and had part of the inheritance among the brethren, and part of the double honour due to her most renowned sons. He was an apostle and purse bearer to the King of kings; he had gifts of prayer, preaching, working miracles, and casting out devils, but no grace: "He took part of this ministry with us," saith Peter; but from this he by transgression fell, as all will whose hearts are not established with grace. "For strong men shall utterly fall;" but he that hath life and a gift shall have more abundance; but he that hath not life, but a gift, it shall be taken away from him, even that which he hath. If the Prince of Peace give a gift to a bond servant, it shall be his to the year of jubilee, or as long as the fleshly joy of his natural affections lasts; but when he gets under the legal lashes of law and conscience, cursing him for his hypocrisy, it shall then return to the Prince, as the talent of Judas did to Christ, and from Christ to Matthias; but if the Prince of Peace give a gift to one of his sons, it shall be his sons for them, for them to enjoy, and it shall be their inheritance for evermore, for such shall have more abundance, Ezek. xlvi. 16. 17; more abundant life, more grace, more strength, more light, and the abundance of peace, so long as the moon endures.

I thanked God, with all my heart, that another brand is plucked from the fire; one more olive-berry left upon the uppermost bough; one

more cluster with a blessing in it; one more ear of corn in the valley of Rephaim, as the firstfruits of God's creatures, even firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. Bless God thou art among the children that God hath given to our Zion since we lost the others, I mean the mixt multitude that fell a lusting, Numb. xi. 4; these seem to be whispering in our ears; the place is too strait for us, make room for us that we may dwell; and my answer is, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without; the oxen and the fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come ye to the marriage. Wisdom cries, and Understanding puts forth her voice; she hath furnished her table, and bid her guests, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled: and may the Lord of lords satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and that thou mayest be as a watered garden, and as springs of water whose waters fail not, is the hearty prayer and earnest desire of,

Dear Son,

Thine affectionate father in the faith, and love of the gospel of Christ Jesus,

W. H. S. S.

END OF THE THIRTEENTH VOLUME.

T. Bensley, Printer,

Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London,