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offspring be born again there! And may the choiceft confolations of the Spirit vifit their minds, whenever they retire thither from the bufy city! Their poor penfioner travels on, though flowly, towards the grave. His journey to the fea feems to him to have haftened, rather than retarded, his progrefs to his old mother, Earth. May every providential blast blow him nearer to the heavenly haven of his Saviour's breaft; where, he hopes, one day, to meet all his benefactors, and among them, thofe whom he now addreffes. O my dear friends, what fhall I render? What to Jefus? What to you? May He, who invites the heavy laden, take upon him all the burdens of kindness you have heaped on your Lazarus! And may angels, when you die, find me in Abraham's bofóm, and bring you into mine, that, by all the kindness, which may be fhewn in heaven, I may try to requite that which you have fhewn to your obliged brother,

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To Mrs. THORNTON.

My very dear Friend,

J. F.

Briflington,, 1777

Shall not attempt to exprefs my gratitude to you, for all your charitable care of a poor fickly worm. As we fay, that filence fpeaks often beft the praifes of our great Benefactor, so I muft fay here. I hope thefe lines will find you leaving the things that are behind, and preffing forward toward the mark, the prize of our high calling on earth. In heaven we are called to be filled with all we can hold of the glorious fulness of God, and what that is, we know not, but we fhall know, if we follow on to know the Lord. But here also, we are called to be filled with all the fulness of God. God is love, you know; to be filled with all his fulness is, then, to be filled with love. O may that love be fhed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us, and abiding in us! I ftill look for that ineffable fulnefs; and I beg, if you have not yet attained it, you would let nothing damp your hope, and flack your purfuit.

I am going to do by my poor fifter, what you have done by me; I mean, try to fmooth the road of fickness to the chamber of death. Gratitude and blood call me to it :---you have done it without fuch calls; your brotherly kindness is freer than mine; but not fo free as the Love of Jefus, who took upon him our nature, that he might bear our infirmities, die our death, and make over to us his refurrection and his life, after all we had done to render life hateful and death horrible to him. O! for this match lefs Love! let rocks and hills, let hearts and tongues break an ungrateful filence; and let your chriftian mufe find new anthems, and your poetic heart new flights of eloquence and thankfulness. You partly owe me, by promife, a piece of poetry on joy in redeeming and fan&tifying Love. May the fpirit of praife affift you mightily in the noble work! Maintain the frame of poetic

chriftian

chriftian joy, by ufing all your talents of grace and nature, to embrace and fhew forth his goodness.

I shall be glad to hear from you in Switzerland, and fhall doubly rejoice, if you can fend me word, that fhe, who is joined to the Lord according to the glory of the new covenant, is one fpirit with him, and enjoys all the glorious liberty of the children of God! The God of peace be with you all! I am, My dear Friend, &c.

J. F.

[The neceffity of exerting the PoWER TO BELIEVE, in order to receive the divine Bleffings.]

I

A LETTER from Mr. M. to Mr. P...

My dear Brother,

Sheffield, Jan. 26, 1786.

Am greatly obliged to you for the freedom you,have used, in laying open all your mind concerning the hinderances of those Souls who are earnestly seeking the Lord, but do not find him. It is my opinion, that if we make the caufe of delay to reft with God, we cannot make his conduct to agree with his word; fince he has faid, " "Behold, now is the accepted time: Behold, now is the Day of Salvation." We muft then find fome other way to account for it, unlefs we leave it as it is, and this we ought not to do, for many reafons. We will fuppofe the cafe which you defcribe," A perfon deeply fenfible of his want of a bleffing, feeing it freely offered, athrift for it, yea, feeking it with the "whole Heart, willing to receive it in God's own way, on his

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own terms; yet not made a partaker of it."--" The hinderance, you fay, is unbelief. The power to believe is granted, but not improved." But the question is, How does unbelief operate in fuch? I think fimply thus, in not fuppofing Faith to be an active thing, but conceiving it to be merely pallive. They reft in a paffive expectation that the bleffing is to be conferred, and are looking inwardly to feel fome of the real, or fuppofed effects, of its being communicated, without exerting any power to lay hold upon and bring home to themfelves the caufe of thefe effects. And thefe expected effects not being found, they begin to reafon and caft about to find a caufe why the divine confolation is withheld. Perfons in this fituation foon find a variety; and on thefe, or fome one of them (perhaps, it is not God's time) fixes; and fo give over the agony of ftruggle, fatisfied that when it is God's time, the Bleffing fhall be given; never once fuppofing themfelves to blame for not ftretching out the withered hand, or not touching the border of that Garment they had laboured to get fo nigh unto. The fuppofition that it is not God's time, "hinders examination on the one hand, and felf-accufation on the other; and if not prevented speedily, will bring a liftleffnefs upon the foul, that will

occafion

occafion an indifferency, if not a ftupidity: for this kind of rea foning is to the Soul as Opiates are to the Body. Hence fo many who were once on full ftretch for Pardon or Holiness, are now at ease in Zion, without having obtained the object of their purfuit. The more you confider this, the more you will perceive that this confequence will be unavoidable in fuch Cafes; and yet it is no lefs dangerous. There may be, and no doubt are, many inftances of the Lord's dealing with perfons in this case, as he dealt with Thomas. The general tenor of the Scriptures reprefent Faith as an active thing; an eye that fees, foot that draws nigh, and a hand that lays hold upon a promifed Good. I cannot at prefent fee, how Faith can be the inftrument of our acceptance on the one hand, and the Cause of our condemnation on the other, if an all-gracious God withholds the power to exercise it from any, but especially from fuch as you defcribe. I am, &c.

A. M.

A LETTER from Mr. FLETCHER, to Mrs. HUGHES.
My dear Friend,
Madeley, August 20, 1766.

I

HAVE juft time to thank you for the kind Letter I had fome time ago from you; I was exceeding glad to find by it, that your heart is ftill in the ways of the Lord, and that you do not draw back into the paths of vanity. May the God of all Grace keep and ftrengthen you day by day. Life is going, my dear friend, make the beft of it, by going with your thoughts, will, and affections after the Lord Jefus Chrift, the friend of finners and bridegroom of fouls. If you have feldom an opportunity to hear the word, read it the oftener at home, and ufe private prayer with the more diligence. Many of our friends here draw back, and go to the World, under the found of the Gospel. O my friend, ftay you in the narrow path, and shame them. Temptations you must expect both from within and without, and efpecially from your own backward heart; but be of good cheer, Jefus hath overcome all for us. Believe firmly, that he hath bought you, a loft finner, with his heart's blood; love him fervently for it, and obey him gladly. I beg you would accept of the two pamphlets, as a token of my kind love to you. Remember me in your prayers, and the God of all peace be with you, and blefs you, in foul, body, and circumstances. D. W. and all friends, falute you in the Lord, and fhould be glad to fee you, as well as your unworthy friend in the Lord, J. F.

The preceding Letter from Mr. Fletcher to Mrs. Hughes, one of his parifhioners, who was then abfent, has not been published in the collection of Letters.

CONFIDENCE

CONFIDENCE IN THE LORD.

Why art thou caft down, O my foul? and why art thou difquieted within me? Hope in GOD; for I fhall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my GOD. PSALM XLIII. 5.

WHY droops the head, why languishes the eye?

What means the flowing tear, and frequent figh?

Where are the lenient med'cines, to impart
Their balmy virtues to a bleeding heart?
Fruitless are all attempts of kind relief
To mix my cordial, and allay my grief;
So ftrong my anguish, fo fecure my pain,
Weak is philofophy, and reafon vain;
Their rules like fuel, make my paffions glow,
Quicken each pang, and point the fting of woe;
Imagination labours but in vain,

While darkening clouds intoxicate the brain;
Fancy no fweet ideas can fuggeft

To lull the raging tumults in my reaft;
In vain does mirth invite, or friendship call,
Wit dies a jeft, and converfations pall,
The works of art and nature dull appear,
And each corroding thought creates defpair,
No fcenes amufe me, which amus'd before,
And what delighted once---delights no more.
Tho' all creation beautiful appears,
And nature's aspect a rich verdure wears,--
Yet ftill her bloom with fickening eyes I fee,
And all her luxury is loft on me.
The budding plants of variegated hue,
The bloffoms opening with the morning dew,
The vernal breeze, that gently fans the bowers,
The fmiling meadows and enlivening showers,
The enamel'd garden where the works of art
Give ftrength to nature, and fresh charms impart,
Where gaudy pinks and blushing roses bloom,
Rich in array and fragrant with perfume,
Where Flora fmiling fees her offspring vie,
To spread their beauties and regale the eye,
All, all in vain, with charms united glow,
To deck the scene or gild the face of woe!
So when the morning lark afcending fings,
While joy attunes her voice and mounts her wings,
Tho' to her chearful notes the hills reply,
And warbling mufic gladdens all the sky,
VOL. XIX, Feb. 1796.

Still

Still in her ftrains no pleafing charms I find,
No fweet inchantment to compofe my mind.
In vain the Sun his gaudy pride displays,
No genial warmth attends his brighter rays:
Or when his abfent light the Moon fupplies,
And Planets glitter to enrich the fkies;
No gleam of comfort from their luftre flows,
No harbinger of peace or calm repose;
But gloomy vapours o'er the night prevail,
And peftilence is fpread on every gale;
Thus weaken'd by a gradual decay,
In fighs I pass the melancholy day,
And drink life's bitter draught without allay.
But ftop, rash Man, thy plaintive ftrains fupprefs,
With chriftian patience learn to acquiefce,
The inftructive voice of reafon calmly hear,
And let Religion check the flowing tear:
What e'er the Will of Providence affigns,
'Tis infidelity alone repines,

But thofe who truft in GoD difdain to grieve,
And what our Father fends with joy receive,
Whofe fharp corrections teftify his love,
And certain bleffings in the end will prove,
Who fees how Man would err without controul,
Afflicts the body to improve the foul,
And by chaftifing part preferves the whole.
So that tho' low'ring fkies and threatening gales,
Should raife a mighty ftorm and rend the fails,
Yet if calm reafon at the helm prefide,
My little bark fhall ftem both wind and tide;
An adverfe current fhall at laft convey,
This fhatter'd veffel to the Realms of Day.
Thus fatisfied how rafh it is for man,
When under God's correction to complain,
My foul with fad difquietudes oppreft,
Directs her flight to Heaven in search of reft,
And refuge takes, which peace at laft will bring
Beneath the fhadow of the Almighty's wing:
On him I fix my mind and place my trust,
A Being infinitely wife and juft:
And if his Providence fome beams create
To brighten the complexion of my fate,
My thankful tribute to his Throne I'll raife,
In fongs of gratitude, and joy, and praife:
But fhould indulgence fuit not his designs,
Who evil into happinefs refines,

Let due fubmiffion make my burden light,
And may I think whatever is,--is right.

Then

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