est, shouldst thou survive me in the journey through time. I remain unmoved in all points of christian doctrine as held by our early Friends, and by faithful brethren since their time. The repeated efforts I have to make in order to finish my letter, forcibly remind me that here we have no continuing city. May the feeling of infirmity quicken my diligence in the great work of the day, so that when the solemn period arrives in which I must bid a final farewell to all visible things, I may, through Divine mercy, be enabled to adopt the language, 'Although the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' There, with the collected just of all generations, I shall be for ever with the Lord, employed in the unceasing song of thanksgiving and praise to Him who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and who wrought all our works in us. I continue to feel very feeble, and this day am particularly languid; pray for me that my faith and patience fail not. O happy change, when the pains and conflicts of time will be exchanged for the ineffable joys of a never-ending eternity! I often think of the description of the happy state of the blessed, where it is said, A rainbow surrounds the throne;' intimating that 'storms shall cease, and tempests rage no more, but one unclouded spring for ever bloom.’ Whilst tracing the christian course of this our dear and honoured friend, and that of many others whose experience has been recorded in the pages of this volume, how deeply instructive and how encouraging are the evidences, that a soul-animating faith in the efficacy and all-atoning virtue of the blood of Jesus, (which, when applied to the heart by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, cleanseth us from all sin,) has been found sufficient to anchor the immortal spirit on the Rock of Ages, and to prepare it to enter, with hopes full of immortality, on the awfully mysterious realities of an invisible and never-ending state of existence. 66 Reader,—if it has happily been thy chief concern to obtain the like precious faith-" may the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, stablish, strengthen, settle" thee. But if, on reading these lines, "the faithful witness" within, the Spirit of Him, whose "eyes" are as a flame of fire," penetrating the most secret recesses of the heart, should testify that the fleeting pursuits of time have too much engrossed thy attention, and veiled from thy view the infinite importance of seeking "first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness"-mayst thou become solemnly impressed with the danger of delaying, even for a moment, to come unto Christ, to seek, in deep humiliation and penitence of soul, to be reconciled to the Father through Him: that so, by yielding to the converting influence of Divine grace, thou mayst no longer live unto thyself, but unto Him who died for thee, and rose again. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is And whosoever will, let him take the water athirst come. of life freely." FINIS. R |