of faith is more precious than gold, for when it is tried we know that it is genuine, it stands the fire; we know what it can do, and whether God owns and approves of it or not; we see the victory that it obtains, the power of it, and the triumph of it; we see it is a principle that Satan cannot overcome nor corruption destroy; it is a grace that will look to God from whence it comes, and will confide in the object on which it fixes; it will attend prayer, and look out for help in every time of trouble, and will never quit the field as long as one enemy stands against it: it is a grace of the Spirit's own planting, and she shines in the strength, life and power thercof; and however weak or small, it will remove a mountain of difficulties, and pluck up a corrupt tree by the roots: all things are possible to be done for him that believes. Thou must never expect a good profession without a cross, nor a path to heaven without a crook in it. Every soldier of Jesus must fight. All the elect must cry day and night; and surely God will avenge them speedily.

This day, Monday, the first day of September, and to-morrow night, and Wednesday night, I am to preach at Lewes, in Sussex. If you could do as a woman this summer did, one whom God called by reading one of my books; that is, she came out of Huntingdonshire,in a little cart drawn by an ass, to hear me, and heard me twice, and then went back again; Jack and she went above an hundred miles together: now if you could get such an equipage, you might come and hear me at Lewes, and come with safety, for there is not much danger of Jack's running away or tumbling down.

Tender my respects to your spouse, and be sure to pray, and never faint, nor cast away your confidence, which is a great recompence of reward. Excuse more, and be a good girl, and

The book you sent me I will read : I thank you for it.

I hope I can through grace say, that I know something of light having entered my soul, shewing me my darkness and misery; and also that I know what it is to have had the Holy Ghost poured out upon my soul. Thus I stand distinguished from what I once was ("Such were some of you"), and also have been made to differ from an ungodly and from a professing world! I go entirely with you in what you say about the professors of the day. I have been continually taught in my public ministrations to sift and caution my hearers against these. 2 Tim. iii. 6. Never was there a more cunning device of Satan than this. Oh! my friend, "the time is come when judgment must begin at the house of God." Did not our Lord caution his disciples? Beware of men." Did not Paul admonish the Philippians (iii. 2) against these? Oh, what a crowd of dogs, of concisionists, and evil workers! And did not Isaiah (viii. 12) say, " Say ye not a confederacy," &c. May omnipotent grace enable us to steer clear of these rocks

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and shelves, these quicksands in which reprobates will sink never to rise

again, except to a fearful day of judgment.

What an age we live in, of Arminianism, Puseyism, Antinomianism, dead letter Calvinism, tinkling cymbal and sounding brass profession; these things and runners after these things abound. And still, blessed be God, in the midst of all these awful heresies, there is a remnant according to the election of grace," still a few in Sardis bearing the cross, and glorying only in the cross. A little company, beautifully described in Luke xxii. 28, as continuing with Christ in his temptation. To whom he hath appointed a kingdom, a kingdom not of this world, a kingdom which cannot be moved; a kingdom for which Jesus suffered, died, and rose again a kingdom of which Christ, the co-equal, co-eternal Son, is the King, the Ruler and the Sovereign. Oh, my friend, does not thy heart leap for joy within thee, like the babe in the womb of Elizabeth, as you read that blessed word in Isaiah, "That the Jehovah hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it." And again, Zeph. iii. 12. How blessed are the shalls and wills in the Bible. As Kent says, "Fenced with Jehovah's shalls and wills, Firm as the everlasting hills."

Again I thank you for your kind letter: I was truly refreshed by it. Psalm cxv. 1. Should I be near Y--, I will, if the Lord's will, come and see you. Why do you dash the words, "No person will know you?" I am neither ashamed of the gospel, nor of the dear people in whose hearts sovereign grace has written that gospel; therefore I should not be ashamed to be seen at J-W-'s house, Y--. I hope however that it would not be treated like another Jason's house when I visit it. Acts xvii. 6. But the same Lord who was over them would be over us. Psalm xluiii. 14.

be with you. May it be a year of mercies to you; but if otherwise, may you be abundantly comforted of your God.

I would assure you that I quite feel the force of what you say relative to the political Dissenters, Puseyites, &c. I am strengthened continually to testify the gospel of God's grace, and to declare those truths to which at my Ordination I have subscribed, as embodied in the Articles of the Church of England. Pray for me, that as a minister in our Protestant Establishment I may stand firm, stedfast, faithful. Look at Acts xx. 22, 24. And now, beloved brother, may you know what it is to have Christ crucified set up in a broken heart; to be delivered from the free-will heresy, and, while groaning under your own corruptions and bewailing your continual backslidings, may you have abundant consolation, through grace, that what the Spirit has begun in grace he will complete in glory. Rom. viii. 30.

My fingers get tired, so I must stop: let me hear again from you, please God. Had the Lord fixed the bounds of your habitation nearer Winchelsea, I should have rejoiced in having you amongst my hearers. Sometimes I may say the Lord is in this place, evidently and experimentally. Look at 1 Cor. xvi. 9, and pray for me. Grace and peace be yours. Thank you for your kind wishes for my dear wife and my three little ones. God bless you and yours. Yours, dearly beloved in the Lord, affectionately, faithfully, and prayerfully,

J. J. WEST.

Chief of Sinners.

THE EXERCISED BELIEVER ENCOU

RAGED.

My beloved Friend,

Yours with its interesting inquiries came safe to hand, and I must

my promise, and always expect its fulfilment, namely, an immediate answer; but what can a poor worm say in a way of comfort, and instruction to your labouring spirit, when your friend himself daily feels burthened with a body of sin and death, whose soul is often cast down by reason of the way, and who much needs the consolation, you seek at his hands. However, as one who have obtained mercy, and like precious faith with yourself, desires to refresh your memory with the loving kindness of the Lord, he would remind you that in all your wanderings he hath kept you as the apple of his eye; delivered your soul from the snare of the fowler, and could you but see the inscription written upon every dispensation of his hand, I am sure it would From this day will I bless you. But it appears that one source of your disquietude arises from the conclusion, that your experience does not correspond with any of the children of God; this my sister, is the suggestion of the father of lies, who either goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, or he transforms himself into an angel of light, which if it were possible would deceive the very elect.

be

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I cheerfully admit, that it is a great happiness to meet with companions by the way, who by a similarity of christian experience, can by sweet and heartfelt communion, beguile the solitary hours of the wilderness, in the anticipation of the enjoyment of the glories of the Lamb in the midst of the throne. Still, I would remind you that even the privilege of communion of saints may through the legality of our minds, and the power of unbelief be converted into an instrument to wound our spirit, when we cannot discover in onr brethren, the features of our own character. I cannot but think that we are verily wrong in attempting to measure ourselves, by ourselves, or even by one auother; we should repair to the testimony of

God's word, the standard of eternal truth, and gather our evidences, and enjoyments from the secret, yet all powerful communications of the holy Spirit's grace upon the heart, without which, we shall remain for ever dead in trespasses and in sins. Now my sister examine your experience by this divine light, as though you were the only object in the creation of God that needed the expression of a Father's love, and the enjoyment of his pardoning mercy. Carry your thoughts back to the days of your unregeneracy, and nature's blindness and ignorance, when all the corrupt passions of the mind were busily employed, like a rapidly flowing stream, in fulfiling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and say what can you attribute your arrest in the midst of your iniquities, and filling your trembling heart with terror, and despair. I say to what can you attribute so mighty a change, but to that power that laid the foundation of the earth, and that beautified the heavens around us. Remember, that the blessing of the everlasting covenant, although the bestowment of it, almost drives the poor sinner to despair, is a deep, and heartfelt conviction of our ruined, helpless, and hopeless condition; hence the Saviour himself hath said, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell from whence it cometh, or wither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit; marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again." This is the commencement of a life that never can expire; old things have now passed away, and behold all things are become new." It is true, this divine creation will be violently assaulted by the prince of darkness, and encompassed within our own hearts, with principles opposite to the holiness of its nature, yet, it can never be destroyed, for I give unto my sheep said the great Shepherd, eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of my