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Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.*

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It will be, no doubt, one portion of the felicity of heaven, to look back and trace the whole of our eventful history to the full. But it is now, in my esteem, walking in the highway of communion with God, when at any time we are enabled to trace it in part here below.

The house of the interpreter.—I had read of such an house and of such a character, as being in the pilgrim's path, when in my days of childhood. But I knew not at that time, that I should myself live to behold either of them realized. A thought, however, struck me as I read the inscription; Perhaps I may find here some help to explain to me the difficulties, with which I am at present exercised!' I recollected what Job had said, that if there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness; then He is gracious unto him. Encouraged by these considerations, I drew near to the house. The door was wide open. JESUS hath said, Behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. I found that it opened into a spacious vestibule; in one of the compartments of which there was written, in large characters, as follows:

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* Isaiah xxviii. 29. ↑ Job xxxiii. 23. § Rev. iii. 8.

THE RULES OF THIS FAMILY. First, It is expected that every one who comes under this roof, fail not to be present at Family Prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures.

Secondly, It is hoped that beside these things, attention be given to the private engagements of the closet. They who begin the day in prayer, will probably find cause to end it in praise.

Thirdly, The Apostle's maxim is to be in-
variably followed, under the Divine blessing:
in all things having conversation as becometh
the Gospel of CHRIST: that no corrupt com-
munication may proceed out of the mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Ephes. iv. 29.

Lastly, Whatsoever is done in word or
deed, all is to be done in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to GOD and the
Father by him. Coloss. iii. 17.

To every one who, looking up for grace to
render it effectual, sincerely desires to act in
conformity to these rules, the good man of
the house saith, "Come in thou blessed of
"the LORD, wherefore standest thou with-
"out?" Gen. xxiv. 31.

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Thus invited, I entered the door, and found that it led into a large room like an hall. There were several persons seated round a table, at the head of which a venerable old man appeared to preside. Having taken my place at the bottom, to which the kind looks of the master at the top seemed to invite me, I soon discovered, by

what dropped from his lips in discourse, that
the characters around me were Zion's Pilgrims
like myself, and that the LORD of the
directed them in his providence hither for re-
way had
freshment and counsel,

It is a very precious thing, when little societies meet together on gracious errands. There is a restraint upon the mind in the assembly that is mingled. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed. I venture to believe that, more or less, every follower of the Redeemer knows somewhat of this in his own experience. it should seem that the dear LORD Himself, at And His last supper, restrained those sweet and incomparable discourses, which the apostle John hath recorded in the fourteenth and following chapters of his gospel, until Judas the traitor had withdrawn. For as soon as he was gone out, JESUS said, Now is the Son of man glorified; and immediately the LORD began his farewell

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At this assembly of the Interpreter's, there was somewhat visible in every countenance, which indicated that they were all of one heart and of one soul. They were come together to lay down their several burthens, and to unbosom their minds to each other. And the good man of the house seemed to be deputed to speak a word of consolation to every case.

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I found my mind much relieved under one part of my burthen, (I mean under the sorrows induced from the persecutions of my relations) by what the Interpreter said to a woman in the

company under similar circumstances.

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My

"best advice to you (he said) will be, to recom"mend you to seek grace in order to adopt the

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prophet's example. For when he found no "favor from man, he recollected that he had "the favor of GOD. So that however wicked "the times were in which he lived, yet the

righteousness of Jehovah was unchangeable. "The best of them (he said) was as a briar, the "most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. "Who therefore could venture to come near "either?

"Your case, you see, is not singular, in the " unkindnesses you sustain from your relations "on account of your religion. In all ages it "hath been the same. And hence the prophet "saith, Trust ye not in a friend; put ye not "confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy "mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For "the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter "riseth up against her mother, and the daughter"in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's "enemies are the men of his own house. But "what was the prophet's conduct under these "heavy troubles? Therefore (saith he) I will "look unto the LORD: I will wait for the GoD "of my salvation: my GOD will hear me.* "The more the world frowns, the sweeter will "be the smiles of JESUS. And the greater " unkindness you meet with from your relations, "the greater will be your esteem of the affec"tion of the Redeemer. What though all your * Micah vii. 4, 5, 6.

"earthly connections fail, and their friendship "is continually fluctuating and changeable; yet "in JESUS you find an unchanging friend at all "times; one born for adversity, and who sticketh "closer than a brother.

"And it should very evidently seem, that "GOD over-rules those very events, which tend "to loosen our attachment to every thing here "below, on purpose to raise our affections, and "to fasten them on the great objects which are "above. By tinging our most innocent enjoy"ments in this mortal state with vanity and

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disappointment, what is it but in effect saying, "Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest, "because it is polluted? There is much mean

ing in that word of the prophet, Therefore; "when he says, Therefore I will look unto the "LORD, that is as much as to say, Because all "things else are dissatisfying, I will look where "I am sure not to be disappointed. Though "all creatures leave me, my Creator is the same; and though every earthly friend fail me, my Heavenly Friend never will. O, depend upon it, let a child of GOD be persecuted, for"saken, slighted, or despised ever so much by "man; yet while he hath a GOD to look up to, "and a Covenant-GOD to trust in; while he can

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say My GOD, he may at the same time with "full assurance say, He will hear me.

"And I believe it possible, nay more than "possible, even frequently induced by Divine grace, that, where the love of GoD is shed "abroad in the heart in its fulness and strength,

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