filment of a promise; and the words of the sweet finger of Ifrael, Pfalms cxvi, cxviii, I find exactly fuitable and applicable to me.

Adieu, dear Sir! The Lord be with you, and profper you in your own foul, and in the work he has given you to do. And may it please the great Shepherd long to continue you here for his church's fake! Such is the fincere defire and and hearty prayer of, Reverend Sir,

Your affectionate Son, in the Gospel

of our Lord Jefus Christ,

22, Lower Belgrave Place,

Pimlico, Sept. 2, 1809.

JOHN EEDES.

TO MR. JOHN EEDES,

PIMLICO.

Dearly beloved in the one Mediator, grace and truth be with thee through our Lord Jefus Chrift, the fon of the Father in truth and love.

YOUR

OUR epiftle is very acceptable to me, as the contents ferve to weaken a temptation which has often befet me; namely, that old age would be attended with a barrennefs in the miniftry; that, as youthful vigour decayed, and the faculties of the foul got impaired, fo the life and power of godliness would abate alfo. And this temptation came upon me by obferving fo many great and learned men, who had come forth with brilliant gifts and abilities, light and knowledge, and who seemed to foar very high, and to flourish like a cedar, afterwards fink and wither like the green herb. This I concluded must be my cafe at fome future period. But it is in Chrift Jefus that God our father accepts us, in his atonement he receives us as clean, and in his righteousness we are received as juft; and, being fanctified by

the Holy Ghoft, we are complete in him. And it is in Christ Jefus that we enjoy and fhare, as joint heirs with him, in God the Father's love; and this love is the fruit and effect of pardon; it is the bond of the covenant, the root of the righteous, the marriage ring, and the indiffoluble bond of union between the bridegroom and the bride. Could this divine love, which is fixed upon us in Chrift Jefus, be taken from him, the bond of the covenant would be broken, the thing that is gone out of God's lips would be altered, the promise would pass away unfulfilled, the covenant of peace would be removed, and the faithfulness of God would be fuffered to fail for, if the root be removed, both leaf and fruit must fail from the heirs of promise.

But we are fafe and well fecured upon this ground; and every revival, renewing, and refreshing, is a confirmation of it; for these are the fresh declarations of God's covenant name and characters; I mean, that of his being gracious and merciful, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, tranfgreffion, and fin (read Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7), which is what our Lord alludes to when he fays, " And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou haft loved me may be in them, and I in them," John xvii. 26. Compare these two paffages together, and you will fee what is meant by Chrift being in us; and it

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is by God's faithfulncfs to his covenant name; which name, in all its fulness, and in all its meaning, is now (as it always was) in Chrift Jefus; and it is declared again and again by a discovery of fresh truth, by receiving fresh grace, and by new enjoyments of pardoning love. This name is declared, and fhall be declared, that the love wherewith the Father hath loved Chrift be in us, and he in us. Where a fin-pardoning God is not proclaimed to the finner, that finner has no love to God. God's circumcifing our heart to love him is putting off the body of the fins of the flesh by the circumcifion of Christ; and where much is forgiven, the fame loveth much.

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These things, my dear friend, ftanding faft, and our fruitfulnefs depending upon the righteousness, truth, and faithfulness of God in Chrift Jefus, the root muft abide, its waterings cannot fail, the leaf must be green; and we shall bring forth fruit in old age, to fhew that the Lord is upright, Pfalm xcii. 14, 15.

My fears, therefore, from the above temptation, have for fome years abated, about barrennefs in my old age; for I verily believe that I have had more fuccefs these ten years paft than I ever had in any ten years that have gone before fince I have been in the miniftry. Nor do I find God's workmanship by me inferior to others, but contrariwife; for, go where I will, or get

into company with what profeffors I may, I find. them in penetration fuperficial, in experience. fhallow, in judgment confused, in conversation muddy, fleshly, and unfavoury; they have a little momentary glee under the word, and this is left behind when the fermon is over, and all the rest of the week is spent in bondage, doubting and fearing, murmuring and complaining; and thefe are dead works, the fruits of a legal and felf-righteous fpirit kept under the power of unbelief. The wayfide, the thorny, and the ftony-ground hearers, are too common and too apparent every where: it is as our Lord fays, 'They have no root," no deepness of earth nor moisture, and therefore are soon scorched, and then wither away. A broken and contrite heart is the deep earth; with fuch God dwells; and this is the good ground alfo. Pardoning love fhed abroad in the heart is the root, and the holy Spirit of life and his grace is the moisture: and what is the most splendid profeffion without these things?

The highest stage, my dear fon, and the surest ftanding in a militant ftate, is that of holding the myftery of faith in a pure conscience. The myftery, which is the moft fublime, and which is the object of fpiritual faith, is the mystery of the three perfons in the one God of Ifrael, or a trinity of perfons in the godhead. And, as thefe

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