month, and warmed over the fire, they could not have been more pliable, nor have bent better, than at that time, when I found my soul bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord my God,' 1 Sam. xxv. 29.

As thou hast received him, so walk ye in him; beware of remissness in prayer, or in attendance on the means, which leads to backsliding; for backsliding often leads to legal bondage; and, if thou get the old yoke upon thy neck again, every thing will go contrary; the bill won't cut, the eathers they will break, the stakes won't drive, and you will often hit your hands with the beetle instead of the stake, and break great gaps in the axe; the white thorns will run through the cuffs, if not through the buskins, and you will forget the wallet or the bags, and at some places in the bank the spade will have gone in too far, and in other places not far enough; the stuff will not lay, nor stick, but tumble in the ditch again, for two or three yards together; and, when you come to step it out, or to run the pole over it, on the Saturday afternoon, it will not answer to more than three rods per day, and then you will go murmuring home, saying, 'Sixpence per rod is too little; what is nine shillings per week to keep a wife and family?' You read in scripture of some who sowed much and brought in little, for God blowed upon it. Others planted vineyards, but did not drink the wine of them; others oliveyards, but did not anoint themselves. " Ten

acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah," Isai. v. 10. As it is with the farmer, so with the labourer, when they backslide. All this comes upon us for walking contrary, and for which cause God walks contrary to us.

The Lord's servants are to bring some to the marriage from the highways and hedges; yea, the poor, the halt, the lame, the maimed, and the blind, that the Lord's house may be filled with guests; but who would ever have thought that the coalsack and the leather jacket would have been had in remembrance; and that such as you and I should have been brought in? not by the instrumentality of the servants, but by the Master himself: Verily this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. The first heavenly visits that God paid to me were chiefly in a garden; and my studies and qualifications for the ministry were finished in the barge and on the wharf. Gideon went from the barnfloor and the flail as well as you; Elisha from the plough, David from the ewes and lambs, and Amos from the herds. Surely God has provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. They saw things at a distance, and predicted what should come to pass; but we see them all accomplished, and Christ evidently set forth crucified among us; and blessed are our eyes, for they see; and our ears, for they hear. They laboured to find redemption out, and travelled

to see it accomplished; and we are entered into their labours, and reap the benefit of them, and so gather fruit unto eternal life, and live in comfortable hope of the harvest-home, when the Master shall gird himself, and come forth and serve the reapers; then he that soweth, and they which reap, shall both rejoice together. Seeing we have such hopes, such views, and such expectations, the Lord grant unto us that we may run with patience the race set before us, until it shall please God, who sent his angels to fetch Lazarus the beggar from the gate, to condescend to fetch my brother from the faggots, and me from the scourge of the tongue; then those that have lain among the pots, and some that have worked in the woods, shall be as the wings of a dove. Honourable, honoured, and highly-favoured brother in the Lord, adieu. The Coalheaver wisheth all peace; not forgetting his love to all in Wellwyn, of every sect, name, denomination, and party, that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth.

W. H. S. S.

LETTER VII.

To the Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON.

MY VERY DEAR AND MUCH VALUED FRIEND,

NOT or receiving an answer to my letter has caused me not a little trouble, fearing your mind might be prejudiced against us; but, blessed be God, this morning I have been relieved on receiving yours. My partner in life stood trembling to hear the contents; and, when I came to your kind invitation, her heart burst with gratitude, declaring your good-will towards us the greatest of any earthly comfort she enjoys. May the Almighty preserve your bodily health, and his presence be continually enjoyed by you, that you may, in the Lord's hands, be made a blessing to thousands yet. I have reason to bless the very hour I first knew you; and may a sense of gratitude remain on my soul for the goodness of God to make me acquainted with you, for the many precious opportunities I have been favoured with in hearing you preach, and in conversation with you. At B-k B-s, the first sermon I heard you preach there, the Lord set in with the word, which will never be forgotten to the end of my days, though the enemy tried to baffle me out of

my comfort; but it was engraven too deep for him ever to erase. Mr. J. has been with me these two days past, and we have been much blessed in conversation; he is a godly, upright man, and much esteemed by those who have felt the plague of their own hearts, and have been bowed down through a sense of their own unworthiness, and under the hidings of God's face; who have been tempted, tried, afflicted, distressed, and fast bound in affliction, and unable to get out, while the dreadful sentence of God's curse is raging in the conscience. When he preaches these things, and insists upon it that these must be felt more or less in every sinner's heart, this many cannot bear, as they are strangers to all these troubles; and some of them pretend to be always happy, and always comfortable, and can apply the promises when they please: they have faith, and what is to hinder their being happy! This is the language of too many; and many preachers are telling us that it is the duty of all men to believe. These are what are called gospel ministers and Christian professors; but, if these are right, I am wrong to this day. Our country abounds with such as these: instead of having true, genuine faith, which is the gift of God, and works by love in the hearts of his saints, such presume on the mercies of God, seeing nothing but the letter, but are strangers to the power of the word; and these are the greatest enemies Mr. J. meets with among us. I have no doubt but God will keep