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Christ. If fick, we must look to the great Phyfi cian; if our own heart condemn us, to the end of the law for righteoufnefs; and, if weak, to the hope of his people, and to the ftrength of the children of Ifrael. Doft thou believe, my fifter, that the whole body myftical, from the leaft to the greatest, is complete in the everlasting Father, Head, and Representative, of the church? Canft thou believe what the divine Bridegroom afferts, that those who are called to the fellowship of him are all fair, and that there is no spot in them? Doft thou believe that, when God laid our fins upon him, his righteoufnefs became ours? that when he was apprehended we were let go? that when he died we fuffered the law in him, who is a part of ourfelves? that we were crucified with Christ, and with his dead body we arofe? that for our juftification he left the tomb, and we were raised up, and made to fit together in heavenly places in Chrift Jefus; accepted in the beloved, and bleffed with all fpiritual bleffings in him, and in him without fault before the throne? Hold faft then the head, to which the whole body is knit and joined, and from which the divine unction defcends which every joint supplieth. All the bands of love and peace which hold us together, and all the joints of union, friendship, judgment, and affection, and all the confirmation and renewing of thefe, are of him and from him. This bleffed head minifters nourishment to the whole body,

which body is bound up in the bundle of life, or in the bond of eternal love with the Lord our God.

The temptations and trials which have lately fallen to thy fhare are no other than fuch as are After I had been for a confider

common to men.

able time much indulged with the Lord's prefence, and with fuch tender mercy and loving-kindness as is unfpeakable, and with the fulleft affurance of the reality of the work, and of my intereft in his everlasting falvation, infomuch as not a fear, a fcruple, or even the fhadow of a doubt, remained about it, it pleafed the Lord to try me forely; not only with the loss of these heavenly visits, bleffings, and never-to-be-forgotten sensations, but all my corruptions appeared in all their infernal vigour. This funk me; and peevishness, rebellion, and fretfulness, followed: then I went to ftriving against fin in my own ftrength; and this betrayed me into the fhackles of legal bondage, till an army of unexpected terrors furrounded me, and the apparent anger of God, as I then supposed, pursued me on every fide; and Satan, with his evil infinuations, fuggefted to me that all was a delufion; that God had done it to extort confeffions of my own vilenefs and just deserts from my own mouth, that he might condemn me by them. And here I was almoft ready to caft away all my confidence, defpond, and get into madnefs. But the Lord fulfilled his promife again and again; Q

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for he revived the work, and was as fure to fhine upon it, and bring it forth to the light again, as ever Satan and unbelief were to call it in queftion. And fo wilt thou find it, and fo thou haft often found it already. The fentence of juftification paffes through the court of confcience at once, and fenfibly filences every accufer that the poor condemned finner has. Upon this both law and juftice, fin, Satan, and confcience, let us go; from that hour the tree of righteousness ftands complete in the Lord, having both righteousnets and ftrength. This work is perfect, and is not by any inquifition to be brought into court in order to be fifted up and canvaffed over again. This would reflect difhonour upon the omniscient and impartial Judge. No: but when God hides his face it is for the trial of our faith, and that by his going and coming he may familiarize himself to us, and be the better known by us, and that we may be led to diftinguifh between flesh and fpirit. The adverfary takes advantage of thefe our desertions, and confules us, and cafts us into a hafty fpirit, that he may confound and baffle our judgment; and when we are filled with confufion he spreads a difinal gloom over the mind, and obfcures our evidences; and in our hurry the Spirit's witness is not attended to. But when the Lord comes he brings us forth to the light again, and we behold his righteoufnels. Then for our fame we receive double, and for confufion we rejoice in our

portion;

portion; yea, in this world we poffefs double, and in the world to come everlafting joy fhall be unto us (Ifa. Ixi. 7), the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

I long to know the ftate of your corn, whether your lord and mafter hath waded through this unparalleled harveft. It hath fallen to our lot to be caft on the ftage of this world when perilous times are come. war broke out I had little before my eyes but calamitous times, and nothing but wars and rumours of wars followed my fears; and now, for these five months back, famine is continually in my view, and little elfe upon my mind. Seed-time and harveft, promifed to all, feems this year to be denied to us. And I have long prophefied that

For many months before this

the awful rebellion difcovered in this hour of temptation would be followed by fome external or internal judgment; by famine, peftilence, or fomething awful. But no judgment fo fatal as an internal one; I mean that of being given up to blindness of mind, hardness of heart, and being left under the awful curfe of God. Many of our impoftors and hypocrites in profeffion have been fo engaged in political matters, and in the concerns of government, that they have neglected their lawful calling, and the concerns of their family, and have brought themselves to want bread. But it looks now as if they muft fetch up their loft Q 2

time

time by working over-hours, even to keep themfelves from starving.

I know, by the word of the Lord, that oppreffion will be the crying fin throughout this world when the Saviour comes to take to himself his great power to reign. And this fin will extort more lamentable cries from the poor and needy than even Pharaoh's cruelty did from the children of Israel; and a more confpicuous Deliverer will appear than ever Mofes was. Read Pfalm lxxii. And, what is more aftonishing, I have fainted in praying God to remove what I fee to be coming on. I have no heart to pray against it, my faith fails; and, if I attempt it, it is against wind and tide, for the Spirit helps me not; nor will he ever make interceffion for us contrary to the will of God. Therefore I take it for granted that it is appointed for us. Not long ago our oppreffors contrived an artificial famine; and it seems now as if God would fend a real one, that the oppreffor may have an opportunity of filling up his meafure; for fure I am that God will never forget that work.

At present I am but poorly, very weak inwardly; which makes me often look to the end of my race; for, look which way I may, I fee nothing but causes of grief and forrow; and yet the whole bulk of profeffors feem to fit ftill and be at reft. They see the whole country bleffed with gospel mi

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