for fympathy. I think I would have given fifty pounds if I could have got up in the night and gone to her; but he was too far off. However, I found my mind at liberty in the morning to write her a letter, which I did, and sent it her directly. On the feast day at even fhe came to me again at Bethel, with thefe words: "I thank you, I thank you; I do not deserve it. O what shall I do! Never was any thing fo seasonable. If I could have spoke to you on Thursday night I must have told you that I was fure of being damned. O that I was one of the marked ones!" My heart was ready to burft, and I cried to her, "You are one, you are one of them."-" O," fays the to me, you fhall hear from me; indeed you fhall." My very bowels go out after her. Surely Satan will get the worst of it. May I " re"member the battle, and do no more." Job xli. 8. I know it will rejoice your heart to hear of this poor finner. I think her deliverance is not far off. I find I have filled my paper, therefore can only fay, I have found the peace I had loft. I believe you know that I was born again to be troublesome to you. Hope you are well. Pray let me hear from you as foon as you can. I have not faid one half I wifhed to fay. The Lord blefs you with the beft of bleffings. So prays

Your affectionate fifter in the Lord Jefus,

The King's Dale.

PHILOMELA.

LETTER

LETTER IX.

To PHILOMELA, in the King's Dale, or

elsewhere.

THINE epiftle came fafe to hand,

and favours a little of the bitter ingredients mentioned in my laft. This article is known to all the family, and to them only; nor doth the ftranger intermeddle with its oppofite. In my laft I fhewed thee a little of what would befall thee in thy latter days, left, when these things come on thee, that thou fhouldeft think fome ftrange thing had happened unto thee; and, if they should continue long, that thou shouldest weary and faint in thy mind. penfation, as I hinted before,

grow Under the old dif

every one that had

built a new house, planted a new vineyard, or that was lately married, was to be free at home, and not to be charged with, nor to be engaged in, any war for one whole year. Thou art now building in the temple of the Lord, and waft lately tranfplanted into the living vine, and newly married to the foul's beft hufband, and thy year of jubilee is out about next Chriftmas; near about which time thou mayeft expect, either within or without, the alarms of war. When the captain

of our falvation takes the young recruits into the banqueting-houfe he hangs the banner of love over their heads, while he unfurls it in their hearts; which feems defigned to let them know that, when their bounty is fpent, they must prepare for the field of action. Therefore let me advife thee now, whilft thou art in the prefencechamber, and the door of hope is fhut about thee; while his throne is acceffible, and he is fhewing thee his love; while all his fecret myfteries are brought to light, his fecret treasures opened and brought forth, and his heavenly riches communicated; now, while his ear, his heart, and hand, are all open; now, while the days of his efpoufals, and the days of the gladness of his heart, continue; and while the bridegroom is with thee, and he tells thee to open thy mouth wide and he will fill it, faying, "What is thy petition, and what is thy requeft, and it shall be granted thee, even to the whole of the kingdom?" Now, I fay, is the time to covet earnestly the best gifts. Seek every love token, ask every needful grace, every bleffing, and every gift, that accompanies falvation. Follow after charity, wifdom, righteousness, peace, in all thy petitions; and crave all the promises, in the power of them, which his liberal heart can afford, with refpect to future help, need, and prefervation; for I must tell thee again, as I have told thee in time paft, that "the time will come when ye fhall defire to fee

one of the days of the Son of man, and ус fhall not fee it." If thou purfue this my counfel, thou wilt be furnished with many powerful pleas in time to come; and, if thou minute down his gracious words and love vifits, thefe would, in fome future time, fill thy mouth with arguments. But, alas! thou art too bufy. This harveft will be paft, and thy fun will be declining; the fhadows of the evening will be ftretching out, and the trial of faith be coming on. Satan will plunder thy memory of all the fweet promises thou haft obtained. He will addrefs thee as an angel of light, and work upon all the natural and corrupt affections that thou art poffeffed of; and fhall fo influence thy natural paffions, as that thou shalt even be at a lofs to know from whence they come. Then will he fift up, overhaul, and call in queftion, all this good work; and, while univerfal charity is flowing in, the beft beloved will be drawing off; and then, like a young wanton fpendthrift, thou wilt fet down and condemn thine own folly and indifcretion for not adopting these measures; for, during the furnace work, there will be only now and then a ftanding behind the wall, and a glimpfe through the lattice, which provokes to jealousy, and, in the general, terminates in fainting fits and love fickness; at which seasons the comeliness of the countenance is much defaced; the ornaments of a meek and quiet fpirit fullied; gospel fimplicity tarnished; the bowels

of mercy ftraitened; and, instead of well-fet hair, baldness. The tabret becomes a bye-word; converfation lofes its favour, and the words their falt. Let me advise thee to provide for thyself a few high heaps of witneffes, and to fet up a few private land-marks, which fhall ferve thee in time to come; for the many that are looking to thee, and emptying thy barrel and crufe, will make thee the keeper of their vineyard; and thou shalt by and by confefs that thine own vineyard thou haft not kept. To be open, and to communicate, and to tell others what God hath done for our fouls, is right. The woman healed of her iffue was called forth before the whole company to confefs what fhe had done, and what had been done in her; and it was approved. When with the heart we believe, with the mouth we must confefs; for this is being found to return, and to give glory to God. But to make thine own calling clear, and thine own clection fure, is, and ought to be, the principal work, and is laying in a good foundation against the time to come. "When I am old and grey-headed forfake me not, O God of my falvation!" faith the Pfalmift. And, if thou dost not lay up for a future famine, future times of drought, or future defertions, thou fhalt furely complain, as others have done, "O that it was with me as in months paft, when God preferved me, when the Almighty was with me, when the fecret of God was upon my tabernacle, and when my glory

was