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strength is almost gone, and God has promised to appear, when that is the case; you shall find the surety as soon as you have nothing to pay; the shepherd will find thee when thou art sensibly lost. He will justify thee when thou hast willingly passed the sentence on thyself, and lift thee up when truly humbled; and bring thee out into liberty, when thou art well disciplined with thy chains.

I am fully persuaded by the Lord, that thy long night is far spent, and that the day-spring is at hand. The daystar will soon give way to daylight, and then comes the sun of righteousness with healing in his rays. This will rend the vail of ignorance, and scatter the clouds of dejection, and turn the shadow of death into the morning. When this is thy happy case, thy mind will be divinely fortified against all the outward attacks that Satan can make. A few more days will shew my friend whether this prophecy be true or false. Peruse God's word day and night, credit his promise, and expect his promised help; pray without fainting, and always pray against unbelief, for an increase of faith also; for a tender conscience, for filial fear; and above all, for God to reveal his Son in your heart, and then you have got all at once. God forbid that I should cease praying for you a few days more, and you will see the land that is very far off. I have composed your epitaph,

which you may have put on your monument, without deceiving the reader; as soon as you

can say from an heartfelt peace, My beloved is mine. Dear Miss, adieu.

Thy willing Servant in the
Gospel of Christ,

W. H.

EPITA P H.

HERE lies a saint, a favour'd child of God,
Who in the path of tribulation trod;
Redeem'd by blood, and wed to Jesus Christ,
As pre-ordained, to reign in paradise.

To soul-distress this saint was oft inur'd,
Nor could her mind by vanity be cur'd:
By mental grief her frame was oft impair'd;
Nor could her health by human skill be rear'd.
One blessed object, distant from her view,
Constant, tender, loving, kind, and true,
A sacred shaft into her soul convey'd,
Which she could ne'er extract by mortal aid;
She sought relief, each effort prov'd in vain,
The wound was noble, though severe the pain.
No human skill can heal a wounded mind,
A wound immortal needs a balm divine.
The great Jehovah, sovereign Lord above,
Beheld this chosen damsel sick of love;
Unvail'd his face, appear'd inclin'd to woo;
In him she found her health, a husband too:
In love divine her raptur'd soul was fix'd,
With other lovers he could ne'er be mix'd;
In him she sleeps, in him she'll wake again,
Then ask no more, her husband knows her name.

LETTER XVIII.

Winchester Row, 5th August, 1785.

DEAR MADAM,

I RECEIVED yours of the first instant, and must

confess that it afforded me much comfort, as it served to satisfy me that God still condescended to own and bless my labours. I have found such accounts as yours the best antidotes against fainting in the work of the Lord: and have often perceived that God has sent them, after some temptation, reproach, or opposition has cast me down, as a reviving cordial, and as an encouragement for me to go on in his work, notwithstanding the difficulties that attend it. Tidings of God's approbation is to counterbalance the reproaches of carnal critics; and generally fires the heart with zeal and love, which dispels the carnal fear of

man.

I would willingly, Madam, comply with your request, but it takes me up a great deal of time to write a sermon; and as I am so much exercised, I cannot complete it under a month, for want of time; in the meanwhile the views wear off from my understanding, and I have not strength of memory to relate it in writing as it was delivered;

besides the life, warmth, power, quickness of thought, and sharpness of expression which sometimes appear in the pulpit, under a lively frame, go off from the soul when he has done, unless a man has time to set down and finish it immediately, while it lies fresh on his mind; which is a blessing that has never yet been granted to me.

However, I will here mention a few of the heads of it, as well as I can remember them; and as God owned the hearing of it, to deliver you out of the dreadful temptation, I hope he will own the reading of this epistle, to keep you in the enjoyment of your present liberty.

"The unpardonable sin goes by various names, as I find them scattered up and down in the word of God. It is called great wickedness; for it is said, that when "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, that they took them wives of all which they chose," Gen. vi. 2; and also after that, "When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children unto them; the same became mighty men, which were of old men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth." The sons of God I take to be professors of religion, and some real possessors of the grace of God among them; they married the daughters of Cain, which were begotten under the guilt of innocent blood; and perhaps they were partakers of their father's malice and desperation; as God

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