TO THE SAME, IN NEW YORK.

Boston, August, 1800.

I YESTERDAY received my dear J's letter, which gives fresh cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less I am able to support the want of intelligence. Let us bless God together for all his mercies; among those which are temporal, health is the chief: and I believe to most mothers it is more valued in their children than in their own persons. I rejoice with you over our restored J-y. O that our covenant God may give the more important blessing of divine life! You had need to be importunate for this, after the importunity exercised for natural life. I thank God also for the alleviation of your own distress, for our dear D-'s restoration from complaints, less alarming so far as they existed, but which might have been the seeds of a serious affliction. I could go on enumerating; for causes of thankfulness crowd into my mind: but all are swallowed up in the grand mercy, the distinguishing mercy of redeeming love to our souls; salvation, not only to me, but to my house! All words fail here. Read over with me, sing with me, in your heart, the 103d Psalm. O my God, dare I even sigh in thy presence, under any temporary pain, or hurt of body or mind, with such a Father, such a Christ, such a Comforter, such a richly-furnished well-ordered covenant, such a constitution of Grace and Providence, such an "All in all,” even all the fulness of God! My God, and the God of my seed, the God of my house; yea, and the God of my prodigal, who shall in heaven, if never on earth, join the song, "To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory, honour, dominion, power and praise, for ever and ever. Amen." Shall a murmur ever

pass these lips; shall this unthankful heart indulge even a sigh over any object but sin; shall I shrink from

with such a crown?

"Father, glorify thy name."

any cross

I have been to church; the subject, " Be not weary in well-doing." Many arguments were adduced for exertion, all just; but the substance of the Gospel was not there. O that my friends could hear our shepherd; he would speak of his Master more in unison with their own hearts' experience, and views of new covenant provision and Gospel motives. Except in the Baptist congregations, the Gospel is much mutilated here, and kept out of sight, even by the few who are supposed to build upon it. It appears to me, only Dr. M- declares boldly, according to his views, without keeping back; he is esteemed their only champion; I love him dearly, though he uses the word probation, and one or two others, which my dear, and first in my heart, as a pastor, J. M—, likes not.

Sabbath next brings round your-I will add, my Gospelfeast. I will endeavour to meet you to morrow evening, and to have you all on my heart, then and on the Sabbath, in that one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Spirit, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all those that are redeemed by Jesus Christ, and sanctified by that one Spirit uniting all. What subjects! I cannot attain to the comprehension; but I experience their truth, and enjoy the comfort of them.

My dear J,

Belleville, September 2, 1808.

You have indeed had a trying time. If ever you needed a friend, it was at such a time. I trust that the

day is not very distant when you shall be blessed with your own dear husband, who will soothe your pains, and sweeten your cares, and lead you to cast them on the Lord, and lean where he himself leans.

There is a rest prepared for the people of God even here, could we only enter in. No affliction for the present is joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who are duly exercised by it. Every affliction has a language, and ought to produce great searchings of heart, that it may not pass without profit. This has a particular language to me as well as to you. Your husband's long absence drawing to a hopeful end; the days of anxious expectation arrived, when every hour will seem a day, and "hope deferred maketh the heart sick.' If ever a mother could be of use, it must be in the time of severe illness; yet is she absent from you in providence. You have, however, a " Friend that sticketh closer than a brother :" though" father and mother" might "forsake you, the Lord will take you up." That Friend is ever near no circumstances embarrass him, or prevent his attentions; his eye is on you every moment-he knows and feels every pang. There is a need-be` at times, that we be in heaviness, through manifold temptations; but the Lord knows how to work with us and them. O for the steady, abiding belief of this in my own soul! Much I need the consolation which I offer. I do believe that he will work, and none shall let. I do believe that the very hairs of our head are numbered, and a sparrow cannot fall without him; that he will work according to the counsel of his will, that none can turn aside his purpose, and that very fruitless is my anxiety. O to be able to say, in the full sense of the words, as given by our divine Teacher, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." This is enter

ing into rest; rest in the will of God. While I groan I ought to sing; for my own particular soul, I have all and abound; a throne of grace; an Advocate with the Father; no inconsiderable share of the spirit of prayer; "the Spirit helping my infirmities with groanings which cannot be uttered;" a sense of pardoning love; some evidences of success in my spiritual warfare; assurance of final victory; my mansions in view, often very near; my blessed High Priest waiting me in Jordan, who will divide the waters, support my head and heart, and carry me safely through.

O world, world, much have I suffered for the court I have paid to thee! Let my children take warning; let them keep a jealous eye over their hearts. All without may be fair, may bring praise from men, yea, even from Christians; yet may the spouse of Jesus be living in adultery. O let them watch" the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life." Let them watch in respect to lawful things-idols were made of the very trees of Lebanon. If our purest blessings occupy that place in our affections, or that portion of our time which should be devoted to spiritual exercises, great must be our loss! Our Husband expects our company, (Has he not wooed us with his very heart's blood?) confidential communion with bolted doors, all other objects excluded; his own gifts not excepted. He expects spiritual love, a whole heart. At such times. he brings his spouse "into the banqueting house, and his banner over her is love; he stays her with flagons, and comforts her with apples while she is sick of love."

I suffer my pen to run, because I know I write not mystery to you. You have tasted, you have felt, you have enjoyed all, and more than I can put in words. O my dear J—, I think the fault is ours, that we enjoy not oftener

such seasons; we leave neither room nor time, nor do we use the means; neither do we follow our melting seasons. Read in this view the 5th of the Song; see also the invitation in the 2d and 9th, to the end. O my J-, let not youthful prime, sensibility, and ardour, be all expended on the very best of his creatures.

TO MR. A. D—, EDINBURGH.

New York, 1793.

I HAVE just been reading over my dear friend's precious letters, and am refreshed anew by the same truths and uniform experience of every Christian; which all amounts to this that the Lord is the Portion of his people, and that whom he loves, he loves to the end. My soul melts with tenderness when I recollect my fellow-travellers in the wilderness; those dear associates with whom I have so often taken sweet counsel; who so often comforted me with the same comforts with which they themselves were comforted. I am also led to recollect some who have finished their warfare: some whose trials were sharp and long but who, through the same grace in which we trust, were steadfast to the end: and now inherit a crown of life-the reward of grace, not of debt. I feel strengthened, and comforted. My dear G-, I could have thought it an honour to have dressed that clay out of what the Lord gave me, and with my own hands. O how bright does the soul now shine in that fine linen, clean and white! Many, many were the tears she shed in the wilderness. She had a deep draught of the Redeemer's cup, because