through much tribulation; and it is through much tribulation we must enter that kingdom; therefore dream not of an easy, nor of an even path; but of self denial, and of a daily cross; which, whether you expect or not, you will have, as nothing else will make us thirst for God, or wean us from this world; nothing but these will empty us of self, nothing but these will mortify and subdue the old man. As soon as this fit is over my dear brother will have a lit tle cordial, a little honey from the Rock, and a few delightful streams from the breasts of con solation. So I write, and so you shall subscribe ere long. God bless thee.

My very dear Brother in Christ,

LATE last night I came home, having preached five times this week; and this day at noon I received my dear Brother's letter; to which I must immediately send a line by way of answer. I was much grieved to hear of your affliction in mind and body, knowing how hard it seems to us when we are young in the ways. But to

bear the Saviour's cross, and to suffer for Christ's

sake, is a divine gift; "It is given on your behalf, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake." And, as sure as we suffer with him, so sure shall we reign with him: but, if we are without chastisement, then are we bastards, and not sons; and, if not sons, not heirs of God, nor joint heirs with Christ. Besides, it is in trouble that God is a very present help; it is in adversity that God knows us and owns us; and they who continue with Christ in his temptations shall sit on the throne with him for it is by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of our spirits. So God revives us, and so he causes us to live.

By no other means, my dear Tommy, will you grow, but by being emptied from vessel to vessel; by ups and downs; by the horrible pit and the joyful mount; by clouds of darkness and rays of light; by the deepest sorrows and sweetest drops; by flames of jealousy and souldissolving love; by sad desertions and transient visits; by bitter sighs and sweet support; by hard thoughts of the best of friends, and self-abhorrence for them; by blasphemous temptations and wonderful preservations; by slavish fears and melting joys; by desponding thoughts and budding hopes; by quitting the field and renewing the fight; by fainting away and pursuing the end; by sinking in hell and soaring aloft;

by starving for want and eating one's fill; by dying for love and kissing to death; by boldness in prayer and shame to look up; by urging our claim and doubting the same; by calling him ours and confessing it is wrong.

And now, my dear friend, I have told you the way that I have come; and, if I have any understanding therein, this is the way that you will go, if you grow and get forward.

The work of my God prospers greatly in my hands; I have just parted with a lady who by my books was wrought upon at sea. She has been five voyages with her husband to the Mediterranean, and is now bound for Malta. But there is a secret something tells me that a most awful cloud in hot displeasure hangs over our heads; and that we shall feel some thing of the effects of it before next Lady-day; in which calamity a just God will find some other employ for the rich men of this country besides that of belying his providence, hatching artificial famine, and grinding the faces of the poor. Take this hint from the watchman, and stand fast in your hope.

Yours to command, in undissembled love,

W. H. S. S.

CCCCXXII.

March 1801,

My dearly beloved Friend and Brother in Christ

Jesus;

I was sorry to leave thee so low in spirit about your spouse's affliction; and I wish much to know if God has been pleased to listen to our poor petitions in her behalf, as I had no small share of enlargement for her this morning; and therefore beg that my dear friend will inform me how she is. O how incomprehens sibly great is that blessing of having God for a present help in times of trouble! And how infinitely good is God for keeping us from departing from him in times of prosperity and ease! which in men professing godliness is the basest of all ingratitude. I have seen enough of this to make a wise man mad; which has shewn the vileness of human nature in them, and the unremitted and undeserved mercy of God to me, who am no better, but far worse in heart than they.

Let nothing carry thee away, my dear brother. Let God every morning have the first minutes of the day, and the first thoughts of the morning. Let him be thy first counsellor,

and let him have the casting voice in all thy consultations; "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy steps; commit thy ways unto him, and thy thoughts shall be established." When God has been pleased to indulge us with nearness of access to him, and freedom and enlargement before him; with humility and self-abhorrence, attended with love and gratitude to him; with hope in him and peace with him; how composed and becalmed is the mind! How tranquil and serene is the soul! And with what fortitude and satisfaction do we go forth to meet the toils and troubles of the day, conscious that there is nothing standing between us and our God, through the great undertaking and full satisfaction made by the Surety of the better testament! Then, my dear brother, may we "eat our bread with joy, and drink our wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth our works."

Pray give my love to poor little Nan, to his pettish and peevish Excellency; and to all that love the meek, the lowly, and the altogether lovely Son of God. I am at times like the poor eagle I could stir up the nest at Lewes, and spread the wing (often in imagination) over the Cliff chapel; but the pinion is too short to reach, and often so cold that it could communicate no heat, supposing the feathers could reach so far. In this strait I have but