ence betwixt running to the law, and the law being brought home to the conscience. stopping the mouth, and bringing the soul in guilty before God. And oh, what a pleasing sight it would be, if it were our Lord's will, to see our dead-hearted, unregenerated parish assemblies, with their mouths stopped, their haughty looks humbled, the manifest indifference turned into anxiety, and the proud lucre-hunting priest turned into a poor Lazarus; but it is not so, and dissent is only safe. But to return, where the law is brought home, the fallow ground of the heart is broken up, and the rigorous schoolmaster demands obedisnce or death. The poor, quickened soul is all alarm, all terror; his once easy bed is now too short, aud the covering is now too narrow; exposure to vengeance and no hiding-place terrify him; confession, contrition, and anguish are his sorrowful meat; God be merciful, is wrung out of his heart, but whether he shall ever obtain it appears all uncertain; in the bare utterance he cannot rest, and an answer from God appears too much for him to obtain; dismay sets upon his countenance, his friends wonder what has befallen him, and he is a wonder to himself: here, if the divine Leader permit, the enemy sets upon him: Oh, says the devil, here is another Job, another Hezekiah; and at the poor soul he comes, at least I know he did at me, and in an instant struck such horrible and awful things into my soul, which are improper to utter; the heart swells with awful blasphemies, until it appears impossible to keep from uttering them: "Set a watch over my mouth, and keep the door of my lips," is wrung from his sorrowful soul. Then the fiery foe flings another dart-There is no help for you in God, he is your enemy, he has given you up to a reprobate mind, and your present state is an earnest of everlasting misery, and for you to dare to call upon God is awful presumption, why the things

which dart up in your heart against him are so desperately wicked, God will strike you dead if you dare to take his name into your lips, and besides you know there are Balaams, Sauls and Judases, and you are one; not but what it is a hard case, says the devil. for a man to wish to go to heaven, and there is no opportunity; for Adam to sell him and God to pass him by, bnt so it is, for he is in one mind and none can turn him, since all that he does was purposed and fixed before the foundation of the world, and it is impossible to alter it, therefore your tears and sighs, your sorrow for sins, your repentance and humility cannot avail; you may cry and shout, but he will shut out your prayer, for your case is like that of Phaltiel, David's wife's paramour, she was sent for to court, and he was snarled back, and back he went, and made the best of a bad bargain, and if you have any regard for yourself, you will do so too; you have only to give up prayer, and call off your thoughts from eternity, and then indulge in the society of your friends. Do not meet sorrow half way. Why not enjoy the good things whilst you may here. Thus the old serpent will twine round the soul, and from an enemy transform himself into a friend, endeavouring to allure into sin, and, when it suits his purpose, to sink it in despair, for if ye be led of the Spirit, Satan will oppose and hold the soul back, and throw it into the fire and into the water, and anything and every thing he can, to keep it from Christ; and an unwearied foe I have found him and still find him to be, but through mercy though unwearied he is unconquered nor unconquerable, for Christ hath made a shew of him, and openly conquered over him, and declares his people shall be more than conquerors through him who doth and everlastingly will love them. Nor is Satan the only foe the child of God has to meet with, for the flesh will lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit

against the flesh, and the body of the sins of the flesh will continually annoy, though they cannot destroy, for their glorious Leader will be their gracious convoy, for he is both a leader and a commander to his redeemed people.

:

But I hasten to the last general head of our observations in all the divine leadings of the Holy Spirit he hath a most glorious and a most gracious design to accomplish, and which is first, to glorify Christ; and, second, to bring every quickened soul to him, and to such a reception of him, as to be saved by him. Now as there is a most glorious fulness in the Saviour, and an entire emptyness in the sinner, there is a fitness wrought in the soul when it is led by the Spirit into its empty, but, ruined and undone state and condition, and no one ever was yet led to Christ by the Spirit, who was not previously led into their own hearts: and if you, my hearers, have not been led to a feeling assurance that you are lost ruined and undone without an interest in Christ, you are of the congregation of the dead, you are not in the path of life. Christ can only be received as he is feelingly needed, nor is there any way to him ever opened up by the Spirit, but through the heart; no way to fellowship with him in soul travail, but in travail of soul, for,

"What comfort can a Saviour bring

To those who never felt their woe; A sinner is a sacred thing,

The Holy Ghost has made him so : New life from him we must receive Before for sin we rightly grieve."

Then the way to Christ is the Spirit's way, and the Spirit's way is against the flesh; but various are the means he is pleased to employ, by which he reveals and makes known the glorious and gracious object he hath undertaken in the covenant to glorify; but however simple and inefficient in themselves the means

may be, that excellency of power he is pleased to accompany them with, hath ever rendered them sufficient to accomplish the making known the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of escape from eternal misery, and the only door of hope of obtaining mercy. When the divine Leader has discovered the object, he must certainly lead the soul to that object, and similar to what the prophet Zechariah says in xii. 10, he will lead it to look, he will lead it to long, he will lead it to mourn, and ultimately he will lead it to rejoice; and of these I shall endeavour to speak distinctly. And, first, when the means aae blessed, and the eyes of the understanding are enlightened, and the glorious doctrine of the incarnation is made known, how wonderful does the person and work of the Lord Jesus appear. But, secondly, when his person and work is made known, of the longings of heart there is felt in the enlightened and enlivened soul for salvation in him. But, in the next place, mourning. Ah, says the feeling beart, I see the way, but where or what I am I know not, seeing the way and walking in it I now find are very different things; and it appears to me, at times, as though I never had set one foot in the way. Oh, how often have I envied those their happiness, whose faces I have often seen cheerful under the sermon, whose warmed and devotional souls have poured forth praise and thanksgiving to God in the singing. Indeed they are a happy favoured people. I know it shall be well with the righteous, they are a favoured people. How often I have heard one and another speak of what the Lord has done for them, but I am shut up, they know their election and well they may be cheerful, their adoption, but I never knew mine; they can call God their Father, but I dare not, oh, that I could; but oh, what a

mercy for those who can. I look at the ordinances of the Lord's house, and can truly say, I mourn after them, but I dare not come to them, and one thing tries me more than all. and that is, a cold barren hard prayerless heart, my state is such, that if I might have heaven for one believing feeling prayer, it appears I must miss it, my prayer does not appear prayer, my condition is much like that of the poet, who said:

"If aught is felt tis only pain,

To find I cannot feel."

Well poor soul is thy case described, is it thus with thee? if so, I tell thee I have travelled with thee, step by step; I was brought low as thou, and the Lord helped me, and his word and my own soul's experience, warrants me to tell thee, he will appear for thee; now hear his word, and may he put power into it, that it may do thee good, the Lord says: "For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise saith the Lord," and again, he says, "The needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shull not perish for ever," and though poor sinner, thou sayest, I shall not see him, yet judgment is before him, therefore trust thou in him, for he will bring thee forth to the light and thou shalt behold his righteousness, and,

"Though dark be thy way with dangers beset,

And we, through delay, are no farther yet, Onr good guide and Saviour hath brought us thus far,

And 'tis by his favour we are what we are."

Oh, says the poor soul, if I was sure I was one of his that my name was written in heaven, and if I could believe he would certainly appear for me before a dying hour, if I had but one token so as to remove doubt, then I think I could wait for future favours with cheerfulness, but my life hangs in doubt, and my days seem

spent without hope. The individual, whose remains we deposited yesterday, in the house appointed for all living, was one of these, but the Lord, mercifully appeared for her at last, and he has never failed nor forsaken one who has mourned for his appearing, he will, I say again, bring thee forth to the light and thou shalt behold his righteousness. In the last place, he will bring the poor, looking, longing, mourning soul to rejoice, and that in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh. And now, my hearers, can you say, all flesh by confidence is destroyed; bath the blessed Spirit stripped you, employed you, spoiled your first religion, turned your eyes from admiring the vain parade of established hypocrisy, of dead disent and subtility, have you been compelled to come out and be separate, have you been brought to a pilgrim's path and a pilgrim's fare for the sake of attending the ministry that stands in the power of God, and now, under the ministry which is so offensive to the dead, hath Christ manifested himself to you as he does not to the world? If the means spoken of hath not been used to reveal Christ, hath any means been blessed? If not I would have you, on going home, say, According to the preacher's testimony this night I am a Christless soul. But to the poor soul who can say, I want not to deceive nor be deceived, but before God I can say, The ministry of the word hath opened my eyes; I have sat under the testimony of truth, when the Spirit power hath so accompanyed it to my soul that I have said, Lord Jesus, we are one, and shall never part: thou art the vine, I am the branch; my heart loves thee, my hope centers in thee; once I was blind, but now I see, once affar off, but now made nigh by the blood of my dear Saviour, my precious Suerty: his people I esteem as the excellent of the earth, and I bless him for delivering me from blind

not heard from him; give my dearest love to him. Oh, he is a man specially, and wonderful taught of God. My wife and myself give our love to your wife, Mr. and Mrs. W, Mt. E- and Mr. M, and all friends, Your's in truth,

N. MARRINNER,

P. S.-I hope you will write, and not be so happy as me. Tell Mr. H——, I should feel it a special favour to hear from him.

EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF THE LATE REV. WILLIAM HUNTINGTON.

GOD has three ways of giving life and motion to the soul, the first is, Sore trial: by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit." Secondly, When the discoveries of his goodness draw, attract, and allure us. Thirdly, When some reflections upon past mercies, favours and deliverances are attended with a spring of gratitude, through rising up and flowing out, moves the soul to meet its God, and sure I am, that all abasing and self-loathing sensations; all humbling and mortifying operations; together with all the actings of faith, hope, and love, or desire after him and all springs of gratitude thanksgiving or praise, that springs up in the heart; all submission, patience, meekness, resignation to his will, though but short, transient, or momentary, are the fruits of his most Holy Spirit, and are more pleasing to God than a "bullock that hath horns and hoofs."

Divine life gives the soul motion; it moves in the heart and mind toward God, so the poor prodidgal did when he said, "I will arise, and go to my Father," it raises a cry in the soul, and it cannot live without prayer, nor will any form suit it, nor any words please it, without energy and struggling within, and if it cannot speak, it will sigh, groan, mourn,

In nothing is real divine life discovered, than by observing the dry fare and sordid husks on which dead, formal professors, and senseless hypocrites are fed, the carnal mind is nourished by presumption, the understanding with speculative notions, whilst honest conscience is considered as the old man of sin, and his past rebukes as the workings of inbred corruption; conscience brow-beaten and silenced, passes for peace, and full assurance; but as for the heart, the affections, and the conscience, these reap no advantage by the whole profession; but God begins at the other end of the man; he shines into the heart, and lays that open, sends his word to the heart, and makes it honest; smites the heart and heals it; conquers the affections, and arms conscience against us, and so he goes on till guilt is removed and peace proclaimed, and then the soul loves him.

There are five things God aims to destroy by afflictions: first all false confidence, Job xviii. 14; Jer. ii. 37, false hopes, Prov. xi. 7, and self-righteousness, Isa. xl. 29, and lastly he destroys all false notions of God, for we think him just like ourselves, Ps. cxxi, which are nothing else, but the idols of our brain, and therefore he says, From all your idols will I cleanse you," Ezek. xxxvi. 15. But he knew them that put their trust in him; he knew their souls in adversity, and remembered them in their low estate, and those that are most tried and afflicted by him he will acknowledge with the most particular