justly condemned sinner; see a suitableness in God's way of saving sinners, through the infinitely valuable obedience and atonement of Emmanuel, honoring the law, and satisfying justice in our stead, that he might be just, and the jus tifier of the ungodly: if you have thus learnt to see God's whole character lovely,—that one so great and glorious, so holy and just, should be so compassionate, merciful, and loving: if, in this way, you have learned to hate sin, to love holiness, and follow after it, and to be humbled, ashamed, and grieved that you are no more holy; to feel a spirit of cordial love to God's character, government, and gospel, gratitude to him for his mercies, zeal for his glory; wanting others to know, love, serve, and enjoy his favor; considering his cause as your's; being grieved when his name is dishonored, and rejoicing in the prosperity of religion; praying from your heart the beginning of the Lord's prayer:-if this has taught you to desire to be patient in trouble, to be contented in your station, to depend on his providence, to adorn his gospel, and live to his glory; you then have the substantial evidences of conversion, such as they who have the most of the others have in general little of. This filial spirit toward God is the spirit of adoption; the seal of the Spirit, which the devil can neither break nor counterfeit; the earnest of the Spirit, a part of heaven brought down into the soul as a pledge of the whole. And, when the Holy Ghost brings these implanted graces into lively vigorous exercise, then he witnesses with our spirits that we are God's children; and not by any words brought to the mind, as many are deluded to believe. The latter, Satan can counterfeit, and it has nothing divine in it: the former is divine, from God, and leading to God.

"Finally, keep close to the Bible, and to the throne of grace, and bring all doctrines to that standard, and never prize or trust to, or grieve in the want of, what is unscriptural.--If what I write be of any use to you, I shall be glad to hear from you, and will endeavor to satisfy your mind in any other difficulty. You are also at liberty to communicate the contents to any other, if you think they may do good. Let nothing discourage you. If you are not

sure that you have experienced what I have mentioned, only go on in the use of means: An open door is set before you, and no man can shut it. There is love enough in Christ's heart, merit enough in his blood, power enough in his arm, knowledge and wisdom enough treasured up in

him, to supply all the wants of the poorest, guiltiest, most polluted, most foolish, and weakest of sinners. Of his fulness have all we received; and, Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. "Your sincere friend,

"and I hope brother in Christ Jesus,

"THOMAS SCOTT."

To the former Sister, Mrs. R.

"Olney, May 6, 1784.

"WE ought to have that hearty desire after the spiritual good of our friends and relatives which may put life into our prayers for them, and endeavors about them: but, let me observe, we may run into an extreme, when our anxiety is so great as to produce a spirit contrary to implicit submission to the divine sovereignty. Be still and know that I am God. This is no debt he owes us; and therefore, if he refuses, he expects our acquiescence: and, in this acquiescence, a great part of our loving Christ more than father or mother, and all the nearest relatives, consists. Thus, when Nadab and Abihu died in their transgression, Aaron held his peace. Eli honored his sons more than God: yet, being convinced, humbled, and penitent, he said, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Nor can we entirely excuse David of blame, for his inordinate grief for the death of rebellious Absalom. There was a want of submission to the sovereignty of God, in whose justice, holiness, wisdom, goodness, he ought to have implicitly acquiesced; and to have accounted his own petty personal concerns, however near to him, as nothing in comparison with the glory of the great God, before whom all the inhabitants of the earth are less than nothing, and vanity. God will do no injustice to any; he delighteth in mercy: but he delighteth not in the death of a sinner. He hath allowed and encouraged us to pray for our friends: frequently, in infinite condescension, he heareth and answereth these prayers. He may answer them many years hence; and we have still encouragement to pray on, and use means: if finally he doth not grant our desires, he hath good reasons for it, which, when hereafter we see them, will satisfy us that it was wisest, and best, and most for his glory, and for the great ends of his government, that it

should not be: and, in the belief of this, we ought to be satisfied now, and to adopt the submissive language of Eli. The Lord hath graciously heard prayer for some of my relatives: others I stand in doubt of; some are virulent opposers; and several, very near to me, are gone into eternity without giving evidence of any change. Trials of this kind you also must expect: and, I hope, the reasons and considerations I have suggested will prepare you for them. What a sovereign God hath done for us, personally, can never enough be valued and acknowledged. If he honors prayers and means for one and another, how great his condescension and our obligation! While we live and they live, let us persist in the same means, and hope for greater things: but let us beg of God that we may be preserved from repining, when he sees good to cross us in some part of these our inclinations: for, however laudable these desires are in us, we are very short-sighted, and see but a small part of his plan; and, consequently, are not competent to judge whether it be best on the whole that they should be gratified or not. Not our will but thine be done! is our motto.........I shall ever be happy to write a word in season to you in every circumstance and situation."

"DEAR SISTER,

LETTERS TO HIS SISTERS.

1778-1797.

To his Brother's Wife.

"Weston Underwood, March 10, 1778.

"I RECEIVED your last kind letter, and, wonderful to tell, am already set down to answer it. It gives me great pleasure to hear so good an account of you and your family, and especially of your husband and your eldest son. May the Lord continue them both, and all the rest, long to you, and make them comforts to you! For all worldly comforts are held by the same uncertain tenure: they may at any time be taken from us, and therefore it is prudent, as well as pious, to sit as loose to them as possible: or they may be continued to us when, on various accounts, they have quite ceased to be comforts. Such is this world and all that it contains! It has also another bad property: all things in it are unsatisfying: they may refresh, but they cannot fill, the capacities of an immortal soul, nor quiet those restless hankerings after something more, and something better, which all anxiously seek to gratify, except those few who have found the one thing needful. All these things are against us: and, the more they teach us the vanity of the world, and the folly of dependence thereon, so much the more do they recommend to us that satisfying good, that pearl of great price, which the psalmist speaks of when he says, The Lord is my portion: the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, yea I have a goodly heritage; and, those pleasures, and that fulness of joy, which are at God's right hand for evermore. How the world sinks in the esteem of that man who hath set his affections on things.

above, and laid up his treasure in heaven, and with full purpose of heart is daily following it; and, like Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, walketh with God, as one friend doth with another. This is the most desirable thing on earth, as it enables us, while we live in, to live above the world; to manage its affairs and enjoy its comforts, the same as others do, without having our happiness depending on, or exposed to the uncertainty of, things here below. While we are indulged with the comforts of kind friends, dear relatives, conveniences, &c., we taste, and are thankful for the goodness of God in them: but, when he who gave is pleased to take away, faith helps us to see goodness and wisdom even in his so doing; to rest satisfied that all is ordered by a friend, who fully intends our good, who is infallible in counsel, and cannot mistake what is good for us; and whose power is so unlimited that he can make all things work together for our good. We learn to consider all our affairs as in his hands; his goodness and his promise as our security; and on that ground we rejoice even in tribulation. How do they misunderstand religion, who are afraid lest being too religious should hurt their comforts, and lessen their enjoyments. True religion, vitally received into the heart, lessens nothing but our cares, perplexities, anxieties, and fears. It bids us cast all our care upon God, who careth for us; and to trust in him who hath promised never to leave us nor forsake us. It bids us, according to our station, to attend to the duty of every day in its day; and, while we employ every prudent precaution, to take no anxious thought for the morrow. It teaches us to regard the Almighty as our friend and father; our constant protector against every danger; our support under every trial and temptation; our counsellor, to whom we are always to repair in every difficulty; our comforter under every trouble; and our help in every struggle. This is religion. It calls off from vanities, and from vice; but it gives us things so much better, that we no sooner taste them, than we lose our relish for, and are disgusted with, those things which we are called to renounce. It calls us to break off evil habits, and to perform strange things, like changing the negro's skin and the leopard's spots; like cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye: but no sooner do we in good earnest set about compliance, than the mountains are removed, and the rough places made plain, and we find an assistance sufficient for every