it may, leaves that one in the appointed number less; and if we can rub through this poor, sinful, dying life at any rate, so that we can be supported and blessed by Him with his presence and grace to serve, love, and glorify him by the way, we shall soon lose sight of all our troubles, cares, and losses, when our last breath has for ever fled, amidst the glories of the Lamb. Then let us ask, my friend, which of us shall be the greatest wonder there.

Let this suffice for what is now; and hence you may gather how it is with me; and I trust that it is well with you also. What is to come while we are on this side the grave, we know not, neither should we be anxious to know; for "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof;" and who by taking thought can add, or take from, or alter what Jehovah has designed? God will work his sovereign will, whether we are submissive or not. Nothing will make us submissive thereto but a sense of a blood-bought pardon felt in the conscience. To feel submissive and resigned to the divine will, is blessed beyond description. Nothing but divine power can bring us into that frame, and keep us there. This also I have learned of the Lord.

But to conclude. Though it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," it is said also, "But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit," us who have his Spirit dwelling in us, and not to one soul beside. Have we this Spirit? Is sin a grief and burden to us? Are we looking and longing for redemption in, and through, and from Jesus?-for salvation through, and healing and cure from, his bleeding wounds? Do we long to enjoy rest at his feet below, and desire to live and reign with him above? Then we are the blessed us here spoken to. Some of the things here revealed to us by God the Spirit, are as follows:-Our sinnership; our lost, undone estate by nature; our utter helplessness and inability, and Christ's all-sufficiency, power, and willingness to save us; forgiveness of all our sins through his blood sealed in the conscience, received by faith, and really enjoyed within, through the power of the Holy Ghost; our election of God; our eternal union with Jesus; our adoption, justification, sanctification, effectual calling, final perseverance, and assurance of our justification.

O what a cluster of blessed things is here! How blessed beyond expression it is to taste the sweetness of them by faith, and enjoy them within! My soul knows that they will not lead to licentiousness, but to holiness in conduct, lips, and life, let others say what they please. Let me but enjoy the power of these truths, then let the world smile or frown if it please. The secret locked up in my breast, I esteem above rubies; crowns and thrones cannot be compared with it. Christ enjoyed below, and Christ enjoyed above, what more can a mortal desire the enjoyment of? The one gives an assurance and is the foretaste of the other; therefore, we know in part what heaven is, before we reach that blissful place; but when we are safe there, then shall we know in full-when we see Him who died for us face to face, without a veil between. The precious things enjoyed within while here, give a blessed idea of what those things are

which are reserved for us and for the whole elect above, and a firm and fixed persuasion of their reality and existence; but we must die to know what they are in their completion in glory: "Here we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known."

Allow me now to leave the subject for your secret reflection, and sum up all in that blessed expression, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And may the Lord comfort our hearts amidst the troubles of the way, make us joyful in tribulation, fervent in spirit, and con stant in prayer, till we on Canaan's shore shall shout, "Victory, victory, victory through the blood of the Lamb!"

Bedworth, Feb. 16, 1844.

Yours affectionately,

THE PLAGUE OF THE HEART.

G. T. C.

My dear Sir, I am truly concerned to hear of your case. May He who wounds, heal. He is the great Physician of souls; and it is only those who find themselves sin-sick that will apply. O what a fountain of indwelling sin have we been made sensible, feelingly sensible of! "When I would do good, evil is present with me," the apostle cried and roared out lustily, when he felt "the plague of his own heart;" and indeed it is a plague. But blessed are those who know it, and feel it too. You may depend upon it, that a mightier power than our own has taught us this severe lesson; and I hope that by terrible things in righteousness he is teaching both of us-first by flogging our self-righteousness well out of us, next by showing us our utter helplessness even to believe or lay hold of the promise, aye, even to believe without his help. For when the Spirit of truth comes into the heart, what does the sinner see? A sight that makes him shudder, that makes him sick, aye, heartily sick, and loathe and abhor himself. He sees what he never saw before, and what not all the powers of nature, or books, or even the Bible, could teach him, unaided. He has read-I have read, many a time-that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" that "all the imaginations and thoughts of man's heart are only evil, and that continually;" that "out of the heart proceed murders, blasphemies,"

&c.

Now, every heart is such as here described; but it is only when a ray of light breaks in, that we can see; and a pretty commotion there is when the awful spirituality of God's law is first felt in the sinner's conscience. He now feels, and for the first time, that "the wages of sin is death," and must be so; and he can set to his seal, so far, that the book of God is true. Well, this is his work; for "he shall convince the world of sin." And you may depend upon it, when you feel properly convinced of this, it is the Spirit's work; and be thankful for so much light; for He that has begun will carry it on.

He convinces too of unbelief. You say that you would, if better in health, be enabled to appropriate the promises to yourself. You might as well say that you would reach down the sun! It is the Spirit's work, after having wounded, to heal. When wounded, ask

it may, leaves that one in the appointed number less; and if we can rub through this poor, sinful, dying life at any rate, so that we can be supported and blessed by Him with his presence and grace to serve, love, and glorify him by the way, we shall soon lose sight of all our troubles, cares, and losses, when our last breath has for ever fled, amidst the glories of the Lamb. Then let us ask, my friend, which of us shall be the greatest wonder there.

Let this suffice for what is now; and hence you may gather how it is with me; and I trust that it is well with you also. What is to come while we are on this side the grave, we know not, neither should we be anxious to know; for "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof;" and who by taking thought can add, or take from, or alter what Jehovah has designed? God will work his sovereign will, whether we are submissive or not. Nothing will make us submissive thereto but a sense of a blood-bought pardon felt in the conscience. To feel submissive and resigned to the divine will, is blessed beyond description. Nothing but divine power can bring us into that frame, and keep us there. This also I have learned of the Lord.

But to conclude. Though it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," it is said also, "But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit," us who have his Spirit dwelling in us, and not to one soul beside. Have we this Spirit ? Is sin a grief and burden to us? Are we looking and longing for redemption in, and through, and from Jesus?-for salvation through, and healing and cure from, his bleeding wounds? Do we long to enjoy rest at his feet below, and desire to live and reign with him above? Then we are the blessed us here spoken to. Some of the things here revealed to us by God the Spirit, are as follows:-Our sinnership; our lost, undone estate by nature; our utter helplessness and inability, and Christ's all-sufficiency, power, and willingness to save us; forgiveness of all our sins through his blood sealed in the conscience, received by faith, and really enjoyed within, through the power of the Holy Ghost; our election of God; our eternal union with Jesus; our adoption, justification, sanctification, effectual calling, final perseverance, and assurance of our justification.

O what a cluster of blessed things is here! How blessed beyond expression it is to taste the sweetness of them by faith, and enjoy them within! My soul knows that they will not lead to licentiousness, but to holiness in conduct, lips, and life, let others say what they please. Let me but enjoy the power of these truths, then let the world smile or frown if it please. The secret locked up in my breast, I esteem above rubies; crowns and thrones cannot be compared with it. Christ enjoyed below, and Christ enjoyed above, what more can a mortal desire the enjoyment of? The one gives an assurance and is the foretaste of the other; therefore, we know in part what heaven is, before we reach that blissful place; but when we are safe there, then shall we know in full-when we see Him who died for us face to face, without a veil between. The precious things enjoyed within while here, give a blessed idea of what those things are

which are reserved for us and for the whole elect above, and a firm and fixed persuasion of their reality and existence; but we must die to know what they are in their completion in glory: "Here we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known."

Allow me now to leave the subject for your secret reflection, and sum up all in that blessed expression, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And may the Lord comfort our hearts amidst the troubles of the way, make us joyful in tribulation, fervent in spirit, and constant in prayer, till we on Canaan's shore shall shout, "Victory, victory, victory through the blood of the Lamb!"

Bedworth, Feb. 16, 1844.

Yours affectionately,

THE PLAGUE OF THE HEART.

G. T. C.

My dear Sir, I am truly concerned to hear of your case. May He who wounds, heal. He is the great Physician of souls; and it is only those who find themselves sin-sick that will apply. O what a fountain of indwelling sin have we been made sensible, feelingly sensible of! "When I would do good, evil is present with me," the apostle cried and roared out lustily, when he felt "the plague of his own heart;" and indeed it is a plague. But blessed are those who know it, and feel it too. You may depend upon it, that a mightier power than our own has taught us this severe lesson; and I hope that by terrible things in righteousness he is teaching both of us-first by flogging our self-righteousness well out of us, next by showing us our utter helplessness even to believe or lay hold of the promise, aye, even to believe without his help. For when the Spirit of truth comes into the heart, what does the sinner see? A sight that makes him shudder, that makes him sick, aye, heartily sick, and loathe and abhor himself. He sees what he never saw before, and what not all the powers of nature, or books, or even the Bible, could teach him, unaided. He has read-I have read, many a time-that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" that "all the imaginations and thoughts of man's heart are only evil, and that continually;" that "out of the heart proceed murders, blasphemies,"

&c.

Now, every heart is such as here described; but it is only when a ray of light breaks in, that we can see; and a pretty commotion there is when the awful spirituality of God's law is first felt in the sinner's conscience. He now feels, and for the first time, that "the wages of sin is death," and must be so; and he can set to his seal, so far, that the book of God is true. Well, this is his work; for "he shall convince the world of sin." And you may depend upon it, when you feel properly convinced of this, it is the Spirit's work; and be thankful for so much light; for He that has begun will carry it on.

He convinces too of unbelief. You say that you would, if better in health, be enabled to appropriate the promises to yourself. You might as well say that you would reach down the sun! It is the Spirit's work, after having wounded, to heal. When wounded, ask

it may, leaves that one in the appointed number less; and if we can rub through this poor, sinful, dying life at any rate, so that we can be supported and blessed by Him with his presence and grace to serve, love, and glorify him by the way, we shall soon lose sight of all our troubles, cares, and losses, when our last breath has for ever fled, amidst the glories of the Lamb. Then let us ask, my friend, which of us shall be the greatest wonder there.

Let this suffice for what is now; and hence you may gather how it is with me; and I trust that it is well with you also. What is to come while we are on this side the grave, we know not, neither should we be anxious to know; for "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof;" and who by taking thought can add, or take from, or alter what Jehovah has designed? God will work his sovereign will, whether we are submissive or not. Nothing will make us submissive thereto but a sense of a blood-bought pardon felt in the conscience. To feel submissive and resigned to the divine will, is blessed beyond description. Nothing but divine power can bring us into that frame, and keep us there. This also I have learned of the Lord.

But to conclude. Though it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," it is said also, "But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit," us who have his Spirit dwelling in us, and not to one soul beside. Have we this Spirit? Is sin a grief and burden to us? Are we looking and longing for redemption in, and through, and from Jesus?-for salvation through, and healing and cure from, his bleeding wounds? Do we long to enjoy rest at his feet below, and desire to live and reign with him above? Then we are the blessed us here spoken to. Some of the things here revealed to us by God the Spirit, are as follows:-Our sinnership; our lost, undone estate by nature; our utter helplessness and inability, and Christ's all-sufficiency, power, and willingness to save us; forgiveness of all our sins through his blood sealed in the conscience, received by faith, and really enjoyed within, through the power of the Holy Ghost; our election of God; our eternal union with Jesus; our adoption, justification, sanctification, effectual calling, final perseverance, and assurance of our justification.

O what a cluster of blessed things is here! How blessed beyond expression it is to taste the sweetness of them by faith, and enjoy them within! My soul knows that they will not lead to licentiousness, but to holiness in conduct, lips, and life, let others say what they please. Let me but enjoy the power of these truths, then let the world smile or frown if it please. The secret locked up in my breast, I esteem above rubies; crowns and thrones cannot be compared with it. Christ enjoyed below, and Christ enjoyed above, what more can a mortal desire the enjoyment of? The one gives an assurance and is the foretaste of the other; therefore, we know in part what heaven is, before we reach that blissful place; but when we are safe there, then shall we know in full-when we see Him who died for us face to face, without a veil between. The precious things enjoyed within while here, give a blessed idea of what those things are