and certain of its future happiness. And so clear is the view, so powerful the thought, that the soul feels astonished at its past uncertainty, and thinks all uncertainty about its state is past.Time appears short, death amiable, God kind, Heaven sure, and all is well. All this is as sudden and as forcible as the other, and more so; and is, by its tendency to humble, purify, and comfort, and stimulate to duty, as evidently from God, as the other was from Satan. LETTERS, &c. LETTER I.-To MRS. RIMELL. London, June, 1786. MRS. RIMELL expects me home on Thursday.-I expect it will be on Saturday next. By this you have a fresh conviction that I am a very weather-cock, and that a little breeze will give me a great turn. I had a happy season last Sabbath, at that odd man's chapel; and if the people do not tell lies, they had the same. I find no difference between Christ's presence in London and Maidenhead. The people joined with me in prophesying to the windThe wind blew,-the mill ground, and the people fed. I have sustained several losses in London. -On Sabbath-day I lost my fears and gloom,-on Tuesday morning I heard Mr. Romaine, and lost an ounce or two of my ignorance, on Monday evening I heard Mr. D., and there I lost my patience,-on Tuesday evening I heard Mr. Scott, and then I lost my resolution of coming home on Thursday, by wishing to hear him again. With what an unutterable pleasure should I preach, if I were convinced that all my hearers prized an opportunity of hearing as much as I do. It affords my soul so much pleasure, that if Mrs. Goldsmith had not received my promise of preaching her husband's funeral sermon next Lord'sday, I should not come home until Saturday sen'night. Oh! the preciousness of a preached gospel, and oh! the criminal indifference with which it is treated by thousands of its hearers. They loathe it as light food, till taught its value, (if its value can be taught) by its departure from them. Whilst I am writing, the bell tolls for the Duke of Northumberland. Yes, death fought and conquered even him. Dear friend, if you and I could see death as dead as that great man, should we fear him? No, truly. Well this shall be the case: death shall be dead to us, if we first die to sin: if we live by faith in Christ, sin shall not live and reign in us. If sin is condemned and left by us, we shall never be condemned and left by God. I hope your leg is worse, if, under God, it makes life better. Don't mind hopping and hobbling a little, if by every stumble you get nearer endless health. Look into your bible: speak to it, and let it speak to you. What blessings it reveals! What objects it discovers! Look up to the infallible expositor: read, pray, think, believe, until heaven's realities blaze away the lustre of all created good.-Think that best which carnal reason thinks worst. We ought to do more than others, and bear more too. Bear your afflic tions more patiently than others, if God sends them, since you have a better hope. My kindest love to every one that inquires after me, and tell them I may possibly not be at home these two months. Yours, with sincerity, JOHN COOKE. LETTER II.-To MRS. RIMELL. London, May 8, 1787. Dear Friend, I AM now setting out for Essex, with brother Hill, in the possession of a good state of body and mind. Much as I talked in the coach, and walked in London, yesterday, I was not weary. Bless God for this instance of kindness to me; it is one of the best expressions of your friendship to pray and praise for me. I went to hear Mr. Huntington last night, but was disappointed in not hearing him nevertheless, I heard his spiritual son, with his unadorned simplicity, with great pleasure. I am sure a child may teach me, if my pride would suffer me to learn of him. I think of and pray for you. I would say, if I thought it necessary, do the same for me, but I need not urge you to what you would find it difficult to abstain from. "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." As many ! Who does not wonder that God should love any of the human race? To wean us from the world, self, and sin, the Lord rebukes the body with pain, weakness, diseases,-and the soul with anguish, grief, uneasiness, and teazing temptations: but why does he so do? "As many as I love I treat thus," he says, Make the best of your time, |