crease his graces and gifts, crown his labours of love among you, with abundant success, in the conversion of sinners, in the edification of believers, and in the promotion of the establishment, growth, and prosperity of your infant church! In order to his being thus honored, I trust he will be kept humble; still waiting in believing dependence upon his Lord, in whom all fulness dwells, seasonably receiving all needful supplies from him, and rendering all back to him in gratitude, praise, and cheerful, persevering obedience, and service! The provision which you have made for his support, is in my view, all circumstances considered, an expression of the liberality of the people; and to him, in his present situation, it will, I doubt not, be adequate to his necessities, and entirely satisfactory. In short, I think he has great cause for thankfulness and encouragement, on account of the many agreeable, favourable and promising circumstances attending his residence among you. May the Lord maintain and increase your comfort in each other; and multiply to you, respectively, the blessings of his love and his peace!

I thank you for the abstract which you have given me of the Constitutional Rules of your Church. I suppose they are suited to your circumstances; and to me they appear to be generally good. I am particularly pleased with the article relative to the doctrines in which the Church professes her faith. The want of something of this nature in our own Constitution, I consider as a deficiency to be regretted: particularly as I think it improper, and likely to be productive of evil, persons who do not believe some of the fundamental, distinguishing doctrines of the gospel, should have a right to vote, in the choice of a pastor. The West

that

minster Confession of Faith, as a system of doctrine, in my opinion, is conformable, in all the great points, to scripture truth. Perhaps some objections may lie against a rule of the church, requiring it to be adopted, in toto, as a standard by which the faith of every person must be measured, in order to admission to church privileges; and perhaps a more brief, comprehensive summary of fundamental, divine truths, might be substituted in the constitution itself, as a measure more eligible, than that of an unlimited adoption of the Westminster Confession. But the adoption of such a standard, more or less brief or full, I regard as a matter of importance to the purity of the church, and well adapted to ensure its stability and prosperity, on the most solid and permanent grounds.

ISAAC S. KEITH.

TO DR. F.

CHARLESTON, JULY 6, 1808.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

THREE of your letters are now before me, under dates June 17th and 27th, and July 1st. All these favours, be assured, have been very welcome to me and are very thankfully acknowledged. The kind notice which you have taken in the first especially of my present situation under a bereaving dispensation of Divine Providence, which has deprived me of a multiplicity of the most desirable, and the dearest of social enjoyments and mortal comforts, and the sympathy expressed by Mrs. F. and yourself, together with the

Consolatory reflections which you have suggested, have been truly grateful and soothing to me, It is a sweet alleviation of our sorrows, to know that they are tenderly shared by friends, and especially by christian friends, whom we esteem and love, and by whose prayers we may be helped to bear, and to improve them with a christian temper, to the glory of God, and our own spiritual benefit. I accept, with peculiar satisfaction, the friendly interest which you, and your worthy partner, feel in my concerns, and I will esteem it as a particular favour, to be still remembered by you in your prayers. You are no doubt mutually sensible of, and thankful for, the happiness and the many advantages which you enjoy in a connexion the most endearing that can subsist between mortals on earth, and which is peculiarly interesting to those who are heirs together of the grace of life. Let every day's continuance of these precious comforts and blessings, serve to enliven your gratitude for them, and to unite your hearts in a more fervent love to the gracious Author of them. And remembering the changing scenes of life, "lean not on earth," but. let your trust, your hope, your joy, with the supreme affections of your hearts, centre in the Lord your God and Redeemer, in whom alone they can find a solid and permanent support, and an unchangeable object, every way adequate, and altogether worthy! In him may you feel yourselves daily more and more blessed; and through his grace with you, may you prove rich and increasing blessings to each other, to the dear children whom the Lord has graciously given you, and to many around you in the sphere of duty and usefulness, in which he has wisely placed you!

I cannot express to you, the satisfaction which I feel in the view which you have given me of the pleasing state of your infant church. Its beginning, though small, seems to be peculiarly promising. May its growth be rapid, and its latter end greatly increased! The progress which you have already made, in associating and organizing yourselves as a church, exceeds all the expectations which I had formed in your favour, for so early a period. Not unto yourselves, not unto yourselves, but unto the Lord, who has all hearts in his hands, and who gives to the counsels and conduct of his creatures, that direction and that issue which he pleases, let all the glory be ascribed! And still remember, "that the Lord is with you while you are with him." Wherefore, "be strong, and work" in his name and for his glory; and doubt not that "he will establish the work of your hands, and cause his work to appear among yourselves, and his glory to your children," and successors!

The Lord indeed seems to be beginning to do great things for you: particularly in disposing the hearts of some to join you, or to favour you,whose wealth and talents give them an important influence in their stations in the world. The souls of all indeed, of the meanest slave, and of the greatest potentate, are in one view equally precious, as they are equally immortal, and equally liable to everlasting misery, and equally capable of everlasting happiness, and will certainly suffer the one, or enjoy the other, to the extent of their respective powers through all the ages of eternity. But, undoubtedly when such men as Barnwell and Clay become the genuine disciples of the cross, and friends of the gospel, they are qualified, from their superior intellectual abilities and education, and from their worldly pos

sessions and preponderating weight in society, to do more than others, in supporting and promoting the Redeemer's cause and interests in the world. I am happy indeed to hear, that you have the countenance and aid of such distinguished characters in your designs and efforts for the advancement of pure and undefiled religion, in your town and neighbourhood. May the Lord increase the number of such subjects of his grace, and champions of his cross, and more and more abundantly bless them, and make them blessings to the church and the world!

As to yourself, in respect to the difficulties which you feel in acting conformably to the obligations imposed by the new office in the church, with which you are vested; I need only remind you that in the adorable Head of the church, whom you are called to serve in that station, all fulness dwells, and that from this you are to draw, according to your wants, by prayer and faith; and you have only to ask, believing, that you may receive abundantly from him who giveth wisdom and grace liberally, without upbraiding his supplicants for their necessities, or their unworthiness.

Your promised abstract of your constitution, and your farther communications respecting your church and family, yourself, &c. &c. will be very acceptable to me. Write often and largely but expect not measure for measure from me: as I am often, in my present solitary situation, solitary in a domestic and pastoral view, so much occupied with a variety of affairs, unavoidably demanding my attention and my cares, that I find very little leisure for corresponding with my friends. Finding it impracticable to write to you last week, as the past Lord's day was our sacramental season, I desired Mr. Palmer to write in answer to your letter of the 17th