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Other lords have had dominion over me, and reigned and ruled in me, and would have reigned until this day, had I been left to myself; but now I desire no other king but Jesus to reign and rule in my heart, and to make mention of no other righteousness but his, and his only. Nevertheless I think there is no heart more pestered with unbelief than mine; having daily abundant reason to say, with the disciples of old, "Lord, increase my faith!" The promise is, grace shall reign, sin shall not have dominion; and, to the honour of the Lord's blessed name, I can say that hitherto this hath been fulfilled in me; for, though sin hath reigned and exceedingly abounded in me, yet free grace hath much more abounded. I find the old man and the new working in me, and keeping up a continual warfare; but the promise is, "The elder shall serve the younger;" and I believe it ever shall be so, according to the word of the Lord.

My reasons for sending you this account are principally two: the one is that of the apostle, "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." The other is this--I have long had a desire to join you externally, though internally I have been in union with you for years; but, being very timid and shy, I have deferred making known my desire until now; and, being afraid that, through the deceitfulness of my unbelieving heart, and the corruption of my nature, I should one day fall, I

thought I had better fall alone than bring any scandal upon the people of God. But, having had many comfortable visits lately, and many tokens for good, my desire is increased, so that I cannot help making it known, as I would wish to wait upon Christ in all the means of his appointment with full purpose of heart, neglecting none, expecting to find his promised presence in them, and to receive the promised blessings by them. I know that all means in themselves are dry, barren, and empty, except the Lord is pleased thereby to communicate grace to his people, and to bless them to our edification and comfort, working every saving grace in us, and applying every truth essential to salvation with power to our hearts through his appointed means. But, as he has been pleased to circumcise my heart to love him, his people, and his ways, and to close in with Jesus Christ, and him crucified, as my Saviour; so it is the desire of my soul to live to his glory and praise, to keep pressing forward, resting in no present attainment, but pursuing the good old way, in company with that part of his army over which he has made you his under captain and leader, towards that great and glorious recompense of reward, eternal rest in glory, which he has promised to give to all his chosen people.

I would desire to bless God for ever for bringing me under your ministry; for opening my blind eyes to see how I had been led on by blind watchmen, and for enlightening me to dis

cern, and bringing me in any measure to the knowledge of, the truth as it is in Jesus, and for opening my heart so as to receive the truth in the love of it; and, above all, for not suffering me to stumble at the divinity of Jesus Christ, as it is upon this the efficacy of every doctrine of the gospel rests: destroy this, and make him no more than a creature, or any thing less than the self-existent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent Jehovah, and the one supreme God, with the Father and the Spirit, and then I am sure there can be no salvation, but all must perish and be lost! And I will insist upon this as long as I live in this world-that, was he not in my heart and affections very and truly a divine and self-existent person, and possessed of every attribute and perfection of deity, no one could preach any gospel, no one could publish any good news, no one could proclaim any glad tidings, or bring any joyful message to my soul. For, supposing him to be a man, as he truly was, and to be perfectly holy, even as holy as the law; and supposing him to have kept it in all points, so as never, in thought, word, or deed, to have deviated therefrom; yet what would all that be to me? Nothing at all. A man's righteousness may profit himself; but then there is nothing for me, his poor neighbour; he has nothing to boast of, he has done that which was commanded him to do, and no more; as our dear Saviour beautifully sets forth in Luke xvii.

by the master and the servant, and then applies it to his disciples, saying, "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all these things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do." Wo then to that person whose faith and hope of everlasting life, and blessedness in heaven, are not built upon Immanuel, God with us! As man, he obeyed and suffered; as God, he merited; and as God-man, two perfect natures in the unity of the one person of Christ, he wrought out and brought in an everlasting righteousness, which is the one, only, and alone righteousness that can justify a sinner from all things, and present him faultless before the throne in the day of judgment. "He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." But, if you destroy this union of the two natures in the person of Christ, then none can appear righteous; no, not one. O! that you may ever continue to defend this sure foundation of the

Christian religion, and insist upon the need and necessity of being firmly fixed and established in the faith of it, in order to our being saved. The Lord was pleased to cause you to dwell much upon it some time back; and, blessed be his precious name, I received great benefit and establishment from it. Take away this, and you take away all; there is nothing else worth having; all must die in their sins; "for, if ye believe not that I

am,' says the Saviour, "ye shall die in your sins;" the consequence of which must be certain destruction, because the unrighteous shall not enter the kingdom of God; and by the law there is none righteous, no, not one. I have, through rich grace, been enabled to receive Jesus Christ into my heart as a divine person, as an object of divine worship, and, to all intents and purposes, as God over all and for ever blessed; and as I have received him, so it is the desire of my soul to walk in him, for nothing short of a divine person can save me, being a sinner. If the devil can but entangle and keep a poor sinner short of this, he is sure of his prey; and, if rich, free, sovereign grace prevent not, such must fall into the pit of destruction.

I hope you will pardon this long and imperfect epistle, placing all that is amiss to my account; and, if any thing consistent with the truth, to the Lord's name be all the glory and praise. That you may long be preserved amongst us, and still continue to shine brighter and brighter in the Lord's light-That you may ever stand fast in his counsel, and shun not to declare the whole of it as revealed, faithfully, fully, and freely, and without reserve-That you may ever continue to stand as an iron pillar and a brazen wall in the defence of the gospel-That you may yet be instrumental in turning many sinners from the error of their ways to the wisdom of the just, even to Christ Jesus;

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