tion. We are stewards of our Master's goods; and discretion is requisite in the discharge of such an office, as well as fidelity.

I fancy, my dear friend, you did not take notice of an unbecoming expression which dropt from your lips while I sat at your table. You was a little chagrined at the carelessness of your servant, and said to him with some warmth, "What, in the name of God, do you mean?" Such expressions from your lips will be much observed, and long remembered.. I need say no more; you yourself will perceive, by a moment's reflection, how faulty they are in themselves, and how pernicious they may be to others. May the good Lord pardon and deliver you from evil! and may both of us more frequently meditate on this important text, "Set a watch before our mouths, and keep the door of our lips!" Ever yours, &c.

LETTER CXXI.

June 14. 1754.

MY DEAR FRIEND, BEFORE this can reach your hands, you will, in all probability, have seen Mr P He is really an ingenious gentleman, has a lively apprehension, a penetrating judgment, as well as a large share of reading. May the almighty Spirit vouchsafe to sanctify those endowments; and make our interviews, not an occasion of ambitiously displaying our talents, but of building up one another in our most holy faith! I can hardly agree to my friend's proposal for altering the translation of 1 Cor. ix. 24. May it not be an incitement to the utmost diligence? q. d. The contenders know, that though many run, yet one alone can receive the prize; therefore they exert all their strength and all their speed, each hoping, and each striving, to be that distinguished happy one: So likewise do ye.-Or may it not be an encouragement, drawn from the prospect of general success?

q. d. How much greater reason have you to run the Christian race, since not one only, but all may receive the prize of your high calling! Of these interpretations, the former seems most suitable to the tenor of the apostle's discourse. What do you apprehend to be the precise sense of that expression, sɛ EV KUTW ελnрavor, Col. ii. 10. Is our translation exact? Or should it be rendered, "ye are filled with him, filled by him?" filled with wisdom, holiness, &c. I was reading Psalm civ. and a doubt arose concerning the meaning of those expressions, "He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: He maketh the clouds his chariot?" Does the Psalmist intend to signify the same thing by waters and clouds? Or by waters does he mean somewhat different from the fluid which composes the clouds? Houbigant finds fault with our translation of Dure et incredibiliter Arias, contignavit aquis; he would correct it according to his usual way, by altering the original, Nos legimus cooperiens: Sic legunt, præter Syrum, omnes in Polyglottis. What think you of verse 19. going down? Is that all which the sun knows or observes? Would not that be a very imperfect discharge of his office? May not the original phrase denote his going, his circuit, his whole journey? Comprehending, not only his setting, but his rising, his meridian, and all his stages; together with his passage from one tropic to another, and his distribution, not only of day, but of seasons also, through the various regions of the globe? Is this word seasons rightly translated? By seasons we generally mean the four grand distributions of the year, into spring and summer, autumn and winter. But these, you know, are neither occasioned by the influences, nor regulated by the appearances of the moon. I could be glad to see, from your critical pen, a correct translation of this fine psalm; together with such remarks as may explain what is difficult, and illustrate what is beautiful. Next Saturday I hope to send your manuscript. In the mean time, let me promise myself a

remembrance in your prayers, and expect the favour of a letter, which will be thankfully received, and highly valued by, dear sir, affectionately yours, &c.

LETTER CXXII.

Weston, June 21. 1754. DEAR SIR, BEFORE this arrives, I hope my parcel transmitted according to your direction will have reached your hands; and my Dialogues will have received the free correction and the friendly improvements of your pen.

As, through my many and repeated infirmities, I had long discontinued and have often intermitted my intended work, I am informed from London, that the abettors of the Socinian scheme have been pleased to triumph in my disappointment; imagining that, through fear or inability, I had laid aside my design; and insinuating, that I had changed my principles, or was conscious of the weakness of my cause. From these gentlemen, if my essay should appear in public, it may expect a severe examination, and probably a violent attack. I hope your friendship will anticipate their inveteracy; and remove those blemishes which might give them a handle for censure, or a ground for insult. My prayer for my kind corrector is, that the Lord Jesus Christ, whose sacred honour and precious interest are concerned, would give him "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might." Is there not a peculiar force and beauty in this last metaphor? How would you develop and set it forth to common view? I have just had occasion to consider that remarkable expression in Psalm xv.; methinks the Bible translation does not recommend itself to my judgment: I am better satisfied, and more edified with the version used by our Liturgy; only it seems not to have preserved the strength of the ori`ginal. However, I will say no more upon this point; because, if I live to send another packet of proba

tionary manuscripts, you will see my sentiments on this particular incorporated with the work.

What is your opinion as to publishing three volumes? Mr Moses Browne and another friend pronounce in the affirmative; though I am much afraid that this circumstance will clog the sale. There are several pieces that are a kind of excursion from the principal subject, calculated to relieve and entertain the reader, yet not without administering some spiritual benefit. A whole dialogue upon the wonders of wisdom, power, and goodness, displayed in the contrivance and formation of the human body. Two or three letters, pointing out the traces of the same grand and amiable attributes in the constitution of the earth, the air, and the ocean. These I am afraid to lop off, lest it should be like wiping the bloom from the plum, or taking the gold from the gingerbread. To you I say gingerbread, though I would not say so to the public; for I really think the taste of the present age is somewhat like the humour of children: Their milk must be sugared, their wine spiced, and their necessary food garnished with flowers, and enriched with sweetmeats. In my next I hope to lay before you a summary view of my whole design. I forget whether I enclosed in my last, one of the little collection of Scripture Promises which I caused lately to be printed, for the benefit and comfort of my people. I would have them pasted into their Bibles; and may the God of all grace command them to be mixed with faith, and ingrafted into their hearts. If I have already desired your acceptance of one, these I now send may be for your friends. I fancy a short but lively discourse upon each of the eight heads, and the texts selected, might, after they have been committed to the memories of the people, be acceptable, and what the apostle calls "a word in season." "Angry at the length of your letters!" No, dear sir! They are, as Tully said of Demosthenes's orations, "The longer the more valuable." I am your obliged friend, &c.

LETTER CXXIII.

MY DEAR FRIEND,-THANK you for sending the cuts designed for the Bible. All my hope with regard to them is, that they may remind some beholders of the transcendent excellency of the sacred writings. I propose, by the next post, to write to Mr. I would very willingly present him with my picture, as you desire it; but I really think my picture, if much better done, is not worth a frame. And, I own, I do not much like giving away what savours more of vanity than benevolence.

Cannot you get a little leisure to peruse part of my intended work? I have, for a month or six weeks, been prosecuting it in earnest. I have sent four of the Dialogues transcribed by my amanuensis. Do steal a little time from the multiplicity of your medical engagements to examine them; retrench, where I am redundant; clear up, where I am obscure; polish what is uncouth. I hope Mr-— will do me the same favour; and may the God of wisdom give both my friends and me a right judgment in all things. I have seen Mr -'s answer. God be praised that I had no occasion for controversy. I have not seen Mr Moses Browne this many a day. The last time he was with me he talked about reprinting his Sunday Thoughts, and adding a third part, which he had finished, and which completes his scheme. I would have the three parts printed in a neat pocket volume. Have you read his Poem on the Universe? I think it is the most pleasing, and, indeed, the best thing he ever wrote. I hope the God of heaven will smile upon his endeavours, and animate us all to labour in his dear Son's cause, and prosper the labours which he himself excites. And if God will prosper, who shall obstruct?" If he will work, who can let it?" My dear friend, let our eyes be ever looking unto the hills from whence cometh our help; to that omnipotent Being who stretched