health. We shall be glad to see you in our parts again; and believe me to remain, as much as ever,

Your last is now before me; and I have just as much right to thank you for it, as you have to thank me for mine; for, if any thing from me may cast a ray of light on thy mind, or on thy path, I am often rewarded in answering thine by some fresh thoughts, or new discoveries, which are often attended with devotional sensations, which melt my soul down, and draw out my gratitude to the best of all friends.

"The wicked have no bands in their death, their strength is firm." But remember, it is their

strength. Satan, who blinds their eyes, and keeps their conscience asleep, is the strong man armed, that fortifies their carnal mind, and supports their false confidence and vain hope, even when launching forth into the bottomless pit. These, our Lord tells us, lift up their eyes in hell, and never before. But we, my dear sister, are planted together in the likeness of Christ's death, as well as in the likeness of his resurrection, and must indeed drink of the cup that he drank of. And it is well known that he had bands in his death; for Christ was a bondservant under the law, as appears by the thirty pieces of silver which he was sold for; which was the price to be paid, according to the law, to the owner of a bondservant which had been gored to death by the horns of a beast. Read and compare Exod. xxi. chap. with Psalm xxii. and Zech. xi. 12. The Saviour's worst bands were our sins, his Father's wrath, and the powers of darkness. When the prince of this world came to him to bruise his heel, these deep waters entered his soul, Psalm lxix. 1; besides the insults of the Jews, and the excruciating pains of his body. But all these pains of death were loosed, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it, Acts ii. 24. Our worst bands are the corruptions of our heart, the law in our members, and inbred sin that works in us, and will work in us as long as we live. These often make us halt, faint, and stumble, and often betray us into a spirit of legal bondage, and procure us

many chastisements, many spiritual desertions, and much fatherly anger. And these sensible suspensions of divine favour, frowns, stripes, and bondage, when sanctified, are intended to purge the branch, that it may bring forth more fruit. Not a few of these purging draughts have fallen to thy share already in the short course of thy pilgrimage; and when humbling grace operates, how are our sinful stirrings subdued, how are they detested, and for a while out of sight, when sweet love, meekness, contrition, godly sorrow, selfabhorrence, unfeigned faith and abounding hope, much peace and divine tranquillity, all appear uppermost in the soul, and make it look like a bride adorned with her jewels. This, my dear sister, is what I mean by bands in the saints' death. These corruptions will stick by us to the last, and Satan often works sadly in them and by them; and it is generally seen, though not always, that the child of God, on his death-bed, is not a little exercised with them; as it will be even with the wise virgins when the midnight cry comes. An alarm will go forth; then they will arise and examine themselves, and there will be a little purging work go on upon them; some sharp reproofs, some melting and humbling trials; and then a restoring of them to the joys of the Lord's salvation. Trimming of lamps consists in wiping them out, cutting off the burnt snuffs, pouring in fresh oil, and lighting them up, that the light of the righteous may rejoice when the lamp of the wicked is put

out. But the creature, the new creature, the whole mystical body of Christ, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; for this is the earnest expectation of every new creature in Christ Jesus. For this creature was made subject to vanity, or death, Gen. iii. 19. Eccl. iii. 19, 20; not willingly, for death is not desirable. in itself; but God hath subjected us to it in hope, that our souls may be delivered from all corruption at our departure out of this world; that we may have hope of glory in death, and leave the body to rest behind us, in hope of a glorious resurrection, which will be the last work of hope in this world. Thus we must hope to the end, and no longer; for what a man seeth himself in full possession of why doth he yet hope for?

But because I told you, in my last, that I expected some familiar visits, love-tokens, confirming renewals, and promised revivals, in the course

of my pilgrimage, even to the end, as well as a daily cross,' I have staggered you; and, in the expectation of these things, you say you seem to turn out of my path. No, no, my sister; I ran to the same extremes that you do. When in my first love I said, and believed it too, that I should never be moved from the mount, the Lord of his goodness had made my hill so strong; but, when spiritual desertions came on, and Satan returned with double rage, and every inherent corruption was stirred up, attended with legal bondage and

slavish fear, I then concluded, as Job did, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope; O remember that my life is wind, mine eye shall no more see good!" Job vii. 6, 7. David was wrong in his exultation, for God hid his face from him. Job was wrong also in his lamentation, for the Lord appeared to him clearer than ever he did before. I was wrong also, for I have had hundreds of visits since I drew those sad conclusions; and you are wrong, for he will revive and renew his work on thy soul, and bring it to light, and confirm you in it again and again: "They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine, and spread forth their roots like Lebanon." If they revive, there must be more life; if they grow, there must be more grace given; and, if they spread forth their roots, their love must be drawn forth, for we are to be rooted and grounded in love; and, if we are to root like Lebanon, we must be strengthened, stablished, and settled, this way. But you inform me that you have no such expectations, and that you are confirmed in your opinion by the word of the Lord itself. The passage you allude to in Ezek. xlvi. 9, you do not rightly understand. That the temple spoken of in that chapter was a type of the church of God under the New Testament is plain, for the church bears the same name; and that all the furniture of the temple, in its gospel signification, is now found in gospel Zion, cannot be denied; and that there are such things