hill and Byfield. Dear children! I commisserate, and fain would I meliorate your deplorable condition. But you must, you will be snatched from ignorance, vice, and wretchedness, and roused to respectability, usefulness, and felicity. Methinks, I already see you decently clad, your eyes sparkling with joy and gratitude, and swallowing the words of instruction with docility and avidity. Shall I not hope, that some of you will learn the sweetlanguage of Canaan, and commence your journey to theNew Jerusalem, with glowing ardour, and immortal rapture-with the songs of Zion bursting from your lips? O that you may be enabled to consecrate your youthful years to God, live the lives of heaven-born souls, imbibe the temper of the meek and lowly Jesus, triumph in his propitious smiles and transcendent glories; and when you pass the vale of death, may the portals of Paradise open to your view, and admit your enraptured souls to boundless beauties and immortal delights.

O my Charlotte, why are not Christians engaged? O for that heaven-inspired zeal, which constantly appeared in our great Examplar, and which animated the breast of Paul, when he flew, with almost seraphic speed, from house to house, and place to place, on the errands of everlasting love. O when shall we be all all life, all activity, in the cause of our dear Redeemer-all philanthropy, love, and humility? O when shall we feel the unutterable worth of souls, and compassionately exert ourselves for their good? When shall we be crucified to the world, and the world to us, forget our wicked selves, and employ every power and talent we possess for the promotion of Zion's interests, the advancement of Immanuel's kingdom? O when But let me not implicate you. I speak for myself. O when shall this awfully selfish, vile beart,

drink deeply into the love of Jesus, and embrace a world of immortal souls, and glow with gratitude, love, and zeal, in that precious, glorious cause, for which Jesus bled on Calvary, and which is the only object worth living for? O I think I do long to do good. I could fly to the dear little cots in Newbury, display to them the awfully tremendous threatenings of the law, and the soul-ravishing charms of the gospel, and the worth of their never-dying souls, and direct them to that Saviour, whom to know aright is eternal life.

I send you one mite; and my heart heaves with a sigh that I can do more. Were I possessed of Indies of gold, I should not be at a loss how to spend it. But had I more, perhaps it would only pamper my lusts. However, I wish I might never spend another cent in superfluities. O how much good might I do! Do pray that I may not be a cumberer of the ground.

FANNY.

LETTER TO MISS S. K. OF WENHAM,

April, or May, 1818.

How does your soul do this morning, my dear Sally Did not your waking eyes salute the first dawn? and did not the aspirations of your heart ascend to Him that seeth in secret, and is Lord of the Sabbath day? Have you not taken an excursion with me to Gethsemane and Calvary? and did not your heart dissolve in compunction, love, and gratitude, at the melting scenes there exhibited ? Have you been on the summit of Tabor, and been favoured with a soul ravishing view of the beauties and glories of the incarnate God? And have you enjoyed the sweets of communion with God, and had intimate access to the throne of grace? Except we know something of

these views and feelings, we are not genuine Christians. If we would be saved at last, we must know religion, not only in theory, but in experience and practice. In vain do we call Christ, Lord, Lord, if we are not careful to do the things which he commands, and adorn our profession with the fruits of the Spirit. In vain do we retain the form of godliness, if we do not feel its renovating and invigorating power in our souls, stimulating us to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this evil world; not conformed to its wicked customs and fashions, but transformed by the renewing of our minds, after our great Exemplar. Eternal truth hath said, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," and, "the friendship of the world is enmity with God." God and mammon are at eternal variance; and fruitless are all endeavours to form a coalition. One or the other must have the supremacy in our hearts, and receive our service. God will admit no competitor. He will either have the primary place in our affections, or none at all. Those who make religion only a secondary object, performing those duties to which they are naturally most inclined, but avoiding those which are self-denying and arduous, and retaining their favourite lusts and darling sins, however orthodox their sentiments and strict their forms, and however bright their hopes of heaven may be, they are under a most awful delusion, and will be unde ceived in eternity, if not in time. It is to be feared there are many almost-Christians, who are not far from the kingdom of God, but who never enter it. But when once the kingdom of Jesus is established in the soul, down falls the Dagon before it, the beloved Herodias is renounced, the vanities and delights of the world are trampled upon, the affections allured to Jesus, grace reigns in

the heart, and "the beauties of holiness" regulate and decorate the life. Do we, my dear Sally, know any thing of this internal change of heart, without which none can enter into the kingdom of heaven? Have we seen ourselves poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked ; -felt the innate opposition of our hearts to God and his holy law, and trembled under Sinai's fiery thunders, in awful expectation of everlasting destruction? Have we been brought to throw down the weapons of our rebellion, to bow cordially to the sceptre of Jesus, and take refuge in the ark of safety? Have our hearts been smitten with the love of Jesus? and, having felt the inefficacy of our own righteousness, do we cordially rely on his merits for justification before God? Forgetting the things that are behind, do we reach after them that are before, and press after greater conformity to God, and increasing holiness in heart and life? Do we love to pour out our hearts to God in secret prayer? and does each passing day attest our humility, patience, heavenly-mindedness, and devotion to God? Do we love the society of lively Christians, and the word of God? and do we love to converse most on the things pertaining to the kingdom of God?

O my cousin, can we answer these questions with truth in the affirmative? If so, we will dismiss our desponding doubts and fears, and travel with alacrity and zeal the road to Zion. But if not, we have great reason to conclude we are yet impénitent and unconverted, and stand obnoxious to the wrath of an incensed God. Do let us examine our hopes, and see whether they will stand the test. All terrestrial things are evanescent, as the morning cloud and early dew; and eternal realities imperiously demand our solemn attention. Ere long we

must close our eyes on all below, and enter on an untried and unchangeable state of retribution. O, how shall we feel, when we leave all mortal things, and the light of eternity shall burst on our astonished souls! What momentous realities; what amazing wonders will open to our view, and interest, unspeakably interest, our disembodied spirits-Eternity! what a word is eternity! When this terraqueous globe shall be one general mass of fire, when time shall be no more, our souls shall live in eternity. Millions and millions of ages hence, they shall flourish immortal in the New Jerusalem, or be sinking deeper and deeper in the fire that never shall be quenched. We are now preparing for one of these states. We are forming characters, which shall decide our future destiny, and we are enjoying privileges, which will extend their influence to eternal ages. Through an endless duration we may take a retrospective view of the moments we are now spending, and that with ineffable joy or sorrow. O that I could find language, that would adequately convey to you the feelings of my heart! Could I use the dialect of eternity, how would I pourtray these everlasting truths and realities, in awful solemnity and emphasis, suited to their magnitude and importance! May the Spirit of the Lord write them upon our hearts, and cause us habitually to live and act under their im pression! O, my cousin! let our conduct be in reference to that tremendous day, which shall assemble the sleeping nations in one vast concourse, produce the archives of eternity, reveal the secrets of every heart, and decide the final condition of every individual. Now let us a wake from our guilty slumbers, and improve every remaining moment in the service of our Maker. Let us evince our attachment to Immanuel, by our readiness to