blessing to your family, the Israel of God, and a world lying in wickedness; and at last receive you to the sublime entertainments, and transporting felicities of his heavenly kingdom. Your very affectionate, but unworthy friend, FANNY.

My dear young Friends, sisters of my beloved Harriet, and fellow travellers with me to the eternal world, receive a few affectionate lines from a heart that loves you, and longs for your immortal good. Consider your awful state by nature, and your exposedness to the wrath of an angry God. You stand on the verge of a long eternity, and while out of Christ, you totter on a precipice, from whence you may tremendously fall into the gulf of re◄ mediless perdition and despair. A few more short days, and you will cease to be interested in all that is done on earth; nay, this night your souls may be required of you, and your eternal destiny be fixed beyond the possibility of a change. O that I could describe to you the awful solemnities of a dying hour, and the amazing realities of a future world. O that I could tell you in language equivalent to the reality, the worth of your souls, and the importance of securing their salvation. Now, now is the accepted time, the precious opportunity, which, if you do not seize and improve, endless ages hence you may be wail and lament, in all the horrors of remorse and an guish. I beseech you defer not one moment longer. If you value the happiness of heaven, a happiness that shall survive the ruins of the world, and flourish immortal in the celestial Paradise, a happiness interminable as the desires of your souls-if this is valuable, O strive to ob◄ tain an unalienable title to it. You have every inducement now to forsake your sins, and engage in the em

ployment of angels, and partake of the joys of heaven. You have had one warning after another; and will you turn a deaf ear to them, and go on treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, till you are beyond the reach of mercy? I conjure you not to act so preposterous, so criminal, so ruinous a part! Embrace the offers of mercy, and fly with celerity to the ark of safety, the arms of Christ. Listen to the voice that speaks from the far dis◄ tant grave of Harriet, in accents unutterably emphatical, "Be also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." Work while the day lasts, for the night of death cometh, wherein no man can work. Lay up your treasure in heaven, and prepare to meet your God. Do you not wish to die serenely, as she did, with a hope full of immortality. Do you not wish to meet her in that blest world, where she has arrived, and join with her in the beatific song of Moses and the Lamb? Why then will you not repent? Why will you not bow to the sceptre of Jesus, and deposit your souls in his dear faithful hands, and engage in his delightful service? O that I could prevail on you so to do! O could I speak in the language of eternity! in what glowing colours would I delineate its sublime realities, and how would I urge you to make immortality your blessing, not your everlasting curse! My beloved friends, these are not mere Ichimeras and visionary flights; no, they are tremendous truths, and ere long we shall feel them in all their energy and force. O then let them sink with all their weight into your hearts, and urge you to an immediate preparation for death and judgment. Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till you have secured an interest in the great guardian of Israel, whose watchful eyes never slumber nor sleep. The smiles of approving heaven

are of infinitely more worth, than millions of worlds-can sweeten all our trials, check our rising tears, calm our heaving sighs, smooth your descent to the lonely grave, and crown you with a Paradise of rich and ever blooming beauties and perennial joys. Treasure, I entreat you, thefinstructions of your dear departed sister in your hearts, and transcribe them into your lives. O may you in unison with her and all the musicians around the celestial throne in one glorious band, sing praises to Zion's King forever and ever.

I most sincerely sympathize with you all in the deep affliction which immerses you in gloom; and hope you will come out of the furnace refined and purified. Letters from all of you would be peculiarly grateful to my heart. J request you to excuse my freedom and inacuracies, as I have written in much haste. Your very affectionate friend, FANNY WOODBURY.

LETTER TO MISS M. S. OF CHELMSFORD.

Beverly, Aug. 6, 1813.

MY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED MISS S.

My earliest acknowledgments and ardent thanks are due for your very affectionate and obliging letter, and the freedom with which you have opened your heart to one who will cheerfully reciprocate your confidence, but la ments her inability to establish, strengthen, stimulate, and direct you, as she ardently wishes. You do not appear to enjoy that clear evidence of your union to Christ, and those elevated and rapturous feelings with which you have formerly been favoured in some precious moments, and for which you now aspire; yet I trust you retain a comfortable hope that you have passed "from death unto life."

I think we are too easily elated with raised affections; and then, when they subside, though we may be equally in the exercise of grace, unreasonably depressed; whereas we ought to regard more the habitual disposition of our minds. Frames and feelings are variable and inconstant ; but God never changes. I do believe it would be better with us generally, if we kept Christ more in view, and lived more simply and entirely on him, and less engrossed with our little selves. Let us, my dear friend, strive for a confidential trust in him, and solid evidence that we are his disciples; and then let not every discouraging appearance, every temptation of the adversary, disconcert and unsettle our minds, and throw us into yielding timidity and gloomy despondency. The best way too to get rid of our doubts and fears, is to engage resolutely in what we know to be duty, however crossing to our natural propensities; and to renounce all known sin, and avoid every appearance of evil, though it should subject us to many mortifications and trials, like the plucking out of a right eye, or cutting off a right hand. In order to Christian enjoyment, much circumspection, watchfulness, and prayer are essentially necessary. While our course is even, regular, and humble, we may expect gracious visits from the Majesty of heaven, and our souls will flourish as cedars in Lebanon; but one devious step, one inadvertent action, may intercept the rays of the Sun of righteousness, and involve us in more than Egyptian darkness. Never, then, never let us suffer our desires and aspirations towards God grow cold and languid; never let our addresses to Heaven be inconstant, lukewarm, and formal. Backslidings ordinarily originate in a failure or negligent and infrequent performance of those du ties, which more immediately lie between God and our

`own souls, and of which no human eye takes cognizance. When we take delight in pouring out our souls before God, when the time allotted to devotion is pleasantly and devoutly passed, we may be said to make proficiency in the divine life; but when we are reluctant to the duties of the c'oset, and glad of any plausible pretence for omitting them, we may justly fear that we are in a retrograde mo◄ tion, and a dangerous state.

By no means would I insinuate, that Christians do at all times hail the seasons of retirement, and feel sweet complacency and freedom in their intercourse with heaven; for alas! their backwardness, their coldness, and their deadness are often lamentably apparent. But it is certain to a demonstration, that all true Christians do generally love to draw near to God, and hold frequent and pleasurable communion with him, while they mourn over their wanderings and imperfections in the duty. Here I think we may obtain some light respecting our characters; for I apprehend that hypocrites pay more attention to external and moral duties, rather than to those which are spiritual and secret; and however much they may do to be seen of men, still they are not desirous of that honour which cometh from God only.

My dear Miss S. it is infinitely important that we be Christians in deed and in truth, subjects of that radical change of heart, without which the benevolent Saviour has declared with a solemn asseveration, none can enter the kingdom of heaven. May you, my dear friend, build your hope on a foundation which will stand firm and immoveable, when general devastation and destruction envelope this terraqueous globe, and the breath of the Almighty extinguishes the hope of the hypocrite, and sinks him down to the abyss of wo. Having tasted that the