ousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, keep working at the bottom; and though at first they are unperceived or invisible to us, yet the holy empire rises up through all this confused chaos, and at last appears in all its lustre, glory, power, and majesty. "Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire; for unto us a child is born." When the Holy Ghost enters and conquers the will, the mind, the affections, and the conscience, and bends them to himself, then the war begins; the devil sets all the briers and thorns against him in battle, and he goes through them, and burns them altogether, when grace rises, and reigns triumphant through Jesus Christ unto eternal life. This is the way that the King of Zion obtains his spoils; "I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors;" and all the many whose sins he bore, and for whom he made intercession, he will have; they are his Father's choice in him, and the Father's gift to him, and are the purchase of his own blood, and must be the trophies of his victory. And although they are all fallen off from him, and are fallen under the treble dominion of Satan, sin, and death, yet the prey must be taken from the mighty, the lawful captives must be delivered.

The Saviour mounts the triumphal chariot of his willing people, girds his sword upon his thigh as the most mighty, and goes forth as a mighty man, stirring up jealousy like a man of war, and rides prosperously, dispensing the word of truth, the grace of meekness and righteousness, and discharging his arrows in all directions; which, piercing the hearts of sinners, they fall under him, submit, and yield, to his irresistible artillery, Psal. xlv. 3-5. This wounds the infernal head over divers countries; and as numbers of sinners enlist under Satan's banner against him, he fills the places with the dead bodies of these, by making his word the savour of death unto death; while such as feel the contents of his quiver, yield obedience to him; and obtaining the blessed Spirit of truth, meekness, and righteousness, the council of deep waters rise in their hearts, and words of wisdom, like a flowing brook, issue from their mouths: these libations of praise are poured forth to honour their lawful sovereign and irresistible conqueror; he drinks of this brook in the way, well pleased with the willing captives; and then lifts up his head, and pursues his victories. This, my well-beloved, is the way that this holy and heavenly warfare is carried on. It is on our side faith fights; faith wields her shield, and handles her sword; for even the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, is put into the hand of faith, and we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. The Captain of our sal

vation is always at the head of his forces; he is both a commander and a leader of the people. He leads us forth, and brings us off; he gives strength equal to the day, inspires with fresh courage, animates to fresh vigour, gives hope of better success, makes, us renew the attack; he displays the ensign staff, waves the banner of love, and makes us fight or die, resist or give way; and sets both the prize and the blank before us; glory and a crown if we fight, hell and eternal disgrace if we flinch: and both these spur us on. God bless thee!

The COALIEAVER.

YOURS

LETTER LXXXIII.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

OURS came to hand last night, and I like it well; and doubt not but, through undeserved mercy and the merits of Christ, we shall prevail. Remember what I wrote to you in the winter, when I begged of the Almighty to remove my cough; what energy I found in prayer, and what bondage and misery followed. By terrible things in righteousness will God answer us. This is the dark side; the sun breaks out when this blows over: even to this day, and this morning, I found great liberty for my dearly beloved brother: the

devil may well lay about him; he feels the lash, and must and shall give way; Resist him, says God, and he will flee; he cannot stand before the Spirit's supplication and the intercession of Christ; he cannot stand before the faith of God's elect, and the Spirit's sword. I expected no less than what you write; I was sure he would labour hard, and use violence; but, "I will give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you," saith the Lord; and what think you of that? Never give it up: pursue it ten times a day, and beg these two things as I do, a satisfactory token for good; this is for the soul, and deliverance from a sleepy devil; this is for the body. Depend upon it that, by God's leave, I will meet you daily at the throne: nothing under heaven that is against God can stand before us; this I know, for God is for us and with us. Persevere, my dearly beloved; quit yourself like a man, that you be not a servant and slave to the worst of tyrants. You see how the lion can change into the serpent, and the serpent into the fox, in order to mar the vines; and into an angel of light, by moving in our corrupt affections, to make us favour the things of men more than the things of God. And now from being the strong man armed in defence of his own palace, he is become a rocker, to attend the cradle, and lull thee to sleep; and how has he foiled thee in this? Fight, flinch not, but at him, and he will soon flee, and

you will see it. I expected a damp from the quarter you mention. If we provoke others to jealousy, our own locks must and shall be shorn. God will deal as we deal. But this, yea even this, shall work for thy good. "The needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." The orders will come, Friend, go up higher; then shalt thou shine, and many shall see it; for those that cry in secret shall be rewarded openly. You know not how confident I write this; and who gives confidence? he that owns it and honours it. The heaven of heavens bless the scrap of excellence, so prays his faithful affectionate friend,

W. H.

I

LETTER LXXXIV.

To the Rev. J. JENKINS.

AM coming once more to visit the invalid. His outward man gets feeble, and his old man is as strong as ever. But neither of these can injure the new man: what God does is done for ever, nothing can be added to it, or taken from it; and God doth it that men should fear before him. The effect of this work on the souls of men is fear, and, "The fear of the Lord is his treasure:" a