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of our elder Brother, and we fhall be changed into love, his image and nature, from one glorious, and glorifying degree of love to another. Love always delights in the object loved. Delight thou in the Lord, then, and thou thalt have thy heart's defire; for we can defire nothing more than the fupreme good and infinite blifs both are in God. When, therefore, we love God truly, we delight in what he is, we fhare in his infinite happiness; and by divine fympathy, his throne of glory becomes ours; for true love rejoices in all the joy of the object it cleaves to. Add to this, that, when we love God, we have always our hearts defire; for we love his will, his defires become ours, and ours are always perfectly refigned to his. Now as God does whatever he pleases, both in heaven and earth, his lovers have always their hearts de fire, forafinuch as they always have his will, which is theirs. Submitting our private will to his, is only preferring a greater good to a lefs, as our Lord did in the garden; and we are all called to do it in afflictions. Farewell, my dear friend, and excufe thefe reflections, which you could make much better than your humble fervant, I. F.

Madeley, Sep. 29th, 1781.

The Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald.

My dear and honoured Friend,

YOU have been in the fire of affliction, where faith is tried, where patient hope is exercifed, and where perfect love, which cafts out fear, and endureth all things, is proved worthy of him, who made bare his breast, and faid to his Father, Lo! I come to do thy will, O God! I come to be obedient unto death, even the painful, fhameful death of the crofs.

Continue to offer your body as a living, or if it pleafe God, as a lingering, dying facrifice to him, who has decreed, that if we will reign with Christ, we must fuffer with him. This is our reafonable fer

vice; for it would be abfurd, that our Lord should have been perfected by fufferings, thorns, and the crofs, and that we should have nothing but enjoyment, rofes, and a crown. How faithful, how merciful is

our God! He brings you once more from the verge of eternity: well, my dear friend, I welcome you back into life, and into the enjoyment of farther opportunities of receiving and doing good,-of growing in grace, and perfecting holinefs in the fear of the Lord.

Chaftened, fpared like you, and more and more convinced, that I am helple ffnefs itself, and that there is help laid on our Surety and Saviour for us, linvite you to fay with me-When I am weak, Chrift my life is ftrong ftill: for me to live shall be Christ, and to die gain. Dear Madam, to know the bare crofs is uncomfortable; but to know, and gather the fruit of that tree, is life from the dead, it is more abundant life after fainting. Let us then know, i. e. confider, and embrace Jefus Chrift crucified to make an end of fin; his fhedding tears, and his moft precious blood, to cleanfe us from all fin; to trace again the divine image, goodness, love, and happiness on our fouls, and to feal our firm title to glory.

"Not a text," say you, "came to me, only I knew none perifhed at his feet :" then, you remembered Chrift, the fum and fubftance of all the fcriptures; then you believed on him, in whom all the sweetest texts, and all the promises are yea, and amen. 0 believe more fteadily, more confidently. Dare even to obey the apoftolic precept, Reckon yourselves dead indeed, unto sin, but alive to God by Jesus Christ our Lord. Embrace with more earneftnefs, the righteoufness of faith, and you will have more peace and joy in the Holy Ghoft. Rejoice in Chrift, your peace; yea, rejoice in God, your Saviour and if there is a needs be, for your being in heavinefs for a feafon, rejoice in tribulation: forrowful but always rejoicing. "When I am deftitute of all comfort, this fhall yield me comfort," faith Kempis, "that thy will is done."

If Abraham believed in hope against hope, that is against human, natural hope; can you not, through grace, as a daughter of Abraham, rejoice in heavenly hope against all natural feelings, and even against all temptations? Count it all joy, fays St. James, when you fall into divers temptations and trials. Don't be afraid of the ftorm Chrift is in the fhip, and he does not fleep, as unbelief is apt to fancy.

I thank you my dear Lady, for your friendly with of leaving your clay here. I return it, by wifhing you may leave all the body of fin, now, in that mysterious grotto of mount Calvary, where myriads of finners have buried their doubts, their fears, and their old man. Prop up your clay a little longer: for I want to fing with you, Salvation to God and the Lamb. I want you to help me, with the understanding and the voice, to witness, that Jefus saves to the uttermost, all who come to God through him; that he can not only make an end of fin, but bring in an everlafting triumphant righteoufnefs.

I am not without hope of feeing you in London, before you fee your future hermitage. All my brotherly love goes to town, and falutes you and your good nurfes, Mrs. C Mrs. -, Mrs. Mrs. L; to whofe continued care, as well as to that of our dear Redeemer, I earnestly recommend you. I am, my dear Lady, your obedient, affectionate fervant, I. F.

Cross Hall, Yorkshire, Dec. 26th, 1781. The Hon. Mrs. C

My very dear Friend,

YOUR favour of the 4th inftant did not reach me until a confiderable time after date, through my being ftill abfent from Madeley; a clergyman of this neighbourhoood having made an exchange with me, to facilitate my fettling fome affairs of a temporal nature in this county. The kind part you take in my happinefs demands my warmeft thanks; and I beg you

will accept them multiplied by thofe, which my dear partner prefents to you. Yes, my dear Friend, I am imarried in my old age, and have a new opportunity of confidering a great mystery, in the most perfect type of our Lord's myftical union with his church. I have now a new call to pray for a fulness of Chrift's holy, gentle, meek, loving Spirit, that I may love my wife, as he loved his Spoufe, the Church. But the emblem is greatly deficient: the Lamb is worthy of his spouse, and more than worthy, whereas I muft acknowledge myself unworthy of the yoke-fellow, whom Heaven has referved for me. She is a perfon after my own heart; and I make no doubt we fhall increase the number of the happy marriages in the Church Mili tant. Indeed they are not fo many, but it may be worth a Chriftian's while to add one more to the number. God declared it was not good, that man, a focial being, fhould live alone, and therefore he gave him a help meet for him: for the fame reason our Lord fent forth his difciples two and two. Had I fearched the three kingdoms, I could not have found one brother willing to thare gratis my weal, woe, and labours, and complaifant enough to unite his fortunes to mine; but God has found me a partner, a fifter, a wife, to ufe St. Paul's language, who is not afraid to face with me the colliers and bargemen of my parifh, until death part us.

Buried together in our country village, we fhall help one another to trim our lamps, and wait, as ¡I truft you do continually, for the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. Well; for us the heavenly child. is born, to us a double fon is given, and with him the double kingdom of grace and glory. O my dear friend let us prefs into, and meet in both of thefe kingdoms. Our Surety and Saviour is the way and the door into them; and bleffed be free grace, the way is free, as the King's highway, and the door open, like the arms of Jefus crucified.

January Ift, 1782. I live, bleffed be God, to devote myself again to his bleffed fervice in this world, or

in the next, and to with my dear friends all the bleffings of a year of Jubilee. Whatever this year bring forth, may it bring us the fulleft measures of falvation attainable on earth, and the most complete preparation for heaven. I have a folemn call to gird my loins and keep my lamp burning. Strangely reftored to health and ftrength confidering my years; by the good nurfing of my dear partner, I ventured to preach of late as often as I did formerly, and after having read prayers and preached twice on Chriftmas day, &c. I did, laft Sunday what I had never done-I continued doing duty from 10 till paft 4 in the afternoon, owing to chriftenings, churchings and the facrament which I administered to a church full of people; fo that I was obliged to go from the communion table to begin the evening fervice, and then to vifit fome fick. This has brought back upon me one of my old, dangerous fymptoms, fo that I had flattered myfelf in vain, to do the whole duty of my own parish. My dear wife is nurfing me with the tendereft care, gives me up to God with the greatest refignation, and helps me to rejoice, that life and death, health and fickness, work all for our good, and are all ours, as bleffed inftruments to forward us in our journey to heaven. We intend to fet out for Madeley to-morrow. The profpect of a winters journey is not fweet; but the profpect of meeting you and your dear fifter, and Lady Mary, and Mrs. Le and Mrs. Gand all our other companions in tribulation, in heaven, is delightful. The Lord prepare and fit us for that glorious meeting! As foon as I reach Madeley, I fhall write to Lady Mary. Give my beft refpects to her, to our dear fifter, and to the ladies I have jut named; and believe me to be, my dear Friend and Fellow-traveller to Zion, your most obliged and affectionate fervant,

I. F.

P. S. If Lady Huntingdon is in London, I would beg you to prefent my duty to her, with my best wishes.