ly, if not daily, and warn her from me till fhe is ripe for glory. Tell the brethren at Brofeley, that I did my body an injury the last time I preached to them on the green; but I do not repine at it, if they took the warning, and have ceafed to be neither hot nor cold, and begin to be warm in zeal, love, prayer, and every grace. Give my love to Geo. Crannage; tell him to make hafle to Chrift, and not to doze away his last days.

The phylician has not yet given me up; but, I blefs God, I do not wait for his farewell, to give myself up to my God and Saviour. I write by ftealth, as my friends here would have me forbear doing it, and even talking; but I will never part with my privilege of writing and fhouting, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory over fin, death, and the grave, through Je sus Christ! to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Teli Mr. York, I embrace him in fpirit, and fhall, if it pleafe God, find an opportunity to fulfil his kind request by Mifs Simpfon, whom, together with my dear friend and good nurfe, Mis. Harper, I falute in the Lord. God blefs you and yours. I am yours in the love of Jefus, the best of bonds, L. F.

Bristol, Nov. 26th, 1777. To the Brethren who hear the word of God, in the parish church of Madeley.

My dear Brethren,

I THANK you for the declaration of your affectionate remembrance, which you have fent me by John Owen, the meffenger of your brotherly love.

variety of reafons, with which I fhall not trouble you, prevent my coming to take my leave of you in perfon, permit me to do it by letter. The hopes of recovering a little ftrength to come and ferve you again in the gofpel, make me take the advice of the physicians, who fay, that removing to a drier air and warmer climate, might be of great fervice to my health. I kifs the rod which fmites me. I adore the Providence which lays me afide; and beg that by this long cor

rection of my heavenly Father. I may be fo pruned, as to bring forth more fruit, if I am fpared.

I am more and more perfuaded that I have not declared unto yon cunningly devifed fables, and that the gofpel, I have had the honour of preaching, though feebly, among you, is the power of God to falvation, to every one who believes it with the heart. God grant we may all be of that happy number! Want of time does not permit me to give you more directions; but, if you follow thofe which fill the rest of this page, they may fupply the want of a thousand. Have, every day, lower thoughts of yourselves, higher thoughts of Chrift, kinder thoughts of your brethren, and more hopeful thoughts of all around you. Love to affe mble in the great congregation, and with your companions in tribulation; but above all, love to pray to your Father in fecret; to confider your Saviour, who fays Look unto me, and be saved; and to liften for your Sanctifier and Comforter, who whifpers, that he stands at the door, and knocks to enter into your inmoft fouls, and to fet up his kingdom of righteoufnefs, peace, and joy, with divine power, in your willing breafts. Wait all the day long for his glorious appearing within you; and, when you are together, by fuitable prayers, proper hymns, and enlivening exhortations, keep up your earneft expectation of his pardoning and fanctifying love. Let not a drop fatisfy you; defire an ocean, at leaft a fountain fpringing up to your comfort in your own fouls, and flowing towards all around you, in ftreams of love and delightful inftructions, to the confolation of thofe with whom you converfe; especially your brethren, and thofe of your own houfeholds. Do not eat your morfel by yourfelves, like felfifh niggardly people; but whether you eat the meat that perisheth, or that which endureth unto 'everlasting life, be ready to share it with all. Caft your bread upon the waters, in a temporal and fpiritual fenfe, and it will not be loft. God will bleis your feed fown, and it will abundantly increafe. Let every one, with whom you converfe, be the better for your converfation.

Be

Set the
Be va-

burning and fhining lights wherever you are. fire of divine love to the hellifh flubble of fin. liant for the truth. Be champions for love. Be fons of thunder against fin; and fons of confolation towards humbled finners. Be faithful to your God, your king and your makers. Let not the good ways of God be blafphemed through any of you. Let your heavenly mindedness and your brotherly kindnefs be known to all men; fo that all who fee you may wonder, and fay, See how thefe people love one another!

You have need of patience, as well as of faith and power. You must learn to fuffer, as well as to do the will of God. Do not, then, think it ftrange to pass through fiery trials; they are excellent for the proving, purifying,, and ftrengthening of your faith. Only let your faith be firm in a tempeft. Let your hope in Chrift be as a fure anchor caft within the veil ; and your patient love will foon outride the ftorm, and make you find, there is a peace in Chrift and in the Holy Ghoft, which no man can give or take away. May.1 that peace be abundantly given to you, from our common Father, our common Redeemer, and our common Sanctifier, our covenant Ged; the gracious God of Chriftians, whom we have fo often vouched to be our God and our all, when we have been affembled together in his name. He is the fame merciful, and faithful God yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Believe in his threefold name. Rejoice in every degree of his great falvation. Triumph in hope of the glory which fhall be revealed. Do not forget to be thankful for a cup of water; much lefs for being out of hell, for the means of grace, the forgiveness of fins, the blood of Jefus, the communion of faints on earth, and the future glorification of faints in heaven. Strongly, heartily believe every gofpel truth, efpecially the latter part of the apoftle's creed. Believe it, I fay, till your faith becomes to you the fubftance of the eternal life you hope for; and then, come life, come death, either or both will be welcome to you, as, through grace, 1find they are to me.

I leave this bleffed ifland for a while; but, I truft, I shall never leave the kingdom of God, the mount

Sion, the new Jerufalem, the fhadow of Chrift's crofs, the clefts of the rock fmitten and pierced for us. There I entreat you to meet me. There I meet you in fpirit. From thence, I truft, I fhall joyfully leap into ⚫the ocean of eternity, to go and join thofe miniftring fpirits who wait on the heirs of falvation: And, if I am no more permitted to minister to you in the land of the living, I rejoice at the thought, that I fhall, perhaps, be allowed to accompany the angels, who, if you continue in the faith, will be commiffioned to carry your fouls into Abraham's bofom. If our bodies do not moulder away in the fame grave, our spirits fhall be fweetly loft in the fame fea of divine and brotherly love. I hope to fee you again in the flesh; but my sweetest and firme hope is, to meet you where there are no parting feas, no interpofing mountains, no fickneffes, no death, no fear of loving too much, no fhame for loving too little, no apprehenfion of bursting new veffels in our lungs, by indulging the joy of feeing, or the forrow of leaving our brethren.

In the mean time, I earneftly recommend you to the paftoral care of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of fouls, and to the brotherly care of one another, as well as to the minifterial care of my fubftitute. The authority of love, which you allowed me to exert among you for edification, I return to you, and divide among you; humbly requesting, that you would mutually ufe it, in waining the anruly, fupporting the weak, and comforting all. Should I be fpared to come back, let me have the joy of finding you all of one heart and one foul; continuing steadfast in the apoftle's doctrine, in fellowship one with another, and in communion with our fin-pardoning and fin-abhorring God. This you may do, through grace, by ftrongly believing in the atoning blood and fanctifying Spirit of Chrift, our common head and our common life; in whom my foul embraces you, and in whofe gracious hands, I leave both you and myself. Bear me on your hearts before him in praying love; and be perfuaded, that you are thus borne by,-My dear brethren, yours, &c. I. F.

D

To the Society at Madeley.
My dear Brethren,

Dover, Dec. 2d, 1777.

BY the help of divine Providence, and of your prayers I have got fafe to Dover; and I find that the journey has, fo far, been of fervice to me. I thought to have been in France by this time; but the wind being high, though favourable, the mariners were afraid to leave the fafe harbour, left they fhould be driven on the French cliffs too fiercely. This delay gives me an opportunity of writing a line to tell you, that I fhall bear you on my heart by fea and land; that the earth is the Lord's, with all the fulness thereof: that Jefus lives to pray for us; and that I ftill recommend myself to your prayers, hoping to hear of your order, fteadfastnefs, and growth of faith towards Chrift, and in love towards each other, which will greatly revive your affectionate friend and brother, I. F.

Nyon, 1778. To the Societies in and about Madeley. My dear, very dear Brethren,

THIS comes with my best love to you, and my best wishes, that peace, mercy, and truth may be multiplied unto you, from God the Father, through Jefus Chrift, by the Spirit of his love; with which, I beg your hearts and mine may be daily more replenished.

I am yet in the land of the living, to prepare, with you, for the land where there is life without death, praifing without weariness of the flesh, and loving without feparation. There, I once more challenge you to meet me, with all the mind that was in Chrift; and may not one hoof be left behind! May there not be found one Demas amongst you, turning afide from the little flock and the narrow way, to love and follow this prefent perifhing world. May there not be one Efau, who, for a frivolous gratification, fold his birthright; nor another wife of Lot, who looked back for the