you

examine your heart with that exact scrutiny you do. Take comfort, then-live upon Jesus, trust to his almighty power and willingness to save, then shortly shall Satan be trampled under your feet as the accuser of the brethren. O labour after the full assurance of faith, that you may not be so continually poring upon yourself, instead of laying hold on the finished salvation which is in Jesus. May his grace ever be with you! remember he has said it is sufficient for you."

"March 11, 1768.

"As I had not leisure the last time I wrote to speak particularly of those doubts and fears which still harass your soul, I will now endeavour (with God's blessing and assistance) to suggest something which may tend to your relief. I know you will forgive me for reading part of your letter to a Christian friend of mine in this neighbourhood, who is a person fully taught in Christ's school; and as her experience and yours agree greatly together, I thought it would be a comfort to you both, to read her that part of your letter wherein you mention the state of your soul. She says, she has often been exactly in the same condition; and added, 'I am sure I can say I well know what that situation is, not only from my own experience, but from that of many others. I have thought myself the vilest hypocrite under the sun, and fancied I had never come savingly to Christ; and when I have endeavoured to apply the promises of God to my soul, Satan has tempted me to believe they did not belong to me, and made use of the very same method to distress me as he has done her: for in reading Owen on the Mortification of Sin in Believers, I was tempted to think myself the person described, and that I did wrong to speak peace to my soul when there was none with God. I

was enabled, however, to wait patiently the Lord's time for deliverance; and looking to Jesus, now see him to be an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.' This also is in general pretty much my own state; and though I cannot say I have any full assurance of my interest in Christ, yet I feel a comfortable hope that I shall certainly attain to it in the Lord's own time, and for which I desire to wait. What What you say of yourself, my dear friend, gives me the sincerest pleasure, as I have no doubt of the reality of God's work upon your soul, from your being so fearful of healing slightly the wound which sin has made. You want a brighter discovery of the evidence to go upon, and are jealous and fearful of laying hold on the promise till you can see your way clear, and God justified in his dealings in thus freely pardoning. You have been truly convinced of sin; you are sensible of your need of Jesus; therefore let no doubts, no fears, distress your precious soul, which God has loved with an everlasting love. Behold the free grace of God, behold the purchase of it that it might be freely given to you, and the promise of it, and the tender of that promise to you! is perfect righteousness laid up for your use. It is no presumption therefore; on the contrary, it is your indispensable duty, to lay hold of it, to plead it as a guilty condemned sinner, and in him to embrace the free pardon, the full acceptance which grace has provided for you. God has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This God, too, is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think. What can be more immediately calculated to give comfort to the most desponding soul than these words of the apostle? What now would you request of God?

In Jesus

You will say, 'to be saved from sins past, present, and to come; for more grace, more faith in Christ, and more desires after and love to him, that you may glorify him through life, and at the hour of death.' And think you, that the ear of him which is ever open to the supplication of his people, will be shut against you ? O no; it is impossible! He hath graven you on the palms of his hands, he loves you with a love which passeth knowledge. It would be endless to enumerate all the soul-reviving passages of Scripture wherein God's love is represented. In each page of the sacred record there are traces of it; and we can only wonder, and adore, and cast ourselves upon the unfathomable depths of this love in every hour of distress and temptation. We are encompassed with enemies from within and from without, and great need have we to walk with the weapons of our warfare continually in our hand. We are tossed on the tempestuous billows of spiritual danger, and great need have we to cast anchor on the hope which is set before us, grounded on the love of God in Christ, as our sure defence and infallible help;-this is our privilege, this is our duty. The enemy is sure to direct his most violent attacks on those whom he thinks are most in God's favour. much indeed is this the case, that it is very common for the children of God to be calling in question the evidences of their adoption, to fear that all their past experience is but a delusion, to have doubts about the truth of Scripture, even to imagine they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and feel such horrible and blasphemous suggestions as to make them cry out by reason of the disquietness that is in them; and yet all these painful things are overruled to their advancement and joy in faith; for by these fiery darts they become acquainted with Satan's devices, and

So

having been tempted themselves, are more able to administer consolation to those that are tempted. These assaults likewise drive them to examine more carefully that word which is able to make them wise unto salvation, that so their faith may stand in the power of God, and not in the wisdom of man, that they may be more earnest in prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance. These temptations always tend to abase and humble the soul, to show its natural vileness and helplessness, and thereby to bring it off more from leaning on self-righteousness, and to rely on Jesus, the rock of ages. In which case we may say with the apostle James, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life.'

6

"As to my health, I beg you will not be uneasy about it. I am better; and O that every slight pain I feel may remind me that this is not my home, but that there remaineth a rest for the people of God in a better world, the inhabitants of which shall never say, I am sick. I rejoice to hear that you can boldly speak for Jesus in company. Go on conquering and to conquer."

A few weeks after Lady Glenorchy had received the above communications, she seems to have been in a more than usually comfortable state of mind; and having written Miss Hill to that effect, received from her the following excellent letter, congratulating her on the circumstance, and offering her very sensible and sound advice as to her future conduct.

"Good Friday, 1768.

"I was thinking much of you, when your letter was brought me this morning; and, ruminating on the great

things God had done for your soul, I could not but consider your state as happy, although in the midst of many outward distresses; and your letter has greatly increased my joy and thankfulness on your account, as it assures me of your coming more and more out of the captivity of nature, into the glorious liberty of the children of God; and that you are now enabled, not only to trust him, (which in itself is a blessed state,) but also to rejoice in him, as the God of your salvation, for your present as well as future salvation.

"Heaviness may endure for a night, but gladness cometh in the morning; and when it comes after a long uneasy night, it is doubly welcome, and deserves a double tribute of praise and thankfulness. O be not wanting in that sweet duty of praise, from a sense of the divine goodness, love, and patience towards you; remember that you are brought from darkness to light, to show forth the praises of him who calleth you, and that your feet are set at liberty to run with patience the race of prayer and praise, self-denial and obedience, which the Lord hath set before you. In order that you may go on comfortably and steadily for the time to come, I shall insert a few directions which were given to a Christian friend of mine, who long walked in darkness, but who afterwards lived much under the light of God's countenance, till it pleased him to give her the full vision and fruition of himself in glory. 'Live above earthly and creature comforts. Beware of flatness and lukewarmness; this, if not carried immediately to the Lord, ends in darkness and deadness. Value divine comforts above all things, and prize Christ above all comforts, that if these should fail, you may still glory in the God of your salvation. Let that which torments others be your happiness, that is, selfdenial, and renouncing your own will. Be ready to