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Whilst Lady Glenorchy was sinking in the deep waters of conviction of sin, and her strength and hope were about to perish, she received the following letter from her friend Miss Hill.

"July, 1765.

"It gives me great pleasure to hear that your illness has been so sanctified to you, as to show you in any measure that in yourself, to which before you confess you were a stranger; that is, that you had too great an attachment to this vain unsatisfying world, the most pleasing appearances of which are nothing more than transparent baubles, which present gay colours that will soon fade. Allow me to congratulate you on this discovery; and may He, in whose hand our breath is, show you more and more of the uncertainty of all earthly happiness, and convince you more of the substantial joys that are to be found in him alone. It is a common and no less dangerous prejudice which many entertain against the ways of true evangelical holiness, that they are dull, forbidding, and melancholy, and that to live godly in Christ Jesus is to exchange every enjoyment for austerities and mortifications; whereas, on the contrary, none enjoy so much inward peace and security, none have so much cause for cheerfulness and joy, as those who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. It is indeed the interest of the grand enemy of our salvation to pervert the good ways of the Lord, to frighten us from pursuing them by lying suggestions, and, like the spies who went to view the promised land, to

clean copy, written by Lady Glenorchy's own hand, which has been found among her papers, and from which we shall be able to gather some idea of the state of her Ladyship's mind during this period.

bring against it an evil report; and to insinuate, that instead of flowing with milk and honey, it devoured the inhabitants thereof. But surely God never intended that religion should lessen our enjoyments, or make over to a world living in rebellion against himself, a happiness greater than his own children should possess. No; the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. You say you wish to overcome the fear of death. In order to this, I would advise you to examine whether you are really building upon the only sure foundation of hope; and what that hope is, the apostle expressly declares in the following words; Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' Try then, whether, as lost and undone in yourselfdeeply sensible of the natural apostasy of your heart from God-weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin-and renouncing all hope and help in your own righteousness, repentance, resolutions, &c.-try if you really rest upon Christ as your only Saviour, relying solely upon his blood applied by the Spirit to pardon you, his righteousness imputed to justify you, and his grace to be given to sanctify you. It was He who came to seek and to save that which was lost, and we must see and feel ourselves thus lost without him, before we can in earnest seek an interest in that salvation which he hath purchased, for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.' So long as, either in whole or in part, we cleave to our own doings, and are not brought off from all dependance on the covenant of works, one or other of these two things must happen; either we shall have so high a conceit of ourselves as to think lightly of, and greatly undervalue the redemption that is in Jesus, or else we shall walk in continual darkness and want of comfort,

under a slavish dread of wrath, whereby all our endeavours to avoid sin will proceed from a wrong principle, a principle of fear, instead of love and gratitude, and all our obedience will be the forced drudgery of a slave, and not the effect of the filial disposition of a child. This, I am convinced, is the case with many sincere people, and it is wholly owing to a lurking spirit of self-righteousness and unbelief, which prevents them from submitting to the righteousness of God, and closing with that full, free, all-sufficient salvation which the Gospel holds forth to guilty, helpless sinners, showing them, that by the obedience of Christ unto death, the law is fulfilled, and Infinite Justice satisfied to the uttermost-that by his resurrection from the dead, God accepted the payment which he had made for his people, and discharged him from the prison of the grave in token of their full acquittal, and that he is now at the right hand of God, having entered the holy place as their head and forerunner, dispensing his gifts according to their various necessities, and making intercession for them, that where he is they may be also. Well, then, may we say with the apostle, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword-in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of

God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Many, I know, object against thus living wholly upon the blessed Redeemer, making him our all in all, our Alpha and Omega, as a doctrine that tends to licentiousness, and to the prejudice of morality and good works; and this is sometimes done even by those who pretend to mighty zeal for the interests of holiness, whilst they themselves are living after the course of this world. Whoever makes this objection, hereby plainly shows himself to have never received the grace of God in truth, and to be a stranger to the nature of justifying faith, and to the constraining power of Christ's love; for how is it possible that we should be one with Christ, and not endeavour to be like him? If we partake of his Spirit, will not the fruits of that Spirit appear in our lives and conversation? Can he that is brought into the marvellous light of God's dear Son, have any longer fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness? Can the head be holy, and the members unholy? Can he who is united to Christ be employed in the service of Satan? Can the new creature delight in the works of the old man? Certainly not. It is true, (as the Church of England observes in her 11th article,) we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort; but then it is as true, that there can be no real faith which does not produce good works, for the tree is known by its fruits, and as faith is the root of works, so works are the fruit of faith. We do not then make void the law through faith. God forbid: but we establish the law; for although through our weakness we cannot be justified by it, yet it still

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remains as a rule of life to every justified believer. Besides, the real Christian does not only look upon holiness as his duty, but also as his privilege; for being vitally united to Christ by faith, he receives from him a new nature, being, as saith the apostle Peter, made partaker of a divine nature;' which nature as much inclines him to holiness, as the old corrupt nature does to sin. Thus, being regenerated and born again, he is transformed in the spirit of his mind, he has put on Christ, and is renewed in every faculty of his soul. But still let us remember, that we are but renewed in part; so long as we are in the body, we shall find a law in our members warring against the law in our mind; the old man will be still striving for the mastery, and if he must die, will die hard. May this consideration make us ever watchful against the first risings of sin, and may we be continually looking to Jesus for strength to check it in the bud. It is this Jesus, my dear friend, who has conquered the only enemies we had to fear; he has disarmed death of his sting-looking to him we may overcome all fear of its approach, for when he is our friend, death is no other than an advantage; if he is our life, we shall surely find death our gain. The following questions I have found useful to myself: if we are able to give a comfortable answer to them, death cannot be to us a king of terrors, but a messenger of peace. Have earthly or heavenly things the chief place in our thoughts and affections? Do we prize that great salvation which the gospel offers to sinners, beyond every thing else in the world? Are we crucified to the world, and the world to us? Are we dead to its pleasures, riches, honours, and esteem? Does the humble temper of the meek and lowly Jesus reign in us? Is his service our delight; is sin our burden? Are we hungering

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