you have been kept from despondency and overwhelming grief, because his right hand upheld you. Never, perhaps, had you been brought so near to God, in the life of faith, nor have known so much of the sweetness of his promises, and the condescension of his grace, if he had not brought you into such deep adversity, and made the world a wilderness unto you. But now you find in the fountain much more, since the streams have failed to give. In your solitary path your cheered spirit cries, "O my God, I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were!" Well, be it so. With such a fountain near, you cannot want. Leaning on the arm of such a friend, and encouraged by his gracious words, you will feel your strength renewed. Experience will feed your faith, and furnish you with many a song in this house of your pilgrimage. Why does God so often disappoint our expectations from the creature, but that he may bring us nearer to himself; that our hearts may rest in him, that we may practically be what we profess, and that we may find in our sweet experience what God has promised? May your soul, cleaving, with yet stronger affection and faith, to God, sweetly resigned to his will, find increasing reason to sing of judgment and of mercy! Your mind will solace itself in the thought of Heaven, of your dear departed friends there, of perfect rest there, of communion with Jesus there. O blessed interview!

His own soft hand shall wipe the tears

From every weeping eye,

And pains, and groans, and griefs, and fears,

And death itself shall die.

I am, &c.

J. BOWDEX.

LETTER XLII.

TO MRS. D

MY DEAR FRIEND,

THE Concern I have felt, relating to the uncomfortable state of your mind, constrains me to seize the earliest opportunity of replying to your statement. Your mind, I perceive, feels perplexed, disappointed, and discouraged, while viewing the dealings of God with you. You have not been fa

voured with those manifestations of the love of God which would have furnished the evidence and comfort you want: you are called to walk in darkness, yet are not solitary: you may hear on every hand, the moans of God's children in the like situation; nay, and there is the voice of their Leader and yours, with strong crying and tears, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" Yet amidst the extreme horrors of this darkness, there is found a resting place: God is just and wise, faithful and good. "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest

the praises of Israel!" God's tried people exchange their moans and tears for songs and joys, as fast as the book of God's procedure opens before them. At present, you are at a loss to explain God's dealings with you: they are not answerable to your expectations, and you scarcely think them to be in harmony with his own promises: then let us look into the word of promise, and inquire if it be not the word of truth. I know none more to the point, or more precious than that in Psal. xxxvii. 1, " Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desire of thy heart.". The desire of your heart is, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me!" Yet in vain you pray and look and look up. It is possible you are expecting what God's truth in this promise is not engaged to give: look again into the qualifications stated in the former clause, "Delight thyself in the Lord:" It seems to import, Let the desire and delight of thy soul center in the Lord; let his image, his spirit, his love, be thine "all in all;" and thou shalt suffer no final disappointment: thy largest desires shall be fulfilled. I gather from the promise, that they enjoy most of God, who have the purest and most undivided love to him; and on the other hand, that many mourn the want of the manifestation of love, because of something that needs to be corrected in them. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." The child who loves, and is dearly beloved of its parent, has in some respect offended; and his temper is not

per.

fully subdued yet grieving and sobbing, he implores the renewal of his parent's caresses. Perhaps the parent's fond affection would be gratified in an immediate compliance; but his wiser love consults the forming the mind of his child to a happier temHe wishes him to be less self-willed and fretful, and more satisfied with the will of his parents; therefore, for the present, he denies himself in denying his child. Now review the dispensation you have been under. That God, whose you are, who is your Redeemer, your Benefactor, your Father,-who has aboundedtowards you in the blessings of hisprovidence

and grace, and has reserved for you treasures of everlasting glory,-called for a sacrifice, and, though one of the fairest flowers in your garden, he had reason to expect it to be on your part a free-will offering. He meant to receive your dear child, to be with him where he is, to behold his glory; and to recompense your gift with so much of himself and of his Spirit as should exceed its value an hundred fold more, even in this life; and withal there was so much love in the manner of his embracing and kissing the offering away, that it might have been expected you would have felt as the disciples did when they had witnessed the glorious ascension of their Master:

They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God." I am very far from meaning to censure you. I have to lament my own infirmities, and therefore can be touched with the feeling of yours; and so

can, and so will, that great High Priest, who is able to do for you exceeding abundantly beyond all you can ask or think; but my advice is, Let your first and most important request be, that your heart may be emptied of earth, of self, of sin, and be filled with the Spirit of God, and directed into his love. You will now see, that your affection was, in an undue manner, lodged in this earthen vessel: it will be your wisdom and blessedness to say, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul!" And when your tears aré wiped away, and your soul with sweet complacency cries, "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" his love will be no longer restrained: it will open many springs of rich consolation, and you will entertain many a message of your Father's love, and eat angels' food. God will pour his Spirit on you, and give you great peace within: he will shew you that his heart is love, and that he hath done all things well.

I am, &c.

J. BOWDEN.

LETTER XLIII.

TO MRS. W

MY DEAR FRIEND,

THOUGH I could not address you by letter so soon as I wished, my mind with much tender affection