neighbours, and some were hiding their heads in dark places, some screaming, others fainting in my arms, I being so recently delivered from the fears of death and hell, could sit with calm and solemn delight, holding a sweet soliloquy with my soul, saying, "It is my Father; he will do nothing wrong."

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Again, the woods and groves, the hills and mountains, seemed to dance with joy before me, and the flowery fields and valleys of corn to laugh and sing." Every little bird that sung amongst the branches, every bee that buzzed from one wild flower to another, and every little insect that crawled, set forth his glory, and sung his praise in my soul, till every sense was smitten with his glory and filled with his love; and I have been so filled with heavenly love that in my solitary walks I have been compelled to break silence, and burst forth into rhapsody of song, and have sung such tunes and words as I never learned from books, or heard from men.

"Angels that make the church their care

Have witness'd my devotions there."

Every power of my soul, and every natural sense have been so filled with love, delight, and the glory of Christ, that I could hardly bear the weight of it, but have almost fainted, and have fallen down on the ground, and embraced the daisies, and other flowers in the lonely valleys, for I could see the unutterable glory of God in all things around me.

"He is in all things, and in all things found;

I heard him, I perceiv'd him all arouud."

The green earth and the spangled skies declared his glory; "heaven and earth is full of his glory," and I have been filled till I could hold no more; every sense was full. The variety of colours, rich tints and shades in the flowers charmed the eye; the various sounds of the harmonious songsters charmed the ear; the mingled odours of sweet flowers charmed the smell; the rich, varied and delicious flavours of summer fruit pleased my taste; and the genial, warming rays of the sun, and the cooling zephyr in the inviting shade pleased my feeling. Surely, thought I, this is something of terrestrial paradise restored!

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But O how transient and ruinable is every paradise under the sun that is mingled with sublunary bliss. The evil ghost of the infernal shades envied my happiness, and could not bear to see me thus caressed in the arms of love. He sought opportunity, by the permission of God, to bring me quite as low in wretchedness and woe as I had been exalted in happiness and bliss. For, thought he, Light is sweet, and it is pleasant to behold the sun, still the days of darkness are to be many," and since those halcyon days I have had to complain with poor, poor Job. "I go mourning without the sun, I am a brother of dragons, and a companion of owls.". And since those happy seasons I have seen and felt myself as evil as the old dragon and his crew; and have gone moping about like an owl, and hallooing in the dark night as if no one regarded me, or my cry. These things have much troubled me; but the other night I had this answer, "I form the light, and create darkness." (Isa. xlv. 7.) Now, many self-luminaries affirm that the creature can make darkness

and light at his pleasure, but I must confess that I am not one of these omnipotent creatures, for I have sometimes found that when I have been the most circumspect, and attentive to all duties and means, I have laboured under long seasons of darkness; at other times, when I have relaxed my energies, seemed careless, and almost ready to halt," and give up God and religion altogether, glorious light has sprung up in me, and I have again been filled with light and love. I find that when the Lord makes light for me, and holds me in that light, I cannot make darkness, and when he makes darkness, I cannot make light. This I have found by late and melancholy experience, and I begin to believe that the darkness is as necessary as the light, and must succeed each other till we arrive where there shall be no night."

First, we are in nature's darkness, dead in sin, till the Holy Ghost comes with life and light, and shows us our sins; then we are led under blackness, darkness, and the tempest of the law, which darkness we then fear will end in the outer darkness of hell; from thence the Holy Ghost leads us into the light, life, and liberty of the gospel of Christ, when all the lower creation seems to be gilded with heavenly glory, and we see God in all things. These are the days of our first love, when we live more by joys and feelings than we do by faith, till Christ withdraws from the soul, and a weaning time comes on, and we grow fractious, uneasy, and are ready to pine away our life for the breasts of consolation and the love of Christ, but cannot obtain it. This brings on another night of darkness, after which the Lord is pleased to shine again, bringing another "clear morning without clouds," and we are led into the covenant counsels, and the secret of the Lord is revealed unto us, and we are led to see that the fall of Adam made a way for displaying all the attributes and perfections of God; and that Christ Jesus, by his active and passive obedience, life, sufferings, and amazing death, honoured every perfection of God in our complete, and finished, and everlasting salvation. Here the poor tempest-tossed soul begins to find anchorage, through the veil of Christ's flesh and blood, in the immeasurable sea of God's everlasting love; and thus, after suffering awhile, the Lord strengthens, settles, and establishes us in his love, and his dear Son's work; so we are led to say, with dear old Paul, whatever life he or we have lived in time past, whether a profane or self-righteous life, a life of sorrows or joyful feelings, "the life that I Now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." But where the strongest faith is found, another night gradually comes creeping on, so that we see old-established saints are often very sluggish and drowsy, which makes young Christians wonder, who are in their first love. But, as Mr. Hart says,

"Some find their latter stages worst,
And travel much by night."

But my limits forbid enlarging upon this night now, but if you say, Watchman, what of the night?" I can say, my dear souls, "The morning cometh." It will come, and not tarry; it must come. Hallelujah! the day shall soon dawn, and the shadows flee away. Dunmow, May 22, 1839.

A WATCHMAN ON THE WALLS.

EXTRACTS FROM A PRIVATE LETTER.

(Concluded from page 167.)

How little are these simple, yet glorious facts, understood, and how little preached! All doctrines, however excellent and true, seem void of marrow and fatness without this. I am not surprised that there should be often so much jangling and cavilling even amongst the faithful in Christ Jesus about different points of religion, &c., when the very mainspring and ground cause of all real religion is kept out of sight.

I fear I am becoming somewhat tedious to you, but trust that some of the reflections may tend to comfort you, as yours did me. I have heard of your affairs, and, as regards the many troubles and difficulties you have had to encounter since I last saw your faces, I sincerely sympathise with you, as members of the mystical body of Christ. Your troubles are mine; nevertheless, I rejoice exceedingly that the God of peace, I am persuaded, has not left you without frequent and strong consolations. I have often felt ashamed at having neglected you so long; but that, with numberless other follies, must be numbered up with the great mass of guilt which, I trust, has, ages past, been carried away on the divine scape-goat into the land of eternal forgetfulness; and I doubt not that I shall have your hearty forgiveness also. My dear friend A- from what you have said concerning him, gives me unutterable pain, and nothing consoles me but the persuasion that, ere long, the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls will bring him home. He is surely gone into Egypt, but as surely must he be brought out again. The Lord, who knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, knoweth that my bowels yearn after him, and I earnestly pray for his speedy return to the promised land. Fail not to give him my heartfelt respects and brotherly love. I shall be glad to hear more concerning him, and much more glad shall I be to have better tidings. There is my staunch friend and brother E- also; what is the mat ter with him? May we not say, as Mary said of her brother, "He whom thou lovest is sick?" Nothing is wanting but a touch of the Physican to heal him of all his sickness. For him my spirit prays, also, no doubt as his has for me. I have to beg his forgiveness, too, for many things. If you happen to see him at any time, act as my intercessor, and tell him he is seldom absent from my recollection, and what I cannot render him for his many brotherly kindnesses towards me, may he have tenfold returned into his own bosom, by him who hath blessedly said, “Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall give a cup of cold water to one of my disciples, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward." I am sorry to hear that Mrs. E. is so ill, and otherwise uncomfortable; but, while I sympathise with her, as I would also with all the sons and daughters of affliction, how truly blessed it is to reflect that we have not an High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but one who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, and, therefore, knows how to succour them that are tempted. Yes; this is one of the countless unsearchable riches of Christ. O what a mystery is here! Could the spotless, sinless Lamb of God essentially and really feel all the numberless and various trials, temptations, afflictions, sorrows, and sins of all and every one of his elect family? Could he know, feelingly, all the varied workings of sin and Satan, with which his brethren are afflicted and tormented? What a consolation! what a brother is this, born for adversity! "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." We think it a comparative pleasure, and indeed it is a great

pleasure, too, if we can fall in, perchance, with a friend that has been in similar troubles and temptations with ourselves. How glad are we to converse together, to confess each other's faults, and the like. Then what pity, commiseration, and sympathy is felt in each other's breasts; no sharp and cutting rebukes, no turning away with, "I am holier than thou." No, no; but, on the contrary, feeling properly and tenderly for each other in the bowels of compassion and love. If this can be found amongst, and from our brethren in the flesh, how much more infinitely blessed is the consideration that he who is the great Head of his body, the church, and who is our elder, or first brother, knows experimentally and infinitely more about us than we ourselves do, that we can make free with him, without the fear of rebuke, let our case be ever so bad; for thus saith the Lord, "For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I SWORN that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Well might the Spirit of Truth say, by the mouth of the psalmist, "Pour out your hearts before him; God is a refuge for us." Yes, God is a refuge for us; the God-Man Christ Jesus, God and man, God with man, God in man, the man Jesus Christ, Immanuel God with us. This reminds me of another word of inspiration, "They that know thy name, shall put their trust in thee." Yes, indeed, but that name must be known as bearing in it every thing that is endearing, and denoting the closest possible intimacy, union, and fellowship with our nature, as containing in its capacious meaning, all and every thing we can possibly want for the life that now is, and that which is to come; substance and fulness for our emptiness; wealth for our poverty; righteousness for our sinfulness; a name full of promises, and as full of performances; a name full of truth, justice, mercy, peace, love, joy, and glory; a name above every name; "Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee." When the great I AM said, "He hath anointed me to preach good tidings," and so on, it was synonymous with what he spoke by the mouth of one of his servants; "I have declared thy name unto my brethren; thy name is as a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and are safe; thy name shall be great in all the earth. I have declared unto them thy name, and I will declare it." Never can there be peace in the conscience, love in the heart, joy in the Holy Ghost, or comfort in tribulation, but in strict proportion as we are enabled to apprehend and enjoy this great name. "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance; in thy NAME shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy RIGHTEOUSNESS (the same thing) shall they be exalted." O, methinks, what a world of preaching, disputing, praying, and singing! all vanity, less than vanity, nothingness, worse than nothing, because void and destitute of his substantial, vital, soul-saving, and comforting name.

How is our old friend A of H? Is he smothered in bricks and mortar, not knowing himself, perhaps, where he is, or what he is? or has the Sun of Righteousness arisen upon him, with healing in his wings? I heartily trust that the light of day has increased very greatly on him. Give my kind regard to him if you see him. Mrs. LI find, is gone into one of the isms of the present day. Well; I don't despair of her; when she has gone the round of creature-religion, and made a fair show in the flesh, she will peradventure get sick of it, and ultimately settle on the Rock, Christ. Most certain it is that the creature is unceasingly running after vanity, not only of a profane kind, but of a religious sort also, and the latter,

I am ready to aver, is worse than the former, because it is the most deceptive. "Broad is the way that leadeth to death, and many there be that go in thereat,” said the lips of truth; and may we not consider that by the broad way is partly intended the religious way or ways of men's devices? Anything or every thing that is short or in the stead of the Alpha and Omega, the whole of it, bad and good, is nothing but flesh. "Strait is the road, and narrow is the path which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Few indeed! for so perfectly is it out of the reach of all creature-wisdom, that we must possess the very Him who is the way, the truth, and the life, before we can find it out; and then we speak of it as the apostle did, like one in his proper senses, "It is no more I, but Christ that dwelleth in me;" I, yet not I; and even if it is I, I and Christ are one; so that in the precious mystery of redemption, he is our eyes, our feet, our wisdom, our everything, and the sum total of all our spiritual calculations is simply but gloriously this, "Christ is all and in all!" He is the true light; therefore, the moment we are out of him, as regards our spiritual apprehensions, we are in the dark, and necessarily go blundering about like all other people in the dark, and stumbling over every thing but the right thing. O what little insignificant, stupid, proud, self-conceited, would-be-wise fools we are, astray from Christ; while in him, on the contrary, we can confound the wise, and outbrave the mighty. Before I bring these thoughts to a close, allow me to indulge myself with repeating, in full, a portion of holy writ on this point, which is particularly sweet and truly blessed; more so it cannot be; it is like the pots of wine, full to the very brim of the wine of consolation, exactly suited to such poor things as we, and over which we may rejoice with exceeding joy. Sure I am that could we constantly bear it in mind, we should be infinitely more contented and really happy; yea, we should sing aloud with joy and gladness of heart; we should know the meaning of those words, "Let the inhabitants of the rock sing; let them shout from the top of the mountains." And now let me repeat the thrice blessed Scripture, and praise, for ever praise its divine Author with unfeigned lips: "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and the base (mark that) things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." It is true that I am indeed unworthy to take his sacred name into my unhallowed lips; but nevertheless, may my spiritual heart and tongue never cease to praise and bless him for so unspeakable and so rich a gem of divine reality.

I often call to remembrance the many friends I have known in the truth, and it is with feelings I cannot easily describe; many times have we taken sweet counsel together, and gone to the house of God in company. I have loved them sincerely, and do still love them, for the sake of Him who loved us and gave himself for us. But alas! I feel as though I were separated from them and they from me, and I a sort of disjointed member; some of them have entered on their eternal rest, and bathe in that river the streams whereof make glad the city of God; others are scattered about to east, west, north, and south, both as it regards locality and state; and some, I am truly happy to find,