are; this conviction is sure to follow, wherever the blessed Spirit doth, as in your case, make manifest the evil of sin; the claims of God's righteous law; the inflexibility of divine justice, and the certain condemnation that rests upon every soul of Adam's apostate race. So that I am sure there is no fear you will be found cleaving to the covenant of works, seeing that the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has made you free from sin's reigning influence and condemnatory power. Never, my brother, lose sight of the rock from whence you were hewn, and the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, as the recollection of your former abject and polluted condition will excite, under the Holy Spirit's grace, feelings of the most devout admiration, gratitude, love, and praise. Yes, in your case has been exemplified the exceeding riches of unmerited mercy, and the glories of a full, a free, and eternal salvation. You deeply lament, that at your advanced life, the remainder of your days must be very few, in which you can exhibit the hallowed and blessed effects of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, before a crooked and gainsaying generation. Still, I would remind you, that the circle in which you move, in the providence of God, will furnish you with many opportunities, by conduct and conversation, to speak well of that dear Saviour in whom you have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of all your sins. Be concerned, I entreat you,

To tell to all poor sinners round
What a dear Saviour you have found;
To point to his redeeming blood,
And say, behold the way to God.

To you, my brother,, the blood of atonement must ever be precious, seeing that an application of its cleansing, purifying, and saving power, has turned you from darkness unto light, and from the power of sin and Satan unto God. Surely to such sinners as you and I, the grace of God has been

exceeding abundant. No power less than that which upholds universal nature, could have effected in our hearts the mighty changes even from sin to holiness, from death unto life, and from the power of Satan unto God.

A few months back you were the willing slave to death and hell, and were determined, as far as your own feelings were concerned, to fill up the measure of your iniquity, and to perish in your sins; but now I hail you as a brother, beloved in the Lord Jesus, who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, hath quickened us, who were dead in trespasses and sins, "wherein in time past we walked acccording to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience; but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when dead in trespasses and in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and saved us by his grace." This mercy, my redeemed brother, is the chief blessing of the everlasting covenant, designed to set forth, to the admiration of angels and terror of devils, Jehovah's everlasting love, the fountain from whence flows to the church all the streams of a finished salvation, with the blessedness it is sure to impart.

I freely confess that no truth is sweeter to my soul than the Father's, eternal and immutable love, deter-" mining from the day of eternity to save his people in the person of the Lord Jesus, to make unto himself a glorious name. Indeed it is this which makes all the provision of his mercy sure and certain to all the seed. If this truth is denied, or weakened by contingencies, we at once attempt to sap the foundation of the righteous, and leave nothing for a guilty soul to rest upon but shifting sand, the invention of the carnal and unsanctified reason of self-sufficient but guilty

man.

But you, my ransomed brother,

have not so learned Christ. The discovery of nature's deformity, with the fearful consequences of a long course of sin and iniquity, has so thoroughly convinced you of the impossibility of being justified by the deeds of the law, that certain and inevitable ruin must follow if not sheltered under the peace-speaking sacrifice of the Saviour's blood and rich atonement.

How sweetly is this subject set forth in the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Faith, precious faith in the Lord Jesus-the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart-bears up the soul under all the accumulated trials of life; lives and grows under pressure and load; imparts to the oppressed spirit of the weary pilgrim living consolation; subdues the power and destroys the dominion of sin in the heart; and renders even the weakest and fearful in the household of faith more than a conqueror through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of his testimony.

See to it, my brother, that daily communion is kept up and maintained with the Lord Jesus; watch carefully the spirit of your mind, and be very jealous over the least symptom of a declension in spiritual enjoyments. Remember, I beseech you, that even at your advanced life you have entered upon a warfare, that will require the mighty power of God to sustain you in the conflict, and to secure to you the final victory. "Put on therefore the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand."

It is true the enemies of your peace are numerous and mighty, but the issue of the contest is certain and glorious. Jesus, upon whom you have

cast the weight of your soul's eternal interest, has conquered our every foe, destroyed the power of Satan, abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light; and who ever liveth at the right hand of the Father, to make intercession for us, declaring that because he lives we shall live also.

His cross a sure foundation laid

For glory and renown,
When through the regions of the dead
He pass'd to reach the crown.
Exalted at his Father's side

Sits our victorious Lord;
To heaven and hell his hands divide
The vengeance, or reward.

The saints from his propitious eye
Await their several crowns;
And all the sons of darkness fly
The terror of his frowns.

Accept these hasty remarks as a token of my high esteem, and believe me, I remain,

Chatham.

Yours affectionately,

J. M.

SERIES OF LETTERS FROM REV. E. PARSONS OF CHICHESTER TO A FRIEND.

No. 7.-To be continued.

To my dear sister, and the poor little despised Church in the Isle of Wight, may grace, mercy, and peace rest upon you all from out of the fullness of Christ.

I should have answered your letter before, if time and opportunity would have permitted, but of late the world has had almost all my time and strength; but blessed be God, there is a time when all things with us here will have an end, and our hopes of eternal life shall not be cut off; for this is the promise of our God to us even eternal life; and he hath said for the comfort of our hearts, surely there shall be an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off, and everlasting glory to his name, he has not left us at a peradventure about our eternal home and state after this mortal life is at an end, for because we are sons and daughters, he hath sent forth his

Spirit into our hearts, crying Abba, Father, and set his mark upon us, and sealed us up to the day of eternal redemption; formed Christ in our hearts the hope of glory by precious faith, so that we have heaven, happiness, eternal day, everlasting rest, solid joy, uninterrupted peace, undisturbed love in Jesus, and, above all, to live and reign with God in endless glory, and there constantly to behold that blessed face that once was covered with blood; and that glorious person who once hung upon the accursed tree to atone for such awful sinners as you and I, and all the elect of God. This blessed sight shall so fill our souls with all the fulness of everlasting love, so that we shall drink full draughts, and for ever forget our poverty, and remember our misery no more, for the former things shall not come into mind; there we shall with all the redeemed sing that glorious anthem of free and discriminating grace. My dear sister and fellowtraveller to the heavenly country to which we are bound, when once we land in the far better world above, no more shall the world, flesh or devil, as so many dark clouds here below, intercept betwixt our precious lover and us; for we shall leave mortality behind us, and put on immortality; then shall we know even as we are known. All this we have in hope, and much more, which neither eye hath seen, ear heard, nor heart conceived. Oh, my fellow-traveller, the prospect is delightful, cheering, and animating; it is this that makes the saint of God carry his burden light, take up his daily cross and follow Jesus; resigned to the will of his heavenly Father, under the most trying cross, and to endure temptation; for when he is fully tried he shall receive the crown of life. My dear friend, may you and I daily rejoice in this blessed hope,

I now come, dear sister, to thank my kind covenant God and Father, and you his dear child, for the very

tender and sympathizing letter to one so unworthy as myself; for it was savoury meat, such as my soul loves, and was a heart-cheering drachm to my poor soul; and not to mine only, but to several of the Lord's dear children, as it came from one that has long been in the good ways of God, and was indeed strengthening, confirming, and supporting, and I most heartily thank you for the books you sent me. May the Lord reward you a sevenfold blessing of his blessed Spirit. That you may have sweet communion and fellowship with the Father of all mercies, and with his son Jesus Christ, on which you desired me to write in your last. But, my friend will see that my paper is almost gone, so that there is room to say but little about so precious a subject. But, my dear sister is much better acquainted with the blessed privilege of holding friendship with the great God of heaven than the poor sinful worm that now writes, having been much longer in the way. But this much we all know, that there must be a union before there can be any communion. As, saith Jesus, I am the vine, ye are the branches, Thus the union which was from everlasting springing from his eternal love, "I in them, and thou in me, that they be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world," and in consequence of this glorious union, in time there is a communion takes place betwixt Christ, the covenant head, and the Church, his members; for they receive out of his fulness, divine life and light to feel and see their state as sinners before God, together with an inward hunger and thirst after the bread and water of eternal life; then, and not till then a communion betwixt Christ and the sinner takes place; and although there is no sweet communion with God and the sinner, yet there will be unbosoming our

troubles and sorrows to a precious Jesus, as it was with David, "I found trouble and sorrow; then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul;" and being wounded, we (under the powerful work of the Spirit) communicate our wants to a God of mercy in Christ Jesus. Heal my soul for I have sinned. Oh, my dear sister, how often has my poor soul been, when in the prison of God's law, bound fast in sin and unbelief, racked daily in selfdespair, labouring under the most dreadful temptations; nothing but eternal misery before me; almost upon the very brink of black despair, and certain, according to my own feelings, that I was given up by God himself to the devil and reprobation, but even here there is communion. For as you, my dear sister said, that you could not tell your distress to any; no more could I but to Jesus, and is not this communion to open our griefs to one who is ready to hear; but this will not satisfy, for the carnal enmity must be slain in our minds, our hearts must be circumcised to love the Lord our God that we may live: true peace of heart must be found through the blood of the everlasting covenant. In short, we have every grace communicated from the glorious fulness of Christ, in consequence of eternal union with him, flowing from the Father's everlasting covenant love in Christ Jesus, which covenant is filled with all spiritual blessings in the glorious head, and flows to all the members in the fullest and freest manner through the undeserved mercy and grace of God, as it is written, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, so that we receive divine life from him; first to feel our lost estate by sin, and then earnestly to thirst after a full enjoyment of himself in the pardon of our sins through his precious blood, light to discover our Adam fall transgression, and the

awful evil of our hearts, to hunt us out of every false peace, refuge and hiding place, and by his blessed Spirit we are led to communicate our wants; for being naked, and seeing ourselves exposed to the wrath and curse of God in his law, we powerfully hunger, inwardly thirst, and vehemently cry to be clothed with the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, having none of our own; the filial fear of God to bring us out of the world, and make us honest in heart before him, that we may also worship him in Spirit and truth, through the tender mercies of our God, as saith David, "I will come into thy house, in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy temple." In this blessed filial fear our kind God brings us near to himself, and gives us a sweet and humble confidence in his mercy through Christ, so that we by faith find him to be a refuge indeed from all storms, as it is written In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge." The eye of faith to see him as an all-precious Saviour, suitable to our miserable lost and undone souls; feet of faith to follow after and go to him with all our burdens of sin, misery, and wounds; hands of faith to lay hold of him as our everlasting salvation and eternal life; love to draw forth our hearts' and souls' desires after him, and to constrain us to leave all for a knowledge of a dear and precious Saviour, who is the altogether lovely and chief among ten thou sand, and his precious love flowing from Christ the head of influence into the heart of the poor sinner, owing to the union that was from everlasting betwixt them, and which eternal love in the heart will never cease to be sending forth its smoking desires, inward longings, and powerful goings. forth of heart and soul in prayer and supplications to God for a full enjoyment of communion with him in Christ Jesus. It is this that draws

the affections upward to God; neither shall this precious love ever be quenched in the heart of any poor sinner, but shall bring him to the full enjoyment of God in a dear and precious Jesus, so that we hold the sweetest union and communion with him.

My dear sister, it is utterly out of my power to set forth the various means that God makes use of to commune with his people; but this much we are sure of, that it is all in love through Christ Jesus, as it is written, "I will commune with them from above the mercy seat," and sometimes the Lord is pleased to meet with us in his house of prayer, and sweetly seal home to our hearts his eternal love through the means of the preached gospel, so that we find it to be indeed the house of God and very gate of heaven, and the light of God's countenance sweetly shines forth in the face of Jesus Christ. Blessed are the people that know in heart and soul the joyful sound; they shall walk in the light of thy countenance, O Lord.

Sometimes the good and gracious God is pleased to commune with his dear children upon their beds, in the silent hours of the night, when none but God and the soul is privy to the sweet and happy meeting of the loving Father and rebellious child, humbled at his footstool under his mighty hand of powerful love. Here a bro. ken hearted, lovely, smiling, precious, sympathising, heart-cheering, hearthealing, heart-comforting, heart-establishing, heart-drawing, heart communing Saviour, is found in the sweetest friendship with a poor, lost, broken-hearted sinner. Here God smiles upon us in his eternal love; this shines away all darkness; takes away all sin; removes every obstacle out of the way, and free access and sweet intercourse takes place betwixt God and the soul. The blessed Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God. This, oh this, my dear sister, my happy soul knows

by heart-union and communion with Jesus Jehovah. Oh when I remember him upon my bed, and meditate upon him in the night watches: because he has been my help, therefore under the shadow of his wing will I rejoice.

Sometimes he is pleased to commune with us at a throne of grace. But, my dear sister, before I proceed any farther, I wlll relate to you a little of my own trouble, which arises from many quarters, one in particular.

I have been to hear Mr. C-, but cannot find the Son of Peace there. This is trying and most distressing to me, knowing that in times that are past I have sweetly enjoyed the heartcheering presence of my God in his house of prayer; but now alas, it is bondage, darkness, and confusion; so much so that at times I have almost lost all that my God in everlasting love has shewn me. But not willing to give offence to any, nor throw a stumbling-block in the way of the weak of God's family, I went again last evening, but not before seeking my God with prayer and supplication, telling him how I felt in his house of prayer, and that I was a poor blind sinner, and to such he had promised counsel and wisdom, and that his blessed Spirit should guide them into all truth. As I was thus pleading at a throne of grace, this scripture came to my mind, ** Ask of me a sign," which I was led to do in this way, that if it was the will of my heavenly Father that I should continue to go to hear, he would be pleased to send home his word with power to my heart. Accordingly I went; his text was There is one body," so that I was set down as a hypocrite and nothing better, and a man in the flesh, together with a scatterer and divider of the body. This brought bondage of soul, darkness, and confusion to me, and more of the Lord's tried family. But on the other hand it fed the pride of those that knew not God.