April 22. Being the Lord's Day in the Afternoon to a Friend that came to see him he expressed himself thus The Doctor hath told me the lightsomest News to day that he hath told me a great while in acquainting me that there is but little hope of my Continuance long in the World but the Afflictions of God's People lie near my heart Oh to be filled with the Spirit three or four hours in Prayer for the Concerns of Sion He farther spake in his particular Case c. thus What if they that have seen me shall see me no more if he sees me that hath seen my Yearnings and Groanings if he sees me again he will not say he knows me not he is a God that will not forget his Promise He who hath seen my Soul in Travel who hath seen those Pangs of desire that no other hath seen he will be ready to say in the Riches of his Grace Here is poor such a one come to my Gate Come to my Knee Come to my Mercy-Seat Oh for affectionate thoughts of God and getting into him they are things that will not dry up they will not wither that will not be parched up Oh blessed be that heart that is thorow in desires Oh where is that glorious Majesty Oh what is it to come to the first Spring of Spiritual Life To come to God to the God that hath carried me into my threescore and tenth Year with a high hand And now he fore-seeing the remainder of my days would be Sorrow and Labour to the Body he calls me off And what is threescore and ten Years compared with Eternity A poor Pittance of time wherein God hath had very little Service from me Thus I parle a little about it to get some deep thoughts of that unspeakable Majestick Grace Little can I say of my Religion more than this I love the Lord in all he did I love him in all his Image I may say I may lay me down and rest for the Lord sustaineth me I have no other I desire no other Lord glorifie thy Name I have had caring thoughts about my self and others but now thou seemest to determine the matter Thou didst see I could not stand in the Shock but in thy strength I could have stood But thou wilt not cause all thy Waves and thy Billows to pass over me Thou hast had thy Champions and wilt have thy Champions Lord the Clouds arise apace the Wicked are full of Wrath they would root out thy Interest they would make Jacob low they are set upon Mischief and Spight Arise arise O God let the Lamb deliver let the Lamb overcome let thy unreasonable Enemies be turned over to Judgment Beautifie the place of thy Holiness confirm the Weak fix the Staggering Let thy People be able to meet Sufferings to put on Faith and Patience and say Aha Aha We are for God and his Ways Let thy People meet Death meet Losses meet whatever the Enemy can do and say We scorn your Cruelty Oh that thy People may stick by thee when there is nothing but Violence and Contradiction of thy Will O Lord work wonders for thy People break the Arm cut asunder the Bow of the Ungodly Oh let Shame be upon those that would take away thy Worship Glorifie thy self appear and stand an invincible Champion in Israel Let the earth know that thou dost possess the Gates of thine Enemies Let my Soul come into the Bundle of Life let my Soul come to all that that is promised by Jesus Christ I am to receive the Salvation of my Soul with exceeding Joy Am I near to the great Revelation of Christ to know more than ever Solomon did with that Perfection of Nature he had and Attainment of Grace Am I near to attain more than ever Paul could reach to by the Power of Grace and to know more of the Covenant of Grace than Abraham himself did and all the Saints while they were here in the World Oh I am confounded I am confounded and astonished I wonder I wonder at Free Grace and am amazed for want of more Faith The Filthy the Filthy duggle of a respect to my own Works which would follow me and spoil me and spoil all the Mystery of Free Grace c. Oh that now at last the Glory of Free Grace might lift me into the eternal place of it To a near Relation he spake thus Brother you are come to take your leave of me The Doctor as a sweet Messenger told me to day that I am near my Change I am now going from Shadows to Substance from things imperfect to things compleat and the thoughts of it even confound me I have been trading in the things of God for almost threescore years as to the experience of it and now after this long WOOF upon the LOOM it is to be taken off and all of it VIEWED and I know a World of Evil there is but I have always had a Sufficiency of the Grace of the Gospel declared to me that as defects came in they might be removed and by his Grace I have kept on with some desire with some delight with some Faith and Chear and now the RECKONING is to be made O my God there is a great Transaction upon me I throw my self upon Christ in the Gospel I sink if Christ sinks I have had nothing else to rest the Sole of my Foot upon now let thy Mercy be for me Thou hast given me good hope through Grace now Lord answer every good word upon which thou hast caused my Soul to hope Thou hast brought me hitherto so far to the very end of the Wilderness now O God bring me to thy Canaan I have waited for it Many other Sicknesses have not removed me now thou seemest to say This shall Now let me leave all my Filth behind me take it off There is a TRANSLATION let that Translation be effected upon me O Lord let not that Temptation come upon me that I have prayed to no purpose that I have faltered in the things wherein thou hast steered my Soul in Truth and in Spirit Lord let not a dead thought abide with any ugly savour in me now when thy Providences with the Concurrence of thy Servants meaning the Doctors say that thou callest me when they say The Master calleth thee Oh Oh was there ever such a day Had I ever such a day to be standing in the Portal to be waving up my hand to be knocking Oh for an Opening Lord say to me I will open Come in and let us sup together No less O Lord. Answer the Breathings of my Soul all along all my days Thou art faithful thou hast chosen me deny me not O thou that art Truth thou knowest that I have chosen thee Thou knowest my Life in this World hath been Death and Poyson to me without thee and now I come only expecting what thou hast promised and not what I have procured for there hath been my
You are a Traveller and shall pass from strength to strength till you appear before God in Sion I perceive you have thoughts about some alteration of your Condition and Oh that the same Guide which directed Abraham's Servant in the behalf of Isaac may go before you I should rejoyce more that you were yoaked with a gracious Mate than with the richest Estate in Britain where the Pearl of Grace is wanting I desire to remember you before the Lord. Be much in Prayer as I doubt not but you are and live above your self and above the World in that Transaction Grace and Wisdom and a Religious Stock are excellent Jewels though cloathed in a mean Dress Prov. 31. I say no more but the Lord who is your Refuge be your Counsellor And as you mind me of our spiritual Bond so I desire still to be mindful of it and that we both may incessantly pray for each other Remember me to Brother Daniel in the Bowels of Jesus Christ Let him and you comfort and strengthen one another in the Lord to whom I commend you remaining yours on the best account c. 1657. To D. H. N o 30. COuld I be more in the Spirit I could then write with more freedom but this I know that if I and you have our faces towarn Sion we shall be brought thither at length Our great work is to cease from our selves that the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord might have liberty to work in us and for us I know no such Door to the Mediator as to be resigned over to him and to be yielded up to the Salvation and Power of Free Grace 't is the only wholsome Food and Physick of a Sinner When the Soul is widened by Resignation to him and Self-abhorrency then his naked Redemption is sweet welcome and a Soul-satisfying Remedy I oft see a glimmering of this but my eye is weak yet such glimmerings tell me that there and there only lies the First-fruits and hope of Glory I had rather see God do a little in me and for me than do much my self for God's Little is infinite and my Much is nothing in his sight for me to be accepted thereby Therefore is Faith the only Key of all spiritual Treasure which is hid in Christ and in him only And by this going out of our selves to him we are made his and himself and his Treasures of Pardon Righteousness Wisdom and Perfection is made ours Venture your Prayers upon him though they seem to be cast away after many days they will return You can hardly find that ever Christ reproved his Disciples for any thing but Unbelief or little Faith or for not suffering Infants or others to come to him Let all these things teach you and I what is our chief Duty I leave you to the Lord remaining yours in truth and love c. 1658. To B. D. N o 31. YOur two last Letters have much refreshed me because I perceive it is not the Complement of Invention but the heart-raising Spirit of God has been favourable to you Be craving still be thankful still believe through the Clouds God has thus appeared that he may teach you how to live on him when he appears less to Sense you are Heir always to the same Joy and infinitely more when under the saddest hours Expect Trials for every Grace especially for Faith Winter follows Summer but the end will be Victory and Peace of which you have had I perceive a Taste Covet Christ's Image insatiably and to be at his dispose universally and let us bless his Name night and day I want a heart to bless God enough for his goodness to us the day hastens in which it will be done perfectly I am in health of Body labouring under the shameful load of an evil heart yet in hope of Victory through him who liveth for ever to make Intercession for them who desire to come to God through him only Amongst all business publick or private it is good for you and I to be watchful to keep a constant motion upwards constant Tenderness is a rich Treasury Grace is that incomparable Endowment enough to put a lustre upon every other Requisite What Alliance is greater than to be allied in the Communion of the Spirit I perceive God hath favoured you with an Affliction I hope you shall not go without the Blessing of it Be more importunate for a Blessing than anxious about the Loss or troubling your thoughts about Persons or Instruments or about future Events but commit your self and Estate Body and Soul to God as unto a faithful Creator and rejoyce in the hope of a better Resurrection and groan for nothing but the Body of Sin till it is groaned out of doors 1658. To S. D. H. N o 32. I Am glad to see you strive to get up the Hill and do take the right way Go on and prosper he is near who justifieth you Though he stands as it were behind the Wall he hears your Request and all your desire is before him he himself has undertook the whole Light is sown for you the Harvest is coming Lift up your Head your Redemption is sure and your Waters shall not fail You can never lay too much burthen on Christ he bears up the Pillars of the Earth and has already born your burthen the work is over with him and shall be over with you too shortly Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry You are not your own Workmanship but his he has lifted up his hand to Heaven and sworn that Blessing he will bless you and shortly tread Satan and every Corruption under your feet Cling about him he will not shake you off your Prayers are heard your Person is accepted Be not weary everlasting Arms are under you the Battel you are in will prosper The greatness of his Power is not to amaze you but to support you his Righteousness is to justifie you that you may not fear your Judge but reverence and love him who has washed you in his own blood and the business is done already and now there is no revoking of it The more difficulties do appear the more you are to triumph in him who overcame by the Blood of his Cross and will not leave you shelterless he can teach you better than I I leave you to him I perceive by your Letter that my dear friend R. M. is dead or rather now I confidently believe perfectly alive beyond Sin and Toil. I know you are not wanting towards that poor Child take her to Heaven as much as you can along with you Let us pray one for another and we shall not seek that blessed face of his in vain I might write much of mine own leanness and unworthiness and I would I could be more sensible of it so as to lay my starved Limbs on that free heart-reviving heart-renewing Covenant of Grace confirmed in the Person of a crucified and risen
my own management and power to exercise the same This is the true Life of Faith this is the way of walking up and down in the Name of the Lord. When I actually acknowledge every Measure of Spiritual Strength to hold its Tenure from Jesus Christ singly and wholly and rest confidently upon him for it and that because he hath promised both Grace Glory and every good thing judging him faithful who hath promised and owning him thereon for my Inheritance and my self nothing but what he is for me Then I may be said to trust Jesus Christ and to trust in him only I trust him upon his Word to be All for me which I would spiritually be and I trust in him to enjoy the same through the Faith of my Interest in him and his abounding Grace and Unction This cuts the heart of Self-Pride spiritual Surfeiting and Slothfulness when I live every moment at the mercy of another even Jesus Christ both for Justifying Righteousness and every Influence thereof by the immediate Breathings of his Spirit according to his good pleasure having not the power so much as to make one Hair white or black but I must wholly work by his Hands see by his Eyes and in his Light behold the Light What more powerful Inducement can there be to Self-denial than this Boasting is excluded because Christ in his own Person and by his own Spirit doth whatsoever is done for me or in me Here lies the Mystery and Labour of Faith which the meer Notion thereof can never reach unto so as to improve the same to a self-denying Activity for God in the paths of Godliness and Travel towards Zion There is in our dear Lord Jesus Christ spiritually not personally communicated to Believers a two-fold Excellency to his Redeemed as he is their Portion His Essential Power Righteousness Goodness and Perfection in the Godhead and his proper Humane Nature personally united thereunto Col. 2. 9. and neither of these considered as such can be communicated unto the Children of Men his Person cannot be divided imparted or broken And there is another Excellency flowing from the former by way of Influence and inward Vertue communicated to the hearts of the Redeemed by Regeneration which formeth reneweth and quickneth the New Man the new Creature in the Soul The first of these though it cannot in a strict sense be communicated yet it is wholly by Covenant given to the Saints Isa 49. 8. So that God in his vast Essential Infiniteness is their God and his ve-Body that was dead and is now alive was also given to the Elect Isa 9. 6. and is become theirs by Covenant and they enjoy it in that Right though it remains personally to be his own and not theirs but for them to all Eternity the Excellency of which God and Man in the Perfection of both Natures is so far reckoned and imputed theirs by Covenant-Union and Mystical Ingrafture as may perfectly deliver them from all Evil and fill them with all Righteousness Purity and Perfection which Creature-capacity can take in for the enjoying of the Glory of God So that the Person of the Mediator remains distinct from the persons of the Redeemed and are not mixed but united through the Spirit in the Covenant and his Personal Assumption of the Humane Nature by Faith exercised therein Hence it is that the Interest The Advantages of Christ's being without us personally and yet spiritually in us who believe which the Saints have in Christ is enjoyable by them singly through believing which Enjoyment through the spiritual Nature of the Union is as certain strong and sure as whatsoever they enjoy in their own persons by sense and feeling Ephes 3. 17. Rom. 4. 16. And thus Christ as to the Perfection of his Person being without us and above us and yet by the Communication of the Spirit through Faith made near to us and dwelling in us yields much privilege and unspeakable advantage to a Believer viz. 1. The Excellency of a Believer's Portion in Christ is hereby more distinctly viewed the Soul has hereby room to go round about the unspotted Lustre of his Person and View him from head to foot as the Church in the Canticles doth Cant. 5. 10. as the choicest of ten thousands whereas the Glory of the same Christ as far as it appears only in the heart by Operation is much dimmed and sullyed with the defilement that is there and continual Conflicts but considering him seperated far away from sin and sinners Heb. 7. 26. furnished with utmost Perfection and cloathed with Garments of compleat Victory and Beauty in the behalf of his Redeemed This fills their hearts with joy and their mouths with singing 2. He is thereby become also the livelier Object of their Love for the eye affects the heart and nourisheth spiritual Enflamedness towards him Distance 'twixt the Soul and so excellent an Object I say distance of this sort between the Eye and its Object through Propriety in him enamours the Mind and withall it provokes desire towards him Cant. 6. 11. and makes the Soul of a Believer cry out for more nearness Come O my Beloved this desire quickens expectation to rejoyce in hope and leaves no room for a loathing wearisome Fulness in the heart 3. This objective enjoyment of Christ gives foundation for a kindly refuge in him it rationally leads the inward Man to depart from all other selfs and run to this objective self Jesus Christ through the drawing vertue of spiritual Union with him Cant. 1. 4. and thus was Christ typed out by the Cities of Refuge 4. This Enjoyment of Christ by way of Object is also a Fountain of Recovery when the Soul is foiled it can fetch fresh righteousness fresh pardon and be anointed again and again with fresh Oyl Psal 92. 10. as David speaks and seventy seven times a day yea every moment as oft as the heart pants after him 5. 'T is also a Fountain of Ease by pouring out a Complaint into his bosom 'T is great refreshment to have a Friend to whom one may declare ones misery were it only to receive pity from his hands Job 16. 14. but in Christ looked upon by Faith there is a power as well as pity to help be the Affliction and Burden what it will be Heb. 5. 2. and how great soever 6. 'T is a Fountain also of Confidence and hence doth the Prophet Micah in the name of the people of God argue against the Triumph of the Enemy Mic. 7. 7 8. I will look unto the Lord c. and therefore Rejoyce not over me O my enemy though I fall I shall rise again And Christ himself doth teach his people Confidence by his own Example in the day of his suffering Isa 50. 8. Rom. 8. 33 34. in that his Father was near to justifie him 7. Christ thus taken up helps against the solitariness of our Journey towards Heaven a Believer has a friend to talk with by
last and perfect Fulness Col. 2. 19. Ephes 1. 23. And that Jesus Christ may make this express Word of his effectual to accomplish the design of his love to the Souls of his Redeemed he guides them by his Spirit to the most advantagious improvement thereof that not one Jot of his Word may be lost The whole Scriptures are the Inspiration of the Spirit of God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ Heb. 1. 1. Col. 3. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 16. given to reveal the way of Salvation which is carried on by a way of History and Doctrine in both which the State of Mankind is discovered in reference to its Innocency Fall and Recovery The State of Innocency and the Fall comprehended all Mankind in the Persons of Adam and Eve the State of Recovery respects only a part of Mankind saved out of that universal Loss by Christ according to the Election of Grace and therefore he is called the second Adam Rom. 5. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 45. who infuseth the Gift and Operation of Righteousness to his Seed as the first Adam had infused the Guilt and enthralling corrupting Power of Sin into his Seed As the Fall was a perfect Fall so the Recovery to the Remnant recovered is a perfect Recovery compleated fully in God's Decree before the World was Ephes 1. 4. and actually solemnized at Christ's Suffering Col. 2. 15. which becomes applicable to every individual person of that number by the Spirit of Faith and Holiness and whereby they are fully and really freed from the matter of Guilt through Union with Christ albeit the afflicting sense and fear of Guilt appears many times through the weakness of Faith in that Union and through the incumbring defilement of Sin in them who are redeemed holds on a Conflict in the Flesh till the last Enemy viz. Death be destroyed and so Mankind stands divided the Persons of them who only bear the Image of the first Adam corrupted by the Serpent's Poyson and they who bear the Image of the second Adam and in the latter every redeemed person carries also a Sub-Division in his own heart for a time viz. the grand Principle of his renewed State and the afflicting Stain and Enmity of the first Adam's Nature remaining in the Flesh And in reference to these two Contraries viz. the Good and Bad Persons of Mankind and the different Principles of Good and Evil the Scripture doth display all the Threatnings and Comforts Reproofs and Encouragements Judgments and Promises Instructions and Rebukes that are found in that blessed Volume with manifestations of God's power and goodness to the one and his power and wrath against the other So that whatsoever is spoken of any one person is spoken of all persons in the same State and whatsoever is spoken of any Action or Qualification in any person is spoken of alike Actions and Qualifications in every person who is in the same state to the end of the World even as long as Mankind remains and as far as the Line of each State whether it be good or bad reacheth so far doth every person continuing in that State bear his proportionable share through the Grave to Eternity When the Spirit of God speaketh any thing in the Word it first looks through the State in which any person is and so deals with that particular person according to the state in which he is whether it be a state of Sin or Grace and so acts towards him according to the rules and method of such a state Hence 't is that comforts or afflictions or teachings that are one and the same in their own nature are exceeding different in the end and use which the Spirit makes of them through the different state of Light or Darkness Life or Death in which all men lie So that by this means the same Word is a savour of Life to one which is a savour of Death to another The general threatnings against Ungodliness concerns every particular ungodly Man The particular punishment inflicted upon any one ungodly Man shews what is equally due to the rest of ungodly Men. And although one evil Man may not commit the same wicked Action as another doth yet he has the Nature and the same evil State which is the Root of that Action and as it brings forth Actions equivolently evil it is by the Spirit of God equally sentenced to Punishment And as in all visible Actions the state of the person in the Scriptures is first considered so in all Actions the nature and spirit of that Action as it holds relation to the state of the person acting is regarded by the Spirit of God in the Word before the Action it self and involves every one within the Guilt of that Action if it be wicked or within the Blessing of that Action if it be good in whom the nature and spirit of such an Action worketh From this ground Christ calls wicked Anger Murther and unchast Lustings Adultery Matth. 5. 21 28. And from this ground a gracious desire and intention has the blessing of a gracious Action 2 Cor. 8. 12. And when the Action is one and the same and yet the Spirit and inward Mind of them who execute that Action different the Action is not accounted the same but different as in the case of Cain's killing Abel and Phineas's killing Zimri it was Murther in the one and Righteousness in the other So that Actions may agree and yet the spirit of that Action in the Actors not agree and the spirit of one Action may agree with the spirit of another Action or the spirit of one that acts may agree in some particular Action with the spirit of another who acts the same thing and yet the difference of their grand state disagree as appears in the case of David's Uncleanness through Lust and the Sin of his Son Ammon for the Repentance of the one is recorded but not of the other So that in the use of the Scriptures we are to consider how far Actions agree and how far the spirit or immediate inward working which produceth Actions agrees and how the grand state of persons do agree that we may know how to make use of the Reproofs and Punishments Promises and Rewards that we find given to others in Scripture As concerning the state of Godliness there is no Godly Man has any peculiar privilege which is not common to all who are in the same state because the Covenant is made to them all alike in Jesus Christ in whom God is become their God upon the equal terms of Free Grace and Christ is as well the Head of one Member as of another and all the privileges which can flow from such a common relation run down rightfully to every person within that relation viz. Justification Adoption Reconciliation Sanctification Preservation Instruction and such like Operations of the Spirit that issue from that relation and which tend to a living enjoyment thereof and the advancing of that state to perfection
Sun and therefore poor Worms are never undone though never so low Could I more actually resign up to his Will and read that Golden Line of his Love that runs within every Providence of his and in every part of his Discipline and put my Seal to it how might I triumph and say O Sin where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Death He dasheth earthly Comforts that himself might comfort alone he suffers Corruption to swell and rage that he may appear to be the only mighty Redeemer he glorifies the Excellency of his Word by forcing the Soul thither for Refuge Brother let us be flying into this Ark his Word endures to a thousand Generations we have the same God and no other than what Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses David and Paul had He never left a poor Supplicant nor will do it for the Spirit of Supplication is his own Breath and himself deeply concerned in all the Concernments of his People they are his and their Concernments his also Let us muse this Privilege seriously and glorifie his good Will by Faith and Thankfulness and so rejoyce in believing above hope The Lord be a hiding place to you and me never yield to let him go but let us cling fast by Faith and Hope till he cause Salvation and Light to shine forth out of Obscurity and Comfort all that mourn Glorifie God by Faith Patience and Thankfulness lose not that and you will be no loser though the day be dark the Sun is not down The times of refreshing will come to us and we to them for our Redeemer lives for ever I leave you to that God and remain c. 1661. To S. D. N o 60. THat 's the happiest Man or Woman in the World that can truly hear the voice of God in his Rod. That happy profit I press and long for and that happiness I heartily wish to your self and my Brother that as God hath made you Partners in Affliction you would endeavour to the utmost to support each others Faith and holy Patience in a stormy day Afflictions be they what they will can never make you miserable Nothing makes the Rod tedious but unwarrantable vexations of Spirit and in days of trouble that is the usual Temptation and there is no such Cure as the naked sight of God's wise disposing hand If there have been any misgiving thoughts between you about future Concernments relating to your selves and your Children as under such Surges you have met withal our frailty is very apt unto spread that infirmity before the Lord who is abundant in Pardon Mercy and Truth who can spare the Lives of the rest if he please and will not suffer the Seed of his Servants to be desolate All the Scriptures be full of Counsel and infallible grounds of Consolation yet such is our Carnality Darkness and Unbelief many times that we think the Rock cannot yield Honey and so we gage things by fleshly and worldly Observation and are apt secretly to condemn the Wisdom Goodness and Faithfulness of God before we are aware whereas the only way to find the Pearl of real advantage in the blessed Word is to lay the heart to the Word by an exercise of Faith and then roll the Soul upon the Lord though it seems to be never so much against that Sense and Reason which Flesh and Blood is always dictating to us Dear Sister I must confess I travel under a treacherous heart of mine own which is ever betraying away my Peace my Strength my Faith and Hope and that is my daily burthen but I never come before the Lord with any openness and unfeigned Resignation to him for Pardon and Succour in vain I am somewhat a Partner with you in the Temptations and Waves of a present World but cannot call it dismal so long as God doth in some measure steer my Course in any sincerity after him Let us provoke one another to this and the Storm will be over the day will break and the darksome shadows will flee away or we shall flee through or flee beyond them for faithful is he that hath promised 1661. To J. L. N o 61. IT is good to mind our Interest in Christ seriously where-ever we are that when-ever we step out of this World we may step into a better in which dwells none but righteous Inhabitants and righteous things And were it not for this hope how miserable a life would Christianity be but one foretaste of Christ makes a dismal World pleasant That made Paul and Silas sing in their Bonds and John to be ravished in the Spirit in the Isle of Patmos and truly nothing else can do it 'T is our happiness that things which are seen are only temporal but things unseen are eternal I oft think of the comfortable society I had once with you but the Kernel of that which made Society then comfortable lies still safe so long as that Promise holds Loe I am with you alway even to the end of the World I recommend you into the hands of that precious Friend and remain c. 1661. To D. S. N o 62. LEt it be your and my study still to derive mortifying Power from the Grace and Cross of him who was dead and is alive I mean the Lamb who stands before the Throne in the vertue of his own Sacrifice Rev. 5. 6. perpetually to intercede for effectuating all the ends of his Mediation to them who come to God through him Our Prayers winged with faith in Christ and fellow-feeling one of another's troubles may fly faster than Letters can and there is no fear of their miscarriage if once placed by faith in the Mediator's hand The Lord who dwells in Houses not made with hands is the Habitation of his People Let the fulness of all manner of Contentment that is on the other side Jordan so warm our hope and faith that nothing on this side may discompose And Oh that I could dwell more in the view of him who is lifted up to draw all Men to him that so these earthly Affections might be transformed and fetch satiating delight from the place where Christ sits who is even now our life I commend you to him at his Throne let us meet and make merry in the Author of Consolation and our blessed Hope 1662. To D. H. N o 63. TRuly Sister I do sometimes wonder at the sottishness of my heart that can be so affected with the Christian tender Respects of a dear Friend and yet have no more flames of Affection to the Fountain of all Love and Loveliness Methinks nothing makes any Friend truly excellent in my thoughts but Grace and the Inhabitation of Christ there And if a Beam of his Grace creates a delightful Aspect where-ever it pitches how excellent for Perfection is Jesus Christ himself Sometimes our hearts are apt to fancy Christ as if he were humoursome revengeful as if he would make the worst of things and not the better sometimes