"Pilgrims we are, to Canaan bound." Here I was quite broken down ; and then the dear Baptist servant of God met my case both from Scripture and experience. You can in part guess at my feelings. I cannot here disclose all, but, as one unknown, I walked the twelve miles to my home in intercourse with our precious Jesus. You can

not expect to hear of my prejudice any more. O no; I love and pray for those blessed men; and, that night and since, the language of my soul has been

"With them number'd may I be,
Here and in eternity."

I peruse every scrap of theirs I find in print. I had for some days past been impressed with these words, “Search the Scriptures," and, on Saturday last, I opened the New Testament, for the first time in my life, to read impartially of my Saviour's obedience to the rite of baptism, and his absolute command for its observance. Here I saw that his Father and the Holy Ghost, as well as the evangelists and apostles, bore witness to it. I was now arrived at a decision. The next morning, Sunday, June 30th, I had these words spoken in my soul; "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished." I was convinced it alluded to the dear Saviour's sufferings. Having no engagement for the day, I felt an inclination to attend, for the first time, Foot's Cray chapel, in hope of hearing Mr. Silver, whom I had never heard; but I found that he was not there, but a Mr. Lewis, from Chatham. I arrived just after eleven; the service was commenced, and the minister was delivering an address prefatory to his baptizing four women and two men. The concourse was too great to admit of my seeing any one immersed, but I felt, during the administration of the ordinance of baptism, something like the Eunuch, and, had it not been for the perspiration of my body, and the disturbance of their order, I could have deliberately addressed the minister in his words, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be bap tized?" When the whole had been baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, the minister solemnly addressed the Majesty of heaven thus; "It is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room." Then the hymn was sung which begins, Jesus, and shall it ever be," in which my heart united. The whole was conducted with the most marked decorum. One of the members of the church spake in prayer, at the close of which, the same minister appeared in the pulpit, and took for his text; "For the transgressions of my people was he stricken." (Isa liii. 8.) O, with what feelings did I listen while he demonstrated the illustrious sufferer; how he was stricken, and for whom, being the Son of Man, the Lord of life and glory; stricken by men, by devils, and by his Father, for all his own elect; stricken by poverty, by ingratitude, by temptation, and by justice. Hence his dolorous cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" O, my friend, who can but apply the words of Mr. Hart,

And

"His was a baptism deep indeed,
O'er feet and body, hands and head."

"Not but we taste the bitter cup,

But only he could drink it up."

When the service was ended, and the congregation retired, I approached the baptistery, and, in contemplation, saw the Saviour's grave; and, as it presented to my mind his sufferings and death, I entertained an esteem for it. At dinner time, I read to a few friends

the three hymns of Mr. Hart's on baptism, and saw a beauty in them I had never seen before, and felt an increasing love to all my dear baptist brethren and sisters, especially those whose feelings I had previously hurt by my ignorant expressions. In the afternoon, I saw the right hand of fellowship publicly given to each of the newly baptized persons, who were addressed by Mr. Lewis, and solemnly and affectionately exhorted to walk worthy of their vocation. Their confession of faith was read; it was the same that Dr. Gill compiled, and was quite in accordance with my own views. Now followed the administration of the Lord's supper, and, though I was only a spectator, none felt perhaps more personal interest. When the collection-plate passed round, Mr. Lewis very emphatically said, "Only I would that you should consider the poor, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." After the service was ended, several of the friends approached me with every expression of their union to me, and in allusion to the ordinances, in which I had not visibly partaken, invitingly said, "Yet there is room." In the evening Mr. Lewis preached from "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm, in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.” (Isa. liii. 10.) He handled the text like a workman. The arm, as denoting power, he proved to be Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God; he showed his hand to hold a sword, a rod, and a sceptre, as used in the conversion, support, and government of his chosen; and instanced Manasseh, Mary, the thief, and Paul, and that none would believe the report but those to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. He quoted here that verse of Mr. Hart;

"Law and terrors do but harden,

All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon,
Soon dissolves a heart of stone."

He asserted that we were but two classes, believers and unbelievers; quoting, "Whosoever hath the Son hath life, but whosoever hath not the Son of God, hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," adding, if our sins were not visited on the Surety, they must be visited in our own persons. He endeavoured much to caution us against mistaking the death-sleep of professors for the "peace of God that passeth all understanding." He then drew a striking contrast between Balaam and Job. The former said, "I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not near;" the latter, "I shall see him for myself." He then concluded with the following interrogation, "What says your experience to this? Is it the experience of Balaam, or the experience of Job?" Thus, my brother, I saw he was not guilty of what I had often heard the Baptists charged with, viz., making a Saviour of baptism. You must not be surprised if my next announces that I am a baptized brother. Certain I am of opposition and slighting contempt, but it will be but the same measure given back to me, and as some have borne with me, I hope to bear with others.

Your observations on the progress of Popery in our native land is indeed appalling, as is also the almost entire profaneness and insensibility of our countrymen. I have read in the Posthumous Letters of Mr. Huntington the following prophetic language; "Our good old king (Geo. III.) is the breath of our nostrils, and by his shadow we dwell among the heathen; but when he is removed, the papists will get into both houses of parliament, and then things will wear a worse aspect." How this has been fulfilled is obvious; which of itself con

firms that offensive clause in his epitaph, "England and its metropolis shall know there hath been a prophet among them." May you and I, with all that belong to the Lord, be "kept by his power through faith unto salvation;” and may he guide and support you and yours, and then, if we meet no more in this vale of tears, we shall meet soon at his right hand, where there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. Notwithstanding the removal of those dear servants of God, we have still, besides those in this letter named, some others, for the Lord knoweth them that are his, and their spiritual offspring will be his witnesses, when we are numbered with the clods of the valley. My wife unites with me in love to you and yours, and believe me ever to remain yours in the best of all bonds,

Bromley, Kent.

JAMES C.

My dear Sir,-Agreeable to your desire, I will, as the Lord shall enable me, give you a few particulars respecting the Lord's gracious dealings with my dear child. What she was before the Lord laid his afflicting hand upon her, you are no stranger to; and for some time after illness had made a great alteration in her appearance, it did not make any change in her mind, for she seemed totally regardless of what might be the result. I do not think it can be more than ten or twelve weeks back that her mind began to be alarmed respecting the awful state she was in as a sinner. I think it was about that time I began to observe her to be more thoughtful, and to begin to read good books, (which before had been her aversion,) and it now became evident there was much distress in her mind. She had now given up every hope of recovery, and observed to two or three young friends, she should not mind dying if she had the slightest hope of being happy after death. Soon after this her distress of mind began to be very great, her days being truly miserable, and her nights sleepless; but I believe she was enabled to pray earnestly for mercy. Her knowledge of herself as a sinner was very clear; her utter inability to obtain any blessing from the Lord, by any act of her own, she knew to a certainty, neither could she try to merit anything by a future obedience, as she found the Lord's hand was gone out against her. She was, therefore, from dire necessity, obliged to throw herself on the mercy of God, as a helpless, lost, and undone sinner. During the conflict that was carrying on in her mind, she had a strong hope, at times, in the mercy of God from portions of divine writ being secretly brought home with power to her soul. One in particular appeared to be a strong cordial to her fainting spirits, which is the following; "Why art thou cast down, O my soul; and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him." From which passage she gathered strength to plead again and again for mercy; nor did the blessed Spirit leave her, but enabled her still to cry earnestly for salvation, through the blood and righteousness of a Saviour. At last the dear Lord brought deliverance to her soul, in the way she related to you when she sent for you. From that time till the following Wednesday before her death, she was quite calm in her mind, and earnestly longed for the day of dissolution, which was now making hasty strides. The Wednesday preceding the Friday on which she died, the great enemy of souls was, no doubt in wisdom, permitted to make the last dreadful attack. Her distress was then great indeed; all her hopes gave way; she thought

every thing she had passed through was an entire delusion; she clasped her hands in agony, exclaiming, "O mother, will the Lord let me sink into hell after showing me what he has done? Why did he ever suffer me to hope in his mercy, and enable me to feel his love, and now leave me a prey to the destroyer? O! what shall I do?" with a great deal more of similar language. She then for a few moments became more calm; then clasped her hands again in earnest breathings to the Lord for deliverance, but did not appear to get any relief. And for my own part, I must confess the enemy had the same advantage over me as he had on the mind of my dear child, and I could not advance a word by way of comfort, but was obliged to say the Lord was just in his dealings with us both. She acquiesced in what I said, and declared herself to be the vilest of the vile. There was very little alteration in her till about twelve at night, when, in the greatest extremity, she thought herself surrounded by infernal spirits, who really, to use her own words, appeared as though they would take possession of both body and soul. When at this extremity, these words came as a voice, "Daughter, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee." Her mind instantly became calm, her countenance was no more sad, the enemy was put to the rout, she was enabled to trust to that promise, "Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further," and she now declared him to be a chained enemy. From that time till half past eleven on the Friday night following she seemed to long for the time of her departure. Several times during the day she beckoned me to her, and said with a sweet smile, "Daughter, be of good cheer." About eight o'clock she said, "I will not be low spirited any more; I have sweet promises that God will never leave me. "O me," she said, "glory! glory! glory!" and, with extended arms, exclaimed, "I am coming!" About ten o'clock she called me to her, and said, with an expression of countenance I cannot describe, "Pray that the Lord may take me soon." I was not in the room at one time, when she appeared in a transport, and cried out, "Victory! victory! victory!" But immediately that I came in her sight she said, with a smile, "Mother, I have shouted victory!" I said, I shall soon have to say, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours." She answered very quickly, "Thanks be to Jesus for it." The time of her dissolution was now fast approaching, and her desire to be gone became more intense. She repeatedly was saying, "It will not be long;" and with both hands and eyes lifted up, was speaking to herself, apparently in prayer. She once said to me during the last few hours of her life, "I have got it," meaning the blessing. "Ah! I have prayed for it, and I will never leave off praying.” She was now in the agonies of death, and agonies indeed they were. She asked her sisters if her feet were cold, they told her they were; at this she was quite delighted, and again said, "It will not be long, thank God." She turned round her face to the side of the bed where I was sitting, took my hand and pressed it in hers. In a little while after, her breathing became more gentle. The last words she spoke were, "Sweet Jesus, I am coming!" and in a few minutes breathed her last.

THE MINISTRY.

Dear Brother in the best of Bonds, the glorious Gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,-I received your kind, affectionate, and brotherly epistle to-night, and could have desired (if it had been the will of our God) to have received the delightful information that

you had experienced the sunshine of Jesus, beaming with light, love, joy, and liberty, in your soul, having the transportation from your dark cell to the bright mansion-house and large room spoken of by David, your feet being set upon the Rock Christ, feeling your standing there. Darkness precedes light, bondage liberty, sorrow joy. And although you may find it trying work to have all your carnal, fleshly reasoning and pride burnt up, nevertheless you shall lose nothing in the furnace except your tin and dross; and when the Lord can see his image in you, he will bring you forth as gold seven times purified. But I hope that you are not altogether without a little glimmering, though not quite sunshine. May Jesus verify his promise in your experience, where he saith, "The vision is but for an appointed time; he will come, and not tarry." Although circumstances at present prevent me from coming to C, I am, in contemplation, often conversing with you. And, indeed, I miss you greatly; for if there is one Christian brother whom I love for the Lord's sake, it is you. Never, to my recollection, have I found one with whom I could travel to the same extent in what I hope the Lord hath wrought in our hearts. I often question the reality of a work of grace in my heart; but, if it be the Lord's work, it is sure work, and neither men nor devils can mar it. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." I have, of late, been in a very dry, barren state. I often wish that Providence had ordered it so that we were nearer each other, that we could converse together; for as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man; as iron sharpeneth irop, so the countenance of a man his friend; and if the pumps be dry, when a word is dropped in, by pumping a little, the spring flows copiously. As for the work of the ministry, I have been pretty quiet of late, verily believing that the Lord had not called me to that office. I think that I can speak or preach no more to God's people of the work of Christ in me, or trace out his work in them, or his gracious dealings with them, either in the day of adversity or prosperity. The Bible is a sealed book; no opening there. Mr. is leaving us for six weeks, and the church has agreed that I must speak, not only at our chapel, but at A- also; how I shall be enabled, God alone knows. Pray for me, if it be the will of the Lord, that the Spirit of all truth may take of the things of Christ and reveal them to me, a poor, destitute, naked, blind, foolish, worthless, and hell-deserving wretch, who, if God in his sovereign mercy takes him to glory, will have the greatest cause to sing, "Not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory." Eternity will be too short to utter all the praise due to sovereign, electing, unchangeable, and eternal love, which passed by thousands, and chose us in Christ before time. Notwithstanding that all our sins, offences, and crimes, in thought, word, and deed, were present to his omniscient eye, yet these did not hinder him from blessing us in Christ with all spiritual blessings, and manifesting them to us in time by the blessed Spirit. We are fickle and changeable beings. What a mercy that our God changeth not; therefore we are not consumed.

"O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!"

We should know nothing of Jesus as a comforter, if we never experienced sorrow; if we never felt the galling chains of sin, we should be strangers to the voice of Christ, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." A feeling sinner is a sacred thing; the Holy Ghost has made him so. Our Lord says, "It is expedient that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but, if I depart, I will send him unto you." Blessed be his holy name, he will never leave nor forsake