system. The medium observed by Baxter and Howe is, in my opinion, far the most eligible on those points.

On the other subject you mention,* I perceive no difficulty; none, I mean, to embarrass the mind of a minister. On a subject so awful and mysterious, what remains for us but to use the language of scripture, without attempting to enter into any metaphysical subtleties, or daring to lower what appears to be its natural import? A faithful exhibition of the scripture declarations on this subject must be adapted, under a divine blessing, to produce the most awful and salutary effects. With best wishes for your welfare,

I hope you continue to enjoy much religious prosperity. The only comfortable reflection, in the present state of the world, is the apparent increase of the kingdom of Christ. His glory, his gospel, his grace, are, I hope, considerably advancing: and how little are all the revolutions of kingdoms, when compared to this? We should rejoice in every event which seems to * That of future punishment, I presume.-ED.

tend to that issue; and, on this account, I am more than reconciled to the recent intelligence from Spain. I long to see the strong-holds demolished, and "every thing that exalteth" brought into subjection to Christ. How deep an infatuation blinds the counsels of Great Britain! How fatal may we fear the intimate alliance of this country with the papal power, which the vengeance of God has marked out for destruction! May the Lord bring good out of evil, and "fill the whole earth with his glory!"

I am now removed to Leicester, and find my situation, on the whole, very comfortable. The people are a simple-hearted, affectionate, praying people, to whom I preach with more pleasure than to the more refined audience at Cambridge. We have had, through great mercy, some small addition, and hope for more. Our meetings in general, our prayer-meetings in particular, are well attended. For myself, my mind and body are both much out of order; awful doubt and darkness hanging on the former, and much affliction and pain in the latter: let me, dear brother, entreat an interest in your prayers.

I am, my dear brother,

Yours affectionately,

ROBERT HALL.

P. S.-In gratitude to God, and to my dear companion, I must add, that marriage has added (a little to my cares,) much to my comfort, and that I am indulged with one of the best of wives.

XXIII.

TO THE REV. JAMES PHILLIPS.

Leicester, Feb. 16, 1809.

*

Rogers I have not

yet found time to read through. I thank you for it, and am much pleased with the piety and spirit of it, as far as I have gone. I have read Zeal without Innovation, with extreme disgust: it is written with shrewdness and ability; but is, in my esteem, a base, malicious, time-serving publication. It was lent me by Mr. Robinson, who, in common with all the serious clergy in these parts, disapproves it highly. I suppose the author wrote it to curry favour with such men as the and to procure a living. His poverty is to be pitied; but I hope I would rather starve in a workhouse than be the author of such a book. I am afraid there is a party rising among the evangelical clergy, that will ruin the reformation which has been going on in the established church during the last forty or fifty years. *

XXIV.

TO A FRIEND IN PERPLEXITY AS TO HIS RELIGIOUS STATE.

Dear Sir,

Leicester, April 20, 1809.

I am much concerned to learn the unhappy state of your mind respecting religion. You may depend upon no one seeing the letter but myself; and I wish it were in my power to say any thing that might be of use. Of this I have very little hope; for the adage might, in too great a degree, be applied to me-" Physician, heal thyself;" as I labour under much darkness and despondency respecting my religious prospects, through the prevalence of indwelling corruptions. What, then, my dear sir, can I say to you or to any other? I would recommend you, above all things, to have recourse to prayer to fervent, importunate, persevering prayer. Take no denial: if you cannot pray long, pray often. Take the utmost pains in preparing your heart, and in the exercises of the closet; for, surely, an assurance of the forgiveness of sin, the light of God's Spirit, and the animating hope of glory, are worth all the labour, and infinitely more than all, we are capable of using to attain them. They are heaven upon earth. From what I know by experience, though it is not with me now as in months past, the enjoyment of God throws every other enjoyment, that can be realized or conceived, at an infinite distance. Fix it in your mind, my dear friend, as a most certain truth, that there is

nothing deserves to be pursued for a moment, but in subordination to God and for God; and then act accordingly, and you will probably soon find a strange change for the better. Exposed, as you necessarily are, to the society of many who have either no religion or feel but little of its vital power, you are in peculiar danger of forming slight ideas of its importance; of being taught to look upon it as a secondary thing, an occasional law, whose authority is to be interposed, like the law of the land, to regulate other things; instead of looking upon it as a vital, prevailing principle of the heart and life. Many, it is to be feared, never attain the blessings of religion, because they never form that estimate of its dignity which is consonant with the oracles of God. Did it not seem like presumption, I should earnestly recommend the daily perusal, besides the Scriptures, (which I take it for granted you cannot omit,) of some practical and experimental divinity. We have great store of it :-Doddridge's Rise and Progress; his and Watts's Sermons; and, above all, if I may speak from my own experience, the wonderful Howe-particularly his Blessedness of the Righteous, his Living Temple, (the latter part,) his Treatise on Delighting in God. Perhaps you will say you have not time for this: but here the question recurs again--What is of the most importance for a creature that is to live for ever;-to be rich in this world, or to be rich towards God? I hope you will pardon the liberty I have taken, from a regard to the motive; which, you