speckled bird. I can tell you, such a bird in this day, that wears the full colour of no sect or party, is rara avis; if not quite so scarce as the Phoenix, yet to be met with but here and there. It is impossible I should be all of a colour, when I have been a debtor to all sorts; and like the jay in the fable, have been beholden to most of the birds in the air for a feather or two. Church and Meeting, Methodist and Moravian, may all perceive something in my coat taken from them. None of them are angry with me for borrowing from them; but then why could I be not content with their colour, without going amongst other flocks and coveys, to make myself such a motley figure? Let them be angry; if I have culled the best feathers from all, then surely I am finer than any. Dear Sir, I am, &c. LETTER VI. August, 1778, F If the Lord affords health; if the weather be tolerable ; if no unforeseen change takes place; if no company comes in upon me to-night, (which sometimes unexpectedly happens;) with these provisoes, Mr. S**** and I have engaged to travel to **** on Monday next, and hope to be with you by or before eleven o'clock. In such a precarious world, it is needful to form our plans at two days' distance, with precaution and exceptions; James iv. 15. However, if it be the Lord's will to bring us together, and if the purposed interview be for his glory and our good, then I am sure nothing shall prevent it. And who in his right wits would wish either to visit or be visited upon any other terms? Or if we could but be VOL. II. 2 I pleased with his will, we might be pleased from morning to night, and every day in the year. Pray for a blessing upon our coming together. It would be a pity to walk ten miles to pick straws, or to come with our empty vessels upon our heads, saying, We have found no water. I am, &c. LETTER VII. My Dear Friend, October 1778. YOUR letters are always welcome; the last doubly so for being unexpected. If you never heard before of a line of yours being useful, I will tell you for once, that I get some pleasure and instruction whenever you write And I see not but your call to letter-writing is as clear as mine, at least when you are able to put pen to paper. to me. I must say something to your queries about 2 Sam. xiv. I do not approve of the scholastic distinctions about inspiration, which seem to have a tendency to explain away the authority and certainty of one half of the Bible at least. Though the penmen of Scripture were ever so well informed of some facts, they would, as you observe, need express, full, and infallible inspiration, to teach them which the Lord would have selected and recorded for the use of the church, amongst many others, which to themselves might appear equally important. However, with respect to historical passages, I darc not pronounce positively that any of them are, even in the literal sense, unworthy of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost, and the dignity of inspiration. Some, yea, many of them, have often appeared trivial to me; but I check the thought, and charge it to my own ignorance and temerity. It must have importance, because I read it in God's book. On the other hand, though I will not deny that they may all have a spiritual and mys! tical sense, (for I am no more qualified to judge of the deep things of the Spirit, than to tell you what is passing this morning at the bottom of the sea,) yet if, with my present modicum of light, I should undertake to expound many passages in a mystical sense, I fear such a judge as you would think my interpretations fanciful, and not well supported. I suppose I should have thought the Bible complete, though it had not informed me of the death of Rebekah's nurse, or where she was buried. But some tell me that Deborah is the law, and that by the oak I am to understand the cross of Christ: and I remember to have heard of a preacher who discovered a type of Christ crucified in Absalom hanging by the hair on another oak. I am quite a mole when compared with these eagle-eyed divines; and must often content myself with plodding upon the lower ground of accommodation and allusion, except when the New Testament writers assure me what the mind of the Holy Ghost was. I can find the Gospel with more confidence in the history of Sarah and Hagar than in that of Leah and Rachel ; though without Paul's help I should have considered them both as family squabbles, recorded chiefly to illus trate the general truth, that vanity and vexation of spirit are incident to the best men, in the most favoured situations. And I think there is no part of Old Testament history from which I could not, (the Lord helping me,) draw observations that might be suitable to the pulpit, and profitable to his people: so I might perhaps from Livy or Tacitus. But then with the Bible in my hands I go upon sure grounds: I am certain of the facts I speak from, that they really did happen. I may likewise depend upon the springs and motives of actions, and not amuse myself and my hearers with speeches which were never spoken, and motives which were never thought of, till the historian rummaged his pericranium for something to embelish his work. I doubt not but were you to consider Joab's courtly conduct only in a literal sense, how it tallied with David's desire, and how gravely and graciously he granted himself a favour, while he professed to oblige Joab; I say in this view you would be able to illustrate many important Scriptural doctrines, and to show that the passage is important to those who are engaged in studying the anatomy of the human heart. I am, &c. LETTER VIII. My Dear Friend, October 27, 1778. I HAVE been witness to a great and important revo lution this morning, which took place while the greatest part of the world was asleep. Like many state revolutions, its first beginnings were almost undiscernible; but the progress, though gradual, was steady, and the event decisive. A while ago darkness reigned. Had a man then dropped for the first time into our world, he might have thought himself banished into a hopeless dungeon. How could he expect light to rise out of such a state? And when he saw the first glimmering of dawn in the east, how could he promise himself that it was the forerunner of such a glorious sun as has since risen! With what wonder would such a new comer observe the bounds of his view enlarging, and the distinctness of objects increasing from one minute to another; and how well content would he be to part with the twinklings of the stars, when he had the broad day all around him in exchange? I cannot say this revolution is extraordinary, because it happens every morning; but surely it is astonishing, or rather it would be so, if man was not astonishingly stupid. Such strangers once were we. Darkness, gross darkness, covered us. How confined were our views! And even the things which were within our reach we could not distinguish. Little did we then think what a glorious day we were appointed to see; what an unbounded prospect would ere long open before us. We knew not that there was a Sun of righteousness, and that he would dawn, and rise, and shine upon our hearts. And as the idea of what we see now was then hidden from us, so at present we are almost equally at a loss how to form any conception of the stronger light and brighter prospects which we wait and hope for. Comparatively, we are in the dark still; at the most we have but a dim twilight, and see nothing clearly; but it is the dawn of immortality, and a sure presage and earnest of glory. Thus, at times, it seems, a darkness that may be felt, broods over your natural spirits: but when the daystar rises upon your heart, you see and rejoice in his light. You have days as well as nights; and after a few more vicissitudes, you will take your flight to the regions of everlasting light, where your sun will go down. no more. Happy you, and happy I if I shall meet you there, as I trust I shall. How shall we love and sing, and wonder, and praise the Saviour's name! Last Sunday a young man died here of extreme old age at twenty-five. He laboured hard to ruin a good constitution, and unhappily succeeded; yet amused him |