and pressures: he has promised to make their strength equal to their day, and to revive their fainting spirits with heavenly cordials. When it is thus with them, they can say, with Jacob, "I have enough;" or, as it is in the original, "I have all." This makes hard things easy, and the burden light, which the flesh would otherwise complain of as heavy. This has often given a sweeter relish to bread and water, than the `sensualist ever found in the most studied and expensive refinements of luxury. Blessed are the poor who are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to them that love him. They often enjoy the most lively foretastes of the glory which shall be revealed.

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Have not you, my friend, found these things true in your own experience? Yes; the Lord has sanctified your crosses, and supported you under them. Hitherto he has helped you, and he will be with you to the end. As you have followed him upon earth, you will ere long follow him to heaven. "You are now called to sow "in tears, there you shall reap in joy, and God shall "wipe all tears from your eyes." In the meantime, be thankful that he honours you, in appointing you to be a witness for the truth and power of his grace, in the midst of an unbelieving world.

It is true, that even where the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. You have sharp trials, which, for the present, cannot be joyous, but grievous; and you have, doubtless, felt the depravity of your nature, and the subtlety of Satan, at sometimes prompting you to impatience, envy, and distrust. But these evils are not peculiar to a state of poverty; you would have been exposed to the same had you lived in affluence, together with many others, from which you are now exempted: for riches and poverty are but comparative terms, and

it is only the grace of God can teach us to be content in any possible situation of life. The rich are as prone to desire something which they have not as the poor; and they who have most to lose, have most to fear. That a man's life (the happiness of his life) "consisteth "not in the abundance of the things which he possess

eth," is an aphorism founded upon the highest authority, and confirmed by universal experience and observation.

In a word, you are not poor, but rich. The promises are your inheritance;-heaven is your home;the angels of the Lord are ministering spirits, who rejoice to watch over you for good; and the Lord of angels himself is your sun and shield, and everlasting portion. It is impossible that you, to whom he has given Himself, his Son, his Spirit, his grace, his kingdom, can want any thing that is truly good for you. If riches were so, he could pour them upon you in abundance, as easily as he provides you your daily bread. But these, for the most part, he bestows on those who have no portion but in the present life. You have great reason to rejoice in the lot he has appointed for you, which secures you from numberless imaginary wants and real dangers, and furnishes you with the fairest opportunities for the manifestation, exercise, and increase of the graces he has implanted in you. Influenced by these

views, I trust you can cheerfully say,

What others value, I resign:

Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine.

I commend you to the blessing of our covenant God, and to Jesus our Saviour, "who, when he was rich, "made himself poor for our sakes, that we through his poverty might be rich.”

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I am, &c.

Dear Sir,

LETTER XXIII.

On Simplicity and Godly Sincerity.

IT would be a happy time if all professors of the Gospel could, with the apostle, rejoice in the testimony of their consciences, that they walked in simplicity and godly sincerity. How many evils and scandals would be then prevented! But, alas! too many who name the name of Christ seem to have hardly any idea of this essential part of the Christian character. A few thoughts upon a subject so little attended to may not be unseasonable. The most advanced in the Christian life have something of this lesson yet to learn; and the greater proficiency we make in it, the greater will be our inward peace, and the more will our light shine before men, to the glory of our heavenly Father.

Simplicity and sincerity, though inseparable, may be distinguished. The former is the principle from which the latter is derived. Simplicity primarily respects the frame of our spirit in the sight of God; sincerity more directly regards our conduct as it falls under the observation of men. It is true, the terms are frequently used indifferently for each other, and may be so without occasioning any considerable mistake: but as they are not precisely the same, it may be proper, if we would speak accurately, to keep this distinction in view.

Some persons who have been more enamoured with the name of simplicity than acquainted with its nature, have substituted in its stead a childishness of language and manners, as if they understood the word simple

only in the mere vulgar sense, as equivalent to foolish. But this infantine softness gives just disgust to those who have a true taste and judgement of divine things; not only as it is an unnecessary deviation from the common usages of mankind, but because, being the effect of art and imitation, it palpably defeats its own pretences. An artificial or affected simplicity is a contradiction in terms, and differs as much from the simplicity of the Gospel as paint does from beauty.

The true simplicity, which is the honour and strength of a believer, is the effect of a spiritual perception of the truths of the Gospel. It arises from, and bears a proportion to, the sense we have of our own unworthiness, the power and grace of Christ, and the greatness of our obligations to him. So far as our knowledge of these things is vital and experimental, it will make us simplehearted. This simplicity may be considered in two respects a simplicity of intention,-and a simplicity of dependence. The former stands in opposition to the corrupt workings of self, the latter to the false reasonings of unbelief.

Simplicity of intention implies, that we have but one leading aim, to which it is our deliberate and unreserved desire, that every thing else in which we are concerned may be subordinate and subservient. In a word, that we are devoted to the Lord, and have by grace been enabled to choose him, and to yield ourselves to him, so as to place our happiness in his favour, and to make his glory and will the ultimate scope of all our actions. He well deserves this from us. He is the allsufficient good. He alone is able to satisfy the vast capacity he has given us; for he formed us for himself: and they who have tasted he is gracious, know that "his loving kindness is better than life;" and that his pre

sence and fulness can supply the want or make up the loss of all creature-comforts. So likewise he has a just claim to us that we should be wholly his:' for, besides that, as his creatures, we are in his hand as clay in the hands of the potter, he has a redemption-title to us. He loved us, and bought us with his own blood. He did not hesitate or halt between two opinions, when he engaged to redeem our souls from the curse of the law, and the power of Satan. He could, in the hour of his distress, have summoned legions of angels (had that been needful) to his assistance, or have destroyed his enemies with a word or a look; he could easily have saved himself: but how then could his people have been saved, or the promises of the Scripture have been fulfilled? Therefore he willingly endured the cross, he gave his back to the smiters, he poured out his blood, he laid down his life. Here was an adorable simplicity of intention in him; and shall we not, O thou lover of souls! be simply, heartily, and wholly thine? Shall we refuse the cup of affliction from thy hand, or for thy sake? Or shall we desire to drink of the cup of sinful pleasure, when we remember what our sins have cost thee? Shall we wish to be loved by the world that hated thee, or to be admired by the world that despised thee? Shall we be ashamed of professing our attachment to such a Saviour? Nay, Lord, forbid it. Let thy love constrain us, let thy name be glorified, and thy will be done by us and in us. "Let "us count all things loss and dung for the excellency " of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." Let us not desire any thing thou seest fit to withhold, nor repine to part with what thou callest for; nor even take pleasure in what thou bestowest, unless we can improve it for thee, and ever prefer thy love above our chief temporal joy! Such is the language of the heart that is