months; and, the first time I ever heard it preached, the subject was election, which I did not like, as I conceived the scriptures set forth no such things; but I thought I would examine them strictly, which I had never done before, and see if I could find such a doctrine. Accordingly, I perused the New Testament attentively, and found it to be a truth revealed in several places, and particularly in the ninth chapter of the Romans, and the first chapter of the Ephesians. And, from that time, I went to hear the word constantly, and found the scriptures opened to me more than ever they had been before, having always sat under a blind guide before that time, and thought then that I knew all things pertaining to salvation; and was endeavouring to work it out, never considering that it must be God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. But now I find I can do nothing at all, and am rather doubtful, sometimes, whether God will do any thing for me or not; but this I know, that I must either be saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, wrought in my soul by the Holy Ghost, or I shall never be saved at all. At present I do not find the condemning power of the law in my conscience, as you speak of; nor any divine operations of God's Spirit on my heart as I hear many speak of; and still I love his children and his ways; and would rather be one of his adopted family in Christ Jesus, than be possessed of all the riches of the world; and I pray to God day and night, and that with a sincere heart, that

I may know myself more and more every day; that I may know the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus; and that I may come to the knowledge of salvation, either in your hard, experienced ways, or in any other way agreeable to God's will. And still I cannot find much alteration in my heart; and whether I have begun in the Spirit, or the Spirit hath begun with me, I cannot tell; but God grant it may be the latter. Your answer to this would be

gratefully accepted by

Your humble and sincere supplicant,

T. J.

P. S. If you please, direct for T. J. Trowbridge,

Wilts.

Is not your Riddle The Carnality of a Christian?

LETTER XLIV.

To Mr. T. J Trowbridge Wilts.

DEAR SIR,

I RECEIVED your letter, and have considered the

I

contents of it; and I must confess that I do differ in opinion from some divine writers respecting the work of regeneration; but, at the same time, aver, that neither their opinions nor mine are of any value, unless they are supported by the word of God. God is a free agent, and has an indisputable right to do as he pleases with his own. And it is clear that all sinners are not of an equal size; all debtors are not in equal arrears; some owe ten thousand talents, some five hundred pence, and some fifty; but, by the law, all are insolvents; every mouth must be stopped, and all the world must become guilty before God. As there are different sizes of sinners among God's elect, so there are different measures of fatherly chastisements used at the conversion of them. All do not sink so deep in the horrible pit as David, nor do all feel the arrows of wrath like Job, the terrors of the law like Paul, or the plague of the heart like Asaph. God works all things

after the counsel of his own will: we are not to draw lines for him, nor to limit the Holy One of Israel; yet we are to enforce and abide by the lines that he has drawn: and by these I confess, that I do not know what some divines mean by God's drawing sinners with the cords of love; for, although I have experienced a comfortable measure of the love of God, yet they treat of a drawing by love that I do not understand. That God sometimes begins a work on a sinner's heart by a promise, and sometimes by a threatening, of terrible sentence; sometimes by allurements, and sometimes by terrors; sometimes attracts by love, and sometimes deters by anger; sometimes appears at first as a propitious Sovereign, and sometimes as an angry Judge; I readily grant: but, to be drawn by the cords of love so as to feel no sting of guilt, no remorse of conscience, no bitter reflections on past folly, no sense of God's displeasure against sin, no rebellion nor evil motions of corruptions, no opposition from unbelief, no doubts about our state, no fear of a future reckoning, no evil tempers nor evil tempter opposing this work of grace, no repentance nor godly sorrow; this is such a drawing as I do not understand, and it is a drawing that the bible knows nothing of. To be begotten, but never quickened; born again, without travail or labour; healed before they are wounded; absolved before they are insolved; justified without arraignment; saved before they are lost; banqueted before they hungered; refreshed before

they thirsted, sound in faith, but never tried; a new creature, but no old man; at rest in Christ, but never weary; in the path to heaven, and no tribulation; a soldier, but no war; a labourer, but no toil; a servant, but no work; a wrestler, but no antagonist; a follower of Christ, but no cross; of the true circumcision, but no self-denial; a law in the mind, but none in the members: such an one must needs walk boldly because against him there is no rising up.

That God draws souls with the cords of love as with the bands of a man, is true; but God's love to my soul doth not screen my back from stripes, but it procures them: "He that spareth the rod hateth his son; but he that loveth chasteneth him betimes." "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" I have been intimately acquainted with several persons, who informed me, that they were drawn by love, without either rebukes, chastisements, or terrors; and I must confess, that they continued under their drawing for many years, and were drawn a great way, to a great degree of knowledge; and some of them to eminent gifts, and to cut no despicable figure in the ministry; and others to build chapels, and to contribute largely to the support