lips." Sweet to him "are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Thus does the Holy Spirit communicate power, life, honesty, and sincerity, with the convictions and reproofs which he applies to the elect of God.

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5. He supports them under the burden of sin which they feel, and under the sight of it which he presents to their view, and sustains them under the wrath and curse of a broken law. They are holpen with a little help."Through the fire he is with them, and through the water; or else the former would dry up their spirits, and the latter drown them in desperation. And in all these things the convinced sinner obeys his divine Operator, though he does not know who it is that leads him. The evils which the Holy Spirit discovers to him he confesses; the reproofs he gives he falleth under; to the word the Spirit leads him, and he searches the scriptures daily. Where he hears the word with power, and where he finds his case pointed out, there the preacher is made manifest in his conscience; there he desires to abide,

be;

however searching and trying the ministry may for where he gets his wounding there he expects his healing: "He that is of God heareth God's word. We are of God (says John), and he that is of God heareth us; and he that is not of God heareth not us."

6. The same Spirit that gives him light and quickening grace sets him to crying to God-" And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications," Zech. xii. 10. The life and feeling, the holy longings, the desires, thirstings, cravings, and bitter cries, which are found in the convinced sinner, all spring from the energy and operations of the Holy Spirit of God: hence the many precious promises that are held forth in the word of God to such poor souls"Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night? When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Wait upon God, and he shall give thee the

desire of thine heart; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. They shall come that are ready to perish. Because of the deep sighing of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will satiate the weary, I will replenish the sorrowful soul, I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Blessed are the poor in spirit." Again, "Thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it he will answer thee," Isa. xxx. 19. All these intense longings and holy breathings are produced under the quickening energy of the Holy Spirit, even before he proclaims liberty to us, or creates "the fruit of the lip," Isa. lvii. 19; or gives us a door of "utterance," Acts ii. 4. "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," Rom. viii. 26. And this may be seen in the apostles themselves, before that miraculous out-pouring of the Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost. The apostles had felt the power of the Spirit attend

ing the word-"He speaks like one having authority, and not as the scribes; for his word is with power." He had convinced them of sin, as may, be seen in their different cases, described by our Lord's first sermon on the mount, and by the confession of Peter66 Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." They owned that Christ had the "word of eternal life;" yea, and they believed in him—" Father, the word which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received it, and have believed that I came forth from thee, and that thou didst send me." And they loved him too, and abode with him and both faith and love are fruits of the Holy Spirit. But, as a spirit of revelation and understanding, as a distinct comforter, as a spirit of power and of a sound mind, and with all his miraculous gifts and graces, they were to be baptized with him in this wonderful way not many days hence. Hence it is said that "the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Power, also, in a wonderful manner,

they were to receive when the Holy Ghost came upon them, to embolden them, and enable them to preach the gospel in all languages, and to work miracles in confirmation of it.

1 must once more beg the pardon of my beloved brother for thus exceeding the limits of an epistle; but hope to have an opportunity of conveying this, as I did the other, by some stroller or straggler wandering from his nest. Begetting, quickening, travailing, and bringing forth, still go on among us—“ bed is green," Song i. 16.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

our

W. HUNTINGTON.

LETTER XI.

TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES,

SUSSEX.

WHAT, my son! and what, the son of my faith! and what, the son of my vows! Children are not to lay up for the fathers, but the fathers for the children; and I