praying for forgiveness, and for strength against temptations; his watching upon himself; his prudence in all circumstances; his respect for the ordained powers; his full deference to their laws, except when they should appear to him so much in opposition to the commandments of God, that his conscience would not permit him to comply with them (Dan. 1. 8; 6. 7, 10, 12, 13); his fear of the Lord; his trembling at the thought of His eternal, universal, unlimited power; his hope and trust in Him; his faith in Him, from which would proceed all his words, all his actions, his love of Him and of His Word; his consecrating himself entirely to Him; his honouring from the heart and praising His justice, His wisdom, His forbearing love, His goodness, mercy, grace, providence, &c. [from his truth; his aversion to hypocrisy and deceit; his decent, unaffected deportment and manners, suited to every man's feelings; his modesty; his spiritual and enlightening charity to all his brethren and inferiors; his willingness to assist them with healing instructions and consolations (Ps. 40, 9, 10); his unassuming, kind behaviour to all; his disinterested friendship; his particular care to give no offence; his gentleness, simplicity of heart, candour, meekness, righteousness, humility; his sincere piety, irreprochable with ostentation and affectation; his deep-rooted belief that the dead in sin are nothing else than dust before the Creator of all universes; his perseverance in good, in innocence; in fine, from the complete resurrection of his soul from the deceptions and impostures of the spirit of lie, that dwells with more or less perversity and power in degenerate creatures........... I should hope, I say, to witness, to learn, and to receive from him the

great and practical instruction of the atonement, or the true and only way to atone for my sins; to overcome the world that is in my heart; to resist its temptations and seductions; to die to its vanity, by being planted in the likeness of his death, to become alive unto God (Rom. 6. 5, 11); the way to retrieve myself from my old fall, and partly unknown faults; to acquit myself by a different conduct from my former one, of the debts which unfortunately I have contracted in not doing what it was my duty to do, and in doing what I ought not to have done; the right way to obtain, by an implicit obedience to God's will, the pardon of my ancient disobedience; to have my sins forgiven and forgotten; to raise up my soul from the errors wherein she lies buried, asleep, dead-like (Eph. 5. 14); to rid her of her enemies, internal and external, even to turn them into friends; to free her from all distresses and griefs; the way to make peace between my spirit and my flesh (Eph. 2. 15, 16); the way to be reconciled unto God, and to pass over from the life of mortals that know Him not, to the life of the immortal beings who worship Him in spirit and in truth; in fine, to recover my primitive, my paradise innocence and felicity; and, instead of being, during a whole life (Eccle. 6. 12.-Heb. 2. 15) in a doubtful system (Gal. 4. 3), a pupil and a slave to the delusions and prejudices of the chaos of dark ignorance we live in, to become worthy of being one of the humble and obedient flock of the sanctified Shepherd of souls, led by him in the pastures of righteousness, a Christain in every respect, one of the Sons of God (Gal. 3. 26.Rom. 8. 14), by receiving and following Christ as a pattern, during the crucifixion of his soul to the world,

and his dying unto sin for all, for the instruction of all (Heb. 2. 14), a pattern of atonement, of justification by faith (John, 1. 12, 13.-1 Pet. 2. 21), and of gradual regeneration or resurrection out of sin, out of the erroneous belief which God has set in the heart of fallen man; Christ wounded for our transgressions, and tried by the sufferings of the soul, undergoing for our sake the process of the death unto sin, and presenting, in a low condition similar to ours, the whole practice, so necessary for full salvation, of the very perfect religion of which he had previously taught the most sublime theory; Christ in sin, infirmities and temptations, instructing us by the works that correspond with his doctrine, for Christains the only truly good works; instructing us, I say, by works of righteousness, after having instructed by faith, to form within us a complete system, uniting faith and works (James, 2. 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26), such as that of the true elect and servants of God; which is built upon the spiritual Rock, with a right intelligence of his words and of his actions, all of which are practical lessons; both while his soul is without sin, and while she is in sin, imploring God to pity him, and dying unto pride, by the way of the only atonement that seems to me effectual for redemption from all errors Mic. 6. 8).

As the man and the woman would be sent for the improvement of all, it seems to me peremptory that every where all should be, somehow or other, prepared to hear them attentively; either by the gentle way of religious purifications, of watching on themselves, and of praying; or by the painful way of severe corrections, afflicting losses, and distressing calamities, that would be, in

my opinion, figurative of some of the spiritual ones that will, in the appointed time, precede the much-to-be-desired end of the Scripture world in our hearts, and that would make us feel, more than we do, the want of a Deliverer and true instructor; bringing us to think of God, and to look to Him alone for protection, instead of trusting to the vain means of this world. I have understood that the coming of the Scripture First Man will be preceded by a most awful event that will impress every one with the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, compelling every knee to bend; and disposing all creatures, more than many seem inclined to, disposing them to worship the Supreme Being in sincerity, to respect their Sovereign, and to love their neighbour. It is possible, also, that the reign of the fear of God in our hearts will be, in the fortunate consequences that would result from it for our behaviour and happiness, a precursor and an emblem of the future reign of Christ's doctrine in our soul; by which he would keep in her the evil spirit bound in insuperable chains; and by which alone one will arrive at the desirable state of the children of God (Rom. 8. 19, 21.— 1 John, 3. 9.-5.18). Let me add that I understand that such a millenium (Rev. 20. 4, 6) will be, the same as the unavoidable sojourning in Egypt, the Wilderness, and Babylon (Gal. 4. 3), during the course of regeneration, quite independent of the vulgar time; and will happen to any one, but only after he will have fulfilled in his heart the righteousness of the law and every tittle of it (Rom. 8. 4.-Matt. 5. 18), and, sooner or later, according to his obedience to Christ's precepts, considered as the commandments of God speaking in him

and by him, as He does in the Apostles (Matt. 10. 19, 20.-Mark, 13. 11), Christ's fellows and brethren (Heb. 1. 9.-2. 11, 12, 17,) to reconcile the world unto Himself (2 Cor. 5. 19).

Before I take leave of you, permit me to repeat once more that I may be considerably mistaken, and that you ought not to receive any notion of mine, without having discussed first, whether it is right or not. Do not believe me hastily (1 John, 4. 1); much rather search and ponder well the words and the whole of the Sacred Writings; they will tell you where I am wrong, and where I may be supposed in the way to the truth. May your reflections on them enable you to give yourself a positive and correct answer to the third question, on which I cannot satisfy you, from want of positive information about it! If they speak of both this visible earth, and the invisible world within us, may you find out, or may any body favour you with, a tried, invariable rule to discern and ascertain when the words earth and world ought to be taken in the literal sense, and when they ought to be understood in a different way; so that you may be safe against all mistakes! Beware of mine.

Please, Theophila, to accept of this farewell, the farewell of an ignorant man, a frail clay-vessel, in want of being emptied of its errors, and of being fashioned and filled with the knowledges, qualities, and virtues that will adorn Christain philosophers. If what I have ventured to say should induce you to meditate on the Scripture, and to study it, more than you had done before this communication of mine; if your investigation should be of service to you; if you should be blessed with a new intelligence of it, preferable to the