to be frequent in prayer; to prostrate himself, in profound adoration, before that infinitely exalted Being, who dwells in light inaccessible; and to implore the continuance of the Almighty favour, and the increase of all Christian graces. In those moments, no doubt, he remembered you, sir, with particular earnestness; and lodged many an ardent petition in the court of Heaven, for his infant son. Cease not to second them with your own devout supplications, that they may descend upon your head, in the blessings of the Gospel of peace. To give their genuine lustre to all his other endowments, he was careful to maintain a humble mind. Though his friends might admire his superior abilities, or his acquaintance applaud his exemplary behaviour, he saw how far he fell short of the mark of his high calling; saw, and lamented, his defects; knew and renounced himself: relying, for final acceptance, and endless felicity, on a better righteousness than his own even on the transcendently perfect righteousness, and inconceivably precious. death, of Jesus the Redeemer. This was the rock of his hope, and the crown of his rejoicing. These, sir, are some of the distinguishing characteristics of your deceased parent. As you had the misfortune to lose so valuable a relative, before you were capable of forming any acquaintance with his person, I flatter myself, you will the more attentively. observe his picture: his moral picture; designed, not to be set in gold, or sparkle in enamel, but to breathe in your heart, and to live in all your conduct. Though it is entirely your own, calculated purely for yourfelf, it may possibly, like the family pieces in your parlour, make some pleasing and useful impression on every beholder. But you, sir, are peculiarly concerned to copy the amiable original. As the order of an indulgent Providence has made you heir of his affluent circumstances, let not a gay inadvertence cut you off from the richer inheritance of his noble Bb qualifications. They will be your security, amidst all the glittering dangers which are inseparable from blooming years, and an elevated situation in life.They will lead you to true greatness, and solid ħappiness. Tread in your father's steps, and you will give inexpressible joy to one of the best of mothers; you will become an extensive blessing to your fellow creatures; and you will be the delight, the honour, and the boast of, dear sir, Your very affectionate godfather, And most faithful, humble servant, JAMES HERVEY. LETTER III. Mr. Samuel Boyse to the rev. James Hervey. Reverend and dear sir, For your tender admonitions and excellent advice, I am truly indebted to you; as they discover a generous and compassionate concern for my better part. I bless God I have reason to hope, that the great work is not now to do; for of all the marks of infatuation I know amongst men, there can be none equal to that of trusting to a deathbed repentance. I do not pretend to vindicate my own conduct;-nor can I ever forget the very Christian sense of my condition and misfortunes, which, notwithstanding all my misbehaviour, you have so pathetically expressed.The follies of my youth have furnished a plentiful harvest of reflection for my latter years. I have been now for a long time, in a manner, buried from the world; and it has been my endeavour to spend that time in lamenting my past errors, and in pursuing a course of life void of offence towards God and man. I have learned to trust in God as my only portion, and to bless him for his fatherly corrections. They have been much gentler than my demerit. By them I have been taught to know HIM and myself; his infinite mercy and goodness, and my own ingratitude and unworthiness: so that I may truly say with the returning prodigal; "Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and against thee; and I am not worthy to be called thy son." My health is in a very precarious state; and the greatest hopes of recovery I have, (which are very small,) arise from warm weather and the country air. I thank God I am absolutely resigned to his holy and blessed will. I have seen enough of the vanity and folly of earthly things, and how insufficient they are to satisfy the desires of an immortal soul. I am sensible of my own wretchedness and nothingness; and that my only hope of salvation is through that blessed Redeemer, who died to save lost sinners.--This is my rock of hope against an approaching eternity. May you, sir, long taste those true and unfading pleasures, which attend the practice of religion and virtue; and may you, by your shining example, be a means of turning many to righteousness! This is the sincere and ever-grateful wish of Your most obliged, and faithful servant, LETTER IV. Dr. Cotton to Dr. Doddridge. Dear and honoured sir, St. Alban's, April 29, 1749. I am very much obliged to you for your late tender instances of condescension and friendship. The comfort and advice, which you most kindly administer, are extremely acceptable; and I heartily pray God to give them their due weight. For my own part, I am, and I have long been, abun dantly persuaded, that no system, but that of Christianity, is able to sustain the soul amidst all the difficulties and distresses of life. The consolations of philosophy only, are specious trifles at best; all cold and impotent applications indeed to the bleeding heart! But the religion of Jesus, like its gracious and benevolent author, is an inexhaustible source of comfort in this world, and gives us the hopes of everlasting enjoy. ment in the next. I presume humbly to hope, that the Supreme Being will support me under my affliction; and I most earnestly entreat, that he will sanctify my sorrows to every gracious and good purpose. What the mind feels upon so painful a divorce, none can adequately know, but they who had the bitter experience of this sad solemnity. However, delicate and worthy minds will readily paint out to themselves something unutterably soft and moving, on the separation of two hearts, whose only division was their lodg ment in two breasts. I am extremely indebted to your lady, for her kind sympathy with me in my sorrows; and the only return that I can make to herself and her consort, is my hearty prayer, that the dissolution of their happy union may be at a very distant period. I am, with the highest esteem, dear sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, LETTER V. Rev. Basil Woodd to Dr. Conyers. Greenwich Road, Nov. 25, 1784. Reverend and dear sir, The following particulars, re lative to my dearest and most amiable parent, I flatter myself will be far from unacceptable to you. I col lected them for my own private satisfaction, that the remembrance of a friend, now in glory, whom I so dearly loved, might excite me to be more earnest in pressing forwards to the same prize. But upon reflecting that they might be serviceable to others as well as myself; and prove an additional and well authenticated testimony to the power of religion; I felt an inclination to communicate them to my friends. My dear and honoured mother was born at Richmond in Surry, on the nineteenth of April, 1736. In 1759, she was married to Mr. Basil Woodd; who also was born at Richmond, in 1730, and with whom she had been acquainted from her infancy. Such a union, cemented by long endearment, and by similarity of disposition, promised a scene of much temporal felicity: but other events a mysterious Providence intended. In January following, my father, being from home on a visit, was seized with a vio lent fever; and he died on the twelfth of that month. So great a shock, on a mind of her sensibility, could leave no faint impression: but it pleased God to support her in this severe trial; and on the fifth of August following she was delivered of a son. Providence wonderfully interposed in our favour; and both root and branch, though then apparently withering, were preserved together, as many years longer as she had then lived. The afflictive circumstance of my father's death, proved an eventual blessing to her, though conveyed in the disguise of wo. By one stroke her mind was severed from worldly prospects; and she began more anxiously to seek the knowledge and love of the Crea tor. She had, from early life, been of a devout turn of mind, a strict observer of moral duties, and of the ritual, of religion; but now, in the day of adversity, she became more deeply sensible of the insufficiency of her own righteousness, and the necessity of a Saviour. Pious friends who sympathized in her affliction, observed the spiritual concern of her mind, and availed Bb % |