when I have come down from the pulpit, that I have not known where to hide my face. Ah! my friend, God will stain the pride of all our glory, and he will keep teaching us, for we need lesson upon lesson, that we may know that" it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord." He will not give his glory to another, nor suffer his praise to be given to graven images. Bless his holy name, who ought to have the glory but himself? No one, for he does all the work. All praise belongs unto him.

That the Lord Jesus Christ may bless you and all the dear friends at L- with much of his presence, is the prayer of your unworthy brother in Christ,

Trowbridge, Nov. 18, 1841.

J. W.

SOME UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF THE LATE MR. BROOK, OF BRIGHTON.

Messrs. Editors,-Some unpublished letters of the late Mr. Brook of Brighton, having been sent to me by a friend, I purpose to forward one to you every month for insertion in your periodical. A few of them are without date, so that I cannot promise to let you have them in the exact order in which they were written.

There is, in my view, something so original, weighty, pointed, and sweet in Mr. Brook's letters, that I doubt not they will prove very acceptable to such of your readers as want something more than words and sound; and who cannot help feeling dissatisfied with the generality of writings that are in circulation among professing people, seeing that they lack an unction from the Holy One, and are made up of vain repetitions, hackneyed expressions, set phrases, and borrowed ideas, which cause even the writings of many gracious men to send forth a savour too closely resembling the "dead flies" in the apothecary's ointment.

Wishing you much of the Lord's presence, and all the strength and encouragement that you stand in need of, I ren ain, Messrs. Editors, yours in sincerity and affection,

Stoke, October, 1842.

LETTER I.

G. I.

You

My dear Friend,-I have considered your last letter somewhat particularly, and cannot still but think that the hand of God is upon you for good. Though you write all bitter things against yourself, it appears to me to be from a want of light upon your case. speak of coldness, deadness, and indifference towards a heavenly Parent, which you can hardly be persuaded a real child of God, even in his infantine state, can feel; that you are an abortion, a poor deInded creature, &c. Now, if you were ever so long established as a favourite of God, you would have reason to make the same complaint. Paul had, I am persuaded, more or less to his dying day. But according to your account, it was not more than a twelvemonth ago that you awoke out of a long delusion. It appears to me that you

are quickened, but not delivered. You, therefore, begin to feel the miserable effects of the fall of man; his awful distance from God, enmity against him, ignorance of him; the corruptions of your heart, the weakness of your nature, the danger of your state, the power of your enemies, the evil of this world, the nothingness of human wisdom, &c. &c. The feeling sense of all these things more than accounts for your sad complaints. Besides, your situation in life is most perplexing. The school business to a galled conscience and hard yet struggling heart, the demands of a family, the occupation of a preacher, each of these singly is enough to make your burden lie heavy indeed. I have known it all; but, in the Almighty's hand, all these things shall be made profitable, though not without affliction.

You are further entangled by a preaching fraternity who hate you, but will not let you alone; with connections in the world, and an unhealthy tabernacle. I do not wonder, therefore, at what you feel; and you may rest assured that the work must go much deeper. I cannot hope for your deliverance, nor pray for it, till many a dark and cloudy day has passed over; for if so, an abortion you would prove. The Lord has but just taken you in hand; and no wonder that you kick at the rod. You just begin to taste of the bitter cup; no marvel if you loathe it, and would pass it by if possible. Knowest thou not that no affliction for the present moment seemeth joyous but grievous? and what son is there whom the father chasteneth not? You must first learn the character of God as a master, and render him the obedience of a servant, before ever you honour him as a father, and enjoy the privileges of a son.

You may ask, then, what is your state? According to my judgment, God is bringing you into bondage. This is the state of a servant. You feel no access to him, nor real love of him; and how can you, as a servant? You can only grow in Christ Jesus to any comfortable purpose. You are looking out for faith and love without having experienced half enough of the evil heart of unbelief, and the enmity of the carnal mind. This work is all going downwards, and terrible havoc it makes; but it is needful. If you were to tell me of your great light, joys, and peace, I should suspect them all, and be persuaded that, if God were your friend, you must go down into the pit where there is no light nor water, for in no other place can you learn your need of a Saviour. To tell you the truth, all my hopes of you are founded upon this, that you are going down into the land of darkness and the shadow of death; and I shall rejoice to hear from you accounts of anguish, terror, temptations, bondage and fears, barrenness, hunger, thirst, curse, wrath, enmity, unbelief, &c. &c. I know what will come after; and, moreover, this course will cast off many lovers and acquaintance that are a trouble to you, as well as acquaint you with yourself, humble you before God, and gather you out of this world. I cannot but think that God is fitting you for a yokefellow to me and others, in bearing testimony against human inventions in religion of all kinds. Another young man, W. B, a clergyman in Kent, is upon the move to the same quar

ter.

IN

May you both seek His face who maketh Orion and the seven stars, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning!. We want more labourers.

Poor Mr. J is very unwell, and will not be able to come to this winter. I purpose to do so in the course of two or three weeks, but will let you know in due time.-Ever yours affectionately,

W. J. BROOK,

"BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL, AND ALL THAT

IS WITHIN ME BLESS HIS HOLY NAME."

Dear Friend and Brother,—I take my pen to inform you that the good Lord has been very gracious to my poor soul last night and today. For weeks it has been my unhappy lot to be much exercised with the things of time, trade being very bad with me, and bills falling due when I was not able to meet them. Night after night, for hours together, I could not close my eyes to sleep, and could see no possibility of carrying on my business. Being left to my own feeling, I often concluded that I must become bankrupt, and be reduced to abject poverty. These things took such hold upon me that I was completely buried in them; and instead of casting my burden upon the Lord, he was seldom in my thoughts. Prayer was neglected; there was no praise, no felt gratitude to God, no looking again towards his holy temple; but I was like one who neither regarded God nor the operations of his hands. O how awful to be left in such a state! If it be the will of God, I do desire I may ever in future be kept from sinking into so wretched a place.

Last night, while perusing the Book of Chronicles, and reading about good Hezekiahi and Josiah, my soul went out in secret desires to God that he would enable me to honour him in a similar manner. Before I retired to bed, I went down upon my knees with my family, which I had not done, with a few exceptions, for some weeks past, in consequence of the above-mentioned state of mind. I was endeavouring to ask the Lord to bless me, and to give me a thankful heart for his mercies bestowed upon me, when I had such a feeling sense of my past conduct, and of the Lord's long-suffering and compassion, in bearing and putting up with me, in supplying my daily wants and continuing my existence, that I was laid low at his feet in contrition of soul. My hard, stubborn heart was melted and softened, and I wept before the Lord on account of my haseness and ingratitude to so kind and precious a God. When I retired to bed I could not sleep; God had made my heart soft, and I enjoyed such a solemn frame of mind, that I could not refrain from weeping, praising, and blessing the Lord for condescending to give me such tender feelings. And while confessing my sinfulness, and wondering how the dear Lord could be so gracious and merciful to me, seeing I had forgotten him and gone on in the way I had done, my heart was again overpowered with sweet tenderness, because the Lord assured me that he had not only given me a thankful heart, and that he had borne with my ungodly ways, but that he had forgiven the very sins I was then

confessing before him, by sweetly and powerfully speaking to my soul these blessed words: "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared; (Ps. cxxx. 4;) and also, "For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption." (Ps.cxxx.7.) I have it, I feel it! I have proved it; and could bear witness for God that it is true. Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth, at the mercy, goodness, and condescension of God to such a hell-deserving sinner! O what mercy, what love! I was for some time lost in surprise; and all I could say was, "O thank the Lord, bless the Lord; yea, bless his holy name! O what a blessed thing to be enabled to rejoice, really and spiritually, in the atoning blood, precious love, and forgiving mercy of a Three-One God! (continue this frame of mind to me, dear Lord! O Lord, thou art good; ever give me a soft heart! O what mercy! O Lord, thou art good to me! O bless thy dear name, I will praise thee, for thou art worthy!" I could feelingly sing, "Happy are the people that are in such a case; yea, happy are the people whose God is the Lord!" Such was the language of my soul.

This day I have experienced much communion with and nearness of access to God. Neither expected disturbances nor distressing rumours, which sounded in my ears at every house I entered, disturbed my peace. I was enabled to soar above these earthly things; and, in deep humility of soul, to go on like one of old, rejoicing, and placing no confidence in the flesh. Every thing around me appeared beautiful. I seemed to be surrounded with the mercy and love of God in Christ Jesus; yea, the love of God was shed abroad in my heart. I asked the Lord again and again to continue this feeling; and that, if he should ever again permit me to walk in darkness, I might not sin against him as I had done, and that I might not be left without feeling, but have a deep sense of the same, and mourn on account of it.

To-day I have again been blessed in reading the ninth chapter of Ezra. Read the chapter; it is a blessed one. The effects of the fear of God on the quickened soul appear to me as plain, in that chapter, as the pen I now hold in my hand. While crossing the fields, I could not but sing to the praise of that mercy I had found. The mercy of God was the theme of my song, and the boast of my tongue. As I passed on, contemplating the wonders and goodness of God, these words came with sweetness and power to my mind: "Thou hast put gladness in their heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." (Ps. iv. 7.) Yes, Lord!" I replied; "the worldling may prize his possessions, and pride himself in calling them his own. But thou, O Lord! art mine; and having thee by precious faith, I possess all things." I entered a bye lane, and my soul was singing aloud in the confidence that God was my God. So awful and sweet was the lane that I was unwilling to proceed further, when these words of the poet Watts came into my mind. I felt their import, and I sang them before God:

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And sit, and sing herself away

To everlasting bliss.”

Onward I went, admiring the beautiful fields of corn, and blessing and praising the Lord. My soul, ascending to God, besought him that he would enable me to to bring forth fruit to his honour, in as visible a manner as the corn before me; and then, all of a sudden, (how it was I know not,) I was obliged to stand still, gazing upon the corn, when these words burst forth from my heart and mouth: "O Lord, bless me, and raise me up in thy church like the corn before my eyes! Clothe me in such a manner with spiritual grace, that I may in very deedfeed the church of God, which thou hast purchased with thy blood!" Such were my feelings at this time, that I wept like a child before the Lord; and, being near a house at which I had to call, I had to sit down till I became more composed.

O my dear John, praise God with me! for it is good, and praise is comely. Well might David call out as he did, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name ! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." (Ps. ciii. 1-3.) In the place of a hard and stubborn heart he has given me a broken and a contrite heart; and, what is more, he saith he will not despise it. In place of a prayerless feeling, I have a heart overflowing with praise and thankfulness. In place of a sealed book, which the Bible had been for a long time, every page I now read in the volume of truth fits my soul, and fills it again and again with thankfulness. O what love! God is love;” “God is good ;” “God is merciful;" yea, my soul shall bless his name for ever and ever. I cannot write as I feel. "O bless the Lord with me, and let us magnify his name together!" "O let us give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." (Ps. cvi. 1.) I am lost in wonder! Mercy, mercy, mercy is all I can sing about. God is merciful; and it is said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." I can do nothing but crown Him with songs of mercy, for what he has done for my poor soul.

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and

May the Lord give you the same blessed feelings. May he open up the riches of his grace, and enable you, with me, to sing of his free and sovereign mercy. The Lord bless you! Amen.

Chorley, August 15, 1842.

THE WATER OF LIFE.

J. G.

***But after all, the Spirit blessing it, the water of life and the unspeakable blessings connected with and contained in it, cures the most inveterate diseases that sin and Satan can inflict upon the sons of men. It has been known to cure internal plagues of all descriptions. In fact, it heals the blind, the dumb, the lame, the burdened, the leper, and all manner of uncleanness and filth, and has made tens of thousands of the most detestable, filthy creatures that ever lived more glorious than an angel of light; and, what adds to its blessedness is, that it is all free, "without money and without price."