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eternal ages roll on for ever,—but an inch on which we can stand and preach the way of salvation to a perishing world. May He count us faithful, keeping us in the ministry.—Ever yours, etc.

TO THE REV. PATRICK L. MILLER, Then labouring in Strathbogie, on his being elected minister of Wallacetowe.

DUNDEE, September 18, 1840. MY DEAR FRIEND,—I cannot tell you how sincerely I thank God for the event of this evening. You are unanimously chosen minister of Wallacetown. I have already been on my knees to praise God for it, and to pray that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit for this glorious work. I hope you will see your way clear in leaving your attached people at Botriphnie. Make good use of your last days among them. Warn every man. Take each aside, and tell him you will be a witness against him at the last day if he do not turn and obey the gospel. The Lord give you a spiritual family in that place; and may you come to us in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. I am persuaded the Spirit of God is still remarkably present in this town. You could not become a minister in a more blessed season, or in a more promising field. Oh pray to be fitted for the arduous work! I was just praying this morning over Matt. ix. 36-38, and little thinking that God was about to answer so graciously.

I have had a severe illness of late, and been taught to look more toward the church above. But I am better, and my heart warms again towards the Lord's work below. Now, farewell! The Lord humble, empty, satisfy, and fill you,—make you a Boanerges and a Barnabas all in one. May the Lord arise, and his enemies be scattered; and may poor parched Angus become like the garden of the Lord.--Ever yours, etc.

TO MR GEORGE SHAW, BELFAST,
Prophecies concerning Israel-Revival-Conduct of Studies.

DUNDEE, September 16, 1840. MY DEAR FRIEND, -It gives me great joy to be able to answer your kind letter, although I fear you have almost despaired of me. In writing your esteemed pastor. I mentioned to him my intention of writing you very soon ; but I have since then been laid down upon a sick-bed by a severe feverish illness, from which I am now

only recovering. Like you, my dear friend, God lias seen it meet to train me often by the rod, and I have always found that lle doeth all things well. Indeed, who would have his own health in his own guidance ? Ah! how much better to be in his all-wise, all-powerful hand, who has redeemed us, and is making us vessels to hold his praise, now and in eternal ages! I have been only twice in the open air, and cannot yet manage the pen with facility; but I cannot delay writing to you any longer. You cannot tell how much real joy your letter gave me when you tell me of the dear brethren who meet along with you on Monday mornings, to read and pray concerning Israel. This is indeed a delightful fruit of my short visit among you, for which I give humble and hearty thanks to Him who has stirred up your hearts in what I have felt, by experience, to be his own blessed cause. I feel deeply persuaded from prophecy, that it will always be difficult to stir up and maintain a warm and holy interest in ontcast Israel. The lovers and pleaders of Zion's cause will, I believe, be always few. Do you not think this is hinted at in Jer. xxx. 13 : “ There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up ?” And again, ver. 14: “ All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not.” And is not this one of the very reasons why God will at last take up their cause? See ver. 17: “I will restore health unto thee, because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” It is a sweet encouragement also to learn, that though the friends of Zion will probably be few, so that it may almost be said, no one seeketh after her, yet there always will be some who will keep watch over the dust of Jerusalem, and plead the cause of Israel with God and with man. See Isa. Ixii. 6, 7. If any of your company know the Hebrew, you will see at once the true rendering: “I have set watchmen over thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Oh, my dear brethren, into whose hearts I trust God is pouring a scriptural love for Israel, what an honour is it for us, worms of the dust, to be made watchmen by God over the ruined walls of Jerusalem, and to be made the Lord's remembrancers, to call his own promises to his mind, that He would fulfil them, and make Jerusalem a blessing to the whole world! Verse 1st is supposed to be the language of our Lord himself-our glorious Advocate with the Father. Oh what an example does He set us of unwearied intercession! Verse 2d showeth the great effect which the conversion of Israel will have on the Gentile

world. Verse 3d shows how converted Israel will be a glorious diadem in God's hand, held out to show forth his praise. Verse Ith shows that it is literal Israel that is spoken of, for there is a zweet promise to their land.

I think you must take these two verses, 6, 7, as the motto of your praying society, not in boasting, but in all humility of mind, and with much self-upbraiding for the neglect of the past. Indeed, you will find it a difficult matter to keep your heart in tune really to desire the salvation of Israel, and the widely extended glory of the Lord Jesus. You must keep in close union to Jesus, and much in the love of God, and be much filled with the infinite, almighty Spirit of God. He will help your infirmities. It is when you feel the sweetness of the kingdom of God within you, that you will truly fall down on your knees, and pray, “ Thy kingdom come.” The possession of grace fills us with very different feelings from the possession of anything else. A man who has much money is not very anxious that all the world should be rich; one who has much learning does not long that all the world were learned; but if you have tasted the grace of the gospel, the irresistible longing of your hearts will be, Oh that all the world night taste its regenerating waters! And if it be true, as I think it is, that God's method of bringing in the kingdom is to be by the salvation of Israel, how can an enlightened, gracious soul but pray, “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion?”

As to the mode of studying prophecy, dear friend, I am far from being a capable adviser. My advice, however, is that you begin with the simple and more unquestioned parts, and then advance to the more difficult ground. Begin with fulfilled prophecy : you will thus gain an intimate acquaintance with the language and manner of the prophetic writings. Then advance to the marks of unfulfilled prophecy, and cautiously and prayerfully to those parts that are obviously unfulfilled. This would be a most interesting course, and, if humbly followed out, cannot but give you great light and interest in the cause of Israel, and the world's conversion. For fulfilled prophecy, you might follow the guidance of Keith on Fulfilled Prophecy, or Bishop Newton, or both.

I am delighted to hear of the thankoffering you mention. It is sweet when thankfulness does not end in mere words, but in gifts to God cu devotedness of our all to Him. I am happy to say that the Lord's cause seems still to advance in Scotland. On the very day I arrived from Irelard we had very sweet tokens of the presence of the Spirit of God in the congregation, and many Thursday evenings since.

I have been in Strathbogie also, and seen some of the Lord's wonders tliere. He that hath the key of David has opened a door there, for the salvation of many souls. I am still as anxious as ever that God's work should be pure, and yumixed with error and satanic delusions; and, therefore, when I pray for the revival of God's work, I always add that it may be pure and permanent. 1 have seen two awakened since I came home, with the use of hardly any means. If they shall turn out real conversions, I think I shall never despair of any.

I trust that your own studies get on well, dear friend. Learn much of your own heart; and when you have learned all you can, remember you have seen but a few yards into a pit that is unfathomable." The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know it ?” Jer. xvii. 9. Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and vet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief ! Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in his beams. Feel his all-seeing eye settled on you in love, and repose in his almighty arms. Cry after divine knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding. Seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasure, according to the word in Prov. ii. 4. See that ver. 10 be fulfilled in you. Let wisdom enter into your hearts, and knowledge be pleasant to thy soul; so you will be delivered from the snares mentioned in the following verses. Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh. I must now commend you all to God and the word of his grace. My dear people are just assembled for worship. Alas! I cannot preach to them to-night. I can only carry them and you on my heart to the throne of grace. Write me soon.-Ever yours, etc.

TO HIS SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHERS, DURING A WEEK

OF ABSENCE FROM THEM. (Accompanied by notes on the Scripture Lesson that was to be taught in the

classes that week.)

Kelso, February 24, 1841. MY DEAR FRIENDS AND FELLOW-LABOURERS,--I send you a few notes on the parable for next Sabbath evening. May you find thern profitable. You cannot tell what a sweet confort it is to me, when I am so far distant from my flock, to know that you are in the midst of the lambs, speaking to God for them, and speaking to them for God. I thank my God without ceasing for your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope. Be not weary in well-doing, dear friends, for in due season we shall reap), if we faint not. Do not be impatient—wait on the Lord. The blessing will come. Use a few spare half-hours in seeking after the lambs on the week-days. This will prove to the parents that you are in earnest. To bring one child to the bosom of Christ would be reward for all our pains in eternity. Oh, with what glowing hearts we shall meet in heaven those whom God has used us as humble instruments in saving! Meditate on Phil. i. 8. And may the Lord meet with you and the lambs on Sabbath-day, and bless you, and do you good.

Farewell, dear fellow-labourers.—Ever your affectionate friend and pastor, absent in body, not in spirit, etc.

TO A SOCIETY IN BLAIRGOWRIE FOR DIFFUSING THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
Advices.

Dundee, March 27, 1841. MY DEAR FRIEND,—I was happy indeed to receive your letter, aud the rules of your Society, which interested me very much. I would have answered you sooner, but have been laid down by my heavenly Father on a bed of sickness, from which I am just recovering by his grace. Spared fig-trees should bear much fruit; pray that it may be so with me. Luther used to say that “temptations, afflictions, and prayer, made a minister.” I do trust that your Society may be greatly blessed, first, in the comforting, enlivening, and sanctifying of your own souls, and then in the bringing others to know the same fountain where you have found peace and purity. Let Jesus come into your meetings and sit at the head of the table. It is a fragrant room when the bundle of myrrh is the chief thing there. Let there be no strife among you, but who to be lowest at his feet, who to lean their head most fully on his breast. Let all your conversation, meditations, and readings lead you to the Lamb of God. Satan would divert your minds away to questions and old wives' fables, which gender strifes. But the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus-draus to Jesus-

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