lawfully begotten, an annuity of fifty pounds Sterling left me, and my heirs and adminiftrators for ever, by the last-will and teftament of Wm Ts, Efq; my father's brother, payable out of his real estate; remainder to my dearly beloved fifter Sophia, and my brothers and fifters according to their respective ages. And this I leave to my dearly beloved Mifs Charlotte C―m, as a teftimony of the love and affection I have long borne toward her, and the high fenfe I have of her piety, chastity, and virtue; and defire the will accept of this fmall legacy, in token of the pure and virtuous love fhe has long had for me as her defined husband, and out of regard to the memory of one, who, though unworthy of her love, yet, in his greatest madness, and most profligate rambles, could never forget her, and loved with an unblemished affection to the end of his days." After my friend had finifhed his letters and will, he addreffed me as follows. 66 My dear Mr Nu, I blefs the God of my life and of all my mercies, who has fpared my life, notwithstanding all my horrid provocations, fo long till I have had time to pay my laft duty to those who have a juft title to be informed of the concerns of my foul, and to fettle my temporal affairs in a way very agreeable to my own inclinations. Though formerly I affumed the mask of an hypocrite to hide my deteftable lewdnefs, that it might not reach the ears of my pious and revered parents, or bring upon me the epithet of a rake; yet I have not now concealed from my friends the obfcenity and fenfuality of my paft life. I have plainly related the worst of myself, as a warning to my brothers and fifters not to split upon the fatal rock on which I fuffered a miferable fhipwreck. As I durft not conceal my vileness, neither was I at me. at liberty to bury the glorious difplays of fovereign grace to the most notorious offender that perhaps ever lived. Bleffed be the God of falvation, that he hath visited and redeemed me, and not fuffered me to die in raving madness, and in all the diftracting horrors of fearful defpair, as I have read in the account of the lives of the two Spiras, who, I think, were lefs tranfgreffors than Bleffed be God I was from eternity registered among the elect, and written among the living in Jerufalem; that when I had deftroyed myself, and was feemingly ruined for ever, beyond hope of relief, grace ftept in, and faid, Deliver his foul from going down to the pit; for I have found a ranfom ; that the Spirit of the Lord breathed on my dry bones, and I was raised from the grave of spiritual death, in virtue of the fame great power that raised the Lord Jefus from the dead; that the Spirit of life entered into me, and I rofe up and praised the marvellous mercy and wonderful falvation of my adorable Redeemer; that he has been with me under my long and languishing illness, comforting me with the confolations of his Spirit which are not few, and making me lead rather a life in heaveu, than one fpent in a conflict with the devil, and the remainders of corruption in my own heart. ply recompenfed for the fix weeks of hell that I paffed in horrible agonies of confcience, ful forebodings of the wrath to come. I live under the fmiles of heaven; and the manifeftations of the love and grace of my adorable Saviour continue to refresh my foul, and excite in me the most ardent defires to be with him in all the ecftatic raptures of everlasting blifs. I have done with the world, and all its enjoyments. My hope is in God, and his bleffed word. I wait now in the joyful expectation of being released from mortality, R 2 I am am and fear mortality, and of afcending to the Lord my God. I have the valley and fhadow of death to pass through, and to crofs the Jordan that feparates the land above from this world of fin and misery; but God, my covenanted God, will be with me in the dark valley, and will waft me over the raging billows of the fea of death. I fhall have the ftaff of faith in my hand, my fole dependence fhall be on the immaculate righteousness of Meffiah the Prince, and my landing shall be in the region where glory blooms in perpetual verdure, and happiness is ever fragrant. There on a green and flow'ry mount, And with tranfporting joys recount No vain difcourfe fhall fill my tongue, Eternal glories to the King That brought me safely through; CHA P. XI. Another letter written by Mr T-s. A prayer faid by him on his death-bed, which the author overheard; with his affectionate addrefs to him. Next morning after writing the letters inferted in the preceding chapter, my friend addreffed me thus. "Dear Mr Nu, I perceive myself to be every day weaker, which indicates that the time of my departure is at hand. I am ftrongly impreffed impreffed with the belief that I fhall drop mortality in the morning of Sunday fe'ennight [this was a Saturday], and obferve the remainder of that facred day in the court of the exalted Redeemer, who was dead, but is now alive, and liveth for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and of death. I must therefore work diligently while time continueth; and improve every day Provi dence allows me, for promoting my best interests, and thofe of others, to whom I have any profpect of being useful. I have wrote a letter to 'my next brother; and I think it will not be improper alfo to write one to my dear fifter Sophia. This girl is about the fame age with my amiable cousin Charlotte; fhe is poffeffed of every valuable accomplishment both of body and of mind; is of a sweet difpofition, and makes a graceful appearance. She very much refembles me, and has always borne a very great affection to me. She is the confident of her coufin Charlotte, and they are useful and affectionate companions to one another. I have good reafon to think from what I obferved myfelf, from what I learn from her own letters, and the accounts tranfmitted to me from Charlotte, that she has from her childhood known the holy fcriptures, and that the faith which dwelt in her religious progenitors, alfo dwells in her. You will find a small bundle of her letters to me, with my anfwers, in my fcrutoire, which you may read after my decease. From thefe you will form an idea of the good fenfe and piety of this dear girl. She has had feveral fuitors among the gentlemen of our country, none of whom were defpifable; but her coufin C-b T-s, Efq; now an eminent merchant in, early gained her affections; and fhe will fhortly be married to him, with the confeat of her parents. The marriage has been poftponed, R 3 poned, in expectation of my return. As the is therefore on the eve of marriage with that worthy young gentleman, in whom I hope fhe will be very happy, I don't think it will be loft labour to fuggeft a few advices to her relative to the intended change of her condition." He accordingly wrote her the following letter. To Mifs T—————s. My dear SISTER, Yo Our name fignifies wifdom. O may you be wife unto falvation. You ought never to think of this name without reflecting on the perfonal Wisdom of God, the Lord Jefus Chrift, who lay in the bofom of the Father from eternity, was a member and privy to all the glorious tranfactions of the counfel of peace, confented to come into our world, affume human nature, fulfil all righteoufnefs, and finifh his obedience on the crofs, thereby to procure eternal redemption for all whom he reprefented, as Second Adam, in the covenant of grace. This he did, and exhibited difplays of the wifdom, love, and grace of God, that will be matter of praise and admiration to men and angels, in the houfe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. O let Sophia begin to wonder at this furprising fcene, as a prelude to her joining with the ranfomed race in the fong of the Lamb. If you don't wonder now, you will howl hereafter. But I hope you are efpoufed as a chafte virgin to Chrift, and have learned to fing the fongs of Zion in this ftrange land. I have already, in feveral letters, all of which you will fee, given a particular account of my debauched life for fome years paft, the merciful reftraint laid upon my furious career to hell, and of my thorough converfion to God; fo that it is unneceffary 1 |