comforted, at a time when he was greatly ftraightened in foul, by only hearing (as he was riding through a country village) a child reading, at a door, to his fchool-mistress, thofe words, Thy fhoes fhall be iron and brafs, and, as is thy day, fo fhall thy ftrength be. May this hafty fcribble, though coming from me, who am, in all things, a child, except in years, be condefcendingly accepted: and may my utmoft prayers and expectations, concerning you, be answered.-Believe me to be,

Ever your's, in him who died for us and rofe again, Auguftus Toplady.

LETTER XIII.

To Mrs. BACON,

Broad-Hembury, Dec. 11, 1772.

HOPE I ftand too fair in dear Mrs. B's opinion, to be fufpected of levity in friendship, only because I do not trouble her with my refpects fo often as I ought and with. However appearances may be against me, realities are not. I fhall always remember you, madam, with high efteem; and confider myself more than a little interested, in whatever refers to your spiritual or fecular happiness,

For this reafon, on my receipt of your last favour, I deeply felt for the writer. That fpirit of grief and that turn of dejection, by which it was fo ftrongly marked, made me, whether I would or no, figh on your behalf at the throne of God.

Oh, let faith dry your tears: and know, that what he wills and does, is, and muft be, not only right but best. Afflict not yourself with uneafy appre henfions, concerning the ftate of him, whom you mourn as a husband, and I regret as a friend,

Leave his foul with him, who, I humbly truft, redeemed it with his own most precious blood: blood, which cleanses from all fin; and sprinkled with which, any and every finner, who is enabled to truft in it, may lift up his head, with boldness and joy, in the prefence of him who chargeth even the angels with folly.

Bleffed be God, that dear Mr. Bacon pleaded that availing blood, as the bafis of his fupplications for mercy. I have read, concerning good Mr. Fox, the Martyrologist, that "he could never refufe giving pecuniary relief to any, who asked him in the name and for the fake of Chrift." Much less will the Great Father of mercies reject the petitions of thofe, whom his bleffed fpirit hath ftirred up (and none can stir us up, but his own spirit) to intreat his favour, on account of what the agonizing friend of finners has done and fuffered for the unworthy, the guilty, and the hell-deferving. It is a plea that cannot fail, while God is God.-May the plea be your's and mine, both in life and death.

Auguftus Toplady.

LETTER XIV.

TO AMBROSE SERLE, Efq.

Broad-Hembury, Dec. 18, 1772.

DE EAR Mr. Serle's most obliging favour of the

28th ult. calls for an affectionate acknowledgement on my part. I muft, however, enter an exception to the ceremonious paffages which occur in his much esteemed letter; and beg leave to file a protest against all future declarations of that high refpect, with which my valued friend vouchfafes to

honour

honour me. I know, my dear fir, that your politenefs is not a mere complaifance, like that of the world. If I confidered it in fuch a view, I could difpenfe with it, readily enough. But your tranfparent fincerity, which adds weight and ferioufness to the elegance with which you write, is the very circumftance that humbles and abafhes me. Certain I am, that you condefcend to allow me a place in your regard: and, by that regard, I intreat you to confider me, and to addrefs me, as (what indeed I am) less than the leaft of all faints. The highest character, to which I afpire (God grant I may be entitled to it,) is that of an elect finner, redeemed with blood, and faved by grace.

I rejoice unfeignedly on your behalf, that you are favoured with a calm and fettled comfort from on high. I faid, from on high: for, that peace and joy, which lay us in the duft, at the footstool of free grace, do and must come from God alone. To be abforbed, and melted as into nothing, under the over-whelming radiance of his unmerited love; to fit in holy filence and ftillness of foul, beneath the fhadow of the cross; to derive, by the miniftration of his fpirit, all our hope, happiness, and tranqui lity, from the ineftimable merits and interceffion of the Lamb that is in the midft of the throne; to caft anchor on the covenant-favour, and covenantfaithfulness, of Father, Son, and Spirit ;-are the grand and only fources of holiness and joy.

I admire your excellent motto. It is more than a motto: it is a maxim, an axiom, certain as certainty itself. Deo duce, omnia bona; is the language of reason, no lefs than of faith. It is a text, on which, eternity itself will be an everlasting comment. God enable us to live under the chearful influence of that great principle, until mortality is fwallowed up of life.

I did not apprehend, that your knowledge of amounted to an intimacy. I thank you for inform

ing

ing me of it, as it gives me a double pleasure. You may eafily guefs, that I mean the pleasure of congratulating you on fuch a connection; and the pleafure of knowing, that fo worthy a perfonage has the happiness of fo valuable a friend. Had I the honour of being acquainted with his, I fhould felicitate him on his acquifition: an acquifition, which rarely falls to the portion of the great. God, I doubt not, will enable you to wait, with implicit confidence, and with the moft paffive ferenity, the iffue of his own all-wife purposes. He that believeth fhall not (at leaft, he should not) make hafte.

You condefcend to enquire after my projected life of archbishop Laud. I cannot fay, that I have not began it. But I am in doubt, whether I ought to proceed in it. Ecclefiaftical matters wear a very different afpect among us, from what they did when I firft formed the defign. We bid fair, at prefent, not for having an high Church, but for having no Church at all. A review of the life and times of that prelate, pregnant with the most horrid detail of civil and religious tyranny, would hardly be feafonable at prefent, when every unfledged ignoramus has a ftone to fling at the establishment. I may, perhaps, feem to fpeculate too minutely: but, I affure you, it is a fpeculation which has confiderable weight with me.

It is time, however, that my fpeculations should ceafe to intrude on the attention and valuable moments of my dear friend: elfe, he may be induced to fuppofe, that my motto is,

Scriptus & in Tergo, necdum finitus, Orefies.

I fhall, therefore, with affectionate compliments to Mrs. S. and your family in general, fubfcribe myfelf, dear fir,

Your obliged and obedient fervant,

Auguftus Toplady.

LETTER

Broad-Hembury, Feb. 4, 1773.

YOUR late favour, dear fir, arrived in due course: and as your letters never fail to be fraught with friendship, politenefs, and good fenfe, I cannot but lament that fo few of them find their way hither. If you had my excufe to plead, I could not, with any tolerable propriety, expect you to write oftener to me, than I to you. But, as you have hitherto found no employment for the printers, you are the more at leifure to entertain and improve me by manufcript.

Accept my condolences, on your lofs of your uncle at Bulbridge: the qualities of whofe heart rendered him more truly amiable and refpectable, than, without them, the brightest talents could poffibly have done.

Your account of your own health is fuch, as I wish ever to receive. Next to the pleasure of enjoying your converfation, I value every information that affures me of your welfare. As to myfelf, in confequence of being well, I have, for fome months paft, been far from idle: though, that induftry might not make me ill, I keep (as you rightly conjecture) to my old cuftom of intermixing labour with occafional relaxation. I could wifh, indeed, to be ever on the wing, ever on the stretch: but it is impoffible, in the present state. We must wait, for every fpecies of perfection, until we enter a fuperior world.

What think you, concerning the archi-epifcopal scheme of reforming" the liturgy and articles? Such a plan is certainly on the carpet; and it, as VOL. VI. (31.) certainly,

M