rience and trials of the year which is just past. In thus expressing my best wishes, I am not inclined to specify what particular blessings I would heartily desire for others; this I leave to the goodness of that Divine Wisdom which passeth man's understanding. Each person also better knows than I do, what particular blessings he stands in need of; yes, he knows this best at the time when such blessings are immediately wanted. Therefore let my dear brother, with his truly amiable partner in life, be entirely commended by my poor self, both for the present and for all future time, to our own heavenly Father, the merciful disposer of all things. And though, personally, we are far apart one from another, may He, the longer we live, the more closely unite us in communion of spirit, and in its consequent perpetual flow of mutual love!"

To Schmidlin, Dean of Lewisburg.

(Congratulation upon his new appointment.)

"Oct. 22, 1720.

"What you have to desire and pray for in your new situation, is better known to yourself than to me in my cloister. The Lord hear your prayer, and fulfil all your desires! May he vouchsafe you light, power, love, wisdom, and holy confidence in himself; and grant that a blessing on your labours may be manifested to men, and before the angels of God! May Christ our Saviour increase his dominion and triumphs, by your instrumentality, among those to whom you are now sent in his name; making you feel the tenderest compassionate care for his own sheep which are scattered abroad, giving you also vigorous and active courage against the wolves, and a good report amongst both! May his Holy Spirit be manifested in you as a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind, that you may deliver your testimony to the truth which is after godliness,' so as not to faint nor be discouraged. The Lord be to you and yours a shield and exceeding great reward, and your constant guide in this new path, that you may be found approved in his sight, and in the sight of all his servants. Amen and Amen!"

To Captain von Franke.

"Dec. 12, 1747.

"It much affects me to hear of the sad accident your dear and worthy lady has met with. May our faithful God, who in

such serious danger has prevented what would have been more distressing, receive our thanks and praise for his providential care and sparing mercy! May he prosper also the means used for her perfect recovery; alleviate the weariness of the sick couch, and give to this affliction a happy issue! Our sufferings in the outward man have their special and essential use for the inner man; therefore may the holy love already so well established, my dear sir, between yourself and your respected lady, only abound more and more, through your mutual unanimity, in enduring affliction together! Days or hours spent in worldly amusements and in the gratifications of the flesh, not unfrequently leave painful stings behind; but if we let our seasons of affliction awaken us to more entire and pure compliance with the holy will of the blessed God, we may have to remember such seasons with constant thankfulness and joy, from having experienced how truly all things work together for good to them that love God. And as his only begotten Son condescended to come into this miserable world for the very purpose of drawing us up to his own heavenly mansions, by making all troubles and disappointments befalling us in the way, even helpful to our advancement thither, how blessed is it to be able to surrender ourselves without reserve to the government and appointments of his grace, and to repose our entire care and dependence on that grace continually! May our God impart to us real and sweet experience of all this, especially for the approaching commemoration of our Saviour's nativity; an event by which the word of truth has so wonderfully manifested to us his kindness and love."

Benigna Maria, born Countess Reuss, sister-in-law of Zinzendorf, having written to Bengel, and informed him of the death of her brother, Count Henry XXIX., Bengel replied as follows:

"Dec. 7, 1747.

"As your ladyship has been so early prepared for the departure of your now happy brother, and so sweetly supported under this severe loss, by having your mind continually directed to the Lord Jesus, there is no harm occasioned by my having been unable to give your letter an earlier reply. When the door opens to admit any pilgrim into the better world, it always permits some escape of the heavenly breezes to refresh and cheer the weeping survivors, and to strengthen them for their

own departure. This, I have no doubt, you have experienced; and may God manifest to your ladyship and to your noble relatives, under this trying bereavement, a still larger measure of his grace!

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My thoughts of Count Zinzendorf's system and religious connexion have long led me to conclude, that if these remain confined within our European pale of Protestantism, they will neither spread in Europe much farther than they have done, nor will find, except at a very few stations, any permanent reception. But should they spread forward into Asia, (as the writer of a work, entitled, A Portrait of the Kingdom of the Cross,' anticipates) then, if not before, the Christian world will have to open its eyes, and to pay no common attention to this people and to their system.

"Of the tragical events in Lucerne, I have received information from various quarters. The writings of Arndt and Lucius must have produced considerable good effect there. Schmidli was strangled by order of Filippo Acciajole di Fiorenza, the Pope's nuncio; and all protestant books that could be seized were burnt. In France, Hungary, Poland, and Germany, this murderous spirit of popery still continues to show itself. In Poland, within these few years, a decretal was read, Sunday after Sunday in four hundred churches, prohibiting to heretics every privilege of fire, bread, commercial and civil intercourse, and the use of the public baths. Persecutions of this sort will not cease till the complete tribulation shall break out under the last great dispensation. Probably, for a time, they will fluctuate much in the same manner as they have done but by and by they may suddenly break out like a tempest. Let them ebb and flow as they will, only let us continually keep in view, as we ever should, the great banner of grace, mercy, and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord, and be careful, as indeed we must, never to let go from our hearts the all-penetrating and all-prevailing remembrance of his name.

"I remain," &c.

CHAPTER III.

CHARACTERISTIC NOTICES AND GLEANINGS.

THE miscellany we here insert under the above title, may serve to give a further idea of Bengel in his social or private character.

The brief Sermon.

Bengel travelled once in a stage-coach with several gay persons, who being rather heated to merriment by wine, sang drinking songs in chorus together. He kept himself quite aloof: but at last they called upon him to give them a song. He replied," If I sing, you must have a sermon afterwards;"-and they were quiet and orderly the rest of the way.

The Friars.

He once had a visit from some Roman Catholic friars of the order which is the most general of all; namely, of that “whose god is their belly." He received them with hospitality, and as they felt themselves perfectly at home, they began to talk in their usually familiar and easy manner, about snug accommodations, good cheer, &c., and by and by got into jestings hardly convenient; seemingly flattering themselves that they were entertainers of the company. Bengel still continued affable and kind, though he said but little, which he took occasion to do at opportunities for any thing solid and serious. He hoped thus to leave upon their minds a deeper impression than if he had directly and pointedly rebuked them.

The reproving Look.

Two young ladies from the country, who had been brought up in a strict religious way, and had been always kept from going to balls, theatres, &c., being on a visit in the metropolis, (Stuttgart,) heard so much there in praise of the amusements of the town, that they felt a wish to go to the opera; and as they were on their way to it, they met in the street a tall reverendlooking person, and knew it was Prelate Bengel, for whom they

had heard their parents express such high veneration. His serious eye caught theirs as they passed him, and as they looked behind after him, they found he was doing the same; and his look was to their imagination as if it had taken them by surprise, and as if it seemed to say, "Children, are you going the right way?" So, however, it was, that changing their minds, they turned directly down another street, and went home, ashamed of their worldliness in wishing to go to a play.

The vacant Seats in Heaven.

A lady of rank being once in company with Bengel, addressed him as follows. "I hear, Mr. Provost, that you are a prophet; therefore perhaps you can tell us whether, in the world above, there are any reserved seats for people of quality." He replied, "I certainly, madam, am no prophet, though I acknowledge that God has granted me some acquaintance with his revealed word; and this informs me that reserved seats indeed there are; and that, alas, most of them are sadly in want of occupants. So I read in Matt. xix. 24, and 1 Cor. i. 26."

The poor Sinner.

When he was at Tübingen in 1748, a peasant of the neighbourhood came up to him just as he was leaving the town, and said, how happy he was for once in his life to get a sight of him. He replied, "Well, my good friend, you have only seen one more poor sinner that depends entirely upon the mercy of God."

Provisions for the current Day.

"I act," he said, "like the mistress of a family, who, when a visitor comes in unexpectedly, sets before him the provisions she happens to have at hand. For I always, when any friends call upon me, converse with them just about what my mind is engaged in at the time. As I live by the actual use of my breath, without having to consider what quantity of air I have inhaled in time past, so for my present spiritual life I am not obliged to recur to what I dwelt upon yesterday or the day before, but have only to receive as from God, and to make use of, what he gives me every hour for myself, or for ministering to others. When any person has received a profitable word of mine, so that the little seed in the good ground begins to make its appearance, I have often to admire that power from on high, which has rendered beneficial what did not take its origin from me, but of which I, in much weakness and unprofitableness, was