your book with my prayers; and I do. May it please our sovereign Lord to accompany the reading of it with his effectual power: may the young learn subjection to all their superiors, in the family, in the state, and in the church; so that the times may be quieter in our land then I fear they will be.

You are waiting; it is not lost time; I have found it very teaching, and very profitable. Put the Lord in, and it will be blessed waiting" My soul, wait "thou only upon the Lord," &c. May this be your present Heckfield lesson; and, as to the event of what you wait for, it is in his hands, who can make no mistakes: subjection to his will is heaven.

Mrs. R. remembers you, and all yours, especially Mrs. S. with affection; so does

W. R.

LETTER LIV.

My very dear Friend.

April 12th, 1790

I WAS thinking this morning what excuse I could make for not acknowledging a very acceptable present, and for not answering a friendly note with it long ago. Like most of us, very glad to receive favours, but tardy in giving of thanks, I was for laying it upon more business than I was become equal to, having very near attained that late period of life, in which Moses says, (and I feel it) Psal. xc. 10. our utmost efforts are pain and weariness, both of mind and body. Our strength is really to sit still. And a blessed lesson it is, when human efforts ceasing, we are led to make the works of Jesus all our salvation, and to find by happy experience that it is become all our desire. O what a good time has he lived to, whether he be young or old, who is dying in this faith!

But when I had written this excuse down, and read it, I was quite ashamed of it, because it confuted itself. It savoured a good deal of their practice, (Gen. iii.) who sought to lay the blame upon any thing, rather than themselves: for indeed, most excuses are lies. An indolent temper, when what must be done of necessary preparation for public preaching was over, unwilling to set about other things; wanting to relax; and too often easing the mind by that spirit, by which many trespass upon God's goodness: delaying from day to day-I will write to-morrow; or, what signifies it, when I do write, I shall say nothing that will be worth postage. All my former excuses failed me this morning, April 12th; and I now cry peccavi -I have got to the true cause, forgive me this wrong. I am to thank you for a Christian Remembrancer of this last edition finely bound for Mrs. Romaine. Better late than never to repent and amend. In these troublesome times I find it good to follow Habakkuk's example, which is all the politics I wish to know: he prayed, he got into his watch-tower, and waited for an answer, and he received it, and praised God for it. I am doing the same for the public-at prayers for the church, groaning under an oppression harder than the Chaldean bondage. I pray on, but am still in my watch-tower-I can get no answer-One can see no end of the present troubles-The cause is not removed; therefore they continue; they increase, as if so many fiends of hell were let loose, and suffered to do all the mischief which Satan himself could wish. We know where to lay the blame: unbelief is the provoking sin; it has brought ruin upon many great kingdoms; so that we can trace the vengeance of heaven against it from age to age, down to the present miseries of Europe. Infidelity led the way" We will not have this man to reign over us;" then he left them to themselves; upon which Antichrist, i. e. Apollion, brought out his legions and armies to destroy, and they have destroyed all law, order, pro

perty, religion, insomuch that the earth is made by them like another hell. I tremble; for who takes warning? O my country, my country! I fear for England. We are not much unlike the kingdom of France, very near her in her sin, and may not be far from her in her punishment. Therefore I keep me in my watch-tower, praying and pleading for mercy, begging our Lord to spare us for his own name's sake. This is my only plea. Are we better than they? It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. May these move him to pour upon us a spirit of prayer and supplication, that, as a nation, we may with national repentance keep the 19th instant, humbled under his mighty hand. This is such a fast as he hath chosen; and for his own glory may he work a general reformation, that iniquity may not be our ruin. I hope you will keep me company in my watch-tower; then especially, but at all times there to plead for you and your's.

W. R.

LETTER LV.

July 8th, 1790.

My dearly beloved,

LET brotherly love continue and increase. I have to congratulate Mrs. S. and you, on the success of the Rev. Mr. He rejoices me in hearing of his present situation, and in hope of his success in it. We hope to set out from London soon after the 18th instant; and, if it be quite agreeable, we purpose to visit friends at Heckfield in the course of that week. If no objection be made, we shall be at Reading, and will make our time and circumstances known unto you.

The favour of a line to Blackfriars, will be an additional obligation to the multitude already conferred on

Your true friend,

And humble servant in Christ,

W. ROMAINE.

LETTER LVI.

Dec. 15th, 1790.

Dear Sir,

MY son has been coming down for a long time, but he has been detained. I waited to send my acknowledgments by him, not thinking they were worth post

You know we then do the best, when Jesus gets all the praise. I hope in your leisure hours, in some of these wet days, you have him still in your eye, and are putting down some of your thoughts concerning Him and His. * I have a hand in them, as far as prayer can go, and that with him is a great way, James v. 16. Mrs. R. is not behind in our love to Mrs. S. and in respects to the family.

Truly yours in him,

W. ROMAINE.

LETTER LVII.

Saturday, 2 o'clock.

My dear Friend,

WE are at prayers for the sick of your family-my Doctor is the best, because he cures infallibly and eternally-To his care I am commending Mrs. S. and Miss Ann- and hoping he will prosper R's advice and *Alluding to a book, entitled, The Church of God.

medicine, as he did to Mary; in whose recovery, we all rejoice and are thankful. I am the scribe, because I would request, for Christ his sake, a constant remembrance in your prayers for myself, that I may finish my course with joy-and my farther testimony for Jesus, in my Triumph of Faith, may be to his glory; whose I am, and whom I serve;

Yours in him,

W. ROMAINE.

LETTER LVIII.

My very dear Friend,

Southampton, Oct. 18th, 1791.

I HAVE a great desire to take sweet counsel with you, concerning my present studies; and thankfully accept of your kind invitation, to spend a day or two with you for that purpose. We hope to be able to get to Heckfield the 25th instant, in the evening, but do not wish to trouble you for your chaise; it will be more convenient on many accounts to take a chaise at Basingstoke. The family here desire to be, with due · respect, remembered to you: Mrs. R. joins me in my best wishes to you, and to Mrs. S. and to all the family. My Lord has been teaching me some of my last lesson. He is taking down this earthly tabernacle; but he does it like himself-gently-lovingly-with no more pain, than as he enables me to say-all is well. May he vouchsafe us a happy meeting by the way-and the best at last : so prays

& 5

W. ROMAINE.