_Your faithful_,
****
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To Mr. ****.
_My dear ****_,
JOIN with me in praising the free grace and mercy of God, which has so wonderfully displayed it self in your soul! I don’t know whether your letter most astonished or delighted me; but this I am sure of, that I don’t know how enough to express my thankfulness to God in your behalf. The means so weak too! Nothing but a book put into your hands, which thousands might have read without regarding it. No examples of vital religion, no one to urge or encourage you to seek redemption! But the Almighty can indeed work by the weakest means, and the poorest instruments; nothing is too hard for the Lord: and Oh may he perfect the work he has begun!――Oh gracious and ever-blessed Redeemer, continue thy mercy to this brother of my soul; convince him more and more of the dreadful state he is in by nature, and the absolute necessity of justification by faith alone! Oh justify him freely; grant him redemption through thy blood, the forgiveness of sins: Fill him with all peace and joy in believing, and give him to go on in thy strength, till he arrives at that fulness of faith here, and in the end to thy eternal glory hereafter, which thou hast purchased for those who love thee! _Amen, Amen._
I rejoice in your desiring to receive the sacrament. The only preparation required of us is repentance, faith, and love――love to God and all mankind. I have wrote out a little catalogue of books which I make my constant study, and which I hope will be yours; always remembring, that the Bible is to be esteemed by us infinitely beyond any human compositions. Other books I shall occasionally recommend to you, as they benefit my own mind, or are proper for the state of yours.――As to forms of prayer in private, you have no occasion for them. Pray from your own heart. There is no need of elegance of expression, to make a prayer acceptable to God. The desire of the heart is its prayer; and that once sincerely turned to God, will certainly receive an answer of peace. When you first awake, strive to fix your mind immediately on God: let the first book you open be the _New Testament_. There read, not several chapters, but just so much as you find will be food sufficient for present meditation. If the first verse you read particularly affects you, don’t read further, but close the book, and let that verse have its full effect on your mind. When you fall on your knees before the Almighty, recollect the dangers and temptations you are most likely to fall into that day, and particularly pray to be kept by the grace of God in each of them. Earnestly pray for power over the sin which most easily besets you. But above all things, strive in your morning and evening prayers to gain the most lively sense of your own nothingness, nay to feel that you are even worse than nothing, that you are by your fallen nature sold under sin, and deserving nothing at the hand of God but eternal punishment. And when your mind is deeply impressed with this consideration, then look to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. There see the power by which your fallen nature may be restored: there see the blood by which you are cleansed from all sin: there see the full redemption purchased for you, and strain every faculty of your soul eagerly to lay hold on this redemption: and be assured that the eternal Spirit of God will assist you in these your prayers. The Spirit itself, says St. _Paul_, maketh intercession for us.――In the course of the ensuing day, and in all occurrences, strive to keep your heart in a state of prayer, always ready to be lifted up to God; and this, even in the hurry of business, may be done, and no one be sensible of it except yourself. And be sure, my dear, never to omit making use of any opportunity of doing good which falls in your way, either to the bodies or souls of your fellow creatures.――At night follow the same rule as in the morning; only examining, before you beg the protection of God for the night, every action of the past day: what good you have done, what left undone, what faults you have been guilty of, what mercies you have received, and accordingly address yourself to the father of mercy.
I have time to say no more at present. Continue to write to me, and fail not to pray for
_Your ever-affectionate_
****
_December 22, 1753._
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_January 7, 1754._