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separated from it; when he ceases to be actuated and influenced by the spirit of it; when he is crucified to it, and that to him; then, but never till then, will it appear that the grace of God reigns in him. May God grant that this may be Amen.

the case.

Church street, Paddington, 10 Dec. 1793.

W. H.

P. S. If you publish 10,000 letters, I will an swer them, if God permit.

THE

MYSTERY OF GODLINESS;

IN

A LETTER TO AN ERRONEOUS MAN.

WRITTEN FOR THE COMFORT AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONS AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL AND MONKWELL STREET

MEETING.

AND WITHOUT CONTROVERSY GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.

1 TIM. iii. 16.

ALSO OF YOUR OWNSELVES SHALL MEN ARISE SBEAKING PERVERSE THINGS, TO DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEM,

ACTS XX. 30.

THE

MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.

To MR. BENSLEY, PRINTER,

BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET.

Dear Brother in the Lord, and

Dear Tom in the Flesh,

As I have hitherto proved you, and, upon proof, have found you to be the most careful, the most desirous of giving satisfaction, the most attentive to your employers; and whose works have been sent in properly dried, and better packed up; and the numbers ordered, and time of sending them, better observed, and more punctually fulfilled, than by any printer I ever yet employed; I do, in this confidence, dear Tom, send you these papers; beseeching you, for the Lord's sake, to send them out verbatim as they come from me.

I am driven, by an ungodly man, into a controversy about things which are heavier to me

than a talent of lead, and more fit for an archangel than a self-despairing sinner, who has neither learning nor abilities; "But by the grace of God I am what I am;" and, as the Lord has made me a shepherd, I must defend the lambs of the flock against every wolf in sheep's clothing. I think I have made truth both my shield and buckler; and under her protection I need fear no danger, as we are commanded to be valiant for truth. If you see any thing in these papers that may in any sense sully her glory, or obscure her lustre, bring your objections to me, and let them be weighed in an even balance. I am conscious of my own inability; but dare not quit the standard of Christ, when his word is so boldly attacked by so obstinate, so imperious, so daring, so hardened, so insensible, so confused, so bewitched, and so presumptuous, a rebel. The man is, I think, a native of Maidstone in Kent, and, to my grief I speak it, a member with us; though it was with the greatest difficulty he got in among us, for I was fully persuaded that the person who was his supposed father knew nothing savingly of God. And this affair, as well as many others, has served to establish the sentiment that has ever stuck by me, namely that no man can communicate to others what he never had himself; or, in other words, that a child of the flesh cannot communicate to others the Spirit of God; or a bond child be instrumental in setting another at liberty, seeing the scripture declares it is like people, like priest;

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