blafts his zeal and diligence, and dries up the glee of his animal fpirits, and natural abilities too; fo that his gifts return to the prince, and he gives the talent to others. He that receives this gift is a fervant, and he comes in at the fouth gate. He begins his profeffion with having his paffions moved, and his natural affections stirred up, and comes in at the fouth gate; and, when the jubilee comes, he either takes offence at it, or elfe, in perfecution and temptation, falls away, and legal bondage feizes him,, and he goes back to the first husband, the law, never being divorced from it: and this is going out at the north gate. And, when death cuts fuch a corrupt tree down, the tree falls toward the north; and where the tree falls there it fhall lie. But the name and title of the other is that of a fon; and his inheritance fhall not be taken from him, nor fhall he go out of the church but by death: he came in by the north gate. A spirit of bondage, fooner or later, more or lefs, doth exercise all the elect of God, till love cafts their fears out: fuch come in by the north gate, and fhall go out by the fouth. Death cuts that tree of righteoufnefs down, and it falls toward the fouth; and in the place where it falls there it fhall lie.

I must confefs that I rather wonder at your giving up all expectations of fenfible vifits from God by the way, only from your conftructions put upon that dark and ambiguous text; "An

enemy

enemy hath done this." God will never apply any paffage of his word in a sense that shall run courter to the whole current of fcripture. "I am with you alway to the world's end. I will water them every moment. I will keep them night and day. Their leaf fhall be green; nor fhall they ceafe from yielding fruit." heaven and earth fhall pass

And fure I am that away before a jot or

tittle of his word fhall fail. And as fure as temptations, desertions, legal bondage, or unbelief, obfcure the good work on thy heart, fo fure will God fhine upon it, revive it, and bring it forth to. light again; being confident of this very thing, that he, which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jefus Chrift, when it fhall be perfected, both in body and foul. In this confidence, and in the best of bonds, I remain

Yours to ferve for his fake,

The Defert.

NOCTUA AURITA.

LETTER

LETTER XXXV.

To NOCTUA AURITA, of the Defert.

I HAVE received your letter, which

came to me wet with the dew of heaven; and therefore I must call it Gideon's fleece, when it was taken out of the floor wet. I hope you will excufe my coming to you fo foon; but really I could ftay no longer. By your letter my mind is entirely delivered from that darkness which has entangled me for these three months paft, refpecting the coming in by the fouth gate, and going forth by the north, &c. I believe Satan never had before fuch a fimple fool to deal with. I perceive he is the enemy that has done me all this mifchief; but he is now difcovered. I know it was he that applied that paffage to my mind, and made me believe that it was left on record on purpose for me, and could be applicable to no one's cafe but mine. I can fee now, as clear as I can fee the fun at noon day, when he entered first, and the ends he had in view; and, by my relating to you the exercises I have paffed under fince I wrote you that letter, I think you will fee it too. You know he had then gained his point fo far as to cut off

all

all my expectations of being favoured with any more revivings, renewings, or fenfible manifeftations of the Lord's love and favour towards me while in this world; and he brought the word of God to prove it, which was, that I was to go out by the north gate: therefore there was nothing but gloominefs and darkness felt by me. This caufed my hands to hang down, and my knees to wax fecble, and nothing was expected by me but more darkness and mifery; and this did come to pass, for I got deeper and deeper in diftrefs and darknefs. This confirmed me yet more that it was God himself that had laid that paffage with fuch a weight on my mind. This ftrengthened my bands, and made them ftill tighter; and, after three or four weeks had paffed, and I had received no answer from you to my letter, he came to me thus, and infinuated that I was not on your heart and in your affections as formerly; and that God had taken me off, and that he would not fuffer you to fend me a word more, nor even to pray for me; and then fet before me what a curfe that foul muft be under that was not on the heart of the fervants of the Lord, because he fays that whatsoever they bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever they loose on earth fhall be loofed in heaven; though I know I did never wholly credit this lie of his; but it was but one thing that kept me from it, and that was this, I thought God would not take me

off

off the heart of one of his fervants without taking me off the heart of the other; and with respect to that being the cafe with my dear paftor, the King's herald, Satan was not permitted to affault me with, for I had had proof enough of late that I was more on his heart than ever; and I had not a doubt on my mind but he did. pray for me.

O, bleffed be the Lord that he can go no further than he is permitted! Satan proceeded againft me with great caution, left he fhould be difcovered. He was flow, but fure to deceive fo far; but he had not got to the length of his chain yet. About a fortnight ago he came to me in a vifion of the night. I dreamed I was in a barnfloor, and had got a halter about my neck to hang myself, but was prevented. However, foon after I found the halter round my neck the second time, in a hitch knot, faftened to a beam above my head, and myfelf ftanding fome confiderable height from the ground; and I was just stretching forth my hands to give myfelf a fwing off the place, when I infiantly awoke, in fuch horror, and in fuch darknefs, as it is impoffible for me to describe, and with a conviction on my mind that the dream was a prediction of the awful end I fhould make, and that this was what was meant by going out by the north gate. Every thing was hid from my fight that God had done for my foul; the bed could not contain me long; and in this fituation and conflict I was four days and nights.