-or, if not, have you not, in what is called little things, conformed to the world? Such as fashionable adorning of the body, even in immodest as well as costly array? whereas, the command is plain and positive, and easy to be understood, "That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or costly array:" and again, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind;" that is, if ye would "prove the acceptable will of God." Now, consider a moment, after (contrary to checks of conscience) indulging yourself in any of these things, could you pray as before? nay, were even your desires after God and spiritual things as lively and vigorous? Ah no! the Spirit of God was grieved, and he moved not upon your spirit: he left you to yourself, and you neglected duty more and more; till now, I fear, you can at times plead with the world you had forsaken, against singularity, against shutting yourself up from carnal company, and subjecting yourself to the sneers and disdain of those, who see no beauty in Christ and salvation. Alas! how changed! how trifling did you once account the scoffs and frowns of such: yea, not worth a thought, when you first felt your state as a lost sin ner: then you would cry,

"Let earth and all its trifles go:

Give me, O Lord, thyself to know,
Give me thy precious love."

And are you happier now? Are you in a safer state -more fit for heaven? It is true you may have less fears of hell; but this is no good sign, for you have more cause to fear. You were then a repenting sinner; and had you persevered to seek, you' would, before now, have been a child of God, and an heir of glory. But you are now a trifling sin

ner, and, O think a moment! what is it you are trifling with ?-with God that made you with Jesus, who shed his blood for you-with the Holy Ghost, who awakened, and hath been long striving with you: you are trifling with eternal happiness and eternal pain, and with your own immortal soul. This is an important subject, and demands your immediate attention: in a little time it will be too late to reflect or repent. O, then, as you value eternal life, stop! O go not a step farther from your God; but return, with weeping and supplication, to the feet of him you have pierced-him who yet prays for you, or you had been in hell:-to him who is yet willing to wash you in his own blood, and by the power of that Spirit you have grieved, save you from all, even your most besetting sin. But delay not, or he may swear, "You shall never enter into his rest." Speedily cut off the right hand-pluck out the right eye-take up your cross, and give up all. You cannot serve God and mammon: you cannot be a friend of the world, and not be the enemy of God: you cannot indulge the spirit of the world, without losing your own soul. And be not deceived:-if you follow the fashions and vain customs thereof, you have the spirit of it, and love it more than God. If as the world you live, you as the world will die." God forbid this should be the case! O fly for refuge to the hope set before you! and let me have joy over you in time, and in the day of eternity.

I have, however, warned you; and perhaps it may be your last warning, your last call, if you should now neglect. God will not always strive ! He may, before you are aware, lay the axe at the root of the tree, and cut it down. O that you may henceforward bring forth the fruits he requires; first, the fruits of repentance, then the genuine fruits of faith. Then shall I meet you with joy,

among the sheep at the right hand of yonder dazzling throne!-when the Ancient of days shall sit, and the books shall be opened;-when the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and be as pillars in his house above, to go out no more! Amen, Lord Jesus, prays yours in real affection, H. A. ROGERS.

LETTER XXXIII.-To Mrs. Condy.

CORK, Oct. 11, 1789.

MY DEAR FRIEND AND SISTER,-I believe you are well able to answer your own questions. How ever, as you desire it, I will freely tell you my thoughts on what we call Christian perfection. We do not mean hereby, the perfection of God, of angels, of disembodied spirits, or of Adam while innocent. But we mean that perfection of which our natures are capable, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam. We are under the law to Christ; viz. the law of love-the law of liberty; or, in other words, the covenant of grace. Whosoever loveth the Lord his God with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and his neighbour as himself, fulfilleth this law. The lowest degree of this salvation is to have all contrarieties to this love cast out of the soul. We may be said thus to love him with a pure heart, when proud self, and great I, are slain, and we feel only humility: when anger, fretfulness, and impatience, are no more; but we ever feel a meek and quiet spirit: when I will, and I will not, is all brought into subjection to the will of our heavenly Father; and our will is, that he should reign over us: when he really does regulate and govern our passions, affections, and desires; inordinate

desires, and inordinate creature love being no more: and, lastly, unbelief (and consequently all tormenting fear, and painful anxiety) is wholly cast out. But, after all this, it remains that we go forward, that we grow in grace, till we be not only emptied of sin, but filled with all the fulness of God.

The moment any soul is justified, it is free from the power or dominion of outward and of inward sin; and may hold fast that blessed freedom to the end. But, supposing a person does this, euch a one will feel a mixture of evil propensities, tempers, affections, and desires; which defilement is so rooted in our nature, that none but Jehovah Jesus can cast, out "the strong man armed, and spoil all his armour wherein he trusted." It is true, we may mortify, resist, and keep under those evils; but Jesus alone can pluck up and destroy every plant and root which his Father planted not. We may gradually grow in grace and holiness, and hereby increase in victoriously subjecting the enemy within; but Jesus alone can slay the man of sin.

All salvation, too, is by faith alone, as the instrument. If, then, we must be saved by faith, it is in a moment, and the present moment, if not our own fault for, what wait we for, who are the children and heirs of God? and therefore heirs of the promises, which are all to us, "yea and amen in Christ Jesus." If we wait for more worthiness-to suffer more, to do more, to be more fit; then we are seeking to be sanctified by these things; viz. by works. But if we believe we can only obtain the blessing by grace, through faith, and this salvation is the free gift of God; then let us be consistent with ourselves; let us expect it by faith--expect it in a moment, and expect it now: which are one and the same thing, and are inseparable. To be dying, and to be dead indeed unto sin, are two things. Be

not you, my sister, content with the former: "A man may be dying for some time," says Mr. Wesley, "yet, properly speaking, he does not die till the moment the soul is separated from his body, and in that instant he begins to live the life of eternity in like manner, a man may be dying unto sin for some time; yet he is not dead indeed unto sin,' till sin be separated from the soul, and in that instant he begins to live the life of pure love." O be you "dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God, through Jesus Christ your Lord!"

It is the blood ot Jesus alone cleanseth from all sin-not penal sufferings, not mortifications of any kind, not any thing we have, not grace already received, not any thing we are, or can be; nor death, nor purgatory; no, not the purgatory of all our doings and sufferings, and strivings put together: no, no; Christ is the procuring, meritorious cause of all our salvation. He alone forgiveth sins, and he alone cleanseth from all unrighteousness. Faith is the only condition, and it shares in the Omnipotence it dares to trust. "All things are now ready," is the Gospel message; and Jesus saveth all them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him. "I will, be thou clean," is his language to every seeking leprous soul !-to you if not already cleansed.

Joy in the Holy Ghost is a blessed fruit of this salvation; but divine joy is not always rapturous; we may be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; and there is suffering love, as well as exulting love. A person saved as above, may experience a degree of heaviness, or dullness, for a season, through bodily infirmities, close trials, or sundry temptations; but such a one cannot walk in darkness. Likewise, many mistakes are consistent with this state; I mean errors in judgment, and failures in memory; yet the will stands firm for God, and the