London, March 4, 1800

MY DEAR SIR,

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Though the eye of our judgment, and the end we propose, be simple and disinterested, self, unless watched as narrowly as a cat watches a mouse, will interpose. Even Paul, eminent as he was for grace, needed both a thorn in the flesh, and a messenger from satan, to keep him from being exalted above measure, and he says of both, They were given me. Even a messenger from satan is a gift and a mercy, however unwelcome, if the Lord sanctifies his visit to make us mindful of our weakness and our vileness, both of which we are apt to forget in a long flow of exertion and success. Self loves to be very busy and very useful, and who can blame him? But if an ounce of grace, so to speak, will suffice to carry us on in active life, it may require a pound to keep us submissive and quiet by the fire-side. The Lord stands not in need of sinful man, nor will he ever want instruments to carry on his work. They are happy whom he honours to be his servants in the gospel, provided they give themselves up to him without reserve, depend upon him, and lie low in the dust before him.

The Lord abhors pride and self-importance. The seeds of these evils are in the hearts of his own children; but rather than suffer that which he hates to remain in those whom he loves, he will in mercy pound them as in a mortar, to beat it out of them, or to prevent its growth.

The account of your Highland tour is pleasant and interesting. I hear of no such sudden, general awakenings in our kingdom: but I hope the gospel does spread, though more gradually and silently, especially in the Establishment. Several very promising young men are ordained in the course of the year; and the number of serious students in both the universities seems to be still increasing. I hope there is much good done likewise by the dissenting itinerancy. But I fear the savour of the good ointment is in some places injured, and its efficacy in a measure obstructed by the dead fly of politics. Hypothesis must give way to facts: otherwise, when I consider the letter or the spirit of the gospel, I should think it impossible, that any persons who have the glory of God and the good of souls at heart (especially preachers) could perplex themselves, or their connexions, with political matters. I am sure Paul and his brother Peter did not meddle with these matters. They lived under a most arbitrary government, and the emperors in their time, such as Nero and Caligula, were men of the most infamous and detestable characters; yet they uniformly inculcate submission, and quiet obedience to the powers that be.

You see how large a letter I have written to you with mine own hand. Through mercy, dear Miss C*** and old Seventy-five are both as well as when you left us.

The Lord bless you and your firiends, and me and mine. Let us meet often at the throne of grace, and rejoice in the hope of meeting before long, in a better world.

I am

Your affectionate and obliged,

J. IV.