ng Island.

"MY DEAR JAMES--This will probably be handed you by our mutual
friend Mrs. C----. The thought of her being with you, makes me part
with her with less reluctance. You have not been forgotten by either;
we have talked much of you, and have united in prayer to your and our
God, that he may manifest himself unto you as your reconciled Father
in Christ Jesus; and give you 'joy and peace in believing'--that he
may give you patience in suffering, and entire resignation to his most
holy will.

"It has, my dear young friend, been my earnest inquiry,
especially of late years, standing on the brink of eternity, 'What is
there within us, or without us, on which a sinner can rest in a dying
hour?' If it be a holy life, there is no peace for me. Taking the law
of God for my rule, backslider is my name; yet peace I have found, and
on the best Security; this blessed Bible is my charter. I have
searched it with diligence and prayer, and my mind is confirmed in the
following truths: That the whole world is become guilty before God,
and is under his wrath and curse on that account. This is our state: a
miserable state it is, and as hopeless as miserable, for any thing we
can do merely of ourselves. But I read in this Bible to the full
amount of the following conclusions--that in the counsel of the
mysterious Triune Jehovah, Jesus Christ, the second person of the
incomprehensible Trinity, was sanctified, or set apart to become the
Saviour of law-condemned sinners, to take their nature upon him,
comply with the requisitions of the eternal immutable law of God, and
become their surety. Man is a rebel, it is put to his account: a
penalty is incurred--He, as their surety, is made liable. Are they
again to be made heirs of eternal life? Perfect obedience is the
condition--and of Him, as their surety, it is demanded. All this being
fulfilled, sinners are become his property: he has paid their debt,
and merited for them eternal life, all in their own nature, as their
Head and representative; so that believers are complete in him. This
is the righteousness of God, wrought out by Jesus Christ, in his own
person, God-man, as their surety. To this nothing of the believer's is
to be added--with this nothing of his mixed; it is for ever perfect;
entirely distinct from that holiness of heart and life which is
wrought in him in consequence of this. God has declared himself well
pleased with this righteousness, and that being himse