It is his absolute promise, _From all your idols will I cleanse you_; and your heart hath said, Amen! Do you now retract your petition? Do you not rather say still, in spite of nature’s struggle, “Let all my heart be thine?” Is your _Isaac_ called for? Ascend the mount, bid all things contrary to resignation stay behind. Have you endeavoured to do this, and are you still interrupted by the birds of prey? Are you still molested, when you would offer the sacrifice which God requires? O watch and keep off those enemies to your peace! And he that is your peace shall give you power. Yes, “when your all of strength doth fail, You shall with the God-man prevail.” He loves, he pities you, he requires your heart. And he is worthy to have it. O may he now reign therein, the Lord of every motion there! Jesus has not left me comfortless. He still sustains me with his grace. May he bring us through this wilderness, to meet and part no more! * * * * * _December 4._ I KNOW not whether the providence of God will ever permit me to see you again. But I can leave it to him, in sure hopes that I shall meet your happy spirit, in the realms of endless day. There we shall surely exult in a Redeemer’s presence. We shall see him as he is. And indeed when I have a view, though a transient one, of the glory which shall be revealed, I am almost impatient of delay. I am ready to cry out, Why are thy chariot wheels so long in coming? I want leave to go hence, and be no more seen as an inhabitant of the earth. This has been for some time past my habitual desire. I cannot help being glad at night, that one day more of my allotted portion is past, and eternity is nearer to me than when I first believed. Yet at the same time, I have reason to be ashamed before the Lord, that I do not live to his glory. I do not love him with all my heart and strength; so far from it, that I sometimes feel I never did one action with a single eye to his glory. My own will has mixed, And “Pride, that busy sin, Spoil’d all that I perform’d.” ’Tis well for _me_, that our high-priest bears the iniquity of my holy things. Indeed, if the altar did not sanctify the gift, I could not approach with one offering. O may he purify the sacrifice which I have often made, of all I have, or can, or am! Watch! Stand stedfast, my dear friend, and be strong in the Lord! Remember, the God of peace shall shortly bruise Satan under your feet. May he give you every thing that will forward your growth in grace! * * * * * _Norwich, May 11, 1762._