him. It was recollected
that, among other passages, he had lately spoken of the following as
having made a deep impression on his mind: "My soul, wait thou only upon
God." He would repeat it again and again, _only, only, only_! So plainly
did he see, and so deeply did he feel, the vanity of creature confidence
and expectations. With the strongest attestation would he often mention
those words in Isaiah, as verified by long experience: "Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth
in thee." And with peculiar satisfaction would he utter those heroic
words in Habakkuk, which he found armour of proof against every fear and
every contingency: "Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields
shall yield no meal; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will
joy in the God of my salvation." The 145th Psalm was also spoken of by
him with great delight, and Dr. Watts's version of it, as well as several
others of that excellent person's poetical compositions. My friend who
transmits to me this account, adds the following words, which I desire
to insert with the deepest sentiments of unfeigned humility and
self-abasement before God, as most unworthy the honour of contributing
in the least degree to the joys and graces of one so much my superior in
every part of the Christian character. "As the joy with which good men
see the happy fruits of their labours, makes a part of the present reward
of the servants of God and the friends of Jesus, it must not be omitted,
even in a letter to you, that your spiritual hymns were among his most
delightful and soul-improving repasts; particularly those on beholding
transgressors with grief, and Christ's Message." What is added concerning
my book of the Rise and Progress of Religion, and the terms in which he
expressed his esteem of it, I cannot suffer to pass my pen; only I desire
most sincerely to bless God, that, especially by the last chapters
of that treatise, I had an opportunity, at so great a distance, of
exhibiting some offices of Christian friendship to this excellent person
in the closing scenes of life, which it would have been my greatest joy
to have performed in person, had Providence permitted me then to have
been near him.

The former of these hymns, which my correspondent mentions as h