u utter, my friend, too much elaborated by the
intellect, and polished by the imagination? Their effect seems to be
lost, for want of simplicity and directness. They fall pleasantly on
the ear, as a lovely song, but do not reach and move the heart. There
is a lack of unction. Are you not always laboring for something new
and original, thus exhibiting your own powers of mind, rather than the
simple truth?

Receive this suggestion, and light will be given you upon it. Do I
speak too plainly? To speak the truth, and the truth only, is all I
desire. I have this morning prayed, rather to be taken out of the
world, than to disguise the truth. I have proclaimed it, in its
purity, in the great Congregation, and it will be seen that Thou, O
Lord, hast distilled it in my heart; or rather, O Sovereign Truth, that
Thou art there thyself, to manifest thyself plainly, and that Thou dost
make use of weak things to confound the strong. God is truth and love.
In Him yours.

SPIRITUAL ONENESS.

My union with you, my dear child, is steadily increasing. I bear you
in my heart with a deep and absorbing interest, and seem anxious to
communicate to you the abundant grace poured into my own soul. How
close, how dear is the union of souls, made one in Christ! Our Savior
beautifully expressed it, when he said, "Whosoever shall do the will of
my Father, the same is my mother, sister and brother." There is no
union more pure, more strong, than the union of souls in Christ! In
this manner, pure as delightful, the saints in Heaven possess each
other in God;--a union which does not interrupt the possession of God,
although it is distinct from God.

Let your soul have within it, a continual _Yes_. When the heart is in
union with God, there is no _Nay_,--it is _Yes, be it so_, which
reverberates through the soul. This _Yes_, this suppleness, renders
the heart agreeable to the heart of the Spouse. It was thus with Mary,
the mother of our Lord, when the angel messenger came to her, she
replied, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to
thy word." It was thus with the child-like soul of Samuel, when he
said, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." It was thus with our
divine Lord, "Lo, I come to do thy will."

Yours in the fellowship of the Saints.

VICISSITUDES IN EXPERIENCE.

As the outgoings of life proceed from the living man, while we live in
ourselves, we have a strong will and eager desire