LETTER DCLXXXVI.
To Mr. S.
My very Dear Sir, Glasgow, Sept. 28, 1748.
I Have been in pain because your kind letter has lain by me so long unanswered.—Nothing but a variety of other necessary business has been the cause. My hands are full, and I trust the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in them. Very great multitudes have flocked to hear; and in Glasgow the prospect of doing good is rather more promising than in Edinburgh. In a fortnight I purpose, God willing, to leave Scotland, and to preach at Oundle in my way to London. Glad shall I be to see two such friends as you and Mr. H, though incog. I will endeavour to send you timely notice. I would have neither of you expose yourselves to needless contempt upon my account. I think I can say, that I am willing to be forgotten even by my friends, if Jesus Christ may thereby be exalted. But then, I would not have my friends act an inconsistent part towards that friend of all, that friend of sinners, the glorious Emmanuel. You know, my dear Sir, what an inspired apostle hath asserted: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." Whilst you are afraid of men, you will expose yourself to a thousand inconveniences. Your polite company, (unless you converse with them more as their physician, than as their companion) will prevail on you to such compliances, as will make you smart when you retire into your closet, and reflect on the part you have acted. Before I shook off the world, often have I come out of company, shorn of all my strength, like poor Sampson when he had lost his locks! But this is a tender point. Go on, dear Sir, and prove the strength of Jesus to be yours. Continue instant in prayer, and you shall see and feel infinitely greater things than you have seen or felt yet. I am of your opinion, that there is seed sown in England, which will in time grow up into a great tree. God's giving some of the mighty and noble a hearing ear, forebodes future good. I do not despair, if I live, of seeing you a proclaimer of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. God be praised, that Mr. H is so bold an advocate for his blessed Lord. I send him my most
