I apprehend that the Earl of Stair's regiment, to the majority of
which he was promoted on the 20th of July, 1724, was then quartered in
Scotland; for all the letters in my hand, from that time to the 6th of
February, 1726, are dated from thence, and particularly from Douglas,
Stranraer, Hamilton, and Ayr. But I have the pleasure to find, from
comparing these with others of an earlier date from London and the
neighbouring parts, that neither the detriment which he must suffer by
being so long out of commission, nor the hurry of affairs while charged
with it, could prevent or interrupt that intercourse with Heaven, which
was his daily feast, and his daily strength.

These were most eminently the happy years of his life; for he had
learned to estimate his happiness, not by the increase of honour, or the
possession of wealth, or by what was much dearer to his generous heart
than either, the converse of the dearest and worthiest human friends; but
by nearness to God, and by opportunities of humble converse with him, in
the lively exercise of contemplation, praise, and prayer. Now there was
no period of his life in which he was more eminently favoured with these,
nor do I find any of his letters so overflowing with transports of holy
joy, as those which were dated during this time. There are indeed in some
of them such very sublime passages, that I have been dubious whether I
should communicate them to the public or not, lest I should administer
matter of profane ridicule to some, who look upon all the elevations
of devotion as contemptible enthusiasm. And it has also given me some
apprehensions lest it should discourage some pious Christians, who, after
having spent several years in the service of God, and in humble obedience
to the precepts of his gospel, may not have attained to any such heights
as these. But, on the whole, I cannot satisfy myself to suppress them;
not only as I number some of them, considered in a devotional view, among
the most extraordinary pieces of the kind I have ever met with; but as