fected to despise me as an enthusiast. They seemed to think, many of them to allow, that my religion was better than theirs, because it had enabled me to part with that which they felt they could not have parted with in similar circumstances. If you should be tried something in the like way, tarry the Lord's leisure, wait patiently upon and for him, and you shall one day see he has not forgotten you, though he should permit you a while to be tried whether you will hold fast your integrity. Perhaps, when the Lord has enabled us to act honourably in very difficult, ensnaring circumstances, the greatest danger we are liable to, is lest we should be insensibly drawn into a too good opinion of our own resolution and constancy, and indulge a secret self-complacence, instead of giving the whole praise to the Lord. I cannot forget that I felt this evil, nor how much I suffered by it; for the Lord, who mercifully watched over me for good, to prevent my being exalted above measure, was pleased, at the same time that he enabled me to conquer in a greater trial, to leave me to my own weakness in much smaller; so that I was left to hesitate, stumble, and fall, in some things so seemingly trivial, that I should have been ashamed of mentioning them to my most intimate friend. Excuse my mentioning this. I trust the caution will to you be unnecessary, after the noble stand the Lord has enabled you to make. I have nothing to wish or pray for you, but that he may preserve you humble and thankful. Mrs. unites with me in love to you. Need I say, that we shall be very glad to see you whenever it suits you to call upon us? Believe me to be, Very affectionately and sincerely, yours. DEAR MADAM, LETTER III. August 19, 1783. : METHINKS I well understand the apostle, when he speaks of being present with his friends in spirit, while absent from them in the body. How often have I been at London, and at N, since I came here? Besides this, I usually convey myself once a day in the shape of a letter; and this morning I mean to make you a visit. May I arrive in a good hour; and may the Lord put some good and seasonable word in my way, that your heart may be comforted. The good hand of the Lord brought us hither in peace and safety; and we are hitherto favoured with a preservation from illness, though many are ill around us, and many are falling every day. I do not remember so many people being ill with fevers at one time, during the eighteen years I lived here. I am now very busy amongst a people whom I have long loved, and who are glad to see me, and though I am going from house to house almost all day, and every day, I shall hardly be able to see them all while I stay. Health, when rightly valued, and duly improved, is a great mercy. I hope you have it, and find it so. The mind not only suffers by what the body feels when ill, but is for the most part indisposed by it for the enjoyments of its best privileges. An aching head, or a sick stomack, take off our chariot wheels, engage our attention to our infirmities, preclude us from public ordinances, or unfit us for hearing if abroad, and for any spiritual exercises when at home. At such a time we can do little more than simply cast ourselves upon the Lord's care, and wait his will. Indeed it is well if we can do so much; for to exercise faith and patience at such a time is a great thing. If health and spirits are good, we are so far prepared to meet and support the daily trials of life. I hope you are thus armed, yea, much better; that you are favoured with a peaceful frame of mind, a sense of the Lord's presence, and a persuasion that his arm will support you and surely do you good. Be of good courage; trust in the Lord with all your heart; take up your daily cross, whatever it may be ; he is your shepherd and guide, to whom you have committed yourself, and you may be assured that he will lead you the right way. I can easily conceive that many things in your present situation must be unpleasant to you, but while they are so, they will not be hurtful; and the Lord, who has assigned you your present post, is at hand to support you in it, and I trust will honour you with some usefulness while he continues you. Live with him to-day, and leave to-morrow in his hands. Do not let your spirits be burdened as though you were bound to perform impossibilities; but make the best you can of things as they lie before you. You are placed where you are to be a witness for him; perhaps he designs to make you an instrument of good to some who are around you; your example and conduct may have an influence in this way far beyond what you expect, even when you do not see it proper to speak a word; but sometimes probably a word will be put into your mouth, and you will not speak in vain. If he had not enabled you to make the choice of Moses, you would have avoided the trials you find at ; you would probably be. fore this time have entered a very different path of life. The world would have either congratulated or envied you ; but 1 should have pitied you. You would soon have felt (what the Lord enabled you to consider without making the experiment) how little the fine things of this world can contribute to happiness. Every day would have shown you more of their vanity, and every day would have discovered to you new instances of the solid and real evils and troubles which are connected with them. You would either have been carried away with the stream, to the wounding of your conscience and the loss of your spiritual discernment; or, if enabled to stand your ground, you would have found a thorn in every step you took. Blessed be the Lord who inspired you with wisdom and strength to resist the golden temptation! I said then, and I say still, you will never have just cause to repent it. Continue humbly to commit your way to him; he will take care of you, and he can give you, even in temporals, what, upon the whole, shall be much more valuable and comfortable than all that you give up. However that may be, his loving kindness, and the light of his countenance, are better than life itself. I warned you, though you knew it before, that the enemy would try, as far as permitted, to distress and worry you, but regard him not. Resist him, and he will flee from you. You are in the path of duty; what you cannot alter, bear patiently, and the Lord, in his own time, will make the crooked straight. You are in a peculiar sense the charge of his providence, and he will not leave you nor forsake you. We hope to be at home on the evening of the 5th. I have great reason to be pleased with my excursion; and, blessed be the Lord, the thought of returning to London is very pleasant to me likewise. There (with respect to this world) my treasure is, and there is my heart also. The opportunities of preaching his word, and of intercourse with his dear people, the many kind and G2 valuable friends he has given me, are more to me than all the mines of Peru. Let us love and sing and wonder, Let the world take the world; for you and for me the Lord has provided better things.-Oh for grace to be humble, thankful, circumspect, and exemplary, that our light may shine to his praise ! I commend you to his gracious protection, and am, Dear Madam, Yours most sincerely. |