among all parties, and that they who love the Lord Jesus Christ, are a people scattered abroad at this time, as they were in the apostles' days, 1 Pet. i. 1. We are much as usual. Accept our cordial love. Shall I beg you to pray for me and mine? I know you will.. Believe me to be, WHAT shall I say to the intelligence which Mr. C- (judging rightly of our affection for you,) was so kind as to bring me this morning? May I not say, without sinning, that I am sorry, very sorry? If I said otherwise I should be a hypocrite. If Mrs. or I could have prevented it, you should not have fallen. Our gracious Lord, who condescended to take our nature upon him, took it with all the feelings belonging to it which are not sinful. He was truly a man, and sympathized like a man with the afflictions of his friends. Instead of sharply rebuking Mary and Martha for their tears when their brother died, he kindly wept with them, though he had determined to raise him again from the dead. I allow myself, therefore, to be sorry for your fall and hurt, and to feel a solicitude till I hear further of you. Perhaps Mrs. B may favour me with a line of information, if, as I apprehend, you may not be able to write yourself. But now, to use the apostle's expression, "I - VOL. VI. ་་ "have spoken as a man," let me look at you in another point of view. The Lord, who by his grace has enabled you to devote and intrust yourself to him, has engaged by his promise, to take care of you, and to keep you in all your ways. Under his protection you have been safe a number of years; and did he fail you at last? Far from it: his eye was as directly upon you, his arm as certainly with you when you fell, as at any other moment of your life. And you would no more have fallen, than the planets can fall from their orbits, without his permission and appointment. This event must work for your good, because he has promised that all things shall. If I could assign no other reason for those dispensations to his children, which upon the first impression are apt to startle us, this ought to be a sufficient reason, not only to silence but to satisfy us, that, It is the Lord. For can infinite wisdom mistake, or infinite goodness do any thing that is unkind? But I see other reasons why, in the present state of things, all things should appear as happening alike to all; and that his own people who are freed from guilt and condemnation, and to whom he manifests himself as he does not unto the world, should not be therefore exempted from a share in any of the outward afflictions to which sin has rendered mankind liable. I can see many inconveniences which would follow, if they who love the Lord, were distinguished from the world around them by a visible mark in their foreheads. But if his providence universally preserved them from the calamities which others feel, so that it should be notorious and generally known that their persons were always safe, and that no true believer ever suffered by falls, fires, broken bones, and the like; such an exemption, in this calamitous state, would distinguish and point them out, almost as plainly as if they were surrounded with a glory, as the apostles are sometimes represented in popish pictures. Besides, how should it be known that the Lord whom they serve can make them cheerful and comfortable, under those trials and sufferings which the flesh naturally shrinks at, unless they were now and then put into such circumstances. I trust, madam, you are of the same mind with a good woman I heard of about thirty years ago. She was very aged, and very poor. One day, in attempting to cross the way in Whitechapel, a cart threw her down, and she broke her thigh. She was taken into a house, and many people were soon about her, expressing their concern; but she said, "I thank you for your pity; but all is very well, "and I hope I have not one bone in my body but is "willing to be broken, if such be the Lord's will." What may be the issue of this fall as to yourself, I know not. It is a greater thing to heal a broken heart than a broken bone. So long as I hear that you are alive, I shall probably feel a wish that you may live a little longer. I shall therefore commend you to him to whom belong the issues from death, being assured that you are immortal till the appointed number of your sufferings and services shall be completed; but if your fall should prove a means of hastening your removal to the church triumphant, then, however I and your many friends may regret our own loss, we ought to rejoice in your gain. As this may possibly be the event, though I am willing to hope otherwise, I take a sort of leave of you, begging that while you do remain on this side Jordan, you will pray for me and mine, that we may have grace to follow you while we live, and to follow you when we die, to that heavenly home, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. Oh, madam, what a prospect awaits you! Oh what hath Jesus bought for me, Before my ravish'd eyes And trees of Paradise! I see a world of spirits bright, And conquering palms they bear. Ah, that robe, that crown, those songs! surely it is unspeakably better to depart and to be with Jesus. If he calls you, I must and will consent to let you go; but I shall miss you. If he is pleased to raise you up, I shall rejoice to see you again. Mrs. N**** joins me in best love, and in our respects to Mrs. B****. I am, dear Madam, Your very affectionate and obliged servant. LETTER III. My dear Madamı, Feb. 25, 1785. ACCORDING to strict propriety, I should address myself to Mrs. B****, having an obliging letter of hers to acknowledge. But the account Mr. C*** lately gave me of your health, determines me to beg her excuse, and to write to you, not knowing how long you may be within the reach of the post. I cannot flatter myself that you will continue a great while in this poor world, or that I can reasonably expect to see you again. The comfort is, that though Christian friendship be very pleasing, and Christian conference be very profitable when rightly managed, yet we are not necessary to each other. We are absolutely dependent upon the Lord, but not necessarily dependent upon any creatures. They smile upon us when he bids them, they do us good when he sends them, but they cannot benefit us without him; and, on the other hand, he can well supply their absence or inability, and do every thing for us without them. Though I seldom saw you when you were in London, yet it gave me pleasure to think I might expect to see you now and then. When you are gone to heaven this pleasure will fail,-I shall see you no more here; I shall miss you; but in a little while I hope we shall meet again there. But where is heaven? Is it an immense distance beyond the fixed stars? Have our ideas of space any thing to do with it? Is not heaven often upon earth in proportion as the presence of God is felt? Was not the apostle caught up thither, though he knew not whether he was in the body or not, and consequently was not sure that he had changed his place? Is there not joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth? Perhaps the redeemed of the Lord, as well as his angels, are nearer to us than we are aware. Perhaps they see us though we see not them. Perhaps nothing but this veil of flesh and blood prevents us from seeing them likewise. However, on our part the barrier is impenetrable! O the wonders that will break in upon our mind, when death shall open this barrier to us! What shall we then see? It is sufficient for us at present to know that we shall see Jesus. We shall see him as |