Page images
PDF
EPUB

LETTER XL.

TO MRS. S

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I HAVE rejoiced, and I do rejoice, in your experience of the tender mercy of a covenant God. You have had your griefs, but you have found consolations too. Your burden has been heavy, but God has put strength in you. You have been in the field of conflict, but you have not been overcome. You have been tried, but not rejected, and I trust you can say, that the Spirit of God, in the prevalence of light, life, and love in your soul, beareth witness with your Spirit, when you say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted." It is, indeed, good, even to be separated from the most lovely and endeared earthly friends, if that loss be repaired by an increased knowledge of the love of Christ. It is good to be emptied of all that is excellent in the creature, if, as the blessed effect, we are filled with all the fulness of God. Who would not bless the hand of a Saviour, that should put clay on his eyes, and seal them up from the view of the dearest creature-delights, nay though he should seal them up in death, if it were to open them in the vision of the glory of God? Our improved acquaintance and fellowship with God, and conformity to him, is his gra

He has been

cious design in all his dispensations. passing by you, in dispensations peculiarly instructive and quickening. He has been calling unto you to come near, to come much nearer, to hear his voice, to feel his power, to taste his love, to see more of his purpose and of his heart, and to enjoy more intimate and endeared fellowship with him. You can now, I trust, stand still, and see, in thankful review, the salvation of God. You had never known so much of God: you had never found such sweetness. in his word you had never poured out your soul before him with such humility, with such wrestling importunity, had never cleaved to him with such longing desire, nor received such condescending visits from him, had he not brought you into the wilderness, and placed you in mournful solitude. While I condole, then, your loss as now left alone, it must be your joy and my joy that the Father is with you. "Thy Maker is thy Husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name:" his grace, his condescension, his love, his wisdom, his power, his truth, are all unchangeable and infinite. Resign yourself, then, to his conduct, give him your confidence, and give him your heart. Practically yield yourself to him, and seek your all in him. Estimate your advantage or your loss, not by what of the creature, but by what of God you possess and enjoy. Delight thyself

in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desire of thine heart. Commit thy way also unto the Lord: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass." O! it is a

mercy to have a mind made willing to choose so good a part, to walk in such company, to drink at such a fountain, to rejoice in hope of the glory of God! What a mercy to be drawn by endearing smiles, and exceeding great and precious promises, to intimate fellowship with such a God. Nay, what a mercy to be driven by frowns, and distressful storms, into such a hiding place! Indeed, this best of friends is best known in adversity. His kindest visits, his most gracious smiles, and his largest bestowments, are granted to his people, when destitute and afflicted. With him "the fatherless findeth mercy." Times of severe trial seem, to be coming on the Church of Christ in this country. The storm is gathering. Nothing but the power of God can prevent the bursting of the cloud; but his arm is not shortened, nor his ear heavy. O! for the spirit of prayer; for interceding Abrahams and wrestling Jacobs! I trust, we have yet many of them. I hope, if a sifting time should come, there will be much corn found among the chaff. However severe the conflict, there shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. A little time will reveal with more certainty the will of God respecting these things. Let us sing "Jehovah Jireh: in the mount it shall be seen."

I am, &c.

J. BOWDEN.

LETTER XLI.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

TO MRS. S

It is, indeed, my delight to hold communion with the people of God, and especially to lead mourners in Zion to those wells of salvation whence the Spirit of Grace has enabled me to derive seasonable comfort and relief. When I review the circumstances of your trial, I see enough to awaken every tender sentiment; yet assuredly there is such a discovery of the fatherly kindness and mercy of God to you, as calls for heartfelt gratitude, and encourages very lively and enlarged expectation. From the sanctified loss of one endeared earthly comfort, you first found a place among God's dear children. O! blessed necessity which makes us let earth go, that we may lay hold of heaven! It is great mercy to wound the heart, in order that it may be healed with consolations so divine. Perhaps you might have regarded this as a signal, that the richest blessings of your future life, the richest manifestations of the love of God, were to be conveyed to you through the medium of affliction. However, you have hitherto found it so you have now been called to resign your most endeared earthly comfort. Nature started back, struggled, and would have declined

the surrender. But faith reminded you that He called for it who gave it, who gave himself for you, and has given himself unto you; that He called for it, unto whom you had vowed the surrender of all you are, and of all you have; and who knew, infinitely better than yourself, how to perform all things, so as to secure the best interest of your soul. Faith reminded you, that he would make all grace abound towards you, and do for you exceeding abundantly beyond all you can ask or think. Faith prevailed: you laid your Isaac on the altar, though with a trembling heart, crying, "Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt!" And now, what says your judgment? Great as the sacrifice is, is it too great for God, your Redeemer, to expect? What says your experience? Solitary and gloomy, in outward respects, as the vale of conflict has been, has God, indeed, forgotten to be gracious? Rather, have you not reason to record the condescension and tender mercy, with which he has relieved your cares, and sustained and cheered your burthened spirit? Your strongest tie to earth is dissolved, but you have more intimate communion with Heaven. You come to God with more of a praying heart: your soul waiteth upon God with more earnest expectation, and you lean upon him with more child-like dependence. You go to God with a heart more emptied of earth; and you cry, with increased fervour, "O God, thou You more sensibly feel your need of him: your soul followeth hard after him; and

art my God!"

« EelmineJätka »