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And I can adopt it, and so can you. I have suffered much in my own mind during the last six months. Some of the time I have felt as if passing through the valley of the shadow of death. But the Great Shepherd has not forsaken me, and though vile and unworthy, I have his promise that he will never leave nor forsake me. Can I not trust him? Is not his grace sufficient for me? Is not his character, as revealed in Christ, a rock of repose? When I look at Calvary I see my blessed Redeemer left in darkness, and I hear him cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" No answer was returned. But I understand that he hung there in anguish and spiritual gloom for my sake. He was forsaken that I might not be forsaken. Justice will not put the cup to my lips which my Lord has drained to the dregs for my benefit.

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O, my sister, do we realize what a Saviour we have? Has he not borne all for our sakes? What less can we do than trust him with all our hearts? Could I see you, how would I preach to you "Jesus and the resurrection"! There is in him a fullness that "passeth knowledge." Who can comprehend its height or depth, its breadth or length? Let us believe in him. Let our simple faith be the conduit through which his grace shall flow into our souls, thus filling us "with all the fullness of God." If I am a believer, I am "the least of all saints; but I do see a glory in the once crucified, now exalted, Jesus, and I long to love and serve him better than I do. I come short every day of my duty, and even of my purposes. Constantly I have occasion to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner; " and he is merciful. He multiplies pardons; he does what he requires of us, forgiving seventy times seven. Thus the saving process goes on by repentance and faith, repentance and faith, all the way through. Only by "looking unto Jesus" have we peace and joy.

"When I turn my thoughts within,
All is dark, and vain, and wild."

But when I look to Him who bled for me, and now intercedes for me, then I have hope. I am nothing. He is "all and in all." How glorious the assurance, "Ye are complete in him"! "His blood cleanseth us from all sin." O Christ, I cling to thee as my only hope! What shall separate me from thy love? Hast thou not said, "Because I live, ye shall live also"? Lord, help me to trust thee without wavering, to follow thee, however dark and difficult the pathway in which thou mayst lead me.

To the same.

BOSTON, February 7, 1857. A pastor called on one of his parishioners, just in the dusk of the even ing, and found a little boy sitting in the doorway, holding firmly a string, and looking up into the deepening gloom. "What are you doing here, my little friend?" said the minister. "I am flying my kite, sir," replied the boy. "Your kite?" said the minister. "I see no kite, and you can see none." "I know it," quickly answered the little fellow; "but I am sure it is there, for I feel it pull."

It is often thus with the Christian. He is interested in something above him. All is gloom; he can see nothing; but his affections are attached to heavenly things; and so long as he feels these heavenly things pulling upward, he knows that the connection is not dissolved. One of the most difficult of Christian attainments is to trust God in the dark. What though we see him not? What though he is silent? Yet, if our hand is in his, if he holds us up, and leads us, and throws around us his paternal care, why should we not be assured of his love? We must not choose in disregard of his will; we must not dictate as to the manifestations with which we will be satisfied. "Not as I will, but as thou wilt," is the example set us by Him who redeemed us.

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Our hope is said to be "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. An anchor that is seen renders no service; but when it is unseen, down many fathoms beyond the reach of vision, it has hold of the bottom of the troubled sea, and there it is useful. "Hope that is seen is not hope," &c. Rom. viii. 24, 25. We must not expect ion" in this world. "We see through a glass darkly." "We walk by faith, not by sight." "Whom, not having seen, ye love." We must learn to trust and obey, for those are the fundamental elements of all personal godliness. I remember, while our dear father was ill — I think in 1815 - he read the Life and Diary of David Brainerd. One morning very early, as Royal and I lay in the trundle-bed, I was awake, and overheard father say to mother that he thought Brainerd "made too much account of frames and feelings, for his hope rose and fell with his happiness or unhappiness." That remark I have pondered much in my heart. Hope is the effect of faith. Joys are incidental things, of very little worth as evidence of Christian character. 66 Therefore being justified by faith," &c. Rom. v. 1.

To Rev. C. W. Flanders.

BOSTON, February 11, 1857.

It has been said that "the sanctuary of private grief is sacred." Recognizing this truth, I am slow to obtrude my foot within such a sanctuary, lest, with the best intentions, I might trespass upon territory con

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secrated to heart sorrows. But I remember the inspired requirement, Weep with them that weep; " and I remember, too, the golden rule, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you," &c.

You do not, I am sure, lack for sympathizers in your repeated afflictions; but I cannot forbear to volunteer the assurance to you, as one whom I have learned to love, that my heart has been touched by the information of your double bereavement. You feel yourself stricken by the hand of God. As a brother I would fain place myself by your side, and say or do anything that might assuage your anguish, or encourage you patiently to endure. Accustomed as you are to administer consolation to others, and familiar as you are with that magazine of comforts, the Bible, I need not refresh your memory with the many 66 exceeding great and precious promises " which abound in true solace to the afflicted. Your mind has reverted to them all; you have applied them all; you have found them equal to all the purposes for which you have commended them. You know the way to the mercy-seat. You have gone thither for light and peace, and there God, your own God, has met and blessed you.

Ministers, like other Christians, are often afflicted for their own good, but perhaps quite as frequently for the benefit of their people - 2 Cor. i. 4-6. Henceforth, my dear brother, you will be able more tenderly and deeply to sympathize with the sufferings of your flock. You will better understand the Scriptures, and therefore you will be a better preacher. After all, there is no theology for either the pulpit or for pastoral visitation like the experimental. The Saviour, whom we commend, was 66 made perfect through sufferings." His most useful servants are perfected in the same way. There are souls like the alabaster vase of ointment, very precious, which shed no perfume of holiness, Lecause a great sorrow has never broken them. Great good may yet accrue to your flock from this discipline, and consequently great glory to your Lord.

To Rev. N. M. Williams.

BOSTON, April 20, 1857.

Your allusion to your dear father touched me tenderly. I loved him; I respected him; and, during the long period of our acquaintance, I always felt that I should like to pass my eternity with " a great multitude" of just such as N. W. Williams the more the better. It gratifies me to know that his children do not forget their father's friend. Your note, now before me, is indicative of a feeling which he, in numerous instances, manifested towards me in seasons of trial, and which often cheered me to endure patiently the burdens of life. In the departure of such men as your father, Dr. Sharp, Dr. Bolles, Professor

Knowles, Mr. Jacobs, &c., I have looked around for the ministers in whom I could equally confide, and from whom, in my afflictions, I could hope for words and acts assuring me that their vacancies were likely to be supplied. In you I have not been disappointed, and I cannot give you a better testimony than by saying that you do not dishonor the name of Nathaniel. May the richest blessing of Him who saw one of that name "under the fig tree" rest ever upon you and all yours.

To all the Saints in Christ Jesus which are at Rowe Street, Boston.

"Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judg ment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

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Beloved in Christ Jesus: Though I am one of the unworthiest of pastors, yet from my heart I can adopt these apostolic sentences; and they express my feelings more accurately than any language that I can frame. My interest you is not abated by absence, or by any measure of personal suffering. For your peace, your purity, your growth in grace, your love one to another, your zeal and usefulness in the cause of our common Master, I daily, hourly pray. In all your gatherings for public or social worship, I am with you in spirit. How gladly I would be with you in person, God is my record. No one of you, I fondly presume, im

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agines that I am away seeking my own gratification. I love my home and its endearments too well; and I love my work, with all its cares and responsibilities, too well to be unneces sarily absent, an idle exile, rendering to no one any service, and cut off from almost every social enjoyment. Were I able to do for you more than I can do here, forty-eight hours would show me among you, doing it to the extent of my ability. I am here the prisoner of Providence, and, though not, I hope, sinfully impatient, yet I long to be loosed from these bonds, that I may go to my own company. The word of the Lord is as a fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of forbearing, and I would fain be preaching to you the unsearchable riches of Christ. This, I trust, will yet be my privilege; for, though I have not thus far derived much benefit from my experiment, I am still hopeful as to the ultimate result. When I left home, I thought it probable that I might return in four weeks, and so be with you at our next church meeting. Of that privilege I am likely to be denied. When I shall be able to resume labor is quite uncertain. I am in the hands of Him whose I am and whom I serve. I desire to be submissive to his will. Let us lay the whole case before his throne, and say, in the spirit of the resigned Sufferer who bore for us the cross, 66 Father, glorify thy name." The delay, I trust, will not be long. Pray for me, that I may be wisely directed, and humbly patient.

For some days you have been occupied with the anniversaries. Would that I could hope to find you benefited by their influence! My own experience has taught me that, apart from special watchfulness, the effect of such meetings is to dissipate the minds of Christians, and thus be unfavorable to their spirituality. God grant that the meetings in Boston may leave behind them a savor wholly good, contributing to your individual holiness. In my seclusion, I know very little of what has been said or done. My prayer throughout has been that God would direct his servants in all things, and give them largely of the spirit of their un selfish Master.