“Such is the language of the dear Redeemer to sinners every day, in his written word, from the pulpit, and in the dispensations of his providence; but O, the madness of sinners, who will not think, who will not attend, will not apply to this Saviour, whose sole errand into this world was to seek and to save sinners, yea, the very chief; but they will not put their souls into his hands, nor give him any service.  A time will come, and we are forewarned of it, when this same inviting Saviour will say, ’Because I have called and ye refused, stretched out my hand and no man regarded, I also will laugh at your calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh.’

“Improve this dispensation, my dear child; beg of the Lord to search you and try you, and see that your hopes be well grounded.

“Your affectionate mother,

“I.  GRAHAM.”

The following to her beloved friend Mrs. Walker, shows the impressions made on the mind of Mrs. Graham by visiting the place of her nativity and the scene of her struggles with this world’s adversity, when the hand of God was heavy upon her.

“EDINBURGH, September, 1787.

“MY DEAR MADAM—­I have been on a jaunt for nearly three weeks; my school mostly dismissed, the remainder I left with Miss S——.  Goodness and mercy have followed me, and the Lord has taken care of my house also in my absence.  Yours was put into my hand on my return, and brought fresh cause of thankfulness; your observation, that we were mutually feeding on the same allowance, continues to hold.  I too have been considering the works and doings of the Lord, and many of them have been renewed in my memory by the scenes I have passed through.

“I visited the seat of my juvenile years with my dear and only brother.  There I recollected the days of my vanity, and the Lord’s patience and long-suffering; my repenting, my returning, his pardoning, his blessing; my backslidings, his stripes and chastisements, his restoring and recovering, yea, many and many times.  There, too, I found my old acquaintances no more; most of them had finished their course under the sun; some I could still clasp in the arms of faith, as united to the glorious Head, and now singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.  From the idea of others, I was obliged to turn away and say, ‘The Judge of all the earth shall do right.’

“I recollected a lowly cottage, where lived a pious father, mother, two daughters, and a son; where the voice of prayer seldom ceased, the voice of complaint was seldom heard:  not one stone remained upon another; only the bushes which surrounded it, and the ruins of a little garden, the seat of secret communion of each with their God in turn; for one little earth-floored place was all their house-convenience, and in the winter’s storm their little cow-house, built under the same humble roof, was their secret temple.  I found three had gone to glory:  of the other two I could learn no tidings; but I shall see them one day in very different mansions.  I saw others spreading like a green bay-tree, adding field to field, and dwelling alone, servants and dependents excepted.