To Mr. and Mrs. B——­, in Britain.

“DECEMBER 7, 1801.

“I have received my dear J——­’s three letters from Dingwall:  fresh matter of praise to our covenant God.  You have had your season of affliction; and now you have a season of refreshing, a resting-time.  The cup of the Christian is always more or less mixed.  Your afflictions have ever been mixed with much mercy, and now your season of rest is also mixed.  I well know that no temporal comfort can compensate the absence of your justly beloved D——.  He, however, who is the God of both, who goes with him, and stays with you, can not only support, but comfort.  The omniscient, the omnipresent, the omnipotent God is our God, and the God of our house; all that he is is ours, to bless us.  Behold, God is become our salvation.  Every endearing name known among men he takes to himself, to inspire us with pleasing, confiding love—­every name that connects the idea of protection, to keep our minds in quiet peace, in the assurance of safety:  Father, Husband, Brother, Friend, Prophet, Priest, King, Physician, Help, Health, Light, Life, Counsellor, Guide, Sanctuary, Anchor—­but I should fill my sheet.  I said it all at first:  God is ours, and ours with the knowledge of all our backslidings, which he heals; our wanderings, from which he restores us; and our sins, which he forgives:  one of his names is the God of pardons.  He delights in mercy.  Are we not his witnesses?  What has our whole life been, but sin, backslidings, and wanderings?  What have his dealings with us been, but pardons, healings, restorations?  Therefore we remain, as at this day, with our desires towards him, and our faces Zion-wards.  What he hath begun he will perfect, and in a little while our eyes shall behold him, our hearts shall enjoy him, we shall be like him, and see him as he is.”

To the same.

“DECEMBER 26, 1801.

“I rejoice over my dear children, and bless our gracious God that he has led them a sweet and most delightful sojourning among his churches, animating their spirits by their mutual communion; blessing them, and, I hope, making them blessings.  I pray the Lord may make our dear D——­ an instrument among others of spreading his gospel, building up his church, and pulling down the strong-holds of Satan; and that you may be in your place a help-meet for him, in this as in every thing else.  May the Lord choose his path and direct his steps, and yours with him.  Women were helpers of the apostles and others in Paul’s days:  at the same time care must ever be taken not to obtrude in any respect.  I pray that you may be kept spiritual and humble:  eminence in God’s service is truly desirable, if the heart be kept humble.  If the Lord open the eyes to behold more of the extent and spirituality of his law, the holiness and purity of his nature, the evil of sin, and its contrariety to all that is in God; and if he turn the eyes inward to the hidden corruptions of the heart, when it is evident to the soul that all is of grace, then may eminent services be safe.