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Widley, Dec. 21, 1813.

My dear Madam,

I should have written to you sooner, but the slight complaint which I mentioned in my last, was just troublesome enough to make the attitude of writing rather inconve nient. It is now going, like the cold weather, which, though breaking up, still maintains a faint resistance. I have great reason to be thankful that so far as respects my old and only serious complaint, I have withstood the winter beyond all reasonable expectation. I am no longer afraid of east winds, or am sensible of the coldest days, and I continued to ride out in them, till the state of the roads made it no longer possible.

I am delightfully in arrear to you. But first let me thank Mr. for his criticism, which appears to be very just. I assure you I shall feel much indebted to him, and to you, for all criticism literary and moral, and it is my sincere intention to profit by it. But alas! I know too well, and experimentally, that of human uncertainties, my intentions are among the most uncertain. Your two letters contain a great deal more than I have room to answer-so imperfect a thing is correspondence. Indeed philosophers say, that language is very imperfect too, and I cannot deny it; but it does pretty well for such beings as Men and Women. Is not the pleasure which we find in social intercourse, a striking part of the evidence of the goodness of God? Language was necessary for the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge; but it was not necessary that the employment of it should be so agreeable in common con

versation, and so highly delightful in an intimate friendly intercourse. The more I see, and feel, and observe, the more deeply I am persuaded of the bounty and mercy of our Heavenly Benefactor. I am persuaded that the most glowing description of his goodness, is but a faint and shaded delineation of that bright Original, which through the worthiness of the Redeemer, all his sincere servants shall hereafter behold.

1814.

It is by comparing considerable intervals of time, that we feel how great are the changes which it pleases God gradually to effect in our situation and circumstances. One day is generally much like another day, or like some other days which have preceded it; and if we only attend to the present moment, such is the force of habit, which grows almost as quickly as the events which govern it, that we seem still to be moving along the same road, while every occurrence appears quite in the ordinary and natural course of things. But no person, I think, can cast his eyes backward, and consider how many unlooked-for coincidences have concurred to produce any existing state of things, without feeling astonished at the originality (if I may so speak) even if he be insensible to the wisdom and goodness which characterize the economy of God. I love to recall such images from time to time, that the details of life may not so fill and occupy the mind, as to shut out those nobler views of the government of our All-wise and Heavenly Father. I feel too a delight not unmingled with

awe, while I recollect the evidence of beneficence which they contain, and the weight of grateful obligations which they bear with them. Oh! what should we be without a Saviour! surely if that source of hope and consolation were withdrawn, it would be almost as fearful to taste the mercies of God, as to feel his chastisements: "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift."

Happiness will not rest on the wretched instability of worldly honors or possessions, which a single breath of fortune can dissipate, and which, even while they are retained, for the most part produce misery rather than peace, by presenting false colours to the mind, and teaching men to find satisfaction in things which God never intended for their proper good. Happiness depends upon character, not upon circumstances. These few words contain a truth, which if thoroughly believed, would go far to convert even this fallen and degraded world into a Paradise. "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content." "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth;" his happiness is to be found in a conformity to God, his original, and his end.

PSALM CXXI.

To Heaven I lift mine eye,

To Heaven, Jehovah's Throne;

For there my Saviour sits on high,

And thence shall strength and aid supply To all He calls His own.

He will not faint nor fail,

Nor cause thy feet to stray;

For Him no weary hours assail,

Nor evening darkness spreads her vail

O'er His eternal day.

Beneath that light divine

Securely shalt thou move;

The sun with milder beams shall shine,
And eve's still queen her lamp incline
Benignant from above.

For He, thy God and Friend,

Shall keep thy soul from harm,

In each sad scene of doubt attend,

And guide thy life, and bless thine end,

With His Almighty Arm.

THE END.

SS

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