by means and instruments. "Strengthen ye," ministers, "the weak hands; say to them of a fearful heart, be strong." May you, my dear girl," be strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness." This will honour the wisdom and grace of God in your affliction, excite your own admiration and gratitude, and refresh the souls of your friends. You will see the end of the Lord, and adore. "Whose is wise, and he will observe these things, and understand the loving-kindness of the Lord," in dispensations which confound sense and reason: for, "Where reason fails, With all her powers; And love adores ?" When you weep, I weep; my heart flutters with your's. When you rejoice, I rejoice; my heart vibrates with your's. We have shared in bereavements and mercies, and I doubt not but we shall yet" obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need." Welcome "God's thoughts" in his word: they will instruct," sanctify, and console your mind; and, by "calming the surges of the soul," will prove medicinal to the body, for "a cheerful heart does good, like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones,”that is, debilitates the bodily frame. my I am afraid I write more than you can read, at least with profitable attention. The letters are "the flow of soul," the result of forty years' study, reading, prayer, observation, and experience, although to me the thoughts of the moment. If I knew your inmost mind, I could speak to it " a word in season." As it is, duty and affection are "ready to every good word and work" for you. This hath been successful to very many in the hour of affliction. Can you read my letters? Do you understand them? Are they adapted? They are not the result of present study, but of spontaneous sympathy. When you can write, or Jane for you, I shall better know. I was quite deaf this morning, with nervous anxiety, but Mr. Shepherd's letter cured it. "Heaviness in the heart of man, maketh it stoop" under its burden, "but a good word maketh it glad." Your affectionate Father, LETTER XLVIII.-TO HIS DAUGHTER SARAH, IN AFFLICTION. My dear Sarah, London, 17th July, 1816. I AM deeply concerned for your health, and more so, for a blessing to accompany your indisposition: yet I would avoid guilt, by suggesting, what appears to me the best means, and I wish you to avoid the guilt and consequences of neglecting them. So far as you are able to bear horse exercise, gentle, regular, constant, I believe you will find relief. I may be mistaken; but I think so. The mind at rest, however, is the first in importance, towards health. God's favour is our chief good:-Faith in the Mediator, is the way to enjoy it. John xiv. 6, Eph. ii. 18. God's mercy and Christ's sufferings, are unlimited in their sufficiency to pardon, and bless us. when we obtain "a good hope through grace," of pardon, acceptance, and eternal life, we can resign our earthly interests to the providence of God. At the first attempt, we may feel the painful conflict; but gradually, though slowly, the subdued mind "yields itself unto God," for health or sickness,-life or death. Wisdom, makes a right use of knowledge. And if we were. indeed, wise, we should have no choice, in temporal things; but refer them to the only wise God," who only knows what is really and eternally good for us. The majority of our family are gone to the other, and I doubt not, to the better, world. The thought of following them is affecting to nature, which is attached to present life. But when the mind is alive to its best interests, it thinks with resignation, possibly with pleasure, and sometimes with joy, on the social happiness of that world, where there is no more sickness, tears, pain, death, or even temporary separation. The interval between one separation will be a moment; and it is, in reality, of small importance which goes first; because that is regulated by one who cannot err. Heaven is our true, long, everlasting home, if our hearts are right. Phil. i. 21, 33. John xvii. 24. Heb. xii. 22, 24. The heart and nerves will often fail, as dear Mrs. Aldridge said; but looking to Jesus, whose "Grace is sufficient for us" we shall be "strengthened with might by his spirit, in the inner man." Your times and mine are in God's hands; and faith in this truth, will sweeten life, trials, and death itself. You will find Benneff's "Christian Oratory," a large octavo, near the last shelves, on the right hand in my study. Read it, digest it; and you will find it peculiarly suitable. Sibbs "On the Soul's Conflict," and Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," I think are near it. Be not discouraged by the changes in your frame. The present dispensation may prove the greatest blessing you ever possessed. God can restore you; and if he should, he may first pass the sentence of death on all means. Your happiness, however, will depend much on your reconciliation to the will of God. A frame of mind, which says "thy will be done," is faith, repentance, patience, and all the fruits of the spirit, in substance. Let your chief concern be, peace of mind. You will then pity others, more rationally than they can pity you. Read the pure word of God, look to the Saviour it reveals, and trust soul and body with him. Pray much for faith, patience, resignation, and peace of mind. Let no discouragement hinder prayer: and you will soon find answers to prayer, will produce peace, strength, and fortitude. God will be your "glory, and the lifter up of your head!" Your reading, praying, reflection, and trials, will occasion new discoveries of your heart, your sins, and your weakness. This is common to the best; and if we think it singular, it is an error in judgment. These humbling views of ourselves, make us ready to receive the Saviour; and to enter, in spirit, into Mr. Hart's delightful hymn, "Come ye Sinners,"-read it, as containing the experience of a sinner, coming to Christ, as a sinner. The more vile you see yourself, the better, if the discovery leads you to Christ, to the promises, and to the sovereign, free, infinite mercy of God, God's remedy is even then, not according to our views of ourselves, but his own. He only knows the worst of our condition, and his remedy is proportioned to his knowledge of our condition. this truth, "gives glory to God," in his promises. tions of God's word, which encourage you. And if write your feelings in a book, you will become better acquainted with yourself, and derive much advantage from it, in every review of yourself. Faith in Mark the por you Perhaps you can write your heart to me, better than speak it; and I can write more freely to you. Be assured, that my affectionate anxiety excites my constant and earnest prayers for your body and soul. For you, "I pour out my soul in me," and "travail in birth that Christ may be formed in you." You are not ignorant of the gosp; and I trust its power will relieve, console and strengthen your spirit. Mr. Romaine used to say,-"a nervous frame is Satan's seat." And I am sure from experience, it affords the ecemy much advantage. Mr. Wesley says-" a nervous frame is the band of God, impressing us with conviction of the insufficiency of all created good to make us happy." If God uses various methods to lead us into "the way," to pardon, peace, holiness, and heaver, John xiv. 6, we have reason to sing, Messrs. Wilks and Hyatt being from home, I have engaged to take Mr. Hyatt's turn on Thursday, at Tottenham. The weather has been so incessantly wet, that I have not been able to call on any one at the west-end of the town. You will give my love to the Mountaineers, and to Mr. W.'s family, to Betsy and John. Let me know how you are as to side, cough, expectoration, &c. I must conclude this for Mr. Edwards, with much affection. I am, Your's, JOHN COOLL. LETTER XLIX.-TO THE SAME. My dear Sarah, Maidenhead, March 10, 1818. YOUR letter very much surprised and grieved me. I had no conception of your illness. Mr. S. mentioned the physician; but this proved nothing, in the flattering point of view in which he place. your disorder. To say no more on this subject, at present, I az glad to learn from your own hand, so favourable an account. The air of London being more relaxing than that of the country, retarded your recovery. Our journeys and our visits are of a mixed nature, like every condition and enjoyment in this world; and experience and observation will regulate our expectations, and prevent our disappointment and mortification. At least, this will in a good degree prove the case, if our trials are not lost upon us. And if we could wit ness the trials and death of others, with self-application, it might render many personal afflictions unnecessary. But alas! relative, personal, and social sufferings, are all inefficient. "We suffer these things in vain," unless the dispensation be accompanied by a" small, still voice!" Our diseases may alarm us; and our hearts promise to take the alarm, and never to be surprised a second time by a threatening disease. The concern of the soul may subside, with the disease of the body, and the "deceitful heart" forget "the wormwood and the gall." Or we may glide through a trying dispensation without alarm and without benefit. We were ill-we recovered-we forgot both, in the common duties, amusements, or trifles of the day. But if" the Lord afflicts for our profit," we shall not only feel the stroke, but hear the voice of the Lord. That "small, still voice," will be heard-will direct us to such points of our character, such references to past life, such views of our present state and frame,—such resources in the word of Grace, and such realizing contemplation of invisible, future, and eternal beings and things, as to render it good for us to have been afflicted. We shall often recal the perceptions, the anxieties, the apprehensions of those moments, when "we had the sentence of death in ourselves." Affliction must be a great good or a great evil—there is no medium. It does not alter the nature of things; but often leads us to see them as they are. This is a great attainment. Until this be accomplished, the mind trifles with things natural, civil, and sacred. When, however, we learn what deep and interesting lessons God can impart in a short time by a moderate trial; and how many lessons are lost on us, in other seasons of affliction, it should teach us to distrust ourselves-to cherish simplicity of dependence on divine sufficiency, and to implore what we can obtain from no one, but the "God of all grace." To his mercy and gracious influence I commend you, which is all-sufficient; and without which we derive no more real benefits from our trials, than from the alarm at the unexpected firing of a gun. Mr. E. is better. Mrs. E. very well-both, with Mr. and Mrs. Searle, desire me to remember them to you. Betsy is better-not been out yet. Your visits to Mr. S.'s have been marked by one death in the former instance, and by two in the present. But it is personal suffering, and |