Figure to yourself the dear departed saint, looking down from the mansions of bliss, and beholding those he hath left behind, once so near and dear to him, now bathed in tears, while his happy spirit is in the fulness of joy, would he not say to you, as Jesus his Lord once said to his disciples, "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I go to my Father."

What could we propose for him of happiness here below, whose poor diseased and dying frame you so lately saw oppressed with all that burden of sleepless nights, and sickly, sorrowful days, which he then waded through, and is now happily relieved from.

On his account, surely, not a single tear can fall. And why should selfishness induce sorrow for our own? The church hath sustained a loss, it might be said. No, not so; for the church above, and the church below, is but one; and what hath the Lord done in removing our dear departed friend, but only taken him from the outer court, to bring him into his inner temple? He hath housed his precious soul safely in the paradise of God. Now, no hissing serpent shall any more destroy his comfort; Jesus called him to himself in words like those of his to his spouse, so that he is gone "beyond the lions' den, and the mountains of the leopards," he is gone to be for ever with the Lord. Hail! blessed Spirit, would I say (would it be permitted, or were it suitable and proper to congratulate him.) It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

For ourselves, for you more especially, to whom this bereavement of the Lord's is particularly di

rected, I will not say that you have one attraction more to draw you heavenward; for none but Jesus can be the proper object of desire there; but I will say you have one less to make the world desirable, than you had before. May a gracious God, in Christ, who hath loosened this cord below, raise your affections to the Lord Jesus above," "that when Christ your life shall appear, you also, my dear friend, with your departed husband, just gone, may appear with him in glory."

Farewell, my dear Mrs. M. let this afflicting dispensation call our spirits more frequently to the throne of grace. I have been with the king, as well on your account as on my own, since I heard of the event. Jesus is a prayer hearing God, and he is looking on. It was a sweet prayer of poor Hagar, in her distress, "Thou, God, seest me, (for she said) have I also here looked after him that seeth and is looking after me." I cannot ask a greater blessing for you and yours and myself also, than, that leaving all creature comforts, we may be resting wholly upon Creator-fulness, and centre every hope, and every joy where Jehovah centres all his glory, and that is,, in the Lord Jesus Christ. To him I commit you. With him I leave you, and

remain your's in him,

R. H

LETTER III.

The Rev. Thos. T. Biddulph, to the same.

My dear madam,

Bristol, Nov. 8, 1811.

Though I am not conscious of having any thing to offer for the consolation of your deeply wounded mind, with which you are not already acquainted; yet I cannot refrain from embracing the opportunity which presents itself of sending you a line.

If it serve only to assure you how much Mrs. Biddulph and myself sympathise with you, even the sympathy of friends, though it can afford no effectual relief, is soothing to the soul: and while we recollect that our adorable Lord, in his agony, condescended to accept of creature comfort; even this is not to be despised. On Saturday, the painful intelligence from Pendennis, reached me in a note from Mr. L. and as the dear governor was partially known and loved in my parish, I indeavoured to improve the afflictive information on Sunday evening, from the pulpit. Yesterday I received some further information from our friends at Clifton. My dear friend, what shall I say to you? I have never sustained such a loss as yours, and therefore am disqualified to write about it. Í have known affliction, it is true; but it has not been like yours. I have lost children, and so have you; but you have lost a husband also, and that husband a phoenix, endeared to you by twenty five years spent in the tenderest intercourse.

Shall I, then, endeavour to depreciate your loss? I cannot. There is but one topic I can suggest for consolation: God! God all sufficient! Cast thy burden on Jehovah, and he shall sustain thee. He himself, omnipotence, omniscience, infinite love, are all to be considered as connected with the painful dispensation into which you are brought. It has proceeded from the same motive which induced the Saviour to come into the world, and to offer himself up a sacrifice on the cross. It is a necessary link in the chain, the last link of which is to procure glory to God in the highest. Should you be ready to say, "My burden is heavy, too heavy for me to bear." Remember, my dear madam, that if Omnipotence be pledged to support you and your burden, it matters not how heavy your burden be. The weight of a feather, without his aid, may be too much for a naturally gigantic mind. With his aid, the feeblest saint, the merest child, may bear up under a mill stone. "Without me ye can do nothing: I can do all things, (and it may be added, suffer all things) through Christ, who strengtheneth me." Should you say, "I am unfit for the cares which are now necessarily devolved upon me. I want wisdom and strength for such and such duties. I have been so long accustomed to lean, that I am disqualified to walk alone." Let the declaration made to Abraham, recur to your mind. I am God Almighty,' or rather, "God All Sufficient." The broken reed has failed, but the rock of true support remains, and his strength is made perfect in weakness. The weakness of the creature affords

the opportunity for displaying the power and grace of the All-Sufficient.

But, the separation is most agonizing." It is. But in God you may still meet and enjoy communion. Still one in him. Your beloved husband is in the upper part of the presence chamber. You are for a while in the lower. But the distance is imaginary. You are both still looking at one and the same object; you by faith, he in open vision. Christ is the uniting point. And even the difference in the manner of deriving happiness from the well-spring of life, will be of short duration. You are on the threshold of glory, as a believer in Jesus; whereas your beloved has stepped over it. All that is between you is the narrow trheshold of a few years or days. The partition is thin, so thin, that the sound of your beloved's voice may, by faith, be heard, and you join in his notes of praise. His notes and yours harmonize, and Jesus is the object of celebration of both.

Pardon, my dear madam, this hasty scrawl. May he who is "the friend born for adversity," be near and comfort you! May his presence be your stay.

Believe me, with most affectionate sympathy, in which Mrs. Biddulph unites.

Your faithful friend and servant,

THOMAS T. Bidulph.