"MY DEAR MRS.----,--Should you sail to-morrow it will not be in my power to see you again. I feel much for your very trying situation; why and wherefore you are so severely exercised remains at present known to the only wise God. If time does not reveal the mystery, eternity will. Clouds and darkness are round about the paths of the Almighty, and his footsteps are not known. You must now cast yourself and your little ones upon the bosom of the great deep. Remember always that he who holdeth the waters in the hollow of his hand, will continually watch over you and yours; winds and seas are under his sovereign control. We are prone to imagine that we are in much more danger on the seas than on dry land, but this is not really the case; our times are all in his hands, and if we only reflected that the hairs of our heads are all numbered, we should often be relieved from unnecessary and anxious fears. As for myself, I am constrained to believe that I am as safe in a storm as in a calm from what I have seen and known. Should you meet with raging seas and stormy winds, let not these distress you; they can do no more to injure you than the breath of a fly, or the drop of a bucket, without Divine permission. The promise is, 'When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee.' This is sufficient for the Christian to rest upon. You must live near to God in prayer. Labour to get right views of the Redeemer, who gave his life as a ransom for you. Humble faith in the Saviour will enable you to overcome every trial and bear every burden. No doubt but that you will have many painful exercises before you see the shores of old England. Tribulations will meet us, and follow us, and attend us all our journey through, and it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. Could you and I meet on your arrival in London, and could we put our trials in opposite sides, it is very probable that mine would overbalance yours during the period you were at sea. You are not to conclude when the storm blows hard, the waves roar, and seas run mountain high, that you are more tried and distressed than others.