But, as interested in the love of God, pardoned by the great atonement, and justified by the meritorious obedience of the adorable God-man Mediator; called out of darkness, and divinely influenced and kept by the power of God, the holy making Spirit, we shall enjoy a long, a blest eternity of joy, at the right hand of God. The thought is delightful. What will the joy be?—_Hold out faith and patience_. Yours, truly, J. C. LETTER XXVII. “Like these good figs, will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.” To — The eventful history of the church of Israel is very striking and important. _Loved_, _chosen in Egypt_, _delivered_, brought into a desert wilderness; yet maintained miraculously, screened, preserved, brought through the Jordan of trouble into the promised land; enemies falling before them; privileged with the symbols of the Divine presence, and kept by Divine power. How very important is the language of Moses on this subject. He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness; he led him about; he instructed him; he kept him as the apple of his eye; but, alas! what a rebellious, unbelieving, perverse, fretful, and ungrateful people, prone to idolatry, negligent, and disobedient: such, alas! am I. Reader, what say you of your own heart? Is it not too much your case? After all that God hath done for you, have you not cause, as well as me, to take shame and confusion of face to yourself? On this account God resented the idolatry of that people. Invaded by the Assyrians, and at last led away captive to Babylon. This last was an awful blow to them: yet they were commanded to submit to the stroke; and those who did not, were to perish in some awful way, which they did, as related in the prophecy of _Jeremiah_. But those that escaped the sword were ordered to go and submit to God’s sentence, by bowing to the king of Babylon’s yoke. The Lord promised to be a little sanctuary to them, even in their captivity; and hence, although they suffered such privations, the Lord was with them; supported, kept, preserved, and blest them _there_. Surely I discover the analogy; I have been dealt with in a similar way. I mention it to my own shame and the glory of Divine goodness, which I have experienced all my days; and especially in my captivity. Although my troubles were small, considering my situation, yet my mind was very frequently racked with my affairs without. Some only came to visit me out of mere curiosity; others to mortify my feelings; quite forgetting the Divine prohibition—“Oppress not the poor, nor the afflicted in the gate.”