His father was £350 in debt; but was now resolved to do his utmost to obtain ordination for his son. He urged him to master St. Chrysostom and the articles; and sent his “Letter to a Curate,” in manuscript, to assist him in his preparations; and also wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln in his favour.[35] Meanwhile his mother tried to solve some of his scruples respecting the article on predestination;[36] and wrote him a long letter, not hitherto published, from which we give the following extracts:— “Wroote, _July 21, 1725_. “DEAR JACKEY,—Though I have a great deal of unpleasant business, am infirm, and but slow of understanding, yet it is a pleasure to me to correspond with you on religious subjects; and, if it be of the least advantage to you, I shall greatly rejoice. I know little or nothing of Dr. Taylor’s ‘Holy Living and Dying,’ having not seen it for above twenty years; but I think it is generally well esteemed. I cannot judge of the rules you suppose impracticable; but I will tell you my thoughts of humility as briefly as I can.” Here follow her remarks on humility. She continues:— “He is certainly right, that there is but one true repentance, for repentance is a state not a transient act; and this state begins in a change of the whole mind from evil to good, and contains, in some sense, all the parts of a holy life.[37] Repentance, in Scripture, is said to signify the whole of obedience, as faith often includes repentance, and all the subsequent acts of religion: ‘Repent, and thy sins shall be forgiven thee;’ ‘Believe, and thou shalt be saved.’ If, after this change, we fall into the contrary state—a state of wilful impenitence—which is nothing less than a total apostasy—the Scripture is plain; ‘There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin;’ no place is left for repentance; for, by this formal renunciation of our most holy faith, we ‘crucify afresh the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.’ But this is not the case of those who never were converted; or of such who, having been converted, fall nevertheless sometimes into their old sins, through the fault of their nature, or the stress of temptation. “I don’t well understand what he means by saying, ‘Whether God has forgiven us or no, we know not.’ If he intends such a certainty of pardon as cannot possibly admit of the least doubt or scruple, he is infallibly in the right; for such an absolute certainty we can never have till we come to heaven. But if he means no more than that reasonable persuasion of the forgiveness of sins, which a true penitent feels when he reflects on the evidences of his own sincerity, he is certainly in the wrong, for such a firm persuasion is actually enjoyed by man in this life.