"I have no doubt but you shall yet sing with the royal Psalmist, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Blessed is the man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' Many are the texts to the same purport; take them for your consolation as a part of God's well-ordered covenant. "You have met with a late bereavement, which has entered deep into your soul. We are not called to stoicism, but to tenderness of heart and spirit. Jesus wept with the two sisters over a brother's grave. But still, the Christian's spirit must be resigned, and say, and try to say with cheerfulness, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' And Oh, my friend, great will be the wisdom and happy the acquisition, if every new bereavement enlarge the room for divine love in the heart, and be filled up with that most noble, most blessed of principles. Seek not, my friend, to replace friendship with any mere worldling; beg of God to fill up the vacuum, then will you be a great gainer. "Why hesitate to join the church? Let not a sense of unworthiness keep you back--a deep sense of unworthiness is one grand part of due preparation; and no worthiness of yours can give you any title to that new testament in Christ's blood, which was shed for the remission of sins. Worthless, vile, empty, helpless is every son and daughter of Adam's race: but it was for the ungodly that Christ died; it was while we were without strength; his name was called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins. In that day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood among a mixed multitude, and cried, 'If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink--whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.' "If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness, sanctified by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go as a _sinner_ to a _Saviour_; go at his command, put honor on his appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you _are_, _have_, or _can_ have, over the symbols of his body broken for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in his mercy, and leave all to his management, believing that _he will_ shed abroad his love in your heart, order your footsteps in his ways, and in due time perfect his image in your soul. Keep close to him in the use of means, but look beyond the means for life and power. I commit you to our God and Saviour, and pray that he may be to you 'wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,' and complete 'redemption.' "I am, my dear Miss M----, "Your ever affectionate, "I.G." In March, 1801, the health of her daughter Mrs. B----, requiring a sea-voyage and absence from care, Mr. and Mrs. B---- sailed for Britain, and the following letters were addressed to them during their absence: