"MY DEAR, MY BELOVED CHILDREN--I trust the Lord is your support; I know you are in trouble; it cannot be that opportunities have been wanting all this time, nor can it be that my children have been negligent: no, no, I cannot suppose it. My children are in trouble; they could not write that they were otherwise, and therefore remain silent until they can write the issue. It is proper, and sure the Lord feeds me with comfort. O the comfort of knowing that the Almighty God is their own reconciled Father by an everlasting covenant; Christ, the Mediator and Surety, their Advocate, Brother, and Friend; the Holy Ghost their Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. It cannot be ill with my dear children, who are also God's dear children. My Father, I know it, thou chastenest for their profit. I know not where they are, nor how they fare. I know not what to ask for them; but thou art everywhere present, thine eye is upon them, thou knowest all their wants, all their burdens, all their bereavements, or whatever tries them. O let thy sensible presence be with them; open wide the leaves of that new testament in Christ's blood, and let them read their rich legacy, their unsearchable riches in Christ; give them confidence in thy wisdom and goodness, and sweet acquiescence in all thy dealings with them. Thou hast spared in mercy, perhaps now thou hast taken in mercy: yes, thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and a large ingredient in every cup thou puttest into the hand of thy children. It is well, it is well.