I have sometimes known_, and _this_ is _suffering indeed_.――I have the same confidence in God for my dear Mr. ****, that you have. Was I to be removed, I doubt not but it would be made a means of good to his soul; but it seems at present to be the will of God that I should continue some time longer. My inward weakness is not so great, and my pain, though pretty constant, is so slight, that it is scarce worth the mentioning. I thank God that your health is returning, and trust we shall meet again on this side the river; but in the mean time pray earnestly for _me_. I fear ease more than pain. Farewell! May you and I constantly join in this prayer, “Thy will be done in us, and by us, in time and in eternity!” _Your ever-obliged and affectionate friend_, **** * * * * * _July 1, 1756._ _My dear Friend_, I RECEIVED your letter with much thankfulness, for I began to be very uneasy at not hearing from you in so long a time. And you have for these two days lain with such a weight on my spirit, that I know not how to account for it. I well know the manner in which the praise you bestowed was meant. But you know not how I dread self-complacency. And therefore though I often find that praise humbles me, yet it gives me a pain I know not how to express. I have indeed often heard you speak those words you mention, but they never affected me till now. And did you speak them “in the bitterness of your soul?”――Call me no more your friend! I am not worthy the name. How often have I heard them with unconcern, looking on them only as words of course, a kind of common-place humility. Will you forgive me? I promise you for the future I will pay more attention to every thing you say. I will not, by the grace of God, be so indolent and so faithless in the things which concern you as I have been. I know I am apt to think too highly of those I love, and I hate to be disturbed in the thought. You cannot imagine how ingenious I am in casting these burdens from me: a latent fear of displeasing, and a false humility, furnish me with arguments. “Why would I pretend to speak so and so, to people so much more advanced in grace than myself?” Not considering that God can work by the weakest and most unworthy. But cannot I pray for you? Oh my friend, if ever I _have_ been wanting in ardent prayers for you, I hope never to be so again. That communion of spirit which I have with you in the life of Christ, shall I trust add wings to my prayers on your behalf, and gain new degrees of strength to my own soul.