rings to be undergone before the entrance to the haven of rest be
attained, is my chief disquietude, I will not even say distress,
because when these horrors--horrors they are to mere nature--dart
across my mind, filling my soul with momentary anguish, Satan too
seeking to distract my mind, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a
standard against him, and comforts me with his own word, the
everlasting promises suited to every possible circumstance in the
believer's lot. Thousands of times have I grasped that promise, 'Leave
thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' I pleaded it for
the life of their souls; He answered my prayers; he has given them
life, and they live to him. Yes, I see the fruit, and though
iniquities still prevail against them, he still purges away their
transgressions; kindles their repentance; humbles their souls; lays
them prostrate in penitential confession; washes them afresh in the
open fountain; restores to them the joys of his salvation; seals their
pardon by shedding abroad his love in their hearts, and making them
walk in the path of righteousness for his own name's sake.

"Thus he carries them on from strength to strength by various
means of his own appointing, and some terrible things in
righteousness, in the course of his providence; in all which he is
sovereign, but ever consistent with his new covenant name, as
proclaimed to Moses on the mount, as manifested in the character of
God dwelling with us in our own nature, in whom mercy shone prominent;
by which mercy they shall appear in Zion, before God, in due time.

"Is it so? Is this God my God, and the God of my seed? Is he
himself become our salvation? Are we heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Christ? Is our life hid with Christ in God? When he appears, shall we,
I and the children which he hath given me, in very deed appear with
him in glory? Is all this so, and shall I tremble at the approach of
any of his providences? Shall I not say when it has taken place, 'The
will of the Lord be done,' especially when clothed with love? I trust
that as my day, so shall my strength be, and in the interim I have the
same confidence for you; for 'he giveth power to the faint, and to
them that have no might he increaseth strength.'"

"APRIL 25.

"The wind roars and howls in my windows, though not facing the
storm, and the white waves in the river picture in my mind the fo