and a hope
that it may please God to honour these memorials of the dead, to the
effectual edification of the living.
"Rev. Sir,
"In consequence of your kind permission, I take the liberty to trouble
you with another of my ill-written letters; and I trust you have too
much of your blessed Maker's lowly, meek, and humble mind to be
offended with a poor, simple, ignorant creature, whose intentions are
pure and sincere in writing. My desire is that I, a weak vessel of
his grace, may glorify his name for his goodness towards me. May the
Lord direct me by his counsel and wisdom! May He overshadow me with
his presence, that I may sit beneath the banner of his love, and find
the consolations of his blessed Spirit sweet and refreshing to my
soul!
"When I feel that I am nothing, and God is all in all, then I can
willingly fly to Him, saying, 'Lord, help me; Lord, teach me; be unto
me my Prophet, Priest, and King; let me know the teaching of thy
grace, and the disclosing of thy love.' What nearness of access might
we have if we lived more near to God! What sweet communion might we
have with a God of love! He is the great I AM. How glorious a name!
Angels with trembling awe prostrate themselves before Him, and in
humble love adore and worship Him. One says,
'While the first archangel sings,
He hides his face behind his wings.'
Unworthy as I am, I have found it by experience, that the more I see
of the greatness and goodness of God, and the nearer union I hope I
have had with Him through the Spirit of his love, the more humble and
self-abased I have been.
"But every day I may say, 'Lord, how little I love thee, how far I
live from thee, how little am I like thee in humility!' It is
nevertheless my heart's desire to love and serve Him better. I find
the way in which God does more particularly bless me, is when I attend
on the public ordinances of religion. These are the channels through
which He conveys the riches of his grace and precious love to my soul.
These I have often found to be indeed the time of refreshing and
strengthening from the presence of the Lord. Then I can see my hope
of an interest in the covenant of love, and praise Him for his mercy
to the greatest of sinners.
"I earnestly wish to be more established in the ways, and to honour
him in the path of duties whilst I enjoy the smil
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