soul to God. I can offer no apology for my
letter; for in all things, I obey my Lord.

COMFORT IN AFFLICTION.

I assure you, Dear Sir, I sympathize deeply in your afflictions. With
all my heart I present you before our Lord. I have prayed, and still
pray, that if you are called to participate in the sufferings of Jesus
Christ, you may partake also of his patience and submission. You will
find the Lord at all times near your heart, when you seek him by a
simple and sincere desire to do and suffer his will. He will be your
support and consolation in this time of trouble, if you go to him, not
with fear and agitation of spirit, but with calm, confiding love.

Jesus said to the blind man, whose eyes he anointed with clay, "Go wash
in the waters of Siloam"--waters soft and tranquil. O, that you might
experience the abiding peace which Christ gives. O, that you might
become reduced to the simplicity of the little child! It is the child
who approaches the nearest to Jesus Christ. It is the child whom he
takes in his arms and carries in his bosom. O, how lovely, how
attractive, is child-like simplicity! May the sufferings you are now
experiencing, render you, child-like and submissive to all the will of
your Father. My ill health forbids my writing more fully. God loves
you, and you are very dear to me in him. Amen. Jesus, help.

BEARING FRUIT IN UNION WITH CHRIST.

God has united my soul to yours in the oneness of his own nature, and
when all the obstructions on your part are removed, you will realize
this same divine union. "We have many masters, as said St. Paul, but
only _one Father in Christ_." This Father unites himself to us by the
impartation of his own nature, and from this communication, of himself
to the soul, proceeds our spiritual paternity; or the power by which we
communicate to others what we receive from him. We are not always
sensible how this power, or aid we render others, is imparted. In some
individuals it is more manifest than in others. It always adapts
itself to the subject who receives it. All the gifts and graces of the
spirit are either more sensible and apparent, or more spiritual and
inward, according to the power of receptivity in the individual.

It seems to me that when I am with you, there is only a simple,
imperceptible transmission from my soul to yours. You do not perceive
any marked results, and they are not great, because you are not in a
state to r