MY DEAR CHILD,

LETTER IV.

August 3, 1780.

YOU may be sure your mamma and I were very glad to hear that the Lord preserved you from harm, and that you were safe and well at NI wish you to have a deep impression on your mind, that your safety, whether abroad or at home, or the continuance of your health from one hour to another, is not a matter of course, but the effect of the care and goodness of Him who knows we are helpless as sheep, and condescends to act the part of a shepherd towards us. May you learn to acknowledge him in all your ways, to pray to him for his blessing, and to praise him daily for his mercies; and then you will do well. This is the great privilege which distinguishes us from the beasts of the field; they likewise owe their preservation to his providence, but then they are not capable of knowing him or thanking him. There are many young people who are contented to live without God in the world; but this is not only their sin, but their shame likewise. They thereby renounce the chief honour they are capable of, and degrade themselves to a level with the beasts. But let it not be so with you. Pray to the Lord to teach you to love him, and when you think of him, fix your thoughts upon Jesus Christ; upon him who conversed on earth as a man. great God has manifested himself in a way suited to us, as weak creatures and poor sinners. God is every where present, but only those who look to him in Christ can attain to love, trust, or serve him aright. When you read our Saviour's discourses, recorded by the evangelists, attend as if you saw him with your own eyes standing before you; and when you try to

The

pray, assure yourself before you begin, that he is actually in the room with you, and that his ear is open to every word you say. This will make you serious, and it will likewise encourage you, when you consider that you are not speaking into the air, or to one who is a great way off; but to One who is very near you, to your best friend, who is both able and willing to give you every thing that is good for you.

Though you have not been gone from us a fortnight, we seem to long to see you again. August is come already; and December, which we hope will bring you here again, will be here before long. I shall be glad if you make the most of your time, and return so much improved, that we may be able to keep you at home; for it is no pleasure to us to have you at such a distance from us. But there is no suitable day-school in this neighbourhood, and if you must be at boarding-school, I believe you must be at N; for, after you have been so long there, we should not be willing to take you from Mrs. -'s school to put you to another; it would seem a slight to her: though our motive would be only to have you nearer to us, people would think we had other reasons.

My advice to you will be chiefly with respect to your religious concerns and your moral conduct. But there are other things belonging to you mam. ma's province. She wishes, as you grow up, you may not appear to a disadvantage when compared with other young women; and, indeed, if you should be every thing she wishes you to be, you will do honour to the school you come from.

I think you are in general willing to oblige her, and I am persuaded a little care and resolution on

you part, would soon make it easy and familiar to you to follow the example she sets you, as well as the advice she gives you. I hope therefore, for her sake, for mine, for the sake of your governess, and especially for your own sake, you will endeavour to be notable. It was a grief to me that my time was so unavoidably taken up, that I could spare but little to converse with you; but we agreed, you know, to make it up by letters. It is now your turn to write, and I shall be glad of a long letter from you soon, in which I wish you to open your mind, to tell me what you think, feel, hope, fear, or desire, with the same freedom as if you were writing to one of your school-fellows.

The Lord bless you, my dear child, and give you to increase in wisdom and grace, as you increase in years. Always think of me as

Your very affectionate father.

LETTER V.

November 1, 1780.

MY DEAR CHILD,

I CONGRATULATE you that you are now within a month of December, when you will begin to count the days, and to see the vacation peeping over the head of a short interval. I may congratulate your mamma, and myself likewise (provided you come to us improved as we wish you), for we long to see you, and have done so every day since you left us.

Your mamma is often indisposed, but seldom very ill, at least not long together; but both she and I have many feelings with which we were not ac

quainted when we were young like you. The advantages of youth and health are seldom rightly known at the right time. It is indeed a mercy if, when we are growing old, we have some proper sense of the folly and vanity we indulged in early life, and can be ashamed as we ought, to think how many opportunities we neglected; how many talents we misimproved. Yet repentance cannot recall the day that is past. It is my frequent prayer that you may be wiser than I was at your time of life that you may have grace to remember your Creator and Redeemer while you are yet young. Depend upon it, my dear, whenever you really know the Lord, you will be sorry you did not know him sooner; whenever you experience that pleasure which is only to be found in loving and serving him, you will wish you had loved and served him (if possible) from your very cradle.

;

I have no news to tell you; but one thing I can assure you, which though you have often heard, I hope the repetition will be always pleasing to you, I mean, that I am your very affectionate friend, and feel for you as if I was really and truly your father.

MY DEAR CHILD,

LETTER VI.

January 10, 1781.

I TELL many of my friends abroad, that my time is so much taken up, they must not expect me to write to them; and yet I have offered to begin a new correspondence with you, though you are in the same house with me. I would have you take

notice, and I believe you will, of this, among many other circumstances by which, as occasions offer, I take a pleasure in showing you that I dearly love you, and long to contribute every thing in my power to your improvement and to your satisfaction; and I persuade myself the hope I form of a suitable return of love and attention from you, will not be disappointed. The Lord, in his good providence, gave you to me, as a gift, and committed you to me as a trust; at the same time, he gave me a great love for you and whatever we do for those we love, we do with pleasure.

But the

I thank you for your letter of yesterday. It encourages me to hope that the gracious Saviour is knocking at the door of your heart. I doubt not but you write what you think and feel, yet there is more meaning in your expressions, than either you or I can fully comprehend. You are, as you say, a sinner; a young sinner, and yet a great sinner. It is not your case alone, we are all born in sin; but to be sensible that you are a sinner, is a mercy afforded but to few children at your age. May the Lord keep the persuasion alive your heart. word sinner includes so much, that a whole long life will hardly suffice to give you a full sense of it.Thus much I hope you know already, that a sinner needs a Saviour; and that Jesus is the Saviour of all sinners that seek him. I commend you to him; if he has taught you a little, he will teach you more. Put yourself simply into his hand, and wait patiently his time; he works powerfully, but for the most part gently and gradually. You know the sun does not break out upon us all at once in the dark night; there is first a glimmering dawn in the sky, which gives us notice that he is coming, and prepares us for his appearance. By degrees that faint light grows brighter; we see clearer and farVol. II.

B