Letter to Mrs. Brown
No. CXXXIV. — LETTER TO MRS. BROWN.
Kensington Place, 3d May 1818.
MY DEAR MADAM, — In this season of very painful interest and anxiety to us all, I feel inclined to write a few things, knowing well, at the same time, how powerless the words or the wisdom of man are in such an hour of heavy trial as that which has come upon you, and that it is God alone, who hath sent the trial, that can send out of His sanctuary the needful help and consolation. He alone can prepare you for the whole of His will, and bring you out of this arduous struggle between the feeling of nature and the faith of His own Gospel, and teach you to suffer as well as to do, and gently calm your heart into a settled acquiescence in that order which, for wise and righteous reasons, He hath been pleased to institute, and by which we are made to understand that it is through much tribulation we shall enter into the kingdom of God.
Our first prayer in the matter of trials should be, “Lay not upon us trials beyond what we have strength to bear,” But if we see the likelihood of a trial approaching; if the progress of the event looks threatening; if explaining the will of God by what has happened, or is like to happen, we have reason to fear or to conclude that such is His appointment — then our next prayer should be, “Give us strength to bear this trial.” It has been well said, that duties are ours and events are God’s. We are sure that He does not afflict willingly. We are sure that there is mercy in all His visitations, and that His chastening hand yieldeth the fruit of righteousness. It is said of God by His own Son, who was meek and gentle, and wept over the sufferings of nature, and had compassion on the widow of Nain — it is said by Him, that if a tree bring not forth fruit, He purgeth it or pruneth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. The desire of our heart runs too much to the creature, and He, in kindness, taketh away from us the dearest and best-loved object, that this desire may be checked and restrained, and turned in the right and salutary direction towards Himself. It looks very dark and overwhelming to us in the meantime; but that is because we are ever regarding the world as our all. It would not look dark did we thoroughly feel ourselves to be strangers and pilgrims in the world — did our eye carry our mind forward to eternity — did we see time in its true character as a rapid journey to our stable and ultimate home — did we contemplate death as a removal, and think believingly of that city which hath foundations, and whose builder and maker is God. It is a cruel flattery of human wishes to disguise the uttermost extent of the possibility to which we are liable. Your excellent son may recover, but he may not; and your mind should be familiarized to both terms of this alternative, and you should be feeling your way to Him who, after He has driven away all your earthly props, can give you His own word and His own promises to rest upon; and it is not a painful or fatiguing search to which I am now directing you. It is not a search the labour and the difficulty of which are beyond the reach of agitated, and oppressed, and fearful humanity; for He is not far from you, and He has revealed Himself a very present help in the time of trouble, and He is ready, even now, to meet your approaches; and He asks you not merely to draw near, but to draw near with boldness; and for what? — that you may have grace to help you in the time of need.
The very last chapter I have read is the sixth of John. I have got I think some comfort and establishment from it. It is a marvellously free overture that is there made to the help less and the sinful. If we receive by faith the body and the blood of Christ, He will dwell in us and we shall be complete in Him.
Let us not, however, remit our prayers for the recovery of the interesting patient in subjection to the will of God. My last excursion with him to Roseneath raised very high my estimation of his religious earnestness. He at that time discovered a mind deeply and seriously at work about the concerns of the soul, at the same time weaned from all delusive confidence in his own attainments, and evidently seeking for a surer foundation. I walked with him some weeks before through his own properties, and there witnessed the fruits of his beneficence, and heard the blessings upon him of those who were ready to perish. I heard him afterwards express the sense he had of his own nothingness, and confess Christ as the alone Author of salvation. Let us hope the good deeds done in his body were done unto that Great Judge who will acknowledge and reward them, and proceeded from that faith which gives an interest and a part in his better righteousness.
Be assured of my sympathies and my prayers, and believ me, my dear Madam, yours most truly,