LETTERS TO A SON IN THE MINISTRY. MY DEAR E. LETTER I. YOUR letter of the 24th came safely to hand, and the perusal of it has awakened in my mind and that of your dear Mother the most tender and grateful recollections. It was our earnest prayer, when we received you from the Lord, that he would early renew and sanctify you by his spirit, and prepare you to preach the everlasting Gospel. In the indulgence of this hope, we sent you to College, and in your Junior year we were, to our great joy, permitted to witness your reception into the church, and to sit down with you at the table of the Lord. This great change in your views and relations, soon fixed your choice of a profession. The law and political distinctions no longer fired your youthful bosom with a feverish and perilous ambition; but we trust you was enabled, by the grace of God, to "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ," |