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and everlasting joy upon their heads; and where they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and sighing shall flee away. O how happy are the people that are in such a case, and that have such a joy in prospect! Happy indeed are such, whatever they may now be called to suffer in the flesh; for all their present sufferings, are only light afflictions, and but for a moment, compared with the far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory, which they are working out for them. Pray my dear parents, that together with yourselves, the unworthy writer of this may, through grace, have his share in this happiness! In afflictions of different kinds, I have had, for my time of life, a considerable share; and I have sometimes thought that it was indeed good for me that I have been afflicted. But if they have been really beneficial, so transient have been the good effects of them, or the impressions which my heart has retained of the cause for which they were sent, and of the useful purposes which they were intended and fitted to serve, that it has been hitherto necessary, that the same discipline should be frequently used, to teach me again the same forgotten lessons of wisdom and piety. And if God has any designs of final mercy and love to accomplish in and for me, I have reason to expect, on the same principles, that, should life be spared, many afflictions still await me. May the sanctifying blessings of God, only attend the dispensations of his providence! and then all, will be not only, right in itself, but well with respect to us. And could we be always satisfactorily persuaded of this, we should then find little difficulty in saying, concerning God's dealings with us; "Lord, what thou wilt; how thou wilt; and when thou wilt?" But to this purpose, I find great

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reason for daily renewing that important petition, "Lord, help thou my unbelief, and increase my faith.”

ISAAC S. KEITH.

TO MISS 0. SPROAT.

AFTER THE DEATH OF HER FATHER, AND OTHERS OF THE FAMILY, OF THE YELLOW FEVER.

CHARLESTON, DECEMBER 2, 1798.

MY VERY DEAR SISTER,

YOUR sad story of many and great sorrows, though not altogether sad, as it contained some rich and strong consolations, was convey. ed to us by the hand of a good Providence, in the course of the past week.

All the afflictive news which it repeated, we had heard about three or four weeks before, with some additions afterwards, for which we have the satisfaction now to learn, that there was no foundation. During the interval between the time when the intelligence was first communicated to us, and the receipt of your kind letter, we were waiting, not without some anxiety, though, I trust, at the same time, with some degree of quiet submission, for more particular information, which we hoped would be of such a nature as to minister some desirable comfort, under the pressure of our heavy and sore troubles; and, thanks be to a merciful and gracious God, we have not been disappointed.

All these painful bereaving strokes of the hand of a most wise and holy God, I feel, with my poor dear wife, with you my dear afflicted sister, and with our

dear widowed mother, and all the surviving members of our now distressed family; I feel them, as in every respect my own; and with all the others who suffer under them, I take all the tender afflictive share in them, that the obduracy, and stupidity of my heart will admit. Dear N. she was to me a very lovely and pleasant sister. Our worthy brother W. He was my kind and faithful friend, for whom my heart cherished a sincere and growing esteem and affection; and his dear M. though not personally known to me, was affectionately regarded as she was united with him in the nearest and tenderest of all mortal ties. And O, my father!* He was entitled to, and he had from me, all the veneration and love, with which I was capable of honoring any person on earth, under that important name, and in that interesting relation. Concerning them all, I can truly say, that they were not less, if not more, endeared to me, than my father, or any of my brothers or sisters of my own flesh and blood, from whom I was separated, at an early period of life, and with whom I have never since been permitted to enjoy much personal intercourse. So that as far as my nature is capable of feeling, you may be assured, that I enter into all the present feelings of my dear, excellent mother,† and of all her remaining children, my dear sisters and brothers, as well as those of my own wife, my other self, under the heavy load of affliction which it has pleased God to lay upon our poor family. With you, my dear O, who have been called to act so arduous a part, in the trying, awful scene, through which you have been so won

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* Dr. Sproat.

She was dead when this letter was written, though it was not known to Dr. and Mrs. K.

derfully conducted, by the good hand of your God upon you; and with all the rest of the family, who have not yet been swept away with the flood of death. I feel that in the interesting, tender names, of. father, brother, and sister, the desire of our eyes, has been taken away with a stroke! But it is the Lord, who has the most absolute and unquestionable right to do unto all of us, as seemeth unto him good, who has done this; and it becomes us all to be dumb, and not to open our mouths in a single complaint, or to indulge in our hearts a single murmuring thought, against the dispensation. "He is a rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Behold he taketh away, and who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, what doest thou? Though clouds and darkness may be round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. And as he reigns, and will for ever reign, and his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, and will always do that which is right, and can never do any wrong to any of his creatures; it becomes us to rejoice in his government, to be humbly resigned to his disposal, and to be entirely satisfied, that all the will of the Lord should be done. For quiet submission, and sweet acquiescence in his will, we have, as appears by your letter, every reason and motive that we could well desire, under our present trial; which, while it constrains us to weep, reminds us at the same time, that we ought not to sorrow as those who have no hope; since our dear departed friends, at their death, have left us such comfortable ground for hoping, that they have fallen asleep in Jesus, and are now at rest with him. And in such circumstances it becomes us,

not only to weep as though we wept not, but to be satisfied and thankful; persuaded that these events which may appear to be most against us, may be easily made, and certainly are adapted, to work for us. Indeed, if we are in the bonds of that everlasting covenant, which our God has made with his people through his beloved Son, by whose blood it is sealed and established, and which in all things is so ordered, and so sure, that it is sufficient to be all our salvation and all our desire; we may then rest assured, that all things shall infallibly work together for our good. One special good effect, among others, which this very afflictive dispensation of Providence should produce upon all of us who suffer under it, is to withdraw the heart from its dependence upon the creatures, and to engage the soul to seek its rest and happiness in the Creator alone, who is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Happy in their consequences will be those strokes of death, which have smitten the delights of our eyes, and the joys of our hearts, if they be only sanctified, (for which we ought fervently to pray) thus to lead us to choose the Lord alone for our portion, and to rejoice in him, as the God of our salvation, in whose favour alone our life can be found, and from whose love in Christ Jesus our Lord, his people shall never be separated, neither by life, nor by death, by things present, nor by things to come. Let our great care then be to secure, and to keep bright and clear, the evidences of our interest in his favour, and to approve ourselves to him in the right and acceptable improvement of his dealings with us; and in the way of obedience and submission to his will, trusting in the righteousness and merits of our all sufficient Saviour, let us wait upon him for his consolations,