Through grace, I hope, she has glorified God in the day of visitation, and done some service to the cause of religion, by manifesting its power, in supporting and comforting the soul, under the pressure of some of the greatest troubles with which this evil world abounds. She is, however, always complaining of herself; and I have always reason to consider her conduct as a reproach to me; and this will not surprise you, if you yet feel any thing of the power of the law of sin; or if you have ever been much in the company of christians better than yourself.

We were not a little shocked to hear from your public papers, that your new play-house was to be opened about the beginning of February, amidst all the apprehensions entertained, of a return of the awful calamity with which your city has been already so sorely scourged. The renewal of that scourging, I am inclined to think, will depend more upon your moral behaviour, than upon any natural causes. And in this view, so heaven daring, and provoking a return to folly, bodes ill. If the voice of the rod which you have felt, be not heard; may you not expect that some heavier and more smarting strokes of it will be inflicted upon you? Or if such chastisement shall be withheld, will it not be, because the Lord has said; Why should ye be smitten any more? Ye will revolt still more and more? Rather let your city and ours, and you and myself, as individuals, be chastised in any way in mercy, than thus given up in judgement.

Concerning our coming to Philadelphia: we dare not yet venture to form any conclusion: but desire to discern, and submit to the Lord's will, to follow his

guidance, and wait his time. Help us in this matter, as well as in all our other affairs, by your prayers.

In affectionate regards and prayers for Mrs. G. as well as yourself, Mrs. K. unites with your unworthy friend and brother,

ISAAC S. KEITH.

P.S. We have been informed that the Rev. J. Smith, has been instrumental in adding 60 or 70 persons, to the number of the communicants in his congregation, since the dreadful fever took place in your city. If this be true, and if these persons be hopeful converts, this circumstance affords strong encouragement to hope, that the awful calamity with which you were visited, has not been a lost dispensation, and that it may yet be followed with a more extensive blessing. Such appearances demand fervent praises; and furnish ground for pleasing expectations.

TO MR. AND MRS. L.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

CHARLESTON, DECEMBER 6, 1796.

W ITH Cordial affection, and a very tender sympatby, I take my part with you in your affliction, under the late bereaving stroke of the holy hand of God, by which he has taken from you, your dear child; a sweet lovely babe, whose pleasing, charm- . ing countenance, forcibly impressed my mind, as I find it did the minds of some other observers, when he was solemnly presented to the Lord, and received into the

church at his baptism. On that occasion, and in the very serious and interesting transaction with the great and blessed God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, to which you were then called; I trust you were, through his grace with you, enabled in sincerity, and without reserve, to give him up, and dedicate him to the Lord, who had first given him to you; desirous, and hoping, and believing, and rejoicing in the pleasing and comfortable persuasion, that your offering would be graciously accepted; and that he should be the Lord's in the bonds of the well ordered, sure, and everlasting covenant, of which our dear Saviour is the blessed Mediator; and which in all its glorious provisions, and great and precious promises, is fitted to be all our salvation, and all our desire. Was it not then the ultimate and highest aim of your affectionate desires and prayers in favour of your dear and beloved infant, that he might be finally and for ever with the Lord, in his heavenly kingdom? Well; you now have your wish. And how soon has it been accomplished, and gratified to the fullest extent? The lovely babe, that was lately the desire of your eyes, and that shared, I suppose, a sufficient portion of the tenderest affections of your hearts, has been, I doubt not, washed from the guilt and pollution of his nature, derived from fallen Adam, by the blood of Christ our Saviour, and sanctified by the Spirit of grace, and is now safely and happily lodged in the arms and bosom of its Heavenly Father, and Divine Redeemer, with all those blessed little children, of which the kingdom of Heaven eminently consists; and where it is infinitely better provided for, than it could be with you, in this present evil world. From thence, as you know he cannot, so, I believe, you would not dare to

wish, that he should return to you, to partake with you in the various evils of this state of sin and sorrow, from which he has been so early and so kindly taken . away. And do you hope, that you will in due time go to him, to dwell there with him, and with all who are redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb, and are there made perfect in holiness, and raised to fulness of joy in the presence of the Lord? In the mean time, have you the consolation of believing and being assured, that the Lord doth all things well; that all his paths towards you, are mercy and truth; and that all things, through his sanctifying blessing, shall work together for your good? Surely then you must feel your obligations, and I trust you will, through grace, be accordingly disposed, to weep for your temporary loss of the satisfactions and pleasures, which you were beginning to enjoy in your dear babe, as though you wept not: to rejoice in all the remaining comforts of life, as though you rejoiced not; holding them also resigned to the Lord's disposal, and ready to be given up to him at his call; to glorify him by a cheerful submission to his will in all things, and cordial approbation of all his dealings with you, and dispensations towards you, and earn. est prayers and endeavours that you may comply with the wise and gracious designs of them all; and to aspire more ardently, and to press forward more diligently and vigorously, in the way of faith in the Redeemer, and obedience to his gospel, towards that blessed world, where there shall be no more sin nor death; nor any more tears, nor occasions of them; but where holiness shall be complete; and joy shall be full and evergrowing, and all the work shall be love and praise, through all the ages of a blessed and glorious immor

tality. With such views of the wise counsels of God our Saviour, respecting ourselves, and all that we hold dear to us, and of the salutary tendency and desirable effects of all his dispensations, even the most afflictive that we have ever felt, or may yet be called to suffer ; the aspect of affliction appears to be greatly changed. Notwithstanding all the severity with which, in some cases, it seems to frown upon us, it must be, at the same time, presented to our minds, as a genuine fruit of our Heavenly Father's love, and as a necessary and seasonable proof of his covenant mercy and faithfulness; ordering a painful trial of a few moment's continuance, for the desirable purposes of yielding to us the present peaceable fruits of righteousness, and of working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Under the impressions which such views, accompanied by the influences of the good Spirit of God, are adapted to make upon our hearts, we shall feel ourselves led to say, with some small measure at least, of the mind that was in our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, in respect to the greatest trial and conflict that may be appointed to us; "O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it; thy will be done!" When his grace has brought us to this temper and mind, it will not only "make submission very sweet, in what is most contrary to nature" (as my dear Mrs. Keith, often and often said she had felt it, and as, I trust, I also have found in my own experience,) but it will dispose us to bless the chastising hand of our Heavenly Father, in the most painful dispensations of his providence, and to say, with our excellent friend Newton,

"Tis my happiness below, Not to live without the cross