we not glow with zeal to glorify our heavenly Deliverer, and promote his glorious cause? Need I request my much loved friend to remember and write to her Fanny? Not that I could wish you to neglect more important duties; but, when you have a few leisure mo. ments, if you will improve them in faithfully instructing and reproving your stupid friend, you will confer on her a favor which she knows how to appreciate, and for which heaven, she trusts, will abundantly reward you. Your most obliged friend and sister FANNY. Letter to Mr. A. P. and Mrs. H. P. of Bradford. Dear Sir, I SHALL readily avail myself of the liberty you have given me of writing to you, tho f sensibly feel my unworthiness and incapacity, and fear my communication will not merit a perusal. A conviction of your superior wis dom and knowledge would preclude the humble efforts of my inexperienced pen, did not your well known candor give me encouragement. Much do I thank you for your few short lines; and more satisfaction would they have afforded me, had they come without the attendant information, that sickness had again debilitated your frame, again confined you to the bed of languishment. I hope, however, that your soul is in health and prospers, and that, as your outward man decays, your inner man gains strength and vigor. I trust you enjoy spiritual communion with your covenant Gcd, and that as the streams run low, you drink more copiously of the Fountain; and now and then from Pisgah's summit obtain a sweet perspective of the heavenly Canaan, flowing with delectable blessings and ever blooming glories; where the favored "inhabitants shall no more say I am sick." You have long been conversant with pain and imbecility of body, and have learnt in the school of adver sity many a profitable lesson, for which you have reason to respire with David, "It is good for me, that I have been afflicted." These frequent indispositions are mementos of that sententious truth, which Philip, a Macedoni. an Monarch, ordered to be pronounced in his hearing every morning, "Remember thou art morial," Yes, it is a truth, a solemn truth, enforced by the word of God and the death of thous ands every hour. Let it sink deep into my heart, abate the love of life and this innate attachment to sublunary things, and stimulate to preparation for death; that, when my Lord shall come, I may be ready to sit down at the marriage-supper. How joyful ought we to be, that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and will do all his pleasure in the armies of heav en above and among the inhabitants of the earth. He superintends and governs all created beings from the highest archangel to the smallest ephemera that floats in the air; and al! circumstances and events are at his control, and made subservient to the promotion of his grand designs. He orders the rise and fall of empires, the revolutions and convulsions of kingdoms, and all the tremendous Commotions, which agitate this nether world. He raises monarchs to their thrones, and de poses them to a level with their meanest vassals. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up, maketh rich and maketh poor, as he sees best. From his exalted throne in the heavens, encircled with radiant majesty and glory, he stoops to behold the things done on this low soil. He passes by the envied courts of princes and glittering palaces of kings, and condescendingly graces with his presence the little hut of poverty, and feasts its pious inhabitants with fat things, wine on the lees well refined," imperishable and satisfactory, "which nothing earthly gives or can destroy." Happy, superlatively happy, mortals. Though you were neglected and despised by all men, treated as the off scouring of all things, destitute of the comforts and necessaries of life, and combatting with diversified insults, hardships and calamities, yet would I congratulate you; for God and heaven are yours; peace and serenity tranquillize your hearts, and sit smiling on your brow; and you are candidates for a crown of glory that fadeth not away, and heirs of a kingdom immortal in the skies. Ere long you shall drop sin, pollution and sorrow, and rise to shining seats of celestial biiss; where you shall be kings and priests unto God, when earthly crowns and sceptres shall be demolished, and when terres. trial honors, pleasures and emoluments shall be lost in one general mass of indiscriminate ruin. Recollecting to whom I am writing I restrain the sallies of imagination, drop my pen, and respectfully bid you adieu. FANNY WOODBURY. How do you do, my dear Mrs. P.? You ap peared, when you wrote, to have been rather disconsolate and depressed. I hope you have ere this time resumed your wonted vivacity, and been favored with the cheering presence of the Holy Comforter. I hope you have fre quent and delightful intercourse with Heaven, and soul refreshing views of Jesus and his salvation. O to rise above these puerile vanities and insipid pleasures, to leave the world be. hind, and stretch after God and immortality, how pleasant and desirable. This is not our home. O no. It is polluted with sin, and embittered with sorrow. We are on a short journey through it; and therefore bare accommodations are all we need all we must expect. We are pilgrims and strangers here, having no continuing city, but seeking one to come, whose Builder and Maker is God. There eternal youth and unwithering spring, flourish beyond the reach of the corroding hand of time and death. There millions of delights and glories, far surpassing our conceptions, bless the sainted spirit, and excite continual songs of praise. O may we be ambitious to bear a humble part in the employments and enjoy ments of that blessed world. Why should we be so attached to these low regions of sin and vanity? O why should we grovel among the worms of the dust, when we might hourly feast on soul satisfying delights, and the banquet of angels? The glories of heaven attractingly display their ravishing charms; and yet we are sad from day to day, and cry, "My leanness, my leanness." O for a sweet view of the immortal beauties and perfections of Imman. uel. O for a heart smitten with his love, and enraptured with his excellencies, and entirely enamored and captivated with his charms. O my dear friend, shall we not love, adore and extol the Savior of sinners; and shall we not strive to recommend him to our fellow mortals, and spread the sweet savor of his name? And O, when this mortal life expires, may we see him as he is, in the full blaze of his glory, and dwell beneath his beatific smiles in cloudless day. Does the reformation decline? I hope not. I am very solicitous to hear of the confirmation of your health, which, you said, was not good, and likewise of the restoration of Mr. P.'s. May the blessing of Heaven rest on your dwelling, and make it indeed a happy Bethel. Will not a little excursion be beneficial to your health, if Mr. P. and you should be able? We should be glad to see you here, and hope we shall have that gratification before long. However, do write every opportunity, and not forget me at the throne of grace. With wishing you a happy Sabbath, and a seat at the feet of Jesus, I subscribe myself your most obliged and grateful friend, FANNY. Letter to Miss C. G. of Bradford. Beverly, April, 1813. YOUR very interesting communication," my dearly beloved Charlotte, has been pe* This communication was concerning the children under the patronage of the PHILENDIAN SOCIETY. The ob ject of this Society is to afford instruction, especially_relig ious instruction, to such children as are very poor, and have been favored with very little, if any, instruction, either in |
