[CHAPTER XXIII.]
LETTER FROM DR. SHARP.—ILLNESS AND DEATH OF SON.—LETTERS.—AFFLICTIONS.
The Rev. Dr. Sharp, of the Baptist denomination, who has been previously alluded to as a valued friend of Mr. Lawrence, had made a visit to England, the land of his birth, after an absence of forty years, and thus addresses him from Leeds, July 1:
"I esteem it one of the happy events of my life that I have been made personally acquainted with you. Not certainly because of your kind benefactions to me and mine, but because I have enjoyed your conversation, and have been delighted with those manifestations of principle and conduct, which, let them grow under what Christian culture they may, I know how to honor, to knowledge, and to love."
The same gentleman writes, shortly afterwards:
"I thank you for the kind manner in which you express yourself in regard to my occasional sermons. I never had any taste for controversy, nor for theological speculation; although, as a Christian watchman, I have kept myself informed of the religious opinions that have been, and that are. I thank you, as does my dear wife, for your thoughtful concern of the sacred spot so dear both to my recollections and hopes. There, when life's journey is ended, I hope to rest by the side of those whose company and unfailing affection have gladdened so many of my years; and it has given me a subdued pleasure, when I have thought that my own bed of death would be so near that of the kind and gentle-hearted friend who provided me with mine. May all who shall repose near that interesting spot be imbued with a pure and loving Christian spirit, that, when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall arise, we may all rise together in glorious forms, to be forever with the Lord!"
(TO ONE OF HIS PARTNERS.)
"Tremont-street, September 30, 1845.