Your weak unworthy friend and brother in Christ,
G. W.
LETTER CXCVI.
To Mr. M——.
Savannah, June 11, 1740.
Dear Mr. M——,
I Am not uneasy, but rather joyful, to find God lets you see more and more into the misery of your depraved nature. I pray God, these convictions may still increase, and that you may not fall short of a saving union with Jesus Christ. I am concerned to find you have lost a sense of your first love.—Take heed, my dear friend, and wrestle with your dear Lord, till he lets you see the root of bitterness that must certainly be in some corner of your heart. Perhaps you have not renounced the world and your own righteousness, and then no wonder our Lord doth not manifest himself to your soul. Sometimes, indeed, God withdraws on purpose to wean us from sensible devotion, and to take us off from seeking any self-complacence in our duties. If this be the case of you and your friends, you are patiently to tarry the Lord’s leisure, and to continue striving with all your might till he is pleased to lift up the light of his blessed countenance upon you. You must seek Jesus though it be sorrowing, and then, after three days, you will find him; for the Lord will not always be chiding, neither keepeth he his anger for ever. That God may daily renew you in the spirit of your mind, is the hearty prayer of, dear Sir,
Your assured friend and servant in Christ,
G. W.