G. W.
LETTER CVII.
Philadelphia, Nov. 10, 1739.
Dear Mrs. D.,
TEN thousand blessings light upon you and yours! The Lord reward you ten thousand-fold for receiving me and my friends into your house. The Lord shower down his heavenly manna, and feed you with the bread of life for those comfortable meals we have had of your providing since we came on board. We have not been slack to pray for you; my heart is now full of a sense of your kindnesses. I know not when to begin and when to leave off adoring the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for these and all other of his love-tokens: He is the father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; he hath comforted me in all my tribulation, and, I am assured, will still comfort me in whatsoever I am to do or suffer for his name’s sake. You, dear Mrs. D. can subscribe to this truth, that God is a God of all comfort. You have been comforted on every side; you have been filled as it were with new wine; you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and yet the best wine is and will be always reserved till the last. The Lord’s compassions fail not; they are, they will be renewed to you every morning; and though, through much tribulation, you, as well others, must enter into glory, yet you will find God to be your comforter in all tribulation. God has made you a joyful mother of christian children; remember the mother in the Maccabees; and, if ever your children are called to suffering, beg of God that you may stand by and encourage them to die for Christ. Oh that would be a spectacle indeed! A spectacle worthy of men and angels! I pray God to arm you with this mind, and then you will find that God’s rod as well as his staff will comfort you; nay, though you pass through the valley of the shadow of death, yet shall the Holy Spirit refresh you; your heart shall stand fast, and be stedfast in the Lord. Oh, my dear Madam, my heart is enlarged towards you: I pray God to fill you with all his divine fulness, and make you daily more and more meet to be an inheritor among the saints in light. With much love I have wrote to dear Mr. D. Oh pray him not to be angry with
Your most affectionate friend and brother,
G. W.