Your Ladyship’s most obliged, obedient humble servant,
G. W.
LETTER DCLXII.
To the Reverend Mr. J——.
London, August 11, 1748.
My very dear Mr. J——,
YOUR kind letter, which I received but yesterday, having been taking a little tour in the country, both grieved and pleased me. Glad was I to find, that my dear old friend had not forgotten me, and yet sorry as it were, that I had not wrote to him first. I was just going to put pen to paper, when yours was brought to my hands. I read it with joy, and now embrace the first opportunity of answering it with the greatest pleasure. These words concerning our Lord have always been weighty on my heart, “Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.” They therefore that are most like him, will be most steady in their friendship, and not very readily given to change. O my dear Sir, what has the Redeemer done for us since we used to take such sweet counsel together at Oxford! Blessed be his name for giving you a heart still to preach among poor sinners the unsearchable riches of Christ. May you go on and prosper, and, maugre all opposition, see Dagon fall every where before the ark. As for me, I am a poor worthless pilgrim, and thought long ere now to be with him, who has loved and given himself for me.—But it seems I am not yet to die, but live. O that it may be to declare the work of the Lord! I think this is the thirteenth province I have been in within this twelvemonth, in each of which our Lord has been pleased to set his seal to my unworthy ministry. I came from Bermudas last, where I left many souls seeking after Jesus of Nazareth. In London, Bristol, Gloucester, and Wales, the glorious Emmanuel, since my arrival, has appeared to his people. In about a fortnight I purpose leaving town again in order to go a circuit of about five hundred miles. I need not desire you to pray for me; I need not tell you how glad I shall be whenever opportunity offers, to see you face to face. In the mean while, let us correspond by letter. May Jesus bless it to us both! I return cordial respects to Lady M——. I pray the Lord to bless her and her little nursery. For the present adieu. I am, my very dear Mr. J——,
Ever yours,
G. W.