"NEW YORK, October 1, 1794
"'Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.'
"Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous loving-kindness in a strong city — Christ, the city of refuge.
"Thou hast given me my heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of my lips. 'One thing have I desired of the Lord,' and through life sought after for myself and the children whom thou hast given me; 'that all the days of our lives we might dwell in the house of the Lord,' behold his beauty, and inquire in his holy temple; that in the time of trouble he would hide us in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle, and set our feet upon a rock.
"O thou incarnate God; thou blessed temple not made with hands; thou blessed pavilion, in which thy people hide in the time of trouble, and are safe; thou Rock of ages, on which we build our hopes for time and eternity, and defy the assaults of sin, Satan, and the world: thou, Jehovah Jesus, art all these to thy people. Thou broughtest them 'from a fearful pit and from the miry clay; thou settest their feet upon this
spiritual rock, and establishest their goings; thou puttest a new song in their mouths, even praise unto their God.' Many have seen it and sung it; many now see and sing it; many shall see and sing it, and trust in the Lord. They find in thee all that is expressive of life; all that is expressive of safety; all that is expressive of comfort; all that is expressive of happiness.
"'O how many are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.' Thou, thy blessed self, art the sum and substance of every good to man. All this I know; all this have I at different times experienced; and yet my heart is heavy, my spirits depressed. There is no cause, Oh no. Thy very afflictive providences have met my wishes, and been so many answers to my prayers.
"Thou Husband of the widow, thou Father of the fatherless, O how fully, how manifestly hast thou fulfilled these relations to thy worthless servant. Thou, in my early widowhood, didst call me to leave my fatherless children on thee, annexing the promise that thou wouldst preserve them alive.
"Thou didst put it into my heart to plead the promise in a spiritual sense; to ask, to hope, to wait for the new birth, the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow.
"In three of these fatherless I have seen thy work. Long did the grain of mustard-seed lie buried among the weeds of worldly-mindedness; long were my hopes and fears alternate; but now the blessed discipline of