"'Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.' Philippians 4:4-7.
"'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus.'
"Christ Jesus! what does not this name comprehend? He is mine, and all is mine. I do rejoice in the Lord, yea, more or less, I rejoice always. This heart of mine is sensible to every human affliction; my tears flow often and fast: I weep for myself, and still more for others; but in these very moments of heart-wringing bitterness, there is a secret joy that Jesus is near; that he sees, knows, and pities. He is Jehovah as well as Jesus, and could have prevented the affliction under which I groan; but for my good,
and the good of those near and dear to me, he suffered it, or prepared it. The good of his people is connected with his glory; they cannot be separated: therefore, Father, glorify thy name; I rejoice, and will rejoice. The Lord can remove, and will remove the affliction the moment it has answered the gracious purpose for which it was sent. I would not wish it one moment sooner. While it lies heavy, he is my almighty friend, my rest, my staff of support.
"'In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." Psalm 27:5.
"'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; with my song I will praise him,' and in his strength and by his grace, let my 'moderation be known unto all men.' My Lord is at hand — at hand to support, at hand to overrule, at hand to deliver. Therefore I rejoice always.
"Blessed be God for the heart-easing, heart-soothing privilege of casting all my cares upon him, and for the blessed assurance that he careth for me and mine: that he allows, invites, yea, commands me to be careful for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let my requests be made known unto him, who is man, and touched with the feeling of our infirmities — Jesus wept — and God, the almighty God, to support, overrule, deliver. Therefore my heart rejoiceth always."
"MAY 16, 1796.
"'If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes: nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89: 30. Amen; blessed promise. Oh, it is a well-ordered covenant, and it is sure. Of all the provisions of the covenant, this has been to my soul among the most comfortable. Thanks be to God for the discipline of the covenant; often has it been administered: thou knowest, and I know in part, how necessarily, although I shall not know nor understand all, until that blessed rod shall have perfected its correction, and shall never more be lifted up.