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committed it, and to whose disposal you have surrendered your all; assured that in Him you will find a safe refuge, and a satisfying portion in the land of the living; that you will find his strength made perfect in your weakness, and his grace made sufficient for you, and that when, in the world you have tribulation or distress, he will give you peace in himself, a peace which no smiles of creatures, or comforts of a worldly nature can ever give; and which is often most fully enjoyed, when our comforts from creatures, and from the world, have sunk to the lowest ebb. And how consoling, how animating, must you feel the belief and the persuasion, that as he performeth and ordereth all things for you; so, "he doth all things well," and well for you, and will make all things work together for your good!

Although then, you are called to lament the early death of a most pleasant child, of a most desirable daughter, qualified to be a most agreeable and useful friend, in the natural and in the spiritual life; is it not enough, that the Lord your God and Saviour, still liveth and changeth not, and that in him you have an all sufficient friend; ever disposed to be touched with the feelings of all your infirmities and sorrows; to pity, support, and help you under all your trials, and most true and faithful to his own sacred and inviolable word of promise, by which he has engaged, that he will never leave you, nor forsake you?

And while reflecting upon your loss in the dear object, which he has removed, you think again and again, what she was in herself, as a creature, and as a subject of renewing grace, and what she was to you in the tenderest ties of nature, and of christian friendship, you

feel yourself led to weep again and again, and still to bedew her endeared name, with fresh tears of affectionate, tender, painful recollection; must you not at the same time, find those tears mingled and sweetened with rich and strong consolation, when you consider, that your Lord hath done it, who hath the most absolute right to do with and for his own, whatever seemeth good in his own sight, and who knew infinitely better than yourself, what was best for you and for her; and hath given you in this instance, every reason for submission and satisfaction, for acknowledging and saying, with an humble, grateful, adoring heart, "It is well."

It has, I trust, been indeed well for you, that your faith should be tried in this furnace of affliction, in order to its being found, to your own greater comfort, and for the proportionably greater benefit of those who look to you for an example, unto praise, and honor, and glory, in some desirable measure now, as well as more fully and conspicuously at the appearing of Jesus Christ; while under the influence of it, and in humble imitation of, and in conformity to the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful, you have given up, have you not? some of your favourite and dearest comforts to the Lord, without a murmuring word or thought, but saying from the heart, Father, not my will, but thine be done! And again, "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, and still blessed be the name of the Lord!" And while by this renewed and great trial, your love, your delight, your hope, have been disengaged more and more, (have they not?) from all creatures, and more stedfastly fixed on the Creator, who is blessed for ever, and the overflowing, unfailing fountain

of blessedness, to all those whose trust is placed in him, and whose expectations are formed from him.

And to your faith thus tried, and proved, and strengthened, and increased, does it still more satisfactorily appear, that as to the dear child, the beloved daughter, whom you have resigned and given up, when your Lord and Master, came and called for her, it is truly well with her.

That fine, that elegant bodily form, in which so much divine skill and beneficence were displayed, has indeed by the sovereign and righteous mandate of her Lord, been consigned to the.gloom of the grave, there to moulder and dissolve into the dust, out of which it was originally formed. But there it shall not remain for ever under the dominion of death; for at the last day, it shall, by his all powerful voice, be raised up again, a spiritual, immortal, incorruptible body, fashioned in beauty and vigor, like unto the glorious body of the Divine Redeemer.

And when you think of the rational, immortal spirit, by which that once lovely clay, which is again to be raised in glory, was lately animated, you must view her as highly favoured indeed, in being so early called to renounce the vanities of the world, and the pleasures of sin, even in the season when their attractions, are usually the most powerful and dangerous, for an interest in the Saviour, and the joys of Heaven, which the illuminated mind values infinitely more than all worldly good, and which alone can satisfy a soul born of God; and then, after having the honor of exhibiting, for a few short years, the power of godliness, and the beauties of religion, which alone can form a character worthy of the love of God and man, and secure a genu

ine, solid, unfailing peace and happiness, to the soul in life and in death; must she not appear to have been still more highly privileged, in being so soon removed from a world of imperfection and sin, of temptation and conflict, to that bright world on high, where those who have been redeemed from among men, are as the angels of God, in all holy perfection; while they participate not only in their exalted happiness, but in the peculiar joy of their Lord, who has redeemed them to God by his blood, and having sanctified them into a complete conformity to his own image, in righteousness, and holiness, advances them to sit with him for ever, on his throne of glory!

Did you, or could you ever form a better and higher wish for your daughter, in those moments when you felt most sensibly, the deep, the tender interest which she had in your affections? And shall you now grieve; should you not rather rejoice, that all the best and most affectionate wishes of your heart for her, are thus accomplished, thus realized by her? If still nature must weep, because she is no more with you, surely grace must teach you to weep in this case, as though you wept not, when you thus view her as numbered with the saints in glory, who are ever with the Lord. And if still your bereaved heart must go again and again, to the grave to weep there, where all that was mortal, of what was lately so lovely and pleasing, lies deeply buried out of your sight, while musing on the brink of that gloomy mansion, look around, and learn to be thankful, that all your other mortal comforts, are not also buried there let it then look down, and anticipate the hastening period, for the time is short, when there all your sorrows shall be buried for ever,

while there your flesh released from all its toils and sufferings, shall, as in a bed of sweet repose, rest in hope of a joyful resurrection: and then, through the dark valley let it look, with a strong faith, and lively hope, and ardent desire, to that world of glory, where God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his beloved people, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither any more pain, for those former things are all passed away, and shall never more be known in that eternal life, which God has promised. And let the delightful prospect animate you to run, with unyielding patience, and with redoubled diligence, in the remainder of the race set before you, until in your appointed time, you finish your course with joy, and ascend in triumph, to meet again your dear Eliza ; and with her and all the saints and holy angels, who surround the throne of heaven, to join in noblest acts of worship there, in the most exalted exercises of love and praise, to the King of saints, the eternal King of glory; and to feel every capacity and desire filled with that fulness of joy, which is in his presence, and with those pleasures, that are at his right hand for ever. "Oh glorious hour, Oh! blest abode !"

But having far exceeded my proposed limits, and nearly filled the paper before me, I must leave you to pursue your own reflections: only commending you to "the God of all grace, and our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in whom the Father that hath loved, hath given you everlasting consolation, and good hope, through grace, with my earnest prayers, and in the pleasing persuasion, that He will, as he alone can, effectually "comfort your heart!"

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