My dear Sister in Christ,

         Most tenderly I sympathize with you in your present affliction; and I remember you before our Father’s Throne. Glad should I be of your restoration, if the Lord saw that best; and for this, I supplicate with submission; but more generally am led to pray for the Lord’s presence with you in the dark valley; which makes me apt to think, you may be soon moved home to glory. If that should be the Lord’s design in the present affliction, be of good cheer; he that has loved you through innumerable trials of life, will not forsake you in death, but love thro’ that, to be with himself for ever. You are the Lord’s; and his promise is, “When passeth thro’ the waters, I will be with thee; and the rivers shall not overflow thee: And when thou walkest thro’ the fires, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” The waters of affliction, at the time of our dissolution, do indeed overflow our bodies, are too strong for the power of animal nature to conquer; but our souls shall not be overflowed by death’s rivers; the second death shall not touch us when we pass thro’ the first. Tho’ “the body is dead, must die, because of sin; the spirit is life, because of righteousness.” When we walk thro’ the fires of consuming diseases unto death, which prey upon animal nature, and lick up all its moisture; the flame of Mount Sinai’s law shall not kindle upon us, our spirits shall not be burnt, nor touch’d, with its awful curse: No; nor shall our bodies die penally. Jesus, for us, hath borne, and borne away, the whole of the curse. He drank the cup of penal wrath, even to the bottom of its dregs; and left not a drop for us to taste. Our cup of death, bitter as it is to nature’s palate, is not a cup of poison, but a cup of salvation. The glory prepared for us, is so immensely great, that it is impossible we should enjoy it in a mortal state. “Flesh and blood, in its present frailty, corruptibility, and sinful impurity, cannot inherit the kingdom of God:” And therefore our bodies must die, that our perfected spirits, at death, may wing their way into full joy of ineffability, of eternity! Jesus is gone before us, to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house; and will present us all-perfect, in his glorious righteousness, and completed in his grace-image, before his Father’s face, unto the highest acceptance, to live for ever in his immediate presence. And tho’ our bodies must lie awhile in the silent dust; Jesus took his lodging in the darksome tomb, to make the grave for us a bed of rest, a bed of perfume: He fought with death single-handed, in that his dark den; rose from the dead triumphant, and is ascended unto God, with all His, mystically in Himself. He broke the iron bars of death and grave, and as they could not hold the Lord of Life, so neither can they hold us; by virtue of his conquest, we shall be victorious. Our “Jesus will come the second time, without sin, to the full salvation of all his own:” And then he will call our bodies from their dusty beds, by his all-producing word; and fashion them like unto his glorious body, every way fit to bear the weight of Heaven’s glory. Our corruptible bodies, at the morning of the first resurrection, shall put on incorruption. “They [64] are sown a natural body, they shall be raised a spiritual body; they are sown in weakness, they shall be raised in power; they are sown in dishonour, they shall be raised in glory.” Then our bodies shall be no more a clog or hindrance to our nimble spirits, but able to keep pace with them, in bliss and praise, without the least weariness, unto endless ages!

         What then have dying Saints to do, but to bear, in faith and patience, all the blows which death gives upon their bodies; and in their last moments to say, concerning all their conflicts with sin, Satan, and affliction, in triumph with their dying Lord. “It is finished!” To commit their departing spirits into his hands, and their dying bodies unto his trust; to be raised by Him in glory, at the resurrection of the just. These are some of the last acts of faith, just before it is turned to sight. – And, my dear sister, commit your dear companion in life, who will be stript of a useful, delightful help-meet by your death; commit him to the Lord of life; and the Creator will be better to him than all creatures. And don’t part with great grief, for soon again you will meet in bliss and glory, perfectly, eternally complete! Commit likewise your dear children to your dear Lord Jesus; and particularly your little one to his care; and he will be better to them, to it, than can be the tenderest mother. Christ lives when creatures die: And whatever you commit to his care, shall be preserved and defended, suppoted and comforted, by his covenant-engaged power.

         And then, having disposed of your all below, let your heart be set upon your all above. You are going to Him, who, of all perfections, created and uncreated, is the total Sum! You are going to see Christ, no more thro’ a glass darkly, but face to face; to see him as He is, in all his mediatorial and infinite glories! You are going to the full enjoyment of Him whom your soul loveth, and of the God of glory, in Him, to a boundless eternity. You are as an heir, just coming to age; just ready to enter upon the full possession of your glorious inheritance! You are going to join, in bliss and praise, with the general assembly and church of the first-born; and with an innumerable company of angels round the throne, in the ineffable enjoyments, and most noble employments of Heaven! And oh, what a joyful welcome will you meet, as a weary pilgrim, brought safe, thro’ innumerable dangers and deaths, into the rest, the security, the life, the glory of the heavenly state!

         When the Lamb, that is in the midst of the throne, presents you faultless, before Jehovah’s face, before the presence of his glory; Father, Son, and Spirit, the Three-one God, will rejoice over you, and your glory, with exceeding joy! A joy far exceeding a mortal’s thought, or an angel’s tongue to delineate! God the Father will rejoice, to see you, as the fruit of his electing love, brought safe to Him by Christ. God the Son will rejoice to see you, as the fruit of his purchase, brought safe to Him by the Holy Ghost, in immortal bliss. And God the Spirit will rejoice to see you, as his workmanship, completed in grace, and brought safe by him, unto Him in glory. For lo, when you are brought to Heaven, you shall be blest, with full and endless love-communion, with the eternal Three-One! And oh, the infinite joy, that all the Three Divine Persons will take distinctly and jointly in your [65] eternal felicity! The innumerable multitude of the spirits of just men made perfect, will rejoice over you, to see you brought safe to partake with them in bliss of ineffable and eternal excellence! And the holy angels, in all their innumerable hosts, will rejoice over you, over you that was their time-charge, brought safe by them, instrumentally, as the fruit of their ministry to you, when in and out of the body, to be their eternal companion in glory, which, to us, is yet unknown! The whole Court will shout for joy, to see you as an heir, a possessor of glory! And oh, what peals of lofty praises, will then be rung through all the heavenly arches! Thus, the Three-One God, the whole triumphant church, and the innumerable company of holy Angels will give you a joyful welcome, into that blest abode of your eternal home; when once from this world’s tempestuous sea you reach the blissful port of eternal glory in Heaven. And for yourself, can you think what joy will then enter into your heart! Or rather, into what joy you will then enter, when call’d to enter into the joy of your Lord! Not only that joy which He will then give, but that likewise in which He himself lives! Oh, your admission into glory will be, in all respects, with exceeding joy!

         I felt great sympathy with you, when I read, “That you had but a poor night.” Oh, rejoice, that you are going to a rest, where night shall have no place! A glorious morning, for you hastens on, that shall know no gloom, nor have any evening! All is day, perfect, standing, undeclining day, in eternal glory! Your wearisome nights, as by-past things, will soon be over and gone. “The Lord God and the Lamb will be your light everlasting! You will then need no candle, neither the light of the sun: The Lord will arise upon you, and no more go down.” When once you possess the Creator’s infinite fulness, you will need no other creature, greater or less, to make up for you a full, ineffable, eternal happiness! God will be your all; and in Him, your joy, your glory, will be full, inconceivable, eternal! The radiant, ceaseless, enkindling shines of his glorious face, will fill you with immense and endless bliss! or rather, for an eternal fill of unknown endless bliss, you shall dwell in the Sun, in the God of glory, who, in his all-comunicating light and life, will be your sea of felicity, that is absoluately, infinitely immense!

         And mean time, in greatest griefs, the Lord, your everlasting friend, will give you sweet relief; and all the bitters which you taste shall make you relish, with the greater gust, glory’s ineffable sweetness! Your Jesus will be with you, as your sweet companion, in every step of your way, down to death, and up to glory: His mighty arm, his sweet bosom, you shall have to lean on, to rest in, until He gives you an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom! And soon your dear friends in Christ, you leave below, shall follow you; and the whole church militant, be joined with the church triumphant; and with Christ, and with each other, we shall all reign in life, for ever and ever; while our God will be our Glory, thro’ the circling ages of endless Eternity! – I commit you to the heart and arms of your own Lord Jesus: Great grace be with you, till great glory crowns you! – With the greatest tenderness,

                     I am, dear sister,

                                 Yours in Him, for ever,

A.    D.

Text: Divine and Moral, Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse. Containing many Valuable Originals, Communicated by various Correspondents, and other Pieces extracted from different Authors, and antient Manuscripts. The Whole being such a Collection of Miscellaneous Thoughts, as will tend not only to please, but enlighten and profit the Reader, Vol. 3 (London: Printed for J. Fuller, in Newgate-Street, London; and T. Luckman, in Coventry. 1763), pp. 63-65.