Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/250

240 wine, and the nutritious bread; in short, in a thousand million examples, with which nature so liberally abounds. Indeed we should seldom be unhappy, did we more constantly realize the presence of a redeeming God. I admire the candour of your mind, which is ever stepping forth, as the advocate of your friends, although I may occasionally drop from that stand in your friendship, which it would be my pride to maintain; it is a persuasion, which I can never relinquish, that the wanderings of my heart may be reclaimed in an instant. Your letters are present with me, they are under my pillow; I bind them to me as phylacteries, and I attentively watch for a moment of leisure, to acknowledge them. Murray, should you pass out of time before me, I should experience some exquisitely painful sensations. O! may you be for a long, long time to come, invulnerable to the shafts of disease; yet why should I wish to turn the dart, that will give you passport to a life of bliss and immortality! You who agonize at the present state of existence. No, let me neither accelerate, nor retard, even by a wish, that period of humanity, but invoke our common Father that we may be strengthened by the way, and with faith and patience quietly wait the expected release."

"Your letter, my dear Murray, is like a great magazine, full of instruction and entertainment. Were I to attempt to give it due and just consideration, I should write a volume, and probably not succeed at last. You say, and I believe it, that we shall be built up again upon a superior principle. The world is so involved in the wicked one, that I am really glad to find any one willing to allow the goodness of God, in any view; it is at least one step toward a just way of thinking. I pray you to be content with your present standing, you are too infirm to visit far from home; where you speak, you are heard by many strangers, who enter your Capital, whom you know not, but who hear, and know you; so I think your station is clearly pointed out, to which you do well to adhere. I regret exceedingly, that I cannot attend your expositions of the ceremonial Law, in which I understand you are engaged. Those laws are a deep and rich mine of instruction. The Scriptures are, like a great ; their action is , the of a. The subordinate parts evidently point to the great and captain of our salvation. Go on, my dear Sir, and may you be the means of bringing many sons to glory. Allow me to say, you ought to write more frequently; your diligence and activity are well known to me, but it seems incumbent upon you to give to the world your explanations of the sacred writings. Yes, I repeat,