Page:The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A., late of Pembroke-College, Oxford, and Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Huntingdon (1771 Volume 2).djvu/209

 sense of the vanity and emptiness of all created good, you may, in a holy resentment, cry out,

''Be gone, vain world, my heart resign, For I must be no longer thine: A nobler, a diviner guest, Now claims possession of my breast!''

Then, and not till then, will your Ladyship's mind be at unity with itself. Then, and not till then, will your Ladyship, upon truly rational principles, with chearfulness wait for the approach of death, and the coming of the from heaven. It is faith in, a true and living faith in the Son of, that can alone bring present, real peace, and lay a solid foundation for future and eternal comfort. I cannot wish your Ladyship any thing greater, any thing more noble, than a large share of this precious faith: and a large, yea a very large share, is the glorious Redeemer ready to give to all that sincerely ask for, and seek after it. He waits to be gracious. He giveth liberally; he upbraideth not. When, like Noah's dove, we have been wandering about in a fruitless search after happiness, and have found no rest for the sole of our feet, he is ready to reach out his merciful hand, and receive us into his ark. This hand, honoured madam, is he reaching out to you. May you be constrained to give your heart entirely to him, and thereby enter into that rest which remains for the happy, though despised people of. But whither am I going? I forget that your Ladyship is indisposed, and I almost a stranger to you. I will only make this apology: "The love of constrains me." Hoping, therefore, your Ladyship will excuse the freedom I have here taken, I beg leave to subscribe myself, honoured madam,

Your Ladyship's most obliged humble servant, G. W.