joys, sorrows, converse, and conduct too are changed: Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. This is conversion; and I trust you have experienced something of it, and that it will be more and more evident to your mind every day. "DEAR SISTER, "Your affectionate brother, "THOMAS SCOTT." To Mrs. Webster, Leicester. "Chapel Street, March 16, 1796. "IN the midst of my urgent and numerous employments, I cannot be satisfied without writing a few lines to assure you that I am very glad to hear from you, and of your welfare; though a variety of circumstances concur in making me a worse correspondent than formerly. In general I find my writing so much injures my health, and wears down my spirits, more than all my other exertions: yet I have great reason to think that I am far more useful in this line than in any other; and am therefore reluctant to slacken my hand in that respect: for to be in some measure useful, in a mischievous world, seems the only end for which life is desirable, when a man has got a good. hope through grace of happiness in a future state. "My brother writes long letters to you about peace, war, and politics: to me he does not write more than once or twice a year, at most, and very short letters. Indeed I do not wish him to write to me about such things as you mention; for our sentiments would not coincide, and I have little hope of convincing him. I fear these speculations are a very great snare to him, and greatly prevent his attention to the one thing needful, both in respect of himself and his family: and, at last, were he ever so right, his opinions, reasonings, or disputings, will sway just nothing with those that have and will have the management of public affairs. I have no doubt that rulers of all sorts are, and always have been, too propense to war: and, when Í am made privy counsellor, or even preaching chaplain to his Majesty, his ministers, or the parliament, I will tell them my opinions on those subjects. Till then I may as well hold my tongue; except as I declare general truths from the pulpit and the press. Yet, after all, I question whether either I or he, if we were constituted dictators, would know how to get out of the present war, without ensuring a worse; and it is easier to find fault, or give directions, than it would be to realize our own rules, in the circumstances referred to. It would therefore be far better for us to take notice of the hand of God lifted up against a guilty nation, than to quarrel with instruments of any kind: and to consider our own ways, confess our own sins, and pour out our prayers for deliverance and peace, than to speculate on other men's conduct, who have reasons for doing what they do, which we are not aware of. I have enough to do in this way; and therefore I am no party man: but I am confident that, could the more respectable opposition men get into power, they would be forced to carry on the plans of the present ministry in many things, for a time, under the varnish of some new coloring: and, as to the revolutionists, as I love peace, I say, From such men, good Lord, deliver us! The best way is to pray God to give our rulers wisdom and grace, and to do our duty in our station; and to leave the rest to the Lord." "Chapel Street, March 21, 1797." After noticing the death of a distant relation:-"I have grown more backward of late to obtrude myself on company where I suspect I am not wanted; and my mind is so conversant with thoughts of eternity, that I am much pained when I see those, who in some respects are dear to me, in a condition which I deem most perilious; especially if I can find no opportunity of trying to set them right. Such intercourse therefore I decline as painful and useless......Sometimes we accuse ourselves needlessly, when in fact we have done all that we could with propriety." I insert this passage because there are minds which need the relief it may afford them. In general, however, it may be feared, our dangers lie on the opposite side, which is much the worse extreme of the two: we feel too little, and attempt less than we might do "with propriety:" and much would I deprecate, as the writer also would have done, any abuse of the passage to soothe a selfish remissness of this kind. A letter is inserted in the Life,* addressed to Mrs. Webster when she was threatened with the loss of her second and only remaining daughter: the following was written when this loss had actually occurred. *Pages 233, 234. "DEAR SISTER, To Mrs. Webster, Leicester. "Chapel Street, July 20, 1797. language, the sentiand yet I am not will "I CAN only repeat, in other ments contained in my wife's letter; ing (though much engaged and rather indisposed,) to let the parcel go off without a few lines. Were I to view the event, of which your last letter gave us information, in an abstract manner, apart from those feelings which have their use in this world, I should consider it as peculiarly joyful, and matter of congratulation. You are exceedingly honored, and your children highly favored, nor could more have been wished for on their account; though we might have been desirous of their living in this world, as in a prison, in order to recommend the clemency and the service of their reconciled Lord to their fellow sinners, and in various ways to be useful to others. Yet, after all, you are bereaved, and nature must grieve; and even grace will only moderate and regulate your sorrow, without extinguishing it. I trust, however, you will not give way to the romantic kind of impatience called indulging grief; which, in reality, differs little from Jonah's saying, I do well to be angry even unto death. Even when the Lord, in his righteous sovereignty, takes from us those who are dear in the bonds of nature, but of whose future condition we cannot but entertain many uneasy apprehensions, submission is our bounden duty; and prayer for grace to enable us to submit, our proper business; with all other suitable means of turning the thoughts to other subjects, and from that which can only distress and tempt us, without any possibility of altering the divine appointments, which are doubtless wise, holy, and righteous, however they may appear to us. But, when we are deprived of those concerning whom we have scriptural confidence that they sleep in Jesus, the grieving of nature is so counterpoised by the joy of hope, that it may be expected, after a while, that we should not only submit to the will of God, but feel ourselves peculiarly thankful for such special mercies. When I think of the unnumbered dangers with which the world abounds, and the very small proportion of young persons who are seriously disposed; I think also with great satisfaction of the three children that I have lost, and who, I verily believe, are now in heaven: and though, for the sake of others, I rejoice perhaps more sensibly on account of some that survive, yet there is an anxiety and deduction felt there, from which the joy on the other account is free. Yet, at the time, I felt the loss, especially of one, very painfully. And, indeed, I can hardly conceive that we should be properly stimulated to do our duty to our children, if we had not that kind of affection for them which makes the loss very painful, though our best judgment sees abundant cause for gratitude. Your case, it is true, will necessarily be attended with peculiar sensations; as you have lost your companion as well as your child...... Yet you may hope for peculiar supports: and I doubt not that, in time, the grace and consolations of God will soothe your sorrows, and a sort of melancholy sweetness will remain, seriously pleasing, frequently engaging your reflections, and issuing in grateful praises, and anticipation of that joyful meeting we are taught to expect with our relatives who have departed in the Lord. Your pain and anguish will gradually decrease; your satisfaction and gratitude increase continually.......We shall be glad to see you, and do every thing in our power for your solace and comfort. I send a few books which I have lately published. One copy you will give, with my love, to Mr. Robinson, and dispose of the others as you have opportunity. "I remain, with great sincerity, "THOMAS SCOTT." 5. LETTERS TO A NIECE (HIS BROTHER'S DAUGHTER) WHO HAD SPENT SOME TIME AT OLNEY. "DEAR NIECE, 1787-1788. "Chapel Street, January 27, 1787. "I SUPPOSE my sister* has received before this time a pretty long letter, which I sent a few days before we received the parcel. I was indeed too dilatory in answering; but I had many peculiar hindrances. I was just at that time engaged about a sermon that I have lately published, which was occasioned by many unpleasant circumstances, and produced me considerable employment. Truth in all things, and especially in divine things, lies in the middle between the extremes; but either extreme may accommodate the pride and lusts of men. Therefore men are fond of extremes, and when a man is reduced from one he is naturally prone (like the pendulum,) to vibrate as far into the other. Thus high churchmen sometimes vibrate into stiff dissenters, self-righteous pharisees into antinomians, and confident arminians into rigid Calvinists. This is human nature. But true grace disposes a man to caution. Under the divine teaching, he trembles at every step lest Satan should seduce him: he recedes from his principles in general gradually, and always with some degree of moderation: and values no notions further than he experiences their influence on his heart and conduct. this observation introduce my subject. Let "My lot has been for some time, in this contentious age, so to steer between the disputing parties, as to be obnoxious to both, and pleasing to neither. The churchmen dislike me because I condescend so far to the dissenters; *See above, p. 53. "On Election and Final Perseverance:" see Life, p. 164. |