er to Dr. Mason, that my
son has been seized by the press-gang. Through God's help, he
escaped; but all his assortment of necessaries that his sisters and
I made up with so much care, labor, and expense, they have carried
off, and he is once more left naked. Satan and a corrupt heart unite
in tempting me to complain. Dare I utter a word or harbor a
murmuring thought? Would I withdraw the blank I have put into the
Redeemer's hand? Has he not hitherto done all things well? Have not
my own afflictions been my greatest blessings? Have not I asked for
my children their mother's portion? Has not God chiefly made use of
afflictions as means of hedging me in, and shutting me up to my
choice of this portion, as well as showing me that He is a
sufficient portion without any other? When matters have been at the
worst with me as to this world, my triumphs in God have been
highest, and prospects for eternity brightest.

"Has the Lord given me in some measure victory over the world? Do
its honors, riches, and gaudy splendor appear to me empty and vain,
and not worth an anxious thought? Does provision of food and raiment
by the way through this wilderness seem all that is necessary? and is
it my wish, as well as form of prayer, that the Lord may give that in
kind and degree which he sees fittest for me? And shall I covet that
for my child which I despise for myself? Alas, Lord, it is because he
feeds not on better things, and sometimes I fear he has no better
portion. Still, still foolish. Was it when I was full, or when in
want, that I returned to my heavenly Father? Do I desire, have I asked
and persisted in asking for my children, salvation from sin and self?
Do I anxiously wish them to reach and to surpass my present measure of
submission and resignation to thy will--to enjoy God in all things,
and nothing without him? And shall I, dare I complain when I see the
Lord making use of the same means which first brought me to myself,
and recovered me also from numberless backslidings since I first
tasted the blessedness of his chosen?

"Lord, I renew my blank. I afresh roll them all over upon thee. I
will try to look on, in the faith that all things shall work together
for good to their souls, and that I shall yet see the day, or if I see
it not, that it will come, when they shall bow at thy footstool, sink
into the open arms of thy mercy in Christ, melted down in holy,
humble, acquiescing, cordial submission to thy severes