iness had
felt before her, the strong attraction of this remarkable woman. While
never becoming to her what Fenelon was, Madame Guyon for several years
exerted a decided influence upon her views of the Christian life; nor
is there reason to think that this influence was not, on the whole,
salutary. Notwithstanding her grave errors and the extravagances which
marred her career, Madame Guyon was no doubt one of the holiest, as she
was certainly one of the most gifted, women of her own or any other age.
[1]

_To Mrs. J Elliot Condict, New York, Jan. 2, 1870._

It has been a real disappointment not to see you. How quickly we learn
to lean on earthly things! I am afraid I prize Christian fellowship too
much, and that I am behaving in a miserly way about all divine gifts,
shutting myself up here in this room, which often seems like the gate of
heaven, and luxuriating in it, instead of going about preaching the glad
tidings to other souls. Yet work for Christ, when He gives it, is sweet,
too, and if answering your note is the little tiny bit He offers me at
this moment, how glad I am. Though I am not, just now, in the furnace as
you are, there is no knowing how soon I shall be, and I remember well
enough how the furnace feels, to have deep sympathy with you in your
trials. Sympathy, but not regret; I can't make myself be very sorry for
Christ's disciples when He takes them in hand--He does it so tenderly,
so wisely, so lovingly; and it can hardly be true, can it? that He is
just as near and dear to me when my cup is as full of earthly blessings
as it can hold, as He is to you whose cup He is emptying?

I have always thought they knew and loved Him best who knew Him in His
character of Chastiser; but perhaps one never loses the memory of His
revelations of Himself in that form, and perhaps that tender memory
saddens and hallows the day of prosperity. At any rate, you and I seem
to be in full sympathy with each other; your empty cup isn't empty, and
my full one would be bitter if love to Christ did not sweeten it. It
matters very little on what paths we are walking, since we find Him in
every one. How ashamed we shall be when we get to heaven, of our talk
about our trials here! Why don't we sing songs instead? We know how, for
He has put the songs into our mouths. I think I know something about the
land of Beulah, but I don't quite _live_ in it yet; and yet what is this
joy if it isn't beatitude, if it is not a foretaste of th