of our household--the schoolmaster's
wife and our maid-servant, and how far it will go now, no one knows
but he who guides it by his sovereign will. My dearest Mary's
sufferings for four or five hours last night were great; she was quite
delirious, and her dear voice was so affected, that I could not make
out two words connectedly. How mysterious are God's ways! Oh my soul,
learn the lesson of patient submission to his holy will. I have cast
myself upon him and he will guide me. Dear Mary, to-day has been quite
insensible. It has indeed been a very painful day, but it is the
condition of this world. Dear spirit! her heart has been so set on her
Lord's coming of late, that it seemed quite to absorb her thoughts and
heart. And now she will quickly join the holy assembly that are
waiting to come with him. Surely such times as these, when the Lord is
taking a ripe shock of corn from your field, are seasons to rejoice
that your prayer for the quick accomplishment of the number of God's
elect has been heard, and yet how hard it is for nature not to feel
deep sorrow that a message has come for one of yours.

Poor dear Kitto and the little boys are now become the sole nurses of
the dear baby by night and by day. Oh, may the Lord watch over them
and bless them. My last night's attendance on my dear wife, leaves me
little hope of escaping the plague, unless it be our Father's special
will to preserve me, for in her delirium she required so many times to
be lifted from place to place, and to have all her clothes changed,
that I can now only cry to the Lord to preserve me, if it may be a
little while, for the dear children's sake.

The Lord has most graciously provided us with a servant of Mrs. T's.
to come and attend my dear Mary.[30] Oh may my soul bless him for this
timely help, just when our own servant was taken ill. This woman has
been in the midst of all the contagion, and has never taken it; so it
may be the Lord's will to shew how he can work even in the midst of
the darkest trials. She sits down beside the dear sufferer, keeps the
flies from her face, and does every thing for her the fondest heart
could desire. She came out with us from England, having gone there
with Mrs. T.; is a native of these countries, knows all that is
required in sickness, and how to perform the duties of a nurse, with
the most unwearied patience, tenderness, and watchfulness. She also
knows something of English, and having been with dear Mrs. T