er or remain
together. The love of you all in thinking of and caring for me
quite overwhelms me, as I see it to be the Lord's love in and
through you all. He not only feeds us in this wilderness, but
also provides for the school, so as to overwhelm me with a
sense of his care over the most unworthy of his servants. My
wonder is, how it is possible for me to love him so little.
Since I left England, this is the first purpose I really
thought desirable, that the want of sufficient money has put a
stop to; and this you see but for a moment; not but that I can
get money at any time, but I am determined not to borrow money
till my affairs come to the utmost straits, and then only for
the simplest necessaries.

I have received a letter from England, which gives me a painful
impression of the state of most of the religious societies.
Indeed, I fear they cannot stand on their present basis. May
the Lord gently lead them right. The spirit of compromise to
gain the world has ruined all; yet are there some sweet spirits
amongst them. I would rather have the love that could love
amidst a thousand faults, than the zeal that will endure but
one. Some, I know, would call this a sickly sort of feeling,
but the more I see of their fiery condemnation and sarcastic
scorn, the more I am sure it is not of Christ. It is only
turning the truth of God into a sort of chimney for the escape
of nature's pride and passion.

My second plan for going to Aleppo has been defeated by my
having heard a very bad account of the Arab Sheikh of the
Caravan. The Lord graciously gave me an opportunity of seeing
his true character before I was alone involved with him in the
desert, where, indeed, you are fearfully at their mercy, and
where they have so many means of oppressing you.

_Dec. 29._--How gracious it was of the Lord to send me your
letter, just before expense became inevitable, for either for
the journey, or for shutting up; you must expend money, as
during the time of the plague raging, you can obtain nothing,
not even bread, and, if you could, you would be afraid to use
it. What unspeakable peace it brings to the soul to have Jesus
to look to, and to know that his eye is not averted, though all
seems dark. Blessed doctrines of grace! how they comfort when