How vainly have I sought in things beneath
To place a confidence, which faithless earth
Can never recompence! O firmly fix
My soul on joys above the smiling skies;
Let Jesus' love inspire, and fill my heart.

God bless my dear companion. Settle and fix his affections on
Thyself,--the supreme good. Let every faculty of his mind be at Thy
command.

"1808. Twelve o'clock at night. Lord, my mind aspires heavenward. Let
heaven, I beseech Thee, come into my soul. Let the radiance of Thy
love fill me with light and life divine. Give me sensibly to feel and
know, that Thou art reconciled to me, without Thy grace, effectually
undone. I feel something within my heart, is it the effect of Thy
love? If it is, let it more powerfully affect my soul, that I may live
in constant readiness to take my flight to yon bright realms above.
But is that bliss prepared for me? O let me feel it. This afternoon my
brother Richard died. Alas! how uncertain are all sublunary things!
He was just entering life, and lo! he is snatched away. Surely the
all-wise 'I AM' saw evil gathering, and kindly removed him to a
happier clime, safe from impending danger. Well, my Richard is gone;
while I, four years older, am yet alive. Mercy, that took him, spares
me with the same gracious design; 'not willing that any should perish,
but that all might have everlasting life.' May that blessed end be
answered in my poor soul, which without Thy enlivening presence feels
an 'aching void' which the whole world cannot fill.

"This day has been a day of affliction, but it drives me to the Lord.
My dear husband and children are entwined about my heart. Lord, help