Madeley, February 26, 1819.
My dear Armstrong,
IF I recollect right, I just alluded in my last to the very striking and
unexpected change which has taken place in my brother —. The more I
think of it the more am I filled with astonishment and gratitude. Had I
been required to select an individual, which, in my estimation, was the
least likely to become a trophy to the powerful grace of our Redeemer, —
would have been the person upon whom I should have fixed. The grace,
however, of his so long despised Lord has at length triumphed, and he now
delights to build up the faith which he once so malignantly endeavoured
to destroy.
You will readily conceive that I have derived no small encouragement from
these dealings of my gracious God with my dear brother. But the
encouragement has been greatly increased by the change which has recently
passed upon dear Tooi, one of my New Zealand guests. After they had set
sail for New South Wales, in the _Baring_, the ship struck against a
brake, and they were obliged to put again into port. During this
interval, Tooi was taken dangerously ill, and, in the estimation of all
who saw him, had not the least probability of recovery. This painful
visitation, however, to his poor body, seems to have been the means of
salvation to his soul. All the pious friends who surround him, speak of
the change as most unequivocal; and Mr. Hall, who attended them while
with me, and who is as far, as any one I know, from attempting to colour,
speaks in decided terms of the divine change which he has experienced.
Among other things in one of his letters, writing of Tooi, he says, “I
cannot help mentioning one of his simple speeches, which I think will
please you. ‘When I in New South Wales my heart no good: I come to
England, and hear the word of God, and, I think, O dear me, I want a new
heart; I begin to pray to Jesus to give me a new heart. In my own
country, I sin very much, and, when in South seaman, the sailors teach me
to curse and swear—miserable work. But the blood of Jesus runs down my
heart, and washes away my sins, and my heart feel comfortable and happy,
and I no fear to die. Believe in Jesus is the way to go up to heaven,
and be happy for ever with Jesus, and all Christian friends; (naming
many, and you and your’s amongst the number).’” O, my dear friend, how
blessed is true religion, and how touching is this simple account, which
shows, I think, that dear Tooi has become possessed of it.