My heart has been tenderly united to you, during all my bodily
sufferings. In proportion as the outward man has been reduced, God
seems to be more the life of my soul. Although the operations of God
upon your soul may be less marked than formerly, they are no less real.
There is a secret fire in your heart, which burns continually, although
imperceptibly. This keen and continual operation enfeebles you,
because it consumes so rapidly the more sensible and marked operations
of the soul. This is, I apprehend, your ordinary state; with
occasionally the unction of the oil of grace poured upon the concealed
fire, to give you a sweet and clear manifestation of the loving
presence of God.
You bear two marked results of the divine presence--interior
recollection, and a continual _amen_ in your heart; a true and just
response to all God's dealings with your soul.
I realise a very close union with you. This union is not in the
emotions, and not in the will of man, but in the will of God. It is a
union, from which I could no more separate myself, than from God; it is
a fulfillment of the prayer of our Lord, "that they may be one, as we
are one." It is a union which death cannot interrupt, but will
substantiate more and more fully in God.
Ever yours, in our Lord.