_Philadelphia, Nov. 10, 1739._
_Dear Mrs. ――――_,
WHEN last abroad, I could not write to you for want of knowing your
name. Blessed be GOD we have since been better acquainted, and I now
know your name and place of abode. May the GOD, whom I desire to serve,
richly reward you for receiving me into your house. You were one of
my most constant hearers; may you be my joy and crown of rejoicing
in the day of the LORD JESUS. I trust ere now, you have felt, that
the kingdom of GOD does not consist in word, but in power. I know that
Mrs. ―――― would have me deal plainly with her soul; therefore I shall
not scruple to tell her, how I have sometimes thought she was not yet
clearly enough convinced of sin, and of the perfect righteousness
wrought out for, and to be imputed to her, by the LORD JESUS CHRIST,
through faith in his blood.――Since I have been on shipboard, blessed
be GOD, his name has made my soul to smart, and caused me to see more
of my own wretchedness. Oh, Mrs. ――――, you know not, neither do I
myself know as yet, what a mystery of iniquity is hid even in a heart
timely renewed. I saw a little of it the other day; and had I not
known my Redeemer liveth, and that he ever liveth to make intercession
for me, I must have sunk into despair:
_But there’s a voice of sovereign grace
Sounds from the sacred word;
Here ye despairing sinners come,
And trust upon the LORD._
May GOD of his infinite mercy so work upon you, that, at at the last
day, you may be found having on the wedding-garment! Was I to study
to eternity, I could wish you nothing better. May the ever-blessed GOD
say Amen to it. I hope your little daughters are in good health. Dear
Mrs. ――――, exhort them to renounce the lust of the eye and the pride
of life, and to abstain from all appearance of evil. I have a sincere
concern for you and yours, and with all possible thanks for your kind
presents and affection, I subscribe myself
Your sincere friend and servant in CHRIST,
_G. W._