ENPages
I could not venture to meddle with a wound, for which I could offer no healing balm, - I felt for you dear William, and prayed for you, God knows, but I did not offer any condolence, well knowing you were surrounded by tender and sympathising friends. - But if what I hear is correct, that dark cloud has poured down on your soul the gracious promise of a rich harvest, to Gods [sic] glory, and your own steadfast happiness - The little Angel taken from your bosom, is now fulfilling its high vocation, - the minister of our Saviors [sic] love. She wound herself around your heart, only that she might use that cord of love to draw you to the Cross of Christ -
Oh William, can you regret the brief separation from her, when you think of her mission of love? When you realize, how she has been taken in her tender innocence from the inevitable sorrows of life, & translated without fear or remorse, to the sinless world whither she is leading you -
What can equal the Almighty love to us! how constantly the Savior knocks at our hearts, softly and kindly, showering down blessing after blessing, to melt us into gratitude; till [sic] at last, no other warning heeded, He recals [sic] one of our chosen comforts, back to Himself, and while the wound is bleeding, pours the "balm of Gilead" there! Do you note above all things, recognize this
wonderful love? - or are you yet suffering only from His power?
Oh dear William, how happy I should be to hear from you, or see you - among the redeemed Spirits of the just, how our dear Mother must rejoice over you, the "child of many prayers" - Even if I did not love you so well, dear William, I should rejoice that the "good Cause" had gained so able a soldier - you cannot but be manly & sincere in whatever you undertake, and one such, enlisted under Christs [sic] banner, has a wonderful, though perhaps a silent influence - To love God supremely, & for His sake, our fellow creatures, seems a simple rule, but grace alone can enable us to follow its precepts and that is the gift of the
[top right, in pencil] [4 June 1853] [5]
Holy Spirit - If by prayer, and self-communion, by watchfulness and a cheerful confidence, we willed nourish this root of faith in our own souls, we need not fear, but that it will bring forth its outward & visible sign - But it seems to me, and always I have thought the same, that - with few exceptions, the most exemplary Christians begin the wrong way - they bestow all their pains-taking, on the fair fruit, that ripens in the sun, instead of cultivating the roots which lie hid from every eye far down in the soul - too often the germ of faith & love divine, perishes for want of culture -
[written sideways, on left of page, from bottom to top] Goodbye --- Your loving friend, - G.H. Clinch-
Religion to do us any good here or hereafter must be a principle - the main-spring of every thought feeling or action, - and perhaps the best test, of this, is our love for our fellow creatures - at least I found it so - nothing but God's grace, effectually changing the heart could make us take an interest, in creatures whom we have been accustomed to think of with contempt a perfect indifference - there is a tie, that binds a Christian to all Gods [sic] creatures, so strong, so superhuman, that none but one who has felt it, can believe in -
[written sideways, on left of page, from bottom to top] Dont [sic] show my letter to any one but Hannah -