LETTER 16

[To a Friend.] London, 1821.

Dear Friend,

Whatever may be your thoughts, where you are to settle and how to manage your business, they ought to rim in this channel - "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." While I make business first, I find "death in the pot;" everything goes counter, and I am as lifeless as a post; but when I am earnestly seeking for a better portion, and eternal things are uppermost, then I consider by what means God will preserve this spiritual life, and what steps will be most conducive to it; whether a distant country, where no fellowship with the saints is found, no sound of the gospel is heard, no affliction with the people of God suffered, but plenty of business, and plenty of admirers, and a soul as dark and as dry as a potsherd; or to be content with the daily manna, watching the hand of God, living with his people, and, like Ruth of old, saying, Let nothing prevent me following the people of God - "Thy people shall be my people, thy God my God; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." So let all your plans and pursuits be, and so shall they have an happy issue.

Yours faithfully, J. B.

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