March 12th, 1871.
My Dear Miss——,-Evil news they say flies apace; but, thank God, through Christ, what man calls evil news has a side where God is found; and what is there which brought into the light of a risen and ascended Lord but may shine in His light?
It has pleased Him, verily, to permit me to be called upon to pay back a loan of His love to me. And the way in which He has wrought has been most merciful and pitiful, saying, as it were, to herself, If you know love, in that He laid down His life for you, do thou also lay down thy life for the brethren. This hindered its being an accident, as many call it. " My steps, thy steps " involves, and grows up out of, the privilege of having been made, through grace, one with Himself.
The reality that she is gone before remains, however, and through grace, by the Spirit, I justify Him in every step of the way, and cannot call it hard that He should have permitted her to go on high through nursing the sick.
I did not write to you sooner through pressure of duties. Mr.——died in the Lord on Saturday, at twelve, a very bright specimen of mercy. She is feeble, but happy in the Lord too. It is good to taste and feel the wilderness.
Love to all in the Lord, G. V. W.