"Bread and water are promised; nothing beyond these, though in general he gives more; to each he gives a portion in hand, to some for a day, some for a week, some for a year, which they calculate upon with more or less probability: none with certainty. Your portion is--for a year; take a view of those whom you know; one with another, I am inclined to think the Lord has still given you your full share of privilege. Look at the ordinary provision he makes for the ministers of his gospel, most of them with large families; many of those in the country have five hundred dollars, some four hundred, some three hundred, generally ill paid. The Lord puts a blessing in it, he makes it go far; they do what their hands find to do, and get along: so will he do with you, my dear. He will put you upon methods of industry and economy: your one chicken divided into six parts, with a little bit of pork, with the fruit of God's blessing on your industry in the garden, shall both taste sweet and satisfy for the time. Try to be thankful; Moses said of the manna, 'This is the bread which the Lord your God giveth you.' Pray and watch against dwelling on the plentiful tables of others; and when bidden to a feast take your portion, and say, this is from the Lord for the time. Do not let a thought of misery or wretchedness dwell upon your mind. O no, God is good; you shall not want. O, what sweet meals have I and my children made on hot potatoes, nicely boiled and cracked, with salt--not merely content, but they tasted good and savory. There are peculiar pleasures in a life of that kind. You shall yet sing of it.
"Now, my dear friend, I have done with what I had to say on this head. I have had great fears of wounding, lest you should reckon me among Job's friends; but you call me mother, and it is required of a mother to be faithful. I now leave it with the Lord. We are delighted to find you girding up the loins of your mind and setting about active duty. Let us meet at a throne of grace, and look to the course the Lord marks out for us."
"MY DEAR MADAM--I have just parted with my dear afflicted friend Mrs. C----; she left it in charge to me, that I should write to you in the time of your affliction. Surely I would do any thing whatever that I thought might alleviate either her or your distress. But there are cases to which God alone can speak; afflictions which he alone can console. Such are those under which the sufferer is commanded to be 'still and know that he is God.' He never leaves his people in any case, but sometimes shuts them up from human aid. Their grief is too great to be consoled by human tongue or pen.