7 Oct 1777
Honored Father
York Saturday Evening
I had wrote to my Sister before her Letter
came to me , but had not Time to open my Letter again: I
should have been more concerned at the Account of your
Accident , but that I hope you are now {^spiritually}
enjoying the Benefit
of it , and thankfully acknowledging the Lord's Hand in preventing
it from being a fatal one and supporting you under it. You
have now a God to fly to in the Day of Trouble who for so
many Years lived without God in the World. What a
comfortable Thought is this! The least knowlege of your
Relation to God ought to give you rich Consolation , and
make you wonder at his distinguishing Grace. I sometimes
think it is too good News to be true that we are so many
of us delivered from the Snare of the Devil who were led
Captive by him at his Will , and that the Father has bestowed
such Love upon us to make us his Sons and give us the
Promise of Heaven ; yet I trust it is so. May we grow in the
knowledge of it daily - grow in Grace and in the knowlege of
Jesus Christ. We make poor Returns for all these Mercies ; let us
pray daily that we may walk worthy of our high Vocation &
be saved from the Power as well as the Guilt of our Sins.
It is said (Ecclcesiastes 7.14) " In the Day of Prosperity
" rejoice, but in the Day of Adversity consider;" God also hath set
"the one over against the other." I hope that in this Day of
Adversity and bodily Affliction the End of it will be
answered
in you : that you will be enabled to consider the Evils
of your
Heart and Life and the Reasons why such a Visitation may be necessary , and to humble yourself before God. A Sick Bed

is the proper place for the Exercise of Repentance ; it is a
Grace
which ought then peculiarly to be put forth : the Body is
more
mortified and humbled, and the Soul brought to Juster
Views of
Itself and God , and more near ones of the invisible World : if
improved, it is a happy Season for getting solid
establisment in
Christ, and strengthening us with might by his Spirit in the
inner man - May it be sanctified to you and (in the Words of
our
excellent Church Prayers) " add Strength to your Faith and
Seriousness to your Repentance."
With me it is at present a Day of Prosperity with regard to
outward providences. I am in prospect of being most
agreeably
settled for Life , and the Lord has dealt so bountifully with me
and brought my Concerns to so happy a Conclusion, that
I cannot at this Moment think of any one Thing which I can
wish for to be different from what it is - surely the Consequence
should be that I ought to rejoice: to enjoy with
thankfulness
those Covenant Mercies , and to rejoice in God as
the Giver
of them: but I am ashamed to own that they seem to have
a
contrary Effect. I have often been more thankful and
spiritual
when outward providences were more disagreeable and {^when} I laboured
under Crosses. I find a tendency to rejoice in the Gifts rather
than the Giver. It is therefore a more dangerous Season to
me than to you, and I beg your Prayers and those of my
Friends at this Juncture that my Soul may not be [?insured]
and that my rejoicing may be a Christian and not a carnal
one. Those Days of Prosperity and Adversity, as to worldly
Things, are set one {^over} against the other ; they
keep constantly
succeeding one another - You, I hope, will soon be bless'd with
returning Health and Comfort. I may soon in the State of
Life I am entring upon be exercised with Afflictions Cares
and

Crosses - or we may both or one of us be summoned into the
World of Spirits and have our Lot cast for ever -One Thing is
needful -
an Interest in Christ- an abiding in him. & Lord strengthen and increase
it in each of us & teach us in all these Changes & Chances to count all
Things but Loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of him
I should be glad of a Line from if it suits you to
write- Miss Hopwood and I both need an Interest in your
Prayers; at this Time when we should be the most diligent
in waiting upon God to prepare us for our important Changes, we
have little opportunity together and many Things to call our
Attention to of a worldly kind. The Lord I trust supports
her more than me, but we both are in need of help.
I mentioned to my Sister the Day on which I hoped
we should join Hands -There are many Things to do, but
I trust they will be finished; I shall write again to some of you before that Day if it please God. We can fix nothing
about seeing you till after we get settled a little.
Mr Hopwood gives me £300 in hand - there will be some
- thing further when he dies, and he has too great a Regard for
his Daughter not to make her equal with his other Daughters -
which is all I desire. £200 of this will serve to buy furniture
and the rest to answer my present Occasions. I shall have £300
1 think owing or coming in from the Partnership Business, and I hope
the future profits of it will more than maintain my Family;
therefore I shall have a Fund out of which I hope always to
assist you with any Thing you want, and I would not have
you touch any little Matter you have out at Interest but let it
stay -If it be agreeable to you, I should wish you to make a Will
and give your Property in the Keyingham House and your Personel Effects to my Sister, as I always meant them for her Benefit in
Case I had any Thing to do with them ; but you will want
admitting Tenant to the House before you can surrender it to the
use of your Will, and as I hope we may live to meet shortly
those Matters may be settled then - With my Prayers & Wishes
for your Soul's Health I remain- Your affectionate Son
WillGray Jun