A Letter To A Friend – September 20th, 1858
Dear friend,
For such I call you, though personally unknown; yet I trust we know by grace the same things, and therefore in that sense are known to each other in the things of God.
From your letter, you seem to have passed through a great deal of trial and temptation, but it has all been for the good of your soul—and I doubt not that you would not have one thing altered, when in your right mind, but can bless God for all your afflictions and trials, as well as your deliverances and manifestations. It is a great thing to know both sides of the question—both law and Gospel, misery and mercy, condemnation and salvation, trial and deliverance, the ups and downs, the ins and outs, of Christian experience; for “by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit” (Isa. 38:16). Without trials and afflictions, we soon settle upon our lees, and get at ease in Zion. The heart grows cold toward the Lord, prayer becomes a formal service or a wearisome task, the ministry of the Gospel is little prized, the Bible little read, and the company of God’s tried people little sought.
On the other hand, if there is no sweetness in the things of God, no dew upon the branch, no heavenly light and life felt within, no access in prayer, and no visitations of the Lord’s presence, religion becomes a very heavy burden, and the soul gets peevish, rebellious, and fretful, like a hungry child or a babe weaned from the mother’s bosom.
I am, Yours in the best Bonds,
J. C. P.
Jesus is LORD! 
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