Chapter XXXIII: Letter XXXIV: Valley of Achor, April 4th, 1819

Mrs. LAWSON,

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

With grief of heart I have to inform you, that poor Dean is appointed to die on Thursday morning. This is a most distressing circumstance, as I know the poor fellow entertained a hope that it would be proved an act of insanity. My feelings will be sorely distressed, as I shall have the pain to hear his poor trembling footsteps on the scaffold. May God prepare his soul, and assure him of his interest in Christ. May he feel the pardoning love of God—this will be as pillars of marble, to support his sinking heart. Oh that he may be washed in the dear Redeemer’s blood, and clothed with his righteousness, that he may be accepted of the Father the moment the soul quits the body. Glad should I be to visit him, and pray with him, but that is not allowed. Last night I was very low about him, and suddenly opened upon the 37th Psalm, The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. If his last letter to me was genuine, he is saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation. His soul is every thing now, the body will soon be lifeless. Solemn thought, affecting idea—to be cut off by an untimely death, in the height of health and manhood! How truly awful; what has sin done, and Oh how great is the power of Satan. The Lord will put an end to the empire of Satan, and confine him down to darkness, fire, and chains, and we shall say Amen to Satan’s sentence. I trust poor Dean has found mercy at the hands of God. Various letters I have sent him, and glad I am the Lord enabled me to point him to the bleeding cross. His first letter to me, was a proof his mind was very dark, and his last letter proves his increase in light and faith; if the Lord has thus blessed my poor letters to him, you and I can see that I was not sent here in vain. It is well, the Lord has many means to bring his children to the knowledge of the truth. What God did to Pharaoh, and his host, reached the ear of Rahab the harlot, in Jericho, and she was converted. The fame of Solomon’s wisdom was heard in the country of the Sabeans, and proved the conversion of the queen of Sheba. The wonderful destruction of the Assyrian army, reached to Babylon, from thence came the wise men to worship Christ, and a church was formed there. A famine drove Naomi from Bethlehem, and she carried the knowledge of the true God to the country of Moab, which proved the conversion of Ruth. The Syrians invaded Israel, and took a little maid captive, which terminated in the conversion of Namaan. A famine drove Elijah to a widow at Zidon, and Elisha’s passing by a house at Shunem, proved their conversion. Paul and Silas were taken up, and put in prison, and Onesimus was confined in the same place for felony, and Paul was the means of his conversion there. A person swore that against me which I knew nothing about, and I was doomed to this place for a time. I dread the approach of Thursday, the shock will be great, but it will be soon over; and then, O what a transition—what bliss will his spirit feel, and what gratitude to God for bringing him home from an ignominious death, to eternal life. I have been informed Mr. Hyat, of the Tabernacle, visited him several times, and those visits have been blessed to his soul. I find faith and patience wants strengthening, but all fullness is in Christ. I am glad prayer is making in the Church for Mr. D.

Ever your’s,
_Ruhamah_.