LETTERS. 31i 



lives with his mother and sisters, at a snug little 



rectory about ten miles from Cambridge. So much for 

 castle building. 



TO MR 



L 



St John's, 15th Aug. 1866. 

 My good FraEND, 



I have deferred writing to you until my return from 



Mr 's, knowing how much you would like to hear 



from me in respect to that dear family. I am afraid 

 your patience has been tried by this delay, and I trust 

 to this circumstance alone as my excuse. 



My hours have seldom flowed so agreeably as they did 



at S , nor perhaps have I made many visits which 



have been more profitable to me in a religious sense. 



The example of Mr will, I hope, stimulate me to 



a faithful preparation for the sacred office to which I am 

 destined. I say a faithful preparation, because I fear 

 I am apt to deceive myself with respect to my present 

 pursuits, and to think I am only labouring for the honour 

 of God, when I am urging literary labours to a degree 



inconsistent with duty, and my real interests. Mr 



is a good and careful pastor ; my heart has seldom been 

 so full as when I have accompanied him to the chambers 

 of the sick, or have heard his aifectionate addresses to 

 the attentive crowd which fills his schoolroom on Sun- 

 day evening. He is so earnest, and yet so sober ; so 



wise, and yet so simple ! You, my dear R , are 



now very nearly approaching to the sacred office, and I 

 sincerely pray that you may be stimulated to follow after 

 the pattern of our excellent friend. You may have Mr 



's zeal, but you will need his learning and his 



judgment to temper it. Remember, that it is a work of 

 much more self-denial, for a m.an of active habits to sub- 

 mit to a course of patient study, than to suffer many 

 privations for Christ's sake. In the latter the heart is 



