Smyrna times., 1858-09-16
Nj | S c ClILI.ANJ II O u S
Original and Characteristic Letter Of
John Randolph, Of Roanoke.

original and Characteristic Letter Of
John Randolph, Of Roanoke.
The following letter, hitherto unpublished,
has been communicated to the WASHINGTON
! Union by Rev. S. Tu,tn. 1t is from John
Randolph to his haltbrother, Hon ii ST. Tuck.
! cT:
TIE LETTER.
May lie who has the power, and always the
VIII when earnestly, Iumbly and devotedly en-
treated, support and comfort you, my brother /!
VIII rot point to you the treasures that re-
maln to you in your surviving children, and
Their mother, dearer than these pat torether-
NO! nave tct too deeply how little power
nave words that play round the head to reach
the heart, when sorGly wounded. The com.
monpaces of consolation are at the tongues
end of all the selt-complacent and satisfied.
from the pedant to the washerwoman. (They
who don't feel can tak) abjure them all
The father of Lord Russell, when cundocd
with according to form, by the book, said, 81
would not give my dead son for my mans Iiy-
ing May this thought come home TO your
| bosom, to; but not on the same occasion. NAV
the Spirit Of God, which is not chmera of
heated brains, nor a device of arttul men to
| tr1ghten and cajoe the creduous, but is as much
an existence that can be felt and understood as
The whispering of your own heart, or the love
you bore 10 him that you have lOst-may the
SPIRIT, which is the comforter, shed his infiu-
| ehce upon your soul, and incline your heart a nd
understanding 10 the only right way, which is
that OF life eternal Did you ever read Bishop
Buffers analogy! II not, will send it to YOU.
Have you read the book What say on this
subject | not only believe, but know to be
truc-that the Bible, studied with an humble
and conrte heart, yet failed to do its work,
even with those who from idoSyncrasy or dis
ordered minds have conceived that they were
cut off from its promises of life to come.
"Ask and ye shall receive; seek and We
shall tind knock and it shall be opened unto
you" This was my only support and stay du-
ring years of misery and darkness and Just as
! had almost begun To despair, after more than
ten years of pentence and prayer, it pleased
God to enable me to see the truth to which, un-
iii then, my eyes had been sealed. To this
vOuchsafement have made the most ungrlte-
ful returns. But | would not give upmy slen-
der portion of the price paid for our redemption
yes, my brother, our redempton-the ransom
OF sinners-of all who do not hug their Chains
and refuse TO come out of the house Of bondag ge
| say that would nor exchange my little por-
tlun In the son of David for the power and glory
of the Partition Of Roman empires, described by
Milton in the temptation Of our Lord and Sa-
vi0ur, not for all with which the enemy tempted
the Saviour Of men.
This is the secret of the change of my spirits
which all who knew me must have observed
within few years past. After years spent in
humble and conrie entreaty that the tremen-
dous sacrifice on Mount Calvary might not
have been in vain for me, the chiefest of sinners,
1t pleased God TO speak His peace unto my
heart-that peace of God which passeth all un-
derstanding to them that knoweth it not and
even to them that do. And, although have
now, as had then, to reproach myself with time
mlspent, and faculties misempIoyed; although
my condition, Oh mere than one occasion, has
rescmbed that of h.m who, having one evil
spirit cast cut, was taken possession Of by seven
other spirits, more wicked than the first, yet
trust that they, too, by the power and mercy oi
God, may be, If they are not, vanquished.
But where am running to. On this subject
more hereafter Meanwhile, assure yourself
of what is of small value compared with that O
those who are piece of yoursell:-of the IN
changed regard and sympathy Of your mothers
son. All! my God remember to have seen
her die--to have followed her to the grave-to
have wondered that the sun continued 10 rise
and set, and the order of nature to go on.
: But enough-and more than enough-I car
scarcely guide my pen. | will, however, add
that no lukewarm seeker ever be comes rca
Christian, = from the days of John the Baptist
the Kingdom of Heaven suliereth by violence
j and the violent aketh it by force "a tex
f which | read five hundred times before hat
the slightest conception of its true application
Your brother,
J. r., OF RoANoAKE.