Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-01-28
LETTER FROM JOHN RANDOLPH

S LETTER FROM JOHN RANDOLPH
A recent number of the Washington Uiuo
contains the following letter from the late Joh
Randolph, of Roanoke, written to his half bro
ther, the Hon. Henry st. John Tucker, and
is said, never before published. It will be rea
with interest:
, May he who has the power. and Away
the will, when earnestly, humbly and devo
itedly entreated, support and comfort you
/ my brother! I will not point you to thu
, treasure that remains to you in your suryiv.
ing children and their mother, dearer than
these put together. No; I have felt toe
deeply how little power have words that
play around the head to reach the heart
when it is sorely wounded. The common
places of consolation are at the tongues end
of all the self-complacent and satisfied, from
the pedant to the washer-woman. (They
who don't feel can talk Iabjure them all.
The father of Lord John Russell, when con-
doled with according to form by the book,
said, Il would not give my dead son for
any other mans living" '-'| a.,
May this thought come home to your bo-
som, too; but not on the same occasion. =
May the Spirit of God, which is not the
chimera Of heated brains, nor device of
artful men to frighten and cajole the credu-
lous, but is as much an existence that can
be felt and understood as the whispcrings
of your own heart, or the love you bore to
him you have lost-may the Spirit, which is
the comforter, shed his influence upon your
soul, and incline your heart and understand
ing in the only right way, which is that of
life eternal! Did you ever read Bishop
Buffers Analogy? If not, I will send it
to you. Have you read the Book? What
[ say upon this subject [ not only believe,
/ but know to be true-that the Bible. studied
with an humble contrite heart, never failed
to do its work, even with those who from
idosyncraey or disordered minds have con-
ceived that they were cut off from its pro-
misses Of life to come.
"Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye
shall find knock and it shall be opened un-
to YOU" This was nay only support and
stay during years of misery and darkness ;
and just as I had almost began to despair,
after more than two years Of penitence and
prayer, it pleased God to enable me to see
the -tsnths to which until then my eyes had
been sealed. 70 this vouch-safenent I have
made the most ungrateful returns. But I
would not give up my slender portion of the
price paid for our redemption ransom
Of sinners-of all who do not hug their
chains and refuse to come out from the house
of bondage say that IL would not exchange
my little portion in the Son of David for the
power and glory of the Parthian or Roman
Empire, as described by Milton in the temp
tation of our Lord and Saviour Of men.
This is the secret of the change of my
spirits, which all who know me must have
observed within few years past. After
years spent in humble and contrite entreaty
that the tremendous sacrifices on Mount
Calvary might not have been in vain for me,
the chief of sinners, it pleased God tospeak
in peace unto my heart-that peace of God
which passeth all understanding to them
that know it not, and even to them that do
And although [ have now, as then, to re-
proach myself with time misspent and facul-
ties misemployed; although my condition
has on more than one occasion resembled
that of him who, having one evil spirit cast
out, was taken possession of by seven other
spirits more wicked than the first ;, yet
trust that they, too, by the power and mercy
Of God, may be, if they are not ;vanquished.
But where am I running to? On this
subject more. Meanwhile, assure yourself
of what is of small value compared with that
Of those who are piece Of yourself of the un-
changed regard and sympathy of your mo-
theirs son. All! my God! I remember tc
have seen her die-to have followed her to
the grave-to have wondered that the sun
continued to rise and set, and the order Of
nature to go on. ..ssfa~ ~
But enough-and more than enough
can scarcely guide my pen I will, how
ever, add that no lukewarm seeker ever be-
came real Christian, '.from the days oi
John the Baptist until now, the kingdom ot
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
taketh it by force text which read five
hundred times before had the slightest
conception of its true application. e
Your brother. J. r. OF ROANOKE.
~Pleasure, in general, is the appre-
hension of suitable object, suitably applied