hashbaz (‘Hasten-to-the-spoil,’ so-called), and the bundle of Cut Grass are grown somewhat strange to us! Read; and having sneered duly, consider
FOR MY WORTHY FRIEND OLIVER ST. JOHN, ESQUIRE, SOLICITOR-GENERAL: THESE, AT LINCOLN’S INN
Dear Sir,—I can say nothing; but surely the Lord our God is a great and glorious God. He only is worthy to be feared and trusted, and His appearances particularly to be waited for. He will not fail His People. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord!—
Remember my love to my dear brother H. Vane: I pray he make not too little, nor I too much, of outward dispensations:—God preserve us all, that we, in simplicity of our spirits, may patiently attend upon them. Let us all be not careful what men will make of these actings. They, will they nill they, shall fulfil the good pleasure of God; and we—shall serve our generations. Our rest we expect elsewhere: that will be durable. Care we not for tomorrow, nor for anything. This Scripture has been of great stay to me: read Isaiah Eighth, 10, 11, 14;—read all the Chapter.[1]
I am informed from good hands, that a poor godly man died in Preston, the day before the Fight; and being sick, near the hour of his death, he desired the woman that cooked to him, To fetch him a handful of Grass. She did so; and when he received it, he asked Whether it would wither or not, now it
- ↑ Yes, the indignant symbolic ‘Chapter,’ about Mahershalal-hashbaz, and the vain desires of the wicked, is all worth reading: here are the Three Verses referred to, more especially: ‘Take counsel together,’ ye unjust, ‘and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand. For God is with us.—Sanctify the Lord of Hosts; and let Him he your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary:—but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the Houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem! And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.’ This last verse, we find, is often in the thoughts of Oliver.
