Your choicest mercies!

(Letters of John Newton)

My dear friend,
I sympathize with you in all your trials. But if the Lord is pleased to make them subservient to the increase of your sanctification, to wean you more and more from this world, and to draw you nearer to Himself — you will one day see cause to be thankful for them, and to number them among your choicest mercies!

A hundred years hence — it will signify little to you, whether you were sick or well the day I wrote this letter.

I am truly and always, your affectionate friend,
John Newton

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it!" Hebrews 12:11