11th mo. 18, 1832

Dear Johns,

Tho not present with thee I have remembered thy affection and tender sympathy sincerely hoping that in this thou hast found an anchor for thy troubled mind, a savior in whom thou can trust believing that his wounds to heal and that he has pleased to awaken thee to a sense of the impurity of many things thee has indulged in and has perhaps as the woman Samaria testified of herself that she had “met with a man who had told her all things she had ever done in her life.”[1] What a favor to have thine eyes anointed not only to see men as trees walking; but to see men as they really are. Remember it is written “thus saith the Lord cursed be the man who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, but blessed is the man whose God is the Lord & whose hope the lord is.”[2] ….When with tears thee expressed the resolution thee had made, never to endeavor to shake the faith of any, also the solemn truth that what has passed could never be recalled – all that was capable of feeling within me was moved with gratitude. I rejoiced to find the tender feeling of a penitent mind. Mayest thou dear Johns never swerve from it, remember it was in the presence of a covenant-keeping God. Mayest thou turn from everything that may have a tendency to weaken thy faith, and cleave to that which will give thee strength until thou art enabled to say “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief (or guard me against temptation) if we believe not in him in whom the righteous of all ages of the world have then blessed how can we put our trust in him? If we trust not in him how can we be saved?” “Obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken is better than the fat of rams.”[3] If we hearken not to the righteous law of God which he in great condescension and marvelous love has written in the heart, seeing he hath not left himself without a witness, also to send his only son a ransom for many, that all through him may inherit eternal life, may we ever remember his mercies, and close in with the offers of his love, while time and opportunity is ours. Labor while it is today least [lest?] a night of dark apostacy overtake us wherein none can work. Remember it is written, “when the light in thee becomes darkness, how great is that darkness.”[4] Temptations we may have but let us bear in mind they are from the soul’s [illegible] enemy, who was a liar from the beginning. Let us not be overtaken by them tho ever so plausibly insinuated, believing the fruit thereof the bitterness of death.

When brought into that state wherein we are favored to see the true state of all terrestrial things. Oh! Thus the glory of this world and all its sublimary enjoyments are but as a bubble upon the water. And ourselves suspended, as it were, between earth and heaven, are ready to say lo the mountains fall on us and to the rocks hide us. Oh! Then it is we are prepared to say a Savior or I die, a Redeemer or I perish forever. And altho’ in this awakened state the heavens may appear as pass and the earth as pass of [illegible], a state wherein we can feel no good. Yet the lord may arise in his own time, for the help of all who put their trust in him. He will pluck them from the mire and clay, set their feet upon a rock, and establish their going. Will put a new song into their mouth [illegible] praises forevermore.

Mayest thou, Dear Johns bow in humility before him who in tender mercy has spared thy precious life, be willing to devote the remainder of thy days to his service. He is not an [sic] hard master nor an austere man; but he giveth liberally and upbraideth not. Thou hast been ardent in thy pursuits, mayest thou not relax in this all important point, the salvation of thy own soul, which must remain when thousand worlds are round. Evidencing by thy conduct amongst men that thou art a believer in faith and practice. Then will thee be a way mark to others, paving the way for an inheritance in that city whose walls are salvation and whose gates are praise, which needeth not the light of the moon, nor the light of the sun, for the Lord God and the Lamb is the light thereof.[5] Grant this may be thy happy experience is the ardent prayer of thy affectionate mother, who desireth no greater joy than to see her children walking in the truth.

Hannah Hopkins

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[1] John 4:29

[2] Jeremiah 17:5

[3] Samuel 15:22

[4] Matthew 6:22-23

[5] Isaiah 60:18

Mayest thou, Dear Johns bow in humility before him who in tender mercy has spared thy precious life, be willing to devote the remainder of thy days to his service.

-Hannah Hopkins to Johns Hopkins, 1832