490. EBB to Hugh Stuart Boyd
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 104–105.
Sidmouth.
Friday. [31 October 1834] [1]
My very dear friend,
With a sad & deep feeling of sympathy I heard scarcely two hours ago of the heavy affliction which it has pleased God to press upon your heart; and I cannot rest—I cannot do anything, until I try to say what is in my heart towards you and your dear afflicted Annie. [2] Yes! I have done one thing. I have prayed for you. —It has pleased God. Oh may it please Him also to manifest His consolation where He has manifested His power—that His love may be nearer to you and more dear than even that earthly love whose shining He has darkened to your eyes for a little while.
My ever dear friend! I have been so shocked, so grieved. I did not know—I never supposed, that the indisposition was dangerous—& likely to end thus. Perhaps—may it in God’s mercy have been so!—you & dear Annie were in a measure prepared for the termination of a suffering painful for you to witness. I wish you had told me how dear Annie was, & how you were. You will write to me again—will you not?—and say how you are.
You ask me an affecting question. Dear friend, I will answer it as well as one can whose unworthiness has been to her as a cloud over the face of God—& who, of all the attributes of God, knows most of His mercy. It appears to me then—indeed it does—that the exclamation “Precious Jesus” ought not to be remembered by you as a mere ejaculation—that it ought to be precious to your memory. Whether those words were or were not uttered in answer to prayer, there was a striking connection between them & your petition,—and it does appear to me that you would “grieve” the Divine Spirit who made “supplication in you” [3] & who is the Spirit of ‘all Grace,’ by rejecting the comfort to your grief, involved in those words. One thing is certain, God permitted you to hear of those words being uttered. Why did He do so, unless for your comfort? Therefore I do beseech you to receive the comfort which He has sent you,—remembering also the relation between those words, & some uttered in the Spirit, by the Apostle Peter—“to you who believe He is precious.” [4] Oh! may He have been very very precious to dear Mrs Boyd as to one who believed,—when her heart & flesh were failing! May He be very very precious now, to her freed & sanctified soul!——
How merciful He is! You see, my ever dear friend, time was given—suffering first—an alleviation of pain afterwards; and then came the name of Jesus from her lips, and as a precious name! How merciful God has been to give you that to think of. It could not have been a mere ejaculation!
I wish I could be near you and dear Annie, at this moment. If it were possible, do not doubt that I would. It is consoling to me to hear Mrs Varley’s name, & of her being likely to assist & to cheer you. When you are able to think & write of your plans, do let me hear of them. But even before they are formed, let me hear of you.
Dear Annie! Give my kindest love to her! I feel for her so deeply, & know so well what she has lost. For yourself—remember that I am not only sympathising with you, but praying for you. May God bless & comfort you both. After “the earthquake”, comes the “still small voice” [5] —and that voice says, as the dying voice so dear to you, said—“Precious Jesus”. [6]
Believe me
Affectionately yours
E B Barrett.
Address, on integral page: H S Boyd Esqr / 21 Charlotte Street / Portland Place / London.
Publication: Weaver, pp. 411–412.
Manuscript: Huntington Library.
1. This letter was postmarked 2 November 1834, which was a Sunday. The preceding Friday was 31 October.
2. Mrs. Boyd had died earlier in the month at her brother’s house in London.
3. Cf. Isaiah, 45:14.
4. I Peter, 2:7.
5. I Kings, 19:12.
6. Boyd’s concern that his wife’s last words, “Precious Jesus,” may have been “mere ejaculation” was occasioned by her having been raised in the Jewish faith.
___________________
