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by the way it may be observed, that his former custom of rising so early to his devotions was still retained), "I had been wrestling with God with many tears: and when I had read it, I returned to my knees again, to give hearty thanks to him for all his goodness to you and yours, and also to myself, in that he hath been pleased to stir up so many who are dear to him to be mindful of me at the throne of grace." And then, after the mention of some other particulars, he adds: "Blessed and adored for ever be the holy name of my heavenly Father, who holds my soul in life, and my body in perfect health! Were I to recount his mercy and goodness to me even in the midst of all these hurries, I should never have done.— I hope your Master will still encourage you in his work, and make you a blessing to many. My dearest friend, I am much more yours than I can express, and shall remain so while I am, J. G."

In this correspondence I had a further opportunity of discovering that humble resignation to the will of God which made so amiable a part of his character, and of which I had before seen so many instances. He speaks, in the letter from which I have just been giving an extract, of the hope he had expressed in a former of seeing us again that winter; and he adds: "To be sure, it would have been a great pleasure to me; but we poor mortals form projects, and the almighty Ruler of the universe disposes of all as he pleases. A great many of us were getting ready for our return to England, when we received an order to march towards Frankfort, to the great surprise of the whole army, neither can any of us comprehend what we are to do there; for there is no enemy in that country, the French army being marched into Bavaria, where I am sure we cannot follow them. But it is

the will of the Lord; and his will be done. I desire to bless and praise my heavenly Father, that I am entirely resigned to it. It is no matter where I go, or what becomes of me, so that God may be glorified in my life or my death; I should rejoice much to hear that all my friends were equally resigned."

The mention of this article reminds me of another, relating to the views which he had of obtaining a regiment for himself. He endeavoured to deserve it by the most faithful services; some of them indeed beyond what the strength of his constitution would well bear: for the weather, in some of these marches, proved exceedingly bad, and yet he would be always at the head of his people, that he might look to everything that concerned them with the exactest care. This obliged him to neglect the beginnings of a feverish illness; the natural consequence of which was, that it grew very formidable, forced a long confinement upon him, and gave animal nature a shock which it never recovered.

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In the meantime, as he had the promise of a regiment before he quitted England, his friends were continually expecting an occasion of congratulating him on having received the command of one. still they were disappointed, and on some of them the disappointment seemed to sit heavy. As for the colonel himself, he seemed quite easy about it, and appeared much greater in that easy situation of mind than the highest military honours and preferments could have made him. With great pleasure do I at this moment recollect the unaffected serenity, and even indifference, with which he expresses himself upon this occasion in a letter to me, dated about the beginning of April, 1743. "The disappointment of a regiment is nothing to me; for I am satisfied, that

had it been for God's glory, I should have had it, and I should have been sorry to have had it on any other terms. My heavenly Father has bestowed upon me infinitely more than if he had made me emperor of the whole world."

I find several parallel expressions in other letters, and those to his lady about the same time were just in the same strain. In an extract from one, which was written from Aix-la-Chapelle, April 21, the same year, I met with these words: "People here imagine I must be sadly troubled that I have not got a regiment, for six out of seven vacant are now disposed of; but they are strangely mistaken, for it has given me no sort of trouble. My heavenly Father knows what is best for me; and, blessed and for ever adored be his name, he has given me an entire resignation to his will besides, I do not know that ever I met with any disappointment since I was a Christian, but it pleased God to discover to me that it was plainly for my advantage, by bestowing something better upon me afterwards; many instances of which I am able to produce, and therefore I should be the greatest of monsters if I did not trust in him."

I should be guilty of a great omission if I were not to add, how remarkably the event corresponded with his faith on this occasion. For whereas he had no intimation or expectation of anything more than a regiment of foot, his majesty was pleased, out of his great goodness, to give him a regiment of dragoons, which was then quartered just in his own neighbourhood. And it is properly remarked by the reverend and worthy person through whose hand this letter was transmitted to me, that when the colonel thus expressed himself, he could have no prospect of what he afterwards so soon obtained; as general Bland's

regiment, to which he was advanced, was only vacant on the 19th of April, that is, two days before the date of this letter, when it was impossible he should have any notice of that vacancy. And it also deserves observation, that some few days after the colonel was thus unexpectedly promoted to the command of these dragoons, brigadier Cornwallis's regiment of foot, then in Flanders, became vacant. Now, had this happened before his promotion to general Bland's, colonel Gardiner, in all probability, would only have had that regiment of foot, and so have continued in Flanders. When the affair was issued, he informed lady Frances of it, in a letter dated from a village near Frankfort, May 3, in which he refers to his former of the 21st of April, observing how remarkably it was verified, "in God's having given him," for so he expresses it, agreeably to the views he continually maintained of the universal agency of Divine Providence, "what he had no expectation of, and what was so much better than that which he had missed, a regiment of dragoons, quartered at his own door."

It appeared to him, that by this remarkable event Providence called him home. Accordingly, though he had other preferments offered him in the army, he chose to return; and I believe the more willingly, as he did not expect there would have been any action. Just at this time it pleased God to give him an awful instance of the uncertainty of human prospects and enjoyments, by that violent fever, which seized him at Ghent, in his way to England, and perhaps the more severely for the efforts he made to push on his journey, though he had for some days been much indisposed. It was, I think, one of the first fits of severe illness he had ever met with; and he was ready to look upon it as a sudden call into eternity;

but it gave him no painful alarm in that view. He committed himself to the God of his life, and in a few weeks he was so well recovered, as to be capable of pursuing his journey, though not without difficulty; and I cannot but think it might have conduced much to a more perfect recovery than he ever attained, to have allowed himself a longer repose, in order to recruit his exhausted strength and spirits. But there was an activity in his temper not easy to be restrained; and it was now stimulated, not only by a desire of seeing his friends, but of being with his regiment, that he might omit nothing in his power to regulate their morals and their discipline, and to form them for public service. Accordingly, he passed through London about the middle of June, 1743, where he had the honour of waiting on their royal highnesses the prince and princess of Wales, and of receiving from both the most obliging tokens of favour and esteem. He arrived at Northampton on Monday, the 20th of June, and spent part of three days here. But the great pleasure which his return and preferment gave us was much abated by observing his countenance so sadly altered, and the many marks of languor and remaining disorder which evidently appeared, so that he really looked ten years older than he had done ten months before. I had, however, a satisfaction, sufficient to counterbalance much of the concern which this alteration gave me, in a renewed opportunity of observing, indeed more sensibly than ever, in how remarkable a degree he was dead to the enjoyments and views of this mortal life. When I congratulated him on the favourable appearances of Providence for him in the late event, he briefly told me the remarkable circumstances that attended it, with the most genuine impressions of gratitude to

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