438. Letter Mcccci.
LETTER MCCCCI.
L ondon, December 15, 1768.
My dear Friend, YOU will see the contents of my letter to Dr. E――e. I have considered the affair of the picture. What think you? A limner who lately drew me, and hung the picture up in the exhibition, asks forty guineas for a copy. I shall not mind him, but send a bust taken several years ago. It shall be paid for here, and presented as a token of my hearty, hearty love to the Orphanhouse at Edinburgh, and its never-to-be-forgotten friends. Nothing but my disorder of body, God willing, shall prevent my engagement in the plains of Philippi: But, I fear, that will be an obstruction to so long a journey. You cannot tell how low my late excursion only to Bristol and Bath brought me.
But I serve a God who killeth and maketh alive. I would leave future events to Him, and like you merchants improve the present Now: time is short; eternity is endless. The Judge hath sent this awful message, "Behold, I come quickly." That we all may be ready to go forth to meet him, earnestly prays, my dear friend,
Less than the least of all, G. W.