52 Ironmonger Row, St Lukes, London. . My Dear Phebe, I received your kind & affectionate letter ^written^ in the midst of affliction & mourning under Date of July 18th 1840. truly your letter brought tidings which were painful & sorrowful to me, but notwithstanding this it was not without its joys, For while I keenly felt the [roots], & to mourn the Loss of the lovely flower which God had lent unto us a few days & then taken it away in an hour that was best calcu lated to try the feelings of a kind & affectionate Mother & an absent Father & while I felt to sympathise with my Dear Companion who alone had been called to watch her tender ospring in my absence & behold her life depart & follow her remains to the grave without a single relative to mingle a tear, you in the midst of this affliction meditation & sorrow I truly rejoice before the Lord, I rejoice that God hath taught us the principles of life & Death, time & Eternity, the Resurrection & the judgment. I rejoice that we are not Called to mourn without hope, but that we have the fulest assurance that we shall meet our Child in the first resurrection As we have got to come up through great tribulations in order to inherit the Celestial kingdom of God, I rejoice that in all these trials, sacrifises losses & crosses, we have one the less to go through. I again rejoice that God hath given you grace, strength & fortitude, to support you in the midst of this deep affliction, & it hath been the highth of my joy, sweetened all my lonely lonely meditations, & filled the days of my consolation to know that God hath granted me a companion in this life who hath been willing to make evry sacrafice which God hath lade upon her for my sake for the sake of Christ & for the sake of a celestial kingdom whare we shall reign forever, whare the wicked & ungodly will scease from troubling & the weary be at rest, yes my Dear Companion in affliction, you may rest assured, the whole spirit of your letter the resignation you manifest gives me great joy. I know your sorrow, trials & afflictions are keen, & sacrifices great. Why is it there with you, with me & with the Saints at large in evry age of the World. Ah the first resurrection will tell, the judgment of the great day will declare, & the Celestial glory of God will more fully illustrate the truth of all these things unto you then I can possibly do with my pen the Lord Jesus suffered & desended below all things, the Holy prophets & Apostles in evry age of the world have suffered greatly & come up through tribulations in there day & now we have ours, & we shall find at last that all our sufferings trials, & privations are ownly to prove us & more fully prepare us to rightly prise that rest, comprehend the glory, & enjoy the fulness of that reward which we shall receive at the end of the race, Then under this view of things shall we not kiss the rod & be resigned, I can exclaim yes with every feelings of my Soul, I can say with my Dear Wife the Lord hath given & the Lord hath given & the Lord hath taken away & blessed be the name of the Lord. I I can but bear evry trial that I am called to pass through in this life as well as I have the Death of Sarah Emma I shall bee thankful, she was a beautiful flower, I loved it with all all my heart but as willingly resigned it to God. I shall never forget the last look she gave me when I took the parting hand with her. The first intimation I had of her death was on the 22d of Oct several letters was sent me from Manchester one of which was from Elder W. Richards & while reading over the list of the Deaths among the Saints Sarah Emma Woodruff caught my eye, it produced a peculiar sensation in my mind which went through me like electricity yet my nerve was firm I continued reading as though nothing had happened & from that moment to the present I have felt perfectly resigned