Creator
William Reid
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
0234 Jeddo Prairie May 5th 1858 Jeddo Prairie
My Dear
My Dear friend John I received you kind letter on Sunday and was glad to see it which I read with great delight, the spring don't seem to come on as fast as we thought at first, however the grass, bushes and the trees are beginning to look quite green again it is a time of reviving of every thing thing. Temproral and Spiritual seems to bud out together. I hope they may continue to go on from spring to summer, and then have a good harvest in Autumn have a good harvest from the ground, and a good harvest of Souls into Christ's kingdom, it gladdens the heart of christians to see sinners flocking to the standard King Channel and there to rally round their baptism and fight the good fight of faith, and in that cause in which so many noble martyrs died defending, it is the noblest warfare that any one can be engaged in, it is the only war in which every soldier receives a reward, and every one that dies is kindly taken care of, for at his death Angels are standing ready to cary their souls to heaven whenever it is separated from the body, it is the only one that can give peace to the mind on a dying pillow, what a difference in the death of the martyrs and the enfidils, the one meeting death with a smile, the other in an agony of mind which is worse than the tortures which some of the martyrs were put to, for the cause of their beloved master, but it was only the opening of the gates of [bliss?] a never ending happiness, a never ending fellowship with their God, and their Saviour Jesus Christ and with angels, and all the redeemed of the Lord, let us take example of these martyrs and be determined that what ever comes in our way to hinder us to serve
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the Lord, and ask him to aid us by the influence of his Holy Spirit for without him we can do nothing what great hove for sinners hath the Lord that he spared not his only begotten son, but freely gave him up to die for such rebeluous creatures as we are, that he who created all things and made us, should condescend so far as to take upon himself the form of his creatures, and to come down from his throne on high, and travel this world and endure all the sufferings, and trials which men have to endure here on earth. and to die an ignominous death to satisfy an offended God, when we could not do it ourselves, it was great love, yes John great was that love to men who had sinned so much against the Lord, even when they were nailing him to the cross he prayed to his father to forgive them for they knew not what they were doing, it is our duty then to live here in this world to his praise and glory and ask the great God who made us by prayer to send his Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts to lead and guide us in the paths of holiness, and also to give us faith, strong faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God, we may be laughed at and persecuted by the world but that need not trouble us, Christ told his disciples that they would be persecuted for his names sake, but he will give them strength to bear all their persecutions, blessed are they that will endure to the end for they will receive a crown of glory which the righteous judge will place upon their heads at the last day, it is a blessed voage the voage to the promised land, and that saviour that walked on the seas is able to steer us safely to that haven of rest where we can be free from all the temptations of sin, and from all the storms and tempests of a sinful world. [adiew?] for the present from your sincere friend William Reid write soon soon
Location
Jeddo Prairie, [Wisc]
Date Original
1858 May 5
Source
Original letter dimensions: 31.5 x 19.5 cm
Recommended Citation
Reid, William, "Letter from William Reid to John Muir, 1858 May 5" (1858). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1039.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1039
Resource Identifier
muir01_0047-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0047
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Owning Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
