To Elizabeth Padbury Date: BRISTOL, August 1, 1783. MY DEAR BETSY, I am glad to find that you remember me still, and that your love is not grown cold. I love you much, and I trust always shall; as I doubt not you will always deserve it. I have found several (my own father was one) that could rejoice in the justice as well as mercy of God. But punishing is His strange work: He delights chiefly in showing mercy. I apprehend, when you find those seasons of dryness and heaviness, this is owing either to the agency of the devil, who can easily cloud our mind when God permits, or to the corruptible body pressing down the soul. But believe and conquer all! I am, my dear Betsy, Yours affectionately.