Jan. 1, 1916

My Dear Doctor:-

"Upon nay return home, late, 1 received the " chain-letter" you sent me; in which the request was made that I should pray an ancient prayer and send it to nine of my friends. If I did this I should be "free from calamity," and ''meet with some great joy on the tenth day "; or, failing to do this, I should " meet with some calamity or misfortune."

I appreciate your good intentions toward me ; but I know God, I am grateful to say, and because of this I cannot do what is asked of me; and for fear you should mistake my silence for a compliance, I feel under obligation to tell you why.

In the first place, I do not believe that a prayer like the one in question, made under a threat, would ever reach the throne of God, and therefore it would be uttered in vain.

Then I have no fear of calamity or misfortune. My destiny is in the hand of the Man who rules the universe, and that hand still bears the mark of the nail which pierced it on Calvary's cross when, in love to my poor soul, He bore the wrath of God against my sins and died for me the sinner.

Jesus is my Saviour; by Him lam saved from all condemnation, and daily I wait for Him to come to take me home to be forever with Himself. Until He has me there, He has promised to take care of me. This life, for the Christian, is a school of discipline, and he may often be called upon to pass through the furnace of affliction, but he knows very well that it is the dross in him that necessitates God's doing this with him. But he is never superstitious; he does not trust to "luck," nor does he fear calamities. God is his Father, and what has he then to fear under the care of such a Father who watches even over the sparrows? Many times I fail toward Him but He never fails me, so I enjoy sweet peace under His eye.

How different is the ring of the old hymn, which you know, and begins with,

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord," from the tone of this superstitious letter which, to my ears, sounds very much like the product of a poor, benighted Romanist. Sincerely yours, F. W.