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if it were some want of respect to the memory of their
Father. This too is natural, for we unconsciously desire
all persons to think of our loved departed ones as
we do ourselves. I realize more fully than ever
how fully and completely we of the clergy are hedged up
to simple & unqualified trust & reliance upon God, both
for ourselves & for those who are ours. May the great
head of the Church spare you to your dear wife and
little ones, till they are at least not wholly dependent
upon the kindness of that world which is at enmity
with God. I see too the greater necessity more plainly
than ever, of the clergy's taking more active measures
to increase the fund for the support of the widows &
children of deceased ministers. Let us bear this in mind
both at conventional meetings & at other times.

As to your observations about the communion of saints,
I have no more doubt about the reality of such
spiritual intercourse than I have of the certainty
of my own consciousness. This intercourse is carried
on, how? I cannot explain. But I am satisfied that it
goes on thro' the medium of dreams, when there
is not always dreams either but visions more likely.