The Cotman Letters 1835-1837

(Dec: 21. 36) (2)

well, and even, if possible, better than anyone else, and you will be sure to [[be]] do what will be accounted right. Every allowance is made by such to human weakness & little failures or slight errors in judgment are passed over easily & indulgence granted where none could be expected or hoped for by a different course. Go, my love, steadily to Church, and these assertions you will find will be well backed by what you will hear there, besides the knowledge that your parents & friends are in a similar place, praying for themselves and for you, & rendering thanks to his goodness, who knows well what & how to punish, and where to send his bountiful & Godlike relief. Then, I say, my love, by no means neglect your Church. It will give you a cheerful heart & your walk afterwards will be truly enjoyed. No one has a right to think so more than your Father. His exertions as a man, and you know he has exerted himself as a man, were not crowned [[with]] by success. At the same time his exertions have not been forgotten, for without these exertions he could not have been found capable of holding the situation the Almighty God has in the very hour of his need thought proper to invest him. Your Father has always thought so and ever must. Your Father was on the point of leaving his native city in misfortune – not in disgrace. God has enabled him, in his goodness & mercy, to leave it in honour & integrity. He has, I hope & trust, known my heart & pitied & forgiven the weak sinner.
You may now be fairly said to be on the railroad of your career, and I am, now, & shall be, quite easy about you. Be you happy also in that conviction. Your motto must be ‘integrity & industry’. I know your happiness when you told your Master you had rather stay with him than accept the higher wages. I should have done exactly the same. It will not be lost. Good actions no more sink into the sands than bad ones. We all heartilly (sic) congratulate you. But I shift the scene.
Your cousin, Kitty Hicks, came up with me about a fortnight ago, and she looks, & is, as happy as an angel.