As bone to its bone

Topic: Friendship

Caveat: Of William Cowper, John Newton wrote, “The Lord who had brought us together had so knit our hearts and affections that for nearly twelve years, we were seldom separated for twelve hours at a time when we were awake and at home.  The first six I passed in daily admiring and trying to imitate him; during the second six I walked pensively with him in the valley of the shadow of death.”

“But indeed, a removal from two such dear friends is a dislocation, and gives me at times a mental feeling, something analogous to what my body felt when my arm was forced from its socket.  I live in hopes that this mental dislocation will one day be happily reduced likewise, and that we shall come together again as bone to its bone.  The connexion which the Lord himself formed between us, was undoubtedly formed for eternity; but I trust we shall have more of the pleasure and comfort of it in time, and that I shall yet hear you say, ‘Come, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; for He hath turned my mourning into joy, and He hath taken off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.”

John Newton, to William Cowper (April 29, 1780)

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