MY DEAR M.,
I don't forget you, and often do 1 hope that your soul is cleaving fast to the Lord Jesus, and feeding on the rich pasture which He provides for the lambs and sheep of His flock. Perhaps the most important thing for us is to keep our first love bright and real. You will serve him whom you love. The great motive in the heart of Paul was the love of Christ: "He loved me," he said; and that which the Lord Himself pressed thrice on Peter was, "Lovest thou me?" Full well does the Lord know what is the mighty spring of faithfulness to Himself, and that which stands higher in His estimation than intelligence or gift is simple love to Himself. He delights in the heart that values Himself. He could say of her who had taken her place at His feet to hear His word, that-she had " chosen the better part:" He could say of her who anointed Him for His burial, rather than lavish the cost of the ointment on the poor, " She hath wrought a good work on me, and wheresoever the gospel should be preached, this also that she had done should be preached, this also that she had done should be spoken of for a memorial of her."
On the other hand, what led Ephesus to leave off their first works? Simply the fact that they had left their first love. Ah, what a secret! How closely the Lord observes the pulsations of the heart, the movement of the affections! How sensitive He is to the smallest alteration of His throne there!
Yes, you will serve and obey gladly him whom you love. Does your heart ever become weary of the word and ways of your Lord and Savior? Does it find less freshness, sweetness, and delight in learning of Him? Has the world come in to spoil and wither? Think of His love, and charge your soul to retain the sense of it as a treasure. "Keep yourselves in the love of God," said Jude to an apostatizing Christendom; " The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God," said Paul to a suffering church; and easy it is to discover what furnished the wondrous impulse to that same apostle in his words, "I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for WHOM," &c. The constraining love of Christ, apprehended in, and responded to by, our hearts, is that which alone can keep us true and faithful in a world where everything takes the character of a hindrance rather than a help in our heavenward course.
Dear young brother, you must be passing through much experience of the evil ways of this world in your busy life in—. Remember that you have your own part to play upon the stage of life—as a witness for Christ. It is well to recollect that God is commenting on our life. He is our Biographer, as He was of Abel, Enoch, &e., in Heb. 11.; nor is any event omitted by His careful pen. Take care of the little things, and the great ones will not be overlooked. Rest not in present attainments. Thirst for more of God, as the hart for the water brooks. The Lord bless you. I trust all are well. My fond love to your family, and all the saints. I am well, and working still for the glorious Master.
Yours in the Lord,