59. “J. R. F.,” Toronto. Your manuscript has come to hand. It may be you have not noticed in our January issue, a paper on the same subject.
60. “C. Ε. B.,” Boston, Mass. We beg to assure you of our hearty sympathy and earnest prayers. May God abundantly bless you and yours! May He deliver you from every evil work, and preserve you unto His everlasting kingdom! Accept our cordial brotherly love for yourself and all those with whom you are linked in the blessed bonds of christian fellowship.
61. “Little Faith.” Our reply to “R. B.,” Oxon., in our April issue may help you. Your cases are much alike.
62. “An Anxious Inquirer,” Bristol. It is simply an effort of the enemy to disturb your precious soul. It would be a very grave mistake to rest in any special form or mode of conversion. It is the Christ we reach and not the way we reach Him, that saves the soul, tranquillizes the conscience, and satisfies the heart. We have so often replied to correspondents in the same spiritual condition as yourself, that we trust you will find in our answers that which will, by the precious ministry of the Holy Spirit, meet your need. May the gracious Lord Himself stablish, strengthen, settle you!
63. “M. P.,” Notting Hill. The difficulty you feel arises from confounding two things which must ever be kept distinct, namely, privilege and responsibility. It is the happy privilege of all Christians to wait for their Lord; and, most surely, when He comes, all His own will be with Him. Not a single member of the body of Christ will be involved in “the great tribulation,” for the simplest and most blessed of all reasons, that, ere that tribulation sets in, the whole church will be safely housed in the Father’s home above.
But then there is the weighty question of responsibility, and it is mainly to this that those passages which you quote refer. We have to watch and pray; we must keep our lamps trimmed, and our loins girded, not to escape “the great tribulation,” but lest we should be found occupied with anything which would make us ashamed before our Lord at His coming.
The grand point, dear friend, is to give all scripture its due place in our hearts, and its proper authority over our entire course and character. This we increasingly feel to be the special need of the day in which our lot is cast.
64. “C. C” Hyde Park, Mass., U.S. We are deeply interested in the case of the aged disciple to whom you refer. May the Lord greatly bless him and strengthen him, and you also, dear friend. It is truly refreshing and encouraging to hear such records of the Lord’s goodness. Accept our hearty thanks for your truly kind and sympathizing letter.
65. “F. R.,” Bristol. The case, as you put it, is perfectly shocking. A person who could so act is unworthy the name of Christian. We consider you have good reason to be thankful to have escaped such a connection.
66. “L. P. P.,” Surrey. “L. B.” Your lines have come to hand.
67. “J. W. R.,M Southampton. We appreciate your kindness in writing, to tell of the blessing to your precious soul so many years ago. The Lord be praised for His great goodness to you! May He keep you true to His name and to His word, in this day, in which the very elements of divine truth are rapidly fading away from the professing church.