Letters 25

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
September 18th, 1866.
My Dear——,-The hearts of your mother and sister must be tried, I am sure, but Scripture tells us this is not our rest; it is polluted, and in this way all these sorrows turn to be a testimony to us under them of the truth of the word. And it tells not only of suffering, but that if so be we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together with Him. As surely as the word describes my life here below in time, so surely does it describe all that lies beyond. Sheltered as I have been in some respects, yet I have found all its sketches of my time and tale true -pilgrimage and strangership, cross and death, and dying daily-all true; and will not the other pictures be proved to be true too? And they are eternal and heavenly, with Christ in glorified body in His Father's house. How bright and how glorious, dear E-, will you look then! and how will all the weary hours, which now you have to endure, then be bright in retrospect as parts of the discipline through which a Savior's love will then have brought you to glory. And He is with us now in our valley as we pass through. You do not know the lines on these truths-
Should sorrows come, and pain and care,
Oh, keep my souls my mind, my life,
That I may still Thine image wear
'Mid trials hard and earthly strife
But let them come; they'll only move
With fonder love my heart to Thee;
I had not known but half Thy love
Had trial keen been kept from me.
I bless Thee then, that I can say,
I share with Thee affliction's lot;
'Tis joy to think, in trial's day,
The cross of Christ is not forgot.
Well, my dear young friend and sister, I know whose heart bears you, your father, E, and all upon it; and knowing that He prays for you, I find it a privilege to say, may my heart be in prayer for you all, in measure, as His, in all its eternal fullness, is perfectly before God for you. What a truth is that of the intercession of the living Christ before God for us!
Affectionately yours in Him, G. V. W.