ON BOARD S.S. SOPHOCLES, JUNE 13TH, 1925
ON BOARD S.S. SOPHOCLES, JUNE 13TH, 1925
Mr Cecil Joyce.
My Dear Cecil, — I was very glad to receive your letter.
You had been much on our hearts and in our prayers, especially as we had been hearing from your dear father and mother that you had expressed your desire to the brethren to be allowed to break bread so as to remember the Lord with them.
I gathered from news received before we sailed that your [p. 210] wish was to be granted soon, and so you may have broken bread already.
The light that broke into your soul leading to this happy result and the same result in dear Ernie and other young people in your district caused more joy to my wife and myself perhaps, than any other incident in our happy visit to Sydney.
We earnestly trust and pray that now your committal to the Lord in the fellowship of His death is definitely made that your progress will be steady. The enemy will not fail to attack you, but “God is faithful, who has called us into the fellowship of his Son”, and He will stand by you; besides, you will be surrounded by the affectionate care of your parents and the brethren, indeed you will prove that salvation in a practical sense is found in the circle of the saints. But at the same time, you shall have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. This involves the need of maintaining constant personal relations with the Lord, through prayer and self-judgment. Thus you will grow in strength — as overcoming the flesh in yourself you will advance to more honourable conflicts for the sake of the testimony. But your first victories must be over Satan through the flesh — see the conflict with Amalek (Exodus 17). Get all you can from the family readings and the meetings, but be sure to continue in private reading and prayer.
The voyage so far has been fairly comfortable — there has been some rough weather, but we have kept well, thank God. We feel borne up by the prayers of our dear brethren. How we value them! I hope to write to your father before landing — in the meantime give our united love to all.
Affectionately your brother in Christ,
James Taylor.