PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS
PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS
... You will tell the dear saints at ———— how much I prize their love. It is very pleasant to be in their debt, for they belong to Him to whom I owe everything.
I am glad of your prosperity at ———— and that you enjoyed being on the Inspection line. I am sure you will enjoy it the more you are given to it. To present every man “Perfect in Christ Jesus” — fit for His inspection in the day when He will walk down the lines and review your corps, as I might say. Do you think it would make you less energetic and useful in the gospel were your paramount labour to be to present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ? To think of having even one saint bright and fit for Christ is an immense joy to the heart. I am sure that in your heart, while retaining a true love for souls, you would regard this service the most wonderful, and the happiest ever entrusted to a servant of God. I think if I were with you we should agree on this point, because in your heart you own and delight in it; though your service has been, I cheerfully admit, most graciously blessed to the unconverted, still I think you value the ornaments which would please the eye of your Master. Both are necessary, that I know you will admit, and this is all I contend for, only that I add there ought to be more positive attention to that which answers to the heart of Christ than that which is merely for the good of souls, and this I am sure you feel yourself. The Lord has been very gracious to you and I really only desire to see you more and more [p. 32] in His counsels and friendship. I feel, however feebly, yet truly, that I long for the progress of the saints, that they should be made ready for Christ, and therefore I rejoice in your turning your attention more to the equipment of your corps. I should like to spend a longer time with you whenever the Lord may permit. The Lord keep us simply seeking and following His will. His own presence the joy of our hearts, and Himself personally our compensation and resource in the loss of anything here.