PREFACE

PREFACE

The letters of our beloved departed brother, Charles Andrew Coates, were in his lifetime a source of comfort, help and instruction to many, and it has been thought that the publication of a selected number would be for general edification. Our brother’s active service was for many years much restricted through bodily weakness, and this contributed, under the Lord’s hand, to the development of those choice spiritual feelings which are so evident in his correspondence. His mind was remarkably formed by the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and all that he wrote was the result of prayerful consideration. Hence the combination of unswerving faithfulness to the Lord with true humility and gracious sympathy in the spiritual experiences of others. Above all else, the reader cannot fail to remark in these pages our beloved brother’s deep appreciation of the Person of Christ, and his wholehearted devotedness to His interests on earth, centring in “His body, which is the assembly”. No matter affecting the Lord or His saints was regarded as too trivial for his interest and prayers, and the smallest service done for His Name and glory found recognition and appreciation.

We may well desire that these features may be more developed with us all, and that the One from whom they can alone be derived may have a greater place in our hearts.

It was the custom of our beloved brother from an early date to preserve copies of his more important letters and these form the foundation of the present volume. In addition many letters have been made available by the recipients and are included. Thanks are due to all who have contributed thus, and in other ways, to this service.

The Scripture quotations are in general from the translation by J. N. Darby, which our brother habitually used.

The letters have been printed in chronological order, except where the dates are not known; the undated letters, including some previously published in booklet form, are grouped at the end of the volume. Indexes have been added as to the general subject matter of the letters, and the scriptures to which special reference is made therein.

It may be of interest to mention that the writer of these letters was born at Bradford on the 7th December, 1862, and departed to be “with Christ” at Teignmouth on the 7th October, 1945.
W.M.B.
1878.

Henceforth my lips and pen
Shall seek to spread His fame;
My hands and feet shall swiftly move
To glorify His Name.

I seek no earthly place;
My joy is all in Him;
My thirsty soul shall drink no more
From fountains stained with sin.

But in the Lord Himself,
The Lord who died for me,
Despised on earth, enthroned in heaven,
My springs of life shall be.

And when He takes me home
To gaze upon His face,
More loud, more sweet my soul shall sing
The riches of His grace.

(From lines written on his conversion at the age of 16.)