MAY 1ST, 1941

MAY 1ST, 1941

^[p. 291] MY DEAR MRS. —, — I am deeply moved by the tidings of your beloved husband’s departure to be with Christ; and my heart is full of true and prayerful sympathy with you and your family. I feel not only for you but with you, for his departure is a very great bereavement to me. I cannot tell you what a comfort his brotherly love and great kindness have been to me for many years past. I have had very much cause to thank God for the help he has been to me, and for the comfort of intercourse with him in relation to the precious things of the Lord Jesus Christ, and matters connected with His interests here. I love to think, too, of all that he has been in service to the saints both publicly and privately, and of what he has been as a “pillar” in support of the testimony, and what is, perhaps, the greatest of all, the beautiful spirit which has characterised him in all his service and movements amongst the brethren. The thought of all this is, I am sure, a peculiar satisfaction to your heart, as it is a cause of thanksgiving to all who have been privileged to know and love your beloved husband. I pray that you may have a very deep and blessed consciousness of the love and support of Christ; and that to each member of your family this great bereavement may come as a divine touch making room for the inflow of the wealth of heaven in an enlarged way. I do not think I can desire for you all anything better than that the prayers of the deeply loved one who has gone may be answered abundantly for each one of you.

I am sure you are surrounded by the love and prayers of a very large number, and the sympathies of Christ expressed through His members will greatly support you. And He is interceding for you above who knows exactly what you need in this hour of sorrow. He can make the well-spring of His own love to flow in such a valley as this.

It is a trial to me not to be able to be with you tomorrow, but I am comforted in the knowledge that many will be there as vessels of the grace of Christ, and many more who cannot be there in body will be there in their affections:

With very much love in the Lord,

Yours affectionately in Him,

May 1st, 1941.