SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1943
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1943
BELOVED BROTHER, — Your kind letter reached me this morning, bearing with it the affectionate gift from the dear brethren in — . This very practical expression of love and fellowship [p. 323] calls forth thanksgiving from my heart because it testifies of an interest and care with regard to the work of the Lord which is the fruit of God’s wondrous grace, and of the activity of the divine nature in His beloved saints. I am comforted by the love of the dear brethren, and encouraged by their fellowship, and I am consciously enriched by having a personal link with them through their movement of love towards me. Please give them my warm love in the Lord, and my hearty thanks for their gift.
These are days in which the Lord is doing much to form and strengthen universal bonds, and to deliver His saints from an outlook which is narrower than His own. And the fellowship of dear brethren in far-off lands is a continual stimulus to my heart to have prayerful interest in many whom I have never seen, and this is a very gracious enlargement for which I thank Him. The testing circumstances in so many parts of the world are also developing universal sympathies, and personal interest in those of whose trials we hear. And instances of the steadiness of faith under trial are a continual comfort. We are all specially interested in those of our brethren who are in the near and far East, and we have much cheer in what we hear of those who have gone from Australia and New Zealand. One cannot doubt there will be fruit of the testimony and service rendered, which will remain to the praise of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The brethren here are preserved and sustained, and have much to be continually thankful for. I wish I could speak of extended interest, but of this we have not much evidence locally. But amongst those walking together there is, I believe, increasing appreciation of the available privileges.
I cannot now move about as in past years, and during the last three months I am more restricted than before. But it is just the increased weakness that comes with advancing years. I have not much actual suffering, and I am nearly always able to get to the local meetings....
We have just heard that Italy has surrendered, and we are thankful if this is a step on the way to peace amongst the nations.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
September 9th, 1943.