Chapter 8—Letter to a Missionary Wife in Africa
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong
April 27, 1898
Dear Sister_____,
We were distressed as we heard of the death of your husband in
the far off land of Africa and you may be assured that you have our
sympathies. We are anxious to hear from you in regard to how this
affliction affects your relation to the work. We feel so sad that when
labourers are so few, we should lose two of our missionaries. This is a
sad blow, which you must feel deeply
We would be very much pleased to see you, after so long a separa-
tion. Will you please write to us in regard to your own health and the
Mission, which has so recently been bereft of its workers. We desire
so much to know the particulars of your husband’s sickness and death,
and also of Brother Carmichael’s death. In our papers we have read
the history of that field, and of your missionary labours. You have had
Christ with you in all places, and at all times, and all paths are holy to
them that walk with Him. As His representatives, you have suffered
with Him. You have suffered deprivation in a foreign country. You
have been saddened by the sight of poor wretched beings dying around
you for want of food and clothing.
Throughout His life on earth, Christ was a divine missionary, and
His love for souls was not quenched by hunger, thirst, or weariness.
He was the world’s greatest Teacher. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. We will rejoice in that we can be labourers together
with God, that we can be humble instruments for His use. He flashes
the light of His own pure, heavenly truth into the chambers of the
mind, and into the soul-temple of the needy souls who long for that
light and truth that He alone can impart.
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Oh, how thankful my soul is in your behalf, that in your bereave-
ment and trial that the One who was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, who was often hungry and thirsty, can take in all your wants,
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