Letter
559
of the work as you had never seen it before; and your letters expressed
the deep change wrought in you by the Spirit of God.
And yet I knew that you would be brought over the ground again
and tested on the very points where you had failed before. Thus the
Lord did for the children of Israel; thus He has done with His people
in all ages. He will prove them where they have formerly failed; He
will try them, and if they fail under the trial the second time, He will
bring them around to the same test again.
My heart aches every time I think of you; my soul is sad indeed.
Every soul is precious, because it has been purchased by the precious
[624]
blood of Jesus Christ. I sometimes think that we do not place anything
like a correct value upon the purchase of the blood of Jesus—the
redemption of the soul. When I consider the infinite price paid for the
redemption of individual souls, I think: “What if that soul is finally
lost? What if he refuses to be a learner in the school of Christ and
fails to practice meekness and lowliness, and will not wear the yoke
of Christ?” This, my brother, has been your greatest failure. If you
had taken less counsel of yourself and made Jesus your counselor you
would now be strong in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
You have not yoked up with Christ; you have not been imbued with His
Spirit. Oh, how much you need the divine mold upon your character!
We have much to answer for, considering our superior advantages
and knowing that we must be judged by the light and privileges the
Lord has granted us. We cannot plead that we are less favored with
light than that people who have been for ages an astonishment and
a reproach to the world. We cannot expect judgment to be given in
our favor because, like Capernaum, we have been exalted to heaven.
The Lord has wrought for His commandment-keeping people. The
light that has reflected to us from heaven was not granted to Sodom
and Gomorrah, or they might have remained unto this day; and if the
mighty works and knowledge and grace which have been manifested
to this people had been made known to the nations in darkness, we
know not how far in advance of this people they might now be. We
cannot determine how much more tolerable it would be for them in the
day of judgment than for those who have had the clear light of truth
shining upon them as you have had, but through some inexplainable
cause have turned from the holy commandment delivered to them.
We can only point to your case with sorrow, as a beacon of warning.