Dear brother,—Being very busy, 1 have not been anxious to answer your letter, inasmuch as the urgent matter was done already; but I was always thinking of writing you a few lines.... Just now my days pass one after another without any difference, always occupied in the revision of our French translation, only the word of God is always new, and His love always more precious. I continually find something new in the word which nourishes the soul and reveals to it the love of God, and His ways.
It is by the Word that we live in this passing world, and it clearly reveals to us the things that are not passing, the heavenly things. " We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." It is a great truth, a great fact, that the Spirit has been given to us; not only that we are born of the Spirit, but that believing in the efficacy of the blood of Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit: by Him we cry, "Abba, Father"; by Him "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts"; by Him we know that we are in Christ and that Christ is in us The work of Christ is the foundation, but the presence of the Holy Ghost is the power of enjoyment. He gives the consciousness that we are children, and heirs, and He is the earnest of our inheritance until the possession of that which Christ has won for us; He causes us to wait for Christ. Once redemption as a personal matter is known, there are the two great truths presented by the word; we have been converted "to wait for his Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1); and where the Spirit is there is liberty; when He is not grieved, there is communion with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. May our Father keep us in His holy name from thus grieving Him; and may we enjoy His blessed countenance!
I am delighted, dear brother, to see that God is evidently working in Italy; He is indeed working everywhere in these last days, but in Italy the work went on slowly... but it seems as if the Spirit was working more at present. I do not want to go faster than what would be solid work; but it is happy when He encourages us, and chews us fruit. We must follow God, and not run before Him; and how great was the Lord's patience!
Pau, November 20th.