London – March 1871
To Mr P
Beloved Brother,
I have been happy to have your news thus about the brethren, and first of all of our dear brethren in France. God has kept them; He is always faithful.
You will have known as everybody that there has been a second siege of Paris, the Communists being in charge of the city. More serious evils than in the first siege have resulted; battles, assaults delivered, then to hinder the progress of the troops, the city has been set on fire and also its surroundings, and public monuments burned. You probably know more than me, for I do not read the newspapers; this distracts me, and the world goes on its way whether I read them or do not read them.
The brethren in Paris have continued their meetings and have been happy in spite of the difficulties of the times. Funds have been sent from England, Holland, Switzerland, and help has come to them, according to and in the measure of their needs, to the workers who were in debt, having lost work.
Switzerland goes on well. The English brethren are active there and there has been a revival of life.
In England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany, also in Canada, the work of the Lord ever makes progress, but evil does too, and in a yet more evident way. For my part, dear brother, Christ is ever more the all of my soul. I grow old, my salvation is nearer than when I believed. However, I still work, but the work tires me more. This is not surprising at past seventy years old.
I have meditated on Matthew in London, and I have exceedingly enjoyed the presentation of Jesus, Jehovah the Saviour, Man in this world, manifest in flesh, but the model of our position, the conqueror in our conflict, all in being God in grace in our midst.
We are printing the second edition of the French New Testament, with the corrections and our newly added notes from the second English edition, the third German edition, with the same corrections, besides the Old Testament that I have translated the last time I was in Germany, which, with the ordinary labour of the work, has not left me idle. I have had to consult several new manuscripts and been occupied with other critical work which does not give any nourishment ……
Salute all the brethren affectionately
Your well beloved in our precious Saviour
Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.
