p345 [From the French.] F Ponae, I was very glad to get your letter and news of our dear brethren in France, now that I am busy in England, where the work is extending. … I always hoped that our dear brother - would one day be useful. I hope that he will keep very near the Lord, and that he will read the word much for himself. I say for himself, not for his work. That is the right way to read it - "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." You drink for yourself, you thirst for yourself, thus it is that rivers flow from us for others. … Is the word always very precious to you, and do you read it with power? I see the practical power of the Spirit in the christian life more distinctly than ever; in the word, too, the absolute distinction there is between the life of the last Adam and that of the first. It is nothing new, but more distinct and deep in my heart, as well as the new position in which the Christian is placed. … What a picture that is of Acts 7 for the outward manifestation of these things; the man that resists the Holy Spirit, and the man that is full of it. But I was speaking more of the things in themselves.

[1862.]

[53256F]