Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 9 (1894)

Lt 116, 1894

Wessels, Philip

Norfolk Villa, Prospect St., Granville, New South Wales, Australia

September 13, 1894

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother Philip Wessels:

I have words from the Lord to you this morning, and I am writing to you by lamplight. These words were spoken for you: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 1

Dear Brother, will you break every yoke that the enemy has placed upon you, and will you take the yoke of Jesus Christ? You long for rest of soul, but Satan desires to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat. (Luke 22:31) Jesus, your Advocate, stands before the mercy seat under the rainbow of promise, pleading in your behalf. Shall He plead for you in vain? Shall His ministry of kindness and infinite love be in vain? He never spurns the suppliant from His presence. With longing solicitude He invites him to come. Although you grieve His heart of infinite love yet He loves you still. He has paid the ransom money for you, to purchase you from the tyranny of Satan, make you free, and adopt you into His own family that you may be an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ to imperishable riches, an immortal inheritance. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 2

This life is uncertain. You may be cut off without warning. You are mortal, but if your life is hid with Christ in God you are safe, eternally safe. You are now walking in the light of the sparks of your own kindling and, dear brother, I do not have to tell you that disappointment and failure of your expectations await you. Satan has laid a net for your feet, to ensnare your soul. I now warn you, as Christ’s ambassador, to change right about. Listen to the gladdening invitation to you, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” [Matthew 11:28.] You will obtain no rest in seeking to serve both God and mammon. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 3

Which service will you choose? Jesus calls for you to take His yoke and tells you in His invitation that it is easy and His burdens are light. The waves of Jesus’ love and His mercy have been beaten back from your heart again and again but to return afresh in a tide of untiring, persevering, inflowing love. His invitation comes, “Open unto Me. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man will hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.” “My head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” [Song of Solomon 5:2; Revelation 3:20.] 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 4

For the return of this great, this matchless love, will you join the rebel leader to be an adversary of God? Now is your day, your hour, of grace. Mercy has long hovered as a guardian angel around you. Shall the angel depart? Shall your hour of probation close? The Lord, your Father in heaven, has given the life of His only begotten Son to die that your faith should center in Him and you should not perish but have everlasting life. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 5

The struggle with your soul is the love of earthly treasures. Do you wish to hold them fast in your finite grasp? If you do, you may lose them all. Hear the words of Jesus, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other: or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.” Now hear the decision from one who cannot lie: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” Matthew 6:19-24. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 6

Why do you try, my dear brother? The Lord Jesus has paid the ransom for your soul. The price was to take humanity upon Him, to come to a world marred with the curse, and to suffer in the flesh. He was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief—such a quality of grief as finite beings are not called to endure, for He was a sin bearer. He bore the sins of the world. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 7

You and I have very much to be thankful for that we are not compelled to be sin bearers. All has been laid upon Jesus. When we by faith take Jesus as our personal Saviour, and commit the keeping of our souls to Him as unto a faithful Creator ... [Unfinished]. 9LtMs, Lt 116, 1894, par. 8