Correspondence With His Family
8. A messenger called this morning with the following note.
"To our brother Asaad Esh Shidiak: May God bless you.--We beg you to
come home to-night, and not wait till Sunday. We have pledged our mother
that you shall come. If you fail to do so, you will trouble us all. Your
brother,
GALED."
To this letter, Asaad sat
down, and instantly wrote the following reply:
"To our much honoured and very dear brother Galed: God preserve
him.--Your note has reached us, in which you speak of our coming home
to-night, and say, that if we do not come, we trouble you all.
"Now if we were in some distant land, your longing after us in this
manner might be very proper; but we are near you, and you have been
here, and seen us in all health, and we have seen you. Then quiet our
mother, that we, through the bounty of God, are in perfect health, and
that we have great peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, peace above all that
the world can afford, and abundant joy in the Holy Ghost above all
earthly joy. But as to our coming up this evening, we do not find it
convenient, not even though we had the strongest desire to see our
mother and you.
"I beg you all to love God, and to serve him in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is of all things the most important; for if we love God, if he but
renew our hearts by the holy Ghost, we shall enjoy each other's society
for ever and ever.
"And now we are prevented from coming to you, and you know we are not
void of all desire to see you, but the hindrances to which we have
alluded, are, we think, a sufficient apology. We beg you to accept our
excuse, and to apologize for us to our mother, and we pray God to pour
out his grace richly on you all, and lengthen your days.
"Your brother, ASAAD.
"P. S. Tell our mother not to think so much of these earthly things but
rather of God our Saviour."