l not be content until your every thought is led captive to 'the
obedience of the Christ.' You are born to be a saint, and you will be
wretched until you are one. You are not the kind of man who can do
things by halves.

I think I have told you of my father's words spoken during his last
illness: 'If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all--all to the
ministry.' You will not regret your decision. If angels could envy,
how they would envy us our splendid chance--to be able, in a world
where everything unseen must be taken on sheer faith, in a world where
the contest between the flesh and the spirit is being decided for the
universe, not only to win the battle ourselves but also to win it for
others! To help a brother up the mountain while you yourself are only
just able to keep your foothold, to struggle through the mist
together--that surely is better than to stand at the summit and beckon.
You will have a hard time of it, I know; and I would like to make it
smoother and to 'let you down' easier; but I am sure that God, who
loves you even more than I do, and has absolute wisdom, will not tax
you beyond your strength. . . . I'll pray for you, like the widow in
the parable, and I have immense belief in prayer. . . . You remember
what was said of Maurice, 'He {116} always impressed me as a man who
was naturally weak in his will; but an iron will seemed to work through
him.' That Will can work through you and transform you, but for God's
sake don't trust to your own will. . . .

If you are ordained it will be because there is one who in St. Paul's
words--_ho aphorisas me ek koilias metros mou_--was separating you from
birth and educating you with a view to the Gospel of Christ. . . .

Tasks in hours of insight willed
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.[1]

[1] Matthew Arnold, _Morality_.

[Transcriber's note: The Greek phrases in the above paragraph were
transliterated as follows: _ho_--(rough breathing mark) omicron;
_aphorisas_--alpha, phi, omicron, rho, iota, sigma, alpha, final sigma;
_me_--mu, epsilon; _ek_--epsilon, kappa; _koilias_--kappa, omicron,
iota, lambda, iota, alpha, final sigma; _metros_--mu, eta, tau, rho,
omicron, final sigma; _mou_--mu, omicron, upsilon]

To his mother.

Estcourt, Natal; August 18, 1899.

General Gordon came to Kokstad on his way to Basutoland. When he
arrived he went to the Royal Hotel, ordered a room, threw open the
window, and spent two hours in