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p355 Dearest C McAdam, - I was thinking of writing to you and just got your letter, and there will soon be a mail. I waited till I had been a little here, though there is not a large sphere as in England, etc. But though anxious to get back to England - for besides service there, which I feel I owe, at my time of life the besoin d'arriver is stronger than the plaisir d'aller - I have never hesitated as to being led in coming here, and the Lord has been graciously with me. At Honolulu we saw no one, were only there part of a day to discharge packages and reload. The voyage was very favourable indeed. There is a book favourable to the Church of England which gives a very adequate account of the Sandwich Islands, and the establishment of the dynasty of Kanuhawicha, and the destruction of idolatry - on the whole a very remarkable history. I did know some in the States, one now in California, interested in the truth with the work there, but it never resulted in any direct connection with it. The population is still dying out through licentiousness, but it is a civilised country like another: parts of it barren volcanoes, others tropically fertile. We passed the Navigators' Islands, a fine race, where there are missionaries, but they are still in their savage state.

As to this place, it is a really charming country, the most of it of course very inaccessible, mountains and bush - the bush though always fine, not as our trees, always brown, which gives it a sombre hue. I have been at Auckland, Motueka, and neighbourhood, and now Nelson, a beautiful spot, quiet, clean, and orderly. The relief to my spirit after the States is very sensible, though where the Lord's work is there is joy. . . . The deliverance of a great body of the saints is very decided, and in these parts in fact all are right and clear, unless perhaps one. I feel the Lord graciously led me here too, and I believe there is inquiry - a nice gathering: many of the others come, and I hope may get blessing. I have got Wellington, Christchurch, and Tuscarora unvisited. We had two or three shocks of earthquake while I was at Motueka, (one) enough to awake me in the night. I still purpose returning, if the Lord will, by the States, seeing them in Canada.

For the States we must look to the Lord to raise up labourers. I am thankful three brethren have gone to Canada. I have no doubt that a considerable number have been converted through Moody, but I still judge there were more outside than in. For conversions, one must be thankful they are saved, but the effect will be to make Christians worldly, and to produce, what is the pest of the United States, the substitution of work for Christ. I said fifty years ago, when I thought more, and believed perhaps less, that awakenings in Christendom were like water poured out upon the ground, fresh and clear, but after a while it made mud. I think those not exclusive were in a state prepared for this, this mixture. There is, I think, a difference as to brethren in this, that what really characterised that work, besides the stirring up devotedness, was the bringing in a mass of biblical truth long hidden, some I believe never current in the historical church. This, since I reflected on the movement, I have always felt, and as to the substance of it said so: that as the cross and justification by faith were brought out at the Reformation, so the coming of the Holy Ghost uniting us to Christ in heaven, and His coming again, were brought out now: the three positions of Christ as a Saviour - Christ on the cross, Christ at the right hand of the Father sending the Holy Ghost, Christ coming again to complete the result - and so the mystery, throwing back immense light upon the value of the cross. But this blessed unfolding of light spreads, and if there be not devotedness in brethren they become mud like others, and that is the great question now. "To him that hath shall more be given," otherwise it is just current truth and no more; and indeed that is what Satan is at now, to deaden devotedness among brethren while he spreads truth known at any rate among others. It produces exclusivism so-called, but exclusivism will not do the work. Christ who is all - this must be all. Activity is all right, but activity instead of Christ - and that is Moodyism and United States religion - is a most deadening and worldly-making principle. The stir gone, the worldliness remains, and the world despises it. Kindest love to all the dear brethren. I shall be glad to see them all again, and most thankful for many prayers.

Affectionately yours in the Lord.

Nelson, October, 1875.

[52226E]

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