I have just come from the office, and even though we have spoken so much together recently, I felt I had to write to you again. Thanks for the time we had together yesterday and earlier today.

Regarding Madame Guyon, we are certainly in agreement that she was a holy woman who received grace from God to write down a great many deep truths. Nevertheless, in order to maintain our individuality, I believe we ought to read Madame Guyon objectively and with a critical eye, so that we always remain the central figure who tests and judges all things, We are individual members of the body. Each member has its own allotted task, and it isn’t certain that our task is the same as Madame Guyon’s. Now it is our personal task that is to be perfected, and this must not be hindered by being too preoccupied with someone else’s task. There is a tendency in us to surrender ourselves blindly to a person in whom we have confidence. Herein lies a very great danger because we risk losing our own personality and we allow the person we admire to become the dominant figure. We thereby reduce ourselves to such a degree that we end up playing a secondary role, or we become a parasite. The result will be that we miss out on God’s will for our own lives. God wants each living stone to be unique. This can be seen in Rev. 21:19, where the foundation of the city is made up of twelve different types of stones.

Even though we are fully aware of this, it certainly shouldn’t hinder us from reading things that can benefit us and help our development. Still, I believe that to surrender ourselves in heart and mind without having the understanding mentioned above is unhealthy, and it can deprive us of our innate characteristics and uniqueness.

Christ suffered patiently for the joy that was set before Him. The greater He esteemed the goal that was before Him, the more He could suffer. Therefore, let us see to it that we do not reduce “the glory we have before us” to being less than nothing. Otherwise we may come to experience the truth of the apostle’s words, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” We know that what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard, God has prepared for those who love Him. This hope gives us courage. He who has this hope purifies himself. Because we have such a good hope, we can purify ourselves.

When Paul said that he could wish that he were accursed from Christ for the sake of his brethren—his countrymen according to the flesh—it demonstrated what a tremendous goal he had: all his brethren according to the flesh. He gave this testimony in the Holy Spirit, in the same Spirit that Christ had, He who became a curse for us. Tremendous goals lie behind these curses, and without them we would not be able to endure.

It is always so blessed to speak with you, dear brother. There is no one else I can speak to about these divine matters and be so confident of being understood—no one I can speak to as an equal. I was almost expecting you to be worried about Anthony, that I was being too hard on him. That’s why I let you know everything right from the beginning, so that you could get a clear picture of the situation before you expressed yourself. You grew at least a foot in my estimation when you concluded that probing deeply—right to the root of the matter—was precisely right and fully justified when he gave occasion for it like he did.

My task has not exactly been to praise people, except in cases where praise is just as necessary as breaking down, which is why I firmly believe that you can receive this with an upright mind.

Brotherly greetings in the Lord. All the best.

Yours,