Thank you for your good letter. I always rejoice to see and experience your zeal, for which God will reward you by giving you a deeper understanding and acknowledgment in your life. I am also happy to hear that Judith and Elisabeth are making progress in sanctification. My desire is that you, by God’s grace, may weave a large crown of such living souls, which will be an adornment for you at the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord.

You wrote about the church and its furtherance and growth. May God bring forth living churches for Himself in every place. However, God needs the life and work of an apostle as a tool in His hand in order to raise up churches. Once a church has been raised up, it will function and develop through the mutual help that each member supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share.

I wrote a letter to Aksel and asked him to let you read it, but since you left Kristiania so quickly, you probably haven’t seen it. God, in His grace, gave me something to write about concerning the light. I will repeat it here so that you can test it and put into practice whatever help you may receive from it. It was only a short letter, but nonetheless, it was a glorious revelation, which is profitable for us in our present situation. God is good; His mercy endures forever.

If we follow the light (the light God gives) and recklessly enforce everything that the light shows us, we will become tyrants—spiritual tyrants. The light is to be our co-worker. In the light we are to see and understand how to handle matters. We are children of the day and not of the night. Our faithfulness will be tried according to the wisdom by which we carry out our work in the light. In the light we can see many foolish things, but God does not require us to take on the responsibility for correcting all this. We must deal with situations in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The light will help us in this so that we are able to see the situations from different viewpoints.

The revelation of the Spirit is given for the profit of all, and I believe that this revelation of the truth is very fitting right now.

I forwarded the advertisement you sent me to Missionæren, but I took out the part at the end that mentioned Skjulte Skatter. The fact is that it is difficult—at least for me—to write many things to people when I don’t know them and don’t know their state. When Paul wrote, it was either to one individual or to a church—he knew them and was aware of their state. However, when you write a newspaper article, you have to write things without knowing your audience. For that reason, among others, I doubt that I will be able to continue as the co-editor of the paper past the end of this year—if God gives grace and strength for that. That’s the reason I could not allow the advertisement to be published in the newspaper. Family and personal work require effort, and you can’t devote yourself to so many areas of work without something having to suffer as a result.

Halvorsen, from Tønsberg, took note of the testimony you gave in Tønsberg two days after Easter. In light of this, he believed it was appropriate to point out a mistake in Skjulte Skatter. It’s at the bottom of the page where it says that the paper costs 1 kroner per year, paid in advance, etc. He interpreted it this way: If Christ were to take the Smith brothers home, we would not be able to fulfill our promise to the subscribers who had paid in advance. He is right. It should have read: God willing, the paper will be published once a month and will cost 1 kroner per year. We could have just left out “paid in advance.”

At the moment, Pauline Borgersen is in the kitchen, and you can hear her voice all throughout the house. She is busy preparing for a small festive gathering we are planning to have at Br. Ellefsen’s place tomorrow evening to celebrate the one year mark of the mission work, as well as Br. Ellefsen’s departure on his tour of duty. Ellefsen is moving further out, although on the same side of town, and will be living in a large stone house owned by a merchant by the name of Frivold. The copies of Prayer[2] have not arrived yet.

Use persuasion and ingenuity as one who is as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. Be a true fisher of men who understands to use the right means and to meet everyone at their level. There’s no doubt that Øvrebø and Tobiassen have begun to make headway in the right direction. We can clearly understand that God is working along with us.

Loving greetings from your brother, striving together with you in the service of Christ,