“From the girls of the Beirut School in Syria, to the sisters beloved in the Lord Jesus, in a land very far away.  We have been honored in reading the lines which reached us from you, O sisters, distant in body but near in spirit, and we have given glory to God the Creator of all, who has caused in your hearts true love to us, and spiritual sympathies which have prompted you, dear sisters in the Lord, to write to us.  Yes, it is the Lord Jesus who has brought about between us and between you (Arabic idiom) a spiritual intercourse, without the intercourse of bodily presence.  For we have never in our lives seen you, nor your country, nor have we spoken to you face to face, and so you likewise have not seen us.  Had neither of us the Word of God, the Holy and Only Book which is from one Father and a God unchangeable, to tell us that we have one nature, and have all fallen into one transgression, and are saved in one way, which is the Lord Jesus, we could not, as we now can, call you in one union, our sisters.  The Lord Jesus calls those who love Him His brethren, and since He is the only bond and link, are we not His sisters, and thus sisters to each other?  Truly, O dear sisters, we are thirsting to see you, and we all unite in offering prayers and praises to God, through His Son Immanuel, the possessor of the glorious Name, praying that we may see you; but we cannot in this world, for we are in the East, and you are in the West, far, very far.  But, O dear friends, as we hope for the resurrection from the dead, so after our period in this world is ended, we shall meet by the blessing of God in those bright courts which are illumined by the light of the Saviour, which need not sun nor moon to give them light,—­that holy place which is filled with throngs of angels who never cease to offer glory to God.  There we may meet and unite with all the saved in praising the Saviour.  There we may meet our friends who have passed on before us “as waiting they watch us approaching the shore,” as we sing in the hymn.  There around the throne of the glorious Saviour, there in the heavenly Jerusalem, our songs will not be mingled with tears and grief, for the Lord Jesus Himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes.  There will not enter sin nor its likeness into our hearts sanctified by the Holy Spirit.  There this body which shall rise incorruptible, will not return to the state in which it was in this world.  In those courts we shall be happy always, and the reason is that we shall always be with the Great Shepherd, as it is said in the Book of Revelation, ’He shall shepherd them and lead them to fountains of living waters and wipe all tears from their eyes.’  Our sisters, were it not for the Holy Bible which the Lord has given to His people, we should have no comfort to console us with regard to our friends whom we have lost by means of death.  We beg you to help us by offering prayers to the living and true God that He will make us faithful even unto death,—­that