These two letters were recently found among the papers of a brother who has departed to be with Christ. -- ED,
I.
4, Lloyd Street, October 28th, 1841.
My dear brother in the Lord,
It is blessed to have joy in the sense of giving joy to Him who loved us and gave His Son to the death for us, and blessed is it also to be able to stand by and share in that twofold joy. I feel this while writing to acknowledge the safe arrival of your letter. To give and to receive money seem little things to the mind of man, but not so when the Lord is in the gift or the reception -- then it is an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Strong words, dear brother, but true and leading into rich blessing, "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
I have not many refreshments from the saints' walk here below (though I know my labour is not in vain in the Lord), yet my soul has been greatly refreshed, and so have the souls of many others, in the care and love shown towards the poor saints of London by our brethren, both in the Isle of Wight and in Marlboro', and I can assure you it has lifted up my heart in praise.
I desire to come and see you soon if the Lord will grant me that favour. I now merely write in the way of business to acknowledge the safe arrival of the money sent.
With much affection, Your brother and fellow, G. V. Wigram.
11, Paron STREET, June 1st, 1842.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
I have written to our sister, but the case is one which seems to me that the Lord alone can compass. The great thing will be to endeavour to get her soul into communion and dependence upon God, so that she may be able to judge anything in her own character which, though not seen by man, may have been the cause of her doing this or that thing to grieve the Lord. Often in such cases a feeling of "the rights of the case," instead of "what is consistent with grace," and a sense of one's "OWN COMPETENCY FOR BUSINESS," instead of one's "HEAVENLY, PILGRIM, NAZARITE CHARACTER," leads us to take steps which lead to things which become the corrective of the very character in us, which the Spirit of the Lord saw to be unlike that of Jesus.
I know so little of the case in detail that I find myself quite unable to form any satisfactory judgment upon it; but I am sure that if she will turn to the Lord and Him only in the matter, and make Him her burden-bearer, and ask for grace to be contented to have His will performed and not her own, she will find present rest and future blessing.
Deuteronomy 1 is a very interesting chapter to me in connection with such cases. Of course if she comes to town she will let me see her. Our kind love to -- and to all the saints.
Your brother, G. V. W.
Christian Friend 1897 p. 120.
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At Oxford he met John Nelson Darby and Benjamin Wills Newton. Dissatisfied with the established church, Wigram and his friends left the Anglican church and helped establish non-denominational assemblies which became known as the Plymouth Brethren.
Wigram had a keen interest in the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible, which was of great interest to the emerging Brethren assemblies. In 1839, after years of work and financial investment, he published The Englishman's Greek and English Concordance to the New Testament, followed in 1843 by The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance to the Old Testament.
With Wigram's help, Darby became the most influential personality within the Brethren movement. Wigram is often referred to as being Darby's lieutenant as he firmly supported Darby during moments of crisis. He also helped Darby fend off accusations of heresy, also in regards to the sufferings of Christ, in articles written in 1858 and 1866, which some considered were very similar to Newton's errors two decades earlier.
George Vicesimus Wigram was converted whilst a subaltern officer in the army, and in 1826 entered at Queen's College, Oxford, with the view of taking orders. As an undergraduate he came into contact with Mr. Jarratt of the same college, and with Messrs. James L. Harris and Benjamin Wills Newton, both of Exeter College, who were all destined to take part in the ecclesiastical movement with which Wigram's name is also prominently connected. This connection was strengthened from about the year 1830, when these friends, all Devonians, were associated in the formation of a company of Christians at Plymouth, who separated from the organised churches, and were gathered to the Name alone of Jesus, in view of bearing a testimony to the unity of the church, and to its direction by the Holy Spirit alone, whilst awaiting the second coming of the Lord.
Wigram was active in the initiation of a like testimony in London, where by the year 1838 a considerable number of gatherings were formed on the model of that at Plymouth.
In 1856 he produced a new hymn book, "Hymns for the Poor of the Flock," which for some twenty-five years remained the staple of praise in the meetings with which he was associated. Ten years after the first appearance of the hymn book edited by him he stood by J. N. Darby once again at a critical juncture, when the question of the doctrine maintained by the latter on the sufferings of Christ some further dissension occurred, though the teaching was vindicated. During the rest of his life he paid visits to the West Indies, New Zealand, etc., where his ministry seems to have been much appreciated. He passed away in 1879.