Of all the millions of letters that have been written down through history, comparatively few have survived. For instance, we have only a few of the letters written by Paul to the early Christian churches, only a few of the letters written by soldiers on the battle-field to their families back home, and so on.
There is no way of telling how much we have missed by not having these letters, but I know whenever one does appear that has happened to be saved, we are all touched by the comparison of the days when the letter was written and the present time.
I've just had my attention called to a most interesting letter that has curiously survived for 17 centuries, and I want to share it with you, for I think it will be comforting to most of you. It was written by a middle-aged man name Cyprian, in a garden near the city of Carthage in Northern Africa, to a friend named Donatus. both the garden and the city have long been destroyed, yet this communication has survived, and can be copied and circulated, so that the ideas expressed live on and on. It goes like this:
"This seems to be a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see. Brigands on the high roads, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds, under all roofs misery and selfishness and cruelty. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and a holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians -- and I am one of them." -- Hope.