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Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
Dordrecht, 7 March 1877

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Dear Theo,

Thanks for your letter, be strong and He will strengthen your heart. Today I received a long letter from home, in which Father asked me if we could arrange to go together to Amsterdam next Sunday, to visit Uncle Cor. If you agree I will arrive at The Hague Saturday night at eleven o'clock, and we can go on to Amsterdam by the first train the next morning.

I think we had better do so, Father seems to have set his heart upon it, and it will be nice to spend another Sunday together. Can I stay over night with you - otherwise I could go to a hotel. Write me a postcard if it is all right, let us keep close together.

It is already late, this afternoon I took a long walk, because I felt I needed it, first around the Great Church, then past the New Church, and then along the dyke, where the mills are that one sees in the distance as one walks near the station. There is so much expressed in this peculiar landscape and surrounding, it seems to say: “Be of good courage, fear not.”

Oh might I be shown the way to devote my life more completely to the service of God and the Gospel. I keep praying for it and I think I shall be heard, I say it in all humility. Humanly speaking, one would say it cannot happen, but when I think seriously about it and penetrate under the surface of what is impossible to man, then my soul is in communion with God, for it is possible to Him, who speaks and it is done; who commands and it stands fast.

Oh! Theo, Theo boy, if I might only succeed in this,

A handshake and kind regards to Roos,

Ever your loving brother, Vincent


At this time, Vincent was 23 year old
Source:
Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written 7 March 1877 in Dordrecht. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, number 092.
URL: https://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/5/092.htm.

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