The letters of our beloved departed brother, Charles Andrew Coates, were in his lifetime a source of comfort, help and instruction to many, and it has been thought that the publication of a selected number would be for general edification. Our brother's active service was for many years much restricted through bodily weakness, and this contributed, under the Lord's hand, to the development of those choice spiritual feelings which are so evident in his correspondence. His mind was remarkably formed by the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and all that he wrote was the result of prayerful consideration. Hence the combination of unswerving faithfulness to the Lord with true humility and gracious sympathy in the spiritual experiences of others. Above all else, the reader cannot fail to remark in these pages our beloved brother's deep appreciation of the Person of Christ, and his wholehearted devotedness to His interests on earth, centring in "His body, which is the assembly". No matter affecting the Lord or His saints was regarded as too trivial for his interest and prayers, and the smallest service done for His Name and glory found recognition and appreciation.
We may well desire that these features may be more developed with us all, and that the One from whom they can alone be derived may have a greater place in our hearts.
It was the custom of our beloved brother from an early date to preserve copies of his more important letters and these form the foundation of the present volume. In addition many letters have been made available by the recipients and are included. Thanks are due to all who have contributed thus, and in other ways, to this service.
The Scripture quotations are in general from the translation by J. N. Darby, which our brother habitually used.
The letters have been printed in chronological order, except where the dates are not known; the undated letters, including some previously published in booklet form, are grouped at the end of the volume. Indexes have been added as to the general subject matter of the letters, and the scriptures to which special reference is made therein.
It may be of interest to mention that the writer of these letters was born at Bradford on the 7th December, 1862, and departed to be "with Christ" at Teignmouth on the 7th October, 1945.
W.M.B.
1878.
Henceforth my lips and pen
Shall seek to spread His fame;
My hands and feet shall swiftly move
To glorify His Name.
I seek no earthly place;
My joy is all in Him;
My thirsty soul shall drink no more
From fountains stained with sin.
But in the Lord Himself,
The Lord who died for me,
Despised on earth, enthroned in heaven,
My springs of life shall be.
And when He takes me home
To gaze upon His face,
More loud, more sweet my soul shall sing
The riches of His grace.
(From lines written on his conversion at the age of 16.)
... As to Luke 9:26, it is a word for the conscience and is meant to have a solemn force for all who hear it -- whether saved or unsaved. Nothing is more evil than the practice, which is very prevalent, of turning aside the point of such passages by supposing that they refer only to unsaved ones. Some were quite surprised when I said at -- the other day that "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" had a solemn and searching application to each one of us, for we all need to "give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip". It is a very evil thing to set one scripture against another, and to use one to weaken the force of another. Each scripture is needed, and while we must be careful that the scriptures which touch our responsibilities do not weaken our sense of grace, we must not allow the thought that because of grace there is no such thing as responsibility.
MY DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST, -- I have just returned from a few days in the north of Lancashire, and found your letter. I am sorry -- very sorry -- to hear of the many trials through which you have had to pass, but I count it a privilege to be able to pray for you. The present time is a time of suffering for all Christians. Some appear to have to pass through more painful experiences than others, but all have to suffer. And is it not sweet to know that we suffer with Christ, Romans 8:17. We are taken into partnership with Christ both in His sufferings and His glory. He suffered, and was the Man of sorrows when in this world -- so full of sin and its effects. So long as we are here we must suffer too, but how sweetly does the apostle say, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us". Then again Peter says, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you", 1 Peter 4:13, 14. The same apostle
also tells us that "when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God", 1 Peter 2:20. So that we have a certain joy and a peculiar and blessed sense of the Lord's love and approval when we are suffering for His Name's sake which we do not have at other times.
As to your question about Mary anointing the Lord in Mark 14, I think she thought Him worthy of her all, and she had an instinctive sense that He was going out of the world, and she therefore took the opportunity of expressing how she counted Him worthy of everything. The ointment was costly -- she had done what she could -- she had given her all to Him. The disciples murmured at her, but the Lord approved and appreciated her devotion. They were thinking of the poor -- she was thinking only of Him. What a pattern for us! It should teach us to think less of the opinions of others, and more of the blessed Lord Himself, that we may be also found doing the very things that will give His heart pleasure.
Take courage, dear sister, and trust in the Lord at all times! Make Him your refuge and strength and in all things you shall be more than conqueror through Him who loves you.
Yours affectionately in Christ,
DEAR --, -- ... We are very sorry to know that you have so much trial and difficulty in your path. I know it is a good deal easier to moralise on such things when outside them, or even when passing through them, than it is to get the present good of the exercise which the Lord intends them to work in our souls. Psalm 42 - Psalm 44 give us a remarkable history of soul-exercise, and the "afterward" comes in Psalm 45. In Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 it is the condition of the soul itself which is the chief cause of exercise, and this is the first and deepest question that God raises with us. In Psalm 44 it is the outward circumstances and oppression that are in view. But the soul itself has got right, though suffering so bitterly under the government of God, and it accepts all from God. Note the seven "Thou's" verses 9 - 19. It can then count upon His "mercy" ("loving-kindness") verse 26; and can say, "For thy sake are we killed all the day long".
Yours affectionately in Christ,
The great turning point in the history of a soul is when it becomes consciously an object of divine love, Mercy and goodness are often apprehended long before there is any true knowledge of love. The perfectness of redemption may be known with clearness and certainty, and all the common difficulties and exercises of a convicted sinner may find such an answer that the conscience is in peace, and yet the heart may not have found its perfect rest in divine love.
It is well when our hearts learn to put things in this order -- "who loved me, and gave himself for me". Many know Christ as an infinite Benefactor, and are deeply grateful to Him for what He has done, without having realised that all has been the outflow of His measureless and everlasting love. In such cases there is no true response to His heart, and He looks in vain for the answering affection which the knowledge of His love would kindle.
The soul's awakening is a wonderful epoch in its history, and by this I mean not conversion or peace, but the first consciousness of being loved by the Son of God. The effect is indescribable. To know Him in the greatness of His Person in the brightness of the Father's throne -- supreme in heavenly glory -- and to know that there is a living eternal link of inconceivable love between Him and me! Such knowledge as this revolutionises the affections; throws the dim and worthless, though often cherished, idols of the earth into the shade to which they properly belong; and makes heaven supremely attractive because of the One who is there!
But this does not come all at once. It seems to me there are three distinct steps in the appreciation of His love. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He has saved me. I survey all His grace to me as a vile sinner -- I consider His amazing work -- my soul explores the vast range of its blessing and I see it all as the outflow of His personal love. This kindles the heart, and sets it all aglow with responsive affection. "My Beloved is mine" becomes the rapturous utterance of the soul. His love thrills the heart which is filled to overflowing with a sense of what it has got in Him. The thought of having Him is uppermost. He is the soul's treasure, and
it is the heart's delight to think of Him in His all-varied excellence and beauty.
If this apprehension of His love is maintained in power it speedily leads to what I call the second step of affection. That is, the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. All believers will admit this, but it is another thing to reach it in affection. I may acknowledge the right of the Lord Jesus to command me -- he would be a strange Christian who would not -- but this does not bring in any power if I do not reach it in affection. His lordship is not a measure of duty or responsibility alone; it is a claim acquired by love and gladly rendered by love. To use again the language of the song, Jesus is owned as Lord when the heart says: "I am my Beloved's". I belong to Him, He has a right to me; and this not merely because of the righteous claim which redemption has given Him, but because of the love of His heart. He has paid the full price, but the love that paid is greater than the price. He loved me; He would have me for Himself. When this love is known it produces true devotedness, and maintains the heart in pure and holy liberty.
If the foregoing steps were taken a third would be quickly reached -- the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company. "His desire is towards me". Love's delight is found in the company of its object. It is to secure this that He acts as our Priest -- lifting us above the pressure here that we may join Him in the sanctuary. For this He washes our feet to free us from the influences of the present scene around us so that we may have part with Him who has gone to the Father. To this end He is presented to us by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and in all true ministry, that our hearts may be drawn away from the place where He is not to the scene of His exaltation and glory. He wants our company. His love delights to share with us the joys of that blessed world -- to make us familiar with the Father's house even now -- in a word, to have us near Himself. May we know in a deeper way, and in fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with "the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me".
June 8th, 1896
... I am sure that you will be glad to have news of beloved J.B.S. I found him sitting up in his chair near to the window, and with the exception that he is a little thinner than he was and has a white beard there is no change in his appearance. His colour is as fresh as ever, and his eye as bright as in other days. He seemed pleased to see me, and spoke with great animation -- so much so that I felt I must make my visit short lest he should exhaust himself. He asked after many brethren in the West Riding by name, and said: "Tell me now, who is there who is really set to go on with the Lord?" He said it was his great joy when he was awake at nights to think of those in the different meetings who were "going on", and to pray for them. He had just been writing a message to the -- meeting, and what he said to me was very much on the same line, so I send you an extract from the message that you may have it in his own words:
"I have only one suggestion to make to you, and that is, that you not only follow Him in heart adoringly for His wonderful service and interest in you down here, but that each of you study to know something of beholding His glory. Not so much what you say to Him as what He is to you. Not so much your prayers, as the sense of being lost in the blessedness of being near Him outside this world, and this you will find will have a greater effect on you than even His hearing your prayers".
This gives the substance of what was on his mind in speaking to me, and I was most thankful to have such a word from him probably the last I shall ever hear from his lips.
He seemed very glad to hear that his present papers were being so widely read. He seems to have really left everything behind but the interests of Christ, and to be living entirely in that blessed circle to which he has so often directed the thoughts of our hearts. He spoke most affectionately of the brethren, and his last words to me were: "Give my love to all the brethren", and then with much emotion he added "The Lord knows how I love them".
July 8th, 1896
... It is an immense thing to see how we are "alive to God". I think a great many are trying to live to God, That is, they want to reach it in their responsible life, instead of seeing that it is "in Christ Jesus". I believe that many conceive of living to God as being in their responsible life down here; that is, they think that it is in a life of practical righteousness and holiness that they are to live to God. The "likewise" is forgotten or not understood. Christ has died unto sin, and lives unto God. He lives not only personally free from sin (He was ever this), but He is outside the whole range of sin. He lives unto God in scenes where sin can never come, and where all things are of God. His death is my title to live to God in the same sphere. Such is the grace of God that I may appropriate Christ's death, and count that I have died to sin. It is only thus that I could reach "alive to God in Christ Jesus". Dead to sin is not the terminus -- it is the station en route -- the terminus is "alive to God in Christ Jesus".
I could not live in sin -- that is, in the life of Adam -- and live to God in Christ Jesus at the same time. I must have died to sin by the appropriation of Christ's death, in order to be alive to God in Christ Jesus. "Dead to sin" is not that I abstain from sinning, but I quit the life of Adam altogether by the appropriation of Christ's death, and count myself alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The result of this is that in my responsible life I yield myself to God, and my members as instruments of righteousness to God. It is because I know what it is to be "alive unto God" that I can do this. A good many are reversing the process. They are trying to live to God by putting the responsible life right. What a blessed thing it is to be under grace!
MY DEAR --, -- ... I trust that the Lord will care for His saints and for His work in --, and that you may have refreshings of heart from Himself. If He is really the Object of our hearts it makes present things look very small -- whether they are dark or bright. He can sustain above the trials of this scene, and He can throw its brightest things into the shade by His own excellency. His love is ever active towards us, and is ever seeking to draw us to Himself. If we know Him it does indeed isolate our hearts from the place of His
rejection, and make us strangers here. While His love known in our hearts is a little bit of heaven before we get there!
Is it not a blessed thing that God delights to be known by us, and that He has made Himself known in the Son of His love, and by the death of the Lord Jesus? And the Holy Spirit also given to us to shed the love of God abroad in our hearts, so that it is God's will that our hearts should be constantly lighted up with divine love! May we really take it in, and go in for it! It is such a deep joy to the heart of God to find a response to His love.
Give my love to all in the beloved circle at --, and to any others of ours whom you may see. I trust you are all preserved in health, as we are through mercy. Mother is fairly well, but not able to go out in the evenings. She joins me in much love to you all in the Lord.
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR Miss --, -- Many thanks for your letter with so full and interesting a report of the good things you have had at Weston (Conference with F. E. Raven). We are deeply thankful to the Lord for His ministry and care at this time in holding His saints and servants so distinctly in His presence, and for giving such a refreshing season of edification. The crumbs that we have got have given us a very happy share in the good things, though not privileged to be there in bodily presence. As you know, -- came down here for four days last week, and he and -- were very good in giving all they could, and with your letters added I think we have had a fair share of the feast, and have been very much refreshed thereby. May the savour of it all remain in every heart with a deepening realisation of the power and blessedness of all that has been thus brought before us! It is appropriation that tests us. How often we stop at admiration! It is as we appropriate that we become spiritually robust.
The Friday evening address must have been a wonderful time -- it seems to have impressed everybody, The illustration of the lamp is excellent and most striking, and yet is the perfection of simplicity. The published notes will be eagerly looked for.
Yours very affectionately,
MY DEAR Miss --, -- ... Our time at Ilkley was good for us physically, and I think somewhat profitable also in a spiritual way ... For some weeks we had readings every morning at the Room from 10 to 11:15. We began with Colossians and these were very good readings and, in my judgment, superior to what followed. I think the Lord gave us help as to the Christian circle, and what is connected therewith, and much came out that was edifying as to Christ as Head. When we had got through Colossians it was proposed that we should have one or two readings to note the characteristic differences between Colossians and Ephesians. These were good, but no very special unfolding of the mind of God, at least, so I thought. Then we had two readings on priesthood which were profitable; followed by some on John's gospel in which I thought we got very little of what there was for us. I think perhaps the Lord saw that we had already had as much as we could digest, and it was probably His mind that we should chew the cud rather than feed any more. Then in the evenings we had readings or addresses every evening either at Ilkley, Burley, Otley or Bradford, so that it was quite a day of visitation for that district. As far as I was concerned it was chiefly a time of rest. I preached on the Lord's days, I believe twice at Ilkley, three times at Bradford, once at Otley, and once at Halifax; and gave two or three addresses each at Ilkley, Bradford and Halifax. It was quite a treat to me to hear the ministry of others ...
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- I am always pleased to hear from you, and I was glad to have your letter the other day.
You have rightly counted on my interest in your welfare, and you may be sure that I shall pray for your guidance and blessing.
When we are simple, and going on in restful confidence of heart in Himself, the Lord orders for us in every detail of the pathway, and if you are happy before the Lord about it, no doubt this attachment is of Himself. I am very glad that Mr. -- is a quiet and devoted Christian, and I trust that he
may be a distinct spiritual help to you and you to him. If the Lord is pre-eminent in each of your hearts this will be the case, and thus the link of affection may not only be one of earthly happiness, but may contribute to the soul-prosperity of both.
In one sense the formation of a link of this kind is a distinct mercy from the Lord. It gives the heart a kind of stay and anchorage, and thus in many cases is a valuable safeguard.
I trust that you may know continually what it is to walk in the light of divine love and to prove in the pathway here how good is the will of our God!
I have just had a fortnight in Hereford and we are now in Malvern for a week. Both Mother and myself are fairly well. Please give our warm love to all the dear ones at --, and accept much of the same for yourself.
Yours very affectionately in Him,
DEAR --, -- ... I do not know about being "downright miserable", but I think I do know a little what it is to find that death comes in on things here. We have to drink the bitter waters, nor can we look for anything else if our hearts remember that Christ has died here. If our affections are knit to Him His death changes the whole attitude of our souls as to things here. We see the only green and beauteous One ever found here cut down in death, and as we learn death as that into which He has entered the bitter waters become sweet. That is, we expect to find death on everything here -- our hearts are prepared for it. It is not a disagreeable surprise. Our life is in another sphere, beyond the reach of death's destroying hand. Here we are in measure, like the apostle, delivered unto death and prepared for it as we bear about in the body the dying of Jesus.
I am glad to be found fault with when I say what is wrong for it gives one a chance of getting right; thanks for your criticism as to "theatre-going Christians". I cannot lay my hands on the paper in question, but so far as I remember my remarks were intended to reach the conscience of any who might profess to be Christians, and yet find happiness in what
is an out and out worldly thing. I should not for my part acknowledge such a person to be a Christian at all, except in the widest sense in contrast to being a Jew, Mohammedan, etc. They are unconverted -- have never turned to God from idols -- are still in the broad road -- and as being friends of the world are designated by James enemies of God. In saying this I do not at all presume to judge of what may lie beneath the surface. I do not doubt that there may be a measure of the Spirit's work -- a very small spark -- deep down in such a soul, but such a one is not on the Lord's side, and is travelling on the road which leads to destruction. If I see a person on the road which leads to hell I give no credence to his assertion that he is sure of heaven. The assurance of such persons is mere carnal security from which there must be a terrible awakening some day. If I know any such persons I should lose no opportunity of pressing upon them the solemn impossibility of such a course having any other end than destruction. I would seek to make them feel that, in my judgment at any rate, they were quite unconverted. I would press on them the absolute necessity of the new birth and of being partakers of the divine nature, and I would try to show them that these things are moral realities, and that one of the children of God would naturally feel that a theatre was hell to him. It is not at all a question of a mere set of ideas about things; it is a question of a complete change of moral constitution. I am perfectly convinced that a person who could enjoy the theatre would not find heaven a very attractive place. Heaven has no hold upon his soul. Why he should wish to be there at all I do not know, except that people have an idea that heaven is a place of happiness. You will think me very severe, I know, in all this, but I think Scripture would bear me out in it.
I do not make any excuse for worldliness anywhere. There are many in fellowship of whose eternal security one stands in the gravest doubt. They have picked up a kind of dogmatic Christianity, and have certain truths in their minds, but one does not see them being morally formed in any way. You can only leave such with God. "The Lord knoweth them that are his ..".
Mother joins me in much love to you in the Lord.
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I trust that you, and all the dear ones at --, are going on in the light of divine love and rejoicing in the Lord, having no confidence in the flesh, and keeping it where God has put it -- in the place of judgment.
As we are attracted to Christ by His love, we find His death between us and "our old man", and between us and the world. This is the way of real deliverance, and happy freedom from what is evil here in ourselves and in the scene around us.
I hope that ours are preserved in health, and that all of you at -- are well.
I am thankful to say that Mother and myself are fairly well, through the rich mercy of our God.
Our warm united love to each one of you:
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- I was very pleased to have your letter, as I have often thought of you, and wondered how you were getting on. The Lord be praised for all His saving and keeping grace! And may we have increasing confidence in His unbounded love!
His love has taken everything into account, and by His death He has removed from before the eyes of God everything about us that was unsuited to divine light and love, so that we might be near to Him as those whom He has "sanctified" and "perfected for ever" by His one offering, and thus free to know and enjoy the love which is the source of all our blessing.
I trust the Lord may draw you, and keep you, as you seek to walk in His ways, and give you the knowledge of His will and pleasure. It is a very blessed thing to be here only to please Him, and it makes many things simple which might otherwise be perplexing.
I am glad you are desiring to be with those who eat the Lord's supper in remembrance of Him. I trust you will go forward in everything that is according to His mind, without fear, and sustained by the consciousness of His love!
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I think you ought not to refrain from breaking bread, if your heart desires to be thus in fellowship with His own, and if you know and love the Lord as the One who has saved you and put away your sins. I might say in reference to this, If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all, The flesh will never be improved. Thank God, it has been condemned and has passed away from before His eye in the death of Christ, so that God is perfectly free to regard us in all the perfection of Christ. It is on this very ground that we break bread. We remember the Lord in that wondrous love in which He died for us. His precious love shines out in the very place where all our sin, and everything that we are as in the flesh, was removed to the glory of God. We break bread in remembrance of Him who in love has cleared us of everything. It is not what we are that we think of, but of Him whose love has reached us through His death. He has made an end in death of all that we were as in the flesh, that we might be in eternal association with Himself as His brethren. He has sanctified us by His death that we might enter into the blessedness of being "all of one" with Him, Hebrews 2:9. And He is not ashamed to call us brethren, not because the flesh is improved but because He has removed it altogether by His death.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... There is a verse in Psalm 63 which I think very lovely. It is verse 8, "My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me". It is as we follow hard after Him that we get the mighty support of His blessed hand. We are not left to struggle on in weakness. This is very encouraging, is it not?
Mother joins me in much love in the Lord to you all.
Yours affectionately in Him,
DEAR --, -- ... The great thing is to be prepared for the divine effect of the truth to be made good in us by the Spirit. Much ministry is lost upon us, as to any practical result,
because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of Christ. When we sit down under His shadow with great delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts ...
The meaning of the expression, "Though he were Son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered", is that according to His dignity as Son it was His place to command. Obedience was, as it were, a new quality of perfection in Him. Obedience is what is proper to the creature, but the Son has learned it in coming here as Man, and He has learned it, not in circumstances where obedience might be easy, but in a position where obedience involved suffering even unto death. We have to learn obedience because we are originally so disobedient. He had to learn it because it had ever been His to command.
I take the assembly's "crown" to be the knowledge of the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:19. This precious "crown" -- so long lost through the unfaithfulness and worldliness of the church -- is given back in grace to a remnant at the end, and to those who are thus singularly favoured by the Lord, the warning is addressed -- "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown". 'I have given you jewels of priceless value', says the Lord, 'even that rare and inestimable gift -- the knowledge of My love which surpasseth knowledge -- now beware lest any thief robs you of so precious a treasure!'
With much love from us both in the Lord,
MY BELOVED --, -- Your letter with some account of the work of the Lord at Mitcheldean gave me much joy, and turned my heart in praise to God. May He lead on in the knowledge of His blessed grace those who have believed, and add to their number! People go to Switzerland and get up at one o'clock in the morning to see the lovely spectacle of sunrise over the mountains. But to see the Sun of infinite grace rising and shedding its bright beams in saving and gladdening
power upon the dark heart of a sinner is a much more lovely and interesting sight, to my mind. But one longs to see it more often!
With reference to John 3:3 - 5, I think verse 3 gives us the new birth in its absolute sovereignty. It is an entirely new beginning. It is a starting of man on a new moral basis that he may be capable of having appreciation of what is of God that he may see the kingdom of God. It is not only "born again" but entirely afresh as a new point of departure. The word is translated in Luke 1:3 "from the origin" (J.N.D.); "from above" in John 3:31, and in 19: 11; "from the beginning", Acts 26:5; "anew", Galatians 4:9 (J.N.D.).
But "born of water and of Spirit" goes, I think, beyond the previous statement. It is now a question of more than seeing: it is "he cannot enter". I conceive that this is a subsequent thing to the initial action of God by which a man is "born anew". It is that by which he is morally qualified to "enter into the kingdom of God". The point is that death must be applied to all that man is morally, if he is to have any access into an order of things which is of God. This was as true in Old Testament times as now, and ought to have been known by Nicodemus, though the explicit statement of it in terms seemed to startle him. The application of water (death) is the setting aside morally of all that previously existed in man. It is death brought into a man's spirit as to all that he is as a child of Adam. Job knew something of this, and so did David, Isaiah, Daniel, and other Old Testament saints. Death must come in on all that flesh is morally. This is certainly a wonderful preparation for an entirely new order of things. Then "born of Spirit" gives us an added thought which is more on the positive side. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit". There is the introduction of that which is entirely diverse from flesh. It is that in which there is capability to have to say to God. I apprehend it would be going rather too far to speak of it as nature, but it is the introduction of that which in essence and character is not flesh but spirit. It is that which renders a man capable of receiving light from God; it is a moral basis upon which God can build up a superstructure as it pleases Him -- a superstructure which is formed by the light of the revelation which God vouchsafes at the time of His dealing with any individual soul. The superstructure is not the same now as in Old
Testament times, nor will it be the same in the Millennium, but the basis is the same for all. To speak of this basis as a new being seems to go a little too far, as it suggests a thought of formation. Formation is always, I believe, effected by the light of God's revelation apprehended by faith. But the new birth gives rather that to which God can address Himself; it is -- to use a figure -- the sensitised plate upon which the light can act. Does this meet your question, or shall I try again?
... I have been thinking a little lately about the difference between the sympathy and succour of Christ, and the help and support of the Spirit, as illustrated in Peter (Matthew 14) and Stephen (Acts 7).
It seems to me that the priestly grace and succour of Christ are active to the end that we may be with Him. The result of Peter getting succour was that He walked with Christ upon the water. Our blessed Priest would have us sustained above the influences and pressures and weaknesses here that we may be with Him. He supports with a view to our being free to enter into conscious association with Himself in His own circle.
On the other hand, the Spirit is here to support us for Christ in the place where He is not. And this we see fully exemplified in Stephen. In the power of the Spirit he was able to present in testimony in the very place of Christ's rejection the brightest conceivable setting forth of the grace and glory of Him whom heaven had received, and in whom the glory of God is fully declared.
In John 13 we learn something of the priestly grace in which that Blessed One is active with a view to our having "part" with Him -- the full and holy privilege of the assembly. In John 15 we get the other side -- the power of the Spirit to maintain us for Christ in testimony here. John 14 happily links the two, presenting, as it does, the Spirit as the maintaining power of those affections by which alone we can be qualified either for entering into assembly privilege, or for testimony here.
... I will try to take your subjects in the order of their importance, and begin with those which have reference to the presence of the Lord in the midst of His saints.
In the first place, the distinction should be clearly recognised between the presence of the Lord with two or three gathered together to His Name as in Matthew 18:20 and His presence in the midst of the assembly as in Hebrews 2, the realisation of which would be in "the holiest". It was the latter to which Mr. Stoney referred -- a privilege as exquisite as it is rare.
Matthew 18:20 states that where two or three are gathered together to the Lord's Name He is in the midst. That is, wherever two or three are together in His interests and, as we might say, in His behalf, He vouchsafes to them the sanction and support of His blessed presence so that "whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens". It is His presence in the way of support so that His interests may be maintained and furthered by His own in this world.
It is most lamentable how this precious scripture has been claimed as the exclusive property of certain companies of saints, and often the claim has been loudest where the moral conditions which might have justified it have been most lacking. No spiritual mind would dare to emulate this unholy assumption. To claim the sanction and support of the Lord's presence if we have it not is the worst form of Laodiceanism. It is a poor thing to claim something of which we cannot display the moral evidence. The evidence of the Lord's presence would be that the saints would be preserved from evil and worldly principles, and on the other hand there would be the ministry of the mind of God -- of divine light -- so that the truth and power of Christianity according to God would be increasingly known amongst the saints. I should claim nothing, but I would assert most boldly -- 'Here in Scripture is the pledge of the Lord's presence in the way of most blessed support to those who are gathered in His interests here, and the realisation of this is what I am set for, and I am thankful to know a few others who are also set for it'. It is no business of mine to say that others have not the Lord's presence. I cannot venture upon such ground as this. If they are set for His interests they will have His presence, and the moral effect of it will manifest itself in the maintenance of what is of Himself.
The great thing is to be continually exercised that we may obtain the support and good of the Lord's presence.
It may be said that many in the sects are as much set for the Lord's interests as are any of those in fellowship. That there is much devotedness and energy in service amongst many of these dear Christians may be most thankfully admitted, but it would be difficult to find amongst them any true and spiritual idea of the church according to the mind of God which is the great interest of Christ at the present moment. The fact is they have not sufficiently companied with Him; they have not spent their three and a half years, so to speak, under His shadow, so as to learn His thoughts and the true nature of His interests. They are eager to do what they believe is for His glory and for the promotion of His cause, but often without having been inside with Him to learn His pleasure. If we speak thus it is with the lowly remembrance that only by God's sovereign grace have any of us been different. It was by that sovereignty that the truth concerning Christ and the church was restored to saints on earth in the early part of this century, and it is by the same sovereignty that any of us have been brought into touch with it, or have had our hearts awakened in any small measure to know its blessedness and greatness.
It may be said that there are many in fellowship with little or no idea of Christ's interests in the sense in which I am speaking. This is true, but it does not alter the fact that they partake of the benefits of a circle of fellowship which has been formed by the truth, and according to the truth -- a fellowship which has resulted from the testimony of the Lord being made known in these last days.
To get, a true idea of the whole matter one must take a general survey of what has happened. It is now over seventy years ago that the Lord was graciously pleased to make known to beloved J.N.D. the true nature of His interests here, and the paper on "The nature and unity of the church of Christ" appeared. Several hearts were at once arrested and attracted by the truth -- doubtless prepared of the Lord to receive that which He was imparting through His honoured servant.
At the same time, or very soon after, it was realised that the breaking of bread was expressive of the true fellowship of the church, and Matthew 18:20 assured several hearts that if they were in the current of the Lord's thoughts and interests they
might count upon His presence and support even if they ventured to break away from everything which had the countenance of men. Acting on this four brothers broke bread together in Dublin, and a fellowship formed by the truth and according to Christ's interests was actually in being for the first time since the days of the apostles. It does not follow that each of the four brothers entered fully into what was involved in their seemingly simple act, or that each of them really apprehended the interests of Christ, i.e., what the church was in its nature and unity -- but they were in a fellowship formed by the truth, and consistent with the interests of Christ, and each must have benefited to a very great extent because they found themselves for the first time where the Spirit of God was free to act, and where the presence and support of the Lord could be known.
Time passed on; the truth spread in all directions, and was taken up by many -- taken up spiritually by some, mentally by others. The enemy was roused to activity and sought to swamp the whole thing at Plymouth. The Spirit of God lifted up a standard against him -- again using J.N.D. Then Bethesda enunciated a base principle of neutrality when the Person of Christ was in question, and adopted the idea of total independency both of gatherings and of individuals. That is, it was a complete subversion of everything that constituted the present testimony of the Lord. The nature and unity of the church was quite given up. That is, the very thing which essentially constituted Christ's interest here was given up. Thus with those who went away at that time the moral evidence of the Lord's presence is entirely wanting.
Since then there have been three secessions caused outwardly by the influence of certain teachers, but of which the inward cause must have been a certain degree of unwillingness to go on with the testimony, or of lack of appreciation of truth that was really at stake in each case. In result those who have separated have in different ways failed to maintain what is of God. They have not been supported in the testimony, and thus they fail to display the moral evidence of the presence of the Lord. Of course when we come to this it is entirely a matter of spiritual discernment; it is the spiritual who discerns all things; that is, it is the man who is walking in self-judgment and in the light of God who discerns what and where the testimony is. It is not a question of intelligence but of
spirituality. The simple who are spiritual see clearly what the learned ones miss; and often one has heard simple souls say, 'I cannot explain the truth but I know it is of God'. There is such a thing after all as the "unction from the holy one". If it be alleged that there are meetings with the seceders with more light than some in fellowship, it only proves what I have just said -- that there may be intelligence as to the letter of things without spiritual discernment. And be this as it may, it is a very great thing to be identified with the present testimony of the Lord. Those who clave to Paul to the end were much better off, I apprehend, than those who turned away from him, even though those who turned away might appear to have much more intelligence and ability. I doubt whether Onesiphorus was in the testimony to the same extent as Paul, but he was thoroughly identified with it, and with the one who was its chosen vessel. And the simplest soul may have this great privilege. There is great benefit in being identified with the testimony of the Lord, and those who are so are preserved more than they suspect from the evils and snares and corruptions which run riot in the profession generally. They are where the Spirit can act, and there is much gain in this.
As to realising the presence of the Lord in the "holiest" and as "minister of the sanctuary", it must be borne in mind that this is the very consummation of privilege and divine favour here. The very fact that it has been so much presented to us by the Lord in ministry of late is a very great proof of His presence and favour. Do you suppose that these precious things have even been to any extent before the minds of the seceders? I very much doubt it. And not only have these infinite thoughts and purposes of divine love been brought before the minds of the saints, but it cannot be denied that there has been a very considerable awakening of heart as to them and more exercise and desire of heart after the realisation of them than has been known aforetime. Where else in christendom would you find hearts with any true idea of the divine greatness and attractiveness of these precious and holy thoughts of infinite love?
The honest persons to whom you refer have probably never had any spiritual idea of the holiest at all. Most of them would be likely to say if the truth was put before them that it was transcendental or mystical or too high to be practical! They
have no idea of a range of things entirely outside the scope of man's mind or body, where the saints may realise entire separation in spirit from the flesh and from everything that is of the present order of things, and find themselves in the undisturbed repose of divine love in association with Christ in new creation blessedness, and in the conscious joy of sonship before the Father's face. Indeed, it was because these things, and others intimately bound up with them, were presented and maintained by J.B.S. and F.E.R. that the seceders withdrew. These things had no charm for their hearts, and their leaders had been for years slighting the ministry of J.B.S., which was pre-eminently a presentation of them.
If many of those in fellowship are not after these things I am very sorry for them, and earnestly desire the awakening of their souls. But so long as they do not resent and oppose the truth one loves to walk with them and to seek their blessing. They are at any rate within the circle where light is found, and they benefit by it more than may be supposed. But the true vital power of the fellowship lies in the testimony of the Lord, and in those who are in heart set for it. These may be few -- they are few -- but it is in them that the whole thing is maintained according to God, though many others may to a great extent get the benefit of it.
If J.B.S. had got into a wrong meeting, as you suggest, he would have felt that he had got into a place where very few were in touch with him. And they would have felt that he was a man with very peculiar ideas and expressions!
One more word as to the effect produced on a meeting by an earnest evangelist. It is precisely the same effect as would be produced in any chapel by the presence and ministry of a similar man. He comes in the freshness and power of divine grace, and infuses for the moment the warmth of his own spirit into the whole company. And if the meeting has been in a low and cold state the effect is often very marked. And this effect will be in proportion to the fervency of his spirit. He acts on people, as J.B.S. once said to a fervent evangelist whose ministry carried all before it in the place where he resided and chiefly ministered -- 'The assembly here comes together not to act, but to be acted on'. It does not follow that any solid result is left behind in such cases, or that the saints have made any real spiritual move. Indeed it sometimes happens that afterwards they are more dead than ever.
Spurgeon said that there was 'nothing so dead as a church after a revival'. If souls get a real divine move after Christ by the Spirit the effect abides and deepens. It is a positive work in the soul, and not a mere stimulus imparted for the moment by the fervency of another. I have run on longer than I intended, and must reserve your other subjects of inquiry for another letter in a few days. With much love in the Lord to all your circle.
Yours affectionately in Him,
... Many thanks for your letter. I think it is a most blessed thing, as you say, to be delivered from the influence of man. We make no real headway in divine things until we are thus delivered. No doubt some are peculiarly prone to set value upon merely natural influences, but all this lies outside the Christian circle, and has to be displaced. God has taken us up to introduce us to a circle of things which is entirely of Himself, and where there is no breakdown and no disappointment of any kind. Nothing short of this will satisfy Him, or those who by His grace have come under the mighty attraction of His purpose as set forth in Christ glorified. That you may press on after this with undiverted steadiness of soul and fixed purpose of heart is my heart's desire and prayer.
As to Colossians 3, I am not aware that F.E.R. has said anything different from what beloved J.B.S. used to press so often in latter years -- that for the saints to be risen with Christ is as much the mind of God for them as that they should be justified. Both are set forth in Christ. Justification is that I apprehend by faith that Christ risen is my righteousness. To be "risen with Christ" is that in the apprehension of my soul I pass outside every order of man here to take an entirely new footing with God in association with One who is outside, as I have said, every kind of man here -- whether Jew, Greek, barbarian, etc., etc. And I come to this in the apprehension of my soul "through faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead". Souls must come to the apprehension of it, but that which they apprehend is the pleasure of God for all His saints -- just as much as justification.
There are many truly converted souls who are not in the light of God as the Justifier. And in like manner there are
many who have not apprehended the pleasure of God that they should be "risen with Christ". They have not come in view of a scene where "Christ is everything and in all", and it is to this end that saints are "risen with Christ". But that the saints should be "risen with Christ" is as much the mind of God for them as that they should be justified.
There was nothing in the purpose of God between the Red Sea and Jordan. Indeed in God's mind the two coalesce. But forty years came between in the experience of the people.
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I have received your letter of the 24th inst., and I am very sorry to learn from it that Mr. -- persists in a course which alienates him from the confidence and fellowship of many brethren who would gladly have the fullest fellowship with the gospel. I have no fellowship whatever with a course which can only be justified on the supposition that theatres, placards, and newspapers are essential to the furtherance of God's work in this world.
If these things are not essential, and Mr. -- might admit that they were not, I think it is a very ungracious spirit which thrusts them to the front and forces them upon saints in spite of repeated protests. I regard the self-willed spirit which this betrays as being more serious in itself and in its effects upon the saints than the methods which it pursues. It is a spirit which will sacrifice unity and fellowship rather than abandon its own methods, and which works on lines of expediency rather than spiritual judgment and intelligence.
Mr. -- knows very well what I think on these matters, and if he represents me as having fellowship with his course, all that I can say is that he has much mistaken what I have said to him. It is quite possible that at some time he may have mentioned in writing to me that he was going to preach in a theatre, and I may have said in reply that I hoped God would bless souls through his ministry of the gospel.
I would go a long way in forbearance with the methods of an earnest evangelist, and would be the last to seek to put him in bondage as to the detail of his service. But when it comes to the wholesale adoption of worldly means and methods, and the principle of expediency is exalted above the essential
principles of Christianity, I feel bound to protest against it.
I think God has been graciously helping us to see that all the true power of Christianity lies in unseen things -- Christ being at the right hand of God, and the Holy Spirit here to act in power and to give effect to God's gracious thoughts of blessing. If this were truly apprehended I am sure it would make us all very independent of human machinery. We should get away from the littleness of man and his methods, and we should have more true power for the service of the Lord.
I trust that the brethren may be gracious and wise, and that nothing like the spirit of party or division may be allowed to come in, but that all the saints may be kept together in growing acquaintance with God's mind; their love abounding yet more and more in full knowledge and all intelligence, that they may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent.
With much love in the Lord,
... I have read dear Mr. --'s letter with interest. The difference between us is that he only sees two things in Scripture where I see three. He speaks of what is "in God's account", and then of "realisation" by which he means appropriation of heavenly blessing. But there is no hint in his letter of what comes between these two things.
Nearly twenty years ago I learned from J.N.D. that "risen with Christ" is state. Mr. Darby's own words are that Jordan is "entrance into Canaan subjectively; that is, a state suited to it in spirit, not possession of it ... Jordan brings us, as risen with Him, into the state which makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12.) "The Jordan, then, is death and resurrection with Christ, looked at in their spiritual power, not as to their efficacy for the justification of a sinner, but as to the change of position and state in those who have part in them, in order to the realisation of life in connection with the heavenly places, into which Christ has entered". (See Synopsis, Volume 1, p. 340.)
I do not quote J.N.D. as an authority, but only to show that he clearly recognises something that comes between what is
true of the believer "in God's account" and "realisation". There is such a thing as divine state, but no thought of it appears in Mr. --'s letter.
MY BELOVED BROTHER, -- As to Romans 5, I think I apprehend your thought, and it seems to me that it does not go far enough to meet the scope and drift of the passage in question.
I think, if you analyse your thoughts as to the latter part of the chapter, it will appear from them as if the apostle was only repeating in a different shape what he had already said in 4: 25, and 5: 1. Are we not set up as righteous before God in the most complete way in verse 1? I am of the opinion that the apostle is passing on to the moral effect of the knowledge of righteousness in the souls of those who receive that knowledge through God's infinite grace. He is thus laying the moral basis for chapters 6, 7 and 8.... I cannot help feeling that the greatness of the chapter has been very much overlooked. I do not see how you could have chapters 6, 7 and 8 unless you have a race not only accounted righteous but characterised by righteousness. Indeed, the very fact that "our old man" is spoken of implies the existence of a new man. I own fully that the scope of the thought does not appear in this epistle -- that the individual side of it is prominent -- but all the elements of the new man are here -- a man created according to God in truthful righteousness and holiness. He can even speak in chapter 8 of Christ being in us.
I do not attach any special importance to the word "constituted" except that I think it invariably sets forth that the person or thing is actually in the position or state spoken of. The one who will be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God (James 4:4), and Peter says, "If these things be in you and abound they constitute you neither idle nor unfruitful, etc". These are the only two occurrences of the word, used in a moral sense, in the New Testament, except the twice in Romans 5, and in each the thought conveyed is that of what the person is characteristically.
I am writing all this just to lay myself open to your correction in the points wherein I appear to you to be in the wrong.
... What you say about your friend feeling that she was going beyond her faith in standing aloof from Christmas parties, etc., made me think of what Mr. Stoney said at a rather important point of his career. He went to J.N.D. and asked to be allowed to take his place with the very few who were at that time breaking bread. Mr. D. asked him if he had faith for it. He replied, "Faith or no faith, I can't stop where I am".
When a thing is seen to be contrary to God's will, and inconsistent with fidelity to Christ, it will be separated from by any one with spiritual energy or true purpose of heart. Such a one would not stop to consider whether he had faith for it or not; but the very fact that he broke with the unclean thing would show that he was walking in the energy of faith.
When one is really after Christ he is most diligent in the renunciation of things which he judges to be inconsistent, and this not always because he has got rest and satisfaction in Christ, but because he is set for it. Such a one is inquiring the way to Zion with his face thither-ward, and there is not the smallest doubt that the compensation will come in due time. Indeed, any one, who had really come under the attraction of Christ in glory would feel that there was a blessedness in going after Him which threw everything else into the shade, though he might be perfectly conscious that he was far from having reached a region of satisfied desire.
The great point of the Nazarite, which I sought to call attention to in my published address on Numbers 6, is that he was a man commanded by the Lord. The key to the chapter lies in the words -- "unto the Lord". It was not ideas with the Nazarite, but a Person. I remember hearing of a young man who complained, after apparently breaking with a great many things, that he had given up everything for an idea. The truth was he had never come under the attraction of a Person in glory; he was imitating others, and being influenced by others rather than by Christ. And, of course, instead of finding satisfaction he met with nothing but disappointment. It was an attempt to get the Nazarite's compensation by imitating the Nazarite's behaviour, instead of coming under the influence of the Nazarite's Object.
No doubt you will be able to discern whether your friend is really awaking and rising from among the dead so that Christ may shine upon her, or she is merely being influenced to take a certain course of action without having her heart touched
by the attractiveness of Christ. If the former, she will come out all right and bright presently without a doubt; if the latter, she needs the presentation of Christ to her heart in Holy Spirit power so that His attractiveness may command her, and the "expulsive power" of the knowledge of Him may displace other things.
... "The day of the east wind" is a trying one to flesh and blood, but the exercise is most salutary if gone through with God. And in His tender mercy He knows when and how to relieve the pressure, and to send a plentiful rain to refresh His inheritance when it is weary. We get discipline in the wilderness but it is not all discipline; there is the unfailing care and ministration of that blessed "loving-kindness" which "endureth for ever". Tell -- to "let endurance have its perfect work" that she "may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing".
... I have glanced through the book you sent me -- "In His Steps". I can understand a book of this kind being popular in the world, for it is of the world in every sense. What it presents as ideal Christianity is simply Unitarianism -- the improvement and glorification of the world and of man in the flesh by following the example of Jesus. There is no presentation of Jesus as a Saviour, and not a trace of Christianity proper in the book, so far as I have seen. Indeed the popularity of such a book shows how little idea people have of Christianity according to God, and it bears solemn witness to the willingness of men to give up all spiritual blessings and turn Christianity into a great scheme of world improvement. That the enemy is working busily to this end there can be no doubt.
If I knew any young believers who had been taken with such a book I would ask them to consider the things that are exalted therein. Dramatic solo-singing, political agitation, socialism, and temperance are presented as the great levers by which man is to be raised and the world improved. There
is not a single paragraph in which the gospel of the grace of God is set forth, and nothing to indicate that the author of the book is even conscious of the omission. His only gospel for a world of perishing sinners is to ask them to do what they think Jesus would have done! Such a gospel would be a bitter mockery to every exercised conscience, though it is well leasing to the pride and self-sufficiency of the natural man.
I should think the influence of such a book very pernicious -- indeed I regard these religious novels as being much worse than the thoroughly worldly ones, because they connect all the unhealthy mental excitement which a novel is designed to awaken with divine things. The most holy things are thus made common. It is like Belshazzar commanding the holy vessels to be brought into his ungodly feast. The peculiar sensational force which excites the passions of the mind, and makes these books so popular, is mentally injurious and exceedingly damaging spiritually. I hope these few remarks may be sufficient for your purpose.
... There are, indeed, many souls in the condition to which you refer. With most of them it has been the case that at some time they have failed to respond to what has been presented to them by God. That is, at some crisis in their spiritual history they have chosen the world or the earth in preference to Christ and spiritual blessings. After a time -- months or years -- God may come in again, and give them another chance, but in such cases it is quite like a second conversion.
I believe God is faithful and does not fail to present Christ to every converted soul, and so long as the soul is responsive it is led on in a path of growing light. Hence the joy and spiritual prosperity of a bright young convert. Christ is before him, and he is responsive to every ray of light that reaches him. But as he goes on many a subtle snare is laid for his feet, and the enemy is ever seeking to divert him by earthly things. A testing moment comes -- perhaps over some little thing -- and he chooses that which is not Christ. The Spirit is grieved the heavenly communications which have hitherto sustained him are interrupted; and if the consciousness of this does
not at once turn him to the Lord in self-judgment and confession, he quickly drops down to earth's level, and remains there.
Yet even in such a case the Lord will not fail to exercise the conscience, nor to remind the heart of the joys it has lost. And if there be response to this gracious activity of divine love, repentance and confession will result, and entire restoration be the happy issue.
There is another important point to consider. Probably the greater part of those to whom you refer have never had any definite link with Christ. They have never come properly and personally into touch with Him. That is, they have never been truly in the good of the gospel. Grace has never yet had its all-victorious and all-subduing way with them. They may know something of the shelter of the blood, but they need a Philip to preach Christ to them, or a Paul to espouse them unto Christ.
If such souls in all humility and reality would go to God in the honest truth of their condition and tell Him that they had no deep, inward joy such as their spirits craved for, and that their souls had no acquaintance with Christ as a living Person in glory -- if they cried to Him to bring them into the full blessing and joy of His own wondrous grace -- He would not fail to answer them, and to fill them with marrow and fatness. They would find that Jeremiah 33:3 holds good yet. Alas! there are not so many in whom these holy thirstings of heart are found. The most are content with a decent "form of godliness" now and the assurance of heaven by and by.
If a man wants spiritual blessing let him go to the living God, and verily he shall be rewarded, Hebrews 11:6.
The whole thing may be summed up in this -- God is ever working in secret and by ministry to awaken desire for spiritual blessings in the hearts of His saints, and if we desire them we get them.
Of course a man whose heart is set upon things above will turn from things on the earth -- he cannot pursue both. Things here have lost their value in his eyes.
February 20th, 1899
... I have been thinking much lately of John 9 as giving us soul history according to God. With most of us there is such a mixture practically that we can perhaps hardly discern the
unbroken golden thread of divine history which runs through the apparently tangled web of our spiritual life. But it is there, and in John 9 this golden thread is, so to speak, disentangled from all the complications of experience, and held up to our view in its own proper character and beauty. That is, we see in the history of the blind man "the works of God", verse 3, in unmixed purity and power -- a soul (in figure) learning Christ first as Saviour, then as divine Teacher, Lord, Head, and finally as Son of God. It is a lovely, instructive, and engrossing study, and I trust my soul has tasted somewhat of its spirit and moral power in dwelling upon it. I commend it to your heart as a fruitful theme for consideration and prayer. The complete and blessed satisfaction into which God would introduce our hearts in the knowledge of His Son is so great, and so attractive to everyone who really contemplates it, that it is a perpetual wonder we do not go in for it with more wholehearted purpose. May God in His rich grace vouchsafe to us and to His beloved saints a prepared and understanding heart to estimate rightly and to pursue earnestly these precious and holy privileges to which His grace has called us!
DEAR Miss --, -- I am always interested to hear of your affairs spiritually, and I thank you for your letter of the 5th inst.
It is indeed very sad that Christians are so divided, and especially so that those who profess to be gathered in the Lord's Name should thus practically discredit in the eyes of the world all that they profess. For it is certain that if we were all under the control of the Lord -- holding fast His word and not denying His Name -- there would be no divisions amongst us. But sad as this is it is only what Scripture would lead us to expect, and there is an aspect of it which must not be forgotten, and of which the Holy Spirit reminds us when He says, "There must be also heresies (sects or divisions) among you, that they which are approved among you may be made manifest", 1 Corinthians 11:19.
The serious point about a division amongst brethren is the absolute certainty that at least one of the parties has entirely missed the Lord's mind as to the matter on which they have divided. That is, instead of having the Lord's mind and
judgment on the matter they have acted on their own mind and judgment. And if, in consequence of this mistaken act, they take up a position of permanent separation from those who had the Lord's mind on the matter they must suffer incalculable loss. Indeed as to principle they have got back to the very thing which has caused the countless divisions of Christendom -- they are simply acting on their own will. I do not say that this is the case with the many simple souls who are led by the influence of those to whom they look as leaders. The exercise of will is in the leaders but those who are led astray necessarily suffer much loss in their souls, and are deprived of much blessing which they would undoubtedly have received if they had remained in a position which was according to the mind of the Lord. It is the consideration of this which renders it impossible for any one who takes a place intelligently with brethren to ignore the divisions which have taken place or to assume that it does not matter much with whom they break bread.
Of course there are many hundreds breaking bread with the different sections of brethren who simply look upon brethren as a superior kind of sect with more scriptural light than others, and whose services are conducted more in accordance with the Word of God. Such persons would be well content anywhere where there was a breaking of bread every Lord's day and the gospel was simply preached. But an easy-going acceptance of things as they are, in this way, will never satisfy a really exercised conscience or a heart whose supreme desire is to follow the leading of the Shepherd. Alas! there are but few who have ears for no voice but His, but richly blessed is their portion. I am thoroughly convinced that the Lord will not fail to lead all such to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment, nor will He fail to lead them into the whole counsel of God.
With reference to the subject of baptism I may at once say that I believe it is right for a Christian to have his household baptised. Household baptism is plainly taught in Scripture. But views on baptism are not the ground of fellowship, and a difference of opinion on this point is no justification for a breach of Christian fellowship.
Baptists -- I mean those who press that none but believers should be baptised -- generally make baptism an ordinance; that is, they press it as obedience to a command, and as something
to be done by the believer, whereas it is invariably presented in Scripture as admission to privilege, and it is always regarded as the act of the one who baptises -- not of the one baptised. It is clearly connected in Scripture with profession, and it gives admission, not to any spiritual or heavenly blessing, but to that circle on earth where the Name of the Lord is owned, and where the outward privileges of Christianity are enjoyed. It is evident that there can be no assurance that every baptised person is really converted. But every baptised person is admitted to the circle of Christian profession. It is much more easy to see what baptism is in the case of a heathen or a Jew than in a country like this where the profession of Christianity is general. A Jew may believe what he likes so long as he is not baptised. But the moment he is baptised his relatives disown him. He has now become a Christian -- not necessarily a true believer, but a Christian in profession in this world; he is no longer a Jew. In the early days of the church those who received the testimony of the apostles and other evangelists were at once baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus. And all who were thus baptised were introduced to a circle of Christian privilege and profession on earth. It does not follow that all were converted; indeed we know that very soon men like Simon Magus came into the circle of profession. But the circle existed and every baptised person came within it and partook of its privileges. Of course if he remained unconverted this only added to his responsibility, but the privilege of being in the circle of Christian light was not less a very real one.
If once it is accepted that there is a circle of privilege on earth into which baptism introduces us, and I think this is as clear as can be, the baptism of believers' households presents no difficulty to any mind instructed in the principles of God's ways. If there is any principle clearly established in the Old Testament it is that a man's household is always associated with himself in the governmental ways of God. "Come thou and all thy house into the ark", is the earliest and one of the most striking illustrations of this principle. In Exodus it is "a lamb for a house". And so in innumerable instances. Whenever it is a question of the government of God or of external privilege the household goes with its head.
Now it is important to observe that when a divine principle is once established in Scripture it holds good for ever. And
this household principle is clearly stated in connection with baptism. We read that "Lydia was baptised and her household", Acts 16; we read that the jailer "was baptised, he and all his". Paul speaks of having baptised "the household of Stephanas", 1 Corinthians 8:16. So there are three examples given of the baptism of households.
And the divine suitability of this will appear to every one who is able to recognise what is suitable to the ways of God. Would the Jew, who had been divinely instructed of old to associate his household with himself in every external privilege, have understood that this was to be so no longer in Christianity, without some very plain declaration to that effect? And where can such a declaration be found in the New Testament? Indeed, the only intimation which seems to be given as to the relative position of the children in Judaism and in Christianity tells forcibly in the very opposite direction. In Old Testament times the children of a mixed marriage were not admitted to the external privileges of which we are speaking (see Ezra 10:3), but in the New Testament it is expressly said that "the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy", 1 Corinthians 7:14. That is, Christianity is more gracious as to the children than the dispensation which preceded.
The believing Jew who owned the Name of the Lord in baptism, and who thus put himself under the lordship of Christ as to his position in this world, could never have been content to leave his household on any other ground. If Jesus was Lord to him, Jesus must be Lord to all his household. And his faith would put them all on that ground in baptism; not looking on it as a fleshly ordinance which could confer some grace or blessing on the flesh, but doing it in faith that recognised the true meaning of baptism -- a figure of the total setting aside of man in the flesh, and a practical expression of the fact that his faith looked for their blessing only on the ground of the death of Christ. His children would thus, equally with himself, be introduced to the outward circle of profession and privilege of Christianity. They would be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They would be taught the Scriptures. They would partake in all the outward privilege of the Christian circle. The exhortations in the epistles to Christian parents and children are evidently
based upon the fact that the children of believers are regarded as being within the house of God in this way.
Of course, all this has got perverted and corrupted in Christendom, and the profession of Christianity has become the great mustard tree, but divine principles still hold good wherever there is faith to take them up.
Personally I do not believe that a person can be re-baptised. If one has been baptised in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit I would not counsel him to be re-baptised whether it had been done by sprinkling or immersion or whether as an infant or an adult. I believe it is the scriptural mode to immerse, and I would use this mode myself. And I would not baptise any beyond the households of believers, but, seeing that it is a matter which has to do with the external circle of profession only, I do not feel free to ignore the baptism of the whole of professing and responsible christendom. Still, if anyone is exercised, and gets a conscience about the matter, I would say to such a one, "You must keep a good conscience, and if you feel that you ought to be baptised as a believer, be baptised". I believe such a one is mistaken in his idea of baptism, but I respect his conscience.
The really important moment as to baptism for us as believers is when we realise what is involved in it and accept in our souls that to which we were committed in baptism. It is easy to be occupied with the externals of the institution and totally miss its kernel and spirit. We are baptised not because we are saved, as Baptists teach, but because we are lost. All that we are must go in death. Baptism is, in figure, the complete setting aside of man in the flesh. It is not an ordinance to add some grace to the flesh. It is the solemn figure of the fact -- fully proved by the death of Christ -- that the end of all flesh has come before God. Every baptised person in the world is on that ground as to his profession; he is committed in baptism to the fact that it is all over with him, and that blessing can only reach him on the ground of the death of Christ. This is a most powerful ground of appeal to merely nominal professors in the Church of England. Such are often soothed into spiritual indifference by the thought that their baptism has secured something for them in the way of spiritual blessing. In reality it is the solemn witness and figure of their wholly lost condition as children of Adam. Nothing will do before God but "newness of life" -- life
received through the Lord Jesus Christ by faith in Him -- life which is found in Him.
I have written thus at some length, and if any points do not seem clear to you I shall be glad to write further if you will let me know what your difficulty is. May God guide and bless you in the full knowledge of His will!
With Christian greetings to your mother and yourself, Yours sincerely in the Lord,
DEAR --, -- ... It is very blessed to know that infinite love is ordering everything for our good, and for the blessing of our souls. And at the same time there is infinite mercy that considers all our weakness, and tempers everything so that we are enabled to bear it. We have to learn that death is here, and the water is bitter until our hearts are made conscious that Christ has been in death -- coming there in the most blessed love -- and when we realise this it sweetens the bitter waters.
It is a comfort, too, that every Marah has its Elim, Exodus 15. God is the God of all encouragement, and the Father of mercies, and He does not fail to send times of refreshing and rest to cheer the hearts of His worn and weary people in their pilgrim journey. May your dear sister prove this, and abundantly realise the present priestly grace of Christ as a sustaining power for her heart! It would be quite right to pray, in subjection to God's will, that she might be strengthened, but the great thing is to learn the divine lessons which God would teach by the discipline through which His holy love allows us to pass.
We came down here a week ago, and hope to stay in S. Devon for some time. Mother is very weak now, and only able to get to a meeting occasionally.
With much love in the Lord, . Yours affectionately in Him,
DEAR --, -- ... I trust that you and all the circle at -- are keeping well, and that the dear saints are pressing on to know the things which are freely given to them of God. On God's
side everything is a gift; on our side we have to enter, by the Spirit, into what is given. John 6 is a wonderful chapter, as showing how God proposes to bring men into supreme satisfaction, in the blessed knowledge of Himself. Nothing can really be satisfaction to the spirit of a man, but the knowledge of God. And He puts this knowledge within reach of our appropriation in the Person of His beloved Son. In coming to Him, and in believing on Him, we reach true and divine satisfaction. There must be a work of grace in us -- we must be drawn by the Father -- in order to appreciate Him. But as born of God, and formed in divine tastes, we find the complete satisfaction of every longing in that Blessed One. Who would not covet to enter into this?
Of course this is all nothing to the natural man. It is not as in the flesh that we enter into it, but as being in spirit apart from the flesh by the appropriation of Christ's death -- by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. How good it is for our hearts to find the springs of their life altogether outside this world, and in that Person who is now risen and glorified at God's right hand! ...
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... I gladly send a few lines as to the matter in question. Mr. -- came here to give an address and stayed the night in this house. Before he left in the morning we had our usual reading, the Scripture to which we had come being Acts 19. I remarked that probably Paul might feel inclined to ask the same question as in verse 2 if he came amongst certain "disciples" today. I went on to say it was important that the risen Christ should be preached so that souls might believe on Him and really be with God on the ground of another Man, even the One raised from the dead for their justification. I thought this was the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and that the Spirit was given consequently upon their believing in Christ. It is in Him that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
I said that in my own case, when I began to break bread, I believed that Jesus had died for me, and therefore I should never perish, but it was not until some time afterwards that I saw with great delight that everything connected with me
as a ruined sinner had been dealt with in the death of Christ, and that the risen One was my righteousness and that I could be with God entirely on the ground of what Christ was.
This I believed to be the time when I received the Spirit. I had preached before this in my small measure, doing what Apollos did -- that is, making known the grace of God so far as I knew it myself.
This is the substance of what was said. -- to my surprise, objected, and said he thought I had the Spirit before. I am sorry for those who denounce this as "bad doctrine" ...
Yours affectionately,
About 1900
DEAR --, -- ... Since the finer weather came in we have been getting out all day into the villages around here with gospel books, etc.
Your question is a very interesting one -- How can the young people in fellowship with us be helped?
I think I can say that this subject has often been forced upon my attention in much the same way as you remark. That is, one comes across young people, and old ones too, breaking bread with us whose hearts do not appear to have any real desire after Christ. The secret of this grave defect is that they have never had any real soul-exercise, and what they suppose to be faith is, in many cases, merely a kind of intellectual assent to what they have so constantly heard. They take the place of being believers and have been received into fellowship on that ground, but they are evidently not lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I fear that in not a few instances the unwise dealing of would-be evangelists, in ministering comfort to souls scarcely conscious of any need and urging them to take the place of professed believers, has resulted in souls taking a religious position far beyond the true measure of God's work in them. Then young people in the households of the saints as children or servants sometimes come into fellowship much on the same ground as they would be confirmed and begin to take the sacrament if their associations had been with the Establishment. They think it the right thing to do, but Christ is not really the life of their hearts -- their interests are practically in the things of the world and of this present life.
For such a state of things what is the remedy? I should say, in the first place, continued and fervent prayer to God on the part of all those who are cognisant of it. These precious souls need to know the gospel of the grace of God -- they need Christ presenting to their hearts in Holy Ghost power -- they need deliverance, salvation, conversion. There may be the feeble beginning of a divine work in them, but to the positive grace, power, and joy of Christianity they are entire strangers, they need to be convicted, converted, and saved, and for this no power but that of God is sufficient. Hence the imperative necessity for much prayer if we would see this blessed miracle wrought.
As to any help that can be rendered to such souls, it must be remembered that the one thing they need is to become conscious that Christian blessings are realities -- that Christ is a real, living Person, and that His love has power to displace every earth-born motive in the heart. They need, in most cases, to come in contact with vital Christianity. So that the best -- the only true -- way to help them is to be what we desire they should be, so that in contact with us, and by knowledge of us, they may see us possessed of that in Christ which they know nothing of. Thus would God produce in their hearts the desire for "wisdom", and the world would be thrown into the shade in the light of a glorified Christ. I apprehend that hundreds of souls were thus awakened and brought into exercise by beloved Mr. Stoney's testimony -- not so much by his ministry as by the fact that they could see he was in a light to which they were strangers.
As to the many who profess to want help for their souls, and who complain that "brethren" do not look after them and care for them, I am inclined to suspect that this is only a poor excuse for spiritual slothfulness. I admit with sorrow that the number of these who lay themselves out to help the young is not very large, but I am perfectly sure that any soul really desirous of spiritual help can get it more easily and in very much fuller measure amongst "brethren" than anywhere else. The fact is, these complaining souls do not desire to get on at all. They want people to make a fuss of them, and undertake to wheel them to heaven in a perambulator. If they were really exercised and prayerful they would speedily find themselves furnished with as much spiritual help as they
could avail themselves of. But exercise and prayer are not much in the line of those you refer to. They would not mind being edified if somebody else would take all the trouble of doing it for them! Young ducks may be fattened by the use of the cramming machine, but young saints will only grow by that for which they have spiritual appetite. And if this appetite exists it will find abundance of "royal dainties" to feed upon as it feasts on the fatness of God's house and drinks of the river of His pleasure. The man or woman does not breathe who could honestly say, My heart thirsted for spiritual blessing, and I prayed to God for it, but He has disappointed me and sent me empty away ...
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
DEAR --, -- I trust you have enjoyed your time near -- . I am glad you found so much refreshment in the realisation of the Lord's presence with the feeble few gathered there to His Name. I often feel that the saints come to the meetings in faith that the Lord will be there, without having the love that would not be satisfied with anything save the manifestation of Himself. It is love that makes things living; without it we may be very correct but very dead.
I have no doubt -- referring now to the subject of your letter -- that many young souls are terribly disappointed and chilled by the company they fall amongst when they come into so-called fellowship. They are not much acquainted with Christ, nor, indeed, very firmly established with grace, but they are willing to go on, and if kept under right influences their course would be very different from what it is when they fall amongst thieves at tennis and croquet parties. I have met with young souls who have heard wonderful and blessed things at the meetings, and have been terribly puzzled to find that these things were not more the theme of converse amongst some of those breaking bread.
But, as a rule, an earnest young soul has a keen scent for a saint of the right sort, and very soon finds where he can get fellowship and help. Of course, the young folks you refer to could hardly be called "earnest", -- and this is where the difficulty
lies. It is a difficulty which can only be removed by the gospel coming home to their hearts with Holy Ghost power, and winning them for God and for Christ....
Mother joins me in much love to you in the Lord, Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- I have owed you a letter now for a long time, but the delay has not been caused by forgetfulness. My heart often turns to the "little flock" at --, with desire for the spiritual blessing and welfare of each one of you. I trust you are really growing, not only in the knowledge of the truth, but in personal acquaintance with Christ in whom it is all livingly expressed. The secret of a free tongue is a full heart. That is, it is easy and delightful to speak of that which fills the heart. A Christ-satisfied heart has but one chosen Theme, and it is a boundless and inexhaustible Theme. The more one thinks of the wonderful place which Christ has at the right hand of God as Head and Centre of God's world of blessing and glory, the more one is filled with the sense of His immeasurable greatness, and yet it is the greatness of One who has made known His love in the most blessed way to our hearts. He has put His love into contact with our souls by going into death for us. He has accomplished everything that was needed in order that we might be joined to Himself by having His Spirit. It is a most blessed thing to think of this. Not only are our sins forgiven, and ourselves secured for eternal glory in all the acceptability of Christ, but we are even now joined to Him. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit". We have to recognise this, and as the blessedness of it fills our hearts it makes us glad to retire from the world and from our own things, to be more with and for the One who has taken us in love for His own ...
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... It is a great comfort to know that every movement of our hearts towards the Lord originates with Himself. The very fact that we have desires and affections towards Him is the proof that He has drawn us. His
love has flowed out to us, and has taken hold of our hearts to win them for Himself. And in His priestly grace He is ever active to form, as it were, fresh links between Himself and our hearts. What we need is to keep ourselves from idols, and to walk continually in lowliness and self-judgment, that we may not become corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ.
If our hearts are really true to Him we may be assured He will lead us on in the knowledge of Himself just as fast as we are able to advance. He knows how much we can take in, and He does not fail to minister to us the very food that is suitable to our present need. We may sometimes feel inclined to be impatient with ourselves because we do not make more rapid progress, but we have to learn to trust the Lord with our spiritual education. If our eyes are upon Him, and we follow with simple hearts as He leads us, we shall find that He leads us by a right way and brings us through all the exercises we need in order to form our souls in the appreciation of Himself, and of all those blessed things which are brought to pass in Him. We have to trust His love all through, and to learn increasingly to distrust ourselves.
I am very glad to know that your dear sister is so much better. I trust she may continue to gain strength through God's mercy. With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- Many thanks for each of your letters, and also for your kind ministry of help in temporal things which reached me this morning. While recognising the source from which all grace flows, I trust I am not ungrateful towards the channels through which it flows in such practical manifestations, and I thank you for this expression of your care and love in the Lord.
I can understand your having a little difficulty about Christ being the Head of every man, as this is an aspect of His headship which has not been made very prominent until recent years, though it is perfectly clear in Scripture and also in J.N.D.'s writings. It is not a question of how any individual stands in relation to Christ, but of how Christ stands in relation to all men on God's part. Adam could not be head for man
according to God because by him came sin and death. But Christ has established righteousness and annulled death, and this gives Him morally the first place, for no one else could accomplish either. Hence repentance and remission of sins can be preached in His Name world-wide. As soon as a man begins to look at things from a right standpoint he finds himself in a state of sin, and with death upon him. But he learns through the gospel that there is a blessed Man who has taken up the question of sin and entered into death for the glory of God and for the blessing of man. There is a Head now for man from whom he can derive righteousness and every blessing of God. He is not this for some only, but for all. He is the Head of every man. He has the first place in relation to every creature under heaven. Men may not choose to acknowledge this -- they may despise, neglect, or reject Him -- but He has this place in relation to all inasmuch as He died for all.
To write on the Revelation is quite beyond my depth. It is a part of Scripture I have not looked at much for many years. I just know enough of it to be sensible of my deep ignorance. I mean as to detail; of course the main outlines are pretty plain. And I question whether the Spirit of God would occupy us much with prophetic details at the present moment. It is rather the trimming of the lamps, and the going forth to meet the Bridegroom, that has importance at this time....
Mother joins me in much love to you in the Lord. Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- It was a pleasure to me to have your letter today, and to be reminded of our meeting at -- five years ago. I unfeignedly thank God that in His infinite grace He was pleased to speak in blessing to your soul at that time, and I also thank Him for keeping you until this present time with desire of heart to know His grace more fully, and to be better acquainted with that Blessed One in whom it is all set forth. To Him be the praise now and evermore, for not one particle of the credit belongs to us!
It is blessed to think that we have been taken up for the satisfaction of divine love, and that we might be near divine
Persons in the circle of their own pleasure! To this end God has made Himself known to us as a Saviour-God. He has shown Himself to be "for us" -- whether in relation to our sins, our state, or our weaknesses and the enemy's power. All that He has done and been for us becomes the mighty testimony of His love, and that love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The effect of knowing God's love is that we desire to be near Him in the knowledge of all that is in His mind for us. We find that all our springs are in Him; He is the fountain of life for our souls.
But how infinite is the thought that the blessed God would have us holy and without blame before Him in love -- as sons before His face -- for the rest and satisfaction of His own love!
The Lord direct our hearts into the love of God! And in finding our home in that love may we be preserved from the evil which is in the world!
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I trust you are prospering in a spiritual sense. The great thing is to pursue the knowledge of Christ. As our hearts learn Christ, and hear Him, and are instructed in Him, we get detached in heart and spirit from the flesh, and are enabled to walk in superiority to it.
The Holy Spirit gives us the desire, in the affections of our inward man, to be more acquainted with Christ. Our great business is to encourage and feed this spiritual appetite for Christ. The more we do so, the more is it developed, and the more characteristic of us does it become. So that the believer who walks in the Spirit is more and more attracted and attached to Christ, and with adoring fervour he grows in the nature of that Blessed One....
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
... I do not find myself equal to very much, but I do not desire physical strength so much as grace and spiritual power to be amongst the saints in some little way for their comfort and furtherance of faith and joy in the Lord. How one covets
the simplicity of a heart that has really but one Object! So many carnal and natural influences pull this way and that, and we are swayed by them if not held fast by the love of Christ. It is blessed to return to a sense of that love, but more blessed ever to abide in it. Yet it is changeless, in spite of our fickleness. Blessed be His Name!
... We had a good reading on Numbers 28. It was pointed out, that deliverance is needed in order that our hearts may be free to contemplate Christ, and all that which has been effected by Him, and which subsists in Him for God's pleasure. Further, that everyone has deliverance according to the measure of his true desire for it. It is most blessed to see that God would ever have before His saints that which is a delight to His own heart, thus forming us after Himself and after Christ by His Spirit.
... My great desire is to know more of the reality and moral power of the truth in my own heart -- to abide in Christ, and thus to be able, in some measure, to minister Him to others that they, too, may be taught by the Unction to abide in Him. To see a soul being expanded in the knowledge and appreciation of Christ is a very great joy. It may well be a joy to us, for it is most delightful to the blessed God. All His wondrous activity in grace is to this end. Oh! that it might be more effective in us to His praise!
DEAR --, -- We are thankful to hear of improvement in dear Miss --, and trust it may continue and be sure, even though slow. You have indeed had a long time of exercise in this way. God is pleased to keep Marah present with us in many ways -- causing us to taste death in some measure that we may the more appreciate and appropriate the One who has been
into it in order to make it the blessed witness of all the depths of divine love. This is the time of pressure, but the psalmist could say: "In pressure thou hast enlarged me". We do not get enlarged in corn and new wine, but in having the light of God's countenance filling our hearts with joy. If brought low as to life here it is that we may be exalted in the knowledge of Christ.
Many thanks for your love and sympathy and prayers. One can have nothing better here than the love and prayers of the saints. I am thankful to be remembered thus by the dear brethren at -- .
I have been running down in health a long time, and the five months' nursing of Mother last winter, and confinement to the house more than usual, seem to have been the finishing touch. I managed to go on, though feeling unequal to things, until the end of July when I quite broke down, and have been in a very low state ever since, and not at a meeting since the middle of August....
Yours very affectionately,
MY DEAR --, -- ... What should we say or do amid all these experiences of weakness and sorrow if we could not fall back on the Father's care? No one realises as the Christian how entirely everything here is blighted by sin and its effects, but the Christian knows a blessed secret in the midst of all the desolation -- he knows what is in the heart of God, and is persuaded that none of these things can separate him from the love of Christ or of God. Our future is "glory with Christ above", and if our eye is upon this blessed goal, to which the ways of God are leading us, the sufferings of this present time are seen to be not worthy of comparison. If our present affliction is made, through God's wisdom and love, to form some trait of Christ's moral beauty in us which otherwise would have been lacking, we shall not regret it in that scene of accomplished bliss where He will be admired in His saints. If our sorrows now contribute to our being formed to shed forth some brighter ray of the glory of Christ in a universe of bliss, shall we murmur or repine at them? Shall we not rather adoringly praise the infinite love that so patiently and wisely forms us according to its own wonderful designs?
When God's work is unveiled, in what excellence of divine beauty will it all appear!
The threads which often seem so tangled now will there be seen interwoven with matchless skill in a pattern of beauty and glory. Oh! for more simple confidence in divine love and wisdom! More patience, more of the light of hope brightening our hearts in the present reality of all that will be manifested in that day!
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- I am trying to read John's gospel at present, but find everything so immense and blessed that I go very slowly. We need to have the Son of God more before us in all His greatness and love. It gives a new character and measure to everything when He is really the Centre for our hearts.
In connection with this I have much enjoyed Romans 8:39. The love of God centres in Christ Jesus our Lord, and it is as abiding in Him by the Spirit that we dwell in that holy love. The Spirit attaches us to the One in whom the love of God centres. Many look, in a certain way, for the love of God to centre in themselves, but it is infinitely sweeter to see it centred in Christ, and to come into it as being attached to Him. One would rather be a joint heir with Christ than have every good -- even if it were possible, which it is not -- as individuals apart from Him. We have not only wonderful blessings, but we are bound up with the Blesser Himself! Joy and praise well become us.
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I do not think anything affords us real satisfaction save as we are conscious of seeking to be pleasing to the Lord. But in doing our little bit of service, whether in things temporal or spiritual, entirely for His eye, and for His approbation, there is profound satisfaction and joy.
It does not matter then whether the service be little or great, if it is that which is pleasing to Him. There is something very blessed in rendering a service which is so small that it is
nothing accounted of here, but which is entirely for the Lord. He will bring it out for His pleasure -- to be content to be unseen by every eye but His -- and to find our deep, holy rest in being subdued to Him whose love is beyond all praise....
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- How it is brought home to us in many ways that "sufferings" pertain to "this present time"! Still it is precious divine favour if we are put in circumstances where Christ becomes really indispensable to us. If our hearts are taught that they cannot do without Him, it is but the introduction to an experience in which we prove how blessedly and triumphantly we can do with Him. Strengthened according to the power of His glory we can be filled with deep joy even in this present time with all its sufferings. Be assured of our loving remembrance of you all, and of our true sympathy. Our very much love in the Lord.
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... It is a comfort to know that whatever may be the character of one's path or circumstances God has some distinct object in view in passing us through the exercises of our way. And there is some distinct spirit and behaviour called for on our part in which alone we can answer truly to God's will in our circumstances. It should be our continual exercise to have the grace from Himself moment by moment that shall enable us to pass through whatever comes in our pathway in a divine way. I see more and more how very blessed it is to be in the wilderness according to God's mind -- passing on in peace and praise "through scenes of strife and desert life", sustained and refreshed by heavenly supplies, and thus not dropping down to the level of nature.
How much grace and power is needed for this! And yet it is freely available for us, and we honour God by drawing largely from His treasures ...
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- I am grateful to you for writing to me, and letting me know of your good time at -- . Your letter cheered my heart, and so did the last you sent me. It brought before me what the Lord used greatly to refresh my spirit. It was a comfort, too, to me to know that He draws your heart after Himself, and feeds you with a ministry of Himself. This He ever delights to do, blessed be His name!
I have had two years of much weakness, and entire inability for any active service. It has been a time which I have proved very much goodness and mercy, while proving sometimes in a very humiliating way the utter weakness of nature and the incorrigible character of the flesh. What I trust I am learning more of is the blessedness of having to do with divine Persons. To walk with God and to abide in Christ are the great things for us to set our hearts upon. Thus shall we be in the current of the Spirit, and in harmony with all God's ways with us, as He leads us on into the purpose of His love. As we have divine Persons before us we are in peace and stability because we are occupied with what cannot change or fail; and we are in power too, because if the Lord is before us He is also at our right hand that we should not be moved. May we evermore cleave to Him with purpose of heart.
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- ... We have to do with perfect love, whether to nourish and cherish or to convict and discipline. How good that it is so, and that in some small way our hearts have been taught to know it!
We miss you both very much, but we are thankful that you are with your beloved mother in this time of special sorrow and exercise. The Lord will sustain you in every way most surely. It is such a comfort that if we are conscious of receiving from the Lord it must be the very thing that we really need.
So unerring is His love that it could not be otherwise. We are sometimes in Cana and sometimes at Bethany -- it is with us the day of joy or the night of weeping, but He is the Minister of suited grace for each in its season. Blessed be His Name! ...
Yours very affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- ... My dear mother has been very ill, and requiring someone with her day and night. The tabernacle is being taken down, and each day shows some distinct sign of increasing weakness. It is now with difficulty that she can make us understand what she wants or how she feels.
I told her of your letter this morning and of your dear mother's sufferings and patience. She quite entered into all, though not able to express herself. I do sympathise deeply with you in all that you feel as to your beloved one, for I am in circumstances very similar myself. It is a great joy to see the Lord making Himself precious to our loved ones in their great feebleness. My dear mother is very peaceful in mind, and we hear disjointed words of praise continually from her lips ...
Our very much love to you all.
Yours very affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- I am grateful to you, and to each member of your family circle for your true and loving sympathy. Many things have engaged my somewhat small measure of strength or you would have heard from me before now.
Very much tender mercy was shown to us in all the detail connected with my beloved mother's home-going. She suffered comparatively little, and her mind kept clear to the end. It was just a fortnight from the beginning to the end of her illness. She took a slight cold in some way, and this developed into bronchitis. It would have been a very slight attack for a younger person, but at Mother's age, and in her feeble state, it was more than she had strength to withstand. The heart gradually weakened from day to day until she peacefully departed to be with Christ. During the ten days she was in bed she spoke several times of your dear mother. It was most happy to see how the Lord and His blessed things were before her to the end. It was the quiet triumph of faith, the blessed end of a life of singular unselfishness and unswerving piety and allegiance to Christ. The memory of such is blessed, and one may well desire to walk in their steps....
Yours affectionately in Him,
... We have just commenced Romans in our Thursday readings, and I hope we shall get help from God in going through it, so as to be really established in Paul's gospel. It is most important to get Paul's gospel as a foundation in our souls for the truth of the mystery; if we are divinely established in the former I am sure we shall not stop short of the latter. We ought to be profoundly affected by the favour which God has shown us in these last days, bringing to us so much that is infinitely precious, and that is so entirely unknown to many of our fellow-saints! It is certainly not because we are more devoted or faithful than others that such favour is shown us. It is of pure and sovereign mercy, and this thought encourages us to pray that in the same mercy we may be formed in affections and intelligence so as to be in the good of all that is brought before us.
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... As to whether a young Christian should study Greek, my judgment would depend on the circumstances in which he was placed. If he had time at his disposal I should certainly encourage him to pay a little attention to New Testament Greek. It is a deeply interesting study in itself, and there are very many passages in which the subtle shade of meaning can hardly be conveyed in translation, and where a knowledge of the original helps. But if a young man's time was limited, owing to pressure of business, etc., I am not sure that I should consider the study of Greek the best investment for the few moments of leisure. So far as we are concerned there is the less need for it, seeing that we have J.N.D.'s incomparable translation, and the necessity for meditation and prayer is at all times urgent, and to neglect these in pursuit of more accurate acquaintance with the letter of Scripture would hardly be a wise use of time.
With reference to this subject a little circumstance comes to my mind which is suggestive. I remember beloved J.B.S. saying at a conference that he wished all the brethren knew Greek. Someone ventured to ask why. He said: "Because they would then, perhaps, be convinced that it is not by study of the letter of Scripture that we get things, but by waiting upon God". It is wholesome to remember this, for sometimes I have noticed in those who have a little smattering of Greek
a tendency to air it somewhat vain-gloriously. But the fear of the Lord and a lowly walk before God would preserve one from this, as well as from every snare.
I shall be glad to hear from you as to your progress in this study, if you take it up, or if you have already done so. Personally I have no knowledge of Greek to speak of, but I am able to look at the original if occasion requires, and sometimes find it suggestive to do so....
Very affectionately yours in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I have thought much of you all through the winter, in your varied exercises and weaknesses, as I am fully assured you have of me. And I doubt not we owe much -- very much -- of our favour and mercy to the prayerful interest which the grace common to us awakens in those who know and love us in the truth and for the truth's sake. Not that our gracious God needs to be moved by the prayers of His children to bless, but He loves to work out His marvellous designs in connection with the exercises and expectancy of faith, and also by means of the spiritual activities of love one towards another on the part of His saints. This should encourage us to take a lively interest in each other's welfare as those who are bound up in the same life bundle with Christ, and as those who find intercession a happy service. May the Lord greatly enlarge us in capacity for service! With you, as with myself, there is not at present much opportunity for service of a very public nature, but that is no reason why we should not serve the interests of Christ in a very active and blessed way behind the scenes! I desire to have more abundant grace for this ...
My deep and true sympathy goes out ever to beloved -- in her much suffering, and I admire the grace and patience seen in her which makes her a standing encouragement to me, and I doubt not to many others. I do not need to remind her of the faithful grace of that blessed Priest on high, for I am sure she knows and has proved it in a way infinitely beyond my feeble experiences. And yet it is good to be reminded even of that which we know well, for there is a living fulness in that blessed One remaining yet to be proved by us. Our past experiences, whether great or small, do not in any way
give us the measure of what we may expect to find in Him. His love passeth knowledge, and nothing can separate us from it. How good to have such a High Priest! ...
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- Most truly and deeply do I sympathise with you in all your present sorrow. And yet, withal, I am thankful to the Lord for the mercy He has shown to His beloved suffering saint in calling her into the rest of His own presence. He has made her for long years a remarkable witness to the sufficiency and power of His sustaining grace. Indeed her patience and gentleness of spirit amidst such long continued sufferings have often been instructive and encouraging to me, and, I doubt not, to many others, while the angels have learned in her lessons of the all-varied wisdom of God.
My heart will be with you all tomorrow, and nothing but physical inability hinders me from being with you in body also. May divine consolation and peace fill all your hearts, and a blessed sense of victory! "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ".
Warmest affection in Christ to you all.
Very affectionately yours in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I feel much for you and desire that in spirit you may be free for engagement of heart with Himself, and be able to sit, Mary-like, at His feet and hear His word. The highest occupation that we could possibly have is to "honour the Son", and we do so by hearing Him. No outward circumstances of weakness can take away from us the holy joy of being able to honour the Son. Nay, such circumstances are often a help to us in this direction, for they deliver us from many things which might otherwise distract us from Him.
I have been thinking of the marriage supper in this connection. It is "a marriage for his son", and every guest brought in was there to honour the Son. Land or merchandise hindered some from coming in, and so the natural tendency of our hearts is to get absorbed even with things that are mercies or duties in themselves and not to be free to honour the Son of God.
Every guest is to be marked by this that he honours the Son. The man without the wedding garment was not honouring the Son. He was outwardly at the supper, but he was not in tune with the spirit of the feast at all. God has called us in to be witnesses of all that He is doing by His Son and for His Son that we may honour Him in all the offices which He fills for God's glory and the blessing of men -- in all the forms of love which He wears. It seems to me that the "marriage" signifies that God is going to make all things glorious and happy and fruitful by connecting His Son with them. The assembly is the first to prove this, and she is in a very peculiar and special way the bride. But Israel will also be connected with the Son of God, and the nations of them that are saved, and, indeed, "all things". And whatever is connected livingly with the Son of God comes into true blessedness. Now God has called us in to behold One who can make divinely happy and fruitful all who are connected with Him. What blessed occupation of heart to sit down before Him to learn His glory and love, and to prove the happiness of which He becomes the minister to those who believe on Him! Is it not a festive occupation? We honour the Son by allowing our hearts to explore with unchanging fresh delight all that He is as the joy-bringer of God's universe. He can hush the long groan of a disordered creation, and bring in unalloyed happiness. We, in spirit, anticipate this, and while all around is the sorrow of divorcement from God we come into those joys which belong to the land of Beulah.
That such joys may be always and increasingly your portion and mine is the prayer of your affectionate brother,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... We have happy remembrance of your visit here, and shall be glad to see you again if ever your steps are turned in this direction. We are, however, looking for a more glorious meeting at a moment which draws quickly nigh. Oh, that we may be found as those who wait for their Lord, formed by the Spirit in all those blessed and holy affections which properly characterise the bride of Christ!
With much love in the Lord to your dear wife and yourself,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... The weak ones are of small account in this world, but they are of much account in the estimation of the Lord, and for that kingdom whose power is not of nature but of the Holy Spirit. How true is it that "God has chosen the weak things of the world, that he may put to shame the strong things"! May we not judge that it is part of the way of infinite mercy with us that we are encompassed in a special way with infirmities?
Who can tell how much of God's blessed work in us is wrought through the exercises produced by bodily weakness and suffering! These things remove us from participation in many things here which might become a snare to us, and they shut us up more entirely, in a very practical sense, to Christ for support and satisfaction. I remember Mr. Darby pointing the contrast between poor saints and rich ones thus "The poor want as much of Christ as they can get to comfort them in their sorrow; the rich want as much of the world as they can enjoy with a good conscience". If this be so, and who can doubt the general truth of it, it is surely better to be poor or weak so as to desire more of Christ, than to be rich or strong and thus fall into temptation.
I do trust and pray that you may prove that grace, and power of faith, which out of weakness can make strong. That is, we apprehend all the strength that is in another Person for us. This is what the blessed God has called us to, that we may find all strength, blessing, and joy in the spiritual apprehension of Christ. Whatever exercise we pass through there is a large and divine answer to it in Him. The more we reach this as to our personal exercises the more are we qualified to learn all that Christ is in relation to the whole circle of truth.
The fulness and glory of Christ are developed in all the will and ways of God. If we have a defective apprehension of any part of God's will it is because we fail to apprehend the special part of Christ's greatness and glory which is developed in connection with that particular part of God's will. It is because every part of the truth is an essential part of Christ's glory that it is of the highest importance for us to be instructed in it, and to be energised by the Holy Spirit in the affections of the inward man that we may rightly apprehend it.
The great and blessed world of Christ's glory lies before us and welcomes us -- a large and wealthy place indeed, and all
ours through infinite grace. Then let us encourage ourselves and one another in the Lord, and press on to possess the good land!
Yours very affectionately in the Lord,
... I enjoyed the notes on 2 Corinthians 12. What grace it is that has so wrought in Paul -- one of like passions with ourselves -- that he became the vessel of such a treasure and such excellency of power, too, for the setting it forth! And the same grace has called us to know the same blessed things, and the same power works in us as wrought so mightily in him. If all be with us of much smaller dimensions according to our spiritual capacity, yet the things we know and enjoy are none other than those which he knew and ministered.
... I am glad to have the opportunity of assuring you of my good wishes and prayers in connection with your marriage.
I am persuaded that you have not contemplated this change without much waiting on the Lord, and the conviction of His approval, and I trust, that in all the path to which it will introduce you, you will have the consciousness of His support and blessing.
The way in which we carry ourselves in the various relationships and responsibilities which attach to life here is the indication of our spiritual whereabouts. Every change in these relationships is thus a new occasion for the manifestation of the grace and vigour of life and godliness. Every new circumstance is, in one way, a new kind of test, and while the sense of this sobers one, and keeps the heart in the attitude of dependence, all is well. I heartily pray that you and the one who will so soon be your husband, if God will, may be a great comfort to each other, but, above all, that you may help each other in all these blessed things which abide, and that there may be distinct gain for Christ and the testimony through your marriage.
MY BELOVED BROTHER, -- ... I heartily go with your desire for more of the knowledge of God. It is in this that all true joy and power are found. The greatness of it may be estimated by the fact that only by the gift of the only begotten Son could the revelation of God be brought to us, and only by the gift of the Spirit could we be rendered capable of appreciating that blessed revelation.
May you both be refreshed and prospered in every way!
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I know by continued experience how trying weakness is, and how little it is understood by those who have never known what it is. Still the "marvellous loving-kindness" of our gracious God is unfailing, and one learns the minuteness and tenderness of His care in many little things that quite escape the notice of those who have strong bodies and nerves. So that, from this point of view, we have a certain advantage over our stronger brethren which we do well to appreciate at its full value. I have thought sometimes in connection with David's psalms that he was a man of intense and sensitive feeling. Things that might never have affected a duller heart touched his to the quick. While this, no doubt, added to his trials, it became the occasion of his proving Jehovah's deliverance and sustaining grace and power in a wonderful way; and it also qualified him to be the vehicle of those varied and profoundly instructive utterances of the Spirit of Christ which have been so, precious to faith in all ages, and which will be peculiarly encouraging to the remnant in evil days yet to come. The sufferings, no doubt, abounded but the consolations of God abounded likewise. Paul in his day was another illustrious witness of the working of this law of divine compensation (2 Corinthians 1). I seek to encourage my heart to look for the compensation even here and now, so that one may be more conscious of present gain, and more taken up with the "heavenly light" that "makes all things bright". It is blessed to realise that it is our privilege, through the favour of God, to be in spiritual energy in spite of all the infirmities which compass the feeble vessel. I am not thinking now of energy that makes a stir
in any external way, but of that divine power which can sustain our hearts in a sense of the love of Christ and of the love of God in Him, and can give us appreciation of it, and enable us to respond to it as did Mary of old. Do not our hearts say:
One finds oneself so inconstant and variable oftentimes, but that divine power which gives all things that pertain to life and godliness can form in us even now something of that which beloved J.N.D. had in view when he wrote
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I was, and am, very interested in all that you told me of what you heard lately from one and another of the Lord's servants, and also to know about the friend about whom you have been so exercised. These things show us very distinctly that nothing but a gracious work of God in the soul can prepare one to receive the gospel concerning His Son. We are wholly cast upon Him as to anyone for whom we desire spiritual blessing. Continue to pray for your friend. It is pleasing to God that you should do so, and the fact that she is so much laid upon your heart is an encouragement to believe that He has purposes of blessing for her. You may have the joy in that day of knowing that your prayerful interest in her was a distinct link in the chain of God's blessed way in grace towards her. You may be sure that such exercises as these are never in vain. Nothing that takes us in child-like confidence to God could be without result. Blessed be His Name!
I trust you are feeling better for the change to Folkestone, and especially that it helped your father's health.
It is a wonderful thing that the Lord has furnished us with so many opportunities for the outflow of those divine affections which His grace has wrought in us. He has put us in the circle of "His own", and in that way given us the same objects as His own heart is set upon. In loving the saints,
and seeking their good, and finding our interests in their welfare we are practically delivered from the things of this present evil world. The youngest and feeblest can thus contribute to the prosperity of what is so precious to the Father and to Christ. If our thoughts and affections go off into other things we become no longer helpful and contributory in God's house, but are rather hindrances to the general flow of refreshment and edification. How important, then, my dear sister, that we should keep Christ's commandments and thus abide in His love! He has bidden us love one another as He has loved us. What a holy love is His! How He ever desires our complete separation from all that is of the world and therefore not of the Father! How He desires us to be intelligent in all that is of Himself and of the Father! And all this holy and sanctifying solicitude is to characterise our love one to another as His own -- a love that ever seeks the spiritual enrichment of those towards whom it flows. One may feel how feeble one is to help much in a direct way, but at any rate one can pray and this service in prayer is perhaps the greatest of any services we can render. See how the beloved apostle Paul breaks off, as it were, in the midst of writing to the Ephesians to pour out his heart's desires for them to God and to the Father (see chapters 1 and 3). May we have grace to serve a little in this way, my dear sister! May every divine encouragement be yours as you with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord!
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
DEAR --, -- It was quite a shock to me this morning to hear of the home-going of your beloved sister, for I had not heard of her being worse in health than usual. I feel her departure as a personal loss, for she was an old and true friend, and one with whom I have had much precious intercourse and communion in the holy things of God. It is blessed to know that all this is of an abiding and eternal order. Spiritual links endure, and will be our joy in the ages to come, after all that is of the present natural order has passed away. Yet the departure of a saint, and especially one with whom we have had strengthening and refreshing communion, is a real exercise, and is intended by the Lord to be so.
Your beloved sister loved the Lord and His things, and her heart cared for His interests. During all the years I have known her I have always found in her a true response to everything that was of God and savoured of Christ. And the departure of such a one leaves a gap in the ranks of testimony here which we ought to feel, and which we do feel.
As to yourself, my beloved sister, my heart has bowed before the Father of mercies that He may grant you in abundant measure His own consolations. Every sorrow is intended to be a road by which we travel into some enlarged discovery of the fulness of Christ. To learn the Son of God as the Resurrection and the Life required such an hour as John 11 speaks of. And it was in such an hour that He spake of seeing "the glory of God". May you realise the nearness and succour of that blessed living One, and find your heart stayed by the consciousness of His love! And I pray that all needed wisdom for the way may be given you. I wish I could be with you to render any little help. But as I cannot I shall the more commend you to God, who will be your refuge and strength.
I will not add more as I know you will have much to think of, but I could not refrain from sending a line to assure you of what you knew before, that my deep interest and sympathy are most fully with you in this hour of sorrow.
With much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours very affectionately in Him,
DEAR --, -- I am glad to have been able to see you this afternoon and to hear something of the closing days of your beloved sister. I shall ever cherish her remembrance as one whose heart always gave a true response to whatever was of Christ and His interests. And as she was in her life so she was in the ending of her days -- occupied with Him, and finding delight in His preciousness. "The memory of the just is blessed" and one realises it to be so in the case of your sister.
With very much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours ever affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I think the word in John 14, "I am coming to you" is characteristic of the present period during which the world sees Him no more. It is a general statement which may be realised by the individual or by a collected company. Illustrations of each aspect of it are to be found in John 20. Of course it does not apply to the individual strictly as an individual, but as one of a certain privileged company. And what is vouchsafed to the individual in the manifestation of Himself would prepare each to look more distinctly to realise that peculiar privilege of His presence which is known in the midst of His saints. I quite agree with what you say as to it. It must be remembered, and it is a very blessed thing to remember, that a saint in complete isolation is privileged to take account of himself as being of a wonderful and divinely privileged company. J.B.S. told me on his death-bed that he had never realised so much what it was to be of the assembly as he had since he had been confined to his bedroom. It is this individual instruction in the Lord's mind that I conceive to be of vital importance in view of our coming together.
"I will manifest myself to him" is clearly individual, yet surely there is something very special and distinctive about this, which goes far beyond what is conveyed in the words, "I will never leave thee", blessed as these latter may be in themselves. The latter is a comforting and encouraging divine assurance, but the former is the manifestation to the heart of a divine Person in all His infinite blessedness, glory, and love...
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- ... Have you thought of Mark 4:35 - 39 as a figure of the present time? The Lord is asleep: that is, He is not intervening in any outward way to quiet the wind or waves that buffet His own. The question is, Are we content to trust Him asleep? To bear the buffetings of the storm in the quiet rest of knowing that He is near, even if He moves not to still the tumult? To do so is the present triumph of faith. How often, alas! unbelief wakes Him, instead of the soul being subject to the charge addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem: "I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by
the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please", Song of Songs 3:5. The gazelle and the hind suggest the swiftness with which He can move when the suited moment comes, and He pleases to arise and deliver His own. Till then it is our wisdom to trust Him in all His love and power so near us, though outwardly He gives no sign of moving on our behalf. Depend upon it, though He may sleep as to outward intervention, His heart wakes with deep and abiding interest in His own and all their testings and sorrows.
Yours very affectionately in Him,
... The subject of eternal life seems to be coming to the front again. I have had an impression ever since dear F.E.R.'s departure that the whole question would be raised again sooner or later. F.E.R.'s thoughts as to it were rejected at Gloucester, and I think he felt from that time that brethren in this country were not ready for the truth. You will have noticed how the subject developed in his mind, between the two volumes of American readings. In the first he connected eternal life with sonship; in the second he connected it with children. I think his contention that eternal life comes in in contrast to all that obtains here in a scene of sin and death and dearth, and that it is connected with earth is most important and indeed essential to the right apprehension of the truth. All this gives the truth as to eternal life such an intensely practical and present bearing, that one can hardly wonder that there should be found some degree of reluctance to come face to face with it.
MY BELOVED BROTHER, -- I have read your papers with interest on Matthew 14 - 16, and "Christ in the Midst".
I am glad to have seen the latter paper as it gives me opportunity of sending you a few lines on the subject of your last letter to me.
There is much in your paper which I believe to be of great importance and value. Your remarks on the Supper and what it leads to, seem to me to express the truth clearly as to how
the Lord leads His own into conscious association with Himself where we can be in accord with His praise. And this has to be reached spiritually -- reached by following Him in spirit.
Now it seems to me that the assembly in the midst of which He sings praise is viewed in the light of having reached this place of spiritual privilege in virtue of the drawing and leading of which you speak. He sings in the midst of a company in perfect accord with Himself. That this is God's mind for all His saints is certain, but it is equally certain that but few have reached it in spiritual reality. I am sure that you would labour that this should be wrought in the souls of the saints in divine power and reality, and I believe this to be a necessary condition for the fulfilment of Hebrews 2:12.
This is why I hesitate about using the terms "abstract", "general", and "unconditional" in connection with this Scripture. These terms seem to me to suggest that what is involved in the verse is true of all saints apart from the work of God which alone could make it spiritually good. That it is for them in God's mind and purpose I rejoice to believe, but there are many, alas! who have never reached it.
To sing praise in the midst of the assembly is a characteristic position and action of Christ, but I do not see that it is necessarily a continuous action. The coming together of saints in assembly is an abiding characteristic of Christianity, but this does not imply that it is continuous at all times.
The assembly gives expression to its existence by coming together, and thus takes form locally in every place where saints call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it seems to me that the enjoyment of assembly privilege is connected with this, and would be entered upon in proportion to the spirituality of the saints, and the measure in which the work of God has become effective in them. And I look upon Hebrews 2:11, 12, as the crown of assembly privilege -- the goal which divine love has set before our hearts in all its blessedness and attractiveness to draw us on to its realisation, and to make it an exercise and desire that we may reach it on each occasion when coming together in assembly.
I do not think that the presence of Christ "in the midst of the assembly" can be applied in a general sense as being true of all the saints of God apart from being convened, or apart from that spiritual formation which alone would qualify
them to be of the assembly viewed in the height of its calling and privilege. The assembly viewed in this light is not only the result of Christ's death and victory, but it is the product of a mighty and divine spiritual work in the souls of all who compose it. Apart from this effective operation of God it has no real spiritual being ...
I am sure you will understand that I am expressing my thoughts as one desiring to learn on such matters rather than as setting up to teach.
With very much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- It always gives me pleasure to see your handwriting, and I thank you for your letter and the pamphlet.
I will say briefly how the first part of Ephesians 2 presents itself to me. The apostle prays that the Ephesian saints should know "what the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of the might of his strength, in which he wrought in the Christ in raising him from among the dead". It is of all importance that the saints should estimate in a divine way the greatness of God's power towards them. It is not only that He wrought in the Christ, but it is according to the working which He wrought in Christ that His power is towards us who believe. That power expressed itself once in the Christ in raising Him from among the dead, and this is the measure of the power that is towards those who believe, and is exercised in the way of quickening with the Christ, etc., those who had previously been dead in offences and sins. What blessed encouragement there is in considering that so great a power is toward us -- a power that quickened men, and raised them up from the earth and made them sit down in the heavenlies in Christ! To make this simply purpose is to my mind to destroy all the force of the Scripture. It is Gentiles and Jews -- persons having a past history as such on earth, and whose condition and walk are described in the passage, who by the working of God's power -- the outcome of His rich mercy and great love -- are quickened with the Christ. It is the saints viewed not in the light of purpose, but of God's workmanship; that is, it is purpose effectuated by God's power -- spiritually now, actually
at the rapture. We thus see the height, the blessedness, to which that power can raise men in Christ. Is that power towards all saints? Surely it is, for God's thought and purpose comprehend all saints, but one could not say that all have come by God's power to this height of blessing. I do not think the apostle would have written Ephesians 2 to the Corinthians or even to the Thessalonians. I believe it was effectuated spiritually in a company of Gentiles and Jews, and that the apostle in writing as he did took account of a divine work by which it had been made good in those to whom he wrote. It may not have been spiritually wrought in many, but it was there as full Christianity -- this product of God's mighty power in men. To take it up as true of all saints apart from the divine work in them by which it is made good in spiritual power, seems to me to be the revival in an extreme form of the idea of "standing". That it is God's thought for all saints is true, but saints are only really in it as His thought is made good by His work.
With very much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I am not equal to much, but it is nice to see one's brethren. There is mutual refreshment even if one cannot impart very much. Exhortation is very important. Teaching imparts instruction, but exhortation is encouraging and stimulating one another to press on in the path which teaching has indicated to us. It incites to movement of soul, and nothing can be of greater practical importance than that we should be kept in spiritual movement. The ministry of Christ supplies motive for all movement, and it is He Himself who is the goal towards which all spiritual movement leads -- the Prize of hearts that seek and follow Him because they love Him....
Yours affectionately in Him,
... We had two readings at -- on Monday. We took up liberty in connection with headship and sonship in the afternoon (part of John 8 was read), and as there was a general
desire to continue the subject in the evening we read Galatians 4. The thought that seemed impressed on my spirit was that we were called to be in the light of Christ, and of what is in heaven. God would have us to take every step in the pathway here in the light of the glorious end which His love has purposed for us. This would make us practically a heavenly people, and set us free from every influence which is of the world and from beneath. And, on the other hand, we should be in the holy freedom of that circle of divine affections to which we properly belong through infinite mercy and grace. One feels that nothing but being in heavenly light with appreciative and responsive affections will keep us steady in such a moment as this. But amidst all the upheaval and overturning of the last days we may have the blessed light of love shining brightly in our hearts by the Spirit. Paul says, "it pleased God ... to reveal his Son in me". This gives the character of what God is doing -- making His Son, the glorious Man in heaven, the suited Object of His delight and love -- known in our affections by the Spirit. Let us pray for one another that the light and power of this may fill all our hearts amidst the darkness which deepens around us, and that the beloved saints may come out more distinctly in the heavenly colour.
MY DEAR --, -- ... It is good to consider Christ. We lose much of the sweetness we might enjoy by coming to Scripture to find what relates to ourselves. That is, our own comfort, or circumstances, or personal exercises, often have predominance in our thoughts. But all these are divinely met, and much more than met, as we consider Him. And as we do so the heart is invigorated in every spiritual capacity, and its affections quickened, in presence of what is infinitely perfect and blessed. And none have such deep and true self-judgment as those whose earnest gaze is fixed on that Holy One. We have been seeing lately here that the sin offering comes after the three others in which the perfections of Christ are disclosed. That is, it is in the light of all that Christ is, and only there, that we can rightly estimate sin, or value the holy work in which it has been condemned and wholly removed from before God for ever.
Ponder Him as the burnt offering, the meat offering, and
the peace offering -- and what a delightful and satisfying study this is for the heart -- and then you will judge that all that is not Christ must needs be condemned, that He alone may remain for God and for His saints; and the sin offering is the way in which this has been accomplished.
With very much love in the Lord,
Yours very affectionately,
... All that deepens exercise, and increases our sense of dependence, is good for us in the end. Indeed, whatever tends to more habitual reference to God is a help spiritually. I feel for you in all the exercise you have had in these circumstances, and pray for you both that you may get some special compensation.
We have been reading Leviticus and have found it very interesting. It does not give us the gospel side, God's movements towards us, but it gives in much instructive detail the movements of our hearts towards God. God loves to make Christ the subject of all our heart movements towards Himself. And from whatever point of right exercise in our souls we turn Godward there is but one blessed Person who becomes the substance of consideration, praise, delight and appropriation. The end in view is two-fold -- that we should be supremely happy and that we should minister to God's pleasure.
He has provided in Christ for the full effectuation of both these great results. The first seven chapters are preparatory to priesthood. If we are not confirmed in the good of chapters 1 to 7 we cannot touch chapter 8. In chapter 8 the whole assembly is gathered for the purpose of being instructed in priesthood. God expects the whole assembly to be deeply interested in priesthood. Chapter 8 shows us the different things in the power of which priesthood is exercised -- the washing, the anointing, the blood on ear, thumb and toe, the hands filled, etc., It is all deeply interesting.
... It is striking how the Spirit is giving prominence to the "brethren", and the practical side of that bond in which God would have all saints to be knit together. In a path of
separation, where so many exercises have brought home to saints the necessity for standing apart, the danger is very great that we get narrowed in heart, and do not in truth recognise the divine value of saints as subjects of God's blessed work. It is really a question of what the saints are in our thought of them. If a brother is in an unhealthy state spiritually, and I entertain the thought that he is not worth troubling about, I plainly indicate that I no more know his divine value than he does himself! I believe we have very little understood the power of help and recovery which lies in saints as walking in love. There is a power to gain and restore, the virtues of which the Lord is exercising us about, and which is vital to the testimony at a time when so many efforts are being made to disintegrate, and to foster elements of friction locally.
MY DEAR --, -- ... I am glad to know your exercises in regard to the Supper. I can quite understand the desire that you have cherished in your heart as to this precious privilege, and I believe the Lord greatly appreciates your affection for Himself which has created and maintained the desire. Brethren used to have breaking of bread with invalids frequently in bygone years. I remember breaking bread once with an invalid sister myself along with two other brothers. But as time has passed on I think we have all been learning -- I am sure you have as well as others -- to regard the Supper less as individual privilege, and more as that which is taken up by the Christian company. I think as presented in Scripture it is, as beloved F.E.R. used to say, the rallying point for the Christian company.
It is that by which the saints are locally convened from time to time, and are thus found "in assembly". Scripture supposes the whole Christian company as coming together to break bread. "When ye come together to eat". Indeed I think the expression "come together" occurs four or five times in 1 Corinthians 11. It is the Lord's way of bringing His own together so that their hearts may be in spiritual contact with each other, in blessed engagement with Himself in His pre-eminent love of which the assembly is the subject. He has a company here loved infinitely by Him, and He appointed
the Supper to be eaten together by that company as expressing their appreciation of His love, not simply as blessed individuals, but as those who confess in thus eating it together the peculiar bond which makes them one.
Now amongst believers generally all the peculiar sweetness of this is lost. They take what they call "the communion", but in their thoughts it is entirely individual. Pious souls take it in affectionate gratitude to their Saviour and Lord, and have Him before them in doing so, and no doubt find blessing. But there is not the thought of coming into heart-contact with His own, so as to be found in that blessed unity of responsive affection which is the true privilege of the Christian company, and which would, if known, result in a blessed unity of testimony to the absent One on the part of all His own. The more one thinks of what the Supper is in the heart and mind of Christ, the more is one impressed with the thought that it holds a peculiar and central place in the circle of His own. And the voice of His love in the Supper addresses itself to the whole company of His own. You will say, They do not all -- respond. No, but they ought to. If the Supper is being eaten anywhere it claims on the Lord's part the participation of every one who loves Him. There is nothing personal or private about it. If it is truly the Lord's supper it is His call to His company to come together, and being together thus they are "in assembly".
Now it is the consideration of all this, and much more might be added, which would hinder me (if I were confined at home) from desiring to have the Supper as a private and personal privilege. I should prefer to accept the ways and orderings of God for me, and recognise His hand in the deprivation. I would seek to be in spirit with the company who were eating the Supper, and would engage my heart with that which was before them. In this way I should expect to participate in their joy and gain, though not permitted to take my place in the body with them.
I have written freely just what is in my mind because you asked me; and not with any desire that you should look at it as I do unless the Lord commends what I say to your heart and judgment as being of Himself.
Yours very affectionately,
... The whole matter of compulsory military service is a new exercise for us. I think it has already been productive of real spiritual gain to many. There has been so much liberty in this country, that it has almost came to be regarded as a right that one should be free to choose his own path. I mean Christians have practically regarded it as a right to be contended for. And there has been a danger that, under the plea of holding oneself for God, there should be an unsubject spirit in relation to authorities which exist by His ordinance. It is only by evidencing our complete submission to these authorities in matters which do not infringe upon what is due to God that we can give force to any stand which we may have to make at a point which we cannot pass in the fear of God. I think the "conscience clause" is a peculiar mercy of God to the saints in this country. Such a thing would hardly be thought of in any other country.
Speaking generally, I think the young brethren have behaved well and there has been much true and simple confession of Jesus as Lord, which will not be without far-reaching effect. And the conduct of our brethren in their new conditions has been such as to differentiate in a very marked way between them and the many and various kinds of so-called conscientious objectors to combatant service which the authorities have had to deal with.
The very ease of our circumstances has tended to make us theoretical Christians rather than practical ones. And so many precious things have been held in an abstract way as truth, without their true virtue and blessedness being known in the conscience and affections. The ministry has been in excess of the praying, I fear, with many, and therefore it has not been developed by the work of God in the souls of the saints.
Now if the present conditions and exercises have done anything, it is in the way of drawing the saints to God in real dependence and in seeing His will and the will of the Lord. And this is a good moral foundation for our growth and progress.
MY DEAR --, -- I was very pleased to have your letter and enclosures, all of which I have read with much interest. It is nice that you have come into touch with a soul that evidently has Spirit -- wrought desires and exercises, though evidently
needing a good deal of help as to what is of an elementary nature in Christianity. It is a favour from the Lord to have an opportunity of contact with such, and I cannot but feel that He has given you special opportunities of service in this way with different ones. It is a compensation far your bodily weakness which so limits your activities. How good to be in His hand, and to be found, even in the smallest way, meet for His use! Do we not need, my dear sister, to keep much with Him in prayer, and to cultivate holy watchfulness so that nothing may interfere with the gracious designs which He has to have us here for His service and pleasure?
I think you have answered your friend well and wisely, and I trust that much blessing may attend what you have said so that it may be real spiritual help to her. There is nothing that I think need be altered. The only thing that perhaps it might be well to guard is what you have said as to baptism, lest she might get the idea that it was a kind of private matter only between the soul and God. Of course you are seeking to lead her away from the Baptist thought of "an open confession", but it must not be overlooked that baptism really puts you in a new position on earth. It is burial; it is a giving up of place and status here -- a going out of the world morally as Israel went out of Egypt -- to take up an entirely new manner of life here as under the lordship of Christ. And it is the Christian's privilege to have his household identified with himself in this new position. It is, in a way, the public ground one takes, though not quite as testimony, but as the only true position we can stand in in the light of the fact that Christ has died here. I am not writing this that you should pass it on to her, but just to suggest that you might perhaps modify one or two expressions so that she might not be led to think of baptism as a private matter, but that she might see that it is the public ground which Christians take in profession, and according to which they are responsible, even though they may not be prepared to be true to their baptism. Nothing but affection for Christ will really teach us what baptism means, or enable us to be true to it. I often think of Joseph and Nicodemus returning from the burial of Jesus! I think if it had been proposed to them to be baptised to His death they would have been ready for it. You could not imagine either of them going back to take their seats in the council! They had gone out of the world morally with Him who had became
Lord to them, and this prepares one to take that ground in a sense publicly in baptism.
I must not add more at present. Please accept my very much love in the Lord, and convey the same to -- .
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I am glad you noticed the sequence of things in the history of Paul as corresponding with what we have seen to be the case during the last century. I had thought of it myself as being a very interesting analogy.
In the assembly everything works from the top, and for this very reason the things at the bottom -- if we may so speak of the responsible life -- must be in moral keeping with what is at the top. How could there be moral disparity in a system which on every plane is of God? Thus the moral line and the purpose line are ever in harmony, and the more we look into Scripture the more we see the wisdom of God in maintaining both. Our great weakness really lies on the moral side. G.V.W. in 1855 said that brethren had received and enjoyed the truth of the assembly, but that they were not in spiritual power in the kingdom, and that this was the secret of all the feebleness and failure. A very striking testimony from a man of God!
With much love in the Lord,
Yours very affectionately;
We are almost at the end now of our series of readings on the death of the Lord Jesus as viewed in the different epistles. One more reading on Ephesians 5 will, I think, conclude them. I feel I should like to go over them all again, and get a little more deeply into the import of all that is presented. We had Ephesians 4 on Thursday -- the Lord's death as His great victory, the spoils of which He distributes amongst His friends.
It is a solemn time of exercise, both for the world and for the children of God. If humbly accepted it will all turn to great blessing, but heart and conscience work is but shallow even in the mass of the converted. It is good for us to be storing up the preciousness of Christ in our hearts and thus to be furnished with supplies of that which cannot fail, and able to pass on to others some of the unsearchable riches. It
is a beautiful thing that is said of David -- "having in his own generation ministered to the will of God"! None of us is excluded from the privilege and dignity of such a life as this. May it be ours to walk in faith while here below, and to abide in Christ and in the love of God!
MY DEAR MR. --, -- It is most kind of you to write to me under your present circumstances of trial and sorrow. I esteem it a very real privilege to think of you and yours in prayer, and I trust you may see the hand of God in a merciful deliverance. He considers so blessedly for us in all our weakness and need. You have proved this in very distinct ways in time past, and I look to Him to give you further experience of it at this time of renewed anxiety and sorrow. It is blessed to see in the gospels how the Lord not only met the needs of those personally afflicted, but how He considered for the affections of those who loved them. We see this in connection with the nobleman's son, and Jairus' daughter, and the raising of the widow's son at Nain. He loved to show a double mercy -- relieving the actual malady, or setting aside even death itself for the one under it, but at the same time caring so tenderly for those whose affections suffered because of what had come on those they loved. I trust you may prove this double mercy in His own time. You may be sure I shall continue to think of you and shall be glad when you are able to let me know of any improvement.
I desire to thank you most heartily for your very kind and loving gift. I appreciate most highly your care and fellowship thus expressed, and as you wish me to get some bodily comfort with it I intend to get a warm overcoat with it, which will not only be a bodily comfort, but a continual cheer to my heart as a witness of your love. It was a very great pleasure to me that you came here, and especially that you were able to be in this house for part of the time. I look back upon it with happy remembrances of our intercourse with regard to those precious things which infinite grace has made our common portion and joy ...
With much love in the Lord, and very true sympathy,
I remain,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- I was very glad indeed to receive your letter, and to know that you have definitely decided to give up your school work. I have felt for some time that you were attempting to do more than you had strength for, and I am thankful that you have recognised this. I think it is very likely that rest and change, and removal for the time from the region of those terrible raids, may restore you to a very considerable measure of strength. And thus you may be enabled to remain here for the comfort and help of saints, and find opportunity of service such as will fill up your time in a way according to the desire of your heart. You have certainly not been in a hurry to seek freedom from the yoke, and I am sure it is good to bear it until the Lord's time comes to relieve us of it. J.B.S. often said that one's peculiar calling was his training for spiritual service, but, if one is thoroughly broken in, the training has done its work and its effects remain after one is relieved of it.
I think I can enter into all your exercises perhaps rather more sympathetically than some, for I have had a fairly long drilling in the school of bodily weakness. It is trying to find oneself curbed and restrained on all hands, but I believe that if we accept the limitations which are imposed on us we get enlargements even in the way of openings for service in quite unexpected directions. I have prayed for you very often that you might be greatly succoured under the discipline you have had, and I trust that the gain of it may now become available for the good of many others through your liberation from your school duties. I am very glad that you are able to give up your work without any anxiety of the financial side, and I hope you will find the relief very beneficial to your health, as I believe it will be. I heartily appreciate your confidence and am truly interested in every detail of which you speak, and I shall continue, by the grace of the Lord, to pray for you that you may be directed by Him in all your way.
As to the exercises in --, one is thankful for the measure of quieting down as to public agitation, whatever may be the reason for it. Time is all in favour of the furtherance of divine exercise, and the more things are weighed, and prayed over, the clearer will saints become as to the matters in question ... In different ways the Lord is calling attention to the importance of the moral side, and saints are being helped to see what a spiritual reality Christianity is.
One is sorry for those who seem to be cloudy as to what is at issue, but the Lord will over-rule this to promote exercise, and will, I trust, make things clear to all, and especially to those whom we so truly love and whom we value so highly ... With very much love in the Lord,
Yours ever very affectionately,
MY DEAR MR. --, -- It was very good of you to write and tell me of your dear daughter's progress. I have thought much of you all in relation to this very trying exercise, and have been seeking the Lord that He would minister to each of you just the gracious succour that you each need. He is very mindful of us in all our weakness, and I pray that you may have rich experience of His faithfulness at the present time.
I was truly thankful to know of some improvement, and of natural sleep being enjoyed by the dear one, and I trust that you are still encouraged by seeing steady improvement. The saints are indeed a "poor and afflicted people", but it is in the circumstances of creature weakness, and often under a deep sense of personal failure, that we learn to trust in the name of the Lord.
It is far better to be exercised and disciplined under His hand, however humbling to us the process may be, that we may learn the grace, love, and faithfulness of God, than to be left to a smooth path in which our souls might never really rise above nature's level. We may well assure ourselves that it is "by these things men live". The Father of spirits is concerned about the life of our spirits. On our side the constant exercise is neither to despise the chastening nor to faint under it. It is the active interest of love, and comes in to help us to run the race that lies before us. It girds us up, and holds in check those natural tendencies which might otherwise divert us from looking stedfastly on Jesus.
May the Saviour's present grace cheer your heart!
With much love in the Lord to Mrs. -- and yourself,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I am much interested in all you have told me of the very cheering work of grace in the lady to whom you let your house. It is indeed very gracious of the Lord to give you a link with this soul, and to give you the joy of seeing her brought to Himself. He knows that you cannot move about much, so He sends one and another to you that you may share with Him the joy of their blessing. What a blessed Master He is! He really does everything Himself, and yet He loves to associate His own with Himself in all that His grace does. Indeed He loves to have us with Him in all things, and to share all that He has and all that He does with us.
It was a very real pleasure to me to send you the little books, and I hope you will let me know when you can use a further supply. I cannot personally get about much, so I doubly value the opportunity of speaking to souls through the little printed papers, and I value your co-operation in helping to spread them. Prayer gives great efficacy even to the feeblest service, and I trust that in spite of our feeble bodies we may be able to continue in persevering prayer as to all the Lord's interests as He permits us to touch them personally....
Yours very affectionately,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- It gave me much pleasure to have your letter, as I have very often thought of you and prayed for you from time to time.
I am very thankful for all you are able to tell me of the spiritual exercises of the dear brethren. It encourages me to continue in prayer, feeling confident that the Lord has very definite instruction and blessing in view for us all in the new experiences we are passed through. It has struck me that the brethren of what we may call the present generation have not had the deep and special exercises through which our elders found the divine path in keeping with the truth and the testimony of our Lord. Things have been to a large extent ready-made for us, and, while this has been in the way of infinite goodness and mercy to us, it is also true that we have missed, perhaps, some of the maturity and solidity that might have been gained by deeper exercise.
Now a wholly new set of circumstances has arisen, more specially and directly affecting the younger brethren, and
one cannot help feeling that the Lord is giving them in this way to wait in a very real way upon Himself, so that they may learn His mind and be confirmed in what is of God and find for themselves the divine path for this day. Trained men are needed for the ranks of the testimony in its last solemn hours, and one would earnestly desire to be such as the Lord can support for His Name's sake in true correspondence with Himself and responsive to Him in the affections of the bride at such a time as this.
I am sure that the consideration of God will yield much profit to those who seek Him as to it. I am sure the natural mind is not able to give due place to both sovereignty and responsibility and hence all theological systems fail on one side or the other. But it is clear that Scripture maintains both, and the spiritual mind is always in accord with Scripture.
God carries out His purposes in the sovereignty of His mercy and love; if He did not do so, they would most certainly fail completely, man being what he is. But the work of God is a moral one, and God addresses Himself to the conscience and heart of His poor fallen creature, and deals with him in a thousand ways which recognise his responsibility and awaken the sense of it in his soul. The fear of God might almost be defined as the recognition of responsibility on man's part; yet it is undoubtedly brought about by a sovereign act of God in new birth. God works sovereignly along lines which always recognise and maintain responsibility. The principle runs all through the history of the saints also. God is working out in them His purpose, which will culminate in their being conformed to the image of His Son in glory. But in view of purpose He works along moral lines, and on this line the obedience of faith comes in, self-judgment, watchfulness and prayer, purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord, faith in Christ Jesus and love to the saints, Christ as Object and Teacher, meekness and lowliness as learned of Him. Sowing to the Spirit and walking in the Spirit come in here also, and all this and everything connected with the moral exercises of the saints cannot be dissociated from the thought of responsibility. Thus the moral or responsible line and purpose line are very intimately blended in Christianity and both will ultimately coalesce, when saints are seen not only as the fruit of God's purpose, but also as the subjects of His work and ways. We only reach the land, the sphere of purpose, through the wilderness and
through the innumerable exercises to which our responsible history gives occasion. At the end of the wilderness it can be said of the saints: "What hath God wrought!" They are brought into moral suitability for introduction into the land. We cannot mentally reconcile sovereignty and responsibility, but we can spiritually, as seeing that the maintenance of both is essential. The Spirit alone can maintain the right balance of the two in our thoughts and I am sure, as we go on, we learn to attach the true value to each, neither letting ourselves off easily by enfeebling the thought of responsibility, nor stopping short of that depth of holy self-judgment that casts us altogether upon sovereign mercy and love.
With much love in the Lord,
Your affectionate brother,
... I think amidst all the exercises of the present time one learns to value in a special way every movement of divine love. And it is a real comfort to know that every such movement is a bit of what is eternal, and of that which will be for ever our bond and joy.
I have very often thought of you in relation to your long time of bodily weakness, and have felt for you and your husband in all the exercise of it. I am very thankful that you are now somewhat enlarged, and able to get to meetings, etc. I can sympathise with you better than many for I have passed that way myself. I can never forget the eight months when I had no meetings, and very little intercourse with saints. And yet, like yourself, I can bear witness to an exceeding bounty of goodness and mercy in it all, and I do not look upon it as lost time.
I think there is something about a "vow" which the Lord values very much. It seems to suggest an energy of affection which delights to express itself. The Nazarite vow was "unto the Lord"; it supposed that Jehovah was so known as to command the heart, and provision was made for the free action of devoted affections. I do not doubt the principle of it comes out in Romans 6. J.N.D. used to say that in that chapter we are set free, and then the question is, What is the freed man going to do? He yields himself, etc. Romans 12 is on the same line, and also 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15. It would be an immense
loss to let this side of the soul's exercises drop. There is movement on God's part in Romans 3, 4 and 5, but on our side in chapters 6, 7 and 8. The Lord has emphasised the connection between the two in ordaining that wherever the gospel is preached Mary's anointing Him should be spoken of. The tendency is, I am afraid, not to observe this ordinance of the Lord! Much is made of movements and actings on the divine side -- and too much cannot be made of these blessed actings -- but the answering movement of heart by which something is secured for God and for Christ in man is not so fully asserted as it might be. Is the explanation that the preachers are not so warmly sympathetic with the woman's state of heart as they might be? Certain dear brethren were not so even at the time when she paid her vows!
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- The question raised by your reading of Leviticus 7 is interesting and important, and the contrast suggested by John 6 contains much that is instructive.
It seems to me that eating the offerings is with a view to the reproduction of what is eaten; it becomes characteristic of the person who eats, it forms him spiritually. The fat and the blood were never to be eaten because what they speak of is peculiar to Christ; the saints will never take character from Christ in that which is set forth in these two things. There is that in the Person of Christ which is exclusively for the Father's delight, that which is inscrutable to human eye, a richness and perfection which God only can appropriate. That is the fat. Then the blood is given "upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Therefore have I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood", Leviticus 17:11, 12. Christ is absolutely alone in making atonement; it is a character in which saints do not participate at all. This is obvious. We can neither be what He was, nor do what He did in the way of atonement, and this is emphasised in the prohibition of eating the fat and the blood.
But when we come to John 6 we are on an entirely different line. It is not atonement that is in view. "The bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world", verse 33. It is a question of life according to divine
purpose being given to men, and in order to reach it there must be the appropriation of Christ as the One whose flesh has been given for the life of the world. We have to learn that on the natural line we have no life in ourselves. Eating of the loaves might sustain natural life for a time, but all that order of things is under death. We have to come into a spiritual order of things to know anything really of life, and we only pass from the natural to the spiritual by appropriating Christ as giving His flesh for the life of the world. The love of God has opened up to us a way out, but it is by eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. The fact that He has come into death for us shows the impossibility of connecting life with what we are naturally, but it is the blessed manifestation of divine love "come down" (words specially characteristic of this chapter) to the lowest point that in the appropriation of it we might live spiritually. We appropriate that which has come from far above us, but which has placed itself within our reach in the only spot where it could be truly food and drink for us -- even in death. We do not drink the blood in its atoning character -- that is exclusively for God, meeting His holy glory in every way as to sin -- but we drink it as the blessed witness of divine love that would come down into death so that there might be a way out for us from everything that we were naturally, and that we might appropriate the flesh and blood of the Son of man as the manifestation of a love which we could have known in no other way. It is our way into life spiritually in the blessed knowledge of what has come down.
I trust these few remarks may help. John 6 is a very wonderful part of Scripture, and one is thankful for every occasion of meditating upon it.
MY DEAR --, -- ... It was a comfort to me that (without knowing of any controversy) your spiritual instincts had kept you on the right track. It is better to feel things intuitively than to be reasoned into them even by Scripture, for the former is the living exercise of Spirit -- taught affections while the latter might only be orthodoxy. Of course spiritual instincts will always be in accord with Scripture, and will be confirmed by Scripture. I will not now go into any controverted points,
as I feel that you have got a just estimate of where the truth lies without my doing so ... Any one may make an unsatisfactory statement, or a positively defective one, and one would wish to bear with mere infirmities of expression (to which we are all more or less liable). But sometimes our own importance gets unconsciously connected with what we say, and then it becomes a difficulty to admit any imperfection. How much grace we all need, and how much the dear brethren who serve in the ministry of the word need our prayers, that they may be preserved in the unity of the testimony, and not diverted or damaged in any way!
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- It was very good of you to let me know of your present very serious exercises, for I truly value the privilege of taking them up with you sympathetically and in prayer. I mentioned it also to the brothers after the reading last night, and they were all in much brotherly interest, and all will, I am sure, be remembering you in the place where remembrance is most availing. I hope also to mention it on Monday to all present so that there may be united prayer, so that you may count upon it that your visits to Teignmouth have secured the affectionate interest in you of a few who love God. And we shall earnestly seek mercy for you and your dear wife in this time of trial. One could say, "The Lord had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow". The Lord often considers, not only for the service which He may wish to retain us for, but for the affections and sensibilities of His saints. It is pleasing to Him that we should wish to retain here those whose hearts are engaged with Him and His interests, and He is observant of every such movement of affection. In the meantime may He greatly comfort your heart, and give you peaceful confidence in Himself as to all things! We have been much struck in 2 Corinthians 6:2 how the saints are put in the place of Christ to be acceptable so as to be heard in all their petitions as He was. So that divine help comes freely to them, and they prove that it is a day of salvation. The result comes out in the next few verses where a man is seen who can go through every kind of circumstance, and every possible contrast of
reception, in the power of God's salvation. He is like Hannah; he has a rejoicing heart, an opened mouth, an exalted horn. Christ is practically continued here in him.
I am sure this is the line your heart is set for, and there is absolutely no limit to the free-giving of God in answer to the prayer of such. The principle goes on all through -- "If thou knewest ... thou wouldest have asked ... He would have given". In some feeble sense of this my heart is comforted in turning to God for you and Mrs. -- at this time of special need....
With much love in the Lord,
Yours very affectionately,
MY DEAR --, -- . It is true that the present state of things is serious and continual exercise to those who have the Lord's interests at heart. And it is especially so just at this juncture where our dear brother is about to meet his brethren to go into matters which have been the cause of very pronounced disagreement. I do not need to say anything to move you to pray much, for I am sure you will do so.
The dear brethren will all need wisdom, and spiritual understanding, and much lowliness of heart and mind to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. And it will be needful that boldness shall be given for the maintenance of the truth so that, if there be conflict, no ground may be yielded to the enemy. And, above all, one would wish that any spirit that is not of God may be rebuked by the Lord, for a bad spirit is much more serious than any mere differences as to doctrine. The latter we might count on the Lord to adjust in due time, but a naughty spirit is a question of moral state. Still the Lord can deal with this in His own way of perfect faithfulness and love, and use all to establish what is of God in the souls of His saints. As to any teaching it is important to ask oneself, What is the teacher driving at? What is it that he has before him? I do not expect the accuracy of inspiration, because we can only speak of things according to the measure of our apprehension. I do not mean that we should be lax, or that expressions should be used that do not accord with Scripture. But if the whole drift of a man's ministry is manifestly spiritual and fragrant of Christ, any defective expression -- if it is thought
to be such -- should be the subject of brotherly criticism and enquiry into Scripture, and not taken up in a spirit of opposition. But the Lord is able to make His servants stand ...
Yours affectionately,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I have refrained until now from writing because I knew you would have many letters, and much to occupy your time, but you and your sisters have been very much on my heart since I heard of the home-going of your dear mother. I can enter very sympathetically into your sorrow, for it is one which I have felt, and do feel even yet, myself. And the link between your mother and yourself was a peculiarly strong one because your interests were so entirely one in a spiritual as well as a natural sense. It is a privilege for which we can never be sufficiently thankful to have had mothers whose hearts were set on the Lord, and whose one desire and purpose in relation to us was that we should be for the Lord and for His interests and testimony here.
I first heard of your mother from beloved J.B.S. over thirty-five years ago, and I have not forgotten the terms in which he referred to her then. And it was a great pleasure to me after some years to have the opportunity to meet and know her, and I have valued her ever since as one who obtained favour from the Lord to cherish His name and word, and who had discernment as to the exercises connected with His testimony. The departure of such raises a serious question in one's heart as to how far one is able to take up and carry on the service in intercession, and in spiritual help amongst the saints, which they have rendered. At any rate the thankful remembrance which we have of it all stimulates the desire to do so. And the Lord's grace which sustained them will not be less abundant to usward if we are preserved in lowly dependence and true devotedness.
I may add that I am very thankful to know that you have obtained liberty from military service. I am sure you will appreciate this relief, though I dare say like many other dear brethren you have taken some spoil as the result of your experiences and exercises of late.
With very much love in the Lord,
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- In answer to your letter I am glad to send you a few remarks on the subject of divine healing, though it be simply to call attention to what Scripture sets before us.
The healing of the sick, accompanying the preaching of the glad tidings of the kingdom, was one of the great characteristics of the presence and service of the Son of God in this world. Every form and fruit of the power of evil had to give way before Him; every result of sin -- disease, and even death itself -- had to bear witness to the greatness of divine power which was active here in compassionate goodness to men. It could not be otherwise in the presence of God manifest in flesh. The power was present which could and did relieve men of every pressure, so that it was manifest that He was here who will in a coming day "swallow up death in victory", Isaiah 25:8, and bring about such a state of things that the inhabitants shall not say "I am sick".
And not only was every act of healing a testimony of what was in God's heart in loving-kindness to His ruined creature, but it was a figure of an even greater deliverance by which men should be set free from every moral disease so as to be for God's pleasure, serving Him "without fear in piety and righteousness all our days". The works of power of the age to come were illustrative of the moral healing by which alone man could answer to God's will as set forth in the teaching of the Lord. And it is very touching to see that every act of healing was at the cost of suffering to the blessed Healer, for, as the prophet had said, "Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases", Matthew 8:17. He did not remove any infirmity by His power without bearing the burden and sorrow of it in His spirit, and this was true of "every disease and every bodily weakness", Matthew 9:35. He thus understands perfectly, and can sympathise with every form of bodily suffering, and this is a sweet comfort to all His "brethren" who are sick. For that such might be sick is clearly intimated in His own words, "I was ill, and ye visited me", explained by "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me", Matthew 25:36, 40.
We see Him giving the twelve, and then the seventy, power to heal diseases. They had no need to talk about the power, or to write books about it, or to try to make people believe they had it. They had it, and they exercised it in the simplest
possible way. When we pass from the gospels to the Acts we find the same divine power accompanying the service of Peter and Paul, in testimony to the Name of Him who was no longer here but glorified in heaven, though it may be noted that neither in the Acts nor in the epistles do we find any instance of a Christian being restored from bodily sickness by a miracle. Then we learn from 1 Corinthians that "gifts of healings" were set, amongst other gifts, "in the assembly". And James says "Is any sick among you? Let him call to him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be one who has committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. Confess therefore your offences to one another and pray for one another, that ye may be healed".
We are also told that "the body is ... for the Lord, and the Lord for the body", 1 Corinthians 6:13, and again "He is Saviour of the body", Ephesians 5:23. All this is to be weighed and valued as a blessed witness of what divine power and goodness can effect in the way of preservation or healing of the body. It has encouraged the faith of God's people to count upon Him in innumerable instances, so that I suppose there are very few of His children who have not known personally of cases in which prayer has been most distinctly answered in regard to the body. It is simply a question of faith counting upon God and getting its answer. In each case it is a matter of individual exercise and faith on the part of the sick one, or of those concerned about him. One would wish to encourage in oneself, and in one's brethren, more simple piety and confidence in God as to the body and its health.
Remarkable sign gifts, such as "tongues", "gifts of healing", "miraculous powers", existed in the assembly at the beginning; God bore witness with His servants to His great salvation "both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his will", Hebrews 2:4. There was one blessed company presenting a united testimony on God's part in the midst of a hostile world, and He was pleased to accredit that testimony in a public and unmistakable way. But where might we expect such credentials to be found today, compelling the attention of men by manifesting His power miraculously, even to sight? It is a day of departure and ruin, and it could hardly be expected that
God should accredit in a public way a condition of things which is contrary to His mind. If, on the other hand, sign gifts were bestowed on such saints as were individually approved of God, it would put such saints publicly in an extraordinary position, as being distinguished from the church generally -- from all other saints -- by the possession of miraculous powers.
I think a heart that felt aright the true condition of the church would shrink from the idea of such a position. The assembly has departed from first love and is in a fallen state; Christ and the Spirit have lost their place; and man's will and order (which is really confusion) are seen on every hand. We are in 2 Timothy days, and the Spirit shows us there the path of righteousness and faith for those who are found calling on the Lord out of a pure heart at such a time. There is no word of sign gifts being recovered or miraculous powers being conferred on the faithful. There is a call to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, to be prepared for suffering, to strive diligently to present oneself approved to God, to shun profane vain babblings, to withdraw from iniquity, to separate from vessels to dishonour, to flee youthful lusts, and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. All is put on moral and vital ground, and though the servant addressed had frequent illnesses, and another valued brother is mentioned in the epistle as being left behind sick, Paul drops no hint as to their being healed by faith.
We are in a day of ruin, with utter and final apostasy close at hand. There cannot be the smallest question as to God's power: He can heal the bodies of His saints today, as at any time, if it pleases Him to do so. But the condition of the assembly -- the vessel of testimony -- is such that faithful individuals would be concerned rather as to spiritual healing -- that the saints should be found walking together according to truth, and in holy separation from the world, and from everything that is not according to the will of the Lord; that full place should be given to the Holy Spirit and His ministry of the glory of Christ; that the relations of Christ to the assembly and of the assembly to Christ should be known and entered into; that the members of the body of Christ should recognise their corporate bond with one another, and be found acting happily and healthfully in their mutual relations as such;
that the joints of supply should be in such living contact with the Head as to minister of His fulness continually, so that the body may be united together and increase with the increase of God; that saints may hold the truth in love, and "grow up to him in all things who is the head, the Christ: from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love", Ephesians 4:15, 16.
These are very great subjects for exercise and desire, and it is to be earnestly wished that saints were more concerned about them. There is a danger of missing the distinctive character of Christian blessings -- of being diverted from the spiritual and the heavenly -- and we have to see to it that we do not lose our crown.
Any pretension to miraculous powers in such a day as this would need to be tested in every way by the Holy Scriptures; the spirit of those claiming to exercise such powers would need to be discerned as being of God, and their teaching judged by the truth.
We are drawing near to the moment of apostasy, and we read of one to come "whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved", 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10. Alleged cases of healing have been found in connection with grave error as to the truth, and this renders it necessary that the children of God should exercise spiritual judgment, and apply the test of truth to those who assume to exercise healing powers. The desire for signs was one marked feature of Jewish unbelief, Matthew 16:1 - 4, etc.; 1 Corinthians 1:22. Man naturally loves the marvellous, without desiring in conscience or heart to be brought near to God; and in the last days the enemy will gain power over men by gratifying this desire, Matthew 24:24.
In considering the Scripture in James 5 we have to remember that when he wrote the assembly was a distinct and united company, and the elders were known individually who could be sent for as being officially in a position to act administratively for the Lord. The assembly cannot be found today; it is fallen, scattered and submerged in the world. Elders, as of divine appointment officially, there are none. Does this
tremendous change of conditions make no difference? The very first exercise of a sick saint brings home to him that on the administrative side all is changed through man's failure. But he can still pray, and if anything is on his conscience he can confess his offences to his brethren, and saints can pray for one another that they may be healed. We can go fully on the ground of James 5:16, though probably few spiritual persons would care to take the ground of acting officially as elders according to verse 14. It is all a question of exercise, spiritual uprightness, and faith, and I suppose we have all known instances in which the Lord has come in to heal and raise up the sick in answer to prayer. But it is a great thing not to suffer our thoughts of things to get out of proportion. If we are more concerned about physical health than we are about spiritual health we need adjustment.
It is clear from 1 Corinthians 11:30 that bodily weakness and even death may be the discipline of the Lord upon that which is displeasing to Him. John also refers to this when he says "If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for those that do not sin unto death. There is a sin to death: I do not say of that that he should make a request", 1 John 5:16, 17. It would evidently be an exercise from the Lord as to whether sickness were of this nature or otherwise, and if a believer felt in his conscience that it was so, and was brought to repentance, it would be good for him to confess his wrongdoing. Such conviction and confession would lead to prayer for the sick one and his sins would be forgiven, and, generally speaking, he would be healed and raised up. There might indeed be the solemn case of sin unto death -- which would be spiritually discerned -- when there might be no faith to make request for recovery, but such a case would probably be exceptional.
But there is much sickness that is not discipline for unfaithfulness. Epaphroditus was sick close to death "for the sake of the work", and his sickness was the cause of much exercise to Paul and also to the Philippian saints. If healing had been the normal thing in Christianity we should surely have found an example of it in this instance, but there is no suggestion that he was thus healed. Paul records with much thankfulness, just as we should of any sick brother who had been raised up, that "God had mercy on him, and not indeed on him alone, but also on me, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow",
Philippians 2:27. There is something peculiarly touching in his case: the reason for his sickness, the exercise of Paul (and no doubt others also) about it, the concern of the Philippians when they heard of it, and his own distress because they had heard of it. I venture to believe that all these exercises, and the activities of sympathy and love in the saints called forth by his sickness, were a sweeter expression of the love and "bowels and compassions" of the Christ than any act of miraculous power by which he might have been instantly healed.
How many thousands of saints have been happy to assert that they would not have missed for anything the exercises of prolonged sickness and suffering! They have so learned the grace and sympathy and succour of Christ as the living Priest, and they have been the subjects of so much precious and tender interest and consideration flowing from the spiritual affections of His saints, that they have become conscious of infinite gain and enrichment. And surely the development and exercise of such affections as these, eternal in their nature, though called into activity by circumstances connected with conditions of weakness and time, is a greater triumph of divine love and power than restoring the sick ones to health. I cannot but feel it is a real loss for the attention of saints to be turned from the spiritual dealings of the Lord with His saints, and from all that is the moral result of those dealings, to be concentrated upon the thought of bodily healing.
The experience of weakness and suffering may not only be of the greatest advantage to the spiritual welfare of the sufferer, but it may be absolutely essential to his preservation in service. We see a striking example of this in Paul himself, who suffered intensely from some form of physical infirmity. He was deeply exercised as to being relieved of this pressure, and besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him. However it was not the Lord's will to remove the infirmity, whatever it was, but to make His grace sufficient for His servant, and to perfect His power in His servant's conscious weakness. Is it not apparent that the removal of the infirmity by divine healing would have meant a real loss to Paul's soul and service, and not a gain? To suppose that relief from physical weakness and suffering is the greatest good is a profound mistake. To prove the grace of the Lord and the power of Christ in the suffering is very often greater gain than to be relieved of it.
We are called to walk in the truth. If God is pleased to give physical healing in answer to prayer, as He has done in thousands of cases, we thankfully acknowledge His mercy and goodness. If it came to our knowledge that He has been pleased to confer a distinct gift of healing, manifest as such to sober and spiritual persons, we should thank Him for this also. But apart from the difficulty which we might have in verifying the truth of any claim to such gift, we ought not to allow even divine gift to divert us from the truth, or from a path which we have learned to be according to the truth.
Many true and divine gifts -- evangelists, pastors, teachers -- are found labouring in connection with things which we have seen to be contrary to the will of the Lord. We own them as gifts, but we do not walk with them, and we discern that even as gifts they suffer loss, and the church fails to receive the full measure of edifying through them because of the association with systems which are of men's ordering. To have gifts for ministry or miraculous powers for healing is not the crowning glory of faithful saints in a day of ruin. It is rather to be addressed by Him who is the Holy One and True in these words: "Behold I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name ... I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole habitable world to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown".
With love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR SISTER IN THE LORD, -- I send you herewith letter of commendation to the saints in -- . I hope you will be able to get to the meetings.
We had the closing verses of Revelation 14 and chapter 15 last night. I think we were encouraged to see how God will make His saints victorious even in the very darkest hour, and in the face of the most terrible opposition and persecution. The saints will have known the cleansing of the water while here on earth, freeing them from every moral stain, otherwise
they could not have got the victory over the beast, etc. But now the sea is no longer needed for cleansing, but it becomes a crystal pavement on which they stand. They sing of deliverance by God's holy power, and as those who have proved His works and ways and His holy mercy. I enjoyed the thought of His "righteousness" having been made manifest. I understand this to mean that God has shown Himself to be true to every word which He has given for the encouragement of faith. Take the Psalms for example. How many precious expressions of confidence and hope in God have been furnished there for the hearts of His tried and afflicted and oppressed people! But every one will have its answer. God will be faithful to every detail, and confidence in Him will be justified. He will be as good as His word in every particular. And if this will be true for the remnant in their dark day, it is equally true for us in our day, and happy are those whose hearts are set for the proving of it. Soon we shall be able to celebrate on harps of God the praises of Him we have proved in adverse circumstances here. May we not miss any part of what He would make good to us!
With love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I think I can understand your exercises, and all that you feel as to lack of continuous enjoyment. It is surprising how mixed our exercises often are practically. I have thought of it in connection with the word, "I am black but comely". The exercises and afflictions of the remnant under God's discipline will be a severe test, and they will be conscious that it has an effect upon them which they deprecate. They will feel that they do not come out in the divine beauty which they would desire. When one is under discipline it is not at the time seen to be matter of joy, but of grief, and this is not exactly divine beauty. There is the consciousness of being affected by it in a way which gives evidence of weakness and imperfection in ourselves -- an inability to be superior to the burning rays of the trial through which divine faithfulness may see fit to pass us. And such an experience is not at all inconsistent with conscious comeliness as blessed and accepted in Christ. It is helpful to see the two exercises -- apparently
as dissimilar and incongruous -- going on so nearly together. I suppose very few saints have had to go through a time of testing under God's disciplinary and governmental dealings without feeling the test of it, and its effect in expressing nature's weakness. But it is just at this point that confidence in God and His known love strengthens the heart, and one perceives His great thought to have us partake of His holiness. And it is at all times the comfort and joy of faith to see in Christ the establishment of every divine thought of blessing for us -- blessing which abides, and never falls below its own level.
The more definitely we seek and cherish continuous nearness to the Lord, and the manifestation of Himself to our hearts, the more will His love be free to take its own way with us. It is His own thought to have us near, and if it is the conscious upright desire of the heart to be near there can be no doubt that His purpose and pleasure, and the heart's desire, will have their answer. His love, and the Spirit given, are the sure pledge of this.
With very much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR --, -- ... I am truly thankful to know of the different cases of interest and need which the Lord brings to your house. It shows that He can give opportunities even under unlikely conditions, and He can use you in the apparent seclusion or isolation of your chamber as a vessel serviceable to Him. I suppose Onesimus was sent to prison (for some offence probably -- or had he enlisted and been put as a soldier on guard over Paul?) in order that Paul might beget him in Christ in his bonds. God can either send the servant to the needy soul, or send the needy soul to the servant! 'All things serve His might'. Be encouraged then, my dear sister, and continue to pray, and He will still make you a vessel of blessing to others. When you want any books, let me know, and please say what you would like to have.
We have had a long series of readings on the Revelation with much interest. Indeed the Room has been practically full all along, and believers coming in each week. We trust there may be fruit. We received one young person to break
bread three weeks ago, and three others are now desiring to take their place with us. So we have a little cheer.
We have now begun Genesis and had four readings on the first few verses of chapter 2. Pray for us that we may be helped, and that those who are coming in may be quickened in their affections after Christ. How much we all need this! ...
Yours very affectionately in Him,
(The substance of several letters revised)
In the first of these Scriptures it seems to me that four distinct actions are contemplated. Of course, they all operated together at Corinth, but they are distinguishable one from the other.
1. The apostolic action in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which the saints (as gathered together and having the power of our Lord Jesus Christ) are identified, by which the wicked person was delivered to Satan for destruction of the flesh. I think it would be generally agreed that there is no apostolic power to act thus today.
2. That with such a one there was to be no mixing -- "not even to eat". The application of this would clearly be individual, and it is as obligatory on each individual saint as ever.
3. "Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves". This was to be the act of the whole company of saints. The evil-doer was to be no longer of their company. He was to be excommunicated from the privileges and fellowship of the assembly, and outside there was nothing for him but the world of darkness and Satan's power. It was a "rebuke" terrible in its nature, and, as we know, well-nigh overwhelming in its effect.
4. "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened". This was a deeper and more searching exercise than merely getting rid of the wicked person. The fact that such a one was amongst them, and known to be so, without any
mourning being caused, exposed their general state, and it was this which, I think we might say, was the most serious aspect of the case. There was general puffing up, boasting and the allowance of what was fleshly in many ways. All this "leaven" was to be purged out, that the assembly might be practically true to its character as a "new lump" and "unleavened".
All this is before us in its solemnity and force as the commandment of the Lord. In proportion as we limit it in thought to anything less than the whole assembly of God we lose in our souls its import, its unspeakable gravity, and it is well that a deep sense of this should be retained. The desire to preserve the force of this makes me hesitate to use "yourselves" in a limited sense. That is, to appropriate the "yourselves" of 1 Corinthians 5:13 to a few saints who are perhaps today the one-hundredth part of the assembly of God in a town. The assembly as such could, and did, act then effectively as an administrative body with divine authority. The "yourselves" was the whole Christian company -- a concrete company from which a wicked person could be excluded. The fact that the assembly is not in view as such a company today is the sad evidence of ruin through man's failure. Indeed it was the appalling contrast between what he saw the church to be in Scripture, and what it had become in his day, that led Augustine to speak of the "invisible church" and the expression has been in common use ever since. The use of such an expression is in itself the most complete evidence of utter ruin.
We have to feel, and it is right we should feel, the changed conditions. We may be sure that the heart of Christ is very deeply affected by the ruin, and He will not suffer His saints to be unaffected by it. It is really a very holy privilege to be sympathetic with the heart of Christ as to the ruin of that which bears His Name in this world. If we are so, it will surely lead us to act with simplicity and lowliness becoming the present state of things. We have, I trust in some measure, the sorrow of being conscious that in the present conditions no such corporate action of the assembly as could be taken at Corinth is possible. It brings home to us that we are in the last days and not in the first.
But are we, on that account, to give up the truth, and accept
association with evil? Far be the thought! If any principle or pretext were alleged which would have the effect of causing saints to continue in association with evil it would be obviously making the commandment of God of none effect. We must certainly in the light of 1 Corinthians 5 refuse all fellowship and intercourse with a wicked person. But we must also recognise that all the conditions in the Christian profession are changed.
It is these changed conditions which have been distinctly taken account of, and provided for, in 2 Timothy. In that epistle we have the Lord's mind as to how faithful saints should act in the last days, and how those saints should walk together. But it is essential to the right understanding of 2 Timothy that we should see that the light of the ministry of the gospel and of the ministry of the assembly is supposed to be possessed by the persons who are in view. That is, the epistle is addressed to an individual who has heard things of Paul, and who is thoroughly acquainted with Paul's doctrine, 2 Timothy 2:2; 3: 10. These things, entrusted to faithful men, are to be the subject of instruction amongst the saints. This would clearly include what we have in Romans and Corinthians, and also Colossians and Ephesians. Every Scripture is also spoken of as "divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work", 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. This proves that no part of Paul's doctrine, or indeed of any Scripture, is to drop out of account.
In the light of all this the faithful saint is to "shun" vain babblings (2: 16), everyone who names the name of the Lord is to "withdraw from iniquity" (2: 19), and he who would be "a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work" must purify himself from vessels to dishonour "in separating himself from them" (2: 21). He must "flee" youthful lusts (2: 22), and "avoid" foolish and senseless questionings (2: 23). These things, negative though they be, are most necessary in the midst of a profession where iniquity abounds.
But there is something positive also. We are to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart" (2: 22). The pursuit of these things would clearly involve practical consistency with every
part of the truth which the individual has heard and known as Paul's teaching. As in the light of the truth of the assembly he finds here definite instructions in relation to his walking together with other like-minded saints. The "with" clearly brings in what is collective. He is not to be isolated. How could he be in the light of the assembly? Righteousness, faith, love, peace, are bound up with the practical recognition of our divine bond with all saints as members of one another in Christ's body, and as built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. We cannot pursue these four things alone; in the very nature of the case it must be "with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart". This necessitates much individual exercise, for if I am not pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, how shall I be able to discern others who are doing so in dependence upon, and desiring loyalty to, the Lord? "A pure heart" suggests that there must be more than the claim to be such; it must be a reality before the Lord, and when it is so there will hardly be the need or desire to claim it. The heart is set on maintaining it under His eye in spiritual reality.
The assembly exists, and all truth pertaining to it -- including 1 Corinthians -- remains as divine light for us, but our path amidst the ruin is marked out in 2 Timothy. No company can claim to have the status of the assembly, or to act as such. But saints can still, in the light of 1 Corinthians 5, refuse intercourse with a wicked person. It is imperative that they should do so. Indeed it is clear that none of such as were characterised by the moral traits of 2 Timothy 2:22 would go on with a wicked person. To recognise the authority of 1 Corinthians 5:13 as the commandment of the Lord, and to be consistent with it, is part of the "righteousness" we are to pursue according to 2 Timothy, and we do so in company with our brethren who are treading the same path. Saints act together as pursuing "righteousness". And they not only have in mind the necessity for withdrawing from iniquity, but they act as those who have apprehended the true character of the assembly, God's house, as being essentially holy, and thus necessarily exclusive of evil. Profound exercise as to this before God, and eating the sin-offering, is of the deepest importance. But all this is spiritual and priestly exercise within -- a temple character of things which forms the moral basis in souls of the action taken in public. This must have
due place, or we shall lose a solemn element which should be present in every dealing with a wicked person.
The assembly is characterised by purity, it is the abode of God's holiness. If the saints are the shrine where God dwells, this necessitates the positive refusal and rejection of evil. But we do not limit the thought of the purity and holiness of God's house to any special company of saints. All saints are of that house, and we apprehend things from that point of view. At Corinth there was a concrete company which had that character, and from which a wicked person could be excluded. But we are in a time of ruin, and though the assembly still exists, and is still characterised by holiness, it is not in view as a concrete company. But exercised saints can apprehend the character of God's house, and walk together consistently with it, in spite of the ruin, though, of course, very much affected by it. If we walk together in the light of what pertains to the whole company we necessarily take action and we do so together. We come to the solemn judgment as before God that an evil-doer is unfit for Christian fellowship, and we sever all our links of association and fellowship with him. Nothing could be more simple and definite, or more absolutely in keeping with 1 Corinthians 5.
Saints do not claim to act as the assembly, or as being the "yourselves" contemplated in 1 Corinthians 5:13, because they take account of the true scope of "yourselves", and they realise the present ruin under the eye of the Lord. But they seek to maintain consistency with every part of assembly truth, and every divine principle. They seek to come together and act together, in such a way that the Lord may be able to own them as gathered to His Name and acting in His Name. They desire, above all, that His presence with them may be their support, and that every act may be so carried out as to have moral value under God's eye. But they own the ruin, and do not set up to be anything. They are conscious that their place of blessing and power is to be a poor and afflicted people whose trust is in the Name of the Lord. He will not fail such. They act together in refusing to be linked with evil, but the only community or corporate body which they recognise is the whole assembly.
The peculiar conditions of a day of ruin tend to narrow us in thought. If we have found a few saints with whom we can walk according to the truth, and on the line of 2 Timothy
2: 22, we have to be exercised that we do not connect with them in a corporate way ideas which properly are only to be attached to the whole company of saints. Beloved and honoured servants of the Lord have frequently warned us against any such limitation. And I trust we recognise the importance of keeping such warning in mind. There are many expressions which we commonly use, as a matter of convenience, in a limited sense as referring to those who walk together. Such expressions as "we", "us", "ourselves", "the saints", "the brethren", "the assembly", "fellowship". So long as these are used simply and understood there is no harm in them, and I have no doubt we shall continue to use them. But the very fact that we do so renders it wholesome for us to be reminded occasionally that if they were used formally in this restricted sense they would be purely sectarian. We need to keep our hearts and minds in the largeness of the assembly of God, while our feet are kept in the path of 2 Timothy.
The present application of 1 Corinthians 5 will be found as saints regulate their associations in the light of it, and its moral force will be preserved in their souls and in their actions. It has present authority and application, but it should be clearly before us that we act in the light of it as walking together according to 2 Timothy 2:22. Each walks in the light of the assembly, and seeks to pursue consistency with every part of assembly truth, and this is the divine way in which saints can walk together in the last days.
This is important as involving personal exercise on the part of each one. And this individual character of things is very suited to the last days, and gives faithful testimony a peculiar character and value. It is very possible that, while what was done at Corinth was the act of the assembly as such, there might have been many individuals among them who were not truly in accord with it (see 2 Corinthians 12:20, 21). But now each faithful individual is to pursue righteousness, etc., and what is collective really results from what is individual. Thus in the day of ruin it may be possible for things to be maintained under the eye of God in even greater moral value than was the case at Corinth. Faith and faithfulness came out with peculiar lustre in the dark days of Israel's history, and it may be so in the corresponding time of the church's history. We surely desire to have our little part in such divine favour!
You ask, "If two or three in a day of ruin come together, say on Lord's day morning, do they not do it in assembly character, if as you have rightly insisted they are 'of the assembly' in the place?"
I should say that the two or three are "of the assembly" and are therefore responsible to judge themselves, and to see to it that their associations, ways and spirit are in keeping with its holy character. It is also one of the first elements in "righteousness" that they should recognise and own the ruin into which things have fallen in the assembly of which they form part. In proportion as they are here for Christ, and devoted to His interests, they can be found gathered together unto His Name and acting in His Name, and they will have assembly character. But if their actions are such as to manifest indifference to Christ, or failure to maintain His rights, or are out of accord with the truth, though they are "of the assembly" they are not found in assembly character. There are many "believers' meetings" which could not be recognised as having assembly character at all, though all believers in them are "of the assembly". It is as saints are formed in these moral features which properly belong to the assembly that it may be said that they come together in assembly character. But the more truly they come together in assembly character the less disposed will they be to claim to do so in any formal or ecclesiastical way. The character of their assembling, and of their actions, will speak for itself, and be justified by the truth. To speak, in a day of ruin, of coming together in assembly character in any other sense than as having the moral features of the assembly would be, I fear, that very ecclesiasticism which F.E.R. and others have so dreaded and deprecated, and with which J.N.D. would not have had an atom of sympathy.
In connection with this, I would like to call your attention to a most important paper, which, I am sure, you have often read and pondered. I refer to J.N.D.'s "Considerations on the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ", written in 1828 (Coll. Writ. 1). That paper contained, as you know, the seed of the great spiritual movement which, in the Lord's ways, marked the last century so distinctively. What is so prominent and striking in it is the intense depth of exercise which it discloses as to the moral features of the assembly. This was the line on which assembly truth was recovered.
It showed unmistakably that everything ecclesiastical was in complete ruin, but emphasised that that ruin was brought about by unfaithfulness and spiritual decline and defection. It presents everything from the moral side. It was in this way that the Spirit of God recalled saints in these last days to the truth of the assembly. It was no question of recovery to correct scriptural order, or to assembly position, but of exercise as to the restoration of those blessed moral features which mark the assembly. And I think we must conclude that divine revival could only be brought about in this way; the point of departure must be the point of recovery. It might well be a deep exercise for us, do you not think, as to how far we do come together in "assembly character"?
Then you ask, "Is it no longer possible for any saints to 'come together in assembly' because they cannot find the whole?" I do not question the possibility of this. I am sure that as saints walk according to 2 Timothy 2:22, and come together responsive to the Lord's love, they will know what it is to be "in assembly", and to taste largely, through His marvellous grace, of assembly privilege. May we desire and experience this more and more! But is it not quite another matter for a few saints amidst the ruin of the last days to claim that they can exercise assembly administration in discipline formally as at the beginning? The assembly which was together in Corinth in outward unity as God's assembly in that city is now broken and scattered, a great part of it submerged in the world. Indeed, such is the state of things that the fact that two or three come together as seeking to walk in the truth is but a witness, as J.N.D. said, to the ruin. The fact that we are in entirely changed conditions is forced in a sorrowful way upon our attention.
My exercise is that we should adequately recognise the present ruin: it is one of the first elements of "righteousness" to do so; and it will be the first effect of receiving "the light of the assembly". J.N.D. said, "If any Christians now set up to be the church, or did any formal act which pretended to it, I should leave them, as being a false pretension, and denying the very testimony to the state of ruin which God has called us to render ... I think it of the last importance that this pretension of any body should be kept down; I could not own it a moment, because it is not the truth" (Collected Writings, 1: 534). I quote this for the words I have underlined,
which indicate J.N.D.'s sense of the importance of not losing sight of the ruin. The conditions are not now as at Corinth. J.N.D.'s paper on "The Formation of Churches", written in 1840, contains much that is instructive in principle as to this, though he is not speaking of the point that is at present before us. For example, "A return from existing evil unto that which God at the first set up, is therefore not always a proof that we have understood His word and will. Nevertheless, we shall rightly and truly judge that what He did at the first set up was good, and that we have departed from it" (Collected Writings, 1: 217). "Shall we, who are guilty of this state of things, pretend we have only to set about and remedy it? No; the attempt would but prove that we are not humbled thereby. Let us rather search in all humility what God says to us in His word of such a condition of things; and let us not, like foolish children who have broken a precious vase, attempt to join together its broken fragments, and to set it up in hopes to hide the damage from the notice of others" (Collected Writings, 1: 220). "I am enquiring what the word and the Spirit say of the state of the fallen church, instead of arrogating to myself a competency to realise that which the Spirit has spoken of the first condition of the church". "The lowliness that feels aright the real condition of the church preserves us from pretensions" (Collected Writings, 1: 224).
It is not enough to see that an expression is in Scripture. We must take account of the conditions in which the Spirit used it, and we have to ask whether the same conditions are present now. The propriety, or otherwise, of using words now in a formal way which stand connected in Scripture with the assembly in its original character and unity is a matter for spiritual discernment.
What was perfectly suitable and appropriate when the building was intact might be pretentious if taken up formally when it is in ruins. The Lord has revived, in infinite grace, Paul's ministry, and also (especially since J.N.D.'s departure) John's. In the light of this there has been both separating and gathering of saints. But I think we should conclude from Scripture that the work of the Spirit at the end would not be on the line of re-establishing the Corinthian order so much as bringing about personal attachment to Christ and love to the brethren, so that all that is vitally characteristic of the assembly should be found here.
In Philadelphia everything is cherished which is divinely precious and vital. It is that which was from the beginning revived and restored in mercy at the end. Not a restoration of assembly status, but a revival of Christ in the affections of His saints, leading to love of the brethren. This is the principle on which saints may walk together even in the most difficult times; it is in line with 2 Timothy, and we may surely count upon the Lord to maintain it to the end.
The Lord has given through many "vessels to honour" a very blessed ministry of truth concerning Christ and the assembly. That ministry has made its way in the face of conflict all the time, and its effect, where spiritually received, has been that man in the flesh has been known as set aside in the cross, Christ's word and Name have become precious and cherished, and the brethren have been loved. This is Philadelphia as I understand it. Not an ecclesiastical body, but saints characterised, amidst the ruin of the ecclesiastical body and owning their share in it, by spiritual affections and intelligence such as were found in the assembly at the beginning.
I most fully own, and rejoice in, the abiding value of Matthew 18:20. It is blessed encouragement for even "two or three" of the assembly, and though not given especially for a day of ruin it becomes available in such a day. To be gathered together unto Christ's Name secures His presence; it is privilege and power. And "two or three" may still act in His Name, and with the sanction of His presence. Who could doubt that such acts are "bound in heaven"?
But then all this produces deep exercise. J.N.D. is careful to say, "Their acts, if really done in His Name, have His authority". This is just the point. It is not for any two or three to claim that they do things in His Name, but to be exercised in every way -- in the consideration of Scripture, and in much prayer and humble dependence -- that it should really be so. And this is especially important in a day when there is not only the general ruin, but the added confusion of many companies claiming to meet and act in His Name. I add that, of course, the responsibility that it should be really so in any dealing with evil rests upon saints locally; saints elsewhere own what is done, as J.N.D. says.
If two or three really act in Christ's Name amidst the ruin, would you not expect that their action would be both morally suitable to the matter in hand, and to the conditions in which
the action is taken? Christ takes account of the ruin; He is deeply affected by it. Would it not be in accord with Him for us to own that the conditions are changed from what they were at Corinth? The subject of our present inquiry is not whether two or three may act in His Name or not, but as to what manner of acting -- or rather, what ground to be taken in acting -- is most suitable to His Name in a day of ruin?
To have assembly character, and to act in Christ's Name, is blessed divine favour. To claim that we have this character, and that we so act, might be the most worthless pretension. May our exercise ever be to have things in spiritual reality! And it may be well to remember that we do not necessarily get rid of pretension by seeing that 2 Timothy is our special charter in the last days. A few individuals who claimed that they acted and walked together according to 2 Timothy 2:22 might be the most pretentious persons on earth. The true value of what we do does not consist in what we claim it to be, but in what it is under God's eye.
I fully appreciate the importance of order. If saints walk together according to 2 Timothy 2:22 in the light of all assembly truth, and seek, through grace, to maintain practical consistency with it in a day of ruin, I feel sure that of such it may be said, "Rejoicing and seeing your order", Colossians 2:5. But this would be found without any thought of setting up to be an administrative body.
The truth regarding overseers or elders supplies a suggestive and helpful analogy. Elders and deacons had an important place in church administration at the beginning. No intelligent brother would think of taking any such place officially now. But I trust it is a matter of continual exercise with us that the care and service should be maintained. And in some feeble measure it is maintained.
All that is comely and in accord with divine order will be found with those who walk together according to 2 Timothy 2:22. But they will have no more thought of setting up to be an administrative body than those who serve in care and ministry would have of setting up to be deacons or elders. Divine order is maintained -- as to the moral reality of it -- without anything formal and therefore without pretension. It is consistent with the order of the assembly that a wicked
person should be excluded from the companionship of those walking together. But this will be done on the line of following righteousness, and through each one taking up the exercise of it personally, and maintaining separation from the one in question. And, of course, in such a case those walking together would act together. All that pertains to order and administration is secured, so far as possible in a day of ruin, as saints move on together in accord with the testimony. But there is no claim or attempt to secure this in a formal way in the scene of the church's ruin, though there is that which faith can recognise as in keeping with due order.
"Church position" is perhaps a somewhat ambiguous phrase. If it means that all saints are by God's grace and calling, and as having the Spirit, of Christ's body and God's house, and that all saints are responsible to be consistent with this position, and that those who walk together in the truth recognise this, and seek to be consistent with it personally and in their associations, I do not object to it. But if it means that a certain company of persons have "church position" in the scene of ruin in a way special and distinct from other saints, it is ground which I do not care to take.
Spiritually, and as a matter of faith, it is open to those in separation from evil to enjoy assembly position and privilege to the full measure of their spiritual capability -- that is, the measure of faith, affection, growth, intelligence, and the Spirit's power; the measure, too, of the Lord's grace, in vouchsafing His presence to them and the gain of His headship. But when it comes to a question of the position which we take up formally here in the scene of the church's ruin, and conscious, as we surely are, that we are involved in that ruin, I think the greatest lowliness and the absence of all pretension whether in thought or word are becoming. To have the two sides clearly before us, and not to confound the one with the other, is very necessary if we are to be found here in intelligent accord with the testimony. As we know and enter into the grace and blessedness of the former, we can afford to take very low and simple ground in the latter. I believe the present exercise is intended to help us as to both, for if we are defective on one side we shall almost inevitably be defective on both.
Providing that holiness in separation from evil were fully and practically maintained, I should be happy to leave my brethren free as to the terms which, in godly exercise, they might judge suitable to use, because it is the act of complete severance from what is evil which to me is vital, and not the words in which it is expressed. If they felt happy to use literally the words of 1 Corinthians 5:13 it would not affect my love for them or my fellowship with them, because I trust that in mind and spirit my brethren feel, and desire to own, the ruin as much as I do. If it were a matter of conscience with them to use those words I would defer to them. But personally I would desire to avoid the use of terms which might appear to involve the assumption that "church position" attached in some special way to a certain company. That a few saints are privileged to walk together in these last days, through the Lord's peculiar grace, in the light of assembly truth and assembly position is true, and I count it great divine favour to walk with them.
Can it be truly said that the form of action which is regarded as comely in this little paper involves disobedience to the commandment of the Lord, and that it should be separated from as iniquity? Brethren must judge as to whether this is so. If a person is absolutely excluded from the companionship and fellowship of those who walk together, is he not, as a simple matter of fact, removed from amongst them? Is not the Scripture obeyed so far as possible in present conditions? Could any words that could be used add to the completeness or definiteness of the severance? And it must be admitted that even 1 Corinthians 5:13 is not a formula; it was an injunction to be carried out in fact. Where then is disobedience? In what does it consist? There is the fullest possible obedience, but it has taken a form becoming to the day of the church's ruin.
There is a serious exercise as to whether it is comely to formally take the place in the scene of the church's ruin, of a "company" having "church position". It is not thought well to have the "company" idea in mind save as embracing, in principle, the whole. There are dangers to be guarded against -- a sectarian position or thought on the one hand, and a lack of due recognition of the ruin on the other. Those who do not agree with the way in which this exercise is sought to be expressed may surely in brotherly love respect the exercise
and bear with it. It in no way infringes on what is due to the Lord. No one can say that what are called "new" principles have been productive, or are at all likely to be productive, of laxity in associations. It must be obvious that to insist on each individual being true to certain principles in no way relaxes the obligations which are common to all. But the principles advocated are, in truth, as old as 2 Timothy.
In conclusion, I would submit to the judgment of others the following considerations. (1) Is not the act of exclusion or separation from a wicked person an act which stands in connection with our position and attitude in that which is now the scene of the church's ruin? (2) Can we take up formally any position or attitude in that scene save that of being involved in the ruin? (3) Are not the words which we use in such circumstances a solemn and formal announcement to which all who walk together are definitely committed? (4) If these three questions are answered in the only way in which it seems to me they can be answered, is it not right and seemly that the words used should be in keeping with the truth of the position? It is really a question of where we are, or where we consider ourselves to be, in the place where the church is in ruin.
The exercise as to this matter may appear to some to be a mere quibble about words. But I am convinced that when saints consider it soberly apart from the atmosphere and spirit of controversy, and especially apart from any thought that it involves separation from our brethren, they will realise that it is -- perhaps more important than at first appeared. The exercise has been wide-spread, and one feels constrained to believe that, under the Lord's hand, there is needed divine instruction in it. May it be our concern to see what that instruction is and profit by it! And may we be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, and be ready to give due place to every part of the truth! May God enable us, in this last solemn and critical moment, when the enemy is seeking to disintegrate and scatter, to lay ourselves out diligently to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace!
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- The question you raise is of interest, and one is always glad to know how things strike exercised minds.
My impression is that we may distinguish the knowledge of good and evil from conscience, for God has the former, but conscience is, I believe, always in Scripture connected with responsibility. I would say that it is the faculty in man which applies the knowledge of good and evil to responsibility, either in self-approval or self-condemnation, or in the approval or condemnation of what may be contemplated in another.
But it seems to me that the believer knows good and evil by becoming skilled in the word of righteousness, and as a full-grown man on account of habit has his senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil. It is in the saint the result of growth and exercise and is more connected with moral formation than with conscience, properly speaking. Saints will be in heaven in the full result and perfection of this moral formation, and they will know good and evil, even as God does, in the blessedness and perfection of the divine nature in which they are made participators.
At the present time moral formation goes on in the sphere of responsibility, and hence is always accompanied and promoted by activity of the conscience. But in a scene where all is wholly and eternally good it is difficult to see what place conscience could have. Evil is known in that scene, but it is known as having been fully exposed and judged in the death of the holy and righteous One, and as having disappeared from God's reconciled universe. Good that is without measure is known there in its fulness in the blessed God, and every vessel is filled out of that fulness -- God is all in all. But both good and evil are known in the divine nature, even as God knows them -- a nature which is abhorrent of evil, and all whose activities, the unceasing outcome of love, are only good.
There is indeed the activity of love now, but it is in the sphere of responsibility, and therefore it must needs flow out of a good conscience. But when responsibility is left behind, and God is all in all, nothing active, or even present, but the divine nature, it seems to me that conscience -- as presented to us in Scripture -- will no longer have any mission to fulfil.
Hence I have felt free to follow J.N.D. in saying that there will be no need of conscience in heaven.
What you say as to grace and the working of divine power
in man conferring a condition upon the creature in which he is morally equal to the possession of a conscience, is most blessed, and I delight in the thought of it. But is not this exactly what grace has brought in now in the sphere of responsibility? We do not need to wait for heaven for this.
With much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR SISTER IN THE LORD, -- I am unknown to you personally, but divine grace has formed a spiritual link between us in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, and in the one Spirit.
I have heard of you many times through our brother Mr. --, and through him I have heard of the deep sorrow through which you are now passing. My heart is moved to send you a few lines of love and sympathy. The illness and departure of your dear son is indeed a deep trial and exercise for you, and it has been our privilege to pray for you that the sympathy and succour and love of Christ may be realised in your heart in a very special way. He knows perfectly every step of your walking through this wilderness where the shadow of death falls, and He enters into every feeling of your heart. But He brings near to you what He is Himself, and the light of that love in which He became dead that He might open up a scene for us where no death shadow is ever known. How wonderful is that word, "He turned ... the flint into a fountain of waters",! Psalm 114. The hardest and most cutting thing in the wilderness was made to be a source of refreshment for the people of God. This is the excellent working of that love that knows how to make the eater yield meat and the strong sweetness. And the One who can do such things is praying for you at God's right hand, and many of those who love God are praying for you in the Holy Ghost down here. May every divine comfort and encouragement be with you. And may you see the good hand of our God very distinctly guiding and ordering for you as to the circumstances of your path. Naomi said in her sorrow, "The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me", but as she proved the unfolding of the blessed ways of God she no doubt learned to say to her soul, "The Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee".
Please do not think that this letter needs any reply. I only desired to let you know that I, and others here, are thinking of you in love and sympathy and praying for you.
With much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
BELOVED BROTHER, -- ... Your letter was a great comfort to me, as showing that you could so clearly discern the character of what some were doing, and that you had no sympathy with it. Happily the Lord has in much mercy checked the unwarrantable attempts to cause division, and all sober minds are shocked that such attempts should have been made. But we must continue to pray for our dear brethren, for there is much that needs wisdom and grace, and the Head alone can supply it. It is good to realise that the Lord distinctly acts for His own, and defends them from influences that are not helpful. He lets us feel our own weakness, but then He acts, and when He does it is an effective action which cannot be defeated.
I am most thankful to have your prayers; I value them most highly. I am glad to think of you and of all that is an exercise to you and a trial of faith.
With much love in the Lord to dear Mrs. -- and yourself,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Many thanks for yours. It is very kind of you to write so fully, and I value the opportunity of considering your thoughts on the subject which is a matter of exercise at present.
It is in the desire to maintain the full force and scope of 1 Corinthians 5:13 as the commandment of the Lord that I recognise His will to be that a wicked person should be excluded from the privileges and fellowship of the assembly, and from the company of all who call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think this is the scope of the Scripture in a just and sober interpretation of it, taken in its divine setting in an epistle addressed as 1 Corinthians 1:2. I hold that it is obligatory not only on all saints, but on all who call
upon that holy Name, even though it be in profession only. That, in its full and proper scope, it is not now obeyed is obvious, and is the evidence of departure and ruin, which is humbling to us all as having our part in it.
I am unable to see that the acceptance of the above interpretation involves that "we must necessarily judge as evil all the various judgments of the past and consequently our own present position". It seems to me that if brethren had now come to the conclusion that it was wrong to exclude a wicked person from their fellowship there would be force in your argument! But the matter is on quite a different footing from this. Brethren are, thank God, as much set to exclude evil from their associations as ever. They regard those "various judgments" as morally right, and as come to in the fear of God, with true and upright desire to maintain what was due to the Lord; and what was suitable to the abode of God's holiness. But there have been many things in the practice of brethren, and terms frequently used in years past, which have quietly dropped out through exercise in the presence of increased light. For many years, and particularly since we were so much helped by F.E.R.'s ministry, brethren generally have been exercised to avoid taking any ground, or using any terms, that might seem to involve pretension in the scene and circumstances of the church's ruin. But we do not "judge as evil" what was done uprightly, and for the honour of the Lord's Name, and which was, as to its substance, approved of Him, though we might not feel free to do things just in the same way now. We do not "judge as evil" the measure of light and truth we had forty years ago, though we were happy to say and do many things then which we should not say or do now. To be thankful for increased light does not involve that we "judge as evil" our former measure of spiritual intelligence and growth. The "dilemma" you speak of does not present itself to my mind as being such at all.
I would suggest that the "ground" on which any action may be taken is distinguishable from the "object" or "motive". It is true that all links with an evil-doer should be severed on the "ground" that he is unfit for any Christian fellowship. But the "object" in view would be, first, to maintain conditions suitable to the Lord, and in accord with His holy Name, and in keeping with the character of God's house. And, secondly, in the spirit of grace and love, that the offender
might be exercised, convicted, and fully restored. The "motive" in all that was done would be the obedience of faith working through love ...
My power is very small, but I would certainly earnestly desire to use it to the utmost to prevent disintegration, and to build saints up in Christ, that as formed in the divine nature they may be comforted and knit together in love. May we have wisdom to discern the movements which really tend to divide and scatter, and spiritual power to resist them as strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. And in every way may we be found "seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed"!
I have jotted down these few thoughts in reference to your remarks. I submit them freely to your consideration and criticism, and shall be glad to be corrected where I am wrong.
With very much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours very affectionately in Him,
... Brethren generally are in such substantial agreement as to the principles involved in the present exercise that the idea of division on the subject seems to be simply preposterous. As to the essential matters, which might justly be regarded as vital to fellowship, there seems to be, happily, universal concurrence of judgment. That is (1), that all links of association or fellowship with a wicked person should be severed, and (2) that all ecclesiastical pretension should be felt to be utterly unsuitable in the present condition of the church.
But a third question has come in, and become the occasion of diverse judgments running in some cases to the point of serious difference. That is, whether as to our public attitude, and the public statement of that attitude, in relation to a wicked person, we should take church ground and put him away from amongst ourselves, as could be done at Corinth, or whether it is not more suitable and seemly to take 2 Timothy ground and to act together on the basis of individual faithfulness, but, of course, in the light of all assembly truth and principles. It must be one or the other. Whatever terms are used there is really no middle course. Much has been brought before us in ministry as to this for many years past, and it seems to be the Lord's mind that this question should be now definitely faced.
The very fact that there is exercise, with different phases of expression, but which in each case maintains with jealous care separation from evil, and the purity of the saints' associations, and the honour due to the Lord's Name, is something to be thankful for. It is evidence that the Lord is not suffering us to drop down into formality, but is preserving exercise as to the import of things, and as to the moral state which can alone take them up rightly. There is nothing in the exercise which, in my judgment, should be regarded as raising the question of fellowship. It is an exercise for brethren to take up together, and to seek the Lord about, that He may make clear His mind and confirm it in the judgment of His saints. It is surely not a matter which calls for division.
I go most fully with what has been said; viz. "The church -- as set up in responsibility here -- has failed, and there is no corporate body now that we can look to. We must recognise this, and our own part, too, as contributing to the failure. Further, it is a principle in the ways of God that when the corporate thing fails the principles that belong to it are maintained in individual faithfulness".
A principle clearly laid down in 2 Timothy 2 is that of withdrawing or separation from iniquity or vessels to dishonour. It is a principle of very wide -- we might say universal -- application. If it is true that we cannot now look to any corporate body to maintain divine principles, in individual faithfulness we can still act on this basic principle of withdrawal or separation from what is evil. It is a most valuable divine provision for the last days. The faithful saint can never be forced to accept association with evil; he can always withdraw from it. If two were walking together, and one of them became characteristically a wicked person the other could, and would, withdraw from him. And if 50 or 500 are walking together, each one must walk individually in regard to him on the withdrawal principle. It is only as each one acts on this principle that we can follow righteousness together.
But in dealing with such a person those who walk together act together. And the question arises whether there may not be an element in such collective action additional to that of individual withdrawal. I cannot doubt that when faithful saints thus act there is an additional element, and a very important one. If "two or three" take action, as gathered
together to the Lord's Name, and with the support and sanction of His presence, their action -- as to spiritual reality, and in the estimation of faith -- has assembly character. The Lord's presence, and His power and authority, are concerned in the matter. But the support and confidence which the consciousness of this gives are known only to faith and love, and to the holy and priestly exercises of saints in private with God. I think we should instinctively feel that it would be out of place and unbecoming to take or claim any such ground as to our public position here. Every sober and lowly mind would shrink from it as savouring of pretension.
Now it seems to me that if the difference between these two things were recognised, as it ought to be, the difficulties as to present exercises would be greatly diminished. Some seem to fear that the first is in danger of being given up. No one has any thought of giving it up; it is the supreme joy and strength of faith. But what is said or done in public should be in keeping with the public position, which is that of a few feeble individuals seeking to walk together in the truth in the midst of assembly ruin and confessing that ruin. Hence if brethren feel it comely to say that they "withdraw" from a wicked person I cannot regard such action as an evil so great that it ought to be separated from. It is, at any rate, safe ground to take, as based on a clear divine principle of universal application. And it is unpretentious, and consistent with a condition of things when, admittedly, "there is no corporate body that we can look to". It is acting on a broad divine principle which is clearly available even in the most extreme conditions of weakness, and it surrenders nothing unless it be the claim to act publicly as having church position and the presence and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. But surely all saints would agree that this latter, as I have remarked already, is to be known today as the comfort and support of faith within, rather than taken up as giving a status or authority to be claimed without.
I trust that brethren will be patient, and prayerfully consider the principles involved. If the Lord be waited on and confided in I have no doubt as to the result.
MY DEAR --, -- ... The Lord is good and knows how to sustain us, and keep us here for Him, even in much weakness of body. "Long proved in secret help" is a line I am particularly fond of, and it voices the experience which I think both you and I know something about. One longs to be more simply and wholly in His blessed hand, and at His disposal -- meet for His use. He knows the hearts that seek Him as to this, and desire it, and I have no doubt they will all obtain their desire in one way or another....
We are now going through Exodus and have reached chapter 27. The types of the tabernacle are most interesting. We had the altar last week -- the ability of the Lord Jesus to sustain the victim -- all that He is personally as the support of all that He became sacrificially. He could bear every test -- even the testing of all that God is as against sin in "consuming fire". We thought that "silver" spoke of the value, or precious side, of His death as securing redemption in divine grace and faithfulness, but "copper" speaks of the ability to bear testing. We stand with God in the value of the silver -- on the two sockets under each board -- but viewed as the pillars of the court, in outside testimony, we are sustained by the copper socket. For we are tested in our measure, and we need the moral stability which as seen in Him could stand every test. How blessed that God shows us the perfections of it in Him, and then makes it spiritually available for us, so that we may stand in the same character of ability, and hold up our five cubits square of fine linen! "Five" is weakness, but it is weakness that casts us in dependence upon divine grace, and then out of weakness we are made strong.
Very much love in the Lord,
Yours very affectionately,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- The question as to responsibility, which occasioned a good deal of controversy some five years ago, arose through some remarks made at a brothers' reading in London. These remarks were to the effect that if the assembly had not failed in its responsibility it would not be translated. This seemed to many of us a very strange statement, and it was challenged. Much discussion followed, mainly turning on the question as to whether complete failure in responsibility
was to be regarded as inevitable, or if it was not rather the truth that in the gift of the Spirit God had made provision for the fulfilment of responsibility in those who walk according to Spirit, Romans 8:4. That is to say, as J.B.S. often remarked, in Christianity man's capability (as having the Spirit) is equal to his responsibility. It was not a question of whether this one or that one had done it -- though many attempts were made to put it on this ground -- but of what was the truth of Christianity according to God.
... I believe the Lord allowed the question to be raised to call attention to the divine provision -- in the gift of the Spirit -- for saints to be found in wilderness conditions according to the pleasure of God. It had been seen clearly that man in the flesh was a complete ruin, and that on the line of purpose man was set up in perfection in Christ outside responsibility altogether. But it was not so clear in many minds that the grace of God, and the power of His kingdom, had come in to bring believers under the moral sway of God, and to give them divine capability in the Spirit to answer to His will in the sphere of responsibility. So that Christianity, looked at according to God's mind, does not contemplate failure in responsibility, but the fulfilment of responsibility. It is not a question of whether I or anyone else has done it perfectly -- we know that in many things we all offend -- but of the true character of the present dispensation of God.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... Your letter was with reference to a statement "that the Supper sets forth the Lord's death for His friends, and it is not His death sacrificially that is in view". I should have been glad if you had added a few words that would have made clear what was in the speaker's mind with regard to "His death sacrificially".
I should suppose that it was intended to convey that the predominant suggestion in the Supper is the Lord's death as the witness of His love. It is for the calling of Himself to mind. In instituting it the Lord had in view the making present to the affections of His own during His absence -- all that He had been as amongst them in the service of love,
all that He was as devoted to them even to death. He had told out all His heart, and He would have this to be cherished in the hearts of His own.
There is sometimes a tendency to dwell much on His death as the removal of what was offensive to God, or as a righteous ground of blessing and acceptance for man. But the Lord would have it to be treasured as the full disclosure of all the love of His heart -- and His love is Himself -- and of all the love of God. But I think the fact that all this was expressed in death gives it a sacrificial character, and that this character is peculiarly touching to the hearts of those who love Him.
The ram of burnt-offering for Aaron and his sons goes beyond the burnt-offering of Leviticus 1. The latter is for acceptance, but the former brings into view all that is in the will of God. Christ's body has been given for the saints that that blessed will might take effect. Then the ram of consecration would speak of Christ as giving Himself so that the consecrated company might be brought under the influence of His devoted love, and nourished in their affections on all that He is. One would not care to exclude all this from any connection with the Supper.
With love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I am sorry that you have had a difficulty with regard to the paragraph in the little volume on Genesis (page 202) to which you refer. I certainly had no thought of putting off the Lord's coming. I rather intended to call attention to that blessed work of God by which it is being brought spiritually near to many hearts at the present moment.
I think if you will be good enough to read the paragraph again you will see that the subject which is being dwelt upon, as suggested by Genesis 26, is that of spiritual revival. And, in connection with this, attention is called to the fact that at the end of the Revelation the Spirit and the bride are found in concert, saying, Come. And it is said that on the side of divine working everything is moving to this end.
It was ever true from the standpoint of what is presented in Scripture as the hope of the saints that the Lord might come at any moment. This was as true five hundred years
ago as it is at this moment. The promise was there just as it is for us. But all the virgins slumbered.
We have now to take account of a further fact. Not only is the promise of the Lord's coming presented in the fullest and clearest way in Scripture, but God has actually intervened in the way of revival. We must recognise a divine and spiritual movement such as is suggested by the midnight cry, and the subsequent awakening of the virgins and trimming of their lamps. And all this in view of the virgins being "ready" when the Bridegroom comes.
That what people call the Reformation was the beginning of this revival I suppose few spiritual persons would question. And it has continued and deepened ever since, until in the last century the truth of Christ's headship and of the presence of the Spirit was revived, giving back to the faith and affections of the saints the peculiar and distinctive place of the assembly. All this has been in view of the development, through divine working, of moral state and bridal affections in the saints. And God is carrying on this blessed work, as well as calling sinners in grace to the knowledge of Himself as a Saviour God.
The recognition of this does not surely put the Lord's coming off, but it awakens a deep and intelligent interest in what God is doing at the present moment in view of His coming. And, indeed, it is only as that blessed reviving goes on in our souls that the coming of the Lord is spiritually near to us. Many thousands now profess to hold that the Lord may come at any moment, but it needs divine revival to make this blessed hope a divine and effective reality. And it is a comfort and encouragement to see that God is specially working in the way of revival. It moves the heart with desire to be found in the current of what He is doing. One would wish all saints to be conscious that they are living in a time of wondrous revival, that their exercise might be to get the full gain of it.
I have no doubt that the present revival has remnant character, but the remnant, viewed properly, includes all that is for God, and what God is doing in reviving grace and power has, I believe, "all saints" in view. All that is given from the Head is really for the whole body, and nothing less, and it should be regarded in this light. How far all -- or indeed any of us -- have been affected by it is another matter, and one of exercise for both conscience and heart. But we cannot tell
how God can spread abroad what is of Himself, and give it a place in the hearts of His saints. It is like a stone dropped into a pond which makes widening circles to the very circumference. I suppose there is scarcely an exercised saint anywhere who has not benefited in some way by what was ministered through J.N.D., though many of them have never even heard his name. As cherishing the thought of the assembly one would not in one's affections limit the blessed reviving which God is granting to anything less than the whole body. It is intended in divine love to affect all saints.
I do not think I need add more. I trust these few remarks may tend to remove any difficulty which may have been in your mind.
With love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY BELOVED BROTHER, -- Very many thanks for both your much valued letters. I very often think of you before the Lord, and I have done so in a special way since I knew of the peculiar exercises you have been called to pass through of late. There is One who enters perfectly into it all, and who has been, and will be, your Resource and Confidence unfailingly. I do rejoice in the mercy which has taken your dear afflicted daughter out of all the conditions of infirmity to be eternally without distraction with the One who loves her so perfectly, and who holds her in all the power and preciousness of what He did upon the cross, and whose joy is great in having her with Himself. It must be a great comfort to you, beloved brother, to know that she is there before you are removed from the ability to care for her here. The Lord's faithful goodness is clearly seen in this, and our hearts praise Him.
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... When the question came up about the notices I was not at first much impressed by the desirability of mentioning them at the commencement of the meeting. But the raising of the question led me to consider whether the Lord might not have something to say in the exercise, and
certain things have tended to confirm the thought that it is so.
I think we have for a long time been freed from the thought that assembly privilege could be brought to a formal conclusion. We have realised a little, I trust, that in having the gain of Christ's headship, and in tasting the joy of association with Him in the presence of His God and Father, we are touching what is eternal. We cannot at present remain always together in the enjoyment of this privilege, but to suppose that it could be formally concluded would suggest that its true character and blessedness had not been entered into. Hence the concluding prayer -- so general forty years ago -- has dropped out. I do not think it desirable that the reading of notices should practically take its place as a formal dismissal.
It cannot be said, I think, that the notices form no part of the meeting, and that they come in after the meeting is quite over. This would fail to give them their true place and importance. So far as they relate to order and administration they form an integral part of what is connected with being "together in assembly".
Then at what part of the meeting is it most suitable that they should be introduced? Are they not more in keeping with the conditions in which we "come together in assembly", and the order which pertains to that coming together, than they are with the place of spiritual privilege to which we may be led in association with Christ as Head in the midst of the assembly? I think upon consideration, most would feel that they belong to the former rather than the latter. The question is, whether they should have their place there, or whether we should formally return, after perhaps enjoying our place as Christ's brethren and as sons with Him, to that which pertains to assembly order here?
There might occasionally be notices of a sad or sorrowful nature, but the Lord would not have such things ignored. They have to be taken account of in the assembly as incidental to the conditions which exist in the place from which He is absent, and where our hearts are "with woe familiar". His priestly grace may be counted on to afford the help that is needed to free the spirits of His saints in connection with such things, as from other conditions which surround us here.
I trust that brethren may move happily together in this exercise with consideration for the Lord and for one another,
so that any change which may be made may carry the general judgment and spiritual intelligence of saints with it. And one would desire that there might be a readiness with us all to adjust ourselves to any intimation of the Lord's mind which may be given.
With much love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Many thanks for yours of the 15th inst. This is just a line to let you know that we enjoyed our week's visit to Weymouth. We were able to call and see most of the saints, and we had three readings in the Room. On Saturday we looked at our place as sons and as little children. On Tuesday we had -- because they expressed a local exercise as to it -- the subject of fellowship. Then on Wednesday we considered a little the Lord's supper.
I think all came out to the meetings who could get, and there seemed a measure of interest ...
Then on Thursday we moved on to Yeovil, and had a reading there. We looked at the fellowship (1 Corinthians 10) as that which is provided for man for complete deliverance from the idolatrous world, and then at the Supper (1 Corinthians 11) as securing an affectionate place for the Lord here when His headship can be realised. I was feeling very tired and not up to much, but I trust there was help.
I thought Leviticus 9 answered more to the blessing side of the fellowship as seen in 1 Corinthians 10. I think the sanctuary sometimes means the holiest, and sometimes the whole tabernacle, but in the latter case it is the whole viewed as taking character from the holiest where God dwells. The failure of the sons of Aaron was really the breakdown of the whole system, and hence Leviticus 16 takes up -- or rather suggests -- what is known in full result in Christianity and Israel's true blessing in another day also.
Much love to you both,
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR --, -- It is a long time since I heard anything of you, and as you came rather specially before me today I thought I would write to ask how you are. I trust you are preserved in a fair measure of health during this time of much sickness, and that the Lord keeps Himself before your heart, and gives you continual joy in Himself and in the precious thoughts of His love. How sweet to know that all those thoughts were the Father's thoughts, committed to the Son to be brought into effect! If each of us can say, "The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me", He did so because it was the Father's will that He should do so. And so with every service of love that He delights to render us. He would have us to trace it all to the Father, that the Father might become to our hearts the Source of all, and that in the consciousness of this we might cry, "Abba, Father!" The gospel of John shows us how the Lord put the Father before the hearts of His disciples as the One who had sent Him, and as the One who had communicated all to Him that He made known to them; as the One whose words He spoke and whose works He did. What a joy it was to Him to be able to say to the Father, of them, "Now they have known that all things that thou hast given me are of thee; for the words which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received them, and have known truly that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou sentest me", John 17:7, 8. Those who truly love the Lord have peculiar pleasure in seeing what was of such precious interest to Him, and in yielding themselves to be led into that knowledge of the Father which is essential if we are to be "for him", 1 Corinthians 8:6.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
BELOVED BROTHER, -- Many thanks for your kind letter with the gift of the dear saints meeting at -- . It is very sweet to be encouraged in the service of the Lord by the consciousness of the love and fellowship of His saints. I greatly value the spiritual affections which are thus manifested, and I am assured that the prayers of the saints accompany their practical interest and care, and this is a great refreshment and source
of strength. Please convey to the dear brethren my thanks, and the assurance that I truly appreciate their love.
It is interesting to know that the brethren at are just considering the same part of Numbers as we have had before us at -- . The thoughts which you had on chapter 18 are very good and helpful. One feels how important that part of Numbers is as giving instruction in the grace which marks God's ways in going on with a people in whom there were many elements of weakness and even contrariety. In the presence of such conditions the work of God in His saints would take character from the features seen typically in chapter 18, and levitical and priestly service would be maintained in spiritual energy. God loves to support what is in accord with Himself, and it is our privilege to be so in the midst of a Christian profession in which there is much that is unsuitable to Him. Faithfulness and devotion in the spirit of priestly grace will maintain what is for God, and every bit of true levitical service will be subordinated to what is priestly and will promote holy conditions. There is a wonderful opportunity at the present time for all this to come into evidence.
With love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY BELOVED BROTHER, -- I greatly value your letter of loving sympathy. It is a sweet cordial to my heart, which comes to me in all the precious fragrance of those affections which fill the heart of Christ, and find expression through His members here. I feel, and shall feel, the departure of dear -- very much: and the circumstances under which it happened give one much exercise. But I have no doubt that it is all the action of perfect wisdom and love. The normal progress of his disease would have entailed a long period of intense weakness and suffering, and the Lord in merciful consideration has taken him home by a shorter and less painful route. And one can only give thanks that, as he said to me on Friday: "All is as well as love could make it".
There were a large number at the burial yesterday -- I heard 150 -- and there was a precious sense of the Lord's nearness, and of complete victory through him. He will be greatly missed in his local meeting, where his quiet and godly
spirit, and true care for the saints, and his devotion to the Lord, have gained him the esteem and affection of the brethren. I have no doubt his service and example will continue to bear fruit.
With very much love and many thanks for your affectionate sympathy,
Yours very affectionately in the Lord Jesus,
... Many thanks for your very kind letter. I deeply appreciate your sympathy in regard to the home-going of dear -- . I feel the loss very much, for we have been thrown a good deal together from before the time of his conversion, over forty years ago, and during recent years he has been a comfort to me in many ways. But I am sure the Lord has done well in taking him, for the normal course of his disease would have entailed a prolonged period of increasing weakness and suffering, which would have greatly tried him and those who loved him. But in mercy he has been taken home by a shorter route, and, as he said to me near the end, "All is as well as love could make it".
I have had you all very much on my heart ever since I heard of the illness of your dear sister, and have often looked to the Lord for her that every needed succour might be vouchsafed to her just as she needs it. And that you may all be greatly comforted amidst your sorrow. We know that the Lord makes all these exercises which are incidental to our present bodily condition contribute to what is spiritual and eternal, and this in itself is great compensation. But the sweetest of all is that these bodily weaknesses and sufferings become the occasion of our learning the tender sympathies and consideration of the love of Christ. We learn Himself in a peculiar way, and in a way which no other kind of experience could give us. The experience will never be gone through again, but the precious knowledge of Christ as discovered to us in it will abide as our own blessed secret with Him.
My warmest love to your dear sister, yourself, and your husband. I trust the brethren will be helped in being together tonight.
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... One feels that the Lord is giving just now an exceptional opportunity for service through printed ministry on the Continent, exercising the brethren on the Continent to be more diligent in desiring to spread the precious truth, and also interesting the hearts of those there who have special abilities for translating work and moving the saints in this country to help in the financial side of this service. And along with all this there seems to be every reason to believe that a very distinct interest is being awakened in many souls in the different countries where the translations are being circulated. So that I think we should be encouraged to continue in prayer with regard to this branch of the Lord's interests and work.
Our much love to Mrs. -- and yourself.
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... I can sympathise with your exercise as to the question of paying rates for meeting rooms, as some years back the same exercise arose in my mind, and I was much inclined to think that it would be well to pay them and avoid any appearance of being favoured in a religious way by the government of the country.
But I must say that further consideration of this matter, and more information as to how it really stands in the law of the country, lead me to doubt whether anything in the way of divine principle is really involved. It has seemed good to the powers that be to decide that buildings used for religious purposes shall not be liable to payment of rates. This is their ordinance, with the making of which we had nothing to do. We did not seek it, but if they say that a building used for what they call religious service shall be exempt from rates it is clearly not according to the law of the land that rates should be paid for such a building. That this is a certain benefit to us is clear, but so is also the liberty to meet at all. We value the latter privilege, and gladly use it as granted to us in the mercy of God through His ordering by way of the laws which secure to us this liberty. We own with thankfulness that government takes a course in this respect which is very favourable to us, and it is different from what obtains in some countries.
If the non-payment of rates necessitated that we should take the place of a religious denomination we might well have serious misgivings about it. But the law distinctly recognises those who decline to be known by any particular name, and extends to them the exemption from rates. This exemption does not put those to whom it applies under any obligation to the State. It does not confer upon them any claim to State-aid, nor are they even required to have the voting lists affixed to their doors. I am aware that this is often done, and it gives the impression that the building is in some way part of the machinery of the State. But I am informed that the law which requires this only applies to chapels of the Established Church, and that the authorities have no right to affix them to the doors of other buildings.
The State does not interfere with us religiously, but grants us full freedom. It requires nothing but that we shall be law abiding, which of course we are most ready to be. And if the State decides that it will not rate buildings which are used for such purposes as our rooms are used for, this is their ordinance, and I do not see any good reason why we should not accept it. It is simply the order and rule of the country in which we live, and I think it is matter for thankfulness that that order is in so many ways favourable to us as seeking to follow the Lord.
I do not know that I need add more, save my much love in the Lord.
Yours affectionately in Him,
... I was able to be out at the reading last night on part of Mark 14. We were saying that nothing ought to affect us more than the sorrows through which the Lord went in His love. To spiritually apprehend them demands great holiness, but it nourishes spiritual affections probably in a way that nothing else could do. I think Christians generally are more apt to dwell on the perfection of what He has accomplished, and the blessed and eternal results of it, than they are to consider at what a cost to Him it was all secured. Yet it is the latter that really moves the heart, and knits it to Him in personal affection. His greatness, His moral perfections, His
glory, all have their part in attracting us to Him, but the sorrows through which His love went, and in which it disclosed its depth and power, affect the heart as nothing else can. They subdue, they form tender sensibilities, they bring us to the very heart of Christ. But it is thrice-holy ground that we traverse there; we can only "watch" there as by the Spirit we are apart from the weakness and sentiment of the flesh. May we know more what it is to be really held by the love of Christ!
My love in the Lord to you all,
Yours affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... The Lord graciously gives many encouragements in His blessed service, and not the least is the cordial support and interest of His beloved saints. Please accept my hearty thanks, and be assured that I value highly the love that is thus expressed. It encourages me to count also on the prayers of the dear brethren, and I do so as feeling how much I need them.
I have been confined to the house with a cold ever since the Monday we returned from Brixham, but was able to be out last night. We read Mark 16, as showing how the service of the Lord goes on in the wide expansion which resurrection gave -- the whole creation coming into view. And the Spirit seems to show how the power all centred in the Lord. On the side of the disciples -- both women and men -- there was much evidence of weakness. But the young man at the right of the sepulchre seems to indicate the power in which the testimony would be maintained. The Lord's right hand had indeed been glorious in power; it had dashed in pieces the enemy; and the saints were to be marked by the energy of that power. Service is now carried on in "the firmament of His power", and is apart from all strength of flesh or nature. We do not learn this in a practical way without such exercises as marked the women, for it is a strange and new power to us....
With very much love in the Lord to dear Mrs. -- and yourself and to all the dear saints whose love I have proved so truly.
Yours very affectionately in Him,
MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ... If we want to know God we must come under His service and thus be for the pleasure of God and be worshippers.
Suffering tests us. The Lord said, "I was not rebellious". It refers to the fact that He was to be exposed to every indignity of men. How wonderful! Job was very rebellious. Job's friends morally smote him and plucked off his hair, and he could not stand it. His friends' criticism tested him. Nothing tests us like adverse criticism from our brethren; how few of us could then say, "I was not rebellious", Isaiah 50:5. The Lord took everything from the hand of God, gave Himself up to take whatever He sent who would in the end righteously judge (see note in N.T., 1 Peter 2:23). He awaited God's justification; that is the spirit of Christ. We can all accept things that come direct from God, but what comes from the brethren tests us most. Accept it from God and leave Him to justify you. If you justify yourself you hinder God from justifying you.
... The questions raised in your letter are important, and they involve much that can hardly be dealt with briefly. But I will endeavour to answer them as far as I can according to the exercise which I have in the light of Scripture.
It is true that J.N.D. or J.B.S. would have received to break bread "a godly clergyman", or "a person known to be godly and sound in the faith who has not left some ecclesiastical system ... as to which his conscience is not enlightened, nay, which he may think more right". And the question is now raised as to whether brethren still do so, or whether they are on sectarian ground if they do not.
It is evident that J.N.D. and J.B.S. had in view, in writing as they did, the spiritual conditions of the time. They did not contemplate persons being received who came from associations leavened by all kinds of worldliness, or by evil teaching on vital matters. Their uncompromising separation from Bethesda, and all who espoused its principles, in 1848, showed that they regarded association with evil as a definite bar to Christian communion.
Truth and divine principles do not change, but it has not been the way of God -- either when first giving the truth
through the apostles, or in reviving it during the last century -- to give all the truth at once, or the full bearing of it. He has brought it out as the needs of the church required, according to the exercises of the time, and with regard to the conditions obtaining in relation to His testimony. It is well to inquire what the conditions were under which J.N.D. and J.B.S. wrote as they did.
At that time those in the sects were marked individually and collectively by a very considerable degree of separation from the world, and by much true devotedness; they preserved in large measure purity of doctrine as to fundamental truth. Before the movement of separation began it is obvious that whatever light there was, or whatever faithfulness or testimony there was, was found in those bodies. There were "a few names" in Sardis of whom the Lord could say that they had not defiled their garments, and that they should walk with Him in white, for they were worthy. Such had preserved in holy integrity what was consistent with the truth so far as they knew it. If there had not been such, there would have been no material suited to receive the Lord's further testimony. But there was material out of which something truly Philadelphian in character could be formed as ministry was given from Christ as Head.
Now I do not learn from Scripture that it has ever been God's way to suddenly disown, or break the link with, what has been, in its day, of Himself when He brings in further and greater light. He acts in patient consideration for His people. He respects, if one may so say, His former ways. He has regard to that which He may have been pleased to use even though it fell short of what was in His mind. It was so when Judaism was superseded by Christianity; there was a transition period during which the separation between the old and the new was not definite. The faithful remnant entered into the blessings of the new order without altogether severing themselves from the former system -- now really set aside by God. It was not until the epistle to the Hebrews was written that they were definitely called to "go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach".
There is a certain analogy between what the epistle to the Hebrews was to the believing remnant of Israel, then made partakers of the heavenly calling, and what 2 Timothy is to us as calling us into separation from those things in the
1902 "O largely give, 'tis all Thine own,
The Spirit's goodly fruit!"? "And filled with Thee, the constant mind
Eternally is blest ."..
1918.
1918.
1918.RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS.
1920.
1926.