In our own circumstances, and in the church, there is a 'needs be' for straits or the trying of our faith. To this end "tribulation worketh patience", and we are to count it all joy when we fall into divers trials, because the trying of our faith worketh patience, or endurance; and in the church there must be heresies, that they which are approved may be made manifest. Straits then are to be expected and looked for, as in the circle of the year the winter is looked for. The ant not only provides for the winter, but also knows what are its resources or helps at such a time, and what its hindrances. Now this is just our wisdom, to ascertain what are our helps and hindrances in our winter or strait. It is said of the ant that it displays its wisdom by providing in summer for the winter. This teaches us that it is the joy and confidence we have in the Lord in the bright day, or the summer, which we are to use and call up afresh to our hearts in the dark day, or the winter. In a word, we are to be supplied with the good things of summer in the depth of winter. The same Lord is to comfort and sustain our hearts in the dark day, as He has done in the bright day. The one help then is the Lord. I do not say that help may not be given by others, but if it is it must be because of their faith. Faith in God is the one simple help. Now though this is not only known, but also acted on in a measure, yet we are constantly exposed to hindrances from those who should have helped us by their faith.
Let us trace how the two are presented in Scripture. Adam in the moment of his wife's apostasy is beguiled by her; she who should have helped him is his hindrance, and simply because she has fallen herself, she drags him into the same depths. But he rises in faith out of it when he calls her Eve, "the mother of all living". He is alone
in his faith; and this is the great principle taught in Scripture, that in faith one must act alone, and the hindrances come from persons whose coalescence or cooperation we seek, either indirectly or directly. Here Abraham was hampered and hindered. Lot was not a help, but a hindrance, from which he only extricated himself by acting in simple faith, surrendering his natural rights in confidence in God. At another time Sarah hindered him in the path and blessing of faith (Genesis 16), but God restored him to it in the circumcision (chapter 17).
Moses began in faith, and "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season"; yet his confidence in God failed when he said, "I am not eloquent". In too much confidence in his own power he had attempted by his own hand to deliver his people. But now, though self-distrusting, he did not reckon fully on God as able to act independently and in spite of his slowness of speech. His brother Aaron was given to help him; but more than once he was his greatest hindrance in the hour of trial. In his absence he made the golden calf, and made the people naked to their shame. So much for the one whom Moses had accepted to help him in lieu of the Lord, or in lack of faith; and this very brother afterwards joined with his sister Miriam in disparaging Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married (Numbers 12). He was also hindered by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. However, when he took the ground of simple faith alone, and from thence invited and called to those "on the Lord's side", the children of the house of Levi gathered themselves unto him. Faith is the one real help, and as we walk distinctly in it we encourage and promote the faith of any who have it. It is of all importance to see that this help is from the Lord only, and though co-operation and countenance from our fellows are not to be refused or disregarded, yet any help we receive through them must
come to them from the Lord; for if not, their support, however well intended, will be a hindrance. How often was Joab a hindrance to David; and eventually he died by the sword -- the necessary penalty of those who assume to do God's work after their own devices. It is refreshing to see how David succeeded when he walked alone in faith, whether in the matter of Goliath, Ziklag, or Mount Moriah. Surely he could in the depth of his heart say, "blessed is the man that trusteth in thee". When the man of faith has recourse to man's ways, and accepts the help even of the best disposed, there is sure to be a Perez-Uzzah, as David found to his sorrow when he submitted to the influences around him, and sanctioned that the ark of the Lord should be carried on a cart.
Thus in times of difficulty there is less danger of being hindered, when there is no apparent help at all, than when one or more offer their assistance. We do well to watch and examine every proffer of help in every strait. Anything or any one who turns us from faith, however promising or enterprising, is really hindering. We get full and clear instruction as to this in the walk of our blessed Lord. When He had come down from the mount and was journeying to Jerusalem to die, even John, by his natural jealousy on His behalf, hinders Him. "We saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us", Luke 9:49. The great significance and warning in this incident is that the best natural feeling leads one astray in divine things. Hence in verse 54 we have John and James praying the Lord to command fire to come down from heaven to destroy those who did not receive Him; which drew forth from the Lord the well-merited and sharp rebuke, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of". It is here that all the error arises, and the consequent hindrance to the man of faith. The most loving or the most devoted may suggest or adopt some natural course which is not of God, and there is necessarily a check and breach. If there were not, it would prove that God could sanction what He
disallows, namely, sowing your field with divers seeds, or plowing with an ox and an ass. If these helps were proffered by any one whose friendship were in any way questionable, there would not be so much danger from them, because one would be more wary in accepting them; but when they come from those who are not only most deeply attached, but truly devoted to their Lord, then there is a greater probability of being drawn away by them. No one, thank God, could turn our Lord from the path of simple faith. The suggestion or counsel of the most loving disciple was as unheeded and as sharply rebuked by Him as the worst and most inveterate effort of an enemy. Thus when Peter, in real consideration for Him, said, with reference to His death, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee", the Lord indignantly replied, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men". It is here that the man of faith is so often hindered; natural affection suggests some easy path instead of the path of testimony and suffering; and if one has not his heart fixed on the Lord, he will be hindered by the very one who may at the same moment have the most light and the most of nature, as it was with Peter, for his counsel was most inopportune and inadequate in that trying moment. He errs in the same way when he cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant. Daring zeal or extreme acts in the attempt to accomplish a desired end are often more hindering than slackness or cowardice. How entirely Peter misunderstood the mind and path of the Lord at the time; and instead of being in fellowship with Him in it, he in his eager haste had done a wrong which nothing but the immediate mercy of the Lord could rectify or remove.
In Paul's history we are taught how he was helped in times of difficulty, and how he was hindered. Peter, having shown how fully he agreed with him by eating with the gentiles, withdrew when certain came from James, fearing them of the circumcision. The one whose
approbation and countenance had for a moment most helped him was the one who by his unfaithfulness or fear most hindered him; so much so that his chief friend and companion Barnabas was carried away by their dissimulation. When Paul refused to take with them John, whose surname was Mark, Barnabas betrayed the damage he had sustained, and acted unfaithfully; he took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus. When one assents to another's departure from principle, he is sure to depart from it himself when the pressure comes upon him. Barnabas yields to Peter, and he at length is foremost and violent in opposing the faithfulness of the apostle Paul. In like manner at Jerusalem James hindered Paul by his well-intentioned prudence, involving him in troubles from which he escaped through human means and contrivances more than by direct interposition. Paul learned in the ship (Acts 27), that his help came from the Lord; that when everything on which man could count would be wrecked, God was mighty to save. His word was, "God hath given thee all them that sail with thee". We find afterwards that when all in Asia had turned away from him, when those he might have reckoned on had slid away, yea, when all men forsook him, he surmounted each and all of these hindrances. He is not discouraged, his sure resource is in God. At the most trying moment he can testify, "the Lord stood with me... and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion"; an example and a witness to us that, however hindered and unsupported by man, the solitary saint dependent on the Lord will be supported by Him.
The one immutable law of good and evil is progress; each by its very existence demands and promotes increase. The good becomes very good, and the evil very evil. Hence it is a most serious question whether I
am engaged with that which is really good, or with that which is evil in God's judgment.
In the passage in Jeremiah the words at the head of this paper were applied, not to some particular works, or to mere conduct, but to the course adopted by each. Those who were good adopted and adhered to the path approved of by God, and those who did not bow to His ways were evil, very evil. It is the principle of which I speak here, and it is important to seize it -- that I am "good" when I follow and adhere to that which God marks out for me, however small and humiliating it may be in the eyes of man; and that it is "evil" when, contrary to God's counsel, I cleave to things now prohibited because of man's failure, refused and forbidden.
In the day of Israel's captivity those who recognised the ruin of Israel accepted the captivity, and they were good, very good. "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart", Jeremiah 24:5 - 7. While, on the contrary, those who would not bow, but would remain in the land as if nothing had happened to disqualify them, were evil, very evil.
Very amiable, highly moral men might have been among the latter, but whatever they were in their immediate behaviour, they were, as to testimony to God, evil, very evil; while those who had accepted the place of littleness in man's eye, and who were wholly cast on God, were, however naturally unattractive, good, very good. However one may be influenced by another to a certain point, no one can, in simple faith, enter on or
continue in the lowly path approved of by God in a day of failure, unless he is walking in grace. He cannot be really in faith if he is not walking with God, for faith is seeing Him who is invisible. If often happens that there is more genuine faith in a Jacob -- one who has learned something of the plague of his own heart -- than there is in an amiable Isaac; for when he is walking in faith, he is in grace superior to his own waywardness.
Having seen that it is the course one pursues which really determines whether one is good or evil, let us next examine how each respectively increases, so that the good becomes very good and the evil very evil. Continuance under any governing power must necessarily increase its rule and influence over us. The more we are under it, the more we shall be under it. Thus habits are called 'second nature'. Cain may have intended well when he began, but he was wrong in his course from the first; hence he was evil, and in the end proved to be very evil. Thus Lot, possibly exemplary in all the relations of life, took a wrong course when he chose the well-watered plains; he, by degrees, became more and more identified with this wrong course; he dwelt in Sodom, and sat in the gate of it. Even though his righteous soul was vexed from day to day with their unlawful deeds, he was more under the control of a wrong influence, and hence the evil was very evil.
When one has been carried away by an evil influence, he can never estimate the extent of his departure until, by the good hand of the Lord, he seeks to return to the ground which he has abandoned. So it was with Lot; until he was aroused by God's mercy he had no idea of the depth of the wickedness there, or its power to render his sons-in-law insensible to his exhortation, though angels authorised and corroborated it. It is one of the terrible characteristics of an evil influence, that one never knows the depth he has sunk to until he tries to rise out of it. It is a delusion all the way down, and therefore the repentance or recovery is also gradual, and for this
reason deeper, as there is advance to restoration. What a morning it was to Lot when he began his departure, his deliverance, out of Sodom; but if his repentance had been full, he would not have tarried anywhere short of the place of faith. Aaron and those who acted with him may not have offended against any natural order. They may have been, and doubtless were, greatly esteemed by the congregation; and yet by their course they proved themselves evil, very evil, and made the people naked unto their shame among their enemies. It is important to see that a wrong course adopted by the best of men is evil, and increases in evil, so that the evil spread like a plague through the whole congregation. "The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play". And they found, to their sorrow, that it was easier to fall into a snare than to get out of it.
In like manner with the spies; ten of them did not fail in conduct, so called, but having lost faith in God, and having been terrified by the giants in Canaan, and the cities walled up to heaven, they not only took a wrong course for themselves, but they discouraged the people -- the evil became very evil. They might have pleaded their honesty, and their care for the people too, but they lost sight of the Lord, and started aside like a deceitful bow, and thus promoted a universal defection; it was the "day of provocation". Caleb and Joshua, on the other hand, were the "good", who became more distinctly good every day, and were increasingly bright in their testimony to that great truth, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit", Jeremiah 17:7, 8.
Thus also the two-and-a-half tribes were wrong in their course, and the more they adhered to it the worse it became, so that they were the first to be overpowered by
the enemy. It is more than probable that, as men, they were most amiable and commendable in daily life, but they were so interested in their own immediate advantages that they adopted and pursued a course at variance with the true one. The more they continued in it the more distinct was their departure. Now in a good course, the more I walk in it, the more I am upheld by the Lord, and I become "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus". "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day", Proverbs 4:18. There is, as I might say, just the opposite feeling to what there is in a wrong course. In the wrong, I slip as down a precipice, and have no idea of the rapidity with which I am descending. I feel at ease, or succeeding in my desires, and therefore I am more pleased than alarmed, until the dart strikes through my liver; and then, alas! I know I have been deluded. When I pursue a right course there is a sense of ascending; I am conscious that I must be self-denying, that the knowledge of the holy is paramountly necessary. It is a conflict, but there is a sense of present help and light arising in the darkness.
Jonah, in another day, ran counter to the path prescribed for him by the Lord as a servant. However personally amiable he might be, yet in following his own will in contravention of the Lord's directions he was evil, and every step he took in that course was increasingly evil. It is not so much the particular act which I do which determines its character, as whether it is of God or of man. If the former, it is good; if the latter, it is evil. An act might be very evil with regard to God, which as far as man sees, did not inflict any injury on man. When man is injured, everyone can see the evil, and reprobate it; but this is an evil in the sight of God, and very grievous too, when man thinks of himself only, and slights the will and mind of God. Peter, in following the Lord to the high priest's house, was doing his own will; it was evil, and soon became very evil. The apostle Paul, though most exemplary in life and morals,
"touching... the law, blameless", found his course had been evil, very evil -- the worst, or, as he calls himself, "the chief of sinners", simply because he was using all his abilities to damage and cripple the church, which is God's great centre of interest and love on the earth. It is striking that he condemns himself, not for anything immoral, but simply and solely for running in direct opposition to, and contravention of, God's main concern and object on the earth at the present time. Thus the man who, through grace, was beyond all others to uphold and suffer even to death in his care for the church, the one who pre-eminently was good, very good, in his course to the end, was the one who had in his own person, when following his own will, represented the course that was evil, very evil.
When Paul contended for the truth of the gospel, the good was very good, and if Peter had not repented, the evil would have been very evil. As it was, Barnabas was carried away by their dissimulation. The way to check the evil is by strictly and unswervingly insisting on the right course; and as this is insisted on, the good becomes apparent, and established, and then it is very good. But if the wrong course be not at once renounced and repented of, it will increase, according to its evil, to more ungodliness. For as the good is brought out into distinctness, there will be less excuse for the wrong one, and the folly shall be "made manifest unto all", though the leaders may not repent but wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
In conclusion, may we be warned and encouraged to refuse any course which is not of God; may we have such simple faith in Him that we can, like the faithful in Israel in that day, accept the place of confessed weakness, without place or name on the earth, confident in heart that the Lord is sufficient for us, and that though there be no bread in the ship, nothing to minister to or prop up the man or his resources, the Lord is adequate for every exigency. To advocate and adhere to the use
of human means in any way whatever, with respect to service or position, is giving the first man a place, and is like the Israelites who refused to accept the captivity; while if we accept and acknowledge that we have no power but of God, that we are captives among men, and our strength is only as we are upheld and led by the Spirit of God, He will enable us, though diminished in the eyes of men, to maintain His name in the midst of our enemies, so that there may still be a bright testimony for Him on the earth, even as there was in Babylon the great.
"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life". According as anything approaches in value to one's life, so is it tenaciously grasped and persistently retained. The sure evidence that the truth we have learned is of real value to us is the tenacity and inviolability with which we hold to it. If I believe it is the mind of God revealed to me, it must be dearer to me than my natural life, which is in itself terminable, while the other is not. The very fact of the warning, "Hold that fast which thou hast", shows that there would be an attempt to deprive the saints of the truth they had received.
In our warfare the devil always aims at the secret of our strength. In one day it was the ark of the covenant that he aimed at; in this day it is the truth to which the church has been awakened. To deprive us of this truth is his one aim. He concentrates all his force and craft upon this one point, and if this be surrendered, we shall easily be his prey. Seeing then that we know that the force of the enemy is directed to this end, namely, to deprive us of this truth, let us first ascertain what it is, and secondly, what is the only true way of holding it fast.
The truth which has been given consists of two parts. One relates to the Lord as He is intrinsically in His nature and being "he that is holy, he that is true"; the other refers to His power -- "He that hath the key
of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth". Let us meditate on them in detail. The first, that He is holy and true, strikes a believer at once as a very simple fact that could in no wise be gainsaid or qualified. In a word, any attempt to contravene such a fundamental truth must meet with instant and indignant denial. And yet, strange as it may sound, all the confusion in christendom, and all the variance between the Lord's people, arises from an inaccurate and insensible way of holding this truth. Things and associations are suffered and sanctioned which could never have been tolerated if there had been any true sense of His holiness and truth. The lack of godly discipline in the congregation, even where there is a pious, painstaking minister, has driven many a godly soul out of a congregation. There was a sense that in this association they had not respect to His holiness; and if I do not respect His holiness, I cannot acknowledge His truth. This sense of His holiness is only acquired by nearness to Him. He is now walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and no one who is mixed up in the corruption of christendom can draw near Him without being alarmed at His aspect there. Nearness to the Lord, when I am associated with evil, distresses me instead of cheering me, though the distress be the means of awakening me to the unsuitability of my position.
We are never really aware of the holiness of the Lord until we are near Him. Jacob could allow many things at Shalem which he found to be wholly inexcusable and unfit for Bethel. Nearness to the Lord declares at once what is fit for Him and what is not. "Whatsoever doth make manifest is light". "He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God". When I am awake to His holiness, I see clearly that nothing else is fit for Him in His own house but what He is in Himself. The queen's daughter, in prophetic language, is suited to Him. She is "all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold". All
that is evil or false is utterly at variance with Him. It is a great day for the soul when it hears this from His own lips, and accepts it in its greatness and reality. It exacts full and unqualified separation from everything and everyone unsuited to Christ. There is an exaction, a line of demarcation, a reiteration of the words, "come out from among them, and be ye separate, ... and touch not the unclean thing". It is a separation to the highest standard; as my heart turns and cleaves to Him, I am sensible of the only terms on which I can enjoy Him, even that He is holy, and that He is true. Much of His grace can be known, and there may be true faith in Him, without there being nearness enough to feel the exaction which His presence entails. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground". Then, however graciously He comes to us -- as in a bush, and it is not consumed -- we must feel and know, as Moses did, that it is holy ground. One is simply at a distance from the Lord when he does not enter into this, the first and the greatest point because the moral one, that He is the holy and the true. It is said of a blind man that he can form no conception of what light is until he sees it. Can any one comprehend holiness but near the Lord? and how can he be near Him if mixed up with the corruption of christendom? If he draws near to Him, he must encounter His eyes like a flame of fire, for He is indignant at the state of the church. On the other hand great influence controls us -- "With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure".
But as this is the great moral stay for us at the present time, we must be prepared for its being assailed in many various and violent ways. The effort of the adversary is to get the faithful to slacken this principle, or even to modify it, and thus to forfeit nearness to the Lord, and consequently all that He is. To "hold that fast which thou hast" is the only road to success. The more corrupt and leavened everything is around us, the more separate it becomes us to be, holding fast without any
compromise this fact, that He is holy and that He is true. Every saint would own that it is unquestionably true of Him, but it is necessary in a day like this to press it on every one true to Him, who seeks to follow Him in these last days. He presents Himself to such in these two essential principles, for it is only in this connection, that is in holiness and truth, that He can declare the boundlessness of His power to the few besieged and almost overborne by the power of evil here.
Now as when grace was announced to Moses the holiness of God was insisted on, so when to Joshua it is power, very nearly the same words are used -- "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy". It is from this, and in this connection only, that the power of God can be used in our behalf. As with the Nazarite, power was forfeited when separation or holiness was compromised, so is it every day and every hour. If any one be surrounded with evil and mixed up with it, the first thing he will do, if exercised after a godly manner and by the Spirit of God, is to draw near the Lord; and there he learns of His holiness and truth, he has a little power, has kept His word, and not denied His name, and he survives in spite of the terrible flood around. He is, as it were, worth helping, and therefore to such the Lord presents Himself as He is in nature and greatness. Wherever we turn in Scripture, the one unalterable rule is that when you walk with God in true separation, you are invincible. When you deviate from this, you are shorn of your strength, however great it may have been. Joseph, a man of holiness, was the man of power. Aaron and the people failed when they forgot God, but Moses came from God and was in the power of God equal to the occasion. Lose holiness and you are like Samson when shorn, "as another man". "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you". Thus Isaiah found that, as soon as he was placed by grace at ease in the holiness of God's presence, he was equal for any service on which he might be sent; he could say, "Here am I;
send me". If one is not without fear in the highest holiness, he will not be without fear in the face of man's wickedness. Hence glory is now the measure of our acceptance and of our power -- in a word, the measure of all God's ways with us. "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat", etc. (Psalm 81).
Joshua is admonished when he cries to the Lord because of Israel's defeat. The Lord said unto Joshua, "Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned", etc. The remedy is "Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow". When we fail and are overcome in any degree here, it should at once occur to us that the failure is not with the Lord, but because we are not separate from evil; we are connected with something unclean, otherwise He would espouse us and act for us. When the Lord is the only One before us, He is on our right hand, we shall not be moved. We learn in everything, "who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" It is a truth of the greatest value that if I walk in obedience to His word, He will uphold me with all His power. "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him", John 14:23. In a word, just as I keep close to Him, He will keep close to me and make my cause His own; so that I am not to be occupied with opposition, but in truth and holiness to cleave unto the Lord. Then it shall be, "no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you", Joshua 23:9, 10.
The lack of power or support can always be traced to some departure or turning aside on our part. In everything we shall find that true separation or nazariteship
ensures the present and parental care and protection of our God -- "come out from among them, and be ye separate", etc. (2 Corinthians 6:17.)
The evil first occurring in the church was not only the most vicious, but because the chief, it is one that is ever recurring, Satan ever seeking an opportunity to do the worst. When we know the manner and intent of this chief evil, we are watchful and prepared in faith to resist it. The evil, in whatever form it may show itself, has the one uniform design, namely to slight or tempt the Spirit of the Lord, to call in question and ignore His presence in the church. To contravene the authority and claims of God has been the great aim of Satan from the beginning. Whatever was the chief or most important thing with God at any time, this it is that man has been urged to disown or to spoil. In the garden of Eden the word of God is daringly perverted, and Eve is induced to do the very thing which was strictly forbidden of God. Note that it was not openly to Adam that the serpent addressed himself, but to Eve -- the easier way to succeed.
In like manner, when fire came down from God to consume the sacrifice, Aaron's sons offered strange fire. They procured fire for themselves, as if their fire was as good as God's fire -- the most effectual way to undermine, like the magicians, the glory due to Him, and to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. One can hardly believe that the sons of Aaron could have been so duped and foolish; but these things are written for our admonition.
Again, was there not "the day of temptation", when because of fear, because of the giants, and the cities "walled up to heaven", they turned back and tempted God?
Again, in the very moment of success and the overthrow of Jericho, one man, unknown to everyone else, secreted a Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, in his tent. It was done quite secretly, no one was implicated in it, there was no poisoning of the minds of many by a conspiracy, but Achan was led on by Satan to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. Evil has no idea of anything but evil. The attempt was made to call in question the presence of the Lord with His people, and through one individual, in the most secret way, unknown to anyone else in the whole nation, to involve all in a violation of the most stringent injunction, and one primarily affecting the strength and glory of their position at the time. Nothing could seem more unlikely than that the secret act of an individual in a great army should be taken notice of, or that there should be any possibility of discovering the offender. Though the covetousness of man was the means Satan used, the real way to account for this act is that the malice of Satan would tempt the Spirit of the Lord; and the more securely, because secretly, he would contravene the counsels of God.
It is of the deepest moment that we should understand that the aim of Satan is to lead souls to act in defiance of God's eye and word. They say, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it", Psalm 94:7.
If in every preceding dispensation this has been the aim of Satan, if in Eden, if when priesthood was established, and if even in the promised land, there was an immediate effort to disturb the favour of God at its brightest moment, how much more must it be the aim of Satan to interrupt and ignore the greatest manifestation of God to His people by the presence of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven? We read in Acts 5 that immediately on the setting up of the church on the earth, when the devotedness of the saints was marked by their surrender of their earthly property, two, a man and his wife, were led by Satan to agree together to deceive the
church by laying only part of the money realised by the sale of their lands at the apostles' feet, retaining the remainder for themselves. They sought to obtain thus an undeserved and untrue reputation, and at the same time to enjoy for themselves the property they had represented as surrendered. There was an evil gain in a double way, namely, reputation among the saints for a surrender, which at the same time they meant to use for themselves. Such a scheme as it was! The wickedness and disregard of God in such an act, by professing christians, was amazing. What was their object in coming into the church at all? They had joined the church, no very popular company in Jerusalem at the time. They desired and determined to be considered eminent and devoted by this company, and yet they were not satisfied with the meed of credit which their false representation secured for them, but they must also have a personal benefit in that which they have dishonestly retained. The deceit and evil motive which underlay all this act proves the extent to which one will go for the attainment of his own ends when he does not believe in the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit; for if He had been believed in, how could they imagine that such fraudulent pretension would be undiscovered? Thus in the very beginning of the church's history on the earth this fearful slight is offered to the Holy Spirit. They did not believe that a divine Person was in this company which they had deceived for their own exaltation and gratification. Now from this grievous outbreak we are taught the characteristics of the first and foremost form of evil in the church. Anything which obtains for me a reputation which I do not deserve, and ministers to my own selfishness, is a direct slight to the Spirit of God, a tempting of the Spirit of the Lord, gaining credit falsely from others; and thus gratification to myself would be an utter and entire denial of the presence of the Holy Spirit. And yet in how many and various ways might this occur now! A man might get credit for a knowledge of Scripture
which he did not deserve, while in private, instead of refusing it, he might be gratified at his success. It is not so much the kind of act as the motive and object of it.
If the motive be self-consideration, and the object be self-exaltation, then the act, whatever it is, is a slight to the Spirit of God, and it is tempting the Spirit of the Lord. As the Holy Spirit is present on the earth to testify of Christ, every time I attempt to obtain distinction for myself -- whether with the best plausible reasons, openly, like the priests, offering strange fire, that is, fire of their own, or secretly, like Achan, to acquire something for myself, I am tempting the Spirit of the Lord. I am always tempting Him when I am acting so as to question the fact of His presence, because it is evident that if I were simply sure that He was present, I neither could nor would seek myself. I should be at once rebuked and controlled. The fact that, at the very moment of the greatest demonstration of the Holy Spirit's presence on earth, any two could be found to seek their own importance in God's assembly, is unquestionable evidence that the great aim of Satan is to ignore the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to lead souls to act as if He were not here. Therefore Peter says, "Why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit"? As afterwards, to Sapphira, "Why is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" Anything which is done by the flesh, or dictated by man's mind, it may be unintentionally, denies the presence of the Holy Spirit. The sons of Aaron might have alleged that their only object was to increase the amount of fire; but the attempt to add to God's fire and supply any, implied that God's was not enough. Surely that was tempting the Spirit of the Lord, because it assumed that He would not take notice of it, though they were detracting from God to honour themselves. Achan's act was secret, and he was led to expect it would never be discovered, though he tempted the Lord in appropriating to his own advantage what was devoted to Him. Would the Lord
suffer it? He put it to proof, at any rate. Now in the case of Ananias there is no excuse; of all the instances which had occurred previously, not one was in nature and motive so bad as his. It is recorded for us as characteristic of the way in which souls, received as most devoted, may be induced to act in order to gain reputation, by pretending to surrender what they were still enjoying, so that there was a gain on a supposed loss. Now any act which is done in the flesh, especially ministry, presumes that the Holy Spirit is not here, and tempts the Spirit of the Lord in seeking prominence for the doer of it. If the question can be raised, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" there is, by the act which suggests the question, a tempting of the Spirit of the Lord. Could a believer, assured of the presence of the Spirit of God, have resort to any human means? And if he did, would he not either sin like the priests in attempting to supplement the fire, or like Achan, in appropriating what was exclusively the Lord's to his own exaltation? And thus the first great evil that sprang up in the church would be touched, and there would be the tempting of the Spirit of the Lord.
There are three ways in which the Spirit can be tempted in this day, one in the assembly, another in service, the third in private life.
In the first, the assembly, any ministry not of the Spirit's leading must be of the flesh, and thus the Spirit is hindered and tempted, because there is the self-confidence of acting in His presence as if He were not there. Who can apprehend how the Spirit must be grieved by this, even in well-intentioned souls, not to speak of those who openly seek to gain reputation for themselves in the church. Yet where the springs of this evil are exposed in the case of both Achan and Ananias, their object is simply their own exaltation.
Secondly, as to service; I tempt the Spirit whenever I seek by human means to supplement His power in any form, or by any means outside and apart from the human vessel. And even then, when I allow the natural mind or
natural energy to take the lead, I am tempting Him, for He is here to testify for Christ, and is fully adequate to obtain and provide means as He deems fit Himself. Whether it be from plausible intention, like the sons of Aaron, or to exalt oneself, like Ananias, one or the other is the fruitful source of weakness in the church, because the Spirit is dishonoured, however ignorantly it be done. The Lord is careful to record for us the specious way by which, in another day, David, full of fervour and delight of heart in restoring the ark to its place, and zealous for the testimony of the Lord in that day, spoiled all, and defeated his own desires, by using a cart. Uzzah's well-intentioned offer to help was rebuked by terrible judgment. We may be sure, however we are deceived, that whenever we depart from the way of the Lord, and in any way regard the Spirit of God as insufficient, reputation for ourselves is the motive. Though one would shrink from the conduct and course of Ananias in its bold reality, yet in the secret of the heart, when the Spirit is not honoured, there is no alternative but that the motive betrayed by Ananias and Sapphira must be at work. It may be better concealed, and the conscience not so hardened as theirs was, but still, if the Spirit of the Lord be tempted by being overlooked and unrespected, in character the same evil, the first and the worst, is working.
Lastly, in daily life, the believer can, in the way he expresses himself, grieve the Spirit of God. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying... And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption", Ephesians 4:29, 30. Again, in the way one acts as to others, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit", 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
To the question, Why is evil permitted? I believe the true answer is, That the greater good may be declared. It is very interesting to note that for every evil expressed there is a good manifested to supersede it. That is, the one great purpose with God is to bring out the good. Hence, whenever evil intrudes and forces its way, He makes this inroad only a fresh occasion for setting forth the good, so that the evil becomes a foil for the good. The good becomes more distinct by the very distinctness of the evil.
The more we study and are acquainted with all the ways of God with man, the more we see that the existence of evil gave occasion for the declaration of good. A man of full age, or matured, is one who has his senses exercised to discern good and evil; he knows that whenever there is an evil there must be a good to supersede it, and he can always determine an evil by, and according to, his knowledge of the good. The existence of evil is trying to each one according as he is led of God, for God is good and doeth good, but though he will be tried by it, he is not to be overcome by it, but to overcome evil with good, for this is God's way. Nothing tries the God-fearing soul more than that one professing the same faith as himself, and apparently enlightened by the same truth, should perversely insist on and maintain his own mind contrary to the mind of the Lord; yet this very great trial -- which is a heresy, we read -- is necessary, that the approved may be made manifest. The fact that heresies are necessary for this end, while on the one hand it supplies a balm to the godly one tried by the heresy, is on the other hand of great warning; for when the testing comes, it is only those equal to the test who shall be manifested. The approved must not remain unseen. It is the gracious purpose of God that the good must come abroad; He that sees in secret rewards openly. The disciples were
exhorted not to conceal what they were, for there was nothing secret which should not come abroad; it is thus evidently good. On the one hand it humbles that there is so little open reward, for if there had been more to be approved of, there would have been more open reward; while, on the other hand, if I have simple faith, I can go on with the Lord, assured in heart that He will in His own time openly reward what He has approved of, for "not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth". Abram, the man of faith, might appear to be surpassed by Lot when the latter chose the best part of the land, but this very act not only declared the faith of Abram, but was used of God to raise him to a higher position -- to reward him openly. "And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee", Genesis 13:14 - 17. And much more so afterwards, Abram the approved one is made manifest, when after having delivered his brother Lot, he was met by Melchizedek, and blessed in the name of "the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth". The wilfulness in even natural things became an occasion for the manifestation of the virtue and grace of the approved one.
Even the wickedness of this world, as we see in Pharaoh, only brought into clearer and brighter light the power and resources of God in the person of Moses; Moses as approved was more and more manifested. It would be an immense cheer to our hearts if we were more confirmed in this great principle, that nothing can be done against the truth, but for the truth; that good
must result, and if one is faithful and approved, the opposition and wilfulness of man, either in the world or in the church, will but promote our testimony.
The examples in Scripture are numerous and of various shades. If Lot is selfish the faith of Abram is the more declared. Aaron's weakness and unbelief in making the calf become the occasion for setting forth in a very brilliant way the grace and power of Moses, the man approved of God. A great opportunity was afforded by Aaron's heresy for manifesting the way and course of the man of God in the most corrupt state of things. If Aaron had not been so pliable, yielding to the will of the people instead of being led by the word of the Lord, if there had not been this breakdown in such a responsible person, there would not have been the same glorious vindication of God in the person of Moses. There is a time, be assured, that this unrebuked weakness or unbelief in each of us will be exposed. It will sooner or later influence us if we have not silenced it; while if there be grace and faith in our hearts, the very event which will expose and bring dishonour on this one, will be the occasion of great moral distinction to the others. We have to do with the living God.
In the case of Miriam and Aaron in Numbers 12, it was simply rivalry, confined, as one might say, to their own family. But even thus the heresy -- for every act is heresy which is in wilful opposition to the mind of the Lord -- brought out from God the fullest declaration of His approval of Moses: "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Numbers 12:7, 8.
Now in the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, it is very different. The heresy there was calling in question and opposing God's right to choose and appoint His own servants. The "gainsaying of Core" was the denial
of God's special grace to Moses and Aaron, a refusing to own it, and the assumption that they were as competent themselves. There is no greater evidence of grace in anyone than the ability to recognise and own the grace given of God to another; while there can be no greater proof of the smallness and absence of grace than the inability to recognise it according to the divine measure. This is the heresy most current in the present day everywhere. Men are gifted of God, and the mass of believers cannot recognise the gift of God, but assume they can have as good by their own appointment; and the leaven of this works far and wide. But the opposition or the heresy is only an occasion for God to own and manifest more fully those who are approved of Him; and all those who are in concert with Him will also be manifested; their rod will blossom and bud, and bring forth almonds. Blessed be God, He will prepare a table for the approved in the presence of their enemies; He will anoint their head with oil, their cup will run over!
Now we also get in the church various shades of man's perverseness, opposing or running counter to the mind of the Lord, from the weakness of Peter and Barnabas down to the defection of "all who are in Asia" and of Demas, the hatred of Alexander, the blasphemy of Hymenaeus and Philetus. Each of these in their varied ways only gave an occasion for the approved to become manifest; so that we find the apostle more distinctly succoured of the Lord in the day of the greatest outward decline than ever before; and he was manifested more than ever as His servant in faithfulness and truth.
The Lord give unto each of us to walk in such true self-judgment, rebuking the smallest working of unbelief and self-consideration, that we may not yield when the testing time comes; for surely it must come, and then the unrebuked weakness betrays us. However strong the chain may be in every link but one, it will fail then, if the pressure be great, proving there must have been a flaw allowed, or we should not fail in the day of trial; while
the man of true and faithful purpose will only come out the brighter because of a test, like the diligent well-prepared youth from his examination.
In the believer there is the natural mind, and there is the spiritual, or "the mind of Christ". Now it is as each is addressed that the ministry is spiritual or carnal. When the theme in the mind of the speaker is simply Christ in His divine reality, the ministry is spiritual; but when man, or his acceptance of the subject, is the attempt or desire before the mind, it is not so.
My speaking, says the apostle, was not in the persuasive words of man's wisdom, but "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God". It is not here a question of having the truth but of how it is presented.
The same truth might be held by two men, and one would press it in the wisdom of man, and the other in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The true servant, the more active his own mind, and the more he naturally values mind in itself, will seek the more sedulously to keep it under the control of the Spirit of God. This is in character the exercise which occurs in every godly soul daily, I might say hourly, whether I am led by the Spirit of God or by my own inclinations. We are set by grace with a divine nature, the nature of a Man new to us; and in His Spirit we are to act and behave ourselves, in the scene of our former self, as it were, in the way and manner of Christ. It is not that the old is annihilated, but while it still exists, and where it has existed without interference, there it is to be superseded by and contrasted with the life of the One who has pleased God in every path and line of life down here.
This is the daily exercise of every true christian. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit". "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh", Galatians 5:25, 16.
Now this true daily exercise, common to and incumbent on every saint, is par excellence to be observed by the minister. If I minister to that which should be repressed and supplanted, I am defeating the very object of ministry; for instead of really helping souls, I am, by the wisdom of men, in some form ministering to the flesh. In every case, whether in myself, or in ministering to others, the one great thing is that the Spirit should be heard. Hence, if I were speaking to the unconverted, the one great thing I should seek would be that he should hear the voice of the Lord. I do not seek so much to convince him of anything as to bring his conscience under the eye of God. It is God I seek to present. It is His coming near in grace, detecting man's distance in the words, "Where art thou?" that I insist on as led by the Spirit of God. It is how God would speak, and not how man might be convinced. It is evident that it must be in intelligible language, for the conscience cannot be addressed if the words used are not comprehended. But as I carefully avoid, in my own private walk and course, the counsel or dictation of my natural mind, so do I refuse and avoid every mere natural means, in language or manner, which would recognise and minister to the natural mind which is enmity to God. The one aim is to bring God's voice close to man's conscience. It is not man's voice, nor man's arguments, for then it is all man; but it is to be the messenger of God, and that man's conscience may own it. As Manoah said, "we have seen God".
It is more difficult, though not less necessary, in speaking to the unconverted, to avoid and refuse the wisdom of men, because they have no spiritual mind to reach, and, therefore, if I am not very truly and simply in the Spirit, I am not really coming from God to this
dark soul. In speaking to quickened souls, one thing must be borne in mind, that anything that is not of the Spirit of God will not really cleave to the new man in the believer; hence there is loss of time on both sides when the wisdom of men is resorted to, instead of the demonstration of the Spirit and power, and it is here that bad building occurs (1 Corinthians 3:10 - 15). Once the servant of God enters into the impossibility of the flesh and the Spirit being in any concert, he is on his guard, fearing the intrusion of the flesh, for the latter is not only labour in vain, but it damages souls. A tower begun in that crumbling material will not stand, like the house built on the sand.
The more I am in the Spirit, the more closely do I adhere to the pure mind or revelation of God in His word; and the more this is insisted on, the more the flesh is repelled and subdued by it. The wisdom of men excites and arouses the natural mind, and countenances the flesh, even though it provokes controversy and opposition. If the flesh, in its mind, is absolutely and continuously refused in ministry, there will be deepening in the soul as it is conscious of the incongruity of its being acknowledged and indulged in one's course and manner of life. But if in the ministry the flesh in any way gets a place, it will surely follow that in practical life there is a manifest admission of the tastes and ruling of the flesh. Whenever you see forwardness or timidity in one in natural life, there is surely an element of the flesh answering to it in that man's ministry, and if it had been refused in the ministry, it would have been rebuked in daily life. If not excluded from the pulpit, so to speak, it will be sure to be very prominent at one's fireside. If permitted and sanctioned in the house of God, it will almost reign in my own. The failure from the first has been that the Spirit of God has not been maintained in His proper place. He is here to testify of Christ, and to maintain Him in vigour and power in the believer's soul. When the servant loses sight of the Spirit as the sole power and
aid in ministry, he is sure to enfeeble His activity or rule in his own heart, and thus a place is given to worldliness and the desires of the flesh. Surely if a place or recognition be given it in our services for God, there can be no escape from it in our own things; and it is here that the chief damage has resulted from carnal ministry. "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them", 1 John 4:5. Those who first withdrew from the church were not simply worldly, but the Spirit of God designates them as "sensual, having not the Spirit". They were of the natural mind, and could not brook the things of the Spirit of God. What gave the false teachers an acceptance denied to Paul, but that they in their ministry addressed the natural man? They desired to make a fair show in the flesh, that they might glory in your flesh; then would the offence of the cross cease. The carnal ministry gave countenance to the flesh, and with it the compound of ritualism and rationalism in Colossians 2. Man will accept to be a religious being, when allowed and claimed in the natural state. Christianity was nominally embraced under a ministry which virtually denied it. The one hindrance on every side was the wisdom of men, and yet the great testimony of christianity is that man is no longer to live in the flesh; for if we live after the flesh we shall die, but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live. The great thing now is to be in the body and yet neither to live in the flesh nor walk after it. The false teacher is the one who in some way spares the flesh, and then, however great may be the apparent effect of his words, it stands in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. Nothing can be plainer than that if I use carnal weapons I must, in some shape or degree, give the flesh a place, and whenever this is the case, I am allowing, nay, promoting, an element contradictory to and subversive of the truth I enunciate. Broadly, every enlightened servant would agree with this, but many would diverge from it in practice. The most
spiritual may fail at times, but then, like Paul, he is afraid, he is in weakness and fear and much trembling, he eschews the wisdom of men, seeking only the power of God.
Let us come to detail, and examine how and when we are drawn away from what is simply spiritual to human efforts or the wisdom of men. Often in gospel preaching, when the danger of souls is vividly pressed on one's heart, simultaneously with the perfect grace and mercy in God to avert it, one is rightly almost overwhelmed, and words would fail to express the yearnings of the heart. This might be quite of the Spirit, and when truly so, there would be a deeper sense of how ineffectually anything the wisdom of men would suggest would meet the demand. And then this deep yearning of the heart would be expressed, not coldly and languidly surely, but in solemn words of divine teaching, in such a sense of the gravity of the subject that there would be increase of fear lest anything not of God might intrude. Every one who has ever known the vigour of fresh light breaking in on the soul must know the desire for an ardent utterance. Often this is impossible to convey, but when possible, it affords an opportunity for vehement utterance with an excited manner. But then the power is lost in the display which would have been repressed if the Lord's presence were more before one, and thus depth of feeling would have been produced. For the deeper the feeling, the less possible is it to convey it, and the less necessary is it for God's glory that it should be conveyed through human means. So that when Paul came down from the third heaven, though his heart was stored with the deepest things, yet in a natural way he was less fitted to communicate them than before he was acquainted with them. The vessel is the Lord's, and He made it. Our care is that He uses us, and that our own feelings, or the wisdom of men, do not sway us in our service; for whenever the flesh is allowed in ministry, it ministers to flesh, and the end of ministry is defeated by itself.
It is, however, clear that there can be demonstration if it be in a right way. Paul exhorted with tears. They were the expression of his genuine sorrow at the moment, and not with any object of promoting the same demonstration in others; and then he was mindful of Timothy's tears. Tears as the expression of sorrow give no warrant for the histrionic appeals or persuasive words which seek to establish faith by the wisdom of men and not by the power of God.
Let us begin at Romans and study every book to the end of Revelation, and we shall find that the element of hindrance in souls is the flesh in some form. Whenever and however it was admitted, there mischief was introduced, and when it was by the teacher, then a taint of leaven and a carnal appetite was established which nothing could satisfy but carnal ministry after its own type. Thus we read, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears". Carnal people like carnal teaching. The stern, elevating demands of truth are unpalatable to those who walk as men, for invariably the less spiritual any are, the more readily and cheerfully they listen to an appeal to their senses, unless it offends against their peculiar ideas of good taste.
In conclusion, surely every faithful servant will heartily admit that his one and only duty is to promote the spiritual welfare of souls, and that Christ only, and nothing else, can effect this. If we all truly and before God adhere to this, there will be more spiritual ministry, and therefore more practical unworldliness; whereas whenever we give a place to the flesh before God, it will insist on and enlarge its place before man.
There is a great sameness in man. It has been said that history repeats itself. The nature of the human race is one and the same, and it betrays itself in a like way when in contact with similar circumstances. Surely every conscientious disciple knows well that in some particular tendency of his nature he is most in danger. True, he may have so learned his frailty, and so truly repented of it, that he dreads to trust himself, and shrinks from it, as a burnt child from the fire; but he does so because it is fire to him, and he knows his safety is only in the Lord. It is not that it never recurs, for the thing that has been he finds is the thing that is; but he has learned the wretchedness of his flesh, and the security there is from it in the Lord; so that, when walking with Him, there is nothing he is so safe from as his peculiar snare, because he is in the light, where he not only sees it, but is in armour to preserve him from it.
Now what is true with the individual is, on the same principle, true of the people of God in their collective character on the earth. Thus we find the things that were written aforetime were written for our ensamples. Man collectively for God, as well as individually, is the same in every age; and when we know what has occurred, that is the very thing we may be assured will recur. The sins of Israel, God's nation, forecast the sins of the church, His house on earth. If the first sin with that nation was idolatry, the first with the church is idolatry, the first ever to be dreaded, as John says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols". These last words forewarn of the greatest and most probable danger. The thing that has been is the thing that shall be. Individually or collectively, the most ready tendency of man, in a religious way, is to depart from God as He has been revealed, and substitute something of his own devising in His stead. If I hold to God, I must deny myself, and therefore the effort and the attempt is to quiet the
conscience by asserting that God is acknowledged in form, or image, while the power of His word and name is lost, or diverted from the soul. This is the real object and effect of idolatry. Israel fell into the snare of the calf when they lost sight of the power and rule of God in their midst. The Corinthians, though so marvellously endowed by the Spirit of God, lost sight of the presence and power of our Lord Jesus Christ in their midst. They were corrupted by their evil associations. They had not apprehended that there could not be communion between light and darkness, nor concord between Christ and Belial. Their lack of divine sensibility in the house of God was evidence enough that they were corrupted by idolatry, or by independency, which better expresses man's attempts to maintain an orthodox religious form without God's word. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof"; and with this there is always an effort to appear powerful and influential in the eyes of the populace. How much we see of this in the present day in the public reports of works and progress!
Independency occurs when God is displaced, and thus it began in the garden of Eden. No one would question but that Cain was independent. It is not necessary that I should engage in something unhandsome or unamiable in order to be independent. I might be independent, although laboriously pursuing works apparently the most commendable. Anything that is not of God in that which refers to Himself is independency. If I am not subject to the word of God for the occasion, I am independent. Lot was an independent man, though he did not leave the promised land, because he did not abide there according to God's word. The independent consider for the present advantage; there is not faith. Abraham falls into independency in the matter of Ishmael. Very often it is in attempting to secure some divine benefit that one has recourse to one's own means; and this is pure independency. Jacob, led on by his mother to secure his father's blessing, was independent, seeking
to obtain a right thing in a corrupt way. It is not so much the immorality of the act or the course which is independency, as the pretension to act for God when led by my own will, without any authority from Him or leading of His Spirit.
Now as in the law there was the duty towards God first, before the duty towards one's neighbour, so there is a double responsibility on the believer now to act in reference to and subjection to Christ, as well as to be right and good in one's relation to man. The first is, of course, the greatest; but as it is more outside natural comprehension, it is the more often overlooked, or independency is substituted for it; while the other is easily preserved according to a natural standard, because man is ready enough to exact and require of his fellow everything which contributes to his own comfort and advantage, which is the principle on which good society exists. A man might, in the mind of the sagest of men, be most moral and exemplary in daily life, and yet entirely independent in his course with regard to the Lord. The very propriety and good order in which one walks according to the judgment of man often hinders and prevents his independency from being detected and condemned. Conduct which relates to man is easily seen and soon judged of; but it requires a spiritual mind, one acquainted with the mind of the Lord, to detect the acts or course which, assuming to be for God, are quite obnoxious to Him, because they are a self-will offering, where one's own glory is sought, and not the Lord's. Thus an immoral, or a low moral man is detected at once, and denounced; while the independent man, who in the spirit of his mind is more alienated from God, is often approved of and applauded, at least by the unspiritual. The most effective, and therefore the most dangerous, independents are the most moral. Their external character lends weight to them. The immoral
would have little influence with any sincere soul; but the independent might, except where there is spirituality enough to detect his aberration.
Independency, then, is that I act independently of the word of God, and therefore without the leading of the Spirit of God. No end will justify the means. Saul acted independently, however true or justifiable his reasons were, when he offered the sacrifice before the coming of Samuel. Better that all Israel should have been scattered, than that he should offer to God anything out of his own mind; for it must be out of my own mind, if not from God. And this is simply the source and origin of independency. I act for God, officiously and arrogantly, according as my mind suggests to me, and not as His word would suggest were I waiting upon Him. Our Lord, in the first temptation, would not consider for Himself, though He had the power, and His need was a true and proper one, because He had not the word of God for it; and still more, when He might have prayed for twelve legions of angels, He would not be independent, though He had the right, but with unreserved devotedness of heart, says, "not my will, but thine, be done". He could not act independently. The virtue of the act is gone when man attempts to subject God to anything of his dictating; as if man could, out of his own mind, fathom or grasp in the least particular what would suit God. Here Mary surpassed Martha; she could not dare to offer anything until she had learned something of His mind.
In this time, the church time distinctly, there is no place for the flesh. Whenever or however I act in the flesh with relation to God, I am independent; I am simply outside of faith, and am not led by the Spirit of God. When a believer walks in the flesh, he will soon betray himself even to his fellow. In the first days of the church men did walk in the flesh. That which has been is the thing that is. There were bad morals, and there were bad doctrines. I need hardly say the second was the
more grievous, and in them the true character of independency transpired, because they were avowedly in reference to God, yet, while assuming to be for Him, were virtually dishonouring His name, and undermining the truth. Hence, as the church declined -- as we see in 2 Timothy, or Jude, or Revelation 2 and 3 -- there was open and undisguised independency, man asserting and assuming to do things in the name of God for which there was no warrant or countenance in the word of God. Of the elders at Ephesus, the most fully enlightened assembly, should men arise, speaking perverse things; not doing immoral acts, though I doubt not that where there is independency, there is at best but a spurious and unwholesome observance of the relative duties. Saul of Tarsus was most moral, and yet he was the chief of sinners because of independency, choosing his own way to serve God. What does the history of the church reveal but that repeatedly men of zeal and piety, in endeavouring to correct patent abuses, instead of waiting on God to show what His mind was, separated from this thing or that, according as it was felt by their own consciences? They assuredly meant well, but they were independent, because they were prescribing what was suitable for God, instead of consulting His word, and adhering simply and solely to it; and if they had done so, there could not have been the numerous sects now in existence. Many of them seem to have done service and good to souls in their day, but the effect of their independency has in every instance survived their service, so that mischief and not good is now the record of their memories. What is a Wesleyan or a Quaker but a record of mischief, and the posterity of independency? No matter how good the character of the act done by the best of men for God, if it be not according to His word and Spirit, that act is not only an abomination to Him, but if it takes effect, and obtains followers, it becomes a weed in the church which will never be extirpated. Hence, in the last times, Paul's teaching and the Scriptures are our only guide.
The readiness of man to use his own mind with regard to the things of God renders it now more than ever necessary that there should be close and unvarying adherence to the word of God. If a man has not the authority of this for any action, or any course which he may adopt, however good he be personally, he is independent, he has travelled outside the mind of the Lord, and has laid the foundation of a lasting shame and a stumbling-block to the saints of God.
As we read that "the time shall be when they will not bear sound teaching", it is of the utmost importance that we should be assured of what sound teaching is. The word 'sound' is also translated 'wholesome'; it simply means healthy. The warning indicates that the truth would not be absolutely rejected, but that only a measure of it would be acceptable, and that measure would not be sound or healthy, contributing to health, life in full effect.
Any limitation of the truth must therefore be guarded against.
When we review the state of the church as a whole, we must be aware that the names of the great truths are accepted; but when we come to analyse the meaning attached to the names, they are widely apart from the teaching of Scripture. It is clear that a believer would not accept what is called the gospel and the church in Romanism. Others would not be satisfied with the teaching under those names in the Reformed Church. And it is possible that those sufficiently enlightened to reject the teaching of all the teachers in the above order of things, might themselves be very deficient as to the scriptural teaching concerning the Holy Spirit, the gospel and the church, the three subjects I propose to examine in this paper.
Some believers do not see that the Holy Spirit has come down from heaven in an entirely new and distinct way since the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. They regard Him as the power by which they were converted, and believe that He by His influence comforts and directs them; but they have no idea of His presence on the earth as dwelling in the house of God, nor as dwelling in themselves. This class, though very numerous, every one who is scripturally taught must, alas! pronounce mistaken and untaught. But there are others who believe in the descent of the Holy Spirit, but have no apprehension of His dwelling in the house of God, though they see that the body has been formed by Him. They thus limit Him in His services, and do not see the great place He holds here in the absence of Christ; and therefore they must deprive themselves of much, for the greater the position He holds here, the greater He is to me in the place, so that the place itself is thus superseded by One in the place who is in every way above it.
Any limitation of the truth is not sound teaching. Truth makes free. I need not dwell on the darkness of those who do not see the descent of the Holy Spirit; their lack and loss must be at once apparent. But it is very necessary that we should see the lack and loss from which they suffer, who, while admitting the descent of the Holy Spirit, do not see Him in His full position.
The Holy Spirit is here, I may say, for two services, one to the individual directly, the other more indirectly as to the individual, but directly for Christ: "He shall testify of me". Now those who confine the Holy Spirit to one branch, though unintentionally, must necessarily lose much, and the teaching connected with this limitation cannot be "sound".
When one avows that he believes in the descent and consequent presence of the Holy Spirit, he may imagine
that he accepts Him in both services. And he will not be convinced that he limits Him until he has been convicted of acting contrary to his profession or creed. To convince him that he does limit His services is therefore of the greatest importance, and my desire is to help to this end. One may seem to be clear as to the more individual service, but when it comes to the question of practical acceptance of the second part, the defect is disclosed, which we must trace to its source.
A believer, though accepting the truth of the Holy Spirit's descent, cannot apprehend the nature of His mission beyond his practical faith in His presence. Of course he could never have an adequate sense of it; but if he has not tasted of the almighty resources and supplies of the Holy Spirit to himself, how can he form any estimate of what He can do? I can speak of power when I am a partaker of it. "Whereas I was blind, now I see", justified the blind man in declaring that Jesus was of God.
If I say that the Holy Spirit has come, and that I have received Him, I Can only speak of Him according to the nature of the effect He has had upon me. I limit Him in the first service if I do not see the resources and supplies which Christ has given me here (John 4:14 and 7: 37), for the Spirit comes to me in His name, to reproduce to me what He was on earth, otherwise His name would not be truly exemplified. The Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father in Christ's name (John 14:26), to comfort the heart in its loneliness and in the absence of Christ. But He is also sent by Christ from the Father to testify of Himself, and to be the stay and support of His own in the face of the opposition and hatred of this world. If we do not feel our need of Him we do not enjoy Him. If I have the sense that the might and eternal power of God has come nigh directly to me, and has thus ensured to my heart, in the absence of my Lord, inexhaustible resources, that I shall never thirst (John 4:14), and that from me shall flow "rivers of living water"
(John 7:38), I am then alive to the nature and character of His power in testifying of Christ where He is.
The Holy Spirit has come to me directly in Christ's name, and He testifies of Him, not only as He was on earth, but as He is now in glory. The "name" embraced all that was revealed of Him, but the testimony would be as He is now in glory. The believer who had in any measure enjoyed the first service would appreciate and delight in being a vessel of the Holy Spirit in His testimony to us of Christ in glory; on the one hand to enable us to bear up in our loneliness in the absence of Christ, and on the other to support us, as Stephen was supported against all the combined force and hostility of the world. The one who feels the hostility of this world to Christ finds no cheer except in the fact that He is in glory; and therefore Paul longs for "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" as He is in glory.
The believer who accepts the truth of the Holy Spirit's descent may not deny that He is here to testify of Christ, but there will be a limiting of the nature and greatness of this testimony if in the Holy Spirit's direct service to the soul there has not been a true idea or estimate of His power and value. If I cannot apprehend, and have not the sense of, the magnitude of the Spirit's dwelling in myself, how can I form any estimate of the greatness of the effect in His testifying of Christ? But as I grow in apprehension of the magnitude of the blessing conferred on myself, I comprehend more fully the immensity of His work and place in testimony, not apart from the believer, but using him to carry it out, so that I am not a spectator of a great operation, but an actual agent in it. But if I am, I do not lead or suggest; I could not venture to do so, but rejoice that I am led of Him to do according to His pleasure.
I could admit the simple fact that He was here to testify of Christ, and all the time, because dark as to the great effect of His presence, be led to adopt what I had not seen must be far better secured by the Holy
Spirit if He were really recognised and apprehended as the living God. Can any one, at all alive to the fact that the living God is here, attempt to contribute to His work except as He would lead the way? What would have been thought of Moses or Joshua if either had attempted, by some canal or other means, to carry away the water which was impeding the advance of the armies of Israel?
Now if the teaching be not "sound" there must be glaringly defective practice. Where the practice is defective, either the teaching is unsound, or there is a bad conscience, that is, it is not true in its answer to the truth accepted.
The manner and the mode in which the testimony has been carried out by many in this day indicates that the teaching on the presence of the Holy Spirit has not been "sound". If it had been, very different effects would have been produced.
First, if the testimony of the Holy Spirit had been truly seen, Christ in glory would have been the great and continued subject, as also the support of the soul. "He shall testify of me" is as He was in glory, because that only would express "me" when He was there.
It is not only that there are few who are, in even a small measure, agents in this testimony, but many accepted ministers are dark about it, and some deny or oppose it. They do not deny the presence of the Holy Spirit, or the fact that He is here to testify of Christ, but the teaching is not "sound", and manifest feebleness as to the truth must be the result. And I feel constrained to add that every one who does not grasp the magnitude of the Holy Spirit's work here for Christ, has not found Him in His magnitude in his own heart; how could he? He necessarily considers His action in testimony must be similar as to power to what he has himself experienced. Such an one cannot be His agent to carry out truth quite beyond his faith. He cannot speak of a glorified
Christ unless he has had his eyes opened by the Holy Spirit to behold Him there.
If I have not seen Him there I cannot know the way I am to be supported here in the teeth of the world's opposition. This empowered Elisha in another day, as it had done Abram; also Isaiah "when he saw his glory, and spake of him".
The believer now led by the Spirit, according to the pattern of Stephen, derives power from Christ in glory as his eye is set upon Him there. And this testimony by the Holy Spirit enables him to be here more than conqueror through Him that loved him. He stands for Christ in glory, and as he does so, he neither seeks nor uses any means but the Holy Spirit's to bear witness of Him here. This enables me to stand here invincibly for Christ. I cannot use the world, because it is on account of the world's opposition that the Spirit testifies to me of Christ in glory; and as I receive His testimony I am myself, according to my measure, a vessel of it. For as I am in fellowship of the Holy Spirit, so am I as He is, convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. I am characteristically doing so. I am, according to my measure of grace, demonstrating these three things to the world. I am in the wake of the Spirit of God. He is distinct and apart from the world, declarative of three things, which put the world in its true light to every anointed eye, and therefore most entirely distinct from the world. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world"; but while in the world, they are in the same distinctness from the world as light is from darkness.
There is the glorifying of Christ which enables the one in the testimony to set Him forth worthily to believers and unbelievers, as Paul had done. The more He is glorified to me, the better can I present Him to every one, while at the same time heavenly things are shown to me. I am manifestly unworldly, but I am enjoying heavenly things. Every one in the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit will be characterised in this two-fold way, he will be unworldly and heavenly instructed; while the merely zealous labourer will be occupied with his work and his usefulness, adopting and approving of every kind of human help which would not be an outrage on the world's conscience, and such assuredly cannot assume to be unworldly. Many of these have got on in the world since they were converted, and they as a rule are not unworldly and heavenly instructed. Their teaching and preaching is popular because it is not "sound"; it has not the whole demand on the conscience that the full truth has.
Next let us inquire as to the truth of
The gospel is the good tidings of God's grace to man.
Every believer in Christ receives this grace. The measure and scope of it is only known to God, and springs entirely and absolutely from Him. Doubtless it covers our need, but our need is not the measure of it. The measure is only in any degree grasped as the purpose of His heart is apprehended. He sends His Son, who comes to do His will, and thus He is enabled in righteousness to set forth the full volume of His grace.
Now there are two parts in the work of Christ. One is that He died for our sins. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree", 1 Peter 2:24. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood ... that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus", Romans 3:25, 26. "And by him all that believe are justified from all things", Acts 13:39. "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin", Romans 4:7, 8. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ", Romans 5:1. Not only are sins forgiven, but righteousness is imputed. "The
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death", Romans 8:2. I am "accepted in the beloved", Ephesians 1:6. I am placed before the eye and heart of God through the sacrifice, perfected for ever, so that He can say, "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more", Hebrews 10:17. And "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world", 1 John 4:17. It does not say that the believer will never sin again, but it is distinct that Christ's death and resurrection place the believer for ever justified to the eye and heart of God. Then there is no more offering for sin. This is the first part of the work of Christ.
The other part is that He baptises with the Holy Spirit. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his", Romans 8:9. He has not only cleared me of everything that offended against God, but He sets me up again in the very spot where I was deplorably ruined and undone, in quite a new way, in a style and power entirely new.
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life", John 4:14.
This the Lord announces to the woman of Samaria, who, ruined and abandoned here, had nothing at all. He proposes in His infinite grace to set her up again in the spot, in the very city, where she had spent all that she had naturally, and was now reduced to the lowest moral point; to set her up in new, unknown, and inexhaustible resources, not from without or outside of her, but from within.
Who can estimate or measure the magnificence of the portion now offered for her acceptance! "Never thirst ... shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life". The Lord arrests her heart by the
suitability and grandeur of His gift. Before she understands it she values it, and therefore responds, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw". She has not yet learnt that her sins are forgiven, and this must come first. Hence the Lord now addresses her conscience. The blood must be on us before the oil can be put on.
But lest one should think that this wondrous gift is only when one is utterly reduced like the woman of Samaria, we read in John 7:37, 38, that in the very hour of harvest, the joy celebrating the flow of earthly blessings, He challenges every heart present by the invitation, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified". He can surpass to the heart the greatest concentration of earthly blessings. He can prove Himself better than the best, in the very noontide a light above the brightness of the sun -- truly the brightest thing in the brightest day here, because the Spirit comes to us here from Him in glory. So, instead of seeking contribution from outside, we contribute, because of His gift, rivers of living water. We have in ourselves enough and to spare.
Now this latter part of Christ's work is rarely insisted on in this day, but while the fulness and freeness of forgiveness is largely preached, there is a limitation of the truth in not equally declaring and insisting on this, the other part of His work. There is not the true and effective testimony to His grace as there was with the lame man, who, having received new strength, was walking, and leaping, and praising God. There is, because of this limitation, an unsoundness in the teaching, and the lack is apparent in truly converted souls. There is not now the lame man walking, and leaping, and praising God, or the palsied man carrying his bed; the people
running together, greatly wondering and glorifying God, or declaring, "We never saw it on this fashion".
If the gospel is not truly and fully presented, there can be no right apprehension of the church. Souls are safe, but they are not here for Christ.
The church is the new structure here on the earth, consequent on Christ's rejection, which is entirely outside of and apart from judaism -- which it supersedes -- and the world. Every living stone, every one built by Christ, is given a knowledge of Him qualifying him for this new structure -- though he may not have entered into it -- in addition to the joys of salvation, not only for the future, but in the present. Hence, when it is first named in Matthew 16 it is in connection with the Lord's preparing and educating His disciples for it. The mass of those in this building now, even living stones, are not prepared or educated for it. They are in it, but though truly there, they do not know what they have gained by this new position. It is a structure outside of and apart from everything here, for which the true soul obtains a new and peculiar knowledge of Christ, one only to be known and enjoyed on this earth. The Lord in figure conveys what this knowledge is when He says to His disciples, "Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?" Matthew 16:9, 10. By these two miracles the Lord had been educating His disciples as to the nature and extent of their resources in Himself on the earth, in the very place of His rejection. He would feed and support them in one case, in spite of all the power of evil arrayed against them; and in the other, in spite of all the assaults of the enemy within, or the crippling effects of them. New resources, entirely unknown before, are now the portion of His
people in the new structure in which He places them. In chapter 14: 13 the subject begins, and it is in connection with His rejection, which is indicated very positively by the murder of John the baptist. The Lord then retires into the desert, characteristically apart from this world, and there He heals the sick and feeds the poor of the flock who seek Him in the desert. And this He has done for the last eighteen hundred years, through His chosen ministers, irrespective of the power of evil which refused Him a place here and put Him to death. He Himself takes a new position with relation to this world. He has gone into heaven; He walks above the winds and waves, and the man of faith with his eye on Him can leave the ship, which was made for water, and walk by Christ's power on the water to go to Him, as Stephen did in a very distinct way; and that without bread, that is, without any natural means or resource. When the believer knows Christ after this manner, he knows one part of the great gain of being a living stone -- of what has been given him. He is not dependent on man or human resources in any form. There is "no bread", nothing to sustain nature, but Christ is all-sufficient.
Now in Matthew 15 the other part is presented and inculcated in figure. There it is power of evil assaulting more from within. It is from within that all defilement springs (verse 11). But besides this, from which the soul finds deliverance in Jesus Christ our Lord (see Romans 7:24, 25) there are the assaults of Satan, as with Paul who had the messenger of Satan to buffet him. Man is reduced and crippled in consequence, but here also the sufficiency of Christ is proved to faith. The Syrophenician is the example given here. She has no title. She has no claim as the children had, she has "no bread"; but she has faith, and faith accepts her true place as a dog, and counts on the Lord's goodness even to such as she is. To this the Lord immediately responds, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt". Thus He taught Paul in another day, "My grace is
sufficient for thee"; and so assured was he of it that he could say, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong", 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. Christ so feeds His people, He is so all-sufficient for the maimed, and the blind, and the halt, the ones crippled through Satan's power, that one can say, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me".
In a word, in the church I am introduced into an entirely new order of power. Here God dwells. But I speak not now of that part, but of the acquisition, the birthright of every one built by Christ into this new structure. If this is not known, though one is in the church, there is no fitness for the place nor sense of the grace conferred, and consequently no ability for walk and testimony, as alas! we too often see, even with those whose reality cannot be questioned, because they do not know nor experience, to the joy of their heart, these great resources given them for this new structure.
How the blessed Lord taught and prepared His disciples for their new position as living stones in the new structure built by Him, is little understood or taught now. No wonder, therefore, that so few know, or are in any degree aware of, the position they occupy in the church, so absolutely apart from the world, where their resources are entirely new and divine.
The surest proof of real devotedness to Christ is when the heart studies and clings to the desires of His heart. To do a service or a kindness is the delight of any friend; but to study the mind of another, however superior to oneself, until one has acquired some certain idea of the
leading desires there, in order to devote oneself to the promotion and accomplishment of them, is the act of unselfish devotedness. Here Mary altogether surpassed Martha. The general character of zealous service is that one is much cumbered, earnestly promoting what he thinks is the best work; he has consulted his own mind, and not, in reality, the Lord's mind. He does not intend to be independent, but he really is. He thinks for the Lord, and this comes easily to one, in contrast to the holy seclusion and separation in heart and ways which are necessary in order to ensure a present and distinct acquaintance with His desires. True, as we read the Scriptures we cannot overlook the desires of His heart expressed in John 17; but though we may well know these desires as to the letter, we require to be in communion with Him to be assured of His mind and its leading desire at the moment.
There is immense cheer and encouragement to every true heart in this chapter, because it was given to the church after 2 Timothy, after the breakdown of the testimony committed to it. Here I read not only the inalienable gifts of Christ to His people, namely, eternal life, the words, and the glory, but I learn here His desires for His people to the close. However disunited and painfully opposed, His desire that they may be all one overrides all the din of strife and all the religious warfare.
Miserable sight indeed it is, christian contending with christian for what is called truth, when often each contending party is defective in knowledge as to the truth itself. No conflict among men has ever presented anything equal to the ludicrous, if not impious, contentions among christians about the greatest thing communicated to man. Yet, high above all this babel, in the clear sunshine of unfailing light, as the heart is near Him, then one hears His crowning desire, "THAT THEY MAY BE ALL ONE", in spite of all that is so contrary to its fulfilment down here. Oh, that many hearts might be so
near Him, and hear from Himself His own words, with His own voice, that they might take up their position here for Him, as Moses did in another day, when he came from the glorious mount to vindicate God as He had been seen in His own sphere, in the midst of His people wholly given to idolatry!
Many have been the cries which have been raised for unity or oneness among the Lord's people; but, though the intention was good, they have always failed to draw together in one the truly faithful and enlightened. The cause for this failure -- for it has been oft repeated -- is of paramount consequence to ascertain. Romanism imitates oneness by insisting on the same prayers, in the same language, being used by its communicants all over the globe. This is plainly untenable and unsound to any godly exercised soul. But there are other and more specious attempts at oneness, which have attracted the true but unspiritual, simply because the divine way to reach and secure this great end was not observed.
There is no more dangerous snare than the adoption of a promise or a precept as one's object; for in proportion as it is the magnifying of a gift or a responsibility into a platform for personal distinction, so I must lose sight of the Lord in my pursuit; and when I do, every attainment or acquisition, however right and good in word, must be human, and effected by carnal means. Thus the farther I advance, the less I commend my efforts to the godly or the spiritual. Here the Evangelical Alliance failed. Many an earnest one was drawn into it, but as the heart grew nearer the Lord, it discovered that there was no real bond, no divine oneness mutually controlling them.
The adoption of the Lord's desire as an object to even the more enlightened -- those who professed to see the body -- has also proved a failure. Many, to be sure, are to be found in their circle, but the most devoted and spiritual have either escaped from it, or have refused to be connected with it.
It is not the programme which obtains the greatest number of true-hearted adherents which can be assumed to be the right one. That which obtains the sanction and support of the most spiritual, though numerically less than any other, is without question the one most according to God. Paul, in 2 Timothy 4, very distinctly defines the state of those who would adhere to the testimony, though few in contrast to the many. But we have to consider now why the great and unique desire of our Lord has so often been frustrated, and so little practically responded to; and why the attempt to produce oneness among the Lord's people has so often miscarried. The answer to this inquiry is, Because it has not been sought in a truly divine way. Before our Lord gives expression to His crowning desire, "That they may be all one", He states two other desires, "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me", and "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth". Now it is plain that if these two desires are not attended to and observed, the third cannot be attained. There is a moral order in His desires, and the more spiritual I am, the more I am led and taught by the Spirit of God, the more truly shall I learn and follow His desires according to their order.
The attempt and the effort to attain a great result without submitting to the only true and right steps to reach it is not uncommon; but however this may sometimes succeed among men, it can never succeed in God's things. No believer can contribute to or promote the oneness of all saints, who is not kept of the Father in His own name, and who is not sanctified.
In Romanism, and more or less in all the other attempts at unity in this day, it is unity at any price. Holiness is not made an essential attribute; the first two desires of the Lord are overlooked. If they were observed and responded to, in order, by those who clamour for the unity expressed by evangelical alliance, there could not be such a nondescript confederation representing all
shades and peculiarities of religious opinion or differences. To call such a company an expression of oneness, and a fulfilment of the Lord's desire, is simply preposterous, and indicates ignorance of the Lord's meaning when He desires "that they may be all one". How could any, kept in the Father's name, sanctified from this world both by the truth and by Christ's dissociation from everything here, have differences of judgment as to the things of the Lord? or if they had, how could they retain them when they assumed to be all one? It is simply a mockery and a glaring ignorance of the Lord's desire to profess outwardly to be all one, and at the same time for each to retain his own peculiar opinions in the greatest discrepancy one from the other.
Again, and here the difficulty increases, there are many who professedly hold church truth, so-called, who, while they advocate the oneness of all saints, do not command the co-operation of those who have Christ's desires simply before them, because they are not in careful separation from doctrinal taints, or the partisans of the authors of them. Though often well taught and much enlightened, they do not seem to seize the new ground, and holiness, by which only they can reach or in any degree secure, "that they may be all one".
In the limits of this paper it is not possible for me to point out the various ways by which this oneness is prevented by true and earnest souls, while at the very moment they are conscientiously seeking it. Often among the most enlightened and the greatest advocates for unity are found two things which are subversive to godly unity in its most incipient stage, namely, worldliness and religiousness. For if I allow the world to influence me, and if I sanction religiousness in any form, in singing, praying, or preaching, I am fostering and upholding the barrier between me and every spiritual one. If those dear people were awakened to see that the religious element, the human energy, and the natural feelings were not in the Father's name or sanctification
by the truth, and that all connection with the world, in its mind or things, prevented and barred them from this desired oneness, there would be continued prayer and real exercise before the Lord, not so much for oneness, as that each of us might be fully and distinctly cleared of that which stands in the way of this oneness. Surely we should be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" if we were entirely unconformed to this world. Then we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds, to "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". If we were according to God, and perfectly separate from the world, we could have no difference of opinion; and as there are differences we must deplore them, and seek, each of us personally, to be clearer of everything which, either in ourselves or in others, causes or promotes these differences.
Finally, we may rest assured that the nearer we approach to the spiritual condition where oneness can be assured, the more will the more spiritual be drawn together in company, and the more will the Lord honour them with His gifts, so that they may be able to promote His desire, on the principle that "unto every one that hath shall be given". May the Lord stir our hearts to answer to His desires!
In a day of confusion, opposition, and difficulty, it is of the utmost importance to learn who succeeds. Who is the one to surmount the various and accumulating obstructions in the path? I believe the true answer is the devoted one. By devotedness I mean the purpose to follow the Lord at any cost, so that the one thing before the heart is not the measure or extent of the surrender, but the intent of it, in every way to set forth the name and honour of our Lord.
The Lord has ordained that the action most gratifying to the true heart and the highest practice should be one and the same. "If any man serve me, let him follow me". There could be nothing more gratifying to the heart than to follow the Lord. If a dog has such real delight in following its master, how much more the heart, touched and taught in His perfect love!
If I follow the Lord, I cannot but go where He has gone, and this is obedience in its simplest and truest order. Hence He says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words". How could you tell where His path lay without the word? Therefore, the one following must be governed by the word. The word is, if I may so express myself, the scent which assures the spiritual soul that he is on the right track. The one thought of devotedness is, "Whither thou goest, I will go"; hence in any difficulty or strait the one simple inquiry is, Which way went the Lord? And surely if I am in His way I must succeed. But it is not for success that I am seeking, but to be where He is, for as I follow Him, "where I am, there shall also my servant be". If it be mere success or present advantage that I seek, I shall be deceived; it is then not the word which determines my course, but the weight of circumstances; like one retreating, as it were, into a certain creek where he could reckon on safety and escape. But the way of the Lord, in which the word directs me, is one always at first arduous and apparently impossible. It is a path which the keenest natural eye cannot detect, and it is one that is so superhuman in its character that the power of Christ could alone uphold us in it. But once I am in it, on the scent, I am like Peter on the water, surprised and entranced at the wonders His grace can effect for me, and have the sense that I am in His path.
The devoted one, like Ruth, says, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee". When the devotedness is not simple and true, then there is soon a turning aside, even though with tears like
Orpah, or like the young man in Mark 10. Invariably there is an easier and surer way of success for the natural man than the way enjoined by the word; and if there be not devotedness to seek and adhere to the leading of the word, and through faith to accept and be prepared for every difficulty, there will not be success according to God; so that in every case it is the measure of devotedness which decides and determines one's course.
Another thing must be noted. Devotedness is called to act on the moment. There is no prolonged scheme which is eventually to issue in success. Devotedness is ready in a moment to take the field, to be in action. Abram went forth not knowing whither he went; "Get thee ... unto a land that I will shew thee" was enough for him. However devoted one is, he will have to learn the treachery of his own heart in his course. It is not that Abram never fails, but through his devotedness he at length succeeds; while the one who, by natural sagacity, had at first gained every advantage gradually fell from his acquired height to the lowest point. The path of faith is not easy, but the more difficult it is to enter on, the brighter will the end be. Here we find that the devoted man succeeds when the sagacious one, who at first seizes every advantage, is eventually degraded.
Again, many are characterised more by zeal than by devotedness. The zealous man is occupied with his works and his own doings, very interesting and valuable in their place; but it will be found that zeal does not ensure success. Moses was zealous when he sought to liberate his people by his own hand. How different his way and course after he had learned to follow the Lord wholly! Peter was zealous when he gave up his time and his ship for the service, but the Lord led him on from that to leave all and follow Him. It is a great thing to be started in devotedness, for though there may arise distraction and consequent delays, yet assuredly the desire and purpose in the heart to follow the Lord, as in Moses and Peter, will eventually triumph; and the more decided
the devotedness, the more signal the success. We have seen that the sharp-sighted cleverness of Lot to seize and appropriate present gain is not really a success, while the slow and often baffled or hindered faith of the devoted Abram proves in the end a real success. We have seen that great zeal, as with Moses, eventually fails, if not superseded by devotedness, and we shall see the same with regard to intelligence. The real lack in the man who knew his Lord's will and did it not was devotedness. What is the charge against Israel? "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not", Ezekiel 33:31, 32. They are intelligent, but not devoted. What is the good seed among the thorns but that there was not that devotedness which gained everything for Mary Magdalene? she outstripped the ardent Peter, and the intelligent disciple whom Jesus loved; she succeeded. By simple devotedness she attained to the highest honour and intelligence.
Devotedness, then, succeeds when intelligence in the morally highest does not. A nazarite was the figurative representation of a thoroughly devoted soul; the true nazarite scrupulously adhered to the terms of his vow. Thus Samson illustrates how devotedness succeeds, and what failure there is in departure from it. As long as he was true to this rigid separation he was singularly successful; when he diverged from it his failure was most marked.
Now while Samson shows us how success follows strict righteousness and separation, yet we do not see the success proper to devotedness till we come to Samuel. There is an occasional success in the rigid legalist, but when his heart is detached from the Lord by the things
in the world, his failure is inevitable. Now Samuel's heart is in it; he follows the Lord, and depends only on Him, and he succeeds in a surpassing degree beyond Samson. In adhering to strict rule and order there is often success, but then it is more of the conscience than the heart; and hence with Samson, when the allurement for his heart was strong enough, he declined from the true course. But true devotedness finds its delight in following the Lord, just as Joshua and Caleb did in another day. Their comfort and stay was in the fact that "if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land". Devotedness is not overborne by numbers any more than by the prospect of danger. Devotedness follows the Lord wholly. What difficulties would be overcome in this day, what questions solved, if there were more devotedness, more of that simplicity of eye that cannot be diverted from one object! When we examine the hindrances or delays now to the settlement of any contention between the Lord's people, we shall find that it is one or other of these activities which interferes with and obstructs devotedness. The quick ready sagacity of a Lot in seizing and appropriating a desired advantage, instead of pursuing the unhasty path of faith, carries away many at this moment. But success eventually is with the one who, like Abram, pursues the path of faith, though he has nothing to point to.
Again, how ready is one to be carried away by zeal, as Jehu said, "Come ... and see my zeal for the Lord". No doubt it is good to be zealously affected in a good matter; but zeal is like the life of a hunter, it lives on its own spoils; it declines as the excitement declines. Whereas devotedness feeds the heart more intensely when there is nothing to be gained from around; as Ruth in following Naomi, or David's mighty men in fetching water for him from the well of Bethlehem. Devotedness survives when everything else has succumbed and disappeared. "Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried".
Because of zeal many obtain a credit and place for which they have not moral power and many are characterised by this leadership; like master, like man. The only true leader is the devoted one, the one who can say like Gideon, "As I do, so shall ye do", or in some degree as the apostle said, "To make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us". "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ".
In the present state of christendom nothing -- neither sagacity, nor zeal, nor intelligence, nor the best of rules -- can influence morally the conscience and hearts of the people of God mixed up in the world, nothing but devotedness. Devotedness declares that the heart has got someone worth losing all for in the present, and the life and ways of such an one speak attractively and convincingly to every awakened soul. Let anyone inquire, and it will be found that, as with Gideon in another day, the real leader is the devoted one, and the real power to lead and to win is devotedness; whereas nothing has so tended to weaken and neutralise the testimony as the prominence and leadership of those who attract more by other qualities, however good, than by their devotedness. How is it possible for those who have advanced in the world, since they are called of God, to lead in a day like this? And if they do, surely, as devotedness cannot be their characteristic, there cannot be a clear testimony. The world may be given up politically, as it is in many instances, but the things of the world are sought after for comfort in the world. I need not add more; but I thank God that there is a way, and one the most gratifying to the heart, to rise up and triumph for the Lord, even in an evil day like this.
May He lead many of us heartily to do so.
The greatest object to the mind is its centre. That is the point from which every action springs, and to which all actions turn. If self be my greatest object, everything I do refers and relates to it, whether it be in physics or in ethics. This is evident enough in the unconverted man, even when he is religious, that is, answering to a natural conscience, as in the case of Cain. His centre was himself, and hence, when he would be accepted by God, he sought it in a way commendatory to himself in bringing the fruits, not only of his own labour, but of the earth which had been cursed by God on man's account. If I myself am my greatest object, everything I do and every judgment I form must be with reference to myself. I am the central point in connection with everything. Here the natural man necessarily must be, he cannot have any object greater than himself. However affectionate he may be in the relations of life, or however attached to any object, he makes himself the centre and judges and acts with reference to himself in all his likings and services.
Now when a soul is converted, there is at least some sense of One immensely superior to oneself; and according as this true fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, obtains and rules in the soul, there is an entirely new centre, and things are looked at and done in relation to it. Hence we shall find in Scripture that as the relation to God is apprehended, and according to the measure of faith in that relation, so there is a new centre, and everything is necessarily characterised by it. Abel's faith leads him to see what is due to God; and his life and ways give evidence of the new centre he has found. He finds and enjoys a new relation with God: he is accepted, and he suffers at the hand of Cain for his new position. Accepted of God, he learns that he is rejected of man. His new centre is his only cheer and support in
his suffering path down here, but it discloses the truth and character of the centre which he had found. He dated from it and he returned to it; but he was hated here because his works were righteous, and his brother's evil. Thus we find a great principle, that acceptance with God entails rejection from man; and this new centre imparts a characteristic singular to itself to every one possessing it. The soul simply and truly presenting and giving clear evidence of being accepted with God would be consequently marked by rejection by man. Every circle of one's life here would be marked by the brilliancy of the one, and by the envy and darkness of the other.
Enoch's centre was very marked, and he walked with God three hundred years; before his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. He was translated that he should not see death. He had but the one object, to which he referred everything, and by which he was governed in everything. No wonder that "he was not; for God took him". He was in his walk the sample of the Man who was entirely to retrieve the distance and alienation into which man had fallen. I need not multiply examples; once we discover a principle in Scripture we shall easily and continually find examples of it. Thus Abram, Moses, Joshua, and the prophets, all corroborate this truth, that according to their faith and apprehension of God, so, as they were faithful, they were characterised by it in everything.
It is interesting to note that to almost each of the Old Testament witnesses the Lord was revealed in a different and special way, and this was the centre or pivot on which that witness's life afterwards revolved. The Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush; the Man with the drawn sword in His hand appeared to Joshua, the seraphim with the live coal to Isaiah. These revelations of God in His grace gave a colour in everything to the lives of those favoured. They were bright and useful
while they adhered and were true to their centre, whereas they were feeble and failing when they diverged from it.
Let us now carry all we have gathered as to this great principle to New Testament times, and let us endeavour to ascertain the cause for the differences in testimony by true and faithful men with regard to christianity.
There is no ground or permission now, as there was in Old Testament times, for different revelations of God. The saints then were individually blest, even though on Israel there was national blessing. Now every believer belongs to the one and selfsame structure, the church of God. There is but one Head, one chief corner stone; and though there be a different apprehension of Him by each, and consequent effect, yet it is ignorance or want of faith which limits Christ to any position less than His real one. And if this be the case, even though the heart be true to Him, the testimony is inaccurate. Christianity is not really apprehended if Christ be not seen and accepted by faith in His true place. I do not say souls are not true and sincere, but if they have an incorrect centre, every circle and effort to be practical here must be inaccurate. Must we not make allowances for growth? Certainly, but growth is properly a fuller knowledge of Christ. Of this there are endless measures; I speak now of the simple fact of one's faith and apprehension of Christ's own place. I am not slighting or denying the fact that there are babes as well as young men, but I submit that the testimony of each must be according to his faith respecting Christ. If a babe did not see Him in His true place, then the babe's testimony as to the truth and walk of a babe would be inaccurate and incorrect, because the babe had not a true centre from which he started, and to which he turned, deriving all from it and referring all to it.
Now as to testimony, one is hardly fit to be a witness until he knows what he is to testify of. The Lord says of the Holy Spirit, "He shall testify of me". Surely this was that He testified of Christ, not as He was on earth, but
as He is at God's right hand; and hence I venture to say that no one can testify of Him now or be in the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit who does not see Him by faith sitting down at the right hand of God. There can be no question as to the differences in the mode and subject of testimony, and these differences cannot arise merely from a feeble apprehension of a truth common to all. The testimonies are too varied and conflicting for this. As I have already said, it is as necessary for a babe to have a true centre to define and determine what is good and right in a babe, as it is for a father in Christ. If this centre is wrong he cannot be right in anything however sincere he might be.
I shall now try to set forth, as well as I can, some of the testimonies in the present day, and attempt to discover the centre of each from their course of action and manner of life.
There is a very pious class, the most numerous, who really love the Saviour, and who are simple in this faith that He came into the world to die for sinners. They do not go much farther, and the prayer called the Lord's prayer very much describes the measure and extent of their spiritual state. They believe in the Saviour and a future salvation, but they expect that now God will order and provide blessings and advantages for them on the earth, and they regard every earthly advantage or position in this light. A Saviour on earth is their centre, and all their conceptions and expectations are in keeping with this, that a Saviour has come, and they look for a reign of blessing here. There are others in advance of them, who, as it were, see Christ offered up, the blood on the lintel and doorposts. They know they are quite safe from the judgment due to sinners; they are like the rescued in a lifeboat. They are like Abel, they know they are accepted through the offering of Jesus once for all. Yet they are not really out of Egypt, though in heart turning away from it and preparing to leave it. They are exclusively occupied with their escape, and they are
very eloquent upon it. They have never accepted the wilderness; I suppose they are not ready for it, though they have in a way turned their backs on Egypt. They can enjoy the honours and position of this world with their own christian confederates. It is easily seen what is their divine centre.
Next to these are those who see Christ risen, the triumphant One. They are set free from all fear of judgment, and they have peace with God; but they regard the resurrection of Christ only as to its effect upon themselves, as it is sometimes said, as the receipt in full for all their sins. They are so cleared by the work of Christ that they do look for the wilderness here, and for the Shepherd's care in carrying them through it, and are often like exiles in a strange country, entirely dissociated from the politics of the country, but very glad to enjoy the naturally good things in the country; and their acceptance and use of natural means in the Lord's service declare that they are not quite dissociated from the world.
The last are those who date and refer everything to Christ at the right hand of God. They have no home but there, and the things of this world are no solace or enjoyment to them from whom the Bridegroom has been taken away. Their one and only business and joy here is to proclaim the goodness and greatness of the only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth. When my centre is at God's right hand I derive everything from my Lord there, and I refer everything to Him there.
May each of us learn to do so more and more!
There has always been a testimony. The expression "the testimony" is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, "the ark of the testimony", "the tabernacle of the testimony", and "... gave him the testimony". From the constant repetition of the word, it is very
evident that the testimony was of the greatest importance. It is not necessary to add more to establish this great fact. Let us then first ascertain the testimony proper to the church, which now, even when general declension has set in, the faithful are called to maintain. There having always been a testimony, it varied according to the revelation God gave of Himself. The testimony could not go beyond the revelation, but necessarily must be in keeping with it. There was always, at every time, a feebleness or a declension in maintaining the testimony, or a surrender of it, when personal consideration weighed with the Lord's people; that is, if those who were called to witness were uncertain as to their own relation with God, or were indifferent to it, they forgot what was due to God, and considered only for themselves.
The testimony now is, "He shall testify of me". God sent His Son into this world "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"; and He is now at God's right hand, the Head of His body the church, which is down here as the real tabernacle of testimony. In the limits of this paper it is not possible to set forth fully the terms of the testimony. Suffice it to say that the testimony proper to the church is that all believers now have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, and are set up in the life and Spirit of Christ, a new man, the "church, which is his body". This testimony gave no place for man under the law, or in any way recognised the old man, save to insist and enforce that he should be in every position and relationship here as God had created him. The relative natural duties were to be fulfilled in divine power; he was to be subject to the powers that be. But the testimony declared that the Man at God's right hand was the Man of His purpose, and that now, through divine grace, we were of Him, and not only enjoying the efficacy of His work in our souls, but that we were through the Holy Spirit in conscious and abiding union with Him, so that His interests and concerns were ours. We testify of Him.
The second prayer in Ephesians describes the occupation and delight of the heart which is truly in the calling of God. This testimony was of so high and superhuman a character that all they that were in Asia turned away from Paul as the teacher of it. The snare to which the Lord's people in every time have been exposed is to surrender the testimony to which they were called.
As the testimony is of God, it is plain that nothing but divine power can enable a man to maintain it. Hence the moment the heart is diverted from allegiance to Him, and faith wavers, there must be a declension or surrender of the testimony. From a sense of fear there is constantly great reluctance openly to admit that the testimony has been surrendered or dimmed; and many, because of this reluctance, degenerate into mere hypocrites, assuming and demanding acknowledgment for a status they desire to have, because it is true, but to which they have no claim on any other ground. It was so with the scribes and Pharisees in the Lord's day.
No one is in the testimony who, though converted, is not at peace with God, though I trust there are those in this state who desire to follow on and to know the purpose of His grace more fully. I merely assert that in their present state they could not be in the testimony. The little ones in Israel were not involved in their fathers' forfeiture of the land, when they had abandoned the calling of God or their proper testimony. But they were not competent witnesses; only Caleb and Joshua were in the testimony in that day.
The most devoted preacher of the gospel might not be in the testimony, and always when this great service becomes the one object, then the testimony is either overlooked, or is of little interest. When the benefit of man is paramountly before the servant, he often, unintentionally but assuredly, judges of everything in relation to it, and though he might not say in so many words, 'What is the good of the testimony to the lost
soul?' yet the habit of his mind, and his practical feeling, is to this effect: 'It is no good for a perishing soul, and therefore I cannot lose my time with it; I have weightier subjects to occupy me.' The practical effect of such a conclusion would be that anything and everything which would not be a bar to conversion can be retained or allowed. There is really no exercise as to what is consistent with the testimony, nor a growing abnegation of the world in keeping with it. James could tell of the many thousands of Jews there were which believed, but they were not in the testimony.
Let us look wider. Do we not find many christians whose one idea in serving the Lord is the conversion of souls? And when it is so, I ask again, can the heart exclusively set on the serving of man consider for, or be consistent in any way with, the testimony of the Lord? They may have light as to the blessing of believers meeting together to remember the Lord in His death, but if they do, this is for their own or the christian's benefit, as the other service is for the unconverted, so that these two embrace all that is required for a true and a full profession on earth. Alas! this approaches very closely to the idea of the church in christendom, that it is the congregation of the faithful, where the gospel is faithfully preached, and the sacraments duly administered. The testimony is entirely lost sight of. It is plain to be seen how a doctrine of this kind, however tacitly accepted, must allow or excuse the enjoyment of worldly things.
A believer is not in the testimony because he retires from the outer or political world, while he accepts and indulges in the things of the world which exalt him personally. The testimony is so unique, so distinctly characteristic of the rejected Lord, that any one in the testimony would refuse everything which would tend to his distinction here. The comforts of food and covering he would thankfully accept as absolutely necessary, but the dress or the furniture which would connect him with the fashion of the hour he would
absolutely refuse. Consequently, however true a man is in his conduct and doctrine, yet as he is identified with the course of this world he is not in the testimony. Nothing can be plainer. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world". And it is to those hated by the world that the Holy Spirit was sent by Him to "testify of me". The testimony is of Christ in glory. It is not only a man like Noah, carried away by self-indulgence, who is not in the testimony. Abram drops out of the testimony when there is a famine in the land. David is not in the testimony when he retreats into the country of the Philistines under the fear that he should die one day by the hand of Saul. Paul was in the testimony, though forsaken by the saints. "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion", 2 Timothy 4:16, 17.
In conclusion, we must distinguish between those who are earnestly seeking to be true to the christian calling, really growing into the testimony, however slowly, and those who, while professing to be in it, are insensible to the nature of the practice which it demands. The seller of jewellery might be pressing on in true and rapid strides to the testimony, but he cannot be in it. He who seeks a livelihood by selling things for man's glory is surely not in the testimony, however he may approve of it in heart and long to be in it. If he has a true sense of what becomes a follower of Christ now, he could not make a gain by inducing any professor to adopt what was wholly inconsistent to the testimony. Some then may exclaim, 'Who then is in the testimony?' I answer that though they are few, we are not for that reason to lower the standard. That, as I have said at the beginning, has ever been the snare of the adversary. 'As it is so hard to keep it up', he would say, 'let us reduce
it or surrender it altogether. Let us turn back again into Egypt' . Nay, let us accept the gravity and blessedness of our calling, and look to the Lord that we may cleave the more to Him, and then by the Holy Spirit we shall be enabled to be really in the testimony, the only path or course suited or satisfactory to the devoted heart on the earth. The more we love Him, the more we are in every particular like Him, and unlike the world that would not have Him. When I lose sight of Him, I lose sight of the testimony, and lose the power to carry it out.
"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it". One great mark is the way in which the word -- not any particular system of theology, but some definite word from Himself -- is spread abroad. There will be concurrent with this an effort of the enemy to hinder the Lord's work by setting up an energetic publication of something professedly christian, but really "tares", something to interfere with and embarrass the Lord's work. The evidence that there is a word from the Lord is that it is light. He said, "Let there be light: and there was light". "There is nothing ... hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops", Luke 12: 2, 3. It will come out fully -- the truth, the light. It will be baffled in many a way, and in no way more effectually than by a spurious or merely natural way of echoing the word which the Lord hath given.
When the Lord sent the gospel first, "their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world". If there be a word from God, if there be light from Him, surely it must spread, and instruments are raised up to be the bearers of it.
The Lord demonstrates His purpose by the instruments which He prepares for Himself. Noah's building the ark for a hundred and twenty years must have sounded out wide and far. Doubtless there were many objectors, and they were more successful in obtaining followers than the great preacher of righteousness. The number of adherents is not an evidence of where the Lord's word is, but the power with which His mind is declared is. The way of faith is always the narrow path, and "few there be that find it". In our own remembrance it is remarkable -- and we do well to take it to heart -- that the crowd went one way, and the gifts, as it was popularly said, went the other. What did this indicate, but that the Lord had chosen His own instruments? and they as a rule went in the line of the truths which had been committed to them, while the congregation, as in the days of Caleb, went the very opposite way.
When the Lord gives the word there is markedly a full clear sound, as the trumpets sounded for battle. Abram's call, though so very individual, entailed on him such a marked and peculiar course that it could not fail to be well known, and, as it were, in every way to come abroad. It is true many novelties and vanities are ever occurring, therefore it is the more needful for us to be able to distinguish what is really of the Lord. Now one thing is very certain. Satan imitates in order to spoil the real thing by a counterfeit. Lot may be in part a companion of Abram, but before long he is lost in his own worldliness, and there is no sound for the Lord from him, while Abram is heard more distinctly and effectively than ever. Lot may break away from Abram; and the ten spies can take up the opposite ground to Caleb and Joshua, but they have not the sound or the weight, nor do they succeed as Caleb and Joshua. One man, led of the Lord, gives great publicity to His mind at the time. If I am in His mind, and His word has been entrusted to me, some day it will be heard abroad. It will not be hid in a corner. David was hunted as a partridge on the mountains,
and yet, as with Joseph, his time came. "Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance", Psalm 105:19 - 21. That which was spoken in the ear in closets was proclaimed on the housetops. Whoever expected that either Joseph or David would be heard in the highest housetops of Egypt and Israel? Saul might have boasted of the numbers of Israel who followed him, while few comparatively followed David; but the most distinguished in Israel, together with the poor of the flock, attached themselves to him; and David, in his brightest day in the kingdom, could recall in thankfulness and encouragement his mighty men. The gifts -- to speak in the language of our day -- were with him.
In reviewing the ways of our God, the one great impression made on us is this, that He will bring into full light, with very positive evidence, what is His mind at the time; so that if I have His word, I may rest assured that it will obtain a hearing in one way or another. In every instance we see that if there is not simple faith in God, and unwavering integrity in adhering to it, the ways and influence of those we might have counted on will surely hinder us. If we have the word of the Lord, we must be satisfied to find that our help is only from Him. Daniel and his three friends would have utterly failed, even though they had the word of the Lord, the truth for the moment, if they had not had faith in God. How could it be possible that in Babylon, with the greatest power on earth arrayed against them, they could be heard? They were so convinced that there was no help from man that in everything they turned to God only, be it in declining the king's bread and the king's wine, or in enduring the fiery furnace; and the result was that the effort of the enemy to extirpate or silence the word of the Lord was the very means used to proclaim it; and all Babylon rang with it.
In Esther's time it was still more hopeless for Mordecai. He had the word of the Lord; and when it seemed as if he had, by strict undeviating persistence in maintaining it, imperilled the existence of Israel, when to human sight all was lost, and when only God could help, here again, succour came in the most signal way, and the word of the Lord was triumphantly established.
If I have the word of the Lord, He will surely cause it to triumph. I may be baffled and hindered, but if I am instructed by the Lord, I am not discouraged; I have His truth and it must prevail.
When the Lord came into the world, the light appeared in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. He did not discontinue the proclamation of His grace because of opposition and rejection. Nay, on the contrary, He first sent the twelve, by two and two -- six streams of testimony through the country; and afterwards He sent seventy. And Paul can say afterwards, "their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world". Can any one enter into the patient faith of our Lord Jesus Christ? He knew that He was the Word; and though baffled and rejected, He pursued His course to death, well knowing that when to man's eye it would appear to be extinguished, at that very moment the darkness was passing away and the true light shining. He can tell His disciples, as I have already noted, that there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. The truth may be greatly opposed, there may be no prospect of its being listened to or proclaimed; yet faith can reckon assuredly on God, that because it is His word, and sent by Him, it must accomplish that whereunto He has sent it.
When the truth of the Lord's return was revived, at midnight there was a cry made. "Behold, the bridegroom; go forth to meet him". And surely any believer who remembers for fifty years, can testify how largely and fully that truth has been proclaimed. The great truth to be assured of is that I have the word of the Lord; and if I
have, He not only gives me power to declare it, but I must be prepared to find help from no other quarter. I may find help from many; but often where I might most expect it I may be disappointed, like Abram with Lot, or Caleb and Joshua with their fellow spies, or David with Absalom and Ahithophel, or Paul with all that were in Asia, where he had laboured most. I must not calculate that those to whom I have taught the truth will be the defenders of the truth. I must not in any way go outside faith. The word is from God, and only God can support it; and if I lose faith in Him as supporting it, the truth will be reduced to a mere science in my soul. Paul never had more courage than in 2 Timothy. He directs Timothy to commit the truth to faithful men who shall teach others also. This was given after his first answer, when all the saints forsook him; but he adds, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion", 2 Timothy 4:17. Remark how he insists that the preaching or proclamation should be fully known, and that all the gentiles should hear. Though single-handed he had no fear for the truth of God, for the Lord was with him.
The Lord grant that, however opposed or however nearly overwhelmed, we may never swerve from the truth committed to us. And may our faith in God to defend His own only increase as we are deserted by those on whom we might have counted; assured that as our Lord left this earth from a Bethany, He on His coming again will find a Bethany here to meet and greet Him. Let us therefore quit ourselves like men and be strong. "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast".
As light is only from God, and it makes manifest, so darkness is unable to comprehend the light and loves concealment.
The word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It is by His word that every believing soul is enlightened; and as he walks in it with integrity of heart, he finds it is a path of shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day. As we walk in the light we advance in it; but if we accept it, and then grow insensible as to God's claims upon us because of it, and end by refusing it, we become blinded. Concerning faith we have put away conscience and we are wrecked. It is to be noted the readiness there is to receive truth, while there is no purpose of being controlled by it. Thus we see in each of the first three examples of the effects of the word in Mark 4, that even when it was received with joy there was no real work in the conscience. The reason of this is that the truth has been received as mere information and as human learning, instead of as light from God to direct one how to walk and behave oneself on the earth according to God. If the word of God is accepted, ignorance cannot be pleaded; and if it does not act on the conscience and walk, there must be either dullness, perverseness, or blindness. When there is dullness, it is because the word has not been received in power. It is in the hearing that the dullness really is, as the apostle says, "dull of hearing". Consequently he expounds the word more fully to them. But when it is blindness, it is marked by stumbling, like a man losing his way in a fog. The cause of this necessarily is that when one accepts truth in any measure, it leads him into a new path, in which he endures only for a time; he loses his way, like the man who began to build the tower and had not sufficient to finish. Lot accepted the path of faith for a little time, but when he was diverted from it by seeking a present advantage, he became blind, and he
never recovered his former position. Abraham was weak in faith when he went down to Egypt, but when he returned to the land, he was proved to be truly restored, because he was more in faith than ever. When I am truly restored I am morally stronger than before my fall. Lot surely returned with Abraham to the land, but present advantage, the course of this world, was too strong for him, as it was for Demas in another day; and he pitches his tent toward Sodom. A believer is not morally blinded because of a fall. A just man falleth seven times, but he riseth again, whereas in the case of moral blindness there is a deliberate surrender of what has been accepted as the truth of God. I have known instances when one has, when challenged as to the truth of the church and its heavenly position, answered that he had given it up as untenable; that man was morally blinded. It is of very solemn interest to us at this moment. Now why is it that many who had accepted the truth as to the church's union with Christ in heaven are now, if not avowedly, indirectly teaching that it is impracticable and impossible? And be it noted that every one who refuses or is satisfied with his ignorance as to this side of truth is incapable or unwilling to be set right as to any question of importance before the minds of the Lord's people.
The intention of light is to give light; hence the candle of the body is the eye, and if the eye be single the whole body is light itself; when there is not light from a man's walk and ways there is not a single eye there. The true place of every christian here is to be a light of the world, and in order to be a light there must be a conformity to the mind of the Lord with relation to everything, for wherever there is not, the body is not light. Light is at first sweet, the eye delights in it; but it is the path indicated by the light which tests the measure of faith in the soul. The one who sees delights in seeing; but when I see as it were too much, when what I see imposes on me a path of abnegation and suffering, and when I find
that another is open to me which offers present ease without the forfeiture of any christian standing then, if my faith is weak and my heart not fully devoted, I choose the latter; but in doing so, I allow a dark part, and there is no bright shining of a candle in consequence of it. Such a person has not forfeited the place and portion which grace had conferred on him, and which his heart enjoys, but there is an end to his progress and usefulness as an example. If the light I have received does not correct and dispel the dark spot in myself, surely I cannot be a witness of it, for it is not morally effective in myself. He that hath, to him shall be given; but when I see a truth and do not set myself to act in keeping with it, but rather shrink from it because it would disturb and disarrange any cherished or preconcerted course, surely no more light will be given to me. I do not necessarily lose all I have had, but there is no advance, and if I persist I become blinded, I begin before very long not even to see what once I had accepted.
Lot does not cease to be a righteous soul in Sodom, but he seems entirely to have lost the light in which he first started from Mesopotamia. The ten spies had seen and had eaten of the grapes of Eshcol as fully as Caleb and Joshua, but because of men and their works, the giants and the cities walled up to heaven, they despised the pleasant land, and led the whole congregation of Israel into their apostasy. They had the clearest and fullest evidence of the good of the land, and they testified, "surely it floweth with milk and honey"; and yet they promoted the rejection of the light of which they were the best expositors, and in doing so, they became blind, for they end in saying it is "a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof". Caleb and Joshua were faithful to the light; and they became a light, though, alas! an unheeded one, to all at that time in Israel.
Mark, in a moment of fear, and from want of faith, departed from Pamphylia, but most probably he had not in faith accepted the course which was only then
opening out to the apostle Paul. But he repented, and returned to aid the apostle in a darker and more difficult hour (2 Timothy 4:11). Barnabas dropped out of the light because led by his natural feelings; but in neither of these cases do we find that they reject the light they have received, by advocating -- like Lot, or the spies, or Demas -- a course entirely outside and apart from what they once held. It is one thing to be afraid of the path which light opens out to me, and another, after accepting it, to embrace and advocate one quite opposed to it.
The two and a half tribes saw full well the path of testimony, but they were drawn aside by the things which suited them on this side Jordan. They exonerated themselves by offering to send over their armed men. They would, as it were, preach the truth and write about it and be known as defenders of it, but practically in their own lives and homes they determined to renounce it, and, as is always the case, they suffered sooner from the enemy than the dwellers in the land.
Jonah, Samson, and David were each, in a distinct way, perverse, and fell grievously; but they were not blinded, they yielded to their own passions; it was not to go contrary to the truth, but to please themselves. They had not been reproved like Lot to no purpose. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy". The perverse one is bent on something distinctly selfish. The blinded one always keeps up the name or position which morally he has abandoned, like Israel in Ezekiel 33:31, 32. "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not". The conscience retains the form long after the heart has departed from the truth.
One is 'dull' when inattentive, which ends in sleeping, complete inactivity. Such an one requires to be awaked: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light". This state is quite distinct from blindness, because while there is no activity in the dull, there is plenty of it in a wrong direction in the one blinded.
One mark more. The one morally blinded knows not at what he stumbles. He does not seem to have a sound judgment about anything. Everything he undertakes generally proves a failure, and he takes the wrong side of everything, as the scribes and Pharisees had done in our Lord's day. And as in the Laodicean state, there is a boastfulness, when "thou ... knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked".
The Lord in His rich mercy preserve His people from moral blindness.
There have always been, as far as we know, two lights, since the call of Abram, or since a definite path was prescribed for the people of God on the earth, one of faith, and the other of sense. There have been two companies, both professing to follow the one path or rule; but one, however feeble, clung to it in faith, while the other, though professing to adhere to it, yet continually betrayed that they were doing so because they considered it the right thing, without any exercise of faith as to it. Let us then gather from Scripture how these two companies are distinguished the one from the other, the traits and eventualities which mark them. In faith, Abram answers to the call of God. It does not say that Lot had faith, for faith is counting upon God, but he went with Abram. These two were types of the two lines which, as far as we know, have continued ever since. Abram counted on God, and though he turned
into Egypt because of the famine, he was restored, and entered on the path of faith again. Lot accompanied Abram into Egypt, and returned again with him to Canaan; he evidently thought it the right course. But when it came to be a question which side he was to go, we see a marked difference between these two, the man of faith and the man of sense. Abram, though the senior, and the one naturally entitled to make an election, surrenders it, and Lot avails himself of it, and chooses the well-watered plain, which his good sense told him was the best place.
Faith looks to God, and waits for Him; this marks one. The other, while accepting the path, grasps everything which natural wisdom or good sense can lay hold of or utilise, without openly and distinctly abandoning the path. The fact that it is sense, and not faith, which influences is more apparent at every step. The wonder is what could have induced a man without faith to enter on such a course. But it is this, the judgment may be convinced of the rightness of a course, without the faith which counts on God. In this way, many a christian has been induced to leave the establishment for some sect which promised to secure him the field or liberty his intelligence demanded. What really was the difference between Moses and Aaron, two brothers bound together by all natural ties, and now appointed by the Lord to the same service, and both largely acquainted with the work of the Lord? Truly Moses derived everything directly from the Lord, and then shared His communications with Aaron, who was the public expounder and herald of them. Both were in the same path; but Moses, as it was shown eventually, was in it in simple dependence on God, while Aaron, who was the more prominently connected with it, in the moment of difficulty gave way entirely to the dictates of his senses, and declared that he had no faith in the nature of the God whose word, accompanied with great signs and mighty wonders, he had so often proclaimed. Could any divergence as to
judgment and acts be greater and more marked than that between these two brothers, when one, Moses, came from the mount to vindicate God, and Aaron quieted the people with a molten calf, before which they proclaimed, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt"!
One could hardly believe that such an unaccountable and painful breach could arise between two brothers so closely bound together in the work of the Lord. Alas, the fact proves to us that there are two guides where one might least expect to find them, and that no amount of light, or co-operation of work or service, can prevent the great moral gulf between them; for one has faith in God, and the other, in the hour of trial, turns to his senses and the exercise of his natural ingenuity. The man of sense in the right path will command a greater company of followers, because the natural mind is swayed by natural force. The man of faith can only address the faith of others, and he influences only in proportion as there is faith.
We are taught a similar lesson in connection with the twelve spies. They all had the same service; they had the same opportunities and the same light and knowledge; and yet, when it came to definite practice, ten of them, while dilating on the good of the land and its unquestionable excellencies, had no faith in God. They brought up an evil report of the land, declared that it was "a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature". They had plenty of natural sense and judgment, they observed things as they are on earth and with man, as natural sense must do -- the keener it is, the more so. Faith counts on God, and sees Him above and beyond all that man is; and hence Caleb can say, "If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land". The great instruction for us is that one can see the good and beauty of the truth, in company too with those who have simple faith in God, and yet not only have no heart for it, but actually become
hinderers of it to many, by their fear and want of faith. At all events, it is very evident that association in the same service and the profession of similar ideas about truth do not ensure divine union and co-operation; but though thus openly and avowedly found together, yet there are two companies, one treading the path of faith, it may be weakly, and numerically less than the other one that judges of everything by natural sense. A judgment by natural sense is good and influential, as the variety of circumstances are skilfully combined and gauged in order that one might utilise them. Faith views the circumstances just as clearly, but rests in the assurance that God will effect His pleasure in spite of them.
All Israel were appointed to cross the Jordan and possess the land of Canaan. Two and a half tribes diverged from the rest. They had the same calling and the same inheritance, and yet there were two companies. One, led by prudence and present gain, desired to settle on this side Jordan, though they consented and promised to go over and fight and secure Canaan for their brethren. They are on the same path and in the same service with their brethren, but their hearts and homes are elsewhere. They will suffer, even at the risk of their lives, to obtain the promised land for their brethren; but they are fixed in their purpose not to reside there, nor to enjoy it themselves. One is painfully reminded of their course in this day, when the heavenly portion is contended for by those who in life and practice declare that they have no intention of being practically dwellers there. What, we may well ask, beguiled them into such a strange inconsistent course? Why sacrifice so much for no gain? Simply because, guided by sense, they considered they had a better thing on this side Jordan.
Further on we see, in a still more painful and solemn way, disunion between those in one path, and belonging to one people, to Israel as a nation. Jeroboam, acting on his natural sense, set up calves in Bethel and in Dan, thinking by this cleverness to secure the kingdom to himself.
He disregarded and lost sight of what was due to God, in order to secure his own interests, and by his lack of faith precipitated the very thing he dreaded.
I need not trace this, as we might, all through the history of Israel; but it has been the same in the church. We get a remarkable instance of the two even in the same person in the case of Peter in Matthew 16, when he dropped from faith to sense. At one moment he had the clearest and fullest light: "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven". And shortly after, the Lord reproves him in the strongest terms: "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men". Here is the real cause of departure from the path of faith oneself, and of difference or divergence one from one another in the path avowedly common to both. Every one can understand the difference between one sect or denomination and another; but that Paul and Barnabas, once close companions, and advocates together of the same course, should differ and diverge from another, while retaining the common faith, is very painful and humbling. It must be traced to this, that one acted in faith, pleasing the Lord; the other was swayed by his feelings, by sense, and acted accordingly. The dissension which led to this unhappy breach sprang up between Paul and Peter, two apostles who were appointed to the one common work, co-builders together with God. What a warning voice it is to us when a Peter can be so under the influence of others as to swerve from the truth. "He withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision"; sense governed him, and not faith in God.
The last writing of the apostle Paul, 2 Timothy, tells of these two forces in a very marked way. He writes, "All they which are in Asia be turned away from me". Doubtless they still held to the same ecclesiastical order as before. They did not set up any new form. They
were not in any sense openly dissenters; but while accepting and avowing the same path as the apostle, they had turned away from the truth so specially committed to him. They doubtless considered it untenable, too high, utopian, and so on. Now this is the form of opposition and hindrance for which we are to be prepared in this day; the light accepted, the path approved of, but one part of the company struggling on as they have faith, the other part using every means within the reach of their senses to support the cause they are committed to. Both are assured that there is no other path or order for the church of God. They are clear as to light. Even those under the guidance of sense are as sure of the rightness of their profession as a Lot, or the ten spies, or the two and a half tribes; but, like them, they do not reach to the mind and purpose of God as to their calling. They are not spiritually in it. Their natural minds have been convinced that there is nothing so right and correct. Hence these two companies, like Moses and Aaron, go on together in great unanimity until a difficulty occurs which tests them, and then they are marked off; one has recourse to God in faith, the other turns to his natural resources; and then it is soon seen that one is of God, and the other of man.
One thing more. We have seen in our day, and we suffer from it on all sides, the lack of cohesion because of those two guides. If in the company or remnant there were only a simple purpose of heart to walk by faith, though its feebleness were apparent, yet there would be strength within, and true co-operation one with another, and a marked advance in the knowledge of God. Whereas now, those who seek to lay hold by faith of God's purpose and calling are baffled and hindered by their companions, who cannot accept or engage in anything beyond the range of their senses. In heart, if not in word, they ridicule the idea of being a heavenly people; they regard the church more as an enclosure for converted souls than as the vessel of testimony in the earth, and
consequently hold that evangelising is the one great work on which all the energies of every believer ought to be expended; and thus the great aim and testimony for the believer now is overlooked and supplanted. There is no opportunity or time, as it were, to teach and lead on souls to maintain that the state Christ is in is our state in this world, and the place He is in is our place, though we are still on earth; that the one simple calling of the church is that by each member of Christ's body here He should be set forth and magnified where He is not.
The church testimony is so entirely new, so distinct from and unconnected with any of God's previous dealings with man, that there can be no departure from its principles without a surrender of it, either from ignorance or from unbelief. The testimony, which embodies the completion of the word of God, and is consequent on the rejection of the Son of God, must be so unique that only the Spirit of God can lead or keep one in accordance with it. Hence any independent action must hinder or subvert it. In all previous testimonies there was a trial of man in some measure, without law, or under law. But man has condemned himself in rejecting Christ. The Jews said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours". They said, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God". God's rule and claim on them they turned against His Son. The gentiles crucified Him. The power God gave into man's hand to repress evil, they turned against the Son of God. They had no cloak for their sin. Man sinned in the garden of Eden, doing his own will, and thus death came upon all men; but in rejecting God's Son, another guilt attaches to man. So when God was pleased to have a testimony here among men, it must necessarily be entirely outside of and apart from man. Man cannot be allowed to have any recognised part in the present
testimony. Where man utterly failed and convicted himself of worthlessness was in not accepting and magnifying God's Son come into the world, He with wicked hands having been crucified and slain. In glorious contrast to all this God declares the secret, kept secret from the foundation of the world, that Christ's body is on the earth. Here, where He was rejected, "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ... and have been all made to drink into one Spirit", so that Christ's name should be maintained here in a scene where He is not. It is a wondrous testimony, exceeding in divine beauty and power any that preceded it. The heavenly Man, the Head of His body the church, was to be maintained here on the earth by a body composed of many members, all bound together by a greater and more perfect bond than that ever known to a natural body and its members.
As we see from John's gospel, His name was to determine, command, and characterise everything. The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father in His name. Peter and John begin by asserting the greatness of His name where He was not. Paul connects all power with His name: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 5:4. So in Colossians 3:17: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him". Again, it is said of the church in Philadelphia, "thou hast ... kept my word, and hast not denied my name". I need not add more. I have sought to place in true prominence the testimony for the present time, in order that each one, being enlightened as to the true character of it, may refuse and reject any course of action which would at all weaken it.
Now in John 17 we are taught the resources we have in Christ through all time to enable us to maintain His name here in His absence, to be His representative; not that one or two could be His representative, but that if
all were according to His mind here, they would present Him to the world; for already we are presented as He is to the Father, and when love is perfected in us we know that as He is, so are we in this world. In this wonderful chapter, John 17, there are three great parts -- what He has given us, what He has done or is doing for us, and what He desires. The first two, as we appropriate and enter into them by faith, enable us to answer to the last, namely, to be kept from the evil in the world, to be sanctified, and to be in unity. They are given in their moral order. You could not have the third but according to the measure in which the two preceding ones were practised. The nature of sanctification cannot be possessed unless one understands the truth that we are children of the Father, born of God, and that our Lord has severed Himself entirely from this scene. It is the attempt to answer to the desire of our Lord that we should be one, that has often led the well-intentioned into a laxity subversive of the testimony, because thereby they fail to set forth Christ's name truly here. The observance of the same creed, the maintenance of a fraternity, or anything short of His name -- what in truth is a representation of Him -- is not only not the testimony, but falsifies it. This is the real evil of church laxity. Timothy, while at Ephesus (see 1 Timothy 4), is warned by the apostle of the rise of Romanism, when a carnal sanctity would be introduced to supersede the only true one derived from God manifest in flesh. Now when the sanctity is compromised and perverted, the laxity is fatal. Thus in Romanism there has been a despotic unity, a common creed, a common language, and a common rule; yet any one with the truth, or even a correct knowledge of the Scriptures, discovers the gross laxity there, and the utter surrender of the testimony. But in our own day there has been an attempt to bring all christians together, of every creed and denomination, each waiving his particular sentiments for a few days, in order that they might be in manifest unity. To any spiritual mind it must be
plain that the convulsive effort to reach a desired end for a limited period only the more distinctly declares the lack of the Spirit's leading, and of faith in the truth which they had thus initiated. How could they have dropped their conscientious differences for an hour, without incurring a laxity or looseness which they must honestly have condemned?
Again, almost every one interested in the church has heard of the laxity which is known by the name of Bethesda. This is the most subtle; for while as a rule the truth of the church as the body of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, will be owned, there is a general laxity, only one thing being insisted on, and that without almost any limitation -- that there should be unity; and almost everything is tolerated to preserve it. An apparent unity is the great desideratum. The name of Christ is not the one standard. If a visible unity be acknowledged, if there be the works and conduct to gain commendation outside, almost any measure of worldliness will be suffered or overlooked. The divine gradation or steps to unity are not enjoined and enforced. I admit there is separation from the open evil of the world. The Pharisee would have had no weight if he were not reputable in the eyes of the religious; but with all that he neglected the "weightier matters". And so it is now; there is reputation with the religious world, but under the cloak of approved usefulness and interest in the welfare of souls, there is an indifference to the weightier matters of sanctification and devotedness; at least the former usefulness seems to be more earnestly sought after and prized than the latter. No laxity can be more pernicious than that which, with the adoption and profession of the fullest truth, permits and sanctions practical indifference to the name of Christ. While credit is sought and obtained for singular devotedness to the cause, because of an acknowledged usefulness, unity is the aim, and usefulness the certificate of commendation. Will any one say that there is not laxity as to the world and sanctification?
If this is confessed and mourned over, I must own my share in it; but if it is glossed over and un-condemned, in order that the unity which is its aim may not be impugned, is it to be accepted as a sort of set-off for the other desires of the Lord for His people on the earth? I can fully sympathise with the earnest servant who presses that believers should be all together, to worship God after the one manner, and to seek the wealth of one another, that there may be a growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In plain words, as has been often said, get them in, that is, to a common ground first, and then teach them their calling and responsibility. This, as formally stated, could not be objected to, if there was a purpose, expressed in word and practice, to lead them on to the full truth. If they were like trees in a nursery, in the stages of growth from the seedling to the matured tree, then the newcomer would at least see and be apprised of the maturity that would be expected of him, and to which he was called. But if, on the other hand, there be not a full and plain intimation, either verbally or morally, the person is committed to a thing in which unity is everything, and this is hardly fair or creditable. When a seedling enters the nursery, there is no need to tell it what is expected of it, there are plenty of examples to testify of that; but if the seedling come to a nursery where they are all seedlings, or dwarfs, then its calling is limited to a common ground of unity, and not Christ.
I wish to put the question plainly: Is unity possible without unworldliness and sanctification? I see there are distinct steps leading up to unity. I believe we should desire unity above all things, as the only effectual way to maintain His name, but I do not believe any spiritual person would support a unity which overlooked sanctification, or which required of me only to accept a common ground, without presenting, in word or practice, the holy nature of the fellowship. Why make unity the one aim, if it be not to ensure a greater company? And
this greater company exists because they can accept being together on a ground not morally high, and yet commendatory; but a ground which they would in conscience and heart hesitate to take were the holy, unworldly path necessary to unity presented to them. Under this laxity, too, the testimony is entirely lost sight of. If unity be made the aim, without insisting on the holy nature of it, all divine practice is overlooked, and as the moral power is not in the foreground, the name of Christ is not maintained. A further and deeper consequence of this laxity is that men are accepted and sanctioned as leaders or guides because they are earnest promoters of this unity, men who are not distinguished for unworldliness and sanctification. Of course they are men of repute, or they would have no weight at all. But as the apostle always gave himself as the model of what he taught, these recognised guides cannot lead souls beyond their own practical ways; and thus, unintentionally at times, worldliness is promoted.
The way to obviate the effects of this laxity is, by deed and ways, to insist on the only true testimony, namely, that the one united company of believers, the body of Christ, is called to maintain His name here. And His name cannot be maintained except as one walks in His Spirit, the greatest of bonds, but yet the one most easily disturbed. If I am in any way worldly and unsanctified, I am a hindrance to the unity in which each member of His body should be found here, in divine co-operation, to represent Him where He is not. Hence the great characteristics of the faithful company to the end are, "thou hast ... kept my word, and hast not denied my name". Let there be every encouragement for the Lord's people to be on the same ground, with a view to unity, for they are united; but let not laxity or grieving of the Spirit of God be sheltered under the plea of unity; that would be to make it an engine wherewith to destroy itself, and really to prevent the very thing which is proposed to be attained.
There is nothing more generally admitted than that the right way to do anything is not as ready to hand as the wrong; that we do the wrong way very naturally, as it were, but that it requires education and experience to secure the right way in the most ordinary matters of life. Now if it be necessary for man's own things that the prudent should look well to his way, how much more must it be in things of God! We can never forget that the knowledge of good came in by doing evil. This has introduced into human society a priority of evil. It takes the lead. No doubt there is a good to overcome it, but the evil is first with man, and the nature of it is not discovered except as good is acquired. No one knows the nature of evil except as he knows good. In natural things man, according to his cultivation and ability, has sought to attain to a standard of his own. His ideal was what he called 'good', and hence as the ideal was increased, the contrary to it was refused. This is really human refinement founded on conscience and progress; it does not reach beyond man's conscience. Yet it discloses that evil is the dominant thing here, and that there is only progress as evil is overcome, even to the measure of man's sensibility; as when Adam and Eve were first aware that evil had not only overpowered them, but that they must be screened from the sense of it. A measure of good must be acquired. If it be admitted that evil is dominant, and that in everything there must be time, application, and sense, to secure an escape from it, how much more in the things of God, the goodness of which must be infinitely higher! Hence in every age arises the question, an anxious one to the man of God, "where shall wisdom be found?" The answer is, seek and acquire God's mind, and then you can determine what suits Him, but do not expect to reach or catch a glimpse of His mind by studying your own mind or sensibility. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways.
In every renewed soul there is necessarily a desire to overcome the evil, and to find the good, and according as the knowledge of the good increases, so is it desired. The real spirit of the fall is man seeking for himself independently of God; whereas, when God is simply before the soul, when the centre and source of all good is before the heart, then only can real good be obtained for every one from the highest downwards. The only way, then, to find wisdom at any time, or on any question, is by beginning with God. Hence it is said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding", Proverbs 9:10. That is its beginning. It is a great thing to find the beginning. If I do not know the beginning, if that is not right, there must be a defect in the whole course. "That which is crooked cannot be made straight". When the nazarite failed, he had to begin all over again, he was not permitted to weld on a new bit. It is of the utmost importance that souls should be convinced that wisdom has no beginning but with God, and in the sense, too, of what is due to Him. If I have begun aright, I have always something to refer to and by which I correct my progress; for if I deviate from my beginning, or the great moral nature of it, it is no doubt a wandering. I have lost the light, and I must ascertain whether I am in keeping with my beginning.
Now having ascertained where wisdom begins, let us look at the examples in Scripture, how those who began with a just sense of God at the time were helped on, and how those who had another object failed and were confounded, whatever their zeal.
The way of Cain was adopted generally in christendom. Nothing commends itself more to the natural religionist than that he should obtain the favour of God because of his offerings which he has procured at much personal cost. This was not beginning with God. It was beginning with himself, and from his own mind devising what he considered would affect God in his behalf. He
had not the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. Abel found out wisdom. The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, at once dictated to him what was just and right. He began with God. How could a man under the sentence of death appear before God except with an offering corresponding to the penalty, a victim not rightly chargeable with his offence bearing the judgment of it. The greater the confusion, and the greater the influence that surroundings exert, the more distinctly will the man of God seek Him apart from and above all that would usurp His place here.
Abram failed because of the force of circumstances; but when he was restored, and a strife ensued between his herdmen and Lot's herdmen, he was equal to the test, though it came in such an unexpected way. God was before him, and not the mere advantage of the moment. A very small thing tests whether one's eye is on God or on one's own interests. The water tested Gideon's army. They did not think it was a test, or that such important issues would be connected with the manner in which they drank of the water that Providence had vouchsafed. If the heart be not habitually turned to God, the way of wisdom is lost sight of; one is not under divine control for an ordinary event unless one is walking in the fear of the Lord. We must begin with God; this is the great thing to insist on, for when we do not, there cannot be a reaching up to God. True, one may begin again, but like the nazarite, all that went before goes for nothing. Abram had to return to the altar he had at the beginning (Genesis 13:3, 4).
In private life, and in the church, the point of departure is the same as Eve's in principle. Something influences me with regard to myself, and God is not simply before me. "Which ... putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face", Ezekiel 14:7. There will not be perplexity as to where wisdom shall be found if I have set the Lord always before me, because I find Him at my right hand. A believer habitually seeking
his own interest cannot easily disentangle himself from the meshes of worldliness when a test comes, as we have seen in the case of Lot.
Barnabas had been wrongly influenced by Peter before Mark became the test between him and Paul, and he failed to see the path of wisdom; while Paul, who stood for the truth against Peter, had no difficulty to discover his true course, and he was, as we find, recommended by the brethren to the grace of God. A worldly saint, like Lot, or a man of natural softness, like Barnabas, may exclaim, "Where shall wisdom be found?" But they cannot find it, and the test is sure to come, to disclose the net in which they are taken.
See a man in personal difficulties like David at Ziklag. All seemed hopeless; everything was gone; even his friends spoke of stoning him. But he "encouraged himself in the Lord his God". That was his beginning, and soon he found out wisdom. In promoting the recovery of a half-dead Egyptian, he acquired a pioneer to effect the end desired. There is one thing very marked, the apparently insignificant events which lead to the right way. The test, as I have remarked, can only be seen or accepted by the man of faith. A man with his eye on God is a man of faith. How beautifully Moses corroborates this! What anguish there must have been in his heart when he learned of the sad apostasy of Israel! He was with God, and as he came from Him, he first, without any direction, considered for God. He pitched the tabernacle very far outside the camp, "and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp", Exodus 33:7. If I really fear God, my eye is upon Him, and I consider for Him first, and if I do so I am in the path of wisdom. Surely if I look at things the way God does, I must be in His wisdom. And this is not simply following by rote a passage of Scripture, or even the highest truth; but it is having His mind formed
by the word, not enforcing it like a Pharisee or a legal advocate, to support a judgment of my own, but being so imbued with the mind of God that without any immediate text I am able, because I am under the power of God and His word, to decide at once for Him apart from misconception, as Moses did with respect to Israel's idolatry, or Paul with respect to Barnabas. The Pharisee relied on the text of the law to support his opposition to Christ. I must use the word to convince the gainsayers; but I expect, if I am walking with the Lord, and as taught by His word, to be able to act according to Him at any juncture, without being able to give a distinct text for what I do. I remark that those who determine and exact obedience only as a precept enjoins are more or less legal, and as is the case with all legalists, they allow themselves great latitude where there are not injunctions to the contrary. They are not really enjoying Christ's injunctions as those loving Him. They are merely satisfying a restless conscience, and are like the man who binds himself to give a tithe of his property to the Lord, in order that he may with an easy conscience spend the rest as he likes. The obedient man of this order never finds out wisdom, for he has made obedience a work, and not the way of light.
Finally, if I do not make God's interests here my interests, I cannot find wisdom; for surely His wisdom is connected with the present centre of His interests in the earth. Surely if God is simply and happily before my heart, I cannot but be interested in the sphere and scope of His interests here. It would be vain to assert that He was truly before the heart, and at the same time to be unmindful of what concerned Him primarily at my very door. Our Lord could say, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up". Surely the heart is away from God when His interests are not paramount. It is a moral impossibility for a soul to progress in divine things and privileges, and at the same time to overlook or be indifferent to the place or sphere of them here on earth.
It would be like enjoying the gifts apart from the giver, or the mansion apart from the owner and his connection with it. Thus it was with the remnant of Israel who sought diligently their own blessings in the land, but sought them apart and disconnected from God and His house, the source of all blessing to them. They did not find wisdom until they began to build, and made God's interests first and paramount. In like manner in this day we see that those who are not alive to Christ's interests in the church are never able to find wisdom. They may be very useful and zealous, but as their heart is not where Christ's heart is, He cannot show them His way. It is remarkable that one might seek the conversion of souls, and their progress also, regarding them more as they are in themselves than as they are to Christ, as one might care for my family without consulting my interest for them. If we love Him we must love what is nearest to Him here, and then the word is verified to us, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me". Anna, who departed not from the temple, but served with fastings and prayers night and day, came in at the right moment to see the Lord, and gave thanks unto Him, and spake of Him unto all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. The widow who consecrated all her living for the temple was recognised and commended by Him above all the others who "of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God", Luke 21:4. If I am where His heart is, I must find out wisdom's ways. The Lord give us the devotedness that says, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried".
The people of God in every age have been tried and worried by the enemy. All that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The more faithfully any one maintains the testimony of God for the time, the more he will be opposed; but inasmuch as it is God's testimony, it can only be defended by His power. No one could deny that the blessed God would defend His own, yet oftentimes His people are as powerless in their attempts to do so as if God had forsaken them. As Gideon said in his day, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" Judges 6:13. There is a readiness in the truly zealous to assert that God has withdrawn His support when the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary, and is succeeding on every side; and as this is accepted, there is necessarily a hanging down of the hands and the cry, "O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!" and finally, "what wilt thou do unto thy great name?" There is an implied doubt as to God's power to preserve the testimony, and indirectly the impression is that the power is no longer available. There is therefore often a contentedness to go on in this state of reproach, like Israel in the days of Haggai, when they said, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built". They were contented to let the house of the Lord lie waste. Joshua and Gideon ascribe the cause of their weakness to the absence of God's help, as if He had ceased to be on the behalf of His people. They do not attach blame to themselves. They expostulate with the Lord as if He had left them uncared for, and they have to be told that the cause is entirely with themselves; in a word, that God's power is available if they are in a state to receive it. Light is sown for the righteous. There are two fundamental principles which
we must always maintain: first, that the power of God is always at hand, but secondly, that it is only available to those who are in a state to receive it. How could God lend His power to support the wrong? On the other hand, His eyes are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; "Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken"; "the righteous Lord loveth righteousness".
There is, alas, evidence enough everywhere of the absence of power on behalf of the people of the Lord in this day. The Joshuas and the Gideons who do not see the church, supplicate and mourn before God as if He were to blame, and as if the Holy Spirit had departed like the cloud from the house of God. Prayer meetings and humiliation meetings are proposed as if God required to be entreated to support the name of Christ on the earth. The real cause of the suspension or abeyance of the Holy Spirit is that He cannot countenance those who are defiled; and hence what is required is not prayer -- calling upon God to help us -- but self-examination -- "great searchings of heart". The moment that there is a mistake or any departure from God's order, whether individually or in the assembly, then we should at once conclude that the lack is not at all on God's part, but that there is something on our side which hinders the Holy Spirit from supporting us.
It is the same in the individual. If I grieve the Spirit He will not help me until I have renounced and repented of the defilement which I have contracted. Christendom has imbibed the idea that the Holy Spirit is not here because there is no evidence of His presence and power. If we are not decidedly assured of the presence of the Holy Spirit we have lost faith in the plainest scripture. The Holy Spirit was sent here consequent on the departure of Christ. "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you". We must start, then, with the undeniable fact that the Holy Spirit is here, sent from the Father in
Christ's name to comfort and support the saints here, and also sent by Christ, as He said, to "testify of me". The Holy Spirit being here for these two services, it is clear that if either of them is in any degree not fulfilled or in abeyance, we cannot ascribe the cause of the restriction or lack to the Holy Spirit. He cannot deny Himself. The cause, then, must be on our side, if we do not know His power and comfort in both services. The sun shines, and if I cannot avail myself of it the cause is in my eye and not in the sun. The believer who does not enjoy the Holy Spirit, sent of the Father in Christ's name, must evidently be at fault, and suffers unspeakable loss; and surely, when by his unbelief or unrighteousness he has been refused the cheer of the Holy Spirit in this blessed way, he must also be unfit to be helped by Him in His other service, namely, to "testify of me".
The question, then, which should arise whenever there is any withdrawal of His power and comfort is, How have I (or we) grieved or hindered the Spirit of God? The fault is not on His side, but on mine. I believe every mistake we make is to be attributed to our being out of communion. We have grieved the Spirit of God, and He will not help us, and often we are not conscious of His being in abeyance, (for He does not leave us) until, like Samson, we have no power to act on generally the very next occasion. Samson "wist not that the Lord was departed from him". He had been unrighteous; how could the Lord help him? The more distinctly we are in the path of faith, the more promptly and manifestly will He refuse to aid us when we err from it, in order to expose to us our declension and induce us to search out the cause of His reserve. Whether it be an individual believer or an assembly, assuredly it will be found that the more faithful they were, the more openly and painfully were they exposed when they lacked integrity of heart. We see Lot saved as by fire, but we see his daughters, who had married in Sodom, and his wife, who looked back, consumed. God is not a respecter of
persons. He judges according to every man's work and "the way of the righteous is made plain". If one were walking in communion the snare would be detected at once. "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird". But if it is not detected before we are taken in it, the Lord leaves us to find out our own helplessness without Him. And in the interval, before we discover the root, Peter-like -- however the heart is drawn out or restored to the Lord, as his was -- we are out of communion; we are not in the current of His will. This is the most marked evidence of the Spirit's abeyance. Like Peter, there may be a curious mixture -- real confidence in Christ's love, and immense energy in work not according to His mind.
We do not sufficiently regard the rewarding openly. If I grieve the Spirit in secret by promoting, say, worldliness in my family, while seeking to get the credit of the opposite, surely the Lord will reward me openly. He will answer me according to the idol in my heart. (Ezekiel 14:4.) The more we accept unqualified dependence on the Lord, the more are we openly exposed if we depart from it. For instance, if a man undertakes to serve the Lord, counting upon Him for support, if there be simple faith he may have trying moments, yet he will have a blessed time. But if he wavers and looks to man, the Spirit will not help him and he will be exposed. If a man desires to be acknowledged as one prominent in service, while secretly indulging in any worldliness which if known would disparage him as a servant, his way will surely not be made plain, and there will be a lack of confidence, though possibly no one can say why. The Lord does not support him. Not only will one's sin find one out, but the darkness of soul, the intemperance of manner, the rashness, the lack of power in prayer and every ministry, is traceable to a grieving of the Spirit and a departure from communion which has never been judged. I know nothing that I am more assured of or that keeps me in more fear than the simple fact that if
by any kind of levity I check the Spirit, generally in the very next act I shall betray myself; I am reaping what I had sown. It is to be noted that it is in the quality for which you have been most esteemed that you will fail most when out of communion. Moses speaks unadvisedly with his lips. David numbers the people. If I have a distinct gift of grace, in that very gift I shall fail most if I grieve the Spirit. If a man has any special or remarkable gift, in and by that will he be most exposed. Thus the man of faith may use his faith entirely and altogether for the world; and the man gifted to teach -- as has occurred, alas, hundreds of times -- may use his gift to the hindrance of the truth. Often we find a reputedly honest man baffled, and his way not plain, because God sees the latent defect, that with a great deal of open honesty there is not candour of heart. Perhaps there is nothing so hard as not to appear anything but what you are. If you do so to your advantage, you will some day be found out; but if to your disadvantage, there is no doubt that He who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins will one day vindicate you.
I have dwelt long and largely on the individual exercises and discipline, because I see there is no use proposing to an assembly to examine itself. The individual must do so. Joshua has to cast lots until at length man by man is taken. No believer is really better naturally than his brother; but the one who lives in continual self-judgment, and is afraid of the plague of his own heart, will be kept in righteousness; and he will see his way when others are tossed to and fro, and are as perverse, if not as staggering, as a drunken man. The man who sees his way walks out boldly and firmly on it. And the path of the just, or righteous, shineth more and more unto the perfect day. God stands by him also. "I have not seen the righteous forsaken". "The Lord stood with me", said the apostle at the close, when all forsook him; "the righteous are bold as a lion". The prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and Satan is frustrated
before the breastplate of righteousness. "So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth".
It is of the deepest interest to ascertain the cause of the defection from Paul of "all who are in Asia", where he had laboured much; for surely in turning away from him they had turned away from the truth which was specially communicated by him and identified with him. To Paul was committed the mystery; and though it was revealed to God's holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, yet to the apostle Paul this great truth was specially committed, as we see from Ephesians 3:7, 8. "Of which I am become minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me, according to the working of his power. To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ". Accordingly we find Peter, in his second epistle, acknowledging the peculiar light given to Paul. "According as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; among which some things are hard to be understood, which the untaught and ill-established wrest, as also the other scriptures, to their own destruction". The truth, then, that those in Asia had turned away from was the mystery. It has been alleged by some that you cannot be in a similar state to those in Asia unless you have previously received the truth of the mystery, and then, subsequently have turned away from it. Plainly it is more grievous when one turns away from the mystery after having received it, yet the one who would resolutely refuse to receive it would not be clear of the charge of turning away from it. No conscientious person would like to
avow that he had turned away from a distinct truth; yet if he were opposed to it, he would turn away from the man who was identified with it in his ministry, because the teacher, according to his effectiveness, gives life and moral power to the doctrine which he inculcates. The mystery was the great truth with which Paul was identified. He himself calls it "my doctrine" in 2 Timothy 3:10 and it was from this that they had turned away. Now every one who has been taught this truth, and has turned away from it, or has refused to receive it, is in the state of those in Asia. The mystery is that the church is the body of Christ, and that He 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. "The head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God", Colossians 2:19. The nature of the relationship of all believers to Christ is "a great mystery", but it is respecting Christ and the church (Ephesians. 5:32
from heaven. Many a one receives the truth of the church verbally, and even sees that there is no true way for the Lord's people now but meeting together as members of one body; but a truth is often honestly accepted when the responsibility and duties connected with it are not at all apprehended. Who enters into the grave nature of the bond which binds together the several members into one body? And if any one, in any measure, enters into it by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he sees at one and the same moment, not only that he is under the greatest bond to all believers here, which he must most carefully respect as supreme to all others, but that heaven is his place too, though he is still on the earth. He feels displaced here, not because he was refused a place here, but by an assured sense of right to an entirely new and different place; and as this is seen, he honestly disconnects himself from a place no longer his, in order that he may extend his interest, and acquire the advantages which belong to his true place. I believe the one unmistakable mark of the believer who sees the mystery is that he sets his mind on things above, not on things on the earth, and that when any one is earthly, however great his knowledge of the church may be in theory, he has not by the Spirit of God grasped in his soul the church in its relationship to Christ. And as heavenly citizenship marks the genuine disciple, so does clinging to earth and advocating it (the earth, not so much the world), mark those who have not the light about the church which they at one time professed to have received. It will be found almost invariably that those who oppose the present heavenly position of the church are those who have got on in the world since they were called of God and enlightened as to their true church ground, or those who have never broken with their worldly associations; for there is no holding it in power, except by continual surrender. They, like those in Asia, accepted the truth of the church as to the mere order of assembling together and the like, but when it came to be
insisted on, in a time of general declension and more open hostility of the enemy, that the heavenly places were the only true home of the church, that it had neither a title to earth nor a place on earth, then those who had their interests on earth would not surrender them, but lapsed into an earthly people, a state which characterised the Corinthians, as it does christendom in this day. Every christian retires in some degree from the grosser world, and some retire almost absolutely from the world as to its positions and pursuits, and yet they are quite earthly. One must be earthly if he is not heavenly. If he is heavenly, it is not that he despises the earth, but simply that he resigns it as not his place; and not with regrets, because he knows he has and enjoys an infinitely better place, even heaven. The man who holds the mystery in power is sensible of his great duty here in relation to the members of Christ's body, and he cheerfully surrenders everything which would bind him to earth, because of his place in heaven, and also because the more free he is from the earth, and the more heavenly he is, the better he can help the church.
There is another great effect from the knowledge of the mystery. The apostle's great desire for the Colossians was that they might comprehend the mystery. They were exemplary for their faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the saints; but he saw that they would not be preserved from religiousness -- the effort to have sanctity in the flesh, which has eventuated in the spurious sanctity of Romanism -- unless they understood the mystery in divine power. It requires very little discernment to detect the buddings of this effort in those who, though settled in the blessed effects of the gospel, have not yet learned the ministry of the church. All perfectionism is traceable to this snare. Broadly, baptism, both by the ritualist and the avowed dissenter, is regarded as affecting the state of the recipient. That it is an ordinance of great importance I need not add, but its meaning is with relation to the place where it sets the recipient, and not as to its effect on
him. I only adduce this as an example, because I bring to the same religious sentiment those who differ most widely as to the proper recipients of baptism. The ritualist would have every one in the parish, young and old, baptised. The dissenter would baptise only those who had made a true confession. One believes baptism is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace; the other, that you are to be buried and raised in figure because you already are so in fact. Their doctrine is one and the same, and their thought is to impart some sanctity to the mere man. I desire to point out that unless the mystery be known there is no safeguard from the snare of religiousness, and that one is taken in it in the most unexpected way, one in his singing, another in his praying, or joining in prayer, while another considers that addressing the natural feelings is right and proper.
Occupation with, or the formal observance of, religious appearance, sanctimonious manner, and so on, are all from one and the selfsame root. If the mystery be understood, Christ is everything. His Spirit may affect my body as He pleases. I speak, or I sing, or I weep, as He leads, but when I seek to make myself an expression of sanctity, it is will-worship, from which the knowledge of the mystery alone can save me. While a soul is learning the ministry of the gospel, it is not exposed to the snare of religiousness; that is, supposing that the simple gospel of God has been presented to it. It is after it has found rest in Christ's finished work that it is exposed to the snare of religiousness, from which only the knowledge of the mystery can preserve it.
Surely we can see how great the inducement was to those in Asia to turn away from Paul. The very same prevails in this day. The man who seeks to acquire or enjoy on earth must find the mystery very unsuited to him. When he refuses to surrender -- and the gain now is in proportion to the surrender -- according as he has conscience, he relieves it by religiousness, the fervent activities of the natural feelings in one form or another;
so that at times Christ Himself is addressed and approached in human affection, and not in the love of the Spirit, at once so deep, so absorbing, as to exceed and distance the warmest conceptions of the natural heart. If you will not surrender, and will be religious, you must turn away from Paul, like those in Asia. Alas for those who do so, and still more for those who lead them into -- as the ten spies thought -- an easier path! Alas, they had erred greatly, and swift destruction came upon them. "The men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord", Numbers 14:36, 37.
No one can be truly right in service who does not understand the interests of his Lord. If a servant does as the Lord has directed him, he is working according to His mind, even though the servant may not know it himself. It is, however, a great loss to the servant not to know his master's interests, because if he does not, he is ever liable to be drawn away from the direct call to service which he has received, and he becomes influenced by the need of man, or by his own feelings in various ways.
The great truth after that of being sealed by the Spirit of God is the construction of the church. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body". The one who enjoys the Spirit of adoption has, even though ignorant, an undefined sense of belonging to a company -- that he is not an isolated unit. In Israel there was a national tie, and this gave each a common right or interest which was damaged or advanced by the conduct of any; but there was no spiritual tie which, like the nervous system in the human body, is instantly affected over the whole frame, however distant one part may be
from the part where the sensation originated. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it". There is individual blessing first, conversion and sealing, but there is no true or intelligent service until one understands one's relationship to Christ and His people. If a believer is only one of a company to whom special rights and privileges are committed, he loses if he in any way forfeits them; and he can mar the honour of any band of them if he is associated with them in any special service, as in the case of Achan at Jericho; but then the damage or gain is external, affecting their natural position, and not spiritual, affecting their moral state. When I apprehend the greatness and sensibility of the bond by which we are all united together, every one sealed by the Holy Spirit, then, the more I walk in the Spirit, the more I shall be conscious, even though I may not be able to ascertain the cause of it, how I am affected by that which affects the Spirit of God. For I am not only bound by Him to every member in this bond, but I have also drunk of Him myself. As I know that if one member suffers, all suffer with it, I seek, as my heart truly desires to help the church, that it should not suffer by me, nor indeed any one else. I am jealous over it with a godly jealousy, that I may present it a chaste virgin to Christ. This enjoins separation from every kind of evil, everything that would grieve the Spirit or hinder Him. Under this head all contact with the unclean, and all association with that which defiles, is of necessity placed. No one can help the church while he is connected with anything unholy, even in association. Unless I am personally separate, I cannot have the cheering sense of my Father's favour and care. "Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty". And if I have not done so, how could I help the church?
On the contrary, the church suffers on my account. But it is not enough, in order to help the church, that it does not suffer, or that it should be preserved from suffering; though were it so, there would be undisturbed health, which would conduce to its edifying itself in love. Each member can promote positive help to the church, which in a day of feebleness and dislocation is very encouraging, "If one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it"; one solitary unit following the Lord faithfully, and receiving honour of God -- "if any man serve me, him will my Father honour" -- this member is the means of contributing cheer to the whole body. Thus we might say that there are two classes who help the church, one who does not cause it to suffer, the other who really contributes to it.
Let us now see how the latter must act in order to effect this help. While this service is open to any solitary unit, the advantage gained by such an one is not confined to himself, but is contributed to the whole body. Every act or step of individual devotedness helps the church. Hence the one who seeks to help it must not confine his service to the ministry of the truth, but must be a model in himself of the doctrine which he advocates. If the word is not of faith in power, there is not a fresh energy of the Spirit. It is this fresh energy of the Spirit which glorifies the unit, and thus obtains cheer for the whole body. It is not only faithfulness at the beginning, but an unbroken course of faithfulness and surrender. Possibly nothing has so hindered blessing as a great start. The tendency of it has been to lead the person to rest in what he had done, and whenever one refers to what he had done, it is very evident that he is not in the same energy now. The man who helps the church must be like Caleb after forty-five years. "And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore
and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fenced; if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel", Joshua 14:10 - 14.
Where there is real help there is no resting on former devotedness or conquests. David had indeed waxed faint when one of the sons of the giant, being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain him (2 Samuel 21:15 - 17). The man who would help the church must extend to preserve. Each day there must be greater faithfulness, and fresh victory by the Spirit, if real help would be rendered. The Lord alone can measure and estimate any devotedness to Him, and He assigns manifold more in this present time for every surrender in faithfulness to Him. Every true surrender is a fresh energy of the Spirit, and this imparts vigour to all. Sometimes, as I have remarked above, very earnest souls have not advanced as they gave promise at the beginning, and thus have not been the help they were at first, because they have limited their devotedness to the surrender of the world. Now the world is generally regarded as the sphere for man's distinction, and it is thought that if he has retired from it at every point, and neither has nor seeks any status there, he has reached the greatest of surrenders. Of course, to a man possessing or able to acquire any position among his fellows, it is no small power which enables him to surrender it at every point -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Naturally the man who has most seeks more, and we cannot
estimate how much it costs a man of even ordinary ambition to surrender his prospects. Very often, especially with the young and ardent, it is not the difficulty or the labour to attain that is before the eager mind, but the prize itself. Doubtless every surrender which is the effect of the Spirit's power in me helps the church. "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do", the apostle could say, "and the God of peace shall be with you". When the surrender ceases, the fresh energy of the Spirit ceases. I have observed that where there had been a very remarkable surrender of position in the world, there was still a cleaving to the comforts of life, which not only hindered the progress of the person, but he was no help to the church. The mere ordinary comforts of those in a good position are very often the coveted treasure of those in low life; and while there is decided help to all in the first surrender, there is not a continuance of it unless there be a renouncing of the comforts of life, as well as one's position in the world. Abram, when he went into service in Genesis 14, surrendered all that his wealth had surrounded him with. He put his life in his hand, and went out by night. To help the church fully there must be abnegation; there must not only be a continued surrender, but the abnegation in one's own circumstances of that which might awaken a covetous desire in another. We were "an ensample unto you to follow us", said Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, when correcting idlers working not at all. Any one can test what I say by a little observation as to how far he himself, or others, leads on souls. I cannot own anything to be a help which does not lead one on in the way of the Lord. If I am getting on in the world, or seeking to do so, my influence over souls must be to lead them in the same course. Accordingly, as I am turning my back on the world, I am influencing them to their advantage. If comfort here be my study, I am like Israel in the wilderness, not exactly worldly, but longing after the pleasant
things of Egypt; and wherein I indulge myself I fail to help the church. Thus many a one who had helped the church by surrendering his position, as Jonathan in his first devotedness to David, has not continued to help the church because he could not abnegate the ease and comforts of private life. He could not, like Ruth, follow the Lord unto death.
Now while devotedness continues increasing, every believer can help the church. There is also a more special way, though not a more effective one. It is by ministry in the word. The believer who has Christ as his one object, whatever be the nature of his gift, helps the church. If he be an evangelist, he has been sent by Christ, and as he works for Him he edifies the body. He searches everywhere for souls to add to the church which is Christ's body. An evangelist does not help the church if he does not know what it is to Christ. Hence in Ephesians 4 the gifts are not spoken of until after the church, as it is set by the grace and gift of God, has been unfolded. Possibly there has been no greater check and hindrance to the church as Christ's body, than the evangelist who, knowing nothing of Christ's circle of interest, uses his gift simply for rescuing souls from judgment, but knows nothing of present relationship to Christ. It may be said, Is it not a blessing that they are converted, at any rate? Surely, but why should the work be spoiled, or the heart of Christ unanswered to, by the darkness in which it has been done? The work bears the mark of the workman. It is easier to prove a positive in Scripture, and anything that departs from the right must be imperfect and entailing loss. It is plain that if the evangelist knows the one object of Christ's interest here, he works at his calling to promote it, and thus he must help the church. The evangelist who reduces his work to merely rescuing souls from judgment, makes this service according to his zeal the one great aim of his life, and endeavours to interest everyone in this service. All energy and means are devoted to gospel work. There is a new centre of
interest, the more pernicious because, while avowedly for the Lord and supported by His own gifts, it sets up, though often unintentionally, a rival to supersede the circle of interest most dear to Himself. Thus we find, in this day, that the evangelicals are, as a rule, contented with their work, and in heart uninterested in the church; and hence when anything of a church question arises among them in any form, they never can see it as Christ sees it. They can see nothing except as it affects their own special work, and without any intention they are as ignorant of what the church really is, and as dissociated in heart from it, as the two and a half tribes were from the land, though professedly supporting those really determined to settle there. Their professions and their advocacy while their heart is elsewhere, cause a moral breach which cannot be repaired, and the church is not helped but hindered. If Christ's one circle of interest on earth is not mine, I cannot help it, and if not helping, I am not helped. The Lord give us to lay these things to heart.
With any great or central truth, such as the mystery, Christ and the church, a light must be acquired which could not be so in any other way. Every truth has its own light and special practical effect. Many a one aims at a practice to which he does not attain, because the truth, and the power of it, which could guide and help him into it, is not in his heart. In the same way one betrays his ignorance of a truth when he acts in contravention of it. At all events the truth is not really there, or the conscience would have been soiled by a distinct departure from it. Now there is a manifold light connected with the mystery which cannot be acquired in any other way but by the knowledge of it.
If I do not comprehend the mystery, I cannot understand the corporate position of the saints now on the earth. If I do not see that the church is the body of Christ -- that He is "the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God" (Colossians 2:19) -- I do not see, and cannot act up to, the true and divine relationship which subsists between one and the other members of His body. If I grasp in faith this great truth, I can never assume an isolated position. I am never a unit again. I am a member of the body of Christ. I can never detach myself from this great structure. True, I may be gifted of the Lord, and called to act in my individual responsibility, but this is never antagonistic to my corporate position; on the contrary, as it is by the direction of the Head, it must be for the help and benefit of His body, the church. This, however, refers peculiarly to service; but ordinarily I can never see a step good for myself that is not equally good for every believer who has not taken it. If I judge that I should take an isolated position, then I do not understand the mystery, for each believer should take it also, and my teaching and my example, to be effective, should conduce to this. I might rightly be alone in taking a step which had been disregarded and unseen by the saints, but it cannot be one which would place me in an entirely new position. To adopt a course neglected or forgotten would be of the Lord; and if through divine grace I have been led to see it, and I take it, it is to be like one sheep crossing over a fence, only to encourage all the rest. The true servant can always say we are "an ensample unto you to follow us". It is impossible for one who is under the power of the truth of the mystery to say that while separation becomes him, so absolute that he can have no fellowship at the Lord's table with any one in the place, yet he can still have meetings with them for edification and the like. If I
consider my brethren so defiled that I must stand apart from them in calling to mind the death of my Lord, how can I be on terms of intimacy and communion with them in service? Certainly not if I consider that they are members of the same body as myself, for what is defiling to me is defiling to them, and I must refuse to go to them, though ready to receive all who would come to me. For a man to separate from a company of christians, and yet be found, by sufferance or acceptance, their accepted teacher, is the worst form of church laxity. For it is evident that if the company which holds the truth and is on right ground connives at error, or allies itself with that which is morally unsound, it is more to be avoided, and more to be separated from, than a system with no light and no assertion of being on the right ground. The most dangerous falsity is that which comes nearest to the truth, because it deceives by its approximation to the truth. Better not to have known the way of righteousness than to deviate from it. The ten unfaithful spies were more to be dreaded and avoided than any other in Israel.
If I understand the mystery, and if I have been connected with a company of christians who professed to see the truth of the church in its relationship to Christ, and if they would ally themselves with others who would compromise the testimony, and defile them, and thus hinder the Spirit of God, I should, after long and patiently expostulating with them, retire and stand alone, and look for the grace which had led me into a solitary place to lead them. But I could not, as understanding the nature of the bond which subsisted between me and them, return to them in any way except to give each of them separately help to renounce his defiled position, so morally bad and grieving to the Spirit that I could not stay there. And therefore the more I care for them, and apprehend the holiness and sensibility of the bond of the Holy Spirit, the more I must insist on total and absolute separation. It is incongruous, it is unholy,
if I separate myself from a leprous house, at the same time to offer or attempt to promote the health of the inmates who remain in it. In so doing I take care of my own conscience by separating, but I foster laxity and indifference to evil, because I do not see that what is good and necessary for myself as one member, is so for every member. I act like one of a nation like Joshua, and not as one of a body like Paul. Joshua can return into the small circle of his own family when he loses hope in Israel. Paul never separates himself from the church, and he counts on God's faithfulness to the last, that the body of Christ will be maintained on earth till He come.
This cannot be apprehended if the mystery be not known. It is on this account that the apostle was so exercised about the Colossians. They were in danger of being carried away by a system of religion which addressed both mind and body, and the apostle knew that only the truth of the mystery could save them from the snare. They had learned the gospel. They had faith in Christ Jesus, and love toward all the saints, but yet they were in danger, and to preserve them from this danger he presses on them the truth of the mystery, because when it is really known, it enlightens the heart as to the nature of our relationship to Christ. He is the Head of the body, and as I understand it, though only a member, I am complete in Him, and I participate in all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If I have any sense of the magnitude of this relationship, I could not have any standard lower than Christ Himself. If I do not understand the nature of this relationship, I am exposed to the snare of making something religiously of myself, but when I know I am a member of the body of Christ, it is plain that His body could have no lower standard for walk and practice than Himself.
In Colossians 3 we see how the practice begins. It first leads up to where He is, and then insists on everything
here being abandoned for Him, for Christ is everything and in all, and everything is to be done in His name. That is easy and simply consistent when I know the mystery, but only an imaginary desire or an effort when I do not know it. In Ephesians, consequent on the same truth, and as having experienced the power which is to usward who believe, from the first circle, the unity of the Spirit, down to the smallest domestic duty, everything is to be done in His grace and by His power.
Next, if I comprehend the mystery, I must see that though the church, the body of Christ, is on the earth, yet it can have no other place but the place where Christ is. There is no truth more resisted or questioned, even by the more conscientious and intelligent, than that the place of the saints now is in heaven. They argue, and justly, 'How can we be in heaven and on earth at the same time?' Any who argue after this manner evidently do not see the mystery. How could Christ and His body have in reality two different places? Admit the truth that His body's place is in heaven, and then we can see how it has been sent by Him to maintain His name, or His testimony, here on the earth. It is impossible to accept that the church is in the closest alliance to Christ, and not to see that though it can be absent from His place, as one set on a mission -- as indeed it is, yet that it cannot own or belong to any other place but the place where He is, and as He is, in heaven. When any one intelligently sees the mystery, he acknowledges that heaven is the church's present place, and from it come all its proper joys, though it be here for a season to do its Lord's will. In a word, I know no simpler test of one's knowledge of the mystery than this: is the church heavenly or earthly? The Lord Himself was on the earth and worked at a trade here, but He was always heavenly; and be assured you do
not see the nature of the relationship subsisting between Christ and the church, if you do not see that His place is its place, though for a season it is here to testify of Him.
The peculiar nature of the testimony of this present time cannot be understood or grasped if one does not see the calling of the church. True, Peter, James, and Jude, do not speak of the mystery; but they, writing to Jews, insist on the new course of things, and the practical life consequent on their new calling. Paul adds to this what the calling is, and John sets forth the divine character of the saint now. John insists on "the name" as the sum and substance of the testimony as much as Paul; the one, that all our gain is derived from "the name"; the other, that all our acting for Him must be in His name. Now the more I comprehend the magnitude of this calling, the more I see that no single person could accomplish it. He could surely act his part efficiently, but then it would be only a part; and hence the more interested I am in this great testimony, the more zealous I am that I should have the co-operation of all saints in it; because the more the members are acting according to their specific qualifications, the better will His name be maintained here on earth. Only His body could truly in any degree effectively set forth His name here. If I understand the mystery, I see how only it can be done, and the more I see it, the less I shall like or tolerate isolation.
Lastly, now, as to our future. If I do not see the mystery, I cannot recognise the position the church will hold with regard to Christ hereafter. As the church is His body now, so will it ever retain, but in a perfect way, this relationship to Him. "The fulness of him who fills all in all", Ephesians 1:23. We see and know, alas,
how inadequately the church now performs its great mission, and sets forth Christ in the scene where He has been refused. But in the future, to endless ages, when she comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, she shall set forth His glory in perfection of beauty and without diminution, herself all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, ever united to Him, and holding thus a position pre-eminently greater than any of the other saints. While all are of one, so that He is not ashamed to call them brethren, only the church is united to Him, and connected with Him as His body for ever and ever.
There is only one right way, though there may be many modifications of it. Unless this be admitted, christianity in itself has not been truly accepted. A perfectly divine path from the infant's weakest hour up to the strength of manhood, and in service to God fully on this earth, was traced out by the Son of God, the perfect Man. He was always right, and no one is right now who does not follow in the spirit of His steps. To open this out, and to expose the varied ways by which the man of God may be diverted from the path, is the object of this paper.
What especially marked our blessed Lord, who was always right, was that God was with Him, and He could say, "Thou hearest me always". "The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him". One great mark is always attached to the one fully right, even this, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world". God was always with Christ. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him". The other mark is the assured sense of having the ear of God. His eyes "are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers". The one who is right is sure to have
these two marks. One is more visible, the other is exclusively for the comfort of his own heart.
Now in order to be right, one must follow the Lord, one must walk here as He walked. He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. This is the first thing; for I conclude that every one would agree that no one could be right unless he was following the Lord. But as every one at all conscientious seeks to do so and considers that he is truly following the Lord, though inadequately, it is necessary to expose the various ways by which even the true-hearted are diverted from the right way.
Our blessed Lord had but one thought before Him in everything; indeed only He could say, "I do always those things that please him". He had no one before His mind but God. He considered only for Him in everything. Thus man could not be overlooked, because He was here to commend the love of God. This would have a peculiar effect on us, and a much greater one than is supposed; and if it were more simply and continually before our mind, it would influence us in a way quite unexpected and unforeseen.
The great thing then, in order to determine who is right, is to ascertain whether such an one is in his course considering for God only. Is he really walking in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ? Whenever he fails in this he is not right, and he has neither of the marks, neither the visible nor the invisible. With man naturally, himself must be uppermost, for that is the characteristic of the fall. Hence it is only as you are kept by the strong hand of God and the power of His Spirit that you could make God the first and only object of consideration. If God be simply before me, I cannot neglect any duty to which He has appointed me. If I am considering only for God in everything, I must be in the path of Christ on earth, for from this He never diverged. Now no man can consider for God only, in a scene where everything distracts him and warps his judgment, except as he is
walking by faith through the power of the Spirit. It is only faith that overcomes the world, and "who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" I cannot consider for God except as I am walking by faith. A man who has not faith as to the small things of daily life, proportionately has not faith as to anything. Faith is a power which is available in one thing as well as in another. There may be a doubt as to the place and duty God has called me to, and then I may lack faith; but I could not be consciously in the way to which God had called me, and then doubt Him, if I had faith at all as a practical power. It is clear that the only right way cannot be found or retained but as God is simply before me. If He be so, I am walking in dependence upon Him. Whenever I deviate from faith, which is seeing Him who is invisible, I am declining from the right way. Going to law for my legal right is an evidence that I have not faith, and do not consider for Him only! Abel was right, because he considered simply and distinctly for God, and what was due to Him. Cain was extremely zealous and hardworking to attain a good position, but he did not consider for God; he did not begin there, for that would have been faith. God testified of Abel's gifts; he had the marks of being right. God heard him, and in a distinct way declared his acceptance. The great thing is, from whence does the action spring, and to whom does it refer in its origin? Enoch walked with God; his course here was directed by God. It was not seeking God's countenance on his course, but identifying himself with God; and hence he looked upon everything here as it was in the eye of God. He could foresee, "The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment", etc. He was in the right way; he had the ear of God, and God was with him; and "he was not; for God took him". The more we study the course of men of God, as recorded in the Scriptures, the more we see that as God was simply the object before the heart, they were right;
and they had the marks of being right. Abram went out not knowing whither he went; he was happy and helped of God. But when the famine in the land influenced him, and he went down into Egypt, all that he had previously gained in the land was lost, for when he returned he went to the place where his tent had been at the beginning. It might be pleaded that it was very excusable for a man to abandon a place where there was imminent danger to himself and his family; but nothing, however necessary, can determine the right way for the man of God but God Himself. "If ... thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light". When Abram afterwards was in the path of faith, how distinctly the Lord confirmed to him that he was in the right. We read that after Lot was separated from him, the Lord said unto him, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee". Thus he was confirmed in the right way. Lot had much to present to his followers to assure them that he was in the right way; but you will remark that he could only point to what was for their immediate advantage. In the same way, in chapter 14, though in quite a different scene, as to the results of the victory gained by Abram, Lot apparently was the one most favoured. He was not only rescued, but his property was recovered; and to the natural eye he appears to be the one specially if not entirely considered for. But to Abram there was granted one unparalleled favour, and one which distinctly assured him that he was in the right way. Melchisedec, God's messenger, cheers and blesses him. One can hardly conceive the cheer and confirmation Abram received from God on each of these occasions. In the one the
scope of his blessing was unfolded to him; in the other the Lord unfolds Himself in blessing; each, I suppose, characteristic of the nature of the devotedness in Abram's act.
It is very encouraging to see from the word that if I am in the right way, God will assure my heart by a favour distinctly from Himself, giving me a greater unfolding of His truth, and enlarging my soul in the blessedness of Himself. I shall have more light and truth, and every spiritual person can observe these marks because they are peculiarly and essentially of God, and they themselves are helped thereby. Moses was opposed and condemned by his own brother and sister, but as he was right, God not only vindicated him, but in answer to his prayer restored Miriam. It is helpful to the godly soul to ponder thus the manner of God's dealings. There may be an apparent ground for censure, but if the censure is only to lower me, and afford my accusers an opportunity of exalting themselves, as it was with Aaron and Miriam, the Lord is sure to appear for me in some signal way visibly affecting my opposers, and in His grace using me for their relief.
Again, when Israel had sunk to idolatry, Moses comes forth for God; he considers for Him, places the tabernacle very far outside the camp, and by faithfulness secures blessing for those whose course he so distinctly repudiated. The people were plagued; Moses was the intercessor, and he was heard on their behalf; and he himself was favoured with such a sight of the glory that his face shone.
In this meditation, there is one thing which is very distinctly impressed upon us: even that the one outwardly favoured and accredited is not the one who is right, while the one who is right, like David in Saul's time, gets no public place. Yet in private, as in Adullam's cave, he has both prophet and priest there, and eventually all the mighty men. What a gracious and happy assurance to the heart of David in all the opposition which
pursued him on every side, that he was right! God was with him, and he had the ear of God.
In times of profession, as in Israel, and much more now in christendom, it is of great moment to know who is right and what is right. If there were only christendom and judaism or heathendom to decide between, it would be easy enough, but when there is the profession of the same truth by the many it becomes a very serious question who is right. In the conflict between Paul and Barnabas, every one swayed by natural feeling would assuredly have sided with Barnabas. Paul considered only for the Lord, and all the spiritual supported him; and in the very next verses we read that he was given a very remarkable help for the work in the person of Timothy.
What a solitary and singular path was our blessed Lord's! He considered for God in everything, and thus He, and He only, fully and effectually served man.
The defect in those who desire to be right in the present day is that it is not simply for the Lord they are considering. Generally it is something of especial usefulness which determines their course, and not the Lord simply; and while the Lord blesses every true service, He cannot support, as He did Abraham, with increased light and blessing, any but those who are in the path simply and wholly for Him. Like Caleb in another day, one may have to contend against great odds, but as he acted in faith for God, he was right; and God in a very marked way assured his own heart, even if others were not convinced. He was not only promised Hebron, but when the plague slew his colleagues, he and Joshua were preserved.
The apostle says, "I ... will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power". This was the way that he would determine whether God was with them. Now there is often with those who are not walking by faith, and not simply considering for God, a great effort to convince others that God in a special way countenances them. Results are largely paraded, as with James,
when he said, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law", Acts 21:20. This influenced Paul; he had put himself in a position to be influenced, and we find that he had none of the special interference of God on his behalf in Jerusalem that was vouchsafed to him at Philippi; yet, his heart being right, the Lord came to him in the hour of suffering to cheer him, but this was not because of what he did at Jerusalem, but because of his faithfulness before he came there.
It is most encouraging that if, like the children of the captivity in Babylon, I am set for God here, He will give me an open door -- a door open to faith. It is not one that every natural eye can see, but according as it is to God I am looking, He sheds the light of His own eye on the path for me. I am assured by Himself that I am right, and He enables me by His light to help His own and even my opposers, as Abraham did Lot, or Moses Miriam; and thus to work conviction in them that there is a right path, and that I am in it, for God is with me and I have His ear.
The Apostle Paul constantly gives himself as the model of the truth which he inculcates. "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9), is the language of a true ensample to the flock. To be an ensample is not confined to a gifted teacher, but it refers to every one interested in the welfare of the people of God. All who, from love to the Lord, addict themselves to the ministry of the saints are required to be ensamples, or types, in order that their services may be effectual. The guide or type must be in advance of those whom he desires to lead, otherwise there is no value or advantage in the leading, for there is no true leading. In this world of misery the greatest
among you is he that serveth, but I cannot serve when I am practically contrary to what I advocate.
It is important to see that it is only as one is brought practically under the power of the word that one can insist on its reality. Thus the unbelieving husband can be won by the effect of the word on his wife, without the word. How else can its reality be proved? It is quite different from angelic ministry. The angels delivered a message which related to man, another and different class of being to themselves. The guide or type now is of identically the same order; and hence if he does not represent the truth he avows and desires others to accept and maintain, he would not only fail in being a type of it, but he would contradict it. He would convey this the more vigorously he advocates it, that it is not effectual, simply because it has not an effect on himself.
Let us admit our responsibility. We are called to be lights in this world, holding forth the word of life. This is general, but the moment we, by act or word, take any place of prominence, most blessed when in true interest for the well-being of the flock, it is ineffectual or worse if not supported, and our title to it assured, by moral weight. By moral weight I mean the effect of the word of God on me, and how I am governed by it. If it does not govern myself, who avow that I have accepted it, how can I expect it to sway those whom I desire to accept it?
The real thing which constitutes a leader or type is that he is more practically under the power of the word than the rest. If this be wanting in a guide, then he is not a type or ensample, and he has assumed a position which misrepresents the truth, and those who attach themselves to him declare very plainly that he is the type they value; like priest like people. Alas, very often the congregation too plainly indicate the character of their chosen guides, but then the guides suit them naturally. There are the guides or leaders for the most part in all the denominations. Once you know the leader, you can describe the tenets and general practice of his followers.
There is this tendency everywhere. But when the Lord is working, He raises up here and there guides who are types or ensamples, men so under the power of the word of God that their manner of life is the real corroboration of the truth which they advocate, and who can really say practically to their brethren around them, "As I do, so shall ye do". In 2 Timothy 3, Paul adds to his "doctrine" his "manner of life". As I have said, to be a guide, a man should be morally in advance. The man of the greatest surrender in the company, and the one most ready to suffer for his brethren is the leader, or ensample, in the true sense of the word.
It is interesting to notice how one can become a type or example. The only way is, that the least shall be greatest. Many have sought it in other ways, and consequently have failed. Some, like Ananias and Sapphira, have sought prominence by untrue representations of their sacrifices for the Lord. Others again, like Simon, hoped to obtain it by paying for it. These in their varied modifications are the springs of all the natural leaders in christendom. The one who can bear to be reduced most, to be the servant of all, is the real type, and this man will not be accepted and followed by any who have no taste for the heavenly path. How did the apostle when he suffered from the false guides in his day confound and supersede them? By showing that he suffered in every way more than they had done. It is the very opposite way in christendom. The more a man advances among men, and the more approved he is because of his natural gifts, the more he is placed in the front, for honour, not for suffering. The leader can never lead beyond himself. A man may press his idea very vigorously, but in his own mind he is not beyond it, and he cannot lead any one beyond it. Hence the leader according to God is only so in proportion to his separation from the world which suits man, while seeking and cultivating what suits God according to His word. The body is not light unless there be no dark part (see Luke 11). If there be a dark part,
it is a refracting medium to the fullest truth, most fervently received, at once baulking and diverting it, as when Isaac, because he loved venison, would have diverted the blessing from Jacob to Esau. Hence the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 13, that though he had everything, and had not charity -- self-government according to Christ, it would profit him nothing. It is only thus that one is "as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light". No one can really be a type or ensample in this scene of darkness, but as he is a body of light. The great evidence or proof of grace is that it has mastered me, and has routed the dark part, the particular hold or citadel of my nature, where my idol is; and if that has not been conquered, and its place occupied by the stronger man, there is a lack of moral weight about me. I am not governed by grace where I most need it; how then can I guide others when I am not ruled myself?
Here Noah betrayed his inability to rule others, when he was overcome by wine. If I am strong in the Lord, I can say, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any". The way leaders or guides are tolerated and followed while marked by some glaring inconsistency only declares the sort of leader that suits their followers. The terrible anomaly is that men are recognised as leaders because of natural power, and hence truly they are the type of those who follow them, but are not guides according to God. It is easy to discover the lack in a congregation or company by acquaintance with those who lead them. In critical times especially, great responsibility rests on those who assume to lead. See how Timothy was exhorted to be an example. "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine". And Titus, "In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity,
sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you" (chapter 2: 7, 8).
Some will ask what is to be done when saints are led wrongly. How can you prevent it, or how can you help them? The answer is plain. The man of real self-sacrifice, like David's mighty men, will come to the rescue; or the solitary one, like Moses, who confides in God, will arrest the apostasy; or, like Phinehas, a priest with a javelin, zealous for his God, will stay the plague. No man can really help the church in a day of difficulty who is not a man of self-sacrifice and abnegation of the world. A man who cannot refuse the king's meat when within his reach will never be able to face the burning fiery furnace. It is simply impossible for the man advancing in the world, or retaining his status in it, to be an ensample to the flock. Is it not plain that if he be accepted as one, and alas such often are, he is imitated in that which mostly characterises himself, and the judgment of the Lord must overtake him? "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened", Zechariah 11:17. In the day of battle, and surely this is one, the enemies are many, every soldier is called to the front, and the true ensample, the one who counts not his life dear to himself, is the safest and most useful. But the great moral abnegation necessary for this is not the growth of a moment. "There separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains", 1 Chronicles 12:8. May every man in the front be thus in heart and purpose for the Lord in this day, for His name's sake!
We must see and hold in faith our calling before we can understand a division. A division is a breaking away from our calling, and it must be known and followed in order to mark those who cause divisions and offences among you contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned. We shall look at our calling first in its varied phases.
Individually, by grace, through the work of Christ, "as he is, so are we in this world", and because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, "Abba, Father". In the eye of the Father I am in this world as His own Son is at His right hand, and in my own heart enjoying the greatness of my relationship. This is the true standing of each believer individually, while corporately we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body, and we have been quickened together with Christ, raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
His body. The great mystery. He the Head in heaven while His body is here on the earth. The members of a natural body are not more dependent on, or connected with their head than the members of Christ's body are dependent on and connected with Him, though He is in heaven. Besides, we are the habitation of God through the Spirit; the Holy Spirit not only dwells in each believer, and forms the unity between one and all, but He dwells in the company who form God's house, as it is said, He "filled all the house where they were sitting"."THE GOOD FIGS, VERY GOOD; AND THE EVIL, VERY EVIL", JEREMIAH 24
THE SECRET OF OUR STRENGTH
WHAT IS TEMPTING THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD?
THERE MUST BE HERESIES
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUAL MINISTRY AND CARNAL
INDEPENDENCY
SOUND TEACHING
THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE GOSPEL
THE CHURCH
"THAT THEY MAY BE ALL ONE"
WHO SUCCEEDS?
OUR CENTRE CHARACTERISES EVERYTHING
WHO IS IN THE TESTIMONY?
HOW THE LORD SUPPORTS HIS WORD
THE MARKS OF MORAL BLINDNESS
FAITH AND SENSE
CHURCH LAXITY
"WHERE SHALL WISDOM BE FOUND?"
THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE MADE PLAIN
"ALL WHO ARE IN ASIA ... HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM ME"
HOW TO HELP THE CHURCH
THE LIGHT ACQUIRED BY THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MYSTERY
THE CORPORATE POSITION
THE STANDARD FOR PRACTICAL LIFE
THE CHURCH'S PLACE IS IN HEAVEN
THE TESTIMONY
OUR FUTURE
THE RIGHT WAY -- HOW KNOWN?
ENSAMPLES TO THE FLOCK
OUR CALLING, AND HOW DIVISIONS OCCUR
OUR STANDING
OUR RELATION TO CHRIST