Pages 1 - 138 -- "Christ's Personal Service for the Saints". Auckland, N.Z., 1925 (Volume 68).

CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (1)

John 21

J.T. I have been thinking of the Lord's personal service to the assembly, as indicated in the endings of the gospels, if that will be acceptable.

The Lord will make clear, perhaps, what is in one's mind. We have to distinguish between the Father's work, the Spirit's work, and the Lord's personal service, so that we might look at John 21 first. The distinction I suggested as to the work of divine Persons severally is, I think, indicated in the book of Genesis. The assembly as typified in Eve is the work of the Father, I apprehend. The Lord builded the woman and brought her complete to the man. The next type, which is Rebecca, is the work of the Spirit, which calls for decision. That is, the servant of Abraham brings her; he brings her to Isaac; he brings her by testimony to Isaac. The assembly is called out and attracted to Christ by the testimony of the Spirit. But when we come to Jacob we find a type of the Lord Himself moving. It says that "Jacob fled into the country of Syria". Hosea 12:12. It was for a wife. It was, typically, a personal movement of the Lord's. And it says, "For a wife he kept sheep" Hosea 12:12; and so, in the twenty years that ensued, Jacob was seen in continual toil, personal toil, serving fourteen years for his wives and six years for his flocks. No one else did it; he did it himself. And it occurred to me that the Lord can be apprehended in this light; and throughout the whole of the dispensation He is personally active in order to have the saints for Himself.

The endings of the gospels, that is, the parts of the records that treat of the Lord's movements after He rose, indicate, I think, the service or activities of the Lord throughout the whole period of the assembly's sojourn on earth; that is, continuous service. I suggested John first, because coming in last he furnishes us with this feature to a greater extent than any of them, because he gives us not only the activities of the Lord, but three distinct manifestations, as we read here. It says, "This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead". Three suggests perfect testimony as to the matter in hand, so that John emphasises the idea of manifestation, whether according to pure privilege and enjoyment for us, as in John 20:19, or by way of rebuke, as in the case of Thomas, or in recovery after complete breakdown as in this chapter (21). In each instance we have a manifestation, so that from John's point of view, whatever breakdown happens it becomes an occasion of a manifestation. This chapter begins, not with Peter's movement -- a party movement, as I may call it -- the chapter does not begin with that; it begins with the thought of manifestation: "After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And he manifested himself thus". Then we have the history of the failure; but first there is the reference to a manifestation.

E.B.McC. Is it not individual in this chapter, and in the previous chapter the assembly?

J.T. This chapter has to do specially with those who serve, I think; those who are commissioned to serve. The movement was a movement of servants -- those who had that place. Recovery is seen in Peter. He is the sample man. And then John comes in after that and secures his place.

E.B.McC. I was struck with what you said about

Jacob in that verse you quoted. It says "Israel". It gives him a distinction in service in that way.

J.T. Yes, it says, Israel served for a wife.

J.F.S. Going back to what you said at the beginning, do you think that that aspect of the work of the Father in connection with Eve comes in in John's gospel, as it takes place before ever sin came into the world?

J.T. Yes, I think Eve typifies the assembly as the primary thought of God.

J.S. Would you say, in that way linking on with the eternal thought?

J.T. That is what I thought. It is brought in in Ephesians. That epistle contemplates the assembly as connected with the eternal purpose of God.

J.F.S. Would you say we have coming to light in a very marked way what you have suggested -- the personal activities of Christ in relation to the assembly -- in the Song of Solomon?

J.T. I think it is there -- that is the activity of love beginning with Himself, and drawn out in the affections of the bride. It is all personal between them. The Spirit is seen in Rebecca's case, I think. It is a matter of testimony. The testimony He brings down from heaven of Christ.

E.B.McC. In Jacob's service in that way we have wonderful affection, serving for his wife. He is the suffering one, is he not?

J.T. Quite. He has to go, as it were, afield. He went into the country of Syria.

E.B.McC. He was smitten at night by the frosts and consumed by the heat in the day. It was suffering, was it not?

J.T. Yes, he was outside the confines of the town or village; it is the open field. The Lord in the Song of Solomon speaks of His locks being "wet with the dew of night" Song of Songs 5:2 -- exposure to the elements in order to secure the bride's affections. So that, when Jacob

reaches Syria he alights on a spot where there was a well. The well was there, and the flocks were there; and he removes the stone from the well's mouth; Rachel having appeared with her father's flock. She is called definitely a shepherdess, so that there is a link in their activities, and then the expression of affection at once.

J.C. On the one hand the activity of the servant, and on the other the activity of the woman. It corresponds with the activity of Rebecca meeting the activity of the servant.

J.T. I refer to all this as suggestive of the Lord's personal activities in the open field. Paul says, "I will not dare to speak of any of the things which Christ has not wrought by me" Romans 15:8 -- not what he had wrought, but what Christ had wrought. Paul was the instrument, but Christ the Worker, so that he says, "from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ". Romans 15:19. It was a wide extent of territory, a wide field. It was fully traversed, and the assembly was secured in it. That activity goes on, and I believe the Lord would lay it upon the brethren to consider that it is a time of activity. It is not a time of sitting down in the light, precious though the light is, and of enjoying the light and privileges which the Lord indicates for us; there must be the corresponding activity.

L.D.B. Do you suggest that the present activities of the Lord are through His servants in that way?

J.T. Yes, "Going", it says, "he preached".

L.D.B. So that Paul making a circuit would be as Jacob going into Syria. Is that the thought?

J.T. Well, that is what comes to one. The word "country" I think, in the book of Hosea, would indicate that it is the open field; the country, not the town.

L.D.B. Paul was moving from Jerusalem, which in some ways would hold him.

H.B. Have you in your mind that the danger is in being limited?

J.T. Not only the danger; we are limited. We want to have part with the Lord, you see.

Ques. How would you define the field today?

J.T. Well, it is the whole of humanity. If we apply Matthew 13, the Lord has secured a right-of-way in it. He is not using it for any other purpose than to take out the assembly for the moment, and he has acquired a right-of-way by purchase; and so there is liberty to move about. For instance, he says "No man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city (Corinth)", Acts 18:10. You see, the Lord had His rights there, and He assured His servant that no one should set upon him to hurt him. The people should be reached and secured.

Rem. In John 3 the Lord is seen as abiding in Judea and baptising with His disciples, and in the next chapter He baptised not, but His disciples.

J.T. Yes, that would illustrate that what they were doing was His work.

H.C. His activities went out a great deal. The country would bring in the thought that the shepherds would have been in the mind of God when, at the birth of Christ, they were keeping their flocks in the country.

J.T. The great mass of humanity at that time had been moved into the cities and villages to be registered, but these were outside. I think Psalm 19 indicates the extent of the gospel as cited in Romans 10. It is universal. Their line has gone out through all the earth. It is a great thing to hold to a right principle, even though, through paralysis, you may be unable to carry it out. Never give up the principle.

H.B. Is that what you had in your mind in connection with the chapter before us? The disciples were on a party line.

J.T. That is most restrictive. Anyone on the line of a party is sure to be cramped.

H.B. I suppose there is nothing more destructive in the house of God than party lines?

J.T. I think this is what this chapter opens up. But then we have the wonderful grace that speaks of a manifestation before that is dealt with. In allowing the thing a manifestation was in view, so that you not only have recovery, but the manifestation. A new feature comes out, for a manifestation from the Lord always implies an accession of light, something distinctive. They had never seen Him in this way before. They had never seen the Lord by Himself preparing a dinner for them.

E.B.McC. Is it the character of a shepherd here?

J.T. Very much. You see the point is "He manifested himself thus" I think in speaking of the Lord's manifestations some of us are too restricted. He does manifest Himself, according to John 20:19, as a matter of pure privilege, where there is nothing to rebuke. But then the next manifestation does involve rebuke -- not for all of them indeed, but for one of them. Doubtless they all enjoyed His presence in a general way, but Thomas was rebuked. Then in this third manifestation they are all wrong, and the grace of the thing is that the idea of a manifestation stands out at the outset. "He manifested himself thus". How? Well, the chapter goes on to say.

J.K. Is a manifestation making Himself known?

J.T. It is more than that. A manifestation, I think, involves that the Lord presents Himself in a new light. These three prove it, because there are no repetitions. Repetition is not characteristic of Christianity.

H.B. I think it would be helpful if you would give us an outline.

J.T. Well, the first, as indicated, follows the message

sent by the Lord through Mary to the brethren that He was ascending to the Father, and they are His brethren. She went and told the disciples these things, so that they had the light of the message before the Lord came. He came on that occasion to the company as thus enlightened, so that it is pure privilege, as we may say. There is not a rebuke in it. They are viewed entirely in the light of their relation to Him as brethren. So that it is on the first day of the week. The chapter mentions the first day of the week twice.

Now, the second manifestation is not said to have been on the first day of the week; it is eight days after. That is to say, it is not to call attention to privilege, as we speak. The first day of the week denotes that it is the day of supreme privilege for the assembly. The scene of the second was eight days after; that is to say, a period of exercise. The eighth day brings out the result of the period, and what comes out is that Thomas was there, he evidently not having benefited by the exercise of the previous privilege that the others enjoyed; and that is a word for all brethren who are not maintaining the light of their calling. Thomas was with them, but that did not help him. The fact that he was there did not remove his unbelief; he was still unbelieving. It was when the Lord said to Thomas, "reach hither thy hand ... and be not faithless, but believing", John 20:27 that he was convinced. Thus the Lord says, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed". John 20:29. The fact that he was with them did not in itself help him.

Well then, the next manifestation involved that they were all astray -- every one of them. I mean those mentioned -- the seven of them.

Rem. So you would say, I suppose, the sphere is widening? He is not limited.

J.T. It all bears out what it says at the beginning,

"And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace". John 1:16. He is full of grace, so there is no limit to the grace of the Lord. This manifestation is a fresh proof of it.

Ques. Do you think the three manifestations are in view of service?

J.T. This one is.

L.D.B. In the second manifestation, what new feature was developed?

J.T. I think the second visit was to confirm the exercise of the previous week. The Lord's patience with an unbelieving one appears. Thomas had not moved, but he now owns Jesus as his Lord and God. For conviction Thomas was to do something: "reach hither thy finger ... reach hither thy hand". Then Thomas says, "My Lord and my God". John 20:27,28.

W.H.U. Is that the result of conscious touch with the Lord?

J.T. I think so. He did not refer to the others. It has reference to one, whoever that one may be; one set right in the company in the recognition of the Lord. Note that he does not say "Our Lord, our God".

S.F. He had really come to that. He had missed it previously.

J.T. Yes, that is right. He is in the company now as adjusted. One is impressed with the grace of the Lord in the second and third manifestations.

S.F. His invitation to Thomas is very personal. It was to bring him into the good of the light.

J.T. He had showed the others His hands and His side, but now it is "Bring thy finger and thy hand. I am within your range. Do not be faithless, but believing". John 20:27. Christianity with John is a system of faith. Unless one has faith he is not in it at all.

L.D.B. He has thus caught up on the exercise he had missed.

J.T. He had been eight days behind. It is a

serious thing to miss a manifestation of the Lord, even though only eight days. The others were eight days ahead. Thomas must have sustained a permanent loss in being absent when the Lord first manifested Himself.

Ques. Are these manifestations of the Lord in service to us any indication as to how others should act?

J.T. The pattern the Lord intends by them is to set us in movement, so that Peter and John at the end represent the service. Peter has his work coming out to feed the lambs and the sheep, and to shepherd the sheep; John is following already, the one who leans on His breast at supper.

W.H.U. Thomas said he would not believe unless he had seen.

J.T. He was not in accord with the dispensation. There are many who are anticipating. They are millennial believers. We are not in the millennium; we are in the faith period, and Thomas was not yet in that period. He was outside of it; but the Lord would not have it that way. He loved Thomas, and He places Himself within his reach so that he should not be faithless but believing.

E.B.McC. And your thought is, he came to a full appreciation of the message sent by Mary? Had he come to that in his soul?

J.T. Well, I think he came to a full recognition of the Lord's claim -- "My Lord". He was subject, and thus he recognised God, the object of worship. I do not know that he had not missed the full bearing of the first manifestation. No doubt he was adjusted, because he says, "My Lord". He believes now, and is subject. "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me". John 14:21. The first epistle to the Corinthians is the expansion of this, the recognition of the Lord. If one is spiritual, he recognises "the things that I write to you, that it is

the Lord's commandment". 1 Corinthians 14:37. I think Thomas came into that, and therefore into the recognition of God. He would be a worshipper of God, so that he is in fellowship.

Ques. How does the company stand with regard to such a one?

J.T. I would give the right hand of fellowship to Thomas as soon as he said "My Lord", but not before.

J.R. Do you think that in the eight days Thomas got adjusted? Does that bring him up to this?

J.T. I am not sure that he did catch up to the others. You get adjusted, so that you are in the company and recognise them and what they do when the Lord comes. He came where the disciples were; He came to the company. He came to the persons rather. They were His brethren.

F.J.B. He is now inside the dispensation of faith.

J.T. Yes. The first manifestation is not repeated. It stands by itself, and Thomas could not have the gain of it as the others had.

Rem. So keeping His commandments we come into the way of receiving His commandments.

J.T. What impresses one is the abounding grace of the Lord. This is what we can reckon on. He can come into the company of His own and single out an erring brother, and place Himself within his reach and say to him, "Bring hither thy finger and thy hand".

J.F.S. Do you say we learn the Lord's ability to adjust and recover the individual in Thomas, and in this twenty first chapter, which we have just read, His ability to recover even a party as led astray?

J.T. I have no doubt the seven brethren represent the mass. There is what you may call a general breakdown. This has happened in the history of the assembly, and the twenty first chapter, I think, being the third manifestation, is to show to us the final service of the Lord to overcome that, and bring back

the leader of it, and set him up in his primary position in service. I think it is what we have at the present time. There has been a complete breakdown, yet the Lord has come in and set things up according to His own thought.

Ques. Do you think His personal activities are in view of preparing certain ones to serve?

J.T. Yes. That is the thought. The lambs and sheep have to be fed, and the sheep shepherded, and hence the need of servants.

J.F.S. I take it it covers the complete period in John -- until He come.

J.T. Yes, that is so.

Ques. Could Thomas get the gain of the first manifestation through the brethren?

J.T. To some extent; as, of course, the others would convey an impression of it to him, but it would not be first-hand.

Rem. You make that distinction?

J.T. I think so. The whole assembly benefits from any manifestation you get, but that is second- hand.

J.M. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world".

J.T. They all get it there. John 14 contemplates a manifestation to one -- the one who, loving the Lord, keeps His commandments; and I think that any such manifestation affects the whole assembly. It affects him, but all are to be affected by him, I think.

Ques. Is it not significant that "they toiled all night and caught nothing"?

J.T. There was much activity. "I go a fishing". There is a leader. Then the others say, "We also go with thee". There is a following now. Well, what is the result? "They toiled all night and caught nothing". There is a great deal of activity around, but what is the result? We have to reckon the result according to the divine estimate of it. What

is the result? Well, "they toiled all night and caught nothing" -- nothing. Yet the Lord did not ridicule them. He was on the shore, and He had a fire, and He had fish and bread. That is the grace of God which bows our hearts -- the superabounding grace of the Lord. He has everything. Where would the assembly have been had it not been for His own personal service outside of all this? He is on the land, and has the food they need, and He says, "Cast on the right side". They come under His direction. John recognises Him, and they caught a great "multitude of fishes". There was no break. And then He says, "Bring of the fish which ye have now caught". The results are accredited to them, and they are linked up with what He has. That is how the matter stands today. Then they dine. He says, "Come and dine"; not take something to eat to keep yourselves going -- it is a dinner. There is not a word of rebuke. After they had dined He deals with the leading man, with the result that he is completely restored.

J.F.S. Would you say the manifestation in that way prepared the conditions which left the Lord free to bring about the exposure in regard to Peter's affections, he having departed from Him?

J.T. You can understand how Peter would come in now in a new way.

J.F.S. I gathered by your thought in connection with the manifestation being to the individual, and yet the whole company benefiting by it, that the Lord now counts upon Peter being able to feed His sheep and lambs.

J.T. He would take up that service now in the light of the manifestation; he would say, this is how the Lord did it. If he had to restore a sheep later, he would remember what the Lord did; he would say I must feed that soul before I can bring Christ in.

S.F. Would Peter have that in mind in saying,

"Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls", 1 Peter 2:25?

J.T. Yes, that is right.

C.C. Have you in mind that the recovery of Peter would secure the result the Lord had set Himself to obtain, as typified in Jacob going into Syria for a wife?

J.T. Quite.

Ques. I suppose this is the effect of the casting of the net on the right side?

J.T. It is "the fish which ye have now caught".

L.D.B. What has been mentioned of these activities of the Lord is similar to what you referred to in connection with Jacob.

J.T. I thought that -- His own direct service. He was out very early in the morning.

J.F.S. He wants to impress us with the thought that, although He Himself is now on high, those services are continued 'until He come', in His servants.

L.D.B. In that connection, in what way are manifestations made now?

J.T. I think there was a manifestation at the Reformation; and then again later, in the last century

(a period to which we often refer), manifestations having a very wide bearing. And then, I think, in a lesser way there are continual manifestations of the Lord.

E.B.McC. You look upon this as the recovery of the assembly?

J.T. It illustrates how the Lord comes in in the history of the assembly for recovery. So that in all these conflicts you not only stand for the truth you have, but you get accessions of light; new features develop. I think all that is involved in the manifestation of the Lord; as He said to Paul, "those things in the which I shall appear to thee". Acts 26:16. Paul would expect that in his own history.

S.F. Manifestations of the sovereign gracious movements of the Lord; otherwise no recovery.

J.T. I think they are bound up together. The failure is allowed, really, so that there should be this manifestation; and so the Lord would show Himself to us now, I believe, in ways in which He was not known at the outset, because the manifestations have come in in keeping with the departures that have occurred; and, in a way, nothing impresses you more than the superabounding grace of the Lord, which we can reckon on at the end. He rises above the failure so as to manifest Himself.

S.F. He was "full of grace and truth", John 1:14 and it is grace coming in in the beginning of the gospel. We know Him now on the other side of death dispensing the same grace.

J.T. It is remarkable that Peter should be sent to represent the restoring grace of the Lord. He stands out, as some do in the Old Testament -- as Job and David, as examples of the restoring grace of the Lord, which we may all reckon on. Grace is the fire and the fish and the bread, and then the truth comes. We cannot be with Him unless adjusted by the truth.

H.C. I suppose the moral teaching -- the moral truths that flow from the activities of Christ in chapter 21 -- as suitable and applicable to the present moment of time, go far beyond the millennial aspect in the chapter?

J.T. Quite so. It is, however, a dispensational chapter. There can be no doubt the first manifestation is to the assembly, the second to the Jew, and the third has the Gentiles in view; but what you say is true. The moral bearing goes beyond the millennium.

E.B.McC. And you get possibilities mentioned: leaning on Jesus' bosom. Is that the possibility today?

J.T. Yes. Although John had followed Peter, he loved the Lord. He was the one Peter looked round on and saw following.

S.F. John, in this way, is the one who remains.

J.T. "If I will that he tarry till I come". I think we are adjusted by the truth.

Peter had first made profession. He had professed to have loved the Lord. He says, "Although all should forsake thee, yet will not I". Matthew 26:33. He had to discover the truth about himself; he did not know himself. The truth about ourselves is a terrible discovery. We have to learn the depths of the deception that is in our hearts. Whilst we make professions, we do not know how fickle and untrustworthy our hearts are. We have to learn the truth about ourselves. But Jesus says, "Come and dine". Peter had to be fed before being rebuked. After feeding them, He says, "lovest thou me more than these?" More than these; that was the shaft -- the arrow that went to his heart. He had to learn that, and then the Lord points out to him, "When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest". These are solemn principles, and every young one, and all of us, should take them to heart. When we are young we take matters into our own hands and go where we will; but the Lord says, "When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God". So that Peter should be brought back at the end of his days to correspond with Christ -- with the Ark; perfect resignation to the will of God.

W.H.U. The Lord brings in a new day when He manifests Himself in the morning. He came and stood on the shore.

J.F.S. In regard of John, the thought "Till I come" is not the idea of the rapture. It covers the

whole remaining period of the ways of God in dealing with man.

J.T. His ministry covers that -- the book of Revelation, as well as the gospel and epistles. The ministry reaches on to the coming of the Lord publicly; the appearing of the Lord.

Ques. Would you say John knew the Lord?

J.T. I think he had greater spiritual discernment. He says, "It is the Lord". He discerned the Lord. I take it that John was more spiritual.

H.G. I was wondering whether he answered to the first manifestation.

J.T. I should say that -- quite.

J.F.S. Would you think that the suggestion "Leaning on Jesus' bosom" John 13:23 would indicate that his affections were more alive?

J.T. Yes, I think that is right. He did not have to be probed. The Lord did not question him.

J.F.S. When the affections are alive there is the spiritual recognition.

S.F. Leaning on His bosom was John's act. He appreciated the love, and answered to it.

J.T. He is representative of that which in the saints appropriate what is available. What can be greater than the breast of the Lord? That was available, and he appropriated it.

Ques. These three manifestations were made to the disciples. Is there anything in that?

J.T. They are not to any others at the present time. John has the disciples in view throughout. In the first sign His disciples believed on Him; and now all the signs are in the presence of His disciples. It is disciples throughout in John's gospel.

J.F.S. Does it suggest the idea of those who are following?

J.T. I think so.

J.F.S. You would be speaking of the movements of the Lord, in that way. If we recognise the movements

of the Lord and follow Him, the manifestations are to us.

J.T. Yes. In John 8 He says to those who follow Him, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life". John 8:12. Those who follow come into that light.

CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (2)

Luke 24:13 - 53

J.T. Perhaps we may continue our inquiry as to the Lord's present service by reading part of the last chapter of Luke, verses 13 to 53.

As remarked yesterday, the inquiry is as to the Lord's personal service to the saints throughout the whole period of our sojourn here upon the earth. The endings of the gospels afford a certain indication of His services, which may be taken, in their respective relations, to indicate His entire service; that is, His service in all its features. As we may, by the Lord's help, be enabled to look at Mark and Matthew later, it occurred to me that the order in which we are taking the gospels is appropriate for the reason that we are at the end of the dispensation. We are indebted primarily to John's ministry as understanding in measure the whole scope of the truth, for it is evidently the last gospel written; and, according to the reference made to John, he was intended to continue to the end, in some sort. So he stresses the number of manifestations. He only refers to a certain number; three distinct, as he calls them, manifestations; the last, as we considered yesterday, securing the recovery of the ministers. Peter was set up in the advantage of the third manifestation. Not only did he have part in all of them, but he was specially set up in the advantage of the third. In his primary position he was the leading apostle, and enlarged his failure in leading the others; but is reinstated in his primary position. The Lord commits to him what was supremely precious to Himself; that is to say, His lambs and His sheep. To John He committed His

mother. But Peter has the charge of the lambs and the sheep -- "my lambs" and "my sheep". He has to feed them and shepherd them. No greater thing could be committed to anyone than that. He had not received the mystery -- that was a later charge reserved for Paul, one who stands by himself; but of the twelve, Peter is reinstated in the full confidence of the Lord. He has His unreserved confidence after the manifestation.

Now, Luke, in the record which we have read, is not concerned so much with leading brothers or ministers. The two that are specially singled out are not apostles. There is nothing, indeed, to indicate that they had any special ministry. They were just "two of them". Not two of the twelve, but two of the company; and they were doing nothing out of the way, as we speak. They were on a journey -- sixty furlongs (this is noted); not to any place of importance. There is no evidence that they intended to go into the world. Many slip away, as we may say, in difficult circumstances, without any intentional desire to go into the world, as such; for Emmaus suggests something obscure. The word denotes what is obscure; either the people or the place. But they had their backs on Jerusalem. They may be taken thus as typical of ordinary Christians who may turn aside, not in any bad sense; but, nevertheless, turn aside; of whom, alas! there are many at the present time. The ministry that is indicated in this chapter is intended for such. The length to which the Lord would go in His gracious service for most obscure Christians -- not for a great apostle, or a John, or a Thomas, but obscure ones -- is in view. The name of one of them is given. It is simply he is called that. He was evidently not a known brother, a brother of renown; he was just an ordinary one. But the Lord shows in this service that the most obscure of His people, occupied by perhaps the most obscure surroundings,

but with their backs on Jerusalem, are of interest to Him, and He is prepared to go any length, consistent with Himself, to secure their recovery. What is to be observed is that the Lord moves. He mentions two things, the breaking of bread and the Scriptures.

W.H.U. Would you think it discouragement coming out here in the two that went to Emmaus?

J.T. It was that; but discouragement having its birth in unbelief. There was unbelief. A senselessness, indeed. "O, senseless and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!"

J.F.S. And yet having an interest in what had transpired?

J.T. They were not worldlings; they were not careless persons; they had an interest, for they were thinking of the Lord and of His death. Nevertheless, they were definitely leaving Jerusalem, and they knew where they were going -- to another town sixty furlongs away.

J.F.S. Do you emphasise Jerusalem as the centre of God's movements at the moment?

J.T. Luke makes it the centre for the moment. The testimony was to begin there. The eleven were there, and those with them.

F.S. Do you attach importance to the way you put it now: the breaking of bread and the Scriptures?

J.T. That is what I think is emphasised. The Lord moves; then the breaking of bread (He appeared unto them in this); and then it is the Scriptures. He speaks to them of the Scriptures by the way, and then afterwards He opens to them the Scriptures, and expounds them to them.

S.F. And the words affected their hearts, and made their hearts burn within them.

J.T. Yes, the Lord has His own way of getting at the ordinary run of delinquents. He has His own way of doing it; He makes their hearts burn. He

walks with them; and one important point in that connection is that He draws out what is in their minds. "What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?" It was while they were sad.

F.J.B. What was the cause of their unbelief? Was it death coming in?

J.T. The death of the Lord seemed to have shattered their hopes. They had not believed all that the Scriptures had said -- that Christ would die and rise again.

F.J.B. They had been instructed in that. They had believed, and now turned their backs on it.

J.T. It would appear that if it was the same Cleopas as John mentions, and Mary, his wife, she was at the cross. But one may be at the cross, and not go on to resurrection and ascension. Unless we go on to resurrection we miss the dispensation.

J.F.S. The death of Christ, in that way, becomes a test to us all, as to whether we have faith to follow.

J.T. Quite. We see that God means to accomplish everything in Christ risen, not in Christ as here after the flesh.

H.B. Are we reminded here of recovery?

J.T. It is the recovery of the rank and file of the saints who become delinquents. John deals rather with believers.

H.B. Luke shows that the Lord has no favourites at all.

J.T. Quite. Luke, in keeping with his presentation, brings the Lord's interests down to the most obscure, and shows how far He is willing to go for us, for the most obscure, to restore us.

H.B. Is the suggestion, in that way, to discover the spring of things in one's heart?

J.T. That is the first thing. Give them the opportunity to tell out what is in their minds. So the Lord joins them in this simple way, as one of them, and

draws out what is in their minds, and then He is able to minister to them.

J.T.B. He does not, on this occasion, provide a meal for them.

J.T. No, they did that this time.

E.B. While He had been with them they had been dependent on Him, but now they were turning to their own resources.

J.T. Quite. They had built up their hopes on Christ after the flesh, which the Scriptures would have forbidden, had they read them. Hence the importance of the stress of the Scriptures here. If they had read and believed the Scriptures they would have known; as, for instance, Isaac would have nothing as after the flesh: he had to be received as risen from the dead.

S.F. These manifestations you have been drawing our attention to are on the resurrection side.

Ques. Hitherto their interests had been connected with circumstances here?

J.T. They thought the kingdom would be restored to Israel, but they ought to have understood that the kingdom would be set up in resurrection. The whole tenor of Scripture has reference to Christ risen. It is as risen that He expounds unto them in the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. It is Christ risen.

L.D.B. I thought the facts you have called attention to -- their being of the rank and file, and the Lord following them to their own home -- shows that the Lord still has the same grace that marked Him all through the gospel before His death.

J.T. Quite.

W.H.U. Does the turning aside in this way indicate that they had not had due regard for the testimony God had given in the Old Testament?

J.T. They were "slow of heart to believe all

that the prophets have spoken". They were making selections.

Ques. In verse 16 their eyes were holden, not to know him. Would you say a little about that?

J.T. It was the divine way to go all the distance with them without their knowing Him.

Rem. They were not yet in a position to know Him. They were disciples, and followed Him in His life up to death; but what was necessary, I suppose, as you have been indicating, was that they should be brought on to the ground He was on, in order that they might have the manifestation.

J.T. Yes, and He was reserving the breaking of bread for its own place. Luke has regard for externals. John occupies us with what is inward; but Luke makes much of furnishings, of externals, so the breaking of bread is emphasised. The Lord was reserving that. He had given it to them as a memorial, and now He was going to show them what it would be throughout the dispensation. He was going to give a concrete example of what the thing is. It is not a mere sacrament; it is a memorial -- a calling to mind; and in the calling to mind He manifests Himself.

J.C. And to be contemplated after death; they had not reached that point.

J.T. That is what Luke emphasises, I think; the importance of the breaking of bread.

S.F. In the breaking of bread, was He assuring them that they had lost nothing by His death; that all He had been to them in His life He was still to them?

J.T. Yes, that is right. The breaking of bread is set up in its own place in this chapter. We see the value of it. The Lord intended that.

L.D.B. What you remarked about externals is interesting. One would like to hear more about it. It occurred to me as you spoke: He said, "As ye

walk, and are sad". He took account of external things.

J.T. The emphasis is on the breaking of bread. It should have its place amongst us. As was remarked, they were sad. It is quite apparent they were sad, and their communications were in the way of unbelief. They were facts indeed; but they were relating them in unbelief, like thousands and thousands at the present time. And so, when they returned to Jerusalem they found the eleven and the others, and they were speaking about the appearing to Peter. Then they say He was made known to them in the way, and in the breaking of bread.

Jno.R. So the breaking of bread was new to them. Did they know anything about it previously? I was wondering if they were present at the institution of the Lord's supper.

J.T. They would have known about it, doubtless. "This is my body, which is given for you". Luke 22:19. That was for all; and now it is known, not, as it were, when He was alive in the flesh; it is known now as it is to be even throughout the dispensation. That is the point -- what the breaking of bread is now that Christ is risen.

Ques. Do you regard the three women mentioned in Luke, who bore witness to the apostles of His resurrection, as representing the state for the breaking of bread? It almost seems they were in advance of the apostles for the moment.

J.T. Yes. Here the breaking of bread was an ordinary meal in their house. He took the place of the house-father. It was not what He instituted -- the formal bread and cup we have in 1 Corinthians. It was the ordinary meal. There was nothing at all about drinking; it was simply as He broke the loaf. As He broke the loaf He was made known to them. It was familiar to them. It was what He did.

W.H.U. He had broken the bread in public; and

it is quite possible they had seen Him do so on more than one occasion, and they recognised His movements.

J.T. And I suppose in presiding, too, He would always take the place of the house-father.

S.F. He takes advantage of this meal of their providing to touch their hearts in a special way.

J.T. It was such as to give Him an opportunity to manifest Himself to them.

Rem. It would have something of the character of the loaf in the Supper.

J.T. It would.

F.S. Do you suggest the setting of this meal has any bearing on the external character of the Supper today?

J.T. I think so. It would bring out the manner -- how He did the thing. I suppose it may be the last occasion on which He did it. He did it before He died -- setting the thing up, instituting it; but now He takes advantage of an ordinary meal to show the intent of it. He was made known to them. Now, that was the one thing they enlarged on.

W.H.U. Why did He vanish from their sight?

J.T. He did not intend to settle in these circumstances. The manifestation, or the appearing, does not refer to our houses; it refers to the assembly. Its bearing is towards the assembly; the whole assembly is in view. The assembly is to get the gain of that. Whatever I get from God is for the assembly.

W.H.U. Was He educating them in that way in view of getting back to the right spot, and taking up things intelligently and affectionately?

J.T. I think they were to form part of the "honeycomb". They were to be contributors, and they were. They tell the eleven and those with them how He was made known to them. That was a new feature.

S.F. They would be welcome contributors as soon as they returned to the company.

J.T. That is it. These would not come back as mere members of a congregation, to listen to the leading brothers; they would come back as contributors, and as understanding that Christianity was mutual.

F.J.B. And they look upon their own exercises now as having a personal link with the Lord.

Ques. Was it anxious care in connection with their own circumstances that took them away from Jerusalem, and does the Lord set them free?

J.T. I have thought they regarded the matter as ended. The Lord's death had ended matters. They were going home; but what is to be noted is that it does not say they were going home, but they were going to Emmaus (an insignificant place).

E.B.McC. They were unbelieving as to the Scriptures, and this is the way the Lord takes to recover them.

J.T. That is the thing to be noted -- how He acted; because, to be in accord with the service which He is maintaining we have to learn from Him; so that in seeking to help delinquents the thing is to go with them as far as you can, and find out what is in their minds. He would have gone further, but they constrained Him to go in. You go a long way; that is, provided they are not in an open worldly course. But these are not on that course; they are just giving up things. They had lost heart in their unbelief. You can go a long way with them.

E.B.McC. Would they have been saved this had they kept their eye on the centre and known the Scriptures?

J.T. That would have saved them.

Ques. Is there a centre today -- and where is it?

J.T. Where the authority of the Lord is recognised. They returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven. The eleven represent the authority of the

Lord, and those with them the circle of the saints.

L.D.B. Where the authority of the Lord is; that is a moral condition.

J. T. It is a moral condition; what you find among certain saints. The Lord says, "There shall a man meet you". Luke 22:10. He laid down the principle of guidance which is to be carried out during the whole period of the Lord's supper. They say, "Where wilt thou that we prepare?" He says, "When ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you". Luke 22:9,10. He does not say you will meet a man, but he will meet you. He might easily have given them the number of the house and the street, but He does not. He says, "There shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water; follow him". And they followed him. And then, "Say unto the good man of the house, the Master saith, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make ready". Luke 10:11,12. There. That is the principle that should govern every Christian, and it is simple. The man who leads you with the pitcher of water is the guide. And the next thing is, where does he go? And the next thing, what is there? The Master is recognised there; whatever He requests is acceded to. That is the test.

L.D.B. Do you suggest there is a test right away, in connection with following the man with the pitcher, as to whether one is ready to submit? You meet the principle at once there, do you not?

J.T. I am sure you do. One's heart is tested as to where one faces. There is a moral authority in the ministry that commands the heart, and I want to come to the source of that.

L.D.B. The master of the house is in accord with that; that is, he recognises what will please the Lord.

J.F.S. In Luke here they find the saints as together.

J.T. Luke makes for the public assembly; John does not. You do not find the word 'assembly' in John's gospel. He does not deal with official terms; but Luke does. In John 20 it should read, according to the "New Translation", verse 19, "Where the disciples were"; John 20:19 not where they were assembled. Where they were -- the persons. But here we have "they found the eleven, and those that were gathered together" That is, the public assembly, and their theme is that the Lord was risen; as it says, "Saying, the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon". No questioning here. The Lord is indeed risen. Definite information -- facts. He had "appeared to Simon", the erring one. It is the responsible man, Simon; not Cephas, because Luke deals with the public assembly, which is composed of persons who are responsible.

F.S. It was important from Luke's point of view that He should appear to Simon.

Ques. Was a pitcher of water the mark whereby they were to recognise their guide?

J.T. Yes; the pitcher was not an empty pitcher. It was a pitcher of water.

Ques. Is that what the man was?

J.T. It characterises the man definitely. There was positive ministry in that pitcher.

Ques. Would you say that is what brought these two into line with what already existed? They went back to Jerusalem.

J.T. That is it.

W.H.U. Is it an illustration of how the priest has compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way?

J.T. I think Leviticus should be carefully read with Luke, in order to see how the Lord deals with those who have turned aside and are out of the way.

Rem. The ministry He gives here in opening up the Scriptures appeared more to help them on the way, rather than to turn them back.

J.T. It does not turn them.

J.C. I suppose that was necessary to complete the ministry, and bring them to that point where He could manifest Himself to them.

J.T. It shows we should go out in the ministry, even if people are not moving. The Lord will come in, you know; and when He does, the ministry will bear fruit.

J.C. Although they do not return, still He was ministering to them. Their hearts were being prepared. Their hearts burned within them. They would not be long before they got home.

J.T.B. Should we all have pitchers of water?

J.T. "He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water", John 7:38. Now, that refers to a believer, but a believer in Christ glorified. I do not know a passage that throws you on the Scriptures more than that. There is no indication of chapter and verse. You have to look it up from the outset, and go right through to the end to get the "rivers". It is the bearing of Scripture. Scripture teaches that although the believer in Christ may be obscure, he may yield rivers of living water. Think of the magnitude of that! And it is available to the believer; not a gifted brother, but a believer.

Ques. Does it mean rivers of water in a dry place?

J.T. Well, now, the believer is to be there. "This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive". John 7:39. We have in chapter 4 the Spirit from the divine side, the side of gift; but in chapter 7 it is from the side of reception. It is the receiver of the Spirit.

W.H.U. I suppose what recovered these two -- what brought about the movement -- was endearment

to Christ? And when He vanishes from their sight they felt their brethren were absolutely necessary, and they returned to them.

J.T. The Lord looks for contributions, and then He comes in, after He affords the opportunity for contribution, and inquires what have you got. "Have ye anything here to eat?" Well, one says, "There is no life in our meeting; there is no joy here". Well, what have you contributed? That is how it acts. Have ye anything here to eat? Every believer in the company is to be under obligation to contribute. No one can escape.

W.H.U. Will you tell us what you had in your mind when you said they were not recovered to a congregation?

J.T. The assembly is a mutual thing. The apostles and those with them were speaking about the Lord's resurrection. It was a fact. "The Lord is risen indeed". What can be more forcible in the way of ministry than the great truth of the resurrection of the Lord? It is not ascension, as in John. The message that Mary brought was not that He was risen, but ascending. But here it is "the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon"; and, as it says, "they related what had happened on the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread", Luke 24:35. That was their part.

S.F. You were speaking of His acting as house-father. You said they were on family lines -- mutual lines. That would bring home to them all the warmth of the circle.

J.T. Now they bring that into the company. Obscure as they were, they contributed this great feature. "He was made known to them in the breaking of bread". You may complain of what there is, but how has the Lord been made known to you? What has been your experience with the Lord? That brings out where one is.

S.F. How important it is. It was wonderful for them to be in conversation with such a Person, unknown; but when He makes Himself known in the breaking of bread, how much more wonderful!

J.T. That was the great feature. The things that happened on the way. One can look back on one's own history and recall many things that happened, and can see the Lord was in them. It is all of a piece. It has the end in view; and He meant all these things to be built in. He made Himself known.

J.M. Do you understand that Luke is showing us the Lord's dealings with two downcast saints? If I gather what you are pointing out, it is that the Lord has personal dealings with two downcast souls, so that the assembly may get the positive gain; and then there is something for Him.

J.T. Are there any downcast ones amongst us? Are there any who have turned their backs on the divine centre? The Lord is ready to go the whole way with them. Not but what the Lord has means of dealing with souls; but mainly His service is mediately, and we are to take pattern from His ways.

N.S. Is that on the line of compassion in connection with the priest? It is not only what He does, but the way He does it.

J.T. Quite. He has compassion on the ignorant and erring.

N.S. They seem to have been impressed by the way He did it.

Ques. Was there not a necessity for Him to vanish? They would have been glad to have retained Him in their circumstances.

J.T. The company at Jerusalem would not have been helped otherwise. He came in: "As they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst", Luke 24:36.

Ques. Here it was the Lord's personal touch. How could that take place today?

J.T. Well, as I was saying, I think it is very largely through those who have a care for the saints -- you and others. I think the Scriptures would indicate it is put on all of us. "He that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins". James 5:20. As I was saying last night, James illustrates what one man can do. There is Elijah, who closed up the heavens, and opened up the heavens by prayer; and another can go and save a soul, and cover a multitude of sins.

Rem. Do we not recognise the Lord in every bit of true ministry that is presented to the saints?

S.F. Just a word, please, on the covering of sins. How is it done?

J.T. Well, we have a knowledge of God. We have to learn from God how to cover sins. Covering is not condoning. The thing has to be dealt with.

J.C. The two who journeyed to Emmaus were not really content with their own circumstances. Had they been, they would have invited the disciples there. They get the true setting now.

J.T. The honeycomb is in view, so that when the Lord seeks, He finds it.

L.D.B. The honeycomb is not in view in Emmaus; why not?

J.T. There are no mutual relations in the world, Save where the authority of the Lord is owned. There may be partisan feeling. The world is made up of partisan feeling-special relationships. In the assembly "The rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all", Proverbs 22:2. You cannot find that anywhere save where Christ is supreme.

Rem. "I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey", Song of Songs. 5:1.

J.T. Yes. He is invited into the garden, and He finds them all there.

E.B.McC. I suppose the Lord will not have anything less than Jerusalem, in that way?

J.T. That is the divine centre. And now, when He comes in and stands in the midst and eats before them He says, "It is I myself". How very real that is! "I myself". "A spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having". A real Man in the midst of His own. And then He opens their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and He goes over the books of Moses -- the Pentateuch, the prophets, and the Psalms. But He does not say anything about the Psalms on the way. He does not say anything about the Psalms to the two on the way to Emmaus. You cannot bring in Christian experience there. No. Talk about Christian experience when your face is away from Jerusalem! Christian experience is seen in Philippians. A man with his eye on the calling of God on high in Christ Jesus.

H.B. When you have your face to Jerusalem, you can write your psalm.

J.T. Yes. "Speaking to yourselves in psalms"- that belongs to Ephesians. Ephesians 5:19.

Rem. He does not say, "It is I", until the two were back with them. Being one company, they were losers by the absence of the two.

Jno.R. Would you suggest that we should all be contributors?

J.T. You cannot have the honeycomb without that.

Jno.R. It is not the exercise of gift.

J.T. Gift enters into it, of course.

Ques. And that is assembly ground.

J.T. I think so. It sweeps away at one stroke the whole clerical system. It is not a congregation; it is an assembly. "I speak as unto intelligent persons". 1 Corinthians 10:15. That is how the apostle approaches the

company. The assembly is a company of intelligent persons. The Lord would have them so.

J.M. That intelligence can only be gained under the good hand of Christ. With these two, it could only be the intimacy they had gained with Christ.

J.T. God is able to make the alien joyful in His house of prayer; Isaiah 56:7.

J.M. Does the last verse give an indication of the Lord's care for the whole company? "He led them out as far as to Bethany". He seems to have the whole company with Him.

J.T. He has led them on step by step until they are fit for the testimony. Luke has public testimony in view. After the Lord went to heaven the disciples returned to Jerusalem, and were in the temple praising and blessing God.

S.F. Although these two broke away, yet the assembly was not broken up. It was there, holding the position, and they were recovered to it.

J.T. The assembly remains.

G.H.C. Why does He show them His hands and His feet?

J.T. It is a sign of grace. The feet refer to the toil and travel of the Lord in journeying; all the distance He trod in order to carry the grace of God to men. So that is the impress upon us. If men are to be benefited by us, we have to walk, to undertake toil. The thing is continual service; the feet carry you. "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace!" Romans 10:15. The Lord intended to set the apostles out with such feet as His, so He says, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high". The Father will give His Spirit to them. But there is another element. The testimony is to be in dignity -- in the Spirit of the Father. "Power from on high". They were to be clothed with that. They are thus to go forth in the testimony.

CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (3)

Mark 16

J.T. I think we might look at the last chapter of Mark this afternoon. What we have before us in these readings may be again mentioned for the benefit of those who have not been with us.

First, the bearing of the Lord's activities on the whole dispensation after He rose and during the period of His stay here before He ascended; the thought being that His then services indicated what His services should be spiritually -- and, I may say, mediately -- during the whole dispensation. So that we began with John, because he lays stress on these manifestations of the Lord, saying that there were three. He does not imply that there were not more than three, but three sufficed to indicate the complete evidence. Paul mentions more than three, as we have already noted elsewhere, in order, as I apprehend, to point out the constructive nature of the Lord's manifestations. John mentions three as adequate witness; and then, in connection with the last, he records what we may call a general breakdown; that is, a breakdown in the leaders; for they are the ones who go astray and lead astray. The lambs are not mentioned as needing shepherding in John 21. We had before us that the sheep need the shepherding, and the fact that Peter and his company had gone astray and led astray was evidence of that. So that the leaders are restored; at least, the leading one amongst them is restored, and he is entrusted with the care of the lambs and the sheep. He is also reminded that, whilst he is entrusted with the lambs and the sheep, he is not entrusted with his fellow labourers. With John it is not a question of forming

a public company -- forming an assembly publicly; that is the service that Luke records.

There are two great features in connection with the ordering of the public assembly, as the first epistle to the Corinthians emphasises and amplifies -- the Scriptures and the breaking of bread. So that Luke, whilst developing the public assembly, finishes up with witnesses, not preachers. And a witness of Christ such as Luke presents must not be a cast-down, disconsolate person. None such can be a witness of Christ. Luke would light up the countenance and bring in a heavenly appearance. The point is -- the kind of persons to be witnesses of Christ. Not a question of gift exactly, but of formation. The passage we read yesterday begins with sad countenances and disconsolate conversation, and it ends with happy believers, worshipping believers, believers that were happy in a spiritual way, in the temple, praising and blessing God. And that, dear brethren, is what I think we should take account of in Luke; and it includes all the members of the company. In order to be witnesses we must be sanctified and anointed, because the anointing really is the outcome of what is inward. And so I suggested the gospels in this order. In Mark we have not the formation of the company, but the preachers. He has the preachers in view. So the services or manifestations of the Lord in Mark have in view that there should be preachers. I think it would help to have the matter before us clearly thus, so that we may understand what is here in this passage.

W.H.U. What are the particular features you are calling attention to in Mark?

J.T. I think we have to begin with the negative. Emphasis is laid on unbelief -- the unbelief of all. It is not a mere historical record held up for our ridicule or criticism. It is simply ourselves portrayed before our eyes under the most favourable circumstances

possible. The chapter lays stress on unbelief, I may say, in all of them. They brought means of embalming Him. Mark is the only evangelist, as far as this translation goes, who uses the word "embalm". Here are women who had undoubted affection for the Lord as they knew Him on earth, and yet they did not seem to have a spark of faith as to the resurrection, for they brought the means with them to embalm Him; meaning that He is to remain a long time in the tomb. I am quoting from the New Translation, which I suppose many of you have. It is "embalm", not "anoint".

F.J.B. They went and bought the spices. In the other instances of sweet spices, they had them laid by.

J.T. Well, it shows how people make sacrifices in their unbelief.

J.C.S. One could scarcely think of unbelief being greater or deeper than that evidenced in the fact that they were going to embalm Him. That, so to speak, closed up all hope.

J.T. And they were in accord, you might say, with that which was really an Egyptian thought. I suppose the most skilled embalmers were Egyptians. The greatest denial of the resurrection in an extended way is found in Egypt. I think their mode of embalming and preserving the dead is the most pronounced infidelity as to the resurrection.

F.J.B. Jacob, in going down into Egypt, sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. He must trust in resurrection if he goes down into Egypt.

J.T. That is right.

J.C.S. I suppose the Egyptians are practically saying that death closes everything, and the disciples were sharing that idea in regard to Christ.

S.F. Do you draw attention to the scripture, John 20:9, "For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead"? How

plainly He had spoken of His rejection, and being killed, and the third day rising again!

J.T. Yes, so that after He was risen, they believed the Scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken; showing that the full bearing of Scripture is only understood as we apprehend Christ risen.

J.R. Did they not understand the Scripture, "neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption", Psalm 16:101

J.T. Apparently not. Peter cites that in his first address. So that the facts brought out here come home to one as to the innate unbelief that marks every one of us. These sisters and brothers were not singular in this; they are simply mentioned as types. We may be sure that no one of us would have behaved any better in the same circumstances.

J.B. Would it go as far as the denial of resurrection?

J.T. I think so. It amounted to that. And what one notices is that Satan always seeks to darken the minds of the saints in regard to the truth that the Lord would emphasise.

W.H.U. Would the activity of Christ here be in order to bring our souls into the light of resurrection?

J.T. I think we should be believers; that is the thing. "I believe", it says, "therefore have I spoken". You cannot impress anyone with what you say unless you believe it, and I think that is what is in view here. Hence Mark says, "These signs shall follow them that believe". It is not those who are commissioned, but those who have believed. What is emphasised is faith. That is to say, we are notified at the very outset, in regard to service or preaching, that it cannot be effective unless we believe what we are saying. It cannot be effective. "I believe, and therefore have I spoken".

W.H.U. In this respect it would be belief on a definite line, would it not?

J.T. Quite.

W.H.U. In connection with the risen Man.

E.B.McC. Would the sun here be a testimony to them? The sun had risen. The creation would speak of the resurrection.

J.T. I think so. Everything was now in the light. It was all there. The sun had risen, and yet the women are more or less stunned. It is said of them, "trembling and excessive amazement possessed them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid", Mark 16:8. They did not even carry the message, they were so disturbed and upset.

M.B. Would there not be a difference between this we read of here and the Jews who sought to bribe the soldiers to tell a lie in connection with the resurrection?

J.T. A very different thing. It seems to me as if they believed the thing more or less. But that is a remarkable thing. I hope we shall come to it later on. This is intended to reflect on all the saints. They are not singular. These features mark every one of us, and it is a humbling thing to accept. Even in the case of the women who had brought the spices the Spirit enlarges on what is in their minds. The other evangelists would rather enlarge on the affections which led to it, but here it is what was in their minds; hence the extreme perturbation at the vision of the young man dressed in white.

S.F. And in their minds the "very great" stone was a difficulty.

M.B. What is the cause of the unbelief here? What lies behind it?

J.T. I think it is what we are in ourselves. It is not a question of the exercise of their wills. It is to call attention to what we have to guard against. You may take up the doctrine of the gospel -- the doctrine -- and preach it very eloquently, now that others have preached it who know it. Do you believe

what you say? Have you discovered that there is an innate tendency in your heart not to believe; that even while you are announcing the facts correctly you may not believe it yourself? We have to learn this, and seek help from God to overcome our unbelief. I do not suppose there was one who had read Psalm 16 who would not admit the truth, as a matter of doctrine, that the Messiah would not see corruption; yet they missed it for the moment.

H.C. Is there not the danger of each of us imbibing from the Egyptian world, and deriving from that source what would influence our course down here?

Rem. Does it not show the absolute necessity of the Lord's supper to keep His death and resurrection fresh in our minds?

J.T. But we have to learn what is in our hearts -- the tendency to unbelief. This is a picture of myself. If I had been there I should not have done better; perhaps not so well. Here are women who go to the expense of getting the spices to give effect to what was in their minds, and the others were mourning and weeping; and yet when the testimony comes to them by their own sisters, whom they regarded and respected ordinarily, they disbelieved it. Why should I not believe a person I have walked with for years? And yet it is only to bring out what is in my heart, and what I am to learn to judge. Otherwise I can never be an effective preacher.

J.C. It is the disclosure of what we are in ourselves; and that being accepted would preserve us from unbelief.

J.T. It is like a beacon light set up before you to show what you are exposed to.

Ques. Would you not say that in it all it was Himself they wanted?

J.T. There is no doubt about it; but how unbelieving we are!

L.D.B. If we have this tendency to unbelief, what would enable us to really believe?

J.T. Well, I think the discovery which this chapter is intended to effect is the first great step. I do not know what you think. It is to me the first great step -- that light is thrown in on my soul, and it is discovered to me that I am instinctively infidel as regards God and the resurrection. Then I turn to God for faith. It is His gift; I must get it from God.

L.D.B. The infidel tendency is remedied by getting to God, who would rid us of all infidelity.

J.T. So that it says, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him", Hebrews 11:6. Hence the immense stress laid on faith in the epistle to the Hebrews. The Christian alone understands everything. The physical universe, as well as the spiritual, is understood only by faith. The cleverest astronomer does not understand it, the cleverest geologist, the cleverest botanist. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God", Hebrews 11:3. The word of God brings in a moral element.

Rem. It carries us beyond science.

J.T. It does, indeed.

J.R. The weight of the spices brought by the women is not mentioned here, but in the case of Nicodemus "about an hundred pounds weight" John 19:39 is mentioned.

J.T. With Nicodemus the volume is emphasised -- one hundred pounds; meaning that, when the time came, the obscure brother, whom we hardly knew as a brother, proved the genuineness of his faith. Mark enlarges on the unbelief, because he wants to make preachers of us. So he virtually says, 'If you do not believe, you cannot preach. You cannot be effective'.

J.C.S. We are only effective in the preaching in the measure in which the light holds our hearts; we cannot go beyond that.

J.T. Every time I preach, I would endeavour to look into my heart and say, 'Do I believe it?'

H.B. You are stressing that we are possibly satisfied with historical facts; but that is not enough -- it is not belief.

J.T. A man can speak most eloquently, you know, in the gospel, and yet not believe the thing; whereas a man who believes it may not speak eloquently, but he impresses people.

M.P.M. Paul really believed it, and they said he was beside himself.

J.T. But he was not beside himself. He says earlier, "I have believed, therefore have I spoken", 2 Corinthians 4:13.

Rem. So it is a question of having one's own heart impressed with what God has said.

J.T. With all God has spoken. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". Romans 10:17. God has spoken.

J.T.B. Paul said, in Acts 27:25, "I believe God".

L.D.B. You experience the power of the truth in your own soul?

J.T. Quite. No one can define the divine transactions inside a man. You cannot define it; you have to experience it. There is such a thing as that; and if it has not taken place in me, why not? It is available.

J.F.S. Divine power following is the evidence that it has taken place. "Signs following".

J.K. Mary, although she knew Him and was impressed herself, did not make the others believe.

J.T. The Lord blames the others for not believing. No shadow is cast on her. The Lord, as they lay at table, upbraided them with their unbelief, because they did not believe the words of those who saw

Him. Why should not they believe Mary? On what grounds could they disbelieve her? Think of what was in their hearts to believe that that dear woman would keep on telling them lies. If I cannot believe the testimony of one whom I have every reason to believe, why is it?

Rem. The truth of resurrection is not natural to us.

J.T. That is true. You have to discover it and judge yourself.

First of all, in the first paragraph, they are all in the same category, through unbelief. Then it says in verse 9, "Now when he had risen very early, the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary". Now He has taken the thing in hand Himself. They could not believe the testimony. Here was a young man who presented the testimony that the Lord had risen. They could not believe it. Hence Mark gives us another view. He brings in what the Lord did. They could not believe the testimony, so He appears to them. When He had risen He appeared first to Mary. He did it Himself. What would have happened if He had not taken the thing in hand? If the Lord does not take the thing in hand sovereignly, where shall we be?

H.C. It is a very serious thing to disbelieve the testimony of the young man, seeing he was clothed in white.

J.T. I think a young man clothed in white should be listened to. They are very rare; because it means personal purity.

The Lord said to Thomas, "be not faithless, but believing". John 20:27. The great thing is to believe the testimony, because the whole dispensation is on that principle.

Ques. Would it be right to speak of the simplicity of faith, giving God credit for what He has said? I was thinking that a man of this world makes a statement

and it is believed. How much more when God speaks.

J.T. This chapter is intended to prepare the ground for world-wide testimony. The dispensation was not to be a dispensation of sight. If the Lord manifested Himself to every one of us as He did to these women, then it would be a dispensation of sight. Where it is not intended to be a dispensation of sight, it is intended to be a dispensation of faith; that is to say, Christianity is set up and established on the ground of testimony.

S.F. "We also believe, and therefore speak", 2 Corinthians 4:13.

J.T. That is it. Hence these signs shall follow those who have believed. It is not necessarily the apostles; it is "those that have believed".

E.B.McC. So they have the testimony here of resurrection, and then they have the testimony of the creation. The young man presents resurrection.

J.T. Quite. The Lord, in joining them as they lay at table, emphasises the fact that they did not believe the testimony. He virtually says, 'You have disqualified yourselves; you have not believed the testimony'. The Lord "reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him risen", Mark 16:14. They did not believe the testimony.

E.B.McC. I suppose our Lord's day morning meeting would be an evidence of how far we believe the testimony, would it not?

J.T. It would. We must come together in faith.

J.F.S. In Mark, our power for God is testimony here; and it suggests that power marks those who believe -- "signs and wonders follow". It would suggest power, would it not? I thought had it been only for the apostles, it would have excluded us; but seeing it covered the whole company, we can take it up in principle.

J.C.S. Is it not a most important fact that God is addressing Himself to faith only today? He is not addressing Himself to sight, and the report must be believed -- a report addressed to faith.

J.T. Quite. So the epistle to the Romans is on this ground -- for "obedience of faith among all nations", Romans 1:5 and hence Paul says, "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine", Romans 6:17.

E.B.McC. Do you get a fresh report each Lord's day morning?

J.T. No doubt you are confirmed. I think it is a great thing to see that the dispensation is on the ground of report. Of course the twelve are not included in that. "Have I not seen our Lord Jesus Christ?" While the Lord upbraids them with their hardness of heart and unbelief, He really meant them to see Him risen; and they had experience of Him in resurrection for forty days, as it says, "by many infallible proofs" Acts 1:3; so they were qualified to make the report. Our position is that we have believed an accredited testimony.

J.F.S. Do you think it is right to say they were still linked with the system of sight?

J.T. No doubt. They were accustomed to a sight system.

J.F.S. The fact that they were lying at table would suggest to us that they were still linked with that sight system which He had set aside by His death. Unbelief linked them with that.

J.T. What a meal it must have been! What communion could they have in that meal, with their hearts all filled with unbelief?

S.F. Resurrection changes the character and appearance of things entirely.

J.T. It does. Now, I verily believe there are many tables spread, and people lie down at them, and they are not in faith. We may take up things, you

know, and imitate what is in faith. But they lay at table in unbelief.

L.D.B. Why does the Lord address them here with apparently more harshness than in the other two gospels we have considered?

J.T. Don't you think it is because of what we are saying -- He intends to make preachers? Preachers who are in the rough need to be spoken to plainly, because they do incalculable damage unless they preach in faith. I do not know of anything more dangerous than a preacher going out in unbelief. See how the coast is strewn with shipwrecks on that account! And yet some of them (we have to speak tremblingly of these) some of them could speak most eloquently; and one knows and remembers persons converted and enlightened through them. They had the light, of course -- the facts of the gospel, and might use it; but the personal impression would not be Christlike. No one could convey an impression of Christ without faith.

Rem. It is not enough to announce facts. We must preach Christ.

J.T. I am sure of that. There is light in the facts -- the doctrine of it; but you want more than that. You want to convey some thought of Christ in your preaching.

G.H.C. "Faith is ... the conviction of things not seen". Hebrews 11:1.

W.H.U. Preachers going out on the lines of this chapter would be maintained on right lines in their testimony. There would be no reverting to human expediency.

J.F.S. Would you say that the principle of it comes to light in connection with the wilderness, where the apostle suggests, in Hebrews, the "word not being mixed with faith in them that heard it"? Hebrews 4:2.

J.T. That is right. The only act He has credited to them in faith is that they crossed the sea by faith,

and that places them on Christian ground; but the wilderness was not trodden in faith.

Rem. What is of faith, we would be able to take account of.

J.T. It is shown by your works.

J.C.S. I was thinking that unbelief lies behind much of the indefiniteness in our course here. We have not fully committed ourselves to unseen things.

J.T. I am sure of that. I do not know of any service that can be more useful to all of us than that we should be impressed with the necessity for the exercise of faith with regard to every position we are in.

L.D.B. Would you make a few remarks on Romans 10, in connection with the preacher there? It says, "How shall they preach unless they have been sent?" Romans 10:15. Does that imply the importance of having a right start?

J.T. I think so. I think the Lord will not send you except as in faith. This chapter is to prepare you to be sent.

L.D.B. I thought it implied what you said, that the soul has to do with God. All that is presented in preaching is to be based on resurrection. Is that so?

J.T. Quite. We are dealing with a matter that should be well known to many of us, because there are many preachers here.

H.C. Are the right hand of God and the thought of power in connection with resurrection?

J.T. You have to come on now to the exaltation of Christ in order to have support; that is, we come now to another thing -- the thought of support. Faith is not enough. You believe what you are going to say, but you do not want to say it only; you want support in saying it. Now, support hinges, not on the resurrection, but on the ascension of Christ. "He sat on the right hand of God", and they went forth everywhere.

S.F. And the Spirit can link Himself with that.

J.T. You stand up, and you believe what you are going to say; but you want to say it in divine power. But how am I going to say it in divine power? I could not say it until Christ is exalted. They were not to preach until He was exalted. As a matter of fact, if we take up Ephesians 4, apostles came from heaven. "Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men ... and he has given some apostles", Ephesians 4:8 - 11. They were to preach in the power of an ascended Christ. That is where the support comes from, and there is no power that can compete with it. You may rely on that. But what we have been dealing with is not that, but whether you believe what you say -- the terms of the gospel.

E.B.McC. I think Noah sets forth a good example of a preacher. He built an ark for the saving of his house. He believed what he was preaching.

J.T. Quite so. He believed the testimony that God had given him.

J.C.S. We should be so impressed by these facts that we would speak of them so that men would be impressed by them.

J.T. This passage would include all the saints in the measure in which they preach. "The apostles remained at Jerusalem", it says, "but those that were scattered" preached Acts 8:4. It does not say that Philip was primarily sent. He was a deacon, but had become an evangelist. He would come under this head.

The next thing is the Lord has sat down on the right hand of God. The thing is finished as regards power. The power is now available. If I believe the thing, I can reckon on full support in my delivery.

H.B. So that the testimony is affected by both what I do and what I say.

J.T. I think that is it. It is a believing people

God would have. If we believe the things, we are supported.

G.R. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". Matthew 12:34.

J.T. There it is something you have measured; your heart is impressed. It is a question of what you think of Christ; the heart is full. Out of the abundance of the heart.

G.H.C. Then, "They ... preached everywhere". What does that suggest?

J.T. The co-relative position Christ has taken on high. The Lord has taken His place on high at the right hand of God, and that position has reference to the whole realm of creation. He has secured right-of-way in the whole realm of creation. He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the glad tidings to all the creation", Mark 16:15. Mark has the creation in view, and the Lord has the right-of-way everywhere -- "and they went ... everywhere".

Now we come to the question of power, which is another thing. The question of whether I understand the power that is available, and the responsibility as to the area in which the preaching is to be maintained.

Ques. Does power come from believing?

J.T. It does; but it comes with the exaltation of Christ. "Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive and given gifts to men". Ephesians 4:8. Those who have "preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven", 1 Peter 1:12. It is by the Holy Spirit you preach. That is the power.

S.F. Seeing that the Person in resurrection has gone into heaven, everything now comes from heaven in the way of blessing to man.

J.T. It is the Holy Spirit come from heaven. Hence the Lord says, elsewhere, they were not to go out of Jerusalem until they had been endued with power from on high.

L.D.B. What we have before us has in view preparing preachers here to receive support from One up there.

H.C. Does it not suggest the gospel of the grace connected with Calvary, and the gospel of the glory connected with ascension?

J.T. The gospel of the glory includes everything, I think.

J.C.S. So that belief would really make room in the heart for that power that comes down from on high. It makes room for the power here. So that preaching is really continued on the same lines as the Preacher who has gone on high -- the Lord Jesus.

Ques. Had not Mark been recovered from this character of unbelief himself?

J.T. That is true. Doubtless he is the writer of this gospel, and is writing from experience. But one is impressed further with the thought of the need. There is the need of ministry. The need that exists for labourers is great. We have had our lesson. The Lord's people have been taught by experience -- bitter experience -- that unbelieving young men going out into the service ends in disaster. But this must not be taken up to mean that young men are not to go out into the service, because it is a young man who is presented to us here, and it is a young man in white garments. The whole chapter is to impress upon one that he is to believe what he says, and to say it in the power of God; not with mere natural ability.

J.C.S. One is impressed with that -- that the reason the ministry is so ineffective is because we do not minister in faith; we partially believe.

L.D.B. Does the young man mentioned in this gospel, who fled and left behind him the linen cloth he had on, illustrate one in unbelief? There was evident unbelief. Whilst the young man in this chapter (Mark 16) clothed in a long white garment seems to set forth

one who supports the testimony in a suitable way.

J.T. The two young men illustrate the writer of the gospel, as has often been remarked. It is an excellent thought. Mark himself illustrates these two men, first in following. It was a right intention in following the Lord; but he was partially naked, and before the matter was through he was wholly exposed. That is, our unbelief comes to light. He comes back again, and is clad in a white garment.

J.F.S. In Acts 15, Barnabas took Mark, and Paul chose Silas and went forth.

J.T. Mark left them at Pamphylia. It says, "He left the work".

Rem. In 2 Timothy we see Mark restored; that is, there is evidence that the Lord had been working with him, and the apostle Paul takes account of that.

J.T. "He is profitable to me for the ministry". 2 Timothy 4:11.

J.C.S. One who preaches must be prepared for the examination of his garments. The garments must support the preaching.

J.T. Quite.

E.B.McC. I suppose he would set forth one in affection. I mean "the young man" here. He speaks about the crucified One. And they would want that for service.

J.T. I hope the Lord will lay it upon our hearts that there is great need. We settle down to an ordered system of meetings. That is just a better religion than what is around; whereas it is intended to be a faith system -- a living system.

Jno.R. Belief is to be continuous -- from the beginning of our course to the end.

J.T. Hence the vessel has to be nourished. I have no doubt what has been suggested is true. The Lord's supper, and all that connects with it, tends to nourish and encourage faith, and freshen and invigorate us, so that we go forth in energy. We know what we are about.

CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (4)

Matthew 28

J.T. We might look at the last chapter of Matthew today. It may be said that our subject is administration. The facts recorded have in view that there should be moral power on earth for the enforcement of the will of God. The angel, as it will be observed, is seen by the keepers. In the other gospels the angels are said to have been seen by the saints only -- those who visited the sepulchre. Another feature is that as the Lord appeared to the saints they worshipped Him. The feature of unbelief that we dwelt on yesterday is not in evidence at all.

In order to have government there must be respect; and this not only for the Lord, but for all who have moral power. "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour", 1 Timothy 5:17. So the Scriptures -- the Old Testament Scriptures -- furnish us with examples of the acquirement of moral power. Those who had an official place accredited of God had earlier qualified for the place on moral grounds. We find as an illustration that Joseph, who typifies the Lord in a peculiar way as in administration, in his dream, which he tells his brethren, and which elicits their hatred, says, "we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf", Genesis 37:7. That refers to inherent power. It is a remarkable thing that a sheaf should stand up. Whatever the growth may have been, the sheaf had been cut down; so that there was the power of life. It was not set up by another. No, it stood up. The suggestion is not conferred authority --

that came later. Authority was conferred on Joseph, not because of his birth, not as a heritage, but on moral grounds. So that it stands; the sheaf stands up, and the others bow down. That is what comes out here.

Then Joseph goes on to a wider area; he has another dream. It refers to the exaltation of Christ. The first refers to His resurrection, and the second to His exaltation. He says, "behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me", Genesis 37:9. That is, all power in heaven and on earth has, as it were, to bow. He has gone into heaven, and all are subject -- angels, principalities, authorities, and powers. He is made Lord and Christ. But He qualifies morally for the position.

I mention all that, dear brethren, because, if there is to be rule amongst the people of God now, it must be altogether on moral grounds, not on official. Not that one is made a leader, but one is that. It was so with Moses. In Proverbs 30 our attention is called to four stately things, ending with "a king, against whom there is no rising up", Proverbs 30:31 and I think that is the point of this chapter. There is no rising up against the king. The first character is a lion; he turns not away from any. The second is a horse (it should read 'war horse', possibly), who, as we know from the book of Job, is always ready for the fray. He smelleth the battle afar off; Job 39:25. He knows the issue of the testimony, and is prepared for the consequences. He is ready for aggression, as well as for defence. Then there is the he-goat, which would suggest the isolation of the soul to God, wherein we acquire power with God. And, as having power with God, we have power with men. So that the king follows, "against whom", as it says, "there is no rising up". He is not merely a constitutional monarch; he is a monarch set up in moral power, and so you cannot rise up against him.

In this Moses qualifies strikingly. As coming down from the mount, he has been with God; and finding the people in idolatry, he faces the whole camp of Israel, and not a tongue is raised against him. There is no rising up against the man who has acquired power with God, so that Moses is said to have been king in Jeshurun; he had acquired that place. He was not the acknowledged king; he was a king on moral grounds. He acquired the place in the affections of the people; and I believe that is the point in this chapter, because the Lord says here in the end of the chapter, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations", Matthew 28:19. Make them. That would be an entire impossibility apart from the power that the chapter suggests. The nations are to be made disciples. It is not a question of preaching, but of making them disciples.

J.C.S. So that the Lord's activities in this gospel are in view of putting us on these lines. His activities here are towards putting saints on this ground to come out as administrators in heavenly power.

J.T. That is the thing. It is quite obvious that rule has to be, but it has to be on these lines.

Ques. Do we get a reference to the inherent power you refer to in the beginning of Romans -- "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead", Romans 1:4?

J.T. Yes; I think He qualifies there. He is declared to be Son of God. It came out that He had that power.

J.C.S. According to Matthew's gospel, the Lord Jesus was born to rule. He was born a King, and all His movements here proved He was One.

J.T. That is what the gospel brings out, so that in the facts recorded here there is no rising up. They worshipped Him -- the women and the eleven; that is, there was reverential respect for Him.

J.C.S. In this gospel the Lord does not prevent them from holding Him by the feet. That is quite in keeping with His position.

J.T. He said nothing against it, because He is continuing on; as He says, "I am with you always".

J.F.S. John gives the inherent power you were speaking of; "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again", John 10:18. The sheaf that had been cut down, standing up in life. No man could place it there. It stood up of itself.

Ques. Do we see it set forth in type in David when he slew Goliath? "There was no sword in the hand of David". 1 Samuel 17:50.

J.T. Yes. He qualifies; as he says to Saul, "Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear", 1 Samuel 17:36. He qualified in secret.

J.C.S. So that really everything that transpired in the life of the Lord Jesus established His authority and power to take up the throne.

J.T. The disciples are reverential here. One would specially lay stress on that, because we are living in democratic times, in which authority is in disrepute. There are those who "speak evil of dignities", Jude: 8. The Lord would maintain amongst His own the true idea of the divine thought in rule. The democratic idea is not divine. It is not that one would speak against any order of government, only as to the principle. God would maintain amongst His people respect for authority. You worship Him. They are not filled with amazement, as Mark speaks of it. They worship the Lord as He meets them in Galilee.

J.F.S. Paul suggests this line of thought in the end of the epistle to the Hebrews, where he says, "Wherefore, we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear", Hebrews 12:28.

Ques. Does this come in on the line of Psalm 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power"?

J.T. Well, quite.

J.C.S. So the scene in the closing chapter of Matthew would fit in with what you were saying about Joseph -- the sheaf lifted itself up, and the others are bowing down in the recognition of his power. I think it is a beautiful scene.

J.T. Yes, they had to come to it. They hated him for it, but they had to bow down to him.

Rem. "Fear not. Go, bring word to my brethren". That is, I suppose, in connection with the sheaves. They are to take word to the disciples in Mark. What would be the difference?

J.T. The Lord brings the sons in for rule, as in Psalm 45:16 "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children". It is family relationship. "Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth". They are to be made princes here; but the underlying thought there is family relationship, hence David's sons were chief rulers. The family link exists between the Lord and those who rule under Him. First we have to notice that the women received the message from the angel, and they are on their way to deliver it. In the end of verse 8, they ran to bring His disciples word, and as they went to tell them, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "All hail". Here we are dealing at distances. Rule involves dignity in those who rule, and the "King's business required haste", 1 Samuel 21:8. It is the King's business here. They ran to bring His disciples word; and then it is as if He hastened their pace by meeting them, and saying, "Hail. The King himself is speaking. The message you have is to be delivered not only to 'My disciples', by name, but to 'my brethren'". He would augment their pace in meeting them thus, but He elevates the message in addressing it to His brethren. It is as if

He said, Rule is to be on a higher ground than simply discipleship. Perhaps there is nothing we need to be reminded of more than the thought of dignity in whatever we do. So in rule, the Lord would give us to understand that we are in the relation of brethren to Him; and yet we are to retain a respectful distance. It is not brethren as in John. We belong to the royal family; but in office we have to respect those above us; for a king's son, although a son, if he is in office, has to respect the king. It is not his father, but the king. So, as they meet Him in Galilee, they worship Him.

Rem. So that, being in the recognition of who He is adds dignity to them.

J.T. Quite. The greater His dignity, the greater ours.

J.C.S. It is very comely they should be found so at this moment. They are able to perceive the dignity that belongs to Him and what belongs to Him has a universal character -- it extends everywhere. They are prepared to recognise Him, and worship Him in the light of what He is entering upon.

J.T. The women are in the position of messengers. They bear the word, and the Lord would have them to bear it in suitable dignity and liberty. So He says, "Bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me". There is nothing here in Matthew about His going to them, as in Luke, to recover them. They act; they are to go.

Ques. Have you in mind the journey that Joseph's brethren took into Egypt?

J.T. Well, it corresponds.

Rem. They were ultimately known as His brethren. He is found there in power, and they are placed with Him.

J.T. What we all need, I am sure, is subjection to authority, not only to the Lord, but to all who have moral weight; and, indeed, submitting to one another,

as it says, "submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ", Ephesians 5:21. The brethren are to be respected, especially if there be moral power.

M.P.M. Do you think Pilate had to be obeyed? Even in the inscription on the cross, when the chief priests desired him to write, "He said, I am king of the Jews", he answered, "What I have written, I have written". John 19:21,22.

J.T. What we find in Matthew is that Pilate is referred to as the governor. We are dealing With government.

H.B. Can you help us as to the characteristics of an elder?

J.T. Well, Timothy gives us the qualifications. He is to be "irreproachable, husband of one wife, sober, discreet, decorous, hospitable, apt to teach", etc. 1 Timothy 3:2. He was to rule his own house well, and have his children in subjection. These, With other qualifications, indicate that a man has weight. If a man cannot rule his own house he has no moral power. If I have not this, I must turn to God. He gives it. Power with God involves power with men.

J.C.S. Power as seen in a saint is the same power as is seen in its absoluteness in Christ. And that is why it carries respect. You see divine power amongst the saints.

H.C. If a man has not a home circle in which to qualify -- that is, a Wife and children -- how does he stand then?

J.T. Well, an elder should be qualified according to Timothy; he should have the qualifications given. Nevertheless, a man may acquire power amongst the brethren even if he have no family. The brethren are ready to discern his worth if a man has power with God.

H.B. Do you suggest, then, that it is only a man with a wife who can be an elder?

J.T. That is what is indicated at the outset.

That was amongst the moral qualifications. But, as I said, a brother will have weight among the brethren as he has power with God. We have no official leaders now. The thing that tells, as ever, is the power of a prince: "Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth". Psalm 45:16. That is what 'Israel' means. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men". Genesis 32:28. Judah, it says, "prevailed among his brethren", 1 Chronicles 5:2 and he became the chief ruler. He prevailed. Thus one is accorded the place of rule.

Ques. Is that the picture we get in this chapter? The brethren are morally right here. As you were saying as to Luke 24, the Lord went to the erring ones; here, they came to Him; and, being in His company, they can move out and make disciples.

J.T. They are morally right. The women worship Him, and the eleven also. What we are speaking about can only be developed through prayer -- having to do with God. So Matthew records that in prayer you are to enter into your closet, because he has in view that you should secure power with God; and as having that power you have power with men.

Ques. What does the man wrestling with Jacob set forth?

J.T. Jacob says, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me", Genesis 32:26. Remarkable tenacity. You persevere with God, and you get power.

Rem. He had great need of power on account of the lawlessness of his house.

J.T. He had indeed.

H.B. In Mark, the women were afraid; now in this chapter the keepers are afraid. Can you help us as to this?

J.T. That brings up the question of what the angel represents. The angel here represents the providential government of God in the world, which greatly helps the direct government we are dealing

with. The angel represents the providential dealings, which, for example, have secured to us now the liberty of meeting together without molestation. I would connect the angel with the providential government of God. It is what I may call indirect, but nevertheless effective; it suffices to make a way for us. Direct government is in the assembly. Hence we pray for all those who are in authority. The angel refers to the indirect government of God; the providential government of God, which secures peace in the world, and makes a way for us to work out the principles of the assembly. We have nothing to do with it, save to be subject to it, and to pray for those in authority. We do not put them there; the angel attends to that. It says that angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation", Hebrews 1:14. That, I apprehend, is the secret of the present international situation. God has ordered things for us, and we should be extremely thankful for them.

J.C.S. The government of God was coming in in view of support for the testimony here, so they were not to fear. It encourages us to think of it in that light.

J.T. But then, what comes out is another thing. Satan would come in to deceive. Hence, what you find here is a lie -- a lie circulated and established, as far as the Jews were concerned. That is a serious contingency that we have to deal with in maintaining the government of God -- a lie, when it becomes accepted.

H.B. That is very remarkable. The world system is based on a lie. The kingdom is based on the truth.

J.T. We have to contend with it. The disciples have to disciple all nations; but see the difficulty in making disciples of people believing a lie! That is how Satan discredits what is of God. In the great apostasy men will believe a lie. Amongst the saints.

on the contrary, the great thing is the truth -- transparency. The river that flows out from the city is clear as crystal. There is nothing of the lie at all, not anything of dark counsels about the government of God. Our brothers' meetings should be on this line -- the line of transparency. What we are dealing with is the common property of the saints, not of an exclusive set. If there are those upon whom special responsibility rests, that does not exclude the weakest saint in the company. He belongs to the "angel". Revelation 2:1. He is responsible, and should know all that is going on. We have no dark counsels as the stewards of the Lord. He would not allow a package to be carried through the temple; Mark 11:16. That is, something wrapped up; some secret thing. Things must be open.

J.C.S. Things are not done in a corner, and there is nothing diplomatic there. Things are all open.

J.T. That is it. Paul says, "I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed". Galatians 2:11

Ques. Referring to Jacob again -- did he acquire moral power with God to judge the iniquity of his sons? In due time God raised up Joseph, who subdued them.

J.T. Yes. Then you see, in Genesis 49, Jacob is acting in the power of Israel. His last words to his sons -- a prophetic outline of their history -- were on the ground of moral authority: "Hearken unto Israel your father". Genesis 49:2. He strengthened himself on the bed's head -- he himself. That is, he had inherent power. Even at that advanced age, when he was about to die, there was power there, and he spoke to his sons in that power. So no father need assume that he cannot have moral power, because it is available.

Ques. Would that be the result of his going down to Joseph?

J.T. I think it was the result of his experience

with God. He had wrestled with God. He was greater (consciously, I believe) than Pharaoh. "The less is blest of the greater". Hebrews 7:7. As he is brought into the presence of Pharaoh, he blesses him. Joseph respects the greatness of his father at the end; Indeed, Jacob was more spiritual than Joseph when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh.

M.P.M. Lot would give us an example of one who had not that power. He was as one that mocked to his sons-in-law.

J.T. Quite. This was in keeping with his position in Sodom.

J.C.S. The Lord Jesus Himself was the King. He had really brought in the legislation. Now He is educating the saints for the administration. His power and authority are with them in it, to go right on to the end.

J.T. Quite. Look at the responsibility He places on them. He says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations".

H.C. You have emphasised the making of the disciples a little in contrast with the preaching of the gospel. Would you make it clearer how the disciples were made?

J.T. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". This was a greater proposal than Alexander ever thought of, or any of the great conquerors. It is one thing to subjugate the world by force of arms, but a very different thing to make disciples -- to make them. How could it be done, save by moral power? It is not a question of "he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved". Mark 16:16. That is Mark. It is not that here. It is administration here. The question is not raised, 'Who wishes to be baptised?' They were to do it.

J.R. Such power is seen in Solomon.

J.T. Yes. He rose up in such moral power that no one could raise a finger against him. He was "a king against whom there is no rising up". Proverbs 30:31.

S.F. So that those submitting to baptism in that way, would be in recognition of the power that existed in heaven, which was present on earth.

J.T. That is the idea. The commissioners of the Lord are in such manifest power that men must see the gain of becoming disciples. Hence it is a question of privilege. The princes are the models. The princes exhibit in their walk and ways the moral greatness of the thing. There never was anything like Christianity in the world. At Ephesus the whole power of the world was brought down before it. It was the superiority of the thing. Even napkins taken from the apostles sufficed to effect cures, denoting the power in the man, so that the world gave way before him! It is all opened up to you. Hence -- baptism: "Go" -- "baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Compare that with the Jew who went out proselytising among the nations. What had he to offer? Here we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all available to you. Is it not worth while? It is on those lines you make disciples. It is a question of moral power. What is presented is superior. The nations were to be admitted into all the blessings and privileges involved in the revelation of God.

Ques. Is not power acquired by the fact that the Lord was with them even to the end?

J.T. Yes; and they were made princes. We want to see that; we are to have power -- influence.

J.F.S. All this suggests the prophetic word, "A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment", Isaiah 32:1.

J.C.S. That goes right down to the end.

J.T. That is what the Lord would help us on this

afternoon. We have had features of the Lord's service. That is one great feature. He is carrying on the service of administration, but He would have princes, so that He can act through them.

W.H.U. Is that why food is brought in in connection with rule in the early part of Matthew? He shall rule, or feed, all the people. Is the feeding brought in in order to produce princes?

J.T. No doubt.

E.B.McC. I suppose they would learn something of this in the eleven who went to be alone with the Lord in Galilee. Some doubted; they would not get the gain of His presence.

J.F.S. Why is Galilee mentioned so often?

J.T. To slight Jerusalem. Jerusalem had failed in government. Luke makes much of Jerusalem, because Luke emphasises grace. But when you come to government you have to take account of sins, and Jerusalem's sins had mounted up to heaven, and the wrath of God must take account of them. The great education for us is to know how to combine grace and government. Grace would lead you to stand beside a brother, but judgment would lead you to leave him alone. We have to learn to combine grace and government.

H.B. That is why the earthquake comes in here, to level things.

H.C. The rod of Aaron and the rod of Moses brought together in one place.

J.T. Yes.

J.F.S. The Spirit of Christ would really be the ability to govern.

J.T. So that it is a priest upon his throne.

Ques. Do you give verse 19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations", etc., a present-day application?

J.T. It is the light you have to go by in administration. Other scriptures may modify this, because

there may be certain limitations which would hinder you in carrying it out. Matthew contemplates the assembly in order -- the assembly as it was at the beginning. It is a question now of getting the light of what existed at the beginning, and to have the moral power to influence those who are within your range. You must be able to expand, and to influence those within your range. You influence them.

Rem. So they moved here in the same moral power whereby they had been affected by Him.

J.T. Yes.

J.F.S. Would administration exercised rightly in the assembly have its effect universally?

J.T. That is the bearing of it. The princely or stately walk spoken of in Proverbs implies that others take notice of you, and they see you have something better; that is the thing.

M.P.M. In John 1:29 it says, "Behold the Lamb of God!" They beheld Him as He walked, and followed Him.

Rem. A priest is not necessarily a prince.

J.T. A priest has compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way, but whatever he does he has to combine that with government.

J.F.S. John had the thought of a kingdom in his mind in the beginning of Revelation -- a kingdom of priests. Is that the idea?

J.T. Yes. We are set up in Peter "a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light". 1 Peter 2:9. These excellences become attractive, and they have moral weight with people; and if a man is affected, the next thing is you open the door to him. He can come into this by baptism.

L.D.B. What did you say about the passage, "the government shall be upon his shoulder" Isaiah 9:61

J.T. That falls into line with this, do you not think?

L.D.B. His shoulder is equal to the government of "all nations", so that "all nations" can be discipled.

Ques. It says the nations shall walk in the light of the city. Is that the divine end reached?

J.T. Yes. Because the idea of government is influence. It is a question of what influence I exert. I suppose the sun governs on the principle of influence. So, with the heavenly city, there is influence. The enormous value of the influence of the heavenly city will be perceived on the earth, and I think this is the point now. A prince shows the superiority of the thing; and now, if you want to come into this (indeed it is imperative that you should come in) the door is open.

M.P.M. Is it seen in Peter and John? Peter says, "Look on us", Acts 3:4.

J.T. There it is. The power is there.

J.C.S. And our power as princes is commensurate with our power with God. What we are as coming under God is the measure of what we are going to be there.

J.T. Quite.

Rem. So that when things are morally right it becomes easy to submit. The saints are able to take account of those who are over them in the Lord, and to submit.

J.T. The Lord goes on to say, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you". Here it is not repentance and remission of sins, but what He has enjoined. All legislation comes from Christ. There are no Houses of Assembly or Upper Houses in Christianity. All legislation comes from Christ. He is the lawgiver. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come", Genesis 49:10. Thus the

lawgiver is Christ; so He says, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you". Enjoined, not taught. It is a question of government.

J.C.S. It is in keeping with the presentation of the Lord Jesus in this gospel.

J.T. It is very beautiful to see Paul -- although the great apostle of the Gentiles, and commissioned with greater administration than the twelve -- humbly moving about among his brethren in the different cities, delivering the decrees from Jerusalem. How unity among the saints at that time was maintained by the humble acceptance of the situation by Paul, who went about and delivered the decrees to the different assemblies in the Gentile world; and then it says they "increased in number every day" Acts 16:5. That shows how discipleship was extended -- the assemblies were increased every day. One feels the innate resistance there is in us to submit to rule, because we are living in democratic times, and we catch the spirit of the times so easily; whereas the divine principles never alter. This passage has the same weight today as at the beginning. It is what He has enjoined.

Ques. The elevation is never lowered, is it? I was thinking it was a mountain in Galilee. Although they come out from Jerusalem, they come to an elevation in Galilee.

J.T. You find that throughout this gospel. It is the principle of elevation for government.

C.C. While the thought of government and the priestly character are so prominent, why is it that women are prominent?

J.T. I think they always represent the subjective conditions among the saints, and these are always essential to any feature of the truth; so that we can see how sisters come into this, although they may have to wear authority on their heads because of the angels, which is on this line.

H.B. Would you say that we learn how to rule by being ourselves in subjection? Is that the idea?

J.T. That is the thing. It is only as I learn in subjection that I can rule.

J.F.S. Proverbs 31:23 would suggest what you say of the woman -- "Her husband is known in the gates". A woman has power administratively.

J.T. You will find examples of wise women throughout the Scriptures. Take a woman like Deborah. It says of her: "She dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah ... in mount Ephraim", Judges 4:5. That is to say, I suppose, she had acquired victory over herself in her dwelling. She had learnt to rule her own spirit. She was not a gossiper. She dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, and hence in her song in the next chapter, she speaks of leaders leading in Israel, and governors governing in Israel. "The highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased ... until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel", Judges 5:6,7. See the great change that one woman brought in in her day; and it is all a question of moral power, because she had no official place.

S.F. I was noticing that "all power is given unto me in heaven" -- up above, "and on earth". Yet you do not find heaven made known in this gospel. The commission to the disciples is connected with the earth.

J.T. All that power is to support the disciples in this great service.

Rem. In a company of believers, when some question arises, there is a tendency to follow a leader. Would you say it is quite right to obey, but a different thing to follow?

J.T. Of course a leader is to be followed. The idea is what one sees. If anything is to be done well we must have the fellowship of the brethren; it is

quite right. But it was never intended that the conscience of one man should rule the assembly. One or two brethren may or may not be happy, but are they prepared to take on the obligation of holding up the government of God because of their conscience? Hence the thing is to be a leader. Leaders led in Israel. If anything is to be done, is there a brother of moral power to lead? You cannot expect everybody to see eye to eye in these days. The thing is, therefore, to proceed according to divine principles. If the thing is to be done, let it be done; and God will confirm it, if it is right, even though all will not agree. Of course there must be the utmost consideration for every conscience. All this may entail suffering, as we see in Joseph; at the very outset hatred arose -- a double hatred. They hated him before the dream, and more after it. Nevertheless, there it is. The thing has to be done. The will of God has to be carried out, and it is imperative.

L.D.B. It is encouraging; they came to it, as remarked earlier. I suppose today we can count upon that. Whatever is of the Lord is to be maintained. Brethren will come to it.

J.T. One has seen it over and over again. An action has been done because it is the will of God. Brethren come round.

G.R. Have I the right to demand my brethren to respect my conscience?

J.T. No, I have not. It is for me to submit to my brethren, and the Lord will reveal to me what is now hidden. Why should that hold up the government of God? You might as well try to hold up the sun. It is the same thing. I may be dragging in my will. It is a question of confidence in the brethren.

G.R. Could my will not be exercised by forcing such upon the brethren?

J.T. Certainly. It often is -- very often.

Ques. What is the force of "worthy of double honour"? 1 Timothy 5:17.

J.T. An elder that rules well, it says. He is exemplified in that he has ruled well.

J.C.S. What you said before is helpful, that the ruling is on moral ground. Power is on moral ground.

J.T. Yes. Peter says, the "elders among you". He addresses them as a fellow elder. You see how he takes mutual ground with the elders. "I exhort that they feed the flock, and be examples". 1 Peter 5:1 - 3.

CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (5)

Acts 1

J.T. I have been thinking that, to complete the series of readings we have had, we should look at chapter 1 of the Acts. It occurred to me that this scripture is necessary to complete the inquiry we have had, because it gives an additional feature of the Lord's activities during his stay amongst them, telling us the number of days -- namely, forty.

I think that, among other things, what He had in view was to prepare them for the Spirit. We have had the idea of manifestation in John; he enlarges on the idea of manifestation, which involves accession of light. Then Luke, as we have seen, takes account of the feeblest of the Lord's people as essential in the public gathering, to the end that there should be a witness. The saints should be a witness to Christ. Then in Mark, that there should be individual faith, and preaching; and in Matthew, that there should be an administrative company.

But it remained to be seen what the Lord's stay had in view in regard of the Spirit; that the saints should be available to the Spirit; might know how to make room for Him; and, I may say, use the Spirit in their service. We find at the outset that the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, charged the apostles whom He had chosen. This is a feature which is not mentioned in the gospels, that the charge was by the Spirit. Then we read that He presented Himself living with many proofs after He suffered, and that He assembled with them. The point is not so much the resurrection (the resurrection is assumed of course), but it is not so much emphasised as the fact that He had suffered, had charged them by the Spirit,

and had assembled with them. So that it seems to me our consideration today should be how the Lord's service, after He rose, bore on the dispensation in regard to the assembly, and the Spirit in the assembly.

J.C.S. Would that be that He was handing the saints over to the Spirit, in a way preparing them for the fact that He was giving them charge of all things in His absence?

J.T. Well, they would also understand how to act in the Spirit.

J.C.S. So that all that came out in the four gospels which we have considered would now become a possibility amongst them by the Spirit coming.

J.T. Yes. The Spirit would be here. The Lord acted by the Spirit during His service on earth, but the model should be after He rose. After He rose He charged them by the Spirit, so that throughout the dispensation those who serve were to understand how to act by the Spirit. They would learn from Him by that action.

J.C.S. We see that, His having charged them in that way, they were to learn morally from Him how to do things in the Spirit.

J.T. The use (to speak reverently) that may be made of the Spirit by the believer, as to his individual experience or in his service, is perhaps but little understood; whereas all activity and energy during the dispensation is to be by the Spirit. The assembly is the vessel of the Spirit.

J.F.S. Each instance in the gospels that we have had before, is the continuation of what is seen in Christ in the assembly now; so here He showed unto them the way in which they could use the Spirit, that they might value the assembly in that way.

J.T. That is what I thought. I am sure it commends itself as an important consideration.

J.C.S. So God is virtually saying, "All that I have brought before you is only possible by the Spirit".

J.T. Quite. In John 21 I may have the obligation of feeding the lambs or the sheep, and shepherding the sheep; or the obligation of restoring wandering believers, as in Luke, or of opening up the Scriptures to them; or I may have the obligation of preaching the gospel; or I may have the obligation of general administration; but all is by the Spirit. That is the thing one would like to have clearly before us.

J.C.S. That is really what imparts tone and character to the thing.

J.T. Yes. It renders us in the carrying out of these obligations, independent of the flesh, independent of human combinations, independent of means, and that by which the machinery of Christendom is sustained -- worldly means. The recognition of the Spirit renders us independent of all these things. That is what comes out in this chapter.

Ques. Did you say power would be needed in the service, and this would be obtained by waiting for the Spirit?

J.T. Yes, that is what comes out. Not only the Spirit should come, but example is set before them in the Lord how this should operate.

M.P.M. Would it be seen in the saints at Corinth? They were defective on that line, so the apostle brings the Spirit very definitely before them.

J.T. Quite. What comes out in 1 Corinthians is the setting of the assembly; first in the way of fellowship leading up to it, and then coming together in assembly in the eleventh chapter; so that we are set in relation to one another in affection. Then in the twelfth chapter there is room for the Spirit. Hence you have the varied activities of the Spirit, rendering us entirely independent of the flesh, of learning, of money, of combination. We have full support in the Spirit.

J.C.S. The Spirit having come subsequent to

Christ having suffered would really stress that, would it not? We are outside of all that belongs to the flesh.

J.T. Yes. I think it is well to notice the connection of sufferings here -- "To whom also he presented himself living". It is not here so much that He is risen (of course He is risen), but that He is living. It is a living man now; and then, "after he had suffered" -- a living man, after He had suffered. Thus we have set out, as one might say, the oil by which the tabernacle is anointed. The tabernacle was anointed by a holy compound, of which myrrh was a major part with other spices, pointing to the Spirit of Christ as the One who suffered. The assembly is anointed with that. It is a suffering people, having the Spirit of a suffering Christ; not yet triumphant, except in a moral way. We are in a position of suffering. That is the place we are set in; and the tabernacle is anointed with that -- pointing to a dispensation of suffering.

S.F. This is the order of things which, in principle, will continue through this dispensation, is it not?

J.T. That is right. It is the suffering period, but nevertheless, there is power; complete independence of man in every connection.

S.F. It is something entirely new, established on the earth.

J.T. Exactly.

Rem. The disciples were able to take account of this in His own blessed Person.

J.T. The Corinthians were ignoring the fact that it was a suffering period. The apostle said, "Ye have reigned as kings without us". 1 Corinthians 4:8. That was, they ignored the time of reigning, which is still future. It is the time of suffering. If we suffer, we shall reign; so that he cites himself and others as models. It was not simply that the world had caused them to suffer, and humiliated them; but God had set the apostles last,

appointed to this. "We are made as the filth of the world, and are the off scouring of all things", 1 Corinthians 4:13 even unto the very day in which he wrote the epistle. God had set them in this way. They were to be the leaders of the dispensation, carrying on this principle of suffering; but without resentment, without retort; as he says, "We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter". Romans 8:36.

Jno.R. Do we get a good illustration in Stephen -- a man full of the Holy Spirit?

J.T. Yes. He stands out as the model of the dispensation; one who bore a heavenly character, and witnessed to the truth. He suffered like his Master. Wonderful type of the dispensation as in the mind of God!

H.C. As far as Christ Himself was concerned He said -- "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons", Matthew 12:28. His own mighty works were done by the Spirit Himself.

J.T. "Then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you", Matthew 12:28. So here, He was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is in power. It is "not eating and drinking; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit", Romans 14:17.

J.C.S. The power of the Spirit would really be commensurate with the suffering. The Corinthians were not prepared to suffer, and their movements in the Spirit were evidently restricted.

J.F.S. Peter in his epistle very much indicates the line of suffering you are speaking of. As he goes on he speaks of them in that position as those upon whom the Spirit of glory and of Christ rested.

J.T. Well, there you get it. That is the thing, As suffering, the Spirit of glory and of Christ rests upon us.

J.F.S. In the third chapter of his first epistle he speaks of Christ's suffering. He says to the saints,

"to which also ye have been called". He connects it with the calling.

H.B. Would this be in line with what David experienced in the cave of Adullam?

J.T. Quite.

J.C.S. What do you think was the force of emphasising the presenting Himself living to them?

J.T. It indicates that the dispensation is to be marked by living men -- living. We have a counterpart -- an enforcement -- of this in chapter 9, where Tabitha is presented living. She had died. She was a woman of good works, but evidently there was this feature wanting -- spiritual life. How many are active in good works, and accredited too; but what about the life? Christianity is a living system.

Ques. In what way has the life been brought in at the present moment, in contrast to or exceeding that which had gone before?

J.T. I think attention was called to the Spirit. This was one great feature of the revival in the last century. Attention was called to the Spirit in a well-known paper entitled, "The notion of a clergyman dispensationally a sin against the Holy Spirit". A very strong title, but a title that conveyed light. The whole clerical system was built up to set aside the truth of the Spirit, and so 1 Corinthians 12 is brought in to show that the clerical idea is incompatible with the presence of the Spirit.

J.C.S. The idea of the clergy would be on the lines of restricting life -- the neutralising of things.

J.T. Quite. The Lord said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life", John 8:12. You look around, having the light of life, and that becomes a test of everything that presents itself religiously in the world. It is to be noticed that the idea of life is emphasised in the Scriptures that are addressed to Jews. The Lord is presented Himself,

in the revelation made to Peter as "the Son of the living God"; Matthew 16:16, John 6:69 so in his epistle he enlarges on the idea of Christ being the living stone, and we are living stones. Now the light of life becomes a test in your soul as to everything that presents itself religiously. Where is the green in it? Where is the room for growth -- the energy of life? I think what comes out is that all that is built up on clerical lines is restrictive, and indeed destructive, of the true development of life.

Rem. So He that is declared to be the Son of the living God, speaks that which is living.

J.T. Yes. I suppose that nothing affords more interest in the physical creation than the energy of life. One has known of it -- the development of vegetable life splitting a stone; and observation as to the varied forms of vegetable and animal life brings out remarkable power and variety; there is real life in both. There is no realm affording more interest than the realm of life -- I mean in the physical system. But when you come to what is spiritual, the interest is all the deeper.

J.C.S. The One in whom it is all presented is still living, and the Spirit is here in relation to that, so that these things might be continued livingly here.

J.T. That is right. In this chapter we have what is said to be "the crowd of the names". All the names; there were one hundred and twenty. It is not the number of persons, but the number of names; meaning that, under the Lord's tuition here, there were one hundred and twenty developments; because a name indicates what you are. Adam was called upon to name the animals. God had given others names. He called the expanse, heavens; He called the light, day; the dry land, and the stars He called by name, we are told. But he virtually says, "Now, Adam, I want you to give names to the living creatures", and whatever name Adam gave a creature,

it was called by that. Evidently meaning, I apprehend, that he was able to discern by the movement of the animal what the idea expressed. Every animal had its own character of life, and the name indicated what each was; so I apprehend that with these hundred and twenty names, there were one hundred and twenty developments under the culture and tuition of Christ.

S.F. All the new world -- the world of resurrection, with all its possibilities, has come in for God's pleasure.

J.T. That is it -- a living order of things; and each one named has his own distinction, his name indicating it; so that the idea would be laid hold of as the Lord is said to have shown Himself living. He would come in amongst them and occupy them with a living Man.

L.D.B. How do you apply the idea of names today amongst the saints?

J.T. Well, I think that each is distinguished. I know you. If I come to you, I think of you according to your character, and you think of me according to what you see in me. My name -- my actual literal name -- is arbitrary, anybody else may have it. You think of my name morally because of what you see in me. My true name is what I am.

J.F.S. Moral character.

L.D.B. So that to the name that is given arbitrarily we attach a meaning according to what we discern as the result of what the Spirit has wrought. It makes that world which our brother has mentioned very interesting, with all the variety that is found in it.

H.C. Was that scene of life introduced by the statement made in the beginning of Genesis -- "and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"? Genesis 1:2

J.T. The Spirit there would represent the divine

energy, for the word is really "hovering over"; meaning, ready for action as the way was opened up for it. Anyone can see in Genesis 1 and 2 the great feature is life in its varied forms.

M.P.M. It would be seen in connection with Noah after he came out of the ark; he built an altar. We have a fresh commencement there, and there was a variety of life which had been brought through the flood.

J.C.S. A name seems to me to bring great import into the Lord's activities on the earth. To think of such developments (the one hundred and twenty names) is most suggestive. His activities had been very productive.

J.T. Some of us who have only the authorised version may not see the force of it, but it reads just as I have quoted. It says, "And in those days Peter, standing up in the midst of the brethren", and then the parenthesis "(the crowd of names who were together was about a hundred and twenty)" (verse 15). They were all brethren.

Rem. You seem to get correspondence; the evidence of the life seen in them was the evidence of the names. Take Stephen for example. They marvelled at the wisdom with which he spoke. It was an evidence of life in him which could be seen by them.

J.T. You can see now that the Holy Spirit is supporting a movement, so to speak, which will lead outside of Judaism. We begin here with a movement leading outside the world altogether into a living system of things to be governed from heaven. Chapters 9 and 10 bring in the heavenly side. Here we begin a movement that culminates in that.

Jno.R. Have you anything to say as to why it is one hundred and twenty?

J.T. It is ten times twelve, which would be a combination of responsibility with administration. I think that is in view.

L.D.B. Do you suggest that the movement which the Holy Spirit is supporting is connected with a new and heavenly metropolis? Jerusalem had been the centre, and there must be divine warrant for leaving it. Would you say that the Holy Spirit brings in a living system of things which Jerusalem resented?

J.T. Yes, quite. The shekinah was loth to leave the city. It lingered over the threshold of the house, and then over mount Olivet. Acts is an enlargement of that. The Holy Spirit had come in at Jerusalem. Life had come in with the Spirit, and divine administration had come in there. What attitude did Jerusalem take up towards it? The ninth chapter brings out that after the death of Stephen we have Saul's activities. He went from Jerusalem breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He had no idea of the power he had to deal with in attacking disciples of the Lord. It does not say "disciples of Jesus", but "disciples of the Lord". Acts 9:1. It was like the Assyrian going up into Immanuel's land. It was Immanuel's land. He was trenching on the authority of the Lord, so the Lord meets him, and a light from heaven shone round about him; meaning that the metropolis is to be moved. Jerusalem has forfeited its rights to it. It is now going to be in heaven, and in heaven it is still.

J.F.S. Is that the same idea -- "added to the Lord", instead of to the assembly?

J.T. Exactly.

L.D.B. Do you suggest that in consenting to Stephen's death, Saul represented the feelings of Jerusalem?

J.T. I think that is quite evident. He had authority from the high priest, he says. I hope we have taken in the idea of a living man. He presented Himself living -- or alive, and with many proofs. It was Himself, and all power was in Him. The next thing we notice is, He assembled

with them. Now we have another thought: "being assembled with them", He commanded them; that is, the Lord's will is exercised in the assembly.

J.C.S. I notice that stress is laid upon the fact that He spoke concerning the kingdom; that would be in view of assembling, would it not? That is, the things He spoke concerning the kingdom during the forty days were in view of the assembly.

J.T. I think the kingdom, as known now, took form in the assembly.

J.C.S. So that the great thing in view is that they might know how to assemble.

J.T. Exactly; and to receive commandments as in assembly.

J.C.S. What do you mean by that?

J.T. That is where the Lord makes His mind known. We have to learn that. We have come to understand a little, I hope, about coming together in assembly, The expression is found in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. We come together in assembly to break bread, for example; but if there be discipline needed, we have to come together in assembly for that, it being a question of the Lord's authority expressed in the assembly. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints", Psalm 89:7. It is His will that is expressed there, and they were to understand how that was to be done; so that, "being assembled with them" He "commanded them".

J.F.S. Do you suggest there was a sphere where His authority was owned -- where He was free to make known His mind?

J.T. Yes; and His will too. His will.

J.C.S. So that the assembly is in divine order, and the Lord's commandments are heard and known. He is not exactly commanding the world, but in the assembly He is heard, and His will is respected there.

J.T. That is what I think we might see in this

chapter -- how in the assembly He commands; and it is a serious matter to be found at issue with the assembly, because it is there His will is known and executed.

Ques. Is it right to say, when it is the kingdom it is His authority, and when it is the assembly it is more His influence?

J.T. No doubt the command is authority too. In the temple of old the walls were covered with cherubim. That is to say, they said to every one there that it was no place for man's will. There is no room in it for man's will, but for the will of the Lord alone.

L.D.B. So that the Spirit is available for us to learn how to assemble.

J.T. Well, quite. I think the Lord, in this instance, would set the example for all time, as to how to assemble. You can understand if they assembled later (as they did, of course) they would think of how He did it -- just what happened in detail, when the Lord, as risen from the dead, assembled with them. It does not say 'met with them', or 'appeared to them', but "assembled with them".

L.D.B. It is the manner in which He did it.

Ques. Does it suppose that we are gathered to Him? They were there, then He assembles with them.

J.T. Well, possibly. Doubtless they were together, and He came to them.

M.P.M. This is consequent on His appearing to them in the end of the gospels.

J.T. It is an additional feature, because He has now in view the setting up of the assembly as the vessel of the Spirit.

H.C. In what way would you distinguish between the presence and activities of the Spirit of God and the activities of the Lord Jesus in the assembly?

J.T. Well, you look to the Lord for guidance; but I think He shows here that all His activities are

by the Spirit. Even in the exercise of authority, all is by the Spirit. Although by the Spirit, it is nevertheless Himself. It is Himself, so that one has a sense of subjection when the Lord is present. You are impressed with the necessity of entire submission in the sense of the Lord's presence. The Spirit gives liberty. You have in I Corinthians 11 what emphasises the Lord. In the twelfth chapter no one can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Spirit; it is by the Spirit they recognise His lordship; and then you have the idea of a manifestation of the Spirit. It is a different thing from a manifestation of the Lord. The manifestation of the Spirit is something springing up; it is ascending more; whereas a manifestation of the Lord has a descending idea.

J.F.S. Would you say that the one comes with revelation, and the other on the line of response to it?

J.T. That is it exactly. So that the Spirit amongst us implies a manifestation, the power of refreshment, or whatever it may be.

J.C.S. So that the Lord presenting Himself in that way would have a very subduing effect upon the hearts of the saints, and that would leave room for the Spirit springing up in liberty amongst us.

J.T. That is it.

J.C.S. What is the thought of assembling? The fact that some saints are together does not mean necessarily that they are assembled.

J.T. No; because I may exercise my own will in that way. The idea of heresy was first a thought to make a party, and the Lord could not allow that. Again, anyone might hive off, having the idea of the assembly, and set up an imitation of it; but that has no moral place at all. The Lord's authority is ignored there. You cannot have the manifestation of the Spirit unless the Lord is owned.

S.F. Why was the command given that they were not to depart from Jerusalem?

J.T. It is Luke's line. God intended to exhibit His grace dispensationally, as well as to an individual, and that was expressed in the wonderful consideration for Jerusalem. Matthew omits it, but Luke enlarges on it, because God's grace rises above man's guilt. Jerusalem was the guiltiest city on earth. The murder of the Son of God having occurred there, added to all its sins; and yet God says, "My assembly is to be there"; that is, "there is to be My expression of Christ there". They were to be witnesses. In the end of Luke, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. That is the witness that God set up there. In the Acts you see these same people organised into an assembly. In the end of Luke they were simply gathered ones -- disciples gathered; but in the beginning of Acts we have the idea of assembling. That means that the Lord is organising them after His own fashion, so that there should be, not only a company of men and women partakers of the heavenly grace, but there should be an organism. The assembly is an organism. The Lord is to be known in it as assembled, and it was to be a great power in Jerusalem, as this book shows throughout.

H.B. Jerusalem had been the centre of God's dealings for years, and in that place He would set up the assembly in the power of the Spirit.

J.T. It is the final testimony to Jerusalem. Not only is the Spirit given to so many persons, but He is in the assembly; and, as Jerusalem has rejected the testimony of the Spirit, there is no hope now for her. It is God's final witness.

J.C.S. What is produced in the upper room is being morally continued here. That was too great for Jerusalem; it could not hold it.

J.T. We have no light as to what kind of meeting places they had in Jerusalem after this. They had the upper room -- the Holy Spirit mentions that, but

we have no further light. We do not know whether they had large halls or small halls, but we are told, in the second chapter, they broke bread in the houses. There is not a word about a huge building to contain these people that were converted. We are left with the upper room. That is what the assembly began with, and that is what it is ending with.

J.C.S. So the moment we move outside that we get away from the divine thought.

Ques. Would you tell us what the upper room sets forth?

J.T. I think it sets forth the idea of elevation in obscurity. It was withdrawn from the ordinary level of the world's religion. It is obscure, and yet elevated; that is to say, it is morally elevated. The Lord, as we see here, "having said these things, was taken up, they beholding him, and a cloud received him out of their sight". Then we read, "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven". Think of the dignity that filled their souls in seeing Him go up, and having the testimony of the two men in white clothing that they would see Him come back again. It says, "Then they returned to Jerusalem ... . And when they were come into the city, they went up to the upper chamber". In the end of Luke they went to the temple, but here they go to the upper chamber. They carried in their hearts a sense of all that dignity and elevation into the upper room. That is what it began with.

J.C.S. Would you say that still remains?

J.T. Well, I think that is what the Lord is doing for us -- giving us to understand the idea of His going up and coming back. He is absent from us, but He is coming back. We are in the light of these things, and we seek to maintain that light in the upper room, in the meeting.

G.H.C. Do you say that the broken state of things does not alter the fact that the Lord is with His saints as assembled together?

J.T. Yes. It is on the ground of keeping His commandments now -- "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them". John 14:21.

M.P.M. He could not assemble with us apart from that.

J.T. No. We have to reach Him that way.

C.C. The manifestation of the Spirit -- is that what you are speaking of now? In Genesis a mist went up from the earth and covered the ground.

J.T. One has noticed that, although heaven was there, the mist went up out of the earth and watered the ground. The subjective idea is a great thing. A river went out of Eden to water the earth. It does not say rain came down from heaven to water it. It is a subjective idea. Later, heaven is evident as watering the earth.

G.R. It is recorded that "two men stood by them in white apparel".

J.T. That suggests to us the purity in which you witness. Two is adequate testimony; and two in white, I think, would mean a witness in purity -- the purity in which the assembly is to witness here.

M.P.M. It is men, not angels.

J.T. Yes; the testimony was to be in men.

L.D.B. 'The Notion of a Clergyman', which you mentioned earlier, brings God's people down from their true elevation, but the Spirit maintains the elevation.

J.T. It is very marked. All around us there are those who have lost the elevation -- the dignity we have been considering.

Ques. It says the apostles abode there. "Where abode the apostles". Is that maintaining the elevation?

J.T. Yes; their living associations were there; as

it says, "where were staying both Peter, and John, and James", and the others; Acts 1:13. I think the upper room, as remarked, is elevation in obscurity. It really corresponds with the tabernacle system -- "those who serve the tabernacle". It says, "We have an altar, of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle", Hebrews 13:10. The cathedral is elevation in publicity. Every possible effort is employed to make it conspicuous and influential religiously. All there is in a cathedral is calculated to impress you with the religion of the flesh. It appeals to the natural senses.

J.C.S. If we assemble we come out of that, and touch the moral elevation of things. A man may have certain things in connection with his ways here which may give him a status, but when he assembles he leaves all that behind.

J.T. Quite. Hence James enlarges on the rich man and the poor man. The poor man glories in his elevation -- that is spiritual elevation. The rich man glories in his humiliation -- that is material humiliation. His material humiliation really involves his spiritual elevation. They are both on the same platform, and that is his divine elevation; hence James goes on to enlarge on the royal law; things are royal with James.

J.F.S. Would you say that the Lord, having set up things on the resurrection platform, as it were, retires; and afterwards the Spirit appears? A cloud received Him out of their sight. Everything is out of sight publicly today.

J.T. Just so. The epistle to the Colossians, I think, amplifies that things are all hidden.

Rem. The Lord Jesus was not seen publicly by the world after His resurrection.

J.T. No. It says, "the world seeth me no more, but ye see me". John 14:19.

J.C.S. While there was nothing external, nothing

great about the upper room, it really housed all the light of God for the moment.

J.T. Hence they had the greatest possible altitude, and the greatest possible depth. In Proverbs it says, "The heavens for height and the earth for depth". Proverbs 25:3. The two were witnesses of that. The Lord has gone beyond all the heavens. The full idea of height is in the heavens. Then it says, "the earth for depth". It is only in the assembly that we understand altitude and depth; that is, we have it from Christ. He went into the heart of the earth. He lay for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Of course geologists would sneer at that, but Scripture is accurate. It means that morally the Lord went to the lowest depth. There was nothing lower. "The heavens for height", and there is nothing higher than the point He has reached. We are in possession of all that, and it is in the acceptance of the depth that we understand the height.

J.C.S. He touched the extremities.

L.D.B. That is all valued in the assembly. In the knowledge of the depth we can understand the height.

J.T. The point is the wonderful descent of love, that He went so low. The assembly comes from there. We came from the lower parts of the earth. We came out of His death. We are brought up from that depth -- the depth to which love went. We should understand that. And the height is correlative with it; that is a secret of the assembly -- "The heavens for height, and the earth for depth", Proverbs 25:3.

J.F.S. That is where it comes in -- in heaven.

J.T. That is right. What I had in mind was, "That he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" Ephesians 4:9. So that we are to know the height and the depth.

J.C.S. Is that where the assembly really began?

J.T. I think so.

J.F.S. Why does Judas come in here? Peter, when he begins to address them, immediately introduces Judas.

J.T. I think the brethren are contemplated as being sympathetic. In the next chapter he stands up with the eleven, but here he stands up in the midst of the brethren. The brethren are taken up as those who are affectionately sympathetic. We cannot but feel that the idea of a traitor to Christ is repugnant; so Peter enlarges on it here -- what Judas was, and his end. Then, as you will observe, he cites what the Spirit says about him. It is a question of the Spirit. What the Spirit says is the thing now -- what the Spirit said about Judas. Then it says, "Must one be ordained to be a witness with us". But in order to have one to replace him he must be one who assembled with them. That is the point -- to prepare for the assembly one who assembled with them all the time in which the "Lord Jesus went in and out among us. Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us", Acts 1:21,22. This shows what is in view -- that a man should understand how they assembled during the time the Lord was with them.

J.F.S. In other words the man qualifies morally for the position.

J.T. Yes.

E.B.McC. How do we suffer today? Is it more internal?

J.T. I suppose it is. You mean we do not suffer so much from the world now?

E.B.McC. We see how the Lord suffered, and the disciples; but that is mostly outward, at the hands of men.

J.T. The sufferings still go on. As it is said, If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus -- in Christ Jesus -- he will suffer persecution. Anyone living

godly in Him will suffer persecution, whoever may be the instrumentality of it. Satan will not leave us alone.

Rem. "These all continued with one accord in prayer", it says.

J.T. That was to mark the dispensation -- dependence upon God.

Rem. That is an evidence of life.

J.T. Well, quite. It is the feature of the dispensation. So we should not depend on man. "Pray without ceasing". 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

J.C.S. In deciding as to the two who were selected, they prayed. They had seen Jesus do that. They prayed about the one to be decided upon.

J.T. Yes, exactly. The Lord's introduction of Saul, as has often been remarked, was, "Behold, he prayeth". Acts 9:11. It is not, "Behold, he prayed", but he prayeth. It is present and continuous. One has noticed what a remarkable thing it is, on the first entry of Paul into Europe, that the attack began "as they went to prayer". Acts 16:16. He was a while in Philippi. He did not take a hall and start to preach. As soon as he arrived, he allied himself with what was of God in the city -- or rather outside. There was a place by the riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and he resorted thither. But on one of the occasions as they went to prayer, a woman having the spirit of python met them. Satan knew that prayer was the secret of power. If that was to continue, the power of God would prevail in Europe; so he attacks them as they go to prayer; but he failed. It only gives a further opportunity for prayer; and not only for prayer, but the spirit of a suffering Christ comes into view as Paul and Silas are thrust into prison. In prayer they praised God, and the prisoners heard. In their sufferings they prayed, and in their prayers they praised, and the prisoners heard them.

J.C.S. Prayer with God in the prison, and power with man afterwards.

J.F.S. It encourages us greatly. "As he is, so are we in this world", 1 John 4:17.

J.T. And what a thing to be occupied with -- prayer: "as they went to prayer"; not simply the prayer meeting, but to prayer. They intended to pray when they came there. The Lord is seen in Luke in a remarkable way when He was baptised. The people were all baptised before Him, and as He was baptised He prayed, and the heavens opened on Him, and God pronounced Him His beloved Son.

L.D.B. So that prayer here would be one feature of the method that would be agreeable to the Spirit; He could endorse the action taken.

J.T. Quite. So they resort to the Scriptures, to prayer, and the lot. The lot brought God in; it was putting the matter into God's hands, as it were. The Lord might easily have filled the vacancy before He left, but He did not. It was for them to do it, and it was a test for them.

J.C.S. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord", Proverbs 16:33.

J.T. It is really a great test, if anyone is to be prominent, occupying any position amongst us, as to what motives may govern us in placing him there.

L.D.B. The intelligence of these things is found in the assembly.

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH

Acts 9:1 - 19,31; Acts 10:9 - 21,44; Acts 13:2 - 4

These chapters from which I have read are full of precious and, I may say, well-known instruction; instruction that greatly tended -- being so intended by God -- to set up the present dispensation. But I read the passages tonight, well-known to us, as I have said, in order to show, by the Lord's help, how the present service of the Spirit among the saints is dependent upon their obedience; what the apostle Paul elsewhere speaks of as "the obedience of faith". Romans 1:5, Romans 16:26. He, indeed, seems to have been taken up, in one respect, to set out, and illustrate in his life, in his walk and service, this great principle -- the principle of obedience. He tells us in a later account -- his own account before Agrippa of his vision, as he calls it -- that he was not disobedient to it. He says, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision". Acts 26:19. It was not simply a command, it was a manifestation of Christ. He tells us himself about it. Accompanying the appearance of the Lord to him there was a light from heaven, and in summing up in his own language the impression made upon him he says, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision". According to the list he gives in writing to the Corinthians, it would appear that literal manifestations of Christ ended with himself. These manifestations, of which he gives a list, were not casual, nor incidental; they were deliberate, and, I may say, constructive. He says first of all, being risen He appeared to Cephas. The use of the name was not accidental, it was constructive, as I have said, for Cephas was a stone. Luke, in recording the incident, in order to bring out his own feature of the truth, says, "He appeared unto Simon" Luke 24:34; Simon being, as I may say, the name that

designated Peter in his responsibility upon earth; so that the Lord in appearing to him first, according to Luke, established the great principle of grace. But Paul says He appeared to Cephas, for in that appearance He had the assembly in His mind. And then he says, He appeared to the twelve. The use of the numeral is not accidental, but constructive; for if we have the assembly -- for which Peter stands as a question of material -- then we have also administration. The numeral denotes what was in the mind of the Lord, that there should be a representation of Himself here administratively; and in order that the twelve should be qualified for this there was a manifestation of Christ to them. It is wonderful, beloved, that there has been that element of administration in this world, the instruments of which were formed and set out in their mission by a manifestation of Christ.

And then it says, He appeared to five hundred brethren at one time. Marvellous occasion! "Of whom", he says, "the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep". 1 Corinthians 15:6. The brethren in a goodly number were set out in their position here in this world; a circle of affection; a circle of mutual feeling, sentiment, and sympathy, by a manifestation, or appearing, of the Lord. That, indeed, dear brethren, is what lends its lustre to the brethren. He appeared to five hundred, it is said, at one time. That again was constructive, for the element of administration here is beautifully tempered and modified by the presence of the brethren. What can be more delightful upon this earth than a circle of brethren who have had a manifestation of Christ? I doubt if anyone is in the circle intelligently or sympathetically apart from such a manifestation. Next he appeared unto James, a man who maintains individually the wisdom of God. How much can one man accomplish who has had a personal manifestation

of God? "He appeared unto James", 1 Corinthians 15:7 he says. Surely he had a great function to exercise among the brethren. The epistle of James insists on what one man may accomplish. He cites the prophets. He says Elias was a man of like passions with ourselves, and he prayed, and the heavens were shut up for three years and six months. Think of what one man, beloved, who is available, who has a manifestation of God, may do. And then it says, he prayed again, and God sent rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. I take it that James should be taken up by each of us as a model of what one man may accomplish amongst the brethren.

And then he says, "to all the apostles". 1 Corinthians 15:7. The use of the word 'apostles' is not accidental, but, as I said, constructive. He had already referred to the twelve, but now to all the apostles. We cannot do without any of the apostles. We speak of "our apostle", but the Lord appeared to all the apostles. We need them all. They represent the authority of the Lord; an authority which cannot be disregarded save at our extreme peril; and the Lord fortified and strengthened all the apostles by a manifestation, by an appearance to them.

And then he says, "Last of all he appeared to me, as, an abortion" 1 Corinthians 15:8 -- to one who seemed to be out of place; but who, nevertheless, having this marvellous vision from heaven, laboured more abundantly than they all; representing the wonderful activity of the Lord personally, for I take the apostle Paul to be the Lord's personal representative. We have heard that expression in international relations. It is an expression that should be noted -- the personal representative of a governor, or a president, or a king. I take it that Paul, beloved, had a peculiar place. He was out of the ordinary. "Last of all he appeared to me". And I suppose we shall all admit that he refers to the incident recorded in this chapter --

recorded thrice in this book. Heaven seems to have been peculiarly interested in this movement of Christ's. It was a very extraordinary manifestation. He waited, and allowed Saul to traverse the long journey from Jerusalem to Damascus; and outside the city -- as one might say, on the territory in which his great work should be begun -- Syria -- a light from heaven shone round about him. This is a most remarkable occasion. The voice was in the Hebrew tongue, he also tells us, for it was intensely personal.

I am not speaking of it, dear brethren, as a matter of interest merely; but that it might arouse in us a desire to have personal contact with Christ. I think Luke, indeed, is particularly occupied with the personal feature. He writes both his letters to one man -- Theophilus -- as if all heaven was interested in that one man. Is it simply that we should see that heaven was interested in Theophilus? No. It is that we should understand that each of us is of personal interest to heaven. Think of being known there, each one of us known. As I was remarking, God gave names to all the stars. And so the Lord says, "your names are written in heaven". Luke 20:20. I have a place in heaven in a personal sense. Heaven is interested in me -- and, indeed, in every one of us -- as it was in Theophilus, and as it was in this great vessel; and so he says, a light from heaven, and a voice in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Think of that, dear brethren -- "thou" -- "me"! The Creator is speaking, but He is speaking in the Hebrew language as a man to a man, and He says, "It is hard for thee".

All these features enter into this remarkable manifestation of God to Saul, and so he says -- he sums it all up -- "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision". Acts 26:19. Why should he be? It were the deepest folly that he should be. It was his wisdom to be obedient unto the heavenly vision.

And so, dear brethren, in this obedience we have the beginning of a new movement; and this is what I want to dwell upon for a moment -- a new movement which made room for the Spirit. The second greatest fact in the whole universe is that the Holy Spirit is here on earth at the present time. One refers to it with a certain feeling to promote sympathy for the Spirit. The Spirit has taken such a lowly place, the Lord saying of Him, "He shall not speak of himself ... he shall testify of me". John 16:13. He is here to testify of Christ. And so, dear brethren, our wisdom is, like Saul, to be obedient to the heavenly vision, whatever that may be in our own time, whatever may correspond with it in our own time; for the Lord is constantly, as I was remarking, manifesting Himself; and whatever corresponds with this great vision at the present time demands your instant unqualified recognition and obedience. Without it -- without this -- you will be outside the realm of the Spirit's activities, and you cannot afford that; you cannot, brother and sister, afford to be outside the sphere of the Spirit's present activities. He waits opportunity, and so the apostle says, "to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit". 1 Corinthians 12:7. But how shall we have manifestations of the Spirit without subjection to God? I take it manifestations of the Spirit correspond with manifestations of Christ. They run together; they involve heavenly authority which cannot be ignored, as we see in this case; and if there be submission to the heavenly vision, we shall have manifestations of the Spirit, which are subjective.

It is not now a question of what is heavenly, but of what is in us. Where there is subjection to the heavenly vision, we shall come in for the manifestation of the Spirit, and the manifestation of the Spirit is for profit. That is the great test of all activity, all religious activity, profit. What has accrued to

God and to the saints -- the assembly. God has very fine scales, very delicate weights. "All the weights of the bag" are Jehovah's work; Proverbs 16:11. Everything is weighed with the finest scales with a view to profit.

Well, now, you see the gain of this subjection. I do not go into details, but Ananias was refractory; he thought he knew better than the Lord; but the Lord says, "Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me". The Lord makes no mistakes, He knew His man. Ananias did not; but he came into accord -- he came into subjection, for the Lord did not pass him by and go to another brother in Damascus. No, He went to Ananias. Ananias must submit; and Ananias did submit. And the Lord said, "Behold, he prayeth" -- a model commendation. The meeting at Damascus, apparently, was not equal to the occasion. And so the Lord goes before, in order that this dear brother whom the Lord had met on the way should be received rightly -- should be received in the grace of heaven. How do we receive one another, dear brethren? We are enjoined to receive as Christ has received us. So Ananias must receive Saul; but in order that he should receive him as Christ receives, Christ has to teach him; and He does teach him. He says, "Go"; and Ananias goes, and he says, "Saul, brother, Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way in which thou camest" sent me unto thee. What a dignified reception of this great vessel! The Lord qualified Ananias to receive him, and he is received and filled with the Holy Spirit. You see how obedience to the heavenly vision prepared Saul for manifestations of the Spirit. Then the assemblies had rest. I wonder how many of us trouble the assemblies. You will understand what I mean. If my will is active, you may depend I am troubling the assemblies. It is a serious matter to be a troubler among the saints. You will recall how Achan was a

troubler of Israel. Saul troubled the assemblies; but the Lord, instead of destroying him as Achan had been stoned, converts him. He converts him into a vessel of the Spirit, a vessel of comfort, a vessel of spiritual manifestation. And we are told that the assemblies were edified, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit were increased.

Room was made for the Spirit; and now what you find is, that as God moves in connection with the manifestations, all the forces and channels of His power are brought into line. Peter, we are told, visited "all quarters". He has come into accord with the new movement. Let us be ready for every movement of God. Each movement, I believe, is preceded by a manifestation. The next thing is obedience to it, and the next thing is the power of the Spirit. Let us not be behind in the movement. Peter discerns the new phase the testimony was taking on, and he visits "all quarters". He goes to Lydda, and he finds the paralytic, and he says, "Rise up, and make thy couch for thyself". Acts 9:34. He is preparing for the assemblies that should presently spring up under the great ministry of Paul. They should learn to make their beds for themselves. You can have no local company answering to the mind of God unless there is the sense of doing things for ourselves. It is not that you are to do them in your own strength, but in the power of God. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself. Then Tabitha is presented as a living woman. These, I believe, are the two features that would develop throughout the Gentile world; that were to spring up and develop under the great ministry of this chosen vessel.

So now, as Peter is thus engaged and brought into line, heaven addresses him. The movement must be complete, and so the sheet comes down, as Peter says, "even to me" -- in a personal manner. This great vessel, as we may say second only to Paul, is to be

in accord with heaven, and hence the sheet. It is not a manifestation of Christ; it is a manifestation of principles. What Christians are most void of is the knowledge of principles. The sheet represents principles. It is the House of God in its universal bearing. It is knit at the four comers -- things are held tightly in heaven. We need have no fear of the powers of earth or of hell, as the four corners are held tightly in heaven so as to be drawn up there. What can man do to that? Peter is not disobedient; he is a little refractory, like Ananias; but finally he goes, he speaks, and whilst he speaks -- "while Peter was yet speaking", it says -- "the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word". The Holy Spirit comes in now in connection with hearing the word. It was, indeed, what we may call an energetic action of the Spirit. The word 'fell' implies energetic action. The Holy Spirit, in connection with these remarkable occurrences, is now free to embrace the Gentiles. He has taken hold of the Gentiles, and thus has extended out to ourselves.

Well, now dear brethren, the only other thought I had refers to the position of the Spirit on earth. He is a divine Person acting sovereignly, as in the scene at Antioch. All this flows out from the obedience of Saul. "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision". Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch, and they serve for a year among the saints in Antioch, in the assembly. The saints were first called "Christians" there. It is that name in which we are told to suffer (1 Peter 4:16), and by which we are honoured. It was first used at Antioch. Christianity was now taking a definite distinct place in the world; not as a sect of the Jews, but as emanating from Christ. Paul and Barnabas exhibited that glorious name of Christian in their service and ways amongst the saints. Taking on human names in relation to Christ -- how utterly objectionable to Him! Let us

glory in the name of Christian. It began at Antioch, and the Holy Spirit is free to act at Antioch as a divine Person, and select His own ministers and send them out. So that, dear brethren, in subjection to the Lord, we come now to divine manifestations of the Spirit. I urge that. One would urge manifestations of the Lord -- that we should know them. But then, there is what corresponds -- manifestations of the Spirit. And so at Antioch the Holy Spirit says, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them", Acts 13:2. Think of the majesty of it! Who can say Him nay? Think how the authority of the Holy Spirit stands out against that of popes, cardinals, archbishops, and all the rest, down to the most insignificant cleric in Christendom. The saints at Antioch are with Him. They lay their hands on the two men the Holy Spirit needs, and they are sent forth -- not by the saints; the saints do not send out missionaries -- there is no such thought. The Holy Spirit sent them out. The saints put their hands upon them in holy fellowship, and the Holy Spirit sends them out. He is free now, through the obedience of Saul and others, to send out Barnabas and Saul. "They, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, departed".

That is the position, beloved, at the present time. Christianity is set up on its "seven pillars", we may say; and there it stands; and everyone that comes back to the recognition of the manifestations of Christ comes into the gain of the Spirit. Can you improve on that? You might as well attempt to improve on the universe as to improve on wisdom's house. It cannot be improved on. The thing is to come into it in holy submission -- into the ordinances of wisdom, and there you will find all spiritual blessing. "Wisdom hath builded her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her

table; she hath sent forth her maidens", Proverbs 9:1 - 3. There it is set up in the Acts, and there it stands. Let no one dare to add to it, or attempt to subtract from it. "Every wise woman buildeth her house; but the foolish plucketh it down", Proverbs 14:1. The foolish destroys. Let us beware of folly. Let us accept wisdom's house. It is perfect as it stands, as it were, on seven pillars; and our wisdom is to accept it. The door is open to the believer, and it is there the Holy Spirit is -- where His manifestations are known. May God bless His word to us.

ASSEMBLY CONDITIONS AND RELATIONS

Acts 15:36, Acts 40,41; Acts 16:4,5; Acts 20:28; Acts 21:3 - 6

I have in mind tonight to speak of the maintenance of church or assembly conditions and relations.

It was the divine thought that the assemblies, as set up under Paul, should be maintained at the full height of their original status. We know, alas, that historically it was far otherwise; but we see in these passages how the assemblies were, for a time, maintained so as to be available to God and to Christ and to the Spirit. There was to be from the outset, under Paul's service, a universal unity; and there was to be, at the same time, what I may call local autonomy. So, as Paul goes into the service, Peter, evidently under the influence and direction of the Lord, moved to bring the work of God among the Jews into accord with the new movement that had begun, so that there should not be, so to speak, one railroad laid for Judaea and another for the provinces outside of Judaea. Most of us will be aware of irregularity in railroad grades, if you will allow me a homely illustration. And I apprehend that Peter, as he discerned the new movement under Paul, hastened to extend the grade, that communication should be unhampered. Hence he told Aeneas to rise and make his bed for himself. That was a feature that was about to become general.

The assemblies set up under Paul were all marked by local self-maintenance, as I may say. If others came -- and they did, as we see in these passages -- all well; but it was never the divine thought that local companies should not be, as it were, self-supporting; so Peter says to Aeneas, "Rise up, and make thy couch for thyself", Acts 9:34. The assemblies of Judaea were to learn that they should not be henceforth

dependent on Jerusalem -- a most important lesson. Thus they acquired the designation, "Assemblies of God in Judaea", and they became models for the Thessalonians in a later day. The Thessalonians are said to have become imitators of the assemblies of God in Judaea; 1 Thessalonians 2:14. It does not say they became imitators of the assembly at Jerusalem; they became imitators of the assemblies of God in Judaea. I have no doubt that, as I said, Peter intended that the assemblies in Judaea should learn to arise and make their beds for themselves.

I mention these things, dear brethren, because, if there is to be the maintenance of assembly conditions and relations, we must understand how to arise and make our beds for ourselves. It is not that God is in any way shut out by this principle -- far otherwise. For the apostle writes to the Philippians (the first European assembly formed), "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure", Philippians 2:12,13. They were to be deprived of the great support of the apostle, and they were to learn how to work out their own salvation.

But there had to be the willing; and I raise this question, dear brethren, as several companies of the Lord's people are represented here. God looks for the willing. There could be no divine support aside from the willing; as Isaiah says, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land", Isaiah 1:19. But God works to that end. He works in us for the willing. It is a long process with many of us, but God is wonderfully patient. How He waits upon us; and how He allows circumstances to come about in connection with each of us so that there should be the willing! There can be no possible progress in the working out of our own salvation apart from the willing. There must be entire submission

to the will of God; the willing and the doing of His good pleasure. God works in us to that end, so that each company should learn to make its bed, as it were, for itself. Apart from this there is no possible escape from metropolitan conditions; and metropolitan conditions are not assembly conditions. Metropolitan conditions existed for a short while, and were owned of God at Jerusalem; but these conditions ceased with the destruction of that city.

God had graciously anticipated that event, and had provided for the maintenance of the several local companies throughout the world. Hence Peter, evidently under the direction of the Lord, went to "all quarters". He, with the others, had remained at Jerusalem, but now he moves out and visits all quarters. In his epistle, having established this principle, we find him writing to the Jews of the dispersion, saying, in effect, "You are yourselves living stones; you are yourselves a holy priesthood; you are qualified to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus". That was an amplification of his word to Aeneas. He says that not only were they responsible to make their bed for themselves, but they were furnished divinely for all that was requisite for the worship of God.

Writing from Babylon, having established these great principles of local responsibility and the maintenance of assembly relations locally, he proceeds to unify the work of God. He writes to the brethren of the dispersion in Asia Minor, "She that is elected with you in Babylon, salutes you", 1 Peter 5:13. You see, dear brethren, how, in the maintenance of assembly conditions and relations, the great leaders, qualified of God to minister to the assembly, maintained not only these local relations, but general or universal unity, so that, to use my homely figure, a train could go right from Rome to Babylon.

Assembly conditions and relations involved complete

elevation from the principles that govern this world. This world is divided into nations, nations into provinces, provinces into minor localities, and every locality has its own feature and characteristic, as well as its own pride. The world seeks to go on bearing such a load; but not so the assembly. The assembly, at the outset, was lifted above all that. It was released from all obligations that had been incurred by those who had gone before. Jerusalem had to take on all the obligations of her predecessors. The Lord said that all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to that of Zacharias should be required of that generation. Terrible obligation! But the assembly was relieved from all that. The ground, as it were, had all been burnt.

The assembly was set up on the ground of redemption, immune from all those obligations; and immune, too, from the weight of these crooked principles by which the world seeks to move on. Thus Peter, in writing from Babylon, links up the work of God. As Paul says, "So ordain I in all the assemblies". 1 Corinthians 7:17. The same principles that ruled in one assembly ruled in all, and thus delivered the saints from localism. Local and national feeling afford one of the most baneful weapons that Satan uses to deprive us of our heavenly colour and dress.

Peter later says, "Our beloved brother Paul", 2 Peter 3:15. You see how he links in affection the whole work of God in his epistle -- the whole work of God in connection with himself and the other eleven, and then Paul and Barnabas and their co-workers. The whole work of God is linked up in affection in that beautiful expression, "As our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him", 2 Peter 3:15. Now, I mention these things because I see the need of them in myself and in all. Moving about I see the enormous influence

that national and local feeling exerts among the people of God, whereas the Spirit of God is labouring to maintain us in the light of primary assembly conditions and relations.

Well, now I come to the passage in Acts 15 to show how, as Peter had wrought for local and general maintenance of assembly conditions, so Paul, as he says, "laboured more than they all". And hence he says to Barnabas, "Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do", Acts 15:36. What an interesting record, dear brethren, as to this beloved man; and what a model we have in him for service -- a model for everyone with any little ability to serve Christ! Did it ever come into your heart to visit your brethren and see how they do? You say, 'I have no gift'. But you can go and "see how they do". It is not a question of gift for the moment, but a question of affection. He says, "Let us visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do". Brethren, what about this? How does this comport with sitting down in your own locality, content with the routine of weekly meetings? What about those meetings that are rarely visited? Has it ever come into your heart to say, "Let us visit our brethren, ... and see how they do"? You say, 'I have no gift'. But "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend", Proverbs 27:17. I look at that countenance of Stephen. He is not presented to us in Scripture as a man of gift; he is a martyr. He is a man who laid down his life for the testimony. I look at his countenance as he stands there in the sanhedrim. They had to witness to it; it was as the countenance of an angel. If he never spoke a word to you, he would encourage you; and so, as I said, it is not exactly a question of gift; it is a question of affection. Can we allow our brethren to go

unvisited? How should we expect them to be maintained? "Let us visit our brethren", he says, "in every city" -- not only those near to us. How far afield have you gone, brother? Peter went as far as Babylon. The beloved apostle here proposes to go, and he chose Silas, a worthy and wise choice, as after occurrences proved, and we are told in the chapter that he was "recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches", Acts 15:40,41. There is not a word said about preaching or teaching in this passage. I am not saying that Paul did not preach or teach, but that is not the point here. The point here is brotherly interest and affection in this great servant which led him to visit and see how they did. The result was, as the passage states, that he confirmed the assemblies. Then it goes on in the next chapter, "And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily", Acts 16:4,5. You see, there is not a word said about Paul preaching or teaching. It was simply delivering the decrees of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem; and see the result -- "The churches were established in the faith, and increased in number".

Now, I want to speak a little about that. You will all recall that the passage in the ninth chapter is very similar to this. It says that the assemblies had rest, and were edified in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and increased. They increased; but it does not say they increased in number. But it does say here the assemblies increased in number; and I want to speak, dear brethren, for a moment about increasing the number of the assemblies. It was not the Lord's thought from the beginning to have large congregations of His people. He spoke about the

"little flock". Peter, in his epistle, calls attention to the similarity between his times and those of Noah. He speaks about "the few".

Dear brethren, have we learnt to be content with a few? I do not know what the population of the antediluvian world was; I think it was comparatively very large. The increase of the population must have been rapid on account of the longevity of the people, and yet out of that world only a few were saved -- Peter says, "wherein few". Noah had to be content with a few. And Peter, I apprehend, inferentially reminds the brethren that they had to learn to be content with a few. The Lord is content with a few. It is not that there shall not be multitudes of the redeemed. "Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands", Revelation 5:11. This surely encourages us as to the immense number of the redeemed. But the divine way now is a little flock. And so, dear brethren, increasing the number of little flocks is a great feature of the moment. Every added "assembly" is an added sphere for Christ. Are we on that line? That is one of the features of the maintenance of assembly conditions and relations. And hence you find the continual use of the word, 'assemblies' throughout this book (Acts), and the epistles.

They "increased in number every day". What an interest for heaven that was! It does not say they increased in size. Thank God that the meetings do increase in size; but I have a feeling that the cup (there is only one spoken of) of the Lord's supper is intended to govern the size of the little flocks. It is that into which love enters. Joseph spoke about a cup by which he divined; and I believe the Lord would use the cup, as it were, to divine -- to bring out where we are, and so you look around in a circle governed by the cup. I do not think it should be any larger than what would correspond with the

family circle. The Lord looks for the family feeling. The family feeling involves that I know the members of the family. It is an extraordinary thing that I should have brethren in this city that I do not know; and yet, alas, such are the conditions at the present time that this has to be said of almost every city and town. But then, there are those that are available to us, and surely love would lead us to love everyone of the circle. If we drink into the same Spirit, symbolised in the cup, surely it follows I shall know the brethren who drink out of the cup that I drink out of.

Well, now, I wanted to go on to chapters 20 and 21 for a moment, to show you such local companies as afforded liberty for the Holy Spirit. Luke loves to dwell on the externals -- the externals issuing from that which is internal; and so in the twentieth chapter the apostle speaks about the Spirit testifying to him in every city. Now, why should it say "every city"? Why should he not simply say that the Spirit testified to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him? If he meant simply to tell us that the Spirit witnessed to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem, he need only say that; but it was meant to convey to us that the Spirit was free to speak in every city. Now, the Spirit has not become incarnate. If the Spirit speaks, He speaks through vessels; and He speaks through vessels which are available. Hence the incidental testimony to what was in those cities through which Paul passed. As he passes through them there are vessels available for the Holy Spirit to speak to him. He had been the vessel hitherto to speak to them. Now the assemblies are available, and the Holy Spirit can speak to him. Think of what this was to heaven!

To make the thing practical; throughout this Dominion in every company there are, I trust, those that are available to the Spirit. What is a company

of the Lord's people professing to be in the light of the assembly unless it is available to the Spirit? The assembly is the vessel of the Spirit, and so in all these companies the Spirit was free to speak to Paul. What a remarkable result! And at Tyre, particularly, the women and children are all governed by the same blessed feelings and sentiments. As Paul visited Tyre, the wives and children accompanied him to the sea-shore. What a spectacle for heaven that was! It was the evidence of right local conditions. The apostle was, as it were, the Lord's personal representative, and was regarded with affection. That is one of the features of local conditions; those who seek to serve the Lord are regarded with affection. You do not think that you are honouring them if you give them a meal, or if you give them a bed. No, they are honouring you. And so at Tyre, there were right local assembly conditions.

Now, brethren, that is all I had to say. It came especially before me this evening, in thinking over what I should present tonight. I believe the Lord helped me to take up this, that there must be amongst us conditions which are available; conditions which God can recognise, which enable the Lord to move about freely amongst us, and which enable the Spirit to manifest Himself in ministry, in brotherly affection, in brotherly care, and in that service that delinquent ones require, so that they, our brethren, may be with us. We cannot be with God and not desire that all our brethren should be with us; so, as I said, these conditions which the Holy Spirit would produce involve solicitude for the delinquent ones -- and there are many. The Lord would lay it upon us to reach them. James says, "He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins", James 5:20.

HEAVEN: ITS INFLUENCE UPON WORSHIP

Exodus 20:22 - 26

I have before me tonight to occupy you with heaven, according to the testimony of it brought down by the Spirit; for it is the divine thought that heaven should be known by those of us who are destined for it, before we actually reach it. So that, as the testimony of it that the Spirit has presented perfectly is rightly apprehended, we shall not feel ourselves strangers there. The heavenly city is to come "down from God out of heaven". Revelation 21:10. This is according to what is stated to the Corinthians -- "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly", 1 Corinthians 15:48,49. Then we have the further enforcing statement in the second letter to the Corinthians -- "He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God", 2 Corinthians 5:5. Workmanship is proceeding today; hence, as one looks into the countenance of a true believer, one sees there the reflex of that work.

Moses desired of Jehovah that He should manifest His work unto His servants; and he also says, "Establish thou the work of our hands ... yea, ... establish thou it", Psalm 90:17. Thus the work of God proceeds, including our work, for it is all of one piece. Hence the great obligation laid on the servants, -- on the workmen -- that they should be like Jonathan, working with God. The work that is proceeding shall come out in its entirety; as I said, the assembly comes down from God out of heaven. It is, as it were, a heavenly visitant to the earth. Such is the perfection of the work that it fits us for heaven; as it is said, "He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God". 2 Corinthians 5:5. In the meantime, as we await our

house from heaven, we have the earnest of the Spirit, as it is said, "Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit", 2 Corinthians 5:5. The earnest is a sample of the whole piece of that into which we are going, so that heaven is here in that sense in the way of witness. It is brought to us by the Spirit.

Now, having said so much to make our position clear at the outset, I wish to refer to the book of Genesis for a moment, so that we may gather up the divine intent in the heavens. It is said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", Genesis 1:1. It does not appear that the heavens were involved in the great disaster that ensued, for it immediately says, "the earth was without form and void", Genesis 1:2. It says nothing about the heavens being thus. There was subsequently what was called "the expanse"; God separating the waters from the waters by it; referring to what we know as the atmospheric heavens -- the sidereal heavens being beyond. "God called the expanse Heavens" (Genesis 1:8) -- those that affect us materially and physically; including, I apprehend, the sidereal region.

But then, there is what Solomon calls the heaven of heavens. He, in his wonderful prayer dedicating the temple, refers to the heavens about fourteen times, reminding us of the intimate relation between them and the house of God; at the same time humbly admitting that the structure he had reared up could not contain Jehovah. He says, "The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!" 1 Kings 8:27. But, though he humbly admits the smallness of the structure relatively, yet the intimate relation between the heavens and that structure is evident.

Now, what comes to light in the book of Genesis is that heaven is seen relative to the house at its first mention. There was not only a reference to it, but direct communication. Jehovah is seen standing

above the ladder in the heavens, the ladder reaching to the earth, with angels ascending and descending. All this announces at the very outset that the house of God is in immediate touch with heaven. Then Jacob says, as he awoke, "This is none other but the house of God" (Genesis 28:17) -- an indication of his remarkable spiritual intelligence. "This is the gate of heaven". Hence the nearness of the relation between the heavens and the house of God.

But what lends all its precious meaning to that event, to my mind, lies in the fact that the first speaking from heaven is after Isaac was born. The heavens are mentioned earlier, but their direct action on the earth was judgment, for their windows were opened to pour out judgment -- a sorrowful consideration. The earth seemed to have been in measure independent of them, for we are told that the first watering of the earth was from itself. I have no doubt that in that God reminds us of our sufficiency as having the Spirit. But then, heaven must have its place; and before it speaks Isaac is born. We can easily fit that in with the birth of the Lord here on earth. Heaven can speak freely as He appeared here. The heavens were opened, we are told, at His baptism, and the voice came: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight", Matthew 3:17.

Now, all that I have said, as I think you will admit, enters into the passage in Exodus, for the Lord calls Moses' attention to the fact that He had spoken unto them from heaven. Let us understand, beloved, that the communications giving character to Christianity are from heaven; and so I wish first of all, in regard to the scriptures read, to speak of the influence of these communications on our worship. I wish to speak of them briefly. I wish to speak of their influence on our service; for the inference is clear that the worship of God being

spiritual, as the Lord said to the woman of Samaria, it must be different from what is customary upon earth. What can be more sorrowful than the contemplation of what the worship of God, as set up here in the Spirit, has come to in man's hands?

As we look abroad on a large area of Christendom, wherein is the essential difference in it between what is called divine worship and what we call heathendom? There is no essential difference. I mean from the divine standpoint there is no difference. Christendom has dropped down to the level, I may say, of the most corrupt religion on the earth as regards its forms and ceremonials. I know I am making a serious statement, but it is a statement that is obvious to all who have light. The nominal worship of God has dropped to the level of man's worship; as the apostle Paul says, "man's art and device". Acts 17:29. I come from a city where fifteen million dollars have been subscribed for the enlargement of a cathedral! Think of that! Think of such a structure as compared with the "upper room" at Jerusalem into which those came who saw Jesus go into heaven!

But if our worship is influenced by heaven, it is different. It must be different from what is current on earth. God says to Moses, "Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make ... gods of silver, neither ... gods of gold". Exodus 20:2,23. What are the facts, beloved friends, at the present time? They are that Christendom has returned to gods of silver and gods of gold, to say nothing worse. But God says, "I have spoken unto you out of heaven". He said in effect, 'Has there been anything in My communications to indicate that there are to be such gods?' Nothing. And hence He proceeds at once to the remedy. And this is what I want to come to, with the Lord's help.

It says, "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me". It requires but little in the way of expense to

provide that. But it is a solemn reminder of what we are. The requirement of heaven is an altar of earth. Do we understand it? It is the solemn acknowledgement in the presence of God that we are what we are; that, as born of him whose name signifies "red earth" (Adam), we are naught but earth; as Seth says of his son "Enosh", "mortal man", that is all. Let us not shut our eyes to this fact. As we rear up our altar of earth according to divine requirements we acknowledge what we are.

But, you say, is that all? No, it is not all. For merely recognising an altar of earth could not be acceptable. There must be more than that; and hence the wondrous fact that the Son became man; as we are told, "He became flesh". He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Wonderful fact! In all points tempted as we are, sin apart. Absolutely sinless. Absolutely holy from the very outset. "That holy thing which shall be born of thee", Luke 1:35. God says. Nevertheless He was a real man.

Thus the voice from heaven speaks. What had been said at Sinai only brought out what we are, -- miry clay, as one may say. But is that all? No, beloved; in the next chapter (Exodus 21) we have the Son of God portrayed before our eyes side by side with what we are. The Hebrew servant says plainly, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free". Exodus 21:5. We have Him in servant's form, but not only in servant's form. We have Him as the victim; for there could be no altar acceptable to God save that Christ should die, taking on Himself as the Son of Man, the liabilities of the race, and discharging those liabilities to God's glory. Thus, "we have an altar". Let us, in the faith of our souls, claim such an One.

It is marvellous that He has come to our side. He has become a man. The race takes on a new character entirely in the eyes of God; but, nevertheless, it is

the race; it is humanity. God is to have humanity before Him forever, but He is to have it as Christ is; as it says, "As he is, so are we in this world", 1 John 4:17. Marvellous fact! I do not know anything more wonderful than that position -- Christ on our side. And I suppose it is less understood by the saints than any part of the truth. Peter says, "God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God", 1 Peter 1:21.

So, dear brethren, as we sit down to the Lord's supper, we are there in the full acknowledgement of what we are as in the flesh. Otherwise we are not there rightly. But then there is before us the token of a dead Christ. A dead Christ! you say. Yes, a dead Christ. The blood is separate from the body. He says, "unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves", John 6:53. It is not Christ here upon earth who is our communion. It is Christ as dead. Hence the apostle addresses the saints in their intelligence, and he says, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" 1 Corinthians 10:16. It is a question for ourselves that the Christ who came down to take our place and identify Himself with us as a man here, actually died; as He says, "Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour", John 12:27. It was all real to Him. But then He says, "Father, glorify thy name".

There is the Man; and immediately heaven must speak. Let us hear it. "I have glorified it". He had glorified it in the Person of Jesus in the resurrection of Lazarus, and now He says, "I will glorify it again". John 12:28. Think of God glorifying His name in a Man, and that Man having come within our range so as to be appropriated! But how appropriated? We have not now Christ here after the flesh. The enemy would deceive people by seeking to link them

on here with a Christ after the flesh. Paul says, "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more", 2 Corinthians 5:16. We do not know Him thus.

Our altar, beloved, involves that Christ has died, and so we come together with the token of a dead Christ. Not exactly to remember a dead Christ; we remember a living Christ. The Lord says, "This do for a remembrance of me". Luke 22:19. Our communion is in a dead Christ in the cup and in the loaf. That is where we begin; and let me assure you that there is no Christian beginning aside from that. That is the beginning. Hence, "an altar of earth shall ye make unto me". It is the disallowance of idolatry. Hence the apostle goes on to say, "Ye cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons". He says, "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" 1 Corinthians 10:22.

Our communion disallows absolutely every claim of idolatry. Jehovah says, "In all places where I shall make my name to be remembered" (Exodus 20:24), for that is the reading. It comes in beautifully after the acknowledgement of what we are, and the acceptance of our place as before God in Christ, for He says, "This is my body, which is for you", 1 Corinthians 11:24. That body in which He glorified God as a Man is there, and we are identified with it; hence where God causes His name to be remembered, there He comes to us, and there He blesses us.

That is the worship of God, so far. It is not the whole of it. And so He proceeds to say, "If thou shalt make me an altar of stone". There is no 'if' in regard to the altar of earth. We are not worshippers if we have not the altar of earth. God accepts no worship, no praise, no prayers, apart from the altar of earth. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; but the prayer of the upright is his delight". Proverbs 15:8. We have to recognise we

are in a fallen condition as before God, and that He has set us up on the principle of faith in the new condition and position altogether in Christ. He is the upright One, and He has brought us to God through His death; and so the altar of earth is imperative.

"If thou wilt make me an altar of stone". Now we have the 'if'. You say, What does that mean? It is God's gracious consideration for us. It is as if He said, 'Even if you do not reach in your souls the resurrection of Christ, you believe in it, and you definitely recognise in the altar of earth your ruined condition save for the death of Jesus'. Even if we do not reach resurrection as an experience in our souls we are accepted. This makes provision for the smallest spiritual formation, for I apprehend the very smallest spiritual formation in a believer will lead him to acknowledge the necessity for an altar of earth. He refuses the arts and devices of man in his worship, and returns soberly and humbly to the altar of earth. But the altar of stone goes further.

Building an altar of stone is not singing hymns that speak of heaven, of Christ risen, and of the Father, and relation with the Father. It is a question of your soul's condition. "If thou wilt make me an altar of stone". This suggests the saints in the power of the Spirit moving on from the altar of earth to the altar of stone. They now not only apprehend Christ become Man and dying; they apprehend Him risen; yea, I may say, they apprehend Him in heaven.

In Deuteronomy 26 worship involves that we have come into the land. "When thou art come in unto the land", it says, "thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit" Deuteronomy 26:1,2 -- heavenly growth. Christ risen and glorified is indigenous to heaven. He belongs to heaven; so do we. Wonderful fact! I always seek to be in this light as having partaken of the Lord's

supper; as it says, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ... and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2:4 - 6.

Hence it is 'if'. But then, it is not an if of impossibility, but surely one of possibility. We have the power to rise. As water rises to its own level, so the Spirit, as we are prepared for it, opens the heavenly door and gives us to look in. It is wonderful to reach Christ there. Everything is abiding and eternal.

Marvellous privileges open up to us in the building of the altar of stone. He says, "If thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it", Exodus 20:25. It is not to be made of hewn stone. The epistle to the Colossians is the amplification of this. It brings in the Son of God risen and in heaven. Can you add anything to Christ? No, beloved. Philosophy, vain deceit, ceremonialism -- they are all shutout. Nothing outside of Christ is admitted. He is the Head, and "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", Colossians 2:9.

Note that word 'bodily'. In the first chapter it is, "In him all the fulness ... was pleased to dwell", Colossians 1:19. It does not say 'bodily'. But in the second chapter it says, 'bodily' meaning that all that fulness has come within our range in Christ as Man, and all else is shut out entirely. Hence He says, thou shalt not ... "lift up thy tool upon it". The humanity that Christ brought is characterised by what He is personally, and in Him as Man all the fulness is within our range. The education of this world could add nothing to Him. We have no evidence that He was ever 'educated', as men speak. He brought all the fulness in, and it is in

Him bodily. So that there is no place at all for man's 'tool'. The fine tools or implements that are employed in the rearing up of these structures that men speak of -- all the interior decorations, the stained glass and what not -- all are outside true Christian worship. These human things are connected with idolatry. If there is anybody here who has not left these things, pardon me; I am telling you the truth. It is outside the range of Christian worship. A tool has been lifted up; you have endeavoured to improve things. You have certainly gone far afield from the upper room at Jerusalem. You have lifted up your tool, and you have polluted the altar. You are allied with a polluted system of things -- that with which God will have nothing to do; and the quicker you abandon it the happier will you be. I can give you no better advice than to abandon it, and to return to the heavenly requirement indicated here. The altar of stone -- that which involves the highest part of our worship -- is not to be polluted by man's tool or implement or device. It is infinitely perfect, infinitely complete and full; we must admit nothing else. "Holding the Head" the body "increases with the increase of God". Colossians 2:19.

LIFE BY THE SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER

Romans 8:10; Hosea 12:3 - 5; Hosea 14:8; Psalm 52:8

I have it before me to speak about life from the standpoint of the passage in Romans 8, which contemplates it in the believer as having the Spirit. It says, "The Spirit is life on account of righteousness". From that point of view I wish to present it as an energetic force in the believer, and to say that all energy in us that is acceptable to God must issue from the Spirit.

Life is, as most of us know, also presented in Scripture as an objective idea -- something set before us to be entered into. But the passage I have read contemplates it in its subjective potentiality, and I have in mind to refer for a moment to Jacob, as illustrative of it from this point of view. He is indeed a type of most of us, even before we receive the Spirit; or, as having received Him, before we understand how to make room for Him as power -- divinely given power -- in our souls. As "born again" a man has certain instincts that are spiritual, as it is said, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit", John 3:6. It may show itself negatively, but it is there. It marks the man off as distinct from the mere natural man. There is that in him which is designated by the Lord's own word as 'spirit', and I take Jacob to illustrate the instinct peculiar to it, although perhaps uncontrolled and unintelligible in him; nevertheless, they are expressed: "He took his brother by the heel", Hosea 12:3. There was a struggle, indeed, between them before their birth -- a remarkable thing; and I have no doubt that it has its counterpart in any young ones who have just received being by the power of God.

There is a distinct instinct in the soul that the natural man must be supplanted, and so Jacob received his name as the supplanter. For the natural comes first in historical order, as Esau did, and "afterwards that which is spiritual". 1 Corinthians 15:46. Jacob represented the spiritual, as yet unintelligible in him, but nevertheless in such wise as to supplant, in principle, the natural. His subsequent relations with Esau, as most of us know, were not marked by spiritual rectitude; nevertheless he was true to his instincts.

I speak to the young ones here who may be troubled, and I would say there is great encouragement in taking notice of your instincts. There may be much that you regret -- that causes you pain, and others as well; still the entry of your way, to use a scriptural expression (Proverbs) is marked by spiritual instincts that have a distinct bearing Godward. Jacob kept steadily to these instincts, and so the prophet draws attention to the fact that first of all he took hold of his brother by the heel. His next great energy, which brought him on to the ground of the Spirit, was that he wrestled with God. It says, "He had power with God", Hosea 12:3. "He had power over the angel, and prevailed", Hosea 12:4.

Now, I wish especially to address young believers here. I wish to encourage you by pointing out that whatever you may experience to distress you, you must take account of the spiritual instincts that mark one "born again". These are born, not of nature; they are of the Spirit. But what I would especially call attention to is that Jacob wrestled with God. We must not be content with a mixed condition in our souls, which is likely to lead to such deceit as marked Jacob in his displacement of his brother. The Spirit of God in Hosea passes over a long period, of Jacob's life, and then says, "he wrestled with God". Many of us, doubtless, have spent that long period, or even longer, in a state of spiritual uncertainty.

Yet those who have observed us have been assured that we have been born again because of our spiritual inclinations. You love the society of the people of God; you love the Scriptures; you revere the name of Jesus; you resent any insult to Him. Nevertheless, your spiritual experience is a mixed one. It may be, like Jacob, that you turn aside into the world, but God never withdraws His eye from one born again. The work that He begins He finishes. And so the Spirit here passes over a long chequered experience, and notes the wrestling with God.

You know, dear brethren, the great difficulty with many of us is the want of energy. The gospel presents to us clearly what is available. Think of what has been brought within our range in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His death! The gospel brings to our attention what is thus available. Everything is presented to a believer as available to him in Christ. Every blessing that God has for man is available, and particularly life, for that is what is most urgent after forgiveness. Hence God promised it, and commanded it. He promised it in view of man's need, and desire to have it. He commanded it, because the exigencies of His nature required that man should live before Him.

Thus it is presented as available, and hence the next thing is energy. It says, Jacob "wrestled with God". He had heard that Esau was coming with four hundred men. He was distressed in soul. He divided his belongings into troops, and sent them on. But all the time the nightmare of an army of four hundred men, commanded by an outraged brother, was in his mind, and he was left alone, and the angel wrestled with him. God begins the transaction, but Jacob says, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me", Genesis 32:26.

I would urge upon you young people here, if you

have not settled peace with God, and a sense of the love of God in your heart by the Spirit, to become in earnest about it. What is needed is energy -- energy of soul -- energy with God. He wrestled with God, and he prevailed. He got the blessing. It says further -- "He wept, and made supplication unto him". Many are indifferent to the marvellous things that are brought within our range in Christ. But Jacob "wept, and made supplication unto him".

May I press this home? What do we know of this kind of energy? Many of us, doubtless, have put much energy into our business, and we have been successful; but here is that which is abiding -- the true riches; that which is said to be "really life". Paul says to Timothy, "Lay hold on eternal life" (1 Timothy 6:19), and I refer to this for the principle I am speaking of. What about this energy? You may be assured that such energy as this will bring results. It is not that things are to be laboured for, but God virtually says, 'This is worth your while; go in for it. I have brought it within your range, and it is urgent that you go in for it'.

Jacob went in for it. "He wept", it says, "and made supplication". And then it goes on to say, "He found him in Bethel". You see where this energy ends. God found him in Bethel. It is a synopsis of the history of Jacob, and, I believe, of the history of every believer who has reached the house of God. We must not settle down in our spiritual energy until God finds us in His house. You see in Matthew 22:11, it says, "The king came in to see the guests". How delightful to have such a survey by the blessed God. "He came in to see the guests". One would have serious regrets if one were absent on such an occasion, but then it is not only that you are a guest. How are you there? He found one, we are told, who had not on a wedding garment. It says, God found Jacob in Bethel. How did He find him in

Bethel? When Jacob reached Bethel he lay on a stone pillow, and a ladder extended from the heavens down to him.

A youth on the way to Syria, he lighted on a certain place, and lay down to sleep with a stone for his pillow. The ladder came down, and Jehovah was at the top of the ladder. He finds Jacob in Bethel, but in what state of soul? Jacob belonged to Bethel as much in Genesis 28 as in Genesis 35. But how different the state of the soul in the latter! God found him there, and He said, virtually, to Jacob, 'I am delighted to see you here. I have the deepest interest in you here. I am going to do wonderful things for you'. "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it", Genesis 28:3.

Oh, believer, think of the interest of God in your soul. He found him in Bethel, and poor Jacob awakes, and he says, "How dreadful is this place; this is none other but the house of God", Genesis 28:17. Jacob had divine instincts, but they were very mixed. They were connected with natural feelings, but they were truly divine, for he was able to discern the house of God. But as yet he had not wrestled with God.

After twenty years of sojourn in Syria, he returns. He is on his way back, and God meets him, and He wrestles with him; and the wrestling proceeds. I have no doubt, dear brethren, that God shows us how to do everything, even if it be to wrestle. If it be to pray, it says of the Lord, He was praying in a certain place, and one of His disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray", Luke 11:1 and He taught them. He taught Jacob to wrestle, and Jacob prevailed. When God finds him in Bethel the second time, he has reached there in the power of the Spirit, typically. He had, in principle, received the Spirit. He is constituted a prince; meaning that he had power with God. And I say to you, young brother, young sister, it is within

your range through energy of soul to reach that point. What we need is energy. So it says, "He found him in Bethel".

If you look at Genesis 38, at your leisure, you will observe that the record leads us to Jacob returning there and rearing up the altar and naming it the God of Bethel -- the house of God. Then the Spirit of God takes up the history from the divine side. It says that God blessed Jacob after he returned from Syria, and that God came down and talked with him in Bethel. I wish you to think of the difference between Jehovah on the top of the ladder, on the first occasion of his finding Jacob in Bethel, and to think of Him as coming down and standing beside Jacob, and communing with him on the second visit. We need to understand how God found him the second time. "He found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us, even the Lord God of hosts", Hosea 12:4,5.

God speaks to us in His house. Some of us here know a little about this. We know something about coming together in the light of the house of God, and hearing God speak to us as thus together. The place seems to become hallowed, as we hear the divine accents. It says of Jacob, "God went up from him in the place where he talked with him", Genesis 35:13. The very ground was hallowed by the divine feet, and Jacob sets up a pillar and pours a drink offering upon it. He is now conscious of what he is for God's pleasure.

These mixed feelings, although they contain pure gold, which God knows how to distinguish, nevertheless are not feelings that afford pleasure to God. God looks for the unalloyed gold. "Take away the dross", it says, "and there cometh forth a vessel for the refiner", Proverbs 25:4. The dross has to go, and it goes as we understand the Spirit received from God as life in us. The Spirit is life. The body is dead on account of sin. The body is here representative of

all my natural energies; it is dead, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all my energies and affections; thus I am pleasurable to God.

Well, now, I want to show you how this life, as in the house of God, is marked by greenness, and so I refer to the last chapter of Hosea, which says, "I am like a green fir tree". Now, I take that to represent the energy of life in our coming into contact with what is adverse. Many of us seem to shine among the people of God where there is no opposition; but how is it when the cold north (or, in this latitude, south) blast blows? The fir retains its greenness notwithstanding the bitter north wind. It is an evergreen. I ask myself, Am I always green; not only when I meet a brother on the street, or enter into his house, or attend the meetings, but when I come in contact with the wicked opposition of this world, do I retain the evidence of spiritual energy -- energy that lies in the Spirit of God?

The Spirit is life. My natural propensities are held in check by the power of the Spirit; thus the green is seen. I retain the evidence of the Spirit of Christ, and am enabled to "suffer evil along with the glad tidings", 2 Timothy 1:8. I stand out in the energy of spiritual life in all weathers. That is what the fir is. We all know how pleasing the green is to the eye, and so God looks for evergreens. He has given us the means whereby there should be perpetual greenness in our walk and ways in this world.

But in the house of God it is not the fir, but the olive. The Psalmist says, "I am like a green olive tree in the house of God", Psalm 52:8. The olive refers to the Spirit as upon the believer; not only the energy of life within, but the dignity that I acquire in the house of God as in the presence of God. Let us understand, dear brethren, that the house of God is a dignified place. It is a place of princes, as I said. When God found Jacob there the second time. He

says in effect, 'Jacob, you are a prince'. He did not say that the first time, for he was far otherwise. The wrestling had come in between, and God greets him. He says, "Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name", Genesis 35:10. That is written for our learning, that we should understand that if we are in the house of God we are to be there in dignity suitable to the place.

Who is over the house of God? The Son. It does not say Jesus; it is the Son. The Son of God is over the house, and it is composed of His companions. Think of what is opened up to us that we should be in the house of God as companions of the Son! But how? As green olive trees. One who is rightly in the house of God will "honour God and man", Judges 9:9. That is what the olive does. No one who is in the house of God as a green olive tree seeks to be prominent among his brethren. He has no natural ambition. He aspires not to be pre-eminent. He is not such as would cast others out of the assembly; one who loves the pre-eminence. No, beloved. One in the house of God as a green olive tree honours God and he honours man. When the proposal is made to the olive to become king over the trees, it says, 'No; my function is to honour God and man'. It knew that its function was greater than ruling over the trees.

If I am in the house of God as a green olive tree, I consider for God. I think of what is suitable to God in His house. I think of God's honour, not my own. And besides that, I honour man; I have respect for all that are in the house. The Holy Spirit, as in us, enables us to disallow all natural ambition, and think for God, and think for the brethren. What a blessed place the house of God is; as full of olive trees; typical, as I said, of men and women who think only for God, and who love God, and who love their brethren. I know that I have

passed from death unto life because I love the brethren. I have the evidence of it, and I am not going to leave that.

It is a blessed function to be occupied with God -- loving the brethren. So, with the Psalmist, "I am like a green olive tree in the house of God". In the fir, there is evidence of life in all weathers; but in the olive tree we have that which dignifies and beautifies the saints inside. Where we come under God's eye, and under the eye of our brethren, we appear in our dignity. We are not in the house of God as poor miserable sinners. We are in the house of God like the olive, in the energy of life, or we are not in it aright; and in that life we honour God and we honour man.

GOSPEL ADDRESS

Hosea 14

This prophet expresses the love of Jehovah for His people with greater pains and point than any other prophet; faithfully reminding them of His unwearied care, expressed in a variety of ways, to the end that they should turn to Him, as having deeply revolted. The goodness of God leads to repentance. He has opened a door of repentance, as we read in the New Testament, not only to His ancient people Israel, but to all -- to the nations. Indeed, He has commanded repentance. In a way, nothing reminds us more of His goodness than that He should fall back on His creatorial rights over man, and assert them by commanding them to repent. So here we have the appeal, "Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity". Here is a clear requirement on the part of God, which addresses itself not only to His ancient people, but to all. And what I have specially before me is to point out that, in this call to return, God requires that you should "take with you words". Words are the expression of one's thoughts in detail. So that from you, as a repentant sinner, God looks for an expression in detail of your guilt.

There is to be an accounting, beloved friends; and in order to impress upon us the detail into which He goes as dealing with men in their guilt, we have the fingers writing upon the wall of the banquet hall of king Belshazzar. It is the fingers of a man's hand; fingers being, among other things, an indication of detail. God enters into all detail connected with every man and woman in the whole race, from Adam onwards. It is a small matter with Him, beloved friends. It may seem to us incomprehensible, but it

is a small matter with God to count, not only the members of the race, but all their deeds, good and bad; and, further, to have all put down in writing.

God keeps books. One cannot undertake to indicate what the population of the antediluvian world may have been, nor what the population of the subsequent world, nor indeed of our own world, from century to century; but it is a small thing with God to take account of every member of the race; and not only take account of them, as I have said, but of their deeds. So that, as we read in the Revelation, the books were opened. We are not told how many. Who can undertake to say how many? They are divine books, and no one can speak of their dimensions and the number of their pages; but books, we are told, were opened, and the dead were judged "according to their works". Think of the billions wrapped up in that one word, 'dead'! "The dead were judged according to their works", Revelation 20:12. What about that solemn fact, friend, tonight?

It says, further, that another book was opened, which is the book of life -- only one book. It is the book of God's sovereignty. It says, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire", Revelation 20:15. How about that, sinner? Have these thoughts ever come home to you? If not, the Lord intends them to come home to your soul tonight. That is one of the designs of this meeting -- that the conviction of sin should come home to your conscience. There is no hope otherwise. There is no hope of your ever finding your name in the book of life apart from repentance. But repentance is granted to you.

And so the requirement here is to "take words"; and I appeal to you to turn to God, according to this passage, and "take with you words". You may ask, what words? The passage gives them. As the

prodigal thought of returning, words came into his mind that would be suitable to his meeting with his outraged father. I have no doubt that he had become well acquainted with the cant and slang of the country into which he had gone. He was acquainted, doubtless, with the words of the theatre, of the card-table, of the saloon, of the drunkards, the words of the profligate; but now his heart turns towards his father, and a new set of words comes into his mind.

He leaves behind forever all the cant and slang of the world. He says, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father". Luke 15:18. How beautiful! How beautiful that the thought of his father should come into his mind. And then the words following; "I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son". Luke 15:21. That was enough.

In Luke 18:13, a publican -- a publicly-reputed sinner -- turned to God. He smote upon his breast, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner". He spoke as if there were not another. It is not, God be merciful to us. No, friend; repentance is an individual matter. It is "the house of David apart, and their wives apart" Zechariah 12:12. Repentance is individual, so he says, "God be merciful to me a sinner"; and the Lord Jesus Christ, commenting upon that man's speech and attitude, says, "This Man went down to his house justified rather than the other" -- the Pharisee. So here he says "Say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render (unto thee) the calves of our lips". "Take away all iniquity". The light of God is now breaking into the soul. The petition is not made with doubt or uncertainty, for God is now becoming apprehended as a Saviour God.

Take away all iniquity. Yes, friends, all. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow", Isaiah 1:18. God knows them all. He loves

to hear you admit them -- confess them, for sins are forgiven as confessed. Known forgiveness is on the ground of confession. God proclaims repentance and remission of sins. But consciously remitted sins are confessed sins. Hence, if you are exercised as to your soul, take with you words; make your confession to God; hide nothing; keep back nothing; have it all out with God; and you shall find the precious sense of forgiveness coming into your soul.

It is a never-to-be-forgotten moment when the sense of divine forgiveness enters into the soul. There is forgiveness with Him. It is available to you as you draw near, humbly confessing your guilt. God has taken account of it all, as I said. The Lord Jesus took it all upon Him on the cross. He did not take our sins upon Him simply in a wholesale way; He took them upon Him in detail. He knew the number of the sins He had to bear. He says, "They are more than the hairs of my head", Psalm 40:12. Hear His word, sinner: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. The Lord of glory was hanging upon Calvary's cross, knowing divinely every sin that was laid upon Him, for He bore the sins of many. And He bore the full weight of divine wrath on account of them, for He says, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Hence you may come to God with these words, "Take away all iniquity". He has already dealt with your iniquity, but it has to be taken away from your conscience, and so "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin", 1 John 1:7.

And then he says, "Receive us graciously". Oh, sinner, if you could but know the gracious reception that awaits you, you would come. Most of us here tonight have been received. Think of the reception of the prodigal! His father, we are told, ran to meet him. We all invite you to come tonight. Yea, a chorus of voices from heaven, I may say, is inviting

you to come, for "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth", Luke 15:10. Let us therefore urge you to come, knowing, as we do, what a gracious reception awaits you. Let us urge you to come tonight. It is a well-accepted time. As I speak to you, God is looking into your heart, and would produce there a sense of guilt, and at the same time a sense of grace: "for the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared", Titus 2:11. God waits to be gracious, and, as you draw near, He receives you graciously.

And now they go on to say in this wonderful formula of repentance, "Asshur shall not save us". Have you found this out? The Assyrian is alluded to -- Asshur. With all his worldly power, could he save one soul? Not one. Take all the power in the world today -- political, commercial, social, and all other forms of world power, and combine them, and the combination would fail to save a soul. There is no salvation outside of Christ; He alone can save.

Then again, "We will not ride upon horses". You see how the humble spirit makes confession of guilt before God. We all know what horse-riding indicates. It is the reliance on the arm of flesh; it is pride of flesh. We know how men and women in large cities are seen stalking about on horses. How noble they seem to be; but how little there is in it! The humble penitent before God abandons all that.

Well now, it goes on to say, "Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods". You see what a house-cleaning is involved in this confession; how much has been cast, as I may say, on the dung-heap. And I ask you, believer, here tonight, to look into your affairs and see whether you have reserved any of those features; whether any of those things still remain as part of your equipment. What about the motives of your heart? "Neither will we say ... to the work of our hands,

Ye are our gods". Has the Lord Jesus His place with you, brother and sister? Has He His undisputed place in your heart and in your circumstances? Have you come to the definite conclusion that in the light of the love of Christ -- of His redemption rights over you -- you will cast all these worldly things away?

Then further, "For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy". As you, one by one, in the light of the gospel, give up these things, you may seem to be faced with the possibility of disaster, it may be commercially or socially. So the word immediately follows, "In thee the fatherless findeth mercy". You may be assured that God will rescue you from all such predicaments, for the believer has nothing to fear. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord ... and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty", 2 Corinthians 6:17,18. You need not fear the result of casting all these things aside. In everything God has become your Father, and you have become His son or daughter. Have you found this out -- what it is as a believer of the gospel to come under the wing of the Almighty God? For this is what He says, "I will be a Father unto you ... saith the Lord Almighty". Who can do more for you than the Almighty?

Then in the next verse, "I will heal their back-sliding, I will love them freely". God is speaking now. He loves to listen to your speech, and it would be the joy of my heart if one soul tonight took up this speech, and turned to God with it. And as you finish, you shall hear what He has to say, as it was with the prodigal's father. Think of the magnificence of the prodigal's reception, and of the after joys, for there was far more with his father than he had ever dreamt of. Jehovah says here, "I will heal their backsliding". Your soul, may be, is lacerated, but He says, 'I will heal your backsliding'. What wounds

you have received! What reminiscences remain with you -- all those awful scenes and places! God says, I will heal all that. And moreover, He says, "I will love them freely". He is waiting, indeed, to open up His heart to you. Think of all that He has in His heart for you! "I will love them freely".

Then it goes on, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon". We have now come, on the principle of confession -- on the principle of faith through the light of the gospel -- into the sunshine of God's love. God loves actively. How attractive it is! Let me endeavour to call attention to the active love of God. The third chapter of John, verse 16, speaks of past love -- "God so loved ... that he gave". John 3:16. But I wish, while not in the least degree beclouding that, to dwell on the active love of God. "I will love them freely". Now He says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel", that precious dew that comes down on our souls, inducing freshness, vigour, and life. So that it goes on to say, "he shall grow as the lily".

I sometimes look at an old lady. She is haggard; there are grey hairs and wrinkles; and I compare her with a young lady in the freshness and vigour of youth and beauty. The old lady is a Christian, and the young one is not. The old lady, as a follower of Jesus, has grown as the lily. I think of the Lord Jesus looking down on that old lady in the vigour of spiritual growth, although wrinkled and grey-headed; and I think of Him looking down on the young woman without a spark of faith, and yet she is full of the energy of physical life and beauty. Which is the more beautiful in the Lord's eyes? The old lady. There is no beauty in the young one. The old lady has grown like the lily; she has come on day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year. She has come in for the dew, the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. She has developed

wonderful beauty for the eyes of Christ; she has grown as the lily.

Let not young people rest in the mere freshness and beauty of youth; it is vain. God sees not as man sees. What the Lord is looking for is the lilies. He has "gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies", Song of Songs 6:2. Who are they? Those who have grown up from repentance; who have grown up in the light of the gospel and the knowledge of the love of God; who have been loved freely for years. God has loved them freely. They are the lilies of Christ. They have grown as such, as He says, "Consider the lilies, how they grow". Luke 12:27. He considers us.

And then it says, "he shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon". He is not to be carried away by every wind of doctrine. It is most humbling to see how Christians are carried hither and thither by this wind and that wind. The secret of this is that there are no roots. Where are your roots, friend? "Rooted", we are told, "and grounded in love", Ephesians 3:17. The roots go deep into love. You are no longer carried about by every wind of doctrine. Christendom is full of it -- adverse currents; that "cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive", Ephesians 4:14. Christendom is full of lies, all designed to carry away the unstable. Hence we are enjoined to be no longer babes, but to be full-grown; to be rooted and grounded in love.

Well, it goes on, "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree". We have the lily that is so beautiful to the eye, but the beauty of the olive goes beyond that. It suggests what is more developed, what is more mature; it honours God and man. So, as the believer develops in the light, he develops another feature of beauty -- "His beauty shall be as the olive".

Further. "And his smell as Lebanon". And

again, in verse 7, "The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon". You see the idea of smell. When Jacob came to Isaac for his blessing, Isaac says, "The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed", Genesis 27:27. What a smell that is! What potentiality there is in a field which the Lord has blessed! What crops He will have! So I look at the young brother and the young sister as thus beautified, as I have been saying; and now there is the sense of the presence and fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit. In the society of this world the atmosphere is stifling to the Christian; you cannot live in it. Whereas the believer brings in an atmosphere of purity and health -- "his smell is as Lebanon". Think of the odour of the wonderful trees of Lebanon; how exhilarating; how health giving and refreshing! All is found spiritually among the people of God as marked by what I have been saying. You can expand your lungs among the people of God; whereas the atmosphere of the world is death -- "Her guests are in the depths of hell", Proverbs 9:18.

But I do not proceed further. I hope you have all followed. The passage is replete with details of the believer's blessing, leading on to that remarkable statement at the end, that we have already dwelt upon at these meetings. Ephraim says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" What a wonderful time in one's history! And then God says (as I understand), "I have observed him". And Ephraim says, "I am like a green fir tree". And God answers, "From me is thy fruit found".

Turn to the Lord, and take with you words. -- Amen.

Pages 139 - 301 -- "The Administration of Divine Bounty". Christchurch and Nelson, N.Z., 1925 (Volume 69).

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (1)

Matthew 2:1 - 12; Matthew 8:14,15; Matthew 9:9 - 13,23 - 31

J.T. I have been thinking of the gospel of Matthew a little since coming here -- the bearing of it on the dispensation of God. I thought perhaps the four readings we may have might be occupied in dwelling on certain passages in that gospel which present the Lord serving in houses. I have spoken of it a little elsewhere, but not in any extended way, and it has occurred to me it will help us to understand how we are to be in the present dispensation of God -- the word 'dispensation' in 1 Timothy 1:4, having reference to the house -- administration housewise.

J.C.S. I think that will follow on very well with what has gone before.

J.T. Perhaps we might read a few verses in chapter 2 to begin with. If we see the import of these services of the Lord in houses as indicated in these passages, and in others that we shall hope to look at, I believe we shall have a better understanding of the dispensation of God, which is said to be "in faith". This gospel speaks about householders; I do not think any other does. You get the word several times in this gospel, as if to call our attention to the importance of householding spiritually; and the Lord, having unfolded much in chapter 13 to His disciples in the house, said, "Have ye understood all these things?" and they say, "Yea, Lord". Matthew 13:51. Then He says, "Every scribe discipled to the kingdom

of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52). The gospel opens with the statement that it is the "book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David". "Son of David", then "Son of Abraham" Matthew 1:1; meaning that we have not only the Heir of all things, but the King, the Son of David, and thus one who is qualified to build the house. There is not only the idea of building the house, but of administering in it; so that it is the paternal side in the genealogy that is emphasised in Matthew. So we have throughout the word 'begat', which does not appear elsewhere. It does not appear in Luke. The emphasis is lain on the paternal side, which I think is intended to run right through in the house. In the idea of administration the paternal is emphasised, so that in the law of the house in 1 Timothy the requirements of the elder are emphasised.

H.L.D. Do you connect the thought you have expressed with the thought in Hebrews, that "Christ is Son over God's house"? Hebrews 3:6.

J.T. Yes, it is there you have the idea of building. In that epistle it is, "He that has built all things is God", Hebrews 3:4 but the Son is the builder. The Son is the builder, and then the Son is over the house that is built.

J.C.S. So that not only does He have the construction of the house and the arrangement of it, but all the administration of the house is under His supervision and direction.

J.T. Yes.

L.D.B. Are you suggesting that "the house" here in Matthew stands for God's house?

J.T. Well, it does. Although the expression is not used at all in Matthew, it is used in Luke. It is the 'assembly' in Matthew because it is more the authoritative or administrative side that is emphasised. The house is a family idea.

L.D.B. It is very interesting to hear that. You are going to call attention to the administrative side connected with the assembly?

J.T. Yes, it takes form in the assembly. In Timothy they are identified, that one should know how to behave oneself in the house of God, "which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth", 1 Timothy 3:15. The idea of the assembly is more maturity and intelligence; the house embraces all -- the whole family is embraced. Of course the whole family is embraced in the assembly, only the idea of the assembly suggests more maturity and intelligence; hence in Corinthians, "I speak as to intelligent persons". 1 Corinthians 10:15.

L.D.B. You draw that distinction, that the house is more general; the assembly considers us more as "intelligent persons", understanding what we are doing.

J.T. So you have in this gospel the Lord saying -- "My assembly". He never says, 'My house'. It is God's house, and it is God's assembly too, but you get the thought of Christ's assembly. So in these houses that are mentioned we can readily see that everyone in them would be covered in the range of the service.

J.C.S. So that an apprehension of the Lord Jesus as presented in the scriptures which we have read, if laid hold of in our souls, would make us competent administrators in connection with the house of God.

J.T. That is the thought exactly; you see how things are done in this connection.

R.J.W. You were calling our attention to the Lord and the list of names.

J.T. We have to learn everything from the Lord, hence you have in this gospel what we might call the mount of Legislation as well as the mount of Transfiguration, and you have also the mount of Intercession.

He goes up into a mountain to pray. These are all connected with authority and heavenly power here.

R.J.W. Is that in your mind when you speak of the paternal side?

J.T. That is what comes out. "Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob", and so on. In the book of Genesis, after the fall in chapter 3, you get in chapter 4 the influence of Eve. She names the children, and it is all connected with her side. It is a chapter of disaster. Of course Adam was in all that, he had fallen into it. One would not wish to emphasise the failure of the woman, but it is remarkable that in the epistle that treats of assembly government she is said to have been "in the transgression", 1 Timothy 2:14. Adam came into it. So chapter 4 of Genesis is a chapter of disaster, but in chapter 5 Adam is reinstated on the ground, I apprehend, of Seth's recovery. He calls the name of his son Enosh, meaning "mortal man"; "then began men to call upon the name of the Lord". Genesis 4:26. There was recovery. Then in chapter 5, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him: male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam". Genesis 5:1. The woman is now brought back and included in the name Adam, so that we have the divine order reinstated. Then it says, "Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth". Genesis 5:3 Adam called his name Seth, although Eve had given him a name in chapter 4. But Adam is now set up in headship, so that you have a line -- "Adam begat Seth", and so on. It is the paternal side emphasised; there is nothing at all said about the maternal in the chapter until we come down to Noah.

Rem. Adam begat a son in his own likeness.

J.T. He was set up again figuratively on the ground of recovery. Seth really had brought in the recovery in calling the name of his son Enosh. There was light in that: "Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah". Genesis 4:26. God had His place again. Seth accepted the state of his child; he was born, but born to die; that was virtually what he said. Light comes in there. God had His place, for God will not recognise us unless we recognise the order of creation. All that, I think, is worked out in this gospel.

J.C.S. And so there was a kind of revival, and God gets His place in their hearts again, and the paternal idea is introduced.

J.T. That is it. In David we again have recovery, and then Solomon comes in. The first book of Chronicles brings in David, and it is not what David is told to do, it is what he does; that is, he knows God and what suits God, and he sets up his kingdom accordingly. Then he hands on the light to Solomon; he hands on the "pattern of the temple" which he received by the Spirit, and Solomon works it out.

L.D.B. Reverting again to Adam, does Genesis 5 show that, notwithstanding the ruin the enemy brought in, God never surrendered His intention to carry on administration through man?

J.T. That is it; He would have the right order to begin with.

Ques. Is headship essential to the thought of the house?

J.T. I think so. You must have the divine order, because God never surrenders any thought. What He began with in Adam He holds to.

S.F. You would connect authority with the kingdom, but what is the influence you said is connected with the house?

J.T. It is the Son; the Son builds the house.

S.F. Intelligence is with the assembly. The kingdom in that way is a wider view?

J.T. Just so.

J.C.S. Do you think that whilst the Lord Jesus comes in here as following up the line introduced in David, and also confirming what is introduced in Abraham, He also introduces new legislation; and then He brings out a company who are able to take up administration according to that which is introduced?

J.T. Yes. What is before us first of all when the birth of Christ occurs is that He is the King. That is what is so beautiful about the mission of the wise men. They are governed by the testimony that God intended for them. They make no reference to the law -- they did not have it. They profited by the testimony that God intended for them; that is, "The invisible things of him ... are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead". Romans 1:20. The means of witness that God designed for those outside of Israel was the creation, and these men profited by it.

L.D.B. Do you allude to the star?

J.T. Yes. They make no reference to the pentateuch or the Psalms; they did not have the Scriptures, but they had profited by the testimony they had. That is a great principle at the outset of this gospel, because, according to the end of the gospel, the light is to go out to all nations, and we are notified at the beginning that God expects respect for any means of witness He has given, whether it be the sun, the stars, the moon, or the rain and the fruitful seasons. They are all designed as witnesses, and He expects us to observe them; they are not to be passed over.

R.J.W. Is it not faith to observe all that?

J.T. Surely; they could not apply the star without faith. It is a question of light, as we said

the other day when speaking about the thief, how did he know that the Lord Jesus had never done anything amiss? He knew it by light that had come into his soul. It is the effect of the thing you have to take notice of.

E.B.McC. And that carried intelligence. They were intelligent in bringing frankincense and myrrh.

J.T. They knew it was the King of the Jews, too, yet they were entirely free from national feeling. They recognise that the great personage who was born was the King of the Jews.

R.J.W. Is it not a cardinal principle of the house that you are free from national feeling?

J.T. Yes.

L.D.B. And they were active too; they travelled a long distance to answer to the light. It all shows how thoroughly they accepted the testimony.

E.B.McC. They brought very good material for the house.

J.T. I think the offering up of the Gentiles is there anticipative]y. They came with their gold, frankincense and myrrh -- the wealth of the Gentiles already brought anticipatively to the King of the Jews. You see in this gospel later how the Lord insists on it. When the woman of Syrophenicia claims David the Lord does not admit it. If she is to come into blessing she has to take her place as a dog.

J.C.S. So that these persons were answering according to the manner in which God had addressed them; they were following the star. He did not address them in the same way as Israel. They were true to the light in which God had addressed them.

J.T. These wise men had light in their souls -- someone has defined faith as "light in the soul".

R.McM. Would you distinguish between light and revelation?

J.T. There is a distinction. Matthew 16 is

revelation, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee". Matthew 16:17. We come into revelation; it is light in our souls; and God acts through that. I think these wise men are brought in here to show that. There was observance of the means of testimony He had afforded, and it comforts you in regard to the heathen, from Noah onwards, that God has not left Himself without witness. That witness was observed and answered to. This you see in the book of Job. It corresponds to the light of creation. The book of Psalms is the experience that corresponds to the revelation through Moses. The book of Job shows there was a testimony of God outside His people Israel. It was of God, although outside of them.

L.D.B. The apostle Paul affirms this when he says "nevertheless he (God) left not himself without witness", Acts 14:17.

J.T. That is a point he insists on.

J.C.S. So that revelation is always light, but light is not always revelation.

J.T. No, because light is first; then I am brought into the revelation. Revelation is complete, but we have all to be enlightened, and each in his own way; each one has a special experience. God addresses each one differently.

Ques. Is Psalm 19 to be taken up in that light -- the testimony of God that covers the universe?

J.T. David saw that; but Paul in Romans 10 shows that God was true; that any member of the race could never say he did not have a witness.

H.L.D. You would say that numbers who do not know the gospel, as we know it, will have had light in creation, and will come into blessing?

J.T. They have. The book of Job should be taken in connection with Melchisedek. In the latter we see that God had a king of His own, notwithstanding that men had given themselves up to

lawlessness. God had a king, and He was "King of Righteousness", Hebrews 7:2. That is all we get. There is no previous history; but it is a testimony to us, and it indicates there was much more than we may have been accustomed to think.

S.F. It would emphasise the importance of the light of creation even to us, although we have the revelation.

J.T. I think so; the more you get on with God the more you see He has designed the material things as a witness.

J.C.S. The material things -- the ordinances, etc., are all on the line of directing to Christ.

J.T. That is it. The apostle says, "Doth not even nature itself teach you?" 1 Corinthians 11:14. Nature is a teacher -- a divinely-appointed teacher.

A.W. How did Job get light as to sacrifice?

J.T. I am sure the thing was handed down. I was going to say there are other things that were handed down. Paul at Athens says, "certain of your own poets have said". Acts 17:28. Where did they get that light? It was handed down. A little light was handed down the ages from Noah. Noah set up an altar and offered sacrifice; it continued. In every branch of the race today you get something of this.

J.C.S. Luke enlarges on the sympathetic conditions, whereas Matthew takes account of the hostile conditions; the elements at Jerusalem were hostile to what the One God was bringing in.

J.T. That is important. Herod is seen in his true light there.

R.J.W. "The young child and his mother". Matthew 2:13. The mother would cherish the young child.

J.T. I think the mother would care for Him. It is "the young child with his mother". You will see in the book of Genesis a very beautiful touch. When Jacob causes his wives and children to pass before

Esau, Joseph is put before Rachel (all the other mothers are before their children) because it is Christ -- He comes first.

What impresses one here is the thought of the king. The king is essential. It says in Judges, "There was no king in Israel". Judges 17:6, Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1, Judges 21:25. The need for the king was apparent. The state that Herod was in shows that the need was great. Think of a man like Herod being a king and many others like him since, and perhaps worse. The royal side comes out here. He will put down all rule and authority, but while He is a Babe God protects Him; the wings of the cherubim are over Him. God takes up His mother; the mother is the most likely vessel to care for the Babe for the moment. You have Simeon in the temple, but here it is the mother.

H.L.D. Your suggestion, I take it, is that our households are to be an education to us as to the assembly.

J.T. That is it. The first house you meet with here is one in which the Lord Himself is cared for by His mother, that is the first thing -- how the Lord is held in affection, and how the wise men regard Him.

H.L.D. In our different households today we are to be in accord with the principles of the assembly.

J.T. Just so; that is where we graduate for the assembly -- where we are trained for it. Suppose you go into any Christian household and examine things -- how is the Lord Jesus held? how is He cared for? what provision is made for Him? It is not a manger here; it is more dignified -- a house. "The little child and his mother" were there.

L.D.B. Then the king is introduced when administration in the assembly is in view.

J.T. What guarantee is there for life and private property and the family institution without the king? I mean in the ordinary sense; what guarantee is there for society as we speak of it? There would be

nothing but the disruption of everything without government.

Rem. That is why we are taught to honour the king.

E.B.McC. Is the thought here that the "little child" is tenderly cared for; He was nourished?

J.T. That is the first thing to think of -- what provision is made for the Lord Jesus in our houses. That is what the wise men would see; "They saw the little child with Mary his mother". If the Lord has His place in our houses things will be right in the meetings. The assembly is affected by our houses, because almost invariably difficulties arise through family feelings. The assembly is composed of families. I think Philippi is the model. The believer's house precedes the idea of the assembly. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things spoken of Paul, and she says, "If ye have judged me faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there". Acts 16:15. If Paul went in there, there would be nothing to jar his spirit. Family feelings have often fanned the flame in assembly difficulties.

R.J.W. The little Child and the house go together and need protection, but when you come to the assembly it is men.

J.T. That is right.

J.C.S. The little Child is introduced into the house where there is affectionate care for Him. There will be nothing allowed in the house that is not consistent with the little Child.

J.T. It is most interesting to see families brought up in the light of the little Child. It is an idea that the youngest in the house can take in. A family is brought up on that line, and the children graduate from the house to the assembly. When one comes into fellowship he passes for the moment outside the range of parental authority. He is now on the ground of full development, he is directly responsible to the Lord.

Now, when you come to chapter 8 we have the house of the man who was to be the leading servant in this administration -- Peter; and how are things there? There is fever in that house. It says here, verse 14, "When Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever". That is a different house. The little Child would not get the attention He should in the feverish house; the feverish person will be prominent rather than He. So the Lord sets that house right.

H.L.D. After the Lord touched her hand she arose and served.

J.T. The next house is that of Levi. There is no fever in this house. Matthew is the disciple. It says in chapter 9, verse 9, "Jesus, passing on thence, saw a man sitting at the tax-office, called Matthew". I suppose Matthew was humble-minded, he is just 'called' Matthew. Jesus says to him, "Follow me; and he rose up and followed him. And it came to pass, as He lay at table in the house, that behold, many tax-gatherers and sinners came and lay at table with Jesus and his disciples". The Lord is entertained in this house.

R.J.W. You would not know it was Matthew's house. It is "in the house" -- Matthew hides himself.

L.D.B. Matthew is seeking to give prominence to the Lord and to the house rather than to himself.

J.T. Quite. The thought is, I think, that the fever being disposed of, the Lord is in the house honoured as in active service, and those called are such as some of us might look down upon -- "tax-gatherers and sinners".

H.L.D. I suppose Matthew knew the kind of company that would suit the Lord at that time.

R.J.W. Does that test us on the line of administration?

J.T. Sometimes we are very discriminating in regard to those in fellowship. We make our selection;

whereas we have to take the thing as it stands. "The Pharisees", as it says, "seeing it, said to his disciples, Why does your Teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners?" That is choosing the people we have to eat with.

J.C.S. So that these were accepted by Him. "They lay at table with him". We must make room for such if He accepts them.

J.T. Yes, you cannot regulate His affairs; you have to accept people as they come.

R.McM. What have you in mind when you say we make selections?

J.T. There is a great deal of that amongst the people of God -- preferential dealings. We discriminate against some and make much of others, but here they are all put down together, tax-gatherers and sinners eating with Him at the table. What can you say if He accepts them?

Rem. "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common". Acts 10:15, Acts 11:9.

J.T. The position of the assembly at Antioch helps greatly. There were noble men, and, as far as the words go there is a black man there, Niger; people from different grades of society are all set down together. "The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all". Proverbs 22:2.

J.C.S. So you would not like, if you came to a brother's house, to find the same persons there always, you would like to find different ones there.

J.T. That is very practical.

R.J.W. It raises practical questions as to our houses.

J.T. It is the public character here. The Lord would let no unrighteousness pass in any of these tax- gatherers. Zacchaeus is a sample tax-gatherer of those who believed in Christ. He says, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore

him fourfold". Luke 19:8. That is saying a great deal. The Lord says, "He also is a son of Abraham". Luke 19:9.

E.B.McC. Here it is not a question of the Lord's supper; there would be a difference there?

J.T. We could not sit down with ungodly people, of course. But historically that is what we all are. Even Paul himself says, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief". 1 Timothy 1:15. Not, 'I was', but "I am". It is our public character.

J.C.S. We may be apt to think, if a person of note in the city is converted and comes amongst the people of God, in some way he dignifies the people of God.

R.J.W. The epistle of James would speak in a very practical way.

J.T. The rich is to glory in his humiliation, and the brother of low degree in his elevation.

W.V. The Lord emphasises the thought of mercy here. "I will have mercy and not sacrifice", He said. That prevails in the house.

J.T. Quite, that is the principle. We have to accept whatever we might think opprobrium because of what attaches to those in fellowship, and we have to regard them as from the divine standpoint. They are all ennobled. It is not elevation according to this world; it is spiritual elevation.

E.B.McC. There is a beautiful touch here -- the weak and the sick are cared for in this house.

Rem. It is beautiful to see the open door for those who were to come into the house; there was no hindrance.

J.C.S. So that in the house of God, no matter what a person's past history has been -- good or bad, he is no longer held in relation to that.

J.T. No, we do not look at them from that point of view at all; we look at them from the standpoint of their ennoblement as being attached to Christ. He says, "Consider your calling, brethren". 1 Corinthians 1:26. Historically

they were generally from the lower class, but God has made Christ unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We can stand up alongside the most intelligent with Christ as our wisdom.

R.J.W. Does the gospel come in to relieve us, to produce material for the house?

J.T. Yes. It is the house that is emphasised, and the kind of people who were with Him. God was working, and so they came.

J.C.S. Do I understand that this must have a place in our souls if we are to come out as competent administrators? If we have a preferential spirit we cannot touch the administration of the house of God rightly.

J.T. We shall not extend the right hand of fellowship to a poor person; we keep him at a distance; but we must be ready to receive all. We are to receive as Christ received us, to the glory of God.

L.D.B. They say, "Why does your teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners?" He would teach us thus to receive those who draw near.

H.L.D. "The Son of Man came eating and drinking", Matthew 11:19 but John the baptist remained in the wilderness.

J.T. John came mourning, and the Lord came eating and drinking. Both messages were intended to affect them.

The next thing is to be brought into life, In verse 23 of chapter 9, it says, "When Jesus was come to the house of the ruler". The ruler had come to Him; he has evident belief in Him, so it is a believer's house. "He saw the flute players and the crowd making a tumult". Now, that is a condition that is very detrimental to spiritual power. Christendom has gone back to flute playing, music, and organs; all that affects the natural senses. All these things are inimical to spiritual power. The Lord put all that out.

H.L.D. In Daniel's day they had all kinds of music; there is a subtle influence in it.

J.T. It began in Cain's city, and it is employed to affect the senses and shut out the Spirit of God. The Lord put them all out. We cannot put them all out of Christendom, but we can withdraw, and come together in the truth of the Spirit of God.

J.C.S. What is serious is, it is a believer's house. One can understand it in the world, but it should not be in a believer's house.

J.T. Things are coming into believers' houses that are destructive to spiritual growth. Radio connections, for instance, letting the filth of the world into the house; and other things answering to flute playing. You cannot have a development of spiritual things in such conditions.

L.D.B. They are opposed to the administration of which we are speaking.

J.T. They are. How solemn a comment this is on Christendom, as it is called! All this is intended to appeal to the senses in religious things.

J.C.S. Sensational preaching and all that sort of thing would be on the same line.

J.T. All that appeals to the senses.

R.J.W. Would that hold you in bondage? She was a damsel, and about to take up her responsibilities in life.

J.T. She was not to be waked up into life through hearing flute playing and that sort of thing; it is quite inconsistent. So it goes on to say, "Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided him. But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up". She is brought up out of her sleep into the presence of Christ. The father and the mother are present in the other gospels, the spiritual element is all there -- seven of them. The point here is that it is the Lord; she is revived into the presence of the

Lord, and she is to be developed in that; made to live in the presence of the Lord.

J.C.S. So the Lord dealt with the conditions preceding His bringing her into life, so that suitable conditions may be there when she wakes.

G.H.C. We are not to have houses open for what appeals to the senses, but open for what is spiritual.

J.T. We have to take account of life in the little girl's soul. She is brought into life in the presence of the Lord; it says, "He went in and took her hand". There is a touch there; she is brought into life by His touch. She is made to live in connection with Christ. She is linked with Christ. As you might say, she is now material for the assembly. She is developed in the light of Him, and you must not bring in anything to hinder that.

H.L.D. These are remarkable words, "Withdraw", it says, and "Put out". There is that which we can withdraw from, and which we must "put out".

J.T. It is imperative, you cannot go on with it.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (2)

Matthew 9:27 - 34; Matthew 13:36 - 52

J.T. Our subject is the Lord's service in houses, as seen in Matthew, as indicative of the instruction that is needed that we, as believers, should have part in the dispensation of God -- that we should learn to be householders. We finished this morning with the passage in chapter 9, referring to the raising up of the ruler's daughter, in which we saw that certain human innovations, that are abroad in Christendom, and which may indeed have a place in our houses, interfere with the development that we are considering. There were in the house "flute players and the crowd making a tumult". The Lord said to them, "Withdraw"; and then it says, "When the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up" Matthew 9:23 - 25; showing that spiritual power in the house is interfered with by these human things; indeed they are not only human, they are also worldly, having begun in Cain's city.

Then we have in the next instance "two blind men", who, it says, "followed him, crying, and saying. Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then he touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were opened", Matthew 9:27 - 30. This may be noted as another feature, and a most important one -- the process of our eyes being opened applied spiritually. It is not the faith of the parents or the solicitation of anyone, it is their own desire; they would have their eves opened.

M.P.M. Did they doubt the ability of the Lord to meet the situation? He asks, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?"

J.T. He would bring out what was in them; so far the work of God is proceeding, and He would bring out that they had faith.

J.C.S. They appeal to Him as Son of David here; does that link on with the character of things we are considering?

J.T. I think so. Perhaps you have something to say on that.

J.C.S. I was wondering whether the fact that they appealed to the Son of David would indicate that they apprehended Him as the One who is coming in, in whom is vested all power to deal with the situation. I notice He waits till they come into the house before He operates, as if to identify what He does with the house.

J.T. That is what I thought exactly. Then as these are going out the dumb man is brought, so that we have persons who can see and speak. These are features that obviously enter into the houses. First we have the removal of fever, then the kind of people that are in it, and then life -- youthful life -- in the house, all human innovations being driven out, then persons who can see and persons who can speak.

M.P.M. Is there moral order in these things?

J.T. I think so. One is impressed in the gospels with the constructive lines that run through, and I think we can see this here in what takes place in the houses, till we arrive at chapter 13, after which we have unfolded the truth of the assembly.

Ques. The first thing recorded about these two men is that they "followed him". I suppose that would be an indication of faith?

J.T. It would; they recognise Him as the Son of David; that is to say, they were in the light that governed the position. It is a great thing to understand

the light that governs any position, and draw on it.

Ques. Why did the Lord charge them sharply to let no man know it?

J.T. You find this frequently in the gospels; it is to take away opportunities for the natural man to take up the things of God.

E.B.McC. What is the force of having their eyes opened? They had light in their souls before they came to Jesus; they knew Him as Son of David. Their eyes now had to be opened.

J.T. They are opened in the house -- they would first see Him there; that is the point. The Psalmist desired to see Him there. It is one of the important features that those in the house should see. As Mark puts it, "See everything clearly", Mark 8:25 otherwise, when difficulties arise your vision is blurred and your judgment is imperfect.

J.C.S. He takes the damsel by the hand; and here He touches their eyes; what does that suggest?

J.T. I think touching was linking Himself with them. These suggestions have reference to His death. It is identification with the thing dealt with, I think. "He bore our infirmities", it says. I suppose the Lord took on Him in spirit all these things. We might read it casually and forget the feelings that were underneath -- how He felt all these things. They were the consequence of sin; and as becoming Man He had to take them all on Himself.

It was His thought that the light was to be in keeping with the work of God. If the light goes beyond that it only improves the world; it doesn't help men spiritually. It says, "Many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free", John 8:30 - 32.

J.C.S. So the Lord was not dealing with the

crowds exactly, He was dealing with those who had faith.

J.T. Then following that, one is qualified now in the house, so that the appointment of the apostles in this gospel follows all this.

E.B.McC. They spread His name abroad in the land; that has come to pass in Christendom.

J.T. The idea of the mystery -- Colossians -- enters into this charge of the Lord. It was never the intent of God that the knowledge of Himself should be taken up by man and added to what they had already. The flute-players would no doubt have taken up the miracles, and made much out of them, but the Lord does not want the world to talk of them. It is a faith system: "the dispensation of God which is in faith". Colossians 1:25. You want nothing outside of faith. Anything outside of faith is just to build up the world. Of course there was to be public testimony, but the gospel is "on the principle of faith to faith". Romans 1:17.

H.L.D. It would be like the servant entertaining the king of Israel about the great things the prophet had done.

J.T. Gehazi had a distressing history; he would have taken from Naaman under false pretences. Men like that carry the tidings out and add to the world through them. You do not want that; you want faith.

J.C.S. Do you think there was a kind of climax here to the process we have been considering? Having reached this climax the Lord can take up the twelve.

J.T. Yes; we have to go through all this before we can go out; the dumb man is the last, and then they are sent out.

R.T. The demoniac was bidden to go back to his own people and make known what things God had done for him.

J.T. Yes, that is right; he could be a witness. That is Luke.

M.P.M. What does it mean to have your speech given in the house?

J.T. I think that you have the language of the house. So you see the house of God should be understood; we should indeed find our places in it before we can be of any service outside.

L.D.B. So that if you get your sight in relation to the house of God, and speech too, you see aright and speak aright in a wider circle.

R.McM. There is order here. The feverishness must go, and the musical instruments. We might, perhaps, like to have our sight and be able to speak, but we must be prepared for what goes before it.

J.T. So that there is a constructive line throughout here. First as preceding the sending out of the apostles, and then in the end of chapter 12 there is a change, for He leaves the house. All this apparently went on within the limits of Judaism, because He brought all this out there; but a time comes when there has to be a break. Chapter 12 brings out the awful condition there was amongst the Jews. They charged Him with doing things through Beelzebub. So He leaves the house in verse 1 of chapter 13, and then He speaks in parables -- parabolic ministry, as we might call it, till we reach verse 36, when He returns into the house. Now you get everything again in plain language, because parables are to hide the truth -- to hide it from the natural man. They are intended to hide it; so that he shall not take it in naturally. It is for faith only.

L.D.B. Gideon had that instinct, no doubt; he was hiding the wheat.

J.C.S. Then do you think that before the Lord makes the break He appoints new administrators, so to speak; they having graduated under this process of education?

J.T. The material for the new system had all been formed whilst bearing witness to the old. The two things went on together, and when the time arrives He takes the whole thing with Him. Everything is taken out of Judaism and set up in a new connection altogether.

J.C.S. I think it is a very fine touch. I had not before noticed how chapter 10 follows what we have had.

J.T. He has the materials for the new system all ready.

R.J.W. In the light of all this we can understand the immense importance of the day of Pentecost and all that followed.

J.T. It is interesting to follow up the history of David and see how he takes out of Saul's system everything that was spiritual, and carries it with him.

W.V. The house is a primary thought. In Exodus 12 the lamb was for a house.

L.D.B. Is it suggested that while we might rejoice in sins forgiven and many blessings received, if we are to reach what is properly before the Lord -- the assembly -- we have to pass through this process; there is a moral sequence in our histories?

J.T. That is the thing.

L.D.B. One finds sometimes there is a tendency to rest in blessings received, but the Lord would lead us on to what is before Him.

J.T. You see in the epistle to the Corinthians what was involved in the assembly's position. "Upon whom the ends of the world are come", 1 Corinthians 10:11. That is, all that is spiritual from the very outset, from Abel onwards, great principles had been working out, which faith can take up. All these converge in this new system; hence the immense importance of the assembly. It was to sustain all this: "Upon whom the ends of the world are come". 1 Corinthians 10:11. There were other things too; there were lines of evil running

alongside the thread of faith. These lines all converged on Jerusalem. All the sins from Abel -- from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias -- they are all held and brought down to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is held responsible for them. They are the two ends. The assembly is immune from the responsibility of the guilt. The lines of testimony all converge on the assembly. If these lines all converge on us, how important it is we should learn how to behave ourselves in the house and administer in the house; and the great feature of this gospel is to teach us how to behave in the assembly.

L.D.B. Would you remark again on "the ends of the world"?

J.T. Well, that refers to the testimonies of God in the different dispensations. First -- the line ran down to Enoch, and Enoch is said to have been the seventh from Adam. That line culminated in one who was pleasing to God; he had the testimony before he was translated that he pleased God. That is one line that comes down to us, and which should ever be before us, that we walk with God and please God, because that is the ground of translation. Secondly, we have Noah beginning another line. What helps in Genesis is the 'histories', as the history of Noah. Noah brings in government. That, I suppose, culminated in Melchizedek. Thirdly, God had His King. He was King of righteousness, King of Salem, and Priest of the Most High God. Fourthly, He then takes up Abraham and the thought of the inheritance, and with the inheritance, heirship. Hence the great thought of the family is developed in Abraham. You find he is heir of the world; that is an immense thought; in fact the heavens and all are before God in Abraham. There was the patriarchal feature. So that in Matthew you get Son of David, Son of Abraham; the family thought is in Abraham, but royalty is in David. Well, all that has come into

the assembly. Fifthly, we have Israel taken up -- the idea of a nation, and David. It is another dispensation which we have here, the kingdom culminating in the house. All these things have come down to us. That is what I understand by "the ends of the ages".

J.C.S. We have little realised the greatness of all that has come into the assembly; and if we do realise it we shall feel how important our education is.

H.L.D. What a serious thing it is to be untouched; to be away from the activities of the Lord and the Spirit in connection with the house!

L.D.B. I suppose "receiving sight", like the two blind men, would enable us to perceive the things you have named.

J.T. I think it would.

W.V. Do we get finality in the assembly?

J.T. Yes, everything culminates there.

L.D.B. Is Hebrews 11 for the admonition of those "upon whom the ends of the world are come"?

J.T. That indicates the spiritual history of the Old Testament dispensations.

J.C.S. The assembly has great advantages. When it comes to administration in the assembly it is in the light of what you have outlined.

D.B. Is that the education for us as householders -- to get the gain of all that has gone before, so as to be able to bring out of our treasure things new and old?

J.T. It is new and old; they are treasures.

J.C.S. Is this leading us up to the thought that all our administration now should be in the light of what is found in the assembly; not merely that we take up administration, but it must be in assembly light?

J.T. That is what I think the meaning of the word involves in Timothy, "God's dispensation". 1 Timothy 1:4. The dispensation of God involves His house, and it is

"in faith". So things are now dispensed housewise. But then the question arises, What is the house? Christians are the house of God. "Whose house are we". Hebrews 3:6. So that it brings it very near to us, and the question is raised in one's soul, how am I in regard to all this? In the beginning of chapter 13 we have to learn how to leave a house. That is, a religious association which you discover not to be in keeping with all these things. We have to learn why the Lord left the house here.

S.F. That is very helpful; one appreciates it.

J.T. Chapter 12 shows the evil that existed in Judaism, which corresponded with what marks Christendom now -- awful opposition to Christ.

S.F. One has passed that way. One has had a little doubt as to the correctness, the lawfulness, in leaving such things; but there is a right-of-way opened by the Lord Himself for us in which to follow.

J.C.S. The time comes when there must be a break according to this.

J.T. I think 2 Timothy shows how we are obligated to leave any association in which the Lord is not. "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity", 2 Timothy 2:19. However antiquated houses might be -- dignified in this world -- if the Lord is not there you cannot stay.

Ques. Was it on account of iniquity the Lord left the house?

J.T. Chapter 12 ought to be read in the light of His movements. They charged Him with casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Think of that! Think of the state of those that made that charge! He says in verse 43, "But when the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and does not find it. Then he says, I will return to my house whence I came out; and having come he finds it unoccupied, swept, and

adorned. Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in, they dwell there". Matthew 12:43. But then it is not occupied. The Lord has left it before he comes. But the Lord came and took away the armour of the strong man, in which he trusted, and spoiled his goods. But in the case of apostasy He leaves the house.

J.C.S. That is very important.

W.V. Chapter 13 begins, "the same day".

J.T. The same day -- it is urgent; you cannot wait when the truth comes out. There was sin against the Holy Spirit.

Ques. Why is the house spoken of?

J.T. If you look at Christendom you will see how it differs from heathendom. Christendom is set up in the light. If you take any Christian country, it is different from a heathen country. It is swept and adorned, but it is all external. So the wicked spirit comes in and he takes possession of it.

Ques. Do you think all the lines of evil will converge in Babylon?

J.T. That has already taken place.

E.B.McC. The house was the house of Israel, was it not?

J.T. Yes, but these things apply to Christendom also. 2 Timothy opens up to us how we should leave institutions where the Lord is not honoured.

J.C.S. Many stay in the house with the idea of improving matters. The only way to act is that indicated here -- you abandon it.

J.T. I believe that when the Lord says 'unoccupied' it means He has left it. Now, in that place there is demand for Christians, but Christians of a kind; you must conform to their principles. They have no objection to your Christianity provided you can fit in with their principles.

R.J.W. "Your house is left unto you desolate". Matthew 23:38.

J.T. Yes, it had become theirs. One has often

thought of it; in a local meeting where one man or a group of men arrogate to themselves the right that belongs to the Lord, it is their house, and it is left unto them. You cannot have the Lord in those circumstances, because He claims the right to rule in God's house. But Matthew 12 is more dreadful, because the wicked spirit comes back to the house. He has been walking through dry places, but when he returns he finds that things are changed; a better condition exists -- it is swept and adorned; and he takes into that house with himself seven others worse than himself. Christians ought to be made aware of the efforts that are put forth to improve matters in the apostate conditions that exist, because it is simply adorning things for the wicked spirits.

S.F. I suppose that is the most solemn feature that could be recorded, that the spirits return and dwell in what becomes apostate.

J.T. It is very dreadful.

S.F. They are not put out, they take possession.

R.J.W. Revelation says, "Where Satan dwells". Revelation 2:13.

J.C.S. So when the Lord sat down by the sea the situation seemed to take a new turn; it was an altered condition of things.

J.T. Yes, He is now sowing; sowing meaning there is to be another crop.

E.B.McC. He had those in the end of chapter 12 with whom He could speak. He had set aside Israel, and then He contemplates His brethren, as it says, "He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother". Matthew 12:49,50.

J.T. These are the nucleus of the new system. Chapter 13 begins a new line of instruction directly connected with the assembly.

J.C.S. What do you think is indicated in sitting down by the sea?

J.T. Sitting is deliberation. You get it later in the fish that were caught. When you sit down to a thing you are deliberate. It was a new position He was taking up, and it was definite; He was not going back.

J.C.S. So His face would turn to the sea; a new aspect coming before Him.

J.T. That is it, there is no turning back; the way is straight on in the government of God. The wheels and the Spirit going in the same direction. The gospel of Matthew is on that line, the line of the government of God; there is no turning back. The sea would indicate the Gentiles.

D.B. Do you think the instruction in this chapter is like Psalm 78, which begins, "I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old" Psalm 78:2; and it closes with the sovereign intervention of God? I thought that compared with the condition of Israel as brought finally to light in this chapter.

J.T. That is very interesting, because it ends with the sovereign purpose of God, and the building too. He builds His sanctuary "like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever" (Psalm 78:69).

The Lord is now, as it were, in the presence of the Gentiles, sowing. The assembly is drawn from both Jews and Gentiles. He is going to bring in a crop by sowing.

E.B.McC. Sowing beside all waters.

J.C.S. Does this suggest an extension -- the sea? The house is to be extended, so to speak, in its new character.

J.T. Yes, those in it should be His brethren; as He says, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother". Matthew 12:50.

H.L.D. I thought of that as those who are carried into the new system from the old.

J.T. They are His mother and brethren, His mother will be brought in; she is carried over in the remnant. She must come in on the line of doing the will of God. Israel will have to come in on this line, as we have; so those who are to be in the house are those who do the will of God.

Ques. Will you please say why the natural order is reversed there?

J.T. Well, I think the brother comes first in Christianity. The brother is the great thought; then the sister, and then the mother.

J.C.S. Is it anticipating to remark that the Lord is seen as dismissing the crowds and going into the house (verse 36)?

J.T. I think we may now go on to that. It is a passage full of precious truth. We have to tarry for a little, because it is not to be passed over lightly. The Lord goes into the house definitely, as you will observe: "Having dismissed the crowds he went into the house, and his disciples came to him". Now you see there is definite movement on their part: they come to him in the house, so that there is a remarkable unfolding, in parables, of assembly truth.

R.J.W. That is very interesting, because this is the third time people had come to Him in the house; now they are disciples,

J.T. They are disciples and want instruction. It is a most interesting thing when people want instruction. The Lord is ever ready to unfold things if we are ready for Him to do so. I think it has a very special application to the present time, because this parable of the tares has become a historical fact now. It is very important that we should know how to distinguish between the tares (or darnel) and the wheat. They are growing up together. The Lord says, "The good seed, these are the sons of the

kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one". We are in the presence not merely of children but of developed persons, sons growing up side by side at the present time. On the one hand you have spiritual persons instructed because they are sons of the kingdom, and on the other hand, persons who are also instructed, but in an evil sense, for they are sons of the wicked one; but all are growing up side by side. It is an important thing to get this exposition from the Lord.

R.J.W. Does the assembly come into view in the thought of the sons?

J.T. I thought so. The sons of the kingdom would mean they are developed on that line.

J.C.S. "The sons of the evil one", is that intended to convey the idea that they have taken character from the evil one?

J.T. Quite. In John 8:44 it is, "Your father the devil". There the parent has given character to the children. The word 'sons', whilst it includes that, would go beyond it; they are thoroughly versed, sophisticated.

E.B.McC. So while you get those in the fellowship well instructed, you find the sons of the wicked one developed too.

J.T. The "tares" resemble wheat, hence the great difficulty in discerning the difference; many are deceived.

E.B.McC. The devil is transformed into an angel of light.

J.C.S. The design of the enemy was really to have his children patterned as near as possible to what was coming out in the kingdom.

J.T. The idea is imitation -- the greatest weapon Satan has. Here he imitates the fruit of the Lord's sowing.

S.F. Is there a possibility that behind all this Satan would say that man has never fallen, and he

would produce a generation like himself with a dignity about them?

J.T. So it is in this gospel that we have the lie that the Lord was stolen away, and that became current among the Jews. That is how Satan works.

R.J.W. Quite a number of times in the gospel He brings the point to an issue -- "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth". That is the end of apostasy.

J.T. Where you have any passage that deals with the government of God it goes right on to the end. Matthew is full of that; so are Peter's epistles.

W.V. On the other hand it mentions those that shine in the kingdom of the Father.

J.T. What a glorious prospect! It says, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father".

Ques. Do you take the sun to set forth the idea of the kingdom?

J.T. Yes, it is supreme rule.

J.C.S. They are sons that have been versed in the ideas the Lord has been propounding in connection with His kingdom, so they are competent in that way to shine.

J.T. Hence in this gospel in the transfiguration His countenance is like the sun.

Ques. Does that show the finality of the kingdom on earth?

J.T. Well, quite. It is the kingdom of our Father here.

J.C.S. It is a wholesome question as to whether we have ears to hear.

R.J.W. To be able to speak you must first listen.

J.T. The apostates have their ears closed so that they shall not hear, but "He that hath ears let him hear".

H.L.D. That would help one to speak.

J.T. If your audience has a circumcised ear it is much easier to speak.

Rem. Hearing is prominent in the addresses to the seven assemblies.

J.T. It is very constantly repeated, because there the Lord is speaking symbolically; the ear is appealed to. The unregenerate ear will not hear, but the regenerate ear will understand. It says, "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand", Daniel 12:10.

CHRIST AS MODEL

Numbers 12:3; Exodus 32:17,18; Numbers 11:24 - 29; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 27:15 - 19

I wish tonight to speak of spiritual progress as seen in believers in relation to a model. I wish particularly to speak to the young ones in order to point out certain dangers that have to be avoided if we are to progress to a spiritual state or stature which God can use -- can employ in His service in the ministering to and general care of His people. The need is very great, and the Lord is looking for a spiritual stature in young men, and in all of us, that is requisite if we are to be useful in His service; and I wish to point out that in being taken up by Him we are to develop according to a model.

I have read this passage in Numbers 12 because it calls attention to a model. You will all remember how the Lord Jesus in His service called attention to Himself as a Model. God had hid certain things; the Lord says to Him, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes", Matthew 11:25. That was God's way. But the disciples were not to remain babes; they were to develop according to the model. Hence the Lord says, "Come unto me ... and I will give you rest". Matthew 11:28. For those who are spiritually babes are sure to labour; they are sure to have soul burdens and troubles. So that in order to develop spiritually we have to be relieved of these; hence the Lord says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Matthew 11:28. "I will give you rest". That is a great point to reach at the outset; coming to Christ we learn the rest that He gives. Abroad in the world with which we have to

do in the government of God, unrest prevails, and we quickly come into the spirit of it, especially babes; they are always in danger of being "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind". Ephesians 4:14. Hence the Lord says, "I will give you rest". Then He says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me", Matthew 11:29. There is the model. Then He adds, "For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls". This principle of a model runs through the New Testament; we get it in Paul, and even in the young man Timothy. Paul says to Timothy, "Let no one despise thy youth", 1 Timothy 4:12. A young man has to discover that it is his responsibility to see to it that no one despises his youth; that is, he is to be so marked by sobriety, restfulness and purity that no one can despise it; and then he says, "Be a model of the believers" 1 Timothy 4:12 -- even a young man.

I read the passage in Numbers 12 because it brings in the man Moses. It says, "The man Moses was very meek"; and this at a time when he was assailed by those who should have stood by him in the great pressure that rested upon him. Aaron and Miriam (or as I should say Miriam and Aaron, for Miriam is mentioned first) attack their brother, which shows us that nature is utterly untrustworthy in the things of God. He who relies upon it in the things of God relies upon a broken reed. It is indeed one of the most fruitful sources of trouble and disappointment among the people of God.

So at this point the Spirit of God calls attention to the man, and who should have known the man Moses better than Miriam? She was a good few years his senior; she watched him in the ark of bulrushes; she knew him from the outset. She could not but have known what his parents knew -- that he was a "proper child". He was indeed a child "fair to God", and on account of this he was hid three months by his

parents, and then set in the waters of death and drawn out of it. Miriam was a witness to all this, and yet she leads at this juncture in an attack upon him. Aaron, also his senior, joins in it. The Spirit of God says, "The man Moses", calling attention to his meekness. I suppose nothing in the Scriptures is more interesting to those who love Jesus than the study of His manhood. The official side appeals to us, but the food for our souls is in the manhood of Jesus. So, beloved, as one comes down to men like Paul, Peter, Barnabas and others, what appeals to those who have spiritual sensibilities is not so much the gift, but the man. The great exercise therefore is to learn from Him, for God's intent is to have men like that Man.

Well now, having said that much about Moses, I want to take you to Joshua, because it is about Joshua I intend to speak as a representative believer. He is not a singular one, although greatly distinguished. I think you will see by what I have to say that in certain respects he is representative. In his progress he represents much of that which is normal in the history of believers; that is, our position as called by the gospel -- brought into relation with Christ -- is one of immense privilege. We are to learn first with Him as our Model, and so I take the passage in Exodus 32 as suggestive of what is sure to mark young ones, though enjoying this great privilege. Joshua had been forty days on the mount with Moses. He was not there simply as a spectator, he was Moses' attendant. That is what we are all called to. We are not called unto spectatorship, as I might say; we are called unto companionship with Christ, and we are in attendance from the very outset.

Joshua was with Moses as his attendant. Think of the opportunities he had during those forty days as Jehovah descended and unfolded the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses. What part Joshua had in it

the Spirit of God does not say, but He does say that he ascended with Moses as his attendant, or minister. Again I say, think of the advantages of this young man as the figurative representation of heavenly things was unfolded before him to Moses! The Lord spoke to Moses in opening up this figurative representation of things in the heavens, and now Moses and Joshua come down from the mount. What I want to call the attention of the young and all of us to is that his hearing was defective. I am reminded of that word of the Lord, "Take heed how ye hear". Luke 8:18. What sounds come to our ears as we come down! Joshua says to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp"; his hearing was defective. How easily we become drawn into things in this world unless we are keen in spiritual hearing. "Doth not the ear try words?" Job 12:11. That is what the organ is for in great measure. What words have been spoken abroad today! As the book of Proverbs warns us: "The man that speaketh froward things", Proverbs 2:12 and the "stranger who flattereth with her words". Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 7:5. Unless we know how to try the words of these two -- the froward man setting out the intellectual authoritative element of the world in its books, magazines and newspapers; and the woman flattering with her mouth, appealing to the senses and the lusts -- unless our ears are trained spiritually we shall not be able to distinguish the sounds. The Spirit of God, I believe, sets this down so that we might see in such a distinguished man as Joshua the danger that we are all exposed to.

In Numbers 12 I wanted to call attention to another danger. I do not intend to be on the negative throughout my discourse, but it is well to call attention to dangers. The circumstance here is very different. Moses had felt the burden of the tabernacle and the people, and one's heart moves in sympathy with him; yet his complaint was not fair. The Lord

in answer virtually says to him, 'You must not assume, Moses, that I have not supplied you with sufficient power for this work; if the instrumentalities of the power are to be increased it simply means that your share is to be diminished'. There was a subtle attack (unmeant of course by Moses) upon God Himself in the assumption that there was not sufficient power. There is always sufficient power for God's service. The Holy Spirit is here Himself at the present time. So Jehovah takes of the spirit that was upon Moses and extends it to seventy others; the same power, only the instrumentalities are increased.

But there were two of them that were written in the camp. They were written, but they did not go to the tabernacle, and the Spirit came upon them; and a young man ran and told Moses. This was something that his youthful experience was not equal to. How often one sees that among the people of God! Things which more experienced brethren understand are not understood by the young, and instead of taking their lead from those who have experience they rush off thinking they have something special.

It is a great matter to learn from a model, and so we see the wisdom of God in the ordering of the Levites. They were to begin at twenty-five. They were to be five years with fully developed Levites before they were to be regarded as definitely in the service. They had to learn how things were to be done. It is an immense thing for young people to observe how things are done. This young man evidently assumed that it was out of order, and he ran to Moses. Then the young man Joshua has something to say; he is Moses' attendant, one of his "choice ones", as it may read: a young brother who has got distinction, and rightly. There are many such who stand out in distinctness for their devotedness

and intelligence, and yet may err as Joshua did. He says, "My lord Moses, forbid them!" You see he was a party man for the moment; he was not with God. He would have a leader, forgetting that God is sovereign and can take up others, even in the camp. We have to learn the sovereignty of God -- that He can extend His power and use persons even in the camp. Here Moses shines again as a model, for he was no party man. The man Moses was the meekest of all the men of the earth, and he was no party man. So he says, "Enviest thou for my sake?"

How many would be saved if leaders were to take this attitude when youthful followers are more eager for their greatness than for the truth. Instead of accepting adulation let us be like Moses, who said, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets". The need is great, and we need not dread the extension of power, for after all we are in a commonwealth; what you have is mine, and what I have is yours. As Paul says, "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, ... all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's", 1 Corinthians 3:22,23. It is a mutual state of things, where all is held generally, so we need not have any envy if prophets are increased. We thank God, for the increase of prophets means increase in the assembly -- "the edification of the assembly". 1 Corinthians 14:12.

You see, dear brethren, how this illustrious servant of God in his early days failed, first in his hearing and then in partisanship, not seeing the sovereignty of God. We know not whom God may be 'writing' in for special service now. God has His men in His mind; He has watched over every one of them from their forefathers; they are all written down, and we cannot change the writing. We may as well endeavour to alter the course of the heavens as to alter God's ways. Those that are written will get the Spirit in due time, and let no one lift up his

voice against them; it is the sovereignty of God. Now, to come to the other passages read, because Joshua was taken up to be a spiritual leader, and a spiritual leader he became; the work that God begins is completed. So he is first mentioned in the Scriptures as in connection with spiritual conflict. You may be assured that that is the beginning of spiritual progress. If you do not know anything of spiritual conflict you have not begun the Christian course; that is, that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other", Galatians 5:17. That is where Joshua began. It is not spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies yet; it is spiritual wickedness in your breast. The flesh, with Satan in it, lusts against the Spirit.

As soon as the Spirit of God is received by the believer there is conflict. As I said, it is not spiritual wickedness yet in heavenly places, but in yourself; this battle has to be fought out there. "The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation", Exodus 17:16. It is a continuous conflict down here, but the Lord is "our banner". That is the first mention of Joshua. As Paul says, in working it out, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord". He is delivered from the body of this flesh in apprehending Christ and His work. He thanks God "through Jesus Christ our Lord". Romans 7:25.

Joshua began thus. Subsequently these errors befell him, and I mention them as a warning to young people in their spiritual progress to look out for their sight and their hearing, and avoid partisanship. Keep a steady eye on Christ and the sovereignty of God and you shall never fall into the error of partisanship.

But now in Exodus 33 this "young man" departs not out of the tabernacle. He is in the very secret of divine workings. Moses took the tabernacle and

pitched it outside the camp, far away from it. He was very much in the minority in this, but God spoke to him "face to face". How God honoured Moses as He acted thus! Joshua had this wonderful model before him, as Moses had been faithful in the camp. There was no rising up against him; he was like a king; Proverbs 30:31. He was faithful also in pitching the tabernacle outside the camp, and God spoke with him as a man speaks with his friend. Wonderful honour! Joshua is seen in that tabernacle. He is where he can see and learn the secret ways and workings of God.

How important this is for young believers! Our days are days in which we have had to withdraw from the camp, and our circumstances are not such as to attract the flesh. The Lord never intended that the flesh should be attracted by the assembly's position in this world. But Joshua as a young man departed not from the tabernacle. To bring it down to our own time, this means that I apprehend the assembly in its relation to Christ; that divine Persons are there and divine secrets are made known; so I make it my dwelling-place, as it were. I never fail to attend the gatherings of God's people, for God is there. God speaks there, so you get direct communications from Him. Here He spoke to Moses face to face. Wonderful honour put upon Moses! And "Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle". You can see thus how he became spiritual. He was in the very centre of divine secrets, where divine communications were made. Not that they were made to him exactly; they were made to Moses, but he was there. The thing is to be there.

You have little idea what you miss in absenting yourself from the gatherings of God's people. See what Thomas missed. What a wonderful time they had that first day of the week, the day on which the

Lord rose! How fresh everything was as He came in from heaven, as it were, to where the disciples were! And Thomas was not there; he was away somewhere in unbelief. The Spirit of God does not lift the veil and tell us how Thomas spent that day; we do not know; but we do know he was in unbelief on that day, and in his unbelief he missed the greatest possible privilege. I do not know if he ever recovered the loss; it is doubtful, because that occasion was not repeated. Every time the Lord comes there is something new.

Now I go to Numbers 28 just to show how this culminated. Moses is told now that he has to go; the time of his leadership has expired. This happens constantly among the people of God, for in the government of God our leaders go, and others must take their places. Moses shines again in beautiful lustre. He says to the Lord, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation". Now it is a question of the spirits -- "the God of the spirits of all flesh". God is taking account of our spirits, and Moses beautifully refers to Him as "the God of the spirits". At the present time, dear brethren, it is a question of what is spiritual. If the people of God are to be led into what is spiritual, what is required is spirituality. Moses says, "the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation which may go out before them, and which may go in before them ... and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd". How beautifully this great leader of God's people shines as he shows the circumstances are now changed; that it is no longer a question of authority -- of a rod -- but of spiritual power. Hence he appeals to the God of the spirits of all flesh, but he makes no nomination.

I want you, dear brethren, to notice this. He

knew Joshua as no other man knew him, but he does not nominate the leader. It is for God to do this. And the Lord said, "Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit". I urge this, dear brethren, because whatever our attainments, whatever our ability and natural powers, the great test will come, and it is a question of the Spirit. If we have not the Spirit -- if we have not been accustomed to rely upon the Spirit -- we shall break down; that is as sure as anything can be. Hence God says, "Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit".

Joshua had arrived in his experiences at this point of perfection that he can be said by God Himself to have the Spirit. It is not now that we are simply sealed, or that He is the earnest in our hearts; but He is relied upon in our work, our walk, our ways, instead of the flesh; so we are distinguished under the eye of God as having the Spirit. This raises the question as to where one is as to all this. Is one marked by the Spirit? God says, "a man", not a youth now; he is not a young man now; he has developed, he is a man, a man who has the Spirit. There has been development, and it is such a man who is needed; men such as Joshua who have progressed. They have made their mistakes, alas; but nevertheless they arrive at the recognition of the Spirit; the Spirit only, and not the flesh. They have arrived at the point where they know experimentally that the flesh profits nothing. Hence they rely on the Spirit.

God says to Moses, "Lay thy hand upon him". That we can do. I know of an aged and honoured servant of God whom we all revere, who said to another as he was passing away to be with the Lord, 'I commend you to the church of God', and that man has indeed to the assembly of God proved a help. He asserted the authority and power of the