THERE is a tendency in our minds, natural to us all and one that we cannot too sedulously seek to avoid, and that is, to go to scripture to substantiate some thought already existing in our minds, or to find in scripture the grounds on which to support a line of conduct on which we have already entered. We think none of our readers will deny this, or how great the watchfulness required to preserve us from falling into this snare. Nor is it enough to have this danger before us; nothing but divine power -God's answer to a willess and truly dependent heart -can save us, even unconsciously to ourselves, from falling into it.
It is with such thoughts, and looking to the Lord to be ourselves preserved from this tendency, we would take up our pen, to say a few words to our readers on the important subject that heads our paper; having this encouragement for ourselves and them, that if we honestly lend our ears to Him who has said, " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me; if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself," He will surely give certainty to our minds, and, with this, decision of action as to the important question that is before us. May God help us, one and all, to desire only " to do his will."
We cannot refrain from saying here, that, to our mind, a recent paper in our pages, and another with remarks on it, bear very plain marks of the tendency we have referred to; and (though unintentionally and unconsciously in both instances, we quite believe) scripture has been brought forward to justify a supposed line of conduct, or to prove a foregone conclusion of the mind. It is not our intention to criticize these papers, or to show where we think that both fail-though in different directions -to present the true teaching of God's word on the subject taken up; as we believe it will best serve the only desire of our heart-namely, the edification of our readers-to trace from scripture the way in which the Spirit of God respectively uses the term, " assembly," and " assemblies."
When divine principles, which never can be set aside, possess the soul, the details of conduct in carrying out these principles, however important in themselves, and surely matters of sorrow and shame when failure enters into them, are of secondary importance, nor are we concerned to justify all the details if the principle that underlies them is maintained. In saying this, we by no means wish to make light of failure in details of conduct, but merely bring into relief the importance of the principle involved over the manner of carrying it out. The real strength of any position is found in its principle, though failure in the detail of carrying it out lays the principle open to attack, and the importance of the detail lies in this fact, and in this way. Not only does the failure in detail give the enemy a positive advantage, but seeing that the failure in detail has flowed from want of waiting on God and being subject to His word, in His righteous ways, though He will surely vindicate His own principles and thus in the end those who have stood for them, He must chasten them for their failures, for their own good as well as His own glory. " God," we read, "made known his ways unto Moses," but as to them Moses failed in detail to " sanctify " God " before the people." He was chastened for it, how unsparingly we all know. This is a solemn thought.
When great issues are at stake, those who are governed by principle are thrown together to maintain it, while those who are occupied mainly with details are often in anxiety and distress, a source of weakness to the others, and may even ally themselves with those who are attacking the principle and opposing those who, right in principle, may have failed in their manner of carrying it out. This is a very subtle and successful maneuver of the enemy, by which he enlists in the ranks of those who are his direct instruments of evil even true-hearted and conscientious souls. The scriptures themselves, with lowliness of heart, are our safeguard against this kind of thing, and thus only shall we be able to say with the One, who is at once our Guide and Pattern, " concerning the works of men, by the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." (Psa. 17:44Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. (Psalm 17:4).)
But to return to the subject in hand. Writing, as we do, for those who know and rejoice in the oneness of the body-the assembly-and who stand together upon this ground, and bow to the responsibility of manifesting this oneness in their communion and discipline, we shall not take up the scriptures that touch upon this general truth, but only those that plainly refer to the gathering together of believers in distinct localities-cities or towns, and in districts. The point to seize is, how does God regard them, and speak of them in His word? This settled, questions of communion and discipline come in, subsidiary to this fundamental point.
Beginning with Jerusalem, where the church began, and got its first general as well as local expression, and where there were at least five thousand saints gathered to the Lord's name, we read in Acts 8:11And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1), " The assembly that was at Jerusalem;" Acts 11:2222Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. (Acts 11:22), " the assembly which was in Jerusalem;" Acts 15:44And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. (Acts 15:4), " When they were come to Jerusalem they were received of the assembly," and verse 22, " then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole assembly."
Passing on to Antioch, the Gentile center of God's ways, we read Acts 13:11Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (Acts 13:1), " There were in the assembly that was at Antioch;" Acts 14:2727And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. (Acts 14:27), " when they were come, and had gathered the assembly together;" Acts 15:33And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. (Acts 15:3), " being brought on their way by the assembly."
Then as to other places, we read Acts 20:1717And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. (Acts 20:17), " Re sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the assembly;" Revelation ii. 1, " unto the angel of the assembly of Ephesus."
1 Thess. 1:11Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:1), " unto the assembly of the Thessalonians;" 2 Thess. 1:11Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: (2 Thessalonians 1:1), " unto the assembly of the Thessalonians."
So far as we have gone it has been a question of cities or towns, and uniformly the term "assembly " has been used in every case. We will now look at how they are viewed when districts or countries are in question, and in Acts 9:3131Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. (Acts 9:31) we read, " Then had the assemblies rest throughout all Judaea, and Galilee and Samaria."
In every case where districts or countries are spoken of, " assemblies " is the term used; as before, in every case where cities or towns are spoken of, " assembly " is the term used. The voice of scripture is plain and undeviating on this point. It is no question of founding a theory or deducing a doctrine as to the use of these terms. The facts are unmistakable:-all the children of God in a city are viewed as one " assembly," and, as a consequence, where districts containing many cities are in question, " assemblies " are spoken of. The distinction is as simple as it is inevitable. Never in one instance does scripture speak of " assemblies " in a city or town.
Now, as another has observed, " assemblies are the administrative form;" while " the assembly, as a body on the earth, is the vital unity," and consequently wherever found " the assembly of God " is one; but in saying that " assemblies are the administrative form," as in contrast with the body-the assembly, it is not meant that " assemblies " are merely the local gatherings of the one assembly of God for worship, communion, and edification, into which the question of numbers and distance may enter, as hindering all the saints in a city or town assembling in one room. For these purposes there may be many gatherings together of believers in one city, but as representing Christ's authority there, and thus " the assembly " as a whole, there is but " the assembly " in a city.
It is of all importance, in order to get the true force of the assembly in a city, to see this distinction. It is in this connection that the teaching of the Lord in Matt. 18 comes in, not only as providing for the practical gathering together of saints for worship, communion, and edification, but specially as laying the ground for saints, gathered together to Christ's name in unity by the Spirit's power, to maintain His authority on earth as ruling in •God's house, even though there might be only " two or three " who have faith to take this place. " Tell it to the assembly," is to the assembly in the town or city where the offender resided, because the authority and power of Christ, and thus the authority for discipline was vested in the assembly as constituted in this form-that is, as acting for Christ in that town or city; and with this, there being but one Lord and one Spirit, its decisions would have force everywhere.
The application, by the apostle Paul, of the ground given in Matt. 18 to the assembly at Corinth, for the purpose of discipline, is beyond question. He says, " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ," as giving them authority and power to deal with evil, they were to put from amongst themselves the wicked person. And be it noted here, that it is no question of arriving at a judgment as to whether the person ought to be put away, but of doing it to one whose case was decided upon. If a person is judged to be a wicked person (and that is a question of proof), the assembly has to put him away, and for this they have the Lord's authority, as acting in His name in the unity of the Spirit, and simple obedience to His word.
It is plain from this that Matt. 18 attaches the authority to bind and loose to those gathered to Christ as His assembly in every distinct locality. The decision or judgment as to whether any one ought to be put away is another question, and might be arrived at by saints, in any local gathering of the saints called for this purpose; and of course this would be where the evidence and facts concerning the case were best known and most conveniently arrived at, and so far as deciding that the case ought to be dealt with might be arrived at entirely amongst those who, for convenience sake, were meeting anywhere in the city or town for this purpose; but the power to actually put away belongs to the assembly as a whole, and can only be done by the assembly as such. In speaking of a " local gathering of saints," we do not mean merely what is termed " a brothers' meeting," but of saints gathered locally to the Lord's, name and having Him in their midst to guide them to a right judgment, which judgment would subsequently be communicated to the whole assembly and then acted upon.
The detail of how the whole of an assembly in a city. or at least-now that ruin has come in so that none can claim to be " the one assembly " to the exclusion of all other believers in the place-of those truly acting on this ground, may be carried into effect, does not affect the principle in question, and that is, that the one assembly in a place, or all those acting on this ground, alone can put away. We may remark here that two or three even, taking this ground, as acting in Christ's name for the " assembly " in a city, make no claim to be " the one assembly" there, for the totality of the saints in a city constitute " the assembly " in the full sense of the word; and moreover saints are not ever members of the local assembly, but of " the body-the assembly." There being two or more gatherings in a city for purposes of worship, communion, and edification does not affect or trench upon the authority for discipline that is vested in the one assembly which these two or more gatherings, as a mere matter of numbers or convenience, make up.
Another thing it is necessary to be clear upon, and that is, that when there are several gatherings in a city, none of these gatherings in their individuality, or separately, represents the whole assembly in the city, and much less the assembly at large, whether as acting separately or with the concurrence of the others; independency or concurrence is not the point. The assembly in the city as a whole, acting as one and at the same time, alone does this; and the confusion and division that Satan and man in his self will have introduced into the assembly, do not touch this principle, nor is the power gone to make good this principle. The Holy Ghost, who gathers saints together in a city to the name of Jesus, is with those so gathered, in power as well as grace, to make good the fact that they are one assembly. In a large city where there may be a number of gatherings and some at a distance from one another, there may be difficulties as to details of ac Lion, but God has power over all difficulties, and therefore all that is wanted is faith and obedience as looking towards Him, and patience and waiting on one another, as looking towards saints.
That all the saints at Jerusalem were one assembly, and acted as one assembly in discipline, no one reading, with a subject mind, the account given in the Acts of its formation and growth, and specially its practical actings as given us in chapter 15. can entertain a doubt, and yet that, for the general purposes of worship, communion and edification, they met separately is pretty plain from chapter 2. 46. Whether in Corinth there were many separate gatherings we know not, but that all the saints there formed but one assembly, and thus, as such, represented the whole church, the two epistles to the Corinthians are too plain a proof to be gainsaid.
Whilst attempting to define the principle of " the assembly in a city " and, so far as it goes, one detail in connection with it, we feel it necessary to guard against a wrong application of what we have said. Things are not, as we have already observed, in the state they were when these principles had their first expression, and 2 Tim. 2-the whole church having " become a great house," and as a whole corrupted-lays down a principle in connection with this subject that takes precedence of every other; that is, that God being the center of all unity, His holiness, and thus separation to Himself from all evil, must be the basis of all gathering to Christ's name. Now it might happen that the whole assembly in a city, or those gathered on this principle, had become so corrupted, or involved in evil by the inability or refusal of any part to act in a case of evil, that it would become necessary for the saints by individual gatherings, or, if none were to be found to act together, for the saints individually to separate from it so as to keep with God, and then reconstitute the assembly upon the immutable principles of God's house.
The question for saints now is this, Are we, in order to solve a difficulty, to give up all that scripture so plainly teaches, and the ground, too, that, by grace, those truly gathered to the Lord's name have for the last fifty years stood upon; and has some new light dawned upon us, setting aside these scriptures and the interpretation, that for so many years those most instructed in the things and ways of God, had put upon them?
In conclusion, we feel it due to the Lord, as well as to our readers, to say that we think it was a grave mistake to insert any of the papers on " the church in a city " in our pages. However simple and sincere our own motives in doing so, we feel it has laid us open to the charge of propagating what is erroneous, or at least doubtful, in order to arrive at the truth. We see that we have thus raised questions instead of simply edifying our readers, and this humbles and saddens, but at the same time casts us more entirely upon Him who, in His tender grace, can turn all our mistakes, at least where the will does not enter, to His own glory and the lasting blessing of His own. c. w.