Being a letter to J.G. Deck of New Zealand, from G. V. W.
To Mr. J. G. Deck, Motueka, Nelson, N. Z.
My Dear Brother,
Our Lord searched the heart of Peter (in John 21:15-1715So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:15‑17)) with three questions, which brought up to Peter's mind the roots of his failure, rather than the overt act of denial. And He graciously closed up each probing with a word of comfort: Feed my lambs (v. 15); Shepherd my sheep (v. 16); Feed my sheep (v. 17); thus breaking the self-confidence of His servant, both in himself and man, ere He confided the sheep and lambs of Israel to his care., Then He adds, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shalt gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not " (v. 18). -What a Lord He is, and how admirable in all His ways! Many of us, too, when young, thought of " what we would do for Him," and we, too, have had to learn that the happier question is, "What will He do with us?" You will, I am sure, go along with an aged Pilgrim in admiration of this wisdom and these ways of our common Lord and Master He did not turn Peter off and send Him away as a failed hireling, but used the failure as a means of fitting him for a more important service and place; and He would not accept Peter's rejection of the crown of martyrdom, but would take His own way of putting that honor upon him; no praise to Peter. Counting that, as an aged one, on reviewing your course from England, through India, England, and hither; you must have made your experiences (in along residence here, too) as I have mine in other scenes, I have selected you as one to whom, in grace and love. I may fairly address a few thoughts connected with the work of the Lord in New Zealand. I will only add that, in doing so, I desire to remember, and myself to act upon the Lord's own words to Peter, " Follow me " (v. 19), and " Follow thou me " (v. 22).
There are, as men speak, very many gatherings in New Zealand to break bread and drink wine together, weekly and professedly, in memory of Christ and of His death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:17-3317Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. 27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. (1 Corinthians 11:17‑33)). To interfere in the house and at the table of any one would be wrong for me and unlovely. And who, or what am I to venture to dictate at the Lord's table? I would be aware of so doing; the Lord keep me from it. But my place is, at what is His table, as a guest; and if in any measure I can guard others from sinning at it, or in my little measure, after the line of Paul’s conduct can stay the Lord’s hand from sending weakness and infirmity upon many, and cutting a good many off in discipline, by arousing the attention, of the guests to, any existing cause for His discipline, I would desire to do so humbly, but freely. The Lord was indeed in discipline-cutting off many, that they might not be condemned with the world (v. 30-32), and Paul knew it ere he wrote his first letter, calling attention to sins, and among them to the awful one named in chap. 5.
I would, also, as one desiring to find grace to be faithful, warn the simple ones as to what are the marks of His table; and so, also, arouse the attention of some who assume their table to be His, while there is still cause to question its being so. And, indeed, God is the God of reality, and, if I and others go to a table and call it "the table of the Lord," we should expect that He will make manifest to all what it really is in His sight-whether it is His table, or whether it is not,-and so, I think, He is wont to do; as well as, if it be His, to make all that is at it manifest,—for He is light and is present there.
And now, firstly, there is an expression connected with our being together in His name, which is important as connected with His assembly, and is if understood, helpful to occurs in Matt. 18:18; 2018Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18); "Where two or three are gathered together in my name; there am I in the midst of them."
The gospel of Matthew gives the history of our Lord's life here below; when looked at as Son of David (securer of the sure mercies of David) and Son of Abraham (father of the faithful, having promises for earth and heaven). Himself, the heir and alone holder of all promised blessings and the object of faith, was to have a kingdom and a church also. And it is by reason of this, as I judge, that the church, or assembly, is brought out 'here as in none of the other gospels. See chapters 16:13-28 and 18:15-20. The word "church" never occurs in the gospels, save in these two contexts; the word occurs here, though the church was not set up until Pentecost. Now, in the second of the passages the words I have cited are found, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them." In v. 15-17 we learn how a private injury of one individual brother against another is to be met: Christ gone to heaven, there could be an appeal to the church, which would have responsibility and authority (not infallibility, but authority,) heaven-sustained, v. 18; then v. 19 a promise as to prayer; and after that v. 20. To me it is clear that this last verse contains the strength and limits of the whole and that which qualifies it: it must be His name whether the gathering together of the prayer. And here I must remark that the term, "name" in scripture, as applied to God and the Lord Jesus Christ in their various titles; is not merely a convential sound without meaning. The name of "God” (Elohim) had, its illustration, as first recorded in the pages of scripture, in' the first chapter of Genesis. Creation made manifest and stood forth as witness of the eternal power and Godhead of the incorruptible Elohim (Rom. 1:2020For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)). The second chapter brought out to light another part of His glory, viz., as "Jehovah"—God, in His provision for and association with man in Eden. The meaning of the word Jesus is " Jehovah-a-saving," (compare Matt. 1:2121And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)); He was made Lord (Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36) and Phil. 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11)) and Christ (Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)), "Anointed," with a glory as such in heaven, even as He is to have a glory as "Anointed " on earth, under His Hebrew name of Messiah (John 1:4141He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. (John 1:41)). And what is the manifestation, now, from the throne of God and heaven of the Nazarene, once crucified, now ascended and seated on the throne under these titles, "Jehovah-a-saving for heaven, Lord of all things, the Anointed Son of Man?" This is His name, and those who come unto Him and shelter there, find every need met. A company being, in whatever humble measure, in the liberty and life-giving power of this manifestation which God has made by Jesus, and is ours through faith and the Holy Spirit, is a very different truth (for truth it is) from man's thoughts, when, from whatever motive, he merely spreads a table and sits down at it with others on the first day of the week: I judge we should all do well to stand under the light of these rays shining down upon us from the newly announced name (or manifestation) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is a flood of blessed light, making all manifest, and of love telling itself out as none but God, who is love, can tell it; and the people into whom it shines know the hallowing effect of it on themselves as to the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Secondly. Before coming to certain tests of the table and company at it, which the scriptures give, and in the very nature of things, suppose (or take for granted); tests, therefore, which they who accredit it as the Lord's table in any place, are bound, by their allegiance to their Master and as His friends met to remember Him, to look for—let me say a little word as to what they (the guests) are supposed to be.
Does it not suppose, as being given to disciples (who were first called Christians at Antioch), that the guests at it are a people who have been separated unto Himself, in Heaven (John 17:1919And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19)) from out of the world, as not of it even as He was not of it (v. 16)? His death stands between them and the world and worldliness as the Red Sea divided between Israel in the wilderness and Egypt, the house of bondage and land of captivity. He who dwells in them now is the spring and regulator of their; life hem below, as the flesh once was. And now, instead of being deluded by Satan and led down to destruction by him; body, soul, and spirit, they know and have been owned by Jesus, the mighty conqueror of Satan as His own, and they have found in Him, risen from death and the grave and glorified, an object of joy and rejoicing. They sing His victory and enter with joy into His having triumphed gloriously and anticipate the songs of His triumph and the rejoicings of that day. One man has been found who has done nothing amiss; and He has won, by His lowly and perfect obedience unto God, a place from God, a place and glory which. He has opened unto them. His complete self-surrender when here below, " Lo I come to do thy will, 0 God " (the whole of that will, and nothing but it); and the beauty of His ways and thoughts and the marvelous moral display He has made of His Father and God have laid hold of their hearts and (forgetting all that is behind and looking forward to meet Him), they live to Him and Him alone. Dust of this earth they think not to collect as their portion; the old selfishness of flesh they have judged; Satan they resist, knowing that he will soon be bruised under their feet. The supper is a feast in the wilderness pilgrimage of life, in the entering into the land and amid the wars thereof;-but they at it are the church militant and are fighting, through grace, the good fight of faith: Many a fall and many a -wound they each may have had, and yet they can sing " In all things more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Is it not so, beloved? The Church is the House of "God, the Body of Christ, and serves as exhibited down here, for the nursery, the schoolroom, the guardroom, the hospital of God's own heavenly people. But it is only for those who on credible testimony can be received at first as already His. And here, observe, that (in Scripture) the seeker and the inquirer were not as such called. Christians. The saved were those who could take their places in the company that owned the apostle's doctrine and fellowship (Acts 2:4242And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)); and they were of one heart and of one soul (4:32) through the presence and power of the Spirit.
Christ never forgets His Father's choice of us, nor His own call, nor the faith and purpose of the Spirit in us-even in the days when we were not self-judged; as we should have been, surely. He is the alone faithful and true One, and His ways change not. He has, too, for you and for me, little as we may be, tokens of His love and good pleasure just suited to our littleness and low estate.
Thirdly, there are the habits and ways of His people and assembly down here, to which attention will have to be called if we come to trace the way back to their original position of those who have wandered from it. These I leave for the present, and turn to “Marks Whereby the Assembly of God was and is to be Known”.
It is the assembly called out of this world; one and holy.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven was what Peter preached at Pentecost when he called on those that believed: "As many as the Lord our God shall call......Save 'yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:39, 4039For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. (Acts 2:39‑40)). The apostles' doctrine and practice and fellowship were clean outside of Judaism (v. 41). The church was formed through faith upon Christ gone up out of this earth into heaven and made Lord and Christ there on the throne; it was thoroughly worthy of Him as being there, and had been formed and was sustained by the Holy Spirit come down to dwell on earth among the poor sinners who believed in the Messiah martyred and rejected, as now alive and on the throne in heaven-the fountain of all grace. Paul was called out o fall earthly and worldly blessing by a Lord gone into heaven; and he called people to go out to Jesus the crucified and ascended, Heb. 13:12, 1312Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:12‑13), and Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4), and 6:14; it presents one body and one Spirit, and it is holy in principle and practice, sanctified to God.
As to the one body and one Spirit; a few remarks may suffice to show how far the one body and one Spirit are essential characteristics of the church 'or company called out of earth for heavenly places and blessings, even as Israel and saints before had been called out of idolatry for earthly places and earthly blessings. A king is yet to reign upon earth center of government and worship on God's behalf. A king supposes both a kingdom and "subjects." The king is the higher party of the two; the "subjects" are the people who are blessed by relationship with him, members of his kingdom; not members of the king. The word "subject," not "member," answers to the word king in the official relationship of king and people in a kingdom. On the other hand no Englishman would say, speaking of a human body, "the head and its subjects," but the head and its members. A human body has but one head; and many "members” are required to make up the complement of the body. Our Lord Jesus Christ has had all things put under His feet (Eph. 1:22, 2322And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22‑23)), and has been given to be Head over them to His assembly; but then, likewise, (and the truth is distinct from that of His being Head over all things in the sense of his causing all things to work together for our good), He his Head of His body, which is the fullness (or complement) of Him that filleth all in all„ May [we] grow up into Him things, which is the Head, even Christ from whom the whole: body joined together and compacted by, that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love (iv. 15, 16, comp. 1 Cor. 12:7-277But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:7‑27). There is but one such Head, but one such Body.
It is not that there is but one Spirit in this one body, winch is all that we need to remember. He is God, a person in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, who has wrought in creation, in providence, in government, who now, in eternal salvation and redemption, takes a new place and comes down to dwell in the body the church; the alone power that ought to work in it too. The apostles had to wait for Him as the promise of the Father, Acts 1:4,-5, 84And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (Acts 1:4)
8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8). In Acts 2, He came down and made their company to be the church, and gave out a bold testimony for the Lord on the throne on high, forming a company and a teaching and a fellowship and practice which were new. Note the word Spirit through v. 4, 17, 18. This he continues in chap. 3 and 4, adding certain things, however. In chap. 5 He is the power of discipline inside the assembly and putting Peter forward (v. 3, 9, 32), making the place a terror to the unrepentant. In 6 He shows Himself as the One, fullness of whom would fit a man for diaconal care, or for the work of an. evangelist (6:3, 5, 8; 7:51, 55); leading on to (7.) Stephen's becoming, through Him, an adequate testimony against Israel; that, as they had rejected a Christ in humiliation upon earth, so they rejected Him now in glory, and giver of forgiveness of sins and of the Holy Spirit. In chap. 8, when the twelve apostles, under the first persecution of the church, tarried in Jerusalem, He used those that were scattered abroad to go everywhere through Judea and Samaria preaching the word. He was with them, and v. 17-23 met new difficulties. Read too, chap. 9, Saul's conversion, and mark v. 17, 31—(compare 13:2, 4, 9, 52, &c). I will not write more, but I commend the careful reading of the Acts, as showing how the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, and His using men, and working by men, is stamped in divine grace upon every part of the narrative.
Fourthly. Ere I come to holiness, I would say a few words on the church as a depositary of the scripture's, and, so, of truth. Isa. 8 gives us part of the trial of Israel; and there we read of the word "being sealed up among His (Immanuel's) disciples;” v. 12 to 20 are very important and apply to Pentecostal times as also to the hour yet to come to the remnant. The term." disciples" is a name new, and marks a relationship now to the Jewish mind as a line of blessing. The old line of blessing to them was that of lineal descent from Abram. The one new was, " You have His word." This is more developed in John 15 than in 16, where their relationship in the Spirit is given. Study John 17 and Rom. 11:12-2412Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 24For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:12‑24), as giving very different connections of the same truth about the word of God, and in his people down here. Also John 14, Acts 20:3232And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (Acts 20:32), 2 Tim. 3:14-1714But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:14‑17), &-c., and 1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16).
The Lord Jesus Christ in the revelation of God and the Father. Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:1515Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)); the image of God (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)); in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:99For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)); the man that is Jehovah's Fellow (Zech. 13:77Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:7) and 11:12, 13). He that has seen me has seen the Father also (John 14:99Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:9); read from v. 6 to 20, end John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18).)
The written word is the place where alone all about Him can be found by those that are taught of God (John 5:37-4737And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. 39Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41I receive not honor from men. 42But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:37‑47), and 6:45).
The scriptures may be said then to be, in a certain sense, God’s letter to the assembly; and believers and the assembly are responsible to be His letter to the world.
Fifthly. The assembly is responsible by privilege and calling to be holy.
For our sakes the Lord has sanctified (or set apart) Himself on the throng on high that we may be set apart (sanctified) by the Father through the truth (John 17:17-1917Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:17‑19)). He is, as it were, the vow of our Nazariteship. We are to be holders forth of the word of life (Phil. 2:1616Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. (Philippians 2:16)). But more than this, He is there as the Head of the body, the church. If Christ is Head of the body the church, if God the Holy Spirit indwells it, is it unable to find out, to see and to judge of evil which may be in it? To be unwilling to admit sin and sins in one's own family and to tolerate it in the assembly, is to cast dishonor upon the Lord Himself; making him out to be more indifferent about sin than we are; a very awful sin it is too. This has been done by many, avowedly, too, as to doctrine, morality and. spirituality; and where tolerated, and in principle adopted and I sanctioned by any company, it ceases, if it perseveres in so doing, to be part of the Holy Catholic Church. If my principles are such, the sooner I were separated from the better.
On the other hand, there may be infantine weakness and excessive ignorance; in an assembly-,and the more of these there be, the more would the Spirit of God and of Christ recognize there all that is of God-all that makes the company to be part of the church; and so ought I, too, to recognize it and seek to make it consistent with Christ's mind about it. But what if I find a company who-se principles might be, let, the denial of the one body and one Spirit; 2ndly, the maintaining the independency of the' churches; 3rdly, the setting aside of responsibility as to the truth and pleading against holy discipline in word and doctrine and walk of life. Should I accredit it? Nay, I ought to leave it as an assembly to its own principles, as antagonistic to scripture and to mine; and (counting it neither heavenly nor divine) leave it alone. To their own master they, in it, will individually stand or fall, and I would pray for them each and all, and try to help each into a better position. But Why waste time through giving them credit for being that which they are not, for being that which they disclaim? The state and condition of individuals may be very low in an assembly which owns Christ in His Headship and as Head, which owns and recognizes the living God the Spirit to be with and among them; which desires to purge out all leaven that it may be an unleavened lump, &c.; in such case I own the assembly and try to help the individuals. But if the assembly is anti-scriptural and anti-christian in principle as an assembly, I say the word applies to them in it, "Come out of her my people." I cannot own such assembly as God's. "The Spirit and the bride say Come,” mark that, which pastoral power now-a-days, should seek to bring forth among God's people down here.
I mean not, dear brother, to tax you for an answer to this. I publish it without your having seen or heard of it, so that you can in no wise be looked upon by, any as responsible to repudiate or approve any part of it at al. Glad shall I be, if we do meet, for any remarks you may kindly make to me upon it, if you feel it worth while so to do.
In respect and affection, as in God's presence, I write it,
Yours in Him,
G. V. W.
Christchurch, March 14, 1874.
P.S.-Read 2 Cor. 5:14-1714For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑17); if it has hold over me, " I know no man after the flesh."
Nor human kindness, nor leaven, can be allowed in any sacrifice-they would spoil and corrupt it; but the salt of our God, in plentiful measure, will preserve.
As to one's labors—-among the professing world, take Jer. 15:1919Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. (Jeremiah 15:19), for your motto; and for those in the gospel Rom. 1:1-71Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1‑7).