If I am not deceived in my judgment, and if I have not mistaken the statements of the Divine Word, there is such a thing, and there ought to be, as sympathy between the members of the body of Christ and Christ Himself, who is the Head of His body, the church.
But that there is a great deficiency of that sympathy on the part of the children of God, I am compelled to believe; and on that subject I now write. I speak plainly, and I speak from conviction, when I say, that there is a sad lack of sympathy, not of Christ towards His people, who are the members of His body, but of His people, who ought to be here in everything the servants of His glory, towards Christ Himself. The affections of His heart, and the thoughts of His mind, do not rise as they ought, through Him to God, from hearts and minds that are satisfied with. His abundant grace, though the wilderness be still their present path.
What I demand, then, on behalf of the Lord Jesus, is, that those who are His, take an interest in all that is His! His love is worthy of it; and of all our various privileges, that is the most precious which makes it an impossible thing for us to separate between ourselves-worthless as we are-and Him the Heir and Lord of every glory. For we cannot, and we know we cannot, divorce ourselves from association with Him in His honor, His affections, and all the deep and gracious thoughts of His heart.
Hence it is, that all which does not honor Him, is an affliction to those that love Him; and all that honors Him is a joy to their hearts. For, being the members of His body, that which sets aside His word is against their testimony; and all that grieves His Holy Spirit tries and afflicts them. Yes, if we love Him who first loved us, if we are members of His body-and He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him-may God vouchsafe grace to give proof of our love to Him, and of our oneness in life with Him!
There are three things which are sometimes blessedly united together; but which, in the present case, must be distinguished. 1. There is in Christ Jesus the testimony of the grace of God towards poor sinners; 2. There is in Him the blessedness which belongs to us who believe in His name; 3. There are the experiences which, as being already saved, we have here below in the wilderness.
1. How blessed a thing it is for us that the work, by which God has made the light of His nature to dawn in our hearts, and by which His compassion and His mercy become so known to the poor sinner, that he not only may, but is bound to, draw near to God, is finished! That Christ, being risen from the dead and sat down at the right hand of God, all the light of the beauty of the character of God shines down upon the world And if indeed the darkness comprehends it not, still the light which shines in darkness is always the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is 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)), the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (ver. 6, and Heb. 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)). In spite of all the darkness, in the midst of which the light shines here below, it is still the light of life, which the love of God has caused to shine, and is the answer to every question and to every need of the poor sinner who seeks God. In it God finds His rest; Christ is satisfied with the same; and the Spirit of God gives us to find there the true foundation for eternity for our souls. It is the answer, perfect and satisfactory, to all that Satan, or the world, or the flesh, can object against us; because it has met the requirements of an ever holy God, and is the fitting basis of His mercy, and foundation of His throne as the Throne of Grace.
That a poor sinner, who is a child of wrath, and under the power of the prince of darkness, should take an interest in God is clearly impossible; and if he thinks to do anything for God, the thought can proceed only from pride of heart; for, until he has received Christ Jesus and salvation by Him he has no knowledge of the true God. The God of his imagination is... I will not say what; but the word of God tells us, " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)); and this is enough to set aside the thought. Not having found the door (John 10), the proper business of the poor sinner is to seek and to find it; and not to pretend to do anything which is an expression of gratitude toward one whom he despises even by being ignorant of Him. From such a one sympathy cannot be required nor received.
2. But it is quite another thing as to those who have received the word of which Peter speaks (1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23) and 25), who are " born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever..... But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." They walk in the way, and they find not only a most entire deliverance from all that was against them; whether in God or in themselves, or in their circumstances; but, walking in the way, they find in it incomprehensible riches. They are Christ's and the God that gave them to His Son, chose them in Him before the foundation of the world; and though they feel their own weakness, they see also that they are accepted of God in the Beloved; and that He is their beauty and their robe of righteousness before God. Born of God, they are partakers of the divine nature; they are children of God and sealed with His Spirit of promise, as the earnest of the inheritance which they are waiting for in hope. Moreover, the blessing with which they are blessed is not according to what they were, nor according to what they are in themselves; it is Christ, the faithful servant of God, by whom and for whom they are, and their blessing is according to the exigency of the love of God, who will have His Son, as Son of Man, honored in the heavenly places. Therefore He has given Him a glorious bride; for all God's counsels revolve around Christ; and all are for the glory of that Christ who is our all. We read, in the
Ephesians, what is the fruit of Christ's love to the church: " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25)-.27).
What, then, is the blessing which we have in Christ? Who can answer? Yet, blessed be God! it is not now, because we see nothing in Him that we would fain be silent. No; it is rather because there is so much in Him, and because we see so much in Him; so much that tells His perfect beauty and entire preciousness, that we sometimes feel the expressiveness of silence. It is a kind of homage, at least, rendered to the unbounded fullness and immeasurableness of His love. Who can measure the majesty of the position of Christ? Who can scan the boundless future of glory prepared for Him? But, if that were possible, it would not suffice; for it is neither that which surrounds Him now, nor that which will hereafter surround Him, that can fully express what He is in His person, and what is the joy which God the Father finds in Him; nor what that is, which, in His infinite grace, He sees, to His pleasure, to exist for Him in the church. No; it is impossible to fully fathom what the blessing is which is ours as the just and perfect expression of His love to the church of His God. But let us pause a moment upon this sympathy of the church towards Christ. However defective in practice, it is in principle most sure, and of all her privileges the most precious, to love Him for His own sake who first loved her. And if one cannot, by reason of the infinitude of His love, speak of our love to Him; because it is so feeble in comparison that it is hardly worthy of the name of love when seen in the presence of His; yet we know we love Him. It may indeed be, that around us are multiplied proofs of our having walked in the flesh and not in the spirit, yet can we, through grace, appeal to Him as Peter did, and say, " Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee." Most surely this is true; because it is He himself who has shed abroad in our hearts that love of God, which is the distinctive privilege which the betrothed one seeks in looking forward to her position of wife. Is it the fortune, or the domains, or houses of her Lord? Is it the being better lodged, and better clothed, that she would think of, as that which is to distinguish her from the servants? Never! She is to be the wife: there is to be the tenderest of relationships between her and her husband; and it is Himself she loves and not His possessions. She is a help-mate for Him, His pride, His joy. And out of this position, which alone belongs to her, out of this relationship which is hers alone, flows a life peculiarly her own. How frequently is this seen, even in this world of sin and misery, both among the rich and the poor. The person, honor, and interests of her husband (cost her what it may), find their defender in the wife. But such affection is but a feeble picture of what the church ought to be and may be here below towards Christ.
3. In what, then, do we fail as to that sympathy towards' Christ? Alas! does not the very question produce a singular and painful feeling in our bosoms that are so little warmed by His love; and in our souls that are so little occupied with the beauty and glory which are in Him? It would be a great deal more easy to enumerate all the inconsistencies in the life of Abraham than in the life of Lot. The very brightness of the light that shone around him; the pilgrim-strangership, the daily walk of him who looked for a city, throw out into relief all his inconsistencies. Abraham's ordinary life made evident his occasional failures; but the normal state of Lot was so sadly in habitual conformity with the world, that it is not a particular action, rarely, if at all, repeated, nor even a particular habit, which was slow of correction, that strikes the mind, in the review of his history; but after a careful study of his life, one is rather astonished to find that amidst such a heap of worldliness the eye of God, which cannot err, found in him, however smothered, a faith which identified itself with God. Sad business to be thus obliged to look for the proofs of the existence of faith. It is greatly to be feared that those (if there be such) who may stand in need of an answer to the question-"In what have we failed?" will receive with hesitation the reply. But be it so, I will yet speak out freely my thoughts without fear.
I suppose, then, that we greatly fail in having the same thoughts and feelings as our Lord Jesus, as to testimony which has to be rendered to Him, in these last days, and as to the gospel. I speak not of that love for the souls of poor sinners who lie perishing all around us, which might well induce us to sacrifice everything if, peradventure, they might be saved. The value of the soul-of one's own-of that of a human being, is worth more than we can sacrifice; but I speak not as weighing its worth, I speak of the sentiment of love for Him who is the light of eternal life, and of that interest in all the thoughts of God with respect to Him which is enough to make us feel, that-" the name and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be proclaimed, whether unto the condemnation of those that reject, or to the salvation of those that receive it," as St Paul expresses in 2 Cor. 2:14-1714Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. 15For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14‑17): " Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."
Do I speak thoughts which are peculiar to myself? or do I not rather utter what every disciple recognizes to be suitable in itself and according to the will of God? Is not such honoring of Christ due from the love which each disciple bears to Him? I speak not as feeling in my own heart the zeal and fervency of love for that blessed name which I would; but I do appreciate it; and I am at least ashamed, and confess my want of zeal and fervency, and seek, notwithstanding, to do what I can. " She hath done what she could!" was a blessed word of praise from the lips of Christ to a poor feeble one. If little in ourselves, may the like praise be ours! But is it not astounding, that the poor sinner, who possesses the knowledge of such a panacea as the gospel is, should forget not only its worthiness to be proclaimed, and the needs of those around Him; but also the privilege of announcing it, that is put within his power.
Much the same is it, if we consider the testimony which God has placed in the hands of the disciples of Christ who are on earth; a testimony which has always to be rendered to the grace of God; but which, in measure, changes its form according to the epoch in which we live. It is always (or, alas I must we not rather say it ought always to be) a testimony to the person and glory of the Son of God, as to the position in which He is, and as to what pertains to Him in that position, or in that which He is about to take, when He leaves His Father's throne, to take His own. Moreover, there are all the spiritual blessings in heavenly places which pertain to us as being His, and the responsibility flowing from thence. The responsibility is inseparable from the blessing, if God, who will not give His glory to another, does nothing except for His own honor. God will not, cannot, nourish our love of self. We are not, and we cannot be, the object and the end of the counsels of God. It is CHRIST ALONE who can be that. All, therefore, in us which comes from God, and which is the expression of the goodness of God, tends to the glory of Christ, and has this alone as its natural object of research. That which does not strengthen us in our service and devotedness to Christ, our Lord, is not a blessing but a snare.
The declension and failure upon earth of the church has greatly changed the effect of many a truth upon the heart of the child of God. Truth which, when first revealed, was but a subject of pure and unmixed joy now necessarily awakens in the heart that has understanding another sentiment than joy, a feeling inseparable from humiliation.
If I take the history of the churches of God, of Christianity in its manifestation upon earth;-it has now continued 1800 years;-at first salvation by grace; the value of the word; the presence of the Spirit, were well-known truths. But where can we find the presence or the effectual power of these things, between the 12th and the 16th centuries? No; salvation of free grace, through faith, had been exchanged in the professing world, for salvation by the deeds of the law; human traditions-many of them of the most senseless kind-had superseded the Word of God; and an ecclesiastical head had usurped, riot only the place which belonged to the Holy Ghost, but he had also, by usurping the power of the kings of the earth, declared in opposition to Christ, that His kingdom was of this world; and thus utterly changing the character of the kingdom of Christ.
In the early days of the Church's history, there can be no doubt as to the place which the heavenly calling, the mystery of the union of Christ and the church, and the doctrine of His return as Bridegroom held. These were the doctrines, recognized as of all-absorbing interest. But how difficult is it to trace their existence between those first days and these, the last! Here and there, perhaps, one finds a rare and curious statement, which shows that they were not altogether forgotten through the whole interval; and, alas! how feeble is our faith in them now! If salvation of free grace, the blessedness of having the Bible as the open book of God's word, the presence of the Spirit, the heavenly calling, the-mystery, and the coming of Christ, are, to those that have light, subjects of joy and thanksgiving, can we forget the fact, that all these precious truths have been lost on earth to those who should have held them fast? Can we forget the dishonor thus put upon our Lord? Can we forget the actually existing state of things in this respect of those around us who are our brethren in the Lord, and whose hearts have not yet received, to their blessing, these things? If the taste of these truths in the mouth is that of the sweetest honey, nevertheless in the inward parts, when it comes there, it is bitterness. In the discovery to us of these most precious truths, there is a blessed token of the faithfulness of God and our Savior, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; a token in itself as precious as the truth it reveals. But it is the faithfulness of God to Himself, and to the glory of His Son, in spite of the sin of His people upon earth. We taste the grace of God in its height and in its depth; for it is grace which gives us to taste that truth which the people with whom we are in fellowship upon earth have forgotten and lost: and in this, for those at least who love God, there is certainly a subject of the deepest humiliation. I would, that that mixture of the bitter with the sweet, which these truths produce, especially when we think of who it is to whom they are discovered almost as a fresh revelation, may exist in us, and exist in a very unmistakable form.
The actual effect of the law upon the Jews, is a very grief to think of. The law was in itself a rule of life, to show to those, to whom it was given, what their state really was. Their walk was not according to the law: it condemned them, at every step, their acts, their lives, and their ways. Nothing in them was according to its holy requirements. The effect of such a law ought to have been anguish to all who were under it. For they were condemned and hopeless through it.
As to a part, a very small part who had conscience, it was so: but not to the nation as a whole. They were quite satisfied with, and proud of,.... what? Being condemned? They thought not at all about that; for that would have supposed a recognition of rightful subjection to God, holy and present. The Jews gave Him not that honor: but, seeking their own glory and desiring to turn everything to it, they forgot all in the law which was against them, and thought only of the distinctive peculiarity of having received a law from God. Of this privilege they boasted, and availed themselves of it as a means of judging and condemning others. Alas! it was like the madness of a prisoner, who, when arraigned and condemned to death, instead of recognizing his own forfeiture of life, should please himself with the honor done him by the judge in addressing him so -peculiarly before the whole court; and should, find in his own sentence a mere clue to the judgment of others.
But such is flesh! The effect of the law upon Christ was very different. The law was against every man except Himself-but so far from its being against Him it did Him 'honor. It was, to a certain extent, a description of Himself; for, having no sin in His flesh, he could obey the law, and He found it a path for His feet, and walked in it perfectly all His lifetime here below. But what was the effect of the law upon Christ? The light which was in Him, to which, in its measure, the law did homage, showed Him also man's state of rebellion and his coming judgment; and this was sorrow to his heart. Instead, therefore, of its being to him a pleasure to judge others, his heart was full of sorrow on their account; and He gave Himself for them.
May the children of God judge themselves in this also; whether the effect of the light of the ruin, and apostasy, has been to them the means of self-exaltation, or of profound humiliation, for the dishonor done to God and to Christ (in which we have our full part), and for the state of ruin amidst which the objects of divine affection are found. Are the histories of the church fables? Or, however defective, are they the writings of sober men? And are we to learn a lesson from them? Has there been a need, felt, owned, acted upon, for the reformation, in order to bring afresh into due prominency the foundations of the faith. Is it true that there are churches many and opposed to each other, and yet, amidst the wide choice, there seems to be none which, in the world's dotage, will suffice for either rationalist or religious? If I speak these things as a man, according to man's range of thought, there is enough to condemn and humble. But if I see in scripture predictions of such a state of things and of God's judgment upon it, I ought, I admit, to be thankful for the light of His precious word, but I ought to be humbled on account of it. It is a privilege, no doubt, to have the light by which I know these things beforehand, but what can I say of the sin itself all around me; sin which God has predicted, which He is about to judge-sin which I cannot remedy-sin of the body of which I find, myself a part? I ought to humble myself: I do humble myself before God, and with so much the more of liberty of spirit and heart, because He has given me grace to see that He is for me, spite of all. But can I stop there? No, I must announce it to the children of God. But if I announce it, it is not, certainly, as a glory, nor as a distinctive privilege. There may be some that have ears to hear, though there are many who deny and reject this truth. But can one be content, can one boast over the ignorance of those who will not regard it? No. That would not be like Christ nor like His Spirit. Christ has no pleasure in such things; nor can His Spirit in him who, while he feels the privilege of truth possessed, lose sight of the fact of individual fellowship with the system about to be judged. If I am of the church, as a body on earth which has failed, my distinctive privilege, in regard to the sad truth of ruin all around, consists in readiness, while vindicating God and condemning man, to humble myself for all, to confess the sin of those who cannot see it, and to bewail their loss and the dishonor done to Christ by their state.
I would that the experience of Jeremiah were now ours; and I freely confess, that I fear God does not see the state of soul suitable to the light He has given us in His word. God forbid, that any of us should find in that sad truth of the ruin, a subject of self-exaltation, as if we were not livingly interested in, and forming part of, what is ruined, and as if the honor of Christ and the blessedness of His people were not involved. That the revivals of late in Europe have always been connected with such humiliation of spirit, and that they stop when the sense of blessing given has led, in any place, to forgetfulness of that state of humiliation,-a sense of which, first brought with it the blessing,-is a fact of large deduction.
Again, that the truth of the Lord's return should be recognized as the only true hope of the church, and that the man of God should find therein his joy and consolation is good and altogether according to the will of God. Also, that a child of God should taste the love of God in the fact, that, in a day like the present, this hope should be his own portion to enjoy, is easily understood; but that this truth should produce in us nothing but joy, is not true. This truth casts its light upon a dark world in rebellion against Christ, which has grieved and vexed His Holy Spirit, and is lying under the power of the wicked one. Its light reveals many a sad cell of darkness in the world's church; and if one contrasts the days of its infant joyfulness with those of its old age, what a force and energy in the one, what folly and decrepitude are now visible in the other I Is it the same body? Alas! it is the same body which was set in witness,-in the responsibility of witness,-on the day of Pentecost; but, taken possession of by an adversary, it can scarcely be recognized for the same. It was the place of the manifested presence of God, heavenly, full of love, apart from the world, a constant judge of the flesh and of all the devices of Satan. Are these the features which we trace now? I see not how the soul which loves Christ which loves the members of His body to whom His honor is dear, can avoid, in the light of the hope of His return, feeling that there is much to humble, all around, though that hope will bring with it the position of the highest individual blessedness.
To individualize that hope down to the measure of one's own future joy, and to forget to enjoy it in sympathy with the heart of Christ, which takes in God and all that is dear to Him, is not a proof of manhood in any.
We are Christ's, and, as so blessed of God, we have to own responsibility to His name on the earth; and, as led by the Spirit of Christ, have to feel for His honor and name, and not merely to seek our own individual joy and comfort.
As God has bowed down in grace and mercy to us, they that are in the Spirit find it easy and natural to themselves to bow down in humiliation before Him and for one another. For self is abased in the presence of grace. The flesh, however, will skew itself in another way, and either not feel the need of humiliation or, admitting it, be occupied in demanding humiliation from others, rather than interpose itself to bear the burden. To deny the suitability of humiliation, and not to feel that which produces it, is one and the same thing as forgetfulness of that supreme fullness of grace which has found us, notwithstanding the misery of the fallen state of all around. It shows a want of sympathy with the heart of Christ, in respect of that which is to Him such dishonoring ruin. On the other hand, to be occupied with pressing that others should humble themselves, is not a proper expression of the sense of our own failure, nor of our own state of weakness. For if all have need to confess, and if we are in a low estate, who am I, to take a position of strength and to demand of others humiliation, instead of humbling myself before God, and for them if need be. No: I can, in very humbleness, and in the sense of ruin and weakness, humble myself for my own part in the evil, and for the sins of others, and then rest counting upon God to do what still remains to be done. Whereunto we have already attained, let us mind the same thing, let us walk by the same rule; and if in any matter, a man be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto him.