... As to Eph. 4 (gifts, &c.), we must remember that it does not treat of ornaments before the world, but of the tender and precious care of Christ for that which He loves as His own flesh. In result, man cannot frustrate this care; he may know very little how to profit by it; the appreciable result down here may be but small, but the thought of God in blessing will be always accomplished, because our folly, though culpable (Matt. 18:7), gives room for His wisdom. If Israel had not courage to go up the mountain of the Amorites, and as to the then present circumstance lost, and lost what they did not find again, they learned—at least, Joshua and Caleb and others, and we ourselves likewise—much as to themselves, which set them in a relationship much more real, more true with God, according to what Israel was, and what God was, and gave God an opportunity for the display of His grace and power, taking care of even the nap of their coats, and not allowing their feet to swell; for a manifestation much more remarkable of His power and of His ways in the crossing of Jordan dryshod, and in all the details of their entrance into Canaan, from the testimony of Balaam after the long passage of the desert—all these things being necessary to the full revelation of the ways and counsels of God.
Was it then that the sin of Israel was the work of God? By no means. This unbelief was already in their heart; the arrival at the mountain was but the opportunity for its manifestation. God may permit and arrange events for the manifestation of sin—never in order to produce it—and the manifestation (being under grace) brings all into the light, and is a means of progress.
Then, to say that because the church has failed, it gets necessarily into a worse condition, is true and false at the same time. As a public vessel of testimony to the truth on the earth, to its shame, that is true; but it is impossible that God or Christ should be unfaithful, and the fact of the manifest and general failure gives room for a concentration of energy and of light, which gives so much the more clearness, as the space it illumines is small. Israel, when the precious Savior was there, was always going on worse, was tending to its ruin, but He shines with a light ever brighter, as it is concentrated in what He was Himself, instead of lending itself to His relations, true but temporary and obligatory, with the Jews. This is the reason why, though all is so beautiful, the Lord appears in John with a light and perfection infinitely more touching and striking—why we see Him better than in the other gospels. We are more entirely with Him, with Him alone, with what He was in Himself. There the Jews are set aside. Who in the history of Israel shines in the midst of darkness like Elijah? The only one in testimony, the only one, save the hidden remnant, whom the eye of God recognized and whom the faith of the prophet ought to have known, if he had been near enough to God to have His thoughts.. I find in the Psalms, that faith is much more simple and calm when the remnant is driven away.
It is the same, I believe, with the church, at least, one may look for it; not that the vessel should be repaired and set right, but that the true church, those at least who in heart are waiting for the Lord, will be always more true in their position, will understand the Lord's heart better, will be more united amongst themselves, a " little flock," but who will know much better the voice and the heart and the thoughts of the Good Shepherd. The ground which the enemy gains can only be over the flesh and over the general testimony: it is sad, but understood by the faithful one, and, after Sardis, the manifest general condition. If I find Laodicea to be spued out, I find Philadelphia, which has the ear and heart of the Savior, little strength, but which has not denied His name, but which has kept His word. We are working for the most part with those, the half of whom do not know the immense principles in. question; but if there is faithfulness, a single eye, God keeps them. But to be always waiting for the Lord, that is our strength. " There are many called, but few chosen." Alas! decline is the continual tendency, but the Savior never declines. Keeping close to Him, one will have, not perhaps a public testimony common to the masses—they are always rather the fruit of a testimony—but still, the testimony oh His part in the fullness of His power, according to the need of the church; for His power and His love never change. This is a subject that goes to the heart, and I know that I can trust Him, though I have often been cast down at the sight of the determination of the church to put aside grace and blessing, and the power which the enemy puts forth in deceiving her.
I have lost much time at—, through failing to follow sufficiently closely the leadings of the Holy Ghost, and I am suffering for it now, having to do through greater difficulty that which, having been done much more easily before, would have left me free to do what I cannot now accomplish as I should desire, but now I put myself again in His loving hands; I must learn my lesson of the mountain and the Jordan. We are in sorrowful times; let us not be surprised at it, only let us be near Him, in order to make shine clearly, without obscuring it, what He gives.
5.
You are entering I think upon that period of activity which makes a life of reflection a far more hidden life than before. This is a very real progress in Christian life. I liked divine philosophy, it is still to my taste. As long as the external life is composed of this, we have the appearance of being far more spiritual and deep. Thus, the steam which escapes from the engine, appears to have much more force than that which draws the heavy train, which only appears to offer resistance to the movement that it is sought to give it; but it is when hidden for the most part, that the force really acts. In this way its reality also is put to the proof. And why do I say that it is real progress? It is because, it makes less appearance before men, because it is more entirely before God, with whose approval we must be satisfied. We must be content to possess the thing with Him, nay —to find it in Him; but that is to possess it in reality. It is the principle of moral perfection, to enjoy things instead of accrediting oneself with them in the eyes of others. Active Christian life is a common life of service, in contact with human passions, faults and weaknesses, in a word, in contact with the flesh. But to act in it, to introduce God in it (and this is what Christ was) there must be power, we must be really in communion with Him—participating thus in that nature that nothing encroaches on, and which shines in its own perfection in the midst of all—to be above all that we meet with.
Divine philosophy, supposing it to be real, and to meet with no opposition when displayed before others, is an easy enjoyment; and, as I have said, one may clothe oneself with it, and display it to admiring eyes. To walk in Christian life, we must be what we admire: that is another thing. We must be divine, in the sense of being made partakers of His nature. And this is why JESUS was the most isolated of men, and at the same time, the most accessible, the most gracious; the most isolated, because He lived in absolute communion with His Father, and found no echo, no sympathy answering to the perfect love which was in Him; the most accessible, the most gracious. because He was that love towards others. Speaking of the ineffable work which was to open up a way for that love through all the sin, He says: "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened until it is accomplished." That baptism of bitterness and death, which made an end of sin, even in its last stronghold and its last title of destruction, through the righteousness of God against us, gave free course to that love in its infinite designs of grace; for love is infinite in its inventions for the happiness of that which is loved, and the love of God purposes that which is beyond all our thoughts. It is the spring of the thoughts of the Infinite God. And again, when towards the end of His course the opportunity presents itself, at the moment when the unbelief of His own makes Him say: " How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" (for—and this is what he expects from us in this poor world—there was not, even in His own, faith or capacity to make use of the resources of grace and power which were in Him) He adds, without even a moment's interval, Bring thy son hither " (Luke 9:41). The consciousness of being isolated in His love, so that others did not even understand how to profit by it, does not, for a moment, arrest His energy and activity. The same sentence which contains the " how long," says also " bring thy son hither."
What was then the life of this JESUS, the Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief? A life of activity in obscurity, causing the love of God to penetrate the most hidden corners of society, wherever needs were greatest; among those whom human pride repelled, in order to maintain its own reputation, but whom the love of God sought, because He needed not to establish for Himself a reputation, or to preserve one. He was always the same: and the more He apparently compromised Himself, the more He manifested Himself in a perfection which never belied itself. The love of God needed not, like human society, to protect itself from that which laid it too bare. It was always itself. The arduous life of JESUS was passed in seeking souls in all circumstances. It went through everything that could put it to the proof, but we see in it a divine reality which never failed; then—in presence of self-righteousness and pride, and the tyrannical boldness of the contra diction of sinners, or in favor of some poor crushed soul, or, lastly, to justify the ways of God in their favor—we discover in it from time to time a divine mine of touching, exquisite thoughts, a depth of truth which disclosed its perfection by its simplicity, showing a soul always fed with the most intimate communion with infinite love and perfect holiness. He was the One who could say, " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; " the One who weighed evil by the perfection of good which was in Himself, and who found in the fearful discoveries (if we may speak of discoveries where all was laid bare) which the holiness of His soul made, opportunities for the manifestation of infinite love. Rather, it was the love, of a holy Being which made these discoveries, a love which clothed itself with a grace which, by its very humiliation, placed itself within the reach of all the needs of the heart, and which, at the same time, in presence of the pride of man, showed itself at the height of the dignity and the majesty of God.
How beautiful to see this Person (these divine qualities piercing through the humiliation) place Himself within the reach of these whom the world despised, and find" being wearied with His journey " and becoming a debtor for a cup of cold water to a woman who hardly dare show herself with others—meat to eat which the world, and even His disciples, knew nothing of; and that in the deliverance of a poor heart, crushed by the weight of a bad conscience and the contempt of her fellow creatures to whom He had given back (or rather, given) the spring of life and joy. What a perspective of blessing for poor sinners this opened to His soul! For He did not despise such consolation in the midst of a world which drove Him from its bosom. Thus love comforts itself: the heart which loves the sinner needs such consolation in such a world. But where is it to be found? In retirement, in the labors of a life which had to do with the common need of souls, but still abiding in the truth; for this life did not shelter itself from the misery of the world, to walk in the midst of that which has an appearance only (" a vain show ") but it brought into it—precious grace!—the love of God. He was that of which others could write.
How many needs, hidden even in the most degraded souls, would be confessed, would come to light, if a love, a goodness which could give them confidence, were presented to them: but for this, one must be content, often to find oneself in the midst of such degradation, being preserved from it only by what is within: and this was the life of the Lord. How many souls are whirling in pleasure, in order to silence the moral griefs which devour them? Divine love not only answers needs, it makes them speak. It is delightful to see the opening out of a soul, and, at the same time, the entrance of spiritual intelligence. One may not exactly seek the degradation I speak of, but one finds the world knowing that is the truth as to what is found there, and its outward forms do not stop it. But it is a life of labor, of patience and of blessedness, which has no equal. Christ could say through all, " That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." Without doubt " there are diversities of gifts," but even when God opens this path before us in His grace, how slow we are to follow the track of the One who would draw us there. But let us take courage, grace is there in the path He opens to us; we find it day by day as we go onward; and what glory, when all the principles have been formed in the heart by faith, blossom in heaven, and are reproduced in the fullness of their results according to the heart of God. Meanwhile "we walk by faith and not by sight." " And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." " Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."
"How will recompense His smile
The sufferings of this `little while.'