Dear Brother, would you kindly reply, in an early issue, to the following queries?
Question: 1. Is what is known among us as a “brothers’ meeting,” entitled to be looked on as representing “the assembly,” so that its acts should he held to be those of “the assembly?”
2. Is any meeting whatever, from which any in communion (male or female) are formally or tacitly excluded, entitled to be considered as “the assembly” or as representing it?
3. Should I infer rightly from your May number that you would deem a “brothers’ meeting” a simple reunion of those in “the assembly” who “have the rule,” for cooperation and counsel in matters of detail not calling for direct assembly action ? and that in cases when (acting in the spirit of Matt. 18:15, 1615Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. (Matthew 18:15‑16)) they have proved unequal to the correction of the evil, and extreme measures seem called for, their only remaining function is to report the ease to “the assembly” to be dealt with there?
4. Would it be proper for the “brothers” in bringing a case of the above nature before “the assembly” to do so in this wise: that they had gone into such a case and were satisfied that the evil called for excision, and that therefore such a one was no longer in communion? Or ought it to assume something of the following shape: that such a case had been before the brethren; that they had gone into the facts and found them as charged; that they had exhausted efforts to rectify the matter, and now, as a last resort, brought it before “the assembly” for its determination?
5. In the latter case, ought “the assembly” to be expected to deal with the case forthwith, simply in view of the report and counsel of the brothers, or should time be allowed (unless in cases of notoriety or imperative haste) for individuals in “the assembly” who might desire it to inform themselves, in private, before assuming the responsibilities of action before the Lord?
6. Would not the recognition of a “brothers’ meeting” as representing “the assembly,” be a return to “system?” —the very principle of “a kirk Session?”
Answer: A meeting of those who addict themselves to the ministry of the saints may rightly consult and decide on matters which concern the Lord’s work and the saints, save in such cases as reception or excision, where according to scripture the assembly as such is called to act. But I know nothing of a meeting even of elders which could be said to represent the assembly. There is individual action, joint action, and that of the assembly: each true, and important, and sanctioned of the Lord; but one does not represent another. The assembly is itself and supposes the place of all, brothers and sisters, with the Spirit freely acting in their midst to maintain the glory and will of the Lord. But a meeting of chief men among the brethren is of great value, substantially of the elderhood in principle if not so now in name; for it is mischievous to be ever occupying the assembly with questions, the natural result of men who wish to set the assembly against ministry, and so naturally use it for their own self-importance. But no individuals, however gifted, can act for the assembly, though they may be helpful to the assembly in enabling them to judge before the Lord, and they may morally represent the assembly to the Lord’s eye for praise or blame. In general, too, cases of evil, which are rightly brought before all, are so plain as to leave no hesitation. Still there are seasons when the assembly might demand more time or evidence before the extreme act of putting away; nor ought the assembly to be hurried into hasty measures, by individuals, whose sole remedy for all evil (the strongest point of their own lack of wisdom and power) is exclusion. In every instance the assembly should weigh seriously and calmly, but in the sense of its own responsibility to the Lord, not at all as the mere executive of elders or chief men, who are liable to infirmity of various kinds; it has the presence of the Lord to count on in a way quite peculiar and is subject directly to Him alone. The question of acting forthwith or not depends entirely on the nature of the case; it should never degenerate into a venture but be the fruit of conscientious judgment in liberty before God. To act simply on the judgment of a supposed representative would be presbyterian, not as God’s church; to act only for itself would be congregational. It is God’s church; and in the present ruin the Lord graciously attaches the same validity even to “two or three” gathered to His name. If representation comes in rightly, it is here; in a certain sense the local assembly represents the church everywhere; and the church everywhere, in all ordinary cases, acts on the judgment of the local assembly. It is the presence of the Lord in their midst which gives it such weight. Church action otherwise is human.