Christian Witness Papers

The Law has ever furnished subject of disputation in the Church from the time of its earliest records. Some, by their strong assertions of Christian liberty, have given occasion to others to turn the grace of God into licentiousness, because they have not perceived that the end of that liberty is service to God.—"Being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness."—"As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." Christian liberty is in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Others have not only spoken but acted as though we might sin that grace might abound. They have asserted liberty for the flesh, and established that form of Antinomianism, which is apparently the counterpart of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans of old: "They speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error; while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." Such is the result of perverted and mutilated truth. And here the Legalist comes in, and asserts the Law to be the rule of Christian conduct, although they are delivered from it as the groundwork of justification. Such a statement carries with it great plausibility, but the principle is quite as erroneous as the one it would condemn; and it is remarkable how two such opposite principles alike result in a fearfully low exhibition of Christian character. "Many," says the Apostle, "have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the Law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm." Man to get rid of a difficulty of his own raising, has invented a theory which the Scriptures by no means warrant, for reconciling the grace of God in the salvation of His people, with the obligation they are under to serve Him. It is maintained that although the Law is not the ground of justification, it still remains the rule of Life. It is repealed in its condemning character but unrepealed as a directory: -the ceremonial and civil part is abolished, but the moral remains obligatory. In every departure from Scripture there is danger; and I believe such a departure as the one above stated to be attended with the most mischievous results. The Law is spoken of in Scripture as one thing. -"The Law was given by Moses." It is true the word Law is used in a less definite sense; but when the Law is used, it generally means the whole Mosaic economy, which was not partially but entirely superseded by that which was introduced by Christ: "The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." In no place in Scripture is that distinction found which is commonly insisted on between the moral and ceremonial law; -in this the Antinomian is right in principle. The Law was fulfilled and set aside by the work of Christ in order to make way for the display of the wondrous grace of God. God in law is God imputing trespasses, God in Christ is God not imputing trespasses. It is true that such a distinction exactly suits our selfishness, which is to render unto God no more than He absolutely requires, which is just the principle of law. It is obligation, it is duty, that which is rendered unwillingly, or which would not be rendered at all, were it not demanded. The mischief of such a statement I believe to be two-fold. -It tends to lead the children of God into bondage, and to lower their walk and conversation (i.e., manner of life}.

There is one sentence of the Apostle which exactly meets the difficulty, "Not without law to God but under the law to Christ", μη ων ανομος θεω αλλ'εννομος Χριςω -the Article inserted in our translation confuses the sense—Not lawless to God but under law to Christ. Here I believe the cases of the Antinomian and Legalist both to be met.

While the Antinomian has clearly seen the putting away the Law, he has not seen the necessity of this in order to introduce a new relationship between God and Man -even that of Father and Son,—"God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons {i.e., sonship}" (Gal. 4:4, 5). The Law stood as a barrier to this, it was given to those who were servants, they were to do that which was commanded them, and then receive their wages; -the principle was do and live. But the condition in which a Believer in Christ Jesus stands is very different; he is "no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." He is redeemed from the Law, he is dead to the Law, and the Law dead to him by the body of Christ (Rom. 7:4}, it cannot attach to him in any way whatever. It is no longer the Rule by which he walks, because being suitable for the relationship of master and servant, it is not suitable for the relationship of Father and Son. The end proposed to those under the Law was obedience unto Life. -"This do and thou shalt live," But the result of that which in itself was good, and holy, and just, acting upon fallen man, was that it worked wrath and death. The Law could not give life, although it proposed it. But the Believer hath life, -"He that hath the Son hath life"; it is that from which he sets out, not that which he is pursuing.

"Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my words and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.

And as to the source of this Life, it is thus stated, Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." "Of His own will begat He us.

The Believer is not therefore without law to God, but the rule that subsisted between the Lord and the servant would not apply to this new relationship. And hence it is that not having been brought to know the Father, many a Christian, resting indeed on the all-sufficiency of the Atonement of Christ, does not stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ has made him free.

For ye are all the children of God by faith of Jesus Christ.

And not rejoicing in the liberty of Sonship, they see not their calling to be to walk as obedient children, not fashioning themselves according to their former lusts in their ignorance, but as He which hath called them is Holy, so are they also to be holy in all manner of conversation.

They still look to the Law as their rule, and "receive the spirit of bondage again to fear," questioning as to the extent of the obedience required, instead of returning the answer of a willing heart unto a loving Father. The Law deals in formal enactments, but the Spirit, which is liberty, more in the application of some great and acknowledged principles. What law could accurately define the measure and quality of the obedience of a child to a parent? It would be shown in a hundred ways which the loving heart would be quick sighted in discovering, and none but the father's eye could detect. And is not this precisely the character of a Christian's obedience to his God? His liberty makes him not lawless to God, but his obedience is much carried out where no human eye can behold him. He prays, he fasts, he gives alms, in the presence of his "Father which seeth in secret." It is indeed blessed liberty into which we are called as children of God, but it is a high and holy responsibility. “Be ye therefore followers (imitators) of God as dear children, and walk in love.” The perfectness of the Father's love is the only standard proposed to the children. “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Just in proportion as the relationship is raised in dignity from that of a servant to that of a son, so is the standard of obedience raised also.

The Law might tend to tutor the flesh, but the Spirit alone could serve God. "If ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law" {XXX}, and this applies to the Law as a rule of Life; for the question in this passage is not concerning justification, but Christian conduct. "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." In Jesus we have One made under the Law, meeting every one of God's requirements, even fulfilling all righteousness; in Him also we have One led by the Spirit into the wilderness into conflict with Satan to show His perfect dependence as a Son. His obedience was beyond law righteousness, for He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, that the world might know that He loved the Father, and that as the Father gave Him commandment so He did, He had right and title to have entered into life, because He had kept the commandments. But that life He laid down, "He had power to lay it down, and power to take it again"; and His perfectness of obedience in this respect, was that which was so well pleasing unto the Father. "Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life." He as the servant, met every requirement of the law, but as the Son carried His obedience as unto the entire surrender of His own will, to the will of Him who sent Him. And this sure standard does Jesus hold up to His followers, If, says He, speaking to the young man of great possessions, (who evidently connected eternal life with earthly enjoyment) "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, but if thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come follow me (Matt. 19)." It was His own entire self-renunciation which Jesus proposed as the standard of perfectness; not the servant under the law, but "The Son learning obedience through the things that He suffered." Surely then freedom from the yoke of bondage, is not that we may be without law to God, but that we may be obedient children. And the knowledge of the Father, while it is our most blessed and perfect security in the confidence of His ever watchful care and love, is at the same time His security against any abuse of that liberty into which we are called by His grace. It was the great object of Jesus to manifest the name of God, even the blessed name of Father, to those whom the Father had given Him out of the world, in order that by them that name might be hallowed. It is to the Father, as the Holy Father and 'righteous Father, whom the world. knew not, that He commends His (disciples on leaving them, upon the ground that they knew Him as) such, and therefore would reconcile that seeming paradox to the world, how at the same time a believer is living in the most perfect sense of security, and aiming to walk in perfect obedience. It is the knowledge of the Righteous Father. There is no difficulty in this to one "led by the Spirit," yet I believe there always must be an insurmountable difficulty in putting theoretically before the minds of men Liberty and Obedience, so necessarily do they suppose the one to exclude the other.

But the consideration of the remainder of the Apostle's statement, as to a Christian being "under law to Christ" {XXX}, will most plainly prove that he is in no sense whatever under the Law. "The Law is not for a righteous Man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane {1 Tim. 1:9}"—it may be used lawfully as the expression of God's mind with respect to a variety of actions. ft may he used lawfully too as exhibiting any great principle of the divine conduct; as such the Apostle uses it, when insisting on children obeying their parents in the Lord, where he shows that there was in the Law an express promise to obedient children. So again he uses it lawfully when he presents it as the general expression of the Divine mind, that labor of any kind is entitled to support. "Say I these things as a man? or saith not the Law the same also? for it is written in the Law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn (1 Cor. 9:8, 9)." If we use it not thus we deprive ourselves of the benefit of God's own expressed mind on a great variety of subjects, and therefore of that wisdom which cometh from above. But fully allowing all this, I would assert that the Believer who proposed to himself the Law for his rule would constantly be walking disorderly as a disciple of Christ. It was given by Moses for a specific purpose, and especially in reference to earthly blessing. It met therefore, as far as it possibly could, man's weakness, as we find in the case of divorce (Matt. 19:7, 8). "It made nothing perfect." "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." And we are under law to Christ {XXX}, not to Moses. This must appear immediately to any one marking the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ assumes to Himself in the Sermon on the Mount. "It was said to them of old, -but I say unto you, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine." Christ being the Mediator of the New Covenant established upon better promises, the Rule of conduct must necessarily differ, even as the dispensation under which we are essentially differs from the former. God, in that, was dealing with man in righteousness, but with us in grace. The blessing to which we are called is heavenly, and the Rule by which we are guided is the Rule of heaven {cp. Gal. 6:15, 16}. All the difficulties in walking by it arise from the circumstances in which we are placed. To do God's will in heaven, where all is in accordance with that will, must be the highest blessedness to which a moral creature of any capacity can attain. "Bless the Lord, ye His Angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments hearkening unto the voice of His word -Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His pleasure (Psa. 103:20, 21)." But to do God's will on earth, where all is disorder, is the great trial. There was One who did it perfectly, "Lo, I come to do thy will O God." It was His alone to say, "Father I have glorified Thee on the earth"; and He who had done this was fully qualified to give us a directory, as well as to leave us an example that we should follow His steps.

But obedience to law and protection from the Lawgiver are reciprocal. It is always supposed that the Legislator has power to protect those who own his authority, as well as to punish those who do not. It is on the principle of ability to protect, that our Lord Jesus claims our unreserved obedience. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Now here the claim of our obedience is that He has all power in heaven and in earth, and is therefore fully able to keep those who acknowledge Him in His ways. It is therefore that the test of discipleship is the confession of His name as Lord, as well as Savior. It is after He had given his disciples such directions, the following out of which would inevitably throw them against the whole course of this world, that He adds, "And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46). And again, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, &c. and then will I profess unto them I never knew you, depart from me all ye that work iniquity. (Matt. 7:22, 23)." He will not own that as confession unto Him, which does not show itself in subjection unto His Word as authoritative. The whole of His directions for the conduct of His disciples assumes the principle that they are heavenly men. He who, while on earth, was the Son of Man in heaven, was the only One who ever passed through this world untainted by its evil; He overcame the world, and showed that implicit subjection to the word of God was the only safeguard against evil, -that God was the only wise God, whose wisdom could guide through the intricate maze of evil in which the world was and is. "Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the path of the destroyer (Psa. 17:4)." He met all evil in meekness and lowliness, but the Father was with Him. And that which He has given us is that wisdom which is from above, which is pure, and peaceable, and gentle, and easy to be entreated, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. It is everything the reverse of what man calls wisdom, because it overcomes by enduring, and not by avoiding or resisting. This wisdom is hid from the wise and prudent and given unto babes, as those whose place in this world is helplessness and exposure to danger. But here comes in the blessed understanding of power to protect in following out His commandments, which necessarily leads to suffering from the world. Here is the great need of recognizing the standing of a Christian, under law to Christ, and not to Moses. It is to fidelity to Him in this that the Lord especially looks. The obedience of a Christian is the obedience of faith, the obedience of law {is) the obedience of sense. In the latter case, to the Jew, as under the law, the result of obedience was immediately manifested in blessing. Not so now (outwardly at least); but our calling is to patient continuance in well doing, "for in due time we shall reap if we faint not." We are called on to sit down and count our cost, if we are content to follow Jesus out of the world; for assuredly His precepts do set a man entirely against it. And what, unless the assurance of competent protection in walking in His ways, from Him who could say, "All power is given unto me," can for a moment keep us in the narrow way that leadeth unto eternal life? What but the assurance of sufficiency of strength, from Him who says, "Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world" could induce felt weakness to set itself in array against the enemies it now has to contend with? "Who is sufficient for these things," can only be answered by "I can do all things through Christ strengthening me." It is most needful ever to associate in our thoughts the distinct character of the commandments of the Lord Jesus as leading to suffering in the world, with His power to keep and protect those who are walking in His ways. This is to walk by faith and not by sight. This is the happy deliverance from that perplexity which must ever meet one who knows no power above the will of this world; and who is therefore always calculating on results which may only disappoint him, or balancing evils to choose between them. The Christian, in proportion to his faith, is delivered from these; he has to expect from the world nothing but evil: "sufficient to the day is the evil thereof." And as to good, he knows that to be only the good and perfect and acceptable will of God. In taking that for his guide it may lead into humiliation and suffering, but the end is deliverance from evil. The prayer of Jesus for His disciples was not that they should be taken out of the world, but be kept from the evil -that they should occupy His standing and place in it. "The disciple is not above his Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master." And how is this to be but by keeping all things that He has commanded us. "We are not under the law but under grace." And that which is required of us is widely different from what was required of those under the Law. We may notice this in a few striking instances: -Under the Law, divorce was permitted on many accounts, under Christ, only in case of fornication on either side. Under the Law, Polygamy was tolerated; but under Christ, in whom was shown the Antitype of marriage, it is not permitted. Christ is one, and His Church one, -so in the beginning, God, to show His plan, made them a male and a female. Under Moses a man was entitled to assert his right, and to receive compensation for injury; not so under Christ -"I say unto you resist not evil." "Avenge not yourselves. " "Rather suffer wrong." "Forgive till seventy times seven." Under the Law it was permitted to amass treasures as the proof of God's blessing; but Christ says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth." This might be followed out into lengthened detail, but enough has been said to show that to be under law to Christ, is to he under heavenly rule in the midst of evil; and therefore necessarily produces that wonderful anomaly in the present state which faith alone can clear up -righteousness suffering, and wickedness flourishing -"The earth is given in to the hand of the wicked, he covereth the faces of the judges thereof: if not, who and where is he? (Job 9:24)."

In the present day when allegiance to Christ as their Lawgiver, has been so lamentably forgotten by the Lord's own people, when their fear towards Him in this character has been taught by the doctrines of men, it is only known to those who are seeking in simplicity to serve Him, how difficult is the obedience of faith. So intimately have the two directories of Law and Grace been accustomed to be blended, that many a Believer is found thinking, and speaking, and acting unconsciously as a Jew. Men have gone on unconsciously confounding things that differ, so that the simplest commandment of the Lord or His Apostles, is often met by setting the conduct of a Patriarch, or the language of the Law against it. Hence we must needs discriminate between that which is Scriptural, and that which is Christian. For war is Scriptural; Jehovah Himself went forth as the Captain of Israel's host; but says Christ, "They that take the sword, shall perish by the sword." Vengeance is Scriptural; the avenger of blood might pursue the murderer, but says the Spirit by the Apostle, "Avenge not yourselves." But not only in these great things, but in things of minor importance, (and fidelity to the Lord is therein much shown) shall we find occasion of confessing to Him as {being} our Lord. Only let it ever be borne in mind, that because we are called to liberty, even the liberty of Sons, because we are already made of the household of God, and have our mansions {abodes} prepared in it, that the Lord Jesus as head over that house, claims our allegiance to Him. It is because we belong to heaven that He exercises this authority over us, in order that we may walk worthy of our high and holy calling. It is because we are Sons, and if Sons then Heirs, Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ, that the Son who has made us free, shows us how to use that freedom in service to the Father. The Master of the house is absent for a while, but behold he cometh, and "that servant that knew His Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." Here it is that reasonings come in, and here the Spirit of God comes to bear, casting them down and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. I believe obedience to Christ to be now of great difficulty, from lack of that Spirit in power to make us of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, from our having been so habituated to act on results instead of Faith. The Lord does not show His people how they are to be kept, or what will be the consequence of their acting in obedience to Him. But He will with the trial, make a way for them to escape. And if any man will do His will, he shall know the blessedness afterward. It is astonishing how little any are able, from the habit of looking at consequences, to judge righteous judgment. The Apostle prays for the Philippians, that their love might abound more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment; (αισθησις, spiritual apprehension) that they might approve things that were excellent, and be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. From the habit of not comparing things with the Truth, but with one another, very few are capable of estimating the principles on which they are acting. A very great principle may be involved in a very trivial action; and here the craft of Satan works, as we may see in the temptation of our Lord; his object is to undermine a principle, and then the people of God are tossed to and fro, and hindered in their service to the Lord. And what will be security against him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, but simple dependence on the blood of the Lamb, and on the Word He hath given us for our guidance? The time calls for decision. He that is not with Christ, is against Him. Fidelity to Christ, is protest against evil: for what concord hath Christ with Belial? The path may be difficult, because so many things good and useful in themselves, are mingled with that which is evil; but the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, will guide (οδηγησει) into all truth. Satan's object is to accredit the evil, by mingling it with good: ours must be to discriminate between them, "to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." As under law to Christ, our calling is, not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, but to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God, There is now, as in the close of the Apostle's career, more trial from the worldliness of Disciples, than from the persecution of the world. May then the last charge of the Apostle to his beloved Timothy, be written on our hearts, "Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath called him to be a soldier. So run that ye may obtain.

The Christian Witness 2:37-47 (1835.)

Antioch

The order of God's dispensed blessing towards the earth, was to make Jerusalem its center -either to be sought unto as the place where His name was, or as the source from whence the testimony was to proceed. This is clearly intimated as the purpose of God by the prophet Isaiah. It stands almost as a preface to his predictions -so that the soul of faith might be sustained by it, whatever the vicissitudes of judgment and mercy through which this city might have to pass, before it was publicly acknowledged as "the city of righteousness," "the city of the great King." "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house, shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it: and many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." But "the faithful city had become a harlot" (Isa. 1:21). The Lord Jesus when He came, acted on the truth of the prophetic testimony,—h its temple standing -priests in due order -synagogue worship -its numerous Scribes and doctors of the law, He treated it as the harlot city, full of murderers, thieves and covetousness, because He judged not according to appearances, but righteous judgment according to the word of the Lord. He therefore did not commence His ministry at Jerusalem, neither did the word of the Lord go forth from it. There was a new center from which the light was to be spread. "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Capernaum thus became the source of testimony, and had the title of his own city (Matt. 9:1); but it knew not its honor and therefore heavier judgment awaited it. If we follow the narrative of St. Matthew, we find the ministry of the Lord Jesus at the extremest distance from Jerusalem; Scribes and Pharisees came to him from Jerusalem (Matt. 20:1). It was at Caesarea Philippi that He told them about His going up to Jerusalem, not to make it the center of testimony, but "to suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and Scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day." It is not till the 19th chapter, that we find Jesus departing from Galilee, and going up into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan; and in ch. 20 as He was going up to Jerusalem, He again tells His disciples what the result would be. And after entering the city in triumph (Matt. 21), and in cleansing the temple sealing on them the word of the prophet, we find it stated, He left them and went out of the city into Bethany and lodged there (v. 17), as though He could not lay His head in the polluted city (see also Luke 21:37, John 8:1). Even after His resurrection, Galilee was to be the meeting-place with His brethren (Matt. 28:10); and there the eleven receive the largest commission ever given them (v. 16), which would seem to intimate that before Jerusalem will actually become the center of blessedness, it will have to acknowledge the light sprung up in Galilee.

But Jerusalem was to be put on a fresh trial, it had had the sad honor of crowning all its fearful evils of stoning the prophets, by slaying the well-beloved of God. And therefore it is the fit place for the testimony of sovereign grace to go forth from. "Repentance and remission of sins are to be preached in the name of Jesus among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." "Beginning at Jerusalem," what grace was in that? the city of murderers was to have the testimony first given in it. Most fitly therefore did Jerusalem resume her place as the center of testimony, but she could only hold it in the humbling remembrance that she stood only in grace. She could only invite others to come to her in the confession of her own sin, for if this was not the case, what would the nations have beheld, but the same which the Lord had seen, -the city of righteousness, the habitation of murderers and a den of thieves. The disciples therefore were to tarry not in Galilee but in Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from on high. God will always be faithful to himself, and his counsel ran thus: "Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city... until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high (Isa. 32:13-15)." If there is to be a new order of blessing, it is to be deposited first in Jerusalem, but only as we shall see to seal up her guilt in the rejection of the Holy Ghost as well as the Son, after this there is no remedy but judgment. Accordingly we find the disciples assembled together on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem, and the promise of the Father was given to them. And the very silence of Peter (while asserting the marvel before them to be that spoken of by Joel the prophet), concerning Jerusalem and Mount Zion, expressly mentioned in the last verse of the chapter which he quotes, shows us that things would not go on in the prophetic order, but would again be interrupted; so that because of Israel's unbelief; we are obliged to speak of a first coming of Messiah and a second, -a first outpouring of the Spirit and a second. The second outpouring is not presented to us as our hope, but the redemption of the body; but to Israel as Israel, it is still desolation, until the Spirit be poured on them from on high, and the Redeemer come to Zion. The very fact of the coming of the Holy Ghost, was the testimony unto Israel's sin in the rejection of Messiah: "whom ye slew, God hath raised up," was the burden of that testimony by St. Peter. And on conviction of their guilt, they were led to know the power of His name in forgiveness of sins, and to receive the promise of the Holy Ghost; which was given to them which believed on His name The pouring out of the Spirit was a promise of the New Covenant; but the blood by which that covenant was ratified, had now been shed, and in it was remission of sins: this was now preached, and if the word of the Lord went forth from Jerusalem, it must be in testimony to its sin as well as to its blessing. And the word would have been made good, "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings which were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sake do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." But Jerusalem refused to acknowledge its sin or to receive the blessing. The city still retained its character of killing the prophets, and stoning them sent unto her; and Stephen's testimony to their resistance of the Holy Ghost, was sealed by his own blood. Thus the city rejected the Holy Ghost, as it had previously the Son and the Father. The testimony does indeed go forth from Jerusalem, but is not sent by Jerusalem: it was her sin now not her glory, which caused the word of the Lord to go forth from it. "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. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." But still the Apostles regarded it as the center of testimony and of blessing, salvation is of the Jews. "Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John." But the Lord was now evidently very gently preparing the way for giving up Jerusalem, and depriving her of this pre-eminence also. Philip is sent by an angel of the Lord to the Eunuch returning from Jerusalem towards Ethiopia. He had turned his back on Jerusalem and is not turned towards her again as the city of righteousness. "The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the Eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing." This was a very remarkable intimation of the mind of God, in turning away from any visible dependence on person or place. He returned to Ethiopia with his understanding enlightened to understand the scriptures, and was left to the guidance of the Spirit. Even after the calling out of Saul, it would appear as if the Lord was loath that Jerusalem should lose the testimony of him who had seen the Lord in glory, and knew the Church as one with him in it. After being introduced by Barnabas to the Apostles, we are told he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem, "and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him." Thus they rejected his testimony as well as that of Stephen, "so the brethren brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus."

When the fullness of time was come for preaching Christ to the Gentiles, the word of the Lord does not go forth from Jerusalem to them. Peter was at Joppa when he had the vision of the sheet let down from heaven, and the commission to go to Caesarea to Cornelius. And subsequently to the baptism of the household of Cornelius, we read when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, "thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. " Thus we find Jerusalem, instead of being known as the city, the name of which is "the Lord is there," standing forward as a city to thwart the work of the Lord. There was still in her indeed that which was precious to God, and that which He would honor. But the word of the great prophet still took hold of them "Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and Scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city." It was still the Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent unto her.

The last honor put upon Jerusalem, was the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, coming to the disciples there. But He had been grieved in that city; and although without the same accompanying circumstances of power, He had again, unsought for, been sent down from heaven, on the household of Cornelius in Caesarea. And this was the answer of Peter, to those who contended against him for going to the uncircumcised: "As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning."

Now this was not only the testimony from heaven to the Gentiles being brought into the one body, but that the order of dispensed blessing was now changed. It was no longer in one mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, but the Holy Ghost coming to carry on His work, in what would appear to man an irregular way; but only irregular because He will show his sovereignty in working where, how, and by whom He will. We do not therefore find Caesarea as the center from which testimony goes forth to the Gentiles. But we are told that "they which were scattered abroad, upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only; and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to ANTIOCH, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed and turned to the Lord." But still there was that at Jerusalem which the Lord owned, although He had disowned the city. There was the Church there; and that Church was not so occupied with itself, as to forget to care for the weak. "Then 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, who when he saw the grace of God was glad, and after he had exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord, he departed to Tarsus for to seek Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch." The way in which this is told us, seems clearly to intimate that Barnabas, who was full of faith and the Holy Ghost, here saw fitting service for Saul. They would not receive his testimony at Jerusalem -it might have been he had no honor in his country Tarsus -but here was the grace of God, here was a sphere for him who was especially called to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles. "And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the Church, and taught much people."

Here then in the city of Antioch of Syria, we find a Church established; not by Jerusalem as a dependency on Jerusalem, but raised up by the controlling power of God, over Jerusalem's sin in persecuting the Church, a special instance of His own grace. There doubtless was intercourse between this Church and the Church at Jerusalem, but the word of the Lord did not come forth directly from Jerusalem to Antioch. Antioch gladly owned the Church of Jerusalem as able to counsel it, and gladly received its messenger for its establishment in the faith. But its same standing was in the grace of God, and not in dependence on Jerusalem; and therefore we find, that the messenger which had been sent forth from Jerusalem to Antioch, does not return thither again to get help for the infant Church, but goes independently of Jerusalem to Tarsus for Saul. And for a whole year we find that Barnabas and Saul assembled themselves with the Church there, acting entirely independently of any external aid. In the intercourse which passed between Jerusalem and Antioch, we do not find Jerusalem adding anything to Antioch; and although as to the date we may be uncertain, yet the fact is most interesting, that it was at Antioch that the Apostle of the circumcision, the representative at least of the feeling of Jerusalem, received public rebuke from Paul. "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed; for before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation; but when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel." Here we see the influence even of the Church of Jerusalem, presenting itself as that which hindered the truth of the Gospel. And that Antioch, under the guidance of Paul, could assert its own standing in the grace of God, entirely independent of Jerusalem.

There is another circumstance to notice as to the Lord's turning away from Jerusalem. A new name is given to His people at Antioch. "And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." From Antioch therefore not Jerusalem, that name which has now so widely spread, went forth. They had previously been called disciples and brethren; but now it would appear, when the Holy Ghost was about to act from another center, a name was given, the peculiar distinctiveness of which was, the anointed ones by being in the anointed One: as if to draw off the thoughts from place and birth, to fix them on that which could only be true because Jesus was risen, and as risen had sent down the Holy Ghost. I believe the proper definition of Christian, to be that which is given us by the Apostle himself in writing to the Corinthians, in which he includes himself. "Now he that establisheth us with you into the anointed One, and hath anointed us in God." There was stability in no city -in no Church now -Jerusalem had failed -and the only sure establishment was that which took the soul out of all earthly associations -establishment in Christ. This left a freedom to the Spirit to act where he would -to raise up a testimony here or there, in many or in few, since the testimony now was to no locally organized body, but to the oneness of the Church with Christ in heavenly places.

Thus gently led on, we find Antioch as the first center; for the special work the Holy Ghost had now to be done. If the Lord had in His own person said to the disciples, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, beginning at Jerusalem"; the Holy Ghost now in his own person sends forth His servants whom He had called to a definite work, beginning at Antioch. "Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers." It is not here a commission from an ordered Church, such as Jerusalem, sending forth any in the power of apostolical commission, to gather others under the shelter of Jerusalem as a mother Church. It is not human ordination to a definite mission; but it is the Holy Ghost separating from among those who were already accredited, certain individuals by name for an expressed object: thus asserting His authority as to the place from whence He would work, as to the specialty of the work He would have performed, and as to the particular agents by whom it should be carried on. "Tidings came unto the ears of the Church which was in Jerusalem," -and they acted according to the wisdom in them on the occasion, and sent forth Barnabas, one every way qualified for the mission. This an ordered Church could do -and so they might evangelize any geographical extent -and such will be the case by and bye, the testimony will go forth in an orderly way throughout the cities of Israel, and the Lord's saving health among all nations; but now this was interrupted on account of Jerusalem's sin, and a new work is begun. Here, at Antioch, we have not the Holy Ghost appointing individuals to carry on a work already begun, but separating to a work the character and extent of which none knew. And such appears to have been his way ever since, it would be what men would call executive agency. Revivals in the general corruption of Christianity or evangelization owned and blessed among the heathen, have generally originated from some obscure and irregular agency; and then the established bodies have acted on the result, and sought to carry on the work thus begun, corporately. And although establishments are not hindered in helping on a work of the Lord when once begun, yet their very orderly way of proceeding in evangelizing must necessarily be much misspent labor, because the region they would evangelize may not be the work the Holy Ghost has to be done. The great difference between the Church at Jerusalem sending forth Barnabas to Antioch, and the Holy Ghost sending forth ("so they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost") Barnabas and Saul unto a prospective work, cannot be too solemnly weighed. It raises a very practical question, whether the Church taking upon itself to send forth Missionaries to evangelize any given locality, is not assuming an authority with which she was never entrusted, since the day that there was one raised up as an Apostle of the Gentiles. And after he was raised up, not even the Church at Jerusalem itself, could advance any such pretension.

But to return to this work of the Holy Ghost, whereunto He had called Barnabas and Saul. Its character is undefined, and only ascertained by the result. Now I believe the very undefinedness of the work to be that which is declaratory of its character. When Saul was called to be an Apostle by the Lord Jesus, there was at least a definite character given to his ministry,—"he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." But here the work whereunto they were called, is kept entirely in the hand of the Holy Ghost, He himself directing their movements from city to city, and their tarriance here or there. "So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Selucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." Now the undefinedness of the work just shows the way in which the Holy Ghost now began to act, and that was in the assertion of his own sovereignty. From henceforth He will act from any center He chooses: Jerusalem is passed over, so is Caesarea, and Antioch is the place from whence those called to the work are commended to the grace of God; and whither they return on the accomplishment of the work, to detail what the Lord had wrought by them (see Acts 14:26-28). But how different was Antioch from Jerusalem. At Jerusalem, there were the Apostles and elders, and everything orderly and established. At Antioch, the Apostles themselves go forth, leaving there prophets and teachers, but nothing on which those going forth could lean: Antioch was but an infant Church, and its main pillars had gone forth unto this work. Surely this was all designed to teach simple dependence on the Holy Ghost, to wean the servants of the Lord from leaning on any establishment. And from this moment it appears that the influence of Jerusalem began to act unhealthfully, because as an established thing it interfered with that prerogative of the Holy Ghost which He was now asserting. This was speedily shown, in the carrying out of this work. We read (v. 5), "when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they also had John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus... which withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." Now I think we have here presented to us two of the great hindrances in the work which the Holy Ghost was working. In Bar Jesus, a Jew, we find the spirit of the unbelieving Jews, who most unrelentingly followed Paul and Barnabas from city to city, stirring up the minds of the religionists, and making them evil affected towards them, "forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved." In John, we find the influence of Jerusalem acting on the mind of the believing Jew; and this was a much sorer trial. The faith and patience of the Apostles was rendered very conspicuous through the one; but the other required all the wisdom of the Spirit, all the impartiality of love, all the uncompromising boldness for the truth to meet it. A slight acquaintance with the Epistles of Paul, will sufficiently show what constant conflict this led the Apostle into. God vindicated the testimony unto His own word by inflicting blindness for a season on Bar Jesus, even as it is written of Israel that they are "blinded unto this day. " But that which was early shown in John, is the bane of the Church to this very day. It is to me most instructive to trace the notices of John. Now when Paul and his companions loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John (Mark) departing from them returned to Jerusalem. There was something at Jerusalem for the flesh to rest on, there was something there established and visible; but in the work whereunto Paul and Barnabas had been separated, there was nothing of the kind. It was simple dependence on the energy of the Holy Ghost, and simple following of His leading. It was in the eyes of men apparently acting without authority; and the character of the work was not of that orderly kind which is the result of human arrangement. There was no calculating whereunto it would grow; and there was nothing in the work accomplished congenial to a mind habituated to a system which was ingathering to itself. The work not only required the soldier's hardness, but required constant dependence. Now John's {Mark} conduct not only deprived Paul for the time, of one profitable to him for the ministry (2 Tim. 4:11), but it was the means of separating Barnabas and Paul. And it is the very same principle which most effectually hinders co-operation in service unto this day. The resting on or being the servant of any particular establishment, effectually hinders that free service which the Holy Ghost requires; and it is found by experience that there is no fellowship in service, because each servant for the most part, has an object before him, independent of the great object of the Holy Ghost in gathering around the death of Christ as its center, the children of God which are scattered abroad. The narrative (Acts 15:36) is humbling and instructive. "Let us go again (said Paul to Barnabas) and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do; and Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work; and the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other." The words "went not with to the work," are very important. There may be a great deal of individual zeal and of busy activity, but it may not be at all occupied in the work which the Holy Ghost has definitely in hand. It behooves us to ascertain what that is, before we can serve intelligently. It was clearly not now to gather to Jerusalem; so that even a saint of God, gifted too for ministry, would be thwarting the work, by throwing his energy into that which once might have been the work of the Lord, but was not now. I believe we as much need intelligent perception of what the work of the Holy Ghost is now, as John Mark did then, or else we shall find our very service (so far as in us lies) hindering the work of the Lord; and this is the case when we act either on our own wills in service, or on human calculation. I believe the work to have been the same throughout the history of the Church, the Spirit to have been gathering here or there as He would; and the hindrance to have been the attempt to make the Spirit of God work in a course, which according to human wisdom, appears calculated to insure a good end.

It is interesting to mark the character of the work unto which the Holy Ghost had separated Paul and Barnabas, in the testimony of Paul at Antioch of Pisidia (to the Jews especially, but in the audience of the Gentiles), to the complete justification of the believer in Christ Jesus. It is his especial work to glorify Jesus, "through him was preached forgiveness of sins." Such was the commission given to the Apostles by the Lord personally after His resurrection; repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in His name beginning at Jerusalem. But now all the privileges of faith were at once to be announced. "By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. " When that law was understood, it could never give peace as pertaining to the conscience. It did not at all touch the question of indwelling sin: the one who by the law, known as spiritual, had discovered that, would have found that it did not even pretend to provide for justification in that point. What a blessed work of the Spirit, so to testify of Jesus, that the moment the soul was brought to Him, there every question about sin which could possibly be raised was immediately set at rest, "justified from all things. " The history of the Church has painfully proved how little this special work of the Spirit in testimony has been heeded. Recurrence to worldly elements under some form or other, has always given the Church a Jewish complection; and the simple presentation of Christ to faith, has almost being superseded, by the requirement of some preparatory meetness, or the setting up some standard of subsequent experience. And in more forms than one, have we seen ordinances brought in, to the exclusion almost of Him to whom they testify, so that the sinner's justification is made practically to rest on obedience, not on grace; or on the work of the Spirit wrought within, rather than on the finished work of Christ without. This work of the Spirit was just suited to the necessities of sinners of the Gentiles, so that they besought that these things might be preached to them the next sabbath. And when it was so, and Jewish influence stirred up the devout and honorable woman and chief men of the city, so that they expelled Paul and Barnabas out of their coasts... we find that the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. Such was the effect of the reception of the word of the Lord published through-out these regions. The confirmation to the souls of Barnabas and Paul, by means of the prophetic word, is very remarkable, and shows the Holy Ghost's use of that word, as such a light as gave confidence to the Apostles to turn away from the Jews, and to turn entirely unto the Gentiles (v. 46).

Persecuted in one city, they go to another; and even in this we find a direct contrast with the word of the Lord, going forth from Jerusalem in regular order and peaceful triumph. The wrath of man is made to praise God, in the spreading of his testimony; and this feature in the work of the Holy Ghost, has more or less been manifested in all ages of the Church. The laborious efforts made for evangelization by large ordered bodies, have signally failed; but those who have been persecuted for the truth's sake, have carried the truth with them, from out of the country whence they have been driven, into that wherein they have sought a refuge. At Iconium (Acts 14) we mark very distinctly the character of the testimony given by Paul and Barnabas, "they spake boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony to the word of his grace." This is very distinctive indeed; and while there is surely a great boldness in the confidence of the truth unto which we bear witness, I apprehend there is more meant by the expression, "spake boldly in the Lord. " The grace is so large -so able to meet any sinner, whoever he be, that we are at times almost led to question whether we are not making too free with the Lord's name, in bringing it home to the ungodly where he is, as complete salvation. But it is such a testimony the Lord owns, and unto such a testimony the Holy Ghost had separated Paul and Barnabas. And it was doubtless the largeness of the very grace which made Paul even distrustful of himself in handling it, lest he should obscure it, so that as it were, he enters a protest against himself, "Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

Driven from Iconium, they fled unto Lystra and Derbe, "and there they preached the Gospel. " It was "the Gospel of the grace of God" they preached, and not themselves. They would have been received had they come in their own names, and might have used what men would have believed a wholesome influence on the minds of the heathen. But what testimony would the receiving honor from men themselves, have been to that grace which they preached. The very grace itself declared the nothingness of man; and it would have been a poor thing for these heathen to have forsaken even their idols, to turn unto men of like passions with themselves: the Gospel which they preached was to turn them from vanities of every kind, Paul and Barnabas, as well as dumb idols, unto the living God. The readiness of man to receive his fellow-man in the place of God, and his unreadiness to receive God himself, are alike remarkable. And there was a holy jealousy in the Apostles, lest any honor shown to themselves, should put them in the place of the priests, which stood between the people and their idols, and thus make them to occupy in their minds a place between Christ and themselves, to the obscuring or nullifying the grace of God. "We are men of like passions with yourselves"; how is it the work of the Holy Ghost to lead to all possible self-abasement, that the Lord alone may be exalted? The subsequent history of the Church speedily proved how this feature of the work of the Holy Ghost was disregarded. "Men of like passions with others," were regarded, and sought to be regarded as a superior order: they soon came to occupy the place which the priests of Jupiter and Mercury had occupied, and thus made the way of return to bondage, to the weak and beggarly elements of the world. Such necessarily is the result of the ministers of God's grace occupying the place of an ordered priesthood. There is another thing to be noticed in the carrying out this work of the Holy Ghost, that the exaltation of Christ is sure to bring with it personal trial. The people at Lystra would have honored Paul and Barnabas as gods; but when they refused that honor, that they might testify to the grace of God, they were speedily stirred up by Jewish influence to stone Paul, and leave him for dead. How well then were they prepared to go from city to city where they had preached the Gospel, to confirm the souls of the disciples, and to exhort them to continue in the faith, and that we must "through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. " The 13th and 14th chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, appear to me to furnish us with an outline of the character of ministry among the Gentiles, as it is written "preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world. " In this ministry, we see everything on which man as man would rest, set aside; everything which would give prominence to man abased, and the assertion of a sovereign controlling power. The choice of instruments, the selection of place for testimony, the joy given to those who received the testimony, are all manifested to be of the Holy Ghost, to the setting aside of human arrangement entirely. And the manner of carrying on this work apart from and almost independent of Jerusalem, is especially marked throughout. The appointment by Paul and Barnabas, on their second visit to the several Churches of local elders, is quite in character with the whole of this work. The wisdom of the Spirit in Paul, led to this arrangement: it was not the Church which either chose or ordained them, but Paul and Barnabas, and this entirely independent of Jerusalem. "And when they had ordained them elders in every Church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed." This again appears a part of the work whereunto the Holy Ghost had separated them. And then "they sailed to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And 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 to the Gentiles; and there they abode long time with the disciples." Here we find Antioch acknowledged by Paul and Barnabas as the center of this work of the Holy Ghost: they went out from it and returned unto it. Now in the case of Antioch itself, it had not been so, the word reached it from Jerusalem by irregular action; and Barnabas who had been sent forth from Jerusalem to Antioch, did not return to it again. But here they return to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. But although they had been recommended to the grace of God by the Church, they had not been sent forth by the Church, but by the Holy Ghost: they were not responsible to the Church, and it was not the Church which summoned them, but they gathered the Church; for although they could receive no authority from the Church, they delighted in its co-operation, and owed it this debt of love to rehearse to them all that God had done with them. It was both blessed to recognize the Church as fellow-helpers unto the truth, and to make them partakers of the joy.

The peace of the Church at Antioch, did not remain undisturbed; and the influence of Jerusalem was manifested as again thwarting the work of the Holy Ghost. "Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders about this question." There was both grace and wisdom, in Antioch thus recognizing all that was of God still at Jerusalem, all the debt it owed the Church there for its parental care in its infant weakness in sending forth Barnabas to strengthen and confirm it. There was a council of appeal there, which has never existed in any other Church. The imitation of this in general councils has simply tended to bring the Church under the power of the world, and to hide from the Church its fall from "the goodness of God." Nothing has been more injurious to the Church than imitation -it has blinded the Church; and while holding the form, has effectually denied the power. It is thus that the very strength which remains, even the Holy Ghost, acting in sovereign agency in the Church, has been almost entirely overlooked, and the Church turned aside for help to power not its own; and thus the influence both of the flesh and the world, has been attempted to be 'consecrated to God. But it should be remarked, it was not the Church at Jerusalem summoning representatives of Antioch before her, but the wisdom of the Spirit leading those who stood only in the Spirit, to see that this question ought to be settled at Jerusalem. The Apostles were there -the evil had come forth from thence; there was holy boldness in the truth in which they stood as of God, that they only reckoned on its being confirmed there and in no wise shaken. "When they came to Jerusalem," it was not to be questioned as to what they taught, but they were received of the Church, and of the Apostles, and of the elders, "and they declared all things that God had done with them." They did profess subjection to the spiritual judgment in the Church there, in the full confidence that the Spirit there would vindicate His own act at Antioch. They had to declare what God had done with them, and immediately there were found those who would frustrate the grace of God. Here is the real point at issue, whether the work is wholly of God, or one of man's co-operation. This is the question which ever disturbs the Church within: its rest is only in what God has wrought, but certain men say, "except ye" or "it is needful," and thus the ground of grace slides from under the feet. "Then rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." The whole truth of God was at stake, the work of the Holy Ghost was in question; and here we find brought into conference, Peter, James, Paul, Barnabas, and other Apostles not mentioned by name, and the elders. We know not of their ever having met all together before, and what was it for? to bring the Gentile Churches into the Jewish standing? no: but solemnly to record that Jewish believers could only take their stand on the very same level on which the Gentiles stood -the supreme grace of God. It was the solemn recognition of the grafting in of the Gentile branches into the olive tree, to partake together with the unbroken Jewish branches of the fatness of the olive tree {Rom. 11}. Thus was the unity of the body here asserted, and the way prepared for the planting separate Churches, having no other dependence on each other than that of being all of the one body. No one of them asserting precedence of the other, no one sending forth anything like authoritative direction to another, as Jerusalem did to Antioch. Such were the Gentile Churches planted by Paul, -such the seven Asiatic Churches addressed by John in the Revelation. None of them held the place which Jerusalem had stood in. None of them occupied the transition place of Antioch, looking to and receiving help and guidance from an ordered Church, as Antioch did from Jerusalem.

It was not then in the issue, Antioch bowing to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem in solemn conclave, taking the same ground of sovereign grace as that on which Antioch stood. Thus was the work of the Holy Ghost, whereunto He had separated Paul and Barnabas, most solemnly confirmed, as the work which the Lord was working in that day. And it is thus to Antioch, that we may trace the great charter of Gentile liberty. But the manner in which it comes forth to us, is peculiarly interesting. The Apostle of the circumcision is the great witness to Gentile liberty, and thus He concludes, "we believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." Here is the entire relinquishment of all Jewish superiority as to standing for justification; and till Israel is content to take the standing of mercy, simply as the sinner of the Gentile, they cannot receive their blessings. How clearly too does he assert the supplement of the law to Christ, to be "a yoke," using the very same language as the Apostle Paul subsequently, "be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Paul and Barnabas followed, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." It was what "God had wrought." God was working apart from Judaism, apart from Jerusalem, apart from that which was ordered and established; and none dared to say to Paul and Barnabas, By what authority do ye these things? James follows confirming the testimony of Peter, and allowing that Judaism under any modification, was a troubling those who from among the Gentiles had turned to God. It would have been a subverting of their souls, a taking them off from their secure standing in grace, to have imposed anything on them. But even here at Jerusalem, we find the sovereign power of the Holy Ghost recognized as giving its character to the Church at Jerusalem, and justifying his own act at Antioch by the charter he dictated here. "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." The Judaizers thought it was Jerusalem that gave the Church there superior authority; but it was the Holy Ghost who had ordered and established the Church in that city in unity and in power, and under immediate Apostolic control, which gave it a pre-eminence and standing in which no Church has stood since. No Church has been competent from that day to the present, to say "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," and to send forth a decree for the regulation of other Churches. That Antioch never presumed to take such a stand, will plainly appear as we proceed. There was no yoke imposed by this decree; and doubtless it was the wisdom of the Spirit, suitable to the circumstances, to recommend as necessary things, the abstaining from things offered to idols, from things strangled, from blood, and from fornication. To Antioch, Barnabas and Paul returned with the full concurrence of the Church at Jerusalem, in that which they had taught. They bore with them the epistle declaratory of the liberty of the Gentiles, and commendatory of Paul and Barnabas, as those who had hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. On their return they gathered the multitude together and delivered the epistle, which when they had read they rejoiced for the consolation. This last accredited act of authority by the Church at Jerusalem, is the only true ground of consolation for us. It is indeed most interesting to mark the manner of the Holy Ghost, after this last recorded corporate act of Jerusalem.

The Apostles and elders at Jerusalem, had sent Judas and Silas to declare by word of mouth, that which was briefly contained in the epistle. After a time, Judas returned to Jerusalem, but Silas tarried, and subsequently went forth with Paul throughout Syria and Cilicia, confirming the Churches.

Now here again we find a breaking in on the regular order of Jerusalem. Barnabas had been previously sent to Antioch by the Apostles at Jerusalem; he returns not there again, but goes to Tarsus to seek for Paul. Silas had now again been sent, but returns not to Jerusalem again; but is recommended by the brethren at Antioch to the grace of God, together with Paul, and goes forth with him on a visit to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia. Now in these instances I think, we see the Spirit acting through individuals, leading them into service on their individual responsibility. In our days, the conduct both of Barnabas and Silas would be esteemed irregular and questionable; but the effect of human order is invariably to interfere with personal responsibility. This I find very jealously insisted on by the Apostle Paul, who saw the Jewish leaning of the Church as greatly tending to bring individuals into bondage to itself. I believe the controlling power claimed by Churches of our day, to have been unknown even in the Church at Jerusalem in all its plenitude of authority; and that godly order can alone be maintained by the recognition of the Holy Ghost as guiding into service, and personal responsibility to the Lord in the service. It is much easier to serve an establishment than to serve the Lord; and the bondage into which an establishment brings is not the subjugation of the flesh, which would be a good thing, but the fettering of the Spirit of God.

The way in which the action now goes on entirely independent of Jerusalem, may be noticed in the case of Timothy, whom Paul met with at Lystra, and took him to go forth with him. Thus the Holy Ghost was showing that he was raising up laborers for His own work; they did not go forth from any institution of man, but were called out immediately into active service.

The solemn ratification of Gentile liberty in the sure grace of God, by the decrees of the Apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem, greatly tended to strengthen the faith and increase the numbers of the Churches. But we again find the Holy Ghost speedily interrupting the orderly course which man would pursue, by turning his servants another way from that into which their own judgment was guiding them. It was most natural to Paul, after being led out of Syria into Asia Minor, to consider the whole of that country as the field of his labor. But the way in which be was directed by the Holy Ghost, is so stated as to lead our minds to acknowledge that he would allow no conference with flesh and blood at all, in the work which he was working. "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not." Now this was clearly intended to show, that Antioch had not taken the place of Jerusalem to act on its order; and that if God had chosen it as a center from whence testimony was to proceed, still the great thing to be presented was the character of the work, and not the place from whence it proceeded. And from the time of the vision of the man of Macedonia to Paul at Troas, it would appear as though the work of the Holy Ghost was to turn the great current of testimony away from Asia into Europe. The result has been according to the prophetic intimation -highmindedness among the Gentiles, who have acted in testimony as if the word of the Lord proceeded from themselves. We cannot readily conceive what must have been the strangeness of this constant interruption in their orderly course, to the minds of Paul and his companions, but the yearning of the Apostle's soul after Asia and even Jerusalem, is very marked in the remainder of his history. Philippi, Thessalonica, Bercea, Athens, and Corinth, are successively the scenes of Paul's labor. At Corinth he made a longer sojourn than at any other place, he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But the Holy Ghost did not set up any center of testimony in Europe. Place, so to speak, had been left behind in Asia; and now it was the great moral power of testimony, which was to be regarded (1 Thess. 1:8, 9). And what the Apostle said to the Corinthians, may be spoken to all. "What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?" to all I mean who would take the place that Jerusalem once occupied, and is yet again to occupy -a center of testimony to the whole world.

From Corinth Paul returns to Syria -lands at Caesarea, goes up and salutes the Church at Jerusalem, and then went down to Antioch; and after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening (the same word as in Acts 15:41, is translated confirming) all the disciples. He saluted the Church at Jerusalem, still honoring all that was of God in that city, but tarried at Antioch and went forth from it a third time, as the center from which the special work of the Holy Ghost had proceeded. And here the record as to Antioch closes, but there are some points of instruction which I would desire to notice.

I. -It is impossible to follow the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, without being struck with the patient way of God's grace. The reception of the word by Samaria -the preaching Christ in the wilderness to the Eunuch -the conversion of Cornelius -the manner in which the word reached Antioch -all prepared the way for the gradual breaking up of the Jerusalem system. And with it was set aside not only successional order, so manifestly interrupted by the Apostolate of Paul, "not of man or by man," but also that orderly progress of evangelization which man would naturally desire. The time for Jerusalem's blessing, and the blessing of the nations under its fostering care, was thus proved not to have yet come. We are apt to be more hasty in our thoughts, than God is in His ways -He is slow to anger; and perhaps we are in danger of drawing too nice distinctions between the dispensations of God, so as exactly to say where one passed away and another begun, and thus to lose much deep instruction in the ways of God. Although another center had been chosen for the special work of the Holy Ghost, and that work proceeds in an extraordinary manner, yet still the Church at Jerusalem is owned in a peculiar standing, even while this work is going on independent of it. And it cannot be too distinctly pressed, that the testimony presented to us, clearly shows that Antioch never pretended to occupy the relation to other Churches which Jerusalem had occupied to itself. With the breaking up of the Jerusalem system, the principle of a mother Church was lost; and the assertion of its existence now, I mean visibly on earth, is just the apostasy. In the Acts then, we have the Church at Jerusalem, in plenitude of spiritual power, claiming and exercising jurisdiction over other Churches; 2nd, Antioch recognizing the authority of the Church at Jerusalem, yet acting under the immediate direction of the Holy Ghost independently of Jerusalem's order; 3rd, Gentile Churches planted by Paul with local elders independent of external jurisdiction.

II. -The peculiar character of the work of the Holy Ghost is quite an infringement on human order. The moment that anything is established and begins to act for itself, it would appear as if the Holy Ghost would form another center for Himself to act from. This has been the tendency of the Church in its history: a school of doctrine or a standard of practice, has fettered the liberty of the Spirit; and He has again acted outside that which had its rise in His own blessed energy. In principle it is ever the same, returning to the weak and beggarly elements of the world. It is important for those who are now awakened, to see the character of the work of the Holy Ghost, to take great heed that they establish nothing. There must be an open field for the Holy Ghost to act in -where, when, and by whom He pleases. It might doubtless be asserted, that there have been various centers of testimony in the history of the Church, but they have sought their own, -set themselves in the place of mother Churches, and thus thwarted the very work of the Holy Ghost. It is indeed hard for us to get out of our local attachments: we are ever anticipating a resting place, as David did for the ark of the Lord, which had only been migratory and dwelling in curtains. But the time of its rest was not yet come. The Church is in its tabernacle state, and we would fain fix it here or there, but not so God. The history of the work of the Holy Ghost, most clearly shows us the Judaizing tendency of our minds. We desire something visible to lean on -something on which to cast ourselves, which though raised of God himself, is not God. Many must have seen and felt the tendency to put the Church itself in the place of its Head, and to make Church responsibility supersede individual responsibility to the Lord. He will not allow this. Fealty to the Holy Ghost in His sovereign agency, and to Jesus our one Lord, is now the great point. We must claim liberty for the Holy Ghost in ministry, none for the flesh; and obedience must be rendered to the Lord, even though it be disobedience to man. We need especially to keep a watchful and jealous guard in these respects: the Church would hinder the rightful authority of the Holy Ghost, by constitutions of its own; and the world allegiance to Jesus as Lord, by its enactments. "He went not with them to the work," should be words of solemn caution to the saints now.

III. -We may remark in this work of the Holy Ghost, the subordination of the providential order to that of the Spirit. We see this in the second departure of Paul from Antioch: his orderly providential progress was directly interrupted by the Holy Ghost forbidding him to preach in Asia. And I conceive that the use the Apostle made of the vision of the man of Macedonia, is intended for our instruction on this point. It was not the positive command of the Holy Ghost that led Paul into Europe, but his inference from the vision that he was called to preach the Gospel there, "assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them. " We are not deprived of the providential order; but having the mind of Christ, we are responsible for our use of it. The Holy Ghost may now in some very marked manner forbid or hinder, and then providential circumstances may open a plain path before us. But we are entirely forgetting the work of the Holy Ghost, when we merely judge according to providential circumstances. And these we must remember, are much more easy for us to rest on, than simply to depend on the guidance of the Holy Ghost. One of the peculiar Jewish features of the Church of the present day, is, that the exercise of its ministry appears to be almost entirely under the control of circumstances, as if the Holy Ghost was not still asserting His own sovereignty in the work He is carrying on. If God has been pleased to link any together by a spiritual tie, it is not for us to snap it for our convenience. Something more promising may open to us as a sphere of labor -there may be a greater prospect of usefulness; but it is untried, and we know not that it is our place to be there. He that would "gather" from circumstances alone where his place of service in the Church is, would generally find himself placed out of the course of the work of the Holy Ghost. Providential leading is not of faith, the guidance of the Spirit is. We constantly find God helping on our little faith by circumstances, and bringing us just where we ought to have been brought by the leadings of his Spirit. But all this is very humbling, and proves to us at what a very low ebb, real spiritual discernment is amongst us. May we be humbled, and earnestly seek more intelligent guidance of the Comforter -the spirit of truth, to guide each of us in the way we should go.

IV. -Though it may not appear to be properly of the subject we have considered, yet the connection in which Apollos is introduced to our notice is very remarkable. It appears as if a character of ministry was then raised up, even more out of the range of human order, than any which had preceded it, -a character of ministry for which we may boldly say, there could not possibly be any room in modern Church constitution. And this is their very fault, they attempt to imitate a pattern which once was, and to which they would fetter the Holy Ghost; and he chooses to act outside it -as well as inside it. The Jerusalem model, more or less, is attempted to be taken by modern establishments; but the Holy Ghost provides for his own work in other channels After Paul's last departure from Antioch, we read "a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the Spirit, he spike and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ (Acts 18:24-8)." Now here we get one led on in the way of instruction, so as to be a fitting help to the Apostle Paul, by the instruction of a man and his wife, who held no ostensible place of ministry in the Church at all. He was not like Timothy, one whom Paul took and would have to go forth with him, to be brought up under Apostolic training. But when he had learned the way of the Lord more perfectly, he was disposed to go unto Achaia. He was not sent as Barnabas, or Silas and Judas, from an ordered Church, but he was independently led of the Spirit, and recommended by the brethren to the notice of the Church at Corinth, and was able to help them much who had believed through grace, equivalent I doubt not to his watering the ministry even of Paul himself. "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." The Apostle gladly recognized in Apollos a fellow-laborer, however raised up; his soul was too much occupied with the necessities of the Church, to raise the question as to Apollos' ministry which had been raised in other quarters respecting his own; that is, the source from whence it was derived. He saw that the Lord had fitted him for the ministry, and that he himself was a servant in God's husbandry, and could gladly recognize Apollos as a fellow-laborer, not as an intruder. And in this spirit could say, "who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to each?" It is thus that the soul which is occupied in the Church's necessities, most thankfully receives any help that God may give, and owns all that is of God in any in its suited place. The presence of Apollos at Corinth, seemed even to release the Apostle for a visit to the Asiatic Churches, at least I should gather this from the first verse in the nineteenth chapter. And this character of ministry -I mean the Spirit leading an individual into his place of service -independent of Apostolical or Church commission, which have both had their place, I find maintained in Apollos much later; "as touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time." Now the effect of taking for a pattern any previous Church order, would effectually exclude Apollos' ministry. And I believe the real wisdom in our present condition, is to seek to get the work of the Lord done efficiently, gladly receiving any one in the place the Lord has given him to fill. Not even putting back one who was instructed in the way of the Lord less perfectly, so as to set up some standard of ministerial competence; but to use all that the Lord has given us. And it is especially needed to guard against trenching in any wise on individual liberty, or personal responsibility. It was not self-will in Apollos, that disposed him at one time to visit Achaia, and at another even to run counter to the desire of the Apostle Paul, by not going there at a particular time Doubtless he would value the judgment, and weigh well the council of the Apostle, but he must be fully persuaded in his own mind that it was his place then.

Surely all this should make us particularly jealous over arrangements of our own. How blessed is that co-operation in service, as in the case of Paul and Apollos, which is the result of the individual guidance of the Spirit. And how often is service, when undertaken at the suggestion of another, without the individual leading of the Spirit, a yoke of bondage which we find it difficult to bear. The Lord grant to his saints more and more, the godly order which springs from the recognizing the leading of his Spirit, in all things.

The Christian Witness 7:32-59 (1837).

Backsliding and Apostasy

It is very difficult, if not dangerous, for us to attempt accurately to define the words used by the Holy Ghost in the Scripture of truth. Great as increasing acquaintance with the word of God may prove to us the nicety of the expressions used by the sacred Penmen, yet as they are things and facts which the Holy Ghost presents to faith, we are not left to philological distinctions, but the unlearned is led by the Spirit's teaching to gather the meaning of any word from the context. It is very well for us, who see through a glass darkly, to define the terms we use, lest in attempting to communicate anything to others, we should darken counsel by words without wisdom. In the case, for example, of the two words proposed for our consideration, we are persuaded there is a real moral distinction which verbal accuracy would by no means meet. And we would remark that as the term Apostasy often occurs in this publication, we would avail ourselves of the present opportunity to show the sense in which it is used. And first of all, the word itself, "Backslider," does not occur in the New Testament; although there are expressions equivalent to it. Neither is the word "Apostasy" to be found in the Old Testament; although the thing is evidently described: and therefore there will be places where Backsliding may mean the state we would characterize as Apostasy.

The word most usually translated Backsliding, which so often occurs in the prophet Jeremiah, simply means "to turn or return": its moral sense being gathered from the context. Thus Josh. 22:16, "What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel to turn away from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel against the Lord (see also v. 29)." And in the next chapter we find the word without any adjunct, used thus morally, -(vv. 11, 12,) "Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God; else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the Remnant of these nations, &c." From these expressions the meaning of Backsliding may be gathered; although the term is not used. There is another word more rarely translated Backsliding only. Hos. 4:16, " Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer;" and in the margin Zech. 7:11, "They gave a backsliding shoulder." In other places it is translated "stubborn," "rebellious," "revolters." Deut. 21:18-20, "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, &c." "I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people (Isa. 65:2)." "They are all grievous revolters (Jer. 6:28)."

In the 5th of Jeremiah both the words are used; and it will help to show us that a backsliding state is one of degree; and in this may be said to differ from Apostasy, which is one of fixed and settled purpose. This chapter sets forth the Apostasy of Jerusalem and the way she was led into it. "Run ye to and fro the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh truth." Then the charge is, "Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou lust consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction, they have refused to return." And this was no, partial but a general defection. "I will get me unto the great men and will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of our God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds." Then their fearful judgment, because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased, or strong. Lastly, "This people hath a revolting and rebellious heart, they are revolted and gone (v. 23)." In 5, we have, "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." Had not the backsliding been continuous, it might have been remedied; but they went on from bad to worse. From these instances we may safely conclude that Backsliding is the subject of chastisement and warning, but Apostasy, of judgment. So far therefore as the state is one in which God continues to deal with in the way of correction, it is Backsliding; but when God says, "Why should ye be stricken any more, ye will revolt more and more" (Isa. 1:5)," it becomes a state of settled departure from God -"they are gone away backward." It is Apostasy -and only to be dealt with in judgment, according to the word, "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Prov. 29:1)." It is important to remark how constantly backsliding is connected with a refusal to hear. And this, when it becomes habitual, brings about that moral state most hateful in the sight of God, and which He gives up to judgment; as it is written Deut. 21:18-20, "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them, they shall say unto the Elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice, -all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die." Here is the direct contrast to the one in born God was well pleased, even the obedient son; whose constant language was, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

And now to turn to the New Testament, we have the words, η Αποστασια, the Apostasy (2 Thess. 2:3); and it is only here used in the sense we popularly attach to it. It occurs in one other place, Acts 21:21, "And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses:" Αποστάσιαν απο Μωσεως. Here we see the kindred idea of the first word we considered in the Old Testament, to depart from. We have the root from whence the noun is derived, often occurring in the New Testament, and used both in a good and bad sense. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits (1 Tim. 4:1)." Again, Luke 8:13, "Which for a time believe, and in time of temptation fall away." And in 1 Tim. 6:5, "From such withdraw thyself." 2 Tim. 2:19, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity." These examples would show the impropriety of attempting a verbal definition, at the same time that they convey most distinct ideas to our mind. There is one verse, Heb. 3:12, which may he said to be God's own definition of Apostasy; "An evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." In this indeed backsliding is included.

The Corinthians had declined, in respect of the purity of their communion -i.e., they had gone back from the standard they had previously attained (1 Cor. 5); also in respect of love in ministering to the Saints (2 Cor. 13:10). And as such were in the one case the subjects of the Apostles' severe animadversion and threatening of heavy chastisement; and in the other, of his earnest exhortation; but these were not cases properly of Apostasy. In both cases there appears to have been warning, the warning was received, and led to repentance (2 Cor. 7); and the exhortation stirred up love (Rom. 14:26). So the language of the Apostle to the Galatians, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you (Gal. 1:6);" and "ye did run well," v. 7. proves a sliding back both in faith and practice, and the Apostle's fears and hope; at one time, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain;" at another, "I have confidence in you through the Lord," prove that while he saw the Apostasy in which their departure might issue, he looked on that departure as remediable. The evil heart of unbelief was not confined in departing from the living God. They were not beyond warning, and being reclaimed, as the Jews were, to whom the Apostle addressed himself in the language of the Prophet Isaiah, giving them over to judicial blindness (Acts 28:7). But where we shall see the distinction most clearly marked, is in the case of the seven Churches (Rev. 2; 3). These were so constituted that the Great Head of the Church, and its Bishop, would own them as Churches, and deal with them as He who walked in the midst of the Churches as the Son of Man judging them. With His eyes of flaming fire He was quick in detecting their backslidings and exposing them -backslidings in practice, which if not repented of, would lead to Apostasy, and the removal of the candlestick. Hence the message invariably is, "I know thy works." These Churches were in a state to be dealt with in exhortation, warning, and reproof, and chastisement. But if there was no ear to hear what the Spirit said to the Churches, they would be brought to the state already mentioned, as described in Jeremiah, "They would not hearken," and therefore would only be dealt with by the Son of Man in judgment. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love (Rev. 2:4)." Here is Backsliding, not Apostasy; but if the warning be not followed by repentance, there follows Apostasy, and thereupon judgment. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of her place, except thou repent." Here we see the first declension in practice, and in the Church of Laodicea the last stage of backsliding verging on Apostasy; a state not beyond the reach of rebuke and chastisement, but just ready to be spued out of the mouth of the Lord. Now what is remarkable is, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as Son of Man, does not appear again till Rev. 14:14; i.e., the Harvest and the Vintage. He could exercise direct judicial authority as Son of Man, and as the Bishop of the Church, up to a certain point, but when His message by the Spirit was rejected, then was Apostasy consummated, and He could only recognize the visible Church as that which He would meet in judgment. When therefore we speak of the Apostasy of the Church, we mean that settled departure from the principles of its original constitution by its Head, so that He cannot directly administer to it as the Church, because to do so would be to give the sanction of His name to evil, Now the constitution of the Church, is the abiding presence of the Comforter; He is the foundation of its authority, the dispenser of its ministrations, the source of teaching, the author of holiness, the cement of its unity; in a word, its only strength. Now we have seen Backsliding in those several particulars and warning against it, but they would not hearken; and now the Church has settled down on another basis, which may in general terms be asserted to be the rejection of the Holy Ghost, in authority, ministration, teaching, and power; and substituting either fleshly order or popular election in its stead. The evil heart of unbelief has issued in departing from the living God. And the misery is, that we are so little sensible of the Apostasy -so little recognize the removal of the candlestick, that the necessity of an establishment of some sort is generally assumed by Christians as an axiom. Where can we see anything like a candlestick under the immediate ordering of the Son of Man? The very claim to be so now, carries with it the stamp of Apostasy. Will any now be so bold as to claim the sanction of the Lord's name for the avowed evils of their respective systems?

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before this house which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord (Jer. 7:9-11).

When therefore we assert the Apostasy of the visible Church, we mean that it has ceased as a whole to be God's witness in the earth except for judgment. But it must be ever borne in mind that to be in an Apostasy, is not necessarily to be an Apostate. In the preceding dispensation, as Apostasy was setting in, God raised up His witnesses against it, in the persons of the Prophets who were multiplied as it increased, and to them the poor of the flock gave heed. Even in Babylon, Daniel existed in all the individual blessing of his dispensation. And so from the time of the Lord's removing the candlestick, He has never left Himself without a witness; the Spirit in individuals has ever been found protesting against false doctrine or corrupt practice: and the Lord has made provision of blessing for them in their little strength. But not to pursue this here, we would remark three things.

I take it that in Thyatira a division had taken place, as indicated in Rev. 3:24 by "the rest." This does not affect the fact that there is one assembly in a city. Putting aside the bearing of "the rest," there may be two or three gathered together unto Christ's name (Matt. 18:20) in a town or city, but they are not the assembly in the city as if other Christians in that city are not part of the assembly in that place. But the two or three are gathered together unto Christ's name, the ground on which all should be gathered, unless excluded by Scripture discipline.

For some reading on the subject of the assembly in a city, see the Index to the Letters of J. N. Darby, under Assembly -in a city, the.)

1st. That it has been God's method to own the partial truth held by any association gathered even in the name of man, as a testimony against the prevailing evil of the Apostasy, hardly any one will be disposed to deny that the Society of Friends, however defective in doctrine, did raise a most decided testimony to the presence and power of the Spirit, and thus were capacitated to testify against truth held in ungodliness on the one hand, and a mere routine of formal ceremonies on the other. The same might be said of other associations, which however they might assume the name of a Church, did not stand in the place of the candlestick ordered by the Son of Man, although His grace would recognize any portion of truth they held in righteousness, or any zeal for His name The Lord "hewed" His fallen people by the Prophets (Hos. 6:5); but the Prophets did not constitute the nation of Israel, and analogous to their ministry has been either that of individual testimony by the power of the Spirit, or the associations arising from it; but that does not make them the Church.

2nd. As to individual Backsliding, the case is supposed in admonitions of this character. "Let us not he weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." "But to do good and to communicate forget not." And these are the correctives to meet the continual tendency in us to grow weary in the service to the Lord and to draw back. But here we must specially guard against the advantage that Satan might gain against us, in presenting to our view the energy we once had, and from which we have declined. Our wisdom is to discriminate between the energy of the flesh and power of the Spirit; that energy is soon gone when no results answering its expectations are realized: but in the Spirit there is continuance. Fruit to God is brought forth "with patience." The excitement of the flesh is often mistaken by novices for the power of the Spirit; and when it fails, they may be led into trouble of conscience from feeling that the buoyancy of spirit in which they were once carried on in service is gone. At the very time when in the judgment of a spiritual mind, their state may be more healthy, if they have exchanged carnal excitement for "patient continuance in well doing. " He that endures unto the end shall be saved. If it be asked, at what stage does backsliding become Apostasy? it may be answered, when discipline fails of reclaiming. It is hard for us to distinguish between the weakness of the flesh and settled purpose of the mind, as well as to enter into the great acquired power of Satan over those who by backsliding, have been taken captive by him at his will. In the pride of our self-conceit we might have branded Peter or Cranmer as an Apostate, and yet the Lord knew them as His. But were they not Backsliders in act? This we can judge of, and deal with in discipline; but the Lord knoweth the heart, and "the Backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways (Prov. 14:14)." As such he is an Apostate, he is avowedly gone from his principles, and when such a case is clearly made out, we may apply the word; as for example, in the case of many of those who professedly being Presbyterians have fallen into Socinianism; This case is supposed as one that might happen. "A man that is an Heretic after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such, is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself (Titus 3:10, 11)." May it not therefore safely be said, that though every Apostate is a Backslider, not every Backslider is an Apostate; and that Backsliding refers to a state in which a Believer has been, and from which he has declined: but Apostasy is the settled renunciation of a profession once made. He that is born of God may be a Backslider, and hence the way in which the Scriptures are written as "profitable for correction and reproof; but he cannot be an Apostate, because "His seed remaineth in him." This may be gathered from the solemn warning (Heb. 6). Every possible attainment, short of a new creation, is there supposed as possible, and from these a falling away; but there says the Apostle, "Beloved we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love {XXX}." "Every one that loveth, is born of God and knoweth God {XXX}." Most salutary therefore is it for us not to be resting in any of those attainments which might minister to our self-complacency, but to be exercised in that patient love, the work and labor of which always crosses the flesh, It is in this we are apt to be slothful, and to seek for knowledge, or some other gift, instead of the manifestation of God's own nature in US.

Lastly, we must bear in mind, that since that which was set up by God as His witness on the earth, even the visible Church, has failed of its purpose, and is in Apostasy, that the proper place of Believers and bounden service to the Lord, is testimony against the Apostasy of the professing body. As in the Apostasy, but not of the Apostasy, we must "go without the camp" {Heb. 13:13}. Fidelity to the Lord now forces His people to enter their protest against whatever bears His name, but is not of Him. No plea of expediency, no dread of marring unity, ought to prevent our disowning the sanction of the Holy Name by which we are called, to whatever system virtually disowns Him as its only Legislator. "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ {"of the Lord") depart from iniquity {2 Tim. 2:19,}-αποςητω απο ανομιας. It is actually so to depart in principle and practice, as an Apostate does from the truth as it is in Jesus. The iniquity may be covered up under seeming order, and may be even venerable by its antiquity, but it is sanctioned, and we cannot depart from iniquity without protesting against that which accredits it. The most aggravated form of evil, is glossing it over with the name of good, -the sure mark of Apostasy is calling evil good; saying, "we are delivered to do all these abominations," having the form but denying the power of godliness: "from such turn away." It will therefore be our wisdom to cultivate that Spirit which will make us of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, in order to separate between "the precious and the vile"; and to allow no plea of personal convenience, no assumption of authority to interfere with our departing from that iniquity which the Lord will judge. -"I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knoweth: because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not (1 Sam. 3:12)." It is a solemn principle of judgment; a man might be walking apparently blameless before the Lord, and yet be sanctioning evil, helping on judgment. Let us beware of the sophistry of our own hearts, which are ever prone to palliate evil. It is to the workers of iniquity that the Lord says, "depart from me, I never knew you." And therefore whatever defmite application may be given to the call, yet it is our wisdom to look at it as continually addressed to ourselves,—"Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues {XXX}."

The Christian Witness 2:145-153 (1835).

Brief Notice of Chauncy's Order of Unaccomplished Prophecy

The following notice was sent by the publisher with a request for its insertion in the literary notices of the Christian Witness. As the object of this publication is not literary, but to hold up as far by God's grace may be, "the truth": this was declined, with the expression of judgment that the order was erroneous. In consequence of this, the author has written the subjoined letter, which, out of courtesy to him it is thought proper to insert; together with some brief remarks on the order.

Dissertations on Unaccomplished Prophecy, by W. S. Chauncy Contents: -introductory Chapter -Summary of judgments predicted against the enemies of the Church of Christ, and which will precede His second advent -Extinction of the Mahomedan powers of Turkey, Persia, (&c. -Punishment and downfall of mystical Babylon -Restoration and conversion of the Jews -Battle of Armageddon -Restoration of the Jews (continued) -Final restoration of the Jews -Invasion of the Holy Land by Gog and Magog -Coming of Elijah, and preparation for the "second appearing" of the Lord Second advent of the Redeemer, and the first resurrection -Preservation of the righteous, conflagration of the earth, and destruction of the wicked -The "new heavens and new earth"—General view of the millennium -Liberation of Satan, and final apostasy of the nations, Gog and Magog -The second resurrection -Final judgment and future condition of the righteous and the wicked.

"The author's object is to exhibit a regular series of prophecy, which is either wholly or partially unfulfilled; and he wishes it to be distinctly understood, that he has endeavored to place these predictions in the ORDER in which they will be accomplished. Those authors who have made the attempt, have never, in his opinion, properly succeeded. He has, however, availed himself of the assistance of various writers of the present and preceding centuries; and hopes that this treatise may be generally acceptable to Christians of all denominations. "

17, Clarendon-Square Somers-Town, London, May, 1st. 1837.

To the Editor of the "Christian Witness.

Sir Your note to Messrs Palmer and Son, expresses your disinclination "to judge" of my intended publication of "Dissertations on unaccomplished Prophecy, " "seeing that the order appears to you most erroneous. "

Conceiving it necessary briefly to defend this arrangement, I request the favor of your insertion of the following remarks, together with any objections which you may still entertain.

After the "introductory chapter," is one which contains a "Summary" (and strictly scriptural view) "of judgments predicted against the enemies of the Church of Christ, and which will precede His second advent." The quotations from scripture appear to be plain, obvious, and unquestionable as to this point; and while no degree of similarity to these descriptions has occurred in the history of the Church, they involve the necessity of no little portion of time for their accomplishment. During the continuance of these troubles, various important events take place, prior to the second advent as here arranged; and indeed no other order appears to me satisfactorily to comport with scripture.

The first of these events, contained in the third chapter, is the "Extinction of the Mahomedan powers of Turkey, Persia," &c, but wholly independent of revelation, the probability that this will take place not many years hence, is generally acknowledged.

The fourth chapter represents the "Punishment and downfall of mystic Babylon," that is, the downfall of the papal see and Temporalities, or the literal destruction of Rome, though not as yet embracing the ecclesiastical power and influence around, nor the spiritual functions of the "man of sin," which can only be extinguished at the decisive conflict of the "Battle of Armageddon." But during this interval, the "Restoration and conversion of the Jews" (chap. 5), shall have commenced; for I conceive that the latter event will occupy more than a short space of time, and which can only be completed subsequent to the extirpation of the rebels" who shall have been "purged out" from among them.

After the annihilation of Romanism at Armageddon (chap. 6), a new and increased facility will be afforded for the restoration of the Jews (chap. 7). And then follow events descriptive of their "Final Restoration" (chap. 8).

During their peaceable possession of Palestine, they being yet but partially converted (chap 9), will be invaded by Gog, for the reasons contained in the prophecy relative to that event. I trust to have satisfactorily proved Gog to be the Russian sovereignty, or the prince of the land of Magog, who will collect his forces from the various countries under his dominion, or to be hereafter reduced by his ambitions policy. For this and other satisfactory, and obvious reasons, I altogether differ from those who identify this invasion, with that of the battle of Armageddon. I differ also from those who conceive that the second advent may take place immediately, or at a short period from the present time, as wholly inconsistent with the interval of time necessary for the fulfillment of these events.

That the Jews should be restored and yet erect no place for the worship of God, appears to me quite inconceivable. I think therefore, that this may be one of their first and most ardent efforts after their return. It would otherwise be contrary to every precedent with which we are acquainted, in the conduct of a new colony hitherto, whether influenced by real or ostensible motives of religion. Their temple worship therefore, with also its rites and ceremonies, may be permitted by divine providence, for a certain period for the wisest reasons; and may perhaps be more conducive than any other event to introduce and re-establish the pure or primitive profession of Christianity. This latter I conclude (chap. 10), will be fully effected, only by the "coming of Elijah," whose mission will prepare the bridal Church for the solemn but anxiously expected advent of her LORD, and thenceforward accomplish the utter extinction of all rites and ceremonies, which will be supplanted by the true and spiritual worship of God.

The eleventh chapter will I trust, incontrovertibly prove the pre-millennial advent of CHRIST; previous to which I purpose to introduce a chapter on the "Separate state of Spirits." The former necessarily embraces synchronical events, whose order appears to be, First. -The "Resurrection of the saints," or the "First Resurrection," treated of in a distinct chapter; Second. -the "Preservation," or security "of the righteous who shall be alive and remain," previous to and contemporaneous with, Third. -The "Destruction of the wicked" (chap. 12), these must be cut off, "root and branch," the last exertion of divine wrath on incorrigible sinners during the present dispensation; even those who shall have continued to resist, not merely the publication and preaching of the gospel, together with other efforts of missionary zeal, but the outpouring of extraordinary spiritual influences as predicted to take place at this period on both Jews and Gentiles.

The utter destruction of the "ungodly, " will be effected by the "Conflagration of the earth"; but which appears to produce a renovation of its surface, resulting from the simple exertion of Almighty power, and whose "heavens" or atmosphere will also undergo a change, both, in all respects adapted to the declared paradisiacal condition and longevity of its inhabitants. Chap. 14, or, "General view of the Millennium," will be descriptive of the "reign" of CHRIST "on earth" with His glorified saints, comprising the comprehensive view revealed by the prophets. At the end of which (chap. 15), Satan shall be liberated, and will instigate the final apostasy of the nations, perhaps inhabiting those portions of the earth formerly the habitation of those who effected the previous invasion. After this (chap. 16), follows the "Resurrection of the wicked," or "Second Resurrection," and (chap. 17), their "Final condition," together with that of the righteous, will be briefly considered.

Such is the order which I deduce from a close and laborious investigation of the prophecies; divested alike of all prejudices derivable from the opinions of preceding writers, many of whose works I have put into useful requisition, as uninfluenced by either the conversation or society of mystics or fanatics of any description.

I am, Sir, Yours obediently, W. S. Chauncy

There are two general remarks I would make, before entering on the order of events as here detailed. First -that in order to give present practical value to prophecy, it is most desirable that there should be that exercise of sobriety of mind as befits our present stage of ignorance in the matter. I fully believe the Church not sufficiently taught in these details for any individual or any number of individuals to be able to set them forth in an orderly manner There are many grand and important features which are sufficiently plain in the outline, and these are of the utmost practical value, of such value, that I believe it utterly impossible to judge righteous judgment without the recognition of them. The way in which the Church, the world, the Jews, the earth, and Satan himself are severally affected by Christ leaving the right hand of the majesty on high, is that which deeply affects the proper position and service of saints now. And this leads me secondly, -to notice the deep necessity of clearly recognizing the standing of the saints in grace, and therefore in assured security as in Christ, that we may the rather contemplate the things coming to pass as spectators than as actors. It is quite well that the coming of the Lord to judgment, should be preached to the world, but to those who have already met the judgment in the cross, it is to be held forth as the blessed and glorious hope (John 14:1-3; Titus 2:13} in which they are rejoicing. even the realization of that hope which brings them to be ever with the Lord, conformed unto His image, changed as to their vile bodies and fashioned like unto His glorious body (Phil. 3:21}; a blessing in which neither the restored Jews nor the saved nations will be -a prerogative blessing of association with Jesus in all His glory -reigning with Him because they have suffered with Him during the period of His Jewish and worldly rejection.

And now as to the order (ch. 2, 3). It appears to me to be quite wrong ground to put the Church on, looking for judgments against her enemies to precede the second advent. The very power of the truth of the second advent, is to awaken the Church to a sense of her lost position in the world. But if she is put upon looking for the destruction of her enemies, instead of the Lord's coming, will it not infallibly tend to settle her into self-complacency, and to say -"I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing?" What if the very subject of judgment be the professing Church itself, "the vine of the earth to be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God." How fearfully would it be, the blind leading the blind, to tell her to look for the destruction of her enemies -for surely if there be one characteristic more prominent than another of the Church of the present day, it is contentedness with itself and its own efforts, instead of sorrow, because Jesus is away. I cannot but feel that there is defectiveness in Mr. C's scheme in a very important point. When apostasy has set in, prophecy has come in as God's witness against it, and sure testimony of corning judgment on it; but at the same time, awakening the faithful to a sure sense of preservation, and sustaining their souls by hope. It is thus that prophecy becomes a light in a dark place, and I know nothing more injurious, than not using prophecy as a light upon the present state of the Church. Mr. C. hopes his "treatise may be generally acceptable to Christians of all denominations." Now what is the fact; the study was revived in our days by the clergy of the establishment, and went on smoothly for some while -but the moment it came to be applied practically to the state of the Church, and the discovery of the departure of their system from the truth of God, they ceased in great measure from preaching the second advent. So far as accredited dissenting education goes, it is well nigh a prohibited study. And the simple testimony to the premillennial advent of Christ, does more to rouse their indignation than any other doctrine; it interferes with every plan of worldliness. If it be therefore "acceptable to all denominations," it must be, from lack of faithful testimony to their present state, and their sin of being many denominations. The tendency of looking to these predicted judgments, must be to turn the mind to canvass passing events in the world unduly, instead of having the conversation in heaven, from whence the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is to be looked for (Phil. 3:20, 21}, and would almost make political partizanship and worldliness a duty. Much of this arises from Mr. C. apparently not seeing the present portion of the Church, as well as the hope of its glory, to be characteristically heavenly (Eph. 1:3; 2:6) and that the minding earthly things puts us in the place of enemies of the cross of Christ.

III-Extinction of the Mahomedan powers of Turkey.

I would only note the unsafe criterion assumed by Mr. C. when he says -"but wholly independent of revelation, the probability that this will take place not many years hence, is generally acknowledged." If we have the word of the Lord, we have nothing to do with human probabilities -that word as far surpasses all human calculations as His grace surpasses our thoughts. And it has been most injurious to judicious interpretation, as well as to the authority of God's word to endeavor to force its application into passing events, which by no means exhaust its fullness, instead of acknowledging that it as yet awaits its fulfillment, under the assured conviction that the counsel of the Lord it shall stand, though heaven and earth pass away, His word shall not. I cannot but think that this principle of probabilities has taken Mr. C's. mind off its subjection to scripture. See ch. 9 in letter. "It would be contrary to every precedent," &c.

V, VII -X. -If Mr. C. Be defective in statement as to the Church's expectation, it appears that he is no less so in many respects as to the Jews; and necessarily so, if in the first; for there is all the difference between the portion of the saints being caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and the Redeemer coming to Zion and to turn away ungodliness from Jacob; a distinction not hinted at in the order. It was seeing the coming of Elijah, placed subsequent to the conversion of the Jews, which at once struck me as to the wrongness of the order. And, first, as to the expression -"Restoration and conversion of the Jews." Many are disposed to allow the conversion of the Jews who deny their restoration; but the important point is -that they are converted as Jews, and are Jews after their conversion (Zech. 8:23); and this, therefore, is a different dispensation from the present.* Now while fully allowing the scriptural evidence for a partial, gradual, and general restoration of Israel: there is one fact clearly announced in scripture, and that is their partial return, rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the temple, in unbelief; and the judgment consequent on this, which seemed to have escaped Mr. C's notice. A future siege of Jerusalem, with its concomitant circumstances, as detailed in Isa. 29, Zech. 14, Psa. 79, will lead us to see that Jerusalem's circumstances (Matt. 24) are yet future. Another thing surely is as to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they look on Him whom they pierced and mourn (Zech. 12); and Paul sets forth himself as the special pattern of Israel's conversion, in knowing the Lord, first, in glory, and then discovering Him to be Jesus.

116. In the present dispensation, the principle is -there is "no difference," in the coming one, there is Jew and Gentile again; the Jew in all his promised earthly blessing, and the nations blessed through them (see Acts 15:14-16; Psa. 67; Mic. 5:7, 8).

VI. -As to the battle of Armageddon, it appears that Mr. C. confounds the gathering unto it with the battle itself, in which the Lord is personally engaged. It is fully allowed with Mr. C. that the invasion of Gog and Magog is not identical with Armageddon; but the important and interesting question is, allowing a long series of events in God's dealings with Israel, whether the saints are not during their progress, for the most part, with the Lord Himself and actors with Him in them. And it does not appear that Mr. C. distinguishes between the blessing of the heavenly and of the earthly Jerusalem -between all the glory of Christ being manifested in His body the Church, and the earthly Jerusalem receiving its blessing through it, as well as the nations of the earth walking in the light of it.

These remarks might be extended, but with so little matter before us on which to express a judgment, it would not be candid to go farther at present. Nor would any remark, at all, have been made, had not the author invited it. It may be, that, in the body of the work, there are things to qualify these statements; but it was the order alone which was presented on which to form a judgment.

The Christian Witness 4:286-294 ((1837).

Caesar and God

There are many parts of our Lord's ministry greatly neglected, because they do not immediately touch the question of individual salvation. And yet these are the parts which often are found happily to settle those questions, which human wisdom, although always trying, is never able to solve. Among these questions, that of the source of power is one very much debated, and not likely to be settled by the interested disputations of man's will. Man knows what power is in the hands of his fellows, and therefore he seeks to put such limits to it as may hinder its abuse with regard to his own interests. So that really power becomes a mere conventional arrangement; men agreeing how much they will give up of their own will for the sake of their own convenience. The idea of there being such an entity as power, is hardly practically allowed. If it be allowed that irresponsible power must exist somewhere to meet man's own convenience, the question will then arise, is this in each individual, or in one only? If men do not allow that power belongeth to God, they are necessarily driven to the alternative that man's will is irresponsible. And this really is becoming the question of the day.

It would be deeply interesting as well as profitable, to trace the scriptural history of power. It is, I think, very simply as well as pointedly detailed to us; and the subject is one of deep practical importance to the steadfastness as well as godliness of the walk of the saints. There are three particulars, which, for the sake of clearness, might be noticed.

First, that the scriptures most distinctly recognize power as alone belonging to God.

Secondly, that God has delegated power directly from Himself to some individuals in the world, to be held responsibly to Him.

Thirdly, that there is power directly from God in the Church, involving also responsibility to Himself.

1. -A few short statements from scripture will be sufficient on the first point. "God hath spoken once; twice also have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God." Now in this statement, power is attributed to God, -irresponsible power, guided in its exercise only according to His will. "He giveth not account of any of his matters" (Job 33:13). "He doeth whatsoever pleaseth him, both in heaven and earth." Power in God necessarily implies supreme will; if there be not a supreme will, there cannot be absolute power, so that the two become necessarily connected together. He "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Here we have another necessary adjunct of supreme irresponsible power, -counsel to direct it aright. "Wisdom and might are his" (Dan. 2:20). And when it comes to actual manifestation, it is Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

2. -Power thus being in God alone, He has been pleased to delegate it; but in doing so, He has held those to whom He delegated it, responsible to take His will in the exercise of it for their guide, and this alone would be their wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Or as we see exhibited in Jesus; perfect wisdom in man by acquiescence in the supreme will of God. -"Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight" (cp. John 7:17, Isa. 1). The possession of power with subjection of will, is the universal order of God, -we see it in the case of angels. -"Bless the Lord ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure." In God's dealings with man, the same principle has been manifested. Let us make man in our image, and our likeness, and let them have dominion. The dominion was ample, but ample as it was, limited by the will of God. His will was to be supreme over the governor he had appointed over the earth. The result we know. Man would have supreme will as well as ample dominion. He would rule in his own name "Ye shall be as Gods," -this was the temptation; and in seeking to be so, he lost the place of happy subjection and ample lordship. An antagonist will to that of God's had come in, and the earth was speedily corrupted by means of it. Oh, that men knew what real bondage and dishonor their boasted freedom of will is, -free from righteousness to be the servants of sin.

Moses had ample power delegated to him of God, so that he was as "a god to Pharaoh." And he was faithful to God in the use of it, excepting in a single instance, -he would exercise the power in his own name and not the name of God, and for this he brought on himself the wrath of God (Num. 20:10-12).

God raised up David, and gave him mighty power, and his whole soul seemed to expand in ascribing his power to the source from whence it came, as may be gathered from many places in the Psalms, but is summed up in one sentence in the Chronicles. -"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." But David failed in owning this responsibility in the matter of numbering the people, and brought the wrath of God on himself and them. In these several instances we find power as a blessing entrusted by God to man; and when used in God's name, it is always a blessing. But man has not so used it, but for his own selfish ends; and thus power in the hands of men, has become an object of distrust and jealousy. Men have tried to limit it by restrictions of their own; but power in blessing will never be known until it is limited in its exercise, not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Men feel the necessity of power somewhere; and it is God's purpose yet to introduce His own power in full unhindered blessing, even in this earth, which has been the scene of the exercise of power in so many wrongful ways. David failed in using God's power unto God's glory and man's blessing, but David's testimony in his last words is not to fail. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." David knew it would not be so with his house, God would take away his power from it, and transfer it elsewhere, yet still the covenanted purpose of God would stand sure; and power limited in him that exercised it by the fear of the Lord, and acknowledged by those over whom it was exercised as of God, should be known in this earth.

To one exercised only about individual salvation, this question of power would not at all appear to be interesting; but to one desirous of being intelligent in all the thoughts of God, it will not only appear a question of deep interest, but of all importance. For various as have been the abuses of power in the world, its final apostasy is that which marks that great future corruption, the greatest that ever has been witnessed under heaven. It is difficult indeed to read the Revelation without having this solemnly pressed on the mind. However we may interpret the book, such passages as these -receive power as kings one hour with the beast -these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" -or again, "and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army" -clearly mark the collision of power in man, with the immediate power of God himself. Are our minds really prepared for such an awful issue as this? Now if to this be added the warnings of the Spirit by the Apostles to the saints, and the direct prophetic testimony through them unto the apostasy of power, surely it will become us to give this subject more heed, lest in any wise we be led away by the spirit of lawlessness, now so remarkably working. The Spirit saw clearly the advantage which man's will would take of God's long-suffering. Contempt cast upon the riches of God's goodness, would only lead to a more palpable manifestation of will in man. Even in the very Church this would be the great danger. "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates." Yea, the distinguishing blessings of the Church which were common to all, the least as well as the greatest, might be abused, so as to leave an opening for man's will to come in, and to seek to level distinctions which God had sanctioned (1 Tim. 6:1-5). But when we read such plain words as "even denying the Lord that bought them"—"but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities (2 Peter 2:1-10)" "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities (Jude 8)" -surely we must be prepared to find that the abuse of God's grace ends in the unrestrainedness of man's will. And this worst form of corruption arises from the bosom of the Church. It is for this reason that I believe the bringing the conscience of the Church into exercise, as to the rights of Caesar and the rights of God, would be very profitable at the present time.

We have now to consider the source of the present power in the world, for its order and government. Such power was acknowledged by Jesus to be in the hands of Caesar, when Jesus was on earth, and it was acknowledged to be of God. How far Caesar might have acknowledged it of God is not the question; but the place that Jesus held, led him to the acknowledgment of God in all his ordinances.

The question of the Pharisees was framed with a subtlety which the adversary well knows to use, when he would vitiate any holy principle of God's truth. And it is because we overlook Christ as the wisdom of God moving through the varied circumstances of man, and meeting the many questions as they met him in his way, that we witness many a saint of God unwillingly surrendering some weighty principle. Satan knows that the wisdom of man cannot guide safely through this dilemma; it is the spiritual mind and obedient heart which alone can do this. -"Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth; neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?" But here, as on other occasions, the wise were taken in their own craftiness. The answer of the wisdom of God always goes beyond the expectation of the inquirers. He brings out the question as it really is before him. There is not a thought in our hearts but God knows it altogether; and the answer to it will be found according to the comprehensiveness of his own wisdom, and not according to the narrowness of ours. This is our wisdom ever to bring in God, whereas the wisdom of the world is to exclude God. In their minds the question was between Caesar's power and their own will. They would use Jesus against Caesar, or Caesar against Jesus, if they could only have their own wills. But subjection of will was that which Jesus came to teach, and which He so fully exhibited. There were Caesar's rights and God's rights, and both were to be respected without being confounded. Submission, implicit submission, to all the power of Caesar, limited by implicit submission to the power of God; and they were responsible for defining the limit. And here again we see the wisdom of God, in throwing the inquirers on their own responsibility. Power, wherever it is, should lead to immediate recognition of God, both in the one who exercises it and the one who submits to it; and the failure of this recognition in the one, does not relieve the other from his responsibility. The tribute money showed that Caesar had a godly claim to their subjection, and the presence of Jesus himself was at that time God's special test of submission to himself. "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him. " But they were hypocrites, -they owned God neither in Cesar nor in Jesus. And however hardened their hearts might have been, their consciences were stricken by his answer. "When they heard, they marveled, and left him and went their way. "

But not only in his doctrine, but likewise in his conduct, we find Jesus recognizing the power of Caesar as of God. When He stood before Pilate, He said to him, "thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above." Pilate knew not the source of his power: he had said, "knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee. " But Jesus could not own power in man, except from God; and Israel too should have known power only from God, therefore their sin was greater than even that of Pilate. It was their will which was at work to destroy Jesus. Pilate who had the power, was willing to let Him go; but their voices prevailed, and 'he delivered Jesus to their will." Pilate knew not the fear of the Lord as the limit to his power, but his power was guided by popular opinion, -"the voices of them, and of the chief priests prevailed"; and the result was, the crucifying the Lord of glory.

But in no way can we more clearly see the power of God in the world, or the rights of Caesar, and the limit set by God to the power so entrusted there, than by going back to its original grant. The greatest sin that Israel (up to that moment of its history) had committed, was to ask for a king as the nations had, when the Lord was their King. He was their immediate King, Lawgiver, and Judge, and they rejected him, to have one more according to their heart (1 Sam. 7). The Lord was pleased to show them what choosing a king for themselves would lead to: nevertheless grace came in, and the Lord raised up one after his own heart, in the person of David; but the fear of the Lord in the kings of Judah and Israel soon gave place to expediency; and God who had given them a king in his anger, took him away in his wrath (Hos. 13:11). Israel was left without a king, and God now publicly on Israel's degradation, delegated most ample power to Nebuchadnezzar.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chapters of Daniel, may be considered as the moral history of the power thus delegated -that is God's judgment as to the character of the exercise of the power, and its end in judgment. It is in fact man's thoughts and God's thoughts respecting power. In the dream which Nebuchadnezzar had, his thoughts were what should come to pass hereafter (Dan. 2:29), and this he is shown in the vision; the destruction of all the power and glory which he saw, -to be succeeded by a power and glory which should never be destroyed. But the point to notice in the second chapter, is the distinct announcement by God, through Daniel, of the grant of power to Nebuchadnezzar; to be continued, whatever their fortunes might be through four successive monarchies, and not to be withdrawn by God or superseded, except by a kingdom which God would set up never to be destroyed: set up on the ruin and downfall of all other power,—"it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." In all the vicissitudes of the world, from Nebuchadnezzar to the present hour, this grant of power still continues, and has never been canceled. Jesus acknowledged it in Caesar, and in Caesar's officer. And it is a direction given to the Church, so long as it is militant here -"to submit to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." That is the important word -there is no power but of God: the power may think otherwise and forget his responsibility, but that does not relieve the saint from his responsibility of owning God in the very power which may disown God altogether. It becomes therefore a matter of conscience, for God is in question,—"Ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake." There may be obedience through fear of the consequences of disobedience from the power himself, but the subjection of the saints is on a far higher principle, it is unto God in the power. The moment God appears, he has to do with the conscience: this prerogative he has reserved to himself, and this as we shall see will set the only limit to unhesitating obedience to the power.

The grant to Nebuchadnezzar was large indeed. -"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." This grant laid Nebuchadnezzar under the responsibility of acknowledging God in the exercise of his power, -this was the lesson he had to learn, and which he eventually was taught under much humbling discipline. And it laid likewise the responsibility on all, to acknowledge the power of God in Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel knew the great secret, that power belongeth unto God. "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." He now knew the power of God in Nebuchadnezzar, and was therefore placed where the maintenance of a good conscience, would be in rendering to Nebuchadnezzar the things of Nebuchadnezzar, and to God the things of God; in exercising himself to keep a conscience void of offense both toward God and toward men.

In the 3rd chapter of Daniel, we find Nebuchadnezzar forgetting his responsibility to God; and as necessarily must be the case, assuming irresponsible power and supreme will to himself. Here then we have the general statement as to the working of God's power in man's hands. Nebuchadnezzar in forgetfulness of the history of the image he had seen in the vision, as well as his responsibility to God, sets up an image of gold in the plain of Dura, and commanded all people, nations, and languages, which God had given into his hand, to worship this golden image. At the instance of Daniel, the king had set Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon. They were men set under authority having others under them, being themselves under Nebuchadnezzar; but this did not in any way affect their direct responsibility to God. Nebuchadnezzar must have the conscience surrendered, or they are no fit servants for him. He looks on himself as the supreme source of power, and holds his own will as supreme. This has been the way of power in the world, -those who act under it find that it acts as that from which there is no appeal; it allows not of the maintenance of individual responsibility to God. To act on such responsibility which God implicitly claims, incapacitates at once from serving under it: -"Ye cannot, says the blessed Master, serve God and Mammon"; and so Shadrach, and Meshach, and Abed-nego found, when the point of trial came. The power virtually claimed by the world, is that which admits of no appeal. Nebuchadnezzar was only in this acting over again what had taken place in Eden, -"e shall be as Gods." He would be independent himself, and have all in dependence on him; in this respect, he is the type of the last of his generation, who embodies in himself all the features of direct hostility to God. The king shall do according to his will, and shall exalt himself above every God, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods (Dan. 11:36): the direct contrast of God's king -the one who is just, ruling in the fear of the Lord. The Chaldeans came and said, "There are certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: these men have not regarded thee, they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." These Jews knew Jehovah, as the one only God, -the one only to be worshiped. They knew also that Jehovah had given large dominion to the king.

To have obeyed the king in this his command, would have been to have disobeyed Jehovah, -to have owned his gods, would have been to have disowned Jehovah as their God. What then must be done? they leave their matter in the hand of Jehovah, and suffer from the hands of the king. Their alternative was to obey or suffer. They assert no rights, but the undoubted right to obey God, be the consequences what they may. If rendering to God the things which were God's involved disobedience to Nebuchadnezzar and suffering to themselves, it must be so. -"This is grace, if a man for conscience towards God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." This is ever well-pleasing to God, the acknowledging Him in all our ways. They were not only delivered, but publicly justified by the king himself. -"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any gods except their own God." It is quite the same principle now: those who confess Jesus before men, will suffer for it now, but he will confess them publicly when he comes in glory. There may appear to be no present deliverance, even as there was none for Jesus in the eyes of men; but resurrection was the declaration of God's well-pleasedness in him, and his coming in glory will be his public vindication in the eyes of the world. There is always a present unseen blessing to faithfulness now, of which the soul is conscious, even though the deliverance be not yet come. "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." But the promise to faithful confession of the name of Jesus, even where there is little strength, is, "Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." The great point of instruction to be gathered from this chapter, is that Shadrach and his companions held themselves responsible for acting on the knowledge they had, that Jehovah himself was the alone object of worship. He had not left it to Nebuchadnezzar to determine this, -this was His prerogative which He never delegates. In all the ample power He had given to Nebuchadnezzar, He had not given him to say who was the God to be worshiped, neither had He allowed him to prescribe the manner in which that worship was to be conducted. God has never allowed man to have a will at all in the matter of worship, He keeps the ordering of it all in His own hands. The very fact of their being "servants of the most high God," at once led them to see that the king had passed the limit which God had set to his power, and that he was really intruding into the place of God himself, -it was seeming disobedience to the king, but it was really obedience to God, and consequently suffering for righteousness' sake. The tendency of man to turn the power received from God, against God himself, is perhaps more plainly seen in the case of Daniel in the sixth chapter. It was a blessed testimony from adversaries -"we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." What a fearful display of man's hatred of God, when obedience to him is to be regarded as the highest crime. The supreme power of the state is to be asserted in making a decree, and the one who owned a power superior to that of the state, to be treated as a traitor. They consulted together "to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition, of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions." This was plain enough, -there was no power above that of Darius and his senate. It is not protest, but action which was needed. "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." It is on this point that the trial of faith will often turn, owning a power superior to all that is in the world. It was this that gave rise to the misrepresentation in the days of the Apostles.

"These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Jesus is held up as the rival to Caesar, instead of being acknowledged as the supreme power of God. Men have turned everything upside down themselves, and then accuse others of doing so, because they simply obey God. What a disordered world it must be, when it will not even allow God in his own rightful power to interfere with it. The point is one of such practical and growing importance, that I have dwelt on it at length, and now dismiss it simply noticing that obedience to God and not disobedience to the king, was the principle of the conduct of these holy men. They knew how to render to Nebuchadnezzar his rights, and to God his.

I only briefly notice the fourth chapter, as showing the necessity of the holder of power from God, being brought to acknowledge God in the power which he exercises. It is not irresponsible power, it is not power by compact with men, or any of the varied forms in which it has been exhibited, "but the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." To this end must the heathen be "rebuked" -be "chastised," and therefore the humbling of Gentile pride by fearful judgments. Men may have many thoughts on the question of power, and many theories for settling it, but this is God's thought so to humble men by judgment, as to make them know that power alone is his attribute. Nebuchadnezzar could not use power aright, till after the humbling discipline of being taught that neither wisdom nor power were in him. It is said of the Gentiles, "their judgment and dignity shall proceed of themselves," their characteristic; is being "high-minded," and they must be humbled in order to be blessed. And I cannot refrain noticing the blessed training of the saints now for exercising the power of God. "The world to come" is put under them. And they administer the power of God in blessing, as those who have themselves learned obedience through suffering. They are now learning to acknowledge God in everything, giving to Caesar all his rights, and to Jesus all his; and "if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. " When a king shall reign in righteousness, then also princes shall rule in judgment.

I would briefly recapitulate,—

1st, that power is directly from God to whomsoever he may please to give it.

2nd, as it is said of the subjection of all things to Jesus, when he saith all things are subjected unto him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did subject all things unto Him; so in a minor sense, but on the same principle, God in giving lordship to Adam or dominion to Nebuchadnezzar, did not give up His own supremacy.

3rd, that the tendency has been, to use delegated as supreme power, and thus as it were to subject God himself to our own thoughts and ways.

4th, that this necessarily leads to a claim of subjection of the conscience to delegated power, which God claims to own him in his supremacy.

5th, that God has never so delegated power as to interfere with individual responsibility to himself. 6th, that obedience and suffering are always before the saint; and in suffering he has to commit himself to him that judgeth righteously.

But however difficult the path of obedience may be, if it were confined to the simple ascertainment of the limit set to the power which God has delegated in the world; it becomes a great deal more difficult and requiring the exercise of a spiritual understanding, when we find another order of power (namely the Holy Ghost sent of God), for the rule, guidance and instruction of the Church, which is altogether distinct from the power of God given to Nebuchadnezzar. When Jesus was on earth, responsibility to God was acknowledged in the reception of Him. God's due was withheld from Him while the One whom He had sent was rejected. Caesar had his rights, but God put in His claim in the person of his Son, and they disowned His Son, and said we have no king but Caesar. The first duty now of every man is to own Jesus. "Christ is God's," and we are not rendering to God His due, while we are in any wise keeping back from confessing Christ. God brings all to this point, whether they will own His Son or not; everything turns on this point. If I own God in Christ, I shall own God in Caesar; but it is very doubtful whether any do really acknowledge God in Caesar, who do not acknowledge Him in Christ. But Jesus is not now personally present here, He has gone away; and the Holy Ghost who is the immediate author of the life of the Church, is come as the one who exercises sovereign power in that Church.

Now God's power in the world in Caesar, and His power in the Church by the Holy Ghost, are two very different things; Caesar's power has come down from the head of gold, even to the iron mingled with the clay. It may have deteriorated in its descent, as the word of God testifies that it would, but still the power in the world in the present day, is that which God originally granted to Nebuchadnezzar. But the power in the Church, is derived immediately from the head of the Church, the first-born from the dead. He ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. Its character is much more defined than the other. Of Nebuchadnezzar, it is said, "whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down (Dan. 5)." Such a character of power is unknown in the Church. The testimony of one who had it as largely as any, is, "our authority which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction (2 Cor. 10)." Now the spiritual understanding is especially exercised in marking the distinctness of these two powers. Human ingenuity has constantly attempted to blend them. The power of Nebuchadnezzar was of God, -the power of Caesar was "from above": their divine right to govern was most clear, -to resist them would have been to resist the ordinance of God. But their power was not spiritual, it did not flow from the ascended Jesus; and this new power being introduced into the Church, did not set aside the other power which was already in the world. Caesar had his prerogatives, but Jesus risen had -is also; and these -He has not delegated to Caesar. This is the important point, the new power introduced; "for the kingdom of God is in power," was of another order: it was not hereditary, not successional, but continued by successive grants to living individuals; "there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit, and diversities of ministries but the same Lord, and diversities of operations but the same God who worketh all in all." Caesar might exercise the power of God without at all being cognizant of its source, or owning his responsibility to God in the use of it. But it is impossible to exercise spiritual power, without being cognizant of its source, and owning responsibility to the Lord who has given it. The earliest attempt of men in the Church was to follow the order of the first power, and to exercise authority in the Church by official succession and prescribed canons; and the same Spirit which saw what the end would be of the power delegated to Caesar, saw also what corrupted power in the Church would end in, even the form without the power of godliness. It was easy and natural to recur to Judaism, because these were the rudiments of the world. All was ordered there by "carnal commandment," and the power exercised in the Church came to be that of which man could see the source, and thence followed a mere outward separation by means of ordinances. The high priest of the Jews might have been a bad man, but he was God's ordinance and therefore to be respected (Acts 23:5). Pilate might be a bad man, but God's power was to be owned in him. But in the Church it is the very character of the power which has the only claim to obedience. If we own any power in the Church which is not of the Holy Ghost, we do not render to God the things which are God's. No one dare present himself as having power from God in the Church, who is incapable of commending himself as spiritual to the conscience of those who are spiritual. This is exceedingly important; there is no exercise of judgment with regard to God's power in the world, "the powers that be are ordained of God," it is a simple matter of fact, and then follows due obedience to them as unto God. But in the Church it is a matter of individual responsibility to judge all the pretensions to it. "If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed {2 John 10}." To own a false teacher, would be to rob God of his rightful due. The Lord Jesus has not let out of His own hands the giving pastors and teachers for edifying his body the Church. The acknowledgment of the direct power of the Holy Ghost in the Church, and of God's power in Caesar, are two of the most important truths of the day.

But the great principle that power belongeth unto God, is as true in the Church as in the world. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind {XXX}. The exercise of any power in the Church implies responsibility to the Lord from whom it comes, and the owning of it is obedience to Him. He that has it is a servant -a steward, to be faithful in its exercise; and on the other hand, it is to be acknowledged as of God by others, -he that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me. The Lord has not given a deposit of power to the Church, to be used at its will. He has not left it the power of making laws for its government, He has made them Himself; and here again we see a wide distinction between the first and the second order of power. And He gives by the Spirit from time to time, as He is pleased, those who are competent to guide the conscience of the Church, by the rules He has given. It would be a fearful denial of God's rights, to own any other source of power in the world than himself. But surely it would be doubly fearful in the Church, to assert power as coming from itself, -this really is denying the Holy Ghost. The whole Church might agree together to make a canon and to bind it on others, but then the principle for an individual to act on, would be to render to God the things of God. There is a tendency in the minds of many, to set the Church above the Church's Lord; but here again comes in that which the Lord never allows to be touched, -direct individual responsibility to himself. Here is the danger both in the world and the Church, lest the delegated power in either interfere with this. It solves a hundred difficulties to say I must obey Christ. If it is asked by what authority do you preach? I must obey Christ, He has given me the power, and woe unto me if I preach not. By what authority are you gathered together as a body of believers? Obedience to Christ. The great principle is not the assertion of right, but the unqualified duty to obey Christ; and if obedience unto him leads into suffering, even from the powers that be, "it is better if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing."

We are sanctified unto obedience {1 Peter 1:2}; and true godliness really consists in acknowledging the power of God wherever it exists. The magistrate may not own it in himself, but the only warrant of obedience to him, is that we do own it in him. It may too be asserted where it exists not; and then to disown the false pretense, is equally obedience to God -is true godliness. The Spirit of God foretold there should be false teachers, -it would be ungodliness to listen to them. It is surprising what deliverance the bringing in of God effects; it stops all abstract reasonings, and immediately brings the conscience into exercise. Now in the world, the ruler would have the surrender of the conscience to him, and in the Church too many a corporate portion of it would have the conscience surrendered to it; but God says, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." "He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." God will not surrender His title to the conscience of every man, -He has never delegated this power to any; and how happy for the saints if their consciences were more individually exercised before God.

We have seen man asserting irresponsible power and supreme will in the world. The history of the Church has shown the same tendency, though in quite a different form; and the modern attempt at self-government by many sections of the Church, will be found when analyzed, to partake of the character of irresponsible power and supreme will. Nothing can be more unlike the power of the Holy Ghost, because the exercise of any of His gifts, immediately leads to acknowledged responsibility to the Lord Himself. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. It makes all the difference as to the godly tone of the soul, whether a saint be exercising a right or an office which other Christians may have given him; or whether he be rendering to God what is His in the use of any power given him by God. And so also it makes a great difference whether the soul is deferring to some office of its own creating; or, recognizing the gift of God in an individual, is led to obey Christ by owning that gift.

There are few principles of more widely extensive application, than that of rendering to God the things which are God's. The world cannot allow in its servants the exercise of a conscience towards God. And where is the Church constitution in our day, which does not virtually claim adherence to itself, as the paramount duty? it does not allow for each being fully persuaded in their own. mind. The moment the sense of individual responsibility to the Lord begins to act, it seems an action against the associated body. There is no room in the associations called Churches, for the exercise of individual responsibility to the Lord. And this is one of their worst features, they tend so to deaden the conscience; and we find persons much more resting on their accredited membership with associated Christians, than on the person of the living Lord. Men will suffer this, because in many instances they themselves are the originators of the very rules by which they are governed, so that direct responsibility to Christ is virtually set aside in both cases.

In the midst of all the abuse of power in man's hand, what a refreshing prospect is before us. Fearful as will be the issue of man's will, both in the world and the Church, when again it may be said "nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do," yet the sure word of prophecy is, "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Al-mighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou host taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned." Yes, the prospect before the Church of its own glory, is immediately connected with the owning of power in its rightful source, and the exercise of the immediate power of God. -"I heard a voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke arose up forever and ever: and the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying, Alleluia; FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." What Jesus announced, was the gospel of the kingdom of God. And nothing more proves the total disorder of man, than that it is not glad tidings to him, that God is about to take power into his own hands. But that is the real blessing, the one that calls forth praise on earth as well as in heaven. "Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world righteously and the people with his truth."

The Christian Witness 7: 218-235 (1840).

On Christian Ministry

{1834}

The high standing of Believers in Christ Jesus, that they are, "through Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in His own blood, made kings and priests unto God (Rev. 5:9, 10)," is that which Satan's crafty imitations and man's wisdom have tended equally to obscure. The end, which is the illustration of God's grace, being kept out of view (Eph. 2:7), man can discover nothing in himself corresponding to such a high calling, and therefore necessarily and naturally relapses into a spirit of bondage, serving God from a low principle and for a low end. The calling must be known before we can walk worthily of it; and as it is in this that God's "thoughts are so far above our thoughts, and His ways above ours," so the Apostle prays for the Ephesians, "that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of their calling" (Eph. 1:18)."

As the calling is to such glory in prospect, so is it now to service; and what is said of the literal Israel, in their yet future glory, may justly be said of Christians now, "ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers of our God (Isa. 59:6)." Men indeed have confined Christian Ministry to one branch of it; a branch most important indeed -that of the ministration of the Word, but by no means the whole of it.

"There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord" (1 Cor. 12:5), and as the Lord, when upon earth, was not ministered unto, but as He that served, so has He left His people, relatively both to the Church and to the World, in the same position, drawing a direct contrast between the World and His disciples in this very respect;

"Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:26-28).

Every different ministry is honorable because done unto the Lord; and there is no member of the body of Christ, who is not, in one way or another, put in the way of serving Him.

If any man serve me (διακονη) let him follow me, and where I am there shall my servant be: if any man serve me, him mill my Father honor (John 12:26).

And this ministry or service might be either teaching, or exhorting, or giving to the poor, or preserving order (Rom. 12:6-8). Great evil and inconvenience has arisen to the Church from not recognizing the variety and extent of Christian Ministry. As Aaron was consecrated unto God, and received the priest's office a service of gift (Num. 18:7), so the blessed standing of the Church puts her in the privileged station of serving him; -"I know thy service" (διακονια) (Rev. 2:19). To be a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, in any department of His house is a sufficient honor. To be made of the household of God, is not a privilege sufficiently prized; and hence, instead of men's esteeming it a wonder that the Lord will be served by them at all, there has been an undue coveting of serving in the word, as if that was exclusively ministry. Men have not been content to remain in the calling wherein they were called, to exhibit the manifold grace of God in it, and the beautiful arrangement of His house, in which the highest and the lowest had but one common object -the glory of their common Master. The principle laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ, is, "he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much (Luke 16:16)."

As a Master, He gives to His servants one, five, or ten talents, according to their several ability; and the reckoning is, "well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, &c. (Matt. 25)."

It is the Lord's talent, that is enough; it cometh to any only in the way of grace: he that has ten talents, is, after all but a receiver; and he that has but one, is in a position to prove his devotedness to Him as well as he that has ten. The Lord did not pray for His disciples that they might be. taken out of the world, but that in it -in the midst of all the evil of it, they might glorify Him, as He, while in the same position, had glorified His Father (John 17). How explicit is the statement of the Apostle, and what beautiful harmony does it present to us:

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10, 11)."

Thus it was with Jesus in the world, in temporal Necessities as well as spiritual; wherever He served, it was that God might be glorified. How does this principle commend service to us! How important in this view are all our steps, the least as well as the greatest in this life! Specially in the last act of our blessed Lord's service to His disciples are we taught, that nothing is really degrading which is done for Him.

"I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done unto you; verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither is he that is sent greater than, he that sent him; if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John 13)."

And thus we find that the service which would commend widows to the bounty of the Church, were these, "if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work (1 Tim. 5:10)."

All are not qualified for teachers or Church office; but all are qualified to minister to the Lord, ministering one to another. There may be those whose ministry will be in being given to hospitality (entertaining strangers), and distributing to the necessities of the saints: there may be others whose ministry will be in being obedient to them that are their masters according to the flesh, "with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men (Eph. 6:5-8)."

While the extent and variety of Christian Ministry have been overlooked, the dangers of that particular department, which is more ostensibly the Christian Ministry, have not been duly estimated. It is a solemn word, "my brethren, be not many teachers, (διδασκαιοι) knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, for in many things we offend all: if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body (James 3:1, 2)."

The Spirit in the Apostle foresaw that the ministry of the word would be of reputation in the world, while the unobtrusive service of those who might not be qualified for it, would be proportionally disregarded; nor is it difficult to assign the reason for this. The Spirit which showed itself in the Corinthian Church, of walking after man, in the forgetfulness that Paul and Apollos were only ministers of God, by whom they had believed, even as the Lord gave to each (1 Cor. 3), in the progress of spiritual declension, issued in the division of the Christian Church into clergy and laity; the ministry of the gospel began to be looked upon as a learned profession, and was, in process of time, exalted into a PRIESTHOOD; as such, it had a strong hold on the natural heart of man, meeting both his natural admiration of that which is learned, and his natural dependence on something sensible between him and God. And let it not startle us, that so generally a received division of the Church into clergy and laity should he questioned. We have a memorable instance of the rapidity with which man's heart departs from God's truth, in the case of Israel of old; with the voice of God sounding in their ears, and their own answer scarcely escaped from their mouths, we find them in the absence of Moses, making a calf; and it is most instructive to notice, that the end of it was a sensible object between God and themselves. The moment men began to sleep, (and how early was that in the records of the Church, "awake thou that sleepest" (Eph. 5:14), the enemy sowed the tares. The seed of every corruption is to be found in the Apostles times, and hence the exceeding value of the written word. Let a thing rest on the highest antiquity, if it be not based on that word, no 'antiquity ought to make it venerable.

A distinct order of priesthood seems, from its very general prevalence to be that which the very necessity of man craves. That such an order was established by God himself, whose prerogative it is to appoint the channel by which he will be approached (Heb. 5:4, 5) there needs no proof. They were ministers of the letter (2 Cor. 3:6); their qualification was, that they were of a particular tribe and of a particular family. No stranger, no one, save of the family of Aaron, might approach the Altar of the Lord or His sanctuary (Num. 18:7). It was in mercy to the people that it was so ordered (Num. 17:12, 13); they could not, they dare not, approach unto God, lest they should be consumed by His holiness; therefore the Lord said unto Aaron, "thou and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary." The order of the priesthood tended to turn the people from themselves to the priest, as capable of bearing their iniquity (Ex. 28). But while it gave them comfort in this way, it served to keep them at a distance from God; there was nearness of approach for the priest and Levite, but none for the people; this was the necessary effect of an ordered priesthood on the earth, to keep the people at a distance from God, to keep them without (Luke 1:10). The removal of this distance, is that which was effected by the change in the order of priesthood, which was not the change of one earthly order for another, but a change of earthly for a heavenly priesthood. The great point which the Apostle presses on the Hebrews, was, "that now as holy brethren, (themselves now consecrated by the Holy Spirit, to God, as Aaron by the anointing oil) partakers of the heavenly calling, they should turn away their thoughts from the earthly priesthood, to consider the Apostle and High Priest of their profession, Jesus Christ" ( Heb. 3:1); and then by leading on their minds to His greatness and sympathy, to bring them boldly unto a throne of grace, without the intervention of any other (Heb. 4:14-16). After showing the inferiority of the Aaronic priesthood in many particulars, the Apostle points to Jesus, as the very High Priest who met our wants; not needing to offer up daily sacrifices, first for his own self and then for the people, for this he did once, when be offered up himself; and then sums up the matter in this, "we have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens (Heb. 8:1);" and in v. 4, he turns our thoughts entirely away from an earthly to a heavenly priesthood. "If he were on earth he would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law;"

and further on, he shows the standing of Believers, through the new order of priesthood, to be no longer without but within the vail, in the holiest of all.—"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-22)."

Here is the virtue and blessing of the change from an earthly to a heavenly priesthood in nearness to God, yea even advanced beyond it. Aaron could only at a set time, and with many preliminaries, enter into the holiest through the vail; that is now rent, the way laid open, and we at all times can come boldly. We need no such means as an earthly priesthood of approach to God. "The hour is come when the true worshipers worship the Father"; and the child needeth no Usher into his Father's presence, save Him by whom the Father is made known; "for through him we both (Jews were in the distance of servants before) have access unto God by one Spirit unto the Father (Eph. 2:18)." The highest in office in the Church of Christ {God}, has not more liberty in this respect, than the merest babe; "I write unto you little children (παδια) because ye have known the Father (1 John 2:13)." The necessary effect of the division contended against, is to obscure this blessed liberty, and to give a preeminence in standing, as to nearness to God, to the clergy, and thereby setting at a distance the laity. It is the effort of God in the gospel to bring man into confidence with Himself: the end of redemption as to man is, that he is brought back to God. In the Law, the priest was looked on as the reconciler of God to man (Num. 16:46); in the Gospel, God is the reconciler of man to Himself, and its ministry the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5). Whatever, therefore, tends to put anything between man and God, does thereby obscure the grace of the gospel. Nothing is too abject for the mind of man to submit to, if it be spared the irksomeness of continual dependence on God, by looking to a visible order, to think and act for it (2 Cor. 11:19, 20). It is this, as well as the desire of man to lord it over God's heritage (1 Peter 5:2, 3), which has tended to exalt the Christian Ministry into an order: it is this which our Lord would counteract when He says, "Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master and all ye are brethren (Matt. 23:7, 8)." So again the Apostle, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27, 28)." The Church itself is God's clergy (κληροι) (1 Peter 5:3), answering to the Levites, whom God had taken to himself from among the children of Israel; to minister unto him instead of the first-born (Num. 8:16, 17; Deut. 10:8, 9). It is not said of the ministry or offices of the Church, but of the body, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9)." The Church bears the same relation to the world, that the Levites did to the Jewish nation; and if we seek for anything analogous to the Levitical priesthood, it is not to be found in the Ministry but in the Church. The body, now exercises on earth the function which the head exercises in heaven. It is the body which has the power of intercession (1 Tim. 2) and not the minister of it, more than other individuals; it is the body that stands in the gap, is the light -is the salt of the earth: it is the body {assembly} which is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15) which answers to the priest's lips, that should keep knowledge: it is the body which offers up the sacrifice of praise to God continually, through Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:15, 16): it is the body {assembly} which has the power of binding and absolving (Matt. 18:17, 18; {1 Cor. 5}). Let us therefore be very jealous of delegating that to select individuals, which is the portion {practice} of the Church at large, lest in anyway we infringe on the glorious liberty of the children of God.

"The congregation are holy; every one of them, and the Lord is among them" (Num. 16:3), may now be said without any arrogance; yea it is only the assertion of the glory of those who are made kings and priests unto God. The presence of God's Spirit constitutes the Church; and His gift to any individual, alone qualifies him for office in the Church. To own Spiritual authority where the Spirit is not, is, in fact, as much to disown God, as to refuse submission to any power that he has set up. It was to the praise of the Church of Ephesus, that she has tried them that said they were Apostles and were not, and had found them liars (Rev. 2:2); and yet order and office are continually confounded, and arguments and analogies drawn from one to the other, as legitimate and conclusive. Order is a separation of a number of men to certain outward privileges and distinctions, solely derived from a source without {outside of them} them. Office is the application, in a given sphere, of qualifications previously imparted: for the one, the simple fiat of authority is all that is required; for the other, strict investigation as to the requisite qualification. As to order, its power is entirely extrinsical, and demanded to be recognized for its own authority, and that of the persons who bore it. Thus, in God's own appointment of an order, no moral, personal qualification was needful to fill it; it was sufficient that a man was lineally descended from Aaron, and the elder son naturally succeeded to the priesthood, as an heir to the title of a nobleman in such a case to speak against the man, was to dishonor the appointment of God (Acts 22:3-5); but not so in office in the Church; no authority is competent to appoint any to it who is not qualified by the Spirit for filling it; and it were little short of blasphemy to affirm that the Holy Ghost does appoint those who have not the requisites He himself has so minutely laid down; or that He first sets apart to an order and then qualifies for it. If a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work; a bishop than must be blameless, &c. (1 Tim. 3:2). {If any one aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work. The overseer then must be irreproachable... JND. } What then must we gather from this special enumeration of the qualifications, but that where they were not, there the office was not. It is the ministry of the Spirit, God allows not of mockeries; and there is no such thing in the Church as respect for an office, apart from him that fills it. In the world, on the contrary, there is God's order of civil government, and respect is due to it, totally independent of the character of the person; "The powers that be, are ordered of God" (Rom. 13:1).

Formal appointment of elders without such apostolic authority is invalid. Formal appointment disappeared (instructively, along with the ruin of the church as viewed in responsible testimony). The moral qualifications for oversight have not, however, disappeared; and so, these qualification may be recognized without formal installation to a board of elders:

But we beg you brethren, to know those who labor among you, and take the lead among you in [the] Lord, and admonish you, and to regard them exceedingly in love on account of their work (1 Thess. 5:12).

See R. Holden, Ministry, Eldership, and the Lord's Supper and also Ruin of the Church, Eldership, and Ministry of the Word, both available from Present truth Publishers.)

The change in dispensation is from the letter to the Spirit {cp. 2 Cor. 3}; and this is properly called a spiritual dispensation, because that in it the Holy Spirit is sovereign, during the absence of Jesus, to glorify Him; He is the director of its ministers, as well as giver of joy; He is the other Comforter, to perform all the functions of the one who was gone away. The great point is, that He shall not be hindered; but surely an ordered ministry, going back to the letter, does tend to hinder His functions and to obscure His glory. Of such a ministry the world can take cognizance; such it will honor, and impute that to man's abilities and eloquence, which alone belongs to the Spirit. Of Him it is said, "whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him (John 14:17);" and therefore that the Christian Ministry should be of honor in the world, at once proves that its very character is forgotten; and just in proportion as it has become reputable, has it ceased to be powerful: whatever of real power, there may be in it, has been given to man and not to God. Power must be owned because felt; -and, the question "by what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority?" (Matt. 21:23), what is it, except the acknowledgment of power, but refusal to own it without order, even the order of man, that is, the sanction of human appointment? The inconveniences to be apprehended from giving freedom to the Spirit of God to act, are nothing to be compared to the positive evil of shutting him out by a fleshly order; it may be that people love to have it so, but it necessarily blinds to the real state of spiritual destitution.

In the Ministry of the Spirit there are two distinct departments, that which is within the Church, and that without. It is indeed true that the same individual may be, but is not necessarily, qualified for both; but the ministry of the pastor for prophet, or teacher} would not be required in the world, nor that of the Evangelist in the Church. The command is, "Go and preach the gospel to every creature." Here is the Evangelist sent forth into the world. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." Here is the Church "come together in one place. " The first and necessary qualification of the Evangelist is, for himself "to have been reconciled to God, and to have had put in him the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5). "We believe, and therefore do we speak." "Let him that heareth say come." The office {gift} itself would legitimately lead from place to place; it would require one to endure hardship, "to be instant in season and out of season" -continually pressing God's message on unwilling hearers, "whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear." Its end is answered in the ministry of an individual, though it was the Lord's grace to send His disciples out by two and two, and the Apostles practice to follow, in this respect, His example. The Evangelist sent into the world, must necessarily need support, "for the laborer is worthy of his hire"; but this he is not to expect from the world, but from those who are worthy (Matt. 10:11). He is necessarily much cut off from a worldly occupation, in going from city to city, and place to place; and therefore it would be matter of wisdom how far he should be employed in the things of this life. It is the only office {gift} that is necessarily rendered dependent on the bounty of others; and if he can exercise his ministry freely, so much greater his blessing, so much is one stumbling stone removed out of the way. The danger of the office {gift} is, that it has to do with the world; there is much room for carnal excitement; and the office {gift} itself is in honor among men. Hence the reason that the character of the Christian Ministry has much more tended to this office {?} than to that within the Church, which is more unobtrusive, and is not of honor among men, though highly honored in the sight of the Great Head of the Church. To the world, the Evangelist speaks with conscious authority: he delivers a message from God, the rejection of which is the rejection of God. He is God's ambassador; and the consciousness of God in the ordinance {?; service} of preaching, is its only real power. It is the "foolishness of preaching" which demonstrates the power and wisdom of God.

With respect to the Ministry in the Church, it is not as that of the Evangelist, migratory, but stationary. It does not necessarily prevent a man from exercising a worldly calling, because, in fact, it does not depend upon the energy of an individual, but brethren meet together to edify one another, according to the power of the Spirit among them. Here it is that every one should be "swift to hear, slow to speak." Here there is no direct assumption of authority; he who speaks should speak as the oracles of God, throwing himself on the judgment of the Spirit in the Church. "I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say." The ministry will be of a more discriminating character, according to the state of the Church; at one time calling for exhortation with all long-suffering; at another, even sharpness of rebuke with all authority. Here is less room for excitement, and a continual call for self-denial in bearing one another's burdens. It is here, also, that any gift, the least as well as the greatest, may be exercised; the healthy state of the body depending on each member being in its right place, and performing its functions aright. There should be no hindrance to any to speak, "if any speak," provided in the judgment of the Church it be in the Spirit, unto edification, and not in the flesh, many might be the seasonable words of a brother to others, who might by no means be qualified to go forth and preach the gospel. They are willing hearers waiting upon God to teach them; -"Let one speak, and the others judge" (1 Cor. 14:29). The very sphere of the ministry does not render a maintenance a matter of necessity; and there is no reason why the most highly-gifted might not be the least advanced in the world. In a word, the ministry of the Church is in the hands of the Spirit in it, and the departure from the simplicity of Christ in this instance, has led the Church to look for its edification to a hired teacher without it. Church Offices, Pastor, Teacher, Elder, ought not to be recognizable by the world, and give a man any standing in it, they are of the Spirit for the edifying of the body; rare indeed is the grace which qualifies for them. The character in which the Lord delights to present Himself to His people, is that of the Great and Good Shepherd, "the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls." What a high office {gift}, therefore, in the Church is the Pastoral: truly it does command our esteem and honor. But how poor is our conception of its extent if we confine it to mere teaching: what watchfulness, what tenderness, what care, what largeness of heart is necessarily comprised in the qualifications for this office {gift}. It is not those who are most ready to speak, but those who are marking the walk of the sheep, comforting the feeble-minded, repressing the forward, healing variances, bearing with the weak, qualities utterly beyond the world's knowledge, who are most truly filling the office. This indeed would be the place of all who, in the Church, are called to watch over one another (1 Thess. 5:14), but specially of those who took the oversight "lead," JND} of the Church, not by constraint or filthy lucre, but as being examples of the flock. Who is sufficient for this, but he who is living in constant self-denial, and has one only aim, the glory of the Lord. Oh! that men would learn that to be high in office {?} under Christ, is to be nothing in the world: that their labor is not, and cannot be appreciated by it, "is not in vain in the Lord."

Among the evils which have arisen to the Church, from the attempt to unite the two departments of the ministry in one man, may be noticed first of all, the undervaluing of the Pastoral office {gift}. Almost all systems that have been formed by men, have been looked upon as a more or less extensive sphere for preaching the gospel, and hence almost all stated ministry has become properly that of the Evangelist. The Church is not fed; Believers are not built up on their most holy faith, because the heart of a minister is more called forth in its sympathy to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, than to those who are converted. If, indeed, there be a heart burning with love for souls, and God has given him wisdom to win them, let him take the large sphere, that is set before him "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel." But it must not be forgotten that, while the Lord Jesus would have the gospel preached to every creature, that He Himself "loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26).

Answerable to this is the ministry in the Church, and in order to it, all the gifts severally directed, "as the Spirit listed]," are needful. The Lord did not intend His Church to depend upon the gift of any one man, but gave her all the gifts for common profit. "All things are yours, Paul or Apollos or Cephas." The Church is the school where Believers are to be taught "how they ought to walk to please God." The good Shepherd first seeks out that which is lost and then puts it into the fold to be guarded and fed. And while this is neglected, it cannot be expected, that even the work of the Evangelist can be carried on in power, since he is not able to point to the Church as not of the world; and from the neglect of the means, there must be a want of that, which is of great power in commending the truth, the personal holiness of those who preach it (2 Thess. 2:10). Surely, after means have been multiplied but with very little corresponding result, we ought to examine whether we be right in principle. And the question, whether departure from the simplicity of Christ in the work of the ministry is not the cause of the present low state of Christianity, is one which ought to be gravely weighed.

Another evil which has resulted from confining the ministry to a single individual, and universally merging all offices in one, has been the positive hindrance to the Spirit. Whatever gifts he may have given in any congregation, are {for}bidden or restrained, because they cannot be received, except in disorder. This has much tended to division; any gift restrained, is, through the infirmity of the flesh, apt to be valued beyond its worth. Permission for its exercise God has given in the Church, and where there is this liberty, occasion for the puffing up the flesh is taken away; man is taught his own ignorance by speaking before those who are wise. To give room for the exercise of all gifts in the Church, is God's plan for attaining unity, for establishment in truth, and for the edifying of the Church (Eph. 4:12-26). It is because this has been hindered that we find so many running without being sent, and persons, the less qualified, gathering a few around them, and taking to themselves the high name of Pastor. Christians have been thus taught to "glory in men"; and instead of looking to the Spirit within them, to look to a man without, for their edification. May the Lord humble us for our sinning against His order in the pride of our own wisdom. May He give us grace to repent by ceasing from man, and in all simplicity of mind, throwing ourselves on the teaching of His Spirit. It is His presence alone, can give life and power to our prayers, and to our exhortations. It is true that there would be less speaking and shorter prayers. It would be weakness in the judgment of the flesh, but it is in fact that little strength which the Lord honors (Rev. 3:8). It is really being in the truth, and presenting to the outward eye that which we feel we are in the sight of God -poor, miserable, blind and naked. Let us be but upright before God, and we shall find His strength made perfect in our weakness, and have the confidence that we love the truth, which is the only safeguard from delusion.

If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God (John 7:17).

The Christian Witness 1:1-13 (Jan. 1834).

The Earthly Relations of the Heavenly Family

All that the mind of man naturally knows of the Gospel of the grace of God, it knows only to pervert from God's object in order to subserve its own interest. There are those who perceive in the Gospel a conservative principle and it becomes associated in their minds, with the preservation of the present order of things, and so far they will use it and uphold it. Others again perceive in it a destructive element, -one which levels the existing order of things, and they will also use it as an engine to promote the ends they have in view. Now both these elements are assuredly to be found in the truth as it is in Jesus, and it is the spiritual mind which alone knows them, not as conflicting elements, but one as introductory to the other.

The personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, was in many instances an inroad on all that was fair and orderly in the eyes of men. It was cast as a reproach upon Him that He associated with publicans and sinners, thus invading the social order which He found; and when He was in company with those who esteemed themselves wise and virtuous, by the neglect of some one of those conventional rules by which such society was upheld, He cast contempt upon it. "A certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him, and He went and sat down to meat; and when the Pharisee saw it he marveled that He had not washed before dinner; and the Lord said unto him, now do ye Pharisees make clean the out-side of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye Fools did not He that made that which is without, make that which is within also {XXX}?" The ties of natural relationship were so dealt with by our Lord, as to lead the thoughts to those of another kind, founded on that which would secure permanent blessedness by virtue of union with Himself. "Then one said unto Him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? and He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother {XXX}."

The character also in which Christianity was presented to the minds of the heathen, was as that which subverted the present order of things. We can and do see that it so acted on Judaism as a social system, but we do not so readily acknowledge that it so acted as a general principle. When Paul and Silas were dragged before the magistrates at Philippi, the charge against them was, "These men being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive being Romans {XXX}." This is a valuable testimony from impartial witnesses of the uncompromising character of Christianity; it could not amalgamate with Romanism; it must subvert the order established by the masters of the world, that it might establish its own blessed order on the ruins of the other. The same testimony as to the light in which the Gospel as preached by the Apostles, was received by those who heard them, is again afforded at Thessalonica. It was not received merely as a scheme of future salvation, but as an innovation on existing things. "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason halls received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying, that there is another King, one Jesus {XXX}." But then on the other hand there are most explicit directions given to Christians as to their conduct in the several relations of life; entering very minutely into the relative duties of husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants. As subjects to earthly rulers, the directions are no less explicit, "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work; to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men {XXX}." "Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor {XXX};" these and similar directions abounding in the practical application of the Epistles, most clearly show that there was room for proud men to raise questions and strifes of words as to subsisting relations being so entirely subverted by Christianity, that the believer had nothing to do with them.

Surely the possibility of the thought that a Christian was free from the authorities of the world, must have led to the oft repeated precepts with regard to submission. The danger ever would have been to have used our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. The assertion that "in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, bond nor free {XXX}," would necessarily have led to the conclusion in the minds of those who savored the things that were of men and not the things of God, that the Gospel had so broken in upon the natural order of things, as to leave men to self-will, independence, and misrule. Hence we find in the Apostolic writings the most minute directions given for the sustainment of those relationships which only subsist while we are in the flesh, and have no place at all in the glory in heaven. There Christ is "all and in all" and every other relationship is swallowed up in the relationship to Him, and to all saints as one with Him. This is known to faith now, but the exhibition of the manifold grace of God comes in here, in meeting all these natural relationships so as to sustain them by grace, and to make them spheres of service to the Lord.

There is nothing which shows real present deliverance from the world, more than walking in grace in these relationships, while realizing our oneness in Christ. Many have even been deterred from following on into the unity of the Spirit, by seeing Christians so little able to walk in grace, as to make unity in their eyes to be nothing more than the depressing of others in order to exalt self. Now I believe there has been an impatience which has prevented our minds from searching into the real principle on which these relations stand to a Christian. There is a great depth of truth at the bottom of them, and it has been thought a readier way on the one hand to assert Christian union as equality in the flesh; and on the other to sustain the natural order by mere human arrangement or authority.

The whole natural order is disorganized by sin, and God must first separate from it to Himself, and then as He that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. This was the principle of Judaism (Lev. 20:26). This separation from existing things to Himself is the principle of the Church. But Christ is the power of separation as we see Luke 5:11. "They forsook all and followed Him." "And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their Father, and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him;" and then we have the general doctrine, "he that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me {XXX}," "and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me {XXX}."

The ruling principle of man's order was human convenience; and when that was interfered with, the relationship was sacrificed to it. The ruling principle of the new order, is subjection to God, and that brought about by the introduction of a new relationship paramount to all subsisting ones, even union to Christ; so that the sustainment of all natural ones becomes subordinate to this, and this subordination is their true preservation, in sustaining them, we are simply subject to Him. When the Lord was exercising His ministry here, He found how easily man had set aside the most solemn sanction of God, for the preservation of the natural order, thus showing the entire unsoundness of the principle of human convenience, or merely conventional righteousness. "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition, for God commanded saying, honor thy father and thy mother, and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death; but ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or mother. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition {XXX}." So again, we find "the Pharisees came unto Him tempting Him, and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? and He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning, made them (a) male and (a) female, and said for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh {XXX}." Now in both these instances, we find the law (weak through the flesh) utterly inefficient for the preservation of these relationships, beyond the claim of mere convenience and deference to the opinion of men.

Until therefore the principle of self-denial was introduced as flowing from union with Jesus {with Christ} risen, and of deference to His will in every respect, there would be no secure ground for the sustainment of even these relations.

Jesus in resurrection is set up as the Head of the new order of things, in which nothing below the righteousness of God is taken as a rule. As united with Him, we are made the righteousness of God, and therefore become fitly subject unto it. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." -"Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." It is introduction into this order which really delivers out of this present evil world-answering the thing for which Jesus gave Himself for the Church, according to the will of the Father. But having been taken out of the world, they are again sent into it. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so also have I sent them into the world." It is therefore as risen that we are sent into the world, and even the natural relations which we are called upon to sustain, we are not to sustain as natural, but having been freed from all by union with Christ, to show our deliverance in those very things, by subjection in them as unto the Lord. The realizing the end of the flesh in the cross, and the glory to be manifested in the Church, will effectually hinder either assumption on the one hand, or insubjection on the other. And these very relationships become the very occasion of exhibiting the manifold grace of God. We are naturally born into the world. By regeneration we are taken out of it, and then sent into it, so that the world itself becomes an entirely new scene, and our end in it to show the exceeding value and blessedness of God's own order. For if knowing in its full extent its constitution, that it is the place of death, sorrow, crying, and pain, we are still able to triumph over it, and to pass harmlessly through it; surely men seeing our good works, will glorify our Father which is in heaven. In the world, not of the world. How hard indeed practically to exhibit this truth, and to show forth that while risen out of all fleshly distinctions, seeing their end in death, we yet do own them, not as those who are subject to them, but as those whose place is subjection to the Lord in everything.

It is in the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, that we find the relative duties most minutely laid down; and it is in these Epistles in which we find the glory of the Church, as associated with its risen Head, most minutely set before us. How suitable is this, for we should naturally have thought that there was something incongruous between such glory and things so homely. But it is in this that the power and wisdom of God are rendered so manifest. It is His ability alone to bring down the largest principles of His own blessed rule to the most minute circumstances. How marvelous that the same regulating power which is to introduce the ultimate blessing, and bring glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and God's complacency in men, is capable of adaptation to the ordering of a family. The realizing this would be the means of taking away that which is so constantly irritating the minds of Christians, and lead to much more of that which is ornamental in the sight of God, a meek and quiet spirit. It would greatly tend to distinguish between real spirituality, and the mere excitement of the flesh. In looking more particularly into these details, we shall find first, a general principle laid down; secondly, the party in subjection is first and most largely addressed with special suitable promises of reward; thirdly, that the party in authority is addressed, rather in the way of warning.

In Eph. 5 we have first some general rules, "as walk circumspectly" -"understanding what the will of the Lord is"-"be filled with the Spirit;" and all this brought practically out in the general principle, "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." Christian circumspection is contained in understanding the will of the Lord, and acting not under any excitement, but by being filled with the Spirit. The place of submission is the place of blessing, because it is the place of the Church. "Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord," as the Church submits unto Christ (Eph. 5:24). The natural order or rather disorder taught subjection, (for in the beginning it was not so) "unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband (subject to thy husband), and he shall rule over thee." And this order we see pervading, for it runs its course, a painful memento of sin; but in Christ Jesus, the authority is changed from rule to Headship; and subjection instead of being the memorial of sin, leading to fretfulness and impatience, becomes associated in the soul with redemption, and all the intimacy of union subsisting between Christ and the Church. He is Head to the Church, and associates the Church with Himself in rule, at the same time that it acknowledges Him as its Lord, and gives Him his rightful honor. Thy desire shall be subject unto the Lord, and thus to thy husband. As it is written, "Submit yourselves or be subject to your own husbands as unto the Lord." And how blessedly and in strict keeping with this is the exercise of the authority of the husband. Christ is the Savior of the body, unto which He is Head and over which He exercises authority; therefore it is,—"husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies {XXX}." It is thus that both authority and subjection are placed on a new basis, even that of love and mutual interest; and the very nearest of earthly relationships made a school of Christ and an opportunity of serving Him. Thus it is said to husbands, "dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered {XXX}." The very basis of the direction is the knowledge of the love of Christ to the Church, the comeliness and honor which He puts upon it, the common inheritance of life and glory to the Church with Himself, "heirs together of the grace of life, heirs together with Christ."

With respect to the next relation of subjection, that of children to their parents, we have the direction "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right {XXX}." Disobedience to parents is marked as one feature of Gentile corruption (Rom. 1:30), and also of Christian apostasy (2 Tim. 3:2). But how may we draw the line between disobedience to parents, and "whoso loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me," The acting on the latter injunction might appear to involve the sin specified. Here we immediately discover that we could not act on the natural order, which would make the obedience depend on convenience or interest, and so long as it was convenient, obedience would be rendered, but it would cease when it was attended with trouble or expense; this was the way it acted during the time of the Lord's personal ministry. "Ye say it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or mother {XXX}." The will of God being ascertained, is that which alone can guide us through the difficulty.

The obedience claimed from children to their parents is in the Lord, for this is right; here is both the sanction and the limit. It is not right (or righteous) for a child to render obedience to a parent in an act which would be sin against the Lord. In such a case father and mother must be forsaken for the Lord's sake; for the new relationship with Him, is both higher and nearer than any of these which we have as men. And God never requires obedience in the lower relationship, which would be disobedience to Himself; neither has He given authority to any relationship to be set up against His own. If subjection be not subjection to God, it must be either from interest or self-will, and both these are to be denied in order to follow Christ. But wherever obedience to a parent can be rendered by a child without involving disobedience to God, even though it be in that which is vexatious and capricious, there is the place of service for a child. "Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." The one in this world who pleased God, was an obedient child -confidence in His love, wisdom and power, and unhesitating submission flowing from it. "He that sent me is with me, the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him {XXX}." And how fully He maintained this relationship, even in its subordinate character was shown in His early life, as well as exhibiting the needful limit in every earthly relationship, that it must be subjection to the will of God. "His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing, and He said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business. And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them {XXX}." The value of that in the sight of God which was shown in the law, by having a special promise attached to it (Eph. 5:1), was thus also shown in the example which Jesus has left us to follow, obedience to the will of God in everything. It is thus especially that these relationships become occasions of service to the Lord, there will be always perplexities in carrying them out, and cases of conscience arising, till we clearly recognize as the principle of action, "I must be about my (heavenly) {?} Father's business." The word to parents is that of admonition, "Ye parents, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord {XXX};" thus throwing them on the recognition of God's holy discipline with themselves as His children, as their only ability rightly to train their children. If the husband was to learn the exercise of authority from the manner of the exercise of authority by Christ towards the Church, the parents were to learn the exercise of their authority towards their children by the holy discipline of their heavenly Father towards themselves.

But the most difficult of all relations to sustain would be that of a slave to his earthly master, and especially to an ungodly one. It would, according to human judgment, appear to be a condition so irreconcileable with the liberty of God's children, that unless it were placed on an entirely new basis, either the occasion would be afforded for the most painful irritation, or Christianity would be taken hold of for its present advantage by those who supposed gain to be godliness. Hence it is that slaves are most largely addressed, and so addressed as to remove even the irksomeness of slavery, by showing it to be service to the Lord. In 1 Cor. 7:20, 23, we have the general statement. "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called; art thou. called being a servant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be free use it rather, for he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman; likewise also he that is called being free is the Lord's servant. Ye are bought with a price, be ye not the servants of men." Here the slave and the freeman meet on equal grounds, both bought with a price (the evident allusion to redemption from slavery), both equally servants, not of men, but of Christ. And henceforth, the slave unchanged in his condition, to the human eye, would, in the consciousness of his own soul, forget the irksomeness of his natural bondage in doing his service to his master as unto the Lord. It is in being the servants of men, that the degrading sense of inferiority comes in, and such a relation as that of master and slave, must have arisen out of the condition of man as a sinner. In the beginning it was not so. But there is not degradation, but real exaltation in being the servants of Christ, and our relative condition becomes only circumstantial as to the manner in which our service is to be performed. Brethren, "let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God." And here again we find the slave in the discharge of his daily duties, entering on them in the blessed power of redemption, so that as in the case of the wife, even felt subjection was necessarily associated with feelings of blessing. "Ye are bought with a price." It is here that divine wisdom so conspicuously shines forth: men have been anxious to mitigate the rigor, or to do away with the degradation of slavery altogether, but how miserably short do their efforts stop of the reality of Christian liberty -"The Lord's freeman." Who so really free as that man who can use even the natural degradation of servitude as service to Christ -who can see by virtue of his real liberty, that all present circumstances are but temporal; and if our relation to them were to be altered, we should be only placed as servants to Christ in others. The details of direction to slaves and servants will, I think, fall under the preceding general principles. "Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men {XXX};" (see also Col. 3:22-24). But there are two things worthy of notice with respect to the detail of service in this relationship, and that is the occasion they furnish of bringing out in the strongest way, the service which Christ served (for He was the servant whom Jehovah upheld, as well as the elect in whom His soul delighted); by leading the soul to follow Him into patient suffering, unto the fullness of blessing resulting to us from His sufferings. And secondly, the special care taken to mark that common acceptance, and common brotherhood does not disannul the relationship of master and servant, but makes room for the exhibition of the manifold grace of God, that grace which brings salvation. Thus in 1 Peter 2, "servants (domestics), be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, for this is thankworthy (grace) if a man for conscience towards God endure grief, suffering wrongfully; for what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye do well and suffer, ye take it patiently this is acceptable (grace) with God, for even hereunto were ye called: because also Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree; that we being dead to sins should live to righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed: for ye were as sheep going astray, but we are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." What a marvelous power of adaptation to circumstances is there in the saving grace of God; when the most injurious treatment was capable of being made the occasion of leading the soul into the most vivid perception of what the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ really is. We find a similar order in the Epistle to Titus, running on from the direction to the slave, into the fullest statement of the present blessing, and of the glorious hope of the Gospel. "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them in all things, not answering again; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, (even to slaves,) teaching us, &c. (Titus 2:XXX}." Man would use even the truth of God to aid his own selfishness, but how loudly does it bespeak the wisdom and grace of God in being able thus to bring before man in His most degraded natural condition, that which can so bless and exalt him. The thoughts of human wisdom and the prospect of human glory have ever been for the few; but to the poor the Gospel is preached -and it meets them where they are, in the fullness of blessing without altering their present circumstances.

But secondly, the danger of acting on oneness in the Spirit, as if it were equality in the flesh, was provided against by the Apostle. Oneness in acceptance in the Beloved, equally washed in His blood, and receiving of the same Spirit through Him, is our blessed portion -"ye all are brethren." But herein is grace exhibited, that while asserting this, the distinct relations which subsist only here, but have no place in Heaven, are maintained inviolate, so that the occasion shall not arise for the thought, that "gain is Godliness" -and that the Gospel is made to serve present advantage, which is the characteristic of Apostasy -as we find in the second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude. In I Tim. 6 we have this very fully stated, and of all the relations to sustain in grace, this is the most difficult; and one in which we have seen Satan taking much advantage of the Saints. How often have we seen those who have tasted of the blessedness of the communion of Saints find themselves under painful restraint by being brought into the relation of servants, even to believers -a proof at once of the mistaken ground of communion (since it is only in the Spirit in Heavenly things that the Church is really one), and likewise of failure in grace, both in master and servant. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed; and those that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren, but rather do them service; (the expression is very strong in the original, the more be their slaves), because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort; if any man teach otherwise (see 2 Pet. XXX 18, 19; Jude 16), and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions, and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is Godliness: from such withdraw thyself." It is in this relation that we see the party set in authority simply addressed in the way of warning and caution, "Ye masters do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven -neither is there respect of persons with Him {XXX}." "Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in Heaven {XXX}." The manner of thus addressing masters and servants shows the estimation of the Spirit of Christ as to the place of blessing being in subjection and not in authority; "I am among you as he that serveth."

Subjection to the civil powers, does not properly come in the place of relative duties, because the Ruler is not addressed as such, as being of the household of God, and no rule or warning is given to him for the exercise of his authority. But the obedience to the civil magistrate on the part of a Christian, is grounded on the same general principle as that of the wife to the husband, the child to the parent, the slave to the master, viz. subjection to the Lord. The power itself might own another source; but to the believer there is no source of power but God, and he must own God in everything, and this is the only limit to his subjection, no present interest must be allowed to interfere with obedience to the powers that be; but when obedience to them, would be disobedience to God, then God is owned by disobedience to them. "We ought to obey God rather than man." -"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye {XXX}." But, in every question short of this, the rule is very simple, carrying us on still in that school into which we are brought, learning obedience by the things we suffer. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well: for so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men -love the brotherhood -fear God -honor the king {XXX}." I would only remark further on our condition as subjects, that it is made by the Apostle, the introduction to a statement of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel, leading from the thought of present subjection, to that of being heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3). "If we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him."

There are directions given in the scriptures for another relative condition, which has no place in heavenly glory, that of rich and poor. But this does not stand on the same ground as those previously considered, neither indeed is it a necessary distinction even here; because we have seen the power of the resurrection operating so graciously on the rich in the Church of Jerusalem, as to cause the distinction to cease. They were led to view heavenly and earthly things in the light of God's truth, and to see their respective ends. But still the scriptures fully recognize tile distinction as existing, because its cessation must be the effect of personal grace and not of constraint. The rich, like those in authority, are addressed itt the tone of very solemn warning, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches." But in the household of faith, this relative condition may be happily sustained, when union with Jesus risen is fully realized. Taking our standing here, we can see through this medium, and from this eminence, the vanity and fleeting character of this distinction, which affords so large a field for pride or for fretfulness, when looked on merely through the flesh; but equally large a field for the display of the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord, when looked on as risen with Him. Viewed in the power of the coming glory, the poor brother would not be fretful under the sense of poverty, the rich would not be exalted by the possession of riches. The power of the glory would act on their respective circumstances: it would exalt where exaltation was needed; it would depress where bringing down was needed. And when once resurrection was realized as our portion, it would be equally of the flesh, not to endure that a brother should he richer than we are, as it would be for one to presume on that accidental superiority. "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich brother in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass, the shall pass away, for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withered the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth; so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (James 1:9-11)." It is thus that it has pleased our heavenly Father to show us all the relations on the earth which He can own in His household. He has in great mercy condescended to go as far as possible in acknowledging them, although they will have no place in the heavenly glory. But in those which he thus recognizes there is the full opportunity of confessing Christ, either in subjection, or even in authority (which after all must be subjection unto Him), or in poverty or riches. All is brought to the cross, and seen and exercised as associated with Him in the resurrection. Whenever therefore, authority cannot be exercised in association with Jesus risen, it cannot consistently be exercised by a believer. There will be no confession of Christ in its exercise. We could not take worldly authority to the cross, and then take it up again in resurrection -because Jesus has not yet taken His great power in order to reign, not according to the rule of human convenience, but according to the rule of God's holiness. But we do see Jesus in the relation of the Husband to the Church, seeing Him we see the Father, and therefore know Him in the exercise of that authority, and He too is our Master. But while He is long-suffering, the exercise of power must be shown forth in a manner correspondent to His condition -"strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness {XXX}." May the saints adorn the doctrine of their Savior God in all things!

But let us take care how we give a place to these relationships which God has not given to them; they must ever be held as temporary and passing away with the world. The sustainment of them may hinder instead of help our service to the Lord, if they occupy the first place in our minds. The great object for all should be "to attend upon the Lord without distraction"; and this may be greatly frustrated even by the very charities of these relation-ships. The wife may care for the things of the world, how she may please her husband; or the husband for the things of the world, how he may please his wife; so also is it painfully seen how many parents are really acting as debtors to the flesh on the assumed ground of duty to their children -and it may be, even children hardening their consciences on the ground of duty to their parents. Flow blessedly then does the Spirit of wisdom in the Apostle burst forth when he saw the minds of Saints more occupied about the present relations than the resurrection of Christ. "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none: and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though, they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed, not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not; for. the fashion of this world passeth away {XXX}."

The Christian Witness 5:242-258 (1838).

Epaphroditus

It has been the way of man ever to seek to turn the very blessings of God's grace to self-exaltation. When in the abounding of his grace, he has specially distinguished any from those around them, instead of being humble under the special favor, they have been high and lifted up. Thus it was with Israel, Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. But even after the favor has visibly been withdrawn, the pride caused by its original reception still remains, and this becomes the worst form of human evil. The Lord Jesus during his ministry, found Israel boastfully confident, even at the time when judicial blindness was taking fast hold on them. The same character of the evil of the flesh has fearfully prevailed in the Church. Great and blessed gifts were given by the ascended Jesus, for the nourishing and cherishing his body the Church. Even these were used for self-exaltation, as we see in the Church of Corinth. The responsibility of having received a gift, was speedily forgotten, at times indeed it may not have been stirred up through slothfulness, but more frequently it was used to set forth the individual. The result has been an undue exaltation of the official character, so as materially to lessen the sense of individual responsibility in those who do not presume to have an official standing. And in the downward progress, all the honor rightfully claimed for the office, where there was real spiritual power, is now asserted for the office itself. The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power; and the assertion of office apart from power, is just the apostasy of the Church. This form of evil we find very extensively showing itself, in the assumption or tenacity of office, so that the responsibility of having received a gift, is virtually forgotten. And it is worthy of notice, that the remedy, in a state of manifest declension, is individual faithfulness, not corporate reform. "He that hath an ear, let him hear." "To him that overcometh."

Now one great evil of official assumption, is, that it has gendered a habit in individual saints, of unconsciously relieving themselves from the responsibility of having the whole mind of Christ for them to learn from, and His perfect example to follow. The greater part of saints are quite content to follow along the beaten track, they think it almost presumptuous in them to inquire for themselves. And here it is, I apprehend, that we shall perceive the use and value of the mention of the names of private Christians in the New Testament, I mean of those who did not hold any ostensibly recognized Church place. Such names are recorded by the Holy Ghost even here for our instruction. Blessed be God, we have but few, very few recorded here of those whose names are in the book of life. And it is this which makes the mention of the names of individuals in the epistles, a matter of interest to us. It was not for their sakes that they are mentioned, but for ours. Their joy as ours must have been, that their names were written in heaven. And I doubt not that the Spirit had some special object in mentioning the names of all whom He does mention. In some cases this may be distinctly traced, -a principle is laid down, and most artlessly we find it subsequently embodied in a living person. Such I apprehend to have been the case of him who is mentioned at the head of this paper. There are bishops {overseers} and deacons saluted in the commencement of the epistle to the Philippians, but Epaphroditus does not appear to have held either of these offices. From the evidence of this epistle, he would appear to have been a private Christian. And yet as such, recognized by the Apostle not only as a brother, but a companion in labor and fellow-soldier. Indeed in this epistle, we find the Apostle taking his place by the side of Timothy as the servant, and by grace rising above his own proper official standing in the Church, not thinking of authority, but of serving. And in the same grace placing Epaphroditus beside himself as one engaged in a common service and a common warfare. And how much more blessed would it be for the saints, if their souls were exercised about how best to serve, rather than about questions of authority. The soul of the saint cannot be in a healthy state when he is questioning either what his own authority in the Church is, or that of another. It is not doing what one can, but debating either what we may do, or what we will suffer another to do. Thus the opportunity is lost of serving the Lord, because we are seeking our own, and not the good of others, we have not the mind which was in Christ Jesus in this respect. The relation in which Epaphroditus stood to the Philippians, was that of their messenger. He was their willing servant, to bear not only the message, but the proof of their love to the Apostle in prison at Rome. He was not sent forth by them either as a preacher or teacher, but in a much humbler office in the eyes of men -as their servant. In the subsequent part of the epistle, the Apostle acknowledges that he had received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent by them. And here he speaks of him as the one that ministered to his wants, and he still uses him as the willing servant, sending him back to the Philippians, as one who would comfort them under their present trial. What a band was this willing servant, between the Apostle at Rome and the Philippians, -the channel of supply from the Philippians to the Apostle, and again the same from him to the Philippians. It seems to me that we have almost lost the sense of the existence of such bands in the Church now. We have little thought of being stewards of the manifold grace of God, by expecting only to receive blessing from certain recognized organs. Epaphroditus filled up a place in the Church, which neither Paul nor the bishops or deacons could supply. While the Church is divided into ministers and people, the filling up of such a place as Epaphroditus held, can hardly be expected to be thought of. It is indeed a humble and unostentatious sphere of service, yet one which peculiarly marks the presence of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I believe the blessed doctrine laid down by the Apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, to have been livingly portrayed by him in the character of Epaphroditus. "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves." There were some who preached Christ of strife (Phil. 1:16), that is always the principle of the flesh (Rom. 2:8), man's doing in self-will what he only ought to do in subjection to the Spirit, and thus adding, or supposing to add, affliction even to the bonds of the Apostle. Not so Epaphroditus, he esteemed Paul better than himself, and took the humble place of ministering to his wants. Kindness to himself while in prison, the Apostle seemed specially to have regarded. His imprisonment was indeed the occasion for the flesh to assert its liberty in many cases; those who had been repressed by his presence in putting themselves forward, now did so. But in many cases, also, his imprisonment called out the gifts of individuals into healthful exercise (Phil. 1:17), and likewise the love of the saints. And in the one case as well as the other, the soul of the Apostle received much refreshment. He could rejoice that Christ was preached. And he says, speaking of another, "The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me." If Christ was preached, and the gifts and graces of the Church were drawn out, Paul was content to be prisoner. A single eye is the real power against our hateful selfishness. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others also. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." His was truly unselfish love. He had all to surrender, and nothing to gain for himself personally, unless the gratifying his own heart's love in blessing others could be said to be gain to him. "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us." We should not have known love in its very essence, love as it is in God, unless we had seen the surrender of everything for us, and the only return the satisfying that love. This was the mind which was in Christ Jesus, he did not look to his own, for "love seeketh not its own," but he looked to the blessing of others. I would notice the expression -"the mind which was in Christ Jesus": it differs from one apparently similar, -"we have the mind of Christ." The spiritual man is able to enter into the thoughts and intelligence of Christ, so as to speak to God intelligently, as one who understands His purpose and intention. But the mind which was in Christ Jesus, shows us what was the deep purpose of his heart, even humbling himself. It would perhaps be difficult to render the expression literally. There is at least, a strong moral contrast between this passage and another, where the same word occurs as used by our Lord him-self in reference to Peter, when Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, "be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." Jesus said unto him, "thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Here was the mind which was in Peter "the mind of the flesh" (Rom. 8:6). The uppermost thought in his heart was that one that should keep his own dignity, -the Son of the living God must not suffer. Jesus who stood in conscious equality with God, had nothing to aspire to; he could bless others by humbling himself: he spared not himself, he sought not his own. This was savoring the things that were of God. And it is in this respect, especially, that the Apostle holds up Jesus to us for an example. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." It is by humbling ourselves that we are really able to minister to the wants of others. And did we ever think of what humbling ourselves really implied? Jesus humbled himself. But we are told to do the same. As sinners we cannot go lower, for we are lost and ruined: it is indeed a humbling of one's pride as man, to come to this confession, but it is as saints that we are to humble ourselves; and our God has called us with so high a calling, that in relation to it we can do so. For the saint is a sinner sanctified in Jesus, -made one with him -loved with the same love -dignified with the same name, even that of son, and heir of the same glory. He (Jesus) is not ashamed to call us brethren. It is by looking therefore to our real dignity as sons of God, that we shall understand how to humble ourselves. The flesh is always aspiring, always seeking some pre. eminence above others; but God has given to us union with him, who is above all, and therefore we have nothing to aspire to; for all things are ours, because we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. What a marvelous thing is redemption in Christ Jesus, -surely no other could have plotted or planned it but the only wise God. It never would have entered into the heart of man, to conceive the possibility of a sinner being by grace so exalted, as to be enabled to come down from his present dignity of his own accord, into a lower condition. Truly it is the consciousness of our real and proper exaltation which is the real ground of Christian humility. The Son of God as the Son, was incapable of exaltation, but He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the Form of a servant. From the Son to descend to the servant, and that too the servant of the necessities of man, here was humiliation indeed. Here he is to be followed by us. But he went lower, another step in descending, from a servant he humbled himself to the cross; and from thence was most highly exalted. This is perfect. And now let us see how far grace has carried one of like passions with ourselves, to follow these steps of our most blessed Master. Epaphroditus, owned by Paul as a brother, and thus standing in perfect equality with himself, knew the joy of being the servant of others for Jesus' sake. His value of the common brotherhood, did not make him lose the privilege of humbling himself to be their servant. Here was the mind which was in Christ Jesus in him. But we shall see it more fully if we go on.

"For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick." Surely here we have the living exhibition, of that which is pressed on us as the mind which was in Christ. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." This was only truly perfect in the perfect one, -only fully seen in Jesus. Surely he longs after all the saints, and his only sorrow is that which befalls them, -"in all their afflictions he is afflicted." It was deep instruction in Christ, that led Epaphroditus into such unselfish love. He desired to see the Philippians not so much for his own as for their comfort. He was full of heaviness, not because of his sickness in a strange city, but because they had heard that he had been sick. How like the unselfish, thoughtful love of Jesus, when He so greatly desired to eat the last supper with His disciples, and to forget as it were His own sorrow and suffering, in ministering to their grieving hearts comfort at the thought of parting from him. "Because I have said these things, sorrow hath filled your hearts." But he looked through the whole scene of his deep humiliation, and says, "Be of good cheer."

The next two verses appear to me to open to us deep instruction. The Lord had left mighty power to his Apostles, so as to lay their hands on the sick and to raise them up. The very shadow of Peter, passing over the sick laid in the streets of Jerusalem, healed them (Acts 5:15). And at Ephesus, from the body of Paul, were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them (Acts 19:12). There was no want of power for healing any kind of sickness, but we do not find it the power which was used for the Church. The Church was to know something deeper than signs and wonders: they might astonish and yet not lead the soul into communion with God. The Church is set in life; and it pleases the Lord to give it the power to endure under the pressure of disease, or else to make disease the occasion of manifesting his own sympathy and calling out the love of his saints. It is a much higher, as well as more blessed lesson, to learn the sympathy of God, than even to see His power. And God delights that His children should find His own heart their home and dwelling-place. Sorrow appeared to come upon sorrow to the anxious and affectionate heart of the Apostle. Surely as man it would have been most pleasing to have restored Epaphroditus by miraculous power, but Paul and Epaphroditus were learners in the same school, and they were both to learn the rich mercy of God: he does regard the sorrows of His saints, He has mercy on them, and not only makes His power known, but His love also. It pleased God by the sickness of Epaphroditus, to exercise the sympathy of his servant Paul, and then to show Himself in full sympathy both with Paul and Epaphroditus. What little faith have we to bring in the sympathy of God: little do we know how to make Him a party to our sorrows; our thoughts of Him are often hard as though He desired that we should have sorrow upon sorrow. How refreshing to hear one, who had seen the wise band of God in all his trial, saying, "For indeed he was sick and nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow."

But how blessedly does the known sympathy of God enlarge the heart. Epaphroditus was anxious because the Philippians had heard of his sickness. Paul too, for the same reason, anxiously sent Epaphroditus to them, that they seeing him might rejoice, might have fellowship with Paul in the joy he had, when through the mercy of God, Epaphroditus was restored. And how would Paul be less sorrowful? by removing the sorrows of others, although to his own deprivation. This truly is divine sympathy: the man of sorrows found his relief in relieving the sorrows of others. Here was the mind which was in Christ Jesus. Paul looked not at his own things, but to the things of others, and thereby found himself less sorrowful. In a world of sorrow, true blessedness does not arise from personal exemption from suffering or sorrow, but in the ability to sympathize with others in them, and to forget our own in ministering to theirs. Jesus seemed to have forgotten his weariness in ministering to the poor sinner in Samaria, and to have overlooked his own deep sufferings in comforting the hearts of his wavering disciples. This was the mind which was in him, and, through his grace, in Paul and Epaphroditus too, and why not in us? Surely because it is so little coveted. The gifts and powers of an Apostle might be an object of ambition, but that which is open to us is little prized. But what says the Spirit by the Apostle, "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness: and hold such in reputation." There were those in the Church of weighty authority as the Apostles, to whom grace would show all possible honor, -owning the Lord in them, receiving them as the Lord. There were those who were watching over souls, who were to be recognized, and esteemed very highly for their works' sake. But here was a recognition of something far less palpable, of that which the eye of man would have passed over, but where the piercing eye of the Spirit could reach; even the mind which was in Christ Jesus. This mind was hindered doubtless by conscious infirmity, and obscured at times by the outbreaking of the flesh; but still there was unselfish love in a man of like passions with ourselves. "Hold such in reputation," for surely this unobtrusive ministry of patient love is highly esteemed with God. And in that day when ministry shall be recognized and owned by the Lord himself, how many a saint who has held no ostensible place in the Church, will find that owned which he thought worthless, and which no one ever recognized as ministry at all. May the saints abound more and more in the work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.

The Lord allows us now to have an earnest of His own joy, the joy his heart is set on, even to receive all His saints to Himself (John 14:3). Into this He allows us in the Spirit, even now to enter, "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness." This would be a part of that joy in the Holy Ghost which belongs to us, and its distinguishing character is that it connects the subject of joy with the Lord himself. They were to receive him in the Lord, as one in whom they could recognize vital union with Jesus. How constantly is it the point of divine teaching, to turn us away from ourselves, where we should ever find that which would minister to strife and vain-glory, to the Lord. When we receive one in the Lord, there is no room for envy, and no fear that we shall unduly rate the grace which is in him. But to proceed yet farther: "hold such in reputation, because for the works' sake of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me." Let us turn to the mind which was in Christ Jesus. He had a work to do, even the work of Him that sent Him; and in finishing this work, He was not only nigh unto death, but in obedience to the will of him that sent Him, bowed His head under its power, -He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And why? that he might do us that service which none other could have done; and for this obedience to God and service to us, God has held Him in reputation, yea He has highly exalted him "when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." "Hereby perceive we love, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

And we ought -yes -we ought to have the mind which was in Christ Jesus, to serve the brethren. We cannot serve them as He has served us, or serve Him as He served God. "None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: that he should still live forever and not see corruption." In the mighty work he had to do, in abolishing death and bringing life and incorruptibility to light, He stood alone and has no followers. But we may follow him in the mind which led to this. Here we find one for the work of Christ, disregarding his life; and that too in service to one of those who had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. This was highly pleasing to God, it was the fragrant grace of his own elect -his own servant, again ascending to him from the earth; and therefore those who had the Spirit would hold such in reputation here. But what was this work of Christ which Epaphroditus did? it was not preaching, or teaching, or anything which would give to an individual publicity. It was ministering to an obscure prisoner in Rome. Jesus himself had visited His poor prisoner in the jail at Philippi, and now the Apostle looks at the kindness of Epaphroditus in coming from Philippi to Rome, as a work done both by and for the Lord. Surely Paul knew the Master's word -"I was in prison and ye visited me." Jesus personally was away and the Philippians at a distance, but here was one who came in to do the work of Christ, and to supply the lack of the service of the Philippians. Now such service is not held in its just reputation among the saints, and more especially in an age of mind like the present. Many would court the ability to teach, when the place assigned them by God in his household, may be to serve their brethren in another way. When we find such injunctions as "distributing to the necessities of saints" -"given to hospitality" -"visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction," we may be assured God values such services, and surely there would be a place found for each to occupy healthfully to his own soul and to the saints generally. It does not appear that Epaphroditus ministered to Paul's necessity from his own means, -he was the messenger of the Philippians; and in addition to their bounty, he added his own personal services, which are here so highly estimated. Here then is a sphere of Christ's work open to the very poorest; it may be but the one talent, but it is traded with and produces fruit. It was not the supply of money, although his necessities were urgent, which rejoiced the heart of the Apostle; but in seeing fruit abounding to the account of the Philippians, and having one in whom was the mind which was in Christ Jesus in Epaphroditus. It is easy to see why this part of the work of Christ's has fallen into disrepute. The apostasy took the turn of enriching a certain order, and giving it all the trappings of worldly honor, so that the exactions and wealth of the clergy became most onerous and mischievous: and when the blessed doctrine of justification by faith, dawned again at the Reformation, the re-action was so strong, that preaching the word was almost exclusively considered as the work of Christ; and almost all other services which are marked by the Spirit as the work of Christ, were neglected. Satan contrived to have the good set aside with the bad, and thus to give room for strife and vain-glory in so many seeking to serve in the same way, instead of according to their different gifts. I believe there is so little spirituality among us, that few really would consider personal attendance on a saint, and being the channel of communicating to his comfort, could be esteemed the work of Christ. There may be much physical exertion and anxiety of mind in an active evangelist, but the patient ministry of grace, leading even to disregard of health or life, would barely be noticed by any, save by the Lord himself.

There is one thing yet to notice, and that is, that the Lord Jesus delights to connect His saints together by living links Though absent from them personally, He is livingly united to them by the Spirit. The Philippians could not in person serve Paul at Rome, but Epaphroditus supplied their lack of service. And this too is the mind which was in Christ Jesus to minister unto us by living channels, and to make every member of his body a joint of supply to the other members.

I believe we little estimate how minutely the Lord himself can enter into our wants {needs}. It is to me blessedly interesting, to see the Lord concerning Himself about even the convenience of his disciples. "Come ye, said Jesus to his Apostles, yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." This was the work of Christ then, and He has those in the Church now gifted for this work of His. And surely we ought not to disesteem that in which the Son of God Himself delighted. We need greatly indeed to procure that ointment from Him which will enable us to see what is pleasing to Him, and to know each one our proper place in the household. The work of Christ is very varied, and Epaphroditus was as much engaged in it in ministering to the Apostle, as the Apostle in ministering to the saints by his writings. And that alone will be the work of Christ for us individually in which He has set us by His Spirit. God has set the members in the body as it has pleased Him. And to each is given grace according to the gift of Christ. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or, ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness." And if it be asked, how shall we best ascertain, which department of the work of Christ is ours, the word to us is, "let this mind which was in Christ Jesus, be also in you."

The Christian Witness 7:141-152 (1840).

The First Resurrection

The doctrine of the resurrection of the body, is one held by almost all Christians in a general manner. And this very circumstance, while it has tended to show the faith of God's Elect in all ages, has deprived the doctrine of its power as animating under present suffering, with the prospect of life and glory, and causing everything now before us to be stamped with vanity and death. The Scriptural statement of this doctrine, as the Believer's proper hope, is very definite; and it is here proposed to set it forth, to show how very harmonious are the Scriptural testimonies to the First resurrection. But first let us briefly notice the importance of the doctrine in connection with others. It is important, because of its immediate connection with the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. From Him, in His person and work, all doctrine flows. If doctrine be separated from Him, it becomes a mere intellectual scheme, as little comforting as it is practical. But the doctrines of grace so blessedly center in Him, that the infringing of one necessarily invalidates others. It is thus that the Apostle, in meeting those that denied the resurrection of the body, proves such a denial to be an entire subversion of faith. "Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (1 Cor. 15:12-14)." There is, therefore, in the resurrection, the connecting link between our Faith and Hope. There were two great truths involved in the resurrection of Christ: -1st, the complete justification of the Church {believers}; and secondly, the transfer of every hope of blessing away from the first Adam to the second; from him who was of the earth, earthy, to Him who is the Lord from heaven. -"For," says the Apostle, "if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins (v. 17). "He was delivered for (because of) our offenses, and was raised again for (because of) our justification (Rom. 4:25)." The resurrection of Christ is, in this passage, stated to be the consequence, not the cause of the justification of the Church. It was because He had borne our sins in His own body, on the tree, and there been made a curse for us, because He Himself had met the righteous wrath of a holy God, because God had condemned sin in the flesh, that therefore He was raised up by the glory of the Father to show the complete putting away of sin. Hence the deep importance of those words, "Lo! I come to do thy will O God: by the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:10)." "Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God (Rom. 7:4)." The resurrection of Christ was God's own vindication of his righteous cause -was His declaration that He was that which He claimed to be, even his Son. When He gave His back to the sinkers, and His cheek to them that plucked off the hair, he could say, "He is near that justifieth me." But it was likewise God's own vindication of the Church {of believers}: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again." And in another passage we have the double vindication of Christ and His Church, "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead; even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10)." He was raised because we were justified; or, if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins.

Moreover, the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4) includes all the saints from Adam down, including the tribulation martyrs. "First" is in contrast to the other resurrection -of the rest of the dead -that one occurs for the great white throne judgment. "The resurrection of the just" denotes the class of persons who form the first resurrection; "the resurrection of the unjust denotes the other class of persons. "The resurrection of life" denotes the character of those who are part of the first resurrection; "the resurrection of judgment" denotes the character of the others. The first resurrection is not a point in time; it is a class of persons. It occurs in some stages, Christ being the firstfruits of the resurrection, that having taken place already. The next stage of it will occur at the time of the rapture -and the OT saints will be resurrected then (Heb. 11:40), as will "the dead in Christ," but the OT saints will not therefore be part of the church. Hebrews was the proper Scripture to speak of the OT worthies; 1 Thessalonians was the proper place to speak of the dead in Christ. The OT worthies were not "in Christ."; nor will tribulation-period martyrs who will be in the first resurrection be "in Christ." 'The resurrection of the church' is not an accurate expression, for when Christ comes for us, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, but not the living, who shall be changed. However, the consequence of all this is that each shall have a body like Christ's body of glory (Phil. 3:21). This very brief summary has been detailed elsewhere.)

But the other truth involved in the resurrection is equally important. It stamped death on man's hope of blessing in this life, or in the flesh. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." It is in Him as the Head of a new creation, in Him as the second Adam, that we have hope. -Old things pass away, all things become new. Corruption,dishonor, weakness, are now known and felt to be the portion of the Adam body. -Incorruption, glory, and power, that of the Christ body. The Believer has an earnest of resurrection glory in the quickening power already put forth in his soul. He confesses himself a pilgrim and stranger here {1 Pet. XXX}, because a child of this glorious hope; that as the first-born from the dead has already risen into glory, so those whom God foreknew, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren -the Church of the first-born (Heirs) are to be brought into like glory. But, says the Apostle again, if there be not this blessed hope, if the dead rise not, why then make the best of the Adam life, seek enjoyment for the Adam body, eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived; this is a holy doctrine, one that purifies the soul. It might appear to one who treated the subject superficially and saw nothing of the harmony of God's truth, that the hope of the separate spirit being in glory when away from the body, would be something more spiritual and of a more purifying effect than the resurrection. But not so: it has not the power to prove the worthlessness of the flesh, neither has it the power against present self-indulgence. "The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body; and God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power (1 Cor. 6:13, 14)." In fact the little real holiness exhibited in the Lord's people, is attributable to this, that they have lost their proper hope, and realize not their present portion as risen with Christ; and therefore look upon the present state as one of possible enjoyment. To this the resurrection says No -it is only as bearing the image of the heavenly Man that we can have blessing. No blessing to be had in the place of death, no good to be found in the flesh. Hence Jesus and the resurrection, was the sum and substance of the gospel preached by the Apostles. It was this that provoked the enmity of the sensual Sadducee, and the mocking of the intellectual Athenian. -Both could see in the resurrection the vanity asserted both of man's pleasure and man's wisdom; both, therefore, were equally set against it. And when the Apostles preached through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, no wonder that the Sadducees were grieved; they felt the force of that word, "Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead." It did place them in such an awful position -it so completely showed their contrariety to God, that well might they threaten them "that they henceforth should speak to no man in this name." And so at Athens, the most polished and intellectual people, when told that they had been ignorant of God, and that now God commanded all men every where to repent, because He had raised one Man from the dead, to judge the world in righteousness. What was this but to disprove the world's blessing under man's wisdom? -Full well therefore did they mock. Now this holy, soul purifying, and at the same time soul-sustaining doctrine, Satan has contrived to blunt; so that the doctrine is held by most Christians as a powerless theory. It has not been consistent with the craft of Satan to deny this doctrine, but to generalize it; and to prevent the Believer rejoicing in it as his hope, or resting on the resurrection of Christ as his security. All general statements are wanting in power: it is therefore held that there will be one simultaneous rising of all the dead, and the judgment follows. Now this vague statement places the Lord's people on quite a wrong ground; it makes resurrection only desirable because we must die, instead of being that which makes us to triumph over death. It connects it with the feeling of fear instead of joyful hope. It does not make us feel what that word means, "Mortality," this "Mortal" as a state and condition which it would be our wonderful gain to exchange for its opposite "Life" (2 Cor. 5). We call this "Life"; which in the proper view of the resurrection we ought to call and feel to be "a body of death." And this vague statement has tended also to lead Believers away from a full apprehension of the completeness of the Church's justification, proved by the resurrection of Christ -"that they have died to sin, and that their portion is to reckon themselves alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The first resurrection is mentioned by name only in the 20th ch. of Revelation:—"I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Now in examining this Scripture, let us first show that its only meaning necessarily must be, that which is stated, the First resurrection; secondly, its harmony with other statements of the resurrection; thirdly, its connection with other facts stated in Scripture; and lastly, its deep practical importance as the Christian's hope.

It has been asserted, that as this book consists of symbolical representations, this cannot mean a real resurrection; but must be taken figuratively. Now it is quite admitted that this book abounds in symbols, which are not to be taken literally. But then we frequently meet with the explanation of the symbols in the book itself. For example, there is in the first chapter, a vision of seven candlesticks and seven stars in the hand of the Son of Man; but these are explained to be the seven Churches and the seven Angels of the Churches; this interpretation is to be taken literally. So again we are told that the golden vials full of odors, (ch. 6) represent the prayers of saints; and (ch. 19:8) that the fine linen in which the Church is clothed, is the "righteousness of saints." ea in the passage before us, we have first a vision, "I saw thrones" &c. and then the interpretation of the vision -"This is the first resurrection"; or, "this is the resurrection the first." So that we are obliged by all consistency of interpretation, to take the vision of the thrones as meaning a real resurrection, and described as being the first resurrection; and the rest of the dead, as meaning those that do not partake of the first resurrection. We cannot depart from this interpretation without giving up all the previous information that we have from the explanation given of symbols by God Himself. For we might as well dispute that the candlesticks meant Churches, as that the thrones, &c. meant a resurrection. It has been indeed hastily asserted, that it is not consistent to interpret this vision of a resurrection, and the remarkable vision of the dry bones (Ezek. 37) figuratively. But here is the difference; -In Rev. 20 the vision is "the thrones," and the interpretation, "the first resurrection." In Ezekiel on the contrary, the dry bones shaking, coming bone to his bone, and the sinews and flesh coming upon them and the skin covering them, is the vision; but it was not intended to convey the truth of a real resurrection, for the Lord Himself explained what He meant by it (v. 11). "Then he said unto me, Son of Man these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold they say, our bones are dried and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts." It is not because I interpret this Scripture figuratively, which frequently means setting our imagination to find out a meaning for God's word, that I say it means the restoration of Israel to their own land and not the resurrection of the body, but because I am forced so to interpret it, since God has explained what he meant by the vision. And I can with equal confidence say the vision of the throne and the souls slain for the testimony of Jesus, which John saw is a real resurrection peculiar to those who have part in it, and that the vision of the dry bones which Ezekiel saw, is the restoration of Israel; because I have the authority of the same interpreter, God Himself. It is only easier for us to receive God's explanation in Ezekiel, because our minds are not so much preoccupied with the time and order of Israel's restoration, but having been taught by the tradition of man the doctrine of a general resurrection, at the end of time, we hesitate at receiving God's own interpretation of a vision, as pointing to a First Resurrection one thousand years before another more general one. And not only so, but we are apt to think that this doctrine does not harmonize with the other statements made by the Lord and His Apostles, concerning the resurrection of the dead. Let us therefore in the second place, examine other Scriptures bearing on the resurrection, to see whether they will support or contradict the doctrine of The Resurrection the First. In Matt. 22:23, Mark 12:18, Luke 20:27, we have our Lord's conversation on the subject of the resurrection with the Sadducees, in the presence of the Scribes and Pharisees. Now let us examine this last passage, as that which enters into the greatest detail on the subject, in connection with the doctrine of the first resurrection. It was after the Lord had displayed His wisdom in escaping from the snare which the chief Priests and Scribes had laid for Him, through those who should feign themselves to be just men, that the Sadducees come to him, "who deny that there is any resurrection." They were a proud and sensual sect, who sought to reduce every doctrine to an absurdity, which taught something the rummer and method of which they could not comprehend. They were great reasoners, opposing the conclusions of their own minds to the authority of God's Word, and ready ever to forget that there was omnipotence to perform that which was written. It was therefore that the Lord showed them the wrongness of their principle, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." This is in fact at the bottom of all error; men have accustomed themselves to receive as truth, not what is writ-ten, but the doctrines of men. But while the Lord had to meet the errors of the Sadducees; he had at the same time to rescue the truth from those who held it in unrighteousness. The Pharisees held the doctrine of the resurrection, the Sadducees denied there was any. But the doctrine with the Pharisees was not the doctrine as a lively hope, it was held vaguely and generally, and not as it ought to have been, the great promise of God made unto the fathers (Acts 26:6). It therefore had lost all its moral power, because it had lost its distinctness. As received by the fathers, it acted so powerfully on them as to make them confess themselves pilgrims and strangers; as held by the Pharisees in a general manner, it had no power, leaving them formal, covetous, and worldly; just as the general doctrine does professing Christians now. It was therefore the Lord's wisdom not only to assert the doctrine in opposition to those who denied it, but to rescue it from the abuse in which it had been held, by stating its specialty. The case supposed of the Sadducees was equally crafty as that put by the Pharisees, in respect of the tribute money. They thought He must have denied the doctrine altogether in answering their question, or else set up his authority against that of Moses. Most artfully do they begin, "Moses wrote unto us, if any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up children to his brother. There were therefore seven brethren, &c. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection whose wife of them is she, for seven had her to wife? Jesus answering, said unto them, The children of this world, (of this age) marry and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world (that age) and THE resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage (Luke 22:28-35)." And here let us pause. The resurrection of which the Lord here speaks, cannot be a General Resurrection, because it is limited to those who are accounted worthy. No words can more definitely mark that it is a resurrection of distinctive privilege. -"They which shall be accounted worthy (not all, surely, but only some) to obtain the resurrection of the dead," says the Lord. Blessed and holy is he which hath part in the resurrection the first, says His Apostle. There can be no two statements more corresponding in sense though differing in words. Our Lord implies that there is the resurrection of which all will not be thought worthy to partake. John declares the peculiar privilege of those who have part in the resurrection the first. So far therefore the correspondence is exact; and if our Lord spoke of a real resurrection, so does the Apostle, "Neither can they die any more." This is a remarkable assertion, implying that there will be those raised from the dead, who will again be subject to death. And this fact would have been simply revealed to faith, without our being able at all to ascertain what was the character of that death which is here implied, had we only this Scripture to speak of it. But the Lord has been pleased to clear up this to us, and to show us the death to which some that are raised from their graves are subjected. And the very Scripture which gives us this additional light, is the one we are considering. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power." "Neither can they die any more," says the Lord. "On such, or over such the second death hath no power," says His Apostle. The words may differ, but the sense is the same; only the Lord is pleased to show us by His Apostle what the second death is to which those who are not partakers of the first resurrection are subjected. "Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death." Now unless we deny that our Lord in Luke 20. is speaking of the resurrection of the body, we are obliged to interpret this passage which so exactly corresponds with it of the resurrection of the body. Surely it would be a fearful trifling with Scripture to say the Second Death meant anything but punishment, and punishment after a resurrection; and if this be allowed, the expression, the First Resurrection, must mean a real resurrection. The lake of fire is no more figurative than the language of the Lord, "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels."

(* In this chapter the Dragon and the Old Serpent are symbols; but they are here explained as relating to one person -"which is the Devil and Satan." We know in this case how detrimental it has been to the truth to confound symbol and explanation together; so that by this very means the personality of Satan is very loosely held by Believers. But the expression Satan and the Devil are strictly explanatory of the symbols the Dragon and the Old Serpent.)

But to proceed: "For they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the Resurrection." Now this clearly cannot apply to the resurrection of "the unjust," or to the "Resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29). Those who partake of it are not as the angels, neither are they as the children of God. But what are the blessed privileges of God's children? That they shall be conformed to the image of His Son, that He may the first-born among many brethren; that they partake of the glory of Jesus, that unknown as sons of God now, even as Jesus while in the world, when He shall be manifested they shall be manifested with Him in glory (1 John 3). Now as the Son, Jesus, is constituted King and Priest, as it is written, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy bill of Zion; I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee (Psa. 2:6, 7)." And again, "So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest, but he that said unto Him, thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee (Heb. 5:5)." This is the privilege attached to Sonship, and the same words are expressly applied to the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 13:33). Our Lord says, they are children of God, being children of the resurrection; the Apostle, "they shall be priests and kings of God and of Christ; and how so but by being sons of God, and if sons, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." Here again the correspondence in the doctrines is remarkable, though it is rather implied than clearly stated.

But our Lord proceeds -"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; for He is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him {Luke 22:37, 38}." It may appear at first sight, that however this text might prove that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were still living and not annihilated, that it does not so clearly prove that they must rise from the dead. Nor indeed could it be proved from the doctrine of a general resurrection. The force of the passage depends on the expression, "The God of Abraham." It had pleased Jehovah of His own will to enter into a covenant relation with Abraham, making him many most free and unconditional promises, which were not made good unto Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. Among these promises was this without any condition whatever -"I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it (Gen. 15)." The fulfillment of this promise depended upon the unchangeableness of Him who said in making it, I am Jehovah; "And He said, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" Then follows the solemnity -"And in the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." This then was the answer to Abram's inquiry, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? "Unto thy seed"; and we know why it was a sufficient answer, because it is testified that the seed was Christ (Gal. 3:16). And Abram knew it, and "rejoiced to see the day of Christ, and he saw it and was glad." He saw every one of these promises made good, by seeing Christ, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen. Now the effect on the mind of this father, was not to be anxious to have the land then, but in another state, even a resurrection state; when they from "the city which had foundations, whose maker and builder was God," even "a heavenly city"; would inherit it and be made a: blessing to it, as it is written, "Thou shalt be a blessing" (Gen. 12:2). Let us hear the testimony of Stephen to this, "He gave him none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his. foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him." And again, that of Paul -"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. But now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city." Now this can only mean that the promises they had not received they would receive; but when? even in a resurrection state -even when "many should come from the east and from the west, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11)." For these all received not the promises, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect {Heb. 11:40}. Now if we take our Lord's answer to the Sadducees in connection with the promises made to the fathers, we see its conclusiveness as to the doctrine of the resurrection. He was still their God in covenant with them; and as He had never fulfilled the promises unconditionally to them, as their covenant God He would, and that in resurrection, or His faithfulness would be impeached. That He intended to bring them into a far higher glory for the manifestation of His own grace, did not prevent the fulfillment of His purpose in blessing all the earth in Abraham and in his seed. Nor let us forget the Apostle's doctrine, that the law given by Moses did not break God's previous covenant with Abraham. "And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ [ειςχριοτον, unto Christ], the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect (Gal. 3:17)." God is still the God of Abraham, still in covenant with Him, and will raise him up, and the fathers to inherit these promises; which however man may have forgotten, He cannot, for by so fulfilling them all shall know that He is Jehovah. Surely therefore the promise which God made unto the fathers, He hath fulfilled in raising up Jesus, as the first fruits of them that slept (Acts 13:32). And from these words of our Lord, we are taught God's purpose to bless man in the resurrection, as well as that the resurrection state was that in hope of which the fathers lived. But when we come to apply this statement to the first resurrection, it gives great distinctness to it. Because that our Lord's argument from Jehovah calling Himself the God of Abraham, &c. is this -that the earthly promises made to Abraham, are to be fulfilled to him in the resurrection state. "The meek shall inherit the earth." And what says the Apostle in Rev. 20? they, the partakers of the first resurrection shall reign with Christ a thousand years. And over what shall they reign? over the earth, as it is written, "The Lord shall be king over all the earth (Zech. 14:10);" and again, "We shall reign on or over the earth (Rev. 5:10)." So that this part of our Lord's doctrine of the resurrection, agrees with that of the Apostle concerning the first resurrection; "they shall reign with Him a thousand years." For the promise that he should be the heir of the world ("all things are yours, the world," &c., 1 Cor. 3:22), was not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith; therefore it is of faith that it might be of grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead." "So then they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9). Abraham's blessing is in the resurrection state, when there shall be the blessing of all the earth in Him; the saint's blessing is at the same time, i e in the resurrection the first."

But truth will bear the strictest investigation, and supposed difficulties constantly arise from the insubjection from our minds to the Scriptures, or from our superficial acquaintance with them -"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God." The testimony to the first resurrection has been hastily dismissed by many Christians, as if such a doctrine was quite inconsistent with our Lord's statement on the resurrection (John 5:28, 29). It is but fair therefore to examine this statement in connection with what has previously been said; because if it be proved that this, the strongest ground usually assumed by those who oppose the doctrine of the first resurrection, at least does not contradict, if it does not directly support it, the question may be considered as settled. Let us then transcribe the passage, with its context, that we may fairly judge of its bearing: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, the same also the Son doeth in like manner. For the Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth, and He will show Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father; he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in (the) which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto a life resurrection, and they that have done evil unto a judgment resurrection." Now mark the contrasts in this passage. -The Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them; the Son quickeneth whom He will, and in their several order raises all. He is "the resurrection and the life." It is now the hour of exercising the quickening power, and has been for 1800 years, even from the time that Jesus spoke the words, to this day. But to the Son of Man is given another power, even the right of judgment -of all judgment; and how can this he exercised? even because the Son raises the dead, and that resurrection power is to be put forth at a given period and in distinct order. This authority He exercises not now, but the hour cometh in which He will exercise it; but not simultaneously, any more than the quickening power is now exercised simultaneously. But mark -the resurrection power will be in its order exercised over all that are in the graves; not so the quickening power, that is special and distinctive; "whom He will He quickeneth as Son of God; the dead now hear His voice and live." And they who hear come "not into judgment, but have passed from death to life," and await His further power to a life resurrection. The dead who hear not His voice now unto quickening, will hear it in their graves, and come forth to a judgment resurrection. This is the important and deeply interesting doctrine laid down here. Two powers in Jesus, the one of quickening, and the other of judgment: the one exercised now, the other not yet. Two classes -the one who hear and believe, and the other who hear but believe not. Two ends, to which they are respectively tending -Life and Judgment. If there be a portion which is precious to the Believer, it is this -present life now in the Spirit; and as to mortality in the body, that to be swallowed up of life in the First Resurrection, which is his hope. And if there be a solemn warning to the unbeliever, it is this -still in the sight of God, dead in trespasses and sins; the power of Jesus to be exercised over him, is in a judgment resurrection; all that he has presented before him of God is a fearful looking for of judgment to come, and dead now, has the second death before him. Now if words are capable of conveying distinct ideas to our minds, these words express two resurrections; the question of time does not come in here. There is a resurrection to life, and there is a resurrection to judgment. All do not rise together to be separated after; but they arise as the Apostle states, "Every one in his own order." Now this so far from contradicting the doctrine of a first resurrection. does easily fall under it; and gives both definiteness as to a Christian's hope, by excluding judgment (save as to reward) from the resurrection, and gives solemnity to the warning likewise of a judgment to come by excluding the idea of generality from it, and giving it that definiteness which alone impresses the mind. "He that is unjust let him be unjust still, he that is filthy let him be. filthy still;" his prospect is a judgment resurrection; only to know the resurrection power of Jesus, in order to the second death. The later testimony in the Revelation goes into the question of time, and into more minute detail, and it will be increasingly our wisdom to bring former declarations to this last Revelation of the Lord to His servants, and not to neglect its light, because its plain import runs counter to our preconceived notions. Our Lord says there is a resurrection to life; His Apostle says of those who were presented to his view as having suffered for the testimony of Jesus, "They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection." Our Lord says there is a resurrection to judgment; His Apostle states the time relative to the other resurrection. The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished; and then, describes the character of the judgment, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire -this is the second death."

The same remark will apply to Acts 24:15. "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of just and unjust." Here again there are two distinct resurrections mentioned, but no mention made of the time between them. The resurrection of the just as a distinct resurrection, is mentioned by our Lord, Luke 14:14. "Thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." "Blessed and holy is he which has part in the first resurrection." Once more; it is made a matter of special promise that those who are given of the Father unto Jesus, shall be raised up at the last day (John 6:39, 40, 54). This therefore cannot be common to all; in fact we are here deceived by sound. The last day in Scripture, is not associated with the circumstances with which our minds have associated it, who always think in the pride of our hearts that the dispensation of God to us must be the final one. The last day is used relatively -it is the last day of God's long-suffering and the beginning of the day of the Lord. As it is written, "The Angel lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth forever and ever, that there should be time no longer; or that the time should be no longer but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He declared to His servants the Prophets (Rev. 10:5-7)." "And the seventh Angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15-18)." So that the last day is identical with the day of the Lord; and in the morning of that day the righteous dead shall be raised, as it is written, "Like sheep they (the men of this world) are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them, (they will be subject to the second death) and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning (Psa. 49:14)." Here then let us leave the question. This investigation of Scripture shows many harmonious and no contradictory statements to the doctrine of the first resurrection. And this is the sum of what has been stated under this head all the Scriptures touching the resurrection may without violence be classified under a first and second resurrection; many of them cannot apply to a general resurrection, and one general simultaneous resurrection is expressly negatived by the statement of Rev. 20. "This is the first resurrection," which it has been before shown is not a symbolical statement, but an explanation of a symbol.

And now thirdly, let us briefly examine this doctrine in connection with other facts stated in Scripture. In considering our Lord's discourse with the Sadducees, Luke 20, we have already shown the resurrection state is exhibited as in relation to an earthly state. And this is a most interesting point. During that period of predicted blessedness, when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, when the burden of the Prophets testimony to a period of physical, moral, and spiritual blessedness, shall be accomplished; when every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus, of things in earth, as now do things in heaven; what relation do the saints who have suffered here with Jesus, whose names are blotted out from man's remembrance, over whom death appears to have triumphed hitherto -what relation shall they bear to this state of things'? shall they be spectators of the Lord's triumph, even as they have been spectacles to men and angels? or shall they remain in the state in which they are now? as yet unclothed upon with their house from heaven? No; the First Resurrection is that which brings them into relation to the earthly state of blessing of which they shall not be only spectators, but actually the administrators. The Lord will confess them in the day that He shall come in the Father's glory and that of the Holy Angels, to be His; and they shall be owned too as His, when He coming from heaven, shall raise them in incorruptible, powerful, glorious, and spiritual bodies; fashioned like unto His own glorious body ("body of glory; Phil. 3:21}. When He shall be manifested as the Son -publicly declared as such, the adopted Sons shall be manifested also. Now there are three Scriptures I would press as to this relation of the risen saints to the earth and its inhabitants, especially the people of Israel in THAT DAY. -The first is 1 Cor. 15, of which no doubt can remain as to its referring to the resurrection of the body; and that all the detail applies exclusively to the resurrection of the dead saints, or change wrought on the living ones, "according to his mighty power, who is able even to subdue (or subject) all things to Himself (Phil. 3)." Now the "all things" here and in 1 Cor. 15:27, includes all things in the earth, as it written Psa. 8, "Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen." This dominion is not yet asserted; "for we see not yet all things put under Him" (Heb. 2:8). But it is to be asserted, when the Lord Jesus Himself, to whom the Father hath subjected all things, shall come forth and take His great power and subject them; and shall begin by showing forth His mighty power on His raised and changed saints. The 8th Psalm therefore will not have its accomplishment until "those that are Christ's are raised at the Coming of Christ."

Again; in 1 Cor. 15:54, "So when this corruptible shall have put on in-corruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Now this saying is written in Isa. 25:8, "He will swallow up death in victory"; and stands in immediate connection with the destruction of the enemies of Israel, and their deliverance and exaltation; for "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah, we have a strong city, Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." But more than this, it stands connected with the removal of the moral darkness in which men are now groping:—"And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations -He will swallow up death in victory." And this we see at the time {epoch} of the resurrection of the saints. Take another passage, Rom. 8:18-23, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us: for the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; and not only it, but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption even the redemption of the body." There is a set time for the deliverance of creation, which fell into bondage when man its lord fell into sin. -That time called the times of refreshing and restitution of all things, (Acts 3:19), will not be (as it is here clearly stated) until the manifestation of the Sons of God -i.e., until they are publicly announced as His Sons in their glorious resurrection bodies (1 John 3:1, 2). The groaning creation is now waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God. -The saints, having the Spirit of adoption (i.e., sonship}, are groaning, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of the body. This text most unequivocally states the deliverance of the creation to be contemporaneous with the resurrection of the saints: that it is clear that there is an earthly state coexistent with the resurrection state. The next text will show us the relation of the resurrection saints to the delivered creation. -It is written, Heb. 2:5, "For unto the Angels hath He nut put in subjection the world {i.e., age} to come whereof we speak; but one in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? thou madest him a little lower than the Angels thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." Now this is rightfully true of the Son of Man -He is made heir of all things; but His saints are joint-heirs with Christ. -The glory the Father gave Him (as Son of Man) He has given to them. What is the assertion here plainly made, but that the delivered creation shall be under the immediate ministry of the Lord Jesus and His saints? -It is for this that it is now longing; and oh that the saints were longing for it also. "But to which of the Angels said He at any time Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation?" This ministry of Angels is from heaven to earth; but it is invisible and hindered, even as it is written, Dan. 10:12, 13, "Fear not Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to chasten thy heart before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words; but the Prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days." But under the Lord Jesus and His saints, the ministry will be like-wise exercised, from heaven to the earth; but with this difference it shall be visible and unhindered. To those on the earth it is the realization of Jacob's dream -"a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12):" or, as our Lord testified, to show its connection with Himself. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51)." Now we know that the power exercised by the Lamb effectively at this present time is, through the Spirit, invisibly to the world; "for the world seeth Him not neither knoweth Him." The Lamb as it had been slain, as seen by John, had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And we know also, that His power in controlling the events of the world, and checking Satan, and restraining evil, is secret, and, as we say, providential. This must necessarily be the case in such a dispensation of long-suffering and forbearance as the present is. But the hour is coming when the Lamb exercises direct and visible power on the earth, as He did "in the day of battle" (Zech. 14:3). "We give Thee thanks because thou hast taken to Thee thy great power and hast reigned (Rev. 11:17)." This is the great change, that instead of the world being under the providential government of the Lamb through the invisible ministry of Angels, it will be under the direct and righteous government of the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall "sit as a Priest on His throne," and the risen and glorified saints, as priests unto God, shall be the channel through which blessing comes to the earth -"the heavens shall hear the earth" (Hosea 2:21); and as kings unto God, shall exercise direct power over the earth; and that power unhindered, because Satan will be bound, -For it is written, "To him that overcometh I will give power over the nations (Rev. 2:26)." And what is this, but God's original purpose in the creation of man, as He announced at the beginning -"Let us make man in our image and in our likeness, and let them have dominion." The failure of man must first be fully proved, in order to show that power belongeth to God only; and then is God's purpose realized in the Lord Jesus. Christ and His saints -even in the second Adam, in whose image and likeness His saints are created in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:23, 24). It is those alone who have been taught their own impotence and know what salvation by the sovereignty of grace meaneth, who can be entrusted with power to use for God's glory and man's blessing. -So that in the very exercise of power they must necessarily ascribe it to its right source -"Thou wast slain and lust redeemed us to God by thy blood out of all nations, &c. and lust made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." How many are fondly cherishing the hope of a world's regeneration through the instrumentality of man -how many imagine that the progress of events is tending to such a consummation? Blessed therefore is it to be able to say, WE KNOW whither things are tending, we know that there is a regeneration for the world, but not in man's way but in the way of God's judgments; that all the increase of knowledge, science, and civilization, will be permitted to run its course only to prove its impotence against moral and physical evil, and will issue in a system of decided exclusion of God from the plans of man and thoughts of his heart, and the bringing in of a more corrupt state of things on the earth even than that before the flood; (cp. Rev. 11:18, last clause, and Gen. 6:11, 12). and this brings on "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." And it will not be till after this, when the saints of the Most high (margin, heavenlies. Eph. 6:18), possess the kingdom, which is after the destruction of earthly power or the man of the earth, that this cherished expectation of man will be realized. "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me; in THE REGENERATION, WHEN the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28)." "I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first Resurrection."

And now fourthly; as to the deep practical importance of this doctrine as the Believers proper, blessed, and glorious hope. It has been already noticed how it connects everything with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that it can alone he held in power by the recognition of the completeness of the Believer's justification, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. It is always so blessedly connected in the Scriptures with the work of Christ at His first coming, that the Holy Ghost leads on from one to the other, or in proposing the hope, immediately throws us back on the suffering of Jesus. "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God [Rev. 1:5, 6}." "Looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing {"appearing of the glory"} of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave HIMSELF for us {Titus 2:13}."

But we constantly mistake our standing in the present world, by not realizing the resurrection {rather, see Titus 2:13} as our portion. How are Believers not of this world? but because Jesus gave Himself for their sins, to deliver them out of this present evil world, according to the will of God our Father. Because they died with Him and are risen with Him through faith of the operation of God, and are seen by Him who calleth things that are not as though they were, as now sitting down in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus {Eph. 2:6}. Wherefore, says the Apostle, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, &c., it was not their place to be as though living in the world. It was their place as risen with Christ, to see everything from heaven, in the light of God's truth. In what light do man's effort, man's wisdom, man's politics appear there? do they occupy any place in the mind of heaven? no; there is joy there over one sinner that repenteth; but heaven knows only of power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing, as belonging to the Lamb. Hence, as children of the resurrection, do Believers find their proper place as ministers of grace to a world lying under the wicked One, and as testifiers by their separation from, it of its judgment.

Do you groan being burdened in this tabernacle? The first resurrection is set before you, as the time when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Do you mourn at the failure even of the best efforts of yourself and others, in testifying unto Jesus and His salvation? Remember it is but a first fruits now, and not till after the first resurrection, when the Lord and His saints directly administer to the world, will the great ingathering of the nations be -then "unto Him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:10).

Do you feel indignant at the presumptuous self-confidence of man in his attempt to do without God? "Be patient till the coming of the Lord." He is still long-suffering. -Be you so likewise. The time is fast coming when He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and you shall in the first resurrection sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. " "Who shall not fear thee O Lord, and glorify thy name for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest."

Let us learn to view everything in the light of this hope, and how vain will all the efforts of man appear, and how light and momentary all present trials, in comparison with the glory to be revealed in us.

"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." As Jesus overcame it by dying, rising, and ascending into heaven, let us overcome it through faith, and now shout, "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory."

The Christian Witness 2:203-224 (1835).

Heavenly-Mindedness

Τὰ ᾶνω Φρονεῖτε. Colossians 3:2

One great end with God, in the gospel of his grace, is at once so to bring those who believe into fellowship with himself, that they may be like-minded with him. Until this be the case, there can be no well ordered blessing for any intelligent creature. The misery of man's state is, that he is fulfilling the desires (wills, θελήμαα) of the flesh and of the mind; "that he is alienated in his mind" from God; that his very element is dissociation from God in thought and act. And here is the grace and wisdom of God in the gospel of Christ, that while he meets man in the craving of his own selfishness, his manner of meeting man's selfishness, by the blood of the Lamb, at once brings man near unto Him. It is not mere escape from coming wrath, but immediate reception into the bosom of the Father. It is reconciliation through the blood of the cross; amity restored between those who had been separate; and this mighty power of the cross is the one grand object of the mind of Heaven. Christ crucified, to them that are saved, is the power of God and the wisdom of God; and then is there unison between man on the earth and heaven. Thus he "minds the things above."

There are two ways in which the mind of heaven becomes ascertained to us. The one is, in that which is revealed to us respecting Jesus, as in heaven; and the other as respecting Jesus on the earth. In the first He is represented to us as the one grand subject of thought and theme of praise; in the second, he himself applies the thoughts of heaven to the things of earth. Into both these, it is our blessed privilege to enter. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." "Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." "We are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." It is thus that to faith a door is opened in heaven.

On the other hand, as spiritual, we are called on to judge all things-and ourselves can be judged of by no man. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15, 16)." "Being now light in the Lord," it is our privilege to walk as children of light; and what is this but the application of the mind of Christ to the circumstances around us, -in other words, to be heavenly-minded. And here is the great importance of the subject; it is not abstraction of mind from the reality of the misery around us into an ideal world; neither is it to become an ascetic, but the ability to associate heaven with the present state of things, through the knowledge of Him who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world.

When God had finished the work of creation, he saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Then, for man, created in the image and after the likeness of God, it was fitting to mind earthly things, to see the wisdom and goodness of God in the beautiful creation which He had put in subjection unto him. Then the mind of heaven and earth was one, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." God, Angels, and Men could take complacency in the earth, -it was the expression of God's power, and wisdom, and goodness. Wheresoever man turned to the things around him, they would necessarily be associated in his mind with God. But when man fell under the power of Satan, and subjected the creation to vanity, groaning, and misery, God could no longer be associated in man's mind with the works of creation, except to his own terror and confusion. Everything around him must have been a speaking testimony to his own sin and dissociation from God. He could not look to the earth, and then look with confidence towards God. He saw the withering power of his own evil. He could no longer rejoice in the earth as the work of God's hand, because the constant object presented to his view was the ruin and desolation he had introduced. But God did not immediately interfere in judgment; he left man to the trial of his powers to undo the mischief he had done. But evil increasingly developed itself in man, and through him its baneful influence passed on all around him. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth." When, therefore, the state of the earth grew worse and worse, instead of improving under the management of man, the condition of blessing could be no longer in minding earthly things, but in walking with God as Enoch, prophesying in word of the Lord coming in judgment, or in testifying by act, as Noah, of its speedy approach.

After the flood, the Lord introduces a dispensation of forbearance and longsuffering, pledging himself not to curse the ground any more for man's sake; "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Again, it is said to Noah, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth": but instead of investiture of dominion, as unto Adam, and willing acknowledgment on the part of creation to man as its lord, it now is only "The fear of you, and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth -into your hand are they delivered; every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things." But there was a reservation, and that reservation a constant testimony to man that his life was forfeited: "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." This one injunction placed man as a sinner before God, as one who had lost all title to blessing, and needed to approach God through blood. At the same time God himself interferes in the government of the earth, proving that it was taken out of man's hand into his own, and that he was the God to whom vengeance belonged. "And surely your blood of your lives will /require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." God had not interfered in vengeance against the first murderer, Cain; on the contrary, he had set a mark on him, lest any should slay him, that man might learn, being left to himself, whether he could undo the evil he had introduced. But now God interfered in the ordering of the earth, and earthly things could only be so minded, as to blessing, by man's seeing his own condition, as before God, and God's rule in the earth.

But the presumption of man only increased by God's forbearance; and instead of acknowledging God in the earth, he purposed the vain attempt of subjecting heaven to his rule. When the Lord had scattered them abroad in all the earth, then did he give them up, as it were, as to palpable interference, though "he left not himself without witness among them, in that he did them good, and gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons." But they speedily turned aside to lying vanities; and since God had left them to themselves, they made gods for themselves, according to their own minds, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. Now it pleases the Lord to interfere in another way; he calls out an individual from an idolatrous world, and makes special revelation of himself to him. And this communication of himself to Abram by Jehovah, is the introduction of a new principle, even the knowledge of another portion than things present and seen, in having Jehovah for his shield and exceeding great reward. In Abram, therefore, was the introduction of a new principle; he was the one to whom the promises were made; and that which was now to be minded, was not the state of things before the eye, but those things which were presented to faith afar off, leading to the confession, that they were pilgrims and strangers in the earth. Abram knew that a long period of darkness and distress would intervene, before the land, in which he was a stranger, should become the possession of his seed. But when the set time was come, the Lord, faithful to his word, brought them out of Egypt; and, as though he would not hinder the earth's blessing, proposes to the children of Israel to vest that blessing in them, by himself becoming their Lawgiver and their King: "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an hole nation." This was the distinguishing blessing -a holy nation, a wise and great nation; because the Lord God was in the midst of it. Here, then, was one nation in the earth, wherein to have minded earthly things would have been to have recognized God. "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? (Deut. 4:7)." An Israelite would have seen God, not only in the tabernacle service, but in his civil relations, in judicial arrangements, in his household economy -every little circumstance became of importance when sanctioned by "Ye shall" -"for I am the Lord" (Lev. 19). To have minded all these earthly things, would have been to have recognized God.

But the people would have the blessing apart from God, they minded the blessing, but became impatient of having God so near unto them; they liked not the tenure on which they held the blessing, even the acknowledgment that it was a trust to them from God; they said unto Samuel, "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Thus they rejected God; and although he bore with this their sin, and "gave them a king in his anger," and set up one in all plenitude of wisdom and power, yet it was only to show how abortive must be the attempt, in man's hand, at remedying the evil he had introduced into God's creation -it was all vanity. But although Solomon failed in getting blessing from earthly things, God did not give up the earth; he still recognized one people in it, whose happiness depended on their acknowledgment of him in the things around them. But they only rejoiced in the work of their own hands -they would "none of the Lord their God," so he gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. All his testimony had failed by the mouths of all his Prophets, saying, "Turn unto me, and I will bless you"; till at last He sent his Son, saying, "They will reverence my Son." He came with the power of earthly blessing in his hand, and presented himself to their acceptance, as the seed in whom they and all nations of the earth might be blessed. But he was despised and rejected of them. He was by wicked hands crucified and slain; but heaven received Him, as the only One in whom blessing centered. And now the wide difference between what is the mind of earth and Heaven, is made manifest. There is but one mind in heaven, and that is the acknowledgment of the worth of the Lamb that was slain. "Him hath God exalted"; to him hath Jehovah said, "Sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool." The whole intelligence of heaven is occupied in discovering all the glories of the Person and work of the Son. Here, then, is heavenly-mindedness; it can only be the portion of those who are risen with Christ. They are already come in spirit to an innumerable company of angels, and together with them desire to look into the sufferings of Christ, and the glories to follow them. There is one all-absorbing subject -it admits not of a divided mind -the loins of the mind must be girded up. It is a subject, too, which is inexhaustible. He who is a father in Christ is the one who has unlearned all else, in order to know Him that was from the beginning; and has yet to pray, "that I may know him." It is, therefore, by knowing Jesus, that we know the mind of Heaven. There is nothing fanciful or speculative in this; it is not giving the rein to a lively or warm imagination, in order to picture to ourselves what might be the employments of heaven; but it is our ability, through the knowledge of Him who descended first into the lower parts of the earth, and then ascended far above all heavens, to have fellowship with those who are there. The same substantial reality which is presented to us, is also to them the engrossing object, even the Lamb that was slain. It is this which measures the utter distance between the utmost stretch of human intellect, or loftiest flight of man's imagination, and one led by the Spirit, -the subject, is so different. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" It is no longer a God felt after, if haply we may find him, but a God made known in ministering unto our necessities. For redemption is God's medium of displaying what he is, even to those who needed not redemption themselves. When the fullness of time came for sending forth his Son, made of a woman, it was not they to whom he came to minister blessing, not they with whom he had associated himself in nature, but another race, whose nature He had not assumed, and whom He had not come to help, who sung the song of praise. The wonderful plan of redemption was first recognized in heaven. -"Glory to God in the highest." This is the great reality: till this, which occupies the mind of heaven, occupies man's mind, he only walketh in a vain show -he disquieteth himself in vain. That which is before him is vanity -the world passeth away and the lust thereof. His only reality is the sin, sorrow, and death he inherits, and which he seeks to forget in the pursuit of happiness from the creature; but the reality with which heaven is conversant, is the triumph of Him who overcame it all, and who says to his disciples, "Be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world." This is the victory they celebrate; not greatness in the world, but triumph over it through suffering from it. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." How marvelous is this! everything that the heart of man craves, in order to its happiness, all ascribed to him whom men by their wicked hands crucified and slew. Who can enter into the thoughts, who into the joys of heaven, but he that glories in the cross of Christ, and sees the world, through that medium, as lying under the wicked one. Surely to mind earthly things, is to be entirely forgetful of this triumphant song. It is assuming a right to ourselves now to receive power and riches, Sc., and thus to justify man in his crucifixion of the Lord of glory, and in our hearts to say that Jesus was accursed. He was and is worthy to receive all this because He was slain. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name Jesus sought not honor of men, and would not receive the glory of the world, but showed forth its real character and opposition to God, not only in renouncing it, but in suffering from it. -He died to it and by it.

How needful, therefore, is unison with the mind of Heaven, in order to ascertain our own proper standing in the world! How do they view all those things which man craves? -power, riches, glory, honor, -they cannot recognize them as in the hands of man, for there they are only turned to evil; they only know them as in the hands of Him that was slain. There we should know them, and live by filth n them, as ours, invested in him for us also, heirs of all His Glory. He has received in order to give; and the glory He has so hardly earned, He wills should be given to those who believe on him.

But while we thus learn the mind of Heaven, and, as taught by the Spirit, are led into unity with it, there is yet another way in which that mind was exhibited, and of this our calling is to be practical followers. While we have seen the strong contrast of the mind of Heaven with the mind of earth, there is another contrast which we are called on to survey, and that is between the beloved Son of God and the world in which He was. It is thus we not only learn the entire alienation of the world from God, but we have the heavenly mind brought before us, in very minute detail, concerning the every-day occurrences of life. It was He who alone could say, "No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven;" who could show us the thoughts of God concerning the evil in which we are, and point out how those who were made partakers of the heavenly calling, were to walk worthily of it. It is thus that every circumstance becomes an occasion of showing forth heavenly-mindedness. It is easy for us now to see that one use the wisdom of God has made of man's evil, has been to manifest His own blessedness through it. It is in his dealing with evil that the character of God has been made known to us, and not only to us but to Angels. And a further display of God's wisdom is now being manifested unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, by the Church, called to act in the world on the very same principles that he is acting in it. It is this which gives such distinctiveness to Christian morals, which, while they do most fully recognize all that is honest and of good report, at the same time present to us that which is really lovely, because a transcript of God. The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness, but the sphere of its exercise being evil, it must only be in suffering, in endurance. He is "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him," but that knowledge is to be applied to the circumstances of man, to show that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding"; and that the wisdom which comes from above, is at direct variance with that of man, as applied to like circumstances. Here is the grand distinction," that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus." Now Jesus indeed is the truth, for all truth centers in him; but here the Apostle is speaking not of doctrine but of Christian conduct, and the real walk of a believer is only to be seen "as the truth is in Jesus." -This is the lesson before us, "Learn of me"; the Master does not order the disciple to do anything but to follow him. And the standard proposed is, "every one that is perfect shall be as his Master." It is therefore in Jesus come into the world, that we find what real heavenly-mindedness is, and at once discover that one so minded, could not take complacency in the state of things around us. We indeed, who are born under the law of sin and death, are made to feel, in our own selves, what misery is; we are of the earth and earthy, and speak of the earthly, but He came from heaven, and spoke that which He had seen and heard; and, acquainted with the pure blessing of heaven, He could not take delight in the things of the world. He that came from above could make the contrast, and became a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, from the keen perception of the moral desolation and ruin into which man had hurried God's creation. Separate from sinners himself, He could deeply sympathize with the misery of man. He was of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and saw man without the fear of God before His eyes. Knowing the blessedness of being in the Father's bosom, He saw man seeking his happiness in the creature -He knew the wrath of God, and that it was coming, and beheld man living as though he were in the sunshine of God's favor. He dwelt in the holiness of God, and saw man dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air. All the realities were brought before him, and he mourned and marveled at man's unbelief, and was grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He saw the full sway of death, and wept at the grave of Lazarus, and yet man had become so familiar with death as to forget that it was the penalty of sin. This is heavenly-mindedness; no complacency in any effort of the flesh, but seeing all its glory fading before the power of death, no rejoicing in what man was rejoicing in -even in the works of his hands, but seeing God in his works, and discovering more real glory in the lily of the field than in all the splendor of Solomon.

This is heavenly-mindedness; it is the ability to rate evil at all its fearful extent, and to know God to the full extent of His blessedness. It is no ideal speculation, no refined mysticism, but the soul apprehending God in Christ, and applying its apprehension of Him to present circumstances. Here is one great value of the incarnation; it is to us the expression of the mind of God on our circumstances. "I," says Jesus, "am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." He did the will of Him that sent Him, and therefore could judge righteous judgment; and it is only as doing that same will that we are in the capacity of exercising right judgment. Our judgment must ever be according to appearances, until we have come to recognize Jesus as God's standard, by which He tries everything. It is in this that we fail so much of heavenly-mindedness. The circumstances before us are the things which present themselves, -we judge them, good or bad, relatively to our convenience or interest; but we fail of getting God's judgment of them, by not bringing Jesus unto them to see the truth as it is in him. It is marvelous how often man is calling that light, which He called darkness, and that good, which He showed to be evil. There is much need to suspect our own judgments, and to see, as in the case of Peter, how man's mind (φρονεις τα των ανθρωπων Matt. 16:23) is exercised erroneously, even in the things of God. This is what the apostle found wanting in the Hebrews. They had not their senses "exercised, by reason of use, to discern both good and evil." Our portion is to have the mind of Christ; and, in virtue of the Holy Spirit, who searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, to ascertain His thoughts, and apply them to circumstances around us.

It is, as quickened together with Christ, and made to sit together in the heavenlies in Him {Eph. 2}, that we are enabled to survey the world, and all that is in it by the light of heaven. "If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." "Mind the things above, not the things on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." It is thus that we learn that the system of things on the earth is the subject of the long-suffering and forbearance of God, who will put off the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, until man's iniquity has again come to the full. We see the Lord Jesus Christ ready to judge the quick and the dead, yet patiently expecting, that the testimony may go forth unto his sacrifice, that none may perish unwarned. How needful for us thus to be heavenly-minded, and to learn our place of separation from the world -to bear with it as God does; not avenge ourselves, but to leave vengeance to him, and to show the same grace towards it that He shows, and to use unremittingly the present opportunity of testimony. Here, truly, is the wonderful glory of the mind of heaven -the power to endure. We know not what manner of spirit we are of, till we enter the full mind of Him, the greatness of whose power is the ability to restrain it. "God hath spoken once -twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God; also unto thee, Lord, belongeth mercy (Psa. 62)." Where, but in God, shall we find power to rid Himself of His adversaries, so restrained by mercy, and He Himself beseeching sinners, the meanwhile, to be reconciled to Him. "Put on, therefore, as the Elect of God holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, forbearance and long-suffering," for this is the mind of heaven.

But while we learn that heavenly-mindedness is necessarily sorrow of heart, as to things around, we learn also, that to do God's will on earth, is necessarily suffering. The Son of man, who was in heaven {while on} on earth {John 3:13}, was the just and holy one; He fulfilled all righteousness Himself; but He exercised it not for Himself. To others He was all grace: it was cast into His teeth as a reproach, "this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them"; and does the Lord vindicate himself from the charge? On the contrary, He takes it as the occasion of showing what the mind of heaven was; that while one sinner would indignantly cast away from His presence another, infinite purity and holiness was exhibited, as able to receive such and to bless them. This is grace -this is what God had in store to reveal of himself, after that His goodness, and holiness, and righteousness had been made known to no purpose. This is his great glory; here is set forth the infinite contrariety between God and man; man who loves sin puts away from him his fellow-sinner; God's counseled grace, in showing his hatred of sin, brings blessing to the sinner, and brings him near to himself to bless him. It is in this that he abounds towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Here it is that God's thoughts are so far above our thoughts, and His ways far higher than ours; and yet His thoughts and His ways are the rule He prescribes to us. Not only, therefore, in doing God's will are we called on to put on the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness, but to walk in grace towards an evil world -hence necessarily to suffer -he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey {XXX}. God is not judging, he must not judge. God is not taking vengeance, he cannot avenge himself. God is not resisting evil by righteousness exercised in power, he must not resist evil. But beyond this, the blessedness of that grace we do not know, is to be shown forth practically. It was not compulsion on our part that brought the blessing from heaven to man. Even had man urged God to bless him, he never could have thought of the possibility of such a blessing being conferred, as to be so brought unto God's favor, as to be made His sons. God's own grace far exceeded even the exigencies of man" s misery. This is the mind of heaven, and how is it applicable to us? "Whoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." We are called upon to show the vast superiority of grace over selfishness, the only natural principle of man, to do more from love than he would exact from interest. And then follows the perfect love of God, seen in His loving those who loved not Him, as the only standard proposed for our imitation. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And the same standard is held up to us as walking in connection with brethren: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you; be ye therefore followers (imitators μιμηται) of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor" (Eph. 4:32; 5:1, 2).

But the most remarkable characteristic of the mind of heaven, in reference to the world, is, that God should now forego for a time His right to judge the world. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." The testimony unto its coming judgment in righteousness, is in order to point sinners now to Him to whom all the prophets bare witness, that "through his name whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins." There is now "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

It is the rule of heaven which is prescribed to us, now we are called on to rejoice in the triumphs of God's grace; but the time is approaching, when the period of God's long-suffering will be spent, and iniquity come to its full, and then the mind of heaven will be differently expressed:-"I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia I salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments." Here is the infinite importance, that the tone of our mind should be in unison with that of God; that when He is dealing with a ruined world in grace, we should be like-minded with Him in reference to it, but that when His judgments are made manifest, we should be prepared to praise him for His holiness. This it is into which we are now brought, instead of "being without God in the world," to acknowledge him in it. The world, as evil, is the sphere of God's display of His forbearance, and Jesus, in such a world, asserted not His right, because the assertion of that most have been its judgment. He always took the place of one who receded from that which He might justly have asserted. John had need to be baptized of Him, yet with the full allowance of this, He comes to be baptized of John, that thus in obedience He might fulfill all righteousness. So, again, as the Son, He was not compelled to pay the half-shekel for the Temple service, yet He waived His right. It was thus that He taught us our place, "But I say unto you that ye resist not evil." Here is the grand contrast, the system of the world is the resistance of evil; to this end are all the energies and wisdom of man, whether individually or collectively, directed. The standard assumed is man's convenience: hence much that is evil in God's sight is tolerated and accredited by human legislation, and the very end for which man is brought up in the world, is the assertion of his supposed rights. The believer has not so learned Christ; he knows God's right and title in all justice towards him is condemnation, but God has waived that, and given him the right of a son, of his own free grace, having made him accepted in the Beloved. His place and standing in the same evil world in which the Beloved himself stood, is to follow him; to bring to bear the same mind on it as he exhibited: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." That which orders the world in any measure now is vengeance and wrath, -these are the principles of rule in the world as ordered of God. "The powers that be are ordained of God," and the power "beareth the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger unto wrath upon him that doeth evil." Here is the most distinct mark between God dwelling in the Church, and God's owning authority in the world. The church is partaker of the heavenly calling, and her place is to show forth in the world the heavenly mind. And where can this be shown more clearly, than in the two simple regulating principles, "The world will love its own," -"Love seeketh not her own." Self-interest is the world's grand maxim, self-denial that of Christ. It is fellowship alone with the heavenly mind that enables us to walk in a straight path. We know, alas! that the consummation of apostasy is the establishment of the world's own principle upon the seeming basis of Christianity. "In the last days perilous times shall come, men shall be lovers of their ownselves." The attempt of the church to act on the world's principle of asserting present power, has ever been to tolerate iniquity and persecute truth; while the attempt of the world to act on anything like Christian principles, has been to give the rein to ungodliness, and strengthen the hands of the wicked. The new piece put to the old garment makes the rent only worse; the new wine put into old bottles causes them to burst, and the wine is spilled. Such has been the result of attempting to apply those blessed principles, which can only be acted out in the church, to the rule of the world. It is only as closely following in the steps of Him, the Son of man in heaven, even while on earth, that we shall walk in the light and not stumble.

As we see that the crisis, to which all are hastening, is the victory of the world over the professing Church, our place is to be followers of Him who could say to us, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The Lord puts in direct contrast the two things which the world and the Church have both sought to unite, that is, power and grace. "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him he your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many." As He is, so are we in this world; He is the Beloved Son and Heir of all things too; we are dear children, and joint-heirs with Him. Now, as the Father loved the Son, and gave all things unto Him, and He stood in the midst of the world as one who could say, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father," so it was in the recognition of the completeness of his title to all things that he said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Here, then, is your place -in title, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; but, as children, now only called to manifest the mind of your Father in bearing with, and ministering grace unto a ruined world, and in doing all things without murmurings and disputings.

But there is another way in which we learn the truth as it is in Jesus, in seeing him, the Son, humbled to the place of the servant, and there learning obedience through the things that he suffered. Our calling is unto obedience and suffering. "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience {1 Peter 1:2}." "To you it is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." This is our heavenly calling -obedience; and as this is exercised here, it must be obedience in suffering. To obey when the world is ordered by a King reigning in righteousness, would not be to suffer; the work of righteousness would be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness {XXX}; but to obey God, when He is dealing with the world in grace, is necessarily to suffer for righteousness' sake; and therefore are we called upon to "do all things without murmurings and disputings, that we may be the sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, holding forth the word of life." Obedience is the one rule of heaven; and strange must be the disorder, to their apprehensions, of man, a creature, presuming to set up his will against that of God. The will of God is known in heaven as the only blessedness; "Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." Now this was to be shown forth on earth as the only blessedness; and, therefore, he who came from heaven, and had no right to obey in heaven, came to learn obedience by the things which he suffered. This was the great lesson to teach man; this was heavenly-mindedness -obedience to God under any circumstances -"Lo! I come to do thy will, O God." Obedience carried Him unto death; and thus he speaks to his disciples: "He that loveth his life shall lose it; he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal: if any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor." And thus it is that heavenly-mindedness is to be shown, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. The obedience of the Son is the great wonder of heaven, as well as the deeply-instructive lesson to those who dwell on earth, "I have glorified thee on earth." All were glorifying God in heaven; but this was his alone to say, because he willingly became the subject in which the Father's name might be glorified; He turned not away His back: He gave His back to the sinkers, and His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; He hid not His face from shame and spitting; but obedience and confidence went hand in hand -"For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." And the result of the humiliation of the Son unto obedience shall be, that the mind of earth and heaven become one. "God's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven." Then shall man say as Jesus said, "I know that his commandment is eternal life."

It is of unspeakable value to us to have the steady light of heaven to guide us through the darkness of this world. The example of Jesus ever bears on His own precept. The precept is general, the example affords the limitation, and it is our wisdom to bring the two together, that we may know how to walk and to please God. "I," says Jesus, "am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." We have a most remarkable instance of Jesus, as the light, in his early years -an instance of immense value to those who, on the one hand, are called upon to forsake father and mother for Christ's sake, and, on the other, are warned as to disobedience to parents being one of the marks of the apostasy of the latter day, -he could say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" and then went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. He recognized God as the only fountain of authority; and when that authority came to bear directly on Him, He would suffer no derived authority to stand in its way. This is the mind of heaven. Power belongeth unto God, and is so to be recognized both in a parent and in a ruler: but they cannot use the power with which God has entrusted them against His own authority. Where that is the point, we must obey God rather than man -obey God, and suffer from man. Obedience to man, in such a case, would be disobedience to God. How many questions would be avoided, how many difficulties solved, had we the mind of Him whose meat it was to do the will of him that sent him! There was in him a single object; and those cases, which are only perplexing because there is self-will in us, were plain unto Him.

It is thus, then, that heavenly-mindedness is to be exercised in the most common things. The children of God are thus called into direct contrast with the world in which they are -in it, but not of it, and showing forth his praises "who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light." Almost all the casuistry we are exercising, arises from the supposition that we are still debtors to the flesh, that we must take a lower standard than that into which union with Christ brings us. The word to us is, "Ye are dead." No longer ought we to look on ourselves as united with the first man Adam, otherwise than unto the disowning of the flesh, but with the second Man, the Lord from heaven; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly {1 Cor. 15: XXX}. It is now to live and walk in the Spirit, now to put on the new man, as being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, having thus the earnest of that perfect conformity which awaits them at the resurrection, unto which they are predestinated, even the image of his Son.

And how blessed, amidst the shifting morality of man, to have an unerring judgment; at once to find deliverance from the thousand perplexities and inconsistencies which distract the mind of one seeking to serve God and Mammon. "The flesh profiteth nothing"; all its glory is grass. "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." This is the righteous judgment of him who, taking his stand with Christ at the right hand of God, views all things from thence. How is the fond delusion vanished, the moment we got to our proper standing, of any expectation of good from man. The vain pursuit is given up, and the only desire is to mortify the members which are on the earth, and to find the blessing that follows: "If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

The Christian Witness 2:311-328 (1835).

Luke 14-16

It is one common but remarkable feature in the history of the progress of the spiritual mind, that it gradually is turned away from the external evidences of Christianity, because of the convincing testimony of the Scriptures themselves to their divine origin. -"He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself"; and this is the most happy liberty of the simple minded believer in Christ. He is delivered from that ceaseless questioning characterized as "always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," which is the miserable state of those who, indulging the natural unbelief of their heart, are ever requiring a demonstration subjected to their understanding, instead of the exhibition of the moral glory of God in the person of His Son, addressed to their consciences. This indeed is the question between God and man. "Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." For after all, infidelity in its moral character (and as such it is always treated in Scripture), comes to this, man's setting himself up in comparison with the Lord Jesus Christ, and giving himself the preference. But he that believeth on the Son of God, knows Him to be the great subject of the revelation of God, the grand doctrine taught of God, as well as being in His own person the revealer of God, and a teacher sent from God. Hence it is that the Scriptures are of such a peculiar character; they have a definite point in view -the unfolding the purpose of God in Christ. Hence even those parts of the Scriptures which are historical or biographical, pass over some incidents which, in the estimation of man, would be the best worth recording, and dwell on others which, insignificant in themselves, have a typical character, or are illustrative of some of the great principles of God. The rest of the acts of a king of Israel or Judah, monuments it might be of his genius or prowess, are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah; but that which is profitable for us to know is written for our admonition in the Scripture of truth. If examples were wanting, why, it may be asked, is the incest of Judah so largely (comparatively speaking) recorded? Why the history of Ruth introduced into the sacred Canon? The answer is found by a spiritual understanding in Matt. 1:3-5, "Judas begat Pharos and Zara of Tamar; and Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab; and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king." It was connected with the genealogy of David and "of the Son of David." In the New Testament, in the Gospels, we have the biography and we have the doctrines of Jesus -"all that Jesus began both to do, and to teach"; and yet we should have but a very imperfect account indeed, if we looked only at these notices, of Him who went about doing good, and lose the most valuable instruction, if we did not seek for more than a mere historical record. The astonishing things which Jesus did would, each one by itself, in man's estimation, have filled a volume. He went about doing good; and hardly a step did He move without doing that which, if man had been the recorder, and man's fame the object, would have furnished materials too ample for man to digest (John 20:30, 31; 21:25). "And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people; and His fame went through-out all Syria, and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and He healed them." It is in a way so succinct as this that works the most stupendous in the eyes of men, are noticed by the Spirit of God. It is "the Word made flesh, and that dwelt among us full of grace and truth," which is exhibited to us in the gospels. And the occasions appear to be watched, arising either from contrast or circumstances, of bringing forth this grace and truth which was in Hint to light.

It is not merely the personal biography of Jesus, neither is it the exhibition of Him in one character alone which is there intended, but the setting Him forth as the Light and the Truth. Hence it is in a great measure that the orderly narration of events is not so much studied nor prominence given to those, which in our fleshly judgment were the most important, because it is not the event but the person and His manner and way in it which it is so important for us to know. Each of the Evangelists, as has been remarked in vol. 1 of this publication, holds up Jesus in a different relation, the one is not supplemental to the other, but that which Jesus did or said is either recorded or omitted, as it tended to elucidate that part of His manifold character which the Holy Ghost, who glorifieth Jesus was thus by man's instrumentality unfolding to us. The testimonies of John the Baptist to Jesus in Matt. 3 and John 1 and 3 are very different, but characteristically different in that Matthew is the historian of the "Son of David, the Son of Abraham" of Jesus the Messias, John of Him who was "from the beginning" "the Word made flesh. " But marked as these differences are in the narratives themselves, no less marked is the manner in which the Lord Himself takes the opportunity of evolving the truth Almost all the recorded discourses of the Lord are incidental, they arose out of the circumstances in which He was, or from the observations of the bystanders. These constantly afforded occasion for contrasting the thoughts and ways of God with those of man; not only showing them to be higher, but showing what grace was in God, and what truth was, by the absence of both in man.

It was a rare thing for the Lord to appear out of that place to which He had humbled Himself, though equal with God, the place of a Servant; for He took upon Him the form of a Servant being made in the likeness of men. He had voluntarily come into it (which no creature not {even} the highest Archangel could do, for servant is his proper place) and acted consistently in it -waiting Himself to receive the commandments of God to tell them to others. "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me He doeth the works." It was as thus humbled that He watched His opportunity of instruction, waiting upon His Father, as He speaks, "the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: I-le wakeneth morning by morning. he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned (Isa. 1:4)." It was thus as He said in another place, "My doctrine is not mine but His that sent me" (John 7:16)," and it was brought out on the suitable occasion. Hence arises the great danger of systematizing Christianity -it was not so introduced. The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Moses comes down from the Mount and continuously narrates to the people what he had heard and seen in the Mount. It was law, an ordered system; it was that which befitted the holiness of God, and therefore capable of being at once exhibited. The Prophet like unto Moses but greater than Moses, for "He that cometh from heaven is above all," testified to what He had seen and heard; but it was not law, but grace and truth; which, except in His own Person, were incapable of being at once exhibited, but required to be unfolded gradually, according as the manifold necessities of man discovered themselves; for there is not a single necessity of man (hard as it is for us to learn all our wants (i.e., needs}) which is not met by the fullness of that grace which is in Christ Jesus. It is therefore of no small importance to notice attentively not only the matter but the manner of the Lord's discourses -that which led to them as well as the point to which they tend. And it is this which ever gives a peculiar freshness to the gospels. In the epistles we have, as it were, God's plans most graciously subjected to the spiritual understanding; but in the gospels the living, speaking, acting truth itself. Among other ways of the Lord, one appears very frequently marked, (standing as He did as "the minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers {Rom. 15:8}" and yet in all the consciousness of rejection by His own, and with a Baptism before Him to be baptized (with which so deeply straitened His soul), He seized on every suitable occasion to break in on Jewish feeling and Jewish expectation, in order to lead the mind to another state of things. One very frequent way of doing this was by performing acts of mercy on the Sabbath, which afforded such matter of controversy between Him and the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 12; John 5, 7:21-24). And the record of this and the reference by the Lord to it, prove it to be an instructive point. it was clearly the breaking in on Jewish feeling, as to any rest in earthly things then. God had rested in creation; man had broken in on that rest by sin. God had again, as it were, rested in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, supplying their wants with bread from heaven (Ex. 16:23). but they immediately broke it again and fell to murmuring (Ex. 17). Joshua did not lead them into the typified rest; the commandment stood on the table of the covenant, it stood marked not as their present blessing, but as the memorial of God's rest in creation and pledge and type of it. But man would rejoice in the works of His hands; and although as a people they had notoriously profaned the Lord's Sabbath (Ezek. 20:13 -6), they still kept them for their own sakes, so that the charge against them was, "the new moons and sabbath I cannot away with" (Isa. 1). It formed an easy part of their religion, to make up by a scrupulous austerity on the seventh day for exaction and covetousness on the six. It was thus at the time of the Lord's ministry that they were settled down in self-complacency, taking rest here, instead of anticipating their entrance into God's rest. The reason of our Lord's prominent acts of mercy being then done on the the Sabbath day, He Himself gives, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (John 5:17)." It was not yet the rest of God; however they might take complacency in the existing system, God could not. This could not fail to be an instructive testimony to the Jews, as indeed is abundantly evident from the power it had of exasperating them. But it is not less instructive to us -there is no rest of God in the world -it is the subject of His long-suffering and forbearance, not of His complacency. There is One in whom His soul does rest, even Jesus, and in Him also does the Believer rest; and hence it is not the sabbath which the Christian delights himself in, but the Lord's day, even in the resurrection of Jesus, where his soul can dwell on that which is not subject to change -even the "inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven." This infringement of the supposed sanctity of the sabbath, while it furnished a positive testimony to the glory of His Person, "the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath," was especially intended to lead to a new hope and a new order of things, of which the sabbath was not properly typical. This was of frequent occurrence. But there were incidents from which the Lord took the occasion of seeking entirely to dissociate the minds of His disciples from the existing system, and to lead them on to another dispensation at direct contrast with it. Such an occasion was furnished by the confession of Peter (Matt. 16:16). As the patient servant, when Jesus saw the teaching of His Father to Peter as to the glory of His own Person, He immediately makes mention of the Church, a thing entirely new to them. His own Person thus confessed being the rock on which it was founded. He showed them that it was to intervene before their expectation would be realized (v. 27). He points out its characteristics connected with His own humiliation (24, 25); its assured blessing under all circumstances, ch. 18, its heavenly treasure, ch. 19, and the great principle of its gathering, the sovereignty of grace, ch. 20. And then again, ch. 21, He appears in the character properly of Messiah, and so leaves them, 23, ad. fm. Another instance is the inquiry of the Greeks to see Jesus (John 12:21). Here it is that Jesus went through in Spirit, (Isa. 49:1-6), and takes the occasion to open the coming dispensation -its character and reward of service, 21-24 -and to establish its principle -not Messiah come to His own, and the people gathered unto Him; but the Son of Man lifted up an attractive point to sinners -"this He said, signifying what death He should die." Now I believe the 14, 15, 16 chapters of Luke furnish another occasion of the way which the Lord took to break in on Jewish thoughts and expectations. "It came to pass as He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched Him." He answered their unexpressed thoughts, making themselves the judges, and immediately healed the man of the dropsy. But how marked is the contrast: with all the eager desire of attaching blame to Jesus, and finding in Him some iniquity in which they could rejoice, they could convict Him of none. But He had only to turn His eyes on the scene before Him, and immediately the opportunity was presented of showing forth the great principle of His own conduct and of His kingdom, -the principle of God in its contrariety to the principle of man. "And He put forth a parable to them, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms {places} (v. 7)." It was the unfolding of His own grace; He took the lowest room, and could say, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Humility may be learned in the distance between the Creator and creature, but as man would himself try to fill up that distance, it gives no rest to the soul. Humility also may be learned when awakened to sin from the light of the holiness of God -"I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes"; but here there is no rest, till the power of the blood of Jesus in cleansing from all sin is known. But the humility which Jesus here inculcates, arose from the circumstances of man; the Lord of Glory could only take the lowest place in an evil world -He could not be great in man's estimation, whose praise was not of man but of God. It is the ascertained condition of the world, as lying under the wicked one, that necessarily brings one who is risen with Christ into heavenly fellowship, to desire to be nothing in it; and this is humility, meekness, and lowliness. The desire to be great or high in the world, is to be great and high in the estimation of evil. "The day of the Lord is against everything which is high and lifted up." This is now known to faith, Jesus came to do God's will, and in doing it among those who were fulfilling the wills of their flesh and of their mind, He was necessarily lowly. The world passeth away, but "he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Hence the word to us, "mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate." But farther than this, the Lord here taught the rule of service in His kingdom -"take the lowest place, and he that bade thee when he shall come, shall say unto thee, Friend go up higher, and their shalt thou have glory before those who sit at meat with thee." This is the great rule of the kingdom, so often repeated,—"Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" -a rule totally opposed to Jewish feeling, as it is to the course of the world; for what is Judaism in principle? "elements of the world"; -in its perfection -a worldly sanctuary, worldly worship, and worldly blessing. Now this was the thing to be broken down. -God could not in an apostate world, about to consummate its apostasy by the rejection of the Lord of Glory, have a worldly people or worldly worship; and hence the constant effort of Jesus, both by teaching and practice, to break in upon its order, and to introduce those principles on which, at least the world, when pressed, has the honesty to confess it cannot possibly go on.

In Luke 12:12-24, we have opened to us, first the riches of God's grace; and, secondly, the compelling power of grace in testimony. The usages of man then, as well as now, afforded the opportunity of setting in strong contrast the ways and thoughts of God, with those of men. "When thou makest a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again; -but when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed." Now while this, as preceptive, is a direct infringement on the refined social order of man, it is the most just exhibition of that grace, which invites those who have no claim and cannot recompense, to come freely to partake of all the bounty and blessedness of God. Hence, in the parable that follows (v. 21), the very same persons are invited as he directed his host to invite. "Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servants, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind." But while exhibiting this grace, the Lord in answer to the observer's remark, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," showed the contempt in which men would hold the kingdom of God, by the preference of that which was connected with his own social arrangement. The Lord is put off with civility, decency, or reasonableness (Luke 14:18-20); but the excuses of the two first, as well as the rationality of the other, all arise from the circumstances of the course of the world; the question as to man, morally before God as a sinner, and the possibility of one so constituted, eating bread in the kingdom of God, does not arise in their thoughts. One great question at issue between God and man is, whether He shall arrange the world for blessing in His own way, or man improve it by his powers. While man is for standing by his own order, anything however innocent in itself becomes a positive hindrance to his entering into the kingdom of God, or God's order. The piece of ground fairly purchased, the oxen bought, the wife honestly married -preoccupied minds and hearts, effectually hindered the reception of the testimony to another order of things.

While, however, we get this general moral instruction, our Lord seems especially to have had in view the Scribes and Pharisees and Religionists of the day, who would have had everything to give up, in order to come to Jesus. They were invited -the Lord presented Himself to them as Messiah -but they excused themselves. The Lord would have some, and therefore it was no longer invitation, but "bring in those" who had nothing, from the lanes of the city. Surely these are the poor of the flock to whom the Lord turned when rejected by the nation (Zech. 9:11), brought in on the sovereignty of His grace, "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they καθ ον τροπον κακεινοι." (Acts 15:11)." "To the poor the gospel is preached" -a new order to them would, humanly speaking, be a blessed change for them. But after they were brought in there was room, and the servant is sent out to the high-ways and hedges to "compel them to come in." This is not in the city, -but the going into all nations in the power of testimony, and compelling them to come in who would have had no thought of such a blessing themselves. For the faithfulness of God, Jesus was presented to the Jews, -He came to His own and His own received Him not; but God's faith was in no wise pledged to the Gentiles -they were "strangers from the covenants of promise {Eph. 2}" -but He was "preached unto the Gentiles, that they might glorify God for His mercy" (Rom. 15:8, 9). A Gentile comes into the kingdom upon simple pure mercy (so indeed a Jew); but there were children of the kingdom cast out (Matt. 8:12). Those to whom God was pledged in faithfulness to offer the kingdom, -they were invited, but they refused; now it is compel them, -Go ye therefore into all nations. The ignorant, the unwilling, the unlikely -those who have no thought of the kingdom themselves, are to be pressed with the testimony of it. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." This is the blessed gospel ministry -the ministry of reconciliation -Go and compel. "The love of Christ constraineth us. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Now this is widely different from the Jewish priesthood, -the man had to come to the priest, or to be brought or to bring his offering. There was no provision in the law strictly corresponding to this ministry. It was a new thing arising out of the new aspect in which God was presenting Himself to the world. In giving the law, Jehovah Himself had commanded barriers to be put round the mountain forbidding access unto Him; but now He breaks through the barrier, first, by sending His Son into the world, not to condemn, and then the Son sending others with the ministry of reconciliation. Nothing has tended more to obscure the riches of God's grace than the attempt of man to confound the ministry of the gospel with priesthood, as if they were the same in nature, differing only in degree, whereas they are essentially distinct.

Another violent inroad on Jewish feeling was immediately made by our Lord's description of discipleship (Luke 14:25); "And there went great multitudes with Him; and He turned and said unto them, If any man come unto mo and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." How different was this from the feeling of the disciple of Moses; there it was, "He (the Lord) will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee (Deut. 7:13)." Jesus was abhorred by the nation, despised and rejected of men, and about to bid farewell to every earthly association; and therefore discipleship was to bid farewell to all one hath ρασι τοις εαυτΧΧΧ υπαρχΧΧΧοιν -all subsisting things then present with which man was conversant, in order to, be introduced into a new sphere of unseen and eternal realities, to which faith would give a present subsistence (Heb. 11:1). Therefore it is written, "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, Behold all things are become new;" he must forsake all to follow Jesus, -evidently connecting this with the excuses for not following Him. (v. 18). Any admixture would spoil the disciple. Christ should be everything unto him, and if he be not a savor of Him he is worse than useless (Luke 14:34, 35).

The Luke 15 introduces Jesus giving a practiced exhibition, in His own conduct, of that grace He had been pressing on others. In the former chapter He had been eating in the house of one of the chief Pharisees; but in this -"Then came near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him; and the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." The charge was a charge against the very principle He had been pressing on them; -" When thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind"; and His invitation, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring hither the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind." The corning of all the publicans and sinners was, as it were, the answer to the invitation, and afforded a further occasion of unfolding the riches of the grace of God. Jesus did receive those whom they would not. What a marvelous contrast? God in His unsullied purity able to receive and bless a sinner; but man, a sinner himself, scornfully rejecting a fellow-sinner as degrading for him to receive. But here the pride of man led Jesus into vindication of the grace of God.; yes, we have here, as it were, God before the tribunal of His own creatures, vindicating His character, not for judging, but for waiving His title to judge sinners, and to deal with them in grace. Man would fain vindicate himself and deny the title of God to judge him; but the gospel is that of the grace of God, and Christ Himself, God's vindication of His own character for exhibiting such surpassing grace. On this suitable occasion, with the fact before his eyes, it seemed strange in man's judgment that God should show mercy to a sinner, acknowledged as such; but herein are God's ways not as our ways, and His thoughts not as ours. Man would expect mercy, because in his own estimation he was righteous: God would show mercy, because, in His righteous judgment, man was a sinner, -lost, ruined, helpless. Man would prefer his claim for mercy, God would show it where no claim could be so preferred. Thus it was that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ; and constantly was the opportunity afforded of putting in the strongest contrasts the ways and thoughts of God with those of men, and meeting the reasonings of man against God, but in fact against himself, by bringing out in this way "mercy rejoicing against judgment." The most refined casuistry of man, relative to his standing before God, leaves him at best in uncertainty as to his condition, but the reasoning of God in respect of His grace to man, while it shows its perfect consistency with His own character, that it is, as the Apostle says, "the righteousness of God," at the same time answers the very thoughts and reasonings of man against himself in reference to God. I enter not into the further unfolding of the parables in this chapter, as illustrating the conduct of God in grace; only here it is that we see distinctly brought out the thoughts of earth and heaven on the same subject. Man on earth is indignant at Jesus, the Son of God -God manifested in the flesh receiving a sinner; angels in heaven rejoice. -"For," says the Lord, "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 65:9). There is one other point of correspondence between this and the former chapter, which I think is to be found in the conduct of the elder brother. He was angry at the reception of the worthless younger brother, and would not come into the feast; "therefore came his father out and entreated him." In the former chapter we find the feast ready and the guests bidden, but they would not come in (Luke 14:17-21). But here we have further the reason set forth: -The elder brother might have come in and been welcome, but he would not. This seems clearly to represent the Jew in his moral standing before God, just where the Apostle leaves them in Rom. 10 and they are found to this day. "They being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." And thus, while on the one hand the conduct of the elder son fully proved his ignorance as to the manner of obtaining blessing, -He, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, could vindicate God's faithfulness to the Jew in that blessing he coveted -i.e., earthly blessing. Israel was still God's first-born (Ex. 4:22): to him still pertained the adoption and the promises (Rom. 9:4); and therefore it is said, as showing that their unbelief did not make the faith of God without effect (Rom. 3:3), "Son thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine (Luke 15:31)." It was pride and selfishness which effectually hindered his entering into the meetness of making merry and being glad at that time, when all the grace of the father's heart was shown, and the openness of his house displayed to the returning worthless one. He kept back from that feast in which alone the fatted calf was killed, because the most worthless came in unto it. And how does the same pride and selfishness work in us to hinder our entering into the meetness of God to rejoice over one returning sinner, How effectually do the very riches of God's grace (and surely hereby the sin of man is exceeding sinful) hinder man, sufficient of himself in his own thought, from coming to the full blessing of God, because the vile and worthless may come into it on the very same ground as himself. "But wisdom is justified of her children."

Chapter 16 -in its commencement, is directly addressed by Jesus to His disciples, -"And be said also unto His disciples"; -and it appears to me to have been intended specially to detach them from the then existing system of things, as the former chapter had served to break in on their principle of establishing their own righteousness. The Jew was God's steward -their privileges were a sacred deposit, as it is written,—"What advantage then hath the Jew? much every way; chiefly because that 'unto them were committed the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2)." But there was their "lie" -their failure: instead of God being benefited by their stewardship, they had wasted His goods, -the name of God was blasphemed among the heathen through them. The stewardship was to be taken away -their distinctive privileges were to be withdrawn -the oracles of God no longer entrusted to their keeping, -as it is written, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children (Hos. 4:6)."

The time was coming, when God would be no longer worshiped at Jerusalem, and when "Lo-ammi" (i.e., not my people} would be legibly written on the Jew. The prospect therefore was most humiliating. "I cannot dig; to beg, I am ashamed. " While the Lord is leading the minds of the disciples onwards, so as to carry them on to the everlasting habitation, He seems by the way, in these words, to characterize the Jew. He has no land to till, and his pride is so indomitable that he refuses to beg of a dog of the Gentiles; so that cleverness, overreaching, and dishonesty alone open a field to him of prosperity. But the instruction to the disciples was most important: seeing that all these were about to pass away, it would be their wisdom to be provided with another house; to make themselves friends, while they could, of the mammon of unrighteousness, -giving it up and forsaking it, that they might have everlasting habitations. The steward's wisdom was for a temporary accommodation; theirs would be for everlasting habitations -a residence unaffected by changes here.

But farther: the change would be to those who were faithful from little to: much, -from the unrighteous mammon to the true riches -from stewardship to proprietorship, -as those who would be sons; and if sons, heirs of God (Luke 16:10-12). It is thus the Lord drew the minds of His disciples away from that which, however glorious in itself, would have no glory by reason of that glory which excelleth. The Lord give us to know the riches that are "our own."

In the next place, we find the Lord meeting the readiness of our minds to blend the two systems -one conversant with the mammon of unrighteousness, and the other with the true riches -by stating the impossibility of success in the attempt, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." But here the discourse turns to others than the disciples. -"The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided Him." Now just so far as the world can have a show of godliness, it must proceed as if the Jewish system was still in being and recognized of God. To be sober, diligent, thriving, and at least outwardly devout, is that which the eye of man can recognize; and so "long as you do well to yourself men, will praise you": but in the rejection of the Jewish system by God, the rejection, be it remarked, of the only system of worldly polity or worldly worship ever owned of God, -outward prosperity ceased to be the proof of God's favor, though not of man's praise. And the Lord said to them, (the Pharisees,) "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." The το εν αθρωποις νψηλον is covetousness, using God, Himself for its cloak; making even the very privileges conferred of God, to subserve selfishness. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves; having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." But the Lord showed them that God's worldly dispensation was run out; "the law and the prophets were until John." Worldly prosperity was therefore now out of the question; it was now, as to God's blessing, the kingdom of God or nothing. "Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and, every man presseth into it." While "every man" shows its principle to be of grace, the Publican and Harlot as well as the Pharisee, the word "presseth into it" shows the urgent necessity of getting that or losing everything. But again does the Lord press on their consciences the integrity of the law and its inviolable sanctity; it could not be adjusted to bend to man's weakness, as he vainly supposed. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail." They might put it away from them, but if they did not really see it as dead, and they become joined to another, they would be treated as adulterers (James 4:4; Rom. 7:1-3; cp. with v. 18). The importance of this instruction we cannot fail to recognize, if we mark well the leadings of our mind, ever to attempt the admixture of Jewish blessing, present and earthly, with Christian privilege and hope -spiritual, heavenly, and eternal; and to connect Jewish worship, earthly and worldly, with the Christian worship in heaven, in Spirit and in truth. The Jewish ritual was adapted to the world; the first tabernacle had ordinances of divine worship and a worldly sanctuary (Heb. 9:1). There was a mountain of the Lord's house, a house made with hands, owned of God, -as the center of worship, called by our Lord, "my house"; and when the Lord again has an earthly people, His house shall be "a house of prayer for all people" (Isa. 56:7). But the attempt of man would be to unite this worldly system and the kingdom of God, and the result would be confusion. The law was a perfect system in itself, one tittle could not pass away: if a man was circumcised, he was a debtor to the whole law. So is the system of grace perfect in itself; it leads not to a mountain that might be touched (Heb. 12; John 4:20), or to a temple made with hands, but to heaven itself (Heb. 9:21). There is the proper scene of Christian worship, in the power of the resurrection of Christ, as those who are alive from the dead, worship in Spirit and in truth -the true worshipers -those whom the Father seeks.

In Luke 16:19, there is a continuation of the address to the Pharisees, and it would appear an amplification of the το εν αθρωποις νψηλον. In the rich man we have a picture of the happiness to which those before him would aspire who derided the lowliness of Jesus and His self-denying teaching; and also the issue of the attempt to serve God and mammon, with its secret principle disclosed, infidelity at heart. It is a deeply solemn representation of the refined worldly religionist, infidel in principle, though not avowedly so, but moral it may be in character. He would call Abraham his father; he could make all the use of that which came to him hereditarily, as many can of Christian privileges. But though he was Abraham's seed, he was not Abraham's son (John 8:37-39). Abraham stands out as the acknowledged father of all, whether Jew or Gentile, before God (Rom. 4:12); not as boasting in anything outward, not as finding anything as to the flesh, but as giving up all that was present for the promise of God. He was before God, and had God for his portion -not his country -not the land of Canaan -not his good things, -but God. It is of this he reminds the rich man (Luke 16:25). "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst THY good things," the good things that he preferred; in fact he had his reward, and must not expect that which he never valued nor sought until his good things could profit him no longer. In Luke 16:27-31, we have the statement of condition in which those of similar character would be left; and it appears to be the general character of the nation; who, because "they knew not Jesus nor the voices of their own prophets, which are read every sabbath day," would be given over to blindness, and collectively reject the testimony unto the resurrection of Jesus. In Lazarus we have the representation of those who gladly picked up the crumbs, which were the refuse of the rich man, rich in his own conceit, rich and increased in goods, having store laid up for many years. Here in principle the Gentile comes in (Matt. 15:27). What were once crumbs to the eye of the rich man, were precious in the eye of Lazarus and the Syro-Pheenician woman, and precious too in the sight of God. For in Lazarus we see the resurrection glory; despised by the Jew, and by all who, like them, stand by the existing order, and seek for glory and honor, and happiness in it. We find the resurrection state always in Scripture connected with suffering in the world. -"Likewise Lazarus evil things": "In the world ye shall have tribulation": "but now he is comforted and thou art tormented." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy; and ye now therefore have sorrow (answering to "thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things"), but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh from you. " Such then is the solemn warning of the Lord to those who would seek to serve God and mammon. Many of us have, in the Lord's forbearing love, learned the folly of such an attempt by our own painful experience. May the consideration of the issue of such an attempt lead us into more decision; that with purpose of heart we may cleave unto the Lord, and only spend and be spent in that labor which is in the Lord; which will not be in vain.

But let us more specifically consider the latter part of this chapter (Luke 16:27-31). In these verses the character of the unbelief of the nation is most distinctly brought out. The Jews ever sought a sign, but a sign is not the warrant of faith, but the word of the Lord; at this "they stumbled, being disobedient. " They had Moses and the prophets but they heard them not, and therefore no proof could be to them convincing. The fact of one rising from the dead was to them as an idle tale, to them who shut their eyes to the evidence from Moses and the prophets, that "the Christ ought to have suffered and enter into His glory," "that He died according to the Scriptures, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. " And what is the fact before our eyes at the present day? that the great bulk of the Jews hear not Moses and the prophets; that they evade by the arguments and the subtleties of the infidel, the force of their: own Scriptures relative to Messiah suffering; and not only do they stand before God morally as others guilty, but positively as incapacitated from any religious worship properly Jewish -i.e., national, priestly, and sacrificial. "Surely God hath given them the spirit of slumber -eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear" (Rom. 11:8). Now it is very profitable to remark that the hearing of Moses and the prophets, is with the Jew repentance; by disobedience to their voices, they first rejected, then condemned Jesus, to whom those Scriptures testified. And when He was preached to them as risen and glorified, preached to them nationally as in Acts 3, repentance was to precede their blessing, "consistently with the latest declaration of their prophetic Canon -"Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto Him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statues and judgments." "Behold I will send unto you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of their children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Mal. 4)." It was quite in the Spirit of this, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Great Prophet, as well as the subject of prophetic testimony, addressed them, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one that accuseth you even Moses, in whom ye trust; for had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me; but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words (John 5:45-47)." And the remnant according to the election of grace received Jesus, as the one testified of by Moses and the Prophets. "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, we have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph (John 1:45)." Here then must be their repentance -the acknowledgment of Moses and the prophets. God can never sanction disobedience; and the same principle in them which made them turn a deaf ear to Moses and the prophets, necessarily led them not to hear Jesus; it was the rejection of the same God in both cases, who spake by Moses, and sent His Son. If they had been of God they would have recognized Moses and heard the voice of Jesus. It is a solemn warning to ourselves to find the Lord thus asserting the real value of the Scripture, and pointing out the source of unbelief. Man wants something more than the word of God; he desires a proof to be subjected to his senses; this is the most daring disobedience -rebellion against God, in that which makes him to be God, even that He is the true God. We know so little of the "evil heart of unbelief," we estimate so imperfectly its real moral character, that we think lightly of the sin of confessing the Scriptures to be the word of God, and then refusing submission to their authority. Man is still heard, and authority attached to his saying; but where is "the ear to hear" what Jesus says? Man can give an opinion, but none but Jesus can say, "Verily, verily." The simple character of unbelief is not hearing Moses and the prophets. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Man may require more proof, but no proof will satisfy him who hears not God's word. It is this will be the judge; "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (John 12:43)." But it is especially here to the purpose to notice, that it is the written word which is here appealed to -"written also for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come {XXX};" and this same record corroborated unto us by subsequent facts, again become matter of written testimony. Surely we may well tremble when we see Scripture made light of; we must anxiously fear for the state of that soul which would be now requiring a sensible proof over and above the written testimony, to Jesus and His work, and demand other authority than the light of that word for guidance, -authority I mean as superseding and going beyond it; for surely the word and Jesus, to whom both it and the Spirit testifies, are in perfect harmony, -the living acting truth, even Jesus, exhibiting in the example He has left us, the best comment on the commandments He Himself gave. Apart from Jesus, the living Word, the written word is used by man to foster his own pride, and to aid the natural skepticism of man's heart, so that the inquiry is, What is truth? But when once the mind is subjected to Him, however imperfect and slow the progress of the spiritual mind may be, nevertheless it ascertains some certain truth, and not probable opinions. Hence it is that we find the highest in-subjection to God, the most desperate apostasy of man, (surely yet to be manifested, but now in its principles actively at work,) to be thus characterized -"Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2)."

It is awfully serious not only to think of the probability, but to be assured that it will actually be so: that while through the energy of Satan, "with all signs, and powers, and lying wonders," many will be deceived and ruined, all signs, and powers, and wonders of truth would fail of convincing the mind that rejected the testimony of the Scripture. -"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." God is now revealed to faith, not subjected to sense. The experiment of God so dealing with man has been fully made, and man failed; and yet pre-sumptuous man would think that if he saw, then he would believe. The way God taught Israel was by what happened to them, either in the way of deliverance or judgment. -"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, τυποι. {types}." 'Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptation, by signs, by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes; unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God, and there is none else beside Him' (Deut. 4). But Israel failed; "they could not enter in because of unbelief." God subjected Himself to the judgment of man's senses, and the failure proved both that man would not trust God, and that God could not trust man. Hence, therefore, faith is the only security; it honors God, it gives Him glory, it blesses, stablishes and settles man. But faith rests on that which is written; these things are "written for our admonition"; "these things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through Him (John 20:31)." It is proof of a most unhealthy state of soul when disciples of Christ are looking to signs or wonders without, instead of subjecting their minds to the word. Obedience to it, is that which God now requires in His people, that they may be so rnoulded according to it, that even they may win those who obey it not. Any particle of the word of God known and obeyed, is real strength, is positive sanctification. But Satan's will is to turn, by any means, the soul from the word, to set it afloat on speculation, to lead it to question everything, and become a prey to its own restlessness, because it finds not sensible proofs where God never designed to give them. Thus they are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth"; because they obey unrighteousness. As such God looks on it; for the first principle is, "Have faith in God." "Without faith it is impossible to please God"; and the warrant of faith to us is that which is written. Surely, therefore, if we believe not Jesus and the Apostles, we are morally incapacitated from exercising a right judgment. May we then prize the word -give ourselves to it -weighing well His testimony "who spake as never man spake." "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a Rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a Rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doefh them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (Matt. 7:24-27)."

The Christian Witness 3:244-264 (1836)

The Mystery

The growing evidence with which any one of God's truths, when once received, becomes confirmed to the mind, must be familiar to any one taught of God Almost every truth is at first received by us authoritatively -some one declaration of the word of God is so unqualified, that, however we may reason about it and question, we are brought into the fearful position of direct disobedience to God, if we refuse our assent. Hence it is, that we "obey the truth," and beginning thus in submission to God, His subsequent process of teaching is very rapid. A familiar instance may be taken on the subject of the proper divinity of our blessed Lord, some one plain declaration to it we cannot gainsay -the mind submits. But speedily the evidence on the point so accumulates on us that we are surprised we ever questioned it. Testimony succeeds testimony from the scriptures of truth, and the moral demonstration as to the mighty fact of the incarnation of the eternal Son, becomes the first axiom of Christianity.

To all who have been led to receive the truth of the premillennial advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, the surprising manner in which the proofs of it from scripture have increased, when once it has been received as a truth, must be familiar. It appears no longer a mere question of truth, but a fact so interwoven with the revelation of all God's counsels, that only because we had been receiving men's commandments instead of God's word, do we now see that we ever were in doubt for a moment on the matter.

Among other truths, that of the isolated character of the present dispensation has increasingly grown on my mind. In many papers of the "CHRISTIAN WITNESS" has the subject been brought out; still it appears to me by no means as yet to have been exhausted. And, while as a truth, it becomes growingly confirmed, the practical questions depending on it, are now beginning to be felt as very important. Many are hindered from following the Lamb whithersoever He goes, by looking on the present as an improvement on the former dispensation -instead of a direct contrast to it. I would rather say, that it is quite cut off, both from that which preceded it and from that which succeeds it; and is presented to us in scripture, as "The Mystery." In seeking to prove this to be its proper name, and that other names given to the present dispensation, do not in strict propriety belong to it, many of those things which cause confusion on the point will have to be examined; and while it has many points in common with what has preceded and what will succeed it, its distinct character and privilege will be more plainly discerned.

The present is often termed the gospel dispensation, and so it is; yet certainly not the gospel announced at the incarnation, which was connected with special Jewish favor. And yet the cause of that favor and its security -the manner of entrance into it -and the one in whom it is vested are gospel blessings, whether we look to a pious Jew rejoicing in his hope, or to a sinner from among the Gentiles, called to know "the riches of the glory of the mystery, even Christ in hint the hope of glory." A glance at Luke 1 will throw light on this. In the annunciation, we have, "thou shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." In the inspired song of Mary, we have -"He hath helped His servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, (as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed,) forever." In the song of Zacharias -"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of His servant David, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies. might serve Him without tear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us." Now here I would remark, that although Israel be the subject of blessing and deliverance, it is not because he is Israel, i.e., nationally, that he is helped, but in remembrance of God's mercy, as He spake to the fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed. This is the basis of the blessing; but here is an opening for blessing for others besides Israel. It is promise that brings the blessing, not law. It is therefore open to faith, and the SCRIPTURE foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, "in thee shall all nations be blessed." We know the gospel as the gospel of the grace of God," and that in strict propriety, only grace, without any distinct promise. It is true that it came announced in this same way to Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; but at the same time, in connection with the faithfulness of God to them, "theirs are the promises" (Rom. 9:4, cp. with Eph. 2:12). But I would speak of this more fully shortly, and now turn to the song of Zacharias. He was "filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied." The restoration of prophecy, which had ceased since the time of Malachi, was a proof of returning favor to Israel; but the Holy Ghost in His testimony to Jesus here as the Messiah, takes up the testimony in exact correspondence with where He had left it, i.e., in connection with Israel under the power of their enemies, and the hand of those that hated them; and in connection with the house of David as their deliverance from present thralldom through David's seed -the one now to be born; and in connection also with their temporal and spiritual blessedness consequent on their deliverance. In righteous judgment of God the threatened curse came upon them. "I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies, they that hate you shall reign over you (Lev. 26:17)." In that condition they are found in the days of Jeremiah. (See 30-34). The Holy Ghost by him promises mercy, deliverance, restoration to their own land, in the full enjoyment of all spiritual and temporal blessedness. "For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them (Jer. 30:7, 8)." Temporal and spiritual mercies are shown to them in Jer. 31; 32, and the security of all in David's seed, 33. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah; in those days, and in that time, will I cause the BRANCH of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith He shall be called -the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (ver. 14-16)." "Behold, the days come," says Jeremiah, but Zacharias, "Blessed be the Lord God, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David." He knew His own child was to go before the face of the Lord, even the Lord their and our righteousness; and what was wanting to consummate Israel's blessedness, but the acknowledging of this seed of David, as Israel's Lord, God, and King? This has not yet been, and therefore the prophecy of Zacharias remains to them unaccomplished to this day. But again, how is Israel to be introduced into blessedness, and how to come to the knowledge of salvation? even by the forgiveness of sins; the only way in which any sinner is capable of being introduced into blessedness. Here then again, we have a common feature, not only that salvation is entirely of grace whether to a Jew or to a sinner of the Gentiles; but the knowledge of it is through remission of sins. So far as the gospel is the gospel of salvation on this most blessed and secure ground, it is the same in principle in the next dispensation as to us now, and the one and same security is given to us now and to them then, even that of the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth from all sin. "He died for that nation" (John 11:51, 52}; and the cross, besides its value in which we know it as the ground-work of all our joy, even in heaven, will be to them the ground-work, too, of their full and unalloyed earthly happiness. We need only to mark this forgiveness of sins, as the basis of all subsequent blessing, in Isa. 43:24-26, 44:1-4, Jer. 31:31-34, Ezek. 36; the order is "according to His mercy" -"in remembrance of His covenant to the fathers" -"remission of sins" -"redemption from enemies" -"spiritual blessedness in righteousness and holiness before God" all the days of our life." Now with us it is also -"according to His mercy," but not as He promised to our fathers, but "according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world was." It is with us too, remission of sins, but not redemption from our enemies; "in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins." As Gentiles, we are reckoned in power and not in subjection—the head and not the tail, in reference to Israel; and instead of redemption from these, are commanded to love our enemies; and so instead of deliverance from them that hate us, we have -"marvel not if the world hate you. " Why "marvel not, " if the redemption had not been of a peculiar character? True also is it, that we are redeemed to walk in holiness and righteousness before the Lord; redeemed from all iniquity to be purified as a peculiar people, zealous of good works {XXX}. But what is the principle and pattern of it? righteousness in suffering, as the truth was exhibited in Jesus, "and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness {XXX}." The same Jesus indeed will be the pattern then, but under different circumstances, not coming into the world to learn obedience through suffering, but to bring it into subjection by power of righteous judgment; so that then it would be quite as right to say "mine eye hath seen its desire upon mine enemy," as now it is to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us." True it is that we serve Him all the days of our life, though it be in the testimony of our own weakness; and in the painful confession of the name, and patient following of the path of Jesus; but our service of blessing is beyond this life, when God's servants shall serve Him being with Jesus, as the administrators of the glory and blessing which shall be in that day.

(* It may be profitable to notice the difference between being filled with the Holy Ghost, and having the promise of the Father; the one was temporary, the other an abiding possession.)

Now while I believe that impatience of rightly dividing the word of truth invariably leads into ignorance of our own present standing; I do at the same time feel that it deprives us of that which ministers to the conviction of our own stability and security. It is to me most confirming to see that same grace abounding over sin so palpably displayed in God's dealings with Israel, because it is the very thing that I need. But in the Jew is the outward manifestation of this -what a spectacle of moral as well as political degradation does that people present, it is in this that the grace of God finds them, and blesses them "freely by His grace." And even as they are thus in our eyes, so are they brought in as altogether guilty before God -their every claim set aside. "Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins {XXX}." And so it is with respect to God's electing love, however it may now be secretly known to the souls of the faithful, yet the full and public demonstration of it is in that nation, "Israel my chosen" -even the demonstration that the gifts and calling of God are unchangeable, because simply resting on the good pleasure of His will.

Attention to this principle renders the interpretation of scripture much more easy and safe, and would lead us to magnify the wisdom of our God, for giving such prominence to those great principles, which are the only sure ground of peace and stability to the soul. It is the constant groundwork of Paul's reasoning against Judaizing or return to the law, proving that even Israel which was under the law would never attain unto blessing in the way of law, but only in the way of promise. A remarkable instance may be taken (Gal. 4:21-31). The question is not at all about Jew and Gentile -but to prove to those who "desired to be under the law," that the express testimony of revelation by word, as well as type, was that no blessing could come that way, and that this was taught to Abraham and Sarah in their attempt to get the blessing by their own wisdom and strength, which only issued in trouble and failure; so that there could be no happiness, while he that was born after the flesh, i.e., by man's power as Ishmael, was in the house. The allegory therefore is not the law and the gospel in its popular sense, which leads to great confusion of terms, and a misapplication of Isa. 44:27 -as if it applied to Gentiles, which the simple reading of the chapter disproves. Hagar is here (Gal. 4} interpreted as the law -necessarily leading to bondage. The Jerusalem above may either mean the heavenly Jerusalem, or the future earthly one-for the same principle is true in either; and it is contrasted with "the now Jerusalem" (v. 25), which would lead one to refer the expression to the earthly Jerusalem in its future state of blessing; but of either, freedom is the characteristic. And this state is represented by Sarah, the one whose womb was dead, so that nothing but the direct and immediate power of God could give the blessing. Hence children of promise are opposed to the children of the flesh, for promise is God's power, flesh is man's -and promise is in vv. 28, 29. used as synonymous with Spirit. He that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit -Isaac. Through faith also, Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age. Then there is the application, as then, so now; man would ever rejoice in the work of his hands, but faith (would ever rejoice} in the work of God's. And in Israel is the confession yet to be made, the direct contrast to their state as at present described (Rom. 10). "Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us (Isa. 26:12)," as well as, "we are all an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf (Isa. 64:6)." And then will they know, made good to them "by promise, " all that they have vainly sought by works of law. It does appear to me inexpressibly gracious in our God, who knows how our hearts are closed against Him, to give such diversified prominence to those principles of His grace, whereby alone blessing is secured. I conclude then that it would be erroneous to appropriate the term gospel dispensation to the present preaching of it. The preaching of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth will again be taken up, and the word of the Lord go forth from Jerusalem, "to preach good tidings to the meek," ευαγγελισασθαι πτωχοις; but then in full accordance with the song of Zacharias in their deliverance into the fullness of earthly blessing, and being set above all their enemies. And this preaching of the gospel we find followed by the renewal of that distinction which has place in the world so long as God owns a people of His own in it, and of it. "Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches oldie Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. -And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed {XXX}."

And this leads me to remark on the confusion caused by appropriating the term Gentile dispensation to the present. The distinction between Jew and Gentile was one made of God, "and ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine (Lev 20:26)." "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations (Num. 23:9)." When they lost their sanctity by desiring to be as the nations, God's judgment on them was to begin to call them Lo-ammi, "not my people"; thus making their sin their punishment: and in process of time making their prop and stay, even their leaning on the nations, to be His rod in judgment, by giving power into the hands of the nations, and setting up a Gentile dispensation in the person of Nebuchadnezzar; in the ends of which we find ourselves to be placed as reckoned of God, and called upon to repent, because "He is about to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead {Acts XXX}." Now this is not the judgment of the secrets of mens' hearts, but την οικομενην; and this too addressed to the most civilized of the Gentiles; taking them up precisely where Daniel leaves them as only ready for judgment as Gentiles, i.e., as an earthly people having failed in exercising God's power entrusted to them in righteousness, as well as Israel in exhibiting God as holy in their separation unto Him. -Now the assuming this (i.e., the present time} to be another Gentile dispensation, I am confident places us entirely on a wrong standing, because it is not the Jew discarded from favor and the Gentile brought into his place (as replacing Israel}, "for there is no difference, for all have sinned"; and this worldly distinction is now lost sight of in this one feature embracing all -sinners under grace. The two expressions in the New Testament, "times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24}, and "fullness of the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:25}, are not to be confounded -the former has more especially a political bearing pointing to Gentile domination as co-extensive with Jerusalem's degradation; and the latter, to the purpose of God in gathering out a people from the Gentiles for His name*** The pre-eminence of Israel over the nations is one of the things which our high-mindedness makes us very slow to receive. Their advantages were "much every way," and "the circumcision in the flesh made with hands" was the sign of superior favor in the world from God. "For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things, that we call upon Him for? and what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? (Deut. 4:7, 8)." Now it is with a condition so advantageous that the apostle expressly contrasts the state of the Gentiles -the uncircumcision, without any mark at all of God's favor as nations. "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world (Eph. 2:11, 12)." Now these privileges which Gentiles naturally were with-out, were those which belonged to Israel, even to the circumcision in the flesh, they were their natural and national privileges. Of them "as concerning the flesh Christ came" (Rom. 9:5}; -their commonwealth was ordered of God -"theirs the promises" -the resurrection was "the hope of Israel"; and God was with them in the world, "what nation is there that hath God so nigh unto them," &c. Here was their special distinguishing mark as in the flesh, as in the world, they had Jehovah for their covenant God. Now it appears to me that the expression "without God in the world," is one of great practical importance. Surely God had not left Himself without witness among the nations in that He "did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with gladness" (Acts 14:17), and they are held inexcusable by Him, for that they knew not from the visible creation His eternal power and Godhead (Rom. 1).

But this was not to have God in the world, God for their law-giver and king, to go before them and fight their battles, and order for them their civil and domestic economy. This was alone the high privilege of Israel in the flesh, and to this moment as Gentiles in the flesh, no one nation in the world is owned of God as His, -the characteristic still remains -whatever improvement civilization or legislation may be supposed to have made, still as in the flesh they are without God in the world. Surely this truth should humble our pride as citizens of this or any other kingdom; we are so (such) in the flesh, and as such not owned of God at all. And the privilege into which the Ephesian believers were then brought, was no new standing in the flesh, "but now in Christ Jesus," as contrasted with their state in the world, "ye who once were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ; He hath made both one" -but not in the flesh -"to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace. " Now this is not casting Israel out of his distinctive privilege as in the world, and putting the Gentile into it; but on the contrary the introduction of a principle, even the cross-the end of all fleshly distinctions; to reconcile both in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. The very assumption of the place of Jewish favor in the world by the Gentiles, keeps up the enmity, and is the subject of God's judgment. "I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction (Zech. 1:15)." It is indeed part of the mystery of godliness, that God manifest in the flesh -justified in the Spirit -should be preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world. But this is not putting the Gentiles in the place of Jewish favor in the world, but simply looking upon them as "sinners of the Gentiles"; and the Jews too only as sinners having lost all their distinctive privileges; so that the testimony of the cross comes to them indifferently -"there is no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The term Gentile dispensation and Gentile Church, appear to me both of them to convey wrong impressions, as if Gentiles were the subjects of favor any otherwise than sinners -during the period of God's long-suffering with them, in testifying unto the work of Christ. And let it be noted, that in the solemn opening of the testimony to Jesus among the Gentiles, recorded in Acts 10, the sure word of antecedent prophecy, is taken up -and Jesus testified of as the Judge, before pointed to as the Savior. And so again, Acts 17 -it is judgment to come on the world, that Paul preaches -a widely different thing from painting them in the worldly favor in which Israel once stood. And as to the Church, it is not Jew, it is not Gentile, but the new man which makes it up -takes it entirely out of those very distinctions that God Himself had made. And I would add, that a Christian is made to stand by our Lord, in direct contrast with a Gentile (Matt. 6:32; 20:25). If by Gentile dispensation is to be understood "the times of the Gentiles"; they stand no otherwise acknowledged by God in the world than in the visions of Daniel, that is, for judgment, on the setting up of the kingdom of the Son of man. It is true, that during this period, Jesus as the Lamb of God and Son of God, is preached unto them, and the testimony received in the world; but then it is in order to deliver out of the world, and to have a place and citizenship in heaven. Now in connection with this, I would examine two portions of scripture.

The first is peculiarly interesting to us Gentiles; Acts 15 most plainly shows the isolated position in which we -i.e., the Church, are placed. We have first, the apostle of the circumcision not only asserting that God put no difference between the Gentiles and the Jews, purifying their hearts by faith: but what is more, instead of bringing in the Gentile on a Jewish footing, he puts the Jew on an entirely Gentile level. "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they." Whatever distinctive claim the Jew had, was here waived by the apostle of the circumcision himself; and he had such a claim, for Jesus Christ was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God {Rom. 15:8}. But this was forfeited -it was now "even as they," in the same manner as they, καθ ον τροπον κακεινοι -the Gentile never had any claim on God -it was pure mercy which brought them into blessing, and "that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." It is not the Jew cut off, and the Gentile come to occupy his place, but it is the Jew brought to renounce all his privileged standing, and to be before God as a mere sinner of the Gentiles. It is the principle of paramount sovereign grace, rising above all failure, and this is the principle in which the Church is set; to us it is "the gospel of the grace of God." Paul and Barnabas follow Peter, in detailing what wonders the Lord had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And then James declares the object as Peter had done the principle. "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name {Acts 15:XXX}." And he immediately shows that this was quite another thing from that which had been the expectation of old, an expectation warranted of God -viz, that He would bring Gentiles into blessing by bringing them under the rule and instruction of His own people Israel. This was the only way to be gathered from the Old Testament, by which Gentiles could be blessed. "And it shall come to pass in the.last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. and all nations shall flow unto it, and many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths {XXX}." Now this and similar passages in the prophets, does not speak of a "gathering out of a people from the Gentiles for the name of the Lord"; but of their gathering together to Jerusalem for protection and instruction. This gathering out, is elsewhere called "the fullness of the Gentiles," πληρωμα των εθνων, {Rom. 11:25}, most strictly rendered by our word complement, which signifies not universality, but a limited fullness, as when we say, the ship has her complement of men, we mean the number she is rated to carry. And after the taking out of the complement, the natural order of Old Testament prophecy is resumed, the thread of which had been broken by the unbelief and casting off of the Jews; first of all, in restored favor to Israel; and then, through them, blessing brought to the nations. God again owns the distinction in the world, of Jew and Gentile, and makes known the exceeding great privileges of His nation above all others, in that "many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in JERUSALEM, and to pray before the Lord. -Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in those days, ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the NATIONS, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you (Zech. 8:22, 23)." And thus we find the apostle James giving the voice of one prophet as the concurrent testimony of all, however they might vary in detail. "And to this agree the words of the prophets (not prophet, though he only quotes one), After this (after this out-gathering from all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues; Rev. 7:9), I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord who doeth all these things; known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world {Acts 15: XXX}." The rescript of this most memorable council in which we have the concurrent judgment of the apostles with that of the Holy Ghost Himself, involves that question which was constantly arising in the Churches, and called forth all the spiritual energy of the apostle Paul subsequently in meeting it. The agitation of the question of circumcision, was in their judgment a tendency to "the subversion of their souls"; and this not merely in the matter of justification, but in being virtually a return to the world out of which the death of Christ had delivered them. It was the attempt to attach value to distinctions in the flesh, the complete failure of which had been proved in that portion of mankind which God Himself had specially savored, for the purpose of trial under the greatest advantages. Hence it would have subverted their souls, putting them again back into the world and into bondage. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature {"but new creation"} " (Gal. 5:15)." In the world the advantages of circumcision are much every way. In the cross, faith sees the end ofthe flesh; in the cross, thejudgment of the world, the folly of Gentile wisdom, and scantiness of Jewish righteousness. As Gentiles we have nothing to glory in, being only reckoned as "sinners" of God; and it is just as much contempt cast upon the cross to glory in our uncircumcision in the flesh, as it was in the Jew (though with more reason,) to glory in circumcision. They are equally unavailing as to blessing, neither one nor the other commendeth us to God, the new creation is the alone power of blessing, and that which is regarded by God.

There may be more difficulty in approaching Rom. 11, a difficulty arising in our minds, very much from not recognizing PROMISE as the basis of all blessing; and from our impatience of following the God of patience, in which He has gradually unfolded His truth. And yet I feel confident that nothing can be gathered from this chapter to countenance the notion of Gentiles being brought to occupy the place of the Jewish nation in the earth; on the contrary, there is one statement which most distinctly shows that this is not the case, and that the character of the blessing here spoken of, is not worldly blessing. "If the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if' the root be holy, so are the branches; and if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree (Rom. 11:16, 17);" now where in the known world do we see Gentiles partaking together with Jews of distinguished worldly privileges? The Jews to this day are scattered among all nations, and yet partaking of the full privileges of none -standing distinct and separate amongst the nations where they are scattered; and their history in the world has been little else than one continued act of cruelty and oppression on the part of the Gentiles. Whatever favor therefore be here intended, it must be one open to them, as well as Gentiles, and in which some of them were standing when some of the branches were broken off to make room for the wild branches to be graffed in. And I do not see here anything more than the literal statement (Eph. 3:6), "the mystery -that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, i.e., with the Jews; and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel of which Paul was made a minister." Now to mark this historically -the full testimony unto Jesus as Lord and Christ, was first of all given by Peter exclusively to Jews, and in terms of universality, that is, He addressed them nationally, and not as individuals. It was not as preached by Peter in opening the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles (Acts 10), "Whosoever believeth" -but "Repent and be baptized, every one of you (Acts 2:38)." "Unto you first, God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities (Acts 33:26)." "Him hath God exalted with His right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31)." After this testimony, the national guilt is sealed up in the martyrdom of Stephen, and then upon some of the branches being broken off, was immediately raised up another witness as a special apostle and teacher of the Gentiles. But still even by him the precedence of testimony was given to the Jews, until their blindness was consummated in his interview with them at Rome (Acts 28). To him was "a dispensation of the gospel" entrusted, which he calls "my gospel," "the gospel of the grace of God"; of the power of which he stands forth as the marked witness generally to all, and the pattern to them who should hereafter believe on Jesus to everlasting life. Now seeing that the only way of blessing is prerogative grace, Israel being Lo-ammi, and the Gentiles never a people at all, the gospel is now preached with "whosoever" "if any man"; and the blessing into which they are brought who believe the testimony, is the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of God. This fullness of the blessing, Israel -the nation had not attained to, but the remnant even of them according to the election of grace had attained, and the rest were blinded, blinded unto this day. And wherefore? their very table had become a snare to them {XXX}, their very special privilege of supreme earthly blessing stood in their way of attaining to the fullness of blessing. From their own expectation they are fallen and cast off, but this, in the marvelous wisdom of God has become the riches of the world, and the riches of the Gentiles; -introducing what eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor had entered into man's heart to conceive -the untraceable riches of Christ, preached among the Gentiles. When the fullness of them is come in, then all Israel shall be saved; and what shall the fullness of Israel be, but the riches of the world too, though in another manner than is now manifested? In this chap. therefore, we have the same order as we have seen in Acts 15. Election of grace from among either Jew or Gentile, -the principle, a fullness of the Gentiles gathered out {Rom. 11:25}, and then all Israel saved on the same principle of paramount grace {Rom. 11:26}, as the remnant now, saved simply on the ground of mercy, and manifesting in their failure, that the gifts and calling of God never fail {Rom. 11:29}: and on their restoration to favor as a nation, the Gentiles come into blessing through them. "For the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins." And then immediately follows, -" Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: for behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. 60: XXX)"

Marvelous indeed is our unbelief in refusing to submit our judgments to God's own commentary on the history of His dealings with Israel, in which He sets before us the great principles of His dealings with man. Surely as spiritual, we should say, "0! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" There is one thing to notice here, a two-fold election, and a two-fold fullness. In Rom. 11:5, we have "a remnant according to the election of grace in the present time," called in v. 7, the election contrasted with "Israel"; and likewise a future fullness, v. 12. In Rom. 11:28, we have the security of blessing to Israel, in remembrance of His mercy and His covenant with their fathers, even as it is written, "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people, but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers (Deut. 7:9, 8)." "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your lakes; but 'as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake {Rom. XXX};" the election here means the nation, "all Israel," -"Israel my chosen." And so Israel's fullness, v. 12, is "all Israel" of v. 26; very different in character from "the Gentiles' fullness," v. 25, which, as we have seen, is a gathering out from all nations {now}. It is not therefore Israel cast off, and Gentiles brought into their standing; but Israel enemies, that the gospel may be preached unto Gentiles. And how strangely self-complacent have we been in using this portion of God's word for a prop to our pride, which is specially given to us lest through our misinterpretation of God's dealings with Israel we should be high-minded. I conclude, therefore, that the term -Gentile dispensation, as applied to our present circumstances is liable to lead into the very error against which we are here so explicitly warned.

The impropriety of the application of "the new covenant" to ourselves, as though there was not that in it which we at present have not, as well as something that we have which is not in it, will, I think, plainly appear to a mind subject to scripture. In the first place, when given in detail, as it is in Heb. 8, it is expressly stated to be with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; and contrasted with one previously made with them on bringing them out of Egypt, and to them (being the elect nation) it is one of universality, "all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." Here then is one essential difference, for there is no elect nation now, but the election of individuals out of every nation; and this is expressly marked by our Lord. It is written in the prophets, (not prophet, and therefore embracing Jer. 31:34 as well as Isa. 54:13). And they shall be all taught of God. And then he applies God's teaching individually. -"Every man (or any man) therefore that hash heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Again -we find this new covenant in connection with Jerusalem. "Behold! the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel, unto the gate of the corner (Jer. 31:38)," which it is not now, as known to us. And the use the apostle makes of the passage from Jer. 31 as quoted in Heb. 8, is indeed to show that the blessings into which they were then introduced, were to be found under that covenant, even before it was formally made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. (See Heb. 10:14-18). It is indeed true, that the blood by which that covenant is sealed, has been already shed; and we know its power in the remission of sins now, as the house of Israel will hereafter; and therefore we fins our Lord saying -"This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins," putting this as the assured basis of all blessing.

Again -the indwelling of the Holy Ghost was a blessing without {outside of} the range of any expressed covenant. The new one takes it not in; and the only prophet of such a blessing, was the great prophet Himself -"He commanded His disciples that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which ye have heard of me (Acts 1:4)." And therefore the new covenant does not include all the blessing we are called to inherit, either now or in the world to come {i.e., in the millennium, the age to come}, although the principle of it is the basis of all blessing.

So also would I say, that it would not in strict propriety, as giving its distinctive character, be right to call the present the spiritual dispensation, for surely the next will be also, but under different circumstances. For man cannot even enjoy earthly blessing without the capacity of enjoying God in it, and so our Lord signified to Nicodemus (John 3:10-12).

And I would add, that when we use the "Church" as characteristic of the present dispensation, it is to be meant only as formally set up, or otherwise it might seem to take away from the blessing of the saints before Christ as to their portion in glory, if we were to limit "the Church" to the present time only.

But "The Mystery," I believe to be only applicable to that which we do now know as our portion. It has, indeed, principles in common with antecedent and coming dispensations, and yet its own distinctive character from them all; and that very character attaching to it a blessing beyond all others. There are many mysteries now revealed to us -that of Israel's blindness (Rom. 11); that of the change of the living saints (1 Cor. 15). But if any one would compare the following texts, I think he will find in them that "The Mystery" contains all that new and complete revelation of which Paul was the chosen witness, and which he styles "my gospel" (Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19); the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador (Col. 1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3; 1 Tim. 3:9-16). The essential characteristics of the mystery, that in which it is without parallel in anything antecedent to its revelation, and so far as I can see, in any subsequent dispensation, I believe to be set forth in an orderly manner in the first fourteen verses of the 1st chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. It is introduced with abounding thanksgiving -"blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Our Lord," this is the great principle -connection with Him, and union as with the anointed one; as it is added in the end of the verse, "in Christ":

1. -Union with Him as risen, ascended, and glorified, being now the basis of blessing, according to His own word; "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (John 20); and again "wherefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows"; once more -"because I live ye shall live also. " This union {oneness} with Him in life, I believe to be the very distinctive characteristic of "The Mystery"; even the wide difference between His power of imparting life -("God who quickeneth the dead," "the Son having life in Himself'), and His being declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead; "I am the resurrection and the life."

2. -As connected with this, the blessings are all heavenly, and therefore spiritual, being capable of being enjoyed only by this new spiritual life, and revealed only by the Spirit Himself. They are what eye hath not seen, what ear hath not heard, and what hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive, but God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God {1 Cor. 2:11-16).

{No, nothing of the mystery was known or spoken of in the OT. Silence had been kept concerning the mystery (Rom. 16:25, 26). It was "hidden from ages and generations (Col. 1:26), i.e., it was hidden in the OT time-periods and hidden from the peoples. In fact, it was not hidden in the OT, it was "hidden throughout the ages in God" (Eph. 3:9).

Concerning 1 Peter 1, it is helpful to see that vv. 6-9 are parenthetical. Thus, read v. 5 and go to v. 10 and continue. The OT prophets were searching out the grace that was to be brought to Israel and the sufferings of Messiah and the glories to follow (cp. Luke 24:25-27). None of this involves the mystery. "To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those thing, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared the glad tidings by [the] Holy Spirit, sent from heaven..." (1 Peter 1:12). This is written to believing Jews, "the Israel of God (1 Peter 1:1, 2; Gal. 6:16), "who have pre-trusted in the Christ" (Eph. 1:12). They had "pre-trusted," i.e., trusted ahead of the time which the prophets of Israel prophesied, namely, the millennial reign of Christ and His glories in that connection. These things are ministered to believing Jews (not to the exclusion of believing Gentile, of course), but certainly not the mystery. Concerning salvation, as Israel shall have the forgiveness of sins under the New Covenant, we Christians (believing Jews and believing Gentiles) have that also, now, ahead of millennial blessing, though not as under a covenant, of course, for the covenants of promise belong to Paul's kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom. 9:3-5).)

3. -All this traced "to the good pleasure of the will of God," "having chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world." It is not to be denied that "known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world," and in a certain sense, it might be affirmed that there is no priority in things to the mind of God. But we have to do with revelation and not with metaphysics, and I do not think that believers have sufficiently attended to this; they have indeed used the truth of our election in Christ before the foundation of the world, as a proof of the sovereignty of God's grace, but of this, an election in time would be equally a proof. And I do see in this "before the foundation of the world," an implied contrast with Israel in its connection with earthly blessing -"When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel {XXX}." Now the date of this divine arrangement is subsequent to the flood, when there were nations (Gen. 10:5). And the inference I would draw is this, that "The Mystery" knows nothing of time; when it is realized, time becomes one of the old things passed away; and that it only has to do with that which in its very nature is eternal. "We look not at things which are seen, but at things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal {XXX}." The frequent recurrence to this by the apostle is surely not without its meaning -"according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus {2 Tim. 1:1};" "according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began {2 Tim. 1:9};" "in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began" {Titus 1:2}."

And seeing this, I believe, will tend to show the character of that holiness, unto which we are chosen, to be dissociation from the earth and time-things, and association with heaven and eternal things. And one thing more, it takes at once those who are called into the fellowship of the mystery from out of the power and bondage of the law, as having been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, as well as cuts off every other ground of confidence, than the good pleasure of God's will and His own eternal purpose.

4. -Adoption; "having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." This sonship in union with Christ, resulting in conformity to Him (Rom. 8:29), was a new and unheard of privilege. The Lord had said -"Israel is my son even my first-born" (Ex. 4:22). But this principle however great, falls far short of sonship as known now -"if a son, then an heir, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ {XXX}." "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (1 John 3:1-4)." It we compare Lev. 26:12, 2 Sam. 7:6, 7, 2 Cor. 6:16-18, we shall find separation unto God to be the principle of sonship; but in Israel it was unto God in the world, in us unto God in the beloved in heaven. And God walks and dwells with us now in a different manner from what He promised of old; and hence

5. -We find a special seal set to of God unto the blessedness of those who were made partakers of this calling-in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the special gift of the Father to the Church (John 14:16), even as the Son is the gift to the world; but with "the promise of the Father" -the Holy Ghost as THE COMFORTER, the world has nothing to do (John 14:17). Surely He is the Spirit of testimony to it, as He ever was to Israel (Acts 7:51), but as the Comforter, and therefore the earnest, He was not known to Israel and is not, cannot be, to the world; for all its comfort is because Jesus is away from it, and therefore it laughs and rejoices -the Comforter is needed by those who weep and lament. And the world has its good things now, and therefore needs not an earnest of coming blessing. In this we see again the perfect harmony of this blessedness -it is unseen, unearthly, having no place in time, but the Holy Spirit is its revealer and communicator even now, hence the Comforter and the earnest. Surely others saw by faith another and better country, even a heavenly; but while faith leads back to the cross, and from thence looks onward to the glory -even now we have a present portion, a portion which cannot be in the coming dispensation, because it will be the blessing itself, the redemption of the purchased possession {XXX}, and it is an earnest only till then; a portion now, even the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, and giving to us in humiliation a portion of that which we shall have in fullness in the world to come. For the earnest is not only a security but a part payment already made. Of sonship, righteousness, glory, and strength, we have even a portion now, but necessarily exhibited in another manner from what they will be, at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, while it is fully allowed, that the mystery has many principles in common with foregoing and coming dispensations -in election so far as the sovereignty of God is concerned -in justification, as freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus -for these are immutable principles of blessing whether in things in heaven or things on earth -all being in the coming dispensation to be headed up in Christ; but surely His headship over all, is not the same as His headship to His body the Church: yet I do believe that these five things are distinctly characteristic of "The Mystery," Union with Christ as ascended and glorified -all heavenly blessings secured in Him; its date from before the foundation of the world, thus taking it out of time; predestinated to conformity to the glorified Jesus; and the possession of the Holy Ghost, as the other Comforter during the time Jesus is received into the heavens.

The practical power of these truths is now beginning to be felt -would they were more felt and enjoyed. I enter not into them here, only remarking that they are the truths which deliver us from Gentilism, vain philosophy, and wisdom, and from Judaism, which is present {?} earthly blessing -(see Col. 2), where our being filled to the full in Him, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily, and who is the head of all principality and power, is laid down as our security against going back to the "rudiments of the world," on one side or the other. And I would add, that the ignorant and wicked attempt of man to add to his paramount blessing, that which is passed and gone for a while, even earthly glory which God can sanction, issues in another mystery the direct contrast to "The Mystery" -even BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

It is surprising to witness the self-complacency of men in reference to this -Babylon; as if they were out of its influence or judgment, because they are not papists. When its very principle is making even godliness itself subservient to secular grandeur, "supposing that gain is godliness"; and where is the difference before God, between having that which is great, and of credit, and of value, in the world, and seeking to have it? Surely such are blind to the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in us the hope of glory; or they would not thus mind earthly things. May the saints of God be wise and humble, and renewed in knowledge walk worthy of God who has called them into His own kingdom and glory. Amen.

The Christian Witness 4:297-321 (1837).

Notice of Mr. Tucker's Sermon

There is nothing more painful to one who has the Spirit of Christ, than misplaced truth. To see a servant of Christ advancing that which is abstractedly true, and most precious as the portion of the children of God, and then either giving it to the world, or some evil system of the world's raising, is a most grievous spectacle; but one frequently presented to us in the present day. This is the painful impression left on my' mind after reading Mr. Tucker's sermon.

In the sermon before us, the Church of the living; God and the Establishment are treated as identical, so that for the sake of his argument, what can be predicated of one can also be predicated of the other. Although it be a humbling and painful task to seek to expose the inconsistency of such an argument, yet it does appear that the Lord mercifully permits even His own servants, when advocating a system and not the truth, so palpably to err in their statements, that the absurdity becomes apparent to every one but themselves, who are to a certain point, blinded by the object they are pursuing; so that they cannot discern things that differ. Surely it would be the simplest method to inquire what were the principles, and what the practice of the Apostolical Church; and what are the principles, and what the practice of the Church of England; and if we could thus prove their identity, then indeed, we might safely predicate anything of the one as applicable to the other. But in this sermon as well as most of the kind, the author starts on a "petitio principii." The objection not being that the Church of England is corrupted, or has declined, but that it never was as a Church constituted according to the principles of the Apostolical Church, or walking according to the commandments of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do maintain, that for the settlement of this question, an appeal to scripture is quite sufficient; and that until this question be settled, the value of tradition "as a help," cannot be allowed for a moment to be debated. Little did many a godly man think when "tradition" was first advanced as an auxiliary, and the scriptural ground of the Church of England thus virtually surrendered as untenable, that they who thought it at first to be the whim of a man of talent and keen debater, would so soon be led to follow in his wake, and to assert the very thing which at first so greatly alarmed their minds, Even when first the Oxford Tracts boldly put forth the pretenses of the Clergy connected as that pretension ever must be with invalidity the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the godly ministers of the Establishment who knew the truth, and held very dear and precious, that of a sinner's justification before God, did not boldly controvert this assumption, because they were clergy; and the maintenance of this was one of common interest to those who held the truth and those who were darkening it. But this departure from the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus, has led them on in the way of error, and many of them now are among the assertors of the divine and therefore exclusive authority of the clergy, which but a short time since they would have protested against. This is a subject of general interest to the Church, for it shows that there are principles at work which must speedily lead to their respective results, and it is very easy to see that the upholding office, apart from spiritual qualification, or which is the same thing, that man by conferring office, necessarily imparts the spiritual qualification, must speedily issue in the assumption of priesthood, from the thraldom of which, the reformation was once looked upon, as a deliverance. We cannot regard Mr. Tucker but as one who follows the Oxford School, and we thus get another testimony, that in every place where the scriptural authority of the Establishment is questioned, the defense is tradition or derived authority, to the virtual abandonment of the scriptures.

The sermon was preached at the visitation of Bishop Corrie, at Madras, and published at his request. The text, 2 Tim. 4:5.

The second paragraph pp. 3, 4, is remarkable, and necessarily gives a character to the whole of his view of the Church. "That which gives this epistle its peculiar interest, is the view we find the Apostle taking of the then state of the Church I think we may call it a more chastened, settled, and calm contemplation of the Church; not as he would wish her to appear, as the bride adorned and waiting for the bridegroom, but as harassed with heresies and dissensions, and hereafter to be called to pass through greater dangers still." The Apostle did surely in this epistle, see the Church as "harassed with heresies and dissensions." -He saw the fearful tide of apostasy, even then setting in, as he had previously in addressing the elders of the Church of Ephesus; and in both cases he recommends the scripture as the safeguard (2 Tim. 3, Acts 20); and for a very simple reason, because the apostasy of the Church was before his eyes, and he could see in that, no safeguard for the truth. That very departure from her principles, which the Apostle saw thus commencing, is regarded as having taken place (Rev. 2); and the Church become first the subject of judgment (Rev. 2; 3), and then of prophecy (from Rev. 8 onwards). Now this last implies settled departure from its principles; for prophetic testimony has no place, while any dispensation stands on its proper ground before God but when it can be said "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and do thy first works"; then God raises His testimony against it, and at the same time by it, comforts the feeble remnant who remain true to the principles of the dispensation, which as a whole, has failed. There is no truth more difficult for us to receive, than that the dispensation in which we are, has failed; the failure began early in the Apostles' days and its consummation is shown actually and prophetically in the apocalypse. If Mr. T. recognized this truth, he would perceive that he was throughout this sermon, using the term "Church" ambiguously; and applying those characteristics which properly. belong to the Church of the living God, wherein He dwells by His Spirit, to that which ostensibly presents itself to the eyes of men, claiming the name, but which is in fact, the vine of the earth. about to be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God. Surely it becomes the sheep of Christ to be careful whose voice they listen to, whether it be to that of the good shepherd, speaking through His Church by His Spirit to their souls, the words of scripture which are profitable and sanctifying; or the voice of the God of this world, speaking through the apostasy by tradition, to cause them to put away a good conscience, and then concerning the faith, to make shipwreck. It would save a great deal of needless controversy, if we were first to settle in what state the. scripture leaves the Church. For it appears almost as profitless to discuss the question with one who argues from present circumstances, back to scripture, as it is to set the plainest declarations of God's word, before the scoffer, who says all thing continue as they were from the creation of the world. And thus the question as to the value of tradition, would not be raised till after the state of the Church, according to the latest scriptural testimony, had been settled.

It will be now needful to advance some passages in which the sense in which the term "Church" is used, trust entirely affect the truth of the statement.

"That necessity is laid upon us as pastors of Christ's flock, that we be prepared for evils and difficulties, and endeavor to contemplate these evils with a chastened, sober, cautious, and watchful temper of mind; expecting to have our hearts wounded and our spirits grieved, and that with that expectation we learn "to endure afflictions," and at the same time with steadfastness of purpose, we engage heartily, entirely, and constantly in the blessed work allotted to us, and in every particular fill up the service assigned to us, i.e., perfecting the saints, the edifying of the body of Christ" (p. 6)."

The simple question here is, does Mr. T. mean to take his stand as a minister of Christ or a clergyman of the Church of England? In the former case all who love the Lord Jesus would gladly receive him, and esteem him very highly in love for his works sake; in the latter, the question as to any New Testament warrant for the title and office, is immediately raised. But besides this, does Mr. T. feel himself or will his system give him, liberty to exercise his ministry for the profit of the Church at large? Or does he really mean that the only ministers of Christ are those who have received episcopal ordination?

"It is on behalf of this Church, that new creation whereby God will be everlastingly glorified in Christ Jesus, that we are required to "watch in all things, to endure afflictions, to do the work of Evangelists, and make full proof of our ministry"; of His flock we are appointed the pastors, the stewards, of His mysteries to His family, the watchmen of His Zion wherein He delighteth. As all the graces of His Church flow from the love of the Father manifested in the grace of the Son, and communicated by the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, so does our authority proceed from the same source and from the same channel The Father is the head of all authority, and this authority He has given to His Son, whom He has constituted head of His Church; and His Son thus exalted, has by the Holy Ghost given authority also to us, "As my Father sent me, even so send I you." We are not merely preachers and teachers of religion, but we are called to this office, "to minister the doctrine and sacraments, and discipline, of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded. It was for this that we hesitate not to say, we have received the Holy Ghost for the office and work of priests in the Church of God, committed unto us by the imposition of the hands of the Bishop with his presbytery; so that we have "power and commandment to declare and pronounce to all God's people, who are penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins." As stewards, we affix the seal of the covenant of grace, and distribute to the Church of the blessed nourishment of Christ's body and blood, and all by the command, and with the blessing, and in the name of the Father and of the Son, wad of; the Holy Ghost."

Here again the question may be asked. Is this Church, that new creation whereby God will be glorified in Christ Jesus, the Church of England? And when Mr. T. says "we hesitate not to say, that we have received the Holy Ghost," &c. he is surely speaking of the clergy corporately, so that mere ordination gives the necessary spiritual competence. And then the exclusive claim, to minister the sacraments is superadded to countenance the notion of the so ordained multitude, being priests in the house of God.

But there is one statement in this paragraph which needs more especial attention. "The Father is the head of all authority." Now as a broad abstract statement there is nothing to be objected to, but in its application it makes the Clergy to be the Church, and attempts to supply by virtue of official authority, that which can only be supplied by the living energy of the Holy Ghost giving the needful wisdom under any special circumstances, for guidance and direction, and that too in matters of doctrine and discipline. Anything analogous to what took place either at Jerusalem (Acts 15), or what was commanded by the Apostle (1 Cor. 5), is rendered morally impossible by such an assumption of authority as here is claimed. And this is really the painful part of the subject, it makes the blessed covenant relation of our God, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to become a mere abstract doctrine, since they have virtually ceased their agency, which is now only to be exhibited by a select body of men asserting pretensions which the Apostles never did. The abiding presence and living activity of the Comforter as a sovereign, dividing to every man severally as He will, is thus virtually set aside as a truth. The necessary consequence is, that the children of God are deprived of much of their present blessing, in not being taught to look to him as their teacher and admonisher, and consoler; and the felt responsibility of knowing, those who guide them and esteeming them very highly for their words sake, is supplanted by a cold and careless recognition of nominal office. There appears nothing available to recover the Church from its present blind clinging to office, short of the recognition of the faithfulness of the Lord to His promise, that the Comforter should abide in the Church throughout the dispensation. For the Lord and His Apostles having furnished a sufficient standard in the scriptures to which everything might be brought, and the latest testimony given by the Lard from heaven, being by His special commandment written (Rev. 1:10). The Church was not left to be guided by statute law, because there was the Holy Ghost to apply the all comprehensive principles already embodied in the word, to given circumstances at any time And if our brethren of the Establishment had only said, the word is not sufficient, we would not have differed; but when they say, tradition is the supplement, and thus bring the Church under statute law, we say the Holy Ghost is the applier of the Word, and thus bring it under the law of liberty. The question would not be, whether there are distinct offices in the Church, or whether all are alike competent to minister, for in this we should be agreed (1 Cor. 12:28). But the difference between us, is as to the mode of the needed power being supplied, which we do assert to be in the way of special gift to distinct individuals from Jesus ascended, and therefore to be living energy, and not in the way of derived office, which however it may assert authority, has not the needful influence to make the authority itself to be grace in the possessor, and the acknowledgment of it grace in the subject. For real authority in the Church cannot be separated from real spiritual influence.

"And here I may observe generally, that considering the elements in the midst of which she abides, the existence of the Church is a perpetual testimony to the love, and power, and faithfulness of her Lord and God. Such is the enmity of the human heart to God that the world would, if it had been able, long since have destroyed the Church, because she bears the image of God, and is His chosen on the earth: "Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). And this is the Church's portion, until the coming of her Lord; as the one witness on her Lord's behalf, to have poured upon her the contempt and hatred of an ungodly world."

Surely the world supports the Church of England, and what its ministers are looking to is the world. Should the world withdraw its support, the consequence would be, that many of the formularies so highly extolled would be given up by their supporters. And we are constantly forced to ask the question, if the Establishment be the Church, what is the world? For in scripture the world is one system, and the Church another, each under their respective Lord and appropriate influence. But the most fearful statement of this Sermon remains to be noticed.

"2: "In discipline. -Here this spirit of independence, is perhaps, less subtle, and more easily recognized, both in its workings and in its origin."

"It is from the Father, through the Son by the agency of the Holy Ghost. that all authority of every kind flows, and man is commanded to obey in the Lord; "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake" (1 Peter 2:13)."

"Proud man openly refuses to acknowledge and to obey the precept, but turns the stream of authority, back in an opposite direction -pronounces passive obedience an exploded doctrine; declares that kings reign not by the grace of God, but by the will of the people; and ministers are to preach by the same law. The same spirit is seen as more extensively prevalent, in the notions that are entertained of Christian unity, and the means of attaining to it (p. 14)."

I have read this several times over, fearing I had mistaken the author. It does seem so monstrous an assertion, to say that the kingly power is by the agency of the Holy Ghost. And it is only by calling to mind, the almost impossibility for a clergy-man, from the position in which he stands, and the habit of using the Liturgy, to distinguish, even in theory, between the nation and the Church; which makes me believe, I have caught his meaning.

I believe passive obedience to be the New Testament doctrine, but in a much larger sense than Mr. T. uses it; for it must be unto God, or else it becomes disobedience. In the case of kingly authority, passive obedience I believe to be our rule, since he is God's ordinance to us for good {Rom. 13}; but then we are left the alternative to obey or suffer, and if the king command us to do a thing contrary to the command of God, we must count it joy to be thought worthy to suffer for the truth's sake; and this will necessarily be the case, when the king interferes in the rule of the Church of God; for he is not a gift given from the ascended Jesus for the edifying of His Church; but whatever he may be esteemed by others, he is a gift given from God to His Church while in the world, for a restraint upon the evil of the world, until a given period. It is thus that Christians can most thankfully bless God for His gift, and pray too for the continuance of these authorities, and protest against the lie, that they are to be set up by the will of man.

Surely when the Apostle Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, he recognized Nero as God's ordinance; but did he recognize God standing in the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to Nero? Is not such a relationship salvation? God was not revealed in this relationship, when He committed power to Nebuchadnezzar; yet he was God's ordinance. It is quite true that the same Spirit, which moved on the face of the waters (Gen. 1), and which gave Samson power to slay the Philistines, is the one whom we know, as dwelling in the Church. But now He stands in a different relation and office -as the Comforter; for previous to the ascension of Christ, the Holy Ghost was not {yet given, John 7:39}. The accident of the power being nominally Christian, or really Christian, alters not the source of their authority, which clearly was of God, before His manifestation of Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All real Church authority is derived from Jesus as ascended, and is only for edifying the Church. And here again we have a most grievous instance of the entire identification of the world with the Church, to the great detriment of the latter.

We are quite one with Mr. T., that ministers are not to preach by the will of the people, but by obligation laid on them by God who has given them the competency; and after that is given woe be to the man who preacheth not the gospel. He is not to wait for man's sanction, but being reconciled to God Himself, and God having put into him the ministry of reconciliation, he needs only the constraining love of Christ to set his gift in exercise. It is an awful thing for one to run who is not sent, but as awful to hinder one from going who is sent of God; a tendency of our minds, be it remarked, noticed in the scriptures for our admonition (Num. 11:28; Luke 9:49). If preaching the gospel be not obedience to God, it is like every other sin, self-will; and this is the case when any one preaches merely as hired by the people, or is set up and paid by the authorities of the world.

So again, we are quite one as to the truth of the statement, "The same spirit is seen as more extensively prevalent in the options that are entertained of Christian unity and the means of attaining it."

Now we seek most strenuously to assert that we are not left to the guidance of our own wisdom, which is but self-will after all, as to the manner of Christians manifesting their oneness in Christ. We do believe that self-will has been abundantly displayed in the constitution of the several sects into which the Church is divided, and that the sin of schism has been made very light of, and that the right of private judgment has been carried to such an extreme, as to invalidate the authority of scripture and to deny the presence of the Holy Ghost. All this was the reaction occasioned by emancipation from the traditions of men. But while Mr T. can see clearly the spirit of disobedience in every other sect, he perceives it not in his own. And this is the solemn part of the question between us, the sin of rending the body of Christ must be chargeable on one of us, and it is a fearful sin, and a question which must not be approached with levity. It is surely right that the question should be simplified to the minds of Christians, and it comes simply to this -who is the schismatic, he who seeks to maintain the unity of the Church of England, or he who aims to promote the unity of the Spirit? {Eph. 4:3}. Now it is remarkable that Mr. T. should have ventured in the same paragraph to show the means of unity appointed in scripture, and the means of unity in the primitive Church, that is, after the Churches had lost the blessing of Apostolical care.

THE MEANS OF UNITY APPOINTED IN THE SCRIPTURE, ARE THESE: "Continuing steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. The walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Obeying them that have the rule over us (in the Church) and submitting ourselves. Keeping the ordinances as they have been delivered to us, marking them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine we have learned."

THE MEANS OF UNITY IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, ARE THESE: " I exhort you (says Ignatius the martyr, and formerly disciple of St. John,) to be zealous to do all things in divine concord; the Bishop presiding in the place of God, and the presbyters in the place of the council of Apostles, and the deacons entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ. All of you follow the Bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles, and reverence the deacons as God's ordinance. Be ye earnest to keep one Eucharist, for the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ is one, and there is one cup in the unity of His blood, one altar, as one Bishop, together with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants." Surely the parallel afforded by Mr. T. himself is a sufficient proof that the primitive Church has departed from scriptural simplicity. How important the word "the faith once delivered to the saints," "the acknowledgment of the truth according to godliness."

It is strange that Mr. T. should have overlooked those blessed unities, the knowledge of which maintains unity in the Spirit; "one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who. is above all, and through all, and in you all {Eph. 4:7}." I would solemnly ask myself, have I violated one of those unities in seceding from the Establishment, and I do before God, say no! and therefore that which I have left, has nothing to do with the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit; it may have to do with uniformity, and I do greatly tremble for Mr. T., and many of his godly brethren, because they are identifying two things wholly distinct, uniformity produced by the exercise of external authority and unity by the invisible energy of the Spirit; the one manifested in the long dark age of the universal sway of the Church in the world, the other for a little moment in the primitive Apostolical Church, and only to be fully displayed in that day of glory, when they shall be all one, and the world know that Jesus has been sent of the Father, and the disciples loved as Jesus Himself, of Him.

"Of independence as exhibited in practice, it is enough merely to advert to the general spirit of insubordination, the contempt that is manifested for everything old or established, the disregard of oaths, the crumbling into separate pieces of combinations that seemed almost indissoluble, and that which is most marked and most demands attention; the attempts that are making on a vast and comprehensive scale to hold up men as possessed of a machinery, moral and intellectual, by which to govern themselves, and to render them great, virtuous, and wise, independent of God. Our fathers in the childhood of the world built a visible tower that should reach to heaven, but this generation is engaged in a more awful scheme of apostasy, in building one that is invisible, not material, but moral, intellectual, and spiritual; equally founded upon earth, and doomed to more terrible destruction (pp. 16, 17)."

In this fearful anticipation, we do entirely coincide with Mr. T. And there is nothing we would more deprecate than while seeking real liberty in the Spirit, we should be found in any wise, to give a cloak to that spirit of independence, which we know as taught of God to be lawlessness. No; we do believe that nothing but the acknowledgment of God in all things, nothing but the simplest obedience as children, will prove really a preservative in these dark days of error and unrestrainedness. But the remedy against falling into this evil train, cannot be the attempt to subject man's mind to an authority, the assertion of which can only be made by justifying the most flagrant practical evil, and dulling the sense of individual responsibility. As a theory, what Mr. T. says, may be very beautiful; but the theory of the Church, as he has given it, is not even the theory of the Church of England. And it is constantly found when the Spirit is grieved in an individual by the practical evil and worldliness of the Establishment, that the way he is attempted to be silenced, is by an appeal to the authority of antiquity, or by the argument, that, as individuals they are not concerned in the evil of their system. How pointed a safeguard against such sophistry, is the almost latest warning from heaven: —"He that hath an ear, let him hear what THE SPIRIT says to the Churches."

The Christian Witness 5:99-110 (1838).

Papers From the Christian Witness

(The Christian Witness was begun in January 1834 under the editorship of Henry Borlase, who having died the next year, the editorship was taken up by James Lampen Harris (1793-1877). He had been a fellow at Oxford, 1815-1829. In 1829 he became an "evangelical" and left his Oxford fellowship, apparently becoming an Anglican clergyman. He withdrew from the Church of England in 1832.

These papers by J. L. Harris, beginning in Jan. 1834, show his apprehension concerning the distinctive character of the mystery of Christ and the Church as well as the ruin of the church on earth (as viewed in responsible testimony).

What appears in braces { } has been added, either for clarification, or for where there was some lack in apprehension of truth thought necessary to notice, such as in the article, "The First Resurrection."

There are some expressions that subsequently would be dropped as truth was more fully understood. }

Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ

It is important at all times to distinguish between that which js common to the whole family of God, and that which is the special relationship which any individual may hold to the family. It will be found that what we have in common, is far more extensive than what any individual saint can possibly have as peculiar to himself. And this must be the case when we know that union with Christ is the portion of all that believe on Him, and that all the blessings flowing from this are not only the highest but also the common blessings of the Church. Now we are very liable to fix our attention on that which distinguishes an individual member of the body of Christ, on account of some superadded gift from the ascended Jesus. We look on such a one as apart from the body, and on that account as removed far above our own sphere, so that we think him unable to sympathize with us, and ourselves unable to follow him. It is thus that we have insensibly been led to lower the value of apostolical example, and the tone of apostolical precept, little thinking that no change in the aspect of outward things could affect the essential distinction between the Church and the world. In the case of the Apostle Paul for example, we see so much strikingly singular, and the astonishing facts accompanying his conversion and ministry are of so extraordinary a character, that while we only contemplate him thus, we wonder but dare not imitate. And this is as it should be. For as an Apostle, Paul has had none to follow him. In this his special relation to the Church as the depositary by visions and revelations of the counsels of God and of the mind of Christ, and the communicator by preaching and writing of those things in which the Lord had appeared unto him, he stands singular and aloof from the body.

But there is another character in which he is presented to us, and that is as the servant of Jesus Christ, and when he mentions this in connection with his apostleship, he gives the title of servant precedence of that of Apostle (Rom. 1:1). Now the servant was that character which he could only sustain by virtue of being not his own but bought with a price -it was a redemption character -one which belonged to the whole redeemed family as well as himself, and therefore essential not only to salvation but to glory. Truly as an Apostle too he was redeemed, and sent forth as the Apostle of that redemption, the power of which he knew in his own soul. But neither salvation, life, nor glory, were essential to apostleship, but they were to service. Apostleship was a gift over and above that which was common to all, and placed an individual in a distinct relation to others, but not so as to make the common and essential blessings of less value, but rather to enhance them. For although Paul might have been God's accredited organ of communication of all mysteries to the Church, yet he himself would have lost his blessing and specialty of reward had he not used his apostleship as a servant. And this is the Lord's own preventitive against exaltation in any Church office, if it be not used in service the person loses his reward. "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake {XXX}." It is this which distinguishes authority exercised in the Church from that which is exercised in the world. "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many {XXX}." The world's officer has all the insignia of present power about him, and demands to be acknowledged and is to be acknowledged as having power-the source of his authority is visible and the exercise of it manifest to the eye. On the other hand the source of authority in the Church is invisible, it is from above, from the ascended Jesus, and its exercise is in real spiritual control and guidance, and the great object is that the person who is the channel by which it is exercised, should so lose his prominence, that Jesus and not the man himself should be exalted. And thus it is exercised in service to Him.

It was so in the case of the Lord Jesus Himself -"He took on Him the form of a servant." And although His own proper and native dignity as the eternal Son was constantly shining forth, even while He was sustaining the character He had assumed; yet He strictly maintained it, and sought to hide Himself, that the glory of Him who had sent Him might appear. He was "among them as one who served" -serving them for His sake who had sent Him. We have the beautiful portrait of the Lord as the servant thus given to us. "Behold my Servant, whom I uphold, mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to he heard in the street -a bruised reed shall He not break and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law {XXX}." The way in which this is applied by the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus in Matt. 12, shows us the parts of the servant's character, which are truly valuable and of great price in the sight of God. He had restored the withered hand -"then the Pharisees went and held a counsel against Him -how they might destroy Him," but when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence -"He did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard against them"; nothing escaped Him of what man would term honest indignation -no railing word against their malice -"He did not strive" -the patient Servant was upheld by the arm of Him whose Servant He was; and the Spirit which was upon Him, was another Spirit from that of man, and led Him while serving others in blessing to show forth that He served not Himself, but that as the Servant He was only His who sent Him, and reproach and malice did not make Him fail or discourage Him, because His object was only to do the work of Him that sent Him. But we follow Him a step farther in this patience of service:—"as He withdrew great multitudes followed Him and He healed them all; and charged them that they should not make Him known, that it might be fulfilled {XXX}, &c. &c." As the Servant He was not discouraged by opposition, neither was He elated by that which He had wrought; He tried to hide Himself, that God might be glorified; and when He might have turned on the Pharisees with the multitudes He had healed, He would not allow any man to hear His voice in the street, but "charged them that they should not make Him known. " Here is the real Servant, the one who hides Himself, that He whom He serves may appear -the one who loses all self-interest in the interests of another.

Now it is especially in this character that Jesus the perfectly instructed and wise Servant, holds Himself up to our imitation. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord: it is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household? Fear them not therefore {XXX}." But there are two spheres of service, and although the same principles guide in both, yet the circumstances are so very different, as to give a different character to the service. The world and the Church are the two places of service. The ministry of the Lord was chiefly confined to the former -for He came as the Servant of Jehovah to Israel -"He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. " Here was active service, such as man could recognize, and in which he sought to hide himself, that God might be glorified. It was attended too with present results, and had its value in measure appreciated by man. But if we look to our Lord's service in the Church, we find it characteristically presented in one beautiful incident -leading Him to take a lower place than ever He had taken in His service in and to the world. "When Jesus knew that his hour was come that He should de-part out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God; He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself: after that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. ... So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well: for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Master; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things happy are ye, if ye do them {XXX}." It is in following out this example, that we trace the servant in the Apostle Paul. The sphere of his service was the Church -and although the perfect servant is only to be found in the above example, yet the details of service are more shown by the Apostle than by the Lord Himself. But first let us notice the great principle of service in the Church -in the Lord it was the conscious possession of all things -had anything been lacking to Him-self, He could not have served; but nothing could be added to Him to whom the Father had given all things. Again those whom He served had no claim upon Him for service -"Lord, dost thou wash my feet" -showed the service to be perfectly free. The Apostle too knowing the fullness of Jesus as His own, stood in the consciousness of one who possessed all things, and at the same time as one who knew himself not his own, but bought with a price, he could say -"though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself the servant of all. " In another place, it is true, he says, I am debtor both to the Greeks and Barbarians; both to the wise and the unwise. " Man could claim nothing of him, but as the Lord's servant, he felt all had a claim on him. Blessed service indeed which is based on liberty, and whereinsoever exercised is always to the Lord.

On the first calling of the Apostle Paul, as a chosen vessel to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, he was to be shown how great things he had to suffer for the name-sake of Jesus. The disciple was not to be above his Master, but every one who is perfect is to be as his Master. And the more perfect the servant, so much the more would there be conformity in humiliation, in weariness, and everything which was sorrowful to man as man, to the Master Himself. It is thus that the Master connects service with everything contrary to that which the flesh would crave. He sat weary on the well -there was nothing around Him to relieve Him, but it was relief to the weariness to serve -my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work. And so He taught. "He that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man will serve me, let him follow me {XXX}." Truly humbling to the Master to be denied the coin-`non refreshment which His own bounty had given to man -and so the disciple followed His steps, and if he was used of the Lord to dispense the living water, it was "in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst. " It is in contrast with those who were getting into ministerial ease and honor (1 Cor. 4:8, 9), that he brings in his own personal sufferings, as marking the character of real service. So again we find after he has described the apostasy in its features of self-love and self-indulgence, he silently contrasts his own conduct as properly exhibiting the servant of the Lord. "But thou lust fully known, my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution {XXX}." Thus making his conduct a sample of that which would characterize faithfulness in any period throughout the dispensation. There might be many other general notices adduced as proving that service to the Lord must be in sorrowful suffering, and that the instructed servant would always be able to say, "that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto {XXX}."

But I would desire to notice a peculiar class of trials which do not so much outwardly appear, but which strikingly exhibit the servant of the Lord. They are marked by the Apostle as "the afflictions of the gospel" -and while including outward trial, are by no means confined to it. It is as one having nearly arrived at the end of his course that the Apostle mentions to Timothy -like-minded indeed with the Apostle, but apparently failing in that endurance for the elect's sake which so marked Paul's service. "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God {XXX}." It is properly "suffer evil with the gospel" -Jesus when personally present suffered evil -the gospel when preached drew out the same evil. -Paul the preacher, suffered for preaching it -and now he calls on Timothy to be a fellow-sufferer with the Lord, His gospel, and Himself. Many turned back and walked not with the Lord when they heard his hard sayings -and a grievous trial was it to the Apostle to find all in Asia turned away from him -and himself imprisoned and unable to visit them. How likely then was the heart of the comparatively young soldier to faint, and to grow dispirited, not from the attacks of open enemies, but from the desertion, suspicion, and luke-warmness even of friends.

How assiduously did the Apostle seek to give to Timothy confidence in the same power, even a resurrection-Lord, which had sustained and carried him through. The shame of supporting a cause abandoned by so many and with its prime mover in prison was very great. Hard indeed to bear the scorn of being embarked in that which to man's eye was a tottering cause, and nothing but the consciousness in the soul of the Apostle, that God was not looking for any sufficiency in him, but supplying to him all-sufficiency in all things, could have given him such a bounding spring as to make him rise above all apparent failure and disappointment, The confusion and disorder at Corinth -the turning to another gospel at Galatia -the danger of apostasy among the Hebrews, were all sources of trial, unheeded, unknown, and incapable of being felt by man as man, but wearing the mind, so as to make it very consciously to know, what it was to hate his life in this world. One thing too which tended to lead the servant into conformity with his Master, was that he stood almost alone. Timothy was likeminded -yet he could hardly sympathize with the Apostle, who saw before his eyes, that his departure would indeed be the occasion of grievous wolves to enter in. All appeared to be sustained by the energy of the Spirit in this chosen vessel, and while he is exhorting Timothy to steadfastness, the repeated charge -"thou therefore endure hardness -watch thou in all things -endure afflictions -be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" -shows that he hesitated to expect that ability in Timothy to endure which had so characterized his own service in the Church. It was the full consciousness that he did not go to the warfare at his own charges -that the Master whom he served was no austere Master -that sustained the soul of the Apostle. He might summarily and authoritatively have settled every question, but this would not have been to have served others for the Lord's sake.

The relation in which the Apostle stood to the Corinthians, appears to me to be especially that of the servant in suffering, the servant being perfected according to his Master. It is not persecution or outward hardship, but the laying himself out in grace to kindle the grace which was in them. The seven first chapters of the second Epistle are, in my judgment, the experience of the Apostle as the servant of the Church. No fainting, no discouragement, no striving, no lifting up, no quenching the smoking flax, no breaking the bruised reed, but a willingness even to suffer his own reputation for faithfulness and power to be questioned, so that he might serve them in the way they needed to be served. The first epistle to the Corinthians sufficiently informs us of the grievous disorder of that Church -a disorder I believe which would shock any of our modern communions -which have indeed by their regulations secured order, but it is order arising from outward regulations and not that which the Apostle sought as the remedy, that which arises from the power of inward life and grace. If I was asked what there was, which could induce the Apostle to act towards the Church of Corinth, as he did, instead of proceeding to extreme measures in punishing their delinquencies at once, I would say there were three things specially noticeable in his conduct, which most clearly mark that his object was not outward decency, but life in the Spirit.

First: -The Apostle was able to reckon largely on the full supply of grace in Jesus for a case so extreme. He had known that grace in his own extremity -he lived on it himself. It was this alone which prevented his sinking under the daily pressure of the Churches. Jesus was risen and over all. His own confidence was what he pointed out to Timothy, when he said, as encouraging him against many difficulties, "Remember Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, raised from the dead according to my gospel. " In utter insufficiency in himself to meet a case so desperate as that of the Corinthian Church, except it were in immediate severity of judgment, Paul was enabled to reckon largely on the sufficiency which was in Christ Jesus -he knew no limit to the re-sources of His grace.

Secondly: -The Apostle did not judge after the seeing of his eyes or the hearing of his ears -grievous were the reports that had reached him touching their disorders -but he judged of them as they were in Christ, and not according to their actual circumstances. He reckoned that there was life in them, although it was almost smothered, and the wisdom was to strengthen the things that were ready to die: The first nine verses of the first chapter of the first epistle are most remarkable in this light. Had he gone on the ground of evidences, he might have well doubted if they were Christians at all. But the Lord had told him that he had much people in the city. They were "the seal of his apostleship," for his word had come to them in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The name of Jesus had been confessed by them; and although the flesh and the world appeared almost to have overwhelmed them, and disputation to have taken the place of faith, yet he would not suffer Satan to make him set aside their confession, or to disown his own labor, because of present appearances. He takes them on the ground of being in Christ, and before a single word of reprehension escapes him, he so grounds them in the faith, that subsequent rebuke should not have the effect of unsettling but of establishing.

But, thirdly, there was the personal bearing of the Apostle himself towards this Church. He might have come with the rod, and doubtless his immediate presence would have stopped many abuses, and silenced many a prating teacher. He was fully conscious of the power that he had "to revenge all disobedience," and "to use sharpness according to the power which the Lord had given him to edification and not to destruction" {XXX}. Now had his object been to establish his claim to authority, this would have been the readiest way. But he was fully conscious of his authority, and the question with him was to use it unto edification. To have produced acquiescence to his commandments by his immediate presence was not his object. His delight was to see obedience flowing from grace, as he saw in the Philippians, who not only "obeyed in his presence, but much more in his absence," and to witness order produced by inward life and not outward restrictions. This was the object of his first epistle: he took the place of the patient servant, not fainting nor being discouraged, and waited patiently to see its result. He had the rod at his command, but he did not strive, nor lift up. He said indeed, "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come unto you; but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will: and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up but the power, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? {XXX}." Now in the second epistle we find that the Apostle's patience had been turned against himself by some, as if he was afraid to come, and had boasted of an authority which he did not possess; yea he is even held up to reproach as a vain and fickle man, whose word was not to be depended on. But this does not move him -he endures all things for the elect's sake, and preferred their restoration to the vindication of his own character, even as the perfect patient Servant, when He was reviled, reviled not again, but committed His cause to Him who was near to justify Him. Nothing but the consciousness of being in the place of the servant, entirely forgetting himself, that he might serve others for the Lord's sake, could have carried him through circumstances so trying. Ingratitude from those to whom he had been a father, personal reproach heaped on him by those who were accredited as teachers in the Church, whisperings as to his honesty and integrity, all these trials, so hard to man, moved him not from his purpose of being their servant, as the servant of the Lord unto blessing. The mind which was in Christ Jesus was in him; and it appears to me that the second epistle to the Corinthians is the exhibition of that mind in the spirit and conduct of the Apostle. It holds a very singular place among the writings of the Apostle: there were questions to be answered and error to be corrected in the first epistle, but in this all the blessed truth is brought out incidentally as exhibiting the reason of his own conduct. We have the experience of man under law given us by the Apostle (Rom. 7); he speaks as one in union with Christ in His death and resurrection in the Galatians; he gives us his own estimate of all fleshly advantages in the Philippians; but here we have all the painful experience of the servant of the Lord in outward hardship and inward trial. But the spring of it all, the hidden spring of his unfailing energy in service, was his knowledge of, and communion with, the mind of Christ; which in result caused him always to triumph in Christ. With the exception of the eighth and ninth chapters, all this epistle is of a personal character: in the first seven chapters he speaks both in the person of Timothy, as well as in his own person; in the last chapters he was compelled, although it were folly, to speak of himself. He who had taught to rejoice in tribulation -now rejoices in it. He begins this epistle as one who had triumphed -"blessed be God" -all his trials in service had only served to lead him to know God, as he could not have known Him otherwise, "as the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation. " It was in this school he acquired the ability to comfort others; so that the personal afflictions or personal comfort of the Apostle worked unto the same end, even their profit, for he was their servant.

The manner in which the Apostle met the charge of fickleness against himself, shows forth the dexterousness of divine wisdom. Be it so -I am fickle, but He whom 1 preach is not so; in Him is stability -in Him is yea -in Him is amen. The servant would exalt his Master, even apparently at his own expense. For there was no stability in the servant himself, except that which he had in common with them all, even that stability which God Himself had given them, by establishing them into Christ. He draws them away from looking to him, by turning them to those blessings which they had in common with him as believers in Christ. He thus makes them as it were judges themselves, putting them in the place of exercising righteous judgment. Had he succeeded in most satisfactorily answering the charge, that would have done nothing to establish their souls. That was his object: as one who knew that when the soul itself is unestablished in grace, it can only judge after the seeing of the eye, or hearing of the ear. But when he had thus set them in blessed security, the common security of the Church, and had shown to them that the privileges which they had in common with the Apostle, were the highest that either he or they could have; then he could solemnly tell them, that it was no fickleness on his part that had prevented his carrying his intention into effect. But that to spare them he had not come to Corinth. Surely the servant of the Lord must not faint or be discouraged under misconception or misrepresentation, even evil report is a means of approving our-selves as ministers of Christ; even as deceivers -we are yet true. There is no self-seeking in the servant's place, but the using of every occasion to turn it to the Master's account.

He next gives the reason why he had written instead of personally coming to them; it was to prove his love for them and interest in them: -he knew their value as saints -he estimated them as seeing them in Christ and not according to their actual standing {rather, state, or practice}, and disorderly walk: nothing but their recognition of their real standing would have been real reformation. His immediate presence might have produced that which was outward, but he sought to touch the inward spring. And here we find in the conduct of the servant that which would be judged blameworthy by those who merely looked on the outward appearance and sought not the mind of Christ. The servant knew the preciousness of the saints to the Lord, and knew also how much the glory of His name was implicated in their walk, and more than this that his own energy depended on it; so that when he had before him the two services of preaching to the world or ministering to weak and disorderly saints, we find the servant of the Lord led into that which might even have been deemed by those who judged not in the Spirit, to be idleness. "When I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia {XXX}." What a lesson are we taught here, the active diligent pains-taking servant, whom no hardship could move, no danger could hinder, has no heart or ability for the preaching of the gospel, because of his anxious care for distant disorderly saints. How did the Apostle feel himself to be of the body -how little is this known in our days -who among the servants of the Lord is tracing his own dispiritedness for the work to its right cause, -the divided state of the body of Christ? Again it must be repeated, he might have set all right by his own immediate presence at Corinth -he might have exposed all their errors and declared infallibly the truth of God, but this would not have ministered life to them, nor gladness and strength to his own soul. But how blessedly his ways in Christ resulted, he subsequently states. "I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears; nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but by the consolation where-with he was comforted in you {XXX}." It was this coming of Titus which made him so exult, and connects his triumphant language with his apparent failure in the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the second chapter. For immediately on having mentioned his going from Troas into Macedonia, he says, "Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." He is not here speaking of any success in preaching in Macedonia, nor indeed of preaching at all, but that the way of Christ in which he had walked was the way of triumph. It was the way of self-renunciation, the way "in which the flesh had no rest." To have power and yet not to exercise power, -to be able to vindicate most satisfactorily an aspersed character, and yet to endure the contradiction of sinners against oneself, here is no rest in the flesh -here is the mind and way of Christ -here is the path of glory and virtue leading to certain triumph, conscious triumph even here. Now while it is most fully allowed that this is applicable to the preaching of the gospel, and that in this to the faithful servant there is constant triumph, since the testimony always prospers in that whereunto God has sent it, whether they hear and whether they reject it, yet I do assuredly believe that the whole context shows the mind of the spirit to be the triumph which always follows walking in Christ.

There are two ways of testimony unto Christ: the one by preaching, which may be done through strife or vain glory, and this hinders not the blessing of God to souls, because Christ is to be magnified; but the other way is that of His living power manifested in service; and it is to this the Apostle adverts, when he says, "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 {XXX}." The elect Servant of Jehovah was in the eyes of man, one in whom there was no form nor comeliness; one in whom they saw no beauty that they should desire Him." Yet He was ever a sweet savor unto God. If man despised Him, it only proved the justice of God's judgment as to man; and where there was faith, there "wisdom was justified of her children." The Apostles and real servants of the Lord, were "the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised things of the world." Yet as such, they always triumphed even as their Master, to whom it was said as the despised of men, "therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong." And it is thus the Apostle looks from himself to his Master. "For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him (with Him, margin), but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you." His very triumph in Christ was his own personal humiliation in the eyes of men; he knew that just in proportion as Paul was hidden, Christ would be made to appear. And painful as the needed discipline was, he could say "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong {XXX}."

In speaking of the Corinthians themselves, as his best {?} letter of recommendation, he is led to contrast the ministration of the New Testament with that of the Old, and their different glories. Moses as the servant of the one exhibited the glory of the old or of the letter, in its repulsiveness and obscurity; but Paul as the servant of the other was to exhibit its attractive glory, not only in testimony but in service likewise. Each ministration had the effect of assimilating its servant to its own character. And while the Apostle states it as the common portion of all to have communion with that glory (2 Cor. 3:18), he himself and his fellow-laborers through the knowledge of it were prevented from fainting. "Therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have obtained mercy we faint not." There was indeed enough to make him faint, all human energies must have given away under the pressure, but the character of the ministry "life and righteousness, " and "we have obtained mercy, " caused him not to faint. Official authority might have punished, but then the servant would have been lost sight of in the Apostle; and although it put him in so low a place, yet he could thus minister that which their case required. How gracious indeed is it to know, that low and degraded as saints may be, the ministration of the New Testament can reach to them and raise them up. But then it must be by the manifestation of the truth, setting man aside to show that the only sufficiency is in God. The exercise even of apostolical authority might have tended to obscure the luster of the glory of that grace; but when such a ministry was commended by the conduct of those who were themselves exhibiting the glory of it, it could only be the direct power of Satan that could cause it to be hidden. That the character of service is here intended to be brought out, is, I think, sufficiently clear, from the connection in v. 5, ch. 5, "for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." Now what follows is all characterizing service, in its abasement of the flesh. God's glory must be put in an earthen vessel, that it may be manifested as His and not the vessels which bears it. The chosen vessel must suffer for the name it bears. Is it the ministration of life? How shall it be manifested? By seeing death as to man stamped on him who ministers it. It was life in Jesus, as being only in Him, that they had to preach and minister; therefore it was with them, "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body {XXX. }" For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, &c. It is most clear from the words, "so then death worketh in us, but life in you," that the Apostle is here speaking of that which is death to man as man, -everything that would tend to exalt him in the estimation of others, the power of command arising from superior intellect, the influence of birth, the advantages of education -on all them death was written. And the servant of the Lord had to know the deep trial of foregoing all these advantages, that life might work in others. What a practical comment was the experience of the Apostle in service on the word of the Lord -"a man must hate his life in this world." It was the deep entering in of the soul into the power of the resurrection, which made him practically acquainted with death as man. He had the same spirit of faith as He had whom he served, who could say, "I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars." Yea, truly all men are liars -are vanity; and therefore it was faith in a resurrection-God which sustained the Apostle in his daily dying. But while thus he was lifted above death, he could look at all his sufferings as being in service to the Church, "for all things are for your sakes"; and therefore here was another ground of not fainting. The outer man might perish, but the inner man was renewed day by day by the power of unseen things.

The same leading thought runs through the fifth chapter and into the sixth, as is plainly stated: -" giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God." The fifth chapter is connected with the preceding by the word "for we know." The expression "we know," is idiomatic with the Apostle for that knowledge which is peculiar to a Christian, and seems generally to be applied to practical knowledge. It is the portion of the believer alone to be able to judge all things as from above. "We know that the law is spiritual" -this we could not know unless we were spiritual. "We know that if our earthly tabernacle were dissolved, we have," &c. This we could not know unless our soul had entered into resurrection as its portion. It was therefore not a vague, but a very distinct apprehension of the resurrection of the body, which made the Apostle patient under all hardships, groaning from without and within in earnest desire of deliverance. There was another thing also which entered into the question of service, and that was the solemn apprehension of the light in which everything would be judged, when the veil was drawn aside and Christ should appear. His service all had respect to that day, and therefore was not to be judged of by human prudence, but by the Spirit which alone could know the terror of the Lord. He anticipated the judgment, and had been made manifest to God, and also he trusted to their consciences. This was the use in service which the Apostle made of the solemn truth that all of us have to be manifested before the Bema of Christ. But farther, the light of the resurrection-day had such a powerful effect on the soul of the Apostle, that he would often appear to be acting extravagantly or inconsistently; but still he could say, "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober it is for your cause; for the love of Christ constraineth us. " He labored as one who had already died, and therefore in a manner beyond the range of human thought. He knew no man after the flesh, and would not himself be estimated after the flesh. Everything was new to him, and he labored as it were in a new creation.

Beyond all this there was another most powerful principle at work in the soul of the Apostle, and that was the so linking him-self with God in his service, that he was not discouraged amidst the greatest trials. "And all things are of God." It was God who first reconciled him to himself by Jesus Christ, and then gave to him the ministry of reconciliation. It was the ministry of reconciliation; and the minister of it was not to invest himself with the repulsiveness of God in judgment, but with the attractiveness of God in grace. He would put himself in the way of the patient grace of God, even according as God was exhibited in Christ. It was the incarnation which brought out all the bright effulgence of the divine character -"full of grace and truth." It was thus He exhibited himself in the world; but the world knew Him not. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. But He is no longer exhibiting Himself personally in the world in this manner to the eyes of men. Man has rejected this manifestation of God, how-ever he may try to hide from himself his shame (as the Jews did theirs of having killed the prophets by building their sepulchers), by celebrating the day of the incarnation. But God, though not personally thus present, is manifested in the same grace now; and where is He to be so seen? In the ministry of reconciliation -"and hath put in us the ministry of reconciliation." It is in this ministry we see God yet in the world; not judging, not ordering it, but ministering to its wretchedness in the only way which would meet man's extreme necessity; that is, by the testimony to the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

Christ is now personally away; but on His behalf "we intreat, as though God did beseech by us." God had stretched out His hands all the day long by His Son, to a disobedient and gainsaying people; but after this was rejected, it was by the means of others on the ground of more marvelous grace. "We pray in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

But it was not only as in testimony to the grace of God that he was praying others, but as working together with it. If the testimony was to the grace of God, there was Jesus Himself in the living exhibition of it. If the testimony was to the abounding grace of God in the cross, there were the Apostles as crucified men, the off-scouring of all things, giving power to the testimony by conformity to that humiliation of Jesus which they preached. This, I believe to be the meaning of 2 Cor. 6:1, not working together with God, as is supplied in our translation, but as working together with their own testimony -in consistency with it -that while their mouth expressed the truth, they might themselves be found walking in it. And then well could they ask the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain. There it was still in its fullest exhibition, able to meet all their wants, and to raise them up out of their sunken condition. It was still the season of acceptance: he puts them in mind of that, lest when they were awakened to a sense of their real state, they should be overwhelmed by the discovery of its evil. Their case did not go beyond the reach of the ministry of reconciliation, and there was God exhibited. He feared to hinder this most blessed ministry: his own coming to Corinth with the rod might have hindered it, and therefore his conduct was regulated not by what man might judge fit and proper, but by ascertainment of the mind of Christ. "Giving no offense in anything that the ministry (the ministry of reconciliation) be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God -in much patience, by long-suffering, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as dying and behold we live."

I do most assuredly believe the leading thought in these chapters to be the character of the service, corresponding to that of the grace ministered. It is not the laying before the Church the dispensations of God as in the epistle to the Romans, or unfolding to it its own rich portion as in the Ephesians and Colossians. It is not argumentative as the epistle to the Galatians, but it is the working of that grace and truth in the soul of the Apostle himself in service, of which he was the chosen witness. As he says, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God {XXX}." A great deal more to the same purpose might be noticed from the tenth chapter to the end, but I forbear to go further in this interesting subject except it be to present one trait of the servant most prominently set forth in the last chapter. It was a hard taunt indeed to be asked at Corinth, for a proof of Christ speaking in him, when they themselves were the mighty proof of it. But then as it had been with the Master Himself, to be in the eyes of men a worm and no man, so was the servant content to be. "For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you {XXX}." It was resurrection-power in which the Apostle was strong, and everything that could make man appear glorious and powerful, was taken from him in order to manifest that his power was from above not from man. But outwardly weak as he was, the fact of their believing was the proof of his power, for he it was who had ministered Christ to them. If they had proof of being Christians, then had they proof of Christ speaking in him. This was the proof which satisfied the soul of the Apostle; but if they sought others he had them ready, but he wished not to be put to the test. The best proof to him would be that "they did not evil" which might call forth severity; and he had rather by their well doing, still continue under the imputation of having put forth pretensions which were not made good, than make them good in their punishment.

Here is the servant hiding himself entirely that only He whom he served might appear. Could the flesh do this? assuredly not. It was service in the Spirit in the gospel of the Son, and therefore the pattern of all real service. And although as to outward hardship, we do not find the same trials now as in those days, yet, in all which arises from the Church itself, the case is so sorrowful, that nothing but the deepest self-renunciation and self-abasement will at all enable us to serve in it, or lift us up above the painful pressure of present circumstances.

It is now high time to awake from ministerial ease. The Lord, and the time, is calling for energetic service. But it must be in endurance. -"I therefore endure all things for the elect's sake" {XXX}. With uncompromising faithfulness, no weapon must be used that is carnal -only those which are mighty through God. Well may the servant say, "Who is sufficient for these things?" But it is blessed to know that all this present state is not unforeseen and unprovided for. The Lord will still bless faithful service; and however little it may be crowned with present success, no labor in the Lord ever is in vain.

The Christian Witness 6:95-115 (1839).

Philanthropy

The desire which originally seduced man from his allegiance to God, has been, and is still strongly marked as the characteristic of his being. "Ye shall be as Gods," was the object proposed by the tempter unto disobedience. And so strong has been the predominance of this principle, that man has used the blessings which God has given to him, and even the very light which He has revealed, in order to assert his own sufficiency and independence. It seems the constant tendency in man to rejoice in the work of His bands; it furnishes him in his own mind with a kind of creative power. It is this which makes the works of man to be the subject of admiration and astonishment, when those of God, so much more wonderful in their kind, and mightier in their degree, pass unnoticed or unheeded. Man will put no restraint on himself, as to the means he may use to compass the end which he fondly imagines to achieve. He will avail himself of God and the things of God, to help him in erecting a fabric, which may make him a name in the earth. He will even boast himself of God, in order to establish his own righteousness; and what he calls religion, is that which he uses as he would any other scheme, not that to which he himself is subject. Hence it has arisen, that the greatest corruptions in the earth have been brought about by man's abuse of the privileges which God has given him; in other words, by religious corruption. The close of the former dispensation was of this character; even as it is distinctly marked in the prophetic word, that it shall be of this, "in the last days perilous times shall come" (2 Tim. 3).

At the period of the ministry of our blessed Lord among the Jews, it was comparatively a very religious era. The observance of the Passover, and reading the Scriptures, had shortly previous to the Babylonish captivity, almost gone into desuetude. Thus in the days of Hezekiah, it is said of the Passover, "they had not done it of a long time in such sort as was written," and when the invitation went forth to summons them of Ephraim and Manasseh to the solemnity at Jerusalem, "they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them" (2 Chron. 30). So again when the copy of the law was found by Hilkiah the Priest, in the days of Josiah, "when the king had heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes," and he sent "Go, and inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book" (2 Chron. 34). In the days of our blessed Lord, on the contrary, we find all the set feasts regularly attended, according to the words of the law (Ex. 23:17), and not only did the males go up three times a year to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem, but a great many of the women and children also (Luke 2:41). Scribes and Doctors of the law abounded; and there was hardly a town or village without its synagogue. But however fair this might appear to the eye of man, which saw only the outside, however these might have been adduced as proofs of an increasing love of godliness among the nation, one who judged not according to appearances, but who judged righteous judgment, was enabled to detect under all this outward show, an Apostasy in principle and practice, just ripening unto judgment. The twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew's gospel lifts up the veil, and displays the real state of Religion, at a time of so much apparent zeal and activity. There was much regard and outward reverence shown to the memory of the Prophets, who had suffered for their testimony from their forefathers; they built their tombs, and honored the dead and silent witnesses, while the same spirit which they condemned in their fathers, was about to show itself in a more flagrant manner in their treatment of the then living Witness, to whom all the Prophets had borne witness. All their zeal about the things of God only tended to make those things subserve to their own ends. They did what they did to be seen of men, they compassed sea and land to make a proselyte, in order to glory in his flesh; they would make long prayers, and yet devour widows' houses. They derided the notion of the impossibility of serving God and Mammon; and while they contended vehemently for the sanctity of the Sabbath, they contrived to evade whatever was onerous in showing that honor to parents which the law of God required. In a word, all their knowledge of God, and all their religious privileges were turned to a selfish account. Man was the end they proposed to themselves, and not the glory of God; whatever thwarted their end, was, according to their apprehensions, to be avoided. On every occasion did this religious selfishness show itself, insomuch that even the temple itself was turned into a scene of merchandize. No other moral condition apparently could have prepared the way for the rejection of Jesus, of whom they were the betrayers and murderers, when even the heathen governor would have let Him go. Had Jesus been acknowledged, the supremacy of themselves was gone, the notion of man's goodness and competency must be given up, and therefore the language of their heart was "this is the Heir, come let us slay him, that the inheritance may be ours." They professed the good of man to be their object; they did all to have praise of men; and when He came whose right it was to bless others, and to be honored by them, they received Him not, -such was their Philanthropy.

Now the word of God most distinctly marks a declension and apostasy, parallel to this in its leading features, as terminating the present dispensation {age}; only it will be much fairer in its appearance. It is the result of man's using (or rather abusing) the knowledge of God, and of the things of God, to the furtherance of his own scheme of Philanthropy. For what is the high sounding title in the lips of man, when weighed in the balance of truth, but this, that "Men shall be lovers of their own selves" -that man's well-being, according to his own short-sighted view, will become his object; and therefore, that Christianity itself, instead of being self-denying, and hating the life in this world, will only be recognized so far as it can be made to subserve man's self-interest, and to promote his self-exaltation. "They will be lovers of pleasure more than {rather than} lovers of God." The effort of man will be to secure the greatest possible sum of human happiness in the present state, -this will be his object. To this will he directed his moral and intellectual powers; to this will his religion be made subservient. Increasing knowledge will mightily increase the power of man, and difficulties may perhaps be surmounted more rapidly than even he can imagine It is not attempted to he denied that there is something very plausible in such speculations, and very pleasing in the expectations held out. But one might well pause, and ask the reason why such expectations have never been realized? What is there peculiar in the present age to render nugatory the experience of six thousand years? It may be answered, "Christianity is to shed its blessed influence over every institution of man for ameliorating the condition of his species. " Now what is here attempted to be shown is, that this is not the object of Christianity, and that it stands, in this respect, in direct contrast with Philanthropy. When we look at it in its best sense, Philanthropy is only remedial; and there is hardly a thing in which it glories that is not so intimately connected with sin, that its glory is only in our shame It may improve the discipline of prisons, but why are there prisons at all? It may multiply hospitals, but can it prevent sickness? Is it not engaged against a power which is continually asserting its supremacy, and when one evil is overcome, another rises in its place, like the fable of the hydra. In result, all these prove the inveteracy of the power of evil, from the failure of the wisest and best plans to counteract it. There was one who could say, "I have overcome the world"; but the philanthropist must constantly confess that the world overcomes him. And when the evil is looked fairly in the face, and seen in its last and most appalling form, -death; what can Philanthropy avail against it? It is actually driven, in open defiance of Scripture, to look on death as man's natural constitution, instead of as his moral condition on account of sin. And in this instance, we see the boasted goodness of man brought into direct collision with the truth of God. So long as it can use religion for its own end, it will. God will be acknowledged by it, when God can be subjected to it. But the moment its end is interfered with, even by God Himself, then its real exaltation of itself, and insubjection to God is made manifest.

According to Philanthropy the estimate of everything is utility; -the language of the heart is, "Who will show us any good?" and as much, very much, of Christianity so evidently tends to the blessing of Society, in promoting soberness, righteousness, and temperance; therefore man, in his effort to promote these for his present good, and for his own ends, will boldly say he is forwarding the gospel. He will acknowledge the excellence of the gospel in the very act of subverting its principles. "Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonorest thou God?" And the same principle might be applied to those who take the standard of utility, instead of that of the will of God. To do so, is to get off the ground of faith, and to walk by sight. Faith knows nothing of results; it considers them not; God is its sufficiency and warrant for action and expectation. On the contrary, man proposes a certain scheme, in order to a supposed result, and pursues it by all the means he can muster, and with a singleness of eye, and a determinateness of purpose which may well shame the children of light. But what said the Lord in reply to the sneer of the Utilitarians of His day? -"Why was this waste of the ointment made, why not given to the poor?" -what was His vindication of the apparently unmeaning action? It was done to Jesus; faith wrought by love, and a lasting memorial is given to the work of a poor woman, which called forth the scorn of man, while the most splendid efforts of Philanthropy have perished or been forgotten.

There is something in the description of the coming Apostasy in the second Epistle of Peter, and in that of Jude, so fearful and revolting, that we almost shrink from applying it to a religious erra, descriptive of a state of society looked on, and gloried in, as Christian. But the Scripture of truth is intended to set appearances in their real light, and the most loathsome comparisons are purposely employed to convey to our minds a sense of the abomination in the sight of God, which is concealed under the fair show of an outward profession and busy activity. It is hard indeed, until we enter deeply into the working principles of man's mind, to realize the state of Sodom before its destruction, as less guilty and more tolerable than that of the Jewish nation in the time of our Lord; and it does require abiding in Jesus, and walking in the light, to detect under the show of Philanthropy, the features of an Apostasy, marked as the way of Cain, the error of Balaam, and the gainsaying of Korah. But what are these features, but the assertion of the sufficiency of man, the using of the light of God for our own selfish ends, leading to the rejection both of the Priesthood and Lordship of Jesus? And let it be calmly asked, if there be a Philanthropical Institution in existence, not excluding but acknowledging Christianity in part at least, in which the working of such principles may not more or less be discovered. Nothing indeed is a more striking characteristic of modern Philanthropy, than the union of the extremes of faith and opinion, to the exclusion of the mastery of any, as if there were no such thing as truth. This in fact is its boast, the occupation of ground common to all, except the uncompromising Spirit of Christ, which can never really rest, never be healthfully exercised, unless it can claim the ground as its own entirely. But farther than this, there is something more than the danger of neutrality to be apprehended. Philanthropy, so called, actually invades the province of God, and usurps His place. It is the vain pretense of man to be wiser and better than God, in meeting and dealing with evil, and with the misery of man. There is indeed such a thing as real Philanthropy; not the experiment of a being under the power of evil to extricate himself or others from that power, or so to mitigate it, as to make it tolerable; -but the assertion of One, of His sole supremacy over it, in His ability to rescue man from under its power -"the Philanthropy of God. " -"After that the kindness, and love of God our Savior toward man appeared [φιλανθρωπια, the Philanthropy of God our Savior], not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3; XXX)." This is the gracious and noble design of God, the Philanthropy of God. He alone knowing the full extent of man's necessity, could devise a plan adequate to meet it. And the extent of the misery and evil of man can only be duly estimated by viewing it as the occasion of the display of the counseled wisdom, power, and goodness of God, in order to its remedy. The object of God is the rescue of man: and when man proposes a similar object to himself, to be compassed by his own powers, he virtually rejects God, and only compasses himself about with his own sparks, in the end to "lie down in sorrow (Isa. 50:11).

Now since God's love to man is the very thing set forth in the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ, can that really be worthy to be called love to man, which (even should it obtain what it aims at) leaves him infinitely short of the blessing which God proposes in the gospel. The question is not as to the propriety of meeting man's complicated misery, in order to its relief by any means in our power; this surely love would be officious in doing, even as Jesus went about doing good: -but whether the pretension of man to Philanthropy, stopping so very short of God's intention in the gospel, is not in its principle, virtual infidelity? For when God, out of His love toward man, proposes to Himself one object, -and man, out of his love to himself, proposes another object, what is man's persisting in his object but an impeachment of the goodness and wisdom of God? It is thus that man is still guided by the old principle of his seduction, "Ye shall be as gods"; and making even Christianity subservient to his own aims, he brings in that which is a second and more fearful corruption of the earth (cp. Gen. 6:13; Rev. 11:18; 19:2), ending in the judgment of God. Such is the use which "the Christian world" has made, and is making, of those privileges which are indeed great every way -they use them wrongly -putting the new piece to the old garment, and the rent becomes worse -putting the new wine into old bottles, they burst, and the wine is spilled. Christianity loses its distinctiveness, and is only known as a theory of dogmas, instead of a new and active energy; while a morbid and sentimental Philanthropy, busy and daring, is substituted in its place. The necessary consequence of this adaptation of Christianity to present circumstances is, that it becomes itself the subject of human expediency, occupying a secondary place, instead of being a dominant principle, bringing everything to its own standard. In attempting to infuse something of it into human institutions, the salt only loses it savor, instead of seasoning that to which it is imparted; and not the grace of God, but the wisdom of man reaps the glory. The world (for example) knows full well how to use Christianity in urging any benevolent work of its own; -but it dare not use it in discountenancing covetousness, for that is its own principle -the world loves its own, and this is the basis of almost all human legislation. The Philanthropist would seek to infuse something of the spirit of Christianity into a criminal code; but stops short on the one hand, of its intolerance of evil of any kind; and on the other, of passivity as the proper place of a Christian under its pressure. Christianity is looked upon by them at best as only subsidiary, and the moment it comes to interfere with convenience, its obligation is denied. Because men may be engaged in promoting the things which are commanded by the precepts, and commended by the example of Christ, without the least regarding either their motives or their objects, they conclude they must be right. "Jesus went about doing good"; no human misery was there which did not find His sympathy, and feel His power to meet it. Thousands received blessing from Him, who yet were strangers to eternal life. Ten Lepers were cleansed, one only returned to Jesus, to give glory to God, and got the further and substantial blessing; "Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luke 17:19).

When Jesus had healed the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, and found him afterward in the temple, He said to him, behold thou art made whole, sin no more, "lest a worse thing come unto thee." His Philanthropy did not end where man's does, and would end; he saw a worse thing far beyond the measure of the human misery he had remedied -there were yet death and judgment before him, who had been so marvelously delivered; he had yet the blessing to seek which alone belongeth to faith, even deliverance from death and its power, sin. This is the sad mistake of Philanthropy, its proposed end, even if attained, stops short of deliverance from "the worse thing." And therefore, granting all that Philanthropy aims at to be accomplished, though this is indeed allowing much -granting it could be said by it, to the misery that disfigures society, "Behold thou art made whole, " the root of the evil remains untouched and while man may be glorying in the success of his efforts, his very success may prove the occasion of blinding him to a sense of his actual state before God; that "the worse thing" is yet before him. It is impossible to say to what extent man's misery may actually be mitigated, or the social system improved, by the mighty powers and resources of man now being developed, and by the use of Christianity itself, as one of the many means to obtain such an end. But experience has hitherto shown, that while the outer surface may be healed, even to the eye of man, it is but falsely healed, the wound still festers beneath. And just when a goodly fabric has been raised, decked with the fair show of religion by the wisdom of man, it has withered away before the power of some new evil. But as Christians, we have something more sure than experience (man's utmost certainty), even the testimony of God -that the end of this scheme will be disaster. The gospel is necessarily humanizing and civilizing in its effects, but this is not the real design of God in it. And although it may answer man's end so to use it, he "has his reward" in attaining his object; but still there is the worse thing which may befall him, and the very perfecting of his scheme is precisely its ripeness for judgment (Dan. 4:30, 31). It is of solemn inportance to realize, that God regards the objects at which we aim; if He is aiming at one, and we at another, we cannot be fellow.workers with Him. It is therefore very possible to be very busy indeed in religious things, and yet to be very wide of God's object. The end therefore of such zeal must be disastrous, not attaining to the purpose of God. Thus it was with Israel; they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God; they used the law for one end, God gave it for another. Thus also is it characteristically marked as to the present dispensation. "To them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, (here their object is marked) eternal life. But to them who are contentious (opposed to enduring and suffering, and marking the way of the world,) and do not obey the truth (have not God's object, do not submit to His righteousness) but obey unrighteousness, tribulation, and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil" (Rom. 2). "God is not mocked, but whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." He has made known to man in the gospel of His Son, an available power against evil -"Christ crucified, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. " The peace which the gospel gives, and the blessed fruits which it produces, man would fain take if he could to embellish the fabric of his own rearing. Hence every system of religion which man has attempted to establish, has always had a second object (or rather one besides that of God), which being the proximate, has had the first share of man's thoughts. To the truth of this we have an unexceptionable witness in J. Wesley, who perceiving the increased symptoms of worldliness among his own followers, appears not only to have almost despaired of Methodism, but of Christianity itself. "How astonishing a thing (says he), is this? How can we understand it? Does it not seem (and vet this cannot be) that Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a tendency in process of time to undermine and destroy itself? For wherever true Christianity spreads, it must cause diligence and frugality, which in the natural course of things must beget riches; and riches naturally beget pride, love of the world, and every temper that is destructive of Christianity. Now if there be no way to prevent this, Christianity is inconsistent with itself, and of consequence cannot stand, cannot continue long among any people, since wherever it generally prevails, it saps its own foundation."

However true and humbling the fact, that such has been the course of Christianity, is it not clear that God's object in "true Scriptural Christianity" was quite overlooked by the holy man who wrote the above? That object is not to make men comfortable in the world, but to give them a power to live above it; at the same time that true Scriptural Christianity does produce such fruits as must commend themselves to the conscience of man, although he knows not whence they spring. Man sees these, and he seeks them, but not victory over the world. It is on this common ground of the effects of Christianity, righteousness, temperance, that real Christians and speculative Philanthropists meet; but being neutral, at once shows it to be ground on which a Christian ought not to be. "He that is not with me is against me"; and wherever a Christian, on the principle of his association, cannot confess Christ, be is clearly off the ground of faith.

It must doubtless have excited the attention of even the careless observer, that this is a day, not only marked by the wonderful development of man's power and resources, but by many a busy and active philanthropic scheme. I enter not into them, only seeking to point out the ground which they take as unsafe for a Believer, in fact, helping to consummate the Apostasy. The end proposed by man is, the blessing of his species; to this end all means are to be rendered subservient -Legislation, Science, Machinery, Education, Christianity. Now it is manifest, that the three first can only affect the present state of man; and although the two last may have an onward and future aspect, they are not used as such; at the best the aim is man's moral and intellectual improvement. Now in the estimation of God, the condition of man before Him is so bad, that it is absolutely irremediable. Every experiment of God on man (to speak after the manner of men) has failed; and instead of improving, has only tended to develop successively and increasingly the weakness and perverseness of man. Hence the end of God's Philanthropy is salvation, deliverance out of such a state as this altogether, and not the improvement of it. "According to His mercy Re saved us," not only in reference to man's lack of claim on Him, but in reference to the greatness and kind of the salvation itself which could never have entered into the thought of the creature. As the starting point, the worthlessness of man, is acknowledged, the cross is God's estimate of the flesh -i.e., man as he is; this faith recognizes. "By the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" -here is the manner of the salvation; not the improvement of anything old, but the introduction of a new existence; the bringing out of that family, whose inheritance is sin and death, into union with the Head of another family, from whom flow Spirit and Life. It is a new life -life out of death -new in its origin, its objects, and desires, and requiring an aliment peculiar to itself -the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Thus the inheritance is not that of sin and sorrow, but of eternal life. Now, unless we start from the same point as God, and have the same object in view, all our attempts will end in disappointment and disaster. The starting point with God is the irremediable evil of man, and the remedy a new one, even Resurrection Life. It is Jesus and the Resurrection which is to be preached, as the only adequate remedy. To take, therefore, either a more favorable view of the present constitution of man than God does, or to propose any remedy short of the resurrection to meet it (dignify it with whatever name we may), is only to deceive ourselves through false philosophy. Our blessed Lord clearly saw what expectations man would form as to the result of His wondrous love and condescension, in coming into such a world as this. They would look for so great an amelioration in the condition of man, as to make the present state one of possible, if not of probable enjoyment. But how completely does He nullify any such expectation -"Suppose ye, that I am come to give peace on earth?" (Luke 12:51). Such would be the necessary consequence of the introduction of a new life. Had it been merely an improvement of the old life, it would have been borne, and hailed as a blessing by man; for all men naturally allow to a consistent Christian an advance on them in degree, but not a difference from them in kind. But the new life comes into direct collision with the old, and must cause necessary discomfort here, and be, in its exercise, a continual course of self-denial -a hating of our lives in this world. Now the end which Philanthropy proposes, is confessedly nothing beyond the improvement of the old life; and it is not now my purpose to urge farther the failure of such an attempt, but rather to show the necessary collision into which Philanthropy and Christianity must come; in other words, that the way of God and the way of man to meet evil, not coinciding, must issue in conflict; and that one trial of the faith of the disciples of Christ will arise from Philanthropy. Everything is now rapidly tending to the concentration of the powers of man against the evil of his condition; the barriers of ages which appear hitherto to have prevented the full exercise of these powers, are falling before them one after another, and a fair field seems opening to man for the experiment of the regeneration of his species. Now, while Christianity will lend its aid to further this scheme, it will be tolerated, praised, and caressed; but the moment Christians assert their own principles, and stand on their own ground, that is the Resurrection, it will cast such shame and contempt on the efforts of Philanthropy, as to be esteemed an enemy and a hindrance in its way. While man is working to his end, God assuredly is to His; and that is to bring out His own into separateness from everything foreign to them; and this is no less evident to Him who can judge all things, than the movement of the spirit of the age in philanthropical schemes. At this very day we see this work of God's Spirit among Christians, so as to cause dissatisfaction at all around them; and although we be slow in distinguishing His leadings, and are liable to the seductions of error, yet the result is the desire awakened of occupying our own ground, and standing simply on the Lord's side.

Viewed in the light of God's truth, Philanthropy is the minding the things of the flesh. Give it all the success to which it aspires, grant it all its usefulness, death ends all its efforts, -to mind the things of the flesh is death. Here it is that the reality of Christianity begins, where Philanthropy ends. It starts from death unto life, -to mind the things of the Spirit is life and peace. Hence where real Christitianity as an active living energy is exhibited, it necessarily must thwart, however unobtrusive in itself, the vain and impotent effort of man to better the condition of his species by schemes of his own devising. The time may come when men will even think they are doing God service in slaying the real disciples of Christ; for they alone will appear to stand in the way of the perfection of that system, which man would fain raise as a monument of his own greatness.

It appears to me that the separation of the two great principles of the gospel, Justification by Christ, and life in the Spirit, -in other words, Jesus and the Resurrection, has given rise to a most unhealthy state of things; either leaving professed Believers in practical ungodliness, or encouraging a morbid sentimentality, -in either case justifying worldliness. The distinction between flesh and Spirit has often been held in justification of sin; the Cross being gloried in only selfishly, and not realized in its moral power of crucifying the world unto us {XXX}, and as our power too against the dominance of sin. On the other hand, those who have most systematically contended for the Spirit, have only owned it as a higher influence, working on the mind unto a certain indescribable sentiment called spirituality, but only tending to form an inner circle of worldliness, where the excrescences that offend reason or morality may be lopped off. But Christianity with them is mere sentiment; and where so called Evangelicalism is professed, it answers, for the most part, to the stony-ground hearers. The truths of Christianity are brought to work on the natural affection, causing excitement and busy activity, but giving no peace, no victory, no stability, -in time of trial, on account of the word, they fall away. Now these last are most forward in schemes simply philanthropical.

Now the Scriptures set before us Flesh and Spirit, as two distinct departments conversant with different subjects. Wide indeed is the range of flesh; all the phenomena of man's constitution, and the world around him, that which meets the eye, -but it is bounded; the things which are seen are temporal, and death is their end, or at least separates us from them. On the other hand, vast is the range of the Spirit -they are things which "eye hath not seen"; all the realities revealed to faith, and opening a field for the exercise of an enlightened understanding. It is true indeed, that the works of God, and His ways in Providence, will be an object of interest to the Spirit, (for the spiritual man examines all things, though the flesh cannot intrude into its department (1 Cor. 2:14), but the difference will be, that they will be looked on as declaring the glory of God; and the flowers of the field will so much display it, that all the glory of Solomon, yea all the achievements of men will sink into obscurity. The natural man rejoices in the works of his hands, -the spiritual in the works of God. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein" (Psa. 111:2).

These two departments, therefore, have their definite tendencies, Death and Life. Hence the great practical power of a Believer to live above present things in his conversance with those of a higher range. -Live in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. But to mind the things of the flesh is enmity against God. It is to occupy the field that He has given up to judgment -to say that we can better it, after He was rejected who had all blessing in His hand; it is to try the miserable experiment of getting good out of those very things which crucified the Lord of glory. The friendship of the world is enmity with God, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him."

All that is in the world passeth away. He alone that doeth the will of God, -walks with Him in unity of object and purpose, -abideth forever. Everything now is finding its place; and may the Lord's people know theirs to be, to have risen with Christ, that they may seek and mind the things above, and be content to be expectants for real and abiding good, till Christ who is their Life shall be manifested, and then they shall be perfectly conformed to Him -the second Man, the Lord from heaven -Head of the new creation -where there shall be no more curse, or sorrow, or death.

The Christian Witness 3:168-182 (1836).

Philemon

There are two ways in which truth is presented to us, didactically and in the living exhibition of it. There may indeed be a certain admiration of the character in which truth is embodied, without perceiving that it is the truth which molds the character. But for the most part we are much readier at learning truth didactically, than as presented to us livingly. In the one case it is often the mere exercise of the mind, in the other the affections are almost necessarily engaged. It is not however my intention to institute any comparison between the relative value of these two ways. God has been pleased to use them both, and it is generally found that where there has been the setting aside of doctrinal truth, because it has been systematically held by some, and severed from the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great doctrine of God, there has been instability. But it is exceedingly delightful to witness the progress of one, who having received the truth doctrinally, is led to connect it with Jesus in his own soul. The purpose of God and all that flows from it, still have their proper place in his soul. He does not deny, but most fully avows all the truth contained in the most rigid doctrinal statement. The electing love of God, His effectual calling, His predestination to Sonship, the indefectibility of grace and perseverance of the saints, are no longer to him so many abstract truths, but become embodied in his own soul, by the known character of God in redemption. It is thus the soul is delivered from questioning and debating about such points, it assumes them because it knows God; and it is this acquaintance with God which gives real peace. I believe that even the recognition of one's own personal election, fails in giving peace apart from the character of God, revealed as love. There are jealousies and suspicions in the soul, as to God, even where the truth is most distinctly apprehended doctrinally, until God's perfect love as revealed in Jesus, casts out all fear. There is no real boldness (doctrines never give it) until we know that God's love has made us, even in this world, as Jesus is before Him in heaven. This is the result of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, to every one that believeth. And as such a knowledge of God as this, is eternal life, we find the soul unconsciously acting on and out, those very doctrines which it had previously acknowledged as truth. But now they have become as it were its life and existence, and therefore without being mentioned are continually being confessed. It is surprising how much is necessarily assumed, when once God is known by the soul in the relationship of Father, -many a babe who has been brought to know Him as such through faith in Jesus, although he might be for a moment stumbled at a' systematic presentation of the doctrines of grace, will be found to have the elements of them all in his own soul. As born of God, he really lives and moves and has his being in Him, and instead of questioning about God is happily living in Him. When this is the case, there is a beautiful ease in Christianity,-it is not effort, it is life. And the true grace of God is as much traced in a precept as in a promise, because the precept assumes redemption and a new relation to God. The precept could only suit one placed in a particular relation. For example, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," assumes the knowledge of complete redemption: the soul is set completely at rest about itself, before it can possibly seek to carry out the precept; and in carrying it out is only learning more of the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God. And thus we become practically acquainted with the grace of God, every step we are seeking to take in obedience to His will.

Now I believe that many parts of scripture are neglected or slighted, because they do not appear to bear on doctrinal truth, while they are the exhibition of that very truth in living power. One such part of scripture is the Epistle to Philemon. It does not contain a single doctrinal statement, and yet could only have been written by one whose very soul had embraced the whole doctrine of Christ, so that his life and thoughts were all expressive of it. It ought to be matter of great thankfulness on our part to our gracious God, that He has chosen such engaging ways to bring His blessed truth to bear on our souls. And I would earnestly desire, while seeking to trace the mind of Christ in the Apostle Paul writing to Philemon, that we might have fellowship with Him in it.

In the Lord Jesus personally, we see the whole truth embodied and livingly presented, -He is the truth. In the Apostle we see the blessed result of communion with the truth, and the presentation of the mind of Christ. This is our portion. "We have the mind of Christ." It is this which makes us know how we ought to walk, so as to please God. The rule of Christian conduct is not "I say unto my servant, Go, and he goeth," without knowing the reason of the command, but it is the ability to recognize the propriety of the command itself as suitable to the condition in which we are placed, and therefore the obedience of the Christian is intelligent obedience. He is led of the Spirit, and this too in those very things which are most opposed to all that is natural. God, with all the power to command, treats us as friends; He in-forms us and shows us what would be well-pleasing unto Him, and thus we have fellowship with Him in carrying out his will into obedience, which we could not have had if He dealt with us as servants. But I would now turn for illustration of these things to Paul's Epistle to Philemon.

The salutation or address, brief as it is, contains in it, the sub-stance of the Epistle. It is all so pertinent to the subject on the mind of the Apostle, that one might be led to think there was studied art in it. But I believe that no artificial arrangement can ever come up to the simple expression of the mind of Christ. And all the beauties of the sacred writers have not arisen from any studied composition, but are the necessary result of inspiration -the Spirit expressing by them that subject which he fully knew, and was therefore fully competent to teach. But to return to the address of the Epistle. We have Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ; Timothy, a brother; Philemon, one dearly beloved, and a fellow-laborer with the Apostle; Apphia, the beloved; and Archippus, Paul's fellow-soldier. Now the mention of all these names is expressive of fellowship, -those who had no natural fellowship one with the other, nothing in common one with the other, strangers in country, in habit, in language, had now by union with Jesus, common relationship, common affections, common service, common warfare. Here is the wondrous power of the cross, it not only brings the soul into peace with God, as seeing His love to a sinner therein expressed, even in the judgment of that sin which would hinder fellowship with Him, but it brings men of the most opposite character, and most different condition in this life, into oneness also. How fully must the soul of the Apostle in writing this address, have known nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He saw an end of all those distinctions which separate man from man in the cross; and a new union with a new head in a new creation in the resurrection. This true doctrine of the cross we need to know, -this Paul would have Philemon to know. That the very same power which had slain the enmity between Paul, a Jew, and Philemon, a Gentile, "making them one new man making peace," the very same power by which they were engaged in the same work, would be sufficient to make peace between Philemon and his slave Onesimus, to give them a oneness of interest, affection, and service, which they had never had before. I need hardly state that this is the true doctrine of Christ as expressed Eph. 2:13-22. There indeed it is stated in its largest principle, that God had introduced a power by which even the partition wall, which He Himself had placed between Jew and Gentile, was broken down, and they, so contrary the one to the other, brought into amity -not by the Jew becoming a Gentile, nor the Gentile a.Jew, but the twain becoming a new man in Christ Jesus.

I would not omit here to notice the mention of "the Church in thy house," as in strict keeping with the whole subject. The Church is the household of God; and how very blessed to have a small household here conformed to God's great household. Now Philemon and Archippus, who once had been far off from God, had now by the blood of Christ been brought nigh, and standing before God in Him, had become of the household of God. There was no difference before God on account of their relative conditions here, in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free. With what propriety therefore is the Church in the house mentioned here, as that which would lead Philemon immediately to see the blessedness of receiving Onesimus in brotherly love, and regarding him of the household of God, and therefore of the Church in his house. But if we enter a little more into detail, I think we shall be able to trace more of the living grace which is in Christ Jesus, for us, as well as the Apostle Paul. "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus" -"a prisoner!" why not an Apostle? surely he was one, and could not give up that title and office, however grace might lead him to do that which his Master had done, that he might bring sinners to God, and lead on saints into obedience by love. His authority he most clearly asserts, -"Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ." Paul dared not give up his authority as an Apostle, -he was responsible for its exercise to Him whose servant he was. When the occasion came, he could use sharpness. But though the relation in which Paul stood in the Church to Philemon was most distinct, yet his soul was resting much more on that which he had in common with Philemon than on that which distinguished him from him. It was thus too he would teach Philemon by his own example, how he should act towards Onesimus: their relation was that of master and slave, and the gospel did not the least alter it. Philemon was responsible as a master to his Master in heaven; but yet there was open to Philemon the showing forth of the grace of the Apostle, or rather of the Lord Himself, who never could alter by any humiliation that which He essentially was; but was enabled by it to bring to bear on the soul, that which otherwise He never could have done -His own gracious example. "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." It is the joy of the heart of the Lord Jesus Himself, to place Himself in that posture in which He can bring us in to share His own blessings with Himself. As Lord of all, He stands alone, and above us all; and this He cannot give up, for it would be the denial of Himself. But when He has all authority to command as Lord (and this is speedily to be revealed), He has as humbled, been pleased to give us an example that we should follow His steps. He delights to come down to our level, in order to exalt us to His own glory. This is the way of grace: it would have been no grace in the Lord Jesus, had He not been an equal with God, to have made Himself of no reputation, and taken on Him the form of a servant, because the highest created intelligence is but a servant. But grace is God's ability of preserving His own character, when He is not demanding of us His own rights; although He can never waive those rights. And the wonder of redemption is, that without any demand on the part of God on us, it shows us all His claims most amply satisfied -"a just God and a Savior. " Paul therefore could not waive his apostleship, but it was open to him to act in grace, and to take his stand on that which he had in common with Philemon and the whole Church-brotherhood in Christ Jesus. And here instead of authoritative command, he could "beseech." And then with the full recognition of the relation in which Philemon stood to Onesimus, which Paul had no power to dissolve, although he might have enjoined what was "convenient," he leaves Philemon in the place of exercising grace, and taking his stand with Onesimus in the common brotherhood, and valuing this new relationship above the old one, although that still continued. It is deeply important to remark how our gracious Lord constantly affords us opportunities of showing grace. It is rarely that He addresses us in the tone of authoritative command, saying, "Go," "Do this"; but it is, "here is my mind," go and carry it out as far as you can -and every one that is perfect shall be as His Master. Nothing can be more destructive of the gospel, than to assert a common brotherhood, apart from that grace of God which has given it, and that living grace in which it is to be carried out. It has not pleased God in giving to us a new and eternal relationship, to alter our relative conditions while we are in the world. He allows the world to go on as it is, and does not interfere with its regulations now for the sake even of His own dear children. Paul continues high in the Church as an Apostle, Philemon continues a master, and Onesimus a slave, though God had made them one in Christ Jesus, and He by His blood had washed them from their sins and made Onesimus as well as Paul, a king and a priest unto God and his Father. It would not have been grace in Onesimus, because he was a brother and an heir of God and joint-heir of Christ, to say he was no longer a slave. Neither would it have been grace in Philemon because he was his master, to refuse to acknowledge Onesimus as a brother. It was the Lord who had made him such, and it should have been the joy of the heart of Philemon to receive him as such. But it was left to Philemon to show how far his soul estimated his standing in Christ above any circumstantial difference of condition here. And therefore says the Apostle, "that you might receive him forever, not now as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee both in the flesh and in the Lord. " Now I fully believe that any attempt to exhibit Christian brotherhood apart from individual and personal grace, as that which alone can sustain it, must be most mischievous, and in the end lead to confusion and disorder -if not practical atheism. Men see by their natural understandings that there is a common brotherhood recognized in the New Testament, they assert it as if it were of nature, not of grace, and use it to the subversion even of the authority of God Himself. It is the very essence of lawlessness, to make that which is the blessed result of the riches of God's grace to be the natural right of man. It is this use of the blessed gospel itself which produces the worst form of evil -such as we see characterized by the Apostles Jude and Peter.

God has not placed his children here to assert their rights. He has saved them according to His own mercy and grace, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; and He leaves them here to learn obedience to Him in all things. It is in our several relations one to the other, that obedience to God is manifested, and the grace of which we have been partakers shown forth. If Onesimus had demanded as a matter of right, to he received as a brother, there would not have been given to Philemon an opportunity of showing grace to him, and loving obedience to God. How beautifully does grace keep everything in its right place, -surely it must do so, for it maintains the character of God. It is in us alway self-denial, never self-exaltation; and it is equally shown in Onesimus, yielding all willing service, as in Philemon, not exacting it.

But still to return to the salutation, -"Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. " In this he showed Philemon two things: first, that he was a sufferer, and not. one who had maintained his place in the world by his confession of Christ; secondly, that all the irksomeness of his prison was removed, by his ability to see that men were only the hand of the Lord, so that he was content to be there, for he was the Lord's prisoner. And when he comes to the special point of his writing to Philemon, he then presents himself "such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. "

And what had Paul the aged been learning in his long course? -the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; and his claim on Philemon is not the authority he might have used, but his experience of the blessedness of the ways of grace in his own soul, and his present suffering for preaching the gospel of that grace to Philemon and other Gentiles (Compare Eph. 3:1). But just as he was content to be in bonds, because he was the Lord's prisoner, so was he delighted to recognize those bonds in which Philemon was eternally one with him. Speaking of Onesimus, he says, "whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. " Here is the very mind of Christ, He (Jesus) was content to suffer alone, and for us. -He called none in to share all that He had to do in atonement -none could have stood with Him in that. But what was the end of it, but that we might be united to Him in eternal bonds. And the present end of this union is ministry to Him, in the person of His saints, and confession of Him in the world which has shut Him out. Paul stood forth as the elect vessel to bear the name of Jesus. He speaks it to the credit of one, "he was not ashamed of my chain" (2 Tim. 1:16). Here then was the opportunity for Philemon to show that notwithstanding the degradation of Paul in the eyes of men -a prisoner -yet that he reckoned him as the choicest servant of the Lord, and his present condition would only render his obedience more prompt. But how deeply must his soul have tasted of the spirit of Christ, whose obedience was always both willing and intelligent, when he says "but without thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity but willingly " "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." He delights that our obedience should be intelligent and willing. How gracious is this, -how unlike the hard master and austere man that our foolish and wicked hearts are ever disposed to believe Him to be. He shows us His own gracious ways, -He informs our under-standings and makes us to see the fitness of that which He desires, so that walking in the Spirit is going along with the Lord in the path which He points out. And although it must really be constant death to the flesh, and therefore constant suffering, yet in the intelligence of the new man, we can say "His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace." "Not of necessity," -how often do our poor hearts ask, is it necessary? must it be done? He does not address us in that way, though He cannot deny His Lordship, but He shows us what is convenient and we have the renewed mind to discern it; and Ile tells us what is pleasing to Him, that He may engage our affections, and then, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. " How deeply must that soul have known of fellowship with Christ, which could thus say, "not of necessity"; and how little do our souls know of His grace when we are putting our obedience on the principle of duty, instead of seeing it as the development of the life within us. It was the life in union with Christ, which Paul knew to be in Philemon, which he sought to actuate, and then obedience would be willing, natural, and easy. There is always, if I may use the expression, an awkwardness in Christian conduct when it proceeds from necessity, -it is like being turned out of one's way, instead of walking in the Spirit. How needful then for deep personal intercourse with the Lord Himself, that we may know His thoughts and learn His ways; and then obedience, though learned in suffering, will be willing obedience. But there is a little point to notice, and it is just where discipleship turns: there may be things, and there are many, which Jesus as Lord does not command, but yet which as Master He teaches. I believe the greater part of inconsistencies are justified on the principle that they are not forbidden, or that a particular line of conduct is not systematically laid down in the word. The Apostle says "that thy benefit (thy good thing, v. 6) might not be of necessity." Now I believe that a great many of the good works by which the gospel is adorned, are not pressed on us by positive commandment, but are learned in the school of Christ, for He is our one Master, and we are His disciples. The Lord and servant are correlatives, and so are Master and disciple: every one that is perfect, shall be as his Master.

There is one thing more to notice in "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ," and that is, how his soul was led out into practical fellow-ship with others in like circumstances.

There is nothing more blessed than the thought that Jesus is able to throw Himself into our individual circumstances, -He was in prison with Paul. He could as easily have delivered him out of prison as He had Peter. But He had rather have fellowship with him in prison, and there make him the depository of His deepest thoughts. It was the prison, not the active journeying, to which (instrumentally) we are indebted for the deep revelations of the mind of God in the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. And so it was in a lower degree with Paul and Epaphras, -the prison deepened their fellowship one with the other. "There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus." And may we not justly conclude that it was such fellowship, both with the Lord Himself and His devoted servant, that led Epaphras into that blessed service for the Church of Colosse, which is mentioned in that Epistle. "Epaphras who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." If there were deeper fellowship with the Father and the Son, and more real fellowship of the saints, surely there would be more of the effectual labor of Epaphras; and when did the Church ever stand more in need of such laborers?

The next part of the salutation is "Timothy our brother." Philemon had not fellowship with Paul as a prisoner; but here comes in the link, "our brother" connects him both with Paul and Timothy; and if the Lord of all is not ashamed to call us brethren, how will it delight the soul of His servant to put Himself on this standing, wherein He was one with every saint. That word "fellowship" -what a blessed word it is -all that is common to us with the Lord, and common to us one with the other, as one with Him. God delights to communicate, and to share with us that which He communicates; and grace would do the same, but man would al-ways stand on that which is peculiar. It seems to me that the way in which the Apostle brings as it were the soul of Philemon into the realizing this fellowship with himself, is exquisitely beautiful, -"For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother." And again, "Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: re-fresh my bowels in the Lord. " The soul of the Apostle delighted in this relationship,-it knit him to Timothy, and Timothy and himself to Philemon. It stood upon far higher ground than any natural relationship, for they were only brethren one to the other, because each of them was the brother of Jesus. And Jesus had received Onesimus also; and He desired. Philemon to own the relationship, even as the Apostle so gladly owned it with him, -that he would receive him, "not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." It seems to me that the soul of the Apostle ever sought its repose in this fellowship of brethren, and not in that which distinguished him from them. And is not this the mind of Christ. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Lord He is, and Master He is; but in those His titles, there is no fellowship. But it was the first expression of joy that came from Him after the travail of His soul, when He said, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." Here was fellowship, -the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, was the God and Father of others. But the soul of the Apostle, so deeply taught in fellowship with the Father and the Son, delighted in all he had in common with others, and desired its communication onward through Philemon. Is Philemon his beloved? he would have him receive Onesimus as a brother beloved. The soul of the Apostle expanded at the thought of fellowship. Philemon was his fellow-laborer, so were Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas (verse 24). How blessedly does grace make us bound over the littleness of our own minds. It owns everything in others that it possibly can. Paul stood in the place of conscious authority, and therefore he does not desire to assert it. But what enlargement of soul is there, in his thus noticing his fellow-prisoner, fellow-laborers, fellow-soldier. After this how fitly is he able to press on Philemon that practical fellowship, which he was thus manifesting,-that communicativeness of blessing to others, because God Himself was known as communicating all blessing.

Verses 4, 5, 6. -The love and faith of a single saint called forth thanksgiving from the Apostle to God. His soul had often other exercises-deep humiliation before God on account of the walk of some -but here it was that which glorified God. That love, and that faith, the Apostle ardently desired to see enlarged, but he had spread this desire before God, before he made mention of it to Philemon, and he so makes mention of it as to bring the soul of Philemon immediately before God. He would have Philemon know the joy that his own soul knew in communicating. "That the communication of thy faith." It was the faith of Philemon which was to be carried out into exercise; every natural feeling and habit would be opposed to that which would be convenient in the present case. It must be faith working by love, which alone could cause Philemon to receive Onesimus cordially as a brother. And where would faith put Philemon? surely before God as a lost and ruined sinner, saved solely by His sovereign grace; and if he put Onesimus beside him there, where was the difference? he could only see one equally ruined in himself, and him saved by the same grace. But what depth of truth is conveyed in what follows. "That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." The faith of Paul reckoned largely on the good thing which was in Philemon in Christ Jesus, because he knew that all the fullness of Christ was the property, so to speak, of the weakest saint. And he would stir up the faith of Philemon to the acknowledging of the good thing (the same word in the Greek as that translated benefit, v. 14). Surely Philemon would have acknowledged that in him, that is in his flesh, no good thing dwelt; but Paul addressed him as one in union with Jesus (Christ Jesus}, in whom every good thing dwelt, and thus called on him to exhibit "the good thing which was in him in Christ Jesus." This is our Christian responsibility. We are responsible for exercising the grace which is in Christ Jesus, because we are in union with Him, not for security only, but for fruit-bearing also. The great blessedness of that union will only be fully known in glory; but now our Father is looking for a result from it, -"herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit." Paul would have Philemon thus practically live the life of faith on the Son of God; and when he felt all natural repugnance to receiving Onesimus back, he would look to Jesus and his oneness with Him, to see what the grace of Christ would do in such circumstances, and then draw out of His fullness grace answering to grace. How wisely does the Apostle put Philemon upon the sure basis of security, while he is thus leading him on into that act which would require a great exercise of faith.

Paul could have no confidence in Philemon as a man, -he might sullenly have done the thing requested out of deference to his authority, or Paul might have asked it as a debt of gratitude to himself (see v. 19). But he knew how to touch a string which would draw forth willing acquiescence (v. 14); and in doing this puts Philemon in remembrance of all his own blessedness as one with Christ. How little do we poor degraded saints reckon on anything more by our being in Christ, than mere sufficiency for salvation: we are afraid to look for any good thing, and what is worse, often use the knowledge we have of the evil that dwells in us, as a reason for not looking for any good thing, as though it contradicted the other truth. But in union with Christ, we are called upon to acknowledge every good thing in us unto Him, and faith would call it out on the fitting occasion. Such an occasion was now offered to Philemon; and when acted out, the Apostle would have praised God, not Philemon, for its exercise. Lord increase our faith, increase our faith.

What unselfish joy did the soul of the Apostle possess,—"We have great joy and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother." Surely this is the joy of the Lord, -it was His joy personally to minister to the saints while here, it is the same joy now to Him to minister to them in heaven, and to supply those gifts by which His nourishing and cherishing love to the Church shall be continued. It was the refreshment "of the bowels of the saints" -their inmost affections were engaged to Philemon by witnessing the faith, love and grace in him, and Paul too was seeking the same refreshment from Philemon for himself, he would draw it forth on the occasion of sending back Onesimus, and, while drawing it forth, would at the same time impart all his own heart's affection to Philemon, -"thou therefore receive him, that is mine own bowels." And is not this the exhibition of the way of our gracious God? Is there nothing now that refreshes Him in this world which has rejected Him, by casting out His Son, His well-beloved -His bowels. Surely it is the bowels of His mercy (Lukei. 78. Marg.) which has refreshed us; and it is the answer to this from us, which refreshes Him. -"Put on therefore as the elect of God, bowels of mercies." It is receiving a little one in the name of Christ, which is the receiving of Himself; and when one such little one is received by us in the nourishing and cherishing love of Christ, then we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. How constantly do our hearts disallow that God has any fellowship with His saints in their joy. If an Apostle could say, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth," he says it, as an expression of the mind of Christ. Oh that the joy of the Lord might ever be the joy of our hearts.

What has God wrought? well may we say this, when we see the Lord God Almighty, the High and Holy One, so presenting Himself to us as to beseech. -"Now then we are ambassadors for God, as though God did beseech by us. " This is the grace of God exhibited in the ministry of His own Son first, and now in the ministry of reconciliation on the sure foundation of complete atonement. And this is the grace Paul would witness unto: he could have commanded, and yet for love's sake he rather besought -he besought for his son Onesimus whom he had begotten in his bonds. Had Philemon listened to the ministry of reconciliation, and received the Son of God into his soul? now let him as one reconciled to God himself, exercise it towards Onesimus. Paul, as the instrument, would say, whom I have begotten in my bonds; but there was something much deeper than that, for every one born of God had been begotten out of the grave of Jesus, the first-begotten from the dead. How must every plea for Onesimus have led the soul of Philemon before God, and made it go over afresh all the detail of God's grace to himself. What a blessed way to teach obedience by bringing all God's love to ourselves before the soul. "Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me"; and what had Philemon been in time past to God, foolish, disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures, but the knowledge of the love of God in his own soul had now made him a useful servant of the Lord and His saints. Surely the leadings of his own soul must have directed Philemon to see what was convenient, and his benefit would be willingly conferred, not of necessity. How blessed is the intelligent and willing obedience of the saint, since it springs from the recognition of all the fullness of God's love. God exacts of us nothing, but sets before us His own ways; and those who are led of the Spirit follow them. There must be a much deeper knowledge of the grace of God, in order to more fruit-bearing unto God. The Apostle speaks of the gospel to the Colossians thus: "and bringeth forth fruit, as it cloth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth." This is what is needed by the saints now, the knowledge of the grace of God in truth.

Verse 15. -No one knew better than the Apostle, that where sin had abounded, grace had superabounded. But yet there seems a holy caution in the Spirit, while speaking of these things, lest we should think or speak of sin lightly. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and delighting as He does, to magnify the grace of God in Christ, He always vindicates God's holy detestation of sin. Alas, how often do we find, that familiarity with the doctrines of grace, where there is no deep work in the soul, leads to light thoughts of sin. What holy caution is there in the words, "For perhaps he therefore departed from thee for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever." Onesimus, it is hinted, had wronged Philemon, had robbed or purloined, and then ran away from his master. Could God justify dishonesty and fraud? no; for no unrighteous person shall inherit the kingdom of God. The dishonesty of Onesimus led him to Rome, led him to Paul, led him to hear the gospel, but that did not alter its character the least. It might have brought Onesimus to self-acquaintance, and doubtless it did, to honest confession of what he had done, and thus to real humility; still it would always have stood by Onesimus, so as to prevent his glorying in anything save in the grace of God abounding over all his sin. And thus while most secure in the knowledge of God's love, he would be most humble in himself. The very freeness of God's grace, and the completeness of the purging of the blood of the Lamb, would give the justified sinner the deepest hatred of sin. But no one whose soul was not habituated to the tracing the ways of God in redemption, would have ventured on such a thought as is here expressed. In the largest view we see man, fallen from God as a creature, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, received back to God forever. We see the prodigal departing from his Father's house for a season, after tasting of the bitterness of his own ways, through the love of the Father, received back forever. Man, as a creature, might depart, and did depart from his standing in blessedness in relation to the Creator. Man, as a servant, was bound by no inseparable tie to God. But he that is born of God is inseparably united to God, -he is received by Him forever. This is the joy of the Father's heart,—"thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound." What a place of blessing for Philemon to be put in, to share the joy of heaven over a repenting sinner, in receiving back Onesimus as a brother. Their relation one to the other, as master and slave, would speedily be dissolved,-" the servant abideth not in the house forever," but brotherhood in Christ is forever. Had not. the truth been that in which the soul of the Apostle lived, it could never have expressed itself so. His soul dwelt in God, and therefore expressed the ways and the thoughts of God.

But the Apostle would have Philemon share with him in this divine fellowship -"have fellowship with us, for truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ," -the Lord had made Paul the partner of His deepest thoughts, Philemon knew that he had much in common with Paul, like precious faith and the common salvation and all the fullness of Christ. "If you count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself." He would have Philemon share with him in his joy over Onesimus, even as he shared with him so much in common besides. It is thus the Lord Jesus has fellowship with us, and we with Him, in the person of every saint, and makes each newly converted sinner to be a link of connection to bind Himself and us. If we receive them in His name we receive Him, and we partake of mutual joy. He would have us count Him a partner, and then share His joy with Him. This is practical fellowship. But surely Philemon in the wisdom of the Spirit would have known, while his heart was bounding with gratitude to Paul, how to transfer the language of the Apostle as to himself, to the Lord Jesus, as true alone in the highest sense of Him. No one not living in the fullest power of communion with God, could so confidently have written as the Apostle here. He knew what that meant -"He laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren:" He bore all for us; so the servant treading in the steps of his Master, would put himself under any responsibility that he could. -"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account." Is not this the very language of Christ? Has our brother wronged us, let us look to Christ, -He has borne the wrong; how many a heart-burning, how much strife would thus be avoided. God has received him, by setting down the wrong to Christ's account: what blessing would it be to our own souls, to see the very wrong done to ourselves, borne by Christ. "I Paul have written it with my own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides." O the riches of the grace of our Lord. The servant dare not undertake more than the Lord has done; and surely it was in the knowledge of the ways of his Lord, that he used such language as this. If anything is due to us from a brother, let us not exact it. He has written it with His own hand, He will repay,—"Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather be defrauded?" No one is a loser by foregoing anything for the Lord's sake; although we owe ourselves to Him, and all that we have, yet He is so gracious as to undertake to repay any loss we put up with for His name sake. What a double obligation of grace was Philemon thus laid under, -a debtor to the grace of the Lord -a debtor to the grace of the servant: surely this must have constrained him to cheerful acquiescence. How assuredly must Paul have reckoned on Philemon having the mind of Christ; and his desire was to call it into practical exercise. We too ought to reckon more on this mind in one another, and thus "to consider one another" to call it out. Onesimus was not his own, he was his master's; Philemon was not his own, he was Paul's, he was Christ's. But the Lord, and his servant who knew His ways, would not exact compliance on that principle: what a lesson was thus taught Philemon. It is the Lord's joy, when He might claim everything, for "we are not our own," so to give us to stand in grace, as to do that which is well-pleasing to Him. Paul had now put Philemon on his standing in grace, and then he adds, "Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh pry bowels in the Lord." How joy in the Lord? unless the Lord was u sharer of the joy: He delights to see the fruit of His own grace, and therefore exacts nothing. Paul too would have his most inward affections refreshed, even as the bowels of the saints had been refreshed by the faith and love of Philemon. Well would it be for us, if we thought more of the inmost affections of Jesus; and then we should easily learn that which would be refreshing unto Him. It is wonderful indeed, that anything here should refresh Him; but even from this polluted world, there is in the love of the saints, an odor of a sweet smell -a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God (Phil. 4:18). God knows what is in man, and He knows what that new nature is which He has imparted, -it is His own nature. God can and does reckon largely on it, although He can put no confidence at all in the flesh: yea, He hath set it aside, He has judged it. God expects obedience in the spirit, it can and will obey God, and so judged the Apostle. "Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say." God of His grace has done more for us than ever we could have asked; and He puts us in the place of showing grace, when He might have required all as Lord. The obedience of the saint cannot be circumscribed by literal enactment as that of a slave, for who would set bounds to love? who would say to a child, this is all my heart expects from you? We are "accepted in the beloved" -"sanctified unto obedience," but grace would lead beyond mere satisfying the actual demand made upon us in any given circumstances. The Apostle told Philemon what was convenient, but then leaves his soul to be exercised before the Lord, so as to carry his obedience beyond that which might satisfy the actual call made on it, into the exhibition of the true grace of the Lord. This is the way of the Lord: He does not deal with us as servants, but leaves room for the exercise of grace. There would be no refreshment to Him, in seeing an unwilling obedience being rendered to a positive command, but He does delight to see the fruit of union with Him-self manifested while we are here. Every day affords the occasion for thus manifesting this grace. And what is the Church, but the school where it is learned. And what our miserable daily failures, but that we instead of seeking to exhibit the mind of Christ, are standing each one upon the ground of some right we have, which we will not allow to be interfered with. There can be no ground more wrongly assumed, than that the Church is a voluntary association, dependent on man's will. Every believer is of and in the Church, and it is disobedience on his part, if' he fails to show this.

But it is a great mistake to suppose that Church fellowship is a relief from individual responsibility, or a substitute for personal fellowship with the Lord Himself, it is the sphere where the grace learned in personal fellowship with the Lord Jesus, is to be brought into exercise. The grace of the Lord Jesus Himself is learned in its manifold exercise in His own wayward family. The grace which Paul learned by the transforming power of fellowship with Christ, was carried out in his care for all the Churches. And when he saw his son in the faith, sinking under the pressure of much evil in the Church, he says to him, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." What we need is not so much knowledge, as the transforming power of fellowship with Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18). Nothing can be put in the place of this. God will allow no flesh to glory in His presence, but he that glorieth, shall glory only in the Lord. And the training and discipline of the soul now, is to know this practically, -learning, painfully learning, the absence of all that is good in ourselves, and happily learning the fullness of Christ, which is needed by every one of us. And God in His wisdom, brings each one of us into those circumstances wherein the fullness which He knows to be in us in Christ, shall be called forth. Surely His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. Blessed school indeed, though we are the most inapt of scholars, to be brought as Moses inside the very glory to learn His ways, while those who are out-side can see no farther than His acts. "But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

The Christian Witness 6:320-340 (1839).

Philippians 2:12-16

It is ever profitable to lead the minds of the saints to the scriptures themselves for instruction, so that every truth should have their direct authority. We find ourselves happy in reading the word, when we are able to catch the leading thought of any part of it, so as to carry it along with us. On this account it is hoped, a few remarks on the above passage, simply expository, will not be out of place.

We hardly know how much we are all suffering from the traditional use even of the scriptures themselves. There can be little doubt but that the quotation of isolated texts at first arose from subjection to the scriptures as authoritative, even as we find the Apostles themselves, in their writings, elucidating the principles they were unfolding, by an appeal to the scriptures of the Old Testament in the briefest manner possible. But this appeal was never intended by them, to set aside the legitimate meaning of the words so quoted in the connection in which they stand. Now there are several current texts quoted, either in support of favorite dogmas or used so carelessly as hardly to convey any meaning at all, which when taken in their context have great force. Surely we cannot but detect the wiles of the enemy in this, who knows truth to be our only power against him; and if he can vitiate it, he gains great advantage over us.

The text -"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," is one often used to prove man to be a co-worker with God in his salvation, and to nullify the truth that salvation is all of grace and of God. It is asserted from these words, that those who have believed on Christ have after all to fear and tremble, lest he should leave them, or they should lose him, statements entirely subversive of the peace of the gospel. A single glance at the context, at once shows that this is wretched sophistry. It is not addressed to us as an isolated precept, but most remarkably connected with what goes before and what follows it. The sentence begins, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation, &c." The word "wherefore" throws us back farther, in order to trace the mind of the Spirit in the Apostle, and there is evidently a connection between "my presence" and "my absence," and "work out your own salvation." Then if we look to what follows, we have the reason for the fear and trembling; not lest God should cast them off, but "for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And then follows some special application, and that the great end they ought to keep in view was to manifest the relationship between God and themselves, and in very deed to show forth that they were sons of God, in the eyes of men, by their blamelessness and harmlessness.

But let us, for a little, advert to the general scope of this epistle. Philippi was endeared to the Apostle by many solemn recollections. It was the first European city he visited, after being forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in Asia. His visit was signalized by the conversion of Lydia, his own hardships, and the remarkable conversion of the jailer. Paul was now in prison, the Philippians were left to other care; blessed indeed of its kind, but of a lower order than that which was apostolic. This however had its advantage -it should throw them more immediately on God; and this was what the Apostle desired to do. There might have been an undue leaning even on himself, so as to prevent their souls immediately resting on God. We so often put the channels of blessing in the place of the fountain, that God in his wisdom deprives us of the channels, that we may come at once to the fountain-head. Yes, poor wretched creatures of sense, we desire to have something visible and tangible, and thus keep away our souls from happy dependence on God.

We find the Apostle led to thanksgiving on their account, for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day even until now. And his confidence for their continuance, was not in his own apostolic authority nor even in the present care of their bishops, valuable as both were, but in God. They might have looked to Paul as having begun the good work in them, but Paul looked higher. He knew, unless God had gone out before him, his ministry would have been in vain. Its fruits might have lasted for a little moment, and then withered. He was confident of this very thing, that he which had begun the good work in them, would perform it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the point to bring their souls to, that it was God's work and not Paul's, and therefore not dependent on his personal presence. If they were looking to Paul, there would be no steadfastness in them in the time of trial. Now that this was the leading thought of the Spirit in this epistle, will be more apparent by noticing another portion of the first chapter. The Apostle knew full well the nourishing and cherishing love of the Lord Jesus, in providing for the edifying of His body by means of suitable ministry, until we all come together unto a perfect man. He therefore places ministry in the light of a real blessing, when used as the means of Christ's own providing and not put in the place of Christ himself. The higher the blessing, the greater has been our power of corrupting it. After speaking of his own desire to depart, and be with Christ, he turns himself to their condition and says, "Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." He longed to serve them, -he greatly desired to see holy progress among them, but he did not desire that such progress should be the effect of personal influence, but of the consciousness of God's having begun and still continuing the work in them. There might have been order, or even energy of service, produced by the presence or authority of the Apostle; but the Apostle knew how far more solid that would be which was the result of grace working in them, and therefore he seeks to establish their souls in it, showing them the mind of Christ as that which it was their privilege to have to act on. And it is on this he grounds his exhortation, "Wherefore, my beloved," in Phil. 2:12. He first seeks to associate their souls with Christ:—"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy." The Apostle uses no personal influence -he leads their thoughts to their permanent blessings in Christ, which did not at all depend on circumstances. Their consolation in Christ did not depend on the Apostle's presence; the very way of putting this with an if, showed that he fully reckoned on their readily acknowledging that there was consolation in Christ. His desire for their being like-minded he knew would only be attained by their having the mind of Christ. There might be, and necessarily would be, much personal attachment to Paul, but they might have the mind of Paul and be outwardly kept together thus by unity of doctrine, but Paul desired that their like-mindedness should be the result of living grace.

And when he had set before them the mind which was in Christ Jesus, to call out the grace of Christ which was in them, then it is that he addresses them in the passage before us: -Wherefore, my beloved, as there is always consolation in Christ -always fellowship of the Spirit, as these essential blessings do not depend on ministry of any kind, but on oneness with Christ, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. It is man's way always to give the glory to the instrument, it is of the Spirit to lead away from the instrument to God himself. And what true blessedness it is to realize the simple truth, that all things are of God. He may use a hundred channels of blessing, because he delights to make others share in his own blessedness, -that of communicating blessing to others. It is more blessed to give than to receive. And for this reason God puts us, who are properly only receivers, into the place of givers. But he has not left the real and essential blessedness of his saints to any uncertain channel of blessing. He may even in judgment remove all these channels, still he remains himself to work in them, both to will and to do. It was indeed a most happy thing, that the obedience of the Philippians had been more marked in the absence of the Apostle than even in his presence. This had not been the case in the Churches of Galatia. The personal presence of the Apostle had been a healthful check on the entrance of error there. But when he had gone from them, they were not so cast upon God as to be able to know the value of truth, so as really or zealously to contend for it. "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? they zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude us that ye might affect them: but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you." This helps us much to estimate the healthy state of the Philippian Church; the presence of the Apostle there, had helped them to make everything a question of obedience to God; at Galatia they had been content to walk before the Apostle. His absence had a very different effect on the two Churches. In the one instance, they became careless about the truth; in the other, more entirely cast upon God, so that their obedience increased. There is a double action as it were, destructive of the sense of individual responsibility; the one arises from the teacher setting himself between the soul and God, and the other from the much greater facility there is in those taught to walk unto well-pleasing before men, rather than before God. How important therefore the words -"your own salvation. " The sense of it leads the soul immediately to God, and keeps it in a healthy state of dependence on him. It leads the soul to a sense of actual power -"God worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure, therefore do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless." Blessed dependence indeed, which leads the soul into consciousness of divine power for action. It does not measure the difficulties then by its own, but by God's strength. And it only presumes to act on the warrant of acceptance, yea that the very action is intended to show it forth, that ye may be (not to make to be surely, but to show that we are) the sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, holding forth the word of life.

There is one other remark in connection with this, and that is that the Apostle showed them that his service among them had no reference to himself personally. If he had confidence that God who had begun the good work in them, would continue it until the day of Jesus Christ -after Paul's ministry had long been ended -he looked also to his own ministry in reference to that day,—"that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." It was not that they might walk before him, but that they might walk with God. It was for this that the Apostle labored; and he would keep their eye steadily set where his own was set, on the day of Christ -the day of discovery -the day which would prove every man's work of what sort it is. May the Lord deepen in the saints the sense that God worketh in them, that they may act under a more solemn sense of their individual responsibility to him. -Amen.

The Christian Witness 7:327-332 (1840).

On the Increase of Popery

The rapid increase which Popery is making in this land is now a matter of notoriety, and has begun to alarm the minds of very many of the saints of God. As yet, however, it has called forth no real energy to meet it. Many of those who see it most clearly, and most righteously abominate it, do not find themselves free to grapple with it, having themselves to contend for their own corporate existence, so far as it of the world. And it is in this way that Satan most effectually paralyzes Christian energy, by causing its strength to be spent in the defense of that which is questionable, and of the world. Error can only be met by the exhibition of the truth; and, while this is true generally, it is more especially true with respect to that system, wherein every truth of God has been so misplaced as to become the support of the natural selfishness of the human heart, and to build it up in distrust of God. In Popery every truth of God may be found, but found out of place; and misplaced truth is the most powerful engine which Satan uses. From the day of his saying "Ye shall be as gods" {Gen. 3:5}, to the present time, when he has given the privileges of God's children to the world at large, he has effectually worked by perverted truth. It is, therefore, not by the statement of an isolated truth, but by "the acknowledging of the truth according to godliness" that this mighty fabric of human ingenuity, under the guidance of that wisdom which is earthly, sensual, and devilish, can be met.

Popery has been looked on by the wise and prudent merely as a system, many of the tenets of which are abhorrent to the reason of man. And hence this class of men have confidently predicted that if the people were educated and enlightened, that Popery would become antiquated. It is quite true that the effect of such light may be to turn a man from superstition to infidelity, but to the infidel the very thing he scorns in his heart, may be an engine of moral power, and as he will own it publicly, and use it for his ends. The fact is, Man, constituted as he is, craves a something, which he calls religion; it is to him not a thing imposed of God, but a natural necessity; and if he can but find that which in any wise will satisfy the cravings of conscience or give him honor before men, and at the same time leave his soul in insubjection to God, he will have the desire of his heart. Such exactly is Popery. -The principle is the very one of Satan, when he showed the blessed Lord all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and saith unto Him, "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." It was, in fact, to have had the world without owning God in it. But the prince of this world had nothing in Jesus. But he renewed the attempt successfully in the Church -he sought to be owned there; and giving her the world and its glory, his authority was substantially owned. Jesus would not take the world but as His own by purchase; and the redemption of the purchased possession by the strong hand of power is yet future. The Church would have the world and escape the suffering, and therefore owns it and Satan in it, while the Lord is disowning it.

But Popery was not the work of a moment, nor a scheme struck out at once by the wisdom of man, but it required many centuries to perfect it. Its beginning is to be traced in the Apostles' days, but in its growth the spiritual eye will observe something beyond mere corruption; its steady progress can only be accounted for by its being under the guidance of a Master Spirit; and the skepticism of real Christians as to the energy of Satan in this scheme, has made them give into the notion that it might be met by weapons merely carnal. It is not reasoning, nor irony, nor ridicule, that will subvert its strong hold; these are carnal weapons, and in the use of these Satan will have the advantage. Where he works it is reasoning against reasoning. We know full well his power in this, even against man in his innocence, what must it then be now? When Satan is met he is met with his own weapons, and can turn them against those who use them. It is the blindness of man himself, under the power of the god of this world, to the active agency of Satan in this mighty fabric of his power, which has made them believe that it could be met by the merely enlightened understanding. Their folly has been made manifest, their predictions falsified, and instead of the light they have sought to impart being effectual to the end they proposed, it has signally failed. Popery, in this enlightened era, has alarmingly increased. Now there are two things to be noticed as giving it so strong a hold as to become impregnable to mere human reasoning:

I. It is not a scheme excogitated by man's wit and imposed on man, but it has in it every element of the natural heart most wonderfully molded into a religious scheme, so that it has in its principles a strong claim on man. The very element of man is distance from God, and here is a scheme professing to come from God, settling Him in that distance, without opening the possibility of present nearness to God. A favored class or caste, as being more especially consecrated to God, is another natural element of the heart of man, and in this system strongly corroborated. That honor should be given to this class, and that all the concerns of man relative to God should be entrusted to them, is what the natural heart of man universally confesses; and here comes the authoritative claim of such a class of men in the name of the Son of God. There is nothing more remarkable than the strong hold which the notion of priesthood has on our minds; and it has been Satan's marvelous wisdom in this system to satisfy this craving, to the utter exclusion of the one great High Priest -the Lord Jesus Christ. And this has been his wisdom so to act through man as to pervert God's truth, and by means of it to bind man down to the groveling desires of his own heart, and at the same time to hide effectually the Priesthood and Lordship of Jesus.

II. Its strong hold is, that it professedly adapts itself to the world -"They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." Man needs religion, and this system has been marvelously interwoven, not only with all the charities of domestic and social life, but likewise embodied in civil life. It was consummate skill in the god of this world to make the truth of the gospel even subservient to his keeping the world under his authority. He added a patch of the new to the old garment; and this blinded men as to the present existence of any other kingdom than his own. The Church took the world under its patronage -gave its sanction to the world's laws, opposed as they were to the very spirit of the gospel; and although idolatry had fallen before the preaching of Christ, yet the world was still owned, owned as an improved world, as a Christian world, as a world not lying under the wicked one. We are all sensible how remarkably a semblance of Christianity has become introduced into things most secular. "The woman took the leaven and hid it in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened {Matt. 13}." Christianity has lost its distinctiveness, but the world is still unreconciled to God. It has changed its name, and its form and fashion, but it is still the same world that crucified the Lord of glory; and it is a masterpiece of the wisdom of the serpent to get Christ owned in name, but His claim of Lordship effectually denied. It is this which must give this system a great [false} moral power; it has sought to adapt Christianity to existing circumstances; and while it claims for itself the most unreserved subjection, if it be but owned publicly and nominally, it allows the most perfect liberty to man's self-will. We know little of man, if we have not learned that element of his constitution which would gladly assent to a claim of authority, which shall relieve him from the irksomeness even of caring for his soul, and divest him of the thought of individual responsibility unto God. It is thus that the wise and prudent have in their day found this a most convenient system for them, they have professed themselves Children of Mother Church, it may be to have defended her interests, but have thus been able to pursue the paths they desired to tread with a conscience that gave them no uneasiness, because lulled into security. It would almost appear, from the reasonings of some men on the subject, as if they thought that none but the illiterate or stupid owned Popery; surely it has had its wise and great men, men of science and of freedom of thought; but as men they had in common with others the natural want {need} of religion. That which was at hand suited them -they received it by tradition from their fathers: it was not their province to question it, they found it established, and although it might appear bondage in many things and must be, too, yet it interfered not with the right of man to live as he wished, and the bondage was bearable. "Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise, for ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you in the face {1 Cor. XXX}." A man will suffer anything for the sake of self-will. It is so blinding, that while both morally in bondage to sin, and civilly in subjection to a foreigner and a conqueror, men would say, "We were never in bondage to any man" {XXX}." There is no liberty but that which the Son gives; and it is this which Satan would by all means hinder -that liberty destroys his power. But what man naturally craves is actually rivetting his chains; look at it as we may, it is the desire of irresponsible power, uncontrolled will; and this is what he gained by the desire of being as God -a will of his own -out of control of God's will. And hence we discover, also, what cannot fail of striking many minds, how it is that Popery in the present day, the supposed natural ally of despotism, can adapt itself to democracy. Despotism and democracy are in themselves but a varied exhibition of one and the same principle -uncontrolled self-will; and hence democracy is the worst kind of despotism. Only let Popery be acknowledged, and it interferes no farther. Men are delivered to do all abominations, and to resist every other authority if they only submit outwardly to this.

It is, in fact, receiving the mark of the beast (whatever may be the true interpretation), which is the principle of Popery, or of any Church system which would claim the world for itself: And, when that is received, there is a free grant to buy, or sell, or do anything; and the sense of individual responsibility becomes deadened or entirely lost. It is thus, then, that Popery can present itself as the religion of the people; and those who hold men in bondage to themselves, can speak "great swelling words of vanity, promising liberty. "

But there is another most important point to he considered, as incidentally affording facility to the growth of Popery -hiding it may be what in it may shock the moral sense, but most assuredly assuming a sway not only over the minds of the careless and irreligious, but over many of the thinking and conscientious, yea, even of the children of God themselves. To any acquainted with the present state of the Church, the question most constantly agitated among Christians, is that of Church constitution. Authority is craved both on the part of those who desire to exercise it, and on the part of those who desire to lean on it. But authority in man's judgment is something palpable, something intrinsical, something conferred. It was this feeling that raised the question even in the presence of the exercise of powers that could not be questioned. ""By what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority?" (Matt. 21:23)." It was the supposed lack of authority which was made the handle by false teachers against the Apostle Paul. Had he been an "Apostle of man or by man," the question as to his authority would not have been raised in the Church; it would have been drawn from a visible source. And in his answer we find the Apostle appealing not to that which man would have expected, but to their own selves,—"Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you; examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves; know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates (without proof) {1 Cor. XXX}.)"

Now to those who are looking for outward authority, its most legitimate source is Popery. If it come instrumentally through men, there it is to be found; and those who are seeking it are forced to allow that this is the channel of its conveyance. If the fountain of this delegated authority be in the Church, here stands forth that with its Church claim of unity and universality. That this is the real ground of the supposed authority of the Priesthood has been made abundantly manifest by the tone assumed by its defenders. The point which has of late been so much agitated is, not whether the National Church be corrupt, that is admitted at all hands, but the very principle of its being a Church at all; and the defense is invariably derived authority. There can be no doubt that the Christian Ministry, at a very early period, assumed the form of a distinct order, and became assimilated in men's minds to the Jewish Priesthood, which was God's own order. The unconscious desire, even in the minds of good men, to have a supremacy over the minds of others, and the natural leaning of man on a visible order, will readily account for this most important change silently taking place, -a change which has been more destructive to the genius of Christianity than anything else. Ministry and Priesthood stand most broadly distinguished in the New Testament,—"We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake" {XXX}." Now a Priesthood with the claim of the trust of all spiritual power, demanding the entire surrender of man to its control in. things pertaining to God, is not only that which man craves, but which God has provided to meet man's necessities, -and such a Priesthood is that of Jesus. Another order therefore effectually hinders the perfection of that one order of God, and instead of bringing near, keeps man contented with the shadow, at a distance from God. Now that it is no vague charge that there is the attempt made to assert the existence of a visible order of Priests, the following quotations are produced. The quarter from whence the publications in which they are found have issued, is one of very great respectability, the reputed Authors being men of undoubted learning and of great moral worth. A "Series of Tracts for the times" have been published at Oxford, -some addressed, "Ad Clerum"; others, "Ad Scholas"; others, "Ad Populum. " Some very fearful statements in Tracts from the same quarter have already been alluded to in the "Christian Witness"; such, for instance, as that the Clergy are "intrusted with the awful and mysterious gift of making the bread and wine Christ's body and blood"; but in this series the statements are less startling, but equally tending to the same point -the exaltation of the Christian Ministry into a visible Priesthood.

AD POPULUM -The People's interest in their Ministers' commission.

"But something beyond the ministration of the word is committed to the care of the Pastors, when our Lord speaks of the keys of heaven -viz. the ministration of the sacraments. St. Paul also tells us, that the ministration of these sacraments is entrusted to the Pastors of the Church by this commission, when he says, ' Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.'" "By virtue of this commission, (viz. Matt. 18:20) each Bishop stands in the place of an Apostle of the Church, and discharges the important trust reposed in him, either in his own person, or by the Clergy, whom he ordains, and gifts with a share of his authority. ... A person not commissioned from the Bishop, may use the words of baptism and sprinkle and bathe with water on earth, but there is no promise from Christ that such a man shall admit souls into the kingdom of heaven. A person not commissioned, may break bread, and pour out wine, and pretend to give the Lord's supper, but it can afford no comfort to any to receive it at his hands, because there is no warrant from Christ to lead communicants to suppose, that while he does so here on earth, they will be partakers in the Savior's heavenly body and blood."

No. 15 -On the Apostolical succession in the English Church.

"But it may be said, on the other hand, that if we do not admit ourselves to be heretic, we necessarily must accuse the Romanists too of being such; and that therefore on our own ground we have no valid orders, as having received them from an heretical Church. True, Rome is heretical now; but she was not an heretical Church in the primitive ages. She has apostatized, but it was at the time of the Council of Trent. Then it was that the whole Roman communion bound itself by a perpetual bond and covenant to the cause of Antichrist. But before that time, grievous as were the corruptions in the Church, no individual Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, was bound by oath to the maintenance of them" (p. 10).

AD SCHOLAS -Primitive Episcopacy.

"The first step towards evangelizing a heathen country in the early times, seems to have been to seize upon some principal city in it, as a center of operation; to place a Pastor -i.e., a Bishop there; to surround him with a sufficient number of associates and assistants, and then to wait till, under the blessing of God, this missionary college was enabled to gather round it the scattered children of grace from the evil world, and invest itself with the shape and influence of an organized Church."

The faith and obedience of Churchmen the strength of the Church.

"The days may come when your Churches may be shut up, or only filled by men who will not teach the whole truth as it is in Jesus, when you will be deprived of ministers of religion, or have only such as are destitute of God's commission. Do not, I beseech you, by your neglect now, add to your misery then, the bitterness of self-reproach, when you will have to say, I had once the opportunity of worshiping God aright, but I neglected it, and He now has withheld it from me. I had once the means of receiving the body and blood of my Savior at the hands of His own minister, but I refused it, and now He has placed it out of my power."

The nature and constitution of the Church of Christ.

"Since the Apostolic age, seventeen centuries have rolled away; exactly eighteen hundred years have elapsed since the delivery of Christ's recorded promise, and, blessed be God, the Church is with us still. Amid all political storms and vicissitudes, amid all the religious errors and corruptions which have checkered, during that long period, the world's eventful history, a regular unbroken succession has preserved among us, ministers of God, whose authority to confer the gifts of His Spirit is derived originally from the laying on of the hands of the Apostles themselves."

"Wonderful indeed is the providence of God, which has so long preserved the unbroken line, and thus ordained that our Bishops should even at this time, stand before their flocks as the authorized successors of the Apostles; as armed with their power to confer spiritual gifts in the Church" &c.

The only thing which effectually meets the scheme of Satan's wisdom, is the truth; and as it is one of bondage, it must be the liberty of truth. There are many who may be thankful for their freedom from the trammels of Popery, who have again become entangled with the yoke of bondage,-many who have indignantly spurned this thraldom of mind, who have used their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. True liberty has reference to God. -"If the Son shall make you free then are ye free indeed." "Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men." Now, there is a threefold liberty into which the children of God are brought, which Satan ever attempts to separate. -The first is that of standing before God, or complete justification, effected solely by Christ. Nothing short of the fullness of the gospel at all meets the case. At the Reformation we find the great truth of a sinner's justification before God to have been the one of contention. Everything depended on its assertion, and it was most blessedly asserted. That no qualified statement of the believer's standing before God, as perfect in Christ, would meet the case, may be seen in an extract or two from the council of Trent. "C. vii. Canon ix. -'Si quis dixerit sola fide impium justificari, ita ut intelligat nihil aliud requiri, quo ad justificationis gratiam consequendam cooperetur, et nulls ex parte necesse esse eum sum? voluntatis motu preparari, atque disponi, anathema sit.'" "Canon xi. -'Si quis dixerit homines justificari vel sola imputation justitim Christi, vel sola peccatorum remissions exclusa gratis vel charitate, qua; in cordibus eorum per Spiritum Sanctum diffundatur atque illis inhareat, aut etiam gratiam qua justificamur esse tantum favorem Dei, anathema sit.'" Now there is nothing in these statements which is so very abhorrent to much of what is called the gospel in our days. The grace of God is so surpassing our thoughts and our ways that we are ever disposed to qualify God's own statements, in order, as we think, to make them safer, But the moment we come to inherent grace as the ground-word of our standing before God, we are on Popish ground. It is the distinct assertion of the complete putting away of all sin to him that believeth in Jesus. -"By Him all that believe are justified from all things {XXX}." Being washed in that blood, he is thereby made meet for partaking of the inheritance of the saints in light. It is assurance of present forgiveness, of present acceptance, of present sonship, of present introduction into the kingdom of God's dear Son, which alone meets Popery. Before this alone, the mighty machinery of error gives way. The possibility of God ever standing before him otherwise than as an Exactor cannot enter into the heart of a well instructed Papist; the moment, therefore, he sees God's love towards him in having Himself provided the sacrifice, his own holiness needed, and that the sacrifice has been offered and continues its efficacy unto this very moment, and that there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, because that by the will of God those who believe are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all {Heb. 10}, he is set free. He can come near to God in full assurance of faith; he finds a Priest and a sacrifice in heaven, and naturally turns away from that on earth (which kept him at allthe distance from God his own heart would naturally keep him in), to that which gives him nearness of access to God, through the efficacious sacrifice and prevailing mediation of a High Priest in heaven. Add to this, that the Priest is the Son over the Father's house {XXX},and brings him immediately into that house as a son free of it, not as a servant, there to enjoy the presence of the Father. This is the point at issue, and it is mere polemical skirmishing to be drawn aside to the question of the worshiping of saints, and their intercession; their judgments may be convinced, but there is no peace to the soul, no purgation of the conscience, till the testimony unto the efficacy and completeness of the work of Christ on the cross be received. We may talk of ignorance, and superstition, and darkness, and boast in our own superior light, but the heart of the Papist is systematically as well as naturally shut against the reception of the love of God; and how can it get entrance there but by setting it forth as meeting us as enemies, dead in trespasses and sins, and bringing us at once, through the mighty efficacy of the cross, into His own bosom -into the Father's heart. The liberty wherewith Christ makes free, effectually delivers from the thraldom of an earthly priesthood; and therefore it is that while Satan knows complete justification in and through Christ to be the only world-delivering truth, Man also, who would put himself in the place of priest, finds it to be the truth which destroys his caste; and the deliverance is the same in principle, whether it be from the Hindoo or Popish Clergy. It completely subverts the notion of a privileged order, and therefore is thought to be a dangerous truth.

But secondly, and intimately connected with this is the liberty of worship. The complete standing of the believer in Christ immediately places him in the presence of God, whom he worships in Spirit and in truth, even as the Father is seeking that he should. He is not obliged to approach God by first coming to an ordered priesthood on the earth, because there is the Priest and Sacrifice in heaven. Neither is he to be bound down to a Ritual, which whatever may be its excellence cannot suit the child who comes in liberty of Spirit to his Father. It was stated some few years ago, when there was a great stir among the Papists in Ireland, and large numbers were ready to leave that system, that they were effectually thrown back by its being proposed to them to submit to the Test Acts, or something equivalent, before being received into the communion of the Establishment. It was to them, therefore, a mere exchange of one system of bondage for another, and opened not at all to the awakened mind that which would effectually deliver it from that in which it was held. It tended to keep them still back, instead of pointing out their privilege of being brought nigh by the blood of Christ, to appear themselves as priests in the presence of God, to offer to Him the sacrifice of praise and thanks-giving. The notion of an ordered priesthood effectually destroys the character of Christian Ministry -they are as distinct things as can possibly be. -The Priest is to reconcile, the Ministry is that of reconciliation through the priesthood of Jesus. If, therefore, a Papist, whose whole principle has been the entrusting his soul's concern to an earthly priest, has, by the grace of God, found that he has held a right principle in a wrong place, and that his allegiance being turned from a priest on earth to one in heaven, peace is the result; if after this he is still to look to an order somewhat different from his own, but still an order between him and Christ, where is the real difference of his standing? I say, not that his judgment may not be convinced, and his heart comforted by the truth he may hear, but he is again entangled. He is yet in the state of the bewitched Galatians, observing days, and months, and years. And the whole tenor of that Epistle shows the remarkable connection between liberty in Christ, liberty in worship, and liberty of spirit, opposed to the liberty of the flesh. What was all the zeal of the Apostle against Judaism, but because he saw in it an infringement of real liberty. Surely there could be no moral harm in observing the ritual of God's own institution: they might have observed days, and months, and years unto the Lord; but the moment it became a question of obligation, and it was attempted to be prescribed as the proper mode of worship, then the Apostle only saw in the Ritual according to God's own pattern, weak and beggarly elements, to which they desired again to be in bondage, and therefore in principle a going back to heathenism. Now if this unquestionably divine order of worship would have interfered with the liberty of sons, how much more must that which is but man's servile copy of it tend to bondage. The notion of a priest, of an altar, of a sacrifice, and of service (Aci,TXXXpyi, a), which are visible and earthly, must necessarily, tend to keep the soul to the earth, instead of leading it from the earth to worship in God's house in heaven, where the High Priest and Sacrifice are. The consequence is, that a Ritual so ordered, must almost of necessity amalgamate the world and the Church; and let there be ever such spiritual breathings in it, their power is lost by their general application and worldly accompaniments. Now the only worship which suits one set at liberty, by belief of the truth of complete justification in and by Christ, is, that of Spirit and of truth -is that which is in the name of Jesus, even that of sons. Such the Father is seeking, and such fulfills the joy of the one set free;—"Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

But in the third place, the liberty of service -the necessity of service is one most distinctly acknowledged by the Papist; but its liberty is unknown; like everything else it is wrongly placed -it is the very spirit of bondage. Now there is a service of liberty, "that we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter {XXX}." We are made free in order to serve, called unto liberty, not to use it as a cloak of maliciousness, but by love to serve. Man can easily imagine service to God in order to procure His favor, but service can only he regarded as privilege by those who know the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. The claim which the Lord Jesus prefers on His disciples for their obedience is the claim of His own love. -"If ye love me keep my commandments." Man would ever pervert this blessed order and say, keep the commandments in order to procure the love. But the claim of obedience brings before us all our security -"Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your bodies and your spirits which are His {XXX}." And here again we see the intimate connection between the completeness of justification through Christ and obedience or service. When a qualified justification is asserted, we immediately get on the Papist's own ground, and both liberty of Spirit and liberty of service, are lost together. The service of a believer proceeds from his altered position towards God. "Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust to bring us near to God {XXX}." It is no longer therefore effort to get near to God, but being made nigh by the blood of Christ, we go forth in the strength of God to obey Him. And this alone meets the entanglement into which that system draws the soul. The truth which is according to godliness, puts in their right places the truths which Satan has perverted, giving peace and liberty to the soul, and leading into righteousness and true holiness.

Now it is the exhibition of this truth, the practical exhibition of it which is needed to expose the errors of Popery. It is the recognized value of the priesthood of Jesus, and Church office and Church authority only used in service to the saints, which ought plainly to be set before their minds. It is present deliverance out of the world, even while being the ministers of grace towards it, which alone can show forth that the Church can never be in its real standing before God when it is great in the earth. It is MINISTRY in all its varied branches, which needs to be exercised, to show practically the false pretensions of an earthly priesthood. Priesthood may awe, but ministry will win; the one requires to be served, the other is the service of love; and the pretension to priesthood is especially dangerous in this respect, that it so completely obscures and nullifies the ministry of reconciliation.

Now it may be asked, is there in existing systems any effectual testimony to the truth, so as to bring into strong relief the perverted truth of Romanism. Granting to the National Establishment (i.e., the Church of England} all the doctrinal purity claimed for its articles, yet its worldliness in theory, making the nation the Church, and its tolerance and support of every worldly practice, would of itself effectually hinder the power of its testimony to doctrinal truth. But when its whole order is just as much independent of the Spirit of God as that of Romanism itself, it becomes a mere question of uniformity on a greater or lesser scale. And for these reasons, as well as the necessary allowance of the authority of the Church of Rome as the channel of succession, the Establishment fails in so exhibting the truth as to manifest the false pretensions of Popery. There is no provision for real liberty of worship, and the machinery of the one as well as the other can go on equally orderly without, as with the Spirit of God.

If, on the other hand, we look to Dissent, we see worldliness in another form, but equally hindering the testimony as to the deliverance and heavenly portion of the Church. And the entire rejection of all the truth which Romanism holds in error with respect to Church order, and Church unity, and Church authority, (as if all this had been left to man's arrangement, when the Scripture has spoken largely on the subject), effectually thwarts the power of any doctrinal statement as a testimony.

There is therefore no reason, so far as we can see, to prevent an increase of Popery, and if we might judge from the tone of thought and feeling daily increasing among the Clergy of the Establishment, there is nothing to prevent an attempt at a comprehension. Towards this there has often been a tendency at different periods since the Reformation; and it may now be the policy of Romanism to assume liberalism not only in politics but also in religion, and to keep back much that is offensive against reason or feeling, for the purpose of extending its authority. Surely the children of God, who do know their blessed liberty, are loudly called on to show forth real unity of the Spirit, in opposition to that which is outward and formal; real subjection to the Spirit in any of His gifts, whether of teaching, oversight, or rule, in-stead of bondage to an order of men claiming for themselves the authority of God, and the blessedness of worship in Spirit and truth, instead of bodily exercise and constrained service.

The Christian Witness 4:1-16 (1837).

The Promise of the Lord

{1835}

The two leading features of Prophetic testimony, in its immediate application, were the exposure of the principles of Apostasy then at work; and comforting the hearts of the Remnant, who were groaning under the sense of it. The contrast to this was, the testimony of false prophets, who always lulled into security the many, and treated the groaning Remnant as the enemies of God and His people. "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life; therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations; for I will deliver my people out of your Hand; and ye shall know that I am the Lord (Ezek. 13:22, 23)." In the period just before the Babylonish captivity, we find the two pleas of the Lord against His people to have been, either that they justified continuance in avowed evil, as though the ease was so desperate that they could not serve the Lord; or, that they asserted their innocence, and that their state was one of which the Lord approved. "Thou saidst there is no hope; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go: yet thou sayest, because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me: behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest I have not sinned (Jer. 2:25-35)." These therefore are the two things which the Lord hates; -contenfulness with avowed evil, under the plea that there is no remedy for us, so that we must make the best of it; or, forgetting the holiness of God by giving the sanction of His name to that which He disowns, by asserting our innocence and saying, "The temple of the Lord," &c. It is just here that the ministry of the prophets came in; they were raised up, as Apostasy was setting in, and their testimony multiplied as it advanced to a head. The Spirit of Christ in the Prophets, taking up the principles then working, carried them out in all their fearful result, looking through the long and dreary vista to that great and terrible day of the Lord, in which they would be consummated, and met in judgment by the Lord. But while there was the most uncompromising witness against present evil, and testimony of God's sure judgment against it, there was invariably the promise of God's favor and protection towards the feeble Remnant, faithful in the midst of abounding evil. "The hearts of the righteous were not made sad. -" "Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings" (Isa. 3:10)." To take one example, -in the prophetic strain of Isaiah, ch. 7 to 12 -The Spirit in the Prophet, at the very time that Apostasy was set in under king Ahaz, after showing the unchangeableness of the counsel of the Lord, which would stand, in spite of all the failures of man, and all the confederacies against it, takes a discursive range, through all its minor developments up to the great Apostasy. But in the midst of this gloomy prospect, there is the word of comfort for the faithful Remnant. "Say ye not a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. -Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread; and He shall he for a sanctuary." And when the promise of security is thus given to the Remnant, he fully opens the prospect of increasing judgment in the oft repeated burthen, "For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still."

In the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfectness of the Prophet, as well as of the Priest. He was that Prophet into whose mouth Jehovah promised that He would put His words, and that he should speak unto the people all that he commanded them (Deut. 18:18). He had the preeminence as a Prophet, and accordingly we find in our Lord's discourses the principles embodied, which though not understood at the time, were carried out into detail by the Apostles, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who led them into all truth, and brought to their remembrance the things that Jesus had spoken unto them. In the 18th of Matthew we find the Lord marking, as His Spirit had done in the Prophets of old, the rise of that which, apparently trivial, would issue in the most disastrous consequences; not only meeting the evil by solemn warning, but viewing it in its results, and comforting His people at all times in the midst of it. The bane of Christianity is there marked, as "Emulation," the total contrast to Him who did not strive nor cry, neither did any man hear His voice in the streets. It is striking to observe how this spirit which is the very cherished principle of the flesh, and which Satan would fain carry into the Church, showed itself in the disciples on occasions apparently the least likely to have excited it. Here we see the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world: that which was to regulate the Church, and that which carries on the world, distinguished and set in the strongest contrast.

In Luke 22 after the Lord had instituted the memorial of His death and sacrifice, and had spoken of His betrayal; instead of finding any sympathy in their minds, we read, "There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." And so we read in the chapter before us, "At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" This question was asked after Jesus had, by the payment of the tribute money, exhibited the deep humiliation into which He had come for their sakes. The payment of the half-shekel, the offering of the Lord (Ex. 30:13-16) was demanded of Peter, which every one that was numbered, rich or poor, was to give, to make an atonement for their souls, and this money was to be spent in the service of the Temple. Peter answered hastily for his master; but Jesus having first asserted His own right as the Son to be free from the payment, yet, as being made under the law, and having come to redeem them that were under the law, He fulfilled its righteousness in this as well as in the baptism of John. It was at such a season as this when the Son was humbling Himself as the servant, that the minds of the disciples were selfishly seeking exaltation for themselves in the kingdom of heaven. Little did they think that real greatness, the greatness of God, was in His ability to minister to weakness. That He who has His dwelling so high, should humble Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth. That He who inhabits Eternity, and whose name is Holy, should dwell in the humble and contrite heart.

It was in this they needed the whole current of the thoughts of their minds entirely uprooted. They must be converted and become as little Children, or they would not enter into the kingdom of heaven. To come into the lowest place here, was the necessary result of greatness in the kingdom of heaven. The only place of greatness in a world of evil, is necessarily to be of no esteem in it. The world knew not the Son; had He been great in its estimation, its must have been greatness in the estimation of those who had lost all moral perception. This is the hard lesson that we have to learn, and where we are constantly erring as the disciples of old did; the Lord knew it would be because of its contrariety to the flesh. The necessary discipline, in order to teach His people their place of blessing, would be constant mortification, the cutting off the hand, the plucking out the eye. He who knew what was in man, did not merely meet the evil as it showed itself in individuals, but seeing its tendency, most solemnly warns against it, as affecting both the Church and the world. Presumed greatness in any, would be a stumbling block in the way of the weak; power such as the flesh could recognize -authority which the world could own, would always be a stumbling-block in the way of the weak. Even supposing that it was not, as unhappily we know that it hath been exercised against the poor of the flock, yet it would not be that which they needed. Their necessities craved that which was in fullness in the great and good Shepherd; authority in the hands of those who would be examples to the flock, not as those who would lord it over God's heritage. And not only so, the Lord has also marked the effect produced upon the world by the desire of greatness in the Church. He, while in the world, stood the humbled and separate One, and therefore His witness against it was so powerful. He was dead to all that was of credit in it, and thus testified that its deeds were evil: so long as He was in the world, Ile was the light of the world, and His people were to take His place where Ile left it. "Ye are the light of the world." They by their separateness, standing aloof from all its dignity and glory, were thus to be its light. But woe unto the world because of offenses. When His people began to assume worldly greatness and fleshly distinction, then the witness was gone; then the veriest woe came in the world, because it was either deceived into the notion that it was itself owned of God, or confirmed in its unbelief by its quickness to mark the entire inconsistency of the professed disciples of Christ, with the precepts of their Master. This is the woe which now presses on the world; the only convincing testimony to it of the truth of Christianity is gone, the holiness and love of those who profess it. So blind indeed are Christians to this, that amidst all their boasting of an increase of godliness, it rarely comes into their mind that the one thing needful is wanting, both to answer the heart of the Lord Jesus, or the purpose of their being left in the world, "That they may be one," that the world might believe that Jesus was sent of God. The Lord in leading on the minds of His disciples, proceeds on the assumption of their weakness. He takes up that as the place in which His eye ever saw them, He could only recognize them as "little ones"; and just in proportion as their standing in the world was otherwise, they ceased to be subjects of this condescending ministry of love, however in faithfulness He might chasten and rebuke them. He opens to us the great principle of heaven, as being that which ministers to weakness, placed in the situation of danger from surrounding evil. He would have His people always aware of this their blessing that the real feeling of their own weakness, was strength. -It was this that displayed God's power, sustaining weakness, and making it triumphant over every obstacle. "Thy strength is made perfect in weakness." The moment we assume any place of strength, and have that support which the flesh can rest in, our proper strength is gone. No human arrangements, however wisely made, and however, as man may think, directed to the Lord's glory, can avail, because they must necessarily interfere with the revealed principles of Him who "chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world, to confound the things that are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are." It is therefore as "little ones," that Believers are the subjects of angelic ministry, who are sent forth to minister to them who shall inherit salvation {Heb. 1:14}. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."

And this is heaven's blessed ministry; this ministry was His glory who came from heaven, not to be ministered to Himself, but to minister to others. Real greatness needed not the ministry of others; and in an evil world, the only place of real dignity is the ability to rescue from and to keep in the midst of it, that which had no strength against it. "The Son of Man is come to save that which is lost." But as if to open to us the whole mind of heaven, and to show us its most favored aspect towards us -as if to meet the subtle lie of Satan, that our insignificance is beneath God's notice, the Lord proceeds in the detail of blessedness of those who have no strength, to show how their necessity is graciously met. "Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." Thus out of weakness are they made strong. The Lord keep us in the abiding sense of the blessedness of our portion as little children.

That which the Lord had first applied in the way of individual blessing, He next applies to the Church collectively. He would not allow of an appeal from any of His people to the world, because it was a tribunal incapable of judging between brethren. -Its judgment being necessarily based on presumed right, not on grace. Hence, the injured party is put by our Lord in the place of the conciliator. -"if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; and, if he shall hear thee, then thou hast gained thy brother {Matt. 18:15}." This rule would necessarily prevent the assumption of preeminence among brethren; he would really be the greatest in the estimation of heaven, who had most to bear. The only appeal was to the Church, as that which alone could judge righteous judgment; and its award, in case of unsubmission to its authority, was putting without its pale, regarding the offender as a heathen man and a publican. It appears to me, that the Lord still keeping in view the tendency of the principle then at work in the disciples' minds, as that which would seek after visible greatness in the world, casts contempt upon all its glory by only owning it as the place into which those would be driven who were excluded by the Church. The solemn sentence of the Church, in excluding any from fellowship, would appear, in the sight of men, as a powerless act, attended with no immediate results, and not affecting the person or property of the offender. How unlike the award of a worldly tribunal; there the convicted offender is affected by its sentence in present shame, and loss of property, liberty, or life. But the seeming powerless sentence of those, to be excluded from whose fellowship would appear nothing to be dreaded, had the sanction of heaven, and involved consequence not unseen but permanent. "Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven {Matt. 18:18}." The leading feature of this discourse of our blessed Lord, is the constant counteraction of the desire after greatness, such as would be cognizable by men. He is always putting His people and the Church in the place of weakness on earth, and giving them strength in heaven. His people, if in their proper place, would be, as Himself, the weak One on earth; for He "was crucified through weakness," but strong in the unseen power of God. Thus has the Lord met the necessities of His people at all times; however fearful the tide of Apostasy, it could never shut out the real blessing of the faithful Remnant, be it ever so small -And the reason is, that whatever fearful exhibition of evil there may be in the visible Church, and however unable an insignificant minority are to testify against it, or to meet it in ostensible power, yet the blessing of the dispensation is open to them; and however little their strength, it is real, for it is the strength of heaven. And in order to meet the extremity of the case of His people, He who foresaw the fearfulness of that Apostasy which would come in, through the desire after greatness and love of preeminence; most graciously meets the case of the feeble few, faithful to Him in their weakness. "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven: for where two or three are gathered together in {unto} my name, there am I in the midst of them {Matt. 18:19, 20}." Now taking this in its moral connection with the point from which our Lord began this discourse, I believe it to be the abiding testimony to the blessing of His people under all circumstances. We have seen the Church sat up most mighty in power and authority, in its entire separateness from the world, even to the merging of all worldly distinction in it. We have seen its spiritual and unseen power, acknowledged even by those without (Acts 2:43-47; 4:37). We have seen Ichabod written on all this; and in vain search for another exhibition of convincing testimony against the world, by heavenly power and unity. That which then wrought in the minds of the disciples, even emulation, soon wrought effectually in the Church; and being of the flesh, led the Church to seek that greatness which the flesh could recognize; and has issued in that which we do see in Christendom -a system avowedly great in the earth, boasting its superior light above surrounding nations, apparently swaying their destinies, accrediting every worldly distinction, and giving the authority of heaven to principles the most opposite to those of Christ. This is beginning to be felt and acknowledged by thousands; and what shall they do? whither shall they go? what would avail their feeble protest against evils inveterate, fondly cherished, and so entwined with everything around them? To reconstitute the Church would be to subvert Christendom. Now the question in many minds naturally is -The professing Church has not abode in the goodness of God -it is that which is to be judged. -Are we still to tolerate it? still to cry "the temple of the Lord?" &c. Again, we can see nothing standing in the plenitude of authority to which to look. Shall we say there is no hope? It is here the Lord meets His perplexed people; He neither forces them to own that as of Him, which He disowns Himself (save as to judgment,) nor drives them to despair by holding out no hope. Here is their rest {Matt. 18:20},—"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And this is the peculiar blessing of our dispensation -the promise of the Lord's presence by His Spirit, under all circumstances -"Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Let the Remnant be ever so small, even, if it were possible amidst the visible body, two or three only, still the blessing remains to them. The beauty and glory are departed; but to so insignificant a Remnant as this, is the word addressed by the Lord, "Meet together in my name"; and the promise, "I am in the midst of you." That which constitutes this very dispensation -the abiding presence of the Comforter -the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, is what we are continually prone to forget. We are ever inclined to that which the world can receive, instead of casting ourselves upon that which is our portion. It is not now to go here or there; the Father is not to be worshiped in any given place, neither are Believers to look to anything ostensible to attach themselves to; but to meet together in the name of Jesus. Meeting in His name is the entire counteraction of the two snares to which we are exposed;-either of courting fellowship with the world, or cherishing sectarian feelings. Men have been so long accustomed to seek the strength of an Establishment to rest on, as almost, if not altogether, to forget the communion of the saints. This is never closed to us by the Lord, however it may be to our unbelief; and the proof is this -that even two, shall experience the blessing of it; for where the Lord's presence is, can there be anything lacking? It is therefore that the Apostle so presses the "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" {Heb. 10:25} as that which would cheer and direct us in trying circumstances. But union with the world, or the exclusion of any brethren, hinders this effectually; the Lord's Spirit is grieved or restrained, because we are not gathered {together} in {unto} His name Our foolish hearts crave something imposing -it is most contrary to them to continue in the faith of God's promise -we have to watch against an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We have to watch against ourselves lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And that is deceitful which would make us judge by appearances, and not righteous judgment; this we never exercise, except in doing God's will. We are never, I believe, except by our own unbelief, placed in circumstances of balancing evil in order to choose the lesser. So full is the Word of God in its detail, so elastic are its principles, that we can be placed in no trying circumstances but we shall find a way for us to escape, through the Spirit applying the Word, and thus guiding us by His counsel. Now the dilemma in which many of the Lord's people suppose themselves to be placed, is this -They allow that it does no violence to their conscience to accredit as of the Lord, any system wherein the world has dominance; and they cannot construe into an approval of evil, His long-suffering with it. But they allege that they cannot see anything around them with that real moral glory with which the Church was once invested; and which might claim their attachment by affording that resting place which their hearts sorrow after. They are in a strait; and if they do not violence to their conscience, it either interrupts their peace, or hinders their service. It is here the Lord meets them. He anticipated all their weakness, as well as their possible fewness. He knew the desire of their heart unto Him, and could sympathize with that hesitation which would falter in acting in the face of presumed authority, and prevented, if we may use the expression, the desire of a real visible authority to stay upon, by throwing His people entirely off it on Himself. "Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in {unto} my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here therefore will be the wisdom of those who are led, by God's Spirit, to the discovery of the fearful departure of the Church from the goodness of God. While they will mourn over their common sin in the departure of that glory which the Lord, on leaving the earth, bequeathed to His Church, they will not be looking for that which might present itself as another witness for Christ, in all the glory of power and authority; but, remembering whence they are fallen, will be zealous and repent; and in their penitence they are met by the Lord, who, though He has no where pledged Himself to reconstitute that which man has marred, has pledged Himself to His people to be ever with them. And in the blessing thus secured to them, He has provided, at the same time, for the honor of His own name He has invested them with power to put away from them any one, who is called a brother, who continues to walk disorderly after being warned. Thus, in the worst possible circumstances, two things are secured to the Lord's people, -their strength and comfort in His presence, and their right to regard as a heathen man and a publican, any one who brings a scandal on his profession, and blasphemes that holy name by which He is called. The people of the Lord can always act; if they be His, they have His Spirit, and in that Spirit can meet together, and by that Spirit they can judge, and withdraw themselves from any brother who, after remonstrance, still continues to walk disorderly. So that the comfort of His worshipers and the purity of His worship, is secured, by this charter of the ever gracious and loving Lord, to His very feeble Remnant. The simple principle is, that the Lord would never oblige His people to sin. Now I believe it to be just as binding on a Christian to meet together with Christians, as to abstain from those things which may even shock the natural conscience. There is one Lawgiver; and who shall presume to say where His authority is to be qualified? He that said "I say unto you, Swear not at all," said also, "Let him be to thee a heathen man and a publican"; and the one ought to be no less binding on the conscience of a true disciple than the other.

This I believe to be the leading of the mind of the great Prophet of the Church throughout this discourse. Clearly perceiving where the spirit working in the minds of His Disciples would issue, He looks to that, and amidst all the maze of difficulty in which they might be placed, provides the simple way for their escape, and in the darkest periods of the Church's history, we can find those who have been obedient to the Lord's direction, and find the blessing. The Lord Jesus the Prophet, has not made the hearts of His people sad, nor strengthened the hearts of the wicked. He has not forced them into the assertion, "The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these," as though He sanctioned every species of worldliness; nor reduced them to the plea of slothfulness -"there is no hope, the matter is desperate." All that is needed for action and blessing, is faith in Lord's word. He never is contented with the evil, however His people may be. It is a most fearful instance of the want of a sound mind, when we find so much perverse ingenuity, so many subtleties, so many analogies drawn, in order to lull the awakened consciences of many into contentedness with evil. Here is a plain direction of our Lord, which was given for them to act on, and applicable to any circumstances. And here is a plain answer to those who charge that as schism, which is bounden duty -separation from the world, as a necessary preliminary in order to our meeting together in the name of Jesus (i.e., being gathered together, by the Spirit, unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone: Matt. 18:20}. Blessed be His name, He has not left us comfortless; and while it becomes us to be humbled to the very dust, for our grievous departure from Him, let us not add this to all our other sins, either to charge Him with unfaithfulness, or to tempt Him by saying, is God among us or not? Whoever believeth on Him shall never be confounded; even in the most disastrous times, when iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold, the Lord's people may assemble together, and exhort one another, and the more so as they see the day approaching. As it was of old, so it is now -"Ye have said, it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts, and now we call the proud happy, yea, they that work wickedness are set up, yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him (Mal. 3:14-17)."

The Christian Witness 2:128-139 (1835).

Religious Societies

There are two great subjects of interest, to which any one taught of God must necessarily be awakened -the glory of God, and the necessities of man. In Jesus we perceive the most acute sensibility to the wretchedness of man, -He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, -sighing, groaning, and weeping at the dominion of evil and misery over man. But while He met it in all the sovereign power of relief, He so met it that men should glorify God, and thus made the occasion of ministering to man's necessities, the occasion of bringing glory to God. In this as well as other particulars, He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. We are apt to have a much quicker perception of the necessities of man than of the glory of God; it is the Spirit alone which can make us of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, while our own natural selfishness enables us in some measure to enter into man's necessities. We see them as being ourselves in them, as those which personally affect us. Jesus saw them indeed, as in them, but yet with the judgment of one who saw them from above. Hence it is, that whenever the Church has been awakened to a sense either of the pressing necessities of the world around it, or of its own deficiences, it has in the one case been busy in doing, rather than zealous to repent; and in the other, more ready to engage in some active exertions to mitigate or remedy the pressing necessity, by the means it found readiest at hand, than to ascertain what might be God's way of meeting it. The end proposed has alone been to remedy the destitution felt, or misery discovered; and if this end has in any wise been answered, by God's blessing answered, the Church has been satisfied, and too often has rested in complacency in its own efforts, and made them the criterion of its prosperity, instead of finding the evidence of its failure, both in the necessity which called them forth, and in the dereliction of many important principles of truth which the exertion of those efforts has entailed.

It is impossible not to trace the origin of the many Religious Societies, which have arisen within the last half century, to an awakened sensibility to the spiritual destitution around us. Nor can we deny that it was the Spirit of God which put the desire into the hearts of the good and holy men from whom they originated. They were begun in faith and prayer, and little perhaps did any of their founders anticipate to what a magnitude they would grow. One can hardly now, except by history, trace the origin of the Bible Society to the concern of an obscure individual in the principality of Wales, for the pressing want of the Scriptures in that part of the kingdom. The want {need} when made known became a palpable object, and led to the discovery that many other places were equally destitute of the Scriptures. Many were the motives that induced to a co-operation in such an undertaking. But the object, though in itself confessedly good, was only to meet the necessity discovered. For this many were associated, but when the test of that very word was applied to them, to own God in their associate character, it was discovered not only that many would not, but that they could not, for there were those associated together who did not worship the same God. Notwithstanding the question raised on this point for a moment seemed to shake its stability, yet the Society still continues, because its immediate object is answered; translations of the Scriptures are multiplied, and Bibles are widely distributed. That good is done is not denied, and that God works in the Sovereignty of His grace by all means is most fully allowed; but the real question to be considered is, how far the children of the kingdom should rest satisfied with any Religious Society, with any Society where moral influences are exerted upon the minds of men, unless it be simply based upon the principles which the Apostles have developed, as those which are to regulate the association of the children of God, and how far will God be satisfied with anything short of this for the accomplishment of his end? which, while it includes man's blessing, is always his own glory. A Society so constituted, would be the Church in its varied work and labor of love, and is not this the deficiency, the necessary deficiency of all Religious Societies, that they fall short of what the Church is, and therefore can never effect that which the Church only can accomplish? While therefore the many societies which have arisen, based on more or less Catholic principles, have evidenced an awakening desire among many Christians for unity in service, have they not very much tended to blind the mind to the simple truth, that such a desire can only be answered by God's own plan -the Church. Now the very differential character of a (so-called) Religious Society, is, that it need not be a communion of saints. The end proposed does not necessarily require that it should be. It is in its very constitution an appeal to the world, and therefore must needs meet the world's principles. Now the world's judgment is never the judgment of faith; they expect results, and will not labor except when the object can be commended to their minds as plainly attainable and worthy. Hence it necessarily follows that, in addressing the world, success is to be looked for and proved, in order to establish the utility of the effort; and thus the great moral feature of the Church's obedience -viz. to walk by faith, "to go out not knowing whither," when God's glory calls, is altogether lost, and expediency usurps the place of uncompromising obedience to the word of God. It is not therefore the defects in the constitution of any particular Religious Society, which render it questionable how a Christian can rightly unite in its efforts, -but the obstacle is this, that such Societies are in themselves objectionable, because they are not the approved mode of God's agency, however we may rejoice in their objects. That they may succeed in part is possible and likely; God is accustomed to compassionate our ignorance and to bless the endeavors of His people, so long as the light which He dispenses is faithfully obeyed; and He may have blessed these Societies in removing many stumbling blocks which hindered the progress of the saints, and in leading them to a less exceptionable basis of co-operation than they had previously attained. Nevertheless, while they are Societies, formed on self-chosen principles, for the attainment of one particular end, and while they judge of their prosperity as that end is, or not, obtained, they have not the character which the word of God requires; they fall short of that real union of brethren which is good and pleasant -good in the sight of God, and pleasant to the saints themselves. This may further be illustrated by facts. -The question raised as to prayer in the Bible Society, opened the eyes of many to perceive, that, while they were associated for a religious object, they were not pursuing it in a religious way; this led to a separation: and the same object was pursued by those who separated in a way of owning God in their proceedings by prayer, and of confessing to the name of Jesus, by requiring faith in the Trinity, as a necessary requisite to membership. The great difficulty generally understood to have been found by the pious individuals engaged in forming the new Society, was the danger of forming a Church. That the effort of forming a Society on really Scriptural grounds had this tendency, was made very apparent by the fact of some of its first able and zealous promoters drawing back when they perceived whereunto it would grow, and that they were in that instance really acting on a principle which condemned themselves. The very same principle contended for, of separation from heretics, and of godly co-operation as needful for the pursuance of an end, where God's glory was concerned, was ably turned against the promoters of the new Society by the advocates of the old. We cannot but mark the hand of God in this, in making the effort instrumental in opening the minds of many to a more just apprehension of the fellowship of the saints, both in worship and service. But the fears of the founders of the Society were groundless; there was one hindrance to approximation too closely to a Church form, and that was, that there was something besides the possession of the one Spirit necessary to membership -money. The subscriber of a certain sum fixed as a minimum, if he would confess to the Trinity, was registered as a member; and thus while a barrier was raised against the free admission of every saint who might desire to co-operate, but could not, by reason of his inability to pay the required sum, the door was sufficiently widened to admit the worldly professor, or even the profane. Now fully allowing the zeal and piety of the managers of this Society, it may be asked, have they not reversed the order of their most blessed motto, and given to beneficence towards man the priority over God's glory? and if we waive the objection as to the non-exclusion of the worldly or profane, and suppose that they can meet as those who in sincerity worship and serve the same Lord, there is yet one very simple way in which it may be shown, that this Society (for the institution of which we may be thankful) does still stop short of the one great principle of union. The Society meets, -its scriptural character is set forth, -its principle is extolled for its catholicity; the souls, it may be, of many are refreshed by the fervor and spirituality of those who address them; but if the question were put, can those who seem so united meet together in the Lord's appointed ordinance of fellowship -the Lord's supper, the answer is -no; for the object of man's necessities primarily, and God's glory indeed remotely, they can unite, but for God's glory in His own appointed way they cannot, and why? because they are a Society, -its end is answered stopping short of this; but where God's own glory is concerned -that is, in the oneness of His people, and His own appointed way proposed, immediately difficulties arise, and a sectarian spirit is still manifested, and the lauded catholicity is found to be ill grounded.

From this brief statement it is hoped that the question may be raised in the minds of some, not whether a Society be properly constituted and properly managed, but whether it be God's own means of acting, and to help to form a judgment there are some few considerations to be added. Only let it be again repeated, that in anything that is said, it is not intended to deny that God has blessed and owned them, but since their principle is unchangeable, if that is faulty we are not to set down that to the Society which is only ascribable to the sovereignty of God's grace, using any means according to the good pleasure of His will.

And first, these Societies have doubtless been very useful to the Church in setting before it those works in which it ought to be engaged, and stirring up much individual energy. But this has been greatly counterbalanced by the use which has been made of them, as if they had arisen from a healthy state of the Church, instead of owing their existence entirely to its failure in its own bounden duty. The existence of so many Societies for religious purposes has been hastily and unwarrantably assumed to be a ground for congratulation, whereas the object of them all would have been attained by the healthful state of the Church itself, in holy separation from the world, through the energy of the in-dwelling spirit dispensing the streams of life. Men have united and concentrated their power for some present temporal object, and Christians have followed their wisdom, and have almost practically forgotten that although worldly objects of pursuit may be obtained by worldly association, yet that there is one thing, without which Christian service can never be fully, or other than partially effective, and that is the presence of the Holy Ghost.

It is very much to be feared that an active and busy zeal stirred up by the means of Societies, has helped on very fearfully the error of the Church in rejecting virtually its present portion, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost,—"Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord." It is the necessary consequence, when we are looking to our own multiplied means, to say we are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and not to know that we are poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked. It is an important consideration, exemplified in the conduct of the Jews during our Lord's ministry, that there may be much bustle and activity event apparently about the things of the Lord, and yet lukewarmness in reference to the Lord Himself, and rapid progress towards the consummation of Apostasy.

Connected with this is another evil, and that is, that the Society, instead of a means soon becomes an end. -It is its prosperity which is looked to. The end of its agency and ramifications is, that the Society may flourish. Now if a Society be not God's way of advancing His own glory, however excellent it may be for the end it proposes, the moment that it becomes the object to sustain and to support, an opening is made for the flesh in all its rivalry and self-seeking. Besides, the maintenance of the Society being almost unconsciously the object of its agency, must lead to a certain kind of worldly prudence which would conceal its miscarriages, and only put forth its success. -For example, we read of one case it may be of deep interest, and are and ought to be thankful for it, yet that one case is stated in an isolated manner, and we have not before us at all a fair statement of the proceedings of the Society. Now in the Church, if it flourishes, it becomes what God set it to be, His witness in the midst of a dark world. It does not flourish from any power extrinsic to itself, or from any adventitious circumstances, but from the energy of the Spirit working mightily in it, and it is impossible to seek the prosperity of the Church, without seeking the glory of God. And the blessing of the Church is, that its resources are from within; if it goes without {outside of} itself to the world for aid, it virtually forgets that God is its strength, and the practical result of this seeking after outward resources, has been to exclude the help of God.

Again it may be said, that Religious Societies have been the means of calling into activity much energy, which would otherwise have remained dormant. And this is doubtless true, and we have seen not only the acknowledgment of Lay co-operation, but likewise the strange inconsistency of Lay management in Societies, which would hesitate about the propriety of employing an unordained Missionary. But however this may have tended to disabuse some minds of the prejudice that everything of a religious nature was to be done through a Clergy, it has been one of the evils arising from the management of a Society, that it has greatly tended to lower the value of Church order. In the Church, those who rule and have the control of things affecting the well-being of the Church, are not elected or supplanted by others who may be chosen to succeed them. In a communion of saints, there may be one only with the gift of rule, or there may be several; but if they have grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, they cannot be superseded by others having even the like gift in a greater measure. There would be room for the different exercise of all the gifts, and thankfully should they be received. The disposition of these things is in the hands of the Lord; but is this recognized in the constitution of any Society?

The entire management of Religious Societies, is left to the control of a Committee, or a Board of Directors. Now a Committee or Directory, is that which has suggested itself to worldly prudence, as the readiest and easiest way of furthering its own plans. Christians have therefore in this instance borrowed from the world. They have not the power to delegate the government of themselves, in the things in which they are engaged, if indeed they be the things of God, to those in whom they may choose to confide. True it is indeed, that according to Apostolic rule and practice, where money was concerned, it was left to the people to select those gifted of God as competent for the service, and these the Apostles appointed to such service. (See Acts 6:2 Cor. 8:19, 20; 1 Cor. 16:3, 4). But the Committee of a Religious Society, is entrusted with far more than a faithful application of its funds. Looking at Religious Societies, either as Bible or Missionary Societies, the Committee have the control of Translations in the one, a most important work indeed, and of the Missionaries in the other, which is equally important. Now these functions are the very highest in the Church, and yet they are formally delegated from year to year to a nominated Committee. Surely such a proceeding at once shows, that they are not recognized as so placed of God, for if they were, there needed not the renewal of their commission. And then to whom do the Committee so constituted stand in immediate responsibility? if they held any Church place, their responsibility would at once be to the source from whence their power was derived -that is, the great Head of the Church Himself. But however fitted and gifted, even by Him, a number of individuals forming a Committee, might be for the execution of so important a trust, yet being dependent on annual choice for their existence, the sense of direct responsibility to Him is much deadened; and what is of importance too, it tends to induce forgetfulness of individual responsibility, "as every man hath received the gift, so minister the same, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God {XXX}." It is a serious consideration for Christians to weigh well the question, whether either in appointing a Committee or being appointed to it, they are not indirectly interfering with the headship of Jesus. For what office recognized of Him does a Committee hold? what gifts given by Him does it pretend to? In fact the constitution of Societies has necessarily given rise to very lax notions on the point of Church government, as if it were a matter left either to our tastes, or will, or convenience. And it may be soberly said, that the powers which a Committee pretends to exercise are unheard of in the Church, such as the College of Apostles never thought of asserting, -viz. so completely controlling the agency it employs, as effectually to hinder the liberty of the Spirit of God. If the Spirit should now as plainly forbid a Missionary to preach the Gospel in a given region, as Paul was forbidden to preach it in Asia, the Committee might still say, that is your sphere, there you must remain till we tell you to move. And this is not hypothetical, -a Society constituted as Religious Societies are, seeks to carry into a heathen land the arrangements it has for religious instruction in its own country. A station is selected by the Committee -a Missionary sent forth -a mission house and chapel built -a school established, -after years of labor the preaching has not been found to be owned of God. The Missionary cannot shake off the dust of his feet and go where a door may have been opened of the Lord, because the Society has now a property in the station; and it is no uncommon thing in India to see men of God tied down to a station by the assimilation of their labor to the model of an establishment, whose love of souls would lead them to declare the glad tidings to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge. And this hindrance to the liberty of the Spirit almost necessarily arises from the constitution of a Religious Society.

The utter insubjection of the minds of Christians to real Church authority in the Spirit, has doubtless been materially helped on by the introduction of the worldly expedient of a Committee into a Society professedly religious. Nor does the evil end here; we find among the agents of the several Societies many able and gifted individuals, but in their place as Agents or Secretaries of Societies, what are they as given of the Lord? Are they Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, or Evangelists? Surely not -they hold no Church office at all. It is no office given of the Lord or owned of Him. Nothing surely but being misled by the desire of doing good could possibly have induced so many men of piety to put themselves in so anomalous a position. It need hardly be added, that the constant habit of appealing to a worldly auditory, for the most part leads them into very low and meager statements of truth; and some have thought it not beneath them to amuse their hearers, instead of simply stating what God has wrought. The mischief arising from this entire disregard of Church office and Church order, through the setting aside of both by Societies, is incalculable.

But then it may be said what are the saints to do? Now the object of this paper is rather to awaken inquiry as to the wrongness of their present means, and that they may seek to ascertain the way of the Lord more perfectly, than to say, here is a perfect plan into which you may at once come. There is a perfect plan, God's own plan; His own Society -the Church, but who can say we have attained unto it? And that which is specially intended to be pressed on the minds of God's children is, that the very existence of the Societies in question, is a proof of the fallen and low state of the Church, and calling for humiliation and sorrow, rather than congratulation. The word surely is, "Be zealous and repent."

There is one simple way however of proceeding, and that is, immediately, without regard to consequence, leave off doing evil. Let the children of God separate from the unholy and disobedient, and conform their plans, not to the judgment of man, but to the mind of Christ. But further, the Church has been shown its deficiencies and lack of service, and its own bounden duty. Let it importunately seek of the Lord of the harvest to send forth Missionaries both at home and abroad, men of faith and prayer, and simply dependent, on the Holy Spirit, without the expensive machinery of a Society taking upon itself to send them. If there are such to be found -those whose desire it is, constrained by the love of Christ, to go forth to the heathen, taking nothing of them; assuredly the children of God will be ready to help them on their way after a godly sort, that they may be fellow-workers to the truth (3 John 6-8). But let them not go forth thus provided only, but likewise in the fullest sympathy of the Church, and strengthened with all the counsel and wisdom, that the Lord may have given to it in any of His servants, so that they might feel assured that in their difficulties they were not alone. Thus would they be made to feel their entire dependence on God, and at the same time perfect liberty of giving themselves up to the guidance of His Spirit, while the knowledge of a loving and watchful oversight on the part of others, would alike tend to check the hastiness, or stir up the sluggishness of the flesh. And so also as to Bibles, -have Christians done well in letting the sacred deposit committed to them out of their hands? are translations of the Scriptures to be entrusted to the superintendence of those who do not stand as acknowledged to have received those gifts by which the Church is edified? Persons are often placed in this position of most solemn responsibility from their rank, influence, wealth, or learning, none of which render a man competent to judge of a version of the Scriptures. All that are spiritual, do know how that the exercise of the mere cultivated human understanding, is disposed to draw inferences from the word of God which that word itself forbids. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth {1 Tim. 3:XXX}, even as Jesus is the truth itself {XXX}, and the Spirit alone can guide into all truth {XXX}. It is sorrowfully known from the agitation of the question, how little the real inspiration of the Scriptures is held by men of decided piety, and how soon and how easily such a principle would lead men to be content with a paraphrase instead of a translation. Let not however the mischiefs arising from the constitution of Societies, be used as a cloak for slothfulness, in hindering the Saints from undertaking the work they have engaged in, in God's own way. The foolishness of God is wiser than man. Let it therefore be shown that with much less of palpable display, the work is more effectually done, when only undertaken in the Spirit and for God's glory, than when undertaken with the most promising human means for an end, however good, short of it. And again let it be repeated, that in nothing that has been said, is there the intention of speaking to the disparagement of any Religious Society. The aim of this paper is to show merely that it is not God's way of proceeding. Let us most thankfully own, that their objects are of very deep importance, let us rejoice in the measure of good they have effected. Let us again also see in them how gracious God is, in bearing with the experiments of our own wisdom, and in leading us on by His gentleness, through our own failures, to the knowledge of His truth and of His ways.

APPENDIX The plan of the Missionary Society (formerly London Missionary Society) one of the most respectable and efficient, is this.

Members. -A Subscriber of one Guinea, -one of the Executors -on the payment of a Legacy of Fifty Pounds.

General Meeting. -Annually in London to choose a Treasurer, Directors, &c.

Direction. -As many Directors annually chosen out of its members, as circumstances may require; to undertake no new Mission till they obtain the general concurrence.

Country Ministers, Subscribers, occasionally being in London, are Directors pro tempore.

Fundamental principle. -The union of Christians of various denominations, to send the glorious Gospel of the blessed God to the heathen. No form of Church order or government to be pressed, but it shall be left (as it ought to be left,) to the minds of the persons whom God may call into the fellowship of His Son from among the heathen, to assume for themselves such form of Church government as to them shall appear most agreeable to the word of God.

Does not this fundamental principle, large as it seeks to he, fully bear out the remarks of this paper as to the necessary imperfection of the constitution of Religious Societies?

-It is not a union at all of Christians exhibiting a lovely spectacle that they are one, but the union of various denominations, associating together on the very principle, which is their sin before God, that they are various denominations.

-If the order and government of the Church form part of the revealed will of God, it is as incumbent to teach it, as the way of justification by faith, yet this fundamental principle goes far to assert, that because serious persons are divided in their judgments respecting the existing forms of church government, that therefore God has not given adequate information of what the principles of that government are; so that men are left at liberty to assume what they will.

How a Churchman can consistently support a Society based on this fundamental principle, as to Church government being a non-essential, when the assertion of his own form has been the parent of almost all the schism in this kingdom, is not easy to conceive.

But III. -What is the amount of real union thus effected? The Rev. G. Clayton moves a resolution, which is seconded by the Honorable and Rev. B. W. Nod; to the eyes of the world for the short hour they are one, they can co-operate to send the gospel to the heathen; but they cannot, in using their several gifts for the edification of each other's congregation. And why? because that church Government declared to be a nonessential, would prove an insurmountable barrier to Mr. C. occupying Mr. N's. pulpit.

Extracts from the Laws and Regulations of the Church Missionary Society.

Patrons. -Members of the Royal Family who may honor the Society with their protection.

Vice-Patrons, exclusively from among the Peers Spiritual and Temporal.

Members. -Among others, Executors paying to the amount of Fifty Pounds.

Committee. -Twenty-four Lay members of the Established Church -all Clergymen subscribing. Eighteen members annually appointed from the old Committee, and six from the general body. The Committee shall elect a Committee of Patronage. Committee of Patronage to procure patronage and support to the Society.

General Committee shall appoint the places where missions shall be attempted, shall direct the scale upon which they shall be conducted.

Missionaries. -Found by Committee of correspondence, nominated by Ballot to General Committee.

General Committee to ballot, -agreement of three fourths necessary to his election.

Each Candidate shall consider himself as engaged to go to any. part of the world, and at any time which the Committee shall choose. Each Candidate if not admitted to Holy Orders, to be appointed by the Committee a Catechist -if admitted to Holy Orders, he shall be appointed a Missionary!!!

How unblushingly worldly, how antiscriptural, how inconsistent is all this!

The Christian Witness 4:86-100 (1837).

Retrospect and Present State of Prophetic Inquiry

{1834}

We are very little conscious of the rapidity with which any principles, when once set in action, are carried on to their respective results. Few indeed trouble themselves about principles, they follow on with the stream, and it is only when they desire to stop, or are thrown out of the engrossing circumstances of their time, that they have been able calmly to judge the principle on which they, have been acting, Hence contemporary historians however they may tarnish the materials, have not been the best historians, because not in circumstances to see clearly the real spring of action. It is therefore often profitable to take a retrospective view, to recur to some certain point of influence in the moral or political history of man, and to trace the consequences which have emanated therefrom. Very few, perhaps, have dared honestly to do this with respect to this country; and yet the man who would calmly estimate the public character of the nation in 1829 and 1834, would find that there has been a great and "decided moral as well as political revolution accomplished -the legitimate fruit of principles which in the former period first received an impulse.

This however is not intended to be followed out in this. paper, being only referred to in the way of illustration. Very few Christians are really aware of the principles which were set in action by the revival of prophetic study; and it is here proposed to take a retrospect of that inquiry, both for the purpose of demonstrating its importance as well as showing its effects. We cannot but trace it up to Him who is the Father of lights, in having according to the good pleasure of His will, led many of His servants to regard the sure word of prophecy as the only light in a dark place, that the feet of His saints might be made to walk on high places, just at the very time when those principles of evil which are to end in the revelation of the wicked or lawless one (2 Thess. 2). began to work with a ten-fold increase of vigor both in the moral and political world. Of one thing may we be confident, that as everything is being sifted, it is only truth which will be security. The Lord's people have now need of the girdle of truth. The Spirit and the word will be the only security in that hour of temptation {trial} which is coming to try all those that dwell of the earth.

It is not pretended here to fix any precise era for the revival of prophetic inquiry; or to deny that there have always been in the Church, those who had given heed to the testimony of the Spirit to the glory of Christ, as well as to His sufferings. Modern research has brought out of their hiding-place many neglected and valuable treatises on prophetic subjects; which, however they might have excited an ephemeral interest, were never thought worthy of a place in standard divinity; in fact, it appears that such productions were looked upon rather as speculations emanating from the imagination of man than the truth of God's testimony; speculations which might be tolerated for the sake of a good man, have their day, and fall into obscurity. And only about ten years ago, when prophetic inquiry was again forced on Christians, it was considered almost too superficial a thing even to provoke controversy; so completely had the great bulk of Christians -real Christians, received for doctrines the commandments of men, that the authority of a great name was thought a sufficient answer to that which was asserted on the authority of God's word. The inquiry was looked upon as theoretical -it might or might not be true; but it was in no wise considered as part of the, glad tidings of God. Those who searched the prophecies were thus thrown entirely on the word, which they received as the word of God, and marvelously were they led into the discovery of its unbroken unity. The pressing of the simple testimony of God's word on men's minds, had the effect of leading to the discovery that the word was made of no effect by the tradition of man. A most vicious method of aallegorizing scripture had been resorted to, pleasing the imagination, but leading to most unwarrantable expectations, and tending to puff up the Church rather than to humble her. The inspiration of the scriptures was thus discovered to be held very loosely indeed, and the insidious encroachments of German Neology to have taken the place of sound criticism and this too at the time of extensive effort towards the circulation of the scriptures, and the assertion, in word at least, of their sufficiency. The practical refusal to look to the Spirit of God in making translations, and to direction from the word as to the conduct of the society for its distribution, were a virtual denial of the authority of the word, even on the part of those who were acting on the principle of its all-sufficiency. One very blessed result of prophetic study has been the assertion that the Bible is the word of God, i. e., verbally inspired; "Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. " So long as the study of prophecy therefore shall continue a subject of interest to the Church, we have security for the plenary inspiration of scripture being held. But experience has proved that when the Church has slumbered in self-complacency, and ceased to search the records of her future hope, the defmiteness of the word has been lost sight of.

Prophetic inquiry led necessarily into the question of the destiny of the earth in which we are, and of man originally constituted its Lord; and hence the large scriptural prospect of yet coming glory to Israel, and that glory connected with the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of man, sitting on the throne of David. This naturally tended to the question of the Lord's proper humanity; and as many of reputation had been found unsound on the subject of the inspiration of the scriptures, the result of the controversy proved them not to hold the orthodox faith, touching the person of the Lord Christ. True indeed it is that many of the assertors of the proper humanity of the Lord Christ were first driven into unguarded statements, and then into fearful heresy. Such is the subtlety of Satan that he watches with a jealous eye every approach towards the truth, and when they are beginning to throw off the doctrines of men in order to get at it, his aim has been to drive them into extremes, as if the opposite to error was truth. This was clearly the case in the controversy raised on the humanity; the assertions of it were urged into such fearful statements as to speak of "the law of sin" (Rom. 7) in the human nature of the Son of God, and to say that He was only sustained in holiness by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost {Edward Irving}; from which others drew the necessary conclusions of the denial of the vicarious sacrifice, and the assertion of holiness in the flesh. Redemption was spoken of as the result not of blood shedding but of incarnation; the hypostatical union was virtually forgotten, and the warning of scripture -"No man knoweth the Son but the Father," was neglected. We need not wonder at any result from such fearful errors. Yet while we have to lament over our common weakness in seeing the fall of our brethren, and are afresh instructed in the necessity of child-like simplicity and meekness of wisdom, some profit has been mercifully afforded from the controversy, because it has exposed the error on the other side touching the person of the Lord. It proves that the humanity of the Lord was a truth greatly lost sight of by the majority of teachers, and in many instances not distinctly held at all. -It formed not a topic in teaching the Lord Jesus Christ. The value of His atoning blood as resulting from His real and proper divinity was almost exclusively regarded. But the way in which He also glorified the Father as the obedient man, the real glory of His humiliation, His presenting everything in man perfect unto God in His own person, and learning obedience through sufferings, -this, in which all the moral glory of the Son of God was displayed, in a manner to be apprehended by us, had no prominence given to it. And yet how important are the consequences of soundness in the faith respecting the humanity of the Lord. As man He left us an example that we should follow His steps. -In Him, as the holy and Just One, we see suffering to be the portion of righteousness in this world. -In Him as the obedient man, we are taught that subjection of will to the will of God is the only true blessing now or hereafter, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. " But what is of most importance is, that it is in reference to Him as man, that we learn what the Church is, -what its glory -what its present portion. We learn too the world's standing and its portion; because "He humbled Himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross, therefore God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth," &c. Now His name as the eternal Word, as the Son of God, was not given, it was His rightful name; nor the honor due unto it; it was the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. As Lord too, He was always the Jehovah -the I AM. The name therefore was given to Him as the Son of man -even the name, Jesus -His proper name as man. It was the subject of sense to those who were conversant with Jesus in the days of His flesh, that He was very man. Faith saw in Him, while manifested as the Son of man, the SON OF GOD. This was the matter of divine revelation, which flesh and blood could not attain unto -"that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. " Now in the habit of our minds it is a matter of history that Christ is ascended, that He sits at the right hand of God; but faith sees in Him so highly exalted, the man Jesus. It is no hard thing, even intellectually, to comprehend that He who sits on God's throne is the Son of God; but the object of faith is always the complex person as the Son, the great mystery of godliness -"God manifested in the flesh"; -"the Word made flesh. " So again the Son is not made Lord (as St. Peter says, He was made Lord and Christ) in respect of His divine nature, for in that He was always Jehovah -Lord -but in His human {nature}. The mind which was in Christ Jesus, was that He emptied Himself (εαυτον εκενωσε) so as to bring Himself into the capacity of a recipient; and thus in obedience did He receive power prom God as man. -" How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. " But it was not until His resurrection that He said "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth"; and this was given as the reward of His obedience. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him," Now it is the yet to be revealed glory of the SON OF MAN that prophecy is conversant with, and we may mainly account for the misapprehension of the human nature of the Lord, from the fact of prophetic study having been so long in disrepute. Much as we are called upon to lament the fearful departure from soundness in the faith, and the spirit in which the controversy has been conducted, we have by it, learned anew the lesson, that there is nothing new under the sun, and that old heresies with new names have been revived, by Satan working on our fleshly mind. The moment the thoughts of God's children were being turned from dry doctrines to the person of the Son of God -fairer than the children of men, "in whom is fullness of grace as well as all treasures of wisdom and knowledge"; abiding in whom is the only security of the saints, -the subtlety of the enemy tried to bring in the old heresies respecting His person, that thus he might drive them back into meager doctrines and dry systems of divinity. Allowing most fully the evil of these heresies, it has been clearly proved that among the majority of modern teachers, considered to hold the truth, the person of the Lord is not a favorite theme, and that His humanity is not dwelt on in that prominence which the word of God warrants, and which, it may be soberly asserted, soundness in the faith demands.

Our little minds are apt to be content with a truth instead of the truth, and disjointed truth serves the purpose of Satan well. And so little is the reality of our Savior's proper humanity considered and urged, that it would be a question whether the assertion of His having had as man "a finite understanding and directed will," would not on the poor authority of the writer of this, call forth the easy cry of heresy from those who are impatient of investigating truth. But when we have seen a champion of orthodoxy come forward and boldly declare that εμαθεν (Heb. 5:8) means "taught" and not "learned," as our translators have invariably rendered the word, one feels disposed to say -"full well ye reject the word of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." And thus are we furnished at once with an instance of the deceitful manner in which the word of God is handled, and of the virtual denial of the humanity of the Lord. But it is right to observe the prominence our blessed Lord Himself gives to His own humanity, and bow entirely He had knit Himself up with the interests of man. When He had witnessed to His own Godhead in answer to the high priest, He immediately added—"Moreover I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 24:64).True, indeed, blessedly true it is, that He finished the work the Father had given Him to do in His humiliation, even the putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Here, indeed, we can never sufficiently admire the greatness of Him who was bruised, and poured out His soul unto death. It is the whole sustainment of an awakened soul, to know that He who came to save sinners was the same "by whom all things were made. " The Creator and Redeemer are one and the same person -He is over all -God -blessed forever. And if there were nothing else to be effected through the agency of the Son, we might readily account for the dividing of His person, and losing the memory of His manhood in the adoration of His Godhead.

"But there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."

As our high priest He was made like unto us in all points, sin only excepted, that He might be able to sympathize with us. The Father hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man: God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world (οικυμενην) in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. It is thus, both in His present mediation and future actings, He is still to be regarded by us as the Son of man. This truth Satan would hinder if he could, because it is the seed of the woman which is to bruise his bead; this truth is distasteful to the world, because it involves its judgment. As Jesus has been known as the "poor man" (Psa. 41:1, and 34:6) "whose visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their months at Him:" "every knee shall bow and confess to the name of Jesus," the once despised than. In fact, the prophetic testimony is to man's glory in connection with the Emmanuel -God manifest in the flesh -man made lower than the angels -set over all God's world. -And how so, save by union with Him who is the link between God and man, as uniting both in His mysterious person, being, God and man in one person? And to what are the saints to be conformed, but to the risen and glorified manhood of Jesus? -That He may be the first-born among many brethren, as He is the first-born. from the dead -the first fruits of the resurrection -"for since by man came death, so by man came also the resurrection of the dead." How necessarily therefore, does it appear, that obstinate refusal to look into the destinies of man and of the world in which we are, will lead more or less into unsoundness in the faith. And it should be added, that, any infringement on the integrity of either of the natures of the, Lord Jesus Christ, necessarily leads into errors so marvelously. interwoven are all the doctrines of Christianity with the incarnation of the Son of God. It was at the incarnation that angels sang {said; angels do not sing in Scripture}; "glory to God in the highest," as well as "ευδοκια εω ανθρωποις" -the last note being the result of that mysterious fact. Now God's ευδοκια is in His beloved Son (Matt. 3:17), and in those who now love Him, as one with Him. But the time shall be when God shall "rest in His love," and take complacency in His creation, and in man as its lord, and, man no less take complacency in God. -And all this the worthy result of the incarnation. To Him be the praise.

One of the defenders of the Church of England has urged as an argument its being the pillar of truth, its several festivals, as giving prominence to the great mysteries of our faith; in that these "subjects are forced upon her ministers to bring before their people. Let the writer have all the advantage of this innocent argument. But is it really only once a year that we need have the mystery of the incarnation brought before us, as on Christmas day? as well might one made partaker of the divine life consider that one meal would sustain his body for a year. He knows that "the flesh of Christ is meat indeed, and His blood drink indeed": and to one given up to the guidance of God's word, and teaching of God's Spirit, how continually is the fact brought before him, as it is also in the Lord's supper; the neglect of which is another proof of the light esteem in which the humiliation of the Son of God has been held. Here again has been a most beneficial effect of prophetic inquiry, proving how far it is from being merely speculative -that it is the means by which the Spirit guides into all truth -even that Spirit whose testimony is to the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. To see either of these in their just proportion, they must be viewed together, and not disjointedly, in strict accordance with the great lesson taught in the Lord's supper, "To show forth His death till He come," and thus to learn our true and proper place "of suffering with Him, that we may be glorified together. "

A further result of benefit to the Church arising from prophetic inquiry, has been the discrimination between the dispensations of God, the confusion of which leads to the most disastrous consequences. The peculiar character of that under which we are, as a dispensation simply of grace, contrasted with the former as a dispensation of law, involving as it does a variety of interesting particulars; when recognized, gives liberty in the statement of the gospel, which is, in fact, only the exhibition of God's aspect to sinners, as such, in grace, love, and mercy. It is true that the fullness of the gospel had been preached, but then its statement was hampered, and the universal love of God in the gift of His Son disbelieved. Some doctrines were most clearly stated, but the work of Christ in reference to God, its real value in His sight, as opening an unhindered channel for His grace, was not regarded; but only the work of Christ for the Church. This indeed is a most blessed and soul-sustaining truth: but the enlarged view into which prophetic inquiry leads, shows the distinction between Christ's substitution for the Church, and His being God's mercy-seat (ιλαστηριον Rom. 3:25) on which He is accessible by sinners. That the Lord Jesus Christ stood in the place of His people -bore their sins in His own body on the tree -that He was delivered for their offenses, and raised again for their justification -that He loved the Church -gave Himself for His sheep, according to the promise made before the world began, and in due time sealed by the blood of the great shepherd -is indeed a most precious truth. Who, that has been taught to know his own weakness, could rest in anything short of God's electing love, as the fountain whence all His present blessing flows, and as the source of that glory to which he is predestinated. Holding therefore, most unequivocally, God's sovereignty in election, in looking to the proper humanity of the Lord, we see Him in His perfectness and His work, as man, meeting all the perfect requisitions of God, so that there was a moral fitness on such a basis for God, (since He could be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus,) to set forth His "righteousness without law unto all"; and in this sense only is there a reconciliation of the world. (καταλλαγη κοσμου on Rom. 11:15). He has exalted the name of Jesus above every name; the "Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. " God met in Jesus a man entirely answering to His requirements from man, -inasmuch as He was man, He responded unto God in all the dependence of the creature upon the Creator; while as the Son He met and answered the perfect love of the Father. -While He, Jesus, could say, "I have glorified thee on the earth," the Father could say, "Behold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. "

Abstractedly considered, there was no needs-be that any should have been saved by the obedience unto death of Christ. -The Father was glorified thereby -"Father, glorify thy name"; answerable to this is the statement, -"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life"; the result is not stated, because that was not the point. But the Father's love was set on the Son, because by His obedience unto death there was the ground-work for God's manifesting His grace in consistency with all His glorious perfections. This is what the Apostle in the Romans states to be the "righteousness of God without law," and afterward clearly he characterizes the dispensation (not its effects which man so naturally looks to) "as the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all." The blood of Jesus carried by Him within the vail has made heaven accessible to a sinner. Him hath God set forth as a mercy-seat (ιλαστηριον) awakened many to the conviction of the present degraded state of the Church of God -that while saying from her multiplied means "I am rich and increased with goods," she was "poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked. " In a word, there could not be power in testimony unless the Church had its proper portion-the Spirit of God. This awakening of the Church from her long sleep, was the opportunity for Satan to try to discredit not only the Church, but prophetic inquiry also, and to settle men on their lees. It was the recovery of a most valuable principle to have learned again, that the Church's portion is the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost, and that the promise is His personal presence as the Comforter. The question as to the revival of His gifts {in Irvingism} was not fairly met by an artificial distinction which the word of God did not warrant, and on which the Church unhappily acted. If we allow His personality, we cannot deny that He can invest the Church with the glory which Jesus gave it, that the same powers might be recognized in the body which had been in the head. But when awakening to her sins, should the Church immediately have expected these gifts? True, they are her portion; but has she not so irretrievably fallen from her high standing, that instead of revival, her awakening ought to have been only to a sense of judgment? Her lost strength now felt and discovered, ought to have led to humiliation and repentance. Let it be allowed that God's arm is not shortened, nor His ear heavy, but the Church has failed; and have we any promise of the revival of the Church out of apostasy, or is it at all according to the analogy of past dealings, that He should mend that which man has marred? and have not the promises of the full out-pouring of the Spirit, of which we have only the first-fruits, manifest reference to another dispensation? As to modern spiritual gifts, it was most natural, that when men had adopted a right principle, and were earnestly asking for them, any pretensions arising among devoted Christians should have immediately been hailed as genuine. But the very pretension served to show that the Church had so completely fallen from its high standing of the pillar and ground of truth, as not to know her office, that the spirits were to be tried by the Spirit in the Church. It is not to be taken on his own authority, that any one is speaking by the Spirit, but "let the others judge." So weak then was the Church, that she knew not her own power, and consequently many blindly subjected themselves to a power without them, instead of judging all things by the power within them (1 John 2:20-27). But not to dwell on this further, it must be noticed, that up to this, prophetic inquiry had been pursued smoothly -it had indeed to check the great swelling words of vanity of missionary orators, and to question the worldly principles of many religious societies, but it had led to nothing very marked and decisive. The most eminent of God's servants might meet together for a period to discuss prophetic questions {as at the Albury Conferences}, and then return to their respective livings and chapels refreshed and at ease. But not so when the condition of the Church came to be discovered, and her destitution of the Spirit. A principle was then forced upon men's consciences, and has been more than once practically exhibited -that every existing establishment goes on the principle that the Spirit of God has suspended His functions, save in quickening sinners, This is the principle of an establishment of order in the flesh -man's order; so that if we allow the Spirit's abiding presence in the Church as that which makes it the Church, if we allow that He is a sovereign, distributing to every man severally as He will, we must also allow, that in an establishment the Spirit of God cannot exercise His ministry save in disorder. There is no stopping short of truth without direct disobedience to God. The question which has arisen from prophetic inquiry now, is not the principle of scriptural interpretation -it is not the Second Advent of Christ; on these points we have hundreds of witnesses; these are now as much axioms of Christianity in the minds of many, as simple faith in the blood of the Lamb The field of controversy we may fairly say has been left in possession of the students of prophecy. Many it is true, impatient of inquiry, confess they have never turned their thoughts to the question, -many think nothing safe or worth knowing but the five points of Calvinism, -many read some of the crude writings which have been published, and attack a phantom of their own making. Again, the differences of interpretation among the students of prophecy on some points of detail, are loudly urged as a reason for the neglect of the subject altogether. But there is one great principle in which they are agreed judgment, not glory, for the professing Church. The next acting of God on the Church, is casting the vine of the earth into the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God

But the present practical question is the duty arising from the light vouchsafed to us, in the discovery in the state of the Church. And here comes the cross and the trial; here the word is piercing. even to the dividing asunder the joints and marrow. Many would say, here we will stop; to pursue truth further breaks in upon all our associations, and would upset every goodly fabric the wisdom of man has devised for disseminating the truth of God. Such is the point to which we are now arrived; it is not the comparison of the Church of England and dissent, but the question whether both are not resisting and rejecting the Holy Ghost the Comforter. The light has been gradually increasing, leading us on in great gentleness step by step, bringing everything into contact with itself, so as to make us judge things that differ. Wrongness in practice has been traced to deficiency in principle; want of success to the use of carnal weapons. The Spirit of God which has led on the way in this inquiry, now claims our simple dependence on Him as our only strength. Our sin has been, that we have grieved Him, and what is repentance but permitting Him to act? it is not for us to say how He may please to act, but to disconnect ourselves from that with which He cannot act. Here is the great value of the recovery of the principle of the Spirit's presence being the abiding portion of the Church. It is not that He has withdrawn entirely, but that He has been hindered in His operations; it is not that He will come in the plenitude of His gifts, but whether we, after this discovery, will yet hinder Him, and do as we may by supplying His ministrations from other resources, or own Him entirely, whatever measure of power He may please to exercise. This is the point to which we are brought, whether we can alone trust in God for our guidance and edification, or have so completely lost the sense of our proper portion, as for safety sake to walk after men. Many of the most prominent in the prophetic question have now come down from their high standing as leaders of others into truth, to mere apologists for a system. We may fairly say, that never have the Christian portion of the Church of England been obliged to act so completely on the defensive (the political movement against her is not here alluded to), but she is challenged to defend herself against the charge of schism and of rejecting the Holy Ghost, by establishing order in the flesh; and in fairness, the Church of England must, either claim a monopoly of the Spirit, or own herself a schismatic and hinderer of the Spirit. One duty is clear on discovery of the state of the Church, and that is humiliation. -"Be zealous and repent, remember from whence thou art fallen. " But the natural effect of trying to prop up a system, an establishment, is to conceal from our own eyes, the real state of destitution in which we are. It is in default of our own proper and only strength to go for aid to that which is foreign. Few of the Lord's people know their real lack of spiritual power, by being encompassed with so many things which can attract the flesh. Nothing is so hard as to be made to feel that we have but little strength, and yet it is the place of safety, it is that which the Lord will look to, and asserted as it may be on the truth of God's word, it has been proved, and still is being proved, that where the Spirit of God has liberty of teaching, there has invariably followed blessing. The word of God has been brought before men's minds instead of the doctrines of men, and there is confidence in giving an answer to any one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in one, in meekness and fear. Christians so taught, feel they are resting on that which abideth though heaven and earth pass away. They receive the word, not as the word of man, but as, it is in truth, the word, of God, which effectually works in them that believe.

One thing is clear, that so far as prophetic inquiry is concerned; it cannot be pursued further by members of the Church of England. They must retrograde, or go whither the truth they have brought out will lead them. All that light bears upon one point -God's speedy judgment on evil, whatever shape it assumes; and no man in the Church of England can consistently separate from all, and that especially with which he is connected in the establishment. It is not now the time to plead for the Church of England as the best among the many, which may readily be granted, but to defend her in the light of that very truth which so many of her sons have been so instrumental in bringing before us. The controversy is not one in which the world can be appealed to, it cannot be the umpire, for it knoweth not the Spirit of God. While it was merely the comparative claim of rival sects, this claim of comparative excellence might do, nor will it be permitted now to say, "let us alone and we will let you alone." Truth is always aggressive, and will not let error alone. Sad indeed is it to witness all Christian energy expended in maintaining that which is not Christ's. Sad the apology of a minister of the everlasting gospel to leave his high office as an ambassador of God, to defend a ritual. Nothing proves more our common lack of the Spirit's power than this -"all seek their own." Let our brethren in the Church of England weigh this solemnly, if they have been awakened to the low degree of spirituality in the Church at large, to the little measure of knowledge and less of grace, -if nothing but the Spirit can effectually work, and He only in holy separation from the world, are they not contending for, and supporting, and propping up that which is the real hindrance to His putting forth His energy -that in which he could not work save in disorder, that in which ungodliness may and does work in order. Blessed be God, He is sovereign; but let no one take credit to himself for his system, because God does raise up His own witnesses in it, notwithstanding the evil. Let us not mistake the riches of His grace for the approval of our sin. If God blessed Israel during the reign of Hezekiah, and others, it was of His grace rising above their sin. It was still their sin that they had rejected God in asking for a king; though God granted their request. "I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king (I Sam. 12:17, cp. vv. 12, 13, 14, 15, 19)."

God gave way to man's perverseness to show His own wisdom; and the result was, "I gave them a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath" (Hos. 13:11). The parallel is most instructive, the Lord gave up man to his own waywardness, and we may say that the experiment of the union of the Church and world has been fairly tried. God has in His sovereignty blessed His own in it, yea, and the system too, so far as He could own it. But the result is complete failure; the attempt of putting the new piece to the old garment has signally failed; and the forcing the world into the profession of Christianity, has made a most a fearful rent, and introduced that which is fast hastening to its crisis in manifestation -lawlessness. The Church of England is the author of confusion, by sanctioning the calling things Christian which are not Christian; she has sacrificed everything to uniformity; and now, as an ill-compacted body, she is without defense. As it was with Israel the only remedy for God to say, "I will be thy king" (Hos. 13:10), so is it for the Church to give liberty to God's Spirit; and this is the real question at issue, not whether many of her ministers are not godly, and her doctrinal articles sound; but whether the very spirit of the establishment is not this -"we saw one casting out devils in thy name and we forbade him because he followeth not with us?"

On looking back now on the prophetic question, we find that we have been insensibly led on to the discovery that a great revolution has and is taking place in the minds of many of the Lord's people. That there is a craving awakened both for spirituality and communion of the saints, which existing systems, whether from their worldliness or exclusiveness, cannot meet. That there is a growing cleaving to the word of God, as the word of God, and only balance of the sanctuary. That there is a felt power of truth on the part of these, a very small portion indeed of the Lord's people, and a conscious weakness on the part of those who defend systems, so much so, as to be forced to abandon the word. That the high standing of God's elect Church, as the light of the world, is being practically asserted in separation from the world, and that a Christian can only be a Christian in any time, place, or circumstance. In a word, it may truly be said, that the controversy is again renewed between Christ and the world; it is not doctrines but practical holiness which the world hates. It has been fearfully made manifest, that doctrines may be held, and the world served; but Christ cannot be loved and the world served, "if ye love me keep my commandments"; "if any man will serve me, let him follow me."

One word to those who have separated from any existing establishment; let them remember that obedience is their only security, even keeping the word of the patience of the Lord; let them be content to remain weak and learn what it is by patient continuance in well doing, to seek for glory, honor and immortality. If any have acted on impulse and not principle, the trial of their faith will soon force them back to the leaning on men. It is most important to know that separation from evil is separation into felt and acknowledged weakness, that which is so contrary to the flesh. But their little strength is real strength, because of the Spirit. Let all then count the cost, whether they are content to leave even the Lord's people ostensibly for the Lord's sake. It is from the Lord's people leaning upon man that they must expect the hardest trial, so that only cleaving to the Lord with purpose of heart will really avail, and much need will they have of the Lord's grace in sending them those who may confirm their souls and exhort them to continue in the faith, and that they "must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

The Christian Witness 1:264-282 (1834).

The Schools of the Prophets

It was on the failure of the law, that the value of the priesthood as ordained of God became known to Israel; but in the days of Eli, the priesthood itself became corrupted, -the priest's sons, themselves priests, being the leaders in the most flagitious practices. They ground down the people by their exactions, and men "abhorred the offering of the Lord, wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord." The feeble remonstrances of Eli himself were not the sharp rebuke which the occasion needed. And solemn warning -Eli himself as the one responsible for the maintenance of the honor of God in the priesthood, is made to hear the grievous burden that awaited all his family, and at the same time to know that although man had profaned the ordinance of God in priesthood, and that God would for this set aside His own order; yet He said, "I will raise up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever {XXX}." How refreshing to the weary soul thus constantly to see mercy rejoicing against judgment, and the sure establishment of all that had failed in man's responsibility in the hands of one who alone is "the faithful and true Witness. " But God raised up in Samuel a most distinct witness of the failure of the priesthood, and then it may be said that the ministry of the Prophets commenced (Acts 3:24). And from this time the heart of faith turned from the Priest to the Prophet, and it was not that which was in existence which sustained it, but that which was in prospect. The thing announced by Samuel was the execution of summary vengeance on the house of Eli, "because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not." And now Israel was sustained by an extraordinary energy from God in the person of His prophet. He sacrifices as well as judges, taking as it were the place of both Moses and Aaron. "And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a Prophet of the Lord." In all this we find God teaching Israel that their alone power of standing was in that energy which was immediately from Him. Samuel raised the stone of Ebenezer, but they understood it not, and vainly thought they could stand in their own strength under another arrangement, and they desired a king: thus was God's prophet set aside as the priesthood had been corrupted, and surely too with the same end to show that there was only one perfect prophet (Deut. 18), as well as only one faithful priest and righteous king. But we find not only the willfulness of the people in the rejection of God by rejecting His prophet (1 Sam. 8:7), but their willingness also to have the ministry of the Prophets even after they had had the desire of their heart granted to them in having a king. It was too valuable a blessing to do without, and accordingly we find throughout the history of the kings of Judah and Israel, a class of men known by the name of "sons of the Prophets" or "Prophets," apart from those immediately raised up by God Himself. Among them there were many whom God owned and used, but in later times they became the great instruments in fostering rebellion against God and causing the rejection of His word. The origin of this class so conspicuous in later times, we are not able scripturally to determine: But doubtless at first it arose from piety and the fear of God. In the days of Samuel, those who feared God would have looked to him more than to Saul; and we find a company gathered round the aged seer, either placed there for instruction by their parents or led by the fear of God themselves, who are distinctly called Prophets (1 Sam. 19:20). "And Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the Prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied {XXX}." It is from this that the term "Schools of the Prophets" appears to have so generally obtained. That there were institutions of this character appears clear, but the question is, were they of divine or human origin? We have no scriptural authority for believing them to be of God, but that these men of God, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, should have gladly given themselves to the instruction of the young committed to their charge, teaching them those things which God had revealed to then, bringing them up to reverence God in all His institutions, is by no means improbable. God was now with the Prophet and not with the priest, and therefore real godliness could only be secured through the Prophet. It appears also that these young men were used by the Prophets, who were raised up by the special energy of the Spirit of God, on any service or errand they might be pleased to send them. Thus we read "Elisha the Prophet called one of the children of the Prophets, and said unto him, gird up thy loins and take this box of oil in thine hand and go to Ramoth-gilead: and when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehosaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. So the young man, even the young man the Prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 9:1-4)." There can be little doubt that young men so educated, would by degrees have a character attached to them not according to the actual energy of the Spirit of God in them, but according to the education they had received. And although God from among them might raise up instruments fitted to be employed in His service, yet that is not the thing which would have been regarded so much as their official training. And the influence which they had with the people would not have been that which flowed directly from God, but from that which men had instituted, to perpetuate a class among them, which might be useful to them as expositors of the mind of God. This has been one way of man's waywardness -to seek to secure God's blessings by His own wisdom and prudence. If God gave a Prophet, man would desire to have this blessing in his own way, and accordingly he contrives an institution for the supply of Prophets. God may bless such an institution, and doubtless did under the instruction of Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, who appear in their respective times to have been looked on as the heads of these institutions. It was thus that Elijah was looked upon, "and the sons of the Prophets that were at Bethel calve forth to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he said, yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And the sons of the Prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he answered, yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And fifty men of the sons of the Prophets went, and stood to view afar off; and they two stood by Jordan. And when the sons of the Prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The Spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha (2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7, 15, 17)." So we have seen Samuel regarded and subsequently Elisha. (2 Kings 9). But the attribute of "jealous" belongs to God, and it is in this that He is especially jealous, that He will not allow any human institution to supply the place of His own prerogative grace. And it was not in the power of any of these illustrious men of God to impart to another the energy of the Spirit in which alone they could act efficiently. Doubtless these Schools of the Prophets were a means of spreading the fear and knowledge of God. The priest's lips which should have kept knowledge had become corrupted and testified against by the Prophets. But when the master. spirit of these men of God had departed with them, the institutions which had been under their superintendence survived, but instead of ensuring the end for which piety had set them up, they became the greatest means of producing corruption and aiding apostasy. These institutions had the same moral power after the death of Elijah or Elisha as when presided over by them. And those who issued from them came to the people with a claim of authority which usage had rendered venerable. And thus by the very means of perpetuating Prophets, was this ordinance of God corrupted, not that he gave it up, but raised up not in these Schools, but in the energy of His own Spirit, His Prophets to prophesy not only against the priests but against "the Prophets of Israel." And real discernment then stood in distinguishing between the Lord's and the peoples' Prophets. It does not appear that any one of the authenticated Prophets of the Lord was raised up from out of these schools. But from hence it came to pass that in process of time there was an accredited class of persons, consulted on special occasions and exercising an immense moral influence, the value of which must have depended on their individual piety and simple subjection to what God had revealed. But the weight of that influence was speedily turned against God. It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and deceits, and nothing is so dear to the human heart as to have God's sanction to its own lusts. And hence the popularity of the Prophets who would say, "Thus saith the Lord when the Lord had not spoken." It is not to be supposed that these Prophets were always inventing lies, but they corrupted the word of God and rendered it suitable to man's taste (2 Cor. 2:17). They must imitate the real Prophets in many of their expressions, and yet after all only produce their own vain speculations. "I have heard what the Prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the Prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are Prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The Prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the Prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the Prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause them to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. And when this people, or the Prophet, or the priest, shall ask thee, saying, what is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, what burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. And as for the Prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, the burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house (Jer. 23:25-34)." And the misery and wretchedness of the people was, that they had not the ability to discern between the real Prophet of God, and the educated Prophet of man. Man had taken God's ordinance into his own keeping-he had an institution of his own for supplying that which God could only efficiently supply. Accordingly we find the Prophets as much testified against by the special witnesses of God in the midst of apostasy, as the priests. They are both classed together. But the Prophets appear to have been more actively engaged in helping forward the apostasy, and therefore to be more frequently addressed by the real Prophets of the Lord. This testimony of the Lord against the Prophets, increased as the apostasy set in. The nearer the ruin approached, such is the way of His grace, the more testimony He raised concerning it. But in proportion as God multi-plied His witnesses, we find the Prophets of the people multiplied also. We have a remarkable early instance of the influence which these Prophets exercised, recorded in 1 Kings 22. We find Jehoshaphat in league with Ahab, and persuaded to go against Ramoth-gilead. "And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to-day. Then the king of Israel gathered the Prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king And Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a Prophet of the Lord besides, that we might inquire of him? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Itnlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he cloth not prophesy good concerning me but evil. So Micaiah came to the king, and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go up against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall we forbear?" thus was the case of Israel according to the Prophet -"a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, see not; and to the Prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits (Isa. 30:9, 10)." But it is more especially in the Prophets contemporary with the apostasy, that we find the powerful influence exercised by these Prophets: Jeremiah at Jerusalem, and Ezekiel at Chehar, each found in them the greatest hindrance to the reception of the word of the Lord. In Jeremiah we have three distinct features.

First. -God's testimony against the Prophets. "And the priests shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder (Jer. 4:9)." "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the Prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so (Jer. 5:30, 31)." "And from the Prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely (Jer. 6:13)." "Then said I, ah, Lord God! behold the Prophets say unto them, ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, the Prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart -therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not; yet they say, sword and famine shall not be in this land; by sword and famine shall those Prophets be consumed (Jer. 14:13, 14, 15)." "I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing for from the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land (Jer. 23:14, 15)."

A second feature was the influence that these Prophets exerted among the people. "The priests ruled by their means." "Then said they, come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the Prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words (Jer. 18:8)." "Hananiah the son of Azur the Prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Ford, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Then the Prophet Jeremiah said unto the Prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord, even the Prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; the Prophets that have been before me and before thee of old; prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The Prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the Prophet shall come to pass, then shall the Prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him (Jer. 28:1-9)." These Prophets prophesied of peace and present establishment, according to the word in Mic. 2:11, "If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the Prophet of this people." It was thus that man's own institution became a snare unto him, for God taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The very means they had taken of perpetuating a blessing among them, became by their own wilfulness, the means of blinding them. As in a subsequent period, the Scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the law, in man's estimate so many supports of religion, were the great means of hindering the people confessing Jesus as the Christ.

As a third feature, we notice the virulent opposition of the Prophets to God's Prophet. "Then spake the priests and the Prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears (Jer. 26:11, cp. Acts 6)." "Why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a Prophet to you (Jer. 29:27)."

The whole of Ezek. 13 applies to the point in question, but is too long to be quoted. It is painful but profitable to trace the progress of religious corruption: it arises not from without, but from within. No means of outward temptation could apparently have brought the people of Judah to rebel with so bold a front, as corrupt prophets and a corrupt priesthood. It was the blinding power of holding certain ordinances of God, not in the power of God, but in the form which human wisdom had substituted for them, that made the people reply, "Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil (Jer. 44:15-17)." Now these things are recorded for our admonition, and we have the most substantial authority for asserting, that the declension and apostasy of the Church would arise from those who are accredited as teachers within the Church. "But there were false Prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1)." They very early showed themselves as in the Church of Corinth. "For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 11:13)." And at Galatia, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you (Gal. 5:12)." St. John alludes to them, "They went out from us, but they were not of us (John 2:19)." "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not Jesus Christ come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (2 John 7. 3 John throughout)." This early attempt of Satan to undermine the Church from within, was that which the Apostles were constantly guarding against, and formed a consider-able portion of the afflictions of the gospel. Trying indeed must it have been to the soul of the Apostle, to find all in Asia turned away from him to listen perhaps to those who would set before them doctrines more suited to their tastes. It was thus too at Corinth, where although they had ten thousand instructors, yet not many fathers. Here was the germ of the evil: why not a class of men or a profession, of men to be accredited as instructors and teachers, the same as prevailed in their schools of philosophy? This was the readiest way in man's thought to provide for the instruction of the Church; to heap to themselves teachers; and it was thus early in the Church that we see its ruin provided for, and the dawning of that season which is not yet fully matured, when they would not endure sound doctrine. The secret is, that we can never be taught except in obedience. "He that hath an ear, let him hear. " Now a recognized class of teachers, as such, relieves from the responsibility laid upon us by the Lord. "Take heed how ye hear. " Men hear what they like to hear -hear after their own lusts, instead of proving what they hear, and holding fast that which is good. Instruction to the Church never assumes the ground of ignorance, but that of competent understanding. "I write not unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it -and ye have an unction from the holy One, and ye know all things (1 John 2:20)." And the second and third Epistles throw the responsibility on Christians, not of receiving teachers as teachers, -let them bear what name they might -but of testing their doctrine. In St. Paul's discourse to the elders of Ephesus, the Spirit leads him to point out the corruption of the Church as arising from within. "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flocks, Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29, 30)." And the solemn charge of the Apostle to Timothy, points out the result of that which he had noticed to the elders of Ephesus. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (2 Tim. 4:5)." Now in all these instances there was no guard against these teachers by having recourse to another authorized and accredited class -for the teachers marked as characterizing the apostasy, would be authorized and accredited in the eyes of men; but the only way to meet the difficulty and escape the snare, would be individual faithfulness. He alone in Israel who followed Jehovah fully, would have had moral ability to discern between the wheat and chaff -the Prophet of the Lord and the Prophet of his own heart. Even so at this present time, a single eye to Jesus, subjection to the word of His grace, and regard to the unction -the common possession of the Church, will enable us to discern between the teacher, the gift of the ascended Jesus, and the teacher of man's institution. The provision the Lord has made for the Church, are the abiding presence of the Comforter, and the word of His grace, and ministry. He presents Himself to the Church not only as having the seven spirits of God, the fullness of all spiritual life, but as holding in his hand the seven stars, the perfectness of all ministry. Now the error of the Church has been analogous to the sin of Israel. She has not denied to the Lord the possession of all spiritual power, but ministry as distinctly flowing from Him (Eph. 4), and therefore only exercised responsibly unto Him as the Lord ("there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord") was very early set aside by human institutions; arising doubtlessly from real piety, and from the desire originally to perpetuate teachers in the Church. As in the case of the Prophets, Jehovah had His servants among those brought up in the Schools of the Prophets -so surely the Holy Ghost as the sovereign dispenser of gifts of ministry, has raised up many from universities and academies to bear witness to Jesus; but always with the grand characteristic of His teaching, the setting aside, and in the back ground, all advantages derived from such sources, on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, which he teaches. We may smile at the disputations and subtleties of the schoolmen of a former day, but the principle is the same. It is not whether better instruction is afforded in the schools now, but whether the schools themselves are not institutions of man, for the provision of that which the Lord Jesus most jealously keeps in His own hand. It is not to the purpose to say that many of the most faithful ministers have been raised up out of these schools, this is not denied: because the Holy Spirit will not allow human arrangements to interfere with His own sovereignty. But if these schools furnish a supply of men accredited as ministers, they must necessarily exert a powerful influence, much more powerful than perhaps we are disposed to allow. We have seen the Lord raising up Prophets, and men having Prophets of their own; and the Prophet of the Lord brought into instant collision with the Prophets of the people -Jesus as ascended gives teachers to the Church; men have provided for teachers in the Church -and may we not reasonably expect that the teachers the Lord has given will find the greatest hindrance from those whom man has provided for himself?

The Prophet was not an integral part of the former dispensation, but only came in on the failure of the priesthood; but ministry is the very power of this dispensation (Eph. 4), "pastors, teachers, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. " Now if God has provided this in one way, even by distinct gift of the Spirit, and man has substituted another way, we see what necessarily must be the result, even the most fearful form of apostasy. "The beast and the false Prophet" go together, the former could not prevail without the help of the other. Professing Christians could not easily be persuaded to believe a lie, unless they had found those who would teach them after human tradition, instead of the plain word of God. And nothing could be devised more effectually to stifle inquiry and to lull the conscience, than a humanly accredited ministry, teaching those things only which the hearers expect to hear. When this is the case, the solemn responsibility of speaking and hearing are alike forgotten. And the very means provided for blessing is by Satan's craft turned into a hindrance. We hear constantly of a young man intending to go into the ministry. Now fully granting the honesty of the intention, the very expression shows the popular feeling in the matter. Let such a well-intentioned young man be sent to a university, or academy or institution, and after a few years he comes forth an accredited minister. Now all this appears a direct taking the ministry out of the hands of the Lord Jesus into our own hands. We should see the folly of a pious Israelite sending his son to be educated for a Prophet, as if God needed human preparation for the instrument he would use. And surely to educate for the ministry is infinitely more preposterous in a dispensation in which the Holy Spirit as sovereign divider of His own gifts is especially manifested. We read of Samuel being "established as a Prophet of the Lord," but all his education under the aged and indulgent Eli could never have furnished him with what he was commissioned to reveal. We find Paul thanking the Lord for "putting him into the ministry," and unto this his education under Gamaliel profited not. It is not whether one whom the Lord has put into the ministry, may use the aids within his reach to enable him more efficiently to work, for we find Paul not only exhorting Timothy to stir up the gift he had received, but likewise telling him "till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine," but whether the most vigilant and wise training can make a minister of Christ. If it be allowed that the various ministries in the Church are distinct gifts, then the recognition of the gift must precede the education, if indeed that be needed. And it would be no longer saying, I think of entering into the ministry, but "woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel." The very worst evil of human institutions for supplying ministers, is the effect they have of weakening the sense of responsibility to the Lord, in the exercise of ministry. And if ministry be not exercised responsibly unto Him, it is not received in responsibility to Him. "Take heed how ye hear." And the result is, that instead of ministry being regarded as that which is for the health of the Church, that ministers are regarded for their own sake. And trivial as it may be, the practical difference between regarding ministers or ministry is very great. We have seen in two former instances, the accredited organs of religious instruction the Prophets before the captivity, and the Scribes and Lawyers during the time of our Lord's ministry, all arrayed against the truth. We have solemn warning as to the parallel to be exhibited at the close of this dispensation. And surely it is not too much to say, that the virtual rejection of the Lordship of Jesus {Christ} and sovereignty of the Spirit in the gift of ministry, has prepared the way for a most unhealthy state of mind in the great majority of Christians, who are prepared to receive no more truth, than that which human institutions have thought fit to supply. And it may be safely affirmed, that ignorance of scripture does very generally prevail, and so much insubjection of mind to the word of God, that a plain declaration of scripture is set aside by its supposed contrariety to some received dogma.

The priesthood of Israel stood in order, and we find an early departure from the present order in Nadab and Abihu -awaiting the completeness of its corruption in the sons of Eli. But prophecy stood in power -holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and the corruption was the attempt to establish it in form. Now the whole character of this dispensation, is power; we have a priest constituted after the power of an endless life -the word of God is powerful -we have received not the spirit of fear but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind. And the preaching of the Apostle was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The apostasy then is characterized as having the form, but denying the power of godliness. Formal ministry or humanly accredited ministers, must necessarily therefore be the greatest hindrances to the truth. The minds even of professing Christians are not in a moment prepared to believe a lie, and a certain previous training by being taught those things which they ought not, must bring about that result so fearfully marked in the scripture:—"with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion to believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness {XXX}." The apostasy of natural religion was reasoning about God, and therefore He "gave them up to their own lusts." (Rom. 1:19-26). But now it is the departure from the truth by means of human teaching. The real question is often effectually obscured in disputes about office and order -it is, where is the power of either? Can man's institution at all provide for the presence of the Holy Ghost? Does he still abide according to the Lord's promise in the Church? Let it be granted that human arrangement had secured the exact apostolic order, and that every office in the Church was arranged after the apostolic model -what then? there might be the form without the power still. Now spiritual wisdom has ever been exercised in the discernment of where God is present in the midst of man's corruptions. There were holy priests after Eli -there were true Prophets amidst Israel's Prophets. There are many most valued ministers among those who are accredited by human institutions; but the wisdom will be to acknowledge that which is of God, and to disown that which is of man. Many are not content to be acknowledged as ministers of Christ -they rest on something besides that "grace given them according to the measure of the gift of Christ," and demand to be received on credentials simply human. Now the recognizing this would be the same as to recognize Israel's Prophets. And would lead us, which is in fact the apostasy of the dispensation to recognize human credentials, where the Spirit of God was not. It is a much readier way to come authenticated by man, than to make "full proof of our ministry." And nothing is more unhealthy, than for a believer to be seeking the authentication of his ministry, and demanding to be received as a minister, because he has been educated for the ministry. The receiving any is on infinitely higher grounds than any gift of ministry, and that is, as "holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling," -"heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." Our highest privileges are our common privileges, and no ministry not even that of an Apostle could ever put one so high as the fact of being a child of God has already put him. It is indeed a most blessed thing to minister to the body of Christ, but a more blessed thing to be of the body. And wherever we see the tendency to exalt ministers into a privileged class or order of nearer access to God than others, instead of recognizing them as those having distinct gift of the Spirit, we are in danger of having ministers in name, and not in the "sufficiency of God" in the Church (2 Cor. 3:6).

Let the solemn warning in the case of Israel's Prophets be looked to by us, and while we seek to honor the Holy Ghost in the thankful acknowledgment of any of His gifts, may we be kept from the sin of acknowledging any office in the Church where He is not. "Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation; he that giveth let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth with diligence; he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness {XXX}." May the Spirit be manifested in the Church in all His varied gifts for its present need, and in all His manifold grace, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be magnified! Amen.

The Christian Witness 6:75-90 (1839).

The Secret of God

{1834}

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (Psa. 25:14).

Among other means by which the word of God, the only standard of truth, has been effectually hindered by man, in the office assigned to it by God, one has been the habit of generalizing God's truth and presenting to the mind certain propositions, as if they contained the whole of His revealed will. Hence has arisen a great impatience of searching the Scriptures; we presume very soon that we are in possession of all necessary truth which the word of God contains, because we confine all necessary truth to that which respects individual salvation, and we revere the Bible, rather because it administers to our necessities as fallen sinners, than because it reveals God and His glory. It is for this reason that we find so many real Christians in deplorable ignorance of the Word; it has not been searched into as containing in every part of its revelation, some object of faith or hope, intended to be morally influential upon their souls. They have not sought to it as those whose privilege it is to be interested in all the counsels of their Heavenly Father; and they have often read it as if all the truths contained in it, were necessarily to be comprehended under those which have occupied their own minds.

It is indeed very sorrowful to witness how often the most important conclusions, are attempted to be supported by Scripture, wrested from its context in the most violent manner, so that a threatening of Judgment is sometimes produced as a promise of mercy. It is not my object to expose this, but to point out two evils which have resulted from it.

1st. -The inability in most Christians, of meeting error which Satan always mingles with much truth, from their being "unskillful in the word of righteousness."

2nd. -That our present very low state in a great measure arises from the want of that definite apprehension of the glory of our calling, which the Word of God presents to our view.

In fact, while in the language of ordinary life, most words convey to the mind some distinct idea, those of Scripture are held so vaguely and loosely, as often to convey no real meaning at all. It is thus that Satan has fearfully succeeded in lulling men into security, when the most express declarations of God fail of touching the conscience, even of His own people. It is thus that the great and fearful crisis is hastening on by him "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of truth, that they might be saved: and for this cause, God shall send them. strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" {2 Thess. 2}.

It is by the Word, through the Spirit, that we can alone become acquainted with, or established in the truth. And as God has "magnified His Word, above all His name," and called it the Sword of the Spirit (Psa. 138:2), it is in implicit subjection to that authority, that I would attempt to develop that Secret which was in the mind of God from all eternity; which was first in His mind, and of which He gave the earliest typical intimation, but which was not made known till after the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, who leadeth into all truth. It is nothing less than "all truth" which is our portion. God is light, the brightness of His glory has been expressed to us in Jesus; there remains nothing more of revelation by the Word, although nearly everything of actual manifestation is yet to be. Moses truly was commissioned to declare much, but yet he knew he had not declared all, there were secrets in the divine mind which himself and others of the worthies, holy men of old "desired to see and saw not, and to hear and heard not"; but it was the prophet like unto Moses that was to be received, as He into whose mouth God would put His words, that the might speak unto them all that He should command. He alone was able to declare God, (John 1:18). Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Hence the difference of the language of Moses and Paul, the former led to look into a long vista in the fortunes of his people, lost in the contemplation of the fearful judgment corning upon, them, says, "the secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed, belong unto us and to our children" (Deut. 29:29). But that which had kept secret from Moses, He had revealed by His Spirit unto Paul, "for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God." "I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:25, 26). While Moses was indeed taught that his people which had corrupted themselves, would be brought into a condition of such estrangement from God, "that He would move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, that He would provoke them to anger with a foolish nation" (Deut. 32:21), the Holy Ghost, by Paul, shows the purpose of God in their temporary rejection; even that by their fall, might be "the riches of the world"; by their diminishing "the riches of the Gentiles"; by their casting" away the reconciling of the world" {Rom. 11}; in other words, the introduction of that Dispensation of marvelous grace under which we are. True it is that both its grace and glory are little considered by "sinners of the Gentiles. " In order to see either distinctly, we must place ourselves in the situation of the favored people of God; we must judge through their reasonable prejudices instead of our own fearful high-mindedness and self-complacency. The introduction of "the eternal purpose of God," even the making known unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God {Eph. 3}, was an event for which the minds of God's people were not prepared. It was a something entirely new as to revelation, although first of all in the mind of God: it had been figured in Eden, in the giving to Adam for a help meet for him -the woman taken from his side while he slept; "this is a (or the) great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His Church."This great mystery was very gradually unfolded indeed. The personal ministry of the Lord, was with very few exceptions confined to Israel, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"; but His ministry to them was chiefly in testimony against evil, and all the while He was testifying unto them as the sent of God, and last witness to them, He treated the nation as Apostate; and frequently intimated the change in dispensation which was about to be introduced. Among the first notices of this, we may remark the sermon on the Mount; every line of which went against a strictly Jewish feeling. I mean the feeling of one who considered himself as under the law, and therefore that law, i.e., the assertion of right was the rule between Himself and others. Law properly speaking, knows nothing of mercy; the asserter of it must necessarily take the place of one who has not swerved from the rule of right himself, and therefore has the title to deal with others who have transgressed that rule, in the way of retributive Justice. "The people were astonished at his doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority. " It was His own authority as the Lawgiver, set against that which was said to them of old, and unless even now we see distinctly, how completely the Genius of the present dispensation is diverse from the former, we are necessitated to charge God foolishly, and to set God speaking by Moses, against God speaking by His Son; or to do that which is now so commonly done, to confound, and therefore to neutralize both. The principle is the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law (Heb. 7:12). So now the kingdom being changed from an earthly to a heavenly one, 63 the law of necessity is changed also. While God dealt with a people under a dispensation of righteousness of law, that is -that their earthly blessing (and the law as given by Moses knew no other), depended on their obedience to it, "for he who despised it died without mercy"; while the tenure of their blessing "if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation"; while this was the case, God made His own principle of conduct applicable 63. {This phrase is not adequate to describe the change.} to His people, He was dealing with them ostensibly in law, and therefore He sanctioned that same principle, even law as between man and man. But when God changed His principle of dealing with man from law to grace, then was a new principle of man's conduct to man necessarily introduced also. "The law was, given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ"; and He by whom grace came, could say, not as disannulling or falsifying what went before, (for surely not one jot or tittle shall pass away, till all be fulfilled,) but as introducing this great mystery of the grace of God, It was said to them of old, but I say unto you.

Our calling is not now to prospective blessing, or continuance of blessing under conditions performed, "but God hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace; which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

And therefore our conduct to others, must be regulated by the principle of God's conduct to us. The principle of God's own kingdom, even the kingdom of Heaven, which is grace, is the only one allowed to the children of the kingdom; so that which might be right and fitting to those of old, would be wrong and sinful in a disciple of Him who only is to be called Master. Hence we discover the reason why Christians so naturally cling to law as their principle of action, since it allows their dealing towards others on a principle which went to secure earthly blessing, while grace applies only to heavenly.

The next notice of this in the Lord's ministry is that remarkable one in the case of the Centurion—"Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel, and I say unto you many shall come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, &c., in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness."

Again the surprising statement the Lord made respecting John, His own forerunner, filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, greater than any born of women, that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than he, closed with the solemn warning. "He that hath ears to ear let him hear," was a plain intimation of the introduction of something widely different from that in which they stood. The declaration of the blessing that rested upon them (Matt. 13:6), because that unto them "it was given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven," which was not made known to others -was a succeeding step in leading their expectations onward. A subsequent mark of approval of the faith of another Gentile (Matt. 15:22-28) on an occasion which most significantly marked the transfer of that which the Children despised and loathed, to others who would gladly receive it, must have raised in their minds the question, "Is he the God of the Jews only?" Is He not also of the Gentiles? These and many such like hints tended to prepare their minds, for that which they could not then bear, because the groundwork on which it was based -His own sufferings and death, was at that time only prophetically stated, and had not actually taken place. It was when the Gentiles came to inquire concerning Him (John 12:21), that Jesus Himself says, "the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified;—" and then "I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all unto me; this He said signifying what death He should die."

So long as He was personally ministering on earth, He would be only exposed to rejection. Now the Messiah on the earth was strictly and properly the Jewish expectation. -But here is one very different held up to them. The Son of Man must be lifted up! who is this Son of Man? It was the complete subversion of every fondly cherished hope on their part, as Jews, but it is the only ground of blessing to us as Gentiles. It is in the Cross that God is shown as no respecter of persons. -The Cross is the attractive point to all, because all are brought in guilty before God, both Jew and Gentile. The introduction of this dispensation of grace is on the avowed principle of the universal ruin of the human race. Moral qualification is out of the question:—"there is no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Take the highest supposed qualification, national or moral, the principle of grace is nullified, if it is attempted to approach God otherwise than as lost: and the lowest comes in on the same plea. God, by the Cross, has set aside the barrier of His own erecting, of access to Him.

"And the Law is not of faith, but the man doeth them shall live by them." "Christ hath redeemed us (Jews) from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, as it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we (Jews) might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

The difficulty in the mind of the Jew, was, did not the rejection implicate the faithfulness of God? was not the word of God of none effect? Not in any wise; the Messiah, as concerning the flesh was theirs, He fulfilled in His person and work, all His Jewish responsibilities. -"He died for that Nation" {John 11:51, 52} -He underwent the curse of the law for them, but not for that nation only, but that He also should gather together in one (even in the Cross) the children of God that were scattered abroad. Here is the Gentile dispensation: but let not the Gentile deny the proper Jewish expectation, and the work of Christ for them, preeminently as the Redeemer of their forfeited possession, lest he invalidate the faithfulness of God which is the alone security for his own blessing. Faith "sets to its seal that God is true"; but if God fulfills not His earthly promises to the literal Israel in Messiah, then the gifts and callings of God can be repented of (i.e., contra Rom. 11:29). In fact God's dealing with the Jew, is the great outward palpa-demonstration of His sovereignty and of His election.

The commission given to the Apostles before His death, and that after His resurrection, is widely different. "Go not into the way of the Gentiles (nations); and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."But when all power in heaven and earth was given to Him, then the commission takes in the universal range -"Go ye therefore and teach all nations," -It was no longer matter of testimony to Israel. Jesus was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of God unto the Fathers {Rom. 15:8}; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, it was now grace to sinners. But this large commission was not then acted on. Even after His resurrection, those who were conversant with Him during His sojourn on earth, "to whom He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," even then their minds were only opened to a Jewish hope. "Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? {Acts 1:6}.

This was their proper hope as Israelites, that all the promises of earthly glory should be made good to Israel in the resurrection of Messiah. The everlasting covenant, "even the sure mercies of David," was secured by the Resurrection, as the Apostle testifies; and as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, "I will give you the sure mercies of David" (Acts 13:34). He had now shown His power over death and the world; and so far as earthly glory was concerned, it might then have been asserted. In order to that, there was no need for Jesus to have ascended into heaven. -He could have called for Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, from their grave, and made good the promises of God to them, in faith of which they had died.

In their expectation the disciples were not wrong; but they had not yet entered into the intermediate dispensation -"the hidden mystery of God." They had forgotten that it was expedient for them that He should go away; for all power in heaven as well as earth, was given to Him, and thus was to be proved by His Ascension. Not even on the descent of the Holy Ghost, although they were "endued with power from on high," and were thus brought into the understanding of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, in their own personal experience of union with the risen Jesus, as Man having all power in heaven as well as earth, were they led to the discovery "that the Gentiles were fellow-heirs with them in this." In order to this, a fresh revelation was needed; another "opening of heaven," and direct communication to Him who had had the keys of the kingdom of heaven (i.e., Peter} and had opened it to the Jews (Acts 2), now likewise to open it to the Gentiles. The vision recorded Acts 10. is the display of God's cleansing, in a sovereign manner, and taking up into heaven, that which Peter called unclean. -"What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common." And this was his vindication for going unto the Gentiles.—"Forasmuch as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:17). "The mystery of godliness," therefore, in this part at least, was now clearly revealed, "preached unto the Gentiles."

But the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles (Col. 1:27). was not yet fully developed. For this another Agent was specially raised up, not merely as the Witness of Resurrection Life, but of Ascension Glory -even the Apostle of the Gentiles. He received no commission from Jesus on the earth, but from Jesus "received up into glory." The thing to which he was specially to witness, was the glory into which He had risen, and into which the saints quickened by the Spirit were also brought. The other Apostles "bear witness because they had been with him from the beginning "(John 15:27). "Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, be-ginning from the Baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His Resurrection" {Acts 1:21, 22}. They were witnesses to the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus. But Paul was witness to something beyond this fact. "The God of our Father hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth; for thou shalt be his witness of what thou hast seen and heard" (Acts 22:14, 15).

And when He would assert the authority of his commission in the strongest way, he notices its distinction from that of the others. Paul an Apostle (not of men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and the Father who raised Him from the dead). It was Jesus who appeared when in the way; and there shined around about Him "a light from heaven above the brightness of the Sun," so that He fell to the earth. Peter, James, and John, were eye witnesses of His Majesty at the Transfiguration; but Paul, as subsequently John, of His Majesty after His Ascension. This was what he had seen, and of which he was to witness; according to the word of the Lord, who raised him from the earth to which he had fallen. "Rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee" (Acts 26:16). "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." God has never adopted any remedies, but His works have been all arranged according to the counsel of His own wisdom. True, His works may appear to our short-sightedness remedial, because He will show that His purpose alone can stand, by the failure of the creature under the highest possible advantages. But there is a fullness of time for the development of that which is in His mind, and His own eternal counsel is the last manifestation (of His mind and purpose}. All the blessing and glory was planned and secured in Christ Jesus before the world began. First of all, earthly blessing fails, and then those who are outwardly called into the kingdom of heaven fail; but in the end the stability of both in Christ Jesus is to be shown. Hence the Apostle speaks of himself and others. "Let a man so account of as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God;" not the one without the other; not simply preachers of the gospel, but those who would be able to set forth the bearing of the previous dispensation of God. It is remarkable how men may be misguided by a word. It is a just rule that the meaning of a word is not to be judged of by its currency in any time, but by the sense in which the writer used it. Now the word Mystery conveys to our natural minds an idea quite distinct from that in which the Spirit of God uses it. The mysteries " of God are not the secrets known in His own breast, but His secrets disclosed Ito Christians}. What was known unto Him from the foundation of the world is now made known to us. For example, it was a secret in God's own bosom, from the beginning of the world, that all His earthly arrangements were made in reference to Israel. -But that mystery was revealed to and by Moses.

"When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32:8).

True, such a statement may appear mysterious to the world, in the popular sense, but to faith it is the announcement of a wonderful fact, involving the whole history of the world. True, most true, that there are mysteries in God (for we know but in part) but it is not with these that we have to do, but with those which He has revealed. It is because so few have been faithful Stewards of the mysteries 67 of God, that the Church is in the state in which it is, having confounded things that differ; and instead of being guided into all truth, is quite content to think that a single truth is enough for it to know, and that all God's truth is necessarily crowded into that which ministers to its self-complacency.

(*"This word does not mean anything inexplicable, but what cannot be known until it be revealed" Williams's Concordance.)

(**The perversion of this expression by impious Popish, and pious Protestant fraud, can hardly have escaped the notice of any intelligent reader of the Scripture. The term Mysteries has been applied to Baptism and the Lord's Supper (as for example in the Liturgy of the Church of England: "He has instituted and ordained holy mysteries." Communion Service). Hence Stewards of the mysteries, are dispensers of these. If there be a μυςηριον in the popular sense, there must be the μεμυημενος, the initiated, the Hierophant; and by taking advantage of popular ignorance, even Protestant ministers of the Gospel unblushingly exalted themselves into the Priesthood. It is sufficient to notice that the word mystery occurs between twenty and thirty times in the New Testament, and in no single instance is it applied either to Baptism or the Lord's Supper. The fact of the word being rendered in the Vulgate several times, "Sacramentum," may give the clue to this strange perversion.)

While the grace of the Gentile dispensation was a secret only made known on the work of Christ being finished, its unparalleled glory was that "which eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man to conceive," till God revealed it by His Spirit. It was not that glory which forms the chief subject of direct prophetic, for that is earthly glory; it may glance at the other allusively, but Jewish expectation was not very wrong. It is not by violently wresting language, and giving it a meaning quite diverse from the literal, which would necessarily be general and vague, that we shall be most fully enabled to enter into the glory into which the faithful are now brought by the resurrection of Jesus, but by learning that the subject was entirely new, unthought of, unheard of before.

The scriptural testimony to this is very abundant; and it appears to me so important, in every point of view, to see that the present dispensation is completely sui generis -not an improvement of the preceding, or an introduction to the coming one; but so entirely isolated, that its directory of conduct would only apply to itself, that I would note some of the most striking Scriptures on this most interesting point.

The language of our Lord (Matt. 13) has already been alluded to; but it is important on this point, as showing that the things which were secret before, were now revealed, "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; for verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those Minos which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them."

In Mark 4:11 there is a little variation, interesting in this point, as pointing to the kingdom itself as staving been heretofore a secret thing—"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God."

But as the Lord Himself intimated to His disciples that they were not in the capacity of entering into the things of which He was both the Subject and the Communicator,—"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; and He will show you things to come." We must therefore look to the testimony of the Spirit through the Apostles. And here I would notice that very remarkable testimony to the novelty and distinctness of this present dispensation (Rom. 16:25, 26)—"Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, to God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen." Again, (1 Cor. 2:6-10). "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the Princes of this world knew; for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. -But as it is written, eye hath not seen nor car heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. -But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." "Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." It would be necessary to transcribe the whole of 3, 4 & 5 chapters of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, as bearing on the point. It will be sufficient at present to notice the marked contrast between the former and present dispensation. "The ministration of death, written and engraven on stones was glorious; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?" "If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." "Even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth" {2 Cor. 3}.

This is sufficient to show that there is no analogy whatever between the former and the present dispensations, -that they are, in fact, as opposite as death and life.

I would now state the more direct testimony of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Ephesians and Colossians,—"Having made known to us the Mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together, in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth."

The preceding verses most clearly state what God's good pleasure had been, even the secret of God in His mind from all eternity, not only to have a people on the earth in whom He would be glorified, but Sons in heaven; joint-heirs with the Son of His love, of all the glory He had given Him. The stability both of that in heaven as well as that on earth, could only be in Christ. But the great wonder was that in the introducing of this novel and transcendent glory, it was not confined to those "whose were the promises," but coming in a way of direct sovereignty on the part of God, and for the express purpose of displaying in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace, "that the Gentiles might praise God for His mercy." The Apostle therefore places Jews and Gentiles entirely on the same level as to this—"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we (Jews) should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ; in whom ye also (Gentiles) after that ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance (as common to both) until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory" {Eph. 1:13, 14}. There was a twofold secret of God now made known. That any should have been chosen to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ {Eph. 1:3}, was a thing quite novel to those whose proper expectation was Messiah over them, as the Son of David in earthly glory. But there was this besides, that this was to be preached unto the Gentiles and that they were called into participation of it. Accordingly we find the Apostle resuming the subject Eph. 3. "If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me you-ward (Gentiles), how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the Holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel, that I should preach among the Gentiles the untraceable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship {administration} of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God; who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." And here the mischief of confounding all things, and limiting God to that which occupies our mind, is very apparent. The Church has at the same time forgotten her distinctive glory, and learned to he high-minded: to judge from the thoughts of most Christians, one would think that the Jews were kept distinct, and in their present state to afford them evidence of God's favor to themselves. How little is it remembered, that the Mystery made known, was, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ; but there is this, most important to be noticed, that the Mystery then revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit, had not in other ages been made known to the sons of men, but from the beginning of the world had been hid in Christ ("hid in God" (Eph. 3:9). Now "the restitution of all things, God had spoken of by the mouth of all His holy Prophets, since the world began"; so that it cannot be the same with the Mystery now made known, and clearly proves that this Mystery had not been the subject of Prophetic testimony. Restitution necessarily implies a previous state, even that in which God had pronounced all things to be very good; and again shall God rest in them when brought back by Him, the Redeemer, even Christ Jesus. But the subject of this Mystery had no previous existence, except in the purpose of God, and hence it is always dated by the Holy Spirit, as anterior to Creation; "according as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4); "according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began, but it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ: who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:9). "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due time manifested His word through preaching" (Titus 1:2). This proves its complete independence of, and distinctness from anything that had been known since the world began; things might have been types of it, or as the fullness of time approached there might have been intimations of it, but it was not connected at all in character with those things. It is not a speculative matter, but one of great practical importance; as surely the bulk of scriptural testimony fully demonstrates. In this Epistle for instance, wherein we find the fullness of the Church set forth, we find the Spirit in the Apostle so speaking as to show us that this was the great Mystery now made known. This is distinctly expressed in Eph. 5: "this is a great Mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church," and again (Eph. 6:19) "and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the Mystery of the Gospel." This great Mystery then, or secret in the divine mind, now divulged, is the Church, the body of Christ, "the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." "It is the Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven." Now unless its distinct glory, as blessed with all spiritual blessings in the Heavenlies, is seen, its character and service cannot be known. Heavenly glory was that which was not revealed to the Saints of old; how could it be until His appearance? even the Son of Man which in heaven? "The heaven even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth hath He given to the children of men." True, the Patriarchs looked for a heavenly city, and confessed themselves, strangers and pilgrims on earth; so likewise David, but whatever the Spirit of Christ in them did testify, was but obscurely; "they searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into" (1 Peter 1:10). Abraham the father of us all, had promises of seed numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the dust of the earth, and doubtless the one to be highly exalted above the other. But the Church, the oneness of Spirit and of glory with the risen Lord, into which the saints are now brought, was not known till Jesus was glorified and the Holy Ghost had come. Hence we find the almost universal tenor of prophetic testimony is to earthly glory, which could be apprehended before that Jesus was glorified, although only secured in and by Him. Now the effect of taking promises of earthly glory, and applying them to heavenly, has been to lose sight of the great purpose of God both "to reconcile all things to Himself, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth, by the blood of the Cross" (Col. 1:20): "and to gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are in earth" (Eph. 1:10), thus placing the stability of both on a sure basis. But this is not all, for the Church taking that to herself which does not distinctly belong to her, has lost sight of what does, and hence has been exhibiting a Jewish character, rather then representing the fullness of Christ. But before entering into this, there are a few more testimonies to the point before us to be noticed. "Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which. is Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. 1:25-27). Again, (Col. 2:2-4). "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ; wherein (i.e) in the mystery (margin) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Now here we have first the originality of that which was in the mystery, that it had been previously hidden from ages and generations.

That there are riches of glory in it.

3. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are laid up in it.

Well therefore might he ask the Colossians to pray that God would open a door of utterance, "to speak the mystery of Christ. " The passage in 1 Tim. 3:16 has been referred to; but I would again notice that the fact of the Incarnation was not a Jewish expectation, however the promise of Immanuel may appear to as to have properly raised it; yet we find that it was a matter of distinct revelation to Peter; -"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God; flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. " "God manifested in the flesh" was the great secret; He had spoken to them in divers ways before, but. now He cones so near as to speak by His Son. This is the basis of everything: the moment the mystery of Christ is revealed, then, as led by the Spirit, are we capable of looking backward or forward into the counsels of God. With the soul resting on the great fact of God manifested in the flesh, as spiritual we may judge all things, see the several bearings of God's precious manifestations, and learn the important truth of the instability of every creature out of God, -in a word, learn "Christ the power of God and wisdom of God. "

I would now briefly advert to the distinctness of the glory, into fellowship with which the saints are brought, having nothing at all analogous to it previous to its revelation. It appears to me of importance to remark that the glory of the Church is distinctive and characteristic; that it was not directly revealed, previously to the coming down of the Holy Ghost. -"None of the Princes of this world knew it"; it was what "eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man to conceive. " It is best seen by contrasting it with the proper Jewish expectation of Messiah. Now it is most clear that they looked upon their Messiah as the Redeemer to deliver them and their land; to restore it to fruitfulness, to make them glorious (Mic. 5:14) as a people in the eyes of all among whom they had been despised; to make them (Mic. 5:7; Zech. 8:23; Isa. 2:23) also the channel of blessing to others; and all this when Jehovah should be their King.—"Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously" *(Isa. 24:23). Besides all this, there was the real moral glory, "thy people shall be all righteous," a people in whose hearts the Spirit of God dwelt. "A new heart also will I give unto you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your Fathers" (Ezek. 36:26-28).

Now both in this place and in Jer. 31 where the new covenant with the house of Israel is stated at large, its connection with earthly blessing, and the glory of Jerusalem, and the land is most defmitely marked; and it is only because we have read those accounts with preoccupied minds that their strict application to Israel should ever have been questioned. Our Lord evidently alludes to this in His conversation with Nicodemus, -"Marvel not that I said unto you, ye (Jews) must be born again"; -their earthly blessing was only to be secured by God giving them His Spirit. And when Zacharias, under the Holy Ghost, prophesied, it was evidently to the glory of Israel under Messiah.—

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life" (Luke). Now the mystery revealed of the Church is its oneness with Christ. The Messiah, though of, was distinct from Israel: the nation was not to be brought into oneness with Him, but He was to be over the nation, to fulfill the good pleasure of God to it. A king and a people are distinct, though they have a common interest, for a king is over his people: not so the Church, Christ is never said to be king over His Church, but the Head of it as His own body, "Head to His Church, over all things"; the Bridegroom, and the Church His Bride; the Tree, and the Church the Branches; language which while it implies identity, at the same time expresses that distinctness which gives Him the preeminence. But the essential characteristic of the Church is that its glory is heavenly; those who believe in Jesus are made one with Him, not as "the Son of David after the flesh," "but as declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. " "The hope set before them is that which entereth into that within the vail, whether the Forerunner is for us entered. " Heaven is now opened, and in it is the resting place of the Church in Christ Jesus.

(*"before His ancients in glory.")

To be "accepted in the Beloved," to be brought into that complete oneness with Him, so that the love wherewith the Father loved Him, with the same He loves those who by His Spirit are thus made one with Him. -To have everything which could be predicted of Him, predicted of the Church, this was the mystery, the revelation of which made all old things to pass away, all the long cherished hopes of an Israelite were immediately given up by one who was thus brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son. What a word is that -"Fellowship" between the Creator and the creature, that they should have a common interest the one in the other! It would indeed have remained a hidden mystery, but the Incarnation of the only begotten, shows how this can be; "behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God"; "now are we the Sons of God, though what we shall be hath not yet been manifested. " It could never have entered into the mind of an Israelite, that such a glory was contemplated, as that any should be so completely identified with Jehovah Jesus, the God-man, as to have their vile body fashioned like unto His glorious body. But this was the eternal purpose of God, this was in His mind from before the foundation of the world;—"whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren."

The Father not only prepared a body for Jesus to suffer in, but likewise a body mystical, in which He should be glorified; for He is to he glorified in His saints. His glory is not only personally to be exhibited, but to be exhibited in and through them; He is not only to bless by His personal presence, but His saints are the channel of blessing to others, as was originally promised to Abraham, "thou shalt be a blessing": so now the Church is the channel of blessing, even in its wilderness state; out of it alone go the living waters. "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). Jesus is the well of life, but the stream is dispensed through the Church, and what blessedness shall there be when the world to come is no longer under angels, but under Jesus and His saints; the stream of life immediately flowing from Jesus, through them, in an unhindered course to others. They shall be a blessing; as they are called to inherit a blessing; they shall be kings and priests unto God, and they shall reign over the earth as king, and make known (and who so well able as those who know what grace is), good to others, "God hath called us into His own kingdom and glory"; "He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. " It is said to Israel, "arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee": not that they obtain the glory of the Lord; in a word, their glory is distinct from the Lord's glory; that glory is something without {i.e., outside of them} them, but the glory of the Church is identical with that of the Lord; the Church is the vessel filled with glory, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all {Eph. 1:21}. This was a something so far beyond thought, that well might the apprehension of it make old things pass away.

Again, be it remembered, that the present blessing and glory of the Church is distinctly heavenly; Jesus is now in heaven, and His people can only be in Spirit where He is. It seems nothing novel to us to talk of heaven as our place, and of being in heaven, as our glory; yet what does this mean in the mouths of most but that heaven is to be enjoyed after earthly enjoyment has failed. That earth is the place for the enjoyment of the body, and that heaven will receive our departed spirits; "but Jesus is the Savior of the body," "the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." It was the brightness of the glory of Jesus the Son of Man, which filled Stephen with holy rapture; it was unto that likeness he looked to awake and be satisfied. But the calling of the Church is now heavenly, its place now of rest is "in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus," believers now let pass old things, because "their citizenship is in heaven"; "they are no more of the world, even as Jesus is no more of the world." "As He is so are they in this world," as He is the heavenly man, so are they heavenly men; as He is the beloved Son, so are they sons beloved; as He is heir of all things, so are they heirs of all things. This is their standing, though they be locally in this world; this is indeed the new creation unheard of, unknown before, which places the least in the kingdom of heaven, in such preeminence; they are heavenly -one with Jesus the quickening Spirit, one with Him who sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Here has been the mistake and confusion, heaven has been made the future instead of present blessing of the Church; hence believers have been Christians in hope, but Jews in practice; all hope of earthly blessing ceased with the rejection of Him in whom alone the earth could be blessed, by those through whom the blessing was to be communicated -"the earth shall hear Jezreel." From that moment, as was most significantly taught in darkness overspreading the earth, and the vail of the temple being rent, earth was closed as to blessing from it and "heaven opened." Those who will be blessed now, must follow Jesus the only giver of blessing into heaven "whither the Forerunner is for us entered"; until He comes from the right hand of the Father, blessing from the earth is barred. What an interesting moment is the present, "the kingdom of heaven opened": oh! if men knew but the gift of God, and the present blessing held out to them, how would they "press unto it," how would they "take it by force." Testimony might be multiplied as to the distinct character and glory of the present dispensation, as being entirely novel, and in no feature corresponding with anything that had preceded it; in a word, Christ and the Church was the hidden mystery, the secret of God; until revealed by the Spirit coming down from Jesus glorified; not only to testify of it, but also to constitute it. As to what remains, I would apply the truth practically.

It appears that the attempt to make all scriptural declarations of glory to concentrate in one, has left the Church with a very vague and undefined hope of its real glory and almost entirely annihilated that which is its present glory. "There are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial." True that all glory radiates from Jesus, who is the Head of earthly as well as heavenly glory. But to understand the Church's present portion and conduct, it is necessary to distinguish as to what her real calling is. Now as the Church is called unto the glory of God, so is she called to be an imitator of God (Eph. 5:1). "To live godly in this present world" is to exhibit the character of God in it, not as that character was displayed hereto-fore, but as it is now displayed in grace -God is dealing with the world in grace and the Church is to do the same. The only place where God is exercising judgment is among His own people. Alas! how completely is everything subverted -grace to the world, righteousness to the Church is God's plan. His saints have reversed the order; harsh judgment on the world and smooth speaking among themselves, has been a stumbling block in the way of the world, and settled the Church in a state of self-complacency.

I would remark that the only nationality of Christian ethics is that they are the practice of those who are in the world but not of the world, in other words of heavenly men on the earth. Wherefore says the Apostle to the Colossians, "if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, &c." He would not have them forgetful of their calling that Jesus Christ had "given Himself for their sins, that He might deliver them out of this present evil world, according to the will of God their Father," as to think for a moment that they were living in the world. Their calling was to conformity with Jesus; He lived by the living Father and was dead to the world. Nothing indeed more simplifies Christian practice than realizing our proper portion as not of the world but of God. And there is no precept, however hard to the flesh, but what we shall find to exhibit to us the lineaments of the Divine character towards ourselves, the measure we are required to mete to others is that which God hath measured to us. "How is the gold become dim? How is the fine gold changed?" To what has not the name of Christian been prostituted? for surely it is a prostitution of its dignity to apply it to the world's service in any other way than grace. "I speak unto wise men judge ye what I say." Is it fitting for heaven-born men to be worldly legislators and politicians? Does this prove that they are of God, or of the world? If the world hear them, is it not because "they are of the world and speak of the world?"

3. It is most important to perceive the distinct character of the present dispensation, that it is not an improvement of the old -a new piece put on an old garment, but the mystery hidden from previous ages and generations, now brought to light, in reference to the many predictions of the world's blessing. Discrimination here is most needful, because the discovery of the peculiarity of this dispensation immediately shows that blessing cannot be brought about under it. Righteousness, not grace is the principle to order the world. "A King shall reign in righteousness"; and He that reigns says, "I will not know a wicked person; whose privily slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off, him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. -He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight; I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord" (Psa. 101).

It is therefore morally impossible that general earthly blessing can be secured under the present dispensation, which is one of bearing with evil instead of punishing it; and therefore so long as the gospel continues to be preached as the testimony to God's grace, the earth's blessing must be deferred. That blessing will not, cannot be, till God's "judgments are made manifest." Contempt cast on "the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering," ushers in "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

4. I would notice the fallacy of drawing any argument for the union of Church and State, from analogy to Israel of old. Let it be admitted for a moment, that, the principle of such a union was to be found there, there was only one principle in action, i.e., righteousness: God was then showing His wrath, and making His power known; He had taken unto Himself "a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors" (Deut. 4:34). Such a union therefore was then possible, because God's avowed principle of dealing with man, was righteousness; and His people were then ostensibly under the righteousness of law; His own people were the instruments of vengeance on His enemies, and their enemies round about them, But surely it is not so now. God's principle toward the world is changed, He is not making "His power and His wrath known," but "the riches of His goodness and forbearance. " And His own people are called upon to exhibit His own character, "put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, long-suffering, forbearance," &c, qualifications by no means suited to order the world; that can only be done by Him who is a "Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. " The attempt has been made to apply Christianity to rule, and the end has been corruption in the Church, and insubordination in the State, "the rent is become worse. "

Lastly, I would apply what has been said to one branch of Christian conduct, in which, for lack of discrimination, we have lamentably failed, -I mean subjection to the powers that be {Rom. 12:1-8). To these the Christian is required to yield implicit subjection; and when it comes to the alternative, to obey them or God, then his obedience to God will throw him into suffering from them. Obedience and suffering are the portion of the heavenly man while in this world. Now it has been assumed, hastily assumed, that because obedience to the powers that be, is so strictly charged upon Christians, and that those powers are "ordained of God, " that they must necessarily be Christian. Hence Christian privileges have been mixed up with civil rights, and Christians have been looking to the powers to reciprocate to them protection and support for their obedience. There is hardly a more glaring instance of the way in which self-love and a desire of ease will make us forget the simplest facts than in the case before us. The powers to which the Christians were called on to show implicit obedience were heathen emperors and magistrates, their most bitter persecutors, and yet they were ordained of God. Nebuchadnezzar into whose hands God committed such largeness of power, was as much ordained of God as our Edward VI, and a Christian's obedience to a Nero, was on the same principle as to Justinian. In fact we have limited God to our notions of propriety; we will hardly permit Him to use the instruments He chooses for holding the world in some degree of order, even now; and therefore take the ordering of it into our own hands. God paid Nebuchadnezzar for his service that he served against Tire, by giving him the land of Egypt (Ezek. 29:18-20), and so God now honors those civil rulers in His providence who honor Him, but this has nothing to do with grace. Cyrus was God's shepherd (Isa. 44:28), yet for a widely different purpose and a widely different reward, from a Pastor of His Church. The principle of obedience to the civil magistrate is one which is entirely independent of their character and of circumstances. In the powers that be, the Christian recognizes God's ordering, and yields subjection not because he is a citizen of this or that country, but because he is a citizen of heaven. Old things have passed away from him, what things he accounted gain before, he now esteems loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Savior; and it may safely be affirmed that a Christian born as to the flesh in this country, but carried by circumstance into Turkey, would as implicitly and as to God, obey the ruling power in that country as he would the king here. He is brought into subjection to God, and therefore owns God in all His ordinances; nor is it unimportant to notice, that it is not said the powers that be, are ordained of Christ, but of God; not of Christ as the anointed Man. The time shall be when they will be so ordained. When that shall be made known in act, to which Jesus has now the title, as it is written, "I will make him my first-born higher than the kings of the earth" (Psa. 89:27). "Prince of the kings of the earth," "Lord of Lords, and King of Kings"; "then shall He a King, reign in righteousness, and the Princes shall rule in Judgment. " But till He, as the anointed Man, reigns, His people cannot be called to rule, -their calling is to suffer.

Beloved brethren, "avenge not yourselves, " "be patient till the coming of the Lord. " True the world is in a dark and fearful con-fusion, but we cannot right it by intermeddling with it. But we may remove one of the stumbling blocks out of its way, by showing that through faith in Him who overcame it, we overcome it also. And that we are not in fear now as others, but with that before us which makes our flesh to tremble, and rottenness to enter into our bones, -"seeing on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming to pass on the earth," "we can rest in the day of trouble, we can lift up our heads, because our redemption draweth nigh,"

The Christian Witness 1:435-460; also reprinted in The Bible Treasury 17.

The Sin of Schism

Every successive manifestation by God of Himself to man has served to call forth the sin which is in man. Thus, when the Law was given sin appeared {as transgression}; and through the Law sin or the offense has abounded. Sin was in man before the law was given; but until the coming of the Law with its various requirements, it wanted a cause to incite or call it forth. ("The motions of sin, which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death" {XXX}.) In like manner, the introduction of the marvelous grace of the gospel has but afforded scope for the coming forth of man's evil; and indeed, in numerous ways in which it had not previously appeared. Among other exhibitions of the fearful evil in man, which have been occasioned by the perverted grace of the gospel, is one of an exceedingly hateful character in the sight of God -a sin marring even the very aim and end of that grace. This is the sin of Schism. This was undoubtedly in man's heart, along with every other sin; but it needed, in order to its formal exhibition, something to be set up of God. For, properly speaking, Schism cannot appear until God's object in the gospel of His grace appears; -Schism being the directly opposite thing to that object. Hence this sin is not found affecting the natural conscience of man, nor indeed as pressing upon a conscience awakened to the sense of sin and seeking the way of salvation; although it comes under the general class of sins, viz. -works of the flesh. Accordingly, so long as individual salvation is the only object of thought, the sin of Schism is hardly apprehended in the conscience at all. And perhaps, nothing more manifests the general disregard or ignorance of God's aim in the gospel of His grace, viz. -CHURCH UNITY or FELLOWSHIP, than the light treatment which the warnings against SCHISM have ever met with. This sin is the constant subject of reproof, exhortation, or warning throughout the Epistles; yet how few have troubled themselves to consider where it is charge-able. It has been so much the habit of men's minds to view communities of Christians as left at liberty to regulate for themselves; and even individual Christians as permitted to unite themselves with communities according to their judgment or taste, or even to stand altogether aloof and alone; that it is very possible for a whole community to lie guilty of the sin of Schism, from its never having questioned the soundness of the principle on which it has been acting. Hit were true that God, having called an individual into the fellowship of His Son, had left him without any direction for his guidance, then indeed that individual might be suffered to follow his judgment; whether to stand alone, or to associate with others on whatever principles might be deemed most conducive to their common welfare. But God has not so left man; for almost all the perceptive part of the New Testament bears on the individual as sustaining certain relations as a member of a body; and teaches him how to behave himself in the house of God -which is the Church of the living God {1 Tim. 3:15}. And so far from its permitting Christians to associate together as they will, it lays down, for their association, principles subsisting in the most essential particulars of their Faith.

The end of God in the gospel of His grace is, not the salvation of individual men, but the manifestation of Himself in a certain way. The grand attractive point held up of God to sinners is the death of Christ. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to me; this He said, signifying what death He should die {John XXX}." He died, not only for the nation of the Jews, but that He might gather together in one, the children of God which are scattered abroad {John 11:52, 53}. This "gathering together in one" is, so far as Christians are concerned in the earth, the great end of God in the gospel. And this the unity of Christians was to be the great evidence unto the world, that the Father had sent the Son. This was the object for which Jesus prayed (John 17); and it is the object for which each of His disciples ought to pray and to strive. It was present and visible unity for which Jesus prayed. All who are made partakers of the grace of the gospel are one before God: but the object is to snake that Oneness palpable to sense. Hence the accomplishment and the maintenance of it becomes a matter of individual responsibility: (" endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"). This is the unity of and in the Spirit -unity in that in which we are one before God, viz. -in Christ risen, the quickening Spirit, the second {last} Adam It is therefore a unity independent of time, place, and circumstances; and can be attained and preserved {in practice} only by each individual's realizing that which delivers him from present things -even oneness with Him who is risen and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Now whatever hinders the manifestation on earth of that Oneness which Christians have in Christ in heaven -is this sin of Schism. This manifestation is hinderedpositively, either when an individual follows his own will, and separates himself from the communion of saints;* or when an association of

Christians, by prescribing rules not of the Spirit, preclude an individual from fellowship with them. -for such Christians, so far from gathering with the Lord, are, in fact, scattering abroad. And it is hindered negatively, when an individual believer either stands aloof from the Visible Communion of saints, or holds fellowship with unbelievers who assume the privileges of the children of the kingdom, and are accredited as such by those who are unequally yoked with them.

(** It is quite important to note in 1 Cor. 11:18 and 19 the difference in the use of two words, divisions (schisms), v. 18, and sects (heresies), v. 19. It is clear that the word schisms in v. 18 refers to something within the assembly while sects (heresies) refers to a split into several separated groups. Schisms are inside; sects (heresies) are outside. The apostle warned that schisms (v. 18) lead to heresies (v. 19).

Regarding Matt. 9:16, the point is that there was a rip in the garment -not the garment separated into two separate pieces. It had a schism; and patchwork makes schisms worse. Is there something to be learned from that? -attempting patchwork on schisms in an assembly? Had the garment been torn into two pieces, that would have illustrated sect, i.e., heresy.

We may profit from what J. L. Harris has written, but keeping in mind that what he speaks of regarding Jeroboam is illustrative of sect, i.e., heresy, not schism. See W. Kelly's Notes on 1 Corinthians, regarding 1 Cor. 11:18, 19.)

We are furnished with a most instructive illustration of the principle and of the working of this sin, corporately, in the policy of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-38). "And Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:" "If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." "Whereupon the king took council, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." "And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan." "And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan." "And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." "And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made." "So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense."

We have here all the features of that policy which man has ever used, viz. -making the things of God to subserve his own interest, But we hence learn that the moment man begins to tamper with God's religion, so as to adapt it to his own circumstances, "he provokes God to anger, and casts Him behind his back." Whenever human policy is permitted to have a place in the things of God, the declension from God's ways is fearfully rapid; and the end of God is completely destroyed. Now God's end after the settlement of Israel in the land of Canaan, was to have one place to put His name there in order that it might be the common center of Israel's unity. Thither were the tribes to go up. The effect of Jeroboam's policy, yea, the very effect proposed by it, was to defeat this end (1 Kings 12:26-28). It was too much for Jeroboam openly to avow idolatry; neither indeed was positive idolatry settled in his heart, as clearly appears from his sending his wife to Shiloh, to Ahijah the prophet (1 Kings 14:2). Therefore it was a zeal for the religious welfare of the people, which he ostensibly put forth; as if God, who had prescribed the mode of His worship, had not prescribed also the means. How much paternal care for the people was affected in His words. "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." And when once such a principle is allowed, that man's convenience may unsettle God's plan, we know not where we may stop. At Jerusalem there was the house of God, having the ark of the covenant and the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat, which had gone with the people in the wilderness, and passed on before them when they crossed Jordan into Canaan. So must Jeroboam also have some object of attraction: -he made two calves of gold, and "he set up the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan; and this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan." In this was God's own place of worship entirely given up. Now what was all this but to make Religion a mere matter of human convenience? -but this is most hateful in the sight of God. God has made revelation of Himself and of the manner in which He will be approached. Here comes the first claim of God upon man's allegiance, "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that seek Him {Heb. XXX}." We cannot advance a step without the recognition of this principle. Before God had given a revelation of His will, men might indeed ignorantly worship Him. But now, the very first question is, will you submit to the way of God's own proposing of access to Him? -it is the obedience of faith. And what is the State Religion, or what is the People's Religion, but the standing out against God on this first principle, and saying, the one and the other, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem;" and therefore we will devise a plan of our own? It is as well for you to worship at Dan in the extreme north, or at Bethel in the center of the land, as to go up to Jerusalem, where alone the Lord had put His name The moment that men are associated together on the principle of State policy, or on (what appears to most quite the opposite to it) the Voluntary Principle, God's own order is thwarted, and the full blessing from God is hindered. But when we have moved a single step in departure from the way of God, there is no saying where we shall stop. The plan of God being altered, further alteration becomes necessary; and it is instructive to pursue this in the example before us. God had confined the priesthood to the family of Aaron, and the service of the sanctuary to the tribe of Levi. Jeroboam therefore, in departing from the order of God in the first instance, was obliged again to depart; "so he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." This will, in principle, necessarily follow the departure from God's own plan of worship in the grace of the gospel. When once Unity in the Spirit is departed from, those are accredited as worshipers who are not of the consecrated family; and those are recognized as teachers and as of a privileged class who have not the needful qualification -the Spirit of God; but who supply its place by human authority. "He made priests of the lowest of the people. " But he must go a step further still. Israel was bound together by the great feasts. On three of them all the males were to appear at Jerusalem. These feasts were memorials of past, and pledges of coming mercies. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month was the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast of in gathering, and joy, and gladness (Deut. 16:13-16). In order to meet this, which might create a craving in the heart of one of Israel to go up to Jerusalem, Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. Surely the parallel is painfully instructive; for what has man's interference with God's order done, but this very thing -altered the time of the feast of the GREAT INGATHERING, which is in another Dispensation; and making the effort to keep it now and here: a very necessary step after destroying the Visible Unity of the Spirit {typically speaking}, and receiving as worshipers those who have not the Spirit. But this is the ingathering of the world into the Church, and the giving to the world the Church's most hallowed privileges! But Jeroboam "had devised this of his own heart. " Here we get the hateful principle as Been of God -the device of man's heart substituted for God's own prescribed plan; and its great end to hinder God's own end -the Oneness of His people. And this once established, rendered reformation impossible. It was constituted in falsehood; and therefore, whatever might be the individual's character, the one sentence runs, "howbeit from the sin of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, he departed not."

An exemplification of the manner in which this sin works in individuals is furnished in the passover. All the congregation of Israel were concerned in it (Ex. 12:47). Three times a year were all the males to appear before the Lord. (Ex. 23). This was to be the witness of their common acceptance as the people of the Lord; and a refusal, by any, individual, to do this would have proved his contempt of his birthright. The admission of a stranger would have proved common contempt of the birthright, and in either case Israel's Unity would have been marred.

Now the Unity of the Church is based upon the death of Christ; and its manifestation as to place is in heaven. It begins with the recognition of that in which all are involved -"all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. " The death of Christ declares this; and becomes the point of attraction to all. Whosoever therefore meets God in the death of Christ meets Him in the confession that he is lost -as much lost as any other who also has met God there. Here then all can meet together; all meet on a common level -on the acknowledgment of their common ruin. Whatever distinctions previously existed, the power of them is gone as to qualification in reference to God; for they are alike lost. There were two (Jew and Gentile) separated, the one from the other by insuperable barriers, -by nation, by education, and by habits; and, besides all these, their separation was sanctioned by God Himself. Yet for these two, God Himself found a meeting place. But it was one which broke down the middle partition-wall, and declared at the same time their common failure, and their common acceptance: -it was the cross. In this it is that Christ crucified is so pre-eminently the power of God and the wisdom of God: in its bringing the most discordant subjects into fellowship with Himself, and into fellowship with each other. And God in His applying His own principle of Unity, first of all, in the most difficult case, brilliantly manifests the virtue and the vigor of it. For surely that principle which can bring Jew and Gentile together, can bring any together. And hence it comes to pass that real communion of saints is the guarantee for the preservation of the true doctrine of the Cross; for in that it is that they meet one another. The Cross therefore would answer to Jerusalem as the center of Unity. {?}

But there is another thing, viz., the band which keeps together: that in Israel was, ye are "brethren," "ye are children of Abraham": Israel's lineal descent from Abraham and their bearing God's covenant in their flesh (Gen. 17:13), was the band which bound Israel together; so that they had titles and privileges as one man. It is thus still, inasmuch as we too are "brethren," yet, not as descended from Abraham, but as begotten of God into life in Christ Jesus. That which now binds is the New Life received from Jesus risen; and this lifts us above such distinctions, and above all distinctions ending in death, Faith sees them already ended, and enters on the New Life; and where this New Life is realized, how strong the bond of union! "All ye are brethren." If the Cross declares unto us the end of all fleshly distinctions we must not stop here; we must press on so as to get a present entrance {practically speaking} into those things which the Spirit reveals. In these things all believers have a common interest. In these there is nothing which ministers to division. These are spiritual blessings, and are to be apprehended only in the Spirit. Hence, unity is in the Spirt; and that which maintains it is the Spirit, shed abundantly on the Church by Jesus Christ, giving to each individual saint union with Himself the Head, and communion with all the members.

It necessarily comes to pass that the moment anything is introduced as a point of unity, which the Lord has not commanded, there is room for the sin of Schism. That thing is made to occupy the place of the Cross; and it is not that which links to the Head. Instances of this very early showed themselves in the Church. Questions arose as to the observance of days, and as to the cleanness of meats: but they were met and ruled by the wisdom of the Apostles. They presumed not to prescribe in such matters, because such prescription, though it would have been an attempt to produce uniformity, would in effect, have divided those who were one in the Spirit, and thus have produced Schism. In fact, the real ground of unity was not involved in such differences; but it would have been, had they been made subjects of positive enactment: and the moment this is the case, Schism is produced. A man might have observed a day, or might not have observed it, without in the least interfering with the blessed constituents of real unity -one body, one Spirit, one faith, one hope, one baptism, one Lord, one Father. Not one of these would have been affected by an individual's conduct in regard to a day, or to a particular meat. Such matters therefore were to he left free to the private conscience; only providing that this freedom be used for the display of grace in resisting one's own will and in yielding all proper compliance and conformity.

But directly that the kingdom of God was made to consist in meat and drink, and this became a term of communion, Schism was the necessary result: -the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of Christ were both forgotten; and the meat or the drink became the one object of concern and contention. It is this which so fearfully characterizes almost all the Establishments of Christendom. They would be Schismatic {sectarian} even if they were reformed; for their very constitution is Schismatic {sectarian}. And the same principle holds in them as operated in the kingdom of Israel: -that, whatever might be effected towards reformation by the energy of any individual, the sin, which Jeroboam caused them to sin, was never removed.

Jehu was a great Reformer. He brake down the house of Baal; "howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them -from after the golden calves that were in Beth-el and in Dan {XXX}." Much of what is flagrantly evil may be removed by a Reformer; but the original sin, working all evil, is in the very constitution of the system -even the setting up, as the basis of Union, of something which is not of the Spirit; and which therefore necessarily operates Schism: and this is the heavy sin of dividing the worshipers of God, and of leading them away from the order of God, in order to unite them upon principles and in an order of man's own devising. Every basis not broad enough for the whole Church to meet on proclaims this sin. And thus the various Dissenting bodies from the Establishment of this country are not more free from this sin than that from which they have dissented. Schism {sect} is the sin stamped on their constitution. Until this be removed, real reformation cannot be effected, and free and full blessing must be hindered. It is true that there are in bodies which are Schismatic in their constitution {,} many individuals who have really union in Spirit with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ; and who do not say "we forbid him because he followeth not with us. " Such individuals are, for the most part, impatient of ascertaining the fact of the wide departure of the Church from God; and they usually rest contented with what others sanction; though it be to the grief of their own spirit. And what is remarkable, is the effort that Christians have made after some basis of union better than their own associations afforded, in the many Societies in which they can co-operate. These efforts are but the demonstration of the fact of the schismatic {sectarian} ground of all those associations.

But while we look at this sin in its aggregate character, we ought also to look at its guilt as estimated by the Lord Himself. It was first exposed in His rebuke to John (Luke 9:49, 50). Here the "with us" was the proximate object, not the glory of Jesus; and it is so now: we may be laboring most zealously for the interest of any little gathered body of Christians, but the moment that becomes our object, we are acting in the spirit of John. And here unconsciously many are systematically guilty of the sin of Schism {sect}; more earnestly contending for the preservation of the unity of a particular body, than for the unity of the body of Christ. But is not this to contravene the wisdom of God? Can any principles so effectually bind together a few in any given place as those which, had they free scope, would bind together the whole Church of God as one great Corporation, animated by one Spirit, although separated as to place? And if it does appear, as probably it may, that there is greater unity among those who are united on a less broad basis and less comprehensive principles than the Holy Catholic Church, what is the sad truth but that there is so little of the Spirit of God realized in the midst of us, that we must have recourse to some traditional and fleshly prescription; and thus declare that unity is not to be had in the Spirit simply, and that we can meet together only as Schismatics. One thing needs to be clearly seen here, -that separation from things is not separation from persons. Suppose that an individual separates from the Church of England or the Church of Scotland, allowing the soundness of their doctrinal articles, and that they preach the truths therein stated, does he violate one item of the sevenfold unity of the whole Church? No. Does he separate from the believers in it? No. It may be that one who has separated, and certain believers who have not, depart together from their native country in the same ship; are thrown together in some foreign land; meet together, read together, pray together, and it may be, receive the Lord's supper together; and in all this enjoy the real Communion of the Saints. This is no uncommon case many testify unto the sweet fellowship which they have had as Christians in the midst of Heathens, which they could not attain in England, And wherefore? -because the moment they arrive in England, they return, one to the Establishment, and the others to their respective denominations; and there is no common ground on which they can meet as Christians at all. Does not this manifest that both the Establishment and the Denominations are the effectual carriers to Union, -in other words, that they are SCHISMATIC; and that, in departing from them, not one single point of real unity is violated, and that the separation is not from the Christians, but from extraneous things.

There are two ways in which, individually, we can be guilty of this sin. The one is refusing to assemble ourselves together as Christians; and the other is separating ourselves from such, after union with them. The Israelite who would have refused to go up to Jerusalem at the set feasts would have violated Israel's unity. "Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord. " And whatever pretext he might use, he would only have shown that he preferred his own will and ways to the common blessing of the "Twelve Tribes" (Acts 26:7). That Israelite would be needed to make up the integrity of the Nation. And so in the Church every individual has a place: and the blessing of the Church in any given place would be hindered in measure if only a single member of Christ in that place was dissociated from the rest. He would be as a dislocated limb If it be asked why should so much stress be laid upon meeting together, the answer is, Obedience to the Lord's will requires it; and His promise of blessing is upon it (Matt. 18:20). So might the Israelite say, why go up to Jerusalem? -because it is the Lord's command, and there He has "commanded His blessing." Notwithstanding the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, many at the time of Reformation came from Israel to Jerusalem, to be blessed in God's place of blessing. (See 2 Chron. 30:5, 11). And may we not say that (as was the case) if only a very remnant remained faithful in the midst of general departure, the blessing was upon them; and that those who refused to attach themselves to the remnant feeble and outcast, were looked on by God as having despised their birthright. There was a remnant at the birth of the Lord Jesus; Anna, Simeon, and others "waiting for the consolation of Israel, walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord"; and to these the Spirit of Prophecy was restored, while all that, though ostensibly the order of God, was yet found acting on its own principles, was rejected. And so even now: if there were but three individuals keeping the word of the patience of the Lord Jesus, and not denying His name {Rev. 3:8}, there would be the place of blessing. Others, it is true, might stand ostensibly as in the only place of blessing, saying that they are Jews: but God is dealing with realities and not names; and only where the principles of His truth are acknowledged as uniting His children, will the real blessing of the dispensation be found.

In looking at this sin as committed by an individual, we must remark that it is characterized as a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:10: Dichostasiei, Seditions), and although not partaking, in man's judgment, of the moral turpitude of adultery or murder, it springs from the same bitter root, the corrupted heart of man, from which proceedeth all evil. While Christianity has been regarded as affecting individuals only, many have been ignorantly guilty of this sin in the manner above stated; but when once Church-fellowship is recognized as the end of God in individual salvation, then it really becomes a question of solemn responsibility. And although it is exceedingly painful to witness the effect on the conscience of many who are hindered from ceasing to do evil, through dread of Schism, yet is this a proof of an awakened perception to the existence of Church-fellowship. Another thing to notice is, that Church-ism has been considered so much in the light of human arrangement, that the passing from one denomination to another has rarely brought the sin of Schism {sectarianism} before the mind: neither indeed is this change of denomination properly that sin, although it may be in many instances the result of much which bespeaks it in the heart. It may be instability or caprice; but it is not properly rending the body of Christ. Schism {sect -heresy} is one of the most flagrant acts of self-will: it is self-will exercised against the order of God; and it is especially the deliberate seeking of our own (supposed) good, rather than the good of others. It comes often in a very subtle form: -we expect perhaps greater blessing to our own soul through some particular ministry; or we expect less trial than where we now are. Now, in the first instance, we are very partial judges; and we quite forget that God must provide not only the matter, but also the manner, of the edification of His saints: and this manner is by not binding them down to the ministry of any individual however gifted; for all the gifts are theirs, Paul, Apollos, or Cephas; and the clinging to an individual is the mark of a low and carnal state (1 Cor. 3). In the second instance, it is quite true that there will be more ease to the flesh out of the Fellowship of the Saints than in it; because the Church is God's School for breaking down self-will by leading into mutual forbearance and constant self-denial. And here it is that Satan gets such a hold on the mind to effect Schism. Hence the exhortation, "Looking diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you; lest there be any profane person {XXX}." But when once the mind is brought deliberately to take its own way; and, on any pretext, to withdraw from a visible Communion of Saints, the person so acting stands as one who has rent the body of Christ; and as one "to be avoided"; he being one who serves, not the Word Jesus Christ, but his own lusts. The general result is then stated, "by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple:" so that the schism of an individual is usually followed by a wider rent than an individual could make. How shocked would be the feelings of even the babe in Christ at hearing of a Christian getting drunk or committing fornication: yet the sin of Schism is set in the same black catalog as these sins; and doubtless it is viewed by God very differently from what it is by ourselves. Indeed it is insubjection to God in the highest degree; it is setting up Man's wisdom above God's, in the order of His household; and reckoning that Man is allowed of God to choose his own ways of walking before Him, now when the exaltation is to so great dignity -when God had so specially provided for the order of that nation of which He was the King.

To many, before whom this paper may come, the question as to the sin of Schism has doubtless been practically presented. And I do feel the solemn importance of the question now so much canvassed. If the Church of Rome, its Sister of England, the Church of Scotland, and the Denominations, be bodies united together by the Spirit of the living God, and meeting in no other name than that of Christ, then it would be Schism to separate from them: -the unity of the Spirit would hereby be violated. But if this be not the case, then separation from them is bounden duty to the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to maintain the unity of the Spirit. In a day when the "Spirit of the Day" is so markedly that of Self-will, no one can too solemnly weigh such a momentous step: -a step involving either himself or the body from which he separates in the sin of Schism. And where the charge of this sin will fall, it must not be for taste or for prejudice to decide; but for the truth of God. And if God has set up UNITY IN THE SPIRIT, and man has substitutes UNIFORMITY instead of it, then leaving Uniformity is the first step in order to obedience to God's plan of Unity.

A few extracts from Archbishop Leighton shall close this paper.

Many there be of Gallio's temper, who "care for none of these things"; and who account all questions in religion as he did, but matter of words and names: and by this all religions may agree together. But that were not a natural Union produced by the active heat of the Spirit, but a confusion rather, arising from the want of it; not a knitting together, but a freezing together, as cold congregates all bodies, how heterogeneous soever, sticks, stones, and water: but heat makes first a separation of different things, and then unites those that are of the same nature.

It is believed that united prayers ascend with greater efficacy. So says our Savior. 'Where two or three are gathered together' not their bodies, within the same walls only, for so they were so many carcases tumbled together; and the promise of His being amongst us, is not made to that, for He is the God of the living and not of the dead; it is the spirit of darkness that abides amongst the tombs and graves; but gathered in my name, one in that one holy name written upon their hearts, and uniting them, and so thence expressed in their joint services and invocations. So He says there of them who agree upon anything they shall ask, (ουμφωνησουσιν). If all their hearts present and hold it up together, if they make one cry or song of it, that harmony of their hearts shall be sweet in the Lord's ears, and shall draw a gracious answer out of His hand: "If ye agree," your joint petitions shall be as it were our arrest or decree that shall stand in heaven, "it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." But alas! where is our agreement? The greater number of hearts say nothing, and others speak with such wavering, and such a jarring, harsh noise, being out of tune, earthly, too low set, that they spoil all, and disappoint the answers. Were the censer filled with those united prayers heavenwards, it would be filled with fire earthwards against the enemies of the Church.

"Is there such a thing, think ye, as the communing of saints? It is a truth think of it as you will. The public ministry will profit little any where, where a people or some part of them are not one, and do not live together as of one mind, and use diligently all the means of edifying one another in their holy faith. How much of the primitive Christian's praise and profit is involved in the word, 'They were together (ομαθυμαδον) with one accord, with one mind'; and so they grew: 'The Lord added to the Church. -

The Christian Witness 5:117-133 (1838).

Thoughts on the Spiritual Nature of the Present Dispensation

{1834}

It has been the invariable method of God to take occasion from every successive failure of the creature, more clearly to manifest His own perfections; and while in so doing, He has brought Himself nearer to man, He has at the same time progressively increased man's responsibility. The failure has ever been from man's waywardness; the glory of getting good out of evil, God's sole prerogative. -"Where sin abounded grace much more abounded," while true in individual blessing to God's elect, is specially true in each successive dispensation {age}, from the fall to "the fullness of time in which God sent forth His Son," and even yet awaits a fuller development in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when He shall gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth (Eph. 1:10).

The progress of the divine dispensations is thus summarly stated by the apostle, in the epistle to the Hebrews:

God, who at sundry times (πολυμερως) and in divers manners, (πολθτροπως) spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets; hath in the last days spoken to us by His Son" (Heb. 1:1, 2).

The contrast here is not merely between the prophets and the Son, but also between the fullness of the manifestation of God in the Son compared with the partial character of previous manifestations. They were but piecemeal. -At one time there was a revelation of love, at another of power, at another of faithfulness; and in ways too sufficiently indicative of their obscurity, -in a vision, in a dream. -But in Jesus the whole effulgence of the divine character shone forth. -He was "the brightness of glory." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also. " And so entirely divested of obscurity was the manifestation, that one could say, "That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life," in a word -"God manifested in the flesh. "This progress has been to greater intimacy (if the expression may reverently be used) between God and man. He was known to the fathers by the name of "God Almighty" (Ex. 6:3). To the Israelites He was made known by His name "Jehovah," a near God, and "very present help in time of trouble," as well as a holy and jealous God. This was the burthen of the testimony of God's servants the prophets, whom He sent, "rising early and sending until there was no remedy." Israel had not only failed to manifest Jehovah, but the end was, "that the name of God was blasphemed through them among the heathen" (Ezek. 36:23; Rom. 2:24).

The latest testimony to them was that of John, he came in the way of righteousness; and then another dispensation was announced—"The law and the prophets were until John; since that time, the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16). But the dispensation might not pass without the vindication of God's wisdom in it, that it was holy, just, and good; until "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law" (Gal. 4:3, 4). He took it up, and what had failed in man, in Him was fulfilled. No jot, or title of the law passed till all was fulfilled. Every one of its requirements was met by the Lord, and God was with Him (Acts 10:30). In Him, -the "righteous servant," was exhibited God's power, (Christ the power of God) acknowledged and felt -reasoned against indeed as to its source, "whence has this man this power? what manner of man is this?" but too palpable to be gainsaid. Having established His claim to "the Just One," "which of you convinceth are of sin?" -"The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. " He further vindicated God in the law by undergoing its awful curse; and thus set it aside. "He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, " and declared to be the righteous One by His resurrection; and not only so, but exalted as such, and declared to be "worthy to receive power, and riches, and glory, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and blessing."

It is important to remark that the old dispensation was completely set aside, not renovated or altered; and that before the kingdom of God which was announced, was set up in power, an opportunity was afforded by the death of Christ and the fulfillment of the law, for a further display of the character of God previous to the exercise of active power and retributive justice in His kingdom by Him who was worthy to receive power. This intermediate dispensation is that in which we are. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." In order to the public manifestation of God's grace, not only was it needful for man to be exhibited in his utter helplessness and apostasy, but likewise for the law to be set aside, or it would stand as a barrier of God's own raising against it. Instead, therefore, of God manifested through Israel by the exercise of His power in and through them, and showing His holy character through their reflection of it -"be ye holy for I am holy"; and thus proving what a great and terrible God He was -how inaccessible by man, because of His holiness -with the preservation of every previously manifested perfection of God -we now have seen Him set forth in Christ as "reconciling the world unto Himself"; and instead of keeping sinners at a distance from Him, "preaching peace by Jesus Christ. " But while God is thus set forth in all this nearness to sinners, as was exhibited on the part of Jesus, being conversant with them, those who were drawn by God's grace into His presence, were to become the means of exhibiting the presence of God in the world. How now is God manifested in nearness to man? In Israel He was manifested to be near them by His protection, and the confession of His presence was extorted from the mouth of His enemies by His judgments; but it is not so nowthe dispensation is changed from active righteousness to grace; God is letting men alone, by not interfering now in vengeance on sinners; they see it not, and therefore "despise the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering," and are "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath." God in all the nearness of grace, is actually less acknowledged than in all the distance the law had made between Him and man.

The reason is obvious, -God's presence was then manifest to sense, but now in the power of deliverance from the world; and not only did the one more readily address itself naturally to man than the other, but the failure has been more decided. So long as Jesus remained on earth, the presence of God was felt if not acknowledged, "God was manifest in the flesh." It was, however, expedient for His disciples that He should go away; expedient for them -it is marvelous that it should have been so; His presence, which was the joy of their heart and only stability, was to be lost to them, in order to increase their blessing. Was it, therefore, possible for them to have God nearer to them than to have His presence, whose name was "Immanuel, God with us?" yes, this was even possible; and therefore, it was expedient that Jesus should ascend. Be had the power of life on earth -He could have so sustained it, as He showed in Lazarus, as gap in that which the Lord declares to be continuous: -He shall abide with you forever"; yea is it not to take up the language of infidelity of old, "The Lord hath forsaken the earth" (Ezek. 9:9; 8:12). Unless therefore it be asserted that believers are not one with Jesus, the presence of the Spirit cannot be denied to be their portion, because it is in virtue of that union that the Spirit dwells among them, -"I am with you always." This blessed assertion could only have been the portion of the few immediately favored with our Lord's presence on the earth, had He remained. How expedient therefore that He should go away; and while as the "Lamb in the midst of the throne, with seven horns," He gives the assurance that His power in providence is ever over them; the seven eyes show His presence even by the Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom He would send, to be abidingly with them as the other Comforter. The one who would fulfill in all ages, to those who would confide in Him the gracious part of teacher, reprover, adviser, and tender soother of all their fears, which Jesus had done while personally conversant with them on earth. The expression "the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified," compared with the declaration of the Lord (John 16:7), it is expedient for you that I go away, opens out to us most blessedly the peculiar character of the dispensation in which we are, and its distinguishing blessing to those who abide in Christ. Jesus is glorified, the Spirit is, and the portion of the Church one with Him as risen; "as He is so are we in this world." This is what the apostle styles "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory."

"Will God indeed dwell on the earth?" is not now answered by the glory of God filling the house which Solomon built, but in the perpetual testimony of the Spirit to the fact of man dwelling with God, "the only begotten in the bosom of the Father"; even He "that humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross," being exalted as man unto that glory which He had before the world was. How "expedient therefore that He should go away," that we might know God's condescension to man. The Spirit in the children of God is the testimony of this to the world now, and shall be fully demonstrated at the period to which, now groaning, they look forward, "the manifestation of the sons of God," when Jesus shall be manifested as "the first-born among many brethren." It is most important to notice how necessarily the dispensation of the Spirit flows from the fact of the incarnation and ascension. The man Jesus must be glorified beforethe Spirit's dispensation was. And as Jesus, the Son of God, had glorified His Father, and not sought His own glory, and as it is the Father's will that all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father," -so the Spirit seeketh not His own glory; but says Jesus, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them now; howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He shall show you things to come; He shall glory me for He shall receive of mine and show it unto you."The two great branches of the Spirit's testimony are to the sufferings of Christ and His glory. And these are truths, yea, the only truths, that is, the only things that have intrinsic and therefore unfading excellence in them. Jesus is the truth.—

"He came by water and by blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood; and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth."

History may make us acquainted with the fact of the crucifixion; but the Spirit alone can teach its wondrous result, in leading the conscience to the blood of the Lamb, opening therein God's counsel of peace to sinners, with the preservation and illustration of every previously manifested perfection of God, -"A just God and a Savior." So again the assent of the understanding may be given to the fact of the ascension and consequent glory of Jesus; but it is the Spirit's province to direct the eye of the believer to his portion in it, resulting again from the fact of the incarnation of the Son of God.

"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit... for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." Now in all this we find "God's thoughts not as ours" in that man is entirely turned away from Himself, to an object without Him for present comfort and future glory, "look unto Him and be ye saved," "He shall take of mine and show it unto you." It is the rightful glory of Jesus to which He points -and the believers share in it, from the love which brought Him down into our sad necessities. Disconnect the two, the sufferings and the glory, and there must needs be vagueness in peace and hope -the power of both, applied by the Spirit to faith -is our victory over the world.

In connection with these, there is also another thing. Jesus to establish the mind of His disciples on leaving them, comforts them with the words recorded {in} John 14:29; 15:15; 16:12. It is by the Spirit who searcheth all things, &c. that as friends, "believers are admitted into the counsels of God" (1 Cor. 2:16). It is thus that without new revelations, the Spirit by opening and applying His own writings according to the exigencies of the Church, guides into all truth -Lo! I have told you beforehand." This is their safe-guard against surprise -He is "the Spirit of counsel and wisdom," not by setting man's will to work on His own materials, but by turning the thoughts to Jesus who is our wisdom; and it is only as things bear on Him and are connected with Him, that they are the truth. It is thus that "those who have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil," are enabled to judge righteous judgment. Everything by the Spirit is brought to Jesus as the light, and there is {sic} reality is discovered. Hence it is that when the influence of the Spirit, apart from His real presence and guidance, has been looked to, the mind of man has been accustomed to reason on the things of God; and instead of the judgment of the Spirit, to have only that of man, and the way has been opened for departure from the ground-work of personal acceptance or even to the wildest fanaticism. This has been the case whenever the peculiar characteristic of this as the spiritual dispensation, i. e., the dispensation in which the Holy Ghost is the blessed agent, glorifying not Himself but Jesus, has been lost sight of. Forgetfulness of this has tended to place even the Lord's people

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upon as the end instead of the beginning of present blessing, though, all that such a state, of itself; brings us to, is, "O wretched man that I am." The peculiar characteristic of the present dispensation has been forgotten, even life with the risen and ascended Jesus. "To be spiritually-minded is life and peace." How far such a morbid state of spiritual feeling may be brought about by preaching regeneration instead of Christ, might be a subject of inter-eating inquiry.

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in a false position looking only to spiritual agency within them, (so far undoubtedly right) they have been led into an unmeaning vagueness of hope, and have almost practically dissociated the hope of glory from the resurrection state, and connected it with that of the separate Spirit {sic, spirit}. Hence has arisen the sad mistake of a believer's real position in the world, and the vain attempt of regenerating it, save by the intervention of Him who says, "Behold, I create all things new." The world has been looked on as a scene of possible enjoyment, the full tide of evil and power of death in it, only being recognized by those who "have passed from death to life," who know that they "are of God, and that the whole world lieth in wickedness." The spiritual man, he that is quickened together with Christ, one with the risen and ascended Jesus in Spirit, ceases from the vain attempt to improve the world. The real liberty into which he is brought by truth, is the perception of things as they actually are in the sight of God. The world and its lusts are known as not of the Father, and therefore pass away, and hence joy in victory over it, and not being of it, through Him "who gave Himself for us that He might deliver us out of this present evil world."

How momentous to know our real character as Christians, specially in the present day, so remarkable for many anxious attempts at bettering the condition of man, and yet all failing, all falling before the power of evil, because there is no power or wisdom against it but in Him who is "the power of God and wisdom of God." Every advance that man has been able to make, has left hitn short of life. This, then, is the portion of a spiritual man -he stands in the power of life ever surrounded by death, and is therefore enabled to judge righteous judgment, because he can judge not according to appearances but according to realities. It is true that being quickened by the Spirit of God, he is able "to see the kingdom of God"; and his mind being necessarily versed in realities, and these realities being God and His Christ, while he learns the vanity of all that is in the world, he acquires a refinement and delicacy of mind which converse with God never fails to give. But there is exceeding great danger lest we mistake intellectual refinement for spirituality. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth -he that is born of the Spirit is of the truth, and is versed in the realities of all things. It is not the abstraction of the mind from the scene of evil to an imaginary scene of good, but it is being in the evil, recognizing it in all its fearful extent, detecting it under the fairest outside, rising above it personally through Him who was in it and felt its full pressure, in the blessed confidence that He overcame it all. In the world, not of the world, and therefore capacitated not only to see its misery, but to minister to it; and hence "the spiritual man judgeth all things." He is enabled to bring forth the judgment of God upon circumstances apparently trivial. This is much opened to us in 1 Cor. 7; we find the apostle giving his judgment, not by immediate revelation from God, but as one who had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, and had the Spirit of God: (8mcca Oc icocyca nvcup,oc OcOu cxciv) he applies the judgment of the Spirit in Him to circumstances of the most domestic character. It is thus he judges all things, being himself only a looker on, and therefore enabled in all calmness to see what those who are themselves engaged in it, cannot, "Man looks on the outside," he may view a thing every where, but the Spirit gets at the principle, i. e., what is before God. In a very little matter, a great principle may be at stake, and hence the short coming even of worldly wisdom in worldly things -"The Lord taketh the wise in their own craftiness" (1 Cor. 3:19).

It is the exercise of the Spirit of a sound mind, not that which would judge from results on the probable bearing of anything in given circumstances -not that which is its counterfeit and mere unbelief -the keeping out of God, but bringing him in, as the one in whose hand are results, as paramount to the circumstances of human infirmity. Soundness of mind, must necessarily appear folly in the estimation of the world, "but wisdom is justified of her children." It is a subject of deep humiliation in us all to see how far we come short of this soundness of mind, by conferring with flesh and blood; acting it may be on a right motive at first, but with a wrong expectation, which leads to the employment of means not justified, and disappointment. Nothing can be more contrary to soundness of mind than the results which have been and are, perhaps, by many expected from modern missionary exertions. The conduct of them and expectations from them has brought about a most morbid state of religious excitement, mistaken spirituality, and has tended to conceal the real destitution of the Church, and to make her say; "I am rich and increased with goods," when her very necessity which has driven her to seek help from the world is the saddest proof of decrepitude.

It will not be out of place to notice here the expressions, Rom. 8, "To be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace"; v. 6, φρὸνημα της σαρκος φρονηματου πνευματος. The words of the preceding verse, οι κατα σαρκα τα της σαρκος φρονουσιν, &c. plainly show that a spiritual mind is not an improvement of the natural mind; let that be cultivated to any extent of intellectual attainment, it still only fulfills "the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2). It is the portion alone of those who are κατα πνέυμα. The things of the Spirit are not only out of the province of the natural mind, but foolishness unto it (1 Cor. 2:14). Hence when Christianity has been treated as a science, and made the subject of mere intellect, being judged by those who are κατα σαρκα it has lost its real character. It is not that it may not call into exercise the highest intellect, for surely it well may; but when it is made the subject matter of intellect, instead of intellect being subject unto it; men are "always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

They are ever exercising their art to establish it on evidence on which the flesh can rest, or else take up some of the deductions of esteemed theologians, instead of searching the scriptures themselves. From this most profitless state the Spirit delivers—"as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." It is the Spirit of liberty; the children free in their Father's house, have no longer the inquiry to make, "what is truth?" they have the witness in themselves, and desire to be guided into all truth. But the flesh would ever draw false inferences from revealed truth, even truth brought by the Spirit to the mind. We have a memorable instance of this in Peter (Matt. 16), drawing his own conclusion from the confession he had just made; but, says the Lord, on ου φρονεις τα του θεου, αλλα τα των ανθρωπων. A spiritual mind is that which at once perceives the bearing of anything on the glory of the Lord, this characteristically distinguishes it from refinement of sentiment. Thus it was in Jesus, He was of quick understanding (scent) in the fear of the Lord; by this He immediately saw the gist of Satan's temptations. They appear to the mere natural man as those which are morally harmless -yea even as those which would have demonstrated His power, and turned to Satan's own confusion; but Jesus looked to them as bearing on His Father's honor. We shall see this more strongly by contrast. There could not have been a more legitimate conclusion for the Church to come to than that, when learning, rank, talent, influence, all of which had been united against her, fell before her, and were become her allies, she should then fill the world with blessing; but this was "savoring not {of} God, but of man." The Spirit invariably leads to where Christ is -"if ye then be risen with Christ" τα ανωφρονειτε, &c. It is ever the effort of the prince of this world to make us forget that the world is under the power of death, because it has rejected the prince of life, that its judgment is only respited for the purpose of manifesting Gods long-suffering, that all that is in the world, is not of the Father, and therefore He cannot be served by it. Hence οι ταεπιγεία φρονουντες; are enemies of the cross of Christ. To be spiritually minded is life, is to have risen up out of all this death, to know them as death, and to know Christ as the power of life. Nothing has had a more hurtful tendency in hindering present blessing and encouraging unwarrantable expectations, than the separation of the work of the Spirit from the glory of Christ, to whom He invariably points. Hence in a great measure has arisen the notion that the personal reign of Christ during the millennium is returning to the flesh from the Spirit, and retrograding instead of advancing in blessing. But what is real blessing? one who is at all quickened by the Spirit, knows it to consist in the knowledge and consequent enjoyment of God, and that every advance in the manifestation of God is an accession, of blessing to those really in communion with Him. It is true that now to faith is revealed the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ—"but the Son of man shall come in his own glory and in the glory of His Father, &c." And His triumph is theirs—"every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess Him." While then the joy of the saints will be full, "I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness": how is this to be effected but by fresh energy of the Spirit?—"If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jews from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." And while there is this display of the Spirit's power in the bodies of those who have received the first fruits of the Spirit, the great out-pouring of the Spirit is coincident with this -the exhaustion of the promise in Joel, "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh"; and the fulfillment of the new covenant in all its largeness to the Jew, in the very explicit language of Jer. 31 and Ezek. 26. It seems much to have been forgotten that we have only had as yet the first fruits of the Spirit; the full out-pouring is for another dispensation, which as contrasted with this is not fleshly as opposed to spiritual; but one of righteousness as opposed to grace. It is the manifestation of God's power in Christ over evil, so longed for by the still groaning creation. Here the evil in man's nature is restrained from fully developing itself in all, by the secret power of God, and in the saints kept under by the indwelling of God's Spirit; God's judicial power being only now revealed against it (Rom. 2), but not yet actually in exercise against it; then a king reigns in righteousness, having taken His power and bound Satan, the evil one, and "the way of iniquity shall perish," Now liberty is given to evil, i.e. man is left to himself in dispensation at least, save that He who is over all orders all, and makes "the wrath of man to praise Him"; but then God in the revealed power of the Son will not suffer it -"the soul that sinneth it shall surely die": "He shall destroy the works of the devil." In a word -the millennial dispensation is at least, as to the Jews upon earth, the combination of that in which both they have failed in theirs, and Christians in this -the full display of the Spirit on the heart and of earthly blessing in righteousness. So far from being unspiritual, the end of the millennial dispensation to which we are permitted to look, (and surely it is written for our instruction) affords a fresh proof that man under every advantage of nearness to God -outward blessing -testimony of the word and past experience too, will assuredly fail, unless dwelt in by the Spirit of God. Then will be demonstrated, publicly, that which the believer now knows experimentally, "that all flesh is grass" -that there is no real communion with God but by His Spirit -that security is not "by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord." Those therefore, who resist the testimony of God to the pre-millennial advent of Christ, and His reign with His saints perfectly conformed to His image in resurrection over the earth, are necessarily deprived of the instruction in a great moral truth respecting God, who will thus be demonstrated to be the only one with whom there is "no variableness neither shadow of turning"; by having proved the changeableness of the creature under every circumstance of blessing short of new creation. Nor is it uninstructive to notice that in thus connecting the present with the dispensation which is on the eve of being introduced, we are carried on in the fullness of personal security and blessing, to learn in it more of God -yea, of the riches of His grace, in being the witnesses of another apostasy, under circumstances the most favorable for the creature to have stood. The Lord give us to know the exceeding great blessing of being brought to "stand in grace. " Amen.

The Christian Witness 1:149-162.

The Voluntary System and an Establishment

It is plain to the most casual observer of what is passing around him, that there has been awakened in the minds of Christians an inquiry of what the Church of God is. Christians have been for a long time accustomed to walk as individuals, little caring the one for the other, and never asking the question of how they ought to walk so as to please God, so long as their consciences did not accuse them of habitual disobedience to the commands of the Lord, which applied to them individually. But while this has been the case, we may affirm that there has been habitual disobedience among all real Christians to those repeated commandments which can only attach to them as walking collectively -as members one of the other, who must have a care and regard for one another's interests. We are not so ignorant of the Devil's devices, as to be unable to discover how he has attempted to thwart this new craving after a more wholesome state of things, both by attempting to discredit any approximation towards it, by the introduction of heresy and disorder, or by turning aside the attention from the real question to some collateral points. In these which have been made the subject of appeal to the World, there are some who plead on the score of authority and tradition for things as they are: -others plainly show that they would set up self-will in the place of Christ; -while the infidel looks on as umpire, and confirms himself even from the very letter of the Bible in his delusion, that Christianity is mere Cant or Hypocrisy. Seeing it in the Bible so distinct a thing from the World, and seeing it before him accredited by the World, and in return accrediting the World. Amongst other questions, the one which has been most extensively canvassed, is that of "The Voluntary System and an Establishment." The determination of the whole matter, as it regards a Church, has been thought to hinge on this; when in fact, on their own showing, the discussion has nothing at all to do with a Church; but only sets before the public a kind of ecclesiastical statistics, to show which employs most teachers, occupies most territory, and gives religious instruction (the quality does not enter into the account) at the cheapest rate. It is deeply painful to a mind at all sensible of the high and holy calling of the Church of God, to see the attempt made to settle the question by an appeal to the World. It is not my intention to enter on a review of the question, because, in fact, it has nothing to do in the form it is presented with Church Constitution at all, but is only intended to embarrass the minds of those who are anxiously seeking for God's glory and their own blessing in Church fellowship. But it appears to me that the way may be cleared, in order to lead the inquiring mind onwards, by showing the principles of God's truth, which are involved, however perverted they may be, in these supposed antagonist systems.

First. -With respect to the Voluntary System, so far as it really is what it professes, it is true in principle. The absurdity of calling the dissenting system by this name, has been abundantly proved in this controversy; the preachers neither preach the gospel freely, nor do the hearers hear it for nothing. But it is the theory we have to do with, -it is written, "Freely ye have received, freely give." There is nothing so abhorrent to the genius of Christianity as stipulation or exaction. All its great principles are but the shadowing forth of God's principles. As Christians, "He has given to us His Son"; in Him He has given to us eternal life. All we have is a "gift by grace"; it is on this basis that God lays His claim upon us for an unreserved surrender of ourselves unto Him. Now it is a most melancholy proof of the very low state of Christianity, and of the little measure of practical separation between the Church and the World, when the question is made to turn so much on giving and receiving, a question in which the World may be a very competent judge, for it is its own principle -so much service for so much hire. But how little could the World recognize the Apostle's statement, "all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing trespasses unto them, and hath put in us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5)." It is most true that those who minister the Word, are the servants of the World: they are "debtors both to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise:" their privilege is to be as their master was in the World, "one that serveth." But immediately the question of payment came in, then the World claims the service as its rightful due in consideration of the payment of that which is alone valuable in its eyes, even money. Hence instead of the ministers of the Word standing on the high ground of ambassadors for Christ, they are looked upon merely as of a profession, the valuable service of which is secured as in other Professions, by payment. This is indeed a sorrowful state of things, all the power of testimony to the world that there is something far beyond it and above it, is lost. As these judge, one gets a livelihood by preaching, and another by a farm or a shop. Now it seems that our Lord and His Spirit in the Apostles took much pains to show the entire distinction between those whom He sent, and mere professors of the World, in this particular point. In the first place, during His own stay on the earth, He stripped His disciples of every dependence, to show His own power in providing for their necessities through others, even when He was with them. "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy of his meat (Matt. 10:9, 10)." To this the Lord refers in the concluding scene of His ministry, "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? they said, Nothing (Luke 22:35)." Their wants {needs} were supplied without any care or stipulation on their part. The Lord knew they had need of sustenance, yea they were worthy of it, and might very properly look for it; but as to its measure and quality, that they were not to concern themselves about. "The workman is worthy of his meat," even of that which the Lord would provide for him. Again He says, "into whatsoever city or town ye enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go thence." In this, clearly we see that maintenance from the world was not to be expected, it was only to be from those who received them as prophets, or righteous men, or servants of the Lord, they were to receive support if it were offered. In Luke 10 some further particulars are specified, all exemplifying the same great principle, that their support, as preachers of the gospel, was not to be derived from any other source than the free and voluntary supplies of those who received them. "In the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house; (as if to get better fare) and unto whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you." In the Apostles, afterward, we find that while it is maintained that those who were sent forth of the Lord to spend and be spent in His service, had undoubted right to expect a maintenance, yet that it never comes in the shape of demand from unwilling contributors -never was to be looked on as a fixed payment; for the Lord loves the cheerful giver. It is never told the minister to demand, but it is pressed on the people of God to support, This, excepting their prayers, was the only return that those who had received blessing from them in spiritual things could render. "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" And thus we see the principle exemplified, "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us (Acts 16:14, 15)."

Here we find the same principle carried into practice as our Lord enforced Matt. 10, with this difference, -They in going only to the children of Israel, had to inquire who among them "was worthy." It was positive enactment to them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, and not to enter into any city of the Samaritans. On the contrary, the Apostle and his companions were led of the Spirit from city to city, and country to country, and had now passed over to the isles of the Gentiles; excepting Jews dwelling in these countries, who was to be found worthy. This now was not discovered by previous inquiry; but immediately the grace of the Lord opens the heart, the house is open to the messengers of that grace. -They find a house to abide in while they are there, and maintenance; but this not demanded but forced on them. And let it be noticed, that as it was in an individual at Philippi first, so in the Church at Philippi afterward, this pressing support on the Apostle was shown. -"Now ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no Church communicated with me concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, and a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God (Phil. 4:15-18)." In reading 1 Cor. 9:1-19, we find the right to a maintenance fully recognized for those who were necessitated to forbear working, in order to give themselves to the work of the ministry. Analogy from the law, the reasonableness of the thing itself, and the Lord's own order, are all brought forward. True, the Apostle had the more excellent way, and had not used his liberty; -he had worked with his own hands (Acts 20:34, 35); but he would not make his own instance any infringement on the right of others; though by pressing his own example, he plainly intimated his desires. "I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive." It is thus that he tacitly leads on the mind to his greater liberty in not asserting his right, so that there could be no hindrance to the gospel on this account; and he had thereby brought himself into the very place of his Master, to become as he that served. "For though I be free from all, yet have I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more (v. 19)." In this instance, as in others of Christian conduct, we find that nice line of distinction which those led of the Spirit practically, though it may be unconsciously, know how to draw. Here there is right recognized, but not asserted. And the same principle applies in other cases; -there is room left for the exercise of grace in waving right, but the assertion of right immediately put us out of the standing in grace. Abstractedly there would be nothing morally wrong in any Christian seeking redress of wrong: -an act is not changed in its character because done to a Christian. But here would be the difference -the same act or outrage perpetrated against a Believer and a Worldly man, would immediately give occasion to show the real difference of principles. A man of the world would appeal to the world, the principle of which is selfishness. One led of the Spirit, cannot look at himself but unto God, whose principle towards him is grace. If he sought reparation from the world, it would argue a very low state indeed. "Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, be-cause ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong, why do ye not suffer yourselves to be defrauded? (1 Cor. 6)." It is on this principle that the question concerning maintenance, hangs -"The laborer is worthy of his hire." "They who preach the gospel shall live of the gospel." Maintenance, therefore, they have a right to expect; but could they demand it? let any one led of the Spirit judge. The whole difficulty of Christian ethics in theory lies in this -we are under the law of liberty. -Man only knows law as positive enactment. But this law of liberty always leaves room for the service of love, and showing grace. We cannot, therefore, draw out a scheme of Christian ethics because this law of liberty needs, as supplemental, the Spirit to apply it. "Where the Spirit is there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17); and it is thus that simple minded Christians are led on happily walking in the Spirit, finding in the word an expansiveness and application to circumstances which could not easily be imagined. He who gave the rule knew what was in man; and as a Believer by the word, the sword of the Spirit, is taught to know himself and his standing before God in grace, he is able readily to apply the great principles which Christ has laid down, to the circumstances in which he is. In the word of God, while it is ruled, that a minister of that word, if for the word's sake, and work's sake he forbear working with his hands, has a right to expect maintenance; yet as to how much he is to expect or the quality of his maintenance, it is simply what they give: there is no stipulated quantity as to giving, that is left open to them -"the Lord loveth a cheerful giver"; it must not be exaction, but a free-will offering. Thus is there room left in this matter for the exercise of grace, both in those who sow to others spiritual things, and those who receive them. Had there been positive enactment this could not have been. But the Church has lost her own principles in this, and let the world regulate for her; and that which was left open for grace has been used for evil. The minister has a fixed hire, and the people must pay a fixed sum; so that the real Voluntary Principle has been nearly lost, though it be the only principle sanctioned by Christ and His Apostles. It is not the principle of those who profess it, but another under the same name; giving the rein to man's self-will, and leading to most painful practical results. But I pursue not this farther, but now turn briefly to consider the Theory of an Establishment.

The theory of an Establishment is quite true in principle. It is truly said, that man is insensible to his spiritual necessities, and there-fore that there ought to be means employed to force them on his attention, to show him the evil case in which he is before God, and the gracious remedy provided by God Himself to extricate him from it. Man, it is said, may safely be left to his own feelings in case of bodily suffering, or of difficult circumstances, he will be led under the pressure of these, to consult either the physician or the lawyer. The supply of these, may therefore be left to the demand for them. But not so with respect to religious teachers, for them there would be no demand, because their assistance would not he felt to be needed. Hence the necessity of providing a body of men to act aggressively on the mass. Now, fully recognizing the necessity of acting aggressively on man, in reference to his soul, has not God made provision for this necessity? and is not an Establishment a virtual counteraction of that provision? It is God Himself who has been constantly acting aggressively on man -this is just the love of God. He left not Adam to discover his necessity and then apply to Him; but He forced Himself on the notice of Adam, that he might be sensible of his misery, and then graciously proclaimed the remedy for the ruin into which he was fallen. And so again, God came to Abraham, and called him out of his country: and when God Himself vouchsafed to be the law-giver and king of a special nation, after that nation had committed the great sin of rejecting Him, still He continued to act upon them by His servants the prophets, testifying to the evil they were in, and calling on them to repent; as it is written, "And the God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up by times and sending, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place; but they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy (2 Chron. 26:15. 16)." But again, we see the aggressive principle in God, it is His principle. He knows the necessities of man, and that his most fearful state is ignorance of the necessity in which he is: he waits not to be asked, but He gives, He sends His Son. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son;" "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world." And He that was sent, forced the message with which He came, even on unwilling hearers. He was not stationary for men to come and hear it if they would, but "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23)." "And He said unto them, let us go forth into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth (Mark 1:38)." "And He went round about the villages teaching (Mark 6)." "And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:1)." In a word, He went about doing good. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, He had anointed Him to preach the gospel to the poor. Here was the real aggressive principle -and it did not end with Him. He sent forth the twelve, limiting them indeed, to the cities of Israel, but still on the principle of testimony, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear; "As ye go, preach: and they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel." God's love had sent Him, His love had sent them; "As my Father has sent me, even so I send you." Their commission was enlarged after His resurrection; there was to be no limit to the space allotted, save by the interference, of the Holy Spirit in His sovereignty. He had been lifted up from off the earth to be the attractive point to any. All power in heaven and in earth was given to Him, and their commission thus large, "Go ye and teach all nations, and lo: 1 am with you alway. " Here was their warrant and the assurance of protection; but one thing was wanting -the same heart for the work which animated God in the sending of his Son, and the Son in sending them out. This was supplied by the coming down of the Holy Ghost, the other Comforter, glorifying Jesus to them, and shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts. They were now constrained by the love of Christ, they needed no other motive. God had reconciled them to Himself by Jesus Christ, He had put into them the word of reconciliation; and as ambassadors for Christ, they present themselves thus, "As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." No principle short of this could have met the difficulties to be encountered; nothing could command the needful service but God's own constraining love. Animated by this, they went forth devoid of every external credit, and without any support from the world to act aggressively on it. They compelled men to come in. There was in them that which did not stop to calculate the good possibly to be effected, or reckon on consequences; they saw the fearful evil in which men were, and they knew the only remedy. And thus we are told, when Paul waited for Silas and Timothy at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met him (Acts 17:16, 17). "And when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was perfect (sic, pressed) in the Spirit (spirit), and testified to the Jews, that Jesus was Christ." His feeling was, "I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise; so, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also (Rom. 1:14, 15)." And how expansive was the principle, how constraining the love of God: through how many difficulties, through what a tract of country had its energy working in Him, mightily carried one individual. Hear his own testimony, "I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:18, 19)." But his soul was not satisfied, he had still more distant regions in view, "Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you (v. 24);" again, "not boasting of things without our measure, i.e., of other men's labors; but having hope when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you (2 Cor. 10:13-16)." We see in the Apostle, not the stimulus given to exertion by an Establishment, carefully watching over those who are under it, that they give themselves to the work; but the unhindered energy of the Spirit. He was one sent not of men nor by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead (Gal. 1:1). In other words, he was not sent out by an Establishment; which however excellent its construction, must have hindered this energy in the Apostle, by turning him aside necessarily both from singleness of motive and singleness of object. Now Paul is a type of the present dispensation, and his ministry the pattern of what the Church's ministry ought to be, The same spirit in her as in him ought to think nothing done while there remained a region where "Christ was not named. " In this she ought only to look to the "God of measure," who would make known to her as to St. Paul, where He would have His gospel to be preached. But this guidance an Establishment neglects; it acts on its own principles, and therefore we see the anomaly in our days of providing a place of worship and a ministry (in a country confessedly heathen), before there are converts. And what is the result but the binding down the Spirit of God, if He be in the minister, to the station in which he is placed, so that God's principle of constraint to preach Christ is made secondary to the duty owed to the Establishment; the service of the church or chapel must go on, although it has been as plainly shown, that the Lord has not a people there; as when Paul was forbidden to preach the gospel in Asia, and called into Europe. But lest it should be said that the example of the Apostle Paul is not a fair one, he standing in all the plenitude of conscious authority, and in all the fullness of spiritual energy, let it be remembered, that he says, "Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ. "

But more than this, I would say, that the interests of an Establishment (and surely if we be of it, we must be interested in it) would necessarily have hindered the energy of the Spirit in Paul: and farther, the same energetic principle is marked in others -"Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the Church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort [worthy of God: marg.] thou shalt do well; because that, for His name's sake, they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles, we therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth (3 John 5-8)." They were not sent forth of men -they were neither supported nor accredited by an Establishment; the love of Christ constrained them to go among the heathen, and the love of Christ constrained others in supporting them to be fellow-helpers to the truth. Now an Establishment has put itself in the place of this constraining love; and by its organized plan tends greatly to exclude both the showing of sympathy on the one hand and feeling of it on the other; so that he who goes forth among the heathen even for the Lord's sake, in simplicity, does not feel assured of the sympathies of those from whom he goes forth, acting as they do rather officially than as brethren. In a word, an Establishment is in theory the attempt of man's wisdom to do God's work in its own way. God provides an adequate energy for a single object; an energy expanding with the demand for its exercise, but an energy which, unless it be quite free, is disabled for the work. If there be a second object beyond the one God has proposed, and it be forced into a channel to work for this object, God's object is lost -the energy misspent and wasted. The energy of God's Spirit is such that it cannot be helped, as man fondly thinks it can, without being hindered. Now the evil of an Establishment on any theory, whether it be national or sectarian, is this, that it can go on as well (quoad Establishment) without, as with the Spirit of God. The whole routine may be most orderly -the appearance in their paper documents most satisfactory; ministers may be well paid; subscription lists most flourishing; pews and schools well filled; and yet the single question which a truly spiritual man would ask -is the Spirit of God working? might receive no satisfactory answer. There is, undoubtedly, much Christian zeal to be witnessed around us in individuals; many highly gifted men in the ministry; much energy of the Spirit which has not room to expand itself, because it cannot work aggressively through the very means that men have proposed to act aggressively. No one judging as a spiritual man, can but lament at that which he sees around him. Much spiritual energy restrained within unnatural hounds by the effort of men to uphold an Establishment; the strange ground on which Christians alone can meet, is generally where the world can join them (as for benevolent objects); the secret fellowship which those led of one Spirit often find one with another, but which cannot be manifested, because it would violate the order of the Establishment; the ground of compromise taken as the point of union instead of oneness in the Spirit; the necessary hindrance to progress in the truth, because all truth is supposed to be that only which the Establishment accredits. It is thus that any Establishment necessarily fetters the energy of the Spirit; and oh! that we were wise in profiting by experience. God had once an Establishment of His own on the earth, and mark what happened, -His people leaned on it and not on Himself; God interposed in testifying against this their sin -He raised up a series of Prophets to do that which the Establishment ought to have done, to act aggressively on the mass, and at the same time to testify against His own Establishment, so perverted by them. "Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel: and now because ye have done all these works saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, as I have done to Shiloh (Jer. 7:12-14)." The prophetic testimony came in on the failure of the Establishment, through man's evil. It was by "the ministry of the Prophets," not the established priesthood, that God wrought (Hos. 12:10-13). Precisely analogous has been the way that God has acted. Christians have sought unto Establishments, some more or less according to His word, but all necessarily hindering the Spirit. All revivals have been through the energy of the Spirit in individuals in these several Establishments, who have usually tried to avail themselves of what is good in them till they have been unwillingly forced out of them, because the question of trusting in God or in them was the point; faithfulness to both being impossible for those whom God had sent for His witnesses. The misery has been that those who have been thus forced out of one, it may be great, Establishment, have gone on in their own wisdom to set up another more limited, and, as they believe, more pure; but which in the event stands as really a hindrance to the Spirit of God as the one they had left. While, therefore, we cannot but feel that real unity of the Spirit is effectually hindered in our own country by our having a second object to look to in the respective Establishments to which any belong; -these are a real hindrance also to preaching the gospel with power among the heathen. Let one speak, a most devoted Missionary, and one whose case is a practical comment on the deadening effect of attachment to a system more than to Christ. "We are called ministers of the gospel, of Christ, of God; and as such we should draw our instructions 'from Christ our Head and Master, through the approved channel,' the Scriptures. -But being connected with different bodies or societies, and being sent out by them, we have become too much the ministers of those societies rather than of Christ, promulgating their peculiar sentiments, and, consequently, all the unChristian divisions which they maintain. True, those societies charge their Missionaries to go out as servants of Christ, and give them high encomiums as such, but at the same time they add also that they must not differ from them in their peculiar sentiments, forms, &c. Now what is this else but saying, "you must be servants of Christ, but in our way." This cannot but be detrimental to the cause of union." "Were the societies to say to them, as the Apostle said to the churches, "Be ye followers of us as far as we are of Christ," then all would be right, for then the Missionary would still be at liberty to look solely to His Head and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ; and the society also would be content with whatsoever he does, if it but agree with Christ's instructions; but now he has as it were two masters -Christ, and the society or denomination to which he belongs! By this, the Spirit of Christ whom he desires to follow, is often restrained. -His heart gets straitened -he cannot follow Christ altogether so as his conscience dictates, because the society, who cannot possibly understand local circumstances, has different regulations, &c. That this has produced much mischief in the Missionary body is, I think, evident. Their minds have been divided and cramped. They have been hindered from doing all the good, which, as ambassadors of Christ, they ought to have done. Now this should not go on any longer. If you are ministers of Christ and His gospel, take heed to your Master and His instructions. -Set Him always before your eyes. -Act as He has told you in His word, and as He teaches you by His Spirit; in conformity to it keep your dignity, your high vocation steadily in view, and act accordingly. And these venerable societies should not expect more nor less from their Missionaries. They ought to have a watchful eye upon them, that they do follow Christ and His word, but not cramp their usefulness by peculiar sentiments and forms, nor make them proud and anxious to please rather men than God, by praising them for following the same. Then they will see their labors prosper and their heart's desire for the overthrow of Satan fulfilled. Thus, both the societies and Missionaries will be servants of Christ indeed. Let us remember how even Peter was led into error by the peculiar sentiments of a certain body, and how Paul reproved him (Gal. 2:11-14)." "And here I beseech every one of my Brother Missionaries, to consider further this word of St. Paul. "But, as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness; nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others: (1 Thess. 2:4-6). Remember also that a certain divine, after they had made him a Doctor of Divinity, when he preached faithfully the word of God, contrary to the received notions of the body to which he belonged, when they began to be alarmed, and desired him to refrain from such a course, "They have made me Doctor of the Bible," said he, "and made me swear that I will teach according to it; now then I must do so." -Fear not the faces of men! The approbation of our heavenly Master, and the blessing which He vouchsafes on our labors, as His servants, are more worthy of our desire than the favor of the whole world." "Whoever then is a minister of Christ, he will have to give an account of how he ministered unto Christ; he must therefore think himself to be such. And shall he be puffed up by thus thinking of himself, and acting accordingly? The Apostle has warned him against it (1 Cor. 4:6, 7). In this respect also, the injunction "of the Apostle is applicable, "Be ye not the servants of men" (1 Cor. 11:23). Too much has thus been forgotten: how much better would it stand with the Missionary cause, had every Missionary, with deep humility, as unworthy of the high calling, taken his title in reality, and stood upon this high ground as a servant of Christ, independently of men. And had every Missionary Society restricted themselves to this, and not circumscribed the authority of Christ by so many rules and formulas. It seems as if they believed that the bible was defective in rules, or that Christ our Load would not do what is necessary to direct His servants, as if His influence had ceased, and that they were obliged to take His work into their own hands. But He will not give His glory to another." "It is not strange that various societies think so little of a pledge given to minister the word of God faithfully, and so much of pledges given to the keeping of their particular rules and articles. It seems as if they feared the word of God was not plain enough -as if He must necessarily mistake its meaning when left by itself: so that they must make additions to the divine word. How dishonorable to the word of God 1 Or they mistrust the person who gives "such a pledge, and regard him not as a minister of Christ, while yet they tell him that he is one. What strange inconsistency! They seem to fear that he is not able to teach the word as it is. In that case they ought {not?} to send him out. This would be the best security against false teachers or loiterers in the great cause, but not pledging him to keep human rules. If it be said that these rules are perfectly consistent with the word, containing neither more nor less than the bible warrants, then, wherefore the rules? Is not the word of God sufficient? Why bind a man to human compositions as if they were the original word of God? Every society should be afraid of venturing on so bold a step." And here then I pause: let any one led by the Spirit of God judge of the value of Establishments by the Word and not by his own reasonings, and I think it will clearly appear that it is the abortive attempt of man's wisdom to perpetuate that which can only be perpetuated to blessing by the presence of God's good Spirit; -that the stimulus they provide falls far short of the exigencies of the case; -that the only real aggressive principle adapted to man's moral necessities is the constraining love of God; and that so far from Establishments proving helps to the energy of the Spirit, they have been and are now actually hindrances; and finally that they have altered the constitution of Christ's Church from unity in the Spirit to uniformity, which the flesh can readily recognize.

I would shortly notice, that the question of the union between Church and State, is not necessarily that of an Establishment. It is in theory true, but not now; it is the anticipative attempt of the Church to rule the world, which will be true only in the Millennium. But now it puts the Church entirely on a wrong ground -i.e., in power instead of suffering. The Church can only exercise power in righteousness, even as the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of Man, her Head will do. She cannot therefore judge those without, although in faithfulness bound to judge those that are within; not however with the sword, but by putting away evil from her midst (1 Cor. 5:12, 13). The Church cannot tolerate evil, the civil governor must; yea, almost all human legislation is on the principle of remedy, a lesser for a greater evil; between which Christianity cannot choose. So far as the theory is concerned, many who are quick-sighted to discover the absurdity of identifying the Church and nation, because they see the error palpable before them, do not perceive that they are acting on the same principle. A Christian dissenter desiring to become a legislator for the nation, is in fact seeking to exercise power now. True, he tries to distinguish between his Christianity and his citizenship, but we are taught, "whatsoever we do in word or in deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." We are not reckoned as "living in the world" (Col. 2:20), but as "risen with Christ. " "Therefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh, for if any man he in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." The Christian who seeks power individually now, is attempting to apply his principles to rule which they cannot be; and while the Lord is dealing with a world in grace, and hence instead of the exhibition of real spirituality of mind, Christianity is beginning to be accounted a mere philanthropic and humanizing system; to better the world instead of convincing it of coming wrath.

The theory of Church and State was most perfectly shown out in practice in the darkest ages of Christianity; then the Church entirely disposed of the world. And yet in theory, the Church kept up her own independence; so marvelously are truth and error blended in that system of Satan's wisdom, that the judgment of the Church ended in excommunication; then came in the secular arm. The same is shown in a measure, in the less perfect exhibition of the theory in this nation {England}; excommunication in fact, becomes putting out of the world: since it and the Church are one. But it is remarkable, that so far as the truth of the theory goes, the Church of Rome has more faithfully exhibited it than the Church of this nation; she never surrendered her own independent legislation, the Church of this country has, for the sake of making laws for the world. And now the world has turned against her and thrown off her legislation (as virtually done by the repeal of the test act); she is left in the anomalous position of a vast body unable to make even a by-law for its own regulation.

Surely we ought to profit by this, and learn that Christians have never attempted to use the world, but they have lost their own principles; and their moral influence has been used by the world, and eventually turned against them. What we need, is separation on our own principles, to show that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to day, and forever: the same in doctrine -the same in practice -the same in the midst of an evil world. In the midst of the shifting morality of the world, we are called on to show that we have an unvarying standard, even Him whose conversation was in heaven, while He was on earth; and who proved by His contrariety to the world that its deeds were evil. And so it is our proper standing to know our-selves as of God, and the whole world lying under the wicked one. Thus alone can we be in any measure the lights of the world, and cause that men should see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.

The Christian Witness 2:264-280 (1835).

The Zeal of Jehu

The most dismal picture of Old Testament history, is that of the kingdom of Israel. From the time of Jeroboam to the carrying away of Israel captive by Assyria, we read of nothing but the extirpation of family after family as they successively filled Israel's wicked throne. All this is in direct contrast with the kingdom of Judah, where all went on in orderly succession, because the Lord had spoken to David "of his house for a great while to come" (2 Sam. 7:19). So that the Lord could say by his prophet, "Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints (Hos. 11:12)."

The darkest period of the house of Israel was during the dynasty of the house of Omri. A new feature of apostasy was then introduced into Israel by Ahab, the second king of that house. "Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him; and it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him; and he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria; and Ahab made a grove, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him (1 Kings 16:30-33)."

This fearful exhibition of evil served to bring out in a remarkable manner the patient grace of God, even at the very moment He was announcing the most tremendous judgment awaiting the house of this king so fearfully pre-eminent in wickedness. "There was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Such is the way of our gracious God, that when judgment is near to approach, then testimony is multiplied. And it affords a kind of relief to this dark history, to find it the period of the extraordinary ministry of those "men of God," Elijah and Elisha. God had His witnesses and His hidden ones; and if there was iniquity so abounding as to make the heart faint, there was a superabounding energy of God's Spirit to testify against it, and to sustain the soul of faith by the largest expectations. It was Elijah who delivered to Ahab the message of God's judgment on his house, averted from himself personally by his immediate humiliation. The man of God was indeed bold in testimony to the very face of the willful king; but it is not in the man of God, but in God Himself to know the resources of grace, and to say by a fresh revelation, "Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil on his house (1 Kings 21:29)." If even in such a case as this there was grace and respite, what blessing might not those obtain who are now awakening to the sense of what it is to have added the sin of their own generation to the sin of their fathers, if they were really humbled before the Lord? "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."

But to return. Elisha, by the hand of one of the sons of the prophets, anoints Jehu to be king over Israel, and to execute the judgment on the house of Ahab threatened by Elijah (2 Kings 9). This was his commission, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel, and thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hands of Jezebel, &c. &c. (vv. 7-10)." Never was a more fitted instrument for the work whereunto he was appointed than Jehu. Jehoram the son of Ahab falls by his hand, and Ahaziah king of Judah, by the hand of his servants, for he also "walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab (2 Kings 8:27)." Through this connection was the wickedness of Israel introduced into Judah; and the word of the prophet came to Judah as well as to Israel. "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation and the inhabitants thereof a hissing (Mic. 6:16)." But the hand of vengeance had not yet fulfilled God's purpose. Jezebel was trodden under foot by Jehu in the street of Jezreel. Ahab's seventy sons were slain by the elders of Samaria; and, on seeing their heads in two heaps at the gate of Jezreel, Jehu says, "Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his kinsfolk and his priests, until he left him none remaining {XXX}." Nor did his vengeance end here. The family of David was all but cut off, and the kingly power left in the hands of a woman of the family of Ahab Such was Judah's portion in having joined affinity with Ahab. Such ever the sorrowful portion in having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness! "Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them (2 Kings 10:13, 14)." It was after blotting out all that remained of Ahab in Jezreel, and nearly extirpating the family of Jehoshaphat (the queen mother destroying all the seed royal but one rescued infant), that Jehu invites the companionship of Jehonadab to be witness of his zeal for the Lord. "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. And when be came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which He spake to Elijah {XXX}." It was no part of the commission received from the Lord by Jehu to destroy the worshipers of Baal. To this he was led by his own zeal, which ended in his destroying Baal out of Israel: -a mighty achievement indeed. Such as has not been wrought by either of God's faithful witnesses, Elijah or Elisha. But was it zeal for the Lord, or was it policy cloaked under this fair name? The family of Ahab had established the worship of Baal, and doubtless Ahab's partizans in the kingdom would have followed the king's religion: policy, therefore, would have required the suppression of Baal's worship as much as godly zeal. And how constantly do we find the policy of mere worldlings used by God, either in judgment on corruption, or for the deliverance of His remnant. This, man sees, and to this only he looks, as the spring of all the movement in the Church of God; and hence is he emboldened to think himself as competent to order God's household as to order the world. And the principle of convenience is that which he carries into his reformations, instead of the holiness of God. Now whatever Jehu himself might think of his zeal, whether he acted in dissimulation or self-deception, it is certain that the Lord did not own it. If there be an intelligent zeal for the Lord, it cannot stop short of the Lord's end: but of this Jehu did stop short, and in this was proved the defectiveness of his zeal. He was zealous for God so far as it served his purpose, but the moment it came to interfere with himself, and to have gone further would have involved self-sacrifice, then Jehu stopped. "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan {XXX}." How different was this zeal in its character and in the judgment of God, from that which actuated Elijah. His was zeal according to knowledge, but ignorance of God characterized the zeal of Jehu. To the eye of man, Jehu was much more zealous than Elijah, and accomplished a far greater work. But not so before God, who regards the honor of His own name in all that we do, and sets more by the feeblest consistent testimony for Him, than the greatest outward reformation which stops at man's need. "And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him: and he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. ... And it came to pass, that at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again (1 Kings 18)." In Jehu's zeal for the Lord, it was that Jehu might be known; in Elijah's, that Jehovah might be acknowledged.

It was Jehu that destroyed Baal out of Israel: -this sufficed him. But the zeal of Elijah, disappointed indeed at the time, could not stop short of all the purpose of God with respect to Israel. He saw the earnest to the answer of his prayer, when the people, falling on their faces, cried out, "the Lord, He is the God, the Lord, He is the God." Jehu, like a wily politician, rested satisfied with that reformation which satisfied the exigencies of the times; but Elijah, the real reformer (for he shall restore all things {XXX}), must have the altar of Jehovah raised as the center of Israel's unity -of the twelve tribes and not of the ten, -and the heart of the children turned back to the fathers. Jehu, as a reformer, attacks the immediate evil and is satisfied with removing this; not looking back to the covenant of Jehovah with the fathers, nor forward to the purpose of God as to Israel, not in its divided state, but in its oneness; for the object of the faith of Israel as to blessing is "our twelve tribes." And any measure of reformation which did not take in that object as its guide, would always stop short of God's measure. It does not appear from the Scripture that the Lord at all owned the zeal of Jehu, however mighty the work he achieved, "And the Lord said unto Jehu, because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel {XXX}." Surely God is a God of Judgment, and by Him actions are weighed; and He will own all that He can in that which any do, but they shall have the reward which they seek. It sufficed Jehu to know the security of himself and family on the throne of Israel. He had his reward. "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin {XXX}." Now I believe that we may draw very solemn and seasonable instruction from this which has been written for our admonition. The value of the Scriptures of the Old Testament in this light, has not been sufficiently attended to. God is not now exhibiting His ways in action, but they are recorded for our instruction.

There is nothing more fair and plausible than the desire of reformation; but there is no desire which more often cloaks the selfishness of the human heart. A zeal against public wrongs is found a most convenient screen for the blemishes of private character. And it is far more easy with the eagle-eye of self-interest to detect and expose a thousand faults, than for a man in any one thing to deny himself. In a day like the present, when the spirit of improvement is so widely and so busily stirring, it is no wonder that the same spirit should have arisen in the Church, and have manifested itself in schemes for its reformation. And this especially when the Church's inconsistencies with its pretensions and profession are so glaring as to be the taunt and jest of the infidel, and when many real Christians are groaning under the burthens imposed on them by human traditions. It is "good indeed to be zealously affected always in a good thing"; but unless the zeal be according to knowledge, it will just end where the zeal of Jehu ended, in cutting off, it may be, many things which are outwardly offensive, but in leaving entirely untouched the root of the evil, the selfish wisdom of man; for it is this whence has sprung all the disorder in the Church of God. But reformation in the Church is not that which answers the purpose of God. If there were the most awakened zeal, the most decided energy, and the most sincere desire of heart largely engaged in the reformation of the Church, this would not be effectual because it is not according to the mind of God. In the first place, the very notion of attempting such a reformation is not the confession of our sin and of our failure, but is rather an assumption of our own competence to remedy the Church's failure. But secondly, reformation, simply as reformation, has never been the plan which God has pursued, and it is not the plan which God will pursue. God has never brought back anything that has fallen to the standing from whence it fell. He has indeed taken the occasion from the failure to magnify His own grace, and to introduce something far more blessed. Now man naturally looks back to some point as the point of attainment, while God is looking forward; and hence, supposing it possible that the reformer attains his object (which the revealed wisdom of God forbids us to suppose), he would not attain the object of God. Yet it is to that object, that the Holy Spirit constantly leads, witnessing that in that alone there will be no failure. Hence it comes to pass that the power of real reformation in the Church is not only by the most just apprehension of the Church's original principles, but by acquaintance with the purpose of God as to that which is before it. The effect of attempting to work our way back simply by the apprehension of what the Church once was, would be such disappointment as to constrain us either to give up the attempt as hopeless, or to stop short in some little circumscribed association, and thus to merge into the worst form of sectarianism, or perhaps to assume pretended powers as successionally derived or anew received, and thus to set up official claims as the Church, and effectually to destroy the distinction between the Church and the world. For this has invariably been the effect of the assumption of power, standing in office, and not in the energy of the Spirit. We see in the case of Jehu an instance of reformation, very great indeed in its immediate result, and carried on by an energy which promised permanent blessing: but whatever apparent zeal for God there was in the matter, the very first element of godly zeal was wanting, and that is the fear of the Lord. There was no humbling of himself before God for his own sins and the sins of the people: there was no recurrence at all to the law of Moses, so as to learn the real extent of their departure from the Lord: there was no acting on faith. The evil was before him, and it was remedied. Baal was destroyed; but the national sin, that which hung over Israel, and awaited the Lord's judgment, the calves of Bethel, was unthought of. It had been tolerated; it had become venerable; so that it had ceased to affect the conscience at all: and the bringing back of the people from Baal to this worship, was quite sufficient to satisfy this great reformer in Israel, and to make him boast of his zeal for the Lord.

The zeal of the prophets of the Lord was a zeal according to knowledge. They themselves were brought to see the sin and the evil in which the nation was, and to be in their own souls so exercised as became the condition in which they saw the nation to be. However personally exempt from the fearful evils around them, they were led to humiliation and confession of sin, as being themselves part of the guilty body (Dan. 9; Isa. 6; 63;.64). This was zeal for the Lord because He had been dishonored in Israel. We do not find therefore any self-complacency in exposing or denouncing evil; but while doing this in faithfulness to the Lord, committing their judgment unto Him, and appealing to Him as knowing the desire of their hearts for Israel, that it might he saved. Such was the spirit of the sorrowful prophet, living in the midst of apostasy and commissioned to declare God's judgment on it; and this spirit brought him into constant trial from his own countrymen. Yet he could turn to God and say, "Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them (Jer. 18:20)."

But there is another thing. We do not find in them any contentedness with any reformation which their own ministry might have wrought: for the same spirit of Christ, which had shown to them the extent of the evil, testified also unto God's remedy for it, and that was in Christ, who alone would be able to bring the nation into righteousness, and to sustain them in it. It was by the power of this hope, that their ministry became efficient in sustaining the souls of the feeble remnant amidst abounding evil, and bringing them more and more back to what God had originally constituted. Reconstitution was hopeless: and the spirit of faithful individuals must have sunk within them, had the blessing been suspended on reformation. But it was held out to them in hope: there was no uncertainty in that: neither was it a thing to be compassed by their own powers. Hence in the worst of days, whether of idolatry or of formality, any single individual walking in the ordinances of God would have been sustained, and encouraged to separate from that which was not of God. Such do we find to have been the sustaining power to the very feeble remnant at the period of the coming of Messiah. "And there was one Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel... She was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day; and she coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:36, 38)." The looking for redemption was the power of present acceptable worship to the Lord. The people were content with outward reformation (and such it was compared with former times) and decency of order, and it was most fair; but the Spirit of Christ in the prophetess could not be satisfied with this; she was looking for redemption, and consequently, aloof from the mass, she spent all her time in the temple in fastings and prayers. God was calling the people to this; but there was no real zeal for Him, but "joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine" (Isa. 22:12, 13).

In Josiah king of Judah, we find one zealous indeed for the Lord, and whose conduct is a remarkable contrast with that of Jehu. The discovery of a copy of the law in repairing the temple, led this young king to a farther discovery, and that was the departure of his fathers and all the people from the commandments and statutes of the Lord. "When the king heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes, for great, said he, is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book {XXX}." Here was the very first element in real godly zeal -no self-sufficient strength or wisdom to set all right, but deep self-abasement and confession of sin. His next step was to inquire of the Lord; and although the word of the Lord was His determinate purpose to bring "all the curses that were written in the book" upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants, yet to the king himself the message is, "Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same {XXX}." Here then was the occasion for showing a zeal for the Lord; the judgment on the nation was determined, and the blessing to be taken away from the evil to come, was promised to the king. Surely here was the occasion for saying, as the people did say to Jeremiah, who prophesied at this period. "There is no hope; I have loved strangers, and after them will I go (Jer. 2:25)." But without the ostentatious display of zeal for the Lord; the king, immediately on receiving the message from the prophetess, "assembled the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and all the people, small and great, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place, -and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, and his testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present to stand to it {XXX}." Here was zeal for the Lord. No reformation short of the standard of the word of God, would satisfy one awakened to the sense of the dishonor cast on the name of the Lord. He must go back to the original constituted blessing of Israel, however hopeless he might be of attaining it. Something much short of this might have satisfied others, and have been regarded as a great reformation, yea, so as to become the pattern for others to refer to. He might well have referred to the reformation of his pious ancestor Hezekiah; but he had the word of God to refer to, and he could own no other standard of reference. Doubtless the king was encouraged in his testimony against evil, and in the sure prospect of blessing for Israel, notwithstanding present failure, by the word of the Lord by Jeremiah the prophet. He looked to the hope set before him, even that day in which "Jerusalem should be called the throne of the Lord; and all the nations should be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart {XXX}." Sustained by this certain promise, he could say, "Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel... We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God (Jer. 3: cp. vv. 14-19 with vv. 22-25)." With the word of the Lord for his guide, and the certainty of the final glory of Israel before him, the king would not stop short of all the blessing which present obedience might procure. "And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23)."

Surely, Brethren, we have watchfully to guard against such zeal, as Jehu exhibited. There is nothing easier than to detect inconsistencies, and to inveigh against them; and this can be done by the light of our own understandings, quite apart from the Spirit of Christ. It is not the way of His Spirit merely to expose evil, or to draw away from evil by exposing it, but by the setting forth of the attractiveness of good. Nothing is more injurious to our own souls, than the habit of searching out and exposing evil in the Church, and then in self-complacency attempting to remedy it. It always leads to a false estimate of ourselves, by making us forget that we have been implicated in the evil, and that it is chargeable on ourselves as well as on others; for the body of Christ cannot suffer as a whole, without our being affected by it. The word therefore is, Be zealous and repent. The Church of God is not to be brought into a better condition by the most wise and judicious arrangements; yea, I would say, not even by the most scriptural reconstruction, for there would be no repentance in setting about such a work as that. God can dwell in the humble and contrite heart, and it will be just in proportion as the souls of the saints are made sensible of from whence they have fallen, and are exercised before God on that account, that they will be blessed. No measure short of God's measure will satisfy Christ and the Spirit of Christ in the Church. Jesus has prayed that those who believe in Him might be one; and his heart's desire shall be given Him, and the request of His lips not withholden. But when shall this be? -even when the Church shall be manifested in the glory which Jesus has given to it, and the world shall know that the Father has loved the Church, even as He loved Jesus. This therefore, can be our only legitimate end. The Father and the Son are working hitherto unto this, and we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. It is not reformation, but glory, which is the end of God. And if the saints of God are looking backward for the pattern after which they are working, instead of forward unto the glory for which God is working; however honest and zealous they may be, yet since their zeal will not be according to knowledge, it will only make the disappointment greater by having excited larger expectations. It is most needful to look back to God's perfect work in the Church, in order to humble us, and this indeed is repentance: but this cannot animate us, nor indeed, can anything which is not taken entirely out of our hands, and which does not rest simply in the hands of God. It is this which makes the hope of the Lord's coming so blessed and so practical. There can be no failure in it, and therefore we can rejoice in it. There must be disappointment all the way of reformation, but there is none here: this hope maketh not ashamed; the hope of our calling is nothing short of God's purpose in the glory of the Church. If that purpose had been to bring the Church to its original standing, then, most properly, would that be our object and the pattern too after which we are to work. But it is not so: and therefore, if it were possible to retrace our steps, so that the Church could be planted again in its Pentecostal power, still we should have to say, "not as though we had attained." The glory would still be before us, and therefore we should have to forget the things behind us. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ realized to the soul, will be that alone which will prevent the saints from settling down into contentedness with a reformation in the Church, which meets their own desires, in stead of God's end. That end is glory. "And He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God." There can be no missing it. Here are we encouraged to go on in the path of faithfulness! we may be convinced of failure in ourselves; we may be disappointed in others; but there is no failure with God. He fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His under-standing. But He hath also given us the earnest of His Spirit; and what is the desire of the Spirit, but that Jesus may now be glorified in the saints, even as He will be in that day. Hence the present power of this hope is to bring into the place of real worship and acceptable service. The Spirit witnesses unto the coming glory of Christ, and works in the saints according to that which He witnesses, for He is the Spirit of truth.

It will not therefore, be ever so great a zeal or an awakened energy for reformation, which will answer God's end, or the need of the Church; but a zeal according to knowledge. The very first element in that must be a remembrance from whence the Church is fallen -a recurrence to nothing short of God's original, as presented to us in the word. This, as we have seen, was that which gave its character to the Passover in the days of Josiah. Everything was done according to the word; whereas even in the days of Hezekiah the thing was done suddenly.

Now the same word which shows what the Church was, most plainly testifies of coming judgment on that which bears the name of the kingdom of heaven; and therefore reformation is not the question, but how to be separated from those things which are about to be judged. "The day of the Lord is upon everything that is high and lifted up." Hence it becomes a simple matter of obedience to the ascertained will of God. Judgment on the vine of the earth is God's settled purpose; therefore cease to do evil -learn to do well. But again the same word comforts all who tremble at it, by the assurance that it shall be well with the righteous, and that when the Lord comes to be exalted in judgment, He is, at the same time, to be glorified in the saints. Hence their zeal must be regulated by all these considerations; and then it will he zeal according to knowledge -zeal for the Lord; for they will not be proposing to themselves an object of attainment, because that is the hope of the glory, but only how the name of the Lord may be magnified. There is the one hope of our calling to be realized in God's own time But the present power of that hope is to draw the saints together, because it is an unselfish hope. It leaves no room for rivalry or emulation, neither for our plans or our wisdom; it is a thing settled in God's purpose. And the saints having now the Spirit, are enabled to wait for the hope of righteousness through faith. Acting on this hope, they would not be elated by any apparent success, nor he cast down under any sense of failure. They are not acting for a present object of attainment, but only seeking to be found in that path which the Lord will bless.

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is thus a truth of the greatest practical power; so that it would be vain to expect to see the Church brought into a standing more according with the mind of God, without the steady apprehension of it in the souls of the saints. It rests on the sure warrant of God's word, and thus throws those who have been led to receive it, on that word alone for their guide. So that prayer with the understanding, and prayer with the Spirit, appear to be almost impossible where this truth is not recognized. The prayer will be guided by man's judgment, instead of God's revealed mind; and it is written, if we ask anything according to His will, that God gives it unto us. Hence the worship of the Church, its confession, and its petition, will draw their character from the object which is before it. If this object be the removal of any existing evils, this will characterize our prayer, and a great deal of apparent zeal for the Lord may be stirred up; but there will be no relinquishing of the constitutional sin of the Church, nor confession of it, in that it has departed from the ways of God, and followed its own ways. The sin of the Church has been to substitute human arrangement and official appointment, for the order and energy of the Holy Ghost. And until this be relinquished, anything like real reformation in the Church cannot be looked for. The lopping off of a few of the excrescences, and the introduction of the spirit of the age into the things of God, will be all that will be effected; and the end of all zeal for reformation, will end where the zeal of Jehu ended -in self-satisfaction, and an unhumbled heart. It is very hard indeed to see how the real blessing of the Church is made to depend on individual faithfulness and obedience. "He that hath an ear." "To him that overcometh." It is much. more according to the slothfulness of our hearts to be very zealous for some corporate reformation, than to walk in the trying path of individual responsibility.

But the wisdom of God has ordered it otherwise. He calls individuals to hear the voice of the Shepherd, and to follow Him. He sets before them the hope of the glory, and there are they attracted together. And thus being gathered into unity by God Himself, and not by any self-willed association, as it is a unity of truth and not of convenience, there is blessing. And among many other blessings there is this one, to consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works, and to exhort one another, and so much the more as they see the day approaching. They are bound together by obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, with an open door before them, so that their is no hindrance for their walking on in the path of obedience when they have ascertained it. They have settled nothing but to believe, to obey, to follow, and to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is their liberty -the liberty of serving Him and following Him in His ways. This liberty, human arrangement invariably hinders; and the trials of a great many very dear saints arise from this, that rules of human prescription prevent their obedience to Christ, as much as the calves at Bethel and Dan prevented those of the Kingdom of Israel from obeying and worshiping God.

It is not the zeal of the reformer which is needed, but the humble and contrite spirit, trembling at God's word. It is not the ability to detect and expose inconsistencies in others, but the spirit which maketh quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord, which really worketh unto profit. It is not to attack the evil which exists, with ever so fervid a zeal, but an object to look to sustaining and purifying the soul, which leads into profitable service. Alas! after the most zealous protest against Popery or any other corrupt system, either by individuals or a body; the spirit of truth will often have to testify, "they took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord with all their heart." When there has been much separation from evil, how often will the' testimony be that there has been a stopping short, and the original sin of the dispensation may remain untouched. God will bless all He can -but He cannot bless self-complacency or lukewarmness. Surely the word to us is, "as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me {Rev. 3}."

The Christian Witness 5:398-414 (1838).

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Christian Witness Papers

Table of Contents

Antinomianism and Legalism

Antioch

Backsliding and Apostasy

Brief Notice of Chauncy's Order of Unaccomplished Prophecy

Caesar and God

On Christian Ministry

The Earthly Relations of the Heavenly Family

Epaphroditus

The First Resurrection

Heavenly-Mindedness

Luke 14-16

The Mystery

Notice of Mr. Tucker's Sermon

Papers From the Christian Witness

Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ

Philanthropy

Philemon

Philippians 2:12-16

On the Increase of Popery

The Promise of the Lord

Religious Societies

Retrospect and Present State of Prophetic Inquiry

The Schools of the Prophets

The Secret of God

The Sin of Schism

Thoughts on the Spiritual Nature of the Present Dispensation

The Voluntary System and an Establishment

The Zeal of Jehu