8. “J. F.,” Boness. Heb. 12:7 teaches us, most surely, to leave ourselves wholly in God’s hands, whatever be the character or measure of the chastening. It helps most blessedly to this end to bear in mind that God is dealing with us as sons. There is nothing penal in His chastening. All is in perfect love, unerring wisdom, and infallible faithfulness, and the purpose of God in it all is to make us partakers of His holiness. Hence, therefore, it would be a serious mistake for us to seek, in any wise, to take ourselves out of our Father’s hand. We should rather desire that the chastening might produce the proper result, and that God might be fully glorified thereby. Restless efforts to get out of trial prove that we are not walking with God, and that we do not see His hand or His end in the matter. Moreover, we shall find that all such efforts only increase our trouble, while they rob us of the sweet consciousness that all we are passing through comes direct from the hand of our loving Father.
9. “Iota,” Dublin. It is very necessary to distinguish between the land as given by Jehovah, and taken by Israel. Jehovah gave the whole, and gave it forever. Israel took but a part and that for a time. This will, in measure, explain the difference between Joshua and Judges. In the former, the faithfulness of God shines out in brightest luster; in the latter, the failure of man is signally apparent. But, by and bye, all will be made good, under the hand of the true Joshua; for all the promises of God are yea and amen, in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us. Not a single jot or tittle of God’s promises can ever fail. But then besides the promises, we have the government of God as displayed in His dealings with Israel; and we must ever remember that God’s governmental dealings can never, for a moment, touch the eternal stability of His grace. It is of the utmost importance to distinguish between grace and government. You will constantly find the adherents of one school of doctrine arguing from the enactments of the divine government, and using them to impugn the doctrines of grace. And, on the other hand, the adherents of the opposite school use the doctrines of grace in such a way as to ignore God’s ways in government. Hence the need, the urgent need, of laying aside all schools of doctrine and coming like a little child to sit at the feet of Jesus and be taught of Him.
In your third query you quote Matt. 16:19 and John 20:23. Now, the former is specific; the latter is general. That applies only to Peter; this to all disciples as such. When the assembly at Corinth put away the wicked person, it was a retaining of sin. When they received Him back, it was a remitting of sin. Both acts were ratified or bound in heaven. In neither passage is it a question of eternal salvation. Matt. 16:19 is the administration of the kingdom; John 20:23, the discipline of the assembly. Popery has falsely arrogated the former; Protestantism has not known how to use the latter. Christians should seek to understand both.
10. “C.,” Holford Square. See the latter part of our reply to “Iota.”
11. “A servant of the Church.” You must distinguish between Gen. 25:23 and Mal. 1:2, 3. The former was uttered before the children were born; the latter, hundreds of years afterward, when the conduct and character of each were fully manifested. It is important to mark this difference. And not only so, but we must seek to understand the object of the Holy Ghost in His use of the above scriptures in Rom. 9. The apostle is establishing the absolute sovereignty of divine mercy—God’s right to do as He will. He proves to Israel that to argue against divine sovereignty is to surrender all their privileges. For how did they get in? Was it by birth? No; for on that ground Ishmael and Esau had the precedence. Was it by works? No; for they made the golden calf. How then? Simply by God’s sovereign mercy. Well, then, if God is sovereign He can have mercy upon whom He will; and blessed be His Name, that opens the door for us poor Gentiles.
12. “J. B.,” Dudley. We most fully enter into all you say, and deeply sympathize with you in the circumstances which surround you. Wait on the Lord. He is our only, our sure resource. We question if your way is open for the matter to which you refer. But the Lord will order and provide in His own time and way. Oh! beloved, what a reality to have to do with the living God. May He comfort and sustain your heart by His own blessed presence and ministry.
13. “T. R.,” Stratford-on-Avon. Unless in the case of children, we should judge it contrary to the good order which ought to mark the assembly.
14. “An Enquirer.” We do not see how anyone who desires to be subject to scripture can fall to perceive that the first day of the week, or the Lord’s day, gets a place quite distinct in the New Testament. The risen Lord met His disciples, again and again, on that day. Thomas had to wait till that day to have his unbelief corrected. The early disciples came together to break bread on that day. (Acts 20:7.) The Corinthians were instructed to lay by their contributions for the collection on that day. The apostle John was in the Spirit on that day. Thus we have a body of evidence quite sufficient to carry conviction to any mind that bows to scripture. The Lord’s day is not, therefore, to be treated as an ordinary day, but if possible to be loved and honored and prized more than the sabbath itself. True, there is no absolute command—no legal enactment; but that, in no wise, takes away from the privilege of the Lord’s day, but rather enhances it. Hence, therefore, dear friend, we should positively refuse to engage in the business of buying and selling on the Lord’s day— even though the matter in question be a book or a tract. Wherein, we may ask, lies the difference between a book shop and a baker’s shop? Where will you draw the line? No doubt, a person might, give a friend a number of tracts for distribution, on the Lord’s day. And, moreover, an emergency might occur in which grace would readily waive a, point; we must not be ultra, rigid, or strait laced. But, allowing all this, we should most decidedly refuse to sell books or tracts or anything else on the Lord’s day; and we are extremely sorry to think that any Christian should ask you to do so. Why not procure such things during the week? Are not six days enough for traffic and trade? Why intrude on the hallowed retirement of the Lord’s day? Surely we ought to be only too thankful that our God has most graciously—so far as we in these favored realms are concerned—wrested the Lord’s day from the grasp of a covetous world, and conferred it as a precious boon upon us to be devoted to His worship and service. What should we do if we had not that blessed break in the dull and depressing routine of buying and selling? What rust would creep over our souls! How secularized we. should become!
“But,” it may be said, “books and tracts are not like ordinary merchandise. They are immediately connected with the Lord’s work.” Well, then, being so, that is all the more cogent reason why we should not, by the sale of them, traverse the principles of the Lord’s day. It would be a sad affair indeed to find the Lord’s people carrying on their buying and selling on the Lord’s day, when worldly people are prevented by the Government of the country from pursuing theirs. Let us beware that we use not our liberty in an evil way, thus laying a stumbling block in the way of the weak—giving occasion to the enemy to speak reproachfully, and our brethren to speak equivocally of us—and. opening the door for carelessness, worldliness, looseness and hardness of heart. It is a good thing to, honor the Lord’s day. We have never seen any good come of the opposite—never.