Correspondence

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 6
28. “R. W.,” Montreal. We have received your kind favor; but we cannot, at all, see with you in the matter to which you refer.
29. “C. M.,” Milltown, near Dublin. If you will kindly send those back numbers to us, we can make good use of them.
30. “Η. T.” The only counsel we can offer you is to wait on the Lord, and ask Him to guide you. He has said, “I will guide thee with mine eye;” and “He cannot deny Himself.” It may be, He would have you to plod on patiently with your present occupation. We are in a much safer position, morally, when our business is the burden, on the back, and not the idol of the heart.
31. “G. S.,” Stow. Mark 2:55When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. (Mark 2:5) encourages us to exercise faith for others; but it in nowise collides with the line of truth to which you have referred. It is our happy privilege to count on the boundless grace of God on behalf of any whom we may have upon our hearts; but no one is forgiven and justified before God, apart from repentance and faith wrought in his soul by the power of the Holy Ghost.
In Heb. 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28) the Holy Ghost graciously takes in all the saints of God. He assumes that all are looking for the blessed Savior. Do you suppose that the Lord will only appear to those who hold the doctrine of His coming? Blessed be His name, there is not a single member of His body upon this earth who shall not rise to meet Him at that happy moment, when the sound of the trumpet announces His coming. Eternal praise to His peerless name!
32. “F. E.” The paper you have sent us is not only, as you say, “wanting in some points,” but unscriptural. You will, however, excuse our taking it up in this magazine, inasmuch as we have, from the commencement, sought to keep our pages free from everything of a controversial nature.
33. “M. A. G.,” Windsor. In 1 John 3:6,6Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:6) “He that sinneth” refers to one who is morally characterized by “ sinning” (ὁ ἁμαρτάνων). Such an one has not seen or known “Him.” Now, the Christian, though liable to commit sin, if not watchful, is, nevertheless, not characterized by it. He stands, thanks be to God, on another footing altogether. He is not a sinning one, though having sin in him. In verse 9, the apostle is evidently speaking of the divine nature abstractedly, which can no more sin than Christ Himself. In chapter 1, on the contrary, the apostle says, “If we” Now, if anyone were to say that he had no sin in him, or that he had not sinned, or that he could not sin, we should say he was self-deceived, and the truth was not in him. The believer is a complex person, having two natures; but “whosoever is born of God” is unquestionably the new man, looked at apart from the old nature. To say that I need not commit sin, is to state a blessed privilege (chap. 2:1); to say that I cannot is a delusion and a deceit. I have no right to excuse myself in a single sinful thought; but to say that I am not capable of a sinful thought, is a fallacy and a hollow assumption.
As to the expression, “Be filled with the Spirit,” it is just what we long for; to be so under the sway of the Holy Ghost, that Christ may be the one absorbing object of our hearts. Beloved friend, let us never be satisfied with anything short of this. Let us aim at it with our whole souls; and sedulously watch against every moral hindrance.