Beloved Brethren,-There are several points connected with our position, as gathered together in the name of Jesus, as to which I feel it on my heart to communicate with you. I take this mode of doing so, as affording you better opportunity individually to examine, and maturely to weigh, what is communicated, than you would be likely to have in a free conversation where all were present. I should be very thankful for this latter, should the Lord incline your hearts to it, when you have examined and weighed in His presence the matters I have to put before you.
One word at the outset in acknowledgment of God's mercy to us as gathered in the name of Jesus. I can but bow my head and worship in remembrance of the many seasons of real refreshing and unfeigned joy He has given us together in His presence. The recollection of these seasons, while it bows the heart before God, renders each one with whom such mercies have been enjoyed unspeakably dear. The bond of the Spirit is a real bond; and it is in the confidence which He inspires in my brethren's love, that I would as your brother, and as your servant for Christ's sake, express without reserve what seems to me of deep importance to our continued happiness and associated profit, as well as to what is of far greater moment, the glory of Him in whose name we are gathered.
When in July last we were led of the Lord, as I doubt not, to substitute open meetings for the Lord's day evening gospel preachings, which had been sustained till then, I anticipated all which has since ensued. I may say that the result has not disappointed me in the least. There are lessons as to the practical guidance of the Holy Ghost which can only be learned practically; and much that may now, by the Lord's blessing, commend itself to your spiritual understanding, and to your consciences, would then have been quite unintelligible, from your unacquaintance with the kind of meetings to which such truth applies. It is often said that experience is the best teacher. This may perhaps be questioned, and rightly so; but there can be no question that experience makes us conscious of wants which divine teaching alone supplies. You will believe me that it is no joy to me in itself to find my brethren mutually dissatisfied with the part taken by each other in the meetings. But if this state of things should be overruled, as I trust it may be, to the opening all our hearts to lessons from God's word, which we could not otherwise so well have learned, this at least will be matter for thankfulness and joy.
The doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in." the body, the church," and as the sure consequence His presence and supremacy in the assemblies of the saints, has for a good many years now appeared to my own soul, if not the great truth of the dispensation, yet surely one of the most momentous truths by which the present period is distinguished. The virtual or actual denial of it constitutes one of the most serious features of the apostasy which has taken place. The sense of this does not abate with me, but rather deepens as time rolls on.
I do freely confess to you, that with the full acknowledgment that there are beloved children of God in all the denominations around, and with every desire to keep my heart open to them all, I could no more have fellowship with any body of professing Christians who substitute clerisy in any of its forms for the sovereign guidance of the Holy Ghost, than as an Israelite I could have had fellowship with the setting up of a golden calf in the place of the living God. That this has been done, and that throughout Christendom, and that for this, along with other sins, judgment is impending over Christendom, one can but sorrowfully own, and take the shame of it before God, as having all had to do with it, and as being one body in Christ with numbers who to this day glory in it. But the difficulties which attend a place of separation from this evil, and which we are all beginning to feel (as we ought surely to have anticipated), have no such effect with me, as to weaken the sense of the evil from which God has in His mercy separated us; and they awaken within me no desire to return to that kind of human, official place and power, the assertion of which for a distinct class characterizes the professing world, and is fast hastening on the judgment by which the professing world will ere long be visited.
But, beloved brethren, while our conviction of the truth and importance of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's presence cannot be too profound, let me beseech you to remember, that the presence of the Holy Ghost in the assemblies of the saints is itself A FACT. It is simple faith in this we need. We are prone to forget this. And forgetfulness of this, or ignorance of it, is the main cause of our ever coming together without profit to our souls. If we did but come together to meet God; if we did but believe when we are assembled that He is really present, what an effect this must have on our souls!
The fact is, that as really as Christ was present with His disciples on the earth, so really is the Holy Ghost now present in the assemblies of the saints. If in any way His presence could be manifested to our senses-if we could see Him as the disciples did see Jesus-how would our souls be solemnized and subdued. What deep stillness, what reverent attention, what solemn waiting on Him, would be the result. How impossible that there could be any haste, or rivalry, or restlessness, if the presence of the Holy Ghost were to be thus revealed to sight and sense. And is the fact of His presence to be less influential because it is a matter of faith instead of sight? Is He any less really present because unseen? It is the poor world that receives Him not, because it does not see Him; and shall we take its place and forsake our own? "And I will pray the Father," says Jesus, "and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16, 1716And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16‑17).)
“But ye know him." Would that we did, beloved! More and more am I persuaded that our great lack is that of faith in His personal presence. Have there not been times when His presence has been realized as a fact? and how blessed were such seasons! There might be, and there were, intervals of silence; but how were they occupied? In solemn waiting upon God. Not in restless anxiety as to who was next to speak or pray; not in turning over the leaves of Bibles or hymn books to find something that we thought suitable. No; nor in anxious thoughts about those who were lookers-on, wondering what they would think of the silence that existed. God was there. Each heart was engaged with Him; and for any to have broken silence, for the sake of doing so, would have been felt to be an interruption indeed.
When silence was broken, it was with a prayer that embodied the desires, and expressed the breathings of all present; or a hymn in which all could with fullness of heart unite; or a word which came home to our hearts with power. And though several might be used in such hymns, and prayers, and ministrations, it was as evidently one Spirit who guided and arranged the whole, as though a plan of it had been made before-hand, and each one had had his part assigned. No human wisdom could have made such a plan. The harmony was divine. It was the Holy Ghost acting by the several members, in their several places, to express the worship or to meet the need of all present.
And why should it not be always thus? I would repeat it, beloved brethren, the presence of the Holy Ghost is a fact, not merely a doctrine. And surely if in fact He be present when we are assembled together, no fact can compare in importance with this. It is surely the grand, the all-absorbing fact, from which everything besides in the meeting ought to derive its character. It is not a mere negation. That the Holy Ghost is present, means more than that the meeting is not to be ordered by human and previous arrangement. He must order it if He be present. It means more than that any one is at liberty to take part in it. Nay, it means the opposite of this. True, there must be no human restrictions: but if He be present, no one must take any part but that which He assigns, and for which He qualifies him. Liberty of ministry is liberty for the Holy Ghost to act by whomsoever He will. But we are not the Holy Ghost: and if the usurpation of His place by one person be so intolerable, what shall be said to the usurpation of His place by a number of persons acting because there is liberty to act, not because they know it to be the present mind of the Spirit that they should act as they do?
Real faith in the personal presence of the Holy Ghost would set these things right. It is not that one would desire silence for its own sake, or that any should be restrained from taking part by the mere presence of this or that brother. I would rather myself that there were all sorts of disorder, so as for the real state of things to come out, than have this repressed by the presence of an individual. What one does desire is, that the presence of the Holy Ghost Himself should be so realized as that no one should break silence except by His power, and under His direction; and that the sense of His presence should thus restrain us from all that is unworthy of Him, and of the name of Jesus in which we meet.
Under another dispensation we read such an exhortation as the following: "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." (Eccl. 5:1, 21Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:1‑2).) Surely, if the grace wherein we stand has given us greater freedom of access to God than this, we are not to use such freedom as an excuse for irreverence and haste. The actual presence among us of God the Holy Ghost should certainly be as urgent a motive to reverence and godly fear, as the consideration that God is in heaven, and we upon the earth. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:28, 2928Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28‑29).)
Hoping to resume the subject, I am, dear brethren,
Your unworthy servant in Christ,
W. Trotter.