My beloved Friend,
Since our last conversation, I have been thinking a good deal of the subject which was then before us; and the more I think of it, the more disposed I am to doubt the moral fitness of the use so frequently made of the sentence which stands at the head of my letter. I have never been able to adopt the phrase, either in writing or speaking. In fact, it is not according to scripture, though it seems, of late years, to have become a favorite expression with many christian people who, I feel assured, desire to speak and act as in the divine presence, and according to the direct teaching of holy scripture.
I trust I need not assure you, my friend, that in raising an objection to this special form of speech, I would not, for a moment, even seem to weaken in any heart, the sense of the nearness of the Lord's coming—that most blessed hope which ought, each day, to become brighter and brighter in the vision of our souls. Far be the thought! That hope abides, in all its moral power, and, in no wise, depends on the using or not using any set form of words.
But then supposing I say, " If the Lord tarry, I mean to go to London next week," I make my going to London dependent upon the Lord's tarrying, whereas, He may tarry, and yet it may not be His will that I should go at all; and hence I ought to place all my movements, all my actions, all my plans, under the commanding influence of my Lord's will.
Is not this in direct accordance with scripture? What does the inspired apostle James say on the point? " Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas, ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that." Jas. 4
Here, the Spirit of God furnishes us with the proper form of words to be used in all our acts and ways; and surely we cannot find anything better than what He graciously deigns to give. " If the Lord will" includes everything which is to regulate our movements, whether the Lord is pleased to tarry or not.
But in writing this I have no thought, I assure you, of judging any one in his use of any particular phrase. I am merely giving you my reasons for not adopting the formulary in question. And I may just add, in con-elusion, that whether we say, " If the Lord tarry," or "If the Lord will," we should ever seek, most earnestly, to be in the present power of the words we use, and thus avoid everything bordering, in the most remote degree, upon mere empty phraseology or religious cant. May the Lord make us very real, in all our words and ways!
Ever, my beloved friend,
Most affectionately yours,
C. H. M.