The testimony that distinguished brethren in early days is now being given up. The positive and distinct possession of eternal life, as the certain and conscious portion of the believer, was formerly known and held amongst us, and was the subject of public testimony, whilst other Christians were in doubt and uncertainty, and sought to find this certainty in their state or feelings or enjoyment – all of which are unable to give it, not being the sure Word of God.
Not only so, but the distinct presentation of Eternal Life to be received through the Son, as the result of the gift of God’s Son (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)), or of believing in the Son of God (John 6:4040And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)), or receiving the Word of the Son of God (John 5:2424Verily, 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 condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)) with the immediate certainty of its possession as the consequence of the reception of the Son of God (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)) has for fifty years marked the testimony which has been given and owned of God. This, moreover, was understood to be the divine object for which the Gospel of John was written. “These things are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name” (John 20:3131But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31)). Whilst the Epistle was expressly written to believers to establish them in the certainty of what they had received, not as a matter of evidence within themselves, but as a divine testimony: “If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater” “These things,” says the apostle, “I have written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)).
It were serious enough if only uncertainty were thrown upon all this divine truth, which so long characterized the testimony, and was the means of so much blessing to souls who previously were in doubt as to the possession of eternal life. But far worse than this, is the deprivation of the Son of God of His personal and divine glory as “the Eternal Life,” and the dividing His blessed Person in order to distinguish what is Eternal Life in Him and what is not. We had ventured to hope that the irreverences which had resulted from this attempt would, when attention was drawn to them have deterred souls from venturing further on such dangerous ground. Instead of this, the supposed necessity and capability of distinguishing in the person of Christ what is divine and communicable, from what is incommunicable, has led to an alarming development of this system of thought, in which life and deity in the Son of God are divided –Christ, as the Second Man and Eternal Life, is denied the possession of divine attributes – whilst what is essentially human, is virtually introduced into His Godhead. Not only is Mr. Raven supported in this by writers hitherto little known among Brethren, but the positive necessity of this view is now affirmed by leaders among them, so that the mass instead of being warned of the danger, are thereby invited and encouraged to pursue these unholy and soul-withering speculations. The serious responsibility which they have incurred by so doing, in appending their names and declaring that they have “full fellowship” with Mr. Anstey’s statements, we leave to God and their own consciences. But rapidly as these views and the false doctrine and expressions connected with them were spreading previously, we can only anticipate, after the impulse thus distinctly, and without any warning, given to them, by men in such a prominent position, that the enemy of souls will take full advantage of the opportunity thus afforded him, of spreading this poisonous leaven in their ranks to a fatal extent. They perhaps will only discover this when irreparable mischief has been done, for false doctrine is always ruinous in its effects upon souls, and numerous teachers, as will be shown in the sequel, are doing their utmost to give currency to these views in some of their worst features.
Such is the total loss of spiritual discernment produced by constant contact with this system of error, that others instead of having uneasiness, or even jealousy for the personal glory of Christ, awakened in their minds, are ready to disseminate the pamphlets containing these sentiments broadcast, in order to discredit those who have opposed them; disregarding the injury they are inflicting in this way on souls, and the triumph that they are thus giving to the enemy, in his worst and darkest designs against the Son of God. To expose these errors from Scripture in their true light, is a duty from which love to the Lord and to souls forbids us to shrink, even though we expose ourselves as before to misapprehension, and even charges of insincerity.
There is a day coming when all will be manifested. In the meantime, the approval of Him who knows the secrets of all hearts, and the deliverance of any of His who have yet “an ear to hear,” are consolations which God gives in His grace.
Besides this, the setting forth of the truth of God tends to strengthen faith in those that are weak, and to deliver them from the confusion of thought in which the adversary has sought by specious arguments to involve them. This has necessitated the further stating and bringing forward the truth concerning the Person of Christ, in order to show how that Person is presented and kept before us in Scripture – our sure and safe guide if we follow it, as well as the divine antidote provided against the vain and dangerous speculations of the human mind. At the same time, whilst maintaining the reality of the union of the divine and human natures in the blessed Person of Christ, in opposition to the unhallowed attempts now made to divide them (after the fashion of the Nestorian heresy that troubled the church in the early part of the fifth century), we utterly refuse to define the manner of that union. We do not suppose for a moment that many of these writers are aware of what they are doing; for their evident ignorance of the ground they are traversing, and of the consequences that have followed to those who have ventured on this path before them, in the attempt to “distinguish” (as they call it) “between the human and divine,” not merely in active manifestation, but in the Person of Christ Himself, makes the danger all the more serious for themselves and their followers.
It is evident from original letters of Mr. R.’s, now printed, that his views have become more developed and systematized. Indeed, he himself tells us “he was a learner not a teacher, at Witney,” and was then “on the road to light.” This claim to “more light,” on the subject of Eternal Life is advanced in the Sept. No. of the A Voice {to the Faithful, 1891}, in a paper entitled “Divine Light Exposes its Contrary” (pp. 257-266).
Such infatuation should only lead us to take a lower place for ourselves before God, and earnestly cry to Him for our brethren. But this claim is totally inconsistent with the assertion, that this system involved no new truth, but what we had all been accustomed to for so many years. The chief difficulty in reality has been, in the mystic and obscure nature of the system Mr. R. has elaborated, as well as the apparent contra- dictions it contains, which puzzle and perplex simple souls in a way that we never find in Scripture or in the teaching of the Spirit of God. We can see now that as a system it is fully developed, it is consistent as a whole, and the difficulty of grasping it is greatly diminished, now that we have something more than detached parts or fragments of it to examine; whilst it becomes evident where he is conducting us, and to what extent the truth of God is involved or lost, by adopting these views.
The citations from Mr. Darby, contained in various parts of this pamphlet, will be found of great value, and it seemed well to rescue them on this account from the mass of his writings, in which they are almost unknown or lost. Besides this, the subjects treated in this pamphlet are so little familiar to Brethren, that it appeared almost necessary to give some further evidence as to what has been held, by those who were raised up, to maintain the truth among us, on former occasions.
There does not seem anything that deserves a serious reply in the writings of those who have attacked the doctrine of the Tract entitled The Manifestation of the Divine Nature.”
If these attacks originated in value for the truth of God or love for souls, it would be another matter; but where sentences are taken up, only to twist and misrepresent their meaning, it is better to leave that to God, and seek rather to occupy the reader with the truth, adding explanation only of difficulties which have been raised, where it is required.