My Dear Brother,
Little remains for me to say. My questions to those who came from Plymouth were, " What has been your connection with that untruthful, immoral system in Compton Street; and if you have left it, how have you shown that you have judged your past connection with its untruthfulness, shuffling system, and false doctrine? "
My questions to Bethesda people are the same, with this addition: "What is your connection with, and what your judgment of the evil act of Bethesda in persisting, when warned, in receiving the evil?"
As certainly as there is a living God and a living Christ, so certainly does the presence of God the Holy Ghost down here, demand that those who come into the place professedly under him should judge themselves, or be judged as to such evils. Such is the ground I take; such is the ground I hold as to Bethesda, and every place which identifies itself with the same evil. Clearly such questions involve, or nearly so, the requirement of the answer, " I have seen the evil, and have ceased from the place."
It is possible that some anomalous cases may be found in which a person may be found free from the evil in mind, heart and spirit, and yet by a foolish act committed to it as a member of a body; but if a false spirit is at work, this will be a rare case. And are they in fellowship with it still? I may add, that, as untruthfulness and want of moral integrity are the primary evils to be guarded against, every one coming from such a place is suspected-just as a Christian from among Jesuits would be. This is very painful. It is, indeed, hard (seeing how exceedingly subtle some of them are, and how active in seeking entrance every where, and how utterly untruthful) to accredit any as pure.
I do not propose (unless forced to do so) to contend in any more places about this evil. I cease from those who receive it, as entirely as from Irvingism, the connection with which is more than most suppose. Since October I have gone to no gathering which had not acted decidedly. Henceforth I shall, the Lord helping me, refuse all association in work with those who in any way have identified themselves with it, and stand entirely aloof from all who in any way dabble with it, save to warn and endeavor to rescue them by rough or gentle means from it.
My mind is now decided, with God's help, to retire from all association with the gatherings, into the solitude of an individual, rather than, in any way, to sanction the evil or to become connected in word or communion with those (however dearly I may love some of them as individual saints) who are known to identify themselves with it.
Less I cannot do if I believe it to be a direct work of Satan, and of a lying spirit among the saints.
Yours in the Lord,
G. V. W.
P.S.-The danger which has to be prevented, guarded against, or escaped from, as in various places it may be, is participation with an evil of which another expressed his fears thus 'pointedly. " I used to think, that, since Brethren depended on the Spirit of God, if they followed the usual downward course of the church, all the result would be, that they must, like any lifeless body, be decomposed and scattered, since the power of life would be gone. I have now the conviction there may be a terrible living death, in which Satan himself should energize the mass, as taking the place once held by the Holy Ghost.
"Something of this kind took place in the decline of the early Church to Popery; and it is against such a decline and its results that I wish us now to be on our watch."
In such a state of things, clearly, God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) with the obedient PRESERVED ones, may be looked for, as on one side; and Satan (working through the world, the flesh, and as the devil) with the MISLED ones as on the other; among whom, doubtless, as in Romanism, would be many individual children of God. Let not the Saints forget that the sons of Levi, who had transgressed, had to consecrate themselves to the Lord with their swords upon their thighs, that they might receive a blessing from the Lord, while the Tabernacle was taken and pitched outside the camp, where the Lord met with Moses, and whence Moses returned for mercy's sake into the camp.
As rude in speech, and more accustomed of late to be among the poor than with others, I crave forbearance toward my great plainness of style. I have been anxious, as feeling it was due to the glory of God and His Church, to deliver my own soul, and to make the trumpet give a certain sound; and Satan being the subject of alarm, I have not cared either to conceal the excess and the strength of my own feelings or to make the sound a pleasant one to the slumberer, whom I desire to awake. I know of no soft words and fair speeches due to the lion or the bear. " Resist the Devil and he shall fly from you," and " The Lord rebuke thee, Satan," are words of conflict and positive opposition to the adversary and nothing else. Against brethren I have nothing. Those who help the adversary against the Lord and his flock, I warn and entreat; and necessarily in standing apart from these evil deeds, stand apart from them so long as they continue in the evil; until they cease from it. Christ and His flock are dearer to God than all else-than any man's feelings.
I shall be sorry if any word of mine, which seems to any indicative of unkindly feeling towards any, is used by the adversary as a plea for their refusing the word of warning; sorry for their sake, I feel no unkindness to any, and if I did, it would not justify any before God in pursuing a wrong course. God is witness, who feels, and who prays, and who expects most as to delivering grace for his sheep at this time.
After such a letter as 2, brethren ought to understand, and so ought I, what is to be understood, when I say I desire to hold no place, save that of a poor sinner saved and kept by grace, seeking to be led by the Spirit of God as may glorify Him. I have confidence in God that He is present with us, and I look to him to uphold still, and to restore some who have fallen, and strengthen all. As to His goodness in teaching, first, in truth, God did teach us graciously for many years;-his book, without a rod, open before us (see the first edition of the Christian Witness, from January, 1834 to January, 1841). There was no rod of controversy then. Through Satan's guile, heretics were raised up; and our hearts, generally exalted instead of humbled, by the mercy and blessing given, were ready to be snared in what God could not own. His grace would not give us up, nor his testimony through us; and though, during the interval from 1841 to April, 1845, that is, while the evils were ripening till brought into judgment, it may be hard to trace the manifested teachings of God; since 1845, I can, to my own mind, at least, distinctly do so, mingled with the rod though they be -the rod which broke the primary evil, and has to break down the worldly self-sufficiency which followed in its wake. Thus, first, there was (in 1845) the question of the personal presence of the Holy Ghost in the Body, the Church. Then (1846) the question of the character of the Church, and how utterly incompatible with this was all untruthfulness and shuffling. Then (1847) the heresy, and that such a thing as delusions ' and works of Satan were to be found among saints-to clear in that which is spiritual and moral, as storms do the atmosphere in nature. Then (1848) was 1 John 4:1-21Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (1 John 4:1‑2), taught practically at Bethesda, i.e. trying the spirits, whether they be of God; also the question of the links of the company of believers. And secondly, I have no doubt that he is teaching moral lessons besides truth now, while trying our works, which will be of value to many hereafter-even peace and quietness, in a day when the storm may rage elsewhere. To some souls he is showing that, with all they know, they either never had any defined principles to walk by, or, if they ever had, then that they have lost them. In the souls of others, he is forming or deepening principles; and the souls of others he is forming to, and ripening in, their principles. If every one of us has to take before man, the place we hold, in truth, before God,-though humbled before man,-yet we shall, in the increased knowledge of ourselves, have more capacity and sense of our need of God and his Christ. When he bids the cup to be passed around, who shall, or who can, refuse to drink it. May we in gentleness bow to his hand! And surely, if no flesh shall glory in his presence, it is not merely because our flesh is worthless, but also because the grace and mercy of his love in Christ Jesus, have already filled that presence for us with the fragrant perfume of the worthiness of the Lamb. And what, if led by the Spirit, May not be expected from Him by those, whose desires are formed after the glory of that holy child Jesus whom he delights to honor, and of that Church which he delights to bless?