My Dear Brother,—L. F., in Mauritius, writes as being under trial. The smallpox has visited the colony severely, and the iniquity of the place is very great. This to a father of young children, several of whom are girls, must be a real trial. Well, wilderness sorrows have wilderness manna, and the Rock gushing water; and the blessed Lord as manna and living water is not a despicable portion, but a blessed one. Yet how eat manna save in the wilderness? In the land it is the old corn of the land; and how to drink of that Rock in a land where springs abound? No; these are aspects of Christ for the wilderness as well as others for the glory. And better still, the thought that in pouring us from vessel to vessel He is getting rid of our will, and teaching us the blessedness of His own. "Not My will, but Thine be done." "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?"
Dear brother, may you and your dear wife bethink you of the privilege the Lord hath given to you in sending you out where you are. Surely in our Father's house, not those who have gone on well in this world, as you might have done had you stayed, but those who have been on service, will have most joy in their retrospect.
Mr. D- is in France, near Switzerland, and the work progresses encouragingly. A good many conversions here in London upon the whole, but weakness' enough to make one know nothing but the Lord's arm can suffice; nothing but His faithfulness brings us through. G. V. W.
November 8th, 1857.
The context puts a limitation upon the sense in which the terms, " the way, the truth, and the life," are used here by the blessed Lord about Himself. He is " the way " in other senses too-God's way of revealing Himself in creating, upholding, redeeming; man's way, too, to God" the way " to walk in. He is " the truth," the One in and by whom the real truth as to God, Satan, the world, men, alone is known; and He is the life, eternal life, life incorruptible, blessed be God, our life is He. But, strictly speaking here, verses 4, 5, and 7 limit the bearing of the subject matter to the Father. " I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." Yet, as in all the senses in which He, who the great divine Medium, is the way, the truth, and the life, He Himself still is a person to be known and studied, besides being what He is. So here also. If He is the way, the truth, and the life relatively to our coming to the Father-if that is what is presented to us here-still He Himself who is all this, He Himself is; and greatly do we deceive ourselves if we learn not Himself while we study the doings and offices and glories which He presents to us, that we may learn Himself in them. Yet so senseless is man's mind, that it will get so absorbed in offices and benefits to us through them as to forget to learn Him who fills the offices, who gives the benefits. Moreover, while He is the way, and He is the truth, and He is the life, and thus the way, the truth, and the life centralize in Him, they are different excellencies, and separable in thought, at least, the one from the other. A man may have life in Christ, and be a child of God, and yet know little about the way or the truth. One may know Him as the way, and not know the Father in Him. He as the life leads us by the knowledge of the truth in the way; but still, after all, there is Himself who is all this, who does all this for us. And when we speak of coming to the Father, we speak of that which differs from coming to a place, as even to the Father's house. When we come to know Him, we find how straitened we are in our own selves, how little able to take in; and there is no way of learning our littleness like it. See this for instance in 1 John 1:22(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2): " For the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." John is writing to believers, and he is presenting that which concerning the word of life had not shined out, and shined into John, until the Lord had taken the last Adam position. Now the life was manifest, and it had communicated of itself in its own present character of display, so that they that know it, have fellowship together -a fellowship which is characterized by their perception of the Father's thoughts about the Son, and of the Son's thoughts about the Father's. Hence they have complete fellowship. This, too, may be seen, in another connection perhaps, but still seen in Eph. 3:14-2114For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14‑21): ' The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... according to the riches of His glory, strengthening with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that, rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all saints the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church through all ages, world without end.' The great lesson is Himself; and who and what, I pray you, is He in whom such infinite and eternal glory is found, by whom we are brought into such fellowship and such communion through the Spirit? He that is God, and the Father’s center, and end, and object in heaven and eternity, thus made to become our center, end, and object in time and on earth. The three one-nesses in John 17 give another illustration.
Now in sorrowful contrast with this I see some learning about Him as a way for themselves to God. Blessed if they find in that way the end of self, or a bit of the way that will lead them from self to God; but how short of blessing is it if they selfishly say, " Safe, because in the way; " learn not Him, but go on with the things of self. Just as men speak of Him as " the truth." And so He is; but the truth as to what and whom? Surely we know little of Him as the truth, if that truth has not taught us about our own selfishness, and the contrast between His witlessness and our wilfulness; our selfishness and His unselfishness; about the true character of the world in which he was murdered, and in which religion of flesh would allow us to settle down. He, too, is the One who can give incorruptible, eternal life; and it is a blessed thing for one who has not received it to know that He is the only giver of it. But He is our life; our life is hid with Him in God. If I know these things as having learned them in Him, am I finding, more than that in Him? Himself is more than any one of His gifts, though they all tell of Him. But, as I said, the context here gives a limitation. " I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." But if through the life I have known the truth, and walked in Him, and come to the Father, is that all? or does He Himself (who has been my power and light and way) still remain in all the eternal, divine excellency of what He is, God manifest in the flesh, the only-begotten Son of the Father? " The eternal lover of my soul."
November 8th, 1857.