SCRIPTURE describes the believer as a partaker of the divine nature,—one Spirit with the Lord,-possessing Christ within, the hope of glory-a temple of the Holy Ghost, etc., etc. These expressions define that in which the very life of the saint consists, and exhibit the greatness of responsibility inseparable from its possession.
Again, the same authority declares that as Christ, in the days of His first manifestation, comforted, exhorted, warned, and watched over His disciples, so, after His departure to the Father, His place was to be supplied by the Holy Ghost, " bringing all things, whatsoever He had said, to remembrance, testifying of Him, glorifying Him by receiving of His and showing it unto them, and thus teaching all things, guiding into all truth, and showing things to come." Thus His brethren (who would otherwise have been as orphans) still have a (Paraclete or) Guardian. A right perception of the mode of the Spirit's operation is pre-eminently important, for as " we have the mind of Christ," so the necessities of that mind are net alone by the Spirit testifying of Jesus. That the Holy Ghost alone can meet the necessities of the mind of Christ in us, and that he does this by testifying NOT of Himself, BUT of the Lord Jesus, are truths ever to be remembered; for they are the only clue to permanency of joy, peace, and righteousness-the only solution of much (otherwise inexplicable) in the sorrows and difficulties of the saints. In the person of the Lord Jesus all the great subjects of faith, salvation, and hope are found; the moment the heart or the mind depart.. from Him, the Spirit's power as Paraclete is interfered with, and sorrow and trial consequently ensue.
The sum and substance of Christianity, regarded subjectively in the practice of the Church and its individual members, is, " We love Him because He first loved us "; the affections of the heart, and the thoughts of the mind (drawn upward by the amazing power of the Savior's love, through the Spirit,) now leading captive, in the service of the Lord, all the members of a body of sin and death, for the day of whose redemption we have still to wait. I would press the consideration of that which I cannot now stop to open,-the peculiar importance of practical obedience in what may be called " a world of visible manifestation," and the distinct tendency of the Spirit as well as the suitability of the subject-matters of faith to produce full and perfect obedience. Man's eye, indeed, takes cognizance only of outward service, but man is not the only spectator of the progress of truth: it is open to the mind of the Father and the Spirit-to the minds of angels and archangels -of Satan, principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in heavenly places: to the eyes also of Jesus (Lord of all) all things are naked and open, for He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Whatever we may think concerning Enoch and Elijah and the saints who rose with Christ, the apprehensions of all the others mentioned are certainly much more clear and searching than those of any earthly spectator. Before them a fall is marked, not by external offense so soon as by departure within from the principles and stream of life. So, as to himself, should it be with each believer. The tendency of every such departure of the heart or the mind is unquestionably toward separation from God: the only remedy (for in our own selves there is none) is in the constant interference of redeeming love, restoring and maintaining connection with the fountain head of life and strength. The most obvious means of this is the indwelling of the Spirit, whose union with the Father and the Son being one of essence, not of characteristic correspondence alone, cannot be broken, but by innate power ever labors to bring everything (even the high and lofty thoughts which oppose themselves and the wandering affections) into subjection to the cross. Let us be humbled for our frequent folly, while we adore the faithfulness and love which will keep that which we have committed unto Him even until the end.
Again, whilst the unvarying occupation of the Spirit in the Church is with Christ alone, His manifestations as to the mind itself vary according to its necessities. In every service and action two things are needed; 1st, the supply of right motives and proper purposes, which, though many, are in themselves uniform, fixed, and common to all action; and, 2dly, light as to the path of present service, which of course varies as the scene through which we travel shifts. The greatest motives or inducements, perhaps, though there are many others, are found in these words, " Reconciled by the blood," etc.; " The love of Christ constraineth us," etc., etc. The unchanging object or purpose is " the glory of the holy child Jesus." Time would fail to open these fully; let two remarks suffice: 1st, that as the rest of the mind of Christ in us is in love, so its constant tendency is the will of the Father in the glory of the holy child Jesus, whatsoever the part of truth considered or carried into action may be: and, 2dly, as the unchanging occupation of the Spirit is with Jesus (though the parts of truth connected with Him may vary according to the standing, faith, and service, of the individual believer), yet joy, peace, and strength, are greatly dependent upon our being occupied with that especial portion where, as to ourselves, the Spirit is opening and applying the truth to us; the heart in affection, and the mind in thought, travailing as to it with the glory of Christ. And thus every act of our life becomes at once an offering to God, and a means of faith being made perfect through works; for every duty and every relationship is thus brought into immediate connection with the person of Jesus.
Nature, which judges by results in man's day, and their accordance with feeling and self alone, can see nothing but bondage in all this; but faith triumphs in it, seeing, as a certain truth, that the measure of the real excellency and importance of everything depends upon its measure of connection with the will of God in Christ. No actions have any real glory, or will issue in blessedness, save those which are really, and in the thought of the doer also, connected with Christ. Apart from Him we walk in darkness, and have no light, even as to our own individual advantage.
* The Christian has three guides, the Spirit, a sound judgment, and affection; and universally the heart should be in subjection to the mind, and it to the Holy Ghost.
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts AND INTENTS OF THE HEART. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do; (Heb. 4) But rather than rest here, I will proceed to consider the Lord as our example, embodying in His own conduct the principles whereon we are called to walk. May we all know more and more of the power of it I The strength of Jesus, Lord of all, in all His work, was " the glory of God " carried in a mind (accustomed indeed to rule all things, yet) come into the place of service and obedience. "Lo! I come to do thy will, 0 my God." In fervency of desire after that glory, and in the assured, realized certainty of the Father's will as to the way in which it was to be accomplished, in what confidence of repose did he walk, though filled with the consciousness of weakness, (having emptied himself;) and. in the midst of apparent failure all around. Three things were, among others,- given Him to do: 1st, to disprove and retort the lies, libels, and slanders of Satan against His Father; 2ndly, to pour out in a rebellious world, the savor of His Father's unchangeable name of love; 3rdly, to make provision for a bride, chosen of the Father from before the foundation of the world. With what full confidence of purpose, though deep agony of soul, did He untie the Gordian knot which Satan had tied, preparing thongs therefrom to bind himwithal! What streams of light as to His Father's love towards the rebellious, did He pour into this dark, dark world I And, lastly, how devotedly did He act and how perseveringly has. He followed after the bride chosen Him by the Father the pearl of great price! His Father's choice for Him He approved, and set His whole heart and mind upon her. Assured that it was His Father's choice, that. one Bride He sought. He needed not a wife, but that, that very wife. For her and her alone, He would come into a far country, taking her up to carry her back to His Father's house. But how jealous at the same time does He seem lest she should rest in His love, as a thing separate from the Father's will. That Jesus came to reveal the Father, and to make us know that all the glory and privilege of Heaven itself the Father sent Him to open to us, is perhaps one of the most frequent of all assertions in the New Testament.
Now, if this be so, if the Church's repose as to the salvation which is in Christ, is in the will of the Father:-then surely, we are to be led by the Spirit in all things, and to do nothing save unto the Lord who loved us, and gave Himself for us.
* If the hairs of my head are all numbered, and not a sparrow falleth to the ground without my Father, I may ask in every matter, " What, Lord, wilt thou have me to do in this?" And how much perplexity and after anguish might thus be avoided: how many an after sorrow be spared us, in which we find ourselves occupied with ourselves, not with Christ and His glory, even in a modified form. Who knows the heart of man save Jehovah? It will not do, like Israel of old, in the case of the Gibeonites, for us to walk according to appearance, according to what seems to us best. If we have to stand a spectacle before the devils, angels, the saints, and the world as showing out in action that Christ and we are one,-what can guide us save the eye of God? " I will instruct the and teach thee in the way thou shalt go, I will guide thee with mine eyes." As grace to do this can come alone from God, so can He alone perfect it in us. Our hearts are in His hands, who works " in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure." Dependance, and obedience become us at all times.
here. When we act in the flesh, we act with haste. How many have thus forgotten this little clause, and smarted for it afterward. It would have been a door of escape, perhaps: but they neglected it, and have in consequence found themselves bound by a tie of their own to what, time shows will bring sorrow and weakness on them. The Lord alone can deliver such from the trap of their own folly: let them confess their sin, and look to Him if haply He will save them.
In conclusion, the wisdom of God is always discernible by the Spirit in the Church; it becomes young Christians, therefore, (even in the days of the Church apostacy) humbly to confer with Christian friends of sound judgment and prayerful spirit, previous to committing themselves to any new position; for if the matter be of the Lord, surely He will give to His saints near discernment to perceive its wisdom and approve and bless the matter, for it is written: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and, again, "If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."
P.S. Watch and pray, lest ye also enter into temptation.
THE SCRIPTURES.
We should more intensely press the Scriptures in on the soul. We should remember that all in us is to be Christ's; the heart, the conscience, and the understanding. The light and joy and beauty of the truth may be received at the doors; but the reality of the truth must be known in the soul, its dwelling-place. God looks for it, that our very selves be occupied with this truth. It addresses itself to us, in the deep full sense of us.-A Servant of the Bible.
I love the Father and the Son in personal presence anywhere better than their circumstances. Rather would I have Egypt's cruel bondage, with Christ for my comfort under it than all the brightest scenes in Canaan without Himself. It is Himself which is my joy, far above the glory. Will not every renewed heart say "Amen, and Amen!"?