Hamilton, Ontario, November 20, 1903.
Dear brother Sergeant: ...
I am glad to hear from you again, and of affairs in New Zealand. I thank you also for the reading of brother Child’s letter, which I return herewith. In a letter sometime ago he mentioned to me the sad ending of Mr. E ‘s path here. Surely it is not difficult to see the hand of God in government in such a case. I dare say there are often cases where His hand is specially manifest if we had eyes to see, but this case is so striking that it would be difficult for any spiritual person not to see it. “Our God is a consuming fire.” God deals with His people according to His own holiness and we may well walk before Him in fear.
All these divisions that have come in are exceedingly sorrowful, and should deeply exercise our hearts. God has something to say to us in them — nay, He has much to say. They prove how utterly unable we are, apart from His grace and our dependence on Him, to hold fast what has been committed to us. We are not better than our fathers. Very early in the history of the Church the great scope of the truth was lost. They did not hold it fast.
And now in the last century, God has wrought afresh. He has given forth a most remarkable testimony to the truth, raising up special vessels, and fitting them for the work. It is a testimony that has been given to the whole Church. It has not been mere fragments of the truth, but the truth as a whole. In Luther’s day it was specially the truth of justification by faith. In Wesley’s day it was more especially the necessity of the new birth, and a life corresponding to the nature and character of God. But in none of these cases do we get the truth in its entirety and unity. In the last century, however, we get not only new birth, eternal life, and justification by faith, but we get the Church — the body of Christ — one body — one Spirit — the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth in and with the saints, the responsibility to keep the unity of the Spirit, the truth as to prophecy and the coming again of the Lord — in fact the whole range of the truth of Christianity has been opened up in a most wonderful way. This has already been done. It does not yet have to be done. God has wrought through special vessels. The truth was already in the inspired Word, but Christendom had become blind to it, and men’s minds being formed by the various creeds that have been framed, a vast mass of truth lay buried amid the rubbish of centuries. In the goodness of God all this has been uncovered, and God has wrought in such a way as to call the attention of the whole Church to what has been brought out. All this has been done. The testimony has been given, and in this sense it is over. It is not that we do not now have the truth. We have it, and are responsible to hold it fast. “Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” But the special testimony bringing it before Christendom is over. In the last century there was a blessed testimony to the one body. But where is it now? “Brethren?” They are broken up into fragments, and are a testimony in the most painful way to the irreparable ruin of the Church in its responsible character. We have not held fast. All the movements that have gone on under the leadership of men like F.W.G., C.E.S., F.E.R. and the like, have had a retrograde character. The truth had been already given and men were not content. The truth alone did not suffice. Christ alone was not enough. As the Apostle says, “All seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.” And this was said of those who labored with him. Timothy was the only one he had who was “like-minded.” When this is the state, Christ is not made the alone center. Men make centers of themselves, and then they speak “perverse things to draw away disciples after them” — not Christ. So it has been among us. And we are reaping the bitter fruits. I do not mean to say there are none who are still holding fast the truth. I believe there are, and that there will be to the end; but alas! how many have departed! And how feeble those who in some degree have held fast!
But more. The testimony God has given has been rejected by the professing Church as a whole. And what is the result? God is giving Christendom over to apostasy. They would not have the truth: He will let them have a lie. Along many lines Satan is leading on to this: Spiritism, Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventism, Millennial Dawn, Christadeiphianism, Christian Science, Higher Criticism, etc., etc. All lead on to the final apostasy which will carry away the whole of Christendom, when the Lord has taken away the true saints. All this is very solemn, and may well lead us to walk softly and in the fear of God.
I trust the Lord may keep you and encourage you, dear brother, in your position of isolation. We have God’s Word and Spirit. And this is everything in such a day. How blessed to have in that Word the whole counsel of God! And if we so walk that the Spirit is ungrieved, He will not fail to minister to all our need, and to conduct us on in the faith that leads to Christ above.
I have been away from home since August — part of the time in the States and part in Canada. There has been considerable to encourage in different places. I am expecting my wife to meet me at Detroit next week. And we are thinking to go to Rochester, N. Y., to spend most of the winter, seeking to help the scattered sheep there. The time is short. Soon the time of service will be over. And it is good to be diligent during the little while allotted to us. May the Lord keep us true in heart to Himself, and faithful in service — loins girt, lights burning — till He come.
With much love in the Lord,