Everything is beautiful in its season, and truth is healthful to the soul, when ministered in season and in measure.
New wine must be put into new bottles. The Lord had many things to say to His disciples, while He was with them; but they could not bear them then, and, therefore, He did not say them. When the Spirit of Truth came, they received those things in His teaching, together with a power to bear them.
All this may show us, how the fitting time and proportion are to be observed, when the ministry of the word of God to the soul is waited on. And this suggests to me the remembrance of Apollos at Corinth; for it has long been my impression, that his ministry there did mischief.
His qualities as a teacher suited the Grecian or Corinthian taste, and the Corinthian saints were attracted. Paul was among them a little before Apollos, and Apollos’ eloquence seems to have fascinated the natural, human mind of those Grecians; so that Paul, "rude in speech," came to be somewhat undervalued. Not that there was any wrong purpose in Apollos. But he may have gone to Corinth a little hastily, or without due advisement as before God; for we read simply, "that he was disposed to pass into Achaia." It was a disposition of his mind that led him to Corinth; and then we may gather, from Paul’s 1St epistle to the Corinthians, that he had captivated the minds of many there, and that there ensued division and mischief (Acts 18, 19).
Thus, with right desires, we may be very unwise in conducting our ministry. With the Lord, however, as a minister (as I need not say), all was perfect; and it is refreshing to mark such perfection, as it is all His glories.
The link between Him and His disciples, in the days of His sojourn among them, was that which personal attraction formed. They had no such knowledge of Him through the light and understanding of scripture, as would have bound them to Him. He had, the rather, to rebuke them again and again, for making many a mistake through ignorance of it. Their gathering round His empty sepulcher, among other circumstances, witnesses this to us. Had they been acquainted with the word, they would not have been there; for they would have known that He was not there. But they were there, just because they clung to Himself by strong personal attraction, and just because they knew not the scripture, that He must rise from the dead.
The remembrance of Him was more to them than converse with all beside. The dead body of her Lord was much more to the heart of Mary Magdalene than a crowd of living associates; yea, than the angelic glories of Heaven, as John 20 will tell us. How ought such a loving heart breathe out that beautiful epitaph: "O quam minus cum aliis versari, quam tui meminisse." And when we ponder this for a moment-when we think of God forming a personal link between Himself and us, what grace shines before us! what a secret is disclosed! The Lord would have our hearts to know Him as an object; and surely, by that, He lets us know that He has us as His objects, and what crowning grace is that!
But though, during the days of His abiding with them, the disciples were thus kept by Him through force of personal attraction, yet, when He had risen from the dead, and rejoined them, "He opened their understandings, that they might understand the Scripture;" and then He gave them (as we speak) a lecture upon scripture, saying to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." This was the forming of a new link between Him and them. Personal attractions, as we said, have already formed one; Scripture, and the knowledge of it, was now to form another.
What beautiful and well-ordered husbandry, under the ministry of Christ, this is! All was in season; the early and the latter rain doing their service to the soul.
We may also notice the way of the Spirit’s wisdom as a Teacher in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
In the day of their illumination, the Hebrew saints were willing to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods. They were happy under a fresh apprehension of Christ; and joy, as it always does, proved to be their strength. But with all this, they were not established in truth, and thus were shaken, as the whole of the Epistle lets us learn; and the apostle has to bring truth to them, that they might have whereby to stand, and wherewith to meet the seduction that was threatening them. They had been already happy and confident -the truth he brings was that which gave them title to be so; for the Spirit, through him, would lay firmer foundations than the joy which waited on the day of illumination;. that was beginning to betray its insufficiency.
And so with the Galatians. They were so happy; their "blessedness" had been such, that they would have given their eyes to the apostle. But in time, like the Hebrews, they also were shaken. Nay, more; they were "bewitched," seduced from the truth of the Gospel, though their first estate had been so full of blessedness; and the apostle has to feed them with truth, tell them afresh of the grace and liberty of the Gospel, as though the whole work had to begin again.
Surely all this has a voice in our ears. It tells us that the Spirit of God does not commit the saints to mere "illumination" or "blessedness." Such conditions of soul have to be confirmed by truth -and instruction. The infant blossom of the soul was beautiful; but it had to be sustained by further husbandry, ripened into strength and fruitfulness.
Now all this, I surely judge, has a voice in the ear of this day, through which we are passing. Many, many souls are now freshly awakened under a ministry that attracts, rather than instructs. The joy of "illumination" and of "blessedness" is abroad. But all this which we have been looking at, whether in the Lord’s own ministry, or in that of the apostle under the Holy Ghost, tells us that such a condition may soon need the confirming virtue which knowledge of the word imparts. Exercises of soul under the discovery of. corruptions, under the accusings of Satan, or of the conscience, from the tendencies of nature, and from the wear and tear of Christian warfare, may set in; and such things will call for "the sword of the Spirit." The danger, I grant, may be feared, lest when the link between Christ and the soul, which Scripture forms; be strengthened, that which personal attraction has already formed should become less earnest. It is delightful to see affection, and joy, and fresh open-heartedness. It is admirable, specially in the eyes of some of us, who know too much of coldness, and narrowness, and formality. Still, knowledge of Scripture is divine provision for the rising exigencies of our onward journey, as for the quickening.-of the soul at the beginning; the Word being the seed of life, and the Milk and meat of it, too. And, surely, our communion with Scripture is to feed, not to supersede, our communion with Himself. I grant that there is danger, as I said—danger lest the fervency and simplicity, which marked the "illumination," the first moment Of the quickened soul, the day of "blessedness," the time when personal attraction should be owned by the heart, should be injured by the accession of knowledge. But, though this danger may well be feared (and if it prevail, the loss will be serious indeed), yet we find that neither the Lord Himself, nor His servants under the Spirit, were governed by it. The Lord added an opened understanding, and an interpreted Scripture to them who were already His. by personal attraction; and the apostle taught, and taught carefully, those who had been in the joy of urination, and in the power of their early blessedness.
But I must look for a little at Acts 11:19-3019Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. 20And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. 22Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 25Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. 27And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 28And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. 29Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea: 30Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:19‑30). They that were scattered abroad at the persecution which arose about Stephen, went everywhere telling of the Lord Jesus. They were not as ordained or gifted ones; but, in the, freshness of their recent quickening, they talked of the salvation they were enjoying. The elder brethren, official and gifted, remained at home (chap. 8:1).
The fruit of this service was very happy, but evidently very simple. We see this, as at Antioch, in this chapter, Acts 11; and tidings of all this reaching Jerusalem, Barnabas is sent to see it-the very man for such service; for he was a man rather of grace than of gift- "a good man"—"a son of consolation," as he is called; and, coming to Antioch, and there seeing "the grace of God," as we read, "he was glad."
Very simple, very lovely, and very easy to be understood, all this condition of things is. The work carried on by simple, fresh souls, was very attractive to a simple, gracious, saint. Barnabas joined himself with it at once; but he did this in a modest, temperate, way, which surely was the wisdom of the Spirit in him. He exhorted them: he did not teach them, as though he would add something to them, but he exhorted them, as desirous that they should rather hold fast what they already had..I can suppose that he instinctively felt and judged it would be hazardous to do more just at that moment, considering the condition of soul he had then found them in.
This is simple, and it is significant also; for it easily associates itself with much that is abroad at this moment; for Antioch. is again, in this our day, before Jerusalem; and Jesus is again passing by; and though the path of His feet may still be in places of no repute with very many, as Galilee or Nazareth, or the road that lay between Jericho and Jerusalem, it is well for sinners to be in the highway, or on the road-side.
But the scene at Antioch does not yet close. After awhile, Barnabas goes to seek Saul at Tarsus. Saul was a gifted vessel in the house of God. Barnabas, in the grace that distinguishes him, seems- to know this and to own it; and, therefore, in due season, desires his presence and help among the new converts. When these converts reach a certain stage, or come to age, as we may say, he appears at once to think of Saul, his gifted brother, in connection with them; and accordingly seeks him out, and then brings him to Antioch, and there, assembling themselves together for that very purpose, for a whole year, they teach the young converts; and the good fruit of all this is quickly gathered, as we read:- "And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch; and there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit, that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples -every man according to his ability- determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Jerusalem, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul."
This is all, again I say, not only simple and happy, but significant, having a voice for the ear of this present hour. The ministry of some unnamed, undistinguished, brethren had awakened many souls at Antioch: these souls then welcomed first the exhortations of Barnabas, and afterward the teaching of Saul; and, at the last, and as the end or fruit of this husbandry-this plowing, planting, and watering-they are ready with sympathy-living practical sympathy-to answer the need and sorrow of their brethren.
Antioch is thus before us, in this earliest notice that we get of her. The activity there is lively, full of freshness, and affection, and simplicity, yielding real genuine fruit; and there the disciples are first called “Christians."
This, as we have seen, is in chap. 11. In chap. 13, we find it the seat of an energetic body of disciples, animated by a missionary spirit; and forth from it Paul and Barnabas, the companions of an earlier day, are sent by the Holy Ghost on the work of evangelizing. In chap. 14, we find these brethren returned there, after their mission had been fulfilled; and in chap. 15, Paul a second time, now in company with Silas, going forth from it on fresh labors in the gospel.
Jerusalem, during all this, is rather laid aside, or in the shade, as we speak. She is seen, in chap. xv., as the place where certain disputed ecclesiastical questions had to be settled; but that is far, indeed, from giving her the glowing atmosphere of Antioch; and thus, the last are first, and the first last. The younger Antioch takes the lead of old Jerusalem; but while we say this, we will not forget Jerusalem as the earliest seat of the Church, honored and endowed. The Spirit descended there: there the first disciples sold all they possessed, and lived together, the fairest sample of congregational beauty that ever flourished. There, too, we see a suffering Church: prisons and martyrdoms witness this; and there the Holy Ghost shook the place, as well as filled the place, of the assembled saints.
But in time, Antioch rather than Jerusalem occupies the foreground of observation. We see the last first-a common thing from the beginning hitherto. Sarah got the start of Abraham, in Gen. 21, though she was so much behind him in Gen. 18; and so young converts, like young Antioch, run earnestly along in paths of service, where old disciples are but walking leisurely. In patriarchal, apostolic, and present days, we may thus see the last as first. Be it so; may we older ones of Jerusalem say, "O! that jealousies were watched and mortified! O! that we were not so tempted to judge of things and of persons in relation to ourselves, to the part or measure we take with them, or the interest we have in them!" How should we rejoice in the service and fruitfulness of others! Surely we are not to surrender anything we have of Him or from Him; but as surely we are to value other vessels of His house, and the treasure that is in them, and the use which the Master is pleased to put them to. Eliab will upbraid his younger brother, because he eyed him enviously; but we are to cherish the heart of David, who, if he but served, cared not whether it were among the sheep-folds or on the throne.
I would, however, add another word. One is very conscious at times of a dread of interfering with the work of the Spirit with a soul, when that work appears to have a fresh character about it, and to have been somewhat immediately as from God Himself. It moves us in measure, like as the first work of the Lord Jesus moved the disciples at the well of Sychar: they felt that they could not intrude: there was a weight and influence in the place which His power and grace had just been so blessedly occupying. It was the same again after He was risen on the shore of the sea of Galilee. There we read-" And none of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord."
One is, in like spirit with this, indisposed at times to meddle with the working Of God with a soul, to direct it, or to attempt to give it anything of a new shape or character; and this reserve is healthful, I judge. But here, again, I would say, it is to have its measure: it is to be debated with, or it may restrain us too far: I see this in Acts 18.
There, Aquila and his wife Priscilla had a fresh work of God under their eye in the person of Apollos—a work, I can assure myself, which had character in it, savoring of the direct, immediate, hand of God. It had fine qualities in it. That man of Alexandria, as a vessel of the divine Potter, was no common one. Apollos was eloquent, fervent in spirit, mighty in the scriptures, and earnest and diligent in testimony to the Lord. All this may well have attracted, and more than attracted, the older disciples. I can suppose that for a moment Aquila and Priscilla were silent in the presence of this new-formed vessel, as Moses for a time listened to Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp, and old Eli bowed before the word of the Lord in the mouth of the youthful servant of the Temple.
Still, however, Aquila and Priscilla did not, in fitting time, refuse to take Apollos and teach him the way of God more perfectly, as Barnabas and Saul did not, as we have seen, refuse to teach, as well as exhort, the young converts at Antioch.
I cannot but say, that these samples of the various wisdom’ of the Spirit in the saints and servants of the Lord I feel to be admirable. And I see a vividness now giving character to certain freshly-awakened souls, which I have no disposition to deprive of a certain kind of authority with me. I do not yield a jot of what, I have learned from the word; but I fear lest teaching, if not wise in season as well as in substance, should do mischief. And yet surely I know and own that teaching is the divine way of growth and fruitfulness, and may be deeply needful to meet the rising exigencies of these dear young converts.
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