A Word to believers as to fellowship with Christians

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

As long as the solemn question of the soul’s eternal salvation is left in dark uncertainty there will be little, if any, freedom of spirit to think of that which interests Christ or concerns His glory, apart from the bare matter of the sinner’s peace and safety. On the other hand, when one who professes to have the knowledge of this great salvation gives evidence in walk and ways of cold indifference to those interests, it manifests either a very shallow work in the soul, or no real work at all. For be sure of this, that the work of the spirit in a soul is as great a reality as the work of Christ for that soul, and that in whomsoever He (the Spirit) dwells, His activity will always tend to the glory of Christ. ” He shall glorify Me,” said the blessed Lord; “for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you,” John 16:14. In case this should fall into the hands of a troubled soul, it may well be to add here, for his comfort, that peace does not depend upon our being satisfied with the work of the spirit in us, but upon God’s satisfaction in the work of Christ for us, and as this rests eternally the same, the ground of our peace is unchanging too. “Christ also hath once suffered for the sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” I Peter 3:18. But it is for those who have been recently been brought to the knowledge of salvation that this little book is intended, though it is the earnest prayer of the writer that its pages may graciously be used to the exercise and blessing of every reader who loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. How should I like, before we proceed further, to fill your heart (if it is not already full) with the warm and heavenly rays which shine forth from that little sentence in John 13:1-“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end!” ” His own!” What a precious thought! His, not only by Creator-right and redemption- titles, but His by gift form the Father-“Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me,” John 17:6. And so precious is this thought to His own heart, that seven times over in that remarkable out-breathing of His soul to the Father (John 17) He makes mention of it. Is this not enough to fill your heart, dear reader? ‘Tis true you are left for a little while in this cold, dark world, but you are “loved” by Him, and loved through everything, right on “to the end.” Never dream, I pray you, of asking Him to increase His love toward you. He never could love you more, and He never will love you less. Blessed be His name, His love is like Himself-infinite and eternal.

“Love that no tongue can teach,

Love that no thought can reach;

No love like His.

God is its blessed source,

Death ne’er can stop its course,

Nothing can stay its force;

Matchless it is.”

Now I need not say that you are not the only one in this poor world loved by Christ and saved by His precious blood. There are other joint-heirs, “many sons,” that have God’s eternal glory as their bright destiny; and I am desirous of saying a few simple words to you about your path in connection with these, your fellow-Christians-” His own” -left with you in the world. But I would first say,

BE RIGHT WITH GOD IN SECRET,

And would earnestly press upon you the deep importance of personal piety, and the wholehearted devotedness to Christ, apart from the question of any other saint on earth. May the Holy Spirit of God make this plain to you. Depend upon it; to be right with God in your closet is of equal importance to being right with Him in public, among your fellow-Christians. Take a simple illustration. Will not a good servant see to the proper condition of the glasses, etc., before he puts them in their places on the master’s table? And will not he soldier look well that his accouterments are in a bright and worthy state before he steps into rank with his comrades? Mark, I am not going to say a word against right order, but rather to urge its importance. Yet I do see the necessity of pressing upon you a prior thing. What would any master care for the most exact order of laying a table if the knives and forks, etc., were in a dirty and unsatisfactory sate, and the servant himself in a disgraceful untidiness? Or what captain is satisfied with the punctuality and regularity of his men, if their rifles were foul and their bayonets rusty? Of course, a servant who cared for the approval of his master would neglect none of these things. Now pause here a moment, and let me ask myself and you a practical question: Is there anything in your heart which you are well aware would not have a place there for an instant if your blessed Lord and Master had it all His own way with you? Let us honestly face that question, and be very jealous lest there be a single selfish reserve in our hearts from Him. A Christian who cherishes such a reserve is virtually saying, “Lord, I can trust Thee with my safety, but cannot trust Thee with my happiness.” Oh, let us consider Him more, dear reader! “He sold all that He had,” and gave His precious lifeblood too, for the joy of making us “His own”; and having done and suffered all this for us, He now gives everything to us, and makes a feast for His own heart in doing it. What a Giver! What a Lover! Blessed, thrice blessed Savior! Help me praise Him, and let us exalt His name together. Well, the more you become at home with Him, to use a familiar expression, the more you will joyfully anticipate being with Him at home, and the greater heavenly glow and fervor will your testimony have until you get there. No amount of effort will bring about this state; but in keeping His company, and beholding Him in glory, where He now is, you will be “changed into the same image from glory to glory,” and thus reflect His moral beauty here below. The more practically we become like Him, the louder our lives speak for Him. Whenever you find that your appetite for Him is diminishing, you may be pretty sure that one or more of the “little foxes that spoil the vines” are finding an undisturbed lodging-place in your heart. Therefore, search diligently, and spare them not, or else bid farewell to your joy and spiritual prosperity. But go at once to Him, and say, with full surrender of your own will,” search me O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me (margin, way of pain or grief), and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139:23,24. Ever may it be-“Our only grief to give Him pain, our joy to serve and follow Him.” What a luxury it is to one that loves the Lord to have the consciousness in his soul that he is ministering pleasure to the heart of Christ! I t is then that the brightest offer the world can make you but crumbles into dust and ashes at your feet.

STEPS RIGHTLY DIRECTED, A FALSE WAY DETECTED.

It is well at the commencement of your Christian career to be fully alive to the fact that it is the word of God, which must be the touchstone for everything in your path, whether personally or relatively. Look at Psalm 119:104, ” Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way “; and again, verse 128, ” therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” Notice how the Holy Spirit speaks through the Psalmist. It is either a right way because according to the word, or it is a false way to be hated. Man naturally loves to tone things down to keep his conscience quiet. God in creation “divided the light from the darkness,” and morally He does so still. Man would blend them together in a kind of dim twilight; but beware of these subtle compromises, and like David, say, “The double-minded have I hated, but Thy law do I love.” v.113. Now do not let this apply only to the question of your salvation and personal state, but to that also which I now desire briefly to dwell upon; viz.,

YOUR GROUND OF FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS; OR, IN OTHER WORDS, YOUR CHURCH POSITION.

One of the first things, I believe, which the renewed heart craves for is fellowship with God’s people. He finds himself no longer at home in the world, and naturally seeks “his own company.” But amidst all the names and divisions of disordered Christendom, a newborn soul may well inquire, “Where shall I turn to be right?” My answer is, ” To God, and to the word of His grace,” Acts 20:32. Whoever is wrong, God and His word are right. Get that well grounded in your soul, and “cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils.” A few years ago two Christians, hitherto strangers to each other, were traveling together in a railway carriage, when, after some conversation about the Lord and His interests, one of them leaned forward and said,” May I ask what denomination you belong to?” “Well, that is a common enough question,” replied the other, “but will you first say what you think is to guide me in my path as a Christian?” He agreed at once that it was the word of God alone that could with certainty direct him. “Then, if you will allow me,” said his fellow-traveler, “I will answer your question by proposing another; viz.,WHAT DENOMINATION DOES THE WORD OF GOD PUT ME INTO?”After some silent deliberation he said, “Why, none at all.” “Then I can’t belong to one at all,” replied the other; “for if I did (upon your own showing), I should clearly be in a position where the word of God had not placed me” “But,” replied the first speaker, “does not the word of God exhort us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, ‘and so much the more, as we see the day approaching’?” Heb.10: 25. “Yes, it does. But a Christian need not belong to a denomination to obey that word; for the Lord Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt.18: 20. Now, dear reader, if you look at 2 John 6, you will find that he exhorts the elect lady, and those with her, thus: “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment. That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” Now John had seen the Lord in His wondrous life; had seen Him die upon the cross; and was a witness of His resurrection; beheld Him taken up into Heaven; and was present when on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from an ascended Christ to baptize believers into one body, and thus form the Church. He had lived long enough to see evil come into the circle of the professing Church; but what is the remedy? Is it, “Begin afresh with a new and purer sect of a more improved constitution?” Listen to his reply by the Holy Spirit: “This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning ye should walk in it.” so that the Spirit of God makes it plain that He suffers no innovation of man’s to trespass upon the sacred principles of God’s word for the guidance of His people, whatever their exercises may be, or whatever the date of their history. Now apply this principle today, and you must find yourself in one of two positions-either on God’s ground of gathering the disciples at the beginning, or on some ground that man, in his fancied wisdom or mistaken zeal, has set up since the beginning.

THE ONE BODY AND ITS MEMBERS.

In Acts 2:42, it is said of the early disciples “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” After the conversion of Saul of Tarsus an entirely new revelation was made to the Church through this once champion persecutor of the saints; namely, that every believer on earth was united to Christ by the Holy Spirit (see Acts 9:4; I Cor. 6:17; I Cor. 12:12-27); that “as the body is one, and hath many members and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is (the) Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit,” I Cor. 12:12,13. Then in fact plainly stated-“There is one body,” but we are exhorted to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”; that is, we are to maintain practically what the Holy Spirit has formed spiritually. There are two classes of Christians in the world. One practically says, “Man has formed many bodies, and I being a member of one of these (the best according to my opinion), desire to serve its interests in every possible way I can.” The other says, “God has formed one body and made me a member of it, and now I desire by His grace to serve the interests of the Head of that body, according to the principles laid down in His Word who formed it.” Now, dear reader, to which of these classes do you belong? Alas! How many a precious saint of God is represented by the first! Do you not often hear a Christian talk about “joining” this or that body? Surely such as one forgets (if he ever knew) that the only body which God in His word recognizes is the “one body” of which Christ Himself is the Head, and of which every true believer is a living member. If saved, therefore (to use a common expression), you are already a “joined member.” “He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit,” I Cor. 6:17. And in I Cor. 12:18, using the figure of the human body, the apostle says, “GOD HATH SET the members every one of them in the body AS IT HATH PLEASED HIM.” What sad confusion then to talk of joining some other body. Why not be content with the place God has given you in the “body of Christ,” and seek through grace to fulfill the responsibilities of such a place? Now the Holy Spirit certainly never baptized believers into a ‘sect’ or denomination. Look at I Cor. 1:12,13, and chapter 3:3, and you will see that He meets in the very threshold, so to speak, the incoming of sectarian spirit in Corinth with a most withering stroke of condemnation. “Are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” But you may inquire, “If it is wrong to stand upon or uphold a sectarian position, is there any definite way laid down in God’s word of expressing the truth of the one body?” To answer this we must look at what Scripture says of

THE LORD’S TABLE

If you turn to I Cor. 10:16, you will find that just as twelve loaves on the table of showbread expressed what Israel was; viz., twelve tribes (Lev. 24:5,6), so the one loaf of the Lord’s supper is the symbol to express the truth of what the Church on earth is: viz., one body. We being many are one bread (or loaf) and one body: for we are all partakers of that bread (or loaf),” v.17. So that in partaking of the one loaf, the divinely taught Christian owns his union with all true believers on the face of the whole earth, whatever their ignorance, weakness, or Christ-dishonoring divisions may be. But while he does this, he can only have fellowship with those who are seeking to walk in obedience to the word, and in separation from manifested evil. The Holy Spirit of God would certainly never seek to maintain outward unity at the expense of inward holiness.* (Read I Cor. 5:6,7,8,13.) I would just add here, that while the tenth chapter of this epistle speaks of the Lord’s Table, the eleventh speaks more particularly of

*The fellowship in the Church of England is much broader than Scripture owns, because every moral-living baptized and confirmed parishioner is admitted to the Lord’s supper, whether he be converted or not; while, on the other hand, that owned in all the dissenting bodies is much too narrow, because in them only those are recognized as “members” who hold the views of this or that particular sect or denomination.

If Scripture therefore is to be your guide, you must be on a ground wide enough to include every member of the body of Christ, whose walk and ways are according to holiness and truth, and narrow enough to exclude all that scriptural discipline would shut out.

THE LORD’S SUPPER

Here our divine affections are called forth in remembrance of the blessed worthy One Himself, and whilst doing this together we “show His death until He come.” Then we shall no longer need such symbols, but see Him face to face. But is it not sad to think of the cold-hearted neglect of this blessed privilege by many of those whose redemption cost Him His precious blood? Think you, is it nothing to His heart that those whom He loves so tenderly should manifest such disregard for what may be called His farewell wish, expressed, as it was, on the night of His betrayal, and re-expressed from His place of exaltation in glory? “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come,” I Cor. 11:26. And we find, in Acts 20:7, that the disciples, in loving response to this their Lord and Master’s wish came together “on the first day of the week, to break bread.” Yet in our day some consider the first Sunday in a month sufficiently frequent, others once a quarter, and many even allow a still longer time to elapse without granting Him this special desire of His heart. Now which of us would not freely acknowledge that it was deplorable ingratitude on the part of Pharaoh’s butler, when, after Joseph had turned his sadness into joy, it was said, “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him,” Gen. 40:23. And this too, after Joseph’s touching appeal, in which he said, “When it shall be well with thee, think on me.”

But still Joseph only ministered joy to his fellow-prisoner for three days, and even this cost him no more than the mere utterance of a few short sentences. While for us the spotless Son of God has purchased eternal blessings, and joys that know no end, at such cost as only He who can fathom the depths of Calvary’s bitterness and woe can rightly estimate. Now what shall be said of him (with whom it is well indeed), who, without a single merit or the slightest cost, receives these infinite and blood-bought blessings at His hand, and the words of eternal; life from His lips, and yet can hear Him say, “This do in remembrance of Me,” without the least apparent response of heart to it? What must the angels who look on (I Cor. 11:10) think of such unexampled ingratitude? Nay, let us ask ourselves, what must the blessed One Himself think of it? Not long ago we were told that a few Christians in a country village were often kept, for more than a year together, from eating the Lord’s Supper, just because a certain preacher could not go over to “administer it to them.” This was truly a grievous mistake; for there is no such thing even hinted at in Scripture as any man (not even an apostle) being set apart for such a thing. “The disciples came together to break bread.” It might be well to say here that, according to God’s words, all true believers are now priests (Rev. 1:6; I Pet. 2:5,9), and as such they have the privilege of entering the holiest with boldness, bringing their praises to the Father and to the Son with glad and worshipping hearts. How sadly has human interference set aside the simplicity of divine order, robbing the Lord of His glory, His people of their blessing, and dragging the highest heavenly privileges of Christianity down to the earthly level of Judaism? May the Lord deliver His own from such a state of things so contrary to His mind. But, returning to our subject, let us never forget that the Lord’s Supper must be received in the spirit of self-judgment. (See I Cor. 11:28-31.) Having judged ourselves, and spared nothing about us that is unworthy of Him, we come together, with grateful and undistracted hearts, to think of all the worthiness that is in Him who went down into death for us. What a soul-absorbing privilege it would ever be if our practical state were no hindrance to the Holy Spirit leading us into the true enjoyment of such a heavenly feast! May the frequency of it never rob us of the freshness of it. But there is another feature of

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE ON EARTH

Which is important to be clear about. The Lord Jesus promised that the Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, when He came, should not only be in them (individually) but with them (corporately), John 14:16,17. And without going into the matter now, it is evident from such scriptures I Cor. 14 that in the beginning of the Church’s history His presence was owned and His guidance & operation looked for, both in public meetings and with individuals. Alas, how human arrangements have set aside the word of God in this matter, robbing His people, and quenching His Spirit! And so widespread in Christendom has this evil become, that, look where you will, from St. Peter’s in Rome down to the smallest dissenting chapel, you can see it. Instead of believers, when assembled together for worship or edification, depending on the Lord alone for the guidance of His Spirit, why, even a prayer meeting can scarcely be held without the appointment of someone to “conduct” it. This one or that, whether led of the Spirit or not, is called upon to “engage in prayer,” while the “prayer leader” is supposed to “open” the meeting and “close” it, whatever his state of soul may be. What is all this but man usurping the place of the Holy Spirit, the sad fruit of unbelief as to His personal presence? Some believers even go so far as to pray for Him to be sent, or to Him to come, and this notwithstanding the plain word of the Lord-“He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you FOR EVER,” John 14:16. It should, however, be borne in mind that there is a wide difference between a meeting for preaching the gospel to the unsaved (when the individual servant, according to his measure of gift, is solely responsible to deliver His Master’s message), and a company of God’s redeemed people, coming together for worship or edification.

YOUR POSITION TESTED

Now, with these simple facts before us, suppose the Peter, James, and John, with a few others of the early disciples, should have lives until the present day, say in one of our English towns, and that they were still meeting in the simplicity of divine order as at the beginning; i.e. gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus (compare Matt. 18:20 with John 20:19), remembering Him in the breaking of bread in the first day of the week, and waiting for His coming again (examine Acts 20:7; I Cor .11:23-26); maintaining scriptural discipline (see I Cor. 5:9-13; I Tim. 5:20; 2 Thess. 3:6,14, 15; I Thess. 5:14; 2 Tim. 4:2;Titus 2:15; Gal. 6:1); endeavoring to maintain the truth in practice that “there is one body” (Eph. 4:3,4); and recognizing the presence and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst to guide by the Holy Spirit, whom He will, whether in worship or ministry, thereby ignoring, of course, all human rules and every vestige of what is merely man’s usurped authority. Now calmly pause for a moment and ask yourself the question just referred to: “To what denomination would THEY belong?” It will surely not take much spiritual discernment to answer that question with a very decided negative; and, “Of course,” you will say, “none at all.” But, to bring the question somewhat nearer home, if you were living in that very town yourself, would not you like to have the apostles’ fellowship? I am sure you would. Well, then, in order to get it, you must first leave every kind of sectarian ground set up by man since the beginning of the Church’s history upon earth and accept, with its consequences, the “apostles’ doctrine.” Then, having got upon their ground of “fellowship”, you would have the privilege of expressing it with them in the “breaking of bread.” “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ?” I Cor. 10:16. But you may say, perhaps, that the apostles are not living on earth now. Well, but, thank God, their doctrine is-“the word which liveth and abideth forever”; and that puts me in this day on the same ground of fellowship that they were upon in that day; i.e., if I submit to be guided and governed by it.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

This may perhaps fall into the hands of some older Christian, who says, “Well, I see that the ground I have been upon has no warrant in Scripture; but I am not capable of putting the thing right.” Probably not; but your responsibility is to put yourself right. “If a man therefore purge himself from these (vessels to dishonor), he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Tim. 2:19-22 To Jeremiah of old, who stood valiantly for God amidst a sinful and rebellious people, it was said, “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.” Jer. 15:19 “But” reasons another, “ought I not to stay in the place and among the people where my soul was converted?” Well, I think you will see at once that such a principle could not possibly apply to every Christian. Some are converted amid the gross darkness of Romanism: would you have them stay there? -Saul of Tarsus on the roadside amongst the haters of Christ? One is saved on the battlefield; and only tonight I heard of a young man brought to God while tempest-tossed and well-nigh driven to despair in the Bay of Biscay. In all such cases God is sovereign (“The wind bloweth where it listeth.”); He can convert a soul anywhere, and by any means. But from the moment he is converted he is no longer his own, nor has he any right to choose his own path, or do his own will; he must henceforth consult the wishes of another-even his own precious Lord and Master, and seek His all-sufficient grace and power to carry those wishes out. A man may enlist for a soldier in the common dram-shop, in the public market, or wherever the recruiting sergeant can prevail upon him to join the colors, but as you are aware, from that day he is no longer his own master: he must prepare himself to obey the wishes of His Majesty. Now what would you think of a recruit who insisted upon staying where he was enlisted, or even with the recruiting staff? Such a course might possibly suit him, but he must now yield to other and higher authority. There may be another who says, “Nearly all my Christian friends are in such a sect; and, besides, is it not right to go where you can get the most good?” Well, I have no doubt that Jonathan might have reasoned thus when, in David’s days, he chose rather to think of his own good with his own relations in Saul’s court than of following one who so dearly loved him in a pathway of suffering, loneliness and rejection. But had poor, lamented Jonathan consulted David’s interests instead of his own, had he devotedly cleaved to him, hated and hunted though David was, he would probably never have fallen, as he did, on the mountains of Gilboa. Ah, dear fellow-believer, depend upon it, neither the opinion of your friends, nor your own judgment of what is most for your good, can guide you in these matters! The truth of God alone can direct you in a Christ-honoring path, and the God of truth alone can sustain you in it. The Scripture which makes you wise unto salvation furnishes you unto all good works; i.e., with all needful instruction for your path (2 Tim. 3:15-17). And since this is so, you ought to be as sure of one as the other. There can surely be no shadow of uncertainty to faith when God has spoken His mind; but how sad that so many, even of His professed people, should glibly speak of “essentials” and “nonessentials” in the things of God, which usually means that whatever concerns their own safety and blessing is essential, and all the rest, no matter how closely connected with the glory of the blessed Son of God, is to be treated with comparative indifference as nonessential! Oh, what miserable selfishness does this manifest! What a different state of things characterized the dear apostle! The earnest desire of his heart was, that Christ should be “magnified in my body, whether by life or by death;” his one motto was-“To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:20, 21 But there is yet another objection which is sometimes raised against leaving a human for a divine ground of association and fellowship; viz., the failures and inconsistencies of those who professedly occupy this ground. Most sorrowfully, though frankly, do I own that those who, through grace, have clearly seen the place to be of God, and sought to occupy it, have very painfully and disgracefully failed; while some, no doubt, who professedly took the ground, never saw what they were doing, nor had any depth of godly exercise about it; so that when their faithfulness to the principles which professedly separated them were put to the test, they either in practice denied those very principles or else forsook them altogether. This, however, no more proves the position wrong than the failure of His Majesty’s Ministers in the House of Commons proves that it is not the true House of Parliament, or Uzziah’s failure in the temple, or, still worse, that of king Ahaz, prove that it was not God’s center of gathering for all the thousands of Israel (2 Chron. 26: 16-20; 2 Kings 16:10-17); while, on the other hand, the most spotless morality in those assembled by Jereboam at Dan or Bethel, the most ardent zeal, the most unexampled self-denial, coupled with the greatest popularity and the voice of the majority (ten tribes against two), could not possibly make those altars the right centers, justify Jereboam in setting them up.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

God has ever claimed the right to fix a gathering center for His people, and to settle the order of priestly service & worship; and surely this not less true of the Church than of Israel. But let it be well remembered that He never regarded mere correct outward order as sufficient to satisfy Him. (See Isaiah 1:11-17.) In the future history of His ancient people there will be, according to prophecy, a great re-gathering to God’s center-Jerusalem. But what a sifting will they have to pass through ere their state is suited to the holiness of Jehovah! And they will be sifted, too, by what is false among themselves. What a solemn thought for us, since a similar state of things in Church history has been foretold by the apostle Paul in Acts 20:30, “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” But, as already noticed, the apostle at once carries them to the resting-place of the faith of the faith of His chosen in all ages; viz., “God, and the word of His grace.” Whatever sifting may come, blessed be His name, we shall ever find in Him and in His word all that we need until the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and with His “shout” bring about, “in the twinkling of an eye,” that great gathering around Himself spoken of in 2 Thess. 2:1. “Then all that grieves shall pass away, And saints shall see a glorious day.” Not a division among them, nor a stain upon them! Till then “every one that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3 “Watching and ready may we be, As those that wait their Lord to see.” Amen Earnestly do I entreat you, dear reader, in view of that day when His eyes shall surely meet yours in glory, to test your church position as well as the ground of your peace and safety by the Lord’s own question to some in the days of His flesh; viz., “Is it from heaven, or of men?” Luke 20:4. Does it bear the unmistakable stamp of divine and scriptural authority? Or is it merely endorsed by the hand of human expediency or mere religious opinion? Never, never rest until you can say, without a doubt, “I am, through grace, in a position where my gracious Lord would have me, because I am where the word of God has placed me”; and then with purpose of heart and fervor of spirit seek to adorn it by a holy, separate, and devoted walk, and so when He comes you will not only be ready to “go in to the marriage” through faith in Him, but get His approving “well done” for faithfulness to Him. Difficulties you may have, will have, but if in the path that pleases Him, you may with all confidence count upon His sympathy and succor; and even though the misunderstandings of your fellow-Christians add bitterness to your cup, yet the sense of His smile will more than recompense you. “Them that honor Me I will honor , and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed,” 1 Sam. 2:30 “If any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” John 12:26 May such “honor” be yours, dear reader, now and “till He come.”  

“Which Class Are You Travelling?”

What an oft-repeated question! Let me put it to you; for travelling you most certainly are, travelling from time into Eternity; and who knows how very, very near you may be at this moment to the GREAT TERMINUS?

Let me ask you then, in all kindness, “Which class are you travelling?” There are but three. Let me describe them, that you may put yourself to the test as in the presence of “Him with whom we have to do.”

• 1^st Class – Those who are saved and know it.


• 2^nd Class – Those who are not sure of salvation, but anxious to be sure.


• 3^rd Class – Those who are not only unsaved, but totally indifferent about it.

Again I repeat my question, “Which class are you travelling?” Oh, the madness of indifference, when eternal issues are at stake! A man came rushing into the railway station and, while scarcely able to gasp for breath, took his seat in one of the carriages just on the point of starting.

“You’ve run it fine,” said a fellow-passenger. “Yes,” replied he, breathing heavily after every two or three words, “but I’ve saved four hours, and that’s well worth running for.”

“Saved four hours!” I couldn’t help repeating to myself; “four hours” well worth that earnest struggle! What of Eternity? What of Eternity! Yet are there not thousands of shrewd, far-seeing men today, who look sharply enough after their own interests in life, but who seem stone-blind to the Eternity before them? In spite of the infinite love of God to helpless rebels, told out at Calvary; in spite of His pronounced hatred of sin; in spite of the known brevity of man’s history here; in spite of the terrors of judgement after death, and of the solemn probability of waking up at last with the unbearable remorse of being on hell’s side of a “fixed” gulf, man hurries on to the bitter, bitter end as careless as if there were no God, no death, no judgement, no heaven, no hell! If the reader of these pages be such an one, may God this very moment have mercy upon you; and while you read these lines, open your eyes to your most perilous position, standing as you may be on the slippery brink of an endless woe!

Oh, friend, believe it or not, your case is truly desperate! Put off the thought of Eternity no longer. Remember, that procrastination is like him who deceives you by it, not only a “thief,” but a “murderer.” There is much truth in the Spanish proverb which says, “The road of ‘By-and-by’ leads to the town of ‘Never’.” I beseech you, therefore, to travel that road no longer; “NOW is the day of Salvation”.

“But,” says one, “I am not indifferent as to the welfare of my soul. My deep trouble lies wrapped up in another word – UNCERTAINTY. I am among the second-class passengers you speak of.”

Well, both indifference and uncertainty are the offspring of one parent – unbelief. The first results from unbelief as to the sin and ruin of man, the other from unbelief as to God’s sovereign remedy for man. It is especially for souls desiring before God to be fully and unmistakably SURE of their salvation that these pages are written. I can in a great measure understand your deep soul-trouble, and am assured that the more you are in earnest about this all-important matter, the greater will be your thirst, until you know for certain that you are really and eternally saved. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The only son of a devoted father is at sea. News comes that his ship has been wrecked on some foreign shore. Who can tell the anguish of suspense in that father’s heart until, upon the most reliable authority, he is assured that his boy is safe and sound?

Or, again, you are far from home. The night is dark and wintry, and your way is totally unknown. Standing at a point where two roads diverge, you ask a passer-by the way to the town you desire to reach, and he tells you he thinks that such and such a way is the right one, and hopes you will be all right if you take it. Would “thinks“, and “hopes,” and “may be’s” satisfy you? Surely not. You must have certainty about it, or every step you take will increase your anxiety. What wonder, then, that men have sometimes neither been able to eat nor sleep when the eternal safety of the soul has been trembling in the balance!

“To lose your wealth is much,
To lose your health is more,
To lose your soul is such a loss
As no man can restore.”

Now, there are three things I desire, by the Holy Spirit’s help, to make clear to you; and, to put them into Scripture language, they are these:-

• The Way Of Salvation. Acts 16:17


• The Knowledge Of Salvation. Luke 1:77


• The Joy Of Salvation. Psalm 51:12.

We shall, I think, see that, though intimately connected, they each stand upon a separate basis; so that it is quite possible for a soul to know the way of Salvation without having the certain knowledge that he himself is saved; or, again, to know that he is saved, without possessing at all times the joy that ought to accompany that knowledge.

First, then, let me speak briefly of

The Way Of Salvation

Please open your Bible, and read carefully Exodus 13:13; there you find these words from the lips of Jehovah: “Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt NOT redeem it, THEN THOU SHALT BREAK HIS NECK: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.”

Now come back with me in thought to a supposed scene of 3,000 years ago. Two men (a priest of God and a poor Israelite) stand in earnest conversation. Let us stand by, with their permission, and listen. The gestures of each bespeak deep earnestness about some matter of importance and it is not difficult to see that the subject of conversation is a little ass that stands trembling beside them.

“I am come to inquire,” says the poor Israelite, “if there cannot be a merciful exception made in my favour this once. This feeble little thing is the firstling of my ass, and though I know full well what the law of God says about it, I am hoping that mercy will be shown, and the ass’s life spared. I am but a poor man in Israel, and can ill afford to lose the colt.”

“But,” answers the priest firmly, “the law of the Lord is plain and unmistakable: ‘EVERY firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.’ Where is the lamb?

“Ah, sir, no lamb do I possess!”

“Then go, purchase one, and return, or the ass’s neck must surely be broken. The lamb must die, or the ass must die.”

“Alas! then all my hopes are crushed, ” he cries, “for I am far too poor to buy a lamb.”

While this conversation proceeds, a third person joins them, and after hearing the poor man’s tale of sorrow, he turns to him, and says kindly, “Be of good cheer, I can meet your need,” And thus he proceeds: “We have in our house, on the hill-top yonder, one little lamb, brought up at our very hearthstone, which is ‘without spot or blemish.’ It has never once strayed from home, and stands (and rightly so) in highest favour with all that are in the house. This lamb will I fetch.” And away he hastens up the hill. Presently you see him gently leading the fair little creature down the slope, and very soon both lamb and ass are standing side by side.

Then the lamb is bound to the altar, its blood is shed, and the fire consumes it.

The righteous priest now turns to the poor man, and says, “You can freely take your little colt in safety; no broken neck for it now. The lamb has died in the ass’s stead, and consequently the ass goes righteously free. Thanks to your friend.”

Now, poor troubled soul, can’t you see in this, God’s own picture of a sinner’s salvation? His claims as to your sin demanded “a broken neck”, i.e., righteous judgment upon your guilty head; the only alternative being the death of a divinely-approved substitute.

Now you could not find the provision to meet your case; but in the Person of His beloved Son, God Himself provided the Lamb. “Behold the Lamb of God,” said John to his disciples, as his eye fell upon that blessed, spotless One, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Onward to Calvary He went, “as a lamb to the slaughter,” and there and then He “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). He “was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). So that God does not abate one jot of His righteous, holy claims against sin when He justifies (i.e., clears from all charge of guilt) the ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). Blessed be God for such a Saviour, such a Salvation!

“DOST THOU BELIEVE ON THE SON OF GOD?”

“Well,” you reply, “I have, as a condemned sinner, found in Him One that I can safely trust. I do believe in Him.”

Then I can tell you that the full value of His sacrifice and death, as God estimates it, He makes as good to you as though you had accomplished it all yourself.

Oh, what a wondrous way of salvation is this! Is it not great, and grand, and Godlike, worthy of God Himself – the gratification of His own heart of love, the glory of His precious Son, and the salvation of a sinner, all bound up together? What a bundle of grace and glory! Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has so ordered it that His own beloved Son should do all the work, and get all the praise, and that you and I, poor, guilty sinners, believing on Him, should not only get the blessing, but enjoy the blissful company of the Blesser for ever and ever: “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Ps. 34:3).

But perhaps your eager inquiry may be, “How is it that since I do really distrust self and self-work, and wholly rely upon Christ and Christ’s work, that I have not the full certainty of my salvation?” You say, “If my feelings warrant my saying that I am saved one day, they are pretty sure to blight every hope the next and I am left like a ship storm-tossed, without any anchorage whatever.” Ah! there lies your mistake. Did you ever hear of a captain trying to find anchorage by fastening his anchor inside the ship? Never. Always outside.

It may be that you are quite clear that it is Christ’s death alone that gives SAFETY; but you think that it is what you feel that gives you CERTAINTY.

Now, again, take your Bible; for I wish you to see from God’s word how He gives a man

The Knowledge Of Salvation

Before you turn to the verse which I shall ask you very carefully to look at, which speaks of HOW a believer is to KNOW that he HAS Eternal Life, let me quote it in the distorted way in which man’s imagination often puts it. “These happy feelings have I given unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Now open your Bible, and, while you compare this with God’s blessed and unchanging Word, may He give you from your very heart to say with David, “I hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I love” (Ps. 119:113). The verse just misquoted is 1 John 5:13, and reads thus in the Bible, “These things HAVE I WRITTEN unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye HAVE eternal life.“

How did the firstborn sons of the thousands of Israel know for certain that they were safe the night of Passover and of Egypt’s judgment?

Let us pay a visit to two of their houses, and hear what they have to say.

We have in the first house we enter that they are all shivering with fear and suspense.

What is the secret of all this paleness and trembling? we enquire; and the firstborn son informs us that the angel of death is coming round the land, and that he is not quite certain how matters will stand with him at that solemn moment.

“When the destroying angel has passed our house,” says he, “and the night of judgment is over, I shall then know that I am safe; but I can’t see how I can be quite sure of it until then. I hear they ARE sure of salvation next door, but we think it VERY PRESUMPTUOUS. All I can do is to spend the long, dreary night HOPING for the best.”

“Well,” we enquire, “but has the God of Israel not provided a way of safety for His people?”

“True,” he replies, “and we have availed ourselves of that way of escape. The blood of the spotless and unblemished first-year lamb has been duly sprinkled with the bunch of hyssop on the lintel and two side-posts, but still we are not fully assured of shelter.”

Let us now leave these doubting, troubled ones, and enter next door.

What a striking contrast meets our eye at once! Peace rests on every countenance. There they stand, with girded loins, and staff in hand, feeding on the roasted lamb.

What can be the meaning of all this tranquillity on such a solemn night as this? “Ah,” say they all, “we are only waiting for Jehovah’s marching orders, and then we shall bid a last farewell to the taskmaster’s cruel lash and all the drudgery of Egypt!”

“But hold! Do you forget that this is the night of Egypt’s judgment?”

“Right well we know it; but our firstborn son is safe. The blood has been sprinkled according to the wish of our God.”

“But so it has been next door,” we reply; “but they are all unhappy, because all uncertain of safety.”

“Ah!” firmly responds the firstborn, “but WE HAVE MORE THAN THE SPRINKLED BLOOD; WE HAVE THE UNERRING WORD OF GOD ABOUT IT. God has said: ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you’. God rests satisfied with the blood outside, and we rest satisfied with His word inside.”

The sprinkled blood makes us SAFE.

The spoken word makes us SURE.

Could anything make us more safe than the sprinkled blood, or more sure that His spoken Word? Nothing, NOTHING.

Now, let me ask you a question. “Which of these two houses, think you, was the safer?”

Do you say number 2, where all were so peaceful? Nay, then, you are wrong.

Both are safe alike.

Their safety depends upon what God thinks about the blood outside, and not upon the state of their feelings inside.

If you would be sure of your own blessing, listen not to the unstable testimony of inward emotions, but to the infallible witness of the Word of God.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Let me give you a simple illustration from everyday life. A certain farmer in the country, not having sufficient grass for his cattle, applies for a nice piece of pasture land which he hears is to be let near his own house. For some time he gets no answer from the landlord. One day a neighbour comes in, and says, “I feel quite sure you will get that field. Don’t you recollect how that last Christmas he sent you a special present of game, and that he gave you a kind nod of recognition the other day when he drove past in the carriage?” And with such like words the farmer’s mind is filled with sanguine hopes.

Next day another neighbour meets him, and in course of conversation he says, “I’m afraid you will stand no chance whatever of getting that grass-field. Mr. _____ has applied for it, and you cannot but be aware what a favourite he is with the Squire – occasionally visits him,” etc. And the poor farmer’s bright hopes are dashed to the ground and burst like soap-bubbles. One day he is hoping, the next day full of perplexing doubts.

Presently the postman calls, and the farmer’s heart beats fast as he breaks the seal of the letter, for he sees by the handwriting that it is from the Squire himself. See his countenance change from anxious suspense to undisguised joy as he reads and re-reads that letter.

“It’s a settled thing now,” exclaims he to his wife. No more doubts and fears about it; “hopes” and “ifs” are things of the past. “The Squire says the field is mine as long as I require it, on the most easy terms, and that’s enough for me. I care for no man’s opinion now. His word settles all!”

How many a poor soul is in a like condition to that of the poor, troubled farmer – tossed and perplexed by the opinions of men, or the thoughts and feelings of his own treacherous heart; and it is only upon receiving the word of God as the word of God, that certainty takes the place of doubts and peradventures. When God speaks there must be certainty, whether He pronounces the damnation of the unbeliever, or the salvation of the believer.

“For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89); and to the simple-hearted believer HIS WORD SETTLES ALL.

“Hath he said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19).

“I need no other argument,
I want no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me”
The believer can add:
“And that God says so“
“But how may I be sure that I have the right kind of faith?”

Well, there can be but one answer to that question, viz., “Have you placed your confidence in the right person; i.e., in the blessed Son of God?”

It is not question of the amount of your faith, but of the trustworthiness of the person you repose your confidence in. One man takes hold of Christ, as it were, with a drowning man’s grip. Another but touches the hem of His garment; but the sinner who does the former is not a bit safer than the one who does the latter. They have both made the same discovery, viz., that while all of self is totally untrustworthy, they may safely confide in Christ, calmly rely on His Word, and confidently rest in the eternal efficacy of His finished work. That is what is meant by believing on Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Make sure of it then, that your confidence is not reposed in your works of amendments, your religious observances, your pious feelings when under religious influences, your moral training from childhood, and the like. You may have the strongest faith in any or all of these, and perish everlastingly. Don’t deceive yourself by any “fair show in the flesh.” The feeblest faith in Christ eternally saves, while the strongest faith in aught beside is but the offspring of a deceived heart – but the leafy twigs of your enemy’s arranging over the pitfall of eternal perdition.

God, in the gospel, simply introduces to you the Lord Jesus Christ, and says: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” “You may,” He says, “with all confidence trust His heart, though you cannot with impunity trust your own.”

Blessed, thrice blessed, Lord Jesus, who would not trust Thee, and praise Thy Name?

“I do really believe on Him,” said a sad-looking soul to me one day, “but yet, when asked if I am saved, I don’t like to say yes, for fear I should be telling a lie.” This young woman was a butcher’s daughter in small town in the Midlands. It happened to be a market-day, and her father had not then returned from market. So I said, “Now suppose when your father comes home you ask him how many sheep he bought today, and he answers ‘ten’. After a while a man comes to the shop, and says, ‘How many sheep did your father buy today?’ and you reply, ‘I don’t like to say, for fear I should be telling a lie.” “But,” said the mother (who was standing by at the time), with righteous indignation, “that would be making your father the liar.”

Now, don’t you see that this well-meaning young woman was virtually making Christ out to be a liar, saying, “I do believe on the Son of God, and HE says I have everlasting life, but I don’t like to say I have it, lest I should be telling a lie.” What daring presumption!

“But,” says another, “how may I be sure that I really do believe? I have tried often enough to believe, and looked within to see if I had got it, but the more I look at my faith, the less I seem to have.”

Ah, friend, you are looking in the wrong direction to find that out, and your trying to believe but plainly shows that you are on the wrong track.

Let me give you another illustration to explain what I want to convey to you.

You are sitting at your quiet fireside one evening, when a man comes in and tells you that the station-master has been killed that night on the railway.

Now it so happens that this man had long borne the character in the place for being a very dishonest man, and the most daring, notorious liar in the neighbourhood.

Do you believe, or even try to believe, that man?

“Of course not,” you exclaim.

“Pray, why?”

“Oh, I know him too well for that!”

“But tell me how you know that you don’t believe him. Is it by looking within at your faith or feelings?”

“No,” you reply, “I think of the man that brings me the message.”

Presently a neighbour drops in, and says, “The station-master has been run over by a goods train tonight, and killed upon the spot.” After he has left, I hear you cautiously say, “Well, I partly believe it now; for to my recollection this man only once in his life deceived me, though I have known him from boyhood.”

But again I ask, “Is it by looking at your faith this time that you know you partly believe it?”

“No,” you repeat, “I am thinking of the character of my informant.”

Well, this man has scarcely left your room before a third person enters and brings you the same sad news as the first. But this time you say, “Now, John, I believe it. Since YOU tell me, I can believe it.”

Again I press my question (which is, remember, but the re-echo of your own), “How do you KNOW that you so confidently believe your friend John?”

“Because of who and what JOHN is,” you reply. “He never has deceived me, and I don’t think he ever will.”

Well, then, just in the same way, I know that I believe the Gospel; viz., because of the One who brings me the news. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son. He that BELIEVETH NOT GOT HATH MADE HIM A LIAR; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son” (1 John 5:9-10). “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).

And anxious soul once said to a servant of Christ, “Oh, sir, I can’t believe!” To which the servant wisely and quietly made reply, “Indeed, WHO is it that you can’t believe?” This broke the spell. He had been looking at faith as an indescribable something he must feel within himself in order to be sure he was all right for heaven; whereas faith ever looks outside to a living Person, and His finished work, and quietly listens to the testimony of a faithful God about both.

It is the outside look that brings the inside peace. When a man turns his face towards the sun his own shadow is behind him. You cannot look at self and a glorified Christ in heaven at the same moment.

Thus we have seen that the blessed PERSON of God’s Son wins my confidence. His FINISHED WORK makes me eternally safe. GOD’S WORD about those who believe on Him makes me unalterably sure. I find in Christ and His work the way of Salvation, and in the Word of God the knowledge of Salvation.

“But, if saved,” you may say, “how is it that I have such a fluctuating experience, so often losing all my joy and comfort, and getting as wretched and downcast as I was before my conversion?” Well, this brings us to our third point, viz.,

The Joy Of Salvation

You will find, in the teaching of Scripture, that while you are saved by Christ’s work and assured by God’s word, you are maintained in comfort and joy by the Holy Ghost, who has come to indwell every true believer.

Now you must bear in mind that every saved one has still “the flesh” within him, i.e., the evil nature he was born with and which, perhaps, showed itself while still a helpless infant on his mother’s lap. The Holy Ghost in the believer resists the flesh and is grieved by every activity of it, in motive, word or deed. When he is walking “worthy of the Lord,” the Holy Ghost will be producing in his soul His blessed fruits – “love, joy, peace,” etc., see Gal. 5:22. When he is walking in a carnal, worldly way the Spirit is grieved, and these fruits are wanting in greater or less measure.

Let me put it thus for you who do believe on God’s Son:

Christ’s Work and Your Salvation stand or fall together .

Your Walk and Your Enjoyment stand or fall together.

When Christ’s work breaks down (and, blessed by God, it never, never will), your salvation will break down with it. When your walk breaks down (and be watchful, for it may), your enjoyment will break down with it.

Thus it is said of the early disciples (Acts 9:31), that they were “walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.”

And again in Acts 13:52: “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”

My spiritual joy will be in proportion to the spiritual character of my walk after I am saved.

Now do you see your mistake? You have been mixing up enjoyment and your safety, two widely-different things. When, through self-indulgence, loss of temper, worldliness, etc., you grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost your joy, you thought your safety was undermined. But again I repeat it:-

Your safety hangs upon Christ’s work FOR you.

Your assurance upon God’s Word TO you.

Your enjoyment upon not grieving the Holy Spirit IN you.

When, as a believer, you do anything to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, your communion with the Father and the Son is, for the time, practically suspended; and it is only when you judge yourself, and confess your sins, that the joy of communion is restored.

Your child has been guilty of some misdemeanour. He shows upon his countenance the evident mark that something is wrong with him. Half an hour before this he was enjoying a walk with you round the garden, admiring what you admired, enjoying what you enjoyed. In other words, he was in communion with you; his feelings and sympathies were in common with yours.

But now all this is changed, and as a naughty, disobedient child he stands in the corner, the very picture of misery.

Upon penitent confession of his wrong-doing you have assured him of forgiveness; but his pride and self-will keep him sobbing there.

Where is now the joy of half an hour ago? All gone. Why? Because communion between you and him has been interrupted.

What is become of the relationship that existed between you and your son half-an-hour ago? Is that gone too? Is that severed or interrupted? Surely not.

His relationship depends upon his birth.

His communion depends upon his behaviour.

But presently he comes out of the corner with broken will and broken heart confessing the whole thing from first to last, so that you see he hates the disobedience and naughtiness as much as you do, and you take him in your arms and cover him with kisses. His joy is restored because communion is restored.

When David sinned so grievously in the matter of Uriah’s wife, he did not say, “Restore unto me Thy salvation,” but “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation” (Ps. 51:12).

But to carry our illustration a little farther. Supposing while your child is in the corner there should be a cry of “house on fire” throughout your dwelling, what would become of him then? Left in the corner to be consumed with the burning, falling house? Impossible!

Very probably he would be the very first person you would carry out. Ah, yes, you know right well that the love of relationship is one thing, and the joy of communion quite another.

Now, when the believer sins, communion for the time is interrupted, and joy is lost until, with a broken heart, he comes to the Father and confesses his sins.

Then, taking God at His Word, he knows he is again forgiven; for His Word plainly declares that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Oh, then, fellow-believer, ever bear in mind these two things: There is nothing so strong as the link of relationship; and nothing so tender as the link of communion.

All the combined power and counsel of earth and Hell cannot sever the former, while an impure motive or an idle word will snap the latter.

If you are troubled with a cloudy half-hour, get low before God, consider your ways. And when the thief that has robbed you of your joy has been detected, drag him at once to the light, confess your sin to God your Father, and judge yourself most unsparingly for the unwatchful careless state of soul that allowed the thief to enter unchallenged.

But never, never, NEVER, confound your safety with your joy.

Don’t imagine, however, that the judgement of God falls a whit more leniently on the believer’s sin than on the unbeliever’s. He has not two ways of dealing judicially with sin, and He could no more pass by the believer’s sin without judging it, than He could pass by the sins of a rejecter of His precious Son. But there is this great difference between the two, viz., that the believer’s sins were all known to God, and all laid upon His own provided Lamb when He hung upon the cross at Calvary, and that there and then, once and for ever, the great “criminal question” of his guilt was raised and settled, judgment falling upon the blessed Substitute in the believer’s stead, “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).

The Christ-rejecter must bear his own sins in his own person in the lake of fire for ever. But, when a genuine believer fails, the “criminal question” of sin cannot be raised against him, the Judge Himself having settled that once for all on the cross; but the communion question is raised within him by the Holy Ghost as often as he grieves the Spirit.

Allow me, in conclusion, to give you another illustration. It is a beautiful moonlight night. The moon is at full, and shining in more than ordinary silver brightness. A man is gazing intently down a deep, still well, where he sees the moon reflected, and thus remarks to a friendly bystander: “How beautifully fair and round she is tonight! How quietly and majestically she rides along!” He has just finished speaking when suddenly his friend drops a small pebble into the well, and he now exclaims, “Why, the moon is all broken to pieces, and the fragments are shaken together in the greatest disorder!”

“What gross absurdity!” is the astonished rejoinder of his companion. “Look up, man! The moon hasn’t changed one jot or tittle. It is the condition of the well that reflects the moon that has changed.”

Apply the simple figure yourself. Your heart is the well. When there is no allowance of evil the blessed Spirit of God takes of the glories and preciousness of Christ, and reveals them to you for your comfort and joy. But the moment a wrong motive is cherished in the heart, or an idle word escapes the lips unjudged, the Holy Ghost begins to disturb the well, your happy experiences are smashed to pieces, and you are all restless and disturbed within, until in brokenness of spirit before God you confess your sin (the disturbing thing) and thus get restored once more to the calm, sweet joy of communion.

But when your heart is thus all unrest, need I ask, Has Christ’s work changed? No, no. Then your Salvation is not altered.

Has God’s Word changed? Surely not. Then the certainty of your Salvation has received no shock.

Then, what has changed? Why, the action of the Holy Ghost in you has changed, and instead of taking of the glories of Christ, and filling your heart with the sense of His worthiness, He is grieved at having to turn aside from this delightful office to fill you with the sense of your sin and unworthiness.

He takes from you your present comfort and joy until you judge and resist the evil thing that He judges and resists. When this is done communion with God is again restored.

The Lord make us to be increasingly jealous over ourselves lest we grieve “the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

However weak your faith may be, rest assured of this, that the blessed One who has won your confidence will never change.

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and FOR EVER” (Heb. 13:8).

The work He has accomplished will never change.

“Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be FOR EVER: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it” (Eccl. 3:13).

The word He has spoken will never change.

“The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth FOR EVER” (1 Pet. 1:24-25).

Thus the object of my trust, the foundation of my safety, and the ground of my certainly, are alike ETERNALLY UNALTERABLE.

“My love is oft-times low,

My joy still ebbs and flows;

But peace with Him remains the same,

No change Jehovah knows.

I change, He changes not;

God’s Christ can never die;

His love, not mine, the resting-place,

His truth, not mine, the tie”

Once more, let me ask, “WHICH CLASS ARE YOU TRAVELLING?” Turn your heart to God, I pray you, and answer that question to Him.

“Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4).

“He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:33).

May the joyful assurance of possessing this “great salvation” be yours, now and “till He come.”

Ques.—Did Judas Iscariot ever partake of the Lord’s Supper?
Ans.—It seems quite plain from John 13:30 that Judas was not there when the Lord instituted His supper, which took place only at the end of the Passover Supper, The sop was given while the Passover Supper was going on.

In Matt. 26, Judas’ exit would be between vers. 25, 26; in Mark 14, between vers. 21, 22. Luke alone presents a little difficulty by speaking of Judas (chap. 22:21) after mentioning the Lord’s Supper (vers. 19, 20) There need be no difficulty, however, as in all kinds of narratives cer¬tain details which occurred between the great facts are often mentioned at the end only, when all the facts them¬selves have been told.

We may  therefore conclude  from  John   13:30  that   our Lord’s words in Luke 22:21-23 were uttered somewhere during the Passover Supper, before He instituted the re¬membrance of Himself in what is called “the Lord’s Supper.”

We would add, in warning, that some have sought to place Judas at the Lord’s Supper as a precedent for the unholy, yet sadly frequent, practice of allowing evil men to partake of that Supper. All Scripture condemns this; I Cor. deals expressly with it (chap. 5) ; Christian holiness revolts against it. Besides, even if it could be shown that Judas participated in the Lord’s Supper, it would be no precedent for this evil practice, for Judas was not yet manifested, and it is when manifested the Lord requires ex¬pulsion of the evil out of His house.

(H. and F Vol. 26, p. 280 as published in Things New and Old November 1942

By some, an attempt is being made to pull down the barriers of truth and make us give up what we have. If the younger men among us, who are soon to take the lead, if the Lord tarry yet a while, are not true in practice to the truth, not only of the Gospel but also of the Church of God, the truth itself will slip away from them. As I see the developments all around, I burn with jealousy for the truth we have. It makes us, in its practice, a peo¬ple rejected by all, but who have the bread that all need. If we keep separated from every movement which leaves out what hurts in the truth, if we just live out in practice what the truth is, we will re¬main, no doubt, a Small, unpopular people, but we will be to the end God’s vessel of truth to His whole Church on earth, and that will be ten thousand times better throughout eternity than to have been on popular lines for greater access to men. Our assemblies, if kept pure, are little fortresses for the defense and sallying out of truth. Let us build them up strong, solid, and faithful. Principles of independency annul the constitution of the Church of God as laid down in Ephesians, and makes it impossible for us therefore to carry out its by-laws, as I may call them, given us in Corinthians.     
P.J.L.
From Things New and Old December 1941

It is told of a preacher who kept a notebook on his desk labeled, “Complaints of members against other members.”

When one of his people called on him to tell him of the faults of another he would say, “Well here’s my complaint book. I’ll write down what you say, and you can sign it. Then when I have to take up the matter I shall know what I may expect you to testify to.”
The sight of the open book and the ready pen had its effect.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t sign anything like that!”
The consequence was, no entry was made.
The preacher said he kept the book for forty years, opened it probably a thousand times, and never wrote a line in it.
Would that we all kept such a book at hand, for I am sure we too would find complaints against others would not be forthcoming. Talebearers and busy bodies in other men’s matters are to be avoided.

From Things New and Old July 1941

From “Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care”

The child of God may well be happy in old age for his trust is in the One Who has said, “Even to old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you. I have made and I will bear, yea, I will deliver!” Isa. 46:4

“WE ALL DO FADE AS A LEAF”; but the leaf is never so beautiful as when it is faded.  No artist ever painted a picture so beautiful as the panorama of woodlands transfigured with the indescribable mingling of gold, crimson, and saffron, as if a flood of Divine glory swept across them.

What is more beautiful than the declining days of a Christian?  The light may fade and the shadows deepen, but there is increasing mellowness, sweetness, and serenity of spirit.

“In the fading leaf we have the pledge and promise of a coming spring, and in the autumn touch and dismantling ‘process of human life there lies the promise of an immortality beyond, which knows no sorrow and no decay. The coming glory is over all.  Its light and peace even here and now pervade the restless spirit, the prelude and the foretaste of that brighter day whose sun will know no setting.”

But age is not only inevitable and beautiful; it is also blessed. Better than anything I can say about it is the testimony of one who experienced this blessedness.  Listen to the words of this aged soul-winner!

“My mouth is full of laughter, and my heart is full of joy.  I feel so sorry for folks who do not like to grow old, and who are trying all the time to hide the fact that they are growing old. If God should say to me: “I will let you begin over again, and you may have your youth back once more,’ I should say O dear Lord, if Thou dost; not mind, I prefer to go on growing old.’

“I would not exchange the peace of mind, the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet perplexing experiences of life, nor the confirmed faith I now have in the unfailing mercies and love of God, for all the bright, but uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth. Indeed, I would not!

“These are the best years of my life— the sweetest, and the most free from anxious care.  The way grows brighter; the birds sing more sweetly; the winds blow softer, the sun shines more radiantly than ever before.  I suppose my ‘outward man’ is perishing, but my ‘inward man’ is being joyously renewed day by day.

“Some lessons that I have learned, or partially learned, I here pass on: Have faith in God—in His providence; in His superintending care, in His unfailing love.  Accept the bitter with the sweet, and rejoice in both. The bitter may be better for us than the sweet.  Do not grow impatient and fretful.  If you fall into divers temptations, count it all joy, knowing “that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”.

“Victory is to be attained through the joyful acceptance of annoying trials and petty vexations as a part of God’s discipline (James 1.2-7). Keep a heart full of love toward everybody.  Learn to be patient. If you cannot love them with complacency, then love them with compassion and pity; but love them, pray for them, and do not carry about with you hard thoughts and feelings toward them!

“Do not waste time and fritter away faith by living in the past, by mourning over the failures of yesterday, and the long ago. Commit them to God, and look upward and onward. ‘Forgetting those things which are behind’ said Paul, ‘and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:14