Every conscientious Christian desires to be a witness for his Lord; but no one can be a true witness, unless he understand the nature of the Divine interests in which he is placed;-what they are intrinsically in the mind of God;-and how they are compromised and misrepresented among men. I must know, so to speak, not only the Divine idea of the Church, and the constitution of it, but I must also mark how and where it has fallen, or I cannot be an intelligent witness, apprehending the instruction given in Scripture to guide and sustain me at such a time. How can I appreciate instruction offered to me when the Church is in a low state, if I understand not its low state? and how can I discern its low state, unless I know what it should be if it had continued faithful to the mind of God? I must, therefore, first understand what the Church was when in order; and then, observing the present contrast, study and acquire the principles and conduct which becomes me as Christ's witness in such circumstances.
The Church in order was composed:-First, of members gathered out of the world unto the rejected Lord, on whom they believed unto salvation. "The Lord added unto the Church such as should be saved " (Acts 2:47).
Secondly, they neither had nor sought any rule of government but the Spirit's, owning Christ their Lord (see Acts 13:2).
Thirdly, they excommunicated from among themselves everyone "called a brother" whose evil was open and wilful (i Cor. 5:).
Fourthly, they sought and received edification through the gifts of the Spirit, conferred individually (i Cor. 12:and 14:).
Fifthly, they assembled around the Lord's table expressing their link in spirit with Him through His death, and presenting their true place and character in the world (Acts 2:42; i Cor. 11:26).
Sixthly, they were awaiting the return of their Lord from heaven (i Thess. 1:); they by faith sitting there together in Him (Eph. 2:).
Now the Church's decline, on the other hand, is marked by several traits. First of all, it has lost the true idea of being the habitation of God through the Spirit. The presence and direct rule of the Lord is unthought of, and there is no apprehension that a saint's place now is in Christ in heaven. Our true position with the Lord and for God is either unknown or ignored. Then the want of care for one another which crept in-the purity of the assembly, began to be disregarded, and each to consider only for himself; and from this the responsibility of one to another as members of the same body, became practically forgotten (i Cor. 11:19-22).
Another trait of decline is their turning aside from grace unto law (Gal. 3:).
Another, losing sight of the Lord's return, leaving their first love (Rev. 2:4).
Another, the admittance of many to communion without any careful scrutiny as to the ground of their adhesion, and thus the assembly ere long became "a great house," because wood, hay, and stubble were introduced into the building (Matt. 13:25; 2 Tim. 2:20).
And lastly, they abandoned spiritual ground and assumed natural ground in principle, as Core. They assumed to order themselves without the intervention of the Spirit of God (Jude; 3 John). Can any honest soul survey the present state of the Church, and not admit how these germs of evil, noticeable in the apostles' days, have sprung up and borne full grown fruit; and, that the Church now, instead of being the pillar and the ground of truth, is a "great house" wherein there are vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor. The more I contrast the present state of the house of God on earth with its original and normal state, and the designs of God therein, the more must I seek and endeavor to be as His mind instructs me, emerging out of confusion and walking according to His mind. The first question is, Is it according to the mind of God, that in the present ruin of the Church there should be any testimony of His mind and purpose in the Church? and, secondly, If He enjoins that there should be, what is the character and what the duties of the witness? Now, it is plain to any student of the Scripture that, so long as any circle or dispensation of God is not set aside by Him, so long is it the first duty of His people to own and support it; nay, the truer the heart of the disciple is to Him the more will he cling to and maintain the name of God in connection with that circle of interest with which He is engaged. How else could it be? If God have any distinct circle of interest into which He has called me, shall not I, according to my devotion to Him, own and support that circle of interest as He may enable me? Does it not both test, and distinguish the faithfulness of a servant, the extent and ability by which he supports and vindicates the purpose of God, when hope is almost gone? At the last extremity, Daniel, though the lions' den loomed before his own soul, yet as he prayed, his windows were opened toward Jerusalem the spot of God's interest on the earth. Now it is plain, and natural, that the true servant of God could never be the less faithful amid abounding un-faithfulness, but, on the contrary, more devoted to do what few others might care to do; pressed in his spirit to maintain the mind and intention of God in the circle in which he is called, because he sees it to be little or no where done:not that he is better than others, but in conscience and heart he feels called on to spend and be spent, and the more so because of the wide-spreading failure.
The Lord tells His disciples "ye are My witnesses," and we mark this in them, that, where the truth of God is misunderstood or compromised, they present an unflinching front to vindicate it and justify God. While the Church as a vessel of testimony, or any dispensation, was in freshness and power, there was a more defined and palpable line for the witness; the opposition was more open and discernible; but as the Church became corrupted and disorganized from within, the duty and service of the witness was not only more onerous, but his ability and competency to be a witness was the more severely tested. Unless he could grapple with the insidious and covert workings of Satan-now no longer an open enemy but transformed into an angel of light, through the members of the assembly-he was plainly unequal to the task of a witness in that state of things:and this is the cause of the unfitness and inadequacy which we mark in this day in so many earnest souls who desire to be witnesses. They do not see where the most deadly evil is working; for the deadliest evil is the one which feeds on the soul without detection, and so emasculates the truth of God that, in the end, it is left with a pretense of truth, which is worse than open evil.
It is plain, then, that the more fallen and disorganized the Church is, the more peculiar and trying must be the course of the witness. His one simple duty is to resist every inroad against the truth and counsel of God, and the more insidious and covered the attempt is, the more distinctly and openly to denounce and expose it. To be a witness of this order, the apostle Paul instructs Timothy in his second epistle to him. In that epistle, we find that the great point pressed on Timothy is clear and positive separation from profane and vain babblings. Previously, he had been exhorted to hold fast the form of sound words; and again, "rightly to divide the word of truth," thus intimating that his great and constant work would be to separate the precious from the vile in doctrine. What a state of things for a servant of God! His chief and most difficult enemies from within, corrupting and misrepresenting the truth of God which they professed to maintain. What a place of trial and proof! In such a state of things, the witness must purge himself from the vessels to dishonor; he must preserve as distinct a separation between himself and them, as a man washed has between that washed off and himself. The word of these babblers spreads as a gangrene; it is not merely leaven; it destroys vitality; it "overthrows the faith of some." The witness is required to separate in the most marked way from them. His separation marks his faithfulness. It is the distinctness of his separation that proves him a witness. When things had come to this, he has no other way to show himself as true to his mission but by separation, and the more unequivocal it is, the better witness he will be. A witness thinks not of trials and difficulties; he braves all, for he is on God's side; and he thinks not of them, however timid his nature, because he knows he is on God's side; he only thinks what is his appointed course, and on that, according to his faithfulness, he proceeds.
By the apostle's injunction we see that when profane and vain babbling is suffered in the assembly, the witness has no option but to clear himself as clear as washing could do of any connection or association with any such. The word "purge" implies the most stringent and practical separation. Leaven we find dealt with in another way (i Cor. 5:), but here, where the truth is compromised by teachers in the assembly, the witness is called not merely to denounce and repel such profanities, but in the most marked manner, and in his own person, to draw the line of separation between himself and them; and having done so, to seek association with them who call on the Lord in a like spirit, as I understand "pure heart;" and he was not, so to speak, qualified for this "pure" company unless he had in this absolute manner purged himself. One little comprehends how essential and imperative it is on the witness to be valiant for the truth; and even when some in heart desire it, how often do we find that they are entirely unable to bear against the evil, and simply because they have not rigidly adhered to God's counsel in this epistle. They controvert and disallow, but they do not "purge;" and, consequently, they are not witnesses in such times. In general, we are more distressed by immorality of conduct than by false teaching; but this only proves our lack of spiritual sense.
It is very evident that the Church at first had no list of those who should be excluded from the Lord's table; but when the spiritual sense was enfeebled the apostle gave them a list, though not including in it murderers, heretics, or the more heinous crimes, on the presumption that their spiritual sense was not yet so low as that; but now, when profane and vain babblings are suffered in the assembly, the apostle enjoins Timothy to purge himself from them:he cannot be a witness if he does not; nor is any one a Witness who does not. Has God revealed His word and mind, and in such a way and at such a cost, even by His own Son, and can I, as a witness, suffer any compromise or misrepresentation of it? True, I ought to be gentle, and to "instruct those that oppose themselves," but these must be persons who will listen. The devil was a liar from the beginning, and he used every artifice to mar and spoil the truth, and therefore the witness, at such a time as is here described, has a double work, subserving to the one end:one, rightly to divide the word of truth; and the other, to distance himself as positively and as openly as possible from every vain and profane babbler.
And not only this, but a witness for these days must " turn away " from them who are described as walking after their own lust, while having the form of godliness but denying the power of it. Now, of these, a worse class arise, who, like Jannes and Jambres, withstand the truth. They are still worse than the babblers; the witness knows them, but abides in the apostles' doctrine, and holds to the Scriptures as his authority. Nothing must discourage him in these disastrous times; the appearing of the Lord and His kingdom must stimulate and sustain him in proclaiming the Word; ever urgent, convicting, rebuking, encouraging with all patience and doctrine. And when the time comes when they who now hear him will no longer harken to sound doctrine, the witness is only to go on. And be sober, "exempted from false influences " in all things, bearing evils, doing the work of an evangelist; that is to say, as it appears to me, do everything from the very beginning, as it were, commencing anew, reverting to the foundation, and working from it. We are also instructed how a witness, even a woman, should act with reference to an unsound teacher (2 John), not only not to receive him, but not to greet him. Surely, when one considers the place of exclusiveness which this word demands, we must feel how few real godly witnesses there are in this day. As a rule, is there any of this decided animadversion of unsound teaching in this day? Whoever does not practice it, is not a witness, for he does not meet the exigency.
In Jude, also, we are instructed that the witness's singular and distinct work is to ''contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." Now, the very fact of such an injunction as this being needed, discloses the state of the Church. It is not, mark! the faith as it is held, but, as it was once delivered; and it is not in an easy compromising way, but in an energetic decided way that he is "earnestly " to contend for it.
The"beloved" are called on hereto maintain spiritual ground, and thus, as a matter of course, to be outside natural ground. Now spiritual ground in such a day as is here described, involves the necessity of scrutiny and patience with godly fear. Some are to be treated more leniently than others. "Of some have compassion, making a difference; others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." That is, they are to be rescued if possible, but with marked recognition and denunciation of their present place and standing. A true witness not only accords with and heartily accepts all this, stringent and trying as it must be to his natural mind, but, he hails the instructions as to what should be his course of action for meeting the interests of his Lord in an evil day; and never feels himself true to Him unless vindicating His name and truth on earth. How, in the face of these Scriptures, anyone can defend anything bordering on indifferentism or neutrality is unaccountable ! Anyone who does so is plainly not a witness; and, therefore, I can only say, the Lord teach us and stir up our hearts to be for Him as His witnesses, while He leaves us here.
One word more. From Rev. 2:and 3:, it is evident that to be a witness, in the state of things described there, you must be an overcomer (vικπvτι). And, this is self-evident; for, how could I be a witness for God against surrounding evil, unless I had overcome it? The blessings are for the overcomers; and the witness at such a time is one who testifies against the prevailing corruption, and is, therefore, characterized by the angel or messenger. This the whole assembly ought to be; but whoever is so, is one who, knowing the mind of the Lord, proclaims it and presses it on the conscience of his hearers. Calling on the saints to be overcomers, he presents the truth from which they have swerved, and which, if owned, would deliver them from the surrounding evil. He acts as the Lord's messenger, and, therefore, in keeping with His mind. And this puts him in the position of a pioneer, as well as a teacher, for the message which he delivers is to rally the overcomers, and to show them the way to take. And in order to deliver the message he must be on the vantage ground himself:a victor himself and one able to remove difficulties for those who would be victors, to shed the light of the truth on the scene in which they are, and thus practically to show them their way out of it.
Thus the witness must not compromise in anything which could obstruct the full free deliverance of the saints. He must repel all indifferentism to the truth or concession to error; because the whole value of his service lies in the power and distinctness with which he maintains the truth, which alone can emancipate. He has one simple thought and work, and that is, to deliver simply and unflatteringly his Lord's message. If it be not his Lord's message, it is not fit for the time, and, therefore, not worth anything, for it is only his own; but, if it be, the care of the witness is to guard it, and to press it on souls. The truth-the Lord's mind-His message for the moment, is to be his chief thought and care. To win adherents is not his aim; far less to compromise in order that he may; his business is with the truth. This is ever the duty and calling of a witness.
The Lord give us to understand how high and blessed it is to be His witness here in the evil day; and to estimate how great is the privilege to be entrusted with His mind and truth. May we show daily that this is our great care-and nothing short of it; not to gain adherents. Happy and encouraged we are by every true one with whom we can consort. He who walks in truth helps the other; but not seeking anything but the truth, of which we testify, and which will, in proportion as it acts on souls, unite them on the Lord's side, for He is Himself the only perfect expression of the truth-to whom be glory forever. Amen. From "The Present Testimony."