"Freely ye have received, freely give"

The meridian of divine revelation was reached in the ministry of Paul. It was given to him to complete the Word of God. We get its full splendor in Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians. Related truths, both doctrinal and practical, are developed in his other epistles. This whole counsel of God Pau! declared and committed to the assembly. Not for long did it abide in the glory and goodness of these wondrous unfoldings for in his last letter to Timothy he laments how all in Asia had turned aside, and in the later addresses to the seven churches we learn from the Lord Himself how great the declension had become.

Departure increased, and in another hundred years the shadows had greatly deepened. The distinctive truths of Paul's epistles were no longer ministered in the churches. The gloom became greater until the dense darkness of the middle ages enveloped Christendom. Into this darkness the Reformation sent a beam of light. This wrought a partial transformation, but not until about one hundred years ago did the Spirit bring again to light the long hidden truth enshrined in the Pauline Epistles. This was not done all at once, but gradually those whom the Lord then raised up brought out the gold, silver and precious stones long buried under the accumulated debris of man's religious inventions and sophistries. Their display touched many hearts, and delivered many from bondage to traditionalism, ritualism, and their attendant evils. We are the inheritors of this remarkable and blessed renaissance of divine truths. Let us take inventory of this priceless legacy. We need not follow an historical order, but rather consider it in its spiritual relations.

First, we may mention the headship of Christ:His place in glory, atonement having been fully accomplished, where He is set forth as Head of the assembly and Head over all things, the One in whom all the fulness dwells, the One who has all-preeminence. To this there are many related lines of truth, both individual and collective, for example, justification, sanctification, redemption, sonship, co-heirship, new creation.

The truth of the one body of which Christ is the Head follows. To this all believers since Pentecost belong, being baptized into it by the Holy Spirit and united to the Head-members of Christ and members one of another. With this we get the unfolding of our relation to Christ and the relationship established among the saints who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and call on the name of the Lord Jesus ^Christ, both theirs and ours.

This leads to the truth of the Spirit's presence, affording full power and sufficiency for Christian life and service in all the varied activities to which the Word of God directs us, whatever the sphere of life we consider-individual or collective, apart from all confidence in the flesh or the use of the ways and means which man's wisdom might devise or human expediency dictate in place of simple wholehearted recognition and dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

The Lord Himself declared that as there was the One Shepherd-Himself, so there would be one flock, made up of Jewish and Gentile sheep. In due course, after the Spirit had come, we see the sheep gathered together. Thus the assembly was formed, and this found expression in local assemblies gathered at various places as the Spirit wrought through the Word by the apostles and their fellow-laborers. To all such companies, gathered as they must have been in recognition of the truths already mentioned, pertained the great blessing of the Lord's presence as gathered unto His name and not another. Thus the apostle in writing to the Corinthians could say, "I exhort you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ," and speak too of all who in every place call on that Name.

These related truths involve that of ministry:with that of Christ's headship there are the gifts given to the assembly as a whole, but then also every member of the body is viewed as a channel of love's ministry from Christ to the body that it may increase and be edified; with that of the Spirit's presence, formation of the body, and indwelling, it follows that He is the One Who is to energize and direct in all the functions of the body- He, in the hearts and minds of all, is to be given this place, and in the exercise of patience and prayer in which all should share, with all fleshly confidence set aside, His guidance be sought, His right recognized to use whom He will, our own spirits held in leash as we wait upon Him, assured that to which He leads will be in agreement with the Word of God as to spirit, mode and matter. As there is to be no independence among the members, so there is to be none on their part of Him-that One Spirit of whom they have been made to drink. This means true liberty-not license to do as we please or say what we please, but dependence and submission to this divine and holy Leader. This involves exercise and self-judgment so that restless, proud flesh may be kept under our feet. He, the Spirit of truth, has given ample instructions which need no supplementing by man-made regulations to safeguard from disorder and confusion in the assemblies of the Lord's people.

That revival of truth already alluded to quickly manifested the evil condition of things in Christendom and its religious system. Clerisy was seen to virtually usurp the place of the Holy Spirit, substituting for His recognition that of a man to whom some special title was given along with a place of authority and rule which practically set aside the place of both the Spirit and the Lord in the midst of the saints. This evil is seen in a great variety of grades from the blackness of Satanic priestcraft in Rome to the light gray of the so-called evangelical pastor. With this there is a second evil, that of ritualism, again to be observed in various gradations from the heathenish superstitions of Rome to the more or less formal order of what is called "worship" under the direction or selection of some specially appointed person designated for the place. From all of this, in greater or less degree, that liberty of ministry involved in the presence and power of the Spirit is conspicuously absent even when there is orthodoxy as to fundamental doctrine.

Along with this revival of truth mention must be made of the large place given to prophetic teaching, the prominence given to the truth of Christ's Second Coming, and the dispensations which mark the course of time from Eternity to Eternity.

This in the very briefest way outlines the good deposit received by us from those men of God who led in the early decades of the past century.

In the light of it, let two solemn words from the Lord take possession of our hearts, for no failure of man can absolve us from faithfulness to the light received:

"Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and keep it and repent."

"Hold fast what thou hast, that no man take thy crown."

As these precious truths gripped heart and conscience, many saw that it was impossible to practice them in the system of things found in Christendom and with which they were associated in some form or other. That system with its clerisy, traditionalism and ritualism was the opposite to what the New Testament taught, while the absence of scriptural discipline in any form permitted all manner of evil association. Therefore separation became necessary that what the Holy Spirit had been bringing to light might be put into practice. Thus companies were soon gathered, owning no name but that of Christ, no leader but the Holy Spirit, no order other than that found in the Word. There was no pretense to being the Church, or a new Church, or of an attempt to form the Church again, rather a humble confession of the outward ruin of the Church because of the failure and sin of men into whose hands the truth of it had been committed, with a simple dependence upon the Lord's promise that where two or three are gathered unto His name He would be present, and the recognition that the Spirit and the Word remained as at the first, with the refusal of man's fleshly wisdom and ways in the things of God.

The companies so gathered sought to own the truth of the one body-the unity of all believers, and received to walk with them in the joy and blessing of what had been received, all who gave witness to faith in Christ, soundness in the faith, and godliness of life. All such companies by virtue of the place taken, confessing the unity of all believers, owning the One Spirit who formed that unity, and the Lord's name alone, acted as mutually recognizing each other, for to that unity must belong the same general order, the same discipline and the same relationship the world over.

Whatever, has come in since the early days of this movement to mar this precious and powerful witness to the truth, does not absolve us from using all diligence to now practice and maintain the same principles of truth and unity. This can only be done with deep humility and self-judgment, confessing not only the general ruin spoken of at the first but now also the sad breakdown and breakup of those companies gathered together by those very principles. It is still true that the Lord's promise abides for faith, and that the Spirit and Word are here.

We, then, to-day must in simple and whole-hearted obedience give unreserved assent to this heritage of truth. We must build ourselves up in it, and act according to it.

Our heritage makes us stewards-and that of God's manifold grace, the practical enjoyment of which was denied the Lord's people for many centuries since apostolic days. What we have is not for ourselves only, we owe the ministry of it to the whole Church, to every believer. Whether they will hear or not, let our hearts hold it as a sacred trust that we are to comprehend the truth with all saints. Though faithfulness may limit the number with whom we are able to walk, our hearts are to embrace every believer and be ever ready to serve all in love. What we have belongs to all, let our desire ever be to minister it to all. Let us not fail to take advantage of every open door to do so in love, grace, humbleness and fulness dispensing the manifold grace of God, seeking ever to declare His whole counsel for "a true witness delivereth souls."

If it is our responsibility and privilege to embrace all in love's service, it is that also to recognize all those wherever found who in simplicity seek to act upon these truths of which we speak-the unity of all believers in one body, the presence of the Lord in the midst, the place of the Holy Spirit, the discipline of Scripture, and the work of evangelizing at home and abroad. Though with some there may be differences as to certain terms, and even different views as to assembly relation, these things can scarcely be considered scriptural barriers to free and happy intercourse in the things of Christ.

If some press the paramountcy of the local assembly, and others the unity of assemblies, let us remember that both have been pushed to extremes of independency and division, instead of diligence being used to act upon the. element of truth in both. Even the truth of the Lord's presence in the midst has been used to foster these extremes. Surely in the love that thinketh no evil, no assembly which owns the things already outlined ought to refuse, for example, the godly discipline of other saints similarity gathered. If it be urged that they should Investigate on their own account before giving recognition to the disciplinary action of other saints concerning which no just question is raised, though this is independent and inconsistent since we believe the Lord is present in the assembly and that "there is one body," are we not called to lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love? Can we not act in faith that the one Lord who is owned as in the midst of both assemblies will lead to one mind through patience and prayer? Is not this the diligence we are to use, rather than to press issues in fleshly zeal which leads to strife and division? Certainly, in any case, investigation should be conducted with those who originally acted; for are we not members one of another and own the same Lord as in the midst? We cannot rightly say we have no need of one another in such matters if we confess the unity of all believers in one body of which Christ is the Head; and should not that which we confess be the principle guiding our action. The greater the ruin in the midst of which we find ourselves the more loud the call to the exercise of simple faith in the Lord to work in and with the feeble remnant of His people who own the truths of which we have spoken.

Finally, our stewardship is not only one to be exercised in view of the whole Church, and in service to its members wherever found; not only to every company of those who acknowledge these precious truths even though certain differences exist; but our stewardship is world-wide in relation to the gospel. In the light of this let us, much more than ever before, be ready to answer every call and enter in at every open door the Lord may give, and as doing so faithfully minister the heritage of divine truth committed to our trust-dearly bought by our forefathers, transmitted to us through many struggles, and in our hands to use in our brief day of stewardship to the blessing of the Church and the furtherance of the gospel.

"It is sought in stewards that a man be found faithful." J. Bloore