"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Heb.
12:14).

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may
edify another." (Romans 14:19).

Our blessed Lord truly was the Peace-bringer. "On earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke
2:14). "Having made peace through the blood of His cross." (Col. 1:20). "He . . . came and
preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." (Eph. 2:17). "For He
is our Peace." (Eph. 2:14). "My peace I give unto you." (John 14:27).

SHILOH _ The Person

In Genesis 49, Jacob gathered his sons together to hear that which should befall them in the last
days. Inasmuch as Christ is the key to all Scripture, we find personal glimpses of Him throughout
this chapter. What a portrayal presents itself to us in the blessing of Judah. "The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Peace-bringer) come; and
unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. 49:10). Christ alone is the center of
gathering for His people. "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah." (Heb. 7:14).

Shiloh means Peace-bringer, the One Who is the Center and Power of gathering for His own.
When the two returned from Emmaus, they had a surprise awaiting them; they "found the eleven
gathered together, and them that were with them". (Luke 24:33). Eleven_Judas was not there.
Eleven is the number that speaks of harmony_harmony with the traitor gone and Jesus in the
midst of His own, fulfilling His own promise:"For where two or three are gathered together Unto
My Name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20, J.N.D.), "And they told what things
were done in the way, and how He was known of them in the breaking of bread. And as they thus
spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, "Peace be unto you". (Luke
24:35,36). "Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures."
(Luke 24:45).

SHILOH _The Place

"The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at SHILOH, and set up the
tabernacle of the congregation there." (Josh. 18:1). Thus the PERSON to whom we are gathered
becomes the PLACE of gathering. The people of God of old were solemnly admonished as to the
PLACE to which they should come.

"But unto the PLACE which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name
there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. . . . Then there shall
be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there; thither shall
ye bring all that I command you. . . . Take heed to thyself that thou offer not the burnt offerings

in every place that thou seest:But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes,
there shalt thou offer thy burnt offerings and there shalt thou do all that I command thee. . . . But
thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the PLACE which the Lord thy God shall choose,
… go unto the PLACE which the Lord shall choose." (Deut. 12:5, 11, 13, 14, 18, and 26). "And
thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the PLACE which He shall choose to place His name
there . . . that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always … go unto the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose." (Deut. 14:23,25).

See also Deut. 16:2, 6, 7, 11, 15; Deut. 17:8, 10; Deut. 18:6; 26:2. "So they gathered themselves
at Jerusalem." (II Chron. 15:10). "They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their
fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul." (II Chron. 15:12). In studying the above
references we find God’s time, God’s way, and God’s place.

As we come into the New Testament, no less is the way pointed out. (Matt. 18:20; Luke 24:33-
36). "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them." (Acts 20:7).

Truly "unto Him shall the gathering of the people be". Here we find both the PLACE and the
PERSON. May it be ours to find that PLACE and abide there, "for it is toward evening, and the
day is far spent". (Luke 24:29).

FRAGMENT
We feed on Christ by the appropriation of Him in every character that He is presented to us.

FRAGMENT
The state of our souls may be discerned by the effect produced upon us by the Name of Jesus.

FRAGMENT
"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." (Gen. 5:24).

He "walked with God"! Could grander words be written?
Not much of what he thought or said is told;
Not where or what he wrought is even mentioned;
He "walked with God"_brief words of fadeless gold!

How many souls were succored on his journey_
Helped by his words, or prayers_we may not know;
Still, this we read_words of excelling grandeur_
He "walked with God", while yet he walked below.

And, after years, long years, of such blest walking,
One day he walked, then was not. God said, "Come!
Come from the scene of weary, sin-stained sadness!
Come to the fuller fellowship of Home!"

Such be the tribute of thy pilgrim journey;
When life’s last mile thy feet have bravely trod;
When thou hast gone to all that there awaits thee:
This simple epitaph_He"walked with God"!
Anon.

FRAGMENT
O worldly pomp and glory,
Your charms are spread in vain!
I’ve heard a sweeter story!
I’ve found a truer gain!
Where Christ a place prepareth,
There is my loved abode;
There shall I gaze on Jesus:
There shall I dwell with God.
H.K.B.

Ques.:Why do we not now fast, as for instance in the early days of the church; also in I Cor. 7:5?

Ans.:Because we have decreased in piety (or practical godliness, Ed.). But perhaps, in a quiet
unnoticed way, more continue the practice than appears to men, and thereby win victories in their
Christian life which are recorded on high. We are creatures of extremes:many, in ignorance of
God’s way of salvation, have fasted and starved themselves to obtain it_all in vain, of course, for
it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." But when they have discovered this, they are liable
to despise those ways of piety which they used in a wrong way. God did not despise Cornelius’
pious ways, as we see in the account of Acts 10. There was no virtue in them to procure salvation,
but they expressed a mind in dead earnest, and God loves such a mind, not only when salvation
is the matter of interest, but anything which is for the glory of God and the good of His people.
A man, or a company of people, having some divine object in view, and so earnest about it that
they fast and pray over it, are not likely to be disappointed. Refusing food, in a hearty way,
proves we have an object of more value to us than our comfort, and by it we are enabled to
humble ourselves more deeply before God.

Self-righteousness may plume itself with it as having done something very meritorious, and which
puts God in our debt, but shall we deprive ourselves of its benefits because it has been wrongly
used?

The mind of the day is against it. To be happy, to sing, to throw off all sorrow, to make life a
joyful ride through a lovely scene, seems the prevailing mind of the times. But this was not our
Saviour’s course, and if we say we abide in Him, we also ought "to walk even as He walked." (I
John 2:6). We need scarcely say that we have little else than disgust to express concerning the
pretended fasting of the "Lenten season"_a fasting which longs for the end of it that sinful
pleasure may be indulged in again.

Real fasting_such as God takes notice of_is from a heart anxious over some important matter,
and desirous to give itself to prayer and supplication about it. It helps us, if done in sincerity, to
present ourselves before God in brokenness of spirit, an attitude ever becoming to us in the
presence of God.

I believe there is a real value in fasting, that few of us know much about. If, on particular
occasions which call for special individual prayer, we were to unite fasting with it, I have no doubt
the blessing of it would be felt Here there is humbling of spirit expressed. There are prayers which
are most suitably accompanied by standing, others by kneeling. Fasting is one of those things in
which the body shows its sympathy with what the spirit is passing through; it is a means of
expressing our desire to be low before God, and in the attitude of humiliation. But lest the flesh
should take advantage of even what is for the mortifying of the body, the Lord enjoins that there
should be means taken rather not to appear unto men to fast than to permit any display. For
although a true Christian would shrink from putting on false appearances, the devil will cheat him
into doing it unless he is very jealous in self-watchfulness before God. "Thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." (Matt.
6:17,18).

With reference to this "walk with God", this that characterized Enoch, this to which you and I are
called now, what does it contemplate? This "walk with God" contemplates something as to the
present, and something as to the future.

What is it as to the present? Mark this_suffering, loss, shame, degradation, every step of the
way! That is what is contemplated in a person who walks with God in an evil day:because it is
not walking with God when the rule of everything is godliness, it is walking with God when
everything is in revolt from Him. This is the character of the time, such as it was in Enoch’s day.
Therefore it is suffering, and I will tell you more than that, it is self-abandonment.

Believe me, if there were a little more self-abandonment amongst us, many of our difficulties
would vanish. If it is a simple question of God; His claims, His pleasure, His interests, His
thoughts, why the difficulties are overcome at once! And if God’s will is sweetest to me, even
though it triumphs at my cost, look how well out of the difficulty I am!

I say it with all reverence, looking at the pathway of the Lord Jesus as a man here, was He
successful as a man? Was it not shame, scorn, contempt, reproach, loss, all the way from the holy
mount to Calvary? Was it not downward with Him every step? Was it not surrender with Him:
surrender, too, of what belonged to Him in right and title? He was very different from us. You
and I have no right to claim; everything is pure grace with us:but with Him it was the
abandonment and surrender of everything that belonged to Him, from the throne of God to the
cross. Is that the pathway that you and I are called into? You see how little we weigh these things.

If I set out to follow One who had not a place where to lay His head, I cannot go on with this
principle_ trying to make the best of everything around; on the contrary, I seek to have as little
as I possibly can in it; this I cannot help, if I am truly "walking with God". This, then, is what this
path entails now, and I feel it important for me to state it.

If I set out to "walk with God" in these days, according to the revelation of His mind as He has
given it to me in Christianity and in His book, I make up my mind for this_this is the one thing
that is before me_ "it is enough for the servant to be as his master". I would rather see people
shrink back; I would rather a person looked at it and said, "This involves certain things in it; this
brings certain claims with it; give me a little time, let me think of it, let me weigh it over before
God, do not let me run rashly". I would rather see people like that, I would rather see them
looking the thing, as it were, in the face, because I know when they do that, when they do bring
this thing before God, in quiet waiting upon Him, He will, to a genuine, true, and honest soul,
make known His mind; and further than this, He compensates such a one first. Do you mean to
tell me that the sense that I have pleased Him is not a compensation? If I have that, I am
compensated at once, even before I suffer, and God delights to do so when He sees the heart true
and exercised before Him.

Oh, I feel that the gravity of these things is not sufficiently before our hearts in these days. It is
not a small thing to step out of everything around me, that I may simply answer to the mind of

Him who is up there. It is not a small thing, or a trifling thing, be assured. May God keep any of
you from thinking it a light thing! May God keep your hearts from ever attempting to bring down
the immense solemnity of a divine position to the poor, miserable, wretched, contemptible level
of things down here, taking away all pith and reality out of it! It is the tendency of these times:
I believe we are not outside the danger of it. I know we are seriously in danger of overlooking
state of soul. There is the danger of working upon the mere outward intelligence, instead of God
working upon the soul through the conscience. May the Lord deliver us from this; it is most
dangerous!

Well, now, there is one other thing. What is to be the issue of this "walking with God"? I have
spoken a little about the present, what the present is connected with. It is, as I said, loss and
suffering. I might speak of the other side of it, of the blessed reality of Christ’s presence, of the
sustainment of His love_how He cheers us on, how He walks the road with us, of the joy of
being where He is:but I would rather leave the gravity of the thing on your heart. I do not think
it any loss that you should have a sense of the solemnity of it.

What, then, is the end of it? It is this_just the very opposite to everything contemplated by a Jew
in the Old, Testament times. A Jew looked for everything prosperous here, basket and store in
abundance; he looked for everything being made straight to his hand as to the present. It was with
him plenty, it) was the increase of everything, plenty of corn and wine, plenty of everything this
earth could afford_wealth, dignity, honor, ease. That was all perfectly well in its time; and was
what a Jew looked for; it was his birthright, his inheritance here, and there was never a thought
of being out of it_length of days, long life, was that which was before the Jew.

But when I, as a Christian, look at this "walk with God", what is the issue of it? Look at it in
Enoch. It is just this_to be taken out of the world_it may be today! Do you believe that? Do you
believe that the very next moment may be the cloud of glory? It is a subject that is common among
us, this blessed hope of the Lord’s coming, the blessed expectation of our returning Lord. Think
how little the reality of it is before us! I remember the time when I first of all "saw" the coming
of the Lord, as the expression is_when I first of all believed in the second advent_what a
wondrous brightness, and a freshness, and vividness, there was about it!

May I ask you, how is it now with you? What about today? Is the freshness with which it came
to your heart, twenty, thirty, forty, or any number of years ago, that which is welling up in your
soul now? Do you calculate just minute by minute with reference to that? Is that the next thing
before your soul? Is that the expectation of your heart, that you should be translated, that you
should not see death, like Enoch? "He was translated that he should not see death, and was not
found because God had translated him." There was a power of life in him that completely
overcame the power of death, such a power of life as set aside death completely, the common lot
of man since the fall.

The reason that these blessed facts of God have become stale with us is this_because we have
received them as doctrines, the doctrines of a well-framed creed. There is the solemn part of it_it
has become our creed. We are just as much in danger of having our creed as anybody else. Do
not be deceived about it; the instant that the divine freshness and living reality of these blessed
truths of God pass away from our souls, so that all we can say of them is, "That is my doctrine,
that is what I hold", instead of their having a practical, operative, power upon us, searching us
each moment_ I say the instant that is the case, we go down; we have really dropped from the
blessed, wonderful, divine power of these things, just to be, as somebody has expressed it, "as
clear as the moon, and as cold as the moon." What a mournful picture that is! The Lord keep us
from it.

I believe, if there is one thing we need in these times, it is "walking with God" individually. Let
me say this, and I say it humbly, I believe the difficulties we have collectively are created because
of our low state individually; that is, there is a lack of individual faithfulness, there is some want,
some feebleness, individually. A good assembly state is the result of a close individual walk with
God. You never have assembly power apart from individual faithfulness. And what I believe is
this_I often think it aver, and pray about it_the reason for our general weakness just now is, that
we have overlooked individual state before God.

If you and I were walking individually with God, understanding what is entailed upon us now, and
what we look for as the ultimate issue of it_to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and be
with Him_we should banish the idea of trying to get on in the world, trying to surround ourselves
with anything that would make us comfortable. How foreign the whole thing would be!

The Lord help us to look at ourselves in the light of His presence and His truth; that our hearts
may take these things right home, and in the secret of His presence, in the solitariness and
quietness of His company, go over the thing with Him, our hearts before Him, with this thought
upon them_"Lord, really is it I?"

May the Lord command His blessing; may He use His word to stir up our hearts to more personal,
individual walk and fellowship with Himself, in the blessed hope of being taken out of this world
at any moment, to see Him, and be with Him forever!

FRAGMENT
Be Thou the Object bright and fair
To fill and satisfy the heart;
My hope to meet Thee in the air,
And nevermore from Thee to part;
That I may undistracted be
To follow, serve, and wait for Thee.
G.W.F.

"Jesus wept"! (John 11:35). Wondrous, significant fact! He wept not for Himself, but for others.
He wept with them. Mary wept. The Jews wept. All this is easily grasped and understood. But that
Jesus should weep reveals a mystery which we cannot fathom. It was divine compassion weeping
through human eyes over the desolation which sin had caused in this poor world, weeping in
sympathy with those whose hearts had been crushed by the inexorable hand of death.

Let all who are in sorrow remember this. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His
circumstances are changed, but His heart is not. His position is different, but His sympathy is the
same. "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." There is a perfect human heart on
the throne of the Majesty of the heavens, and that heart sympathizes with us in all our sorrows,
in all our trials, in all our infirmities, in all our pressure and exercise. He perfectly enters into it
all. Yea, He gives Himself to each one of His beloved members here upon earth as though He had
only that one to look after.

How sweet and soothing to think of this! It is worth having a sorrow to be allowed to taste the
preciousness of Christ’s sympathy. The sisters of Bethany might say, "Lord, if Thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died." But if their brother had not died, they would not have seen Jesus
weeping, or heard His deep groan of sympathy with them in their sorrow. And who would not say
that it is better to have the sympathy of His heart with us in our sorrow than the power of His
hand in keeping or taking us out of it? Was it not much better, much higher, much more blessed,
for the three witnesses in Daniel 3 to have the Son of God walking with them in the furnace than
to have escaped’ the furnace by the power of His Hand? Unquestionably.

And thus it is in every case. We have ever to remember that this is not the day for the display of
Christ’s power. By and by He will take to Himself His great power, and reign. Then all our
sufferings, our trials, our tribulations, will be over forever. The night of weeping will give place
to the morning of joy_the morning without clouds_the morning that shall never know an
evening. But now it is the lime of Christ’s patience, the time of His precious sympathy; and the
sense of this is most blessedly calculated to sustain the heart in passing through the deep waters
of affliction.

And there are deep waters of affliction. There are trials, sorrows, tribulations, and difficulties.
And not only so, but our God means that we should feel them. His Hand is in them for our real
good, and for His Glory. And it is our privilege to be able to say, "We glory in tribulations also;
knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us." (Romans 5:3-5).

The Lord be praised for all this! But it were folly to deny that there are trials, sorrows and
tribulations of all sorts. Nor would our God have us insensible to them. Insensibility to them is
folly; glorying in them is faith. The consciousness of Christ’s sympathy, and the intelligence of
God’s object in all our afflictions, will enable us to rejoice in them; but to deny the afflictions, or

that we ought to feel them, is simply absurd. God would not have us to be stoics; He leads us into
deep waters to walk with us through them; and when His end is reached, He delivers us out of
them, to our joy and His own everlasting praise.

He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then am I strong." (II Cor. 12:9,19). At the first,
Paul longed to be rid of the thorn in the flesh, whatever it was. He besought the Lord thrice that
it might depart from him. But the thorn in the flesh was better than pride in the heart. It was better
far to be afflicted than puffed up_better to have Christ’s sympathy with him in his temptation than
the power of His Hand in delivering him out of it.

FRAGMENT
"Still His heart amidst the glory
Beareth all our grief and care,
Every burden, ere we feel it,
Weighed and measured by Him there!

All His love, His joy, His glory,
By His Spirit here made known,
Whilst that Spirit speaks the sorrows
Of His saints before the Throne!"

FRAGMENT
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psa. 126:5,6).

I have been thinking much lately in regard to prayer, in respect to its character as well as to its
proper place, in public or in private. Following are a few thoughts which I have gleaned on the
subject of prayer.

Prayer is the offering up to God of our desires for things lawful and needful, with a humble
confidence to obtain them. This truly is through the alone meditation of Christ to the praise of the
mercy, truth, and power of God. (Matt. 6:6,7, and John 16:23, 24, 26).

Prayer is either mental or vocal for ourselves or others, for the procuring of good things, or the
removing or preventing of things evil. (I Tim. 2:1,2).

As God is the only Object, or rather the One we address in prayer, (Ps. 50:15) we must pray for
others as well as for ourselves. (James 5:16).

We are exhorted to pray fervently (Col. 4:12), sincerely and constantly (Col. 4:2), with faith
(James 5:15), not without repentance (Ps. 66:18 and Jer. 36:7), and by the help of the Holy Spirit
(Rom. 8:26).

The Hebrew word for prayer is that which signifies appeal, interpellation, or appealing
intercession, whereby we refer our own cause and that of others, unto God. It involves calling
upon Him_appealing to Him for the right way of presenting ourselves and our cause unto Him.
He who taught us to pray informs us that it is through prayer that we honor God and draw down
upon ourselves His favor and grace.

Prayer may consist of invocation, adoration, confession, petition, pleading, dedication,
thanksgiving, and blessing.

Some prayers are for the public platform, some are for our private closets, and some for our
fellowship or brethren’s meetings.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart:try me and know my thoughts." (Ps. 139:23).

"How good it would be if He came tonight!"

Upon hearing these words, Ellen looked up from the book she was reading.

"If who came tonight? Are we having company?" thought Ellen.

Her curiosity was aroused, and as she listened, she found it was the Lord Jesus her two friends
were talking about. At once the answer came to her mind.

"Oh, no! it would not be good if He came tonight, because I am not ready to meet Him."

She knew very well that the Lord Jesus was coming back again, and that only those who were
washed in His precious blood_whose sins were forgiven, would go with Him, and that those who
were not ready would be left behind for judgment.

But "coming tonight"_somehow Ellen had not thought that possible. And as for death, was she
not young, and well, and likely to live a long time? She believed what Satan said:

"There was plenty of time yet."

After thinking it over a few moments, she turned to the book she had before thought so interesting
to find that it had now lost its interest, and in her ears were ringing the words,

"Coming tonight; coming tonight"

Days and weeks passed, and instead of getting rid of the feeling, she was awakened to see the
danger she was in.

"I am not any worse than other girls, and a great deal better than some; I really mean to be saved
some day." These were thoughts that came into her head. But many a night she lay awake, unable
to go to sleep for fear the Lord Jesus should come, and she would be left behind.

On Sunday evening she went to a Gospel meeting. Before this she had been glad when the
preaching was over. Tonight, however, she listened to every word. At the close of the meeting
a friend said to her, "Do you know the Lord Jesus?" Ellen could not answer.

Then he took up the Bible Ellen had been reading so diligently during the past months, and turning
to Isaiah 53 made it personal, reading it this way:"He was wounded for my transgressions, He
was bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and by His stripes I
am healed."

That night Ellen learned that the Lord Jesus had died for her, but yet she could not say that she
was saved. She tried to feel saved, before she had learned to know it.

She was hoping and doubting, until she almost despaired of ever knowing the peace she longed
for. Finally, in despair, she shut herself in her room, and falling down on her knees, told Jesus
everything:how she had tried to make herself better, and how she had failed, and that if He would
just take her as she was, she would give herself to Him.

As she knelt there in the deep consciousness of being in the very presence of God, the words came
into her mind:"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37).

Ellen accepted the Lord Jesus just as she was, and O, what peace and happiness filled her heart!

Thus Jesus speaks:who will reply,
O, Lord, I come to Thee;
Thy precious love hath won my heart,
Thine henceforth I will be?"

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28).

How touching and impressive is this account of how young Ellen was saved. The Lord’s return
is very, very near now.

Are you ready? If not, won’t you make the above poem personal, and put your name in there, and
say:I "will reply, ‘O Lord, I come to Thee!’"

If you have already accepted Christ as your Saviour, and can thankfully say, "Thy precious love
hath won my heart," let me ask you; is His promised return in your thoughts_yes_every day?
It is in His thoughts, Who loved you and gave Himself for you!

"Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching:verily I say unto
you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve
them." (Luke 12:37).

"And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." (I John 3:3).

Leaven is always a picture of evil in its typical meaning in the Bible. It is never offered in
sacrifices. When the Israelites were to keep the feast of unleavened bread, which began with the
passover, no leaven was to be found in their houses. This passover is a picture to the Christian of
the death of Christ on the cross. The feast of unleavened bread, observed for seven days, is a
picture of the complete life of th«J Christian here during which the old leaven of malice and
wickedness is to be purged out! We are called to be unleavened in our walk of holiness so as to
be consistent with the position we enjoy before God_"as ye are unleavened". (I Cor. 5:7). This
is preceded with the verse "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" In I
Corinthians the leaven pictures moral evil. But the same truth is given again in Galatians 5:9
where a "little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" applies to doctrinal evil. In practice the purging
out of leaven, of both kinds in our personal lives is not without the discomforts and heart
searchings of self-judgment. In our assembly lives, the purging out of evil, when imbibed by
many, or about which only a few hearts have been truly exercised, has necessitated the separating
from evil and consequently from those in association with said evil; judging it to be leaven and
them part of the leavened whole. The plea often when evil doctrines or practices arise is that it is
only a little evil. How wise of God to have anticipated this plea."A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump." (Gal. 5:9).

How is it then that the various branches of the evangelical camp of Christendom are sometimes
referred to as "fundamentally sound"? They are fundamentally leavened! What with the caste
system of clergy and laity denying both the place of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of all
believers, to say nothing of its practical denial of the truth of "holding the Head," how can God’s
people, enlightened by and walking in the path of separation, refer to such leaven as
"fundamentally sound"? The independence of the churches in doctrine and discipline savors not
of the truth of the One Body either! How can the evil of every man doing "that which is right in
his own eyes", to the total neglect or gross perversion of God’s word as to the truth of the
assembly, be called anything but leaven?

It is needless to multiply words but rather to come to the point. If God’s word and truth have
separated us from "the camp", if we have really gone forth unto Christ outside that camp; then
let us not be found in attendance at "camp meetings" for the gospel or otherwise, lest we come
away from the leavened gathering with but a little of the little leaven which will leaven all! Don’t
deceive yourselves, my brethren; those who are well taught in the Word know better and have no
need for "camp preaching". But be warned that those whose state is so lonesome and poor, with
the desire to be warmed by "another gospel", have not "their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil" and cannot come away with only good.

The Lord says "Occupy till I come." (Luke 19:13). Occupy means to fill our hands with the work
of God in the place He has called us to walk. There is more to do here than we imagine. If in the
path because of conviction and exercise, then walk so as not to be personally leavened with the
leaven of the Pharisees "which is hypocrisy." What is it but hypocrisy to be professedly separate
as to our ecclesiastical position and yet ‘go back to the camp when it is convenient or there is a
special speaker, leavened but a little?

I wish attention could be roused to this question_ "Have you any principles? and if you have, are
they Divine, and such as will make good for you, if you are consistent with them, a steady
position when all things are shaking round you?"

Clearly they who are walking with God, as did Enoch, can say, "Through grace I have such; for
the great leading circumstance to me is God, who, nearer to me than my own self, never changes
and if I am kept true to Him, when He has overruled things for Himself, the same grace which
keeps me now by steady adherence to Him, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, will
cause it to appear before all in His own Day to the praise of His own grace."