To the same.]
My dear ——,—Not having any proper answer further on your mere summary of Mr. Brock’s, I put your letter to be answered as soon as I could, having already replied to the particular arguments you had asked me about. I am occupied with Newman, so that answering error and grasping systems of it, I had pretty near enough of for the moment, but I have made some progress in it. I have not the least doubt that Dr. Lees denies any real sacrificial atonement. The patristic Platonic form of denying the divinity of Christ is ancient now, and accompanied with the denial of atonement and everlasting punishment. Thus in Bristol, a man teaches that in Christ God was manifest in the flesh, not He was God, etc. They hold that the Logos or wisdom, not word of God, dwelt abundantly in Christ, so that what God was was manifested in Him, that He was Lord and is now glorified. They hold forgiveness by love, not by expiation. There are various shades, from a subtle Platonism, such as Justin Martyr’s, almost allied to orthodoxy, down to Newman’s, who went on to the denial that Jesus was the Christ and of all revelation. He passed through this phase, if phase it can be called, where really all is denied. The Logos is not held to be a person: God’s wisdom in God was manifested in Jesus. Hence he speaks of God’s being the spirit and source of all wisdom and love. One is manifested in Christ, that is, the lovgo" (reason or wisdom) was, and the love or mercy announced in the mission of the Messiah, and therefore in the forgiveness of sins. This excludes evidently expiation, and denies that Jesus was God in any personal sense.
As to begotten, not made, it is ambiguous: he may believe Christ to be Son as born into this world, or he may hold the Platonic notion, modified by Christian doctrines as Justin Martyr (if my memory does not deceive me, though elsewhere orthodox), that is, that the lovgo" was eternal in God as His wisdom or mind, but was begotten and produced into a distinct existence before and for the creation. His creed does not say which, and I cannot determine; but the real existence of the lovgo" as a very Person, uJpovstasi", who could be with God from all eternity, I am confident he does not hold. He believes in one God the Father and one Lord Jesus, using this to exclude Jesus from being Himself God (though man also), and making Him only the wisdom of God manifested in this man, begotten perhaps in a remarkable manner by the Holy Ghost. As to the Holy Ghost, I cannot tell what he holds. I suppose some vague idea of an emanation. Newman calls it, though an avowed infidel, God in the heart.
It is a speculative Platonic system, using Christianity to enlarge its system and incorporate its ideas; but there is no faith at all in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, none really whatever, nor in expiation. This kind of thing is emerging now a good deal…
Affectionately yours, much pressed for time.
December 13th, 1851.
* * * * *
My dear Brother,—I doubt the John the Baptist half week; the cycle system is interesting, at least that part which relates to the time of judgment not counting, but it seems to me the reasoning is entirely in a circle. This does not make me reject it, because if the moral proofs are adequate they are the strongest for a child of God; on that I am not prepared to pronounce. But it is externally proved by what it has to prove. I am printing, or ought to be, on Daniel (I left it in France) a critique on Gaussen—short, but destroying in toto all his alleged foundation. I do not feel a very great inclination to nourish myself with all the errors propagated on the subject of prophecy, nor to occupy general readers with them. To say that 1 Corinthians 15:28 explained in the ordinary way makes the first coming an exaltation of Christ and the second a humiliation, is nonsense. God humbled Himself in becoming man, but man was exalted to reign. The passages quoted as to paradidw'/ (“delivers up”) prove nothing at all; they all relate to teaching. Who in English would reason that because I delivered a lecture, it was evident that when I deliver a prisoner I keep him still! If a kingdom be delivered up by man to God, that God may be all in all, it is that the human holding of it should cease—its mediatorial character paradivdwmi signifies giving up to another. I admit the emphasis on the word God, because man has held the kingdom, but it is precisely what shews the force of the passage. He must reign till —and then He will give up the kingdom. Nothing can be more simple. It is not Christ who makes all things new, but God. Christ reigns, subdues all things, work that God the Father has entrusted to Him, all in this creation. Then comes all things new of the new creation, where justice does not reign but dwell.
Citing 2 Samuel 7:13 is confounding His reign as Son of David with the universal glory spoken of in the New Testament, which is a totally different thing. Daniel 2:44 is the worldly kingdom also; 7:14 also—peoples, nations, tongues, languages. Luke 1:33 is the kingdom over Jacob, the throne of David. 2 Timothy 4:1 proves nothing at all save that His appearing is the time of His kingdom. 2 Peter 3 proves the instability of created things against those who based their hopes on their stability, and laughed at the coming-of the Lord. None of these passages, nor any in the Old Testament, touch the universal headship of Christ spoken of in the New Testament, the eighth Psalm alone giving in its general language the connecting link. In another sense, Christ does reign for ever and ever, and so do the saints; but it is not the human kingdom in contrast with God’s being all in all. “We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,” is the language of Rev. 11—the worldly kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, that is, it is the power of God as contrasted with man, begun in His taking in hand judgment and rule in the world; and that power could never cease. The kingdom thus viewed is God’s in contrast with man’s evil, and that is for ever. In 1 Corinthians 15, which is as clear as possible, it is Christ as man having held it for purposes of subjection, who gives up this special kingdom which puts down other authority, to God that the power may be God’s exclusively. As partaking of the divine glory we reign for ever and ever (Rev. 22), but it is not in war or in judgment given to man.
I will examine the subject of eternal priesthood according to Aaron, which though not finding entrance into my mind, I have not, perhaps, thoroughly examined.
My mind had gone on to fresh inquiry on the sufferings of Christ in applying the sufferings of Gethsemane more exclusively to the effort of Satan as the power of darkness, though using the cup Jesus had to drink, in the view of oppressing Him; and that this was closed before He left it, and thus Satan’s power of death properly closed. On the cross it was the wrath of God, and out of that also Jesus emerged before giving up His Spirit to His Father. This, connected with what death is, and what life was, had occupied and interested me a good deal. All that relates to Him is blessed.
Affectionately yours.
[1851.]
* * * * *
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,—For a long time I have intended writing to you, but have been constantly occupied (thank God), happily, in His work, but in such a manner as to leave me hardly a moment free. This immense city absorbs one’s time in a way of which those who have not lived here can form no idea.
I have received your translations of the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews, which now constrains me to write to you to acknowledge receipt of the same, and testify to you my Christian affection, and all the interest I feel in your labour, dear brother. I had hoped to come as far as to you, but God has fixed me here for the present. Nevertheless, I still hope to see you and comfort myself at this delay with the hope of being able to acquaint myself a little more with German, for the study of which I endeavour to find a few moments.
In every case it is where God would have us to be, that we find His precious blessing. Without Him we can do nothing. When He works in His grace, how happy one is to be the instrument of His power and goodness! The exercises of our hearts even, in the difficulties of the work, lead us to Him, and everything that does this is in blessing for us. Besides, one acquires that kind of knowledge of self, which strips us of self. Alas! why are we not dead to ourselves in the practical sense, in order that we may be nothing but pure instruments of His wisdom and grace! Still it is good for us to feel our nothingness and entire dependence upon Him. There is .always much to learn in this respect. But if we keep near Him—and it is there alone we feel what we are—He is faithful not to permit us to be tempted beyond our strength, so that we always can walk in safety in dependence upon Him. One is conscious of it. When we are weak, then we are strong. No doubt, later we shall see, how much of self, alas! there has been mixed up with our labour. At the same time we shall see that God has not permitted this weakness to lead us to a fall, nor to do harm in His church, provided we have not pretended to do more than He has given us to do. But it is of all importance that our inner life should be kept up to the height of our outward activity; else we are near some spiritual fault. Elijah was able to cause the four hundred prophets of Baal to be killed, and Jehovah to be recognised by the whole people. A few days after he flees through fright at the threats of Jezebel, and tells Jehovah that all was in vain notwithstanding his zeal; though God had still 7000 who had not bowed their knees before Baal. This happened to a man who went up to heaven without dying. What a lesson for such as we! May God in His infinite goodness keep us near Him.
My brother has kept me somewhat au courant as to your labour, and my soul is much interested in it. May God keep you very near to Himself, dear brother. This is the best prayer I can offer to our faithful God for you. Everything depends upon that—humility and everything else. One is never really humble but there, and at the same time one has the precious sense and consciousness that He is with us, and what strength this does give us! At the same time it keeps us from going astray, our natural character is kept in check, our will is kept down, and we enjoy the light without trusting in self. May God Himself keep us there. It is sweet to feel, dear brother, that without seeing each other, love binds us closely together because of our common life in Christ, and for His own sake by the Spirit. May God bless and keep you, dear brother.
Greet affectionately all our dear brethren, though I do not know them. It matters not. We are one, in Jesus. But my brother has mentioned to me some of their names. May God help them and lead them by His Spirit in all their ways. Peace be unto you. If I have to make any remarks as to your translations, I will write to you when I have examined them.
Your very affectionate.
I shall be very glad to hear from you. I still have some hope of seeing you in the summer. But all depends upon the will of our God. May the Lord Himself come! This would fulfil our highest desires.
London, [1851].
* * * * *
Dearest——,—I have very happy news in general from the south of France, but nothing since the Revolution save that they were quiet. I should feel cordially disposed to join in any humiliation with brethren, and feel it very desirable. I think Wigram dreaded a little the appearance of a distinct formal body. If this meant not owning all saints as one, I should indeed object to it as ruinous and sectarian; but that brethren so called, as such, should publicly (as far as that is used in a christian sense) take the place of humiliation, I should feel most desirable; I wait only the Lord’s time for its accomplishment. I quite take this ground myself before God, and before all those who walk wrong, other Christians and all. I trust God is working, in His grace, very fruitfully in the hearts of His saints: may He keep us humble, and near Him, so that we may not yet more need humiliation.
I apprehend as to the passages, that Hebrews 6, they were called to learn, that is, go on from what had been learnt in a puerile way of truth and Christ, and go on to what the Holy Ghost had brought out of the powers of the world to come. If they had left this latter, it was no good to go back to lay the old foundation again: if they had it, they ought to go on to something else, so that it was no good his speaking of the old part. All short of the Holy Ghost’s revelation of a glorious Christ would connect itself with the beginning of Christ, I apprehend. Paul was bringing Hebrews out, just before the destruction of Jerusalem, of what linked them with what was ready to vanish away—outside the camp—into that which he had founded as the church in connection with Christ glorified: only this, for this reason, somewhat transitional, the church is not itself developed, only the power of the new thing.
Covenant is an obligation to another which does not enter into the idea of being my own body, or my own child; but then those who form this body, or are these children, are subjects of what in substance was a covenant, though I do not know that it is called so, for the word covenant is rather what God has condescended to assure man’s heart by; but when Christ says, “Lo, I come to do thy will,” He undertakes something, and the Father having given Him power over all flesh to give eternal life to those whom He has given to Him, He accomplishes all, so as to present them according to the thoughts of the Father’s love perfect to Him. All this ordering of wondrous divine counsels, Christ having undertaken all needed, and obtained by redemption, and given, as the Father has sent, the Holy Ghost to accomplish the rest in us, being, so to speak, undertaken by parties, if one may reverently so speak, has been called a covenant; and I apprehend the apostle speaks so alludingly when he says, “through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” But in general, save as an allusion, covenant is an inferior idea to this taking up their own place in this glorious counsel of God by the Persons in the Trinity. I doubt that scripture would speak of their covenanting among themselves, as if they had had to bind or assure one another. It is called for us an everlasting covenant, but this, though it embraces all this really, is rather the idea of God assuring man by its being an immutable, unchanging thing, secured to man by Christ’s blood: not the Persons binding themselves among themselves. However, this is a matter of words, and those who use the expression; though they lower the notions of divine things. It is well to be true to these, because one is here to God’s glory, and no stumbling-block is put in the way of others; but those who use these ways of speaking are so in purpose of heart, and substantively; so that one may be at ease with them.
I should not answer very dogmatically as to Genesis 4:7. Those who take the sense of sin-offering argue on that on account of which you argue against it, the word being applied to the lying down of an animal, the victim is there before you at your door. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?—and unto thee shall be his (Abel’s) desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Then there is the parenthesis, “If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Now I do not doubt that this speaks of the culpability of Cain; the only question is, if it does not present this culpability, as God has presented it to us, that is in Christ as the sin-offering. Other translations take the whole thing in another sense; I apprehend that the primary sense is, sin is there before you; you meet it in going forth; it lies at your door. He could not escape finding it attached to him: only God has laid it before us in the sin-offering in Christ. I do not doubt the English is right, and in general the other translations wrong. I believe these were all the passages you asked me about; so I close, dear——
Affectionately yours.
[January 14th, 1852.]
* * * * *
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,—I have examined a little the passage in 2 Thessalonians 2. I do not think one could translate ejk mevsou gevnmtai ‘rises out of the midst.’ Tivnomai means to be or to become; thus ejk tivno", a man who exists from another order than himself; but a man who comes out of the midst is, as to the sense, taken away from the midst. The only fault in this translation is that it expresses the thought that there is someone who takes away, which is not said. There is a passage quoted in our dictionaries—perhaps it is in Pape—of Plutarch’s, which has these words. The lexicographer quotes it as proof of the ordinary sense attributed to these words. He is no longer present. The English translation gives “he who letteth will let.” There is no need however of the addition. “Only there is now he that withholdeth until he be taken out of the way:” this is, I doubt not, the true translation, movnon oJ katevcwn a[rti e{w", etc.
God be praised that the brethren are walking in peace. I am at a good meeting of prayer and humiliation, which I believe will produce much good. God certainly helps us at this moment. He makes us go back over the effects of former negligence, but He brings us out of it. Conversions also are not wanting, and souls are added at least in London, and in other places. I believe the sense of His goodness spreads in hearts and encourages the brethren… The Lord reveals Himself more and more—this is what is clear, and places His children on a simple ground— only they must break with the world to walk there. But souls are exercised.
Exeter, March 20th, 1852.
* * * * *
To the same.]
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,—Now for your reasoning on 2 Thessalonians 2:7. I see we have the same thought as to the truth, so that I am not very anxious on the subject of the Greek. I suppose that you think that from the midst of the mystery the wicked one will arise, who will embody iniquity, so to speak, in his person—the Antichrist who will be destroyed. I believe it; only if I have rightly understood you think that the beast will exist no longer. But it seems to me that whether it be Daniel or the Apocalypse, they require that the beast shall be there until the judgment that will destroy it. The question remains, whether Antichrist is the beast embodied in its last head, as France in Napoleon (the 1st emperor); or if he is the false prophet who accompanies him.
Now as to the translation; the usage of the language is the way to understand it. Now ejk mevsou is an expression which hardly leaves room for discussion with regard to a particular interpretation. A thing is ejn mevsw/ when it is placed before every one, as a prize for which they strive; for example, in a word, when a thing is there before (the object, or able to be the object of) the thoughts and pre-occupation of those who are there. Thus the adulterous woman, when all her accusers were gone away, was ejn mevsw/, still there. On the other hand, ejk mevsou gevnesqai, or eijnai, is an ordinary well-known phrase for being no longer there. It is not a question of being in the midst or from the midst of something; but in such a way as to be the object of the feelings and thoughts of the spectators. Take Pape if you have it: he will certainly give you proofs of it. I furnish you three from Wetstein, as you may not have access to it. nu'n ejk tou' mevsou hJmi'n ejsesqev. (Herod. VIII. 22.) mikroVn hJ teqnmvka hJ pantaV ejk mevsou, I have Anton. VIII. 12. e[gnw zh'n kaq* eJautoVn ejk mevsou genovmeno". (Plut. Timol., p. 238, 3.)
I believe that the aim of the apostle is not to designate him who hinders, but that there will be something that hinders, and that consequently the wicked one will not be revealed until that shall be gone— movnon oJ katevcwn a[rti e{w", etc. The wicked one would have been revealed before his time by the movement of the principles and will of man, if there had not been something which arrested, bridled. The exterior form may vary, I believe it has varied. God now restrains it until the moment known to Him arrives. Then it is ejk mevsou, and the wicked one is manifested.
Be assured, beloved brother, of the sincere affection of your brother in Jesus.
* * * * *
To the same.]
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,—I hope that all occasion for uneasiness as to the representations made to the government may by this time have disappeared. In every case we have only to present them to Him who directs everything, and holds His high hand even over the counsels of the princes and principal men of the earth. It is a comfort to know that He makes all things work together for the very best for those who love Him.
As to the brother who has left you rather than give up the editorship of his paper, you must not be astonished about it. Alas! these things occur but too often. They have happened to the Lord Himself before they happen to us. But this serves to keep the church and the heart in lowliness, a thing very important for us. We have need to remember that the world and the church—at least, if the latter be faithful—do not accord, and we shall cleave to the one and despise the other, or we shall hate the one and love the other. It is sad if it is Jesus that is forsaken, or even His words. One may forsake the faithful without absolutely forsaking Jesus. I do not believe that all those of whom Paul complains had forsaken Jesus. But they lacked the courage necessary for walking with Paul.
We must pray for that brother, and for all those whom the world still retains as captives in its chains of vanity. As to the contempt which this tends to bring upon us, this is just our true place. It was there that the Lord our Leader was to be found. He was the despised and rejected of men. It is good to be in His place; it is to be in His school. It is easy to leave the world. It is when the world leaves us that the heart is put to the test. As for the reproach which you may bear, my heart desires to bear it with you all, dear brother…
Thanks be to God, the work here, on the whole, goes on in peace, and with some blessing. There is nothing striking, but God gives us new souls, and the brethren enjoy the sweetness of mutual affection. In London it is not like in smaller towns and villages. In an immense town of two and a half millions of inhabitants, we scarcely see one another, and brotherly relations are more difficult to maintain; but here also God is sufficient, and certainly works in the midst of brethren, not in London only, but elsewhere.
I rejoice much, dear brother, at the doors which He opens for you. The work is our common work in the Lord. In the South of France He has manifested His good hand, and the work proceeds with blessing. We have had some of our brethren in prison, but this has rather turned to a testimony. Take heed to testings and exercises of heart whilst pursuing the work. Our dear Master has had them. If only we look steadily at Him, all this ripens us for His presence, and He recognises it as a service rendered to Him. We are more than conquerors through Him who has loved us. Greet the brethren affectionately (though I do not know them personally); they are all my beloved ones in the name of the Lord.
Your most affectionate brother.
London, March 31st, 1852.
* * * * *
To the same.]
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,—I have not been able since my last letter to continue the examination of your translations with the care required to do it properly, but I have only put it off just for the present. I was obliged to answer an attack directed against the views of the brethren in a pamphlet printed at Geneva, and to occupy myself with other writing, which was pressing and had accumulated because of the local work and the general work for this country…
As to the Baptist sect, I see, beloved brother, that God has guided you in your views and actions. This question has caused agitation (by means of some one who has laboured at it) in a department in France where the work of brethren has been blessed. But by being firm, and leaving to every one full liberty of conscience, it has passed away, and God has granted full peace to the brethren, and the storm has passed by without doing harm. I do not wonder at people being in doubt in the state of confusion in which the church is, so that I have no difficulty in respecting the consciences of brethren who believe that they ought to be baptised. If their conscience tells them that they have not been baptised, they do well to get baptised, if they do it peaceably. I say peaceably, because it is no longer the confession of Christianity, but an act which seeks to repair a fault of negligence. But if one makes it a sect, it is a very great evil: baptism becomes the centre of union instead of Christ.
Baptism in order to receive the Holy Ghost is a miserable falsehood, for they receive Him no more than others do, but, on the contrary, are deceived by the enemy. I have seen this in South Germany and England and elsewhere. It is nothing but a miserable fallacy; facts are there to prove it. If people say they have received Him by this means the proofs are there to shew what it is worth. Now the Holy Spirit has never been received by the baptism of water. Samaria and Cornelius prove this. Finally the 120 had received Him without having been baptised. I do not deny that in general people were baptised before receiving Him, and that this was the rule because baptism was the public confession of Christianity. I am perfectly certain that the reasonings of the Baptists are false in principle and denaturalise Christianity. But if a brother felt [thus] in his conscience, I would leave him the most perfect liberty in this respect. Let him be fully persuaded in his heart. By so acting, avoiding a sectarian spirit, leaving the conscience entirely free, and seeking unity in Christ, and asking of God the peace whereto we are called, you will be kept, I hope, and will get without loss over a trying moment. I will write to you more at length, beloved brother, what I think on the baptism of infants, but I care much more for the peace of the church than for any opinion about that. I have never tried to persuade anybody. I believe that every one must act according to his own conscience.
I believe that the children of believers are relatively holy, and that this passage (1 Cor. 7:14) has precisely that bearing, but I respect the ordinance, and those who think they have not been partakers of it do well to be baptised. I deny entirely that this is a matter of obedience, and those who treat it so, upset, without being aware of it, Christianity in its very first principles.
God be with you, dear brother, and with all our beloved brethren, and help you to get over this, to you, trying moment, and keep you from a bad sectarian spirit and from false and proud pretensions, which I consider to be something very different from respect for scruples of conscience. The doctrine of the remission of sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by baptism comes, I doubt not, from the enemy.
As to the conscience, I would leave it perfectly free on that point.
When they say that one cannot preach the gospel, that is nothing but nonsense, because God has blessed the gospel preached by all kinds of persons who hold the foundations of Christ without troubling themselves about the pretensions of ——, and others of the same kind.
I write in haste.
Your most affectionate brother.
London, April 28th, 1852.
Beloved Brother,—I stated at large in the meeting at. Bristol that I did not see anything wrong in the circular. I asked one who was there if he had known any principle of great evil working anywhere, would he have done wrong to warn brethren of it? The last phrase in the circular was the effect simply of the feeling that I ought to be open as to my own path and feeling with brethren, that if they did not wish this of course I need not repeat it. But I withdrew the letter as being alleged to be a stumbling-block in others’ way, just on the grounds you have done. It had another effect in my case: as I had left (as I may say) every one when I left Ebrington Street, my circular, the meetings being clear of Newtonism, became a recognition on my part of the old meetings in a measure, and implied connection with them. The withdrawal of it placed me again personally out of all connection (formally) with any; but I said I trusted I should be only the closer knit to those who really walked with God in the best faithfulness they could. Bethesda would stand on its own merits without ‘What have you written, and what have you said?’ So that I feel my position clearer and more solid as to it.
Affectionately yours, dear brother. July 26th, 1852.
[From the French.
Beloved Brother,— … We are happy, that we have nothing to do here on earth but to serve our precious Saviour. When I think of His granting us such grace, and that we already possess the life of which we shall live eternally with Him, my joy, however quiet in feeling my own littleness, is boundless at the grace that manifests itself towards me, and at the sight of the love of Jesus. Soon shall we see Him. May He deign meanwhile to keep us near to Himself, and may we walk in simplicity with largeness of heart and faithful conduct, until we see Him as He is, and be for ever with Him.
I now leave you for a moment, dear brother. Strengthen yourself in the Lord, and may His peace so sustain you, that you may be able to walk in peace. In spite of everything, Christ watches over us and over His church. This is our comfort and safeguard, whatever may betide.
Peace be with you.
Your very affectionate brother.
Paris, August 17th, 1852.
* * * * *
To the same.]
[From the French.
Dear Brother,—I was very happy to receive your letter and those of our brethren. The account B——gives us of your position at——and in its neighbourhood has greatly interested the brethren at our conference. They were just discussing the question of how it could be managed to have more frequent intercommunion between the labouring brethren, and also to knit more closely the links of brotherhood among the labourers, whilst leaving each one to full individual liberty and to the guidance of the Spirit of God in his work. At the beginning this was less difficult. The field was smaller, and they saw one another oftener, the whole of the work was more easily surveyed, and all was done more in fellowship. Now that the field has greatly widened and increased on more sides than one, sometimes a labourer and a flock find themselves rather isolated, seeing nobody else for a year or two. The brethren who travel in the work are, up to a certain point, a medium of fellowship; yet there is room for improvement in this respect. Your letters came just in time to make us feel how much these communications interested hearts in the labours and services of a brother. In the main this was what took place everywhere more or less, and it was felt one self-same work of the Holy Spirit which unites us in the ways of the love of our God. I hope to see you at the end of the summer…
Your very affectionate.
1853.
Dearest——,—I trust you will have found blessing at the meeting; I have no doubt the Lord’s hand was most abundantly in it. Of course it can be only so far as our hearts really humble themselves, each one for his own evil, before God, that we shall find real and permanent blessing. At the meeting at Bristol, I declared that I had withdrawn my original circular as to Bethesda. This took a stumbling-block out of the way of others, and left the ground entirely on its own merits, putting me entirely out of the question. I was questioned on it and cross-questioned: I only resumed all my liberty, that is, position of duty to Christ for my future path; so that Bethesda stands on its own merits, and the discussion on it and its relationship with brethren I am totally free from, as that is the only act I ever had to say to. This I felt its effect, I withdrew it as taking away a difficulty from others, only taking care I should be bound to nothing as to my course by it. It was asked; I have acceded. I did not see any great sense (feeling, I did) in asking the withdrawal of it; but if it met that feeling I was content, provided I was free to do what was right unconditionally in whatever I have to do; that is, that it was understood I preserved this liberty intact.
Now as to the millennium, Mr. Browne’s reasonings are null, because at the beginning, the Fathers did expect the Lord as a present thing; during the 1260 years they thought very little about it, and at the end it did not hinder the present expectation.
As regards the word “hour” (John 5:25, 28), I know of no one who has spoken of an unbroken resurrection hour. @Wra has nothing to do with the continuity of other facts which may occur in it, but of the unity of the epoch, so as to make one time or season of it. Thus it is used for a year because it is one epoch; yet spring, summer, and winter, seed-time and harvest, very opposite and not continuous facts, are found within it. The hour is not the hour of resurrection, but resurrection takes place in it. This indeed is evident upon the face of the passage. If the hour derive its character from the resurrection, the whole argument is certainly unfounded; for there are two resurrections distinct in character, and no continuity derived from them. If it does not derive its character from the resurrection, then the fact of having two resurrections in it, a thousand years apart, does not destroy its continuity. Two periods were in the first “hour” (ver. 25) characterised by Christ’s presence and Christ’s absence: the w{ra derives its unity, not its continuity, from something else. There was an epoch when souls should rise at the voice of the Son, another (ver. 28) when bodies should. What gave unity to that epoch is another question; of the answer to it I have little doubt —the presence of the Lord in glory, and the kingdom in that power in which He rose from the dead. They were not to marvel if He quickened souls, for, at another epoch, He would be in such manifestation of power that He would raise the dead.
I know nothing of a voice in 1 Corinthians 15:51. There is a trump (but the wicked hava clearly no part in the statements here); there is the archangel’s voice in 1 Thessalonians 4:16: so that I do not exactly know what is meant about a voice, twice citing these passages. But a common resurrection is totally unscriptural, and the argument goes much further than the millennium. All scripture shews a distinct act of resurrection, if there be only a minute between; them that are Christ’s are not confounded with the others, whatever the interval. There is nothing whatever said of a trumpet sound with the wicked; they are carefully excluded in the two passages where the trumpet is spoken of.
The argument as to 2 Peter 3 has, with equal confidence, been used for burning the earth at the beginning of the millennium. But I do not admit the day of the Lord to be a day, but a period; in that period, were it a million years, the heavens will pass away. In the passage itself twice the apostle declares to us its importance with God. I do not see anything very new or very wise in this settlement of the matter—very reasonable to put it out as his way of thinking; but the mass of testimony, of direct instruction which it controverts, makes the nice casuistry it is founded upon of no comparative weight. But it is all very well it should be discussed.
Affectionately yours.
* * * * *
To the same.]
Dear Brother,—I forgot to notice 1 Thessalonians 4. Sir E. Denny raised the question on some statement of Trotter’s, and was even anxious about it, which I was not. All were agreed as to doctrine. I have long hesitated over the passage, having thought of bringing the souls back, bringing them up from the dead, and their coming with Christ with the rest when He appears. You will remark that it is God brings with Him, not Christ; this had rather long ago made me hesitate if it was not God raising them as Christ (the sun would be as suzhvsomen): they will be brought from the dead as much as, and as Jesus. However, on the whole, I am disposed to think it is “bring with Him” when He comes and appears, the result of their resurrection. They will not be absent, or lose their place in the glorious appearing, no more than Jesus did by dying; they will rise first even. God’s bringing them with Him is not out of the order of the apostle’s thought; “which in his times he shall shew who is the blessed and only Potentate;” God shews the appearing of Jesus; so He brings the others and shews them with Him. But I am not prepared to dogmatise on it, nor to say as teaching, that is God’s mind in the passage, at which Sir B. is astonished.
I have got on beautifully as far as this, but am rather obliged to travel like a gentleman.
Affectionately yours.
Paris, February 28th, 1853.
[From the French.
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Beloved Brother,—I was very glad to receive your letter, which has followed me here.
It is needful for us that we should pass through the sorrows as well as the joys of the work of the Lord, happy if our sorrows are His and His joys ours. The nearer we are to Him, and the more we thus reproduce the faithful image of what He is, the more we shall encounter the opposition of the world when it awakes; and still more shall we experience the want of sympathy from Christians who will not walk in His footsteps; and they will even oppose us, forming as they do for themselves a system on principles that are less according to God. What trouble St. Paul had because he insisted on maintaining the gospel at the height of the grace which had been revealed to him! We shall not escape it. But if we suffer with Jesus, we shall reign with Him. In short, your account has given me joy. For the testimony, it needs decided, morally decided persons, persons who for the, love of Christ have broken with the world. One such is worth more than a thousand laggards; I am speaking of the testimony.
The question of baptism has tried the brethren here also, but by having patience it has calmed down. They have had themselves baptised without opposition, and the walk of those who insisted much on it has not commended itself very much to the consciences of several. But one is quiet, and there has been no rupture nor trouble…
Peace be with you, beloved brother. May the presence of God sustain you and gladden your heart in all your labours. Greet all the brethren affectionately from me. I have a great desire to be able to speak German better in order to converse with them. I read a little in order not to forget what I know. I hope that your imprisonment, through the goodness of God, will pass off easily, as it did before. We have in France several brethren in prison, or fined for the gospel; it is little, but still it is suffering.
Your very affectionate.
Montpellier, March 13th, 1853.
Dearest ——, —It would have been a joy to me to have assisted at your meeting at Torquay; I am most glad the brethren meet together, and thus place themselves before God. God alone knows what He can do in breaking down barriers, and uniting in testimony those separated. But I fear, humanly speaking, the world has too strong a hold on those with whom I cannot walk, to hope, humanly speaking, much. It is not as a reproach to them I say this, for there ought to have been spirituality to prevent it, and grace to overcome it; so that before God I take every share of blame and humiliation; but I fear, sadly fear, it is the part which, in a measure, accepts the worldliness, which is broken off, save some dear souls, who are just the grief of heart to me and others, who may have innocently entered. I should always more earnestly urge taking up each individual case; but I apprehend the path of those who walk by faith is to pursue in peace their course, seeking all that God can give them of souls for Him in earnestness of zeal in these latter days.
The only remark I have to make as to the meeting is that I judge the study of scripture would be a most useful part of it; to take a book or chapters, as God may direct you, and study it detailedly and diligently onward; this kind of meeting, or employment of time in great part at the meeting, I am persuaded would be of the greatest use, and place the hearts of brethren most usefully before the word. We have at this moment a meeting of this kind at Lausanne…
I shall hardly, I expect, be in England so soon as October 5-12; but my heart will be with the blessing of brethren.
Ever affectionately yours.
Lausanne, September 13th, 1853.
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To the same.]
Dearest ——,—I had overlooked Liverpool… . They resolved not to receive without examination, perhaps more; but P——who, with a great deal of the manners of grace (what is called charity, of which I have the greatest dread) and, I doubt not, a good deal of real grace, which I trust I appreciate —like all Irishmen whom grace has not total mastery of (I forgot you were one!) has an amazing confidence in himself; so that, though there is a healthful change, I believe I should look before I leapt; for who could tell where an Irishman would lead you? There is an inconceivable looseness about them: excellent in Ireland where all are so, it has a strange effect in England where men are not so, and in religious things has a peculiar danger of its own.
The connection of hJma" and aujtou" is not so difficult (Rev. 5:9, 10) because the elders were offering up the incense of the prayers of others in their vials and the aujtou" is extraordinarily far from hjgovrasa"; though Revelation Greek is unusual.
As regards Maurice, it is a mind dissatisfied with the stupidity and narrowness of dead orthodoxy and having no spiritual reins from God by the word and Spirit, that has run loose to make a God such as he would have—and the common course of middle-age heresies. Often real witnesses and sufferers for God and the truth, but not guarding themselves from the seductions of mental heresies—sometimes, no doubt, this last alone; and the persecuting church, which kept nominal truth (a thing the Fathers never did), was very glad to lump them all up together, charge them all with the worst things, and burn them, doing the devil’s work with both hands earnestly in another way. They seldom escaped the superstition and paganism of the hierarchical iniquity and corruption, without the mind getting loose, and meddling with and spoiling the things of God. It is this that shews what a total ruin the church of God was and is. I have found a solemn and most affecting consideration— what love God must have had to His elect to carry them through it all, and bear with them, as He does indeed with as cold and lifeless ones in, perhaps, things more hateful to Him than these helpless wanderings of mind. Such is M.’s case, in a measure, but he has the misfortune to be the original mover in the mental wandering. Will is in it, and hence, I fear, unless God steps in, that it is one of the many ways in which the devil is let loose in these days to unsettle everything. Men cannot be satisfied with death; God Himself is rousing them; and Satan would seek to bring in an activity not subject to, and outside God’s word, the only guide in such cases, not merely into truth, but hindering the will from being active, which, acting by the mind, just makes heresy, and (whatever the thoughts) cannot profit, because it makes God subject to it. I do not see much grace in M.; he will have, not truth, but liberty to put God out his own way. He is not willing to suffer, nor suffer for the truth; he likes the Establishment; it is a comfortable place—so it is, no doubt —and he would seek to maintain a liberty in it which would leave free his will without its costing him anything. God may lead him into subjection, but I do not see it yet. In the present universal unsettling it is possible God may allow this one in addition, and not allow the dead barrier of orthodoxy and authority to settle and quiet the matter; sometimes for souls for His elect’s sake, He does. If I can, I will look into it.
I have been a little occupied with heretics lately, Paulicians, Albigeois, Waldenses, Bohemian brethren, and the like. I find historians generally superficial somewhat; but it is a deeply sorrowful inquiry on one side, and yet exalting God’s grace, as I have said, on the other. The ruin was utter as regards man—the Reformation a wonderful thing, but Luther’s flesh terribly strong—a mixed thing, though the action of the Spirit of God astonishing—God’s work. It is not Luther himself by himself proves it to me; he was merely one remarkable instrument in it. It is just its springing up here, there and all around that proved God was at work. As far as Luther is personally looked up to, it has made one of the most stupid, bigoted churches (as they call them) in existence, where if piety entered—gave birth to rationalism because of the dull bigotry of their orthodoxy; for the Pietists are the historical parents of rationalism, strange to say. What a world we live in! “I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad.”
I trust God is thus working around now in England: His good hand is surely seen among brethren; there is a movement of His Spirit in many places. Humbled we must be, and then God can bless…
Ever your affectionate brother in Jesus.
1853.
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To the same.]
Dearest——,—There is no doubt, I believe, of the emigration of a large part at least of the north and west emigrating from the east. The Cushites, Goths, Scyths, are all the same name and people. The Druidical religion is undoubtedly Persian, and the Druids have been traced across the north of Germany to England. The north of India was one great settlement of this race. They were called there Indo-Scyths, and settled in High Thibet and the Himalayas. You are aware of Epiphanius’s division of the progressive corruption of barbaric (quære Patriarchal) religion into Scythism and Ionism, as some say original Buddhism and Brahminism in India, and Parseeism (Sabaism) and Hellenistic, Egyptian, Babylonian idolatry in the west. How old are the divisions of man, how little his history! Still Druidism partook too much of the elements of original Grecian or Babylonian idolatry to make this quite clear…
I apprehend as to seething a kid in its mother’s milk, that one of the characters of idolatry, of Satan’s power, is to destroy the order, affections and comeliness which God has established in nature. Christianity raises above it, but respects it all. He degrades in every way by what is unnatural. The way this was done in idolatry is remarkable, and diligently and horribly. This was an example as to tender and kindly affections. If you are at all acquainted with the horrors of idolatry—a profitless learning, I am sure, morally—or even remarking what scripture refers to briefly, but perfectly, you cannot but see how true this is. All this the law forbade.
As to 2 Peter 3:10, 12, I apprehend it means but the materials of which the crust of the globe is composed. It will be melted down by fire (as it was, once inundated by waters) to form a new earth, atmospheric heaven, etc.
I had seen the Annotator, but did not feel much attracted by the company and olla podrida character it had, though writing in it crossed me. Quiet service I like better if I can.
In haste, ever affectionately yours.
* * * * *
To the same.]
I am afraid I can help you but little with Zechariah. There is a difference in the characters of chapters 1 and 6. In chapter 6 we have not men, that is, we have merely the providential agents; in chapter 1 we have angels who stand before the Lord of all the earth, and overrule the working of these agents, though the agents are in view. The man among the myrtle trees, or angel, pleads for Jerusalem. I have thought that the red might be God’s judgment. Babylon had been this in the Lord’s hand on His people. Then the man upon the red horse was the one who on the Lord’s behalf had executed the judgments, and was now using Persia as His instrument of judging, and so favouring the Jewish people.
Abstractions alone meet symbols; the white are not Christ, the sun is not Christ. White are victorious triumph, and so a white horse; it is Christ triumphant, or His enemies, if they are on white horses. The sun is supreme power; when Christ takes it He is supreme power: so with the red or any other. If Babylon was judgment it would be of such a colour; if Persia, that also. But I do not pretend to give the sense as an “oracle of God.”
* * * * *
To the same.]
Dearest ——,—As regards Mr. Aitkin’s letter, I think it the most arrant stuff I ever came across, but falling in with the current of the principles by which Satan is generally working now—very proper and likely to deceive rich or poor, putting conscience to sleep, and settling in the apostate form of self-righteousness; namely, the “voluntary humility” connection with ordinances. I have no doubt from some parts of it there is a direct power of Satan in it, the points of conformity to Irvingism and Popery leave no doubt at all on my mind. I stated long ago my fears to ——. This paper leaves me no doubt upon it.48 It does not follow that no Christians may not get into it, to their almost [certain] ruin but for Christ; as there did into Irvingism, and I dare say, and indeed know, there are into Puseyism. But it is entirely to be treated as Satan’s work, whatever Christians may get into or work in it, as there are in popery itself. But it is to be treated as directly Satan, and it will have no force. I have been looking over Archdeacon Wilberforce’s book, and noticing the main point of it. The letter falls in with a mass of previously prepared habits of error in the mass of minds, and some fresh truth which gives a gloss of new knowledge calculated to take among the ignorant, to whom it is wondrous, so as to have an attractive and subtle character in this respect; but I denounce it as directly and positively Satan in se. I keep the letter to have a copy, but, as I do not know to whom it is addressed, shall not use it beyond myself without knowing to whom, and with their permission. I keep it for my own reference, which, as shewn to me, I feel free to do, not to mis-state or mis-conceive anything in it.
As to the day and star (2 Pet. 1:19); there are two ideas, but not two subjects. In the night as to the government of this world, prophecy, which tells of God’s judgments, gives light as to it, and helps the soul till it has a better, the dawning of a day on the soul in spiritual understanding as soon coming, for He is ready to judge being exalted; which, being accomplishment, does not need prophecy, and which presents the Person of a Christ already come and known, with whom we have to do before the coming in of the day which will close prophecy in accomplishment. Both are the intermediate state consequent on the position taken by Christ between prophecy and the day; but Christ is the personal object in the Morning star.
I am weak and little able for work, but I have begun meetings again, but not much to visit… .
Ever affectionately yours in the Lord.
P.S.—I remember before I left the Establishment meeting a tract saying there were no priests under the New Testament, and Robert Daly and another putting in ‘sacrificing’ priests. Though great evangelicals, they are tied up by their system.
July 25th, 1854.
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My dear Brother,—I know the love of the brethren will be glad to hear of me, and that they will rejoice to hear something of the work… . The Lord has been most gracious to me; even the weather has favoured my work. I was at Haarlem and Amsterdam, besides breaking bread at Ostend with a Dutch family. The Lord so ordered it that a brother I well knew who was the means of their conversion, was on a visit to them, and I thus came to know them. The wife and her sister true and decided, the husband, a personal friend of the king, much less so, though very decidedly converted. Thence I went through Rotterdam to Haarlem, where I was able to hold a good deal of intercourse with those who speak French. I knew a brother there also, with his wife, having stood alone for the Lord’s sake. I felt the Lord with me. We broke bread there again on Sunday; there also I made acquaintance with another Dutch family, converted and safe as to their path through the means of brethren at J. I held a meeting in the room of a brother with whom some meet, rather in a disputing way, but amongst whom several are getting clear, and again in a fuller room where many came. I made also a good many visits and felt the Lord very much with me. The brethren I first mentioned accompanied me and stayed some days to make more. The door seems decidedly open in Holland, chiefly among the upper classes on account of the language… I can already use the Bible pretty readily in Dutch, but that is not speaking. I then left for Germany. The first ten days the labouring brethren met together to study Scripture. We read John’s Gospel, 1 John, Galatians, Matthew and a part of Luke, with very much of the Lord’s presence, and I trust profit to all. Matthew and Luke were only a synopsis, but I never had Matthew so clear. On the Monday after I set off to the hills to visit one of the working districts, the first time. They were not in a happy state. They do not break bread there yet. The clergy are rationalists, but there is little life and union in those who meet to seek better edification; however, we had a meeting and I said some things in German. Then to a very dear brother’s, chief smith in a manufactory, where I held a meeting and slept. Before the meeting I dictated an article on Romans 4-8, for the brethren’s publication—also a compendium. Thence, three hours’ walk to a village in the hills where we finished the paper and translated some of Romans, and had a meeting in the evening. The next day to a very wild village in the hills three hours further across the waste, mostly new, where we had a meeting and conversed on Scripture. The next day six hours’ walk further up the hills to a brother engaged in the work, who has been greatly blessed there. I stayed there Friday evening, Saturday and the Lord’s day, and it was pretty much a meeting, save Saturday evening, all the time. We read most of Ephesians through. They came from five hours round and more, so that we were many on Sunday and had a very happy day—not merely the joy that accompanies such a meeting with a little excitement, but I really believe the Lord’s presence and blessing; we broke bread in the afternoon. Many could not get there. In the evening, I spoke on the Lord’s coming. I cannot expatiate in German, but I can set forth the truth, and they understand me very well now. At 12 at night I got with a lantern through the wood and took the coach back. You may suppose it was not Hornsey Place or Tollington Park. In these villages no question of meat in four out of six places, but rye bread and vegetables and a slice of bacon. One night I slept on chairs, another on straw.
I made through mercy six hours’ walk the next day, and held the meeting without being tired; but the beloved people give me their best with all their heart. In the last two places they were very hearty in the Lord. We had a sort of meeting on the way from the last named place but one. The evening before they thought it wiser not, so we held it where I mentioned on account of the police, and we visited them on the way. I thought to have gone further, but we deferred in the hope of getting through a version of the New Testament which is grievously wanted here—a serious undertaking—but I have been long exercised in it in English and French, so that it is easier for me of course. I have a native German for the actual form of the phrases, and I have a Dutch (which is the best I know), English (which rivals it), and pure German translations to refer to, with my two critical Greek Testaments. We have done Romans and now there is a moment’s hindrance, but I trust the Lord to remove it, and I feel assured that I shall get through this work also. My journey up the hills was very happy and, thank God, on Scriptural subjects I can make myself very well understood in German. I have been of course at the meetings, but I only knew the principal brothers much, for usually they are occupied much at their manufactures, and at the study with the workmen; and having only an imperfect knowledge of the language, it is helpful to myself, I find, to get out into the villages and be with the saints, where from their position it is as a stream in a thirsty land. The blessing is very real and continues; trials and proofs of the flesh accompany it. You will suppose I would draw no false pictures. In many towns I have spoken of there is trial from coldness and failure; nevertheless there have been a good many conversions, and the working of God’s Spirit is large and undoubted, and most of those I saw are rejoicing in the conscious acceptance of it. Many of these poor peasants are as advanced in substantial knowledge as the brethren in London are, and in many the life of the Spirit is very sensible. The Lord bless you, beloved brother, and all the beloved brethren in London. My heart desires their blessing and their growing up into Christ in everything. Peace be with you all.
Affectionately yours.
Elberfeld, September, 1854.
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My dear Brother,—I am delighted that the beloved brethren in——interest themselves in the work of the Lord and beg you to salute them affectionately for me. I rejoice that they should pray for the Lord’s work, for me, and for all saints that they may be fully blessed and glorify the Lord; but I am a bad hand at giving an account of the work, and I have an instinctive dread of publishing the work. Man gets in so easily and God’s glory is hidden proportionately. However, I will do what I can, for with their interest in heart, my heart goes along thankfully and heartily.
I have been myself mixed up with the work on the Continent only since the end of 1837, and since then the Lord has certainly granted a large and rich blessing, at least in proportion to our poor faith and efforts, and has raised up many dear labourers in His vineyard, though their number be, as the Lord has warned us, still so small. But His ways are perfect. It began in Switzerland. I preached and taught what I knew. And the full and holy liberty of the gospel, the assurance of salvation in contrast with the law, the standing and privileges of the church, and the coming of the Lord Jesus to receive her to Himself, together with the dwelling of the Holy Ghost in the church and in each member here below, were spread abroad and received by many. Gradually assemblies were formed by the truth; subsequently some young men who desired to work for the Lord wished to read the scriptures with me. I feared a little giving up my own work but would not refuse them, and for a year at one time and a good part of one at a subsequent period, I had ten or twelve, not always the same, with me, and we studied the word together. Most of them are now engaged in the work. They gradually got into work as the Lord called them. Others, already long labourers in the field, got clearer light and worked with it so that many conversions took place, and gatherings were formed by the working of God’s Spirit. This took place chiefly in three cantons, Geneva, Vaud and Neuchatel, the whole extent of the three not being very great. Still many hundreds were gathered and through grace persevere. Perhaps small and great there are fifty gatherings in all, of which the largest may be about 200, another 170 or 180, one or two of 100, and so on to very small ones. The most of the work took place in the course of a few years, but then in some districts there was a decline of energy, in some places very sensibly; and there were no circulating active labourers, though the gatherings persevered.
The Lord had much blessed the word in the mountain valleys; there had been about 70 or 80 converted in three or four months. Latterly, thank God, the Lord has revived His work, and for three or four years back there has been pretty constant progress and conversions in Neuchatel and latterly a very considerable blessing to the canton of Vaud, partly on new ground, partly on the old. In general the accounts are happy. The Lord sent them back one or more active servants of His grace and labourers in His field. Some of them, young men, went to France, some of them having come indeed thence, and one or two others who had received the truth clearly and given up everything to serve the Lord. A brother whom God raised up in France and who devoted himself to the work, but preached the law, had through his devotedness opened the way in a very wide country though he was not clear. God had used him independently of the work in Switzerland. He fell sick and one of our brethren went to help, three of them who had broken bread with me being of that country. In some four years 300 or 400 received the truth there. God raised up some labourers also, one of whom has worked in Switzerland. Also one of our Swiss brethren went further on into the mountains; there are I suppose, in all there, some 700 at least or more who were converted. The blessing was remarkable these four or five springs in succession. They had leisure then. There was no preaching without a conversion.
Last year there was a good deal of blessing in a part of the field. The work under God’s hand went further south, where another French brother also who had received the truth went down to work. In general all was dark and opposed with the exception of three towns and one village. I joined in the work at this time. There many meetings have been formed, some of them numerous. Last year in one station which had seemed motionless, first some sixty in a short space and then, after a smart persecution and fines and imprisonments, some forty more were converted, and in the east the Lord worked simultaneously, and some 300 came together in three or four villages. One of these has been dreadfully decimated by the cholera last year, but the brethren continue and even with more seriousness since. Quite at the other side of France (Casta Tarbes and Orthez) a Christian but lately deceased, who had laboured there before, returned and worked there. It is directly at the foot of the Pyrenees close to Spain. There also there were conversions and some 200 meet in five meetings; lately the Lord has been working sensibly afresh there, more truth; thence also in Lot et Garonne, the Lord has gathered a good many, and also on the Tey. Lately He has been at work also along the Rhone in the Departments (counties) of Upper and Lower Rhone. This is a work only beginning, where a French brother once a clergyman has been and is active. The first work I spoke of in France was west of the Rhone. It then extended east of the Rhone, and there a good many meetings were gathered and many conversions, in one part almost entirely Roman Catholics. There the brethren have been fined and imprisoned, but it did not hinder the work. In Marseilles and near to the foot of the Alps in the Isere, the Lord also has blessed the word and gathered souls; so in the Department Herault and Auvergne, the Lozere, though the gatherings are not so numerous in these, but in some lately the Lord has been working sensibly.
Lately, these two last years, the Lord has been working in Germany. Some years back the truth was brought into the neighbourhood and tracts of brethren setting it forth were pretty widely distributed. There were conversions and the truth spread and some gatherings were formed. But some two years ago in the town I am in, where there were many Christians connected with the Establishment, a new work went forth. They had learned that they were not under the law but under grace. There was a society employed readers and preachers. The clerical part of the society sought to hinder the liberty of their service and their preaching. Those whom God had called and who had learned what God’s liberty is, could not give up their service, and they came out and laboured trusting to the Lord. These have been largely blessed over a pretty wide extent of country from the borders of Holland to Hesse and Nassau, perhaps some sixty or eighty miles; as has the first work I spoke of near the Rhine. I cannot say how many there are, but a good many hundreds of which the greater number far have been converted within these two years. The conversions, thank God, continue. In Hesse they are a good deal persecuted in every way. Lately the secretary of the local tribunal was converted. He was ordered out of the country in eight days; but the Lord blesses the work much. They have been persecuted around the country, but at present are quiet. The king personally favours the saints and religious liberty. He has received most, if not all the tracts and sent to thank me for them. He sent to see a brother who was in Berlin, but he was gone; perhaps the Lord so ordered it for good. There are here some seven or eight, more or less entirely devoted to the work, and others who labour in their neighbourhood.
It has extended into the province of Guelderland in the kingdom of Holland; the numbers are not great there, but they are getting on very happily. My own work in Holland was not much, but I was very happy there and felt the doors were open. I knew a brother who was travelling with his wife for her health—was brought to see clearly and remained faithful and I went to visit him. Another was blessed through means of a French brother in Italy, and others came to see clearly through a brother in Geneva, in Switzerland. So does God prepare things when He is pleased to work. When I landed at Ostend, I could spend my Sunday with the 2nd family and we broke bread together. The brother, set clear in France, opened Haarlem to me and Amsterdam, so that I had intercourse with many and meetings there, and he was holding meetings at Leyden which are well attended. The third is in Amsterdam and I hear he as well as another also got clear (long a Christian) through the tracts and my visits; they are going on very steadily and well. They have broken bread together. I know not whether they do it regularly, as it was all new to them; but desires were awakened in many and they wish me to visit them again. I do not speak Dutch, so that I can only speak with those who know French or perhaps German; but that does not hinder the Lord. For those who receive in French communicate it to others in Dutch. But I was very happy in my short work there, and felt that the Lord had opened many and happy doors there.
At Frankfurt also they meet; and at Hamburg in Lippe and nearer Frankfurt, Khenbach Büdingen, there are outposts and centres of work for brethren. But the Lord has strengthened and blessed the gatherings in these places, and through them and the visits of brethren the work has reached other villages also.
Such, beloved brethren, is in few words a brief general account of the work. I rejoice to give it to the brethren; but I must beg that nothing like publicity be given to it. It is for brethren, for their hearts and prayers, that they may bless God and pray for the brethren that they may glorify God, that He may bless the work and guide those gathered in holiness and devotedness and love. But it is to be between them and God, and not to talk of to men. Were this done I should expect some chastening and humbling. I have so often seen works hindered and spoiled when brethren, perhaps with the best intentions, have made a noise about them, that I dread much anything of the sort. God is pretty jealous of it. He is working on—man frail is full of weaknesses and shortcomings.
I am sure I have felt (in my small though widely-scattered path) all sorts of feebleness of faith; but God has worked wonderfully and His blessed truth has been widely spread by it even outside those gathered. I ask (not a mystery) but that it may be between God and the souls of the brethren. Greet them heartily. I long to see them and hope to do so if God will.
Ever, beloved brother, most affectionately in Christ.
Elberfeld, 1855.
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Dear Sib and Brother in Christ,49—Since I saw you, I have been continually on the move, so that it has been difficult for me to prepare the account which you desired to receive. It seems to me that the best way will be for me simply to mention the various circumstances as they transpired, in as far as I was personally concerned, at the time when this work of God first commenced. You will easily understand that numbers of others have laboured in that field, and many with much more devoted-ness than I, and with a far more marked result as regards the blessing of souls. But my concern now is with the work of God, and not our labours; so that you may gather from the account what will suit your purpose.
I was a lawyer; but feeling that, if the Son of God gave Himself for me I owed myself entirely to Him, and that the so-called christian world was characterised by deep ingratitude towards Him, I longed for complete devotedness to the work of the Lord; my chief thought was to get round amongst the poor Catholics of Ireland. I was induced to be ordained. I did not feel drawn to take up a regular post, but, being young in the faith and not yet knowing deliverance, I was governed by the feeling of duty towards Christ, rather than by the consciousness that He had done all and that I was redeemed and saved; consequently it was easy to follow the advice of those who were more advanced than myself in the christian world.
As soon as I was ordained, I went amongst the poor Irish mountaineers, in a wild and uncultivated district, where I remained two years and three months, working as best I could. I felt, however, that the style of work was not in agreement with what I read in the Bible concerning the church and Christianity; nor did it correspond with the effects of the action of the Spirit of God. These considerations pressed upon me from a scriptural and practical point of view; while seeking assiduously to fulfil the duties of the ministry confided to me, working day and night amongst the people, who were almost as wild as the mountains they inhabited. An accident happened which laid me aside for a time; my horse was frightened and had thrown me against a door-post. During my solitude, conflicting thoughts increased; but much exercise of soul had the effect of causing the scriptures to gain complete ascendancy over me. I had always owned them to be the word of God.
When I came to understand that I was united to Christ in heaven, and that, consequently, my place before God was represented by His own, I was forced to the conclusion that it was no longer a question with God of this wretched “I” which had wearied me during six or seven years, in presence of the requirements of the law. It then became clear to me that the church of God, as He considers it, was composed only of those who were so united to Christ, whereas Christendom, as seen externally, was really the world, and could not be considered as “the church,” save as regards the responsibility attaching to the position which it professed to occupy—a very important thing in its place. At the same time, I saw that the Christian, having his place in Christ in heaven, has nothing to wait for save the coming of the Saviour, in order to be set, in fact, in the glory which is already his portion “in Christ.”
The careful reading of the Acts afforded me a practical picture of the early church, which made me feel deeply the contrast with its actual present state, though still as ever, beloved by God. At that time I had to use crutches when moving about, so that I had no longer any opportunity for making known my convictions in public; moreover, as the state of my health did not allow me to attend worship, I was compelled to remain away. It seemed to me that the good hand of God had thus come to my help, hiding my spiritual weakness under physical incapacity. In the meanwhile, there grew up in my heart the conviction that what Christianity had accomplished in the world in no way answered to the needs of a soul burdened with the sense of what God’s holy governmental dealing was intended to effect. In my retreat, the 32nd chapter of Isaiah taught me clearly, on God’s behalf, that there was still an economy to come, of His ordering; a state of things in no way established as yet. The consciousness of my union with Christ had given me the present heavenly portion of the glory, whereas this chapter clearly sets forth the corresponding earthly part. I was not able to put these things in their respective places or arrange them in order, as I can now; but the truths themselves were then revealed of God, through the action of His Spirit, by reading His word.
What was to be done? I saw in that word the coming of Christ to take the church to Himself in glory. I saw there the cross, the divine basis of salvation, which should impress its own character on the Christian and on the church in view of the Lord’s coming; and also that meanwhile the Holy Spirit was given to be the source of the unity of the church, as well as the spring of its activity, and indeed of all christian energy.
As regards the gospel, I had no difficulty as to its received dogmas. Three persons in one God, the divinity of Jesus, His work of atonement on the cross, His resurrection, His session at the right hand of God, were truths which, understood as orthodox doctrines, had long been a living reality to my soul. They were the known and felt conditions, the actualities, of my relationship with God. Not only were they truths, but I knew God personally in that way; I had no other God but Him who had thus revealed Himself, and Him I had. He was the God of my life and of my worship, the God of my peace, the only true God.
The practical difference in my preaching, when once I began to preach again, was, as follows: When a parson, I had preached that sin had created a great gulf between us and God, and that Christ alone was able to bridge it over; now, I preached that He had already finished His work. The necessity of regeneration, which was always a part of my teaching, became connected more with Christ, the last Adam, and I understood better that it was a real life, entirely new, communicated by the power of the Holy Spirit; but, as I have said, more in connection with the person of Christ and the power of His resurrection, combining the power of a life victorious over death, with a new position for man before God. This is what I understand by “deliverance.” The blood of Jesus has removed every spot from the believer; every trace of sin, according to God’s own purity. In virtue of His blood-shedding, the only possible propitiation, we may now invite all men to come to God, a God of love, who, for this object, has given His own Son. The presence of the Holy Ghost, sent from heaven to abide in the believer as the “unction,” the “seal,” and the “earnest of our inheritance,” as well as being in the church, the power which unites it in one body and distributes gifts to the members according to His will; these truths developed largely and assumed great importance in my eyes. With this last truth was connected the question of ministry. From whence came this ministry? According to the Bible, it clearly came from God by the free and powerful action of the Holy Ghost.
At the time I was occupied with these things, the person with whom I was in christian relation locally, as a minister, was an excellent Christian, worthy of all respect, and one for whom I have always had a great affection. I do not know if he is still living, but since the time I speak of, he was appointed to be archdeacon. It was, however, the principles, and not the persons, which acted on my conscience; for I had already given up, out of love to the Saviour, all that the world could offer. I said to myself: “If the Apostle Paul were to come here now, he would not, according to the established system, be even allowed to preach, not being legally ordained; but if a worker of Satan, who, by his doctrine, denied the Saviour, came here, he could freely preach, and my christian friend would be obliged to consider him as a fellow-labourer; whereas he would be unable to recognise the most powerful instrument of the Spirit of God, however much blessed in his work of leading multitudes of souls to the Lord, if he had not been ordained according to the system.” All this, said I to myself, is false. This is not mere abuse, such as may be found everywhere; it is the principle of the system that is at fault. Ministry is of the Spirit. There are some, amongst the clergy, who are ministers by the Spirit, but the system is founded on an opposite principle; consequently it seemed impossible to remain in it any longer.
I saw in scripture that there were certain gifts which formed true ministry, in contrast to a clergy established upon another principle. Salvation, the church, and ministry, all were bound together; and all were connected with Christ, the Head of the church in heaven, with Christ who had accomplished a perfect salvation, as well as with the presence of the Spirit on earth, uniting the members to the Head, and to each other, so as to form “one body,” and He acting in them according to His will.
In effect, the cross of Christ and His return should characterise the church and each one of the members. What was to be done? Where was this unity, this “body”? Where was the power of the Spirit recognised? Where was the Lord really waited for? Nationalism was associated with the world; in its bosom some believers were merged in the very world from which Jesus had separated them; they were, besides, separated from one another, whilst Jesus had united them. The Lord’s supper, symbol of the unity of the body, had become a symbol of the union of this latter with the world, that is to say, exactly the contrary of what Christ had established. Dissent had, no doubt, had the effect of making the true children of God more manifest, but here they were united on principles quite different from the unity of the body of Christ. If I joined myself to these, I separated myself from others everywhere. The disunion of the body of Christ was everywhere apparent rather than its unity. What was I to do? Such was the question which presented itself to me, without any other idea than that of satisfying my conscience, according to the light of the word of God. A word in Matthew 18 furnished the solution of my trouble: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This was just what I wanted: the presence of Jesus was assured at such worship; it is there He has recorded His name, as He had done of old in the temple at Jerusalem for those who were called to resort there.
Four persons who were pretty much in the same state of soul as myself, came together to my lodging; we spoke together about these things, and I proposed to them to break bread the following Sunday, which we did. Others then joined us. I left Dublin soon after, but the work immediately began at Limerick, a town in Ireland, and then in other places.
Two years later (1830), I went to Cambridge and Oxford. In this latter place, some persons who are still engaged in the work, shared my convictions, and felt that the relation of the church to Christ ought to be that of a faithful spouse.
By invitation I went to Plymouth to preach. My habit was to preach wherever people wished, whether in buildings or in private houses. More than once, even with ministers of the national church, we have broken bread on Monday evening after meetings for christian edification, where each was free to read, to speak, to pray, or to give out a hymn. Some months afterwards we began to do so on Sunday morning, making use of the same liberty, only adding the Lord’s supper, which we had, and still have, the practice of taking every Sunday. Occasionally it has been partaken of more often. About that time also some began to do the same in London.
The unity of the church, as the body of Christ, the coming of the Lord, the presence of the Holy Ghost here below, in the individual and in the church; an assiduous proclamation of the truth, as well as the preaching of the gospel on the ground of pure grace and that of an accomplished work, giving in consequence the assurance of salvation when received into the heart by the Spirit; practical separation from the world; devotedness to Christ, as to Him who has redeemed the church; a walk having Him only as the motive and rule; and other subjects in connection with these—all this has been treated of in separate publications as well as by means of periodicals; and these truths have been largely spread abroad.
A good many ministers of the national church left nationalism in order to walk according to these principles, and England became gradually covered with meetings, more or less numerous.
Plymouth being the place where most of the publications originated, the name “Plymouth brethren” became the usual appellation given to such meetings.
In 1837 I visited Switzerland, and these truths began to be known there. I returned there more than once. The second time, I remained a considerable time at Lausanne, where God worked in conversions, and gathered a number of the children of God out of the world. There were already, in Switzerland, Dissenters who had suffered faithfully for the Lord during twenty years previously. But their activity had declined considerably, and it even seemed that the movement was about to disappear. The work of the brethren has, to a certain extent, by the goodness of God, filled the country, conversions having been numerous. In German Switzerland, the work spread to a much less degree. On two occasions of my spending a protracted time in Lausanne, some young brothers who desired to devote themselves to gospel work spent nearly a year with me in order to read the Bible. We also partook of the Lord’s supper together every day.
At the same time, quite independently of what was going on in Switzerland, a brother who was labouring in France had awakened an interest in a considerable district where the people were, in general, plunged in infidelity and darkness. Some also of the young brothers of whom I have spoken, and two or three others whose acquaintance I made, but who never stayed with me, went to work in France. Other labourers, belonging to societies, believing that they would be happier working under the Lord’s immediate direction, and not as subject to committees, gave up their salaries, considering such arrangements to be unknown, both in fact and in principle, to the scriptures, since their very existence attributed to the possession of money the right to direct the work of the Lord: these began to work in simple dependence upon the Lord, trusting to His faithful care. God raised up others also, though it still remains true that “the harvest is great and the labourers are few.” God has blessed these labourers by conversions, numerous, thank God, especially in the south of France. From the beginning I have visited these countries and shared with joy the troubles and fatigues of these brothers; but it is they who have actually laboured at the work. In some places, I had the first troubles; in others I have only visited, taken part and helped, when the work was, thank God, already begun. He gave us to be of one heart and one soul, mutually to be helpers of one another, seeking the good of all, whilst recognising our individual weakness.
Almost about the same time, in the eastern part of France, a like work had begun, independently of this one. It has also been visited, so that at the present time the work extends from Bale to the Pyrenees, with a fairly large gap in the districts of which Toulouse forms the centre. The country is more or less covered with meetings, and the work, by God’s grace, is still going on.
I ought to say that I have never meddled in any way with the calling nor with the work of the brethren who studied the Bible with me. As regards some, I have the conviction that they had not been called to it, and they have, in fact, gone back into the ordinary routine of life. As to others, I only helped them in the study of the Bible, in communicating to them the light which God had given me, but leaving entirely to themselves the responsibility of their calling for the work of evangelisation or teaching.
We had the custom of gathering together occasionally for some time, when God opened the way for it, to study scriptural subjects together, or books of the Bible, and to communicate to one another what God had given to each. During several years, in Ireland and England, this took place annually in large conferences which lasted for a week. On the Continent, and latterly in England, they have been less attended; and consequently, with fewer numbers, it has been possible to spend a fortnight or three weeks studying some books of the Bible.
My elder brother, who is a Christian, spent two years at Dusseldorf. He is engaged in the work of the Lord, wherever he may happen to be at the moment. He has been blessed to several souls in the neighbourhood of Dusseldorf. These, in their turn, have spread the light of the gospel and the truth, and a certain number of persons have been gathered in the Rhenish provinces. Tracts and various publications of the brethren have been translated and largely distributed; and light as to the soul’s deliverance, the true character of the church, the presence of the Holy Ghost here below, and the Lord’s return, has been disseminated.
Two years later, helped, I believe, by the knowledge of these truths, but entirely independent of this work, a movement of the Spirit of God began at Elberfeld. There was in that town a “Brotherhood” which employed twelve labourers, if I am not mistaken, whom the clergy sought to forbid from preaching or teaching. Enlightened as to the ministry of the Spirit, and moved by love for souls, they would not submit to this interdict. Seven of these labourers, I believe, and a few members of the “Brotherhood” detached themselves from it, and certain of them, with others whom God raised up, continued their gospel work, which spread from Holland to Hesse. Conversions have been very numerous, and many hundreds assemble at the present time to break bread. More recently the work has begun to get established in Holland, as also in the south of Germany. By means of other instruments, two meetings in Wurtemberg already existed.
Gospel preaching in Switzerland and England has led to the formation of some meetings amongst emigrants to the United States and Canada; the evangelisation of negroes led to others in Jamaica and Demerara, as also amongst the natives of Brazil, through a brother who went there and has since died. I am not aware of any other who knows the language sufficiently to continue this work, which has been blessed. The English colonies of Australia have also meetings; but this sketch will be sufficient for you.
Brethren do not recognise any other body but the body of Christ, that is to say, the whole church of the firstborn. Also they recognise every Christian who walks in truth and holiness, as a proved member of Christ. Their hope of final salvation is founded on the Saviour’s expiatory work, for whose return they look, according to His word. They believe the saints to be united to Him already, as the body of which He is the Head, and they await the accomplishment of His promise, expecting His coming to take them to Himself in the Father’s house, so that where He is, there they may be also. Meanwhile, they have to bear His cross and to suffer with Him, separated from the world which has rejected Him. His person is the object of their faith, His life the example which they have to follow in their conduct. His word, namely, the scriptures inspired of God, that is to say the Bible, is the authority which forms their faith; it is also its foundation, and they recognise it as that which should govern their conduct. The Holy Ghost alone can make it effectual both for life and practice.
185—.
48 See Col. Writ., vol. xv. 293.
49 To Prof. Tholuck.