ASSEMBLY DISCIPLINE NO. 2
ASSEMBLY DISCIPLINE NO. 2
There is nothing plainer in scripture than that certain brothers in an assembly consulted together with regard [p. 59] to matters which eventually were or were not to be submitted to the whole assembly. What do we see in Acts 15: 6? “The apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter”, and in Acts 20: 17, Paul “sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church”, and in Galatians 6: 1, “Ye which are spiritual” intimates that all are not qualified to deliberate. The Levites were not qualified for the charge of the tabernacle until fifty years of age. It is plain all are not qualified for deliberation, though the conscience of the assembly must be exercised respecting any decision arrived at affecting it. Surely many a case of failure comes before a true pastor, which being confessed and judged is no longer a grief to the Spirit of God, and remains unknown to the assembly. But supposing the case become inveterate, then the judicious pastor would confer with one or more of the spiritual elders as to it, and surely they would seek counsel respecting it from all the elders in the place, truly worthy of the name, for elders have a character (see Titus 2: 5), and this council or meeting of brothers is preliminary to the executive one, where the conscience of the assembly must be exercised as to the decision as of the Lord. It is to the Lord it is done, and hence it is not so much whether every one in the assembly agrees, but that the conscience, the answer of the heart before God, is assured and clear as to the decision. It seems to me a mistake to assert that there are no brothers fit to deliberate, no spiritual ones qualified to restore, because there is no brothers’ meeting. I see the value of a brothers’ meeting composed of elders of the scripture type, or “spiritual”, yet I am sure that a meeting where all brothers may come is much to be dreaded as a kind of republic. I can feel for the two at ———— on this ground, for if they would not gain in their deliberations and exercise by increasing their number, I can well understand their declining an addition which could not help them. But if there are brothers besides them who are “spiritual”, or elders in the scriptural sense, surely they would gain by admitting and inviting them to their deliberations.