SCARBOROUGH, AUGUST 29TH, 1896
SCARBOROUGH, AUGUST 29TH, 1896
Dr. van Someren.
My Dear Brother, — I have been intending to send you a few lines in answer to yours of the 25th. I return the letter from G.H. I am sorry that an agitation has begun in Sydney — though I suppose the questions raised are likely enough to affect the whole Australian continent. The extract of the letter from the brother at Orange is curious, as showing the way that things come to be mis-stated. Firstly the Holy Spirit is only with ‘us as indwelling the believer’. It was maintained that the manner of the Spirit’s dwelling here was shown in John 14:17 (He continues with you and shall be in you) — and that His function in the believer was quite distinct from His function or operation in the house — but I would have thought that anyone would have admitted that His being in the house was dependent on His being in believers, for when they go the Spirit is no longer here. The second point is that ‘we are not gathered to the Lord on the principle of the unity of the body’ — now it has been strenuously maintained that the recognition, in the soul, of saints being one body in Christ is of the last importance in our being gathered together. What has been resisted is the idea that the truth of the one body, or indeed any particular truth, is the basis of the fellowship in which brethren are found together, for this fellowship rests on moral foundations as in 2 Timothy 2:22. The third point is ‘that we break bread in the holiest not in the wilderness’. I do not know anyone [p. 121] who has said this — but it is difficult for me to understand that where Christ in the midst of the assembly sings praises to God it can be anything but the holiest — and it would be difficult to realise that in the praises which Christ leads there should be the bringing up of the question of sins. All these things tend to show how little the truth of Christ in the assembly is realised. I hardly know what to advise as to seeing Mr. Oliphant, he has a certain place amongst us, and one would wish that he should not fail of any respect due, but I hardly think that you will get much help from him. We are still enjoying our stay here. I saw Mr. Stoney this morning and found him very bright and cheerful.
With our love in the Lord,
Believe me,
Your affectionate brother,
F. E. Raven.