EXTRACTS

But in Jesus, even as man, there was none of this unevenness. There was nothing salient in His character, because all was in perfect subjection to God in His humanity, and had its place, and did exactly its service, and then disappeared. God was glorified in it, and all was in harmony. When meekness became Him, He was meek; when indignation, who could stand before His overwhelming and withering rebuke? Tender to the chief of sinners in the time of grace; unmoved by the heartless superiority of a cold Pharisee (curious to judge who He was); when the time of judgment is come, no tears of those who wept for Him moved Him to other words than, “Weep for yourselves and your children”—words of deep compassion, but of deep subjection to the due judgment of God. The dry tree prepared itself to be burned. On the cross, when His service was finished, tender to His mother, and entrusting her, in human care, to one who, so to speak, had been His friend, and leant on His bosom; no ear to recognise

her word or claim when His service occupied Him for God; putting both blessedly in their place when He would show that before His public mission He was still the Son of the Father, and though such, in human blessedness, subject to the mother that bare Him, and Joseph His father as under the law; a calmness which disconcerted His adversaries; and, in the moral power which dismayed them by times, a meekness which drew out the hearts of all not steeled by wilful opposition. What keenness of edge to separate between the evil and the good!

J. N. Darby (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, Vol. 1, p.117) The sixth characteristic or effect of His presence is that you are edified. Now I think this very important, because I see some who read the Bible a great deal, but with no result. They enjoy the word greatly, but they are not edified. I do not think anything edifies but the Lord Himself. I will give you a very simple scripture for it—Luke 24. Familiar passages always help much. The better you know a scripture, the more it yields you. The greatest exposition that ever was, the two disciples listened to, and you would expect great results from it. No.

Only their hearts burned within them; it did not produce any change in their course, they said, It is too late to go any farther, and they asked Him in. He went in; and He was known to them in breaking of bread, it was the figure of His own death, a fitting opportunity for Him to reveal Himself, and what then? They must go to Jerusalem—eight miles off, though it was too late to go any farther a few minutes ago. “And they rose up the same hour and returned to. Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them”. See, what an effect! Mark, that same hour they rose up and

returned to Jerusalem, and what had produced it? His presence! The impression I have is, that if one only reads the word and one does not realise the presence of the Lord, he is like one with plenty of ore; silver, or gold, or whatever it is, he does not know what to do with it, he has no mould. The presence of the Lord fashions me. He is the mould; I am changed. Many a man has a great deal of Bible knowledge, like a lot of ore, but he has not a mould and it is no use. Let him see the Lord, that will make all the difference; He will put it into shape, his ore is of use now. A child learns manners at home; he is shaped by those he is with. The presence of the Lord produces conformity to His mind, and that alone. I have read much of the Bible, but can I say to myself, You are a transcript of the word? “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only”. It is beholding of the Lord’s glory that has the effect upon me. You get a sample in Philippians 4. But how do you get “the peace of God”? when you are near Him.

You get the peace of God from Himself; and that is the moral effect of the word. I am transformed (metamorphosed) into the same image.

J. B. Stoney (Vol. 1, pp.215, 216)

And then the apostle goes on, “Nevertheless whereto we have already attained, let, us walk by the same rule”; or as the New Translation renders it, “let us walk in the same steps”. There are the steps of Christ, and there is much in that way for us in common. Then he continues,

“Brethren, be followers together of me”. Mark that, not now separately, but together. How far can I follow Paul with all my brethren? That is the question I have to put to my soul. You will understand the apostle speaks of himself as one whom they had known, and in whom what Christ is was brought

livingly near to them. I must not follow alone, how far can I follow with my brethren? I am not ignoring that one has to take heed to oneself, but the nearer one is to the Lord, the nearer one is to one’s brethren, and I can assure you it is much easier to follow with them than alone. The word tells us that two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. So if one fall the brethren will lift him up, the brethren will help him and they do help us. The nearer you get to the Lord, the more you love that word together. So in the epistle to the Ephesians, you get “raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” and no one would have it otherwise. And so in regard to our walk on our way to heaven, for this passage in Philippians refers to the way to heaven, the apostle is urging on the saints to move together. One has often referred to the first movements of the Israelites when they were called out of the world, how they went out of Egypt five in a rank; they had to learn to keep rank, so in the wilderness each tribe and each family had his own place in relation to the tabernacle, and hence as the ark led forward each tribe would fall into line accordingly. They marched together, that was the divine thought. And so here, dear brethren, the apostle urges upon us that we are to be followers together, not so many isolated individuals finding our way as best we can, no, we are to keep near to the brethren to keep beside them.

J. Taylor (Vol. 12, pp.104, 105)

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