BROOKLYN, N.Y., AUGUST 26TH, 1937
BROOKLYN, N.Y., AUGUST 26TH, 1937
Mr. A. Geo. Lewis.
Beloved Brother, — Pardon my delay in replying to your letter, as I have been engaged in journeying and services since it arrived.
[p. 90] Question 1. — As far as I see, birth is connected with believers as children, not as sons. Christ only is said to be born as Son; Psalm 2.
No. 2. — I am sorry I allowed the statement as to the testimony of two as to an applicant for fellowship to remain in the Notes without ‘guarding’. It dealt with a local — the locality where the reading took place — condition, a certain applicant being prevented from breaking bread by a group. “Tell it to the assembly” conveys the general scriptural principle, and of course normally this covers what is proposed by a care-meeting; but the actual witnesses tell the matter to the care-meeting, and confidence enables the assembly to accept what comes that way as more reliable even than the direct witness of two. The statement has occasioned considerable enquiry, but it was not intended to weaken that in the reading in London on Reception to which you refer.
No. 3. — General fellowship warrants a brother taking part in the assembly as convened for discipline. 1 Corinthians 5 shows how the apostle Paul viewed this matter. Of course his apostleship gave him more right than others, but the principle covers such an attitude in one of less weight. Gifts were set in the assembly and one such as “governments” as in a locality where a meeting for discipline is held should certainly be free to take part. As regards an ‘ordinary’ brother, of course wisdom in himself would prevent him saying much; and indeed wisdom should govern what anyone says.
No. 4. — I certainly address God in relation to the gospel. It is “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son” (Romans 1: 1, 2).
There was great cheer on my visit to Great Britain this year. The interest there is sustained in a marked way. Mr. Lyon, my wife and I arrived here on the 15th inst. and God has been blessing our brother’s services to the saints. He goes, God willing, to Detroit for meetings over Labour Day — three days. At Vancouver Mr. Hardwick will attend similar meetings at the same time, and at Manchester, Connecticut, I attend special meetings.
With love in Christ to you and your house and to the brethren at Hobart, I am,
Affectionately in Him,
James Taylor.