EXTRACTS

THE CHART AND THE COMPASS

Some seem to me only to have drifted on to the true ground, instead of that exercise of soul which encounters every adverse wind to reach the port plainly indicated on the chart. There is necessarily a great difference between the two; the one who has only drifted into the right port, knows not what to do, and is simply a waiter on Providence; the other consults his chart and bears for the known port again, more skilful than ever in encountering currents, tides, shoals, and all the intricacies of the coast. To a mariner in these days, who knows the port, the spot where our Lord would have us

anchor, where there is only safe anchorage, is a great matter. The sea rages fiercely and the winds are boisterous, and hence there must be good seamanship, a clear, distinct knowledge of the chart, and the eye always corrected by the compass. The compass will always maintain its own point, no matter how the ship goes. The skilful mariner knows that he must follow what it indicates. Thus the Spirit always points to Christ, and once the soul has learned that He is the attractive point, all other things, like the points of the compass, will fall into order in relation to Him; and when He is thus the known controlling power of attraction, it is wonderful how plain the Scriptures (the chart) become to us and we see our course. There is a great mistake in the present day into which some true ones have fallen, unknown to themselves, and it is simply this—trying to find the port and anchorage without the compass.

They are, I admit, students of the chart. They look for guidance from the word, as they would from a law-book; they know certain points apparently well, but they have not yet seen where they are in relation to them, and this is simply because they have no compass. They have not found Christ by the Holy Spirit as the one sole attractive point which determines every other point. They are occupied with many points, instead of being sensibly controlled by One, and then finding all others in relation to Him. The knowledge of relation comprises all true knowledge. If you know how you are related to anything, and it to you, you are wise. I remark that souls never get on who make points their study and their object; though any one who is simply taken up with Christ will in a surprising way be able to solve points. The word, too, has interest for the one who is sensibly controlled by Christ, which it cannot have for a mere student; simply for this reason, that it discloses Him. If I cannot in faith connect benefits with the Person who confers them, I am dependent on answers to my faith; whereas if the Person who confers them is before me, according as I know Him, there is an unfaltering guarantee of every benefit, because I have One greater than the benefits themselves. When Christ is not the guarantee to faith, there

is always a tendency to look for something on the earth. One looks for things visible—mercies, blessings on the work, etc., to confirm and corroborate one’s faith, instead of resting in Him in whom we are to be rooted and built up. When He is fully before me, when the needle turns to Him, everything and every person fall into their true place—true, because they are now in relation to Him who is Head over all things to the church. What else is real or true? It is poor work to try and arrange a room of confusion in the dark; but let in the light of the sun, and then if one knows what is right, all is easy. A good servant knows how his master would like to have the room arranged. If he tries to arrange it in the dark, as many a one does, he is losing his time. Even if he knows his master’s mind, he does not know whether he is arranging rightly or not; he is at least only doing his best, and bad is the best.

There is a hardness and a laxity incongruously manifested together in those who maintain only points like law-points; whereas when Christ is the only controlling power, there is the energy of life shaping itself to every conceivable state; inflexibly maintaining truth and holiness, but with a wondrous elasticity insinuating itself into every space, like the air, all-pervading; and though in great weight, yet so evenly balanced, so suitably applied, that there is nothing oppressive, but all is simple, genuine service.

J. B. Stoney (Vol. 12 pp.76–78)

The more spiritual you are as a believer in Christ, the more you repent. It is a continuous thing, and history is made in heaven every moment by repenting sinners. There is joy made there. Heaven has delight in repentance as a moral quality down here where sin is. And the more we repent the more we come into the light and the blessedness of the gospel, and love it.

J. Taylor (Vol. 89, p.448)

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