1. A SERVANT'S LOCALITY 2. ETERNAL LIFE
1. A SERVANT’S LOCALITY 2. ETERNAL LIFE
... The first thing for a servant of the Lord is to ascertain the locality in which the Lord would have him to reside, and the less itinerate he is the more this is of importance. If he is stationary he is generally called to services which could not be rendered by one going from place to place. As Mr. Bellett used to say, ‘There was the wandering Paul and the stationary James.’ As you are stationary it is of all-importance that you should ascertain the locality which the ark has searched out for you. In my judgment, I do not see that you should leave the locality of ————. That there are difficulties there I do not deny. If in the world no man of ability surrenders because of the difficulties to be encountered — be he soldier or lawyer — how much less should the man of God surrender because of difficulties. Difficulties to faith are God’s opportunities. You have in my judgment a very fine field at ————. If you were a little more of a lamp-post you would be more effective. I do not mean merely in taking a part, but in maintaining the light at all times, always a stay, and, when necessary, a check. I mean a decided moral influence which your dear ———— possessed, and this, I think, you ought to aid and extend. For my own part, I should much regret your leaving ————. I never saw a man retreat from his duty from want of faith who did not plunge eventually into the very thing he sought to avoid, Jonah-like. The Lord only can guide. You may have many exercises about it, but the obtaining His mind will compensate for all the suffering. You are often on my heart before Him, and your prosperity would be unfeigned joy to me.
As to the consternation amongst us, I believe that if there be patience and lowliness of mind, great good will come out of it. It is what a lawyer would call a complicated case. There is first an imperfect possession of a great right — what a lawyer would call no title deeds to [p. 117] prove his property, and then, on the other hand, there is not a true inclination to accept all that we are entitled to, or rather what such a possession entails on us. Now let me make this plain. There is an imperfect knowledge of the gain secured to me through Christ’s death — the title deed of all my property. This is the beginning of the trouble. If Christ’s death has removed everything of the ruined man, and has placed me at Christ’s side in Christ, my title deed must be very explicit and sure, and if I maintained this in faith I should be in His life outside of man, and by the Spirit I should greatly rejoice. If the death of Christ is not truly apprehended by faith there is a positive disinclination to enter on His life, which is heavenly. The fact is, and it cannot be too widely known and reprobated, that many would have adopted the gift of eternal life as deliverance, when it is evident that nothing could effect deliverance for them but the death of Christ. Thus eternal life is diverted from its true place, it is regarded as a relief from misery instead of as the new condition of the thoroughly justified soul outside this scene of sin and death. In a word, on the one hand the absoluteness of the abolition of man is refused, and on the other the heavenly condition of life in Christ is unacceptable.
The Lord bless you much and make you a blessing....