DIVINE JUDGMENT

DIVINE JUDGMENT

There is no divine judgment apart from abstraction, that is, a distinct exclusion from the sphere of human influence. A judgment apparently most right in the circumstances, may be entirely reversed when we are abstracted unto God-wholly apart from the circumstances.

^[p. 181] I am justified in avoiding a company where leaven is working, but I feel one ought not to sever oneself from the company until one is sure that the Lord has abandoned it. I do not consider moral conduct at all equal to doctrinal evil; the one disparages man, the other dishonours Christ. Sensibility thinks of conduct and the like, and sees it as it appears in the eye of man. Conscience sees it only as God sees it. Paul could say, “Not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that had suffered wrong; but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear” (2 Corinthians 7: 12). In every case of magnitude known to me, the doctrine, or the offence done to Christ, was the prominent thing — the crime against Christ is greater than that against good conduct. I only desire that there should be care for the poor of the flock, and the real pastor would not desert them, but would use every means to arouse their consciences to a sense of their spiritual peril. Samuel, and others protested, but waited to save as many as they could. The Lord give us to care for His treasure hid in the field. To see you in the front for Him will, I trust, ever be a delight to me.