THE DUTY OF THE ASSEMBLY. TO BRETHREN IN THE LORD AT ----
THE DUTY OF THE ASSEMBLY. TO BRETHREN IN THE LORD AT ————
Will you permit me to lay before you two considerations which I believe will help you to a right judgment in the ———— matter.
First. In everything connected with the assembly we are sure to err, if we do not keep in mind its rights and duties.
The assembly is the Lord’s company, and we cannot interfere with it, but under His direction. If I have the Lord simply before my mind in the assembly, I regard everything there with reference to Him. There can be no indifference there. The prophets are to speak, two or three, and the others to judge (1 Corinthians 14: 29, New Trans.). Judging is a duty. The assembly is not a republic. “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14: 40). The greatest authority, the Holy Ghost, is here. God is not the author of confusion. The assembly is required to respect and appreciate the ministry and food supplied to it (see 1 Thessalonians 5: 13).
[p. 183] I admit that it is those who have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints — those who take the oversight, who are the ostensible agents of this care; all I say is, that the care should exist in every assembly, and that when it is neglected in any assembly, the saints there have failed in their duty, at all events. Surely in any respectable house the responsible servants could not allow that ill-cooked or unwholesome food should be served up to their master’s guests. I maintain therefore that ———— intended rightly (however they failed in details) in refusing a ministry which did not edify. No one doubts, that I have heard of, on any side, that the ministry was unprofitable. Now if the assembly at ———— was bound to refuse this ministry, you are not keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace if you accept it, nor is any one who accepts it, because if a brother be under church censure in one place, he is under church censure in every place. You may try to remove the censure, but if you ignore it without expostulation, you dishonour the Lord.
Secondly. Let me ask you, are you sensible of the gravity of division? The assembly cannot be divided as a field. In a division the Head cannot go with both parts. The Lord goes with one side only — He cannot go with both. Then the issue is very solemn, and be assured, if the Lord be not with you, though you may preserve a fair character and an unblemished reputation, and though you may be blessed in the gospel, your light and knowledge of His mind is sure to wane. I have seen it over and over that even godly souls when they lose the presence of the Lord in their midst never receive any fresh light from Him. They are alive but dwarfs.
The Lord give you -to seek His way at this time.