AFFECTION CANNOT TOLERATE INDIFFERENCE
AFFECTION CANNOT TOLERATE INDIFFERENCE
... If it were a matter of ignorance or of weakness we could well bear with it. Nay, what is more, the ignorant and weak, when they love, are generally carried away by their affections, and controlled by them, like Mary Magdalene surpassing Peter and John; so that, if there were simple affection for Christ, that which is due to Him would be earnestly adopted and pursued. For my part I cannot understand (except by looking at my own nature) how any one loving Christ could for a moment hesitate to do anything [p. 17] which would disconnect him from association with that which is abhorrent to the Holy Ghost, who is here uniting the members in one body to the Head — Christ in heaven. It is not the Lord who holds the assemblies together, it is the Holy Ghost. He is the Head in heaven; the Holy Ghost is here, which ———— and ———— have each in a different way denied. How could they have Him when they are not careful to dissociate from that which is abhorrent to Him? If it were not by the Holy Ghost how could the suffering of one member affect all the other members? In deference to the Holy Ghost for Christ’s sake we are seeking to disconnect ourselves from all association with heresy.
If you were reasoning for ever you could never convince any one how saying farewell to a heretic made one a partaker of his evil deeds. Where to reason is the vis consequentia? None whatever. It is faith alone, in the sensibility of the Spirit as to what is due to Christ, that can understand the weight and force of that injunction. The unity spoken of in John 17 is unity in mind and judgment, not unity of the body. Christ as Lord, which is His true dignity, is never brought before the saint as claiming allegiance, except when the saint is where he might fail in it. The Head holds him (Ephesians 4) and he holds the Head for nourishment and growth. If he be called to remember the dignity of Christ as Lord, and His claims on him, it is evident that there is need for it; but subject unto Christ is our normal place, and it is in knowing Him as Head that we are so. Well, I know that if the Lord were felt to be present, Mr. ———— would readily gather up his garments tight enough from any association with the indifferent.