UNKNOWN, 1918

UNKNOWN, 1918

MY DEAR BROTHER, — It gave me much pleasure to have your letter, as I have very often thought of you and prayed for you from time to time.

I am very thankful for all you are able to tell me of the spiritual exercises of the dear brethren. It encourages me to continue in prayer, feeling confident that the Lord has very definite instruction and blessing in view for us all in the new experiences we are passed through. It has struck me that the brethren of what we may call the present generation have not had the deep and special exercises through which our elders found the divine path in keeping with the truth and the testimony of our Lord. Things have been to a large extent ready-made for us, and, while this has been in the way of infinite goodness and mercy to us, it is also true that we have missed, perhaps, some of the maturity and solidity that might have been gained by deeper exercise.

Now a wholly new set of circumstances has arisen, more specially and directly affecting the younger brethren, and ^[p. 75] one cannot help feeling that the Lord is giving them in this way to wait in a very real way upon Himself, so that they may learn His mind and be confirmed in what is of God and find for themselves the divine path for this day. Trained men are needed for the ranks of the testimony in its last solemn hours, and one would earnestly desire to be such as the Lord can support for His Name’s sake in true correspondence with Himself and responsive to Him in the affections of the bride at such a time as this.

I am sure that the consideration of God will yield much profit to those who seek Him as to it. I am sure the natural mind is not able to give due place to both sovereignty and responsibility and hence all theological systems fail on one side or the other. But it is clear that Scripture maintains both, and the spiritual mind is always in accord with Scripture.

God carries out His purposes in the sovereignty of His mercy and love; if He did not do so, they would most certainly fail completely, man being what he is. But the work of God is a moral one, and God addresses Himself to the conscience and heart of His poor fallen creature, and deals with him in a thousand ways which recognise his responsibility and awaken the sense of it in his soul. The fear of God might almost be defined as the recognition of responsibility on man’s part; yet it is undoubtedly brought about by a sovereign act of God in new birth. God works sovereignly along lines which always recognise and maintain responsibility. The principle runs all through the history of the saints also. God is working out in them His purpose, which will culminate in their being conformed to the image of His Son in glory. But in view of purpose He works along moral lines, and on this line the obedience of faith comes in, self-judgment, watchfulness and prayer, purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord, faith in Christ Jesus and love to the saints, Christ as Object and Teacher, meekness and lowliness as learned of Him. Sowing to the Spirit and walking in the Spirit come in here also, and all this and everything connected with the moral exercises of the saints cannot be dissociated from the thought of responsibility. Thus the moral or responsible line and purpose line are very intimately blended in Christianity and both will ultimately coalesce, when saints are seen not only as the fruit of God’s purpose, but also as the subjects of His work and ways. We only reach the land, the sphere of purpose, through the wilderness and ^[p. 76] through the innumerable exercises to which our responsible history gives occasion. At the end of the wilderness it can be said of the saints: “What hath God wrought!” They are brought into moral suitability for introduction into the land. We cannot mentally reconcile sovereignty and responsibility, but we can spiritually, as seeing that the maintenance of both is essential. The Spirit alone can maintain the right balance of the two in our thoughts and I am sure, as we go on, we learn to attach the true value to each, neither letting ourselves off easily by enfeebling the thought of responsibility, nor stopping short of that depth of holy self-judgment that casts us altogether upon sovereign mercy and love.

With much love in the Lord,

Your affectionate brother,
1918.