ANCIENT PATHS
Eric Burr
Genesis 48: 15,16 (to 'lads'); Jeremiah 6: 16
I had in mind principally the verse in Jeremiah which says "ask for the ancient paths". My impression is that Jacob knew that there were such paths: they were paths in which his fathers had walked. We see older brethren departing to be with Christ, one after another, and the word in Ecclesiastes bears upon us, that "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh", chap 1: 4. I think it is a matter for exercise whether the generations that come are going to walk in the paths in which their fathers walked.
It is perhaps a more serious exercise than we might from time to time be inclined to think, but there were ways in which our fathers walked and they are valuable ways. In Deborah's day highways were unused. I would not like to think that a day will come when the ancient paths are unused and the way in which our fathers walked was unused. I am sure that none of the brethren would wish to see another generation growing up that went by crooked paths. I do not suggest that they do, far from it. One thing that gives very great cause for thankfulness in these days, and I say it without wishing in any way to be patronising is the way the hymn that we sang (No 345) echoes in the minds of a lot of the younger brethren. I say with no fear of contradiction that among our younger brethren there is a desire to be wholly committed until the Lord comes, but it is a committal from which our minds easily slip. It is likely that if our minds slip from that path of committal, however old or young we are, we may find recovery to the path more difficult than we would have wished it to have been. I am not going to go into details of things which might illustrate what I have in mind, or to appear to make new laws, but we know from our own lives that a diversion from that path of committal, even for an evening, introduces an area of crookedness in the path which we would afterwards wish had not been there.
Therefore I think that it is a matter, in which the Spirit would help us all, to be maintained in the way in which our fathers walked. There are a lot of brothers and sisters here whose fathers I can remember, who walked in those paths with honour and they honoured the path by their walking in it. But the possibility is that the day in which we live and its particular character may tend to divert us from paths in which God would be desired to be as fully honoured as He can be and as He has been. I do not refer to particular things but it is a matter of exercise for us all, as we had in Romans on Lord's day: "walk in the steps of the faith ... of our father Abraham", chap 4: 12. Jacob refers to that, he says "before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked".
One thing that we know about old paths is that unless they are used all the time they become overgrown. Within a couple of years a path that has not been walked on would be so overgrown that successors might have difficulty in finding it. The responsibility, therefore, is to keep walking those paths so that they may be kept open. Sometimes it requires courage to walk in those paths. The brethren are familiar with Pilgrim's Progress and they will remember 'By-path Meadow'; it looked very attractive, it looked much easier than the road on which Pilgrim was going, but where did the man end up who took 'By-path Meadow'? He ended up in conditions from which he would very quickly have wished to be recovered. It was in fact the road to Doubting Castle and Giant Despair.
I allude to this because the nature of the day in which we are is seductive in relation to the bypass. Things come in with current technology which lead us away, things come in with the character of the world which lead us away, and what is required when these things come in is that somebody will boldly walk the old path. You may be surprised who will follow you in it if you are willing to walk it; you may find that more of the brethren young and old than you expected are willing to follow you in it. It therefore behoves us to keep these paths open, to walk in the ways that we can still remember. There are ways that we can still remember which are not always walked in today. There are things which are done today which were not always done, there were things which were once done with sobriety which are not done with much sobriety now. There was a consistency about the Lord's day which was in the old paths. These things are to be maintained. We are to encourage one another to maintain them. If we do not know where they are, let us ask for them.
It says in Jeremiah "Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, which is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls". Is that not encouraging? (Our beloved brethren who have spoken already have spoken about encouragement). But they said "We will not walk therein. Also I have set watchmen over you", so there was going to be help in walking in these ancient paths.
We can think of various things which we do and we do without a thought, but are they in the ancient paths? Let us go back. If we do not know, "ask". You could ask your father, one of the older brethren, Used the brethren to do this? And they could say, Yes, the brethren have always done it and they felt that the Lord was with them in it. In that path you will find rest to your soul. If they say I am not so sure, I do not think that we did that in my day, I do not think that we used to do that, I do not think that the brethren used to do that - not that they had rules, but that there was a climate of spiritual formation in them which did not do it and they would advise you. If you ask, you could be told. You need to ask and then you would be told and advised and you would be encouraged to find the old path and in it you would find rest to your soul. I think that this is the only occasion in the Old Testament save for the allusion in Psalm 116 (v 7) where that expression occurs; it occurs in Matthew 11: "ye shall find rest to your souls" (v 29).
I just draw the beloved brethren's attention to this. I think there is something in this scripture in Jeremiah for us and we need to help one another in it, and we who are older need to be approachable so that we can be asked, and we are not standing there with a stick but we are standing there with the counsel of experience, memory, recollection. Let me say to the younger brethren that when we were young there were quite happy times among the brethren; we did not need this adjunct, that adjunct and the other adjunct. The brethren went on happily with one another, everyone contributed to it. If people are to ask for the ancient paths it requires that the older men and women be approachable so that the young people if they ask do not feel as though they are going to have their ears boxed; they feel that they are going to be advised that this is the way, this is in the ancient path, or it is not.
I leave this thought with the brethren that we might encourage one another by seeking to maintain these ancient paths lest they become overgrown. As the older generation goes to be with Christ (which they are doing at a rate we have hardly experienced before), the younger generation is growing up and this should give us all great cause for thankfulness, but it would be a tragedy if the ancient paths were no longer marked out and they had somehow to find their own way. The Lord would help them but we could help them. I just leave this thought with the brethren.
LONDON
22 May 1990