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“H. C.,” Norwich. We can only praise the Lord, with a full heart, for the tidings conveyed in your most kind and encouraging communication. How gracious of Him to make use of such feeble agency to carry on His work! It was truly kind and thoughtful of you to let us know of those two cases of blessing through our little serial. No doubt, we have to labor on in simple faith and patience, even when we do not see much result; but oh! it is an immense encouragement and refreshment to get such a letter as yours, beloved friend. Accept our warmest thanks, and do remember our work at the throne of grace.
“W. F. G.,” Woolwich. We understand the word “day,” in the first chapter of Genesis, to mean simply our ordinary 24 hours; and we do not consider it scriptural to believe that each of those days may include a long period of time. But we must remember that, between the first verse of Gen. 1 and the commencement of the actual six days’ work, millions of years may have intervened, leaving ample room, most surely, for all the facts of geology. “In the beginning God. created the heaven and the earth.” Then we are told, “the earth”—not the heaven—“was without form and void.” We are not told how the earth fell into this state; but most surely God. had not so created it. And then begins the record of the six days of creation. It is not the object of the Bible to teach us geology or astronomy; but we may rest assured that there is not a single sentence in that divine volume which collides with the facts of geology or any other science. We must, however, draw a very broad line of distinction between the facts of science, and the conclusions of scientific men. Facts are facts wherever you find. them; but if you follow the conclusions of men, you may find, yourself plunged in the dark and dreadful abyss of universal skepticism.
3. “M. M.” Clapham. We learn, from Matt. 6:34, the precious lesson not to bring the “evil” of tomorrow into today—not to foredate sorrow. We have only to live by the day, and we shall find God’s grace amply sufficient for the need of each day as it arises. But if we attempt to grapple, today, with the anticipated difficulties of to-morrow, we must do so at our own charges, and shall not be able to meet the demand.
Let each day upon its wing, its allotted burden bring;
Load it not, beside, with sorrow that belongeth to tomorrow.
Strength is promised, strength is given, when the heart by God is riven;
But foredate the day of woe, and alone thou bear’st the blow.”
4. “J. S.” York. We may answer your two questions as to the covenants with an affirmative. We have recently referred to the same subject.
5. “W. H.,” Clifton. 1 John 3:9 refers, most distinctly, to the new nature in the believer which is incapable of committing sin. The believer is, alas! capable of sinning, because he has the old nature still in him. It is our privilege so to walk in the power of the Spirit, in the light, that the old thing shall be as though it did not exist. To say that the Christian need not sin, is to state a divine privilege; to say that he cannot, is a deceit and a delusion. We have sin in us but no sins on us, because Christ who had no sin in Him had our sins on Him when He hung upon the cross, and He has put them away forever. The man who bore our sins on the tree is in heaven without them and we are there in Him. This is the settled ground of our peace. But to speak of our being in a sinless state, or our being incapable of sinning, is the merest delusion.
6. “Whitgift,” Croydon. “Lectures on the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Spirit” by W. Kelly will help you. Broom, Paternoster Row, or through any bookseller.
7. “T. J. D.,” Halifax, N. S. Your kind letters of the 21st of September, and October 9, 1874, have come duly to hand. Accept our best thanks.
8. “A. O.,” London. You will never get peace by dwelling upon your conversion--whether it was good or bad—deep or shallow. Neither can you get peace by looking at your state or your progress. It is very important to judge your state and your walk; but you will never get peace by so doing; nor will you ever make progress by being occupied with yourself—gauging and analyzing your feelings and frames. The true basis of peace is a full Christ for the heart. The true secret of progress is a whole heart for Christ. We trust you and your fellow-servant may be enabled to walk lovingly together, in meekness, forbearance, and tender consideration one for the other. Do not expect anything, but give all you can. This is a grand secret of getting on together. We often expect entirely too much, and give entirely too little.
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9. “E. S.,” Barnstaple. Most assuredly, every Christian ought to be baptized, if we are to obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot conceive how anyone can question this, who bows to the authority of the New Testament. At the same time, there is no need for harsh or strong statements on the subject; and every allowance should be made for weakness, ignorance and confusion of thought. The statement as to free grace is simply absurd. You judge rightly, dear friend, in thinking that grace is free to every creature under heaven; at least if we are to believe Titus 2. What a mercy to have the pure and precious word of God as an answer to all the vain notions of the human mind!
10. “C. J. W.” Your lines breathe a sweet spirit, and bespeak a heart waiting for the Bridegroom’s return. May that blessed hope burn more brightly in all our souls!
11. “W. G.,” Bermondsey. Matt. 22:14 sets forth the grand truth that God is sovereign—a very solemn and wholesome truth for man. Matt. 21:44 refers only to the stone of stumbling. The application to which you refer seems to us quite unwarrantable.
12. “C.,” Scripture is clear and definite on the subject of the Lord’s Supper. The words are as distinct as possible, “As oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death, till he come.” Again, “This do in remembrance of me.” We remember Him in death—the basis, center, and spring of everything to us. No doubt, the apostle does call attention to the fact that it was in the same night He was betrayed that our blessed Lord, in His thoughtful, unselfish love for us, instituted the feast; and this is full of touching interest for our hearts. But as to the utterance of the feast itself—its significance—its object—its place—scripture is most precise—“ye do show the Lord’s death”—“Do this in remembrance of me.” We remember a Christ who was dead; we call Him to mind in that condition in which, thank God, He no longer is. All this can only be by faith, through the power of the Holy Ghost. There is no need to enter into sensational details; indeed such things are most offensive to all true spiritual feeling. We cannot—in this as in all beside—keep too close to the veritable language of holy scripture.
13. “J. T.,” Norfolk. “The feast “ in 1 Corinthians 5:8, is the antitype of the feast of unleavened bread which, as we learn from Exod. 12 was based upon, and inseparably connected with, the passover. The blood-stained lintel was not to be separated from the unleavened bread—peace and purity—safety and sanctity, must always go together. It would be a strange application of 1 Cor. 5:8—a miserable misapplication, we should rather say—to refer it to the matter of having bread without yeast, or unfermented wine at the Lord’s Supper. We believe, dear friend, the feast refers to the whole of our christian life in this world. It should, from first to last, be a feast of unleavened bread, based on the great fact that “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us”—a life of personal holiness flowing out of accomplished redemption, known and applied by the power of the Holy Ghost.
14. “W. F. W.,” Dudbridge. The teaching of Matt. 6:19, 20, is most explicit. To carry it out one must have faith in the living God. We shall send you a little pamphlet which will help you.
15. “S. B.,” Bridgnorth. Your kind letter came duly to hand. We note its contents, and began interest in your prayers.
16. “W. S.,” Illinois. We heartily thank you for your interesting and encouraging communication. We look to the Lord to give distinct guidance and power in the series of letters to which you refer. You will help us by your prayers.

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17. “ W. G.,” New York. Thanks for your kind note, and the accompanying MS. There is a paper on the same subject in one of our earlier volumes.
18. “E. B.,” Brighton. In volume 16 of “Things Now and Old,” page 1.23, you will find a paper on Mark 9:49. We would render hearty thanks to God for the help and blessing you have received through our little serial: and we earnestly request a continued interest in your prayers.
19. “Perplexity.” The matter is illegal; and scripture teaches us as Christians, to “submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” The framing or amendment of laws is no part of a Christian’s business. He is called to obey or to suffer. Would that this were better understood!
20. “E. F. P.,” Halifax, Nova Scotia. Your letters, of the 11th of January and 8th of February, have duly come to hand. We are thankful that you have had your difficulty removed, and we deem it most thoughtful and kind of you to write your second letter.
21. “K. K.,” Kingstown. Your kind note and accompanying lines have come to hand.
22. “H. McK.,” Derby. John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Tim. 2:8-6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 3:4; give the divine reply to your inquiry.
23. “Quartus,” Cheltenham. The idea of the souls of believers being asleep when absent from the body, is at once unscriptural and absurd. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Was this to be in an unconscious state? Has the soul of the thief been asleep for the last eighteen hundred years? “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Has that spirit been asleep ever since? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is this to be asleep? “Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better.” Why not says “Having a desire to be asleep?” Is it far better to asleep, to be unconscious, than to be enjoying Christ, and working for Him here?
Dear friend, we cannot but express our astonishment at any man in his sober senses—to say nothing of a Christian with the Bible in his hands,—putting such a question. We consider the notion a monstrous absurdity. Pray excuse our plainness of speech. It is not easy to measure one’s words when dealing with many of the wild vagaries of the present day.
24. “R M.,” Dublin. “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” Does not this passage answer your question? Do angels form part of the body of Christ? Will they form a part of the bride? Will angels reign with Christ? Does not the entire teaching of the New Testament on the subject of the church answer your inquiry? Are angels ever said to be members of Christ’s body, of His flesh, and of his bones? Eph. 5:30.
25. “A Learner.” You have solid reason, dear friend, to doubt the soundness of the teaching to which you refer, on 1 Cor. 11:30: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” These persons had failed to judge themselves—failed to discern the Lord’s body in the broken bread—they had eaten in an unworthy manner, though they were true Christians, and hence God, in His government of His house, had to chasten them by bodily sickness even unto death, in order that they might not be condemned with the world. How could any intelligent person teach that “the discipline here is not connected with those weak and sickly ones?” We should say it was very closely connected with them. No doubt others were called to learn and take warning from the discipline exercised upon those erring members; but surely no father would think of chastising a good child for the misdemeanor of a bad one.
26. “E. J. G.,” Jersey. We have recently had a series of papers on “Gilgal.”

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27. “A Sunday School Teacher,” Bradford. You ask, “If you found a young person who gave you the fullest assurance he was saved, enjoyed peace with God, enjoyed fellowship about the things of Christ, and whose conduct at home showed the power of it—if such an one expressed a desire to come to the Lord’s table, would you receive him? or would you keep him outside for a length of time, if he were only 13 or 14 years old?” Most assuredly, we should gladly receive such an one, and not keep him outside for a single hour. What has the question of years to do with the divine life? How old was Samuel, when he first knew the Lord? or Josiah? or Timothy?
28. “A. G.” We would affectionately suggest to you and the “many others” who feel with you in reference to those habits which you name, whether it would not be better to make them a matter of earnest prayer, than to write about them to the editor of a magazine. Christ is the master of the assembly. Appeal to Him, He never fails. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.” Is not He sufficient? Cannot He keep order? What should I say if one of my sons were to apply to the editor of some periodical, to correct some disorderly conduct at my table? I should feel disposed to say to him, “What! my son, am not I competent to keep order at my own table? Must you needs apply to a stranger to regulate my family?” Do we believe that the Lord presides in the assembly? If so, we should look to Him to correct all abuses. If this were better understood, it would save a vast amount of trouble—avert a multitude of “cases”—bring much glory to Christ, and yield a rich harvest of blessing to our own souls.
29. “M. B.,” Tetbury. Accept our best thanks for your sweet lines, we like them much. Their tone and spirit are truly excellent.
30. “J. C.,” Gosport. As to whether teaching should precede or follow the Lord’s supper, or whether there should be any teaching at all, seems an open question. Scripture lays down no rule; and the Holy Ghost will, if He gets His right place in the assembly, guide in this as in all beside. We must add, however, that we do not think the Lord’s table is the place for long sermons.
31. “Halifax, N. S.” We do not fool it to be our province to give a judgment in such a matter.
32. “H. M.,” Chelmsford. The course named in the postscript to your letter is the right one. Such matters are hardly in our line.
33. “A Sister,” Hampshire. In volume 4 of “Things New and Old,” page 25, you will find an exposition of Heb. 6:1-10, which may help your friend.
34. “A. M. H.,” Canterbury. If you will send us your full address, we shall be happy to let you have some little books that may help you. May the Lord Himself be your teacher and guide! To Him we commend you.
35. “G. A. S.,” Chelsea. Your question is rather out of our province,

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36. “F. N.” Your most kind communication of February 27th would not have remained so long unacknowledged, were it not that I have been laid aside for eight weeks, totally unable to take a pen or a book in my hand. You will kindly excuse the seeming neglect, and accept our warmest acknowledgments.
37. “W. C.,” Yeovil. So far from thinking you have taken a liberty in writing, dear friend, we are deeply touched by your loving sympathy, and heartily thank you for your letter and lines.
38. “R. A.” Eastbourne. Your soothing and comforting letter has proved a real balm to the spirit. The Lord return your love a hundredfold! An immense number of letters have come to hand, during the last two months, which I have not been able even to read. Somehow your lines have gone astray and I cannot lay my hand on them. Pray excuse this. May the Lord bless you abundantly!
39. “An Inquiring One,” London. You may be thoroughly assured of this, dear friend, that you will never get peace by looking at your repentance or your anything. If such a thing could be, it would simply be satisfaction with yourself; and this could never be right. Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. God preaches peace by Jesus Christ. It is not by repentance, though, most surely, we believe in the necessity of repentance! But what would you say, dear friend, to a person if he were to tell you, that he had found peace, because his repentance was of the right kind—because he hated sin as God hated it? Doubtless you would say to him that his peace was a false one. Thanks be to God the believer’s peace rests on no such rotten foundation. The apostle does not say, “Having repented enough, we have peace with God.” No; but Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. The believer’s peace rests on a divine foundation. It is based on the glorious truth that God is not only satisfied as to the entire question of our sins but that He is actually glorified in respect to it. He has reaped a richer harvest in the matter of the putting away of our sins than ever He could have reaped in the fields of an unfallen creation. Nothing has ever glorified God like the death of Christ. The hearty belief of this must give peace to the soul. It is not the work wrought in us, whether repentance or aught else, that gives peace; but the work wrought for us. It is not the work of the Spirit in, precious and essential as it is, that gives peace; but the work of Christ for us. This is a grand and most necessary truth for all anxious inquirers. It is all well and right enough to judge ourselves, our state, our ways—to be humbled because of our shallow repentance, our coldness and indifference; but we shall never get peace by self-judgment. If we have not found peace ere we sit down to the work of self-judgment, we shall find it very dismal work indeed.
It seems to us, dear friend, that you are too much occupied with the thoughts of men. One preacher tells you this; another preacher tells you that; and your own heart tells you something else. Would it not be well to listen to what God says? This is what faith does, and thus finds settled tranquility. The believer’s peace can no more be disturbed than Christ can be disturbed from His seat on the throne of God. This seems strong; but it is true; and being true, its strength is part of its moral glory. Let us entreat you to take up the lovely attitude of the soul in Psalm 85, “I will hear what God the Lord trill speak” (not what this or that man will speak) “for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints; but let them not turn again to folly.” May the blessed Spirit lead you into the enjoyment of that peace which Christ has made by the blood of His cross, which God preaches in the gospel of His grace, by Jesus Christ, and which faith finds in the simple testimony of holy scripture.
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40. “A. V. M.,” Bayswater. We heartily thank you for your letter of sympathy. The accompanying lines we could not recommend you to print.
41. “Anxiety,” Inverness. The apostle John, by the Holy Ghost; teaches us that “He that hath the Son, hath life; he that, hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Now, the person you describe has not the Son of God. Anyone who denies that Jesus is God, has not the Son of God nay, he is a blasphemer. As for his saying that “God was in Him, more than in any one else on earth,” it is a blinding delusion and deceit of the enemy. If Jesus was not God, it is the merest absurdity to speak of His being a good man, or the best man that ever lived, or of God being in Him. For any other than God to speak as Jesus did, would be blasphemy. We must either confess the essential deity of the Man Christ Jesus or deny Him altogether. There is not the breadth of a hair of middle ground. But, blessed be God, scripture is plain, express, and emphatic. It claims for our adorable Savior not merely divinity but essential deity. This is demonstrated in a very singular and forcible manner by the fact that in Rom. 1, where the apostle is speaking of the testimony of creation, he says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, his eternal power and Godhead,” &c. And in Col. 2:9, in speaking of the Person of Christ, he says, “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Now, in the original of these two passages we have a different word for “Godhead.” In Rom. 1:20 the word is (divinity). In Colossians 2:9 it is (deity). The heathen should have learned that there was something superhuman, something divine in creation; but the Holy Ghost is not satisfied to claim divinity for the Person of Christ but absolute deity. This is magnificently striking.
We cannot understand you, dear friend, when you speak of a blasphemer of Christ as “a good living person—keeping God’s commandments.” What! “A good living man,” yet denying the Godhead of Jesus! “Keeping God’s commandments,” yet blaspheming the Son of His love! Be not offended, dear friend, by our plain language. We must speak plainly. We have no sympathy with—yea, we utterly loathe and abhor the false liberality of the present day—a liberality which can lavish its compliments upon men, but deny the Christ of God. We would just add, in conclusion, that we hold it to be utterly impossible for anyone who lives and dies in the denial of the deity of Christ to be saved. Such an one has no Savior, unless there be some other way of being saved than by Christ. May God open the eyes of your friend to see his guilt and danger—notwithstanding his “good living” and “keeping God’s commandments”—and to flee by faith to the refuge provided for the lost, in the precious atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We regret having to write in such a strain concerning one who, as you say, “is very near and dear to you;” but we should either write as we have done, or leave your letter wholly, unnoticed. Our Lord Christ is more to us than all the friends in the world.
42. “S. T. H,” Hantsfort, Nova Scotia. We thank you heartily for your kind communication and the pamphlets; also for your loving thoughtfulness in not wishing a reply to your letter. The Lord greatly bless you! May He strengthen you greatly for the blessed path of service and testimony into which He has so manifestly called you! Blessed be His holy Name, He never fails a trusting heart; nay, He delights in being trusted and used. May His peace ever possess your soul! We have read with very deep interest your faithful pamphlet. May God use it to stir the consciences of thousands of His beloved people who are still mixed up with all that terrible evil on which you have been enabled, through grace, to turn your back!

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43. H. R. K., Newport. “ The earth” in Revelation xiii. indicates the land of Palestine. ‘‘ The sea,” on the contrary, points to the nations. The second beast will arise in the land of Israel. Accept our hearty thanks for your truly kind letter.
44. “ A Little One,” London. Scripture gives us the simple fact that believers ought to be baptized. It says nothing as to whether it should be in public or in private. It does not tell us that it should be, “ In a place accessible to the public.” It is left entirely open. Who witnessed the baptism of the eunuch? Where was Paul baptized? or Lydia? or the gaoler? Where, in the New Testament, are we taught to contemplate the public, either in baptism, or the Lord’s supper? No doubt “ the unlearned or unbeliever” may come into the place where Christians are assembled; but testimony to the world is not the object when Christians come together for communion or worship. Matt. 10:32 does not refer specially to the act of baptism. Our whole life should be a testimony for Christ. The Christian himself is “ the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men.”
45. “ M.,” Surrey. Eze. 37 refers, unquestionably, to the future restoration and blessing of Israel. The closing chapters shall, most surely, have their accomplishment in the nation’s history. The temple will be rebuilt. The worship restored. The sacrifices, instead of being typical, will be commemorative. Thanks for your devotional lines. We greatly enjoyed their tone and spirit.
46. “ T. E. P. M.,” Kent. We are truly sorry to have left your kind and interesting letter so long unnoticed. But you will kindly make allowance, on the ground of a long and serious illness. We have a pile of letters lying on the desk unread. We claim the loving forbearance of all our dear correspondents whose communications may remain unacknowledged.
You are perfectly right, beloved friend, in judging that Luke 12:47, 48 leaves wholly untouched the solemn question of eternal punishment--a question so thoroughly and so distinctly settled for all who simply bow to holy scripture. The passage teaches the weighty and wholesome doctrine that responsibility, guilt, and punishment, are, in every case, measured by our privileges.
As to the parable of the unjust steward, the moral is this—use the present with an eye to the future. “The lord commended the unjust steward,” not for his honesty surely, but because he had dealt wisely;” and the wisdom consisted simply in providing for the future. This is the point of the parable. The lesson it teaches us is to use this world’s riches—which are not what properly belong to us, as Christians—in the service of Christ—to do good—to distribute and communicate—to open our hands wide to every form of human need—to lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come. Compare with Luke 16:1, 1-12 Tim. 6:17-19.
For the young friend to whom you allude, you might procure “ Papers on the Lord’s Coming,” a reprint from “Things New and Old,” to be had of our publisher, Mr. Morrish, 24, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, London, E. C.
47. “ S. F. F.,” Chester, Delaware Co. Rom. 5:12 contains a direct reply to your question. “ By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” No trace of death was to be found in God’s fair creation until sin entered.
48. “ Q.,” Ipswich. There is nothing in scripture to hinder your being a servant of such a company as you name. To be a partner would be an ‘‘ unequal yoke,” which 2 Cor. 6:14 expressly forbids.

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49. “A. M.,” Blackheath. We fully appreciate your aim and motive; and moreover, we deeply feel the importance of your suggestion. If God permit, we hope, ere long, to write a paper on Rom. 6 We are most thoroughly convinced of the utter unsoundness of the views to which you refer—views indicated by such expressions as, “Holiness by faith”— “Higher Christian life.” If as you know, we have always sought to keep the pages of “Things New and Old” free from controversy; not because we do not feel the need of controversy, at times, but because we do not judge it to be the province of our little serial. We would merely add that we do not believe in any such thing as “A higher christian life.” Christ is our life and you cannot have anything higher than that. it is altogether a mistake and a delusion to speak of sonic; as having a higher life than others. And as to getting “holiness by faith,” when we receive Christ we receive all that is in Him-all that He is, His deity excepted, which is incommunicable. We are in Him. This includes everything. We do not get righteousness in one way, and holiness in sonic other way; we have an in Christ. No doubt, we arc to grow in grace, in the knowledge of Christ, and in conformity to His mind and will; but we are convinced that the entire system, indicated. by the expressions on which we are commenting, is false in principle, and most mischievous in result. Its tendency is to occupy us with our state instead of with Christ; it superinduces self-gratulation, on the one hand, or despair, on the other. In a word, we believe the very foundations of true Christianity are involved.
50. “A Reader of T. N. O.,” Manchester. We quite agree with you in saying, “I recognize the voice of Jesus alone in His word.” Where else could we hear it? It is upon that blessed word we are cast for everything. It is the solid foundation on which faith reposes. We want nothing else to give us full assurance but His faithful word. No outward evidence, no inward feeling can possibly add to the truth and stability of the word. How do I know I am a sinner? By the word. How do I know that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners By the word. How do I know that my sins are forgiven? Is it by my feelings? Nay; but by the word. That word tells me that Christ bath once suffered for sins.” But how do I know He suffered for my sins? Because the word says, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” Now I know I am “unjust” because the word tells me so; and hence Christ suffered for my sins, and I am forgiven, according to the efficacy of Christ’s atoning suffering. I am brought to God, now, according to the virtue and value of the Person and work of Christ. “He was delivered for my offenses, and raised again for my justification.” Thus “being justified by faith, I have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In a word, then, dear friend, you must lean like a little child, on the word. True, it is by the power of the Holy Ghost we believe in, and feed upon the word; but the word is the solid foundation on which your precious soul must ever rest. May all your doubts and fears vanish, in the pure and precious light of that word which is “settled forever in heaven!”
51. “J. W. P.,” Sydenham Hill. Thanks for the lines. There are sonic most precious thoughts, and much solid truth in them; but we fear they are too long for insertion.
52. “T. W.,” Matlock Bank. Your most kind and christian letter came duly to hand, and we desire to tender you our sincere thanks for the gracious spirit in which you write. Would that all who feel obliged, in conscience, to differ from us, were led to write in a like spirit and tone.

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53. “A Humble Believer.” Your kind and truly interesting letter has come to hand, for which please accept our warmest thanks.
54. “R. N.” Durham. It is, no doubt, much to be desired that Christians should see eye to eye on every subject; but this can hardly be expected; and, most assuredly, we should not allow our happy fellowship with the members of Christ’s body to be hindered, in the smallest degree, by difference of judgment on the question of baptism. So long as a man is true to Christ—His name—His cause—His truth—His glory, I can love Him with all my heart, though I may deem Him mistaken as to his view of baptism. May the Lord bind us all more closely to Himself and to one another, by the precious ministry of the Holy Ghost!
55. “Dumfries.” We have received a communication dated June 15, from the above; but we cannot read the name of the writer. The subject referred to, has more than once been handled in our pages.
The testimony of scripture is as distinct as possible. It never speaks of God’s being reconciled to us. “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” (Rom. 5:10.) It does not say that God was reconciled to us. The death of Christ was essential to the reconciliation; but man was the enemy of God and needed to be reconciled. So we read, in Col. 1:21, “And you that were something alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now high he reconciled.” The ground of this is stated in the previous verse, to be “The blood of his cross.” So also, in Corinthians 5, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” It does not say “reconciling himself to the world.”
Thus, to anyone who bows to scripture, the truth is as clear as a sunbeam. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” “It pleased Jehovah to bruise him.” It is of the utmost importance to maintain, the true aspect of God’s nature and character in the presentation of the gospel. To say that “Christ died to reconcile the Father to us” is to falsify the divine character as seen in the mission and death of His Son. God was not man’s enemy but his friend. True, sin had to be condemned; God’s truth, holiness and majesty had to be vindicated. All this was done, in a divine way, in the cross, where we read, at once, God’s hatred of sin and His love to the sinner. Atonement is the necessary basis of reconciliation; but it is of the very last importance to see that it is God who reconciles us to Himself. This he does, blessed be His name, at no less a cost than “the death of his Son.” Such was His love to man—His kindness—His goodness—His deep compassion, that, when there was no other way possible, sin being in question, in which man, the guilty enemy and rebel could be reconciled to Him, He gave His on from His bosom, and braised Him on Calvary’s cursed tree. Eternal and universal praise to His name!
56. “J. L,” Child Okeford. We heartily thank you for your kindness in sending us the encouraging letter from your friend. We beg your remembrance of our work before the throne of grace.
57. “J. C.,” St. Albans. The tabernacle and its furniture were the pattern of heavenly things—the shadows of good things to come. The baptism of fire refers to the judgment yet to come.
58. “W. S.” St Louis de Gonzague. Year interesting letter of July 6 is safely to hand. We most fully enter into all you say, and deeply sympathize with you in your present position. May the blessed Shepherd and Bishop of souls feed, comfort, and strengthen you, by His own direct and powerful ministry!
59. “B. R.” Victoria, Demerara. We have duly received your kind letter of August 6, and tender you our warmest thanks for it. We are truly glad to find that the little books have reached you safely. Our true love to all the dear friends around you. May the Lord greatly bless you, and sustain your heart in the blessed work to which He has called you! Accept 1 Cor. 15:58 as a little motto for yourself and your dear and honored fellow-laborers.
60. “A. T. S.,” Rochdale. Thanks for the little book, “The Narrow Pathway to the Golden Gate.” We have much pleasure in recommending it to all our young friends.
61. “M. B.,” Rockbridge, America. You are wholly cast upon God, dear friend, in the matter to which you refer. He can open up a way for you to meet with His people; and, until He does so, you have but to wait on Him in holy calmness and quietness of spirit.
62. “W. H.,” Grangemouth. We cannot see what 2 Cor. 11, 8 has to do with the subject of “one man ministry,” or how anyone could think of quoting it in defense of such a thing. Paul received help the assembly at Philippi. He did not receive from the assembly at Corinth, because they were not in a good state. This was to their shame and loss. But what has all this to do with a humanly-ordained minister receiving a stipend from a congregation? There is no such thing in the word of God.
63. “An Anxious Inquirer,” Aberdeen. It is to God we to confess our sins. No doubt, if we have wronged a brother or a follow man, we must confess the wrong, and make restitution. As to your second question, we deem it right to cast you simply upon the Lord for guidance. You should just act according to your light, in tire matter.
64. “J. H.,” Rochester. In 1 John 5:6 we have expiation and cleansing blood and water flowing from the pierced side of it crucified Savior. But how could we have these save by incarnation? One grand effort of Satan, as seen in Popery and Puseyism, is to set aside expiation and cleansing, through the death of Christ, and lead men to believe that in incarnation Christ took fallen humanity into union with Himself; and further that we are made partakers of the benefits of the incarnation by means of the sacraments of the church—a dark, deadly, soul-destroying delusion!
65. “A. B.” Shropshire. We have, in some of our back numbers, referred to 1 Pet. 3:18-20. We believe the passage simply teaches that the Spirit of Christ, in Noah, preached to those whose spirits are now in prison because they did not believe the preaching.
66. “A Constant Reader,” London. We read in 2 John 1:10, “if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds.” What, think you, would the blessed apostle have said to the elect lady if she were to go, “for three summers” to “partake of the hospitality of a lady who does not believe in the divinity of our Lord Jesus?” We confess we are amazed at your question. We cannot understand how anyone with a spark of loyalty to Christ could think of being the guest of a blasphemer of His Person. You say that “your friend, on each of her visits, has not shunned to exalt, in a very special manner, the Godhead of the Lord Jesus; but with no apparent success.” How could she expect success, when her acts contradict her words? Were she faithfully to tell her friend that she could no longer be the guest of one who blasphemes her Lord, she might look for some practical result. Better far to die in some obscure lodging in London, than accept change of air on such miserable terms.
67. “K. B K.,” Llanberis. We quite agree with your view of the expression, “the terror of the Lord,” and we trust your friend will be led to see the mind of God in the entire context. The believer can never come into judgment. (See John 5:24, where the word is “judgment” and not “condemnation.”) Every man’s work shall be tested; but when the believer is manifested before the judgment scat of Christ, he will be perfectly conformed to the image of his Lord. In 1 Cor. 6 we are taught that the saints shall judge the world and even angels. They will be associated with Christ in that solemn work. It would be strange if the judges were to be arraigned along with the judged. It is very sad to mark the confusion in people’s minds, in reference to a subject so plain and simple. It is, no doubt, the result of legal teaching and bad theology. There is no such thing in the New Testament as a promiscuous resurrection or a general judgment. To maintain such a notion is to deny the very foundations of Christianity. People may not see this; but it is true, nevertheless.
68. “M. B.,” Tetbury. Thanks for the lines.