The New Birth
I DESIRE to meditate a little on the third chapter of the Gospel of John and its connection with some other parts of Scripture, more particularly in reference to the new birth. I desire to do so for the profitable understanding of what the new man is, and the place in which we are set as made partakers of it, as we now are, in Christ. I shall necessarily go over some ground with which Christians are familiar in speaking of such a subject; but this is necessary, in order to connect with it the further developments and distinctions which lead me to treat of the subject.
Many believed in Christ when they saw the miracles which He did; but Jesus did not commit Himself to them He knew what was in man. (Chapter 2:23-25.) Their conclusion about Him was a just one; but it was a conclusion drawn by what was in man. It was perfectly worthless; left man in his own nature, and under the motives, influences, and passions to which he was subject before; nor did it take him out of the domain of Satan, who had power over the flesh and the world. The conclusion was right; but it was only a conclusion: the man remained what he was-unchanged. Jesus, who knew what flesh was, had-could have -no confidence in it.
But Nicodemus (chap. 3.), under God's leading, for our instruction goes a step further. The others believed it, and left it there. But where the Spirit of God is at work, it always produces wants in the soul, craving and desire after that which is of God and godly; and so the sense of defect in ourselves. There is at once, instinctively too, the consciousness that the world will be against us; consciousness too of its opposition and scorn. Nicodemus comes by night. There was a want of something better in his soul; but his being a ruler, and especially an ecclesiastical ruler, made it more for him to go to Christ. The dignity of one set to teach is not a facility for going to learn. However, conscience urges him to go, and he goes; the fear of man makes him afraid, and he goes by night. How poor is that dignity which tends to hinder one learning of Christ. Nicodemus, though spiritual craving had led him to Christ, goes on the same ground in his inquiry as those who had no such want at all. Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." (5. 2.) It was a conclusion drawn from proofs, perfectly just; but that was all. Still he wanted something from Him who showed them; but he took for granted that he was, as a Jew, the child of the kingdom, and would have teaching. The Lord meets him (for he was sincere and known of Him) at once by declaring that the whole ground he was on was wrong. He did not teach flesh, nor had He come to do so. God was setting up a kingdom of His own. To see that, a man must be born again, completely anew. The kingdom was not yet come visibly, not with observation. It was there among them, but to see it a man must have a wholly new nature. Nicodemus, arrested by the language, does not understand how this could be; stops as a human reasoner, though sincere, at the present difficulty; and in truth does not see the kingdom.
But two great truths have been brought out here already. First, God is not teaching and improving man as he is. He 'sets up a kingdom, a sphere of power and blessing of His own; 'there He acts. And, secondly, man must have a new nature or life. He must be born again, in order to have to say to God who so works. Flesh cannot even perceive the kingdom. Both facts are of supreme importance. A new
divine system is set up where the blessing is-a new nature is needed, in order to have to say to it.
But the Lord does not leave the inquiring Nicodemus here. He shows definitively the way of entering into the kingdom: " A man must be born of water and of the Spirit." (v. 5.) Of the Word and Spirit of God. The word of God-the revelation of God's thoughts-must operate in the power of the Spirit, judging all in man, bringing in God's mind instead of his own, supplanting it by God's, and an absolute new life from God, in which these thoughts have their seat and living reality-a new nature, and life. It is not that two births are here, but two important aspects and realities in being born again. " Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth" (James 1. 18); " That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26); "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3.) It is not teaching flesh, which has its own thoughts, but supplanting all its thoughts by God's. We are born of water. Next, it is a nature coming from the Spirit-" That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6.) Everything born follows-is of-the nature of that which begat it. So here. The water acts on man as man; his person is not changed; but the Spirit communicates a new life, which is of itself [the Spirit] -just as flesh's nature is flesh-in that which is born of it. We have now, not flesh taught, but the thoughts of God, operative in power, and the partaking of the divine nature which is imparted by the Spirit. The mind and nature of God vitally communicated to us. This is my life, as mere flesh was before. This clearly opens out the blessing to Gentiles. " Marvel not," said the Lord to Nicodemus, "that I said unto thee, Ye [Jews] must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth;… so is every one that is born of the Spirit."(3: 7, 8.) The sovereign communication of a new nature (needed by the Jew as much as by the Gentile, when we come to his nature) as an entirely new thing, a new nature given in which the man thenceforth lives with God, is as applicable to a 'Gentile as to a Jew. For thus a man, as to his life, is neither [Jew nor Gentile]. " He is born of God." This truth is here not unfolded; only the groundwork is laid down for it. The far deeper truth of the fact of the divine life, and that sovereignly imparted, is what is taught, only the other is directly implied.
This again stops Nicodemus. He does not come forward with, " We know;" he must be silent, to learn. And now some other truths come out, which associate us with heaven. But first the Lord shows what Nicodemus ought to have known-that as to even earthly promises the testimony of God was clear, that Israel had to be born again-born of water, and of the Spirit. The thirty-sixth chapter of the prophet Ezekiel is clear as to this:
" But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive he more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own, sight for your own iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, 0 house of Israel." That is, to enjoy the blessings of God's promises in the land, Israel must be born of water and of the communication of a new nature Spirit; must be cleansed, according to God's thoughts, and be renewed by the Spirit of God. The statement of the Lord is more simple, more full and absolute, because He is laying down the truth in itself: how man can enter into the kingdom, and therefore, brings out the need of the communication of a wholly new life in terms, with the blessed assurance' that it is a being really born of the Spirit, so as to partake of the nature of Him of whom we are born. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (v. 5.). But Nicodemus, as the teacher of Israel, ought to have known that such a change was needed for Israel, in order to partake of their earthly blessings with God.
But this brings out the difference, of the Lord's instructions and their character here, from the way in which the prophet had spoken of the matter. He had stated it prophetically, as the practical operation of Jehovah's grace; and that was all right, and in its place. But the Lord had another kind of knowledge. The prophecy had perfect, divine authority, because the prophet said what he had been inspired to say. But the Lord knew the things themselves in their very nature. He could tell absolutely what was needful for God, because He was God, and came, from God.
This is indeed divine teaching-teaching of infinite price. We learn from Him, who essentially knew it, what is needful for God. It tells us what the Christian is He has the knowledge of God from God Himself, according to His own nature, and is partaker of that nature-in order to know it, and to be able to enjoy it-without which he does not know it. And this brought down in man to us. But as the Lord spoke that which He knew, so He testified that which He had seen. He could tell of the heavenly glory, and what became it; what was needed to have a part in it. Man did not receive this testimony. The human mind understood human things; what was heavenly and spiritual-not at all. That which was heavenly and spiritual was darkness and foolishness to it. Those who received this witness were born again. (1. 12, 13.)
Let our hearts dwell a little on this blessed truth. In Christ we have one fully revealing God Himself. His words told His nature, the nature of God Himself, told it to man, so as to reveal what was needed in man in order that he might have to do with God in blessing, but told it directly, fully. His words were a revelation of the divine nature, which He knew. We are in the full light with God Himself. We have-not merely messages, however true and however blessed it be to have them from God, but what leaves nothing behind-the revelation of God Himself, and in His nature; so that what is perfect in blessedness is revealed, and revealed perfectly. Here it is in nature first of all, then the fact of what He had seen; but it is the competency of witness specially which is expressed in this verse. But this necessarily leads to the nature of the things. No prophet could say, " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." (v. 11.) God revealed future things to them, or sent messages to the people, and they announced the one and the other. But if Christ announced what He knew, and testified that which He had seen, these were necessarily heavenly things. Of course He knew what had been foretold of God; but, in speaking of the nature needed in order to have to say to God, and of that which He knew and had seen, He goes beyond that-to that which is above. Thither consequently He leads us. " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven." (v. 13.) No one had gone up to bring down word of what was there. But He came thence; and He could tell perfectly what was there, and was ever there, for He was God. But this divine knowledge was knowledge for man; for it was the Son of man had it. Heaven and man were connected in the person of Christ. If man out of Christ, as all yet were, had not in any sense entered there, still there was one who was, in His person, the revealer of that which was heavenly. But how could man -who could not, even if a teacher of Israel, understand the reality of the new nature (even as needed for the known earthly things), for he thought in the old nature--understand heavenly things? But this brought out another truth, the necessary door of what was heavenly; but if so; it is the open door to every one that should believe. Not only was it necessary to be born again, even for earthly blessings, but there were further counsels of God.
The Son of man, for Jesus was more than Messiah, must, in the counsels of God and in the need of man, be lifted up, rejected from this earth. But this lifting up was this rejection by the world. Christ could not, for man was a sinner, take His place as Messiah in blessing to Israel. He was to suffer in the character in which He had to say to all men, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness" (v. 14), so, instead of a living Messiah, they were to have a rejected, dying Son of man. The cross was healing, saving power for man. Whoever believed in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life! for God so loved the world-an immense truth then which opened the way to the fullest display of God and of grace, if one should not rather say it was such. It was an efficacious work of God, not to fulfill prophetic promises merely, but to bring to God, " that who so ever believed in Him" (this Son of man), " should have everlasting life." It was needed. Atonement must be made, redemption must be accomplished, if sinful man was to have to say to a holy God. If there was a revelation of the divine nature, and man's partaking of it was connected with his having to say to God, there must be atonement as well as a new birth; the Son of man, He who as man was to have in man's nature the inheritance of all things, and who took up man's cause, must be lifted up, like the serpent in the wilderness, made sin for us, that men might look upon Him and live. This met the need of man, but it was only one side of the truth. When men rest here they see what meets the holy nature and judgment of God, but God stands as a holy judge; nor does this therefore give full liberty to the soul. It is the propitiatory, the needed, side of Christ's death. But how did this come about It was that God so loved the world that the Son of man, who must be lifted up, was the Son of God, whom He had given in love. God so loved that He gave. Thus, though propitiation was needed, love was the source of all. The holiness of God's nature, His righteous judgment, maintained as regards sin, but His love manifested. The Son of man was Son of God. Both with a view to one wondrous object-that sinful man, whosoever believed in Jesus, should have eternal life. This was the final test of man too. We have thus the nature of God revealed, and a twofold work wrought, which, while it fits man to enjoy that nature by his being born of it, glorifies it too in all its character; so that the gift of eternal life maintains and displays the love and holiness and righteousness of God. And this is what is essential and blessed. But the full, peculiar, dispensed character of this, as wrought out in grace, is not brought out here; and it is this which I would now endeavor to bring out, the gracious Lord helping me. °, If the Son of man was lifted up, died to bring us to God, where and how is life '? It is in resurrection. This too leads us to another important element of truth. If risen, I am risen from the dead. I have died in Christ. This we shall see has a double character. I may look at myself as having no spiritual life; hence as dead in trespasses and sins; or I may look at myself as alive in sin and the flesh, and then I speak of having died to it. Christ could speak of a new nature needed in order to enter the kingdom; but He could not then call on any one to reckon himself dead. He could connect that nature with God directly, in the statement of what it was, and what He was; and that was peculiarly suited, as is evident, to His person-a divine revealer of what He knew and of man's partaking of the divine nature. This was indeed the excellent part. But for our deliverance another truth was to be connected with this-the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive. Christ as our life when He has died and risen. He is a life-giving spirit. Because He lives, we live. He is our life; that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. But for sinners to have-righteously, and according to God-part in this, Christ must make the 'propitiation, must die. He died to sin once; and now, alive in resurrection, lives to God. We receive Him through the Spirit in our hearts, and have life. " This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (10. 11, 12.) But. He whom we receive is the dead and risen One, our life-the true " I," in which I say of sin, this is no longer I. " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This is the life of Christ as risen from the dead in us-the power of life in resurrection. We are alive for faith only in and by Him, though the flesh be in point of fact there. Yet I do not own it as alive and part of myself, but only as an enemy which I have to overcome. Thus in Rom. 7 we find, " When we were in the flesh " (v. 5); in Rom. 8, " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you," (v. 9.) Many other passages illustrative of this point will come before us in pursuing our subject.
I have said that this view of the divine life in resurrection comes before us in two ways in Scripture. Man may be viewed either as alive in sin, or as dead in sin. His flesh is alive and active as, regards evil; it is utterly dead as regards God-not, one movement of soul in the natural man towards Him. The epistle to the Romans presents the former view; that to the Ephesians the latter. They coalesce in presenting the man as risen with Christ, though the epistle to the Romans barely reaches this ground, but just touches on it. Their epistle teaches, fully Christ's being raised by God the Father, but only just touches on our being alive to God. The Ephesians saw, as regards the doctrine of their epistle on this point, Christ as dead, and the sinner dead in sin (2. 1), and both raised up together. This flows from Christ' being seen exalted on high and the Church united to Him. Man is not contemplated doctrinally as wickedly living in sin, although the fact is recognized; but in the full apprehension of his state in relation to God he is dead in sin. And the whole condition of the Church is the result of the same power being exercised in raising Christ Himself and every believer spiritually. (Chapter 1,2.)
In the epistle to the Romans, Christ is seen risen from the, dead, but not ascended (save an allusion in one verse of chap. 8.), because the object is to show the putting away of the old state, and the introduction in life and justification into the new; not the glorious results, save in hope. Man's guilt is largely proved. Christ has died for us; but Christ has risen also, for our justification; we are justified-dead to sin and alive to God-delivered from the law.
The epistle to the Colossians is between the two in doctrine. It views man as living in sin, but the Christian as having died and as now quickened with Christ. Our new nature there, as born of God, takes, when our condition is fully displayed, the character of our having died and risen again with Christ, and even of our sitting in heavenly places in Him.
But my object now is our condition in life. Let us recall, that Christ, as thus risen; is our life. The work of atonement must have been accomplished, or no sinner could have been united with Him. He could have given no life according to God to any. The corn of wheat would have abode alone. Not that life and the power of life was not in Him, but that the righteousness of God would have been in abeyance.
But that work has been accomplished; and now Christ-not the first Adam-is my life as a believer. But then I say, When I was in the flesh. I am not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. The first Adam in His sin and responsibility is not my standing before God at all; but the second, who has become my life. I am in Him as my righteousness; He is in me as my life. Now, I say, I have died to sin; I am crucified with Christ; I am alive to God through Jesus Christ. " In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves." (Rom. 6:10,11.) This is what Paul insists on in the sixth chapter of the epistle to the Romans. "We were baptized into His death " (v. 3.) " planted together in the likeness of His death." (v. 5.) We are dead to sin. "If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (v. 8.) Hence (for, as I said, the apostle only just touches this ground) we are to reckon ourselves alive to God through Him. (v. 11.) So in the epistle to the Galatians, " Christ liveth in me" (chap. 2. 20); "the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Rom. 8:10.) But we are not said to be risen with Him.
And remark, in the elements even of this doctrine, necessarily, from its very nature, we are not called to die to sin. No such thought is in Scripture. We are called upon, as alive in Christ, to mortify every movement of sin; but not to die to it. We are alive in Christ who has died, and we are viewed as dead; and called upon to view ourselves as dead, because Christ, who is our life, has died. " I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20.) "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." (Chapter 5:24.) "Reckon yourselves to be dead." (Rom. 6:11.) "You have been planted together in the likeness of His death" (v. 5); "buried with Him unto death. (v. 4.) " Ye are dead." (Col. 3:3.) Such is the uniform language of Scripture. All the sentimental talk about crucifying being a lingering death, is the setting aside the plain and imperative sense of these passages. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. 2:20.) We have died in Christ; that is the doctrine of Scripture.
The epistles to the Galatians, the Romans, and the Colossians, etc., all alike teach this, and press it on Christians. I am, wholly delivered from the whole system in which I lived as alive in the flesh. So the apostle appeals: " If ye be dead with Christ... why, as though alive [living] in the world, are ye subject to ordinances I" (Col. 2. 20, 21.) This is life then, being born of God, as possessed by the Christian, now that Christ has died and become, as risen, his life.
The epistle to the Ephesians goes a step further. It does not, as. I have said, view Christ as alive in blessed love and godliness, and man in sin; but man dead in sin, and Christ is first seen as dead, which was for and to sin. That is, the apostle sees man down in the ditch and grave of death through sin, and Christ has come down into it in grace where man was by sin. But so He has put away the sin, as guilt, and come down to save and redeem out of that condition. God raises up both by the same power. " What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,.... which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." (Eph. 1:19,20.) Of " His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." (Chapter 2:4,5.) Thus we. are God's "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." (v. 10.).
Thus as the third chapter of John's gospel taught us the nature of the life which we receive, (that as born of the Spirit it is spirit; divine, morally speaking, in its nature)
so do the epistles show to us the position in which the possession of this new life places us, inasmuch as it is the life of Christ risen, after being delivered for our offenses and having died to sin once. And what is the consequent effect as to our relationship to sin and to God 1 The epistle to the Romans, as indeed that to the Galatians, teaches us that we have died with Christ, and that we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin, that our old man has been crucified with him; but that we are alive to God. That it is not we that live, but Christ that lives in us. The epistle to the Colossians teaches us that we have died with Christ, and that we are risen with Him; and further,, that when dead in sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh, God has quickened us together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses, brought up from the dead with Christ into newness of life as to ourselves; but according to the blessed efficacy of His death, entirely forgiven all the sins and state of sin in which we were till thus raised, consequent on the efficacy of His death. This last point the epistle to the Ephesians takes up fully and exclusively, and shows us quickened with Christ and raised out of the death of sin by the same power which raised Christ Himself. It is not merely the divine nature become our life, but death to sin, life to God, raised up, forgiven and accepted, as in the state in which He is as risen; yea, sitting in heavenly places in. Him. The nature is divine; that is, supremely excellent; but by death and resurrection having come in, and our being united to Christ, our whole relative condition is changed; we are not, for God and for faith, accounted as alive in the old man; we are not in it at all; have put it off. It is-for the reckoning of faith, and that according the possession of and being alive in a new life-dead and gone. We are in Christ, and Christ is our life; alive in Him and alive in what He is alive to-to God. Our standing is not consequently in the first Adam at all. We have died as in the first Adam to all that he is; but alive in the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, according to all the acceptance in which he now lives before God.
Thus the third chapter of John's gospel teaches us the instrinsic excellency of the life we receive of God, and shows it in direct connection with what is divine-Christ speaking what He knew, and showing that we must have a nature froth God, and fit for God Himself. Christ speaking thus, that which He knew is of the deepest interest, the direct communication of what is divine. This life is there shown in its nature and origin as contrasted with flesh. Its proper character and excellency is more seen in John. The epistle to the Ephesians, however, confirms it in result: " That we should be holy and blameless before Him in love." (Chapter 1:4.) But in its condition and state, the epistles are more full as to this life, There-inasmuch as Christ died-living in the life of Christ we are [looked at as] dead to sin, the life being a new thing wholly distinct from the old man, and we alive in Christ. We are not in the flesh; we have died and are risen again. Being regenerated is being dead and risen again; for we receive Christ as life. It is having left Adam, his nature and fruits, condemnation, death and judgment, behind; and being, as delivered from all these things in necessary and righteous acceptance, according to Christ's acceptance before God. The natures are distinct. I am not in the flesh; I have died; I am risen again. I am accepted in Christ risen. I am partaker of the divine nature, and to enjoy its fullness in God. (2 Peter 1: 4.) J. N. D.
LINES IN ANSWER TO HYMN, PAGE 442.
"'Tis good to be here," was the word
Once heard from that country so fair,
In glory beholding the Lord-
This tells what it is to be there.
The glories and joys of that land
The traveler could not declare-
His rapture, and silence alone,
Must tell what it is to be there.**
In sight of that city on high,
Its walls deck'd with jewels so rare,
He fell, overwhelm'd with the joy,
And tells what it is to be there.***
With Thee, Lord, forever to be,
In the hope Thou hast left with us here-
'Tis enough, Lord-forever with Thee!
It is this, it is this, to be there.'
" WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN RUT THEE? AND THERE IS NONE UPON EARTH I DESIRE BESIDE THEE."-Psalm 78: 25.
JESUS, 'tis Thou Thyself I need,
At every time, at every hour!
Oh, wilt Thou guide my feet, and lead.
And keep me by Thy Spirit's power,
That from Thee I may never stray,
But still press on the narrow way?
Close to Thy side I fain would cling,
And learn the mysteries of Thy love,
Into Thy presence entering
With boldness through the precious blood:
Oh, Jesus' love is vaster far
Than all our poor conceptions are!
It is this love my soul would know,
Would learn it in its heights and depths,
Would mark it in that hour of woe,
When on the cross He tasted death-
Would ponder all His wondrous ways,
And never cease His name to praise.
That precious, name, it cheers the heart
When burdened, or with sin opprest;
Then to that blessed one I turn,
And always find a place of rest;
There on His bosom calmly stay,
And then-all else may pass away.
Yes, everything may pass away;
In Him my all in all I've found;
And having Him, sure I can say,
Now I have all things, and abound.
My precious Lord, to Thee I bow,
And own no other Lord but Thou.
It was the power of Jesus' cross
That turn'd my darkness into light;
Now for His sake l'd count but loss
All that might dim this precious sight:
Full well He knows the flesh how frail,
Yet in His strength I shall prevail.
Still 'tis Thyself, 0 Lord, I need,
A sense of Jesus always near;
His love the joy on which I feed,
His presence all I need to cheer:
With this I'll sweetly journey on,
And wait till He, my Lord, shall come.
"IN Everything GIVE THANKS: FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD
IN CHRIST JESUS CONCERNING you."-1 Thess. 5:18.
"IN everything give thanks."
My God, is this Thy will?
Give thanks for disappointments given,
For prayers unanswer'd still?
Give thanks! In vain I've pray’d
That I might useful be,
And by Thy Spirit's helpful aid,
Bring many souls to Thee.
Give thanks! when in the place
Of health and usefulness,
Through sickness, Thou hast paled my face
With pain and weariness.
Give thanks! If 'tweer Thy will
Submission to demand,
I then might bid myself be still,
And bow to Thy command.
But hush! beneath my eye
I see, in words of blood,
" Will He who gave His Son to die,
Refuse thee any good r
Give thanks! Yea, Lord, t do,
And by Thy help I will,
Give thanks for blessings not received,
Although expected still.
Give thanks for mercies given,
Unnoticed oft by me;
Give thanks for sins forgiven,
Known only, Lord, to Thee.
Give thanks in word and deed,
For Thy surpassing love,
That sent Thy Son on earth to save,
And now to plead above.
Give thanks for tender love,
That our Redeemer show'd,
Who, in the absence of Himself,
A Comforter bestow'd.
Oh grant me by Thy grace
To walk by faith alone,
Until before my Father's face,
I know as I am known! J. G. B.
"UNTO HIM THAT LOVED US, AND 'WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN
His OWN BLOOD, AND HATE MADE VS KINGS AND PRIESTS
UNTO GOD AND His FATHER; TO HIM BE
GLORY AND DOMINION Forever
AND EVER.
AMEN!
Rev. 1:5,6.
END OF 'VOL. 18.
Meditations on Subjects of Interest
1.-The Aim of Ministry
GOD'S object and end ought to be ours. The means ought never to supersede the end with us. What a strength and power in the words, " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that 1 might bear witness to the truth!" Paul says, he labors to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. What an aim was this In my mind, responsibility to Church truth, so far from being lessened by the new, wonderful, and gracious evangelic work which has lately arisen, is the rather greatly increased. A man's aim gives a character to all his acts. A low aim can never carry a man high, but a high one has power to attract from a very low position; and when it is divine, it will be like the path of the just, becoming more positive and clear, the more it is pursued. No minister of the gospel ought to be. satisfied with a condition for any believer inferior to what would satisfy the heart of Christ, not only with regard to the infancy of such a soul, but to its fruitful maturity. " Feed my sheep," is the claim of true affection for Christ; but if His present organization for the Church, and His future glory in her, he now disregarded, or untaught, are not the most precious secrets of His love suppressed or overlooked? One, who, in ministering to God's people, proposes to himself God's end and object for them, and nothing short of it, while feeling increasingly the responsibility of the trust, knows also that he need only deal out honestly and faithfully what has been committed to him, and abundantly will the need be supplied.
Truth is so fallen in the streets in these days, that the call to each is to be valued for the truth, and not merely to be convinced of the rightness of a position. Truth, being fully revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ, there will be no further revelation of it. If any part of it be misrepresented, there will be an imperfect evangelization; for the Gospel is, that " grace and truth are come by Jesus Christ." Are we sufficiently alive to the responsibility of seeing that the truth of God so long undeclared, but now fully declared by our Lord Jesus Christ, should not suffer in our attempts to expound the fullness and greatness of it? What painful misrepresentations of our Lord's doings and intentions down here, do we find in the current religious publications of the day! Therefore, I am bold to say, that if a soul does not see how he is called to vindicate Christ in these days, I see little use in gaining his approval of my position. If we were called to vindicate God, we must at once retire from a work for which we are utterly incompetent; but the Lord Jesus has vindicated Him by declaring the truth; and it is only a veritable adherence to what He has done that we are called to. If the "Spirit of truth " be working in a soul, there will be exercise as to what is truth, and, in teaching souls, how necessary to be assured that they are learning the truth, that the Spirit is thereby guiding them into it.
Full truth alone can keep us from slipping off from our proper place; the more fully we know it the better we know our position; for truth is but the mind and judgment of Him, whom the better we know, the more are we bound to, for we thus find how absolutely He is for our blessing. The more one line of truth becomes diffused, the more does every other line require to be pressed, or there will be departure from the moral symmetry belonging to the Body of Christ on earth. The Lord keep us loving His truth-the unfolding of Himself! He is but a poor friend who would not like to know more, and all about me, or I must be very unworthy. How blessed to be allowed of God to set the seeds of His truth in the souls of His people; and how we ought to rejoice at every apprehension a soul gets of the truth of our God!
"This God is our God forever and ever: He shall be our Guide even unto death."
2.-THE BLESSING OF WORSHIPPING THE TRUE. GOD.
If the heart be in secret true to our God, it is marvelous how much of our own ways we are allowed to follow, in order to find out the folly of them,. without losing our place of confidence in Him. David is the man after God's own heart, because God was always His God. He was a man of many errors and failures, but in his extremities God was always His resource. If I have a false God I have no real resource; therefore, as long as the soul is really zealous for the truth of God, and maintains it, though it may yield to many vacillations in practical life, yet it will ever revert to Him, as the needle to the pole: the nature of God is not misrepresented; and the heart turns thither from its own perversions.
Peter may fail, but his faith in God must not fail; and, by it, he is restored. If the soul has a true Christ, be the vacillations ever so many, still, in the end, there it must gravitate. And, therefore, it is so necessary for souls to get a right idea and apprehension of Christ. If we have not, we are like the disciples when on the sea, and Christ on the land. If we have, though, perhaps, equally unbelieving with them, we have, at any rate, the assurance that he is in the ship with us. It is while running the race, that we discover the many impediments which our nature obstructs to our progress; and, as we discover them, if really desirous that our pace be not abated, we deprecate and shake them off: But in order to this the eye must be on the goal.- If it be, the swifter we run, the more we may have to discard; because the more sensible shall we be to the embarrassments occasioned by our natural activities; these always hamper the spirit. We know the fable of the sun and the wind. The blast may cause us to wrap up our coverings around us, but when the sun breaks forth we soon cast them aside. So with any moral encumbrance, or natural burden. The eye on Christ always affords evidence of our position, and is the only true means of deliverance. from every false way.
The soul that is looking at its difficulties seldom overcomes them. It is in keeping the eye above, or, rather, the heart there, that we conquer; and it is amazing, how disproportioned the same class Of difficulties will appear at one time, and another; simply, because the heart is either with the Lord (and when with Him the armor is always on), or, it is thinking of its trials. Our enemies are always morally diminished by our power to meet them. If we have power, and are sensible of it, we meet them calmly and confidently. As a babe, a bird might have terrified you; and, why not now? Because you feel you have power immensely above it. It is the sense of power that we want, and that is only obtained by keeping near the Lord. To keep near Him is the entire matter. " Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." " He that eateth me, even He shall live by me." Never despair! If you did not see where you fail, you would not know where to conquer. We fail in our weak point; but where the weakness is, there the strength of Christ is needed; consequently, our several trials are just suited to expose our weakness, in order that we may be supplied with His strength, so that even our failures work together for our good.
If we cannot conquer where we are, we could conquer no where.
There is no fear but we can overcome, unless we are in a false position; and then, overcoming would be to get out of it.
3.-OUR WORK PROVES US.
It must have been a very trying exercise to the Nazarite after be had defiled the hair of his Nazariteship, to begin all over again, N o matter, how long or how beautiful the hair, it must go.. Thus, is it with us. if we have done the Lord's work with mixture; all must come down; the Lord will rescue the true souls, but the ship must go to pieces.
I believe, that often where there has been much apparent blessing, there has been some, covert evil influence at work, and Satan has deceived souls, and prevented them from seeing the defiling thing, by means of the ostensible state, seemingly proclaiming progress and blessing. He sometimes refrains from a general opposition, in order that he may mature, under the cloak of spiritual advancement, a more deadly hindrance to the truth than would be effected by open hostility. When such is the case, the way to introduce real blessing, is to " begin anew." Many a one will admit how wrong he is himself, who will not admit how his work must have been affected by his failure; and it is remarkable, that our failures are sure to transpire in our works; that is, that our works will affect or afflict us in that very point where we have failed to minister, in consequence of our imbecility to supply the line of truth which would have provided against the failure. Let a congregation of saints be only instructed in their sensibilities, or moral beauty, and, sooner or later, the teacher will surely suffer from them himself; that lack of conscience which he had overlooked. His weakness or willfulness will betray itself in them. God does not hear the prayer, " 0 that Ishmael might live before thee I" Such a prayer was only an evidence of Abraham's distance from God at the time. We must take care not to administer help before faith is at work in the soul; for if we do, we spoil the soul for faith.
" Patient continuance in well doing " is wonderfully effective; and faithfulness in a little is a guarantee to: our being faithful in much. If equal to every occasion; whether small or great, we shall always glorify the Lord and His grace, and add to our own rest and joy in Him.
4.-THE TRUE ACTION OF THE WORD.
We know that we can delight in hearing the words of the Lord as a lovely song, and yet be unwilling to follow them; for the heart goeth after its covetousness. In a measure, I suppose we all know what this is, and we must be careful that we adopt the truth we hear, as well as enjoy it; that is, we must be conscious that we are submitting to its demand upon us. This is properly receiving it in an " honest and true heart." Truth, understood and received, always affects us most where we most need it; as heat in a room will always address the dampest part; and, therefore, if I have received truth, I must feel it acting oil my soul where my deft ciency is the greatest, and where, naturally, 1 least like it to act. If I am allowing my weak part to be probed by the Word, then I am learning, though I may not be very happy while the process is going on; yet the happiness that follows is of a different and a higher order. We must take care not to be content with expositions of God's truth apart from their demand on ourselves; for it is very possible to see their beauty and admire them, while totally failing to appropriate them.
The Word of God is the " sword of the Spirit." Faith is the shield which protects you from your adversary; but protection from, is not subjugation. Faith may protect me from my foes, but it will not rid me of them.
Nothing but the word of God will do that; and must have the right word to hit in the right place. The Lord Jesus not only protected Himself (He was always protected by His faith); but He baffled and put to flight the wicked one by the Word of God.
Accustom yourself to prove all things by the Word of God, and to test every action and judgment, and you will find that many things are done for which there is no scriptural warrant; and, on the, other hand, that much professedly for God, is unscripturally carried out. This is a day in which names of truths are retained, but their real definitions often marred or ignored. For instance, " What is a Christian?" Does the common definition of the word, in any way, approach to the scriptural one? The word is the test, as well as the sword; but if it probes and searches us, it also invigorates and strengthens.
5.-ON THE LINE.
There is nothing so difficult for any soul as to, keep on the line-yet if we at all get off the line, it happens to us as to a railway carriage-all is in danger and confusion. The line of one may not be that of another; the race set before each of us is one peculiar to one's own individuality; what might be suitable for one would be unsuitable for another, but with the Word in our hand, if read by the Spirit of God, it is easy to tell when any one-is off the line:- I observe when it is so-the soul is often like Peter in John 21 very hard at work " fishing," and "naked" too! There is a rushing and perturbation of manner, and a constant desire to vindicate oneself-but when on the line, there is no effort, all goes on in calmness and tranquility.
Nothing will keep us on the line, but the presence of a risen Christ walking with us in a world which rejected Him. I am afraid we know more of what it is to walk seeking to be useful, than in the consciousness of the influence which His presence superinduces. We may know the person who is under the rule of His presence, because such an one involuntarily manifests the interests which engage Him. If I am under the influence of one whom I revere, imperceptibly, and yet distinctly, I adopt and declare the great subject of his thoughts and ways. In fact, if I did not, it might be truly said that I did not revere him, and that his presence had no particular influence with me. The influence of personal presence is so peculiar that no art could conjure up anything like it. If the person be absent, no memory or effort of mind can recall it, but the moment he reappears, all the influence returns. We may recall the words of an absent friend, but not the peculiar interest which his presence afforded. Now-like the disciples going to Emmaus-your heart may burn within you, while the Scriptures are being opened to you, but the recognition of Christ's presence will have an effect far beyond what the most wonderful opening of Scripture could produce. They returned the same hour of the night to their brethren at Jerusalem. This was the fruit of the energy which they derived from recognizing the Lord's presence. I deplore it for myself, that the Lord's opening to me the Scripture is a more constant source of exhilaration to me than an actual recognition of Him, the risen Lord, with reference to all things here.
6.-- CHRIST OR HIS GIFTS?
--The gourd-draws out the affections of Jonah; but the removal of it discloses all the insubjection which the presence of the gourd had cloaked or suppressed for a moment. If our hearts are more taken up with God's: gifts than with Himself, we shall find,: sooner or later, that the gifts have concealed us from ourselves, and that we have not grown (growth is the development of the. nature of Christ in detail) as we should have done if the Lord had been the resource of our hearts. Satan said of Job that he thought more of the gifts than of God, and though Job turned to God, yet he had to discover the nothingness of himself in God's presence; not to make him more miserable, but to establish his dependance on God more absolutely, and make him independent of himself and of everything but God. When the gifts go, you discover whether your heart is set on God or the gifts. The former cannot go; and if I know Him like. Abraham or Mary, I can, though widowed indeed, trust, in God to restore the Isaac, or raise the Lazarus.
I often see souls who have learned the grace of God, and are walking in full peace of acceptance, and even devotedly serving Him, who have their affections very little centered in Him. The best proof that I am loving. Him,-that my heart is set on Him, is that I am loving. like Him. The heart which has learned the grace of God. in our Lord Jesus Christ, learns for the first time that to a veritable man it may and ought fully to confide itself,, and, if it did, it would always be happy and never appointed; but this it generally has to learn slowly, and: by various ways. Nothing so thoroughly suits and. satisfies the heart of man as this sympathy and friendship. He seldom attains it to any perfection among men; He can and ought with the Lord; but for this the heart requires to be taught, by one process or. another, that it cannot find it fully any where else. Sometimes one is allowed to find a resemblance to it in humanity, if only used as, an illustration of what the Lord is i. e., it sometimes learns by the human, which is so close to it,: the variety and activities of His love. Human friend ship, used in this way, is to me what a go-cart is to a child learning to walk; but if, on the other hand, I so engross myself with the human, as to be in any degree independent of His sympathy and friendship, it is very evident that the very gourd He may have sent me, is a hindrance to my full blessing, and He must remove it; yet all the time (though I may have superseded the Lord's friendship by a lower one) I have become so accustomed to the delights of friendship even- in the lower one, and that be knows, my heart must seek for the higher, even Himself-the " widow indeed" trusted in God. There is a blank which never can be repaired in humanity, there is a sorrow which neither time nor toil can assuage. The Lord knows well what. human sorrow is; He never met with anything but sorrow in the heart of man; for joy comes from God; and to break down our nature, in order to fill us with the fullness of God, is the purpose of His love which passeth knowledge. He will see to your sorrow; where did He express so much feeling as for Mary when He walked to the tomb of Lazarus? What ought to distress us is, the discovery of how- dependent we are on other things beside Himself; and this is really the only barrier to our full, relief.
7.-THE EFFECT OF ASSOCIATION.
In every association, and the more so the closer it be, the tendency of human nature. is to descend morally rather than to ascend; therefore the great wrong, and loss to one who allies himself with what -is morally or spiritually beneath him. Such associations cannot long exist without affecting either the higher or the lower element; and the tendency of the higher sinking to the lower, is because there is in us a kindred- evil to any that we are brought in contact with, and this contact must occur the moment the communications are on equal terms. By equal terms, I mean where I can freely blend, accommodating myself to a lower order of -things than my light would approve of. When this inequality exists as to the things of God, it is, of all cases, the most to be deprecated, for, apart from the question of the sacrifice of
truth, 'the highest ideas. and sensibilities on the mast valued subject must remain unimparted and the consequence invariably is, that either both parties gradually decline, or the one emerges, and every day feels-the other more unsuitable and irresponsive to the better activities of the soul. We should bear this. in mind, whether as to natural or spiritual associations, for to deprecate such inequalities is not high-mindedness; quite the contrary; the more I know of the Lord or His truth, the less I must think of myself; but the more zealous I must feel for His honor.
But though always to be deprecated, it is too true that these inequalities exist, and are constantly entered on; and still more,-I observe that the Lord often permits us to do things and enter into alliances, which indicate the true condition of the soul, or at least meet a line in us not yet subdued. One of fine spiritual sensibilities will not find much interest in one below them. If I do, however, I may think or imagine that I feel so, my company reveals my real likings, and because I don’t judge myself on account of my real likings, the Lord allows me to bind Myself to that which truly indicates my predilections, and thereby carries on the discipline needful for me. The Lord must have seen Peter. carrying the sword, and yet he never rebuked him for it, until he had committed an overt act, and Peter might have alleged that He told him to take it: but it was needful for Peter that his own act should expose how little he was in sympathy with his Master's mind. It is humbling when the low state of our souls-necessitates such a course of action on the Lord's part, but it may be the only way to convince us of the subtlety of our hearts.
When an unequal association is entered on irrevocably (for it is not always possible, or even allowed to us to retrace a false step), the position, 'even if not actually Wrong,. is always perilous, and the only way to avoid a fall, towards which there will constantly be a tendency, is to lean on the Lord, and seek His strength to maintain, unflinchingly, the measure of light which we have received. Light is most generous and expressive, and always communicative of its power to aid any one in darkness. If I have light and am walking in the light, I shall know the gentle, insinuating, yet direct and effectual way in which light encounters darkness; but if' I assume darkness in-order to spare darkness,_ there is no doubt but that my light will be turned to grievous darkness. There is nothing more difficult than to maintain to a Christian below you in light and knowledge of the Lord's grace (though possibly above you in practice), that power of testimony to truth which would make his conscience feel that your presence was acting on him, and that you, on the other hand, are not surrendering the truth of God in order to be in fellowship with one below it. It is very searching (but let us not shrink from it) that light is often, as it were, absorbed by ourselves, and when it is so, there is no emanation, or testimony of its power. " If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining du candle doth give light." I understand by this passage that if I am myself under the influence of light perfectly, (i.e., if light has taken possession of me) then others will see it, as the shining of a candle. That it is not so with us, may account for our constant failure in setting forth a power of light. Not being under the influence of it ourselves, it does not emanate from us as the clear light of a candle. In conclusion, I may add, that the lower element gives way to the higher one, if the higher one abides in itself, though this must necessarily be with more or less painful action on the one in darkness; but the lower corrupts the higher, the moment the latter stoops to fellowship with it. May we seek to walk with the Lord in His elevation, and not oblige Him to descend in His ordering for us to our own level.
FRAGMENTS.
" Trying to right circumstances is waste of time. Christ did not seek it. Let faith be in exercise in the circumstances, and that will right yourself."
"Try the rough water as well as the smooth. Rough water can teach lessons worth knowing."