Romans 10:1 - 21

The idea of salvation is in regard to the present time. The coming of the Lord changes the whole condition of things here upon earth. Now, nothing is changed outwardly, and yet salvation has come in, salvation from what is here. In this chapter the important thing is confession. What we want in regard of God is righteousness. What we want in regard of enemies is salvation. When Israel saw their enemies dead on the sea-shore it was salvation for them. Salvation is now realised in the confession that Christ is Lord. That is the condition of salvation. The great thought of the kingdom is salvation. Confession is the habit or attitude of the soul. It is characteristic of the man that he calls Christ "Lord", owning His authority and power. We grow up to salvation by tasting that the Lord is gracious and then we desire the sincere milk of the word. Salvation is from your enemies and from the hand of all that hate you. Israel's enemies were outward -- ours are spiritual enemies.

Salvation is from all that to which a man's soul is in bondage, from that he needs to be saved. It is present and it is in order that we may serve God. This is the purpose of the gospel. In the first eight chapters of Romans we get how God brings this about. The kingdom of God exists now in the soul of the believer. It is in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is in the soul of the believer. "He shall save his people from their sins" means from the governmental consequences of their sins. You could not be in salvation apart from the Holy Spirit.

Israel will have to pay the uttermost farthing. It will be the discipline through which they pass in the great tribulation. When a soul is awakened what he wants

is righteousness. You must have belief in the heart before confession. Righteousness lies in believing God's testimony. Confession with the mouth cannot be until the Holy Spirit is received -- no one can call Jesus "Lord" but by the Holy Spirit. When the power and authority of the Lord is owned in the soul all fears are removed and you have on the helmet of salvation. Confession is characteristic: it is not one act only, and the man can stand against any evil -- he has no fears. The great point that Christ is risen is God's testimony. Man cannot have to do with God as a mere act of mind -- it must be the heart -- man's mind is an eye.

Christ is the testimony which God has been pleased to set forth to men. Men are not free to serve God until they are at liberty to worship God -- they must be set free from bondage first. The coming of the Lord brings in the kingdom but we have it now in the Holy Spirit who is the power to maintain it in us. "Righteousness, and peace, and joy". Israel never sang "Jehovah reigneth" till they were over the Red Sea. 'Salvation' is from what is without -- 'deliverance' is from what is within. In order to be maintained in the enjoyment of salvation there must be the continuance in confessing Christ as Lord. The Holy Spirit not only starts a person but He maintains him in it and produces "righteousness, and peace, and joy".

Death is God's judgment, the fear of death is in the hands of the devil and salvation removes this fear. The purpose of the gospel is to bring salvation to man, so that he may be delivered from his enemies and set free to serve God. Every intelligent being ought to serve God. God is entitled to the service of every man. Anyone who has apprehended the grace of God will desire to serve God. Salvation is an effective thing -- it is a question of realisation. The power and authority of the Lord are maintained in us by the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness means that you are free from liability.

Enjoyment is found in God Himself. The grace of God brings salvation to you -- salvation from the power of evil.

THE WAYS OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL

1 Timothy 2 and 1 Timothy 3

This epistle is addressed to one who was by birth a Jew. It was to establish on a broad platform the ways of God in the gospel. The reason is given in verses 15 and 16 of chapter 3. This is a very different idea from all that was in the mind of the Jew in regard to God. The Jew looked upon God as a kind of national God, but here all is on the broad platform of the gospel. Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, and it shows the place which the house of God has in respect of God's ways in the testimony.

The first great thing for the servant was how to behave himself in the house of God -- this is most important. Many think that because they have the Scriptures they are independent of the house of God. If a man has not learnt how to behave himself in the house of God, he cannot be an effective servant because the house of God is the pillar and base of the truth. The house of God is the assembly of the living God -- it is still here. If a man receives light from God, He will put him in circumstances where he can carry it out. The two things go together -- the enlightenment and the circumstances in which you can carry it out -- where you can conduct yourself on the principles of the house of God. This is individual. One has to find out what the house of God is by the Spirit, which is innate in every christian. The house of God is soon found when people are conscious of the presence of the Spirit. It is astonishing how soon people are clear as to the house of God when they are clear as to the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit brings us into the house -- it is a place of prayer, a place where God dwells and where you get acquainted with God and you learn what is suited to Him. You never find the house of God spoken of in any epistle to

the church. It is spoken of either in the catholic epistles, such as Peter's, or it is to the servant.

You have the temple in Corinthians, but it was characteristic there -- it was their place and privilege. He was impressing upon the Corinthians holiness and unity. The temple is not so wide a thought as the house -- the former being connected more with sanctity. The temple of God is holy. You get God's family, which is God's house or His household. The "house of Aaron" meant Aaron and his descendants -- that is the idea of house now; those born of God are His house. Thus a christian is never out of the house for he forms part of it. Jew and gentile are built together, thus it covers the whole company of God's chosen. This is why it is not a local assembly. It is the house of God because God dwells there. As a man is known by his house so God is to be known in His house as a Saviour God and a God of grace -- His children are to be the expression of this. God gave testimony to Israel but very little testimony went out from Israel, but now the house is evangelical. The work of God through the evangelist should go on whatever the state of confusion in the world, because the house is still there.

Baptism brings you into the system of christianity in contrast to judaism. It brings you into the "court which is without", Revelation 11:2. John was to measure the altar and the temple and the worshippers -- the true thing -- but not the court without. Children do not form part of the house of God but they are in the kingdom, "for the kingdom of the heavens is of such" (Matthew 19:14), and they come within the court of the temple but do not form part of the house itself.

The epistles are addressed to those who were on the ground of profession. What characterises the house of God is life, it cannot go beyond the limits of the Spirit; it is a spiritual house. The "great house" is the system of profession built up by man and it will be

rejected. The house of God is composed of those who obey the gospel of God. Those who do not obey are left to judgment on account of the jealousy of God with regard to His children. There is no confusion in what is of God: the confusion is in what man has set up. What has been built by Christ has been obscured -- but it is there all the same. Everything is of the living God -- the christian is the child of the living God -- everything is connected with the living God who has come out in the power of resurrection. You cannot connect a dead world with a living God -- death is upon all else.

"My house" is the centre of approach for all the world (Isaiah 56:1 - 8). It gives you the idea of it -- a centre of gathering, not only for Israel but for all nations. Jehovah was the God of the whole earth. The Spirit of adoption brings you beyond anything of earth. A man goes up to the house of God in his own soul, in the apprehension of it. All progress must be spiritual. First we go into the courts of the tabernacle and eventually find ourselves in God's house. We never can know God except in His own house. Every child of God who has the Spirit forms part of God's house. Every justified person has the Spirit.

The point in 1 Timothy 2 is "testimony" -- what suits God. If I go into a man's house I study him because I would like to be in accord with that person and with his mind. So, in God's house both the men and the women have to be in accord with God. The house of God is known by the prevalence of unity. The house of God is what God has set up here on earth -- it is the work of God and no one had any hand in building it but Christ. Responsibility connects itself with the ground people take. If you take the place of a servant you have to be faithful. Christ is Son over God's house but you are companions of Christ there. You could not enter the holiest save as in the house of God. The house of God will ultimately take in the whole universe;

"... whose house are we, if ..". (Hebrews 3:6) -- that is we are tested. The Spirit of God will not own them unless they hold fast.

The thought of affection and love is proper to the house of God because God is there known according to His nature. Piety ought to be the great characteristic of the house of God. Faith is the introduction into God's things, but piety brings God into my things and there is a lack of piety in christians generally. The knowledge of God in the house ought to beget piety and confidence. It is a mystery because the care of God to His children is not manifest! There is no moment of your lifetime when you are not of God's house. It would be bordering on irreverence for any one christian to address God as "my Father". In approaching God, as Father, you have to acknowledge that you are one of many children. You say 'our Father' -- the Lord only could say "my Father". God dwells in His house and His testimony is where God is. The saints in chapter 2 are looked upon as in a place of intercession in connection with the testimony of God to the world, and His mind and attitude to the world. In going out in testimony men ought to carry the sense of the house with them; and to enter into the mind of God who will have all men to be saved. We should take character from God. We testify that the "Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world", 1 John 4:14. You hold forth the word of life. Every christian has a certain responsibility with regard to evangelistic work; first in intercession and then in the conduct of the men and the women which often hinders the testimony. They may very easily hinder it -- they must not falsify his testimony. If a man does not lift up holy hands and if a woman adorns herself in worldly attire, they give people the impression that God is going on with the world. But God is acting entirely outside the world's order. God is one, and in regard to the testimony of God it is outside all nationality. The

church looks at the world as a whole and prays for all, it has no national place. It desires the quiet of the world that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. No European country has any national existence in the eye of God, they form part of the fourth beast (the Roman power).

We should honour the Government and the powers that be. I am bound to honour the king and to submit to the powers that be. The house of God is world-wide, that is the great point. The relation of God in regard to His house does not recognise any nationality. We want to get an apprehension of the house of God as morally outside of the whole world's system. Verse 4 means that there is nothing in God's mind against any man. His nature is love and it is love toward all men. We must not stretch the passage to mean "purpose". Why do not men get the benefit of God's testimony? It is not God's fault that men are not brought into the enjoyment of His grace: it is man's fault. It is in the consciousness of this that we go out with the gospel, but the practical difficulty is that christendom knows it.

THE LOVE OF GOD AS THE SOURCE, AND ETERNAL LIFE AS THE RESULT

John 3:14 - 21

It is the feature of John's writings that he takes you back to the source of things and then takes you on to the final result. He does not take up what is intermediate. There is not much in John about grace and righteousness and justification, but what does come out is desire, love and eternal life -- he takes you back to what is the source of grace. So you get the statement here in the 16th verse, the love of God as the source and eternal life as the result. Grace and righteousness come in between the two. Christ is the fountain of the water of life. Where the love was expressed no one was outside the "whosoever", but now many are outside it. All is brought to an issue by the presence of the light. The light has come in and man has not believed it, so he is already judged. This issue is universal in its aspect and bearing, or rather, was universal. There was a moment when God came into the world, and His coming into the world has altered things greatly. Light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light. Love finds its rest and satisfaction in those who have eternal life. The coming of God into the world was light and men were found out by the light.

"God is love". No one of us can understand a Being who is love. We accept it, but cannot understand it, because we are finite. Judas was in the world when God gave His Son, but Judas was the son of perdition. God's love has gone out to every man -- God so loved "that he gave". The testimony of the cross is towards every man. The testimony of the gospel is the testimony of the grace of God. "He that believes not has been already judged" (verse 18) -- they are irreconcilable and we could not say that God loves them. God

knows them, I do not know them. We are justified in telling people that God came into the world in the Person of His Son and He is the object for faith, so there is the chance of eternal life for man. Paul prays that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men because "all men have not faith". God knows them. There is in the world irreconcilable hatred to God. If a man has turned away from the faith you can have nothing to say to him. The love of God was expressed in sending His Son into the world.

God's attitude towards the world is not changed but the world's attitude to Him is changed. He proved His love to the world and it was the end of the world because His love was rejected. His love has achieved its purpose and found its rest and satisfaction in those who have eternal life.

The state of the case is that God's coming into the world brought irreconcilable hatred to God. In preaching you want to present the truth. We are perfectly safe in saying that the love of God is proved by men having eternal life. There is the purpose of God -- the purpose of love. "God who is rich in mercy" etc. This verse 16 is not purpose -- it is on the ground of "whosoever". All the world were enemies to God and God loved the world in spite of its enmity. The world is condemned already. The presence of Christ brought out man's enmity. The fact of our being sinners did not hinder God's love -- He loved us in spite of our being sinners. What we can say to any man is that God's love has been manifested: and on the ground of that is "whosoever".

If you see a soul accept the testimony you know that there is a divine work there. You cannot say that God loves all men, for there are men who are obnoxious to God -- those who are "already judged". Those who have eternal life have left the world. Men are not "already judged" until they have rejected Christ. If a man is not subject to the Son the wrath of God continues

on him -- he is already judged -- it is not 'he will be judged'. There is a door out to any and every man but there is no such application to an apostate. God came close to man in love and this was the test to man.

Virtually in the eye of God the world is divided into two classes -- those who do not believe in the Son -- and those who have everlasting life. The heathen are in a different position to christendom. You could take John 3:16 to the heathen. God proves His love by coming into the world and the door is still open. The difficulty in this day is that christendom has been formed by the testimony. If the purpose of God's love had effect all would have eternal life. Verse 16 is a great revelation of God and in this way a man may be greatly affected by it. The testimony was clearly set forth at the outset -- but now it is obscured.

The difference between grace and love is that you could not say God is grace but you do say God is love. Grace is the way God adapts Himself to the need of the sinner. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. God is the creditor -- man the debtor. Grace meets him and love is behind the grace. There are those who are in the purpose of God's love. Paul was one -- a pattern of the elect. The attitude of God is grace toward all men. "Not willing that any should perish". The glad tidings are glad tidings of the grace of God. The love is behind it and it has eternal life in view. Grace is an activity of love. Love will satisfy itself. Love was there before the necessity for grace existed. The door is open for everyone and the love of God has come in to open the door -- so that anyone may go out. "Whosoever will, let him take" etc. Those who go out at the door which God has opened go out into the love and leave the world. You could not apply this to sinners generally. Christ had to come in and meet the state of every man (verse 14). God's purpose had to be accomplished.

Christ is the Son of man on behalf of men and Son

of God on behalf of God. Romans 5:8 refers to saints. The cross is a standing witness to the love of God. God has done all that love could do. All that remains for God to do in regard to the world is to judge the world. There is nothing for the world, as the world, but judgment. "Now is the judgment of this world;" John 12:31. Christ wants people to be saved and leave the world -- the door is still open -- because of the death and resurrection of Christ. God, at the cost of His own Son, has opened the door out of the world. I can preach Christ as far as I know Him, and no more. If people are determined to remain in the world, they are "already judged", but we preach a way out of the world. It is there for "whosoever will" to go out of it. Satan is the god and prince of the world -- but anyone may leave the world by faith in Christ -- Christ receives sinners in grace. I should tell sinners that Christ receives them in grace. God does not love us because we were sinners but in spite of our being sinners -- it was the love of purpose. When you have got the Holy Spirit you are proved to be the elect of God. Romans 5:8 is spoken of those who have the Holy Spirit. The grace of God brings salvation to all men and they are tested by the light. On the one hand they get eternal life and on the other they are "already judged". The kindness and love of God our Saviour has appeared -- you cannot improve upon that! Things are far more accurately expressed by the Spirit of God than we can express them. God made man and He loved the man He made, but that was not when the man was a sinner. Man now finds a place in heaven and Satan is cast out because he has corrupted the man whom God loved. If a man rejects Christ he puts himself outside the love of God. The gospel comes in by Christ holding the door open for man to leave the world. The great object of all preaching is to lead souls to Christ so that they may get living water, but in order to reach Christ they must leave the world -- they

cannot find Christ in this world. That is when baptism comes in -- it means a man leaving the world. A man is manifested before God. Repentance is preached in the way of grace, not in the way of demand. A man cannot repent until he believes. The great subject of preaching is Christ. Death is upon man and judgment is before him. The great point is to preach what you know and what you know is by the Spirit. The lake of fire is connected with the sovereignty of God -- it is beyond me altogether. If the preacher does not preach Christ he has nothing to preach.

THE SPIRIT IN THE HOUSE

1 Timothy 4:1 - 16

This chapter and the remainder of the epistle have to do with the latter times of defection. This is why he is exhorted to take heed to the doctrine. We come to this point that we contemplate the presence of the Spirit in the house of God and the utterances of His voice in the way of warning against defection. The Spirit of God keeps an eye upon things and is always upon the alert to warn against defection. Verse 6 indicates the direction which evil would take, setting up abstinence as a kind of superior sanctity. It is the principle of ritualism and the acknowledgment of the flesh. Timothy was to be on the alert and to warn the saints against things which tend to corrupt. Many things appear specious and people are taken in by them before they know. It is not everyone who can see what principles are involved in things which may naturally appear very good. The apostle exposes the evil of the thing in itself, he says "For every creature of God is good", etc. (verse 4).

The presence of the Spirit gives a proper place to every ordinance of God -- it does not set them aside. It is one great proof of the Spirit of God that every ordinance of God is maintained in its proper place -- marriage and such like. Celibacy would be introduced into the established church if they dared to do it. If you take Papacy it is all a system of lies, and ritualism is not much better. The only idea they have of holiness is in a material way. All that system is hypocrisy without their knowing it, and then the conscience becomes cauterised. If the conscience were alive they would be afraid to touch these things. The men are the demons, as satanic doctrine may characterise a man. What satanic influence is being carried out in the world

under the name of Christ! Prayers for the dead, etc. is doctrine of demons. In the house of God the Spirit of God keeps up His warning voice against these things, but they go on in the "great house" -- christendom!

It is evil coming in in a systematic form -- they depart from the faith -- it is apostasy in principle, though it is connected by profession with the name of Christ. It is departure from the faith and the introduction of a great deal which was originally heathenish. It is not like the tares; they are heresies. Corruption is subtle because it is generally things carried beyond their proper limits, which were originally of God. Death with Christ is right but if you carry it too far and make it death to nature, it is corruption.

Men trafficking in divine things end in having their consciences cauterised. The best man that ever lived can get corrupted by dabbling in evil. The corrective is piety, for piety respects every divine ordinance. You get piety on the part of children to parents because it is a divine ordinance. It is a divine ordinance that God is the preserver of all, specially of those that believe, because they respect every ordinance of God. A priest goes in for celibacy because he disregards the ordinance of God. You draw on a living God -- that is what piety does. The apostle went on labouring and suffering reproach because he trusted in a living God. There is no moral corruption in any food -- it is set apart for man's use. A man never abuses what he receives with thanksgiving; it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. The word of God here is the principle through which we know God -- the testimony of God -- and prayer is testimony with God. The creatures of God are properly for those who stand in relation to God and we stand in relation with God through His word and prayer -- a divine testimony having reached us. It is intercourse with God (verse 6). The way in which divine things have reached us are as food to us. The words in which the faith is expressed are taken up and

become food to us. The faith must be conveyed to us in words. A man cannot pretend to anything beyond what be has attained but be is nourished by the faith and sound doctrine. It is in the Holy Spirit. The mind of God is there to perfection for the Spirit is the truth. Christ is the Spirit of truth objectively and the Spirit is it subjectively. You must have the medium of communication and there are the Scriptures.

The Jews have the Scriptures but they have no light from God so that they are a dead letter to them. Until God begins to work in the Jews it is no use. You can only know divine words by the things. Whatever Scripture contains you get intelligently, but you have it first by the Spirit. It is possible to have your head crammed full of doctrine and know nothing by the Spirit. You get no real light beyond the teaching of the Spirit. What can be more important than that a man should have the truth in a divinely appointed form and the Scriptures give you the truth in a divinely appointed form. A man needs to get the truth in a divinely given shape.

If a man made light of the Scriptures that man could not be led of the Spirit of God. Our minds are liable to run riot and we need the Scriptures to keep us within bounds. The intelligence of the house comes by the Spirit. If Paul had attempted to communicate to the saints anything outside of the knowledge of the twelve apostles they would have been justified in refusing it -- for all had come out in Christ. The Spirit had brought all things to their remembrance, whatever He had said to them. Nothing could be taught by Paul which had not come out in Christ Himself. It was given to Paul to communicate it -- not to the twelve. It was impossible that the Spirit could seal an incomplete testimony. The Spirit of God is the witness for Christ and He maintains the truth. God, in His wisdom, has given the Scriptures for a guard but the Spirit is the power of the testimony. He is the witness for Christ.

People need an interpreter and God, in His mercy, furnishes the key -- the Spirit of God and He uses a vessel. What was given to Paul completed the testimony of God.

It was not given to Peter to give out the truth of the assembly -- it was given to Paul. The apostle deposited the testimony in the church -- for the assembly is the pillar and base of the truth. All light is got by the Spirit of God from Christ. No one can attempt to define how the Spirit of God teaches -- it is the anointing. Man is to have the light of life. The word of God in Scripture is a moral idea -- "For the word of God is living and operative", etc. Hebrews 4:12. Christ was the Word of God -- it was not simply the words He said -- but He was it.

The great fact of the resurrection is the word of God -- it is God's testimony -- Christ is God's great expression of Himself.

In chapter 6 we find heterodoxy; any man who would use christianity to upset the ordinances of God is heterodox. A christian does not seek to undermine what God has established. Christ taught His disciples to respect things which existed. This chapter 6 is dissent and also suffering worldly advantage to be an end in piety; pursuing and using christianity as a means for present advantage. All the principles which we see abroad at the present time, the Spirit warned against at the outset. It all shows the importance of not being affected by what you see, but by the Spirit of God. All outside the Spirit of God means departure. There is a great deal amongst us that is only external -- we can only help each other as inside what is of the Spirit. Brethrenism might have a very great semblance of the truth and yet be very far from it.

Timothy is the typical servant -- he continues until the coming of the Lord -- Paul passed off this scene. We should be very well content to be judged by Scripture in all that we say and put forth.

SPIRITUAL VITALITY

2 Timothy 1:1 - 18

The first epistle lays down the course and conduct of the servant when the house is in order -- the second when all is in confusion. In the second the house is not seen and when the house is no longer seen as a witness then it is that life comes into prominence. A pillar is a witness. "Great house" is a figure -- an analogy.

Life is that by which you can counteract the force of evil -- what is genuine witnesses itself. The epistle has its importance in being addressed to the servant -- he has to go on with those who are like-minded -- those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Paul charged him to keep the commandments irreproachable until the appearing, so that the servant is looked upon as continuing until the appearing. The only way in which the house can express itself or come into view is by life. The house is spiritual life brought to light. The magicians could imitate up to a point, but they could not produce life. What good are we as to the existing state of things around us save as there is evidence in us of spiritual vitality -- we are not a single bit of good beyond that. We get the marks of it in the epistles. There is wonderful energy about life -- an energy that will not be overcome. You cannot get the unity of the Spirit in that way but you ought to see the energy of life in being superior to the state of things around and going on in spite of it all (verse 7).

The energy of life overcomes death. Everything serves God's purpose even though the church has failed as a witness. The apostle speaks of himself in the first chapter as an apostle according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. It is prominence given to Christ as Head -- life and incorruptibility are brought to light. So the great thing for us is to be apart from Adam and from

the world. All is "in Christ Jesus" now -- we get it seven times in this epistle. The collective thing has failed so we cannot look for it now. In the first two chapters of this epistle a company is contemplated but in the last chapters the servant is standing alone. The servant has to be prepared to stand alone if need be, as the apostle found himself alone. You are prepared for what may never occur. It would not be the mind of God that such should be. Paul committed his happiness to the Lord "against that day". It was not the idea of making the best of both worlds. He had suffered the loss of everything here.

In chapter 4: 3 - 5 Timothy is contemplated as alone -- it is what the servant must be prepared for. There might be a good many Timothy's and the energies of life coming out in each! What is right for the servant is right for everybody! The servant is simply a pattern -- he sets the example. The servant is not worth much if he does not set the example. In chapter 2 you get his course -- his relation to things. It marks out the course and path of the servant and in which he is to be the pattern for others to follow. It is not only what a man says but what a man is -- this is his power -- he must be an exponent of the truth. Many do not get beyond a thought of expounding Scripture! Everything to the man of God is in the Spirit of God and the Spirit's work. Gift is by the Spirit direct from Christ. A man might be able to set forth truth and yet have no gift at all. It does not depend on a man's acquirements. Gift would, in a measure, affect people, as Christ affected people. An evangelist would affect people by the glad tidings as Christ did though not in the same measure. The person is characterised by the gift. The perfection of all was in Christ and He gives what is of Himself.

Evangelists, pastors and teachers, still exist -- they are all of Christ Himself. Christ receives them from God to give them. The servant is to use what he is entrusted with. We have not to be taken up with what is going

on but turn away and pursue a dear path.

It is not ecclesiastical -- it is moral. "In Christ Jesus" is in contrast to Adam, as head of another stock and all that is done here for God is in that "man Christ Jesus". All is life in contrast to death. Life comes out morally in faith and love and grace, etc. Where are they if not in Christ Jesus? They are not in "us"! They come out in us by the Spirit. These things never were in Adam -- it is all in Christ Jesus. Faith, love and grace are characteristic of Christ. He is the source of them. Circumstances have changed but He has not changed morally for He is the same "yesterday, and today, and for ever". He was the Head of a new stock the moment He became Man.

Christ "risen" is the common testimony to Jew and gentile. Everyone who has the Spirit is in Christ. But you must be born again first or there would be nothing for the Spirit to attach Himself to if we were not born again. Nothing will avail down here except as what is of Christ. If a servant takes up the methods of the world sooner or later he will become the world's servant and be overcome by the world. Spurgeon is a sample of it -- he wrote against the down grade and he adopted the ways of the world and fell under the power of it, and when on his death-bed all the great people of the world were enquiring after him. In a day of departure such as the present, nothing of Adam or of the world will stand -- the only thing in real power is in Christ Jesus. Our faith is that Jesus is the Son of God.

"My gospel" was the testimony confided to Paul -- he presented that Christ world-wide, as He is, is the expression of God's mind for man. The portion of anyone, who believes the apostle's gospel at the present time, is complete conformity to Christ. This is a world-wide Christ in glory as God's thought for man, and that comes out at the rejection of Stephen's testimony. God revealed His Son in him that he might testify of Him among the god-making heathen (Galatians 1:16).

Life and incorruptibility are brought to light in respect of man in Christ risen. The testimony of our Lord is the testimony which the Lord had confided and Paul was the special vessel of the testimony. The subject of it was Christ. We ought not to be ashamed of this testimony. The Holy Spirit carries it out now. It means the complete displacement of man as man -- hence comes in the rub! God gets rid of the best as well as the worst! and man does not like to be displaced. The testimony brings out all that is in the heart of God for man. The gospel means to carry into effect what was effected on the cross -- which is reconciliation; that is, that man is utterly set aside. This brings opposition. If you maintain the gospel as Paul did you will get into trouble. It is impossible in the very nature of things that, when God has removed the man who was obnoxious to Him, He will suffer that man now.

What we want to manifest is that we are from the stock of the Man who was raised from the dead. You may preach God's thoughts to man but whether man can take in God's thoughts is another matter -- so that is where ministry comes in. The distance is gone for man and where the distance was there is complacency -- that is that God can have complacency, not in me, but in Christ. God has only Christ before Him. It is very wonderful to see how the power of life comes out in the apostle in this epistle. All men forsook him, but there was not a bit of 'give in' in the apostle. In the present day it is a difficult thing to stand rigidly apart from the evangelical work. People are bonded together in societies and all their bond is work -- it is a kind of world of its own. Their gospel does not come up to the ministry of reconciliation! It does not go beyond meeting the need of man. Results wholly depend upon God. You can present the light of God, but results accomplish the sovereign purpose of God. This is the work of the gospel.

If God causes the sun to shine the light is for every

man. The light fell upon the pieces of silver and the silver was manifested by the light. The great object of the light coming into a city is to make manifest the elect. When the church got under the power of the world, it adopted the world's methods. If an evangelist came into a town there would be no harm in going from house to house and giving a notice, but in posters and placards you are trading on the world's toleration of christianity. It is the right thing for saints in a place to try and bring in all they can, but we want to be independent of the world and its toleration. If we do not stand clear of the world we shall come under the power of it. When Hezekiah showed all his things to the king of Babylon he was in his power and the people were carried captive to Babylon. Whatever trades on the world's toleration puts you under its power. You may preach when you like in the open air for the air does not belong to the world! The point is that God never intended the gospel or those who preach it to be in bondage to the world. The great thing in the gospel is to take men out of the world. It is not fair to preach in a chapel, because if the people to whom I preach accepted my preaching it would break up the chapel! The Spirit of God was enough at the beginning, for three thousand people were converted at one preaching. Now it takes three thousand preachings to convert one man!

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION

Isaiah 51:5 - 6; Romans 12:2

Righteousness and salvation are coincident and contemporary -- this is an important point to remember. You get it in Isaiah 51:5 - 6 -- all prove that God's righteousness and His salvation are parallel -- they run together. Salvation is one step further than righteousness. Righteousness is that we stand in relation to God morally. If a man is not in righteousness, he is in lawlessness. God has had in view that man may be brought morally into relation to Him. The point is to see it in Christ, not in Scripture. We are too doctrinal and we want to see it in Christ. The wonderful thing has come to pass that Christ is the revelation of God's righteousness and He is also our righteousness. God has made Him unto us righteousness. What is wanted is for people to apprehend things morally, that is, as they must be. The great point on the part of God was to declare His rights. Sin having come in, it became necessary for God to declare His rights and He has declared them in the righteous One. Romans 3 is the doctrine of it, but the reality of it is in Christ. God Himself took up man's liabilities and met them in the righteous One. That was His grace in order to enforce His righteousness and His righteousness is His rights. To assert and declare the righteousness of God and His rights are to govern the affections of His creatures. Until a man bows to the grace of God he will never own the rights of God. The third chapter of Romans is more moral than judicial. God begins entirely de novo in Christ. The great point is that man should submit to the righteousness of God. If God had not approached man in grace, man would have had to come under judgment God acts for man and yet independent of man. It is the declaration of God's rights -- it is

apart from law. The righteousness of God was there before sin came in and will exist after sin has been finally judged. Until sin came in the rights of God had their place -- God now wants to bring man back to that. Judgment rested on man and God took it up in Christ to bring man back to His righteousness.

God's rights have their foundation in His nature, which is love, and love is of God, and He claims the love of man. Grace brings man to the righteous requirements of the law. Everything is centred now in Christ. In the new heavens and the new earth no sin exists, so that righteousness and sin could not be correlative there. In the very fact of God being the Creator He has a right to the affections of every intelligent creature.

The great principle with God is recovery and in order to do that God has taken up man's liabilities. Noah regained, typically, what Adam had lost. Judgment is God's strange work. In Isaiah 1, for instance, there is no judgment; salvation runs parallel to righteousness. His righteousness is towards all and His love is the spring of it. It gives you a wonderful thought of God. Man is brought to righteousness by being brought to God in his affections. Man gives up seeking to establish his own righteousness and submits to the righteousness of God and now the righteous One conducts him to the paths of righteousness. We see it in Proverbs 8:20 - 21. You are righteous as He is righteous -- you apprehend that Christ is your righteousness -- but He has, in that, terminated you. He could not be holden of death. He terminated us that we may live in Him. Our liability was death and if He takes up our liability He terminates us -- so that if you believe in Christ the next thing is you are baptised. You are terminated as in Adam, but you count yourself as alive unto God in Christ. Propitiation is the termination of all, so that you can be in Christ. It is all moral. The gospel and what is connected with it is all moral. Righteousness is a moral thought, not judicial. It is the

rule of the moral universe. The rule of the physical universe is attraction. There are certain laws by which all is governed -- there is no lawlessness. A meteor may be described as 'lawless'. But the rule of the moral universe is righteousness and when a man becomes lawless he gets out of his orbit into space like a meteor. You really can read the gospel behind the law -- behind it all was the great truth that God is love. The devil could not command love -- only a Being who is love could command love.

The great moral principles of the law are, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God", etc. The declaration of God's righteousness in Christ explains everything. It is in His death that Christ is the declaration of God's righteousness. The great point is to see the purpose of the gospel and that is to bring man back to God. In the moral universe you must have righteousness. We are attracted to the righteous One by the very fact that He took our liabilities and now He leads in the way of righteousness.

Christianity is a living system and all is centred in Christ. It has all been set forth in Christ. The two great principles of the will of God down here are that there is no lack and that we overcome evil with good. As we live in Him, He lives in us. Man knows nothing of the love of God till he believes in Christ. People often confound relation to God morally with practical righteousness. The love of God brings you to holiness; grace brings you to righteousness. Practical righteousness is that you are here for the will of God. Everything is out of course down here, and the great point is that the will of God should be proved in us "that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" as it marked the pathway of Christ here. There is abundance for every need.

Righteousness is the first principle in the moral universe. The love of God is the source of it. No one will be right until he apprehends it. It is divine love --

not our love. Salvation runs parallel to this and you are free from the power of the enemy -- you are not afraid of man or devil. It is only in darkness that evil can work. The moment you come into the light the power of evil is broken -- the enemy is dead on the seashore. The will of God has been perfectly set forth in the world in Christ, and He always overcame evil with good. His appointment is eternal life (John 12:50 and Psalm 133:3). There is no lack there! In the body of Christ there can be no lack; it comes down even to 'mercy'! Grace is enjoyed but righteousness is a moral necessity. Apart from righteousness all the world would go into perdition. The effect of grace reigning is to subdue people and bring them to God. It is like the influence of the sun upon every planet -- so the righteousness of God is upon all that believe. It is God's estimate of the man. The last verse of 2 Corinthians 5 is the expression of divine righteousness, everything in perfect gear with God. In the heavenly city there is also unity and perfection, it completely meets the glory of God. His glory abides in it. By means of the heavenly city God puts Himself in relation to the whole universe.

THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE REST OF GOD

Hebrews 3:1 - 6

Israel was God's house but they did not enter into God's rest. The thought of God's house carried the thought of God's rest. Israel was God's house because He dwelt amongst them. Moses was faithful in Israel. The real builder of God's house was Christ. The great idea of 'house' is God's dwelling. The tabernacle of God is with men and in that sense the universe becomes the house of God. The tabernacle and all the material for building it were taken from Israel -- they became His household (Exodus 25:8). The tabernacle was identified with the people and they with the tabernacle. Israel always fell short of their privileges. Things would have been very different if Israel had come up to their privileges. It is all moral rather than material. There must be a certain means by which God could dwell among men and that was set forth in the detail of the tabernacle. When the people were out of gear with the temple, the Lord said "But the Most High dwells not in places made with hands", Acts 7:48. Christendom has departed very far from the true idea when they think God can be worshipped in temples made with hands. God's great idea was that He should dwell among His people. "Whose house are we" is moral and conditional. Profession and possession ought to go together. The divine thought in the house is that God is close to us, dwelling among us that He may be known. No one can know God at a distance. If a soul enters into the knowledge of God he enters into the rest of God. You reach the knowledge of God in the house of God. You are the house. Believers compose the house. The house was formed by the descent of the Holy Spirit. The material was

there and the stones were there and the Holy Spirit came to form it.

You get the idea of the house in the day of Pentecost at the descent of the Holy Spirit. Christ is Son over the house and that gives character to the house of God. Water baptism brings you into christian profession -- professedly into identity with the church. The apostle pressed on the Jews to save themselves from this untoward generation, and they were baptised in order to do this. There is privilege connected with it. The families of believers in the early days of Christianity were brought up in the light of that instead of in the darkness of heathenism. The children of saints have thus a great deal of advantage. They have a recognised place in the epistles. They come under the Lord, they are in the kingdom -- "for the kingdom of the heavens is of such", Matthew 19:14. But all that is not the idea of the house, it is more in connection with the kingdom. The similitudes of the kingdom shew that both good and bad are in it. The house may be where the kingdom is not. If judgment first begin at us, the 'us' is the house of God. That scripture in Peter is very conclusive as to what the house of God is -- for if God is so particular about His own -- what will become of the sinner?

Believers have to be led on. We do not come to the good of it (the Living Stone) and realisation of it all at once. The house of God and the holy priesthood are in God's mind for people -- but when people connect Christ with the world it is very certain they have not come to Christ as the "living stone", disallowed of men. People may be sanctified in an outward way and yet become apostates. The Spirit of God addresses people on the ground which they assume. They take that ground and God takes them up on that ground. This refers to Hebrews 10:29. The man here esteemed the blood of the covenant, whereby he has been sanctified, common ... -- he was only a professor. We must have

God near to us to know Him. He has come near to us that we may know Him and know how He orders His house. The conduct that suits His house is lowliness, meekness and forbearance. You become companions of Christ in God's house. He is over God's house. God is learnt in His house close at hand in a wonderful way in connection with His ways, and His people in discipline and care.

Any man in his own house orders things for himself; and in God's house He orders things for Himself; and thus He orders things for the blessing of His people. If God's house is here and God has a supper He has something to put before them. There is the fatness of His house. "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy ones with bread", Psalm 132:15. People are compelled to come into God's house to God's supper now. You get the mind of God through being brought into God's house. We do not get any light as to God's things until we recognise the presence of God by the Spirit. "I will satisfy her needy ones with bread" is what we get in God's house.

The divine idea of God's house is that He would lead us into His rest. It is His thought in regard to us. The marriage supper in Matthew 22 is a similitude of the kingdom, but Luke 14 goes much further. The thought of the rest is very important. The point is, are you complacent in yourself or have you reached God's point of complacency which is His rest. We are the house, Christ prepares the material but we cannot be said to be of the house until we have received the Spirit. We must get hold of things morally if we want to see the kingdom. It has a great moral effect on us if we see God's complacency; it takes the self-complacency out of us (see chapter 4: 12). You fall into self-complacency.

On the other hand, if you are labouring to enter into the rest of God, it is a continual exercise -- the word of God is continually probing you. It is labour to enter into that rest and for the reason that the word of God is

"living and operative", etc. and dissects everything. God will not allow us to be self-complacent because we are then in danger of falling. The word of God here is the testimony. You are continually coming to Scripture and you find you never come up to the standard. Things are laid down there which are according to the mind of God and we find we are very far below it. It detects us. The thing is, are we going to enter into God's complacency and if we do we enter into the rest of God but if we become self-complacent we are in danger of falling.

We are put in touch here with the great High Priest -- Jesus the Son of God -- who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. The word of God is that in which God is expressed. Here it is the moral idea in contrast to the letter. Any book composed of letters would be a very poor expression of God. The word of God brings us into the presence of God Himself. God has seen fit to express Himself and when you come into the presence of that expression you find yourself judged. You are continually brought to the Scriptures. The rest of God now involves a place where God can be complacent and that is found in the ark of the covenant. God set aside all the first order -- the order connected with responsibility.

The place of God's choice was mount Zion. There are thousands of people in the present day who are zealous for the letter of Scripture and yet they ignore the Spirit of truth. The letter kills. The great purpose of God is to bring us to Himself. The reason why all is not plain to us in Scripture is that we are not up to it. There may be a place where we can enter into the rest of God now. It must be through a good deal of exercise -- you have to labour to enter into it.

The holiest is the place where all is according to God's glory and there is no flesh -- this is the point to be reached. The hope is along the way -- the rest is at the end, though we reach it morally now. The idea of the

holiest is that flesh is excluded and there is nothing but what is according to God's glory. God rests there in Christ -- there is no conflict there. We are according to His glory by the work of God. Reconciliation is known and God is complacent. God cannot be complacent where all is not according to His glory. When we enter into this we shall understand Hebrews 4. People get into a self-satisfied, self-complacent state and that is their rest, but God wants to bring you into His rest, and that is only reached through labour and exercise. In regard to the rest of God we must reach Christ; He is God's rest.

Chapter 4: 1 - 2 is connected with what comes before it. You will not enter into rest without faith. Everything culminates at the end of the third chapter in unbelief! and then God swore that they should not enter into His rest. Neglecting the great salvation proves the absence of faith. Rest now is all a point of reaching Christ where Christ is. There is nothing but labour in our life of responsibility all along the line and all the time of our sojourn here.

THE CHURCH AS THE WITNESS

Ephesians 3:14 - 21

F.E.R. Do you not think it is a general principle in the ways of God before He displays anything in result in glory, He gives the witness of it beforehand?

F.W.J. Yes.

F.E.R. Nothing comes out in display till God gives His witness in the first instance.

A.M. Would you give an example or two of it?

F.E.R. You do not want an example of every principle. A principle speaks for itself. The kingdom is our example. Eternal life is not set forth in display till there has been the witness of it.

J.B. There has been a display of nothing yet.

F.E.R. But there has been witness of many things.

F.W.J. Is not that principle true of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?

F.E.R. Yes. He came as a witness before He comes in glory.

F.W.J. The witness of the church is especially connected with the absence of Christ?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. Christ is absent and hid. The Holy Spirit is the witness. Christ speaks of Himself in Revelation 3:14 as the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

F.W.J. Is the church the continuation of the witness following on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?

F.E.R. Yes, the church is the witness of Christ. That is what this prayer is. There is witness of Christ here in the church.

F.W.J. And that especially to His exaltation?

F.E.R. It is more moral. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.... "that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God" (verse 19). The point of it all is that there might be sufficient witness for God here

before He comes out in display.

R.E. Why is it that there should be divine testimony first?

F.E.R. It is difficult to say. There is divine wisdom in it. God is to work out His purposes in a world of evil. It could not be otherwise. I do not see how the purposes of God could be worked out down here in any other way.

T.H.R. It forms us according to it.

F.W.J. Is the witness a kind of education that we may be formed by it?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so; we are formed by it.

Ques. That we might have it in faith before we have the display?

F.E.R. We are fitted to have part in the display.

J.B. Otherwise God would be left without a witness.

F.E.R. If God left Himself without a witness it would mean the world was given over.

Ques. Is there any display now?

F.E.R. No. It is a time of witness now, while Christ is hid within the veil it is not a time of display.

Ques. I was wondering if the three kinds of power in the end of the epistle meant display.

F.E.R. That power is not power of display but moral power. It is that we can stand here morally against the evil. Probably you might have to be a martyr. "Unto all endurance" (Colossians 1:11). That is where the power comes out.

St.C. What you spoke of is entirely connected with the Holy Spirit -- entirely dependent on the Spirit.

F.E.R. Yes. That we might be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. You get the idea of witness running through all time. I suppose there was never a moment when there was no witness. Scripture is not the witness but records what the witness is.

Ques. The whole of Hebrews 11 were the "great cloud of witnesses"?

A.S.L. The witnesses were persons then?

F.E.R. Yes. Enoch or Noah, then the patriarchs, then Israel. That is the burden of the latter part of Isaiah. Then Christ came and now the church is the witness.

A.S.L. So that there was a witness for God before the record of Scripture was written down?

T.H.R. God must close up things if there were not a witness.

F.E.R. When the witness of God ceases to command respect there is nothing left but for God to come in in judgment.

Ques. Does Laodicea give us an instance of that?

F.E.R. When men set up to have need of nothing, that is, express entire competency -- witness is no longer possible. That is the state of things pretty much as we have got them now. The witness of God is subject to criticism. The testimony does not command respect.

A.S.L. Then testimony and witness are the same thing. What would you say then is the witness?

F.E.R. The Holy Spirit. His presence is the witness, but the Holy Spirit is not the witness apart from the vessel.

J.B. How is the Holy Spirit the witness?

F.E.R. The witness of the Holy Spirit is that there is a Man in heaven who stands as Head to every man on earth.

A.S.L. "That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts" -- that is collectively, not that He dwells individually?

F.E.R. I think it is "the Christ may dwell", etc.

T.H.R. It is "the Christ". Christ is Head of everything.

A.S.L. Not the idea of Christ personally?

F.E.R. "Apprehend with all the saints".

F.W.J. I do not think everybody understood your remarks, Mr. Reynolds.

T.H.R. Everything God manifests in Himself comes

out in Christ. Set forth in Him -- in Christ now exalted.

F.E.R. We get in Christ the full and perfect expression of the mind of God in regard to man expressed in Christ personally.

A.S.L. That Christ is the Head of every man. Then the Spirit is here to bear witness of another Man?

F.E.R. Yes. In relation to every man on earth. The witness is contained in the assembly, but the assembly is the worshipping company.

A.S.L. And the assembly is a witness?

F.E.R. Yes, but that brings in the idea of the worshipping company. The church may serve two ends. God can have His part and it may be the witness.

J.B. "... Filled even to all the fulness of God" -- is that the witness?

F.E.R. I think the vessel suited for the full setting forth of God's mind constituted it.

J.B. What is the difference between Ephesians and the epistle of John -- ... "God abides in you", 1 John 2:14?

F.E.R. That is moral. His love perfected in us. This is more the setting forth of His mind -- what He is to be.

J.B. Man-ward? What does length, breadth, depth and height mean?

F.E.R. It shows you the whole expanse of the 'country' and what is going to fill it. The love of Christ will fill it.

F.W.J. Do you think the church ever rose to that?

F.E.R. I do not know enough of church history to answer that. I think not.

F.W.J. I was wondering if it did at Pentecost?

F.E.R. Perhaps so, in a way.

A.M. What do you mean by the 'country'?

F.E.R. The whole expanse in which God will be displayed in the universe of bliss.

T.H.R. The whole of the universe of bliss will be

characterised by "the Christ".

F.E.R. He will fill all things.

A.S.L. "That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts" -- not the Spirit?

F.E.R. It indicates it is God's pleasure. It is God's pleasure that Christ should dwell in our hearts by faith. The way of it is -- strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man, resulting in Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.

E.B.G. Faith is before the time of display?

R.E. The Spirit's work here is not apart from faith?

F.E.R. Nothing is in actuality in the present. It is all moral and must be to faith. The Spirit could not be apart from faith. We must get the light of things first and then the Spirit works on that. The first thing is that God enlightens a man and the Spirit works through the light.

J.B. Could Christ dwell in the heart in any other way?

T.H.R. It is not Christ as we get Him in Colossians.

F.E.R. No.

T.H.R. Ephesians brings in God's counsels in Christ. Christ the centre of God's counsels dwelling in the hearts by faith. It is not the testimony in a golden box but in our hearts by faith.

Ques. Does it not give character?

F.E.R. I think it gives intelligence, not character. It must be looked at in the abstract.

A.S.L. Then the next step is "rooted and founded in love" -- capacity.

F.E.R. You do not get intelligence in divine things except by love. It is one of the most important points that could be imagined. The great thing that expands man is love. With God intelligence is absolute, love is infinite. Just as a man enters into divine nature and answers to it, that man gets expanded. I do not think a man will get expanded by the study of Scripture but if he gets acquaintance with God he gets expanded.

T.H.R. Mere study would make a man cramped.

A.M. Is the idea of expansion "filled even to all the fulness of God"?

F.E.R. Yes, that gives the idea.

A.B. Is it not that everything must be cleared out to make room for it?

F.E.R. Affection is very expanding.

T.H.R. We must take in all saints.

A.B. What do you mean by taking in all saints?

T.H.R. All the glory of God in the church comes out in all the saints. You must at once take in your mind all the saints. It is the riches of God's glory, but all that comes out in the church. Abraham saw the wealth of glory in the sky. The church is the vessel in which everything of Christ is to beset forth.

F.E.R. I have come across men of very great natural intelligence but if you get a christian who is formed in the divine nature he can enter into things a great deal better than such men.

A.S.L. There might be the capacity to take in but not to give out.

F.E.R. A man ought to take in more than he can express. He cannot express up to what he has taken in. Just as in common things a man's intelligence must go with his growth.

Ques. In the thought of witness do we take it that at the present time the church is an adequate witness?

F.E.R. There is no other witness. Everything is in the church which is necessary for witness.

J.B. It depends on the present state of the saints I suppose?

F.E.R. I think the witness is greatly obscured. Everything lies in the Holy Spirit who is still here. The house of God is still here in its greatness and completion but greatly obscured.

R.E. The apostle preached the "unsearchable riches of Christ" -- is that the witness?

F.E.R. The preaching of it produced the witness.

We are apt to get the idea that everything is gone and we must do the best we can.

T.H.R. Everything cannot be gone while Christ is at the right hand of God and the Holy Spirit is here.

A.S.L. Nothing is gone.

A.M. Does it not tend to weaken us to say that everything has gone?

F.E.R. Yes, it does.

A.S.L. Mr. Stoney once said to a man, who said everything had gone, that nothing was gone but he (the man). The 'man' is gone.

Rem. There is not the power of the Spirit now as there was.

F.E.R. There is no decline in the Spirit -- only the witness has become obscured.

A.S.L. Would you say what the individual exercise and responsibility is in regard to the witness?

F.E.R. The first thing is to get clear of everything that is not of the Spirit. Break away from everything you are bound by. Human organisation and order is not of the Spirit of God.

A.S.L. And you become in a way a witness in yourself?

F.E.R. Yes, in a way.

T.H.R. There is the need to see the meek character of the church.

Ques. Then we have to break away from everything?

F.E.R. That is what the Spirit has been leading to. You want a sense that Christ is enough for you. You want to have a sense that even if you have to stand alone Christ is enough for you.

A.S.L. Then you would seek the company.

F.E.R. You will find yourself there.

Ques. Did not the apostle stand alone?

F.E.R. Yes, but the Lord stood by him.

A.M. It practically comes to the individual in these days.

F.E.R. People come into the order of fellowship

really without individual exercise and faith and if the form were to break down they would all be adrift.

Ques. Do you not think there is a great lack of men in this day?

F.E.R. Yes. How far we are really men?

Ques. If we are not men we might wish to be.

F.E.R. We are more like children -- carried about by every wind -- not much stability. We listen to this person and that -- there is very little of 'men' about us. It is trouble that really tests people -- how much stability they have.

F.K. What is the witness of God on high?

F.E.R. God has given to us eternal life and that life is in His Son.

F.K. The Spirit bears witness to that in the church.

F.E.R. It is a tremendous thing to say we have "the Son". The saints at the beginning could say so and if they were asked to prove it they could say 'The Son comes out in us'. The witness down here was really the life of God. "He that has the Son has life", 1 John 5:12.

J.B. What is that -- love?

F.E.R. "By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves", John 13:35.

F.K. It says that there are three that bear witness -- the Spirit, the water and the blood. What about the two latter?

F.E.R. They bear witness that we are apart from the world; apart from all that is contrary to God in the world. Your conscience is perfected. The Spirit brings in all that is positive. The Spirit is the Spirit of the glorified Man -- the Spirit of God's Son.

F.K. The water and the blood then clear us from all that we were.

F.E.R. Christ came in through water and blood and the Spirit is the witness of the heavenly Man.

Ques. Then you would say that the Spirit is the

witness to the church and the church is the witness to the world?

F.E.R. Yes. The saints are the vessels of witness to the world. You get the thought in John 17 "that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (verse 21).

J.B. "He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself", 1 John 5:10.

F.E.R. That is more -- it is the Spirit.

A.S.L. There is a difference between believing and having, is there not?

F.E.R. 'Having' the Son is a most wonderful thing. I should hesitate to say I have the Son. It goes beyond believing in Him.

R.E. Is the truth of christianity set forth in the Son? What is eternal life?

F.E.R. It is the enjoyment of life in the Son which holds in abeyance and renders powerless the power of death and evil. You come into the influence of life. They saw it in the presence of Christ. In the energy of life the power of evil is impotent. He has "the keys of death and of hades", Revelation 1:18. The powers of evil will be held impotent in the power of His life. He is not simply a man.

T.H.R. That means that He might be the source of life to us.

F.E.R. You will have to be in accord with this mighty energy in Christ.

Ques. Is that implied in the expression "Son of the living God"?

F.E.R. Yes. "On this rock I will build my assembly", Matthew 16:18. He says "I became dead, and behold I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades", Revelation 1:18.

T.H.R. It is a wonderful thing if we see that the church is not of the course of things here, but it will take its place in it -- come down out of heaven. Morally it has come down from God out of heaven now. He has

created for Himself one new man.

Ques. Is not the church here as much as ever it was?

F.E.R. The real point is that the Spirit is here and in the vessel. The vessel may be hid but it is here.

T.H.R. The church has descended to be the chaplain of the world -- like Micah who had a levite to be his priest in his house of gods. The world has a house of gods and wants the church to be its chaplain.

A.S.L. Is the Spirit in the vessel in virtue of being in the individuals who form the vessel?

F.E.R. Every believer has part in the Spirit but if you take the Spirit in the sense of dwelling, He dwells in the whole church.

A.S.L. Then there are two ideas?

F.E.R. There are two reasons. The Spirit dwells in the house. He dwells in every one that composes the house and He is said to dwell in the house that Christ builds. What Christ was occupied with while down here was building the house of God. The foundations were laid in redemption and the Holy Spirit came to dwell in it. No one but Christ ever had a hand in building the house of God. Moses was in a way the type but Christ was the real Builder, Christ the true Son of David. The Holy Spirit came down to dwell in the house that Christ built.

A.S.L. Then you put it rather the other way to what I did?

F.E.R. The Holy Spirit dwells in the church but it has been greatly obscured by the professing system.

Ques. Are we fellow-citizens of the household of God?

F.E.R. We come into the goodness of the house. Psalm 132, all the concern is the 'building of the house'.

A.S.L. Then you say the house was prepared for the Spirit?

F.E.R. The house was ready before the Spirit dwelt in it.

T.H.R. In resurrection life He breathes life.

A.S.L. I only thought He must be in glory before He built?

F.E.R. All the time He was here He was attaching people to Himself. He gathers them and when He goes up on high He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in the house. In John 20 all the material was there. The point in the house is that there is a witness here on earth to a Man in heaven.

A.S.L. What about 1 Corinthians 3?

F.E.R. There is no question of the house there. It is man's building affecting people but that is never spoken of as God's house. Keep to the idea that is carried through Scripture. God would have a house, but would not allow David to build it -- it was to be his Son -- Solomon built it and God repudiated it. Then the true Son of David built the house and God came to dwell in it.

R.B. What is the idea of judgment beginning at the house of God?

F.E.R. Discipline has to begin.

Ques. It is present?

F.E.R. Yes.

J.B. Was it not necessary from the beginning?

F.E.R. Not in the first energy.

Ques. Did it not begin with Ananias and Sapphira?

F.E.R. It is difficult to say anything about them or when it began. The house may be enlarged but the house is there. My house was there when I had, say, three children but it may be enlarged to ten children.

Ques. The house was there when you dwelt in it?

F.E.R. I do not think it was a house till I had children. Perhaps I ought to explain myself. We must get out of the material idea. What do any bricks and mortar care for me! That is not my house. My house is composed of those who have affection for me.

F.W.J. 'House' gives the idea of 'household'?

F.E.R. Yes, where the sufficiency and goodness of a

man are known. The house of God is where the sufficiency and goodness of God become known.

Ques. I was going to ask a question about Psalm 132:16 "and her saints shall shout aloud for joy".

F.E.R. They do not shout aloud much today. It is an immense thing when you get the divine thought made known.

A.M. It says in 1 Corinthians 3:9 "Ye are ... God's building".

F.E.R. You must allow in the mind of the apostle he was writing to real christians -- "Ye have been washed" (1 Corinthians 6:11) he says. He takes them up as real genuine christians.

A.M. But had he not suspicion of them?

F.E.R. They were "called saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2) and he does add "with all that in every place call ..". but he has before his mind real genuine christians. He takes them up on the ground of the one body.

A.M. But does he not appeal to them to "come out from the midst of them ..".? 2 Corinthians 6:17.

F.E.R. That was an appeal to come out from idolatrous associations. He takes them up on the ground that they were really christians. He wants to bring them out in manifestation. If you take the general purpose of the epistles he has before him genuine christians -- those who were the subjects of the work of the Holy Spirit.

R.E. Does the thought of failure come in in connection with the house?

F.E.R. No, I do not think so.

R.E. I was thinking of Luke 12; the ruler of the household who failed.

F.E.R. That was failure on the part of the steward. The servant may go wrong but the household is there and has to be regarded.

A.S.L. What was the Lord's thought in introducing baptism?

F.E.R. It was to mark definitely and distinctly the association of those who were baptised from the old, taking new ground.

T.H.R. Then the epistles are not written exactly to those in the house?

J.B. Then the epistles are written to the profession?

F.E.R. He takes people on their profession. Only two or three epistles take up the house of God. We have no allusion to it except in 1 Timothy, Hebrews and Peter. The epistles are written to the external body in any place known as christians.

A.S.L. "Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast .."., Hebrews 3:6. The proof would be in the continuing.

F.E.R. That is in a catholic epistle. I think we need not contend as to trifles. There is the thing spoken of as the household of God -- the builder, the Son of David. The idea prevails in the Old Testament; He shall build Me a house and He shall establish the kingdom.

Ques. Will you make it plain the difference between the house and household of God?

F.E.R. I cannot. There is no difference. Our being God's household constitutes us God's house. We form part of it. "Ye are a spiritual house". We are brought into the house that we may know God's goodness. You come under discipline and training. You come under the influence of all that God is. You learn all the goodness of God -- no dearth -- Psalm 132. There is no tone about you if you have not come under the discipline. You are pitched up and down and knocked about.

R.B. "For this cause", etc. What is the "cause" on which he bases the prayer?

F.E.R. The cause is the special place given to him that he should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and enlighten. The prayer is regarding saints universally.

A.M. What had the Lord made the foundation of?

F.E.R. Nothing but the foundation that is laid. In ordinary building the architect has the whole superstructure before him when the building is commenced.

A.S.L. The idea is that of an architect.

A.M. He said they were God's building.

F.E.R. That point was to press upon them that the work was really God's. He was really in the hand of God, that he could say "ye are God's husbandry". The house was formed before that in knowledge and purpose. Paul laid a good foundation in Corinth.

J.B. It has been said it was the foundation of the house.

F.E.R. That is going too far.

T.H.R. The Corinthians were looking at the apostles as men. He throws them back on God and God's work.

Ques. Then the house was built?

F.E.R. Yes, it was built and it is enlarged, but not outside the pale of true believers. At the same time I do not ignore the system man has set up.

A.M. There could be no privilege connected with that?

F.E.R. I do not know that. They have the light of God. The house of God is the source of light and the system comes into the range and benefit of the light. The very philanthropy that exists in the world is owing to christianity.

A.M. But if all the system is outside, God is not the author?

Ques. Inside all the profession there is the real thing.

F.E.R. The world has adopted christianity and has the benefit and responsibility. I ask people to take the testimony of Scripture. It speaks of it as a spiritual house, "pillar and base of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). "Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast ... firm to the end", Hebrews 3:6. It is surrounded by christendom like the court of the temple -- given up to the

gentiles -- though close to the real thing.

Ques. Profession would not hinder the house of God?

F.K. How could a man be a partaker of the Holy Spirit?

F.E.R. He has come under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The builder of God's house is Christ -- the Son of David. The Father gathers to the Son. The Son builds the house -- and then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the house.

THE SANCTUARY

Hebrews 8:8 - 13

A.S.L. You made a remark this morning, Mr. R. that there was something in Ephesians 3 about the worshipping company.

F.E.R. I forget exactly what was the connection -- it was a passing remark in connection with the 'body' I think.

T.H.R. You get the worshipping company in Ephesians 2:18 -- "For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father".

E.B.G. I think it was said that 'God might have His part'.

F.E.R. Yes.

A.S.L. The sanctuary must be the place of worship?

F.E.R. It is inseparable from the house of God. If God is known and men are taught of God, the effect must necessarily be that they approach God. The sanctuary is consequent on the house. The two hang together.

A.S.L. The sanctuary is no more material than the house. It might be said that the saints are the house but not the sanctuary.

F.E.R. The sanctuary presents the conditions of worship. You must find the sanctuary in the house and it is in the house that you do find the sanctuary.

T.H.R. The sanctuary is really the presence of God -- the sense of His presence.

A.S.L. The 'holiest' is the same thought as the sanctuary?

F.E.R. The sanctuary is taken up from the idea of the holiest. The holiest is the sanctuary to us.

F.W.J. Is Christ the Minister of the sanctuary as the Head of the body?

F.E.R. I think the two thoughts are very nearly akin.

He is the Head of the body -- the firstborn among many brethren. In that light He is the Minister of the sanctuary. Aaron set forth what is now fulfilled in Christ. The general ordering of the sanctuary attaches to Christ as Minister of the sanctuary.

A.S.L. As Son over God's house?

F.E.R. Yes. I think Aaron had all the responsibility of all connected with the worship of God. In all that was connected with the sanctuary and priesthood, his sons were associated with him. They were to share in the responsibility of the sanctuary.

A.S.L. Then the thought of the sanctuary for us is in association with the Son?

F.E.R. I would not quite say that. Aaron and his sons set forth association with the Son, but the sanctuary, as Mr. R. said, is the presence of God.

A.S.L. How do we find ourselves in the sanctuary?

F.E.R. I think people find the sanctuary as they are prepared for it. As you are prepared for it you find it.

A.M. In what way are we prepared for it?

F.E.R. You are brought into the house and taught by the Spirit -- instructed in the knowledge of God. You then begin to apprehend the sanctuary -- that is the light in which God can be approached.

A.S.L. I suppose there is no possibility of saints being in the sanctuary without Christ?

F.E.R. No. If He is the true Aaron He is the Minister of the sanctuary.

A.S.L. If saints find themselves in it, in what relation to Christ are they looked at?

F.E.R. "Firstborn among many brethren". Christ is apprehended as the true Aaron.

Ques. In what way is He Minister of the sanctuary?

F.E.R. He is divinely charged with the care of the sanctuary -- with approach to God.

A.S.L. The French translation gives it as 'official administration'.

F.E.R. The minister of the holy places.

Ques. Is that the thought in Exodus 29 -- "minister unto me". It is God-ward?

F.E.R. Priestly service is God-ward. The levitical service was different -- bearing the tabernacle.

Ques. Is He the conductor into the sanctuary as the great High Priest?

F.E.R. I do not think 'High Priest' is used in that connection. High Priest is in regard of the service of Christ to His people down here. That title comes in the earlier part of the epistle.

Ques. Can you tell us the difference between ministry God-ward and ministry man-ward?

F.E.R. Ministry man-ward may be any kind of service to the saints or even to those who are not saints. Ministry God-ward is service to God -- waiting on God.

F.K. Is not the word 'serve' in Hebrews used in a peculiar sense -- serve in a religious way -- to worship?

F.E.R. Exactly. There was divine service in connection with the tabernacle.

A.M. Would "serve the living God" in Hebrews 9:14 be worship to God?

F.E.R. Yes. It is in contrast to the priests going into the first tabernacle to serve the living God.

F.K. In the New Testament 'worship' is translated as 'service'.

F.E.R. Yes. Service in the sense of worship.

Ques. Is He the great priest in the sanctuary?

F.E.R. More as the Son. What is an interesting point in the Old Testament, in this connection, is that the true principle of priesthood is seen after the gain-saying of Korah -- that is Aaron's rod that budded. In the apprehension of things that is a point of very great importance in their application to us.

T.H.R. You must bring in life out of death to apprehend worship. One has to go to God's side of things. "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance" (Exodus 15:17). One has to have a sense that one belongs to the things

of God. We have been brought into another system of things.

F.E.R. In the fellowship of His death. The gain-saying of Korah represents the apostasy of christianity. The professing system perished. Christendom never gets into the holiest. After that you get Aaron's rod that budded -- that is the true principle of priesthood.

F.W.J. Do you mean by that there is a peculiarity to priesthood now?

F.E.R. There always was -- in the thought of God. It comes out distinctly in Aaron's rod. It did not establish the priesthood but it brought out the true character of priesthood in Christ Himself. Christ is in life -- out of death. Priests in christendom do not take that ground at all because they say priesthood is consequent on levitical service and not life out of death.

J.B. Must one know something about new creation also?

F.E.R. I do not think you can have anything that is properly priestly unless you have the idea of new creation. You have to learn death.

J.B. Would you exclude one who did not know that from worship?

F.E.R. If they have affection for God they might join in the worship of God. Priesthood in Christ Himself can only be in life out of death. It is a question of association with Christ.

A.S.L. Christ was priest personally -- was He not?

F.E.R. Yes, but I do not think that He could take priesthood up on that ground. If He is to take up priesthood in relation to man it must be in life out of death, because man is in death. Aaron's rod literally was life out of death. You get the real character of the priesthood -- the setting aside of the system that made Aaron priest and in the next chapter Aaron dies.

A.M. Would the "corn of wheat" go in that line at all?

F.E.R. Yes; quite so.

F.B. Then it was more than a confirmation of the priesthood?

F.E.R. It was an indication of what in God's mind is to be the real power of priesthood.

A.S.L. The power of an endless life?

F.E.R. Yes. Life out of death.

J.B. Is every person quickened who has received the Spirit of adoption whereby they cry "Abba, Father"?

F.E.R. A person might say "Abba, Father" in the power of the Spirit and not be quickened together with Christ. A person might have instinct and might in a sense be carried on by others.

Ques. But there would not be any exclusion of a 'babe' in Christ from the breaking of bread?

F.E.R. Not at all, but I was speaking of the question of the worship of God, and how He will be served. A young christian has everything in the Spirit but may be but little formed in it. Every man begins as a 'babe' and is formed in divine things. The father is nothing more than a babe, but the father is a father and the babe is a babe.

J.B. But is not every person quickened who loves God?

F.E.R. I admit that is a proof and evidence of the Spirit being there.

T.H.R. You must be brought on to the ground of resurrection in your soul.

F.E.R. You must be on a certain platform -- the platform on which God is. I think the first point to be ascertained is 'what platform is God on?' Then you must serve God on that platform.

T.H.R. I see the first intimation of worship in Abraham. God came in Genesis 15:1 and says "I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward" -- that is the earthly side. But in Genesis 17:1, 2 God takes Abram to His side "walk before my face, and be perfect. And I will set my covenant between me and thee ..". etc. and Abram fell on his face. It was the first recorded

act of worship -- the bowing down of the soul in the presence of God. Abram was called to God's side of things.

A.M. You mean by that the way He has revealed Himself?

T.H.R. There is a great difference between God's coming to me and my going to Him on His ground.

A.M. Would you say that sonship was the great qualification for worship?

F.E.R. Yes. But we were talking about the sanctuary and worship. In what light is God going to be approached? He is going to be approached in the light of what He is. It is a great point. You can contemplate God and give Him thanks. You can worship God in the working out of the purpose and counsel of His own will. It is what He is that brings in the platform of resurrection. Resurrection is the real beginning for God. The church is on the principle of life out of death. The whole range of divine purpose is on the principle of life out of death. We have to apprehend that He is working out His own will. "Ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead" (Colossians 2:12). That is the principle -- hence if it is a question of worshipping God, He must be apprehended in that light.

A.S.L. So that if our faith does not go as far as resurrection we do not get to worship?

F.E.R. I think there are many give thanks who do not come to worship. The fact is we have not quite got an idea of the sanctuary.

Ques. "Worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23) -- is that in connection?

F.E.R. Yes.

Ques. You would make a difference between 'title to enter' and 'entering'?

F.E.R. Oh yes. Everything belongs to the christian. There is no gift beyond the Spirit, but we only

enter as the Spirit of God gives us power.

Ques. Is the sanctuary the apprehension in the soul?

F.E.R. It is the apprehension of God in the light of His counsels in Christ.

A.S.L. You made a remark at the beginning to the effect that we get into the sanctuary when we are ready for it. Will you say a little more as to that?

F.E.R. There is an important preceding point -- that is, acquaintance with Christ. Those that live have to live under the conditions that God imposes. You cannot take up things on the ground that there is no harm in them. God has laid down conditions and everything outside of these conditions is death. If you are content to live under the conditions God has imposed, you live in the good of the covenant. We have come into the good of the covenant and if you will live by the benefits, then you will get the knowledge of God. The new covenant expresses God's disposition to us.

T.H.R. The soul really finds the rest of God.

A.S.L. What are the conditions you refer to?

F.E.R. The love and mercy of God -- all outside of death -- and all that is spiritual.

Ques. "One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell ..". etc. Psalm 27:4. That was his desire?

F.E.R. Yes.

T.H.R. Many do not understand that the thought is a place to 'dwell'. It is not a place to visit.

Ques. If we realise the presence of the Lord on Lord's day morning and walk disorderly during the week that does not mean that we should realise His presence the next time?

F.E.R. Everything depends on our condition at the moment.

A.S.L. With regard to the sanctuary; in thought you have not got the 'Lord' before you as in the Supper?

F.E.R. In the Supper it is not the 'Lord' before you. The title refers to us individually. He is the 'Head' to the assembly.

A.S.L. Is not the Supper the divinely appointed way by which the Lord introduces us to the assembly?

F.E.R. Yes. We recognise Him as Head. He is the Head of the priestly family. Mr. Darby always maintained that the title 'Lord' was introduced on account of their state. It is a title of reverence and respect.

F.W.J. Does not Paul change the title in 1 Corinthians 10? He speaks of the blood of "Christ" but when he is contrasting the cup with the cup of demons he speaks of the cup of the "Lord".

F.E.R. Yes.

A.S.L. We are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus.

F.E.R. Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him "lord", but Abraham was not 'lord' to Sarah. It is a question of respect and reverence.

T.H.R. Sarah obeyed Abraham. He was her head though she called him lord. She was true to her head.

R.E. Is the sanctuary the sense of apprehension of a Man in resurrection -- the thought of rest?

F.E.R. It is the resting place of God. It is the Man in whom God is working out the counsels of His own will. In the question of approach to God the first question is the 'call of God'. What are we called to? Too many never think of what they are called to. What was Abraham called to? If people took this question into account it would generally affect them. 'What has He called me to?' Then you get grace for the call.

A.S.L. What would you say the call is?

F.E.R. Sonship, through Jesus Christ, to Himself Then He has given us grace suited to the call -- the power of access by Jesus to the Father. Then the condition of the call is life out of death, proved by the statement that you are risen with Christ.

Ques. Why do you put that at the end?

F.E.R. Because you get that in type in Korah. They disregarded the call of God. Clergymen have no call and are trying to carry out the call without the grace. If God has called us (and we take that ground) we have grace suited to the call. Then the condition of the call can be carried out.

J.B. When you say that the call is sonship, it is the purpose of God?

F.E.R. It is what God has called us to.

J.B. So we can enter into it now?

F.E.R. We are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

R.E. Would you say that Israel apprehended the call in Exodus 15?

F.E.R. Yes. It is a curious thing that the first time sonship occurs in Scripture is in Exodus 4:22 -- "Israel is my son, my firstborn".

R.E. Then would you say that a soul must be in the good of Exodus 15 to enter the sanctuary?

F.E.R. Yes. We must apprehend the call. It is impossible for God to give us a call without first giving us grace to answer to it and the condition is life out of death. The principle of His operation was on the principle of life out of death. We have access by one Spirit to the Father. We have got the Spirit which cries "Abba, Father". We should be formed according to God's purpose. The renewing of the Holy Spirit can only come after the Holy Spirit is given.

Ques. Is the sanctuary the proper sphere for sonship?

F.E.R. Yes. I think so.

Ques. Will you say a little as to Exodus 15, 16 and 17?

F.E.R. How exceedingly interesting that is. First you get redemption. God took up His right in regard to His people. Then there is the thought of the "abode of his holiness". Where is it? His love is the abode of His holiness. Then "thou shalt bring them in". They must be according to His holiness. He brings you

to the sanctuary. In Hebrews 12 He chastens us that we may share in His holiness. His holiness abides in His nature. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

A.S.L. That brings us back to Ephesians 3.

F.E.R. The condition in which a christian is to live is in the love and mercy of God.

J.B. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Is that the abode of His holiness?

F.E.R. Yes. The love of God -- His nature -- is the abode of His holiness. You regard God in another light and the next thing is the sanctuary. You are prepared for it in nature. You are holy as God is holy. If we got into the sanctuary we should be consciously before the Father. We feel we are not fit for the sanctuary -- to enter into the nature of God.

J.B. To know the "length and breadth", etc.?

F.E.R. That is exactly it. The love of Christ takes in the whole range of divine counsel. He is the true land of promise. Christ has ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things.

J.B. Well I suppose no one need be discouraged?

F.E.R. Oh no! We need not be discouraged. I am not, although I feel how small I am morally -- how small we all are. We were all young once.

J.B. Some of us would like to know what you mean by being 'small morally'?

F.E.R. We are so young in the things of God. It does take a time to lead us into these things. We have to accept that we are nothing. I delight in the last verse of Hymn 87 -- 'That we our nothingness may know'. The apostle had a sense of his nothingness.

A.S.L. What is the true tabernacle?

F.E.R. The whole moral system of things -- the moral universe of bliss.

A.S.L. He is the official administrator of that also?

F.E.R. Yes. He has ascended up that He might fill all things. Our moral proportions are according to our

knowledge of God, and I think our knowledge of God is extremely limited.

Ques. Is it only by the knowledge of God we grow?

F.E.R. That is the only way.

THE COUNTRY, THE CITY AND THE KING

Philippians 3:17 - 21; Luke 19:11 - 27

We find the Lord saying in Matthew 13 that "every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (verse 52). It is the thought of what would mark the scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens to put together things new and old. You find that a very great many thoughts taken up in the New Testament are thoughts found from time to time in the Old. All these thoughts are taken up in the New Testament. One thing about these thoughts is certain. We find them all centred in a Person -- Christ -- in Him is the yea and the amen. Everything in the Old Testament gets its character from the One in whom the thoughts are taken up. We are acquainted with the thoughts I have in my mind to take up tonight in a natural way.

They are (1) Country; (2) City; (3) King. All understand them. We live in a country which has a city -- a metropolis -- ruled by a king or queen. I am going to take up the thoughts in the way they are presented in the New Testament. All these thoughts serve to test christians at the present time; to test the fidelity of christians. You find a great many thoughts in the Old Testament taken up in the New. In Abraham it is God blessing; in Israel, God dwelling and in David, God ruling. Three great thoughts came out in the Old Testament times. In Abraham, righteousness; in Israel, sonship, and in David, eternal life; all of which are part of God's purpose for man, and all set forth in Christ, and all of which came out in the course of God's ways. We get the character in the one in whom they are centred. I take up the three thoughts. In Abraham you get the idea of 'country';

in Israel the idea of 'city'; and in David the idea of 'king'. Moses was king because he was the meekest man on earth. That is the proper characteristic of a king according to God. My object tonight is to try and show what the divine idea is in connection with each; how they are taken up in the New Testament and their application to us and their effect on us at the present time. I do not think they are much to us if they do not tend to establish and instruct us in divine purpose. Each of these thoughts are peculiarly applicable to us at the present time and test each one.

God promised Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He gave to Abraham an inheritance referring to a country. He was called out by God from his country, kindred, and father's house, to a land which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance. There it is you begin to get the idea of country. It presents the idea of expanse. It is not exactly like a city. A city cannot exist by itself. It would be nothing without a country in length and breadth. There is room in the country for men to contemplate the beneficence of God. It no doubt came out in a special way in the promised land. The eyes of God on it marked it. The expanse is a witness to the goodness and beneficence of God. There was room for it to be enjoyed. There is a great deal more but you can accept that much.

Now look at the 'city' for a moment. It is a place where religious and political elements combine. It is the seat of light and rule. The influence of London is felt all over England -- it must exercise immense influence. If everything is right in regard to the city the effect is felt throughout the country. Jerusalem became a city and had influence over the garden of God, which included all the surrounding nations. It was the city of light and rule. Light from God and rule had their influence in the city. Man has a city for his own glory and that city will most surely come under destruction. Babylon came under destruction never to be restored.

The Psalms are continually speaking of the beauty of the city. The heavenly city is the seat of light and rule from heaven. So that I have given you the idea of 'city'. I am not laying down the law but I give you ideas and thoughts. I have not gone beyond giving expressions Scripture would make on our minds.

Now as to 'king'. The king is the vessel of rule, not the seat of rule. The king is the representative of God for light and rule. When the kingdom was set up in the time of David, Nathan was prophet, Zadok was priest and David king. What God intended was set forth in three persons. They were not combined in one person, nor could they be. The prophet was a check on the king in order to bring the mind of God to bear on him. The king was always subject to the prophet. The king never takes priestly functions. The mind of God was expressed in the three persons. That is the Old Testament.

Now I want to come to the New Testament. But first as to Abraham -- he was not content with an earthly country; he sought a better, that is a heavenly country. He sought a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God. Abraham was familiar with the cities but he did not find a city on earth that had moral foundations; he looked for one which had foundations; the thought and aspiration of Abraham really went beyond what was of earth. The answer to that was "wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city", Hebrews 11:16. All that God spoke to Abraham about was earthly, yet his faith went out to the heavenly city.

Now I pass on to the New Testament. I want to show that all these thoughts come out in application to us. We have a country. The Jews have no country on earth. Then how can the gentiles claim a country and be patriotic? If what Peter said to the Jews in his first epistle is true they have no country, and surely that

might apply to the gentiles. They can only claim a country providentially. The world is a wilderness and there are four wild beasts, which are the four gentile powers or empires, the last of which is now going on. The gentiles cannot claim a country when the Jews have not got one. Peter calls them "pilgrims and strangers". People according to God -- entitled to a country! Everything is out of course. If you claim a country you put yourself in the way of covetousness, taking the place of the elder brother. He is our portion. He never intended to give the prodigal the portion of the elder brother and no people can claim a country while the Jew is dispersed. In Philippians 3:20, "our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens". That was the country Abraham sought. It is not a new country if Abraham sought it. I do not doubt that others sought it. Moses had to die without going into the land but I do not doubt but that he sought a better country. When he was prohibited from entering the land of promise the grace of God gave him to anticipate the heavenly country. We have a country -- Paul was caught up into it. The eyes of God are continually on it, and the goodness of God is in it. It is a large country, a vast expanse, and God's will is done in it.

The angels of little children behold the face of Christ's Father who is in heaven. It is a large expanse and our living links are there. The Father is there and the Son is there. The present is a most remarkable moment.

God, the Spirit, is on earth, and Man is in heaven. The Spirit is a witness to the fact that a Man is in heaven. It is a large and blessed country where God's will is done -- the scene where the goodness and beneficence of God is fully known. "Our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour", etc. Philippians 3:20. Again as to the city. We have a city. In Hebrews 12:22 mount Zion represents moral principles. Not the city of the great King but city of the living God.

The holy Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26). Those two expressions I just want to touch upon. We come to mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem. The city of the great King -- Jerusalem -- on earth is desolate and a waste till the time of the gentiles is fulfilled. We have come to the city of the living God. When the kingdom comes to pass it is not simply the kingdom of the great king David, but the kingdom will be Jehovah's. The earthly Jerusalem is really not a great enough city for the living God. A city is required that is really morally greater than Jerusalem on earth. That can never be the city of God's glory. I really could not see that Jerusalem below could answer to the demands of the glory of God. It takes a long time for the city to form. He has been forming it for nearly two thousand years. He is forming a city which is according to His glory. You must get the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, because the earthly Jerusalem is not sufficient for the glory of God. You are part of that which answers every demand of the glory of God. We are to behold Him without a veil. I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than the city of the living God that comes down from heaven having the glory of God in its full blaze. It is the seat of light and of rule. Jerusalem is free (Galatians 4:26) -- what marks the heavenly city is perfect liberty. We take our character from Jerusalem above. People take their character from their city. Londoners, who are citizens, take their character from London. We take our character from Jerusalem above. If you get a saint who has no kind of idea about Jerusalem above, there is not much character about that saint. On the other hand, one who is in the light of that city is in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. What brings us into liberty is the consciousness that we are according to God. If anything is allowed that is not according to God it brings us into bondage. If nothing is allowed contrary to God we come into liberty. I bring you back to the thought

that it is a wonderful thing to form part of that city which will bear the full blaze of God's glory. It is His moral glory. We want even now to get hold of the moral thought of glory.

So much for the country and the city. They should have their effect on us as we have a great deal to do with them. Most men take their character from their mother. Most men who become great have mothers who have fine characters. Jerusalem above, which is our mother, is free. Jerusalem above is only seen now in Christ as Man, the only Man who is according to divine glory.

Now we have to do with the king, but the king is Lord to us. There is the blessed vessel of God's authority. Christ is not king to us exactly. The rights of Christ as king are in abeyance. He is the Son of God, the Son of David, and the Son of man. He is Prophet, Priest and King. We find in John they said "This is the prophet" and they would have made Him a king; then He went up into a mountain to be the Priest. It is a very interesting point to me that when the Lord was about to suffer He rode in as King -- meek and sitting on an ass. "Thy king cometh meek" not condescending. His right hand could teach Him terrible things. He could be a lion against the enemies of Judah but the lamb is His character. In Luke 19 we find that a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. He has received it. He has gone within the veil, He has received the kingdom but He has not yet returned. We ought to be loyal to our country, patriotic to our true country -- loyal to the One who is King according to God. At the same time our faithfulness and loyalty is really tested by our absent Lord. He committed goods to His servants and their loyalty was tested by the use they made of His goods in His absence. He has interests down here. All Christ's interests are on earth. All that the Father told Him, He has told us, that we may know what His interests are in

His people. He does not judge us in a hard measure, but He measures us according to the grace given us. The absence of Christ is the test of faithfulness and loyalty. What can I think of a king on earth when Christ the true king has gone to receive a true kingdom and to return. He will return and His enemies will be brought before Him, and every one of us must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, but we shall be in heaven. We shall come before the bar of Christ and we shall know what He thinks of the way in which we have used His goods. If you are a christian you are bound to be patriotic and loyal. "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" and to take to us the whole armour of God and having done all -- to stand! (Ephesians 6). I claim all things down here for the Lord. I am not going to allow that all belongs to man or the devil. Christ is the Head of every man. We have to stand in the power of His might against all the power of evil. Christians form the heavenly city which is the seat of heavenly light and rule. We are undergoing great education in order to reign. No one can reign without education. The principles are fitting you to reign -- righteousness, faithfulness and power. A king shall rule in righteousness. You want to be faithful here in every obligation under which God has been pleased to place you. God is faithful and we learn faithfulness as we learn God. It is a great thing to be faithful. We want to be "strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy" (Colossians 1:11). Power is expressed in patience. The patient man is a powerful man. A man might be able to knock an ox down and not be powerful, in my mind. Meekness comes in -- meekness -- lowliness -- and I think you want love. All these things -- power, meekness, love -- are education to prepare us to reign with Christ. Then there is suffering. The man who suffers is suitable to reign. It is a righteous thing for God to reward us according to our suffering for the kingdom. Now these

things are important practically. You want to come under the influence of the country, and the city, and under the administration and subduing power of the Lord. These are two characteristics of the Lord and we want to come under these two. The first wave of His power will change these vile bodies, etc.

I can only pray God to bring home to us more really the country and heavenly city in relation to which we stand. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. The true secret of liberty is that by God's work we are brought into His glory. The king is Lord to us. I cannot conceive anything more important than being here at the disposal of the Lord and coming under His subduing power which takes effect while the Lord is absent. I want the Lord to be more to me. I accept God's ordering down here in patience. I want to be loyal to an absent Lord and to be taken up with His interests on earth: to be using His goods diligently until He comes again. Get your direction from the Lord. The Lord will teach every one how to use His goods in His absence and when He comes in as King then will be the reckoning time to those who have been loyal to Him in His absence. I think nothing will touch me more, though I am very little, than to hear Him say "Well, good and faithful bondman ... enter into the joy of thy lord", Matthew 25:21.

ETERNAL LIFE

John 5:17 - 47

D.L.H. You said last time that in chapter 5 we get what eternal life is.

F.E.R. Yes, chapters 5 and 6 follow on chapter 4 in a kind of moral sequence. Chapter 3 is the commandment of God, and chapter 4 is how you get to it. Chapters 5 and 6 give us the idea of what is meant by eternal life. I should connect chapter 5 with the last verse of Romans 5 and chapter 6 with the last verse of Romans 6.

D.L.H. Is the idea in chapter 5 you get the victory in regard to death?

F.E.R. Yes, in Romans 5 sin has reigned by death, and grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. In chapter 6 it is the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

J.B. Do you mean that in chapter 3 eternal life is the commandment of God?

F.E.R. I think so; you can see that in verse 16 that is the commandment of God. It is His thought for man -- His commandment, what He has ordained -- and in chapter 4 you get what follows on it. Chapter 3 is God's side and chapter 4 is ours. It is not only that you do not thirst, but the water that Christ gives is a well springing up to eternal life. Chapter 3 is for faith, and chapter 4 is the well of water in the believer.

J.S.O. Do we not get here the question raised by the Jews as to who the Lord was?

F.E.R. The point is that the accusation of the Lord brings out the unity of the Father and the Son, and the authority of the Son to deal with the whole domain of death. "Even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life ...". Romans 5:21. What comes out in

chapter 5 is the domain of death, and chapter 6 is the scene of dearth. Divine authority in the Son meets the question of death, and living bread meets dearth. That is how eternal life is brought into the world dispensationally.

D.L.H. Is it presented mediatorially in chapter 5?

F.E.R. It is in chapter 6. But it is not enough that there should be authority to deal with death; you want something to meet the dearth, that is living bread.

J.S.O. Do you distinguish between the Son of man judging and the Son of God giving life?

F.E.R. It is the Son of God who judges as Son of man. Life-giving involves sovereignty. The Son of man maintains responsibility and judges, but He also quickens whom He will in sovereignty.

J.S.O. Is the sovereignty there in view of His rights as Son?

F.E.R. It is authority which is proper to Him, but which is given to Him because He became Man. It is not conferred authority as in the kingdom. He has authority to deal with the whole question of responsibility and death.

D.L.H. He has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light.

F.E.R. Quite so, people have very little sense of Christ; they believe in Him personally but do not apprehend Him officially. They do not apprehend that in which He is in regard to the universe of bliss, the system of things which is connected with Him and which comes under Him. All is there for us, we have come to it.

J.S.O. You mean displayed in Him as centre.

F.E.R. Exactly, all that will be brought to light in Him. He is everything in that order of things and we need to apprehend Him in the light of that. He is the beginning, Head, bond, centre and principal of that order. It is a remarkable expression, "the mystery of Christ" (Colossians 4:3), and also "that the Christ

may dwell, through faith, in your hearts ...", Ephesians 3:17. There is One who in unity with the Father has authority to deal with the entire domain of death. I see responsibility and death on every hand, but when I look at Christ I apprehend One with authority to deal with it.

J.B. It takes up the whole question of every one.

F.E.R. Yes, "...that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live". (verse 25). Then, "...for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth;" (verse 28). He deals with the entire domain of death.

J.B. He is God but He judges as Son of man.

F.E.R. That is because of the Father and the Son being in unity. The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father doing. It is the most practical moral unity between the Father and the Son. There is no divergence from the mind of the Father.

J.S.O. It is remarkable how the unbelief of the Jews brings this out as to His Person.

F.E.R. Really it brings out what in all probability is one of the most remarkable revelations in Scripture, the relation between the Father and the Son.

Ques. Who are the dead in verse 21?

F.E.R. Every one is alike in the eye of God.

Ques. Physically and morally?

F.E.R. The sentence of death is upon them. It was said to Adam, "for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt certainly die", (Genesis 2:17), but as a matter of fact he lived hundreds of years after. In the eye of God people whether here or in their graves are under death. "... that one died for all, then all have died", 2 Corinthians 5:14. They would not be under the judgment of God if they were not morally dead.

J.S.O. Would you say a word on authority here? Do you mean that the Son receives authority from God as Son?

F.E.R. What was in my mind is that the authority of God is represented in the Son. All authority is given unto Him in heaven and on earth in connection with the revelation of God. All the authority of God is represented in the Son so that whatever the Father does the Son does; He judges and there is quickening which involves sovereignty. Judgment is committed unto Him because He is Son of man. The greatest thought in this chapter is the Son of God, and in the next chapter the Son of man.

G.J.S. Is Son of man a divine title?

F.E.R. It is an official title; it is the fulfilment of Psalm 8. The title which is properly peculiar to the Person, is the Son. It is the Father and the Son which come out here. The Son is the peculiarly personal name of Christ.

A.S.L. The Son of God is different from that?

F.E.R. I think there is a shade of difference.

A.S.L. When you said that the point in chapter 5 is the Son of God and in chapter 6 the Son of man, would you say a word as to the difference?

F.E.R. In chapter 5 the point is authority, in chapter 6 it is bread. Chapter 5 is a death scene and chapter 6 is a dearth scene. The living bread meets the dearth scene, and authority given to the Son of man deals with the whole domain of death; it is only authority which can deal with it; responsibility can only be taken up on authority.

D.L.H. What would be the difference between this and chapter 11: 25 "I am the resurrection and the life"?

F.E.R. The Lord simply says here, "... for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth". They shall go forth in connection with Him because He is the resurrection and the life. Those that are in their graves shall come out as surely as He came out.

J.B. The domain of death is broken up entirely.

F.E.R. It is dealt with in the extent of it. It is a point of the last moment for our hearts to be established in. The thought of a great many does not go beyond the soul going to heaven. I doubt if the large proportion of christians entertain the thought that there is power and authority in Christ to deal with the whole domain of death.

I suppose that the man at the pool is figurative of Israel. When the Lord comes He speaks the quickening word to them. The nation lives really by the voice of the Son of God. It is not evangelical. Quickening raises the thought of sovereignty, it comes on that line; if it were otherwise you would not have responsibility maintained, but the Lord is careful to show that it is maintained, while, at the same time there is quickening. I refer to judgment being committed to the Son. Judgment maintains responsibility; God will maintain responsibility, and yet He quickens according to His mercy, but that means bringing in sovereignty.

A.S.L. The giving of life is always connected with sovereignty.

F.E.R. I think so. In general you will find in Scripture the thought of sovereignty connected with mercy; it is so in Romans 9, 10 and 11.

A.E.W. Grace is more general.

A.S.B. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

F.E.R. That is the principle here, it is awakening. Chapter 3 presents the command of God and the outcome of it. It was His mind towards the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, and, as a matter of fact, there is a point of contact between God and man, and that is, Christ is available for every man. Men may not avail themselves of it, but it is there, and there is no other. Everything for us really depends upon the knowledge of Christ and the knowledge of the Father. We get all the good of what belongs to Christ in anticipation.

J.S.O. Mercy brings in the state of the people, and grace is rather more the style and way in which He does it.

F.E.R. Grace represents the attitude of God, it brings salvation to all men.

J.A.T. Grace is a New Testament doctrine, and mercy is an Old Testament one. It disappears in the New Testament except in those passages you quoted.

F.E.R. It is perfectly intelligible too; because grace is based on redemption. Righteousness being accomplished, it represents the attitude of God.

A.E.W. Is authority based on the cross?

F.E.R. No, it is what is proper to the Son. The right of judgment belongs to God, but now you have the revelation of God as the Father and the Son. The Lord shows that, that judgment is committed to the Son, because the Son has become Man. He secured His honour on account of His having become Man. The Son simply exercises that which belongs to God. Things are not going to be left in the world as they are, in a state of death and confusion. It is a great comfort to me to have the light of God, of the Father and the Son, and that one is acquainted with the competency there is in Him to deal with it. I cannot see how a man can desire the continuance of things as they are.

D.L.H. As we are really in the light of His victory we have plenty of food.

F.E.R. What will be fulfilled in the day of Christ's glory is available to us now in anticipation. We get death swallowed up in victory before the actual time of quickening comes. We have passed out of death into life. The word 'Son' is that in which the Son is expressed, it is expressive of Himself. I connect it with John 3 and 17. The Son is the sent One of the Father. Chapter 6 is the apprehension of the Son in another light, yet we have to apprehend Him in both lights. Many apprehend Him as having authority to meet death, but I do not know if they apprehend the

One who meets dearth.

J.S.O. That would be subjective, the result of His working in us.

F.E.R. Exactly; chapter 6 is Christ bringing the good of heaven within the reach of man's appropriation. The principles of the world are lust and ambition, and it would be nothing without them, they are the moving springs in it, but Christ brings into it the good of heaven -- rest, satisfaction, goodness and love. In that way God begins again completely in Christ, and He gives character to the whole scene, He gives the new start, and all take character from Him, and, instead of a world governed by lust and ambition, He brings in a world governed by love. The world is governed by literature. People think they are going to get great light from the East, and hence you have the light of the East -- Mohammedism and Buddhism -- brought into England.

J.S.O. If you feed on the food provided in chapter 6 you do not want much else.

F.E.R. No, God can do better for the world than man by his lust and ambition. No one but a divine Person could take up what we find in chapter 5. You will never get eternal life brought into the world until death is swallowed up in victory. It is characteristic of the coming age.

Ques. Is eternal life objective in chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6?

F.E.R. In chapters 3 and 4 you get the thought of it without any explanation as to what it is. Chapters 5 and 6 really show you what it means, they show that in which eternal life really consists. Christ takes away the sin of the world and gives life to it.

J.B. The Old Testament made known things to come.

F.E.R. It hinted at it. Life is given to Christ in order that He may communicate it. Eternal life is for Christ in order that it may characterise His age, and salvation is for Him that He may have great glory in it.

Everything is for Him.

J.H.K. Is eternal life for the earth?

F.E.R. That is the bearing of it in these chapters. The domain of death is not in heaven.

J.H.K. Does it go beyond the earth?

F.E.R. I think it is presented in contrast to "even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life .."., Romans 5:21. It is eternal life in the place where death has reigned.

J.S.O. You have got into the sphere of eternal life although you are here on earth.

F.E.R. Christ was here in that way and we come into it by the Spirit. Eternal life is objective in a way because Christ is it. It is the Spirit -- not the life -- which is subjective. If we know anything about it, it depends upon the light in which we apprehend Christ. It is one hearing and believing who has eternal life.

Ques. Is it characteristic of such a person?

F.E.R. Yes. It is characteristic of a person that he hears the word of Christ and believes on Him that sent Him. It is a continuing thing.

What a wonderful thing it is that He should bring to light the unity of the Father and the Son, and that was not touched in any way by the fact of the Son being Man. The Lord was working here in the presence of men, but in unity with the Father doing things shown to Him by the Father; raising up the dead is the operation of the Father. It is not only raising up the dead, but He also quickens. There are plenty of people who would tell you that there is nothing better than death, but there is One who is competent to deal with the entire domain of death and that according to God in divine wisdom and righteousness. It is all according to divine love because everything must be carried out according to the command of God.

J.S.O. How far will the knowledge of the Father and the Son be known hereafter?

F.E.R. I am not sure about that. The truth will be there for them, but the question is capability to enter into it.

J.S.O. Eternal life in regard to the saints gives you a deeper thought.

F.E.R. Quite so, it lies in knowledge, with them it will lie in fact. When the Lord comes there will be the actual quickening. Israel will be quickened and death swallowed up in victory.

Another thing is this, that even the very knowledge in which eternal life consists is qualifying us for heaven to be with God.

THE ASSEMBLY AS THE CITY

Ephesians 3:14 - 21

H.A.D. We had thought of taking up the assembly in connection with the world to come. We have had before "the gospel", "the will of God", "the world to come", and now we had thought of taking up the assembly, and its place in connection with the world to come.

F.E.R. The church is really more on the line of the city, the holy Jerusalem, then the world to come, as "the holy city, Jerusalem", (Revelation 21:10), but when it is a question of new heavens and earth, it is "the holy city, new Jerusalem". "Holy" is in contrast to the false city in chapter 17, and it is the "holy city" in connection with the world to come; but when you come to new heavens and new earth, it is the "new Jerusalem". It has its place in regard to both, it is suitable to both, so it is holy in the world to come, and new, when all is new. What God has been working, culminates in the city; every pledge of divine ways is gathered up in the city, with the object that God may be displayed. The harlot is the rival of the bride, and of her it says, "which has kingship over the kings of the earth".

H.A.D. You were speaking of "the Israel of God" as maintained in the church last time?

F.E.R. Yes, it is so I think; the thought of God's Israel is taken up in the companions of Christ. You see that it is entirely impossible that there should be any lapse in the ways of God.

Ques. Is that continued in the city, as seen in the new heavens and new earth?

F.E.R. Well no, all that comes to an end in the world to come, and you get a new order of things entirely; but the point is, it is suitable to both.

Ques. Is the new heavens and new earth an eternal

thought?

F.E.R. Well I suppose so, in the kingdom everything is subjugated to Christ, so that God may be all in all. Of course there is some relation between the dispensations and what is eternal; it must be so, they must have some relation to each other.

Ques. Chapter 2: 7 would be eternal purpose?

F.E.R. Yes, "That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus". There is no doubt that all through Scripture, there is some general thought connected with the city.

Ques. Is it not the seat of government?

F.E.R. To my mind it is symbolic of imperial rule, wherever you get the idea of the city, it has that meaning pretty much. Men set to work to build a city for themselves -- Babylon came in in that way, and so too with Rome -- and it was a city which represented imperial rule. That is the thought in the harlot, it is "the great city", and it rules over the kings of the earth. That is the thought always attached to the idea of a city.

Ques. What do you mean by imperial rule?

F.E.R. The idea of "Lord of lords and King of kings" you know. You get a striking illustration of it in Babylon; there is the assumption of absolute imperial rule, and of ecclesiastical rule. It has taken the character of a city which rules over the kings of the earth, and there is the assumption of imperial rule there beyond all doubt.

Ques. That is still to be, is it not?

F.E.R. Well the harlot will yet ride the beast, but the beast hates the harlot and. casts her off. She assumes to reign over the kings of the earth; she is the rival of the holy city. A city is the expression of man's glory, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built?"

D.L.H. Cain called his city after the name of his son, that was in a way, for his own glory.

F.E.R. Yes.

Ques. But God takes up the idea, He too will have a city?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so; Jerusalem is the city of the great King, it is no common king but the great King.

W.H.H. Why do you take up the thought from Ephesians 3 instead of from the Revelation?

F.E.R. Well you get it in Ephesians more from a christian point of view than in the Revelation. There are two great lights in which you can look at the church, inward and outward; there is an aspect of the church which is outward, and that is very specially its aspect in connection with the world to come. But then there is another aspect of the church and that is its aspect inwardly, and for God. It is inward and God-ward. The outward takes its character from the inward.

Ques. Is that the bride and the body?

F.E.R. Well I am inclined to think so, but even then the bride is presented to Christ according to Himself; holy and blameless, it is presented to Himself; suitable to Himself. You must not make the bride merely display, that was pretty much Mr. Cluff's mistake I think.

D.L.H. The bride is the vessel for the display of Christ.

F.E.R. Yes, it is Christ's body, and Christ is the life of that body. The house is really a thought taken up from what had been with Israel; so many things are taken up and applied to us whether they are new things entirely, or things which had a previous application to Israel. For instance, the house, and the flock, or sonship; all these thoughts are taken up from the previous ways of God; but then there are certain things which are entirely peculiar to the church, it is not only that they are taken up in the church, but they are peculiar to the church. I do not think there was ever such an idea in Israel as the body, that is peculiar to the church, and evidently it is peculiar to the church on account of the indwelling of the Spirit; that gives its

peculiar character to the church at once, it is distinctive of the church.

Rem. It was a mystery hid.

F.E.R. Quite so, and it is easy to understand that in the Spirit, Jew and gentile are built together, they are one, made to drink into one Spirit. Whatever may be the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit in the future, I do not think people will be indwelt by the Spirit, that is peculiar to the present time. All flesh will come under the influence of the Spirit, but the Lord could speak of the coming of the Comforter and say "He abides with you, and shall be in you".

Ques. Does the Spirit go when the body goes?

F.E.R. I suppose so, it is to those who obey God, and when those who obey Him are gone, then the Spirit will go too.

F.R.K. In the sense in which He dwells now I suppose. In the Revelation you get, "Yea, saith the Spirit"?

F.E.R. But that is a present utterance of the Spirit I should judge, "Blessed ... the dead ... from henceforth". You constantly get these interjections through the book of the Revelation, but they have a present bearing, a present application. For instance, "Come out of her my people", and then on the part of the Lord "I will give to him that thirsts". In the midst of all the judgments you get an appeal having a present force. In chapter 14: 13, "Yea, saith the Spirit", is a kind of response of the Spirit.

In looking at the assembly in Ephesians 3 the great point is what God is going to set forth in the church. The church is to rule but how? It is the vessel of rule, and the nations will walk in the light of it, but how? I think it will be like the sun, she will rule by the superiority of her light! The church will know more than all else, it will be so acquainted with God, and with God's ways, that it will be competent to rule. The heavenly city will be able to inform the earthly city of all

that concerns it.

W.H.H. In that way will God administrate through the church?

F.E.R. Well, you are able to comprehend with all saints, that is, you are acquainted with the whole scheme and plan of God's ways. You are able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and depth and height. Every part of the system will be in communication.

Ques. Like John 1, "Henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened"?

F.E.R. It is that the earth is responsive to heaven, and the heavens to the earth.

Ques. What is the force of verse 10, "in order that now"?

F.E.R. For the time being the church is here upon earth, but in the time to come, the church is taken up into the heavenly places.

I think that the whole point of the prayer is, that the Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; you want to entertain the thought of the Christ. If the Christ is dwelling in your hearts by faith, you must surely take your character from Him. He has ascended up high above ail heavens, that He may fill all things; Christ is going to displace everything, just as with the sun, when he gets up in power, the early morning mists and fogs are all cleared away. So with the Christ, darkness, and clouds, and mists are all dispelled before Him, and He fills the whole scene. That is the idea to me in the Christ dwelling in your hearts by faith.

Ques. Does not the line of the hymn express it, 'The centre Thou and Sun'. (Hymn 11)

F.E.R. Yes, then you comprehend with all saints the breadth, and length, and depth and height, and know the love of the Christ which passeth knowledge. The warmth that will fill the universe of bliss, is the love of Christ. The point in the prayer is, that there might be present glory to God in the church, but there

will be glory too, to Him throughout all ages. The Christ is to dwell in your hearts by faith that you may be filled to all the fulness of God; all that is of God is set forth in Christ. Where have we learned to love one another? Why do we learn to have love one for another? Because we have perceived the love of God towards us, in Christ, we learn the love of God in Christ. To know the love of the Christ, as the verse in Mr. Darby's hymn puts it --

'But not an eye those hosts among,
But sees His glory Thine'. (Hymn 178)

You cannot separate between them.

Ques. You would say that John helps Paul in that way?

F.E.R. Yes, always. God has been pleased to give us things in detail so as to help us in the understanding of them. It is just like the light shining on a precious stone, the light is all broken up into different rays, it is all variegated. The sum total of the rays is light, it is just light that will come out by and by.

I do not wish that we should get exaggerated ideas of the church and yet one must see that in the Revelation it has a most extraordinary place.

Ques. Does the future glory depend on the present knowledge?

F.E.R. The vessel is being formed; that is the present operation of the Spirit of God. In the epistles we get to a very large extent the formation of the vessel. You get in Colossians "From which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God", that is the vessel again. The, vessel is being formed that it might be according to Christ. If you take the divine idea of a wife, the husband is known in the wife; a woman does not shine in her own light, but like the moon, by the glory of another. So the woman is the effulgence of the man, and the church is being formed in the love of Christ, in order that it may be His glory.

The husband of the virtuous woman is known in the gate. There are two things, you are to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, and the Christ is to dwell in your hearts by faith; the one answers to the other, and you must have the strengthening of the Spirit in order that the Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Faith presents this, that it is God's pleasure that Christ should dwell in your hearts by faith.

Ques. Would you say that you are being formed for two things, to meet the heart of Christ and to rule?

F.E.R. The two things go together. Christ is the most competent to rule, He is the Head of all principality and power, and no power knows how to rule but Christ. Acquaintance with Christ is the secret of rule. "By me princes rule". I do not see any king on earth who knows how to rule, though I may be considered radical for saying it, it is "by me", that princes rule. The extraordinary thing is that the christian is able to judge them, and to pray for them; it is by the knowledge of Christ that I am able to judge them, I discern them.

Ques. What is, "spoiled principalities and powers"?

F.E.R. He took all power out of their hand, when God was revealed in the cross the principalities and powers were spoiled, it was by the death of Christ, for in that, God was fully revealed. You get thrones and dominions too, but that is another thought, but they too are taken up. A monarch today has title by heredity, but he has to be trained for his great office; well, Christ has proved His qualification to rule and now you are compelled to judge by that standard. You cannot but see the weakness of kings and queens today, power is really in the will of the people; the power of the sovereign is really extremely small, but it is covered up by a great deal of show. In the world to come you will have a system which is maintained morally. "Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness". Christ will be the fountain of divine authority, and He

is meek and lowly in heart. "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass", but then He has got all divine power. The heavenly city takes its character from Christ, and we are being brought now into accord with Christ in mind, in nature, and everything. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him". Who is the man who rules now? The man who will suffer. It is the man who is prepared to suffer who conquers. I believe that christianity was established in the world, because the testimony was placed in the hands of men who were prepared to suffer the loss of all things; and you can easily see that if you overcome morally now, how it qualifies the saints to rule with Christ in His kingdom. I think the Lord chose men at the first who were prepared to suffer for their testimony, and it was in that way they overcame and christianity became established.

W.H.H. There is no temple in the holy Jerusalem?

F.E.R. The earthly city is the city of the great King, but it was never wholly of God as the new Jerusalem will be. It was a city taken up by God, it was the city of David, and God saw fit to take up that particular city, but when you come to the holy city the new Jerusalem it is all according to promise, it is all of God. The kings of the earth are delighted to bring their glory and honour into it, they are delighted to see what is set forth by God in Christ. I have no doubt that greater light is taken in by Israel than by the nations, but they walk in the light of the city. Everything lies in the shining of Christ. There are certain nations which come into salvation, and they walk in the light of the heavenly city. The whole thing is explained in Ephesians 3. If you get that prayer fulfilled, everything is explained. But then how is it to be? You are to be strengthened by might by His Spirit in the inner man, but are you prepared to sacrifice the outward man? The two cannot go on together. The inner man is in contrast to the outward man, it is true of every christian. The outward

man is the man who is in touch with all that is present; and the inner man is the man who is in touch with God, and all that is of God. The holy Jerusalem is not in connection with the outward man, but the inner man. The outward man is not merely the body, but it is the man that is in touch with present things.

E.G. It used to be said that the man who is under judgment is gone in judgment, is that the outward man?

F.E.R. Oh no, that man is gone in judgment so that God might not be hindered in His work; it is the removal of the old man so that God might put the new man where the old man was. God has removed the old man in order to make room for Christ. Both terms "old man", and "new man" represent an order of man; but the "I", the individual, is the christian, and he has put off the old man and put on the new. Characteristically the new man is Christ. The inward man represents the work of God in a man; men cannot touch the inward man; if you think of the very strongest man on this earth, he is perishing, but you cannot touch the inward man. It is a mental conception. The seat of divine knowledge is the inner man.

In Galatians you are the children of the city; in Hebrews you have come to it, and in Revelation you are in it.

D.L.H. What is the force of Jerusalem, our mother?

F.E.R. That is a great point, you are the children of promise; the purpose of God is our mother, Jerusalem above is all of God's purpose and we are the children of promise. The earthly Jerusalem was David's city, and God took it up, but if I apprehend that I am of God's purpose, that Jerusalem above is my mother, and that for God, the old man is gone in judgment, then I come into liberty. You have to apprehend that the old man is gone in judgment. I think those two things are needed for liberty, the old man is gone in judgment, and that you are of God's purpose; you have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;

that is the city of purpose, there is no single element in it which is not of God, and of God's purpose.

D.L.H. Then is "our mother" that we derive from the purpose of God?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so; it is the city of His purpose. What a wonderful thing it is when I come to it, that I am really according to God's purpose, He sees nothing in me but what is His work. Christianity really lies in the Spirit, and the Spirit gives realisation.

Ques. Is that like "in Christ" in Ephesians?

F.E.R. I should think so. When you come to the holy Jerusalem in Revelation there is not one single thing in it from foundation to gates that is not of God, it is all perfect, there is not a bit of man's work in it. The walls are exclusive in the very nature of it, it is so holy that it must exclude everything which is impure. Then the gates show an outward relation, and the angels are the guardians in a way; the executors of God's pleasure. When Christ was on earth He was put in the charge of angels.

Ques. Was "Henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened" fulfilled in the life of the Lord?

F.E.R. Well perhaps. In one way I do not think it is so much a question of the heavens being opened now, they were to Stephen, but today God and Christ are hid behind a veil of providences; God will come out in the city, He will be no longer hid then.

I think you have first to come to the fact that Jerusalem above is your mother, you have left earth and all earthly props. Earthly systems are all more or less bondage, but Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Until people are free from these earthly links and attachments, they never really get free. God gives a man just light enough to deliver him from those things. Isaac was begotten of Sarah, he was the child of promise, and we are begotten of promise, we are of God's purpose.

Ques. Is this like leaving the boat?

F.E.R. Yes, people have to get free from earthly

entanglements and bondage, to get into the reality of divine things.

Ques. What about "rooted and founded in love"?

F.E.R. That is capability "You ... hath he quickened", the real power of intelligence is affection; I do not think anyone is intelligent except in proportion to his affection. So we are knit together in love, we do not get intelligence except by affection. What I feel is that intelligence requires to be more universal, and the secret of that is affection. You may get a man of very great intelligence in the world but the extraordinary thing is that very generally he is lacking in great affection, and therefore he is not broad. For my part I would much rather have a man of much affection and sympathy than a man of great intelligence. A child in one way has very great capability.

Ques. How would you understand the prayer being addressed to the "Father"?

F.E.R. I think I should connect it with the thought that counsels belong to the Father, counsels are attributed to the Father, though they all centre in the Son.

Ques. What is the thought in the families?

F.E.R. All the work of God is connected with the families, the saints, Israel indeed even in the midst of Israel you may have some select family. The 144,000 who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, appear to have a very special place; they learn the heavenly song, and certainly they are very closely in contact with heaven.

'All the Father's counsels claiming
Equal honours to the Son'. (Hymn 14)

Rem. It is the Spirit of the Father that strengthens you.

F.E.R. I think so; the point in the passage is that God may be livingly presented in the church. The place of the church has been greatly overlooked, people think they have got an inspired text-book in the Scriptures, but the fact is that they have got it all livingly set

forth in a vessel. Underneath what is outward, you have really got the body of Christ and God has gathered up every thread in the church.

Ques. What is the force of the 18th verse?

F.E.R. It is the whole expanse of divine purpose in Christ. I think it is most wonderful how God has acted, He set forth the responsible man first, and then when he is set aside, He set forth the Man of His purpose, and everything -- every thought of His mind -- is set forth in Him. In the Adam all died, but it is in the Christ that you are filled to all the fulness of God. It is in Christ that you are filled, and He is great enough to fill all things.

THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE

1 Peter 2:1 - 10

H.A.D. Does what we get here refer to what we get in Matthew 16?

F.E.R. It is generally said that the first epistle connects itself with Matthew 16 whereas the second epistle connects itself with Matthew 17, the first the church, and the second the kingdom. This epistle does not go properly beyond what was true for Israel, it does not go beyond what is connected with an earthly people, it does not touch the heavenly side of the truth.

Ques. Are spiritual sacrifices what God will get from Israel by and by?

F.E.R. Yes. You do not get sacrifices in heaven, and a royal priesthood, and a peculiar people do not properly connect you with heaven. It is extremely important to distinguish these thoughts which are taken up in the church, and those which properly belong to the church. There are some things which exclusively belong to the church.

W.H.H. The offering up spiritual sacrifices does not really give you the idea of association with Christ?

F.E.R. Not at all; it does not touch the idea of the church, or the bride, or the heavenly city. There are a great many thoughts which are taken up in the church, and which form part of our education, but they are not what is distinctively for the church. This epistle gives you the idea of a house, and of a priesthood, and of spiritual sacrifices, but these are 'old' thoughts, there is nothing new about them, and they will be given to Israel again in the future.

W.M. Would you say that spiritual sacrifices could be applied to Israel?

F.E.R. Yes, sacrifices which have not a spiritual significance would be of no value to God; you must

bring in the spiritual element, or they will be of no value to God at all.

T.H.B. Is the spiritual house the house of God?

F.E.R. It is the church looked at in that light. The house today is really the place of the temple, and the thought of God in the house is fulfilled in the church; but then it is in a spiritual way, and therefore in a way a contrast to what was true before, and yet it is a continuation of a privilege accorded to Israel.

W.M. When would you say you come to the living stone?

F.E.R. When you come to Christ not simply as the termination of the old order of things, but as the beginning of a new order entirely. You see that He has not come simply to remedy the old things, but to bring in something entirely new. When Peter said "Thou art ... the Son of the living God", he apprehended Christ as the new point of departure, that God had begun again in Christ. Now every previous thought of God is maintained in Christ and the companions of Christ, everything is maintained there, but nothing is yet displayed.

E.McB. If it was not maintained it could not be displayed.

F.E.R. No. The peculiarity of the present is that we have come to the fulness of the times. The dispensation of the fulness of the times has come for us because we have come to Christ. We have put it too much into the future, but the truth is the fulness of the times has come, or as we get it in Ephesians 1, "the administration of the fulness of times". It has come simply because Christ has come, it is the lack of the apprehension of that which is such a defect with us today.

Ques. When you speak of Christ as the new point of departure, what do you refer to?

F.E.R. Christ is the beginning of the whole vast system and scheme of blessing in which God will be glorified, the breadth, and length and depth and height.

All that system of things which is gathered up and centred in Christ, nothing is displayed yet, but all is gathered up in Christ.

Ques. Will Israel come to Christ as the Living Stone?

F.E.R. I do not know that the expression will apply to them, because coming to Him as the Living Stone, we as living stones are built up a spiritual house, but in that day, the temple will be restored. I was thinking of the house as the continuous idea.

J.McK. The disallowance of men must apply to the present?

F.E.R. Yes; and on the other hand He is chosen of God and precious, and then it goes on to say, "To you therefore who believe is the preciousness". It was to those who had believed in Christ, not to the nation publicly, but to those who had believed in Christ. Israel was tested by Christ, but He gathered up whatever was for God in Israel.

Rem. "Behold I, and the children which God hath given me". Christ was a point of attraction in the midst of Israel, like He was to Peter. And now all those who come to Him come to Him in His rejection.

F.E.R. Yes, He becomes a test on the one hand, but on the other everything which was for God was attracted to Him. It is in the same way that the gentiles are attracted to Him now.

Rem. And what He introduces is a new and living order, in contrast to a carnal and dead one.

F.E.R. Yes, all those who are for God among the gentiles are being attracted to Christ; it is something to Him in the soul's apprehension of Him as a Living Stone.

W.M. Is that appropriation?

F.E.R. Yes, it is one thing to see Christ as Saviour, meeting all our responsibility, and quite another to see Him as the new point of departure for God. You have to share in His disallowances, you have to leave all the present order of things, and come to Him on the water. It involves leaving the world order of things, if there is

to be the apprehension of Christ as the Living Stone.

I think the thought of two heads, and two races, has very greatly bewildered people, but it is not true at all. Adam never was the real starting point for God, he was but a figure of Him who was to come, the real point of departure for God is Christ.

H.C. That is a real living Person who attracts you out of the world to Himself.

F.E.R. Yes, I think so.

Rem. Christ gave Himself that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.

F.E.R. Yes, the will of God and our Father was the first thing; sin and death and the curse came in by Adam, but Christ has accomplished redemption that He might deliver us from this present evil world. But then after all Christ is the Man, He is the beginning of another world, and hence you get the fulness of times, because Christ has come. You see everything comes out of Christ, the church comes out of Christ, it is His body; then you get Israel too, and the nations, they will all come out of Him.

G.J.S. And is that the true force of "Why dost thou persecute me?"

F.E.R. I think so.

Ques. What is the force of the expression "a living stone"?

F.E.R. It is the foundation of the building, of the house. It conveys this thought of a house built upon Christ; He is a Living Stone, and you come to Him, and you are built upon Christ; He is a Living Stone, and you come to Him, and you are built up as living stones a spiritual house. All christianity is living, and all has to do with a living God, the church is the church of the living God, and there is the house of the living God and many other thoughts. God will ensure that the building is complete, but today, and here it is a question of movement towards Him, you come to Him;

it is a question of a movement in the soul of the believer towards Him.

Ques. What is the difference between the thought of the foundation and the chief corner stone?

F.E.R. The chief corner stone is the most conspicuous stone, the crown.

D.L.H. Is not the man in John 9 a very good illustration of this point: he is first relieved by Christ, and then he finds Him again, but it is as disallowed of man; and then Christ says to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God", and he says, "I believe, Lord" and he worships Him.

F.E.R. Yes, quite so; and then immediately after you get the one flock and the one shepherd; and though both those thoughts belong previously to Israel they are now applied to the church, and hence they get a more spiritual character.

Ques. What is the difference between this scripture, and what Paul says, "Other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid"?

F.E.R. Their faith was built up on Jesus Christ, it is not a question at all of the foundation of a house, but of their faith. He had laid the foundation in Corinth, and they were built upon it. The house comes in for God; God saw fit to dwell among men, He would have a response from man. He expected to find a response in service; He would so make man conscious of goodness and blessing, that He might gain a response to Himself. He dwells among men in order that He might make man alive to His goodness, and in that way secure a response to Himself on their part.

Ques. What is the idea of a sacrifice?

F.E.R. It is that which costs you something, something devoted which cannot be recalled. The offering was connected with the house and the priesthood. If God dwells among men it is for His own pleasure. What we have here is not exactly a collective idea, it is more individual. I should connect it rather with

Hebrews 13. The thought of the sacrifice is connected with the house.

Ques. Has a man the character of offering priest in his own house?

F.E.R. Yes, quite so; but he is a priest always; it is not just now and then, but he has that character continually; all our conduct ought to be governed by that. The house of God is where we come under the discipline of God. All of us ought to be careful not to take up things which are inconsistent with our priesthood. People pursuing great ends in the world are not consistent with their priesthood. This takes in the life of faith, it is a life of spiritual sacrifice; we are to offer the sacrifice of praise continually; then too we have to do good and to communicate. There are sacrifices which are man-ward as well as God-ward.

D.L.H. There is a remarkable passage in Malachi 2:4 - 7 with regard to the priest, "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts".

F.E.R. Quite so; that ought to be true of every one of us. We ought to be intelligent, divinely intelligent. I think the holy priesthood is connected with the service of God, whereas the royal priesthood is more connected with their position in the world. It is not quite the same idea as Melchisedec; he was priest and king, but that is not quite the idea here. Israel was a royal priesthood, but it requires a sort of moral elevation to maintain that. No one can form part of that royal priesthood unless they are completely superior to the influences of the world. Israel was set in that place, but they did not maintain their dignity, they came down to the level of the world, and wanted a king. To be completely superior to the influence of the world, that is the idea to me of a royal priesthood. I would not care about art, taste, or any kind of influence of that sort, but I would seek to be superior to every worldly influence.

H. Would not the type of that thought come out in those who were prevented from going in to minister on account of personal infirmity, or the crooked-backed?

F.E.R. That is more the inside line, the holy priesthood; you cannot approach God freely unless you are in accord with His nature, you must be holy. I do not want to come under any influence of the world.

T.H.B. Would that be like the crown of anointing of Aaron.

F.E.R. I do not know; but it was not simply a question of Aaron, the whole nation was to be a royal priesthood.

E.McB. Do you not see this superiority coming out in such men as Elijah and Daniel?

F.E.R. Yes, you do; and look at the moral dignity of Paul! He had sought no man's gold or silver or apparel. With Abraham too.

Rem. "To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased". Hebrews 13:16.

F.E.R. That is more the holy priesthood; it refers to what will come to pass when Christ comes out when it speaks of our blessing man. Moses and Aaron came out and blessed the people.

Ques. But do we not bless today?

F.E.R. Perhaps, but it is more a question of going in today, than of coming out. Israel ought to have shown forth the praises of Jehovah who had brought them out of Egypt; and so too I think we ought to show forth the praises of God who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light; we ought to be so in the consciousness of God's goodness, that we must show forth His praises. You see everything that tends to give a man place or standing in this world is really an incubus to them. There may be spiritual energy to throw off the incubus, but for all that looked at in itself, it is an incubus. People cling to many things which are an incubus to them. You do not get the royal priesthood

first, but the holy priesthood, you have what is for God first.

Ques. Why do you exclude the thought of the Lord's day morning meeting from the holy priesthood: is it not the fact that we are a holy priesthood, that gives us boldness of entrance?

F.E.R. But boldness to enter the holiest is not the assembly, it refers to the privilege which attaches to the believer. The only epistle which speaks of the assembly come together, is 1 Corinthians. I regard entering into the holiest entirely as an individual matter; both the boldness to enter and the going in is our privilege. What we come to when we enter is more holy things, not so much the idea of holy places.

Ques. Does not boldness belong to all?

F.E.R. Yes, and if a man were in the consciousness of his privilege so much the better would he be qualified for the assembly; but then that is true of every individual who takes up his privilege he will be better qualified for taking up the assembly. But really today it is the assembly in the wilderness.

Ques. Why do you say in the wilderness?

F.E.R. Well, if I take the first of Corinthians; it never goes beyond the wilderness; it never takes you on to what is beyond, to the land, it is simply a question of the wilderness.

Ques. What is the idea of the holiest?

F.E.R. What was the holiest place to them, is more the holy things to us; it is to me the idea of entering into the whole scheme of divine wisdom in Christ; you come into the whole system of divine blessing in Him.

Ques. But do you not want boldness to enter into all that?

F.E.R. Yes, but the boldness must be got before the Lord's day morning else you will never get it at all and you will not enter. In the case of Israel the proper idea connected with the wilderness is movement, but then while that was so, the ark of the covenant went before

and sought out a resting place for them, now that is the idea of the assembly to me. The wilderness is a scene of continual movement, that is of continual exercise, but the ark goes before and it is all set up, it has found a resting place, and there you too, come to a moment of rest. At that moment you are withdrawn from the movement of the wilderness, and from all its exercises, and you come to a season of rest. I think it is the appreciation of Christ as the new point of departure; but then I go a step further, and see the whole system of blessing of which He is the Head and centre. The Head of that system is the Son of God.

Ques. How does that differ from what we have in connection with the Father and the Son?

F.E.R. Well after all the two lines run very closely together.

Ques. You do not get the Father in Hebrews. What would be the difference between John and Hebrews?

F.E.R. I think the two run very closely together. In Hebrews 10 he is taking up the thing in a way suitable to Jews, but you must read Hebrews in the light of John. He does not state things in the same way to Jews and gentiles, that is all; but the lines run very closely together. Take Colossians, you are risen together with Christ, and He is our life, our "life is hid with Christ in God", well, that is all very priestly.

Ques. What is the force of "to you ... who believe is the preciousness"?

F.E.R. The preciousness was to the believer, not to the nation as such; it was to those who believe in Him who got it, they entered into it.

J.McK. And in coming to the living stone, you are attracted to the precious One?

F.E.R. Yes, I apprehend Christ as the new point of departure, and I am attracted to Him as that. Israel looked on to Christ as some great King coming to confer glory on the nation, but it was a total mistake; you

must have the living stone before you can have the house, and you must have the house before you can have the nation. To think of the figure you must have Eve before you can get Israel. They simply thought of Christ as conferring glory on the nation, they never apprehended Him as a new point of departure altogether for God.

Ques. What is the sincere milk of the word?

F.E.R. I think it is taking up things intelligently; not at all the text-book thought. You see the fact is this, no single thing is revealed in Scripture; Scripture is the inspired record of what is already revealed. Christ Himself is the revelation, and as it says in John's epistle, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things", it is the anointing teaches you all things, it is the intelligent apprehension of Christ.

Rem. In Isaiah 28 where the quotation as to the corner stone is taken from, it is in the sense of a foundation, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation"?

F.E.R. I think in general the idea connected with a corner stone is that of the conspicuous stone; but if Scripture calls it a foundation stone, of course it is a foundation stone.

Ques. What do you mean by saying nothing is revealed in Scripture?

F.E.R. Well, if you trace the way God has seen fit to communicate His mind, it was first through Moses, then through the prophets, then Christ came and now the Spirit is here. But when I think of the Scriptures, I see them to be the inspired record of what is revealed, but the way you get things is from the unction; you have an unction from the Holy One and know all things, that is the way Scripture puts it.

Ques. What about the "word of God is quick, and powerful"?

F.E.R. It is that it separates in the most subtle way between what is of God and what is not, and between

flesh and spirit. The position now is this, we have to do with a living Christ who has attached us to Himself by His Spirit, and He has given us an unction so that we may know all things; but on the other hand, the great point is, that the Scriptures are the test of everything. The promises were made to Abraham, they were given to him by God, and we have them chronicled for us in the Scriptures, but the way we are able to understand them, is just in proportion as we are acquainted with Christ; it is as we have acquaintance with Christ that anything and everything is unfolded to us. You really hear of Christ through the preacher, "how shall they hear without a preacher?" people get an apprehension of Christ through the preacher.

J.McK. If you had to deal with an anxious soul, would you refer them to the Scriptures?

F.E.R. Certainly, because Scripture is for doctrine, and it has authority and therefore, I should certainly refer an inquiring soul to the Scriptures; but what I should like to do with such a soul is, I would like to tell him what I know myself of God. The fact is this, Scripture is put in the place of the living witness of Christ and the church.

D.L.H. Do not let anyone go away with the idea that there is any thought of underrating the Scriptures.

F.E.R. Not at all, but do not let us overlook the living witness of Christ today and the church. The word of Christ to me has two parts, the one is His death, and the other the communication of living water; those are the two ways in which Christ is expressed.

THE ASSEMBLY AS THE BODY

1 Corinthians 12:12 - 31

We all recognise the existence of one body, and how it is formed; that is simply dogmatic; but I think we need to see the reason why there is one body. We ought to know in divine things the reason why. There is nothing in Scripture, so far as I know, that is intended to be taken up merely dogmatically.

Ques. Is it the displacement of Jew and gentile?

Well that is an effect of the formation of one body, but why should God bring about one body?

Ques. Is it that the one Head, Christ, might be seen here?

I have no doubt that the body is to express Christ, but I think that comes in as a consequence rather than as the reason for it.

Rem. God is one.

That is what I think lies at the bottom of it. God was always bent on giving expression to unity; it was always in His mind that there should be unity. There was the thought of unity in Adam and Eve, but it broke down because will came in on the part of the woman. Then there was the same thought in Israel; there were twelve tribes, but the table of shewbread witnessed that the mind of God was that they should be one. But that unity broke down. These cases indicated that God intended to set forth unity here, and I think the reason lay in Himself. God is one, and unity is a witness to God. The unity of the three Persons of the Godhead did not come out until Christ came, but the unity was there. Then when God's thought had broken down in connection with men in the flesh the Spirit came to establish unity in the Spirit. This was consequent on redemption being accomplished. The Spirit came to form Jew and gentile into one body, that is to bring

about unity of an entirely new character from that of Adam and Eve, or that of the twelve tribes. The whole of the twelve tribes will be brought together, and unity established in Israel in a coming day; Psalm 133:1 speaks of that, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

In looking at divine things it is most important to get at the moral reason for things, and the reason is found in God Himself.

Ques. Does that come out in John 17?

Yes, the unity of the saints is to be the witness that the Father sent the Son. The thought is really carried on to glory, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me".

It is extremely interesting to trace the divine thought of unity in Scripture. Consequent upon the breakdown of unity in Israel, and upon the rejection of Christ, the Spirit of God came and established a unity of an entirely different character, but the thought of unity runs through Scripture.

1 Corinthians 12 brings out the truth of the unity of the body in order to meet the tendency to schism; in Romans it is brought in as a check to independency. In neither epistle is there much instruction in regard of the body; it is brought in incidentally as a check upon some tendency. Saints have to recognize that the Spirit is here to establish and maintain unity, and we have to see that we do not thwart that in any way; we have to endeavour "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace".

The manifestations of the Spirit may be used to create schism. If some go after one teacher, and some after another, as they were doing at Corinth, it tends to use these manifestations of the Spirit to create schism. The members should have the same care one for another, not to have preferences or particular care for some. The apostle brings out the truth of the one body as a check

upon this tendency to schism, so that whatever there might be in the way of gift, the members might have the same care one for another. For instance, my eye has no particular preference for any member of my body, it has as much concern for my foot as for my hand. I am sure we have to guard against the tendency to partiality; it works out practically in some preferring teachers, and others preferring evangelists. There is a great deal of that kind of thing, and we have to watch against it. All the manifestations of the Spirit are for the good of the body; there is place for all and we have to be careful that no schism is brought about. The members are to have the same care one for another. If one member be honoured, we are not to be jealous; if a man advances spiritually, and is brought into a kind of prominence, you are to rejoice; and on the other hand, if you see a member declining, you are to be grieved.

Ques. What about heresies at the present time?

Well, heresies do arise; God allows them to be brought out to make manifest the approved. But I would say in regard of that, that I do not believe that any one christian is competent to judge of heresy. An apostle could judge of it, but I think we have to wait until heresy becomes clearly manifest, and we are dependent upon the Spirit of God to make it manifest.

Ques. Would you say a word as to what you mean by heresy?

Heresy is using some peculiarity in doctrine in order to form a party. It may be done by exaggerating some particular doctrine to such an extent that it is taken out of its proper import, and becomes a rallying point for a party.

Ques. Is not all evil doctrine heresy?

I think heresy has the forming of a party as the end in view.

Ques. May heresy arise out of a true doctrine?

The exaggeration of true doctrine might become that;

for instance, if undue importance were attached to baptism, it might become heretical as leading to the formation of a party.

Rem. Even the truth of the one body might be used in that way.

Yes.

Schools of opinion are allied to heresy. Some particular opinion is the basis, and a party is formed by it.

Ques. Did you say that no one person is competent to judge of heresy?

I think you have to wait for the Spirit of God to make the character of the heresy manifest to the saints. What appears to you to be heretical may not be so after all. People sometimes judge hastily because things are contrary to their own ideas. The Spirit of God will make manifest, and we have to wait for Him.

Ques. What is the force of being made to drink into one Spirit?

We have not only been baptised by one Spirit into one body, but the unity is made effectual in saints by their having been made to drink into one Spirit; that is, the Spirit of Christ becomes characteristic of us. I take it that the one Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". The Spirit is often spoken of characteristically, and we have been made to drink into one Spirit characteristically.

The apostle took up the existing fact that they were one body, and they had all been made to drink into one Spirit; he does not set forth how it came about, but states the existing fact that all believers, wherever they might be, Jews or gentiles, had been baptised into one body, and made to drink into one Spirit. What we are brought into is simply an extension of it; there was no other baptism of the Spirit than what took place on the day of Pentecost; the gentile was brought into it afterwards in Acts 10. The Jew had lapsed into the world, and got away from the ground of being God's people, and then God brought about a unity, not by

marriage or by nationality, but by one Spirit.

Ques. What is the difference between the one body and the new man?

The one body presents the idea of unity, but the new man gives the thought of another order of man. There are three great witnesses to Christ. One witness is the Scriptures, another the apostles, and the third the new man. The Lord says of the Scriptures, "they are they which testify of me". Then the apostles spoke of what they had seen and handled, what had come within their own observation, and that made a difference between their testimony and all Scripture that went before. They are spoken of in John 15 as those who were to testify of Him because they had been with Him from the beginning. Then there is the testimony of the new man -- an order of man that is the effect and product of the revelation of God in Christ, characterised by righteousness and holiness of truth.

Ques. What is the meaning of holiness of truth?

It is holiness which is the effect of truth, and is characterised by truth. It is holiness of truth in contrast to ceremonial holiness. There is the same thing in principle in John 4, worship in spirit and in truth is in contrast to ceremonial worship. It is not outward holiness in the flesh.

Ques. Is it the same in the Lord's prayer, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth"?

His word is the expression of His mind, and when we are led into His mind it has the effect of sanctifying us -- of setting us apart for God.

The new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth; it could not be created until God had revealed Himself. The new man is the witness to the fact that God has come out in Christ. Neither judaism nor philosophy could produce that man. Philosophers wrote well, and had a certain judgment of things, but they were personally corrupt. But the new man is created after God; it is the result and product of

the revelation of God. It is in the knowledge of what God is in righteousness and holiness as revealed in Christ that we come to put on the new man. The having put off the old man and the having put on the new are both truth in Jesus; it refers to the death of Christ. If the old man had not been put aside for God in the death of Christ you could not have the new man in his place. The new man is in the place where the old man was. It is we who have put off the old man, and have put on the new. God has been declared, and the effect is that the new man is here. We ought all to be concerned about it, that the new man should be seen in us as a witness to Christ. It is not simply now that the Spirit is a witness to Christ, but the work of the Spirit is a witness to Christ; there is that here which is the result of the operation of God by the Spirit.

The one body is for divine complacency. I think that comes out in Colossians; we see there the place it serves; it is the first-fruits of reconciliation. The body holds the Head, and increases with the increase of God, and so there is divine complacency.

Rem. There is nothing so precious to God as the body of Christ.

Christ was infinitely precious to God when here on earth, and now the body is here for divine complacency as the first-fruits of reconciliation. The body is descriptive of all the graces of Christ. In Colossians it is "Christ in you the hope of glory". In Ephesians the thought is that the body is adequate for the setting forth of the glory of Christ; it is like the heavenly Jerusalem; it is a vessel which can carry the full blaze of divine glory. It is the fulness of Him who filleth all in all, and that refers to ages to come, for Christ does not yet fill all things. There is nothing in the body which is not of God, and the body is increased by the increase of individuals in the knowledge of God, that is, by divinely given intelligence. We can help one another; it is by joints and bands that nourishment is ministered.

Sisters have a place in that as much as brothers; spiritual sisters have much place in the body as joints and bands. The body is the first-fruits of reconciliation, so that God has a spot of complacency. All the sensibilities of Christ, as Mr. Stoney used to say, are found in the body. There is the word of Christ, and the peace of Christ, and Christ is everything and in all. The body is the continuation of Christ morally; Christ has been here under the eye of God, and the body is here as a continuation of Christ, and of all that was expressed in Him. The body is to be descriptive of Christ under the eye of God for the complacency of God.

Rem. God has tempered the body together, and made every part suitable to the other.

Yes, and we have to look to it that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members have the same care one for another. We ought to guard against partialities and particular intimacies. If people become peculiarly intimate it works sometimes in the direction of cliques and parties. We have to remember that our links are spiritual, and there is to be no preference or partiality. It does, not matter to me whether a person is high-born or low-born, rich or poor. Christ takes account of people in an entirely different way; the first are last, and the last first. We have to take account of people in regard to Christ, and as of a spiritual order.

When we come together in assembly we come to meet one another. I do not think that is the ultimate object, but it is the immediate one, and we have to see to it that we meet one another in spiritual affection, outside every worldly distinction. It is spiritual links which bind us together, and if we are not right with one another in that way, we shall not meet the Lord. The Lord enunciated the principle, "first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift", and we have to act upon that principle.

Rem. There may be other difficulties as well as social ones, such as personal peculiarities.

Well, the great thing is to approach people carefully, and seek to gain them; it never does any good to go full tilt at a person's peculiarities.

Rem. When we come together we ought to be conscious that we are members one of another.

Yes, and that in a vital way, because all that Scripture expresses to us is vitality. Things are expressed to us in the way of doctrine, but what is expressed in doctrine is really vitality. It would be a great joy to saints to come together if they realised that they had been made to drink into one Spirit, and if they recognised one another according to Christ. Coming together in assembly is more than the mere formal meeting; we come together in assembly with "one accord". Partaking of the one loaf is the symbol of this. "We being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread".

Ques. What is meant by Acts 2:42, "They continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers"?

The apostles' doctrine was the standard and basis of fellowship. Without the basis of revelation there would be no real ground for fellowship. Then fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers follow in divine order.

When the saints come together it is the assembly in function, and when thus together we have to recognise the distinction between male and female, because the woman is to be silent in the assembly. But really when we come to look at the body or the bride of Christ in its own proper character there is neither male nor female; the most marked distinction which exists after the flesh is gone is Christ. What difference can Christ make between a duke and a beggar? All these distinctions disappear before Christ. The value of the assembly as come together is that we find out our relation to one another and to Christ.

Ques. Has gift no special place when we come

together in assembly?

No, I do not think so. There are manifestations of the Spirit in the body, but all the members are to have the same care one for another. We have to take account of one another according to what we are to Christ. We are all equal objects of affection to Christ, and we have to think of one another in that light. I do not think the assembly comes together for the exercise of gift. Gifts may be present, and it is a great thing to be in a state to be contributory to the assembly, but each one should come there, as Mr. Stoney used to say, with his mind like a clean sheet of paper. The true preparation for the assembly is to enter the holiest, so that in the effect of it we may be efficient when we come together in assembly. No one can tell how the Lord may lead.

Ques. I suppose gift would be recognised in other meetings?

Yes. A teacher waits on his teaching, seeks opportunity and has it; so too the evangelist waits on his work, and the exhorter on his.

The great point is to see the purpose the body is intended to serve at the present time. I believe it is for divine complacency. It is the first-fruits of reconciliation, and it is marked by holding the Head -- the Head in the widest sense possible, the universal Head.

Ques. What is the thought in "ye are the body of Christ"?

The church at Corinth had that place, but they needed to recognise that they were Christ's body; there was that coming in which was of man, and it had really no place there.

The truth of the body is to regulate us at all times in our relations to one another. We have to take up certain things here which do not belong to this order, but the more we are in the truth of the body, the more we are qualified and helped for all that lies in the will of God for us down here. The relations which subsist in the body must have the first place; spiritual ties are

superior to natural ties; and a person converted in a worldly family will soon find that the truth of the body will bring in trouble with his relatives.

CHRISTIAN STATE

Philippians 2:1 - 30

The epistle to the Philippians does not present doctrine to us; it is taken up with the state of the saints. The apostle says, "I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state". This gives it an individual character.

Rem. I thought it was more as a company going on together.

Well, if you do not get that you do not get christianity, but when it is a question of state it must be very individual. There can be no christian conduct or affection apart from state. We are to be "blameless and harmless, the sons (children) of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world".

This chapter gives us a clue to the way in which christian state is reached; the way to life is through death. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". You have to humble yourself down to death in order to come out in life; it is only through death that you can reach the result spoken of here -- shining as lights in the world. No man can possibly get out of the world except by death. We have to enter into the fellowship of the death of Christ, to take up the cross and follow Him.

In Romans we learn first principles, it is elementary; but Philippians gives the experience of one who has entered the land, and who has apprehended the breadth and length and depth and height. It is the experience of the heavenly man -- the Ephesian -- in the wilderness. The apostle puts it forward, and it was answered to in a remarkable way in himself. The experience of Joshua and Caleb in the wilderness must have been very different to that of the others, for they had been in the

land, and had surveyed it in the length and breadth of it, and that was bound to affect the experience in the wilderness.

Ques. What is it to hold forth the word of life?

No one can hold forth the word of life if he is not himself in life. "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death". The testimony of life is held forth in the ways, and conduct, and demeanour of the children of God. "The word of life" means the expression of life. People have been too much occupied with the doctrine of life, but we want to get at the thing itself. If we are in life we shall be able to hold forth the word of life, and not merely to quote Scripture. Christ came that we might have life, He is the Tree of life; He will be the Source of blessed and health-giving influences and principles which will go out to the utmost extremity of the universe of bliss. The nations will be healed, and will become occupied with what is good. The Lord said, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life". When we have the consciousness of being in life, then we understand the doctrine.

"Holding forth the word of life" is the witness to Christ that goes out from a circle characterised by light and life. The same things come out in Ephesians, but there they are spoken of as light and love. There is a circle where you get a continuation of Christ down here, and you could not be in life apart from that circle. Life is individual, and yet there must be a company, for it is in relation one to another that life and fruit come out. The question of state must be individual, but all the Spirit's work is in view of our relation one to another. The object of the Spirit is to set us in relation one to another according to God.

Ques. What is the force of "work out your own salvation"?

Salvation is a large expression. Israel had salvation

from the power of the enemy at the Red Sea, but you must carry the thought further than that. Salvation means a new order of things, and it really involves the putting off the old man, and putting on the new. If people are entangled with the world system they do not realise salvation. Salvation is really inherent in Christ; it is "in Christ Jesus". He said, "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved". Every epistle leads up to salvation.

The great effort of many in the present day is to assure people that they have salvation while they yet remain in the world. You cannot remain in the world system, and at the same time be in salvation. Abraham left the world system, and Moses left Egypt. I could not say they were in salvation, for Christ Jesus had not come, but they illustrate the principle.

Believing on the Lord Jesus is the road to salvation, but salvation itself is in Christ Jesus by the Spirit. We believe the testimony presented to us in the gospel, but we come into the life of things by the Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we are brought into living relations with Christ.

The Philippians, in the absence of the apostle, were thrown upon their own responsibility. They were exposed to many snares, and there was necessity that they should be on the alert, and work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. We need fear and trembling in regard of the enemy's snares, and in regard of ourselves. The dangers are very real; the world's influence besets us on every side.

Salvation has been effectuated for us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Our side of that is that we are clear of the whole system which is obnoxious to God, and in which we were previously entangled. The Hebrews were in danger of neglecting the great salvation; it is most important that we should not do so, but that we should turn the salvation to account. Our position should be definite,

either in the world or in the christian circle; the effort for centuries has been to mix the two. As the inward man is strengthened and becomes more capable, salvation is more realised. If we were set for the will and pleasure of God here we should realise salvation, and He is working in us to this end. Saints in the early days needed these things to be opened up to them as we do. God works in us, not only to do, but also to will: that has often been a great comfort to me. The way in which God's good pleasure works out in us is in our relations one with another; it is by our being in the reality of the christian circle.

It is an important point that in assembly we meet one another. Coming together in a formal way at a certain place and time does not secure the Lord's presence. But if we come together as the children of God in the unity of the Spirit, and in spiritual affection, we meet the Lord, If it is only a question of coming at an appointed hour on Lord's day morning, you may as well go to a chapel. Many nave the idea that it is a more scriptural way of meeting, and do not apprehend that we meet in the light of Christ's assembly. If people have strife and envy amongst themselves, how can they have the presence of the Lord? The coming together to break bread is a great test as to our relations one to another, The obligation lies on each one to judge himself. If we came together in that way the Lord would draw nigh to us. If there is a difference we are to forgive as Christ forgave us, and that is pretty absolute! The secret of these personal differences is that people are unspiritual.

Saints ought not to come under reproach; we are to be blameless and harmless. In the early days the effect of the influence and testimony of a company answering to this description must have been marvellous, and especially as having just emerged out of heathendom.

The apostle was prepared to be a martyr for the faith; he was prepared to go on to the end that the truth might

remain. Apart from grace any one of us might apostatise; we are only kept by the power of God through faith. If I were confronted with being burnt alive I could not count upon my own stedfastness, I could only count upon God; no christian could trust himself. A man is very foolish who trusts himself.

We have to look to it that we are in the reality of things. I have no inclination to build up brethrenism. If it is not the reality of spiritual affection, and what is of God, I do not care anything about it.

UNION

Romans 7:1 - 4

I think it is a little remarkable to notice how the thought of union appears through Scripture. You will find it pervading Scripture from the beginning. In the first great relationship formed was the thought of union; God made a woman and brought her to the man, and union was brought about. That thought came out very early in Scripture. Then the same thing came out in regard to Israel. God was a husband to them, but they were like an unfaithful wife. Then when we come down to our own time and the church, we get again the thought of union. It fills a large place in connection with christianity. In this chapter there is the thought of union -- to be married to another.

In the beginning God did not think it well that man should dwell alone. After the fall a husband becomes a necessity. It is from a husband we get support. Christ is that to us that we may bring forth fruit to God. Israel, too, will be brought back to their Husband, to Jehovah, that they may bring forth fruit to God.

This thought of union pervades Scripture, Christ as the Bridegroom. The Lord speaks of Himself in that character. "The bridegroom cometh". It is a very wide expression in regard to Christ. It is the One who comes to enter into relationship with what is for God down here, and all will obtain the moral support of the Bridegroom.

Now I want to come to the point of this chapter. It is of all moment that we should bring forth fruit to God. God looks for fruit. The Lord cursed the fig-tree, but there was fruit to be found for God. Now the mystery is solved and we know the secret through which fruit is brought forth. No one would contest for a moment that it is suitable that there should be fruit for

God. It is wonderful that God should care for fruit. God is good -- all will admit that -- and God delights in that which is good. He has no pleasure in evil, but He has delight in that which is good, and fruit is good. God is pleased to present to us what I may call a great central figure. That is of all moment to apprehend. All Scripture is detail. The more you read the more you see it. For all has to be put in its place, fitted in with the central figure, and you must get the figure before you to understand the detail. If you have not got the central figure into which the detail fits you will never understand Scripture. The object of preaching is to present to us the attraction of Christ. Christ is the great central figure, and we become attached to Christ by the Spirit of Christ. What the preacher presents is the attractiveness of Christ. "I ... will draw all to me". That is the way I should judge the effectiveness of a preacher. The measure of a preacher is his ability to present the attractiveness of Christ. Their great object is to enlarge us in the apprehension of the attractiveness of Christ. What is preached is in the name of Christ, and His name is presented as a name of attraction. The apostles knew full well how to present Christ, and they presented all the attraction in Christ in a powerful way. If we assume to preach, our point should be to present the attractiveness of Christ.

Now there is another thing God has in view, and that is that He has the purpose to deliver us, to detach us from all those things by which men are bound. If there is attachment on the one hand, God is working equally on the other hand to bring about detachment. Souls are drawn to Christ but there is another object in view, they are to be delivered from this present evil world. Christ died for our sins; He was the blessed expression of grace and truth, but with the end in view that He might deliver us from this present world according to the will of God and our Father. I could not impress upon you too strongly what this world is in the eye of God.

Scripture speaks of the friends of the world as adulterers and adulteresses; stronger language could not be employed to describe those who go on in commerce with the world. They are unfaithful, they enter into commerce with that which is hateful to God. Deliverance from sin means that we are dead to the world. There is deliverance from law in chapter 7 and in chapter 8 we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. All these things go together, and the Spirit lies at the bottom of all. The Spirit is life. A man cannot deliver himself from sin, it is only by the Spirit of God that a man can take that place. And so, too, in regard to the law; we are free from law, for God has dissolved that bond in order that we might be married to another and bring forth fruit to God.

Now the real secret of all deliverance lies in the Spirit of God, or attachment to Christ. It is only in that way that any of us is kept in this world. We are kept on the principle of attachment to Christ. The one who is true to Christ is not prepared to go on in sin. He will not be lawless, but duly subject to Christ, walking here under the rule of Christ. That is where we want to be found down here. People try all kinds of experiments to escape the world, but they do not succeed. But the divine way is for people to be kept in their souls, and the principle is attachment to Christ. A faithful wife's constant thought is fidelity to her husband.

Now the effect of all that is fruit for God. In deliverance and salvation you will have fruit. The same principle guarantees deliverance from what is not according to God. The same power which enables me to bring forth fruit is the same power that maintains me in deliverance from this world. The point is fruit-bearing. There was no fruit-bearing till Christ came. God's design is that whatever fruit there is should be by Christ. Then we can understand the character of fruit acceptable to God. God looked for fruit, but He did not find it. All God's ways looked forward to Christ.

Now that One has come and He is the true Head and the beginning and centre of the universe of God, and that world of glory and blessing in which God will be glorified. Christ is the Head of every part of it. Therefore in that system God will be glorified and there will be fruit for Him. Nothing can be more important than the apprehension of Christ in that light. When Adam was here he was not the real man for God, but now the real Head is before God, and everything is attached to that Head. We could not say that Christ was fruit for God. It would not be reverent to speak thus. But God looks for fruit from man and Christ is the source of all fruit, and in Christ we learn the character of fruit acceptable to God. We must not bring Christ down to our level. He is the source of fruit. He was the true vine, not the branches. The fruit came out on the branches, but they were dependent on the vine. So now in Christ you learn what fruit is. Fruit is the expression of Christ in us. What can be acceptable to God except what is of Christ? We get it as the effect of union with that One, thus He is expressed in us. It is the result of attachment to Christ. God has been pleased to bring me into attachment to Christ by the Spirit of Christ, and in proportion as Christ is appreciated I bring forth fruit to God. So it is not difficult to discern the character of fruit. Christ now is expressed in us by the Spirit of Christ, and the fruit of righteousness is by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. It is not only that there is fruit-bearing, but we know by Christ what the true character of fruit is. Christ brought all that was divine into manhood. Love and joy were not expressed in a man until Christ came. He was everything that was acceptable to God, the delight of heaven, and we are brought into attachment to Christ that He might be expressed in us down here: and that is fruit for God. The earth is the scene of fruit for God. Christ was the true vine, and now we are married to Him who was

raised from the dead to bring forth fruit for God.

Now anyone will see how that is connected with the thought of deliverance. There is no fruit for God in the world either at its best or its worst. God has tested that system and it is obnoxious to Him. It is a system governed by principles intensely hateful to God: lust and pride and the mammon of unrighteousness. Riches are worshipped, for they minister to pride, and pride and lust are entirely opposed to God. So the friend of the world is constituted the enemy of God.

Now God has set Himself to allure us from all that system, and it is by the power of the attraction of Christ. We know the One now who is the beginning and centre of another system, and He has tasted death in order that the system should be set forth. The Spirit of Christ attaches the soul to Christ, and it is a great thing when that is brought about. When you get appreciation of Christ you get fruit for God.

This chapter takes up the detail of the things that hold us. We shall never get deliverance doctrinally. Deliverance is only to be found in the appreciation of Christ. Salvation is in Christ Jesus. You grow up to salvation because salvation is in Christ, and if a man is conscious of attachment to Christ he knows that what God has brought about is to deliver him from all that held him in bondage. Then he brings forth fruit to God, While bringing forth fruit he has part in the expression of Christ down here. The great witness to Christ down here is the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ characteristically in the saints. Nothing short of that can be a true witness to Christ. Now what we want is that every saint might be brought into the reality of the witness, that he might have part in the expression of Christ down here on earth.

These chapters are of the greatest moment to us. They indicate the divine starting-point. He is the true Husband, and the object of it all is that we might be consciously connected with the One who is Head.

I can only bring forth fruit in proportion as I have appreciation of Christ. Christ has given me living water to bring that about. The Spirit of Christ is given to lead us into the appreciation of Christ in that light. Fruit is not connected with heaven but with earth. Our relation to Christ is very different to what Israel's will be. We are united to Him, brought very close to Him that we might have a great knowledge and apprehension of Christ and become vessels in which Christ is expressed. You get liberty from the world. There is no contentment in the world, but it is found in Christ, and when you have found it in the appreciation of Christ He will be expressed in you and there will be fruit for God. God does not intend us to be self-sustained, but dependent on Another -- on Christ -- to bring forth fruit.

THE VALLEY OF ACHOR A DOOR OF HOPE

2 Kings 7:1 - 20

I am taking up this incident as an illustration of the truth of the gospel, and I have no doubt that the leprous men express the condition of man in the sight of God. I will take up the circumstances till the point is reached when they become evangelists.

The state of things was full of distress; a famine in the city and the enemy without. To remain in the city meant starvation, things looked as dark as they could be. But there was the intervention of God for His people; they were crooked and perverse, but God regarded them, and the mercy of God was not only to deliver them but to meet their need. God came in to deliver them from the fear of the Syrians, and their need was met by abundance of food. Death stared them in the face. There was dearth within and the enemy without. Now that is the state of things in the world today, there is the enemy without and dearth within. The world is a scene of dearth; that is felt in the moment of weakness and death, people have nothing to satisfy their soul. There is plenty to minister excitement, but nothing to minister satisfaction, because men do not seek it in the right place. People think that if they could get this or that, they would be content, but satisfaction cannot be found apart from God. Man cannot be really happy without God.

The condition of these four leprous men was very pitiful. They were outcasts from the city and their situation was desperate. They say, If "we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we shall die also". They would die in the city or out of it, and so they proposed to go into the camp of the enemy, and when they got there they found that God had come in in some

extraordinary way; the camp was left, and everything standing, and the Syrians fled. They had fled under the influence of imaginary terror. These leprous men's new circumstances were quite overpowering. The condition of things was beyond their necessity. They say, "This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace", and that led them to become bearers of good tidings to the city. Those in the city investigated and found that the state of things was as reported. They found that the enemy had gone and that there was abundance of food according to the word of the Lord.

These things happened long ago and are not in themselves of very much moment to us, but the circumstances furnish an illustration of what concerns us very much. We are much in the position of these leprous men. A leprous man was defiled; he could not come into the city, he was disqualified for man and God. Every man is really leprous under the eye of God. He may not be so in the eyes of his fellows, but in the sight of God every man is defiled. The Lord says, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries", etc., and these defile a man. A man may be defiled by reading bad books or looking at bad pictures, but the secret of defilement is from within. There never yet was, since sin came in, a really pure man in this world. Some people are more corrupt than others, but there never was a pure person in this world, for there is a spring of defilement within. I do not speak of what you are in the eyes of your fellows, but of what you are in the eye of God. I have come to know what I am myself in the sight of God, and we are all alike defiled and leprous and unfit for His presence. If a man of this world were taken to heaven, he would not care to be there; God's presence would give him no pleasure and he would be glad to get out of heaven. There are degrees of defilement, but as to principle all are alike. We are all leprous men in the eye of God, and all unfit for God, like the prodigal in the far country.

Now these leprous men had no doubt of their leprosy. They knew it, and it is a great point when we are conscious that we are leprous. The beginning of all hope for man is when he is conscious that he is leprous. It was thus with the prodigal when he came to himself. He was a leprous man before, but when he came to himself he was conscious of it.

Now I will touch upon the course the leprous men took in going down to the enemy. They thought that possibly there might be a door of hope that way. There is a very remarkable scripture in one of the prophets, "I will give ... the valley of Achor for a door of hope", Hosea 2:15. The valley of Achor was the place where Achan and his house were stoned (Joshua 7). They had defiled Israel by their covetousness; judgment was executed upon them, and the place of judgment is to become a door of hope. The leprous men thought that possibly there might be a door of hope in the camp of the Syrians. When a man is leprous and conscious of it, it is well for him to look the enemy in the face, for he has got to meet the enemy, that is, death and judgment. Many people imagine that everything is going to terminate in death, but there is no real reckoning in this life. A good man may suffer, while a bad man may prosper in his wickedness. It appears to me that if God is God there must be a reckoning day, and Scripture says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment", that is, the reckoning day is beyond death. God might have put the reckoning day on this side of death, but He has seen fit to put it the other side. "Those that have done evil, to resurrection of judgment". You have to face the enemy. Death is a tremendous enemy. Death reigns, and will conquer you, and judgment is appointed after death.

I speak to those who recognise the authority of Scripture, and what I would advise you to do is to go down and look the enemy in the face and see if it is not possible that in the valley of Achor is a door of hope.

Do it fairly; do not put it off till tomorrow. There is a gleam of hope to those who look the enemy in the face. People are not disposed to do it, but it is wise if you have to meet it. Do not defer it till it comes upon you; look it in the face and see if it is not possible that there is hope.

Now I want to show that, in place of hope, there is a great certainty. The love of God has come down into the place of death and judgment that man may find a way of deliverance from the enemy, the fear of death. The love of God has taken all that into account. You have all heard of Jesus, the Son of God, the One who died upon the cross. He died upon the cross in order that He might bring the love of God into the place of man's enemy, death. The Son of God has died that man might be freed from the fear of death and from the certainty of judgment. God has been pleased to open the door of hope by Himself coming down by the Son. I want you to believe in the love of God and how it has been expressed, in the Son of God. He died to make known the love of God toward men and to communicate the Spirit to man, so that man might live. God has intervened, and His Son has come under the judgment to which we are liable. If you are prepared to recognise that you are leprous and you will look the enemy in the face, you will very soon see how the love of God has been expressed in the death of Christ, that God might impart the Spirit of life to those who believe, that they might not perish but have everlasting life. If God has loved man, God has loved you. The "kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man" have appeared. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". None here are beneath the notice of God. His love has been expressed to men in the death of Christ, and he who believes receives God's gift. It cannot be given to a man who is indifferent to all that lies before him and to the love of God, God cannot

give him any gift; but a man who faces the reality of things, apprehending his own defilement, and who sees how that in the valley of Achor God has opened a door of hope, to that man God gives eternal life. Death has no terror for that man, and he never will come into judgment, because Christ is the propitiation for his sins. That is what I want all to receive, the witness of divine love in the death of Christ and in its application to everyone. That love of God that has had its perfect expression in the death of Christ is towards all. God wants that all your wrong thoughts should be dispelled.

Have you received from God the Spirit of life? Many here have. You will not get it without faith. Do you believe in the death of Christ as the expression of the love of God? You will have to face death and judgment in their terrible power, but you may look at them now and find in them a door of hope. God has made death itself the expression of His love to man, that you may no longer fear death.

If you believe that, you get the Spirit of God. God gives the Spirit, in order that man may live without fear of death and judgment. The effect will be to make you evangelists. You will go home and tell your friends what great things God has done for you. It is when people have believed the glad tidings that they become evangelists. It is a great day in a person's life when he can go and tell his friends what great things God has done for him and has had mercy on him.

But there was a nobleman who had ridiculed the word of the prophet. In those days everything was by the word of the prophet; in this case Elisha was the prophet. This nobleman was a skeptic, and when the prophet foretold abundance, he said: "Behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?" In the day of good he got no good; he saw the abundance with his eyes, but never tasted of it. The nobleman is a warning to those who profane and ridicule the testimony; they may see the good with their eyes,

but will not taste of it. His position did not save him from the judgment of his profanity.

It is of all importance to be prepared to face realities. Death and judgment are upon man and he cannot evade them. Judgment is an absolute moral necessity, in order to maintain the relative positions of God and man. The reckoning day is before men. If you look these things in the face, there is a door of hope for you. Divine love has come in that you may believe in God and receive from Him the gift that God gives, the Spirit. May God grant that you may not be indifferent. There are many who have received the gift of God, and God is no respecter of persons. God gives to the believer the gift of the Spirit without money and without price. Everyone that thirsts is to come and drink. May you believe in the love of God expressed in the death of Christ that you may receive from God what God gives.

SPIRITUAL ADVANCE

1 John 2:7 - 28

The apostle was not writing to the saints here exactly with the view of teaching, but with the object of keeping them in right lines. The point in the latter part of the chapter is that they had an unction from the Holy One and knew all things; the apostle says, "ye have not need that any one should teach you". He sought to guard the saints, because there were many antichrists. There were those seeking, even in that day, to introduce the corrupt thing that we have around us. The Son of man sowed good seed in His field; but no sooner had the seed been sown than the enemy came and sowed tares. The tares and the good seed were almost contemporaneous. The antichrists went out early, but they did not revert to what they had previously been; they set on foot the corrupt system which we see around.

If, when people departed from the truth they had returned to what they came out of, to judaism or heathenism, it would have made matters comparatively simple; but they did not do that; they started some counterfeit of the truth, and that tended to make matters difficult. What we get in the epistle is apostolic care to guard the saints from being carried away by what was not of the truth. At the same time the Spirit of God, by the apostle, insists very strongly upon the fact that the saints had the truth in them. "Even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him". Now, if the saints in that day could be marked off, as they appear to be in this passage, into different gradations, I judge the same thing might hold good today. We do not know much about one another, but in the present time it would probably be possible to find the fathers, the young men, and the little children.

I will make one remark before passing on to what is

characteristic of each stage of advance. A young man does not lose what is proper to the babe. There is not growth in that sense. In natural things, when a babe grows to a youth, a youth to a young man, the youth ceases from the things of the babe, and the young man from the things of the youth. But that would not always hold good in divine things. There is that which is characteristic of the young men; but the young men do not lose that which was proper to the little children, and the same thing would apply to the fathers. The apostle has only one thing to say in regard to them, and that is that they had known Him which is from the beginning. But that which was descriptive of the young men and of the little children remained with the fathers. That is an important point to bear in mind. If we advance, we do not lose what characterised us in what we have advanced from. You may get saints entering upon the land of promise, that is, on the ground of divine counsel, but they do not lose what is proper to the wilderness, for we are in the wilderness, and whatever advance we make in the knowledge of divine counsel we never can lose the things which are proper to the wilderness. We have to continue in the faith, and not be moved away from the hope of the gospel; that must have its application to us so long as we are in our present condition. It is a great mistake to think that you can march through the wilderness into the land, and have done with the wilderness. In spirit we may enter upon the ground of divine promise; but you can never take yourself out of the wilderness, you must wait until the Lord comes to take you out of it.

Meantime every christian in the wilderness is himself an evidence of the truth. We see that coming out in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of John. In the fifth of John, he lives by the voice of the Son of God, and is thus an evidence to the Son of God. Time was when he was dead; he did not hear the voice of God at all. The man that does not hear the voice of God, proves he

is dead; but the one that has heard the voice of the Son of God and lives, is a standing witness to the truth of the Son of God. In chapter six the believer is in the wilderness, and finds bread. Every christian is a witness to that. He is in the wilderness, a dry and thirsty land; but in a land of dearth, he finds experience of grace. That is witness of the Son of man. Then in chapter seven, out of his belly flow rivers of living water. He is a witness to the Spirit of God. It is a testimony to the power of the Spirit, keeping the soul in the joy of the Lord.

The individual believer in the wilderness is an evidence to the Son of God, the Son of man, and the Spirit of God. If challenged by an unbeliever or a heathen, he ought to be prepared to say, 'I carry the evidence of the truth in my own person'.

Now to come back to our passage. What marks the babes is, they have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things; what marks the young men is, that the word of God abides in them; and what characterises the fathers is, they have known Him which is from the beginning. As babes have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things, they stand in relation to every divine Person, that is the truth of things at the moment. Every christian knows the Father, because christianity is based on the revelation of God as Father. You would scarcely account a person a christian if he did not know the Father. The fact of the Son having come, proves that the Father is revealed.

Then we stand in relation to the Holy One, for we have received the living water from the Holy One, and stand in relation to Him; and further, we have the unction from the Holy One abiding in us. The christian does not lose the anointing, it continues in him. It is not like the Spirit of Christ coming upon the prophets in Old Testament times; the anointing abides. That began with Christ Himself, the Holy Spirit descended and abode upon Him. When the baptism of

the Holy Spirit came to pass in connection with Christ going on high, then the anointing abode upon those who received it. The anointing is truth. You cannot add anything to truth, and having the anointing, it is clear that the christian has the truth in himself: That is the ground on which the apostle says, 'You have no need that anyone teach you'. What do you think the truth is? The truth was hardly here until Christ came. The mind of God was communicated from time to time; God made known His word to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in the midst of Israel to Moses and the prophets, but I doubt if the truth was here until Christ came. The truth is the revelation of God, and the revelation of God in nature was not here until Christ. God could not be revealed through the agency of prophets. Anyone ought to be able to see that though His mind might be made known, it was entirely impossible for God to be revealed by prophets. He must Himself in some way come out, and that is just what God saw fit to do (John 3:16). The apostle John says in the introduction of the gospel, "No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". Hence, until Christ came, you have not the truth. I believe the force of the expression, "the truth", is the revelation of God.

The Lord said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". The presence of Christ was entirely different from any other moment. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came to pass by Jesus Christ, because God was revealed. How was God to be known? I know but one way, and that is, in revealing Himself by Himself. Hence it is that you get the anointing. The anointing is the truth, in order that we may be in the good of the revelation, and I do not believe any one could be in the good of the revelation except by the anointing. The anointing is truth, and teaches that we may be in all the gain of the revelation of God.

Apart from the anointing it is absolutely impossible that God can be known. I can understand the testimony of the grace of God coming out to man; but that does not in itself bring the knowledge of God. If God is to be known in His nature, He must be revealed in Himself. By the Spirit we can enter upon all that in which God has been pleased to reveal Himself: A christian is competent by the Spirit, carries the competency in Himself (whatever may be true of him practically). In principle, in virtue of the anointing which he has received from the Holy One, be knows all things, and has no need that anyone teach him.

No man can teach you the knowledge of God. God may use teachers -- apostles or what not -- to guard and guide you in a way; but you may be confident that as to the real knowledge of God no one can teach you short of God Himself; that is, the Spirit of God. Hence, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has been pleased to take the place of the truth down here, not objectively like Christ, but subjectively, that the saints may have the gain of the revelation which God has given of Himself in the only-begotten Son. Christ has communicated the Spirit to be living water in the believer -- a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

I suppose we would all take the ground of being babes. The thing for the babes to covet is to be spiritual. We would all desire to advance in the knowledge of divine things; the way is to advance in the knowledge of God Himself. The way for this is, confidence in the anointing, in the Spirit of God that dwells in you. There is no truth more wonderful than the presence of the Spirit; and where is the Spirit?

The presence of Christ was outside of man in a sense. The Spirit is in saints, in God's house, dwelling in believers. One would desire to bring people back to confidence in the Spirit of God that dwells in them. It is the only means by which we can be led into the

knowledge of God. The one that knows God is the one that loves. Why do we love? Because God has been pleased to acquaint us with His love. We love by the Spirit. "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love".

Thus you see how dependent we are on the anointing for everything that touches the real knowledge of God. The truth means that which may be known of God -- that which is revealed in the only-begotten Son. One can speak to you of these things, but can do nothing whatever for you. No man can teach you in the knowledge of God. One would seek to guard you from anything which would divert you from it, that your attention might be directed God-ward, and your confidence increased in the One who can lead your heart into all that in which God has been pleased to reveal Himself.

It is a great thing if we are shut up to God. But our attention is so readily diverted by man; ten thousand things down here tend to distract the attention of saints -- social and business obligations. You have to remember these things are but for a moment, however they may seem important to us; but the knowledge of God is for eternity; and therefore, it is of all importance that our attention should not be diverted from what tends to lead us into the knowledge of God. The truth is there in Christ, and in the believer, that the believer may, by the anointing, be led into all truth, into the knowledge of God as He has revealed Himself.

Now, as to the young men. Speaking in regard to them you must suppose the truth to be known. That is common to every christian. It is not one particular class that has the anointing; "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". The "word of God" conveys to me a different idea. I understand by the word of God the communication of God's mind to man, and in general, the communication of God's mind

in relation to man. This is a different idea from the truth. Through all time, almost from the beginning, we get the word of God coming in. The word of God always addressed itself directly to man, without any kind of intervention. God communicated His word, His mind, to the patriarchs, in the way of promise. He called out Abraham, and communicated His mind to him. It was not exactly the revelation of Himself, but what He proposed to do, and what He intended to make of Abraham.

In the case of Moses God communicated His mind to him and in a general way it had reference to what the children of Israel were to be for God. God first communicated His mind as to the children of Israel on mount Sinai, then afterwards from off the mercy-seat. Later on, in the prophets we still get the idea of the word of God. Sometimes God would address Himself by them to the people, at other times He would go outside the boundary of the people, and speak to the gentiles. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Now I pass on a step further, and that is, the climax of God's word has now been reached in Christ. There is the announcement of God's mind in regard of man, made known in the Man whom God had been pleased to raise from the dead. That Man is the Head of every man, and in that Man is fully expressed and communicated the mind of God in regard of man. Christ is Himself the Word, and it is in Him that God's mind in regard of man at the present moment is made known, and it is maintained here by the Spirit of God. That brings us to the point in regard of the young men. The testimony of God abides in the young men. I think that is the case today, activity in the testimony of God is characteristic of the young men, just as the truth is in the babes. So what is characteristic of the young men is, the word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the wicked one. The word of God is not

bound, it is maintained and promulgated, and it abides in the young men. Now, there is a snare as to them, and that is, the world. It has been unhappily true in our experience that some of those who had been extremely active in the testimony of God have been engulfed more or less by the world. There is no man who can possibly go on in the testimony of God without support. If a man does not have the support of the Spirit he will surely turn for support to christendom.

Where a man loses the sense of the Spirit's presence and the truth of the church, that man is bound to turn for support to christendom, and christendom means the world -- the 'christian world'. Such a man has lost in his testimony the savour of the Spirit of God. They may tell us of the wonderful results produced by his work, but the testimony has lost its savour, because he has got away from the Spirit of God, and is looking for support from christendom.

We have to be on our guard against the snare of the world. The world is subtle; it presents itself to us in many forms and shapes. The influences are almost unfelt, and people get under the power of things before they are aware of it. Its influences may come in in domestic arrangements, to bring the young men under its influence, and in that way to mar the brightness of their testimony. If the word of God does not abide in the young men I do not know where it abides. I think that all christians are in the truth and have the unction, but the word of God abides in the young men. We that are young men have to look to it -- God holds us responsible -- that we are not poisoned by the evil influences of the world; "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world". Our ways should be simple, and we must not run in accord with the world. What could be more simple than every way of Christ? We want to walk in the simplicity that characterised Christ Himself.

As to the fathers the apostle says, "I have written unto

you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning". It is difficult to give a definite idea as to that. I merely suggest a thought or two. "Him that is from the beginning" is in a way indefinite. From the beginning of what? "From the beginning" is an expression rather characteristic of John's writings. "The devil sinneth from the beginning", etc. The form of the expression raises a question in the mind. The idea I have in connection with it is, 'from the beginning of the day'. I take it up from what occurs in the early part of the chapter; the darkness is passing and the true light now shines. The day has dawned, and now you can speak of Him that is from the beginning of the day.

The system of things in the world with which we are acquainted began from the introduction of the sun. There were certain things antecedent to the sun; but the order in which we live began with the sun. In the sun there was the principle of rule, and I do not believe any order of things according to God can exist without the principle of rule. When God brought in that principle then it is that you get the up-springing of life; life comes in consequent upon the introduction of rule.

There was light previous to that, at the outset; but not rule. I should connect light morally with the revelation of God. Rule comes in in connection with an appointed light. God appointed the sun to rule the day, and in connection with an appointed light came to pass, life. We live in an order of things which is ruled by the sun, and the sun is potent in that way. It is not simply that it rules the day, but it fills the world with light and heat; there is nothing hid from its heat. God has been pleased to bring to pass a spiritual order of things analogous to that. The beginning of it was the introduction of a great light; Christ has come in as a great light, who is to give law to the universe of God. I take that up from Psalm 40, "I come: ... to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart".

The moment He became Man there was a new outset; there was a sun appointed in regard of the moral universe. The day began to dawn; you have One in whose heart is the rule of God.

Now, the law of God is love. "Thy law is within my heart". The object of that was that He might give the rule to the universe which God intends to bring to pass. In the presence of that great light all life is developed. When the appointed light comes in then He communicates the Spirit of life, that in the presence of light there might be life. The day has begun. The One in whose heart is God's rule -- that Man has come in, who will give the law to the Jew and to the nations; He gives now the law to the church. It is God's law; the law of love, which is to rule, and in the presence of that everything is to be subdued. Just as the light of the sun is great enough to fill the world, so Christ is great enough to fill all things. He is exalted far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. The apostle John says that if all that Christ had done were recorded, the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Christ is the great appointed light, and with the introduction of the light a new order of things has come to pass. A man is brought upon the scene who has accomplished redemption so that God may take up His rights, and in whom God can give the law to the moral universe.

It seems to me strange if God cannot bring in a better order of things than what exists now in the world. "The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" are the things which rule man, and give birth pretty much to the strife which is upon earth. I defy the most acute man to find out the rights and wrongs, politically, of anything in the world. God will introduce a world of His own; but then that world will have its own proper character of righteousness. The day has begun, the darkness is passing, and the true light now shines, and the appointed light is great

enough to fill all things.

One word more. You must remember that our part is with Him. What for? That we should be like a faithful wife in the absence of her husband. I pity a man taken up with the things of the world, because these are not the interests of Christ. The wife has to be faithful to the interests of her husband in his absence. The church is left here in the absence of the Bridegroom, to be faithful to His interests, but when Christ fills all things then the church will share with Him the glory of His exaltation. There is nothing that is conferred upon Christ as the exalted Man that the church will not enjoy with Him in that day; like a wife who has been faithful in the absence of her husband; when her husband returns and takes up all that belongs to him, shares in all that belongs to her husband. It is a great thing for our souls to be in the light of the day.

THE COMPANIONS OF CHRIST AS THE TRUE ISRAEL

Isaiah 8:13 - 18; Luke 22:28 - 30; Hebrews 3:1 - 6

I desire to draw attention to the place of christians as companions of Christ, for it is a point of the greatest moment for us to apprehend. I shall be able to shew you that a very great deal depends upon it, not only for us, but for God. A very important place is filled by the companions of Christ in the course of divine dealings, in that in them the continuity of the ways of God is maintained. If I judge for others by myself, this has a great effect in establishing our souls in the truth.

It is evident that there can be no lapse in the ways of God. Everything must be maintained for Him, and He has His own way of maintaining all. Things may appear to us to go to the bad, for if God takes up a people and they do not answer to His mind, He will set them aside. This is what He has done, and will do, but for all that He preserves the continuity of His ways.

There are two principles of God which underlie the whole of Scripture: that is, He works out His purpose, but never gives up responsibility on the part of man. His purposes are not dependent on the responsibility of man. He has His own way of working them out; but, at the same time, He retains man in responsibility, and, so far as I understand things, the wisdom of God is apprehended in seeing these two most important principles maintained by God in His ways.

We all see the lapse of Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of God is maintained in the companions of Christ, so that there is really no lapse. God had His own way before Him, and, if there was an apparent lapse in the ways of God, He knew how the continuity was to be maintained; I am going now to shew how the Israel of God is maintained in the companions of Christ.

That we are companions of Christ is a truth of profound moment to us. The Lord said to His disciples, "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations". Now we are the companions of Christ in the time of His rejection. Whatever may be our position and connections in this world, if they are of the most exalted kind, nothing can compare with the idea of companions of Christ, "For we are become companions of the Christ if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end".

It is very evident that if Christ has companions they must take their character from Him. In a family where the eldest child has brothers and sisters, they are his companions, and will be very largely influenced by him, the first-born. And so, too, in companies on earth, there is commonly a leader who influences and gives character to his companions. Now that is the case with us when we take Christ into account; Christ has ability, not only to influence His companions, but to make His companions answer to Himself.

It is important for us to see that everything must in result be for God, and that is assured in the fact that Christ is the Head and centre of the moral universe which is of and for God: the universe of bliss. From the position He occupies in the ways of God, of necessity everything must be for God. You may test that as you like. There is no principle of truth with which we are familiar but has its first application to Christ Himself.

I will take up one or two points in connection with that. I do not, for the moment, refer to what is moral, but to what is more material. I take up the thought of the world -- all is for Christ. Every part of the creation was for Him. He was the Creator of all things, and in that connection we get the statement: "All things have been created by him and for him". He is the "image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation". Creation was for Him. God placed Adam in the midst of it in the first instance, with dominion over it; but

all things were created not only by Christ, but for Him. It was ever in the divine purpose that Christ should become Man, and all was formed in view of His becoming Man and occupying the place, as in the counsels of God, of the Head of the universe of bliss.

This is confirmed in Revelation 4 and 5. In chapter 4 all creation is taken up by Christ as Creator, as having been created for Him. All were created for His pleasure, and He takes up creation on that ground. In chapter 5 He takes all up on the ground of redemption. He is the Lamb, that was slain, in the midst of the throne.

Christ is the Heir of all things. God created the worlds by Him, and, in order that He might take up the inheritance, redemption was accomplished, and has its application thus to Christ Himself. The same thing is true with regard to the accomplishment of righteousness. It was accomplished for Christ that, the lawless man having been removed from under God's eye, He might be the Sun of righteousness.

But I come to a narrower circle: Israel. The point with Israel was, that they were God's house. You get that thought in Exodus 25:8: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them". Also in 2 Corinthians 6:16: "for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people". These thoughts evidently had reference to Israel. God took them up to dwell among them and walk in them. Until you get the figure of redemption you do not find the thought of God dwelling among men. He visited man, like Abraham, to communicate with Him; but there was no indication of His dwelling until there was the figure of redemption. Israel was taken up provisionally in order that the purpose of God might be accomplished. God did not dwell among them nakedly, that is, without a temple, because they were taken up after the flesh. Israel had a national calling,

and the highest point of it was, that God would dwell among them. All the material of the tent of meeting was taken from the people to construct the tabernacle; that is, God came as close to them as it was possible for Him to come under the circumstances, and it was intended that they were to be affected by that.

I have no doubt that Israel was really called out for Christ: just as creation was made for Him and by Him. They were God's inheritance, which was to be taken up in due time in Christ. Christ came to His own, but His own received Him not, and hence we get the end of Israel after the flesh, but not the end of Israel according to the purpose of God. All connection with Christ after the flesh terminated in His rejection. Israel lost the place they had provisionally, because they did not receive Christ. That is referred to in Isaiah, and whilst there is a lapse as after the flesh, yet God has taken care that there is no real lapse. What was lost in Israel was secured in the companions of Christ, the children given to Him: "Behold I and the children which Jehovah hath given me;" they were for signs and portents, they were given to Christ in the time of the hiding of the face of Jehovah from both the houses of Israel, and in them you get the true Israel.

You will find a confirmation of that in John 15. Israel had been the vine, but the Lord said to the disciples, "I am the true vine ... ye are the branches". We have the same thought continued, though not in connection with the vine, in verse 7: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you". That is, the thought of fruit-bearing is maintained in that which was before God as the true Israel: the children which God gave to Christ; thus the continuity of things is preserved in the companions of Christ.

In them you get, for the time being, the Israel of God, and that thought is taken up in Hebrews. In the chapter which I read we get two points. The first is, that christians were God's house, and the second, that

they were companions of Christ. In the gospels the thought of the companions of Christ comes out continually in connection with the disciples. The Lord says to them, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel". We see there that they had not lost their relation to Israel in being the companions of Christ. We all know that the beginning of the church was in a remnant of the Jews. God added the saved ones daily to the church, they were brought into the place of companions of Christ. There was no gentile as yet brought in, we do not get one until Acts 10, when Cornelius received the Spirit.

Our place is that of companions of Christ because we have received Christ in the time of His rejection. That thought comes out in the beginning of John's gospel. "He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God". We have the Holy Spirit's testimony to Christ in the time of His rejection, while He is hid from the world at the right hand of God, and by faith of it come into the place of His companions. God is bringing many sons to glory: He has revealed in this His thought and mind.

The apostle Paul says in Romans, "he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God". And in Philippians he says, "we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit". God has the circumcision, the true Israel, the true Jew, because all is found in the companions of Christ.

Another interesting point in connection with this is that the companions of Christ, in the time of His glory, come out as the holy Jerusalem. The link with earth and Israel is not lost. The holy Jerusalem comes down

from God, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are inscribed on the twelve gates of the city. Paul suffered for the truth and the hope of Israel, and we find these maintained now in the church. There will come the time when all Israel shall be saved: a nation will be born in a day, but, in the meantime, the true Israel is maintained in the companions of Christ.

The place which the heavenly Jerusalem occupies should, in a sense, have been occupied by Israel. The nations of the earth ought to have walked in the light of Israel, but what will come to pass is that they will walk in the light of the holy Jerusalem. She has the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, and the nations of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. But all Israel will be saved. There will come the Deliverer out of Zion, and they will have their own proper connection with the heavenly city. Israel will be responsive to the heavenly city, while the nations will be responsive to Israel. That will be brought to pass when Christ is manifested in glory. In the meantime, we have the exalted Christ, the Head, the Sun of righteousness, the Beginning of the creation of God, and we are companions of Christ, in whom the truth and hope of Israel are maintained. We are brought into the light of the coming age.

No one can understand christianity who does not see that the real power of it lies in the anticipation of the coming age. The day has dawned, Christ shines upon us though the Sun of righteousness has not yet arisen with healing in His wings. When Christ shines upon us we get an apprehension of the whole system and order of things of which He is the Beginning and Head.

A first principle of this is that the truth and the hope of Israel are maintained in His companions. The Jew today calls himself a Hebrew and maintains Jewish traditions, but the hope of Israel is not found in him. He is self-seeking and pursuing worldly advantages, but Israel's hope is not there. The Jew after the flesh is

lost in the world, and the truth of Israel according to God is maintained in the children given to Christ.

Now as to what is to mark the companions of Christ: Christ is pre-eminent among them, that must be so in the very nature of things. Thou hast anointed him "with the oil of gladness above thy fellows". The house of God is, in a sense, for Christ, as being Son over it. Moses was a servant in it, and for him it was a test of faithfulness, but for Christ it is the sphere in which He is entitled to order all. That will expand as wide as the universe, because all things will, in a sense, form God's house, and in the universe of bliss Christ will order all things. In the meantime, we are His house, and there it is that Christ orders all according to God. There can be nothing which is according to God now save that which is of Christ. He is the one Man before God.

This will be verified even in Israel: Christ will give character to them when the law is written in their hearts. They will be according to God because they have taken character from Christ.

We get in John 12 the thought of the power of attraction in Christ: "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me". I should connect that with Matthew 11. The Lord recognises there His rejection by Israel, and consequent upon that you get the word: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light". Christ is the point of attraction now, the outset and Head of the world to come. He is the true Sun of righteousness, though not yet arisen with healing in His wings. It is not yet the moment of His coming in glory and dissipating the darkness, but the darkness is passing and the true light now shines. Christ has been lifted up, and draws all to Himself. There is a mighty, beneficent, moral influence

in Him which has the effect of drawing all to Himself in order that all may take character from Him.

There comes a moment in the experience of people weary and heavy laden. They become jaded by life in the world, and it cannot satisfy; and God works so that people really become burdened; then it is that the Lord's word is heard, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". No mere impostor or philosopher would ever have said that. Then He goes on to say, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me". He virtually says, 'I can come down to you'. There never was a man but He who was meek and lowly in heart. We have not to get up to Him, the difficulty for us is to get down. The qualities which were in Christ do not obtain in this world. The man who is meek and lowly in heart cannot be successful in the world because he has not the qualities for it.

But there is a people here heavy laden like Israel in Egypt, and, for them, there is the One who has been lifted up from the earth: the magnet, the point of attraction for the heart: and He says, 'Take my yoke upon you, become my companions, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls'. If we are brought to that point we partake in the qualities which are suited to the house of God. That comes out clearly in Ephesians. In chapter 2 the saints are spoken of as being of the household of God, and in chapter 4 they are to be characterised by lowliness and meekness. The part of the Lord Jesus is, that He presents Himself to us as the point of attraction. Just as the sun is the point of attraction in the material system, so the Sun of righteousness is the seat of attraction and the power of it in the system which is, not material, but moral. He presents Himself to us, and in that way brings us into the place of companions with Himself. We are here sharing His rejection, and if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together. That is the point to which we are brought now, suffering

with Him, and yet, at the same time, the house of God, where Christ is entitled to order all according to God. He is the first-born among many brethren, and, from what He is and where He is, He is entitled to give character to His companions.

We are not like people in old times, believing in God and waiting for Christ's coming. The Lord has come, the world to come has dawned in the Sun of righteousness, the day-star is there. He has arisen in our hearts, and Christ is shining upon us. We have been brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light. The best thing I could do for you, if it were in my power, would be to bring all your hearts into view of Christ as the Sun of righteousness, the centre and Head of the system in which God is glorified, and in which man is placed according to God; and that system is there. Christ is the beginning, and the first-fruits of it are the companions of Christ, and there it is that the true Israel is maintained for God.

The One anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows has the right of the first-born. All belongs to Him, and not only do we all take character from Him, but He leads us in the service of God. The service of God properly belonged to Israel, they had the oracles of God, but now the companions of Christ have that place. The truth is maintained now in the power of the Holy Spirit, He is the witness; whom God hath given to them that obey Him. The service of God is provided for. We are built up a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. In Psalm 22 the Lord said, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee". The strict application of that verse does not, perhaps, go beyond the Jew. But the companions of Christ come in now as the true Israel, and the gentile as the seed of Abraham. They are become fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. That is the place of the gentiles. The companions of Christ are the company in the midst of which Christ can praise God. That is taken up in

1 Peter. We have come to Christ as the Living Stone, the foundation of the building, and are built up a spiritual house. The service of God is provided for in the true Israel, in communion with the One who is the Head of the universe of bliss.

Provision is made also for testimony to man, and that which should have come out in Israel comes out in the companions of Christ. We are to shew forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. Israel was called out of Egypt, and was to be a witness to God in the midst of the surrounding nations, and the point for us is to shew forth His praises. We are a testimony of the virtues of God, known and maintained in the companions of Christ. I think you will admit, if you have followed me, the great moral importance in the present time of the companions of Christ. The importance to Himself is the first point, for they are God's house so that Christ may order all according to the glory of God. We are brought into the place in order that the interests of the true Israel may be maintained, that God's virtues may be set forth in those who form His house.

Now these things are vital. Christianity is life, not simply doctrinal orthodoxy. It is well to be orthodox, but christianity does not consist in that, it is life, because it is centred in Christ, the living One, the Sun of righteousness. He has come that we might have life, and have it very abundantly. Life is there, maintained by the energy of the Spirit of Christ, and we are brought into view of the One who is the beginning, sun and bond of the universe of bliss. For us the day has dawned, and the day-star has arisen in our hearts. If you do not see that, you will come under the influences of the present world. You only escape by the apprehension of Christ in the system and order of things which, according to God, is centred in Himself.

God had that order of things in view from the outset. It is remarkable that when of old God took up a man

He did not speak of accomplishing anything in the man himself. For instance, Abraham was taken up, but everything was to be accomplished in his son. The same thing was true with David: everything was to be accomplished in the son of David, all the ways of God had regard to Christ. Abraham never had companions, nor had David, Isaac or Solomon; but when Christ comes in He has companions.

The point of importance is that in the companions of Christ, the children given to Him, you get the maintenance of the Israel of God. They are hid for the present, but will come out in the holy Jerusalem. If we get the apprehension of our place in regard of Christ, it will alter our whole course here. With the young there is often an assent to the truth, and an outward association with the people of God, but the point is, are they going to come out as men of faith and companions of Christ: holding to Him and admitting His title to give character to them? He is entitled to give character to all His companions, and the point is to accept that. You are bound to submit to the influence of Christ, and take character from Him. You are to take His yoke upon you and learn of Him, and then you come out, accepting your part in the service of God and in testimony to man.

THE FLOCK OF GOD

John 10:22 - 33; Acts 20:28 - 32

It is extremely important to apprehend that in the coming of Christ every divine thought previously made known is taken up afresh. Christ, the Son of God, comes forth from God, not simply to establish something new, but to take up things that are, in a sense, old. They are taken up in a peculiar way, but they are taken up, so that nothing is allowed to drop.

I have attempted to point this out in the gospels. In Matthew we have the idea of Israel. God had taken them up as the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ten tribes had been carried away captive, and, after that, Judah and Benjamin were carried away, and a remnant only were brought back to the land. Their moral condition was worse than their outward condition. The house was empty, swept and garnished. They had purged themselves from idolatry, but the house was empty, and hence at the end the idolatrous principle comes back. But whatever might be the then condition of Israel, the thought of Israel is taken up again in Christ. That is not a new thing, but the church is new. Israel is old, and old things are taken up in Christ.

In the gospel of Luke we see that the nations had a place in the thought of God. Christ was a light for the revelation of the gentiles. The gentiles were to be brought into the light of Christ. The coming of Christ meant not simply the blessing of God's people Israel, but the revelation of the gentiles. That is not a new thought, it comes out in the Old Testament. It is there said, "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people". Many other passages in the Old Testament speak of the blessing of the nations. When Christ came, all that was brought into view, for He was a light for the revelation of the gentiles.

So, too, in Mark the word is taken up in Christ. The prophetic word had lapsed for many years, but in Christ it is again presented. In John the same principle applies. There the temple is spoken of. As regards Israel, it had become a den of thieves, but now it is seen in Christ. It is really a point of the deepest interest to see that Christ came, not simply to be the foundation of what was new, but to take up what was old. The Lord in Matthew 16 said, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"; but He was here also that every divine thought might be established. Whether it is Israel, the nations, the word, the temple, or any other thought, all is taken up in Him. If you apprehend that, you will see how in Christ the divine ways are bound together.

Christ is the bond of everything. We see in Him the establishment of all that was old, and the introduction of what is new. The holy Jerusalem is a new thought; but all that had been spoken of and predicted in the Old Testament is not inconsistent with it. Christ comes in as the foundation of the church, but, at the same time, we get every previous thought of God established.

Now we have on the other hand the fact that Christ was rejected by man. Jew and gentile joined in His rejection. That is brought out in John. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not". "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not". The simplest person can see that the rejection of the Son of God must make a great difference on earth. It came out very soon in connection with His presence here. Man's will was bent upon the rejection of all that was of God. That is, alas! the heart of man. You can see it in the world today: the spirit and purpose of man is the rejection of Christ. The thought of God in any moral sense, and as having any spiritual relation to man, is intolerable to the world. The simple thought of Creator may be admitted, but when you present to man the idea of a

living God who regards man, and to whom man has responsibility, the thought is obnoxious. The mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. A great many people read that as if it applied to the ten commandments, whereas it applies, I judge, to the rule or principle of God. The mind of the flesh is not subject to the principle of God, and neither indeed can be, so that they who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But I was saying that Christ was rejected here. Pontius Pilate no more accepted Christ than did the Jew; and the consequence is, that Christ becomes a test. The one thing follows upon the other. If Christ is presented to man and is not received by man, then He necessarily becomes a test to man. I admit that if God did not work, Christ would not be accepted by anyone; there is the activity of God underneath all. But the position is, that He is the Head of every man: He is placed thus in regard of every man, and the result is, that every man is tested by Him.

The consequence of His being the test is, that you get souls attracted to Christ. In John 12 the Lord says, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out: and I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me". There is in Christ a power of attraction, and men are attracted to Him. This has been verified in all of us. We have been attracted to Him, though we may not have understood very much about it. A great many are content with believing what is written in the Scriptures, and that is of all moment; but the secret is, that there is a power of attraction in Christ, though He is rejected of men, and that souls have been and are attracted to Him.

Christianity will endure every assault of the enemy, and for this reason, that in every part of it it is living. Christ is the principle of it. There is a contrary principle at work in the world which blinds men to the glory of Christ, but in Him there is an irresistible attraction

which will draw all to Himself. That is what is coming out at the present time. Christ -- unknown of the world and rejected by His own -- has become the test of every man. If He had been received there would have been no testing of man. But He has become the test of the Jew and also of the gentile.

And what is the secret of that? He is full of grace and truth. John speaks of this, and says, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth". Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. In Christ we have the revelation of God and the expression of His mind toward man. "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". He has declared God, and that is the power of attraction in Him. God is declared according to His disposition and thought toward man, in grace and truth. Christ did not come like Moses as a law-giver, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and of His grace have all we received.

No power of evil can ever get christianity out of the world, because it depends upon the living Christ who has declared God, and God is declared in such a way that the word is irresistible. Men come to feel the need of what is presented in Christ: grace and truth. They are conscious of being infirm and sinful, and they want God; they feel that they are in the dark in regard of Him, and have need of the truth. From the moment that Christ came here to the present time the principle of testing has been going on in the world. Man will be tested to the end by Christ, and the result is, that while some are drawn to Christ, on the other hand, the testing makes man darker and worse than he was before. We have all been drawn to Christ by what is presented in Him. You may not have understood it, but when you heard the gospel He was drawing you to Himself. He is the magnet. Christianity depends upon the living Christ, who is the point of attraction to men. What is presented in Christ precisely meets the need of men,

though it is another thing for man to realise His need. Men would like to know forgiveness of sins; well, grace is presented in Christ. And man would like to know what is truth, and it is there in Christ. When you look at Christ you see all in its proper place and proportion.

Now while we see the truth set forth in Christ, we get all those thoughts of God which He had previously made known established in the companions of Christ. When I speak of the companions of Christ, I refer to those who have been drawn to Him. They are companions of His rejection. No divine thought has lapsed. I once had the idea that many things made known in connection with Israel had, in a sense, for the time being lapsed, and that they would be taken up in the future; but the truth is, that nothing has lapsed and every thought of God is taken up in the church; in the companions of Christ. They are His companions in the time of His rejection. They are much like the disciples to whom the Lord said, "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations". Our part is, that if we suffer with Him we shall be glorified together. If a christian wants to be much in the world he falsifies christianity immediately. The idea in connection with the children of God is, that we are in the fellowship of Christ in rejection.

I pointed out previously that you get the Israel of God; the true Jew, the circumcision, and the house of God taken up in the companions of Christ. This shews us how the thoughts of God are established, in spite of the rejection of Christ by those who, after the flesh, were His own people. The mind of God has found a way to establish itself. The apostle said to the Galatians, "if ye be Christ's", that is, companions of Christ, "then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise". The gentiles came into that position. If the thought of the true Israel were not fulfilled in the companions of Christ, how would the promises be taken up? The gentiles could not take them up as such,

because they belonged to Abraham and his seed, and yet the promises are for glory to God by us. The true Israel is taken up in Christ, and fulfilled in His companions, and the promises are for glory to God by us. That is not for the future, but now.

I pass on now to another thought: the flock of God. That is a thought which is undoubtedly connected with Israel. If you have read the prophets you must have seen that to be the case. God was indignant with the nations for their treatment of His flock, and with the pastors, who fed themselves instead of the flock. Israel came out of Egypt as Jehovah's flock, they were under the leadership of Moses as such. They had that place as after the flesh. It was not that the thought of God was really fulfilled, but He gave a foreshadowing, of what His thought was.

In John 10 we find that those who were ostensibly the sheep were tested by the coming in of the Shepherd, and the result was, that while the sheep were led out of the fold the Lord had to say to the mass of the Jews, "ye are not of my sheep ... My sheep hear my voice". The effect of the testing was to bring to light those who really were the sheep.

Christ was the Shepherd of the sheep and He entered by the door. He did not come into the fold clandestinely. Abundant witness was given to Him when He came into the fold. "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father". He came in by the door. He spoke of His being the door of the sheep, the good Shepherd, and the one Shepherd. What comes out is the fact that the Jew was tested by Christ, and failed to answer to the test.

Now you get the thought of the flock of God fulfilled, in the present time, in the companions of Christ; that is, in those who have been attracted to Him. I cannot conceive anything more important than to apprehend the reality of a living Christ, in whose name grace is presented. In the darkest period in the history of christianity there was the idea in the world of a living

Christ, and of grace in His name. No one can gainsay that. In the darkest days of popery, mixed up as things were, there was the thought maintained in the world. God had made provision for this in the power of the Holy Spirit here, and His name has ever been the test, and continues to be so.

Now the first point about the sheep is, that they hear the Shepherd's voice. The reason of this is, that He presented what they wanted to know. They did not want to know law, not even prophecy, they wanted to know grace and truth. His was the voice of wisdom and wisdom is to attract man. "I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures". Wisdom cries in the world, in spite of everything, to attract man into the way of righteousness. Wisdom presents to him grace and truth with that object in view.

"My sheep hear my voice". That indicates a work of God underneath, and so the Lord says, "I know them". It is a wonderful thing that there are those in the world who are known of Christ. He knew Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, and He knew them individually. Each one of them had a secret history with Christ, and so it is with every one of us. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". It is not only that we have believed certain things about Christ, but He is to us a living reality. He knows every one of us intimately, far better than we know one another. Each of us has a history with Him which would be impossible with one another. He knows us and we follow Him. If you have not heard His voice and are not conscious that He loves you, you are not prepared to follow Him. It is a great thing for the soul to know that it is known of Christ.

And now He says, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish". That should have been fulfilled in Israel. They ought to have heard Christ,

then they would have understood that He knew them, but it was not so. "He came to his own, and his own received him not". Israel will in result come into their own land and blessing as the flock of God, and everything will be fulfilled in them; meantime, everything is fulfilled in us. Christ gives to His sheep eternal life. The thought of eternal life is not deferred. It is properly connected with the coming age, but every thought of God is established in the companions of Christ. The particular form in which it is given to us is no doubt in the way of knowledge. The Lord speaks in John 17, "as thou hast given him authority over all flesh, that as to all that thou hast given to him, he should give them life eternal. And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". It is in that form we have it. It will not be quite in the same sense in the future. When Christ comes He will be eternal life in the world, but the peculiar way in which we have it at the present time is in the knowledge of the Father and the Son. That knowledge is fitting us for courts above.

The thought we get here is of what properly belongs to Israel, but, for the time being, Israel has perished. It may be said of them that they have been plucked out of the hand of Christ, but the Lord says in regard of His sheep, "They shall never perish nor shall any one pluck them out of my hand". What we come to is, that we have those who have been drawn to Christ, by the power of attraction in Christ, who have been given to Him of the Father, and every thought proper to the flock of God is fulfilled in them.

I read the passage in the Acts because there we find the flock of God spoken of by Paul, though we have been accustomed to think it is peculiar to John. Paul speaks of it to gentiles. He is speaking in Ephesus. In John to the Lord was speaking in the midst of the Jews. The passage in the Acts shews the fulfilment of what the Lord predicted in John 10, "I have other sheep which

are not of this fold: those also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, one shepherd". Paul charges the elders to take heed to the flock of God, and predicts what would take place after his departure. It had been the case in Israel that grievous wolves had come in. This took place very early in the history of the church. They did not come exactly into the flock, but into the assembly, into that which was outward in a way, but their object was the flock.

The flock is not taken up on the ground of profession, it is that which God has purchased with the blood of His own. The thought in the early church was (and it succeeded only too well) to scatter the flock, that is, to destroy unity. If the enemy succeeded in doing that, he succeeded in destroying testimony. Unity was the testimony of the flock. The Lord prays in John 17, "That they may be all one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me". We are intended to be a testimony here for God. God was the Shepherd of Israel, and they should have been a testimony to Him.

I speak of these things, because it is important that they should be maintained in the saints. In the coming of the Lord every promise will be fulfilled. In the meantime all the promises are for glory to God by us. Everything which God has had in view, and which He had made known, is established in the companions of Christ, and hence the church becomes the connecting link between the past and the future, and the practical result is that we come into many blessings and privileges which properly belong to Israel. There are things which are peculiar to the church. The heavenly places belong to the saints, and the calling on high of God. He has blessed us in the heavenly places in Christ, that never could be said of Israel.

We have been drawn to Christ of the Father, and are

joined to Him in the power of the Spirit, and in us every divine thought is for the time being established. We come into very great blessings which have reference, in their strict application, to Israel. In the light of the holy Jerusalem, Israel resumes its own proper place down here as the house of God; the church comes down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God. That is the climax, and God is forming us in the sense of it now for heavenly glory, to be the vessel in which He will display His glory in the presence of the universe. We ought to cherish every divine thought. To me it is a matter of the greatest comfort that God had in Christ His own way of taking up all things, and, once taken up in Him, they are established in the church of God. I want you to apprehend that. We come into the place of the flock of God. We hear the Shepherd's voice and know Him, and He knows us individually.

May God give us to see every divine thought in its establishment in Christ and the church, and yet the church as that which is new has its own proper glory in being called to Christ above.

BLESSING AND LIBERTY

Galatians 3:1; Galatians 4:7; Galatians 5:1

I have been endeavouring, on former occasions, to shew that things foreshadowed in God's dealings with Israel have their fulfilment in the church. We have been too much accustomed to think that the things there foreshadowed had reference only to Israel hereafter. My impression is that whatever came out had the church in view. The truth of the church was not made known; it was hid from ages and from generations; but it was in the mind of God, and everything was to have its place there. God made clear the end of Israel after the flesh in the prophetic books. It was made known that they would come under the curse of a broken law, and would be scattered over the face of the earth. But they would be gathered again by God, who would bring them into their own land and proper blessing. When that comes to pass Israel will take its character from the heavenly city, because the church has, in the meantime, come in as the centre of God's ways.

It seems to me that the holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city, is really the Israel of God, and the Israel which will be upon earth will take its colour from that. The same principle will apply also as to the nations. They will walk in the light of the city. The connection of the church with Israel is carefully maintained; the twelve apostles were to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and yet their names are found in the foundations of the heavenly city; also on the gates of the city are written the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The connection is very intimate between the church and Israel.

On past occasions I have taken up one or two thoughts on that line. I took up the thought of the house of God. Israel was God's house, and Moses was faithful in all

God's house. God set up His dwelling-place among them, but the truth of the house is fulfilled in the church. I spoke, too, of the companions of Christ. It is in them that you get the thoughts of God fulfilled. Last time I took up the thought of the flock. Israel was God's flock. He led His people like a flock through the wilderness, but, after all, the truth of the flock is really fulfilled in the church. The Lord brings that out in John 10. Israel was God's flock, but they were limited to the fold, and the Lord came to lead His sheep out of the fold. The thought of the flock properly belongs to Israel, but we find it fulfilled in the church at the present time. Israel in the future will take colour from what is fulfilled in the heavenly city.

The dealings of God in the past were in shadow. There was no present fulfilment of the promises. Now we get every divine thought established in the church, and the church is the great light of the world to come. The heavenly city has the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, the saved nations walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. No one can gainsay the immense importance, in the ways of God, of the heavenly city.

I am going now to take up other points, in connection with God's dealings with Abraham and Israel, which are gathered up in the church, and will be also fulfilled in Israel. Israel will have its part in them, but my point, for the moment, is that they are accomplished in the church, so that Israel hereafter will take its colour from the heavenly city. All these things of which I am going to speak belong to us, not in a public way, but they have come to us. They are hidden and unseen, but they are real: they come to us in such a real way, that they exercise the greatest influence over us.

People are too prone simply to believe things. We must believe things which God has made known to us, but we must not end there. The point is, that whatever light God is pleased to give us should be operative in

forming us according to God. All that God makes known to us is to have the greatest moral effect upon us to that end.

The two points before me are blessing in connection with Abraham, and liberty in connection with Israel. Liberty is in connection with sonship. This is introduced in the passage I have read. The first thought is connected with Abraham. It was promised to him that in him and in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, and this is spoken of in Galatians as the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham had come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus. In the beginning of chapter 4 we get the reality of sonship. It had been God's thought in regard of Israel, and bondage was unsuitable to it. God said to Pharaoh, "Let my son go that he may serve me". It was inconsistent with the thought of God that His son should be in bondage, and therefore the charge to Pharaoh.

There we get sonship as the calling of Israel and the idea connected with sonship is the knowledge of God, so that one can serve God in holy liberty. If God is to be served, the one who serves Him must be clear of the bondage of evil. In the present time if a christian is in bondage to the world or to man he cannot serve God. He needs to be freed from bondage to Satan, the world, and man if he is to serve God.

These things belong to Israel in a literal way. They will come hereafter into the blessing of Abraham, and will be brought into sonship that they may serve God in righteousness and holiness all the days of their life. In the coming day Israel will take its colour from the heavenly city, in which every thread of God's ways has been gathered up, for God's glory.

The blessing of Abraham entirely depended upon the true seed of Abraham, because man as such was really under the curse of God. The law brought man very definitely under the curse, but it was not required to bring man there. That was his place as the effect of

sin, and hence the introduction of the blessing depended upon the coming of the seed of promise. Abraham was called upon to offer up his son Isaac, and received him again from the dead in figure of resurrection, and then God confirmed the blessing in the seed. The reason was this, that man was morally at a distance, in darkness, and away from God. God had withdrawn from him. The effect of sin was to alienate man from God, but God withdrew Himself also from man, and man came into moral darkness. The legitimate effect of this is seen in the heathen. Man got into the darkness of heathenism, and, in a certain sense, was forsaken of God. God left the nations to go on in their own way, and they were under the curse of God. That was the true position of man by reason of sin. On the other hand, the idea of blessing is seen in God drawing nigh to man and making him conscious of His favour. Divine favour is the way in which blessing would be known to man.

We come now to the way that God took to accomplish that. Blessing was promised in the seed of Abraham; but that, of necessity, involved that the seed of Abraham must remove the curse. In the cross of Christ you get the complete setting aside of man. He is first set forth in his true position relatively to God. Christ on the cross demonstrated the true position of man. He was made a curse by being hanged on a tree, and was forsaken of God. What was forsaken of God was the man under curse. Christ in being hanged on a tree, represented man under the curse of God, which lay upon man in its reality. That was not simply the place of Israel, but of man. It was definitely the place of Israel, because they had brought themselves under a broken law; but what was true in the case of Israel was really true in regard of man universally. Every man is lawless, and Christ represented the lawless man under the curse of God. On the cross we get the demonstration of that. He was made a curse by being hanged on a

tree, and entered into all the consequences of the place which He had taken. That is the explanation of Psalm 22"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The forsaking was the forsaking of Christ as Man. It was the righteous One who was there; but, for the moment, He represented the lawless man.

What came to pass was this, that the lawless man was terminated. There was the end of the old man. "The truth is in Jesus" is the having put off the old man. There was the termination of the old man, in the ways of God, in the death of Christ. It was not simply that Christ was made a curse and entered into the condition in which man was, but He terminated that man in death. There was no revival of the victim: the priest was revived. Depend upon it that man after that order was never revived. The lawless man was terminated for God. That is one side of the truth.

But what is true on the other side? The blessed truth abides, that in Christ man is made nigh to God. He was raised again from the dead and is now the Head of every man. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and man is brought nigh to God in Christ, so that the curse is gone with the man that was under curse. Hence you get the blessing of God. You can see that at the close of the gospels, where the Lord comes into His own company. The lawless man was gone; and Christ was among them, and He brought God close to them. In John 20 the Lord breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". He brought God close to them in blessing, and they must have been conscious that God was nigh to them in favour.

In chapter 3: 13, 14, we get two classes spoken of. It is said, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law", and then, the blessing of Abraham come to the gentiles. Those redeemed from the curse of the law were the true remnant of Israel, and this was with the object that the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles. Blessing could not come to the gentiles without

Israel. You must get Israel first, and then the blessing of Abraham reaches the gentiles. That is what came to pass in the church. A remnant of Israel was brought into the church. That is seen in John 20, Christ was there as Head to communicate to the disciples the Holy Spirit. They were brought into the place of the church and made conscious of it, but then the blessing of Abraham reached the gentiles in Christ Jesus that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. That is what has come to pass, God has gathered up in the church every thread. In the church you get the Israel of God, and the blessing of Abraham has come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus.

In resurrection Christ comes out into a wider sphere. The ministry of Christ was first to a people after the flesh, but in resurrection the ground is larger. He comes out as last Adam and second Man, and it is not simply to gather in the remnant of the Jews, but that the gentiles might be brought into common blessing with them. They come into the place of the companions of Christ. Those who believed in Christ were the children whom God gave to Him, and they could not be more than companions of Christ, and the gentiles too have that place: hence these are spoken of as "fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God". The blessing of Abraham has reached the gentiles in Christ Jesus. The reality of the blessing is assured to us in the gift of the Spirit. It is not only that the people of God are forgiven, but they are brought nigh in Christ Jesus, and the proof of it is in the gift of the Spirit. I can believe in the delight of the Lord in John 20 in communicating to man the gift of the Spirit. It was the proof of what had come to pass, and God was brought nigh to them so that they might be conscious of the favour of God.

If you look at the seed of Abraham after the flesh, what sense have they of what has come to pass? Take the mass of professing christians, what sense have they

of it? God has brought Himself near to man to make him conscious of His favour. How far do we realise the blessing which has been brought to us in Christ Jesus? The Spirit is communicated to make us conscious of the blessing of Abraham. Instead of being at a distance from God, He has been brought to us. A great many people would like to live piously down here and then go to heaven, but that is not christianity. The first element of it is, that God has brought Himself nigh to us in blessing in Christ, and made us conscious of it by the Spirit. That is brought to pass in the church. Israel will be brought into it in a public way, and will take their colour from what has come to pass in the church.

If you were to question people today about the blessing of Abraham, I do not think you would find that they understand very much about it. We ought to understand what it means. It stands in contrast to the curse which lay upon man, and which was demonstrated in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We come now to the other point -- namely, sonship. In the blessing of Abraham, God spoke to Abraham that he might have His way before him. I do not think that the blessing could be spoken of as fulfilled while God was dealing with man in the flesh, but it has now been brought to pass in Christ. He has necessarily brought God to man. God withdrew from man as the consequence of sin, but Christ has brought God to man, and made the consciousness of it effectual in the communication of the Spirit. But there is another thing, that is, of necessity Christ brings to man the knowledge of God, because in Him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. The truth came out in Him as to what the Father was to the Son, and the Son to the Father. The love of God came out in Christ. God's nature was revealed in Him. The whole truth of God was revealed in Him. His body was the temple of God, and there was the setting forth of God in Him here. God was revealed that man might know Him, not simply in His

attributes, but in His nature. In the blessed reality of His nature lies the spring of all His activities. One might be fearful of the holiness of God, but in Christ I learn that the abode of His holiness is His love. Love is the spring of righteousness and the abode of holiness. The source of all the divine activities is in what God is, and there is no dark part in Him. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. All that He is came out in Christ. "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him".

And there is another thing in God, He is to be trusted, because there is nothing in Him contrary to His love. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal". The death of Christ was the expression of the love of God. Love would not tolerate the lawless man, and God in love removed him, that love might be effectual for man. The practical result of it is that in the knowledge of God, man is brought into sonship. God indicated that even in regard of Israel. Before ever they were put under law, He said, "Israel is my son, my firstborn". That will be fulfilled in Israel hereafter.

Now the knowledge of God is available to us that we might serve Him without fear, that we might be educated into perfect confidence in God. Our being the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus hangs on the fact that God has appeared in Christ. In Christ God is perfectly revealed that He may be known, and served by those who know Him. Sonship is no good practically to any that have not the knowledge of God. It is the calling of God, and God brings us into His house to mould and form us according to the revelation of Himself and we are affected by that. God is love and we are brought under the influence of love. We are brought to the abode of His holiness -- His nature -- in order that we may come under the influence of holy love, to serve God.

On the other hand, bondage is entirely inconsistent with serving God. We cry "Abba, Father" in the liberty of the Spirit. We were under bondage to the world, but the divine thought was to deliver us from all bondage. God took in hand to deliver His son out of Egypt to serve Him, and He has come in to deliver us from this present evil world to serve Him without fear. If man is to serve God it is plain that he cannot serve Him without the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is of the last moment to us. And how are we to get it? There is only one way, by the Spirit of God. You must not suppose for a moment that listening to lectures will bring you the knowledge of God. The first great point is, that He is revealed in Christ; but there is another, namely, that what is revealed is made good in us by the Spirit of God.

In the death of Christ God commended His love to us, but now the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. We are in the light as God is in the light, but the light is to be effectual in us by the Spirit, so that we are formed in the knowledge of God to serve Him without fear. If we are not free from bondage we are not at liberty to serve God without fear. Egypt is not a suited scene in which to serve Him. Israel was to serve Him in the wilderness.

Now, all that has been fulfilled in us as christians. Christianity is living, and the first element of it is the consciousness of divine favour and blessing brought to us in Christ Jesus, and made good to us in the Spirit. All these things will in a public way be fulfilled in the future. The heavenly city will be the light of the moral universe. God will shew in the church the surpassing wealth of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The place of the church is of great moment in regard of the universe of bliss. At the same time the blessing of Abraham, the calling of sonship, and the service of God will be made good to Israel hereafter. Zacharias sang, "that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies

might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life", Luke 1:74. All that will be fulfilled, but it is fulfilled in regard of us in a spiritual, not in a public way. We come into the blessing of God. Christ has brought Him to us, and we are assured of divine favour and blessing. The knowledge of God forms us according to Himself so that we serve Him without fear.

I would like to see a man here on earth wholly characterised by the knowledge of God. He would be a wonderful man who has been formed entirely by that knowledge. Christianity would be a true witness on earth if we were all in the good of that. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". If you are disciples of Christ, what have you learned from Him? I would be able to answer, I have learned from Him the love of God, and I know God, and the more I know God the more my heart is established in confidence. I have no fear, perfect love casteth out fear, and without perfect confidence in God I could not serve Him in holiness and righteousness.

That has come to pass in the church, the companions of Christ, the true Israel of God, in it God has established everything that He had foreshadowed, and whether it be Israel or the nations all will take its colour from that which God will set forth in the heavenly city.

THE PREPARATION OF GOD WITH REGARD TO THE WORLD TO COME

Hebrews 12:18 - 29

I want to make clear the preparation of God with regard to the world to come. He has prepared everything for Himself in regard of it, and that is evidently a matter of interest to us. From the way in which things are spoken of here, it is evident that we have not come to mount Sinai, but to mount Sion.

Now, if God brings people to a mount, He intends them to be affected by that to which He brings them. He brought the children of Israel to mount Sinai, and He intended to affect them by that which was terrible to flesh. That comes out here. The people were affected; even Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake". The people entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. They could not endure that which was commanded.

But now it speaks of our being brought to mount Sion, and God intends that we should be affected by it. It is of God that we should come under the influence of that which is presented to us. Mount Sion is presented to us not in literality but as a symbol. No one here probably has seen it, and therefore its introduction must be to us symbolic. And what follows is extremely important to help us to know what mount Sion symbolises. God presents certain things in order that we may be affected by them down here.

What God presents is His preparation in regard of the world to come. Mount Sion had not always a place, but now that it has we can speak of the world to come, and can apprehend the way in which God has prepared Himself with regard to it. If we had these things in view we should not be so attentive to the world that is. The introduction of the world to come involves the complete

overturning of the world that is. The Lord, when here, said, "I am not of this world", and, "Now is the judgment of this world". You have only to turn to the prophets, or to the New Testament, to see how evident it is that the introduction of the world to come must break up and overturn the world that is.

Christianity is not adapted to the world that is, though men have tried their best to so adapt it. Christianity will not admit of expediency. Christ has loved righteousness and hated iniquity, or lawlessness, and there is nothing of human expediency in that. However sorely pressed christians may be as to holding the truth, the way is not to turn to expediency, because there is always an outlet. You may be pressed above measure, but you have an outlet, and that is, you can die. We are not really prepared for christianity except we are ready to die. Things in the world go on the principle of expediency and accommodation, but there is not expediency or accommodation with Christ. Men tolerate things in the world as they are, and hence they have to resort to expediency and accommodation; but when God brings in the world to come there must be the complete break-up and overturning of this world. Christ and this world cannot go on together.

What is before God in regard of heaven we do not know much about because He has not told us. We know a little of the Father's house, and that Christ is going to take us there. The only one who went to heaven to return here was Paul, and he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter; and I think I am thereby justified in saying that we do not know much about heaven. But, on the other hand, we do know a great deal about God and His relation to the world to come, which must necessarily set aside the existing world. One point makes that very clear. In the arch of God's dealings on earth, Israel, evidently, is the keystone. God has been pleased to make Israel that. The world today therefore cannot be according to Him

because Israel has no place in it. Israel is not in view in the world. It knows nothing about Israel. It knows something about the Jews -- a people under reproach -- but Israel, at the present time, has no national existence.

If you turn for a moment to the prophet Hosea 3:4, it says, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days". There we get two things: they were to abide many days without a king; but in the latter days they would fear Jehovah and His goodness. They are to be so impressed by Jehovah and His goodness that they will fear Him in the latter days. I quote this to prove that Israel has now no national existence. They have no king, no prince, yet, as a matter of fact, God has every true principle connected with Israel before Him, and therefore He can present to us the reality of the world to come. Everything which is proper to and characteristic of the world to come God has before Him, and it says we have come to it. We have come to the apprehension of it, and that implies that we have the capability of apprehension.

What I desire is that we may get some understanding of the things to which we have come. The world to come could not be manifested while Israel is scattered, and yet God can so present to us the reality of His preparation that it can be said you have come to it.

Now all this follows on the line that I have attempted to pursue; that is, to shew how God has been pleased to gather up every thread of His dealings in Christ and the church. The church is inseparable from Christ, and what is gathered up in Christ, of necessity, has its place in the church. The saints are united to Christ; therefore whatever is gathered up in Him must, of necessity, have its place in us.

If you read from verse 18 to 21 you will find that everything is leading up to God, while in verses 22 to 24 everything is working down from God. We are come to mount Sion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly, to the church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than that of Abel.

Apart from Israel and God's dealings with Israel, you could not understand these things. Every point that is touched upon here has some relation to God's dealings with Israel, and to the issue of His ways in reference to them; and yet, after all, these things are effected in Christ and the church. The least intelligent of us know how mount Sion is bound up with God's dealings with Israel. The allusion is probably to the bringing of the ark to mount Sion. The force of it is that, while everything has been forfeited by Israel on the ground of responsibility -- they are suffering the consequences of it at the present time -- yet, on the other hand, everything for God has been recovered in Christ. What has been forfeited by unfaithfulness on the part of Israel is recovered in Him. That is the principle of mount Sion. The people had lost the ark, and it was impossible for them to get it back, but God did so. He smote His enemies and put them to a perpetual shame, and the ark was brought back and placed on mount Sion. That is the first principle of God's dealings with regard to the recovery of Israel. It sets before us the thought that God has established all for Himself in Christ. Everything has been lost in man, but all is secured, in the sovereignty of divine mercy, in Christ, so that man should have part in it.

A mount is symbolic of a great power. Mount Sion is a great moral power, and is presented to us in Christ,

where everything is secured for God, and we are to be brought under the influence of it. Israel will not be brought again to Sinai, but to Sion, to be affected by the sovereign mercy of God. They will respond to it, as in the utterance of David when he brought back the ark, "His mercy endureth for ever". Israel will learn that lesson. We learn the principle that everything has failed in man, but God has secured all for Himself in Christ and the Spirit. Christ would be unavailable to us except by the Spirit.

Another point in the course of divine dealings with Israel is a city, and we are come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. I understand a city to be symbolic of continuance and permanence. A tent is not that. When God tabernacled with the people in the wilderness He dwelt in a tent, and there was no pledge of continuance as they were. They were on the move toward the promised land, but in the promised land there was a city, a most important element in divine dealings in the world to come. God comes down to man in that way, to give to him the pledge of continuance and permanence in the order of things which belongs to the world to come.

Now this is not the city of the great King, it is the heavenly Jerusalem. Mount Sion and Jerusalem were most important factors in God's dealings with Israel. Jerusalem upon earth was called the city of the great King because it was David's city, and God takes it up on that account. David begged God to dwell in it, and He responded to the request of David; but it was not the city of the living God. We are come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the city of the living God because everything in it is living, and in that way answers to God. The city of the great king answered to David, the city of the living God answers to Him. Jerusalem in the future will answer to Christ, the great King.

I am sure you can see how very evident it is that we

have two most important elements in God's ways in regard of Israel in mount Sion and in the city. We have them now not in a literal way, but in the principle and truth of them. The city of the living God is not material, but it is a real idea in the moral bearing of it, as being the pledge of security and permanence. There is nothing in it but what corresponds to the nature of God, and we get liberty in the city.

When there is instability in the government of a country there is not the sense of liberty. Permanence and stability are essential to the enjoyment of liberty. If there were not permanence and stability, life and property would not be safe, and people would not be in the enjoyment of liberty. The city gives the pledge of permanence and stability, in that all is secured, and we can stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. We want to look at the unseen things, and then we are brought into the sense of stability. You get the idea of that in connection with the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Things are very unstable here. No politician can tell what is going to happen in the world during the next fifty years. There is no pledge of stability in this world, for that you must come to the divine order of things, to the world to come.

We now come to another point, to an innumerable company of angels. Angels are very difficult to talk about because we know so little about them. I would refer you to a few passages for a thought in connection with them. The first is Psalm 91:9 - 12. I refer to that on account of the place which the angels have in the psalm. Then you can look at John 1:51, Hebrews 1:13, Revelation 21:10 - 12. It is not difficult to gather up from these passages the idea of the place which angels have in the administration of God. The prophet Elisha, when the Syrians came against him, prayed God to open the eyes of his servant, and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Elisha was under divine protection, and, in the history

of Israel, God interfered on the part of the people by the ministry of angels.

Then we get the prophecy in regard of Christ, "He shall give his angels charge over thee". He was in the charge of angels. In John, the heaven is seen to be opened, and the angels are attendant upon Him as the Son of man. So, too, in the first chapter of Hebrews they are spoken of as ministering spirits sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation. The guardianship of the saints may be entrusted to angels. And in the close of Scripture you get twelve angels at the gates of the holy city. All is expressive of guardianship entrusted to them. We have come to an innumerable company of angels, the universal gathering, and that cannot be left out. The point before us is, the ways of God in connection with administration down here, and as there are powers of evil which affect man, angels are sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation. We read, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire". So, too, in the harvest, they are sent forth to sever the wicked from among the just. In regard to the city they are its guardians, as they had that place in regard of Christ. He was under their charge.

We come now to the church of the first-born, which are written in heaven. This is important in connection with God's ways in Israel. Israel was the assembly in the wilderness. The gathering of the twelve tribes was really the assembly. Here upon earth, in the ways of God, Israel will have that place. They are the assembly. There was that in Israel which was peculiar for God. When He undertook to redeem them He laid down that the first-born were for Himself. The first-born had to be redeemed, and the levites took the place of the first-born of Israel. With regard to Israel, God has now the assembly of the first-born. The remnant of Israel gathered into the church was the assembly of the first-born. "In the midst of the assembly will I sing

thy praises". That was the assembly of the first-born, the assembly of those who were pre-eminent in the ways of God in Israel.

God has everything before Him in regard of the world to come. He has mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels, to whom is committed the guardianship of the city, and the assembly of the first-born, which are written in heaven. All is there for God. He has the first-fruits of Israel.

My point is that we may have these things under our attention. I want our attention to be diverted from what is passing here: from the world, that it should have little place with us, and that we might be strangers and pilgrims here. Our attention should be taken up with what is of God so that we might be affected by it. It is surprising to see that while, apparently, everything that God ordained and instituted in this world has failed, yet, God has gathered up, in Christ and the church, everything for the world to come. Mount Sion is there in Him; the heavenly city is there too. He is the foundation of it, and the chief corner-stone. The innumerable company of angels attend on Christ, and there is the church of the first-born, which are written in heaven: the assembly is there before God.

I am not attempting now to unfold what is really proper to the church in its heavenly calling, what I want to make plain is, the things into the presence of which God has called us. I want you to see that which God has before Himself, all for the world to come. No further preparation is necessary, everything proper and necessary is now there before God in Christ and the church, and He can interfere at any moment to bring all into display. These things are all of them real, and we have come to them. God has given to us the power to apprehend them. If it were not so it would be of no use to say we had come to them. We have come to them by the Spirit, and if we apprehend them God intends

that we should be affected by them. We should be deeply impressed by the wisdom and faithfulness of God, who has gathered up every thread of His ways in Christ and the church. Man has failed in every direction, and yet God has secured all for His glory.

We have now "God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel". "Judge of all" is the attitude of God in regard of the world to come. He takes all judgment into His own hand. Many are much too limited in their idea of judgment. Judgment in Scripture often means government. In the Psalms it is used continually in connection with government. God takes the judgment into His own hand. In the same sense, in our own country, the king is the supreme magistrate. God has "appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness;" that is, in the way of government. He will govern in righteousness. There were judges in Israel, and they were called gods on account of their greatness, but when we come to God, He is Judge of all.

Then we have, "the spirits of just men made perfect". They, too, have their part in the world to come. Now that redemption is accomplished the just men are made perfect. They have not yet received their bodies, but the spirits are there, and they wait for us.

Next we have, "Jesus the mediator of the new covenant". That has its bearing in regard of man here on earth. Although the new covenant is the expression of God's disposition toward a particular people, yet it has its bearing in regard of men universally. The covenant will be established with the house of Israel and of Judah, yet it is the expression of God's mind in regard of man. In many of these expressions we are much too limited in our thoughts. What God establishes for Israel is His mind for man. The heavenly city will be the light of all.

Lastly, we have "the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel". The blood of Abel was the token and witness of the guilt of man, but the blood of Christ is the means and witness of purgation. What has been brought in by man has really been purged by the blood of Christ, so that God has His own satisfaction with regard to the world to come. All is there for Him. God is Judge of all. He may not for the moment display Himself as such, but He has that place now. I do not want you to judge of these things by the natural mind, but by the Spirit of God, and if you judge by the Spirit of God you will apprehend that all is prepared for God. God brings Himself under our attention as the Judge of all, as having taken up every thread of government into His own hand. That is the place He has. Christ is the Head of all principality and power, and all principality and power is tested at the present time by Christ. We are not to be disturbed by the apparent glory of principalities and powers. Christ is the Head of all, and every principality and power should take its direction and character from Him.

Now these things are practical in their effect on us so that we may be apart from the world and the glory of it. There is nothing lost for God. "We see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour". He is the Mediator of the new covenant. We come now into the good of it, and Christ presents Himself to us every Lord's day as the Mediator of it, and in that way we are familiar with Him.

It is a wonderful thing that we can pierce through the veil of providence which, for the moment, hides God, and can apprehend that everything is prepared for Him in regard of the world to come. But it is not possible to understand the preparation apart from Christ and the church. All is explained there, and only there can we understand the thought of mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and so on.

The fact is this, that, for the moment, the church

holds the ground here for Israel; the Spirit of God would maintain us in the sense that God has prepared everything for Himself in regard of the world to come. I want every one to meditate upon these things that you may have the sense that we have come to them. God spreads them before us so to occupy our attention with them, and if we are occupied with them we shall be greatly affected by them. They are eternal things which will not pass away. They are stable. "We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear". We are to have our attention taken up with them so that we may be delivered from the influences of this world.

The world is christianised, but it is an evil world still. The principles of it are extremely obnoxious to God. I cannot conceive a greater working of evil than the connection of christianity with the world that is, or rather, the attempt to connect Christ with the world that is. In the very nature of things, if the Son of God comes into the world, He is the beginning of another world -- God's -- and the attempt to connect Christ with the world that is, is to falsify the whole character of christianity. That is what the devil and man have succeeded in doing. The vision of many a christian has been so obscured by things here that be has not taken into account the world which is centred in Christ. No one of the things which have been before us has anything to do with the present evil world; but all have to do with the world which is of God, and that world has its centre and keystone in Christ.

May God give to us to understand these things, and the great importance of the church as that in which every thread of God's ways has been gathered up, and to see that the church is the pledge of the accomplishment of all God's purposes.

THE BODY

Colossians 2:6 - 23; 1 John 4:11 - 15

I think all would consent to the thought that the church is left in the world in testimony. It is that which led me to read the passage in 1 John 4. The height of the testimony is the presentation of God. This is not in what people say, the witness is in what people are. The apostle, taking up a form of expression which is found in the gospel, "No man hath seen God at any time", adds, "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us". His love abides in us in testimony here. In the church there should be the expression of God. That came out in Christ, otherwise it could not come out now. The point is, that there should be the perpetuation of that which came out in Christ.

It is impossible to understand a great many things which are found in the epistles if you do not apprehend the purpose that the church should be a witness, not simply to Christ, but of God, morally. It goes on in the subsequent verses to say, "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world". This is bearing witness in word, but, at the same time, the great witness is moral. The church is witness for God by the Spirit, in order that in it the nature of God may find its expression here.

Now, we come to the same thought in Colossians, "from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God". Like a body in a healthy state, it increases all over proportionately. There is an energy in it by which every part increases. What I bring under your attention is, the point for which the church is left here. I am going to work up to that, for I feel the great importance of our learning the special purpose of

the church here.

I have been trying on previous occasions to shew how God has gathered up every thread of His ways in the church. The church is the first-fruits of redemption. There were dealings of God in the past, but now we have come to the end of the world: the consummation of the ages: God is accomplishing His purpose, and the first-fruits of this is the church. Christ has been brought in upon the scene. You do not get any light with regard to the church until He had ascended up on high. He has ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things, and now we get the truth of the church, and see that every thread of divine dealings previous to Christ is gathered up in Him and in the church.

The more I meditate upon things the more I see that the real point of departure for God is Christ. Every dealing of God up to Christ was in anticipation of Christ. That was true from the beginning of the world. The very order of things at the outset, the position in which Adam was placed, the relation between Adam and Eve, and all the detail in the Old Testament was in anticipation of Christ, so that it is true in a moral point of view, though not historically, that Christ is the beginning. He "is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence". He has not come in simply as a kind of remedy after previous failure.

But there is another thing which is almost of more importance, God has come out. Everything is fulfilled and centred in Christ. He is the centre and bond of the moral universe, but the moral universe subsists in the full light of God. The full light of God has shone out in Christ. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". The reference here is evidently to what took place in the beginning of the creation. But that was not the true beginning, there was material light, but the

true light is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is moral light, and in it all God's purposes are accomplished.

Now, the starting-point for us is in verse 6 of our chapter. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him". The apostle is speaking to gentiles, people who had been idolaters. The Colossians are taken up in that way, and the apostle is speaking of what had been true among them. I refer to that because there was a difference between the Jew and the gentile. The Jew had the oracles of God committed to him, while the gentile was left, in the main, without light; the gentile was left to philosophy, which was not light from God. All that it had to go upon were the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. There were traditions preserved among men concerning creation and the flood and other things, and there were the rudiments of the world -- the elements in which men had been educated in the world, whatever these might be. That is all philosophy had to go upon. There was no more to be had, simply because they had no revelation from God. They had the light of creation. This was a witness to God which ought to have had an effect upon men, but it was not revelation, therefore, as far as man's instruction was concerned, he was dependent upon the traditions of man, and if he went beyond that he must trade upon imagination. There could not be any light in philosophy, it was impossible that it could go beyond the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. Philosophy may ignore revelation, but philosophical writers cannot now help being affected by a certain knowledge of christianity, though they themselves may not admit it.

When the apostle Paul wrote, men had been brought up in the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. But man by wisdom knew not God. Philosophy never found God out. He never intended to be found out by it. If man's mind could find Him out, man

would be as great as God. All that world came to an end morally. That is what God intended. The world by wisdom knew not God, and in the death of Christ it came to an end before God. "Now is the judgment of this world", the Lord could say, and "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out". The world came to an end in the death of Christ, and, consequent upon that, you get the real starting-point of God.

Christ now is all, and the first principle in that connection is, that God has come out. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. God has disclosed Himself. In the very fact that He is revealed we have a point of the greatest moment. Apart from what God is revealed to be, the very fact of His having revealed Himself becomes the touchstone of everything. In Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily". That word "bodily" brings the revelation of God in close touch with man.

When the Lord was here His body was the temple of God, and in that way the oracles of God were brought to man. The Lord said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up". It is difficult to understand how the revelation of God would have been available to man, or even possible, but in a man. But God has revealed Himself and the power of that revelation remains. No power in the universe can uproot christianity, because it is based on the revelation of God, and is maintained by the Spirit of God.

The truth of God came out in Christ, and that stumbles man to the present day. In Him we have the revelation of the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Until He came no one had any real idea of it. The Lord speaks about His being one with the Father, and when the Jews heard it they accused Him of blasphemy; but there was the only-begotten, and all dwelt in Him. The Father was in Him and the Holy Spirit, and in that way the fulness of the Godhead was brought close to man.

It is in that connection that God has come out. We know what He is. We apprehend in Christ God's attributes, righteousness, holiness, mercy, grace, all that He is has come out, and, at the same time, His love. What God is in nature was disclosed in Christ, so that He could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father". The revelation of God in a man is the first principle of the new order of things: of that universe of bliss of which Christ is the beginning and Head. This universe subsists in the light of the revelation. The present world does not.

Heathenism, idolatry and philosophy, all were here in the absence of the light of God. They throve in darkness, but now the light has come in. It is of profound moment that God has revealed Himself, but you need to go a little further, that is, to enter into that which God has revealed Himself to be. Had there not been the Trinity we could not have had redemption. "The Father sent the Son, to be the Saviour of the world". There could be no living bread come down from heaven to give life to the world had there not been the Father and the Son. No seeking of man. Everything that came out in Christ's ministry is dependent on the revelation of God. The revelation of God is essential in order that we may be able to enter into the ways of God in Christ. Those ways are dependent upon what God is. It would be irreverent to speak of God dying, yet the One who died was God, and God has come out in the only-begotten Son, and redemption has been accomplished. The Son of God has become Man that He might be to man the bread of life, give life to the world and take away the sin of the world. All that is dependent on the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily, to make it available to man.

We come now to the universe of bliss: God's world in contrast to the world that is; Christ is the Head of all principality and power. People plead strenuously for subjection to the powers that be, and I am not disposed

to be insubject to them, but not for a moment am I going to be dazzled by their glory. No glory has any real place if it is without moral foundations. Such glory is shame rather than otherwise, and we are compelled as christians to form a judgment even of principalities and powers because Christ is the Head of them. They now have a standard in Christ, and have to be judged of by christians according to Christ. If they do not answer to Him they are not of much account.

In Psalm 45 we read, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows". It is very important to apprehend that when the throne of God is established it has its foundation in perfect discrimination between good and evil. There is glory according to God. Jesus received upon the mount of transfiguration glory and honour when there came to Him such a voice from the excellent glory, "This is my beloved Son". The foundations are moral. In the ministry and pathway of the Lord Jesus upon earth there was the testimony to His fitness to occupy the throne. When here He found abundant lawlessness and very little righteousness, but He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and therefore He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.

Christ was among the meek of the earth, and the meek are to inherit the earth. He rode into Jerusalem as Sion's King, meek and sitting on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass. Meekness was characteristic of the King who was to occupy the throne of David, which is really the throne of God. Christ is now brought into view as the One in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and the Head of all principality and power. God has brought to light the system in which He will be glorified, and that system is subsisting at the present moment in Christ. Until Christ came every

allusion to it was prophetic, but now it is brought into view because Christ is brought into view. The foundations are laid of that universe of bliss which has its beginning, centre and bond in Christ. We have to accept the order of things here until God interferes to put it aside, but at the same time we are compelled to form our judgment of principalities and powers by Christ because He has come in and is Head of them.

Of the order of things in that universe of which I speak the church is the first-fruits. I want now to shew the peculiar purpose which is intended to be served by the body. Every family in that order of things will serve its own particular appointment. The Old Testament saints will fill their part, as will also Israel, the nations, and every family; all in that order of things which is centred in the Sun of righteousness will fulfil its own appointed place. They are all named of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The point for us is, what place has the body?

First, I may ask, what is to form the mind of the christian? The mind of philosophers was formed by the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world, but the christian mind is by Christ. If you want intelligence according to God it comes from the apprehension of Christ. There are those who would like expansion of mind, but the point is to get it according to Christ, because then you get it according to truth. It will be intelligence characterised by goodness. I have known of men in the world of great intelligence both as to men and things, but their intelligence has been disfigured by cynicism. When you come to the intelligence which is according to Christ it is heavenly intelligence, and always replete with goodness. That is the great importance of what is according to Christ, and it is very different to philosophy. The result of philosophy is, that people believe nothing and have no confidence in anything. When you get intelligence according to Christ it forms you after Him. The formation of the

mind is a very important point in regard of each of us. We are formed according to Him who is the Head of all principality and power. We are complete in Him.

The apostle is leading up to the thought of the body, and in order to come to an adequate idea of it he brings in the reality of our association with Christ. You cannot understand the body if you do not see that it hangs upon association with Christ. We get a great deal of the body in the New Testament. It seems to be a kind of understood expression, but we have to consider what it means.

Nothing can be plainer than that the body is consequent on the Spirit. The moment the baptism of the Spirit took place, of necessity, there was the body. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling". Men, under the baptism of the Spirit, could no longer remain isolated. "By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body ... and have been all made to drink into one Spirit". Though the Spirit was not given through Paul -- it came in connection with the twelve -- yet the particular testimony which we have from Paul is the unfolding of all that depends upon the presence of the Spirit. We get thus the truth of the body. You could no longer have the idea of children of God scattered abroad, they were gathered together in one, and therefore you get the body.

In Colossians we do not get a word about the baptism of the Spirit, but we get the suitability of saints for association with Christ. That is the peculiar privilege of those who compose the body: they are called into association with Christ, and are rendered capable both in mind and affections. I understand "circumcision", "buried with him in baptism" and "risen with him" to be a question of mind. The mind of the believer is in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ. All in the world to come is fulfilled on that ground, and if my mind is not in accord I cannot enter into the truth of the universe of bliss. It is impossible. The effect

would be that I should connect christianity with the world that is. God has before Him a world which is based on resurrection, and that is the principle on which Israel will stand; and now my mind is to be in accord with Christ. I am buried with Him in baptism: I am dead to this world, but, as to the state of my mind, I am in accord with the resurrection of Christ. I have a little bit of apprehension of the operation of God by which He intends to establish the universe of bliss.

All is connected with Christ risen, and in the universe of bliss the principle which runs through everything is resurrection. That brings me to another point, that we are quickened with Him. If the mind is not in accord with Christ it would be vain to talk about being quickened with Him. How can two walk together except they are agreed? What is true in Christ is circumcision and resurrection. If they have come to pass in Him your mind must be in accord with them. It is not said that you are risen with Christ in any other sense, for we are here in flesh, and it can only be in the state of our mind that we are now risen with Him. The mind of the christian may be, and ought to be, in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ. It means this, that, by the death of Christ, I have passed out of one order of things, and I have entered on another of which He is the beginning and centre; I am risen with Him.

In being quickened with Him you are capable of association in point of affections. The Spirit had wrought effectually in the Colossians, and the well of water had sprung up to everlasting life. They were brought consciously and suitably into association with Christ. It is that to which we are called, and the work that God carries out in His people is to render them suitable to Christ, and competent in heart, 'Close to thy trusted side, in fellowship divine'. That is where the drawing of the Father leads us. It is the privilege of every christian to be close to Him, and how can that be but in spiritual affections?

When the Lord was here, who was closest to Him? It was John. And why? Because he appreciated Christ. Peter loved Christ beyond all doubt, but he never was so close to Him as John, and if we are to be close to Him we must appreciate the affection of Christ and answer to it. "Quickened" in general applies to the body. We are not like Christ yet, and yet we are suitable for association with Him. God has quickened us with Him, and has removed everything that existed between Himself and us, so that there might be no obstacle to our nearness to Christ.

Now we get a word of warning. "Let no man judge you in meat or in drink", We have come to the apprehension that the body is of Christ. If you look abroad in the world there is little of Christ there. The one thing for Christ here is the body, but it belongs to another order entirely. You cannot connect Christ with this order. He is the beginning and centre of another order altogether. The body is of Christ. It does not belong to this order of things. It belongs to Christ. It is of Him, and those who have their part in it are competent in apprehension, and by the work of God, but they have to hold the Head. He is Head of all principality and power. Head of the divine system. Every part of it will take its character from Christ. But then we have to be apart from the world, that is, in spirit. Your mind must be in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ, because you are not holding the Head if you are not clear of worldly associations. The Head is great enough to fill all things, He has ascended up far above all heavens to that end. He is the Sun of righteousness.

In the vision of Christ in the Apocalypse John saw "his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength". He is the Head of the system, and every part of it -- the church, principalities, powers, Israel, the nations -- will take character from Him. We have to hold the Head, but there is another point, and that is, we are in

connection with the Head. From Him all the body fitly joined together, and having nourishment ministered, increases with the increase of God. We come to the great point which will be served hereafter in the holy Jerusalem; that is, that there might be an expression of God. The body is knit together in spiritual affections, and having nourishment ministered it increases. The natural body must have nourishment ministered, and the body of a child increases in every way proportionately. Christ's body becomes larger and larger, and for the purpose that God may be expressed. Anything short of that is not the divine thought with regard to the body. "If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us". It was the purpose of God in the church that there might be a continuation of what had been set forth in Christ He declared God. "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". Now it is "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us". The body increases with the increase of God.

It is difficult to speak of these things in the present day because they must be looked at so abstractly. But what could be more important than that there should be here an adequate answer to Christ in heaven. You may talk of people about a Man in heaven, but that is contrary to all experience. They never heard of a man going upward except in a balloon. It might be asked, What witness have you that there is a Man in heaven? I reply, God is upon earth. "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us". The church is the real witness to the Man in heaven, and that is what God intended. "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me".

God never intended the gospel to be set forth in the world, and a testimony to be given to a Man in heaven, without adequate witness of that Man here upon earth.

Some might say, Is not the Spirit the witness? I quite admit it, but the Spirit never became incarnate, and if the Spirit is to be seen it must be in the practice, ways and affections of christians. In time past people were affected not only by miracles, but by what was expressed in the saints: in the body. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". That is the evidence of the body. It was formed by the baptism of the Spirit. The suitability of the body is, that the saints are risen with Christ and quickened with Him in order that they may be close to Him. The very thought of the body is Christ. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" He is the first principle of it, and therefore we have to hold the Head.

I have the power of judging of principalities and powers, and intend to exercise that power by the grace of God. I do not care about the world system, nor its glory, because I am called into view of another system which subsists in the light of God, and where He is revealed, and which has its Head in the Sun of righteousness. I seek to hold the Head by the grace of God, and if we are all doing that we shall be held together. There will be the increasing with the increase of God. There will be growth, and the expression of God in us. If you want to be anything of a christian here upon earth you must give yourself up to it entirely. You must not allow any other consideration to come in conflict with it. Your one supreme interest must be in that which is of God: that which finds its centre and beginning in Christ.

May God be pleased to grant that we may be somewhat, in spirit and in mind, in the reality of these things, understanding that to which we are called. It is a great thing to hold the Head. A woman will hold her husband as sure as possible if there is affection for him, and so it is with Christ and us. He is absent from this scene, yet He -- yea, even God -- is to be reflected in the body here.

For the present time Christ is the test of the world, but He is coming in as its Saviour, and at the same time to establish morally an order which will take its character entirely from Himself.

THE BRIDE

Ephesians 1:15 - 23; Ephesians 2:1 - 22

My thought is to enlarge a little on what is peculiar to the church: the privileges peculiar to it. I have attempted, in what has come before us from time to time, to shew how that in the church God has taken up every thread of His previous dealings. All the previous dealings of God had Christ and the church in view. That was a necessity, because there was nothing really accomplished in His dealings. Promises were made to Abraham, and certain things were conferred upon Israel, but there was nothing really accomplished or final: all had reference to things which were yet to come. Everything looked on to Christ and the church, where God purposed to gather up every thread of His previous dealings. You can understand that, in regard both to the promises, and to the kingdom, and to blessing, and to life; whatever was spoken of in that way was in anticipation of what God intended to establish in Christ and the church. There are other things which are yet to come to pass, but the first thing with God was, to gather up and establish all in Christ and His companions.

Now there are also certain truths which are entirely peculiar to the church. The church, in the scheme of divine purpose, has its own place distinct from anything else, and it would be a very great pity to lose sight of that. In the Old Testament you find, in the headings of chapters, the idea that Israel was the church, but it is much more true that the church is really Israel: the Israel of God. The true Israel was the nucleus of the church: the beginning of it. God gathered the remnant of His people into the church, and they were the first-fruits. But we have to look at the church in the light of what it is to Christ. You can never learn what is peculiar to the church except by learning what the

church is in relation to Christ. That is what I want to come to now -- the church as the body and the bride of Christ. It never could be said that Israel had that place. It belongs to the church. So, too, the holy Jerusalem, the centre and joy of the heavenly land, is entirely peculiar to the church.

We get here a remarkable expression; that is, He "gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all". In the beginning of the next chapter we have the thought of union. This connects itself with the idea of the bride. In chapter 5 we read that "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish". There again is the thought of the bride. So, too, in the same connection, we learn that the Christ is the Head of the church, as the husband is the head of the wife. The husband being the head of the wife is the figure employed to shew the headship of Christ to the church.

It is a very wonderful thing that the church should have the place of the bride of Christ, and it is impossible to understand that apart from the ways of God in Christ. If you are to enter into the idea of the church's place in relation to Christ you must know something of God's ways. In a way the church is necessary in order that those ways may become manifest.

A point which I desire first to touch upon is the interchange of thought you get sometimes in Scripture. By way of illustration, we may turn to Psalm 132. In the first ten verses we have a kind of appeal, taken up by David, to Jehovah, then in the eleventh and following verses we have the word of Jehovah. David was a remarkable man. He was one marked by very great failures. He had a sort of absolute power, and, at

times, he used his power and opportunities in a very gross way indeed. And yet if you have studied what the Chronicles say of the house of David, you will have seen that the first book is almost entirely taken up with two thoughts. The first is the bringing up of the ark to the city of David, and the second the building of a house for God. Jehovah was to arise and to enter into His rest, He and the ark of His strength.

What led me to read Psalm 132 is the interchange of thought between David and Jehovah. David's thought was to find a resting-place for the ark of Jehovah, and Jehovah's thought was to build a house for David and to establish his throne. His enemies were to be clothed with shame, but upon himself his crown was to flourish. All that is remarkable in contrast to the great blemishes which marked David. As a matter of fact, David never was allowed to build God a house. He was a man who had shed much blood; Solomon was to build the house for Jehovah. But the real house of God never was built by Solomon, he built a material house which perhaps pointed on to the church, as Solomon himself pointed on to the real Son of David. I have no doubt that the thought of Christ in His ministry down here was really to secure a house for God, that He might dwell here. But, on the other hand, the divine thought in regard of Christ is that He should be glorified above all principalities and powers. When you come to Christ, things are not for a moment to be compared with those of David. David would build a house, but his thought was a material one. Christ, on the other hand, purposed to build God a house, but one of a very different character to that which David proposed to build. That is what He has done. There was a house prepared for God to dwell in, and, as the result, God has been dwelling here from that time to this. The Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, and has abode here ever since.

There are two facts of profound moment on which christianity entirely hangs. The first is, that there is a

real Man at the right hand of God; and the second, that by the Holy Spirit God is present down here. If a man does not accept those two facts, I would hardly recognise him as being in the profession of christianity. I would like every one to consider those two things. They are not clearly seen, but nevertheless christianity hangs upon them. I think a great many people who profess christianity have no sense at all of Christ being a real Man, but He is a real Man in heaven. While still on earth, the Lord took great pains to assure the disciples that He was a real Man risen from among the dead. "Behold my hands and my feet, that It is I myself". Now He is a real Man in heaven, angels, authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. People may object because they know nothing of the conditions of life and resurrection. It is in the power of God to raise the dead, and He does raise the dead, but they do not live in the conditions in which we live. The first principle of christianity is a Man risen from among the dead and gone to heaven, and the Holy Spirit is dwelling here in witness to that Man. That Man is not always to abide at the right hand of God. He is to be manifested. All the thoughts which came out in regard of David subsist and are substantiated in Him. The thought of Christ, as we have seen, was to provide a dwelling-place for God on earth, and He secured it; and, on the other hand, the thought of God for Christ was that Man should be set not simply upon the throne of David on earth, but above all principality and power and every name that is named. Man is set in the very highest place. That is the way in which God exhibits His triumph. The work of Satan was to corrupt man upon earth, and he succeeded only too well. He gave man inflated notions about knowing good and evil, and led him away from God; but the divine answer to it is, that God has set man, in Christ, in the highest place, at the right hand of God, above all principality and power. "He has ascended up far above all heavens, that he

might fill all things". "We see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour". All things are put under His feet. What was set forth in David is fulfilled in Christ, all that beautiful interchange of thought which we find in the Psalms between David and Jehovah, the mighty God of Jacob, has come to pass in Christ.

I go on now to shew that the body and the bride are necessary to the place which Christ has taken. What I understand by the body is the vessel in which Christ should be perfectly expressed. If you entertain any idea of the greatness of Christ, the body is that in which He is adequately expressed. The body serves that purpose now. It is that in which Christ lives, which is animated by Him, and consequently He is expressed in it. That is a point of all moment at the present time. I was dwelling upon that in a former lecture in connection with the epistle to the Colossians. The thought connected with the body is that there should be that in which the sensibilities and graces of Christ should become manifest down here.

But now we come to another thought, and that is the bride. The thought of the bride is that she may be for the perfect satisfaction of Christ. "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom". Another point in connection with the bride that I desire to call attention to is that the bride should be entirely according to the glory of God. Nothing that is unsuited to the glory of God could be a suitable helpmeet for Christ, and because it is suited to the glory of God therefore the glory of God can be set forth in it. I take it that is the place that the bride will occupy in the time to come. It is the holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city, which comes down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious.

If you take the figure of Adam and Eve, Eve was formed out of Adam for the satisfaction of Adam. God intended Adam to have the joy of that which He brought to him. She was for his satisfaction. I am sure all

christians would like to be for the satisfaction of Christ. The same thought is found in the latter part of this epistle. Husbands are bidden to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. One is not saying too much in stating that the bride is to be for the satisfaction of Christ. The bride is His. "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it". It was not that the church loved Christ.

But if Christ is to have satisfaction in the bride, she must be according to the glory of God. I can understand, even in the millennium, God allowing certain imperfections upon earth, but when it is a question of the bride there can be no imperfection, and therefore Christ presents the church to Himself glorious. It is according to God's glory, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish before God. Each of us ought to covet that. The bride of Christ will be before God according to God's glory, otherwise it would be unsuited to Christ. After all, Christ is God, and the bride of Christ must be according to the glory of God. That is the thought taken up in the epistle to the Ephesians. I look forward with joy to the day when one will be before God according to His glory, but then it is fulfilled in a way now, for there is the work of God in saints, so that we should be according to His glory.

If it were not for God's work in us we never would be according to His glory. It is all His work. No advance on your part or mine in intelligence can ever make us according to His glory, and His glory is seen in my being according to His glory; according to Himself, really that I am before Him according to His nature. But then that which is according to God's glory is for the display of that glory. The holy Jerusalem has two aspects: it is the bride of Christ, suitable to God's glory, and then it becomes the vessel in which the glory of God is set forth in the presence of the universe. "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus".

If we are according to His glory there is nothing to obstruct His kindness. Kindness is natural to God, and when we are according to God's glory, so that there is nothing to obstruct, then He makes known to the universe the exceeding riches of His grace.

The body is that in which Christ lives and in which He is expressed, but the bride is for the satisfaction of Christ and is according to the glory of God, and thus in it the glory of God can be set forth. In the day of display the universe of bliss will be lit up by the light of the holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city, which comes down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious. We have to do with things which are blessed realities, not impostures.

Now in chapter 2 is stated what God has effected. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus". It is stated as if all were effected. The connection is with the end of the preceding chapter; and the consequence of that is, that God is enabled in the beginning of chapter 2 to state that which we do not yet see, but which is really effected for God. We are quickened together with Christ, raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but that hangs on what is spoken of in chapter 1. If we could see things according to God: if we apprehended the greatness of the power of God which is toward us who believe, and understood how God has made us capable in point of spiritual affections, so that we can sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, it would bring us to union: that is the thought in the passage.

We read in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". Also in Titus, "But after that the kindness and

love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us". In John's gospel, the love of God toward the world was evidenced in the giving of His only-begotten Son who was the test of the world. Death lay upon men, and judgment was before them, and God gave His only-begotten Son, the evidence of His love, and the Son of man was lifted up to be the test of the world. It is not there a question of the sovereignty of mercy, but of the grace of God that has provided for man an outlet from the world. Here, in Ephesians, it is another thought, "God, who is rich in mercy". It is not here a question of divine grace to the world, but of the way in which the mercy of God is expressed in working in us, and that involves the sovereignty of God. In the operation of God the sovereignty of God is involved, because He will not engage Himself to work in every man. His grace is toward every man, and He has proved His love to the world, but He will not engage Himself to work in every man. That is what is spoken of here. While, on the one hand, Christ has wrought in order to secure a dwelling-place for God, on the other hand, God is bent on the exaltation of Christ, and that Christ shall be satisfied, and therefore the bride is provided to sit in the heavenly places for the satisfaction of Christ.

Now, this will be literally effected and displayed when the Lord comes. We shall be quickened with Christ, raised up then, and made to sit together in the heavenly places, but that is anticipated here in connection with the exceeding greatness of God's power which is towards us who believe.

In the latter part of the chapter we get certain proofs of the reality of these things, and my object is to shew that what is stated in the first part of the chapter is not only a reality, but that we get the present gain of it. It does not speak of things which are going to take place, but of things which have taken place with God. The

first thing is, we have "become nigh by the blood of the Christ". The second, "For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father". The third is, "in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit". These privileges are proof of what God has effected. I want you to apprehend the great present reality of these things, and what the reality is the pledge of. They are the pledge of this, that God has given effect to the purpose of His will for the glory of Christ. Christ has built a house for God to dwell in, and now God is bent upon the glory and satisfaction of Christ. God has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places, and the effect of that is, that we have become nigh. We are no longer outcasts. We were a long way from anything connected with Israel. The gentiles were in darkness and idolatry, but that is not the case now. "Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God". We have become nigh dispensationally.

But another point is, that we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Jew and gentile are joined together here by one Spirit, and have common access. In the New Testament there is very little injunction or direction in regard of worship. In the Old Testament you get the most explicit instructions. I have often turned this over in my own mind really to satisfy myself about worship, and have come to the conclusion that there is little said about it, because it is all involved in access. We learn that through Jesus we both have access by one Spirit to the Father, and we get no more. All the difficulty with regard to worship disappears when we are conscious of being before God in the light of His love. If you have the sense of that which God is, and are before Him in that way, you could not want any direction in regard of worship. In worship Christ is the Leader. It is through Him we have access to the Father.

The next thing is, Jew and gentile are built together

for a habitation of God by the Spirit. God is dwelling here, and, if God is dwelling here, there is christianity. Christianity depends upon two things: Christ in heaven, and the Holy Spirit here. There must be provision for Christ somewhere, and God has made known what provision He has made; and there is no christianity on earth -- except in name and profession -- outside the work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot conceive anything more extraordinary than that christendom should have lost sight of the presence of the Holy Spirit, because everything depends upon it. Christ has prepared for God a house, and therefore of necessity God dwells here at the present time by the Spirit. We are become nigh by the blood of Christ, then we have access through Him by one Spirit to the Father, and are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. All these things are brought before us in the latter part of the chapter as a pledge to us of the great reality of that which God has effected for Himself.

The body has its own proper place. Christ said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" In the early days the body was in the love of Christ and was the expression of Himself, but then there is not only the truth of the body, but of the bride also. Christ went down into the lower parts of the earth, lower than any one ever went, and now He has ascended far above all heavens that He may fill all things. God will confer glory upon Him, and work in order that He may have satisfaction. The bride is the closest to Him in the day of display, because it is according to God's glory. To get a proper thought of it you must read the detail of the heavenly city in the Revelation.

All these things are realities, and we get the present fruit and pledge of them in the privileges which belong to us here. The mere profession of christianity will not enable us to stand. Christianity is supported by all the power by which God can support it: the power of the Spirit. God is dwelling here by the Spirit, and His

people are supported by the Spirit; therefore they can stand against all the powers that are.

May God engage our interest in these things that we may get to understand better what the church is as the body and bride of Christ, in which God has gathered up every thread of His previous dealings so that nothing has lapsed. The companions of Christ, the house of God, the flock of God, the promises, blessing -- all are gathered up in Christ and the church.

THE RENOWN OF CHRIST

Acts 3:1 - 26; Acts 4:21 - 22; Ephesians 4:20 - 24

There are three or four points which are apparent at the latter part of chapter 3 (see verses 18, 21, 23, 25). (1) What God had spoken by the mouth of all the prophets that Christ must suffer. (2) Whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things (verse 21). (3) He is a test. (4) God's purpose is fulfilled, the restitution of all things and all nations would be blessed in Him (verses 23 - 25). These are great points in regard of Christ. Christ has suffered; He has been received up; He has become the test of everyone, and in Him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. I shall give you a little as to these points, and shall then show the witness to Christ meanwhile. The effect of the name of the Man in heaven is that it gives perfect soundness to the lame man in the presence of them all. The witness could not be gainsaid. The man was above forty years old on whom the miracle of healing was shown. God gave manifest witness to the Jews that there was a Man in heaven -- the lame man got perfect soundness. God had thus given adequate witness, for in chapter 2 they "began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". The witness comes out in the new man, which is in correspondence with the Man at the right hand of God. Christ is the "Holy One and the Just", and that new man comes out created after God in righteousness and true holiness. The man in chapter 3 prefigures that. The new man is in correspondence to the "Holy One and the Just". Christ is received into heaven, but He has His witness down here to show the power of His name.

Now faith has ever been dependent upon the glorified Man -- the last Adam. The lame man was a cripple from the womb, over forty years -- the full time of

probation. The man is not only made whole, but he becomes a witness to another Man -- to a Man in heaven. It was faith in another Man that gave him the soundness in the presence of them all. Now I take up the first point. Christ must suffer. We often get the thought of suffering in connection with Christ. "It became him ... to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings", Hebrews 2:10. It was all in view of the place that Christ was going to take up in regard of the world to come. Christ accomplished righteousness, that He might be the Sun of righteousness.

Salvation, too, has its first application to Christ, and redemption, too. How could He have taken up the inheritance which belonged to God, except by taking up the liabilities? Being the Sun of righteousness put Him in relation to the universe of bliss. He is placed in relation to others, but how could He without accomplishing righteousness. The same in regard of salvation. Salvation was accomplished, that His glory might be great in God's salvation. It is important to view all that is accomplished first in their relation to Christ, before we view them in their application to us. All has been accomplished -- Christ has suffered; He went into the lower parts of the earth. Now He has gone to the right hand of God, far above all heavens. The Holy Spirit has come, and we are wholly dependent upon Him for the report of His glory, of His renown, of His name. He is Head of all principality and power, and Head of every man, and the Holy Spirit has brought down the report of His renown, of His name. We have to apprehend Christ according to His renown. We have renown brought to us from heaven by the Holy Spirit, of a Man who is Head of every man, of all principality and power, Head of the church, of Israel, and the nations -- the Head -- the Man at the right hand of God, the place He occupies according to divine counsel, based upon redemption. I feel I need to be impressed with the renown of Christ -- the report of it by the Spirit of

God; but the truth, the report is there, and the report of Christ should unceasingly engage the attention of His people, and then the colour it would give us here would be brightness. Christ would shine upon us, We want to get away from the obscuring influences of this world, and so show forth the shining of Christ.

The heaven must receive Him, until the moment, the restitution of all things of which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets, since the world began. Many things have been snatched away from God in the history of things. Man was snatched away, the temptation came in, and man was corrupted and became lawless. Then the same thing is repeated over and over again. Whenever a thing became corrupted, God could not go on with it. Israel was snatched away from God; they came under the power of idolatry. Then again, the throne of David was Jehovah's throne, but it became corrupted, and in that sense was snatched away from God. I might speak of the nations also in that way -- they were snatched away. Now, beloved friends, there is restitution to be made -- all is to be restored. Christ has tasted death for everything. Restitution is brought about in Christ on the ground of redemption. The heavens receive Him until the time comes, when these things will be effected. Israel will be renewed again in Christ -- so too the throne of David, and the headship of the nations, all will yet be renewed again in Christ -- all will yet be brought under the moral control of God. The heavens receive Him, until the appointed time, according to the testimony of all the holy prophets. They all testify to the restitution of all things, from the time of Samuel downwards. God had to call out the heavenly company, too, who would be associated with Christ in glory. I ask, have these things occupied your attention? Has what has been transpiring in other parts of the world been occupying your attention, or are you occupied with that of which all the holy prophets testified? -- the restitution of all things. We want to

fix our eye upon that moment when Christ will be revealed from heaven to bring about the restitution of all things.

Now as to the third point (verse 23). God is God, and Christ is Head of every man, whether men like it or not. As Head of every man, He is the test of every one. The gentile is tested now of Christ just as He was the test of the Jew. People prefer to be lawless, and if they go on as such they will come under judgment. The company I address have answered, I thank God, to the test, and He has become to us "unsearchable riches". He has led us in the way of righteousness, and in the midst of the path of judgment. A wonderful place to be in, and if in it we ought to be looking for the appearing of the glory, when the restitution of all things will take place.

Now in regard of the fourth point -- the literal fulfilment of all nations being blessed is still future. The aged Simeon was called to be identified with Christ, because he had the Prince of life in his arms -- He was a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of God's people Israel (Luke 2:32). It is looking on to the restitution of all things. Do you not think our attention should be exclusively taken up with that Man? People plead to have a little look at the newspapers to see how the war is going on, while attention should be fixed on that Man, who when He comes again will bring in the restitution of all things. Christ is brought into view, and He is to take up all things, in heaven and in earth -- all are to be gathered up in Him. We can afford to leave alone the potsherds of the earth, striving with the potsherds. Our whole attention is to be taken up with the One hid in the heavens, until the moment of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets.

Now I come to the witness. Now there was faith in the world before Christ came, but if God had not had that Man in reserve there could have been no light vouchsafed to man, and consequently there could have

been no faith. God had a Man in reserve who could accomplish redemption and impart a new character to everything. Abraham's faith, and David's faith, had in view the Man whom God would bring in, and the world which would be brought in through that Man. All along the line they had the Man in view. Abel could not have had witness borne to his gifts except as connected with Christ -- or Enoch -- or Noah, all faith was by that Man. Peter says here "the faith which is by him" -- a Man who is able to introduce an entirely different character to man. The introduction of that Man opened the door of faith to man along the line, it is the faith which is by Him. Now faith which is by Him gives perfect soundness. What is your soundness? Our soundness is that we are in correspondence to Christ, and that is to put us in soundness here -- it is by the faith of another Man. The faith of another, who presented the name of that glorious Man, "the faith which is by him" gives soundness in the presence of men down here. Now the significance of that is that we have put off the old man, and "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness", Ephesians 4:24. God acts in that way to introduce a witness (the new man) to the glorious Man in heaven, and the new man is the witness to Him here. How far is it true with us? The measure of our soundness is our appreciation of Christ -- if we appreciate Christ, it is true of us, that we have put off the old man, and put on the new. If so, we can have no crooked things, there can be no lusts, no temper -- these things are put off, and the new man is God's witness, real and effectual, to that Man hid in heaven, till the times of restitution. Now what is it takes up our attention? I should like to labour with all the ability and strength God would give to bring into view of the saints the Man hid in the heavens, and the system and order of things connected with that Man. Stephen saw the glory of God, and Jesus. The glory of God is the shining out

of the effulgence of God in the accomplishment of all His purposes. How do you answer to the new man?

How far are we adorned by the new man? Outward appearances cover up a deal of defect with people, but we want to be characterised by the new man, which is after God, and characterised by righteousness (which is the maintenance of fidelity in every divinely appointed relationship) and holiness, by which we repel and shrink from that which is contaminating. The soundness of that man is by the faith of the glorious Man in heaven, and is the witness to Him here on earth, in the meantime, while the heavens receive Him until the times of restitution of which God has "spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began".

I beseech you to abstain from all that contaminates -- the new man is created after God in righteousness and true holiness. When He comes out, we shall appear with Him in glory, and in complete conformity to Himself in every way.

THE INFLUENCE OF CHRIST

Matthew 5:21 - 48; Romans 7:4

We read in Scripture that "there is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy", James 4:12. I want to refer tonight to the character of this Lawgiver. In Matthew 5 the Lord presents Himself as the Lawgiver; we read constantly "I say unto you". I want to make plain the Lawgiver and the character of the Lawgiver. My object will be to show how we can carry out what the Lawgiver enjoins.

The Lord, in the chapter I have read, marks out a line of practice, but the question arises, how is it to be carried out on the part of the disciples, and then on our part? The point of all that the Lord enjoins is the distinct discrimination between good and evil -- the disentanglement of good and evil. God has seen fit to disentangle them. God's dealings had all that in view, the distinction between good and evil. When christianity came in, things became more urgent, and the Lord would enjoin upon His disciples a discernment between good and evil. The proof that we are no longer babes is, that we are able to discern between good and evil. We are set between them here, and if our senses are exercised, to discern the good and the evil, and then to choose the good and refuse the evil. We are in a difficult day. The world has become christianised. We are not surrounded by idolatry, the influence of which is very debasing, the principle of it being denying God, and in that way they got sanction for many evils, and thus the effect was debasing. We have nothing of that kind about us; we are surrounded by a very different state of things. There is a moral light about and around us, and we have been brought up in it. But notwithstanding this, there is a great deal which is not according to God.

Men of genius around us speak of exercising their

powers to the glory of God. It is all a delusion. God is not glorified in what a man does, but in what the man is himself. God looks for glory in the man himself; not in the way he uses his ability. The point with God is the secret principle of the actings of his being. God wants truth in the inward parts, and righteousness for a breastplate. In the exercise of genius or ability man uses them with the thought of renown for themselves -- they seek glory for man. If we are to be to the glory of God, we must not seek self-importance, in a name, or glory, or reputation. But men do not answer to that standard at all; they use their gift with a view to reputation and self-seeking. Man has got out of the place of the creature, and has become a centre to himself. In contrast to that, there was nothing of that about Christ. He "made himself of no reputation", no self-seeking. Now when we come to the line of practice enjoined here, we must first see the lawgiver and His character. Moses was a lawgiver, but the law itself was what God wrote on the two tables of stone -- but the law that Moses gave was but the expression of himself. Faithful as he was in general, there was failure with him, and for that reason he was not allowed to enter the promised land. In this chapter what we get is that whatever Christ laid down and enjoined He Himself was the expression of it. What He enjoins is the expression of Himself. He was absolutely that which He said unto them. Thus Christ becomes law to us. He is the Lawgiver in the sense that He Himself is the law. Christ will occupy that place in the universe of bliss that the sun gives the solar system: 'Of the vast universe of bliss the centre Thou and Sun'.