p167 [E Maylan] [From the French.] VERY DEAR BROTHER, - You will be rather surprised at receiving an answer to your letter now, but not, I am sure, sorry. As to Ephesians 4, we must remember that it does not treat of ornaments before the world, but the tender and precious care of Christ for that which He loves as His own flesh. In result, man cannot frustrate this care; he may know very little how to profit by it; the intelligent result down here may be but small, but the thought of God in blessing will be always accomplished, because our folly, though culpable, gives room for His wisdom. If Israel had not courage to go up the mountain of the Amorites, and as to present circumstances lost, and lost what they did not find again, they learned - at least, Joshua and Caleb and others, and we ourselves likewise - much as to themselves, which set them in a relationship much more real, more true with God, according to what Israel was, and what God was, and gave God an opportunity for the display of His grace and power, taking care of even the nap of their coats, and not allowing their feet to swell; for a manifestation much more remarkable of His power and of His ways in the crossing of Jordan dryshod, and in all the details of their entrance into Canaan, from the testimony of Balaam after the long passage of the desert - all these things being necessary to the full revelation of the ways and counsels of God. Was it then that the sin of Israel was the work of God? By no means. This unbelief was already in their heart; the arrival at the mountain was but the opportunity for its manifestation. God may permit and arrange events for the manifestation of sin - never in order to produce it - and the manifestation (being under grace) brings all into the light, and is a means of progress.

Then to say that because the church has failed it gets necessarily into a worse condition, is true and false at the same time. As a public vessel of testimony to the truth on the earth, to its shame, that is true; but it is impossible that God or Christ should be unfaithful, and the fact of the manifest and general failure, gives room for a concentration of energy and of light, so much the brighter, as the space it illumines is small. Israel, when the precious Saviour was there, was always going on worse, was tending to its ruin, but He shines with a light ever brighter, as it is concentrated in what He was Himself, instead of lending itself to His relations, true but temporary and obligatory with the Jews. This is the reason why, though all is so beautiful, the Lord appears in John with a light and perfection infinitely more touching and striking - why we see Him better than in the other gospels. We are more entirely with Him, with Him alone, with what He was in Himself. There the Jews are set aside. Who in the history of Israel shines in the midst of darkness like Elijah? the only one in testimony, the only one - save the hidden remnant, whom the eye of God recognised and whom the faith of the prophet ought to have known, if he had been near enough to God to have His thoughts. I find in the Psalms, that faith is much more simple and calm when the remnant is driven away.

It is the same, I believe, with the church, at least, one may look for it; not that the vessel should be repaired, and set right, but that the true church, those at least who in heart are waiting for the Lord, will be always more true in their position, will understand the Lord's heart better, will be more united amongst themselves, a "little flock," but who will know much better the voice and the heart and the thoughts of the Good Shepherd. The ground which the enemy gains can only be over the flesh and over the general testimony: it is sad, but understood by the faithful one, and, after Sardis, the manifest general condition. If I find Laodicea to be spued out, I find Philadelphia, which has the ear and heart of the Saviour, having little strength, but which has kept His word, and not denied His name. We are working for the most part with those, the half of whom do not know the immense principles in question; but if there is faithfulness, a single eye, God keeps them. But to be always waiting for the Lord, that is our strength. "There are many called, but few chosen." Alas! decline is the continual tendency, but the Saviour never declines. Keeping close to Him, one will have, not perhaps a public testimony common to the masses - they are always rather the fruit of a testimony - but still, the testimony on His part in the fulness of His power, according to the need of the church; for His power and His love never change. This is a subject that goes to the heart, and I know that I can trust Him, though I have been often cast down at the sight of the determination of the church to put aside grace and blessing, and the power which the enemy puts forth in deceiving her.

I have lost time at Montpellier, through failing to follow sufficiently closely the leadings of the Holy Ghost, and I am suffering for it now, having to do through greater difficulty that which, having been done much more easily before, would have left me free to do what I cannot now accomplish as I should desire, but now I put myself again in His loving hands; I must learn my lesson of the mountain and the Jordan. We are in sorrowful times; let us not be surprised at it, only let us be near Him, in order to make shine clearly, without obscuring it, what He gives.

As to the second question, it is certain that the day of atonement applied to the conscience in the sense of acceptance before God for all sins until the end. Man, such as he is altogether, is, so to speak, set aside, and Christ, in the efficacy of His work, put in his place before God, and the Christian ought always to have the consciousness of it, never to have the thought that God is against him. He is not so; Christ has borne all his sins; it is impossible that they should be imputed to him, impossible that he can be too clear about it. My sins are committed in an existing relationship, and one which they do not alter, but they are much more serious on that account. But my relations with God are realities, for which according to His glory I have been saved and washed, and these relations are really interrupted by sin. The blood of the red heifer was not put upon the mercy-seat, but it was sprinkled seven times before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where God met with the people; this secured even at all times the basis of their intercourse. Restoration was on the side of him who had defiled himself, and it was a real restoration. The nature of God is against sin, and darkness could not have communion with light, but our condition is darkness if we have touched death. There is a difference when the Holy Ghost reveals God in my heart, and I am in the atmosphere of His love, and when I search for and endeavour to find the sense of His presence; it is not a question of presenting the man, but of his condition if he were presented. Now the Spirit of God gives us the consciousness of this condition in grace, but in the conscience and in the heart. He renews in the heart the consciousness of the relationship; in the conscience, the feeling of having failed in it, and this in presence of the perfect love of Christ, for the ashes of the heifer are the proof of His love, and that sin is taken away - has been taken away, rather - that it is not a question of imputation, but of the work in itself. It is the word which is the instrument of it, the truth, and the word is this truth. As to imputation, it is then no longer a question; but defilement is not imputation. Now what Christ is doing for us in heaven is to reconcile practically our present position in fact here below with our position acquired in Him, and to make good to us, being in His presence as to our personal acceptance, all the grace of God to maintain us at the height of the enjoyment of this position, or to make us rise to it in the practical sense. Therefore it is said, "for such an high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," because it is a question of this position for us, and He must be there. Now it is necessary to sympathise with our infirmities, but He "was tempted in all things like as we, without sin." Aaron was in infirmity when he was exercising the priesthood; not Christ, because we have a place with Him in heaven, but He knew what temptation was when He was here, and in virtue of His presence in heaven (in which we are accepted, nothing being imputed), He obtains all that is necessary to put us into real relations with our position above, or rather with God according to that position. So there is no inconsistency between the sense of having our position unimpaired, and the deepest feelings of horror of sin; on the contrary, it is by having this conviction that the feeling is produced.

In our ministry we must put these things in connection; this is what the ashes of the heifer did. In John 13, he who is washed needs only that his feet should be washed, but he is wholly clean. I do not put myself back into it when I have sinned; I do not lose it. It is because the house is clean, that I have a horror of the dirt that I have brought into it. If one has lost the sense of the purity of the house, one takes less account of the dirt, but the flesh can cast itself on that. When one has sinned, it is not that any longer; being there fully in the light, with full confidence, one's heart is cast on the judgment of what is inconsistent with such a position, and the love even unto death which has placed us there. The priesthood of Christ is exercised in order to produce right feelings, not when we have them. It is not our relief to think of it when we have failed, save as a general truth. "If any one sin" (not if any one repent), "we have an advocate with the Father." It is not (appropriately) said, Melchisedec, king of righteousness, save as to His person, except within the veil.

I have given you a few thoughts; I do not know if they answer to your request. I write a little in haste, even after such a long delay. There is some little good in the south, but weak in comparison with the organisation which is got up to hinder souls from finding their true position.

Peace be with you, dear brother. May the Lord find us watching to take us to Himself. Salute the brethren affectionately.

Your very affectionate.

Nismes, October 23rd, 1849.

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