p479 [From the French.] BELOVED BROTHER, - I received your little note, and was glad to hear from you. As to 1 Timothy 5, verses 24, 25 relate to verse 22. Timothy was not to lay hands hastily on any. In the case where the walk of one on whom hands had been laid should turn out badly, Timothy would, although involuntarily, be concerned in the evil, through placing the man in a position which had his sanction. This exhortation gives the apostle occasion to add, "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment." Manifest to every one, they proclaim beforehand, like heralds, the judgment which awaits those who commit them. The sins of other men were more hidden, but would, nevertheless, come into open day. It is the same with good works. Now the fact that sins might be hidden, was to make Timothy prudent in laying on of hands on persons who presented themselves to him with this object.

We see very clearly, in comparing together the two Epistles to Timothy, the difference between the order of the house of God, such as it had been established by the apostle, and the walk taught by the Spirit of God, when disorder had come in after Paul's decease. The first epistle presents to us the established order; the second, the walk requisite in the disorder, when the Lord alone knows them that are His - a state of things very different from that in which "the Lord added to the assembly daily such as should be saved." Then, the mighty action of the Spirit of God manifested His children, and set them in their place in the church. But, in the times of which the Second Epistle to Timothy speaks, "the Lord knoweth them that are his," there may be some hidden in systems not according to His will. Then the responsibility rests upon the individual: he is to depart from iniquity, to purge himself from the vessels to dishonour, and associate himself with those who call upon the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. It is here that we find our place, only remembering the unity of the body, and seeking to realise it. We have the character of a remnant in these last days, but of a remnant which recalls the first principles on which the church was founded at the beginning; a simple and happy path, but which demands faith, and the boldness that obedient faith supplies. May God give us, in His grace, to walk in it with a firm, peaceful yet decided step. If we look to Him, all is simple; we see our way clearly, and we have motives that do not leave the soul a prey to uncertainty. It is the double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways.

Then, that which is eternal becomes ever more real to us, and nearer. This is what gives strength, and excludes all the motives and influences which might mislead us. How happy we are to be under the guidance of the Lord, to have the heart filled with Him whose thoughts are eternal, and who is love, who has so loved us and given Himself for us; who gave Himself to God, as to His own perfection, but still to possess us - blessed be His name - and to have us with Him for ever. It is sweet to feel that He nourishes the church and cherishes it. …

[Date uncertain.]

[51287F]