p525 * * * In these last days I look for His leading on His people unfailingly to their place of testimony, to their place of rest; we know that He surely will. I am very thankful that your mind has got so clear, though the difficulties for faith in the path I well know. They are those which attach to Christianity itself, and always have. It is a strait gate, and narrow way; that is nothing new. As to the path being the path of faith, and the word, I have not had for these forty years the smallest cloud. One must wait, of course, to see it. Our difficulty, at any rate in the old country, is that multitudes are breaking loose from all the various systems without the simplicity of purpose which subjects them to the Lord's discipline.

Everything established is breaking up on the one hand; and on the other, scripture being much more studied, the various dissenting systems are not found in it. To gather according to the word, that becomes the needed service, and this requires both grace and power: it requires the Lord, and I feel all the importance of this, and one's utter powerlessness, save as He works. Yet there is duty, and it is, in a good measure, what is taking me back to the old country. If God give me sufficient strength, I hope to get to the West Indies in winter, and, if all be well, return perhaps by America, but at sixty-eight one cannot count on much strength. But God is working in the west, and, with God's grace, younger hands will carry on the work, till He comes who will perfect all.

I cannot regret, that in getting clear, all has been called in question. The church of God, the Christian, has to rest on the word now, and that must be personal faith, faith resting on the power of God. This is the teaching of 2 Timothy 3. It is trying to a humble soul to be forced to judge for itself, where the church and clergy claim deference, but in the perilous times of the last days this is exactly the point of faith - the word contrasted with the church. Faith is always really individual, and of course the word of God its warrant, but as against sin and heathenism the matter is simple; when the church and religious authority come in it is apparently less so. But this is specifically the point of faith in the last days, the perilous times, the form of godliness without the power: then the scriptures, and hearing the apostles, become the only sure ground of walk. What bears the name of the church has to be judged, and we are to hear, if we have an ear, what is said to them, and not by them.

As regards settled peace, the great secret is the full and abiding consciousness that in us there is no good, and looking ever at Christ as our only, and our perfect righteousness before God. But there is another kind of peace which we must not confound with this, the peacefulness of heart which flows from conscious relationship with God. When this is in simple exercise, we rest in the sense of His perfect goodness and enjoy it, and this is very sweet to the soul. If we are not walking in heart or way in consistency with this relationship, then we have to think of ourselves, and at any rate, by God's own discipline, we do not enjoy the light of His countenance in the same way. We must not confound this with righteousness. This is ignorance of divine righteousness, and tends to put us back under law, and make us doubt. This is not of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost dwelling in us cannot make us doubtful of our relationship with God; He is the Spirit of adoption "crying, Abba, Father:" but He does make us sensitive of the approbation of God and what suits His presence. Abel had testimony by his gifts (that is, Christ, the Lamb) that "he was righteous," but Enoch, before his translation, had this testimony, "that he pleased God." You may find the two kinds of rest in Matthew 11:28-29. Our present relationship is a constant source of joy, and to be carefully cherished; our righteousness, on which it is founded, is unchangeable in the presence of God. The gracious Lord keep us walking diligently.

May, 1868.

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