p145 [T Loizeaux] [From the French.] VERY DEAR BROTHER, - On beginning your letter, I soon thought that you had met these false teachers of whom you speak. It is true that we are only sealed by the Holy Spirit after having believed. But it is not then that we are born of God. If the presence of the Holy Spirit were life, every Christian would be an incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit that we have of God. Being born of God is another thing. We have not received, as to the state in which we find ourselves, the state purposed for us in the counsels of God, but we have all, subjectively, to be able to enjoy it. We have undoubtedly eternal life. When it is said, "this is the promise that he has promised us," it is no question of whether we have it or have it not, but what is the promise of God. But the testimony of God is that He has given us eternal life, and this life in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who has not the Son has not life. Christ is eternal life come down from the Father. Life eternal is indeed spoken of, as at the end (Rom. 6), because eternal life such as God means by it in His fixed purpose, is in the glory when we shall be like Christ, but we are already quickened. John 5:24; he has life, he is passed from death unto life, and the hour had come already. (Verse 25) Also John 3:36. We are bound to reckon that we are alive unto God by Jesus Christ. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me." When we were dead He quickened us with Christ. We are seated only in Christ, and it is according to the power that works in us. God does not quicken in heaven wicked people who arrive there dead in sin! And the soul is not in the grave with the body. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit John 6: "verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes on me has everlasting life." And here it is by faith, and down here; he who eats of this bread shall live eternally: if one does not eat it, one has not life in oneself, "He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That is to say, resurrection is another thing; he has life, and made sure to him for eternity; he will be raised up at the last day. He that eats of this bread shall live for ever. Nothing appears to me clearer than the doctrine of the word on this subject under various forms; born of the Spirit, quickened by Christ, by faith in receiving Him as bread of life. It ought to make the believer perfectly assured on this point. "He who has the Son has life." Christ is my life. The gift of the Spirit is quite another thing, the seal of faith. After having believed I have been sealed. We are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and because we are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into the heart, crying, Abba, Father.

Another question is, if this faith is of me, or of God - which I by no means doubt - in me, but in that which grace has wrought in me, "He who stablished us with you in Christ, and who has anointed us, is God." "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8.) I know well it is said that "that" does not agree grammatically with faith - be it so, but not with grace either; and to say that grace is not of ourselves is nonsense, for grace means of another, but one might say to oneself without doubt, but faith is on our part, as is said; this is why the apostle asserts, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. As to the rest, it is another question. One is a child, born of God, before being sealed. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." God has begotten us of His own will. We do not beget ourselves. He does not believe in a life communicated, who does not believe that it is grace that communicated it. Wesleyans do not believe in a real life communicated: a result is produced by the operation of the Spirit, and this result can disappear and reappear. "Whosoever is born of God," having received this life, inasmuch as born of God, "sins not"; also "the wicked one touches him not." In this life there is no sin, within it is the divine seed. There is no allurement for it in the things that Satan presents. As for deliverance and the seal of the Holy Spirit, it is not only having life that delivers me. It is indeed the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ that has set me free (further proof that I have life), but there is also redemption and the Holy Spirit.

This is the order of these things, as I see them in the word. The beloved Saviour died for my sins; by grace I believe it and I possess the remission of sins. (I may have had life before by faith in His Person without understanding the efficacy of His death.) Thereupon being washed in the blood of Jesus, I am sealed by the Holy Spirit; thus there are strength and liberty: as in the Old Testament the leper was washed with water, then he was sprinkled with blood, and then anointed with oil. So says Peter, Be baptised for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus with Cornelius, as soon as Peter spoke of the remission of sins by Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended on those who heard. We also find it in Romans 5. There is liberty. But for a solid state of soul there is another truth necessary, that we have died with Christ. It is no longer a question of sins but of the old man - not of what we have done, but of what we are as children of Adam. That begins with Romans 5:12: by the disobedience of one, it is said, we are constituted sinners. But having died with Christ, I am no longer in the flesh. Not only are the sins of the old man blotted out, but I am in a new position; I am in Christ instead of being in Adam. There there is no condemnation. Then he shews the state, what that means, the law of the Spirit, etc., and then "what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of flesh of sin, and [as a sacrifice] for sin, condemned sin in the flesh"; but it is in death that this has taken place. Thus condemned it exists no longer for faith. I can say so because Christ risen having become my life, I recognise no longer the flesh as living, since He has really died for me - He who only is my life, my I. I do not recognise the flesh; His death is valid for me to this result. (Rom. 6:10-11)

It is arrived at by the experimental knowledge that no good exists in me, then that sin in me is not I, but that it is too strong for me. Having learnt it, redemption and the power of the Spirit deliver me, and I know that I am in Christ. The apostle, in order to give it all its force, recounts this experience as made under the law (and it is always legal): it may be made after having learnt the remission of sins. I have life, then, very really as soon as I believe, as soon as I receive Christ, and I shall never perish - a sheep quickened by Christ, never to be plucked out of His hands. For again John 10 proves it. I am made free by redemption, and the power of the Spirit of God by whom I am sealed by virtue of this redemption, and I reckon myself for dead as to the flesh.

As for baptism, I confess that I have no taste for the discussions on this point. I have no doubt that each one ought to be baptised, but it is not the less true that it formed no part of the mission of Paul. The position of brethren according to my view is to be in the midst of a mass of baptised people (saving rare exceptions), and they have to unite true Christians in the unity of the body as much as possible. It is the admission to the house of God where are found His blessings, as in the wild olive tree; as in Israel gone out of Egypt, see 1 Corinthians 10. It has been forgotten that there is a place where blessing is found, as well as personal grace. The servant (Matt. 24) was servant, and the Lord his Lord, and the servant was punished as such. I believe that according to the word children ought to be admitted where the blessings are. (1 Cor. 7:14.) But I believe that God intended to leave baptism in the shade. The twelve were sent to baptise the nations. Paul was not sent to baptise. The ordinance has not been abrogated; and if any one believes he has not been baptised, he ought to be. What I fear is that in being occupied with the manner, Christ should become less the only object of the heart and of the thoughts, to attach an importance to an external ordinance, which really displaces it in christian thoughts. This is why I have never sought to lead any one to one view more than to another. The activity of those who have baptist views and the manner in which they have pushed their way of seeing, has produced a reaction, and a very large number of baptists have become paedo-baptists, which has annoyed the others, and this has caused this subject to be considered. What is to be desired is quiet, and then each will decide according to his conscience more or less enlightened by the word. I think I see the wisdom of God in leaving it in the shade. Paul, who said that he had not been sent to baptise, had a special revelation for the Supper, although that already existed: it is the expression of the unity of the body.

I am at present in Italy. I know the language sufficiently for intercourse with the brethren. I do not preach. There is only a handful of brothers, but they are doing well. The state of the work in general is deplorable. The churches that the various sects have formed are full even of immorality. In many places men of conscience leave them, and they fall to pieces little by little; but there is, all the same, a good number of converted souls dispersed through the country, and, for my part, I am full of hope, but it needs a devoted workman, and more than one. There is no lack of paid workmen, but they are too much at the service of those who pay them. Peace to you, beloved brother. May God be abundantly with you.

Yours very affectionately.

Italy, 1871

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