—
1864 6 etc. The pillar of cloud guided Israel; but we are not guided by providence. Yet, blessed be God for it, we surely are guided of Him; and we know there is not a single thing He allows to happen to us, but what shall prove to be one of the "all things" for our good, though there may be much sorrow and trial mixed up with it, which may be needed to break us down. We often are guided by providence in a great many ways; but then it is a proof we are not guided by the knowledge of His will. If I discern God's will, I shall not be guided by providence, which is at best only being "held by bit and bridle." It is better to be guided by God's eye. It is a great mercy, however, if I have not the spiritual one, to be even thus held in. If I am going off by a certain train; and get too late, so that I cannot go, this is providence which tells me, I am not to go. Christ never found His guidance by providence; nor the Apostle Paul in general, except when he went to Rome. Then he went as a prisoner; which was very different from being warned by the Spirit of Jesus not to go into Bithynia. "Guide me with thine eye," is our privilege.
—
The Church ought to be able to heal everything. She is set to be a healer in the earth; but if she fail, God can make it turn to blessing. See the case of the young man whom the disciples could not heal. If they could have healed him, we should never have had that precious token of His grace — "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you, bring him to me." Yet they ought to have had power to heal him. The more the Lord's grace and power was manifested, the more they ought to have been able to use it for His glory. What a wonderful Saviour we have to do with!
—
Three things are necessary to fellowship:
1st. There must be the knowledge of sin forgiven; the certainty that faith alone imparts, that we are righteous before God. Any doubt or fear about this hinders.
2ndly. There must be the new nature or life in Christ.
3rdly. That nature must be strengthened, brought into exercise, by the powerful actings of the Spirit of God to quicken into such communion.
—
It is not false doctrine abstractedly, neither is it a person, but evil spirits are at work, and this discernment of spirits is in question in 1 John 4:1-3.
Verses 3 and 4. How gracious of God to permit the evil then to be manifested, that we might have the light and truth needed to meet it in our day. Greater is He THAT is in us, than he that is in the world.
—
When one walks with the world, one may say, I shall have no intercourse with such an one; he is quarrelsome, disagreeable, vain, proud, or a tale-bearer. But if one is living with saints, there is no such turning one's back. There is still love as being one family — God's family — and the need of patience, forbearance, etc. This makes the great difficulty of saints living in one house.
—
1864 35 The unity of Christ's body being the ground assumed, all Christians have, in principle, a title to be there, the Lord's name being maintained as to doctrine and discipline. If you insist on a certain standard of intelligence beyond Christ, before receiving them, you prove that you are not intelligent, and you abandon your own (i.e. God's) principle. At the same time, it is all well that young converts should wait; it would do them no harm. The great requisite for receiving, is satisfaction as to membership of the body of Christ. … The principle is "one body and one Spirit;" the resource, now that all is confusion and inconsistency, is Matt. 18:20. J. N. Darby.
—
1864 46 I object totally to all harmonies of the gospels, as such; because they are the confusion of accounts which are each written with a distinct divine object. The facts are put together by the Holy Ghost with an evident purpose, each gospel presenting both Christ and the ways of God in a different light. To throw them all together is to destroy this purpose, and obscure the intelligence of the gospels.
—
1864 50 There are three ways of looking at Christ. (1.) As dead and risen; (2.) As ascended and seated on high; (3.) As coming again. Now, of these three grand branches of christian truth — justification through the death and resurrection of Christ; the formation of the Church, in connection with Christ ascended and the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; and the second coming of Christ to receive the saints and judge the world, the Reformation did not go beyond the first, the preaching of justification by faith. The last two were not even touched, so to speak. Similarly, Christians in general do not see these truths at the present day. Neither the distinctive calling of the Church, nor the character of the Lord's coming again for us, is entered into beyond scraps and opinions. These are the great truths to present to their apprehension, rather than to begin with ways of meeting, etc. J. N. D.
—
1864 54 The testimony of Paul takes up man as wholly ruined in nature, and reveals a heavenly man and a new creation. It associates those called during the rejection of the true heavenly Man with Him in heaven; so that they are heavenly. He is the Lord from heaven. They, as new-created, have a part with Him, and become His body and His bride, joint-heirs with Him, the firstborn among many brethren. But the current of promise runs on, too, in connection with the original promise to Abraham. The Jewish branches were broken off, and we grafted in. Thus, the chain of promise was unbroken, though there are blessings above promise in the mystery of union with Christ. The Church is associated with Him for ever; and when the manifestation of blessing comes, she will joy and minister in it, as thus united to Him, and joint-heir with Him, and blessedly so, though her richest joy be Himself.
—
1864 94 Inspired history is true history, and gives the evil as well as the good. A mere panegyrical history would prove itself not inspired, like the legends of the saints or a human biography. As to prophecy, it is, I may say, constant invective against evil. That the patience of God went on rising up early and sending prophets, till there was no remedy, unbelief casts in God's teeth. I adore Him for it, as for all His goodness.
—
1864 102 If I have upon my heart the sufferings of the Church, little or much, I suffer with Christ. It is a little "filling up of the sufferings of Christ." Oh may we lay it to heart and bear as much of the burden as ever we can, and go on with Him through the ups and downs of the present time! His heart continues with us; may ours continue with Him. When the disciples should have watched with Him, they slept; and when they were awake, they ran away. He would give it to us to remain with Him abidingly and He has given it us.
—
1864 111 In reading 1 John 4:12-15, notice that if no man hath seen God at any time, yet faith enables the apostle, and should enable us, to say, We have seen God; and so seeing Him in the gift of Jesus, we can testify too.
—
1864 115 We must think not on our thoughts, but on God's thoughts of the blood of Christ. The Israelites were assured that He would see the Lamb's blood.
—
1864 117 If a man were to teach or incite the children of a family to do anything he knew was displeasing to the parent, how could he say he loved the children for the father's sake?
—
1864 130 It is true that there are many amiable traits in human nature, but not when God is in question. Christ drew out all the wickedness of man. Peter learned that there was nothing good in himself when he had done his best, and no failure in Christ's love when he had done his worst.
—
After all, the more one gets on in the world, the less the ability to serve in the Church. If the wheel is caught in a rut, the man who has on his working clothes is ready enough to put his shoulder to it, but the gentleman, with his nice clothing on, cannot stoop to that.
—
1864 152 Our business is to act on God's Word, looking to Him for grace and strength as regards ourselves and others.
—
1864 154 When we give up the world, we despise it, but if we go on following Jesus, the world despises us, and then comes the trial. Paul, however, could say, "Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and have no certain dwelling-place."
—
Fragments Gathered Up.
1864 160 Our present path is a very simple one. There may be all sorts of evil here and there, and even God's people are so mixed up with it that we may not be able to say who are His and who are not. "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His." But we have also a word to act upon the conscience: "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If you say, I know what I am in is unscriptural, and I am constantly involved in what is wrong; but I see nothing better; I answer that you must not go on with that: "depart from iniquity." We are told to purge ourselves from vessels to dishonour, — that he who does, "shall be a vessel unto honour," sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Then, it may be urged, you will have to go alone, or lead in some new thing. But not so; I have to "follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." In these days, however, a great deal of patience also may be needed, as, indeed, Paul proceeds to remind Timothy in his day, Jeremiah was indignant at the state of things he saw around him; but he received the word, "If thou shalt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." (Jer. 15.) So, at present, one might be provoked to abstain from having anything to do with persons in the sects, etc.; but we have to remember that there are true saints of God in these associations whose good we are to seek for the Lord's sake, and deliverance from all that is offensive to Him. If it be argued that, in this case, we ought to go with them, the answer is, "let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." J. N. D.
—
It is an unspeakable privilege to have any work to do for Christ; but if He sees in me something tending to exalt my flesh, He must lay me by and make me to be satisfied with His approbation, He may say, as to Philadelphia, "I know thy works," and then say nothing about them. Are you content with His approval? to hear Him say, "I have loved thee?" This is what the heart has to be satisfied with; not from any service in which He may occupy me, but in the calm, settled confidence that Christ loves me.
—
1864 182 Occupation with self is real degradation in a saint of God; exaltation morally is the humility that abandons self to be filled with Christ.