1880 29 Preaching is a testimony for Christ; but the more practical thing here referred to is different. There is a testimony which God secures, as in Ephesians 3, "Unto angels, and principalities, and powers," etc. Now the very existence of the church is this testimony in heavenly places. Whenever God acts, He necessarily testifies to Himself; but the church is that which comes in between the earthly dispensations, and set for a peculiar testimony, and the only right testimony we can bear must flow from knowing what Christ is in connection with us. If I acted as a righteous Jew, it would be no testimony to Christ as Head of the church. All other testimony would be idle, useless, and false. To the Jew it is said, This people have I formed for My praise. This only could be as they knew what God had done for them. So the Christian can only glorify Christ by this new kind of witness, which the church is made to be. Now that the Messiah is lifted up, it brings in altogether a new kind of witness. The witness down here is according to the place God has given it in Christ, bringing down into details before men the great principles in which we stand before God. As He said, "I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world."
Another testimony is, that Christ has glorified the Father, and the testimony is to Christ not merely the scriptures, but a testimony according to scripture. We have it not in an apostolic manner, but He has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. This is the third species of testimony. Here we have the meaning and use of the word spoken, not merely the truth, but the testimony given to Christ. Another is, "The words which thou gavest me, I have given them." Thus the church is the depositary of all that the Father gave to the Son. The Son, as a Prophet, gave them to the church, thus giving the church delight by association all that communion which was between the Father and the Son. "Now they have known all things." Thus we see the church is brought into an intimacy with the counsels that existed before the world was, and out of which the whole creation came forth, though not as the greatest work, for the church is to show out His glory in a greater measure than all the creation besides. Jesus says, "I have given them the glory which thou hast given me." This glory, into which the Son went back, was that glory which He had with the Father before the world was; its source, God Himself, before all creation.
Supposing the saint had apprehended this association with Christ, the practical results would be such as the question implies — announcement of the word. An ambassador cannot be one in his own country. The word is a present deposit given to the church — "I have given them thy word" — a commission before the world; the words given by Christ are another thing.
The salt of the earth — mark "of the earth," but light of the world. The earth is that which may be in relationship with God, and have light and darkness all around it, and then there was to be the distinctive principle of preservation. There was the exclusive power of grace, not merely security. Light was a character of diffusive grace, and not distinctive grace — light of the world, where all is darkness. Whenever there is the profession of the name of Christ, there ought to be the distinctive manifestation of grace. Every sacrifice shall be salted with fire — all shall be brought under divine judgment. Light of the world, in a certain sense, is a happier thing; "God is light," and He is so called in the first manifestation to the Gentiles. Law was not light, it descended through men, and did not show what God was. There are three things in it: first, loving God and one's neighbour; secondly, prohibition of what one ought not to do; thirdly, ceremonies. We cannot speak of the second Man as light only, because He was the Life. Then, having communicated this to His disciples, it could be said, "Now ye are light." The manifestation of what God is to man when in darkness.
The salt seems to be that which the saint essentially is from his heavenly nature. Fruit, in John 15, is something more than individual fruitfulness. The fruit that Christ bore is the living church of God. So much as the living power of Christ is in the church it would remain, and all thus gathered was living fruit to God. Christ was constantly occupied in putting the disciples in the same place as Himself; not only in individual grace, but in all the results of that grace.
As to the writing of the letter (2 Cor. 3), the force of this seems not so much individual, but the assemblies of believers are specially the epistles. The church is the epistle of Christ, because the church is looked on as entrusted in everything by Christ (I speak not now of the church's failure). Ye are His epistle, a testimony of reconciliation. If there had been any doubt of Paul's testimony, the saints in every place who had been converted through him would be the epistle commendatory — the letter commending his ministry, recommending Christ as written in them, and that wherein the world is to read the character of Christ. The assemblies of the saints should be that which gives Christ's character to the world, and the fact is, Christ is so judged of by the world. Humbling as this is, infidels judge of Christ by what they see, though the Spirit of God, doubtless, works in sovereignty beyond this testimony. The only source of power in the church is the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, the ministration of the Spirit in contrast to the law — the present manifestation of God to the world. It shows what God is in grace, which a righteous law could not do. In the church Christ has commended His life, that it may become a living epistle, and the thing we have to inquire of ourselves is, Can men learn from us what Christ is? I speak of great principles, and if the church be not a living epistle for Christ, it is nothing and good for nothing — Christ revealed by the Holy Ghost, Christ in heaven. "We all beholding as in a glass," etc. Another person cannot behold for me. I am to be changed into the same image by beholding Him. Another may tell me of Him, and I may thus be brought to look on Him.
I cannot be changed by looking at ordinances. The practical part, peace and joy, go together; and if I am changed into the image of Christ, I am seen as the epistle, the expression, of the heavenly Man down on earth — the One in the glory who has put away my sin; and I can stand by and look at the glory, the Holy Ghost a witness to me of it. As in Stephen, Jesus was reflected on earth, for there was not a principle in his whole conduct which was not drawn from heaven. He might compassionate the multitude, but the compassion flowed from knowing the infinite care of the Good Shepherd. Morally we should be like what Stephen was actually. The church reflects the glory sent down from heaven, as connected with it. Walking with God implies, to my mind, communion. I can converse with the man I walk with. Walking before God involves more particularly responsibility to set the Lord before us as pleasing Him. We can never have privilege without responsibility.
But I suppose that being "in God the Father" refers to our place. Whatever we know of God we learn by fellowship with Him. He that loves is born of God, and knows God. He must have His nature, which is love, to know Him who is love; as I must have the nature of a man to understand the things of a man. The Jews were not "in God the Father," for the relationship had not been revealed to them. The church has its relationship to Christ, as well as affiliation to God. Looking to the conduct of the church, there is Lordship as well as perfection of the divine nature.
As to the distinction in the heavenly things, shown us in Hebrews, Colossians, and John, the expression, "heavenly calling," is common with us, and a great deal has, I suppose, been mixed up with this. In the Hebrews, where the phrase is used, the Holy Ghost never rises to the highest glory of the church; it contrasts the Lord with Moses, showing that we have got a ground of confidence to go into the holiest place; but the set of thoughts is about God, and not about the Father. In Hebrews 12, where the Father is mentioned, it is not as to privilege, but in the exercise of chastening.
There are two things for a Christian to look at in Christ: as a priest in the holiest, I can go through His blood, and in my failure can use His advocacy. But there is another thing which I learn — what I am as a child of God. It is a different thing, when I know that the Father loves me, from knowing that He hears, because I have an Advocate. Both are of the last importance for us to know, and a most blessed place there with the saint. The subject of the Epistle is requiring blood before a sinner can come — Christ between me and God. My union with Christ is another aspect. This does not separate me from the One — Christ as Mediator, Advocate. In one sense I look on Christ as one with Him above, and in another His relation to me here below, Christ coming down in all the relations in which I need His grace and tenderness. Writing to the Hebrews, the subject of Mediatorship. The heavenly calling comes in as association with Christ as Mediator. The heavenly calling comes in because I learn my failure by what Christ is set up in heaven for me, and it is not the same thing as when Christ says, I go to my Father and yours.
The heavenly calling may be regarded as morally in contrast with earthly things, or I may look at it (though perhaps the phrase is not so used,) but I may think of my heavenly calling) as connected with my union with Christ.
Colossians teaches this union. All other mediation denies the union of the church with Christ. Whenever I put anything between me and Christ — men or angels, or ordinances — I deny the very existence of the church in union with Christ. Whenever we get back into ordinances, we get back into nature; it may be an amiable nature, but it is nature. The principle of the church is, "I am one with Christ." The difference between Ephesians and Colossians is, that the Ephesians had not then failed in declining from the first love. The failure of holding the Head is supposed in Colossians, the privilege of the church in Ephesians. The Colossians had forgotten their Head, and St. Paul was obliged to speak of it; so that in Ephesians we get really more of heavenly relationship, not the approach to God as in Hebrews, but union with Christ shove, the Head and the body, sitting not with, but in, Christ. This carries us up higher; all the affections of God thus rest upon the church. It is important not to confound the phrase, "heavenly calling," with the sitting of the saints in Christ. What do I find the practical consequence in Hebrews? It is the earthly path of faith, by virtue of the blood-shedding of Christ. The practical part in Ephesians flows from God dwelling in the church — not merely, Ye must walk by faith, but, Be ye imitators of God. In Ephesians the commonest things are spoken of as based upon our union with Christ, even to avoiding deceit, etc. He looks upon the church as one body; "Because ye are members one of another."
The heavenly calling in John's Epistle is the character of God's family. The whole Epistle draws down various principles from the family being partakers of the divine nature. They love, they keep His commandments, etc. From this the disciples ought to have seen that the Father was in Christ, and Christ was in Him. (John 14:14-20.) He afterwards promises them the Holy Ghost, and then they shall know that Christ was in the Father, because they have the Holy Ghost, and thus are cognizant of their union with Jesus Christ, and know the Son to be one with the Father, and myself to be in Him. This is unfolded to us in the Epistle of John. The saint knows this in this world. All that is of the world is not of the Father. Why, the church is in the world! Yes, but God sees the church as a heavenly thing, and so shall I see it, if I love the church as I ought to love it. It is a fact: there is no such thing but being in Christ, or quite out of Him; either we are living in nature, or taking our standing in Christ. Christ lives in me now. If I am risen with Christ, I can come down, and judge all the circumstances of my life on earth; my place, if risen with Christ, is to seek those things that are above. Resurrection is shown out below, by being dead with Him to the rudiments of the world — not only to sin, but to the religiousness of human nature. The Jew was called to righteousness, and God cultivated it, but it brought not forth fruit, it produced wild grapes. Now men strive to cultivate the religiousness of human nature, and so introduce themselves into heaven by some other way than death.
Christ has taken His place where death and resurrection have placed Him, and there I am where Christ is. Supposing the saint to be united to the Head, it has its own world and sphere of affections. God does not look at the church in the world at all. "All that is in the world is not of the Father." The new nature can be set on nothing down here. The church has no standing on earth, it is clearly in Christ before God. The things above are not merely a general tendency, but a positive line, brought down between earth and heaven. "Christ liveth in me." Christ has gone up as a heavenly One, and there is our sphere of affections. Christ has taken our hearts, where death and resurrection have placed them. If Christ communicates this life to me, He gives this principle — that we are dead already. Resurrection life is manifestly walking through this world, without being actuated by the motives of this world. A Christian has new motives. Do you think that Christ in you would be seeking riches, or using power? Perplexity comes in by having some motives which are not drawn from heaven. There is always a tendency to decline from this singleness of eye. When we first receive this knowledge of life in Christ, we are absorbed in Him; but when decline comes in, we get old motives, and return. People say, What harm is there in this? No harm in the thing, but the thought about it shows that you are not absorbed in heavenly things. When the sense of grace is diminished, we decline in practice. Our motives must be in God. Some little thing begins to act, and then motives begin to act, and recommencing of certain things that engage the attention, and the first love is left. Efforts are made to press conduct and practice, because full grace was preached before, it being felt. The conscience, if active, condemns things, or sometimes it is dead, and then what was approved before is considered legal. We may fall into two faults — preaching fruits, or getting at ease. We shall not get back by dwelling on the details, but it is a terrible thing to tamper with God, and we must rise up into the knowledge of resurrection in Christ to remedy the details.
The effect of walking in Christ is, I am sure, always to walk with reverence. The soul will not only be happy in God, but will bring the tone of that house with him, and the sense of his joy in God, and the ten thousand anxieties which trouble others will disappear. No matter what the trouble is, we bring quietness of spirit into all circumstances while abiding in God. One will carry it about with him, the evidence of being risen with Christ — quietness. I have my portion elsewhere, and I go on. This connects itself with the fellowship of the Father and the Son — not only joy, but the thought of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost in us. The third person of the blessed Trinity is our power of entering with the affections into all these things of God. "The Father loveth the Son." What a place this puts me into, to be so cognizant of the Father's feelings towards His beloved Son! I see the Son as Head of creation, etc., and we are enabled by the Holy Ghost to enter into the counsels of Him who made it. When thus our souls are taken out of the world, and into our place with Christ, we get our association with His counsels, etc.
The new thing, connected with Christ before the world was, makes this world looked as a bit not to be regarded. In our proper place we get our minds filled and associated with things that leave this world as a small thing, a little mite, in the vastness of that glory which was before the world was. How we are led by the Spirit is a practical question. Providential circumstances are not the guide of the Holy Ghost, though God is present everywhere, but the Holy Ghost is in the church. A spiritual man requires no spiritual actings of the Holy Ghost, because he has the mind of Christ, leading by the plainest motives possible all drawn from His own word. It is the Shepherd leading when the Holy Ghost has given us such a knowledge of God, that we walk in the liberty of communion with His thoughts and purposes. The Holy Ghost may lead, as He did Paul, "Go not to Bithynia," or now by the plain revelation of the word.
1880 43 In the record of the acting's of the Most High, can we trace a case to exhibit for Himself as Creator and God of providence; or is the testimony committed to the character of the Saviour?
What is the bearing of this upon the preaching of the gospel, in the acts and on the scene, as shown us by prophecy? How far was and is that which is of nature or providence used of God in the church? Can we learn anything from our present horizon?
The peculiar position the church of God assumes was vividly brought before the eyes. One thing rests on my mind — the entire distinction of the church of God from everything else besides, rejoicing in God Himself, and estimating His ways. "We have the mind of Christ." When the prophet asked, "Who had been his counsellor?" there was no response; the mind of Christ, the Holy Ghost, are in the church. This intelligence is such as there never was before. They were but servants. I may tell my wishes to my servant, but he had no participation in my thoughts. The first principle of the Jewish dispensation is marked by the veil, Jehovah dwelling in the darkness: they did not really know God, they had no access into the holiest; but when Christ came, it was impossible He should not be revealed; and how He could deal with His own Son but as what He was? We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God could lead David to say, "My soul panteth after God": we know Him now. When God said to Abraham, "I am thy shield," etc., His "friend," who in some respects stood higher than Old Testament saints, yet did not know God in the character as we do. "What wilt thou give me"? he asked. When God gives Himself as a reward, He necessarily brings out the heir. Abraham talking with God could look down on all things below.
To us is given all that God gives in and with Christ. The church is told everything. The scriptures are so exceedingly precious because we have all God's mind from beginning to end, even about the Jews, given to us. This assumes perfect reconciliation to God, the being brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son. It also implies perfect peace; for if I had any doubts about myself, how could I at all care to be inquiring about God's dealings with the Jews? The conduct and character of a child who has no doubt of his relationship is altogether different from a servant's, the moment I see the truth.
"For their sakes I sanctify myself," said our Lord, going as Man on high. This is not a testimony against evil, but to get to the sanctification of the believer through the truth. Even before I saw the coming of Christ, I saw that the Spirit of prophecy condemns the world and its ways; but in the setting apart of the new man in Christ, I see what draws my affections and acts on the conscience. The setting apart of the church according to the model of Christ, the new Man, acts on the affections. God does not become what He reveals Himself to be, for that He effectually is. So as to creation, Christ travels across all dealings with the Jews and others, and says, Your Father gives rain to the just and unjust; go, and do likewise. Christ was God manifest in the flesh; not merely a perfect Jew, but the heavenly Man above all evil, and the conduct of man is to be based upon what God is in Himself — my Father, of whom ye say that He is your God — the Father of Jesus their God.
We say we trust in the living God, and this is the difference between a Christian and a man who talks about God. We trust not as in a dead God, who has given rules and leaves them, but in One who lives and watches over me, and I can walk through any danger with the fullest certainty of Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father," etc. You as a child are an object of all good; all providence was for them of every kind, because of their association with Christ. The church is not the sphere of providence as Israel was. The church has not its root in the systems of the world at all. When Israel is no longer His witness, when the world asserted its power uniting with the Jew to crucify the Messiah, then the church is brought out in connection with Him before the foundation of the world. Men may think they can do what was not done when Christ was here. "The world hath not known thee, but I have known thee." The display of Himself is to the saint. The church is not the sphere of Providence, but the Jew was. In God's mind the church is not of the system of the world at all. Christ had glorified the Father on earth, and then closed by saying, "The world hath not known thee." "The world seeth me no more, but ye see me." Thus did He sanctify His disciples. The church ought to have here another thing, because all power is given to Christ; so Christ has all power in heaven and earth. Hence, when the appeal is made, it is, "Kiss the Son." The church ought to have been the witness of the same, of the power of Christ on earth, even the powers of the world to come, a testimony in the Spirit to the power Christ will exercise in the world to come (healing the sick, raising the dead, were powers of the world to come). Where shall I find creation put to rights but in Christ? There was a fresh testimony in man to the power of Christ over creation. When the spirits were cast out, He said, I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven, a sample of the end, when all the powers of Satan will cease.
The church is not only a testimony to the grace of God, but to the power of God, in creation and providence. Full peace is a settled state of happiness, which people do not talk much about if walking in it, and engaging every thought, and feeling, and plan, and act of His, and as connected with it. The church had her own place in all the testimony she had to give. You that were her enemies are now able to enter into the power of the new life, to enter into all the hopes of redemption, etc. Miracles now are a different thing from what they were. Egyptians had been swallowed up, Dathan and Abiram, etc.; but miracles in the church were a sign of the power of the world to come. They confirm faith, but they are not to us in any sense the basis of faith; to the Israelites, in a certain sense, they were. Who brought you out of the land of Ham? Nicodemus speaks of miracles, but Christ stops him, and says, "Ye must be born again." Adam had his garden taken away from him. The flood afterwards came — then men's imagination made sticks and stones into gods. The prophet speaks of the folly of worshipping and warming themselves by a bit of wood; but the Spirit leads the saint behind the scenes, and he sees that the idolatry is not merely the folly that could be seen, but men worshipping demons.
When I come to the principle that God is Creator of heaven and earth, I see that Israel bound their idols with the very things the true God had given them. They would offer these gifts to the queen of heaven.* Generally the Gentiles were given up to their own ways. God revealed as Jehovah was not only the Most High, Almighty to Abraham, but the Covenant-keeper to Israel. (Ps. 91) Whosoever dwells in the secret place of the Most High lodges under Almighty shelter. Jehovah was the revelation of the place of safety — Jehovah is the resting place. Satan tempted the Lord Jesus to take this up, not in obedience; but He said, No, I am come as a servant, and must take the place of obedience. In spite of everything, Jesus will show Himself the possessor of earth. In Isaiah, up to chapter 49, the Lord takes up Israel as the servant; but from that time Messiah is called the Servant, because Israel had been destroyed, and lost his standing.
[* Jonah was the last witness, sent to the natural conscience.]
No reclaiming power was of any use whilst the tree was bad. Man as a sinner may be polished, but he is a sinner still. The law was weak through the flesh. Man ever knows that precept is a sharp accuser, but a useless friend; there must be power. With all man's immense faculties — and I do not believe that they are half developed yet — he cannot please God; there is no good in acting on the old life, so God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
I could not speak to you, beloved friends, about these things, if I did not assume that you and I are enjoying perfect peace. We thus can contemplate all power in heaven and earth, and this in Christ. God, of course, never resigns any of His titles; but all power is given to Christ, and when He returns, all this power will be manifested, and the church its sharer with Him. Till the heavens are cleared, we have to do with principalities and powers in heavenly places, but ours is power in suffering. I am to bear witness that there is salvation in Christ. Man is done with for the present. How does God deal with His title actually on the conscience? I find Christ will exercise this power on earth. When on earth Jesus continually said, "Fear not," but after His resurrection He said," Peace be unto you." Now I see in Job that his friends thought that the things going on in the world were an adequate testimony to God. Job said many naughty things, but there was a craving of soul after God which his friends knew not. So a man may understand all doctrine, and yet not be in a state of mind God could meet, save to correct or judge. Job went on wrestling after something he could not find in himself — a better state than all mere doctrine — he was standing in need. We often find wants in heart for which we should know how to apply to God.
The church, being a heavenly thing, has her warfare there. Christ first clears the heavens, and the church takes with Him the seat of power. As has been said, the church was at first not only a saved thing, but the witness of the power of Christ as the possessor of heaven and earth. There are two ways in which God deals with man: firstly manifested to the Jews, so that every nation that came against them was punished; secondly, the testimony in rain and fruitful seasons. Now the church as a heavenly thing manifests God on earth, as we see in the deliverance of Peter. The Holy Ghost "convinces the world of sin," etc., because they rejected Christ. The very presence of the Holy Ghost is the consequence of man's rejection of Christ and crucifying Him. The Holy Ghost down here virtually says, "I am here because you have rejected Christ, the Son of God."
As to providence, Israel being God's earthly people, His providence, so to speak, rallied round them. I think the Jews were not finally rejected till the last chapter of Acts. As the Gospels are a transition from law to gospel, so the Acts are a transition from Judaism to Christianity. I find the Lord Jesus sanctioning the law, and giving in further light from the kingdom of heaven: so to speak, it is neither law nor gospel. In Acts there is the further proof that the ten thousand talents would be forgiven them; therefore, to the Israelites Jesus Christ risen was sent to every one of them, to turn to Him in repentance. By virtue of the resurrection of Christ, they were treated as having done it ignorantly, till Paul applies the words of Isaiah, "that their hearts were waxed gross," etc. Then the truth was brought out, that every saint, whether Jew or Gentile, had his life hid with Christ in God. He was dealing with the Gentiles now, as intending to judge the world in righteousness by "that Man," etc.; not "now," but God having appointed a day. The testimony against the idols was that God will deal with this earth again.
Prophecy always acts on the judgment of the world. There cannot be prophecy about heaven, though it may describe heavenly things. In all that I read in Revelation 22 there is nothing about rest, but blessed activity, showing us God's governmental administration. All the proper prophetic part (not descriptive, which goes up to heaven), is on earth, the place of testimony on earth, but to hear what has been heard in heaven — God on the throne acting on earth. The church's testimony, on the other hand, is about heavenly things; not the Father is spoken of in Revelation, but the throne of God, the displayed, not the hidden, joy. The people walk in the light of the city. This great secret of government — God dwells in the midst — the seat of government is in heaven when Satan cast out.
How far may the things of nature and providence be used? There seems to me some confusion between man's using nature and God's using it, because man can never take God's place of sovereignty over evil. But I make an entire distinction between faculties and man's will. God may let Satan have this place of sovereignty, as He did with Job. God can use everything, even Satan. He can reverse the effect of evil in producing good. The church is placed altogether out of the place of using the things of nature and providence. As to man's faculties, God uses tongue, limbs, etc., but I make an entire distinction between faculties and man's will. The church enters into Christ's character of subserviency, it can never get out of the place of obedience. Faith, said a philosopher, is subject to man. Then said I, I am in the place of God. Faith alone places God in the right place. I have only to look up to Him, to trust in and depend on Him. Of course the Spirit works on my understanding — it is not as a brute that He communicates with me. Now I believe that nature is always used. When the talents were given, it was according to every man's ability, therefore I should not hesitate to say, with brother C., that twelve men with different faculties might be used for opposite purposes (mental faculties a step further), for I believe God's purposes are more exactly prepared than we think. God may have given man a capacity to speak, but does the man think about the capacity? When I find the apostle speaking in power, I find he says, "I was with you in weakness," etc. When God acts in power, He suppresses the man, and so must I, if I am His faithful servant. The vessel is prepared, as Paul was a chosen vessel. It carries a gift, it reveals Christ. Faith always trusts in the living God. As much as the gift is occupied with Christ, it shows that it is an earthen vessel.
What do I learn from the present horizon? It is useful in alarming the consciences of men, but never in awakening affections, unless to rescue something of value. Sometimes the fairest thing that appears turns out to be bad. If my horizon does not lead to heaven, it will keep back to earth. As to the growth of evil, which I recognise as much as any man, if my horizon does not lead me to heaven, it will to earth. The way evil works now is not by saying, Give up the name of Jesus, but use Jesus not as revealed by faith. So Aaron said, "Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah," and then made a golden calf. Unless we recognise the union with Christ in the heavens, we have no security. Everything that is most amiable in Christ, and most excellent in man, will be connected together, and nothing can preserve a saint from gross denials of Christ, but seeing the church in union. There is a sentimental part in man which loves to take up something about Christ, but this is not what I learn by faith. One touch of Christ (as our brother Bellett said) does not dispel evil till the church is in heaven. There is no preaching acknowledgment of Christ but by the Holy Ghost. I must believe God as He has spoken in His word. There may seem faith, and great faith too, in approaching to God, as when man believed that Jehovah was in a calf. People talk about judging the word, but I do say that nobody has received the word until it has judged him, and then he truly listens to it. The word judges you. I do not think we can trust ourselves to look at the horizon: we must take a Jeremiah's place to be able to do so, and God had, as it were, to frighten him into giving His word faithfully. If I look at the evil, it presses dreadfully on my spirit, and if I look on the church, I see evil where we ought to be looking for the beauty of holiness; when I do look at it, I must keep the ruin as in the back of my heart.
No man is fit to deal with evil till his heart is broken with When Jerusalem was prepared for blessing, it was occupied with the blessing by which they were to be drawn out, and be saved. I could not get on, and get my heart tender, when occupied with evil, though to have an understanding of what is going on is of great importance. How did the apostles act when they thought of the untoward generation? "Save yourselves from it." Grace in Christ is the power that delivers the heart from the poor world, as in it. My heart would, I believe, be broken, if I looked at the horizon, rather than the power given of the present blessing.