There is a question, and one not of little moment at the present time, before Brethren: its importance is obvious both in present results and in the principles involved. To myself it is one of peculiar interest, because I am persuaded it is a formal presentation by God to many of his saints in England of that truth by which He is acting upon saints throughout Europe at least, if not throughout the world; and therefore, because presented by God, so far from being a question which man can judge, that it will be found rather to be God's test of man: the test by which man judges himself, or is led to take, in action before his fellows, the place he holds, before God, as to present association with the energy of the living God working on the earth.
To myself it is evident, that besides " truth," the saint has to consider truth in its present connection with the living God. The scriptures contain nothing but truth, and all the truth in them is mine; but, clearly, while I am blessed with the whole of scripture, there are parts in it which are the revelation of the present names, position, and conduct of God, and so of what now becomes the believer likewise. It was the same God who gave the law at Sinai (concerning whom, as well as concerning Christ and man, that law was replete with instruction) who gave, dispensationally, the contrast of the law at Pentecost. And here was the importance of the difference I have referred tot for where truth was merely a notion in man's mind, man at Pentecost could reject the new for the old word; hut when truth was seen in its connection with a living and a present God, the same faith which accredited God acting by law would now accredit God in the change of His dealings. And thus dispensational truth from God becomes the test of faith in. man at every time, I believe. I cannot doubt, whatever others do, that the New Testament,-besides containing the pentecostal deposit of truth (which was formative of the dispensation)- presents us with testimony as to man's corruption of that truth; and also as to God's faithfulness notwithstanding this; and that these scriptures show plainly that in the last days, when men have corrupted everything, God, in living power, will show among and in men that He has not forgotten the elementary blessings of the church; but, in living men, He will vindicate His power and His wisdom-not in setting up a new church, but in enabling men of faith, amid the ruin of everything, to separate from all that which the church was to be the expression of separation from, and to own and identify themselves with all that which the church was set as a witness of Jude and the epistles to Timothy, etc. prove this. This question is not then of eternal salvation, that turns and hangs on faith in the cross; and doubtless many a one, at every time, whose works will be all burnt up, will yet be saved yet so as by fire: and, it may be, some such will stand in the world witnessing against, and perhaps actively opposing that present testimony I refer to, given by those who awake to the truths of an ascended and returning Lord, are now servants of the living God. But if the question involved be not that of individual salvation -which is God's question for the worldling—His present glory in man's present circumstances ought to be dear to the hearts of His saved people, as well as the grace which leads Him to stoop to associate any of us with His present testimony for Himself. And surely also the sense of His company and presence with us in the wilderness now are most precious. And these things are involved in our present question.
Another thing is to observed, and that is, that when man is sunk in unbelief, or even low in faith, questions which God is thrusting forward will not act upon man's conscience often, through uninstructedness in the word, or through supineness, until they become connected with, or sometimes hidden in questions of local and individual nature. By such sometimes the Lord awakens conscience, and then by other questions, which, while in nature they are vital and universal, are in application local and individual to ourselves, He leads us into action. For our Father is the God of Providence, and all is ruled for the glory of Christ. And oft thus-as in Lot's separation from the cities of the plain, and Abraham's return from Egypt-God proves His faithfulness even when man has utterly failed.
The question I advert to is this-Is the unity of the church of Christ compatible with the sanction of unholiness-unholiness either in that which is moral or spiritual? I might put it yet more strongly, for the formative truth of gathering amid failure is, " Cease to do evil, learn to do well."
The form in which the question meets us is peculiar; and if at first sight it seems to be divested of all that can revolt a fine mind, and even calculated to allure the simple-hearted, it is not the less dangerous. It contains, too, several very interesting points.
The Question will be found in these letters. They are called forth by the growing demand, as I judge, for them; but, more particularly, by the request to me for the expression of a judgment by a brother. May the Lord bless them, for his Son's sake, to His people.
G. V. W.
April, 1849