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of God, the divine commentary is

"The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing; which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ being come, an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us [believers]." (Heb. ix. 8-12.) "Christ being come" has altered everything. Whereas before that time God was pleased to accept an imperfect worship-now, all who approach Him must be perfect, because he has provided that perfection for them in Christ. Believers are accepted in the Beloved." Their Great High Priest has obtained an entrance for them, open now to faith, within the holiest of all.

But

Of course, mere reason can never grasp this. The natural mind deals with things that are seen. those who are spiritually taught are glad to discover that in Christ himself they have all the requisites of worship in perfection. The highest religious services ever offered on earth, even though appointed of God himself, were but shadows of Christ. Now that he himself is known to faith, who would deal any

more with shadows?

presence of

In the Gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see the shadows fading away in the the living substance, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He had come, the Light of the world, and all ought to have rejoiced in the bright reality of His

presence.

But Israel and the world preferred shadows,-yea, they preferred darkness. They rejected the true light and shut Him out; they cast Him out and crucified Him. But even now there is a way of access to him, by faith, and those who know the true light, and the narrow way, ought no longer to abide in

darkness.

Arrived at this point, as those who are brought into the light, we shall hope, if the Lord shall delay His coming, to look more in detail into the books

of the New Testament.

THE LORD's SUPPER.

"Christ our passover is slain for us: therefore let us keep the feast," [or holyday, see margin.] 1 Cor. v. 8.

We have in this text a clear indication of God's mind about "the cup of blessing which we bless, and the bread which we break," in commemoration of the Lord's death, for though the 5th* chapter does not speak expressly of the Lord's supper. Yet the meaning of this Christian ordinance may, by that passage, be made very manifest to those who are spiritual. When the Israelites were to be delivered out of

The Supper" is specifically taken up in the 11th chapter of 1 Cor.

Egypt, the paschal lamb was slain, and the blood of the victim was instrumentally used to protect God's chosen people from destruction. But the body of the animal was made a "feast" for them. And ever after that night, (when the Egyptians fell under the destroying angel while their bond slaves were saved through the interposition of divine grace,) the delivered people were to commemorate their deliverance by annually feasting upon the passover lamb. The blood had done its work once, and was needed no more. Henceforth the passover was ordained as a feast.

In the Scripture we have quoted, Christians are taught that Christ our passover having been slain for us, we, like the Israelites, are to keep a feast in celefrom bondage far worse than that of Egypt, and from a taskmaster (Satan) more potent and hardened than

bration of our deliverance. And ours is deliverance

Pharoah.

It is true that our feast in its highest sense must ever be a spiritual one. We do, in fact, feast upon Christ himself. As we drink in the word of truth, the Scriptures-as we feed upon the bread from the wine of the fulness of Christ, entering, by faith, heaven, even all the word of God-as we rejoice in the wine of the fulness of Christ, entering, by faith, into His perfections and glory-we really keep the feast and holyday of our passover.

ternal ordinance expressive of the spiritual feast we But our Lord has been pleased to give us an exenter into by faith.

In the bread we break, we are to discern the Lord's body broken for us, and in the poured-out wine his precious blood shed for the remission of sins. that we break the bread and drink of the cup because Now, the important feature to bear in mind is,

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It is wonderful how any one can fall under the power of such a superstition.

What folly it would have been for the Israelites of old to have eaten the paschal lamb in the hope that they would be saved in consequence of so doing! and the blood of the Lamb of God has brought salvaThe blood was the instrument of their salvation; tion to all who believe in Him. They ate of the lamb because God had redeemed them. And we partake of the bread and wine because we are saved, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The feast of the passover was a thankful remembrance of God's delivering grace. So, in giving us the Him to eat and drink, GIVING THANKS in remembrance bread and wine, our Lord enjoins all who believe in

of Him.

memoration of the Lord's death, in that act virtually Christians when breaking bread together, in commemoration of the Lord's death, in that act virtually say this:-"Wo are happy; our sins are put away: our God has given us salvation. The body of Christ our Lord was broken for us; for His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, (1 Pet. ii. 24.) We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, (1 Pet. i. 19.) We are set apart-sanctified by Him;

we are perfected for ever, (Heb. x. 12-14.) Therefore we render thanksgiving to God-'I will praise Thee for ever, because Thou hast done it; and I will wait on Thy name, for it is good, before Thy saints.'” (Psalm lii. 9.)

This is the attitude which glorifies God-that of accepting thankfully all He has done for us.

As to the thought of "sacrifice" which may in any way accompany the breaking of bread-we can only recognise the SACRIFICE of praise. Our commemoration of the Lord's death is thanksgiving in action. It is setting forth, in a visible act, the beautiful ascription of praise in the first chapter of the Revelation.

"Unto Him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." As we have seen, this manifestation of thankfulness for salvation received, has a special expression in our rightly partaking of the Lord's supper. But the sacrifice of praise ought to be ascending from Christians continually.

We have no desire to appropriate the verse quoted at the commencement of this paper, as applying at all exclusively to "breaking of bread." On the contrary, the significance of the passage belongs to the whole of our Christian life. The believer says, "For me to live is Christ." Now to live Christ, is to live A PERPETUAL HOLYDAY, a continuous feast.

Life with us ought to be a continual stream of thanksgiving, through Christ our Lord.

"By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good, and to communicate [dispense blessings] forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Heb. xiii. 15, 16.

Praise to God and the dispensing of his gifts are the two Christian sacrifices.

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thess. v. 18.) "As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all, especially to them who are of the household of faith." (Gal. vi. 10.)

Again, this happy condition, in which we are to abide, according to the mind of God, is manifested in that word

Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. v. 19, 20.)

This should be the normal condition of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Their coming together to show forth the Lord's death, is to be regarded as a special manifestation of the spirit of praise which abides in them for ever.

In regarding Israel's passover as a figure of our Christian feast, it is well to remember that our Lord was pleased to make the one flow out of the other. Yea, the very UNLEAVENED bread eaten at the passover supper is that which our Lord used to signify to us his broken body. Then it was after supper that the Master dispensed the wine-cup to his disciples.

Thus, we thankfully feed upon the bread which

came down from heaven, and consequent upon that feast, we find in our hand "the cup of blessing," the occasion of renewed thanksgiving.

It is always with thanks to God we are to break the bread, and again with thanksgiving we are to drink the wine.

"Happy they who trust in Jesus,
Sweet their portion is and sure."

JAMES, THE SON OF ALPHÆUS. [COMMUNICATED.]

[It may be the fact, that the Epistle of James was written before the higher revelations concerning the call of the Church, were given, For aught that appears in the Word, it may have been written the earliest of all. The general impression is that it was written very late in the apostolic period; it was written very late in the apostolic period; under this impression, the writer offers the following remarks.]

Although James, equally with the rest of the Lord's Apostles, received the command to preach the Gospel to every creature-to go to all nations, yet we never find him out of Jerusalem! He is there in Acts xv. Gal. ii. Acts xxi. and it would seem by the expression "twelves tribes scattered abroad," that his epistle was also written from Jerusalem or Judæa.

While it would not become us to judge how far this devotedness to his countrymen was according to the Lord's mind, (or the contrary,) it is evident to me that it shut out from his contemplation those higher aspects of truth revealed to Paul, and continually taught by that Apostle. We cannot say James had not received those higher revelations, through the writings, or from the personal fellowship of the Apostle to the Gentiles; but it is reasonable to suppose, that if Peter, (who was more at liberty from Judaism than James,) admitted that there were in the Pauline writings things hard to be understood (2 Pet.), that James would have admitted the same; and it is clear that the difficulty in receiving the revelations given to Paul would be in proportion to the Jewish tendencies of the reader-tendencies which were so strong in James that his epistle is more like the Lord's teaching before the Cross, as a minister to the circumcision, than that of a teacher in the Church of God, and an Apostle of Christ crucified. I desire to press this very strongly upon the reader, that James takes in his epistle very much the same ground (as a teacher), that we may suppose he would have taken before the Lord had suffered, reflecting the Lord's own moral teachings. I also think that, at the period of writing his epistle, he was still looking, as in Acts i., for the restoration "of the Kingdom to Israel."

There is nothing in James's epistle, or in his address to the elders in the Acts (xv.), to indicate that he rose any higher than the expectation of this national restoration, the legitimate Jewish hope. The doctrine of the "middle wall of partition" broken

down, and souls gathered through the preached word, and baptized by the Holy Ghost into the One Body, (i.e. the call of the Church,) nowhere appears in that epistle. Believers from Gentilism are nowhere taken up even as "brethren," much less as members of the One Body. It is true that, in Acts xv. James does admit the divine teaching given to Peter, that the Gentiles are no longer to be considered 66 common or unclean," in a ceremonial sense, and he deeply rejoiced in Gentile believers coming into blessing with the Jew, (Acts xxi. 20,) as it was foretold they would,-"Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people," a word that will, indeed, be fulfilled in the times of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, in Millennial days, when Mount Zion shall have become the joy of the whole earth. This was the plane of James's spiritual vision and the level of his teaching. At least, we have no evidence in the Word of his taking the higher range of truth involved in the building of the One Body, composed of both Jew and Gentile, having its place and hope in the heavens.

James's address in Acts xv. strongly confirms this view-that he simply held that the Gentile would share in Divine blessing with the Jew:

"And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon [Simon Peter hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things."

James seems to have considered that Jewish Christians might circumcise children, and go on with the Law just as they did before they believed, (Acts xxi. Gal. ii.); the only real difference being the

belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and a

confidence in His return, their old standing as God's favoured people being regarded as thus confirmed and perpetuated to them. James takes up the "twelve tribes scattered," (it seems to me,) not as sinners saved by grace through faith,-but as God's people, for whom indeed Messiah had been cut off, not for Himself. I am convinced he laboured with the one object, of proving to his countrymen that Jesus was the Christ, and as believers were more and more added to the assemblies,* and as that generation was not to pass away, he knew, without terrible judgments coming upon Jerusalem and the stiffnecked Jews (Matt. xxiv.), so he could comfort believers with the assurance that the coming of the Lord drew nigh, that return having to be preceded by a purgation of judgment.

Thus I am obliged to think that James was occupied with the Jewish hope of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, to reign in righteousness on the throne of His father David. This is the

In Acts xv. the elders with James say to Paul-"Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe !"-literally, how many tens of thousands.

"gospel of the kingdom," and was, of course, true; but the call of the One Body has intervened, through the failure of Israel as a nation. But after the call or translation of the Church or Bride to her place in the heavens (1 Thess. iv.) then will James's line of truth be resumed, and the return of the Lord to the earth become the one hope of believing Jews and Gentiles.

Had James's mind been occupied with the Call of the Church it is strange he has made no reference to it in his epistle; is it not?

My views of James's standpoint as a teacher, are further justified by the absence in his epistle of these other important doctrines found in the epistles of Paul to the churches. (1) There is nowhere in it a simple broad statement of the Gospel of the Grace of God-salvation to everyone that believeth.

2. The Holy Spirit, also, is not referred to by James, either in regard to His person or office, as Sealing, Indwelling, Leading, and Teaching the saints. This is not remarkable, considering that the Holy Spirit's special work has reference to the formation of the ONE BODY.

"In whom, after that ye believed, ye were scaled by that Holy Spirit of Promise." (Eph. i.)

While, therefore, Paul takes the high ground"Walk in the Spirit [i.e. in the leadings of the Holy Spirit], and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; James's range is—

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"If ye fulfil the royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, thou shalt do well."

James has a keen eye for the workings of the old nature in believers, and strenuously denounces them ; Paul urges us, as new creatures and a heavenly people, to reckon ourselves "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." the Gentile brethren, is seen, in the Word, to be more The Apostle Peter, who moved more about among lifted above the Jewish aspects of truth than James. It is not clear to me that his first epistle is addressed to Christians generally; but his second is evidently so addressed. Nevertheless, his apprehensions of the coming of the Lord are rather those of His coming to the earth in judgment than His coming into the air and calling the Church up to Himself. This wonderful antecedent event, we may well suppose, was in his mind, when he refers to the things in the writings of "our beloved brother Paul" hard to be understood. (2 Pet.)

The Apostle John is exalted and spiritual in his teaching; he ignores earthly distinctions; enlarges on our being sons of God, and our being changed at the Lord's coming into His likeness; and is very full and clear on the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless, there is evidence in the "Galatians" that at first even he was devoted to the circumcision.

Supposing the reader has not followed me in everything I have advanced, he will doubtless admit that truth will ever be revealed in proportion to faithfulness. Paul was most faithful to the Lord's command of going to all nations; and consequently, he has the highest honours, is caught up into the third

heavens, receives the most exalted revelations, and is honoured in having to present the highest truth. All that James says is true-most valuable truthbut it is uttered from an earthly and Jewish point of view. As the Lord overruled and brought special good out of Paul's persistent going up to Jerusalem, so, doubtless, the Lord overruled for good James's tenacity to his countrymen and his country's hope: but whether it was most in keeping with His command to begin, but not to stop at Jerusalem, may allowably be doubted.

It may also be regarded as certain, that if converts are left on low ground by their teachers, they will be hindered themselves and hinderers of others. We cannot take lower ground than God has given us without injury. Jerusalem became a source whence issued teachers who greatly troubled the brethren. Not apprehending the setting aside for a time of the national hope, they pressed the brethren from among the Gentiles to receive the mark in the flesh of national favour-circumcision! So, also, how true it is that Christians who have been brought up under Law will be unable to teach others any higher truth. From these considerations we learn, too, the importance of our giving primary heed, as Gentiles, to the letters to the Gentile churches by the apostle to the Gentiles, who received truth afresh directly from the Lord for us.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

J. E.

Address Letters for the Editor, care of Printer, 335, Strand, W.C.

W. S., ISLINGTON.-We give your letter entire, the subject of enquiry being one of great importance.

"DEAR BROTHER,-I trust you will not think the following question trivial or idle, as I believe it enters very largely into much of the unwritten, floating theology of many believers.

It is the teaching (if I am not greatly mistaken) of the word of God, that his people are "born from above"-"created anew in Christ Jesus"-"begotten again by the word of His truth"-having a new nature-the seed of God-implanted in

their souls.

The Spirit of God also dwells in their hearts-and by His gracious loving ministry this new nature is fostered and cherished, and grows stronger, and becomes more influential in spite of the old nature, which remains corrupt, as before.

Now just as our bodies require food-so does this, the new nature, require nourishment. This, in His grace, Jesus is pleased to supply in His own person. He is the true bread-the living bread-the hidden manna. (John vi.) We eat him and live by him. His flesh is meat indeed, His blood is drink

indeed.

Now, our hands supply our material bodies with the food set before us-so faith brings to our souls the hidden manna, the living bread.

Hence, the more we act by faith in Christ, the more will our souls be nourished by Him. I write, however, dear brother, to ask your thoughts as to the relation of all this to the Lord's Supper.

I suppose that our taking the bread and wine is a symbolical expression of the fact that we are of the number of those that eat the flesh and drink the blood of our precious Saviour.

But at the moment of receiving the elements, do we partake of Christ in a manner different to that in which we do at other times? Do we THEN eat His flesh and drink his blood more truly, or in a greater measure?

have impressed me with the idea that THEY think this,—and Young disciples especially, look for some peculiar manifestation of the comforts of Christ just at that moment, expect "to feel His blood flow"-to feel "precious drops bedewing their souls""to realize the living bread actually nourishing them," &c., Now is this right ?-or

&c.

(1.) Except as our faith is in happy, lively exercise, and then Christ is consciously fed on; He is not communicated to the souls of His people any more then than at other times. (2.) The joy that should be looked for is the joy of obedi with a contrite heart-not any strange mysterious emotions ence-the joy of remembering Jesus gratefully, humbly, and connected with Christ, received in a fuller and more manifest manner than at other times, when the bread and wine are received.

Dear Christians often speak of not getting on at the Lord's A word or two from you, dear brother, would be of value. Table--making certain happy feelings-not practical obedience the first thing to be looked to.

I fear lapsing into a cold rationalistic, meagre, Zuinglian view on the one hand, and into a superstitious one on the other but, although my thoughts are very different from those of many, I have earnestly sought light from His word. Your late "precious" article took up the doctrinal side of the question. It is on the experimental side, that for myself and others I respectfully ask your judgment.

Your loving brother,

W. S."

ANSWER.-We quite coincide with you, that there is no justification for the thought of special blessing being contemplated in the act of partaking of the Lord's Supper, as though the bread and wine were really Christ.

There surely ought, however, to be full communion with the "Head of the Church" on the occasion. And if that be so, we' need not say, there will be much conscious happiness in the believer. We are convinced that the true reason of so much disappointment being felt by Christians at the Lord's Table, arises from the practical selfishness of heart, in which many seek communion in the body and blood of Christ.

Breaking of bread is the commemoration of our Lord's SELFSACRIFICE, and should be accepted in a spirit of SELF-FORGET

FULNESS.

If we have really first SCRUTINISED (examined) ourselves; we shall be glad to take refuge in Christ, to think of Him only, and thankfully show forth his death, till he come.

It is not a little remarkable, that the Gospel by the Apostle John, which gives the believer that profound truth to which you have referred in the 6th chapter, is silent on the. subject of the commemorative feast which our Lord instituted on the night in which he was betrayed! Should we not learn from this that the disciples of Jesus are to feed upon him by faith continually, and not only on special occasions.

Very touching is the way in which scripture speaks of "the supper." Our Saviour himself simply reminds us of His body and His blood shed for us for the remission of sins! Then he adds-oh, how graciously, as knowing how often we should forget him-" Do this in remembrance of me!"

He does not promise a special blessing for those who accept the token of his amazing love for poor lost sinners! Alas, for the selfishness of our hearts, that cannot be content to utter thanksgiving only when contemplating the perfect love of God!

So also the Apostle Paul. He reproves the Corinthians for their selfishness-they were making "the supper" an occasion of self-gratification. He reminds them of the Saviour's perfect grace. It was on the very night on which he was betrayed, that the Lord provided us with the bread and the wine. Then he says the Lord gave thanks, and we are to do the same. "After the same manner [i.e." GIVING THANKS] also the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye [give thanks] as oft as ye drink of it, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, show ye the Lord's death till he come."

May we not paraphrase the inspired teaching thus?-"Don't seek to gratify self. Judge yourself, that you may love Jesus Many of God's children, by their prayers and expressions, wholly. Be full of THANKSGIVING to God for his unspeakable

gift. Think upon Jesus, and the gift of HIMSELF for you. | Show forth the Lord's death, for it was THE LORD who died for you. Finally, think of his return. By faith, you have looked upon his death; soon you shall behold his glory!"

The individual believer is truly included in the one loaf; but his individuality ought to be forgotten. He should joy in the unity of the many members of the body of Christ, represented by the one loaf. But the great thing is, to get rid of self, and REJOICE IN THE LORD.

N. B. S.-We truly rejoice to hear that the testimony maintained by your little assembly, is, through the Lord's grace, still in activity. May you be preserved, together with the loved ones in Christ Jesus in fellowship with you, in patient stedfastness. "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not." We believe that the twos or threes gathered out in the name of the Lord Jesus, and continuing to meet in simple confidence in his assured presence, are very precious in the sight of Him who hath loved us, and given himself for us. The weaker we feel, the greater the demand upon our faith, and consequently the more fully is our Lord glorified in us.

Respecting the paper on Matt. xviii. 15—17, in our No. for March, we do not think that the effect intended to be wrought in an erring brother who wilfully rejects the representations and remonstrances of the faithful is to bring him back to first principles. The 6th chapter of the Hebrews shows you cannot do that. After Peter had denied his Master, it was not by preaching the Gospel to him that he found restoration-but it was remembrance of the KNOWN LOVE of the Lord Jesus which broke him down. The Saviour alone could deal with him. We believe this is the true result of withdrawing from personal fellowship with a rebellious Christian. He cannot endure long without sympathy; and finding his brethren have been compelled to shrink from his naughtiness, he feels his isolation, and is glad to confess, and to seek restoration at the hands of his wounded Redeemer.

We think that a brother walking in unrighteousness, though for a time to be regarded as a publican, is yet to be dealt with in perfect grace. It was in that way our Lord was associated with publicans and sinners. He could meet with them, in grace, and eat with them, that he might do them good, but he could not have fellowship with them in their ways. So, too, we are to be ever ready and watchful to restore an erring brother, but so long as he is opposed to righteousness we cannot companion with him. He may even, alas! through wilfulness, eat and drink at the same table; but in that case he is eating and drinking condemnation to his own soul. We must leave him in the Lord's hands. It is very solemn.

We think your friend's suggestion that the offence being named to the church implies that "the local assembly must "take the matter in hand," can only apply in so far that all the members are now to act in the same way as the specially aggrieved brother; they must all henceforth avoid personal fellowship with the offender.

Many thanks for your kind wishes and prayers.

ADELPHOS, Hants.-We think if you will weigh carefully all we have said respecting Mr Darby and his party, you will not be able to arrive at any other conclusion than we have as to the mistaken course adopted by them in executing judg ment upon their brethren.

ship (see context). We commend the entire chapter to your prayerful consideration.

Scripture furnishes no catechism by which to test a brother's attainments. The only admissible questions are, whether he be obedient to the faith, and whether we have hearts of grace to receive him in love, for Christ's sake. If one who is flagrantly opposed to truth should desire fellowship with you, you would reply, "I cannot receive you in love; I consider you are acting as an enemy to my Master, and while you continue thus, I must doubt the sincerity of your confession of faith." This would apply to anyone holding false doctrine of the character set forth in the Scripture to which you refer, viz., the 2nd epistle of John.

But it would not be truthful to reject a Christian because he had been under the teaching of Mr N., for he, certainly, does "confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." Although the brother named has been a teacher of grievous error, yet those brethren have been quite false, both in principle and action, who have endeavoured to confound his misconceptions with "the Antichrist" indicated in the second epistle of John.

2nd. You enquire as to the method adopted by "the Brethren" of visiting, by delegates, any candidate for communion and proposing him one Lord's day, receiving him the next, &c., &c. You say, "Is it Scriptural ?" We answer, "Certainly not." Moreover the whole scheme is utterly wanting in heart. We are convinced that many dear Christians are kept out of fellowship through the adoption of those miserable formalities. Young believers require above all things, the practical evidences of love-such love as is ready to go after them and care for them, and build them up in their most holy of a formal examination and publication of names! How many faith. Instead of this, you have the cold, systematic, parade have waited weeks, and even months before they have found And how many any response to their desire for fellowship! crave after the affectionate intimacies cf brotherhood, who feel themselves altogether unequal to the ordeal of a theological

examination!

You may well say, "There is too little of the practical abiding grace of the Christ within."

It is sad indeed to read of the unseemly disturbances you recount as taking place at your meeting. Far better for those of you who shrink from such God-dishonouring ways, to meet apart. You need not be afraid of the charge of schism-there is no schism in departing from a merely human organization. On the contrary, it is of the true unity of the Spirit to stand apart from strife and confusion. We, ourselves, love and hold the unity of all who hold the one Head, because we are outside of all confederacies.

J. C., London.-If we had more space at our disposal, we would willingly insert your gracious and loving epistle. We much fear, however, that the doctrinal errors of both the brethren you name have carried them beyond the reach of gentle and brotherly remonstrance. There must be a continual appeal to the "Sword of the Spirit" to be in any way effectual. We gladly respond to your invitation to pray for them, and for all Pray for us. And may we all bear in mind the solemn warning-"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

saints.

NB-Several Communications stand over.

In answer to your specific enquiries-1st, As to receiving T a few numbers monthly, and take some pains to lend them about.

those who desire communion.

Before considering whom you may receive, it is needful to enquire, "Unto what do you propose to receive them ?"

"The Brethren" answer, "We receive them to The Table." But this is not acting according to the Scriptures. The Lord's way is, Receive them to your heart.

The thing to decide is, not whether you will permit them to Break Bread with you, but "Can you receive them to your bosom in true Christian love ?" If fellowships were conducted upon this divine principle, many perplexities which now hinder would vanish away.

"Him that is weak in the faith receive, but not to doubtful disputatons"-or, as the margin reads, "Not to judge his doubtful thoughts." (Rom. xiv. 1.)

This is not receiving to the Table, but to Christian fellow

O OUR READERS.-We ask brethren and sisters in the Lord to order If done to the Lord in faith, you may thus be dispensers of much blessing. New Edition, Revised, Improved Type, HE CITY OF CONFUSION, and the Way out of It. A Faithful Word for Christians. One Penny. 16 pages.

TH

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