Six Letters to a Mother on Church Questions - 6th Letter

SIX LETTERS TO A MOTHER ON CHURCH QUESTIONS

by Richard Holden 

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Sixth Letter

Bath, 12th February, 1873.

DEAREST MOTHER, 

There are few truths more solemnizing to the mind and heart than that of the personal presence of the Holy Ghost, when rightly apprehended.

Every simple-minded Christian accepts it as a reality that God was once manifest in the flesh, and dwelt with men in a human body, moving among them and conversing with them as a man. Nothing could have been more real, to those whom He admitted to association with Himself, than His presence with and His acting among them. How vividly does John set this forth in the opening of his first epistle: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled”. Hearing, touch, and sight gave testimony to the reality of the presence with which they had communion. As to this they walked not by faith but by sight. Not the fact of His presence, but the character of Him who was there, was then the subject of faith. To be able, in the carpenter's son, who ate and drank and slept in their presence, to recognize the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord of glory, the true God and the eternal life, this was the test of a faith that could only be exercised in the power of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 16:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:3; 1 John 5:20).

That blessed and heavenly stranger is no longer here; He has "ascended up on high," and the heavens must retain Him "until the times of restitution of all things."

Before He quitted the earth He gave a promise that He would send another Comforter that He might abide with us for ever, even the Spirit of truth (John 14). He died, He rose, He ascended; Pentecost came, and with it the promised One. Sensible signs accompanied His advent, but no bodily presence appealed to ear or eye. The actings were there; the Agent was invisible. Faith was called to a different exercise now in respect of the present One. The demand on it was no longer belief in the Divine personality of One sensibly present in human guise, but belief in the presence of One to whose personal nearness sensa bore no direct testimony. Of course you understand that I am not speaking now of the question of salvation, which is, and always was, by faith in Christ.

We have Him here a resident among us: not an occasional visitant coming and going between us and the courts above, but One abiding with and in us, whose permanent dwelling-place (while the dispensation lasts) is here on earth. He has an habitation in reality here now, as He had in figure and shadow in the tabernacle or the temple of old. The "house of God is the Church of the living God," writes Paul to Timothy; and to that Church, again and again he says, "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them! and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." "For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, grows unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (1 Tim. 3:15; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 2:20-22).

Does God indeed dwell with men on the earth? He does. Stupendous and amazing as is the thought, it is God's simple truth; a fact as real as the presence of the sun over our heads or the earth beneath our feet. Yes, dearest mother, the Holy Ghost is here, as really here as Jesus was of old; and His dwelling-place is the assembly. Do you and I believe it?

We cannot be said to believe a thing any further than as it affects our action. The man who professes belief in anything, but whose acting is uninfluenced by what he professes to believe, does not really believe at all: hence James' principle: "Faith without works is dead, being alone". “Show me thy faith without thy works (if thou canst), and I will show thee my faith by my works”. A man shows me a Bank of England note, and asks me if I believe it genuine. I say, Yes. He then offers it to me in payment of a debt, and I decline it. Did I believe the note to be genuine? No. I have proved by my action I did not. So long as I felt no personal interest I was carelessly willing to admit its genuineness; but when a practical test was proposed, that required me to stake my interest on my belief, my faith was lacking. The sincerity of our belief of any truth of God is tested in the self-same way. It is an easy matter to give assent to doctrines, but the touchstone of faith is, our readiness to act on the truths professed as though they were realities, as though that which is true to faith were just as real as if it were manifest to the senses.

If we believe in the actual presence of the Holy Ghost - a Divine person - in the assembly, what is the course of action to which that belief ought to conduct?

It is quite evident that if a Divine person is present in the assembly of the saints, that fact ought to mould all its entire action. Every act ought to be done with a distinct reference to that presence - the action itself of suitable character, and performed in a suitable manner. When God is present, God must rule. The ordering of everything must be according to His mind. If He has announced Himself present for the express purpose of directing, regulating, and acting in His own way, then anything that interferes with His so doing is an offence and a sin.

Scripture tells us that the Holy Ghost may be resisted (Acts 7:51), may be grieved (Eph. 4:30), and may be quenched (1 Thess. 5:19), which invests our action in the assembly with an intense solemnity. The injunction, "Quench not the Spirit," is very commonly urged upon the unconverted, as a warning not to trifle with the convictions wrought by the Spirit in their souls. I have preached from it many times in that sense. But, however true the warning thus founded on it, such is not really the mind of God in the text.

The words are not addressed to unbelievers, but to the Church; and they are coupled with another injunction (“Despise not prophesyings”), which shows that it is the actings of the Spirit in ministry that are in contemplation. It is a warning to a Christian assembly, in which the Spirit of God was present, to beware of stifling His action in ministry through the members of any counter-action of theirs.

Every godly evangelical clergyman or minister believes that he may and ought to expect the help of the Holy Spirit in preaching and in preparing for the pulpit, even if it be in the matter of writing a sermon. He asks in prayer for, and according to the measure and simplicity of his faith expects to obtain, Divine guidance and help. I can speak for myself that, during fifteen years’ experience in preaching the Gospel, I cannot recall an instance of my having stood up to preach or set myself to prepare for it without seeking for, and in some measure counting on, such aid; apart from such belief I should never have entered a pulpit at all, and I feel quite certain that in this I was no exception. It used to be pressed upon the students at the seminary where I studied theology, and is, I feel sure, the practice and belief of thousands, as I know it to be of many. It is this that originally lay at the bottom of the familiar Scottish horror of "the paper" in the pulpit; the thought that such preparation was a hindrance to the spontaneous action of the Spirit. I am satisfied that such expectations of Divine help are right and well-founded, and are always met by the Lord according to the measure of faith, and if that faith went further, and basing itself on God's divinely-given warrant, expected His aid up to the promised measure, it would be met. 

This what “Brethren” endeavour to do, and they find the Lord true to Himself and their expectations.

"Brethren" are sometimes accused of pretending to inspirations. It is a baseless charge: none are, I believe, farther from any such claim. Understanding by "inspiration" the so speaking or writing under the power of God as that the utterances by mouth or pen bear the Divine authority, and are consequently the word of God, "Brethren" repudiate in toto such pretensions. The prophet of old could preface his utterances with, "Thus says the Lord”; the apostle could say, "The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord”; but if any man nowadays should so profess, or in any other way pretend to speak with Divine authority, I for one should not hesitate to say to him “Anathema”.

“Brethren” believe firmly that there is but one inspired standard of Divine truth now, to which nothing will be added while the dispensation lasts - the Scriptures - and by this standard they hold themselves bound to “prove”, “try” and “judge” (1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1; 1 Cor. 14:29).

When God has been pleased, at any time, to avail Himself of the instrumentality of imperfect and frail man, in order to reveal His own truth, He has come in with such power that “the flesh” has been completely restrained, and the Spirit has acted in such entire command of the instrument, that the perfect mind of God, and that alone, has found expression; as a Balaam was made to prophesy his own ruin. But when it is a question of responsible ministry, though the same Spirit be there, not for the revealing of new truths, but for the unfolding or application of truths already revealed, then the measure of His action will be in proportion to the faith and faithfulness of him through whom He is pleased to minister. The flesh in self-will, or a careless walk, may hinder, or in a measure mar the Spirit's testimony, or may even "grieve" Him into silence, and ministry in the flesh may usurp the place of ministry in the Spirit; hence the necessity and the obligation laid upon the saints to judge, to try, and to prove.

What “Brethren” believe is, that if the flesh be kept under, and the Holy Ghost allowed free and unhindered action, He will use the members of the body according to the gifts He has bestowed for that end, and will thus guide and direct the assembly in its worship and action to His own glory. Is this an extravagant or fanatical pretension; or is it the simple soberness of a genuine faith, that takes God at His word, counts on Him, and acts on its expectations, with a due sense of, and regard to, its own responsibilities? The way in which “Brethren” seek to give practical expression to their faith in the presence, power, and rule of the Holy Ghost, is simply this: on all occasions of the gatherings of the assembly as such, they abstain from all pre-arrangement, and, waiting on the Lord in silent prayer, each member seeking to place himself in His hands, they expect Him to divide to every man severally as He will (1 Cor. 12:11); to one a psalm (or hymn), to another a doctrine, to another an interpretation (1 Cor. 14:26). One may feel led to read a passage of Scripture, another to offer a word of exhortation, another to lead in worship or prayer, another to break the bread, giving thanks. Now, on such occasions no one disputes there is opportunity for the flesh to come in, if there be not a godly jealousy, watchfulness, and a spirit of self-judgment. Nothing short of a Divine presence and power could, I am well convinced, keep such assemblies from falling into confusion and disorder. As in Corinth when they grew unwatchful, the same would it be to-day.

I fully expect to see at times indications of the presence of the flesh, and “Brethren” of longer experience than myself have told me of such things; but I am happy to bear testimony that during eighteen months that I have now been frequenting gatherings of "Brethren" in Germany, France, Scotland, and England, I have not yet met with a single instance of even a tendency of disorder, but, on the contrary, have found a sobriety, a solemnity, an order, a power, and a reality such as I have never met elsewhere; and although I have not always been sensible of equal power, I have never once been present when I was not constrained to recognise a sense of the Divine presence.

When among “Brethren” any one has received of God any spiritual gift, as that of an evangelist or teacher, he exercises it quite independently of the assembly, and in responsibility to the Giver alone, so long as he does so in soundness of doctrine and in such “decency and order” as comports with the Lord’s honour. The evangelist preaches the gospel when and where he will, and as he alone is responsible to the Lord for the conduct of his meetings, he orders them in any way he deems most suitable to his object. The same is the case with the teacher: he convenes the saints for lectures or Bible readings on his own responsibility, while the pastor moves to and fro among the flock, in his visits from house to house are unchallenged and unhindered, no parish boundaries restricting the freedom of either. There is the utmost freedom for ministry within the divinely-marked limits of sound doctrine and decorum.

I had proposed going a little deeper into the practical workings of God’s order as compared with those of human systems; but I am obliged to leave the subject for the present.

And now, beloved mother, I have laid before you an outline, though a very imperfect one, of the principles I have embraced in the matter of Church order. Connected with them, I have found a much higher unfolding of Divine truth, as contained in the Scriptures; but I forbear to speak of that now. I also abstain from speaking of the people. Principles are to be judged of by their conformity to God's Word, quite apart from the consistency or inconsistencies of those who hold them. After the truth of the principles is recognized, and it becomes a question of having fellowship with those professing them, then the question of their procedure has its legitimate place; and I have not neglected it, nor found occasion to hesitate on that score. 

The principles I have embraced with my whole heart, satisfied that they are God's own truth; and I commend them to you in the hope that the Lord may use my simple exposition, to the leading of yourself and other dear ones into the same blessed pathway. The Lord is at hand, and it becomes those who "love His appearing" to stand with loins girt and lamps burning, uncontaminated by any known disobedience, hopeful, cheerful, and trustful. One look of His eyes, one approving word of His lips, what will it not be worth! Dearest mother, let us act, so walk, that we may hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant”. 

Ever in warmest love, 

Your affectionate son,
 

RICHARD HOLDEN.