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Unchanging Principles of the Fellowship
and other
Ministry by E. J. Hemmings – Part Two

 
Introduction
Unchanging Principles of the Fellowship
What is Small
Spiritual Enlargement - Treasure in Earthen Vessels
Jesus in Control
Moral Conditions Needed for Divine Support
Spiritual Quality in Smallness of Circumstances
Ministry by E. J. Hemmings   Previous
 






INTRODUCTION
Ministry by E. J. Hemmings, Part Two


The articles on this and the following pages are from some of the publications of Philip Haddad

In May 1962, Mr. Hemmings visited Australia and New Zealand to encourage the few in those parts who had withdrawn from the legal system.

G.A.R.

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UNCHANGING  PRINCIPLES
OF  THE  FELLOWSHIP
Acts 2: 37-42; 1 Corinthians 1: 9, 10: 14-22
Reading at Auckland, New Zealand, May 19, 1962
The Divine System, Notes of Meetings, 1: 80-102


E.J.H. In view of the many sorrows of recent years and the much confusion and perplexity that has come in, I thought it might be good for us to see from the scriptures how certain things came in at the very beginning and certain principles were called attention to, which are to remain until the coming of the Lord.

In the chapter we have read from in Acts, we find the first gospel preaching produced a large number of persons whose hearts were affected by the word and who took on the truth immediately;

R.H. Mr. Raven said he knew no position save that which involved the work of God in its entirety.

E.J.H. Exactly. If we use the word, we want to understand what scripture means in regard of such an expression and, as I understand it,

R.H. When asked what he was attached to, Mr. Raven said “The church of God”. Would you go with that?

E.J.H. Surely. There is only one church. There is only one assembly and there is only one truth, only one fellowship, and only one table.

What I think we need to observe in the first passage, is the effect that the word had upon the hearts of the hearers.

E.L.G.C. Should the matter of repentance engage us as having been connected with something that has not represented God according to the truth?

E.J.H. Yes, as we often say, repentance is taking sides with God against yourself, so that you have the mind of God about the matter.

E.L.G.C. So at the present time is there a great need for making room for the promptings and the teachings of the Spirit, who would bring to us the preciousness of the Lord Jesus?

E.J.H. Well the Lord comforted His disciples as He was about to leave them with the promise of “another Comforter”.

R.D.C. So is it a blessed thing to see, that as a result of His having come and being here, there is an administration of divine blessing that has never failed throughout the dispensation?

E.J.H. Well, that is clear as to the gift of the Holy Spirit; Peter does not go beyond that in the sense that there is nothing more.

R.H.C. And taking into account His holy, sensitive character, would we be careful and watchful as to any move we might take, particularly at a time of breakdown and difficulty such as the present?

E.J.H. His own service is perfect, but it is rendered in reality to sensitive spirits. If we are unimpressionable and self-willed we do not get the the benefit of His service.

H.B. Would the Spirit then direct the mind and the heart?

E.J.H. Yes, indeed, and He is the One – I think we need to lay hold of this great truth – He is the One who makes good to us in a living way, what is seen as teaching and doctrine.

H.B. Their service was more or less directed by their eyes, was it not? They had the Lord with them, they could see Him and as far as their heart and mind were concerned, they were directed by what the Lord taught at the time.

E.J.H. Yes, and you see one example of it at the end of Luke. The Lord said – Luke 22: 35 – “When I sent you without purse or scrip or sandals did ye lack anything? And they said ‘Nothing’ ”.

N.W.W. Are you reminding us that the basis of all that we hope to speak about or that we hope to learn is, as you said, each one having to do with God in the gospel, and each one being the subject of the Spirit’s operations?

E.J.H. That is it exactly and there is no change in that. It is important to see that neither the truth nor the fellowship nor the Lord’s table changes.

R.G.B. You made a remark about grieving the Spirit. Now just what would that mean?

E.J.H. If I am subject and not double-minded the Lord will direct my thoughts and communicate precious things to me.

R.G.B. He would still remain with us but we would grieve Him – is that right?

E.J.H. Just so. Take parents and their children. If the children are wilful and disobedient, the parents are not the same to them as if they were obedient,

C.C.M. I was thinking about transparency. If we are not transparent it would show that we are not right with God.

E.J.H. Well I would say that you would begin by being honest in the sight of God, and

R.H.C. It is a wonderful thing to get, what we might speak of as a direct word when you are waiting for it. We have instances in scripture of that.

E.J.H. That is a very important feature of the truth and it is a very challenging thing that ministry in itself accomplishes nothing. Ministry is effective where the state is right.

E.L.G.C. Are we still then, in the presence of the perverse generation that Peter speaks of and prone to it as after the flesh; and is the antidote to it subjection to the will of God and the promptings of the Spirit?

E.J.H. Yes. Baptism is the negative side. It means that you make a clean break with the past,

G.B. I was thinking of what is possible in the power of the Spirit.

E.J.H. I am sure that is most encouraging and do you not think that baptism signifies a complete break with the past,

R.G.B. I was thinking of the Lord speaking to His own – those that He loved. He says “if anyone love Me he will keep My word”. Does love enter into it?

E.J.H. Surely. “If ye love Me keep My commandments”. It is a matter of answering to love all the time, and love does not put upon a person things that cannot be responded to.

E.L.G.C. So is it a proof that we love Him? We may say quite glibly sometimes that we love the Lord, but are we keeping His word?

E.J.H. That is the only test you have of love; that is how scripture puts it. Again we need to be governed by scripture. The Lord says

C.C.M. Would that take in the thought of David in the cave? They all had their exercises and some were a little slower than the others but they reached David.

E.J.H. Yes and it says “he became a captain over them”. They did not appoint him a captain and he did not appoint himself;

C.C.M. There is no record that these three great men slew anyone.

E.J.H. No, that is so. They broke through twice did they not? They broke through going out and they broke through coming back,

R.D.C. So is this moral road, which you have just referred to, the one highway by which we all individually arrive at the truth of God?

E.J.H. Quite so, and there is no change in it. It is men who have brought in so many changes; the truth does not change.

E.L.G.C. So that the breaking of bread would answer in our day to the longings of the Lord Jesus. We are to remember Him – that He is looking for a portion from our hearts in a world where He is despised and cast out and rejected.

E.J.H. One has often thought, that when the Lord chose the way by which He should be remembered, He had the whole world to choose from.

E.L.G.C. What would help us in that feature?

E.J.H. I am sure first love for the Lord; that would lead us to keep His commandments; and then the understanding that only by the teaching being accepted will the position be strong as we walk together.

E.L.G.C. Would the word in Hebrews, “Consider well Him who endured” bear on this matter of persevering?

E.J.H. It would indeed. “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem”. So in Hebrews 12 to which you have referred, it is “running with endurance the race that is set before us, looking steadfastly on Jesus” – the footnote says “looking away from other things and fixing the eye exclusively on one”.

E.L.G.C. Would that preserve us from the teachings and the influences of men; so prone to come in in these last days?

E.J.H. Exactly. It is fixing the eye upon One Person only and that is not on men – that is the Lord.

If we go on now to the next scripture; Paul, in Corinthians, is referring to Acts 2, I would say, in a certain way; that God is faithful, who has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

N.W.W. From the divine side every believer is called into it is he not?

E.J.H. Quite so. He may not answer the call, or he may not be aware of the divine calling, but there it is; it has been established by God in His faithfulness.

E.L.G.C. Would you say a word then, about the faithfulness of God in this passage in Corinthians?

E.J.G. I think it means that we cannot stand alone. Who can stand alone?

N.W.W. So, it is not a question of all agreeing to agree, but it is a question of the truth having its bearing on each of us individually, and therefore we are set together are we not?

E.J.H. That is the position exactly. What should be said is not that certain persons have been put out of fellowship;

R.G.B. I was thinking how marvellous it is that God should, by the Spirit, draw our attention to the Son. The fellowship is of His Son, bringing out the greatness of the Son.

E.J.H. Yes. “His Son” is the dignity of it and “Jesus Christ” the character of Man who is to shine in it; “our Lord” the authority that obtains in it.

R.H. How thankful we are for the word that “God is faithful”! How much we have proved it! It does not depend on our faithfulness.

E.J.H. No, it does not. “If we are unfaithful, He abides faithful; He cannot deny Himself”.

N.W.W. We may, as you have just said, break in on the dignity, or the right character of what is expressed in the fellowship by our failure; but from God’s side it cannot be broken in upon.

E.J.H. Quite so. These things remain. There is no change in the dignity of the Son, nor could there be;

N.W.W. So the scripture speaks of the day of Jesus Christ, and that will surely come to pass; but just as surely is it in God’s mind to characterise His realm with that order of Man before that time-now. It cannot break down can it? God’s side is sure.

E.J.H. Not at all.

R.D.C. So, what a wonderful thing it is, in these days of departure and breakdown for the faithful soul, in whom the work of God is, to fall back on God’s faithfulness and find that what he needs is provided for and remains.

E.J.H. Yes it does indeed, and there is a word in Deuteronomy which often comes into my mind in regard to this matter.

R.H.C. We are deeply thankful for that word, and the dignity and character of the fellowship to which we have been called; and I was thinking of the word,

E.J.H. And He says that we shall have the days of heaven upon the earth.

R.H. In connection with Deuteronomy, they were to keep the way to the cities of refuge. Do you think that would be the attitude of all – to keep the way, not to close it up?

E.J.H. Quite so.

E.L.G.C. So, this thought of fellowship involves also the enjoyment of the precious love of God as set forth in Jesus?

E.J.H. So it is, and should be, a circle of divine love with the warmth of love operating in every heart, and we are very close together then.

N.W.W. What a real fellowship it is, where the features of Jesus Christ shine, and have free course – the love and the meekness and gentleness and patience and tenderness that was seen in Him!

E.J.H. Well, that is what is intended to shine for the glory of God, who has called us into the fellowship in His faithfulness, and for the comfort of every member who is there in it.

R.H. One side of the fellowship would be discipleship would it? Hence “by this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13 : 35. That would be in evidence, would it not?

E.J.H. Does that scripture show the necessity of our continually feeding on the word and being governed by it, and not by man’s word?

R.H. That is the body is it not, according to the 12th of Romans? In the early days they took note of them that they had been with Jesus.

E.J.H. It was said of the very early Christians when thrown to the lions,

G.B. As called into this fellowship is there the work of God in me that responds to the work of God that is in my brother?

E.J.H. That is the touchstone, is it not? It is like the magnet. It will only draw a certain kind of metal to itself;

N.W.W. While we are on this subject, might we refer to the fact that in this circle all that is done in it – I was thinking especially of ministry – is to be in dependence upon God and on the Lord, and on the Spirit too.

E.J.H. As I sometimes say to persons who are exercised,

N.W.W. And I was thinking also of the responsibility of those who essay to minister in it. It requires that we should seek to be free from the activity of the human mind and of human means in ministry, does it not?

E.J.H. That is definitely so. The true servant and minister, of course, was John the baptist.

G.B. In relation to the name of the apostle Paul in Acts it says, “But Saul who also is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit”

E.J.H. That is very helpful. When his name is pronounced as being “little” which is Paul, immediately the connection is that he was filled with the Spirit,

C.C.M. Would we see that in King Saul when he was small in his own eyes?

E.J.H. That is very interesting. “When thou wast little in thine own sight thou wast made head of the tribes of Israel”, but he outgrew his littleness and lost his kingdom; hence the need of not only beginning small but remaining small.

Now in regard to the table, I feel this is a matter that is very little understood. We have referred to expressions used in regard to ‘the position’ and ‘the fellowship’.

N.W.W. You had in mind to tell us what the scripture does seek to convey to us?

E.J.H. It is quite clear from this chapter that there are two tables, and every Christian is a partaker of the Lord’s table.

N.W.W. You mean that he is a partaker of it, because the expression involves the portion that God has called us to, and does not exactly convey the thought of actually breaking bread?

E.J.H. Quite so. You see, there are many Christians in the world, in such circumstances as preclude them from breaking bread. They are incapacitated physically, on beds of sickness, but they are still in fellowship and they are still partakers of the Lord’s table.

E.L.G.C. So it bears on the one loaf, does it?

E.J.H. Quite so and there is only one loaf; there is only one body; there is only one table.

C.C.M. How can we help our brethren who are confused? We can speak together and get the gain of the Spirit’s presence, but how can we help these beloved brethren?

E.J.H. You may desire to help them but, of course, it needs two persons to bring about a solution. That is, one is willing to impart a thought and the other is willing to learn.

R.H. A word from God is called for, do you think? God gives a word. One wonders if a word from God can be refused.

G.B. Would you say something as to the Lord’s table and the table of demons? There is also “the believer” and “the unbeliever” The idea of one thing set over against another seems to run right through scripture and there is no middle way.

E.J.H. That is just what the scripture is seeking to point out; you are either a Christian or you are a heathen.

C.C.M. Paul was a true leader and a teacher. He knew that he could make a mistake but the scriptures could not.

E.J.H. That is very good. One has noticed when some matters have been raised that brethren will say, ‘Well, here is the past ministry and here is the present ministry and they just do not agree. What have we got to do?’

E.L.G.C. So in that way the scriptures are what have been from the beginning. In one sense they are, are they not?

E.J.H. Yes. Paul says of Timothy that “from a child thou hast known the sacred letters” – or the holy scriptures. That would be the Old Testament again.

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WHAT  IS  SMALL
Proverbs 30: 24-28; 2 Kings 5: 1-4; John 6: 7-14
Address at Kilwinning, Scotland, September, 1962
The House of God, Notes of Meetings, 4: 118-133


It is a natural tendency with us all to think of what is great and imposing as being of much value, but when we come to divine things we have to learn an entirely different lesson –

  • When there were those interested in children, and brought them to Jesus that He might touch them, it is said that His disciples rebuked them, and Jesus was indignant with His disciples,

    • and He took the little children into His arms, and having laid His hands on them, He blessed them abundantly.

  • When He spoke of anyone who should come into the kingdom He said it should be as a little child, and such little children, simple, humble, obedient, constitute the kingdom;

    • not little or young in years of necessity, but bearing the spirit of littleness in their own individual pathway, and in all their assembly relations.

    In the passage we have read we are told of four things that are little upon the earth, but exceeding wise.

    1. The first is the ant, connected with food;

    2. the second is the rock badgers making their house in the cliff – which is salvation;

    3. the third is unity, the locusts going forth by bands without a king;

    4. and the last is the lizard in king’s palaces, which is the idea of dignity.

    We have therefore the question of food, salvation, unity and dignity.

    — FOOD —

    The food question is of the utmost importance. We have read in John 6 where the Lord fed the multitude.

    • On another occasion when the Lord fed the multitude, He told His disciples that He had compassion on the crowd because they had nothing to eat.

    • We know it is necessary to have food for our physical bodies, but it is equally necessary to have food for our spiritual welfare, and it is very instructive to see that

      • God Himself indicates the food for a whole people when He is going to deliver them out of the land of Egypt.

    • They had to provide the food, but He indicated what it was, and the food as we know on that occasion was of two kinds – the unleavened bread they were to eat,

      • which suggests that there would be no building up whatever of the natural, a matter that is to be with us all until the end, keeping the feast of unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

    • It is not a fast, it is not doing without this and doing without that, giving up this and giving up something else – it is feeding upon

      • the One who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, with no thought whatever of becoming great in this world.

      • He had come in lowliness and in bondman’s form to lay down His life.

    • Even the passage we have read in John 6 tells us that when there were those who saw the miracle that He wrought, they wanted to take Him and make Him a king.

    • He is a King indeed, but He had come to die, and He would not be deflected from what He had in view in coming here to die that He might be your Saviour and my Saviour, and that we might be with Him forever.

    The other food given to the people was the lamb roast with fire. First, it had to be slain.

    • It was chosen on account of its perfection and kept in the house for four days so that everybody became acquainted with the perfection of that lamb.

    • At the end of that time, the father would have to say, ‘That lamb must be slain tonight’.

    • We could understand the children saying, ‘But father, you chose it because it was perfect and just when we have come to love it, it has to be slain. Can we not find another one and let this one live?’

    • The father would have to say to his boy, ‘This night death must take place in this house. It must be either the lamb or you. Which will it be?’

    • You could understand the boy putting his arms round the neck of the lamb and loving it for the last time. It was going to die in his stead.

    • And that lamb roast with fire is typical of the judgment that fell upon Jesus that we might be forever delivered from bondage, and from all fear of bondage, from our own sins and the judgment due to them, forever delivered.

    • Scripture speaks of our not being redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without spot and without blemish.

    They were to feed on the unleavened bread on the one hand, and typically on the sufferings and death of Jesus on the other.

    It is a remarkable thing that there is only one miracle recorded by all four gospel writers, and that is the feeding of the five thousand, as if each gospel writer intends to include that in his story, whatever else he leaves out.

    • And we might have supposed that a good deal of scripture would be given to that incident but if you care to add up the verses, I think it is thirty-three.

    • If you add up the verses given to the sufferings and death of Jesus, you will find it is nearly four hundred verses and I believe the Spirit of God would say in that,

      • ‘If you cannot be moved by the sufferings of Christ, to be attached to Him and to serve Him, then no miracle will cause you to move’.

    The ants are not strong, but they provide their meat in the summer. They are diligent to gather what is necessary because of difficult times ahead.

    • They gather it when conditions are favourable, and that is an encouragement for us, that when the Lord speaks to us in love and brings ministry to us He often has in mind difficulties ahead,

      • and He is always ready to fortify us before the difficulty comes, just as Melchisedec went to Abraham with bread and wine and fortified him with food and drink before the test came – the king of Sodom –

      • and when the test came he was fully equal to it, for he had been fortified beforehand.

    • The ants prepare and provide their food in the summer, so when difficult times come they are preserved in life because they have definitely calculated that food must be laid hold of when conditions are favourable.

    • When God took His people into the wilderness, and cut them off from all the food of Egypt, He rained food from heaven for them, which is called “bread of angels” or “bread of the mighty”.

    At this juncture, I would refer to what the children of Israel who had been born in Egypt said about their food in the past.

    • They said, “We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing: the cucumbers, and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic”, Numbers 11: 5.

    • Now those children born in the wilderness could never say that. They could not say ‘We remember what we did when we were in the world, and what we fed upon’, and

      • it is a very great blessing to be born in a Christian home where you have no memories of the past.

    • Those who have been into the world, although coming by way of conversion into far, far better things, can never wipe out the memories and scars of where they have been,

      • and should there ever come a time when they become low in spiritual state they will inevitably go back to what they have once been in,

    • but those born in a Christian home can be profoundly thankful that they have begun at the beginning, and carry no memories and no scars that might be a hindrance to them.

    The food given to them was said to be small, and round and sweet, tasting like wafers made with honey, and white, and we sometimes link those four features of the food – the manna – with the four gospels,

      • the smallness connected with Matthew’s gospel in a peculiar way.

    • We have referred to Jesus as “the little child”. So also we get in Matthew’s gospel, “Behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and mounted upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass”.

    • That is not like the entry of an earthly king into his own city, is it? These were not the movements of Absalom with chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him so as to make a name for himself.

    • The word is, “Thy king cometh to thee”. Are we ready to acknowledge Him in smallness of circumstances in the time of testimony, our King and our Lord?

    If it is a question of what is round, we think of that which has no awkward corners, as we speak, perfect roundness, always the same,

    • and that seems peculiarly set out in Mark’s gospel with the Lord Jesus – tested with every kind of circumstance, every kind of influence brought to bear on Him, even beasts in the wilderness and the hatred of man,

      • yet He was never ruffled, never made a statement He had to adjust, and never recalled anything that He had ever said – always the same.

    We think of the sweetness of grace in Luke’s gospel, for it is said that the manna tasted like wafers made with honey, and it is also said, “they all wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth”.

      • Wonderful words of grace in that gospel, from the beginning to the end.

    • We may note too, that Jehovah said that He was going to bring His people into a land “flowing with milk and honey”. Every day in the wilderness they had a taste of honey, a taste of the land that God was going to bring them into.

    • In some the tastes were vitiated, but the tastes of Joshua and Caleb were wholly of and for the land. They were delighting in the land, delighting to go into a land flowing with milk and honey, and would say, ‘We are tasting it every day in the wilderness’.

    • The wilderness remains with all its barrenness, but we are tasting the sweetness of divine love and divine purpose that comes to us from heaven every day.

    If it is a question of purity and whiteness, how peculiarly we see that in the Lord Himself in John’s gospel, the ever-blessed Son of God.

    • When Peter makes a confession of Him, he says, “Thou art the holy one of God”. What whiteness and purity!

    This food God provided for His people, but they had to be diligent to gather it up, and we have to be diligent too.

    • We have referred several times to the wonderful capacity that small children have for learning by heart.

    • We do not use that capacity nearly enough, for if children learn by heart when they are young, the Spirit will bring to their and our remembrance the things learned and heard, and I am quite sure of this that

      • where the scriptures are learned by heart when we are young, when we get into difficulties or perplexing situations, the Spirit will bring to us just that particular verse that we have learned, so that we may be saved and comforted.

    • It is said that the sluggard desires, but has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat; and when the manna came from heaven every day, the people had to be diligent to gather it up, and if they did not gather it up, at the time appointed, there was none left at all.

    • We need, dear brethren, to be more diligent in reading the scriptures, and what ministry may be available, so that we shall be well fortified, as Paul says to Timothy, that if he were to occupy himself with these things, he would both save himself and those that heard him.

    • There is much more that might be said about food, the old com of the land which speaks of that which was stored up in Christ in resurrection, made available,

      • prepared beforehand by God, all the glory and preciousness of Christ in resurrection, made available to us that we might enjoy the land of God’s purpose, and enjoy it together.

    There is one other remark that might be made in connection with food, and that is that

      • in nearly every case in scripture where food is mentioned, movement is contemplated immediately after.

    • So the idea of gathering up what will profit us spiritually is in view of our moving forward and having a better understanding and a greater enjoyment of the truth.

    • When God provided food for Elijah it is said that he went in the strength of that food forty days.

    • And so in Mark’s gospel where you get the feeding of the five thousand, you get immediately the Lord constraining His disciples to get into a ship and to go to the other side – feeding and then journeying – and we want to journey together.

    — SALVATION —

    It is said of the rock badgers that they are a feeble folk but they make their house in the cliff or in the rock.

      • Now I would speak of the rock as being Christ Himself, the Truth.

    • When the Lord speaks of those who are hearing His word, He divides them into two classes.
    1. Those who hear His word and do it, they are like a man building a house upon a rock. He digs deep, he is prepared to clear away everything that would hinder his wholehearted attachment to Christ;

      • and being thus in living attachment to Him, the Rock and the Truth, he can then begin to build, and that becomes his salvation.

    2. There are those, however, who hear and do not – building a house upon the sand. I suppose they want something to appear to their fellow men as being of value,

      • but if Christ is not the central object and the foundation of the building, there is no salvation and the whole thing falls to the ground.

    Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says that the foundation has been laid, and that is Jesus Christ. Then he goes on to say,

      • “Let each see how he builds upon it”.

    • There is no other foundation than that which is laid, that is the Rock, Christ, for He is the Truth, and if we build upon that we shall know and enjoy salvation.

    • The rock badgers, a feeble folk, exceeding wise, make their house in the cliff. This brings up the important matter of the unchangeability of the truth, and we need to lay hold of that at the present time.

    • Some have said recently that some of us are busy ‘building up another system’, but that they have taken a ‘wider view of the truth’, as if that was a very great commendation,

      • but can you take a wider view of the truth?

    • The truth is the truth. You cannot take a wide view and a narrow view of it, a right view and a wrong, and yet have the truth!

    • The Lord would have us to take up the purity and the unchangeability of the truth and hold fast to everything that is true, and has been acknowledged and tested to be true throughout the past generations.

    • We need therefore at the present time to be alert that we are not caught by these seemingly charitable observations that we should take a ‘wider view’ of the truth than we have taken hitherto.

    Building upon the rock is building upon that which is unchangeable. It is said that the truth is in Jesus.

    • Is there any change in Jesus – can we take a wider view of Jesus and a narrower view of Jesus, and yet take a right view of Jesus? Impossible! It is said of Him that He is

      • “the same yesterday, and today, and forever”.

    • As we cleave to Him that becomes our salvation. If we depart in ever so small a degree from the truth, we never know where we shall go.

    • It may seem that we are narrow and perhaps we may be called uncharitable, but the truth is not narrow, the truth is not uncharitable.

    • Mr. Darby used to say, “Keep your feet in the narrow path, and your heart as large as you can”, and that is a very good word for us at the present moment.

    • What one observes is this, and it grieves one to think of it, that those who depart in ever so small a degree from what we might speak of as the main line of the truth, and get into a branch line once linked with the main line,

      • the farther the branch line goes, the farther it gets away from the main line.

    • That is true, it is history, it is fact, and if we think we can do better than those who have tried in the past for a half-way house, we shall find eventually as they, that we are right back into the camp.

    • Some say ‘I don’t want Exclusivism, and I don’t want Open Brethrenism, I want something in between’.

    • Dear brethren, there is nothing in between, if we understand Exclusivism to be only that which is exclusive of what is not in accord with the teaching of Scripture.

    • If a tent is pitched half-way outside the camp and not all the way where Moses and the communications are, then inevitably there will be a drifting back into the camp.

    • Exceeding wise are those who build their house in the rock. They are in peace, and they are in salvation.

    — UNITY —

    It says then that the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands. Now that is a word for us, too, at the present moment, is it not?

    • When some are looking for and want a leader here, it says that the locusts have no leader, but they go forth all of them by bands. In the previous chapter it is said,

      • “Many seek the ruler’s face, but man’s right judgment is from Jehovah”.

    • We do not want to seek man’s face, and get his ruling; we want to get to the Lord and get His mind. “Man’s right judgment is from Jehovah”,

      • and if we have been feeding rightly, and if we have not departed from the truth, can we not easily understand that we can go forth all of us by bands,

    • one locality here and another locality there, all of one mind and of one heart, all feeding upon the same Christ, and all building upon the rock.

    • They are all in salvation – no difficulty whatever about moving together.

    • Without a recognised leader locally or universally, we look to the Lord Himself as our great leader, and it is a very great joy and comfort to know that

      • it is possible to be in a local company, small though it may be, and to be absolutely of one mind and heart.

    • If we have travelled the road in regard to food and non-departure from the truth, we shall find it is a very happy thing to be united in heart, in outlook, in spirit, and going forward – for it contemplates going forward – together.

    • May the Lord help us in this important matter of going forward together where there is no undercurrent of will, and no divisive influence, but one people going together without any visible leader at all.

    • What a sorrowful thing it was when the children of Israel wanted a king, to be as others were; they asked for a king and a leader, and they got one, and what a bitter disappointment he was to them,

      • and what a bitter disappointment it was to him to be told that when he was little in his own eyes he was brought to rule over the people of God,

    • but when he became great in his own eyes he lost his throne and his life. “When thou wast little in thine own eyes”.

    • Oh, to be kept little in our own eyes that the Lord might be with us to the end!

    — DIGNITY —

    “Thou takest hold of the lizard with the hands, yet is she in kings’ palaces”. I would just make a simple application of that.

      • The lizard is a very small creature, but it gets into very dignified places.

    • It does not need to be a great creature to get into a palace. In one sense we might say that the smaller it is, the easier is its entry into a palace, and I would take that to indicate dignity.

    • We can, dear brethren, have a sense of dignity in our movements here. We do not want to be ashamed of the truth, or ashamed of the Lord. The scripture says as Paul writes to Timothy,

      • “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner”.

    • We have been born children of God, we have been brought into the place of sons because He has adopted us as His sons, and we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We can thus move in a dignified way in this world, and the Lord will be with us.

    • What an excellent example we have in the apostle Paul in this! The word Paul means ‘little’, and it is instructive to notice that when his name is changed from Saul to Paul, meaning little, it is said

      • “Being filled with the Holy Spirit”,

    • and when the Lord took him up He said that he should bear His name before kings and nations and the people of Israel.

    • He was going into palaces, to bear testimony – feeling depressed and overwhelmed? Not at all! He is moving in the greatest possible dignity.

    • Taken hold of with the hands, for bands and chains were put upon him, he was in kings’ palaces in a most dignified way, in such wise that the kings began to tremble.

    • He was not trembling, although the chains were on him. He was standing in a dignified way, making everything of Jesus and nothing of himself, so much so that when he speaks to Felix about righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come, Felix trembled.

    • Paul was not trembling; he was there not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord.

    • When he is in the palace and Festus and Agrippa are there, Festus says, “Much learning doth make thee mad”, and Agrippa says, “Within a little thou persuadest me to be a Christian”.

    • Paul, I suppose, held up his hands with the chains upon them and said his only desire was that each person that heard him that day should be a Christian as he was, but should have no chains on his body.

      • “Taken hold of with the hands, but in kings’ palaces”,

    • and bearing a testimony there. Little upon the earth, but exceeding wise.

    • We do not need to be old in years, and to know much in the way of learning and understanding to move and speak with dignity.

    That would bring me to refer to the little maid in Naaman’s day. Naaman was great on the earth.

    • He might have been wise in the eyes of men but he was absolutely devoid of the wisdom that comes from above.

    • What about the little maid? Might we say she had no earthly wisdom but she had an abundant supply of divine wisdom.

    • When she saw her master in the condition in which he was – so great, with such a big name and so many military successes, yet a leper – she knew that there was only one saviour for him in the world. She speaks very feelingly,

      • “Oh would that my lord were before the prophet that is in Samaria; then he would cure him of his leprosy”.

    • That is a remarkable statement, because the Lord Jesus tells us that in that day there was never a leper cleansed at all. There had never been one cleansed. What faith she had!

      • “Little upon the earth, but exceedingly wise”,

    • saying that if her master would only go to the one and only saviour; he would recover him of his leprosy.

    • And what about his earthly wisdom? He goes to the king, the king sends the letter to another king, and it was all of no avail,

      • and with an amount of money that was sixteen thousand pounds in those days – probably a hundred thousand pounds in our day – to purchase his cleansing.

    • It could not be bought for money or influence, or a great name on the earth. He has to go down into the waters that have been appointed for him, the waters of Jordan.

    • When he was very near to the blessing, and found out he had to become little, he turned away in a rage. He would say, ‘I thought being such a great man as I am, some marvellous miracle would be enacted for my blessing’, and he turned away in a rage.

    • But he had those who loved him and wished him well, and drew near to him and said,

      • “My father, if the prophet had bidden thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash and be clean?”

    • No money, no spectacular miracle. He plunged himself seven times in the Jordan, and it never says that Naaman came up again, but

      • “his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”.

    • Now we have a little maid, and a little child, and they would go on very happily together!

    • Would you not imagine that when the little maid saw Naaman go off with his money and changes of raiment, she would have prayed earnestly that he would not miss the blessing after all?

    • She would have prayed, I have no doubt, that God would strip him of his earthly greatness and of his pride in his possessions, and bring him down to littleness.

    • And what a welcome his wife would have given him, and how joyful the little maid would have been to have seen the answer to her desire and her prayer.

    • You will notice she was a little captive maid, asking nothing for herself but everything for another. She did not ask for deliverance.

    • She did not say to Naaman, ‘What are you going to give me because I brought the blessing to you?’ She goes out of sight as a little captive maid, happy that one so great had learned that blessing is connected with littleness.

    We have a little boy in John’s gospel, a great occasion and many to be fed,

      • and there is a calculation as to what would be outwardly and materially necessary to feed such a large number. Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough.

    • You will notice that it was a great crowd, and therefore needed great provisions, in an outward way; but the Lord knew what He was going to do. Andrew said,

      • “There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but this, what is it for so many?”

    • I want you to notice the littleness of the whole matter, a little boy, five barley loaves – barley is usually expressive of what is of less value than wheat – and two small fishes.

    • Five in scripture is connected with the thought of human smallness and weakness acknowledged in the presence of divine greatness and power.

    • We have sometimes missed the full significance and meaning of five by limiting it to human weakness. It is human weakness, but acknowledged in the presence of divine strength.

    • David takes five smooth stones, exceedingly weak himself, little upon the earth in the presence of the great giant Goliath, but exceeding wise, and he commits his one stone to Him who is great and powerful and God over all.

    • That was enough to bring down the greatest man that possibly has been born, and David but a stripling, little upon the earth but exceeding wise.

    • Andrew calls attention to this little boy. It may well be, you know, that he decided to spend the day with the crowd or with the Lord, or with the apostles.

    • In any case, he was not lost in the crowd. He must have been very near to the apostles, and thus very near to the Lord, for Andrew says,

      • “There is a little boy here” … and he knew how much he had.

    • Is not that an encouragement for us too, to become acquainted with what one and another has, and what can be taken on by the Lord?

    • This little boy was little upon the earth, but exceeding wise. In what was his wisdom? He yielded to the Lord all that he had, and found out that the Lord could do far, far better with the little he had, than he could ever do himself.

    • What an encouragement that would be for us who are older, to become acquainted with our own and others’ children, and to know how much they have got.

    • Sometimes there is a kind of feeling that we must not ask them questions, that we had better leave things to develop under the Lord’s hand as if we had no interest in them at all.

    • I know a little girl, eight years of age, who went to her father and said, ‘Daddy, I am converted, I have come to love the Lord Jesus’. He said, ‘Have you? Oh, I am glad’.

      • She went to her mother and said, ‘Mummy, I have just been to tell Daddy I have been converted, but I don’t think he believes a word I have said’.

    • We should know one another, and we should encourage one another to give what they have, and to see how much the Lord can do with it.

      • We may be able in simplicity to hand over to the Lord just the love that we have, and He will certainly appreciate it to the full.

    • We tend sometimes to look at our own littleness and to leave out the thought of what the Lord can do. And so it is in regard of the remembrance of Himself. We may say, ‘Well, it is a very little thing’, and despise it.

    • The little boy had five barley loaves and two small fishes; it was all little but how delighted the Lord was to take it! He approved of the sacrifice, and He fed five thousand out of it.

    • When the call was made to the boy to give up what he had, he handed it over to the Lord and was instrumental in bringing blessing to five thousand persons. He would go home that day exceedingly happy.

    • And as you who are younger love the Lord truly, if it is in your heart as loving Him, that you would like to give evidence of it in the remembrance of Himself,

      • you have only to move in regard of what you feel in your heart, and you will find the Lord will accept it, and He will bless what you do and He will bless you who do it.

    • There are little maids and little boys here, and the Lord wants you both, because He is soon coming, when the time of remembering Him will be over, for there is no breaking of bread in heaven.

    • It is here and now we can give Him our love which is more to Him than all that we know, of whatever age we may be.

    May the Lord encourage us all not only to face the question of littleness, but never to move away from it, for His name’s sake.

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