These are very weighty consequences, and they demand the serious attention of all the Lord"s people. It must be obvious to the reader that it is according to the revealed will of G.o.d that His people should a.s.semble themselves together, in His presence. The inspired apostle exhorts us, in the tenth chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews, not to forsake the a.s.sembling of ourselves together. There is special value, interest, and importance attaching to the a.s.sembly. The truth as to this begins to dawn upon us in the opening pages of the New Testament. Thus, in Matthew xviii. 20, we read the words of our blessed Lord--"Where _two or three are gathered together_ in My name, _there am_ I in the midst of them." Here we have the divine centre.
"_My name._" This answers to "The place which the Lord thy G.o.d shall choose to place His name there," so constantly named and so strongly insisted upon in the book of Deuteronomy. It was absolutely essential that Israel should gather at that one place. It was not a matter as to which people might choose for themselves. Human choice was absolutely and rigidly excluded. It was "_The_ place which the Lord thy G.o.d shall choose," and no other. This we have seen distinctly. It is so plain that we have only to say, "How readest thou?"
Nor is it otherwise with the Church of G.o.d. It is not human choice, or human judgment, or human opinion, or human reason, or human any thing.
It is absolutely and entirely divine. The _ground_ of our gathering is divine, for it is accomplished redemption; the _centre_ around which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Name of Jesus; the _power_ by which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Holy Ghost; and the _authority_ for our gathering is divine, for it is the Word of G.o.d.
All this is as clear as it is precious, and all we need is the simplicity of faith to take it in and act upon it. If we begin to reason about it, we shall be sure to get into darkness; and if we listen to human opinions, we shall be plunged in hopeless perplexity between the conflicting claims of christendom"s sects and parties. Our only refuge, our only resource, our only strength, our only comfort, our only authority, is the precious Word of G.o.d. Take away that, and we have absolutely nothing; give us that, and we want no more.
This is what makes it all so real and so solid for our souls. Yes, reader; and so consolatory and tranquilizing too. The truth as to our a.s.sembly is as clear and as simple and as unquestionable as the truth in reference to our salvation. It is the privilege of all Christians to be as sure that they are gathered on G.o.d"s ground, around G.o.d"s centre, by G.o.d"s power, and on G.o.d"s authority, as that they are within the blessed circle of G.o.d"s salvation.
And then, if we be asked, How can we be certain of being around G.o.d"s centre? we reply, Simply by the Word of G.o.d. How could Israel of old be sure as to G.o.d"s chosen place for their a.s.sembly? By His express commandment. Were they at any loss for guidance? Surely not. His word was as clear and as distinct as to their place of worship as it was in reference to every thing else. It left not the slightest ground for uncertainty. It was so plainly set before them that for any one to raise a question could only be regarded as willful ignorance or positive disobedience.
Now, the question is, Are Christians worse off than Israel in reference to the great subject of their place of worship, the centre and ground of their a.s.sembly? Are they left in doubt and uncertainty?
Is it an open question? Is it a matter as to which every man is left to do what is right in his own eyes? Has G.o.d given us no positive, definite instruction on a question so intensely interesting and so vitally important? Could we imagine for a moment that the One who graciously condescended to instruct His people of old in matters which we, in our fancied wisdom, would deem unworthy of notice, would leave His Church now without any definite guidance as to the ground, centre, and characteristic features of our worship? Utterly impossible! Every spiritual mind must reject, with decision and energy, any such idea.
No, beloved Christian reader; you know it would not be like our gracious G.o.d to deal thus with His heavenly people. True, there is no such thing now as a particular place to which all Christians are to betake themselves periodically for worship. There _was_ such a place for G.o.d"s earthly people, and there _will be_ such a place for restored Israel and for all nations by and by. "It shall come to pa.s.s in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord"s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and _all nations_ shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the G.o.d of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for _out of Zion_ shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Is. ii.) And again, "It shall come to pa.s.s, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of _all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem_ to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." (Zech. xiv. 16, 17.)
Here are two pa.s.sages culled, one from the first, and the other from the last but one of the divinely inspired prophets, both pointing forward to the glorious time when Jerusalem shall be G.o.d"s centre for Israel and for all nations. And we may a.s.sert, with all possible confidence, that the reader will find all the prophets, with one consent, in full harmony with Isaiah and Zechariah on this profoundly interesting subject. To apply such pa.s.sages to the Church, or to heaven, is to do violence to the clearest and grandest utterances that ever fell on human ears; it is to confound things heavenly and earthly, and to give a flat contradiction to the divinely harmonious voices of prophets and apostles.
It is needless to multiply quotations. All Scripture goes to prove that Jerusalem was, and will yet be, G.o.d"s earthly centre for His people, and for all nations; but _just now_--that is to say, from the day of Pentecost, when G.o.d the Holy Ghost came down to form the Church of G.o.d, the body of Christ, until the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come to take His people away out of this world--there is no place, no city, no sacred locality, no earthly centre, for the Lord"s people. To talk to Christians about holy places, or consecrated ground, is as thoroughly foreign to them (at least, it ought to be) as it would have been to talk to a Jew about having his place of worship in heaven. The idea is wholly out of place, wholly out of character.
If the reader will turn for a moment to the fourth chapter of John, he will find, in our Lord"s marvelous discourse with the woman of Sychar, the most blessed teaching on this subject. "The woman saith unto Him, "Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, believe Me; the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father _seeketh_ such to worship Him. G.o.d is a spirit, and they that worship Him _must_ worship Him in spirit and in truth.""
(Ver. 19-24.)
This pa.s.sage entirely sets aside the thought of any special place of worship now. There really is no such thing. "_The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands_; as saith the prophet, "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me?" saith the Lord, "or what is the place of My rest? Hath not My hand made all these things?"" (Acts vii. 48-50.) And again, "G.o.d that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, _dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshiped with men"s hands_, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things." (Acts xvii. 24, 25.)
The teaching of the New Testament, from beginning to end, is clear and decided as to the subject of worship; and the Christian reader is solemnly bound to give heed to that teaching, and to seek to understand, and submit his whole moral being to its authority. There has ever been, from the very earliest ages of the Church"s history, a strong and fatal tendency to return to Judaism, not only on the subject of righteousness, but also on that of worship. Christians have not only been put under the law for life and righteousness, but also under the Levitical ritual for the order and character of their worship. We have dealt with the former of these in chapters iv. and v.
of these "Notes," but the latter is hardly less serious in its effect upon the whole tone and character of Christian life and conduct.
We have to bear in mind that Satan"s great object is, to cast the Church of G.o.d down from her excellency, in reference to her standing, her walk, and her worship. No sooner was the Church set up on the day of Pentecost than he commenced his corrupting and undermining process, and for eighteen long centuries he has carried it on with diabolical persistency. In the face of these plain pa.s.sages quoted above, in reference to the character of worship which the Father is now seeking, and as to the fact that G.o.d does not dwell in temples made with hands, we have seen, in all ages, the strong tendency to return to the condition of things under the Mosaic economy. Hence the desire for great buildings, imposing rituals, sacerdotal orders, choral services, all of which are in direct opposition to the mind of Christ and to the plainest teachings of the New Testament. The professing church has entirely departed from the spirit and authority of the Lord in all these things; and yet, strange and sad to say, these very things are continually appealed to as proofs of the wonderful progress of Christianity. We are told by some of our public teachers and guides that the blessed apostle Paul had little idea of the grandeur to which the Church was to attain; but if he could only see one of our venerable cathedrals, with its lofty aisles and painted windows, and listen to the peals of the organ and the voices of the choristers, he would see what an advance had been made upon the upper room at Jerusalem!
Ah! reader, be a.s.sured, it is all a most thorough delusion. It is true indeed, the Church has made progress, but it is in the wrong direction; it is not upward, but downward. It is away from Christ, away from the Father, away from the Spirit, away from the Word.
We should like to ask the reader this one question: If the apostle Paul were to come to London for next Lord"s day, where could he find what he found in Troas eighteen hundred years ago, as recorded in Acts xx. 7? Where could he find a company of disciples gathered simply by the Holy Ghost, to the Name of Jesus, to break bread in remembrance of Him, and to show forth His death till He come? Such was the divine order then, and such must be the divine order now. We cannot for a moment believe that the apostle would accept any thing else. He would look for the divine thing; he would have that or nothing. Now, where could he find it? where could he go and find the table of his Lord, as appointed by Himself the same night in which He was betrayed?
Mark, reader, we are bound to believe that the apostle Paul would insist upon having the table and the supper of his Lord as he had received them direct from Himself in the glory, and given them by the Spirit in the tenth and eleventh chapters of his epistle to the Corinthians--an epistle addressed to "all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." We cannot believe that he would teach G.o.d"s order in the first century and accept man"s disorder in the nineteenth. Man has no right to tamper with a divine inst.i.tution. He has no more authority to alter a single jot or t.i.ttle connected with the Lord"s supper than Israel had to interfere with the order of the pa.s.sover.
Now, we repeat the question, and earnestly entreat the reader to ponder and answer it in the divine presence and in the light of Scripture,--Where could the apostle find this in London, or any where else in christendom, on next Lord"s day? Where could he go and take his seat at the table of his Lord, in the midst of a company of disciples gathered simply on the _ground_ of the one body, to the one _centre_--the Name of Jesus, by the _power_ of the Holy Ghost, and on the _authority_ of the Word of G.o.d? Where could he find a sphere in which he could exercise his gifts without human authority, appointment, or ordination? We ask these questions in order to exercise the heart and conscience of the reader. We are fully convinced that there are places here and there where Paul could find these things carried out, though in weakness and failure, and we believe the Christian reader is solemnly responsible to find them out.
Alas! alas! they are few and far between, compared with the ma.s.s of Christians meeting otherwise.
We may perhaps be told that if people knew that it was the apostle Paul, they would willingly allow him to minister. But then he would neither seek nor accept their permission, inasmuch as he tells us plainly, in the first chapter of Galatians, that his ministry was "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and G.o.d the Father, who raised Him from the dead."
And not only so, but we may rest a.s.sured that the blessed apostle would insist upon having the Lord"s table spread upon the divine ground of the one body, and he could only consent to eat the Lord"s supper according to its divine order as laid down in the New Testament. He could not accept for a moment any thing but the divine reality. He would say, Either that or nothing. He could not admit any human interference with a divine inst.i.tution; neither could he accept any new ground of gathering, or any new principle of organization. He would repeat his own inspired statements--"There is _one body_ and one Spirit," and, "We being many, are one bread--_one body_, for we are all partakers of that one bread." These words apply to "all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," and they hold good in all ages of the Church"s existence on earth.
The reader must be very clear and distinct as to this. G.o.d"s principle of gathering and unity must on no account be surrendered.
The moment men begin to organize--to form societies, churches, or a.s.sociations, they act in direct opposition to the Word of G.o.d, the mind of Christ, and the present action of the Holy Ghost. Man might as well set about to form a world as to form a church. It is entirely a divine work. The Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost to form _the_ Church of G.o.d--_the_ body of Christ, and this is the only Church--the only body that Scripture recognizes; all else is contrary to G.o.d, even though it may be sanctioned and defended by thousands of true Christians.
Let not the reader misunderstand us. We are not speaking of salvation, of eternal life, or of divine righteousness, but of the true ground of gathering, the divine principle on which the Lord"s table should be spread and the Lord"s supper celebrated. Thousands of the Lord"s beloved people have lived and died in the communion of the church of Rome; but the church of Rome is not the Church of G.o.d, but a horrible apostasy; and the sacrifice of the ma.s.s is not the Lord"s supper, but a marred, mutilated, and miserable invention of the devil. If the question in the mind of the reader be merely what amount of error he can sanction without forfeiting his soul"s salvation, it is useless to proceed with the grand and important subject before us.
But where is the heart that loves Christ that could be content to take such miserably low ground as this? What would have been thought of an Israelite of old who could content himself with being a child of Abraham, and could enjoy his vine and his fig-tree, his flocks and his herds, but never think of going to worship at the place where Jehovah had recorded His name? Where was the faithful Jew who did not love that sacred spot? "Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thine house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth."
And when, by reason of Israel"s sin, the national polity was broken up, and the people were in captivity, we hear the true-hearted exiles amongst them pouring forth their lament in the following touching and eloquent strain, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, _we wept when we remembered Zion_. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion." How shall we sing the Lord"s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem [G.o.d"s centre for His earthly people], let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Ps.
cx.x.xvii.)
And again, in the sixth chapter of Daniel, we find that beloved exile opening his window three times a day, and praying toward Jerusalem, although he knew that the lions" den was the penalty. But why insist upon praying toward Jerusalem? Was it a piece of Jewish superst.i.tion?
Nay, it was a magnificent display of divine principle; it was an unfurling of the divine standard amid the depressing and humiliating consequences of Israel"s folly and sin. True, Jerusalem was in ruins; but G.o.d"s thoughts respecting Jerusalem were not in ruins. It was His centre for His earthly people. "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. _For my brethren and companions" sakes_, I will now say, Peace be within thee. _Because of the house of the Lord our G.o.d_ I will seek thy good." (Ps. cxxii.)
Jerusalem was the centre for Israel"s twelve tribes in days gone by, and it will be so in the future. To apply the above and similar pa.s.sages to the Church of G.o.d here or hereafter--on earth or in heaven, is simply turning things upside down, confounding things essentially different, and thus doing an incalculable amount of damage both to Scripture and the souls of men. We must not allow ourselves to take such unwarrantable liberties with the Word of G.o.d.
Jerusalem was and will be G.o.d"s earthly centre; but now, the Church of G.o.d should own no centre but the glorious and infinitely precious Name of Jesus. "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Precious centre! To this alone the New Testament points, to this alone the Holy Ghost gathers. It matters not where we are gathered--in Jerusalem or Rome, London, Paris, or Canton.
It is not _where_, but _how_.
But be it remembered, it must be a divinely real thing. It is of no possible use to profess to be gathered in, or to, the blessed Name of Jesus, if we are not really so. The apostle"s word as to faith may apply with equal force to the question of our centre of gathering.--"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man _say_" he is gathered to the Name of Jesus? G.o.d deals in moral realities; and while it is perfectly clear that a man who desires to be true to Christ cannot possibly consent to own any other centre or any other ground of gathering but His Name, yet it is quite possible--alas!
alas! how very possible--for people to profess to be on that blessed and holy ground, while their spirit and conduct, their habits and ways, their whole course and character, go to prove that they are not in the power of their profession.
The apostle said to the Corinthians that he would "know, not the speech, but the power." A weighty word, most surely, and much needed at all times, but specially needed in reference to the important subject now before us. We would lovingly, yet most solemnly, press upon the conscience of the Christian reader his responsibility to consider this matter in the holy retirement of the Lord"s presence, and in the light of the New Testament. Let him not set it aside on the plea of its not being essential. It is in the very highest degree essential, inasmuch as it concerns the Lord"s glory and the maintenance of His truth. This is the only standard by which to decide what is essential and what is not. Was it essential for Israel to gather at the divinely appointed centre? Was it left an open question?
Might every man choose a centre for himself? Let the answer be weighed in the light of Deuteronomy xiv. It was absolutely essential that the Israel of G.o.d should a.s.semble around the centre of the G.o.d of Israel.
This is unquestionable. Woe be to the man who presumed to turn his back on the place where Jehovah had set His Name. He would very speedily have been taught his mistake. And if this was true for G.o.d"s earthly people, is it not equally true for the Church and the individual Christian? a.s.suredly it is. We are bound, by the very highest and most sacred obligations, to refuse every _ground_ of gathering but the one body, every _centre_ of gathering but the Name of Jesus, every _power_ of gathering but the Holy Ghost, every _authority_ of gathering but the Word of G.o.d. May all the Lord"s beloved people every where be led to consider these things, in the fear and love of His holy name.
We shall now close this section by quoting the last paragraph of our chapter, in which we shall find some valuable practical teaching.
"At the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the t.i.the of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; and the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, _shall come_, and _shall eat_ and _be satisfied;_ that the Lord thy G.o.d may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest."
Here we have a lovely home-scene, a most touching display of the divine character, a beautiful outshining of the grace and kindness of the G.o.d of Israel. It does the heart good to breathe the fragrant air of such a pa.s.sage as this. It stands in vivid and striking contrast with the cold selfishness of the scene around us. G.o.d would teach His people to think of and care for all who were in need. The t.i.the belonged to Him, but He would give them the rare and exquisite privilege of devoting it to the blessed object of making hearts glad.
There is peculiar sweetness in the words, "shall come"--"shall eat"--"and be satisfied." So like our own ever-gracious G.o.d! He delights to meet the need of all. He opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. And not only so, but it is His joy to make His people the channel through which the grace, the kindness, and the sympathy of His heart may flow forth to all. How precious is this!
What a privilege to be G.o.d"s almoners--the dispensers of His bounty--the exponents of His goodness! Would that we entered more fully into the deep blessedness of all this! May we breathe more the atmosphere of the divine presence, and then we shall more faithfully reflect the divine character.
As the deeply interesting and practical subject presented in verses 28 and 29 will come before us in another connection in our study of chapter xxvi, we shall not dwell further upon it here.
CHAPTER XV.
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother, _because it is called the Lord"s release_. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again; but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release, save when there shall be no poor among you; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy G.o.d giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy G.o.d, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For the Lord thy G.o.d blesseth thee, as He promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." (Ver. 1-6.)
It is truly edifying to mark the way in which the G.o.d of Israel was ever seeking to draw the hearts of His people to Himself by means of the various sacrifices, solemnities, and inst.i.tutions of the Levitical ceremonial. There was the morning and evening lamb every _day_, there was the holy Sabbath every _week,_ there was the new moon every _month_, there was the pa.s.sover every _year_, there was the t.i.thing every _three years_, there was the release every _seven years_, and there was the jubilee every _fifty years_.
All this is full of deepest interest. It tells its own sweet tale, and teaches its own precious lesson to the heart. The morning and evening lamb, as we know, pointed ever to "the Lamb of G.o.d, which taketh away the sin of the world;" the Sabbath was the lovely type of the rest that remaineth to the people of G.o.d; the new moon beautifully prefigured the time when restored Israel shall reflect back the beams of the Sun of Righteousness upon the nations; the pa.s.sover was the standing memorial of the nation"s deliverance from Egyptian bondage; the year of t.i.thing set forth the fact of Jehovah"s proprietorship of the land, as also the lovely way in which His rents were to be expended in meeting the need of His workmen and of His poor; the sabbatic year gave promise of a bright time when all debts would be canceled, all loans disposed of, all burdens removed; and finally, the jubilee was the magnificent type of the times of the rest.i.tution of all things, when the captive shall be set free, when the exile shall return to his long-lost home and inheritance, and when the land of Israel and the whole earth shall rejoice beneath the beneficent government of the Son of David.
Now, in all these lovely inst.i.tutions we notice two prominent characteristic features, namely, glory to G.o.d, and blessing to man.
These two things are linked together by a divine and everlasting bond.
G.o.d has so ordained that His full glory and the creature"s full blessing should be indissolubly bound up together. This is deep joy to the heart, and it helps us to understand more fully the force and beauty of that familiar sentence--"We rejoice in hope of the glory of G.o.d." When that glory shines forth in its full l.u.s.tre, then, a.s.suredly, human blessedness, rest, and felicity shall reach their full and eternal consummation.
We see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this in the seventh year. It was "the Lord"s release," and therefore its blessed influence was to be felt by every poor debtor from Dan to Beersheba. Jehovah would grant unto His people the high and holy privilege of having fellowship with Him in causing the debtor"s heart to sing for joy. He would teach them, if they would only learn, the deep blessedness of frankly forgiving all. This is what He Himself delights in, blessed forever be His great and glorious name.
But, alas! the poor human heart is not up to this lovely mark. It is not fully prepared to tread this heavenly road. It is sadly cramped and hindered, by a low and miserable selfishness, in grasping and carrying out the divine principle of grace. It is not quite at home in this heavenly atmosphere; it is but ill-prepared for being the vessel and channel of that royal grace which shines so brightly in all the ways of G.o.d. This will only too fully account for the cautionary clauses of the following pa.s.sage. "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land, which the Lord thy G.o.d giveth thee, _thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand_ from thy poor brother; but thou shalt _open thine hand wide_ unto him, and surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought _in thy wicked heart_, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and _thine eye be evil_ against thy poor brother, and thou _givest_ him naught; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. _Thou shalt surely give him_, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing the Lord thy G.o.d shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of thy land; therefore I command thee, saying, _Thou shalt open thine hand wide_ unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land."