It is worthy of note that the discovery of the book of the law was made during the progress of Josiah"s reformatory measures. It affords one of the ten thousand proofs of that great practical principle that "to him that hath shall more be given;" and again, "If any man _will do_ His will, he _shall know_ of the doctrine."
"Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his G.o.d. And when they came to Hilkiah the priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of G.o.d.... And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah the priest answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book to the king.... And Shaphan read it before the king.
And it came to pa.s.s, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes" (2 Chron. x.x.xiv. 8-19).
Here we have a tender conscience bowing under the action of the word of G.o.d. This was one special charm in the character of Josiah. He was, in truth, a man of a humble and contrite spirit, who trembled at the word of G.o.d. Would that we all knew more of this! It is a most valuable feature of the Christian character. We certainly do need to feel much more deeply the weight, authority, and seriousness of Scripture. Josiah had no question whatever in his mind as to the genuineness and authenticity of the words which Shaphan had read in his hearing. We do not read of his asking, "How am I to know that this is the word of G.o.d?" No; he trembled at it; he bowed before it; he was smitten down under it; he rent his garments. He did not presume to sit in judgment upon the word of G.o.d, but, as was meet and right, he allowed the Word to judge him.
Thus it should ever be. If man is to judge Scripture, then Scripture is not the word of G.o.d at all; but if Scripture is in very truth the word of G.o.d, then it must judge man. And so it is and so it does.
Scripture _is_ the word of G.o.d, and it judges man thoroughly. It lays bare the very roots of his nature--it opens up the foundations of his moral being. It holds up before him the only faithful mirror in which he can see himself perfectly reflected. This is the reason why man does not like Scripture--cannot bear it--seeks to set it aside--delights to pick holes in it--dares to sit in judgment upon it.
It is not so in reference to other books. Men do not trouble themselves so much to discover and point out flaws and discrepancies in Homer or Herodotus, Aristotle or Shakespeare. No; but Scripture judges them--judges their ways, their l.u.s.ts. Hence the enmity of the natural mind to that most precious and marvelous Book, which, as we have already remarked, carries its own credentials with it to every divinely prepared heart. There is a power in Scripture which must bear down all before it. All must bow down under it, sooner or later. "The word of G.o.d is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. iv. 12, 13).
Josiah found it to be even so. The word of G.o.d pierced him through and through. "And it came to pa.s.s, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king"s, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book." What a striking contrast between Josiah, with contrite heart, exercised conscience, and rent garments, bowing down under the mighty action of the word of G.o.d, and our modern skeptics and infidels, who, with appalling audacity, dare to sit in judgment upon that very same Word! Oh that men would be wise in time, and bow their hearts and consciences in reverent submission to the word of the living G.o.d before that great and terrible day of the Lord in the which they shall be compelled to bow, amid "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth."
G.o.d"s word shall stand forever, and it is utterly vain for man to set himself up in opposition to it, or seek by his reasonings and skeptical speculations to find out errors and contradictions in it.
"Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." "Heaven and earth shall pa.s.s away, but My words shall not pa.s.s away." "The word of the Lord endureth forever." Of what possible use is it, therefore, for man to resist the word of G.o.d? He can gain nothing; but oh! what may he lose? If man could prove the Bible false, what should he gain? but if it be true after all, what does he lose? A serious inquiry! May it have its weight with any reader whose mind is at all under the influence of rationalistic or infidel notions.
We shall now proceed with our history.
"And Hilkiah and they that the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem, in the college;) and they spake to her to that effect." At the opening of this paper we referred to the fact of a child of eight years old being on the throne of David as indicative of the condition of things amongst the people of G.o.d. Here, too, we are arrested by the fact that the prophetic office was filled by a woman. It surely tells a tale. Things were low; but the grace of G.o.d was unfailing and abundant, and Josiah was so thoroughly broken down that he was prepared to receive the communication of the mind of G.o.d through whatever channel it might reach him. This was morally lovely. It might, to nature"s view, seem very humiliating for a king of Judah to have recourse to a woman for counsel; but then that woman was the depositary of the mind of G.o.d, and this was quite enough for a humble and a contrite spirit like Josiah"s. He had thus far proved that his one grand desire was to know and do the will of G.o.d, and hence it mattered not by what vehicle the voice of G.o.d was conveyed to his ear, he was prepared to hear and obey.
Christian reader, let us consider this. We may rest a.s.sured that herein lies the true secret of divine guidance. "The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way" (Ps. xxv. 9).
Were there more of this blessed spirit of meekness among us, there would be less confusion, less controversy, less striving about words to no profit. If we were all meek, we should all be divinely guided and divinely taught, and thus we should see eye to eye; we should be of one mind, and speak the same thing, and avoid much sad and humbling division and heart-burning.
See what a full answer the meek and contrite Josiah received from Huldah the prophetess--an answer both as to his people and as to himself. "And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. Because _they have forsaken Me_, and have burned incense unto other G.o.ds, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched."
All this was but the solemn reiteration and establishment of what had already fallen upon the open and attentive ear of the king of Judah; but then it came with fresh force, emphasis, and interest, as a direct personal communication to himself. It came enforced and enhanced by that earnest sentence, "Tell ye _the man_ that sent you to me."
But there was more than this. There was a gracious message directly concerning Josiah himself. "And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard: BECAUSE THY HEART WAS TENDER, and thou didst _humble thyself before G.o.d_ when thou heardest His words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and _humbledst thyself before Me_, and didst rend thy clothes and _weep before Me_; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again" (2 Chron. x.x.xiv. 23-28).
All this is full of instruction and encouragement for us in this dark and evil day. It teaches us the immense value, in the divine estimation, of deep personal exercise of soul and contrition of heart. Josiah might have deemed the case hopeless--that nothing could avert the mighty tide of wrath and judgment which was about to roll over the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel--that any movement of his must prove utterly unavailing--that the divine purpose was settled--the decree gone forth, and that, in short, he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason thus. No; he bowed before the divine testimony. He humbled himself, rent his clothes, and wept. G.o.d took knowledge of this. Josiah"s penitential tears were precious to Jehovah, and though the appalling judgment had to take its course, yet the penitent escaped. And not only did he himself escape, but he became the honored instrument in the Lord"s hand of delivering others also. He did not abandon himself to the influence of a pernicious fatalism, but in brokenness of spirit and earnestness of heart he cast himself upon G.o.d, confessing his own sins and the sins of his people. And then, when a.s.sured of his own personal deliverance, he set himself to seek the deliverance of his brethren also. This is a fine moral lesson for the heart. May we learn it thoroughly.
PART IV
It is deeply interesting and instructive to mark the actings of Josiah when his heart and conscience had been brought under the powerful influence of the word of G.o.d. He not only bowed down under that Word himself, but he sought to lead others to bow likewise. This must ever be the case where the work is real. It is impossible for a man to feel the weight and solemnity of truth and not seek to bring others under its action. No doubt a quant.i.ty of truth may be held in the intellect--held superficially--held in a merely speculative, notional way; but this will have no practical effect; it does not tell upon the heart and conscience after a divine, living fashion; it does not affect the life and character. And inasmuch as it does not affect our own souls, neither will our mode of presenting it be very likely to act with much power upon others. True, G.o.d is sovereign, and He may use His own Word even when spoken by one who has never really felt its influence; but we are speaking now of what may properly and naturally be looked for; and we may rest a.s.sured that the best way in which to make others feel deeply is to feel deeply ourselves.
Take any truth you please. Take, for example, the glorious truth of the Lord"s coming. How is a man most likely to affect his hearers by the presentation of this truth? Unquestionably by being deeply affected himself. If the heart be under the power of that solemn word, "the Lord is at hand,"--if this fact be realized in all its solemnity as to the world, and in its sweet attractiveness as to the believer individually and the Church collectively, then it will a.s.suredly be presented in a way calculated to move the hearts of the hearers. It is easy to see when a man _feels_ what he is saying. There may be a very clear and clever exposition of the doctrine of the second advent, and of all the collateral truths; but if it be cold and heartless, it will fall powerless on the ears of the audience. In order to speak to _hearts_, on any subject, the heart of the speaker must feel it. What was it that gave such power to Whitefield"s discourses? It was not the depth or the range of truth contained in them, as is manifest to any intelligent reader. No. The secret of their mighty efficacy lay in the fact that the speaker _felt_ what he was saying. Whitefield wept over the people, and no marvel if the people wept under Whitefield. He must be a hardened wretch indeed who can sit unmoved under a preacher who is shedding tears for his soul"s salvation.
Let us not be misunderstood. We do not mean to say that anything in a preacher"s manner can of itself convert a soul. Tears cannot quicken: earnestness cannot regenerate. It is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." It is only by the powerful action of the Word and Spirit of G.o.d that any soul can be born again. All this we fully believe, and would ever bear in mind; but at the same time, we as fully believe and would also bear in mind that G.o.d blesses earnest preaching, and souls are moved by it. We have far too much mechanical preaching--too much routine work--too much of what may justly be called _going through_ a service. We want more earnestness, more depth of feeling, more intensity, more power to weep over the souls of men, a more influential and abiding sense of the awful doom of impenitent sinners, the value of an immortal soul, and the solemn realities of the eternal world. We are told that the famous Garrick was once asked by a bishop how it was that he produced far more powerful results by his fiction than the bishop could by preaching truth. The reply of the actor is full of force. "My lord," said he, "the reason is obvious: I speak fiction as though it were truth, whereas you speak truth as though it were fiction."
Alas! it is much to be feared that too many of us speak truth in the same way, and hence the little result. We are persuaded that earnest, faithful preaching is one of the special wants of this our day. There are a few here and there, thank G.o.d, who seem to _feel_ what they are at--who stand before their audience as those who consider themselves as channels of communication between G.o.d and their fellows--men who are really bent on their work--bent, not merely on preaching and teaching, but on saving and blessing souls. The grand business of the evangelist is to _bring_ the soul and Christ together; the business of the teacher and pastor is to _keep_ them together. True it is, most blessedly true, that G.o.d is glorified and Jesus Christ magnified by the unfolding of truth, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear; but is this fact to be allowed to interfere, in the smallest degree, with the ardent desire for _results_ in reference to souls? We do not for a moment believe it. The preacher should look for results, and should not be satisfied without them. He should no more think of being satisfied to go on without results than the husbandman thinks of going on from year to year without a crop. Some preachers there are who only succeed in preaching their hearers away, and then they content themselves by saying, "We are a sweet savor to G.o.d." Now, we believe this is a great mistake, and a fatal delusion. What we want is to live before G.o.d for the results of our work--to wait upon Him--to agonize in prayer for souls--to throw all our energies into the work--to preach as though the whole thing depended upon us, although knowing full well that we can do just nothing, and that our words must prove as the morning cloud if not fastened as a nail in a sure place by the Master of a.s.semblies. We are convinced that, in the divine order of things, the earnest workman must have the fruit of his labor; and that according to his faith, so shall it be. There may be exceptions, but as a general rule, we may rest a.s.sured that a faithful preacher, will, sooner or later, reap fruit.
We have been drawn into the foregoing line of thought while contemplating the interesting scene in the life of Josiah presented to us at the close of 2 Chronicles x.x.xiv. It will be profitable for us to dwell upon it. Josiah was a man thoroughly in earnest. He felt the power of truth in his own soul, and he could not rest satisfied until he gathered the people around him, in order that the light which had shone upon him might shine upon them likewise. He did not, he could not, rest in the fact that he was to be gathered to his grave in peace--that his eyes were not to see the evil that was coming upon Jerusalem--that he was to escape the appalling tide of judgment which was about to roll over the land. No; he thought of others, he felt for the people around him; and inasmuch as his own personal escape stood connected with and based upon his true penitence and humiliation under the mighty hand of G.o.d, so he would seek, by the action of that Word which had wrought so powerfully in his own heart, to lead others to like penitence and humiliation.
"Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and his statutes _with all his heart_ and _with all his soul_, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of G.o.d, the G.o.d of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their G.o.d. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the G.o.d of their fathers."
There is a fine moral lesson in all this for us--yea, many lessons to which we, with all our light, knowledge, and privilege, may well sit down. What first of all strikes us at this moment is the fact that Josiah felt his responsibility to those around him. He did not put his light under a bushel, but rather allowed it to shine for the full benefit and blessing of others. This is all the more striking, inasmuch as that great practical truth of the unity of all believers in one body was not known to Josiah, because not revealed by G.o.d. The doctrine contained in that one brief sentence, "There is one body and one Spirit," was not made known until long after the times of Josiah, even when Christ the risen Head had taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.
But although this truth was "hid in G.o.d," nevertheless there was the unity of the nation of Israel. There was a national unity, though there was not the unity of a body; and this unity was always recognized by the faithful, whatever might be the outward condition of the people. The twelve loaves on the table of show-bread in the sanctuary were the divine type of the perfect unity and yet the perfect distinctness of the twelve tribes. The reader can see this in Leviticus xxiv. It is full of interest, and should be deeply pondered by every student of Scripture and every earnest lover of the ways of G.o.d. During the dark and silent watches of the night, the seven lamps of the golden candlestick threw their light upon the twelve loaves ranged by the hand of the high-priest according to the commandment of G.o.d upon the pure table. Significant figure!
It was on this grand truth that Elijah the Tishbite took his stand, when on Mount Carmel he built an altar "with twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "Israel shall be thy name"" (1 Kings xviii).
To this same truth Hezekiah had regard when he commanded "that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for _all Israel_"
(2 Chron. xxix. 24). Paul, in his day referred to this precious truth, when in the presence of king Agrippa he spoke of "our twelve tribes, instantly serving G.o.d day and night" (Acts xxvi. 7).
Now, if any one of those men of faith had been asked, "Where are the twelve tribes?" could he have given an answer? could he have pointed them out? a.s.suredly he could; but not to sight--not to man"s view, for the nation was divided--its unity was broken. In the days of Elijah and Hezekiah there were the ten tribes and the two; and in the days of Paul, the ten tribes were scattered abroad, and only a remnant of the two in the land of Palestine, under the dominion of Daniel"s fourth beast. What then? Was the truth of G.o.d made of none effect by Israel"s outward condition? Far be the thought! "Our twelve tribes"
must never be given up. The unity of the nation is a grand reality to faith. It is as true at this moment as when Joshua pitched the twelve stones at Gilgal. The word of our G.o.d shall stand forever. Not one jot or t.i.ttle of aught that He has spoken shall ever pa.s.s away. Change and decay may mark the history of human affairs,--death and desolation may sweep like a withering blast over earth"s fairest scenes, but Jehovah will make good His every word, and Israel"s twelve tribes shall yet enjoy the promised land, in all its length, breadth, and fulness. No power of earth or h.e.l.l shall be able to hinder this blessed consummation. And why? What makes us so sure? How can we speak with such absolute certainty? Simply because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We may be more sure that Israel"s tribes shall yet enjoy their fair inheritance in Palestine than that the house of Tudor once held sway in England. The former we believe on the testimony of G.o.d, who cannot lie; the latter on the testimony of man only.
It is of the utmost importance that the reader should be clear as to this, not only because of its special bearing upon Israel and the land of Canaan, but also because it affects the integrity of Scripture as a whole. There is a loose mode of handling the word of G.o.d, which is at once dishonoring to Him and injurious to us. Pa.s.sages which apply distinctly and exclusively to Jerusalem and to Israel are made to apply to the spread of the gospel and the extension of the Christian Church. This, to say the least of it, is taking a very unwarrantable liberty with divine revelation. Our G.o.d can surely say what He means, and as surely He means what He says; hence, when He speaks of Israel and Jerusalem, He does not mean the Church; and when He speaks of the Church, He does not mean Israel or Jerusalem.
Expositors the students of Scripture should ponder this. Let no one suppose that it is merely a question of prophetic interpretation. It is far more than this. It is a question of the integrity, value, and power of the word of G.o.d. If we allow ourselves to be loose and careless in reference to one cla.s.s of scriptures, we are likely to be loose and careless as to another, and then our sense of the weight and authority of all Scripture will be sadly enfeebled.
But we must return to Josiah, and see how he recognized, according to his measure, the great principle on which we have been dwelling. He certainly proved no exception to the general rule, namely, that all the pious kings of Judah had regard to the unity of the nation of Israel, and never suffered their thoughts, their sympathies, or their operations to be confined within any narrower range than "our twelve tribes." The twelve loaves on the pure table were ever before the eye of G.o.d and ever before the eye of faith. Nor was this a mere speculation--a none-practical dogma--a dead letter. No; it was in every case a great practical, influential truth. "Josiah took away _all_ the abominations out of _all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel_." This was acting in the fullest harmony with his pious predecessor, Hezekiah, who "commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for _all Israel_".
And now, Christian reader, mark the application of all this to our own souls at this present moment. Do you heartily believe, upon divine authority, in the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ? Do you believe that there is such a body on this earth now, united to its divine and living Head in heaven by the Holy Ghost? Do you hold this great truth from G.o.d Himself, upon the authority of Holy Scripture? Do you, in one word, hold as a cardinal and fundamental truth of the New Testament the indissoluble unity of the Church of G.o.d? Do not turn round and ask, "Where is this to be _seen_?" This is the question which unbelief must ever put, as the eye rests upon Christendom"s numberless sects and parties, and to which faith replies, as the eye rests upon that imperishable sentence, "There is one body and one Spirit." Mark the words!--"There _is_." It does not say there _was_ at one time and there shall be again "one body." Neither does it say that such a thing exists in heaven. No; but it says, "There _is_ one body and one Spirit" now on this earth. Can this truth be touched by the condition of things in the professing Church? Has G.o.d"s Word ceased to be true because man has ceased to be faithful? Will any one undertake to say that the unity of the body was only a truth for apostolic times, and that it has no application now, seeing that there is no exhibition of it?
Reader, we solemnly warn you to beware how you admit into your heart a sentiment so entirely infidel as this. Rest a.s.sured it is the fruit of positive unbelief in G.o.d"s Word. No doubt, appearances argue against this truth; but what truth is it against which appearances do not argue? And say, is it on appearances that faith ever builds? Did Elijah build on appearances when he erected his altar of twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob?
Did king Hezekiah build on appearances when he issued that fine commandment that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for _all Israel_? Did Josiah build on appearances when he carried his reformatory operations into all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel? Surely not. They built upon the faithful word of the G.o.d of Israel. That Word was true whether Israel"s tribes were scattered or united. If G.o.d"s truth is to be affected by outward appearances, or by the actings of men, then where are we? or what are we to believe? The fact is, there is hardly a truth in the entire compa.s.s of divine revelation to which we could with calm confidence commit our souls if we suffer ourselves to be affected by outward appearances.
No, reader; the only ground on which we can believe anything is this one eternal clause, "_It is written_"! Do you not admit this? Does not your whole soul bow down to it? Do you not hold it to be a principle entirely vital? We believe you do, as a Christian, hold, admit, and reverently believe this. Well, then, _it is written_, "There is one body and one Spirit" (Eph. iv.). This is as clearly revealed in Scripture as that "we are justified by faith," or any other truth. Do outward appearances affect the saving, fundamental doctrine of justification by faith? Are we to call in question this precious truth because there is so little exhibition of its purifying power in the lives of believers? Who could admit such a fatal principle as this?
What a complete upturning of all the foundations of our faith is necessarily involved in the admission of this most mischievous line of reasoning! We believe because it is written in the Word, not because it is exhibited in the world. Doubtless it ought to be exhibited, and it is our sin and shame that it is not. To this we shall afterward refer more fully; but we must insist upon the proper ground of belief, namely, divine revelation; and when this is clearly seen and fully admitted, it applies as distinctly to the doctrine of the unity of the body as it does to the doctrine of justification by faith.
PART V
We feel it to be of real moment to insist upon this principle, namely, that the _only_ ground on which we can believe any doctrine is its being revealed in the divine Word. It is thus we believe all the great truths of Christianity. We know nothing and can believe nothing of what is spiritual, heavenly, or divine, save as we find it revealed in the word of G.o.d. How do I know I am a sinner? Because Scripture hath declared that "all have sinned." No doubt I feel that I am a sinner; but I do not believe because I feel, but I feel because I believe, and I believe because G.o.d has spoken. Faith rests upon divine revelation, not on human feelings or human reasonings. "It is written" is quite sufficient for faith. It can do with nothing less, but it asks nothing more. G.o.d speaks: faith believes. Yes, it believes simply because G.o.d speaks. It does not judge G.o.d"s Word by outward appearances, but it judges outward appearances by the word of G.o.d.
Thus it is in reference to all the cardinal truths of the Christian religion, such as the Trinity, the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His atonement, His priesthood, His advent, the doctrine of original sin, of justification, judgment to come, eternal punishment. We believe these grand and solemn truths, not on the ground of feeling, of reason, or of outward appearances, but simply on the ground of divine revelation.
Hence, then, if it be asked, On what ground do we believe in the doctrine of the unity of the body? we reply, Upon the self-same ground that we believe the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the atonement. We believe it because it is revealed in sundry places in the New Testament. Thus, for example, in 1 Cor. xii. we read, "For as _the body is one_, and hath many members, and all the members of that _one body_, being many, are _one body_; so also _is Christ_. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into _one body_, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Again, "G.o.d hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body.... Now, _ye are the body of Christ_, and members in particular."
Here we have distinctly laid down the perfect and indissoluble unity of the Church of G.o.d, the body of Christ, on precisely the same authority as any other truth commonly received amongst us; so that there is just as much ground for calling in question the deity of Christ as there is for calling in question the unity of the body. The one is as true as the other; and both are divinely true, because divinely revealed. We believe that Jesus Christ is G.o.d over all, blessed forever, because Scripture tells us so; we believe that there is one body because Scripture tells us so. We do not reason in the one case, but believe and bow; nor should we reason in the other case, but believe and bow. "There is one body and one Spirit."
Now, we must bear in mind that this truth of the unity of the body is not a mere abstraction--a barren speculation--a powerless dogma. It is a practical, formative, influential truth, in the light of which we are called to walk, to judge ourselves and all around us. It was so with the faithful in Israel of old. The unity of the nation was a real thing to them, and not a mere theory to be taken up or laid down at pleasure. It was a great formative, powerful truth. The nation was one in G.o.d"s thoughts; and if it was not manifestly so, the faithful had only to take the place of self-judgment, brokenness of spirit, and contrition of heart. Witness the case of Hezekiah, Josiah, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra. It never once occurred to these faithful men that they were to give up the truth of Israel"s unity because Israel had failed to maintain it. They did not measure the truth of G.o.d by the actings of men; but they judged the actings of men, and themselves likewise, by the truth of G.o.d. This was the only true way to act. If the manifested unity of Israel was marred through man"s sin and folly, the true-hearted members of the congregation owned and mourned over the sin, confessed it as their own, and looked to G.o.d. Nor was this all. They felt their responsibility to act on the truth of G.o.d whatever might be the outward condition of things.
This, we repeat, was the meaning of Elijah"s altar of twelve stones, erected in the face of Jezebel"s eight hundred false prophets, and despite the division of the nation in man"s view. (1 Kings xviii.) This, too, was the meaning of Hezekiah"s letters sent to "_all Israel_" to invite them to "come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the pa.s.sover unto the Lord G.o.d of Israel." Nothing can be more touching than the spirit and style of these letters. "_Ye children of Israel_, turn again unto the Lord G.o.d of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of a.s.syria. And be not ye like your fathers and like your brethren, which trespa.s.sed against the Lord G.o.d of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
Now, _be ye not stiff-necked_, as your fathers were, but _yield yourselves unto the Lord_, and enter into His sanctuary, which He _hath sanctified forever_; and serve the Lord your G.o.d, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. _For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compa.s.sion_ before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land; for the Lord your G.o.d is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you" (2 Chron. x.x.x. 6-9).
What was all this but simple faith acting on the grand, eternal, immutable truth of the unity of the nation of Israel? The nation was _one_ in the purpose of G.o.d, and Hezekiah looked at it from the divine standpoint, as faith ever does, and he acted accordingly. "So the posts pa.s.sed from city to city, through _the country of Ephraim and Mana.s.seh_, even unto Zebulun; but _they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them_." This was very sad, but it is only what we must expect.
The actings of faith are sure to call forth the scorn and contempt of those who are not up to the standard of G.o.d"s thoughts. Doubtless these men of Ephraim and Mana.s.seh regarded Hezekiah"s message as a piece of presumption or wild extravagance. Perhaps the great truth that was acting with such power on his soul, forming his character and ruling his conduct, was in their judgment a myth, or at best a valueless theory--a thing of the past--an inst.i.tution of bygone ages, having no present application. But faith is never moved by the thoughts of men, and therefore Hezekiah went on with his work, and G.o.d owned and blessed him. He could afford to be laughed at and turned into ridicule, while he beheld divers of Asher and Mana.s.seh and Zebulun humbling themselves and coming to Jerusalem. Hezekiah and all who thus humbled themselves under the mighty hand of G.o.d reaped a rich harvest of blessing, while the mockers and scorners were left in the barrenness and deadness with which their own unbelief had surrounded them.
And let the reader mark the force of those words of Hezekiah, "If _ye_ turn again unto the Lord, _your brethren and your children shall find compa.s.sion_ before them that lead them captive." Does not this approach very near to that precious truth of the New Testament times, that we are members one of another, and that the conduct of one member affects all the rest? Unbelief might raise the question as to how this could possibly be--as to how the actings of one could possibly affect others far away; yet so it was in Israel, and so it is now in the Church of G.o.d. Witness the case of Achan, in Joshua vii. There, one man sinned; and, so far as the narrative informs us, the whole congregation was ignorant of the fact; and yet we read that "_the children of Israel_ committed a trespa.s.s in the accursed thing." And again, "_Israel_ hath sinned." How could this be? Simply because the nation was one, and G.o.d dwelt among them. This, plainly, was the ground of a double responsibility, namely, a responsibility to G.o.d, and a responsibility to the whole a.s.sembly and to each member in particular. It was utterly impossible for any one member of the congregation to shake off this high and holy responsibility. A person living at Dan might feel disposed to question how his conduct could affect a man living at Beersheba; yet such was the fact, and the ground of this fact lay in the eternal truth of Israel"s indissoluble unity and Jehovah"s dwelling in the midst of His redeemed a.s.sembly.
(See Exodus xv. 2, and the many pa.s.sages which speak of G.o.d"s dwelling in the midst of Israel.)