that ever formed the basis of pride, and one that will now remain
unmasked no longer. May the Lord grant her grace in her day of trial,
to run into her real ark of strength--the truth of God. What is
contrary to God's will in her, may he make her ready, nay, anxious to
throw off, as an incubus that oppresses her. What is not contrary, yet
not essential, may she hold with that degree of tenacity only which
such things deserve, and remain alone valiant for the truth on the
earth.
Many will say this is written by the hand of an enemy. But I protest
before Him whom I love and serve, however unworthily, that I love the
Church of Christ in the midst of her, fervently desiring their
spiritual pre-eminence, and praying for her prosperity.
The detestable association between the Dissenters, considered as a
body, and the calumniators and degraders of the Lord of life, for the
beggarly purposes of this world's power, sufficiently prove to my
mind, that a spirit, which is not of God's children, rests among them
too extensively somewhere, as I have before mentioned; and even the
true children among them, who have been drawn into such an ungodly
coalition, show great spiritual weakness. In the word of God I see
Christ exalted and his truth; and not churches, apostles, or prophets;
all things are to be proved, and that which is good to be kept.
Apostles are to be tried, and if found _liars_, to be rejected. Think
you, when the church of Ephesus, in the Apocalypse is commended by our
Lord, for trying those who said they were apostles and were not, and
when she had found them liars, that her members for example, still sat
under their ministry. What a strange perversity of judgment prejudice
casts over the mind. I cannot imagine any holier more acceptable
service to our dear and blessed Lord and master, than that of
endeavouring to unite in true and holy union, all the real members of
his now (as to external circumstances) painfully divided body, for the
Lord enables me to feel and to know, that amidst all the divisions and
hard names that prevail among the members, there does really exist a
body bound together for eternity, in all the essentials of Divine
truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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