“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, _in the midst whereof I dwell_.’ And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.” (Num. v. 1-4.) Here we have unfolded to us, in few words, the great foundation-principle on which the discipline of the assembly is founded—a principle, we may say, of the very last importance, though, alas! so little understood or attended to. It was the presence of God in the midst of His people Israel that demanded holiness on their part. “That they defile not their camps, in the midst of which I dwell.” The place where the Holy One dwells must be holy. This is a plain and a necessary truth. We have already remarked that _redemption_ was the _basis_ of God’s dwelling in the midst of His people; but we must remember that _discipline_ was essential to His continuance amongst them. He could not dwell where evil was deliberately and avowedly sanctioned. Blessed be His name, He can and does bear with weakness and ignorance; but He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity. Evil cannot dwell with Him, nor can He have fellowship with it. It would involve a denial of His very nature; and He cannot deny Himself. It may, however, be said, in reply, Does not God the Holy Ghost dwell in the individual believer, and yet there is much evil in him? True, the Holy Ghost dwells in the believer, on the ground of accomplished redemption. He is there, not as the sanction of what is of nature, but as the seal of what is of Christ; and His presence and fellowship are enjoyed just in proportion as the evil in us is habitually judged. Will any one assert that we can realize and delight in the Spirit’s indwelling while allowing our indwelling pravity, and indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind? Far away be the impious thought! No; we must judge ourselves, and put away every thing inconsistent with the holiness of the One who dwells in us. Our “old man” is not recognized at all; it has no existence before God; it has been condemned utterly in the cross of Christ. We feel its workings, alas! and have to mourn over them, and judge ourselves on account of them; but God sees us in Christ—in the Spirit—in the new creation. And, moreover, the Holy Ghost dwells in the body of the believer, on the ground of the blood of Christ; and this indwelling demands the judgment of evil in every shape and form.