Walking in the light

Preface

In a former work, " Holiness through Faith," I sought to show from the Scriptures, illustrated by the experiences of Christians, that the promises of God warranted our claiming an inwrought practical holiness through Christ, as well as an imputed completeness in Him ; that these promises of grace are ever larger than His commands to be holy ; that, notwithstanding all the imperfections and infirmities of our condition, we may, through " the obedience of faith," gain the Enoch testimony that we " please God ; " and that the power of victory is faith, and faith only.

These pages, however, are specially addressed to those who have already realized this overcoming faith, and this conscious soul-union with the Lord; the experience sometimes defined by the term " The Higher Christian Life." Such practically understand the limitations of our" meaning, when we speak of Abiding in Christ, Deliverance from Sin, the Rest of Faith, Full Salvation, Christ

4 PREFACE.

formed within, or Walking in the Spirit. Lest, however, I should be misunderstood by any, I would here ask that the terms used in this book should be interpreted by a brief statement of what we mean when we speak of " Walking in the Light? and of the consequent cleansing "from all sin."

He walks in the light of God, who, without evasion, brings every action, emotion, and thought into the all-searching light of the presence of God. What the light reveals as evil, the soul rejects, and so " our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," — a fellowship in light. A walk in the light always leads to the blood, and all that the light shows of evil in our nature becomes effectually cleansed by the blood.

" If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth ; but if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John vi. 7.

It is plain that these words are not addressed to an unconverted sinner. Such a one is never told to walk in the light and have fellowship with God before his sins can be pardoned. Neither is it intended for a backslider; for the chapter is written, "that your joy may be full," and " that

PREFACE.

ye sin not." It surely teaches that we are not only to be justified from all our sins, but also to be inwardly cleansed "from all Sin" that deep evil of our nature, which is antecedent to sins or sinning. Absolute discernment of what evil is cannot be imparted to us in our present dim twilight of knowledge. The angels in the perfection of their faculties, or Adam in his innocence, might perceive the true moral character of every emotion and action, but we cannot. God does not require of our faculties, so sadly darkened by the fall, a perfect knowledge, but He does both ask, and impart to faith, a perfect love, the full devotion of our hearts, such as they are in all their imperfection and weakness. That short-coming, which is not contrary to knowledge, or to love,* is not imputed to us, and is fully met by the atoning blood.

It is evident that there may remain things not according to the perfect holiness of God in the life of the sanctified believer; things which in the early dawn have not yet been discovered to it. As the light increases, more and more is exposed of the remaining evil, and the soul continues to be practically cleansed by the blood. In what sense this

* " Love is the fulfilling of the Law." See carefully Matt. xxii. 87 ; Mark xii. 30-33 ; Luke x. 27 ; John xiii. 34, xv. 12; Horn. v. 5, xiii. 9, 10; Gal. v. 6, IS; Eph. i. 4; 1 John Hi , ii. 23, iv. 7, 12, 1G :

6 PKEFACE.

unseen, unknown evil is, or is not, sin, I leave as a metaphysical question, and use the term in its obvious generally understood meaning, — that which brings a sense of condemnation or impurity. Practically, I find myself with " a conscience (or knowledge) void of offense ; " and " if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." Though we have not an absolute, unconditional sinlessness, it is an incalculable blessing and strength to the believer to have a happy heart, free from all known sin ; a heart now able to accept the consciousness that Christ does indeed cleanse "from all" sin, and dwell in the purified temple of the being. To this, faith brought us. In this, faith keeps us. A lapse of faith would restore our old condition of conscious inward evil and outward trespass.

At this point of highest privilege is also the pinnacle of greatest danger. If we say that we have an inherent holiness, or " if we say that we have no sin," otherwise than as the blood momentarily cleanses us, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Such a delusion is a denial of the need of Christ, the assertion of a self-wrought holiness, and a clothing ourselves in the filthy rags of our own righteousness, ruinous to our souls and loathsome to God.

PREFACE. 7

As I trust Christ for cleansing, for the incomings of His own life, and for guidance, my soul is as a hand which has the needed health, life, and skill for its requirements successively, whether in infancy, boyhood, or maturity. Yet it is only through the constant supply of blood from the heart, and guidance from the head. Lessen the current of blood, the corrupt matter from the flesh is imperfectly carried off, and disease ensues. Interrupt the supply of blood by so much as the thickness of a piece of paper, and the hand resumes instantly its own natural proclivity to decay. Soon it will become a mass of offensive corruption. Palsy the nerves, and the hand moves feebly and uncertainly. Sever them, and the power to act is gone. And yet, through every moment of a long lifetime, from infancy to age, the process of decay may be prevented, the thrill of life enjoyed, and the guidance experienced.

Even angels found sin, and ruin, when they ceased to depend on God's sustaining power. My condition is far below that of angels. I am under the shadow of sin through Adam, and of its development into sins by my own wickedness. There is a poison of sin in my condition, which it is the work of the cleansing blood to neutralize moment by moment. I have an inherent pro-

8 PREFACE.

clivity to corruption, which it is the work of the blood to overcome by the energy of life and health. I am without knowledge in myself, and it is the work of the guiding Spirit to make me wise. Thus in the blood I find cleansing and life, and inthe Spirit I find direction through every moment in which my faith takes Christ for wisdom. Each day reveals to me more and yet more of the wonders of grace which are in Christ Jesus, and in Him alone.

It is no small pleasure to embody in this book two chapters, written by one who, converted to God the same day with myself, has, by her daily counsels and communion, continually opened the pathway of faith and holiness to my steps.

With unfeigned humility I commit this book to the Lord, and to the consideration of my brethren. I pray that all which may be of God shall reach and bless the hearts of His children ; and that aught of misconception and failure may be prevented from causing the least of God's little ones to stumble. Whatever of mistake or of evil is in it is all my own, whatever of good is of God.

Chapter I. Introductory

" TTTHERE does the Scripture indicate that V V definiteness of experience, the Sabbath of the soul, the abiding inward Rest, in the enjoyment of which, continuous victory over the world and symmetrical growth in grace are possible ? I cannot deny, — it would not be candid to do so, — the reality of such ajife in Christ, as I have witnessed or known of in others ; nor that it corresponds with the Scripture standards of Christian privilege. If testimony proves anything, it proves a range and elevation of Christian experience, an inward soul- Sabbath, and an overcoming of evil, external or internal, such as I have not obtained. And yet

14 WAKKDfG IN THE LIGHT.

I do not see it defined as a distinct experience in the >:r:p:'.;res.' ?

Such waa the candid question par to me a few days since, by a most earnest and intelligent Christian, a minister presiding over an important school of the prophets, honestly desiring to know the truth of God and to live it

The reply at once suggested was. ••'Everywhere! Definite and uniform victory over evil is taught everywhere, where Christian experience is dealt with. It permeates the whole doctrine of Scriptore. It is the only normal life recognised, and anything short of it is the exception. It is easier to dehne the character of a voyage to one who is making it, than to one who is only desiring to do so, or scarcely decided to venture for the first time upon the water. The experience of trusting the ocean, the wonderful deliverances when the ship, like a mere shell, lies in the great surging deep, and the secured results of the voyage, can be definite only to him who has ventured his life upon the sea. So :: is :hose alone who have fully cast themselves upon the promises of God. who can realize how complete and definite is the preservation from evil."

A CLEAN HEART CREATED.

In its simplest form we find this definiteness in the words which suceeed the royal backslider's cry for pardon. " Have mercy upon me, O God : " " Blot out my transgressions : " are followed by the prayer, " Create in me a, clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." Surely, any one of us will know definitely when a pure, holy and clean heart is created within us. Most Christians say that it is not in them. A few who have long said the same thing, now testify that they have received, in answer to the prayer of faith, a heart fully cleansed by the blood of Jesus from the consciousness of inward defilement and passion. This is definitely stated by Scripture : " If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin " ; and it is definitely realized in the experience of a Christian who has come to walk in the wonderful light and fellowship of God and the inward cleansing of the blood. The heart which can, without effort : , meet sarcasm and reproach with a divinely given love and gentleness ; a heart which does not answer to the calls of passion, and which finds, both in the agitating emergencies of life, and in the hourly minor trials of domestic intercourse, an undisturbed inward calm, has reached an experience of the cleansing of the blood in a definite form.

ABIDING IN CHRIST.

Most Christian professors, while conscious of loving the Lord Jesus and of desiring to obey Him, are also painfully aware that they do not abide in Him, in the definite manner in which a branch abides in the vine. They know that they have not in their consciousness proved that Word : " If a man love Me, he will keep My words : and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him." They have known at seasons the presence of the Father and the Son with them, but they have not yet realized the permanence of the abode of God in them. Now this is a definite promise in Scripture, and a no less definite realization of faith by the child of God, when he has, in entire consecration and trust, learned to abide in Christ, and have Christ ever more abiding in him. To him the promises affixed to abiding are now definitely realized, — the sinning not, the much fruit and the answered prayers.*

WALKING IN THE SPIRIT.

Walking in the Spirit, with its pledged results of not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, is a definite condition of the soul. The withering up of the workings of the flesh and the bearing of the fruits of the Spirit, form a definite experience beyond any probable mistake in the consciousness. " Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," these things are not an indefinite dreamy condition of soul, nor the sending out, " at the same place, sweet water and bitter," but the outflow of a cleansed heart, consciously and definitely received through faith by the believer.

* See 1 John iii. 6; John xv. 6; John xv. 7.

REST.

It is, again, definite Rest to the soul, when, having before put away many weights, it has at length, to its own consciousness, laid aside the very last one, and the easily besetting sin of unbelief, and has risen to God in perfect freedom of soul. It can now run with patience the race set before it, because it is freed from burdens and looking only up to Jesus, who, having been the divine Author of its fltit h, is also the finisher or maturer (see Greek) of it also. The heart to whom Jesus has given Rest from the guilt of sin, now, in its entire abandonment to Him, assumes the yoke of obedience without reserve or qualification, and finds that, — at length unresisted, — it no longer galls. The soul has come, definitely come, to Christ. It has, with equal definiteness, bowed beneath the allcomprehensive yoke, in meekness and lowliness of heart, and it has found the second Rest promised, in a deep inward Sabbath-keeping of the soul. The one Rest Jesus gives to the weary burden-bearer, the second is found by the meek and lowly yoke- wearer.

If we examine the history of the children of Israel, we find that the wilderness gave no true Rest. It witnessed a continual succession of backslidings, in the very .presence of the tabernacle, with all its provisions for pardon and cleansing. It was not the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, but the consequence of limiting the Holy One of Israel at Kadesh Barnea, in His power to give victory over God's enemies. It was, however, a definite experience when the Israelites left behind them the wilderness, the scene of failure, trusted Jehovah in the person of Joshua, (or Jesus,) and crossed the Jordan in triumph. It is a no less definite experience when the Christian, who has long wandered in the wilderness-round of sinning and repenting, at length rolls away the reproach of Egyptian worldliness,and enters into the Rest prepared for the people of God, — the soul's inward Sabbath-keeping, — in unlimited consecration and trust.

DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

In no part of Scripture is this Christian experience stated more definitely and exhaustively than

WALKING IN" THZ LIGHT.

the six: er of Romans. This is not the

-iiverance :: the Red Sea of the third chapter over again, bat the life across the Jordan. It meets the all-important question :s to whether the redeemed shall continue to sin. and shows that our refuge, our only refuge, from the horrid workings of indwelling corruption, is to be found in an : aal, realized crucifixion and death with Christ, "that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should not serve sin." zified for us has been preached of late yens with a blessed and almost unexampled ] isfl .ess, but the time has now come when

the mission of the church is to preach, with no less emphasis and distil:: i-tian's cruci-

fixion with Christ and deadness : ith the

: sequent life unto righteousness.

DEUVKB LKCI

In the seventh of Romans we re experi-

e of a Christian turned back to walk for the

time scenes ire. It is the

experience of a true Christian, though not a true

Christian experience. It is only necessary to observe how exactly, alas ! it reflects the too common condition of the redeemed from verses ten to twenty-four, in order to decide as to whom it applies. It does not repeat the lesson of the third chapter, but unfolds the entrance into the wonderful soul-Rest of the eighth chapter. He whom it represents is indeed a u wretched man," so long as he, while delighting in the will of God in his inmost soul, yet finds himself brought into captivity to the law of sin in his members, — continually grieving Him whom bis soul loves and adores. But how definitely does the way of deliverance open to his gaze in reply to his exclamation of need and agony, " O wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me?" Christ, once clasped in the soul's extremity of need for pardon, is now again embraced in its agony of desire for deliverance from inward corruption.

The eighth chapter of Romans is as definite an experience of victory, as the seventh chapter was definite in failure, and no transition in the whole Scripture, save in conversion, is so definitely marked as this soul-crisis at the vision of Christ as a Deliverer from sinning.

As the experience of condemnation, in the third chapter of Romans, culminated in the charge, " For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," followed in the same sentence by the release, " Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," — just so, the experience of indwelling sin, in the seventh chapter, culminates in the exclamation of bondage and agony, " O ! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin ? " and is followed in the same breath by the joyful cry, '•'I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord !"' He is at once, and by the same way of faith, our Deliverer from condemnation and from bondage. The eighth chapter of Romans is as definite a triumph over sinfulness, as are the fourth and fifth chapters over condemnation for sinning.

CHRIST FORMED WITHIN.

It was no indefinite, general thought of progress, which filled the soul of Paul when he groaned that

Christ might be formed in the hearts of the Galatian converts ; and when he told them that he did not himself frustrate, by any self-imposed barriers, the grace of God, he gave the key to the definite statement, " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which 1 now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

A YOUNG CONVERT'S QUESTION.

As he sat in a railway car, an intelligent young man who had just commenced to read the Scriptures daily, but to whom they had been as yet an enigma, was led to see that salvation is through faith only and in Christ alone. He trusted Christ for pardon, and as he realized that in believing he became the possessor of eternal life, after a few minutes' solemn pause he asked, §l But will this trust in Christ keep me from sinning ? " The answer was, " Definite faith in Christ for pardon frees your soul from the load of guilt arid condemnation which has weighed upon you, and has a tendency to make sin hateful to you ; but to fully meet the bias of your nature towards sin, your faith must receive Christ definitely in another of His relations to your soul. You must come to Him in full consecration, to receive effectual inward cleansing by His blood. You have just learned the lesson of trusting Jesus to blot out all your iniquities, and He has done it. Now, — with this lesson fresh before you, — come to Him for a clean heart within, and a full victory without. Can you doubt that, having saved your soul from death, He is ready to keep your feet from falling ? ' As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. 5 "

It would seem as definite an experience to trust Christ for holiness of heart as for pardon. George Miiller can definitely trust the living God to supply near two thousand souls under his care with all their temporal needs day by day. Cannot a child of God trust Christ as definitely to supply one poor weak but confiding heart with all it needs of holiness, from moment to moment ? The evil Herodias claimed the King's promise, and he dare not refuse even the half of his kingdom. Is God less to be trusted ? Are His promises of cleansing and preservation from evil, to His saints who will trust them, less secure than those of pardon to the sinner who will trust them ? Is not " the power of God " pledged to the keeping of God's family as fully as to the forgiveness of the repentant wanderer ? All the attributes of God are involved in the smallest of His pledges to the least of His trusting children. Happiest he w r ho most perfectly honors God by definitely committing himself to the inviolable "I will" of a covenant-keeping God!

Chapter II. Wavering Faith

y^ OD'S unalterable plan, in all His dealings

V_Jl with the souls of men, is — " According to

your faith be it unto you."

The awakened sinner, seeking the forgiveness of

his sins, may wrestle, and agonize, and plead with

all the fervor and earnestness of which he is capable,

but, until he believes, he cannot find peace. God

does not deal with him according to the amount or

fervor of his wrestlings or pleadings, but according

to his faith. The moment he has faith to be saved,

that moment he is saved, and never until then.

The reason of this is, that God's salvation is not a

purchase to be made, nor wages to be earned, nor

a summit to be climbedj nor a height to be attained,

but simply and only a gift to be received. And

nothing but faith can receive any gift from God.

But if this is His rule with regard to the poor (26)

awakened sinner, how much more must it be as regards His own family of children, who have been born of the Spirit, and upon whom He has bestowed all the riches and treasures that are in Christ. To them most assuredly, His word is — " What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

When, therefore, the child of God begins to be dissatisfied with the failing, halting experience,

which is the too general condition of the church, and begins to hunger and thirst after that higher life of victory, and of abiding rest, which he sees some other Christians enjoying, and which he realizes is his privilege also, what is an absolutely necessary condition to his entering into the blessed experience he seeks ? Of course the first condition is consecration, because none but the fully consecrated can fully believe. In order for the Lord Jesus to heal us, we must be willing to be healed, and must give ourselves up to His healing power. But I presuppose all this, and address only those souls who are conscious of being fully given up to the Lord, as far as they have light to see. And surely to such the rule applies, with even greater power than to the unconverted, if that could be, that according to their faith it shall be unto them.

But this principle is not always clearly recognized, and the result is that many longing souls are delayed for months, and even for years, from entering into the land of rest, whose borders they have long before reached.

Satan understands this matter perfectly. He knows what God's plan is, and therefore his principal attacks are directed against our faith, and he knows how to come in such a garb as completely to deceive the unsuspecting soul. In the first place he occupies such a soul with itself, with its own goodness or badness, with its frames and feelings, with its fervor or its coldness, and thus effectually hinders it from looking at Jesus, and seeing in Him a Saviour who is able to save to the very uttermost.

And then in the second place, when, through the grace of God, the believer has been brought out of this snare, and has been enabled for a blessed moment to take a definite step of faith, and to cast himself wholly upon the Lord Jesus, believing that He does receive him, and does indeed save him from the power, as well as from the guilt of his sins; then Satan, baffled in his first purpose, endeavors to make this faith a wavering, intermittent faith, and thus effectually hinders onward progress, or increasing light. It is of this point, especially, I desire to write just now, because I am sure that much if not all of the unsatisfactory experience of those who have really entered the higher life, arises from this cause.

I address myself, therefore, to the dissatisfied, rather than to the seekers. You have sought and found this Rest in Christ at one time, dear Christian, and for awhile you rejoiced in it greatly. But a cloud seems to have come over your experience and you cannot discover what has caused it. Your sky is not clear. Your communion is interrupted, your victories are intermittent. And yet you are not conscious of having taken back any part of your consecration, nor of being at present in the indulgence of anything contrary to the will of God.

If this is not the case, and you have a secret feeling in the bottom of your heart, of some want of conformity to the will of God, then, of course, I am not addressing you, and for you there is one step absolutely necessary before you can possibly take any other. You must get on believing ground again, before you can again believe, and this ground is that of entire consecration to God. But you know this, and I need not enlarge.

At present I have to do with only those who desire, above everything else, to be altogether the Lord's, but who seem to find a veil which hides the fullness of Christ from their gaze, and who are hungry and thirsty in the very presence of the perfect supply. To such I can only say, according to your faith it shall be unto you. Your difficulties all arise from the wavering character of your faith. You do not hold the beginning of your confidence steadfast unto the end. You have not believed steadfastly, that which you believed at first. The definite trust in the Lord Jesus, which you exercised then, and which brought you such wonderful victory and rest, has become indefinite and uncertain.

Satan has been turning your attention to yourself. He says to you, " Look at your heart and at your life. See how cold you are, how indifferent, how far from being what you ought to be. How can you for a moment dare to believe that Jesus saves you, and makes you holy ? " And you have listened to him, and, turning your eyes off of Jesus, have begun to doubt. And doubt can have but one result. If it is to be to us according to our faith, then, of course, it will be also according to our doubt. And your very doubts have produced just the results you dreaded. Jesus cannot fully save a doubting soul. Remember this. And the moment you find yourself beginning to doubt, stop right off short, and think of what will be the inevitable consequences.

If you doubt, your consecration is fruitless, your efforts are unavailing, your pleadings are unanswered. God has said it — that unless we ask in faith, nothing doubting, we need not think to receive anything from the Lord. Doubt is fatal. And yet, so completely has Satan blinded your eyes on this point, that you, it may be, look upon it as an almost necessary condition of your nature. How often we hear a child of God say, with even complacency, " Oh, but I am such a doubter ! " as though this peculiar weakness of theirs excused them for all their other short-comings ; while we never hear a Christian say, complacently — " Oh, but I am such a liar," and make that an excuse for his failures. And yet in the sight of God, to doubt is, in some cases, as displeasing to Him as to lie ; sometimes I think almost more so, because it is so dishonoring to His faithfulness. No form of wickedness ever hindered the Lord Jesus, while on earth, from doing His mighty works, except the wickedness of unbelief. And you, dear Christian, are as completely hindering His mighty work in your soul, by your unbelief, as the Samaritans hindered Him by theirs. I am sure, if you realized this, you would not dare to doubt. But is it not true ? Do you think God has made a mistake, and that the man that doubteth can receive something from the Lord? Have you not invariably found that doubting has brought you into darkness and unrest, and finally into sin ?