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God has ever claimed the right to fix a gathering center for His people, and to settle the order of priestly service and worship; and surely this is not less true of the Church than of Israel. But let it be well remembered that He never regarded mere correct outward order as sufficient to satisfy Him. (See Isaiah 1:11-17). In the future history of His ancient people there will be, according to prophecy, a great re-gathering to God’s center-Jerusalem. But what a sifting will they have to pass through ere their state is suited to the holiness of Jehovah! And they will be sifted too by what is false among themselves. What a solemn thought for us, since a similar state of things in Church history has been foretold by the apostle Paul in Acts 20:30: “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” But, as already noticed, the apostle at once carries them to the resting place of the faith of His chosen in all ages; viz., “God, and the word of his grace.” Whatever sifting may come, blessed be His name, we shall ever find in Him and in His word all that we need until the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and with His “shout” bring about, “in the twinkling of an eye,” that great gathering around Himself spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:1. “Then all that grieves shall pass away, And saints shall see a glorious day.” Not a division among them, nor a stain upon them! Till then “every one that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). “Watching and ready may we be, As those that wait their Lord to see.” Amen. Earnestly do I entreat you, dear reader, in view of that day when His eyes shall surely meet yours in glory, to test your church position as well as the ground of your peace and safety by the Lord’s own question to some in the days of His flesh; viz., ‘Is it from heaven, or of men?” (Luke 20:4). Does it bear the unmistakeable stamp of divine and scriptural authority? or is it merely endorsed by the hand of human expediency or mere religious opinion? Never, never rest until you can say, without a doubt, “I am, through grace, in a position where my gracious Lord would have me, because I am where the Word of God has placed me”; and then with purpose of heart and fervour of spirit seek to adorn it by a holy, separate, and devoted walk, and so when He comes you will not only be ready to “go in to the marriage” through faith in Him, but get His approving “well done” for faithfulness to Him. Difficulties you may have, will have, but if in the path that pleases Him, you may with all confidence count upon His sympathy and succour; and even though the misunderstandings of your fellow- Christians add bitterness to your cup, yet the sense of His smile will more than recompense you. “Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam. 2:30). “If any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). May such “honour” be yours, dear reader, now and “till He come.” - George Cutting Footnote: [1] The fellowship in the Church of England is much broader than Scripture owns, because every moral-living baptized and confirmed parishioner is admitted to the Lord’s Supper, whether he is converted or not; while, on the other hand, that owned in all the dissenting bodies is much too narrow, because in them only those are recognized as “members” who hold the views of this or that particular sect or denomination. If Scripture therefore is to be your guide, you must be on a ground wide enough to include every member of the body of Christ, whose walk and ways are according to holiness and truth, and narrow enough to exclude all that Scriptural discipline would shut out.

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